Albus Potter and the Passageway of Doom

-CHAPTER FOUR-

The Pathway of Doom & The Sorting Hat

Albus, Dimitri, Rose and Joseph hurried down the corridor until they found a group of nasty looking boys and girls.

'Haven't changed, have they?' Rose murmured.

'Al!' a voice called. Scorpius was on the end of the carriage, hurrying over to them. 'Thank God I found you. These kids are horrible.'

'They look it,' Dimitri said in a low voice.

'Come on!' Albus said. 'James said he'd find us a carriage.'

'Al...what about me?' Scorpius asked.

'I'll just tell James,' Albus shrugged. 'He wouldn't mind.'

The five searched the train until they found James in a carriage with Max and a girl.

'Hey guys,' he said. 'Hey...Malfoy?'

'He's my friend,' Albus said quickly. 'He's not like his family, trust me!'

'I trust you, Al...it's just...he's a Malfoy...'

'I think I know his last name, James.'

'Okay, sorry.' James gestured to the girl. 'This is Jessica. She's Max's sister.'

'So this is your sister,' Rose said. 'Nice to meet you. Finally, I've another girl to talk to!'

Jessica laughed and Albus found himself blushing for no reason at all.

'Got a crush on Jess?' James smirked.

'Maybe,' Albus said through unmoving lips.

'Hey, James,' someone said from the carriage door.

'Sean!' James greeted. 'Guys, this is Sean Finegan.'

'Nice to meet you,' Sean said. 'But you'll never believe this! James, you remember the Pathway of Doom we learnt about?'

'I remember,' James said. 'But we didn't really learn, we found out by going through the restricted section.'

'I know,' Sean grinned. 'But apparently it's being hidden at Hogwarts this year!'

'You're kidding,' James gasped.

'Nope,' Sean said, shaking his head. 'We have got to find it!'

'Is this the time I should send an owl to mum, requesting her to send a howler back to you?' Albus asked with raised eyebrows.

'No, you better not,' James growled. 'If you dare send her an owl about the Pathway I will kill you slowly and painfully.'

Albus gulped and nodded. Rose however, looked concerned. 'You can't go to the Pathway of Doom!' she said shrilly. 'You could get robbed of you bodies! The dead souls will possess you!'

'To hell with that, we know loads of spells,' Sean said airily. "We're professionals. We'll be fine. Come on, James. The rest of the gang are waiting.'

'Coming,' James said. 'See you later, guys.' He hurried out of the compartment, slamming the door behind him.

'What's the Pathway of Doom?' Max asked. Rose looked around at their curious faces and sighed in exasperation. She grabbed her bag and pulled out The Rise and Fall of Dark Wizards.

'Is this Dark Magic?' Scorpius asked nervously. 'Cos I know a lot about that.'

'It isn't Dark Magic,' Rose sighed. 'It just exists.'

'Huh?'

Rose opened the book and lay it on the table in the middle of the compartment. Everyone looked at the paragraph that said