Chapter 17: The Book

Albus went to the empty common room after the last class to do some extra homework, where Naomi and Andrew were waiting, quietly finishing the Potions homework.
"We've got an extra load, Al," Andrew shrugged, "I still can't find all the ingredients for forgetfulness potions, and the library's run out of the Potions books thanks to some fifth years tanking their Ordinary Wizarding Level Exams."
"Great," Albus slumped down on the Common Room sofas. "I was expecting some help from those books... looks like were at a dead end."
"I think you use Lethe River Water, but I forgot the measures," Naomi said, adding something to her parchment as Albus got his parchment out. "What have you got so far?" Albus asked.
"Nothing, Albus, didn't we say?" Andrew replied.
"Oh," Albus said, "so you really meant nothing."
"Well, what do you think we meant? I mean, I'm not as smart as Ravenclaws... and Naomi is only smart at some points."
"And I've got the brains of a horned slug when it comes to memorizing potions ingredients," Albus said, "So I guess we'll have to go for another Dreadful in Potions. Slughorn's going to be mad... can't we use the textbook?"
"Slughorn thinks we should take a challenge and recall it," Naomi said, "We were lucky enough to remember what I think is the first Ingredient."
There was a long silence.
"Cheating is charm, isn't it?" Andrew smiled.
"No, Andrew," Naomi said, "We've got to try. It can't be hard... if we try a bit more, of course."
"A peek would do," Albus pleaded with Naomi, "the lot of us know we'll fail if we don't cheat..."
"Fine," Naomi said stiffly and Albus smiled and reached for his textbook, but then another book fell into his hands. The cover was ripped, poorly managed.
"What is that?" Andrew asked, taking the book.
"I found it while I had detention with the prefect, Daniel. We went to the restricted section and I found this."
Albus answered, taking the book back and flipping through the pages. Sure enough, each page had information on something different.
"Wait," Naomi said, "maybe the book has something on forgetfulness potions!"
Suddenly, the book turned pages by itself and landed on a page that was titled, 'Forgetfulness Potions' and led a big page of thousands of facts, including the ingredients and detailed descriptions.
"Amazing!" Andrew awed, immediately copying down the ingredients.
2 Drops of Lethe River Water (make sure the river water only has 0.3 percent dirt from the place you got it to make a perfect potion)
2 Valerian Sprigs (Make sure the sprigs are at least 99.9 percent full grown and make sure they are 89.7 pure white for a perfect potion)
2 measures of Standard Ingredient (Make sure the measures are at least 99.8 percent accurate for a perfect potion)
4 mistletoe berries (make sure the berries are at least 99.7 percent ripe for a perfect potion)
It was followed by extremely precise instructions for brewing.
"Are you sure this is safe, Albus?" Naomi asked.
"Of course it is. But... how did it already turn to the page? Probably because you said what you wanted it to search?" Albus asked and then, after writing down information, turned to the book and said, "Wands."
The book turned to a page describing how to make wands, different types of wands, precise measures of things Albus never heard of, the strongest wands, and more.
"This is amazing." Naomi admitting, "Who made it, though?"
The book turned to a page.
Lois Harrison
das Leben ist  schön,
aber es führt zu Tod
Naomi licked her lips. "What? What does that mean?"
"Who knows, but it's awesome!" Andrew said, and flipped the pages anyway.


For the rest of that week, Albus was mystified by the strange letters, wondering what they meant, but also loved the book.
It came in use during Transfiguration, and now Andrew, Albus, and Naomi would use it for homework all the time when the teachers forbid textbooks.
All without even James knowing.
And Albus couldn't help but smile at the gaping faces when Slughorn said that he'd gotten Outstandings on all his grades.
But Albus most adored the times when he'd just flip through the book because he felt like it.
Albus had even discovered a few surprising facts, a few more spells, even something about someone called the Half-Blood Prince.
But Albus didn't pay attention to that, but went on. The book had everything, it even knew about the Marauder's Map.
And when he asked, the title came up:
Book of Alles
The book of Alles was incredibly interesting.
But sometimes Albus thought of the one who wrote the book. He felt as if he'd heard the name before. Lois Harrison... Lois Harrison... it would repeat in his mind, over an over, but Albus was only aware of the name, not who it was.
Although Albus loved the book and all it could do, Albus sometimes wondered,
Could there be more?