Summary: Devastated by the terrorist bombing that claimed the life of his longtime best friend - and unrequited love - Ava Mathenson, twenty-five year old Albus begins investigating the organization behind the explosion through his resources at the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He discovers that the Erumpent Horn Powder that was used to make the explosive device was smuggled into the country illegally. The deeper he gets into the investigation, the more disturbing the details of the smuggling ring's extensive connections become. When his superiors do not take his information seriously enough, Albus decides to check out a warehouse, owned by a shell corporation that the criminal organization is using as a front, on his own. There, he stumbles across the very last person he ever would have expected to find...Ava. Soon, they are wrapped up in an international hunt for the people behind the smuggling, and the terrorists who are determined to continue planting bombs in an attempt to take out as many muggleborns as possible.

Author's Note: Hello everyone! I finally have this story fleshed out enough to begin posting! It's so exciting :) I told a couple of you that I hoped to have this ready within the next couple of weeks. I don't think you'll mind that I got it up sooner. For those of you who are here because of "A Fine Line," my multi-chapter Rose/Scorpius fic, thank you so much for taking an interest. I fell in love with Albus while I was writing that story, and I just wanted so badly to tell his and Ava's tale. Hopefully I get enough people interested in this to make it worth writing.

For those of you who are new to my writing, welcome! If you're interested, I hope you'll check out some of my other stories. I'm planning on updating this story about once a week, but for anyone who read "A Fine Line," you'll know that I am really inconsistent when it comes to sticking to that - but in the best way possible! I will post a chapter whenever I finish it, so it can be anywhere from 2 days to a little over a week between updates. I try not to let any more time go between chapters than that, because I know how frustrating it is to be waiting for a new chapter to come out. That said, I'm not sure that I'll be able to keep up the pace that I was able to maintain for "A Fine Line." Real life has gotten a bit more complicated lately, so you may have to bear with me from time to time. But I do have the entire thing plotted out, with a few scenes already written, so you don't have to worry about the wait being too long.

I'd also like to give a quick shout out to sonnieray. She was one of my early reviewers for "A Fine Line" and was never shy about letting me know just how much she loved Albus. Thanks Sonnie! You motivated me to get this posted sooner :)

As always, thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoy it, and please don't forget to let me know what you think!

A Game of Secrets

"While all deception requires secrecy, all secrecy is not meant to deceive." –Sissela Bok

Prologue:

The autumn air had a bite to it now that the sun had disappeared behind the warehouses lining the cracked asphalt street. Albus Potter pulled the collar of his jacket more firmly around his throat in an attempt to ward off the chill. He was huddled in the shadows, his eyes fixed on one of the large, corrugated metal buildings in the largely abandoned industrial neighborhood. So far, there had been no signs of life, but the feeling in his gut told him that it was only a matter of time.

Albus had spent the better part of the last year tracking the movements of an import/export group that was most definitely not dealing in legal wares. He had stumbled across the smuggling ring's illicit activities through his job working for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Starting a little over a year ago, there had been a series of attacks in areas of England that boasted a high population of muggleborn witches and wizards. Bombs, constructed using Erumpent Horn Powder, had been planted in multiple buildings, and the resultant explosions had claimed dozens of lives.

As a Class B Tradeable Material, Erumpent Horns were heavily regulated by his department. The fact that untraceable powder was used in those explosive devices meant that the substance must have come into the country illegally. Albus had been aware of the fact that this smuggling ring may exist, but he had not been a part of the case, even peripherally, and so had followed the investigation just as the rest of the wizarding community had—through the papers and news broadcasts.

And then the unthinkable had happened. Another explosion. This one even more deadly than the first three. He had taken the copy of The Daily Prophet from a teary eyed Rose and his entire world had collapsed. His best friend's photo was smiling up at him from among the faces of the dead. Ava. Beautiful, laughing Ava.

When Albus had finally surfaced from a drunken stupor three days later, he had made a decision. He would do everything in his power to get to the bottom of this. He would make sure that the people who were responsible for Ava's death would pay for it. He would never be able to bring Ava back—would never feel her hand on his, or hear her voice, or look into her amber eyes—but he could get justice for her. No one had the connections he did in the world of magical creatures. He would track down the people who did this, and he would bring the information to his superiors. And then his father and the other Aurors would take it from there.

Months of research later, Albus finally had the information he had been looking for. After digging through hundreds of back channels and speaking with some less than savory characters, he had discovered a smuggling ring that was illegally shipping unregulated animal parts into the country. And Erumpent Horns were on the manifest.

However, when he went to speak with his supervisor, research material in hand, Arnold Bensen had brushed him off. He had told Albus to let the Aurors handle it. With the amount of damage that those explosions had done, Bensen was sure that the situation was under control. At least more so than it could be with the help of someone who had only been out of school for six years. When Albus had appealed to Bensen's boss, Marcus Cole, he had been gently rebuffed. Cole trusted Bensen's judgment and had little patience for idealists. Albus was again told to let the Aurors handle it.

But Albus did not feel that this angle of the investigation was being explored thoroughly enough. If it was, wouldn't someone in the Auror's office have consulted with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures? Albus knew that his connections could help. He wanted to be involved. He needed to be involved.

So he went to his father. Harry Potter. The Ministry's Head Auror. The Boy Who Lived. Harry had placed a sympathetic hand on his son's shoulder and promised Albus that they were doing everything in their power to catch the terrorists responsible for the explosions. Those responsible for Ava's death. He had told Albus to leave it to him. To leave it alone.

But he couldn't. He just could not do it. Frustrated at the fact that his inquiries were not getting the respect that he felt they deserved, Albus continued to investigate on his own. It had become an obsession.

And so he found himself, two days after his twenty-fifth birthday, staking out a warehouse on the river. A warehouse that he had managed to connect to a shell corporation that he could prove the smugglers were using as a front. He was sure that this was the building that they were operating out of. Now he just needed to watch and wait for one of them to show themselves.

Albus hadn't bothered to tell anyone where he was going. He knew that that was most likely an incredibly stupid thing to do, but he just could not take the risk that someone would stop him. He had come too far to turn back now. If anything proved to be too dangerous, he could always apparate away and tell his father what he had found. But for now, without any real evidence, he knew that he would most likely be pushed off to the side, made to sit quietly in the corner like a recalcitrant child. He couldn't risk that. He had to do this. For her.

After another hour, the sun had fully set and a darkness had settled, a blackness so deep that Albus could just barely make out the pinpricks of light, peeking out through the cracks in the paint that had been generously slathered over the building's windows. This was never going to work. He needed to get closer.

Albus tiptoed across the street, making his way closer to the smugglers' warehouse. Every step he took seemed to echo in the crisp night air. He slipped into the narrow alleyway between the warehouse and the stone shed next door before hunkering down in the building's shadow. He took a deep, steadying breath, before sliding his way as silently as possible towards the window that was allowing the most light to escape. He heard muffled voices coming from inside and strained his ears in an attempt to pick up some of the conversation.

Quidditch scores. Not helpful.

Albus slowly snuck up to the window, flattening his body against the cold metal wall and angling his head so that he could see through the filthy glass. There were two men and a woman inside. The men were seated on two wooden crates, playing Exploding Snap. The woman had her back to the window, but at a particularly loud pop, nastily ordered the men to knock it off around the merchandise.

There was something familiar about her voice, but Albus couldn't quite place the harsh edge to it. His eyes swept the room, taking in the piles of crates surrounding the three smugglers. Against the far wall, he could see a few, very carefully stacked boxes that were clearly labeled with warning signs. They must contain the erumpent powder. No wonder the woman was nervous. One stray spark and the entire block could be blown straight to hell.

Albus shifted his weight, trying to get a clearer view of the warehouse's interior. As he leaned forward, his foot slipped, causing his toe to bang into the wall with a resounding clang. If the building had been made of wood or stone, there would have been hardly any noise, but of course it had to be a shoddy metal structure, and so the resulting echo was far too loud. Albus winced at the volume of the sound, holding his breath and hoping that the trio inside had not heard it.

No such luck. All three of their heads had snapped up. Albus jumped back from the window before any of them spotted him and tried to sneak away as quickly as possible. This was definitely not somewhere that he wanted to be discovered. He made it to the corner of the warehouse, and had just lifted his wand to apparate home, when the door to his right burst open and a lithe figure plowed into his side.

Albus's wand flew from his hand as he was tackled to the ground. He twisted his upper body, reaching out in a desperate attempt to regain his best means of defense. The tips of his fingers just managed to brush the smooth wood of his wand when his attacker grabbed onto his wrist and pulled.

Quickly realizing that he had the advantage when it came to size, Albus rolled, pinning the smuggler beneath him while simultaneously wrapping his hand around his wand. A quick jab of an elbow sent a sharp stab of pain rushing through his ribs, and he shoved to his feet to face off against his unknown foe.

It was far too dark for Albus to make out the features of the person standing opposite him, but the shadowed silhouette was more than enough to show him that he was currently fighting the woman who he had seen inside earlier. He stepped forward, hoping to push her further towards the light filtering through the window, but she merely shifted to her left, causing them to circle around one another.

Their wands were raised and pointed at each other. It was merely a question of who would strike first. Albus was loathe to make the first move, as that would undoubtedly alert the other smugglers to his presence. He wanted to avoid that eventuality for as long as was humanly possible.

The woman moved towards him and Albus found himself backing up, in spite of himself. She wasn't attempting to curse him, which he had only a second to consider odd, before she was launching herself at him again. Apparently, she preferred hand to hand combat.

Albus barely managed to dodge the fist that was rapidly heading towards his face, before sweeping his leg into hers in the hopes of throwing her off balance. He only succeeded in sending her body crashing into his. The force of the collision caused Albus to fall backwards, his back slamming into the stone wall of the shed behind him. He gasped as the cold stone dug into his spine, momentarily knocking the air out of his lungs.

His opponent used his temporary lack of focus to raise her forearm to his throat, pinning him to the wall with firm pressure.

Gasping for breath, Albus looked up—straight into the face of a ghost.

"Ava?" he breathed, unable to fully comprehend the fact that she was standing right in front of him, staring up at him in shock. She looked so different, and yet, even in the dim light, there was no denying that it was Ava.

Her usually long, thick mahogany hair was cropped into a choppy bob, with blonde streaks throughout. There was a diamond stud on the left side of her nose, a silver barbell piercing through her right eyebrow, and a viciously curved black spike hanging from her left ear lobe. Her gilded eyes sparked at him from behind thick black eyeliner and shimmery purple eye shadow. Severe black patterns were tattooed onto the skin of her neck, the ink swirling down her right arm before ending in a series of sharp points on the back of her hand. Her jaw was set and Albus had a difficult time seeing past the hard expression on her face to the girl who had once been his best friend. The girl he had thought to be dead for almost a year.

While he was still trying to process the fact that Ava was alive, and at the place to where he had tracked a very dangerous ring of smugglers, his muddled brain vaguely registered the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps.

"Dammit, Albus," Ava cursed under her breath, shoving away from him before raising her wand.

And suddenly, Albus's world went black as his body crumpled to the ground.

I like to give a little teaser, just as a preview of coming attractions, so I will always tell you the title of the next chapter. And so, the next chapter is..."Fourteen Years Earlier." Stay tuned! Hope to see you next time! And don't forget to check out my other Harry Potter stories!