I Never Want to Move Boxes Again!

The moment the Apparition ended, Gavin's feet touched solid ground again.

Cumbria's night wind swept through the valley, pressing his dark blue robes against his skin. The air smelled of damp grass, earth, and stone.

Alaric had barely let go when Gavin's stomach suddenly clenched.

His silver-white beard shortened from the tips. His fingers, wrists, and shoulders gave a rapid series of pops, his viewpoint dropped, and the robes that had fit him moments ago pooled around his feet.

In less than ten seconds, Dumbledore's face was gone.

Gavin was thirteen again.

Alaric looked at him, then at the scattered lights in the distant valley.

"What happened? Did the potion wear off?"

Gavin pulled his wand from beneath his robes and undid the Transfiguration Spell on his clothes, turning them back into his Hufflepuff robes. He frowned.

"Looks like it. About twenty minutes."

"Isn't Polyjuice Potion supposed to last an hour?"

"It does with everyone else."

Harry's and Seamus's samples had both lasted a full hour, but Dumbledore's had lasted only twenty minutes.

Gavin couldn't tell whether Dumbledore's magic was too powerful or his body itself was resisting the transformation—

The White Wizard's body had an absurdly strict sense of copyright.

But this was no time to dwell on it. Once Alaric had confirmed Gavin was all right, he drew his wand and hurried along the stone path.

A stone house stood ahead of them. Its door was ajar, as though it had been left completely unguarded.

Gavin followed him.

Mr. Rowle stopped at the entrance instead of rushing in. He took out a handful of brass stakes and used a spell to fix them into the ground nearby.

"Anti-Apparition Jinx stakes," Mr. Rowle explained.

Gavin nodded. Mr. Rowle seemed pretty dependable.

They were less than twenty feet from the