Albus breathed hard after running away from yet another illegal Portkey station. How many more of these would he have to try? Scorpius had really done a thorough job of locating all of these. Albus had hoped that perhaps one or two would have been missed, but so far it didn't look that way. And each former station was now guarded by a group of hitwizards from the Ministry, to prevent them from simply starting back up again. He had managed to get away without directly attacking anyone, but it had been close. A few had looked bewildered as they recognised him and stopped fighting him, rather focusing on the person that led Albus there, thinking he needed assistance taking them down. Each time, Albus had returned to the official station, lurking in the shadows trying to find someone else willing to help him. He began to think it was a pointless endeavour.
As he ran towards the woods yet again, he sensed something grabbing his leg. He tried to keep moving, but he felt himself being dragged back. Something had a hold of his leg, and no matter what he tried, it wouldn't let go. He was dragged down what appeared to be a hole in the ground.
He wasn't surprised when he landed in a literal cage. This was obviously a trap set by someone. He also noticed that his wand had been ripped away from him when he tumbled down the hole. Wonderful. He heard footsteps coming towards him. He got to his feet. He didn't want to appear weak.
The man that rounded the corner was not who he expected. His face was all over "wanted" posters in the office. What had he literally stumbled into now? And did the man recognize him?
"Well, would you look at that. I may just have caught the golden goose. When I set up that little trap, I never expected to get Ministry employees falling into it. And not just any employee. You look just like your father, Mr. Potter."
"You should be careful what you wish for," Albus said, trying to appear confident. "Geese are known for being vicious to their enemies."
The man laughed. "You got some nerve boy! Talking like you have anything to work with. The cage you fell into is impenetrable. Without a wand of your own, there is no way for you to escape from it, and your wand is right here." He held up Albus' wand as he said that. Albus just smiled. This man underestimated him. He had been on the run for so long, he had forgotten a lot.
"Have you forgotten what Dawson taught us, Foley? You forgot to check whether your victim had more than one wand." In one fast motion, he had taken out his spare wand, removed the front of the cage and sent a Stunner towards the former Auror. Foley blocked it, of course, but he wasn't able to prevent Albus from getting out of the cage. A fierce duel between the two ensued. Albus hadn't been this hard pressed since he was in training and went up against Dawson. But then he had had Rose to back him up.
Foley was impatient though. That had always been his weakness. He had been caught trying to fast-track his own promotion by falsifying reports. It had all happened just as he started Auror training, so Albus didn't have all the details, but he knew that Harry had been fuming. Foley had been high up on the "Most wanted" list ever since. After the duel had lasted for more than 5 minutes, Albus was able to Disarm him and take his wand back. Foley seemed surprised that Albus tied him up.
"Hey, why were you even running? Maybe I can help you. You were trying to get away from someone, didn't you?"
"How would you be able to help me? You don't even know what I want."
"You want to avoid your father, don't you? I have been able to hide for years. Let's team up!"
"Even if that was the truth, I wouldn't team up with you. You've shown again and again that you're not to be trusted. I'm not going to place myself at your mercy again. No, I think you'll work better as a present to my father. I screwed up this morning, you can be my apology gift."
Albus didn't give Foley a chance to say anything else, he Stunned him, then Apparated out of there. He made sure the trap hadn't reset before he left. It wouldn't do for anyone else to get caught in that. He briefly considered staying there, but he didn't know what other surprises Foley might have left there for someone.
He left Foley tied up right above his little lair. He left a short letter where he explained what had happened and that he was sorry about what had happened that morning and that it had been an accident. He didn't dare put any details in writing but wanted to say something.
He wished he had said more to his mother that morning, but he had still thought he would be able to escape north when he said goodbye to her. He had gone home to grab a few essential items, among them several pouches of gold that he stuffed in a rucksack, and had almost made it to the door when his mother came in. he had thought she would be busy at the newspaper all day but he had seemingly come home just as her lunch break started. She wanted to know where he was going, but eventually let him go, when he said he couldn't tell her right then. At least she had given him a hug and both of them had expressed their love. He would have to cherish that hug for quite some time, he suspected. He had breathed a sigh of relief as he ran outside. He hadn't wanted to lie to his mother. But in a way, it had been nice seeing her. It might be a while before he would see her again. Especially since he now would have to find some other way to hide.
He sent up some red sparks, a sign any Department of Law Enforcement would know. Then he Disapparated to a random hill far away from there. He was honestly a little surprised that he was able to Apparate to such a vague Destination.