Hogwarts Legacy: A Queen of Infinite Space

As soon as she had finished dinner Adelaide hurried down the grand staircase, made quick excuses to the group of tiny First-Years asking her to come and judge their Gobstones tournament in the common room, and as soon as she got to her dorm pulled out the trunk kept under her bed. Odelia had been nowhere to be seen all day, but there had been a note at the end of her bed when she and the other girls had come back from the library to drop off their books telling her to be at the bridge leading into the Forbidden Forest as soon as it got dark, and to wear clothes suitable for ‘adventuring purposes’. Adelaide had stuffed it into her pocket before Evangeline or Lenora could see.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. She had seen Odelia at dinner, sitting next to Ominis with their backs to the rest of the hall. As usual, the multitude of pins had utterly failed to hold her hair back, and it flowed over her shoulders. Yet before Adelaide had a chance to go over, Sebastian had slid into his place opposite them, eyes wild and hands waving as he related some riotous escapade. Even after four years of attending school together, she wasn’t sure how to feel about him. To tell the truth, he scared her a little. Sebastian Sallow was unpredictable. It was like being around a caged animal, and while you knew that the cage had a lock, there was still the uncomfortable sensation that it might be able to get out anyway. His sister Anne had been nice though. She wouldn’t have allowed him to break out. But what might happen now that she was gone?

Back at her own table, Evangeline was chatting their ears off about her latest obsession - the dashing Isaac Cooper. Adelaide felt the urge to roll her eyes, which was not at all a usual impulse. Perhaps she had been spending too much time around Odelia who rolled her eyes every five seconds regardless of whether the object of her contempt could see or not. They were almost as close to black as eyes could get - Odelia’s that is. Maybe if she stood closer she would see other colours in them. A very dark brown, or a blue…

“Addie! Are you listening to me?” Evangeline was fussing again. “I mean you’ve seen him too, how could you not understand? He’s just so -”

“- muscular!” Lenora descended into a fit of giggles, Nellie elbowing her and slowly turning the same shade of red as her tie. “Quidditch players are something else,” she added earnestly.

Adelaide smiled weakly in return. The big, strong type that the others were constantly fawning over had never appealed to her much. Honestly, she wasn’t really sure what her type was. It was about in Third Year that her friends had begun to point out various boys in the corridors and she had played along of course, but was still waiting for a moment when she would not have to pretend. Surely this would be her year.

Evangeline leaned across the table, a glint in her eye. “I know! Someone has already caught Addie’s attention, that must be why she is so uninterested in Isaac. And I think I know who…”

All of a sudden Adelaide’s stomach twisted into knots. She dropped her fork with a clatter.

Laughing, Evangeline continued. “Don’t look so horrified Addie, it’s obvious! We see you gazing over at the Slytherin table every morning.”

Blood rushed into her ears. Who could Evangeline mean?

Nellie nodded knowingly. “I completely understand. Ominis is by far the most elegant boy in our year, probably in the whole school.”

Adelaide let out a breath. Whatever she had been dreading, this was not it. “Yes, I think he must be,” she admitted. “I like his - umm - cheekbones.”

“I knew it!” exclaimed Evangeline triumphantly. “That’s why you’ve been so distracted. I completely understand. Oh, but look!” She pointed to the other side of the hall. “Speaking of the Slytherins…”

Adelaide turned around just in time to see Odelia stand up, hissing and recoiling like a wounded cat, and storm out the doors.

“Trouble in paradise, I guess,” remarked Evangline, shrugging. “She and Sebastian are as bad as each other.”

“Don’t say that please, Odelia’s our friend. And it was Ominis she was upset with.”

“Ha! Knew you’d want to talk about Ominis.” Then she and the other girls began to make kissy faces at her. Adelaide wasn’t angry with them - they meant it in a joking way. But as she opened the trunk to take out the sturdy winter boots tucked away in there, the whole conversation replayed in her head and her stomach sank like a stone.

-----------------------

“Boo!” Adelaide jumped and shrieked as she whirled around to find that Odelia Black had crept up behind her, a mischievous look on her face.

“Delly! You scared me, we’re right by the Forbidden Forest!”

Odelia pouted in mock sorrow. “Poor Ads, I would never wish you harm!” she cried and jumped onto the bridge, spinning in a circle with her arms flung outwards. Her dark cloak fluttered around her, little more than a wraith in the night.

“Okay, stop, stop!” Laughing, Adelaide stepped onto the bridge and attempted to steady her - a difficult task when she was in one of her restless moods. “I’ll forgive you so long as you don’t fall into the stream.”

She smirked and slowed, turning one last time - perfectly poised - sleek boots tapping on the stone. For once, her hair was carefully gathered in a coil at the back of her head and instead of a grey school skirt she wore a black, armoured tunic with matching trousers. Adelaide thought she looked like a knight, or a pirate queen. Not that there were many pirate queens in rural Scotland. Snapping out of her reverie, she realised that Odelia in turn was staring at her clothes, frowning slightly. She blushed and tugged at the sleeves of her patchwork coat.

“Umm, Adelaide,” she began hesitantly, “would trousers not have been a more sensible choice?”

“I - I don’t really own any.” Odelia looked confused, and she hastened to explain. “I’ve never really needed any before, and besides, my uncle is quite old-fashioned. Trousers are for men, you know…”

“Right.” She paused, considering. “Sounds like we both have terrible uncles. A mon avis, trousers look far superior on women. I’ve got a gorgeous set that my grandmother likes me to wear on formal occasions. Anyway, shall we?”

And that was that, the two girls walked into the woods together. The trail carved its way through the trees which formed a canopy over their heads, blocking out the stars. Odelia’s wand lit the way, and as its glow settled over her faint silhouette it seemed as though she too belonged to the heavens. Not a creature of the wood, but one of starlight - out of place and yet strangely familiar. Her careful tread hardly disturbed the leaves and roots that Adelaide stumbled over. Somewhere in the distance an owl hooted, the sound carrying clearly through the still air.

They rounded a corner. Up ahead on the path Richard Jackdaw was waiting, leaning against a tree. He seemed more substantial somehow, more alive. Odelia marched towards him with a firm resolve while Adelaide struggled to keep up. The temperature had dropped and she buried her face in her wooly scarf as the tip of her nose began to go numb.

The ghost inclined his head as they approached. “Here I am, as good as my word.”

Odelia sniffed, making it clear exactly what she thought of his word. “We meet again, Richard Jackdaw.”

“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to see you.” He smiled knowingly at her. “A Slytherin like you couldn’t have resisted this opportunity.”

Pursing her lips in disdain, she tilted her head upwards to look down her nose at him. He folded his arms. What a pretty picture they made, Adelaide mused, the ghost and the girl wrapped in the cloak of night.

“Where do we go from here?”

Jackdaw gestured at the path ahead. “After you, madame. I shall accompany you as far as I can, but I fear I may remain a tad reluctant to revisit the scene of my demise.”

Odelia very deliberately turned on her heel and forged ahead into the forest. Adelaide stepped forward uncertainly, into the spot where she had stood. Jackdaw grinned at her and proffered his arm in a courtly fashion. It was obvious that he had been something of a charmer in his own school days, despite his failure to sufficiently impress Apollonia. “Shall we catch up to your hoity-toity companion?” She held up her own arm as though it was resting on his and they set off together.

“That was unkind of you,” she said with some reproach. “Odelia’s not like that, not really.”

“Is that so?”

“It is. There’s another side to her that some people just don’t see.”

He shook his head in resignation. “You’re too good for her by far. Just because she treats you well, don’t be blinded by her behaviour towards others. I made the same mistakes as you once and look where it got me.” Bitterness coated his voice. “I’ve had a long time to think it through now, and as it turns out Apollonia Black cost me the love of my life.”

It went quiet. Only Odelia’s light footfall echoed from up ahead.

“What was her name?” Adelaide asked softly.

“Anne,” he whispered, and for a moment looked stricken. But then, as if determined not to dwell on the past, he continued in his jovial manner. “Since we’re on our way to the cave now, aren’t you going to ask me how I died?”

She bit back a giggle. “Umm, I think I can guess how you died?”

Jackdaw let out a sudden guffaw, all seriousness gone from his expression. “Alright, alright, you’ve got a point. I will say this though: I was having a look around when I suddenly sensed a refreshing breeze. After that, I felt, well, light-headed. That’s all I remember. So be prepared. I can’t tell you what for, specifically, but you seem a perceptive sort. Beware a light breeze.”

His warnings were phrased so amusingly that Adelaide wanted to laugh along with him, however it occurred to her that she and Odelia were walking into the exact situation that had got him decapitated with no more advice than ‘beware a light breeze’. She bit her lip.

Jackdaw cleared his throat. “So when you get there, keep your eyes open for a birdbath. When you find it, say ‘intra muros’. I think it’s Latin. Or Greek.”

“Latin,” Odelia called back without turning her head. Adelaide hadn’t realised that she was still within earshot.

The boy shrugged. “As you can imagine, I never paid much attention in school.”

She shook her head, trying not to worry. Odelia knew what she was doing, nothing ever went wrong for her. “Aside from the birdbath, anything else we should look out for?”

“Indeed. A few landmarks - a stone bridge, a waterfall, and, if I recall, a lake. You’ll see.” He paused, shaking his head at the ever darkening landscape. “Surprising how much of this is - rather unfortunately - coming back to me.”

In front of them, Odelia had stopped. She stood unmoving at the top of a slope which curved sharply down around the earthy cliffs which framed the scene. Tree roots reached down from them like fingers, poised to grab the girl who waited so confidently beneath the mouth of the tunnel. Signposts were hung around her, futile warnings not to venture further.

Next to Adelaide, Jackdaw shuddered. “Mmm. Yes. You know, the closer we get, the more I’m remembering. Probably best I leave you to it.” She could have sworn that his already spectral complexion had grown even paler. Odelia folded her arms and raised an eyebrow - it could not have been more obvious what she was thinking.

“You’ve been very helpful,” she said coldly, and disappeared out of view.

Adelaide turned to him. “Thank you.”

“Let’s go, Adelaide!”

He smiled wanly. “Simply stick to the path and keep a sharp eye out for that birdbath. Adieu. Is that Latin? Or Greek? Hmm.”

“Wait!” she called suddenly. Adelaide felt a surge of compassion towards the poor ghost. She could not imagine being so alone. “Look,” she said, “how about I come and visit you sometime -”

“- Adelaide!”

“Coming!”

Jackdaw began to float backwards down the path from which they came. “I should like that. And do let me know how you get on with Miss Black.”

Adelaide sighed, he just didn’t get it. Odelia was the best thing that had ever happened to her - how boring would her life be otherwise! And she wasn’t a bad person, Adelaide just knew it. How could someone so full of life lead anyone astray? She walked down the path.

The Slytherin was waiting for her a little further into the forest, the light of her wand a marker of which route she had taken. It glinted off the pool behind her.

“The waterfall. For a thief, Jackdaw’s surprisingly as good as his word,” she remarked matter-of-factly.

“So we’re looking for a lake next. It can’t be far - I wish he had stayed and showed us, don’t you?”

She shook her head adamantly. “We do much better just us two, other people only complicate things. Besides, I’m not sure how much I trust him.” They took a right, and then a left, and came out onto a bank overlooking a shining lake. Adelaide marvelled at her friend's sense of direction.

Odelia stretched out her hand, as if she could touch one of the fireflies hovering around them. “Something oddly solemn about this place,” she murmured, lost in thought. “Such regal creatures, stags.”

“What do you mean?” Adelaide followed her friend's gaze, but could not see anything.

She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter, we’re nearly there now.”

Adelaide followed her along the lake’s edge and soon they came to a clearing, with a stone birdbath placed carefully in the center. Odelia jumped with excitement. “There it is, just as Jackdaw described!”

Before Adelaide could stop her, she had rushed forward and stood over it, gripping the sides.

“Intra muros.”

A crack echoed through the air, as though someone had apparated nearby, and blue smoke began to pour from the stone behind them, and they watched in wonder as a passageway spiralled open.

At once, Odelia grabbed her hand and pulled her not to the stone but into the trees, and pushed her behind a trunk. She leaned forwards - their faces were almost touching. Adelaide could almost work out the colour of her eyes. “I have to make sure it’s safe,” she whispered.

They both blinked.

“I have to make sure it’s safe,” the other girl continued.

Adelaide stepped away feeling confused. A low pounding echoed in the base of her skull - when had that begun? “What do you mean, of course it’s safe?” Odelia did not protest. Strange, that.

When they walked back out of the trees the clearing was empty. With an unusual amount of bravado, Adelaide marched over to the entrance. “Come on, we’ve come all this way, I want to see what’s inside.” Odelia followed obediently, still silent.

-----------------------

As it turned out, there was nothing much exciting to be found as soon as they had passed through the haze. A tunnel carved out of the rock and earth led them through a subterranean warren. Odelia had let Adelaide lead the way for once and she forged ahead, scrambling down occasional slopes. Her skirt got caught on a root at one point and ripped at the hem, but that would be easy to repair later. Something niggled at the back of her mind, yet she could not quite pin it down. She eventually settled on a question, though it was not that exact one.

“Delly?”

“Hmm?” came the reply from behind her.

“What was it that you and Ominis argued about at dinner?”

“Ominis and I argued at dinner?”

“You did, don’t you remember?”

Odelia fell in step beside her and slipped her arm around Adelaide’s, that habitual Black grin firmly in place. “Of course I remember! It wasn’t about anything at all really.”

Something scuttled across through the shadows before them. They paused, Odelia lifted her wand higher and lit up the passage. There was nothing there.

“Hmm. Perhaps we are not alone down here.” She widened her eyes at Adelaide. “Exciting.”

“You’re forgetting that something actually did kill Richard Jackdaw down here. Perhaps we ought to be more careful?”

“Oh yes,” Odelia teased, “Beware a light breeze.”

“Hey!” Adelaide replied, laughing. “He meant well.”

“Of course he did. Not his fault he’s a bit thick. What sort of fool allows himself to get decapitated? I certainly wouldn’t let it to happen to us. Ooh - look at that!”

A thick wall of cobwebs blocked their way. Odelia blasted through them and carried on, Adelaide had no choice but to follow. The light from her wand had burned away and as she stepped forward her foot landed on something that made an unpleasant crunching sound, then disintegrated. She let out a little shriek.

Instantly, Odelia was back by her side. “What is it?” she asked hurriedly. If Adelaide didn’t know better, she might have thought that her friend was nervous.

“It was just a skeleton, I think.”

“A skeleton? Not…”

“No, not Jackdaw.” She swallowed. “If I had to guess from the amount of cobwebs around us, I would guess spiders. The big ones.”

The girls looked at each other. There was a sheer drop leading on from where the path should have continued, and from it echoed the sound of many scuttering feet.

“This way!” cried Odelia and pulled her up away from the drop. As the first spider appeared Adelaide sent a bolt of flame into its armoured carapace, just as her uncle had taught her for those long winter nights when she had to stay in the house alone. She knocked the next few back too, their dying shrieks piercing the still air. Was that all of them?

Odelia had halted, and was looking at her with an arched eyebrow. Adelaide blushed. What would she be thinking? Odelia was an amazing duellist, yes, but it was hard to imagine that her upbringing - so obviously different from Adelaide’s - meant that she knew what they had to do in the countryside to keep dark creatures at bay. Perhaps she felt disgusted by the violence.

Adelaide shuffled her feet.

“Come on,” Odelia said, kneeling down in front of a small crawl space - a third way out of the cave that Adelaide had not noticed. “Before they come back.” She wriggled through and Adelaide followed suit. They emerged in an enormous cavern, its ceiling stretching higher than what seemed possible in the tomb. And dangling from the ceiling were…

Adelaide felt sick.

Were corpses - human-shaped corpses. All bound up in silvery thread.

Odelia spun wildly around, taking in every corner of the cavern. “It’s a dead end,” she said simply.

And then the first spider erupted from the ground.

-----------------------

One last creature scuttled towards Adelaide but a well aimed blast had it rolling away, its legs folding in on themselves and turning stiff and lifeless. The husks of the others lay scattered around the cavern. Not a pretty sight, but she had seen it before. Odelia stood over one of them, her wand still out yet uncharacteristically still. She was nudging it warily with the toe of her boot as if checking for signs of life. Adelaide stepped carefully over the debris littering the damp soil and walked over to stand beside her. A certain vulnerability had slipped through a crack in a mask which she had not even been aware that her friend wore. For a moment she looked younger, and afraid.

“You don’t think,” she began, but then trailed off.

“Yes?” Adelaide prompted gently.

“You don’t feel bad, do you? Hurting them? Killing them?”

A moment of silence passed between them. This is not what she had expected from the Slytherin.

“Look,” she said firmly. “If something attacks you, you must always defend yourself.” Odelia did not look up, her eyes still trained on the corpse in front of them. Adelaide took a breath and kept talking, though quieter this time. “For the past few years, attacks on my hamlet by dark creatures have been increasing. By law, we are supposed to be protected from them - outside of the Forbidden Forest of course - but the Ministry won’t enforce it, so we have to do it ourselves. And we never, never, feel bad.”

She reached out, and hesitantly squeezed her friend's hand. Jackdaw had been wrong - she could not reconcile the girl he had described with the one who stood before her now. Odelia finally met her gaze. Her eyes shone. “It was self-defence,” she whispered.

“I know,” Adelaide whispered back.

-----------------------

They explored the rest of the tomb without a word. Adelaide did not mind - just being together was companionship enough. She admired how deftly Odelia kept her footing, even as she herself tumbled down slopes and tripped on loose rocks. If it were possible to choose anyone else in the world to be, it would have to be Odelia Black. She wondered what it was like to move through life with such grace.

They crossed a walkway which led over an underground river, the sound of rushing water filling the ravine through which it flowed. Adelaide could not tell how far it stretched, the ends were shrouded in mist. A small part of her wanted to take a boat and find out, but only a very small part, tucked away deep inside.

The second cavern they found was even larger than the first, though this time no spiders lay waiting. Odelia wandered over to the side of the room where a pool of water filled a slight depression in the ground, and peered into it thoughtfully. Adelaide instead walked further in - at the other end was a stone archway, but when she peered through, there was nothing but mist beyond. Still, they had taken every other possible route, so there had to be something here.

“Delly?”

Odelia joined her, dark eyes large and round as she took in the archway.

“There must be something here,” Adelaide said, biting her lip. “We’ve come all this way.”

“We’re treasure hunters Ads,” she replied, smiling suddenly, “have some faith.”

And she pressed her palm to where a door might have been, and it swung open revealing a bridge of interwoven copper and blue crystal, braziers burning bright along the sides. A vaulted chamber lay beyond, as ornate as an ice palace. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Odelia tiptoed delicately onto the bridge, then took a few more steps. She turned back to Adelaide grinning ecstatically. The same light which reflected off the crystals shone around her, as if it was indeed her who was giving them their glow. “Aren’t you going to join me?”

Entranced, Adelaide stepped onto the bridge. It was light under her feet, as though she were walking on glass.

A gentle breeze flowed through the air. It was pleasant, and warm, yet it chilled her to the core. Odelia’s eyes widened.

All at once, the braziers began to extinguish themselves, one by one in a line from the other side of the bridge. Adelaide reached for her wand, but before she could take it Odelia darted forward and shoved her backwards through the arch. She landed on her back on the stone steps, gasping for breath. As she struggled to raise herself onto her elbows it melted away, as if it had never been there at all. The door had vanished - and Odelia was on the other side of it.