Room 213
Tess lay in bed, staring at the flickering green lights on the ceiling. She was too angry to go to sleep, but she didn't feel like talking to anyone, either. No one understands me. They all want me to give up and forget that any of this happened.
But Scott trusts me! He wants me to know his secret! He wants me in the Esoteric Club! Her breath quickened, and she felt a shiver of excitement bolt down her spine.
A sobering thought brought her crashing back down again: Scott's dead. Somebody killed him. He may have died even before I was born.
Something pushed against her curtain. She thought it was Rebecca checking on her, but instead, a paper aeroplane slipped through the part and landed on her stomach. She opened it up quickly. It was a note from Robert.
What were you about to tell me when we were so rudely interrupted? Write your response, then give the paper a tap with your wand. The parchment is enchanted. It will know what to do.
Tess got out of bed. She grabbed her history book, her inkwell and a pen. Propping herself up as best she could, she wrote a response on the parchment:
Scott showed me numbers. 2, 1 and 3. I think he means Room 213. Do you know where that is? Tess tapped the paper with her wand. Immediately, it folded back into a paper aeroplane and darted from the room.
She hoped an answer would be quick in coming, but it wasn't. Tess set her book, pen and ink on the floor beside her bed, and laid back down again. The other girls went one by one into the tiny water closet. They were getting ready for bed.
Rebecca checked on all of them, and the room darkened further. For another minute, all was silent, but then, there was the soft tap against her curtain. The paper aeroplane was back. It dipped down and landed softly once more on her stomach. Tess opened it impatiently, and using her wand as a light, began to read.
Everything is starting to make sense, now. Room 213 is in the library. It's a large room - a popular study room. Do you remember? That’s the room where we looked at lists with Martindale, and Madam Pince told us about the Dark Lord’s men altering records.
On one side is a blank stone wall. I never thought about it before - we live in a castle, after all - but that's probably a secret door.
Highcross and his Esoteric Club must have discovered the secret door and how it operates. Then, they changed the password to something No One Would Ever Say. Remember, this is the library, so even a very obscure word or term, like Mimbulus mimbletonia, for instance, might come up in the course of an intense study session. They wouldn't want some clever Ravenclaw spouting their word while cramming for his O.W.L.s, and discovering their secret door by accident. So, they made their password an utter taboo. It was bloody brilliant of them.
What's on the other side of that door, I wonder? That's for you to find out, I think. This is your project now. I suggest reserving the room so you can investigate further. See Alan Bitters, the Fifth Year Slytherin, about it. He works in the library and schedules the study rooms.
213 is a popular room, and he won't want to reserve it for a First Year. Suggest this date for him: Saturday November Sixth. It'll be your best bet for this term.
Good luck! And, next time, take credit for your work! Fondly, RK
Tess had barely finished when Rebecca stuck her head between her curtains. "What is this?" she cried. "Is Robert writing to you?" As Rebecca reached for the note, the parchment went blank. It flew out of Tess' hand, up towards the ceiling and then shot back down again, finishing with a neat slide right under Tess' pillow.
Tess couldn't help but laugh. "I didn't do that!" she said.
Rebecca sighed heavily. "He enchanted the note!"
"It's really nothing!" pleaded Tess. "He was just writing me about our History project!”
Rebecca sat down at the edge of her bed. "That History project has already earned you one Howler. Do you really want to risk another one?"
"It's fine! I'm keeping up with my other schoolwork. The Headmistress said I could keep going so long as I got my other work done."
"That was before you got your Howler," said Rebecca.
Tess shook her head. "I've had two classes with Professor Gregor since then. If he didn't want me to work on this, he would have told me."
"I'm going to talk to Professor Gregor about this myself." She got up off the bed. "I don't want you passing notes to Robert all night. Go to sleep!"
"I will!" Tess protested. Already, she was feeling tired. As Rebecca disappeared through the curtain, Tess drifted off to sleep.
As the girls finished their lunch the next day, Tess said, "I need to go to the library."
Morwena gave Tess a cool, stern glance. "Is this about Highcross?"
"Yes. Rob - " Morwena raised her eyebrows as Tess started to say Robert. ". . . um, Kaufmann gave me a suggestion last night that I need to follow up on."
"Are you going to write the next section of this essay?" asked Morwena.
Tess smiled. "Maybe I will. Kaufmann said I needed to start taking credit for my work. It's not like I'll suddenly be ahead of you in History or anything," she added.
Pauline asked, "What does he want you to do?"
"I just have to see if a room is available. We think that the Esoteric Club used to meet in one of the study rooms in the library. I want to go there and see."
"See what?" asked Rhiannon, her voice heavy with irritation.
"I'll go on my own," retorted Tess firmly. "I won't get you in trouble."
"Fine," said Morwena. "We'll be downstairs."
While her friends went down to the Halls, Tess followed thin, dark haired Alan Bitters upstairs to the library. He wasn't aware that she was following him until he sat down at his desk. He peered up at her with his dark eyes and said, "Yes? Do you need something?"
"Is Room 213 available?"
"I doubt it. It's a very popular room." He reached for his ledger book. "And, being a First Year, you would have absolutely the lowest priority for reserving it."
"Well, I was thinking, since it's the middle of the day, and most students are still in class . . . ."
"Yes, but N.E.W.T. classes often break up into study sessions, and 213 is a popular spot, because of its size." Bitters thumbed through his ledger, turning each thick yellow page slowly. "Yes, there's a N.E.W.T. level Astronomy group meeting there now."
Tess drew in a patient breath. "Is there an opening on November Sixth?"
Bitters sighed heavily. "That's not too far away, you know. A week and a half may seem like planning ahead to a First Year, but it's really not to someone like me."
"Will you check?"
Bitters turned a few more of his thick yellow pages, black squares and lines littered with bits of tiny scrawl. He stopped on November Sixth. As he stared down at the page, his brow furrowed. "It is open. The whole day," he murmured, puzzled. Then, "Oh! It's a Hogsmeade Weekend."
Looking up at Tess, he said, "Yes, you may have Room 213 on November Sixth, provided that whatever you are doing is over by mid-afternoon when the rest of us come back from Hogsmeade."
Tess gave him a prim smile. "Let's reserve it for the nine o'clock hour, then, shall we? So, if a Second Year group needs the room, they can have it after that."
Bitters either missed, or politely ignored, Tess' sarcasm. "Yes. I'll put you down for nine o'clock. What was your name again?"
"Tess Covenshire."
Tess went back downstairs and found her friends sitting on their loveseats. As Tess sat down, Morwena gave her an expectant look. "Well, did you find what you were looking for?"
"Not yet," said Tess smugly. "But I'm making progress."
That evening, as they came into the Great Hall for dinner, Robert passed closely to Tess and brushed his hand against her shoulder blade. He gazed down at her. She smiled and made a firm nod.
The girls settled in at their end of the table. Morwena said, "It's difficult to be secretive around Slytherins. We are all so in tune to subtleties. Several of us took note of your exchange with Kaufmann. Rebecca is worried and alarmed. Delia and Umberto are just filing impressions away for later. Neither of them know what's really going on, I think."
Pauline said, "Rebecca has been to see Gregor about you. I saw her go into his study."
"I'm not doing anything wrong," huffed Tess. "Professor Gregor hasn't even spoken to me about this, and I see him every other day."
Rhiannon remained silent. During the exchange, she turned her head and did not look Tess' way until the conversation shifted to another topic.
For two weeks, Tess went about her schoolwork. She finished her homework promptly and earned A's and E's on her coursework. She visited the picture of Scott Highcross regularly, but otherwise, she kept with her girlfriends. She did not speak to Robert at all during this time.
On Friday, November Fifth, the Slytherin table was buzzing with excitement over the pending Hogsmeade trip. Several couples had dates at the tea shop. A group of third year boys, including Cyrus' friend, Stainton, were speaking loudly and excitedly about Weasley's Joke Shop. Alan Bitters snidely remarked, "You know they were Gryffindors."
"Who?" said Stainton.
"The Weasleys. Every one of them."
Stainton made a face, but made no other comment. The older Bitters brother came to his rescue. "Still, they don't turn their nose up at our Sickles and Galleons."
Cyrus Kane said loudly, "I don't see why the First Years can't go. It's not like it's dangerous. My parents let me wander around Knockturn Alley by myself. I could handle Hogsmeade."
"Hush," said Beardsley. "It's the rules. Besides, we need a break from you little brats."
"You shouldn't complain, Cyrus," said Umberto, sagely. "At least, here inside the castle, we'll be dry. The forecast I read was frightful."
Sure enough, when the girls entered the Great Hall for breakfast, they could hear the rain pelting the stone castle walls. The enchanted ceiling looked like the base of a waterfall. Robert wore a black cape and hood, trimmed in green, which closed with a silver clasp.
Tess smiled at him and said, "You look prepared!"
He smirked at her. "We'll be drowned rats by the end of the day, but it'll be good to get away from everything for a while. Are you ready for your task today?"
"Yes!"
"Good luck." He set his hand briefly on her shoulder, and she beamed up at him.
As the girls sat down at their end of the table, Morwena said, "What was that all about? What are we doing today?"
"Um, I reserved a room at the library for us." This earned her a cruel glare from Rhiannon. Tess, faltering, gushed, "You don't have to come! It's just my project."
"Of course, we're coming," said Morwena, sternly. "Whatever this is, we'll find it out together."
Morwena having made her decision, there was no further debate. The girls ate breakfast in silence. The older students finished their breakfast and prepared to leave for their Hogsmeade Weekend. Some went down for further rain gear. Robert and his friends met up with Roddy Martindale and some other Ravenclaw boys. When they were all assembled, they pulled up their hoods and disappeared into the downpour.
When the table had cleared out, the girls rose and went to the Entrance Hall. Vanessa was lingering at the edge of their group. Tess gave her a nervous glance. It was Morwena, this time, who rounded on her. "On you go," she said sternly. "We won't be meeting any boys on our little outing."
Vanessa huffed, but finding no welcoming smile amongst the four girls, she went on her way.
Morwena turned to Tess and asked, "So, what is your plan?"
Tess gave a nervous shiver. "I reserved a room at the library. Kaufmann said it wouldn't be in use today, and he was right! I got the room I wanted."
"Which room is this?" asked Morwena. "The room where Highcross' club met?"
"I think so," said Tess. "The room's reserved for nine o'clock."
It was eight thirty. "I wonder if Madam Pince would mind us arriving early," said Morwena. "Let's go and see."
At the foot of the stairs, the girls crossed in front of the Gryffindor First Year boys, standing in a clump, dashing Paul Hewson at their center. "Careful boys," said Paul as they passed, "there goes some evil Slytherin Witches."
Morwena had made two steps up the Grand Staircase. With her hand on the banister, she slowly turned and glared down at Hewson.. "Evil?" she cried. "It is no sin to have ambition, Hewson."
Tess began to laugh, and the other girls followed suit. Up the stairs they climbed. The boys made no sign of following them.
Inside the library, they went straight to the front desk. Tess said to Madam Pince, "We're a little early, but I had a room reserved for today. Can we just start using it, now?"
The old librarian's brow furrowed. "Let me check the book." She opened the ledger and turned the pages with a maddening patience. "What is your name?"
"Tess Covenshire."
"Slytherin First Year?"
"Yes."
Pince gazed at the badge on Tess' cloak, the green snake against the silver standard. "You may have the room," she intoned, solemnly.
The girls went to the corner of the library where the study rooms were located. They found Room 213 without difficulty. "This is the one," said Tess. She held the door open for her friends. Morwena and Pauline went promptly inside.
Morwena: “This is the room where we reviewed Martindale’s list.”
Tess felt a flutter of nerves as she gazed at the stone wall. Rhiannon paused at the threshold and said, "Do you know what you're doing?"
Tess laughed. "Not really."
Rhiannon sighed, and stepped into the room. Tess came behind her and shut the door.
Morwena walked slowly around the table in the center of the room, looking at the walls. "Is this where they met? Scott Highcross and the Esoteric Club?"
"No," said Tess, "but we're close."
"Then why are we here?" asked Rhiannon.
Tess didn't answer. She gazed at the wall and gathered her courage. She pulled in a breath and then called out in a loud voice, "Voldemort!"
Tess felt a chill as the forbidden name left her lips. Both Morwena and Rhiannon flinched. Pauline let out a sudden scream. The stone bricks were slowly moving. They made an arch, similar to the opening into Diagon Alley. Beneath the arch was a stone staircase leading down into pitch darkness.
Rhiannon turned and cried out harshly, "What kind of guy was this? What side was he on?"
Morwena's voice was calm and cool. "Rhiannon, no Death Eater would have been so bold or so flippant as to use that name as a password. Speaking the Dark Lord's name aloud was utterly forbidden. Only his most determined enemies, the likes of Potter and Dumbledore, did so.
To the dark passageway before them, she said, "You have my respect, Mr. Highcross. You were a brave man, though you paid for your courage with your life."
"Kaufmann thought it was funny," said Tess. "He said it was brilliant to change the password to something no one would say by accident."
"How did you learn the password?" asked Morwena.
"From the picture. Scott mouthed it out to me."
Pauline peered down the dark stairwell. "Are we really going down there?"
"Yes," said Morwena decisively. "We've come this far. Scott Highcross wants Tess, at least, to see his hideout." She drew her wand and muttered, "Lumos!" A light sprang from the tip.
"Let's go, shall we?" she said.