Celestial Being

The thing about this giant puzzle game was that Draco didn’t know what was actually going to be important, so he decided to bite the bullet and go back to get his new accomplices the first stamp. He warned them that they shouldn’t give the clue away, which had the woman smirking with a confident, “leave it to me.” The pair left Draco at one side of the tunnel with instructions to “cause a distraction” if needed. Their assertiveness was enough to make Draco nervous.

Draco did have to cause a distraction. A gaggle came by, seeking access to whatever lay beyond the shipdeck. Draco panicked and jumped in front of them, saying the first thing that came to mind. “That is a stunning brocaded silk. Who was your designer?”

The surprised woman cut off what clearly was going to be a sharp comment and instead blushed at Draco’s forwardness. “This old thing?” she tried to play it off.

“Get out of the way, we’re going through here,” said one of the lady’s companions who had no patience for Draco’s disruption. He tried to shove past Draco, leaving Draco to panic again and step directly into his path.

“I say,” Draco said, not sure exactly what he was going to say. “It’s ungentlemanly not to admire a woman as beautiful as this. Don’t you think her outfit stunning?”

That stopped the man short. He stumbled over words, glancing between Draco and the woman who was now staring at her friend with an arched brow, waiting for him to match Draco’s compliment. The man took his time fumbling over a proper accolade and by the time he’d managed the redheaded woman was back, nudging Draco along. Draco bowed to the other party and then swiftly escaped.

The woman waved two stamped invitations at Draco and then tucked them both away. Her friend walked up next to them, having escaped at the same time, only he came barring three mugs and handed one each to Draco and the woman. “Grog.” The man said with a chuckle. “Cheers!” Draco and the woman locked eyes and offered each other skeptical grimaces, but neither hesitated to swing their mugs back and gulp down the drink.

“That’s awful!” Draco sputtered.

The man threw his head back and laughed. “Harry’s got a sick humor. We best drink up before we find out what else he has in store for us.”

That drew a second look from Draco. He eyed the man up and down, from his close cropped dark auburn hair, to his muscled arms, to his ridiculously practical work boots. With no costume to hide his identity Draco would have recognized him if he was anyone Draco knew.

“If we’re going, let’s go,” the woman said. She chugged her drink then handed it off to someone dressed as a sailor that Draco realized was waitstaff. The woman was wandering ahead and Draco knew it was now or never. He pinched his nose and chugged. He gagged when he finished, to the cheers of his new companions, then stumbled back to the front of his crew to lead towards the way out.

This time when he presented his gallery invitation to the guards they responded with a thumbs up. However, instead of letting Draco out to cross over the fake sea, the guard showed them how just inside the dark cavern there was a door. It led to the same hallway where the tentacle emerged from. Draco was sad to see the sea monster did not continue on throughout the entire path, but there were tidy signs posted along the way to make sure they didn’t get lost. Castle guards were also posted, and they watched the trio’s every step to make sure no one wandered off course.

None of the three so much as glanced at the signs, each able to follow their feet through the castle.

“What are you then, a star? A planet?” Draco asked the woman, who mostly came across as red.

She cackled and flexed a muscular pose. “I am Mars! The red planet and god of war!”

Draco tilted his head to take in her overall countenance. She was tiny for a war god but Draco could see the spark in her eyes daring him to question her prowess. “Yes, I think it works,” he decided. He turned to the man. “I confess, I can’t even guess what you are.”

The man smirked and shrugged. “Coerced to attend.”

“Don’t be such a grump,” the woman, Mars, commanded. “Let’s make something up. Who can tell me Mars’ siblings?”

Draco’s head snapped to the man again. Surely, with that signature hair and over enthusiastic zeal, Mars was the Weaslette. Draco couldn’t quite recall how many brothers were left for him to meet. Two? Three? Which one was this?

Draco forced himself to stop staring. He diverted himself by naming off roman gods and goddesses. “Bellona, Mercury, Vulcan…”

The man cut Draco off, “I’m not picking any of those. Can’t be bothered.”

“Right,” Draco said with a small frown. “I think we’ll call you… Aergia.”

“I don’t know that one,” Mars said.

It was Draco’s turn to smirk. “We’ve switched to the Greeks. Aergia is the goddess of sloth and laziness. She doesn’t even have a constellation in the sky. Perfect for the grouchy old man of the party.” The woman laughed along with Draco while the man muttered that he wasn’t a sloth. “Prove it,” Draco said over his shoulder, right before he flung open a set of doors to reveal their destination.

The room was large and beautiful. Each wall was covered nearly to the ceiling and floor with picture after picture, illuminated by brilliant chandeliers above. The room was nearly entirely empty, so guests could bask in the art they were there to see. The only other things in the room was a table laid out with flute glasses of alcohol, and a trio of beautifully adorned women.

“Damnit, of course they got here first!” cursed Mars, clearly recognizing who they discovered.

Two of the women were dressed in complementary yellow and white gowns, designed to show a multi-pronged star reach out from each waist. Their golden star masks were tasteful and elegant, and Draco would bet money they were the Patil sisters.

The third wore a black and silver gown cut simply, but with such intricate design as to make Draco dizzy examining it from afar. Draco walked closer. The decorations were woven into the cloth and displayed celestial navigation tools like backstaffs, octants, and sextants. The mask was an intricate, mechanical thing. It was made of arcs, with rotating discs and small rulers. Draco’s eyes widened when he recognized what it was meant to be. It was an astrolabe, a way to chart the stars and visible heavenly bodies.

He had called the other woman stunning and he had been wrong. Nothing was as amazing as this. “You are glorious,” Draco said in awe.

His companions yanked him back and away from the woman. “Don’t go falling for her! She’s the competition,” Mars said, once again commanding their team. Mars walked them to the table and loaded each person up with drinks. “C’mon navigator, we need to solve the next clue and get ahead of them.”

Draco glanced over his shoulder at the other trio. They’d set their sights on the paintings on the walls and were examining each one carefully. Looking for what? Draco pulled out his gallery clue and showed it to his peers, too distracted by the mystery to bother drinking.

“That’s not like mine,” Aergia said.

“They’re all different,” Draco explained. Then, because he wasn’t one to miss the opportunity, “Show me both of yours.

Mars pulled out both her cards and flipped them over to reveal their clues. Draco taught them how to read them, revealing both “library” for Mars, and, like Draco, “observatory” for Aergia. Draco glanced at the man again, wondering how the clues were assigned.

Draco shook his head and focused on the task at hand. “There’s only one thing in this clue that’s not in the other two, ‘Let yourself enjoy a carefree evening of festivities.’ Let's find that picture.”

“Huzzah!” Shouted Mars before breaking away and running around the room, presumably searching hard even if it looked more like she was just enjoying letting her energy burst out of her.

Aergia shook his head at his sister. “Bit much, isn’t she?”

“I’m rather envious of her ability to let loose and have fun. It might help find the picture we’re looking for,” answered Draco. He decided to turn away and begin searching.

The challenge was there were so many pictures. They weren’t the large, stately images in the great chambers and castle hallways. They were small canvases with intimate scenes depicted. Most had people, and Draco had to peer in and examine each window into the models’ lives. Draco got caught up from time to time in a painting he thought must be the one, but each time it proved false under greater scrutiny. It made Draco uneasy to see so many pictures of parties where the attendees looked stressed or scared instead of having fun. One image was clearly the great ball room they had come from, and some of the figures looked eerily like people Draco knew from his own memory, looming intimidatingly over dancers with terror painted clearly on their faces.

Draco had to step away. He drank his glass fully in one go after.

“Navigator!” called out Mars. She wasn’t stealthy, but the room didn’t allow room to hide so what did it matter. Draco was next to her in an instant. He had to crouch down on the floor to see the painting she had discovered. On it there were four happy people dancing near a lit fireplace. Draco peered closely at the fire. In its swirls was the sign for the fall equinox.

“Very good,” Draco praised. Then without preamble he started fidgeting with the picture frame to find out what clue it would reveal.

It was that the frame pulled forward, revealing a hole carved into the wall with another small metal box.

“Ha!” Mars cried out. “Char- I mean, Aergia, get your lazy butt over here and help us out.”

Draco’s heart raced as he opened up the box and found the top side to line his invitation up with. “Hand me your clues,” he said, then gathered up Mars’ clues with his own and carefully went through all four, hoping no one noticed the extra among the group. He carefully pocketed his own observatory clue before giving the other two back. His trio got out of the way to examine their maps while the three ladies took their turn with the stamp.

This stamp revealed half of the bottom of the map. It looked like a stack of books laid out on a desk. “The library!” Mars crowed, now fully invested. She flipped over her card to read the invitation, letting Draco lean over her shoulder. Draco knew most of it could be ignored and was easily able to find the part that mattered.

“Four. You need four people with you to go.”

Draco, Mars, and Aergia looked up at each other. It was Aergia who grinned.

“Ladies,” he called over to the other group. All three look up. “We’re looking for a pair of stars to help us out.” There was nothing fancy in his words, but the charming smile he threw at the twins was reminiscent of how, at the last ball, the king could light up Draco with a grin. The ladies actually swooned. It was like Aergia transformed from a grump to a gallant knight, the way he strode over to them and offered each lady an arm. They blushed and giggled and apologized to the astrolabe, who knew when she’d been beaten. She only huffed and waved them on.

Back in the hallway, a guard examined Mars’ invitation and carefully counted the guests she’d gathered. Only then were they allowed to continue on their scavenger hunt. Mars and Draco were eager to run ahead to gain whatever lead they could. Draco suspected Aergia held them back on purpose to taunt them for their enthusiasm.

Draco occasionally glanced over his shoulder. He told himself it was to make sure he hadn’t pulled too far ahead. He also used it to watch the other man flirt with the ladies. He made it look easy with his charm, but also he was strong and handsome and just the sort of man who’d draw eyes if anyone was looking.

Draco hated himself for being jealous.

They made it to the library at last. Best yet, they were the first ones there. Mars gleefully bounced up and down. She pulled out her clue to analyze it for the next hint.

“Our Vast Universe, by Robert Galbraith,” Draco said. Mars looked up in surprise. “That’s what we’re looking for.”

“Right-o!” said Mars, taking Draco at his word. She gave him a jaunty salute and then was off running.

Before Draco followed with his own investigation he paused to ask the twins if they’d show him their invitations. The yellow star also had the library, but the white star had “Chapel”. Draco tried to hide his excited smile as he encouraged them to search for clues as well and ran off into the stacks of books.

Draco knew this library like the back of his hands. The hours he’d spent here as a youth was how he knew all the names to the Greek and Roman gods and was so well versed in poetry. His parents urged him to study science and strategy, but Draco never complied. It helped him now, when he found the exact shelf he needed. He noted it was marked facing the walkway with the autumn equinox double spiral. A clue for those who needed guidance to find the book.

There it was, the novel Draco had been searching for. He pulled it off the shelf, revealing the metal box behind it. Draco pulled the box out and stamped his two invitations before anyone could see and question it. Once again, he tucked the observatory invitation away. Only then did he call for everyone else.

After they all received the clue and hid the box back away, they huddled together and stared at the clue provided. It was an image in the middle on the right, angled from either of the first two clues on the top and bottom left.

“It’s… a tube?” one of the twins said, squinting.

The other of the twins shook her head. “It’s a cannon. It’s shooting at the sea monster.”

There was a collective round of “Ahhhs.” Then everyone looked up at each other with pained expressions.

Nobody had the matching invitation.