The Writing on the Wall
“What's going on here? What's going on?” Attracted no doubt by Boscha's shout, the woman Luz saw outside Lilith’s office after arriving with the flying car came shouldering her way through the crowd “Oh no, is Miss Jenkinmeyer” Willow whispered.
Karen Jenkinmeyer, also known as the Caretaker, was a husky woman with periwinkle hair at shoulders length, she dressed similar to the Kare-takers, but her robes were purple, and she wore no mask but a pair of small green glasses. She also carried a shepherd's crook, but hers had a small bell in it.
When she saw Ark, she fell back, clutching her face in horror “Ark! My sweet baby Ark! What happened to you?” She shrieked and her popping eyes fell on Luz “You! You! You did this to him! Didn't you?! When I get my hands on you I’ll–”
“Karen,” Principal Bump had arrived on the scene, followed by several other teachers. In seconds he had swept past the trio and placed his hand on Ark’s chest “Everyone will proceed to their dormitories immediately, everyone except you three” He turned to the trio.
Soon it was just the teachers, Jenkinmeyer and the three students in the corridor with the Kare-taker. As the principal started to examine the scene, Willow, Gus, and Luz exchanged tense looks. Bump was an inch close to Ark’s body, he traced his long fingers with sharp nails over its body like a scalpel blade.
Eda was watching closely, her eyes looking up and down the Kare-taker's body as though she was looking for a detail. Lilith loomed behind her sister, then turned to Luz, Willow and Gus, and with her cold eyes she stared down at them for a couple of seconds before turning back to her sister. The other teachers watched in silence.
“It was definitely a curse that killed it -- probably the Transmogrifian Torture. Encountered it myself once, in Ouagadougou,” De Plume suggested between the sobbings of Jenkinmeyer. Luz couldn't help but feel sorry for her, even though all her disdain for the Kare-takers was transferred to her.
But she felt more sorry for herself, if Bump believed the caretaker, she would be expelled for sure. Bump was now muttering strange words like whispers to Ark, but nothing happened. “He’s not dead, Karen,” Bump pulled Ark’s body down from its crook, once in the ground the body remained upright, motionless as a statue.
“He’s been petrified” Bump continued “Precisely! So unlucky I wasn't there. I know the very countercurse that could have spared him…” De Plume said “But how, I cannot say” Bump concluded.
“Ask her!” Jenkinmeyer shrieked and turned her blushed face to Luz, she had large black marks around her eyes from the makeover that had been removed by her tears “No second year could have done it, it would take dark magic of the most advanced” Bump said firmly, but the caretaker stayed firm in her claims.
“It's her that's done it. You saw what she wrote on the wall! She wants revenge on me and my Kare-takers, all the students want!” She shrieked again “ It's not true, sir! I swear! I never touched a Kare-taker.” Luz said loudly, uncomfortably aware of everyone looking at her “Rubbish! You, students, are all the same!” Karen snared back at her.
“If I might, Principal…” The others turn as Lilith separates from the shadows. Luz’s sense of foreboding increased, nothing Lilith had to say was going to do any good. “Perhaps Noceda and her friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time…” Luz and the others blinked in shock, could Lilith be defending them?
“However, the circumstances are suspicious. I, for one, don't recall seeing Noceda at dinner” Willow, Gus and Luz all launched into an explanation about the Deathday party “But why not join the feast afterwards? Why come here?” Lilith proceeded, her eyes glittering in the candlelight.
“We… were tired, we wanted to just go to bed,” Luz said after a moment of hesitation, she knew it would sound very far-fetched if she told them she had been led there by a bodiless voice no one but she could hear.
“Without any supper?” said Lilith, a triumphant smile flickering across her gaunt face “I don't think ghosts provided food fit for living people at their parties,” The trio had nothing to say.
“I suggest, Principal, that they are not being entirely truthful. It might be a good idea if they were deprived of certain privileges until they are ready to tell us the whole story. I personally feel that Park should be taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team until she is ready to be honest” Eda sighed.
“Really, Lily?” Eda said, almost disappointed “I see no reason to stop the girl from playing Quidditch. It wasn't hit over the head with a bat. There is no evidence at all that any of them has done anything wrong.” Bump was giving Luz a searching look. His twinkling gaze made her feel as though he were being X rayed.
“Innocent until proven guilty, Lilith,” he said firmly. Lilith looked displeased and Jenkinmeyer, furious “Ark has been Petrified! I want to see some punishment!” Bump turned to her with a soft smile “We will be able to make a cure for it, Karen” Bump said patiently.
“Professor Milo recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Ark” De Plume butted in “I'll make it, I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep” Lilith turned to him with a bone-chilling stare.
“Excuse me” she said icily “But I believe I am the Potions master at this school” There was a very awkward pause “You may go” Bump said to Luz, Gus, and Willow and they went as quickly as possible without running. After about a minute of walking Luz spoke “ Do you think I should've told them? About the voice I heard” Willow was quick with her answer.
“No, hearing voices no one else can isn’t a good sign, even in the Wizarding world” Something in her voice made Luz ask “You do believe me, don't you?” Willow said quickly “´Course I do… but you must admit it’s a bit weird” Luz nodded, she could see that Willow had her doubts.
“The whole thing's weird. What was that writing on the wall about? The Hall Has Been Opened… What's that supposed to mean?” Willow asked “You know, it rings a sort of bell” Gus said slowly “I think I heard a story about a secret hall at Hogwarts once…” He seemed lost in his thoughts.
For a few days, the attack was the talk of the school. Jenkinmeyer didn't let it die out either, she spent her days pacing the spot where the body was, as though she thought the attacker might return. Luz nodded that the writings didn't wash off, even with the caretaker scrubbing it multiple times.
The fate of the Kare-taker seemed to affect people differently, older students seemed to enjoy the fact that one of them was out, while first-years showed Ark some sympathy and shared a tear or two. Willow seemed a bit moved by it, as she looked at the scene a bit saddened every time they passed the corridor.
Gus seemed less affected by it, he was more interested in the mystery behind it. Luz didn't know what to feel, on one hand, the Kare-takers were a pain to deal with, on the other, it was their nature, something they didn't control.
“Come on Amity” They heard Skara talking with the younger Blight “You know they are pretty much indestructible, whoever done this will certainly be caught and expelled, and I’m sure Bump can find a way to fix it” Skara tried to cheer up an even paler Amity “Didn't know you had a soft spot for them Amity” Skara patted her friend’s back.
The Wednesday after the attack, Lilith had made Luz stay behind to scrape tubeworms off the desk, after a hurried lunch she went to the library to meet Willow and saw Amelia Asthas coming towards her, she was about to open her mouth to say ‘hello’ when Amelia caught sight of her, turned abruptly and sped off in the opposite direction.
Luz met Willow at the back of the library measuring his history of magic homework, their professor had asked for a three-foot-long composition on the Medieval Assembly of European Wizards, she sighed, she was still 8 inches short.
“Even with a writing tiny, Gus’s is four feet seven, he’s over there by the way” Willow pointed as Luz started measuring her own homework. Luz told Willow about Amelia and they would have discussed it if Gus hadn't emerged, he looked irritable “All the copies of Hogwarts history have been taken out and there is a two-week waiting list, because of the De Plume books I couldn't fit mine in my trunk” He said sitting down next to Luz and Willow.
“I guess everyone had the same idea, to read about the legend of the Dead Man’s Hall. The worse part? I know it, but I can't remember and I can't find it anywhere else” While the bell rang and the trio made their way to History of Magic class, Willow asked if Gus could lend her 2 inches of her composition but the boy declined.
The most, and probably the only, interesting thing about the History of Magic class was their teacher entering through the blackboard. Today was boring as ever, the students were all in a deep stupor thanks to his flat drone, like an old vacuum cleaner, voice. Gus took everyone by surprise when he raised his hand, including the ghost teacher.
“Mister err…” He started confused “Porter, I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Dead Man’s Hall” Gloria, who was sitting with her mouth hanging open, gazing out of the window jerked out of her trance, and Star’s elbow slipped her desk. Professor Bins blinked.
“My subject is History of Magic, I deal with facts, not myths and legends, Mister Porter” Bins said in a dry wheezy voice “But professor, doesn’t all legends have a base in something?” Bins seemed shocked and Luz was sure no one ever interrupted him before, dead or alive.
“Well… I suppose…. But the one you speak is such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale” But the whole class was now hanging on his every word and it was obvious he was completely thrown by such an unusual show of interest.
“Very well… let me see… you all know of course that the school was founded over a thousand years ago, the precise date is uncertain, by the four greatest wizards and witches of the age, the four houses were named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying muggle eyes, for it was an age where magic was feared by common people and our wizards and witches suffered much persecution” He paused, gazing blearily around the room, and continued.
“For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others, because he wanted to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts, he believed that magical learning should be kept within all magic families. He disliked taking students of muggle parentage, or as we call them today muggle-borns, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school” Bins paused again, pursing his lips, looking like a wrinkled old tortoise.
“Reliable historical sources tell us this much, but the legend of the Dead Man’s Hall has obscured these honest facts. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden hall in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. According to the legend, he seeled this hall so no one would be able to open it until his own true legatee arrived at the school and they alone would be able to unseal the Dead Man’s Hall, unleashing the horror within and purge the school of all who are unworthy to study magic” There was silence after he finished telling the story, but not the usual sleepy silence.
There was an unease in the air as everyone continued to watch him, hoping for more. Professor Bins looked faintly annoyed “The whole thing is errand nonsense of course, naturally, the school has been searched for evidence of such a hall many times by the most lurid wizards and witches. It does not exist. A tale told to frighten the gullible” Gus’s hand was back in the air.
“What do you mean by ‘the horror within’, Sir?” Bins responded in his dry reedy voice “Is believed to be some sort of monster, which the legatee alone can control. But I repeat, there is no Hall and no Monster” He said as the students started to look at each other nervously.
“But, sir,” said Gloria Ironsmith “if the Hall can only be opened by Slytherin's true legatee, no one else would be able to find it, would they?” Professor Binns now had an aggressive tone “Nonsense, if a long succession of Hogwarts principals hasn't found the thing — ”
“But, Professor” piped up another student “You'd probably have to use Dark Magic to open it — ” Professor Binns snapped “Just because a wizard doesn't use Dark Magic doesn't mean he can't, I repeat if the likes of Bump—”
“But maybe you've got to be related to Slytherin, so Bump couldn't — ” began a third student, but Professor Binns had had enough “That will do,” he said sharply. "It is a myth! It does not exist! There is no evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom cupboard! I regret telling you such a foolish story! We will return, if you please, to history, to the solid, believable, verifiable fact!” And within five minutes, the class had sunk back into its usual torpor.
“Never imagined that Salazar Slytherin was such twisted old loony,” Willow told Luz and Gus as they fought their way through the teeming corridors after the lesson “Much less that he started the whole pure blood stuff, I’m really glad I’m not in his house, and honestly if they are going to keep the same mentality forever, I’d have their entire house dissolved, if I was principal” Gus nodded, half in agreement with Willow, half processing all the information he gained.
Luz’s stomach had just dropped, she never told them that the Sorting Hat wanted to put her in Slytherin, nether that her father was in Salazar’s house. She didn't know how to feel, if in Slytherin was those Salazar deemed worthy, what it said about her? And her father? She managed to shrug it off during the break, but now it came back stronger than ever.
As they were shunted along in the throng, Tinella Nosa went past “Hiya, Luz” Luz automatically said “Hello Tinella” It seemed as though she wanted to tell Luz something, but being so small she couldn't fight against the tide of people barring her to the Great Hall, she squeaks something and then was gone.
“She said someone is saying something about you Luz, what can it be?” Gus said “That I’m Slytherin’s legatee, I expect” Then she remember how Amelia had run away from her at lunchtime and her stomach dropped unpleasantly. Willow and Gus sighed annoyed.
“Do you really think that it’s real?” Willow asked as they managed to climb another staircase “I don't know” Gus said slowly “Bump couldn't fix Ark, so it makes me wonder if whatever made that was even human” As he spoke, they turned a corridor and found themselves at the end of the one where the attack had happened. It was exactly as it was left that night, except that was an empty chair against the wall and that wasn't a stiff body hanging.
“No one is around, it won't hurt to poke around,” Willow said, and against Camila’s voice in her head, Luz agreed. She got to her hands and knees so she could crawl along, searching for clues. There were some scorch marks.
“Come and look at this, it’s kind of funny,” Gus said and the girls joined him. He was looking at the topmost pane where around 20 spiders were scuttling, apparently fighting to get through a small crack in the glass. A long silvery thread was dangling like a rope as though they had all climbed it in their hurry to get outside.
“Have you ever seen spiders act like that?” Luz said wondering “No, of course, something weird is going on with spiders, always spiders or snakes, why couldn't it be butterflies or ladybugs?” Gus said “Please don't even mention them,” Willow said tensely “What? Spiders?” Luz asked “No… ladybugs,” She said a bit embarrassed.
Luz and Gus probably had a look of utmost confusion because she explained herself soon after “I have… coccinellidaephobia, the fear of ladybugs” Luz and Gus snorted, trying to contain laughter “Yeah, I know it’s funny, but I can't handle them, I just… wanted to get it out, before you discovered more embarrassingly” Luz and Gus stayed in silence for a while, holding a laugher they didn't want Willow to hear.
“Anyway” She said annoyed “Someone moped all the water up, where did it come from in the first place?” Gus, now recovered, walked past the empty chair “It was about here, level with this door” Gus reached for the brass doorknob but suddenly withdrew his hand as though he'd been burned.
“What's the matter?” Luz said, “Can't go in there?” Gus said gruffly “That's a girls' toilet” Willow walked closer “Oh, there won't be anyone in there, that's Moaning Myrtle's place, come on, let's have a look” And ignoring the large OUT OF ORDER sign, she opened the door.
It was the gloomiest, most depressing bathroom Luz had ever set foot in. Under a large, cracked, and spotted mirror were a row of chipped sinks. The floor was damp and reflected the dull light given off by the stubs of a few candles, burning low in their holders; the wooden doors to the stalls were flaking and scratched and one of them was dangling off its hinges.
Willow put her fingers to her lips and set off toward the end stall. When she reached it she said, “Hello, Myrtle, how are you?” Luz and Gus went to look. Moaning Myrtle was floating on the cistern of the toilet, picking a spot on her chin “This is the girls’ bathroom, he's not a girl” Myrtle said eying Gus “I know, I… just want to show him how… nice is in here” Willow said carefully “Ask if she saw anything” Gus mouthed at Willow.
“What are you whispering? I wish people would stop talking behind my back” Myrtle said in a voice choked with tears “Even if I am a ghost, I do have feelings you know!” Luz tried to calm her “No one wants to upset you, Gus, only” But it didn't help.
“No one wants to upset me? That’s a good one! My life was nothing but misery at this place, and now people come along to ruin my death” Willow decided it would be better to go straight to the point “We wanted to ask you if you’d seen anything funny lately because a Kare-taker was attacked right outside your front door on Halloween” said Willow.
“Did you see anyone here or near that night?” Luz asked “I wasn't paying attention” Myrtle said dramatically “Peeves upset me so much, I came here and I’d have died from anger! Then, of course, I remember I was already dead!” She gave a dramatic sob, rose up in the air, turned over, and dived headfirst into the toilet, splashing water all over them and vanishing from sight.
“Bye Myrtle,” Willow said almost surprised “Well, that was almost cheerful for her, come on, let’s go” The trio got in a semi-trouble with one of their prefects, the 5th-year girl saw Gus walking out of a girls’ bathroom and was furious, they tried to convince her they were doing nothing wrong but it just resulted in them losing 5 points.
She dragged them to dinner and they chose a seat as far away from her as possible. In the common room that night, after a while, they resumed their conversation “But who could have been?” Gus asked puzzled “Let’s see…” Willow said closing her eyes “Who would love to get muggle-borns and even half-bloods?” She opened her eyes in sudden realisation.
They looked at each other, but Gus seemed unconvinced “If you’re talking about Boscha…” Willow interrupted “Remember what she said? You’ll be next Mudbloods – It’s the term some use to call muggle-borns, just like half-breed is used to half-blood” Willow said upon seeing the confusing face of Luz.
“Oh please, Boscha Troisoeil? Ligatee of Slytherin?” Gus rolled his eyes “But her family has been most in Slytherin, they could be his descendants, her mother is certainly evil enough. Perhaps they have been passing down the key for generations” Gus still seemed unconvinced, but he admitted it was a possibility.
“But we don't have a way to prove it, it’s not like we can just enter the Slytherin common room and ask her without knowing it’s us” Luz said gloomily but Gus made a funny expression “There might be a way…” The girls turned to him at once “All we need is… but we would be breaking at least 50 school rules, not to mention it’s dangerous and extremely difficult” He looked at the girls waiting for his follow-up.
“All we'd need would be some Polyjuice Potion, Lilith mentioned it in class a few weeks ago, It transforms you into somebody else. Think about it! We could change into three of the Slytherins and no one would know it was us. Boscha would probably tell us anything. She's probably boasting about it in the Slytherin common room right now” Luz frowned.
“This Polyjuice thing sounds a bit dodgy to me, what if we were stuck looking like three of the Slytherins forever?” Gus shook his head “It wears off after a while, but getting hold of the recipe won’t be easy. Lilith said it was in a book called Moste Potente Potions and it's bound to be in the Restricted Section of the library” Luz pinched the bridge of her nose, getting the book would already be hard enough.
“Hard to see why we'd want the book, really, if we weren't going to try and make one of the potions.” Willow sighed “If we made it sound as though we were just interested in the theory, we might stand a chance…” Gus suggested “Oh, come on, no teacher's going to fall for that” Willow said “They'd have to be really thick…”