Chapter 7
Eventually we come upon a glass case with various trophies inside. Right in front is a large plaque with various names.
“Here.” She points towards the bottom. James Potter Seeker. It read.
“Woah. Harry you never told me your father was a seeker too.” Ron said as we all stared at the shimmering plaque.
“I didn’t know.” Harry stutters.
“Hey look, there’s a McGonagall on there too.” I say and point to a different plaque.
“Do you think it’s the professor.”
“Couldn’t be, she attended Hogwarts before 1971.” Hermione piped up.
“How do you know everything?” Ron asks and turns to her.
“I asked her.”
“Well, I don’t know about you three but all this knowledge has made me hungry. Anyone know how to get back to the great hall?” Ron asks and I look up and down the corridor. It was empty meaning that everyone else was probably on their way to dinner.
“Let’s go this way.” Harry says and we follow him through a doorway. We come to many sets of moving stairs.
“Rowena’s stairs!” I exclaim.
“What?”
“Rowena Ravenclaw. She’s the one who enchanted these stairs. Not sure why other than to help students get to their classes on time I guess.” I say as the staircase shudders and begins to move.
“Woah, hold on.” I grin as they come to a stop at a new landing. Harry leads us forward through a doorway. The room is too dark to see anything.
“Does it feel like we shouldn’t be in here?” Harry asks.
“We’re not supposed to be in here at all. It’s the third floor, It’s forbidden.” Hermione says as we walk forward.
“It’s so dark.” I pull my wand upwards. “Lumos.” The tip wand glows a soft white light.
“Blimey.”
“That’s advanced.” Hermione says in awe.
“Also helpful for the current situation.” I say as we look around. The corridor was empty.
“Well what now?” I ask.
“We should turn around-” Hermione says but a loud meowing interrupts her.
Harry’s eyes widen. “Let’s go.”
“It’s Flich’s cat!” Ron exclaims as we get a move on. Around us flames from the overhead torches suddenly burn bright.
“Must be some sort of alarm.” I conclude.
As we reach the end of the hall Harry grabs onto a door-knob but it doesn’t budge.
“It’s locked.”
“That’s it we’re done for.” Ron says as he throws his arms out, almost hitting me in the face.
“Oh, move over!” Hermione says and points her wand at the door. “Alohomora.” The locks clicks open and she pushes on the door.
“Good thinking Hermione.” I high five her as I pass through the doorway.
“Alohomora?” Ron asks.
“Standard book of spells, Chapter 7.” Is all she says to him. Ron wasn’t one for self-study but the spells in the books were actually coming in handy. I move past them but quickly stop next to Harry. We share a glance, both of us wide eyed.
In front of us stood a massive three headed sleeping dog. There was a small chest just below it.
“It was locked for good reason.” Harry says as the dog begins to wake.
“Oh no.” I breath out. This wasn't good at all. A low growl rumbles through the room as it notices the four of us. The only words that come to mind in the moment are.
“AHHHHHHH!” Unanimously we all run out the door and push it closed until we hear the lock click in place. We all book it down a few hallways just to be safe before taking a breath by the tall arching windows.
“What do they think they’re doing? Keeping a thing like that locked up in a school.” Ron asks as he shook his head.
“You don’t use your eyes, do you? Didn’t you see what it was standing on?” Hermione sneers at him.
“I wasn’t looking at it’s feet! I was a bit preoccupied with its heads. Or maybe you didn’t notice, there were three!” Ron complains.
“It looked like a chest but what was the three headed dog guarding then?” I ask to them.
“Guarding?” Harry asks.
“Harry remember, you said Hagrid went to Gringotts for Dumbledore. I bet whatever he picked up there is what the dog was guarding.” Hermione stated.
“It’s true, why else would the dog be there.” I say and look out the window. It was quite dark outside now. It looked as if we missed dinner.
“I guess I should be getting back to my common room. I’ll see you guys in charms tomorrow.” I say quickly and throw up my hand in a hurriedly wave before making for the stairs. I didn’t want to get caught outside of the dormitory when I wasn't supposed to. I guess I'd have to ask Harry if we should try to go back to the third floor to investigate more. I duck through another archway but I could barely see. I bring my wand up to the level of my eyes.
“Lumos.” The way ahead instantly lights up and I speed down the hall eager to get back to the dungeons. I wonder what Dumbledore wanted to keep hidden away in Hogwarts. I guess we were going to find out eventually, it was only a matter of time.
“You there!” I hear a voice exclaim and I whip around to see a prefect. “What are you doing out of bed?”
“I got lost.” I meekly say, the boy was so tall he pratically towered over me.
“Right, sure you were.”
“I swear, besides It’s barely curfew and I don’t know my way around the castle yet.” I try to tell him but it didn’t seem to help at all.
He says and looks at my robes. “Slytherin aye, I knew I’d catch one of you after curfew.” He sneers. Of course I would get stopped by someone who didn't like Slytherins.
“I’m just a first year.” I state and I was close enough to my dormitory but this guy didn't seem like he was gonna change his mind.
“Don’t lie. First years don’t know the Lumos charm.” He says as he shines his own wand in my face. Maybe not every first year knew how to use the charm but it was thick for one to think
“Nox,” I say and my light extinguishes. “Well, I do.” Now I was even more annoyed. The older boy moved his wand down the hall.
“Back to the dungeons with you-“
“Thank you.”
“To Snape’s office.” He finishes.
“But if you would just listen.” I start but he points down the hall again. I sigh and follow him, there seemed to be no use. After a few moments of silence I try once more.
“I really was lost.”
“Yeah you won’t be the last Slytherin to try to lie their way out of detention.” I sigh again. I hadn’t even done anything to him and I wished I knew a hex or spell to get me out of this. We come to a closed door and the prefect knocks three times.
“Enter.” I could hear Professor Snape’s voice through the door. As the door opens, I hang my head and feel a shove bewtween my shoulder blades. I sent a glare over my shoulder as I turned back around towards our professor. This wouldn’t be a good first impression.
“Too what do I owe the pleasure Mr. Cresswell?” He asks as the prefect steps to the side, further pushing me into the room.
“Ah Miss Lupin.” I look up at my professor.“What’s the meaning of this.”
“I found her wandering the halls Sir.”
“I see, I’ll deal with her.” He looks my way again and I look anywhere but the two other people in the room. I catch the prefect give me a smirk as he leaves the room. Tosser.
“Professor, I swear I was lost. I even told that tos- uh prefect but he didn’t believe me,” I quickly say I rush to his desk. I wanted to make my case as quickly as I could.“Please don’t expel me.” I say.
“Prefects are quite overzealous, especially newly appointed ones.” He says but before I can reply I hear a hiss and turn towards the noise. A cauldron was bubbling over and Professor Snape moves towards it. It wasn't the answer I was expecting but I wasn't going to say anything on the matter. Instead I look around the room getting a beeter look at all the potions ingredients stuffed everywhere on shelves. I heard a muttered curse come from the other side of the room and I crept over silently wondering what was going on.
“What’s that?” I lean towards the work bench and look at the ingrediants on the table. There was mandrake root for sure and what looked like a bicorn horn but I didn't recognize the last ingredient which was type of flower. I'd have to ask Professor Sprout the next time we were in class.
“A draught Madam Pomfrey was in need of.” I nod in understanding. The peace draught, the one she wanted to give me. As I watched him ladle it into bottles I ask.
“Will we learn to brew it?” I point to the potion again.
“Of course, in your fifth year.” That was a ways off then.
When he doesn’t say anything more about me being wandering in the halls, I figured now would be good a time as any to ask about my mother.
“Sir, did you happen to know my mother by chance?” I ask kind of quietly. I was nervous for some reason. I instinctually grab my mother’s locket, something that didn't go unnoticed.
"I haven’t seen that for some time.” He says.
“So, you did.” I relax at the bench.
“We were friends, but that was long ago.” He says and turns back to the potions. Maybe that’s all I should ask about. Obviously, they were close hence the necklace and now I had confirmation, but I knew next to nothing about my mum.
“What was she like?” I barely get out of my mouth.
“She had a knack for charms and loved to read.” He tone sounded odd like he was sadThen he didn’t say any more. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked about her.
“You should be heading to your dormitory; you have class in the morning.” I quickly stand from the bench.
“Of course. Thank you, Professor.” I say and turn away only to turn back two seconds later. “I’m sorry sir, am I in trouble?” I ask just to make sure.
“This was a warning. Run along Miss Lupin.” He says and I don’t argue or ask any further questions. As I head for the door I look back once more but he had already turned back to his work. I was not expecting that at all as most things here at Hogwarts. I think as I head down the hall back to my common room. He didn’t have to answer my questions. He didn’t even know me and certainly didn’t owe me a thing. But he gave me the one thing I’d wanted, information about my mother. I didn’t know why I was so anxious and it was only the first week of school. What else would this year throw at me?