Chương 23: The Return

I did a quick flyby of Hagrid's hut to confirm I didn't leave any obvious evidence behind. It was much easier to find now that there was light in the windows and the remaining birds were making a racket. Nothing was obvious, so I climbed back into the sky. I was almost brushing the clouds before I inched my way over to the Astronomy Tower; easily identifiable since it was the tallest tower. I counted the windows and descended to the seventh floor. Eighth, in the superior American numbering system.

Peeking inside, I tried to locate an area near enough to my target to minimize time spent under the gaze of any paintings. I'd go in, store Richard, and use the Room's moving exit door to get back to Ravenclaw Tower within seconds. I spotted the tutu trolls through one of the windows and tugged on the frame. It was locked, so I tried the next one. It was locked too. As was the one next to it, and the one next to that. This was still my first week at Hogwarts; I hadn't yet learned Alohomora. I didn't have the time.

I'd be sure to pick it up once I get back in. As I was trying the tenth window of the floor, a cat jumped onto the sill and glared at me. Mrs Norris. I shot upward, out of sight of the window. After gaining more height, I moved over to hover around Ravenclaw Tower. Anyone she alerted would no doubt search Astronomy Tower first. It wasn't ideal, but I could keep Richard in my bag until curfew ended in a few hours. The window I had used to exit the castle was closed.

Not a great sign; I hadn't closed it when I exited. A twinge of panic began to set in as I tried to open it and realized it was locked as well. I needed to get back into the castle. None of the windows were open. Every one I had tried was locked. Something different then. There were rooftop access doors at the top of a few places in the castle, a few balconies, some open air bridges and walkways, and the various doors on the ground floor. I immediately struck the balconies off my list.

I didn't know where they entered the castle at, and if one was to a staff member's office or bedroom, I'd be caught. Mrs Norris saw me flying up Astronomy on a broom. Filch would probably check the rooftop entrances first. The Ravenclaw balcony was warded, there was a chance that all doors above ground level had similar defenses. I couldn't go in through the ground floor or any entrance too far from either Ravenclaw or Astronomy; there was no way I'd make it all the way back up to the common room.

What would happen if I tried anyway? Would it just push me away like in the game? Would it knock me off my broom? Set off a much more serious alarm? Should I risk it? Sirius never tried to access the castle by broom, not just Gryffindor Tower. He knew the castle better than almost anyone. I had been too quick to dismiss that fact as just 'the castle being on high-alert'. I began checking more windows in Ravenclaw Tower, lower than the dorms. Nothing. I checked two of the doors closest to the tower. Both locked.

I had no reason to believe that any of the other doors or windows would be different. My broom-handle was slick with sweat and blood from Richard's scratches. I stopped in the air above Gryffindor Tower, desperately searching for an open window. Could… could I just hide out somewhere and wait a few hours until morning? It would be an option if my winter robes weren't cut up and covered in blood and feathers. I didn't know Reparo or Scourgify.

Add that to my injuries and Hagrid's account, and I would be suspicious enough to search—just opening my suspicious-looking bag secured with a silencing slipper would reveal a very angry Richard. Stash the bag? No. Magic was too versatile. Any mundane location could be found easily, and I didn't have a secure place like the statue of the one-eyed-witch. I'd need to hide my broom as well as that was a demerit all by itself.

Any place that was secure enough to hide from an investigating teacher would be difficult to get back to without putting me in this same situation, and a rooster was a living thing; it required daily care. I needed back in now, before the potion ran out. How much time did I have left? I flew back over to the Astronomy Tower, to an isolated window. An unused classroom was on the other side. I pulled out my wand and tapped it against the glass.

"Alohomora." It didn't work. I tried again, and again. Magic was supposed to respond better to need. It was why magical accidents happened when children were in distress. However, that kind of magic was unpredictable, and I had only glanced at this spell. It wasn't coming out properly. An empty inkpot was on the sill just inside the glass. An idea occurred to me. I studied the latch. It wasn't technically a lock, just a standard mechanical handle with a curved metal tab that would hold the window shut.

It was in line with the design of the rest of Hogwarts; old and overly large. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"Wingardium Leviosa." Magic worked better with specificity. A spell specifically designed to open something would be easier to learn, to cast, and generally be much more efficient than manually manipulating something open with another spell. It was also the reason there were so many spells that did almost the exact same thing. But the whole reason I had wanted to practice the levitation charm was its versatility. The inkpot lifted up and I guided it onto the latch.

Then pushed my magic as hard as I could to force it to turn. It worked. The latch gave and the window sprang open. I flew in cautiously and landed as quietly as possible. Then closed and latched the window behind me. I crept to the door and listened. A minute passed in silence. I was just about to open the door when I heard footsteps. They didn't pass right by my hiding place. Instead, they turned up what sounded like a flight of stairs.

Probably Filch then, heading to check on the roof of Astronomy Tower with Mrs Norris. The Midnight potion was still active. If any of the paintings tattled, at least I wouldn't be definitively identified. Peeking out, I saw no sign of a trap, no Mrs. Norris, and, most importantly, I heard no sounds. I only had one usable silencing slipper, but a sock would help muffle the noise from my other foot. One more cautious second to confirm the coast was clear. Nothing. I was wasting time on the potion.

I slipped out of the door and sprinted in the direction of the Room. The tension kept building as I met nothing in the halls. I could hear indistinct noises deeper in the castle, but they didn't seem to be getting any closer. I'd picked a window close to my target. Nothing jumped out at me. No paintings sounded an alarm. No spell hit me, and the Midnight Essence remained active. The painting of the trolls came into view, and I sprinted through three laps. The room opened up into a mess of discarded and lost items.

This was the first time I had used the 'hidden things' variant of the Room, and the scale of it staggered me. I'd underestimated how many resources it had access to. The amount of books alone… It wasn't near the collection of the library below—which was the largest single room with a dedicated purpose in the castle, and entirely filled with books—but there were enough to spend years reading without getting through them all. I flew over the piles of treasure and trash, making some estimates.

It wasn't a labyrinth of impossible size like the video game had displayed, but the space was maybe comparable to the Great Hall. Maybe slightly larger. A suspicion occurred to me as I flew. There was no way the Room contained only the few galleons and sickles I had already taken. But what had happened to the rest? The house-elves had no use for wizard gold, so some other person must have cleaned it out fairly recently. I scowled as I realized who it must have been.

The Marauders never found this place, which meant Tom Riddle was probably the only one who used it enough to understand its functions. The potion wore off at some point and I shifted focus to looking for something to keep a rooster contained. Apparently, this version of the Room didn't come with the auto-finding function. I might be able to leave Richard to roam free, but some of this junk was dangerous. Accidentally killing my super weapon at this stage would be a massive headache.

Having it be possessed by the soul fragment bound to that diadem near the north-east corner was the kind of irony that I wouldn't appreciate. I came across a large metal cage with a five-legged skeleton and decided it would have to do. I opened the cage and began pulling out the skeleton. While doing so one of the cuts on my hand reopened and dripped onto a discarded dagger lying on the floor. It was a beautiful dagger. The most beautiful. An Indonesian Kris, the kind with a wavy blade.

How could I have thought they looked stupid and impractical? It was the perfect shape for a dagger. I stopped what I was doing and immediately grabbed it. It was mine. I would take it everywhere I went from now on. Use it for everything. Forget the stupid chicken. I had something much better now. I rushed out of the Room, closed the door and reopened it to a simple armory layout. Grabbing some metal cleaning supplies, I made my new best friend shine. I didn't need to sharpen him; probably enchanted.

The Armory even had what had to be his original sheath. I'd call him Chris, and we would be together forever. After sheathing him, I realized I hadn't left Richard in the cage. I should probably do that as a backup method for killing the basilisk. Fighting a giant snake with a dagger was probably beyond me, even if my… Chris… Wait. I was not going to kill a basilisk with a dagger. That was stupid. Basilisk venom was incredibly damaging. It would harm my Chris. My baby. I couldn't let my precious dagger get damaged.

I needed the rooster. Then I could stab the basilisk after it died. Wait– no– I should avoid the basilisk. Something was wrong. I looked at my dagger in its sheath. My beautiful dagger. So clean. So perfect. My precious.... I was cursed, wasn't I? Could I remove the curse? My stomach rebelled at the thought of anyone harming poor Chris. But… wasn't the curse detrimental to him? I mean, if I really did carry him everywhere like I wanted, someone would notice.

The teachers would confiscate him, probably destroy him, and I had no chance of fighting any of them. Even the basilisk stayed circumspect, hiding from the most powerful residents of the castle. Maybe I could stab them while they slept? No– no– Their rooms were definitely warded. I should convince them to remove the curse but keep the dagger intact. It wasn't like the curse was an intrinsic part of the dagger. In fact, the curse was a threat to my poor dagger.

This was a school where some of the most powerful people in the magical world worked. Someone would eventually notice and target the innocent little dagger out of fear of the mind-warping curse. Better yet, Madam Pomfrey could remove the curse on me, then I could study curses and carefully remove it from Chris myself. No chance of the paranoid teachers harming him if I did that. Yes, I needed to deal with my bleeding scratches anyway. I'd cure the curse on me first, then devote myself to helping Chris.

Satisfied with my new goal in life, I left the Room and re-entered it in the 'hidden things' variant. Dumping Richard and reclaiming my other slipper took only a moment. I'd need to stop by the kitchens and get him some food later today. Maybe enter the Reliquary variant as well to pick up a few other supplies. I watched the junk a lot more closely this time. I'd been lucky so far, but this place was dangerous. I thought of the Ravenclaw common room as I exited, ready for this night to be over.

The door appeared at landing closest to the top of the spiral staircase. I made the small climb and touched the door.

"You knew me then; you know me now. I was clear on what I allow. I wasn't hidden, hard to find, I was clear to any mind. I keep the chaos locked away, I tell you 'stop'; I tell you 'stay'. Made to be followed till the end– Yet you forget me when I'm not your friend. What am I?" I paused. This was the first riddle I'd been given since the first day with Penelope. All of the other questions the door had given so far had been of the simple thought-provoking kind. Ones without any 'right' answer.

Otherwise known as the kind that only really needed two brain cells and the ability to talk. Honestly, the best defense the Ravenclaw common room had was that it was so annoying to reach. This was a bit more difficult. Not much more, but… was the door trying to punish me for sneaking out at night? I hadn't thought of the door—or the knocker, as that was actually the thing that gave the questions—as a sapient enchantment before.

It didn't hold conversations and didn't appear to have a personality like Fat Lady had in the book. Looks like I would have to revise that assessment. Still, I had no reason to assume it would rat me out. There wasn't a single case of any of the common room entrances doing so that I could remember.

"Rules," I answered soberly.

"Quite so," intoned the eagle. The door swung open. I sighed in relief as the common room was revealed to be empty. This night had been long and stressful enough. At least I found my other half. Someone to love with all my heart. All the effort had been worth it for Chris.