First off, I'd like to say that I'm sorry people were disappointed with the last chapter of House of Magic. Hopefully this new installment will please you all and answer any unanswered questions along the way. :)
Enjoy House of Castles!
DISCLAIMER!
Rose: Seriously guys, if you haven't figured it out by now, Ice-Princess-93 owns nothing.
Me: Well, that's not entirely true. I own the Finnigan twins, Logan (thanks to allyouneedislove1797), Riley Jordan, Joy's old roommates Siobhan and Jade, and Mara and Patricia's roommates: Ashlie, Emma and Lin. But anything else HoA or HP-related is owned by people clearly having more power than I do.
Rose: Right… So you don't own anything then.
Me: Yes, Rose. Now, on with the story!
Chapter One: House if Initiation
Nina's POV:
I'd awoken from the Dementor attack and gladly ate the chocolate frogs Fabian and Albus had left for me. They filled me in on what happened and I told them about how I saw my parents and Sarah by the staircase in the Gryffindor common room.
Rose had told McGonagall everything. They said she planned to have a chat with the people running Azkaban and make sure they didn't send off Dementors like that at will. I guess she was also going to mention it to Minister Shacklebolt just in case the Ministry of Magic had anything to do with it.
"Why do bad things always happen to me?" I asked the guys as we walked back to Gryffindor Tower. "Am I cursed or something? It sure feels like it."
All other classes had been cancelled until further notice, whether they were outside or not, and everyone was told to stay in their common rooms for the rest of the day while the teachers dealt with the Dementor incident.
"I don't think it's you, Nina, so much as it is that you're the Chosen One," Albus replied, fixing his glasses. "No offense."
Before Madam Pomfrey had made sure I was free to go, Fabian had dropped the bomb on me that he'd told Albus he thought it was time for him to be initiated into Sibuna. Initially, I hadn't liked the idea at all. But now that I've thought about it more, I think it's only fair.
"Where are we going to do the Sibuna Fire of Sacrifice?" I asked, changing the subject. Albus turned to look at me, mortified.
"Fire of what?" he asked incredulously.
"Relax, Al," Fabian reassured him. "Just go get something of yours with personal value from our room when we get back, and we'll do the fire tomorrow in the Room of Requirement."
"Don't you think we should've checked with everyone else about this first?" I asked hesitantly.
"They'll be fine with it," he answered. "We'll just let Alfie, Mick and Amber know when we see them in a few minutes, and then either send an owl or write a message in a journal to alert Mara, Patricia and Jerome. It won't be that bad."
"Password?" The Fat Lady asked as we approached the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.
"Potterwatch," I told her. The portrait swung open.
Immediately, we spotted Amber, Alfie and Mick in the corner of the room, away from everyone else. They were talking to each other about something we couldn't really hear, and then stopped as soon as we sat down to join them.
"You okay, Nina?" Mick asked.
"I'm-" I thought about it. I mean, I was fine physically, but emotionally… not so much. "I'm fine."
"Either way," Fabian started off, changing the subject, "we have something to run by you guys before anything else happens: We want to make Albus an official member of Sibuna."
All eyes turned to Amber, since she was the one who actually created the Sibuna club in the first place.
"I think it's fine," she said, clearly getting uncomfortable with us staring at her. "Congratulations, Albus! Welcome to the club."
"Okay," I said. "So it's settled. We'll do the initiation ceremony tomorrow in the Room of Requirement. Deal?"
They all nodded.
"Great. Now we just need to let Mara, Jerome and Patricia know. Anyone have a journal with them?"
Alfie produced his from his bag and handed it to me while Albus got out a quill and Amber gave me a bottle of purple ink.
Hi, it's Nina. We're going to be having a Sibuna meeting in the Room of Requirement tomorrow after lunch to initiate Albus. Be there.
Instantly I got a response back from Mara.
Okay, sounds good. I'll tell Jerome and Patricia. Thanks, Nina! ~Mara
"Alright," I said, handing the journal back to Alfie. I capped the ink bottle and pushed it towards Amber, giving Albus back his quill in the process.
"Guys," Al started off, looking uncertain, "what is Sibuna?"
We all exchanged glances before turning to look at Albus. Fabian was the first one to speak.
"Anubis backwards," he said. "Obviously. Amber thought of it way back before we came here, and we've just kind of used it as a club to keep up with the never-ending mystery of Joy's disappearance, why the teachers were in on it, and then the whole Rufus Zeno debacle. Do you understand now, Al?"
He nodded, clearly pleased with the answer.
"So is this why you guys have been sneaking off randomly sometimes to the Room of Requirement? Because of this Sibuna thing?" he asked.
"Pretty much," I told him. "The Daily Prophet didn't mention anything about it when you guys saw the story of us solving the mystery before we got here?"
"No," he replied. "I guess they thought it wasn't important enough."
"Well I think that's quite unfair and rude of them," Amber muttered, pouting.
Finally, it was Friday afternoon. Everyone met outside the entrance to the Room of Requirement after lunch, and they all thought I should do the honors of making the door appear. Opening it, we were greeted by the too-familiar scene of the burnt-out tree in the woods where we had all our meetings. There was already stuff on the ground in the middle of the circle of rocks and stumps for us to create a fire, and Mara took out her wand to make it happen. We all stood at our usual places, Albus standing nearer to the fire, clutching something close to his chest.
"Amber," I started off, turning to her, "Do you want to do the honors?"
She nodded, smiling. She walked towards Albus, and I noticed him visibly stiffen.
"Okay," she said, her right hand raised slightly in the air beside her. "Repeat after me: I, Albus Severus Potter, being of sound mind…"
"I, Albus Severus Potter, being of sound mind," he said apprehensively.
"Swear to protect the treasure of Anubis House and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…"
We quickly exchanged glances at her addition to Hogwarts in the sacrificial oath.
"Swear to protect the treasure of Anubis House and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…" he repeated.
"And all their secrets."
"…and all their secrets," he said, sighing with relief.
"Good! Now throw your item into the fire," Amber said cheerily, clapping her hands.
Reluctantly, he stepped forward and dropped a photograph into the burning fire. He sighed, looking sad.
"Now you're officially a member of the club!" she exclaimed, putting her right hand over her right eye. "Sibuna."
"Sibuna," we all repeated, copying her gesture. Albus did the same, now smiling a little.
"You okay?" I asked, staring at him.
"Yeah, I can always get another photo anyways… It was of my grandparents."
"Harry's parents?" I guessed. He nodded. "Sorry."
"No biggie. I can always ask my parents to give me another one. There are duplicates of that all over the place anyways."
Jerome leaned down to extinguish the fire, and we all sat down in our usual spots.
"So this is what it feels like to be a member of your club," Albus stated, grinning. "It's awesome!"
"Thanks!" Amber said. "I know! I created it!"
"You thought of the name, Amber," Patricia pointed out. "Nina and Fabian did most of the work anyways."
"Not true," I mentioned. "Patricia, you did a good job trying to work with Rufus… until he kidnapped you. And we all kept the Cup safe."
"Where is the Cup?" Alfie asked.
"Somewhere no one else will ever find it," I told them.
"Is it back at Anubis House?" Jerome asked.
I considered filling them in. I mean, the only people I really had told were Amber and Fabian, and they'd helped me come up with the idea in the first place.
"In the Room of Hidden Things," I answered. They all nodded approvingly.
"What if we need it again?" Mick asked.
"I doubt we will," Fabian answered. "I mean, Rufus and Victor are dead, we're nowhere near The Society and Anubis House… I'm pretty sure we're safe."
"If you say so."
"Do you think we should go back to our common rooms now so no one will worry?" Mara asked.
"Sounds like a good idea," I told her.
We split into our two separate groups, heading towards our respective House common rooms. The walk back to Gryffindor Tower was quiet for the most part, with Alfie and Mick occasionally making jokes about something or other.
"So," I started off, "Albus: Don't tell anyone else about this. We already have enough people in Sibuna as it is… Maybe we'll let Rose in, since she's trustworthy just like you, but that can wait."
"Got you," he replied. "One step at a time, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"And that whole weird hand-over-the-eye thing. That's your club's signal?"
"It's not really a signal… more of a symbol," Fabian explained. "If there were any signals for Sibuna, it'd just be one of us shouting the word 'Sibuna.'"
"Makes sense."
"Patricia's going out with Lorcan Scamander," Amber pointed out, interrupting the conversation.
We all just stopped and stared at her.
"What?" she asked.
"Patricia's dating Lorcan?" Alfie wondered aloud. "Poor guy."
"That's what Jerome said when I told him Patricia had a gothic boyfriend who was in a band when we'd gone off to bring food to Rufus!" I exclaimed, recalling the events at Anubis House. "Well, before we realized Rufus was evil."
"You guys get into some pretty weird and dangerous situations, don't you?" Al asked, picking up the pace again with the rest of us.
"You have no idea," I said. "Seriously."
