Open Skies

Chapter 1:

The dust blew from the tatty old book rather self-importantly. Hermione smiled as the faded gold letters revealed themselves at long last – was this the missing tome Snape had remarked upon only days earlier?

Hermione sighed. This was her fifth year at Hogwarts and now she contented herself with small quests whilst she waited for the next exam. The title was finally clear to her in the faint light of the small hidden library behind the picture of Sir Kalifan. The only book here, abandoned yet apparently once well read. It's peeling gold letters adored the small red cloth binding.

"This is hopeless. 'Silver the Happy Wolf'? This was supposed to be the Third Chronicle of Narvik!"

Footsteps outside closed her cavernous mouth and in her haste she bolted from the small chamber and took flight to her room, the tatty book secreted in her robes.

Once back in the safety of her room, Hermione leaved through the book, but there were no handwritten clues in the margins nor were there ay apparent catches or mechanisms to it. The book failed to register with any of her magic tests so she tossed it into the corner of her chest and went to have dinner.

It was two weeks later and Hermione could not sleep. The incessant rain at the window was not helping. Malfoy had been caught roughing up Neville in the corridor by Professor Trelawney and had been put in detention for a week. Harry, Ron and Hermione were all far happier as a result and had spent the day sneering at him and jeering. This had left her still wide awake and itching for something to do. As reading often helped send her to sleep, Hermione finally remembered the book she had found and decided to dig it out.

"This will turn my mind off  I should think," she smiled smugly.

An hour later, the girls in the dormitory awoke, panicking as howling wind tore through a smashed window, causing the curtains to flap like leathery wings and shards of glass to fill the air.

Professor McGonagall burst into the room and tried to restore order. "Come come girls – it's just a branch caught in the wind which has smashed the window.  Glazifull-" she called to repair the window, but stopped abruptly, the spell dwindling in her wand and fading..

It was then that McGonagall noticed the glass had been smashed from within the dormitory and a fragment of robe had been left snagged on the broken glass.

"Oh my…" she murmured, the colour draining from her face. "Not again…"

Rushing to the window, she called out "Everyone! Get up – check the beds – see if anyone is missing! Illumifaricum!" A large ball of thick yellowish light appeared outside the window and McGonagall used this to look down into the courtyard many many feet below.

A small girl's robe wrapped around a dishevelled lump could be seen far blow on the cobblestones.

"Hermione's missing!" came a voice. Others joined in and panic began to set in. Throughout Hogwarts lights started coming on.

McGonagall stared at the shape far below. As a teacher, her priority was to keep the children safe and calm.

But as a mother, she fought hard to stop herself succumbing to hysteria.

To be continued…