Chapter Four ~ The Build-Up
The next day I received my Ravenclaw timetable, as promised, from Amy-Rose but she also was carrying alot more than I expected, mentally and physically. In her hands were three letters, one in a blue envelope with my Mother's handwriting, the second a bright purple envelope with the Quibbler seal and my Grandfather's handwriting and the third was in a cream coloured envelope with black swirly italic writing covering it, just like the one on my tattoo. 'First of all, I'm not going to bother telling you what houses your brother's got into because they're just as dumb as you,' she said with a hateful expression.
'Second of all I have your timetable, on Monday we have Charms together, Tuesday is Flying, Wednesday is Double Potions and we have Double Defence Against the Dark Arts on Friday,' she exclaimed handing me the piece of parchment. 'What about your brother Albus?' I asked knowing that Albus had just been sorted into a House the other night. 'Oh well it did take some time for the Sorting Hat to decide but in the end it put him in Gryffindor with James, which was good for the poor thing, he was worrying so much, but I had to miss it because of YOU' she said her eyes becoming sympathetic for her brother. 'Oh and also I forgot to tell you, you were right last night, your stupid friends James, Anna, Gemma and Twilighta were taken out of Hogwarts this morning by their parents, seems that this Dark Child news has leaked into the Daily Prophet,' she said throwing down the front page of the newspaper, which had a vague picture of the Hogwarts Express after the Dark Child had wrecked havoc.
'Anyway, did you have a good night?' I asked whilst reading Grandfather's letters which contained a copy of the Quibbler and a funny looking necklace. 'Yeah it was alright though you shouldn't care, but there's this new girl in our year called Samantha Black but she only likes being called Sam and is a bit of a tomboy,' Amy whispered, wary of Madam Putnella. 'Is she by any chance a relation to Professor Sirius Black Jr.?' I asked, remembering that frightful night on the train, which was made better when Professor Black fixed the lights. Amy clicked her fingers and nodded rapidly, 'I bet you anything you idiot, that she is his daughter and HE is her father,' she said a little louder this time. 'We'll find out on Friday, I bet he'll introduce her as she's new and everything, I'm surprised they didn't introduce her at the Feast,' I said getting a little excited, as Madam Putnella swiftly glided over and redressed my head bandage and put the usual yellow paste onto my gashes then glided back into her office.
'Well obviously it would be too much for the girl, anyone could figure that out, you still up for Thursday?' Amy-Rose asked me, 'Gray told me to ask you,' she said still bored as Gray was worried that I might be too sick to attend our Library Meeting which was crucial at this stage, 'Yes Madam Putnella says she's going to take the head bandage off tomorrow, but I'll have to go around with this sling on for a few more days which is good, because that'll give us time to think how we're going to conceal the great tattoo,' I said rolling my eyes as Amy laughed her sarcastic twinkly laugh. 'You know I'm only helping you, because if this Dark Child takes over the Wizarding World then that would be bad,' she said snarling slightly and scratched my arm with her long fingernails then turned on her heel and walked out, tossing her auburn hair.
'Well someone's happy,' I muttered then opened the anonymous letter. It read.
Rowena Scamander,
Vestra sum pessimum visio nocturna. Maledictio, et infantem positum in te amplius aggravetur. A occasum solis ad Sundawn eris monstrum, violaceus luscus monstrum, te facta quando lacessitus. Sed ab hoc fine.
Timeant me,
Obscuram Púerum
At these last words I dropped the letter, and it made a small brushing sound with the floor, I could hear the English in my head. I don't care about the pain of my arm, the pain of the scratches not even the names Amy-Rose had called me. The only thing I cared about was stopping this Dark Child, stopping her evil, hopefully stopping her for good if not eternity.
Wednesday
As promised, Madam Putnella removed the bandage on my head and gave me a potion for concussion, checked my wounds and swiftly sent me on my way. Checking my timetable I saw that right now I had Divination, which was followed by Double Potions with the Gryffindors. My chance to meet Amy-Rose again, I thought to myself as I climbed the tower up to the door of Ravenclaw Tower. Knocking on the knocker, a riddle is spoken in a calm voice. The usual method of entry into the Ravenclaw Tower is by riddle, the knocker says 'What has roots that nobody sees, and is taller than trees. Up, up it goes yet never ever grows,' to which I quickly reply 'A mountain,' and the door swings open revealing the Ravenclaw Common Room.
Passing the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw I jump over a blue armchair and climb up into the Third Year Girl's dormitory and grab my bag. Walking out of the Tower I ascend yet more steps to reach the aging Professor Trelawney's Turret. 'Come in, come in my dear, I sense a lost presence in your soul,' the Professor said pointing at me and beckoning me in. Cautiously stepping into the room, I place my brown satchel under the circular table that Gray and another boy are sitting at then sit down. 'Ah, my dear what date were you born?' she asked me looking at me with her round spectacles, which enhanced her large eyes.
'Um the 31st of October,' I said, raising an eyebrow. At this statement she started to cough and pointed a long finger at me, 'Y-y-you my child are doomed!' she cried and I stifled a laugh as did Gray. 'Tell me my dear, have you ever looked in the face of Death?' she asked dramatically and I frowned, 'Um, no I don't think so,' I said rolling my eyes. 'Anyway on with the lesson,' she said and instructed us about how to pour the tea into our teacups, drink it until there were only the dregs left, swill them around and then give them to our partners to interpret.
Walking up to the front with Gray, we both grabbed blue teacups and Professor Trelawney filled them with steaming tea, whilst looking at me strangely through her thick glasses. Walking back up to the table I quickly drank the tea, which burned my mouth and tasted vaguely of old socks (not that I've ever tried old socks) and swilled the dregs around. Passing the cup to Gray, we got out our Unfogging the Future books and set to work. 'Where are the others?' I asked Gray as I examined his cup and he replied 'Anna, Gemma and James were called home by their parents, they couldn't say goodbye because it was so early but they told me to tell you that they would write. Twilighta left as well because I didn't see her at the Gryffindor table,' Gray said and I sighed, what Amy-Rose had been saying was true and although she was spiteful and very unhelpful I now she could be trusted.
'What about Lorcan and Lysander?' I asked warily eager to know which houses they had got into. 'Lorcan got into Ravenclaw you'll be pleased to know but well Lysander...he was sorted into Slytherin,' Gray whispered and I put my head on the table. 'He isn't going to be happy, I told him it wasn't a bad house but he won't be happy,' I said putting my head in my hands. 'Hush Rowe, he'll be fine, anyway let's interpret those tea leaves because I want to see my future!' he said and I laughed. 'Okay well this looks like a heart so maybe you're going to find love, and then here's a feather, oh that means you'll die for a reason and this is an arrow, which with all the of the signs means you're going to die unhappy. So you're going to be loved but your going to die an unhappy man?' I informed him, rolling my eyes as Gray turns his laughing into coughing.
'Okay now, what about me!' I squealed with mock excitement as Gray starts telling me what the signs mean. 'Well to most this would look like a load of mush, but I can kind of see an orb which means you're going to learn something important, and then this shape hear looks like a gust of wind which means something is going to be twisted and then this, well it looks like a small child but-' he said and just as he was about to say what it meant Professor Trelawney snatched up my teacup as she had with Harry Potter in his Third Year. 'My child, you are in terrible danger, this figure is the figure of death as a child!' she shrilled and Gray grabbed the teacup and poured the dregs down the sink, then wrote down what both of ours meant. 'Professor Trelawney, it looked more like a lamp post to me!' he said as she stalked off to her place by the fire.
After Divination finished, we climbed down the silver ladder and burst out laughing. 'That was so funny in there! I can't believe you didn't get a detention!' I said to Gray as we almost fell down the steep stairs. 'Yeah, I was so angry and then realised what I had done, and her face, she was like I can see the vision of death! And your face, you were just sat there frowning at her!' he said clutching his waist with laughter. 'Right come on Double Potions next,' I said dragging him my the collar of his robes whilst we emerged down rows and rows of stairs. Entering the Viaduct I let go of him and we calmly walked down the spiral staircase and stood outside the Potions Room. 'There's Amy-Rose,' I said indicating a girl with long auburn hair and he nodded, 'Yeah I literally had to force her to help you,' he said as she walked towards us.
'All set for Potions?' she asked clutching her bag which was full to the brim with books. 'Yes,' I said taking out my Potions book and holding it in my arms. Gray just stood there with his hands in his pockets. 'Good, and when we're done we can go to the Library,' she said sighing. 'What a day early?' Gray asked and she rolled her eyes, 'Obviously you twit, I feel that the sooner the information is obtained the faster we can work out what's going on and why you play such a big part,' she snapped looking at me. Suddenly the door opened with a sharp 'BANG!', which made us all jump slightly and I could see Amy-Rose fighting to control her emotions. An elderly man appeared round the door, he was rather tubby and his face resembled an old walrus in some ways. 'Professor Slughorn, could you learn to open the door a little more quietly?' I muttered as we entered the room. Sitting at a table near the back I was joined by Gray, who sat next to me, Amy-Rose who sat opposite and another boy from Gryffindor.
Getting out our cauldrons, pewter scales and basic ingredients the Professor chalked in a white chalk the page number on which we were to find the potion for today. 'Page 107, Wit-Sharpening Potion' was what it read, so turning the pages of my book I found the recipe, equipment and ingredients. 'Amardillo Bile, Ginger Root and Scarab Beetles, well come on then lets get them!' I said and walked over to the supply cupboard, picked out some ginger root, armadillo bile and some scarab beetles then walked back to my cauldron.
Reading the book I did instruction number one, grinding the scarab beetles. Dropping the scarab beetles into my mortar, I used the pestle to grind them up into a fine powder and heated my cauldron. Chopping up and grinding my ginger root into small pieces, I added that and stirred the potion until it had turned a lime green. Then I got my measuring cylinder out and poured out the amount of Amardillo Bile needed, and tipped in into my cauldron. Slowly mixing it in, the potion turned a dark blue and following the instructions I added the Ground Scarab Beetles.
Again, mixing these in the potion turned a satisfactory dark red and now was just a case of re-mixing the Ginger Roots until the potion was a murky yellow, and then re-mixing in the Amardillo Bile until it had turned a deep glossy purple. After I had done these steps, I turned down the heat of my cauldron until the mixture was simmering and went to leave it for ten minutes. Gray, however was struggling with getting his potion the right colour, looking over me and Amy-Rose both noticed that the heat of the cauldron was far too high, thus preventing it from doing the right things. 'Turn it down silly!' I said as he fumbled with his wand. A few seconds later the potion turned from a bright pink to a dark red, and me and Amy-Rose both rolled our eyes at him. 'How's your's going?' I asked looking at the beautiful purple colour of her potion, 'Alright, just need to let it simmer for a few more minutes and then its a case of adding the right amount of Ginger Root so that it's dark orange, must be better than your's though' she said in the same tone but happily looking at her nearly finished work.
'Well it looks okay,' she said, smiling slightly for the first proper time in ages. 'Thanks,' I muttered as I checked my black watch. Just three more minutes, I thought and then checked. Gray was humming after his work, Amy-Rose was the same as usual and everything was going okay today hopefully my little friend wouldn't show up and ruin everything. Taking me by surprise, my watch pinged and I knew it was time to add in some Ginger Root. Stirring the mixture, I started adding Ginger Root bit by bit, until it had reached the mandatory dark orange. Smiling, I gradually turned down the heat with my wand and took out one of my crystal phials. As Amy-Rose bottled hers, I noticed Professor Slughorn give her a thumbs up, as she retrieved a label and wrote her name on in neat black writing.
Pouring my potion into the phial, Slughorn gave me a label and smiled. Hastily I wrote my name on it and then handed it in with Amy-Rose. When we returned, Gray was just at the stage of bottling his potion and handing it to Slughorn. Cleaning out my cauldron using magic, I packed away my book and potion kit, did my bag up then slung it over my shoulder. 'Ready to go, or are you numbskulls still faffing?' Amy-Rose asked looking bored and as spiteful as ever. Nodding we went to the door, all three of us, and walked up the spiral staircase, out of the Viaduct. Climbing up to the Transfiguration Courtyard, we came to the smallish wooden Library door and opened it almost silently. Walking inside, we received a glare from Madame Pince, but chose to ignore it and walked to one of the desks positioned with comfortable wooden chairs.
'Right, Gray find as many books as you can on Complicated Curses, Rowena go and find some books on Omens and Daemons, I'll look for Scars, Curse Scars and Tattoos and some ancient languages,' she said then consulted her watch. 'Meet back here in ten minutes, and don't be late' she said and I wandered off into the vast library of books. Grabbing a book labelled, 'Omens of the Unknown' I walked around and found one called 'Dangerous Omens and Demons' and another thick volume called 'Omens and What they Mean' and also for various research I grabbed a book called 'The Darkness of the Dark Arts' and strode back to the table. Banging the four thick leather bound volumes on the table, I received a warning look from Madame Pince but just took out some pieces of vellum parchment, my ink bottle and my favourite Raven feathered Quill.
Amy-Rose returned a few minutes later with five volumes labelled, 'The Ancient Languages of the Past: A Rare Dictionary', 'Extraordinary Curse scars and their meaning', 'Curse Tattoos and how to interpret them', 'A Brief History of Curse Marks' and finally, 'The Complete Latin Dictionary. Shortly afterwards Gray returned with four volumes, three quite thick and lengthy and one a rather short and miserable looking book. They were titled, 'A History of Complicated Curses', 'Complicated Curses and What each means', 'How to Break a Complicated Curse' and the last was a storybook called 'The Darkness of a Child'. Me and Amy-Rose both frowned at it, but turned it aside and with a stern but soft voice Amy-Rose muttered ,'Right let's get to work and crack this curse, before you die of thinking too hard,'. Almost immediately we zoomed into action, flipping through pages, checking contents, recording data. Man this was going to be one long night.
The language that the letter is in, is in Latin so you may want to translate that into English via Google Translate.