Selena Riviera has my birthday, for some odd reason. Oh well. It's chapter three, and the plot begins to rear its ugly head.
The Scribe's Resurrection
Part One: Chapter Three
September 1973
"You know, your mum needs to really quit taking us to those Muggle libraries."
"She thinks it's fun, Darcy. It kind of is." Selena stared unmoving out the window as the Hogwarts Express traveled. Twinkles whistled- the shiny creature actually liked dancing.
"Only because you can dance. Who goes to a fine arts workshop anyway in a library? Who dances?"
"I used to." Selena stopped wearing jazz shoes when she was ten and started asking for a broom.
"You aren't a normal person, Selena."
"Where is Hogwarts, anyway?" The quiet girl asked. When her friend didn't answer, she glanced over. "Darcy, why do you look in that mirror?"
"I am so ugly." Selena sighed, rolling her eyes. "My nose is so big..."
"It is not. You're very pretty, Darcy."
"No, I'm not," Darcy moaned, pinching her nose and shifting positions to gaze at her reflection. Selena unhappily returned to the sight outside of the compartment.
All of a sudden, Darcy cried, "What is beautiful anyway?!"
Selena stayed silent.
"I mean, what is it? What is this word? Beauty. Why can't everyone be beautiful?"
"Everyone is, and so are you."
"I am not. Beauty is a relative quality, because it appeals to everyone in a different way. Why are we pressured to be beautiful? We want to be accepted. I am so tired of trying to be accepted!" Darcy threw the mirror into her bag.
"I accept you. I always have." Selena didn't dare look at Darcy. Her mood would eventually pass, and Darcy would get over whatever happened to her over the summer holidays. Selena frowned. Who was she fooling? Darcy always got this way.
"You're a fool, that's why you accept me."
"No, I'm your friend, and I love you." The frustrated girl gave a cry, alarming Selena.
"And what is this love everyone keeps talking about? I've yet to see it. If two people are capable of loving each other... Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do people love?"
"It fills the void to be able to help someone, Darcy. If you can help someone- well, People love because they need other people... because they want to be needed and wanted." Selena felt as though she was repeating herself.
"That's stupid!" The blonde's hair shook violently; her friend saw it reflect in the window. "That's so stupid! I don't need anyone to depend on! I'm my own person. I operate alone."
"Right."
"I can't trust anyone. That's humanity's fault! They love!"
"Yes, Darcy, you don't want anyone around you for anything."
"Of course I don't want anyone! The only person that seems to keep hanging around is you!"
"Does that annoy you?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, it does." Selena pulled herself up from the seat. They were almost at their destination, she knew. Selena was already changed.
"Okay, Darcy." She turned to leave. Selena hesitated, but said some final words: "But, you do know, just like I need you, you need me. You just don't like being dependent. That means you're helpless, and"- Selena paused- "You hate that." Selena left the room, leaving Darcy with her thoughts.
She felt disappointed. It took a lot to disappoint her, but Selena would forgive Darcy for saying something so appallingly ignorant and hurtful. She already had. But Selena couldn't help crying all the same.
She secured her hair behind her ear, and kept walking forward.
--
"Selena? Selena?" James sighed. "I swear she's gone deaf. Selena."
"Mm?" Selena snapped out of her zone to see James waving his hands at her.
"Merlin. How was Arithmancy?"
"Good. It's interesting. Numbers have such a fun way of manipulating themselves."
"Right." James turned to Remus, whispered feverishly with him, and then gave his attention back to Selena. "You've been a little off since this morning. We thought it had something to do with this morning..."
"No. It's fine. I'm just a bit tired. I'm going to bed early." Selena left the Great Hall.The truth was, Selena definitely had something on the brain.
Her first Arithmancy lesson had taken place that morning, and Professor Vector had decided to say something most peculiar. Someone had asked if seven was significant, and the professor's face became eerie.
She'd said, "Seven is the most magically powerful number. Seven is the ultimate." And that was all. No, she hadn't elaborated, and, no, she didn't say why she talked about seven. But the way Professor Vector had said it was strange. It was finite, unbreakable, indescribable, the way she'd placed the number seven.
Selena did not go to the common room, but turned once she got onto the fourth floor. The library, empty, would be sure to have information on the number seven.
"Seven, seven... Seven!" Selena pulled down a book named Seven and its Properties. She flipped through it, and one passage caught her attention.
"The structure in Great Britain with the most instances of the number Seven is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, built circa 990 by Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. One use of the number seven includes seven floors, not including the ground floor. Using seven in the floor plan ensured the school to stay together." Selena shut the book. It didn't go into detail, so she kept searching.
"Excuse me! The library is closed!" The librarian screeched. Selena gasped and spun on her heel.
"I'm sorry- I didn't know!"
"Hmph. Get on to bed!"
"Sorry," Selena mumbled, treading dejectedly out of the library. She glanced at her watch as she went down the corridor. It read nine-thirty. Oh yes, the library was certainly closed.
Selena stepped into the quiet common room and looked up at the bulletin board. The first Quidditch practice was that Saturday. She sighed and went up to get her Transfiguration and work on it.
--
"Remus, why don't you just skip classes today? You look awful. You should go ask Madam Pomfrey for a sleeping potion."
"I'm fine."
"But, Remus, you look like you didn't get any sleep," Selena whispered out of the corner of her mouth. She turned the page in her Ancient Runes book, trying to decipher what the picture meant.
"I just couldn't sleep last night, that's all." He was intent on getting away from the subject. Selena peeked at his paper, trying to see what he'd gotten. She almost snapped at him, telling him to move his quill out of the way, but then Selena saw his hand.
"Re-" She stopped. The laceration on his hand was awful. Four sharp objects had scratched his skin in succession, like claws. Selena gulped and went back to her work.
--
The next morning, Artemis hooted as he perched himself on his owner's arm. He had brought some packages with him.
"Hello, love. You're so nice. Here." Selena took a small treat out of her pocket and fed it to him. With a great hoot, he flew off back to the Owlery.
"What'd he bring you?" Peter asked.
"Mm, the Daily Prophet and a book I ordered," she replied. Selena briefly looked at the front page, looking for deaths. None today.
"Could I see paper?" Someone to her left asked. She handed it over to Allan, and he scanned it. While she opened her package, a tingle resonated in her fingers. Hogwarts and Seven the book was called.
"Well," she began, "we've got practice in a bit. Got to go get ready." She got up and rushed away, pretending not to hear James when he yelled that practice didn't start for three hours.
It was a beautiful, sunny day with huge fluffy clouds in the sky. Every student was outside, except for Selena. She was sitting in her bed, studying the cover of her new book. As soon as she unfastened the lock, she heard her name being called.
"Selena! Selena!" She stuck her hand under her pillow and felt for her mirror handle.
"Darcy?" They hadn't spoken since the Hogwarts Express.
"Oh, wow, I have to tell you about something." Darcy beamed. Her eyes had a strange sparkle in them, like she'd been taking a daydreaming potion.
"So, what's his name?"
"Regulus Black." Selena remembered Darcy's infatuation with him. "He's so amazing. Anyway, he's just perfect." Darcy sighed. "He's so cute."
"And?"
"And he's intelligent... He's amazing. Words cannot describe his wonderfulness. That's why you should come to Hogsmeade with us tomorrow."
"Okay- wait, who's 'us'?"
"Me, Regulus, Narcissa, Lucius, Evan-"
"Um..."
"Don't worry. They'll be nice to you."
"I guess so..." Selena remembered that James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus all had detentions the next day, so she would be going to Hogsmeade alone. She was going to make arrangements with Lily, but Darcy was asking her to come along.
"Good."
"Alright."
"Okay, well, I just had to tell you. See you later." The mirror went back to its original state.
Selena picked up the book again and read.
Hogwarts and Seven was a conspiracy theory written by a former Unspeakable. The author had gone to Hogwarts, studied too much, found a connection between the school and the most powerfully magical number known to wizards, and then compiled notes. It was intriguing. The coincidences in all of the numbers become eventually too much, as the writer deduced, and something must be true about it.
Selena glanced at the clock over the entrance and almost swore.
"Fifteen minutes to practice?!" She began to strip off her clothes and change into her practice outfit.
"Have fun in detention," Selena gibed. She bit into her bun.
"Yeah, sure..."
"Why'd you guys get detention with Madam Pince of all people?"
"We snuck into the restricted section." Remus busied himself with strawberry jam as James explained the cause of the effect.
"And now you have to dust, catalog, and put away everything?" Selena asked, not entirely convinced.
"Well... it was midnight, you see. First, we opened that crazy screaming book. Would you believe there's a screaming book? How the bloody hell are you supposed to read it? Tell it to kindly hush up? Anyway, that's not even what got us in trouble. There was another book, one that actually bellows, 'Dost thou take me from my shelf? Thou art a curst and vile knave!' Then it gives a battle cry."
"And that's why we're in trouble. Because we were heard."
"Ah. See, now that makes sense."
"There is an upside," Sirius mused. "We get to see what kind of hexes she puts on the books." He smiled devilishly, earning a cringe from Selena.
"Just don't test them on me..."
"Of course not," Sirius said, "that's what Snivellus is for."
"Oh, Merlin, you're not going to hurt him are you?"
"All in good fun."
"So, where're you going without us?" Peter asked, moving away from the subject of that lonely Snape boy.
"Darcy and I are going to Hogsmeade, of course. I can function without you, you know." Selena looked at him strangely.
"Obviously, by the way you handled that broom yesterday," James said. "Well, while you're there"- he drew a piece of parchment and a pouch from his pocket- "could you bring this back for me?" Selena took the list and read it over. She put his money into her bag.
"Definitely a trip to Zonko's, hmm."
"Well, we've got to go," Remus said. "It's almost noon."
"Oh, I need to find Darcy, then. See you." After taking another gulp of orange juice, Selena bounced over to the Slytherin table.
"Selena!" A voice called. Selena rounded the table, going over to Darcy's seat.
"Hi," she said quietly.
"Guys, this is Selena. Selena, meet Narcissa, Lucius, Evan, and Regulus." Selena waved.
"And what house are you in?" Lucius asked.
"Gryffindor," Selena replied.
"Ah." He stared daggers.
"Okay, ready to go? Have you got the charm?" Darcy stood up.
"Yep."
"What charm?" Selena asked.
"Regulus is a second year..."
"Oh. Say no more." She knew from experience that when someone tried to trick a teacher, one should just stand aside.
"Hmph. I thought you go tell McGonagall," Evan smirked.
"No. I don't tell on people."
"Right."
"C'mon." Darcy linked her arm with Selena's and they were on their way.
The six students strode down the hall and into a classroom. Selena knew better than to ask why they stopped, so she waited and allowed Darcy to fix her hair.
"Seriously, consider growing out your hair. You'll look so pretty. It'd frame your face and everything."
"Okay."
"Let's go," Narcissa said. "We've finished disguising him."
Selena looked around, looking for Regulus. She saw a vague outline of a person, but all of the rest was hazy.
"Disillusionment charm," Darcy explained, and they were off again.
When they arrived in Hogsmeade, Evan decided he wanted to go into Honeydukes.
"Oh, that list," Selena murmured as they stepped into the store. She pulled the paper James had given her out of her purse and read it over. She grabbed a basket and loaded it with things on the list.
"Um, you going to eat all that?" Regulus asked. He was now in his regular form.
"Oh, no," she replied. "My friends have detention and couldn't come, so I-"
"My brother, right?"
"Er, yeah, actually."
"He's such an idiot." Selena frowned. "But you're in Gryffindor, so you don't see that the lot of you are stupid."
Selena let his comment roll off her back as she picked up a box of Pepper Imps. Wondering why Darcy would ever like someone so mean, she went up to the counter and paid for her and James' things.
After Honeydukes, Lucius and Narcissa excused themselves, saying they wanted to go over to the Post Office, and for the rest of the group to meet them back at The Three Broomsticks in a half hour.
"Oh, please, they just wanted to snog for a bit," Evan muttered.
"I need to go in Zonko's anyway," Darcy said, "because Filch took up my cards."
"I've got to get some things too."
It took a while for the assistant to find everything on Selena's list, and when Darcy looked at the time, she realized they were late.
"Got everything?" Darcy asked. Selena nodded, and they left the joke shop.
Late September was chilly, but beautiful. All of the trees' leaves changed, and everything had a yellow-orange glow. The four students walked along the path, and soon, The Three Broomsticks came into view.
"Ah, look, it's Severus," Evan said, pointing in front of them. "Severus!"
"Yes?" Severus Snape slowed and they caught up to him in front of the inn.
"We were going in for a drink. Want to come?" Snape thought a second and nodded.
"Good," Darcy said. "Let's go, the wind's picking up."
Warm air rushed in, and Selena decided that The Three Broomsticks was her favorite place in Hogsmeade. All of the pretty orange and yellow light from outside was in, and it gave the comfortable place a look of intimacy.
"There they are," Regulus said. The place was packed with Hogwarts residents, but Lucius and Narcissa had managed to find a table. Butterbeer had already been set out for them, so they all seated themselves and began to talk.
For the most part, Selena stayed silent and watched Darcy's antics. Amused, she chuckled to herself when Regulus continuously rejected her friend's flirty invitations. But then, the subject of family arose.
"I dunno about that, Narcissa, Dad had a sister named Druella," Evan interjected.
"Oh, then we're first cousins, not second!"
"Yeah, I think so."
"Well, Bella's probably getting married soon. You all wouldn't remember- you're too young- but the Rodolphus Lestrange was quite the looker." Narcissa and Lucius were in their final year of Hogwarts.
"Lestrange? I know his brother. He comes over to visit Mum sometimes. Distant cousins, I suppose. What about your family?" Lucius asked Selena. "Obviously, we're all distant cousins."
"Um, I don't think I'm your cousin," said Selena softly, pushing away her empty butterbeer bottle.
"Oh, c'mon, we didn't think those infernal Prewetts were ours, but, hey."
"Well, my dad's Muggle-born," Selena continued, still quiet.
"Oh."
"And Mum's a Muggle... So, I don't think-"
"So basically, you're Muggle-born?" Regulus interrupted.
"I guess." Selena looked down, fiddling with her thumbs.
"Hmph. That was a waste, your father marrying a Muggle. I mean, it's a miracle that you're a witch. Stupid bloke. If he'd married a pure-blood, then his children would of course be all magical." Selena flushed, tears forming in her eyes.
"What's he do, anyway?"
"An Auror." Hearing sniggers, Selena looked up.
"Aurors're jokes. They all just turn up dead, anyway! I'd rather be alive!" Regulus laughed haughtily. Selena glanced to her left at Darcy, hoping she'd say something. But Darcy was laughing too.
"He's not a joke!" Selena rose to her feet and gathered her things. "He's very brave, standing up to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!" Regulus stood up too.
"Anyone who stands up to the Dark Lord is a fool who's dead meat!"
"You're wrong! Standing up for what is right makes you pure of heart!" She wiped her eyes which were brimming with tears. "And thanks Darcy, for sticking up for me. At least in Gryffindor, we know how to treat our best friends!" And on that final note, Selena rushed out of the pub and did not look back, clutching her purchases.
Selena shut her journal and blinked rapidly in order to uncloud her head. Writing in that diary always made her feel funny. She put the journal and quill under her pillow next to her hand mirror and Hogwarts and Seven. Tilting her head and staring at the book, an idea danced through her brain.
It was late, and everyone was already asleep. Selena was wide-awake, so she pulled out the book that was underneath her pillow and put it in her large purse. Quietly, she slipped on a pair of jeans and a school robe. She placed other items in her cloak pockets and nodded. Selena was ready for a nighttime trek.
Selena gingerly stepped out of the common room and into the dark hall. Hogwarts was different by night. Everything looked sinister. The sparse lighting threw dodgy shadows upon the walls, illuminating the sleeping portraits. Statues and suits of armor looked like guardians of the stillness.
The hairs on the back of the silent girl's neck stood up when she heard the slightest sound. Filch's favorite time of day was night, so she had to be on the lookout for him and his cat. She nimbly crept down the stairs.
Without any hindrances, Selena quickly found herself on the ground floor. She looked up as she walked around. The visibility was worse in the night, but she wouldn't dare use a light. She walked the whole of the entrance hall, then put her hand back on the stair banister. Selena felt an engraving.
"What's this?" She breathed. "Lumos!" Light flooded onto the carved marble, and Selena instantly recognized the figure as a Demiguise. She smiled- this was one of the signs the Unspeakable had written of.
"Selena?" Selena whipped her head around, searching for the one who had called her name. "What're you doing up?"
"Darcy? Oh, Merlin, I thought you were a teacher!"
"No... What're you doing?"
"What're you doing?"
"I got hungry... I always come to the kitchens... Don't interrogate me!" The blonde spoke in a hushed voice, her hair appearing silver. "What're you doing?"
"Um... Arithmancy-ish stuff."
"Oh, that seven thing?"
Selena speechlessly nodded, going back to her mission. If the Demiguise was on the ground floor, then a unicorn engraving should be on the second.
"Listen. I'm sorry about the other day..."
"Two weeks ago in Hogsmeade?
"Er, yeah. I'm sorry. You were right- I should've made them stop. Ancestry shouldn't matter in friendship."
"It's fine." Selena had already forgiven the girl, as she considered her outing with the Slytherins that day to be a test of strength. Yet Darcy shouldn't have been sorry, because Selena needed to be taught how to handle herself.
"Well, have you found out anything about Hogwarts? With seven, I mean."
"Yes. We should go to the seventh floor... To see the engraving there."
"Okay. I'll come with. Here, have a Cauldron Cake."
"Thanks." Selena bit into the cake and they went up the stairs. "Look for a unicorn on this level." Darcy didn't answer, only tapped her friend's elbow.
"They're everywhere."
"Hum?" Selena paused and looked around. She was right. The shadows on the walls showed horse-like figures with horns. The banners hanging down had unicorns on them, and other animals stood in the background. Decorations on the first floor suggested a unicorn, and then they didn't- it obviously played with the eyes. If someone looked for the figures, then they jumped out. To a person just walking through, there was nothing significant.
"This is so weird," Darcy whispered as the two went on. "I mean, that guy was onto something there, in that book."
"Yes, he was."
Two staircases later, Selena was trying to explain to Darcy what a Fwooper was without being terribly loud; but, all the same, she caught the ear of someone.
"OOOH! Two students out of their beds!" Peeves exclaimed. "I thought I heard something. Tut, tut, tut."
"Quit your tutting, Peeves. You'll get us caught!" Peeves blew a raspberry at Darcy.
"Don't tell him that! He'll want to even more!" Selena furiously mumbled.
"Tell on you, that I shall. I could. I would. I should."
"Don't, Peeves. I'll give you a pack of Drooble's, and you can make an awful mess of Filch's office!"
"I've been dwindling on my gum. Gimme, gimme or I'll scream a banshee!"
"Here!" Selena took Darcy's gum and slapped it into Peeves' hand. He smiled widely.
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" He roared, flipping away.
"PEEVES!" Darcy hollered.
"C'mon Darcy, it'll do no good yell- SHH." Clapping her hand over her best friend's mouth, Selena saw a lantern light in the distance.
"Duck." Darcy tugged Selena into a cranny in the wall. They heard Filch's footsteps coming closer, along with the soft tap-tap of his cat's paws.
"Sniff them out," Filch ordered the awful thing. Darcy gripped Selena's arm tightly, and they both prayed that they wouldn't be found. The cat's eyes darted and stuck to the nook they hid in. Selena raked her brain for ideas and then settled on one.
Selena turned the dial on the yellow whistle the boys had given her and blew into it. A sudden ruckus came from down the stairs.
"C'mon. They won't get away this time!" Filch sneered, shuffling down the corridor. Darcy let out a breath she'd been holding, and the girls went upstairs.
"What was that whistle thing?"
"Um, friends gave it to me for Christmas year before last."
"Oh. Dead useful."
"Mmhmm." Selena and Darcy went up two more flights of stairs, and the last floor waited.
"So, what's the symbol for this floor?"
"Um... No one knows what it is. I can show you, though..." Selena undid Hogwarts and Seven's lock and pointed to the inside front cover.
"Huh. Looks like a headshot of a human." Selena shrugged.
"Who knows. But... Wow, look how many there are!"
"Well, duh. There're oodles of portraits, and that symbol looks like a portrait."
"Anyway." Selena walked around, wanting to know what in the world the symbol meant. No one in the history of all wizard-kind could figure it out.
"WHOA. What did you do?!" Darcy asked.
"Huh? Oh, whoa." An embellished door presented itself.
"This was not here before. I would've seen it," Darcy cried, touching it.
"I don't think we should go in..."
"Don't be chicken! We won't- we can't get killed. This is Hogwarts."
"People die in this school."
"Right. C'mon, don't be such a flobberworm." Darcy pushed open the door, and they walked inside. The room was just a massive, open space with a wardrobe in the middle.
"Odd."
"Boring is more like it." Darcy ran to Selena's left and kept running straight. Selena watched her go, until she was nothing more than a speck. Then, she felt a tap from her right.
"Wha-? How-? oh my goodness." She searched for the reason why Darcy had run left, but she turned up on Selena's right.
"Snapdragons... This room must not have any dimensions. Let's see what's in this silly wardrobe then."
"I think we should go. We're not supposed to be out of bed."
"You're being chicken again!" Darcy said loudly. She turned the knob on the old wooden wardrobe and looked inside. Instantly, she screamed at the top of her lungs.
"What is it?" Alarmed, Selena ripped out her wand. Darcy stumbled back into Selena.
"Th-the D-d-da-" But Darcy didn't have to say a word. The Dark Lord had already come out of his cage.
Of course, he appeared genuinely inhuman. He wore black, which made his ugly pale face stand out. His red eyes glared intently at the girls, his face ominous and looming. Inhaling through his slits for nostrils, he opened his mouth to speak. He revealed his tongue as forked.
"Prepare for your demise," the Lord Voldemort uttered slowly.
"Selena! I don't want to die!" Darcy chattered. She sobbed as she hung onto Selena, screaming that she was too young to be a ghost.
"Stand behind me, Darcy." The fearful blonde hid, and Selena stepped forward, brandishing her wand. But before she could hex him, Voldemort changed shape. He turned into a colossal hourglass, sand sifting gently down.
"You can't scare me!" Selena yelled to it. "I know what you are! Riddikulus!" The boggart morphed into a Muggle boy tripping over his shoelaces, and Selena began to laugh. The boggart disintegrated.
"What was that?!" Darcy asked, still crying. "I thought it was going to kill me!" Selena comforted her with a hug.
"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would never be inside Hogwarts," Selena soothed. "He's too afraid of Dumbledore!" But Darcy didn't listen.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! We would've died if you hadn't transfigured it into that hourglass!"
"Darcy, it was a boggart. I didn't transfigure anything."
"Re-really?"
"Really. Now, let's get you to bed."
"James," Selena asked over breakfast the next morning. James looked up from his cornflakes.
"Yeah?"
"Is there something special on the seventh floor?"
"Divination's on the seventh floor," Peter commented.
"No, I mean... Something you don't normally see."
"Oh, so that's what you were looking for last night," James concluded, "There's a room on that floor that gives you whatever you want if you do it right. Walk by three times, and wham! A room."
"And the room gives you anything you want?" She skipped over the part where James knew she'd been out of bed.
"Definitely. Sirius and I were hungry once, but we didn't want to go all the way down to the kitchens. We walked by, wanting food, and we found the door. Opened it, and found a feast."
"Like Halloween," Sirius remembered. "Best food I've ever tasted."
"Hum. Okay."
As she ate, Selena thought of what she had been needing as she and Darcy were on the seventh floor. They were talking about the number seven and what it meant, and then, like James said, a door showed itself.
But, why would a boggart be the answer to seven?