Another Victim
The Christmas break soon faded into January and the students returned in bundles. Basil still had her mind wrapped around the thought of the last meeting with Aguirre, he knows something. He has to! Anna would always agree but never added on more; her respect was still to her teachers. Basil began piling up ideas and theories of Aguirre behind all of this, but Anna turned them into scraps of garbage.
The classes started again that Monday, Anna and Basil had transfiguration in less than ten minutes, but they were waiting impatiently for Albus. Yet, his messy brown hair and beautiful green eyes were nowhere in sight.
"We're going to be late. I want to be there for Celeste's lesson." Anna whined and swayed side to side.
"Don't worry, I see him right there."
Albus was hurrying down the hall to them, messy hair bouncing, and seem to be breathing hard from the looks of it. Once he stood in front of his friends, he took a deep inhale and coughed; Anna patted his back sympathetically and pouted towards Basil.
"I'm fine! My class is around the corner anyways." Albus assured with a strain in his voice.
"So what's the news from your father?"
"Well I asked him and he said it was confidential business, but from what my Uncle Ron said, it's just like the curse here." Albus explained and stood up straighter.
"Well that doesn't help much." Anna sighed and moved hastily back and forth.
"Oh but listen to this! My Aunt Hermione was talking to my father about something in the Ministry building. Well Mr. Gelsimini is the guard to the artifacts section and something very important was stolen from that are-"
"We know this Al!" Basil crossed her arms and looked at the green eyed boy sternly.
"No, what were stolen were three vials. These vials contained magic of felons by the name of Sweets, Castle, and Aguirre."
"Aguirre? Like…Professor Aguirre?" Basil smiled evilly. "Who's Castle? And how do these work?" Anna piped up and stared at Albus intensely.
"Yes, I'm afraid so. It might not be our Aguirre though. From what my Uncle Ron says, they cast a draining spell on you and they take all the magic into bottle and keep it in there. They only do this do some criminals that they believe are always going to misuse their magic. It's rarely used, so I don't know why they used on these three." Albus continued and looked at both girls.
"Well whoever broke into the artifacts, stole the vials and returned the magic to all three of them and their families." Basil summarized and leaned against the wall.
"That would explain your magic being back in your family." Anna acknowledged in her hopeful tone.
"True, you should contact your father and ask him if anything has happened that seemed magical." Albus added. The students were clearing out of the halls and to their classes.
"Will do." I replied and made note of it.
"So what do we do now?" Anna asked her group, they all shrugged.
"Well the curse can only be performed in short distances. So the person must be in the school." Basil nodded at Albus's comment, and then it struck her.
"The doors, the doors I've been seeing must be the way." Basil exclaimed to her friends, "The person must see them too. The key might also be for the doors too!"
"That would explain it and how they get away so easily. Basil, we have to get to class. We'll discuss this at dinner. See you Albus."
Anna and Basil left for Professor Celeste's class and Albus went to herbology. The two girls entered just in time for class to start and sat down in their seats. Celeste went on to tell them to turn their match to a needle but her swaying was slightly distracting to what she was saying. By the end of the lesson, Basil had turned hers a slight silvery color, Meg had made hers sharp, and Persephone had barely made hers turn smaller. Anna had the most improvement by making it in the shape of a needle but it stayed the same coloring.
"Very good Miss Winchester, five points to Ravenclaw." Ms. Celeste commented airily.
As the class ended, Persephone and Meg went on and on about something that was happening but Anna and Basil were toning out. Basil was examining the corridors for doors that only she could see; they all seemed to disappear since the last time she saw them. A distant memory of hers was of doors when running to find Tia but then disappearing.
"Are you guys coming or not?" Meg nudged both girls and they shot their attention to them.
"To where?" Anna asked. Persephone and Meg rolled their eyes and sighed.
"The Ravenclaw and Slytherin Quidditch game today! Remember, we talked about this for months." Persephone exclaimed in her whining voice.
"Oh that's right! Of course we're going. Albus and James will be there too right?" Basil asked and looked towards Anna for a reply.
"Well Victoire is our chaser so I would believe so." Anna answered happily as they marched up the tower.
They dumped their things on their beds and headed for the Quidditch field on the other side. As they crossed the quad, Rosie Weasley passed by with her books in her arms and bag spilling with papers. It had just occurred to both Anna and Basil that they haven't talked to her since the first few weeks of school.
"Rosie! Come with us to the game." Anna called after her. She turned around and smiled at everyone.
"I would love too, but I have so much work to do. I might come down later if I finish." Rosie replied with a weak smile.
The girls said their goodbyes and walked into the stadium to take their seats with the other Ravenclaws. They had a somewhat good view of the field and waited patiently for the game to start. Scorpius Malfoy and his goons appeared in the stands with dirty smirks on their face.
"Malfoy is here, hopefully he doesn't start anything." Anna commented and passed some flags with Ravenclaw crest on it.
James and Albus appeared soon after and set next to them with the Ravenclaw flags. As the two teams entered the field, James and Albus cheered when they announced Victoire's name over the speakers. Then once they had everyone accounted for and ready, they were off into the sky.
Basil sat uncomfortably for an hour without any sign of the snitch. Victoire had made many goals, but so did Slytherin. Anna had become so tuned into the game that she was actually getting angry for once. Albus calmed her down when a bludger hit Barney Corners and almost threw him off his broom ; Basil watched in amusement.
Basil's eyes soon to droop down and blinded her, the crowds began to be silent and her brain soon shut off. There was nothing but a pool of mist surrounding her legs, the rest was darkness. Basil stretched her arm out to the darkness only to see it too disappeared like the area around her.
"Anyone here?" Basil yelled out, the darkness was crawling into her misty light.
The darkness was in cloud form as it rolled through the mist; a wave of freezing winds blew over her legs and feet. Out of nowhere, something started to tug Basil down towards the darkness; Basil tried to scream but nothing was heard. It was then when she saw a hooded figure slithering towards her; no legs or arms but just a body that hissed and screamed out an incantation that wasn't clear to Basil. It only took another second before Basil jolted awake and shot up to look at the field.
The game was still going on and there was no sign of the snitch anywhere. Anna was still cheering and waving her flag around while Albus and James were cheering for Victoire. Basil took her attention to Meg and Persephone and yawned.
"God, how long is this game going to be?" Basil complained.
"Maybe another hour or two. You can go back to the tower if you want." Meg offered and looked towards the exit.
"That sounds good. Hairball must be lonely."
Basil said her goodbyes to her friends and headed out of the stadium in a hurry. The snow was turning to hard rain and the grass was turning muddy, which her feet trudged through and almost ruining her shoes. Suddenly, there was another pair of sloshing footsteps behind her; it was getting nearer as her feet were becoming heavy with rain. Basil's heart raced as the steps came closer and sounded like it was running towards her. I'm next. Basil went to grab her wand but she knew she couldn't perform a perfect spell.
"Sweets!" A haughty voice called after her.
"Scorpius? What do you want?" Basil hissed and moved her wet hair from her face.
Scorpius was as drenched as Basil was; his bleached white hair, that was usually pulled back, was now sloppy and swirled around his head. His robes were clinging to his body and he looked miserable. Basil felt a little guilt for acting rude towards him, he looked like a pitiful puppy as the water slid down his face.
"Boring game really, I rather go back to my room." Scorpius scoffed and ruffled his wet hair from his face.
"Oh fine then." For a moment, Basil was enthralled at the sight of Scorpius ruffling his wet hair around his head until a crack of thunder threw her out of her trance.
Basil trudged on with Scorpius right behind her, his humming was vibrating in her ear like a bee. Once they entered the castle, Scorpius squeaked his shoes across the stone floor, much to Basil's annoyance, and he turned to say something to her. Suddenly, a shadow passed by in front of her, tall and masculine with a barely audible cackle.
"So I wanted to-"
Basil dashed for the hallway the shadow moved down to and saw the elongated hallway was occupied by a figure at the end of the hall. Basil went straight for the person, shoes squeaking along the stones, the person heard and darted to another corridor; the path they were taking was headed for Gryffindor tower.
"Stop now!" Basil shouted and held her wand out to the person.
The figure disappeared around a corner that went in two opposite directions, Basil stopped and looked at both opening and stared. One was towards the main hallways of classrooms and library while the other was towards the tower.
"Protego!"
Basil threw herself down the hall and rushed for the feminine voice that called out the shield charm. There was an echo of muttering and a loud bang that sounded from the library; Basil turned pale and her heartbeat was almost deadly. Once she entered the front of the library, there stood the statue form of none other than Rose Weasley.
"What did you do?" A cold voice hissed behind Basil.
Once Basil turned, it was Scorpius with his face contorted into fear and disgust. Basil's eyes switched back and forth from Rosie and Scorpius; Rosie's face was full of fear and one hand over her face and another clutching her wand.
"I didn't do it!" Basil trembled and she felt like she was going to pass out.
"I'm getting out of here. You're going to pay for this!" Scorpius left for another direction.
He left Basil to fall to her knees and stare blankly at the frozen state of Rosie. Basil threw her face into her hands and let her eyes water; no one walked by to see the sight so Basil let her emotions release. Her guilt was spilling out of her as she thought of how James and Albus would react to their cousin being turned to stone. Basil began sobbing at the feet of Rosie, her feelings since she got her letter to Hogwarts poured out of her like a fountain.
"I'm so sorry Rosie. I'll make it up to you."
Basil stood, shaking and wet, and hugged the stoned Rosie. The once ginger girl was cold as ice and felt as if it was withering away from underneath Basil's touch. Basil pulled herself together and wiped her leftover tears; she had to go tell Albus and James. Only Basil had another thing burning in her brain, screaming at her, it was a mission that she had to complete. I'm going to kill him.