Of AllCaps!Madame Hooch, Subtraction Problems and Unexpected Marital Status!

OR, A Peek Into the Past

A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update; I'm currently embarking on a multi-chapter Pirates of the Caribbean story that's taking up much of my time and patience, so side projects like Valerina got moved to the side. If anyone's still reading, I hope you enjoy the next chapter in the wild and crazy tales of my first-ever Mary Sue, Valerina Tristont!

Madame Hooch's eyes blazed with rage and fury, and her cheeks flamed red-hot. I was too scared to move. The ghoul slunk back into the shadows.

Madame Hooch's voice was like a hurricane, gluing our attention to her. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING, YOUNG LADIES!" Behind her, Diane snickered. My heart was crushed. I was sure we'd be expelled; there was nowhere to hide, no time to run, and nothing to say. Worse, we'd never save the school. Or Pansy.

I stared at the ground, ashamed, my heart sinking. Here we were in the dead of night, in the Restricted Section of the Library, fighting a ghoul. And a teacher walks in and sees us? We wouldn't even have detention, this was so bad. Worse, Diane knew.

Veronika was brave. "Well, Madame Hooch, we" –

"THERE'S NOTHING TO EXPLAIN, YOUNG RAVENCLAWS! I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU WERE DOWN HERE, BUT YOUR PUNISHMENTS WILL BE SERIOUS! COME INTO MY OFFICE!" Madame Hooch roared. Her voice was terrible; her eyes were like fire.

Trembling, hearts hopeless, we slunk helplessly through the empty hallways where the Jobberix might be flying even now, free and unpunishable, with Madame Hooch in front of us and Diane behind. I didn't even have time to wonder why Diane was, like us, up in the middle of the night. (A/N: nor did I, apparently, have time to explain it…) We were as good as expelled.

We slunk into Madame Hooch's office, facing her shamefacedly. All of us studied the cold stone floor with worry. The walls seemed to laugh at us; the moon shimmering through the windows seemed to mock us, so free in the sky. Madame Hooch stood in front of us all, our future in her decision.

"NOTHING – I repeat – NOTHING gives the student the right to walk about the school at night," Madame Hooch scolded scornfully (cough*stoleMcGonagall'sline*cough), her words punctuated with a shake of her pointed finger. Her eyes were filled with great disappointment, and her face was serious and solemn. Our feet shuffled nervously on the ground.

"As it is," Madame Hooch continued, her voice horrible, "You were also in the Restricted Section of the Library, which is out of bounds to all students, and foolish enough to face a ghoul which was innocently called here by Dumbledore himself to guard the school!" (Guard the school from inside a locked room…?) She was all ruffled up and squawking, like an angry rooster.

Veronika was bold enough to raise her shivering hand.

"Yes, Mrs. Tresant?" Madame Hooch barked sharply. (Now she's married???)

"S-so the ghoul is only here to protect the school from … the Dark Plots?" she quavered. (Again, some help it's going to be if it's locked in the Forbidden Section of the Library.)

Madame Hooch stared seriously at us. "Yes," she answered coldly, "But the Dark Plots are not to be worried about by any students, and they are nothing for you to be messing around with. I would like any silly behavior about the Plots to stop, even though they are increasing the chance of the school being closed and all you students" – she pointed a finger from us to Diane –"being sent home, and likely sent to another school, with not as high ratings as Hogwarts."

Each of us stared at each other, and even Diane's smirk had been wiped off her face and replaced by a thin, grim smile. Her eyes were fearful.

"Now," Madame Hooch snapped, "as your punishment, there will be fifty points taken away from Ravenclaw."

My heart melted into dismay. "Fifty?" I exclaimed hopelessly. Diane sneered, showing her crooked white teeth.

"FIFTY POINTS EACH!" Madame Hooch snapped. "Since there were four of you out, and Ravenclaw had 400 points, you now only have 100 points!" (First Snape, now Hooch. Can any of Hogwarts' staff do math?)

All our chances of winning the house cup were destroyed. We had been in the lead, 400 points, beating Slytherin's 369. Now we were in last place, just after Gryffindor's 190 (Thanks to Hooch's inability to do simple subtraction.) Worse, Slytherin – that meant Diane – was in first place, probably bound to win the House Cup. Hufflepuff, at least, was in second place, but I did not want to see Diane's smirking face when she won the house cup. Right now, nearly expelled, seeing Diane's tongue sticking out at us, was bad enough. But if Diane won the house cup … she would never forget it.

Madame Hooch glared at Diane. "NOW," she roared, "DIANE PROMPTON, YOU WERE ALSO UP IN THE SCHOOL AFTER HOURS! I WANT YOU TO EXPLAIN TO PROFESSOR SNAPE, AND THERE WILL BE FIFTY POINTS TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU!"

"But I had to go to the bathroom," wailed Diane in despair, "and I heard crashing and screaming in the library … and I came to tell you!" Her eyes were wide and filled with annoyingly fake innocence.

I calculated wisely in my head, struggling to push away the last few despairing moments. "At least," I sighed, "Hufflepuff are in first place. Diane's fifty points taken away pushed Slytherin's 369 behind Hufflepuff's 340. Slytherin now have 319."

I sighed, long and deep, again. It did not really matter, I thought, if Hufflepuff, or Slytherin, or Gryffindor won the house cup. We would not, and we would be expelled. I would never see Pansy again. I would never play Quidditch again. But worse, I could never save Hogwarts. I would never find out what happened to the Jobberix. I would never see Velma graduate; I would never see Bradley or any of the Quidditch team. But probably worse, I would have the pleasure of learning to be a fully trained Wizard taken away from me … forever.

"NOW, RAVENCLAWS!" thundered Madame Hooch, her voice shattering the sorrowful silence of the airy, wide office. "BECAUSE THE GHOUL MIGHT HAVE THREATENED YOU AND YOU HAD TO FIGHT TO LIVE, OR PERHAPS YOU DID NOT KNOW THE RESTRICTED SECTION WAS RESTRICTED, OR PERHAPS YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING INTO THE NORMAL SECTION OF THE LIBRARY, I WILL NOT EXPEL YOU … AT LEAST NOT THIS TIME! BUT YOU WILL HAVE YOUR DETENTION, THE FIVE OF YOU, WITH HAGRID TONIGHT!"

"But Professor," Diane chimed in, (in a perfect imitation of Draco Malfoy) "I think I heard you wrong. You said, 'the five of you.' There are only four of them, Professor."

But what Madame Hooch said made me a little happier. "Well, Mrs. Prompton, (she's married too?) I know that you yourself were out after hours. You will serve detention with your classmates."

Diane's smile was wiped away completely.

***

The campus of Hogwarts looked creepy and haunted, with a bleak, dark look spread over it. The shadowy bushes rustled sometimes with the activity of small nighttime animals, and the massive sky domed above us, velvety with darkness. Not a blink of a star twinkled in the immense blackness, but the luminous moon had a ghostly, opaque look.

I shivered, fearful next to Veronika. All five of us – me, Veronika, Pamella, Sadia and Diane – were striding nervously through the Hogwarts campus after the Hogwarts caretaker, Argus Filch, who liked to give students detention.

My heart felt small and lost in the dark world. Our only comfort was the faint yellow light glowing from a small but comfortable wooden hut where our gamekeeper, Hagrid, lived. He had a bushy black beard that clouded on his chin, and jolly, twinkling eyes. Hagrid was friendly and helpful, but had a love for beasts that nobody could explain. The hut looked like it was shrinking down under the shadows of the tall, groping trees of the Forbidden Forest. Their crooked, bony branches looked like reaching hands in the darkness.

We saw something moving towards us, and my heart skipped a beat, then relaxed; it was only Hagrid. He carried a lantern, its warm, foggy glow more comforting than the creepy light shining from the moon, and his bulky, clumsy boarhound, the faithful Fang, was lumbering along behind him. Strings of drool hung from Fang's mouth, and his little eyes glanced around, alert.

"Hello!" exclaimed Hagrid, a tone of sadness in his booming voice. He knew that we were in detention, and he liked us.

We all greeted Hagrid with somber waves of our hands and scattered "hellos," but from behind us we heard Diane moan. "This is servant stuff!" she grumbled fussily, pounding on her cape.

Argus Filch, with a gleam of excitement in his narrow, sneaky eyes, handed his lantern to Diane, and then stalked back to the school to patrol. Hagrid rubbed Fang lovingly, then mumbled, "Can't serve you no detention t'day, I'm 'fraid, cause I've got duty. But, I've got a job to do, and although it's silly detention 'cause it involves goin' outside in the middle of the night when that's what you did wrong, you gotta help. Other teachers are on patrol, too busy to give detention, so come on." He gestured to us with a wave of his strong arm and we strode off in the direction of (gasp! The plagiarized horror!) the Forbidden Forest.

My heart nearly froze with fear, and I stood rooted to the ground like a tree, nearly petrified with terror. "H-Hagrid," I quavered, "W-we aren't g-going into the F-forbidden Forest, are we?"

Hagrid stared sorrowfully at us, his eyes dull. "Yup," he answered, "That's where I got business, Valerina."

My heart pounded as we slipped between the trees. I could hardly move, staring at what was around me.

The trees were tall and serious, like guards, their branches coated with drooping, rotting moss. The twigs and sticks branching out from the branches were crooked and slender, creaking in the chilling, haunting wind like hands reaching out for us. My heart skipped a beat. Mist clung to the trees, engulfing us, but everywhere the bushes rustled and twigs snapped. It was dreary and dismal, a forest of distress and fear. Shadows slipped all around us, and it was pitch black in the tunnel of eerie trees we were approaching. Silvery cobwebs hung from the branches of the trees, torn and tattered, and fallen cobwebs, along with leaves, carpeted the mossy, muddy forest floor. Branches and vines snapped at my face, and my shoes sank deep into the black muck. The dark was closing in all around us, terrifying and haunted.

Fog swirled through the trees, casting a miserable, bleak look over the woodland. The eerie breath of the wind stirred up the trees, making their branches bend together and the leaves shake, making it seem like they were whispering darkly to each other. Deep gashes ran through the bark in the tree trunks, looking like some fierce animal had been scratching the wood. "I wonder what made those?" I thought to myself, and my heart skipped a beat (yet again.)

We walked deeper into the engulfing darkness. Shadows were all around us, and the black trees were huddled together closely. The only light was the fading, pale shine from the two lanterns; the only comforting sound was the crunching sound of our shoes and Hagrid's big boots against the crisp leaves on the forest floor, and the soft pad-pad-padding of Fang's paws. But sometimes, sometimes, the footsteps seemed to come from something else, I thought.

I felt something brush up against me, and a horrible breathing sound, and my heart went wild! I smothered a scream, making me cough, and Pamella began to scream too. In a flash, everybody was running around, and Fang barked so loudly that we all stopped where we were. Whatever it was had vanished; slithered away into the darkness.

"I – I felt something brush against me!" I exclaimed, my heart pounding and my breath choking.

"It was only Fang," Hagrid assured, and, giving Fang a pat, he beckoned for us to come forward. Fearfully quivering from head to toe, the cold piercing us and making us feel lost, helpless, and uncomfortable, we timidly stepped forward. I looked behind me and in the lantern light, I saw Dianne's mocking brown eyes twinkling with merriment and her grin filled with crooked white teeth. "Oooh, you were so scared, ooh, baby," she oohed, then swallowed and walked on.

I felt a lump in my throat as I looked around nervously. Was there something moving between the trees? Was it a monster or a beast – or something worse? I faintly saw something black moving throughout the trees, and I gave a little yelp of terror and felt a jolt in my heart, but breathed hard to calm myself down. I was too scared to say anything, but Diane wasn't.

"Hagrid," she snapped, "I mean, dragging us out here in the dead of night? This is servant stuff, and we shouldn't be up in the middle of the night anyways! Why are we even down here?"

"Diane," Sadia reminded her, brushing her thick black hair out of her face, "That's the whole reason we're down here, remember? We – and you too, Diane – were out in the middle of the night. But we can't have detention, so we have to help Hagrid with his job."

Diane scoffed and Sadia stuck her nose up in the air. I didn't see how Sadia could even think of Diane's snobbiness when we were in danger, out in the middle of a forest filled with beasts and monsters.

"Hagrid," Sadia asked, "Why are we out here? I mean, what's the job you're talking about?"

Hagrid looked back, swinging the lantern, and answered gently, "Well, there's hard times up at the school. (No, really?) Dumbledore's worried; all the teachers are, and Hogwarts may be closed if we can't do something about it. So that's what we're for. Once I knew a wise centaur who gave advice in riddles and rhymes, and if I'm not mistaken he still lives here. So, I'm here to ask him advice, Sadie. That's what we're here for."

Slowly and cautiously, weighed down by fear, we trudged laboriously through the snapping vines, underbrush and shrubs. My eyes glanced around frantically at any new sound, making sure I glimpsed every detail in the forest, and my heart was panicking. I didn't want to go any further. I wanted to turn around and run back to the dormitory.

So I thought about Pansy. She didn't know what kind of danger we were in; she didn't know if she would live or not; she didn't even know what state she was in. If we were killed in the forest, Pansy would be friendless. She was shy and timid, and I was sure she would gradually get to know some other Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff first years, but she would have many enemies. Lavender and Parvati clearly did not like her, because of the way she defended us from them when I was trying out for the Quidditch team.

Suddenly Hagrid stopped, and my heart thumped as my thoughts shattered. Did he see something? But his words were less frightening.

"This is where we'll rest for a while. The centaur – he's called Midnight – Midnight lives miles into these trees, quite harmoniously with the other animals, and we'll have to journey all night to find him. Every good traveler needs a rest, so we'll set up camp here. Diane, you hang the lanterns on those good tree limbs, and we'll gather some firewood."

We had paused and gathered in a small clearing within a ring of elm trees. The clearing had no light, but a gloomy, leafy black roof of branches and leaves and various tree limbs to hang things on. There were rocks and logs, perfect to sit on, and a clear area in the center for a fire, but it was not a comfortable settlement. In fact, I felt a little frantic about resting, but eventually I had to join the rest of the group and set up a small campground.

I felt like a pioneer setting up a homestead, except this was no safe, cozy homestead but a dreary clearing in the middle of a haunted, dangerous woodland. Diane hung the fading lanterns on tree limbs, like Hagrid had told her to. She was beginning to realize, I supposed, where in the world she was and how she should react to it, and she didn't seem so wild, mischievous and nasty anymore – not very pleasant like everyone else, but calmer and nicer than usual. The rest of us gathered chips to make a fire and set them in the middle of the clearing. Here the dust had been burnt to ashes (?) and coals lay clustered, shining among the ashes, giving off a powerful, smoky-sweet smell that was choking to the nose. I felt lonely and frightened, out in the Forbidden Forest in the dead of night.

Sadia whipped out her smooth brown wand from her cape pockets and waved it briskly above the wood chips, muttering a few well-chosen words. The fire began to flicker and crackle, orange and yellow flames twisting around each other with blue shimmering among the broken logs, and a warm golden glow hung around the fire, warm and inviting. We sat around the fire, roasting our weak, shivering legs in the blazing heat, but my eyes couldn't help nervously glancing back to the wild forest surrounding us. What terrible beasts could be lurking in the depths of the shadowy, misty trees at this moment, waiting to strike?

Hagrid blinked and rumbled, "It's gettin' late. I say we take a little rest, then continue our search for Midnight. He doesn't like to be bothered in the early mornin'; none of 'em centaurs do."

The rest of our travelling party, even Diane, nodded their approval, except me. I thought we should keep going and make it to Midnight. Obviously, if he was a centaur, it seemed that he was our safety, our bodyguard in the forest, and if we should rest anywhere, it should be with him. I shook my head slightly and glanced worriedly into the shadows of the forest. Was something in there about to pounce right now? There were werewolves in the forest, and things much worse as well that I didn't want to run into. It was unlikely that we would survive this trip into the forest.

We all backed away from the flaming fire, watching the flames dance and flicker. They seemed to sway and turn in some special movement, a slithering movement somehow, that reminded me of a snake. Smoke began to rise from the fire, curling and twisting like a serpent, like the flames in the fire. It began to get eerie. They looked too much like a snake … too much …

Suddenly, it all happened. The flames lunged forwards in the long, curving shape of a snake, and my heart erupted like a volcano! Everything around me was rushing and screaming with fear, yelling and waving arms. But I was being chased around by the snake of flame.

As quickly as it had happened, all my fears of the forest were unleashed in one big BOOM! I let them all out in one enormous, ear-splitting scream, and my heart felt like it was on fire. The shimmering of the fire-snake danced in my ear, blinding me (she sees through her ears?) but I dodged to the left, and suddenly there was a hiss and a sinister snarl whizzing just past my ear. I shook my head, silent but screaming inside me, and I stood pinned to the spot as I watched the snake in astonishment. It was curled up on the ash-covered ground, but the flame was melting away and dissolving into thin air, and as each tongue of flame licked itself away, it revealed an ugly, hideous, coal-black serpent, its skin crispy and burnt, like ashes.

"AN ASHWINDER!" screamed someone behind me – I think it was Pamella – and all my thoughts whizzed back to a terrifying report I had heard about ashwinders. It was that day in Professor Kettleburn's class, when Hannah Abbott had read that essay on ashwinders. And now I was face-to-face with one of them!

I leapt to one side, heart blazing like the fire, as the snake lunged at my side, needle-like fangs ready to bite. I skirted, horrified, my heart racing, around the campfire, as the snake curled up on the ground, then uncoiled and sprang, straight as an arrow, into action again! My mid raced, as I desperately tried to remember everything I had heard in Hannah's essay, but all I could think of was one thing – to live!

I saw a flash of something on one side, and my friends were all around me. I glanced wildly at Sadia, my heart pounding, as we dashed as a group to one side as the snake lashed its tail at us.

"Don't worry – no, worry!" she whispered hoarsely to me, dodging a jet of poison shot from the snake's tongue. "Listen, all of these ashwinder body parts are fatal to anyone: poison, spat from the tongue, the bite of the fangs because they have poison on them, and touching the body, because it's so hot it could pierce right through your skin!"

My heart was on fire. "Thanks for telling me!" I exclaimed, half sarcastic, half grateful. I didn't know how I felt or what I should do, for everything except the will to live had vanished from my mind.

My legs kicked up in action as the ashwinder streaked towards us, spitting a stream of poison at me and whipping its tail around again. Diane screamed and leapt to one side; the snake had tried to bite her.

"DO SOMETHING, HAGRID! YOU CALL YOURSELF A GAMEKEEPER?" screeched Diane, rudely, and I felt like pushing her and yelling in her face – if we weren't in deadly trouble now.

"CAN'T!" hollered Hagrid, dodging to one side to escape the snake. Fang was leaping back and forth, howling loud and long, as the snake hissed viciously. I was so terrified and my heart raced so much that I could hardly do anything, even move.

"WHY CAN'T YOU?" Diane screamed back at Hagrid, bolting so far from the snake's tail that she nearly flung herself into a tree. She sprinted actively around the campfire, and leapt onto a rock for a safe hideout. "WHY? WHY?" she shrieked again. Her face shone in the light of the campfire, and I could see her cheeks were boiling tomato red, and endless tears rolled down them. There was a hoarse sobbing in her voice, and for a moment I felt sorry for even her, because we all faced either death or injury from the snake. Oh, I wished, I wished I could just jump forwards in time and find out what happened next, if this adventure had a happy ending, but there was nothing to but leap and scream. I jumped from the snake's poison, pushing Pamella out of the way of the snake's tail. Her eyes wide, she stared at me and whispered, "Thank you, Valerina! So much!" I instantly realized I had saved her life.

My breath was going in rapidly, in and out, in and out, and my insides were yelling and shrieking, but I couldn't utter out one sound. The snake was slithering like a lightning bolt across the clearing, spitting and waving its blazing hot tail. I gulped, and yelled, "HAGRID, WHAT CAN WE DO?"

Hagrid, who was on the other side of the campground, yelled back to me everything he knew about ashwinders. "They are formed when a magical campfire is left on too long! Ashwinders live for only one hour, but it hasn't been fifteen minutes yet! So we've just got to keep jumping like this, and dodging, and finally, the snake will die. But if we leave a magical campfire on too long again, this snake will come back, you see!" He nearly fell down backwards dodging a jet stream of poison.

The snake slithered away from Hagrid, past Diane, and towards me. It was coming straight in my direction, its tongue flickering in and out, in and out. In a second, that tongue would spit blood-red poison – and if I didn't move quickly, that would be the end of me!

The snake lashed its tongue and hissed deeply, flicking its sizzling tail with action, waiting to strike. I screamed, wild with fright, and with a great, powerful burst of energy, I sprang up and shot into the air with my powerful jump. Everything seemed to get smaller below me; then I yelled with fright as the snake swayed upwards below me. I saw my friends rushing forward to help me, Diane clutching Hagrid. My arms sliced forwards, and with a powerful thrust of my legs, I locked them onto a branch. The world flung around below me in a flash of color, and then I was looking straight into the snake's evil eyes. I could tell that somehow, somehow it wasn't just here for no reason. It was here for a reason – some reason that had to do with the Dark Plots.

For a moment I was dazed with fear and panic, and then I swung myself upwards and grabbed onto a higher branch with my arms. But I was stuck there. I couldn't run, and I couldn't go any higher because I would fall and the ashwinder would get me. I just clung, trembling with fright, to the branch, my long red hair drooping around on either side of me, blocking my view of everything else except the snake. I squeezed my eyes shut, fearing the end, fearing the red poison shooting up and hitting me. I could never save the school, I would never see Pansy, I would be gone forever...

I waited. Two seconds, and the snake was still hissing below me. One minute. Fifteen seconds. (So Valerina can't count, either.)

WHOOSH!

Below me, there was a yell and a few high-pitched screams, and the snake hissed so violently that I was sure it must have killed somebody! But the screaming persisted, and there was a loud clattering below me, the whooshing of hooves slicing through the air, and when I opened my eyes Hagrid and Diane were gathered in one corner of the clearing and my friends in the other. Fang was standing on two legs and barking hysterically, which made me giggle a little. Then I saw something else. The ashwinder was no dead, but slithering away into the forest. It was running from something … but what? Not another monster, not possibly?

Heart still beating (hopefully!), my mind was still spinning, but I was settling down slowly as I shinnied down the tree trunk, trembling with fright. An eerie, gloomy look had cast itself upon the clearing, and the mist was swirling around the bony, crooked trees. The campfire was dead, the smoke was curling into the air, and the Forbidden Forest looked just as miserable and haunted as it had when we first entered. My heart seized up with fear as I realized what had scared the ashwinder away.

It was a man – no, not a man; a horse, with a bow and arrow. Suddenly I figured it all out. My heart relaxed – it was a centaur. The centaur stood in the middle of the clearing. It had powerful, muscular legs and a silvery, drooping tail. Its coat, glossy and flashing, looked velvety, and little glints of moonlight jumped from hair to hair. The man part of the centaur had soft black hair, like the body, and a wispy coal-black beard that collected at his chin like thick smoke. And I realized, relieved, that it was the centaur – Midnight!

I skipped over to take my place beside Pamella, staring into the tall centaur's wise, loving eyes. They were endless, as if they knew every story and everyone who had ever been on earth, as if they held secrets long forgotten. Midnight seemed ancient, powerful, and over all, wise.

Hagrid stepped forward and greeted respectfully, "Hallo, Midnight. These are kids from the school – those three are Sadia, Pamella, and Veronika, and this is Diane, and the one closest to you is Valerina, the one you saved from the ashwinder."

"Yes, hello, all of you," the centaur rumbled deeply. He had a mighty voice, but he was kind and gentle, too. "I see you have come to ask something of me … an ancient prophecy, perhaps?"

Hagrid answered, "Midnight, it's about Hogwarts. It's in trouble. There have been attacks up at the school; the Raven has been locked up"-

"I know, I know, the LINK is broken, and the Dark Plots are rising. Now, what would you like me to do? I cannot read the fortune in the stars of the night sky," Midnight mumbled, gesturing up at the sky. The glistening river of starlight, each star shimmering like crushed glass, wound serenely through the deep blue night sky that domed above the forest, curving past the pearly white moon. The moon shed its own misty light, which hung around it in the air. I could see nothing wrong with it.

"There is an air of tension, and the teachers, I assume, are anxious. I had the feeling yesterday as I was watching two crups wrestle each other in the forest, that something bad was happening, and I was correct – the sinister Dark Plots…" Midnight's voice was gentle, but it had a haunting sound to me, and a chill raced up and down my spine. But I was confused at one thing.

Twigs snapped under my feet as I raced forwards towards the tall centaur. "But Midnight," I wailed, "I thought the Dark Plots would only harm the school! Is it true that they will do harm to everyone in the Wizarding world, even the animals in the forest?" My voice had a distressful sob to it. This was worse than I had expected.

"Now, now, do not despair, child, there is hope," Midnight reassured lovingly. "But as for your question, you are correct. For when … oh, I suppose I should tell you the whole story. Now, as you know, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin were the founders of Hogwarts, and I'm sure you must have heard most of the story, but I must tell it again."

"Yes!" piped up Veronika. "We heard it in Mrs. McGonagall's classroom."

"Yes," Midnight replied. "Now, as you all know, Salazar Slytherin did not like the idea of Hogwarts. It was a school for good arts, and before becoming a founder he decided to join the Dark Side. Now the Dark Side was stronger than ever, and Salazar departed from the school to fight in the Dark Army. He decided to turn Hogwarts into a school for the Dark Arts, but first he had to get the other founders out of his way. He captured Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, making them his prisoners, and drained their strength with an unknown magical power, making them weaker. But Rowena Ravenclaw used her wisdom to free Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, who fought against the Dark Side but were very weak. In the end, most of the Dark Side was destroyed, Hogwarts was safe, and some of the Dark Side ran away into the forest to hide. Slytherin, who had survived, was one of those.

Ravenclaw eventually became too old to continue on the fight, and knew she must retire, but who would destroy Slytherin's evil plots? She decided, you know, to plan a LINK who had not been born yet. When the LINK was born, he or she would bond with the Raven of Ravenclaw, and they would conquer the evil plans. THE LINK must be wise, true, pure-hearted, patient, kind, loving … well, enough of that. Slytherin wanted to leave behind a LINK too, to fight Ravenclaw's LINK, but what animal would the LINK of Slytherin bond with? The Serpent of Slytherin was not very strong, and injured from battle, so Slytherin decided not to leave behind a LINK but an heir, known as the Enemy of the LINK. If either one of the members of the LINK was locked away, like one is now – the Raven – then the Enemy of the LINK could begin the Dark Plots, which meant strengthening a monster.

For when the Dark Army had been defeated, the Dark Wizards and the Dark Monsters would be too weak to continue their sinister tasks. But if the Enemy of the LINK destroyed the LINK in the distant future, then the Dark Wizards and Dark Monsters could rule again. But we don't know who the LINK is, or who the Enemy is, or what kind of monster is being strengthened in the castle right this minute, so we can't be sure. But don't think I can solve your problem in a wink. I'm not the smartest thing around, and even I can't figure this out for sure. But all the hints I know of are written up in my scrolls; I have then here in my satchel, and if I read it out to you, I hope you may be able to figure it out."

Shadows slipping off his glossy fur, Midnight reached back into his satchel and fumbled around. I could hear paper being tossed about, and I had to wriggle with excitement from head to toe. I was so happy inside, full to bursting, that I felt like squealing out a little squeak of joy – but Diane was here, and she might make fun of me. We would figure it out, finally! When Midnight read his scroll, we would know all the answers!

But Midnight's advice was not as clear as I had expected, but more confusing, with parts in the middle that changed what we knew now into a big puzzle. I would have liked more information, but that was what I got.

The centaur unfolded his scroll. I could see that the parchment was written on ancient looking, wrinkled paper with crinkles at the folds and rips on every corner. The paper was so tattered and torn that some of the biggest rips made the paper curl in at the edges, and the folds had been folded up so many times that there were thick creases on them. But in the center of the scroll, the writing was handwritten neatly, in long rows of writing, and Midnight began to read in a fluid voice. I listened intently.

"Long ago, over one thousand and eight years,

Hogwarts was founded without struggle or tears.

Of three of the founders, who lived in harmony,

One was on the dark side, and departed to flee.

It was Slytherin who left, to fight in the Dark Army,

But his side was defeated by the good many.

Oh, Ravenclaw so good left behind a LINK

Who would bring hope with her power to think.

Slytherin also left behind

Someone who would help his kind.

The LINK'S terrible enemy

Is known as more to life than life can see.

The Dark Plots of the Enemy were planned,

To strengthen a monster and destroy the good in the land.

Four should strengthen this fearsome beast,

Unless the fourth is love only.

To destroy the monster, unknown and feared,

Is to use the greatest wisdom, without shedding hopeless tears."

My eyes squinted and I thought hard, trying to make sense of all this, but I could not. It was very confusing to me; there were some parts I had heard many times and which made clear sense, like the beginning when Slytherin departed up until when the LINKs were formed. But the last things, about the Enemy of the LINK in particular, were more confusing. At first I thought the lines through very quickly, wondering if an idea would spring into my head, but my mind was empty. Then I tried to work it out slowly, but it only made it more confusing. My mind was full of questions, but there were no answers, it seemed, to the secrets of the ancient parchment.

My questions rang in my mind till I could not ignore them, and they bothered me. Now I wondered more and more who the LINK's terrible enemy could be, especially now that he was "more to life than life can see." Obviously, the enemy was something important in life, but how could something be so important, yet invisible? I also thought that the enemy of the LINK could not be Professor Kettleburn; he was not an important part of life, and we could see him. I glanced at my friends, and from their confused faces and dull eyes I could see that they thought the same thing. But how could Kettleburn be innocent when he seemed so suspicious and all our clues pointed clearly to him?

I thought about my second question. "Four should strengthen this fearsome beast," the fifteenth line read. Four of what? How could four of anything strengthen a magical beast, and how could the monster get them? Even more puzzling, what was this monster?

I puzzled over the line after that, hoping it would give me some clues: "Unless the fourth is love only," but it only made me even more hopeless. The fourth of what? What would happen if the fourth of what was love only? What did 'love only' mean?

But the last line seemed to hold the biggest secret, holding every answer to the puzzle in the prophecy of the LINK of Ravenclaw. "To destroy the monster, unknown and feared, is to use the greatest wisdom, without shedding hopeless tears." That sentence rang in my head, and I could not see what it meant. What was the greatest wisdom? Why would you have to try hard not to shed hopeless tears? Why would the tears be hopeless? Would you have to cry while using the Greatest Wisdom, because it was sad? I desperately wanted to know, but there was no further information.

At least, I thought, at least the prophecy had helped. A little bit. We now knew that Professor Kettleburn was innocent, and the enemy of the LINK must be someone else. But who? The prophecy had only lead us to another puzzle.

After bidding Midnight farewell, we trudged back through the forest, past the clearing where the Ashwinder had attacked, through the dark tunnel of trees, and finally we were out on the school campus, free from the horror of the Forbidden Forest. I had enough positive thoughts to make up a little joke inside my mind – we learned another thing from that trip, too: why the Forbidden Forest is Forbidden! (Har, har, har, I've never heard anything so funny.)

It all seemed dull and dragging as we trooped through the school, Diane departing and heading for the Slytherin common room as we continued on towards the Ravenclaw common room. The halls were dreary, dismal and empty, as well as the common room itself when we finally reached it. But in my heart, as I climbed into bed and pulled the thin covers up over my head, I felt that something big would happen, that I would suddenly know a big answer.

This thought was bursting inside of me, and my heart flopped as I waited for the impact to strike. I had a feeling something big was going to happen, but inside I just felt bored and tired. Grumbling with frustration, I rolled over in bed, kicking my legs, making the sheets on the bed toss and ripple. I adjusted my eyes to the darkness of the crack between my bed and Pamella's and stared at the boxes of books, wands and robes belonging to Pamella, Pansy and I.

I glanced up for a moment, staring longingly at Moonridge's cage. I missed her, and inside my heart felt like crying when I thought about how full of life Moonridge had been. I began to think further back, to when I first met Moonridge – I was outside, and then she just flew to me. I didn't know where shed' come from, how old she was, or any family background – except that she was my favorite bird in the world. And now she was gone.

I looked back, again, at the old books with their wrinkled covers and pages. I sighed, knowing that tomorrow, we would have to be studying them again, preparing for the end-of-the-year tests that were looming closer and closer. (Another example of how my obsession with keeping the storyline as close as possible to a Harry Potter book completely messed up the timeline. As the story is fast approaching its climax, I had decided to set the time close to the end of the year, in July or so, just as it is in nearly every Potter book. However, the last time the date in the story was given, it was November 11th. A few days prior to that, on November 1st, the Jobberix egg was laid; it hatched a month later, on the date this Chapter takes place during, which would make this December 1st. If anything, Christmas holidays should be approaching, not the end of the year!) I didn't know how I could ever study, when we had come so close to solving the mystery.

One book, one of Pansy's, especially caught my attention; it was lying opened on the floor. I knew that only Pansy would have opened it, because nobody else really liked to mess around with anybody else's belongings, not even Pamella, so she must have been reading it before she was petrified.

Before she was petrified! Before she was petrified, Pansy had been busy researching the LINK of Ravenclaw! This book might have some important information, although I could not read the page because it was too dark. I swung my body over the edge of my bed and snatched the book. The paper felt rough and crinkled against my numb fingers, stiff from the chill of the Forbidden Forest.

My heart raced with even more thrill as I realized that this was not a history book, but a beast research book! Certainly, Pansy must have followed the same foolish track as us, though, thinking the ghoul in the library was the monster and reading up on it. But I had been wrong about the ghoul, and recently I was wrong again about Pansy thinking what we had. The page that was open was not about a ghoul, but a ruenespoor. I searched down the page with my eyes and read to myself, excitement building with every word.

RUENESPOOR

The ruenespoor is a three-headed serpent that it highly dangerous to all wizardkind. It is green with black stripes along its back, and was once a favorite pet of Dark Wizards, and is able to speak to Parseltongues, people who can speak snake language. They are very dangerous.

The ruenespoor deposits its eggs through its mouth. These three-headed snakes are fifteen meters long and found in Australia. When it comes to hunting and killing, all the heads work together.

The right head is the thinker. Being the smartest, it finds the prey and tells the other heads what to do. The middle head has sharp, poisonous fangs. But it does not use its fangs to kill, but to hold its prey still while the most powerful head, the left, kills.

The left head contains a single organ behind the mouth designed to suck up the strength of the victim. Once the strength is gone, the middle head can kill.

At the bottom of the page, Pansy's handwriting read:

I think the monster is a ruenespoor.

I gasped. I had worked it all out! It all fit; nothing was left out! I had to tell my friends!

That was, I had to tell them tomorrow morning.

A/N: The ashwinder and ruenespoor are actually real snakes in Harry Potter canon; information on both can be found in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. However, I took great liberty in depicting them as ferocious and highly dangerous monsters, whereas in canon ashwinders are not described as particularly dangerous, only nuisance as their eggs can ignite buildings, and ruenespoors are only around 2 meters long, as opposed to my outrageous 15. Also, the canon ruenespoor is vivid orange-and-black striped and originated in Burkina Faso, unlike my green Australian monster. The roles of the heads were also original creations: in canon, the left head is the thinker, the middle head the 'dreamer,' and the right head the critic with venomous fangs.