Introduction: Hi everyone! How are you all doing? I want to thank you all so much for the sweet reviews and messages and I want to send a special shout out to Son of Whitebeard, James and TimeIsAStrategicWaltz for the kind reviews on my last chapter. I really hope you guys enjoy today's chapter! Also, don't forget to check out my new HM Instagram jillklein.ff. I've been posting the characters aesthetics and stuff. Well, my question for you guys today is a bit more serious: do you think the Ministry of Magic has something to do with Jacob's disappearance? Let me know your theories. As you guys already know, any comments, critiques or concerns, feel free to contact me.
Chapter Eight – Lies and Keys
My lovely little witch,
We couldn't be more proud of you! Congratulations for joining Ravenclaw's Quidditch Team. And don't care about people saying it was just because you were the only one to try to join; you'll show them all how amazing you are on the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff match (which we'll be sure to go and watch, of course).
About Jake's mysterious behavior: I also would've never imagined him having so many secrets. I'm not quite sure where his room might be. I searched through his stuff, but there was nothing odd about them. If he had a secretive life in Hogwarts, maybe his room is somewhere in the castle too. Let me know if you find anything.
Your friend Bill is absolutely correct: there are some major problems at the Ministry. A lot of You-Know-Who's followers alleged they were under the Imperio curse, but I'm sure there were a lot of liars among them. If the Ministry had something to do with Jake's disappearance, please, be very careful.
And about the boggarts terrorizing the school: I suggest you study and learn the Boggart-Banishing spell. Maybe you could ask Professor Snape to teach you. If he's so willing to teach you potions, I'm sure he'll teach how to cast this spell. I'm sure you'll be a great potion maker one day, just like your grandma.
All my loving,
Grandpa.
I read grandpa's letter about ten times trying to absorb those information. If Jake's room is somewhere in the castle, it will take ages for us to find it. It took months for Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape to find Ben and he was trapped in ice in the middle of a forsaken corridor. How many forgotten or hidden rooms might be in this castle?
I look at Rowan, but her eyes are glued to the Daily Prophet, her mouth opened in complete shock.
"Row?" I call. "What's wrong?"
"Oh. My. God," she says. "Read this!"
She hands me the newspaper and my jaw drops when I see a big picture of Jake – the same one mum was holding the day she died – and I have to blink a few times to make sure it's actually real.
DEATH EATER OR SIMPLY MAD?
by Rita Skeeter
About to turn eighteen, the young wizard Jacob Lockhart completes his third anniversary in the Missing Person List. The only son of Christopher Hodges and the deceased Annette Lockhart is known for his attraction to the Dark Arts as well as his obsession with the mythical Cursed Vaults in Hogwarts. Rumor has it that the boy was involved and it's a possible follower of You-Know-Who, hence the reason of his appealing to the Vaults – which are claimed to possess great power and fortune -, in a likely desperate attempt to bring back his master. The director of the Animagus Registry Department and Jacob's father, Mr. Hodges affirms he wasn't aware of his son's inclination towards the Dark Arts. "He has always been responsible and very bookish," he said in our recent interview. The thirty-eight year old widower buried his wife on July 10th, who committed suicide after struggling with depression for years. "She lost hope that our son would ever come back," Mr. Hodges said, with tears in his eyes. For this young father's great dismay, his daughter Athena Lockhart, who is now attending her third year in Hogwarts – as a mezzo-soprano member of the Frog Choir and Ravenclaw's Quidditch Team seeker – has shown to present the same inclination towards the Cursed Vaults as her brother. Perhaps there's an actual curse flowing in the Lockhart blood. Let's just all hope the young Lockhart witch doesn't have the same fate as her older brother. Meanwhile, the pride of the Lockhart family, the young Gilderoy Lockhart, has recently published his new bestselling book: Wandering with Werewolves; available in every Wizarding bookshop around the world.
"Unbelievable," I murmur, so much rage flowing through my apparently cursed blood that my only instinct is to smash that disgusting newspaper in a tight ball and rush through the Great Hall, holding a scream in my throat.
I don't stop until I reach Ravenclaw's changing room; the only place I knew would be completely empty. I kick the metal lockers, feeling so angry that I might burst. I kick it again, finally releasing the scream that was contained inside of me.
"LIAR!" I yell to no one, wishing I could stick that goddamn newspaper down Rita Skeeter's mouth.
I crash in one of the benches, hiding my face in my hands, feeling a bunch of tears overflowing my eyes. From behind my closed lids, I can see Jake's smile and remember his contagious laughter.
No.
He would never be a Death Eater and he was never inclined towards the Dark Arts. Even though my brother had a side I didn't knew, he was no psychopath; he was sweet and generous and clever and responsible.
I raise my head, staring at the blue lockers.
Maybe that was it. Maybe he wasn't being reckless or irresponsible or blind for the power. His message said Hogwarts would be doomed if he didn't do anything. And maybe that's it.
Maybe he was just trying to save everyone.
"Rita Skeeter is a foul human being," Rowan says when I lay next to her in my bed. "She's a motherfucking bitch who deserves to be stepped on like a beetle."
"You're definitely increasing your cursing vocabulary, Row," I say in a sigh, remembering all of Rita's awful words about my brother. "But if you didn't know me, would you believe her?"
"Of course not," she says. "Rita Skeeter only writes tabloid journalism. You can never take anything she says seriously. Bill always says that."
"Bill, huh?" I raise my brows at her.
"We're been studying together while you're taking your private lessons with Professor Shadow."
I roll my eyes. The worst part isn't having Rita Skeeter writing about my brother; is that my father gave her an interview.
Rowan ends up falling asleep next to me, her arm carelessly fallen over my stomach. It's good to have her around; her presence sooths my emotions. My lids start to get heavier and heavier, and my heart calms itself enough for me to finally fall asleep.
This was probably one of the most interesting and useful dreams I've had so far:
I was standing in the middle of our Common Room; the fire was crackling in the fireplace and I could hear Twilight hooting in the window. And right in front of me, standing next to Rowena's statue, was my brother.
"Jake," I said, but when I tried walking to him, he ran.
I ran after him, but he left the Common Room, running so fast that it was hard to keep up with him. He turned corridor after corridor, until I found myself in the Clock Tower, very close to the Choir Room. I looked around and saw Jake sneaking into a room, which looked very much like a broom closet. The door was almost imperceptible against the stone wall, but when I tried to open it, it was locked.
Rowan walks with me to that corridor on Wednesday morning, before my choir practice. I rush to that same wall from my dream, but there is no door. Instead, there is a big tapestry of a man with a pointy hat, looking to an owl over a table full of candles.
"There's no door here," I say, feeling awfully disappointed.
"Your dreams are never wrong," she says, running her fingers over the tapestry. She grabs one of the edges and pulls it aside. "Check mate."
My heart can barely take it. Right behind the tapestry there's the exact door from my dreams, made of a greyish wood, almost merging to the background. My hand reaches for the doorknob, but there's a big double key padlock keeping it locked.
"Alohomora!" I cast, but nothing happens. "God dammit!"
"So close," Rowan says. "Maybe we could knock the door down."
"And the whole castle would hear it," I sigh. "Now we need to find the keys."
"Wait," Rowan says, getting closer to the lock. "There's something written in the padlock. T.K."
"T.K.?" I ask. "What's that?"
"Could be a lot of things," she says. "The brand of the lock, a secret code or even the initials of the owner."
I look at her, feeling completely dismayed. But then something hits me… like a bludger during a Quidditch match… like a spell on Merula's face… like… like a lot of things.
"Tulip Karasu," I whisper.
"Do you think Tulip has something to do with this?" Rowan asks.
"Think about it," I say. "She has been friends with Merula and Merula is looking for the vaults too. And do you remember what Merula said? That she found someone to help her with this quest. I highly doubt she was talking about Barnaby or Ismelda."
"Why would Tulip even help Merula?" Rowan gasps. "It's insane!"
"But how much do we actually know about Tulip?" I ask. "If she's friends with Merula, is highly likely that she's involved."
"But we can't just assume that these two initials are hers," she says. "They could mean a lot of things."
"Yeah, but we don't have much time," I say. "According to Jake's message, Hogwarts might be doomed. If we're wrong about Tulip, then all we have to do is apologize."
"Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right?" Rowan smiles. "Now go to your choir practice. We can talk to Tulip tonight."
We manage to intercept Tulip in the dorm while she's scribbling something in her notebook. The rest of the girls are still in the Common Room, so we'll have plenty of privacy.
"Hey Tulip", I say, sitting at the edge of her bed. "How are you?"
"Good," she smiles. "And you girls?"
"We're fine, I guess," I say. "Listen, there's something we want to talk to you."
"I'm listening," she says. "But first, you must solve a little riddle."
"Okay," I frown.
She opens her nightstand and grabs a little frog statue and a very weird object. She attaches them together, tap her wand on the frog and it starts moving. Then she presses a small button and looks at us with complete thrill.
"I don't think I follow," I say.
"It's simple," she says. "This is a bomb. All you have to do is prevent it from exploding the dorm and I'll answer all of your questions."
"What?" Rowan shrieks. "Why?"
"Because it's funny," she giggles. "Come on, you girls are amazing witches. You'll figure this out right away."
Rowan and I exchange scared looks. The little frog bomb keeps ticking, somehow like a clock, and my heart starts racing.
"How long do we have?" I ask.
"Not much," she smiles.
"Holy crap!" Rowan says, taking a few steps back. "Athie, what are we gonna do?"
"Let me think, let me think," I say, starting to panic.
I press my lips together, staring at that ticking bomb, pretty much aware that I'm no idea how to disarm a bomb.
"Finite Incantatem!" I cast, but nothing seems to happen.
"The bomb is not a spell," Tulip giggles. "It's an actual bomb."
I gasp, holding my wand tight in my hand, taking a look at a very panicked Rowan, who's walking from side to side, moaning "We're all gonna die".
"Reducio!" I cast, and the frog becomes the size of a small breath mint.
I rush to the dorm window, throwing the frog as far away as I can.
"Confringo!" I yell the first spell that comes to my mind, one of the many ones I practiced for the vaults.
I close my eyes, but the explosion isn't as intense as I anticipated. Instead, the tiny frog bursts into small fireworks, vanishing in the night sky.
"Holy shit!" Rowan shouts. "We almost died!"
She looks at me with widened eyes and my heart is racing like crazy. I look at Tulip, who's happily rolling in her bed, laughing out loud, almost losing her breath. Rowan sighs and I take a few deep breaths to calm down my heart.
"Amazing, Athena!" Tulip says with a big smile. "That's was really something."
I frown, seeing a side of Tulip that I had never seen before.
"Okay," I say. "Now that the bomb is out of the way-"
"I'll answer any questions you have for me," she grins.
"Very well," I say, leaning against the pillar of her bed. "We want to ask you about-"
"Why are you friends with Merula?" Rowan interrupts me.
Tulip's smile instantly dissolves and she blinks her big brown eyes at us.
"We're not friends anymore," she says, but her tone is a little bit sad.
"We found a padlock with your initials," Rowan continues.
Are we really playing Good Cop/Bad Cop in here? Will she aim her wand at Tulip's face and yells until she confesses?
"Yeah," she says. "To your brother's room," she looks at me with big puppy eyes.
"We need the keys," I say. "I must find him, Tulip."
"I know," she sighs. "Your motives are far nobler. Here," she reaches for her pocket, grabbing a big golden key.
"But it's a double key padlock," I say with a frown.
"Yeah," she repeats. "The second key will be a little tricky to recover."
"Why?" I ask.
"Because Merula has it."