Book of Shadows
Chapter 21 – Lost in the Babble
…
News spread fast in Hogwarts, and no news spread faster than bad news. By the time breakfast was over practically everyone had heard of the attack, the spell eater's latest. Through some miracle, Harry and Ron's names had remained out of it, a fact both were glad for.
It didn't take a genius to know what story Umbridge might have concocted to paint them as the villains. They'd heard her mumbling depreciations against Madam Pomphrey as they left for not telling her who had brought the girl in.
Both swore then and there to do something nice for Madam Pomphrey whenever the opportunity arose.
To the surprise of some there were no increases to security. It was clear the girl had been out by herself which she shouldn't have been, and this was the reason the spell eater had got the jump on her.
Ron was fine with that but Dumbledore bringing the fact up left Harry conflicted. She had been alone when they found her. But why? Was she just stupid? The castle was full of monsters. Even he hadn't been so foolish as go off by himself, which was saying something.
The sense of danger scoured the halls. Every new shadow beast and specter was approached with increased caution. Most refused to go out in groups smaller than four, even among the seventh years.
It had an equally pronounced effect on Hermione as well who threw herself with reckless abandon into decoding the shadow runes. The arrival of a large stack of parchment from the unspeakables fed this mania.
"It's spirit, that has to be what this one is. See, it matches up to the Norse and Greek here, and here."
Bathsheba Babbling nodded as Hermione explained her current thesis point by point. It was desperate times indeed when they were forced to rely on students to translate a whole new runic system, and the idea made her tingle in ways perhaps, inappropriate.
She'd always wanted to be an explorer; she'd taken up runes as her profession specifically for that purpose. Ancient temples and lost cities were full of them, both the magical and mundane variety. At Hermione's age she'd seen her future as the next Lara Croft or Indiana Jones, though she'd used different names since back then there was no Lara Croft or Indiana Jones.
The reality of things had been quite a blow, and somewhere along the line she'd given up on adventure and excitement, trading them in for safety and stability. Who knew there was still a bit of that young Bathsheba in her? For all the problems it had caused, the shadow invasion had been the most excitement she'd gotten since—well, ever.
"You seem to have it figured out. It's not complete but I think we have enough to start working on making something that will catch those specters."
"You really think so?"
She didn't dare say no. The sheer vibrating excitement seemed to be the only thing holding the poor girl up as the black bags beneath her eyes tried to pull her down.
"We've done more with less in the past. Speaking of. I was working on something earlier; the results were quite astounding. Would you like to see?"
It was a silly question, she only asked to prevent the girl from demanding.
"Come over here," she said, gesturing to her desk. "Tell me, are you familiar with the Gambino floating spell."
"I, uh, no, no I'm not."
"I'm not surprised. It's a fairly simple, albeit little known spell. The argument is there are better versions but, the Gambino is unique in that, when I was a student here, it was one of the first spells we learned to write in runic script."
"Really?"
"They've changed the curriculum since then, sadly. But it's still a good spell. I've translated it into shadow runes. See here?"
The page lay on her desk, the mysterious script dark against the pale vellum.
"Would you open up your book please?"
Obediently, she did as told.
"Good, now, take that page, and gently stick it in there."
The look she got was full of questions but, obediently, she inserted the page. She jumped a bit when the page took with an odd sizzling sound. She had to catch her as she swooned, the new information entering her mind.
"Now do you know the Gambino floating spell."
Hermione gasped, turned to a nearby desk and with a gesture it lifted.
"That's, amazing. We can, I mean, if we…"
Too excited for words she stared at her teacher who was herself so excited she began squealing and jumping up and down. It was a breakthrough of astronomical proportions.
"The trick to it is in the frame. It's a whole nother layer I think we've been missing. You have to look at it just so or you don't even see it."
Babbling babbled on her discovery with great energy and equally great gesticulation. "I've only had time to do a handful of basic frames. They're the same for every spell so all we need to do is translate them into shadow runes and transcribe them."
"That's amaaaaAAAaaaaazing."
Babbling chuckled, not at all offended by the 'odd' enthusiasm. "I think it's time someone was off to bed."
"Wha? No, no, I'm fine. Really."
"Now none of that Miss Granger. Listen to your teacher."
"Yes Ma'am."
If there was one thing she'd learned quickly as Hermione's teacher, it was how easy it was to make her do something. If a teacher said, do this, and made it perfectly clear they were saying this as a teacher, she might hang her head and drag her feet, but she'd do it. Her respect for authority was simply too great to ignore.
You'd have to really cock things up for Hermione Granger to disobey a teacher.
The halls were empty as she escorted her back to Gryffindor. Torches cast long shadows that seemed to dance in the flickering light.
"We really need to do something about the lighting in this hall," Bathsheba mused. "Too many places for things to hide."
Hermione made an agreeable sound, but lack of sleep was finally catching up to her. She should have known by now he would, he always did, persistent bastard. Even with danger potentially around every corner, the fatigue still managed to get to her first.
This may have been why she didn't sense it right away.
Humans, much to some people's surprise, have a very powerful instinct when it comes to danger. This instinct is even stronger in women; being the physically weaker of the sexes and the one responsible for carrying the next generation it only makes sense, but too much peace tends to dull the instinct, takes the edge off.
Hermione Granger, raised by dentists in the nice quiet suburbs had been surrounded by peace all her life. It wasn't till coming to Hogwarts that she got a taste of what real danger looked like but by that point the damage had already been done. Bathsheba Babbling was a witch born and raised, and despite the airs of civility many put on, wizarding life was bloody dangerous.
She halted her student with an arm, perceiving the threat even before she heard the first footstep. It was late, no one should have been out, and the footstep was heavy, longer than it should have been.
"Quick, in here."
She ushered her befuddled student into an alcove, discreetly peeking around the edge as the long heavy footsteps drew nearer. The torches cast a stretching shadow, longer than the hall was tall. Step by step the shadow shrank, not nearly enough by the time it arrived.
Towering over them, its head was a skull with long twisted antlers.
She'd heard of this one. Lots of people had seen it, yet none who had were brave enough to face it. Staring at the long-twisted creature she understood why.
It moved with deliberate slowness, looking around as though seeking danger. A long finger, attached to a long hand on a long spindly arm touched the wall, scratching at it in odd ways. It took her a moment to realize it was drawing something, its finger leaving glowing marks behind.
Satisfied with its work, it took another look around before striding away, long and heavy.
They waited till the presence had completely faded before stepping out of the alcove.
"I've heard of him," Hermione said.
"So have I."
"What was he doing?"
That she didn't know, but she fully intended to find out. Carefully they approached the bit of wall the shadow had been accosting. The glow had faded, and any trace of what he had been doing, with it.
"Damn!" who knew what they could have learned.
"We should go. In case it comes back."
A sound plan; she didn't relish being the one to finally face the towering horror, she didn't need that much adventure.
Giving the wall one last look, she turned around, her instinct pinged. She tried to turn back but the hands that grabbed her were large, powerful, and clawed. With a single mighty pull, she was lifted off her feet and pulled into the darkness.