There was just something about Simbledore that made Henry listen and not go looking for the Edóm Mirror again. For the remainder of the Winterfest holidays, the Debugging Hat sayed safe and sound in its hat box at the bottom of Henry's trunk. In more ways than one, he wished he could just simply forget that the mirror existed. The knowledge that it did do something more but he wasn't allowed to know what. Sometimes, it would even drive him to have nightmares.
Like most things in Henry's life, he told Jon about it.
"Well she told you, didn't she tell you? It'd drive you mad, mate," he said flatly.
Esmani had come back the day before term started and once she was filled in, she had a different opinion. Torn between the horror of sneaking out after lights out and roaming the halls and disappointment he hadn't found out who Mitchel Flannel was. She also reported back that no, her parents were not familiar with any Normies with the surname of Flannel let alone a Mitchell Flannel.
Like a ton of bricks, the term started and hit the group hard. Flannel, once again, had to take a spot on the backburner. Back again were the days the three had to skim through books for ten minutes at a time during their breaks. Compared to Jon and Esmani, Henry even had less time because Grilled Cheese Duelling practice pulled him away often.
Switch was working the team harder than ever since their first win back in November. Rain came in sheets that had replaced the snow but that did not deter the Alpaggard Defender from plays after plays. Matt would try to remind Switch that he can't get too fanatic in his competitiveness and Switch would snap at him not to dampen his spirits. Henry had to admit he quite agreed with Switch. If Alpaggard won their next match against Leetlefloof, they would overtake Ivybell in the House Championship! It was a welcome distraction to think of these sorts of things than the nightmares brought by that mirror as well as the mystery of Mitchell Flannel.
On one particularly wet, drab, and muddy practice, Switch gave the team some very bad news. He was yelling at Matt, snapping at Jordan, arguing with Lex, passive aggressively ignoring Justin, and even went toe to toe with the huge Brian McRyan. Something was up and finally, he spilled the beans.
"We can't have this, guys," he moaned. "Snabes is refereeing this time and you bet your broom she will be looking for any petty reason to knock credits off of Alpaggard while we're in the air!" He fell to his knees in utter dramatics.
Lex crossed her arms and jutted out a hip. She looked pensive.
"Snabe's refereeing?" She wrinkled an eyebrow. "When's she ever refereed a Grilled Cheese Duel? That's bull to the ninth degree. I'd bet my happy butt she'll fix it if she thinks we might overtake her precious Ivybells."
The din of the other teammates grew louder in agreement as well as complaints.
"What are you griping to me for? It ain't my fault!" Switch said. "We've just got to play our best and make sure we play clean. Snabes can't have a single excuse to pick on us like that."
Henry swallowed hard. He never mentioned to the team his other reason why he didn't want to play a game of Grilled Cheese Duelling with Snabes around…
After practice, Henry headed straight to the Alpaggard common room where he found Jon and Esmani playing Don't Wake the Llama. It was really one of the only things Esmani wasn't good at and Jon had mentioned in private that he felt that was the best thing for her. A bit of humbling never hurt no one had been his excuse.
"Don't move for a sec, Henry," said Jon when Henry sat down next to him. His tongue peeked out as he went for one of the sticks in the center. "I just need to…" he caught sight of Henry's face and stopped. The tower fell over and Esmani did a quick cheer. "What's the matter with you, mate? You look awful!"
"Jon! Must you always be so blunt?"
Henry ignored Esmani and spoke quietly so no one else could really hear. Jon and Esmani listened intently as Henry told them about Snabes' new desire to be a Grilled Cheese Duelling referee.
"Don't step foot on that field," Esmani said at once.
"Fake sick," Jon said a second after.
"You could pretend to break your arm…?"
"We could actually break your arm?" Jon shrugged as Esmani gave him a horrified look.
"I can't do that, guys," said Henry. "There isn't such a thing as a reserve Flipper. If I don't show, Alpaggard can't play at all and that's a forfeit. Leetlefloof will automatically win!"
At the Grand Hall, they were still devising plans.
"Maybe I can ask Snabes to stay with me to reteach something?" Esmani asked.
"No one will believe you need reteaching!" Jon said and Esmani blushed.
At that moment, the group spotted Taryn crash to the floor on her way to the Owlenmoon table. Her legs had been stuck together with a Muscle Immobilitify curse. She probably had to hop like a rabbit all the way to the Grand Hall!
Most students were laughing except Esmani. She leapt up and performed the countercurse. Taryn's legs flailed and unstuck like she wasn't in control of them. Slowly, she got to her feet. The poor girl was shaking very hard. Seeing her distress, Henry followed by Jon came over to see what was up.
"What happened?" Henry asked as Esmani led Taryn out of the Hall and onto a bench right outside and in the main corridor. Food was forgotten at seeing Taryn so defeated.
"Slymer," Taryn said and bowed her head in shame. "I was in the library and she spotted me. She said she needed someone to...practice that on…" thick, hot tears started to flow from her eyes.
"Go to Professor Flitnit, mate!" Jon snapped. "Your House Leader has the power to really get her good! Report her!" His pale skin was already flushing from his rising anger.
"I...don't want it to get back to her and make her...more mad," Taryn mumbled.
"Stand up for yourself for once, Taryn my Watcher!" Jon threw his hand up. "Her sort is used to walking up and down and all over people! That's no reason to just lie down and make it easier for her!"
"You don't have to point out I'm not brave enough to be in a House like yours," Taryn choked on her words. "Slymer already did quick work on that. She said that if she had a stud for every time I screwed up she'd own Bingpotts by the end of the year." She put her head in her hands and cried harder.
Henry reached into his pocket and grabbed a few Popkins from Winterfest. He offered them to Taryn and she took them gratefully.
"You're worth more than thirty thousand Kimmi Slymers, Taryn," he told her and he meant it. "The Classifying Cap chose you for Owlenmoon and that is because you have a good heart, you're creative, and you're friendly. You're a good person and Slymer's sort will amount to nothing but a lonely, poor crone."
Taryn's lips shakily formed the ghost of a smile. She unwrapped the Popkin and it had a spooky face on it. When the card was spit out, she handed it to Henry.
"You can keep the card. I know you collect them. I think...I think I'm going to bed. Night guys." She walked slowly away after she accepted reassuring pats from Jon and a big hug from Esmani. Henry inspected the card and his whole face felt like it was on fire.
DUH! HIS POPKIN CARD!
He had even mentioned it back in Hagish's hut but it took just now to remember.
"I know who he is! Guys! I know who he is!" Henry was actually jumping. "I found Flannel! I knew I read the name on a Popkin card! I just forgot what it said! On the trolley on the way here! Look guys…"
He began to read the important part:
"...and her work in potions with her partner, Mitchell Flannel…"
Esmani shared the excitement and jumped to her feet from where she had taken Taryn's spot. Henry didn't think he'd ever see someone like her so giddy.
"Follow me!" She nearly screeched.
In Alpaggard Tower, she instructed the boys to wait right there as she sprinted up towards the girls' dormitories. Henry and Jon didn't have enough time to even begin chatting on what she could be getting up to up there when she was back with an enormous book that looked very old and like she could barely even hold on to it.
"To think I've had this thing up there this whole time!" She whispered excitedly. "I never even thought to look!" She set it down right on the floor and the group clamored to sit around it. "I got this from the library on the first day of school! I needed a bit more light reading when the studies were a bit too breezy those first two weeks."
"Light reading...breezy first two weeks?" Jon gasped, but Esmani shushed him until she was done looking what she needed up in her large tome. Pages after pages were flicked as she muttered to herself. "I KNEW IT!" She yelped when she found what she was looking for.
"Can we...speak yet…?" Jon rolled his eyes. Esmani ignored him.
"Mitchell Flannel," she whispered dramatically with a hand out, "drum roll please…" Jon just made a face but Henry lightly took his two index fingers and tapped his knees. "Mitchell Flannel is the only known maker of the Elixir of Life!" Henry stopped drumming.
"The what?" Henry asked. Jon just looked confused. Esmani rolled her eyes but had gotten a lot better at not being a know-it-all. She just turned the book around so it faced them.
"Just read...start right, yeah, right there."
Potions in its most ancient form began as the study of alchemy. The height of prestige in such a class would be to concoct the Elixir of Life. This legendary substance has extraordinary powers. The Elixir will not make a Sim immortal irrevocably, but it will revert the drinker to the very beginnings of their current life state. Drinking it over and over again will result in the same perks as being unable to perish. The most curious effects are what it can do to spirits unwilling to pass on.
There have been reports of the Elixir being created and made for centuries, but the only known Elixir in these modern times was brewed and belongs currently to Mr. Mitchell Flannel. The noted alchemist loves Normie culture and sips upon his brew sparingly to give him a long life. Since this text, he has celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday while enjoying a quiet life with his wife, Perennial (age six hundred and sixty-eight)
"Guys do you see?" Esmani looked unglued with glee. Henry and Jon both looked up after they had finished reading. "Smooches must be guarding Flannel's Elixir of Life! I bet he asked Simbledore to keep it secret and keep it safe. They're friends after all! He must have known someone was after it. That's why he would have wanted the Elixir to be moved out of Bingpott's!"
"A potion that basically makes you restart your same age with each, tiny sip...you basically will never die," said Henry. "No wonder Snabes is after it! Who wouldn't want that?"
"That makes sense why we couldn't find him in any of our library books! Do you remember the editions? They were all recent...a dude that is over six hundred years old really isn't recent, is he?" Jon pointed out.
"You're brilliant, Jon! That's true!" Esmani said.
"Yeah...well...I guess!"
The next morning the group had Untamed Magic class. Henry was a bit drowsy as he wrote all the ways of treating bites from a rabid fairy. When Querkle's back would turn, Henry and Jon would discuss what they would do with the Elixir of Life if they had some. It took Jon to quip that he'd save for years and years and buy his own Grilled Cheese Duelling team when Henry remembered Snabes as the referee.
"I've decided," Henry informed Jon and Esmani after class, "I'm going to play. If I don't, all of the Ivybells will think I'm too scared to play a game with Snabes at the helm. I've got to show them...it'll wipe their smug smiles right off of their stupid faces if we win."
"We just don't want to see you get wiped off the field," Said Esmani.
The match was getting closer and closer and Henry hated to admit that he was becoming more and more nervous. He tried to bluff for Jon and Esmani but he had a sneaking suspicion that they knew better. The rest of his Alpaggard team were not calming or even destressing in the slightest. Overtaking Ivybell in the House Championship was an amazing notion, but would it even be a possibility with such a biased referee? What's worse, it seemed like only coincidence or his mind playing tricks on him, but Henry seemed to be running into Snabes more often than ever. Like Snabes was trying to follow him and catch him while he was on his own without Jon or Esmani. Snabes' Potion classes were literally becoming torturous. She was being downright nasty to Henry with each day. Was it possible she found out about the Elixir of Life? Maybe Snabes really could read minds?
It was game day! Henry could tell that Jon and Esmani were wishing him luck outside the locker rooms like he wasn't going to come back alive. It made him very queasy. It was not in the slightest bit comforting even though the intentions were good. During Switch's pep talk, Henry completely zoned out again and walked completely dazed with his Zoomsweeper Pegasus, tightly gripping it in his hand.
In the stands, Jon and Esmani found their places next to Taryn. She didn't really understand why they looked so perturbed or why they brought their wands to a Grilled Cheese Duel. Henry didn't know this, but Jon and Esmani had been practicing the Muscle Immoblitify curse in secret together. They'd gotten the idea from Slymer when she used it on Taryn and the plan was to use it on Snabes if she tried to show any sign of wanting to hurt Henry.
"Remember, Jon, No-UH Loc-MOE-tuh," Esmani was shaking and followed Jon's lead of slipping her wand up her sleeve. Jon looked a bit annoyed but sat closely next to her.
"I know, I know, I've been paying attention to you."
Jon, Esmani, Taryn, and Jeremy had brought their banner back but it was now decked out with hundreds of signatures. It started out as an Alpaggard thing until Matt and Jack paraded it through the Grand Hall like a cape and other House members started to sign it too. It looked absolutely awesome! As one could imagine...there was no signature that said Kimmi Slymer.
Back in the locker room, Switch had met up with Henry.
"No pressure, you remember today's gameplan?"
Henry nodded even though Switch repeated it.
"The Stokers are going for a roaring fire. I'm talking only going for the hundred point goals. We want to get that sandwich cooking and done as quickly as possible. It'll eliminate the ability for Snabes to get time to favor Lettlefloof too much. We need an early finish. We need this."
"You're asking a lot, Switch," Lex quipped. "But it'll happen."
"The whole school's out there, guys," Matt gasped.
"Even...oh my Watcher is that Simbledore?" Jordan gaped in awe.
Henry's heart and stomach switched places for ten seconds.
"Simbledore?" Henry rushed towards the archway to peer up and make sure. Jordan was right! You couldn't miss her ornate witch's hats.
Henry felt like he could fly even without his broom! He was safe! He wanted to cackle in delirious relief! There was no way Snabes could dare to try anything to hurt Henry if Simbledore was watching. And even if she did...Simbledore would know what to do to stop it.
This could be the reason Snabes looked absolutely feral when the teams marched onto the field. In the stands, Jon noticed at once.
"I've never seen Snabes look like that, Esmani."
She nodded in agreement.
Paddy grinned from down below as Alpaggard's raw sandwich dropper. This is why he was not in the stands with the group. You get a special box seat if you are a raw sandwich dropper. Amanda Harvey was the raw sandwich dropper for Leetlefloof.
Someone hit the back of Jon's head hard and when he and Esmani looked back, they saw it was Kimmi grinning broadly with Lobby and O'Doyle.
"Oopsie poopsie, didn't see you there," she said in a baby voice and Jon cringed. "Hey, I wonder how long Puffer is going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want to bet? How high would he fling off...Esmani you should know...Normie bull crap physics must come naturally to your kind…" both Esmani and Jon were trying their hardest to ignore her.
"IMMA drop this TOASTY SO GOOD! Yee won't want enothah aftah me! Watch it now!" Paddy screamed and when Snabes blew the whistle, he did just that and went to his special box seat cackling and giving high fives to anyone he came near.
"And that's...alright so dang...that's a foul already for Alpaggard two minutes in the game by Snabes," Jack said over the announcing speaker. Matt had to be side lined for two minutes because as he was defending Lex from a Burro ball, when Snabes just happened to fly near it, pegging her pretty good on the side. Henry watched her wipe grease from her ebony cloak. Henry knew he shouldn't feel happy to see her uncomfortable but it did fill him with a bit of glee. With Matt out, soon Justin was too, and then Jordan.
"Huh...look at that," Kimmi was saying from her spot behind the group of Henry's friends. "No more players with the Sarten Racket for a good while. You know...I think I figured out how they choose players for the Alpaggard team." She was speaking loudly and Esmani had had her fingers crossed as she watched Henry. It doubled as a way for her to squeeze out any outbursts. Esmani did not want to stoop to Kimmi's level.
Just as Matt got back in and revived Justin and Jordan, Snabes called another foul. Matt actually was able to walk back to the sidelines. Jon was beat red.
"It's people Garspatuon feels sorry for. Puffer's got no parents, Weasly's got no money...huh, Goodfellow you should be switched just so you can play for Alpaggard because I don't think you've got any guts or brains."
Taryn went pale white and turned right around to face Slymer.
"Well! I'm worth thirty thousand of you, Slymer," she said a bit shakily. It easily could have been passed off by the cold and Jon and Esmani gawked at her tenacity.
Kimmi looked stunned and then threw her head back to laugh at Taryn's attempt at an insult. Lobby and O'Doyle laughed along with her. Jon knew he had to look straight ahead. His nerves were nearly at their breaking point. Lex had been making hundred point goals pretty generously and he watched in trepidation as the score board showed Alpaggard had 325 points while Leetlefloof had 175.
"Goodfellow, if your brains were made of chocolate you wouldn't have enough to feed an entire Parsley family, not that they could afford it anyhow."
"Knock it off, Kimmi. I'm warning you," Jon seethed through clenched teeth.
"Ron! Look! Henry…!" Esmani shouted. Her crossed fingers were now on her lips.
"What! What? Where?"
Low and slow Henry flew just as Switch had him practice. With Brian, Justin, and Lex getting an impressive amount of one hundred goals he watched the flames dance higher and higher as the Alpaggard pan sizzled and crackled. He had to do it now. Henry climbed in a gut wrenching incline only to fall back down over the stove. Easily, he turned his wrist and flipped.
"RAW!" Snabes shouted.
"And Snabes calls a raw call on Alpaggard! For those in the stand who don't know, when a raw call is decreed the Flipper has to flip the sandwich back over. Every minute they fail to do so penalizes ten points to their team's score. Puffer better put the zoom to the broom!" Jack was flailing wildly in her announcer's box and Garpatuon was on his feet looking angry.
Leetlefloof Guard and Reviver seemed to put everything they had in those Burro balls. Matt and Jordan practically had to flank Henry to protect him and keep them at bay.
"That's ten points added to Alpaggard…" Jack said sadly.
"HENRY GET OVER THERE!" Switch could be heard from across the field.
Jordan was at Henry's side and as Matt hit one of the Burro balls away, another was coming directly for him when…
Lex shot out of nowhere and caught it in her glove mere inches from Matt's face. She casually tossed it up in the air for Matt to smack it back into play.
"That's another ten points for Alpaggard…" Jack was all but groaning.
"Huh! I guess Puffer doesn't flipping rule...he's getting flipping schooled," Kimmi cackled.
"While Henry makes his way to the golden pan Leetlefloof's Flipper Whitnie Ruph has flipped their first side. 480 Alpaggard and 275 for Leetlefloof that makes it. The margin is getting bigger than my belly after a Grand Hall dinner." Jack whispered something to Garspatuon with her hand over the enchanted microphone. Garspatuon shook his head sadly.
"Matthew Parsley is thinking out there," Jack began and to his left, he knew Matt was listening closely to her instructions, "he is gearing up to perform his shake and bake Flipper quake! A move I haven't seen since his first year as the Alpaggard Stoker…"
"JORDAN! Fly back and watch my six!" Matt shouted over the wind. "HENRY!" Henry turned his head in time to hear him shout, "JUST HOLD ON WITH EVERYTHING YOU GOT!" Matt then stopped and flanked Henry from behind so the three boys were now in a line. Jordan at the rear, Matt in the middle, and Henry in the front. Henry looked back to see Matt toss his Sarten Racket over his shoulder. Jordan held onto his broom with just his legs and caught it. Two Sarten Pans. One in each hand. Henry felt his broom jostle and shake when he realized Matt was holding on to Henry's broom head where it meets the stick.
Henry's broom hovered a bit and all he remembers is hearing Matt counting and when he got to three, he was javolined by Matthew Parsley!
"AHHHH!" Henry yelled. It was different going this type of speed when it was you controlling it, but being thrown!
No time! He was getting near the stove!
Quickly, he flipped the sandwich back to cancel the penalty but noticed the other side was just nearly done. It would only take one more flip, a lap around the field, and then a flip onto the golden plate to end this!
"FOUL!" Snabes called.
"And Snabes calls a foul AGAIN because Matthew Parsley relinquished his Sarten Pan. Geez it was only for a second but whatever because there goes Matthew Parsley back on to the sidelines for like, the umpteeth time. What is the actual amount of times, Spatchy?"
"Jaclyn...don't call me that…" indistinctive muttering followed.
"Nine! NINE times Matthew Parsley has been fouled on today."
Switch was buzzing back and forth along the Leetlefloof goals like a rabid hummingbird. He was not happy that this game was going exactly the opposite of how he had planned it. Maybe he was distracted, because Leetlefloof Stoker Becky Wittufski scored a twenty five point goal for Leetlefloof. It was apparent they were going for the low and slow offensive approach. Switch was now cursing up a storm.
"What's this? Snabes called a foul on Switch for offensive language! What in the ever loving…" Henry blushed when Jack's true colorful vocabulary came out as she strung together the most creative and vulgar string of cursing he has ever heard. Garspatuon basically hip checked her and took over the microphone.
"Jaclyn will be taking a break now, Switch is sidelined for two minutes," Garspatuon said coldly.
Of course, Leetlefloof seized this opportunity.
Reagan Stone shot a twenty five.
Nathan Tickymiester (brother to Ivybell's Zach Tickymiester) scored a one hundred.
Switch was screaming down on the sidelines but Henry knew how this game could be saved! He veered off towards the stove. Whitnie Ruph was one of the tiniest girls he had ever seen even though she was a fourth year. Barely five feet tall, she could zip around the field like an angry hornet. It didn't stop Henry. He had an idea.
He flew low but quickly and had the spatula ready.
A wide banking turn allowed him to flip to the side that had cooked over during penalty and then in a move Jack had never seen before (which she said so now that she was allowed to get back on the mic) Henry kept his momentum and reached his left hand out.
He grabbed the pole of the middle fifty point goal beam and to his delight it was slick just like he hoped. He used it to spin around twice to then launch back to the stove to flip the sandwich onto the golden plate.
The stand erupted.
"NO MORE POINTS!" Leetlefloof Defender Karen Koch screamed and she pointed wildly at the scoreboard. Henry's heart dropped.
Alpaggard was finished at 545 while Leetlefloof was at 450. Henry may have cost his team the game.
"Switch is back in!" Jack screamed and the former took off like a bullet.
Whitnie Ruph barrel rolled to miss a Burro as she made a beeline for the stove.
"The Leetlefloof fire is dying and Switch is almost there," Jack was painting, "Wittufski takes the shot and aims for the twenty five and…"
Henry couldn't believe it almost happened in slow motion in his mind's eye as he watched from the sidelines. Switch zoomed towards the goal just as the Pane ball was going and off of the tip of Switch's fingers, the Pane ball bounced off course and…
INTO THE HUNDRED POINT GOAL!
"NOOO!" Whitnie cried from below as she flipped the sandwich onto the plate with no time to stop it.
"THAT'S GOTTA BE A RECORD GUYS, GALS, MAGICAL PALS! CLOSEST GAME I'VE EVER SEEN! APPELGAARD WINS 550 TO LEETLEFLOOF'S 545!" Jack was on her feet and had Garpsatuon ensnared around the neck. He didn't necessarily look bothered by it. In fact he was grinning.
On the sidelines, Henry watched Snabes dismount and spit onto the ground with white, tightened lips. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Simbledore!
"Well done, Henry," she said quietly as she munched on the Alpaggard's winning sandwich. "You sure know how to duel some grilled cheese." She laughed and lowered her voice so only they could hear, "I'm glad you haven't been brooding about that mirror….keep busy...that's the key."
Henry left the locker room by himself to take his Zoomsweeper Pegasus back to the broomshed. He was so happy he felt like he was walking on air. Not only had he had a fantastic game, but judging from the people in the stand Henry was now being recognized for his actual talent. The banner Esmani, Jon, Paddy, Taryn, and Jeremy had made him gained about seventy more signatures after that game with Leetlefloof. Whitnie Ruph herself even signed it!
From the shed, Henry looked at Harnocks castle with pride and love as the sunset painted the background. The windows were glowing red in the lowlights of the sun. Something caught Henry's eye and he put his palm to his brow and squinted.
A figure in a hood was swiftly making its way down the front steps of the castle. They looked like they did not want to be seen and Henry watched as they made a direct line toward Calamity Forest. He could point out that prowling walk anywhere! It was Snabes! Snaking off while the Grand Hall was holding dinner. This was shady! Henry kicked off on the Zoomsweeper and followed above Sanbes who was now running.
The trees were thick and it was hard to see in the early shadows of nightfall. Henry circled and brushed the tops of the canopy until he heard voices. He allowed his broom to noiselessly fall until Henry could perch on top of the nearest, highest branch out of sight. Snabes was down below and she wasn't alone. Querkle was there too. Henry couldn't see their faces but Querkle was stuttering more so than ever before. Her hand was grasping her very large belly.
"W-w-w-hy...do we….h-h-h-have -muh-meet...here? It's...s-s-scary," she whined.
"Privacy," came the cold snap of Snabes' voice. "Students are not allowed to know about the existence of the Elixir of Life." Henry almost gasped but leaned forward. Snabes was so quiet now it was as if she was murmuring. Querkle was mumbling something too. "You don't want me as any enemy, Querkle," she spat.
"W-w-wha…?"
"Don't." Snabes barked. "You know what I very well mean." Henry nearly fell out of the tree when an owl hooted. He was able to hear the tale end of Snabes saying "...your cheap tricks. Hm? I'm waiting." Querkle just stammered and shook. "Very well," Snabes interrupted. "I will chat again with you soon enough. When you've had time to think things over. Find it in you to sort where your loyalties are." She threw her cloak back on and left Querkle so shaken she fell to her knees.
"Henry! Where have you been!?" Esmani threw her arms around him in a big hug.
"I'm telling you! Everyone is talking about that game, mate! There's a party in the Alpaggard common room! Jack helped Matt get some stuff from the kitchen and…"
"NOT NOW!" Henry snapped and it shut his friends right up. "We need privacy and we need it now." Luckily, Esmani had found an empty pocket in the library nobody goes to. Not even Sceeves. Once there, Henry regaled the tale in Calamity Forest.
"So we were right about Snabes...and she's trying to force poor Querkle into helping her get it! Snabes also talked about getting past Smooches and Querkle's "cheap tricks" whatever that could mean! Guys! There's probably loads of curses and enchantments and traps down there! Snabes is most likely forcing Querkle to do some anti-Untamed magic and break through…" Henry was wheezing to get all of this out.
"So...as long as Querkle doesn't bend to Snabes the Elixir is safe?" Esmani deduced.
"Welp...it's a goner," Jon rolled his eyes.