Thursday, 30 September 1976
Ava flopped on her bed and sighed happily and Maggie and Lena smiled at her.
"I can't believe she kissed me," Ava smiled as she touched her lips. "Does this mean she likes me?"
"Marlene definitely likes you Ava," Maggie said. "People don't kiss people they don't like."
"Well, that's not necessarily true, Maggie," Lena joked. "You kiss Alex all the time."
Ava laughed and Maggie said, "Oh, hush you!"
"So, how'd it happen?" Lena asked, laying down to Ava and stared at her.
Ava blushed. "Well it all started at the concert…"
Saturday, 25 September 1976
As they walked back from the concert to the Peverell Statue, Marlene turned to Ava and said, "You're a wonderful dancer, ya know."
"So are you, Marlene," Ava complimented
"How would you know?" Marlene let out a little laugh. "Your eyes were closed for most of the concert."
Ava's cheeks grew pink. "I can just tell. You always walk so beautifully. You must dance just as beautifully."
Ava lost whatever shred of calmness she had as Marlene grinned. "Merlin, Ava. I wish my last girlfriend said that kind of stuff to me. Maybe then we'd still be together."
Marlene left Ava standing there gaping like a fish as she ran up to link arms with Lily and Dorcas.
"Stooooop!" Maggie squealed, her knees against her chest as she sat on the foot of the bed that Lena and Ava laid upon.
"That's too cute!" Lena agreed.
"And there's more!"
Monday, 26 September 1976
Ava stared at Marlene from across the corridor for what seemed like hours as Marlene chatted with Sirius Black about Merlin knows what. As soon as Moira Flint walked by, Sirius bid his goodbyes and followed her. Ava quickly approached Marlene before anyone else could.
"Hi," Ava spoke quietly and shyly.
In an equally quiet voice, Marlene confidently said "Hi, Ava."
Ava looked everywhere but Marlene's face as she spoke. "So, you mentioned that you had a girlfriend…"
"I did mention that, didn't I?" A cheeky grin spread across Marlene's beautiful face.
"I didn't know that you liked girls," Ava blushed.
"Well, I like girls and boys," Marlene elaborated.
"Cool, very cool. I only like girls." Panic crossed her face, and turned to walk away. "Um, bye, Marlene."
"Bye, Ava!" Marlene said, waggling her fingers at Ava, who was unable to see the gesture as she buried her face in her hands to hide her embarrassment.
"You just walked away! That's too funny!" Lena howled with laughter.
"I know! I know!" Ava laughed along.
"Then, what happened?" Maggie urged Ava to continue
Wednesday, 29 September 1976
Classes had been out for a few hours and Ava was walking alone in the hall when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around and came face to face with Marlene.
"Hi."
"Hello to you, too," Marlene greeted.
"I was hoping to talk to you," Marlene continued.
"Um y-y-yeah. Of course. What's up?" Ava croaked.
Marlene smiled, "Not here." Marlene grabbed her hand and gently led her into a broom closet and closed the door behind them.
"Hi," Ava whispered, her voice barely audible as their bodies were pressed together.
"Hi," Marlene whispered back with a smile.
Marlene paused for a moment and cleared her throat. "This weekend, do you want to go to on a date with me to Hogsme—"
"Yes!"
Marlene smiled at Ava's eagerness and took Ava's hands in her own. " I know you're not out and neither am I really, so everyone will think that we're just hanging out… but we'll know it's a date."
Ava smiled at Marlene. "I'm looking forward to it."
Marlene released Ava's right hand and raised her left hand to Ava's hair. She tucked Ava's dark plaits behind her ear before cupping Ava's cheek.
And for the first time ever, Ava saw Marlene McKinnon blush as she bent down to kiss Ava's lips. Ava smiled into the gentle kiss and loved the feeling of Marlene's soft lips. Ava raised her hands to Marlene's blonde hair and stroked it. The pair parted their lips and rested their foreheads together and smiled.
"Awww, Ava, I am so happy for you!" Maggie cheered.
"Same here!" Lena agreed fervently, planting a kiss on Ava's cheek.
Saturday, 2 October 1976
While Lena was happy for her friends to all be on dates, she could not claim that she was happy to be the only one in their small friend group to be on the Hogsmeade trip alone. Somehow, Raj had managed to snag another date with Jenny Blake. Maggie and Alex were at the sickeningly romantic Madam Puddifoot's, whereas Ava and Marlene opted to go to the Three Broomsticks for their first date.
Ava ventured to the outskirts of Hogsmeade with her sketchpad in her rucksack as she looked for a place to situate herself and draw. Before she could even sit, Regulus Black appeared out of nowhere. "We need to talk," he said sternly.
Lena shut her eyes tightly and opened them before muttering, "Fine."
Regulus glanced around. "We're not talking here. I can't be seen with the likes of you."
Lena snorted. "It's not as if I want to be seen associating with you either, Black."
Lena followed Regulus to the Cursed Cottage. It had been abandoned for at least fifty years. It had been the family home of the Cunningham family. According to her father, who heard it from his father, who heard it from his father, the Cunningham family had been a wealthy pure blood family who lived in the cottage for generations. The family hit a rough patch in 1917 and gambled away all their money. When Gringotts foreclosed on the house, the Cunninghams decided to place a series of traps in the cottage. Allegedly, if you stay in the house past seven o'clock at night, which was the precise time the Cunningham family received their eviction notice, the rooms turn into traps, making it nearly impossible to escape. Several families tried to stay there, but after the first night in the house, they would move the next day.
Regulus flung open the door and closed it behind Lena. They stood facing each other in the foyer, glaring at each other intensely.
"How do you know about Burke and I?," Regulus asked, not beating around the bush.
"Really? You're calling the girl you love by her last name." Lena raised her eyebrows.
Regulus' expression softened for a moment before hardening again. "Just answer the question, Pettigrew."
"I heard and saw the two of you by the Quidditch changing rooms."
Regulus exhaled. "You can't tell anyone about it."
"You can't tell me what to do!"
"Oh, yes I can."
"No!"
"Yes!"
"N—"
"Hurry up, Lestrange!"
Regulus and Lena shared a look of panic and ran up stairs together. They opened the third door to the right. They stood in a musyty, old study. Dust covered the entire room. The left side of the room had a beautifully designed bookshelf. A couch rested against the right wall of the room. A mahogany desk was in the center of the room with two dragon-leather chairs in front of it. On the northern wall, a portrait hung in a gilded gold frame. Lena casted a charm, locking the door behind them. Regulus murmured something under his breath.
"What did you just do, Black?"
"I cast a silencing charm. They won't be able to hear us."
"Oh, that's pretty smart," Lena admitted. Regulus nodded, acknowledging her small compliment.
Lena walked to the right side of the room, running her fingers along the spines of the books.
"What are you doing, Pettigrew?" hissed Regulus.
"Checking out the room we're stuck in until Lestrange and whoever he's with leaves," Lena said, giving him a look that made him feel dumber than he actually was.
Regulus humphed and asked, "Do you want to check out the desk together?"
"Ummmmm, sure."
Regulus and Lena sat down in the chairs and examined the craftsmanship of the desk. The legs of the desk were engraved with the runespoor design. The top of the desk was smooth and polished with no blemishes save for three dents on the desk. Regulus stood up and stared at the top of the desk. "Do the dents look like they form a triangle to you?" he asked.
Lena stood and looked at the desk as Regulus had just done. "You're right," she agreed. She bent over and hovered her right eye over the hole closest to her.
"Black…"
"Yes," he said, looking at her in anticipation.
She glanced up at him. "The dents are keyholes."
"Let's find them, shall we?"
"The locations of the keys must be identified by something," Regulus said, as he searched the books to see if any were hollowed out.
Lena had her back turned to him as she searched the couch's cushion. Lena thought for a moment before saying "Runespoor."
"What are you on about it, Pettigrew?"
Lena spun around to face him."Runespoor. I bet that the runespoor design is the symbol. It's all over the legs of the desk.
"Right," Regulus said, looking slightly impressed. His grey eyes traveled around the room. He glided across the room to where Lena was and stood up on the arm of the couch. Lena looked up and saw he pushed the runespoor design etched into the room's crown moulding. The section of the molding popped open and Regulus put his hand in the hole and pulled out a scroll of parchment.
"Well done, Black."
"Thank you," he said, before hesitantly adding, as if it hurt him, "I wouldn't have found it without your tip about runespoor."
"What does it say?" Lena asked
"It's a series of numbers," Regulus said, holding the unfurled parchment out for Lena to read. "They're obviously not numbers," Regulus continued. "Some of the numbers are too high to be months or days. What do you think they could be?"
Lena cleared her throat. "Could you read them to me?"
"Read them yourself."
Lena turned pink as she mumbled, "I can't."
"Yes, you can," Reglus said in exasperation, "It's a list of bloody numbers. A child could re—"
"I'm dyslexic!" Lena cried. "And it makes it hard to read! And letters and numbers turn into squiggles! So you need to read it to me!"
Lena's face had turned to a shade of red comparable to the Weasley family's signature hair color. Regulus couldn't tell if she had turned red from embarrassment or anger.
"If you're dyslexic, why are you always reading?" Regulus asked, not accusingly but curiously.
"The answer's in the question. It takes me a long time to read. We could start reading the same book at the same time, but I'll still be on page one when you're on page ten. I have to keep reading in order to keep up with all my classes," Lena explained.
"So, the other day in potions…" Regulus trailed off.
"Yeah, it was my dyslexia."
"Lena, I'm sorry…for saying you're stupid. You're obviously not."
"Thank you. Could you read me the list now?'
"Of course," Regulus said before rattling off the list of numbers.
30-12-37
248-7-29
84-17-29
78-9-14
12-12-43
102-5-16
69-20-23
218-19-11
21-41-57
59-24-24
49-28-60
71-14-21
325-31-4
91-18-32
183-1-54
3-9-21
271-43-19
24-12-6
31-42-33
111-11-11
164-8-31
10-37-57
143-36-21
53-7-18
301-26-44
Regulus paused and let Lena think. Lena frowned before speaking. "Remus was telling me that during the Second World War, spies would write messages like this one to each other. Basically, the spies had picked a specific book of a specific edition. The first number correlates to the book page, the second number is the line number, and the last number is the letter in that line. So if the last number is four, the answer is the fourth number in the line. When all the letters are put in the order of the codes given, it spells out a message. But I don't even know if this is the case here. And it wouldn't matter because we don't know what book the code is designed for."
Regulus' eyes lit up. "I do!" Regulus turned to the bookshelf and Lena followed. "It's Hogwarts: A History of Magic. It was the only book on the shelf not in alphabetical order."
Lena was doubtful in Regulus' certainty but said nothing. Regulus pulled the heavy text from the shelf. The pair sat together at the mahogany desk. Lena pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. She grabbed the closed ink bottle from the desk and shook it before opening it and dipping her quill in the black ink.
"Alright, Regulus. You find the letters and I'll write them down."
Regulus opened the book and flipped to the thirtieth page. He ran his finger down the page until he reached the twelfth line. He then moved his finger across the line, carefully counting until he reached the thirty-seventh number. Regulus called out the letter 'T' and Lena scribbled it down. They fell into a comfortable rhythm as they continued the process.
Once Regulus read out the last letter, Lena passed him the parchment she had been writing on. "What does it say?" she asked.
Regulus took the quill from Lena's hand and put slashes between the letters that formed words when they were grouped together. Regulus stared at the parchment that read:
T H E /K E Y / L I E S/ W I T H/ T H E / T
Regulus spoke, "It says 'The key lies with the portrait.'"
Without saying a word to each other, Lena and Regulus stood up and walked to the portrait. It was a painting of what Lena assumed to be the Cunningham family. The man whom Lena presumed to be Mr. Cunningham appeared to be a cruel man. He had cold eyes and a snarl resting on his face. In the portrait, he gripped his daughter's shoulder so tightly that Lena and Regulus could see the strain in his knuckles. His daughter, a blonde girl no more than thirteen years of age, stood in front of him. She was dressed in a blue dress of tulle and had fear in eyes, like a lamb before the slaughter. The woman, who must have been Mrs. Cunningham, might have been very beautiful if it was not for her stern face and unflinching eyes. A boy eighteen or so stood in front of Mrs. Cunningham. He showed no emotion in his face or eyes and seemed like someone in limbo.
Lena and Regulus examined the portrait, looking for anything that resembled a key. Out of the corner of her eye, Lena could see the golden frame. It was ornate with no strict pattern. The frame was constructed of golden swirls and waves. Lena turned her head away from the painting to focus on the frame. She traced her fingers over the swirls. She felt a straight, hard line in one of the waves as here fingers moved over the frame. Lena narrowed her eyes and examined the area she just felt. Indeed, there was a slightly raised, straight bar. A circle of gold was attached to one end of the bar while two small gold rods poked out of the other end of the bar. It was a key! Lena thought. She pressed down on the key. It popped out into Lena's hands and she shot Regulus a gleeful smile.
"I found one!"
"Let me have a look."
Lena passed him the key and Regulus brought it close to his eyes to examine it. He squinted his eyes to read the inscription:
Lights will guide you to my mate.
Regulus raised his head and looked around the room. In each corner of the room, a lamp stood. Regulus threw his head back and stared at the ceiling. A cobweb-covered, crystal chandelier shaped like an unbloomed flower hung from the ceiling. The grey-eyed boy silently passed the key back to his companion and walked to the northern right corner of the room. He turned on the lamp and angled it so that its light hit the chandelier's stem. He then went to the southern right corner of the room and repeated his action. Lena put the key in the pocket of her cardigan and moved to the northern left corner of the room as Regulus went to the southern left corner. She copied what he did and they pointed the lights of their respective lamps to the stem of the chandelier. As the lights converged, the chandelier descended from the ceiling. The crystal flower bud bloomed and a key fell to the ground. The crystal flower closed itself and the chandelier rose to the ceiling.
"Well done, Regulus!" Lena exclaimed, putting her hands on Regulus' shoulders and giving him a celebratory shake.
"Thank you, Lena," he said as he picked up the key. Like the one Lena found, this one also had an inscription. Etched into key were the words:
Trace my mate to where the beginning meets the end.
Regulus and Lena stared at each other.
"Do you have any idea what it means?" Lena asked.
"Not a clue," Regulus said.
"Maybe it's referring to a midlife crisis," Lena said with hesitation and little conviction, knowing that her suggestion was unlikely.
Regulus shook his head. "No, the clue is definitely referring to rebirth. But it's impossible to know what it's specifically referring to."
"Okay, if I were pureblood wizard, who's a result of years of inbreeding—"
"Hey!" Regulus pouted.
Lena pressed her lips tightly together, suppressing a laugh. "Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to for a second," Lena said before continuing her previous statement. "And if I was losing my family home, I would pick a symbol that means something to me. So, if I were a Cunnigham, I'd pick something on my family crest that represents rebirth. Maybe a snake, even. Everyone says the Cunnighams were only ever sorted into Slytherin."
Regulus' jaw draw dropped. "That's brilliant! It's the ouroboros!"
"What the hell is an ouroboros?"
"It's a serpent and that's eating its own tail. It forms a circle and it's supposed to represent rebirth. It's engraved into the bookcase," Regulus said, a look of excitement plastered on his face.
Lena and Regulus walk to view the carving on the bookcase. They stared at it blankly for minutes, waiting for the key to be revealed Regulus bit his lip. "Nothing's happening. What do we do?"
"The clue said 'trace' so maybe we need to trace it with our fingers," Lena reached her fingers out to touch the carving. She quickly moved her fingers away from the engraving as it began to move. The tail left the snake's mouth, and the head popped out of the wooden bookshelf. The snake's head solidified into wood and opened its mouth. It extended its tongue, revealing a key. Regulus reached his hand out and grabbed the key from the snake. The snake retracted its head and returned to its original, one dimensional form.
Lena looked at Regulus. "Let's see what these keys do."