Chapter 5 - The Hunt is On
Barney woke early the next morning and laid in bed feeling cold as he watched the sun rising out his window. Once he heard movement outside in the hall he quickly got up and used the bathroom to shower before any of the rest of his room mates woke. When he came back into his dormitory his four fellow Slytherins were just starting to wake up. No one wished him a good morning.
He noticed on his trunk and everyone else's that their robes were all laid out and now had sewn on them the emblem of Slytherin along with ties in the Slytherin colours of green and silver. The others had also noticed these.
"Must have been the house elves in the night," said one boy with curly brown hair, who Barney had heard the others calling Everard, as he looked at his robes to examine the new emblem.
Barney didn't know if he was joking or not but he quickly got dressed and headed down to breakfast alone.
The Great Hall was already busy with lots of students and teachers already tucking into breakfast. Barney sat down at the end of the Slytherin table away from anyone else, much to the relief of his fellow Slytherins who turned their backs towards him. On the table were all manner of breakfast items. Cereals, pastries, sausages, bacon, eggs, toast, juices, tea and much more. With no one near by to take the food away from him, Barney quickly loaded up his plate and dug in, finally being able to fulfil his hunger he had been feeling since the day before. When his room mates came down they sat as far away from Barney as possible. After Barney had finished his plate of food off he helped himself to seconds.
As everyone was beginning to finish their breakfasts, the giant who had guided them from the train station came into the Great Hall, his large feet pounding on the stone floor. He walked over to one of the tables, grabbed and hand full of sausages and some bread, wrapped them all together and ate it in one mouthful before letting out a rather loud burp.
"Cuse me," he said banging his chest. "Firs'-years are ter meet in the entrance 'all in ten minutes," his voice boomed around the room, startling some people.
He grabbed and handful of bacon and shoved it in his jacket pocket and walked out of the Great Hall again with more pounding footsteps.
Once Barney had eaten all he could he made his way with the other first years to the entrance hall to meet the giant.
The giant was already there chatting with some students, waiting for everyone to arrive. The giant turned and started doing a head count but after he got to eleven to he gave up and presumed everyone was there.
"Right for those that 'aven't met me yet I'm Hagrid, professor of Magical Creatures, gamekeeper an' head of Gryffindor, the finest 'ouse in 'ogwarts. Not that I'm biased," he said and let out a deep chuckle.
"Ter 'elp you get ter know the school better I've set you a scavenger 'unt. There are clues hidden around the school an' grounds. Firs' ter find an' solve all the clues wins 'undred points fer their 'ouse plus a special prize. Fifty points fer second place an' twenty fer third. Now there's some maps of 'ogwarts on the table here, get in ter groups of two or three and good luck. Oh and the firs' clue is on the back of the map."
There was a mad scramble from excited students to get into their groups and start the hunt. Barney quickly grabbed a map and disappeared out of the entrance hall and into the grounds, knowing no one from Slytherin would want him on their team.
Barney hastily rounded the corner of the school, out of sight of anyone else who came outside. Though it was still early in the day the sky was clear and the sun shone down making it feel warm. Much warmer than it did in the Slytherin common room and dormitories. Barney looked at the map to get his bearings and decided to head to the lake. It seemed like a good a way as any to spend the day, lazing by the lake and keeping out of everyone else's way.
He found a spot near the shore by a tree that was hidden from view from the castle and sat down on the slightly damp grass. He looked at the back of the map and on it was the first clue - some numbers written backwards but this meant nothing to him. Puzzled and knowing he wouldn't figure it out he decided to familiarise himself with the schools layout instead. He saw the Quidditch pitch marked on it and remembered Professor McGonagall mentioning about try outs for this but he still had no idea what it was. Having had enough of studying the map he decided to have a nap in the warm sunshine to make up for the bad nights sleep he had in the cold dormitory.
Barney didn't know how long he'd been dozing when he was woken by some arguing coming towards the lake.
"There's no harm in looking is there," a girl's voice cried out.
"But it's clearly not by the lake!" a voice familiar to Barney replied.
Barney sat up and peered around the tree and saw Thomas heading towards him with a girl, who had long blonde hair which looked a bit messy.
"Let's see if we can find the squid," the girl called out as she started to run towards the lake.
Thomas followed at a walk as the girl reached the shore of the lake and failed to notice Barney behind the tree. Thomas stopped to take a puff of his inhaler and saw Barney sat on the grass.
"Oh hey Barney, how are you? How's Slytherin house?"
The girl turned around and saw Barney and walked towards him.
"You're the muggle-born who was sorted into Slytherin?" the girl exclaimed excitedly.
"Yep that's me," Barney replied, not sure what was so astonishing about that.
"That's definitely upset a few people."
"A few people? Try the whole of Slytherin," Barney replied.
Thomas came and sat next to Barney on the grass to rest for a while, having been dragged around most of the school and grounds already.
"What's so bad about that?" Thomas asked, looking up at the girl as he took his glasses off to give them a quick clean before placing them back on.
"Because he's the first muggle-born to be sorted into Slytherin for over two hundred years. Slytherin are kind of known for attracting witches and wizards who feel magic should be kept pure."
"What do you mean by pure?" Barney asked.
"Pure blood, as in no muggle blood. Only witches and wizards marrying other witches and wizards."
"Oh," Barney sighed dejectedly, looking at the ground and playing with a blade of grass.
"You were lucky you were sorted in Hufflepuff Tom," the girl added. "Even though your grandma was a witch, Slytherin would have still hated to have you in their house."
The conversation was not helping to make Barney feel any better and Thomas noticed the downhearted look on his face and tried to change the subject.
"Isn't there a boy in your house called Locke?"
Barney thought back to the sorting ceremony and recalled a Maximille Locke being called up and sorted into Slytherin but couldn't remember which one of his room mates it was.
"Yeah I think so."
"I wonder if we're related. My grandma's maiden name was Locke."
"Oh my god your grandma was Enid Locke?" the girl shrieked, with a look of astonishment on her face.
"Yeah how did you know that?"
As Thomas spoke, Barney noticed that both his and the girl's robes had a yellow and black crest on with a badger in the middle. The girl sat down on the grass facing them both.
"Everyone knows about her. She was the eldest child of Bertram Locke, the wealthiest wizard there ever was. She was the heir to his fortune but she renounced it and her family to marry a muggle. Their love story is legendary."
"Why did she turn down the fortune?" Thomas asked.
"Well her father gave her a choice. Love or wealth. If she married the muggle her father said he would cut her off. She choose love. It's pretty sweet if you think about it but rather stupid."
"I dunno," Barney commented. "Can money buy you happiness?"
"Well when Bertram died the fortune went to Maximille's grandfather, Enid's younger brother. And then when he died it went to his son, Oberon Locke, Maximille's dad. They own four manors, three castles, two estates, a whole road in London and two islands. I would say they're pretty happy."
Thomas didn't say anything. He thought to his small two bedroom terraced house back home and how his parents had sometimes struggled to pay the bills and keep a roof over their heads. Having three castles sounded pretty nice.
The girl sensed Thomas' sombre mood and tried to cheer him up.
"I mean one of the islands is off the cost of Denmark, it's pretty cold and snows all the time so I'm sure it's not all that great."
Thomas still said nothing and now it was her time to change the conversation.
"So where's your team?" she said to Barney. "Have you split up to cover more ground?"
"I don't have a team, no one wanted me in theirs."
"Ah yeah makes sense," the girl replied, which resulted in Thomas giving her a gentle tap with his foot to shut her up, before she said anything else to upset Barney.
"You can join our team," Thomas stated.
"Aren't we meant to stick to our houses?"
"Hagrid never said anything about that," the girl replied. "Come on lets go."
She got up and put her hands defiantly on her hips and waited for the other two to join her.
"She's rather bossy isn't she?" Barney joked getting to his feet.
"It's that bossiness that is gonna help us win and then Slytherin will love you when you get a hundred points for their house."
"How many clues have you solved so far?"
"Only two," Thomas added despondently.
"The first one was a clock in the school that counts down backwards to the end of term and then the second one was in the astronomy tower," the girl beamed with a sense of accomplishment but Barney could tell Thomas wasn't as optimistic about their chances of winning.
Thomas finally got up and the three of them started walking back towards the castle.
"I can't believe I'm made friends with the first muggle-born in Slytherin for over two hundred years. Everyone was talking about you last night."
"Great," Barney replied sarcastically.
"Oh don't worry, once everyone finds out who Thomas' grandma was they'll all be talking about him instead."
"Great," Thomas added just as sarcastically.
"I'm Tabitha Truhart by the way, but everyone calls me Tabs," the girl said as she looked down at her map. "Wait I know where the next clue is leading us, come on."
And with that she broke into a run and left the other two behind to watch her speed off into the distance.
"She really doesn't you know," Thomas retorted.
"How did you end up paired with her?"
"Her dad is the minister for Magical Education and apparently he's trying to bring in changes which will mean more theory and tests and less practical learning at Hogwarts. So some people have taken a disliking to her because of that. Plus in the few hours we've been here she's managed to wind up and argue with at least a dozen people. I felt a bit sorry for her so offered to pair up with her."
Thomas took another puff of his inhaler and they both started to follow Tabitha, who they could just about still see in the distance.
"What a bunch of misfits we are," Barney noted. "The hated minister's daughter, the muggle of Slytherin and the boy who could have been the richest in history."