Chapter 5, Not According to Plan
The new year had come and gone, and with it, life once more returned to Hogwarts. Godwin planned to get into the hallway and was close to being ready. As the new year started, Godwin had Merula in a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson.
It was taught by a middle aged man called Mister Blackwater. He was a strict man who had gone completely bald and had a thick mustache upon his upper lip. They were learning the 'Flipendo' spell and the time had come to begin the actual part of the lesson they had been looking forward to, after a whole week of nothing more than theory. The teacher lined them up one behind the other, before a training dummy. Godwin felt someone poke his back and glanced behind him to see Merula.
"Ready to get embarrassed, Le Fey? You're not beating me with this spell!" She said with a smirk.
"We'll see about that," Godwin said with a smirk of his own.
"Miss Snyder and Mister Le Fey, detention with me again!" The teacher barked, having caught them whispering among each other again. The pair of them sighed in unison.
"When I say go, you will go in order and begin firing spells at the dummy. You get one chance, any failure with this test and you will have to do two parchesment of homework on this spell. . . Now, go!"
One at a time, the students stepped forward, firing their spells. Blackwater judged them by how far they knocked back the dummy, if it was knocked back at all. Eventually, it was Godwin's turn, and after withdrawing his wand and fixing his eye upon his target, he readied the spell. "Flipendo!"
The blue spell darted forward with a bright flash slammed into the dummy, which dipped back an inch, rocking back and forth.
"Good enough," said the teacher in an unimpressed tone as Godwin went to the back of the class. The giggling of Merula made his mouth twist, and then it was her turn. Readying her wand, she struck a pose, and after a moment of pause, she fired. The purplish-red light smacked into the dummy. It flew back a few feet, rocking violently.
"Very impressive, Miss Snyder! That version of the spell is beyond most of you." The teacher beamed.
"So does that mean I can skip detention for being such a good student?" Merula asked with an unnaturally sweet voice.
"Ten points from Slytherin for having the cheek to ask that! To the back of the class you go." Blackwater said with a scowl. Merula crossed her arms and stomped next to Godwin.
"What are you smiling at? I was still better than you!'' She whispered upon seeing Godwin's amused grin upon his face. When the rest of class and Rowan had learned the spell in their own time, they were ready to put their plan into action.
Waking up in the early hours of the morning, Rowan, Merula and Godwin met up and made their way to the corridor. Peeves, as agreed, went on his rampage, drawing all attention to him. When they got to the hallway, Finch's cat was once more standing guard.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
The white spell hit the cat, freezing it on the spot as its stiff body proceeded to fall over. The spell was impressive, but left Godwin with nothing but dread — he would have to keep his guard up around Merula from now on. The three of them then rushed over to the door, and Merula aimed her wand.
"Flipendo!'' The reddish-purple light smashed into the door, which opened and closed again as the spell broke whatever defensive wards were upon it. Without a word, Merula rushed on through.
"Merula, what are you doing!?" Godwin yelled after her, but it was too late. "Come on, Rowan! We have no idea what could be in there!"
"Part of me wants her to get hurt," Rowan whispered to him, but followed nonetheless.
They went through the door to find Meurla within a small room covered in mist and ice. The ice was also covering the walls with a lump beginning to spread along the floor, just like his vision — but this time, there was no staircase. It was just a small, empty room with ice in it.
"I'm willing to bet on my house that this is not, in fact, the vaults." Merula said with a tone of irritation. Godwin and Rowan turned around to see the door shut behind them automatically, and the ice began to spread over the door, covering it. The pair of them stared in disbelief, and then. . .
"Le Fey, HELP!''
Godwin spun around to see Merula's hand fused to one of the lumps of ice that had begun to spread up her arm!
"Hurry!'' Merula cried as it was rapidly making its way up her arm. Godwin pulled out his wand, and there was no time to lose.
"Flipendo!" The blue spell smashed into the ice, shattering it and knocking back Merula's arms.
"Ow!" She exclaimed, rubbing at her arms with a wince.
"Are you alright? Show me your arms." Godwin said, walking over to her. Before he could get a good look, though, she covered her arms with her sleeves.
"No, I'm fine! We have bigger problems." She said, then huffed as she walked towards the door now covered in ice.
"Flipendo!" She yelled, and the spell smashed into the ice once more, sending shards of it in all directions as Rowan and Godwin ducked, though the door didn't budge. Instead, the ice quickly repaired itself. Rowan and Godwin took her side.
"Let's try that again. They're not catching me here!" Godwin said with his eyes narrowing into a determined glare. Together, they pointed their wands at the door.
"FLIPENDO!"
Their streams of light slammed into the ice, and BOOM! The combined spell blew open the door, which came off its hinges. Merula ran out of the door and out of the hallway, and Godwin was right behind when. . .
"Godwin, here, look!" Rowan yelled.
"What is it!?" Godwin exclaimed, looking around to Rowan, who then pointed to the upper part of the wall. Above them was glowing writing in some sort of language that Godwin could't understand or read.
"Keep a lookout, I need to note this down!" Rowan said, pulling out his notepad.
"Hurry! We don't know if someone heard us break that door!"
Just then, Godwin began to hear footsteps.
"Rowan, give me the notepad! I'll copy it down. You need to run!"
"Are you sure?"
"Go!" Godwin insisted as he took the notepad from Rowan and began writing down the mysterious runic-like langage hoping it was something, anything that could lead to his brother.
Meanwhile, Rowan used the lock charm upon the door on the opposite side of the hallway and ran for it. That bought Godwin all the time he needed to finish writing. Just as he shoved the notepad into his pocket, though, the door to the hallway swung open, and the footsteps began drawing closer. Snape appeared and, upon spotting Godwin, a wide nasty grin spread along his face.
"Mister Le Fey, proving himself the worthless trouble-maker once more! Come with me!"
Godwin followed Snape out of the hall, but he was thankful for the fact that at least only one of them got caught; he was then taken to the Snape office.
"I'm stunned at your arrogance, Le Fey. Really, I am. Do you really think anything gives you the right to force your way into areas clearly out of bounds to you? Not to mention the fact that you attacked Finch's cat with a spell! Her only crime was protecting insolent students like yourself from the ice within that room — now, tell me. . . did you do this on your own!?"
"Yes, I was on my own. I'd been planning it for a while now, actually — though if I may ask, Professor Snape, how did you know I was within that corridor? Was it just bad luck?" Godwin asked.
"Because me and Finch have been onto your little games from the very moment they began! That day when I punished you for duelling Miss Snyder, even though we may have not caught you doing it, I knew you were the one who was listening in to our conversation! Given your obvious motivation from your big brother, I also knew you would be planning something after Finch's cat chased you out of the hall. I made sure I would help keep a close eye on that corridor whenever possible. Of course, you had thought you could outwit us, didn't you, Le Fey? That oversight has cost you another fifty points from Slytherin! I dare say you have been more than a match for your brother when it comes to ruining our reputation. I will be pushing for your explustion — expect to be seeing Dumbledore by the end of the day. Now, out of my sight!
During the lengthy rant, Godwin had shown no sign of emotion when he was in front of Snape. But inside? His heart had been pounding. Would he really be expelled for this? He would almost rather have been killed by you-know-who! Anything other than face his mother after that. Both of her sons being kicked out from Hogwarts? He would never hear the end of it.
After leaving Snape's office, Godwin walked off somewhere quiet and fell against a wall, planting his head into his hands. At this point, he was beginning to regret staying behind. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Rowan was his friend, after all — but the risk of being kicked out of Hogwarts had never crossed his mind until now.
Taking a long, deep breath, Godwin calmed the anxiety within him and got back up to his feet.
"It's no use worrying, it's outta my hands." He told himself, instead choosing to cling on to the hope that Dumbledore would be merciful. He seemed like a nice enough man whenever Godwin did get to see him. Godwin also decided to skip out on morning lessons, as he took some time to relax and go for a long walk around Hogwarts — it could be his last chance to explore the castle now, after all.
When he finally returned to the Great Hall, Merula rose up and walked right over to him.
"Rowan told me you stayed behind for him and got caught by someone, is that true?"
"Yes, it is." Godwin said, taking a deep breath.
"Did you tell them anything?nWho was it that found you?"
"It was Snape, and you can rest easy, Merula. I took the blame for everything." Merula let loose a sigh of relief just as Rowan came rushing over to him.
"Are you ok? What happened?" Rowan asked upon reaching him. Merula lingered around while he summed up to Rowan what had happened, giving him back the notepad and quill, all the while thanking his lucky stars that Snape didn't search him.
"That's why you got caught then, you idiot! You should have just ran for it!" Merula said after overhearing what had happened.
"I think it was very brave! Besides, thanks to him we got a clue!" Rowan said, scowling at Merula.
"And a lot of good it's going to do him if he's expelled!" Merula snapped back.
"Why do you care?" Rowan asked, irritated.
Merula opened her mouth but the words fell short. She left them as Penny came over with Tonks, and Godwin decided against telling the others about being expelled — he'd much rather wait, not wanting to make an unnecessary fuss. It would draw questions like 'how' and 'why'. He would only tell them if he was being kicked out for sure.
Eventually, just as break was coming to an end, Miss McGonagall approached him.
"Mister Le Fey, could you please come with me?"
"Is this about the headmaster?" He asked with a whisper. McGonagall nodded in confirmation. Godwin said his goodbyes before she escorted him to the headmaster in silence. Upon reaching the outside of the headmaster's office, they came to a halt.
"Here we are. For what it's worth, I wish you luck, Mister Le Fey — you are one of my best transfiguration students. I would hate to lose you so soon."
Godwin smiled and thanked her, trying not to let his nerves get to him. She then opened the way for him to enter the headmaster's office.
When he got up the stairs, Dumbledore was waiting for him at his desk. Godwin's heart was aflutter — he had always wanted to meet Dumbledore face to face, but not like this.
"Greetings, Godwin. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Please, sit down"
Stiff as a board, Godwin approached and took the seat opposite to Dumbledore, who then offered him a red and white paper bag full of yellow sweets. Godwin smiled and took one.
"Thank you," he said, opening the sweet and throwing it into his mouth.
"Of course. Now, let's get to the important question. I want you to truthfully tell me — why do you want to find the cursed vaults?"
Godwin didn't have to think twice.
"To find my brother. It's the only lead I have." Dumbledore smiled and the tension gripping Godwin's heart released.
"Well, in that case, I do understand. I was intrigued by your brother at first, but he left me with no choice. The constant breaking of rules,the non-stop skipping of lessons — the injuring of other students. He had a number of warnings, but he refused to listen. I am truly sorry for my part in his disappearance, and I wish you all the luck in finding him."
"Am I going to get expelled?" Godwin asked with apprehension.
"Now, it is true that you've shown the same disregard for the rules as your brother. Having broken into a magically sealed door — shut for your own protection, mind you — attacking Finch's cat with a spell, dueling on school grounds. . . However, no, we won't be expelling you."
Godwin's face lit up with joy.
"What, really? Why?" He asked, sitting up within his seat.
"You've done all these things out of the desire to help people. You broke rules to find your brother and to see that he's safe, you engaged in a duel when Merula was threatening your friend, and lastly. . . I wouldn't want to rid Hogwarts of such a promising young student so soon. With all the points taken from you over the last half-a-year in mind, I will be rewarding a hundred points to Slytherin."
"Thank you, thank you! Thank you for being so understanding!" Godwin beamed, and he left Dumbledore's office with a smile on his face.
After lessons were over, Godwin rejoined Rowan and the rest of his friends in the Great Hall, and later found time to talk to Rowan as he walked him to lesson and told him all that had happened.
"That's amazing! I was hoping we would be able to continue our search for the vaults next year."
"Me too - keep me updated on that text we found! I want to know the second you've translated it if you can."
"Will do. I'm sure I can do it, I just need a bit more time."
"Sounds good. Meanwhile, after today's close call, let's keep our heads down till then, okay?"
Later that day, Merula approached him upon his entering of the Slytherin common room.
"So, I take it you're staying, then."
"Yup." Godwin said with a smile.
"Shame. Ah well, I should tell you, then — I think I'll go after the vault on my own after those pair of disasters, so from this point onward, stay out of my way!"
"If you think I'm going to stop looking for my brother just because you told me to, then you got another thing coming.''
Godwin brushed past Merula and sat by the fireplace, when suddenly, Felix came and sat next to him. The two hadn't talked much since his duel with Merula.
"Godwin, I know we've had our problems, but. . . I want to say good job on getting the hundred points. I'm still not entirely sure how you got them, but I guess that more than makes up for all the trouble you've given us." The prefect said with a chuckle. "Let's see more earning of points and less losing them from now on, okay?"
"I'll do my best." Godwin said with a slight smile, keeping his head ducked down in embarrassment.
It was a month later, when Rowan finally made a breakthrough with the translation, that Godwin met him up within the courtyard.
"Godwin, the writing on the wall! I figured it out!"
"Really!? What does it say!?"
"The knight stands guard over the vanishing staircases."
Godwin's eyes that had been lit with excitement quickly turned to disappointment.
"That's what I risked my ass for? What does that even mean?"
"Well, there are approximately one hundred and forty-two staircases within Hogwarts, but I don't think I've heard anything about a vanishing one."
"We may have to do some research on Hogwarts then, see if we can find anything mentioning a vanishing staircase. At least it's something, I guess."
The pair of them searched many books in their free time, but they struggled to find anything. With the end-of-year exams approaching, they soon found less and less time to continue their search, and had found nothing by the end of the year, even after having looked around most of Hogwarts.
Ravenclaw had once again won the Quidditch cup, and Godwin and his friends all passed their exams; with Godwin doing quite well in charms, flying and transfiguration. Then it came time for Dumbledore's end of year speech and the announcing of who won the house cup.
"Fourth place, Gryffindor, with four hundred and twenty points; third place, Hufflepuff, with four hundred and thirty points; second, Ravenclaw with four hundred and forty points and 1st, Slytherin, with a total of four hundred and fifty points! Which means Slytherin has won the house cup this year!"
The Ravenclaw decorations changed to Slytherin as the Slytherin house broke into celebratory cheers, and when time came to return home, Godwin went with Penny, Rowan, Ben, Charlie and Tonks. They all fitted into one train compartment and enjoyed the train ride back. Looking out the window, Godwin was already beginning to think ahead to his return to Hogwarts.
What secrets could possibly await him next?