Chapter 7 - The Mysterious VN
By the time Barney had got back to his dormitory after his detention it was late and the rest of his room mates had already gone to bed. Under his duvet and by the light of his wand he had examined the strange book he had found. Again he turned through the pages and found no writing and even using a revealing charm didn't expose anything hidden. All he could find was the runic symbols that he didn't recognise at the top of most of the pages. But someone had hidden that book on purpose, but why? There must be something in the book that they didn't want anyone else to see. And who was VN? The book was quite a mystery to Barney, a mystery he was determined to solve.
The next morning Barney woke feeling very tired and very reluctantly to go to his first lesson of the day - double History of Magic, his least favourite lesson. He regretted not dropping that subject every day. But at least he had a free period after when he could head to the library to do some research and find out who VN was.
He headed down to breakfast with the rest of his dorm and though they questioned him on his detention with Filch he didn't mention anything about the book. He didn't want to say anything until he knew a bit more about it himself.
His History of Magic lesson was chaotic as ever. No one really paid much attention to Professor Binns as he droned on, so a lot of the lesson was spent by the students chatting amongst themselves. Barney often wondered if Professor Binns had been just as boring when he was alive.
Today Binns was trying to teach them about Mother Shipton, a witch from the fifteenth century who was proficient at divination and once turned a king to stone.
"Hey you OK?" Marek asked to Barney, who was sat next to him. "You seem a little quiet today."
Barney was busy doodling runes that he remembered from the book on a piece of parchment and stopped to look up at Marek. "Yeah I'm fine. I didn't think there was anything more boring than a History of Magic lesson until we got scheduled a double History of Magic lesson," Barney joked.
"We've got the Quidditch pitch booked tonight for a practice session before try outs if you want to come along?"
"Yeah sure," Barney said, his mood brightening up.
Marek turned to the table behind him. "Hey Velyan, you up for some Quidditch practice tonight? Marek asked. "You were amazing on a broom the other day."
Barney's mood suddenly went down again.
After the longest couple of hours of his life, Barney's lesson finally ended and he heading straight for the library. But when he got there he didn't know where to start. All he had were two initials which he presumed were those of a former teacher. But he had no idea when this teacher taught at Hogwarts or what they had taught. Were there even any books in the library detailing all the past members of staff? He decided to instead focus on the runes, hoping they were from some language he had yet to study.
He headed to the appropriate section and found a couple of very large and heavy books on the subject of runes and took them over to a desk and started searching through. But with every page he turned it looked like a fruitless quest as he didn't see any runes that resembled the ones he had found in the book.
"Hey Barney," Tilly Greensmith from Ravenclaw called out and was met with a 'shush' from librarian Madame Pince who was lurking nearby. "Mind if I sit here?" she continued in a whisper.
Barney moved one of the heavy books aside to make space for Tilly who sat down.
"Wasn't History so boring this morning? I mean more than usual," she said still whispering as she started to turn the pages of her book on Divination (an elective that Barney hadn't decided to take).
Barney nodded in agreement and went back to his own book.
"What are you reading there?" she asked but Barney wasn't appreciating the interruptions.
"Just some stuff for Runes class," he replied sounding annoyed and Tilly could tell.
"Sorry I was just making conversation, maybe I should leave you to it," she said as she started to gather her things back up.
"Sorry. Please stay. It's just some runes I'm trying to translate but finding it hard so I was getting frustrated. I probably need a break from it anyway. How are your classes going?"
Tilly put her things back down and they chatted for a bit before Tilly read her book on Divination and Barney turned his attention back to the runes but he still made no progress so turned his attention to who could be the mysterious VN.
"I'll be right back," he said to Tilly as he got up. "I'm just going to get a copy of Hogwarts: A History."
"Oh you can borrow my copy," she said as she fished the large book from her bag.
"You have a copy and you keep it with you?" Barney asked a little bemused.
"Just for some light reading between classes."
Barney looked at the big book and thought it was anything but light.
"It's one of my favourite books. I've read it twice before," Tilly beamed as she handed the book over.
"So you know all about Hogwarts then?"
"Yes why?"
"You wouldn't happen to know any teachers in the past who had the initials VN would you?" he asked as he started to flick through the pages.
"VN? Well there was Venus Nouveau who taught Potions and went on to invent the Lightning potion. There was also Valerie Nightingale who taught Arithmancy, she was one of the first muggle-born teachers at Hogwarts. Oh and of course there was Vitorious Nevermore, but the less said about him the better."
"Why is that?" he asked.
"Because of what he did."
"What did he do?"
"You mean you've never heard of Vitorious Nevermore?"
"Do you think I'd be asking you about him if I did?" Barney asked frustratedly.
"Shhh!" interrupted Madame Pince and Barney realised he was being loud having got over excited at potentially finally getting somewhere with uncovering the secrets of the book he found.
"Vitorious Nevermore was a former teacher of the Dark Arts at Hogwarts and was said to have murdered his wife," Tilly continued in a hushed voice.
"He killed his wife?!" a shocked Barney asked and realised he was beginning to be loud again and lowered his head to avoid Madame Pince's gaze.
"Yes. She was a teacher at Hogwarts too. But they never found her body so they could never prove anything. I mean they tried various spells and potions on him to try and get the truth out of him but he was a very skilled wizard so they never managed to break him."
"What happened to him?"
"Well some say that before he killed her, his wife put a curse on him and not too long after she vanished he died too. He was struck by lightning whilst flying over the school. Died instantly."
Barney pondered for a second on what he had just heard. Was he indeed holding a book that belonged to Vitorious Nevermore? If so did it contain secrets to what really happened to his wife?
After leaving the library Barney rushed to the Great Hall and found Tabitha and Thomas who were sat at the Hufflepuff table.
"Can we go have lunch outside?" he huffed as he panted between breaths.
"What's wrong with eating here? I'm meant to be meeting Hamish," Tabitha replied, feeling inconvenienced.
"Please. I need to talk to you. It's important."
Thomas didn't need any encouragement and was happy to go with his friend but Tabitha felt put out but reluctantly agreed and told the Hufflepuffs sitting around her that if Hamish came looking for her to tell him she was out in the courtyard.
The three of them headed outside and found a quiet corner where Barney told them all about the book and how he'd found it, that he'd been trying to decipher the strange symbols in it and the information that Tilly had just given him about it's potential author.
"So you really think it could be this Nevermore's book?" Thomas asked, looking a little worried and not sure his friend should be handling a book that might have a murder confession inside it.
"I mean there's probably loads of former teachers who have the initials VN," Tabitha added, as she kept one eye on the castle door, waiting to see if Hamish emerged.
"Look I know I don't know for sure it belongs to him but it's a possibility and right now I don't have much else to go on."
"Well exactly. If you can't translate the runes what use is the book?" Tabitha noted not wanting Barney to waste his time on something that wasn't going anywhere.
"Well in my next Runes lesson I'll ask Professor Dufour about them. If anyone can decipher them he can."
"Are you going to tell him where you found the book?" Thomas asked.
"No I don't think I'm even going to mention the book. I'll just copy the runes down and ask if he knows what they are."
"I think you should just hand the book in to Professor McGonagall," Thomas suggested, feeling sceptical about the whole thing. "Let her deal with it."
Barney looked at the book in his hand and wondered if his friends were right. Was he wasting his time? For all he knew the book could in fact be a cook book and all he'd discover if recipe for making honey fudge.
Before Barney could say any more Tabitha jumped up with a broad smile on her face. He turned around to see Hamish approaching.
Hamish Meriwether was six foot two, athletically built with deep browns eyes and wavy blond hair that always looked immaculate. He was also one of the best Quidditch players in the school and helped Hufflepuff to resoundingly beat Slytherin in the house cup last year, which gave Barney another reason to dislike him. Barney could imagine in years to come that Hamish would make it as a professional Quidditch player and that many teenagers would have posters of him up on their walls.
As Hamish came over Tabitha greeted him with open arms and a kiss on the lips that in Barney's opinion lasted longer than it needed to.
"Hey Tom, hey Barns," Hamish said greeting them both.
Barney hated it when Hamish called him 'Barns'. He was the only person who called him that. To get his own back Barney had tried calling him 'Hams' but only succeed in making himself look stupid.
With Hamish there Barney didn't want to talk about the book any longer so stuffed it in his bag and had to sit there awkwardly as Tabitha and Hamish made out. After about a minute of that he couldn't take any more and with Thomas they made their excuses and left.
After briefly returning to the Great Hall to grab some food Barney headed down to the greenhouse for his Herbology lesson.
When he arrived he was greeted by Daisy from Gryffindor who could tell by his face something was bothering.
"What's up?"
"Nothing. Just had to spend part of my lunch watching Hamish give Tabitha a dental exam with his tongue."
"Well I hate to be the barer of bad news but it's not much better in here," Daisy said as she flicked her head towards the other side of the greenhouse where Billy and Hugo were stood. "They've finally got it together."
As Barney watched Billy and Hugo playfully tease each other he was glad his friends had finally seen what everyone else had noticed ages ago and realised their mutual liking for each other. But on the other hand he didn't fancy the thought of a lesson with two loved up peopl.
"Is it me or does everyone seem to be coupling up this year?" Barney moaned as he and Daisy headed over to join the new love birds. "I hear you and Elio have been seeing each other?"
"Don't worry Barney. There's still plenty of girls out there for you," Daisy joked.
Girls were the last thing on Barney's mind right now.
"Good afternoon class," Professor Sprout announced as she walked into the greenhouse, her hair a mess and clothes covered in mud like usual. "Everyone gather round and listen carefully as today we will be dealing with a very tricky plant indeed - Elicere Odorata. Now can anyone tell me what it's more commonly known by?"
A few hands shot up around the greenhouse.
"Yes Daisy?"
"The Enchanting plant Miss."
"Correct. Five points to Gryffindor. And who can tell me why they are called that?" Professor Sprout asked again.
More hands went up.
"Uma?"
"Because they entice insects and animals with their smell," Uma answered.
"Yes that's right. Five points to Slytherin. And they entice their prey, which is attracted by the alluring smell of it's flower, so they devour it as this species of plant is a carnivore."
As few students looked shocked as Professor Sprout pulled out her wand and waved it behind her and several glass boxes started floating over to the table and landed in front of students. Inside each box was a large plant with numerous leaves and a vibrant blooming flower of red and yellows. The flower was so pretty it was hard to imagine it could be dangerous.
"Right now class it's very important when dealing with these flowers that you don't inhale any of their scent so there are clothes pegs on the table in front of you. Please make sure it is securely on your nose so you can't smell anything as these plants have been known to bite off a finger or two."
As Barney picked up his peg he and other students noticed the odd plant that was on a table behind Professor Sprout. The plant was in a pot but it was moving. And not just the plant was moving put the whole pot. The plant was using it's leaves to drag itself along the table. A few students started to chuckle and Sprout turned to see what was so funny.
"Oh those pesky plants," she muttered to herself and she picked up the plant and took it to a cage on the other side of the table and placed it inside with similar plants before shutting the cage door and uttering an incantation to lock it.
"We call those Houdini plants as I'm sure you can imagine why. Always escaping."
The class laughed before returning to the serious work of making sure they were protected against the Enchanting plant.
"Right does everyone have their clothes peg on properly?" Professor Sprout asked as she scanned the class. "Good now in pairs carefully open your boxes and remove your plant. Then very delicately take a swab and wipe if across the pollen sacks in the centre of the flower," she continued as she demonstrated on a plant in front of her. "The pollen is where the smell comes from and is used in various potions. One collected place the pollen in a vial and secure the lid tightly."
Barney paired up with Daisy and they removed their plant and started to collect the pollen. Even without being able to smell it the colours of the flower were so mesmerizing to Barney as he carefully used the long swab on it.
Under the table, out of sight of the students and Professor Sprout, one of the Houdini plants slid across the floor, having escaped previously along with it's companion but had remained unnoticed. The plant looked out towards the door of the greenhouse and to the sea of legs it would have to traverse to reach freedom. As it made a break for it, Arlo Webster took a step back from the desk, knocking the escaping plant and ending up tripping over it and falling backwards. As he fell he managed to twist his body sideways and landed on his left arm which helped cushion the fall.
"Everything alright up there?" Sprout called out from the other end of the greenhouse.
Arlo was getting back onto his feet and dusted off his robes and everything seemed to be fine so he continued on with the lesson's task and got back to pollen collecting.
As he looked at the plant this time he stared at it with a whole new perspective. The plant seemed to glow as if it was giving off a warm energy. He thought to himself he had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life. Something inside him was urging him to reach out and touch the plant, as if doing so would make his life complete.
"What are you doing?" Henry, Arlo's class partner, asked as he watched Arlo reach out towards the flower, before looking at Arlo's face and noticing that his clothes peg had fallen off. "Arlo no!"
Henry grabbed Arlo's arm and tried to pull it back but Arlo was stronger than he was and kept reaching out to the flower.
"I must touch it," Arlo declared in a trance.
"Professor we've got a problem!" Henry called out as Barney looked across to Arlo who was beside him and realised what was happening.
Barney grabbed Arlo too and pulled him back but Arlo was being so forceful, as if the scent from the flower had given him extra strength.
Professor Sprout looked over at the commotion and knew at once what was happening. Quick as a flash she pulled out her wand from her pocket.
"Comminatio Captis!" she hollered across the greenhouse and a flash of green light hit the glass box that was beside the plant.
The box flipped into the air and landed back down on the plant, capturing it.
Arlo, Barney and Henry went flying to the ground as Arlo instantly stopped trying to reach for the plant. As they laid in a heap on the floor Barney spotted out the corner of his eye the Houdini plant almost giving him a mocking wave as it exited the greenhouse.