Chapter 10 - The Secret Journal of Vitorious Nevermore
After try outs had ended Barney had a long wait of a week before the house Quidditch teams would be announced. First Madame Hooch along with the heads of houses would pick captains. Then the head of house and captain for each team along with Madame Hooch would select the teams. Barney could do no more. But right now he had more pressing matters and after changing out of his Quidditch uniform he was eager to find Thomas and Tabitha. Luckily Thomas had turned up to watch Barney's try out and had stayed behind after to congratulate him on his performance.
"Well done out there today. That was an amazing catch," Thomas said as he bounded over to him excitedly.
"Thanks. Now all I've got to do is wait and see who they pick," he replied not wanting to get his hopes up.
"And sorry about your broom."
Barney had been so over the moon at catching the Golden Snitch he had forgotten about the fact that his broom had been wrecked and turned to run back into the stadium to collect the broken pieces but was confronted by Madame Hooch who held both parts of his broom in her hands. "I'm sorry Barney but I do think there's much we can do with this. Even if we manage to mend it, it won't fly like it use to. It wouldn't even be much use as a practice broom," Hooch said as she handed him the pieces.
"Never mind Barney, you can always get a new one," Thomas said, trying to console his friend but Barney wasn't sure how he could afford a new one. His mum had brought him that broom for his thirteenth birthday even though it cost an arm and a leg. Being a single parent with three children she didn't exactly have plenty of spare cash lying around and he didn't want to burden her with asking for a new one.
Barney and Thomas headed back to the castle, with Barney carrying his broken broom. With the disappointment of his now deceased broom Barney had forgotten all about the news he had for Thomas. But as the entered the entrance hall the fog cleared from his mind and he remembered.
"Thomas do you know where Tabs is?"
"No idea."
"See if you can find her. I'm going to take my things back to my dorm and then meet me in the Great Hall in ten minutes. I've finally deciphered the first page of the book."
Before Thomas could ask any questions Barney had dashed off towards the stairs to the dungeon, leaving Thomas standing in bewilderment.
When Barney got to the Great Hall he was glad to see Thomas and Tabitha sat at the Hufflepuff table waiting for him.
"This better be good. Hamish was going to take me for a romantic row around the lake," Tabitha said looking a little annoyed.
"Trust me this is way better than a lame boat trip," Barney replied as he pulled the book from his bag and opened it to the page with the first runes on. "Now we already knew this one meant 'land' and this one meant 'fire'. Turns out this last one is an alchemy symbol for 'water'," Barney said with an excited grin on his face.
As he looked at his friend's he could see they didn't look as excited.
"So?" Tabitha said sarcastically.
"What do you mean so? I've solved the first page."
"And what?" Tabitha said. "It's still a blank page. Solving the cypher hasn't done anything."
"Maybe it's wrong," Thomas added but Barney was getting annoyed by his friend's lake of enthusiasm.
"OK true the page is still blank but now we know what these symbols mean maybe they're some sort of riddle and once we solve that riddle the rest of the page will reveal itself."
"I mean maybe," Thomas said looking at the symbols again.
"So land, fire and water? I mean where's the riddle in that?" Tabitha said, now looking bored and wanting to leave to go and join Hamish.
Barney stopped to think. He hadn't thought that far ahead. He was just so excited about cracking the code on the first page he hadn't stopped to think what it actually meant. He stared at the symbols and thought about their meanings. What was the connection?
"Maybe it's not land," Thomas considered as an idea popped into his head.
"No Professor Dufour was confident that's what it was."
"I know but I mean what if it's not land but earth, then you've got three of the four elements."
Barney thought Thomas was a genius. What hadn't he realised that? It was so obvious.
"Well why is there only three of them then?" Tabitha asked thinking they weren't on the right lines at all.
"Maybe the fourth element is the solution," Thomas suggested.
Barney sat down at the table and looked at the page closely. Was wind the answer? If so how would that unlock the book? He picked up the book and feeling rather foolish he blew on the page. Nothing happened.
"You two are idiots you know that. I'm out of here," Tabitha said as she picked up her bag.
"Wait try writing the word wind," Thomas said as Tabitha held on for a second.
"The word or the symbol?" Barney questioned.
"I mean the other three symbols are all from different sources so how would we know which one to use? Just try writing the word for now."
Barney started to rummage around in his bag for a quill but couldn't find one.
"Oh hang on," Tabitha said as she opened her bag and pulled a quill out. "Use mine and then I'm out of here."
"Thanks," Barney said as he took her quill.
He looked at the book and with the quill he carefully in his neatest writing wrote out the word 'water' next to the other symbols. They all watched with bated breath to see if anything happened but again the page remained blank.
"Sorry Barney looks like your quest cont..." Tabitha stopped talking as she watched words start to appear on the page and they all stared in silence. Barney looked up from the book and at his friends with a wide smile and a glint in his eye like a child on Christmas morning.
"Thomas you genius, you did it," Barney said and wanted to hug him.
"No we did it," Thomas corrected him as they all sat down and gathered round the book to read what it said -
I Vitorious Nevermore hereby use this journal to write my progress and discoveries as I undertake my research. I have taken the precautionary steps of protecting every page to keep my findings secret, should this journal fall into the wrong hands. If you are reading this then I am sadly no longer of this world but my work lives on and you have proven yourself worthy to carry it on. For what I am researching is truly an amazing object. Sought for centuries and desired by many, it is a mysterious item that we know so little about. How I came to be in possession of this item I will detail within. But what I will say for now as my journey begins, the Endeavour Stone must be protected from those who seek to use it for dark purposes at all costs.
All three of them sat stunned as they read the final words. None of them could have predicted what it was going to say. What exactly was the Endeavour Stone? And what could it do? Barney turned to the rest of the pages but they were still blank except for the runes at the top.
"We need to decipher the other pages and quick," he said as he turned to his friends who still looked shocked.
"No we need to hand it in to Professor McGonagall," Thomas said looking genuinely frightened.
"What? No way. I found this journal, we deciphered the first page, this is mine."
"Come on Tabitha back me up here. We have no idea what we're dealing with," Thomas pleaded.
Tabitha thought for a moment, still taking in the words of the journal and trying to figure out what it all meant. "Well there's no harm in deciphering a few more pages to find out a bit more," she said. "I mean we don't actually have the stone and it's not like it's going to magically pop out of the book."
Though all three of them did stop to think if that could happen? In the Wizarding World almost anything was possible.
"So we're agreed. I keep the book for now and we keep unlocking the rest of the pages?"
Thomas didn't look happy. He didn't want to be a killjoy but he also didn't want to end up in danger. In his first year he'd had to battle a student hell bent on gaining power. He wasn't keen to put his life on the line again but he stayed quiet on his reservations, hoping that at least with him by Barney's side he could do his best to keep his friend out of trouble. "OK but if we reveal anything in the journal that says our lives or the school is in danger then we hand it over to Professor McGonagall agreed?"
"Sure," Tabitha muttered.
"Fine," Barney said as he put his hand out in front of him. "Lets make a pact, everyone put your hand in."
Thomas put his hand on Barney's.
"Sometimes you're really lame you know that?" Tabitha said as she reluctantly placed her hand on Thomas'.
"I swear by all that that is magic to keep this secret and look out for my friends," recited Barney.
"I swear."
"I swear," Tabitha said last and they all released their hands.
As Tabitha rushed off to find Hamish, Barney put the journal back in his bag and wondered what more it would reveal.
After the initial success with deciphering the first page of the journal things had started to go cold. Barney had used the Sumerian and Celtic runes as well as using alchemy symbols to translate the other pages but he found only a few of the symbols matched and never enough to complete a whole page. Obviously Nevermore had used multiple sources for his code to ensure it would be hard to crack. And still he waited to hear news of the Slytherin Quidditch team. Last year's captain was Jane Swan and as she had graduated in the summer the team would definitely be getting a new one. He knew by now a captain would have been selected but no one had admitted to being chosen. He started to wonder if whoever had been selected was deliberately keeping it quiet so they could make their team selection without having to worry about being pestered by hopeful players trying to persuade them to be picked. Though Barney's money was on Silvanna or Maximille as they'd both been on the team for the last three years so were ideal candidates.
Barney headed to his double Dark Arts lesson, hoping that they would have Professor Night again. No such luck. When he got there Professor Grim was sat at her desk like a gargoyle, staring with displeasure as every student entered. Even once every student had entered and was sat at their desks in silence (no one dared speak in Grim's lesson for fear of detention) she still sat there staring at everyone not saying a word. Eventually she pushed her chair back and it screeched across the floor as she stood up. With a wave of her hand a bewitched piece of chalk flew up to the blackboard and slowly wrote three words on it which caused a few students to shudder - The Unforgivable Curses.
"Who here has heard of the Unforgivable Curses?" Professor Grim asked as most of the students wearily put their hand up and she seemed to enjoy watching their discomfort and slight fear at the mention of the curses. "Unforgivable Curses are the greatest tool to any dark wizard."
Barney wondered about Grim's wording and the use of the word 'greatest' as if she almost admired the curses.
"There are three of them. The Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse and finally the Killing Curse." Professor Grim seemed to savour saying the last one and waited before she continued speaking, allowing it to weigh on the students' minds longer. "Current legislation states that using any one of these on another person will result in a life sentence in Azkaban." She almost sounded disappointed. "Now who can tell me what any of the incantations for them are?" Grim said and didn't wait for any students to put their hands up, instead she picked on one who looked suitably scared already. "Miss Quinn?"
Nora Quinn sat shaking in her chair. Professor Grim was scary at the best of times but when she was talking about the Unforgivable Curses she was beyond frightening.
"Come on we don't have all day," Grim commanded.
"Erm... Imperio?"
Professor Grim didn't even say that Nora was correct, but Nora gave a sigh of relief when Prim turned away from her. "Imperio. Gives the caster complete control over the person the curse is cast upon and they can make them do whatever they want," Grim said with a sly smile as if she was enjoying this lesson immensely. "Another one. Miss McCoy?"
Again she picked a student who looked reasonably frightened.
"Crucio?" Odette McCoy replied, her voice shaking as she said the word.
"Crucio. Inflicts excruciating pain upon the victim. And finally the last one..." Grim said as she scoured the room for a suitable victim, "Mr Button?"
Thomas was silent. He knew the answer but he didn't much want to say it. Barney who was sat next to him could feel Thomas' leg shaking under the table.
"Well Mr Button, what is the last Unforgivable Curse? The most heinous of the three."
Still Thomas remained silent in fear as Grim stood directly in front of his desk to intimidate him.
"Are you stupid or something boy?"
"It's Avada Kedavra," Barney blurted out, not able to see his friend suffering any more.
"Did I ask you Mr West?" Grim seethed.
"No but you got your answer so what does it matter?" Barney retorted but immediately regretted his outburst as Grim's face changed from angry to absolutely furious.
"For your subordination and complete lack of respect detention! And you too Mr Button."
"But he did nothing wrong," Barney argued, thinking it was completely unfair on Thomas.
"One more word from you and you will both get detention for a whole week."
Barney shut up. He'd didn't care much if he got detention for a week because he was glad he'd stood up to Grim. But he'd already got Thomas one detention, he didn't deserve any more.
The rest of the lesson was spent being taught the history of the three Unforgivable Curses and about witches and wizards who had used them and ended up In Azkaban as a result. Professor Grim seemed to take pleasure in recounting tales of dark wizards like she admired them. Everyone was glad when the lesson was finally over.
"Sorry about the detention," Barney said to Thomas after they'd left the classroom.
"It's OK. Thanks for trying to help me out. You wouldn't have got detention in the first place if you hadn't have done that."
"Hey we're friends and we made a promise to look out for each other."
"Two detentions this year already Thomas, you're turning into quite the rebel," Tabitha jokingly quipped. "I'm still only on one."
"Well I'm not doing as badly as Barney. How many are you on now?"
"Just the three."
"Three detentions in three weeks?" Tabitha remarked. "You're really living up to your Slytherin persona now."
The rest of the week had gone slow for Barney as he waited eagerly to hear the line-up for the Slytherin Quidditch team. His detention with Professor Grim had been much like the first one and he and Thomas had to sit in silence, sitting up straight and staring ahead at all times. As they knew what to expect they managed to complete the detention without adding any extra time on to it. Grim seemed thoroughly disappointed at this.
Saturday came and still no team news. To distract himself after breakfast he headed outside with Thomas and made for the lake. Despite it being late September the weather was still very hot and a few students had gone for a swim in the lake. The thought of swimming in the Black Lake didn't seem appealing to Thomas knowing that there was a giant squid lurking in there amongst other creatures.
As they sat on the shore watching the students play in the water, Barney spotted Viola Diagon, walking alone further down the shore.
"Is she OK? She looks a bit lonely," Barney asked.
"She quite quiet. Tends to keep herself to herself most of the time."
"That seems a bit sad," Barney replied as he continued to watch her walking alone.
"I don't know. Some people like to be on their own. I mean people are always trying to involve her in class and in the common room but she just prefers to go off and be on her own and read or something. Though I do sometimes see her hanging out with Ottomaya and Conrad from Ilvermorny."
"Her brother is the complete opposite. He's so popular amongst the Slytherins. I've not had much time to hang out with him because he's so in demand. Have you spoken to the other two?" Barney asked but before Thomas could answer Tabitha arrived.
"Hey, what you up to?," she asked as she sat down beside them on the grass.
"Just chatting. Where's Hamish?" Barney remarked, knowing that these days Tabitha spent most of her weekends with him.
"Oh they just posted the Hufflepuff team sheets. They've gone to practice. Maybe the Slytherin team has been announced now?"
"Don't remind me," Barney huffed.
"What? You've been waiting all week to find out," Thomas remarked a little surprised.
"I know but I'm preparing myself for the worst."
"Don't be stupid. You were amazing on your broom last weekend at try outs," Thomas replied.
"Yeah but so was Velyan and I don't actually have a broom now. If I do make the team what am I going to fly on? A practice broom? Those things are slow. I'd never be able to catch a Snitch on one of those. Anyway I will go check soon. Just let me enjoy a few more minutes of ignorant bliss to my potential disappointment."
"Fine. So what were you talking about before I arrived?" Tabitha asked changing the subject.
"The exchange students," Barney replied. "You spoken to Conrad or Ottomaya much yet?"
"Well Thomas was getting to know Ottomaya very well in Charms the other day," Tabitha teased and Thomas started to get embarrassed.
"Oh really?" Barney asked, intrigued by this revelation. "Do tell more."
"There's nothing to tell. I was just helping her with her spell that's all."
"Oh come on Thomas, you clearly like her. It was so obvious," Tabitha said as she gave Thomas a playful nudge.
"No I don't," Thomas protested a little too quickly. "Well I mean of course I like her, she's a nice person. But I like her no more than I do anyone else in the class."
"Oh maybe that's who your tea leaves were referring to the other week," said Barney.
"Would you two stop it. There's nothing going on between me and Ottomaya."
"So what about you Barney? Tabitha asked. "Any girls you've got your eye on? Or boys?"
"No. What with everything else that's going on I don't need to add any romance into the mix. I'm happy not dealing with that hassle right now," Barney said though deep down and seeing other students in his year enjoying romances and having someone special in their lives he had to admit he was a little jealous of them.
After some more teasing of Thomas, Barney knew he couldn't put it off any longer and headed back to the Slytherin common room to seem if the new Quidditch team has been posted.
When he arrived there was a flurry of excitement in the room and a crowd of people around the noticeboard. Barney managed to push his way to the front and found the list. Quickly he scanned down to the bottom and read - 'Seeker - Dagon, Velyan'. He hadn't made the team again.