(A/N Harry Potter and other characters do not belong to me,etc.......... Aw, forget it. I'm going to go play with my Playstation!)
Harry Potter and the Staff of Time
Chapter 17
Shadows of the Past
Savana had told her bit of news to Alex and Harry as soon as they had retreated to the attic the next morning. Alex and Harry hooted with laughter and found the picture of Aunt Christina and Professor Snape as incongruent as Savana had.
"That's more than I ever wanted to know about my potions professor." Harry said with a laugh.
Then they turned their collective attention to the task of getting the attic to reveal its secrets to them.
After a few hours of fruitless searching, Harry made a discovery. He had just unfurled yet another tapestry when he crowed, "Aha! I now know the identity of Nimaway. She was Merlin's wife, and your ancestor!"
"What! Cool! Seriously?!" Alex and Savana cried in tandem as they approached Harry and his find.
"Look, here." Harry said as he pointed to a pair of names at the base of an ancient family tree. "...at least I think it's probably the same woman as we saw in the portrait. The name is spelled differently, but should be pronounced in the same mannor, Nimue."1 Harry clairified.
The three studied the ancient family tree carefully. The old tapistry had become a bit brittle with age and several of the names on it were difficult to read, but Merlin and Nimue were definately the pair at the base of the tree.
"That answers one question, at least." Alex said.
"Actually, it answers several." Harry said as he stood up and stretched. "I did alot of reading about Merlin and King Arthur before I found out I was a wizard...don't look at me that way!...every kid in the British Isles knows several of the Arthur and Merlin legends. Many of them are conflicting...of course, what can you expect? They date back to the fifth century...the dark ages...but, there are some common themes. One is that Merlin fell in love with Nimue...and a few of them said that Nimue was the Lady of the Lake...she gave Excalibur to Merlin..." Harry paused to get a breath of air and was interrupted by Savana.
"What did you do? Swallow a copy of 'The Myths of Merlin' ?!" She asked Harry with a laugh.
"Oh, too much huh? Sorry, I get so excited about this topic." Harry was somewhat chagrinned.
"Actually, neither one of us knows much about Merlin. I, for one," as he said this, Alex looked pointedly at Savana, "appreciate hearing anything you would like to contribute. On that note, let's get back to our digging."
...`~*~`...
That night Savana holed-up again with Aunt Christina's journals. She began to wonder why Aunt Christina and Professor Snape broke-up. The journal entries made it clear that they had been crazy about each other.
"Well, there's no accounting for taste. Obviously Snape wasn't as much of a jerk then, as he is now." Savana thought and went back to her reading.
The general tone of the diaries began to darken in the sixth one. Savana found out what happened to the romance in the seventh journal.
"...Severus is developing more interest in the dark arts than I am
comfortable with...Severus wants to join the Death Eaters and follow
Lord Voldemort when he graduates this spring. He thinks Professor
Dumbledore, and those who are allied with him, are weak fools...
I gave Severus his ring back today and told him I don't want anything
to do with him...I gave him an ultimatum. I told him that he could
marry me, or follow Voldemort. He chose Voldemort and I am
beside myself with grief..."
"How sad for both of them!" Savana thought. "No wonder Snape is so bitter!"
Savana sighed and put the book aside. She laid down to sleep, but kept thinking about her aunt and Professor Snape. Just before she drifted off to sleep, Savana reminded herself to tell Alex and Harry about what she had read tonight. She no longer thought Aunt Christina's romance with Professor Snape was a laughing matter and she wished she had never found, or read, the journals.
...`~*~`...
Draco Malfoy was sitting in his bedroom, desperately trying to figure out a way of getting out of the New Year's Eve party. The party wasn't the problem, Pansy Parkinson was. She would be at the New Year's Eve party and if that party was anything like the Christmas party, Draco wanted none of it!
Pansy had spent the entire time hanging on Draco, flirting with him, and behaving as though he was her exclusive property. He hadn't even been Pansy's date for the evening, nor had he invited her to the party. That had been his mother's doing. Now his mother thought it would be 'sweet' if Draco invited Pansy to the New Year's Eve party.
Draco decided he would have to bolster his courage and tell his parents that he wasn't interested in bringing any date to the party, much less Pansy.
Lucius had been in a far better mood since Draco had inadvertantly told his father about the Walker family. Draco decided it was time to cash in on some of the goodwill he had bought his father's way. (And, by extension, his mother's.)
Draco walked downstairs to the sitting room where he had last seen his parents. He was about to knock on the door, which was slightly ajar, when he realised that his parents were deep in conversation and would not look kindly upon his interrupting them. As Draco was considering when and where to re-approach his parents, he evesdropped, unashamedly, upon their conversation.
"...he will go after both the staff and the family again, but he said he'll wait and make sure his plan is perfect..something about a rat in a maze...frankly, I think he was a little off his nut...Raven's reaction to the news was classic! He was absolutely furious that I had usurped his status..."
Draco walked quietly back to his room and turned over what his father had been saying in his mind.
"I wish I'd gotten there earlier, so I knew exactly what he was talking about." Draco thought.
He knew, however, that asking his father or mother to clairify what had been said would be a suicidal move. Draco decided he would need to figure out the first part of the conversation on his own. He had no problem understanding the second portion, however. Because of him, Voldemort now knew about Savana and her family. She was in danger and he needed to warn her, somehow.
...`~*~`...
During the next few days, the three-some spent nearly every waking hour holed-up in the attic. They had discovered many useless things. They also found several rather interesting items of family history. However, the information from, and about, Merlin continued to elude them.
Savana told Harry and Alex about what she had read in Aunt Christina's journal's. They agreed that the incident probably explained, at least in part, Professor Snape's current bitter personality.
Alex was currently searching far back under the attic eves. He sneezed from all the dust he had stirred up, then pulled an ancient strong-box forward into a more open area. (Specifically, an area large enough for Alex to stand upright in and move about comfortably.)
Alex began to work at the box's latches and lock, which stubbornly refused to open. He spent a considerable amount of time, as well as every spell and technique he could think of, trying to open the box. Alex finally sat back on his heels and grunted in frusteration.
"What's the problem?" Savana teased her older brother. "Can't you open that stubborn, old box?" She left the trunk she had been exploring and walked over to Alex and the mysterious, metal box which refused to give up its secrets.
"I've tried everything I could think of and the bugger refuses to open!" Alex sighed.
He wiped a hand across his dirty, sweaty face. The motion only left more dirt on his face and Savana began to laugh at the picture Alex presented. It only served to increase his frusteration.
"Come here Orion, let's go and get some tea. Maybe something will come to me if I take a break." Alex suggested.
Orion came scampering back to Alex from the depths of the attic. He ran up onto Alex's shoulder and began to wash and groom himself.
"Aren't you afraid that Orion will get lost, or hurt, running loose around here?" Harry asked as he approached the others.
"Naw, for one thing, rats are the ultimate survivers. Second, they almost always find their way back home; and third, Orion actually found and adopted me, not the other way around." Alex replied.
Orion obviously knew he was the topic of their conversation, because he paused with his grooming and stared quizically at them.
Harry ran his hand over the surface of the box. "This is a very unusual box." He said as he studied the large gold and silver box.
The box was about the size of a footlocker. Harry began to rub at a small, tarnished plaque on the side of the box.
"Can either of you read what's engraved here? I can't make it out." He continued.
Savana and Alex leaned over to examine the plaque more closely. Alex was a bit shocked when Orion chose that moment to go streaking down his arm, toward the box, like his tail was on fire.
Orion stuck both of his front paws into the lock opening and dug at it. Then he stuck his nose into it and began working at it with his teeth as well.
"What's with you, Orion? Did something tasty get stuck in there?" Alex asked. He was puzzled at his pet's behavior.
Orion continued his digging and made a chuffing noise. His spots began to glow.
"Whatever Orion's doing, he must be happy about it." Harry commented. "Look at how his spots are glowing."
"Hey! I can read the plaque! It says Merlin!" Savana announced and did a little happy dance. "We've hit the mother load!"
"Only if someone manages to figure out how to open the blasted thing!" Alex said and smacked the top of the box with an open palm.
At that moment, Orion pulled away from the lock. He held something gold in his teeth, and he dashed off into the attic's dark recesses with it.
"Hey Orion, come back here with that!" Alex called with frusteration.
A moment later, Orion's beady, ruby eyes peered at them from the darkness under the eves. He gave a rather loud squeak and made a chattering noise with his teeth. Then he simply sat and watched them for a moment. When the humans didn't move, Orion made another noise and headed back toward Alex, minus the object he had removed from the lock.
"Am I nuts, or did that rat just sigh?!" Savana asked with a laugh.
Orion glared at them and scrambled into Alex's open pocket.
"Orion, where is the..."Alex started to ask, but was interrupted by a shout from Harry.
"Look! The box is unlocked!" He cried with excitement. "Orion must have broken a seal!"
"Good work, buddy! Sorry I yelled at you." Alex said to his pet.
Orion made an exasperated chuffing sound and rolled up into a ball. He was clearly indicating to Alex that this interview was over.
"Oops!" Alex muttered as he turned his attention toward the box.
Harry and Savana were already removing items and examining them. They found several books, scrolls and, interestingly, some talismans.
"I wonder how these are used?" Savana mused while examining two of the talismans. "It can probably be found in one of those books or scrolls." She continued as she set the talismans down, picked up one of the books and opened it. "Oh look, pictures and everything!" Savana showed the book to Alex.
"Yeah, but they aren't going to do us much good until we figure out what language they're written in." Alex sighed after examining the writing. "This looks like Celtic, but I can't be sure..."
"I've found something about the Staff of Time in this scroll...at least I think that's what it's about...I recognise the illustration, but not the writing." Harry announced and he showed the scroll to the others.
"That's the Staff, alright, but the writing looks like the writing in the book Savana's holding. We're going to need to do some interpreting and we'll need to take all of this back to my room with us. At least for the time being." Alex said as he began to re-pack the box.
"Wait a minute! That thing weighs a ton and it isn't exactly run of the mill! Why can't we just leave it up here and go through everything up here?" Savana complained.
"Number 1: Because now that we've found it and opened it, I don't want anything to happen to it. Number 2: We're running out of time. We go back to Hogwart's in two days and I would prefer not to bring the whole box with us, if we can avoid it. Number 3: Mom's been complaining about the amount of time we're spending holed-up indoors. She doesn't think it's healthy and she will probably force the issue, soon. Number 4: This way we can look at some of this stuff at night and, hopefully, make sense of some of it." Alex counted off his reasons on his fingers as he said them.
"Numbers 5, 6, and 7: I'M FAMISHED!!!" Harry added and Savana made a face at him.
"Fine! You win!" She snapped at them.
Savana finished putting the artifacts back into the box and carefully shut the lid, so the locking mechanism wouldn't re-engage.
"Harry and I'll move the box. You need to be the pointman...make sure no one sees us." Alex instructed his sister.
Savana briefly thought about arguing with him, but discarded the idea after looking at Harry and Alex. They resembled a pair of dirt devils and, she suspected, she didn't look much better.
They carefully made their way back to Alex's suite and deposited the box in a hidden corner of the closet, where it blended in with the other storage items. Then they went their separate ways to wash-up and change before they went down to dinner.
...`~*~`...
Alex's words proved to be prophetic by the end of breakfast the next morning. Fiona insisted that the 'kids' join the adults for their daily constitutional.
Savana, Alex and Harry gave each other furtive, meaningful looks.
"...we've hardly seen any of you for the past several days and soon you'll be going back to school." Fiona told them with a hint of rebuke in her tone.
Alex and Savana sighed and agreed to go along on their walk after breakfast.
"Umm...as long as we're already going out...would you please show us the labyrinth? I'd very much like to see it." Harry ventured uncertainly.
"Certainly! The labyrinth is nearby and easy to get to. It's much more accessible in the warmer months, but even at this time of year, it is something to see!" Aunt Christina volunteered.
They all went to don their outerware and regrouped outside of a backdoor. Once there, they made their way towards the labyrinth.
Harry was suprised by their directional heading. Their destination appeared to be the ruins, but Christina lead them past most of the ruins with barely a glance at them.
They continued walking behind the ruins and came upon two stone monuments which marked the entrance to the labyrinth. It appeared to cover at least a square kilometer of the estate grounds. Harry could understand, after seeing it, how one could become hopelessly lost in the maze.
Harry, Savana and Alex approached the closest of the monuments marking the entrance. They saw several symbols and words engraved upon its surfaces. Unfortunately, the writings appeared to be similar to those which they had found on the documents in Merlin's box.
Harry was dusting the snow from one of the surfaces when he suddenly stopped with a gasp. He quickly looked around for the adults, who were talking and looking at something about 10 meters away. Then he quietly called to Alex and Savana.
"Come here you two. Look at this!"
"It looks just like the drawing of the Staff of Time that you found on the scroll yesterday!" Savana breathed with excitement. "I wonder if it says the same thing as the scroll?"
"I can think of one way to find out, but we need to ditch the adults as soon as possible." Alex told the others. "Then we'll get the scroll and come back out here. Agreed?"
"Ya-vole mein heir! Make it so!" Savana responded sarcastically with a smile and a mocking salute to her older brother.
"Give me a break!" Alex sighed as he rolled his eyes.
They re-joined the adults and persueded them to return to the mannor.
Once they had reached the house, they managed to convince the adults to engage in their own pursuites. Then Alex retrieved the scroll from his room and they hastened back to the monument with it.
When they had returned to the monument, they quickly removed the rest of the snow, then compared the scroll to the engravings in the stone. They were identical!
"I wonder if the other engravings here match any of the other scrolls, or books, we've found?" Harry voiced his thoughts outloud.
"I'll make copies of them and we can compare them when we get back to the house." Alex suggested and began to create the necessary copies.
While Alex did that, Harry and Savana began to examine the other monument. Curiously, most of that monument's surfaces were unmarked. They found a few symbols, but nothing else until Harry and Savana knocked a slab of snow and ice from the last unexplored surface.
"Yes!" Savana shouted. "Alex, we've found something. Come over here!"
"Just a second. I'm almost finished here." Alex called back.
Harry and Savana busied themselves dusting the last remaining bits of snow from the engraving while they waited.
"Alex!!" Savana shouted impatiently.
"Lower your voice, please. You almost broke my eardrum!" Alex spoke from beside her.
"Sorry." Savana apologised in a more conversational tone of voice. "Look at this! It's the same Staff of Time symbol that we found on the other momument and the scroll!! But we can read the writing on this one. It's in English!"
Alex looked at the engraving and decided his sister was correct.
Harry began reading the writing outloud. It said:
"In the month of the blue moon,
Bathed in Orion's bright glow;
Into the labyrinth,
You are now able to go.
The journey, quite trecherous,
For those who would dare
To solve the riddles of the labyrinth,
The Staff, you will find there.
Encased in a sarcophagas,
Which looks crystal clear,
Touch it not!
If life, you hold dear.
For only my kin,
And that of Morgain LeFey,2
May from its tomb take it,
Or their life energy, they pay.
When He had finished reading, they looked at each other with a bit of puzzlement.
"It's obviously about finding the Staff of Time, but it's rather obscure. What do you suppose it really means?" Harry mused outloud.
"Let's discuss the meaning once we're indoors, warm and fed!" Savana suggested while bouncing up and down to warm herself up.
"I second that motion!" Harry added through chattering teeth.
"I want to get a copy of this and the other symbols. Then I'll join you in the dinning room." Alex told the other two as they began to walk back to the house.
They ate lunch and excused themselves as quickly as they possibly could afterward.
Fiona didn't give them any trouble about it since they had gone walking together that morning and would the next day. She did remind them of the New Year's Eve party that night, however.
"Nuts! I'd forgotten about that party!" Alex muttered as they closed the door to his room and pulled out everything they wanted to go over.
Harry was holding a copy of the poem, and re-reading it, when he suddenly realised the meaning of portions of it. He blanched and felt sick to his stomach as the full weight of the truth hit him.
"Harry, what's the matter with you?! You look like you've just eaten some of mom's cooking!" Savana said with concern.
Harry gulped and tried to form some saliva in his dry mouth so that he could speak. After a moment he gave up and got a drink of water. When he returned, he knew what he must tell them.
"Ah...um...there are a couple of things I haven't told you about." He choked out hoarsely.
Harry told the others about the conversation he had overheard on Christmas night and about his vision from the same night.
"...at least now I know why the Staff was killing me and how it was doing so." Harry concluded weakly.
"The Staff of Time still exists after all of these years...why am I NOT suprised that the adults decided not to tell us?" Savana hissed. She was tired of being treated like an infant by her parents.
"They were just trying to protect you." Harry told her quietly. He rather wished someone in his family would care that much for him. "It must be hidden here, somewhere, probably in the labyrinth. If I'm putting everything we've discovered so far, together correctly."
"Voldemort is a descendant of Morgain LeFey...he can get the Staff of Time and use it...no wonder he killed our family...and we're almost out of time..we have to leave soon..." Alex muttered with a sinking feeling.
"The Staff has been safely hidden and protected here for hundreds of years." Harry reminded them.
"Hopefully, it will stay that way, at least until we know more about it, and everything surrounding it." Savana said softly.
The three sat in heavy silence for a short time.
Then Alex spoke up, "I have some news too. It's not as earth shattering as Harry's was, but it may prove to be helpful. I realised when I was finishing the copies, that the symbols and writing on the second monument, are in the same locations as the symbols and writings are on the first monument we looked at. There are two differences: #1-The entire second monument was built and engraved at a much later date than the first one was. #2-The writing was in English on the second monument." Alex told Savana and Harry with excitement.
Savana gave Alex a look that basically said, "...and I'm supposed to care because...?"
"I think, once we really look at this stuff, we'll find that the second monument contains a translation of what is written on the first one." Alex supplied.
"I wish Hermione was here right now. She'd probably be able to translate some of this stuff, or at least have an idea as to where we should begin." Harry sighed.
They spent the rest of the afternoon and the next day going through as many of the writings on the monuments, and the contents of the box, as possible. They were now very aware how little time they had left here and how vital the information they found could be.
They made two more discoveries during those searches. The lesser finding was that many of the symbols on the monuments were of the talismans in the box. (Though they still had no idea how to use them.) The other finding was that the writings on the first monument were exact copies of the scrolls they had discovered in Merlin's box.
The group decided the contents of the box were far too valuable to be left at the Walker estate unprotected. They would bring the contents, and Alex's copies, with them to Hogwarts. They had never found the seal Orion had run off with, and they had alot more work to do before they could even hope to understand most of what they had found.
They would leave the box itself at the Walker estate. It was too unique for them to bring it with them. There was too great a possibility of questions about the box if anyone saw it.
And so it came to pass that Alex, Harry and Savana returned to Hogwarts carrying far more than they had left with.
1. Nimue-also referred to as: Niniane and Vivien in many of the Merlin myths, poems, etc. A
commonly recurring theme is that Merlin fell in love with her in his old age.
2. Morgain LeFey-also referred to as: Morgana LeFey or Morgan in many of the King Arthur and
Merlin legends, poems, etc.
