See first page for disclaimer, author's notes and other information.
Chapter III: Apparecium! Reveal Your Magic!
Alisha was doing what she could normally be found doing; she was in the library. Surely there was nothing suspicious about that? Of course Serena wasn't with her; studying was one of the few things that they didn't do together. For the difference between the two was that, for both, whether they tried or not, they got good grades. Exceptional grades. But if Alisha didn't try, she had her guilty conscience to live with, whereas if Serena tried, she had her loss of self-confidence to live with. I don't want to be a nerd! I'm not smart; I'm stupid! These were the typical remarks of Serena.
But today, even Alisha was not to be found studying. She had studied hard enough, after several nights of revision, and was convinced that she was ready for her first mid-month exams. Instead, she leisurely paced the many shelves, looking for something interesting…something that was worth reading, something that she hadn't read before.
Serena was out practicing Quidditch. It was the Gryffindors' night to practice, and Serena had managed to get on as a Seeker in her second year. Alisha, too, had somehow done the same, and was on the Ravenclaw team, but she played the position of Chaser. Both seemed to be naturals. Whenever Alisha was in the air, she felt free, like there were no limits, no boundaries…like she could just fly away from all her troubles. It was an amazing sensation, and she had developed a love not just of flying, but of the popular wizard sport, Quidditch. She loved being on the team, but it was so hard to play against her best friend.
It had been three weeks since their arrival at Hogwarts and both girls had settled in quickly and made themselves right at home. Alisha was already bored with most of the books in the library; she had already read all of the newest additions. I think I'll read about…the history of Hogwarts… she thought to herself.
As she meandered over to the correct section, she gazed at the titles and sighed. Hogwarts, A History? Nope, I've read that. The Four Founders of Hogwarts? No, I've read that, too. Hogwarts: The Beginning? Read it. The History of the Many European Magic Schools? Read it. The Mysteries of the Four: A Common Listing Of The Most Popular Founder Theories, Rumors and Gossips? Yeah, read that. It was rubbish, really…
Alisha sighed. There wasn't really much there for her. Maybe she could get into the restricted section? Being a regular at the library and a top student, she, unlike others, could easily slip behind the velvet rope with a small request and a nod of approval from the librarian. But as she poked her head out from the shelf, she found that Madam Pince was not there as usual. In her place was Filch. Alisha raised an eyebrow. What is he doing here!
Slowly, she headed over to the counter. It was worth a try, wasn't it? But Filch happened to be one of the only Hogwarts staff members who didn't favour Alisha for her academic abilities. Serena had, let's just say, a talent for trouble, and she often managed to persuade Alisha to enjoy her misadventures as well. Filch was not too fond of Serena's night time strolls through the castle, and he wasn't pleased with Alisha, either, since she always managed to wheedle herself out of getting a detention or losing points for either of their houses.
"What d'yeh want?" Filch growled as he saw Alisha approaching him.
Immediately, Alisha knew that this was not going to go as planned. "I was just…" she said softly… "just wondering if I could use the restricted section? I've read most of the other books, and I'm a little bored with the current selection…so I was just thinking maybe…"
"The Restricted Section ain't fer leisurely reading! It's fer people with notes from a prefesser and since yeh wouldn't happen teh have one…"
Alisha sighed. "Well, you see, Mr. Filch, Madam Pince always lets me—" But her appeal was cut short.
"Do I look like Madam Pince to you? 'Unh?"
"Uh…" she paused, unsure of what to say, "sorry to have bothered you. I'll just go back to my normal section…" She backed away before he could bellow out an angry cuss at her.
Alisha felt his gaze follow her as she quickly retreated from the desk and dashed between several shelves. She persisted her running for several minutes until she slipped through an open door and vanished behind a shelf…one she hadn't seen before…
That's strange! I thought I'd explored the whole of the library! She thought, frowning. Despite the immense size of the Hogwarts library, she had still explored the many rooms and found that they were all quite familiar to her. But there was no mistaking it: she had never been to this part of the library before. She suddenly heard a soft click behind her…like the clicking of a door when it locks…
Alisha whipped around and stared in alarm at an old, wooden door, the one she'd just run through. Surely…no…it can't be… But as she looked around her, she knew it was true; this was the locked door she had passed so many times in her wanderings through the library. Every time she passed it, she had tried to open it, but it had never worked…and finally she had walked through it, because somebody had left it open…but who?
She looked around, listened hard, but there was nobody else in the room with her and she knew it. It was quite surreal; surely she was just dreaming? Madam Pince herself had oft complained about her inability to open the door. "I've tried everything!" she'd said to Alisha, "I tickled it, I guessed passwords, I tried Alohomora! …I even tried to use Bombarda! to blow it off its hinges! And I heaved and shoved. But nothing works!"
Alisha shook her head. If the librarian had been incapable of opening the door using so many methods, how was it possible that she had simply walked through it without doing anything?
Suddenly something awful occurred to her; was she trapped in this room? Or could she still open it from the inside? Surely…she must be able to… Slowly, she approached the door and examined the lock: a simple, metal latch. She knew she could unlock it, and for a moment she felt tempted to get out of the room as quickly as possible…when something else contradicted her desperation to escape. It was nothing more than a simple question, but it worked. Why? Why should I go now? A few minutes ago this would have been paradise, and suddenly I'm aching to leave?
That was too true! And so, for the first time, Alisha took in her surroundings, and let her jaw drop. Blue and silver. Everywhere. She simply couldn't believe it; they were her favourite colours! As her eyes darted about curiously, she caught sight of several tapestries on the walls; all of them were different, but she noticed the one recurring thing in all of them was that they all featured either a midnight black cat, a young, beautiful woman, or an eagle.
Her eyes fell on a sitting area nearby; several large, comfortable chairs were assembled around a glass coffee table on top of a soft, plush, baby blue rug. A safe but comfortable distance away was a fireplace. The wood inside was old and charred, signifying that the fireplace hadn't been used in several years. For a moment, Alisha felt a chill run down her spine; the kind of chill that one gets when they feel like something isn't right. What is this room? Who built it? And how come it's been kept secret for so many years?
But as she gazed longingly around at the room, she felt her sense of discomfort evaporate. Who cares? she reasoned. Anyway, maybe she would find something about it in one of the books…Alisha darted towards the nearest shelf and felt her heart leap. It was filled with several old, dusty volumes, none of which she had read before, and all of them were nice and long. I must be dreaming… she thought to herself, shaking her head disbelievingly.
Gryffindor practice tonight? Ha! Now there's one thing Miss-I-Know-Everything doesn't know! Even then, as she headed over to get out her broom, Serena wasn't sure why she'd lied to her best friend. There was no Gryffindor Quidditch practice that night, but she had just wanted to…just be alone, she thought. But another inner voice came forward, contradicting the other one. Just wanted to ditch your best friend for no apparent reason! She noted the truth in the statement with a pang.
Whatever, she reasoned, why shouldn't I ditch her once and a while? Her idea of fun is going to the library all the time! The little bookworm's got to learn to live life! It had been one of those days when Serena had just been…annoyed. In a bad mood. And Alisha, Alisha had been so bright and cheery it had driven her mad. Serena had just needed to be alone, but Alisha didn't seem to understand that… The girl felt as though it didn't matter to her friend how she was feeling; like all that mattered were her precious little books…
But there was something else that had been bothering her… Ever since that morning, she still couldn't get the image of Jason talking to Priscilla out of her head…
"Cut it out!" she growled angrily. She shot a furious glance—the type of glance that, as they say, 'if looks could kill'—at the blank, stone wall in front of her. She found it oddly satisfying.
Serena scowled bitterly as she stormed up to the broom cupboard and wrenched out a Comet 360. She let out a soft sigh as she gazed at the weather worn broom. Many of the end twigs were damaged, the handle was splotchy and unpolished, and the broom itself was so much slower than the newer versions. But what could she do about it?
The school hadn't been able to afford a new broom for her and Alisha. She still remembered the words that had been spoken by Headmaster Harry Potter himself: "I'm sorry, girls. You're welcome to join the team, but I won't be able to get you any new brooms this year. You'll have to use the school ones for now. But you're good fliers anyway; it should scarcely effect your performance."
This, too, annoyed her. She snatched the broom away from the others, and slammed the door shut. She then turned on her heel and strode towards the staircase. Her legs propelled her automatically down the stairs, through the entrance hall and out the door. The moment she walked out into the crisp, fall air, she let out a sigh of relief. Alone. At last…
For a moment, she just stood there, relishing the feeling of the wind in her hair, taking in the beautiful sights…savouring the soft crunching sound of the leaves beneath her feet.
After she had recovered, Serena turned and hurried towards the Quidditch pitch. Part of what she'd said had been true; she was going to fly today. But not for practice. The reason was because flying was the only thing she could do that could really make her relax, put her in a good mood no matter how she was feeling.
Unfortunately, students weren't allowed to use the pitch to fly just for fun. So then how could she fly? Easy, she reasoned, I'll bend the rules a bit. I won't be flying on the pitch today… Even if she got caught, she didn't really care. Nothing seemed to matter just then. She sighed happily as she mounted her broom and kicked off a little more forcefully from the ground than usual.
There was nobody around just then, but she wanted to be safe anyway, so she accelerated full speed towards the Forbidden Forest. As she whirled about in the air, Serena felt so much more powerful than usual.
Her robes billowed out behind her; she felt the wind whistling in her ears and her hair—which was tied back in a ponytail as usual—flowing behind gracefully.
She slowed slightly as she reached the Forbidden Forest; the treetops were a little too close for comfort. She quickly turned her broom perfectly vertical and shot up until she was well above the forest; Serena then gracefully curved down slightly until she was just above the tips of the tallest trees.
She laughed at the feel of flying again, and could already feel her anger and grumpiness leaving her. She flattened her back and went straight forward at an incredible speed, slicing the air as she flew. Feeling ready for some action, she did a sharp 360 turn. As she went, from the speed of the broom, she felt her body leaning ever so slightly towards the outside of her path; one of her ankles grazed a tree. A few leaves came free, fluttering in the wind, but she didn't care.
As she came out of her turn and faced the front once more, she decided to do some zigzags; once again, she flattened herself against the broom for as much speed as possible; once again, she shot ahead as fast as she could go. But this time, she suddenly shot sharply to the left. Then, just as suddenly, she shot sharply to the right. Left, right, left, right, back and forth…
About 30 minutes later, as the sun began to set, Serena panted as she slowed to a stop. Her heart thundered in her chest from all the exercise and she was wearing an ear-to-ear grin on her face. Her eyes glowed with happiness; she felt so much better now. Figuring she ought to take a break, Serena shot up once more and hovered above the tree tops, her eyes scanning the forest for a clearing to land. Frowning as she saw none, she flew on forwards. A few minutes later, she had caught sight of a small clearing and… She squinted, straining her eyes. There was a little dot at the brim of it. Serena's vision wasn't very good; in the Muggle world, she would have needed glasses, but her eyes had been enhanced by magic enough to cope without them. While it would have been better if she wore them, she disliked the thought of them being in the way all the time; when she tried to rub her eye if she had something in it, when she was trying to fly, if they fell for whatever reason…
Shrugging, she figured she would determine what the dot was once she had landed. Grinning, she once again positioned herself vertically, but this time, she was facing the ground. The Wronskie Feint was one of her favourite flying tactics. One, two, three… DIVE!
Serena shot down towards the ground, flattening herself on her broom to go faster. She felt her ears pop, her eyes watered from the speed…
And then she was there. She stopped herself inches from the ground, switching to a perfectly controlled land. Now that was first rate flying! As she glanced around the clearing, she rubbed the salty liquid free of her eyes and scanned the place. It was more or less a typical clearing… but then she remembered the dot. Frowning, she glanced around…and then she saw it. There, in the middle of the clearing, was a hut.
horizontal rule
Hogwarts: The Hidden History. From the moment she had slid the volume off of the shelf and blown off enough dust to make the title legible (not to mention cause her to sneeze), Alisha had been so intrigued she had bolted back to a large, comfy, royal blue armchair and plopped down inside of it. Quickly, she had pulled out her wand, muttered, "Incendio!" and started a small fire in the fireplace.
As she sat examining the lengthy book, she thought she ought to clear it of some of the thick dust that layered the cover. A murmur of, "Scourgify!" had fixed that for her, and now she sat comfortably, the soft crackle of the fire filling her ears. Slowly, she opened the book to the first page, which she found was blank. Alisha raised an eyebrow, and for a moment, disappointment welled up inside of her. Frowning, she closed it again, and opened it to a random page much further through. Also blank.
Her heart sank; was this true with every book in the library? She sighed, gingerly flipping back to the first page and gazing sadly at it. Blank as anything, not a spot, not a shadow…white as death. She ran her hand slowly over the page, as though thinking it might help her figure out what this book was hiding. When suddenly… She frowned, leaning close to the volume, and ran her hand over the page again.
No doubt about it, someone had written something there. She could tell by the way it felt. And yet, she could see nothing; it was as though the writing was invisible…
Suddenly, Alisha's face lit up and she snapped her fingers triumphantly. Of course: Invisible ink! Surely that was it!
Brandishing her wand, she waved it gracefully over the page and cried, "Apparecium!" Inwardly, she added, reveal your magic! Show me your secrets!
For several long moments, Alisha sat staring at the page. Just when she was starting to feel like there was no hope, like there really was nothing written on the page, something caught her eye. A flicker of metallic blue ink. And slowly, slowly…more ink appeared. Words formed right before her eyes. A neat, curly script flourished before her, and it took her a split second to realize that what she was staring at was handwriting.
Serena gaped disbelievingly at the hut. She knew for a fact that, while there was a large variety of rare magical creatures living in the forest, none of them were capable of building such a structure, and none of them would live in something like this, either. So it had to be built by a human, she thought.
But who? Students were forbidden to venture out into the forest—hence its name—and it didn't make sense for a teacher to build a hut out here, either. They lived at the school; it was only logical that they would stay there. Unless…they were…hiding something…
For a moment, a triumphant mental image of Serena standing inside the hut discovering some nasty secrets that her least favourite teachers had been hiding from her flashed before her… But it faded quickly. While it seemed the only logical answer, it made little sense. All the same, Serena found herself overpowered by a sudden desire to go inside…
She quickly walked over, heading for the door, and pulled it open. Much to her dismay, it was locked, but she remembered the spell Alisha had taught her in their first year within a split second. "Alohomora!" Alisha had given her a lecture when Serena had hurried to get her after forgetting the spell but coming across a locked door on the second floor, which had turned out to be nothing more than an old, abandoned classroom. "But you never know when you might need it, Serena! And I might not always be with you, so you've got to learn to do it yourself!"
Serena sighed, feeling a pang as she realized how guilty she felt whenever she thought of Alisha. Her friend had been right, of course…
But as the door to the hut swung open and she paused momentarily to turn and close the door behind her, remembering to lock it, the sight took her breath away.
She muttered a soft, "hohh…" of awe and longing before gazing around at the small hut. It looked to be someone's living space, and had clearly been abandoned for several years… Perhaps even several hundred years…or maybe thousand… She wouldn't have been entirely surprised, really.
Seeing the hut on the outside, Serena had expected it to be cramped, but she had been wrong. It was actually quite spacious on the inside. Because it was only one room, it was sort of arranged in a circular position, so that one needed only to walk around the full circle to have gone through all of the different living areas. The hut did have windows, but they all had their gold curtains drawn; still, enough light was coming through for her to see easily around. She liked it; it seemed roomy, comfortable… But the best part—her favourite part—was that the entire room was draped in scarlet and gold, which were not only her house colours, but her favourite colours.
A scarlet and gold striped rug (A/N: Well, not really striped…I'm not sure how to describe it…you know like a target is…with a white circle in the center, then a red circle, then another white circle, etc… Like that…only with scarlet and gold… P) lay on the wood floor, and beside it were a few scarlet armchairs. Further up was a wooden table with two matching chairs, with place mats and everything; Ren got the sense that it was probably where the owner or inhabitant of the hut had eaten their meals. Next to this was a gold cabinet full of dishes that weren't necessarily expensive, though still reasonably nice. Quite close by were a few cupboards and a counter. Curiosity overpowered her, so she poked her head inside the nearest wooden cupboard door and gaped disbelievingly at a perfectly preserved (by magic, of course) meal.
Continuing on, she saw a wooden desk with a matching chair, and…hanging over the side of the chair…was that a Gryffindor scarf? There was no mistaking it… So this person was from Hogwarts, Serena thought, the curiosity now becoming overpowering. Scattered across the desk were several papers, but all appeared blank…
She only spent a few seconds examining them before moving on to a small scarlet pull-out couch with gold cushions, that Serena figured must have also served as a bed. A safe but comfortable distance away was a fireplace. The wood inside of it was black as midnight, old, and charred, but beside the fireplace was a fresh pile of unused wood.
Having now explored the full 360 degrees of the hut, she came to stand where she had originally entered, gaping at the lovely living space. I wonder who it belongs to? She thought to herself. Or belonged, rather…
Alisha could scarcely believe what she was seeing. She blinked, but the words in front of her remained. She rubbed her eyes, yet still it made no difference. Finally, she allowed her mouth to hang open as she traced the letters with her eyes, again and again.
On the first page, in metallic blue writing, a typical format had been used. In large letters was the title, and underneath, in smaller letters, the author. The title was no surprise to her; she had figured out what it was upon reading it on the spine. No, what made her jaw drop was the author.
By: Rowena Ravenclaw
She rubbed her eyes, still gaping at the three words. She knew what they were, yet she had to read them over and over again, and still she wasn't taking them in.
But…that's…impossible! She knew, however, that it was more than likely. Rowena Ravenclaw had been the brightest witch of her time. Who was she to say that this woman hadn't written books, just because there was no record of it? After all, little was known about the founders…most records of their lives had been lost, considering they had lived over a thousand years ago.
Alisha scarcely managed to read the first dozen pages or so of the book, still so skeptical she could hardly take in what she was reading, when her eyes fell on a clock up on the wall.
She had noticed the faint ticking sound ages ago, yet only now did she realize where it was coming from. The clock had a metallic blue face with a sapphire blue frame and matching letters and hands. Six-thirty! It's been longer than I thought! I should really get going…
Yet she felt a strong reluctance to leave the library. Not with this book unread, not with the others sitting there, waiting on the shelves…not with the many secrets Hogwarts had that she still hadn't discovered… What if she couldn't return to the room?
But if I stay, I'll miss dinner…already I'm late! So it was true. Alisha knew she had to get going. But how can I be sure I can come back?
An idea suddenly came to her. She stood up, closing the book and setting it down on the coffee table. She approached the door and examined the lock. Nodding in approval, she grinned. This should work, she thought to herself, it's the right kind of lock…
And so, feeling triumphant, she reached into her pocket and withdrew a pack of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, left over from the Hogwarts Express on the first day. She needed merely to pop it into her mouth and chew for roughly ten minutes before she knew it was ready. Smiling, she slipped out of the room, careful to keep the door ajar. She then turned, and, before she closed the door, she pulled the piece of chewing gum out of her mouth and stuck it carefully between the door and its frame, ensuring that it could not close entirely, but that at the same time it wasn't too obvious.
Stepping back to admire her handiwork, Alisha grinned, then, knowing Quidditch would be over by now and figuring Serena might be looking for her, bolted out of the library in search of her best friend.
Ren spent a surprisingly long time in the hut before she glanced at the watch Alisha had given her the year before as a Christmas gift, with a metallic cherry-red face, golden stars and numbers, a scarlet frame and hands, with a snitch-print strap, and gaped at the thought of it being six-thirty already. She knew it was high time to return to the castle and tell Alisha of her amazing discovery…
But telling her would mean admitting I lied… Yet at the same time, she ought to admit it, oughtn't she? Her friend would find out one way or another, it was best she just told her…
I'll figure it out later! she reasoned, bolting from the hut and mounting her broom once more. I have to get out of here!
She carefully positioned her broom parallel to the massive tree trunks, shot into the air vertically, then rotated ninety degrees so she was now perpendicular with the trees in the forest below.
This time, instead of doing fancy tricks, she flattened her back against her broom and sliced the air at the speed she was going. Ten minutes later, she arrived at the front of the school, her hair windblown, her eyes sparkling, her olive-toned cheeks 'kissed' pink by the cool fall air. She wrenched open the door and bolted towards the broom cupboard, which was on the second floor. Once she had shoved her broom back into its cupboard, she closed the door and scanned the hallway.
It was no surprise that Alisha wasn't there, so she figured her friend must be at the dinner table like everyone else. Serena hurried off toward the Great Hall, eager to tell her friend her discovery.
