A/N: From now on, I'm only going to update every two weeks. I've been having writer's block, and once I go back to school I won't have much time to write.
When I wake, the other beds are already empty. Only Badeea is still asleep, although even she is beginning to stir. Today is the day of our second trip to Hogsmeade. It's no wonder everyone is excited.
A cold breeze blows in through the open window. I pull it closed, cutting off the stream of chilly air. It wasn't open when we all went to sleep. Maybe someone opened it during the night.
I get dressed and follow Rowan down to the Great Hall. "Have you made any progress with the journal?" I whisper.
"I think I'm getting close," she whispers. "I found a book about obscure Egyptian ciphers, and the runes look like they match. I don't know how your brother found this language in the first place."
"He must have done a lot of studying," I whisper doubtfully. Jacob didn't even take Ancient Runes. What could have motivated him to spend hours in the library when he was so wrapped up in his search for the Cursed Vaults?
I take a seat next to Rowan. Tulip is on the other side of me, staring despondently down at her plate. I give her a questioning look.
"I got detention," she complains. "Tonks and I were supposed to go to Zonko's to buy supplies for a big prank we're planning, but now I'm going to be stuck here listening to Filch and washing trophies!" She sounds very upset, even though she must have had detention hundreds of times already. This will be the first time she's missing out on something to serve her punishment, though.
"You wouldn't be in trouble if you hadn't disrupted Charms by setting off fireworks and lighting all of the pillows on fire," Rowan says smugly.
I shoot her a look. Rowan has made her feelings on Tulip's extracurricular activities clear. She doesn't need to rub salt into Tulip's wound.
"I didn't know we would be learning Depulso that day," Tulip whines. "And it's not my fault Ben's spell made me set off the fireworks too early!"
I grin at the memory of our last Charms class. Rowan and I paired up to practice the Banishing Charm on each other, and Ben worked with Tulip. Ben picked up the spell quickly and blasted Tulip off her feet, causing her to knock over the cup of water she had prepared. The fireworks ended up dousing the room in an explosion of multicolored sparks and turning the scattered pillows into a bonfire. I hadn't known that those fireworks could cause that kind of damage.
After breakfast, we all pile into the carriages once again for our second visit to Hogsmeade. I'm in a carriage with Rowan, Ben, and Tonks. Tulip waves to Tonks with a sad expression on her face before Filch drags her away to serve her detention. I'm thankful that Rowan has lost her smug expression. Tonks is upset enough without her making it worse.
Tonks heads straight for Zonko's when we reach the village. "I've got to buy the new lineup for Tulip," she says in explanation.
I hide a grin. Filch is always happy to see a student in detention, but with Tulip and Tonks, he's fighting a losing battle.
A quick look at the Three Broomsticks shows that it's already packed, so we walk past it. Instead, we continue down the street to the Shrieking Shack. We didn't get a chance to see it last time, but Rowan spouted several facts about it.
Ben hangs back, and Penny joins him. She's still shaken from the boggart. Fortunately, she's managed to avoid running into another one, but with more appearing every day, her luck can't last forever.
"They say the Shrieking Shack is haunted," Rowan says as we approach the old wooden shack. Close up, it looks derelict and fragile, as if it might blow away with the next puff of wind. A few spots of peeling paint show that it was once red. Something glitters on the ground. I realize that it's glass from the smashed windows.
"About fifteen years ago, the villagers started hearing strange noises in the middle of the night- what sounded like howls and screams," Rowan continues, a nervous edge entering her voice.
I look sideways at her. Despite the tremor in her voice, her eyes are wide with excitement, fear battling curiosity. "Do they still hear the noises?" I ask.
Rowan shakes her head. "No. But no one knows when they might return, so even though the Shrieking Shack has been silent for years, no one dares to go near it."
We walk in a slow circle around it, not daring to go nearer. Besides the fact that no one knows what might lurk inside it, it's structurally unsound, and looks like it could collapse at any moment.
I throw one last glance over my shoulder as Rowan leads us away from the Shrieking Shack. What makes those sounds to disturb the villagers' sleep? Is it a ghost, or something more ominous? Maybe no one will ever know.
I follow Bill back to the Three Broomsticks, which is as empty as it's ever going to be. We order five Butterbeers and search for a table large enough for our group. The largest open table only seats four people, so Bill drags over a chair from a nearby two-person table.
Madam Rosmerta weaves through the tables with a tray of Butterbeers. "Thank you for sending Jacob's no-quill," I say, remembering just in time that Madam Rosmerta doesn't know it was Transfigured.
Madam Rosmerta gives me an odd look. "Of course. I had no use for it," she says. "In fact, you asked me just in time. I'm cleaning out my storeroom in a few weeks, and it would have gotten thrown away."
She sets the tray of mugs on the table. I take one in my hands, relishing the feeling of the warm china against my hands. The cursed ice has given me a deep appreciation for heat. I wonder how this new curse will affect me.
When we've finished our Butterbeers, we walk outside into the cool air. We explored most of the village last time, but we still walk down the main street again. Many of the shops have wreaths on their doors. Honeydukes has brought out its Christmas sweets, little chewy trees and squares of fudge.
When we've bought as much candy as we can carry, we walk back to the carriages. Tonks is already there, fidgeting impatiently. Two large bags are on the ground next to her, filled with Zonko's newest pranks. I grin. The professors can give her and Tulip as many detentions as they want, but they'll never learn.
I follow Rowan upstairs to our dorm. "Let's go to the library," she suggests. "We can work on our Ancient Runes homework." She winks. Rowan hasn't mastered the art of subtlety yet. To be fair, neither have I.
"All right." I walk to my trunk and rummage through it for my copy of Spellman's Syllabary. Rowan has more books in her trunk. She pushes them aside to reach the bottom, where the journal is hidden.
Rowan gasps. I walk the few feet to her trunk. "What?" I whisper.
In answer, Rowan holds up Jacob's journal- or what remains of it. The pages are soaked, nothing more than a sodden pulp. When I pull the covers apart, I see that the ink has bled, leaving illegible blue smears.
"Let's go to the library anyway," I whisper. "Maybe we can still find something." There's very little hope that any of Jacob's writing survived, but there are things we need to discuss, answers that still have to be found.
Rowan nods, so I tuck the waterlogged book into the middle of Spellman's Syllabary and follow her down to the library. I've walked this route so many times I could trace it in my sleep, which allows my thoughts to wander. Why would someone want to destroy Jacob's writing? Who could have even known it was there? And why didn't they destroy the first journal we found as well?
Rowan stops suddenly, and I walk into her. "Sorry," I say, but she isn't looking at me.
I look forward and see Professor Flitwick standing in front of us, with a glare on his normally friendly face.. "Miss Khanna, you've gotten T's on all of your assignments this year. You're a disgrace to Ravenclaw! You should be expelled!" he shouts.
Rowan's face crumples. Tears leak from her eyes. I frown at the irate Professor Flitwick. Rowan has gotten all O's on her homework this year. Why is he saying such mean things?
Understanding dawns on me. The reason Professor Flitwick is acting so strange… is because this isn't Professor Flitwick. I place a reassuring hand on Rowan's back. She looks ready to bolt. "Rowan," I whisper. "It's not real. It's just a boggart. You know how to get rid of it."
Rowan nods and fumbles for her wand. She turns back to Boggart-Flitwick and squares her shoulders. "Riddikulus," she says.
The tip of Professor Flitwick's hat droops, weighed down by a small bell. His suit transforms into a colorful outfit, and pointed leather slippers replace his usual shoes. Rowan has turned him into a jester.
Rowan giggles nervously. I join in with exaggerated cackles, which make Rowan laugh harder. The boggart's face melts into a confused pout. Another bout of wheezing, and it's gone entirely.
"I did it," Rowan says, relieved. She bends over and picks her wand up off the floor, where it had fallen in the midst of her laughing fit. "I beat the boggart."
"Good job," I congratulate her. I'm relieved that it never looked past her and saw me. What form would it have taken if it did?
"Thanks." Rowan tucks her wand back into her robes. She takes it out again. "Maybe I should keep this ready. In case we meet another one."
I nod and draw my own wand. "Just in case."
Rowan gives a small smile. We resume our walk to the library.
Fortunately, the rest of our trip is uneventful, with no other boggarts in sight. Rowan and I find a table far away from Madam Pince and far from the other students in the library.
I open Spellman's Syllabary to the page where Jacob's notebook was tucked away. With the pages stuck together by the water, I can't exactly flip through them, but I do my best. My hopes sink as the first block of pages turn up nothing but a gooey mess.
My heart leaps when I flip to a page where the runes are merely blurry and not destroyed. Silently, I flip the book around so Rowan can see.
Rowan frowns and taps the first rune. She flips through one of the books on her side of the table, the one about Egyptian ciphers, and runs a finger down the page.
I slide a piece of parchment and a quill across the table. Rowan nods in acknowledgment and writes something. She works her way through the page word by word, squinting at each rune as she puzzles out its meaning. I refrain from trying to read upside down. I'll find out what it says when she finishes.
"I think I've got it," Rowan says. She picks up the parchment and clears her throat. "These boggarts must have something to do with the curse protecting the next vault, which means someone found it first. I've hidden my research in an abandoned room on the fifth floor. If I can't break this curse, Hogwarts is-' She breaks off, frowning at the waterlogged journal. "I can't read the last rune."
Doomed, Jacob supplies. Destroyed, done for, ruined, lost.
"Doomed," I repeat. "Jacob says Hogwarts is doomed."
"We need to find the second vault, and fast," Rowan says nervously. "What's our next step?"
"We need to find Jacob's room," I say, remembering his instructions from last year. "We can look for it over the holidays. And we should do more research on boggarts, see if we can make a list of places where the vault might be."
"I've been thinking about that," Rowan says, "and I think the dungeons are the most likely place. They're dark, and the kind of space Boggarts like to be."
I frown. "It's going to be hard to search the dungeons with Snape down there."
"Penny can do it," Rowan suggests. "Snape likes her."
"I'll ask her tomorrow," I say. Penny is staying at Hogwarts over the holidays because her parents are going on a trip to Bulgaria. Rowan and I are staying here as well, because her parents are visiting family and I didn't hear back from my parents in time.
My dream that night takes me to a desolate landscape. As far as I can see, bleak grayness stretches out, undisturbed by a tree or even a shrub. The ground and the sky are the same shade of gray. I can barely tell the difference between them. There is no sound, not even the slightest hint of a breeze. It's as if the space I'm in doesn't exist at all.
"Celena?' I jump at the sudden sound, looking around for the source. Jacob is standing beside me, but there's something off about him. He looks blurry about the edges, almost like a ghost, only he's still colorful. He's not looking at me. Instead, his eyes are focused on some point far away. "Where are you? Can you hear me?"
"I'm right here," I say. I wave a hand in front of his eyes, but he doesn't react.
"I don't know if you can hear me. It's getting harder to speak. Find my room. It's on the fifth floor. Find it. Find the vaults. Find me before it's too late."
Before I can try to reach out to him again, he flickers. The color drains out of him, leaving just a faded outline. Soon even that is gone, leaving nothing but an empty gray space.
I look at the space where he used to be. Something tells me I won't hear from him again, not until I open the fourth vault and set him free. I have to break this curse, and the next one, and the next one, so I can find him before he's gone forever.
Hogwarts is nearly empty the next morning. Everyone except me, Rowan, and Penny is gone, returning home for the holidays. Many of them are also fleeing the boggarts. I still haven't come face to face with one, but my luck can't last forever. I dread what I will see when my time finally comes.
I follow Rowan down to the Great Hall. The House tables are gone, replaced by a small table in front of the head table. Penny is already sitting there.
"Welcome!" Professor Dumbledore booms. "Since there are only three of you, I thought you would prefer sharing a table."
I take the seat across from Penny, studying her. The circles under her eyes have finally started to fade, and she returns my smile immediately. I'm glad to see that she's finally starting to move on from the grief of losing Scarlett. I've wondered many times if I made the wrong choice that day, if I should have let her drink the Memory Potion. I condemned her to bear this pain for the rest of her life. How can I call myself a good friend after doing that?
I tune back in to the conversation as Rowan explains our plan to Penny. "I know where Jacob's room is," I announce when they've finished talking.
"How?" Rowan asks.
"Jacob told me in a dream. It's on the fifth floor." The fifth floor is deserted except for a few moody ghosts. Once, it was used for elective classes, but as the magical population shrank, so did the number of classes offered.
"I've never been to the fifth floor. It's off-limits," Rowan says.
"I have," Penny and I reply at the same time. We look at each other in surprise.
"Parties," Penny explains. "People like to hold them in places they won't get caught. Also, Professor Sprout lets us throw parties in the common room, but she won't let us get away with everything."
I raise an eyebrow at Penny, wondering what exactly happens at these parties she's invited to.
"We set off prank items up there," Penny clarifies. "Tulip and Tonks love the parties. They're great fun. Why have you been up there?"
The abrupt change of topic catches me off guard. "I sleepwalked up there last year," I say. "I didn't do much exploring, though. I was too worried about getting caught."
"I used to sleepwalk when I was younger," Penny says. "Madam Pomfrey gave me a potion to make it stop. You should ask her for it."
"I'll ask after the holidays," I say, but I don't plan on actually doing it. I like sleepwalking. It lets me see a different side of Hogwarts.
Rowan swallows the last bite of sausage on her plate. "Done!" she announces.
"It's not a contest, Rowan," I giggle. Nevertheless, I make an effort to finish quickly. Penny still finishes before me. I'm a slow eater. It drives Rowan nuts.
I stand, still chewing on my last bite, and follow Penny and Rowan out of the Great Hall. I resist the temptation to turn my head and see if any of the professors are watching us. We don't look suspicious at all, I tell myself. We definitely don't look like we're going somewhere we shouldn't. Why would we possibly want to break the rules?
The three of us climb the staircases to the fifth floor. The abandoned floors are poorly lit, since officially no one ever comes up here. At night, some corridors are pitch black. When I sleepwalked up here, I had to use Lumos to find my way back.
I cast Lumos now, to provide more light for our search. The only other light comes from a faint glow leaking in through grimy windows. Filch doesn't clean this floor, or the ones above it. The light filtering in through the windows is enough to illuminate our surroundings, but we can't risk missing even the slightest clue.
Penny and Rowan cast Lumos as well, filling the corridor with soft yellow light. We split up. I run my fingers over the walls, feeling for any sign of a hidden door. A draft coming from a solid wall, a stone that feels too cold or too hot… But there's nothing.
"Over here!" Rowan calls. I run to her. The movement of my wand casts long shadows on the wall.
I find Rowan standing in front of a plain wooden door that looks like every other door in Hogwarts, except for the golden lock attached to it. The lock has two keyholes, making it look like the head of some bizarre creature.
"Alohomora," I say, waving my wand. I expect to hear the soft click of the lock opening, but nothing happens.
"Maybe more force is needed," Rowan says. "Flipendo!"
Neither the door nor the lock are harmed by her spell. The entirety of Hogwarts was imbued with protective enchantments during the time of the founders, I remember. I'm surprised that they've remained in place for so long.
I reach out with the hand that isn't holding my wand and touch the lock. The metal is cold underneath my fingertips. "Magic won't get us past this lock," I say. "We need the keys."
I flip the lock over, hoping to find a clue. Engraved on the back, so tiny I can barely read them, are the words Property of Tulip Karasu.
"We'll have to find a way to speak to Tulip alone, so we can ask her for the keys," I say.
"I've heard she spends a lot of time studying in the Transfiguration classroom," Penny says. "We can ask her after the holidays."
I nod. I hate having to wait, but there's nothing else that can be done. I need whatever my brother was hiding in his room, and for that, I have to wait until Tulip returns.
I only hope whoever ruined his notebook doesn't get to her first…