Year Four: The Goblet of Fire
The three magical schools of Europe compete for eternal glory in the form of the Triwizard Tournament. Death Eaters are rising, gathering followers to join Voldemort. Dark times are approaching, threatening everything Marie loves. It's time for bravery. To be the light in terrible darkness...
Chapter Thirteen-A Golden Clue
Now that the Christmas holiday was over and the next term was beginning, the nerves started to come back full force for Marie. The end of February was suddenly too close and she had yet to figure out her egg clue. She had started to take it out as soon as she finished her classwork so that she could study it. So far, she had no luck with it whatsoever. Every time she dared to open it she was hit with the terrible wailing that made her regret opening the blasted thing. She tried different approaches: asking it questions, opening it under a thick blanket, a variety of charms that resulted in nothing or opened it again.
Currently, she had her chin balanced on her folded arms as she glared at the golden egg that was placed on top of her Charms textbook, staring hard. It was frustrating, to say the least. She pulled her wand out and tapped the egg.
"Please reveal your secrets."
The hinge shifted and it bloomed once more, a sense of hope rising within her. The egg moved once more and when it had completely opened with the magical core shimmering, she was rewarded with the high pitched shriek like all the other times. Throwing herself onto the egg, she did her best to close it as quickly as she could as the other Slytherins groaned at the sound. Only a few had been in the common room while some were in the dormitories.
"Sorry! Sorry," she apologize again, cheeks coloring. The last time she had unexpectedly opened it, Marcus had been coming from the boy's dormitory and the sharp sound had startled him so badly that he had ended up falling down the stairs. Fortunately, for this moment, he didn't seem to be nearby. Although Draco was present, gingerly pulling his hands away from his ears as he glared at the egg.
"What kind of clue is that anyway?" he asked. "I mean, what in the bloody hell makes that sound?"
"I haven't the foggiest and it's so aggravating to listen to-" Her words came to a halt as she froze, her mind beginning to whirl. She looked back to her blonde friend who had resumed reading his own book.
"Draco. Say that again," she asked. She needed to be certain that she heard him correctly. He looked back at her strangely, raising a brow.
"I asked what the bloody hell makes that sound?" he repeated without his previous vigor. Somewhere in her mind, an idea clicked into place and she quickly gathered her bag, parchment and quill, throwing them together and tossing the bag over her shoulder.
"What's gotten into you? asked Draco, watching his friend dash around.
"I've got an idea!" she grinned just before darting out of the common room. The Malfoy shook his head and returned to his book.
"No telling when she'll be back now," he chuckled.
Marie's usual table was covered in books again as she dove into researching her idea. Draco had asked what made the sound the egg produced. Was it a creature's cry? She poured over encyclopedias of beasts and their type of calls. When nothing of value turned up or jumped out at her, she picked out a large tome of linguistics and another of known languages. Could there be a chance that the wailing was more human than animalistic? Was it something they had to literally decipher?
The light was burning low and she could hear Madame Pince patrolling and telling straggling students to clean up their areas and to leave. The library was closing.
"Just a few more minutes..." Marie whispered under her breath. Her finger trailed down the large page of languages, eyes searching desperately for her spark of inspiration to actually come into fruition. Turning the page quickly as the librarian's feet moved closer, she came to a stop.
MERMISH
Mermish is the native language of the Merpeople, a group of sentient mermaids native to Greece.
Mermish is a curious language that is specifically adapted for use underwater. When underwater it sounds much like English, or perhaps even like any other language; however, out of water the language sounds very screechy and harsh.
Mermish also has a written form, as it was one of the seventy-two languages that Miranda Goshawk's Book of Spells was published in.
"That could work," she muttered, eyes growing bright with excitement. "That could actually work!"
"Miss Rogue," came Madame Pince's sharp voice. "The library is closing." The woman gave a stern glare, unmoved by the student's expression of sudden revelation.
"Y-yes-of course," she stammered. She returned the books as quickly as she could, grabbing her bag and all but sprinting out of the library.
The halls were relatively empty as Marie flat out ran back to the Slytherin common room. If she managed her time correctly, she could test the Mermish theory before curfew came into effect but she needed to hurry as it was already late. Not to mention that she would need to find Gemma Farley, their female Prefect.
She nearly threw herself off balance as she skidded to a stop before the hidden entrance and gave a breathless password. Not bothering to wait for the door to shift entirely open, she squeezed past the wide enough opening and hurried into the common room. Looking around, she scanned the few people who were present. The older student was standing off to the side with some friends and the fourth year quickly hurried over to her.
"Gemma!" she said, catching her breath. "M-may I have a moment?" Surprised, she nodded and they stepped away from her friends.
"Of course. What's going on, Marie?" she asked kindly. Straightening out to her full height now that she had regained her wind, the younger girl revealed her request.
"Gemma, does your offer still stand? About using the Prefect's bathroom?" she asked quietly.
After the first task, the Prefect had congratulated her on her victory against the Swedish Short-Snout. In the high spirits, Gemma had extended the privilege of the Prefect's bathroom as a type of reward to the champion. The Prefect's bathroom was a private facility and it would be perfect for testing her theory about the golden egg.
The Prefect seemed a little surprised since she had offered back before the winter holiday, but she did give a nod before checking around to make sure no one else was listening. She leaned in to whisper, "Fourth door to the left of the statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. Password's 'pine fresh'."
"Got it. Thank you!" With that said, Marie darted away to grab her bag and vanished out of sight.
Boris the Bewildered was a statue of wizard with a lost expression carved across his face with his gloves on the wrong hands. Spotting the door, Marie leaned in close and whispered, "Pine fresh," just as Gemma told her. The door creaked open and she quickly slipped inside and closed the bolt behind her. Cradling the heavy egg in her arms, she turned to look at the entirety of the Prefect's private bathroom.
It was gorgeous. Softly lit by a splendid candle-filled chandelier which reflected the light perfectly due to everything being carved from white marble. The bath was a large rectangle in the center of the room, sunk into the floor. Perhaps a hundred golden taps stood all around the bath's edges, each marked by a different colored jewel on the handle. There was even a diving board on the far side. There were long white linen curtains at the windows, a large pile of white fluffy towels in the corner. Not to mention the large stain glass painting of a blonde mermaid.
"Wow..." she managed. It certainly would be worth being Prefect to have access to such a beautiful room.
Quietly as she could, she hurried and gathered a towel to set her belongings on and one for her to use. Checking once more to make sure that she was indeed alone in the large room, she knelt down and turned the nearest tap with a blue stone. Rich sapphire water rushed from the golden tap and the bath began to fill at a rapid rate. Curious now, she turned a few other taps on, resulting in heavily scented lavender water, and pink water with football sized suds. Scent a bit too much for her, the additional waters were shut off, allowing the regular deep blue liquid to fill the remainder of the bath.
Self conscious in the unfamiliar area, Marie placed the golden egg near the edge of the bath and changed out of her clothes as swiftly as she could and slipped into the hot water. She disappeared under the water's surface due to the depth of the bath, taking a moment to touch the bottom and push back up. Taking a deep breath and shoving her heavy wet hair away from her face, she pulled herself over to the ledge and picked up the heavy gold egg, her legs treading water so to keep her head up. Taking a deep breath, she gripped the hinge and turned.
The wailing erupted from the golden bloom, rebounding against the walls of the large and spacious room. Cringing from the noise, she dropped it so to cover her ears instead. After waiting a moment, the lingering echoes subsided and she slowly removed her hands from her ears. Greeted with wonderful silence, she looked down to see the shimmering gold egg resting at the bottom of the bath, no longer producing a terrible scream. Taking a deep breath, she allowed herself to sink.
A chorus of eerily beautiful voices greeted her in a strange type of song.
"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour-the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
Breaking through the surface to draw a proper breath, this time Marie didn't bother to fix her hair as she reached for her bag, dragging it closer. Drying her hands, she pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill, dabbing into the inkwell. She scribbled down what she could remember before taking another breath to dip under and listen again. It took a good three times before she had the song memorized and written down.
"An hour long you'll have to look," she sang under her breath, the tune trapped in her head. Marie looked over to the moving stained glass image of the blonde mermaid who waved and gave a flip of her hair.
"To discover what we took..."
Resting her chin on her folded arms, she studied the parchment, singing the song again and again in her head. The words were unforgivably haunting, sending a chill through her despite the hot water.
What could be taken from her that she would sorely miss?
The next morning at breakfast, Marie lingered outside of the Great Hall as she pretended to check her bag. It didn't take her too long to spot Harry coming down the staircase, his untidy black hair easy to see. Once he was near enough, she hurried up to him and grabbed him by the arm, steering the Boy-Who-Lived away from the hall.
"Marie, what's going on?" Harry asked, bewildered by her strange action. Making sure that they were alone and unlikely to be overheard, she spoke softly.
"How have you been doing with your clue? For the second task?" she asked. His mouth formed a line as he looked a bit sheepish. Disregarding his lack of answer, she continued.
"Does yours wail when you open it?" she asked.
"Yeah, awful sound. Yours?" he returned. She nodded, checking their area again when she heard footsteps approaching.
"Listen, just take a bath with the egg." He raised a skeptical brow and she gave a roll of her eyes. "Don't give me that look, it'll make sense. Trust me."
"How is that helpful? I told you specifically that the first task was dragons," he rallied, miffed by his confusion. The footsteps neared and she ran a hand through her hair with a huff.
"Because it's not as straight forward as the first task, Harry! I don't know if your clue will be different than mine." An image of the stain glass portrait of the mermaid came to mind and she gave a snap of her fingers. "How's this: Use the Prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor. Fourth door to the left of the statue Boris the Bewildered. The password's 'Pine fresh'. And I'd do it quickly if I were you since I don't know when they change the password for it."
Before she could dash away, her brother grabbed her arm. Surprised, she looked at him with wide eyes.
"So...I'm supposed to just trust you? This isn't some kind of prank or anything is it?" he asked, concerned. Sighing, she gave a soft smile to the oblivious Gryffindor.
"Yes. You can always trust me, Harry. I promise."
REVIEW! Sorry for the delay, I've been up to my ears in schoolwork and stressing out like no other about a potential internship (crosses fingers), but here we are! A little filler chapter for you lovely readers, with your neverending patience. Sorry that it's short but I did need just a little connecting chapter to transition from Yule Ball to Second task! Your thoughts would be lovely as always!
What will Marie sorely miss?
Next time: The Second Task!
Hope you enjoyed!