It took a bit of coercion to get Corkfoot back in his cage for the night, to the point that Virgil almost considered giving up on it entirely. But a few pecks and a frog leg or two later and the bird was inside and settled down. Mostly. He still let out the occasional, unhappy little squawk, but that was nothing particularly new.

"I'll let you out again tomorrow morning, alright?" Virgil pleaded with the silly bird, who looked around the room with sudden, darting head movements before squawking again. It slapped its cage with its wings, causing the boy to sigh. It was nighttime and the other boys were already climbing into their beds. He didn't particularly like the idea of disturbing their sleep again, but something about the thought of letting Corkfoot fly freely at night made him a bit nervous.

This wasn't the Hogwarts he'd been expecting. What was stopping them from protecting the grounds with hippogryphs or something? Great, big beasts that could snatch Corkfoot right out of the air. Maybe it was a silly concern, but it was a concern nonetheless.

There was still the issue of him accosting Genny while she was flying, which definitely wasn't okay, but that would need to be dealt with later. He had to get to sleep. The blonde boy climbed into his carefully made bed and turned over to try to get some sleep. Going to sleep wasn't really an issue, the issue was it being even remotely restful. As soon as he passed out, he started having dreams. Strange ones.

Bad ones.

He was in the castle halls at night, trying to get somewhere. He wasn't sure where and supposed it didn't really matter, compelled by some unknown desire and goal. But as he ran, he found the stonework shifting around him. The floors twisted, the walls changed, the castle itself shifted and undulated and warped with almost every step he took. Stairs sprouted out of nowhere that he was compelled to run up, only to find them twisting and turning in on themselves.

He could run up them, though. Even when they were completely upside-down, he could run up them, step off and hang from the ceiling. Doorways around him seemed to yawn with impenetrable shadows, filling him with an unknowable dread that turned his purpose-filled journey into one fueled only by fear. Soon he was running just to get away. Just to flee from the encroaching shadows and the horrors unseen. There were things outside the castle - he knew - beasts and monsters more horrible than anything he'd ever encountered.

But where was the outside?

The windows in the walls only seemed to lead to more castle. It was as if the castle spread on for infinity, having filled the entire world with endless stone hallways and rooms and junctures and staircases. The Ravenclaw boy ran more and ran harder, his legs never tiring, but his heart hammering ever harder with panic.

There were no dead-ends in this strange castle. Even when he could see one, running towards it caused it to expand and shift and fork. The castle kept opening up new paths for him to take and kept creating new rooms that led to similar nowheres. And yet they were all somewheres. Everything led somewhere, but none of those somewheres led to anywhere new. Just the same hallways and rooms and upside-down staircases. And all the while, he could never escape the sound of the creatures behind him.

The dreadful sucking and groaning and moaning; like the dry, shaky breath of the dead. Shadows flickered and swam along the walls and in doorways, seeming to chase him eternally. Seeming to reach out at him as they passed. But what were they?! He didn't want to know and yet he was desperate to!

And so he stopped.

He stopped at a doorway and stared into the darkness.

There were things in that darkness that he was terrified to meet, and yet suddenly he could no longer move. His legs had stopped working and all he could do was stare into blackness until it reached out to him and-

-and he woke up.

The Ravenclaw boy awoke on his side, heart racing, sweating, trembling. He gripped his blanket tighter to himself as he stared forward, finding that he was - naturally - in bed. In the Ravenclaw 1st Year Dormitory. Instantly, the fear and anxiety began to wash away from him until he was... fine. He felt normal.

Just a bad dream.

Virgil slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, unsure of what time it was at all. Judging by the lavender light streaming in through the windows, it was likely still sun-up. Early. Maybe an hour or two before he had to get up, and he was fine with that. He threw back the sheets and carefully climbed out of bed, trying not to wake the others. As quietly as possible he got dressed, making doubly sure he put his pants on the right way-round this time, before slipping out of the Dormitory.

The Common Room smelled like tea, which was rather pleasant. A few older students were already awake and milling around or chatting next to the fireplace. Some lingered in the Ravenclaw library, flicking through books on Astronomy and Arithmancy.

Virgil felt a prickle of intrigue at the back of his neck, approaching one of the many bookshelves and searching the spines gathered there. It was clearly meant for older students, because he could only read the very bottom shelf easily. A large set of cabinets took up quite a bit of the lower part of the bookcase, meaning books started at about eye-level for him and reached upwards to heights he could only dream of.

And he didn't fancy the idea of trying to cast spells to get them down, that was for sure. The bottom row turned up nothing of particular interest, just a lot of stuff about plants and runes. Worth a read eventually, but he wanted history.

There might be some higher up, but-

"Need a hand?"

A voice - deep enough to be a teacher's - said from behind Virgil. He whirled around to find an unbelievably tall student looking down at him. Not that he was as tall as Professor Strangeways, by any means, but for a student he looked enormous! Not to mention 'cool'. Virgil wasn't sure how else to describe it, he just radiated authority and intelligence and maturity.

Instantly he knew what he was dealing with:

A 7th Year.

The boy before him looked like he could've been his dad, which was absurd given that he was only - what? - seventeen or so? Maybe eighteen, but definitely not old enough to be Virgil's dad.

The boy's mouth went dry.

"I've got a spell if you want that should help you reach those higher shelves." he held a long wand in his hands, holding it by the ends, "Care to give it a go?"

"Ugh!" Virgil stammered, "O... okay!"

"Brilliant!"

With that, he stuck his wand back in his pockets, spun Virgil around, grabbed him under the armpits and hoisted him up. The younger boy let out a whoop of surprise as he was pulled into the air, held up to the various books he couldn't have reached otherwise.

"See anything you like?" the older student asked.

Virgil felt a bit flustered at being handled like a piece of luggage, but tried not to make a big deal out of it. Any more attention would just be doubly embarrassing. So instead he just scanned the bookshelf as quickly as possible before grabbing one labeled 'History of Ancient Hogwarts' the instant he saw it.

"That it?" the older student asked.

Virgil nodded vigorously, "Thank you!"

He was set back down on the ground rather easily, surprised by the older boy's strength. He jostled from one foot to the other, but was caught and righted by the 7th Year, who gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Heath Salthouse."

"Virgil... Banham."

Virgil took the student's much larger hand and shook. It was strange that he felt so different interacting with a 7th Year like Heath when he was so similar in age to Landon who was - apparently - a 5th year. There was just something prestigious about being in your last year of Hogwarts, apparently, that made the boy before him seem so much more impressive.

Maybe Landon would look the same when he reached his final year.

Somehow Virgil doubted it.

The 7th Year walked off to talk with friends, giving Virgil a chance to find a quiet spot to read. According to a large and stately grandfather clock, he had about an hour to himself, which was simply lovely. It felt like it had been forever since he was just able to focus on a book and nothing else.

He sat in a comfy chair in the corner, away from potentially-prying eyes, opening the book to the Table of Contents to try and find a good starting point. The book seemed to cover the castle as it was originally built, which sounded quite useful to the young Ravenclaw. It would undoubtedly include references to Lumenlock and might even shed some light on areas of interest to explore.

He found his gaze lingering on one area in particular:

6: Notable Accidents and Mishaps

Virgil had never really thought about it, but there probably were numerous injuries and the like as a result of the castle's rather peculiar construction. Animated statues, gargoyles and suits of armor, moving staircases and magical doorways; it was a wonder there weren't more, honestly.

He opened the book to that chapter, beginning to read.

Virgil was a rather fast reader by necessity. His father had forced him to finish entire dictionaries and encyclopedias in just days before, so being able to scan through a page and pick up the important information was-

He froze.

'The first known case of a death on Hogwarts Grounds was Apollonius Gledstanes, who fell to his death when a moving staircase failed to appear in his path. This almost led to the staircases being abandoned entirely and replaced with...'

Virgil's eyes unfocused.

Gledstanes. Gled... stanes... he felt his stomach twist, Gladstone?

Was that Eric's ancestor?! They would have to go back centuries, but... Gledstanes? Gladstone? Gladstone was just the modern version of Gledstanes, which... And the staircases...

Virgil checked the dates.

Then he checked something a bit more disturbing.

'Headmaster... Lumenlock...'

Lumenlock had been Headmaster at the time. Hogwarts's first Headmaster. He had been around at the time Apollonius died, which meant...

Virgil's head sank into his hands.

He hadn't... he hadn't seen Eric since the shattering. He hadn't been looking for him, but he hadn't seen him. Was it possible he just... didn't exist anymore? Was it possible that Lumenlock had killed his ancestor in revenge? Eric had said it himself; it was his father who had disarmed Lumenlock in the fight!

What if Lumenlock had really killed a student just to get revenge on their distant ancestor?! It definitely wasn't beyond his abilities. He was evil. Pure evil. He'd killed men, women and children during his rampage. There was nobody he wouldn't hurt. And if it was someone he thought might have actually wronged him?

Virgil shuddered.

He clapped the book shut, looking up in time to freeze. A woman was staring at him. She had pale, wrinkled skin and black hair done up in a pompous mountain of braids and buns. It was sheer, inky black, contrasting strangely with her obviously-aged skin. Her solid black, thickly defined eyebrows were wreathed with pale wrinkles, looking completely out of place on her wizened face.

She stared at him, silently, before turning to leave.

Virgil blinked.

He had no idea who that was, but she gave him the creeps. She was clearly an adult, so maybe... maybe the Ravenclaw Head of House? He'd never met the woman before if she was and was surprised to find her in the Common Room at all. He only briefly bothered to wonder what she might've been doing there before a chill ran through him again.

Eric Gladstone.

Virgil had never so desperately wanted for a person to simply exist. He couldn't bare the thought that Lumenlock, even now, even in this timeline where he'd died hundreds and hundreds of years ago... was still managing to kill people. Even in death he was murdering innocent people.

But this time they were people Virgil actually knew...