The Lost Library

Yanagi Renji

Potions was by far Yanagi's favorite subject. It was logical in a way that many of his other classes were not, it reminded him of muggle chemistry, and he quite liked his Potions partner, a half-blood from Ravenclaw named Inui Sadaharu.

Inui was intelligent, and they worked well together, and they had not melted a single cauldron, which was more than Chitose from Ravenclaw and his partner could say (they had already melted three and exploded another two). Inui talked about brewing his own original potions in the cabinet in his room, which Yanagi found to be quite fascinating, even if Inui had not had much success. His last invention did not burn down his dressing cabinet, which Yanagi considered a success compared to his first disastrous attempts.

"I need to look for alternative places to brew, though," Inui said. "My roommates are starting to complain about the smell. They say it smells like sulfur, but I don't know where it could have come from. I didn't add anything sulfuric…"

Yanagi wondered if it was a good thing Inui's potion smelled so awful. Probably not.

They spent first part of November learning about the Forgetfulness Potion, which was true to its name and caused memory loss in the drinker. They finally brewed the potion halfway through the month.

Inui prepared the Valerian sprigs while Yanagi stirred their Forgetfulness Potion, which was pumpkin orange but released sky blue smoke. Inui dropped the sprigs into the cauldron, which Yanagi then stirred three times clockwise.

"Do you have any plans for winter break?" Inui asked.

"Nothing particularly interesting," Yanagi said. He had planned on staying at Hogwarts to do more research on the scroll, but he could not tell Inui that. He was quite excited about seeing Hogwarts decorated for Christmas, if it was going to be anything like it had been during Halloween. "Do you have plans?"

"I'm going home," Inui said. "Not particularly interesting either."

They were the first pair to finish their potion, which they put into a corked glass vial that they handed to Professor Kurobe to be graded. Yanagi did not know how their professor would be testing the memory loss; he could not do it on himself because he would merely forget which students' potions he was testing, but he could write their names down beforehand, or use some type of animal instead.

Professor Kurobe examined their potion, turning the vial this way and that and holding it up to a light to check the color, and then said, "Very well done. You two are free to leave."

They washed their cauldron and ladle in the stone basin in the back of the room then gathered their things to leave. They passed Yukimura and Sanada on their way out. Yukimura had pulled back his hair, which had curled and frizzed horribly from the smoke, and Sanada was reading the instructions from his copy of Magical Drafts and Potions with great intensity.

"It doesn't say what to do if it turns yellow, Seiichi," Sanada said.

Yukimura frowned deeply and said, "It has to say something. I'm sure this is a very common issue."

Yanagi would have stayed to offer them help if he did not think Professor Kurobe would dock points from Yukimura and Sanada's project grade, or if Inui was not waiting for him at the back of the room.

"We have nearly forty minutes until next period," Inui said as they walked through the dungeons. "Do you want to play wizards' chess? I have a set in my room that I could get."

Yanagi had never played wizards' chess but had heard all about it and had even seen some older students playing it in the common room. Since the pieces destroyed themselves, he wondered if they reformed at the end of the match, or if you had to buy a new set every time. He added it to his mental list of things to ask Yukimura and Sanada about the wizarding world.

"I need to go the library and look up a few things," Yanagi said. "If we ever get out early again, could we play then?"

"There is an eighty percent chance we will always finish Potions early on brewing days," Inui said, sounding very confident in that number. "Next time we'll play together."

Yanagi smiled. He really did like Inui. He was very clever.

They went their separate ways on the third floor; Inui continued to go up the stairs, as many Ravenclaws did, leading Yanagi to believe their dorms were somewhere on a higher level, while Yanagi veered to the right to the library.

Miss Hanamura was sitting at her desk near the entrance and was surrounded by a small flurry of books that floated and moved through the air to the other side of the library to their proper shelves. She stamped books then dropped them in the air where they took flight. She looked up at him, eyeing him through her glasses.

"Young man, aren't you supposed to be in class?" she asked sharply.

"My partner and I finished Potions early," Yanagi explained. "Professor Kurobe let us leave."

"Alright then. If you need anything, feel free to ask."

Yanagi was not going to ask her anything, but he appreciated the sentiment.

Yanagi spent his time selecting books from the shelves in the history section and then hid away in the corner where he would not be bothered. He had read every book on Rowena Ravenclaw and her house, and he had yet to find anything on the scroll or its contents. Many books mentioned that she designed Hogwarts Castle, but no books mentioned a scroll in the Room of Requirement with her sigil.

He was beginning to recycle old books that he had already read, but so far, he had not missed anything.

He carefully pulled the scroll out of his bag and a few sweets to snack on. He nibbled on a Chocolate Frog and read the bronze text in the center of the scroll, wondering what that could mean.

"'Breath of fire shall uncover another, the first clue to that of great wonder.'"

The second half of the riddle was fairly straightforward. Discovering what 'breath of fire' meant would reveal a clue that would lead them to something, the 'great wonder.' The problem lied in discovering what that 'great wonder' was and what 'breath of fire' meant.

Yanagi finished his Chocolate Frog and read the card. The irony failed to impress him as he stared at Rowena Ravenclaw's name. She was not in the card at the moment—magical paintings still confounded Yanagi. He read, "Considered to be one of the greatest witches in history, Rowena Ravenclaw is famous for being one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. In addition to her famed diadem, she is rumored to have collected every magical book in existence during her time, though the location of her collection has yet to be discovered."

Yanagi shoved the card into his bag to give to Marui and Jackal, who collected them, then picked up the scroll, struck with inspiration. He had noticed it when he first saw the scroll, but he hadn't thought much of it. The handwriting inside of Ravenclaw's sigil that read 'wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure' was the same as the riddle. That meant whoever wrote the text in the sigil also wrote the riddle on the scroll.

Yanagi packed the scroll and his sweets back into his bag and returned to the far corner of the library where the history section was located. He scaled a rolling ladder up to the tenth shelf where he found an old, thick book that smelled of dust and had faded writing along the spine, Hogwarts: A History.

He turned to the chapter on the founding of the school and skimmed until he found the portion on the house sigils.

"Each founder created their own house sigil, though the sigil for the school was not created until after their deaths. The house sigils have not been changed since their creation though the school sigil has been changed numerous times, most notably—"

If house sigils hadn't changed then Rowena Ravenclaw herself wrote the text inside the sigil, and if that handwriting matched the handwriting of the riddle—

Yanagi marked the page and closed the book, tucking it securely under his arm, and made to leave the library. He had to tell Yukimura and Sanada right away.

He checked out the book with Miss Hanamura, who said, "I thought for sure a book lover such as yourself would already own this book. Bring it back in two weeks or come get an extension."

In his hurry, he ran straight into Niou—Potions must be wrapping up, Yanagi thought—and they both dropped the books they were carrying. The books and the boys tumbled to the floor.

"I apologize, I was in a hurry," Yanagi said. He picked up the book nearest to him, a small but heavy tome with thick parchment pages. The silver script on the front read, The Art of Human Transfiguration. Niou grabbed Yanagi's book.

Yanagi and Niou stood up and swapped books.

"That is an interesting book," Yanagi said. With a blank expression, Niou shifted the book so his robes covered it. "I heard we don't learn human transfiguration until sixth or seventh year. Was it interesting?"

"It was enlightening."

When Yanagi did not say anything for a few seconds, Niou walked towards Miss Hanamura's desk to return the book.

There was something peculiar about Niou that Yanagi had yet to place. He spoke in a detached way and seemed to direct attention away from himself. He was able to disappear like a shadow in a room full of people. He would rather hide his talents than show them off, whatever talents they may be (he was particularly strong in Transfiguration and Charms, according to Yukimura).

But now was not the time to think about his housemates. Yanagi hurried back to the common room, his book clutched tightly at his side. He swiftly made his way through the maze in the dungeons, nearly running until he stopped suddenly in front of the blank wall.

"Vipera berus," he said breathlessly, the stones rearranging to form the opening to the common room.

The common room was getting colder and colder with each passing day. The prefects had put up heating spells, which lasted for several hours before fading away and forcing the Slytherins to wear multiple layers and wrap themselves in blankets. Seats in front of the fire were fought for with long glares, bribes, and minor blackmail. Yukimura was always able to get a seat if he wanted one, but today Sanada and he were in front of one of the lakebed windows where a long, dark silhouette swam by without making a sound.

Yanagi approached them slowly as to not draw attention to their group.

"We wondered where you went after Potions," Sanada said. "You weren't in the room."

"I went to the library," Yanagi said.

"Without us?" Yukimura said.

Yukimura did not look hurt, but he did look confused. Sanada had a similar expression of mild confusion. Yanagi realized he did something out of the ordinary by going by the library himself. The scroll was their project. They worked on it together.

"Yes, I apologize, but I found something interesting while I was there."

In unison, Yukimura and Sanada asked, "What?"

"I'll explain in the room," Yanagi said, looking around subtly to see if anyone was listening in. The common room was not the best location for private conversations.

They went down the right corridor to their room, locked the door with a charm just to be sure no one would bother them, and sat in a tight circle on Yanagi's bed.

"So what did you find?" Yukimura asked eagerly.

"All this time, I thought it was a Ravenclaw student that wrote the scroll and hid it," Yanagi said. "I never considered the possibility of the scroll being older than that."

"I never know what you mean when you talk like this," Sanada said, frowning.

"Rowena herself wrote the scroll," Yanagi said. He took the scroll and book out of his bag and pointed to the bronze sigil in the corner. "See here? The handwriting inside her sigil is the same as the handwriting in the center of the scroll. I read in this"—he took Hogwarts: A History out of his bag, opening to the marked page—"that the house symbols were created by the founders and have not been changed since. The handwriting on the scroll matches the handwriting on the Ravenclaw house sigil, which Ravenclaw created. It's only logical to assume that Rowena Ravenclaw herself wrote this scroll."

"Does that mean you figured out what 'breath of fire' means?" Yukimura asked eagerly.

"Or what the 'great wonder' is?" Sanada asked.

Yanagi sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't know what 'breath of fire' means, but I do have a theory about the great wonder."

Yanagi reached into his bag for a third time and found the Chocolate Frog card. He handed it to Sanada, who said, "I don't collect these."

"Read it," Yanagi said.

Yukimura leaned against Sanada to read over his shoulder. Yanagi could pinpoint the moment Yukimura understood what he was implying: Yukimura's head whirled around, his eyes wide.

"You think it's her library," Yukimura said.

"Ravenclaw designed the castle," Yanagi said. "She could have designed a hidden room to house her collection. Her house values knowledge above anything else. I don't believe she would hide all that knowledge without leaving a way to find it."

Sanada frowned. "The card said people only think she had a library—we don't know if it actually exists."

"That is true," Yukimura said thoughtfully, "but I agree with Yanagi about the handwriting. Rowena Ravenclaw wrote this scroll. Where else would Ravenclaw have wanted to lead future students of hers?"

The three fell into silence. Yanagi could not think of any other place or object that Rowena Ravenclaw would feel the need to leave a map to.

Yanagi was still unsure of his theory, but the more he thought about it, the more he wanted it to be true. He knew it was outrageous, but several months ago, the idea of him attending a school of magic had been outrageous. Now he brewed potions in class, flew on a broom for sport, and ate magnificent feasts that appeared out of nowhere in a castle. He refused to limit himself to what he thought was possible and impossible.

After a long while, Yukimura said, "Even if it does lead to some lost library, we still need to solve the riddle."

Yanagi nodded. "Of course."

"Genichirou and I are going home for winter break, but we might find something in our parents' libraries. Genichirou's parents are sure to have dozens of rare books in their library."

"I'm not allowed in my parents' library," Sanada said.

"You say that like it's going to stop us," Yukimura said easily with a smile. "Come on, now, let's go to lunch. We still have some time before Charms. I'm starving and we have Quidditch practice this afternoon."