The Second Riddle
Yukimura Seiichi
Winter came all at once early in December when Hogwarts was covered in several feet of snow over night. The lake had frozen solid and sheets of ice and snow slid off the roofs and piled around the grounds.
Kikumaru from Hufflepuff had started a snowball fight with his friends that quickly spread throughout the grounds to students of every year, regardless of house. Marui had bewitched snowballs to aim at the back of Jackal's head, and Akutagawa had been seen stuffing a handful of snow down the back of Atobe's sweater by Yagyuu, who said Atobe's reaction was spectacular.
The holidays were fast approaching, as well. Excitement spread throughout the school and no one could wait for the upcoming break and festivities. Holly and other decorative greenery was strung from every corner of the Great Hall, and older students hung up mistletoe in hopes of catching that special someone underneath a doorway.
Even the Slytherin common room had been decorated for the holidays. An impressive, perfectly trimmed pine tree wider than it was tall appeared in the corner over night, fully decorated with rows of silver tinsel and intricate ornaments. No one knew where it had come from, though Akiteru smiled almost knowingly when asked by Sanada at breakfast, and Yukimura came to the conclusion that even the prefects had a soft spot for the holiday season.
Though the students were ready for the holidays, classes were far from over and winter break seemed further away with each new assignment and exam. Professor Binns assigned twelve inches on the Werewolf Code of Conduct, and Professor Reyna told them to be prepared for a demonstration on the Jelly-Legs Jinx next class. They were all miserable during Astronomy, which was held outside on top of the Astronomy Tower at midnight when it often snowed. They spent their breaks studying Transfiguration with Yagyuu and Niou, and were sometimes joined by Jackal and Marui, who always brought along enough snacks and sweets to share with everyone.
Charms, however, remained the same as always. Professor Watanabe postponed their lessons on the Severing Charm to teach them how to enchant snowballs. He was rather impressed to learn that Marui already knew the spell. They spent their class in the central courtyard flinging snowballs at one another and building defensive forts that would make even Professor Reyna proud. Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi joined together with Yagyuu and went head to head with Atobe, Oshitari, Taki, and Akutagawa—who had given up on magical enchantment and threw his snowballs by hand with startling accuracy and power. Afterwards, Professor Watanabe took them inside, taught them a drying charm, and then served them hot chocolate and cookies. It was by far the most carefree Charms class they had ever had.
When they weren't in class, or studying, or trying to decipher the riddle, Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi were practicing Quidditch.
The weekend before the last week of class, Slytherin had their second match of the season against Hufflepuff, who had lost to Gryffindor a few weeks ago. Once again, every house besides Slytherin was siding with Hufflepuff.
Yukimura was sick of the blind discrimination. He told Sanada and Yanagi just that during breakfast the day of the match.
"People fear the ambitious," Yanagi said.
"And sometimes what people say about us is true," Sanada said. "Captain Imayoshi was telling us all these violent, sneaky plays and none of us said anything about it."
"Those plays were cunning," Yukimura said defensively, "and completely legal. I checked after practice."
"Not everyone thinks like you, Seiichi."
Yanagi nodded in agreement. "To some, cunningness isn't a way to get ahead, it's a way to push others down."
Yukimura scowled and ate his eggs.
Yukimura and Yanagi did not have to pester Sanada to eat like they had before their first match. Marui and Jackal came over to wish them luck, and Yukimura refocused his energy on the upcoming match. Quidditch, he thought, was far more important at the moment.
A path had been cleared from the castle to the Quidditch Pitch, the snow stacked up above their heads on either side of them. Students piled into the stands in large numbers despite the weather. It was not snowing outside, but it was bitterly cold, making their breath visible and their noses red. Yukimura was glad their Quidditch robes were thick with extra layers, or he feared he would have frozen to his broom mid-game.
As the Slytherin team prepared in the locker room, their captain Imayoshi got their attention. Imayoshi was a tall, skinny boy with acne scars and bristly brown hair that came to his shoulders. He had an ugly sneer that he only showed around students in the other houses, particularly muggle-borns. He was skilled on a broom and a decent enough leader to get a bunch of Slytherins to listen to him without them all secretly plotting to undermine his authority. Or if the team was trying to undermine Imayoshi, Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi were not involved in the plans.
"Hufflepuff is stupider than Ravenclaw, who have that mud-blood Masters girl leading them," Imayoshi said, practically spitting the foul word. Imayoshi wasn't even a pure-blood, or Yukimura would have learned his name at a very young age, but he did come from a magical family that thought themselves better than most half-bloods and muggle-borns due to their lengthy magical history, which was short and insignificant compared to Sanada's. Imayoshi had no right to pretend he was better than anyone else based on his blood—no one had the right to pretend they were better for their blood.
Yukimura glared at his captain's back, waiting for the day Imayoshi was gone and he was captain. He would take it by force if that wouldn't give him a bad reputation with other students. His fellow Slytherins might appreciated a cunning rise to power, but the rest of the houses, which were already quick to hate him without even knowing him, did not need another reason to dislike him.
"If you're forceful, we will win," Imayoshi went on, his voice increasing in volume. "Beaters, I want you to aim for their broom twigs. Seeker, break your opponent's wrist if they're going for the Snitch."
Yukimura wondered if Imayoshi even knew their names.
"And us?" Yukimura asked with a seemingly innocent smile. Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi looked at their captain with unwavering gazes. Imayoshi did not say anything.
Eventually, with a tight jaw, Imayoshi said, "Play like you have been during practice."
From the Pitch, they could hear Professor Watanabe's booming voice, "And here comes my house onto the Pitch, Hufflepuff! They're ready to beat Slytherin to a pulp today. You can expect nothing less of my house. We are the best after all, isn't that right, Badgers!" He was nearly yelling as loud as the crowd. More meekly, he said, "Ah, I'm being scolded by Professor Sakaki for favoritism. Where is the Slytherin team?"
"Let's go," Imayoshi said.
They grabbed their brooms and entered the field. Yukimura could see his breath. His fingers felt numb, even with his gloves on. His face stung in the wind. He did not let it affect him.
"The Slytherin team enters the Pitch, led by sixth year captain Imayoshi. Slytherin lost their last match to Ravenclaw, but we saw some excellent plays from their first year Chasers. We'll see if those first years are consistent or one hit wonders."
Yukimura would show everyone they were far more than one hit wonders.
"Meanwhile, my team is looking to be more consistent this season, and I know they've been practicing hard because some of them have been slacking off on their Charms homework—I'm looking at you, Johnson."
Yukimura mounted his broom and they took to the sky, fifteen people in total, counting Professor Ryuzaki who was once again referring the match.
"The Quaffle is up—Yukimura snatches it at the first possible moment, he's on the move—a pass to Sanada—to Yanagi—looks like the same strategy as last game but it's still working—back to Yukimura—Hufflepuff Beaters are trying but obviously not hard enough guys, c'mon! Slytherin approaching the goal—the Hufflepuff Chasers don't know who to mark—guys, show some effort—"
Yukimura circled around the goal posts, flying to the other side and catching a pass from Sanada on the far right and scoring. More than half the onlookers groaned.
"A goal from Yukimura! Slytherin is ahead ten to zero. The Quaffle goes to fourth year Hufflepuff Chaser Johnson—she's making good time, not handing over the Quaffle and risking an interception—whoa—her broom is hit by a Bludger, she's spiraling, and Yanagi gets the Quaffle. Slytherin Chasers turning around, Hufflepuff struggling to keep up—look at that speed! Hurry it up, Badgers! Yanagi passes to Sanada—"
The Keeper knocked away Sanada's first toss with the end of his broom, but Yanagi caught the rebound and scored before the Keeper could react.
"Another ten points to Slytherin!" Professor Watanabe shouted in annoyance. "The score is twenty to zero."
Faster, Yukimura thought.
"Fifty to zero—Slytherin is on an unfortunate roll."
They had to be faster.
"C'mon Badgers, get it together! Slytherin scores again—"
Much, much faster.
Sanada tossed the Quaffle to Yukimura, who flung it past Hufflepuff's Keeper into the goal. The stands groaned.
"One hundred to ten," Professor Watanabe said, his enthusiasm gone. The one-sided game obviously was not good entertainment. Yukimura did not think it was one-sided enough. "Still no sign of the Snitch."
Seventy more points. They needed seventy more points to be ahead by over one hundred and fifty.
"Oh, look at that, another ten points to Slytherin," Professor Watanabe droned. "Now Professor Sakaki is scolding me for lacking energy. When I was student, you used to yell at me for that all the time, Professor…"
Yukimura ignored the commentary.
The longer the match dragged on, the easier it became to score. The Hufflepuff Chasers were disheartened, as if they expected every pass to be intercepted (and nearly every one was), and the Beaters were running out of energy and their aim decreased significantly to the point where the Bludgers no longer came within five feet of Yukimura.
Soon the score was one hundred and sixty to ten. Yukimura was nearly ready to celebrate—they only needed one more goal then it didn't matter who caught the Snitch—when the worst thing possible happened.
The Hufflepuff's had the Quaffle. Professor Watanabe's voice sprang back to life, "Hufflepuff Seeker Misra is diving! She's spotted the Snitch! FLY BADGERS, FLY!"
The Hufflepuff Chaser that in possession of the Quaffle looked around for the Seeker and in her hurry, she fumbled the Quaffle. Yukimura flew in from below, catching it, Professor Watanabe still shouting for the Seeker to catch the Snitch. Yukimura turned and flew.
Yukimura did not know where Sanada and Yanagi were. It didn't matter.
The Hufflepuff Keeper had also been distracted. Yukimura flew along side the goal, tossing the Quaffle—it made it through the rings—Professor Watanabe was screaming.
"Misra has caught the Snitch! One hundred and fifty points to Hufflepuff. HUFFLEPUFF WINS!"
Yukimura circled the goal posts, hovering in the air, looking towards Professor Ryuzaki, who was shooting up yellow sparks. Yukimura smiled. Yellow sparks meant they had won.
"WHAT?" Professor Watanabe shouted. "Are you sure?"
Professor Ryuzaki sent another set of yellow sparks at the professors' stand.
"My robes are on fire!" There was a lot of commotion as the Charms professor snuffed out the flames. Breathless, Professor Watanabe said, "Change of plan, folks. Yukimura scores ten points for Slytherin seconds before the Snitch was caught, making the score one hundred and seventy to one hundred and sixty. Slytherin wins without catching the Snitch. What a disappointing—uh, I meant, unexpected victory."
For the first time, the Slytherin's out cheered the other three houses combined. Perhaps it was because Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw had been stunned into silence. Yukimura would have been silent too if he was in the audience.
Yukimura flew over to Sanada and Yanagi, smiling broadly as he said, "I wasn't sure that last shot made it in time."
"Of course it was in time," Sanada said. "You made the shot."
"True," Yanagi agreed. "There was no need to worry."
Yukimura smiled contently, and was quickly surrounded by his remaining teammates, who were ecstatic in their victory.
Marui and Jackal were waiting for them by the castle, bundled in red and gold against the cold winter air. Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi approached with large smiles and their heads held high.
It was a very different feeling from when they had lost. Yukimura no longer wanted to hide his face, or cast his eyes down to the ground, or shield his unpleasant emotions from his friends. Today, they had won. Yukimura deserved to be brimming with pride.
Yukimura liked feeling victorious, even if the three other houses would be glaring at them for weeks to come, though that was already the norm.
"Congratulations!" Marui said. "Jackal thought you were going to lose for a second. He had no faith in you."
"You were the one muttering, 'oh Merlin,' over and over again when the Seeker started diving, not me," Jackal said.
"Are we celebrating this time?" Yukimura asked before they could begin to bicker. "I was hoping you had gone down to the kitchens…"
"It was harder to get up to the castle because of the snow," Marui said, "but we can go down and get some stuff now."
"You should come with us—we never showed you where the kitchens were," Jackal said. He rubbed his gloved hands together. "Plus it's freezing out here and the basement is warm."
"The basement?" Yukimura asked. "Don't you mean the dungeons?"
Marui grinned. "Follow us."
Marui and Jackal led them down a flight of stone steps in the main hall, but instead of going down into the cold labyrinth of the dungeons, they entered a warm, broad stone corridor, brightly lit with torches, and decorated with cheerful paintings that were mainly of food. They passed a small nook with a stack of old barrels that smelled strongly like vinegar for some odd reason and approached a large portrait of a silver fruit bowl that looked real enough to eat.
"Wait out here for a minute," Jackal said. "Apparently the house elves don't give out food to just anyone—"
"They don't give it to Jackal," Marui cut in.
"But they like Marui for some reason," Jackal finished.
Marui shrugged. "I appreciate food."
"And it may scare them to see you."
Yukimura nodded. His house elf Pisky was often startled whenever they had guests over.
Marui and Jackal stopped in front of the portrait of the silver fruit bowl, and Jackal reached out to the portrait and tickled the painted green pear. To Yukimura's surprise, the pear squirmed and laughed, with a sound befitting of a pear, and then the fruit transformed into a protruding green doorknob. Jackal turned the doorknob and the portrait swung open like a door and the two Gryffindors walked through. The door closed behind them.
Sanada was looking thoughtfully at the painting. He said, "I think the grapes are frowning at me."
"The apples also look upset," Yanagi said very seriously, but Yukimura caught sight of Yanagi's small smile.
"Maybe someone bruised them?" Sanada suggested.
Several minutes later, Marui and Jackal came out.
"Mission successful," Marui said, smiling and hoisting up a basket of food.
They decided to eat in a hidden room that Yukimura had found during his explorations of the castle. It was a comfortable, circular room behind a tapestry on the fifth floor with plush, dark purple chairs and torches that magically lit upon entering. They sat on an intricate floor rug instead of the chairs because there were only three. It was a warm, inviting room with bookcases along the circumference of the room containing the most interesting books. There was not a single wandering spider or a speck of dust to be seen.
The elves from the kitchen had given them bottles of apple juice, sandwiches with thick slabs of meat and toppings, and warm, salty chips. There were chocolate cookies for dessert.
Yukimura had not realized how hungry he was until there was food in front of him. They ate quickly as they talked about the game.
"I've never seen a match like that," Marui said, mouth full of chips. "You rarely see matches where the winning team didn't get the Snitch."
"I still don't know much about Quidditch, but that was fun to watch," Jackal said. Yukimura often forgot that Jackal was a muggle-born. He would have to teach him Quidditch one day like he had taught Yanagi.
"I wonder if we'll be able to use the same strategy against Gryffindor," Yanagi said. "Their defense is stronger than Hufflepuff's and I think people are beginning to anticipate our quick passes."
"Gryffindor's offense is more aggressive too," Sanada added.
Yukimura reached for his juice, humming. "Hmm. We'll postpone planning for now. Though we will need to come up with something since there is only so much we can do when our Seeker is so…"
"Bad?" Sanada said.
"I was going to be more delicate," Yukimura said, though he had been thinking the same thing.
"You guys could win the Quidditch House Cup," Marui said. "Our house team is really strong, but you guys are awesome."
Yukimura sighed. "The problem is, the Quidditch House Cup isn't awarded to the team with the most wins, it's awarded to the team that wins by the most points. We need to win by a larger margin, but just managing a hundred and sixty point lead is difficult. By the time the other team catches the Snitch, we're down to a ten point victory."
Sanada and Yanagi nodded in agreement. They had talked about this in great length multiple times.
"That sounds complicated and boring," Marui said. He finished off his chips and began to eat Jackal's. Jackal sighed in a resigned sort of way, as though he was used to this. Marui kept talking, "Do you guys want to go and play in the snow after this? We still have all afternoon. I think the lake is frozen over. I heard about this spell to turn your shoes into ice skates from a fourth year and I'm sure a genius like me could do it no problem."
"Or we could play Exploding Snap in the Charms Corridor," Jackal suggested.
While Yukimura wanted to spend his Saturday with Marui and Jackal, they had yet to make any progress on the riddle since Yanagi discovered where the scroll had come from. At this rate, it would not matter if they learned that Rowena herself was still alive; the riddle was the key.
"We have other things to work on," Yukimura said vaguely. "Next time."
Marui frowned. "What does that mean? Last night you said the same thing. You can't have that much homework—we're in the same classes."
"One of the professors gave us extra work," Yanagi lied.
Marui reached for a cookie. He looked at Yanagi for several seconds, then at Yukimura, and finally at Sanada, who looked away. Marui grinned and said, "Liars."
"Genichirou," Yukimura said, frowning.
"I can't lie," Sanada said. He blushed. "You know that, Seiichi."
Yukimura sighed. It was true. Sanada's mother headed the Auror Department and was a skilled Legilimens. Sanada gave up any hope of learning to lie when he was a small child. It was better to be honest and accept punishment in the Sanada house than to try and weasel your way out of whatever you did wrong.
"So what are you up to?" Marui asked. Jackal looked at them curiously.
Yukimura shared a look with Sanada and Yanagi. He could not read people's minds like Sanada's mother, but he seemed to understand his friends without using words, or at least believed that he could. They decided that Marui and Jackal were trustworthy enough to be let in on the secret.
"I was exploring the castle and I found something interesting in a room on the seventh floor corridor," Yukimura said as Yanagi dug through his bag for the scroll. "We think it's a map."
"A map?" Marui said excitedly. "Like a treasure map?"
"Of sorts," Yukimura said, smiling. "Though not the type of treasure you're thinking of."
Yanagi took out the scroll and uncurled it on the floor in front of them to unveil the bronze ink and Ravenclaw's house symbol. Marui and Jackal leaned over the scroll. The Gryffindors mumbled over the riddle:
"'Breath of fire shall uncover another," Jackal read, "'the first clue to that of great wonder.'"
Marui was so confused he mouthed several words Yukimura would never dare say in front of an adult.
"We have no idea what it means," Yukimura admitted.
"We think it's some type of riddle," Sanada said.
"There's probably some invisible ink on the parchment," Jackal said.
Yukimura and the others stared at him dumbly.
"Why do you say that?" Yanagi asked.
Jackal rubbed the back of his head, uncomfortable with the sudden attention. "It's just a guess, but fire lets off heat like breath, right? Some types of invisible ink react to heat—it makes the ink visible."
"How did you come up with that?" Sanada asked.
"My friends and I liked playing Sherlock Holmes. We always came up with riddles and games to play."
Yanagi nodded like this made sense. Yukimura felt left out, having no idea who this Sherlock Holmes person was or why that made Jackal's connection any more clear.
Jackal went on, "The riddle is telling you that you need to make the parchment hot so you can read whatever's there, the clue to the 'great wonder' or whatever."
Marui nodded, catching on. "And the riddle says 'uncover another,' which probably means another line of text, or another riddle."
"There is a lot of blank parchment underneath the first riddle," Sanada said.
Yukimura wondered why they had not thought of something so simple. They had been looking for a specific spell when they should have been focusing on the scroll itself.
"Lumos lets off a small amount of heat," Yanagi said.
"Yanagi, hold up the map," Yukimura said. He took his wand out of his robe and positioned it under the lifted scroll. "Lumos."
The point of Yukimura's wand lit with a bright white light. As Yukimura slowly moved his wand under the scroll, new bronze ink began to appear underneath the first lines. The new lines of text were also in Ravenclaw's handwriting.
"Way to go, Jackal!" Marui said. "My genius must be rubbing off on you."
"I think that's all of it, Seiichi," Sanada said after awhile.
Yukimura tucked his wand back into his robes. They leaned over the scroll.
She is cold and he is hot.
She lives in darkness and he lives in light.
Speak of her then speak of him at the place where the twins stand tall,
And thou shalt unlock the path to knowledge of all.
They stared at the riddle in silence for awhile, muttering over the words and trying to solve it, but no one came up with anything. It was more obscure than the first riddle and much longer.
"I hate riddles," Sanada said.
They stayed in the room behind the tapestry for nearly another hour trying to figure out the riddle. None of their ideas were any good, though Marui's were entertaining and imaginative.
Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi walked to the common room without talking as they tried to piece together the riddle. Yukimura was beginning to think that Sanada was right—riddles were nearly as bad as sitting through Professor Binns' class on a Monday.
The stones of the wall shifted, revealing the common room. Professor Saito was inside the room and he was approaching them.
It was rare to see their head of house in the dungeons, let alone the dorms. Professor Saito believed students had a right to privacy in their personal lives and put a great deal of trust in the house prefects.
"I've been asked by the Substitute Headmaster to make a list of students who will be staying for the holidays," Professor Saito said.
"I will be staying," Yanagi said. Professor Saito nodded and began writing on a scroll with a delicate, long peacock quill—he had turned it into a sword during Transfiguration class last week.
Yukimura and Sanada looked at their friend.
"You're staying?" Yukimura asked. "You never mentioned that."
"My parents said they wouldn't mind if I stayed when I told them I had school work to do," Yanagi said, opening his eyes. He clearly meant the scroll.
Yukimura thought for a brief moment then turned to Professor Saito. "I will also be staying, Professor Saito." He looked at Sanada. "You are too, aren't you, Genichirou?"
Sanada nodded. "I'm staying too."
Professor Saito nodded as he wrote their names. "Quite the impressive Quidditch match today, boys. I did not expect first years to be so capable on their brooms."
"Thank you," Yukimura said with a proud smile.
"I do hope you stay with the team. It will be interesting to see what you will be able to accomplish by your seventh year."
Yukimura kept smiling, not saying a word. He had no intentions of publicizing his plan to become captain by third year, or his plans to win the Quidditch House Cup five years in a row.
A group of girls came in through the wall.
"Ah, if you will excuse me," Professor Saito said before he turned and left them to talk to the girls.
Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi sat in the chairs in front of the fire.
"I thought you were both going home for winter break," Yanagi said, frowning slightly in confusion. "You mentioned it last month."
"That was the plan, but plans change," Yukimura said. "We can't just leave you here by yourself. Besides, we have the new riddle to work on."
"My mom will be mad. I told her I was coming home ages ago," Sanada said, frowning. He looked at Yukimura. "And Emiko will be upset."
Yukimura had thought about that, but he knew his sister would be okay. "Emiko will understand if I tell her I have work and that my friend is staying here—your mom will too. We'll write letters home tonight and stop by the owlery before class tomorrow."
They were just about to retire to their room when Akiteru came over, ruffling Sanada's hair and laughing. Akiteru was brimming with pride, as if he had won the Quidditch match himself.
"Way to go, Gen, Seiichi, Yanagi!" Akiteru released his hold on his brother. "That's the first match we've won in two years. All the sixth and seventh years are breaking out the fire whiskey. And I get to brag it was my little brother who helped win the match!"
Sanada frowned as he put his hair back in place. "Seiichi scored more goals than I did."
"And if you hadn't scored the goals you did, we wouldn't have had enough points," Yukimura said gently.
"Take credit for what you do," Akiteru said, looking at his younger brother. "Be proud of your achievements and your failures, or you'll never become any stronger than you are now."
Sanada frowned, confused by Akiteru's odd wisdom, but nodded.
Akiteru ruffled Sanada's hair back out of place, laughed at the look his brother gave him, and then headed off towards Professor Saito to ask about Transfiguration. Apparently Akiteru was still having a hard time turning fire into a corporeal snake.
As the trio headed back to their room for the night, Yanagi asked, "What is Christmas at Hogwarts like?"
Yukimura smiled. "I heard it's brilliant."