Into the Tower

Sanada Genichirou

They unanimously decided on the date that they would attempt to solve the riddle: the Friday two weeks before their final exams. They practiced the spells for moonlight and sunlight in the hidden rooms in the common room until they could do it in their sleep, even Yukimura, though Sanada and Yanagi were the ones charged with casting the spells.

They did not tell anyone, not even Marui and Jackal, of their expedition. The less people involved, the less likely they were to be caught, or that's what Yukimura kept saying.

A week before the set date, they mapped out the route they would take from the Slytherin dungeon to the Astronomy Tower on Akiteru's maps.

"I've been meaning to ask since you explained how you found the Room of Requirement," Yanagi said. "How did you get these? I thought all maps of the school were destroyed."

"I have my ways," Yukimura said, though both Yukimura and Sanada knew it was Akiteru who had made the maps. Still, Yanagi did not know that and was in complete awe; Sanada didn't want to ruin his fun by pointing out how horribly drawn the maps were.

There were several tricky spots since their path overlapped with the prefects routes, but they learned from Akiteru that prefects switched duties at ten, giving them a few minutes where there would be no prefects on patrol to bother them—Yukimura stressed that this was the ideal case and they should be prepared for the worst.

"We could lose our house a lot of points for being caught out of bed," Yukimura said. "But I figure between the three of us, we've earned over one hundred points this year, so no one can complain if we lose that much."

"I still think people will complain if we lose one hundred points this close to the House Cup," Sanada said. "We're already behind Ravenclaw and Gryffindor."

"If anyone complains, then I'll convince them to stop," Yukimura said simply.

Sanada's anxiety became worse and worse as the set date approached, until every day was dreadful and he was constantly worrying about what could go wrong, or what could happen if they were wrong and the Astronomy Tower was a bust. Sanada mentioned his fear to Yukimura while Yanagi bathed in the bathroom, and Yukimura said, "I'm sure we're right," and that was the end of their discussion.

The day of, Sanada forced down toast and eggs at breakfast, and dragged himself to Potions, where he forgot to add the Flobberworm mucus to their Herbicide Potion. At least they were not the only ones whose potion did not kill the small potted plants Professor Kurobe had at the front of the room. Sanada was not surprised when he saw that Yanagi and Inui were some of the few who had brewed the potion perfectly, their plant shriveling down to the size of a twig.

That night, they packed their wands, the scroll, and the maps, and left the common room at nine thirty. They made a dash through the dungeons, hoping they would not see the Bloody Baron, or worse, Peeves.

Luck was on their side. They made it to the main hall without running into anyone.

Panting, and knowing they didn't have much time, they approached a window with the curtains drawn shut. They parted the heavy fabric and climbed into the small window alcove, Sanada pressed between them. Yanagi's knobbly knee was pressing uncomfortably into Sanada's thighs, and Yukimura's elbow was in his stomach, but they were concealed as long as no one opened the curtains.

They didn't have to wait long for the prefects on duty to meet and exchange reports—Moaning Myrtle flooded the bathroom, someone caught two seventh years snogging in the Charms Corridor, another took ten points from Ravenclaw for two sixth years sneaking books out of the library without checking them out, and several other things.

Once the prefects were finished, an older student dismissed them. The prefects diverged, disappearing down different paths to their common rooms.

Yanagi looked at his wrist, where he had a tiny clock, and said, "It's nine fifty. Ten minutes until the next prefects start their shift."

They practically fell out of the window alcove onto the floor. Sanada didn't have time to worry about his sore knee and painful ribcage. They took off, running as fast as they could up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower before the next set of prefects began patrol.

They saw no ghost, or prefect, or anyone else who could catch them and ruin their weeks worth of planning. They finally reached the lower level of the Astronomy Tower where the sun and moon gemstones were embedded into the wall.

This was it, Sanada thought. They were about to solve the riddle. His heart wouldn't calm down. He couldn't help but smile, and saw that Yukimura and Yanagi were doing the same.

"Let's get started then, shall we?" Yukimura said. Sanada moved towards his assigned gemstone, the moon, and Yanagi moved towards the sun. Yukimura stood in the middle of the room. When both Sanada and Yanagi were in position, Yukimura counted them down. "On three. One, two, three—"

"Lumos Lunae."

"Lumos Solem."

Nothing happened.

Sanada frowned and lowered his wand. He was sure that he had said it right, and he was positive that Yanagi, who was a stickler for pronunciation in Charms, had as well.

Had they been wrong after all? Had they misinterpreted the second riddle?

Yukimura seemed to have thought the same. He hummed and frowned, saying, "That's odd. I was expecting something to happen…"

Yukimura took a single step and the stone under his foot was pushed out of his place, falling down into an unforeseen cavern. Yukimura stumbled back, each stone he touched disappearing. Sanada moved to run over, but his leg fell into a larger hole, and he tripped and fell, catching himself with his hands.

"Genichirou!" Yukimura said. "Stay still."

Sanada obeyed. He became as still as a mountain.

There was nothing beneath Sanada's foot, only a pit. Sanada tried to pull himself up, but the stones shifted beneath his hands. His heart rate increased as he realized that he was going to fall, and a panicked thought in the back of his mind told him he may never have the chance to stand up again.

Across the room, Yanagi shouted. Yukimura and Sanada whirled their heads around and saw their friend disappear before their eyes.

"YANAGI!" Sanada shouted.

The stones they had not touched were beginning to fall, shifting and grinding. Soon every stone from the floor of the Astronomy Tower fell into the dark abyss, and so did they.

They screamed as the ground around them crumbled and disappeared, and they plummeted into the darkness. The air rushed around them, whistling in their ears. The stones fell alongside them, dangerously close. Sanada did not know which way was up and which way was down. He could not see the bottom, or his friends.

"Yanagi!" Yukimura called out.

From below, they heard, "Be careful, the stones are still falling!"

"What are we going to do?" Sanada asked. If only they had their brooms, they could fly, but that wasn't an option.

Yukimura had an answer. "Levitation Charm!"

Sanada did not know if Yanagi cast his charm, or if he had even heard Yukimura. The world was closing in around him. He tightened his grip on his wand, thankful he had not released it in his panic, and waved it. But before he could say the spell, Yukimura said, "Wait, Genichirou, don't cast yours! Remember what happened in Charms?"

Sanada paled and his stomach flipped.

When they had learned the Levitation Charm, Sanada's feather had shot straight to the ceiling. His Elemental Affinity made it impossible for him to control the spell. If he used the spell on himself, he would shoot back the way they came and fall again. Or worse, he could collide with the falling rocks. He did not think he would be as unharmed as his feather had been when he fell back down.

"I'm going to die if I don't do something!"

"Do you trust me?" Yukimura asked.

"This is not the time for that!"

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes!"

They were swallowed in darkness, and now, in silence. Sanada squeezed his eyes shut, sure he was going to die, then Yukimura grabbed onto his arm and tugged him close. Sanada clutched onto Yukimura's arm, knowing his life depended on it.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

The air seemed to stall around them. Rather, they stalled in the air. Yukimura was levitating them both.

Slowly, they descended as Yukimura carefully released the spell so they were lowered down instead of plummeting to their deaths. Only a wizard of Yukimura's caliber could completely control a spell they had only performed a handful of times. Though even for a wizard like Yukimura, holding up two people must have been beyond difficult.

"Can you see how close we are to the ground?" Yukimura asked, voice tense. "This is a bit—harder—than I thought."

"Don't say it like you're about to drop us." Yukimura did not respond. Sanada quickly waved his wand. "Lumos!"

His wand lit. They were only several feet from the ground.

"What now?" Sanada asked.

"This may hurt," Yukimura said and the spell gave out.

Sanada collided with the ground face first, holding out his arms just in time to lesson the force of impact, but the shock was still strong enough to dispel his lighting charm. It was dark again. Pain blossomed from his face. His skull felt like it was vibrating and his nose stung with discomfort.

"Are you hurt?" Yukimura asked. Sanada heard him sit up. He could not see him in the darkness. "Genichirou, are you alright?"

Sanada groaned in discomfort as he sat up. He rubbed his face. He felt something wet and sticky running down to his lips and chin. "My nose is bleeding."

"That's all?" Yukimura sighed in relief. "Thank Merlin."

"You?"

"I don't think I've broken anything."

Good. Yukimura was safe.

Sanada shoved his robes against his nose to stop the flow of blood, but it didn't do much besides soak his sleeve.

"Yanagi!" Yukimura called out.

There was a soft thump as Yanagi moved, somewhere close to them, and he said, "Either I've died, or I've reached the ground. My heart is beating too fast for me to make a logical decision."

"You've reached the ground," Yukimura said. "We need to get to our feet. We don't know where we are. Light your wands."

They carefully stood up, each of them casting a Wand-Lighting Charm. They found themselves standing in the center of a large, circular room with a ceiling too high to see. Four towering stone statues of eagles flanked the sides of the room and rose high above their heads, their stone wings stretching out into the darkness above; between each of the statue's talons was a dark pathway.

"The stone from the floor of the Astronomy Tower," Yanagi said, "they're gone."

He was right. The stones that had once been the floor of the Astronomy Tower and fallen alongside them had magically disappeared.

"The stones must be enchanted," Yukimura said. "Maybe they went up and reformed the floor of the Astronomy Tower."

That meant no one would know they were down here.

"Where are we?" Yukimura asked.

"Somewhere deep beneath the school," Yanagi said. "It was a straight fall, but if this room is enchanted, who knows where we are in relation to the tower."

Yukimura looked around the room. "Yanagi, did you ever read about a room like this existing in the castle?"

Yanagi frowned. The light from their wands cast an eerie, bluish glow on their faces and the walls around them. He said, "I'd read that each of the four founders were rumored to have hidden chambers within the castle. Eagles are Ravenclaw's symbol—this may be her room."

Sanada did not care where they were. He cared where they were going. They could not leave the way they came, and the only visible paths were the archways beneath each of the four statues.

"But which way do we go?" Sanada asked.

Yukimura looked at Yanagi. "Does the scroll say anything?"

Yanagi pulled the scroll from his robes, holding his wand several inches above the parchment. He shook his head. No new lines had appeared.

Sanada wiped blood and sweat off his chin. He didn't like this. Which way were they supposed to go? There were four different paths. As far as he could tell, they were all the same.

"Let's start with that one"—Yukimura pointed his wand to the eagle statue in front of them—"and work our way around clockwise. We may get lucky and find it on our first try."

"There's only one library," Sanada said, anxious and confused. "So why are there four tunnels? What else is down here?"

They stood silently for several moments, no one moving.

Hadn't the Grey Lady warned Yukimura to stop lurking, that he wouldn't like what he found? What if only one of them led to the library and the other three led to their deaths?

Yukimura took the first step towards the archway and the others followed. It was too late to turn back now. There was no visible exit and only four paths in front of them. They didn't have any other choice but to press forward, and Sanada would follow Yukimura anywhere, and he was sure that Yanagi was beginning to feel the same way.

The tunnel was dark and long, their footsteps echoing as they advanced. Sanada had broken into a cold, clammy sweat that hung heavily on his skin like the damp air around them. Cobwebs blocked their path, but there was not a single living creature scurrying along the arched stone walls. Everything down here had died centuries ago.

The path was barely wide enough for them to walk side by so they chose to walk in a triangle, with Yukimura in the front and Sanada and Yanagi behind him.

Abruptly, after only one hundred feet, the tunnel came to a stop. Thick slabs of gray stone and significant amounts of dirt blocked their path.

"The tunnel must have collapsed," Yanagi said. "We could try moving it, but that may cause the rest of the ceiling to fall…"

"Let's try the next path," Yukimura said.

Sanada's nose had stopped bleeding. He wiped the dry blood off his upper lip and followed Yukimura back into the center chamber where he felt like he was being watched. He turned and saw nothing behind him, only the giant eagle statues standing overhead, which were of no comfort.

The next corridor reminded Sanada of the Slytherin dormitory. Door after door stretched down the long hallway for as far as the eye could see. Only instead of silver plaques with the names of residents, the doors were blank, identical down to the last splinter and cobweb on the doorknobs.

"The doors may be traps," Yukimura said. "Let's walk for awhile and see if this hallway ends before opening them. Look for any doors that are different from the rest."

"I agree," Yanagi said.

They began walking, looking for any indication of which door they were supposed to open. The hallway seemed never ending, and each door remained identical to the last.

Sanada lost count of how many doors they passed. His feet ached, his wrists were beginning to feel the pain of their early impact, and his nose was too clogged with dried blood to breathe through.

He looked over his shoulder to see how far they had come and stopped dead in his tracks. He blanched at what he saw.

"How long have we been walking?" Sanada asked, voice quiet.

"About fifteen minutes," Yanagi said.

Yukimura kept walking, unaware that Sanada had stopped, unaware of what was happening. "What is it, Genichirou?"

"We haven't moved at all," Sanada said.

Yukimura and Yanagi stopped and turned.

Behind them, they could still see the center chamber with the four eagle statues. There were two doors behind them, but no more, when Sanada was sure they had passed hundreds.

"The hallway is charmed," Yukimura said, surprisingly calm. "No matter how much we walk, we're not going to advance. I think this is some type of spatial magic. It makes sense, though. Ravenclaw did build the castle, after all; spatial magic must have been her specialty."

"But there has to be a way to continue forward," Sanada said, looking at his friends. "Right?"

"One of the doors, most likely," Yanagi said.

"Lumos has the ability to unveil unseen entrances, doesn't it?" Yukimura asked.

Yanagi nodded slowly, seeming unsure. "I've only read the theory behind it."

"That's more than Seiichi and I know about it," Sanada said. "You should try it."

"I'm sure you can do it," Yukimura said.

Yanagi nodded again, more surely this time. He raised his lit wand and, without saying anything, waved it through the air in an intricate pattern. With a final flick, a tiny orb of warm, white light appeared several inches from the tip of his wand. It was barely larger than a Snitch.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Sanada asked hesitantly. The last thing he needed was for that little ball of light to explode.

"Yes," Yanagi said, smiling at his accomplishment. "Any second now, it should—"

The orb of light moved forward then turned to the right, disappearing through a door. Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi followed it, opening the door and stepping into another room, the door locking shut behind them.

They were now in a circular room lit by a heavy iron chandelier that hung precariously in the middle of the room. There were three suits of medieval armor with heavy iron lances—one to their left, another to their right, and the third straight in front of them—but nothing else inside the room, not even a door or visible path.

"What do we do now?" Sanada asked.

"There may be something on the stones, like there was in the Astronomy Tower," Yukimura said.

They walked forward together. When they reached the center of the round room, the armor began to move, their lances lifted and pointed at the trio. The metal armor clanked heavily as the previously inanimate objects approached.

Without hesitating, Yukimura pointed his wand at the suit of armor directly in front of them and said, "Flipendo!" The suit of armor flipped backwards onto its back with a hollow clang.

"Aranea Theca!" Yanagi shouted. A large white spider web shot from the tip of Yanagi's wand, wrapping around the suit of armor, trapping its arms to its side and making it drop its lance.

"Diffindo!" Sanada aimed at the remaining suit of armor. There was a sharp slash as the armor's left arm cut off at the forearm and dropped to the floor along with the lance.

For a brief moment, Sanada thought they were victorious, but they were not so lucky, and Rowena Ravenclaw not so stupid.

The suit of armor Yukimura had knocked back rose to its feet, and Yanagi's broke free from the spider web with impressive strength for a hollow object, and Sanada's picked up the lance with its other hand.

They were approaching again with more bloodlust than before, quickly jabbing at them with the intent to kill. The suits of armor moved faster than Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi, who spent more time backing away than returning blows.

A voice that sounded an awful lot like Professor Reyna shouted in Sanada's mind, "Survive no matter! Use your surroundings and your enemy's force against them!" But nothing came to mind—the room was empty except for their enemy, who were attacking them with spears, not spells. Professor Reyna never prepared them for this.

Yukimura pointed his wand at the iron chandelier, aiming for the chain. "Diffindo!" The chain blasted into pieces, and the iron chandelier fell, but the suits of armor jumped out of the way, quickly reforming their ranks to continue their approach.

"Aim for the joints of the armor," Yanagi said. "The metal there is thinner with more gaps to allow movement."

They were being backed against the wall, taking two steps back for every step the suits of armor took towards them, and it was harder to aim spells while backpedaling than it was stationary. None of them hit the joints.

"We need to destroy them now," Yukimura said.

One of the suits stabbed their lance to Yanagi, who gasped and stumbled back to avoid it, his back pressing against the wall. There was nowhere else to run. A few more steps and one thrust each, and they would be dead.

If they needed destruction, Sanada had the perfect spell.

"Get behind me," Sanada said, stepping forward. His voice left no room for argument, and his friends obeyed. Sanada planted his feet firmly on the ground, pointed his wand at the suits of armor, hoped this worked, and said, "Incendio!"

Burning bright blue flames shot from the tip of Sanada's wand, forming a wall from floor to ceiling that spanned the length of the room and separated them from the enchanted armor. The flame wall flickered as though it was alive. The force of the spell made Sanada's wand shake, forcing him to grip his wand with both hands.

One mistake and he could burn them all alive.

He could not see the suits of armor approaching the wall of fire, but he heard them. Their armor clanked and rattled as they walked towards them. Their lances pierced the flames, drooping from the heat, melting with bursts of red and orange flames and thick black smoke that burned Sanada's lungs.

The suits appeared next, stepping into the flames and quickly falling to their knees, the thin joints melting. One suit of armor jabbed his lance at Sanada, and if the lance had not dropped to the floor, Sanada would have had a flaming hole through his abdomen—he tried to focus on the spell and not think about it.

Piece by piece, the three suits of armor melted.

He held onto the spell for several more moments, unsure of how to stop it. The last time he cast the spell, Professor Vega had snuffed it out for him.

Sanada closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. When he looked, the flames were dissipating into curling wisps of smoke. His wand stopped shaking and soon, it stopped spitting flames. The suits of armor lay in puddles in the middle of the room.

Yukimura and Yanagi approached him.

"Genichirou," Yukimura said, looking at Sanada with respect. He did not say anything else.

"That was brilliant," Yanagi said. "You were able to control the spell!"

"I don't know if I could do it again," Sanada said.

"You could," Yukimura said with great confidence. "I know you could."

Yukimura smiled with ease, so sure in Sanada's abilities, and Sanada thought he meant it. When Yukimura believed in him, Sanada felt as though he could do anything.

"I never thought Ravenclaw would protect her library like this," Sanada said, wiping the sweat from his face. "She must have been mad."

"She most likely did not want her greatest treasure to fall into the wrong hands," Yanagi said. "I doubt that she expected three first years to attempt her to find her library."

"Even the smartest witches and wizards would fail if they weren't strong," Yukimura said. "It's a good way to ensure her library's safety."

Behind them, the stones on the wall began to shift, revealing a short pathway to another wooden door. Destroying the suits of armor must have unlocked the way.

"Let's go," Yukimura ordered. "Who knows how many more puzzles there are?"

"As long as more inanimate objects don't attack us," Sanada said.

Surprisingly, the path to the new door was not trapped or enchanted. Sanada wondered when he would stop second-guessing his every step if they ever got out of here.

A bit of parchment with bronze ink and Rowena Ravenclaw's handwriting was pinned to the wooden door. To the right of the door there was a metal ring with three keys—one gold, one silver, and one bronze—hanging on a dull lead pin that had been shoved into the stone wall.

Yanagi tried the knob. "Locked," he said, though Sanada was expecting that. Yanagi pointed his wand. "Alohomora." The door remained locked.

"It looks like another riddle," Yukimura said, looking at the parchment.

"What if we destroy the door?" Sanada asked. "That's easier than figuring out another one of her riddles."

"Destroying the door may destroy the path on the other side," Yanagi said. "We could destroy the path to Ravenclaw's library forever."

Sanada was beginning to not care about the library at all. He just wanted a way out of this place and to get as far away from Ravenclaw's crazy puzzles and traps as physically possible.

He knew Yukimura and Yanagi did not share the same sentiment.

"Then we need to choose the right key," Yukimura said. "The riddle may have clues."

Sanada looked over Yukimura's shoulder to read the riddle.

Let your eyes choose and you shall be deceived,
For wit and cunning are all that you need.
The first and third are wrong indeed,
But best not choose the second key.
One is a fool, but it is not made of gold;
Choose this path, and you will have time to grow old.
Danger lies behind, while safety lies ahead,
Yet if you pick gold, you'll find nothing but dread.

"This doesn't make any sense," Yanagi said. "There is no answer. All of the keys are wrong; 'the first and third are wrong indeed, but best not choose the second key.'"

"'One is a fool, but it is not made of gold; choose this path, and you will have time to grow old,'" Yukimura read. "So either silver or bronze are fake keys, and it won't harm us if we use it. We're not supposed to use the second key, which is silver, so that means the bronze key is a fake. Since gold leads to dread, that leaves the silver key."

"But we're not supposed to pick the second key," Yanagi said. "There is no answer."

"Maybe one of the clues is wrong," Sanada suggested. "That's what the first two lines about being deceived could mean. Maybe we have to figure out which clues are real."

"Perhaps… But how would we know which lines are fake and which are real?"

No one said anything while they thought.

"But what if we just can't see it?" Yukimura mumbled as he stepped forward. He took the ring of keys off the pin, handed them to Sanada, and then began to pull at the pin wedged into the stone wall.

"Seiichi?" Sanada asked.

"I have an idea," Yukimura said simply. He planted his feet on the ground, using his entire weight as leverage, and pulled as hard as he could. He grunted with the force it took, but slowly, the pin began to slide free from the stones.

With great difficulty and some wiggling, Yukimura yanked the lead pin out of the wall and held it up for them to see. At the end of the pin was a key ward with bumps and divots. The lead pin was a key.

"'Let your eyes choose and you shall be deceived,'" Yukimura said, breathing heavily but smiling, "'for wit and cunning are all that you need.'"

"The real key was hidden." Yanagi said in awe. "How did you know?"

"Well, if none of the visible keys were right, then there had to be a fourth option," Yukimura said. "It reminded me about the invisible ink on the scroll and the hidden path to the door. Ravenclaw does enjoy hiding things."

"Like libraries," Sanada grumbled.

Yukimura laughed softly, said, "I think this key is safe to use."

When Sanada and Yanagi nodded in agreement, Yukimura put the key into the door, turning it with a click. He tried the knob and it turned, the door opening inward.

They stepped inside, their wands lit.

"Is this…?" Yanagi asked.

Yukimura ran forward, smiling brightly. "It is!"

They had found it, Sanada thought as he followed Yukimura.

They had finally found Rowena Ravenclaw's lost library.

Intricate columns sprouted out from the stone flooring like trees alongside the tall, dark wood, floor to ceiling bookcases. They walked onto a hovering crossroad, each path leading to another section of books. In the hollows of the crossword, they can see more floors above and below them, stretching out further than their eyes could see.

The magnitude of the library left Sanada breathless. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of bookcases, and perhaps more that they could not see. They could spend forever in this place and never read every book it held.

"Miss Hanamura would faint if she saw this," Yukimura said.

"I think I may faint," Yanagi said.

"Please don't," Sanada said.

Yukimura laughed, and so did Yanagi, ecstatic in their victory while Sanada looked for anything that looked like a trap, or could come alive and attack them. He saw nothing. Unless the books flew off the shelves and hurdled towards them, they were safe.

Yukimura spun around in the center of the crossroads, looking at the four paths. He stopped and, looking dazed, asked, "Which way should we go first? Straight, left, right?"

Sanada looked off to the left. Yukimura followed his gaze.

"Left it is!" Yukimura said with a large smile.

"I didn't mean—"

"Of course you did!"

"But I didn't say—"

"Do you hear that?" Yukimura asked, his smile disappearing.

"What are you talking about?"

"Genichirou, be quiet, I really think I heard—"

"I heard it too," Yanagi said, suddenly serious as well.

"Heard what?" Sanada asked.

The screech of metal on metal; the sound of flapping wings; the sharp predatory cries of an approaching creature; Yukimura drew his wand, Sanada and Yanagi quickly mimicking him.

They were not alone.