Chapter 14 - Nightly Excursions

Landing headfirst in the snow again for what must have been the one hundredth time, Holly was immensely disappointed with herself. How could she have been so stupid to assume that the balancing would be in any way similar to regular roller skates. And this wouldn't be an easy fix either, she would have to find a way to get a lot more runes onto her boots to adjust for it. Or find a way to change how the floating worked entirely.

Holly squawked loudly when suddenly a weight pressed down on the back of her head, burying her face in the cold snow again. Wiping the snow out of her hair, she peeked up.

"Hello to you too, Hedwig. Did you manage everything? I hope it wasn't too cold." Her only answer was a letter that was dropped in front of her face.

Sighing to herself, Holly picked it up. This had been the third time Hedwig had tried to deliver that letter. It was addressed to Mr. Flamel, but he probably had some magic hiding him from post owls. That explanation didn't satisfy Hedwig though, since she was the best owl in the whole world, she should be able to find him and deliver the letter anyways. At least that was Holly's interpretation of Hedwig's outraged barks.

Holly agreed of course, if she didn't there would be a lot of nips in painful places. But she thought Hedwig was the best regardless of the threat of bodily harm. Rolling over onto her back, Hedwig gave an angry squawk at having to relocate, Holly sighed again.

Two big problems with seemingly no easy answer on how to solve them. So Holly stood up, slowly making her way into the castle. She took the long way around using side stairs to get back to her dorms, she wanted time to think. Holly called it the long way around, but really she always took this route. Lavender had complained once that Holly never took the easy path using the grand staircase past the mu-. But the extra stairs were a great way to stay in shape during winter. Not like she really needed it with how much she was running around with all the animals. Holly had never been fitter.

Back to the topic of her problems though. Directly writing to Mr. Flamel was apparently not possible. What was she to do, put out a personal ad in the Daily Prophet and hope he reacted to it? Unlikely, not to mention probably expensive. She could hand the letter to Professor Dumbledore so he could deliver it for her… that was even worse and probably very suspicious. Maybe she could find some information to help her in some history book or something. Like another old colleague who'd be willing to relay her letter.

Her boots were another mess, balancing in the air didn't work. Right now the runes just pushed her into the direction the soles were facing, which was honestly a pretty obvious mistake now that she looked at her design again. Elder Futhark just wasn't the most versatile enough runic language with its 24 runes to do much more with to actually fly. Hieroglyphics were versatile, but only if you were trying to curse someone. They really had a lot of ways to curse someone. No wonder curse breakers still found work thousands of years after the downfall of the last big Egyptian empire. Or was it a kingdom, or Pharaodom?

Climbing through the portrait hole after giving the password, Holly continued thinking. Her book on Mayan runes was only a beginners guide and barely covered any of their use cases or an actual alphabet. Just some basics and history. There were still the Sumeranian and Mesopotamian runes where she'd had some basics from her mum's books, but there was nothing on them in the regular part of the Hogwarts library. Apparently they were too dangerous for that… if they were that dangerous, then why were they in her mum's regular school book?

Since they weren't in the normal section, Holly had to find a way into the restricted parts. But how was she supposed to get in there? No sane teacher would sign her a slip of permission to borrow books on old and dangerous magics. Snape would just give her more detentions if she dared ask, this time to actually squeeze slugs, dismember toads or scrub cauldrons. And her usual tactic of just waltzing into forbidden places wouldn't work with the restricted section being locked and Madam Pince keeping an eye on the entrances like a hawk.

Frustrated, Holly flopped onto her bed. Hedwig, who'd been riding on her shoulder the entire time, fluttered over onto her perch and started preening. Holly groaned into her pillow when she noticed a bump pressing into her stomach. Too lazy to get up again, she struggled with pulling out whatever it was from underneath her.

It was the cloak…

The cloak that made invisible and would make it possible to sneak into the restricted section at night. Whoever sent it to her must have been a seer, because this was exactly what she'd need right now.

Course of action decided, Holly made her way down to breakfast. Breaking into places on an empty stomach was a bad idea.

The castle was eerily quiet and as dark as the night. Most of the braziers that usually lit the way with a warm fire were either completely out, or the flames were so small that you could only see for a couple feet around one. They were like a beacon for anything living and just walking past one felt like Holly would be spotted.

But she was invisible. With a bag over her shoulder and the cloak covering her body, Holly made her way to the library as quietly as she could. It was freezing in the corridors, her pyjamas weren't heated like her normal robes. She really should have worn some of her regular clothes, thankfully the cloak kept her decently warm.

It wasn't warmth like her runes provided, but it felt like the cloak lit a small fire in her heart that slowly expanded throughout her body once she put it on. It was like the cloak spread a blanket of comfort and safety over her body, similarly to how holding her wand for the first time had made her feel.

When Holly finally arrived at the big library doors, she let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She had walked past Mrs. Norris, who'd been cleaning herself in the light of one of the braziers, without any issue. Hopefully her luck would continue like this.

The door was locked of course, but with her key it was easy to get inside. The rows of bookshelves were illuminated by moonlight that streamed in through the windows. It gave the library a very spooky atmosphere. Like an old abandoned building.

Holly moved past each row of shelves on quiet steps until she reached the small gated area that was the entrance to the restricted section. The small door in the ceiling high fence opened just as easily as the library main doors.

She'd expected to feel different somehow the moment she stepped over the threshold, but there was nothing. Taking a look behind herself to make sure no one was there, Holly made her way between the rows of the restricted section.

There were actually tables here. They were sparse but it seemed like you weren't allowed to take the books you wanted to read out of the restricted section.

Taking out a small pebble, she activated the runes on it and it started shining light in a small cone in front of her. Now, did this section have the same expectation reading magic or would she have to search through everything herself.

When Holly thought about Mesopotamian runes but couldn't see any of the books shifting she let out a sigh. Of course it couldn't be this easy.

Using her pebble as a flashlight she slowly made her way through the first row, checking the book titles in the process. There were some seriously ridiculous books in the restricted section. What did a book like "SMILE: How to Interact with Strangers" do in between "The Secrets of the Dark Arts" and "Blood Rituals: For the Self Made Necromancer".

Holly wasn't dumb enough to pick them up though. She'd heard stories about how many of the books were cursed in one way or another. Wasting away reading a book she couldn't stop reading wasn't on her agenda today. Especially because she was invisible and no one would find her.

Looking at the titles, there really was no rhyme or reason to what book was stored where. They were seemingly just thrown on the shelf at the earliest free spot the librarian could find. And what was up with the hundreds of books about the Dark Arts or the Darkest Arts and the Even Darker Arts…

It took Holly a good hour of searching to find the first book on runes. But it was the same book her mother had had in her time at school. Judging by the weathered look it was either a much earlier edition or somehow cursed. Did they just throw any old cursed book in here they could find?

She eventually found a book on Sumeranian runes. Holly had hoped for a general book on the runes for the area of Mesopotamia, but one on the first civilization to migrate there should still be very useful.

After spending a good hour just copying runes and their meanings or interpretations into her new notebook that she had dedicated to reworking her boots, Holly was exhausted. These ancient runes were much more interconnected and intricate than she'd expected. The basic ones she'd seen from her mother's book seemed very simple in comparison.

She'd also started on a small design on how she could make a new mouse toy for Hedwig using these on a separate piece of paper. It helped her in visualising and learning the ways of how the runes connected and interacted with each other. Instead of just simple runes with meanings, they had gap words like English did. If she used their variations of "and", "or" and others then she could for one strengthen her designs so they bled less magic. As well as fit more functionality into the same space as with Elder Futhark. Though, it didn't have words for some things that Futhark could do. Maybe these two could work simultaneously.

Coincidentally her glow stone ran out of magic when Holly had copied most of what she was looking for. But it wasn't nearly enough to satisfy her curiosity, so she pulled out another stone and made her way back between the shelves to look for more books.

Holly found a useful book way quicker this time around. Picking up "Ancient Curses and How to Use Them: Runes", she got a really bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. There was a cold wind that froze her down to the bones. Involuntarily her hands began to open the book to reveal blank pages. Only, once the book was fully open, it started bleeding a black substance out of them.

The black blood started pooling around Holly's feet, but she couldn't move. She was still frozen stiff and just attempting to move, she could hear her bones creak and it felt like they were about to shatter. Holly's eyes darted about wildly when something gripped at her feet, trying to pull her into the blood. She didn't sink, but it burned .

She couldn't move her head down far enough to see what was actually happening, but she was absolutely terrified. Tears started streaming down her face, she didn't want to die!

Holly was desperately trying to close the book, but it hurt so bad whenever she tried that she just ended up crying harder. Her heart almost jumped out of her chest when there was a quiet shushing sound. Focusing back into the book where it had come from, she wanted to scream.

The pages were being ripped apart by the seam, but from the inside. White, scaly fingers with nails like knives had emerged out of the pages and were pulling the pages apart, making the book bleed all the more. Slowly, very slowly, the hole began to widen, until hands that were attached to the fingers could fully exit. They instantly shot out to her arms, gripping onto her wrists. The arms didn't seem to have elbow joints because they were all twisted the wrong way while trying to pull Holly into the book. Or maybe pull something out of the book. The knifelike nails dug into her arms painfully, but were protected by the gloves she was wearing.

Holly could only watch on in horror and pain as whatever creature that was stuck inside the book pulled itself far enough that its head was finally peeking out of the hole in the pages. White skin, no nose, empty eye sockets and a sharp, creepy smile that reached from ear to ear. If this thing even had ears.

When its face was only mere inches from Holly's own, she heard the shushing sound again. Then the thing used one of its nails to wipe the tears off her cheek, cutting deep into it in the process. While the other hand wrapped around her throat, starting to choke her, it took the finger that had wiped her cheek back to its mouth. It had split open to reveal rows upon rows of pointed, sharp teeth, there must have been hundreds in there. They were all rotten and yellow, spreading a feeling of sickness and death that got stronger the closer its face got.

Holly was trying her hardest to close the book again to hopefully end this nightmare. And when the thing licked her tears and blood off its finger with a tongue as long as Holly's arm, something in her snapped. Throwing all her will into her left arm trying to make it move something finally happened.

There was a feeling of a dam breaking. Her left hand shot over to her right hand, closing the book. She gasped for fresh air when the pressure on her throat disappeared and there was an explosion of pain in her arm. Finally being able to move, Holly threw herself backwards, away from the book that fell to the floor. She crashed into one of the shelves, making even more books topple to the ground.

Sobbing loudly, Holly first looked around to make sure the thing was gone, before inspecting her arm when it thankfully was actually not there, trying to eat her face. Could this have been an illusion? Her hand was throbbing with pain, but nothing seemed to be wrong with it. Though whenever she tried to move her fingers, they just spasmed and cramped up.

Holly almost fell over when she attempted to stand on her wobbly legs again. They felt like jelly and her ankles hurt from whatever had gripped her there. Not bothering to clean up, Holly slowly started hobbling back to her table, cradling her throbbing, left arm.

When the main library doors banged open, she quickly deactivated the glow stone that was hovering over her shoulder and illuminating her way. She was almost back at the table.

"Who's there, show yourself!? When we get you, you'll be hung in the dungeon and whipped!" It was Filch.

Panicking, Holly stumbled over the chair she'd been using, making a lot of noise. As quickly as possible she picked up her notebook and hid it under her cloak so it was invisible as well. Not being able to carry anything with her left hand, she started hobbling away from the desk as quietly and quickly as possible.

Holly almost had a heart attack when a shadow shot by just half a step in front of her. She had to bite her lip as hard as possible not to make a sound.

"Here Professor, they left this behind. Can't be too far away. The ink hasn't dried yet."

She didn't care about whatever she'd forgotten in her rush. Now she just wanted to leave and get back to bed. Making her way towards the gate of the restricted section, Holly was glad when it wasn't locked, she wouldn't have the nerve to search for her key in her bag right now.

The main doors to the library weren't locked either, but they fell into the lock with a loud click. Hearing hurried footsteps from the other side, Holly ran in whatever direction seemed best. If only her feet weren't hurting so much.

"This way, whoever it is, is bleeding!"

Holly quickly wiped at her face and was surprised when it stung to touch her cheek. The realisation that the monster in the book had actually been real and not just an illusion made her hurry even more. She just wanted to get away!

After taking a right at an intersecting corridor, Holly entered the first unlocked door she could find, dropped her bag, pulled out her key and locked the door as quietly as possible.

Relief flooded her, when the steps that had been echoing after her moved past her door and further down the corridor.

Completely exhausted, Holly sank to the ground and leaned against the cold stone of the castle, quickly falling asleep.

Holly startled awake again from having fallen over in her sleep. Not more than an hour could have passed, the soft moonlight was still streaming in through the window, illuminating the room she was currently in.

But she couldn't appreciate the nice atmosphere right now. Pulling off her gloves, Holly began inspecting her still throbbing arm. Everything seemed blurry, so she checked if her glasses were still there. Only, they were. But instead her hands felt wetness on her cheeks. She was crying again.

The realisation hit her then. She could very well have died back there. Hugging her knees to her chest, Holly broke down into pained sobs. Never again. Never again would she go back there. At least not without being able to identify cursed books. This had been a nightmare and she was glad that she had been able to wake up from it.

Not having any tissues, Holly used her pyjama sleeves to wipe her tears and snot when it got too much. They just wouldn't stop coming. Any time she closed her eyes, all she could see was the wide smile and rows of disgusting teeth. All her thoughts revolved around the thing in the book.

Her whole body was shivering and she felt so, so cold. Not even her cloak's presence helped soothe her feelings or give her warmth.

It felt like she spent hours just sitting there leaning at the castle wall, crying. Eventually though she calmed down enough to at least be able to see clearly.

The room she was currently in was almost completely empty. Everything was dusty, except a pristine looking mirror that stood in the middle of the room. It had a frame of gold with intricate carvings, spelling some nonsense at the top.

Wanting to inspect herself in the mirror after her ordeal, Holly slowly approached. She hoped this wasn't cursed as well, though it really shouldn't be. The door had been unlocked so it should be fine… right?

Being as careful as possible, ready to run at the smallest sign of trouble, Holly took a peek into the mirror. She looked an absolute mess, her hair was all over the place, pyjamas and cloak dishevelled, eyes red and puffy and streaks of tears still visible on her skin. She was also really dirty and dusty, but thankfully there was no inky black blood anywhere on her body. It seemed like the mirror was just a normal mirror.

Then there was a small red line under her eye from where the thing had touched her. But that was it for visible signs of anything happening. Her throat had no sign of being choked, arms looked like the same ugly things that they always were and pulling up her pants a little, her ankles were also free of any marks.

Holly fell on her arse in fright, when the mirror surface rippled a little and her mother stepped into the frame. Quickly looking to her side, she was disappointed when her mum wasn't actually there.

When she looked back into the mirror, Holly was captivated by what she saw. Her mum had started taking care of the cut on her cheek and kissing wherever it hurt. Just like what Holly had seen mothers do when their child got injured. Something she herself had never experienced growing up.

Seeing this, her chest hurt and she started crying again. And when her mother started hugging her crying reflection, soothing and stroking her hair, Holly straight up started bawling.

She'd been wrong, this mirror was cursed after all. And as painful as it was, Holly simply couldn't look away.