At precisely ten fifteen that evening, Harry, Ana and Nova met in the common room as planned. Ana couldn't help but giggle softly at Harry's pajamas. "Are those… orcas on your pajamas?"

Harry's nostrils flared. "It's the Vancouver Canucks, my local NHL team, thank-you-very-much," he retorted indignantly. "Like you have room to make fun… you're wearing a Garfield nightgown!"

Ana turned her nose up in the air. "Garfield is infinitely cooler than hockey," she replied snidely. "And his creator, Jim Davis, is from my home state of Indiana! Gotta represent!"

"Shhhhhh," Nova whisper-shouted. "Grow up, both of you! Are you asking to get caught by a trustee?" She scanned the common room to make sure the coast was clear. "So… if we're going to make a break for it, there's no time like the present." She made her way to Old Margie, then waved her friends over to join her.

Nova stamped her foot twice on the platform to activate the lift. The familiar sound of a disembodied old lady's voice greeted the children. "Do I detect some delinquent children trying to leave the tower without consent?"

Ana glared at Harry. "I knew this was going to be a terrible idea, you idiot," she whispered. "Harry, I swear…"

Harry rolled his eyes at Ana, then looked at Nova. "Can she be bribed?"

Nova shrugged. "Only one way to find out, I s'pose…" She closed her eyes for a moment, before addressing Old Margie. "Hi, Old Margie," she said as politely as she could. "Technically, yes, we're not supposed to be out, but what we're doing is very, very important, you know… is there anything we can do to buy your silence?"

The most unexpected thing happened… did Old Margie just laugh? "Tell you what, dear. I suppose I won't tell anyone… for a price."

Nova didn't bat an eye. "Name it."

"An old lady like me gets bored… even lonely at times. I've been standing guard for well over a century, you know, and I could use a little something to while away the lean moments. Do you happen to have a copy of Quidditch Quarterly for me to peruse? That Birmingham Banshee keeper, Woodrow Ferguson, is quite the hunk!" creaked Old Margie.

"You're enamored with a professional quidditch player?" Ana gasped. "I didn't even know you were even capable of reading, or admiring photos…"

Old Margie let out an airy laugh. "Heh. There's a lot you kids don't know about me. So, do you think you can find a copy, or what?"

"It may take a little while, but we should be able to get you that magazine," Nova assured. "But you're a bit out of the loop, I'm afraid… Ferguson hasn't played in quite a long time. He retired before I was born, in fact!"

"Pity," sighed Old Margie in disappointment. "I guess it has been a while then…"

"If you want a current player to drool over, you can't go wrong with Desmond Okafor," suggested Nova. "He's a beater for the Hartford Howlers… one of the best in the game today. Not only that, but he's famous internationally. He made the cover of Witch Weekly a couple of years ago… thousands of British and Irish witches have a massive crush on him!" She giggled. "Myself included. I still have my copy if you want that instead…"

"Oh, I'd be much obliged, love," replied Old Margie in a cheerful tone. "Do be a dear and go fetch it for me. I'll do what I can to scare anyone off that might get suspicious."

"Please be quick," Ana pleaded. "We don't have all night."

"I'll be back in two shakes of a dragon's tail," giggled Nova. She skipped off toward her room as quietly as she could. Less than a minute later, Nova returned, Witch Weekly in hand.

"What took you so long?" Ana asked incredulously.

Smek! Nova gave Ana a sharp open-handed slap on the back of her head. "Shut up, Harrison," she whispered. "So, Old Margie, where do you want me to put this?"

A sudden creaking sound came from behind the children. Harry even jumped, thinking that it was the sound of a door opening, but to their collective relief, a small hatch opened. It looked barely large enough for the magazine to fit, thought Nova.

"If you would be so kind to put it in that slot, I would be most appreciative," purred Old Margie. Nova carefully slipped the magazine in the narrow opening. "Mmmm, thank you so much, love. You've got some good taste, you know…"

"Told you," giggled Nova. "So, mum's the word, right?"

"A deal is a deal," replied Old Margie. "Oh, there is the matter of answering the riddle… I have a mouth but I have no head; I have no pillow but I have a bed. I have banks yet no money; I shimmer and shine when it's sunny. What am I?"

"A river," offered Ana. The unmistakable sound of grinding stone soon followed, and the three children began their descent down the shaft. When they disembarked, Ana tapped Harry on the shoulder. "I hope you know how to actually get inside the Wand Selection Chamber… I don't think anyone aside from faculty knows how to get in."

"I know how to get in. I watched Mister Floyd when he led us down to serve our detention a few weeks ago," replied Harry confidently. "He was much easier to follow than Professor Frye, that's for sure… now, I don't exactly remember how to get there, but I do know that we have to take this grand marble staircase down to the basement…"

"I know how to get there," Nova whispered with assurance. "As long as you know how to open the chamber, we should be all set." She led her friends through a few hallways and to the spiral marble staircase Harry described, and the trio carefully descended the steps to the basement.

The basement was pitch black. Nova whipped out her wand. "Lumos," she murmured as she continued to tiptoe her way through the drafty passageway. A few minutes later, the children came to a dead end. Nova turned to Harry. "Do your thing, Harry," she whispered.

"Okay, I think there's a discolored brick somewhere," Harry remembered audibly. "Nova, could you shine your wand on the wall so I can find it?" Nova pointed her illuminated wand toward the wall as Harry asked. "Aha," Harry yelped a few seconds later as he made out a somewhat off-colored brick at eye level. He pressed his hand on the brick, and sure enough, the wall began to tremble.

Like clockwork, the same four-button panel appeared on the wall. Good thing I paid attention to Mister Floyd last time, he thought to himself as he pushed the buttons in the same sequence as before – blue, green, yellow and finally red. Just as he'd hoped, a large archway opened. Harry was grinning from ear to ear. "Ladies first," he said, gesturing toward the archway.

Nova high-fived Harry as she passed by him; Ana just nodded curtly. Harry then followed his friends into the chamber, which was illuminated by several strategically-placed candelabras throughout the chamber. The trio made their way to the wooden desk near the center of the room. Just like last time, the desk was vacant, but in addition to a large record-keeping book – which undoubtedly kept record of all the wands handed out by Elder Gomer – there was a second, smaller book near the edge of the desk.

Harry and Ana made their way toward the desk, while Nova began exploring the chamber. Harry grabbed the small black book, but was unable to open it as it was sealed shut with a lock. He handed the book to Ana. "Do you think you can open it?" he asked.

Ana shrugged. "Only one way to find out." She drew her mahogany wand and inhaled. "Here goes nothing… alohomora!" She swished her wand deftly in the air, and click! The lock opened, and Ana began flipping through the pages. The last few pages were blank, so she searched for the most recent page with writing on it. "Harry… it's a journal," she whispered. She waved him closer so he could read it with her:

"Wednesday, 9 October 1991

My greatest fears are being realized… I have been gradually succumbing to madness. There is no doubt in my mind that this is the doing of the infernal Orb of Exuberance… damn that vile demoness Gormlaith Gaunt and her deal with Lucifer. Even the hottest flames of the Burning Hells are not sufficient to inflict the eternal agony she deserves.

For years I have fought with every fiber of my being to drown out the voices calling me to claim the souls of mortals, but I am now fully broken beyond redemption. I have taken the life of a young girl in her dormitory area mere hours ago… the voices have quieted some, but I know they will return with a vengeance soon enough.

I know the Orb lies buried in the deepest bowels of the castle, but precisely, I know not where. Whoever finds this entry must find the Orb and destroy it once and for all. I cannot fathom how much further pain and destruction it will cause.

I must hasten the inevitable. I hope I can find the child whose life I so wrongly took, and beg for her forgiveness in the afterlife. Adieu.

G"

Before Ana and Harry could finish reading the journal entry, they heard a shrill, bloodcurdling scream from the other side of the room. Ana and Harry sprinted toward Nova, wands in hand, and saw the source of the shriek… Elder Gomer's body was suspended from the ceiling, with a noose around his neck.

"That… that entry we read was a suicide note," Harry murmured. "So he was responsible for Doolittle's death… I never would have thought him capable of doing something like that."

"Neither did I," said Ana. "Let's… let's just get out of here." She shuddered. "I don't ever want to come back down here again, if I can help it." She turned to Nova. "Are you okay, Nova?"

Nova looked at Ana, her face elongated with terror. "I don't know, Ana… but I'm with you… we need to get out of here, and never come back. I thought this room was terrifying enough when I got my wand two years ago… I had no idea how much worse it could get!"

"Not before I get the journal," said Harry. "I want to read some more of it… I'll give it to a teacher tomorrow morning."

"Are you freaking nuts?" Ana hissed. "That book might be cursed too – just leave it, Harry. We've seen far too much already. I have no interest in taking anything but myself and the two of you back upstairs!"

Judging by her uncharacteristically short temper this evening, Harry didn't want to test Ana's patience any further. "Okay," he whispered.

Ana flashed her signature smile. "Thank you for listening to me this time, Harry. Let's just get back upstairs before we get in any trouble."

As the trio made their way out of the chamber, they heard the sound of footsteps coming from the other side of the hallway. "Shit," Nova muttered under her breath.

Harry looked at his friends. "I'll take the fall if anything comes of this… I don't want anything happening to either of you."

"We joined you on our own accord," Nova said. "We're in this together, no matter what."

The children just stood perfectly still in the middle of the hallway and waited for their fate. The three of them exhaled in relief when they saw the familiar face of Professor Lupin. When he saw the three children standing before him, he practically jumped back in shock.

"I heard a loud scream from down here just a few minutes ago. So, what in Merlin's name are you three doing out of bed?" he asked in a slightly-perturbed tone. "Do you realize how dangerous it is to be wandering the halls of the castle at eleven o'clock at night?"

"I'm sorry, Professor," Harry began, "but we have to show you something. I promise it's very, very important. Could you follow us please?"

Lupin nodded. "Very well," he sighed. "You're fortunate that it's me that's making rounds this evening, and not Madam L. She'd probably dole out twenty demerits apiece! Now, what is it that's so urgent?"

"Elder Gomer, sir," replied Ana. "He's dead… he hanged himself not long after killing Morgan Doolittle. He even admitted as such in his journal."

Lupin's face went sheet-white. "Elder Gomer was responsible for Miss Doolittle's death? I find that hard to believe…" He followed the children back into the Wand Selection Chamber, and Harry handed him the journal.

"Look for the last entry," Harry advised. "It proves his guilt… and you might want to read the entries before that too… it sounds like that Orb you told us about slowly drove him to insanity."

Lupin stroked his short, grizzled beard as he read the entry. "We'll have to locate his wand and have it tested for definitive proof," he murmured. "And what gave you the idea of sneaking off downstairs, unsupervised, in the middle of the night?"

"It was the only thing I could think of because I know Missy wouldn't have allowed it… I felt like I had to take matters into my own hands," admitted Harry. "I'm sorry for breaking rules, but there was just something that told me to come down here. I don't know what it was, but it was stronger than just a gut feeling."

Nova pointed at Gomer's suspended corpse on the other side of the chamber. "I found his body a few minutes ago, and kinda freaked out…"

"So that was the source of the scream I heard," Lupin replied, barely resisting the urge to chuckle. "Girl, you've got some lungs…" Nova couldn't help but blush.

Lupin shut the journal, and beckoned the children to follow him out of the chamber. "Come on, you three. Let's get back upstairs and climb back in bed, all right? I'll give this book to Professor Fontaine first thing in the morning, but in the meantime… five points to the Horned Serpents for your findings. Each."

"Thank you, Professor," the children said.

Lupin again suppressed the urge to chuckle. "Good work, the lot of you. Just… try not to make a habit of sneaking off in the middle of the night, alright? And if you're that dead-set on an evening excursion in the future… just owl me in advance next time. I might not be opposed to joining you… but just be aware that some nights are better than others, if you catch my drift."

"Cool!" yelped Harry.

"You've got a lot of your father in you, Harry," Lupin said. "I had some right adventures with him back in the day." He winked. "And don't worry, I'll make your excuses should any other faculty get suspicious. Now, if the three of you will follow me, we've got a bit of a jaunt to get back to your tower."

"What about Elder Gomer's body?" asked Ana. "Surely you can't just leave it there all night…"

"Once I've ensured the three of you are back upstairs where you belong, I'll inform Mister Floyd immediately thereafter," promised Lupin. "Before I forget… since you three have been through quite a bit this evening, why don't we make a quick pit stop by my office first so you can all down a vial of Sleeping Draught? Seeing a dead body is quite jarring, to say the least, and may keep you up all night."

"Sounds good, sir," replied Nova. "I think I'm speaking for all of us – we certainly could use a good night's sleep."

Lupin turned around to punch in the appropriate sequence on the four-buttoned panel, and the archway sealed itself just seconds later. Without another word, he led the children out of the eerie basement and back to the more familiar first level of the castle. When they got to his office, he ushered them in and handed them each a small vials of the Sleeping Draught, and told them to take them once they made it back upstairs as the effects were close to instantaneous.

After escorting them upstairs, the children bade each other good evening, and downed their potions as instructed. Within minutes, all three children were sleeping peacefully in their beds.