Cassandra Reed and the Curse of Mordred
Chapter 6
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Cass tried to listen.
Really, she did.
But something about having just killed an attempted kidnapper with magic you did not even realize that you possessed made that a touch difficult.
Professor McGonagall, to her credit, seemed to understand. Cass had not even realized that they had fallen into an uneasy silence in the hospital room until the older woman refilled Cass's empty teacup, which had grown cold in her lap.
The stern woman gave no half-hearted words of comfort, no false platitudes. Instead, those too-knowing eyes set Cass with a gaze that seemed to see right into her thoughts.
Maybe she could, Cass realized. Nothing seemed impossible anymore.
The thought should have made her want to pull her hair out shout. Cry. Anything.
All she could feel was a vast wall of numbing calm.
Cass barely blinked as Orion stepped through the door, sweat beading on his forehead and brow furrowed with concern.
An expression that only deepened when he saw Cass.
"We need to be going." he said to the Headmistress, casting a glance down the empty hallway." The nurses have their protocols. The ministry will be here soon."
McGonagall stood with a sigh." The one time the ministry is actually perfunctory. Is everything taken care of?"
"As much as can be expected." Orion replied with a nod, though he followed it with a grimace. "I'm running out of favors."
"I expect you may need to call in a few more before this business is through, Professor." McGonagall sighed, fingers rolling absent-mindedly on a brooch resting on her robes. "Let us hope that the Minister soon turns his attention elsewhere and Potter returns soon."
"We'd sooner see a kelpie in the desert." Muttered Orion with a bitter twist of his lips.
"Miracles have been known to occur where he is concerned." McGonagall replied.
Then, the Headmistress pulled out her wand, the ebony wood swishing through the air with precise, clipped motion.
The teacup in Cass's had wobbled then it along with the rest of the table, dishes and food spun in on itself before disappearing with a soft pop.
Cass knew she should feel surprised, but it was as though her emotions were locked behind that impenetrable wall of numbing apathy.
Even so, her curiosity sparked.
"Where does it all go?" She asked, her voice sounding odd and flat to her ears.
The Professors blinked. The corner of Orion's mouth twitched as though containing a smile.
"That's what wakes you up?" The Headmistress looked amused.
"It must go somewhere, right?" Cass replied. "How exactly does it work?"
The Headmistress looked as though she were about to respond, eyes lighting up at the delight only a teacher could feel at the thought of an impending lecture.
"We really must be going." Orion cut in. "They'll have Stevens with them. She's particularly skilled at tracking disapparation and I'd like the traces gone long before then."
McGonagall looked almost disappointed at this missed opportunity, but nodded, nonetheless. "Yes. Let us be off."
McGonagall held out a long arm expectantly. Cass grasped it, uncertain and awkward.
"It's best if you close your eyes." Orion gave Cass a pitying look before he, much like the teacup, disappeared into thin air.
A dozen questions suddenly swirled at the tip of Cass's tongue, but before she could ask them, the world tumbled into oblivion.
She wished she had listened to Orion's advice.
Bile rose in her throat and tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as she felt the checkered tile spun until it was no longer recognizable.
For a moment she was weightless. Everywhere and nowhere. Whole, and apart. She was no longer Cass the failed journalist, but something beyond herself.
Then, as suddenly as the sensation hit, it was gone.
Cass fell to her knees with a heavy thump, surprised to find soft, dewy grass sprouting up from between her fingers.
And promptly hurled what remained of the teacakes onto the ground before her.
"I did warn you." Orion called out from behind her, though he did not sound nearly as contrite as Cass would have liked.
"You could use some work on your communication skills." Cass grumbled, wiping her mouth with the back of her sleeve. Her legs shook as she stood, but the lingering nausea was quickly forgotten as she beheld the wondrous sight before her.
A vast castle lay nestled against verdant hills, the smoke-grey spines stretching up toward the sky before disappearing behind a nest of low-hanging clouds. A flock of birds twirled around the rambling towers and long halls before diving toward a shimmering blue lake below.
Cass felt her jaw drop, her breath stolen as she took in the sight. It was as though she had fallen into a fairy tale.
Whether it was one in which toes were cut off and children were eaten remained to be seen.
The Headmistress gave a pleased sigh and Cass got the sense that the older women never got tired of this view.
"Miss Reed." She began. "Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
The castle was a labyrinth of twisting passages, each more miraculous than the next. Braziers that gave off no heat danced from along the ancient stone walls, guiding the trio toward stairs that moved with their own, apparently vindictive, regard. Portraits, more ancient and varied than Cass had seen even in the National Gallery, whispered and stared as they passed, causing Cass's cheeks to flush.
"You'll get used to them." Orion muttered, scowling at the portrait of a knight, who promptly returned the expression with a rude gesture of his own. "They become insufferable busybodies over the summer without the students."
" Right..." Cass replied, voice thin. The awe and excitement of seeing the castle was fading, allowing the exhaustion of the day to seep in.
Heaven and hell, had she ever felt so…lost?
It was even worse than the day she lost her job as an investigative journalist. When everything went to shit.
Cass followed the Headmistress up a curving stairwell embellished with the carving of a dragon. As they passed, she could have sworn the dragon winked.
Nope. Definitely not enough spoons for that.
"This will be your room while you are with us." The Headmistress stopped before a plain door, one of several on the landing. "Professor Hebrides is away on extended sabbatical and is not expected back until the winter term."
Cass stepped into the room, eyes scanning this way and that, half expecting the furniture to start dancing Beauty and the Beast-style.
Instead, she found a sparse but comfortably furnished room. A curved wall showcased a tall, gothic style window that offered a glimpse of the lake below. A plain quilt rested atop a simple bed that had been pushed against the wall, giving space for a sturdy desk, much too large for the room. The solid walnut piece was set near the window, late afternoon sun casting a warm glow over neatly organized stacks of parchment.
Her heart gave a tiny flutter.
She had always wanted to write at a desk like this.
Powerful. Confident. Timeless.
And for that desk to be in a castle tower overlooking the Highlands?
Cass had to resist the urge to pinch herself. She could almost forget the terrifying events that led to her being there.
"Thank you." She breathed, realizing that she had been silent a beat too long.
McGonagall simply nodded. "I have some business to take care of. Professor Morikawa, I trust you will help our guest get acquainted with the castle."
Orion seemed as though he were about to contradict the Headmistress when something flashed across her eyes and his mouth snapped shut, acknowledging her directive with a curt nod.
"You'll be safe at Hogwarts," McGonagall said as she stepped out the door. "So long as you stay within the grounds. I will assist you in the search for answers as my duties allow."
The Headmistress gave a sharp nod of farewell, leaving Cass and Orion alone.
Cass said nothing, knowing she had missed some sort of social cue. She should have been more grateful. Asked questions. Said anything.
She was being rude, and she could not find it in herself to care.
Orion cleaned his throat." I-er. My room is just next door, should you need anything."
A thought suddenly came to Cass's mind as she looked around the empty room. "My things." She began, surprised it had not occurred to her sooner. She had lived and died by her phone for so many years, yet she had only thought to have it now.
"I had a bag with me before the – when I went into that house. I should text my friends and let them know I'm okay."
She added the last part as a whim, somehow embarrassed by the thought of this stranger thinking that she was an utter loner.
It had never bothered her this much before.
The whiskey had probably helped with that.
She half expected the professor to reply with a blank stare. Did wizards even need phones?
"I'll check with St. Mungos." He replied, brow furrowed. "Discretely. I don't remember you having a bag when we disapparated from the cellar."
Cass chewed on the inside of her cheek. Had she dropped it when she had leapt forward? She had to hope those cultists didn't have it.
Even if they did get her cards, it wasn't like there was much to spend it on.
Orian seemed to read her thoughts. "I'll do what I can to find out. We have contacts in the Muggle world to help make arrangements with your employers and cards and such."
"All I need is a phone, or some internet. Just to let them know I'll be back." She could not lose this job, too, as awful as it was.
"No wifi around Hogwarts. No internet, either." He gave a half- hearted shrug. "Not for lack of trying. The magic is too old, too concentrated."
Cass took a heavy seat on the edge of the bed. "I need to have some way to contact work, at least. I can't lose my job. Not over…" She waved her hand around, not able to put the situation into words.
Orion's eyes deepened with sympathy. "It'll be okay. I still have some friends in the Muggle Relations office who can help."
Cass looked down at the palms of her hands, no sign of the lightning that had coursed through them mere hours before.
Muggle Relations. As though they lived in a foreign world, not sharing the same isle air.
"Your world really is separate from mine." She said, the full weight of the castle's isolation pushing down on her.
"Hidden, but not separate." Orion replied with a thoughtful turn of the head. "I think we'd like to believe the wizarding world is separate; it would be easier. But its messy, like most things."
"And yet you know about my world – the Muggle world – but we don't know about yours?"
There was something prickling at the back of Cass's mind. A seed, just barely taking root. It pushed back against the panic and exhaustion that had been closing in.
"It hardly seems fair, doesn't it?"
"Nothing in life is." Orion replied, a touch too bitter to be a casual comment. He cleared his throat, as though to push the conversation aside.
"I'll come fetch you when it's time for supper and show you to the Great Hall. Feel free to get settled. This will be your home until we can undo that curse." He sounded unhappy, but it could have been Cass's imagination.
"Thank you, Orion." Cass said as the professor turned to leave. "For everything."
He gave her a long look, his expression unreadable, before letting the door click shut behind him.
Despite the exhaustion weighing on her bones, Cass strode over to the desk, relieved to find several perfectly normal pens and pencils tucked way in the drawers.
She set out a piece of parchment before her, giving herself several breaths to organize her thoughts.
Just a day ago, she had thought the mysterious artifact thief was going to be the breakthrough story that could rebuild her career.
Then, those hopes crumbled as her reality was shattered by curse and magic and so many unbelievable things.
Everything she had worked so hard for. The friendships lost. The dates ghosted. The endless ramen dinners...
So many sacrifices,
It would not be in vain. Perhaps it all led her here to this moment, standing in a magical castle full of secrets waiting to be discovered.
Waiting to be told.
After all, what could be a bigger story than revealing the existence of an entire magical world?
If only she survived long enough to unveil it.
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