"I think we're going to have to take Remus up on his offer to send us a book," Hermione complained at their regular library table, two weeks after they defeated the basilisk. "I've been all over, and there's nothing on occlumency or legilimency in the library."
"We still haven't checked the restricted section?" Ron suggested.
"No, I did," Harry corrected him. "The other night, while you two were doing the shelving quest for Pince. Didn't see anything in there, either. But I didn't really open anything, just looked at the spines."
"I think Professor Snape knows we're onto him," she noted. "He keeps trying to trick me into looking him in the eye in class."
"Yeah, I saw him do that little sidestep on Thursday to try to catch you," Ron confirmed. "Maybe he had them remove all the books because he knows."
"Might have removed them when he started teaching," Harry figured.
"I'm just going to ask," Hermione decided. "Madam Pince should like us enough by now." Not waiting for permission, she got up and headed over to the librarian's counter, quietly asking, "Excuse me, Madam? I was trying to do an extra credit on mind magic after what Professor Lockhart tried. I can find lots of books mentioning obliviation, only, well, I've heard of legilimency and occlumency, too, and can't find any books about either."
The severe librarian narrowed her eyes in thought after coming to the conclusion that, indeed, Hermione Granger probably had looked in all the reasonable places. "Accio Protection Charm Your Mind," she tried, with a significant wand swish. Frowning when nothing caught on her summon, she tried, "Accio Barnett's Guide to Advanced Occlumency." She waited another few seconds before admitting, "I was quite certain those volumes were in the catalog… I'll attempt to turn them up and let you know when they're back on the shelves."
"Thank you, madam," Hermione said. "And legilimency?"
Pince admitted, "There won't be anything on that, except mentioned in other references. As far as I know it's a highly controlled technique, limited to trained Ministry interrogators. They don't want to risk just anyone knowing it."
"So using it outside of an interrogation is illegal?" Hermione checked.
"Quite likely, though I'm not sure how you'd prove it, used wandlessly," Pince agreed. She was clearly upset that its controlled nature meant the Hogwarts collection would remain empty of any volumes on the topic.
Hermione relayed all of that back at the table. "I wonder when she last checked the collection list," Harry mused. "Doesn't really let us know when the books were removed, or who did it."
"But it does mean they're supposed to be here and someone did take them," Ron figured. "It could have been recent. Maybe the Heir?"
"I hope a student isn't already a trained mind reader," Hermione frowned. "But, Harry, I guess if you get that Mental Fortress warning looking at a student, that would be a major clue."
"Right. Here's hoping," he nodded. "Well, back to it. Time for a couple more shelves before dinner."
In the last two weeks, he'd managed about 20 more shelves, as well as another point free and clear in Combat Magic and two more in Basic Dodging from practice in defense class. Most of his core class skills were at 9, and his electives were all at 5. Based on the assumption that 20 would be the cap for the end of fifth year, Hermione figured he was basically on track to get all Outstandings for his classes in their current year.
His experience in class was continuing to bear that out. Between not being able to make eye contact with Harry or his friends to try reading their minds and the perfect potions he'd been turning in, Snape was clearly quietly seething. In Dawlish's class, he was the only one consistently winning practice duels. It barely seemed fair, since the rest of his classmates had no previous combat magic experience, other than whatever Ron had picked up practicing with the twins.
Considering that he was starting to have quite reasonable scores in enchanting and spellcrafting, Harry's biggest hurdle with those skills was that the capacity wasn't the technique. If someone taught him some enchanting and spellcrafting recipes, he'd probably do a good job, but learning those took more practice than just flipping open a skill book. Well, he was assuming that spellcrafting was a crafting skill similar to potions. He lacked the theoretical basis to figure out whether he could just invent a spell.
He'd tried. Turned out you couldn't just say made-up Latin words and swing your wand and expect something new to happen. And his growing comprehension at Conversational Latin 8 led him to believe some of the spell incantations were very shaky Latin indeed. Clearly he was missing something. It didn't help that as soon as he'd started trying, he had a new quest appear to show it was possible.
SPELLING BEE
Repeatable Quest
Invent a new spell.
Perhaps the most interesting thing was that, in light of his newfound confidence (having everyone knowing that he'd killed a basilisk and was doing very well in class was an interesting experience), he'd noticed his Charisma tick up to 9, proving that he could get his attributes up outside of perks with enough effort. He'd been putting more work into athletics in quidditch, hoping his Body score would rank up as well. He wondered if his Intelligence would go up if he wasn't essentially cheating at class with the skill books.
Either way, he was hoping that he could at least get all the attributes up to 10, so he wouldn't feel like a failure in those statistics.
They were trying to decide what to do with their Sunday evening after dinner when Harry noticed a quest marker on his map moving around quickly just outside the front doors. "Something very fast has a quest outside," he mentioned to Ron and Hermione.
"Dark out already," Hermione warned.
"Full moon, though, so we should be able to see," Ron corrected.
"That doesn't make me feel better, Ron," she argued.
"We can at least check it out," Harry shrugged. "Looks like it's headed around the castle so we can catch it on the door we use for quidditch practice."
[Marauders: Active] Harry Potter: Quest marker outside. Looks interesting. We're going to check it out at the door that goes to the pitch.
Lee Jordan replies: We're on our way.
Lee and the twins met them at the door and as soon as the six Marauders were outside, the quest marker began making a rush straight in their direction. As their eyes adjusted to the full moon, they could make out a big black spot racing across the grounds.
FANG
Dog Familiar
[RUBEUS HAGRID]
"It's just Fang," Harry confirmed, as the dog's nameplate and golden exclamation point became visible.
Within moments, the giant black boarhound had bounded up to them, flecks of foamy spittle from the exertion of running around flowing out of his flapping jowls. He whined pitifully, barked, and looked back toward the forest.
"You have something you need us to do, boy? Is it Hagrid?" Harry checked. Their oversized friend had been missing from the staff table at dinner.
Fang barked in confirmation, and his quest marker turned silver.
WELL WISHER
Timed Quest: 1:52:17
Something is wrong.
O Follow Fang
WARNING: Level 5 Quest
"Well, it's definitely a quest," he confirmed for everyone else. "Not much information other than that we should follow him, it's a level 5 quest, and that we have under two hours. Not sure if that's when something bad happens or just when they realize we missed curfew."
"We're going to get in so much trouble," Hermione sighed, but gamely followed the boys as they followed the dog. Honestly, it was like the past couple of months had seen her previous blind faith in teachers transfer into blind faith in the game system. As long as it suggested something was a good idea, she was, well, game.
Fang loped along, clearly keeping up a speed that allowed them to follow, making for a spot in the wall of trees somewhere between the lake and Hagrid's hut. "Guess we're going in, not just to his hut," Harry acknowledged. Somehow he'd been hoping Hagrid had just hit his head in the hut and needed escorting to Madam Pomfrey.
Even with the light from the full moon, they needed to light their wands not far into the trees, immediately blowing out what little distance vision they had but allowing them to avoid tripping on tree roots and other undergrowth. Harry's map wasn't much more help, only fully filling in within the few yards of light they had around the group, the rest a roiling swirl of fog of war. And he was almost certain that the fog was filling back in behind them.
"Navigate to Hagrid's Hut," he tried, remembering that the castle itself was unplottable. Either because he'd chosen well or because they were currently within the unplottability, an arrow appeared on his map and a trail lit up back and to his left. "At least I think I can get us back out," he confirmed to everyone.
"The… uh… the dementors aren't supposed to be in the forest, right?" Ron suddenly realized.
"Surely they're keeping them near Hogsmeade," Hermione agreed, her widened eyes flashing in the wandlight as she worried that she and Ron might be wrong.
They quieted after that, hustling after Fang and hoping the dog knew where he was going. The last time Harry had been in the forest at night, it was to discover the shade of Voldemort killing unicorns. Somehow, the trees felt even more oppressive than they had then. Maybe it was because they were venturing even deeper, or maybe there were dementors nearby.
After about half an hour of walking, according to the quest timer, they began to see spiderwebs in the trees. Many of them. "Are… are there spiders in the forest?" Ron checked.
Fang had begun to tread quietly, the cowardly dog shaking a bit, clearly only heading on because of the six children backing him up and a need to get to his master. Harry said, "If there are, I'm sure knockback jinxes will be fine…"
"I don't know…" Fred whispered, "There are rumors of things this deep in the forest."
"It might take something stronger," George finished.
Before it came to that, Fang barked quietly and padded to a stop at the edge of a rocky cliff. No. As their eyes resolved to the moonlight shining down into the clearing, it was a pit: essentially a vertical cave, at least ten feet across. The soil had long eroded off of the rocky hills, down into whatever depths the yawning hole in the earth hid.
And there was a green dot in the hole. Harry rotated his map as much as he could, seeing that the dot was some distance beneath the ground level they were currently standing on. "Hagrid?" he called down, as loudly as he dared in the web-wrapped woods.
"Harry, that yeh?" the big man's voice echoed up. "What're yeh doin' out here?"
WELL WISHER
Timed Quest: 1:21:39
Something is wrong.
* Follow Fang
O Rescue Hagrid
"Fang got us," he answered.
"Well, that's embarassin'," the gamekeeper called up. "But, since yer here… help a fella out? Walls were steeper'n I thought."
"Sure," Harry nodded, and everyone peered over to figure out how hard it was going to be to get someone that might weigh close to a ton out of a pit. "What are you even doing out here?"
Leaning over the edge, they could see Hagrid about a dozen yards down the pit, where the steep sides and damp soil were keeping him from making his own way up, and the standing water that disappeared further into the bend in the cave prevented him from trying to find another way out. He smiled seeing friendly faces and explained, "Tryin' ter figure if that ruddy big snake had another exit from the caves under the castle. I think I'm prolly a bit far out, though. Jus' remembered this hole from the las' time I visited a friend o' mine."
"You have friends in spider alley?" Ron gulped.
"Well… seein' as that friend is Aragog… yeah. I told yeh about 'im."
"You didn't say he was still alive and leaving his webs all over the forest!" Ron moaned.
"Well, he found a girlfriend at some poin', so not all the webs're his, but from his youngins," the big man shrugged. "They're sweet kids."
Everyone traded a look. If these "sweet kids" were anything like Norbert the dragon, who Hagrid also thought was a cute baby…
And, as if on cue—or at least as if attracted by all the noise—red dots began to appear at the edges of Harry's map. "We've got company," he warned everyone. He did a quick assessment of the party, taking in Ron's obvious fear of spiders, Hermione's apparent shock at a crisis she hadn't already planned for, and Lee's growing need to point out that he was more of a lover than a fighter. "The twins and I will hold them off. You three get Hagrid out?"
That seemed to suit everyone, so the members of the quidditch team strode forward to give the others some room to work and so they wouldn't get backed into the hole. "I hope this moonlight is going to be enough to see by," Fred said, extinguishing his wand so he could use it for spells.
"Cast bright enough, and it shouldn't be a problem," George figured.
"Six coming in. Nox," Harry alerted them, extinguishing his own wand. "If the spells we know won't work…"
"Use the environment," George suggested.
"If you lot can levitate a troll club, you can use a rock or a log," Fred agreed.
"Fair enough," Harry nodded. He spotted a loose boulder as big as his head and incanted, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The twins levitated a large log each.
By the time they had their makeshift bludgeons floating, the enemy was upon them. Chittering in distaste at having to leave the trees, a half dozen dog-sized spiders emerged into the moonlight, spread into a semicircle as they entered the clearing.
SPAWN OF ARAGOG
Acromantula, Level 5
Fang whimpered, covering Ron's very similar noise as he spotted the large arachnids. "Get that rope conjured," he nagged Lee.
And then it was a fight. Fred was using his log as a barricade to keep the enemy from getting closer, while George swung his more like a beater's club to try to smash the chitinous beasts. Harry was providing the bludger, the heavy rock accelerating like a battleship under a charm not meant for the purpose but impacting with force all the same. He realized he needed to learn whatever more effective spell the twins were using, which starting with "Mobili-" but he'd missed the rest. At least his newly-increased magical stamina was keeping it manageable to maintain the levitation charm on a heavy rock.
"Nobody mentioned quidditch has other uses!" Harry said, pleased, as he realized that the three of them were basically enacting one of Wood's anti-bludger drills. It wasn't as fast as in the air, but the three of them had an excellent ability to keep one another in peripheral vision and not get in the way as they maneuvered.
A spider thought it was leaping at George's unprotected back, only for Harry's rock to sweep into it with a plastic thunk and carry it back into the forest. Another almost got his leg, before he effortlessly dodged over the sweeping log that one of the twins had sent his way, batting the spider far off of the battlefield.
They were still outnumbered, and couldn't move as much as they'd like without giving the spiders a straight shot at their friends back at the pit. Fred had to drop his log and put up a shield spell, which managed to last exactly long enough to bounce a spider before it shattered. George sent his log flying to break a charge from two of the spiders, and then went to casting, only to find that spells were as ineffectual as they'd feared, just washing off the shiny carapaces of the small monsters.
Something tickled at the back of his head, his rising Spellcrafting and comprehension of Latin suggesting that he might at least try to come up with a custom spell for the situation. Yelling at the top of his lungs his intention to banish the spiders, he incanted, "Aranea Eximo!" Well, he tried to. Some intuitive understanding of arithmancy made his mouth jumble the Latin into, "Arania Exumai," and a blue cone of light flared and knocked four of the spiders that were getting close back into the trees.
The Spelling Bee quest flashed, though it remained in his log because it was repeatable. As it highlighted, however, a completion prompt appeared.
QUEST COMPLETE
100 XP Earned
Quest Reward: Spider-Repelling Charm
"Well, that'll be helpful," Fred nodded.
"You could have led with that," George told him.
"I think I just invented it," Harry shrugged.
"We should have taken arithmancy," George told Fred.
"But it's Percy's favorite. Who knew it would be useful?" Fred argued.
The last spider looked like it was considering whether it could still make a play for dinner when Hagrid levered his enormous bulk over the lip of the pit, pulling himself on the conjured rope as Lee, Hermione, and Ron did their best to levitate him by his clothes to make the climbing easier. "Oy! Bad kids! Yeh little ones aren't supposed ter be huntin' people! Don't make me tell Aragog on yeh!"
Harry had never seen a giant spider look chastised before. It lowered itself until it was almost touching the ground, then scurried off. Harry could see the other red dots turn gray and head off until they all disappeared from his map.
"Well. That were a bit tense, but it all worked out," Hagrid said, clearly trying to convince himself as much as everyone else. "Better be gettin' yeh all back."
To Harry's relief, the quest decided not to make them wait until they were all the way safe in their beds, and completed as they began striding into the forest back toward the school.
QUEST COMPLETE
150 XP Earned + 250 Combat XP
Harry grinned at the extra XP from the level 5 quest, especially when Ron and Hermione were both swept in a golden glow and their levels increased to 3. I just felt right to him to say, "Hey guys… congrats!"
He wasn't totally sure why that had come with the urge to shorten the word and end it with a Z.