1985
"Did the owl deliver my letter?"
Merlin knew it was taking her a lot of effort to come up with something more or less meaningful to say as soon as she saw him. Okay, it looks like Rowan wasn't exaggerating when she said that Bill was one of the most popular boys in school - Era even took her breath away. He was much taller, his ginger hair glistening in the sunlight, his hand with a wand clenched in it casting spells at dummies as confidently and clearly as if he had been doing it since he was a child.
Could she really just walk up to him and ask for his help? Did a fourth-year even care about her problems?
Bill turned and made her heart flutter for the second time: he was smiling so brightly, as if he saw a person he had known for a long time.
"What can I do for you, Arrain?"
"Do you know me?"
At her surprised look, Bill cursed - his interest was too obvious, wasn't it? So the stupid excuse came out before he could bite his tongue:
"When the Daily Prophet published articles about your brother, my parents discussed it," stupid, they barely exchanged a few words, just felt sorry for the guy. But Bill, as if that wasn't enough, added a cherry on top: "There are rumours that you are following in his footsteps..."
"Oh, well..." the girl looked down, confused, so he hurried to find some way of smoothing over the awkward situation he'd caused:
"Actually, I find it quite intriguing. I mean, Cursed Vaults, adventures, you know..." Arrain smiled tightly. "You said you needed help, didn't you?" With these Vaults or..."
"With finding my brother," the girl's eyes grew serious. "I don't need Vaults, wealth or anything else. I know my brother was obsessed with them, and he's been missing for a while, so I'm hoping there might be a clue or... something in there that would explain his disappearance."
"I'll help you then."
"Really?!" her eyes finally lit up, just as they had last year when she knocked the wand out of the hands of her offending schoolmate. Bill remembered that look: jubilant, full of hopefulness.
But could he stay away? Could he turn down the opportunity to meet a Slytherin girl who had been talked about so much, so often, that by the second year of her schooling Bill seemed to have collected a thousand and one rumours about her?
"Of course. Ice is dangerous for everyone in the school. Maybe if we deal with one of the Vaults, it will disappear. Besides," and this was much closer to the truth, "I've never had to be involved in breaking curses before."
"Oh, that's just... amazing, Bill. Thank you," she breathed out in relief, but he shook his head:
"It's too early to thank yet. We still can't be sure that everything will work out, we need to prepare... even for the fact that one of us might get hurt. Let's take our time and think about what spells might be useful and discuss them next weekend.
"That's right," Arrain nodded thoughtfully, and after a second her face lit up with a bright smile. "Thanks anyway. And... just Era, okay?"
Waving goodbye, she ran off and soon disappeared behind the school's door, leaving Bill standing on the training ground looking after her. "Just Era," huh? Was that what her friends called her? So, are they also some kind of friends now, or is it too early to talk about that? He shook his head, trying to get rid of stupid thoughts.
And as for the help he offered... of course, yes, Bill clearly felt the danger coming from the Vaults and wanted to help uncover their secrets, but at the same time... It was their first direct conversation, and the interest that had been suppressed for the past year suddenly lifted its head and loosened his tongue.
Bill sighed and ran his fingers through his long hair.
"I almost ruined the first impression," he whispered to himself.
"He seems so cool," she whispered to herself as she walked along the stone floor of the corridor. "It's understandable why Rowan wants to meet him so badly. Who would have thought that Bill would be interested in messing with me and... oh, stop it, Era, you need to think about spells and preparation!"
The girl stopped abruptly and slapped her cheeks several times with her palms.
"Study, study! Books, library... Rowan!" she shouted, noticing her friend. "Hey, I'm here!"
"How did it go?" Khanna blurted out as soon as she reached her. "What did he say? Agreed?"
The girl was trembling with excitement, much more excited, it seemed, about the possibility of Bill joining their company - which was actually out of the question. Bill was two years older, he had his own friends - probably, who knew? - and the primary task was still the Vaults.
"Yep," Era nodded. "Agreed, so now we need... what?"
Interrupting her, Rowan nudged her friend with her shoulder and nodded in the direction, and following her gaze, Era saw Bill, also apparently rushing off to lunch. Turning, he noticed her and... waved his hand, smiling.
Rowan nearly exploded with joy.
"Last year, the students thought it was funny to use this spell on the floor and use it as a trampoline. Madam Pomfrey refused to scrape them off the ceiling, so I do not recommend repeating it in advance. Once again, I strongly do not advise it, especially for your class, which is prone to increased mischief," McGonagall looked around at each student with a stern expression. "On page one hundred and seventy-two, you will find a chapter on Softening Charms..."
As she turned the pages, Arrain thought they might be useful. When the curse hit Rowan and threw her several metres away, she hit her head so hard that she lost consciousness, so using it in advance will add a tiny percentage to their safety.
Otherwise, nothing else useful could be found for the whole week.
When she returned to the training ground seven days later, she found Bill training on the dummies again, and just like the first time, he turned to her with a friendly smile.
"'Hey! I thought," he began, "even though you already know what a duel is, after the incident with... Merula, if I'm not mistaken. Anyway..."
"Wait, were you there then?" came out in surprise, and Bill had to bite his tongue again.
"N-no", why couldn't he stop dodging and just tell the truth? "My brother Charlie told me. He's a second-year now, just like you, but... it doesn't matter. I wanted to offer to teach you something, but first... what can you do in duels?"
"Well, not so much..." the girl shrugged. "My Prefect and Professor Flitwick gave me a few lessons, I learned a few things myself, but in general I still have a lot to work on."
"Then how about a friendly duel?" Bill cocked his head sideways and raised his eyebrows. Era, pulling out her wand, nodded and assumed the required pose without further conversation.
He had heard so much about her abilities, to be honest. The teachers seemed to let her get away with everything just because of her success in school. Last year, Slytherin was a hundred points ahead of his House, and at the beginning of this year, the number of emeralds collected in the hourglass of the green House in the Great Hall was significantly higher than that of the other three. For some reason, Weasley had no doubt that she was actively involved in this.
With a nod, Bill got ready, giving her the right to attack first.
Maybe he shouldn't really have done that.
He managed to fend off Incarcerous, but then the Depulso flew in and knocked the ground out from under him.
"Confundo!" he threw, jumping up but missing. "Melofors!"
"Protego! Fulgari!"
Bill dodged, feeling the excitement flare up inside him. They weren't lying... rumours. Merlin knew why she was so insecure about her dueling skills, but the spells she was aiming at him were not so easy to master at that age.
"Everte Statum!"
"Protego! Stupefy!"
Avoiding it, Bill stumbled so inopportunely and fell, for some reason suddenly bursting into laughter. Wow... a bit more and he would have been caught.
"I give up," he said, still laughing, and dropped his wand on the grass nearby. After a dozen quiet steps, Arrain plopped down beside him, her lips parted in a smile. "You say you have much to learn, but I would take a few lessons from you myself! Remind me never to challenge you to a duel in the future."
She smiles even wider, shyly scratching the tip of her nose.
For a sophomore with no serious experience (or so it seemed until recently), she beats him surprisingly easily (though he gives up too early). Immediately afterwards, Bill, impressed, offers to teach her his favourite spell - who has been pulling his tongue all this time, really? However, the excuse is quickly found: there is ice in the Cursed Vaults, and some hot Incendio will help against it.
Arrain was a year older, but there was still a touch of childhood in her features, something that could not be said of her fighting skills. Bill seemed to be fascinated by her from the moment he saw how confidently she held the wand, as if it were an extension of her hand, how calmly, without hesitation, she used spells she was not supposed to know. Even though he was only fifteen (next month), he could admit that a twelve-year-old Slytherin girl had caught his attention last year. He had wanted to know more about her then, but he had convinced himself that it was unreasonable, unfeasible and unnecessary.
Now he would have crossed out all the 'un's.
"So, how did it go? Did you study some advanced magic? Chat about the weather? Did he ask anything about me?" her friend's eyes shone with interest, and Era was sorry to say this, but...
"I don't think he knows much about you yet," lying wasn't the best option. "But I did tell him that you have six different editions of the Standard Book of Spells... He seemed impressed."
"Really?!" there was no trace of the sad expression on her face. "Then let's find something else useful. You know, I recently..."
Era winced and pressed her fingers to her temples: she had been suffering from headaches for the past few days. While her friend chatted and spread out books, she tried to focus her vision and make out at least one word, but the cacophony of sounds made it impossible. It came from nowhere, usually without lingering, but it was disorientating and always accompanied by pain that lasted for a long time.
It had never happened to her before.
Madam Pomfrey gave her the potion about a week ago, saying there was no better medicine for headaches and stress. The first time, the symptoms really did subside, leaving only echoes, but the second and subsequent similar attacks nothing helped. Neither this potion, nor a stronger one, nor a check-up - everything was fine with her. She was advised to rest more and exert herself less. Madam Pomfrey even warned the professors not to burden her with extra work.
"...promise you'll tell him about me, will you? If he suddenly needs a training partner or help, just tell him to send me an owl! Promise?"
"Y-yes, okay..."
Rowan hugged her, causing her to stagger and the throbbing pain in her temples to beat with renewed force.
There was too much of everything. There were about five people in the common room of their House, not counting the two of them, but they were talking so loudly that she wanted to escape to the most deserted place or hide her head under a pillow in case of emergency.
For some reason, they didn't bother Rowan at all.
Fortunately, her head was obedient enough to complete tasks for most of the day. Deciding not to rush to break into the Vault, she and Bill honed their skills with Charms, while Rowan, Penny and Ben quietly joined their ranks in the training ground, first as observers and then as active participants. As promised, Era introduced her best friend to Weasley, and Rowan followed his every move with glee, forcing Bill to shrug his shoulders from time to time in embarrassment.
About two weeks later, however, something truly terrible happened: Professor Sinistra and the students were caught in an ice trap in Astronomy class late one night. A little later, Ravenclaw's Quidditch team was trapped in the Changing Room by it. The professors ran around the castle melting the ice, but it only seemed to get more aggressive. Hagrid even blurted out that Professor Dumbledore, who had been absent for a long time, had gone in search of a famous Curse Breaker, which meant that the matter was beyond the teachers' capabilities.
There was no sense or time in postponing the event, so Era and Bill soon found themselves near the secret entrance.
"Are you ready?" she asked him doubtfully, realising that faced with what was to come, anyone could have chickened out, but Bill just grinned.
"Ready? I couldn't wait! Finally, I can stop talking about becoming a Curse Breaker and start doing it!" his confidence inspired hope. Exhausted by the training, the waiting and her condition, Arrain just wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. "Stay behind, okay? I'll feel a bit calmer when you're safe."
She blinked several times, not expecting such a thing. No one had looked after her like this since Jacob's disappearance, and it suddenly pushed other thoughts out of her head.
"Are you sure?" she muttered. "You've probably never seen anything like this before. It's... dangerous out there."
"That's why I'm asking you to walk behind me."
Bill remained silent as they climbed the stairs, shivering with the growing cold. After a few more steps, he turned and cast a warming spell on her - Era looked into his eyes and froze again, speechless. Smiling, the guy repeated the same spell for himself and moved on. At the entrance to the corridor, completely covered in thick ice, he stopped and exhaled:
"Damn, it's just... unbelievable."
That is what it is. Since her last visit, the ice has reclaimed even more area, blocking the entrance to the door at the end of the corridor where Rowan was injured.
"How did you get there last time?"
"'Without a problem. The entrance was clear. Maybe this is another protection of the Vault," Samudra shrugged, feeling the warming charms gently, like a blanket enveloping and warming.
Incendio solved the problem with the overgrown ice, clearing the way, but another curse flew out of the door and this time - for some reason again - past her, straight into Bill. Panic rose in her throat, clutching its paws around her neck, as she, risking setting her new friend on fire, used Incendio on the ice that grabbed him.
"T-that's dangerous," Bill said, shivering from the first shock of the biting cold. Whether the spell was broken, no longer warming, or whether the curse was stronger - he did not know, but just in case, he pushed the girl behind his back with a trembling hand and pulled the wand from his pocket. "We'll have to dodge if this thing keeps casting curses. Careful!"
Another flash shot out of the door above their heads before Bill suddenly crouched down and pulled her down with him.
"This is not gonna work," Era shook her head. No matter how warm - in every sense of the word - she didn't feel, it was time to act more decisively if they didn't want to freeze to death here. "If you will protect me, we'll be here until morning. Let's try..."
"Era!"
The voice echoed from the depths of the stairs they had come from. A faint, uncertain voice she had least expected to hear.
"Ben?..." escaped with doubt, but she called out in reply anyway: "We're here!"
Out of breath, the boy appeared before them a minute later, shivering either from the cold or from fear. At the moment, though, he didn't look particularly frightened, even if the situation was favourable.
"Penny's helping the professors now, so she asked me to give you some ointment for burns and frostbite," he said in a stream, "and Rowan showed me where to go. Actually, I... I thought you might need some help, so..."
"Behaved like a proper Gryffindor!" Bill patted him on the shoulder, receiving a faint smile in return.
And the three of them really did manage to melt the ice faster and easier on a huge door that might lead to one of the Vaults. As the water flowed down the surface, it became a thin, slippery crust on the threshold. And before Era had time to think about what they had achieved, they had removed a kind of ice lock, avoiding falling under the spell, when something on the other side suddenly struck. Then again and again.
"I was thinking..." Bill grinned nervously and jerked his head. "What if that door isn't stopping us from entering, but holding someone back inside?"
Perhaps Era knew the answer.
And it was soon confirmed - the beats sounded close by, the doors opened and... a knight came towards them! The very same ones she had seen in the vision. The Ice Knight attacked them - apparently it was he who had sent the curses from behind the door earlier, as poor Ben was immediately trapped by the ice. Left alone again, he and Bill had to literally replay their recent friendly duel on the training ground, only this time the opponent was something... inhuman. The knight advanced, and they barely had time to fend off the attacks before one finally flew into Bill.
At some point, Arrain thought they had already been defeated. That she would now be captured like her friends, trapped and left to freeze to death, and the secrets of the Vaults would remain secrets, and Hogwarts, if Dumbledore didn't have time to find the real Curse Breaker, would eventually be covered with ice and become unfit for existence, and it would be good if everyone managed to escape and didn't freeze to death in the middle of the night in their dreams.
"You c-can," Bill managed hoarsely, freezing to his core for the second time, and then Era shook off her thoughts. She stepped away from the curse, took a deep breath, tried to pull herself together as Jacob had taught her, and realised that no one else was going to help them. She moved back to avoid hurting the boys, and the moment the knight's armour attacked, she ducked and threw Bombarda Maxima.
Fortunately, she chose her moment and hit her target: debris scattered everywhere, one of which hit the ice that bound Bill, causing it to crack and crumble. Ben was surprisingly stoic.
Nothing else was in their way - or so it seemed, as they went in unhindered, teeth chattering.
As in the vision, there was a room inside with a dozen of the same armour that they were attacked, standing in a circle, with a huge glowing column in the centre. Something unknown caused Arrain to touch it.
The doors of the column swung open, and inside... well, not the treasure of legends, just a broken wand and a book. Bill snorted:
"If people have been chasing after this, risking their lives, then I sincerely feel sorry for them."
"Maybe these are clues?" she tilted her head questioningly. Era tried to pick up the things they found, but at the first touch, everything around her faded, and a voice seemed to speak from the depths of consciousness:
Find the other four Cursed Vaults... Find my room... don't let them get there first... Hurry!
"...hey, hey, Era! Wake up! Drop it!"
"'Oh... Where is he?" she mumbled half-consciously, looking around. Bill, shaking her and trying to snatch the book from her hands, asked in a confused way:
"Who?"
"Jacob..." still unaware of the words, she looked at her friend. "I heard a voice telling me to find more Vaults. It was Jacob..."
"Oh... oh, he probably let only you to hear him. What else did he say?"
"That there were four more vaults left and that I had to find them before her," Era sank to the ground wearily, and the boys immediately followed her - their legs could barely carry them. Ben asked again:
"Her?"
"That's what he said. I have no idea..."
And they have nothing else to do here. Three of them left the strange place with their finds, having removed - thanks to Ben - all traces of their presence there before.
It was amazing how well he knew such spells...
As much as one would like to believe that the mystery and misfortune would end with the destruction of the ice curse, things only got stranger by the hour.
The found book contained nothing but scribbles, apparently drawn by Jacob's hand. On the one hand, it was not really clear what was drawn there, but on the other hand... maybe Rowan would help to find out, because her brother's diary was in a place specific enough to be a fake. Perhaps he had coded the clues to the following repositories in this way.
In any case, they had to deal with a number of related problems, such as the ice that disappeared without a trace and the teachers who were baffled by it and suspected no one but them.
Fair enough...
"You see, Miss Samudra... This is not the first time ice has appeared at Hogwarts," Minerva looked her straight in the eye a little later, when things had more or less calmed down and the victims of the curse had finally recovered. "Just like the last time someone tried to open the Cursed Vault. And it disappeared of its own accord, not for the first time, when the door was open. I suppose you can guess who that first person was?"
"My... brother?" were there any other options?
"We still don't know for sure how and why this Vault reappeared, or who got in this time... To tell the truth, we don't have much information about them. And I'm not going to ask you if you're responsible. However... I know of no other student who has shown so much interest, recklessness and talent in studying and... other things related to the Cursed Vault. Fortunately for you, we have found no sign of your direct involvement, so I will not take any points away from Slytherin.
Era exhaled reverently: Not everything is as bad as it seemed at first. Except that, despite her words, Professor McGonagall had escorted her straight to the Headmaster for a conversation. Despite everything, remembering last year, she was no longer particularly afraid of being expelled, or even just punished.
Confirming the suspicions, Dumbledore noted her heroism in breaking the ice curse and awarded her fifty points. How he knew every detail of their adventure remained, as always, a mystery behind seven seals. In gratitude for the points earned for the House, the professor only asked to leave the Vaults and the search for the missing Jacob to him.
"In your third year, Arrain, I would like to meet with you again and talk about something else that does not involve your misbehaviour and rule-breaking," he added.
But she couldn't promise.
"You probably think I'm as crazy as everyone says, don't you?" the girl smiled sadly, turning the pages of the book thoughtlessly. "I keep hearing voices, I'm always looking for something and..."
"No, not at all."
Bill watched her out of the corner of his eye, wondering where she got it all from. Of course, visions and voices of any kind were not common occurrences, and yet... it happened to people from time to time. To be honest, he didn't care much about her small and not very small strange things, but she herself, as a person... as someone who discovered so much for him, who taught him something, a person he could teach as well...
Era was absolutely charming.
He couldn't help but notice how she looked now, in this dim light, when they both sat at a table in a corner of the library, peering at thick volumes and trying to gather information, although not a single thought needed to linger in his head. Those funny curls that kept tickling her face, then her neck, then her arms, freckles darker than his own, eyes that reflected the colour of her House.
Her lips twitched when she spoke of something exciting, and it made his heart beat faster. She was something... special, an interesting event in his life, fascinating. And he allowed himself to be carried away for the rest of the year, spending all his free time in the new company, from completing homework to playing Gobstones.
On trips to Hogsmeade, where second years are not allowed to go, Bill always brings her some of her favourite Peppermint Toads.
The rest of the year was a blur for Arrain, partly because of the growing headaches that still seemed to have no end. The small joys of the school years quickly fade from memory, replaced by a piercing ache in her temples, but some memories cling to her for a long time: special successes or praise from teachers, time with friends and Bill. There's a lot of Bill in her memory and in her life - they spend almost all their free time together and for some reason it's so easy with him, as if they've known each other all their lives.
Era does not have to make excuses when she was is not in the mood, or force a smile against her will - Bill seemed to feel that she was incapable of speaking anyway. At such moments he was a silent support nearby.
There are still some very bright moments that won't be easily forgotten: a few months before the holidays, the boys from the older years formed a music group. Two of them, Myron and Kirley, study in the same House with her; they are both talented and have never bullied her. Moreover, after the curse was broken, they (Myron to be exact, as Kirley was usually silent) called her "cool" and kept in touch for a year. In the end, their music group, called "The Weird Sisters" without the slightest cause, gets permission from the Headmaster to give a concert at the school, and Myron asks her to help organise it, during which time they chat a lot and it seems that Arrain has a few more friends.
However, things are not going as well as she would like - not with the concert, but with her wellbeing.
By the end of the school year, she was sure she had lost her mind: the voices in her head would not stop. The more people there were, the more her head began to split open, and if before the noise had been in the background and sometimes disappeared completely, now it was throbbing loudly and painfully in her temples, making it impossible to concentrate. As time went on, she came to a conclusion, having ruled out the other possibilities: either she really had lost her mind, or the noise was beginning to resemble the voices of the people next to her. She could hear them even when they were silent, so... were these their thoughts?
Arrain only fell asleep when everyone else in her room was asleep. She did her homework wherever she could get away from people: on the shore of the lake, in Hagrid's hut when he left and asked her to look after Fang, in the secluded corridors of Hogwarts or in empty classrooms. Bill nodded understandingly and gave her space, exchanging letters instead of personal communication. It's strange enough for people in the same castle, but there aren't many options left - her head explodes with pain at any unnecessary movement or interaction.
Jacob warned that this could happen, as he himself had suffered from it for a long time. But Era never thought that things could get so critical that even with friends it was only possible to talk by force and through clenched teeth. Only a few people knew about it, because she did not want to cause unnecessary excitement, but it was getting harder and harder to wait for the summer holidays.
Anyway, the second year was drawing to a close. Aunt Biddy promised to take her to her remote sheep farm in Ireland. Era thought about refusing at first, because she would rather hide in her room at home and not stick her nose out all summer, but... well, sheep were not bad either. At least their thoughts won't get into her head.
It was just a bit sad to say goodbye to friends at the station. They will see each other soon anyway, but she really needs some rest.
2022
"Mum?"
A soft voice made Hermione turn in the middle of the corridor, afraid of being knocked down by the students rushing to dinner. Manoeuvring between them, Rose caught up with her in three paces.
"Yes, love?"
"How's the day?"
"As peaceful as yours, I hope," the woman breathed, tucking a stray strand of her daughter's hair behind her ear. "Anything interesting happen?"
"Yes, actually, Zoya's parents sent her a newspaper this morning and there was a poster... Anyway, 'The Weird Sisters' are coming to London in two weeks for a concert," Rose blurted out in one breath. "And, you know, I like them so much..."
"But..."
"But we can't leave school unaccompanied outside the holidays. I was wondering if I could go, and could you come with us? Zoya's parents don't mind, but they can't leave work. And it'll be Saturday, so... if you don't have any other plans..."
As her monologue went on, Rose lost more and more confidence in her words, and ended up not even trying to look her mother in the eye - she knew her mother was busy, of course. And weekends for Hogwarts teachers were rarely such: students had to be looked after round the clock. On top of that, it seemed that the day before, the fifth and seventh years were scheduled for major independent work on Charms and Transfiguration, after which essays and expositions would lie in endless piles of rolled parchment on - and probably around - the table, waiting to be examined.
"I promise I'll think of something," Hermione put her arm around her daughter's shoulders, rubbing her palm on her shoulder. "You need to keep looking up."