Chapter eleven
The Dragon Ring
The following morning, Rick awoke by someone screaming. Jumping up to see what was going on, his eyes landed on Rigel who was dancing around his bed.
"It's here, it's here!" He shouted.
"What is?" Rick asked, still sleepy but Rigel didn't reply, too busy unwrapping a large package near the foot of his bed. Intrigued by Rigel's enthusiasm, the other boys gathered around Rigel's bed and watched as their dormmate unveiled a broom. Even with his limited knowledge of brooms, Rick could tell this was a quality broom, in much better nick and probably quite a bit more expensive and better than the school brooms they used in class.
"Is that your broom?" Colin asked and he couldn't keep a hint of admiration and jealously out of his voice.
"Yes." Rigel replied proudly. "I sent an owl to my uncle to have it sent here and he did! Look!" Rigel caressed the beautifully polished handle and checked if there were any twigs out of place on the tail. "I take great care of it." He explained. "I used to polish it every day before I came to Hogwarts. It's the latest Cleansweep, naught to sixty in ten seconds."
"First years weren't allowed to have a broom." Sanders remarked enviously. Rick too, vaguely remembered reading something like that on his school supplies list. Honestly, Rick didn't understand what the fuss was about but he wouldn't put it past Sanders and Anderson to tell a professor about this just put Rigel and him in their place.
"What they don't know, can't hurt them, right?" Rigel appealed sheepishly to his dormmates. Anderson didn't look convinced.
"We should report this to professor Griffiths, you know." He said with a pointed look at Rigel, who took the hint. You could hardly miss the look of longing on Anderson's face, he wanted to fly the Cleansweep as much as the rest of them, with the exception of Cedric perhaps.
"I'll let you fly it if you promise not to tell?" Rigel offered.
"OK." Anderson accepted without hesitation.
"Great." Rigel exclaimed. "Come on, we'll try it out after breakfast."
Rigel informed Terri of their plan over breakfast and she joined the boys outside in the cool morning air. Rather reluctantly, Rigel let Anderson, Sanders and McCallum try his Cleansweep first while the rest of them looked on. Anderson was a fair flyer, as was Sanders but McCallum was a complete disaster and Rick saw Rigel wince more than once as McCallum handled his precious Cleansweep. McCallum could barely keep the broom straight and twice, he nearly crashed into a tree, nearly causing Rigel to have a fit. As it was, Rigel quickly and rather brusquely took his broom away from McCallum before he wrecked it. Finally, Anderson, Sanders and McCallum left so Rigel, Rick and Terri could have a turn. Cedric accompanied them but refrained from taking a turn, saying he was happy to just watch. .
Rick got to go first and he did not hesitate to take off. Rigel's broom was amazing, much faster and agile than the old brooms they used in flying class. Terri, Rick and Rigel kept passing the broom between them, each taking a turn flying until the sun set and it became too dark to see where they were flying and they were forced to head back to the common room.
"This was a bad idea. We shouldn't be out this late, it's forbidden. Someone could catch us." Cedric said panicky as they snuck back into the castle.
"Keep your voice down, genius, or we'll definitely get caught." Rick scolded.
"Keep your eyes and ears open." Rigel advised. "If anyone hears anything-"
"Shhh!" Rick shushed him. There were voices coming their way. The four friends scrambled to get away and Terri pointed to a broom cupboard where they could hide. They all got in as quickly and noiselessly as possible and Rick managed to close the door behind him just as the voices were coming around the corner. There wasn't much room in the cupboard with the four of them and Rick found himself uncomfortably pressed against the door. He didn't dare move to make himself more comfortable as the voices came closer and they could make out two people talking. One voice Rick recognized as professor Creedon's, their History of Magic professor, the other was unfamiliar.
"And you believe the students know something about Doge's murder?" Creedon asked in his familiar hoarse and raspy tone.
"Not necessarily about the murder." The unfamiliar voice replied. "But we do have reason to believe that Doge dealt in dark objects. It may very well have been a deal gone wrong that got him killed but I'm mostly here to make sure none of the students purchased such an object at Doge's, knowingly or unknowingly, thereby endangering this school."
"I see." Creedon replied. "No, we wouldn't want such an object at our beloved school. Anything in particular you're looking for?"
"Yes, we seem to be missing a ring with the emblem of a dragon on it." The other man replied.
"I see." Creedon repeated. "Well, I must say, I haven't seen anything like it around here."
"But you will keep an eye out and let me know if you do, won't you? For the safety of the students."
"Of course, of course, Cormac. I'm always prepared to help the ministry." Creedon replied obediently.
"That would be much appreciated. Also, I must ask not to tell anyone what we're looking for, we would not want to scare anyone."
"Of course, I understand." Professor Creedon replied.
"Excellent, I hope to hear from you soon." The man called Cormac walked away and a few seconds later, Rick heard Creedon shuffling away as well. The four friends waited a few more seconds to make sure the coast was clear before stepping out into the hallway. Without a word, they hightailed it back to the common room.
"What in Merlin's name was that about?" Rigel said as soon as they stepped through the portrait hole.
"That was Cormac." Cedric answered. "You know, the guy from the department of Magical Law Enforcement they mentioned in the article, the one who's looking for Doge's killer."
"He's looking for Doge's killer here at Hogwarts?" Terri asked, sounding surprised.
"No, you heard him, he's just looking for a dark object, a dragon ring of some kind." Rick corrected.
"Yes, but Cormac believes it's at Hogwarts, who's to say Doge's killer isn't too?" Terri theorized but Rigel dismissed the idea.
"I'm sure the ministry, not to mention Aldebourne, would provide extra protection if they really thought the killer was here." He said wisely.
"Still, that doesn't take away that there might be a dark object here." Cedric observed with a shudder.
"I don't understand why that's so bad?" Rick asked. "It's only a ring, isn't it? How much harm can it do?"
"You don't understand." Rigel replied. "Dark objects can be incredibly dangerous, even if they aren't being used. I've heard my dad talk about objects that corrupt people or drive them mad because they spent too much time near it."
"I shudder to think someone might have actually bought it intentionally and is now planning some sort of dark ritual that'll plunge the entire school into darkness." Cedric gabbled. Terri, Rick and Rigel stared at him.
"You read too much, Cedric." Rick admonished him.
"Nevertheless," Rigel added. "Anyone who plans to use a dark object is not planning to do anything good with it. I hate to imagine what someone like Mordaunt or Rydell would do with something like that ring." The thought alone caused the hair at the back of Rick's neck to stand up.
"But what is this ring capable of?" He asked but neither of his friends replied. "Have you ever heard of a dragon ring?" He addressed Rigel and Cedric, the two people most likely to know about magical objects.
"No, sorry." Rigel shook his head.
"Me neither." Cedric said. "But I'll look it up in the library tomorrow."
They kept talking about Cormac, Doge and the ring until long into the night. When they finally called it a night and went to bed, Rick had trouble sleeping. He kept thinking there was something he was forgetting but each time he thought he was close to the answer, it slipped away again. After a while, he dismissed the feeling, telling himself he was just imagining it and that Cedric would probably find the answer in the morning anyway and he drifted off to sleep.
The following morning at breakfast, Terri was quick to point out that there was an addition to the head table in the Great Hall. Rick looked up to see a man in his thirties with brown hair and a finely trimmed circle beard sitting at the right end of the table. He seemed to have already finished breakfast and was serenely observing the students.
"Who do you think that is?" Rigel asked.
"I don't know." Rick replied. They kept an eye on the man throughout breakfast but he remained put until professor Aldebourne rose and beckoned for silence.
"Good morning, everyone." He said. "I trust we all had a good night's sleep and have enjoyed a wonderful breakfast. As you may have noticed, we are joined today by Mr. Claudius Cormac of the ministry of magic. Mr. Cormac is here because of the events that occurred in Hogsmeade yesterday. I would like to stress that there is no reason for fear, Mr. Cormac is just here to make some inquiries. Anyone who was in Doge's Antiquities last Hogsmeade weekend or even if you were just near it and noticed something peculiar, please report to Mr Cormac, even if it seems unimportant. Likewise, should you be called upon to answer some questions, I expect everyone, students and staff, to lend their full cooperation." A lot of murmurs rose following Aldebourne's announcement and the headmaster paused, realizing he would not be heard anymore.
"What was it you said, Rigel?" Terri teased. "If a killer was heading for Hogwarts, there would be more protection from the ministry?"
"Cormac is one guy, I think they'd send more if that were the case." Rigel replied smugly. Aldebourne motioned for silence and continued.
"I would like to stress once again that no one has anything to worry about, there is no danger to any of us. If you do have concerns or you believe you have more information, please direct yourself to your prefects, head boy and girl or to your head of house. Thank you."
"Nothing to worry about?" Cedric hissed incredulously as they left the Great Hall, careful that no one overheard. "There's a dark object being kept at the school!"
"You don't know that for sure." Rick reminded him.
"You don't know that it isn't." Cedric persisted, making Rick groan.
"Please don't tell me you're one of those scaredy-cats who's going to run to Griffiths for some reassurance, will you?" He gibed but Cedric didn't reply. Instead, he got a weird look on his face, as if he just realized something. "What's wrong?" Rick asked. He didn't think it was anything he said.
"Griffiths." Cedric muttered.
"What about Griffiths?" Terri asked.
"Didn't you guys say he wasn't at school to give you your detention?"
"He wasn't, he went to Hogsmeade to…" Rigel gasped. "That was the same night as Doge's murder."
"Exactly." Cedric concurred. Silence followed, neither of the four friends willing to speculate about what that could mean though Rick suspected the thought that Griffiths had a part to play in Doge's murder crossed all of their minds. He quickly discarded it though. Griffiths was their head of house, he was cool, he wouldn't kill anyone.
"It could just be coincidence Griffiths had business in Hogsmeade the same night as the murder, right?" Terri suggested.
"Of course." Rick and Rigel replied in unison.
"Doesn't mean he had anything to do with the murder, does it?"
"Of course not." They replied in unison again but doubt lingered on their faces.
"It does seem like an awful big coincidence, doesn't it?" Cedric said timidly.
"We could just ask Griffiths about his trip to Hogsmeade?" Rick suggested. "Perhaps he saw something?"
"How do you suppose to bring that up to professor Griffiths?" Cedric asked apprehensively. "We can't just walk in and ask." He added as if he was worried Rick would waltz into Charms demanding Griffiths provide an alibi for the night of the murder.
"Aldebourne did say we should go to our head of house if we had any concerns. I do recall you had some concerns, Cedric." Rick said with a grin. Cedric looked at him fearfully.
"No, I didn't." He said hastily.
"Yes, you did." Rick teased in a singsong tone. "And if fate would have it, we have Charms right now."
"Absolutely not! No, forget about it."
"Professor?" Griffiths looked up from behind his desk after the first years' Charms class.
"Yes, Carmichael?" The professor sounded somewhat weary and annoyed they were keeping him. Cedric swallowed nervously and threw a quick glance at the door, where Rick, Rigel and Terri were motioning for him to get on with it.
"I'm… I'm a bit w…worried about what happened in… in Hogsmeade." Cedric managed to stutter. Griffiths paused a moment in collecting his things and looked at Cedric. Rick thought he was trying to gauge if his student was serious or not.
"There's nothing to be worried about, Carmichael," Griffiths replied as he resumed collecting his things. "You're very safe at Hogwarts." The professor made to leave and Cedric began to panic.
"Oh, ok, uhm, but how can you be sure?" He persisted. Griffiths sighed and turned to his pupil once more.
"Well, nothing's sure but the castle is very well protected so the chances of you getting harmed are very slim." He replied impatiently.
"Oh, ok." Griffiths looked pleased for a second until Cedric continued. "It's just, I was a little worried that it happened so close. I mean, I didn't know Mr. Doge but it is kind of worrisome that this could happen so close to Hogwarts." Griffiths nodded painfully but didn't reply. Clearly, he was growing impatient and was trying to get rid of Cedric. From the door, Rick, Rigel and Terri were subtly giving Cedric encouraging signals and thankfully, their friend took the hint. "Did you know Mr. Doge?" Griffiths froze in surprise.
"Not personally, no." He replied tersely.
"But it must be strange for you to know the murder happened while you were in Hogsmeade, mustn't it?" Cedric rattled off nervously, flushing beet red. For a moment, Griffiths said nothing and just stared at his student, as if he was trying to figure out how much Cedric knew and what he was trying to achieve with his questions. Cedric amazingly stood his ground.
"Yes, it was very disturbing to learn about it." Griffiths replied at last. "If I had known about it, I would surely have tried to help Mr Doge. Now, shouldn't you hurry up to get to your next class?"
"Yes, of course." Cedric answered and he made himself scarce as quick as possible, joining Rick, Rigel and Terri in the hallway.
"Well done, Ced." Rick said.
"Don't ever make me do that again." Cedric pleaded, sounding quite distressed. "It was worse than if I was accusing him of murder."
"No, it wasn't, I'm sure you were fine." Cedric threw Rick an incredulous look.
"Tell me again why you couldn't ask him?"
"I told you," Rick replied. "He would never have believed Rigel, Terri or I was worried about the murder."
"And he would if it were me?" Cedric asked incredulously, clearly not believing it. Rick thought it best not to answer that and changed the subject.
"At least we know for sure now Griffiths wasn't involved and he didn't see anything."
"Which brings us back to square one." Rigel pointed out.
"Perhaps it would help if we knew what the ring did?" Terri suggested. Cedric nodded.
"We'll look it up in the library tonight." He said. "Right now we need to get to Transfiguration before professor Rowlett deducts points again for tardiness.
They spent the evening in the library looking up anything they could find about a ring with a dragon emblem on it (at least Terri, Cedric and Rigel looked while Rick merely meandered through the rows and rows of books, occasionally pulling one from the rack and leafing through it). They returned to the common room empty handed, however, as they did the day after and the day after that. As days turned into weeks, however, their hope of quickly finding answers dwindled, as did their enthusiasm to keep looking. Only Cedric was unwilling to give up.
"It has to be mentioned somewhere." He said rather desperately at dinner one evening. They had checked book after book again that day but still found no mention of a dragon ring and Cedric seemed to be taking that as personal failure.
"Maybe they don't have that particular book in the library?" Terri suggested, lowering her voice so Doolan, Hurst and Crusher, who were sitting near them wouldn't overhear. "I mean, Hogwarts could hardly have a copy of every book ever written, could it?" Cedric gave her a look that clearly said he doubted that very much but he did not comment as at that moment, Frank came to join them. Rick smothered a groan at the prospect of having to listen to Frank's gossip all through dinner but surprisingly, their dormmate wasn't interested in them but turned to Doolan, Crusher and Hurst instead.
"Hey guys, how was your interview with Mr Cormac?" Hurst, Doolan and Crusher looked surprised to be addressed so jovially by a first year and did not answer right away. Rick could not stop himself.
"You had an interview with Cormac?" He cut into the encounter.
"About Doge's murder?" Cedric joined him eagerly. The three sixth years looked puzzled by their interest.
"No, about Puddlemere United," Doolan sneered. "Of course about Doge's murder." Rick ignored the jab.
"What did you see?" He asked.
"Nothing." Crusher replied annoyed. "We spent most of the time in Zonko's but since that's near Doge's shop, it's enough to warrant an interview with Cormac."
"What did Cormac say?" Cedric asked.
"He mostly wanted to know who we saw enter Doge's shop." Hurst explained.
"Wasn't too pleased when we told him he was crazy to think anyone pays attention to Doge's Antiquities when you're in Zonko's." Crusher added with a snigger.
"Now, if you'll excuse us, we have better things to do than to answer the questions of curious little first years." Doolan added and the three older boys got up and left, leaving Terri, Cedric, Rick and Rigel alone with McCallum.
"Do you know who else went in for an interview with Mr Cormac?" McCallum said, eager to share his news it appeared.
"Professor Griffiths?" Rick hazarded a guess.
"No, why, have you heard anything?" McCallum asked keenly, greedy for another bit of rumour but Rick couldn't reply immediately. Griffiths hadn't reported to Cormac? That was … interesting.
"Nevermind." He said hastily, trying to cover up his mistake. "Who went to Cormac?" He didn't think it wise to tell McCallum Griffiths was in Hogsmeade at the time of the murder, the boy might just explode from such juicy gossip. Thankfully, McCallum was too excited to tell them his piece of information to notice.
"Atia Rydell." He said, sounding rather proud of himself for knowing it.
"You're kidding." Terri exclaimed.
"I certainly am not, I saw it with my own two eyes." McCallum assured them and Terri, Cedric, Rick and Rigel exchanged a worried look.
"What did she have to say to Cormac?" Cedric wanted to know but McCallum shrugged.
"Beats me, she's not exactly the helpful type." He replied.
"Maybe she was just looking for some attention?" Terri suggested. "You know, try to look interesting and important by pretending to have information?"
"Atia Rydell doesn't do anything that doesn't help Atia Rydell." Rigel said darkly. "She wouldn't have wanted to be helpful unless she could gain something from it."
"The question is what." Rick stated, racking his brain for an answer.
"Maybe she just wanted to find out how much Cormac knows?" Rigel theorized. "Find out if any of her friends are a suspect."
"Her friends?" Rick asked nonplussed.
"The Serpent Brotherhood." Rigel clarified.
"The Serpent what?" Rick asked puzzled.
"The Serpent Brotherhood." Rigel repeated. "You know, the Snakes." As if that made it any clearer.
"Again, who?" Rick asked, still none the wiser.
"You've never heard of the Snakes?" McCallum asked incredulously, annoying Rick.
"And you have?" He replied scathingly. McCallum was muggleborn so he really couldn't know more about the wizarding world than Rick but to his frustration, McCallum replied.
"Of course, who hasn't?"
"You've been here nearly three months and you've never heard of the Serpent Brotherhood?" Cedric joined in. "Don't you read the Prophet?"
"Not if I can avoid it, no." Rick replied glibly.
"They're only the baddest guys out there at the moment." McCallum explained.
"Really? Why? What did they do?" Rick asked.
"It's an organization that hates muggles and glorifies Salazar Slytherin's ideals. That's why they call themselves the Serpent Brotherhood, because the snake is the symbol of Slytherin." Cedric explained.
"But why would they hate muggles?" Terri asked.
"They just believe wizards are superior to muggles and muggleborns and they think that muggles should be enslaved and worship wizards or something." Rigel said.
"That's ridiculous." Terri exclaimed.
"Of course it is." Cedric confirmed. "But that's what these guys believe and preach. They even go as far as torturing or abusing muggle families."
"That's horrible!" Terri cried out. "Why would they do such a thing?"
"I don't know, " Rigel shrugged. "For fun, I guess."
"Who does something like that?" Terri said, sickened by the thought.
"Muggle haters like the Mordaunts and Rydells." Cedric replied bitterly.
"Then why doesn't the ministry arrest them?" Terri asked.
"They try, but it's hard to track down the members of the Brotherhood." Rigel answered. "They wear masks and usually, by the time the aurors arrive on the scene where muggles were attacked, the Snakes have disappeared into thin air."
"Aurors?" Rick asked nonplussed.
"Dark wizard catchers." Rigel explained.
"My mom says that's rubbish and the ministry just isn't trying hard enough." Cedric replied.
"What do you mean?" Terri asked.
"Everyone knows families like the Mordaunts and the Rydells are behind the Serpent Brotherhood but the ministry doesn't want to look into it too much because they're such influential families that are friendly with the Minister for Magic." Cedric answered bitterly. Rick felt a new surge of hatred well up for Rydell and Mordaunt. He could just imagine how untouchable and clever they must feel, their family having outsmarted the ministry and sucking up to Burwell, the minister of magic. The younger generation probably couldn't wait to join the Serpent Brotherhood as well to pester and torture muggles and muggleborns.
"But what would the Serpent Brotherhood want with Doge?" He asked. "Was he muggleborn?" The others shrugged, no one knew the answer to that.
"If it was the Serpent Brotherhood, wouldn't it have been in the Prophet?" Cedric pointed out. "I mean, the Snakes are not exactly known to keep their attacks a secret."
"Unless for some reason they did this time." Terri suggested.
"Why would they want that?" Rick asked.
"Because they did not want anyone to know it was them, of course." McCallum happily provided. Rick rolls his eyes.
"Well, obviously." He sneered.
"Frank's right." Cedric said at the same time and Rick did a double take.
"He is?"
"Maybe they didn't want anyone to know it was them because there was something else at play." He gave Rick a pointed look but Rick didn't understand.
"Like what?" McCallum asked intrigued but Cedric ignored him and looked at Rigel, Rick and Terri, willing them to understand.
"Maybe they wanted something from Doge that they didn't want anyone else to know about." He rephrased and now Rick understood what his friend was trying to say. If the Serpent Brotherhood was after the ring, they would not want to draw attention to it so of course they would not advertise that they had killed Doge.
"That's a great theory!" McCallum said excitedly. "I must go and tell Colin about it." And he dashed off to find their dormmate.
"You think that's what really happened?" Rick asked as soon as Frank had gone. "That the Serpent Brotherhood killed Doge looking for the ring?" Cedric shrugged.
"Don't know, could be."