THE SERPENT'S LAIR

Chapter FIFTEEN

The Serpent's Lair

With Rigel to keep him company, the Christmas holidays became a lot more fun for Rick. The two of them practised a lot of flying, enjoyed games of chess in the otherwise deserted common room and had a good laugh charming snowballs to collide with the few other students left at Hogwarts. It was the best Christmas Rick had had in a long time and he was sad to see it come to an end. With the return of the other students Rick was brusquely reminded that the dragon ring still hadn't been found and that its current owner probably had a nefarious purpose for it. He had given up hope that they would ever find out what the ring did or why it was classed as a dark object but he was still as determined as ever to expose Garron. That's why he took to harassing the head boy, hounding him with questions about the ring until he caved and let something slip. He even developed a habit of trying to spot Garron everywhere they went, never wasting an opportunity when he could confront him. Garron, however, quickly caught on and started avoiding Rick as much as possible, keeping himself holed up in his common room or evading Rick by ducking into the Prefect's bathroom where Rick couldn't follow. His behaviour didn't deter Rick, on the contrary, it made him even more adamant and his obstinacy was rewarded. A few weeks after the Christmas holidays Rick, Rigel, Terri and Cedric were just finishing up supper and preparing to head back to the common room when Rick spotted Garron strolling in all alone and taking a seat at the Slytherin table. Not willing to waste such an excellent opportunity, he told his friends he'd catch up with them later and waited for the head boy to finish before following him out into the Entrance Hall.

"Hey Garron, what did you do with the Dragon Ring?" He called out to get the other boy's attention. Garron turned around and rolled his eyes when he saw who it was.

"Leave me alone, O'Connell." He said annoyedly and he turned around to walk away again.

"You can't run away forever, you know I'm right." Rick taunted him as he followed him.

"You shut up about this nonsense, you hear me?" Garron warned him.

"Or else what?" Rick taunted, pleased to see the head boy looked uncomfortable.

"I'll make you regret it." Garron hissed at him.

"What are you going to do?" Rick goaded him. "Give me detention? Go ahead, I don't care, I know I'm right and I will prove it. Everyone thinks you're so righteous but I know better. You're nothing more than a common criminal, a …" Rick didn't get to finish his insult as Garron grabbed him by his robes and pushed him up to the nearest wall. Quickly getting over his surprise Rick stared defiantly back at Garron, daring him to make a move but before the situation could escalate, someone interfered.

"What's going on here?" Professor Creedon shuffled his way over to them and took in the scene. "Mr. Gambol? Care to let go of Mr. O'Connor?" Garron reluctantly let go of Rick and struggled to compose himself.

"Sorry, professor." He apologised.

"What brought this on?" Creedon inquired, lazily looking from one student to the other.

"Just a disagreement professor, nothing major but I'm afraid I lost my temper. It won't happen again." Garron replied. For a moment Rick was surprised Garron didn't tell the professor Rick had been troubling him about the ring again. They both knew professor Creedon would just side with Garron again. He could only assume Garron dismissed this incident because he was nervous to bring the subject of the ring up in front of a professor.

"Conners, anything to add?" Creedon looked at him with droopy eyes.

"No professor." Rick replied grudgingly. There was no point in telling Creedon the truth, he would never believe him.

"Well then, I suggest you head for your common rooms then." Both boys nodded and professor Creedon proceeded on his way to the Great Hall. Garron began to walk towards the dungeons but Rick wasn't about to let his first opportunity in weeks slide so easily.

"Hey, Garron." He called out. The head boy brusquely turned around and stood threateningly over Rick.

"Listen here, you little troublemaker. I don't have the dragon ring, get that through your thick skull. If I hear one more mention of that stupid ring coming from your mouth, I swear you will find yourself on the first train to London, back to whatever rock you crawled under from, do you understand?" Rick was too flabbergasted to reply and Garron seized the opportunity to make his escape. Rick stared at Garron's retreating back, thinking over what had just happened. Clearly, Garron was afraid, which only reassured Rick he was on the right track. Clearly though, the direct approach wasn't working so he needed to come up with a different plan.

"You want to what?!"

"Silence!" Professor Starsmeare shushed Rigel angrily. They were in Astronomy class on the top of the Astronomy tower, peering through their telescopes, trying to find some celestial object or other. Rick wasn't really paying attention as he had just told Rigel, Terri and Cedric his plan to expose Garron. "That's insane!" Rigel exclaimed, whispering so as not to anger professor Starsmeare again.

"You're crazy." Terri added, also whispering.

"Listen, we have to find proof that Garron has the ring. Now, he isn't foolish enough to wear it in public again so he must be hiding it and where better to hide it in a place that's off limits to anyone who's not a Slytherin?" Rick explained in hushed tones, a little frustrated that they were so readily dismissing his plan.

"And how do you expect to get into the Slytherin common room?" Terri asked, keeping an eye on professor Starsmeare who was helping out McCallum adjusting his telescope three seats over. "As you pointed out, it's off limits, we don't even know where it is or how to get in." Rick had already thought of that.

"I have a plan." He said.

"What? You'll just ask them to give you a tour?" Rigel jeered. "Somehow, I don't think they'll go for that." Rick ignored his friend.

"We'll simply follow a Slytherin back to his common room." He explained. "That'll give us location and manner of entry."

"No offence to your plan, but you would have to find a pretty stupid Slytherin for that to work without him noticing you." Terri pointed out.

"That's where you come in, Rigel." Rick answered.

"Me?" Rigel repeated, looking slightly alarmed.

"Well, you do have an invisibility cloak, don't you?" Rick pointed out.

"Well, yeah but..."

"You can follow anyone without them noticing it. You can find out how to get into the Slytherin common room." Rick explained.

"Okay, but even if I can, the cloak only makes you invisible, not intangible. They'll see us opening the door, they could bump into us. We won't get two yards inside that common room before they discover us." Rigel voiced his concerns.

"That's why we have to wait for a time when the common room will be practically deserted." He paused for effect to let his friends catch on.

"No, uh uh, if you're suggesting we go during class hours, I'm out." Cedric said immediately. Rick rolled his eyes.

"I wasn't going to suggest that, Cedric." He assured his nerdy friend. "It would raise too many questions about where we were anyway. No, I thought we could go during the next quidditch match. That's Slytherin versus Ravenclaw and almost all of Slytherin house will go and watch the game, leaving the common room practically deserted. We go in, take a look around and get out before the match ends." The other three looked at him.

"That's actually not such a bad plan." Rigel was the first to comment.

"So you'll help?" Rick asked hopeful, seeing Rigel considering it.

"Yeah, I will." His friend replied. "And while we're there, we can leave the Slytherins a nice present." He added with a devious grin.

"Great! What about you two?" Rick asked Cedric and Terri.

"I'll help too." Terri nodded confidently.

"Fantastic! Cedric?" Cedric looked rather reluctant at the thought of breaking school rules again, especially provoking the Slytherins by breaking into their common room.

"Don't worry, you won't have to do much, we'll do most of the work." Rick assured him, gesturing to Rigel, Terri and himself. Cedric considered the three of them and gave a slight nod.

"Thanks Ced." Rick replied.

"We'll have to plan it exactly right, someone should stand watch to alert the others when the Slytherins are coming back." Terri proposed.

"Yeah, we'll have to work out some sort of signal." Rigel concurred.

"And we should have a back-up plan, in case something goes wrong." Terri added.

"If you four are quite finished chatting, perhaps you can start paying attention?" Professor Starsmeare's cross voice sounded loud behind them. The four of them gulped, they hadn't heard the professor come up behind them and quickly focussed back on their telescopes. "Good." Professor Starsmeare continued. "Now, as I was saying, later this year, we'll be studying meteor showers. An interesting and as of yet little studied field of astronomy is the investigation into whether astronomical events have an influence on magic." Rick tuned out the rest of professor Starsmeare's lecture again. He couldn't possibly focus on silly astronomical events when he had an invasion to plan.

The first part of the plan went off without a hitch. Two days before the Ravenclaw-Slytherin game, Rick and Rigel hid under the invisibility cloak and followed some random Slytherin students back to their common room. They committed to memory the entrance's location and password and quickly hightailed it back to their own common room to discuss the plan again with Cedric and Terri. They decided Cedric would be their lookout while Terri, Rigel and Rick would enter the common room and search for the ring. If they found it, they would take it with them and leave the same way they came. If their search took a bit longer and they were not back before the match was over, Cedric would set off a piece of Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks as a warning and a distraction. After that, he would head back to the common room and Terri, Rick and Rigel would be on their own.

The day of the match arrived and as before all quidditch games, the atmosphere in the Great Hall that morning was electric. The whole school was in uproar about the upcoming game as its outcome was important to see who would win the quidditch cup. Rigel had pointed out that that could only help them as it meant more Slytherins were likely to attend the game, increasing their chances of finding the Slytherin common room abandoned. That was important because if they were discovered, the Slytherins would surely lynch them.

"Everyone remember their part of the plan?" Rick asked his friends for what was probably the fifth time. Rigel and Terri nodded. Cedric was a little green and looked like he would throw up if he dared open his mouth. Rick recognized the feeling, he could hardly get anything down his throat either. He only hoped Cedric would hold out because if he chickened out in the middle of the mission, they would definitely be in trouble. Rick wanted to go over the plan again to make sure everyone remembered their part but before he could, they were interrupted by Rigel's obnoxious cousin Regina who came up to them, her face painted with blue stripes, wearing a blue and bronze scarf and blue flags.

"Hi guys, I hope you're all going to cheer for Ravenclaw later?" She asked expectantly.

"Sure, Regina." Rigel replied, eager to have his cousin retreat to her own table.

"Definitely." Rick said, throwing her his most winning smile, eager as well to get rid of her. He didn't want to risk her catching on that something was up. Regina seemed clueless, however.

"Great, I'll see you all out on the pitch in a bit. I do hope we win." Regina said and she skipped back to her own seat. Personally, Rick could not care who won today's game. With any luck, he would be celebrating his own victory tonight.

After what seemed like ages, students finally began to file out of the Great Hall to head for the Quidditch pitch. Rick, Rigel, Terri and Cedric waited until most students had gone and made sure they were alone before ducking into a broom closet just next to the entrance to the dungeons. When the last footsteps had died down, Terri, Rigel and Rick emerged from their hiding place with Rigel's cloak over their heads and made for the dungeons as quickly as they could without causing the cloak to slip. There wasn't any time to lose, they weren't sure how long the Quidditch match would last. That's why Cedric was to stay near the entrance to the dungeons, where he could see and hear the Slytherins returning and warn his friends. Rick, Terri and Rigel hurriedly made their way down the dungeons. To their relief, it didn't take very long to find the entrance to the Slytherin common room again. Rick gave the password (Serpent-tongue) and a portion of wall gave way, just as it had for the Slytherins they'd observed a few days before. Cautious not to make a sound – they couldn't be sure every Slytherin would be gone - Rick, Rigel and Terri entered. The room was quite dark and sinister looking compared to their own common room, with the only window looking out to an underwater view of the lake, which gave the room an eerie greenish glow and created many dark corners, amking it hard to see if the room was actually deserted. Rick squinted his eyes. The Slytherin common room was strewn with leather sofas, expensive looking, dark wooden cupboards and trinkets in all shapes and sizes but it was, thankfully, abandoned.

"It's safe." Rick announced when he was sure no one was present. They took off the cloak and immediately set to work. "We have no time to lose, we've got to move fast." Rick instructed as he walked further into the common room.

"Drat, and here I was contemplating having a party." Rigel joked.

"We should split up." Rick suggested, too nervous for one of Rigel's jokes. "Rigel and I will go check the dormitories. Terri, you search in here and make sure you can hear Cedric's signal if he sends one." The three of them did not waste time and immediately got down to business. It did not take very long to find the dormitory of the seventh years and soon Rick and Rigel were going through cupboards and trunks in search of the ring. After about half an hour, they had to admit that the task was harder than they thought it would be. They had looked everywhere but apparently Garron had not thought it wise to leave the ring anywhere obvious.

"Try looking for hidden compartments." Rick told his friend, getting slightly desperate. After about fifteen more minutes searching, Rigel turned to Rick with a sigh.

"Rick, it's useless, we'll never find it." Rick knew Rigel was probably right but he wasn't ready yet to give up already. This might be their only chance and he didn't want to regret it.

"Go check on Terri, maybe she's found something." He replied and Rigel left the room. Rick was conscious of time ticking by and their window of opportunity closing. Desperately, he pulled open drawers and checked under the beds again even though he'd already checked those places twice before. He didn't know how long he continued to search until suddenly, he heard the unmistakeable sound of fireworks in the distance. It was Cedric's signal, the match was over and the Slytherins were heading back to their common room. Reluctantly, Rick abandoned his search and sprinted out of the dormitory in search of Rigel and Terri. He found the latter in the common room, looking anxious.

"Where's Rigel?" Rick asked.

"I don't know, I thought he was with you?" Terri replied, a trace of panic in her voice.

"I told him to find you, to check if you found something." Rick said, doing his best to keep his own panic at bay.

"Well, I haven't seen him and I haven't found anything either." Terri answered. Rick cursed. Where was Rigel? Time was running out, the Slytherins could be here any minute and they were horribly exposed without their friend's invisibility cloak.

"Terri, you go ahead, get out of here, I'll go look for Rigel. No use in all three of us getting caught." Rick said.

"Get out of here?" Terri asked. "With all those Slytherins out there and no invisibility cloak? No way!" She said. "I'm staying right here until we find Rigel." They ran through the common room and searched every dormitory until Rick found Rigel bending over a bed in the first year dormitory.

"What are you doing?" He demanded out of breath. "Didn't you hear the signal?"

"Just leaving our Slytherin friends a present." Rigel said with a wink.

"Well, hurry up or you'll be giving it to them in person." Rick said urgently. Rigel held a small box over one of the beds and poured out a bit of its contents. "What is that anyway?" Rick asked curiously.

"Bulbadox powder." Rigel clarified with a grin.

"What?" Rick replied, not understanding.

"I'll explain later." Rigel said, dumping the last of the powder on another bed, pocketing the container and getting out his cloak. They found Terri and the three of them quickly hid themselves under the invisibility cloak and headed for the common room's exit. Just as Rick was about to reach for the hatch, however, it suddenly flew open of itself and a group of merry Slytherins barged in, yelling and cheering. Rigel, Terri and Rick pressed themselves against the wall in an instant, their hearts racing. They knew the Slytherins couldn't see them but they were helpless as more and more Slytherins poured in. It was only a matter of time before someone bumped into them and they were discovered. He felt Terri fumbling around behind him and was about to jab her with his elbow to get her to stop – he was afraid she might cause the cloak to slip – when she suddenly held up a dung bomb in front of him. Realizing what she had in mind, Rick nodded to her, grabbed it and tossed it carefully toward the dormitories. It hit the door and exploded, immediately releasing a truly foul smelling odour. Rick, Rigel and Terri didn't stay long enough to smell it and took advantage of the confusion that arose to throw open the hatch and escape. Awkwardly, they ran through the dungeon corridor as fast as they dared and didn't stop until they reached their own common room.

"Mantichore." Rigel said, still gasping for breath as he threw off the cloak. The Fat Lady swung aside to grant them passage to the common room where an anxious looking Cedric was waiting for them.

"Thank Merlin." He said relieved when he saw them. "What took you so long?" They explained what had happened.

"That was close." Cedric said afterward. Rigel nodded.

"Lucky Terri had that Dungbomb." He said.

"You didn't do so bad yourself with the Bulbadox powder." Cedric said smiling.

"Thank you, thank you." Rigel said, making a few bows for good measure. "I'd love to see their reaction, it almost makes me want to go back."

"Really? You barely made it out of there?" Cedric replied unbelievingly.

"I said almost." Rigel answered shrewdly.

"Can someone finally explain what Bulbadox powder is?" Terri asked.

"Bulbadox powder makes the skin break out in boils when you touch it." Cedric explained. "I should imagine the Slytherins will look quite attractive tomorrow." He laughed and Terri and Rigel soon joined in. Rick laughed as well but he couldn't help feeling a pang of disappointment at not having succeeded in their mission.

"Are you alright, Rick?" Terri asked.

"I'm fine." He assured her. "Just disappointed we didn't find anything, I was so sure the ring would be hidden there."

"I know, we did too." Terri said comfortingly.

"Look at the bright side," Rigel said. "At least we'll get a good laugh when the Slytherins show up for breakfast tomorrow covered in boils." Rigel said. Rick grinned at the thought but the failed undertaking still weighed heavily on his mind.

"Maybe we didn't look well enough?" He suggested. "I wouldn't put it past those Slytherins to have some secret compartments somewhere."

"Are you saying we should try again?" Terri asked. Rick looked at his friends. Rigel didn't look too sure but Cedric looked positively terrified at the thought of having to go through that again. They had gotten lucky once, trying to break into the Slytherin common room a second time was just asking for trouble.

"No, it's too risky." He replied. "Besides, I hardly think we'll have better luck a second time around. For all we know, Garron may have hidden it someplace else." He said bitterly. "I just wish we knew what he's planning to use it for. I mean, what's he waiting for?"

"Maybe he doesn't know how to use it?" Rigel offered. "Or maybe he's waiting on a final ingredient?"

"If you didn't find the ring then perhaps that means he got rid of it after you accused him?" Cedric suggested.

"Do you really think he would just chuck away such a valuable object?" Terri said dubiously. "He could've just given it to Cormac instead if that were the case."

"Terri's right." Rick said. "Garron's too ambitious and that ring gives him power. He wouldn't just get rid of it, not if he could gain something from it. No, my guess is that he's either planning on selling it or using it. The question is to who or to what end."

"I still have a hard time believing that." Cedric replied. "I mean, everyone keeps saying Garron is after a job at the ministry when he finishes his year. Why would he risk all that by involving himself in the dark arts?" He argued.

"I don't know, Cedric." Terri replied. "The way Garron goes on and on about sucking up to powerful people to get what you want, I wouldn't put it past him."

"Exactly." Rick said.

"Maybe." Cedric conceded.

"So what do we do now?" Rigel asked. Rick looked at his friends, he didn't really have an answer to that question.

"I suppose there isn't much we can do at the moment." Terri said. "Best thing we can do now, I think, is to keep an eye on Garron and wait for him to make a move." The others nodded in agreement.

"Well, in the meantime, we might as well get started on that paper for Lloyd" Cedric suggested and Rick thought he sounded annoyingly relieved. Reluctantly, Rigel and Terri agreed and although Rick did not like that plan one bit, he realized he could not do anything about Garron that night so he obliged but it was hard to focus and he heard nothing of Cedric's lecture on the treatment of werewolf bites.

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