The Staff of Dreams

Ron Weasley had never been fond of the morning hours in his youth and that hadn’t changed much in his later years. That was, of course, unless he was off to a Quidditch game with his family. But where work was concerned, Ron was still struggling to find his motivation as he stumbled out of his house with a wave to his brother who had come by to babysit his kids while he was called to arms. Harry had sent him an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic, asking him to join him at the scene of some crime.

With half a piece of buttered toast hanging out of his mouth, Ron apparated with a loud ‘pop’ sound and away from his comfortable home. What he arrived to see made his jaw drop and the piece of toast fall to the floor.

In front of him was a tall and familiar building set ablaze. The smoke was so thick he instantly started coughing from having kept his mouth hanging open for too long. He recognized the building as one of his wife’s favorite hang outs. The sign that usually read Wenlock’s Wizarding Menagerie was nowhere to be found and was presumed to be caught up in the brilliant flames before him. Wizards were moving left and right, flying on their brooms in an attempt to magically put out the fires but from what Ron could see, the flame seemed to fight back and even bite at those attempting to put it out.

“What the bloody hell…” Ron muttered, still staring in awe of the burning building. His job as an Auror had been rather uninteresting in the previous weeks and this was by far the most peculiar case he’d been on in years. Of course, there had been fires prior to this but none that he’d been called in on.

“I told you it was important.” Harry, a five o’ clock shadow on his face and bags under his eyes walked up alongside his old friend.

“You didn’t say the place was burning down. I thought this was a break in!” Ron grumbled and then started toward the fire, taking his wand out of his cloak.

“Is that why you took your time?” Harry didn’t sound angry, but rather just as tired as his friend was. It looked like neither one of them had been sleeping well since they’d had their nightmares involving the school founders. Sleeplessness had become a curse that they’d had to suffer nearly every day. Waking up at all hours of the night to be called to duty as an Auror hadn’t much helped either.

“You didn’t say it was urgent and I was hungry. The kids don’t like when I leave at the early hours. You know I need to contact George ahead of time and he’s rarely on time.”

“I was just giving you a hard time.” Harry offered a haggard smile then turned back to the blaze. As Ron pulled out his wand to assist in the inferno, Harry grabbed his arm to stop him and signaled for him to put it down. “Best leave that to the professionals, Ron, the fire’s bewitched.”

“So you think whoever broke into the place set it on fire afterward, do you?” Ron spoke the obvious, as he often did at crime scenes. It was his subtle way of asking Harry what his thoughts were on the matter at hand. Since Harry had a habit of being more punctual than his friend considering his wife was always at home with their kids during the night hours, he often had enough time to search the scene of a crime before Ron would even show up. And it wasn’t that they were ever put on cases together, it had simply become common knowledge at the Ministry of Magic that if Harry Potter were sent out on a case, he’d likely call Ron Weasley to help him. Since then, it’d become common knowledge that they were unspoken partners. While they very rarely got cases important enough to tag team, they always enjoyed it when they got to.

“It seems that way. Magical fires, as a general rule, don’t start themselves conveniently after a break in.” Harry watched as the wizards and witches flying around the fire started to take control of the spell and douse the flames as he predicted they would. He and Ron had very little experience dealing with it and would’ve likely only added water damage to the list of things wrong with the once beautiful building.

“It would be a pretty handy security system though, you’ve got to admit.” Ron got the chills as he considered telling Hermione about what had happened to her precious library.

“Well, minus the fact that you’d destroy your stuff in the process.” Harry chuckled.

“So what did I miss?”

“Around three in the morning the Ministry received an urgent owl from the owner of this building, one Jaime Fairfax with reports that someone had broken into the downstairs of his building. It’s a historical place, we just gave it the approval to be considered such after proof had been provided that the Founders had once set up shop there in their designs of Hogwarts.” Harry gave a knowing look toward Ron, but Ron didn’t seem surprised. This surprised Harry greatly.

“Wenlock’s Wizarding Menagerie.” Ron chimed in. “Named after Bridget Wenlock, one of the most famous Arithmancers in history. She was the very first to establish the various magical properties of the number seven, wasn’t she? You know I always expected this place to be a zoo given its name but go figure it’d be a library.”

Harry simply stared at his friend in surprise. Usually he spent a good chunk of the beginning of their investigations explaining the history of things to Ron. It had never been one of his best subjects and rarely interested him even during the more humorous investigations. It wasn’t that Ron was dense by any stretch of the word, he just didn’t have much interest in history. So since Ron was putting Harry in his place for once in such a manner, Harry was incredibly shocked.

“Hermione loves it here.” Ron tried to explain, looking sheepish. “Really looks up to Wenlock, you know? She’s gonna be sad this place is gone. After the first fifty times of her telling me all about the history I guess bits of managed to sink in while I was fantasizing about Quidditch.” A shy smile crossed Ron’s face. Harry nodded in understanding. It was no wonder that Ron had known so much about it. His guess was that Hermione would know even more, considering her occupation at Hogwarts being the Arithmancy professor. Harry had never been fond of the subject, but he was willing to learn a bit about it if it shed some light on their case.

In front of them the fire in the building had finally ceased minus one or two sparks of flame resisting the magical extinguishing by the Ministry wizards who had come to assist. All that remained of the building in front of them was the charred skeleton of what once had been. The frame of the building was intact, even some bits of the second floor seemed manageable but it was obvious that almost all the clues that would’ve been left behind by a robber had been destroyed by the fire.

“By the time I had alerted you and arrived on the scene in hopes of catching the thief in the act and helping out poor old Jaime, the fire had started. When I opened the front door I was nearly engulfed in the flames. Luckily my reflexes seem to still be pretty decent.”

“That reminds me, are we still on for Quidditch this weekend? With half the kids gone and Hermione at school I’ve found myself with loads more free time than I can handle…” Ron drifted off when Harry shot him a look that told him to stay on task. “Right, fire.”

“Unfortunately I couldn’t put out the fire so I called for backup.”

“Well it’s only nearly four now, it didn’t take very long for that fire to eat away the building, now did it?” Ron grimaced, glancing around at the charred remains.

“My guess is whoever broke into the library didn’t want us to find out what they were looking for.” Harry started toward the building once one of the ministry wizards gave him the all clear to let him know it was safe to start investigating the fire.

“Do you think,” Ron lowered his voice substantially, following Harry into the blackened doorway, “that this has anything to do with those weird dreams we had a few weeks back. You said it was just approved for historical status because of something to do with the Founders right? That can’t be a coincidence.” Harry pointed to his nose to let Ron know he was well on track with what he was considering. Harry had made the elderly Minster of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, know of what his suspicions were but they had decided to keep their suspicions under wraps. If they caused a ruckus over nothing, it’d be another Ministry flop. Considering Shacklebolt was on his way out, it would be something else for his competitors to use against him.

Continuing quietly through the burnt house, the two observed what was around them. There was little left, and considering the amount of books that had once been on the shelves the place looked deserted. Hopefully with a bit of clean up and reconstruction, Harry could find out what the thieves were after and if they managed to get their hands on it.

“Harry, you better take a look at this. “Ron stopped suddenly in the hallway near the staircase, his usually pinkish face drained of all color. Joining his friend a few steps back in the hall, Harry peered past Ron to see what his friend had discovered. Sighing heavily, his heart sinking Harry turned back into the hall. The owner of the library was on the floor, dead, but barely burned so he was easily recognized. For some reason, that room in particular seemed to be in decent shape, as opposed to the rest of the building that had been nearly destroyed.

“Whatever that thief wanted, he was willing to kill for it.” Harry grimaced.

“Or she.”

“You’ve spent way too much time with Hermione.” A small smile crossed across Harry’s face as he patted Ron on the back. “Come on, we’ve got to get the coroners in here to come and take a look at Mr. Fairfax. Maybe we can figure out who killed him and how if nothing else.”

“Do you think we’ll be able to figure out what they were coming after?”

“That’s what I’m hoping. It’s going to take a lot of digging.” Harry started down the hall and back toward the front door of the building. As they reached the crowd of Ministry wizards awaiting their judgment, Harry felt his stomach drop again. He’d seen too much death in his short life and every time he saw more he felt strangely numbed by it. Ron was still pale as a ghost. Both were considering heading to Hogwarts simply to hug their kids, even if it was frowned upon for them to visit unannounced.

Harry shook his head in a negative response. The ministry wizards hung their heads in disappointment. A handful of them apparated away to go get the appropriate team they were hoping they didn’t have to call in.

“Hey Ron.”

“Hmm?”

“About this weekend? I’ll be there. I’ll bring Ginny too, alright?”

“That would be great.” Ron smiled for a moment before the grim look returned to his face. Sometimes, it took seeing how fragile life was to remind them how important the little things were. Harry’s mind was reeling. He’d have to update McGonagall on the situation as soon as he could without drawing attention to his actions. While he had no proof the dreams and the fire were related, his gut was telling him there was something more there. And if there had been one thing Harry Potter had learned from his adventures, it was that trusting his gut was always a safe bet.

---

The weeks following Malicia’s first dream and Lia’s bizarre attack seemed remarkably uneventful, at least as uneventful as Hogwarts could be. Malicia’s classes continued to be the most popular class in the school, with students trying to convince her to do extra lessons for the rest of the school during free periods. She had told no one of her dream or about the scar shaped like a willow tree on her back. Lia had a glorious time manipulating the new Potions Master into being more social and spending time with the other teachers.

He grudgingly joined the staff table in the Great Hall for meals and spent what free time they had trailing after Lia and Malicia as they pursued their antics around the castle. The older teachers rolled their eyes as the two girls giggled and joked their way through the halls and Theodore followed silently, occasionally sending apologetic glances when necessary. Even the students had come to expect the occasional practical jokes the professors would play in their classes, sometimes on each other, sometimes on the students. Even Peeves was beginning to think they were worthy enough for him to be around; wherever they were, chaos was sure to follow soon, and he really enjoyed chaos.

September grew cold and rainy as it came to a close and soon it was time for the first quidditch match of the season. Quidditch was the sport of wizards; played with three types of balls: snitches, quaffles, and bludgers. There were seven players on each team: chasers, beaters, a keeper, and a seeker. The chasers tossed the quaffle to each other in mid-air and tried to get it into one of the three hoops on their end of the field that the keeper was guarding. The beaters swung their bats at the bludgers as they flew wildly around the playing field trying to knock players off their brooms.

The seeker spent the game flying around in search of the tiny, golden snitch. Each goal scored with the quaffle was worth ten points while the team’s seeker that caught the snitch earned 150 points and ended the game. Usually the team that caught the snitch won the game, but that was not always the case. Though many students from different houses intermingled and became friends, no one could pretend to ignore the competitive atmosphere of a good game of quidditch; tension filled the hallways as students chose sides for the first match between Huffelpuff and Slytherin.

Saturday was cold and rainy, as the rest of the week had been, but there was no weather that would keep the wizards and witches of Hogwarts away from their favorite game, so as eleven o’clock rolled around students wearing silver and green for Slytherin or yellow and black for Huffelpuff flooded out of the castle to the quidditch pitch.

Theodore leaned impatiently against the wall between Lia and Malicia’s offices while he waited for the girls to appear. As per their usual, they were running late, supposedly trying to finish a few last minute things for the morning, but he suspected it was more to drive him insane. They knew he hated being late for anything. He was just considering leaving without them when Malicia finally came out of her office, “Where’s Lia?” she asked, adjusting her silver and black scarf. Theodore nodded towards her office door. Malicia rolled her eyes and banged on the closed door, “Lia c’mon! We’re going to miss the kick off!” she yelled.

Lia opened the door and smiled at her two frustrated friends, “Okay, let’s go.” She said brightly, leading the way down the stairs. The two girls chatted and laughed as they made their way down toward the entrance hall, excited to be back in the midst of school during quidditch season. Both of the girls had been on their house teams when they were in school, Lia had been beater for Ravenclaw and Malicia had played keeper for Slytherin; both greatly enjoyed playing for the school teams and both were still pretty good. They made their way to the third floor before Lia stopped suddenly, causing Malicia to stumble and Theodore to fall backwards to keep from knocking into the girls, landing him on a false step that made him sink to his knees. “I forgot my rosette!” she exclaimed as if the world would end without the colorful flower pinned to her robes.

“Of course you did.” Malicia said as she stepped up to help Theodore out of the step, Lia followed suit but it took a little while to get their tall friend released. Theodore glared at Lia as he rubbed his sore knees; it was not the first time in their friendship that she had caused him to fall, slip, or tumble in or down the stairs of Hogwarts. In fact, it had been a common occurrence during their school days.

Lia grinned apologetically, “I’m sorry guys, but I promised Frank I’d wear it today, he is a chaser after all.” She explained. Neither of her friends looked happy at the prospect of being even later to the game than they already were. “Look, you guys go ahead, I’ll just run up there and grab it and meet you at the pitch.”

Malicia sighed, “No, I’ll wait for you here, you go and get it.”

Lia started running up the stairs and Theodore turned to follow, “Wait up, I need to work out this kink I have in my knee now.” He complained, a flicker of a smirk hanging on the corners of his mouth. Malicia grinned and shook her head as she watched the two go up the stairs together just as they always had, Lia leading the charge and Theodore following just a step or two behind.

As Lia and Theodore rounded the corner that led to Lia’s office, they thought they heard noises from down the hall. Other than thinking it odd that there were people not down at the field yet, neither Lia nor Theodore thought much about what they’d heard until they got closer to her office and saw the door ajar and the lights flickering inside. “It’s probably just a student.” Lia whispered, grasping her wand from the folds of her robe. Something about the situation didn’t feel right despite her insistence that the person within her office was likely just a student.

“I’m sure it is.” Theodore agreed as he stepped protectively in front of Lia, his wand held steady in his hand.

“We’re probably going to scare the crap out of someone.” She said, her voice even quieter as they neared the door.

“In that case, maybe it’s Mrs. Norris,” Theodore spoke coolly, his voice even quieter than Lia’s, “I’ve always wondered how that cat managed to live this long.”

Lia grinned at her friend’s dry humor, his quiet strength calming her nerves. When they reached the office both of them stepped into the room with their wands drawn hoping to catch whatever intruder within off guard.

Lia’s once carefully arranged office was now in tatters. Books, rolls of parchment, drawers and their contents were scattered throughout the room helter-skelter. Her desk had been turned completely over; even the muggle contraptions that she treasured had been shattered, blown off of their shelves and onto the floor. Lia let a string of incredibly unladylike curses slip from her mouth as they took in the ransacked mess. It was clear that whoever had broken into her office was no longer present. They were about to start picking things up to see if anything had been taken when they heard a crash from her living quarters upstairs.

They both started toward the small staircase and the far end of the room, Lia taking the lead this time. She was about to take the first step onto the staircase when the bedroom door burst into pieces and a shadow jumped from the landing to the office floor. Theodore shot a stunning spell at the shape but it was simply absorbed into the swirling shadows that surrounded the intruder. The lights in the room were flickering and the air was getting thinner, as everything that wasn’t solid seemed to be pulled in to keep the stranger covered. Stashing her wand in her cloak, Lia picked up an old muggle rotary telephone she kept with her and threw it at the prowler; with the aim of a superb beater she hit her mark square in the head, causing him to stumble and his spell to falter. The air in the room became breathable once more. In the second it took Lia and Theodore to catch their breath, the man had disappeared through the door. Both friends waited two whole heart beats to catch their breath before chasing after him.

---

Malicia stood impatiently on the stairs between the third and fourth floor, near the false step and waited for Lia and Theodore to return from their excursion. How long did it take to retrieve a rosette? Really, if she missed the entire match because of her friend then Lia was in for the longest week of pranks she’d ever experienced. Quidditch had been her school sweetheart, as far as Malicia had concerned. She ate, slept and breathed the sport. It had been one of the biggest thing she’d missed after leaving school. It was often that she took part in local games wherever she’d been staying. Luna had been terrible at the sport but had done the best she could though she’d never gotten the hang of it.

A loud bang from up the stairs, from the offices echoed through the spacious Grand Staircase. Staring in surprise and waiting for a sound to follow it up, Malicia whipped her wand out from beneath her cape cautiously. Strange things tended to happen at Hogwarts, and in her line of work, Malicia had learned that one could never be too cautious. Cautiously stepping over the false step in the staircase, Malicia crept toward the floor above her. While there hadn’t been any other suspicious sounds to lead her to believe something nefarious was afoot, her gut was telling her to be on her guard and in her many years of exploring her gut had very rarely been wrong.

“Lia? Theodore?” Malicia called when she heard footsteps on the fourth floor corridor. The only other people who would likely remain within the building would be the caretaker, Filch, and other professors who were too busy or uninterested in the game going on outside of the castle. Stopping near the top of the staircase she continued to listen, glancing upward. Lights were flickering on the floors above, unnaturally. “Teddy?” When no snide remark or retort came after her calling the Potions Master the nickname that Lia had reserved for him, Malicia knew Theodore and Lia were not within earshot.

Footsteps echoed down the hall behind her, forcing Malicia to snap to attention. Jumping over the last few steps onto the fourth floor landing, Malicia turned and looked down the various hallways branching off in either direction.

She scanned the hall for shadows then heard a sudden clamber of footsteps overhead, then the familiar sound of spells firing all about. The portraits hung on the wall were all whispering about what’s going on.

“Young lady!” A wizened old wizard drew her attention and then pointed down the western hall. “I do believe he went that way! A young man, enraptured in shadow and he was heading right toward our library. There was a nefarious look about him if I might add. If you hurry you can catch up.”

“Find Filch, spread the word through portraits that there are intruders within the school!” Malicia knew that if she was wrong then chaos would be caused amongst the students for no reason and she would look the fool but was willing to risk being wrong in case she was, well, right. Whatever was happening upstairs would have to wait. Malicia trusted that Lia and Theodore were skilled wizards and would handle whatever trouble came their way. And if nothing else, she knew that Theodore was still the sad little puppy dog following Lia around longingly as he had always been and would throw himself in the way of danger for her in any situation.

Racing down the western fourth floor corridor, Malicia kept her wand out and her wits about her. Why was someone darting through the school in shadow? When she rounded the corner near the entrance of the library she caught the tail end of a black cloak as it made its way through the library’s entryway. Of all the ridiculous places to hide in Hogwarts, who would choose the library?

Then again, perhaps they were searching for something within the Restricted Section. There were many powerful and mysterious books, filled with secrets that even the library’s curator Madam Pince was unaware of, though she would argue the contrary. Malicia slowed her walk cautiously through the bookshelves of the deserted library. Even Madam Pince had gone out to the Quidditch pitch to watch the first match of the season. Whoever had broken into Hogwarts had picked the perfect time. If Lia hadn’t forgotten her rosette they likely would’ve gone unnoticed.

Past bookshelf after bookshelf, Malicia peeked through carefully around each corner as not to be ambushed. At the last row of books before the doors to the restricted section, Malicia caught the shadow turn near the far window. Hurrying down the tower of books, she hurried around the corner and fired a stunning spell as she saw a shadow dart through the rows, along the windows and then duck toward the tables left out for students to study on.

Yelping in surprise, she ducked in between bookshelves to avoid a spell returned to her. Hurrying to the middle of the extensive line of shelves she ran toward the front of the library, wand at the ready to dodge or block any spells that came her way. When none came she crept further, just in time to see the same cloaked figure dart out of the library and down the hallway. Before she could pursue him, he turned and shot a spell her way. Malicia tried to see the face of the intruder, but it was shrouded in the darkness of his cloak. Artfully blocking the spell it ricocheted and hit the bookshelf behind her, knocking nearly all of the books onto the floor with a loud crash. Yelping in surprise, Malicia leapt out of the way of the falling books and immediately ran after her attacker.

“Stop! You can’t escape, the whole of Hogwarts will be after you!” Malicia yelled as she gave chase down the hall and through the corridors. They ran up a set of stairs which gave Malicia a slight advantage since she was clearly far more familiar with the school than the intruder was and he happened to stumble on the last few stairs.

Firing another stunning spell, the man was forced to duck and swerve in order to dodge it. Malicia managed to catch up to him in this time and grabbed a fistful of his cloak. Pulling hard on it the top of it fell. The intruder turned to glance at Malicia and she got a quick glimpse of his face before he pulled his cloak back up and darted down the hall again. Malicia stumbled and stopped running momentarily. The face was familiar, but the man’s long black hair had shrouded little other than his blue eyes and it had been hard to tell. Truly he could’ve been anyone. For all she knew his true face was still hidden beneath whatever magical disguise he wore.

Coming back to reality quickly, Malicia continued after the intruder, her mind racing. She followed him up a staircase and onto the fifth floor, her mind reeling to find answers to the recognition she felt upon seeing him.

Lia and Theodore wasted no time rushing after the intruder who threw careless spells over his shoulder. Suits of armor clattered to the ground, colored banners hanging on the wall flew across the hall and attempted to block their path.

“Diffindo!” Lia’s magic slashed through the colored banners in her way and she ducked under them. The blue Ravenclaw banner smacked into Theodore, tangling him momentarily and stopping his pursuit before he set it magically on fire in frustration so he could follow after Lia. If she hadn’t been so angry that someone had gone through her things then Lia would’ve laughed at Theodore’s predicament.

Dodging another spell, she started to gain on the man who was still manipulating shadows to hide his features. Whoever it was didn’t want to be recognized and it made her curious that perhaps she or Theodore would recognize him. “Stupify!” She heard Theodore’s voice echo the same words and a flurry of red sparks sprang toward the man frantically running down the hallway.

Abruptly he turned left down a staircase that led to the fifth floor below, hoping to throw his pursuers off of his tail. Lia waited for Theodore to catch up with her and then nodded toward the stairs. Together they rushed down the staircase and ran after the intruder down the hall. After running through the fifth floor after their intruder, Theodore nodded down the hallway.

“This corridor connects to the one that goes downstairs. I’ll go left and meet you there. When we get in the middle he’ll be boxed in.” Without waiting for confirmation of his plan, as he never did, Theodore ran in the direction he’d signaled. It had been his downfall before, considering that when Lia went adventuring she generally did things spur of the moment. But for now, it seemed like their best bet at catching the man who had destroyed her beautiful office. What could he has possibly wanted there? And had he found it or had they luckily interrupted him before he had been able to locate what he’d been searching for? Lia’s mind immediately wandered to the peculiar key she’d discovered when she’d lost her eyesight and shook it off. There was no way that anyone knew about that key. She hadn’t told anyone what she’d found, not even Theodore or Malicia!

Once she’d gotten to the end of the corridor she turned the corner, knowing that Theodore would appear at the other end and they would trap the intruder near the staircase to the fourth floor. Aiming her wound she cast her stunning spell.

“Holy…” Malicia screeched, jumping back into the stairwell of the fourth floor as the stunning spells rushed toward her.

“Where did he go? Did you lose him?” Theodore yelled, seemingly not concerned that they had nearly just blown Malicia off of her feet.

“No! He turned the corner and then… poof!” Lia hurried to the door to the stairwell where Malicia was standing, wide eyed, recovering from the shock of being nearly stunned into submission by her friends. “Mal! Are you okay?” Lia shouted. “What are you doing up here? Did you see him?”

“Who are you talking about? I was just chasing some guy on the fourth floor! He went through the library and was shooting spells at me and it was nuts!” Malicia swatted at her friend as Lia fretted over her to make sure the combined spells hadn’t singed her cloak.

“He had to have gotten past you. We had him cornered.” Theodore spoke accusingly.

“Teddy it’s okay, Malicia wouldn’t have let him get past her.”

“Yeah, Teddy.” Malicia, very maturely, stuck her tongue out at him to which he made a playful teasing face in response.

“Lord it’s like fourth year all over again.” Lia shook her head in dismay. “Someone ransacked my office and fled down here. He was right in front of us and now he’s… just gone.”

“Same with my guy. I started up the stairs after him, he turned the corner and I went to follow… and then the next thing I know you two are nearly stunning me in the hall! Where could they have gone? You can’t apparate out of Hogwarts!” Malicia stomped her foot in frustration.

“I don’t know but something tells me it’s time to sound the alarm.” Lia nodded resolutely. “Malicia, why don’t you go get McGonagall and let her know what’s happening? Teddy and I will keep searching here but something tells me, we’re alone now.”

“Ask the paintings.” Malicia nodded then stopped as she looked around to see what paintings hung on the wall around them. In front of the stairwell was a large portrait, the canvas torn to pieces and its occupants having disappeared entirely in fear.

“Whoa, I guess we won’t be asking that one.” Theodore muttered as he followed Malicia’s gaze to the destroyed painting. Lia’s brow furrowed as she considered the events at hand. Was it possible the intruders were still in the castle? And if not how had they escaped so quickly?

“I’m going to get Minerva.” Malicia turned on her heels and hurried down the staircase, wand still at the ready. At least she’d get to see a few seconds of the Quidditch game if nothing else.

Lia turned from the painting, there wasn’t time to inspect it closer. “C’mon,” she said to Theodore, “let’s start here. Check out the classes and offices to the west, I’ll hit the east and we’ll make our way up. I’m sure Minerva will start her search from the ground up anyway.” He started to object but decided against it when he saw the worry tinged with suspicion on her face. Nodding, he turned to begin his search. Lia waited until Theodore was a few doors down before going in to an empty classroom. Once she was sure she was alone, Lia quickly removed her cloak and pulled a long golden chain from beneath her robes; attached at the end was the wooden key from the forest. She wrapped her fingers around it, wanting to be sure that it was real, that she hadn’t misplaced it or that it hadn’t been exchanged without her knowledge.

The key weighed heavily on her mind; she was sure that the intruder was looking for it and just as sure that something dangerous would happen if he had gotten his hands on it. Briefly she considered telling someone else about it, but quickly dismissed the notion. The more who knew of its existence, the more chance that someone unsavory would learn of it. Hearing the sound of students trampling through the hallway, Lia stashed the key once more and slipped out into the flow of traffic in the hall.

“Professor! Professor Black!” Lia turned and found James Potter running towards her, his face eager for news, the same expression his father had always worn before disappearing on some misadventure through the castle. “Professor, did you hear? Someone broke into the castle!”

“Of course I heard, James.” She said, eyeing the boy sternly, “And don’t think that you’re going to try to get involved in any of it.” He looked slightly sheepish as she forbade his secret desire. “There are plenty of full grown wizards that know a lot more about the hideouts in this school than you do and we don’t need you underfoot. Now go on up to your dormitory.”

“Yes ma’am.” He sighed, moving a bit slower through the crowd towards the staircase.

Lia eyed a Gryffindor prefect and waved him over, “Keep an eye on Potter,” she said, “I don’t want him sneaking out of the common room and trying to get involved in this. He has a bit too much of his father in him.” The prefect smirked and nodded, jogging to catch up with the wayward troublemaker. Feeling the weight of the key beneath her robes once more, Lia took off down the hall to check the rest of the fourth floor.

Professor McGonagall did not seem to be surprised by the news of two unknown assailants finding their way onto the grounds, but she did look worried at the prospect, and that put the other teachers on full alert; if Minerva McGonagall was concerned, then everyone should be. With the students safely secured in their common rooms, it took the staff the remainder of the day to do a thorough check of the castle. Lunch and dinner were served in the house common rooms for the students. When the search was complete, the staff gathered in the Great Hall, sitting at a single wooden table for their meal. While trying to eat, Lia, Malicia, and Theodore were asked over and over again to repeat what they had seen.

After trying to eat a piece of steak and kidney pie for the fourth time, Lia finally put her fork down and muttered “It’s not even worth it” before diving once more into her explanation of the chase. Hermione offered her insights, most of which included her saying something along the lines of, “But how did they leave? ‘Hogwarts, A History’ clearly explains that you can’t apparate or disapparate at Hogwarts! It just doesn’t make sense!” Malicia ground her teeth and nearly bit her tongue to keep from yelling at her friend for stating the obvious. Theodore ate in silence as most of the teachers knew he would offer little in the way of detail. Malicia and Lia suddenly wished they were as widely known to be of so few words. Finally the three friends made their excuses and left the curious teachers in the dining hall.

“I’m officially done.” Lia said by way of farewell to Theodore in the entrance hall. “See you in the morning I’m sure.”

With a wave, Malicia joined Lia and the two friends trudged up the six flights of stairs to their offices. “I want to go to sleep, but I know I’m not going to be able to leave this alone.” She said as they approached their doors.

Lia cracked open her office and saw the disaster inside; Professor McGonagall had asked the house elves to leave it alone so that it could be checked to see if anything was missing. “Oh Lord, it’s worse than I remember.” She sighed wearily.

Malicia peaked at the damage over her shoulder, “Oh yeah, that is pretty bad.” She commiserated. She put her hand on Lia’s shoulder, “Good luck with that.”

Lia glared at her friend, “Thanks.” She said dryly.

The two faced off for a full thirty seconds, Lia glaring and Malicia with a perfectly unconcerned expression, before bursting into a fit of giggles unlike any that had hit them yet in their time together. After a few minutes, Malicia was able to catch her breath, “No, seriously, do you want a hand?”

Lia wiped her eyes, laughing for no reason seemed to cast all the weariness from her bones, “You can if you want but I’ll be fine, it won’t take me too long to fix it up.”

Still chuckling, the two friends strode into the office and stood back to back, “Reparo!” they said together, flicking their wands at the mess. As if moving backwards in time, shattered pieces of the random objects in Lia’s office were made whole, shelves were firmly back in place with her belongings displayed on top of them, broken picture frames were repaired and the occupants smiling broadly once more. With a flick of a wand, Lia’s desk was set upright and her chair positioned comfortably behind it. Bottles of ink were replaced, quills were put back together, and rolls of parchment were stacked carefully on the desk. What must have taken almost half an hour to destroy took only minutes to set right.

With a final wave, Lia replaced the stationary picture of her muggle parents and the cellphone she used to contact them. A stab of guilt reminded her that she hadn’t spoken with them since her encounter in the forest; the whole scenario had shaken her and her mother could always hear the unease in her voice. How can you explain that you were temporarily blinded, attacked by a minotaur, and have a strange and mysterious key in your possession that could endanger your hidden world without letting on that you have a hidden world and that, on top of it all, everything that had happened was pretty much ‘business as usual’ by Hogwarts standards? As frustrating as it could be, Lia still couldn’t fathom the idea of letting her parents in on the world she called home.

“You good?” Malicia asked, leaning on the doorframe and inspecting the spotless office.

Lia smiled, pushing the guilt aside to be dealt with later, “Yeah, thanks. Clean-up is always more fun when you’ve got someone to blame the mess on in the first place.”

“Hey, I was three floors down when this place blew up, you can’t pin it on me this time.”

“Psh, excuses.” Lia waved her hand, “We all know that you hired that mysterious shadow man to destroy the place. All. Your. Fault.”

Malicia shook her lustrous hair out of her face and crossed her arms, “Always wanting to shift the blame for your own laziness; you haven’t changed at all.” She said loftily.

Lia opened her mouth with a retort to continue what was promising to be very entertaining banter when green flames erupted from the fireplace and Professor McGonagall’s voice cut through the office, “Lia, I need you and Malicia to come to my office as quickly as you can.” She said sternly.

“Yes Professor McGonagall.” The girls said in unison, sounding like two school girls who were in trouble once more.

“I said to call me Minerva.” She snapped before the flames turned yellow once more.

“I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night.” Malicia sighed, thinking fondly over her four poster bed as she and Lia trooped out of the office and headed back down the stairs to the second floor to the gargoyle statue.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Malicia and Lia turned to find Harry and Ron approaching them as the gargoyle statue sprang to the side, revealing the spiral staircase.

“McGonagall called in the big guns, huh?” Lia said playfully, nudging Ron in the ribs.

“Kingsley called us, he said there was some goings on at Hogwarts.” He said, stepping onto the rotating stairs. The other three followed suit.

Malicia looked at Harry with a raised brow, “Taking the easy jobs now, huh?”

Harry shrugged, “He knew we’d never leave it alone as soon as we heard about it.” He explained. “Besides, we need to clear our heads right now; our other case is leaving us dead ends.”

“Well, this one may not clear your head so much as make you scratch it more.” Lia said as she opened the door.

Minerva stood in the midst of her crowded office; many of Lia and Malicia’s old classmates and their fellow instructors were crowded inside and it was standing room only. “Finally.” She said shortly as the four trooped into the room. “Now we can begin.”