Professor Fig has heard about the troll attack in Hogsmeade. We both know that Ranrok must be after the locket we found in Gringotts. Fig has discovered an inscription on the locket. When he reads it aloud, a map appears.
In Fig’s office, I look at the map. It’s a plain floor plan of Hogwarts, but I can see blue glows over the Library’s Restricted Section. We’re both eager to go investigate. Into his office walks Headmaster Black, though. Black wants him now, no excuses. Our trip will have to wait.
However, I have an idea. Sebastian once bragged that he could sneak into the Restricted Section. I find him in the hallway. When he asks for more information, I tell him about Ranrock.
My secret’s safe with him. It’s off to the Library tonight for adventure.
I meet Sebastian on a staircase overlooking the Library entrance. We’ll need to sneak in. Using the Disillusionment spell, we get past the Librarian and some ghosts. Peeves the Poltergeist catches us, though, in the basement.
Sebastian volunteers to chase after Peeves. I don’t want him to get in trouble on my account. He “likes to have friends in his debt”, he says, and goes back upstairs to distract the Librarian. I head down further, until a blue glow at the bottom reveals a hidden doorway.
Through the secret arch is the Athenaeum, a room of puzzles to solve and statue knights to fight.
At the end of it all is another pensieve, this one with a book floating over it. The book opens, revealing a section of torn-out pages. Liquid flows from the spine and the memory drops into the basin.
I see Rackham and Charles Rookwood, as well as two other people. (These four are The Keepers.) They stand on an overlook. Down below is a blighted hamlet suffering a drought. With a nod at each other, The Keepers intervene. Rackham sends ancient magic into the sky, bringing rain. The other three wield his ancient magic, turning the grey village into a blooming, green place. A father hugs his son, who uses a crutch and looks sickly. The little girl looks straight up at The Keepers on the hillside.
Later in the memory, the girl, Isidora, is now a student at Hogwarts. Like Rackham, she is the only person to enter as a fifth-year and to see the blue traces of ancient magic. She seems very excited. Rackham insists she train and study before she can learn how to wield it. In the wrong hands it could be very dangerous.
And then I’m bumped back to reality, sneaking out of the Library. Sebastian, caught by Peeves and the Librarian, insists that he’s alone and no one else was here with him.
He’s right: my secret is safe with him.
