The Spellbook

Chapter Seven

Bella's pov: 

I lie awake at night thinking about the spellbook. How could I have been so careless? How could I have lost one of the most important things I've owned? I searched the entire castle the day before, nothing. Granted if anyone finds it they won't be able to see anything. But what if it falls into the wrong hands? That strange witch warned me about this. 

At around two o'clock in the morning, I am finally able to fall asleep. 

***

I am walking down a corridor when suddenly I am pulled into an empty classroom. 

"What the-" I begin to say when a hand collides with my mouth. 

"How could you?" It's the witch that gave me the spellbook. "How could you lose something as powerful as the Hewitt Family Spellbook?" 

"I-I don't k-know," I stammer. 

"If it falls into the wrong hands, I'm afraid the wizarding world will no longer be safe. You have to find the book before it's too late. Do you understand, Bella Bella,"

"BELLA" 

I wake up to see a red-haired girl looking down at me. 

"Are you alright?" Lily asks. Yes, Lily Potter is in our year, much to Chris's liking.

I'm drenched in sweat and shaking. 

"I'm not sure," I respond. 

"You were twitching around in your sleep and muttering something about a book," Charlotte, the other girl in our year, adds. 

"I'll be fine, it was just a nightmare," I say. 

"Ok, we are going to head down to breakfast," Lily states while her and Charlotte leave the room. 

I try to recall my dream. It was the witch reprimanding me for losing the book. I already felt bad about it and now this. Ugh. I get out of bed and change into my robes. I leave Gryffindor Tower and head to the Great Hall. Once I am there I see Ashley and Chris at the Ravenclaw table, I would like nothing more than to join them and talk about anything to get my mind off the book, but I know that's not allowed. Instead, I sit at my usual spot at the Gryffindor table. All around me students are piling their plates with eggs and toast but just looking at all of the food is making me queasy. 

"Not hungry?"

I look to my right and see Alex standing there. 

"No," I reply. 

To my surprise, Alex sits down beside me. 

"What are you doing? This is the Gryffindor table"

"I am aware," He says grabbing a piece of toast. "You look like somethings bothering you". 

"Wait a second, does Alex Marrow actually care about something other than himself?" 

"Haha very funny Bella, but seriously what's wrong?"

"Well" I debate about telling him the truth but I end up telling him about the book, leaving out the part about the witch and how nobody but me can see what's written in it.  

"I'll help you find it"

"Really?"

"Yeah let's go now"

"We can't go now"

"Why not?"

"Because class starts in twelve minutes and I'm not skipping it"

"Right, meet me in the dungeons at 4 o'clock sharp" 

And with that Alex picks up his bag and walks away. 

***

I could barely focus during lessons, all I could think about was meeting Alex at 4 o'clock. At last, the final bell rings and I'm the first out. I drop off my bag at the common room and walk down to the dungeons. It was still five minutes to 4 but he was already waiting for me. 

"Why did we have to meet here of all places?" I ask gesturing to the grossness that's the dungeons. 

"Potions was my last class, it was the closest to me. I work smarter not harder Louie," Alex smirks. 

I roll my eyes. 

"Now come with me," He says while grabbing my arm and pulling me away from everyone. 

"Don't touch me," I retort. 

"Don't touch me,"  Alex mimics. "Will you shut up and listen. Do you want my help or not?"

I decide to do what he says, just this one time. He pulls out an old piece of parchment from his pocket. 

"Now this will be key to finding what you are looking for," Alex says proudly holding up the parchment. 

"Your joking, how is an old useless piece of junk going to help me?"

"It's not junk," Alex says looking offended. "Watch this". 

He pulls out his wand from his pocket. 

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good"

I watch as the parchment turns into some sort of map of the castle. 

"Is that us?" I ask as I point to a spot on the map that says Bella Larson and Alex Marrow.

"Yeah this map shows where everyone at Hogwarts is"

"Wicked, where did you get it?"

"It's Albus's, I told him I had an important job to do and he let me borrow it"

"Albus as in Albus Potter?" 

"Yes now will you stop with the questions?"

I put my hands up in surrender. 

"You said you already searched the castle right?"

I nod my head. Apparently, there are secret passageways in, out, and around the castle. We check all of them and by the time we are finished, it's already dark outside.

"Sorry we didn't find your book," Alex says sincerely while we walk up to Gryffindor Tower. 

"It's ok," I shrug. "Thanks for helping me"

"No problem, well I'll see you around Louie," Alex says as he walks away from me. 

"I told you I hate that nickname," I yell. 

"I know," He yells back. 

Look at me go it actually didn't take me ages to update. I have a new writing schedule so hopefully I will be quick with updates from now on. I know I said that there are only going to be a couple more chapters in the last chapter, but I have some new ideas that will make the story longer. Happy Reading! Word count 995.