The Golden Lock

Part IV

The nightmares only got worse as the week went on. It wasn't just Nathaniel. The following night, two Hufflepuffs and a Slytherin woke up screaming. The next: at least three from every house and a professor as well. More and more people ended up in the hospital wing — so many that Madame Pomfrey was running low on potions of dreamless sleep. There wasn't enough for everyone to take a dose before bed, so it wasn't strange to find a room full of students pretending to be asleep, just waiting for the first screams to fill the night.

We prefects had our hands full with extra people on patrol, escorting student after student to the hospital wing. Even in the daytime we couldn't escape it. It was all anyone was talking about, if they were awake enough to do so, that is. Those who had the nightmares before were terrified of falling asleep again. Those who had yet to be a victim were similarly full of dread. Everyone else simply had to get used to sleeping through the sounds of screaming every hour. It wasn't uncommon either to find exhausted students dozing off in the most random places.

Unfortunately, there was nothing our foursome could do about it until Saturday. We met every morning before breakfast that week to go over the plan and share any new information, but we all agreed that the best time to check out the room again was during the Hufflepuff-Gryffindor match that weekend.

"Obviously, we missed something when we were there the first time," I asserted.

Elinor nodded in solidarity. "We need to find that key."

"But does it have to be during the match?" Teddy complained. Of course, if we went then Teddy wouldn't be able to take part in the search.

"We wish you could be there too, Teddy, but that's the only time the whole school will be occupied, " I pointed out. "That way, when Elinor, Victoire, and I find the key and figure out where the second one is, we can explore the school without anyone stopping us."

"Wait, there's a second key?" Teddy puzzled absentmindedly.

Victoire whacked him in the arm. "Yes, we've been over this. 'Transformed two.' 'Hidden pair.' Two keys. Remember?"

We laughed as Teddy rubbed his arm and I shook my head. "Well keys aside, even though no one would likely stop two prefects and the Head Girl, we still don't want to look suspicious. We'll sneak off into the tunnel when the match begins and get out as soon as we find the key."

"Hopefully the match lasts long enough," Victoire voiced.

"With as many points behind Ravenclaw as Hufflepuff is," Teddy added, referring to the House Quidditch Cup, "I sure hope so too."

When Saturday finally made its sluggish arrival, the school was full of sleep-deprived students and exhausted teachers. Even the quidditch players were less than eager to make it out to the pitch, but they and the whole school trudged out anyways. I guess when everyday is a living nightmare, it's good to have something to cheer for.

Teddy seemed the least awake of his team when Elinor and I ran into them as they were leaving the Great Hall. Last night, he explained, Victoire was one of the ones plagued by the dark dreams, so he stayed awake as long as he could with her in the hospital wing. That meant, Victoire, who was currently asleep in the hospital wing, wouldn't be joining us today either.

No one was cheering, or talking really, as Elinor and I walked into the stands and took seats by Jo, Langley, and the Scamander twins. In fact, the pitch was pretty quiet until Cadence Leo started up her commentary and the players flew into the field. Charles, sporting his Gryffindor quidditch uniform, waved at us as he flew past. I had completely forgotten he was on the team.

"The players line up to shake hands before Madame Hooch starts off the game," Cadence relayed over the loudspeaker. It wasn't difficult to focus on her voice as the tired crowd was only a fraction of its usual volume. It was almost unsettling. "It's hard to believe that Gryffindor won't win this match with almost their whole team as seventh-years. But then again, Hufflepuff captain and keeper Teddy Lupin has shown quite some impressive game the way his rag-tag team's played this year.