Dark

Chapter 17

Eleanor
I was still in pain. I had been since waking up the previous day in the hospital wing. It wasn’t quite as severe though. What bothered me more than the pain was the mystery of the golden egg. I had spent my meals throughout the day looking through an old copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander and a feisty copy of The Monster Book of Monsters by Edwardus Lima.
When I pulled The Monster Book of Monsters out during breakfast, Malfoy nearly fell right off the bench. He eyed it wearily as I stroked the binding and it fell open calmly upon the table.
“Scared of a little book, Malfoy?” I asked him.
“N-no. I just don’t…don’t like it.” He stammered. “Besides, we used them in that oaf’s class last year and I ended up getting attacked by a Hippogriff.”
That hadn’t surprising to me at all. If Hagrid was daring enough to introduce a Hippogriff to a Malfoy, it was bound to spell out trouble. “I’m not surprised, Malfoy. Hippogriffs are proud and don’t take well to disrespect. Seeing as you operate much the same way, you would be bound to clash heads with a Hippogriff.” I had chuckled at this briefly before adding on, “That’s why we don’t get along either.”
“What?” Malfoy asked, furrowing his brows at me from across the table.
“We’re too similar at times, that’s why we don’t get along.” I repeated.
“I think we get along just fine.” Malfoy scoffed.
“Do you, really?” I asked him harshly. “Then explain to me about those bloody badges.”
“What does it matter to you?” He asked me. “It was just another way to piss off Potter. I thought you’d like that.”
“You thought I would like those badges?” I was furious then. How dense could he possibly be? “In case you’ve forgotten, not only am I partners with Harry for this competition, but I’m also a Potter. So those badges were aimed just as much at me as they were at Harry.”
I knew better than to expect an apology from Malfoy for the badges, but I hadn’t been expecting him to act as though they weren’t a jab at me. He can say he doesn’t hate me, but it was clear he did. Whatever game he was playing at, I had no desire to participate.
We hadn’t spoken to each other for the rest of the day. So I sat alone at dinner, contemplating the egg. My attention was focused on the books in front of me. I had already ruled out banshees and harpies as being the source of the screeching in the egg. I was sure that whatever creature had created the sound stored in the golden egg, it was a humanoid. So I searched the books again as the Great Hall slowly emptied around me.
By the time I slammed the books closed, frustrated, the Hall was quiet. Only a few students remained, finishing up the last pieces of food on their plates. I looked around the room, trying to clear my head. I started to list what I knew about the clue within the egg, trying to start over again and hoping that something new would pop up in my thoughts.
The clue in the egg is something that sounds like screeching. The sound isn’t made by a human. If the sound doesn’t come from a human, it must come from a creature. If the sound comes from some sort of creature, it is most likely humanoid to some extent. It’s not a banshee because the cries of a banshee kill those who hear it. It wasn’t the cry of a harpy either.
So what could it be?
As I finished reviewing what I knew my senses were pulled back to the space around me. The quiet of the hall was briefly interrupted as a student down the Slytherin table poured water from a jug into their glass. The sound had pulled my eyes to jug and I just watched for a moment, frustrated. Then it clicked.
Humanoid. Water. Screeching. I knew what had made the sound inside the egg.
I rushed up from the table and sprinted down the corridor toward the dungeons. I knew the egg could tell me about the next task, it just had to be placed into the right environment. I shouted the password to the stretch of wall concealing the Slytherin common room. As the stone melted away I pelted across the room before me.
“Ugh!”
The disgusted sound hit my ears and I hadn’t planned to turn around until I noticed Pansy Parkinson’s voice speak up over the babble in the room.
“You look like a monster with those scars. You know that, right?” she asked harshly, flashing a disgusted face toward me.
“Yes, Pansy. I’m well aware.” I didn’t have time for Pansy’s petty remarks. I watch her face falter where she sat on a couch with Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. “But thank you for the reminder.”
I turned again, drowning out the annoyed remarks Pansy shot after me. When had I reached my dormitory I threw open the bathroom door. I turned the knob above the tub and then retreated toward my bed. As I opened my trunk I gazed at the golden egg. I knew this was it. The answers I needed were only seconds away.
I pulled the egg out of the trunk and rushed back to the bathroom. After tossing it into the water I waited as the tub filled. Then I crouched down. This had to be it. This made the most sense. They can’t speak normally above water, so their words come out as strange screeching sounds. Which meant that if I just put my head under the water, I would be able to hear what the next task is.
I leaned over the tub and thrust my head into the water. With my eyes closed tight I pried open the egg. As the egg’s halves parted my ears weren’t filled with screeching. Instead there was a melodic sound being emitted from the egg. It was singing:
“Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took.
But past an hour - the prospect's black
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back.”
I whipped my head back out of the water, my hair flinging water in every direction. It didn’t matter though. I was one step closer to the next task. I had been right, the screeching sound had come from merpeople.
“Come seek us where our voices sound?”
That meant I would have to go where merpeople are. The only place in Hogwarts where I could possibly find merpeople would be the Black Lake.
“An hour long you’ll have to look.”
That was simple. I would have an hour to find them in the Black Lake. What didn’t make sense were the lines on either side of this one.
“We’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss,” and, “recover what we took.”
They’ll be taking something from the champions and we have to get it back from the merpeople. But what could they take that I would sorely miss? There wasn’t anything I would truly miss.