Heart of Stone: HPHM Year 6

Artefacts

After giving it a moment's thought, Sarah would have realized that disapparating to an unknown location with a potentially dangerous dark witch was a ludicrous idea. But, she'd been so consumed with not letting her suspect get away that she had not given that moment the thought it needed.

She clung tightly to the struggling witch. For an instant, it seemed as if they were being sucked together through a small, airless tube, then the two stumbled onto a dark, cobblestone street.

"Get off me, yeh mental little brat!"

That wasn't a women's voice, but it was a familiar one. Sarah fought to keep one hand around the witch's middle as she struggled to pull her wand from her pocket.

"Revelio!"

From head toe, the witch's appearance changed, until a short, bald man in raggedy clothing stood before her.

"Mundungus Fletcher."

"Keep yer voice down, will yeh? If yeh haven't noticed, I'm tryin' to keep a low profile."

"Stay where you are."

Sarah and Fletcher turned to look at the newcomer, who'd appeared at the entrance to the ally, her wand pointed at them.

"Merula? What are you doing here?"

"The same thing you're doing, I expect. What did you do to your hair? I mean, I'm flattered, but the edgy look doesn't suit you."

Sarah felt her hair. The low bun was missing, along with all the hair that composed it. She was left with an uneven, chin-length bob.

"Oh no! I must have gotten splinched!"

On closer inspection, a large section of the back of her cloak had also disappeared. Either side was now hanging off her arms.

Merula laughed. "Consider yourself, lucky. Too bad you didn't turn up without a head or something."

"This has all been very lovely," Mundungus piped in, "but if yeh don't mind, I think I'll--"

"Stay right there!" Sarah ordered, poking her wand in his gut. Merula trotted down the alley, keeping her wand trained on the thief as well. "Are you the owner of the snowy owl?"

"Owl? I haven't got an owl!"

"Then why were you in such a hurry to leave the pub once I mentioned it?"

Mundungus flinched away from Sarah's wand.

"I was in a hurry to leave after yeh started talking about...Rakepick." He said the last word in a rasping whisper. "I don't want nothin' to do with her anymore. She'd gladly kill me if she saw me again."

"What did you do?" asked Merula. "Sell her a fake sneakoscope?"

"I take offense to that," said Mundugus. "Everything I sell is high standard and authentic."

Merula snorted, but Sarah pressed, "Then why is she mad at you?" When he didn't answer, she pressed her wand deeper into his belly.

"Ah, okay okay! She offered to pay me to grab some of her old dark artefacts from her classroom. I tried for weeks, but couldn't get nearer the school than the gates. I'm afraid of what she'll do to me since I failed her."

"What's so special about these artefacts?" asked Sarah.

"I don't know exactly. I just know she needs them to get into a cursed vault."

Sarah and Merula stared at each other. If that was true, they had to get back to Hogwarts and grab the artefacts before Rakepick or anyone else could get their hands on them. Sarah's heart skipped a beat. Finally, she might make some progress to ending this curse.