Blue | Regulus Black

[23]

☾✧

Her steps echoed loudly against the stone bricks as she quickened her pace. The streets were deserted, occasional people glancing at her with wide eyes from hidden alcoves or balconies.

She knew that if she weren't back in time, James, Sirius and Remus would suspect she was up to no good, which wasn't exactly what she was doing, but the risk was just as great.

Ever since her Hogwarts letter came, bringing news of her being appointed as Head Girl, Rose had been shaking with impatience to go to Diagon Alley. Regulus and her had discussed lots of things and they were on the search for something to bring Voldemort down, which they guessed they could find only through research.

Hogwarts harbored one of the biggest magic libraries on the continent, its collection stretching far beyond anyone's reach, except there weren't many books covering the dark arts, and those that existed for students to use in their studies were locked away in the Restricted Section and watched over by Madam Pince, who was the equivalent of a shrieking hawk.

Despite their statuses and reputations amongst Hogwarts' students and professors, neither Regulus, nor Rose thought they would be granted access to the section that could answer all of their problems, unless, of course, Regulus talked to Slughorn, who seemed ready enough to worship the boy. They decided together that it could be a last resort if the Library of Souls would deem itself useless.

The Library of Souls was perhaps the biggest library in Europe, and an ancient one at that. Rose had to walk a little through Knockturn Alley to find the one leading to it. Wizards those days called it Merlin's Alley all because he was the one who founded the library and left his imprint on the whole place. Not many magical folk knew about it and some called it a bigger mystery than the Department of Mysteries. Regulus, however, being raised in one of the ancient households, had enough knowledge of the wizarding world to last him three lifetimes, gave her instructions how to find the place and how to access it.

A knocking pattern had been used and bricks shifted in place to let her in, her jaw nearly dropping to the floor as the massive library came into view. It looked about half the size of Hogwarts!

It was all dark and menacing, but there was warm light coming from the windows that told her it wasn't exactly the worst place to walk into. There was another magical beat she had to use to get the massive doors to grant her access, and exactly as her Regulus had said, the doors cracked open.

Rose couldn't keep her eyes off anything as she entered, her vision instantly overwhelmed. There looked like there were multiple floors to the place and each one was accessible through movable staircases, exactly like the ones back at Hogwarts.

She walked until a huge floating book appeared before her, quills and ink shooting towards her from every direction. Rose sighed nervously, taking one quill and preparing herself for the next stage. Once your name was on the paper, the books you took couldn't go beyond the library's walls. She had prepared for that with rolls upon rolls of parchment that were sitting in her bag, ready to be filled with information.

The Potter signed herself, admiring the way her name soaked into the paper and was replaced with numerous titles of books and the sections they could be found in. She ran her eyes over the pages in a rush until the dark arts section came into view. There were numerous books to be found there, such as other forms of tortures other than the Cruciatus Curse, books about dark creatures, how to brew your own poisons and many more.