Rescuing Dragons

Marco Dolohov

 Class had just ended and Raven was cleaning up. She looked up to see Charlie coming into her classroom. "I can't believe you're not at lunch already," she said.

"Look at this!" he replied, ignoring her jibe at his eating habits. It was the Daily Prophet with the nasty story Rita Skeeter had written about her. Charlie was pointing to the front page story that reported on the stolen music box. "Read the third paragraph."

Raven took the paper and read, The description of the music box is as follows: Hewn of Yew wood with runes running along the border. There is a large "B" on the lid with a serpent entwined in it. According to Potter, it originally belonged to Orion and Walburga Black. If anyone approaches you with it, do NOT listen to it and report them to the Ministry of Magic immediately!

"That's the music box Marco has!" she cried. "We need to tell Harry!"

"Just sent him an owl. Was so upset about the other story — the one about you — I didn't read this!"

"Me neither. Do you think Marco has... cursed a lot of people?" Raven keenly felt Marco's betrayal. She had defended him!

"Possibly— tried to curse us, remember? If you hadn't stopped him, he'd probably have your father's notes by now."

Raven shuddered at the thought. "I've been trying to work on the cure for the curse, but I've run into a problem."

"Is the cure a potion?"

"Partly—the potion was a little complex but I figured it out. The problem is they need to hear the tune from the music box played backwards. That removes the curse. The curse can make people confused and forget things. The potion heals any mental damage it may have caused."

"We have to get that music box!" Charlie said.

"Yes, but until we can figure out how to play it backwards, we can't fix anything. It has to be exactly the same tune, with the same phrasing and the exact same pauses. If it's not, it won't work."

They were both quiet, thinking about the challenge. Charlie's eyes lit up. "The merpeople are musical and experts at mimicking sounds."

"Hmm, sounds great except how are we going to get everyone underwater to hear it?"

Charlie's face fell. "Let's think on it later. We need to find Professor McGonagall now."

They rushed to the Great Hall where she should be at lunch and — hopefully — Marco as well. When they reached the top of the stairs, Raven stopped and put her hand on Charlie's arm. "What if she's cursed?" Charlie looked at her like she was crazy. "Oh, never mind," she said with an embarrassed smile. "If Marco had tried to curse her, we would know exactly where to find the music box."

They got to the staff table just as the Headmistress was sitting down to eat. There was no sign of Marco. Charlie looked longingly at a plate of chicken salad sandwiches.

"Minerva, we have something important to discuss with you," Raven whispered. "Can we talk somewhere private?"

Professor McGonagall nodded. "Let's go in here." She led them into a side room off the Great Hall.

"Did you read the music box description in the Daily Prophet a few weeks ago?" Charlie said.

"Yes, what about it?"

"Marco has a music box just like that," Raven said. "He kept begging us to listen to it."

Professor McGonagall's face registered nothing except a slight tightening of the lips. "You're sure about this? There is no doubt in your mind?"