Hogwarts Mystery- The Beginning of Mystery

Chapter 11: Preparing for the room

The next day, Cyrene asked to meet Rowan in the Great Hall before going to class. As usual, Rowan was already waiting for Cyrene when she got there.

'There you are! I hear you've been busy excelling in class, and earning House Points for Hufflepuff.' said Rowan.

'You're the one who got me points in Flying Class.' said Cyrene. 'Not only have people been helping me get House Points, but I came up with a plan to get in the room Mrs Norris is guarding.'

'Brilliant! What's your plan?'

'First, we need to get past Mrs Norris. If we give her a Sleeping Draught, it will knock her out just long enough to let us by.' explained Cyrene quietly. 'Second, we need to get inside the door. The Unlocking Charm, Alohomora, should do the trick. Third, we'll need the Knockback Jinx, Flipendo. It'll help us escape if we get trapped inside the room like with the Devil's Snare.'

'If you ask Snape to help you brew a Sleeping Draught, he'll get suspicious...' said Rowan.

'I'm going to ask Penny Haywood.'

'Penny Haywood? She's the most popular girl in our year. If not in all of Hogwarts.'

'She offered to help me if I ever needed anything, and she said she's pretty good with potions.'

'She's being modest. If anyone in our year can brew a Sleeping Draught, it's her.' said Rowan. 'What about Filch?'

'I was inspired by your love of research, and decided to do some of my own research on Filch. I think I can throw him off our trail.' Rowan looked impressed with Cyrene's answer. 'There is one more thing...' mumbled Cyrene.

'What?'

'I think we'll need a third person to pull this off.'

'Who else do you want to bring?'

'Penny.' Cyrene thought that Ben would prefer not to go investigate a mysterious door.

'I know she offered to help you, but this is asking a lot, Cyrene.' said Rowan.

'I know, but I really think she could help. Knowing the gossip around Hogwarts could help keep us out of trouble, and her potion skills could help with whatever is inside the door.' said Cyrene.

'Good luck, Cyrene. Just let me know when you're ready to execute the plan.' Rowan didn't sound convinced, but she went with the plan anyway.

*

Later, Cyrene went to ask Penny to meet her in the Potions classroom to help her brew the Sleeping Draught. She seemed very cheerful about helping Cyrene. She was already waiting in the classroom.

'Well, if it isn't the hero of Hogwarts...' said Penny.

'Thank you for agreeing to help me brew a Sleeping Draught.' said Cyrene.

'My pleasure. People always come to me for gossip, so it's refreshing when someone recognises my skill with Potions.' Penny said happily.

'Mrs Norris is guarding a locked room I want to enter, so I need her to take a little nap.' Cyrene thought if she wanted to take Penny with her to the locked room, she should know the truth.

'Exciting! Don't worry, Cyrene. Your secret is safe with me.'

'Why isn't Snape here?' Cyrene thought Snape would spend most of his time in the Potions classroom, which was also his office.

'We lost our Defence against the Dark Arts Professor. Snape is campaigning to Dumbledore even though the position is cursed.'

Cyrene wasn't surprised by the information. They never had a Defence against the Dark Arts Professor that lasted more than a year, and Snape wanted the job badly.

'Rumour is, he's not going to get it.' Penny finished.

'I feel like I didn't learn anything in Defence against the Dark Arts this year.' said Cyrene.

'Well, you're about to learn something about potions right now.'

Luckily for Cyrene, Penny was a very good teacher, and better to understand than Snape since she didn't have to fear she would start deducting House Points if she did something wrong. Aside from learning to brew the potion, Cyrene had fun chatting with Penny too. When she was finished, she was quite proud of the result. However, Penny seemed even more impressed.

'Impressive potioneering, Cyrene. That Sleeping Draught could knock a Romainian Longhorn on its tail.' she said.

'Thanks, Penny. I owe you one.'

'It's the least I could do for the hero who stopped Merula Snyde from bullying everyone.' said Penny. 'Good luck, Cyrene. I can't wait to hear what happens.'

Before Cyrene wanted to convince Penny to help her get inside the locked room, they both had to leave for their classes.

Cyrene then headed to the East Tower for Charms Class. She was quite excited about it since she was going to learn Alohomora. Learning the spell meant the requirements for her plan to open the mysterious door.

'Well done! You've successfully unlocked another piece of knowledge at Hogwarts!' Flitwick said at the end of the lesson.

'And I'm one step closer to unlocking that door...' muttered Cyrene.

At lunch time, Cyrene immediately went to meet up with Penny in the Great Hall. She had to talk her into helping her get inside the room. She noticed that Dumbledore is not sitting in his throne of a chair. She also heard from a student that they haven't seen Dumbledore in the school at all.

Cyrene did not think of it much and sat down next to Penny. She was practising a spell and muttering to herself while waiting for Cyrene.

'Thanks for meeting me, Penny.' said Cyrene.

'Of course, Cyrene. Word around school is you need my help.'

'You really do know all the gossip.'

'The only thing I don't know is, why me?'

'Rowan already agreed to help. I don't have many friends...'

'Well, now you have at least two friends, Cyrene.' Penny beamed. 'I'm your friend, and I'm a Hufflepuff, so I obviously want to help. I just can't commit until I know exactly what you're planning.'

'I'll tell you everything, Penny. You'll just have to promise not to tell anyone else.'

'I won't, but you'll have to make me as confident about this plan as you are.'

It took a while for Cyrene to say everything since there were many students and professors around them. Penny stayed silent sometime after Cyrene finished.

'It's a really ill-advised plan, Cyrene.' she said.

'I know, but it might be my only chance to find out what happened to my brother.'

'It's really dangerous too.' said Penny.

'I know...' Cyrene thought that Penny would not agree to be a part of the plan. She thought about asking Ben instead.

'I love it!' Penny said suddenly.

'You do?!'

'Everyone invites me to parties, but no one ever asks me to join them on death-defying adventures!' said Penny excitedly. 'I'd better start brewing some particularly powerful potions.'

Cyrene gave a huge sigh of relief. She thought she should break the news to Rowan, and headed off to look for her.