The Wizard's Guide to Timelords and Other Demons Book 1: The Forgotten War

The Library

Early next morning, Elise met Kendra and Bathilda in the Grand Hall for breakfast where a rather extensive buffet had been prepared covering several tables. Sizeable silver platters were piled high with bacon, eggs (poached, fried and scrambled), pancakes (with five kinds of syrup), fried potatoes, oatmeal, and baked beans. There was also toast with butter and jam, blueberry scones, biscuits with gravy and treacle tarts.

While Bathilda stacked her plate with small samples of just about everything, Elise and Kendra each settled for a small bowl of oatmeal with cream and raisins, topped off with a pinch of nutmeg.

"It's Wednesday," Bathilda declared as she reached for an additional plate and covered it with scones. Elise looked to Kendra for an explanation, but she just shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes.

"Where is Jean this morning?" Elise asked as she and Kendra sat down at the table across from Bathilda, who had already started eating.

"She's in her room trying to get her hair color back to normal," replied Bathilda, who could barely be understood through a mouth filled with pancakes. Elise chose not to press for more of an explanation.

The girls spent the next half-hour giggling loudly and answering Elise's questions about the Hogwarts teachers and staff. This included Professor Umbridge, who Elise had run into again earlier that morning on her way to the Grand Hall, only this time the experience had been much less awkward. Elise officially introduced herself quite articulately, shaking Umbridge's hand and apologizing for the embarrassing events of their previous encounters.

Although the brief meeting did nothing to alter Elise's already low opinion of the woman (and likely vice versa), the physical contact with her hand had again revealed that Umbridge was not under the Beast's control as far as Elise could tell. So, she then decided it was time to move on to her next candidate, Professor Snape.

At Elise's request, Kendra related several scary facts she had learned over the years about the Potions Master, including how he had been denied the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher—a position currently held by Professor Umbridge—on account of him being too dangerous or evil or something. At least that is what she had heard.

Hearing that gave Elise pause for thought. It occurred to her that if it came down to a fight between herself and a possessed Hogwarts teacher—particularly Professor Snape---she might be facing a form of magic completely unknown to her. A little time devoted to research was clearly in order.

Just before their ice-skating activity yesterday afternoon, Kendra had given Elise a rather rushed tour of some of the more interesting sights at Hogwarts. This included the dungeons in the lower levels where Professor Snape's Potions class was held, a massive tower filled with magical moving staircases, and, most importantly, a large library located on the first floor.

Seeing as Kendra and Bathilda clearly had no interest in spending any time at all in a library during the Christmas holidays, they all agreed to meet later after Elise had, in Kendra's words, "satisfied her absurd need to embrace the pursuits of the chronically boring."

Elise traced her fingers along the spines of the books that lined the walls of the vast library. The library itself was quite impressive and she found herself falling into a childlike wonderland that was her inner bookworm.

As an amateur witch, Elise had spent countless hours perfecting various charms, hexes, and curses. Studying witchcraft was one of the few things that pulled her out of her world of pain and tragedy. Knowledge and learning brought her great joy.

The variety of materials and engravings that adorned the books was mesmerizing. Many of them were perhaps hundreds of years old, yet still in pristine condition. One book in particular first caught her attention; not because of the intricate designs on the finely crafted leather binding, but because of the absurdity of the title, which Elise found rather irking.