Trial of Time: A Hogwarts Legacy Story

(P1) Chapter 8 - The Headless Hunt (For the Missing Pages)

It takes me a bit to get to Professor Fig's classroom. As I approach the door, I hear a familiar voice. It's Professor Sharp. How did he get up here so quickly?

I remember that Floo travel exists and feel like a proper idiot for running all this way.

"Goblins? Working with Rookwood?" Sharp asks, astounded. 

"It is rather unorthodox to say the least," Fig replies.

"Unorthodox? It's inconceivable. It's-"

Oh no. I accidentally push the door open, and it creaks loudly. Professor Sharp stops and looks back at me, "Ah, Fig, it seems you have a visitor. I'll see what I can find out."

Sharp exits the office. Finally, I can tell Professor Fig everything.

Fig was upset when I told him about sneaking into the Restricted Section. He wasn't upset for very long, though. He quickly became perplexed when I told him about the book and the memory I saw. He examined the book, and was able to determine that several important pages are missing.

"I'll need some time to study this book. And I'll need to take it with me to London. The Headmaster has insisted that I speak with the Ministry directly about the Minister's death and the dragon attack," Professor Fig states, his face souring at the mention of Black.

He looks up at me. "In the meantime, you need to keep focusing on your studies. And I hope you can find some free time to enjoy yourself, and make friends. You'll be surprised how much you can learn from them," he smiles at me. 

I nod, "Yes, sir. I will let you know if I find any information about the missing pages."

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I'm walking out of the Great Hall with Natty after dinner when we're stopped in our tracks by the Gryffindor ghost, Sir Nicholas, or "Nearly Headless Nick" as the entire school refers to him. 

He explains to me that he's familiar with the book I found and the missing pages that I need. He only needs one slight favor in return.

"You want us to... what?" I ask him to clarify, mouth agape. Natty is chuckling beside me.

"Ah, follow me! Perhaps I can better explain it with a visual aid." He motions us and we follow him down the staircase to the cellars.

"Now, all you need to do is go in there to the kitchen and ask one of the house elves for some rotten roast beef. Once you have it, you can return to me out here and we can make our way over to the festivities!" Nick gestures to us excitedly. I look in front of us to see a painting of some fruit, with no doorway or no kitchen in sight.

"Is this a joke? Where's the kitchen?" I ask.

Nick clears his throat and points at the portrait, "Well, all you need to do is tickle the pear!"

"Tickle the what?!" Natty bends over in laughter. I bite my lip to hold back my own laughter as I point my wand at the painting.

"The pear! Tickle it," Nick nods toward the painting.

Merlin, this feels like the most ridiculous thing I've ever done.

Somehow, I manage to tickle the pear and we're able to enter the kitchen. The house elves are hard at work cleaning up the kitchen from dinner. In a corner of the room, I smell a disgusting trash pile. One of the kind house elves hands me a large lump of rotten roast beef upon my request.

I gag and Natty pinches her nose. "That smell is awful!" she coughs. We make our way back to Sir Nick, who promptly escorts us to the nearby cemetery just outside of Hogwarts.