Hogwarts Legacy: The Price of Power

Shattering

Dracaena made her way back into the halls of Hogwarts, baffled by the racket about her. As she stepped into the main hall, she stared at the students milling around, then checked her watch. She blinked, and checked again. It was almost nine o' clock in the morning.

She bolted for the stairs, her heart swelling with so much joy she thought she might actually begin floating. She gripped the railing as she went, just in case she actually did.

Fig was here! Right below Hogwarts! There whenever she needed him, to help her as he always had! It no longer mattered that she'd been so afraid to go back down, to risk opening the chest she'd locked and bound with chains, none of it mattered at all! Professor Fig was there!

She laughed, the wild sound startling a pair of first years, one so badly he sent his books sailing over the banister. By the pained shout that rose up, she guessed that they'd landed on someone's head.

She laughed harder, her exhaustion pushed aside, bounding up the stairs like a deer, skidding into the Dark Arts Tower and sprinting for yet more stairs, ignoring the stitch growing in her side. She pelted along the Charms Corridor, leaping over Natty and Amit, who were sprawled on the steps together. They shouted in alarm as she soared over their heads, and she tucked into a roll, rising once more, never breaking stride.

Dracaena burst into the Room of Requirement with a clatter. Sebastian and Ominis were already there, the pair of them standing close and muttering with concerned expressions. They leapt a foot in the air as she tore inside, their expressions clearing.

"Drac? Where have you been?" Sebastian said, turning to her as she charged at them. "We've been worried si-"

She threw herself at him, kissing him so fiercely that he fell over, bouncing off the sofa.

"Bloody hell," he managed as she leapt to her feet and hurled herself at Ominis with as much force. He managed to remain upright, though it was a near miss. "Drac? I'm not gonna complain about that kind of welcome, but what's going on?"

"I'd rather like to know as well," Ominis said, a little breathlessly as she put him down. Dracaena capered a little jig on the spot, laughing fit to burst.

"Professor Fig!" she cried, as Sebastian clambered to his feet. "He's here! He's been here all this time!"

"What?" Ominis said. "Dracaena, dove... do you not remember that he-"

"Yes, yes, I know, I know!" she gabbled. "But he's here! His portrait! I found him, I spoke to him!"

"Wait, he has a portrait?" Sebastian rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks still a little flushed. "I didn't know that, is it in his old office?"

"No, it's down in the Map Chamber!" she said, grabbing Sebastian's hands and spinning him around. His eyes widened.

"You went down there?"

"...Map Chamber?" Ominis echoed.

"Drac, slow down," Sebastian said, catching her around the waist. "Think about what you're saying." He cast a meaningful look in Ominis' direction, but Dracaena was too ecstatic to notice.

"I can't believe it!" she gasped, grasping his shirt. "All this time, all I had to do was go back down and see the Keepers, and he would have been there! Everything's going to be alright, he can help us! He knows things, guys, he had so many ideas about how to help us find out what's going on with the Ashwinders, how to use our animagi forms, how to-"

"Wait, you told him about that?" Sebastian said, but Dracaena was still caught up in her tale.

"And Bassy, the best thing happened!" she grabbed for his hands again. "He promised to speak to the Keepers about Anne! I don't know if it'll help, please, please don't get your hopes up, but he got made a Keeper too after the Battle for the Repository, that's why his portrait is there, and it gets better! He told me not to be afraid of my magic!"