The Death Wish: Book One (Hogwarts Legacy)

Carriage Crush

You settled down by the window, feeling the rocking of the carriage axles as the older couple joined you.

"Well, we are quite snug in here!" joked Professor Fig, sitting opposite yourself and Miriam. He tapped his wife's boot with the toe of his shoe in an affectionate gesture.

You smiled warmly at the pair and turned to look out the glass, waiting eagerly for the coach with no horses to move.

But the coach; and you, remained still on the mist soaked cobblestones.

"My dear, we need to talk to you." said the woman beside you.

"Oh?" you said, turning to face them.

Miriam gave her husband a significant look and he nodded, beginning to root around in his satchel.

"You see, we knew you were going to need help getting to Hogwarts—well, long before we even knew you had been accepted."

"You did? But I only got my letter a few days ago. Headmistress McGrady thought it was a gag at first." You smiled at the memory of the steel-haired woman shooing the large barn owl out the back door of the girls home.

You had lived at the orphanage since birth, with no idea of who your parents were or anything to do with the magical world. You had been planning on the life of a governess before a new adventure literally flew through your window.

"We had been given prior notice." she answered cryptically, her green eyes sparkling.

Professor Fig found what he was looking for, and pulled out two items. First, A long ornate box that looked very shiny for some reason—and a balled up package wrapped in dirty paper.

Fig handed both to his wife. You expected to be given the shiny cylindrical box—but she put the balled up paper into your lap.

"Umm thank you?" and you picked it up. It was light but there was something hard wrapped inside. You turned it over and your eyebrows shot up. There was an unknown word scrawled on the paper in hasty ink, but it wasn't the word—but the handwriting that had your nose scrunching in confusion.

"That's my handwriting." you muttered, looking up at the kind-eyed woman. She smiled widely and looked excitedly at her husband.

"Are you sure?"

You looked at the word and saw your telltale double loop on the capital "L".

"Pretty sure. What is a Lo-Lodgok?"

"It's a name. A goblin name, actually. Lodgok is a friend of mine who has been helping with my research on an ancient form of magic. He found this package in his pocket a few months ago—said it appeared suddenly in a flash of blue grey light, just days before I was meant to meet him to discuss —well, some troubling events which I am sure we needn't—anyways, not now. You can go ahead and open it. I think you of all people have the right." she said with an encouraging nod.

You looked between the two elderly wizards for any further clue before shrugging with a curious smile.

You had already seen some of the incredible magic the Figs could do while you had been staying with them in London the past few days. Hell— you were starting to be able to do some pretty incredible things with the borrowed wand they had lent you. So maybe mysteries like this are common in the wizarding world—alongside floating furniture and moving paintings.

You carefully pulled back the yellowed parchment, a faint whiff of smoke washing over you as you pulled out a smaller cylinder wrapped in similar paper. The outer layer had more familiar handwriting—some smeared with rust-colored stains. It appeared to have two separate letters written on one page.