September 3rd, 1995 Sunday
The first thing Alice awoke to the next morning was a letter sitting on her bedside table addressed to her from Professor Fig. Sitting up in her bed, Alice grabs the letter and opens it to reveal its contents. Inside is a folded piece of yellow parchment in which Alice takes out and unfolds. The parchment reads,
"Come and see me. I've discovered something in the locket we found at Gringotts."
Alice immediately gets dressed for the day as she quickly leaves her dorm and goes through the common room towards the exit. She makes her way through the castle towards Professor Fig's classroom. She enters the large room full of ancient artifacts and heads to a small set of stone stairs at the far end of the classroom that leads to his office. She goes up the stairs and enters through the wooden door, closing it softly behind her. She sees Professor Fig eyeing a large brown map that is sprawled out on his desk. Alice walks up to the man and stops opposite him.
"Professor, I'm glad to see you," Alice says to Professor Fig, having not had the chance to tell him yet about the troll attack that occurred during her trip to Hogsmeade.
"And I you. Thank Merlin you're in one piece. I heard about the attack. Trolls - in Hogsmeade?" Professor Fig says inquiringly as he lifts his gaze up at his student, relieved to see no harm has come to the young witch.
"Sir - the trolls were wearing armor. It had that dark glow, like the dragon collar," Alice tells the professor.
Professor Fig's eyes widen slightly at the revelation of this information, "Goblin silver. Ranrok used it to control the dragon. But how? And why send trolls to - ..."
"They were there because of me. I overheard Ranrok talking with Victor Rookwood," she responds with a sigh.
"Ranrok was in Hogsmeade? With Rookwood?" Professor Fig says in shock, his white eyebrows furrowing.
"The trolls were Ranrok's distraction so that Rookwood could get to me. And he would have - had Sirona and the patrons at the Three Broomsticks not intervened."
"This is grave news, indeed. If Ranrok's goblins and dark wizards are after you, they want what we found in that vault," Professor Fig says with his face full of concern.
"Speaking of the vault, do you think that Ranrok is working with any of the goblins at Gringotts?" Alice questions.
"I do not," Professor Fig shakes his head, "Gringotts goblins aren't typically the friendliest of beings but they have a great deal of integrity. No, I daresay after what happened to that poor banker, the goblins at Gringotts are no followers of Ranrok." They both think back to the small goblin who had bravely stood up to Ranrok in which unfortunately led to the small gobin's demise.
"They're after the locket. You said you discovered something in it," Alice brings up.
"Yes, yes. I discovered an inscription. When I read it aloud, this map appeared. Clever enchantment," Professor Fig explained as the two looked down at the large map in between them. "It's a map of Hogwarts, to be sure, but I do not know where it leads," the professor adds on.
"It leads to the library. The Restricted Section, to be precise. And a bit beyond, I see traces of magic there on the map," Alice replies as she notices small white and blue sparks that resemble glitter atop where the Hogwarts Library is located on the map.
"I suspected you would see something," Professor Fig responds with a smile.
"Shall we go?" Alice says as she looks up at the professor.
YOU ARE READING
The Ancient Wielder
RomanceAlice Whitlock was just a girl who lived a normal life in a small suburb located deep within the outskirts of London. She was always a bit strange, weird occurrences happening around her that she could never explain. That is until she receives an od...
