The Ancient Wielder

Chapter 4: Tomes and Tribulations

September 4th, 1995 Monday

The first thing Alice did when she awoke was go straight towards Professor Fig's office to speak to him of her findings in the Restricted Section. She was hoping that during her journey to the professor's office she would stumble upon her blonde Slytherin friend but was disappointed when she didn't see him in the common room or corridors.

As she walks through Professor Fig's classroom and into his office, she's surprised to see the Headmaster standing opposite the professor. She quietly closes the door behind her. They were deep in conversation as Alice hears the Headmaster say to the professor, "Goblins working with Rookwood? Makes no sense."

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

"It is definitely worrisome," Headmaster Dumbledore says as he shifts his gaze down towards the desk in front of him. As Alice moves towards them, Dumbledore looks up to his left and gives her a welcoming smile. "- Ah, Fig. You have a visitor," the Headmaster points out causing the professor to look up and see his favorite student. Dumbledore then turns back towards Professor Fig and says, "I'll see what else I can find out. With that being said we have to go meet with the Ministry, it would be unwise to arrive tardy. Meet me at my office." The Headmaster politely nods farewell to the witch opposite him as he shuffles out of the room. Alice couldn't help but notice the exhaustion and irritancy in the Headmaster's face when he mentioned the Ministry, although he tried his best to not show it. He was a very respectful man.

Once the door had closed behind the wise Headmaster, Alice turns towards Professor Fig and says to him, "Sir - I was able to search the Restricted Section while you were with Headmaster Dumbledore." Professor Fig shifts to face the girl as his hands clasp together with a look of surprise on his face. Before he can say anything she continues, "It was a book we were after."

Professor Fig shakes his head in disbelief, "What? That's - wait..." He pauses briefly. "You accessed the Restricted Section? But how - ? Thinking on it, perhaps it's best you spare me the details," he then says as he unclasps his hands raising them both up slightly in a stopping motion as he shakes his head left and right.

"Fair enough. In fact, the book was below the Restricted Section, as it appeared on the map," Alice explains further in which the professor perks up and leans forward intently.

"I want to hear everything. First, let's have a look!" Professor Fig says as Alice nods and rummages through a black bag she carried with her in which she had bought during her trip in Hogsmeade. She takes out the book she had found underneath the Restricted Section and hands it over to the professor. She had thought its usage was over after it magically disappeared once it spilled its white contents of a memory into the Pensieve that was positioned below it. But she had surprisingly discovered the book in the brown trunk that was positioned in front of her bed. She had most of her belongings inside said trunk and was very shocked to find the magical book when she had returned from her search of the Restricted Section.

The professor grabs the large book from out of Alice's hands and sets it onto the desk in front of him to open it up and start rummaging through all the different pages. Flipping through the book's contents Professor Fig notices a few missing pages that seemed to have been ripped from the book's spine. "Oh - oh, dear. Some of these pages seem to be missing. It appears someone has got to the book before us," Professor Fig points out as he solemnly looks down at the sprawled book in front of him. "Still, I will need time to study what remains. Perhaps we can still salvage something useful, though it may take some time. I wonder why it was here. Below Hogwarts..." Professor Fig says as he mentally tries to connect the dots.