Only The Beginning

The Tomb

The early morning fog was starting to settle in, sun creeping through the clouds. The sleepy town of Upper Hogsfield was beginning to come alive as workers began their day. Olive passed through without sound, walking briskly past Helen Thistlewood's home, blood still visible on the ground where she laid before aparating away.

The cave ruins should be just outside Upper Hogsfield, I'll have to keep an eye out for ruins, shouldn't be too difficult.

She traveled down the dirt path that took her just outside the hamlet, the cave entrance would be somewhere close by, so she kept to the outskirts. Thankfully the hamlet was stationed on a mountain of rock, so this made the deduction very easy when there was only one cave visible toward the south side. She approached cautiously, the cave was dark, cobwebs draped from the crumbling entrance. The wind picked up, almost pushing her inside, telling her this was the place she was meant to find.

"Lumos!" The tip of her wand illuminated as she ducked past the spiders' creations.

The cave led her down, not too far, but the temperature dropped significantly as she went further inside. The path spit her out in a landing, a large gold medallion sat in the middle of the floor with an array of stone boxes with handles sat in the walls, but that was all that was in the room. Something was hidden here, but with no visible doors or chests she wasn't sure what she was looking for. As she began inspecting the room, her mind was telling her that whoever set out this puzzle would try to distract with the medallion in the ground, that would be the obvious route to go when looking for secret doors. Olive decided to focus her attention on the walls, upon closer look, she noticed that some of the handles on the stone boxes were dull and some were shiny. If the handles had been sitting in this damp corroding environment for this long, they would become dull over time without polish, some of these boxes were fake!

She took her time pulling on the boxes with the dull handles, they barely budged without force, she was careful not to break one off. Once all the boxes were pulled out, she heard a rumbling, the stone wall had pulled away revealing a secret room. Enchanted candles lit up the crevice, a single pedestal sat in the middle of the room with a letter placed delicately upon it.

My Dearest Anne,

Well done! You solved my puzzle. I knew you were a kindred spirit and the only one with whom I could truly share my adventures. Meet me at the edge of the Forbidden Forest as soon as you can and I will show you the map that I mentioned. There is no telling where it will lead us. I found it on pages that Peeves ripped from a secret book – and no one else seems to be able to find. I haven't any idea what lies ahead, but I am glad to know I shall share my future with you.
This is only the beginning.

Richard

P.S. I am terribly glad you found this, as I would have gone on alone if you did not. And what fun would that be?

The letter felt a little grim knowing Anne would never meet Richard and now she was to rot away in Azkaban under the presumption that she was his murderer. The letter made Anne's outcome even sadder as it was clear the two had real feelings for each other. So far it had seemed Anne was truly innocent in this, she had never found Jackdaws note, which means he was either still waiting for her when he died, or he went on without her and then died. She decided to go to the edge of the Forbidden Forest just as his letter described, in hopes that she would find another clue.

As she climbed back up to the top of the cave, she saw a silvery figure just past the threshold. She was on edge as she approached, white knuckles gripping the wand in her pocket, although she was unsure if magic would even work on a ghost.