Only The Beginning

The First Trial

There was a soft squawking that woke Olive early in the morning. Her owl Milo was nudging her arm with his foot as he held a letter in his mouth. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes she sat up and plucked the letter from his mouth while giving him a loving pet on the head. Turning the envelope over she recognized the wax seal with the initials 'E.F'.

Olive,

I apologize for the early wake up call, but I figured it best for our task today. This morning, I visited the map chamber and found the location of the first task, I'm going ahead to ensure that it is safe before you arrive. I've attached a map with the location of the task, it's just north of Hogsmeade, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find. Come as soon as you can and tell no one where you are going.

I'll see you soon,

Professor Fig

Her bones cracked as she got up from the awkward position she had found herself in, she had fallen asleep on the couch in the Room of Requirement, books sprawled out around her. Before she left, she pinned back the sides of her hair to keep it out of her face and made sure to dress in clothing she could easily move around in, this was something she had learned her lesson from the past few excursions. She tucked her trousers into a pair of tall boots and fitted her corset vest over her blouse before swinging her satchel fitted with an extension charm over her shoulder and bidding Deek a good day as she headed out the door.

The castle was quiet as she made her way off school grounds, students were still tucked in bed for at least one more hour. She summoned her broom out of her satchel and took to the skies, pulling the letter out of her pocket, she peered at the map Professor Fig had drawn for her. The location of the trial was indeed north of Hogsmeade, from what it looked like on the parchment it was a tall spiraling tower at the forest edge. Olive couldn't help but laugh to herself as she took note of the professor's attempt to keep her from taking certain paths by crudely drawing trolls, poachers, or spiders.

Olive allowed her thoughts to clear as the wind blew through her hair, mindlessly reciting spells and imagining the wand movements in her head. She reminded herself that her friends would be expecting her at dinner this evening, and she was determined to show up.

As she approached the meeting place depicted on the map, she noticed the heavy goblin presence. Tilting her broom down she took cover in the tree line to ensure she wouldn't be seen. Just up ahead was the professor, he was watching the encampment intensely, gauging the danger inside.

Olive dismounted and quietly joined Professor Fig hiding behind a pair of trees. "There you are, come closer." He whispered, "I'm sure you noticed Ranroks loyalists on your way in, I trust you were careful not to be seen."

"Yes, Professor, I was careful thanks to your map, you have great skill in drawing by the way." She jested.

"Well, I didn't want you getting into unnecessary trouble, and you fared well because of it. Now, I've been watching them for a while now, seems to only be about dozen or so, there hasn't been much movement, seems like they're waiting for orders. What I do know is that we need to get into that tower, they've been in and out all morning." Olive wondered when he had gotten here, judging by the bags under his eyes it was probably early.

"How do you think we should proceed? Can we apparate inside and bypass them all together?" She questioned.

"There's no way to know what waits for us inside, it could be more dangerous than facing them head on. I'm going to suggest we take a closer look first; I know you know the disillusionment charm." Fig winked at her and cast the charm over himself before sneaking over to the entrance of the encampment, Olive followed suit.