Hogwarts Legacy: A Continuation of Time

Chapter Eleven : Jenim Deans

The three witches sat in the pale light of the lamp in the corner of the room.

The room in question, which was not very clean when they arrived, was now far worse than before. Newspapers, books and magazines were spread across the floor of the small dining area, Ruby had a copy of Witch Weekly (which she was delighted to see was still in publication), Natty had her nose in a book called "Hogwarts: a History" and Kitty was reading archived copies of The Prophet, spanning from 1990 to 1998.

Natty had been sent out after Kitty declared they would return to School, to obtain as much information as possible before they tried to navigate this new world. They had one goal: enter the Slytherin common room and speak to Ominis. He seemed a good place to start.

"And after we do that?" Natty had asked.

Kitty didn't give her a response as she didn't know.

Kitty's eyes became bleary as she tried to focus on the task at hand, but her mind wandered from the text without permission. She wondered how this whole time travel worked...would time stop in her world until they returned? Would they be presumed missing and life would resume for her family back home? What about Caoimhe? She was due to start Hogwarts...Kitty couldn't miss that...

"Oh look you got a mention in here!" Natty squealed, making Ruby and Kitty jump.

"What? Kitty asked leaning forward to read the page Natty was pointing at. She saw the chapter title at the top of the page,

Chapter Four: The Goblin Attack of 1889

"Show me!" squealed Ruby grabbing the book and skimming the page. Her eyes narrowed and then she threw it back to Natty.

"Liar." She grumbled shuffling back and picking up her magazine, the front cover read "Muggle Mania! : Our favourite muggle fashions and where you can find them!"

"Well, sort of..." Natty mumbled with a sheepish smile to Kitty. "It says: Goblins took siege of Hogwarts in the late 1800s, led by infamous Goblin rebel Ranroxk. The Goblins were defeated and the school was secured. It is rumoured a female pupil was the hero of the school, however, there are no texts or tomes that can solidify the claim."

Natty closed the book and yawned while Kitty sat back against her bed. Her eyes flitted to the clock on the wall. It was almost midnight and they were still wearing their ballgowns...it seemed Natty hadn't the tack to find more subtle attire for them. That would be at the top of the list tomorrow. They only had five days until they would need to try and enrol at the school.

An hour later the papers and books were left abandoned in the middle of the floor while Natty's soft snores filled the room along with the tick of the clock. Kitty stared at the yellowing ceiling, noticing how a patch of dark brown damp was spreading across the plaster. She wrinkled her nose and tried to force herself to sleep, but her mind was going too fast for her to find peace.

She rolled over again and when she opened her eyes she saw Ruby staring back at her from the opposite bed.

"Can't sleep?" She whispered to Kitty. Kitty shook her head in response. Ruby nodded and sighed, rolling onto her back to stare at the same damp patch Kitty had been gazing at. She also wrinkled her nose before speaking again.

"Do you think we still have vaults at Gringotts?"

"Doubt it. We should be alright for a while, my fath- I mean, Malachi made me take some money to the ball with me." Kitty said, clearing her throat, her voice feeling thick all of a sudden. Ruby turned her head and raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"How much?"

"Five thousand Galleons."

Ruby sat up at this, clutching the bedsheets to her naked torso. "Why would he ask you to do that?"