Golden Stars

Chapter Twenty: Staring at Useless Objects gives us information

Harry Potter POV:

We split into the two groups just as the bell rang, dismissing us to Study Hall. The groups we split into were: me, Biana, Fitz, Dex, and Hermione to study all the information we had, and Sophie, Keefe, Tam and Glimmer to go find Vladimir with Di. We decided that if Linh came along, she would be with Tam, looking for Vladimir.

I thought everything would be fine and we would have a very productive information- finding session. But I was very wrong. As soon as our study period started, I was very bored, as I stared at the useless objects.

But what about Fitz? You all may think. He's in a different year! Well, as we all discussed this issue, we just decided not to go to class and stay in the courtyard. And then comes the question: How were you not seen? Dex somehow used his abilities to create this device that could make multiple people invisible. But I wish that he had made that object earlier. It is a good alternative for many people squishing under the invisibility cloak

And then there we were. Quietly looking at all we had in front of us; the Stone of the Oracle, the opened up map, (which was blank as you all know,) Diana's notes, the torn out page from her book, and last but not least, The Master Oracle book itself.

"So," said Dex, fidgeting with a gadget, "Where do we start?"

"Maybe the books?" suggested Hermione. "They look like the things that will give us the most information in this pile of objects,"

"Okay," said Fitz. "Maybe some of us can go over Diana's notebook, and some of us can read The Master Oracle,"

"Sure!" said Biana. "I can duplicate the books with that spell I learned earlier," she pulled out her wand, pointed it a t Diana's Notebook and said, "Gemino!" and another copy appeared.

"Fitz can take this," said Hermione. And Dex can take the other copy,"

They both agreed as Biana did the same thing to The Master Oracle, but twice so herself, me, Hermione, and Ron would all have copies.

And so we went. We looked and looked through the books, pouring over every detail, like our lives depended on it. We mostly just found useless information, but we were able to find a few things. Like how Diana and Vladimir seemed to know each other, and according to her notes in the book, Vladimir was sort of a mentor to her. But then how were they related? I thought, as I searched the book.

But after a while, we all were bored, and done with reading.

"This is useless!" groaned Biana. "We've been looking for hours-"

"Twenty minutes," corrected Fitz.

"Whatever!" said Biana, "We haven't found anything yet!"

"Actually, I found something just now," said Dex.

"Finally!" said Ron, as we all gathered around him and The Master Oracle

Dex cleared his throat, "To use the Stone of the Oracle to read the Map of the Oracle, the verse should be spoken, the curse should be broken. When you go on the quest to find what you seek, several challenges will stand in your way. You will travel through night and day, water and land, heat and cold, but to find what you seek at the end of it all, you will need light and magical protection, to say the final speak,"

"What does that mean?" asked Ron.

"I have no idea," said Dex.

"But doesn't the final sentence remind you of what Glimmer told us?" asked Hermione.

"Oh yeah," I said, "She did mention light and magical protection,"

"The Neverseen and Deatheaters probably found the book before us," said Hermione. "But how...." she trailed off, probably thinking about all the possibilities of what could've happened.

"But what about the quest part?" asked Biana. "Nobody told us about any quest,"

"Maybe it's a quest to find the Marigolds of Mystery," said Ron.

We all stared at him.

"You're right," Hermione said, "We have to go on this quest to do what we're doing all this for. To get the Marigolds of Mystery,"

"Yeah," I agreed, "But what about the first part? The part with the verse and the curse?"

"Looks like the verse has to be spoken, and the curse should be broken," said Dex. "But the question is how do we do that,"

"Better question," said Fitz, "How do we know that this... Advice is meant for us?"

"Oh, yes," said Hermione, "If Vladimir's age is 'uncountable' then this could have been written a long time ago, meant for someone in the past,"

But just as she said those words, the already-opened book's pages started to glow in a greenish hue.

"W-what's happening?" asked Ron.

Just then, a symbol materialized onto the page, covering up everything else, and staring at us with its cold, calculating eyes.

But, as you could've guessed, it wasn't just any symbol, it was the symbol.

"It's the symbol we've been seeing everywhere," breathed Biana.

"But why did it just.... Appear?" I asked.

"Maybe it sensed our presence somehow," Fitz said.

"But... how?" asked Ron.

We all were silent, knowing that question only led to another, "I have no idea," just like everything else in this great mystery did.

But then in that silence, Fitz suddenly froze.

"Guys," he said, grabbing our attention, "Sophie's transmitting to me,"

We all looked at each other, wondering what was going on with the others.

Fitz then looked up from his trance-like state and said:

"Bad news guys,"

Uh oh, I thought, picturing the types of bad news he was talking about.

"What happened now?" asked Dex.

Fitz tore his right hand through his hair. "It looks like the place where Di claims Vladimir is, is well guarded,"

"By what?" asked Dex.

"I don't know," he said. "She just said that the place was well guarded, and they needed help," he looked over at all of us, "But it felt like her abilities were weaker somehow,"

"But aren't Sophie's abilities really powerful?" asked Hermione.

"Usually," said Fitz, "But it felt sort of... contained and closed up. Maybe she tried to tell me what was happening, but her words got blocked out,"

"Sure," I said. "But now how do we help Sophie and the others? It's not like we know where Vladimir is right now,"

"Maybe we can contact Sophie again?" Biana asked.

"It's not working," Fitz said, closing his eyes again. "I'm trying right now,"

"So how do we help them?" asked Ron.

"Maybe the ghost can help us?" suggested Hermione, "She knows where Vladimir is, maybe she can take us there,"

"Indeed I can," said a voice.

We all spun around to find Di levitating just behind us.

"Di," I said, "How are you here?"

"They told me to keep an eye on you," she replied nonchalantly.

"So you just left them and came here?" asked Biana.

"Yeah," she said, "So do you want to go save your friends or not?"

"Sure," I said. "Lets go guys,"

Well whatever's guarding Vladimir better watch out, because we're coming for it.