Madam Pince: Inferno at Hogwarts

The lady half stumbled toward me, arm coving her face and muttering spells to keep the fire around her at bay. She seemed to only be slightly scared, but surely I was the monster that had lay havoc to her precious books. She should fear me, she had feared me, so why is she coming toward me?

~

Waving her wand for the thousandth time, Madam Irma Pince begrudgingly loaned Hogwarts school library books out to students. Barely a book came back without anther mark or scribble somewhere through its pages. As the clock struck nine o’clock, she rose stiffly from her old, polished chair that overlooked the extensive library, thousands and thousands of books contained in hundreds of ceiling-high shelves. With a flick of her wand, the old, gas lamps were extinguished. As students silently rose from their tables and left, Madam Pince watched each carefully, as if they all were hiding books under their robes.

After they had all left, Irma wandered the rows of books, picking up and putting away books that needed it. As she slowly wandered around the dark library, something started to unsettle her. Her wand, which had been lit, flickered and died. She stopped and looked around; was the library getting darker, or was it just her imagination? A chill shivered down her back; it was definitely getting colder.

Suddenly, everything seemed to happen at once. As the windows blasted open, letting in gushes of cold air, Irma heard footsteps, a chant, and screaming. Hobbling out of the row she was in, she herself gaped at the monstrosity in front of her. Dark and shifting, with glowing black pits for eyes, it was clearly a curse found in the restricted section of the library. As it bellowed a despair-filling cry, Irma turned and hobbled toward the entrance door. Just then the creature behind her imploded; it suddenly shone brightly as the sun, a searing, violent shade of red even Irma could see. As it illuminated the library and bellowed once again, she saw two ginger-haired kids run from the library carrying a screaming book; hobbling faster, she shouted out to them, but her voice was lost as the monster started tearing down the bookshelves behind her. As the monster exploded again, with an anguished cry, it sent ripples of heat throughout the library; Irma was knocked off her feet and fell into a pile of shattered glass. As she pulled herself upright, slicing her hands in the process, she only just realised that her heart was thumping and her hands shaking. Gripping her wand tighter, she hobbled as fast as she could over and around bookshelves to the entrance. Surely someone had heard the commotion, she begged herself, as several tables ahead of her exploded into flames.

The creature, which hadn’t noticed her up until now, suddenly let out a tremendous roar and scrambled toward her. Its gaping jaws twice the size of Irma, it bounded toward her, setting everything it touch alight. It walked upright, like a man, but smouldering talons instead of feet and a flaming, hooked beak for a mouth. It was covered entirely in what appeared to be burning coals; black and glowing red, with flickers of flames at the joints, it was if it had come out of a nightmare. With every step the stone beneath it shuddered and cracked; books were flying off their shelves, burning and screaming. As the colossal creature trampled toward her, Irma started shouting spells at random.

“Aguamenti… Defodio… Petrificus Totalus…” None of them seemed to have any effect, besides enrage the thing further. Finally, taking a leaf out of old Harry Potters book… “Expelliarmus!”

The windows banged shut, the monster appeared to disapparate before the spell hit itself. The fires stopped burning, although the books still smouldered and many lay wrecked. Irma hadn’t know she was shaking until it was all over; she conjured a shaky chair and sat down. Upon inspecting herself, she noted she was bleeding and burnt in several places, and her robe was torn and bloodied. Once she had caught her breath, Irma’s anger grew. She would find this criminal, and she would do it by herself. Looking around for clues, the most obvious one struck her: some books were burnt and cindered, while others looked like they had always done. Picking up several unburnt ones, she read the titles through her cracked, filthy spectacles,” ‘Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit’ … ‘Achievements in Charming’ … ‘Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration’.”

Nothing made sense; the books burnt and not burnt had no order. Why would you destroy a library? Who would commit such a crime? The creature had taken nothing, only destroyed valuable, precious books. The most evil and dangerous books had been removed long ago, and Irma had not left the Hogwarts grounds for many years.  It had been her only sanctuary from her past, but now it looked like the past was about to haunt her.

That’s when it struck her… those children.

 ~~~

Would love to hear any opinions!! Should I continue?