The Forest Guardians

33. HP Chapter 4.5

Mike's POV

"Master."

Dice came fluttering towards me in his little owl form as I entered my room. It was closer to midnight when he came in via the window.

"A letter."

He dropped it on my bed before resting on the back of my chair. The handwriting on the cover was different from that of the teachers' so the sender was not someone from Hogwarts. There was no seal on it so I simply flipped it open and read the contents.

I sucked in a breath.

I crumbled the parchment in my hand before tossing it in the air to burn it with fire magic.

"Dice, disguise yourself. We have somewhere to go."

From the letter, it seemed like today's events were not over.

~~~~~

I approached the Room of Requirements. Or at least the place where it was presumably located. Closing my eyes, I walked past it three times while thinking about who I was expecting to meet.

Opening my eyes, a door appeared in front of me. Without thinking, I grasped and turned the doorknob, opening the door.

The room that the door opened to was very simple. It had a square table with two chairs facing each other. One of the chairs was occupied by an elderly woman with greying hair who was casually sipping tea. She was wearing a pointed lilac hat with matching lilac robes.

Narrowing my eyes at her carefree behaviour, I grabbed the unoccupied chair and sat down.

"Elder Lowell." I greeted with much distaste.

Back in the Library, she was an unpleasant old woman who was particularly strict about the rules and authority. She was also one of the higher ranking Guardian Elders so she had a lot of power and authority within the Library. Even though she was not the type to abuse her power, the way she abide by the rules and acted with the lower level Guardians often skirted close to arrogance.

She... was also one of the Elders that sent Kagura and I on that suicidal mission.

"I cannot fathom how you can sneak into this castle to try and meet me. Neither can I fathom your disappearance along with some of the Elders during the attack at the Library. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't count that as treason against the Library."

"I'm not the only one who went missing." She curtly replied, no hint of grief or even remorse on her withered face. "On that day, some of us were called elsewhere for reasons that you are not cleared to know."

I slapped Ravenna's pocket watch on the table, raising my right brow at her. I briefly saw the pupils of her eyes contracted a little at the sight of the watch before she placed her teacup down.

"I see."

Her hands clasped together and she looked at me square in the eyes.

Now, she was treating me seriously.

"We were called by the higher beings for a meeting. It seemed that they wanted to know why a being like Dark Shadow appeared. However, when we got there, we realised it was a ruse. The meeting location was filled with Laughing Clowns and Shadows led by one of Dark Shadow's retainers. That was when we knew the Library was in danger."

I leaned forward with a serious expression.

"What happened after?"

There was a flicker of emotion before her passive expression returned. Elder Lowell raised her right palm to shift her collar to show a mark on her neck. It was a drawing of violet eye with a cross on it.