The Quest to Save Magic

The Room Full of Trinkets

 Hermione and Racheal were still confused as to why their counselor would want to destroy magic. They decided to look for answers in the third door.

"I wonder what's in here," Hermione pondered as she cracked open the plain, silver door.

She gasped and Racheal pushed her in.

"Come on, I want to see what it is too," Racheal retorted.

Inside the third door was a room full of magical trinkets. It had cabinets, shelving units, and a large table in the middle. All of the objects in the room looked polished and ready to use. Hermione recognized practically everything in the room. She had read about the majority of them and had recognized a few that she had come across throughout her years at Hogwarts. She spotted a Remembrall and recalled when Harry had retrieved one of those from Draco on a broom, causing him to make the Gryffindor House Quidditch Team. Hermione smiled as Racheal asked,

"What are these things? Magical items? Why would our camp counselor keep all of these things?"

"I'm not sure. But I do know that these are magical items. Collectible's items," said Hermione. "I notice a lot of these from reading about them."

Racheal rolled her eyes. "Of course you read about all of them," she snorted.

The room had everything from a Put-Outer to a Revealer to a Sneakoscope. Racheal picked up a clear cube.

"What is this?" Racheal questioned Hermione.

"Oh, wow. This is very rare," Hermione stared at in surprise.

"What is it?"

"It is a Weakness Detector. If anyone looks into the cube, it shows a picture representing their weakness," Hermione stated.

"We could use this on Ellie to find out her weakness then use that to defeat her from defeating magic!" Racheal jumped up and down in excitement.

"Calm down. And okay... I suppose. We'll need a plan though."

"Okay. So, how about we start by telling her that we know what her plan is," Racheal decided.

"No. We can't jump right into that. We need to get her distracted so that one of us can hold up the Weakness Detector and put it into her face. I'll do that part, but what can we distract her with?"

"I'll ask her what the secret door is for. Why it's there. Then you hold it up to her face and look to see what the picture resembles. Then, I guess you should run away with it and I'll cover up for you. I'll say that you found it on the ground and you were holding it up to get a good look at it. Sound good?" Racheal suggested.

"Got it. Let's go," Hermione replied.

"Hey, Ellie," Racheal exclaimed as she and Hermione walked over to their counselor's bed. It looked like Ellie was just waking up.

"Hey. How are you girls adjusting this first week? I hope you are enjoying it."

"Yes, yes we are. We were exploring the cabin actually yesterday evening. We came across a door without a keyhole but it was locked. What does the door lead to? I'm a very curious person, I hope you don't mind me asking." Racheal said in a sweet voice.

Meanwhile, Hermione was standing right next to Racheal, waiting for her cue.

"Yeah, of course, I don't mind. It's an um, uh, outhouse. Yeah, it's an outhouse. Any other questions? I'd best be on my way. You two should also hurry up and get ready for breakfast."

Just then, Hermione held up the Weakness Detector and stuck it right in Ellie's face. She snatched it back and looked down at it. There was a moving image of an envelope opening. A letter came out, unfolded itself, and at the top in big, bold letters, it read Quickspell Course.

"You're a squib?" Hermione asked, not being able to stick to the plan.

"Shhh," quieted Ellie. "How do you two know about this? Are you witches?"

"Hermione, what's a squib?" Racheal turned to Hermione.

"A squib is a person that is born to a witch and wizard but do not have magical abilities. And, to answer your question, Ellie, I am a witch and Racheal found out yesterday. We have been working together."

"Working together on what?" Ellie questioned, pale-faced.

"We've been working together to stop you from destroying magic," Racheal stated.

"I know that you won't be able to destroy magic, now that we've figured out that you're a squib. Also, even if you weren't, you would need to be a powerful, powerful, witch to destroy magic. And one of those wouldn't be working at an overnight camp," Hermione added.

"Okay, you caught me. You're right, Hermione. I wouldn't be able to destroy magic, even if I was a witch. The only thing the book says is that you need to have a pure heart, good intentions, and The Elder Wand to destroy all magic. Then there was an incantation for the curse. I have no idea what the Elder Wand is, and I do not have good intention. I also probably don't have a pure heart either. I've been jealous of wizards and witches ever since well... both my sisters were witches. I was born to be one too, but I never received a letter from Hogwarts." Ellie looked depressed as she confessed this. "Don't worry. I won't be destroying magic any time soon."

Hermione and Racheal felt bad for Ellie, but they also were satisfied with the fact that magic wouldn't be destroyed.

"Let's burn the book so that no one will ever be able to destroy magic," Hermione said.

"Why do you have a bunch of wands and magical trinkets? And why all of the books?" Hermione asked as she started a fire in their cabin.

Ellie, Racheal, and Hermione gathered around the fireplace.

Ellie blushed bright red. "Well, I was really jealous of all the witches and wizards around me. As I said earlier, I grew up in a magic family. It was devastating having to be around magic folk when I couldn't even wave a wand. Anyway, everything that you saw in those rooms was stolen. I was so fed up in myself, I didn't think about how others might feel when I stole things from them. I wanted to destroy magic so I could finally fit in, but you girls taught me to appreciate magic, even if I am a squib."

It took the two campers a while to take all of this in. At last, Racheal said, "Oh."

"One more question," said Hermione. "How did you open the door if you are a Squib?"

"Easy. I had a remote. I press a button, the door opens."

Hermione tossed the book into the fireplace and the three watched and listened as the paper crinkled with crackling sounds until there was nothing left of the book. They looked at each other and smiled. It was going to be a great next three weeks at their overnight camp.