The Forgotten House

Studying

I wake up Sunday morning to find myself all alone in my dormitory. The note I left for Willow is gone and so is she and all the other girls. I get dressed and ready but skip breakfast and head straight to the library with my notebook in hand. I sit straight down in the usual place and set up the desk by the window. I reopen the fox and see if Jason has replied yet. He hasn't and so I hope that he comes around the corner any second. While I'm waiting, I wander around the library looking for any book I can find on riddles. I open my notebook and jot down any possible ideas I have.

𝚖𝚒𝚡𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚜 - 𝚙𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜?
𝚕𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚢??
𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚢 - 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚎 𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚗

I still have no idea what I'm looking for. I decided that I'd start to look at potion books and creators of potions. Still nothing.
About an hour later I am half asleep amongst the piles and piles of books I've been studying and out of nowhere someone comes to sit next to me. I look up quickly and see Willow.
"Willow?"
"Hey ash. What you said in your note... what the hell were you thinking?" She hisses.
"I was thinking my best friend wasn't about to come with me what choice did I have?"
"You could've stayed in! You could've told me or Peter or someone!"
"I'm sorry Willow I am," I say turning away and carrying on with my studying.
"What's that?" Willow asks pointing to the note.
I hesitate. Should I tell her? "Oh it's just my notes for potions class. I was a little confused what the potions results were," I quickly pick it up and slip it in my pocket.
"I can help you if you want. Professor Garfeild said I was doing exceptionally well," Willow offers with a smile trying to take back the note.
"No!" I snap. "I'm fine. Thanks. I'm sure I'll figure something out."
The smile fades from Willow's face and she heads out. I sigh deeply and watch the rain run down the window. My head starts to drop. My eyes droop. My limbs relax.
"Ashley... Ashley... Ashley..." the same voice I heard last night hums through my head.
"Ashley. Ashley. ASHLEY!" Jason shakes me awake.
"What are you doing here?" I ask sleepily.
"Picking up your note. What are you doing here?"
"Studying."
He looks briefly at my books and sees the riddle lying on top, "This isn't studying Ash is it?"
"No..."
He rolls his eyes and he reads the note I left him. He quickly scribbles back and passes it to me.

𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕣𝕚𝕕𝕕𝕝𝕖 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟? 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕤𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕'𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕠𝕝𝕕 𝕞𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕘𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕞𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕒𝕘𝕖𝕤 𝕥𝕠𝕠.

I look at him and sigh once more. "I know. But I didn't know what it meant. I had to figure it out first before I did anything. I'm sorry."
"It's fine. Just don't do it again." He picks up some of the books I was looking at and flicks quickly through it. "Ash... what if lucky..." he pauses and stops at page 873, "means Liquid Luck?"
"Liquid Luck? Like Felix Felicis?"
"Yes. Wasn't Adelaide's father named Felix?"
I pick up the book on the Foxtails and find the chapter on their professions. I flick through it until I find the potions section:

𝕾𝖎𝖗 𝕱𝖊𝖑𝖎𝖝 𝕱𝖔𝖝𝖙𝖆𝖎𝖑 𝖜𝖆𝖘 𝖜𝖊𝖑𝖑 𝖐𝖓𝖔𝖜𝖓 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝖘𝖙𝖚𝖉𝖞 𝖎𝖓 𝕬𝖑𝖈𝖍𝖊𝖒𝖞 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕬𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖓𝖔𝖒𝖞. 𝕳𝖊 𝖔𝖋𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖉𝖎𝖋𝖋𝖊𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝖘𝖚𝖇𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊𝖘 𝖎𝖓 𝖕𝖔𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖘 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖜𝖆𝖘 𝖒𝖔𝖘𝖙 𝖋𝖆𝖒𝖔𝖚𝖘 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝕱𝖊𝖑𝖎𝖝 𝕱𝖊𝖑𝖎𝖈𝖎𝖘

"His name is crossed out but yeah... he made Felix Felicis."
Jason looks proud of himself but then suddenly disappointed, "How does this help us? We know about what he studied but where has that got us?"
"Well we know a little more about him. And we know that Adelaide's friend was killed from one of his substances. Maybe they want us to make Liquid Luck and use it?"
"What good would that do?"
"I don't know. But it's a start."
"Meet me back here at 5. Before dinner like I said last week. We'll see what we can find on Felix Felicis. For the rest of today, stay in your common room. You can't let anyone think you're up to something."
"Fine. What'll you do?"
"I'll research more on it now. And figure out a way to get what we need without being seen."