All The Wrong Pages | Harry Potter

Chapter 9

Senna

She wasn't usually this annoyed by loud noises.

It was a well-known rule in the Student Council that magical spells were not allowed in the library, and Senna was tempted to give whoever cast that levitation charm a strike. Who even was here anyway?

She looked up, staring in the general direction the charm had been said and saw two bookshelves. One was slightly misplaced, opening up like... a door.

Ignoring her prior studies, Senna cast a quick protection charm over herself just in case and walked towards the bookshelf, ducking through it to see walls and walls of books. She gasped in recognition; this was the secret library inside of the secret library!

Walking towards one of the shelves, Senna leant closer to see what titles there were. She didn't expect much; after all, this was a school, and most of the things wouldn't be super advanced. To her surprise, there were titles she'd read about before, names of powerful spellbooks that held both immensely dark magic and immensely light magic.

Senna wanted to open one of the books, but she restrained herself- who knew what these books held?

She heard something and froze, hoping it wasn't something coming to hurt her. The noise came again, but it wasn't anything bad; just another student looking around. Wait...

"What are you doing here?" they both asked at the same time. The other student- Ashlyn?- was frowning at her, not noticing the piece of paper gently floating towards them. Senna reached out an arm and caught it, wanting to see what it said.

If I am missing, find me in the hallway between the Transfiguration and Potions classroom. Twist the round stone, and read what it has shown.

Senna forgot about the library, curious as to what the paper was talking about.

"What's that?" Ashlyn asked, coming over to her. All traces of hostility had apparently been gone, leaving only curiosity. Senna handed the sheet over to Ashlyn. After a moment, she looked up from it, her eyes thoughtful.

"What do you think this is about?" she asked Senna. The latter shrugged, not wanting to make assumptions. On the inside, though, her heart was surging with excitement and Senna wanted nothing more than to go to the hallway in between the Transfiguration and Potions classroom.

Footsteps outside the library alerted the two that the doorway wasn't closed and they both quickly hurried out, shutting the hidden door and pretending to browse the books as someone made their rounds. Spotting Senna and Ashlyn, the patrolling janitor sighed.

"It's midnight. Go back to your tower, the library's closed."

Senna nodded, grabbing Ashlyn's wrist and pulling her along as the two scrambled down onto the bridge connecting the 5 towers. Once they were out, she looked at Ashlyn expectedly.

"Can I have the paper back?"
No response, but Senna did get the paper back; a small proof of the achievement she made- finding the actual secret library.

***

Classes were irrelevant the next morning.

Senna was able to pull the study card, one of the privileges being a top student held, to skip class. That day there were no Transfiguration classes and the Potions teacher insisted that her classroom ran at 14 degrees celsius and kept the door closed to 'preserve the cold'.

Senna ran her fingers along the wall, searching for the circular stone and latching her fingers around it as she twisted it. There was a soft 'click' sound, then the panels slid open just a touch to reveal another note. She grabbed it, reading the old parchment paper.

You figured out what I meant. Go to the room where things are sent.

This note was more poetic and cryptic, causing Senna's heart to lurch in excitement. Things are sent... she pocketed the note, knowing she would need it later.

"What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to be in, I don't know, class?" Ashlyn stood there with her arms crossed, blocking Senna's path of exit. Behind her, the stone panels had slid back into their place.

"You're supposed to be in class too?"

Ashlyn scowled at her, rolling her eyes. "I took student leave. I'm a top student, obviously. Use your brain; you're allowed in the library for the Moon Goddess' sake."

Senna looked at her confusedly and slightly suspiciously. What were the chances? From what she'd heard, Ashlyn wasn't interested in much, so it probably wasn't a coincidence that they were both there.

Ashlyn rolled her eyes again. "Whatever. Can you move? I have to do something, unlike you." Senna moved away from her and disappeared back onto the school grounds, wishing she'd read Ashlyn's mind before she left.

Not an hour later, Senna had been searched for by Ashlyn, who seemed hell-bent on getting answers and being in a bad mood.
"You took the thing, didn't you?"
"Please be more specific." Senna narrowed her eyes at the other girl.
"You took the second clue!"
"So what if I did?"

Ashlyn rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. Meanwhile, Senna was busy trying to navigate Ashlyn's mind through the massacre of memories flooding her mind. How was she going to get out of the memory drive?

Finally, she made the way towards the thought drive and listened. Like Senna expected, Ashlyn was angry because of the clue thing, because she was too late, and... her mail? Someone had sent Ashlyn a letter? Not wanting to intrude, Senna stopped the legilimens part of herself and retreated from Ashlyn's mind.

Things were sent... completely distracted, Senna ran away from Ashlyn and disappeared close to the Pigeonwoods, going up to the tower where most students sent and received their mail. She looked around the circular room, not spotting anything out-of-the-ordinary until she pulled the second clue out. The page fluttered in the nonexistent wind and gave a twirl, duplicating before Senna's eyes.

Wait until the full moon falls, one won't be enough anymore.