A Little Knowledge

At about a quarter after midnight the door of the girls’ second year dormitory squeaked open. Then four young witches, the only occupants of the room, crept down the stairs with Olivia in the lead. Corinna quietly closed the door behind them and smiled secretively as she followed her friends into the shadowy common room where Sophia and Olivia collapsed onto a very comfortable couch in front of the dark fireplace while Sissy curled up quite primly in an arm chair. Corinna made herself at home on a divan to the right of the couch and facing Sissy.

“Why couldn’t we just talk in our room?” asked Sophia with a little yawn.

“It’s more fun sneaking down here,” answered Sissy.

“Why is that, I wonder?” mused Corinna, picking at the hem of her dressing gown.

“Because it’s a prelude to sneaking elsewhere. The kitchens ... The library ... The lake ...” answered Sissy, taking off her slippers and flexing her toes.

“We only went out to the lake once,” Sophia reminded her. “And we were caught.”

“But he didn’t tell anyone,” Sissy shrugged.

“Hagrid is very sweet,” said Corinna.

Sophia and Olivia giggled, but Sissy only rolled her eyes at that statement.

“It was very nice of him not to report us or take house points,” said Sophia judiciously.

“Quite,” said Sissy.

Just then they heard the distinctive creaking noise of a door being opened. Sophia’s eyes widened in terror and surprise. To be caught out of their room on the first night! It would be disastrous. She ducked down quickly, tugging Olivia, who had begun to crane her neck to see who it was, with her. Corinna froze on the divan, unable to hide from view, while Sissy didn’t move a muscle, hoping to go unnoticed by whoever was entering the common room.

The tread upon the stairs leading to one of the dormitories was not especially soft. At first Sissy had feared that it was a prefect. Then she saw him. It was Martin Dumbledore, trudging down the stairs in his pajamas and what appeared to be a fuzzy gray robe.

“You?” said Sissy in a surprised, and mildly annoyed tone.

He started and nearly fell down the last two stairs leading to the common room. He froze at the bottom as his eyes darted from Sissy to Corinna and then to Sophia and Olivia, who were peering over the back of the couch.

“I ... I’m ... s... sorry,” he managed.

“Quiet!” hissed Sissy. “We don’t want to get caught!”

“Sorry,” he said even more quietly, hanging his head.

Sophia shot Sissy a glare and left the couch.

“Why don’t you join us?” she asked, making room for him and gesturing for him to have a seat.

He colored slightly, but did as she asked, whispering, “Thank you.”

“Can’t sleep?” asked Sophia.

“No,” he admitted, looking at her with confused and anxious brown eyes.

“The excitement?” she questioned.

“Er, not especially.”

“You hardly had a bite of supper. Is that it?” asked Corinna with an encouraging smile.

“A little,” Martin acknowledged.

“You expected to be a Gryffindor,” said Sissy in a matter-of-fact tone.

“No ...” he said softly. “I asked the Sorting Hat not to.”

“Not to what?” asked Olivia.

“Not to put me in mum and father’s house,” he replied with tears shining in his eyes. He quickly blinked them away.

Olivia gave a low whistle and just shook her head. She had never heard of anyone making a request like that before. There was quite a bit of prestige to be had in Gryffindor, if one went in for such things.

“Why?” asked Corinna, studying the young wizard thoughtfully as he drew his knees up to his chest.

“My father’s stories ... they always frightened me. Especially fighting all those Dark Wizards ... I never want to have to do anything like that,” he confessed.

“No one does,” said Corinna.

Sophia squeezed his shoulder warmly and nodded her agreement.

Martin looked up and glanced at the three young witches around. He smiled and appeared to relax slightly. They seemed to understand. He had not be sure if anyone would. Maybe he was in the right place after all.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced,” he said.

“Corinna Bellew.”

“Pleased to meet you,” he replied, remembering his manners.

“Sophia Colville and Olivia Scarrow,” she said, introducing herself and her best friend. “And that’s ...” began Sophia.

“Sissy Howard. Charmed, I’m sure.”

Olivia wanted to find a way to warn Martin that the world, at least as he knew it, would end if he ever dared call Sissy ‘Elisabeth’. She hated that name.

“Of course,” he nodded. “Martin Dumbledore, at your service,” he said to them.

And they smiled, even Sissy, knowing that the worst of it was over. The initial shock of the sorting ceremony had finally passed. He was going to be all right.

“Your father ...” Sophia said hesitantly.

“Will probably want to see me tomorrow,” said Martin, shifting uncomfortably.

“Your mum was a Gryffindor too?” asked Olivia.

“Yes, and she’s a ... she’s an Auror now,” he said with a lop-sided smile. “But she won’t be too disappointed,” he added.

“Splendid,” said Olivia with a nod.

“It was a surprise, wasn’t it?” asked Corinna, looking at him even more curiously.

“I ... I only asked for ‘anything but Gryffindor’. I thought ... Hufflepuff,” he shrugged, blushing ever-so-slightly. It was difficult to detect with his somewhat ruddy complexion.

Sissy snorted and said, “But your family is quite powerful. Slytherin would have been my second choice.”

Martin gulped at the thought and answered, “But I’m not cut out to be a Dark Wizard.”

“Neither are most of them,” said Sissy disdainfully. There was a beginning spark of ire in her eyes.

Before Martin could say anything else, his stomach growled.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“Kitchen raid?” asked Olivia.

“We are certain to be caught,” argued Sophia.

“Not tonight,” said Sissy with a smirk as she uncurled from her chair and hunched forward. “No one would expect it on the first night of the term.”

“You mean you’re going to sneak down to the kitchens?” asked Martin uncertainly, glancing from Sissy to Sophia incredulously.

“That is what one usually implies with the term ‘kitchen raid’,” said Sissy before standing and stretching. There was a gleam in her eyes.

Sophia shrugged and rose to her feet as well. She might have been reluctant to violate the rules, but if the other girls were up for the challenge, then so was she. Olivia stood with her friend, grinning from ear to ear. Only Corinna remained where she was.

“Tonight ... is not a good night for this ...” she said, drawing her knees up and not budging from the divan.

“Oh, don’t be a spoil sport!” objected Sissy.

“I will go with you, but, remember, I did warn you,” said Corinna mysteriously. She sighed softly and slid from her comfortable seat.

“Let’s go then,” said Olivia with a mischievous smile.

The portrait, known simply as Gentleman in his Study, had dozed off at the writing desk by the time the five Ravenclaws quietly left their Aerie. They were careful not to awaken him. He might readmit them to the tower with few questions, and a conspiratorial smile, on their way back through, but if he caught them on their way out, he was rather obliged to remind them that they were engaging in flagrant rule-breaking. And the girls could hardly hold that against him as it was part of his job.

“How will we get back inside?” asked Martin in a whisper as they rounded the first turn in the stairs.

“Forget the password already?” asked Sissy, looking down her nose at him as they crept along. She was, after all, a good six inches taller than Martin. She was a bit taller than her friends too, not to mention the rest of their year.

“No, but won’t the man in the picture have something to say?” Martin questioned.

“He knows we aren’t up to mischief. He’ll let us back inside,” Sophia assured him as they tip-toed down the stairs, which were icy beneath Martin’s bare feet.

“You’ve done this a lot then,” commented Martin.

“Every so often,” Sissy replied.

“Keep the chatter down. You never know who might be about,” said Olivia crisply, glancing over her shoulder at the rest of them. She was the best at navigating the hallways at night.

Sophia hid a smile behind her hand and winked at Martin, whose mouth had closed with an almost audible snap. At times like this Olivia was all business. She was just as serious about not getting caught as the rest of them, even if she was often more willing to take risks than the rest of them were.

The lower halls beneath Ravenclaw Tower were very quiet so late at night, but very dark as well. In a secluded nook near where the stairs to the tower ended, they decided that they would have to risk some light, which meant that Sophia cast a very gentle Lumos spell. The one with the light, they reasoned, was most likely to be spotted and caught, and Sophia could talk her way out of almost anything. When that was done they continued on their way to the kitchens.

The distance had daunted them the first time they had decided to go for a midnight snack, just before the end of the fall term the previous year, after hearing about the entrance from several older students.

How could one get from their part of the school to there without anyone being the wiser?

Obviously, this was a question that generations of Ravenclaws had ruminated over before discovering a solution that gradually became well-known within their house. The interior of the school could be cleverly crossed from the second floor by utilizing a number of seldom used corridors and then taking some utility stairs down to the corridor where the kitchens were located. Finding the entrance to this set of hallways was not an easy thing. Unless one knew what to look for ... and they did.

To unschooled eyes the wall was simply that: an impenetrable wall of stone. But if anyone examined the wall closely, they would find an avian figure scratched into one of the stones at approximately eye-level for an adult, or a sixth or seventh year student.

Sophia held up the light while Sissy sought the mark with her own wand drawn.

“What are you looking for?” asked Martin in a whisper as Corinna nervously glanced up the dark and deserted hallway behind them.

“A sign ...” answered Sissy.

“Trouble ...” answered Corinna.

Olivia giggled as she helped Sissy in her search as it was quite dark and the mark on the stone was very illusive. And after a long summer they couldn’t quite remember where it was. Sissy was rather annoyed as she had memorized its location. Or so she had believed. She squinted in the dim light and gestured for more light from Sophia, who was shielding her wand-light with one hand.

“It is coming,” said Corinna in a low voice.

Silence settled over them, and they all turned to look down the hall with a sudden sense of dread. There was something in the darkness. A shape. A heavy presence. A shadowy figure that did not belong there. And it was moving slowly, almost gracefully toward them with gliding, purposeful steps.

They could all sense that it wasn’t a professor nor a prefect. Not even mean old Mister Pringle, the school’s caretaker. Not even he could inspire the sudden sense of panic and dread that had settled over them all.

“We... we’ve got to get out of here,” whispered Martin hoarsely as his eyes bulged in fear.

Sissy whirled around and began tapping random stones with her wand, hoping to find the proper one by chance or luck. Her mouth was dry, and her hands had suddenly begun to shake. She had not been so terrified since discovering a boggart in the pantry when she was eight years old. Sissy shuddered and continued to tap fervently as the others crowded around her, still watching the approaching form.

The shape of the thing seemed human, though it was also very thin and very graceful. Corinna could not take her eyes from it as it moved slowly, silently toward them. It was not in a hurry. It had them cornered and knew it. She could not guess it’s purpose, but she was instinctively afraid of it. Her breath hitched as it drew close enough for her to see its red eyes. They glittered in anticipation.

Then suddenly there was a quiet snick behind her and someone, Olivia, yanked her through the opening in the wall and into the other corridor. She breathed a sigh of relief as Sissy and Martin threw their weight against the stone, closing the entrance behind them and barring the path of whatever creature of the night that had been approaching them. She imagined that a sharp hiss had echoed down the corridor as the thing was robbed of its prey.

“Wh... Wh... What wa... was that?” stammered Martin, panting heavily and clutching his wand in a white-knuckled fist. The girls had been almost certain that he had come unarmed, but not so.

“I don’t know,” said Sophia. Her teeth were chattering.

“The kitchens ... We should be safe there,” said Corinna, snapping back to reality and taking her eyes from the wall. She was sure it was still there, possibly seeking a way to follow them.

“Safer, anyway,” agreed Sissy, who appeared to be trembling slightly, but recovering.

With that they all began jogging warily toward the castle kitchens where they knew the house elves would still be busy and could protect them if needed.

“Good thing you heard it,” Martin commented to Corinna as they ran, all of them being careful to stay together.

“I didn’t,” said Corinna solemnly.

Martin gulped quietly and just tried to keep up with the girls as they ran.

The enormous kitchens of Hogwarts had never seemed so inviting nor such a welcome sight as they did that night when the five Ravenclaws burst into it as though fearful of pursuit. The house elves all stopped what they were doing and stared at the humans, who were out of breath from the run.

“Miss Bellew! Is a pleasure to be seeing you again!” exclaimed one of the elves that knew the stocky young witch quite well.

“Inky,” she wheezed, “something was after us.”

The small elf pulled at her ears and looked bothered.

“You isn’t supposed to be out this late,” she said worriedly as some of the other elves approached with trays of snacks for them. “Maybe it is being Mister Pringle.”

“No ... it was something bad,” said Olivia, shaking her head and closing the door firmly behind them.

“Bad? In the castle? You is fooling!” said Inky dubiously.

“We all saw it,” said Sophia.

“What is it looking like?” asked Inky, leading them to a table in the back where they could sit and rest. Normally the girls ate their snacks there.

They all exchanged uncomfortable glances, trying to describe what they had seen.

“Tall and really thin ... with red eyes,” said Corinna, who had gained the best look at it.

“We isn’t having anyone with red eyes at the castle,” said Inky, shaking her head and tugging at her enormous ears again.

“And it was scary,” muttered Martin, taking a mug of hot chocolate from a tray that had been left for them.

Inky seemed to notice the newcomer for the first time and smiled at him.

“Don’t worry, young master. It won’t be coming in here, no matter what it might be,” she told him.

“But how are we going to get back to the Aerie with that thing out there?” asked Sophia.

“You don’t think that ... that it’s waiting for us, do you?” asked Martin, looking up from his hot chocolate, which was doing a poor job calming his nerves.

“It could be,” said Sissy, allowing her eyes to drifted toward the door. Of the five of them, she was probably the least afraid, or else hiding it better.

“Then we’re trapped here,” said Olivia with a frustrated sigh. She was taking it a little better as well, but her heart was pounding so loudly that she imagined the others could hear it.

“There is being more than one way out of the kitchens, if you is needing to return to your rooms,” said Inky. “But won’t you be eating something before you is going?” she questioned, pushing a tray of cookies toward them.

Sophia and Olivia shook their heads and Sissy politely declined, but Corinna and Martin helped themselves to something to nibble.

“Where’s the other exit?” asked Martin.

“Oh, you can be taking the floo back to your common room,” Inky informed them. “But you is not allowed to be coming back the same way,” she warned them in a stern voice.

“Seems safe enough,” said Sophia.

“But if you can just floo into a common room, doesn’t that negate the precaution of having passworded entrances?” asked Sissy, arching an eyebrow as she looked at the elf.

“Only the house elves, Headmaster Dippet, and Mister Pringle is using the kitchen floos, Miss Howard, but I is making an exception tonight so you is all getting back safely,” said Inky in a quieter voice. They had the impression that the other house elves weren’t supposed to know.

“Then I think we should be getting back,” said Olivia, standing and looking around for the floo.

“Very good, Miss Scarrow,” said Inky with a little curtsey. “Follow me.”

Inky led them to a more secluded fireplace than those used for baking and other kitchen tasks and whisked a potted from floo powder from the mantle. She looked around for a moment before ushering them one by one into the floo, giving them a handful of powder, and bidding them good-night.

Sophia was the last to return by floo to the common room. The others were dusting the soot from their dressing gowns and nightclothes. She noted that Sissy’s eyes darted from darkened corner to darkened corner as she did so. Sophia shuddered at the thought of anything so frightening and unwholesome managing to creep into their sanctuary.

“We should go to bed now,” said Olivia. Her lips were a thin, serious line.

Sophia knew what she really meant: time to send young Martin away and have a serious discussion. She couldn’t have agreed more.

“But ...” Martin began to protest anxiously.

“It’s late,” said Sophia with a reassuring smile. “Everything will keep until morning.”

“But that thing ...”

“Go to bed,” said Sissy sternly, suddenly towering over him and pointing toward the stairs. He looked instantly defeated and simply walked away. “Does what he’s told,” she murmured with a shrug after he had gone.

“For the best,” shrugged Olivia, leading the way toward their own dormitory.

They walked up the stairs in silences and closed the door behind them. The lamps were still lit, making the room seem more cheery than the common room. The deep blue curtains fluttered in the breeze created by the opening and closing of the door. The room was circular with a single window looking out on the grounds, and unlike the first year dormitory, it did not face the Quidditch pitch, which Olivia thought was a shame. There were, of course, four beds, each with a trunk at its foot, and a door leading to the bath they shared with the first year girls’ dormitory.

Dormitories at Hogwarts were much the same, even in different houses. Only the common rooms differed significantly and the students didn’t know that, though it was wildly suspected, especially between the more competitive houses.

At any rate the girls liked their quarters for the most part, although they had not quite settled in yet. That is to say, when they walked in that evening Sissy’s little eagle owl Zubin hooted petulantly from his cage by her bed. A pair of half-grown kittens belonging to Olivia and Sophia were eyeing him with more than casual interest.

Sissy ran and quickly let Zubin out of his cage, sighing as he winged his way through the window with a yellow-eyed glare.

“I bet he catches something absolutely beastly and brings it back here,” she said before flopping down on her bed and curling up around a pillow.

Corinna, the only one of the four without a pet, only shrugged and watched the bird until it disappeared while her roommates collected their cats, which had been Christmas presents the previous term.

“We have a problem,” said Sophia in a matter-of-fact tone as she sat down on her bed with Sukie, her playful little Siamese.

“Oh, do we now?” challenged Sissy.

“Sophia’s right,” Olivia told her. Max, the affectionate blue cat she was cuddling, let out a meow of agreement and began to purr loudly.

“If we keep this to ourselves, something terrible will happen,” said Corinna, sitting in the window sill.

“And if we tell anyone, then we will get into trouble,” Sissy reminded her.

“I said it wasn’t a good night ...” said Corinna, gazing out at the night sky.

“And we should have listened,” Sophia acknowledged, “but what are we supposed to do now?”

“Martin ... He could go to his father. I don’t think Professor Dumbledore would punish him too severely,” suggested Olivia.

“And you’re thinking he will accept sole responsibility,” Sissy pointed out.

“His parents are Gryffindors ...” said Corinna.

“And he’s one of us. Would we give each other away without anything to gain? Without a good reason?” asked Sophia.

“No,” answered Sissy.

“And that brings us to another matter,” said Olivia. The others looked at her, waiting. “What exactly did we see?”

They were uncomfortably silent. Even Max had stopped his purring.

“It wasn’t one of the ghosts,” said Corinna.

“No,” Sissy agreed, “definitely not.”

“What then?” asked Olivia. “A ... a dementor?”

They all shuddered at the very thought of something so sinister and vile inside the castle.

“It had eyes,” Corinna pointed out, “and they were red and shining with ... a light. It was so unnatural ... so chilling.”

“Whatever it was, I hope we never run into it again,” said Sissy.

“Now we must get some sleep or we won’t be able to face our first day of classes.” said Sophia with a barely stifled yawn.

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