Briallen Bevin and the Snatcher's Cave

Chapter 8: The North Wood's Wall

It was Friday evening and Briallen was spread out on the large oriental rug in front of the fireplace in the Withers common room. The clock tower chimed the seven o'clock hour and the sun was setting. Briallen knew she was going to have to leave to go serve her detention soon. She flipped the page of her Potion's book and sighed. She was supposed to choose something - anything - that interested her about Potions and write a foot of parchment about it. She chose the Pepperup Potion but was now having difficulty finding enough information about it in her Potions' book. She was definitely going to have to go to the library.

"So what exactly do you have to do? You don't really have to do anything with hinkypunks, do you?" asked Abraham Cohen, one of the boys in her year who also happened to be her partner in Potions. He was a nice enough boy but Briallen was starting to have doubts about her choice of Potions partner, after he had almost melted his cauldron that morning in class.

"I don't really know. We were going to help Mr Eldred get rid of some hinkypunks by the north wood's wall but he already did that. My Grandpa said we were going to help him patch the wall up instead. But what could hinkypunks have done to it? It's made of stone!"

"Maybe you have to wash blood off of it or something."

Briallen looked over at Abraham, disgusted and yet amused by his morbid comment. Washing blood off of the wall certainly would make the detention more interesting.

"Ew! I hope not!" she responded in an appropriate young girl way.

The portrait of Sir Lawrence of Woodcroft swung open and Professor Morra, Withers' head of house, strode into the common room. "Briallen? Come along, it's time to go."

Briallen stood up. "Chante? Could you put my book-bag back in our room for me, please?" Chante nodded without even raising her eyes from whatever it was she was working on in the corner. Professor Morra then escorted Briallen out of the common room.

When they reached the hallway lined with suits of armor, the armor that enjoyed reciting poetry had began a new poem, this one about a second circle and a guy named Virgil. Briallen didn't have time enough to recognize what the poem was though as Professor Morra quickly snapped, "Inappropriate! Choose something else!" And so the armor began a poem about an ancient mariner. "Much better," murmured Professor Morra with an approving nod as they entered the entrance hall and began their way down the wide marble staircase.

When they exited through the front doors of the school they took a path to the right of the castle, a path Briallen had yet to explore. Briallen paid close attention to where they were going not just so she could find her way back but also just in case the pathway led to somewhere other then the north wood's wall that was worthy of exploring. She noticed several turns from the path: two that disappeared into what she had learned was a hedge maze and another that led to a locked gate. Finally they made it to the north wood's wall where Mr Eldred, Lucan Stone and Professor Stalkes were waiting.

"What are you doing here?" asked Briallen as she eyed Professor Stalkes warily. She had had only had two classes with the man so far and they had been far from pleasant. The last thing she wanted was to be anywhere near that professor outside of class and Briallen was sure that he felt the same about her, especially after her accident with a flutterby bush the other day.

"I am the Platt head of house and would ask you to be a bit more polite when addressing me as I am a professor."

"Consus supplied the aco-plaster too," said Mr Eldred to Professor Morra. "Made it up right quick, though there wasn't enough fluxweed to make it strong enough to apply during the day. I should have the students back by midnight, hopefully."

"No later than midnight, Ira. They're only first years," said Professor Morra authoritatively. She seemed rather reluctant to leave Briallen.

"Of course," grunted Mr Eldred.

Professor Morra and Professor Stalkes then disappeared down the path back to the front of the castle, leaving Lucan and Briallen with the old groundskeeper. Briallen was surprised the man was indeed alive as he looked dead to her. His short gray hair grew in patches on his lumpy head and his beady eyes were continually watery. He hobbled, hunched over, towards two buckets of brownish glop.

"Come here, kiddies. This here is aco-plaster. It's very sensitive to light right now so you only get one lantern between the two of yous," explained Mr Eldred as his dipped a fist-sized rock in the substance. "You want to dip the loose pieces of wall in the plaster and then stick it back on the wall, like so." He pushed the rock into a dent in the wall and smacked it with another rock.

"Uh, sir?" asked Lucan hesitantly.

"Yes, boy?"

"You're sure there aren't anymore hinkypunks around?"

"Pretty sure. If you run into one just use the Lumos spell: it'll freeze it. Once it's frozen hit it with a couple of rocks to knock it out or just throw it over the wall."

"Throw it over the wall?" asked Lucan, seemingly horrified that there might be an army of hinkypunks just on the other side of the wall. "Is that what you did with the other ones?"

"Oh, no, we captured them ones and gave 'em to the Ministry. They're gonna be sent to schools for practical magic sessions during O.W.L.'s this year. Now, you two take this here bucket and go down that-a way and I'm gonna go to the other end. We'll meet in the middle." Mr Eldred took one of the two buckets of aco-plaster and started off for one end of the wall.

With a tentative sigh, Briallen picked up the bucket she would be sharing with Lucan and began towards the opposite end of the wall. The sun had set now and the stars glittered brightly in the sky as they walked along the wall. The moon hadn't fully risen yet however and Briallen and Lucan had to rely on what little light they had with their one lamp to make sure they were headed in the right direction.

Briallen felt like she had walked the length of a football field by the time they reached what the two assumed to be the end of the wall. Really, it was just where the wall turned into the woods, but it was the end of the side of the wall that faced the school.

Lucan and Briallen worked silently, dipping rocks into the bucket and knocking them back into the wall, and had managed to nearly finish their part of the wall. Briallen turned to Lucan and decided to finally question him. He had kept his word and not bothered her the entire week. In fact, he had ignored her, which she liked, but she wanted some answers.

"What did you mean a couple of days ago when you said you made a mistake?" she asked him, genuinely curious.

"Nothing."

"No, not nothing. What was the mistake you made? Getting me in trouble?"

"No, helping you. I just thought once you got on the broom you'd be fine and then Miss Winsome wouldn't have anything to criticize. You are related Dean Bevin."

"... You know about my grandfather being a good flyer, then?"

"Yes. My grandfather went to school with yours. They weren't friends. When Grandfather Stone found out that Calhoun Bevin was the Dean of Bergamot... he blew up. He flooed right over and began going on about Dean Bevin and how my dad should send me to live with him in England so I could go to either Durmstrang or Hogwarts."

"I know your grandfather isn't a nice man but what did he do my Grandpa to make him hate your grandfather so much?" asked Briallen as she dipped a rock the size of an armadillo in the bucket and shoved it into a hole of the same size. It was one of the few pieces of wall that she had to use both hands to lift.

"Because they were in opposing houses at school. They just naturally hated each other. And because your grandfather married a Muggle. My Grandfather does not think very highly of Dean Bevin especially because of that."

"And what's wrong with Muggles?"

"They're weak," said Lucan as he stood up and faced Briallen directly.

"No, they're not. Just because they can't do magic doesn't mean they're weak. You take away a witch or wizard's wand and a Muggle can overpower them without a problem. If anything, they're stronger because they've learned to survive without magic!" Briallen was inches from Lucan at this point and was shaking with anger. Lucan merely stared at her for a few seconds before he casually went back to work on the wall.

Briallen was fuming but happy that Lucan didn't argue back. She assumed this was because she had made an excellent point and he simply couldn't argue against it because she was right. She watched him smack a rock with another rock and snickered. He reminded her of a caveman already with his backwards beliefs and watching him reinforce that idea by banging rocks together amused her. She had to do the same thing though and that made her laugh as well. She felt like a Flintstone just then.

"Why are you laughing? What's so funny?" asked Lucan with a frown as he dragged the bucket and lantern a few feet further along the wall.

"I was just thinking about how we look like cavemen, pounding the wall with rocks."

He smiled. "It is rather primitive, isn't it? Unfortunately, Mr Eldred didn't supply us with anything else with which to hit the loose rocks into place."

"Yeah... hey, do you hear that?"

Lucan stopped what he was doing and looked around, visibly nervous. "Hear what?"

"That noise... it almost sounds like someone dragging something on the ground."

They both were silent as they listened for the noise and sure enough, Lucan heard it this time and told Briallen.

"It's not a hinkypunk, is it?" asked Briallen, worried.

"No... you'll know a hinkypunk is nearby when you hear something like a rusty lantern swinging in the wind... but this does sound like somebody dragging something."

Briallen stepped away from the wall and looked it over to see if there were any holes that they could see through. "Over here!" she whispered as she ran to a small hole that was about a foot from the ground. She got down on her hands and knees and peered through it.

The north wood on the other side of the wall was covered in darkness as the tall trees of the forest prevented what little light there was from illuminating the ground. Briallen listened for the sound again. It sounded fairly close but she could not determine from which direction it was coming from.

"Let me see," whispered Lucan as he gently pushed Briallen out of the way to look through the hole. "There's somebody there!"

"What? How can you tell? It's too dark to see anything!"

"There's a black shadow! Most of the shadows are grayish, this one is black and it's moving!"

Lucan moved out of the way so Briallen could see what he was talking about. Deeper in the forest than she had originally thought the noise was, a dark shadow moved slowly under the trees. Occasionally a beam of silver moonlight would strike the figure but it did not provide enough light for Briallen to recognize who it was. The mysterious person was definitely dragging something, though.

Briallen sat up and away from the hole. "What do you think they're doing?"

"I'm not sure. For all we know it could just be some mad old wizard dumping his trash. This wall is here for a reason, you know. It's probably to keep students off of private property."

"You're probably right," said Briallen as she nodded, secretly disappointed that it was not anything more exciting like some sort of monster. "Let's finish fixing the wall. We're almost done. Maybe we'll be able to finish by eleven."

"Alright."

She and Lucan worked in silence once again until they reached the rock that Mr. Eldred had placed in the wall earlier that night as an example. The old man was nowhere to be seen, however.

"Where is he?" asked Briallen, irritable. She wanted to be excused so she could return to her dormitory and wash off the dirt and glue she had gotten on herself.

"He's probably still working on the wall. We did have the two of us and he's just one old man. I bet he's not even halfway done!"

"Oh, I finished my half of the wall over an hour ago, boy."

Lucan spun around and nearly fell over in surprise. Briallen laughed.

"I may be old but I'm quicker and stronger than you think," said Mr Eldred as he leaned closer to Lucan. "You remember that, ya hear?" Lucan nodded quickly and took a step away from the old man. "Alright then. You two can go now. And don't take any detours! Wouldn't want ya to run into something you don't know how to get rid of."

"Yes, sir," said Briallen as she dragged Lucan away from Mr Eldred and down the pathway back to the front of the castle. "You didn't wet yourself, did you?"

Lucan glared at Briallen and pulled his robes from her grasp. "Of course not. That old man just appeared out of nowhere. I was just as surprised as anyone else would have been."

"I'm sure... oh, I just thought of something!" Briallen stopped mid-step and yanked on Lucan's robes to stop him as well.

"I really wish you would stop pulling on my robes! I'm not your pet!"

Briallen looked him over with disgust. "And I'm glad. You'd make a horrible pet. Always whining, never friendly, wetting yourself when you're just the slightest bit spooked."

"How dare you!"

"Where do you think that leads?" asked Briallen, ignoring him as she ran to the locked gate she had seen on her way to the north wood's wall. Lucan walked over to her and looked through the bars. The path continued on through some trees before it disappeared around a corner.

"Probably to Mr. Eldred's house. It might have been him we saw earlier. It was about the time he said he had finished his work on the wall."

"Yeah, right, Lucan. And how do you think he got into the woods by our part of the wall? He's quick but he's not that quick."

"Maybe he apparated."

"It's not possible to apparate on school grounds. And what did I tell you two about detours?" This time they both spun around, shocked by the sudden appearance of Mr Eldred. "Well? Get inside!"

Briallen did not even bother to drag Lucan with her as she took off at full speed for the front of the castle. When she reached the front doors she stopped and leaned against a statue of a stag to catch her breath.

"Well," said Lucan, breathlessly, "Did you wet yourself?"

Briallen stuck her tongue out at Lucan. "Shut up."