The Raven's Claw

Chapter 4

The following day, during their lunchtime, Alastair, Ash, and Tess visited the library in an attempt to find the raven from the message. They also wanted to avoid as many of their fellow students as possible. The Common Room had been buzzing when they arrived in the morning. The entire House had been discussing the enormous crash that had woken everyone up late the previous night. Alastair wasn't sure how good a job he had done pretending to be as confused as everyone else, and he was hoping it had been better than Ash's performance. Still, no one had seemed to notice, and they slipped out to breakfast as soon as possible.

Arriving at the Library, however, they realized that they had no idea exactly where a raven might have been hidden within the Library, and just how many places there were to hide a raven within the Library.

"This is going to take forever," said Ash, surveying the hundreds of rows of bookshelves that were visible from the doorway. He noticed Madam Pince glaring at them suspiciously while they stood there. "But, ah, let's get started, shall we?"

They hurried in amongst the shelves before she could say anything to them.

"We should split up," said Tess. "We've only got about twenty minutes left before lunch ends."

"And before we're late for Professor McGonagall," agreed Alastair. They certainly didn't want to do that.

"Did Hogwarts, A History happen to mention if Rowena Ravenclaw had a favorite part of the Library?" asked Ash

"No," replied Alastair as Tess turned around.

"I'm going to try this direction and along that wall," she said. "We need to get started." She left, walking slowly and staring closely at the floor in a somewhat suspicious manner. Alastair and Ash headed off in different directions, Alastair toward the opposite wall from Tess. He was trying to keep an eye on the floor, the ends of bookshelves, and the ceiling all at the same time, and hoping the others were checking more than just the floor. It was slow going, but he still nearly walked directly into Madam Pince, who suddenly appeared from between rows.

"What are you doing?" she demanded. Alastair jumped slightly.

"I, uh..." He searched for an excuse. "I dropped a quill somewhere around here, and I'm looking for it."

"And you dropped it on the ceiling?" Her voice was heavy with mistrust. To Alastair it sounded like a detention about to be given out.

"No, I... just like looking at the ceiling in here, it's very... ornate." It sounded lame to Alastair even as he said it. Madam Pince looked up at the ceiling for a moment, and when her gaze returned to Alastair's face, she seemed pleased.

"It's nice to see a student who appreciates the fine workmanship of this Library." Then, she actually smiled. Alastair had never seen her smile before. He didn't think it happened often. She turned and disappeared back down the row she had emerged from. Alastair nearly laughed. Even Ravenclaws didn't like Madam Pince much. She was obsessed with books, but not with what was in them. Alastair was sure that if there was some way she could ban all the students from ever setting foot into the Library, that she would.

He resumed his search, but quickly realized that it was hopeless. There wasn't enough time left before Transfiguration. He headed back toward the entrance to the Library, arriving a few seconds before Ash, who emerged from a narrow space between shelves and sneezed. There was no sign of Tess. Alastair and Ash waited for her for as long as they dared, before leaving for class.

Usually, they were among the first to a lesson, but this time everyone was there before them. Professor McGonagall gave them a disapproving frown as they took their seats.

Several minutes later, a sheepish-looking Tess slipped in the door. McGonagall's eyebrows arched over the top of her glasses.

"Rarely if ever do we have a Ravenclaw student late for class, yet today we have three. Please explain yourself, Miss Lyndon."

"I'm sorry, Professor." She really did look sorry. "I was looking for a book in the library and lost track of time." That was only mostly true, aside from the book, and Tess turned a little pink as she lied.

"Well, I certainly hope you found it and that it was worth this interruption."

"No, Professor. I couldn't find it."

"Well, take a seat, please, Miss Lyndon, and don't let it happen again. I would have thought that by now fifth years would have been better able to manage their time. Now, as I was saying before..." She turned back to the board, as Tess sat beside Alastair.

"Thanks for sticking around," she growled at them. "I waited around for you pair, with Madam Pince breathing down my neck and this is what I get!"

"Miss Lyndon!" snapped McGonagall. "Must I take points away from Ravenclaw?"

"No, Professor," replied Tess, glaring at the desk.

"Then please stop interrupting my lesson."

This was a bigger threat than it would have been for other houses. Ravenclaw hadn't had any points taken from it in the memory of any student still at Hogwarts. It would cause a scandal among the house if this trend was broken. Tess was silent for the rest of the lesson and slipped out ahead of the boys when the class ended. She refused to speak to them for the rest of the afternoon, and it wasn't till the evening when Alastair and Ash were playing a game of wizard chess that she interrupted them to talk. Alastair was glad she was talking to them and glad she had interrupted the game. He was not playing well at all.

"We need more time," she said, "and we need the Library to ourselves. At least, as much to ourselves as we can get, I doubt we can do anything about Madam Pince."

"Couldn't get her out of there if you set her on fire," said Ash, without looking up from the game.

"What did you have in mind?" asked Alastair.

"Simple. The next Hogsmeade visit is this weekend. That should get rid of most students."

"Well, maybe not from our year, or the seventh years," said Ash, still not looking up. He moved his knight and took Alastairs queen, then looked up in triumph.

"We can create a distraction then, if we need to," replied Tess. Ash looked alarmed at the possibility.

"She's right, though, Ash," said Alastair. "It's the best chance we have."

Tess nodded. "Saturday, then." She left without another word, and headed to her dorm.

"Your move," said Ash. The game was effectively over, and Ash knew it. He sat there looking smug. Alastair sighed.

Saturday seemed to be a long time coming. It turned out that of the Ravenclaw fifth and seventh years, Luna Lovegood was the only student that actually went to the village. The others had all decided that the day was better spent keeping ahead of their workloads. Besides, the novelty of Hogsmeade had worn off. Most Ravenclaws weren't the sorts to be all that amused by Zonko's.

Tess was up and ready before Ash and Alastair had entered the Common Room. She was sitting with Cho Chang at the table, discussing quidditch. Cho's friend Marietta sat across from them, not saying anything. Marietta had been a chatty, giggly type of person until the middle of the last year. At that time, she had gained, a little mysteriously, that assortment of pimples on her face that, if you looked closely, spelled 'sneak.' Of course, she didn't let anyone look very closely. These days she tended to stare at her feet or the table and not talk to anyone except Cho. There had been a lot of whispering about it, but no one had managed to find out what had happened. When the boys arrived at the table, Tess excused herself and the trio went. As they were leaving, Alastair noticed Cho giving him a strange look.

"Cho thinks I like one of you two," said Tess, after they had left the Common Room. "And that's why I've been hanging around you and not my friends."

"Oh," said Alastair. Ash whistled, before Tess gave him a sharp look and he stopped.

"The sun isn't shining," said Ash as they reached the Library.

"Glad we didn't go to Hogsmeade," replied Alastair.

"Do you think it matters if there's no sunlight?" Ash asked.

"I don't think Rowena Ravenclaw meant that you could only find the secret on a nice day, Ashton. She probably just didn't want students sneaking into the Library at all hours."

"She's probably right, Ash," said Alastair. "It's not like there's no sunlight. It's just having as much trouble finding us as we're going to have finding the raven." He was being as clever as he could, but the others didn't seem to notice.

"Have you noticed that you always agree with her?" said Ash. Alastair felt deflated. "Because you do."

Tess made a face. "Get on with it," she said, then turned and walked off.

"You do," said Ash as Tess disappeared.

"So what?" replied Alastair, crossly. "She's always right."

"You're a bit sweet on her, aren't you, Ship?"

"Get on with it," Alastair said, and turned to go.

"Come on, you can tell me."

Alastair rounded a corner, and stopped. He turned back, but Ash had gone. Alastair went to searching, but he was wondering how he was going to find the others if he somehow came upon the raven. As he searched, his mind wandered. Tess had said the other night that she was impressed. Alastair tried to keep focused.

He searched fruitlessly for what felt like an hour, but was probably no more than twenty minutes. He was hoping not to run into Madam Pince. She'd seen him leaving without a quill last time, so maybe that same excuse would do. Although, thought Alastair, he was nowhere near where he'd been when he told her he'd lost it.

"Alastair!" came Ash's voice from somewhere over to Alastair's right. Ash seemed to have solved the problem of finding each other.

"No yelling in the Library!" yelled Madam Pince, creating the problem again.

This was it, thought Alistair, his heart suddenly beating fast. He headed off in the direction he thought Ash had called from, nearly running. After a minute or so, Alastair realized that he was actually a bit lost.

"Ash?" he said, only loud enough to be heard a few rows away. Ash didn't reply. He headed a bit further and was nearing the opposite wall when he called out again.

"Over here," said Ash from Alastair's left. He got to the wall, and could see them at the corner. That was about as far as there was from the door, which was good. There was nobody around, which he thought was also good.

"You showed up just in time," said Ash. "I wanted to send a search party for you, but I don't think Tess could wait much longer."

Tess glared. "Shut up Ashton, or I will jinx you, then Alastair and I can go on without you." Ash considered telling her that Alastair would probably prefer it that way, but held his tongue. Tess looked like she meant it.

The raven was carved into the wall at about eye level. It was carved in the same position as the eagle in the common room painting.

"Rowena Ravenclaw," said Alastair, looking at the raven picture. He hadn't actually meant to open it, he was just excited, and mumbled her name in awe, but a row of floor stones began to descend. They began at the corner and lowered in sequence along the wall, creating a crude staircase. It looked steep and unsafe.

"Aren't there classrooms below the Library?" Ash asked as they stared at the stones disappearing beneath their view.

"It's probably a magical room," replied Alastair.

"Come on, let's go," said Tess impatiently.

"You go first, Ship," said Ash. "You started us on this whole business."

They all drew their wands, and Alastair took the first step.

"I mean, all of Hogwarts was built partly with her magic," said Alastair, talking nervously, taking each step slowly and carefully. "She designed the way that the floors and rooms are always changing. You have to be impressed by magic like that. It's a thousand years old and still works perfectly." Alastair lapsed into silence, and together they climbed down beneath the library floor.