A Journey At Hogwarts

X. Dumbledore's Beckon

Warnings: none.

Spring turned into early Summer as Juniper found people talking to her more often and friendlier thanks to befriending Penny Haywood. Those third years in Ravenclaw who told her that she should be taken in by the Hufflepuffs are slowly warming up, asking if she heard about any cursed ice at Hogwarts.

Rumours spread quietly like a Chinese whisper. Everyone was saying different things, possibilities, and conspiracies. Juniper, Rowan and Ben slowly forgot about possibly being caught and more about passing those tests. Rowan was top of the year without fail, Juniper did better than she had expected, and Ben did reasonably well.

Though days away from the summer holidays starting, Chester requested to see Juniper in the great hall.

"You wanted tae see me..." She felt her throat tightening.

"I warned that word travels fast at Hogwarts, Juniper," his lips pressed tight and firm. The bags under his eyes never seem to go away. "Is it true you entered a forbidden corridor with Rowan, Ben Copper, and Merula Snyde? Do not lie to me, Juniper. I don't want to ruin our relationship over this."

"I entered the corridor alone." She lied, but she reasoned that she couldn't let her friends take the fall. And nobody would believe it if it was just her and Merula exploring the forbidden corridor. "I thought it was connected tae the cursed vaults and was hoping tae find a clue about ma brother."

Chester seemed relieved by her answer, "at least you're the only one who is hurting our chances of winning the house cup. Professor Dumbldore has requested to see you later this evening at the clock tower courtyard."

"Why?" Juniper was confused before a realisation hit her."I assume to talk about what did or did not happen in that corridor."

He looked more stern. "Good luck, Juniper. You're going to need it."

She left the great hall with a pit in her stomach. She was certain no one knew; even Merula wouldn't snitch, especially since she saved the Slytherin. She hurried to go down the corridor before bumping into Rowan.

"Oh, Juniper! Perfect!" She grinned, but Juniper couldn't match it. "I wanted to catch you before you meet with Professor Dumbledore."

"I'm sorry, Rowan, but I'm on ma way to be punished." Methodically cracking her knuckles. "I can't ask the headmaster if he'll hire you to be a professor someday."

"It's not about that," she looked surprised though intrigued by her suggestion. "Although, if the opportunity presents itself, that would be really cool. It's about the code we saw scrawled in the cursed ice. I found an obscure book about ciphers. I think I know what it means."

"That's amazing, Rowan. What does the code say?" Juniper was taken out of her thoughts of punishment and discrated to Jacob.

"The ice knight stands guard past the vanished stairs." Rowan quoted. A knight and some stairs? The exploration was probably onto something.

"I saw stairs and a suit of armour in ma vision." She recalled. At Rowan's behest, Juniper kept a journal of clues and the vision to keep track.

"It's obviously ominous, and since we found it in the cursed ice, it must be connected to the cursed vaults." Rowan made it sound more ominous. "I'll spend the summer holidays searching for any references I can find to the ice knights and vanished stairs at Hogwarts. Hopefully, I'll have it worked out by the time we return for our second year."

"Hopefully I can search with you if Professor Dumbledore does nae expell me first." Juniper dryly chuckled. Rowan awkwardly patted her shoulder. "I hope not, Juniper. I want to solve this mystery with my best friend."