The Prophesy of S

Chapter 7

I hurried up to Professor Fig's office after lunch, when I received an owl from him that he was back from the Ministry. There was so much I had to tell him and I hoped that we'd have the time today to travel down to the Map Chamber with the book. Professor Rackham was adamant that we couldn't continue on without it.

When I climbed up the stairs and rushed through the door, I found Professor Fig waiting by the right of the room. He was relieved when he saw me enter. "Oh, good. I was hoping you'd come as soon as you got my note."

"I had to," I said. "Besides, I don't have another class until tonight. I had to rush over to tell you that so much had happened while you were away." I began to tell him that, two days ago, I received a note from Headmaster Black's house-elf, Scrope, saying that he knew about the missing pages I was looking for. Then how I've met a ghost named Richard Jackdaw, and he was the one who had those pages on him when he died.

"So he told me about this secret cavern he went through and that's where I found his skeleton—and the pages."

"You found the pages?" he asked astonished.

I nodded. "I did. He wanted to find the location that the pages showed—it was a map. Finding his body meant that I was also close to finding it. Of course, I was only able to find it because of my ability—but believe it or not, the location was a chamber beneath the castle."

"Why am I not surprised? Shall we go?"

I chuckled, thinking that I wasn't the only impatient one now. "You've read my mind. Oh, and we're going to need the book."

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Professor Fig and I arrived at the cellar, where the gated doorway leads to the chamber. "So, this was the way, all along? I remember the times I came down here and the circular room was a dead end," Professor Fig said curiously.

"Well, that room apparently had a secret staircase that only revealed itself after the Map Chamber was discovered. That's the name of the room, by the way. It holds four large empty portraits—until one revealed himself to be Percival Rackham. He used to be a professor here long ago, and who's waiting for us right now." I explained as we traveled down the many stairs.

"Professor Rackham? How fascinating. I do look forward to meeting him."

We arrived at the bottom of the stairs and I could see the door to the chamber. I pointed at it to show him. "That's the door to the Map Chamber."

"It looks just like the one we found at Gringotts," he stated. We pushed past the door and I was still blown away by how marvelous this place was. Being here was making something inside me vibrate. I had that same feeling when I found the pensieve room in Rackham's vault, then the room under the library, and the room in the cavern. It was the ancient magic that created all those places I was feeling. I could almost hear this room humming at me—like it was alive.

Noticing that Professor Rackham's portrait was empty, I turned to Professor Fig. "Looks like he stepped out for a while." I then noticed the pedestal that was meant to hold the book. "He said before that the book has to be placed there," I said as I pointed at the spot. Just when I said that, the pedestal started glowing as if to confirm my words.

"I see." He grabbed the book from under his arm and gently placed it on the glowing pedestal. After a second, a silver swirl of ancient magic enveloped the book, and I felt a warm wave of that same magic expand throughout the room. The silver swirls crawled down the pedestal, across the rails, and into the black circular glass-like floor. They spun quickly around on the black floor until they burst into specks of light. When Professor Fig and I came down the stairs and stepped onto the black floor, it was as if we were walking on water now. The floor was now rippling with every step we took. And with every step, the floor was revealing something I couldn't make out right away.