VICTORY ♛ Sirius Black

Chapter 9: Reign

Beth took after Cephas, and spend every free minute she had either in the library or in a vacant classroom, training for the first task. 

It was now the third of October, and the nerves had already started to settle in. Any time Beth even thought about the tournament she could feel butterflies erupt in the pit of her stomach. Any time she saw the other champions, she felt like throwing up.

Some older students had helped her with learning new spells that Celia could not teach her. Her arsenal of jinxes and hexes had expanded greatly, though she did not know what she would be facing still. Her game plan so far would be to open door one, and hope that it will indeed let her 'see'. However if it showed her nothing, she would have no idea what to do.

She had read through her own potions book as well as the ones from students older than her. Still, she could only wonder why kind of potions they would face her with. They could make her drink poison and she'd have to brew the antidote or they could make her identify different potions, there was absolutely no way of knowing. 

All and all, even with her new spells, Beth felt discouraged. If the rumours were true then Cephas and Kaeley were studying far more specific things than general hexes and potions. Ravenclaw students these days strutted around the castle like they were kings, something that did not sit well with the Slytherins.

"Pick a door to go looking for. One, two or three, the first will make you see. Four, five or six, three has got some nasty tricks. For potions it is easy to remember, the colour of December. And when the door is knocking, you'll find it best to stop talking." Beth repeated. 

Elias and Lauren listened to the rhyme intently. Celia was the only other Slytherin who knew it in full, but Lauren had proven herself to be incredibly reliable, she would actually rather die than let any other house win, and Elias was just as fierce about the competition. Beth really did not have a choice, she needed more advice. 

"So look through door one." Lauren said. "You'll see what you need to see, and take it from there."

"But what if there is nothing to see there?" Beth countered. They were talking in Lauren's dormitory. Lauren and Elias were seated on her bed, while Celia and Beth sat on the one across from them. Lauren was incredibly pretty, with blonde, long straight hair and eyes so blue they were almost mesmerising. Elias had black hair, and after years of playing Quidditch, rumour had it that he was being recruited by the Montrose Magpies, he had definitely built up some muscle. They were the it couple of Slytherin and took pride it in. 

"In riddles, you have to make do with the information you have." Lauren said, clearly lost in thought. "We don't have all the pieces, so we must paint with what we have. Go to one. Should it be a dud all you can really do is open other doors. Though it sounds like you should maybe avoid three."

"Have you heard anything about Hackett or Frye?" Celia asked. 

"Not a single whisper," Lauren answered, leaning back on her bed. "I saw Cephas walking around with a book on herbology, but that could be for classes. We have no way of knowing."

Beth sincerely hoped for classes, she needed far more than a month to even pass her own herbology exam, let alone learn it for the tournament. 

Lauren was right though. Without the other pieces, Beth really had no other hope than the first door letting her see. Her fingers instinctively wrapped around her necklace. Her father had given it to her, the day she turned ten. She had worn it ever since. 

"Keep learning." Elias finally just said. "Make it seem like you are on to something to the other students. It's about time we reign over the castle again."