A Young Slytherin: A Barnaby Lee Story -Hogwarts Mystery

A Decision is Made

They managed to sneak back to their dormitories without getting caught by Snape or Pince. Barnaby didn't sleep well that night. He kept thinking he felt again Voldemort's cold hands around his throat, and each time he closed his eyes, he saw himself as a death eater.

Still, it looked like they had succeeded in breaking the fear curse. Not a single boggart had been spotted in the castle since their journey into the vault. There were still plenty of people being sent to the hospital wing for calming draughts, but now it was due to nerves produced while studying for the impending end of year exams.

Being friends with Sarah turned out to be a great help during exam time. She and Rowan spent hours in the library with him helping him study. While he wouldn't say he enjoyed it, it was certainly more fun than studying with his Gran or by himself. When the exams came, he knew he didn't do a spectacular job, but he knew his marks would be much better than they ever had before.

Not everyone was happy about the curse being lifted. Merula was furious, stalking by him and his new friends with a look that said quite plainly, "drop dead." She didn't dare try to attack them though, knowing that Barnaby would send her to the hospital wing if she dared.

Snape was equally furious. Merula had told him everything about their breaking into the restricted section and the vault, but he hadn't made it to the library in time to catch them. Missing an opportunity to have some of his most hated students expelled was like Tonks and Tulip discovering Zonko's had closed down. Everyone seemed to know who had gone into the vaults, but with no proof, it looked like none of them were going to be punished.

The last weekend before the end of the term was a Hogsmeade visit, and Barnaby agreed to meet with everyone at the Three Broomsticks to celebrate the end of the year and the breaking of another cursed vault. Barnaby was surprised to find Ben Copper there.

He stood back, embarrassed. The last time he'd talked to Ben, the Gryffindor had nearly fainted at the sight of him, calling him a Death Eater.

Ben still looked frightened, but he said, "Sarah told me everything you did to help her with the vaults, including fighting off Merula. I realized that's what you tried to do for me, too. I'm sorry for the way I reacted."

Barnaby smiled. "Don't mention it."

Sarah arrived. "There's the conquering Curse-breaker," said Bill Weasley, holding up his drink.

"So, what was in this one anyway?" asked Tonks.

Sarah looked around, then pulled the items from her robes and set them on the table. There was a wrinkled map and an arrow that was missing it's head.

"What do you think that's a map of?" asked Tonks.

"The Forbidden Forest," said Barnaby. They all looked at him in surprise.

"I've spent a lot of time in there tracking down lost creatures for Kettleburn," he explained. "I know a lot of the paths by heart."

"Then that's gotta be where the next vault is," said Rowan. "Looks I've figured out what I'll be studying over the summer."

"What's the broken arrow for?" asked Bill.

"No idea," said Sarah. "But that broken wand turned out to be dead useful, so I'm taking this thing with me wherever I go."

"What I want to know," said Tonks, picking up the map, "is why there's a letter 'R' written on the bottom corner of this map."

Everyone looked at Ben. Barnaby wasn't sure why, but he didn't want to be left out, so he did too.

"What?" Ben squeaked.

"Last year, we found a bunch of letters addressed to you from somebody called R," Sarah explained.