#mg!!!!

“It looks like a journal entry,” Sebastian said after he finished reading the note. “There’s a date at the top from over a year ago.”

Your mind began racing.

M.G…why does that feel familiar…?

“You’ve got that look on your face,” he spoke again, drawing your attention.

“What look?”

“You make a face when you’re thinking really hard or struggling to piece things together,” Sebastian replied and did his own imitation. Your eyes narrowed at him.

“And that’s the face you make when you’re annoyed, specifically with me.”

You scoffed at his ridiculousness. “The initials, I’m trying to recall where I recognize them.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ve come across loads of names with those initials,” Sebastian shrugged. “But the note also specifically says wizard, meaning they must be male. That should narrow down our options quite a bit.”

“A male wizard with the initials M.G.,” you pondered aloud, arms crossed as you wracked your brain, “and an interest in the Deathly Hallows, specifically the Elder Wand…”

The Elder Wand…wands…M.G…

You gasped.

“Mykew Gregorovitch!” you exclaimed to Sebastian.

“Uh–what was that?” He replied, one eyebrow raised in confusion.

“He’s a wandmaker,” you clarified, astonished. “With a reputation for creating powerful wands, and his initials are M.G.”

Sebastian’s eyes widened. “Bloody hell…”

“His shop is somewhere in London–Carkitt Market, I believe. Have you heard of it?”

He shook his head. “Can’t say I’ve ever been to London.”

You thought for a moment, then smiled in realization.

“Well, then, it’s a good thing we know someone who has.”

⋆｡°✩

The next day, you walked to Potions with newfound purpose.

You were a major step closer to unmasking who had been haunting you all these weeks. While Gregorovitch seemed like the ideal candidate, you didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. There was still the matter of how he was getting around Hogwarts unnoticed, close enough to you to perform Legilimency. It was possible he wasn’t working alone.

But the discovery of the journal entry gave you a direction to go in. And that gave you confidence.

Once settled at your potions station, you said hello to your friends as you unpacked your things.

“Nicely done this weekend,” you congratulated the two Gryffindors with a smile.

Natty thanked you and replied, “No hard feelings, I hope.”

“I’m just impressed we held up as long as we did,” Samantha said, chin in her hand. “I was honestly expecting a lot worse of a beating.”

While Samantha and Natty conversed together about the match, Garreth turned to you with a grin. “It was loads of fun! Can’t wait to see how we fare against Slytherin in two weeks.”

“Don’t get your hopes up, Weasley,” Imelda taunted in passing, headed toward her own station.

Garreth glared at her as she walked away.

“Garreth,” you began, “I recall you saying you’re from London, correct?”

He returned his attention to you and nodded. “Just outside the city proper. Dad’s been talking about moving to the countryside but—”

“Right,” you politely interrupted before he went off on another one of his long-winded tangents. “I’ve been curious…how long is the journey here, to Scotland? I’ve been eager to take a trip to Diagon Alley since I’ve yet to see it.”

“Unfortunately, it’s a trek!” Garreth sighed. “About seven hours by train. I usually try to sleep the entire ride to Hogsmeade from King’s Cross Station.”

You nodded, feeling yourself deflate. You knew it was far, but that was definitely too far to travel by broom.

“But there are other, quicker means of transportation, if you really fancy a visit to London,” he leaned in a bit closer to whisper. “My aunt has Floo Powder access to Diagon Alley, right from her chambers. Special Deputy Headmistress privileges.

“She’ll be distracted for a while during the quidditch match at the end of the week,” he continued conspiratorially, “I can go with you, if you’d like.”

Your eyes widened. It was risky, and you didn’t want to betray Professor Weasley’s trust…but this was important.

“Take the week to think about it,” Garreth went on. “Let me know by the day before the match, and I might just be able to create an even bigger distraction to buy us some more time.”

You nodded gratefully. “Thank you, Garreth, I will.”

⋆｡°✩

As soon as class was dismissed, you cautiously approached Professor Sharp’s desk. 

“Professor Sharp? I wanted to apologize again, I—”

Sharp, without looking up from his writing, said, “There’s no need. Meet me back here after Charms, I’d like to continue our lessons.”

Your mouth hung open, momentarily speechless, before you simply nodded in response.

As you exited the classroom to head to Charms, you found Sebastian waiting for you just outside the door.

“Where’s Ominis?” You asked.

“I told him to go on ahead,” he replied, falling into step beside you. “I wanted to ask about your plans…with Garreth.”

You dropped your voice low, “He mentioned Professor Weasley having a Floo Powder transport in her chambers, it can take me directly to Diagon Alley. I’ll have to sneak in during the quidditch match, while everyone’s distracted.”

Sebastian's face twisted into one of slight apprehension.

“What is it?” you questioned, reading his expression. He hesitated a moment before replying. 

“I’ll be playing in the match against Hufflepuff this week, so I won’t be able to go with you,” he said. Before you could argue, he went on, “I know you’re more than capable of handling it yourself, but I’m still a bit worried about you going there alone.”

He glanced at you sideways, awaiting your response. Your lips fell into a soft smile.

“We’ll just have to do some spare training in the Undercroft this week, then. And Garreth said he’d go with me, so I won’t be completely alone,” you assured. “I’ll try to avoid divulging too much detail about the real reason for the trip.

“I’m sorry I may have to miss your first match of the season, though,” you continued. “I was looking forward to seeing you play.”

Sebastian huffed a sigh, rather dramatically, you might add. “I suppose I’ll forgive you this once. I’m quite confident in our victory, but I’ll try to drag the match out as long as I can—give you as much time as possible to get back.”

“Garreth mentioned having a solution for that as well, although the thought of it made me slightly unnerved,” you joked. “He said he could ‘create an even bigger distraction’.”

“Knowing Weasley, it’ll most likely be quite…explosive.”

⋆｡°✩

When you entered the Charms classroom, you noticed Poppy staring intensely at a piece of parchment. As you took your seat next to her, you saw a mess of symbols and arrows. Quidditch plays, you realized.

“Oh, good morning!” Poppy greeted you as you sat. “How was Potions?”

“Sharp assigned another essay, this time on Veritaserum,” you huffed. “We’re still waiting on our potions to finish brewing.”

Poppy cringed. “Yikes, well, at least the term is almost halfway through!”

You pondered her words. With everything going on, you had failed to realize October was quickly drawing closer and closer to its end.

“Rumor has it that Professor Black will be announcing a ball tonight at dinner,” Poppy leaned in closer to whisper. “A masquerade!”

“Really?” You said, unable to hide your fascination.

You’d never been to a ball before, much less a masquerade. Your ballroom dancing skills were mediocre at best, but you could practice. And any excuse to wear a beautiful dress appealed greatly to you.

Poppy nodded, grinning. “Overheard Professors Garlick and Howin discussing it when we were leaving the quidditch match the other day. Set two weeks from now, on All Hallows’ Evening.”

“That’s rather festive of him,” you replied sarcastically. “I wonder what’s got the headmaster in the holiday spirit.”

“No idea,” she shrugged. “We’ve never had one before. They used to hold a Yule Ball during the Triwizard Tournaments…before they were banned.”

“Alright, my friends, settle down,” Professor Ronen announced as he descended the stairs from his office. “Today we will be taking our lesson outside of the classroom. Now, if you would please follow me.”

You and Poppy glanced at each other in confusion before standing.

It wasn’t unlike Professor Ronen to surprise the class with a more thrilling and involved lesson, but you were supposed to be learning the cleaning charm Scourgify today. However, if anyone could manage to make that exciting, it would be Professor Ronen.

The class filed out the doors and followed Ronen through the halls of the school. He eventually led you outside, past the Bell Tower courtyard, down to where Professor Howin held her Beasts classes.

There were a few beasts in the pins: Kneazles, Mooncalves, and Puffskiens.

“As I mentioned last week, we will be learning Scourgify,” Professor Ronen said. “Today, we will use this charm to help Professor Howin clean the beasts and their pins.”

A few students stifled their groans. Poppy, however, was delighted.

After learning and practicing the incantation, Professor Ronen divided the class into three groups, one for each of the beasts’ pins. He and Professor Howin would walk between the groups, offering helpful suggestions to those struggling.

You, Poppy, Natty, Nellie, Sebastian, and Ominis stood around the Mooncalf pin, the four wide-eyed creatures staring right back at the six of you.

“Each of us takes a Mooncalf and the remaining two clean the pin?” Poppy suggested.

No one wanted to clean the pin, obviously, even if the charm made it much easier. You grabbed six stalks of tall grass to draw straws with, and you all agreed that the two who pulled the shortest ones would take on the worse task.

You and Sebastian stared at each other in disbelief as everyone held out their grass stalks. You both had drawn the short straws.

Once the rest of the group split off to wrangle their Mooncalves, Sebastian turned to you and sighed. 

“As if we didn’t have enough rubbish to deal with already...”

⋆｡°✩

You sat next to Professor Sharp at one of the potion stations. He had been standing at a cauldron when you entered, pouring some of whatever he had brewed into a vial.

“I’ve been reflecting on your current…predicament,” Professor Sharp said finally. “Has there been any more developments as of late?”

You nodded and informed him about what happened at the quidditch match.

“As I suspected. I believe your ancient magic has allowed your skills of Legilimency to develop much faster than any I’ve ever encountered,” Sharp began. “It’s made you into a Legilimens, a rather powerful one at that.

“Last week, you entered my mind without me even noticing. That’s…never happened to me before,” he confessed. “I, myself, became an Occlumens during my Auror training. No one had been able to access my mind since.”

No wonder he had been so surprised. You shuttered, as if you could shake the magical ability out of you.

Sharp went on. “This is most likely why you’ve struggled with Occlumency. These are already hard enough abilities to master, and it’s even more rare for one to be excelled in both. It can take many years of training, as I have had. Luckily, your locket’s enchantment has aided you in your mental protection.”

He held up the vial of clear liquid. It looked like water, and when he unstopped the cork, there was no odor.

Veritaserum, you thought as he handed it to you. He must’ve been brewing it for some time now.

“We’re going to try an experiment,” Sharp declared. “In some cases, Occlumency can be used to withstand the effects of Veritaserum. I’d like to see if your locket’s enchantments work against the potion as well, if you’re alright with that.”

You held the vial cautiously. Clearly, Sharp was concerned about you accidentally poking around in his head again if he tried Legilimency on you. You supposed this was his compromise.

It would come in handy to know if I could withstand a truth serum…

“Alright,” you agreed.

“Just as we’ve been practicing, steel your mind and trust in your magic to aid you. The goal is not to mention anything about your…particular powers.”

You nodded, and, before you could think better of it, quickly swallowed the potion.

There was no taste. A calming, cloudiness filled your mind, the only sign that the potion was working. You felt your clenched jaw relax.

“Did you come to Hogwarts as a fifth year student?” Professor Sharp questioned.

“Yes,” you answered immediately, and your stomach clenched with nerves at the inability to stop yourself. You felt your locket grow warm underneath your robes.

“To what Hogwarts house were you sorted?”

“Ravenclaw.”

“And why were you late for your Sorting Ceremony?”

That was a loaded question, but you were able to somewhat deflect your answer to avoid speaking of your ancient magic.

“The carriage I was traveling in was attacked by a hostile dragon.”

“What did you discover in Vault 12 at Gringotts?”

This one was a bit trickier. Your locket warmed further, and you felt the fog in your mind clear slightly. The enchantments were helping, even if only a bit.

“A hidden doorway–one only I could open. It led to a Pensieve.”

Sharp nodded, pleased. He continued.

“Where did you have your final battle with Ranrok?”

“Below Hogwarts.”

“Be more specific.”

In a hidden repository, one that houses ancient magic, you almost said. You bit down on your tongue, tried to resist the potion’s effects. You felt your palms begin to sweat as your locket grew even warmer.

“How did you defeat him?” Sharp fired off another question.

“Using…magic…” you struggled for an answer. Your head began to ache terribly as you focused on your words, on shielding your thoughts.

“What kind of magic?”

Your lips parted slightly, but no words escaped. The fog in your mind cleared further with each second, as if your locket and ancient magic were working together to clear a path through it. It was difficult, but you concentrated on it, on the clarity that it provided you.

“Magic I learned…here. At Hogwarts.”

Not exactly the truth, but not a lie, either. You had applied the spells you’d learned from your professors during your battle with Ranrok.

The fog in your mind was mostly gone now, and you began to feel more in control of your thoughts. Whether it was from the potion wearing off or your magic dispelling of it, you weren’t certain.

“Do you possess a rare form of magic?”

“No,” you lied easily. Sharp looked at you with satisfied surprise.

“Impressive,” he replied. “That dose of serum should’ve lasted for another five minutes. Well done.”

You sighed happily, relieved at your success.