#scrope

Phineas Hearst’s POV, October 1896

Phineas’ eyes were glued to the newest piece of parchment as he departed the old hut with a pumpkin patch scattered around it. There had to be a better way from Scrope to get his attention than sending him on a scavenger hunt around Hogwarts of all places. Phineas frankly didn’t see the point in all the cloak and dagger. Still, he remained determined and curious and began his journey to the edge of the black lake.

The headmaster’s house elf had somehow figured out that he had found that book in the restricted section. He supposed the gossip still somehow managed to spread around Hogwarts and even to the ears of the house elf. But if it had reached Scrope how had it not reached the headmaster or the other professors. Phineas surely would have received a notice to make his way to detention if that was the case. And on top of that oddly enough, the house elf knew the book was missing pages.

As he reached the broken dock that Scrope had described in the latest letter, he scoured around to see what the next clue was. He was partially expecting for yet another note that would lead him to the other side of the castle. Luckily for him, Scrope managed to appear rather suddenly, waiting for him, but not in plain sight in a way that would draw attention.

“I see you received my notes.” Scrope observed as he approached, “Thank you for coming all this way. Apologies for their abundance and peculiar phrases. Scrope had to make sure you weren’t followed”

“Followed?” Phineas echoed in confusion, “What’s this all about? Your notes mentioned the book I found in the restricted section, how did you know about that?”

“Patience young Slytherin.” The house elf politely advised. “Scrope can tell you more in exchange for your help. But no one, especially the headmaster, can know.”

Phineas’ dark eyes lit up in a mixture of curiosity and hope, “Alright, I’ll be happy to help.” He promised, before recalling what he didn’t know yet, “What will I be doing exactly?”

“Scrope’s late mistress, Apollonia Black, may she rest in peace. Was a student at Hogwarts over fifty years ago.” The house elf began, “Before she died she spoke with passion about pages ripped from a book. Scrope suspects she took them to her private grotto. She was delirious at the end, poor thing. Mistook Belladonna for Elderberries. Scrope tried to warn her”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Phineas’ gaze softened. Yet his eyes narrowed, not in suspicion, he could never see the house elf mean harm. Though it was confusing that the headmaster’s house elf out of everyone was offering him this lead on a silver platter, “But what exactly does me going to this grotto to find the pages do for you?”

“Scrope believes that a treasured Black Family Ring might also be in the grotto.” He elaborated, “Scrope wishes to give it to the headmaster. Scrope cannot go because Apollonia forbade it long ago. Scrope continues to honor her wishes. Scrope would not dare ask a student for help normally. But when Scrope learned you were looking for the pages, Scrope hoped you might also be able to find the ring”

A lost heirloom to one of the most prestigious families in the wizarding world. The Black Family likely had more artifacts than any wizarding family in the country could dream of. The headmaster was an extravagant man after all. And even figuring out the mystery behind how this ring became lost made him just as curious as locating those missing pages. And perhaps, just perhaps, if the headmaster knew he assisted in retrieving an heirloom, he could gain his favor, however impossible that seemed to be due to his carelessness. Phineas supposed he never knew when he might need assistance, especially if Ranrok’s lot and Rookwood’s gang intensified in their actions and cruel desires.

“What can you tell me about this ring?” Phineas asked.

“Well it’s adorned with the Black Family crest for starters.” Scrope elaborated. A crest that didn’t even need to be described to any pure blood who knew of the highest pure blood families, “As such, the headmaster would be pleased with Scrope for returning it”

“It seems this might just help us both.” Phineas smiled with satisfaction “Now where do I find this secret grotto?”

“Thank you. It’s just down the coast, not far from here. You’ll know it when you see it.” Scrope explained, Phineas supposed a cave within the rocks would be easy enough to spot once he reached the general location. Phineas found himself off guard as Scrope handed him something unexpected, “Take this toast with you.” He instructed, “When you enter the grotto, you will place the toast on the pedestal.”

“Toast?” Phineas remarked with surprise and confused eyes, “why would I-“ but when he looked up from the toast Scrope was no where to be found, “and he’s gone”

Phineas’ eyes traveled to the line where the water met the land before his feet decided to finally follow it as far as he could. It was worth a try to figure out the location of the grotto, especially if it could help him determine what information was missing from the pages that had been removed from the book.

Of course he should have known that needing to go into the water, nearly waist deep at parts, wasn’t going to be the biggest of his concerns. Dugbogs started making themselves known and rather aggressively so. Phineas was not quite sure what was up with all the creatures recently. Perhaps the looming threat of poachers was getting them particularly on edge when humans came around. He tried to evade them to best of his ability though unlike Dugbogs, Phineas was not as swift in the water. Still, the spells he fired off in defense to prevent them possibly attacking him seemed to do just fine.

As he swam into what he assumed was the grotto that Scrope described, Phineas squinted his eyes to get a better look around at his surroundings. For a place that used to be a hideaway for a member of the Black Family, the grotto seemed deserted and barren. There were barely even any clues that people had come here before. With the exception of the pedestal Scrope referred to, as well as a cave painting of the giant squid.

Phineas pulled out the soggy piece of toast from the drenched pocket of his robe, “I suppose this is where this piece of ghost is.” He said to no one but himself as he placed the toast on top of the pedestal.

Almost as soon as he placed the toast right where Scrope instructed it vanished and reappeared as if it was always apart of the mural on the wall. The cave painting of the giant squib ate the flatten depiction of the piece of toast as if Phineas gave it an offering, perhaps he did in a way. It was an odd way of entering a place, then again, he had witnessed stranger methods so he just shrugged it off. After the squid ate the toast, the cave wall opened up and welcomed him into another room deeper within the grotto.

While still not as extravagant as Phineas would have expected from a traditional and typical woman of the Black family, this area of the grotto made more sense. The room was filled with all sorts of barely glimmering treasures that seemed to have been discarded even before Apollonia’s death. As Phineas’ eyes danced around the room looking for clues, he eventually found himself drawn to a desk further into the room, one with pieces of parchment scattered about and a journal.

He was so entranced by his search for answers that he barely heard another voice within the grotto: “Could it be? A visitor?”

Phineas turned to see that he wasn’t alone in the grotto. A ghost phased through the wall as if he had been trapped there waiting for someone to return. He didn’t look from a time terribly long ago, at least compared to some of the ghosts he saw regularly around the halls of Hogwarts like the Bloody Baron. While he was dressed rather charmingly, his hair looked a bit disheveled, almost reminded him of Garreth in a way.

“Hello.” Phineas acknowledged him, “Who are you?”

“The name’s Richard Jackdaw.” The ghost swiftly introduced himself, “Once, I was a student just like you, about a century ago. How in the world did you find this place?”

“The headmaster’s house elf, Scrope, sent me.” Phineas informed him, “He believed I might be able to find a ring that belonged to the Black family here but has been lost.”

“Sorry to say but I sold the ring a long time ago.” Richard apologized, “It could be anywhere by now.” He added, “Poor Scrope. Still holds a candle for Apollonia it seems. Cant say I blame him. I stole all these treasures” he gestured around the room in reference to the dusty valuables around the grotto, “just to impress her”

“You knew Apollonia Black?” Phineas realized

“I was in love with her.” Richard revealed, “but she never felt the same. Even when I brought her a map pilfered from Peeves didn’t peak her interest. She simply rolled her eyes. ‘what would I want with yellowed old pages torn from a book!’” He quoted in a way that must have been similar to how Apollonia talked, “Not my finest moment” he added with a chuckle and quick shake of his head

“Pages?” Phineas’ eyes widened with hope, “Are they still here?”

“They are not.” Richard shook his head, “I thought if Apollonia wasn’t interesting in the map on the pages perhaps what it led to would intrigue her. So I followed the map to some sort of enchanted cave. And-“ he then took his head clean off his shoulders to demonstrate, “you can guess what happened”

“Noted.” Phineas acknowledged as the ghost reattached his decapitated head to the rest of his body.

“Here’s an idea.” Richard proposed, “Why don’t you meet me at the edge of the forbidden forest tomorrow at sunset? I’ll show you where you can find the pages if you are still intrigued by their contents”

“That should work.” Phineas quickly agreed, determined to get his hands on those missing pages sooner rather than later, “Thank you Richard Jackdaw”

“Those pages are bound to still be tucked in my waistcoat or nearby.” Richard added, “So as long as you don’t mind the sight of a- well my decapitated skeleton they are yours for the taking”

“I believe I can manage.” Phineas assured him, “I will see you tomorrow evening.”

“Likewise.” Richard nodded before returning to his original place beyond the walls of the grotto.

Phineas exhaled slowly in reflection. He supposed things could have gone worse. All he needed to do was just follow Richard’s instructions and finally get his hands on those pages. Then he could show them to Professor Fig and finally get some more answers about what everything going on truly meant.