The Mystery Remains

After leaving Professor Umbranox's office, Aurora and James silently passed through the dimly lit corridors on their way back to Ravenclaw Tower. He was treading cautiously, as it was already rather late and he didn't want to encounter any of his teachers, and especially not Peeves, the malevolent poltergeist who didn't miss any opportunities to put students into trouble.

Glancing at Aurora, he noticed that she still seemed to be thinking about their meeting with the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. "We still don't know anything for sure." he commented, lowering his voice in order to avoid the risk of being heard. "But Professor Umbranox seems to believe that the Library exists."

The torches glowed eerily as James and Aurora slowly walked through the corridor. Aurora felt rather pensive as she contemplated the gigantic mystery of the Ancient Library.

James' voice punctuated the silence and stillness. "We still don't know anything for sure. But Professor Umbranox seems to believe that the Library exists."

"True, I thought that was interesting. Don't you think that it seems a bit futile to do this by ourselves? If we could get more minds on this, it would probably go a bit better. Preferably Ravenclaw minds; no, just joking. I really have no idea what we're going to do." Aurora said, flicking through a mental list of students who could help. Quite a few Slytherins now, but you never know if you can trust them. Some Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, too.

"Yes, you're right." James confirmed after remaining silent for a moment. Since Professor Umbranox had advised them not to tell any of the other professors, he started considering his classmates. "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be drifting the hallways at this hour." a low voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts. Startled, he turned to his right, and found himself face to face with an old wizard who was contemplating them with his strict gaze. "We're sorry, sir." James replied to the portrait. "We're just heading back to our Common Room." he added, increasing his pace as he wanted to regain Ravenclaw Tower as soon as possible.

"We could tell Lucy." he suggested after they had put enough distance with the portrait, continuing their conversation as if nothing had happened. "She's nice and she comes from an old wizarding family, so she may have heard something about the legend."

Professor Wayne was taking a walk around the hallways, lazily looking through places for no reason, until he came to a hallway, where two students stood. He recognized them as the two ravenclaws who got the highest mark in the previous lesson. He walked closer to them, to look at their troubled faces.

"Mr. Riddle" he said gesturing at James, "Ms. Finnigan" he said again slowly. He studied their faces and spoke again after a minute of silence, "Is there something you wish to tell me, Riddle?"

"We could tell Lucy. She's nice and she comes from an old wizarding family, so she may have heard something about the legend." James finally replied.

"Yes," Aurora agreed, though she had her doubts about the Slytherin. Not that she wasn't nice, but still, she was a Malfoy.

Footsteps echoed down the hall. "Mr. Riddle, Ms. Finnigan." Professor Wayne said, appearing out of the shadows. "Is there something you wish to tell me, Riddle?" he asked, looking sharply at James. Aurora gulped, remembering Professor Umbranox telling them not to mention the library to the other teachers. She glanced helplessly at James, who seemed to be equally worried.

"Yes" Aurora replied as they were about to turn a corner. Hearing footsteps, the two students instantly stopped, anxiously fixing the direction they seemed to be coming from. James instinctively glanced around, hoping to find a hiding spot, but all he could see were the two walls surrounding them. Realizing they were trapped in this narrow corridor, he listened to the steps become louder and louder as the person approached.

"Mr. Riddle, Ms. Finnigan." Professor Wayne addressed them after emerging from the shades. A long moment of silence ensued, the teacher thoroughly examining their faces while they were just standing there, speechless. "Is there something you wish to tell me, Riddle?" the man finally asked, his penetrative gaze intensely fixing James. "I... We..." the Ravenclaw started, desperately searching forsomething to say. "We apologize for being in the hallways this late. We were in the library, and we lost track of time." he explained, carefully avoiding the professor's look. Ashamed by the fact that he had just lied to a teacher, though trying to conceal it, he glanced at Aurora, silently asking for her support.

"I don't believe you Mr. Riddle. If I catch you out on the hallway suspicously again, I will give you a detention, no matter how impressive your work might be in potions." James hissed at Riddle. He turned around and left, not looking back.

"If I catch you out on the hallway suspicously again, I will give you a detention, no matter how impressive your work might be in potions." Professor Wayne warned him. He hadn't raised his voice, but his words lashed James even harder than if he had yelled at him. "I'm sorry, professor. It won't happen again." James mumbled while lowering his head, but the teacher had already turned around and was walking away from them. After a few seconds, he disappeared in the shadows, leaving the two Ravenclaws on their own.

James felt a few tears form in his eyes but he instantly held them back, turning his face away from Aurora. He never could stand disappointing his teachers or being reprimanded by them. Even if he knew the current situation wasn't entirely his fault, he couldn't help feeling terrible for lying to Professor Wayne. "We should get going." he finally said, glancing at Aurora, his voice shakier than he expected.

Aurora stared at Professor Wayne's retreating back. He was mean, she knew, but he hadn't treated them like that in class. She would have liked to scream at him, but thought better of it. They were already in trouble, no use making it worse. She flicked her gaze toward James, but he had turned his face away. "We should get going," he said, still looking at the wall, and with a hint of a sob in his voice.

"Yeah, sure," Aurora responded with concern. "Hey, you all right? It's not like you did anything wrong, you know. He's like that all the time."

"I'm fine" James assured trying to adopt a casual tone, but his voice indicated otherwise. They pursued their way through the long and dark corridors until they finally reached the Grand Staircase. Fortunately, it was deserted and there was a stairway connecting the platform they were standing on with the third floor.

"Quick, before it moves." James advised, and they both instantly jumped on the steps. They silently headed towards the fifth floor, the only sounds disrupting the night's stillness being the noise made by the massive marble staircases as they continuously shifted and the occasional snores of the portraits along the way.

After a few minutes, they attained the fifth floor, and were now just a few hallways away from their destination. "Who do you think that was? The woman on the picture?" James inquired, suddenly recalling that detail from their encounter with Professor Umbranox.

They moved silently through the long halls of Hogwarts, the only sound made being when James told Aurora to hurry up to catch the staircase. Just before they reached the common room, James asked, "Who do you think that was? The woman on the picture?"

"Dunno," Aurora replied. "A wife, or a girlfriend?" She had wondered about that, but the detail had fled in the rest of the conversation.

"Dunno. A wife, or a girlfriend?" Aurora guessed. "Possible." James replied, pensive. "Whoever it was, he wasn't really glad that we saw the picture." he added. Suddenly, he realized that he hadn't seen the families of any of their professors. Even if most of them were too young to be married and have children, it was certainly hard to have to leave everything behind and be at Hogwarts during the entire school year. Or maybe they were allowed to go home during weekends or their families could live in Hogsmeade.

Just as he wanted to ask Aurora about that, they finally reached Ravenclaw Tower's staircase. The evening had been quite eventful, and James's legs were already tired while he was climbing the steps. After all the excitement they had during this excursion, he just wanted to regain his cosy bed and fall asleep, as they had to wake up early for their morning lessons. As soon as they approached the door of their Common Room, a voice resonated, coming from the eagle-shaped bronze knocker.

"It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter."

James had totally forgotten about this. He wasn't really in the mood to solve riddles, but he knew this was the only way to get in. "Any ideas?" he asked Aurora after a moment.

"Hmm," Aurora mused. "Well, the 'ends life' part could be death, but that would be too easy, don't you think? And all the talk of emptiness being filled could be air, but that doesn't fit either. Your thoughts?" This was a tough one, tougher than any she had been asked before.

Despite the fact that Aurora had some interesting suggestions, none of them seemed to fit the entire riddle. "Your thoughts?" she asked him. James pondered about it for a moment, but no answers came to his mind. "I really hope we won't have to spend the whole night here. The stairs don't look very warm and cosy." he said with a smile. "Could you please repeat the riddle, but slowly?" he begged the knocker, as this may help him think of a solution.

"It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt." the voice started."This part is pretty obvious" James said, thinking aloud. "It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills." "Behind stars" he repeated, meditative. Glancing through one of the windows, he observed the black sky. "The night?" he guessed, but the entrance remained shut. "It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter." "Ends life...". Just like Aurora reminded, this part could be referring to death. Death was always a concept that terrified him, since unlike others, he strongly believed that there was nothing after it. Just eternal nothingness, endless... "Darkness" he whispered. The heavy door instantly swung, letting them enter their Common Room at last.

"Wow, good guess," Aurora commented. "I didn't get that at all." They stepped into the dark common room, which looked pretty spooky at night. While the windows let the light in amazingly well, they also admitted the dark, and, still thinking about the riddle, Aurora couldn't help but shiver. She yawned. "Well, it's been an interesting night, but I'd best be getting to bed," she said, waving goodbye to James as she mounted the stairs to the girls' dormitories. "Night!" she called back.

As she came to the top of the staircase, she found herself still thinking hard about the ancient library, or 'The Library' as she had taken to calling it in her mind. Aurora pushed open the first year door and went inside. She heard Chloe's soft breathing (Wow, it's that late?) and flopped back onto her own bed. She fell asleep almost instantly, and dreamed of books just out of reach in the darkness all night.

"Well, it's been an interesting night, but I'd best be getting to bed" Aurora said with a yawn once they had finally penetrated the deserted Common Room. "Night!" she added while heading to the girls' dormitories. "Night" James replied, watching her climb the marble stairs. He really wanted to thank her, especially for knowing what his last name represented and still not judging him by it. "Aurora" he hesitantly called, but the sound of the door closing rendered his words inaudible. Turning around, he regained his own bed and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.