Rainbows (A Hogwarts Mystery Story)

Chapter 4

A.N.

Hey! Sorry for not having written. Things came up, and also Year 4 finally arrived on the app. I'm a little stunned by how very off the charts I am with the plot Jam City came up with and the plot I came up with. But like I said, this is not a story that would follow every detail of the game. I had different ideas.

Without further ado, let's go with the next chapter.

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Defence Against the Dark Arts was boring.

There was never a teacher in sight, no tall towering figure of authority that swept into the room to deliver a supposedly equally boring lecture and drill boring facts in our heads. We were always resorted to reading the textbooks ourselves and learn the content on our own. It just so happened that today, Rowan and I only managed to skim through our textbooks for a few short moments before being rudely interrupted by Anthony Campbell from Hufflepuff throwing paper airplanes around the classroom and laughing loudly with other troublemakers for no apparent reason.

Put it on a loop, and anyone could see the annoyance mark deeper creases on our faces

"I swear, if he throws one more parchment plane, I'll lose my marbles," Rowan scowled as we exited the classroom, her hair in a frizzy and her wand steaming slightly with pure white smoke. "He truly can't keep quiet, can he?"

"There's really no reason to when there's no teacher to tell us to keep quiet," I pointed out sadly with a slight shake of my head. "Then again, it's hard to reign in a bunch of young teenagers at time. Think about the teachers' struggles."

"Right..."

"Clara! Rowan! Good teh see yeh!"

A sudden shout from behind caught our attention, and we glanced around to see Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Gamekeeper at Hogwarts, lumbering towards us through the throng of students in the corridor. With a single wave, he beckoned us over, and we quickly waved back as we approached him.

"Hello, Hagrid," I greeted him. "Had a good summer? I didn't notice you at the feast."

Hagrid only chuckled in response. "Yeah. Had a few things to attend to, what with the arrival of Dumbledore's assistant and a few things happening in the Forbidden Forest. Rather unsettlin' if I do say so meself."

To this, I turned to Rowan. What was going on in the Forbidden Forest?

"Do you think this has something to do with the Vaults?" Rowan asked.

"Can' be sure," Hagrid said with a shake of his head. "Curses can only be released if someone tampered with the Vault, and the staff and I were the only ones here last summer."

"Unless it's Dumbledore's new assistant." I frowned as I let Hagrid's words sink in. "I don't even know who she is, though."

"Yeh mean Madam Rakepick?" Hagrid shook his head. "She came in just aroun' midnight last night. Said she had complications with her research so she arrived later than expected."

Right. Dumbledore mentioned last year that his assistant was an old student here, and she had firsthand experience with the Cursed Vaults. She's an expert curse-breaker, and would be taking over handling the Vaults while I was supposed to work on my academics. I wouldn't say my academics were bad--they were around average, or even very much above it depending on the professors' reactions to my performance--but if I was to stand a chance in staying at the school, I would have to start following Dumbledore's word for good. 

Besides, from the way Hagrid described her, she seemed like one of the least likely people to have tampered with the vault.

"I see." I let loose a small sigh and shook my head in resignation. It would probably be best to worry about anything Cursed Vault related until I could wrap my head around what was important. "Come on, Rowan. We can't be late for Charms."

"Ah, of course! Have fun in class!" Hagrid said as he waved in farewell. "You both are welcome to visit me hut some time and say hello to Fang, too!"

On the bright side, Charms was a little bit more fun than I expected. Today we got to learn Bombarda, the charm that would cause things to explode. 

"I would still much prefer Potions Class," I heard Stella Gonzalez from my house grumble while we were working on the incantations. "It's much more fun mixing things than having to do silly wand work."

If you ask for my opinion, I'd suppose she's taking a clone of Snape's personality too closely to heart.

It wasn't until lunch time when I noticed a slight shift in the normally easygoing atmosphere. As I entered the Great Hall with Rowan, taking our usual seats at the Gryffindor table, I heard no usual chatter from the other students. Instead, I looked up at the staff table to see a new figure at the front of the room, talking in a low voice with Dumbledore.

"She looks scary," Rowan murmured, her jaw dropped. "You reckon that's the Madam Rakepick Hagrid was referring to earlier?"

I did not respond to her question at first. I glanced over at the table again, looking at the fiery red hair gleaming under the sunlight, at the Egyptian symbol pinned to her chest keeping her cloak together, and her smug look as she listened to Dumbledore talk to her. In a way, I was reminded of Rita Skeeter when she made her unexpected appearance last year, but this was a bit different. Something told me that Rakepick's way of holding the audience's attention would be very different from the way Skeeter did it.

"It's possible," I murmured.

Just then, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and turned around to see Bill with a shocked expression on his face.

"It's Ben," he told me hastily before I had the chance to open my mouth. "The moment he entered the room, he sped out of there. I tracked him down to the Gryffindor Common Room, but I don't know if he would ever get out of there."

What was going on with Ben this year? He seemed to be a lot more skittish than I remember him being. I glanced over at Rowan again before glancing back at Bill. "We'll help him," I said. "Might as well before Care of Magical Creatures, right?"

"Wait. But what about lunch?" Rowan asked in slight disappointment, her gaze travelling to the food on the table.

"Lunch would have to wait." I steeled my nerves quickly with a shake of my head and looked back up to Bill. "Can you lead the way?"

Bill nodded, and with that, the three of us made our way to the Gryffindor Common Room.