Rainbows (A Hogwarts Mystery Story)

Chapter 11

With the sudden plunge in temperatures over the next few weeks, a lot of our classes have to be taken by warm fireplaces. Professors constantly had to cast Incendio to make sure we didn't end up freezing into ice lollies in class, and a lot of us ended up stashing spare gloves in our bags in hopes that we didn't end up with frosty fingers when the hour was up. Flying classes started to become a bit of a problem, as did Care of Magical Creatures; the fire crabs constantly had to shoot their flames into massive fire pits that Professor Kettleburn made for us out of scratch, and Madam Hooch had to make sure that we cast Impervius on our faces before kicking off from the ground. I assumed the Dementors had to do something with it since everything they touched literally turned into ice. The sheer unnatural rate that the cold was settling in was much faster than the spreading of the cursed ice back in second year, and that was definitely saying something about the threats looming above our heads.

The biggest shock in that time would have to come from Nearly Headless Nick, who claimed that he might have some background information about the Cursed Vaults that would help me in my search. Should he still be able to walk on solid ground, he would have easily jumped all over the place in sheerest excitement while I went about looking for the clues to the vaults' history, sweating like mad in the search. Of course, he would--word about my search for the Cursed Vaults wasn't really a well-kept secret, and anyone who heard of it would either scoff about it and leave, or throw hands and drop everything and help me in any way they could.

"They've been trying to find out the mystery behind the vaults for centuries!" he said at one point. "Old professors of the age have told me of all the things they've done--and there's a lot!"

I wouldn't deny that Nick really helped me a lot with that--especially now that I understood where the Cursed Vaults came from and all. But what really put the stopper on our freedom was the recent curfews and changes in regulations that the staff put in place due to Greyback's escape from Azkaban. Everyone had to be in their common rooms by 7:00 every night, and no one could go to class alone. Naturally, Rowan stuck with me everywhere, and occasionally we were joined by Ben and Charlie, but the strangeness in walking to classes like this made me feel like I was walking with a pack of wolves instead of hanging out with friends. 

Ironic, since it was a wolf that caused all this trouble. Or werewolf, to put it in more accurate terms.

About a week before Halloween, I was just walking out of History of Magic (which would probably be the most boring class of all, given that the professor's voice sounds like nothing more than a faulty vacuum machine droning on and on) when I was stopped in the hallways by Madam Rakepick, striding through the hallways in the opposite direction.

"A word, Miss Lin," was all she said.

I was surprised to see how, in pale contrast to the rest of us, she was the only one unaffected by the cold. Perhaps it was her ability to conjure the Patronus that Tulip, Merula and I were only able to learn so briefly many weeks before; perhaps it was her exposure to Egyptian climates that made her more resilient to extremely cold temperatures. Whatever the case was, she seemed to hold herself with a confident air as she lead me through the corridors, brushing past the massive throngs of students traipsing through. The soft trotting behind me confirmed that Rowan was following me too--she was still certain, after all this time, that Madam Rakepick was still trying to cause me harm. 

It seemed that Madam Rakepick didn't care whether Rowan followed me or not, because she didn't say a word about her presence, even after we entered the Artefact Room at the end of the corridor on the west side of the castle. It was only when she went to shut the door, however, when she noticed her looking at her with wide eyes--eyes that only held fear.