A Younger Generation of Keepers

Chapter 3: Christmas at Hogsmeade (part 4)

George's pov

Entering the Map Chamber for the first time since last year proved to be more difficult than I thought. All these memories of Professor Fig standing here with us flashed across my mind. I tried to get them off my head; now was not the time to let my emotions affect me. I called the original (OG) Keepers and they all appeared one by one on their portraits. I began to explain the situation and what we had discovered so far about that witch.

"A student is frozen by some unknown magic?" Professor Rookwood questioned.

"Exactly! And we had no luck in finding a cure yet" I responded.

"There was a rumour about a freezing spell, which originated from Ireland" Niamh chimed in.

"Please Professor, is there any insight you could provide me with?"

"There isn't much knowledge about it, but there is a potion's recipe which could potentially cure the student. It lies in an abandoned castle in the northern Irish Highlands" Niamh added.

"I will see to it, first thing tomorrow morning" I reassured the OG Keepers. I left the Map Chamber and wandered the school grounds, searching for Sebastian. After a few minutes, I finally found him watching a Summoner's Court match.

"Hey Sebastian, what are you up to?" I asked him.

"Hey there! Just watching the game, what about you?"

"I've got to go to the library to search for a book, care to join me?" I gave him a cunning gaze.

"Restricted section?" his eyes lit up.

"If we have to" I replied with a mischievous smile. We left the Summoner's Court and headed towards the library. Once we entered, I saw multiple familiar faces, one of which was Grayson's.

"Hey there Slytherins, what are you doing here?" Grayson approached us, holding a book in his hands. "George, how was your meeting with the Keepers?"

"Niamh suggested looking for a cure in a castle in Ireland, but she was unsure of its whereabouts" I explained.

"So you're here to find the exact coordinates of the castle" Grayson figured out.

"Exactly, so less talking, more searching" Sebastian excitedly chimed in, and we all started looking for a book mentioning the Irish castle. As I was scanning a section of the library I came across Adelaide Oakes.

"Hey George, what are you doing here?" she smiled.

"Oh hey Adelaide, I'm just looking for some information for an assignment" I replied in an attempt to avoid her quickly.

"Oh really? What kind of an assignment is that?" she raised her eyebrow.

"About some strange plant that's only found in Southern Europe; it's for Professor Garlick." I answered without even looking at her.

"Mhm, you used to be better at lying George" Adelaide winked at me.

"Found it, George!" Sebastian whispered across the library corridor.

"Quiet!" Madam Scribner immediately shouted; that crazy librarian!

I walked away without looking back. The last thing I wanted was people gossiping about a George and Adelaide reunion, and Poppy hearing all about it.

I approached Sebastian, who handed me a book with the name "Athenian Castle Lair" on it.

"Is that the castle?" I asked.

"Seems like it! It was supposedly built by an Ancient Greek wizard from Athens" Sebastian explained.

"Have you found its location?" Grayson arrived.

"Yes, there they are!" Sebastian wrote down the coordinates on a piece of paper and handed it to me.

"This shouldn't be too hard to find – tomorrow morning we are flying to Ireland" I put the piece of paper in my pocket and left the library.

Grayson's pov

The next morning was windy, snowy and cold. George, Sebastian and I awoke earlier than usual to avoid returning late from Ireland and missing classes.

We used Floo Powder to travel to the Irish Highlands, and then we flew with our brooms to the castle's exact coordinates. We landed a few metres away from our initial destination, after spotting goblins walking around the castle ground. The castle was massive and despite its age, it was in good condition.

"There's too many of them!" Sebastian angrily whispered while observing the goblins.

"We'd better use a stealthy approach; we're outnumbered!" I suggested.

We all used the Disillusionment spell and moved quietly towards different groups of goblins. I used Petrificus Totalus on two goblins simultaneously, and they fell to the ground. A third goblin noticed this, but before it could react, I petrified it too.

Sebastian failed once again to attack stealthily, and as a result the goblins detected us. I jumped right into the fight to help him, but it seemed like he did not need it at all. He effortlessly cast Bombarda and blew up three goblins standing near a flammable barrel.

After we had exterminated all the goblins, we entered the castle through its colossal gate.

"Hopefully, there won't be any goblins inside" Sebastian stated. We began exploring the castle; there were so many rooms that it was almost impossible to examine each one of them.

"Poppy would've loved these bookcases, she always brags about her gran's study" George expressed while observing the unlimited number of books in one of the rooms.

"Perhaps you should take your mind off Sweeting for a second and focus on our aim, George" Sebastian teased him.

I could not help, but laugh. Of course, I thought George and Poppy were a sweet couple, but this was not the time or the place for him to be thinking about her. We searched all the corridors until we found a locked door.

"It's blocked by some sort of enchantment" I said, pointing to the ice obstructing the door's entrance.

"All I see is an empty wall" Sebastian let out uneasily, rubbing his nape with his fingers.

"It must be blocked by ancient magic" George came to conclusion. Only after he mentioned it did I notice the traces floating next to the door. George moved near the door, raised his wand, and the archway opened , allowing us to see through the door.

"Wait, Sebastian can't pass through that!" I grasped George's hand as he was about to enter the room.

"That's right, you two stay here in case any goblins attempt to sneak up on us"

George entered the archway. He was searching for the recipe, as Sebastian and I guarded the entrance.

"Found it!" George shouted enthusiastically from across the room, after a couple of minutes.

"We need these ingredients; there's a side note saying we should find them in the backyard" George handed me the note, and we all headed to the castle's backyard to collect some of the mentioned ingredients for the potion.

"That's the last one!" Sebastian sighed while grabbing the last plant. Suddenly, we heard strange noises coming from outside; a new of group of goblins had arrived.

"We need to go now!" I whispered. We exited the castle quietly, walking on tiptoes. We took our brooms and left the castle without being seen, then we returned to Hogwarts by using Floo Powder.

"We need to put this recipe in the Room of Requirement, once the goblins find out we took the it, they will try to steal it back" I recommended.

"I will take care of it" George reassured me and we all left to attend our classes for the day.

Author's note: Picture of our four boys all together.