The Chaser's Heart

Year 3: Boggarts and Dives

Tulip was hot on my heels as we barrelled through the grounds to wards the greenhouses and the hidden corridor that lead to Jacob's room. I kept Tulip's key on a string around my neck so it wouldn't get lost. Or stolen. Hell, I couldn't trust anyone. Apparently I couldn't even trust Tulip, and she shared my dormitory.

In no time at all, we were in the hidden corridor, the scones bursting to life as Tulip and I hurtled through the secret door. I fumbled with Merula's key first and then Tulip's around my neck. I could have cried when the lock clicked open.

'Eleonora, wait!' Tulip said a split second before I shoved the door open.

'Ah!'

The room wasn't empty. There was a dark, cloaked and hooded figure that appeared to be hovering a couple of inches from the ground. I couldn't make out any features on it's face apart from a pair of glowing, red eyes.

'It's a Boggart, Eleonora!' Tulip yelled while I froze.

I'd never seen You-Know-Who before, but I dreamt about him. Countless times. I'd also encountered another Boggart earlier this year that had taken the same form. I had precious few ideas on what had actually happened to my brother, but I knew the general theory that he'd joined You-Know-Who couldn't possibly be true. It just couldn't. I knew Jacob and I knew You-Know-Who had very little, if anything, involvement in his disappearance.

Even though I knew it wasn't real, I was still terrified and was having difficulty trying to come up with something funny to banish the Boggart.

'Riddikulus!' I said, pointing my wand at the figure that was slowly approaching.

Nothing happened. Of course nothing happened, I didn't find any of this amusing in the slightest.

Come on, now, focus. The last time this happened, I imagined the exact opposite of all of this. Bright colours, light, laughter.

'Riddikulus!'

This time, it worked. The You-Know-Who figure was transformed into a clown with bright red and yellow curly hair, a face made up  with light blues and oranges and a colourful outfit with large, red shoes.

Tulip burst out laughing and I couldn't help my own relieved chuckles. The was a loud crack and the Boggart vanished.

'Good one,' Tulip grinned at me. 'Blimey, it's dark in here.'

She lit her wand and I did the same with mine, still coming down from the adrenaline high from the Boggart. Normally, I worked well under pressure, but not when my greatest fear was involved.

I lit my own wand and groaned at the sight of the room.

'What a mess!' I exclaimed, scanning the entire small room. 'That Boggart really trashed the place!'

There were bits of parchment, old quills and other debris everywhere. All over the floor, covering a large blackboard, an old, wooden desk, even the two pillars in the centre of the room.

'Hate to break it to you, but it was like this when we found it,' Tulip said sympathetically. I groaned again. That meant that Tulip and Merula weren't the first people to come across Jacob's room. Anything important or useful would be long gone.

'Alright, well, let's look for clues,' I said, striding into the room and picking up a large piece of parchment from the ground.

Jacob had definitely spent time in the room. I recognized his childish, untidy handwriting on the parchment. Most the the bits of parchment I examined were ripped. There was writing on the blackboard, but that had been tampered with as well.