Meli wasn't able to effectively remember much of the past several weeks, besides her lessons; the knowledge that she wasn't a Squib after all, that she would be joining her brother at Hogwarts as she had been wishing to for years, even after making peace with the idea that she never would, was enough to keep her mind reeling right up until the day she was due to leave. While Rowan would be departing aboard the Hogwarts Express, as usual, she would be travelling by carriage, escorted by Professor Fig himself.
As it was, they were preparing to depart at that moment, from a deserted London side street away from prying Muggle eyes. She was standing beside the carriage, the driver already in his seat, the reins attached to a team of what seemed to be invisible horses, while Professor Fig gave their luggage one last once-over to make sure that everything was secure and they hadn't left anything behind.
'Ah!' said Professor Fig finally, returning to her from behind the carriage. 'It appears we are almost ready to depart. I'm afraid the ride will be a bit of a tight fit for you; we did enlarge the carriage some to try and make it a bit more comfortable, but it still has to be light enough to take to the air. It's a pity we didn't have a bit more time to spend on spellcasting. I presume you've been practising the spells we worked on?'
'I have, Professor,' Meli said, smiling and holding up the loaned wand.
'Well, I'm quite sure I've never seen anyone take so quickly to a second-hand wand. You'll be a force to be reckoned with when you get your own,' Professor Fig said with a wink.
'Thank you, Professor Fig,' said Meli. 'I appreciate yer workin' with me before the term begi—'
She was cut off by the sudden Apparition of another wizard some six feet away from them; he was facing in the opposite direction, looking this way and that, before he turned and laid eyes on them. Upon seeing Meli, his eyes widened in surprise and he looked her up and down, before shifting his gaze to Professor Fig.
'Oh!' he laughed. 'Eleazar!' He was wearing a brown suit with a red bow tie; he had a round, friendly face, with brown hair, moustache, and mutton-chop sideburns, and brown eyes framed by round spectacles.
'George,' said Professor Fig, walking forward to meet the man as he approached them. 'Glad my rather cryptic description of our location did not thwart your finding us.'
'I've Apparated to more vaguely-defined destinations than this!' he said. 'Though, I confess I may have miscalculated slightly on my first try.' He leaned towards Meli, lowering his voice half an octave. 'Gave quite the fright to some theatre-goers in the West End.' He laughed, and Meli grinned.
'It's been much too long,' said Professor Fig. 'When I received your owl, I must say I—'
The man called George made a noise of protest, holding up his hand. 'Best not speak here, Eleazar,' he said pointedly, looking around. 'Hm?'
'...Of course,' said Professor Fig. 'Why don't we speak en route to Hogwarts? We have a start-of-term feast and a Sorting Ceremony to get to.'
'Wonderful idea!' said George. 'As long as your, er...charge here doesn't mind me tagging along?'
'Not at all, sir,' Meli said.
'After you,' said Professor Fig, gesturing towards the carriage.
The door swung open and Meli stepped up into the carriage, Professor Fig following behind.
'Ages since I've been to the castle!' said George. 'Would be good to see the old pile of rocks.'
He lingered outside the carriage, staring down the street for a moment, before climbing inside and shutting the door. The driver cracked the reins and the carriage trundled off before rising into the sky.
They had lost themselves in the clouds before George spoke again.
'Glad I caught you before you left for Scotland!' he said.
'Just barely,' said Professor Fig, smiling.
George chuckled, then turned to regard Meli once again, who was hunched slightly over to prevent her head from hitting the ceiling.
'And who is your travelling companion?' he asked.
Professor Fig looked at her with a smile. 'A new student,' he said.
George's eyebrows raised in considerable surprise. 'New?'
'Yes sir,' Meli said. 'I'm startin' school as a fifth-year.'
'How extraordinary!'
'It is indeed,' said Professor Fig. 'None of the faculty has ever heard of anyone being admitted to Hogwarts so late.'
'Nor have I,' said George, extending his hand. 'Mr George Osric, at your service, Miss...?'
'Asimi,' Meli answered, shaking Mr Osric's hand. 'Melpomeni Asimi. It's nice to meet ye, sir.'
'Of course,' said Professor Fig, 'as the other fifth-years will have been honing their magical skills for four years now, the Headmaster asked if I could get Miss Asimi here up to speed a bit before the term begins.'
'Well, you couldn't have asked for a better mentor!' Mr Osric told Meli. 'Professor Fig is not only an exceptional teacher, he is also a remarkably intuitive and gifted wizard.'
Professor Fig waved away the compliment, smiling. 'Mr Osric is prone to flattery,' he explained. 'I daresay it's one of the reasons he's risen so far at the Ministry.'
Mr Osric's smile faded. He withdrew a copy of the Daily Prophet, showing it to Professor Fig. 'Have you seen this?' he asked.
The newspaper bore the headline 'RANROK'S GOBLIN REBELLION—TRUTH? OR "GOBBLEDEGOOK"?' alongside an illustration of a goblin glaring at the reader.
'I have,' Professor Fig said pensively. 'Opinions differ as to how great a threat Ranrok really is.'
Meli's attention was caught by something outside the window; a dark shadow just beneath the cloud cover. Looking more closely, it was something massive and winged—a dragon. Meli wasn't terribly concerned; dragons liked to keep to themselves and typically hunted on the ground, so unless this particular dragon was starving, there wasn't any risk of it mistaking their carriage for a meal. But then, she thought, if this dragon was starving, it probably wouldn't have the energy to fly anyways.
'...a significant threat,' said Mr Osric as Meli returned her attention to the conversation. 'And...it was your wife, Eleazar, who alerted me to his activities in the first place.'
'Miriam? How?' Professor Fig asked, his expression one of considerable confusion and concern.
Mr Osric sighed. 'She wrote to me about Ranrok before she died,' he said. 'Wondering what the Ministry knew about his activities. Before I could respond, I received this—' Mr Osric withdrew a small metal object; a container of some sort with intricate decoration. '...It was the last thing she sent me, Eleazar. It came to me via her owl...but with no correspondence. I can only assume—'
'—that she had to get rid of it quickly, to keep it safe,' Professor Fig said gravely, taking the container from Mr Osric.
'Presumably from Ranrok,' said Mr Osric. 'I cannot open it; whatever magic protects this is powerful indeed.'
Professor Fig held the container up, examining it carefully. Meli leaned forward to get a closer look.
'...It looks like goblin metal,' said Professor Fig, pointing to the symbol in the middle joining the doors; a symbol resembling a twisting, silver flame. 'That symbol—'
'What's that glow?' Meli asked, indicating the glowing currents she could see flowing up and down the segments of the symbol.
Professor Fig turned the container this way and that, puzzled. 'I don't see a glow,' he said.
'...Nor do I,' said Mr Osric, looking back at Meli.
Meli frowned, confused. 'Right there, on the symbol, it's—you don't...?'
Professor Fig handed her the container, and as soon as she touched it she could hear, as though in the back of her mind, something almost ethereal, what sounded like faint, indistinct whispers; though she couldn't explain how even to herself, it seemed almost familiar to her. She tilted the container, trying to check whether the glow she could see was a trick of the light, when the glow suddenly brightened, travelling along the seams of the container, where the doors parted and swung open for her. Resting in the velvet lining of the container was a silver key, the head of which had been cast in the same shape as the symbol on the container.
'Merlin's beard!' exclaimed Mr Osric. 'How did you—?'
'Wait!' said Professor Fig, as Meli had reached out to remove the key. He took the container back from her. 'We do not know what—'
The carriage was suddenly rent apart with a deafening crash. Meli and Professor Fig held on for dear life inside the part of the carriage still attached to the reins, while Mr Osric was still in the part that had been torn away—the part now resting in the mouth of a dragon. As the beast tossed its massive head, Meli could see an intricate, glowing black-and-red collar fastened around its neck and chest, before it clamped its jaws down and Mr Osric's screams were abruptly silenced.
Meli's stomach lurched and she twisted around to look behind her. What she had taken to be invisible horses before now burst into sight before her eyes; skeletal black beasts with great, bat-like wings. The driver yelled and cracked the reins, urging the winged horse-like creatures to fly faster, but as Meli turned back around to face the dragon, and saw its great maw open wide, the back of its throat glowing brighter and brighter, all of them knew it was no good.
'Jump!' yelled Professor Fig, and no sooner had she obeyed than she heard the roar of flames above her head.
She and Professor Fig were in free fall, burning bits of the carriage tumbling through the air beside them. She briefly saw Professor Fig groping wildly through the air for something, and realised that it was the container Mr Osric had given him. As the container twisted in the air, the doors Meli had unlocked swung open and the key it housed fell out.
'The key!' Professor Fig shouted.
They heard a great roar above them, and knew that the dragon that had attacked them was still in hot pursuit.
'Give me your hand!' Professor Fig called to Meli. She stretched out her arm and he grasped her hand tightly, holding the other one out towards the key. 'Accio!'
As soon as the key touched his hand, Meli felt a sudden forward jerk in the region of her abdomen, and felt herself and Professor Fig hurtling through space even faster than they had been falling.
As soon as it had begun, it stopped; she and Professor Fig landed hard on the ground, and Meli felt her ankle twist sharply.
'Are you alright?' Professor Fig asked, getting to his feet.
Meli tried to stand, but her ankle refused to support her weight; the pain spiked sharply and she gave a rough grunt as she returned to the ground.
'You're hurt,' said Professor Fig, reaching inside his jacket.
'Just a bit,' she said. She was confused; she was rather sturdier than most other people, so if she was hurt, how had Professor Fig managed to escape injury?
He handed her a small bottle filled with a green potion. 'Take this,' he said. 'It's Wiggenweld Potion. That stuff'll right you in a second.'
Meli drank the potion. It tasted odd, but not unpleasant; perhaps a bit tart. Within a few seconds, the pain in her ankle had disappeared.
'What happened?' she asked, looking around. They seemed to be in a small alcove of some sort, with a small tunnel leading outside; the sun was too bright to see beyond the entrance.
'Poor George,' whispered Professor Fig, pacing around. 'I can't believe he... What the Hell got into that damned thing?! Attacking a carriage mid-air? A typical dragon would never—'
'Professor?' Meli asked. 'Sir...where are we?'
'I'm not sure,' Professor Fig answered. 'But that key you discovered was clearly a Portkey.'
Meli got to her feet. 'I'm feelin' better, sir, if ye'd like to look around.'
'I would,' said Professor Fig. 'But stay close. We've no idea who created this Portkey—or why.'
She followed Professor Fig through the tunnel outside; once her eyes had adjusted, she saw a small set of extremely old ruins perched precariously on a narrow rock formation in the middle of the sea, the waves high and the wind catching her hair and clothes.
'How far did that Portkey take us?' she asked, raising her voice over the wind and crashing waves to Professor Fig.
'Farther from London than the carriage travelled,' he answered. 'We're somewhere in the Scottish Highlands.'
'Sir,' Meli said, pointing to the ruins. 'Those ruins. D'ye think—?'
'—the Portkey was meant to lead us there?' he finished for her. 'I do. This has not been the day either of us expected. But Miriam sent that Portkey to George for a reason; and I believe that she—and now George—died in pursuit of whatever it was meant to lead to. If you're sure you're alright, and wouldn't mind indulging me, I'd like to have a look around.'
'Absolutely, sir,' Meli said, nodding. As she was the one who had been able to open the container for the Portkey in the first place, and had herself nearly died in the process, by this point she was now quite as curious about it as Professor Fig was.
'Good,' said Professor Fig. 'Let's see if we can find a path—however faded it may be.'
He broke into a jog down the path on the cliffside, and Meli followed.
'Mind your step,' he warned.
'Where d'ye suppose yer wife got the Portkey that brought us here?' she asked.
They came to a ledge, and with surprising agility for a man his age, Professor Fig hefted himself up and over it.
'A good question,' he said. 'Miriam spent years searching for evidence of a long-forgotten form of ancient magic.'
'Ancient magic?' Meli repeated as the path took them behind a waterfall.
'Yes,' said Professor Fig, looking around. 'A powerful magic wielded by a rare few that seems to have been lost to time. Hogwarts castle was built by, and is itself a stronghold of, that ancient magic. I don't know where she came into possession of the Portkey, but I am certain it was to do with that search.
'Ah, there's the path down below,' he said. 'This way!'
She continued to follow him, questions continuing to spring up in her mind. 'But sir, why was yer wife searchin' fer evidence of lost magic?'
'Miriam wanted to understand why such powerful magic disappeared from the Wizarding world,' he explained. 'Spoke of the good it could do. But magic is no different than any power; what really matters is the one who wields it.'
They found themselves at a barrier of some sort.
'Is that ice?' Meli asked, frowning.
'It's not cold enough here,' said Professor Fig. 'It appears to be a sort of enchantment; someone wanted to block this path. Let's see some of that wandwork you were practising. Focus on the centre.'
Meli drew her wand and took aim at the barrier. She performed a basic cast, and the barrier cracked; she did it again, and the cracks deepened; upon the third cast the barrier shattered, the shards exploding outwards as though in slow-motion before disappearing.
'Excellent!' said Professor Fig with an approving nod.
Beyond the barrier was a steep slope downwards; the pair tried to make their way carefully down it, but the loose dirt slipped beneath their feet and Meli yelped as she found herself sliding down to the bottom, Professor Fig right behind her. They got to their feet, dusting themselves off and proceeding onwards.
'That was a bit rougher than I'd expected,' said Professor Fig.
They continued under part of the path that twisted and passed over itself, only to find that the way to it had crumbled long ago. Professor Fig looked around.
'Ah!' he said, pointing at another high ledge. 'Up there.'
The two climbed the ledge (Professor Fig once again managing it much easier than Meli expected), and continued down the path to the ruins.
'We're close now, it's just ahead,' said Professor Fig.
As soon as they came to the end of the path and out of cover of the cliffside, they were met with the strong ocean winds they had felt a bit of before, raising their arms to keep the salty air from stinging their faces.
'Steady yourself!' said Professor Fig.
Meli thought that he looked much more likely to blow away in a strong wind than she was, but she kept this to herself. She didn't have time to wonder how they were going to get across the chasm to the ruins before Professor Fig raised his wand.
'Reparo!' he cried, and massive chunks of the fallen bridge rose up out of the sea, swirling through the air and reforming itself before their eyes.
They continued their journey across the bridge, Professor Fig leading the way enthusiastically.
'Almost there!' he called.
Upon entering the ruins, they slowed to a walk, looking around and taking in their surroundings. The place had deteriorated so badly it was impossible to tell what sort of building it had once been.
'Why would someone have built this here?' Meli asked.
'I suspect they valued their privacy,' said Professor Fig. 'That Portkey led us here for a reason. Let's have a look around for anything that seems...out of place.'
They approached the wall in front of them, which bore the remains of some sort of mural. Part of it depicted a man surrounded by books, a crystal ball, a bird in a window, and a desk laid with tarot cards; the other part depicted this same man looking through a telescope up at the night sky.
'Perhaps our host was a noted Seer,' Professor Fig suggested. 'Interesting.'
Meli turned away, approaching a statue that looked to be of the same man depicted in the mural.
'Professor, this statue—'
'This may have been his home!' Professor Fig called to her.
Looking around, her eye was caught by a set of steps leading behind the remains of the room they were exploring.
'Professor, here,' Meli called to Professor Fig. 'There's another path this way.'
Professor Fig followed her down the path, which led to what seemed to be a dead end, except—
'That enchanted, crystallised stone again,' Meli said as they approached it. 'But what could it be blocking?'
As they got closer, the glass-like stone appeared to spread out over the cobblestone wall. At the centre was the same symbol on the Portkey container and the key itself. When she had gotten right in front of it, the darkness of the stone faded to reveal some kind of atrium of sorts behind the wall.
'How odd...' said Professor Fig. 'Why would someone have conjured that enchanted stone here?'
'And how is there a room behind it?' Meli asked.
Like in the carriage, Professor Fig once again seemed to have no idea what she was talking about. 'What room?' he asked. 'I don't see anything.'
'There's that glow again,' Meli said, pointing to the centre of the wall. 'Like the glow on the Portkey container.'
Slowly, she reached out to touch the symbol; as soon as her fingertips met the stone, the crystal dissolved to reveal only the cobblestone behind it.
'What in Merlin's name!' Professor Fig exclaimed.
They turned around to find themselves, not in the ruins, but in the same room Meli had seen behind the stone.
'Godric's heart!'
'Where are we?' Meli asked.
'I don't believe it!' said Professor Fig, astonished.
Looking around, Meli became aware that they were not alone; at the front of the room was a podium, and at that podium was a goblin who appeared to have fallen asleep on his bookkeeping.
'...Hello?' Meli said hesitantly. The goblin continued snoring.
Professor Fig stepped forward. After a moment, he cleared his throat in his own attempt to wake the goblin banker. It didn't work. Professor Fig cleared his throat once again, slightly louder, but still the banker slept on. Professor Fig and Meli glanced at each other, before the former cleared his throat one last time, even louder than before.
The banker jerked awake with a yell, sending his quill flying. He peered blearily at the pair of them, blinking sleepily, before his eyes widened considerably.
'It can't be!'