By the time they returned to the common room, Kylah’s watch was already ticking close to one in the morning. However, Kirsten’s mind was spinning and she didn’t feel tired at all. On the stairs leading up to the Gryffindor common room, Kyle had pulled out the scrap of paper with the mysterious code and shown it to them with poorly concealed excitement. The three friends hurried over to the fire (which by now had dwindled down to ashes) and sat with their heads bent together.

They quickly deduced that the triangle in the middle was indeed a hat—but also an arrow, which pointed directly towards the second to last, sketched broken slab. It had been Kyle’s idea to rewrite the code starting with this space, which quickly made the code slightly easier to understand.

“Blank-E-blank-L-I-N-S-B-O-O-blank,” Kylah read off.

“Book?” Kyle guessed. “Do you think that last blank is meant to be a K?”

“That would make sense,” Kirsten said. “Something-lins Book… Goblins Book? Maybe it’s a marlin’s book—anyone ever heard of a fish writing a novel?” she guessed with some sarcasm.

“You’re forgetting about the E,” Kylah reminded seriously.

“Right, well, sorry,” Kirsten sighed, leaning back against the base of the couch.

“… Marlin…” Kyle muttered.

“I was only kidding, Kyle. Merlin’s pants, can’t anyone take a joke around here?” she grumbled, crossing her arms.

“MERLIN’S PANTS,” Kyle exclaimed with triumph. “That’s it!”

Kylah and Kirsten stared at him, dumbfounded. “What?”

“Merlin’s Book! That’s the answer,” he said happily, filling in the missing letters. “You see?”

“Oh!” Kylah cheered. “Yes! That’s it! It must be!”

But unfortunately this discovery did little to explain the mystery of what the presence of such a book meant or why clues hinting at its existence were hidden on Hogwarts grounds. For all any of them knew, Merlin had lived long before the school was established and would not have been able to hide the book himself—that was assuming, of course, that the book was somewhere at Hogwarts.

“But it must be here!” Kyle insisted. “Don’t you see? Why would this have been hidden in the forest if it weren’t?”

Pleased though Kirsten was that Kyle was finally taking a conspiracy theory seriously, she and Kylah were both visibly tired and could not join in his enthusiasm.

“Well, it could have been here once—but that could’ve been ages ago,” Kylah reasoned.

“And you said that the stones were broken, right? Someone could’ve smashed them after they found the book so that no one else would find out about it,” Kirsten said, suppressing a yawn.

“I guess that’s true…” Kyle said, putting his quill back in his bag and tucking the parchment in his robes. “Well, we’ll talk about it more tomorrow.”


Thursday was Kirsten’s favorite day of the week, if only because it meant they had Flying lessons in the afternoon. It was always the same—Thursday morning was bland and tired, suffering through Potions where Kyle would try to get her to pay attention to the task at hand, and then History of Magic where she and Kylah would quietly pass notes back and forth under their desks, followed by Defense Against the Dark Arts where, today, she and Kylah tried to ignore the fact that Kyle had chosen Imogene to be his spell partner.

After Podmore let the class out for lunch, Kirsten and Kylah led the way to the Great Hall for sandwiches and pumpkin juice. Kirsten noticed with some guilt that Kyle was looking particularly green at the prospect of Flying, despite the fact that last class he had finally managed to kick off the ground without crashing into another student.

As the three friends made their ways down the grassy slope towards the Quidditch pitch where lessons were held, Kyle took the opportunity to let out a steady stream of theories regarding Merlin’s Book that he had been developing all day. Kirsten tried to listen patiently.

“You’re not thinking of telling any of this to Imogene, are you, Kyle?” she interjected suddenly. Kyle spluttered a little bit, thrown off that she had interrupted him.

“What? No,” he said decisively. “Were you even listening? I think we could really find this book if we—”

“I’m glad that you’re not going to tell her,” Kirsten said as they approached the broom shed. “She is a Slytherin, you know. You did know that, didn’t you? She didn’t bewitch you with her hypnotic snake-powers, did she?” she said with mock concern, feeling Kyle’s forehead with the back of her hand.

Kylah let out a laugh as she selected her broom of choice and passed two of the sleeker-looking Cleansweep 250’s over to Kyle and Kirsten. Kyle accepted the broom and glared at Kirsten, who just chuckled.

“So long as you know and keep your wits about you!” Kylah added, shaking a motherly finger in his face as she and Kirsten left the shed, still giggling at Kyle’s expense.

Kirsten glanced back over her shoulder as they entered the Quidditch pitch only to see Kyle hanging back with a sullen, almost angry look on his face. She felt a slight pang of guilt shoot through her, but she just linked arms with Kylah and grouped together with her fellow first years for the start of the lesson.

“There really is summat to be said for the forest on a night like this,” Hagrid announced jovially to the girls as they lagged behind him on a path becoming more densely obscured by undergrowth. “Moon’s almost full, hardly need wandlight to see, jus’ the way dittney likes it, plenty o’ moonlight.” He looked back periodically as he spoke to make sure they didn’t fall too far behind. “Yep, nice out tonight, right peaceful even. You’d hardly believe what matter o’ creatures are out and about now, yep, right peaceful.”

 

Kylah suspected that Hagrid meant this to be comforting, and nice night though it was it did not do well for her imagination to picture all the things that were watching them in the dark. She put a little extra effort into keeping up with the gamekeeper. The only noise for a moment was the crunching of twigs and snow beneath their feet.

 

“Do you think Kyle’s really safe out there?” Kylah asked Kirsten in a hushed voice as they followed Hagrid, who was now humming a cheery tune “I mean he kinda got the sort end of the wand.”

 

Kirsten glanced up at the groundskeeper carrying his crossbow in front of him before answering, though not sounding completely convinced by her own words “That dog was pretty big.”

 

“Yeah,” said Kylah holding a branch out of her way “but he also got sent off with a Slytherin.” Kirsten pulled a face that Kylah couldn’t say was for the benefit of the Slytherin or had more to do with the extreme concentration her friend was employing to not trip over the many roots and brambles hidden by snow at their feet.

 

It was here that the path was suddenly illuminated by a blue light, the girls’ heads snapped in the direction of the sparks fading over the trees.

 

“Hagrid!”

 

“Kyle!”

 

The next moment they had vaulted off the thin path and were running, stumbling through the forest almost before Hagrid could see which direction they had disappeared in. The three ran and the cover of the trees overhead grew denser until they could no longer see the night sky. With Kirsten and Kylah in the lead now they crashed through icy half frozen streams, crunching the frosty crust and splashing their shoes with chilly water. Their hands out before them, braches whipped at their faces.

 

The forest was starting to all look the same to Kylah and the party slowed, not as sure of their direction anymore until they came to a standstill, looking for a sign of Kyle and the Slytherin girl.

 

“Which way, which way!” Kylah whined agitated, spinning in circles unable to stand still. She could hear Hagrid coming up close behind.

 

“KYLE!” Kirsten yelled at the top of her voice as the half giant broke through the trees. A dog’s muffled and nervous yelp came from surprisingly close.

 

“Fang!” This way!” He lead them forward and a second later they came into a clearing and upon a strange sight. There before them was what looked like a large bush made up of vines that wriggled like an octopus’s tentacles. The vines slithered over each other like snakes, vine over vine over hand, a hand that then disappeared.  

 

Kylah pointed a finger at the slinking mass. “Oh…my…-” and was about to scream when Hagrid shoved them aside.

 

“OUTTA THE WAY GIRLS!” Hagrid brandished a tattered pink umbrella that seemed to come from nowhere at the weird bush and a blast of fire immediately issued from the tip. The vines made a strange hissing noise and retracted back into the forest dropping at their feet a very confused and harassed but unharmed Kyle, Fang and Slytherin girl.

 

Kirsten and Kylah ran to their friends, helping him up, Fang bounded to Hagrid, licking his face, the Slytherin girl sat there looking a bit put out.

 

“Kyle are you okay!” Kirsten asked.

 

“What happened!” Kylah demanded.

 

Kyle brushed off his robes as he answered. “ I’m not sure, we were just walking when all of the sudden that insane plant attacked.” He added more quietly shooting a glance at the groundskeeper enjoying a reunion with his pet “I have something to show you, I think I might have found something but I don’t know what quite to make of it.”

 

“Show us when we get back to the castle.” Kylah said pushing Kyle’s hand back; he had produced a piece of paper with his handwritten notes from his pocket. She gave the Slytherin a furtive glance.

 

Kyle followed her gaze. “Oh it’s okay, that’s just Imogene, she’s my friend.” He gave her a smile. Imogene looked unsure of what to do.

 

“Come on,” Hagrid had pushed Fang off him and was starting to make his way out of the clearing “I think that’s enough punishment for one night, I’ll get the dittney on my own, let’s get you four back to the castle.”

Kyle waved Imogene over to walk beside him. Kirsten and Kylah followed them out of the forest, frankly a bit shocked.

 

              

 

 

 

The bubotubbers incident had cost the children 25 Griffindor house points each, and six weeks of detention with Professor McGonagall. The following day Rab told Kylah that he had seen many free elves during the trip to Hogsmeade, and that he had even spoken to one.

"The elf claimed that anti-elf-rights activists were making up these outrageous stories about Voldemort's body, and that the Daily Prophet was sensationalizing the rediculous alligations," Kylah explained to Kyle and Kirsten over lunch. The three were silent, in deep thought when a flock of owls fluttered into the Great Hall. Zephyrus swooped down and dropped a Daily Prophet on Kyles lap, before perching on the table between Kylah and Kirsten.

"Oi Zeph, thanks!" Kyle spurted, tossing a lump of turkey from his sandwich in the air, which Zephyrus caught and ate happily before flying off. Kyle tapped his wand on the quibbler and it unrolled. When Kyle read the headline, he felt an immediate twinge of shock and disappointment. "Guys, look at this," Kyle said, pushing the paper to the middle of the table where all could see it.

Stolen Body a "hoax"
Zachary Brimdelg confessed to the disappearance of Voldemort's body before the Department of Magical Law Enforcement today. Apparently, he had used a complex charm that confused those who went near the body, convincing them that the body was not there. He then left a note implying that the body had been stolen by free-elves, in an attempt to frame them with the crime and denounce their cause. "I am outraged at this blatent hate crime, and can assure you that Sachary Brimdelg will be delt with in the most severe manner," Hermione Granger, Chief Officer of the Department, and original founder of S.P.E.W, told reporters...

"Well, I suppose that puts our adventure to a bit of a rest, doesnt it?" Kyle said as he stuffed the last of his turkey sandwich into his mouth. Kirsten was silent and looked rather disappointed, while Kylah was somewhat distracted by Rab, who was holding hands with a rather attractive fourth-year across the hall.

As it turned out, it was probably a good thing that the adventure had come to a close, since classes and homework seemed to increase in intensity and volume, and detention seemed to take away most of their free time. After five weeks and six days of detention, the children could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Winter had already started creeping over Hogwarts, leaving about two inches of fresh snow on the castle and grounds. On their final night of detention, the three reported to Professor McGonagall as usual, but when they got to her office, they found the door locked. A note was posted on the doorknob, and Kylah read it aloud.

"Kirsten, Kylah, and Kyle— tonight you will be helping Hagrid out on the grounds. Report to his hut at 10pm sharp. —Prof. McGonagall."
"Hagrid's hut?" Kyle moaned. He did not like the idea of having to help the huge man and his huge dog.
"Well, it might be kinda fun. Hagrid seems like a very nice... person?" Kirsten replied, wondering if he was a man or a giant or something else.
"It's already quarter to ten, we should probably hurry over there," Kylah asserted.

When they arrived at Hagrid's hut, Kyle, Kirsten, and Kylah realized that they were not the only ones serving a detention with Hagrid. A Slytherin girl was sitting on a pumpkin in Hagrids garden, gripping her thick wool robe in the chilly night air. As they approached, Hagrid burst from his hut and met the four kids in the garden.
" 'ello ev'ryone, oi'm 'agrid. Oi reck'nise yeh three from my cart t'other day so yeh must be Kyle, Kirsten, and Kylah. So tha' means yer Eye-moh-jen!" Hagrid smiled, proud of himself for guessing everyone's names correctly, as his giant black dog, Fang, leapt from the hut and slobbered over all four first-years.
"It's ih-moh-geen", Imogene snapped, rolling her big green eyes, and wiping off the dog slobber with disgust. Hagrid wasn't listening. Instead he was handing each of them a large sack.
"Tonigh' we're headin' into the forbidden for'st ta find some dit'ny for perfesser Slug'orn," Hagrid explained. "It looks loik this." He held up a tall, green, sappy bush with small white flowers. "We need four more plants, so les split into two groups an' meet back 'ere in two hours with the plants. Kirsten, Kylah an' me will 'ead into the for'st tords the norf, an Kyle, Eye-moh-jen, an Fang 'll take ther souf."
"Wait, we're going into the Forbidden forest?" Imogene asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep, don' worry, fang'll take care o' yeh," Hagrid replied. "Now le's move out. If yeh come inta any trouble, shoot out some green sparks."

Kyle was besides himself with terror as he followed the dog and Imogene into the forest. "All we have to do is find two plants and leave," Imogene commented, as they penetrated the dense woods. Kyle drew out his wand, and conjured a lumos spell so that it would be easier to see. Attempting to make the situation more comfortable, Kyle decided to try for some conversation with Imogene.

"So, what did you do to land this gig," Kyle asked.
"I used a furnunculus curse on some nerdy ginger kid. I think he's a Ravenclaw," Imogene said nonchalantly. Kyle couldn't help but think of that Robert kid from their transfigurations class covered in boils and shivered. As they continued to walk, their footsteps made light crunching sounds in the thin snow. Fang was sniffing the ground intently, and suddenly perked up and barked excitedly around a small bush. Kyle and Imogene both agreed that it was indeed a dittany bush, and quickly dug it out of the snow and dirt and stuffed it in one of the bags. "Only one more left," Imogene said happily.

They continued deeper into the forest for what seemed like almost an hour and did not have any of the luck they'd had earlier. Fang led the way, followed by Imogene, followed by Kyle, who was so tired of looking for dittany that he was just drooping his head and staring at the footprints Imogene and Fang made in the snow. Each step they took was left with a perfect foot (or paw) print, revealing the dark brown dirt below the snow. Every once in a while they would uncover a rock, or a stick, or a brick— Kyle stared back down at the foot print. A brick? He bent down to examine the brick that Imogene's foot had uncovered. It had a very large, distinctive "L" engraved on the top. "Hey, you guys, come look at this!" Kyle shouted, and Imogene and Fang stopped and turned around.

"What is that?" Imogene asked, looking at the brick in the ground. Kyle was stooped down, brushing away the snow around it, uncovering more bricks on the forest floor until a large circle of bricks was exposed, each with a different letter engraved on the top. It seemed like a few were missing. "L-I-N-S-B-O-O-_-_-E-_" were the letters (and missing letters) forming the circle. In the middle of the circle was a stone with a strange symbol that looked like a triangular hat covered with small stars. Kyle grabbed a scrap of parchement from his pocket and jotted down a quick picture of the curious stone arrangement. "Kirsten will get a kick outa this," he thought as he drew the triangular hat symbol in the middle, smiling to himself.

"Hey Kyle, what's that on your leg?" Imogene asked, suddenly startled. Kyle had been so engrossed in copying down the symbol that he didnt realize a small green vine wrap around his right leg.

"What? I dont see anything," he replied as he shoved the scrap into his pocket. The vine was growing around both his legs now, "Oww! What is that?" The vine wrapped around his legs and climbed up his body like a snake, wrapping itself around his torso and nearing his arms. "Imogene, quick, fire a spark!" Kyle shouted, but Imogene had already rushed to him to try to help pull the vines off. Instead of freeing Kyle, Imogene got tangled as well, and soon even Fang was fighting with the snaky vines. Struggling to reach the wand in his pocket, Kyle finally felt it in his fingertips and wriggled it out. Pointing it upwards, he shouted "SPARGEREUM!" and bright blue sparks shot out the tip of his wand and scattered high above the trees. Imogene dropped her wand, snuffing her bright yellow lumos and leaving them in the dark. The plants continued to wrap themselves around them as they fell to the frozen forest floor, overpowered by the snaking vines.

Unfortunately, the Hogsmeade weekend was close upon them and the three friends had yet to arrive upon a suitable plan of action. Kirsten was convinced that there must be a simple way to break out of the castle. She always remembered hearing about Hogwarts’ many, extensive secret passages, but neither she nor her friends had any clue where to find them. Luck didn’t strike until Friday afternoon just following Herbology. The class had been rather dull and was spent learning the magical properties of Devil’s Snare—though Professor Sprout decided to defer actually showing the class a spring of the plant until Monday. Kirsten and Kylah were ready to make a bolt for lunch at the sound of the bell, but Kyle asked that they hang back and wait for him to disucuss their handed-back quiz on how to spot Fanged Geraniums with Sprout. Kirsten and Kylah sat at their workbench, stomachs grumbling impatiently.

“…And what about the flowers?” Kyle asked the professor eagerly, “I thought that the concealed fangs caused them to droop? But I got points off on that—”

Professor Sprout was just about to answer him, when suddenly Hagrid appeared at the greenhouse door.

“Afternoon, Professor. Just wanted to check on the bubotubber plants yeh have fer me. I wanted to load 'em up tonight so they're ready fer transport tomorrow mornin'.”

“Oh, certainly, Hagrid!” Professor Sprout said. “They’re just out behind Greenhouse Three. Here, let me help you, they can be a bit temperamental. And I’ve arranged for the Madam Pinkerton’s Potions representative to meet your shipment outside the station around midday.” On her way out the door with Hagrid, she turned back to Kyle and said, “I’m sorry, dear, but come by my office after your classes and I can help you further, all right?”

Kyle nodded in agreement and carefully put the test back in his bag. “Thanks for waiting, guys,” he said to his friends. But Kirsten wasn’t paying attention.

“Wait, did you just hear what she said?” she exclaimed in an excited whisper.

“What? Meet her after classes?” Kylah grumbled, grabbing her backpack off the workbench. “Can we go eat now? I’m starved.”

Kylah and Kyle began to lead the way out of the Greenhouse, but Kirsten pulled on Kyle’s bag. “No, listen! Hagrid is taking a shipment of stuff into Hogsmeade tomorrow with the rest of the students—that’s our free pass!”

“Are you mad?” Kyle said. “We’ll be caught for sure.”

“No we won’t!” Kirsten said happily. “Come on, let’s scope it out.”

She took Kylah by the elbow and steered her out of the Greenhouse. Kyle reluctantly followed close behind. The three of them scurried over to Greenhouse Three and peeked around the corner. There, they could see Sprout and Hagrid looking over a large collection of potted bubotubber plants (which looked like fat, black slugs sticking vertically out of the soil… and seemed to be squirming gently in place). Hagrid was carefully lifting one of the large pots and placing it in the back of a covered wagon, which appeared to be hitched to something invisible. Hagrid seemed to see whatever it was that was pulling the wagon, however, as he gave it a sad little pat where its hindquarter should be.

“At least it would provide some cover and this way we won’t have to pass Filch,” Kylah said in a hushed voice. “And we could probably squeeze in between the bubotubbers and jump out before we get to the train station…”

“Now you’re thinking!” Kirsten looked at her and smiled. “And you?” she turned to Kyle, who presently seemed oddly distracted.

“I’m in—of course I’m in,” he said matter-of-factly. “Can we get lunch now?”


The very next morning, the friends woke up earlier than a Saturday usually permitted and wordlessly walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast. They were rather sleepy, as they had spent most of the previous night in the common room, huddled together in the corner near the fire, discussing their plans. Kirsten was proud of the scheme they had concocted and was sure that it would come through.

Little was said over breakfast. Kirsten could feel her stomach churning with anticipation and she preoccupied herself munching on her toast and staring up at the ceiling, which today displayed bright, sun-dappled clouds.

“Well, we’d better get going then,” Kylah said, consulting her watch. “We want to be ready and waiting before Hagrid’s ready to leave.” Kirsten nodded in agreement and looked over at Kyle, who was furiously shoveling the last few mouthfuls of oatmeal into his mouth as though it were to be his last meal.

“Come on, Gee,” she said with a sigh, snatching a final piece of buttery toast off the table. “Off to save wizard-kind!”

Kylah led the way out through the Entrance Hall and across the large lawn, which still glittered with morning dew, and then down the slope towards the Greenhouses. There was the covered wagon waiting nearby, which was now loaded with the potted bubotubbers. Kirsten noticed Kyle’s shoulders tense next to her as they approached the horseless wagon.

“Well, in we go,” Kylah said determinedly as she carefully pushed aside some of the pots and hoisted herself into the back of the wagon. The bubotubbers wiggled agitatedly in their pots as she scooted more of them out of the way to crawl deeper into the wagon. Kirsten was just about to join her when she noticed that Kyle was staring at the front of the wagon apprehensively.

“You all right, Kyle? You still want to do this?” she asked him.

He snapped his gaze over to her. “Yes. Yes, I’m fine.” Avoiding her gaze, he hurried past her and climbed into the back of the wagon.

Kirsten followed, moving the pots of bubotubbers back in place behind her, shielding them off from view.

There they sat, silently cramped together in the back of the wagon, sweating slightly and trying to ignore the putrid smell of the bubotubber plants for quite awhile. Kirsten tried to read the time on Kylah’s watch, but it was too dark to be sure. Finally, after what must have been an hour and a half of waiting, they heard Hagrid heave himself into the driver’s seat of the wagon and hitch the reins. The wagon began to roll forward and a smile of triumph spread over Kirsten’s face.


But the smile quickly faded.

The wagon had been on the move for mere moments when Hagrid eased it to a halt at the castle gates. Through the thick canvas, Kirsten could hear the muffled sounds of Hagrid and Filch conversing over the chattering noises of students on their way to Hogsmeade. She strained to hear what they were talking about—but could only discern that Filch sounded angry.

“I’m takin’ a look!” Filch shouted out suddenly. “I have a right to look!”

“It’s just the bubotubbers!” Hagrid boomed back.

In the very next instant, the canvas was ripped off the top of the covered wagon—sunlight poured over Kirsten, momentarily blinding her. She blinked rapidly and there was Filch’s ugly face peering into the wagon at her and her friends.

“Just the bubotubbers, eh?” Filch grunted with victory.

“What? What’re they doin’ in there?” Hagrid turned around in his driver’s seat and stared down with bewilderment into the back of the wagon.

By this time, a number of students had gathered near the castle gate to see the commotion. Filch seemed bothered by the attention, and grumbled under his breath.

“Get outta there—come on,” Filch reached into the wagon and his spindly fingers enclosed around Kyle’s upper-arm. Kyle resisted and attempted to wrench his arm away, but Filch violently yanked him out of the wagon and onto the grass.

“Hey now!” Hagrid said, stepping down from the driver’s seat.

“Stop!” Kirsten called out, “Keep your dirty hands off him!”

“WHAT?” Filch instantly grabbed Kirsten then, who pulled away with such ferocity that she knocked over one of the bubotubber plants—which then began to shiver and convulse in its pot.

“That can’t be good…” Kylah muttered, helping Kirsten back to her feet in the wagon bed. The next instant, the bubotubber began to bubble with pustules—which exploded forcefully, smattering a rancid-smelling liquid onto Kirsten and Kylah’s pant legs.

Flich began to cackle manically along with the chorus of laughing students as the girls screamed in horror and leaped out of the wagon and rushed to Kyle’s side.

“Don’t touch the pus with your bare hands—it’ll give you a rash,” he advised quietly.

Filch hobbled over to them and took Kyle and Kirsten by each elbow and began to pull them back towards the castle. “Wait ‘til McGonagall gets done with you,” he wheezed. He stopped and looked around for Kylah—who had rushed back to the small crowd of students.

Confused, Kirsten noticed that she was standing next to Rab with her hand on his arm, and was urgently explaining something to him in muted tones. He looked at her with a quizzical look on his face, but then gave a slight smile, shrugged, and nodded. Kylah smiled—but was then dragged away by the furious Filch, who Kirsten had never seen look so red in the face.

As Filch shepherded them back towards the castle, mumbling and grunting, the crowd of students broke out into applause. Kirsten glanced back over her shoulder—and saw Hagrid, who shook his head, grinning.

Kylah leaned over to Kirsten and whispered, “Rab’s going to have a look around the hills for us—he promised.”

“Nice work,” Kirsten said. “Not as good as if we had done it ourselves—but…” she wistfully looked back at the crowd of students whose applause had not diminished. “Right? That’s wicked cool.”

“Just look at your pants…” Kyle chuckled. “Gross…”

“SHUT UP!” Filch screeched, and the three friends quickly repressed their laughter into unashamed grins.