Chapter 204: 204
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The link is also in the synopsis.
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
The time was after hours with the night curfew in full effect; the place was the ever illustrious AID office owned and established by Quinn, who sat behind his desk, staring at the translucent silver entity 'sitting' in the seat opposite to him.
"To be honest, I never thought you would make it this far," said the ghost of the fat cleric, "us, the four house ghosts, including me, never thought that a student would be able to complete a single vault — never in our imaginations did we guess that someone would reach the fifth vault," Friar, the Ravenclaw house ghost stared at Quinn with fascination and excitement, "but here we are, about to talk about the last vault."
"It has been quite a journey, that's for sure, but it's not over yet. We never know; I might not be able to complete this vault." He, of course, wasn't thinking of that possibility — Quinn was going to complete the vault and get his reward.
"Alright, tells hear about the last riddle. I want to know what I will be facing this time," said Quinn, rubbing his hands in excited curiosity.
Friar gazed at Quinn with his ghostly eyes and smiled as pleasantly as a ghost could, "There is no riddle."
The challenger of four vaults frowned a smudge, "What do you mean there's no riddle?" asked Quinn in confusion. "That's not ideal. I need something; anything; even something vague would be a start."
"It's not that I don't want to give you a riddle, Quinn. It's just there is no need for a riddle," said the ghost before smiling, "I will be guiding you to the entrance of the vault, and you will be taking it onwards from there."
"I don't have to find the vault?" said Quinn in surprise, "that's unusually generous of you — I have spent months to find the vaults, and now you are saying that you will guide me to the entrance."
"That's the reason why we're not giving you a riddle — us ghosts don't know anything except the location of the entrance.. .. we ghosts have been here for so long, together we figured out the location of the vaults, and in most cases, and given that there isn't much that can affect us, we were able to peek to see what laid inside," Friar sighed, "but in this case, we don't know how the entrance works and in turn, what's inside."
"That.. .. doesn't sound encouraging," said Quinn, "if you don't know how the entrance works — are you even sure that you have got the location right?"
"There's no doubt about the legitimacy of the location," said Friar before asking, "tell me, Quinn, do you remember what I told you about Deathday parties?"
Quinn nodded, "It's a celebration thrown by ghosts to commemorate the anniversary of their death and their 'rebirth' as ghosts."
"That is correct.. .. Deathday parties at Hogwarts are quite grand; ghosts from far and wide come to visit," Friar then stared at the ceiling above, "we get met many ghosts not from Hogwarts and in doing so we realized that we're different from them.. . ."
"Different, how so?" asked Quinn, leaning forward; he hadn't read anything about types of ghosts.
"Did you know that I can award and deduct house points," chuckled Friar, "there was once a time, we couldn't do that, and except the four house ghosts, no other ghost can do so. For some magical reason, through the centuries, we have formed a connection to Hogwarts — it wasn't our doing as we never even thought that it was possible, but as you once said — Hogwarts is a mystical place.. .. because of that connection, we know that there's something behind the entrance."
Friar moved his eyes back to Quinn and revealed, "This vault was the oldest, Quinn.. .. I studied under Lady Ravenclaw herself and was killed fairly young before coming to haunt Hogwarts. There's isn't much that pre-dates me, and even though the creators of the other vaults were able to hide their actions and were able to create the vaults without us knowing.. . ."
Quinn was utterly engrossed in Friar's words. Many forgot how old the house ghosts were.
".. . but the last vault.. . it is older than us," said Friar, "and unlike the other vaults.. .. it was part of the original design — the vault is as old as Hogwarts."
"How.. .. how can you say it with such certainty?"
Friar floated up from his seat, "Follow me."
"Now?" asked Quinn, standing up.
"Right now might be the best time."
.. .
Hogwarts was a fascinating place; it was a beautiful castle with its eccentricities which gave it its charm, but in the shade of the night, when the lifeline of the school, the children, slumbered in Morpheus' kingdom, the castle was as eerie as it could get — but to a ghost who couldn't sleep and a guy who roamed the same lifeless halls every day, these corridors were home.
"Are you serious?" said Quinn, staring at the 'entrance' of the last vault.
Friar nodded, "That's why I said, this is the best time."
Hogwarts' entrance hall was so big that one could have fit an entire house in it, and there would still be space left in it. The ceiling was so high that it was almost difficult to make out. In the morning, the hall was lit in bright lights of fire torches, but right now, the same torches shed a dim and warm glow on the hall, casting giant shadows everywhere.
Quinn and Friar stood in one corner of the entrance hall, illuminated by the same fire torches everywhere in the hall, but these torches shed cold blue light because of Friar's ghostly influence on fire. They gazed up at the golden statue of a lean man sporting a majestic beard styled with curls akin to tornados; the man wore an ornate headrest and elaborately embroidered robes that flowed to the floor; clutched in his long and thin digits were a long roll of parchment charts in one hand and a model of the Hogwarts castle in other.
"He's the architect, isn't he?" said Quinn; he had this same statue inside the mind-replica of Hogwarts inside his mindscape.
"Yes, Stigweard Gragg, the personage who designed the very castle you stand inside," said Friar with admiration in his eyes, "not much known about him, but one thing is for sure that he has immortalized himself in the annals of history and magic. He has touched the countless lives of every person who ever studied in Hogwarts and will continue to do so till this glorious school continues to do its mission to propagate magic to the young witches and wizards of the future."
Quinn nodded. Living forever wasn't the only form of immortality after all.
"So, you are saying that you can feel something from this statue," asked Quinn as he peeked behind the statue and touched the figure made from solid gold.
"Yes, we can feel that there's something in here."
Quinn sighed as he scratched the back of his head, "This is going to be difficult.. .. I can't work on this vault before curfew without gaining the eyes of literally everyone," every single person in Hogwarts passed through the entrance hall to get to the Great hall for meals.
"This year is going to be a sleepless one," groaned Quinn. He turned to Friar and spoke, "are you sure you don't have any information related to how to proceed from here?"
Friar shook his ghostly head.
"Hmm, Quinn stared intently at the statue, "how much trouble do you think I would get in if I broke it?"
"A lot," came Friar's curt reply.
Friar then saw Quinn sit down on the floor as he stared at the architects' statue and knew that it was time for him to leave. He had given the challenge; now, it was up to Quinn to conquer the vault.
But the four house ghosts would be lying if they said they didn't have great expectations from their latest challenger.
.
- (Scene Break) -
.
"What the hell, Dumbledore!" thundered Sirius Black angrily, slamming an issue Daily Prophet on the table inside 12 Grimmauld Place, "what the hell are you planning at?!"
"Sirius!" exclaimed Molly Weasley disapprovingly. But Sirius ignored the Weasley mother and the other hushed voices that accompanied her.
Dumbledore looked at the paper and saw a page which was devoted to an advertisement for Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, which was apparently having a sale.
"I've got all the robes I want, Sirus," said Dumbledore.
"Not that!" Sirius placed a finger on an article, "read this!"
.
>> TRESPASS AT MINISTRY
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
[ https://www.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]
The link is also in the synopsis.
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
The time was after hours with the night curfew in full effect; the place was the ever illustrious AID office owned and established by Quinn, who sat behind his desk, staring at the translucent silver entity 'sitting' in the seat opposite to him.
"To be honest, I never thought you would make it this far," said the ghost of the fat cleric, "us, the four house ghosts, including me, never thought that a student would be able to complete a single vault — never in our imaginations did we guess that someone would reach the fifth vault," Friar, the Ravenclaw house ghost stared at Quinn with fascination and excitement, "but here we are, about to talk about the last vault."
"It has been quite a journey, that's for sure, but it's not over yet. We never know; I might not be able to complete this vault." He, of course, wasn't thinking of that possibility — Quinn was going to complete the vault and get his reward.
"Alright, tells hear about the last riddle. I want to know what I will be facing this time," said Quinn, rubbing his hands in excited curiosity.
Friar gazed at Quinn with his ghostly eyes and smiled as pleasantly as a ghost could, "There is no riddle."
The challenger of four vaults frowned a smudge, "What do you mean there's no riddle?" asked Quinn in confusion. "That's not ideal. I need something; anything; even something vague would be a start."
"It's not that I don't want to give you a riddle, Quinn. It's just there is no need for a riddle," said the ghost before smiling, "I will be guiding you to the entrance of the vault, and you will be taking it onwards from there."
"I don't have to find the vault?" said Quinn in surprise, "that's unusually generous of you — I have spent months to find the vaults, and now you are saying that you will guide me to the entrance."
"That's the reason why we're not giving you a riddle — us ghosts don't know anything except the location of the entrance.. .. we ghosts have been here for so long, together we figured out the location of the vaults, and in most cases, and given that there isn't much that can affect us, we were able to peek to see what laid inside," Friar sighed, "but in this case, we don't know how the entrance works and in turn, what's inside."
"That.. .. doesn't sound encouraging," said Quinn, "if you don't know how the entrance works — are you even sure that you have got the location right?"
"There's no doubt about the legitimacy of the location," said Friar before asking, "tell me, Quinn, do you remember what I told you about Deathday parties?"
Quinn nodded, "It's a celebration thrown by ghosts to commemorate the anniversary of their death and their 'rebirth' as ghosts."
"That is correct.. .. Deathday parties at Hogwarts are quite grand; ghosts from far and wide come to visit," Friar then stared at the ceiling above, "we get met many ghosts not from Hogwarts and in doing so we realized that we're different from them.. . ."
"Different, how so?" asked Quinn, leaning forward; he hadn't read anything about types of ghosts.
"Did you know that I can award and deduct house points," chuckled Friar, "there was once a time, we couldn't do that, and except the four house ghosts, no other ghost can do so. For some magical reason, through the centuries, we have formed a connection to Hogwarts — it wasn't our doing as we never even thought that it was possible, but as you once said — Hogwarts is a mystical place.. .. because of that connection, we know that there's something behind the entrance."
Friar moved his eyes back to Quinn and revealed, "This vault was the oldest, Quinn.. .. I studied under Lady Ravenclaw herself and was killed fairly young before coming to haunt Hogwarts. There's isn't much that pre-dates me, and even though the creators of the other vaults were able to hide their actions and were able to create the vaults without us knowing.. . ."
Quinn was utterly engrossed in Friar's words. Many forgot how old the house ghosts were.
".. . but the last vault.. . it is older than us," said Friar, "and unlike the other vaults.. .. it was part of the original design — the vault is as old as Hogwarts."
"How.. .. how can you say it with such certainty?"
Friar floated up from his seat, "Follow me."
"Now?" asked Quinn, standing up.
"Right now might be the best time."
.. .
Hogwarts was a fascinating place; it was a beautiful castle with its eccentricities which gave it its charm, but in the shade of the night, when the lifeline of the school, the children, slumbered in Morpheus' kingdom, the castle was as eerie as it could get — but to a ghost who couldn't sleep and a guy who roamed the same lifeless halls every day, these corridors were home.
"Are you serious?" said Quinn, staring at the 'entrance' of the last vault.
Friar nodded, "That's why I said, this is the best time."
Hogwarts' entrance hall was so big that one could have fit an entire house in it, and there would still be space left in it. The ceiling was so high that it was almost difficult to make out. In the morning, the hall was lit in bright lights of fire torches, but right now, the same torches shed a dim and warm glow on the hall, casting giant shadows everywhere.
Quinn and Friar stood in one corner of the entrance hall, illuminated by the same fire torches everywhere in the hall, but these torches shed cold blue light because of Friar's ghostly influence on fire. They gazed up at the golden statue of a lean man sporting a majestic beard styled with curls akin to tornados; the man wore an ornate headrest and elaborately embroidered robes that flowed to the floor; clutched in his long and thin digits were a long roll of parchment charts in one hand and a model of the Hogwarts castle in other.
"He's the architect, isn't he?" said Quinn; he had this same statue inside the mind-replica of Hogwarts inside his mindscape.
"Yes, Stigweard Gragg, the personage who designed the very castle you stand inside," said Friar with admiration in his eyes, "not much known about him, but one thing is for sure that he has immortalized himself in the annals of history and magic. He has touched the countless lives of every person who ever studied in Hogwarts and will continue to do so till this glorious school continues to do its mission to propagate magic to the young witches and wizards of the future."
Quinn nodded. Living forever wasn't the only form of immortality after all.
"So, you are saying that you can feel something from this statue," asked Quinn as he peeked behind the statue and touched the figure made from solid gold.
"Yes, we can feel that there's something in here."
Quinn sighed as he scratched the back of his head, "This is going to be difficult.. .. I can't work on this vault before curfew without gaining the eyes of literally everyone," every single person in Hogwarts passed through the entrance hall to get to the Great hall for meals.
"This year is going to be a sleepless one," groaned Quinn. He turned to Friar and spoke, "are you sure you don't have any information related to how to proceed from here?"
Friar shook his ghostly head.
"Hmm, Quinn stared intently at the statue, "how much trouble do you think I would get in if I broke it?"
"A lot," came Friar's curt reply.
Friar then saw Quinn sit down on the floor as he stared at the architects' statue and knew that it was time for him to leave. He had given the challenge; now, it was up to Quinn to conquer the vault.
But the four house ghosts would be lying if they said they didn't have great expectations from their latest challenger.
.
- (Scene Break) -
.
"What the hell, Dumbledore!" thundered Sirius Black angrily, slamming an issue Daily Prophet on the table inside 12 Grimmauld Place, "what the hell are you planning at?!"
"Sirius!" exclaimed Molly Weasley disapprovingly. But Sirius ignored the Weasley mother and the other hushed voices that accompanied her.
Dumbledore looked at the paper and saw a page which was devoted to an advertisement for Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, which was apparently having a sale.
"I've got all the robes I want, Sirus," said Dumbledore.
"Not that!" Sirius placed a finger on an article, "read this!"
.
>> TRESPASS AT MINISTRY
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patren @ https://www.patren.com/fictiononlyreader The link is also in the synopsis..-*-*-*-*-*-.The time was after hours with the night curfew in full effect; the place was the ever illustrious AID office owned and established by Quinn, who sat behind his desk, staring at the translucent silver entity 'sitting' in the seat opposite to him."To be honest, I never thought you would make it this far," said the ghost of the fat cleric, "us, the four house ghosts, including me, never thought that a student would be able to complete a single vault never in our imaginations did we guess that someone would reach the fifth vault," Friar, the Ravenclaw house ghost stared at Quinn with fascination and excitement, "but here we are, about to talk about the last vault.""It has been quite a journey, that's for sure, but it's not over yet. We never know; I might not be able to complete this vault." He, of course, wasn't thinking of that possibility Quinn was going to complete the vault and get his reward."Alright, tells hear about the last riddle. I want to know what I will be facing this time," said Quinn, rubbing his hands in excited curiosity.Friar gazed at Quinn with his ghostly eyes and smiled as pleasantly as a ghost could, "There is no riddle."The challenger of four vaults frowned a smudge, "What do you mean there's no riddle?" asked Quinn in confusion. "That's not ideal. I need something; anything; even something vague would be a start.""It's not that I don't want to give you a riddle, Quinn. It's just there is no need for a riddle," said the ghost before smiling, "I will be guiding you to the entrance of the vault, and you will be taking it onwards from there.""I don't have to find the vault?" said Quinn in surprise, "that's unusually generous of you I have spent months to find the vaults, and now you are saying that you will guide me to the entrance.""That's the reason why we're not giving you a riddle us ghosts don't know anything except the location of the entrance.. .. we ghosts have been here for so long, together we figured out the location of the vaults, and in most cases, and given that there isn't much that can affect us, we were able to peek to see what laid inside," Friar sighed, "but in this case, we don't know how the entrance works and in turn, what's inside.""That.. .. doesn't sound encouraging," said Quinn, "if you don't know how the entrance works are you even sure that you have got the location right?""There's no doubt about the legitimacy of the location," said Friar before asking, "tell me, Quinn, do you remember what I told you about Deathday parties?"Quinn nodded, "It's a celebration thrown by ghosts to commemorate the anniversary of their death and their 'rebirth' as ghosts.""That is correct.. .. Deathday parties at Hogwarts are quite grand; ghosts from far and wide come to visit," Friar then stared at the ceiling above, "we get met many ghosts not from Hogwarts and in doing so we realized that we're different from them.. . .""Different, how so?" asked Quinn, leaning forward; he hadn't read anything about types of ghosts."Did you know that I can award and deduct house points," chuckled Friar, "there was once a time, we couldn't do that, and except the four house ghosts, no other ghost can do so. For some magical reason, through the centuries, we have formed a connection to Hogwarts it wasn't our doing as we never even thought that it was possible, but as you once said Hogwarts is a mystical place.. .. because of that connection, we know that there's something behind the entrance."Friar moved his eyes back to Quinn and revealed, "This vault was the oldest, Quinn.. .. I studied under Lady Ravenclaw herself and was killed fairly young before coming to haunt Hogwarts. There's isn't much that pre-dates me, and even though the creators of the other vaults were able to hide their actions and were able to create the vaults without us knowing.. . ."Quinn was utterly engrossed in Friar's words. Many forgot how old the house ghosts were.".. . but the last vault.. . it is older than us," said Friar, "and unlike the other vaults.. .. it was part of the original design the vault is as old as Hogwarts.""How.. .. how can you say it with such certainty?"Friar floated up from his seat, "Follow me.""Now?" asked Quinn, standing up."Right now might be the best time.".. .Hogwarts was a fascinating place; it was a beautiful castle with its eccentricities which gave it its charm, but in the shade of the night, when the lifeline of the school, the children, slumbered in Morpheus' kingdom, the castle was as eerie as it could get but to a ghost who couldn't sleep and a guy who roamed the same lifeless halls every day, these corridors were home."Are you serious?" said Quinn, staring at the 'entrance' of the last vault.Friar nodded, "That's why I said, this is the best time."Hogwarts' entrance hall was so big that one could have fit an entire house in it, and there would still be space left in it. The ceiling was so high that it was almost difficult to make out. In the morning, the hall was lit in bright lights of fire torches, but right now, the same torches shed a dim and warm glow on the hall, casting giant shadows everywhere.Quinn and Friar stood in one corner of the entrance hall, illuminated by the same fire torches everywhere in the hall, but these torches shed cold blue light because of Friar's ghostly influence on fire. They gazed up at the golden statue of a lean man sporting a majestic beard styled with curls akin to tornados; the man wore an ornate headrest and elaborately embroidered robes that flowed to the floor; clutched in his long and thin digits were a long roll of parchment charts in one hand and a model of the Hogwarts castle in other."He's the architect, isn't he?" said Quinn; he had this same statue inside the mind-replica of Hogwarts inside his mindscape."Yes, Stigweard Gragg, the personage who designed the very castle you stand inside," said Friar with admiration in his eyes, "not much known about him, but one thing is for sure that he has immortalized himself in the annals of history and magic. He has touched the countless lives of every person who ever studied in Hogwarts and will continue to do so till this glorious school continues to do its mission to propagate magic to the young witches and wizards of the future."Quinn nodded. Living forever wasn't the only form of immortality after all."So, you are saying that you can feel something from this statue," asked Quinn as he peeked behind the statue and touched the figure made from solid gold."Yes, we can feel that there's something in here."Quinn sighed as he scratched the back of his head, "This is going to be difficult.. .. I can't work on this vault before curfew without gaining the eyes of literally everyone," every single person in Hogwarts passed through the entrance hall to get to the Great hall for meals."This year is going to be a sleepless one," groaned Quinn. He turned to Friar and spoke, "are you sure you don't have any information related to how to proceed from here?"Friar shook his ghostly head."Hmm, Quinn stared intently at the statue, "how much trouble do you think I would get in if I broke it?""A lot," came Friar's curt reply.Friar then saw Quinn sit down on the floor as he stared at the architects' statue and knew that it was time for him to leave. He had given the challenge; now, it was up to Quinn to conquer the vault.But the four house ghosts would be lying if they said they didn't have great expectations from their latest challenger..- Scene Break -."What the hell, Dumbledore!" thundered Sirius Black angrily, slamming an issue Daily Prophet on the table inside 12 Grimmauld Place, "what the hell are you planning at?!""Sirius!" exclaimed Molly Weasley disapprovingly. But Sirius ignored the Weasley mother and the other hushed voices that accompanied her.Dumbledore looked at the paper and saw a page which was devoted to an advertisement for Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, which was apparently having a sale."I've got all the robes I want, Sirus," said Dumbledore."Not that!" Sirius placed a finger on an article, "read this!". TRESPASS AT MINISTRY
