Gillygate - 11. Rediscovering the Cabin

I made it to my second class, Defence Against the Dark Arts. When lunch came around I took myself down to the lakeside, leaning against the old fig tree and staring out at the far waters. I didn't feel in the mood for eating. After tossing a spare scroll of parchment some feet away I had my wand out to practice that spell again.

"Avenseguim!" I tried flicking my wand the way I'd been shown, the paper whipping up before dropping down again.

"Philkin," Kiena appeared around the trunk and crouched down "How'd your talk with Quintin go?"

"…I told him I don't love him anymore."

"Oh."

"Maybe it's true. I can never trust him again. So we're broken up." I looked towards the smooth white stones by the shore.

"Okay, well… maybe I should give these back to you." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the photographs of me and Quintin that I'd burned. They were all good again "I thought there was a chance you two might work things out, so I restored them…"

"I don't want to see those." I felt a pit in my stomach.

"I'll keep them then." She tucked the moving photos away "If you guys stay broken up I'll destroy them myself." She watched me raise my wand and start practicing that tracker spell some more. "…well, one good thing from your misadventure is that your admirer is bound to send you another note when he hears what happened."

"Maybe. But he's a Slytherin, he couldn't be any better than Quintin anyway."

We headed off together when it was time to go to class. I had too much work to catch up on over my free period to try looking for Rod. When the day was done Kiena and I were walking the halls, taking the moving staircases down to the second floor and finding a secluded part of the castle. We held bagstraps over our shoulders and stood facing a wall.

"No students, teachers or ghosts in sight." I said "Let's give it a go."

There was no need to concentrate hard. I tried to relax and keep my thoughts simple. Then our eyes flew open at the sound of chipping stone and plaster.

"Wow…" Kiena said as we stepped back, the Room of Requirement sizzling into place.

"Come on, I think I hear footsteps." I pulled the ornate handle, opening the wide door and we both ran inside. Closing it behind us and looking out once more at the wild world of this room.

"Oh my God." We started moving forward "Not even a fire could destroy this place." Kiena kicked a blackened chair with her foot as we crossed the sooted ground.

At my memory Rod had moved fairly straight. I led us past that skipping record player, the giant globe, a long brass birdcage. Kiena was worried "I hope you know where you're going…"

"Here it is." Beyond the cobwebs was the circular space and in the centre was the old safe. I raised my wand "Aberto." It opened to reveal the broken lamp.

"Sure looks shitty enough to be a portkey."

"Take my hand." Once she was holding me tightly I gripped the lantern. The room swirled as we were sucked forward into a whirlpool of chaos. Stretched by our navels and expelled after a few seconds, landing on our butts in Gillygate's cabin while the portkey rattled in the centre of the room. I sighed "we're here."

Kiena had all the wonder I did when first arriving. We stood and looked around the timber place.

"Amazing. This cabin is in good shape considering it's so old. It must be under enchantments."

"Well at least there's no traps." I wandered to the desk and had to yank the drawers open, they were op-shop crappy. I was surprised to see a leatherbound book in the top drawer. The only thing left in this space. I flicked through the old pages and realised it was a journal, written in messy cursive. "Interesting…"

"How weird." Kiena was standing before the portrait as it frowned distrustfully at her.

"He doesn't talk."

"Even if he doesn't want to talk portraits are still supposed to do things. I wonder if he's been bewitched." Kiena extracted her wand and raised it "Revelio."

Nothing happened, the neck ruff wearing man only stared at her indignantly.

"See. He chooses not to talk."

"I still think it's fishy." She turned away and walked around the bed, flicked her wand "Verdimillious." A flash of white brightened the room, green sparks gushing from her wand-tip and flying to the far wall. The light dimmed but the magic-seeking sparks remained. Some were orbiting the lantern, several were dancing at the portrait's frame and a cloud was coalescing by a far wall plank. We stared at each other.

"I mean… I assumed Rod would have searched this place from top to bottom, but maybe not."

"Come on, let's see what it is." The two of us stepped over to the wall carefully and Kiena raised her wand at the mysterious plank "…Revelio." It popped out and we jumped. A secret drawer concealed in the wall, mostly empty aside from three objects: an analogue alarm clock, a gold incense smoker and a glass bottle with a wire sealable cap.

"Junk?" I leaned over to peer inside.

"No. Don't they look like they could be portkeys as well?"

My eyes widened and I went to take a closer look "best not to touch them then. Maybe if Rod were here too we'd be alright, but we still don't know anything about this place or who used to live here." I pushed the drawer back into the wall until it clicked.

"Imagine that, a portkey that takes you to more portkeys." Kiena commented.

"We'll definitely get into so much trouble if we're ever caught. Anyway, I'll copy your Charms work now if that's alright?"

"All good. I'm gonna look around and then start on my History of Magic assignment."

Gillygate was a wonderful place for us to study in more seclusion than the library or common-room afforded. We could eat Honeydukes sweets while doing our work. I was lying atop the bed on my stomach while Kiena sat at the desk. Flicking through pages and writing stuff down. Our private cabin in an abandoned yellow countryside. A few hours later we decided to go back to Hogwarts before anyone could realise we were missing.

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spellman's syllabry

Aberto - Opens doors.

Revelio - Revelio charm.

Verdimillious - Reveals hidden things.