Don't Tickle a Sleeping Slytherin   von Lhasbelin
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                            Kapitel 4: Chapter Four
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Later that day Godric sends Rinka to tell me that Rowena is here and summons me
to the great hall.
Rowena Ravenclaw a pale beauty with long black hair and a severe face - not that
she is not friendly but she looks strict, like she is a no-nonsense kind of
person.  

After a short introduction by Godric I get a very throughout lecture about what
to do and what not to do in the library, how to treat her scrolls etc. etc. The
lecture feels as if it takes hours but it's probably only half an hour long.
Sigh. At least I get permission to accompany her to the library – she wants to
keep an eye on me and she needs to research something anyway.

On the way to the library she first asks me how I like Hogwarts so far. She
barely lets me answer before she curiously asks me how it came to be that I can
read.

I am stumped. What to tell her? I know that she won’t be as easily distracted
as Helga and Godric. I can’t not tell her anything but what to tell her? Where
could I have learned it? From a wandering priest? Possibly, but that’s
probably not the best idea. I don’t know the exact stance of Christianity
towards magic at this time (whenever this time is exactly)… But judging from
the whole burning-witches-at-the-stake thing… I’d rather not bring religion
into this. But what else? Who could even read around their time? Physicians?
Certain People at court? Maybe, but what use is that to me? I don’t know my
own background here. I don’t know if this girl whose body I’m inhabiting had
a life before hand or if this body was created when something pulled me here?
And considering I don’t even know how I got here… Gods.

“I’ve learned it… somewhere?” I wince. I didn’t mean to say that.
Rowena is not impressed. Which I can understand but… How to save this mess?
“I mean… I must have… right?” I aim for confusion. I don’t know if I
pulled it off. I… I don’t… Damn, it’s not as if I arrived five minutes
ago. I had enough time to think of a credible cover story and I completely
forgot. I have a nasty habit of procrastinating but hell… I shrug slightly.
Rowena has completely stopped walking by now and is staring at me.

I have no idea what to tell her. I can’t tell her that I learned it at school,
muggles don’t really have schools yet, at least none that are accessible to
everyone. I could twist the truth and tell her that I knew a teacher – maybe a
former one lived in my village… And in which village did I live then? Crap.
I…. I’ve taken way too long with an answer now. I wanted to keep my head
down, not draw their attention and the suspicion that there’s something fishy
about me. I hate fish. …. Not the point. Concentrate! What to tell her… what
to…

“You really don’t remember?”
I… Wha-? Well, that would be a possibly plausible explanation. Given what
happened when I first arrived… Maybe I’ll be able to get away with feigning
amnesia?
I nod uncertainly.
“Hm. Well, what do you remember, then?”
Eh. Of course it’s not that easy. This is Rowena Ravenclaw after all. I
suppress a sigh. Oh, amnesia it is.
“I… I’m not sure. I had a pet rabbit at one time… I think. She was
black… or white… or white and black?”
She stares at me. I feel as if I’m being judged. She looks me up and down,
contemplates for a bit and then motions for me to continue walking. For a few
moments we walk in silence.

“Let’s ignore what you remember or not remember – “Wow, the tact of this
woman, I don’t know if I should be awed or appalled – “let’s concentrate
on what you know.”
Now I’m scared.
“Where are we?”
“Hogwarts? A school in… I don’t know where? Mr. Gryffindor didn’t tell
me when he grabbed me. Before that I was in Lundenburh.”
“Hm. Three plus seven?”
“Ten.”
“Two multiplied by two?”
“Four.”
“Belladonna?”
“Poison.”
“The muggle king?”
I blink. I have no idea. Even if I knew when we are, I wouldn’t know. That’s
the kind of stuff I’m hoping to find some information about in the library.
“Hm.” She is quiet for a while.

We reach a nondescript door on the third floor.
She grips the door handle but doesn’t open the door yet.
“This is my library.” She warns me. “Do you remember the rules?”
Of course I do. They’re pretty much the same rules as in every library I’ve
ever been to. With the addition of a few others maybe. I nod and repeat them to
her.

She scrutinizes me and then calls for a house elf to watch my wolf – no pets
inside the library. The house elf – Rinka – takes the wolf from me and pops
away. Rowena nods and opens the door.
I follow her inside and stop.

This smell. The smell of dusty, old books (and scrolls). I love this room
already and I haven’t even seen anything yet.
I look around. The library is big, the room is full of rows and rows of shelves.
I breathe in deeply. The light is pretty dim but Rowena forbids the use of
candles. She conjures two balls of magical light for our use – the balls are
charmed to follow us. I will only need to tap it with my wand when I leave the
library for it to disappear. It is a spell she promises me we will learn soon.

For a couple of minutes I just walk through the aisles and take a look at
what’s there. Like the great hall, the library is smaller than I expected –
big, but smaller than expected. I guess that it will also expand as the need
arises. Still, there are quite a few aisles. The shelves are filled with more
scrolls than books but that is to be expected. Rowena notices my fascination and
tells me that she was planning on copying part of them – some are quite old
and won’t survive much longer even with preservation spells. Those only go so
far after all. (Really? I always thought they were semi-permanent or at least
renewable.)

From what short glimpses I get passing by there are texts to almost every topic.
Or at least it seems that way.
After a while I decide to start with a general text about the nature of magic.
The text is a suitable piece to begin with for a muggle born who’s been
introduced to magic two days ago. Starting with a text about recent history or
something the like would probably be suspicious.

Not five minutes later I put that text back in frustration. There’s nothing I
don’t know in there and it barely covers the basics. After a short search I
find a second text covering the same topic. That second text is… better. It
touches on the different types of magic and how to differentiate them. (While I
don’t agree with the part that’s very black-and-white about muggle versus
wizard, it is a nice introduction.) I put that text back as well. That is one of
Rowena’s rules actually. ‘Only ever take one text at a time. Put it back
then take the next, not beforehand.’

I look around a bit and settle for one on magical history. Meh. It’s very
interesting – and absolutely no use to me at the moment. I merely skim over it
then take it back. I’m not a witch… okay, no, that sounds wrong even inside
my own head. Not that I’m not a witch. I didn’t grow up as one. I don’t
need to know about the wizarding background. Well, I do, but I need the muggle
one first.

I can’t find a text that matches what I’m looking for so I ask Rowena how
her library is organized. She explains – apparently there is a system – but
it is so complex that she loses me two sentences into her explanation. I need to
find a spell for searching the library. A couple of history texts later I at
least manage my second goal. I have found a possible name for my wolf cub. I
will have to think about it a bit more. On the one hand I’d like a historical
name, on the other there’s the option of the first name that came to my mind
when Godric indirectly told me she was female. (Acca) Larentia or Morgana?
I’ll try to check later which one she prefers.

I’m no closer to finding out when I am though. I could ask Rowena but
something makes me hesitate. Maybe I’m over thinking things but. Time didn’t
have the same meaning in the past, I know that much. So, if I didn’t care
about the date before, why would I suddenly care now? If I did care before, why
don’t I know? There’s still the amnesia lie, but I want to use that as
little as possible. Hm.

In the end I settle for randomly asking for the date. I feign absentmindedness
and hint at Godric telling me about when school would start without saying a
concrete date.

She tells me that the rest of the students will arrive on September the first (I
already guessed that) and that today’s August 31 992[1] (which means they’ll
arrive tomorrow… uh oh.). And… wow. I won’t be born for a full millennia
– apart from a few months but what do they matter in comparison to a thousand
years?! That’s kind of creepy if I think about it.
 
I keep to mostly innocent texts for now – an essay about the difference
between jinxes and curses, an introduction to potions, a discussion
transfiguration versus conjuring. I pretend to familiarize myself with the terms
and corresponding magic field. After a while Rowena deems me responsible enough
to be left alone and leaves me with a stern warning to brew a couple of healing
potions the healer asked her for as a pre-emptive measure.
 
Once she is gone I take a look around to find more interesting texts. Sadly
there is next to nothing about muggles. There’s something about ancient Rome
(in one of those I found Acca Larentia) and ancient Greece but nothing that
tells me anything about the political, social, cultural, historical situation
right now. There is nothing, at least nothing I can find. 
 
I finally find a book that holds some promise “A self-updating book of
monarchies” but it is too high up the shelves and my current body is too small
to reach it. With Rowena gone there is no one to ask for help either.
I spent a few moments staring at the book and wondering how the hell I’m going
to get it down without climbing the shelves – they don’t seem that stable,
never mind the fact that Rowena would skin me – until I remember the troll
incident in Harry’s first year and that I’m a witch now.

I grab my wand and try to remember the exact movement of a Wingardium Leviosa
spell (swish and flick). I must have muttered the spell because next thing I
know, that book is floating.

I nearly drop it as I drop the spell in surprise but I manage to catch it. An
Accio would probably have been easier… No matter. From the book I learn that
England and Scotland have two different kings but nothing more. It only shows
the names, birth, start (and end) of reign and death dates of the monarchs of
several European kingdoms. Nice but ultimately useless. I concentrate and try to
levitate the book back to where I got it from. It takes me a few tries (twice I
have to catch it manually again, luckily the fall isn’t that high) but finally
I manage. I probably shouldn’t have practiced on something that could break. I
wince when I think about how Rowena would’ve reacted if she’d witnessed
that. Thankfully she didn’t, I quite like my head where it is.
 
Now that I think about it... I did a spell, charm, whatever. An actual spell! I
used my wand for the first time and it is … there are no words to describe it.
Awesome. Terrific. Amazing. Scary. Incredible. Emporing. Humbling. Magical.
And it was Wingardium Leviosa. The spell that started it all. That was –
indirectly – the reason for the Golden Trio's friendship. This is... well, not
history exactly. But as a fan, actually managing that spell feels like
witnessing something beautiful.
 
The next text I chose to read, The properties of magic, is a load of (excuse me)
bullshit, seriously. Was that piece of crap written by a muggle? The beginning
was all right, yes, but after that? It is impossible for the caster to control
of a spell. The will of the caster is inherent in the spell. Ever heard of
fiendfyre? A spell, once cast, cannot be broken. Are you sure? Imperius anyone?
Dark magic is stolen magic. Now I don’t know that much about dark magic… But
how do you steal magic? And from what exactly in this case? Magic is a tool we
wield. Well, maybe, but it is more than just that. Why in the world does Rowena
even own that treatise? I shake my head in disbelief and return it to its
place.
 
The next book Issues of Blood is no better. It pretty much advertises incest as
the only way to preserve the bloodline. Well, you’re wrong. It damages it. You
need a diverse gene pool to flourish but that doesn’t seem to be known yet.
That text, too, speaks of stolen magic. Again, no. Just no. Muggle born witches
and wizards did not kill a magical person and absorb their magic – they are
descended from a line of squibs. The text makes me shudder and want to write an
essay on the dangers of inbreeding. It’s not pretty. Believe me, I know.
I’ve seen it. A friend of my parents had a bunch of rabbits and well… the
male one managed to escape his cage a couple of time (jumped above it, burrowed
under it when he was kept outside next to the cage with the females) and he even
figured out how to open his indoor cage when they learned from their mistake and
separated him completely… The third generation all had problems with their
nervous system and died within a year. And now this text wants to tell me that
introducing new blood poisons the blood line? I gag and hastily put that book
away as well.

Enough for now. I love books, I love to read and I love this library already
after such a short time but I need a break after that. I know, I should’ve
expected it but… knowing about it and actually seeing it… There’s a
difference.
I tap the ball of magic light and leave the library. And I close the door. I
would’ve done anyway but Rowena mentioned that order like three times in her
earlier lecture. Now I feel the need to point it out even to myself which is
slightly ridiculous. Once outside I call for Rinka and she returns my pet then
pops away.

I kneel down before the cub and hug her shortly. Petting her I ask for her
opinion on the two naming options. She ignores Larentia but perks up at Morgana,
so Morgana it is.

We make our way towards the kitchens and I ponder what spells I remember. Hm…
“Lumos.” Okay… I must’ve done something wrong there. My wand lit up all
right –and the light’s blue. “Nox.” The light disappears again. At least
that works.

I try it a couple of more times – the light remains a bit wonky. Of course,
being the airhead I sometimes am, I forget to pay attention to my surroundings.
I feel something brushing my leg, look down and see Morgana who I’m about to
kick – not on purpose but she walked right into my path – and try to evade
her.

Shit. Whereas I manage to evade her, I lose my step and tumble down the stairs.
Ow. Luckily, I was already almost to the bottom so it’s not that bad. My knee
hurts pretty badly though and it seems to be bleeding quite a bit. Sigh. This
reminds me of myself in primary school way too much. I lost count how often I
scraped my knee back. I had thought I’d outgrown the habit of falling over my
own feet, apparently I was wrong. Half-heartedly glaring at Morgana I pick
myself up again. Well, nothing’s broken or the like.

I grab her – I don’t want to almost fall over her again – and make my way
towards the hospital wing instead to find some gauze. Just like the Great Hall
and the library, the hospital wing is smaller than I thought as I found out
during my explorations of the castle yesterday. I hope I can find it again. My
sense of direction is pretty good, but I got there from the opposite direction
yesterday.
 
To my surprise the hospital wing is occupied when I arrive. The man is
relatively small and wiry, somewhere around fifty or sixty years old and has
grass green hair. A metamorphmagus maybe? He turns around when he hears me enter
and immediately bustles over at spotting my knee.
“Oh, dearie. Wha’ did you do?”
I shrug. “I tried to not trip over something and tripped over something
else?”
Shaking his head and muttering about children, he ushers me to a stool.
“Sit.” He mutters a couple of spells (too quietly for me to understand),
nods and then grabs a potion vial full of muddy-looking goo and smears the
content all over the wound. Ew.

But it instantly numbs the pain and as he wraps it, he tells me that the wound
will be gone by tomorrow morning.
Now that business is done, he introduces himself as “Gabriel the healer. Until
Lady Hufflepuff hired me, I was a wandering monk. Not one of those Christian
fanatics, mind you. I’m a wizard, not a superstitious crazy person.” Wow.
Someone’s got a bone to pick with religion… I’m so not going there.

“I’m Honoria, a student here from tomorrow onwards.” He then asks me how I
came to be here early and I point him in Godric’s direction.
“Mr. Gryffindor brought me here.” What can I say. It’s the truth. Without
Godric I wouldn’t even have known where to go. He just grins at my answer and
sends me away.
“But be more careful from now on!”
 
x_X_x
 
Godric is laughing at me. He saw me headed to the kitchens and decided to tag
along to keep me company. And of course he noticed my bandaged knee and asked me
what happened. I told him and now he is laughing.
“Good evening.”
Oh, great.
“Good evening, Rowena.” Godric is still sniggering.
“Good evening Lady Ravenclaw.”
She daintily sits down and asks an elf for some tea.
“What amuses you so, Godric?”
He retells what happened, still sniggering. What a child, not that I’m in any
position to complain right now.
She rolls her eyes and pretty much only wants to know that I did not injure
myself while at the library. Her collection is really important to her.
For a while we eat in silence.
 
“Did Salazar return?”
“Yes, but as soon as he arrived, he barricaded himself in. Said something
about one of his experiments.”
“You will bring him some dinner then, after this, and remind him to eat,
won’t you, Godric.”
“Yes, yes.”

So… all four founders are at Hogwarts now. This feels almost anti-climatic. I
don’t know why but with how they’ve been idolized I kind of expected… I
don’t know… something. A change in the atmosphere or some such. I have no
idea why I would think that but I am slightly disappointed.
“And don’t just send an elf, you know he ignores them.”
“Yes, Rowena.” I’m surprised he didn’t say yes, mother:
“Good. Honoria?”
What, me? I blink. “Yes?”
“Would you mind keeping an eye on your fellow students tomorrow? So that they
won’t get lost as much. We asked the elves to keep an eye for the first weeks.
Don’t worry if some of them do get a bit lost, they need to learn to find
their way themselves, after all. Just point them in the correct general
direction.”
I nod. “I can certainly try.”
“That’s all I ask. Now, I’ll leave you. My potions are simmering.” And
with that she disappears only to be replaced by Helga shortly after who sends me
to bed. Again, it is pretty early but for some reason I do feel a bit tired.
 
x_X_x
 
The next morning Helga drags me out of bed to get an early breakfast. Since the
students will arrive later today she tells me to take advantage of being early
and choose a bed for myself in the girl’s dorm. The bed I choose is in a
corner at one end of the dorm. That way one side of the bed as well as the
headpiece is directly facing a wall. That way, if I want my rest, I can ignore
the others more easily. It’s annoying if you want to be left alone and you
will look at other people no matter what you do. You face one side, the people
annoy you, turn around and you will face other people that annoy you. No, thank
you. Not if I get the choice. At the same time the bed has a certain tactical
advantage – I can overlook the whole room and don’t have to show anyone by
back if it came to that which I hope it doesn’t. I deposit my things on and
around the bed and walk back to the library to try to find something to read.
I’ll have to ask a house elf to babysit Morgana again.
 
When I leave the library to grab some lunch I spot the first arrivals through a
window.
 
[1]               Harrypotter.wikia.com tells me that the school
was founded around 990 and the Sorting Hat created ~993. Since I was told by my
two Goddesses that I will be part of the very first class and that the Sorting
Hat will already be the one to sort the students I chose a year in that time
frame.

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