Safely inside the warmth of the library, Hermione once more began her hunt for the four fish. The walls had held no answer to the note’s riddle. Having ruled them out, she was currently staring at the ceiling. Perhaps something in the recesses of the arches held a fish or two.
Scanning took its toll on her neck though and she had to stop every so often to let it rest. Finally it was too much and she flopped down at a table. This was turning out to be a more frustrating search than the first. She had more clues to go on, but they weren’t helping.
“Maybe I need to be looking for a book with four fish on the cover?” she muttered, stretching her legs out. Her shoe collided with the table leg. Sucking in her breath, she waited for the intense pain to pass. Running her hand down her leg, she leaned forward until her fingers touched the new scuffmark. Grumbling under her breath, she tried to rub it to see if she could at least get rid of most of it, but to no avail. This just wasn’t her day at all. Lifting her head, she smacked it against the lip of the table.
“MERLIN,” she hissed, biting her lip to keep the rest of the oath from escaping. This was definitely not her day. Not at all!
Blinking back tears, she stared at the floor. Lifting her gaze slightly she glared at the offending table leg. Her jaw nearly dropped. In front of her was a carving of a fish. It was in the shape of a “j” with the head as the base of the leg and its body lifting up through carved swirling waves.
Dropping onto her hands and knees, she stared at her find. Quickly glancing at the other legs, she discovered that they too held fish. This was it! This was the spot! Now she just needed to figure out the secret of how to get the next item out. Crawling around the table, she studied each leg. The fish’s mouths were already open, so that wasn’t the trigger like last time.
Sitting all the way down, Hermione crossed her legs and thought. There had to be a trick to this one too. Suddenly she brightened. Rolling on to her side, she looked at each leg in turn. Just as she thought, something was missing from one of them. Sitting back up, she smiled, her earlier unhappiness forgotten. Leaping to her feet, she hurried out of the library and up to the Gryffindor Tower. Within minutes she was back.
Plopping onto the floor, she opened her hand to reveal the statue’s item she’d found earlier. The color of the wood matched perfectly. Here eyes quickly alighted on the spot she’d found earlier. In amongst the waves curling up towards the thick tabletop was a gap. If she hadn’t been looking at the other legs, she probably would’ve missed it. That was probably what the Lady of the Greenland and the Queen of the North had wanted.
There were several tables in the library like this one. All ornately decorated with carvings of plants, which was why Hermione hadn’t looked at them before. The tabletops were as thick as her history book and made of polished wood. She had thought it was due to the style, but it could be more.
Taking the wooden wave in her fingers, she slid it into place between two waves and pressed on it to hold it in. She thought she heard the sounds of rushing water. Low, but forceful, it was as if she’d put her ear to a conch shell. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a bright yellow light. Shifting, she saw the light fade away. Suddenly a section of the table noiselessly dropped down a full foot. It was as if a mouth had opened.
Hermione stared at it in wonder before coming to her senses. Making sure the “key” was in place, she scooted under the table and reached in. The entire inside was hollow, making it a perfect spot to stash all sorts of wonderful treasures. Right now her main concern was finding the Lady of the Greenland’s treasure. Feeling around, she found something hard and covered in paper. Seizing it, she pulled the item out. Wrapped in aged parchment and tied together with two ribbons, one yellow, one blue, was what appeared to be a book.
Crawling out with package in hand, Hermione paused to remove the key and waited while the panel moved back into place. She had it. She had the last item from the note. Now she could find out who these two passed students were.
