Chapter Nine:
The Start of the Beginning

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It was a peaceful Wednesday morning – although Minerva may not admit so – one perfect for the students to go swimming in the Great Lake. The squid there may go into a frenzy and the students may not be able to defend themselves. That was the concern, yes.

The new Headmistress sipped her mug of coffee, looking over the summer grounds. Another year had come to an end, another just set to begin. She was proud of her OWL and NEWT students' results. They were not yet announced to the wards themselves but she knew their scores. One, in particular, had topped the school despite facing real hardships the past year. Minerva was especially proud of her, and even wanted to felicitate the toppers, prefects and the head students.

Her morning musings were cut short when the Floo flared up, turning its odd green colour before a hooded figure emerged. "My apologies for breaking in but this is an emergency. I guess I know how much you hate my previous sentence and my apologies for that as well. I am Unspeakable Raven, here to protect Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from an invisible enemy. Oh, and good morning, Headmistress."

—xoxo—

Another Unspeakable, surrounded by his friends, sat on the Ravenclaw table, a chess board laid out in front of him. "The coast is clear as of eleven in the morning," he declared. "But my piece says it won't be in another hour. Noon is the peak hour, hence the most vulnerable. My soldiers can confirm it."

"I really do hope Raven found something useful instead of the 'suspicious' thing that he brought in last time," another one of his friends replied, slumping down beside him tiredly. She never really understood the workings of chess and Rook knew it all too well.

"Right."

"Damn." Raven entered the Great Hall swearing, his cloak billowing behind him – oddly reminiscent of Snape.

"What – what's wrong, Unspeakable Raven?" Minerva asked, worry etched in her voice. The students of Hogwarts were moved to the Room of Requirement, now in the form of a ginormous hall. The wards were strengthened as well, but Minerva could not really assure safety.

"There are strange inscriptions around the castle. I assume them to be runes of sorts," Raven replied, fumbling with his hands. "I can't tell for sure as I have, unfortunately, no knowledge of runes. How about Unspeakables Crystal and Eternity accompany me, yeah?"

"Right." The Unspeakable beside Rook stood up and, talking with her colleagues, sprinted to the grounds. Rook turned to the leftover friends of his.

"Aura, Swift," he addressed each of them. "As per my foresight, I can see that removal of these runes will take a lot more time than securing the castle in itself. As such, we must defend the castle. Set up obstacles and fight foes yourselves. I assume you both know how to do that." It was true. His chess board just revealed, for the second time that day, that they would to have a put up a fight with the air in order to stall the siege.

"Copy that! We shall station ourselves near the Forbidden forest and the entrance," Swift replied, nodding in understanding.

"Brilliant."

"Headmistress, perhaps your runes teacher might be able to help my fellow Unspeakables? I suspect three hands are better than one," Aura suggested. Minerva nodded lightly, withdrawing her wand.

"She's in the Room of Requirement. No matter. A patronus charm ought to call her down." She summoned her patronus, which took the form of an elegant feline before leaping up and away into the air. "Unspeakable Rook, is there anything else we can help to stall the attack?"

Rook looked at his chess board for the solution. The horse and the soldier were in such a position that he could almost call the strategy check mate for the opponent. His pawns showed who was in danger each time he tried to come up with a tactic. If it was his side that was going to fall into the pit, the black pawns would have surrounded his queen. The vice versa happening for his foe.

He could tell the difference in the colours by the mere fact that they, the Unspeakables, were people of Light, fighting for Light. Their foes, people with Dark intentions, fought for the Dark.

"I'd suggest sixth year and above students with knowledge of the Ancient Runes help Crystal and Eternity. Those proficient in duelling and Defense Against the Dark Arts, including the staff, can help out Raven, Swift and Aura," Rook suggested. Minerva nodded her acceptance and sent another patronus. No sooner had the cat disappeared than a lady in her mid-forties hustled into the Great Hall, panic etched on her face. A dark bird – a raven – preceded her.

"Its a set of unknown runes. I have no knowledge about it as ancient books have to be consulted. The letters are drawn in the form of the most ancient of runes. It's going to take a lot more time to remove it than killing the attackers," the lady, who Rook assumed to be the runes teacher Bathsheda Babbling, said. Raven – now in his human self – leaned against the desk to look at Rook's chess board.

"Are you sure we can remove the runes before a fight ensues, Rook?" he asked.

Rook glanced at his board for help. It was a check mate, for them. "No."

"Shoot," Raven swore. "We better get ready for battle. Crystal and Eternity are working on removing the runes but they won't budge. Professor, please help them." Bathsheda left. He turned to Swift and Aura. "Aura, I would have loved to send you to the rune removal, given you have knowledge but—"

"I'm needed in combat, I know, Captain," Aura replied quickly. Raven merely nodded.

"I'm going to observe the surroundings. You know how I'll send a signal." He showed the coin in his hand and Rook understood.

"Got it."

"Now, break a leg guys!" Saying so, he popped into his raven form and flew out, Swift and Aura breaking into a run to follow him. Rook could not help but smirk at his best friend's newfound laziness with walking after receiving new powers. He just hoped that Raven did not mean it literally.

—xoxo—

Never in her time as the topper of one of the most prestigious schools in the world did Eternity come across the odd-looking symbol emblazoned on the grass in front of her.

Oh, she would need a guide to decipher the runes, but this was not the time. There were hundreds of them emblazoned around the grounds and each one contained eleven letters!

In order to remove a rune, it should be traced in the reverse order of carving it in. The problem was when runes like the first one showed up. The first rune could be drawn from top-down or bottom-up and the students had to try both the types in order to remove it, as each plate of the runes differed from the previous ones. Whoever wrote them was sure to be a genius, buying themselves more time by complicating the way it was written.

What struck Eternity was the fact that no one, not even the Giant Squid for that matter, had noticed a person carving runes onto the surface.

Something hot burned in her stomach and immediately, she got the message which was, only a second later, repeated by her friend, Crystal. "Oh no. Raven's call," the girl said, wistfully, looking between a flat spherical object and Clock. "The battle has begun."

The Battle starts. Your thoughts on this chapter? Comment!

Thank you for reading!

Miyoko x