Blood-Flavored Lollipops

"Hoo, hoo," The owl demands as golden morning light starts to shine above the trees of the Forbidden Forest and glide through the window. Does it want payment? But wouldn't Dumbledore use an owl from the Owlery?

'Nice try,' I respond, motioning to the window. Begrudgingly, the owl launches off the railing and sores out the window. Closing the window, I jump down to the first floor and start to pack up my work.

What else is there to talk about? Have other people complained about me? The words of the note do nothing to calm my thoughts as I stand in front of the bookcase and insert the Silver Shield. Bookshelf rotated, I take the House books off the shelves and relieve them of their crests. The bookshelf fills the Silver Shield slot, popping it out. Mixing up the placement of the books, I throw the crests, including the Silver Shield, into my bag.

Making my way through the Ravenclaw Labyrinth, I descend to the Common room and slide through Earl.

'Good Morning!' I hold up to the Eagle-shaped knocker as it opens up, letting me pass through.

"Greetings to you," Earl smiles, or at least as close to it an eagle can, as I pass through him and enter Ravenclaw Hall.

Taking a left, I study the Wall of Pictures next to Earl. Scanning the Portraits, paintings, and pictures of differing sizes, my eyes land upon a specific one. A small painting of a man in wizard robes falling endlessly on an impossible staircase hangs in the top left quadrant. Reaching on my tiptoes, I touch the painting in front of the wizard, stopping their tumble.

Taking my finger off the painting, I look to see the man bow to me. All of the paintings begin to shake as the Impossible Save enlarges, forcing the rest of the paintings to shrink until it becomes big enough to walk through. A clicking sound comes from the frame as it gains the properties of a door. Grabbing the right side of the frame, I open it and walk through.

Stepping out the other side, I turn back to close the landscape of mountain peaks. I'm so glad Penelope took the time during break the other day to show me a few of the hidden passageways. Following the hall, I turn left onto the seventh-floor Grand Staircase balcony.

Magic radiated from everything, the walls that typically shined magic shine even brighter, the Staircases flying around the place, taking the few early birds from floor to floor, and even the portraits that fill the long staircase with early morning conversation.

A golden accented stairway glides to the seventh-floor balcony, docking. Walking up the staircase, I hold on tight as it ascends; not wanting to be the first student to die from falling off. The stairway ascends higher than I've ever been at Hogwarts, all the way to the very top.

Stepping onto the balcony, I wave to an orange-robed wizard portrait as I make my way through the corridor. Crossing the short corridor, I fight not to look through the windows as I approach a gargoyle.

Stepping up to the gargoyle, I stand there awkwardly, waiting for it to say something. Growing impatient, worried, and hungry, I decide to say something, 'Hello?'

The stiff, unmoving, gargoyle raises its eyebrow at my notepad.

"Password?" It tries to grunt out, yet couldn't hide its confusion.

'Blood-flavoured lollipops,' at my note, its eyes dart around; as if debating something.

"Very well," its words are followed by a loud rumble as it starts spiraling up, a spiral staircase following it. As the rumbling subsided, an eye raised. That was weirdly technical. Gears that rumble to move the statue could have been substituted with magic. In fact, it probably would be more efficient.

Quite murmurs meet my ears as I climb the stairs.

"With all due respect sir, why didn't you inform her of this prior to today? Knowing children she's probably still asleep," at the word children the distinguishable sneer that could be recognized by anyone as Professor Snape grew more potent.

"I assure you Snape she is awake. And by my guess, she should be- Ah Catlyn, we were just talking about you," Dumbledore greets as I reach the top of the staircase and walk through the door of his office. The office seems to be three circular rooms overlapping one another in a line.

Professor Snape strolled the first room, keeping his signature contempt look like it was a mask permanently glued to his skin. The first room is a darker area with cabinets housing unfamiliar ingredients and a table in the middle with potion-making instruments.

Small steps made the second section only slightly higher than the first. This area looked more like a traditional office, with candles illuminating the embedded bookshelves and the wooden desk in the middle, littered with work. Dumbledore sat behind his desk with his idiosyncratic smirk as the door squeaked, alerting them to my presence.

A perch holding a phoenix and a metal spiral staircase sat behind it, leading to the third area. The height difference from the second to third makes it so that a glob is the only thing visible from my position.

'Good morning Professor, Headmaster,' My greeting earns only a 'himph' from Professor Snape and a frown, quickly masked by a grin, from Dumbledore.

As both Professor Snape and I walk to Dumbledore, one of the portraits of the previous headmaster, near the ceiling, yawns. "Good Morning Catlyn, I trust you slept well?"

At Dumbledore's comment, I stop for a second as the nightmare slashes back into my head in a snap. I force a grin in response, quickly trying to mask the flash of fear as I take one of the seats facing his desk. Professor Snape moves past the seats and stands, as if he's his bodyguard, behind Dumbledore. My efforts seem to go unnoticed as Dumbledore gives a sympathetic nod.

'If you don't mind me asking, why have you called me to your office,' I write, growling in annoyance at Snape as his presence forces me to write instead of sign.

"Well first I have more magic energy- you know what, it's getting annoying saying magic energy constantly. Let's call it, Mana. I have more Mana beads for you," At his nonchalant renaming of a fundamental aspect of magic, he throws a bag of blue beads to me. Well, it is shorter; I think as I catch the bag.

'Is that all?' I question, eyeing Professor Snape. I can't exactly know until I have a class with him, but I won't like him, will I?

"No, it isn't. I have been looking into ways to help lessen the impact of your magic energy deficiency. Professor Babbling figured out that if you used nonverbal spellcraft then it would stop your rune from sucking up extra Mana when performing spells. At this, I assigned Professor Snape to teach you after dinner on Fridays." I mentally slap myself at Dumbledore's explanation. In hindsight that seems so obvious!

"I expect you to be at my office at 7:15 pm and not a second late," Professor Snape chimes in, lip still curled as I give him a sharp nod.

"Do you have any questions?" Dumbledore asks.

'No. Am I excused?' I lie, a million revolving in my head; both related and unrelated. Dumbledore nod's yes in response. Turning on my heel, I stride out of the room, excitement being hidden behind my blank mask.