Part 7 : The Inheritance, Paragraph 1 - 66 : Watch And Whack

On Saturday, March the second of 1985, at around 9am, the four friends were headed towards Hogsmeade, In town, very few shops were open. When entering the village, they saw in a distance two wizards seated on a bench, with massive books in their hands. This was of course puzzling : why would one person sit an almost frozen bit of wood, that might also be wet ? Why would you go outside to read books ? And why would you do this by two ? The four friends closed in on the strange sight. On reaching a point about fifty feet away from the wizards, Sigismond said :

I think they are looking at Hogwarts Yearbooks. Three of them

The wizards were alternatively watching students come, and lowering back their heads towards the Yearbooks. When one of the wizards' eyes fell on the group of friends, he whispered something to his associate. Suddenly, they stood up, took out their wands, and began casting spells in the direction of the four friends, while running towards them. Sigismond envisioned staying his ground and fighting back, but Ann shouted at him

Move !

while sprinting away from the attackers with the two other girls. In the meantime, a few other Hogwarts students had started casting their own spells at the two wizards, so as to slow them down, and this proved rather effective. Sigismond was able to catch up with the three girls, Judith performed 'Alohomora' on the door of The Three Broomsticks, they all entered the inn, ran to the trapdoor leading to the reserve, went down the stairs, and once there, Eleanor, still panting, said :

Group around me

Sigismond was once more last to act on the other girls' instructions : he cast a spell at a wooden box, before joining Ann and Judith around Eleanor. Eleanor extended her hand, and Ann, Judith, and Sigismond grasped a bit of her arm. In the following seconds, they had Disapparated through Side-Along travel to a completely nondescript part of the countryside. They recovered from their running. Then, Ann asked Sigismond :

What kind of spell was so important for you to choose to cast it on a box when people were possibly trying to kill you ? A will writing one ?

The boy answered :

Do you remember what we had used to engrave our photographs by Mr. Chrawn, to make the montage ? I used a derivative to carve on the bottom of the inside of the box the faces of the two wizards

Ann retorted :

I officially commend you for doing this useful thing, since we are still alive. I would have however had the urge to kill you if we had died as a result of what would have been a superfluous and vain operation

Sigismond smiled :

I hope we all enjoyed a fun Saturday at Hogsmeade. Now, we should go back to Hogwarts. Without any detour through Hogsmeade. Eleanor ?

The Ravenclaw witch once more extended her arm, and soon the four friends had arrived at a spot they hoped would be safer : the extremity of the lake away from the castle. They walked towards the castle, past their usual meeting recess, then on the grass in front of the gates. From the moment they had reached a place where they were exposed again, they had all been on the lookout for potential aggressors that would have circumvented the school's protections, wands out, walking more slowly. On reaching the inside of the castle, they went to Professor McGonagall's office, and recounted their undesirable chase. The Head of Gryffindor informed the four friends that, on hearing from other students who had come back to the school as quickly as they could to report the events at Hogsmeade, the school had dispatched a number of Professors and Hagrid to find Ann, Eleanor, Judith, and Sigismond, and bring them back safe and alive. Since they had needed about one hour to walk from the extremity of the lake back to the castle, the members of the staff in search of them were now scattered. Judith mentioned the fact that Sigismond had left a portrait of the two wizards on the bottom of a box in the reserve of The Three Broomsticks. Professor McGonagall enquired :

Does one of you still have a good recollection of the features of the wizards who tried to assault you ?

The four friends shook their heads.