inspection of the room.
“Do you have a plan, Harry?” Miocene asked. “About what you intend to do after you have secured the Philosopher’s Marbles?”
“A plan?” said Harry. “Of course I have a plan…”
“And?” she asked, her curiosity growing.
“The plan, yes, the plan,” said Harry, searching clumsily for words. “The plan is to ensure the marbles are safe and out of harms way, namely Tumbledown.”
Unconvinced, Miocene continued with her line of questioning, “But what happens to them, after that?”
Butting in, feeling there was nothing to be gained by such a conversation at this juncture, that he might pursue it better on his own, later, Box diverted Miocene’s attention, saying, “How are you feeling, Miocene? Do you think you will be up for the job?”
Affronted; Miocene was insulted that he had even considered asking her such a thing. “Of course I am,” she retorted as forcefully as she was able. “Are you?”
Harry smiled; knowing only too well what her Muddlesome cousin had been up to.
By the time they were ready for the off, Harry and, to a lesser degree, Box had given Miocene and Wan all the information they would need for the struggle ahead.
“Are you sure you understand what you must do?” Box asked Miocene and Wan, just as Harry opened the door of the room.
“Yes, of course,” they answered in unison.
“Don’t worry,” said Wan, “you can depend on me.”
“And me,” Miocene added, having no intention of being outdone by a mere boy.
Waving, trying to get their attention, Harry whispered, “The coast is clear. Let’s go…”
Miocene and Wan, with Box bringing up the rear, followed Harry, the girl mystic, out of the room, to an uncertain future…
Beguiling Tactics
Harry had no intention of risking any of them being seen, spotted, for even a second before they were ready, so opening a concealed door, she led the way through a maze of secret passageways hidden within the very fabric of the school. She would use the open areas, but only when absolutely necessary.
As they headed down passageway after passageway, with little or no light for guidance, Box once again found himself wondering how Harry had discovered them in the first place – and then managed to remember their intricate layout. But she had, Harry, his troublesome cousin, had recorded, etched every last inch of the passageways onto her brain; Box admired that, he admired it a lot.
After they had been walking for quite some time, Miocene asked, “Are we nearly there?”
“It’s not too far now,” Harry replied, in the usual, wet fish manner she adopted whenever she was concentrating.
“Ow!” Wan shouted, losing his footing, stubbing his toe on something hard. “That hurt!”
“Shush,” Harry warned. “Walls have ears.”
“They do?” said Miocene; taking Harry’s words literally.
After they had taken yet another turn, Wan said, “My sense of direction tells me that our objective is over to the right… So why are we going left?”
Box was amazed to hear this, because he was totally lost. “How can you possibly know that?” he asked.
Butting in, giving Wan no opportunity to continue, Harry said, “Listen, we’ll be there in two minutes.”
In two minutes to the very second, after leading them to the left, not to the right as Wan had suggested, Harry stopped. In the darkness, she asked, “Are we all here?”
“I am,” said Wan.
“Me too,” Miocene added.
“Box, are you still with us?”
“Yes,” he replied. “But what are we stopping here for?”
“Let me see,” Harry whispered, fumbling with her fingers. “It’s here somewhere…”
“What are you looking for?” asked Wan.
“A catch, to open this section of wall,” she explained. “Unfortunately I can’t seem to locate it.”
“Let me try,” he suggested, his confidence growing by the minute.
Standing back, giving in unusually quickly, Harry said, “Be my guest.”
Wan’s fingers began searching for the elusive catch.
“Have you been in these passageways, before, Wan?” Box asked.
“Me? Of course not,” he replied, “What gives you that idea?”
“Oh, nothing really,” he said.
“Ah, here it is,” said Wan triumphantly, as his fingers found and released the hidden catch.
The panel creaked open, offering them free exit.
Seeing nothing that he recognised, Box asked, “Where are we?”
“Around the corner from the main stairway at the entrance foyer,” Harry whispered.
“Near the paintings – those paintings?” Box asked curiously.
“Yes,” she whispered, “Come on, follow me.”
He did, so also did Miocene and Wan.
Upon reaching the staircase, Box was again impressed by the abundance of fine paintings lining the walls. But remembering his previous mistake, when he had taken the apple, he had no intention as acting so foolhardy again. This time he was treading decidedly more careful.
“You all know what to do?” Harry asked.
Wan nodded.
Miocene gave a ‘thumbs up’ signal.
“Box?”
“Yes,” he replied. Then looking up to the paintings, he asked, “It will be safe?”
“Yes,” said Harry, “as long as you do exactly as we agreed.”
“Okay,” he said, “Then I’m ready.”
“Then go!” Harry whispered. On that command Box began making his way up the huge staircase.
“Go!” Harry whispered again, signalling for Miocene to begin making her way along the left-hand side of the foyer.
Turning her attention to Wan, to signal for him to begin making his way along the other side of the foyer, Harry noticed that he had already begun. Apparently satisfied, she took up her own position at the base of the stairs.
“I see you have returned,” said the old man, the knight on horseback, when Box approached his picture. “Is your quest over so soon?” he asked.
“No, I’m afraid that it isn’t,” Box admitted coyly.
“Then why have you returned?” he asked, his silver coloured armour glinting in the sun’s painted rays.
“I need – we need your help…”
“My help?” the knight asked removing his helmet and raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
“Yes,” said Box, going on to explain their plan, and the help they needed with it. “So you see,” he said, in winding up, “we need not only your help, but also that of everyone in the paintings – including the animals.”
For a while the old man said nothing, he sat on his steed, quite silent, alone with his thoughts. Fearing that another heated exchange between the occupants of paintings might at any moment erupt, Box said, “Do you want me to ask them, the other paintings?”
He began laughing, the old man began laughing so heartily, and he said, “There are over three hundred paintings in Hagswords. Do you have the time to speak with them all?”
“No, not really,” Box admitted sheepishly. “It was just a suggestion…”
“And a noble one, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Speaking again, the knight said, “We have discussed your request.”
“You have?” Box asked in amazement, for you see he had seen no evidence to suggest this.
“Yes, and we have agreed to offer you our help.”
Smiling from ear to ear, Box said, “Thank you, thank you so much.” Then scratching his head, he said, “By the way, I never got your name!”
“My name? It’s Catchyfoe,” said the knight, “Lord Catchyfoe to be precise.”
“And my name is Box, my lord.”
“I know. We all know your name,” the old man admitted, “Sir Box.”
“Sir Box?”
The knight smiled, and he said
, “In our eyes, every last one of us, you are a knight, and an exceptional one at that.”
The assistance from the paintings having thus been secured, Box signalled to Harry that everything was ready for the off. Harry, in turn, signalled to Miocene. She nodded in reply. Then turning towards Wan, to signal to him, Harry saw nothing; the boy student was nowhere to be seen!
Despite the fact that Wan was missing, gone, Harry had no other option other than going ahead with her plan. It was far too late to cancel it. “Are you ready?” she asked Miocene.
“Yes,” she replied.
“I’m taking Wan’s place,” Harry whispered.
“Why??”
“He’s gone missing.”
There was a short silence before Miocene replied, and when she did, she said, “It doesn’t surprise me. His lot can’t be trusted.”
“Blytherin House?”
“Yes,” she agreed, “you can’t trust anyone in that House.”
Hearing a din, far off but growing louder by the second, Harry said, “We’ll worry about him later. We’ve more important things to consider right now – like guiding the contents of the paintings … ‘COS HERE THEY COME!”
No sooner had these words left Harry’s lips did a rushing tide of people and animals come charging out from the paintings. And there were so many!
Watching then charging out from canvas after canvas, Box wondered how they had all managed to get into the pictures in the first place.
Harry, Miocene and Box watched on in wonderment, as more and more people and animals came rushing out from the paintings. It was truly a staggering sight.
“I, I can’t do it!” shrieked Miocene, taken aback by the sheer number of beings exiting the pictures.
“Hold on!” Harry shouted encouragingly, though she too harboured some doubts as to their effectiveness in guiding them.
Helping the old man, the knight, to leave his painting, Box instinctively knew that the worst was over.