Chalice of Life: Chapter 5

The sun was about to rise when Sherlock had gotten up. He was excited to discover the secret spot he and Shauna had uncovered from the ancient map they had studied. Imagine if that’s the spot where the Gem of Immortality is hidden, just imagine. It will be the greatest artefact discovery in recent history, thought Sherlock wishfully to himself as he took a sip out of his daily cup of tea he had prepared while admiring the view of the Crystal Lake from his room. Sherlock’s room was tastefully decorated, there was a solid oak study desk that had piles of papers and books on it as well as his laptop, two large oak bookshelves that had even more books, crimson curtains, and pictures of himself with his paternal and maternal side of the family which hung on the wall.

Sherlock finished up his cup of tea before putting on his dark brown hiking shoes. He had traded his sport coat and wool vest for warm and comfortable hiking gear. The young wizard had also traded his brown leather messenger bag with a brown backpack. He looked at his watch. It was almost 8 o’clock, the time in which he and Shauna had decided to meet at Cambroxzen’s Grand Entrance.

Cambroxzen’s Grand Entrance as the name implied was indeed grand. The door of the Grand Entrance was huge and was made of fine solid oak and contained carvings of ancient runic symbols on it. A massive and beautifully intricately made chandelier hung on the ceiling, illuminating the hall during the night and on those dark winter days. Statues of Cambroxzen’s founders stood majestically on both sides of the hall.

Sherlock had beaten Shauna to the Grand Entrance, something that did not surprise him at all. He knew his friend had trouble waking up early in the mornings, especially if it was on the weekends. Sherlock heard the sound of footsteps descending from the Grand Staircase, he looked up to see whether it was Shauna, only to be surprised by two familiar and identical faces, the Otterey twins.

“Francis, Gideon, what are you both doing up so early?” asked Sherlock to the twins who were still walking down the stairs. The twins were from the Otterey family which was well liked and in some cases beloved in the magical community because of their ancestor’s contribution in ensuring equal rights for all sentient magical races. It was their ancestor in the 18th century who championed that the world should not only be governed by humans, but by other sentient magical creatures as well, as it was as much their world as it was the human’s. Sherlock had gotten to know the twins and the rest of the family quite well through the twin’s eldest brother, Cedric, who was a classmate, friend and fellow Staggeron house member to Sherlock while the two attended Cambroxzen. Sherlock and Cedric were both good friends while in school and both still keep in close contact with one another.

“Sherlock, what a surprise to…,” the twin to the left nudged his brother on the right who was talking before whispering something to him. “I mean, Mister Tan, what a surprise meeting you here,” corrected the twin on the right.

“No need for the formalities Francis. It’s the weekend and classes are not in session,” said Sherlock warmly to the younger twin. The Otterey twins were both tall and lanky, and had strawberry blonde hair and green eyes like their siblings and parents. In terms of looks and mannerism, the twins were nearly identical, the only way to actually distinguish between the two twins physically was a thin and short horizontal cut that Gideon has on his chin which he got from a childhood injury.

“See, Sherlock doesn’t mind us calling him by his first name,” said Francis to Gideon as he nudged his brother gently with a playful grin on his face.

“I know he doesn’t mind, and I would be calling him by his first name as well,” remarked Gideon, “but we’re still within the confines of Cambroxzen and it is best to refer to him formally until we are at least away from the castle lest other people catch us calling him in such an informal manner.”

“Well I’ll still be calling him by his first name, since it’s the weekend, classes are not in session, and there is no one here to catch me,” said Francis with a smile on his face. Gideon just shrugged upon hearing Francis’ statement.

“So why are you two boys up so early?” asked Sherlock again

“We’re taking Rupert and Gwyneth to the crystal lake to fish and swim,” answered Gideon. “We want to take them out of the castle, a change of scenery for them. All study and no adventure makes a young witch or wizard dull” Both Gideon and Francis were born outdoorsmen, both have gotten into trouble a couple of times with groundskeeper MacMohan when they were younger for exploring places they were not allowed to enter or go to, but the previous headmaster would normally let them go, much to the annoyance of groundskeeper MacMohan.What was more infuriating to the groundskeeper was that the previous headmaster had made them prefects in their fifth year.  It is said, that no student knows Cambroxzen castle and its grounds as well as the duo.

“I see,” said Sherlock as he stroked his somewhat sharp and clean shaven chin. Sherlock’s dark brown eyes shifted slightly to the right, as if he was recalling something. “Wait, don’t you both have a charms exam on Monday?”

“How do you know about that? Spying on us for our mum are we?” asked Francis as he raised his eyebrow comically.

Gideon shook his head. “His brother and cousins are in our class Francis,” reminded Gideon to Francis who had seem to have forgotten that fact. “Remember? Matthias, Joseph and Joanna?”

Francis laughed, “I know that, Gideon. I’m not that forgetful,” replied Francis. “Just wanted to see his reaction, maybe he is actually spying for mum.” Sherlock laughed upon hearing what Francis said. Francis however was not that far from the truth as Sherlock was actually asked by the twin’s mum to keep any eye on the two as well as Gwyneth and Rupert, and to make sure they were safe. It was a request that Sherlock more than happily accepted.

“All prepared for it then?” queried Sherlock.

“For the most part,” answered Francis as he looked over to Gideon.

“We’ve been practicing and studying the entire week,” added Gideon.

“Very good. I heard from my brother that Professor Warwick will be examining you on a couple of advance level spells in preparation for your Advanced Wizarding Exam.”

“That’s right,” said Gideon and Francis in unison. The twins were both in their seventh year in Cambroxzen, which meant that they only had one more year of schooling after this before having to take the Advanced Wizarding Exam at the end of their eight year.

“By the way, if you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing up so early as well?” queried Gideon to Sherlock.

“I’m going for a hike in the Enchanted Forest with Miss Li,” answered Sherlock.

Both Gideon and Francis looked at each other with a grin on their face. “Going on a date, are we?” asked Francis with a grin still plastered on his face.

“A walk in the forest is definitely a romantic choice for a date,” added Gideon who also had a grin on his face.

“It’s strictly platonic, you two,” answered Sherlock to the twins who still had large grins on their face.

The sound of footsteps quickly coming down the Grand Staircase caught the attention of the three. All three looked up to see a boy and a girl, both with strawberry blonde hair running down the stairs. Both were panting when they reached the base of the staircase.

“Gwyneth, Rupert, you’re late,” said Francis to his two younger sibling as he tapped his watch.

“Well someone took her own merry sweet time getting ready,” said Rupert to his older brother as he pointed to Gwyneth, in between breathes. Rupert was in his second year in Cambroxzen. Like the rest of his siblings, he was a member of house Staggeron.

“Well I wanted to look neat and proper, unlike someone” said Gwyneth defending herself and at the same time pointing out Rupert’s messy hair. Gwyneth’s long strawberry blonde hair was tied in the style of a ponytail. She had a maroon coloured hair clip in a shape of a bow to keep her fringe in place. She was currently in her fourth year in Cambroxzen and was due to take her General Wizarding/Witch Grade Exam at the end of term.

“Now Gwyneth, Rupert is right,” voiced Francis warmly to his younger sister, “if you need more time to get ready, then you should get up earlier or at least tell the person that is waiting for you that you’ll be late. It’s not good to keep people waiting. Would you like it if someone kept you waiting?”

“No, I would not,” answered Gwyneth. Francis smiled at his sister before tapping her head gently, much to her annoyance by the look on her face.

“As for you Rupert, you can’t be going out with hair this messy,” said Gideon to his younger brother as he used a comb he conjured to comb his brother’s hair, “you wouldn’t be able to attract any girls with hair like this. Plus mum would be livid if she saw you like this”

Sherlock smiled as he saw the interactions between the Otterey siblings. It reminded him of his younger days with his own two brothers and cousins. Although his youngest brother and his two maternal cousins were here in Cambroxzen with him, he still missed the rest of his family which were back in Malaysia, and longed to see them during the summer break.

“Alright, I think we best be getting on our way,” announced Gideon to Sherlock, whose announcement jolted Sherlock back to reality from his reminiscing.

“Have fun you all,” said Sherlock with a warm smile, “and do be careful. I would not want to send a letter to your mum about anyone of you getting injured.”

“Don’t worry, we will be careful,” assured Francis with a smile as he placed each hand on Gwyneth’s and Rupert’s shoulder respectively. “Won’t we?” Both Gwyneth and Rupert nodded their heads, agreeing with their older brother. The Otterey siblings wished Sherlock goodbye and made their way to the Grand Entrance Hall’s exit and to the path that would take them to the Crystal Lake, but before they had even exited the hall, Gideon doubled back towards Sherlock. Leaving his three siblings confused.

“What’s the matter Gideon?” asked Sherlock with a confused look on his face. A look which he shared with Gideon’s siblings.

Gideon reached for something in his back pouch, which he had with him all the time. He pulled out a black spherical ball the size of a golf ball from it and presented it to Sherlock. “I caught a student who broke curfew in possession of this last night,” said Gideon to Sherlock, “I was supposed to give it to discipline master Thatchridge last night after my rounds, but I could not find her. Do you mind if I give it to you instead?”

“Not at all,” replied Sherlock as he took the black spherical object from Gideon. It was cold to the touch and there was a line that ran horizontally across it. “What is it?” asked Sherlock as he studied the object more closely.

“It’s a distractionator,” answered Gideon.

“A distractionator?” said Sherlock as he arched his eye brows. “I’ve never heard of it. What does it do?”

“Well as the name implies, the distractinator is supposed to, well, distract a person or persons. Normally with a loud noise or sounds when used,” replied Gideon. Besides being an outdoorsman, Gideon was also quite familiar with all sorts of different magical items. In fact he and Francis had created one or two ingenious items of their own.

“How do you make it work?” asked Sherlock who wanted to know more about the item he was holding.

“You twist the sphere either clockwise or counter clockwise. The sphere will then open, and few seconds later it will start producing a loud noise,” explained Gideon like how a teacher would to a student. “Normally I find this in the hands of students trying to distract us prefects so that they can slip pass us.”

How do kids even get something like this onto the academy’s ground? mused Sherlock to himself before keeping the black spherical object in his brown hiking jacket’s inner pocket. “I’ll make sure this gets to Professor Thatchridge. And think you better get going Gideon. Your siblings are starting to look a bit restless,” said Sherlock

“Gideon, hurry up. We’re losing daylight,” said Francis as he gestured hastily to Gideon to come over and to make a move.

Gideon thanked Sherlock before he made his way back to back to his siblings to continue their journey. Sherlock was now left alone, waiting for Shauna.

About five minutes after the Otterey siblings had left, the sound of hurried footsteps coming down the Grand Staircase could be heard. Sherlock looked up to see Shauna hurrying down the stairs. Her medium length brown hair was not braided like usual, instead it was let down. She was wearing a stylish black leather jacket which was worn over a dark blue t-shirt which had the album cover art of the boyband Plummeting Lads. She was also wearing knee length brown pants and a nice stylish pair of black hiking boots.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” apologised Shauna profusely to Sherlock.

“Did you oversleep?” asked Sherlock, probably already knowing the answer to his own question.

A sheepish smile formed on Shauna’s face. “Yes,” she said still smiling sheepishly.

“I knew it,” said Sherlock with a knowing smile. “Anyways, let’s get going. We’ve got some exploring to do and we won’t make any progress by just standing here.”

“Lead the way,” said Shauna, gesturing towards the exit. With that, both Sherlock and Shauna made their way to the exit of the Grand Entrance Hall and started their journey to the Enchanted Forest.