Harry checked the corner with Percy, then the window. They found nothing.
By breakfast, Percy was tired enough to drop his fork twice. Harry looked no better.
Hermione listened to what had happened without suggesting that sleep would explain it. Ron listened without touching his food.
"You saw someone in our room?" Ron asked.
"Yes."
"And we are going to do something about that?"
"That is the idea."
"Good. I have strong opinions about sleeping."
After breakfast, Percy asked Hermione about the Restricted Section.
She stopped in the corridor.
"No."
"I have not asked the question yet."
"You were going to ask how we get inside."
Percy looked at Harry. Harry found something interesting at the end of the corridor.
"We need older books," Percy said. "The ordinary ones have not explained the phrase."
"We need permission."
"Then we would have to explain the note and the figure."
Hermione folded her arms.
"We should."
Percy knew she was right. He also remembered the figure standing beside his bed after someone had warned him to stop looking.
"What if the person we ask is involved?"
"That does not make going alone safer."
Ron joined them before Percy could answer.
"Going where?"
They explained the book, the warning, and the wall in the library. Ron looked from Hermione to Percy with increasing concern.
"I thought the room visitor was already enough."
"It may be connected," Hermione said.
"That is not an improvement."
Harry had to attend another commitment that evening. He asked them to wait.
Percy wanted to agree. He looked at Hermione, who was considering the problem with an expression he knew would soon produce a plan.
At last, she said they would look for records and leave if anything reacted to them.
Ron stared.
"You have already decided to go."
"I have decided that he should not go alone."
Percy chose not to point out that this was close to agreement.
They reached the library after curfew. Percy watched for Filch while Hermione led them along the route she had checked earlier.
Several portraits complained. Ron apologised to one, which Percy thought was polite under the circumstances.
Inside the library, they stopped to listen. The room was quiet.
The Restricted Section stood behind an iron gate. Percy could see books through the bars, but some titles were too faded to read.
Hermione tried the lock with Alohomora.
It opened.
Ron looked at her.
"That was worrying."
"Keep your voice down."
They entered. Percy stayed near the gate until he had checked that the path back remained clear.
The air was colder between these shelves. A faint sound came from somewhere ahead.
Ron stopped beside him.
"Do you hear that?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
Percy shook his head. The sound was too quiet to distinguish words.
Hermione examined the nearest row without taking a book down.
"Ancient enchantments," she whispered. "Unusual passages. Anything about boundaries."
They began looking.
Percy found three titles that might have been useful and one that he decided not to touch. Its cover moved when he raised the light.
At the end of the aisle, Hermione stopped.
A black book lay alone on a shelf. There was no title on its spine.
Percy approached. The faint sound grew clearer as he did.
It was whispering.
Ron looked toward the gate.
"Perhaps we should take the ones with titles."
Hermione reached for the black cover, then paused.
"I only want to see whether it has an inscription."
Percy should have stopped her. He was thinking the same thing.
Her fingers touched the book.
The whispering ended.
She took her hand away at once, but the cover opened. Pages turned without anyone touching them.
Percy raised his wand higher.
Ink appeared across an empty page.
The One Who Walks Between Has Awakened.
Nobody spoke for a moment.
Then Ron took a step back.
"We should leave."
Hermione looked at Percy.
"It uses the same phrase."
"I can see that."
"It might mean you."
Percy thought of the Gap. He thought of John removing him from one world and sending him into another.
He had not told them that story. Now a book seemed ready to tell part of it for him.
He lowered the wand enough to stop the light shaking.
"We do not know what it means."
A footstep sounded outside the section.
Ron turned immediately. Hermione closed her hand around Percy's sleeve.
Someone was approaching the gate.
Percy looked down once more. New words had appeared beneath the first message.
Come to the Chamber Beneath. Come before it is too late.
The One Who Walks Between is not alone.
He read them quickly. Hermione pulled his sleeve harder.
"Percy."
He turned.
A shadow stood beyond the iron bars. The figure had stopped where the light could not show its face.
Ron was nearest the gate. He stepped away from it without being told.
Percy held his wand between himself and the figure.
They had promised to leave if something reacted. He could still remember the promise clearly.
The figure spoke before he could act on it.
"You should not have come here, Mr. Jackson."
The light at the end of Percy's wand went out.
So did the lamps beyond the gate.
Hermione's hand tightened around his sleeve. In the dark, Percy could hear someone take another step.
To Be Continued... Next week!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ooh... scaaaaaaary... welp, off to write the next chapter! See you next week!
Add the book to your library to get the next and subsequent chapters :)
Have some ideas about my story? Comment it and let me know. (constructive criticism/praise only!) NO TROLLS!