The Restricted Section
 

Gemma was so excited to be entering into the Restricted Section. She had always stood on the other side of the gate and gazed into this section wondering what secrets it held. And ......now....she was being escorted in with the librarian. She was sooo excited to see what all was hidden back here. She was so excited that she could hardly stand still.

Gemma's bubbling excitement was infectious! Kimber smiled as she slipped her key into the gate's lock and nearly dropped her wand in the process. She had never been so eager to get inside!

"After you," she said as the gate swung open. "We'll need to use our wands for light."

Gemma smiled at the librarian and shook her head slowly up and down letting her words sink in. She was so excited that it was like the woman was talking in slow motion.

The professor said, "Lumos" with a flick of her wand and the end of wand instantly lit up in a blue light.

With her own wand in front of her, the librarian shuffled the other two inside and closed the gate behind them.

"It's right this way..." she started, walking past them towards the shelves in the very back. Very gingerly, she pulled out some aged (but not ancient looking) documents, bound together with a boring piece of string.

Turning towards the professor, she held them out to her with both hands. "The Captain's log," she presented.

Gemma's eyes lit up as the Librarian handed her the documents. She glanced at the student with them but figured it was the Librarian's domain so she could decide who ventured in the Restricted Area with them.

She slowly turned the rolled up documents over and over a few times inspecting the outside trying to find any markings on them. She could see a light watermark at the edge of the parchment but couldn't quite make out what it was of.

She held her wand a little closer and could slightly make out what looked like stamp made out of a jolly roger symbol....hmmm...interesting...that def pointed towards pirates.

the young professor glanced up at the Librarian with a cocked eyebrow almost asking if she could open it...but not really wanting permission. She carefully took off the string and began taking apart the documents carefully.

Kimber turned to face the child with a wide-eyed expression. "It says, 'His name was Captain Barnabas'," she answered. "Also known as Barnabas the Bloody." The name was practically chill-worthy.
She quickly turned back towards Gemma. "And do you see the date? The year?! It was written nearly 300 years ago. And yet..." If one looked at it's condition...

No sooner had she thought this, when Kimber heard a tiny "clink" of something landing on the ground. When she looked down, there laying on the stone floor, was a golden comb. Stooping down, she carefully picked the item up and examined it in her hand. "This wasn't here before..." she muttered to herself.

Kimber shook her head but did not look up. Her eyes were fixed on the golden comb in her hand. After a few moments of silence, something was certain. She would have to keep it safe. It was her duty as the librarian.

Without drawing attention to herself, she gently slipped the comb into her hair. Such a rare and beautiful find needed to be kept close.

Standing back up, she focused her attention back on the log. "Hmm..." she mused. "Where do I know that name," she said under her breath. She was sure that she'd seen it before.

"What do you suppose HM stands for?" she asked, pointing at the two letters written just before the vaguely, familiar name. "Do you suppose they're initials?" But no... Something told her that wasn't correct.
Hearing the insulting words of the student, Kimber rounded on her and shot a scornful glare. "Do not speak such nonsense," she scolded. Barnabas was a lovely, passionate name.

Gemma glanced at the girl and smiled at her comment about his name...well it actually sounded like more of a disease than a pirate's name...the girl did have a good point....


Gemma glanced at the initials and tried to think of anyone in muggle or wizarding history that would have those initials...she just couldn't figure it out. "I'm not sure...there must me something else in all of these artifacts that might help us out." she said more to herself than to anyone else as she fingered through everything, but her attention was pulled away instantly...

She cocked her eyebrow at Kimber as she snapped at the young girl. She glanced from the young girl and then back to the librarian speechless for a few seconds...that was not the Kimber she knew...changing the subject..."Kimber, let's focus on these documents...I mean it is an unusual set of artifacts...and we must get to the bottom of whomever was in charge of the ship and why it has just appeared again...." she thought about the ship hoping she'd be able to visit it and explore some more.

Kimber felt a wave of rage. She had a sudden urge to throttle Delilah. There was no rhyme or reason to it, but she had to actively fight the compulsion down.

Hearing Gemma's voice helped. A little. She turned to smile at the professor when something dawned on her. "Help me find it," she said, turning away from the Captain's log and searching the shelves. The search didn't last long and soon Kimber was standing with a copy of Hogwarts: A History in her hands. "I'm really so stupid," she said, blushing slightly. When researching about that past, she always knew to search there first.

She hoisted her knee up and wedged the toe of her boots on one of the lower shelves. "Heavy bugger..." she mumbled, propping the book upon her thigh. If only she'd thought to add a work table in the room before they'd got started.

Thumbing through the 18th century, Kimber held her wand closer. In the low light, she could barely read a thing. Her nose was practically touching the page as she intently perused the pages. "It's here, look! HM!" she exclaimed abruptly. "During 1780 the Headmaster of Hogwarts was Edwin Rainecourt III." she recited. "Gemma, I knew I had seen the name 'Rainecourt' before! He was Headmaster of this school. That proves the ship was here then, right? Why else would his name appear in the log?"

The young professor could tell that Kimber was on a mission and she didn't stop her at all as the librarian pulled down a book. Her eyes lit up and she walked over to glance over the woman's shoulder as she flipped through the pages excitedly and pointed out something.

Gemma squinted to see a little bit better and read the point the librarian was pointing at. "O yes...yes you are right!!!" she said realizing that she had heard of a Captain Barnabus before that would've been around during that time..."O I should've thought of this earlier...I was only thinking about wizard history and not muggle history..." she paused and then continued, "There is an old pirate story about a muggle pirate and his ship that was last seen entering the lake near Hogwarts during the time that Rainecourt would've been Headmaster..." she said talking quickly almost too quickly to understand. "This can't be a coincidence..." she said the last as a question/statement. "But I'm not really sure what they would have in connection with each other..." she said stepping away and putting a hand on her hip.

"What story about the pirate ship, Gemma?" she asked desperately. "I have to know. Where was the Captain's log found?"

She thought of his name again. 'Mmm, Barnabus...' Just the sound of it in her head brought butterflies. It was the way she always felt whenever Chad was close to her... But now it was hard to remember just why.

Pushing the strange thoughts from her mind, Kimber stared back down at the pages. After another moment of straining her eyes, she slowly shook her head. "It mentions the ship's arrival but not in great detail," she stated with disappointment. Fat lot of help that was.

"Also, I don't think Rainecourt was headmaster for long. It says here that he resigned shortly after the death of his only daughter, Charlotte."

Gemma thought about the story and then continued, "Well I just know there was sightings of a pirate ship entering the some old entry way between two rocks that used to connect the Hogwarts Lake to another body of water....I don't think it's connected anymore, but there were stories of people seeing it enter the Lake but then it was never seen again...." she said realizing how lame of a story it was and how little information she was being able to provide.

She listened to the librarian talk about the what the documents mentioned and then about the Rainecourt..."hmmm...that's interesting...this has to be connected in some what....is Charlotte mentioned anywhere in those documents at all...." she said flipping through everything again.

Maddox was in the library..........

And she didn't even know how she wound up there. Later someone would ask her and she would call them crazy and insist they go have a kip in the hospital wing.

But here she was with a book in her hand wandering around and looking as lost as someone could look.

Maddox was wondering around the library when she heard his name...Barnabas. It made her blood run cold and she stopped dead in her tracks and turned toward the sound of the voices. It was coming from the restricted section and she dipped into the shadows and came around the corner to listen to what was going on. She didn't recognize any of the professors, but she was sure she had seen the girl in the common room before.

She slipped an extendable ear out of her pocket and slid it between the books on the shelf so she could hear.

Kimber's hands moved up to her temples and the book fell to the floor with a loud thud! "Ohhh," she whimpered, taking a step back to steady herself. "Wait..." she said softly. Her voice sounded different; far away in her own ears.
Turning towards the young girl, the librarian blinked her eyes as if trying to adjust to the lack of light. "His ship... it is here?" she asked. 'Oh, Barnabas. Could it be true...' The very thought filled her with longing so sharp that tears came to her eyes.

"Take me to it!" she demanded. "That is where he'll be."

Well that was slightly creepy..

As if the Librarian wasn't strange enough she was now talking in a tone much different to her own. Delilah's eyebrow shot up again as her lips fell into a smirk. She wasn't scared of anything, or anyone. Her ears pricked as she heard a noise behind her, never missing a trick the Brunette, she knew there was someone behind her, listening in to their conversation.

"Why should I?" she asked daringly. This wasn't the librarian, she would know of the existance of the ship already, it wasn't exactly unmissable. "Tell me why I should do anything for you? What is in it for me?" she asked in the same sharp tone as she had done, her head tilting to the side.

Interesting.

Charlotte narrowed her eyes at the child and pushed her way past her. "Stand aside!" she bellowed. "No one will keep me from my love. Not EVER again!!"

And with her words still ringing through the quiet walls of the Restricted Section, Charlotte rushed through the iron gate, stumbled her way out of the library and out into the corridor.

Sorry was at the doc all day getting some test done...
 

Gemma blinked slowly and her head bounced between the librarian and the student as if watching a tennis match. She wasn't really sure what was going on, but it suddenly hit her that they were both acting extremely strange.....not them too...

She was just about to grab Kimber when she rushed out of the restricted area. The young professor glanced at the student and then at the documents. She gathered them up and hurried after Kimber quickly.

"Kimber, wait up!!! What is going on?" she asked loudly trying to catch up.