Such a fun place this was! Wouldn’t you think it was the most darling of places to play? How about a most darling of places to leave fun messages? With an etch here and an etch there soon you now have a mind boggling riddle on the wall beside the suits of armour.

What does it mean? Who wrote it?

Ever since her conversation with Solly about hidden passages behind portraits, Aurora had found herself more and more curious about the secrets that the castle held in its walls. The problem was that Rora was not the bravest of souls and her lack of a growth spurt over the summer had not helped in those matters. Still, she liked to appear confident and the fact that she was particularly inquisitive had led her to exploring the castle on her own. She would’ve preferred to be accompanied by a friend but she hadn’t been able to find one that morning so alone she was.

The arcade was not somewhere she had frequented although she was unsure as to why. She wasn’t the competitive type unless it came to sports but games were always fun. At least they were when she was winning otherwise they’d just become tedious or she’d get easily bored. Skipping down the corridor that led to the arcade and humming a song which was absolutely not recognisable thanks to her lack of tuneful singing ability. She headed straight for the suits of armour which would obviously mark a secret passageway when the etchings on the wall came into view.

“Huh?” Her little blonde head tilted to the side. “OOOOOOH! Is this a treasure hunt?” the twelve year old bounced on the spot clearly speaking to herself. She LOVED treasure hunts, in fact she and Anna had been talking about setting one up themselves for the first years. Maybe this WAS Anna’s doing in which case the second year was not impressed that her bestie dared do it without her.

Now where could that giggle be heard?

Brandon had been working super hard recently and had just finished what felt like a VERY LONG AND VERY IMPORTANT ESSAY. He was pretty proud of it too, and felt like it was an essay that even would have impressed his dad (if he was still alive, and feeling more reasonable than usual). Considering this, Brandon decided he deserved to relax this weekend. He thought he might want to play chess with someone, or try and figure out if wizard chess included an AI version he could play by himself.

Entering the arcade area, he immediately noticed that one of the walls had been vandalized. Not by a student, it seemed... what student wrote things like that? He frowned, worrying about some otherworldly intruder in the castle trying to drive them insane. It was possible. "It could be a treasure hunt, Aurora. Or it could be an evil murderer." He was more inclined to believe in the worst-case scenario. But he would like to believe it was a fun treasure hunt... that was so much nicer to think about. "Who could have made it? It doesn't seem like something a student would write."

The arcade room wasn't Lydia's goal, but she found herself here anyway. She'd just been wandering around the castle, hoping to find something that would help her break through the block she was experiencing with a song she was trying to write. And she was also hoping to avoid homework. There was that too. But mostly she was looking for inspiration.

And so here she was, just in time to hear voices mentioning things like "treasure hunt." Curious, she peered in and saw a younger girl and Brandon...and the note on the wall.

What in Merlin's name?

"What's that doing here?" she asked. And who put it there? Lydia might've assumed they had, but they didn't look to have any sort of tools or items to put those words on the wall. And it didn't seem like something Brandon would do, from what she knew from talking to him before.

What the..?

The blonde was so engrossed in the weird riddle on the wall that she hadn’t even noticed the patter of feet approaching. Has she not instantly recognised the voice as belonging to a friend she might’ve gone into defensive mode. “Don’t be silly, Brandy!” she giggled. “The Professors wouldn’t let evil people into the castle to trick us. I bet it’s just a game that they’ve set out for us to do.” They were kids after all and even though they were at the school primarily to study they were allowed to have fun too. “We should try and solve it. The Ravenclaw Common Room gives us a different riddle to figure out every single day. Sometimes when it’s really difficult I have to ask my sister the answer but I bet we could do this together.” Like a second year detective duo.

SHE WAS INNOCENT!!

Aurora Celeste Ackerly was absolutely NOT responsible for defacing school property and the arrival of the older student made her stand up straight and move away from the etching as if to prove her innocence. “It wasn’t us!” she looked wide eyed at the girl, standing up for Brandon too because it obviously wasn’t going to be the Hufflepuff’s responsibility either. Not that the girl was actually blaming either of them but she wanted to let it be known that she was entirely innocent and would not take the blame. “It was here when I got here. I thought maybe the Professors were making us complete a treasure hunt for a prize.” The Ravenclaw was ever the optimist and never considered the idea that there were bad people in the world. She was quite content in the bubble of her naivety right now.

The message left behind had not been exactly indicative of a scavenger hunt. Apologies, young one. But dear good Merlin, that sounded wonderful! Evil murder? Sinister! Dark! But also no.

Who wrote the riddle was quite the mystery. Maybe, just maybe if you lovely students would keep a keen ear and eye out, all will be revealed.

Just remember, friends…

A giggle.