Erik’s eyes had to adjust to the darkening light, letting the Gryffindor common room and dorms settled into a hush and blanket of night, before he dragged Tynan out of bed as quietly as he could, without waking up his other dorm-mates. Erik checked the time, 12 o’ clock midnight, before pulling out a pillow that was choked with string and growing with his dark brunette hair at one end.

It wouldn’t fool anyone, but with it curled up beneath his covers with another pillow, it was a perfect substitution for Erik—as long as no one turned on the light or pulled the covers off of him. He made sure Tynan did the same and then Erik slipped on a hoodie over his t-shirt, stepped into a pair of tennis shoes, shouldered on an empty backpack, armed himself with a wand, and then snuck out of the dorm.

He led Tynan through the stony school, pass a series dingy and dank shortcuts and passageways and around corners stalking of ghosts, until both reached the final destination of the fourth floor, however Erik avoided the library and instead made a beeline for a hallway lined with mirrors guarded by lifeless suits of armor. Erik then stepped behind one at the end of the hall, looked both ways down the hall, and then fingered his way on the bottom of the mirror.

There was a heavy click and Erik pried open the heavy frame to reveal a doorway into another wide passageway* and checked to make sure Tynan was following him before he disappeared behind the mirror.

It was pitch black, but from sneaking around so much Erik knew what he was doing, and walked about 20 feet and then turned left, “Lumos,” the tip of Erik’s wand revealed a wide cavernous hallway and he smiled and then starting to talking back to Tynan. “Found this my first week here, great place to hideout, leads out to Hogsmeade too.”

Erik plopped himself down on a random crate and tried to figure out if he could light one of the hanging lamps on the ceiling without seeing where he was casting, “Hopefully Mai and Dahlia will make it without getting caught—if they don’t get here we’ll have to figure out how to get past the Gargoyle without being seen.” Erik scratched his head, “Dahlia hopefully found a spell for it, otherwise I don’t know how to defeat stone.”

---

* = A passage behind a mirror on the fourth floor, which was caved in as of 1993. It leads to Hogsmeade, but where in Hogsmeade it leads to is unknown. Sirius mentioned that it was large enough for an organization to hold a meeting inside. 

It has been assumed this passageway has been rebuilt after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Tynan looked grumpy - but when didn't he this late at night - and his thick wool coat was thankfully keeping the cold at bay. He followed Erik through the halls, leather boots nearly silent on the stone floor. This was more than you could say for him; he stifled several yawns with his hand, wishing he'd gotten more sleep the night before.

The mirror and cavern beyond, he had to admit, where impressive. He lit the end of his own wand to make his life easier as he looked around. The shift in air pressure was familiar; it took him a few minutes to remember that feeling implied a cave-in.  The cold in the cave and his own interest was causing him to perk up; he stretched, popping his neck as Erik spoke.

"Guid find, Erik," Tynan said as he looked about, inspecting one of the crates and noting the dust. Unused? He couldn't but wonder who'd put these here - and on what was in them, if anything. He smirked as Erik mentioned Mairead and Dahlia.

"Dinna cark aboot Mairead. That lassie can tak care 'o hersel. If she geets claucht fer ocht it'll bae fer makin' tae much o' a din. She ne'er canna haud her' gab ." He moved a bit further into the chamber as he spoke, looking around; when he spotted the lanterns, he smiled and lit the one closest to him. "An' if she gits claucht she wadna tell aboot tae lave o' us. As fer yer sister, she's gitta guid heid onner' shouder."

He sat on one of the crates. "Dinna cark aboot some big pile 'o chuck," he said, grinning widely now. "We'll think o' soumethin' eif it coumes oop."

Down the passageway a blue light shone off in the distance. The light started to get closer and closer until it reached the two boys. Within it's soft calming hue Dahlia gave a secret devilish smile to them. It wasn't that she delighted in breaking the rules, that was more Erik's thing but she never gave up the opportunity to gain more knowledge and that was exactly what this trip into the restricted section was all about. She intended on getting her hands on one of the rare potions books that was kept within. She had proven she was doing well with advanced (or at least advanced for her age) potion making and wanted to push that to it's limits.

"Good to see you've made it." Judging by the direction she had come from it was obvious that Dahlia had been down the passageway before the boys had even arrived, "I was just checking to see where this leads." She thumbed over her shoulder to indicate the blackness she had emerged out of. The blue light that was illuminating her came from a pendant around her neck. The tiny capsule held a small cluster of blue bell flames (her current specialty) which not only provided light but warmth within the stone corridor.

"So are we going or still waiting on someone else?"

Mairead ignored the Fat Lady's warning as she scrambled through the portrait hole and into the darkened corridor.  The animated smearing of paint was being paranoid.  She just needed to let Mairead out and then mosey along through the paintings to have tea with the white-haired barrister's wife on the fifth floor. 

The only way they'd get caught was if someone did something stupid - and she had no intentions of doing anything stupid.  And, no, Mairead wasn't going to catch a cold just for going barefoot - that was an old wive's tale.  Shoes were only good for slapping against stone floors and announcing one's passage.  If they were outside, the soft ground would muffle the hard soles of her shoes; inside, the soft soles of her feet would have to muffle the sound of the solid stone floor.  She slipped quietly behind a tapestry at the end of the corridor and hurried down the stairs, sliding her hand along the curve of the stone wall to feel her way in the darkness. 

It took only a moment for Mairead to get through the passageway behind the mirror.  A blue light flickered a short way down the passage; the voice attached to it was obviously Dahlia's so Mairead followed it through the darkness.  "I'm ready," Mairead declared as she neared the group, grinning excitedly to the pair of fellow Gryffindors. 

"Are ye sure there isn't something more ... interesting to sneak to, though?  Like ... I don't know.  Something that don't involve books?"  They were sneaking after hours, yes.  And, that was cool.  So was going behind the pretty librarian's back.  But, Mairead had been struggling to find more intrinsic value to this excursion.  It was a restricted section of books.  The forest, at least, was forbidden - much more enticing than restricted.  "Why don't we sneak into the greenhouses and hide all of Bombay's trowels in the Divination tower or something?"  That sounded much more appealing.

and Mairead—it sounded really amusing, although as an afterthought he was almost positive he had no idea what his fellow Gryffindor said at all, and would try and repeat it to Mai later for a proper translation. However, once Mairead and Dahlia filed into the passageway Erik jumped up excitedly and rubbed his palms together as a smile streaked across his face. “Great!” he exclaimed as he Nox-ed out the light at the end of his wand, but still kept it handy, “Let’s get going then, and he motioned everyone towards the mirror just as he heard Mai’s question.

“Exaaaactly,” he drawled out proudly, “Why are they restricted? What’s in them, what do they do? What’s so dangerous about a book that it has to be restricted.” He waved his hands up happily, “There’s got to be something wrong with them!” He then turned went towards the mirror mumbling rather bemusedly to himself, “or maybe they explode or something after you read them.”

Once he got the mirror pried open he directed his attention to Dahlia, “You lead the way, Dahl,” he said with a suppressed whisper, “and take that Gargoyle out of the picture first.”

Dahlia had to suppress rolling her eyes at Mairead's comments. While hiding Bombay's shovels in Professor Cuthbert's rooms did sound like fun there was just so much more appeal to sneaking into the restricted section. On any other given occasion she'd need a signed parchment from a professor to be able to look at the books there. Doing it this way she'd be able to peruse the books at her own leisure without anyone looking over her shoulder to see what she was doing. There were a few tomes she suspected to be in there that she was dying to get her hands on, particularly some of the older potion books, ones that contained questionable material and had to be taken off the general shelves.

She slipped out of the passageway behind the mirror. With Erik's wand no longer lit the blue flame around her neck provided most of the light. The lanterns in this part of the castle had already been extinguished for the night. She led the three Gryffindors down the corridor to the entrance of the Library. She removed her wand and pointed it up at the mounted Gargoyle above the library door. The enchanted stone had begun to stir from the soft light, "Incarcerous!" She spoke in a hoarse whisper causing thick ropes to wrap up the stone beast, specifically wrapping around his eyes.

She glanced over at the others flashing her twin a rare mischievous grin. With the Library watchman out of the way she entered the quiet room and led the way to the restricted section. She assumed that once they were inside there wouldn't be any obstacles for them to face but as she neared the roped off area she paused mid step. A brilliant glowing blue line was across the threshold. She hissed under her breath cursing Morgan. The enchantment could be anything and she hadn't been expecting it.

Not wanting to glance at the others again, in fear of showing her doubt, she concentrated on the blue line in front of her. She gnawed on her lower lip going through a list of what possible enchantments Morgan could have put on it. She figured it was likely an age line but from what she understood an age line was usually a darker shade of blue. She doubted using specialis revelio would work in this situation so instead she moved forward and reached out putting a single fingertip over the line. There was no spell back fire or wailing to indicate either an age line or caterwauling charm. She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and walked through the line.

Dahlia turned on the spot and looked at the others waiting on the other side. She placed her hand on her hip making her look extraordinarily like her big sister, "Well what are you waiting for?"

Erik didn’t give himself much time to translate any other possible dangers when Dahlia blocked out the gargoyle’s eyesight with a rope, which he didn’t think was the most creative thing to have done to the gargoyle but it was good enough for him. As soon as he watched it he started to step into the doorway, eyeing the statue until he was convinced it was rendered useless as a security system. He smiled and he ran inside to where his sister went, and then bolted past her into the restricted section with a massive leap.

He skipped to a halt and looked around him he realized no one else was really following him, and then noticed his sister and a glowing blue line.

 “Um…” he shrugged and gestured at the line, “That’s not important is it?” But once his sister seemed kind-of-sort of confident and asked everyone else to step over it Erik decided that meant the line wasn’t anything important.

He ran his hand past the tall rows of bookcases through the room, and then veered into one of the rows, and scrambled up a ladder. He didn’t really know how to properly navigate the Restricted Section so he just grabbed a book and opened it, weaving himself through the ladder steps and propping up the book in front of him. He whipped through the pages, mostly skimming words that just looked like gibberish to him, talking about nothing terribly specific except about different ways to think—or something.

He slid the book back into his shelf and slipped down the ladder a bit as a damp spell wafted through the air and a roar of thunder cracked above his head. He cringed and hunched into the ladder, and then peered above him.

A bulge of smoke began was bubbling above him and then flashed with light, and then sank into itself. Erik slid all the way down the ladder and then went into another row, checking above his head to see if the storm cloud was still there.

Erik  pulled out another book, tattered around the edges and soaked with dust. He looked through the pages again to only see something about various way to torture people—ew.

He put the book back and then dragged his feet over to his sister and friends, “You guys find anything interesting?” Then his foot caught and he tripped, a floorboard catching between his feet in the process.  Erik kicked the board away and then looked down at a niche in the floor to see five thick books, the fourth of which was bolted and chained together with locks.

Erik tugged at the chained book, to get a closer look, but then suddenly a flicker of bright light danced across the floor, and he looked up to see his cloud had started bubbling above him again, except this time it was dancing on the ceiling.

The Mischievous boy shot a smile back at his friends, “So um, nice weather right?”

---

The cloud above Erik's head is a brainstorm

OOC: I also have no direct plan on how to go about any of this, just make it up as we go (:. He can't open the book he's tugging on but the other books he found reveal different parts of the library. Or you guys can pick up another book and get something else happening!

Tynan followed the others into the library, a bit dissapointed at the ease of subduing th gargoyle. He scowled at all the books, daring them to educate him to death or...something. He eyed the line, head tilted to the side. "Issa that an age line?" he asked - it certainly looked like one. So far, this was a little disappointing. He'd hoped for a little, well, danger...

He stared in horror as Erik tries to pry in the chained book, his mind torn between curiosity and caution. "Um, Erik-" he started, looking up at the cloud and then down at the book. "I'm thinkin' any buek tha's chained doon cannae be any gued," he said carefully. "Protective spell first, ye ken?" he added, smiling and looking down at it. Hey, live-endangering stuff was what the Gryffindors did, right? He moved slightly so he was where he could dive out of the way.

Mairead fell into step behind Tynan, glancing up at the blindfolded gargoyle as she passed underneath it.  Clearly, the thing must be dumb - or sight was the only sense it possessed.  Probably the former since it seemed to take no note of its sudden inability to see. 

However, as they snuck between the stacks of books (yes...she was sneaking around books) she wish they'd lingered by the gargoyle a little longer for some excitement.  She trailed along behind Tynan, shuffling her feet against the stone floor.  Hopefully, word of this escapade wouldn't reach home.  She'd snuck out, yes.  To look at books.  Jarlath wouldn't let her live it down. 

She shared Tynan's sense of ... longing for more action.  She ran her finger along the spines of various books.  "We could build forts," she said, as she peered at one of the spines.  Wouldn't the pretty librarian love coming in tomorrow morning to find all the books taken from the shelves and rearranged into a proverbial city?

"I don't think it wants to be read," Mairead said, stepping up to the edge of the hole and peering down at the book.  Or, maybe it did and someone liked depriving it of that chance.  "Or, maybe we should start with one of the unchained ones.  It might say something about getting that one up."  She reached down and picked up one of the other books, handing it out to one of the twins.  "It still take me too long to read," she confessed with a shrug and a look that made it clear that admission wasn't open for commentary.

Erik dropped the unmoving book back into it’s slot in the floor and grabbed the book Mairead held out, “Oh it’s probably a bunch of scatterbrain information about a hundred different things.” Erik sat back on the floor again, and stared at the binding of the book, “Volume 2…” he said to himself, “of what?” he mocked, flipping the book open to a random section of the book.

But a wave rode through the floor and a stampede of thumps signaled the many books shaking in their shelves, changing colors, sizes, and then even the shelves shifted with the books, and even a balcony or two appeared. Erik jumped up and spun around at the changed room, and looking to his then—gone friends. “Well..bugger.” he said, looking down at the book he had, which just had a long list of titles and nothing really substantial to work with.

Then he closed the book but it slipped out of his grasp in the process and cracked into a puff of smoke before it reached the floor, “oops…” *

Well, hopefully his friends would find him, maybe—hmmm. This was really a bad thing, he was essentially stuck unless he found a way out, but those balconies looked awful tempting… Maybe there was a way out up there anyway.

Leaving his spot on the floor behind Erik began to look for a way to start his ascent onto the balconies looming over one another on the wall, and then decided that a bookcase was the best route for him. He scuttled up a ladder until he was sure he was level with the first balcony and then began side stepping his way around the edge of one tall bookcase until he could jump onto the balcony. Although a few books fell onto the floor in the process—Erik could pick them up later.

Once he was opposite the balcony he jumped, and latched onto its railing. He hoisted himself up and over the edge until he landed on solid floor. He peered at the assortment of plants and books stacked and scattered around the balcony, and then proceeded to read through the titles, snatching at one that read The Magic of Music, Art, and Politics which seemed too ridiculous to have anything to do with anything, in Erik’s opinion.

He thumbed open the book and then began flipping through the pages, who decided that they were strings on a harp and acted as if Erik were running his fingers across their melodious strings. The book itself was all too amusing to him and he just rolled the pages back and forth, listening to whatever racket they decided to make, and then a low rumble and another flash of light.

The young Gryffindor craned his head towards the ceiling where a steady and thick storm cloud was crawling his way across the ceiling. Then there was another rumble, but this time low and raspy, from where he had knocked off some books.

Erik lowered his gaze onto the floor to see what it was, only to catch the tail-end of a shadow stalking behind one of the bookcases—he gave a brief thought as to what it was, a baby dragon maybe?

Then another rumble of the storm and a flicker of lightning and Erik looked up to see the silhouette of a dragon, flapping its wings. The only problem was that he could feel the wind from the flapping and it made its own growl before there was another flash of lightning absent of any silhouette or shadow of any kind beside the plumes of the cloud.

Erik’s jaw dropped, all of this, whatever was going on, was awesome but he had no idea what to do with any of it or how to undo anything.

---

*- The book would have returned to the others after Erik shut it and dropped it.

Dahlia had separated from the others once they were officially inside the restricted section. She was weaving through the stacks wide eyed at all the books in front of her. Unlike her compatriots who were looking for adventure or a sense of thrill in doing something they weren't supposed to be doing Dahlia was thriving on the amount of knowledge surrounding her.

She plucked a book from the shelves, a potions text, the one she had been hoping to find. She cradled the book to her chest and a wide spread smile on her lips and wound her way back towards the trio of Gryffindors. She turned the corner just in time to see Erik disappear, "Erik!" She raced over to the other two dropping her precious text in the process, "What happened?!" She directed at the others. Fear gripped her harder than it ever had in her life.

Moments later a battered tome clattered to the floor. Dahlia dipped and picked it up. It didn't take a genius or a witch to know that it was the one Erik had been holding. The question was: open the book and hope to get sucked into wherever Erik had been taken to or keep the book closed and try to find a way to get him back some other way. While dangerous she had never been able to resist opening a book.

With the pages open the world started to warp around her until the restricted section took on a more open and older looking feel. She whirled around dropping the book and incidentally sending it back to Mairead and Tynan. The storm brewing overhead and the roar or a dragon had Dahlia's skin crawling, "Erik!"

Tynan looked down at the book in shock as it reappeared - so innocently - after Erik's disappearance. He looked at Mairead and then back to the book and was about to pick it up when Dahlia appeared, and, without really waiting for the two of them,  got herself sucked into the book as well.

He blinked in shock, then heaved a sigh and picked up the book, holding it tightly and looking at its cover. He looked back at Mairead and cleared his throat. Now was the time for responsibly, not really really wanting to know what had happened to them.

"Ah. One o' us," he said, making his voice as official as possible, "Hae better stay out here. So if the other three dinnae come back..." he looked at the book again, "Someone can go an' get help."

He looked back at Mairead and grinned. "Fisties fer it?"

Mairead's forehead wrinkled as she stared at Erik with a 'you must be kidding, right?' expression.  That book had been a bunch of scatterbrain information about a hundred different things?  He didn't say.  Because, oh - that couldn't describe every other book in this library and, yet, people still managed to find useful stuff in them. Despite the books rather book-like collection of random information, the idea seemed decent enough to prompt Erik to take the book. 

Apparently, though, the contents weren't as random as they thought.  Or - they'd been more random then they'd been expecting for, in the next minute, Erik vanished.  Only to be replaced by the book reappearing and thudding to the floor. 

"That's not normal."  Mairead stared at the book.  As if she needed more reasons to distrust the boring, dusty things.  But a moment later, their missing comrade's sister came rushing over, demanding to know what had happened.  "How should I know?" Mairead quipped back, defensively.  "He tried to read the book and it ate him.  It's not me fault!"  Man-eating books just couldn't be something she'd be blamed for. 

Monkey see, monkey do, though.  "I know.  Let's all get eaten by the book," Mairead muttered as Dahlia sacrificed herself to the man-eating tome.  The thing reappeared and Tynan reached over and picked it up. 

Fisties?  Mairead stared dubiously at Tynan.  "Are ye mental?  I sure as hell am not openin' that book."  Mairead shook her head, pointing at the text in Tynan's hands.  Neither of them had the slightest idea what happened to them, after all.  They could have been eaten by the book.  Or dropped in an ocean to be eaten by sharks.  Or turned into shipwrecked rats.  Being brave and helping someone get out of a fire was one thing.  Diving into the fire because everyone else had was just stupid. 

A round of fisties sure wasn't gonna change anything.

"What if neither of us is holding it when it's open?"  She asked, eyeing the book suspiciously.  "What if ye just - ye know - drop in on the ground so it falls open?  Maybe if it stays open, they can just crawl out.  Or maybe one of the other books can do something.  Or, what if we use a rope?"

Tynan looked down at the book doubtfully for a moment. "Dinna think a rope is gonna do the trick, Mai," he said with a grunt. "It'd likely get souk'd in jus' like they were an' take both o' us with it."

He looked up at the rows and rows of books above them, then looked back at her. "If ye wanna open another book, ye can. Me, I dinna want tae find oot what 'appens when ye bung two portal books ontae each other or open two at the same time, ye ken?" He flipped the book over in his hands, looking at the back.

"I guess bungin' it open might be the best option?" he suggested. "Ye wannae do eit or shoud I?"

Mairead let out a long, exasperated sight.  "Do I look big enough to hold ye on a rope without a book suckin' on ye?"  In any other situation, that question would have made absolutely no sense what so ever.  Even given the context it made Mairead shake her head.  "I doubt the book can suck in the whole library."  There had to be something structural around the room that they could tie a rope to. 

This was assuming, of course, they had a rope.  Which, of course, was the bigger flaw in the plan. Luckily, Tynan hadn't pointed that out and Mairead sounded, at least for the time being, like the clever one. 

"I don't like openin' normal books," Mairead reminded Tynan.  So, opening two evil sucking portal books was out of the question.  "That's how ye end up in a cupboard with a lot of Indians or something." 

"Yer the one with it in yer hands," Mairead pointed out.  Really, she didn't want to be the one tossing the book.  This whole escapade was just a nice reminder of how not fun books were.  "Toss it ... toss it far away and then grab onto something."  She'd already moved over towards one of the odd statues decorating the place and had taken a firm hold of the stone creature's horned nose.