At first the thefts were barely noticeable. Small things would go missing here and there, and nobody ever knew where they really ended up. Tom Aberworth found that his pocket watch was missing, the day before he planned to take it in for a valuation. Marla Fielding couldn’t find the crystal earrings she had put aside for her daughter’s wedding, and Whitney Court couldn’t find her vintage silk scarf for a night out at the theatre.


None of these people knew each other and because these thefts were viewed by most as small and insignificant, none of them were reported to the police. No one thought these things had been stolen, simplymisplaced or moved by a family member. No one ever dreamed that these losses were thefts, or that they were all closely related.

Truth is, they were just practice.

The thefts continued, and six months after they started, they began to get bigger. Dianne McLain lost a diamond necklace. Sam Anderson misplaced an antique statuette of the goddess Aphrodite. Maddison Swift’s engagement ring disappeared. A collection of Roman coins vanished from their display cabinet in the Hadrian’s Wall Museum.

All of these mysterious disappearances were reported to the police, but they had no leads. No forensics were found, no forced entry and no fingerprints. None of these cases were linked together. Why would they be? The victims lived in different cities; some lived by themselves, some had young families. Some had sophisticated alarm systems; some had no security at all.

The Thief was careful. And he didn’t care that his thefts were now being reported.

He was getting more confident. More successful. More practiced.

But he wasn’t done yet.

~~~

Nina Georgeson woke early. This was unusual for her, as Nina was one of those people who always managed to be on time for everything. She was never too early, never too late. She had a perfect body clock, that always made sure she was up at the exact right time.

This was nothing but heartache for her best friend, Cleo. Cleo was the opposite of Nina in terms of waking up in the morning. Given the chance, (as she often was on weekends) Cleo would sleep until well into the afternoon. Nina, however, always got Cleo up at the exact right time to enable Cleo to shower and get dressed before first lesson started. Cleo didn’t see what was so wrong with being late sometimes.

There were two other Gryffindor girls who shared the girls’ fifth year dormitory, Suzi and Julia. Suzi was tall and dark haired, whereas Julia was smaller and had short, curly, blonde hair. All four girls got on well and were close friends. Cleo often used their late-night talks as the reason why she couldn’t get up when Nina woke her.

On the morning when Nina woke unusually early, she lay still in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Her deep red bed covers tangled around her feet and she shuffled to free herself. The clock next to her bed told her that it was 4.40am. She still had hours until she needed to drag Cleo out of bed. With nothing better to do, and safe in the knowledge that she wouldn’t be getting anymore sleep that morning, Nina began to run through the day ahead.

First, she had Transfiguration. Professor Ashfield had assigned his class four feet on the transfiguration from birds to fish, which Nina had only just finished late the night before (and not without help from Cleo’s roughly scrawled class notes). Just as Nina was getting round to remembering where she had left her Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook, she heard a noise on the other side of her drapes.

“Cleo?� she whispered, “is that you?�

“Nina? Yeah it’s me. Why are you up?�

“I don’t know. Couldn't get back to sleep. Why are you up?�

“I’m hungry.�

“Hmm, I am too now you mention it.�

Nina heard Cleo’s bedclothes rustling. Sitting up in bed, Nina pulled back her curtains to reveal her best friend kneeling on the floor across from her. Cleo had her head stuck under her bed and was searching for something.

“What are you doing?�

“I said I was hungry.�

“Yes, so?�

“Well…� Cleo paused then slid out from under the bed in triumph. “I was looking for this.�

From what Nina could tell, ‘this’ was a battered old tin of Dr Filibuster's fireworks.

“Is four in the morning really the right time for fireworks?�

Cleo glared at her but, as she opened the box, he face switched to a triumphant smile. Once Cleo saw the contents of the box, however, her face fell dramatically.

“There was supposed to be food in there, wasn’t there?� Nina asked, smiling at the crestfallen look on the other girl’s face.

Cleo nodded. “I must have eaten it all last night.� Sighing, she closed the box and dropped it onto her bed.

The girls sat for a few seconds in silence.

“You want to go to the kitchens?� Nina asked.

“Yup,� grinned Cleo, grabbing the box from her bed. “I’ll refill this for tomorrow.�

“Do you do this every night?�

“Pretty much.�

“How have we shared a room for five years without me noticing?�

At that moment, Julia groaned and rolled over in her bed. Cleo grinned and tiptoed quickly to the door, grabbing her robes and wand as she went.

~~~

Cleo had never been sure about the rules when it came to sneaking around in the early morning. Obviously after lights out, you could get into serious trouble for being outside of your dormitory, but when was an acceptable time to get up? No one seemed to have made a definitive rule, so the students made it up and hoped for the best.

This wasn’t Cleo and Nina’s first trip to the kitchens. The year before, Cleo had been going out with a boy named Anthony. Anthony was two years above the girls, and a Hufflepuf. It had been he who had first introduced Nina and Cleo to the kitchens and the house elves who worked in them. Since then, the kitchen had been a regular jaunt for the two best friends, as well as the scene of many dates between Cleo and Anthony. Cleo has broken up with Anthony after she found out that, at last year’s Christmas ball, he had tried to kiss Nina, mistaking her for Cleo. When the relationship ended, the best thing to come out of it was the knowledge of the school kitchens.

Despite there being no concrete rule about the time in the morning they were allowed out of their dormitories, Cleo and Nina didn’t exactly want to draw attention to themselves. Instead of using the direct route down the main stairs and through the most frequently used corridors, the girls had opted for the road less travelled, in the way of abandoned and disused corridors filled with storage cupboards and old portraits. The early October morning wasn’t shedding much light through the narrow windows which lined these dark corridors, so both girls lit their wands as they snuck down towards the kitchen. Cleo loved wandering around the castle in the dark; it was so different to walking through it during the day with the hundreds of other Hogwarts students.

The silence of the sleeping castle was cut short when a mighty crash echoed from a room to Cleo’s left. Both girls jumped to their right and Nina hurled open a nearby door and dived inside.

Silence descended on the castle again. The only noise Cleo could hear now was the sound of her and Nina’s heavy breathing as they pressed their backs against the door in shock.

“What the hell was that?� Cleo whispered.

“I have no idea… shh, I think someone’s coming.�

Cleo pressed her ear against the door straining to hear the sounds of the new arrival.

“What in the name of Merlin are you doing Jefwin?� The new voice was low and angry.

“It’s gone.� Another new voice now, probably the person who had caused the crash, Cleo reasoned.

“What’s gone?� The low dangerous voice again.

“It has!�

“What do you mean it’s gone? It can’t be gone. Do you know how valuable that thing is?� The voice sounded scared now.

“Yes! Yes, I do. But it was right here, RIGHT here.� Cleo could almost picture the man (for she was certain that both of the speakers were men) running his hand through his hair in despair.

“And you’re sure it’s gone?�

“YES!�

“Did anyone else know where it was?�

“No…�

“Did anyone know you had it?�

“No.� he paused, “Well… maybe?�

“What do you mean maybe?�

“One of the students might know…�

“ONE OF THE…� The dangerous voice rose significantly in pitch, but then he seemed to remember the situation and finished the sentence in hushed tones: “One of the students? How does one of the students know about it?�

“Well… I sort of had it in my pocket and it fell out.�

Cleo could feel pressure building behind her nose. She turned around to look at the room they were in. A vase of flowers stood behind her to her right. She could feel the pollen tickling her nostrils.

Out in the corridor, the other man sighed angrily. “We shouldn’t be found here. Go to bed and in the morning we’ll ‘accidentally’ discover this store room broken into and I’m sure someone will notice that that great big suit of armour has gone.� Accidently accidentally

“But… The suit of armour hasn’t gone.�

“Not yet it hasn’t. Knightus Perenius.� The wizard paused and Cleo heard the sound of his robes brushing against the floor as he bent to pick something up. “Now go back to bed, I…�

Cleo sneezed. It wasn’t a loud sneeze, but it was loud enough to be head on the other side of the door.

The girls heard two quick footsteps and then the handle of the door began to rattle directly below Nina’s hand.

~~~

The girls panicked. Cleo flung herself across the room, grabbing a startled Nina and pulling her along. Where could they hide? Cleo glanced desperately around the room: there was a store cupboard to the left; too obvious. For a split second she considered curling up under the desk, but there wouldn’t be enough room for them both. The Cleo saw it. A grill set into the stone floor. Mouthing urgently at Nina, she pointed to the grill and made a beeline for it. Still holding onto Nina, she heard the other girl swear under her breath, as her leg smashed into one of the student tables lined up in rows across the disused classroom.

Cleo was already across the room and had lifted the grate from the floor. Nina jumped down into the abyss beneath it and Cleo followed, pulling the grill back down on top of them with a small clang.

And then the door was open. Light from a wand slunk across the floor of the room and trailed lazily on the grill where the girls were hiding. Cleo and Nina pressed themselves to the back wall of the cell and held their breath.

“What are you doing Zarek? We need to leave.�

Zarek growled, then nodded curtly, extinguished his wand and shut the door behind him.

Nina sighed in relief. “That was close.�

“Too close,� agreed Cleo.

“Maybe we should go back to the common room and just wait for breakfast.�

“That’s probably a good idea.� Cleo straightened and brushed the dust from her robes, then reached above her head and pushed the rusting metal grill out of the way.

~~~

Neither of the girls went back to bed that morning. Suzi and Julia were shocked when they came downstairs to discover both their friends, even lazy Cleo, already awake.

“Where have you two been?� Julia asked, stifling a yawn.

“Nowhere,� Cleo replied stretching like a cat in an armchair in front of the fire. “We just couldn't sleep.�

The pack of exploding snap cards that lay on the floor at Cleo’s feet told the new arrivals what Nina and Cleo had been doing to amuse themselves until breakfast.
“Do we have time for a game?� Julia asked, kneeling down to reshuffle the cards.

Cleo shrugged. “Sure, why not?�

The pack of cards barely had a chance to explode three times before their game was interrupted by a fourth year boy with dark curly hair and bright blue eyes. He shuffled up to Cleo holding a piece of parchment out to her. “Here’s that drawing you asked for.�

Cleo took the parchment and cast it a look. “Oh, um, thanks...� She bobbed her head, trying to remember the boys name.

“Robinson.� He supplied helpfully smiling.

“Yeah, thanks Robinson.�

“Cleo...� Nina asked, looking disapprovingly at the other girl. “Is that your Care of Magical Creatures homework?�
Cleo folded the drawing and pushed it into the pocket of her robes. “Maybe.�

“Cleo! I thought you were going to do your own homework this year?�

“I was... I am. But it was a drawing assignment, and you know I always do terrible on those.�

“That’s probably because last time you spent twenty seconds drawing on the back of a chocolate wrapper while Professor Hillywig collected the rest of the class’ work.�

Julia raised an eyebrow. “The back of a chocolate wrapper? Really Cleo?�

“Well, I had no parchment and I was hungry... Speaking of hungry, can we go down for some breakfast now? I’m starving.�

“Same,� Nina nodded.

Julia and Suzi gathered up the pack of cards and the four girls headed down to the Great Hall.

~~
Nina spent a lot of her day thinking about the encounter they had had in that abandoned corridor. When the bell rang for lunch, Nina headed straight for the library, leaving a bewildered Cleo behind in the Charms classroom.

By the time Cleo caught up, Nina was poring over a long roll of parchment. “What are you doing? We haven’t got any homework yet . What could you possibly need the library for?� Nina didn’t answer. “Come on, Nina. You know I feel uncomfortable in the library. Places of learning make me feel dirty.� Still no reply. Cleo frowned and peered over Nina’s shoulder. “What’s that?�
Finally, Nina looked up. “It’s a list of teachers and their subjects. The librarian keeps it, in case students want help with a topic and needs to know which teach will know the most about it.�

“Which topic do you need help for then?�

“I don’t need any help. I just need to know the teachers’ first names.�

Cleo looked at her blankly. Nina sighed. “I’ve been thinking. Last night. We heard those men use each other’s names. They weren’t students, so they must be teachers.�

“They didn’t sound familiar though.�

“That’s why I think they’re new. Remember at the start of term feast? Two new teachers started, and it looked like they were good friends.� Nina scanned down the list. “Professor Qunitinson is the new Runes teacher and Professor Mallory teaches half of the astronomy classes.�

“And you think they’re the people we saw in that store room last night?�

Nina pointed to two names at the bottom of the parchment list.

“Prof. Z. Quintinson and Prof. J. Mallory. The names we heard last night were Zarek and Jeffwin.�

“Z and J… Jeffwin was the cowardly one, wasn’t he?�

“Yeah, he’s that skinny ginger teacher, the one who looks a bit like a rat?�

“Ooh yeah... so that other one, the scary one, he must be Zarek.�

“He’s the teacher who came to talk to Professor Hillywig in Care of Magical Creatures last week.�

Cleo looked blank. “You were probably too busy thinking about who you could persuade to do your homework for you.� Nina looked disapprovingly at the other girl; Cleo shrugged innocently.

“Anyway, he’s tall with dark hair. Built like a keeper.�

Cleo nodded. “Okay. So, we know who they are, but we still don’t know what they were doing last night or why they were there.�

“No. But maybe we could find out...�

“I think I like where this is going.�

“I know it’s probably not really our business... and we could get into a lot of trouble if we get caught...�

“Your point being?� Cleo grinned and Nina shook her head, smiling and rolling up the list of teachers. “So, we go back to that corridor and take another look at that store room tonight. Correct?�

“That’s what I was thinking.�

~

The corridor was empty. Even when it was light outside, the corridor was still dim and un-inviting. Neither Cleo nor Nina were exactly sure why the classrooms on the corridor weren’t used anymore, but they obviously hadn’t been since long before the girls came to the school. There were three storerooms along the length of the corridor, and Cleo was of the opinion that they should search all three.

They started with the storeroom in which Zarek and Jeffwin had been the night before. The door stood open and light from the grounds shone through the narrow window set in the back wall.

“We don’t have long,� Nina said, looking up and down the corridor. “Lessons start again in half an hour. What do you suppose we’re looking for?�

“I don’t know… Something valuable?� Cleo pushed the door further open. “Doesn’t look like there’ll be much to choose from.�

Cleo was right. Although the storeroom was full of objects, nothing looked particularly valuable. The space was mostly filled with old classroom desks. There were dusty chalkboards leaned up against the walls and a suit of armour was standing to attention in the far corner. Old, broken mops and brooms littered the stone floor and a pair of robes hung limply over bookcase.

“It must have been something small.� Nina reasoned, “They think a student took it, so it has to be something that can be easily carried away and hidden.�

Cleo glanced to the bare patch on the floor where the suit of armour that Zarek had stolen used to be standing. “Why would the teachers believe that students had stolen a suit of armour, then? What would we want with a suit of armour?�

Nina shrugged. “I don’t know. Anyway, you search that bookcase and I’ll look between those desks.�

After searching the room until both girls were coughing from dust inhalation, they gave up. Cleo slammed and bolted the door behind them and they moved into the second storeroom.

The second storeroom was even less revealing than the first. This one was practically empty, with only three desks and an armchair stuffed into the corner. The third storeroom was the same, and Nina and Cleo had a good ten minutes left of their lunch break when they finished searching.

“I feel disappointed.� Cleo grimaced, “But I don’t even know what we were hoping to find.�

Nina shook her head, “Never mind.�

Cleo pushed the door of the final storeroom closed and they set off back down the corridor, heading for the Main Hall. When they emerged from the corridor, however, they nearly collided with a group of teachers coming the opposite way.

Zarek was leading the group. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Nina and Cleo, who immediately avoided eye contact and pretended to be chatting aimlessly about the weather. Once the teachers had walked down the corridor a little way, Nina and Cleo rounded the corner, stopped chatting and stood as still as they could. With their backs pressed against the wall, they strained to hear the conversation between the professors.

“So, which storeroom do you claim has been broken into?� The voice sounded disbelieving and impatient.

There was a pause and Zarek answered in his low voice, “It was this room.�

“The one that’s closed and bolted?� The disbelieving voice again.

“It wasn’t closed and bolted when we found it this morning! Was it Zarek?� This was Jeffwin.

“Obviously someone has been back and tried to cover their tracks.�

“What were you even doing in this corridor in the first place?�

Zarek’s voice was dangerous this time. “Are you saying you don’t believe me, Childes?�

Childes’ voice was less confident this time. “Not at all, Zarek. I’m simply wondering why you were here and why you so strongly suspect that this storeroom has been broken into when I can see no evidence at all…�

“I would like you to investigate the students.�

Childes scoffed, “You want me to do what?�

“Question the students.�

“Question the students? You want me to question the students about the possibility of a break in to an abandoned storeroom when we have no evidence and we aren’t even sure anything’s been stolen.�

“Well…Well, how do you know nothing’s gone missing?� Jeffwin blustered.

Cleo and Nina heard the bolt on the door slide back and the door creaked open. Cleo was regretting closing the door now. If only she’d been a little more careful she might have remembered to leave everything as she found it. Now Zarek and Jeffwin knew someone had been back there, and they had just seen Nina and Cleo near the corridor.

“It’s just an old storeroom, Zarek. It’s not worth the fuss. We won’t be interrogating the students and I suggest that next time you shouldn’t jump to such rash conclusions.�

Nina tensed up, expecting the teachers to reappear around the corner at any moment, but the footsteps of the teachers were getting fainter, and she realised they must be heading the other way.

Zarek and Jeffwin, however, stayed behind.

“Your plan didn’t work, Zarek.� Jeffwin sounded scared.

Zarek kicked the door to the storeroom. “We have no choice.�

“We can’t, Zarek… They’ll kill us.�

“No they won’t, Jeffwin. They’ll kill you. This is all your fault.�

“Zarek please…�

“We don’t have any other choice! I’m going to send them an owl. We’ll meet them tonight. In the Entrance Hall.�

Nina’s eyes widened and she glanced to Cleo. Cleo raised her eyebrows and gestured down the corridor. Nina nodded and followed Cleo towards the Great Hall.

~~~

“Who could they be meeting?�

“I don’t know… maybe the person who owns whatever they’ve lost?�

“Well, that’s another thing, who actually did break into that storeroom?�

“They think it was a student… something about one of Jeffwin’s classes seeing the thing that was stolen?�

“I wonder what it could be though…�

Cleo and Nina had just finished their lessons and had gone for a walk in the grounds, so as to discuss the mysterious encounters in private. The sun was hanging low over the lake and a cool autumn breeze was sending ripples across its surface.

“Zarek said he’d send an owl to them, to whoever they’re meeting, and they’re going to meet them in the entrance hall. Are teachers allowed to just invite anyone they feel like?�

“I guess so… and even if they aren’t, Zarek hardly looks like he’s trying to play by the rules.� Nina frowned. “Shouldn’t we tell a teacher or something?�

“Tell them what?� Cleo looked over to her worried friend, “That we were eavesdropping on a couple of teachers because we were out of bed when we probably shouldn’t have been and went snooping around in an abandoned corridor?�

“I just think we should tell someone…�

“No,� Cleo nodded decisively, “We’re going to sneak out of bed tonight and see who they’re meeting.�

“Cleo! That could be really dangerous…�

“Yeah, could be. But come on, Nina, this is Hogwarts. Nothing exciting or dangerous ever happens here. Let’s have a little adventure.�

“If it is something dangerous,� Cleo gave Nina a face that said ‘It won’t be’, “Do you promise that we won’t interfere and we’ll go straight to bed and tell a teacher in the morning?�

Cleo looked as though she was about to protest, but decided better of it and nodded. “Deal.�

~