Scorpius lay on the stone paving of the Astronomy Tower, huddled between Rose on one side and Professor Sinistra on the other. His eyes were still shut, every muscle in his body was contracted, and pain lanced through his knees and arm and forehead where he had struck the stone. But the clatter of falling debris was lessening, as were Rose’s screams, and eventually he opened his eyes. All seemed dark.
–Rose, are you all right? Are you hurt? Talk to me.â€
He felt her stirring under his arm, then heard her voice say shakily, –Scorpius, are you there? What happened?â€
With effort and a little pain he got himself onto his hands and knees and looked around. The form of Rose was lying on his left side, and the professor on his right.
–Are you okay, Professor? Can you hear me?†Apprehension filled his voice.
–I can hear you, young man, though my ears are ringing. We are all lucky not to have been struck deaf.â€
In the light of his wand, lying by itself on the stones of the tower, he could see the professor beginning to move, and he could also see the shimmering of the shield she had thrown up, just seconds before it happened, whatever it had been. The realization came to him that she had saved their lives. Something awful had happened, something catastrophic, but they were still alive, nevertheless.
Slowly he got his feet under him and heaved himself upright. He leaned over and picked up his wand, the better to see how his companions were faring, and his motions seemed to spur their efforts because they both pushed themselves into sitting positions and, with a hand from Scorpius, regained their feet.
–Merlin, Merlin,†Rose repeated, half sobbing. –What happened? What was that?†Scorpius just put his arms around her. He didn’t know how to answer her question.
Professor Sinistra had recovered her wand, and taking a few tentative steps she cast her light around the tower platform. Great chunks of stone were scattered all around, with smaller chunks in between and gravelly bits everywhere. The stony debris filled all the area illuminated by her wand light and stretched away into the darkness on the far side of the platform, near the door.
–Is it over?†Scorpius whispered.
–It appears to me,†the professor said, continuing to stare at the wreckage, –that we have just been struck by a meteorite. In all my life, I never…†Her voice died away and she left the sentence unfinished.
–Holy shit,†Scorpius breathed. He did not ask Are you sure? Instinctively, he did not doubt her; he knew that she was right. It had all happened so fast, but what else could it have been? There was nothing else.
Rose relaxed her death grip on him a little, and he could tell that her breaths were coming more slowly now. His too, he noted. He shuffled a few steps closer to the edge of the area that had been shielded, dragging Rose along with him, to survey the damage. Then suddenly he remembered the telescope. Where was it? Was it out there somewhere, surrounded by rocks, smashed to pieces?
He whipped his head around and looked behind him, pointing his wand wildly left and right to search the debris-free area that had been under the shield. Relief flooded through him when he spotted it finally, lying on the floor of the platform, his wand light glinting off it. Obviously, luckily, the professor had kept the telescope close to her during those final few minutes, so it had come under the protection of the shield. The rose basket was there too, tipped on its side but not destroyed.
–Professor,†he said in a voice that he could not keep from shaking, –that shield — it saved our lives. We might have…â€
–You can say it. We might have died. But we didn’t, and that’s what matters.â€
–Thank you,†Rose whispered. –Thank you.†Beyond that, she seemed speechless as she clung to Scorpius and stared around her.
–Are either of you injured?†Professor Sinistra asked solicitously.
–I — I don’t think so,†Scorpius said. He ran his fingers over his forehead, feeling for abrasions or the wetness of blood, but there was nothing amiss, and the pain in his knees and arm was ebbing fast. –Are you okay?†he asked Rose as he passed his wand light over her face. –I’m afraid I kind of threw you down on the stone.â€
–Yes, I think so,†she said.
–What about you, Professor?†he asked.
–It will take more than a rock from heaven to do me serious harm,†she answered. –The older I get, the tougher I get.†And the quicker, Scorpius thought. He was acutely aware that it was not he who had put up the shield, but rather an old lady who had acted with lightning speed to prevent a disaster.
–I don’t think we need this anymore,†Professor Sinistra went on. –Finite Incantatem,†and the shimmering shield which had miraculously withstood the force of a meteor strike rippled momentarily and disappeared. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, Scorpius thought. They can turn aside an Avada Kedavra; I guess they should be able to repel a meteorite. But suddenly the force of an Avada Kedavra, or of any deed of mankind, seemed minuscule compared to the infinite power of the cosmos. It would take him a long time, he sensed, to sort this all out.
–You don’t think there’s a chance of another one?†Rose asked apprehensively.
–One in a million, one in a billion,†the professor answered, and then her voice softened. –You know, most people go through their whole lives without ever seeing a meteorite fall, much less be standing next to a strike. You don’t know anyone like that, do you?†Rose shook her head. –We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.â€
–Or maybe the right place at the right time,†Scorpius declared, disengaging himself from Rose. He began to walk out among the chunks of rock and detritus, picking his steps between the chunks and casting his light from side to side.
–Wait. Do you hear anything?â€Professor Sinistra demanded.
Scorpius stopped walking and turned around to face her and Rose. –No, do you?â€
–That’s just it. I don’t hear anything. No voices; no one has come up to the tower. Wouldn’t they have heard when the meteorite hit? Wouldn’t they come to check it out?â€
–It was just a single crash,†Rose suggested. –Even if someone woke up they might not know where the noise came from. They’d never think to check the Astronomy Tower.â€
–Or they may not have heard anything at all,†Scorpius offered.
–What?†Professor Sinistra said, surprised.
–I remember an old man, a friend of my grandfather’s, who said he was at Hogwarts one year when there was a hurricane that actually damaged the castle, but he was asleep in the Slytherin dorm at the time and didn’t hear a thing, slept right through it.â€
–Oh, I know what you’re talking about,†Rose chimed in. –My grandfather was here; he was the Head Boy that year. He’s told us stories about it.â€
Scorpius turned to Professor Sinistra. –Were you here that year, the year of the hurricane?â€
Professor Sinistra seemed to stand a little taller, and she answered drily, –It’s true that I taught your parents Astronomy, so I am older than your parents, but not as old as your grandfathers, not yet. No, I was not here that year.â€
–Oh. Sorry.â€
–We should be going downstairs now to notify the headmistress about what has happened,†Professor Sinistra said, and she started to pick her way through the field of debris towards the door.
–Wait,†said Scorpius, and he was surprised by his own boldness in contradicting a teacher, but he didn’t feel like teacher and pupil anymore, but more as if they were equal colleagues facing a new and unprecedented situation. –I don’t want to be rushing down in a panic, babbling incoherently. No one has been injured, and if stones have fallen into the courtyard, we can be sure they didn’t strike anyone at this hour of the night. Let’s look carefully first and make a thorough assessment of the damage, so that we will know what to report.†He stood amongst the stones and waited for the professor’s reaction. Had he assumed too much? That had been pretty cheeky, he knew.
–You may be assured that I did not intend to rush and babble, young man,†Professor Sinistra replied stoutly, –but your suggestion has merit. Very well, we’ll make a quick assessment first. Watch out for holes in the floor. Rose, you take that side, Scorpius, that other side. I’ll do the far side and around the door.â€
The three of them moved out onto the rock-strewn area of the platform, their wands making pools of light that illuminated jagged, irregular boulders with smooth, lichen-dotted surfaces and rough, newly exposed, unweathered surfaces where the stone had broken.
–Let me know what you find,†Professor Sinistra called out to Rose and Scorpius.
–Lots of rocks,†came Rose’s voice from the north side of the platform. –Do you think we’ll see the meteorite?â€
–I’ll bet not,†Scorpius argued from the south side. –It either punched a hole in the floor and went down the stairwell, or it blasted through the wall and landed in the courtyard.â€
–Maybe it bounced off the shield,†Rose suggested as the three of them continued moving slowly around the platform surface, stopping occasionally to inspect something more closely. –How big do you think it was, Professor?â€
–Bigger than average, bigger than an apple. Maybe a couple of feet…†The professor’s words were cut off by Scorpius’ shouts.
–Come here! Come here! See what I’ve found!â€
Rose and Professor Sinistra turned and made their way as quickly as they could through the rock field towards the place where Scorpius’ light was shining.
–Did you find the meteorite?†Rose asked eagerly.
–No, but look at this!†He waved his light forward and back as they came up beside him, illuminating a long stretch of the parapet wall, or rather, what used to be the parapet wall; a section maybe twenty feet long had been blasted away. In the center of the damaged area the wall, all four feet thick and four feet tall, was completely missing for a distance of about eight feet, and then the edge of the damage began sloping upward for about six feet on either side. Some of the platform floor had been gouged out next to the focal point of the wall damage, but not enough to penetrate through to the stairwell.
With their three wands together, they could see the gap in the parapet even better, the raw and jagged edges of stone, the unsettling view off the edge of the platform, out into the open space of the night sky.
–This is obviously the point of impact,†Professor Sinistra said as they held out their wands from a hopefully safe distance. –The meteor probably splattered as much rock over the edge as fell back on the platform. That was a huge volume of rock. I’m so thankful there was no one below.â€
–The meteorite is probably down there somewhere,†Scorpius speculated, starting to walk closer to the edge.
–Stop,†the professor cried out. –Don’t go next to the edge.â€
Scorpius stopped and turned his head back towards her, feeling irritated at what seemed to him to be excessive caution. –It’s not dangerous. I’m not going to fall off.â€
–I’m not worried about you; I’m worried about the rock. It may be riddled with cracks. It could give way under your weight.â€
–Oh.†He had not thought of that, but the professor was right. In fact, she had been right about many things this night. But, surprisingly to him, he realized that he didn’t resent it. The Clever Player would have wanted to be always right, always on top, always in control, but he didn’t feel a need for that now. Next time I too will think about the rock cracks, he thought. As if there would ever be a next time. He almost laughed.
He backed away from the edge and then proposed, –I’ll go over there where the wall is intact and wriggle out on it, lying flat to spread out my weight, until I can look over the edge. Is that okay?â€
Reluctantly the professor agreed, and Scorpius made his way beyond the damaged section to a place where the wall was still intact, hoisted himself up onto it between the crenellations, stretched out on his stomach, and peered over the far edge.
–What do you see?†Rose asked.
–Absolutely nothing. It’s all pitch dark down there. If the meteorite is there, I can’t see it. We’ll have to wait until morning.â€
As he slid back over the inner edge of the parapet to the tower floor, he heard Rose say, –There’s something odd here. Can you see it, Professor?â€
–That big dark area? I confess I don’t see in the dark as well as I used to, but you youngsters can probably tell what it is.â€
Scorpius was intrigued by these remarks and scrambled over the scattered rock fragments to get back to the two women and see what they were talking about.
–Where? What are you looking at?â€
He came up beside Rose and Professor Sinistra, who were standing about ten feet away from the damaged parapet with their wand lights trained on a point in the partially demolished wall where a square dark area was visible on the broken upper surface of the wall, of which one foot of height still remained.
–It’s not the same color as the rest of the broken stone,†Rose told him, –and it’s got this odd square shape, like it’s a block of black granite or something.â€
Scorpius located the spot they were speaking about, and eyed it keenly. It did look odd, different from the rest of the stonework; it did not reflect the wand light in the same way.
He studied the spot for a minute or two but could not determine what it was. None of the other broken surfaces and none of the fragments scattered on the tower had that same black color.
–I can’t tell what it is,†he finally said. –I’ll have to go a little closer,†and he began to take cautious steps toward the area of broken parapet in question. When he was close to the truncated section of the wall, he squatted down, holding his wand in one hand and reaching out with his other hand to feel the black-colored stone. He reached farther, farther, but his fingers touched nothing. Scorpius was confused and disoriented. According to his spatial sense, he should be touching the black rock right now, but he wasn’t. He reached even farther; it was bizarre, as if he had reached out to touch a solid object and his hand had passed completely through it. He was on his knees now, at the edge of the one-foot-high stub of the wall, leaning over the broken edge and waving his hand around, trying to touch something. He lowered his other hand, to place his lighted wand right next to his searching hand, and then he finally saw the light reflecting off of surfaces, vertical surfaces. He stared.
–Oh. Merlin.â€
–What’s the matter?†Professor Sinistra called out in alarm.
–What do you see?†Rose asked.
Scorpius felt his throat tighten. –It’s not black granite,†he said.
–What, then?†asked Rose.
–It’s nothing. I mean, it’s a hole.â€
–A hole in the wall?â€
–No, a staircase. I’m looking at the top of a stair.â€
–Are you sure?†This was Professor Sinistra speaking.
–Yes,†he answered. –I’m sure. When I hold my wand down, I can see the steps. I can see one, two, three, maybe four steps…â€
–And then what?†asked Rose.
–It’s all dark. That’s as far as the light goes.†He continued kneeling at the edge of the broken parapet, trying to see as far down the astonishing staircase as he could, maneuvering his wand to illuminate the space as much as possible. The steps looked steep, and small rock fragments were scattered on the uppermost.
–Did you know this was here? Did you know about this stair?†he heard Rose say, and he knew she was speaking to Professor Sinistra. He began backing away from the parapet, regained his feet, and rejoined his companions. He did not want to miss any of this conversation.
–No, I knew nothing. No one has ever said anything about another stair up to the tower.†Professor Sinistra seemed to be at a loss for words.
Scorpius shook his head. –It’s bizarre. A staircase. Where does it lead to? What’s down there? And why was the end up here covered up? There must have been some kind of gate, some kind of access on the parapet, something you can’t see, something opened by a spell. You’ve been up here a lot, Professor. Did you ever see something like that, something on the parapet that looked different? Looked like it might have been charmed?â€
–I never really looked for that,†she answered slowly, as if she were casting back in her memory, searching for hitherto unappreciated clues and finding nothing. –I’m usually up here at night.â€
–Maybe there is no upper gate at all anymore,†Rose suggested. –Maybe they just bricked it up and sealed it because they didn’t want it anymore.â€
–We need to go down now and notify the Headmistress,†Professor Sinistra declared. –We cannot stay up here any longer. She needs to know about the meteorite and the damage.â€
–And she needs to know about the staircase,†Scorpius insisted.
–I’m glad you’re not proposing to go exploring down that staircase right now, Mr. Malfoy,†Professor Sinistra said.
–Oh, no,†he answered. He was keenly curious to go down the stairs and see where they led, but they looked so black, and he had no idea what he would encounter; it would be safer in the daylight. Daylight was not far off.
He gave the entrance to the staircase one last glance, and then the three erstwhile stargazers and meteor-strike survivors made their way back to the area that had been shielded, gathered up the telescope and the basket, and returned to the heavy wooden door with its iron ring handle, and started down the broad stairs.