The Next Day:

I was casually examining some plants I've been growing in the Greenhouses for a Herbology project. I was alone to begin with, but then I heard quiet footsteps and whispering.

"Are you sure this is the best place to hide it?"I heard a familiar voice say.

"Absolutely, even if Professor Longbottom finds it, he'll probably forget about it,"someone replied.

I decided to make my presence known,"if you're planning on hiding something in here, it's probably a good idea to make sure no one else is in here first!"

"Cathy!"Max greeted me, as he suddenly appeared from behind a large potted plant.

"So, it's you!"I exclaimed.

I wasn't surprised to see the other person was Jeremy Jackson.

"How did your plans to buy Firewhiskey in Hogsmeade go?"I asked.

"Those plans..."Max said,"well, they didn't go to plan, put it that way. No one would sell Firewhiskey to 'Hogwarts students' 17 or not, but..."

He revealed the object they were attempting to hide - a small bottle of Firewhiskey.

"So, are you still going to hide it in here? Even now that I know?"I asked.

"Well, if the secret of our Firewhiskey gets out, we will know,"Jeremy put in, cheerfully,"also, if it gets stolen, we will also know!"

"How will you know someone else hasn't found it?"I said,"hide it somewhere else, please!"

"Don't worry, we'll hide it somewhere you don't know about,"Max assured me, with a grin.

"If you didn't buy it, how did you get it anyway?"I asked.

"Who says we didn't buy it? Well, we didn't exactly,"Max answered, looking slightly offended,"we earned it. Had to go on a whole quest!"

"Yes, we haven't got time to tell you the whole story now,"Jeremy said,"but next time, maybe."

"Yes, when you aren't in a mood to accuse us of crimes,"Max said.

"I'm not accusing, I'm just curious,"I answered, awkwardly.

They left the Greenhouses and I remembered to meet the Sivril Seekers outside the Library. The "Sivril Seekers" is a name that Jeffrey came up with.

Anita and Jeffrey were already waiting, but there was no sign of the others.

"Any progress?"I asked.

"Emily and I looked in our common room,"Jeffrey answered,"no luck there, but we did ask one of the portraits if she'd heard of a librarian here called Patrick Moonwood. She asked the other portraits, and apparently one of them had."

"So, you had the idea too?"I said,"what happened next?"

"Well, the portrait was a man from about three hundred years ago. He said he was a student here when Patrick Moonwood was the librarian,"Jeffrey answered,"he said he was very strict, and quite bad-tempered, but that people said he'd been affected by a great tragedy that had happened at some point in his life. That is all he knew."

"Sorry I'm late!"Emily announced as she joined us,"any news?"

"Jeffrey was telling us your news,"I said.

"Yes,"Emily responded,"I've been asking portraits around the castle to look for Patrick Moonwood, and some of them are being very helpful."

We heard a sudden noise behind us, like something being knocked over, a scuffling sound, and running footsteps disappearing into the distance.

"I bet that's Hector!"Anita exclaimed.

"Is he still following you around?"I asked.

"I haven't noticed him following us around since we've been back at Hogwarts,"Emily answered,"but if someone was spying on us, it's most likely him!"

"I hope he didn't overhear anything important!"Anita said, fiercely,"we should go after him!"

"He probably just overheard us talking about Patrick Moonwood,"I said.

"Yes, but what if he finds Moonwood's portrait before us, and Moonwood tells him where to find a Sivril!?"Anita said.

"I wouldn't worry about that,"I said,"Moonwood hid the Sivrils, remember? I doubt he'd let someone like Horrible Hector get his hands on one of them."

"Too true,"Emily agreed,"let's not worry about it. What's done is done. Let's get on with this treasure hunt!"

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We rolled the Golden Sivril around along the walks with portraits (which I'm sure is all the walls); we found a book with torn pages underneath a cabinet, and a candle-stick that grew legs and ran away when we tried to pick it up, but no particular portraits were highlighted.

When we spoke to the pictures on the walls, none of them knew anything we needed to know.

Then we reached the History of Magic Classroom, and seeing Professor Binns hovering around reminded me that the Hogwarts ghosts have been around for a long time.

"Let's ask him!"I suggested.

Anita shuddered.

"Excuse me, Professor?"I asked him.

"What is it that you require?"he answered, slowly.

"Did you ever know of a librarian here called Patrick Moonwood?"I asked.

"Hmmm, let me see,"he answered,"Moonwood... the name does ring a bell. Somewhat distant, very distant in fact, but I believe I have heard that name before."

We listened eagerly, hoping to gain a scrap of knowledge, or a new clue.

"However, I do not quite recall where it was that I heard the name, or whether or not it was in any way associated with any of the librarians in this school..."Professor Binns continued,"I believe there may have been a man of that name who was responsible for inventing a strategic device..."

'Strategic device'! We were all ears now!

"...for the purpose of keeping away goblins. However, that device did not prove as useful as it was claimed to be, and, in fact, it ended up being captured and destroyed by the goblins, in the Goblin Rebellion of..."

"What sort of device was it?"Jeffrey interrupted,"was it a round ball?"

"Round ball? What are you talking about?"Professor Binns responded, seeming annoyed at being interrupted,"of course it was not a round ball! It was a shielding device, meant to be goblin-proof, however, it was later proven to be very much the opposite. The goblins made a point of taking great vengeance on any that possessed one of these devices and..."

We slowly backed out of the classroom. It seemed that Professor Binns was not talking about the Moonwood we were looking for. At least, we hoped he wasn't, as we didn't have time to wait around to hear whether or not he was the correct Moonwood...

Later on, we did find a clue. It was when we decided to go and ask the portraits in the Library (which, for some reason, we had forgotten to do).

Some of them did remember Patrick Moonwood, but told us it was so long ago that they didn't remember anything more than the fact that there was actually a Hogwarts librarian with that name.

We were starting to feel like this search was leading to nothing, when one of the portraits called to us, as we were about to leave.

"You want to know about Patrick Moonwood?"the portrait of an old woman dressed in the fashion of the late 1700s called to us,"you're looking for his portrait, I hear?"

"Yes!"Anita answered,"do you know anything?"

"Oh I have heard of him,"the old woman answered,"you shan't find his portrait, that I know; but there was a friend of his, you'll probably find his portrait in the Slytherin common room, hidden, likely as not. That old Moonwood, he went a bit strange in his later years. I heard he destroyed the portraits of his departed friends. He tried to destroy all of them. He wouldn't allow a portrait of himself to be made, that's how I know you won't find any portraits of his."

"Do you know the name of his friend, by any chance?"I asked, eagerly.

"Oh, I'm not sure that I know that,"the old woman responded,"though there was one friend of his that had a tragic fate, a terrible fate. I'm afraid that is what made old Moonwood into a very paranoid man. He was always so afraid of something that he was never able to explain, but people believed it had something to do with the death of his friend. That is all I know."

We found this very interesting. Anita and I decided to go straight to our common room to look for the portrait, while Emily and Jeffrey waited outside.

Anita rolled around her Sivril, trying not to act too conspicuous. It began making the humming sound near a cabinet, and behind that cabinet... we pulled out an old portrait.

It had mould on part of it, and it was in quite a bad state. It was a portrait of an elderly wizard who appeared to be asleep.

"Come on, let's go,"Anita said.

We ran up the steps that lead out of the common room, bringing the portrait of the sleeping wizard with us.

"Did you find...?"Jeffrey began, then he saw it.

We looked around for a quiet corner in the dungeons. First, we tried waking the wizard in the portrait by yelling, but it wasn't until we allowed Anita to try her idea (throwing it around and kicking it), that we achieved a result. The picture was bouncing down some steps, when we heard a voice coming from it, among the clattering sound of it tumbling down.

I quickly grabbed it and set it against a wall.

"How long has't I slept? T'hath been night for years,"were the words of the old wizard.

"Oh no, he speaks in olden-days language,"Jeffrey observed.

"That's alright,"I said,"I can understand,"then I spoke to the portrait,"that's because your portrait was hidden behind an old cabinet, and I'm guessing you don't have any other portraits to go to?"

"Eh?"the elderly wizard responded, before infuriatingly falling back into slumber.

He did not wake back up. Even though we had to repair the portrait after we'd finished throwing it around, and still he didn't wake up then.

So we got Anita to ask her Sivril the name of the man in the portrait.

"His name is Barnaby James,"was the answer,"he was a professor here at Hogwarts, from the late 1600s to the early 1700s. He taught Charms."

"Did he have a tragic end?"was Anita's next question.

"He died peacefully in his sleep from natural causes, largely the result of old age, in the year 1735,"was the answer.

"I don't have any more questions left for today,"Anita said.

"At least we know he's not that friend that came to a tragic end,"Emily remarked.

"I think it would have been easier if he had been,"I said,"then maybe we could have gotten a big clue as to why Patrick Moonwood felt he had to hide the Sivrils."

"Do you think the Sivrils could be dangerous?"Emily asked.

"Of course,"I answered,"do you remember that original riddle? 'But take great caution, for within is sealed, a deadly portion...'."

"Maybe that's the tragedy that happened?"Emily suggested,"I'm guessing Moonwood wrote that riddle and put it on the pictures after he hid the Sivrils."

We were interrupted suddenly by a surprising voice.

"The riddles wast writ by me!"

It was the wizard in the portrait.

"You wrote them?"I asked, eagerly,"the instructions on how to activate a Sivril?"

"Not all art the same,"was his bewildering response,"I dids't not want the knowledge to become lost. So thee hast a Sivril?"

Excitedly, we showed him the Sivrils.

"Ah, the Golden Sivril,"the old wizard remarked,"Moonwood made that one himself. Of the Silver Sivril, I am the inventor. I am glad to see that Moonwood dids't not destroy the Sivrils after all. Arthur and I entrusted the Sivrils to his keeping. We hads't a disagreement. Arthur desired to destroy, but I wished to preserve. Moonwood nev'r told whether or not he hads't destroyed them, for our own peace."

"Us? Who else?"I asked, hoping he would tell us about the other Sivril wizards, but he had fallen asleep again...

"Don't worry, he'll wake up again,"Emily said, as we shook the picture and yelled at it,"I think..."she added.

We gave up for the time being. I decided to keep the portrait, as I have a better understanding of Old English. So I put it under my bed.