14.  The Hall of Elders' Crossing

        "What? Why do we need to steal her broom, anyway?" Ralph exclaimed at breakfast the next morning. He leaned over the table, reaching for a plate of sausages. "It would be loads harder to steal than Jackson's case was. Boys aren't even allowed in the girls' dorms. We'd never get near it! Besides, we've got the robe already. They can't do anything without all the relics."

"It's the Merlin staff, that's why we have to get it," James replied. "Even on its own, it's got to be one of the most powerful magical objects in the world. You saw what Tabitha Corsica did with it at the match. And it wasn't just her shadowing the Snitch without even looking. Her whole team seemed to respond to it somehow, or at least their brooms did. They knew just where to be at all the right moments. That's some really powerful magic. So far, she's only using the staff to win Quidditch matches, but do you really want something like that in the hands of someone like her and the Progressive Element?"

        Ralph looked dour. Zane put his coffee cup down and stared at the tabletop. "I don't know…," he said.

        "What?" James said impatiently.

        Zane glanced up. "Well, it just seems too easy, really. I mean, first there was Ralph's buddy's rockhound bag that showed up at just the right time. Then, no matter how you look at it, we got really lucky with that Visum-ineptio charm. Even before that, look at all the coincidences that led to you discovering the hiding place of the Merlin throne, from catching a glimpse of the voodoo queen on the lake that night to finding that Daily Prophet article about the break-in at the Ministry. And now, we just happen to figure out that Tabitha's broom is the Merlin staff. I hate to say it, but it can't be much of a dark conspiracy if a trio of first-year shlubs like us have worked it all out."

        James fumed. "All right, yeah, so we've gotten lucky here and there. We've worked really hard and been extremely careful, too. And besides, it all fits, doesn't it? Just because the people behind the Merlin plot have been too arrogant to think anybody could catch them, doesn't mean the plot isn't for real. What about what happened when we opened Jackson's case? And I didn't even tell you what happened to me last week!"

        Ralph jumped, almost knocking over his pumpkin juice. His eyes were wild for a second, and then he calmed himself. "Last week? When?"

        "The night we went to see Hagrid, right after I left you," James answered. He described the way the halls of Hogwarts had transformed into forest around him, his strange journey to the island of the Grotto Keep, and the mysterious ghostly figure that had instructed him to bring her the relic robe. Zane listened with keen interest, but Ralph's face was pale and blank.

        When James finished, Zane asked, "You think it really was a dryad?"

        James shrugged. "I don't know. It sure looked a lot like the one we saw in the forest, but different, too. It pulsed, if you know what I mean. I could feel it in my head."

        "Maybe it was a dream," Zane said carefully. "It sure sounds like one."

        "It wasn't a dream. I was in the corridor heading to the common room. I wasn't sleepwalking."

        "I'm just saying," Zane said blandly, lowering his eyes.

        "What?" James prodded. "You think that whole Merlin thing was a dream, too? When I disappeared from the room right in front of the both of you, and Cedric Diggory's ghost had to bring me back?"

"Of course not. Still, it just sounds kind of crazy. Were you in the forest or were you in the corridor? Which one was real? Were either of them real? I mean, you've been thinking about all of this an awful lot. Maybe…"

        Ralph was studying his empty plate. He spoke without raising his head. "It wasn't a dream."

        James and Zane both looked at Ralph. "How do you know, Ralph?" Zane asked.

        Ralph sighed. "Because the same thing happened to me."

        James' eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "You saw the Grotto Keep? And the dryad, too? Ralph, why didn't you say anything?"

        "I didn't know what they were!" Ralph said, looking up. "I wasn't with you two when you went out in the forest and saw the island and met the dryad, remember? So last week, I was on my way through the cellars to the Slytherin rooms and all of a sudden, the cellars just faded out and turned into a forest, same as you described, James. I saw the island and the tree sprite lady, but I didn't recognize them. I thought she was a ghost or something. She told me to bring the relic to her, but I was scared. I'm not used to having weird, magical, out-of-body experiences or anything. I tried to run away, but then, all of a sudden I was standing outside the door to the Slytherin common room, plain as could be. I was worried about my sanity, to tell the truth. I thought all this magical stuff was making me soft in the head. Frankly, I'm a little relieved that the same thing happened to you, too."

        "I can see why," Zane said, nodding.

        "But why you?" James asked. "You don't have the relic. I do."

        Zane tilted his head and cinched a corner of his mouth up in that expression of comical concentration he put on when he was thinking hard. "Maybe it's as simple as the fact that Ralph's a Slytherin. I mean, he was in the debate against Petra and me. Maybe whatever it was thinks Ralph is the weakest link. Maybe it thinks it can get Ralph to betray you and steal the robe and then bring it to the island. Not that you would, Ralph," Zane added, looking at Ralph.

        "No way. I'm never touching that thing," Ralph concurred.

        "I guess that makes sense," James admitted. "So why not you, then, Zane?"

        Zane adopted a beatific expression, eyes raised to the ceiling, "Because I'm as pure as the wind-driven snow. And besides, I'm never setting foot on that island again. Too freaky for me by far."

        "But I couldn't even steal the robe if I wanted to," Ralph said, furrowing his brow. "Not with Zane's Locking Spell on it. James is the only one who can open the trunk."

        "You could just drag the whole trunk out there, I suppose," James replied. "Where there's a will, there's a way."

"Fortunately, there's no will," Ralph said gravely.

        Zane pushed his empty coffee cup away. "The dryad, or whatever it was, wouldn't necessarily know about the extra Locking Spell on the trunk, anyway. But the fact that it happened to both of you sure proves something wants that robe, and knows we have it. If it isn't Jackson or any of his crew, then who?"