Chapter 9 Book I Arc III

I loved my animagus form. Sure at first I hadn't been too keen on it (After all, what fifteen year old guy wouldn't find a hairless cat kind of lame?), but after two years now nobody ever questioned said hairless cat wandering around the school. Plus, it made getting into the Ravenclaw dorms that much easier; the Slytherin ones too during that little "prank war" I had at one point with Faquarl. Granted none of that held even a single candle to Queezle's metamorphmagi abilities, but whatever. My point still stands. Having such a normal looking animagus form made my life just that much easier…especially when trying to follow a certain someone walking down the third floor corridor.

It was a late October afternoon that Wednesday, and outside it was already getting cold. Most of the leaves had already fallen from the trees, but here in the castle it was still nice and warm. It had been a week and five days since that last detention conversation, and so far neither Ptol, Nat, or even Kitty had managed to hear of anything else. Honestly, it kind of sucked.

So here I was during dinner, following my only lead – that would be Shubit – to see if he'd let the slip. Of course the others no longer agreed with me that it was Shubit behind the plot, but I mean. Come on. Just look at him. Yet still they remained unconvinced, and had by now drifted on apart doing whatever it was they did. Ptol no longer cared (He had some kind of big Transfiguration project going on that was taking up most of his time.), Natty-boy suspected Khaba for reasons nobody was quite sure why (Possibly the atrocious wardrobe, not that Nat of all people should be complaining.), and Kitty was all but convinced that the plot all came down to a ministry level conspiracy (I don't know, I didn't really listen to her rant.). Long story short I was left on my own to stalk follow the obviously guilty party and…wait. Wait a second. Where'd he go?

Dammit, I thought, growling as I padded into another hallway, trying to figure out where he had gone. Suddenly I froze, hearing the sound of footsteps fast approaching. Quickly I shot behind a suit of armor and hid.

"As I said before, I don't have the book I got the information from. All you wanted was the information in the first place, anyway. The book itself wasn't exactly necessary."

I held my breath; animagus form or not, I couldn't get found out. Not now, not yet.

"My dear boy, books from the Restricted Section don't just go missing. Someone has it, and something tells me you know of whom." A nasally voice vaguely threatened, dripping with a very familiar sense of disdain.

"Not as if they would know what you're planning," the other person replied, voice stiff sounding.

"Well…if you're saying what I believe you're saying. Well. You're not going to let them muck things up, now are you, Nevrakis?" The voice answered back with a hint of a growl. "There will be consequences…consequences that go beyond you. Hm. That abominable boy is still in class. Speaking of which, when is the next full moon anyhow?"

"Look, if a bunch of fifth years are poking their noses in the library, that's not my problem –!"

"Ah. There we go." A chuckle followed those words at the other's outburst. If I had been able to I would have made a face in disgust at the sound.

"We should discuss how we're going to get rid of our problem then," the horrid voice said in a terse tone.

As the footsteps faded away down the hall, I knew it was high time I got out of there, before anyone else came by. I bolted from my hiding spot, determined to go find the others. This was something they had to know; this involved them, and it was looking to be some deep shit that was about to go down.

The book…what was in that book they were talking about anyway? Down the corridor I raced, fully intent on getting to them as fast as I could. Since dinner had ended only just a few minutes ago, I wasn't sure where to find them however. But luck seemed to be on my side tonight when I spotted them all leaving the Great Hall in a group.

Yowling loudly (There were too many other people around for me to change back there. I didn't quite want to get into trouble today for being an unregistered animagus. Besides, the fines for that are huge okay?) I flung myself at Nathaniel's leg, gleefully clawing at his pants (that's what he gets for somehow managing to blame every single one of our pranks on only me!) and tearing out a few threads as he cursed, stumbling as he tried to pull me off.

"You stupid cat –!"

"Rekhyt!" Ptolemy was quick to pull me off Nat, giving me a disapproving look as I cuddled up against him, looking as innocent as a hairless cat could ever get.

"I think something's happened. We should go somewhere else," the Ravenclaw said softly. The other two looked at each other before nodding and walking along casually with him to an empty classroom on the third floor. Ptolemy set me down on the ground once the door was shut (It wasn't locked though…in hindsight, forgetting to lock that stupid door is what caused most of our problems after this point.), and I was quick then to shift back into my human form, working a few kinks out of my back.

"So, why exactly did you come running down that hall like a three-headed dog was chasing you?" Kitty asked, raising her eyebrows as she sat on top of a desk. I shrugged.

"Oh, no reason! No reason at all, other than the fact that whoever it is that's planning whatever is now onto us!" I grinned brightly as the other three reacted to the bad news.

Kitty stayed calm mostly, aside from a twitching eyebrow and a resigned sigh.

Nathaniel went white (Er? (Whiter?) He was already really pasty looking, but now he kind of looked a bit like a piece of paper. Maybe if I set him adrift on the lake in the summer he'd get a tan…) before muttering something under his breath (In what was probably one of those dead languages that no one in this school but him knows? Actually no, that Farrar girl probably knows whatever it is too. And that crazy history obsessed Deputy Headmaster. He has a collection of biting jars from somewhere out in the Middle East that are apparently four thousand years old. All I know is that getting bit by one left me delirious and I almost had to go to the actual hospital after I stuck my hand in it.).

"Who was it? What did they say?" Ptolemy asked, chewing his lower lip as he kept a hand on my arm. I nodded, ready to recant my tale.

"Faquarl was there, with an adult too. They were having a conversation, but the professor's voice was unusually nasally and low…I think they were a professor, but. I couldn't quite place the voice. Anyone know of a professor with a nasal tone?" Bartimaeus looked at them all expectantly, but received nothing but frowns.

"…No that doesn't sound familiar," Ptolemy said hesitantly.

"Ah…well. Maybe they changed their voice or something? Or…no, nevermind. Well I guess we don't know who the mastermind is, but he wasn't very happy that Faquarl and Jabor weren't able to bring him some book from the restricted section."

"Faquarl and Jabor…well, I guess we can finally cut Shubit for good like you thought."

I made a face, sticking my tongue out at Kitty as she pointed that out.

"Er…" Nathaniel started hesitantly. Everyone looked over to him. "I uhm. I still have the book. Its…in my bag? Actually?"

"Nathaniel!" I said in a faux gasp. Keeping a book over its due date! Whatever shall we do!

"I renewed it!" he snapped, before regaining control of himself. "Well – look, let me get it out of my bag." He began rustling through it, before pulling out the slim volume, 'Forgottyne Rituales for All Hallows Eve' still written on it in that all too familiar now faded script. He had been poring over it since their last detention for days, trying to suss its importance out.

"We need to take that to the Headmaster. And soon," Kitty Jones said firmly, giving Nathaniel a hard look. I nodded.

"Considering they said something about getting rid of us, then yeah. I just uh, can't be the one to tell the Headmaster," I said, shifting my feet a little as Kitty's eyebrows rose.

"Why?"

"Oh... Because of... reasons... you know..." I muttered as Ptolemy snickered behind his hand (So I might have gone to the Headmaster a few times because I was absolutely certain that a few people (Shubit, Faquarl, Simpkin, Faquarl, Whoever was the DADA professor that year, Ramuthra, Shubit, Whitwell, Faquarl, etc.) were plotting stuff like world domination over the years and he had stopped believing me after the first four times I'd gone to his office.) while I (didn't) pout.

"... Alright then. One of us at least will go to the Headmaster sometime before Halloween. Honestly though, a book about rituals on Halloween? Talk about obvious. No wonder they didn't want anyone else grabbing it," Kitty said with a nod. "We have a week until the thirty-first so we should be good."

The rest of us agreed to meet up within the next few days in order to work out who exactly among us was going to go see Uraziel about this issue. Until then, we went our separate ways to our own dorm rooms for the night.

It was the Saturday five days before Halloween when things started to go wrong. There we were innocently walking out of our final detention with Lovelace, when who should show up but Ptolemy's cousin; not one of the nicer ones. I'm talking the asshole one.(Quick story: Ptolemy has a lot of cousins. And I mean a lot of cousins. This is just going into the father's side of his family; the Soters are kind of huge population-wise. From what I know they were originally from Greece or Macedonia or somewhere, but these days a whole bunch of them now live in London. The main branch of the family though is still based in Egypt, not that I know much other than that. My particular Ptolemy's mom is native to there actually; she sort of married in, some woman from upriver, but dropped out of the picture later at some point…he doesn't really talk about it. Probably the reason his looks are so stunning is that he gets them from her. But anyways he has tons of cousins most of whom are also named Ptolemy...yeah, I don't get it either. The girls are the notable exceptions, though their names are also a whole bunch of reused repeats: lots of Cleopatras, Arsinoes, and Berenices. A fair enough amount of them also attend Hogwarts these days. I think there's something like, twelve Ptolemies, seven Cleopatras, five Berenices, and about three Arsinoes right this minute, all in varying year levels and Houses. My Ptolemy of course, is a cut above the crowd.)

"Well hello there cousin." There he stood, gracing us with all that his assholish presence could provide. There he stood, a one seventh year Ptolemy Soter, Beater on the Slytherin team who recently landed both Kitty Jones AND Jane Farrar into the Hospital Wing during the same damn game. A brutish lout, as the fates have foretold! There he spat, as he rounded the corner with several lackeys, glaring down at his by far more intelligent, attractive, and talented younger cousin. Obviously he was jealous in the face of true superiority. Gaze upon him trembling mortals, and repent!

Alright but in all seriousness this wasn't going to end well. Confrontations with Ptolemy's cousin never usually did (He spends so much time drinking anyway I'm surprised he possesses the few brain cells he has. Nonetheless, I don't think I've ever seen him back down or take no for an answer.).

"Cousin," Ptolemy answered, giving him a curt nod and grabbing my arm (It wasn't like I was standing there trying to figure out the best way to hex his cousin without anyone figuring me out! I don't know what you're talking about.) as he attempted to pull past the dully snickering groupies.

"And where are you going, cousin?" The seventh year said with a nod to one of his followers, who dutifully reached out to try and grab Ptolemy's arm roughly…tried being the key word here, of course. I got in their way grinning cheerfully, hand already reaching for my wand. Ptolemy sighed and shot his cousin a disapproving glare, eyes narrowed and back straightened. Their gazes met squarely, his daring the other to stop us from leaving.

"I happen to be going to the library to begin work on a project for Ancient Runes, so I'm afraid that as lovely as it has been to talk to you, cousin, I have to be going now." He said this in a dangerously sweetened voice before spinning around with my arm in his grip once again, dragging me off to the library against his cousin's sputtering protests. I simply shot them all a cheeky grin and waved before Ptolemy pulled me around the corner.

Unfortunately, Ptolemy's cousin being the magnificent asshole that he is (We've gone over this before, surely?) was only the unfortunate beginning to a bad few days. Why, you might ask? Well how about the fact that the first thing anyone hears at dinner on Monday night is how some stupid fifth year Gryffindor managed to blow up most of the Potions classroom, landing both him and several other students in the Hospital Wing till Tuesday night? And how about the fact that said Gryffindor who caused said explosion was none other than Kitty's partner Fred Weaver, meaning Kitty was one of those students now stuck there? I mean I had beaten her thanks to having Care of Magical Creatures first thing Monday morning, but how was I supposed to know that Flesh-Eating Slug spit was corrosive? Honestly.

That left Ptolemy and Nathaniel with the job of going to Uraziel with the information that we had…of course Uraziel wasn't in. And of course, Uraziel wouldn't be back until Tuesday night.

"What are we going to do? We have until Wednesday, and time is running out! We can't just wait," Kitty muttered, chewing offhandedly on a nail as she leaned back against the wall of her bed. I shrugged and Ptolemy sighed.

"Well you two are going to be here for most if not all of tomorrow still. What with you recovering from that explosion, and you with that chunk of your arm growing back. There's not much that either of you can do."

"On Tuesdays nights I have an extra credit project I'm working on with Farrar for Whitwell…she'll ask questions if I say I want to cancel." Nat sighed, running a hand through his hair (Greasy and getting too long hair, that is. Seriously, he's going to lean over a cauldron one day and we're all going to watch his hair light up like a firework.). Ptolemy opened his mouth as if to say something but Ianna, the Healer in charge of the wing walked over before he could get his chance to speak.

"I'm sorry, but you two are going to have to leave now. It's almost ten and I don't want any students out after curfew," she said, before handing me and Kitty our vialled potions. Mine was a vivid green, while hers was completely clear. "You two on the other hand must drink these up and go straight to bed. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."

Ptolemy and Nat left, and Kitty and I didn't argue with Ianna before going to bed ourselves. (Nice as she usually is, you don't disobey a Healer's orders; this goes no matter how disgusting or sludge-like the potion they want you to drink. I mean Ianna alone, I wouldn't disobey her. She can be scary, and I've been in the Hospital Wing enough times to know that.)

Nathaniel's POV

Nathaniel was on edge walking to lunch that Wednesday, the dreaded thirty-first of October. None of them had been able to get in to see Uraziel and they were just about out of time now. Adjusting the strap of his bag as he left the fifth floor Arithmancy classroom, he let out a yelp in surprise and jumped, drawing out his want and spinning around only to find Kitty Jones snickering from the other end. She leaned back against a wall, looking at him.

"I didn't mean to scare you," she said, grinning at him as his cheeks flushed. He stuffed his wand quickly back into its holster in his sleeve.

"You didn't scare me, you simply startled me," he sniffed. He turned right back around then to stalk towards the nearest staircase downstairs for lunch.

"Whatever," Kitty replied, rolling her eyes as she got up and followed. "We have to go to Uraziel during lunch. You know that, right? It's our last chance we've got."

Nathaniel nodded. "Of course I know that. Are we going to collect Bartimaeus and Ptolemy before we go to the Headmaster?"

"I don't believe that you or Ms. Jones are going to be going anywhere Mr. Underwood," a nasally voice came from behind them. Nathaniel only had time enough to spin, eyes widening as he caught sight of their attacker. The stunning spell hit him though before he had time to react, hitting him directly in the chest. Everything went black.

There you guys go! Two chapters in one night! Please don't kill me. Leave reviews instead. Because the sooner I finish writing the next bit the sooner you get the next chapter and reviews are very encouraging for that uvu