Episode 21
Ragini and Lakshya are going to their room… They are all wet… They reach the Arete common room and stand for a while in front of fire place… They aren’t looking at each other… Ragini out of embarrassment that Lakshya saw her dancing in the rain and Lakshya out of embarrassment that Ragini knows that he saw her dancing…
Lakshya “I think we should go to our rooms and change… We might catch cold…”
Ragini “Yeah… I think you are right…”
Lakshya “Good night…”
Ragini “Good night…”
They both turn to go but Ragini calls Lakshya…
Ragini “Lakshya..!!”
Lakshya is surprised that she called him by his proper name… He turns and looks at her…
Ragini “Thank you… For saving me from that attack…”
Lakshya smiles… She also smiles back but their moment is broken by a scream…
Swara “What!!! You were attacked!!!”
RagLak turn and look at SwaSan and RoiSha totally drenched….
Swara comes running time Ragini… She cups her face and caresses her head “Ragu… You are alright na??”
Ragini nods “Ha di… Lakshya saved me…”
Swara “Thank you Lakshya…”
Lakshya smiles back… Sanskar and Rohan go to his either side and keep their hand on his shoulder… Aisha goes and hugs Ragini…
Aisha “But who attacked you??”
Ragini shrugs her shoulder indicating don’t know…
Rohan “I think we can discuss this after drying ourselves as well… We all will catch cold!!!”
All agree… Sanskar “Alright then… We will meet here in an hour…”
They all nod and disperse to their respective rooms…
At Parvati’s cabin…
Parvati Gadodia is sitting on her table Workin upon something wearing her glasses… She lifts up the inkpot to refill her pen but sudden noise of apparating outside her door disturbs her and it falls from her hand…
Parvati points her wand to the fallen ink “Scourgify…!!!”
The ink gets cleaned and the floor is neat and tidy again…
Shekhar and Sharmistha enter her cabin…
Parvati “Can’t you climb few stairs to reach the cabin?? Are you older than me?”
Sharmistha glares Shekhar… He smiles sheepishly… Parvati looks her son and daughter in law… Shekhar is assuring a worried Sharmistha through his eyes…
Parvati “Sumi… Relax… I know why you are worried… Let them also come and then we can discuss it…”
Sharmistha waits impatiently… Another apparating sound is heard and they relax…
Durgaprasad and Annapurna enter the cabin… Annapurna’s hand is occupied with something which is not visible…
Sharmistha and Annapurna look at each other… They both nod…
Annapurna keeps the invisible stuff on the table…
She points her wand at it “Revelio…!!!”
The invisible thing comes into view of all and it revealed to be the copied forms book…
Sharmistha “Ma… This is what we wanted to show you…”
Durgaprasad “Annapurna found this in the boys’ room…”
Shekhar “And I found it in the girls’ room…”
Parvati summons the books to her and opens it… Sure is surprised…
Parvati “Forms..!!! Two books of this year’s forms, one of the previous year’s and one of the previous to that..!! What were these kids doing with these???”
Annapurna “Principal Gadodia another main question is how they got these forms!! How did they manage to crack the password of my cabin..??”
Sharmistha “I am cent percent sure Ragini is involved in it… I had already warned VP Maheshwari regarding her… She is not someone whom we can take lightly…”
Shekhar “And I know that Swara is equally involved with her… Ragini’s wand was Registered today only and we found the books about a week ago!! One cannot enter Hecate without a registered wand..!!”
Parvati “These girls!! They are cunning beyond my expectations…!!”
Durgaprasad “Even our sons are no less… They trespassed Hecate secretly… And I know That major hand is of Sanskar… 1) because of his speciality and 2) his registered wand..!!”
Annapurna “It’s not possible for Sanskar to do all this alone… And moreover he never does anything without Lakshya and Rohan… They are his partners in crime… But Rohan came back after we found this book…!! That means my sons did this together…!!”
Parvati “We just can’t decide anything on assumption… The only way to enter Hecate is through passing Ficus… Only he can tell us…”
All agree and go out of her cabin… They apparate and reach Hecate main gate… It’s still raining so Parvati lifts her hand up and points her wand at it… Soon she is holding a huge umbrella which is enough for the five of them… Shekhar asks for the umbrella to hold… Parvati gives it to him… They all walk together at Ficus who is very much smiling and sleeping enjoying the first shower….
All smile seeing him…
Parvati “Ficus?? Are you really sleeping or just closing your eyes??”
Ficus opens his eyes “No way senior Gadodia… Woah!! The most prestigious faculty of Hecate together at this time!! Matter must be something important… Tell me… How can I help you..??”
Durgaprasad “Ficus… Just try to remember… Before the orientation day,did Sanskar and Lakshya came here without me or VP Maheshwari??”
Ficus looks at him and thinks… He is about to tell but then Sharmistha speaks in between…
Sharmistha “Well try to remember whether Swara and Ragini also came here??”
Ficus has recalled everything by then… He then moves his branches which sprinkles water due to rain but thankfully the BIG umbrella is so big that no one got the splashes of water…
Ficus “I very well remember… They definitely came here on the same day… I mean at night…”
Shekhar “Our sons and daughters together???”
Ficus “No… Not together… First the girls came here and then half an hour later the boys came… Your elder son,VP Maheshwari had left his wand at the fuel station so they got more delayed in bringing that…”
Annapurna “So they left together??”
Ficus “No… Not at all… Like they came separately,they went separately as well… First the girls then the boys… Why are you asking this all suddenly?? Is something serious?? Even I smelt something fishy when I saw them late at night… It was past midnight and they were roaming alone in the deserted alleys of Hogsmede…”
Parvati “No Ficus… Nothing to worry about… It’s just that we wanted to warn you that Ragini is really mischievous so beware of her pranks… And nothing serious at all… Relax and enjoy the first shower…”
Ficus shakes his branches and closes his eyes…
They all apparate and come in front of Parvati’s cabin… Shekhar closes the umbrella and vanishes it… They all enter the cabin…
Sharmistha “Did you heard that?? Our daughters were roaming alone in night in those deserted alleys..!! God forbid if something had happened to them then what we would have done??”
Shekhar “Sumi calm down… They are safe… Nothing happened to them… They are our daughters… Nothing can happen to them… And as long as Ragini is there, nothing will happen to Swara…”
Parvati “Shekhar is right… We know the prophecy done at the time of Ragini’s birth… Nothing can happen to her against her wish… She is born special…”
Sharmistha “But ma… We cannot let Swara pay for someone’s deed… Ragini is special I know… But what about Swara..?? I know that I am her step mother but I brought her up… Even though I am not biologically her mother but still we are related by blood and my Gopal knows that I never differentiated between Swara and Ragini…”
Shekhar “Exactly Sumi… We have never differentiated between our daughters… They have our upbringing and values… Their harmony doesn’t break in future that’s why we told them that they are half sisters but still they never make one feel like that… Ragini knows that you are her biological mother but she never got jealous of the fact that Swara is your favourite daughter… And Swara knows that you are her step mother,her own mother’s own sister and she and Ragini have just one year difference but still she respects you and gave you the place of her own mother and cares for Ragini not like her elder sister but like her second mother which the younger siblings generally find in their elder siblings… Now you only tell me Sumi… How can we expect that they won’t be together in any situation?? They will be even if we are against it…”
Sharmistha nods but she is still not convinced… Parvati understands that and keeps a hand on her shoulder…
Parvati “Sumi… I know… It’s a mother’s heart… It will always be worried for it’s daughters but if they in case fall in problem,then we are there to help na… Why to worry..?? Though I doubt that any problem is bigger than Ragini Gadodia herself…”
This brings a smile on everyone’s face… Even Sharmistha’s…
Durgaprasad “But still Principal Gadodia… We can’t take the fact lightly that our kids broke into Annapurna’s cabin passing the security with ease… I know Ragini is gifted… Even Lakshya is… Just as his name Lucky… Even if sometimes he is about to fail,his luck saves him out… We need to look into this matter really serious but we can’t talk to Lakshya… The reason you know… He can easily melt his mom and he doesn’t melts in front of me… His giftedness has cost me the relationship between the father and son… I do not blame him coz I didn’t let the full thing known to him… But still… Today it was them… What if tomorrow it’s someone else…?? And they didn’t found their forms in that pile… Coz they are unaware of the policy… Till now they must have realized that along with them few more forms are missing and they are definitely going to go to the depth of this matter without letting us being involved in that…”
Annapurna “Durgaprasad ji is right… I saw Ragini’s, Lakshya’s and Aisha’s expressions when they entered for wand registration… That means they knew that their forms were not among those forms… The six of them are going to be the best students of Hecate… And ironically the six of them always stick together… And they will definitely investigate this matter together… All with those specialities,we are going to have a tough time handling them… Specially Ragini and Lakshya… For they have the ability to be in all the four houses of Hecate..!! Only Gopal knows what game he is making destiny to play with us…!!”
All get tensed… Just then they hear Richard shouting Parvati’s name from outside the cabin door… Parvati allows him in and asks the matter…
Richard “Senior Gadodia… There is a very big problem!! The secret passage to Hecate was opened after years!!! Someone was seen sneaking in and out of that way…!! The steps were coming from Arete common room but all the students are in their proper place!!! WE HAVE A TRESS PASSER HERE!! Surprisingly the person knows very well about Hecate so was successful in escaping without getting caught!!”
Parvati “We need to inspect that place… Richard!! Inform other faculties and ask them to come to dining assembly immediately… Professors!! Go and take in charge of your houses… Do not let any students be out of the common room… For security and support merge two houses and take the in charge together…. Richard you, your team along with other faculty will come with me to investigate the place… Am I clear…??”
They all nod and leave on their respective duties… Sharmistha and Annapurna decided to merge their houses Arete and Athena together and Shekhar and Durgaprasad decided to merge their houses Ponos and Daedalus together…
The girls were waiting for the boys in the Arete common room… The boys come there a little late…
Swara “Really Sanskar?? You boys took 15 minutes more to get ready than us?? Are we going on a date??”
Sanskar “No… But if you insist then surely we can go…”
He says and winks… Swara is speechless… Ragini is amused… She high fives with Sanskar…
Ragini “You are slowly and steadily making me believe that I should hand over Di’s responsibilities to you… After all you are always successful in making her quiet other than me…”
Sanskar laughs and thanks her while Swara fumes…
Swara “Ya… Thank God Sanskar you don’t make me quite like one has to make Ragini quite…”
Ragini turns red… But she was not alone as Lakshya was equally embarrassed… Rohan and Aisha suppress their smile while Sanskar laughs and Swara gives a poker smirk Ragini… Ragini swears to revenge and signs Swara about the same through her eyes… Swara replies we will see in their sign language…
Aisha “Ok… Now I think we should get back upon the matter we were here supposed discuss here…”
Rohan “Exactly… We must find out about the attack… The attacker entered the Arete common area, attacked and went out,coz we saw someone running out… But we did not know why that person was running…”
Sanskar “Exactly… Had we known,then we would have caught him… Or her… Or whatever…”
Ragini “I think we should go outside and check… There only we will get some clue…”
All nod are about head outside when Annapurna enters the common room…
Annapurna “No one is going anywhere… There’s an emergency outside and we have got strict orders that no student should be out… Infact we are merging with Athena for more safety… Professor Sharmistha Gadodia will be here soon…”
Swara “VP Maheshwari… What is the emergency…?? Has something happened??”
Annapurna “Don’t worry about that Swara… Let the faculty worry about that… You all go to your rooms and rest… And if possible empty some of.the rooms for Athena tenants…”
They all nod…
Aisha “Well then you can share our rooms tonight… (Really softly) And we will discuss further there…”
They all nod and leave… Annapurna sees them going and thinks about her words regarding the six of them…
In the room….
Lakshya “I don’t understand what has happened…We aren’t allowed in night inside our own campus…”
Rohan “I am having a feeling that it’s related to attack on Ragini… I am getting stomach pangs to find out…”
Ragini “I have an idea!!!”
Sanskar “And you are telling now!! Tell us fast… Your ideas are always useful…”
Lakshya looks at Sanskar unbelievably….
Ragini “Well just relax and try to sleep… We will get to know everything in the morning…”
Aisha “And I thought you really have some idea…!!”
Swara “First time in these years,You have talked sense Ragu!! Congrats…”
Ragini gives her a sarcastic smile and continues “Come on… Don’t make that face all of you… I have a spy outside who is going to inform me about everything happening in the campus…”
Sanskar “And that is??”
Ragini looks at Aisha and Swara and they understand and say together “Richard the Ghost!!!”
The boys are shocked initially but grin widely later…