Chapter 23
RagLak,RoIsha and Sanskar are sitting in the common room… All doing their important work… None of them are using the sofas and chairs kept there… Instead,they move it aside to make the place spacious and sit on the carpet on which the table was kept…
Sanskar is busy laughing and giggling and with Aisha… Their topic of discussion is Swara and Richard…
Since Ragini is busy, Aisha is taking the privilege the to tell Sanskar about Richard but being careful about not telling how Ragini got Richard under control…
Rohan is shamelessly staring Aisha while she speaks… He is seeing her speaking like this after a long time… He is just capturing her smiling face in the cameras of his eyes….
Ragini is engrossed in some papers and is carefully reading them and is almost into it…
Lakshya is not participating in the conversation but only by speech… His ears are there only and he amusingly looks at Ragini hearing her tales… Infact he is busy checking out her expressions and innocent face… The only conclusion he jumps at whenever he sees her is that,she is a deadly combination indeed…
Aisha is telling how Richard reacts Everytime he sees Swara… Sanskar laughs shamelessly and Aisha joins him… Suddenly her gaze falls on Rohan who in intensely staring her… Aisha becomes conscious of his gaze and becomes silent while blushing… Rohan realizes that he is caught… To change the topic he thinks of something…
Rohan “BTW,where is this Ms. Sweet Gadodia??”
The three laugh again…
Aisha “She is busy with her beauty sleep… Will come in sometime…”
Sanskar “How much she sleeps!!!!!!”
Aisha “A lot!!! (She sees Swara coming…) There she is… Our hot topic of discussion…”
They all laugh again while Swara comes stretching her hands after waking up from the sleep and looks on cluelessly at them…
Swara looks on at them “What???”
Ragini (looking up at her) “They were discussing your love story…”
Swara “But you all know about me and Sanskar… Then why again??”
Sanskar “No… Not with me… With my sautan…”
Swara gives him a look…
Rohan “Bhabhi ji… They are talking about Richard Bhaiya…”
They all burst out into laughter… Ragini again starts reading… Swara frowns…
Rohan “Oh.. BTW Aisha,in the morning,why you didn’t let me tell about the attack on Ragini to Richard??”
Ragini again looks up… Before Aisha speaks, Lakshya speaks…
Lakshya “It’s obvious Bhai… We are already in a problem as our parents know about the forms… Still they haven’t said a word about it to us… That means something is going on in between them which we are unaware of…—”
Aisha “And we cannot afford to come in their eyes once again… And knowing that Ragini was attacked in her own hostel,the second day itself,they will loose patience, especially her mom… For she is her daughter… And we will be under their watch each and every second…”
Ragini “And I know Richard… He is like my friend and will be worried for me… And as far as I know him,out of his loyalty to Dadi and his nervousness and worries,it will slip off his mouth and she will eventually come to know about it… So it’s better not to involve Richard in it…”
Sanskar “But Ragu… We have to find out the one who attacked you… It’s really important… Coz the person is still free and it means that you are still in danger…”
Swara “He is right… Whoever attacked Ragu,had the motive to harm Ragini only… One thing is sure… That it’s not anyone from the college for the person entered through secret way and as soon as Lakshya saved Ragini,he/she ran away using that way only…”
Rohan “But it should also be noted that whoever entered,belongs to this college… The person knows every entry and exit… The evident ones as well as the secret ones… Very cunningly he/she used that way which is not guarded and will be easy to reach our common room… The person knew the way to terrace where Ragini and Lakshya were… When Ragini escaped the attack,he/she ran away from there without coming in someone’s eyes… We saw that person by chance… Infact Aisha saw that person with her special eyes for he/she was fast and she can see fast things at slow speed…”
Sanskar “Rohan is right… Now we have two mysteries to solve… The missing forms and the attacker… But for the second one,we need a map of this college which will tell us about all the secret passages and entries and exits…”
Swara “I think we can take help of Richard in that… (All look at her smiling and teasingly… She rolls her eyes) Use logic… He is a ghost,and from long time has been assisting Dadi in various matters of Hecate… He must knowing all the secret passages and entries and exits… But the thing is that if we ask him,he will doubt and we will have to tell him in order to get help but we can’t do that either… So it’s better to ask him where such maps of Hecate can be found…”
Ragini “Wow Di… You are having the effects of being with me for 24×7… Good improvement… She is right… Richard can help us in this matter… And he can even help us out in the forms matter as well…I had already taken his help in that once before…”
Lakshya “That is all alright…. But there is something which is repeatedly coming into mind… Why will someone attack Ragini?? I mean,she is just admitted and infact she came to know about her being a witch few days back only…. If it would have been a grievance against Principal Gadodia, then attack would have happened on Swara as well… But I think nothing such has happened (He looks at Swara to confirm… She nods positively) Then why just Ragini…??”
Aisha “I noticed something right now… (All look at her expectantly) Swara, Ragini,you told you were out for forms past midnight??(they both nod) at that time,when there was no security,then you both did your work safely and returned… But the attacker took such a big risk to enter college hostel and attack..!! And that too on wand registration day..!! This cannot be a mere co incidence or a minor enmity… Remember?? What we were told? In magical world,a witch or a wizard is known by his or her wand… And your wand is special… So maybe the attack happened due to that wand??”
Ragini thinks deeply then Sanskar says something which takes her into flash back of her attack…
Sanskar “But even Lucky has the same wand… There is just 0.05 inches difference in their wand… Then why only Ragini was attacked?? I mean… I am not telling that he should also be attacked but I am saying that the wand cannot be the reason… Else why only one will be attacked??”
Ragini (not looking at anyone though her eyes are opened) “Or maybe we both were attacked… (All look at her in shock… Lakshya gives a questioning look to her… She looks at all of them then at last at Lakshya) Don’t give me that look everyone… I am telling what I realized just now… I don’t know Lakshya whether you remember or not?? But when you called out my name and—- (RagLak remember that they fell and Ragini was over Lakshya… They both go crimson remembering that but are able to hide it successfully from the rest four…) I first looked at you then to the place where the jet had hit… Which was the shed… Where you were standing for I saw you coming out of that place only… The fire was ignited twice there… That means two curses were spoken… One for me and one for you…”
Lakshya “That means the attacker knew that not just you but I was also there at terrace… And if that’s true,then Aisha’s theory is also true… The attack is related to our wands… (He then realizes something else and closes his eyes tightly) oh no… Ragini do you remember what the man at Wandatorium told about these wands??”
Ragini “Lakshya, I remember everything but the only thing is that he told way too much about the wand and I don’t know exactly what you are talking about??”
Lakshya (opening his eyes) “There are three wands like this..!! Two we know with whom… But we don’t know the third owner… And since the attacks are happening because these special wands,the third owner is also in danger..!!”
All gasp realizing the fact… For they have no idea who the third owner was… And they have to search the person to know the mystery behind the attack…
Rohan “The third owner is also in danger… And we have to save him/her… We don’t know anything about the person but I have a way… The forms!! Our forms contain the details of our wands… And Hecate never throws the forms… Even the magic ministry seeks Hecate’s help to find a person with a particular wand…”
Sanskar “Rohan is right… We should again search for forms…”
RagLak and Aisha “Wait!!!”
The senior trio looked at junior ones questioningly…
Lakshya “Bhai!! Have you lost your mind??”
Ragini “And Di?? You are always considered the sane one right?? Then also you acted this way?”
Aisha “And you? How could you react like this? I thought Athena is the house of wisdom and intelligence… Have you mortgaged yours??”
Rohan “What we did now? We were going to find out only..!!!”
Swara “What is wrong with you three? Aren’t you the ones who are always ready to be a Daredevil?? And Ragu?? You are denying??”
Sanskar “You people have decided to deny me and oppose me no matter what… All are jealous of my intelligence!!!”
Ragini looks at them unbelievably…
Ragini “I give up… I cannot do all this again… It requires so much hardwork!! I quit!!!!!!!!!!!!”
She starts reading again…
Aisha palms her face…
Aisha “Me too… These guys are unbelievable!! Just now we uttered an epic and now they want it another time!! I can’t do this… Forgive me!!!”
She joins her hands and keeps her palms her head…
Lakshya “Ok.. stop being over dramatic you two… And Bhai, Bhai and Bhabhi,I mean Swara… Why do you guys think that we didn’t told about attack to Richard??”
They all realize and smile sheepishly… They then apologize… Ragini nods while still reading… Aisha acts normally and Lakshya gives a stiff nod…
Sanskar “But till when we should wait? And what if the attack happens again?? The third owner is still in danger…”
Lakshya “The attacker will be calm for now as he/she knows that he/she was almost caught… So for sometime we are safe… And let this matter cool down in college as well… Then we will act upon it…”
Aisha “I think we should wait till fresher’s party… Till then the matter will also cool down and the party will shift the moods as well…”
Swara “It’s next week… After the house divisions… Yaa… That’s quite a time… Good idea…”
They all agree upon it…
Rohan “What is it Ragini that you are so much involved into??”
Everybody’s attention shifts to the pile of pages in Ragini’s hands except Lakshya…
Ragini “It’s the list of ingredients with pictures which are used while making the potions… Lakshya helped me get these from the library…”
All look at Lakshya… He tries to avoid the gaze and tries to smile genuinely but it comes as blush or shy or weird or anything else…
Aisha “Did I heard right? The great fighting duo are helping out each other???”
Rohan and Sanskar give a mischievous sheepish grin to each other remembering their bet…
Sanskar “BTW Ragini!! You also!! Potions!! Oh God!! These Gadodia sisters and their difficulty with potions…”
Swara glares him “Shut up or I will break your teeth!!!!!!”
Sanskar keeps quite but is suppressing his laugh…
Ragini “He is right Di!! But I am Ragini Gadodia!! And Ragini Gadodia cannot be imperfect in any manner… So I need to know the ingredients and that how they look… And anyways if I don’t know them today,how am I going to buy them tomorrow???”
Lakshya “And why are we buying it Ms. Gadodia??”
Ragini “Because Mr. Maheshwari,we are going to do an assignment together for which we will be needing our own ingredients and that too in good amount for we don’t know whether we will be successful in first attempt or not… And yes BTW,you are accompanying me…”
Lakshya “And who decided that??”
Ragini “Of course me…”
Lakshya “And who told you what potion are we going to get as a part of our assignment? For I am sure Ms. Gadodia that my mom is not so innocent to fall for innocent look and sweet smile…”
While RagLak are continuing their argument,the other four heads are looking turn wise at both them as they speak but the last line spoken by Lakshya catches everybody’s attention and they look keenly at him… Even Ragini looks up from pages who was reading all the while… On the other hand Lakshya is busy playing with his spectacles unaware of the stare…
Ragini “You do notice me… Don’t you??(Lakshya stops playing but doesn’t look up… He realizes what he spoke… While the other four heads now turn to Ragini who is smirking and again tilts her head to her pages) You are decoding every matter so we’ll… Only if you would have given little attention in DADA class then you would have realized that we are supposed to make Pepperup potion as our assignment which is going to serve as new stock in Hecate…”
Lakshya and Aisha realizes that she is right… Though Swara knows Ragini very well… But every time she is amazed by the fact that how easily she can catch the words and decode them… This makes it impossible to hide anything from her… And on top of that,she can read minds…
Initially Sanskar and Rohan were shocked that Lakshya didn’t catch the words but only to realize later on that DADA is taught by DP and they are well aware that Lakshya only listens that much from DP which he considers important… And in this case,it’s his lessons… Anything other than that,he doesn’t give a damn…
Lakshya “Ok… Let me know at what time we are going… I will accompany you after our classes are over…”
Ragini nods… This comes as another shock to Sanskar and Rohan who are stunned seeing that Lakshya agreed so easily….