Draco Malfoy and The Half-Blood Prince (BOOK 6 of 7)

Chapter 23-Unexpected Results

The first thing Draco needed to do, he'd decided when he met Luna again, was to figure out what was wrong with the cabinet. Secrets of Dark Objects: Vanishing Cabinets lay on the floor in front of the cabinet, Draco kneeling before it. Luna was absentmindedly picking up and examining random objects.

"It says here that I should put something in the cabinet and see if it comes back," Draco said. "The incantation is Harmonia nectere passus. It's the spell to fix the cabinet if broken and it's supposed to take loads of repeating. However, if the first run is successful, then we'll know it's not broken."

"Perhaps we should have asked Roger Bowtruckle," Luna voiced, a thought that had been in her head for quite some time. "He must have had some information about it seeing as no one else could locate it."

"You think he used it?" Draco furrowed his eyebrows as Luna nodded. "Should we go back?"

The Ravenclaw shook her head. "It's probably not advisable. Just do as the book says, I suppose."

Draco stood up and, opening the cabinet, raised his wand. He grabbed a small dust-covered box sitting amidst a crowd in the clutter pile closest to him and placed it inside. He closed the door and stepped back.

Under his breath, he muttered, "Harmonia nectere passus." From inside the cabinet came a sound similar to a gust of wind traveling through a hollow pipe. Draco opened the cabinet and saw nothing there.

"Did it work?" Luna asked, setting down an ancient looking trinket.

Draco picked up the book and read, "Once the object had vanished, the incantation must be performed again. If the cabinet is not damaged, then the object should return unharmed."

Setting the book back down, he shut the cabinet again and repeated the words. Once more the whooshing sound was heard so Draco reopened the cabinet. He knelt to scrutinize the box, to see if it had any changes, but this wasn't very difficult. When he removed the lid, he could see the bottom of the cabinet. Picking it up to ensure the bottom of the box wasn't identical to the bottom of the cabinet, he found that he could put his hand through the box as if it were a bracelet.

"I suppose it's not in perfect shape, the cabinet," Luna voiced after a silent moment.

Draco gave a slight nod before taking off the box-bracelet and chucking it across the room. He sat down and pulled the book onto his lap.

"It appears that the only incantation needed to fix this just needs to be repeated over and over..." he trailed off in confusion. "So we just keep putting things in here" he knocked on the cabinet "until something returns unscathed."

Luna walked over to him and took a seat on the floor. She peered at the book from the side and deduced that it could probably be done in one afternoon.

"They couldn't invent a spell that'll actually fix it after one uttering?" Draco remarked. "Well, best to get started right away."

Two hours later, they were still at. A millionth pile of junk had begun to form including all the things the two students had tried to transport. Draco mindlessly grabbed at another object, but this time Luna stopped him.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"That tiara you're holding is a very valuable artifact," Luna informed him. The tiara was shaped like a bird, with two golden "wings" decorated with white jewels, a blue gemstone in the middle to serve as a bird's body, two black gemstones connected like a chain to show it was a tail, and a silver head atop the body. There were words etched onto the surface: Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.

"Why, what is it?"

"It's the lost diadem of Ravenclaw."

Draco's eyes went from examining what he held to frowning at Luna. He waited for her to go on.