The Puzzle Box

[Autumn Tait]

It was another dull afternoon in London, gray clouds and misty rain. Tait’s Antique shop it was dusty and silent. Chisisi Autumn’s little fox was curled up on a bookshelf while Autumn fiddled with a puzzle box she had found in on her latest expedition. The object was made out of a smooth white stone and had deep engravings on the side. It was unlike any puzzle box Autumn had ever encountered. Usually they were just play things made out of wood and opened with a simple spell, but this one seemed to be resistant to any form of magical tampering so Autumn was left to figuring out the puzzle the old fashion way. She had been at it for two days and wasn’t having much luck, but Autumn was persistent, she figured it must have been made as a safe for something of value. No one would spend that much time making a simple toy.
As she was pushing the smooth stone pieces aimlessly thinking about what might be hidden inside, the box suddenly popped open. Autumn jumped out of her chair, at the same moment her set of self shuffling cards which had been shuffling a few feet away flew across the room in every direction. Chisisi opened one eye in annoyance. “False alarm” Autumn mumbled, apart from the red velvet lining there was nothing to be found in the box. She shut the puzzle box and put it down on her desk. “At least I can sell the box for a few gallons” as she stood up to clean the cards she noticed they were back in order shuffling like nothing had happened. “Dumb cards” Autumn remarked as she picked up Chisisi “they never shuffle right anyway I should get a new deck.”

[Eric Koche]

It was no surprise that Eric would be on his way to see Autumn, his admirer, at the little shop down Diagon Alley. Autumn has been gone for quite some time, which made it very hard for Eric to speak to Autumn when he wanted to. Over the months, he managed to send an Owl or two to ask her how Egypt was treating her. SOmetimes, his letter would get there, but every oncei n a while, his owl would forget where he was suppose to go, and would fly all the way back to london for a quick reminder. Yianni, which was the owl's name, would also mnage to drop letter in the most peculiar places, and would sometimes find its way back into Eric's hands. Infact, a few days ago, Eric found one of his letter floating in the docks of wizarding london as he was fishing.

He never really tried to find a new owl, or attempted to give it back. There was something about Yianni that he liked very much. Perhaps, like him, he was not perfect. He made mistakes every once in a while, and the fact that this inperfection every once in a while reminded him just how interesting life can be.

Egon, which seemed to be all over the place, found his way infront of Erica sniffed his way through the thick snow. He was hoping to find dropped food in his path. The walk from The Leaky Culdron to Tait's Antique shop was way too far for his stomach, and Egon wanted to eat something now.

Eric managed to find himself two shops away from Tait's place. What should he say? It has been a few months since Koche has seen Autumn. How should heact? Should he have brought something to welcome her back? Was coming this soon too soon? Eric needed to think of an introduction before anything else.

He practiced infront of a window. He gave a bachelor look and pointed at her as if he was some sort of player. "Hey babay, what's up?" Nah, that didn't work. He tried again. "Hi, how are you?" Bah, did he wanted to sound like some chump? Once more, he attempted to be cool. "Hey, no time long see Autu-"

Suddendly, he heard Egon rolling around making some satisfying noises on the ground. He seemed to have found something nice to 'scent' his furr on. A dead raven must have been strucked by a kid with a snow ball, fell to his death, and lied deep within the snow for Egon to roll in.

Eric turned around. "Egon, wha-" he already knw what the pooch was doing, and not needed to continue his sentence. He attempted to run over to his huskey in hopes that Autumn wasn't curious enough to figure out what was going on outside and open the door on him. Eric also prayed to himself quickly in the hopes that his freshed cleaned dog did not smell dead. He was hoping that Autumn would find him cute and pet him for a little bit. Egon seemed to like that a lot. However, not as much as the dead Raven at the moment.

[Autumn Tait]

Chisisi who had been snuggling into Autumn’s robes suddenly perked up and stared at the window, something outside had caught his interest. Autumn walked over to the door and swung it open knocking something to the ground. Looking down she felt her cheeks start to blush. The man she had knocked over with the door was Eric Koche. She had strong feelings for him since the moment they met, but when she had gone away on her last expedition she had only received a few letters from him. Autumn had been positive Eric had feelings for her too, but after hearing from him so little on the trip she was starting to second guess her assumption. Autumn was aware that Eric’s owl was less than trust worthy, but if Eric really cared wouldn’t he have tried harder to speak to her?

“Oh Eric!” I’m sorry I didn’t see you Autumn offered her hand to help him up. Her heart started to flutter in her chest. What was she suppose to say? So was so glad to see him, but what if he wasn’t coming to see her what if he was going somewhere else before she had knocked him into the snow? Chisisi interrupted Autumn’s anxious thoughts with a disapproving grunt. He peered from behind Autumn’s legs in disdain upon Egon who was frantically rolling in the snow.
“Do you want to come inside?” Autumn offered knowing she would regret this moment for weeks to come if she let Eric just walk away.

[Eric Koche]

It was just a flash. One moment, he found himself trying to remove Egon away from the dead animal, and the next moment, he was lying ontop of him. Koche tried so hard to impressed Autumn, that the very obvious alternate that could ruin this day was briniging the dog along. He always did something to bring him down. But what could he do? Egon followed him everywhere, and well, Eric loved him a lot too. He wasn't going to leave his dog in the hut while he enjoyed the very first days of december. His birthday was coming up soon, and although Egon might not realize it, it still wasn't right to abandon him and take advantage of his ignorance.

Egon yelped, not exspecting such a weight coming onto him. Eric quickly got up, realizing that it was Autumn that knocked him over, and not a quaffle. Egon managed to quickly get up too, and poofed out his chest to show that he was more than able to handle a simple door disturbing his sniffing. He showed no further distraction from the dead animal. To him, he smelled fine enough, and if Autumn was important enough to grab Koche's attention, it was sure enough important for him. At least for now.

“Do you want to come inside?”

"Oh, um, yes that would be grreat." Eric brushed some snow off his robes and Egon shook himself. Eric hoped to get warmer, but Egon was just right.

[Autumn Tait]

Autumn scooped up Chisisi and welcomed Erica and his dog inside. Using her wand she lit a few scented candles trying to combat the stench coming off of Egon. Chisisi jumped out of Autumn’s arms and onto a chair in the counter to better observe the group.
“Would you like some hot tea to warm you up?” Autumn offered Eric, “I was just going through the finds from my trip and would love some company.” Autumn desperately hoped Eric would stay. Any hurt feelings she had from Eric’s lack of mail were fading the longer she was around him. She couldn't wait to tell him stories from her latest trip and see that brilliant smile of his. There was something about Eric that always put Autumn at ease.

[Eric Koche]

Eric nodded to accept the tea. It has been quite cold outside, and from what he heard from other wizards around the area, a snow storm was going to come around soon. Yes, tea would be something he would want very much now that he though about it.

Koche spoke in excitement as Chico found a small resting spot next to the door. He almost forgot that he was here to ask her about the voyage. Autumn must have seen so much in Egypt that he would only imagine with the aid of books he had read a little while ago in Ancient Ruins. The pyramids. The people. They must have been oh so interesting and lovely to meet and see. The young wizard just wished he could have been there to see the wonders with her. Traveling has always been a liking of his.

"Yes! How was your trip?! Did you find anything exciting?" he ask.

[Autumn Tait]

With a flick of her wand Autumn’s teapot flew out of a drawer and started boiling water. Autumn started telling him about the trip there, the weather and other silly little facts slowly building up to the exciting parts.
“And then in this one obscure tomb, it didn’t really look like much but I figured I should check it out just in case. There was this one tunnel, honestly I almost missed it. It was protected by all sorts of charms, but I found it and got in. It lend down to this small room, my heart was beating so fast as a walked further down the passageway waiting to see what had been worth all those protective charms. But when I got there it was empty. Someone else must have been there first. There really wasn’t anything there except for this puzzle box over here.” Autumn explained as she picked up the box to show Eric. “It was in the corner of the room, under some rubble. I had been trying to open it for days and actually just succeeded a few moments ago.” Autumn made way for the teacups that were now positioning themselves in front of her and Eric. “But it was empty. You see if you move these pieces like this and then…and these other ones….There!” The puzzle box popped open for the second time. “Oh I’m so sorry!” Autumn breathlessly apologized. For some unknown reason the Teapot that was pouring her and Eric’s tea fell out of the sky and crashed onto the table covering the two of them with hot tea. Autumn snapped the box shut so it wouldn't get wet, and put it on a bookshelf out of the way as she tried to clean up the mess which was getting worse by the minute as the broken teapot pieces had started to move around unaware that they were no longer a connected teapot. Autumn was also forced to dodge playing cards, as they had chosen to explode into a mess again, at the same time the teapot had fallen, and were now gathering back into a group. Autumn quickly summoned some rags and towels and cleared away the mess, throwing the crazy broken teapot into a bag under the cards which were now shuffling perfectly again.
“Wow I just feel awful I’m out to get you today I swear all of these was just an accident I don’t know what happened I’ve had that teapot for years and have no problems till today.” Chisisi pounced on the bag containing the broken teapot was moving towards the table still trying to finish serving its tea. The bag continued to move with the little fox on top but at a slower pace fighting against his weight. Autumn wanted to curl into a ball and hide. This felt like the more embarrassing day of her life. Everything was going horribly wrong and it was all in front of Eric.

[Eric Koche]

It was fortunate for him that Eric was still wearing his robes, which prevented the wizard from being burnt by the steaming pot of tea. Egon looked up after taking a few second nap, but didn't move from his spot without his owner's disgretion. Eric just chuckled for a little bit as he saw Autumn's face dim down with frustration. He knew it wasn't her fault. Things just happened, and speaking of such, Eric knew the perfect charm to clean up such a mess. However, as he was about to take out his wand, Tait was ontop of fixing the problem.

"Oh, don't worry about it. You should come over to my hut sometime and watch my brothers try to serve tea." There is five of them in the family. "Johnny always tries to summon things with charms, but he just became of age, and is quickly realizing that he finds cleaning up the house with magic oh so more interesting with his wand. I bet he is looking up some spells in my mom's clean up spell books as we speak." He then realized how dumb that sounded. Eric alwats felt that he spoke too much of his family all the time. First Johnny, then Tyler, next Pierce, and then Zack and Kaolin. They all seemed so important to them since he was the oldest, but when Koche spoke of them in public to other people, many people sometimes tend to change the subject. Well, at least in Hogwarts. Perhaps it is because they knew of them from some other classes? Could some of them have a bad reputation on their sleeves? Hm, he never thought of that.

Eric quickly changed the subject. "Perhaps you should go to the blacksmiths down the street. I bet they can fix that pot in no time." He forgot about how the cards seemed to have flown out of control, for it didn't seem as important as hot tea being poured around. "Also," he then chuckled again. "Do you have a cloth that I could clean my robe with by any chance?"

[Autumn Tait]

Autumn was relieved that Eric took the situation so well, but she was still mortified. She quickly summoned a pile of towels for Eric. “Here, again I’m so sorry. Everything just seems to be breaking today. These stupid cards did the same thing earlier.” Autumn explained as swatted at the self shuffling cards. “I don’t know what’s wrong; it’s just not my day I guess. And that box, I was sure something would be inside. I mean it’s very detailed way more so than any other puzzle box I’ve heard of, and it’s resistant to magical tampering you can’t open it with a spell. Plus it was in such a well guarded room. I was sure that there was going to be a big discovery in that box, but it was completely empty. There is just a little indent in the velvet lining suggesting something used to sit there.” Just as Autumn opened the puzzle box to show Eric, her self-shuffling deck fell out of the air and scattered across the floor. “Again!” Autumn snapped. She pulled out her wand to send the cards to the trash but they would not move. “Accio cards” she summed, but the cards still did not move. Autumn crumpled back down into her chair. “Never mind” she mumbled “this is really just not my day, sorry again I swear it’s not usually this crazy” Chisisi nudged Autumn’s foot, he held a single card in his mouth with child like logic he thought cleaning one up would solve everything. “Thanks” Autumn laughed as she took back the single card.

[Eric Koche]

Eric dried himself off as he spoke. "Perhaps the object was already stolen? I hear that there are a lot of tomb-robers around Egypt these days. You know, with the interest everyone has placed in the ancient tombs the past couple of years. However, it seems unusual that the box would not be open by any charms. Ancient or not, there are common enough charms that are should be strong enough to open this little thing." Eric, in his cocky mood, took out his wand. "Perhaps I could give it a try?" he asked.

[Autumn Tait]

Autumn was slightly insulted. He thought he could open what she couldn’t! This was only her job, what she had studying intently at Hogwarts while everyone else was practicing joke spells and betting on Quidditch matches.

“Sure go ahead, if you think you are up to the challenge” Autumn half teased. She closed the box, and handed it to Eric, finding herself hoping that he would be unable to open it. The shuffling cards with a mind of their own it seemed, flew back into place. With a flick of her wand Autumn sent them flying into a drawer.

“Give it a go” she smiled, regaining her confidence and now positive he would be unable to open the box. This was gonna be funny.

[Eric Koche]

Pulling out his dark brown majogany built wand, Eric looked at the object. He suddendly realized that it could be quite possible that his ego could have gotten the best of him. He knew some enchantment charms as being a hit wizard trained to unlock doors and concealments when necessary, but this was ancient magic. He also did not pay much attention in Ancient Ruins either. He was more focused in defense against the Dark Arts and Divination, where he was strongest subject-wise.

Eric make a small coghing noise to bring the center of attention toward him. striking his wand, and then pointing it at the object, Eric spoke up. "Finite!"

A light blue beam came out of his wand and consumed the object. However, the color slowly faided away, and eventially gave everyone the conclusion that it did not work. Eric blushed, only slightly, in the embarrassing defeat he performed. "Eh, sorry, I guess I couldn't get it either. IMy guess would be that maybe if you open the object with magic, the prize inside would appear. Idon't know, just throwing a wild card out there." This statement was, of course, not intended to tease Autumn about the cards flying everywhere.

[Autumn Tait]

Maybe, I hadn’t thought of that” Autumn felt the joy of a tiny victory that Eric was not able to do what she had been trying to do for days. However she was still stumped. This was unlike anything she had encountered or read about. “I guess I could look through a couple books, maybe one of them could help us.” Autumn walked along a large bookcase that spanned on side of the store, every once and a while stopping to take a book off the self.

“But I mean we are probably making too big a deal out of this. It’s just a simple puzzle box, the real excitement must have been whatever else was in that room. What I really should look into is the room it was in. Truthfully…well.” Autumn was slightly embarrassed “I wasn’t in Egypt for this tomb I was looking for something else and… well got lost. I found this purely by accident. It didn’t even appear to be a tomb just the ground floor of an accident building or something.” Autumn sat down and looked at Eric “Maybe if I knew more about where it was from I could figure out why it was made and in turn how to open it or what was inside. What do you think? Could you possibly help? Being a hit wizard you must be good at tracking people and information.” Autumn usually didn’t like asking for help but this was different she had no idea where to start and was really curious.

[Eric Koche]

Eric gave a small smile. "Ugh, sure. I can't see why not." Perhaps he could look up some people under the scrolls in the Ministry to find out who would be an expert these days in Ancient Egyptian artifacts. Maybe my brother Tyler could help. He recently graduated Hogwarts in potion-research, and might be able to find out what the object is made of besides wood. Perhaps the secret lies within there, if of course, my guess about an object revealing itself is accurate."

Egon began to cry softly, wanting the attention of the group to aim toward him. The pooch was quite hungry. It has been almost four hours since hte last time he ate. Four hours! His stomch rumbled signaling the Eric and Autumn that dinner time was coming soon.

"Merlin's Beard, I forgot to feed Egon. He has been bothering me about it the whole evening." gon growled once more, showing his impatience. "Look, if you let me bring the object for the evening, perhaps my brother could run a couple of tests. I think, since he is an intern, that he would be able to get it done later tonight. Whatcha think about that?"

[Autumn Tait]

Autumn was a little hesitant she never let her important artifacts out of her sight, but she knew she could trust Eric and she did want this mystery figured out.

“Okay that sounds good” she agreed. After all, the puzzle box was hard to damage. It was made out of a thick white stone, and withstood all the spells that she cast at it. “But promise me you will take good care of it, and tell me know what you find right away!” Autumn pleaded.

My how things had changed in a few hours. At the beginning of the day she was thinking that Eric had completely forgotten about her and now she was trusting him with one of her more interesting finds.