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Post by Bessain on Oct 2, 2007 20:21:59 GMT -8
It was late when Megan finally returned to her dorm room. The brazier in the middle of the room burned low and she suspected that there were only a few hours left before they'd all start double classes. She changed into a set of pajamas and groaned quitely at the thought of the coming morning. Her small four poster bed creaked loudly the second she got her leg up on the thing.
"Did you just get in?" one of her dorm mates slowly rolled over and asked.
Megan froze, if only for a moment and then settled down into bed. "No," she muttered sleepily.
"Really? I could have sworn I didn't see you in here earlier."
"Nope. I've been here. Just needed water was all."
The other girl accepted this and went back to sleep.
Megan, who was pretty much delirious by now, rolled over in bed still clutching her bottle of butterbeer.
~
"Breakfast is nearly over! What are you still doing in bed?" came the annoying wake up call, followed by a pillow that hit Megan in the face.
Megan brushed the pillow on the floor and started to delve deeper into her shell of protective covers.
"No you don't!" said her roommate, snatching the blankets away and gaining an angry groan from Megan. "And where did you get that?"
Megan wasn't sure what the girl was talking about at first. But when she opened her eyes and followed that annoying green colored gaze, it led to the butterbeer bottle tucked tightly against Megan's chest. She sat still for a moment, trying to wake up enough to think of a good lie.
"I don't know." Megan half asked, not seeing herself clever at all.
Her roommate rolled her eyes and decided not to press the issue. She wasn't Megan's mother after all.
When the girl left, Megan threw the bottle into her trunk and took out a mirror. The side of her face hurt and she hoped it didn't look the way it felt. Were she not so tired, she might have laughed at the bottle cap imprint on her cheek.
She cleaned up and dressed quickly, and made her way unenthusiactically to the great hall. Megan did not remember seeing Gwyddion in the common room, and she did not see him in the great hall either. She looked around for anyone she knew, and was disappointed to find that there wasn't anyone she knew that was worth sitting by. An odd figure at the end of the Ravenclaw table caught her eye, and she recognized the boy as Adrian. Tentatively, she walked over to the table and sat down.
Adrian was asleep and had part of his cheek sitting in his breakfast. Megan waved a hand in front of his face to make sure he was asleep, and stole his untouched pumpkin juice. With a quiet chuckle she threw a cloth napkin at his face. The metal napkin holder rolled off his head and slapped the boy between the eyes, waking him with a start.
Megan covered her mouth and tried not to spit out pumpkin juice with supressed laughter.
"You alive?" Megan asked, trying not to laugh anymore.
"Nope." he muttered, wiping his face with the napkin.
"How's the food?" a mirth filled smile found its way to the now awake Gryffindor.
"Dunno. Can't be bothered to chew."
Megan nodded and rubbed at the still present imprint on her cheek.
"Some night."
"Huh?" Megan had pretty much forgotten the details of the night before, despite the mark on her face.
"I hope Argus is okay. Though he kind of deserved it."
Kind of? Megan thought to herself as the night's events came back to her. It took her awhile before she remembered the extent of Argus' words, and wondered what Gwyddion must be thinking. She set aside her glass, and her hands dropped down to her lap along with her gaze. Gwyn wouldn't wouldn't have gone if I hadn't agreed with Andrew. It occured to her that everytime Gwyddion got in trouble, she was not too far behind.
Megan sighed as the first bell rang and downed the rest of her drink. "Well we'd better get going."
Adrian shoved his plate away and stood. The two didn't say much on the walk upstairs, not really having much else to comment about and not knowing each other well enough to vent. Megan was too worried to talk anyway, as she looked left and right for Gwyddion every few seconds to no avail.
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Post by Gwyn on Oct 3, 2007 22:17:15 GMT -8
“You’re a bloody cretin. You don’t belong here, go back to where you came from! You’re a bloody cretin. You don’t belong here, go back to where you came from!”
Argus’s words kept repeating themselves while Gwyn slept. He mumbled words, tossed and turned all night. When he woke it was very early and he felt as tired and worn out as he did the night before. He thought of the latest problem and had to honestly wonder if Andrew and his mates would have ever used the tunnel or even found it had Megan and he not found it and told their circle of friends. Was he a bad influence? Megan would never have gone were it not for him? Is he changing her and the others just by being there, is his reputation influencing others and is he corrupting them? Because of him Andrew and Thatch could have lost their Perfect positions had they been caught. Would Argus be quiet about it or use the information to his advantage. If I wasn’t here it would likely never be an issue. He thought. Argus would be able to gloat that he was behind me leaving and the others would be alright.
Gwyddion`s head spun, he wasn’t thinking straight and wanted to talk to someone, an adult but not Dumbledore or a teacher. There really was no one he could openly talk to at Hogwarts. His mother was out of the question mainly due to the letter he had received from her just over a week ago, there was his father though, he understood Gwyddion much better than his mother. Gwyn dressed and left the common room. He took pen, ink and parchment to a first floor classroom that wasn’t used, the same classroom where they had hidden the boxes of dragon dung.
Gwyn sat there in the semi dark and thought about what he should tell his father and how to word it. After a half hour he put quill to paper.
Dear Father,
Please do not share this letter with mother at this time because I feel she would not understand. Hogwarts is everything I could have hoped for and more but I don’t belong here. I think I should return to Durmstrang and complete my education there....
Gwyddion went on and told his father everything, his triumphs, his battles, his failures and his love of Megan. His eyes were red and he had to wipe tears away every so often but he continued on until it was done. He rolled up the parchment and prepared it to go by owl to his father. No sooner had he left the room when he bumped into Kade. He avoided looking directly looking at him and cut the conversation short telling him he was in a hurry to send an owl. At the Owlery he quickly found Andalus and tied the letter to its leg. He waited several minutes wondering if he was doing the right thing before he sent off Andalus off but in the end he released the great owl. He stepped away from the window and watched as his owl finally disappeared from site.
All he could think of at the moment was Megan. He would have stayed for her alone but what he was doing to her ..... His father would reply today he knew that so there was no reason to go to classes. He would use the time wisely and pack his things while no one was about. He didn`t want to have to face anyone right now so he wandered the grounds and ended sitting by the lake hidden behind a clump of bushes. The school bell tolled and classes had started but Gwyddion remained where he was.
Over an hour later Gwyddion made his way back to the dorm. He used hidden shortcuts and saw no one. In his dorm he slowly packed things together in his trunk, it was much more difficult than he had thought it would be. He grew angry with himself for how badly he`d screwed up everything but four more years at Durmstrang would make him a harder colder person. He wondered if thats really what he wanted.
“What the hell are you doing!? Andrew shouted when he walked into the dorm. He forcefully pushed Gwyn away from the trunk. “Dumbledore pulled me out of class to find you, said you’d been gone all morning.” Andrew looked around. “What’s all this about Gwyn?”
Gwyn looked at Andrew and spoke quietly. “Why would Dumbledore have you look for me, second class is just over, I shouldn’t have been missed yet?”
“Your father’s only forty miles from Hogsmead, this came by your owl a half hour ago. It’s your permission to leave, to run, to run back to Durmstrang away from whatever it is you’re scared of. You didn’t run from seventh years but destroy a hall, you nearly kill three sixth years and now you’re running away from something. You’re scared of something Gwyn and you can’t handle it or you don’t know how to handle it. The boy from Durmstrang is scared and he’s running home. Home to where he can bully and not have to face what scares him. What is it Gwyn that you can’t face? Is it Megan, is it life outside your comfort zone? What’s got you so scared you’re running away? Here you better read your letter because whatever you do today is final. If you walk out that door you’re not coming back, it’s Durmstrang for four more years. Grow up Gwyn.” Andrew’s reproach was blistering.
“I know what’s eating you; it’s been on your mind for days. You talk in your sleep a lot Gwyn, like you did last night. Don’t you think we’re old enough to look after ourselves? We knew full well what we were doing and we were bound to find that tunnel one day. Thatch and I have been looking for the secret passageways for years, we’ve taken them all at night but most of them lead nowhere. You didn’t make us do anything we weren’t already doing. If anything I was the one who goaded you and Megan into coming. Don’t do this Gwyn, it a big mistake.”
Gwyn stared at Andrew and said nothing. He’d hoped to avoid this very scenario and he didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t prepared for what Andrew had said. Someone cleared their throat and Gwyn looked to the stairs where the sound came from. It was Megan, she just stood there and shook her head.
“What are you doing Gwyn?” Megan’s tone was bitter. “You were planning to leave and say nothing to me? How could you do that? Did you just expected that everything was going to be fine and we would go merrily on our way like you’d never been here. That’s just plain stupid Gwyn. I don’t know how on earth you diluted yourself into believing that. Did you even bother to think about how we would all have felt if you just disappeared? Never knowing why or me wondering if it was my fault. You’re being pig headed and selfish. I would never expected that you’d run away from anything. I thought what we had was special and that you’d talk to me and not run. Maybe it wasn’t so special for you if you could just walk away from me and not care.”
“That’s not true!” Gwyn finally found his voice and spoke with strength. “I care for you more than anything Megan. There’s nothing I wouldn’t have done or given for you. I just wanted to protect you from my me. I was worried that I was changing who you were.”
“Oh come on do you think I’m so shallow. If I don’t want to do something you’re not going to convince me to do it. Gwyn we want you to stay, I want you to stay. There’s nothing for you at Durmstrang you’ve said as much yourself.”
Gwyn’s eyes began to burn and blur he looked away. “There’s nothing more in this world I want than to be with you. I’m sorry Megan, I’ve been really stupid. God what a pigheaded fool I’ve been. Megan walked over to him wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.
“Stay for me Gwyn.” She whispered in his ear.
Gwyn wrapped his arms around her and tears the fell freely down his cheeks. He suppressed his sobs, but his body still shook. When he finally let go of Megan and wiped his eyes Andrew and the letter from his father were gone.
Forty five minutes later Gwyn and Megan were sitting in the Great Hall at lunch with their friends. There was no discussion of what had taken place earlier in the day and it seemed that Andrew and Megan were the only two who knew of Gwyn’s plan to leave Hogwarts. Instead the talk was of the upcoming Quidditch match against Ravenclaw and how big the point spread would be. Kade figured it would be a good game but that Gryffindor would come out on top. Not to take any chances he wanted to try and arrange for a last minute practise. Transfiguration and Divination were the last two classes of the day and Gwyn was actually looking forward to them.
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Post by Bessain on Oct 5, 2007 22:15:51 GMT -8
Despite the recent cleaning, the Slytherin commonroom still held the faintest smell of dung. This was not so bad until you laid on the couches and realized that the odor had sunk in the material. So Caius sat on the stone floor, purposely not lounging on the sofa lest it remind him of his current disgrace. His hate for all Gryffindors increased intensely everytime he walked in the dungeons.
After the crate incident had been cleaned up, most of his Slytherin crew had refused to remain in his presence. Caius had then turned to a few Ravenclaw students, who apparently sympathized with Slytherins. He learned much from them. Intelligence was supposed to be the main strength of all Ravenclaws. But for all their assurances, they seemed to remain blissfully unaware that a divided house was a weak one.
And then came that fateful day when he had been sitting on his own in the commonroom, like now, running his hand under his seat to warm the cold tile slats. The day's frustrations had added extra pressure in his hands as his patience wore thin. Eventually, as his movement unconciously demanded, the tile shifted. Caius had jumped with surprise, thinking that this was the second thing he would ruin in the noble house of Salazar Slytherin.
Upon closer examination, the boy discovered that that the mortar between the tile... really wasn't mortar. It looked like it. But the cheap imitation had been weakened by the magical integrity of the dragon dung. It came off in little gray flakes and even chunks, when he ran the side of his hand around the cold metal square. Caius raised his head slowly and looked around, making sure no one was watching. He lifted the tile slate and found a small compartment. Reaching inside carefully, his hand gripped the spine of a book. The book felt, smelled and looked old, and Caius couldn't help but wonder how long it had been there.
Thanks to his new found treasure, Caius was able to expand his list of both defensive and offensive spells. He was not satisfied practicing without any real targets, so when one of his Ravenclaw counterparts brought up a muggle-born in thier house, Caius was more than willing to pay her a visit. According to the latest report, Amanda Cunnings was still in the hospital wing thanks to him.
Caius now sat upon the very stone slate that hid his book away, smiling to himself, plotting his way back into Slytherin favor. They all thought he was useless now, but they'd see. He was just as tough as he'd always been! Thanks to his new toy, he had a few new tricks up his sleeve.
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Post by Erin on Oct 5, 2007 22:26:39 GMT -8
With a weeks worth of classes behind her and many whispers of Hogsmead in her head from previous days, Andi woke up refreshed and excited for once about Quidditch. The fact that she had friends on the team, on both teams, would be something she would never forget. It would be an interesting match.
Summoning her watch and clothes bearing the blue and silver of Ravenclaw toward her, she quickly checked her hair in the mirror and changed it from its usual black to blue with silvery streaks. The silver reminded her of a Veela's hair. She marched down to breakfast and sat at the Ravenclaw table, pulling toward her plate scrambled eggs, toast and kippers.
A short while after she had begun eating, Emily arrived in the Great Hall and sat down beside Andi.
"Morfging." was all Andi managed through a mouthful of eggs and toast.
Emily laughed. "Morning to you too! I like your hair by the way! It's just our luck, perfect Quidditch conditions! Although the usual morning mist seems a bit heavy, I'm sure it will be a great match!" she declared.
"I'm only worried about Amanda Cunnings. Not being able to play will hit her hard...if she's even awake yet. But maybe Matron will let her watch the match!" Andi added in hopefully.
The two girls talked cheerfully for awhile, until Andi left to see Megan and Gwyn at the Gryffindor table and left Emily finish her breakfast in peace. On the way she bumped into Kade, and she smiled warmly at him wishing him good luck in the upcoming match. Today would be a good day.
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Post by Naucoaran on Oct 6, 2007 13:54:19 GMT -8
Adrian woke very early that morning. It was still quite dark outside his window when he went to look and when he finally found the light to read his watch the hands only pointed to one in the morning. He let out a ragged sigh as he collapsed into his bed again. For the next several hours he tossed and turned, waking up every half hour till dawn. When the gray light finally started to filter in through the drapes he threw off the covers and dressed rapidly. He was out of the common room and down in the dining hall before many of his fellow Ravenclaw’s were even awake.
When he arrived down at the large dining hall he found that he was not the only early riser. There was a handful from each house sitting drearily at each table, heads cradled in their hands as they slowly ate. "Must be the early risers..." he said softly to himself as he looked at his watch. He took a seat by himself after seeing no one in particular he wanted to be with in the early morning.
The fourth year filled his plate with a collection of scrambled eggs, a slice of ham, and a buttered english muffin. He ate slowly, hoping someone he knew would come down so he could sit and talk with them. When he finished and no one had shown up he left quietly. Half way back to the common room he was struck with an idea and for the first time that day, he walked with a purposeful stride. It wasn't long before he stood in front of the medical wings door, chewing on his lip. Finally going inside he found Matron and asked if he could see Amanda.
The older woman frowned and pursed her lips. The expression made Adrian shiver. Amanda must not have been improving, or if she was it wasn't going well. "Please? I wanted to see her before the game, I'm playing for her and well, I want to know how she's doing." He started to chew his lip again. The woman looked out of the door into the hallway to see if they were alone.
"If I hear that you told anyone that I let you see her, you’ll need someone better than me to fix you back up." She said sternly. Adrian half smiled before he thought that she very well might have been serious. He swallowed the thought and nodded for her to take him to Amanda.
"This way, she’s in a private room." Matron said as she waved him on. Adrian followed on her heels. He almost didn't recognize her when he first saw Amanda. Matron had left the two of them alone, closing the door to hide that he was visiting her in case someone else came looking into the medical wing. He couldn’t help but stare at the pale and sunken features of the once bright and cheerful girl.
She appeared to be sleeping so he walked up softly and took a seat next to her bed. Her eyelids fluttered open and she looked lazily over at him. "Adrian?" she said weakly. They had talked with each other on several occasions and would hang out together sometimes. at least she can still remember people... he thought to himself.
"Hi Amanda. We've all been thinking about you, we can't wait for you to get better." He said with a nervous smile, maybe this wasn't a good idea, he wasn't the best at conversations like this. She really looked like she was for the worse of the hex. Her skin was pale and her eyes were sunken in with heavy bags under them. Her cheeks were hollow and she appeared to be losing a lot of weight. He felt a twinge of anger and hatred to whoever did this to her. "I wanted to come and see how you're doing. The game's today and I'm playing for you while you...get better."
She let a weak smile run over her lips as she laid a hand on his "I'm sure you'll do great Adrian, I'll be better soon don’t wo-" she fell asleep then, and Adrian got a little scared that he had done something wrong.
"Matron?" He said with some worry evident in his voice. She scurried over and peered inside.
"She’s fine, she just needs her rest. She can’t stay up that long before falling back asleep. It might be part of the-" she looked down at him "well, you know." The Ravenclaw nodded slightly.
"I should go, before my friends wonder about where I am."
The nurse nodded then escorted him out. "That’s probably for the best. And don't forget what I told you, no one is to know I let you see her."
He nodded his head then quickly made his way off to find someone he knew to hang out with before the game.
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Post by Bessain on Oct 6, 2007 16:26:21 GMT -8
((short post. Just setting up. Please leave Caius alone for right now.))
"Hey Andi!" greeted Megan, as her Ravenclaw friend made her way over to the table. She nearly frowned noticing the change of color in Andrea's hair. Megan reached over and gave a playful tug on one of her blue colored locks. "Nice, but it would look better in red and blonde!"
Andrea shook her head and wished Gwyddion luck, because their team would quite obviously need it.
Adrian joined the three not long after Andrea showed up. He stayed and chatted for awhile, claiming to have already eaten breakfast. And so the four sat, ate and talked, passing the time and calming their nerves.
Eventually the two boys had to take off toward their respective locker rooms for the big game. So with a quick kiss on Gwyddion's cheek, Megan followed Andrea off to the spectator stands.
~
Caius made his way down to the quidditch pitch, clutching tightly to the old tome tucked underneath his robes. Originally, he had not planned on attending any games unless his house was playing. But now was different. Gryffindor was playing, and if something happened now he'd be the last person anyone would blame. No one in his house would tattle if they learned of his exploits, it was too brilliant to ruin!
He thought of the welcome back he would get into Slytherin once this was all over. The thought gave him a sense of peace to clutch desperately onto. Once this whole ordeal was over, the better. Afterall, they were just Gryffindors.
The Slytherin third year made his way under the bleachers, trying to decide the best place to set up as the crowds filtered in.
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Post by Gwyn on Oct 6, 2007 23:55:23 GMT -8
Gwyn’s mind was on anything but supper Friday night. He was quiet and for the most part playing with his potatoes and thinking about the Quidditch game in the morning.
“Hey anyone in there?” Megan said shoving her elbow into his rib.
Gwyn winced and gave her a mildly annoyed look.
“Are you going to be like this before every Quidditch game?” Megan asked looking at him with a mischievous smile. “You know starving yourself and ignoring us isn’t going to help.”
“I’m sorry you’re right. It’s just my first game and I want it to go really well. I want to win.” Gwyn pushed his plate aside and slid into Megan and placed his arm around her. For the remainder of the evening Gwyn tried to be social but when he and Megan were sitting together in the common room with only a few of the older students around his thoughts again wandered to the upcoming game.
He woke early the next morning just as the sun was cresting the hills. He lay in bed a while but finally got up and dressed. The common room was empty as were the corridors and the Great Hall. The Great Oak doors were still bolted and Gwyn didn’t know if he would be allowed to open them. He walked back along the corridor to the empty classroom and made his way out through one of the windows. As he always did at his old school Gwyn wandered to the Quidditch pitch and walked the length of the field several times and cleared his mind.
“I see the bolted doors are no obstacle for you Mr. Allardyce.” Professor Dumbledore commented as Gwyn drew close.
The voice startled Gwyn and his heart sank when he saw his Professor. Caught again. He thought.
“Professor...ah good morning sir. Well you see I always walked the pitch sir at Durmstrang sir. I don’t know it seemed to help clear the air and help me focus on the game, it became a bit of a pregame ritual for me sir. I always wake up early game days sir.” Gwyn had no idea how long the professor had been there or for that matter how long he had been there.
“It’s quite alright Gwyn but in the future use the doors. I’ll see to it they are opened early game days.” Dumbledore smiled. “I know you will do well today Gwyddion pregame jitters aside. And more than that we can’t ask for. Come along, breakfast is waiting."
Gwyn accompanied Dumbledore back to the school and joined Megan and Andrea. The three of them sat and ate talking of the upcoming game and Amanda, the cursed Ravenclaw Chaser. It wasn’t long before Adrian joined them just to chat. The time passed and before they knew it, it was time for Adrian and Gwyn to head to their respective locker rooms. Megan gave Gwyn a kiss on the cheek and left for the spectators’ stands with Andrea.
All the team was in the locker room and the confidence of a win was running high. When everyone had changed into their Quidditch robes Kade gave a quick strategy talk and refreshed their memories on the Ravenclaw players and their short comings. He gave Gwyn some pointers on the Ravenclaw keeper being a little slow at times covering the right lower ring and not to worry about the bludgers, Kat and Boris had them covered. Everyone wished Charlie well and the three Chasers Jason, Adam and Gwyn joined hands in a ritual cheer. The spirit in the change room was good and everyone expected to come out with a win.
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Post by Michi on Oct 7, 2007 18:04:14 GMT -8
Emily wandered over to the Ravenclaw changing rooms a good twenty minutes after the rest of her team: she too had gone to visit Amanda before the game. However, she had already been running late and on her way to the pitch she had gotten caught in the crowd of people going to see the game and had been forced to virtually fight her way down to the changing rooms.
"Emily! There you are!" Terrance grabbed Emily's arm and dragged her into the changing room, before practically shoving her into her quidditch robes. "The game's about to start!"
"It's all right Terrance, breathe," Emily said, brading her long hair to keep it out of her face during the game, "I'm here, everyone's here, and we're going to beat Gryffindor." She winced involuntarily like she did every time she said that; but she reminded herself that it was just a game - she could get competitive and her friends would understand. Terrance nodded, and appeared to be taking deep calming breaths. Adrian was peering out at the crowd.
"There are a lot of people out there," He said unnecessarily, sounding a bit nerous also. Emily nodded, and grabbed her broomstick. She looked over at Terrance, who was, as usual, looking greenish; He may be a hell of a Keeper and captain, but he had the worst set of nerves Emly had ever seen. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"Adrian, Rebecca, Thomas," She said, naming their three chasers, "Kade is a brilliant keeper, but he has a tendancy to stick to his left more than anything. Play to the right if you can - Jill, Hugh," She looked at the two beaters, "Watch their backs - focus on them and Terrance - I'll be flying higher and keeping an eye out for the Snitch, so don't worry about me." She clapped Terrance on the shoulder and strode to the door of the room, propelling him in front of her - he would be fine once he got in the air, she knew.
"All right," She said, opening the door, "Let's go."
(OOC: Shooooort.)
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Post by Gwyn on Oct 11, 2007 20:43:21 GMT -8
This post is a collaboration between Erbis, Bessain, Alex and Thalion. Enjoy.
To Gwyddion’s ears the roar was deafening as the two Quidditch teams made their way to the centre of the pitch. It was a familiar sound but each and every time he experienced it he could feel the energy from the crowd seep into his body as though it were an energy that could be absorbed. The four bleacher towers were all full for this the first game of the 1944/45 season. Only the Slytherin tower seemed not to be cheering either team on and Gwyddion made a rude hand gesture in reply to the jeers and insults they shouted. House flags were being waved around madly in all the stands and everyone expected a good game. The referee was the Astronomy Professor Straklen, he was an official with the International Association of Quidditch and refereed all Hogwarts games. Gwyn and Adrian smiled at each other and each gave the other a thumbs up. Professor Straklen walked to the centre of the pitch and gave the traditional talk of sportsmanship and fair play. The two team captains shook hands and when everyone was ready the referee threw open the lid to the box containing the Quaffle, two Bludgers and the Golden Snitch and released them.
Gwyn kicked off hard and rose quickly. Gryffindor’s Chaser Jason managed to get the Quaffle first and had to duck a Bludger right away. He was closely pursued by a Ravenclaw Chaser and tossed to Gwyn who flew deep into Ravenclaw territory. Gwyn had to roll to miss a Bludger and then shot straight up and rolled to the right to avoid being checked. He passed the Quaffle to Adam who was blind checked from the rear almost immediately and dropped it. Jason recovered it but was fighting against a Ravenclaw Chaser; he flew up to Gwyn’s level and handed off to Gwyn who also had a Ravenclaw Chaser covering him. Gwyn remembering Kade’s instructions got top speed from his Clean Sweep and pulled away from his Ravenclaw pursuer, he flew straight at the centre ring then in the last second rolled right and scored by sending the Quaffle through the lower right ring. The crowd roared but none more loudly than the Gryffindor tower who were waving their flags and cheering wildly. Gwyn was jubilant, he had drawn first blood on the first game of the season. He had made his mark.
Minutes after reaching the stands, the two Quidditch teams marched out of their respective entrances. Screams and boos soon followed, chasing after them as they walked to the middle of the pitch. Soon afterwards the two captains had shook hands, and the game had started.
Andi cheered with the rest of the crowd as the players shot off the ground and raced into the sky. Soon they were only recognisable for the blur of colour flying around and those catching the Quaffle. It was currently in Gryffindors possession, and the player holding on to it had ducked just in time to miss being hit by a Bludger, which had been carefully aimed.
The blur of red whizzed pat and accelerated to full speed, loosing anyone who was in pursuit. All heads turned toward the blur, and suddenly cheers erupted from the Gryffindors as the figure had stopped and hurled the Quaffle through one of the Ravenclaw hoops. Andi looked through her binoculars at the figure; it was Gwyn! The impulse to cheer for him came over her, but she groaned instead with the rest of the Ravenclaws, avoiding any strange looks. 0-10 for Ravenclaw.
As the game started, a surge of adrenaline flooded Adrian’s body. He kicked up off the field with a large smile. Players swarmed like hornets just after a little boy has hit their nest with a ball. Red and gold flashed and fought against silver and blue as the Quaffle changed possession between teams. Soon Gwyn had scored and the Gryffindor bleacher tower cheered with wild abandon. This made Adrian grin but also filled him with a dedication to get at least one score in too. Leaning forward his broom shot off and he rushed towards the Quaffle. After the goal, Ravenclaw took possession of the Quaffle. Rebecca started out carrying it before getting swarmed and deftly tossing it to Thomas. He pulled up and twisted as he spun in a vertical loop, losing one of the Gryffindor chasers and slightly confusing another.
Gwyn was still on Thomas’ tail as he sped in a straight line. Adrian lined up with him going head on like they had practiced before. They picked up speed, still on a collision course, Gwyn still close behind Thomas. With a fast switch Thomas tossed the Quaffle to Adrian who, after practicing the move several times, deftly caught it even as Thomas dipped sharply to avoid crashing into Adrian. Gwyn, however, was unaware of how the move worked and Adrian was unaware that Gwyn had been chasing Thomas. They both shouted simultaneously and swerved to the side. However they were traveling too fast and they clipped each others shoulders, both players getting roughed up rather well.
Adrian recovered from the hit faster and seeing that many of the players were confused with the collision, sped for the Gryffindor goal rings. The keeper realized what was happening a split second too late as Adrian threw the Quaffle, the ball clipping the keepers hand and sailing through the goal. Adrian pumped his arm in the air with a shout then winced at the pain the movement brought. His collision with Gwyn had roughed up his arm more than he thought. He grimaced through the pain and sucked it up. He certainly wasn’t hurt enough to stop playing. My arm would have to be on the field for me to stop! he thought as he flew out to re-join the game.
The minute Megan stepped into the stands, she was immediately mobbed by her fellow Gryffindor’s carrying buckets of face paint. A diagonal line from her temple to the opposite side of her cheek traced red and gold all over her face. The game had really only been on for fifteen minutes, and already Megan’s throat felt sore from cheering.
Thanks to the rumors of Megan losing it with David and Justin, Andrea was not bothered by anyone in the Gryffindor house stands. Megan was pleased to find that it worked the other way around as well.
Megan felt slightly guilty about breaking Andrea off from her house, so she made a point to switch bleachers every so often. The two would run from one side of the pitch to the other, finding that they could actually get a better view of the game if they rotated at the right time.
Gryffindor was up 50 to 40 around the time Megan and Andrea were switching from Ravenclaw. In a full sprint, Megan cut a sharp turn once leaving a small stairwell. The end of her robes caught on the side of the bleachers, and the fabric tore as she fell face first to the wooden deck. The ice cold drink she had been carrying out in front of her splashed down and underneath the spectators stands... drawing a high pitched squeal and a series of red flames that singed the underside of Megan’s hands as she pressed down to roll away.
Andrea followed up at that moment to find her friend on the ground looking rather battered and, for some odd reason, slightly burned.
~
His rage flared dangerously, as he found an open area underneath the Gryffindor bleachers. Just hearing them all cheering above him spurred the 3rd year on. Caius sat down in the shade, flipping through his book and considering using the player's tunnel to launch his plan. It was an open area and close to the Gryffindor turf, the perfect spot to stir confusion and doubt. But how would he go about doing this? The spell he had wanted to use, would include setting a broom or two ablaze. However, there were a few words about the movement that he could not translate. So he would just have to settle with a lesser heat spell. He found one before long and practiced silently.
Raising his wand, Caius took aim and acted out leading his target and following through. Whatever happened, he knew, Gryffindor could not win. The seeker feinted diving for a snitch to throw the Ravenclaw players off a bit. Caius was unable to tell the difference of his feint, and immediately set into his hex.
Halfway through, though, he was hit randomly with an ice cold liquid. His concentration broken, Caius' spell backfired in his face. He hit the dirt to avoid the blast, but forgot about his book that lay only a few feet away.
When he rose and patted out the flames, Caius suddenly felt rather nervous about the condition of his book. Only the top pages had burned, but it still worried him that the spell he desperately wanted to use today, might possibly have been damaged.
~
“Megan -” Andi began, but she was drown out by the screaming and then groaning from the wild crowd.
“Megan, why the hell do you have burn marks on you?!” she said desperately. She looked down at the boards beneath their feet, only to find there was a circle, with a diameter of about one-foot, where the wood was slightly blackened.
“Megan, what ever that was, it came from below us!”
Andi crouched down and looked between two of the floorboards, and to her surprise, saw a flicker of movement!
“There’s someone down there!!” she screamed at her friend.
Andi ran to the back of the stands, followed closely by Megan.
“Follow my lead.”
Bending over the back of the stands Andi made a noise as though she was sick. Winking at Megan she said, “Ohhh I’m not feeling well…” As she bent over the stands for a second time she whispered “Flagrate” and an icy blue X appeared on the side of the stands were the person was.
Megan took Andi’s arm and slung it around her shoulder and when most people saw them they moved aside quickly and looked up back at the game. When the two girls finally reached the ground they ran at full speed toward the place where Andi had marked the stands wall. Just before reaching the icy X, Andi took off and cast aside anything that was visible she had baring the Ravenclaw colours and cast a quick charm on them turning their colour to black. After replacing them back onto her body she did the same to Megan’s. Just before leaving in pursuit, she changed her hair to short and red in colour, her eyes turned brown.
“Let’s go…” she whispered to Megan. “I just hope nothing’s happ -”
The crowd let a scream and both girls looked up frantically. They had looked just in time to see what they had dreaded the most.
Gwyn’s shoulder ached badly, badly enough that holding firmly onto his broom was a challenge but there was no way he was pulling out of the game. The game went on for another twenty five minutes with the Quaffle changing possession back and forth between the teams. As the game went on the players checked each other harder and harder and by this time most of the players were playing with injuries. Spectacular shots were made and even more spectacular saves by both Keepers denying the one goal that might make the difference. The beaters did their best but all six Chasers were in top form this day and for the most part they avoided being directly hit by the Bludger. The crowd starting cheering wildly and with a quick glance up Gwyn saw the two Seekers racing side by side with their arms out stretched reaching for the small Golden Snitch. Emily and Charlie raced side by side bumping into one another hoping to gain a slight advantage and win the game for their side. Then out of nowhere came a streak of purple light hitting Charlie squarely in his left side rib cage. Charley fell over to his left and off his broom. He began to tumble in free fall from about two hundred feet above the ground. Without thinking Boris, Adam and Gwyn raced to catch the falling Seeker.
As Charlie fell, both girls bubbled with anger. They ran at top speed toward the fading X and underneath the stands. Standing there with a triumphant smirk on his face was a student, no older than his third or fourth year in Slytherin robes. The smirk was washed away when he looked over to see Andi and Megan standing there. He began to run, and in his panic he dropped a very old book. When it hit the ground the spine shattered and some of the pages flew out. He hesitated for a moment and then ran off.
The light brown haired boy had an advantage of being slightly smaller than Andi and Megan, and easily ran through the supports of the stands. After a wild chase, the girls lost sight of him and turned back. When they arrived, Andi summoned his old book to her and picked up any of the pages that hadn’t been blown away. Together they made there way out into the open, with quite the story to tell.
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Post by Gwyn on Oct 12, 2007 12:29:09 GMT -8
Charlie’s limp body tumbled as it fell from the sky. Boris was the first to reach him and would have been knocked off his broom had it not been for Adam and Gwyn flying up and taking some of Charlie’s weight. Slowly the three Chasers lowered Charlie to the ground and were quickly surrounded by students. Charlie didn’t move or make a sound, his robes were charred and he was badly burned. Kade landed and came running over furious with what had happened but he went straight to Charlie and started barking orders. Kade took things in hand. He, Adam and Boris began to move people back as teachers came through the crowd. Gwyn looked around in a panic for Professor Dumbledore and spotted him coming out of the Gryffindor Tower.
He ran toward him calling the Professor pushing the people out of his way.
“Professor Dumbledore, Professor.” Gwyn was out of breath when he reached him. “Professor... it was... it was a Stanisic spell. The light ray was deep purple, no one but Stanisic ever created a purple ray. He could die Professor, you know don’t you?
“Yes Mr. Allardyce I am aware of the nature of the spell and its creator. At the moment my concern is for the Gryffindor Seeker.” Dumbledore swept past Gwyn then stopped and turned to face him.” Gwyddion I know what this means, how it came to happen here I don’t know but I will find out.” Dumbledore gave Gwyn a smile and turned away.
“How’s Charlie?” Gwyn turned and to find Megan and Andi behind him.
“He’s not good. It was a Stanisic spell that someone used.” Gwyn replied
“Is that what all that was about with Dumbledore? Who’s this Stanisic guy?” Andi asked
“Stanisic? You don’t know who Stanisic is, you must be kidding? Didn’t they teach you about him in History of Magic?” Judging by the blank looks on Megan’s and Andi’s faces they had no idea who he was talking about. “Jorge Stanisic was a very rich wizard in the late 11th century and was the major benefactor of Durmstrang. It’s because of him Durmstrang is still into the dark arts today. The term black magic they say started to describe Stanisic’s curses and spells, you saw purple beam of light, well black magic was used to describe it. Stanisic was in demand because he made a good living as an assassin or so they say. He specialised in what’s called wasting diseases. People cursed by him would look as though they were slowly dying from some disease when it was really one of his curses. It was flawless because no one could ever prove a thing unless they saw him do it. A few did see it and that’s how it’s we know about it but most of those who saw never lived to tell the story. There were some books of his spells written by him in the Durmstrang library once but they were burned sometime in the 1400s. Charlie is in bad shape depending on what spell was used against him. Where would someone have found that spell these days, there’s never been any record of one of his books turning up, they were all burned and the ashes tossed to the wind or so the story goes.”
“We found this.” Andi said handing him a book. "Or whats left of it."
“It was a third or fourth year Slytherin who dropped it when we surprised him. We ran after him it but we couldn’t keep up with him. What'd you think could this be one of those books?” Megan asked.
“I don’t know but it’s really old.” Gwyn flipped through the loose pages. The English is really old and so is the Bulgarian but I could figure out what’s what if I sat down with it for a while.” The book was fragile and smelled rather musty. “I think we should give this to Dumbledore, he would be able to figure it out. Hey I wonder if someone used a curse from this on Amanda. It would explain a lot. Come on.” Kade was already moving Charlie and Dumbledore was walking behind. Gwyn and the two girls went to him and handed him the book. Dumbledore was very surprised to see the book and even more surprised when the girls told him of the events leading up to the finding of the book. There was nothing more that the girls and Gwyn could do at the moment so the followed Kade and the others up to the Hospital Wing with Charlie.
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Post by Bessain on Oct 13, 2007 21:48:13 GMT -8
Andrea, Megan and Gwyddion sat outside the hospital wing, waiting for news from their friend. The school nurse had allowed entrance to Kade and Dumbledore only, and it wasn't long before Kade too was thrown out. Emily and Adrian joined them soon after they escaped the comotion out on the quidditch field.
The five friends attempted to mob Kade for information, but he knew just about as much as they did. The only thing he really could tell them, was that Charlie had not yet regained conciousness. If anything at all, Gwyddion seemed to know more about it. He was the only one there who has any idea of what thier friend was going through.
Megan scooted closer to Emily, more for support than anything else, wondering what her friend was thinking that moment. It could very well have been Emily, and not Charlie, in that little bed in the next room. If it had been, Gryffindor would have won and not Ravenclaw.
There didn't seem to be much else they could do for Charlie. They had already handed over the book and identified the spell that was most likely used. So the group decided that the best thing to do was to head for their common rooms. None of them seemed very happy with the idea, but there didn't seem to be anyway for them to help.
"One moment please," came the quiet demand from the hospital wing door, just as they had all turned their backs to leave. Professor Dumbledore walked out to stand before them. He asked if any of them had any idea as to who could have held something against Charlie, or if they knew anything in general about the entire predicament. Megan and Andrea looked at each other for a moment before stepping forward.
The professor took one look at them and asked that the two girls and Gwyddion follow him to his office. Megan gave Emily's shoulder a pat and left.
~
The Slytherin common room was buzzing with gossip by the time Caius found the courage to leave his hiding spot and return. Those two girls had very nearly ruined his whole plan! He realized that they could still ruin it for him, so he had to rely on the hope that they did not get a good enough look at him. For now, he would find a way to take credit for his work.
Slowly, he approached his old comrades as they sat huddled in the corner discussing the days events. He recieved only glares at first, and was allowed only a few moments to explain himself. Caius gave a brief summary of what he'd done... and the group had a hard time believing him. The Slytherin boy nearly kicked himself. If he had that book, he would be able to prove that he did it! That he really was the reason Gryffindor was now behind a game. But he dropped it when those two girls rushed him!
Frustrated now, Caius thought desperately for a way to prove himself. It took awhile, but eventually it hit him. The cubby! Caius clawed around the brick that used to hide his precious tome. The group was slightly impressed but not convinced. He ran through a few minor spells he had learned from the book, but was unable to remember the one he had used on the seeker. Thankfully, this was enough to be let back into his old circle, though he still felt an air of disdain coming from a few of the kids. No matter though. Slytherin students had broken into the Gryffindor common room before to plant stinksap. They could do it again to find the book.
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Post by Gwyn on Oct 17, 2007 23:26:53 GMT -8
This post was done by Bessan, Alex and Thalion.
In Professor Dumbledore’s office there was one chair sat directly in front of his desk and with a quick wave of his wand two more appeared, one on either side. The three students each took a chair without being told; the Professor sat and stared at the three students for several minutes before he finally spoke.
“Most of the Wizarding world has chosen to put the name of Jorge Stanisic into the foot notes of our history. So what are the chances that a book which was suppose to have been burned six hundred years ago would turn up at Hogwarts. Mr. Allardyce... now please understand that I am quite certain of the answer to this question but I must ask it. Did you bring this book to Hogwarts from Durmstrang?”
Gwyn sat back in his chair completely taken off guard by the question. “No Professor... I have no idea where the book came from. I’ve never seen that book before sir.”
Dumbledore nodded and smiled. “As I thought it would be, thank you Gwyddion. Ladies” Dumbledore smiles. “You saw this young man, do you think you would be able to recognise him if you saw him again?”
“Probably but not right away. Andi replies.
“I could give a vague description of him.” Megan adds.
“Very well.” Dumbledore smiles at them then stands up and walks across the room to a tall sideboard and opened the doors. He reaches in and picks up a large round object obviously heavy and brings it to his desk. He sets it down and they see that it is filled with a water like liquid but silvery and shimmering.
=========================
Andi knew almost right away that the stone basin Dumbledore was holding was a Pensieve. Never did she think though she would be allowed to use one. Heaving a sigh, she sat in her chair thinking whether or not she should volunteer. The last thing she wanted was someone to go into her thoughts against her will, but this was different. She was to voluntarily give something from her mind…what if Dumbledore took the wrong memory? As all people, she definitely had things she would keep to herself. But she trusted Dumbledore, and considering Megan had just sat there with a look on her face clearly stating that she was not going to, Andi stood up.
“Professor, as much as I don’t want anyone in my head, it seems I have no choice.”
“Excellent! Now Miss Zabe, I need you to think clearly of the memory I am about to extract from your mind. Considering that this is probably your first time having a memory extraction, you may feel a sensation of dizziness or the will to pass out. Do not be alarmed if you find yourself on the floor with no idea how you ended up there. It’s much easier to extract your own memories, but as you don’t know the spell, I will do it for you. I suggest you sit down.”
Andi sat down in her chair, hands tightly grasping the arms. She closed her eyes and thought hard about the memory. The cool wooden tip of Dumbledore’s wand pressed gently against her temple. All of a sudden a wave of dizziness washed over her and she felt her hands fall from the arms of the chair; she was going completely limp and had no control over her body. Then, it was over. She found herself being held up by Megan and Gwyn while Dumbledore let the memory float into the Pensieve.
“When…” Andi panted, “When you do it…to yourself…does it feel like that?”
Dumbledore smiled. “No. I find, when people are taking memories out of their own heads, it’s much more of a light tingling sensation.”
Dumbledore motioned towards the Pensieve and look at the three friends.
“Ladies first.”
Andi rose shakily out of her chair and walked nervously over to the Pensieve. Dumbledore motioned for her to go first, but she wasn’t entirely sure about what to do.
“How do I…” Andi’s voice broke off. She felt stupid. She was in Ravenclaw and couldn’t even enter a Pensieve properly. But Dumbledore smiled.
“Bend over and let your face break the surface.”
Andi did as she was told and as soon as the tip of her nose hit the surface, she was sucked in. The sensation of falling through darkness engulfed her, and then in the blink of an eye she found herself watching the Quidditch game with Megan only a few hours before. She looked over and her heart gave a jolt; she had just looked at herself from earlier that day with silver and blue hair. It was like looking into a mirror that didn’t show a reflection. Dumbledore, Megan and Gwyn soon appeared beside Andi. Megan had the same look of surprise Andi had when she looked at herself watching the game.
“I don’t remember it being this loud!” Andi said. “I guess when you look back on things you can relish the finer details!”
The memory Andi and Megan began to run across the bleachers, towards the Gryffindor side of the stands and the four followed after them. When Megan fell flat on her face, Andi noticed the real Megan turn red and looked at Dumbledore. After Andi had flagged the side of the wall, the four headed off, not waiting for the memory Andi and Megan to catch up.
They came across the flagged wall side and ducked underneath, and to their eyes came the young Slytherin boy. He was busy aiming his wand at Charlie. Then with a stroke of luck, they were able to see his wand movement and hear which incantation he had used.
It was very strange for Andi to see herself run around the corner with bright red hair. Although she had of course experimented with many different colours before, red wasn’t one she had thought about much. The strange thing was, she rather liked it. There was a brief look of confusion on Gwyn’s face to see the red haired girl run around the corner, but with a quick glance at the real Andi with black hair, he understood.
The past Megan and Andi were now beginning to run after the Slytherin boy and the present three friends made to run after them, but Dumbledore raised a hand and stated they’d seen enough. With a flick of his wand, all four were standing back in Dumbledore’s office.
========================
Megan smiled appreciatively at her friend. She remembered her first encounter with Kade's occlumency, and did not think this situation any different. There was no way she would have handled that as well as Andrea did.
The four waited until Andrea was ready to be moved and leaned forward to peer into the wide basin. Megan didn't really have a clue as to what Dumbledore was talking about, so she just followed Andrea's lead and entered after her. The two soon found themselves looking at the Quidditch pitch exactly as it was earlier that day. Gwyddion and Dumbledore followed within a few moments.
They stood a short distance off, watching as Megan and Andrea raced across the stands just as clearly as Megan could remember it. It was an odd sensation watching herself. Megan cringed and then turned a deep shade of red as her former self fell on her face for the second time that day. She looked up at Dumbledore and was relieved to find that he was kind enough not to laugh, though an amused twinkle graced his eyes for a moment only.
Not bothering to wait for the memory version of Megan and Andrea, the group went straight to the little Slytherin, who was now darting for the Quidditch tunnel aiming at Charlie. As they drew nearer, they observed the boy's wand movement and even caught the incantation. Dumbledore nodded as the spell binding Charlie was confirmed.
The Slytherin boy then turned and panicked when the former Megan and Andrea sprinted around the corner, looking rather pissed off. The boy bolted back under the bleachers, with the girls hot on his heels.
Gwyddion and the two girls meant to go after the trio, but Dumbledore stopped them.
"That's enough," he said quietly, taking out his wand to get all of them back to his office. The memory faded soon after.
========================
Once they return to Dumbledore’s office everyone seated themselves. Judging by the looks on their faces the Pensieve journey was a first for all of them. Dumbledore seated himself clasped his hands and placed them on his desk. He looked at each one of them and thought for a moment before he spoke.
“Lady’s,... this is somewhat unusual but I have my reasons for keeping this between us. Were it to become common knowledge that one of Jorge Stanisic’s Books of Curses survived the purging of his works Hogwarts would be beset with a number of less than desirer able persons and the Ministry would surely want the book in their keeping. I am going to ask you to go to the Slytherin portal and ask for Caius to come to my office. I would like you to escort him to this office but at no time are you to say anything as to why he has been summoned or that you know the reason.”
The Professor takes a piece of parchment and with a rather ornate quill he writes a note.
“You will need this.” He said a moment later and hands Megan the rolled up parchment.
“Give this to whomever comes to the portal and ask them to give this to Caius. Tell them you are to wait for the reply and nothing more. Please return directly here whether Caius is with you or not, you may still have some difficulties in spite of the note.” He turns to Gwyn.
“You will not be going with the ladies Gwyddion as I am certain your presents outside the Slytherin common room may cause more trouble than anything else. Need I say more?” Dumbledore looks directly at Gwyn over the top of his spectacles. Gwyn shakes his head though he doesn’t like the idea of the girls going alone.
“Now Gwyddion my knowledge of Bulgarian is limited and I’m certain you would be able to find the curse, and counter curse, Caius used against the Gryffindor Seeker much quicker than I. I also believe that the Ravenclaw Chaser was cursed by Caius so I ask you to see if you can find a counter curse to the wasting spells. Amanda is due to go to St. Mungo’s and I would prefer that she remains here, but for that to happen you must be quick to find the counter curse”
Dumbledore leans forward and hands Gwyn the book.” I expect you to speak of this book and what you are doing to no one. Too many questions might be asked so keep it well hidden. I don’t want this book falling into anyone else’s hands.”
Dumbledore stood and everyone knew the meeting was over. They let themselves out after thanking the Professor and vowing to keep silent on the matter. Gwyn was overwhelmed to have the book and couldn’t wait to start going through it. Who knows? Gwyn thought Maybe there’ll be something in here we can learn and use. He smiled at the thought.
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Post by Bessain on Oct 20, 2007 20:02:26 GMT -8
Gwyddion had been reluctant to let the girls go to the dungeons by themselves, but they had him settled before they reached the stone staircases that served as the first marker to the Slytherin common room.
"Don't think they'll give us any trouble now, do you? I mean, despite what we told Gwyn." Megan asked, cautiously stepping into the labyrinth of corridors that would hopefully get them to their desination.
"...Well it is Slytherin," was all Andrea had to offer.
The two girls looked at each other for a moment before tucking their wands loosely in their sleeves for easy access. They had an idea where the common room was, thanks to their potions class being so near, but really had no idea where to go after that. Thankfully, after winding up going in a circle twice, they spotted two ogre looking fellows in green and black robes. Not really wanting to talk to the boys, Andrea and Megan followed at a distance. The boys eventaully led them to a gargoyle, who asked for a password before leaping aside.
Megan and Andrea exchanged glances as the boys disappeared through the portal, and the gargoyle resumed his place as house guardian.
"Maybe we should have asked them..." Megan muttered to herself. "Though they didn't look very smart, or friendly."
Before they could really think the matter through, two sixth year girls exited the common room. Megan, not wanting miss another opportunity, rushed forward to meet them.
"Professor Dumbledore has asked that we deliver this to Caius Nestor of Slytherin," Megan held out the note. "It would be much appreciated if you would--"
The dark haired Slytherin girl snatched the note out of Megan's hands before she even finished. In the blink of an eye she tore the seal and, with her friend staring over her shoulder, began reading. Her eyes gleamed wildly before she reached the end.
"Hey! That's not for--"Megan protested.
Seemingly oblivious to Megan and Andrea's presence, the two girls shot back toward the gargoyle. "Dominatus!" the first girl screetched in a high pitched voice that made Megan cringe. The two Slytherins rushed through the door without another word, and slammed it shut.
~
"Caius!" Acacia screamed, pushing past a group of Slytherin boys who were crowding around her cousin. She had heard Caius bragging about taking down the Gryffindor seeker, but no one, not even her, was fond of Caius at the moment. So she had taken her cousin's story as a lie. But now, Dumbledore wanted him. Dumbledore! Her foolhardy relative was in deeper than he knew.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! You actually hexed the seeker, in front of every teacher in Hogwarts?!"
"Thats what I've been trying to tell you for the past couple hours!" Caius retorted, loving the attention and knowing more people would believe him if Acacia did.
"Well I hope you're happy," she said, tossing the note in his lap. "That came for you, and there are two girls in the hallway waiting to accompany you to Dumbledore, if I read the letter correctly."
"...What do those two girls look like?" Caius asked scanning through the note, and starting to turn pale.
"Well neither of them have house robes on, they're just plain black. But one has red and gold face paint on."
The note fell from Caius's hand.
"Idiot! You didn't even think this through! God you would have been better off suffocating in dragon dung!"
The volume levels in the common room shot up, now that everyone knew more about Caius.
Caius could not find his smile.
~
"Well that went well," Andrea commented, as Megan stared dumfounded at the Slytherin gargoyle. "Let's just get back to Dumbledore and tell him Slughorn will have to drag Caius out." She turned to leave, but stopped when Megan did not follow.
"Not yet..." Megan hissed, not liking having a door slammed in her face or her friends hexed. She grabbed Andrea by the arm and shouted, "DOMINATUS!"
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Post by Erin on Oct 22, 2007 20:21:44 GMT -8
Andi’s heart nearly stopped when the Slytherin gargoyle swung foreword to let the girls in. Megan had a tight grip on Andi’s arm and was just about to lead her through the entrance, when Andi abruptly stopped and stood rooted in place.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she shot at Megan.
“I’m not going to have some pig headed Slytherin girl slam the door in my face when on of her friends students have cursed one of my friends!”
“Listen,” Andi said in a whisper, “I see where you’re coming from, but Dumbledore said just to try and get this Caius guy out of the common room. We could just turn back empty handed instead of bursting in to the Slytherin common room, especially after what’s happened with Gwyn!”
Megan mock-considered Andi for a moment.
“Listen if you want to go back, tell Dumbledore what I’m doing and then stick your nose in a book like all you Ravenclaws do, then go ahead. But honestly,” she added with a smile, “I would much rather have someone to share the blame with.”
With that encouragement (and semi-truthful insult upon Ravenclaw) Andi stepped through the doorway leading to the common room. Instantly a wave of raised voices hit the girls as they walked quietly along the short corridor leading into the common room. They came to the end and found themselves looking down upon the common room, the stairs leading down lay in front of them. On either side there were short walkways leading to the boys and girls dormitories.
Instantly retreating to their only safe point in the entrance corridor, they began to think about how they could get past a bunch of brawling Slytherins, grab Caius and leave without causing too much of an uproar. When nothing came to mind, the girls began talking about it.
“Well, something sure caused quite the uproar…” Andi commented.
“I think I saw Caius down there…he looked really pale and was surrounded by people… This won’t be easy.”
“Obviously! I’m not sure how to do this.”
“Can you summon a person?” Megan asked.
“Not that I know of, we just recently learned about summoning charms. I’m pretty sure you can’t summon people.”
“So I guess that ruins Plan A.”
“Well what if we --”
Andi stopped in her tracks and both girls heads whipped around as the entrance door swung slowly open.
“Oh shit…” Andi breathed.
Three fifth year Slytherin boys entered through the door, both girls held their breath. They walked down the corridor and their eyes fell upon Andi and Megan.
“Well, well, well,” said the bigger of the three. Both girls looked up in fear. “What are these two girls here doing in our common room crouched down and whispering? Eh, what do you think Dom?”
“Let’s think. You two are obviously from Gryffindor, despite that you’re not wearin’ any o’ your house colours. But your face paint -” he pointed at Megan, “and your red ’air -” he pointed at Andi, “tells us everythin’. How I would love to just jinx you right now, ‘ear you scream, and see you writhe as a combination ‘o spells hits you at once.”
Andi slowly stood up, and was soon followed by Megan. The usual shyness that occupied Andi’s mind had turned to a righteous anger that bubbled inside her with every second that passed. Just when she was about to speak, the Slytherin boy, whom she could gather was called “Dom” spoke.
“Grab ‘em.”
In the blink of an eye each girls had been grabbed and a large sweaty hand placed over their mouths so they couldn’t protest.
“Let’s take a looksie at face paint over here. I want to see what you really look like.”
Dom smiled in both an amused and disgustingly evil way.
“Tergeo.” The face paint that covered Megan’s face siphoned cleanly off. The look of amusement was washed off of Dom’s face and replaced with one of victory.
“Oi! Boy’s you know who this is? This is that Gwyddions girl friend! Sheesh! Do you know what a bugger you’ve been? Always fightin’ by his side and getting’ more of us hurt. But now, ohhh, now’s your time to pay for all that bitch!”
Dom walked foreword with a triumphant look on his face. He stopped when he reached the top of the staircase and yelled down at the still brawling Slytherins.
“Oi!! Shut up a minute, we have something that all yeh would appreciate. Take a looksie at what we found, hiding I our common room, where nobody would see. I just don’t understand why these two girls would like to hide their faces from all us. Does anybody recognise ‘er?”
He pointed towards Megan as the other boys brought Andi and Megan foreword. Gasps and angry voices erupted throughout the common room. Megan and Andi both began struggling against their captors and made to get free. Andi desperately shook her arm, attempting to get her wand out of her sleeve. The tip of it made contact with her palm and she worked it forward. Just as Dom started his speech about getting revenge on Gryffindor, Andi stuck her wand in her captors’ gut and as loud as she could over her captors’ hand yelled, “STUPEFY!”
The Slytherin boy flew back and crashed into the opposite wall. With a resounding crash he landed on the floor and remained there motionlessly. Megan seized her chance to get free while her captor dumbfoundedly watched his friend hit the wall.
Spells began flying everywhere, most speeding just behind Andi and Megan as they shot past, trying to make their way towards Caius. Red jets of light flew from Andi’s wand in an attempt to disarm a few of the many Slytherins. Just as the girls reached the bottom of the stairs the entrance, yet again, opened up to noise.
Tom Riddle walked into the common room, and when his eyes caught the spells flying around, he quickly raised his wand and a blinding flash of light overtook the common room, darkness soon followed as all the lights in the common room, as well as the commotion, stopped. There was silence, and then the voice of Tom Riddle came out of the darkness.
“What the hell was that?!” he roared. “An open brawl in Slytherins’ common room? I would never expect that from Slytherin students! Maybe any other House, but surely not Slytherin!”
There was more silence, and then Riddle kept going on. Andi took this chance to poke Megan in the side and breath into her ear, “Let’s try to find Caius, we both no generally where he is…let’s try and get him before Riddle turns the lights back on.”
The girls went silently, feeling out the feet of tables and chairs, as well as the bodies of the Slytherin students. Gradually they made it to the middle of the common room. Andi stopped Megan and felt lightly so the others would feel, for a person who was sitting. When she found one, she grasped their arm and whispered in their ear, “Caius?” The arm tensed up and she heard a sharp intake of breath.
“Got him.” she whispered to Megan. “Now let’s go before the light come on. Go as fast as you can!”
The girls began randomly pushing people aside and running in the general direction of the stairs, on which Riddle was still ranting away, so it was pretty easy.
Riddle sensed the disturbance and stopped talking, listening to the footsteps which were growing closer. Suddenly, Riddle was pushed aside by unseen hands and a number of bodies proceeded afterward. The sound of the common room door opening was heard and then all was silent.
The girls erupted into the light corridor with the boy being dragged behind them. They stopped, only for a moment, to check whom Andi had grabbed. It was the right kid!
“How amazing is that?!” exclaimed Andi as they flew down the corridor.
But even before Megan had the chance to answer, a scream erupted from Andi. Caius had drawn his wand; the girls had been so desperate to get out of the common room that they had forgotten to take it. He hit Andi with the Jelly Legs curse and she went crashing to the floor. Her head hit the ground with a bang and she was instantly knocked unconscious.
Megan watched in horror as Caius began to run down the corridor. Andi was lying motionlessly on the floor. Megan made to grab him, but succeeded only in ripping part of his robes. Not even considering what to do, she let Caius go and bent down to Andi. She reached out to her and found her hands were cold as ice and shaking violently. She picked Andi up and slung her over her shoulder, and began dragging her desperately to the Hospital Wing.
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Post by Gwyn on Oct 23, 2007 19:57:07 GMT -8
The girls and Gwyn hung around outside of Dumbledore’s office for bit and talked about what Megan and Andi would do. Gwyn wasn’t about to let Megan go to the Slytherin common room area without him there or close by. It took them several minutes to convince him to follow Dumbledore’s instructions and to reassure him that they would be alright; they had the note from Dumbledore and no one would challenge their being there. Gwyn watched with some trepidation as the girls walked away.
Gwyn made for the secret passage way that was a short cut to the Gryffindor common room and once there he made himself comfortable where a torch cast enough light to read. He looked the book over and checked to see how many pages had been destroyed by the fire and what was written on those pages not completely burnt. To his relief the first several pages seemed to by a preamble written by Jorge Stanisic, not much of a loss judging by what the unburnt portions of the pages contained. Stanisic seemed to be really stuck on himself and mentioned at least once on each page how great he was and what little value muggle lives had. Muggles were a means to an end according to Stanisic and he profited well by them. Gwyn flipped through the delicate pages just scanning them looking for anything close to the incantation they heard Caius use. He began to slow and read the pages more thoroughly. Some of what he read was almost humorous and other parts were revolting and sadistic. It was no wonder that these book were all burnt but one.
Gwyn heard the tapestry at the lower entrance get pulled aside and that was quickly followed by footsteps coming up the stairs. It was Kade.
“Hey Gwyn, what are you doing reading here?” Kade asked looking down at the book.
“Oh it just a Bulgarian book Dumbledore gave me to read. It’s quieter here than the common room. Been to see Charlie?”
“Ya I just left him. They don’t know what curse hit him but it burnt his side badly and he’s gone all cold and pale. He’s in bad shape, they’ve tried healing techniques but the burn just doesn’t respond. I heard them talking about it and they think it’s dark curse of some sort. Anyway their talking about sending him to St Mungo’s with Amanda, his parents are here now and that’s what they want. Why would someone do this to Charlie?” Kade shakes his head.
“You look done in mate; you should call it a day. The news might be better tomorrow.”
With that Kade left for the common room and Gwyn began to read again with a greater desire to find the right curse. A while later he chuckled. He had come across several curses that caused balding over 3 months and no hair grew back. According to what was written a local wig maker hired Stanisic to curse several local nobles. With hair and its styling being socially paramount in the 1400s the wig maker did a brisk business. The hair loss was blamed on wines of dubious origin.
An hour later and Gwyn was no further in finding the incantation Caius used. He rubbed his eyes and looked at his watch and wondered how things had gone with the girls. He yawned, stretched and opened the book again. He read a few pages and suddenly his eyes opened wide and shiver went down his spine; he had found the wasting spells. As he read he couldn’t believe one man could do such things to others, muggles or not was beyond his comprehension. But there were signs, clear signs on the arms, stomach and feet of those cursed. Each curse had its own signs and there were five curses. All Gwyn had to do was see Amanda and look at her arms, feet and stomach to figure out what curse was used. He was elated until the realisation that looking at a young ladies feet and stomach wasn’t something that one simply did when they chose to, and the fact Amanda was in the hospital made it even more difficult. If he was to stop her from being sent to St Mungo’s it would have to be within the next several hours or her turn around might not be noticed. But what about Charlie, that wasn’t a wasting curse. Gwyn sat down and started going through the book with a new vigour. He had gone quickly through several more pages but there were no counter curses. There had to be a way to stop it, no wizard in his right mind would create a slow death curse without a counter curse. But Stanisic wasn’t in his right mind Gwyn concluded and there was no counter curse, nothing. Amanda was going to die. Gwyn felt sickened.
As he read on Gwyn noticed that as the book progressed beyond the Wasting Curses it became more and more erratic. The curses became viler and the writings of Stanisic became more like the ravings of a madman. The wounds the curses inflicted were pointless, created for nothing more than to maim, disfigure and kill. Just what happened to Charlie. Gwyn thought. Pointless, done for nothing other than spite. Gwyn closed the book; he picked up the parchment on which he had written several spells that intrigued him. Most of them were for fun, against someone who annoyed him or a joke. He looked over the parchment and then tore it into pieces letting fall to the floor and vanishing it with swish of his wand. Were it not for Charlie’s sake he would have stopped reading the book and destroyed it right there. He found that he pitied his friends at Durmstrang, those who still revered this man in their ignorance.
The curse used against Charlie was most certainly from the last quarter of the book. Though he read on there was nothing on any counter curses at all in this portion of the book. Gwyn closed the book and again felt sick because Charlie was also condemned if nothing was done. His hand slid out from between the last page and the binding and felt a ripple in the tattered cloth. He opened the book and ran his fingers down the inside lining. There was something there but it was just a likely part of the binding. The book was already falling apart so Gwyn ripped the back cover off of it and tore the paper binding on the inside of the back cover. There was a letter or note of some sort that had been laid into the binding, it had been very well done. It was yellowed, stained and brittle. Gwyn slowly and carefully opened the neatly folded sheet of parchment. Outer edges of the parchment broke off and along the seams tears small appeared. He’d wondered if this note had ever seen the light of day before this.
The note was entirely written in old English and informally written. There was a brief explanation of the written material below and it was signed by Jorge Stanisic. Gwyn carefully slid together four pieces that broke off the top left corner and saw that the note was addressed to “My good friend Salazar”. Gwyn sat back mouth hanging wide open in shock.
It was several minutes before Gwyn again looked at the letter. He read slowly what was said in the note and basically the gist of it said “With my compliments should the need arise.” “What the hell does that mean?” Gwyn said aloud now looking at the rest of the letter.
“Gwyn.” Someone from below said. Gwyn grabbed his wand and was ready cast a spell when he saw that it was Megan.
“You scared the bloody hell out me you know.” Gwyn said as he replaced his wand. “Come here you won’t believe what I’ve found.”
Gwyn turned back to the letter and didn’t notice that the girls had obviously had some troubles of their own.
“I found a letter hidden in the binding with some dumb luck. It’s a note from Stanisic, and you won’t believe who it’s addressed to, Salazar Slytherin. It looks as though Stanisic wanted Slytherin to have this book. See here the note says “With my compliments should the need arise.” Gwyn looked at and studied what was written below the salutation.
“Gwyn.” Megan called again but he was still focused on the letter.
“Oh my lord... this is it Megan... the counter curses to the last quarter of the book. I don’t believe it; do know how lucky we are that this book fell into our hands. That bastard Caius didn’t have a clue what he had or know what curses he cast. What a git.”
“Gwyn.” She said again as she reached out.
“Well once we figure out which of these spells were used we should be able to help Amanda and Charlie. I need your help...” Gwyn stopped talking as soon as looked Megan. She had been crying for some time, her eyes were puffy and red. Gwyn looked down the passage way but there was no Andi.
“What’s happened Megan, where’s Andi?” Megan started crying again. Gwyn reached out and took her in his arms and held her.
“Hey what’s the matter?” Gwyn asked softly as he held her. Megan rested her head on his shoulder and cried softly for a minute or two before she said anything.
“Andi’s in the hospital and it’s my fault. She fell and hit her head when......” Within the next five minutes Megan had told Gwyn the whole story. Gwyn was livid with Slytherin and furious with himself for not going with them but he said nothing of it. There would be time later for retribution.
“You want to go back to the hospital?” Gwyn asked her softly. Megan nodded. “Ok come on.” Gwyn took his kerchief and dried Megan’s tears. He put his arm around Megan and they walked off to the hospital.
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Post by Zukuto-kun on Oct 25, 2007 9:59:38 GMT -8
((OOC: I'm back))
Kade turned the corner toward the common room and walked toward the portrait. He had been down for the bulk of the day blaming himself for Charlie's pain. The picture of him laying on the bed in the hospital wing kept replaying itself over and over in his head. He rubbed his temples to try and rid himself of the memory.
Why'd Charlie have to be hit?
Kade approached the Fat Lady. He tried to reason with himself why he hadn't seen it coming, known that Charlie was a target. Kade looked up at the portrait of the fat lady.
Why does it seem that I'm never there when my friends get hurt?
"Password," she asked.
An image of Gwyn, Megan, Andi, Emily, Charlie and all of his friends laying on beds in the hospital wing came to his mind with him standing in the middle. He looked around at them, knowing that he hadn't been there for them as a good friend should have been. That he had let them down.
Why can't I do anything right?
Kade's brow furrowed. He looked down at the ground and slammed his fist on the wall next to the portrait. The Fat Lady jumped in suprise.
No. I cannot; will not let them be hurt ever again!
With that Kade spun around and sprinted down the hall drawing his wand.
((Short little post to get me back in this thing. Man i missed the quidditch match. Oh well, ive been busy. Im back for good now guys and ill be posting a lot more often.))
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Post by Naucoaran on Oct 25, 2007 16:37:54 GMT -8
After the game, Adrian found it prudent to bathe and change into a fresh pair of clothes before going outside in public. As he was stripping down out of his Quidditch gear Adrian's shoulder flared in pain. His shirt was half of the way off of his head and his arms were raised in a precarious position above his head. Instead of letting the clothing fall back onto his chest he roughly pulled it the rest of the way off with a grunt of pain. Moving over to a standing mirror the Ravenclaw peered into it and examined his shoulder. An already blackening bruise spread over the ball of his shoulder then slightly down his arm and over a small portion of his chest. He winced as he pressed his fingers into it, figuring that he must have bruised the bone too or it wouldn't hurt as much.
Stripping off the rest of the way he quickly bathed then dressed in his casual clothes. After grabbing a quick bite to eat Adrian made his way to the hospital wing. If he could, he'd want to be able to speak with Amanda again and tell her the good news. He hoped the good news of the Ravenclaw victory would lift her spirits up. It took a good deal of persuasion and a sly cover to get in with Charlie out in the open and many students coming to visit him. Trying to find some good in the situation, he figured that at least everyone was focused on the injured boy and not searching around for sneaking Ravenclaws.
After once again getting shut up inside the private room with Amanda he took his seat next to the bed like before. Soon her eyelids fluttered open, Adrian winced at the sight. The whites of her eyes were yellowing and the once healthy color in her iris' have dulled. Adrian tried to form a disarming smile on his lips. "We won Amanda, isn't that great news?" He said, a light strain is his voice as he tried to sound cheerful. A thin smile spread her lips. "Gryffindor will probably ask for a rematch though. Their seeker Charlie got hit by a spell and it knocked him out. I'm sure he'll be fine though, you both will be fine." a hint of determination was heard in his voice.
There was more raised voices outside his door and it drew Adrian's gaze over to the blurred glass in the window. When he turned back to Amanda her chest was rising in rhythmic breaths. She must have fallen asleep again... He thought as he recalled the words Matron had told him earlier that morning. He cracked the door open and peeked out before exiting quietly. The crowd for Charlie had left, shooed off by the staff probably, and the hall was relatively empty. He was about to leave when he saw a new person on one of the beds. He swore vividly, getting a scowl from the staff, and then rushed to the bedside.
Is everyone I know getting roughed up? he thought as he stared down at Andi's unconscious body. Before he could ask what happened he was roughly removed to wait outside while she was tended. Taking a seat in one of the many chairs he decided to wait instead of rushing off to see what happened. Someone has to come eventually to check on her. He thought to himself as he rubbed the heels of his palms into his eyes, weary of all that had happened that day.
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Post by Bessain on Oct 27, 2007 14:38:43 GMT -8
Heart pounding and mind racing, Caius sprinted blindly through the corridors. He could taste bile forming in the back of his mouth as he ran. Ever since his mistake with the dragon dung, Caius's life had been in ruin. He was never very good with nerves, though he often came off as indifferent. The whole world felt as if it was to come crashing down on him at any moment-- indeed it was-- and the boy wanted nothing more than to kneel down and vomit. He blinked away tears and pushed on even harder, hoping that this time would be his last flight of the day. He doubted the fact.
Having really not paid attention to where he was going, it frustrated Caius to learn that he had very nearly run in a complete circle. He wanted nothing to do with Megan and Emily, despite how involved he already was with them, so he cut a hard right and fled into the Potions' storage room. The door slammed shut behind him. Frantically, he tipped over a shelf, its contents shattering on the floor and emanating some of the most awful odors, and propped it under the door handle.
~
A few Slytherins had run out of the common room to intercept the two girls who had somehow ended up inside. Acacia was not among them. She remained in her house, wondering how her stupid cousin was going to get out of this... that is, if someone didn't catch him within the next few hours. The little git was officially an embarassment to the family name.
When the mob returned to report that not only had Caius escaped, but the Gryffindors as well, Acacia went out on her own. She really didn't expect to find the little idiot, assuming that he would have enough sense to run fast and far. But it was apparent at this moment that she gave her father's side of the family too much credit. Just as she walked past the potions closet, she could hear the telltale sounds of her cousin's sniveling. It was a sound she, sadly, knew all too well.
"Caius," she said softly, without gentleness. "Open the door."
The quiet sobs ceased.
"Idiot, I know it's you, open up." She fumbled with the doorhandle, and pushed firmly with her shoulder. A soft scraping noise was all she recieved for her efforts. She rolled her eyes at the pathetic attempt to baricade the door.
Acacia held no love for the morbidly obese Professor Slughorn. In the same sense, she had no interest in his class either.
"Deprimo," she hissed, standing away from door, wand held before her. With a loud BANG, a large hole appeared in the store room door, and the rest of it flew back with the blow. Caius caught a good bit of it in the face.
"You c-could have w-warned me," he said, holding his head and attempting to control his sobs.
"I asked you twice to open the door. Those were your warnings." she grabbed him roughly by the elbow and dragged him down the hall to the girls bathroom. Looking left and right to make sure the way was clear, the two entered and Acacia pushed Caius into a stall.
She brushed a few splinters off her robes, before entering behind him and shutting the door to the cramped stall.
"Acacia! What are you doing?" Caius said, feeling uncomfortable and trying to back away as far as he could without falling in the toilet.
Acacia didn't answer. Instead, she reached behind his neck and grabbed a handful of his brown hair, wrenching back his head. Despite his many protests, she ran her wand up the base of his neck, getting as close to the root as possible. On command, his hair changed from light brown to black. Acacia relased her cousin for a moment, and begand to conjure up a pair of scissors.
Caius ran a hand over his head, noting the color change in his bangs. Acacia didn't give him time to examine himself, before she pushed his head back down. He panicked a little when his face was nearly in the toilet, but remained still when he realized that she was just destroying evidence.
The two emerged from the room a little later, Caius looked like anyone but himself.
"Now what?" he asked, recognizing now that he needed help. He didn't like the idea of relying on his cousin, but he reluctantly passed his own sense of control to her anyway.
"Theres a place in the upper levels of the school. My exboyfriend used to take me up there. It's a hidden room that changes on a whim. It should have everything you need, if you want it enough." Acacia said, noting that everyone Slytherin who passed them did not even give Caius a second glance.
Caius made a point not to ask Acacia what the room was when she was in there. He thought about thanking her for her help, but silently took the directions instead and walked freely through the school on his own.
"Stay in there! I'll come for you when things settle down." she called after him, setting off to the owlery to message her father.
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Post by Gwyn on Oct 28, 2007 21:47:19 GMT -8
OOC Another post by Bessain and Thalion
Gwyn had his arm around Megan as they slowly made their way back to the hospital. A door to the right opened and out stepped Professor Dumbledore as though he had been expecting them.
“Ah, how convenient, I was just about to come and look for you, would you both step in for a moment.”
Dumbledore stepped aside as Megan and Gwyn stepped into his office. They sat down and gave each other a nervous glance. Dumbledore sat in his chair behind the desk and looked thoroughly displeased at something. Gwyn swallowed hard trying to figure out if he had done something.
“Mr. Allardyce... I clearly recall telling you not more than three hours ago that you were not to go anywhere near the Slytherin common room. Yet now I have received reports of bedlam and duels. Did I not make my wishes abundantly clear?” Dumbledore glares at Gwyn.
“But sir I have been nowhere near the Slytherin common room. I’ve been reading through the book as you asked me to. I’ve been outside of our common room the whole time. I spoke to Kade, you can ask him.” Gwyn said in his defence.
“Is that so?” He sat back in his chair. Then can either of you explain what’s caused this disturbance and why Andrea Zabe is in hospital with a concussion?” His eyes dart from one to the other.
Gwyn knew from Megan all too well what had happened but he wasn’t about to say anything about it.
“Well my dear you were in the area, can you enlighten me?”
Megan tried her best to suppress a visible cringe. "Professor," she said quietly at first, still gathering her nerve. "Gwyn wasn't with Andrea and I."
Dumbledore said nothing and just waited for Megan to continue.
She took a deep breath to steady herself. "There was this Slytherin girl and..." Megan tried to stay away from her own involvement in the story, but found, to her own shame, that she just could not. "Sir, it's my fault," she admitted, dropping the front and explaining the whole thing. Megan relived the events for the second time.
Dumbledore, who had always known the muggle girl to be anything but trouble since her arrival four years prior, was rather surprised and almost found it hard to believe. But he had seen her reaction to the pensieve earlier that day, and assumed that this was not something the three would be able to visit... perhaps even something they would not want to.
"I'm sorry, sir," she said finally, not liking the silence or the attention.
Dumbledore sat back in his chair for a minute as if pondering what to say. This he had not expected, not from this student. He sat forward and placed his hands on his desk.
“My dear there are not many things in this world that surprise me but this certainly does. I have to wonder where such recklessness came from?” He glances at Gwyn. “Could you imagine the outrage if the rolls had been reversed and it were two Slytherin girls who had covertly entered the Gryffindor common room with the intent of taking one of your member. This could have and has already had repercussions that could have had serious consequences. The young man to whom you were to deliver the note cannot now be found. He is no doubt being aided by one or several members of his house and you would do the same were the rolls reversed. I must give this matter some thought but for now your visitation privilege to Hogsmead is revoked. You will also write a note of apology to the Head Boy of Slytherin House, Tom Riddle, and express your regret for your actions. This note you will deliver yourself into his hand. I will say no more on this other than to strongly caution you to consider your actions before you act. Fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor.”
Dumbledore now focuses his attention to Gwyddion.
Fifty points and no Hogsmead. Gwyn shouted in his mind. That’s bloody outrageous. What about what happened to Charlie and where’s Caius? He would see to it that Megan got to Hogsmead. Gwyn was so into his own thoughts at the moment he didn’t hear the Professor when his attention was turned on and was started.
“If you please Mr. Allardyce I would like your full attention.” the Professor said a little louder this time.
“Oh I’m sorry Professor.” Gwyn replied at not hearing him the first time.
“You said that you had been reading the book; have you found anything that looks promising?” Dumbledore asked.
“Oh yes sir I’ve found exactly what we’re looking for sir, only I need to examine Amanda to find what her skin rashes look like.”
Dumbledore raised an eye brow. “Examine her, what exactly do you mean by that?”
Gwyn explained what he had found in the book and then the letter he found to Salazar Slytherin. He carefully handed it to Dumbledore who was astonished to see the parchment in Stanisic’s own hand. He waved his wand over the parchment and a clear covering appeared over the parchment protecting it from falling apart any further.
“You have done well my boy, quit well.” Dumbledore reads the letter written in old English. “Yes I do believe there is hope, come along you two; we must get to the hospital as quickly as we can. Here you are Gwyddion.” Dumbledore hands him the parchment. I have not had the opportunity to read and speak Old Bulgarian as you have at Durmstrang and these counter curses must be clearly and correctly pronounced so it falls to you. You must be the one to do it” Dumbledore smiles down at him and judges Gwyn’s thoughts by the look on his face. “Don’t worry my boy I have every confidence in you.”
As the three of them leave the office Dumbledore has a smile for Megan and winks his eye at her.
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Post by Erin on Nov 1, 2007 20:02:25 GMT -8
Joint between Thalion, Bessain and Alex.
At about seven in the evening the Matron came out to change the bandaging on Andi’s head only to find, to her surprise, she was sitting up and reading.
“Well you sure seem to be recovering fast.” she commented with a warm smile. “How’s your head feeling?”
“It still throbs slightly, and I feel only feel a little bit light-headed. What happened anyway?”
“You had a severe concussion. Would you mind telling me how? It would just be easier to know so I can properly treat it.”
Andi hesitated. She could tell the Matron what really happened.
“I.... I fell down the stairs in the common room. Err...I was walking down and missed one of the steps when I was reading over an essay.”
“Ah, well just watch when you walk up stairs, especially the stair cases when the move. They’re unpredictable, as you probably know. Your head has healed up nicely. All that’s left physically is a big purple bruise.”
The matron noticed Andi’s unenthusiastic face.
“Not to worry, I can clear that up, but not yet. You should spend another night or two here yet so I can fix it up later. Magic works, but if your body can get a head start on things then that’s even better.”
The matron left Andi in peace and she returned to her book, only managing to read a page in about ten minutes. It was hard when she had a throbbing head and slight dizziness, so she put her book down and decided to try getting some sleep, hoping it would help in the healing process so she could get out there even sooner.
Dumbledore lead the way as the three of them made their way to the hospital. Gwyn kept a close eye on Megan just to make sure she was doing alright after her confession in Dumbledore’s office. He knew Megan blamed herself for Andi’s mishap. Gwyn reached out and took hold of her hand.
“Don’t worry it’ll be alright.” He told her quietly hoping that he was able to conceal his own anxiety. “Matron will take good care of her.”
They arrived at the hospital but Dumbledore stopped before going in and turned.
“Gwyddion, once we know exactly what we are facing you will need to cast the counter spell. You must be exact in your pronunciation of each word. Stanisic may have laced the spell. That is he may have taken specific words and if they are not pronounced properly there may... there may be a risk to yourself. What that may be I have no idea but we are dealing with a madman. Then again there may be nothing. I will be with you when the counter spells are cast should there be anything unexpected. And you Miss Delano will be well away from us, preferably with Miss Zabe.” Dumbledore took a deep breath.” Well then, we have work to do.” With that Dumbledore walked through the doors followed by Megan and Gwyn.
"Laced spells?!" Megan thought to herself, her sense of shame quickly overwhelmed with panic. "That's possible?" Her grip on Gwyddion's hand tightened. Today was not one of her best and she felt her resolve shattering with each added weight.
Megan turned a worried eye on Gwyddion, as he and Dumbledore disappeared into the curtained ward that held Charlie and Amanda from public examination. Today was not a good day.
Inhaling deeply, she made her way over to Andrea's bed. Her Ravenclaw friend was asleep and sporting a large purple bruise on her forehead. Megan winced at the sight. She walked quietly over to the bedside, and sat down on the edge. Her weight pushed the mattress down slightly, and to Megan's surprise, Andrea rolled over to look at her!
When Andi heard footsteps in front of the door to the hospital wing she quickly rolled over so her wasn’t facing the door and pretended to be asleep. The doors opened and she heard an uneven shuffle of feet; there was more than one person obviously. No one was speaking, so she had no idea who it was. Suddenly one of the footsteps broke off and became louder. The next thing she knew, she was looking straight at Megan!
"Andi!" Megan squeaked in surprise, nearly jumping to a standing position. "I thought... Dumbledore said...Are you okay?" she finally managed to force out of her mouth.
Andi sat up and gave Megan a big hug and smiled warmly.
“I’m glad to see you’ve not been expelled, although I never thought that would happen. And don’t worry, I’m fine. So don’t you give me that look, because it’s not like I’m disabled or anything. I’m sorry, it was my entire fault. I was too caught up in the excitement of nabbing the right person, and forgot to take his wand.”
Megan summoned a smile, but was not about to let on that she could not be convinced. "They still haven't found Caius. Slytherin kids are probably hiding him. Gwyn found some counter spells in that Bulgarian book, and he's with Charlie and Amanda right now, trying them out." she tried to keep worry out of her tone, and to keep the conversation off any finger pointing.
“I have the feeling you may be right. Oh, I hope Gwyn does well. I know he can do it! I didn’t see him when you came in.”
There was silence for moment.
“So how bad is our punishment?”
Megan paused for a few moments. "Well, so far you seem to have gotten off clear... and because of what I told Dumbledore it may stay that way... But, Gryffindor has lost 50 house points, and I can't go to Hogsmead for awhile."
Andi sighed heavily and fell back onto her pillows. She had a terrible guilt engulfing her because she had got off clean probably just because she was injured.
"Maybe next time I should just hex the git. I don't recall Slytherin getting house points taken away because Caius took out a seeker." she finished, shortly.
“As soon as Dumbledore is finished with Gwyn, I’ll need to speak with him. It doesn’t feel right that you were punished and I wasn’t. I could have turned back at any moment, but didn’t… I was having too much fun. Injuries are curable, life goes on. Besides…” she added with a smile. “Didn’t you say you wanted someone to share the blame with?”
"Wow, you Ravenclaws are strange people. You want a share of punishment?" Megan returned the smile.
But before Andi had the chance to answer, a bright purple light shone through the ward where Amanda was and there was a great sound, almost like thunder, and all went quiet.
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