And So It Begins
Author: Severus Snape
Date: 02-09-04 18:47
Professor Snape listened carefully as the voices of a few dawdling Slytherins grew fainter and fainter as they strolled down the corridor en route to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. He waited until he could no longer make out their conversation before striding towards a certain chamber in the dungeons. The old door creaked loudly and a flurry of dust took to the air as Snape stepped inside the room. He quietly sealed the door behind him and turned to survey the contents of the chamber.
"Lumos," Snape whispered, raising his wand to bring light to the otherwise darkened room.
Wooden crates and cardboard boxes littered the dusty floor, a few towering ominously in one corner of the chamber. Cobwebs spread across an old table against one wall, which housed a few books and rolls of parchment. A large, dusty globe stood next to the table and a collection of empty butterbeer bottles were stacked nearby.
Snape's dark eyes swept the room until they fell upon the crate in question, the one in which he had found the Fenririan Manuscript. He took three long strides to reach it, and kneeling beside it Severus lifted the lid and removed the uppermost book from the stack of texts within. The cover of Fenririan Manuscript stared up at Snape, and eagerly the Potions master took it into his arms and tucked it into his robes.
Quickly, he left the chamber and hurried down the dungeon corridor until he reached the stairs to the main floor. He climbed them two at a time and paused only to peer into the Great Hall where the festivities were taking place, but not wanting to put off the inevitable any longer Snape turned on his heel and walked out of the castle.
Night was falling over the green, sloping lawn and chill was in the air. Snape pulled his robes closer to him and felt the book press against his body. It reminded him of what needed to be done and of what could occur should Voldemort refuse his return to the dark fold. He stepped through the gates of Hogwarts, breathed deeply and disapparated.
Step Softly
Author: Dierna ní Cíaran
Date: 02-09-04 19:25
Shining Ones, lend me courage and your protection. I pray softly. It is not arrogance that brings me so near to your domain at this time, but necessity, and an oath from which I will not be removed. Taught, keenly alert and full of anxiety I look at the cave. Suddenly Nevvyn points out a handsome stag in a forest, watching us. A tuar*. I bow my head to the stag a moment, and when Nevvyn is done, lead him into the cave.
We walk a moment, letting out eyes adjust to the dim light, barely penetrated by the thin stream of light from our wands. I feel the hair rising on the back of my neck, the power of the place magnified by An Samhain. I stop a few feet inside. And point my wand at a wall.
"There is the first inscription I showed you." I point to another, "And the second" I move my wand further down the wall. "There is the third. There are numerous others around. Those three caught my eye, I as I Told you before."
Nevvnn walks closer to them for a better view. "You were able to photograph them from here?"
"Special Auror's camera. My mother bought it for me when I finished Auror school with honours. Here this should help: Illuminate!" The three sets I pointed to take on a glow around them, becoming more visible and legible.
"Brilliant. Now let me examine these."
"I'm not in a hurry to go deeper. But when we get out of here, you'll have to teach me how to read these runes."
While Nevvyn considers the runes, I keep alert for any danger - of this world or the Other.
* = omen
Re: Halloween! Muahahaha!
Author: Tranquillina Aemilius
Date: 02-09-04 19:40
Listening to what the others were saying, Tranquillina was comfy and content on the couch. It was perfect: a beautiful fall day, a cozy fireplace, NO SCHOOL, and a holiday all rolled into one. What more could a person ask for?
"AIIIIIEEENNG!!!!" An unearthly screech escaped Tranquillina's throat as someone jumped out behind her. She lept to the edge of her seat, no longer safe and secure, and turned around to face her agressor bravely.
"SORA!" She gasped, relieved. "Until this moment, I thought Saturn was the scariest thing the world had to offer!"
He laughed hysterically, his plan having had satisfactory results. Tranquillina and her comrades took this as an opportunity to seek revenge.
"'Oe iki lolo!!" Kairi raised her Hawaiian alarm.
"ATTACK!" Came Tranquillina's war-cry as she lept over the back of the couch.
"Okay! Okay! Stop it! I give!!" Sora cried, and everyone slowly stoped the attack. Upon catching his breath, he added, "Well, I'm starving! How's about some grub?"
"Sounds good!" Tranquillina smiled. "After that scare-of-my-life, I could use a little comfort food."
Re: Halloween! Muahahaha!
Author: Logan Hendrickson
Date: 02-09-04 21:03
Logan had been sitting peacefully in his favorite chair near the fire place listening to everyone talking. They were all so excited about the Halloween Holiday. All were telling of their plans for the day, when suddenly Sora leaped up from behind a couch. Logan thought his heart had actually stopped beating -- then just as suddenly started again about a hundred miles a minute.
Good heavens what was that, was all he could think about. Then he noticed that everyone had jumped all over Sora, tickling and punching and laughing and rolling all over the floor for a few minutes. It had been great fun and of course he had gotten a few tickles himself.
It seemed that bit of "scaring the life" out of each of them had given all of them quite an appetite...He was looking forward to something to eat with the best of them. He wanted to talk with Sora about a costume for himself. Sora was just about the most talented for doing the odd and fun all at the same time. As soon as they were done eating he would talk to him. He could hardly wait...
Luna Simulacrum
Author: Sebastian Sjoblom
Date: 02-09-04 21:19
Sebastian stands in front of the bathroom mirror, tilting his head this way and that. A pale glowing disk the size of his head floats above him. The shadows of nonexistent clouds drift across it. He looks himself straight in his (temporarily) yellow eyes.
"Ree-owr!" he growls, sounding a bit benign for his liking. He frowns and stomps his foot, couched in an oversized black furry slipper with large yellow claws, and sets to readjusting the tufts of black fur stuck to his cheekbones. He wears black footie pajamas, with a beige-tipped black tail dangling behind him. His black gloves have comically oversized yellow claws attached to the knuckles. He combs his hair back with his fingertips and holds it in place with a headband with two canine ears. As an added touch, he reaches for his wand, points it at his mouth, and says, "Densinspico!"
Feeling a prickling in his upper jaw, he grins broadly, examining his newly pointed canines. What a fearsome Halloween werewolf you will be, Mister Sebastian Alberik Sjöblom! he thinks happily.
He waves his wand at the moon above him and incants, "Interlunium!" The clouds cover it fractionally until the evanescent image is gone completely. After a long pause, the Halloween costume changes with the sound of a crack back to his school robes. He's pleased at the success of this spell, though it didn't work as quickly as he'd hoped; he'd pored over library books all morning searching for something this handy.
"Luna simulacrum!" he attempts again, and when the summoned moon appears, it's decidedly more solid than before. It's the color of butter, and pocked with silvery craters. His costume cracks into being in a second, and he decides with a satisfied nod that he has the charm down. He turns toward the door, the mock moon overhead following him. He Interluniums it away and slips furtively back into the hallway.
In the Great Hall, Sebastian slips into a seat at the Hufflepuff table, next to his fellow sixth years.
"I hope you'll pardon my lateness," he says, and turns his shaggy straw-colored head this way and that, widening his eyes in what he hopes looks like surprise. Bats wing across the cavernous ceiling and bright orange streamers festoon the hall.
"Why, is today a celebration?" he asks with overexaggerated confusion.
"Halloween," Desi informs him. "What, you haven't got a costume?" He looks down at himself, widening his blue eyes even further. How little they know, he thinks smugly, and holds back a shrewd smile.
"Ah, I have forgotten, haven't I?" he says. His fingers curl around the handle of his wand.
"How silly I am," he sighs, and stealthily points his wand overhead, turning his head away from the table.
"Lunum simulacra," he whispers, swishing and flicking appropriately. He throws back his head and howls his werewolf howl fantastically, drawing stares and a hushed silence from across the Great Hall. He waves both slim limbs erratically this way and that as though possessed by a blood frenzy (and whacking Desi's shoulder with his wand in the process). Wild-eyed, he bares his teeth at Bronwyn across the table from him, clawing at her and growling fiercely.
"Uh..." she says, scooting across the bench away from him. Sebastian freezes. Wasn't there a cracking sound when his costume appeared last time? He looks down at his hand. Flesh. His gaze travels along his arm. Baggy black robes. Hold on one moment, he thinks, and his lower lip drops. He had said "Luna simulacrum," hadn't he?
"Oh, uh, I am very very growly--I mean, hungry," he explains lamely, adjusting his robes and assuming a straight-backed posture in his seat. Giggles break out across the Hufflepuff table, and Desi rubs her shoulder with a puzzled expression. "I mean, I am--I have a very growly stomach, I mean to say."
Sebastian finds himself caught in an awkward moment, unsure whether to attempt the charm again and lose the critical element of surprise or just gracefully back out, pretending never to have made that damnable werewolf disguise in the first place. His mind goes blank, and he slumps down, looking at the buttons on his dragonhide boots vacantly. He feels Arley's deep green eyes on him like nails, and a hot scarlet blush creeps from his cheeks outward to the tips of his ears and down below his collar.
"Are you sick?" he hears Arlington's voice asking him. The fingers curled around his wand handle go limp, and it rolls down from the pads of his fingers to clatter on the floor. He gnaws on his lip, heedless.
Tears in the Night...and on Halloween Too!
Author: Vera Delgety
Date: 02-09-04 22:51
It was a half pass seven and Lawrence still hadn't come back from his study with Sally. Remembering him saying to come and get him so they could spend the rest of the night and tomorrow together, Vera left to pick him up at the Library.
They were just out side the Library doors when Vera spotted Lawrence and Sally; her mouth dropped. Sally was all over him, and then she kissed him. Lawrence didn’t seem to resist at all. Vera gave a yelp as Lawrence pulled away from the girl.
Vera glared at him as tears filled her eyes and she began to run back to the dormitories. "Vera! Wait!!" Was all she heard him say. The entryway to the Hufflepuff common room flung open and Vera ran past Susan and up to her room. "Vera?!" Susan yelled after her as she followed.
Vera didn't make it to her bed before she fell to her knees and cried into her hands. Susan came running in after her and fell to the floor hugging Vera. "What happened?! What's wrong?!"
"I saw..." Vera tried to get out in between sobs. "Lawrence, and …and…they were kissing!" she cried even harder. Susan couldn't believe her ears. Of all people she just couldn't see Lawrence doing such a thing. "Maybe it was an accident?" Susan suggested.
"An accident?!" Vera jumped to her feet. Her eyes were red and misty, her face distort and wet. “An accident?! How can you accidentally kiss someone, Susan?!" Vera's bewildered friend still on the floor rubbed her arm thinking of a good response. "I-I don't know…umm…maybe she made him do it?"
Vera shook her head. "He didn't even resist her, Susan." Susan stood up. "You don't know that, Vera."
"I saw the whole thing! …I hate her!!" Vera picked up one of her pillows and flung it across the room in rage. "I don't ever want to see him again!"
"Now Vera, you're over reacting! Calm down." Susan tried, but the look her friend gave her. "Am I?" Vera questioned glaring before filling with tears again. Susan didn't say anything, but sat her down and hugged her for a while.
It was beginning to get late. Vera had left some of her things down in the common room, Vera didn't want to go because she knew she'd have to see Lawrence. Susan offered to grab her stuff and bring it up to her.
Susan entered the Common room and glared at Lawrence when he ran up to her. "Susan! Please, I need to talk to Vera."
"She doesn't want to see you Lawrence." She said rather coldly. "But I have to! It's important! It wasn't my fault…Sally just,"
"I don't really care for your excuses Lawrence. You've broken my best friends heart, and I don't care to talk to you." She pushed him aside and snatched her friend's belongings and went back up to the room.
When she returned, Susan found Vera fast asleep. "Poor girl." She whispered to herself. "Cried herself to sleep…and on Halloween Night too!" Susan shook her head and got ready for bed herself.
A Quick Costume Change
Author: Roane Eternal
Date: 02-10-04 07:10
Everyone was about to make their way to the Great Hall, but there was still one more thing I needed to do.
"Hold on a second! I just need to grab something quickly from my room."
Feeling excited I raced to my room, and yanked my robe off. Stepping into the stiff pants, and bright yellow T-shirt that said "Grrrr-l Power", I grabbed the funny looking cap hidden underneath my bed and ran down the stairs back to the rest of the gang.
"Well?" I looked around, with a huge grin on my face. "What do you think of my costume?".
Everyone looked slightly confused, and finally Tranquillina spoke up.
"What... what are you exactly supposed to be, Roane?"
My mouth dropped. "I'm a Muggle of course!"
Re: A Quick Costume Change
Author: Logan Hendrickson
Date: 02-10-04 15:11
Everyone was laughing at Roane...it was great...
"So that must make the rest of us Wizards then?" asked Logan with a silly grin on his face. Oops...dumb joke he thought to himself. He still couldn't think of anything to wear.
Scooting back into his chair, he decided to write his mum and dad a letter. He had been wondering how they were doing lately and missed them a lot. School was wonderful and all the students he had met were so much fun. He decided to tell his parents all about it and see if they would write back soon.
For some reason he was a bit homesick today, whatever for was a mystery to him but he had kept remembering all the fun he had had at home during the All Hallow's Eve Celebrations. They had always had a great bonfire out on the hillside all night, candles in all the windows, and lots of friends and family over for a feast and candies. The younger ones had usually danced around the fire forever it seemed and then when they all tired out they had run into the house and settled into blankets and beds where ever they could find them...it had been great fun.
"Oh Well," said Logan to himself. "Enough of this...Looks like it is time to drown my sorrows in more food." He laughed all the way to the Great Hall. Finding himself a place at the Gryffindor Table he helped himself to everything within reach and started chowing down.
"Hm-m-m-m," he thought. "This is Heaven! ! ! !"
Spelunking on Samhain
Author: Nevvyn
Date: 02-10-04 17:26
I first go to the inscription which I had identified as a trapping spell, based on Dierna's photographs. I raise my staff and touch the iron-shod tip to the stone. After a moment, the rock takes on a rosy glow of its own, gradually brightening to eclipse the Lumos spell. When the surface of the stone has reached the proper stage of softness, I rake the tip back and forth. The rock flows like melting wax. The inscription vanishes, taking the essence of the spell with it. I wipe my brow and move on.
I take some time in examining the defaced inscription. Using the light from the orb on my staff, I cast shadows across the surface of the stone. I take careful notes of the runes I can identify and make some shrewd guesses as to those which are partially obliterated. I turn to Dierna and announce, "It is as I suspected! The earlier users of this cave were some sort of Holy men. This appears to be a prayer to their highest god, which I assume was the sun. The runes are subtly different from those used in the other two examples in this entrance area. See here, how the bircana is written reversed!"
Dierna looks but, since she cannot read the runes, the lesson is lost. Moving along the wall, I give the others a cursory inspection. Several appear to be warding spells, the equivalent of our modern day Avoidance and Forget spells. "Now here's an interesting bit," I mutter.
I MAGUS (or MAGNUS)
DO CLAIM THIS CAVE
FOR MY OWN.
OTHERS SHALL STAY AWAY!
ONLY DEATH AWAITS!
"Well then! That certainly confirms that Magus was here!" I approach the third of the lighted inscriptions. "Let's have another look at this tour-guide map, shall we?" I have brought my notes from the translation, based on Dierna's picture. I compare these with the original and find nothing to add. Perhaps we will find more as we go along. I raise my staff and survey the surrounding area. This seems to be a small antechamber to a larger room, connected by a short tunnel. We start toward the tunnel, but I have some reservations. "What do you say we purchase some Traveler's Insurance?
Dierna gives me a very strange look as I open backpack and take out a vial of red ocher pigment in a casein binder. I dip my index finger into the red paint and draw a mark upon my forehead. "All-geese… All-geese… All-geese…" I intone as I make the symbol. Then, I repeat the process for Dierna. "This is Algiz, one of the most powerful runes of protection! It will also strengthen our magical powers."
Dierna merely shrugs. "When in Rome…."
"Now, I think we are ready to tackle this thing," I announce. Carrying my lighted staff before us, we pass through the short tunnel and into a room filled with stalactites and stalagmites. They seem to form an impenetrable barrier until we find one narrow opening. There is a small open area to the left, with three openings leading away, and another to the right with only two exits. I take out a quill and some parchment, and begin to draw a map.
"What is this you're doing?" my partner asks.
"I think we are starting into a maze of sorts. Best to keep track of where we are and where we have been." With the ocher, I make an 'O' on the floor by where we came in, then I make an 'X' at one of the passages and step through. "Keep your eyes open for anything that looks like a bull, walking on its two hind legs," I whisper with a wink and a grin. Dierna doesn't even crack a smile at my feeble attempt at a joke.
For nearly half an hour, we explore this stone-barred prison, finally coming out into a larger area against the far wall of this room. The entire floor is snow white, relieved only by a group of reddish-colored rocks off to the left. There is a tunnel leading slightly downward, some fifty feet away. I start toward it, then remember Five Flaming cattle - grazing on ice! Using my staff, I probe the area between us and the tunnel. The 'tap-tap-tap' sounds frighteningly hollow. I tap with more force and a section of the white floor gives way. We turn and head in the direction of the 'cattle', probing the floor as we go. It seems quite solid along this path. From the formation of red rocks, we stay close to the wall on our approach to the tunnel. I make several exploratory taps out into the room, poking a small hole each time. There seems to be some sort of viscous liquid, just below, with the white crust floating on top. I do not even want to guess what that liquid might be. Looking up, I see that the ceiling is covered with clusters of bats, currently in hibernation.
The tunnel, when we reach it, curves down and to the right. As we start down, we both detect the reptilian reek of the Norwegian Ridgeback. "Just remember the Hogwarts Motto," Dierna whispers. "Non Titillandus Draco Dormiens".
"If we're VERY quiet," I reply, "maybe we can sneak on by." The tunnel makes a number of twists and turns, eventually opening out into a gigantic cavern. I shield the light, illuminating only that area right around us. The dragon is on the far side of the cave, but his slow rhythmic snores cause the floor to vibrate, even where we are standing.
"All right, my dear Lady," I whisper. "Where do we go from here? I think we are looking for some white birch trees with a black horse nearby."
