Margot
some things are that simple
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- Seen Apr 16, 2022
The Drink of Disenchantment
Arc Number One
A Whisper Within the Castle
Arc Number One
A Whisper Within the Castle
.Past
A first year student clutched a letter close to her body as she slowly crept further into the Forbidden Forrest. She was small in stature, but not considered short for her age. Her long dirty blonde hair was French braided and fell midway down her back and her deep blue green eyes were wide with a mixture of wonder and fear of her surroundings. It wasn't yet late, but the eerily still forest seemed to be in a constant state of whispers, rustles and other sounds one couldn't quite put their finger on. Once the sun began to set and she could see dusk taking over through the thick of branches her professor's words began to echo in her mind,
"Listen to me carefully, Hogwarts is a wonderful place to be, but you should know there have been a few incidents over the past few weeks. I won't go into too many details, but there were attempts of intrusion and dangerous dark magic in close proximity to our castle. To keep you safe, especially while you're still so new to magic, no one is allowed outside the Ravenclaw common room after 8:00pm without my permission. Anyone caught breaking this rule will be severely punished."
It was the sound of a loud thud behind her that snapped her back to reality. Spinning around, she was greeted by the wind and the sudden unwelcome realization that she no longer could make out the trail to get her where she was standing at this exact moment. Hands shaking, she peered down at the letter, still able to make out the words as it grew darker still,
"Alozandra, you shall finally find all that you seek if you follow my word down the winding path in the Forbidden Forrest all the way to the vast, bubbling creek. – Anonymous."
Alozandra felt the hairs on her neck stick up. The note had appeared on her pillow several nights before. She thought it was a new friend's prank, but now she had this sinking feeling that..
"Why hello there, isn't it a little late for such a little witch to be out here all on her own?"
Turning around, Alozandra gasped. A man in a tattered black robe stood maybe six feet from her and she never even sensed him. Grotesque was a kind way to describe his appearance, his hair was falling out and only a few patches of greasy red clumps stuck to his head. What frightened her though, were his eyes: deep blood red and rolling in different directions. Even though his gaze never landed directly on her,
Alozandra felt him staring daggers at her. He started to laugh and smoke slowly began to rise from his shoulder and with one fell swoop, he lunged and Alozandra turned to run as fast as her legs would carry her.
Screaming seemed to do very little, it felt as if her voice fell, never soaring to the tops of the trees, only radiating the few feet around her. Soon, the trees even started fighting back, branches malleable like putty swung down and scratched her, hitting her, trying to slow her down. As she continued to run down the dark path, blood began to drip down her arms.
It was only her first week at Hogwarts and Alozandra began praying profusely that it wouldn't be her last.
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.Present
It was nearing mid October and the Castle was beginning to feel cold. Students wore their scarves and robes around indoors, rather than strictly outside. It had yet to snow, but the leaves had fallen from the trees and the wind had a bite to it that let them know that flakes would soon be falling. Slytherin and Gryffindor students were clumped together, as they made their way outside to Herbology, all except two students who lingered in the back, hoping no one would notice they were gone. A fifth year Gryffindor called Leonard with shaggy brown hair and green eyes and a fourth year Slytherin girl, Amelia, with sleek blonde hair pulled back into a low ponytail that swayed as she walked.
The girl looked around the corridor making sure no one could hear them when she whispered "So are you ever going to tell me what this surprise is?" Leonard chuckled quietly, "You Slytherins have no patience, do you?". Their walking finally came to a halt when they reached a door that Amelia had never seen before. Leonard confidently pushed the door open and they walked in together.
It was a very plain room. The walls were a light gray with nothing upon them: no windows, pictures, maps, anything to clue them in on where they were. In fact, the only things in the room were two small desks accompanied by two small chairs. It was almost as if the room was there just for the two of them.
"What is this place?" Amelia asked as she took a seat on one of the chairs, putting her books Standard Spells, Grade 4 and A History of Dark Magic on the desk in front of her.
"It's the room of requirements. My brother told me about it; the room appears when you need it most and well," he said searching around his bag "we needed a secluded place to see this." He pulled out a small vial and held it up in the light.
Amelia frowned. "You had me skip herbology again to look at a stupid small vial? I swear, my parents will send a million consecutive howlers if I get another detention." she snapped.
"Do you really think I'd have us skip class if it weren't important? What you're so lucky to be looking at is the drink of disenchantment". A small smile began to curl on Leonard's face as he watched Amelia's expression change as she scooted towards the edge of her seat.
"Shut up, I thought that was just a BS lie the Ministry made up to get crime rates to go down." she whispered even though they were alone. "Nope, it's real...and pretty underwhelming if I'm being honest," he sighed examining the vial between his fingers. "I thought my brother had given me a small container of water as a joke. He opened the lid and smelled the liquid as Amelia winced in disgust and horror. "Smells like water too".
"How did you brother manage to get that, if it is real, it's not like it's just lying around." Amelia asked, her eyes narrowing.
Leonard laughed, "My cousin crazy Marty found it. He's an odd one, but he's whip smart and works for Ministry within the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Word got around that a sample of this made its way to the Department of Mysteries. I guess they wanted to keep it safe in case the woman who made it left her post at Azkaban. So, if Marty is to be believed, he got the smallest container he could find and snuck into the Department of Mysteries long after hours once he finished an overdue project. He took a few drops and here we are. Gave it to my brother as a birthday gift."
"You know, most people just give chocolate frogs or books." Amelia said incredulously.
"Well he isn't called crazy Marty for nothing," He stopped and considered the vial once more. "So, the million Galleon question is...what do we do with it?"
"What do you mean "do with it"? That potion shouldn't be anywhere in this school" she said more loudly. Amelia sat back in her seat and crossed her arms in disbelief.
"Aww come on, I thought it would be a fun prank! We could just leave it lying around somewhere and see how badly people freak out. I doubt anyone is so stupid as to drink it." Leonard pleaded.
"You're insane, that's not funny. I don't want that thing anywhere near me! You could destroy someone's life with that, what's wrong with you?" She yelled, not caring if anyone could hear them.
"Lighten up, would you? I'm not trying to ruin anyone's life. I'll just hide it in the building somewhere and see where it turns up. No harm in that...hey come on!"
But it was no use, Amelia got up and furiously grabbed her books before stomping out and slamming the door behind her, leaving just Leonard alone with the potion and his thoughts. Leonard stayed a little while longer looking at the vial. It was very hard to believe that something so potent, so powerful looked so harmless and small in his hand. Sitting down in the other chair, he thought of the Hogwarts castle and all the different locations one could stumble upon this potion.
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Goals for this arc:
You are a student at Hogwarts who is a little over a month into your studies.1. Begin character building. We want to know who your character is, what kind of person they are, their morals, background, or anything else you can think of that's important to your character.
2. It doesn't have to be your first post, but have them come across a rumor of the potion. Whether they're just now finding out about it's existence, or overhearing that it may be within castle walls, all up to you.
Link the the OOC and Sign Up post: Here
