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Post by Arcturus MacDougal on Feb 18, 2008 21:22:33 GMT -5
Arcturus was interested in Ancient Runes to begin with, he liked the teacher, and the idea of finding an ancient artifact was sweet. But then, get this! It was a Scottish artifact. Now he was really excited.
"Do we get to help look for it?"
Oh please, oh please, oh please.
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Post by Zea Winters on Feb 18, 2008 21:48:31 GMT -5
"Yes, you do. Well, in a sense. I'm not allowed to take you anywhere dangerous or structurally unstable, but I figure no one knows this school better than the students, namely because you guys like to find ways to sneak around us." She smirked at them. "I was a student once, too, you know."
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Post by Arcturus MacDougal on Feb 18, 2008 22:06:58 GMT -5
Arcturus grinned. It was true. He did know the school pretty darn well, and mostly it was because he wanted a way to get to the library or outside without being caught by teachers.
And, when Zea said she was a student once too, he could actually see her as a student. If he squinted his eyes right. Now, when someone like, say, Elsbeth Pierce said that, he just couldn't imagine it. At all. If he tried for too long he got the distinct impression that his head would explode.
Although, being the thirteen-year-old he was, he was a little disappointed that they didn't get to go anywhere unstable or dangerous, he was excited that they got to help look.
"How do we start?"
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Post by Zea Winters on Feb 18, 2008 22:38:03 GMT -5
"Well, there have been many other artefacts hidden in and around Hogwarts. For example, Godric Gryffindor's sword was found here, as was Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. Gryffindor's sword appeared to Harry Potter a little over twenty years ago, and the diadem, if I remember correctly, was found in the Room of Requirement."
"The manuscript was mentioned in some diary writings of Hengist of Woodcroft, who was the founder of the village Hogsmeade about two centuries after Hogwarts was founded. He was a collector of curiosities, and apparently sent a number of his artefacts up here to Hogwarts for safekeeping."
"Around the time of his death, his last diary disappeared. It is assumed that this diary contained the location of this manuscript. Now, it's entirely possible that someone found it and squirrelled it away somewhere, and we'll never ever find it, but I believe that he left a red herring in his diary. I found a copy of his Last Will and Testament, and it specifically stated that the scroll was to be donated to the Hogwarts Library (Restricted Section, of course) upon his death. Now, it isn't there, and I can't find any record of it ever having been there."
"So we're going on a little hunt. There is apparently a passage behind one of the statues down here that has only been glazed over, and I know it contains at least one chamber off of it."
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Post by Isabelle Wesker on Feb 19, 2008 14:16:50 GMT -5
Sera and Mary, who had been standing near Arcturus, ooo'd to each other in anticipation of the hunt.
Isabelle was leaning onto a wall some distance from her friends, and remained rather impassive as she listened to the professor.
The manuscript looked like it could be interesting. Running around the school and squeezing through shifty looking secret passages that were probably overlooked by the cleaning elves looking for it? Not so much.
Treasure hunts? I guess that's what we get for being grouped up with kids...
Despite her already sour mood, she repressed the urge to scoff, not really wanting to get in trouble with her Head of House again.
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Post by Arcturus MacDougal on Feb 19, 2008 20:11:39 GMT -5
((For the record, Ravenclaw's diadem was in the Room of Requirement. Before that, it was in a tree in Albania, where it had been hidden by Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter before she died at the hands of the Bloody Baron. But Arcturus doesn't know that.))
Arcturus couldn't help but be excited, but he did have one question.
"What makes you think it's in this chamber?"
He wasn't trying to be sarcastic, he was genuinely curious. He couldn't see the connection between the scroll not being in the library, and it being hidden in this particular secret chamber. He could sort of see a connection between it not being in the library and it being in a secret chamber, but even still, that was a shaky conclusion at best.
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Post by Zea Winters on Feb 19, 2008 21:23:59 GMT -5
[[You are entirely correct. Whups. I need to reread DH like whoa, I only read it once... the night it came out.  I will edit it to reflect such.]] "Well, I don't know for sure. But the chamber was mentioned as used for storage in Hogwarts records in the early centuries, then forgotten. It's really a hunch of mine. If it's not there, we're going to scour the corridors, looking for magical signatures, and ye olde Muggle method of tapping on things to see if they're hollow behind." |
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Post by Arcturus MacDougal on Feb 21, 2008 17:43:55 GMT -5
Arcturus shrugged. Hey, he was game for a treasure hunt. Sure was better than sitting around in class. Not that that wasn't fun in it's own way. Arcturus did sort of enjoy learning stuff, but it was still more fun to go out and do something cool.
"Sounds good. When do we start?"
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Post by Zea Winters on Feb 21, 2008 21:30:26 GMT -5
"Well, first things first, I have a tricky little spell to teach you. It's called the Revelaspell, as one can determine by it's name, it helps reveal magical footprints on things. However, as Hogwarts is full of magic, the tricky part is determining what is significant."
"I want you in teams of four. Each team takes one of these little hammers. Tap very gently along the wall, listen for a sound. As a demonstration, tap next to the Potions classroom, and compare it to the sound of the solid wall just down the hallway from it. You'll hear a very hollow noise if something is behind it. Try to find spots where you think there's nothing behind it."
"Once you find one, cast Specialis Revelio. This will show you any magical footprints left on that particular spot. Indicators would be Locking Spells, Vanishing Spells, minor curses - anything fishy. If you find something like this, come and find me. I don't want anyone setting off any booby traps."
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Post by Isabelle Wesker on Feb 22, 2008 8:54:53 GMT -5
Oh great, teams.
Isabelle normally enjoyed working in teams, as it allowed her to keep chit-chatting with her friends as they worked, but seeing as she was currently ignoring them...
Sera and Mary both looked over to her imploringly, but she stubbornly looked away, trying to figure out who she was going to team up with instead.
Mary looked miserable again, and Sera looked annoyed as she patted her friend's shoulder.
"Oi, Raven Ladies, should we join forces?"
Fred Weasley and Gavin Woodward, two 6th year students from Gryffindor, had approached the two girls as they were pondering Isabelle's case. Gavin looked somewhat uneasy.
Mary shifted about uncomfortably and was about to open her mouth when Sera, furious with Isabelle, cut her off. "Sounds great! Let's go."
Isabelle had heard the exchange. She stood there for a bit staring at the group as they went and got their tools to get started, her face gaining a few shades of red in anger.
She finally turned away and moved on, positively fuming, trying to see if she could find a group to integrate.
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Post by Arcturus MacDougal on Mar 4, 2008 20:01:54 GMT -5
((Wow, I'm sorry, I definitely totally forgot about this.))
Arcturus wandered around looking for someone to be in a group with. He just hated splitting up into groups, because there was never anyone he knew in his class. He wandered at random, but everyone was already in a group of four. Then he saw Isabelle walking around, equally lost.
She looked very angry, and Arcturus remembered all too well how she had brushed rudely past him. But, he had to be in a group with SOMEONE, however much he didn't want to. So, swallowing his misgivings, he walked over to Isabelle.
"Uh . . . you wanna be in a group with me?"
he tentatively asked.
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Post by Isabelle Wesker on Mar 5, 2008 13:30:09 GMT -5
Isabelle flinched at the sound of Arcturus' voice addressing her before she slowly turned to look at him.
Oh Merlin, you've got to be kidding me...
She sighed when she confirmed the voice belonged to who she though it did.
"You're joking, right?"
She looked around them, noticing how very few students remained unmatched, and she pinched the bridge of her nose hard.
"Oh, all right then. Whatever. I don't care. As long as you can work seriously..."
Still fuming, she swiftly grabbed the first two students she could reach that weren't in teams yet, a Slytherin girl and a Hufflepuff boy, both looking no older than 14.
"You two. You can team up with us. Let's get to work."
Well I guess at least I can avoid having to get dirty if I get to babysit through this class...
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Post by Arcturus MacDougal on Mar 5, 2008 19:01:25 GMT -5
Arcturus groaned inwardly. This was going to be less than fun. At least, the part where they did anything together would be.
"I don't like it any more than you."
he muttered audibly under his breath.
"Should I get the tappy thing so we can get started?"
Not waiting for a reply, he trudged over to Zea and received a silver hammer. He walked back to where the three other members of their group stood awkwardly together. Arcturus stood there dumbly for a second before breaking the silence.
"Well, we wanna get started?"
And with that, started walking towards the door. He enjoyed doing things, especially something like this, but despised group work. He either just kind of pretended to be in the group, but really just ignored them, or did everything himself. Since there was only one hammer, he suspected the latter. That was A-OK with him, because searching for a lost Scottish artifact was sweet.
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Post by Isabelle Wesker on Mar 11, 2008 8:26:08 GMT -5
Isabelle followed behind the other two teammates, who were awkwardly looking over Arcturus' shoulder as he tapped away.
Not sure what she was supposed to do with herself before Arcturus found a hollow spot and still feeling very annoyed with the entire world, she decided to practice the Revelaspell on her own while she waited for her teammates to find something to use it on.
Her concentration kept getting broken up by distant laughter, however.
Sera, Mary, Fred and Gavin looked like they were really enjoying themselves... Which wasn't doing anything to help Isabelle's mood.
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Post by Arcturus MacDougal on Mar 13, 2008 20:15:55 GMT -5
Arcturus was just walking around tapping on walls until he could distinguish between hollow and not.
Then he started heading off toward the only statue in the dungeons that he hadn't already checked for secret passages. He hadn't checked it because it was the absolute farthest away from the staircase, and thus the coldest place in the entire school. It was also near the lake, so it was always slimy and moldy. Plus, he despised the dungeons, so he wouldn't be surprised if the other statues had stuff behind them too. It was a place to start anyway.
It didn't take long to get there. Oh, and there weren't any secret passages behind any of the walls on the way there. Only once had it been hollow, but it turned out that was just because there was an old Ingredients cupboard that had been abandoned because it leaked apparently.
The statue was a full presentation of an old, batty-looking witch who had discovered some magical herb called gillyweed. Arcturus had never heard of it, so it was probably unimportant. Then again, Herbology was the only subject he didn't pay attention in, because it seemed like either rote memorization or boring repetitive grunt work. He only knew a few cool plants.
He stepped behind it into the alcove it was placed in. He tapped the wall behind it and to the side and the floor and the wall across the hall from it. Nothing. So he decided he would try the ceiling. Might be a trapdoor. Unfortunately, he couldn't actually reach the ceiling. He could've asked his teammates for a boost . . . no. Anything but that.
So he climbed up on the statue. The ceiling was pretty far. He climbed up on the statue's arms, then shoulders, then he was balancing on the head of the long-deceased witch. He tried to tap on the ceiling, but he was at a really awkward angle. He leaned forward to get a better footing, and then fell hard as the statue swung forward smoothly to reveal a couple of stairs leading down to a surprisingly dry and well-lit corridor with a large oaken door at the end.
Arcturus stared down into it, nursing his knee that had been scraped in his ignominious fall from the statue. He looked around to see if his teammates had seen his fall and discovery, as he had lost track of where they were.
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I will edit it to reflect such.]]