An active, character-driven Hogwarts experience set in the early 2000s. Unique items, plots, and features. Non-canon; this isn't Harry Potter's story, it's ours.
Post by Grace Babineaux on Aug 11, 2020 0:42:10 GMT 10
Grace had hurried to the Astronomy tower as quickly as she could. It was the highest point in the school, and she was a little tired from doing the stairs. Her first thought was that she had to double-check she still had everything she needed. Wand, weird fruit, check! She gulped down some pumpkin juice to make herself feel a little better. Her arm felt a lot better, thankfully.
The darkest corner. That made sense to her, and she knew what she had to do since last time. Searching the darkest corner, she waited for the mirror to appear, then put her hands through and waited for the odd feeling of stepping through a mirror to overtake her, all while wondering if she would do that puzzle again.
Though the corner was quite dark, the shine of the door-sized mirror reflected the daylight enough to make itself known. When she touched the surface of the mirror with her hand, there was a brief resistance before she could move through it. Once she'd stepped into the room, the mirror would fade from the outside wall so no one else could stumble upon it.
Despite the change of door location, the large room was exactly as it was before. It was lit by torches and otherwise empty, except the door on the other side. The floor was typical Hogwarts stone, without the appearance of the puzzle - her progress was retained; she didn't have to solve it again.
The door at the end wasn't locked.
Inside was spacious yet empty and dimly-lit, except for the sleeping beast in the middle of the room. Though she now knew the name of it, the ancient beast was no less intimidating. It resembled a massive, scaly bear with curved tusks and had three eyes. Hopefully, this time her encounter would be more successful.
Post by Grace Babineaux on Aug 11, 2020 1:14:38 GMT 10
Grace looked at the gerodenus. She considered her options, realizing she really didn't know too much about it. Was she supposed to wake it, then feed it the fruit? She didn't see any other way around this. She really was hoping that everything would be alright, her wand in her pocket where she could grab it, she grabbed the fruit.
With the fruit in one hand, Grace stepped forwards. "Nice gerodenus..." she whispered, stepping ever so slightly closer to the Gerodenys. She thought she would be fine, she was okay now that she had the fruit. She could always run away, she thought, and she really wanted to know why the Gerodenus was there in the first place. She wondered if it could talk.
Despite her whispered tone, the gerodenus' ears flicked and it heard her clearly. It stretched and yawned, shaking its head as it sat up. Then its eyes landed on Grace who was very small by comparison. It snarled, whole body tensed and ready to attack, until it noticed the fruit in her hand.
Its entire form completely relaxed. The gerndenus sat on the floor, almost like a dog, and watched Grace intently - awaiting its offer of the ancient fruit. It could have easily snatched it, but apparently the Founders had instilled some manners in the beast. Or was that its nature, when not busy guarding or whatever reason it was for being there and not letting anyone into the room?
Post by Grace Babineaux on Aug 11, 2020 2:12:26 GMT 10
Grace let out a small whimper when the gerodenus snarled. Was the fruit not enough? She winced, but then it seemed a lot more calm. "Aw," Grace said. It was almost cute, if it wasn't so large. "You wanna come over here?" she asked, waving it over. She was reluctant to part with the fruit. What if it decided she was a snack once it was gone?
She offered the fruit to the gerodenus. Maybe it was like Marcia, and would be happier when fed. She wondered what it would feel like to pat it, mentally comparing petting Fang earlier to the gerodenus' appearance. "It's okay." she said.
The gerodenus sniffed the air, eager for the fruit. Once given permission to approach and retrieve it, the beast wandered over. It was formidable and intimidating in size alone, never mind the tusks and fortified scales as well.
Using its huge paws, it gently took the fruit from Grace. It wandered to the far left of the room - eating the fruit in one gulp. Its scales shimmered and glowed like pearls, then the beast returned to its slumber in the shadows.
The floor beneath Grace's feet rumbled. Across the room, the wall changed and shifted to reveal her next task. There were four mirrors with a Hogwarts house crest above each. A phrase was carved in stone in front of the mirrors where Grace stood. Its an ancient language, but the letters shift to English:
The hat chose yours, but to enter you must be whole. For each of ours, tell us how to test you. Show us your bravery, your loyalty, your wisdom, and your deepest ambition. Show us your soul, and the window shall become the gateway.
To use one of the mirrors, step close to it - the frame will change to match its house colour. Be sure to specify which house you've picked. You can only use one mirror/house at a time. This task is co-op modded - meaning your input is needed as part of the progress, when requested.
Post by Grace Babineaux on Aug 11, 2020 2:39:35 GMT 10
Grace laughed a little. It was using its paws like human hands! To think this creature had scared her so much. She wished that the price to pay for calming it hadn't been so high. Maybe it would've made a nice pet. She admired its scales, then wobbled on the rumbling floor. She approached the mirrors.
Grace murmured through the words as she read them. Okay, that made enough sense to her. She knew about all four of the houses, and their traits. She thought back to her own sorting--the one house the hat hadn't mentioned was Ravenclaw, so she decided to do that one first. It was better, she thought, then getting through all the other three and then failing at the last one.
Grace stepped close to the Ravenclaw mirror. "Showing wisdom..." she said, thinking about how she could do that. Grace thought firstly of her classes, then of the knowledge she had gathered on her way up to this point. "Did you know that Honeyduke's taffy was invented in 1894? That's the same year as the Taffy Taming." Facts were wisdom, she thought.
"You can perform the Wand-Lighting Charm by waving your wand like so and saying Lumos." Grace performed the wand motion, "Lumos." She kept her normally loud spell-casting voice quiet, in case the Gerodenus woke up and decided she was a good snack now that the fruit was in its belly. "It's particularly useful if you need to go out at night, so you can see what's in front of you."
The beast wasn't bothered by her spell, no longer having any interest in her company now it was fed and content.
The mirror didn't react to Grace's facts or show of spell-casting skill. The word wisdom on the floor, now behind her as she stood close to the mirror, glowed bright for a moment. Whatever Ravenclaw sought from her, Grace was yet to fulfill it.
Post by Grace Babineaux on Aug 11, 2020 2:55:20 GMT 10
"Wisdom...that was wisdom, wasn't it?" Grace thought out loud. Nobody could hear her, anyways. "Or am I supposed to be solving riddles like they do for the Ravenclaw common room?" she considered this thought more seriously. Maybe this was why the sorting hat hadn't considered Ravenclaw for her. "Nox." she put her wand light out
"Um...well when I went to the Ravenclaw common room, I had to answer this riddle, and it was like, 'What's broken when spoken' and I said, 'silence,' and the door knocker let me in." she said. Maybe she was supposed to demonstrate examples of the traits that she had displayed in the past? That made sense. "But if I asked you a riddle it would probably be hard for you to answer. Because you're a mirror and all. Besides, I would already know the answer."
Post by Grace Babineaux on Aug 12, 2020 5:27:46 GMT 10
"Aw..." Grace stepped back from the mirror. "tell us how to test you...show us your wisdom..." Grace frowned and started pacing. Maybe she was supposed to ask the mirror for a test of some type. That would be cool, though she did have some doubts that the mirror was capable of anything, and this might not even work.
"For my wisdom test, could I have a riddle?" she asked after stepping close to the Ravenclaw mirror again. Riddles were for the wise, after all. What were other things that wise people did, anyways? Give advice? She could do that. She'd probably give Gerald advice about dealing with the plant that had bit her earlier.
Post by Grace Babineaux on Aug 13, 2020 4:20:36 GMT 10
"Dang it!" Grace said, still glancing at the gerodenus regardless of how calm it seemed. She really didn't know anything about it, but she was happy that it seemed to be content and leaving her alone even when she was loud. "Um...tomatoes are a fruit, but ketchup isn't a smoothie?"
How was she supposed to show wisdom? For most of her life adults had been bossing her around, and she really hadn't had too many good moments at Hogwarts yet. Most of the people she knew were Ravenclaws, though, so she hoped some of their wisdom had rubbed off on her.
"Um...I helped my friend, Rose, out with homework this morning. We looked inside the book to figure out the answer...but Gerald did show it to me first, so he's probably the wise one, there." When else had she been wise? She tried to think of a few more examples, but she wasn't certain about them.
"I know when to ask the professors for help...like when Gerald and I were trying to learn about that gerodenus..." Grace pointed, "...we asked Professor Fairburn, the care of magical creatures professor, who told us about a fruit, so we asked Professor Sprout, and then we wrote to this O'Klore person for more information on that!" Grace hoped the mirror would be satisfied. She was running out of ideas.
Then Grace admitted she didn't know everything - that she'd sought help to further her knowledge or understanding of something. The example appeased the mirror - its glass was no longer reflective, though whatever was behind it was too black to see.
One house was unlocked. Three awaited her approach.
Post by Grace Babineaux on Aug 13, 2020 4:42:27 GMT 10
"Woohoo!" Grace yelled. One down, three to go. She did a little bit of a happy dance, flailing her arms around before she calmed down a little and looked at the other three mirrors. Which should she do next? She decided on Hufflepuff, which she recalled eliminating first out of the three choices given to her.
"Hello Hufflepuff mirror." she waved. She'd demonstrated her wisdom, so she hoped she had a better idea of showing her loyalty. She thought of her friends, Gerald, Ryan, Toby, Rose. Even Ruby. "Okay, so I was duelling my friends a few days ago, but I made sure never to hurt them too bad, even when I knew it would help me win." Grace said.
Thinking a little more, she added, "I've been doing all the steps leading up to this one with my friend Gerald. The only reason we separated was because we had to get the ancient magic fruit to get the gerodenus separately. Even now I think I'll tell him everything that happens here, so he can get through it with less trouble."
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