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.
For part 2/3 of the Halloween Event this RPG year. Only volunteering students on Professor McGonagall's list in the Entrance Hall are permitted to post here. This thread is modded by @ace and overseen by Prefect Elizabeth Doren .
The most infamous girl's bathroom at Hogwarts wasn't a place students visited unless they were desperate enough to risk it, for those who even knew it existed. Though this time, Moaning Mrytle wasn't completely to blame its flooded state. It wasn't just the toilets that overflowed, but rather the large pipes along the ceiling and some smaller ones up the walls.
Thankfully, the gushing waves of water didn't cause more than puddles in the corridor outside - as the indented middle of the floor had drains to keep it contained, but any student who ventured in would have it at least above their ankles. It was a hazard in itself and soaked everything, as water spluttered and flowed from everywhere.
It was toilet water, but even if it still felt gross in principal, it was considered clean as those pipes were for flushing water into the bathroom rather than out of it. It was a small mercy.
Post by Elizabeth Doren on Oct 1, 2020 9:01:39 GMT 10
Elizabeth was quick to head into the bathroom. She had wondered what the problem was, and it hadn't taken long. She wrinkled her nose. Plumbing was never something that had interested her, and she despised the idea of getting dirty. She glanced at her ankles, the water reaching them. She examined the toilets, before noticing that something was up with the pipes as well.
She just hoped Myrtle left her alone while she fixed this. "Lumos," she said, her wand in her hand to brighten up the pipes. She considered her next move. She could possibly use a cleaning charm to get rid of the water, but that wouldn't stop the clogs. Her next thought was that she should figure out what had happened. Probably some reckless prankster who thought they were funny, she frowned.
Post by Sophia Rhynhart on Oct 2, 2020 21:47:45 GMT 10
'Cor blimey,' Sophia yelled, almost falling on her arse from slipping in some puddles. She hugged a wall just in time, having a split-second reflex to release Phoebe or they'd both come crashing down.
It was in the doorway of the bathroom that Sophia stopped dead in her tracks, all humour and grumpiness gone from the moment. She knew they were headed to a flooded bathroom, but somehow she'd just pictured overflowing toilets and puddles. What met them inside was so much worst.
She gulped, reminding herself to breathe. There was a solid floor at her feet, so it wasn't as if she was going to be dragged down to her death right? Sophia glanced at the Slytherin present, recognising the Prefect's badge shining in the light.
'Hey...' What was the girl's name again? '... you. Uh, what do you want us to do?' Sophia was being rather polite to a Slytherin, particularly one who shared a dorm with the vile Seabrook, but most might think she was just focusing on the task at hand.
Phoebe would know otherwise. She knew Sophia's secret, and she knew what she looked like when turning pale. Her ashen hair was a clue too, even when Sophia quickly tied it back and passed the colour change off as intentional.
She flinched as water splashed nearby, her breathing not quite regular though she reminded herself over and over again that the was solid flood beneath her feet and the water was not even deep enough to swim in. As if somehow that was going to help when she eventually slipped and panicked, though she was determined to get through it if it happened.
Phoebe wasn't able to brace for impact when her bestie slipped and released her, causing her to fall into an adjacent wall. She collided into it chest first as the air shot from her lungs. She laughed in both embarrassment and pain, dramatically pawing at the castle as she tried to regain her balance. 'Phoebe Daywater, ladies and gents! Hufflepuff's new Seeker!'
The fun was sucked from the room when she had the chance to check out the damage, noticing the large pipes along the ceilings and some on the walls spouting water. This wasn't only sink or toilet water. It was worse! Phe looked worried again as she walked towards Sophia, grabbing for her arm to better steady herself in case she happened to slip and slide on the wet floor.
'Are you okay?' Phoebe propped herself at Sophia's side, looking at her with concern. 'If you want to go, I'll cover for you.' She didn't want her bestie to endure the flooded bathroom after seeing how bad it was. Phe knew how Soph reacted around water, and her hair was a tell tale sign of how she felt. 'No harm, no foul, Soph.' Phoebe was offering her bestie an out.
Phoebe ignored the Slytherin girl that was in the room with them, her full attention on her best friend. She didn't care what task the prefect assigned to them, even if it was a two person job. Phoebe would do the task herself if it meant Sophia could leave the bathroom and retreat to safety. Her bestie was her only concern right now, not the water gushing from all directions.
Post by Elizabeth Doren on Oct 5, 2020 1:11:05 GMT 10
Elizabeth turned her head at the rather loud entrance of a pair of Hufflepuffs. Immediately her mouth formed into a frown. If they couldn't even walk into the room properly, there was going to be trouble. She gestured to the walls. "There's a problem with the pipes." She nodded her head, thinking it over.
"We need to figure out what's causing the clogs." She thought that it had to be clogged up somewhere. She wasn't really sure of anything else that would be causing problems like this. "It's most likely affecting one of the larger ceiling pipes," she thought out loud, looking up at the ceiling.
Elizabeth didn't seem to notice the trouble that Sophia was having with the water, but she did notice that the Hufflepuffs had huddled together. She cleared her throat. Either they were there to help, or they could leave. There was no point in just standing around doing nothing.
Jamie had raced down to the flooded bathroom and arrived to the sound of splashing water from his own feet. Glancing down, he looked at all the water and then at the doorway, where a pair of Hufflepuff girls, much older than himself, stood. As he slipped past them, due to his small frame, he looked over at the Slytherin in charge, listening to speak.
What could he remember about pipes? His father had fixed one in her house, it had busted and he was trying to remember exactly what they did. A clog had happened in one part of the pipe, which had caused the pipe to crack from pressure and his father had to find that first. He had used a metal snake after cutting the bad pipe out to find the clog, but they had also been able to turn the water off.
"Um... Is there a way to turn off the water?" Jamie asked, knowing that had been one of the first things his father had done before he started working on the pipes in their kitchen. The boy went in, water soaking him to just above his ankles. Unfortunately, he didn't know many spells, being a first year, but he knew about some hands on things, which was helpful.
He made his way over to the toilet area, beginning to look at each toilet to try and see if any of them gave a clue. Maybe which everyone wasn't running or full of water could be the clue to where the clog was?
Post by Sophia Rhynhart on Oct 8, 2020 2:01:44 GMT 10
Sophia cracked a small smile at Phe's Seeker comment, though was glad she hadn't fallen and hurt herself or both of them somehow.
The support of her best friend helped, though Sophia struggled to even consider looking away from the gushing water. The offer for her to leave, knowing Phe would easily cover for her, was more than tempting. She opened her mouth to agree, but her stubborn resolve kicked back in.
'No.' Sophia shook her head. 'We'll do this together, yeah? There's a floor at my feet. I... I think I can do it?' She shuddered, but stepped properly into the room. She hated the feel of water soaking her socks and being higher than comfortable, but it wasn't as bad as something she could drown in. Nothing to grab her and pull her down, right?
She stared at the Slytherin girl in disbelief, then glanced at Phe. 'A problem with the pipes?' she whispered, trying not to laugh. 'No kidding.'
With the arrival of the little Ravenclaw, Sophia started to wonder if she and Phe were the only smart ones there. So far, people were just pointing out the obvious. She glanced at Phe, hoping for some ideas, as she was still wary about the water and did not want to take lead on this.
The light from Elizabeth's wand illuminated a scene more raucous than any of the students might have initially anticipated- the flooded bathroom was beginning to look like a malfunctioning Muggle amusement park ride. Like frogs in boiling pots of water, the assembled group might not have noticed that the pressure of the water spilling out of the pipes was gradually increasing.
As if the bathroom were listening in on their conversation, at the young Ravenclaw's mention of turning off the water the pipes exploded in protest. There was a loud sound that was not unlike the sound of a hiccup and then as fast as lightning a large pulse of water burst through the wall- and struck Jamie squarely in the face.
The force of the blast would have been enough to force him backwards a bit, but whether or not he fell to the ground would depend on Jamie's own constitution and footing. As if in concert with the exploding wall pipe, two toilets on opposite sides of the bathroom simultaneously erupted like volcanoes of water. It was hard to make out, but in the distance one might have been able to make out the sound of a girl giggling.
'Wait a second..' Phoebe tried to hide the smirk on her face after listening to Sophia's quip and turned to face the Slytherin. 'You're telling me this isn't Moaning Myrtle's Madness? Hogwarts' first indoor water park attraction?' She snickered in a haughty tone, coming across more mean-spirited than intended - but Phe didn't appreciate the prefect's impatience.
Phe suddenly rolled her eyes, realizing she didn't want to fight. 'Look, I know what we can do.' She nodded and waded into the water as it rose to her ankles the further she entered. She moved past the prefect and closer to the sinks, glancing around the room to get a better idea of how everything was connected. Things appeared contained.. until they weren't anymore.
'Bloody hell!' Phoebe screamed when the first pipe broke and blasted through the wall, striking the young Ravenclaw in the face. She hadn't heard anything he said before then, but looked over in his direction to see if he was okay, knowing that he was a lot smaller and more prone to being knocked off his feet. Were first years able to drown in ankle-deep water?
'Everybody down!' Phe ducked low, crouching in anticipation of another burst. Then it came, as two toilets on the opposite side of the bathroom erupted like a double-vented volcano. They needed to do something and quick, or the castle would wind up flooded - and that wouldn't bode well for her bestie. Phe wasn't going to let that happen to Sophia. Not tonight or ever!
She groaned at the ghostly giggling but ignored it, knowing who it was. 'The sink faucets! Turn them on!' Phe splashed through the water, reaching for one sink at a time and flipping each knob to get the water running. 'It may relieve some of the pressure in the pipes!'
Post by Elizabeth Doren on Oct 8, 2020 13:37:31 GMT 10
Elizabeth frowned at the appearance of a young boy. Was there any care put into who was helping who, now, or was there something else going on that needed more attention? Elizabeth wished she had been in the Ravenclaw prefect's place now. Pixies seemed much easier than dealing with plumbing, and on principle she despised getting dirty.
Before she could even give the first year instructions, he was already playing in the toilets. Great, she thought with a deep inner sigh. She figured that it would be easier to give the girls that were her age some tasks to complete, but of course they were already whispering and then ganging up on her. An expected response, she thought with some remorse. There was a disaster going on and all these girls could think of was mocking her desire to do something about it?
She had never felt included with any of the other girls her age, or really anybody at Hogwarts, since her first year. The first moment all the students in their year had shared, their Sorting, was likely one of the few she had, and even then the whole purpose was separation.
This was partially her own fault, but sometimes she wished that she was normal like these girls were. She felt her face heating up when the one who seemed less worried about the whole thing started with an idea of what to do.
"I'm in charge here." she stated, waving her still-lit wand over her prefect badge and attempting to regain control over the situation. "Now--" Of course, the moment she started the instruction, things started going poorly. If she had been the type for swearing, she would've done so then, but a Doren didn't swear, and so she merely held her breath. The exploding toilets were one thing, but the cause was pretty obvious. She ducked her head down.
Myrtle was actually somewhat understandable to Elizabeth. She was lonely, not like any of the other ghosts at Hogwarts, who were all quite old, to Elizabeth's knowledge. The prefect was ambivalent about Phoebe's idea, but at least it would keep the two Hufflepuffs busy, and it might even work. It would probably also get them more wet, but that was inevitable. She stretched her neck to see if the first year was injured, but couldn't make him out. She did hope he was okay, if only to avoid a trip to the hospital wing.
"Myrtle!" she called out, holding her wand in front of her, shining its light over the scene in an attempt to make out what was happening. "I know you can hear us!" She tried to consider things the ghost liked. Wasn't there a rumor she was a bit boy-crazy? Another reason the boys avoided this bathroom, besides the obvious. Elizabeth hoped she was correct.
"These girls are Hufflepuffs. Do you know their handsome Quidditch captain?" Elizabeth tried not to cringe while saying the words, and she hoped this was not spoken of to the mentioned captain, or to anybody outside the bathroom. "If you let us talk this out, I'm sure we can find a way for..." Elizabeth struggled briefly with the name before recalling it. With a name as ridiculous as 'Lucky,' it was a little easier to recall then the pair of Hufflepuffs who were also here. "...for Lucky to come and visit you. And maybe he'll bring friends!"
The sudden burst of water hitting him in face sent him tumbling backwards, down into the water and he felt himself go under. Even if it was only ankle deep, he was slightly on his side, not flat on his back. As he lifted himself, he gasped for air and coughed a little to relief himself of any water. This was great! Himself and his bag were soaked!
The ingredients!
He stood, moving away from some of the water that was shooting out and took a glance. So far, everything looked okay... Didn't mean he was going to continue being okay... His elbow had struck the floor and h rubbed it. Looking around, he heard the voice of the Slytherin girl and shook his head. Why did girls always think a guy was going to fix this? The sound of the giggle was barely lost to him and he looked around for where the sound came from.
Was it the rumored Moaning Myrtle?
He looked about the area, trying to figure out where the clog might be mainly located... If the pipes were bursting in places, then the area after the clog wouldn't be? Right? So, he started looking around, searching for any pipes not currently bursting with pressure.
Phoebe's reasoning about the pressure building in the pipes was logical, reasonable, and well thought out- it was a real shame that logic and reason had very little sway over happenings at Hogwarts. As her hands spun the knobs of the sink faucets, something truly incredible happened as the mouths of the faucets seemed to double, then triple, then quadruple in size.
Out of the last faucet she turned the students would have heard another large gulping sound not unlike the one they'd heard before, but instead of a deluge of water springing forth it was a large silvery fish that emerged. It looked like no fish they'd encountered before- it was the size of a house cat, for one, and the silver of its scales shone in an eerie way. Instead of teeth its mouth was fashioned like a large suction cup, and it promptly suctioned itself onto Phoebe's elbow unwilling- at least for the moment- to let go.
Another burst of giggles could be heard, and this time a face hovered above the chaos to taunt them.
Most of the students at Hogwarts had heard of Moaning Myrtle although few had seen her, as few made the trek to her bathroom. She floated about the scene, pointing and laughing at Phoebe, Jamie, and Sophia, although when her eyes focused on Elizabeth her smile turned to a scowl. In a flash she traversed the length of the bathroom and got right into Elizabeth's face, pointing her ghostly wisp of a finger repeatedly at the Slytherin's chest, although of course Elizabeth could feel nothing from it.
"Just WHO exactly do you think you are?" Myrtle demanded, her voice shrill with offense and indignation. "I don't need a pesky little brat like YOU to help me find a boyfriend! I have plenty of boyfriends, and plenty of regular friends, too!" With each syllable she increased her volume, screaming at the decibel of a mandrake by the time she finished. It's as if she were screaming to convince herself as much as she was screaming to convince them.
"WHY did you come here? Leave me alone! You students are always so mean... making a mess of my bathroom for no reason!" At this she turned to address them all as if challenging any of them to give her a response.
Post by Sophia Rhynhart on Oct 24, 2020 22:37:12 GMT 10
Sophia rolled her eyes at Phoebe's comment, though had reached for her friend's arm when startled by an increased flooding of water. She shrieked when Phe yelled, having followed her towards the sinks but was paying more attention to her own ankles than the rest of the room.
'Don't. Do. That.' Sophia grumpily swatted at Phe's shoulder. 'Damn near gave me a heart attack.' She glared.
Erupting toilets was never something anyone wanted to see, though from what she could tell it didn't seem to be an especially gross version of it. Thankfully, no one really used this bathroom for the purpose it was designed for. She'd refused to duck down though, not wanting to get her face any closer to the rising water levels than necessary.
Seeing the first year go under sent chills up her spine. Sophia's instincts should spur her to help, but she shuddered at the thought of getting pulled under even though she knew that wasn't likely. A 5th year's size was quite different to a small 1st year.
'You alive, kid?' she asked the Ravenclaw anyway, trying to make it sound like a joke though Phe would catch the concerned stutter in her tone.
She pulled a concerned look at Phe when she suggested turning taps on rather than off. Sophia was ready with a witty remark and dash of sassiness, but caught on to the plan and made a rush towards the sinks. She shuddered at the sight of water, then started turning taps on. She ignored Doren's attempts to take charge of the situation, never being one to be impressed by prefect badges especially on her own peers. At least she'd remembered the Slytherin girl's name.
Sophia froze in her task, though had turned on most of the taps in reach that weren't already on anyway, upon hearing Doren's attempts to...
'Is she trying to pimp out Lucky to a wailing ghost?' she leaned to nudge Phe with her elbow, keeping her voice low as even Sophia wasn't going to risk the ghost overhearing. 'Mind you, he probably would show up...' She rolled her eyes, glad for the temporarily amusement to distract her from the water. I only worked so long, though.
Trying to decide if she should be amused or angry by Doren's methods was a short-lived concern, as Phe's idea with the taps literally backfired. Sophia screamed, covering her face with her hands as water soaked her through. She fell backwards, into the water, though quickly got back to her feet. There was solid floor. She was okay.
Except she wasn't. 'EW - bathroom water,' Sophia yelled, as if she was drenched in slime rather than water. She barely had time to register that a fish had appeared. Huh? Somehow, despite all the water, such a concept hadn't occurred to her until now. Fish didn't typically shoot out of bathroom pipes, right? Had she been risking her life up until now each time she went to the toilet at Hogwarts?
Confused as she was, Sophia would need some incentive or reaction from Phe before she realised where the fish had gone. Instead she shot Mrytle and Doren glares each - one for being noisy, the other for being stupid. She blocked her ears, grimacing as they got wet too, and kicked at some of the water. Her clothes were soaked through to her bones, her hair was soaked and hanging like seaweed around her face, and Sophia was sure even her soul was soaked at this point.
'Great idea, Phe,' she grumbled though in a mock-annoyed tone rather than anything genuine. It was a great idea, yet somehow they still ended up regretting it. Sophia was cranky and wanted to leave.
Post by Elizabeth Doren on Nov 4, 2020 3:02:24 GMT 10
Elizabeth's face turned bright red. All that and her idea still hadn't worked, and even worse, those two Hufflepuffs would probably be gossiping about this for an eternity now. "We're trying to help, Myrtle. We noticed that the bathroom was flooded and we want it to stop." Elizabeth said, somewhat lamely. At least the ghost had shown herself instead of just laughing at them.
"We'll help you with the mess, and then leave, if that's what you want." Elizabeth said, trying to think of a new way to appeal to Myrtle. She did seem quite mad about the mess, and Elizabeth would be lying if she said she wasn't frightened of Myrtle at all. She just had to figure out a way to make her an ally, and not just one more thing hindering her.
She was still a little worried about the younger boy. If something bad happened to him on her watch, she knew she'd get in trouble, and she didn't want that to happen on her first day as a prefect.
"You want to help?" Myrtle asked the Slytherin girl incredulously. "Call a bloody plumber, then!" With that, Myrtle disappeared with a loud pop that echoed throughout the bathroom, heard over even the rushing water and screams of the Hufflepuff girls. The pop had a sense of finality to it, indicating that Myrtle was gone and wouldn't be coming back.
The students were on their own.
Another large cracking sound reverberated around the bathroom, and the gushing water from the pipes slowed to a drizzle. It happened simultaneously and effected every source of water, from the leaking pipes to the turned-on faucets, creating the impression that it was orchestrated in some way. For the first time since they entered there would have been a hush, an eerie quiet, in the room.
It wasn't to last. The floodgates opened again and more water poured in- it was past ankle level, now, and was approaching the thighs of the shorter students- but this water was different than before. It was hard to tell when it mixed with the water gathered on the floor already, but the new water had a bright orange hue to it... it seemed that even the pipes were in the Halloween spirit.
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