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 Elizabeth Doren on Jan 2, 2022 15:12:47 GMT 10
Elizabeth went into the Cluttered Room not really expecting how cluttered it could really be. Despite her parents' apparent wealth, she didn't have many things to make her own space cluttered. Even her clothes were something Elizabeth stayed on top of picking up, so when she saw the Cluttered Room, she was momentarily stunned. Why hadn't anyone tried to put any of this stuff away?
She frowned and started looking for the Transfiguration textbooks among the mess. Professor McGonagall meant it when she said they would be difficult to find. Elizabeth couldn't imagine having to set aside time that was supposed to be spent doing other things busy professors would do for finding books. In that way, she was glad to help.
On the other hand, she thought as she continued looking through the room, she would've loved to be able to show off her skills a little, especially so that Elizabeth could hear Professor McGonagall's input before her Transfiguration OWL. How her classmates could waste so much time on the holidays was beyond Elizabeth. What if they forgot everything they'd learned?
It was no easy task, that's for sure. As soon as she thought she had an overview of what was around her, she noticed a whole other set of things. There was no order to it, not really, though a few categories or general areas for related items seemed to emerge the longer she surveyed the room.
She needed to identify three main sections before she had any chance of finding the books.
Post by Elizabeth Doren on Jan 4, 2022 14:54:53 GMT 10
Elizabeth would definitely need to have a word with whoever was in charge of this room. Was it supposed to be this cluttered? It seemed to her that it was in utter chaos. She was definitely going to ask Professor McGonagall about who was in charge of cleaning it up. With a few other dedicated students, she thought it might be possible to at least put a dent in the mess.
With a sigh, Elizabeth took a step back and tried to imagine that this was, in some way, organized. After what felt like forever, she realized that things were in some sort of category. It certainly wasn't the way she would've gone about it, but there was some order after all. She headed into the first of what she thought were three sections and began searching for a textbook once more.
Though she'd worked out three sections, she hadn't fully identified them -- which items they were, or how she'd categorised them as a section. It still felt like making progress though, as she uncovered a few books. No Transfiguration ones though, unfortunately. Just some Charms, a few lost textbooks, and small sketchbook of faded drawings.
Post by Elizabeth Doren on Jan 5, 2022 13:29:34 GMT 10
Elizabeth took another step back to look at what she'd originally thought were the three sections before realizing she'd sorted in the items in a different way. Now, with her knowledge of what had been placed where, she was able to identify a section of mostly broken things, a section of maybe old, but still working things, and finally a section mixed up with the two as well as newer things. She found this last section the least helpful, but considered it probably the best for her search.
With the sections identified, she began searching for the Transfiguration textbooks all over again. She'd considered keeping the small sketchbook to look at in the future, but decided to put it back in case whoever was responsible for the drawings came back to collect it. While she wasn't one for drawing, Elizabeth could at the very least appreciate that some work went into it. She much preferred paintings, anyways.
Searching the mixed section with some newer things proved a challenge time-wise, as there was much more variety. The afternoon wore on as she searched, and eventually uncovered a small pile of books. Atop the messy stack was a Transfiguration book -- its cover clean and adorned with golden lettering.
Post by Elizabeth Doren on Jan 5, 2022 14:01:54 GMT 10
Elizabeth allowed a smile to cross her face, but now she thought it was best to search the other sections, though she knew it was getting late. She headed towards the section that contained mostly older or working things next, proud of finding the textbook. Still, there were a few more to go, and Elizabeth wanted to find them all before dinner time.
She never missed a meal if she could help it. She considered it rude to do so, and besides, she didn't feel like visiting the Cluttered Room again unless she had to. Hopefully it wouldn't take nearly as much time to find the next book, though she remained aware that the clock was ticking. She was used to a certain amount of pressure.
While searching, she bumped some sort of musical instrument that mad a sudden and loud sound. It played a few feeble notes, then died down. Knocked by Elizabeth startling, another Transfiguration book fell into view by her feet. It was similar to the other one -- though if flipped open on landing and revealed very intricate designs. Far too complex to be used in classes, so these books were more special than she'd ralised.
Unfortunately, none of the contents made any sort of sense to her. In fact, the words seemed to blur if she tried to read them. Best to stick with simply locating them.
Post by Elizabeth Doren on Jan 5, 2022 14:19:55 GMT 10
Elizabeth covered her ears and jumped at the surprise of the musical instrument, though she felt a little comforted by the fact that it seemed a textbook had appeared as a result of whatever she bumped into. Yet another reason this room should be picked up. She wondered who was responsible for putting the textbooks there, or if it was a side effect of them being vanished.
She sighed when she realized she couldn't even read the books. Was this for the NEWT students? To Elizabeth, that wasn't all that far away. She would have to ask Professor McGonagall about what level the textbooks were for. Perhaps they were for people going into Transfiguration as a job. It sounded nice to Elizabeth, to be able to study books all day. It would've been nicer if she understood them, though.
She continued her search into the last section, the one with the mostly broken things. She wrinkled her nose as she went through. Why keep something if it was already broken?
That section was a bit riskier, as "broken" also meant literally -- with a few sharp edges or pieces of glass to look out for. Despite that, an intact and new-looking Transfiguration book was all that much easier to find as a result.
It just happened to be inside a glass cabinet which refused to remain open for more than two seconds, before slamming itself shut.
Post by Elizabeth Doren on Jan 5, 2022 14:33:50 GMT 10
Elizabeth carefully wound her way through the broken section, looking for something similar to the Transfiguration textbooks she already had. She nodded when she found the final textbook and went to grab it, only to find the door to the glass cabinet consistently slamming itself.
She was tempted to bring the whole cabinet to Professor McGonagall. Surely she would know what to do with it, but Elizabeth was attempting to prove her skills, and how could she do that if she was begging for help? Knowing that a summoning charm would be useless on the book and not wanting to risk breaking the cabinet and cutting herself on a broken edge, Elizabeth took a second to think things through.
Elizabeth set the books she'd already found down, and then opened the cabinet with her non-wand hand, and before it could slam she said "Arresto momentum" and used her wand to slow it down a little. Enough so she could quickly make a grab for the book, she hoped. Professor McGonagall would be quite pleased.
Much to the cabinet's agitation, the spell worked enough that she could make a grab for the book and not lose a hand. Now with the correct amount of books Professor McGonagall had asked Elizabeth to retriev, her task here was done.
Post by Elizabeth Doren on Jan 5, 2022 14:48:47 GMT 10
Elizabeth was very pleased with being able to keep all five fingers as well as not sustain injury to any of them. She put the books carefully into her bag, separating them from the rest of what she was studying as well as making sure the pages wouldn't end up bent. She hated finding library books with pages that were in any way harmed.
With that all sorted out, Elizabeth gratefully took her leave of the Cluttered Room and the things in it that potentially wanted to hurt her or the things that were just plain annoying. She did prefer this to rounding up the spiky cat. The books were hopefully far less likely to attempt to escape her than the cat.
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