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 Reena Ashworth on Jun 24, 2022 22:42:47 GMT 10
If Reena said she hadn't wandered around the stairs almost aimlessly for a while as the lay out changed at random. She had a vague idea where she had to go but it was not like she could follow anyone there, the few remaining students that she met surely weren't going the same way as she was.
After a while, that her inpatient mind told her was way longer than it actually was, she did end up in the Vacant Corridor after all. She checked her message again and started to count the windows as she passed them on her way.
When she reached the seventh, she turned towards the opposite wall and waited for something to happen. Perhaps a door would appear or another hallway?
Reena looked at her message again, just to be sure.
The Room of Mirrors should appear to her this morning in this place.
It took a bit of wandering, as if the Room of Mirrors waited for Reena to step in a very specific spot of the corridor around that corner. And once she did, a door-sized mirror appeared on the wall. There was no door handle or any instructions to give her a clue on how to enter, so she'd just have to try a few things until something worked.
Simply approaching it or making her reflection move wouldn't achieve anything.
Post by Reena Ashworth on Jun 24, 2022 23:53:18 GMT 10
Reena watched as something indeed happened and a mirror appeared infront of her.
She looked at her own face, intruigued yet puzzled, and stepped forward towards the mirror to inspect it. She trailed her fingers around the edges to check whether it was on any hinges, like a door would be to grand her entry to the room.
She also pulled out her wand, figuring from past experiences that it was worth a try to tap it. She hesitated to touch it outright however, thinking back to how Jaxen had been blasted after touching that cursed chest in their backyard.
Instead she held it close to the mirror to see whether it had any effect just being in close proximity.
There was nothing to indicate what she should do; no markings, instructions, or any sort of indentation. If it weren't for its magical appearance and suspiciously door-shaped frame, it otherwise seemed to be any ordinary mirror.
Though the reflective glass seemed to shimmer a bit when she trailed her fingers around the edges of the frame. As soon as she broke contact, the shimmer faded.
Post by Reena Ashworth on Jun 25, 2022 0:08:51 GMT 10
There was no menacing aura coming from the mirror, unlike the chest in their secret laboratory, so Reena opted to believe it wasn't cursed and safe to touch.
She took in the magical shimmer where her fingers had touched the edges and was intruiged, especially when it faded as soon as she broke contact.
Momentarily forgetting about her plan to tap the mirror she placed her palm flatly onto the glass to see if it may shimmer even more brightly and perhaps open the mirror, which she suspected to be a door. Reena cringed inwardly at the thought of her touch leaving a grubby imprint of her hand on the mirror - but it was magical and had just appeared seemingly out of thin air, surely it was self-cleaning.
When she placed her hand against the glass, there was some resistance from the surface then her hand could sink through it -- her wrist as well. Once Reena stepped through and into the room, the mirror would fade from the outside wall so no one else could stumble upon it.
The large room was lit by torches and otherwise empty, except for a door at the other side. Not far into the room, the floor stopped being typical Hogwarts stone and instead was made of strange yet big squares. There was a significance to them, though their meaning wasn't clear until she noticed writing at her feet that gave a brief explanation of how to proceed.
Choose your steps carefully to make your way across the room. One wrong step, and it's over. Every safe square is connected to the next, either diagonally or directly in front of it. There is only one safe square per row. The choice is yours.
X = Danger -- GAME OVER X = Caution -- is either left or right of the safe one. X = Safe.
Note:Squares are not numbered in RP -- it's just so mods know which one you've picked, so be sure to mention something like "she stepped on the 4th one".
Post by Reena Ashworth on Jun 25, 2022 0:39:13 GMT 10
Brilliant.
Reena's hand passed through the mirror and she quickly followed, confident that she would not hit her face against a solid surface.
The room she entered was not at all what she had expected. It wasn't as much a Room of Mirrors as a room behind a mirror. Or inside a mirror.
She glanced at the torches and then at the door at the other side, proceeding towards it with caution. She stopped when she noticed a short instruction on the floor by the big squares.
She paused. What would happen if she failed? Would the door disappear? Would she be trapped in here forever?
Reena tried to calm herself as she thought about the task at hand.
Straight forward ot diagonal? She figuered she had to start somewhere so she counted the squares left to right, mentally giving them a number, one to seven.
Since she had no other indicator she figured she had to give the first step to chance and hope for the best.
Hesitantly she turned towards the square that was diagonally to the right of her. It was the fifth square, which she had chosen because they were five siblings and that number felt safe to her.
Taking the step she hoped this would not end up biting her in the - well. It better not, she quite enjoyed not being trapped in a room without windows.
When Reena stepped forward, there was a WHOOSH of blackness blasting from the also-black square. It felt like she was floating or drowning, which was a confusing combination of sensations. Her mind was foggy and she didn't know where she was. There was nothing.
Then it was over. Reena found herself laying on the floor in front of the door she'd used to enter the room. It'd been her first square, so the stones remained the same -- at least on the surface. There was a magical sort of shifting and she just knew that the entire path was reset. It seemed that "Game Over" actually meant "Start Again".
Post by Reena Ashworth on Jun 25, 2022 1:26:22 GMT 10
When Reena emerged from nothing she felt compelled to cough and she hugged herself to make sure she existed after what she had just experienced. She did. She was.
Slowly she sat up and stared at the squares in front of her- they looked the same but seemed different to her either way. Jax would have killed her, had she stopped existing just like that.
She glanced back towards where she had come from, briefly entertaining the idea of leaving yet she felt compelled to move on.
After she had gotten to her feet she eyed the fifth square, albeit now different, with mistrust and choose number three instead. No more fives for her. She stepped forward.
When Reena stepped onto the square, it changed colour to signify her level of danger or safety. There was some sort of magical field keeping her on that square, making it clear that she'd only get to stand on one per row. Now she had to make her next choice, and hope she didn't get any dangerous ones.
Post by Reena Ashworth on Jun 25, 2022 15:55:11 GMT 10
This step fortunately turned out to be safe and she allowed some of the tension to leave her back and jaw. This was just the first row of squares however and she still had nine to go.
She looked at the three squares within her reach, trying to make out anything unusual about them and whether they struck her as especially menacing.
Reena did not want to relive the sensation of floating and drowning, yet realised there was still a good chance she might.
She turned right and stepped forward diagonally, opting to get back into the middle and take it from there.
Post by Reena Ashworth on Jun 27, 2022 21:19:34 GMT 10
Reena glanced warily at the square to her right, certain that she would be send back to square one should she step on it. She shuddered at the memory of floating and drowning and fixed her gaze at the row of squares in front of her.
If left to her was the safest square then there next one could be either the second, the third or the one directly in front of her.
Reena took a step diagonally towards the left to stand in front of the last safe one, eventhough she doubted three safe ones would be placed in a row.
The way she was moving so far reminded her of a dance somehow.
Post by Reena Ashworth on Jun 28, 2022 6:50:00 GMT 10
So far so good. She was still standing yet now she was faced with the dilemma of having no idea whether the safe square of the next row was even within reach of her.
It could very well be diagonally to her or straight forward yet it could also be left or right of the squares she could step on from her position, since there was an equal chance of the actual safe square of the row she was on at this moment to be to her left or right.
Reena wondered how her siblings were spending their free morning and rather wished them to not be within an ancient game of mines that made you question your existence temporarily.
Deciding that straightforward had the best chance for being safe, she closed her eyes and took the next step, hoping it would not be her last.
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December
