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First-Floor Corridor https://s26.postimg.cc/jkthqlimx/corridor-banner.jpg To get to Defence Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, or Muggle Studies, one will have to make use of the first floor corridor. Getting here is usually relatively easy if you're coming from one of the lower levels of the castle as you need only deal with the moving staircases for just a few minutes. Rugs with intricate patterns have been placed on the floor to soften your footsteps so that any learning going on inside the classrooms isn't disturbed. |
Another Was that the sole reason why the girl was at school? No. Not really. She was there because that was the 'thing to do' - apparently - and according to her mother she had to have a 'very good education if she wanted to go places'. Thing was, Anna wasn't interested in going anywhere except to where people played Quidditch and raced on brooms all day every day. Was that too much to ask for? Apparently it was. Because there she was, with a few books in her bag, having just finished yet another AND she had this silly badge that imposed a heck of a lot of responsibilities on her. Responsibilities she did not want, though she supposed that if she wanted any privileges she'd have to take the hit. This Gryffindor, however, had been considering if such privileges were even worth the hassle. Merlin. If only her mother hadn't made her give up her Captaincy, none of this 'you have to set the example' rubbish would have been dumped on her. Huff. |
correcting previous headmaster's name Magic may have been a curse for the history of magic professor when the need arose to practice it, but it was certainly a blessing on the odd occasion here and there - such as when imbued on objects permanently that even an almost-Squib could use reliably. Such was the case with this magically enchanted bag which could carry large quantities of objects but not break. It was heavy as a large backpack, but it would have been heavier than a watermelons if the magic wasn't suppressing the bag's true weight. Alice left her office gripping the handle of the still-heavy-but-not-too-heavy bag in her hands. One thing she was not too fond of about this bag was that it was not a backpack, and therefore forced her to bend ever so slightly in order to carry it. That was not something the usually straight backed professor was used to. It was perhaps fortunate then that she caught sight of a certain prefect walking by. On the up side, it forced her to straighten her back even more than she usually would just to maintain normalcy. "Prefect Meriwether!" She walked up to the Gryffindor. "Are you feeling ill?" Being the observant person that she was (remember, she'd been Julian's top spy during his tyrannical reign at Hogwarts just a few years ago), she couldn't help but notice Anna's rather moody behavior these past few months. What exactly was upsetting her favorite student was something she'd been meaning to find out. "Carry my bag for me. It'll make you feel better." She said this as a command, as that was her usual way of talking to students - even to ones she liked. And she handed her bag to Anna. "You may hand me your books if you like. It's just a short walk and it'll be good for your posture." |
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The words alone made Anna grimace and she slowly turned to look at the source of the voice calling for her. Her expression had softened considerably by the time she had fully faced professor O'Hara, who was asking if she was feeling ill. "Not... really." The prefect blinked a few times as the woman ordered her to carry her bag as a way of making her feel better. Uh... wha? Still a bit taken aback, Anna received the bag, shifting its weight so she would have a better grip. Listening as the professor went on to explain how that would help Anna, the girl couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle. "Sure..." She gave the woman a long, yet amused look. "That's alright, I can take my stuff as well." The perks of being a Chaser and having strong arms. Well, there were many, many more perks, but yeah. "Are you... going somewhere, professor?" Anna asked as she resumed walking, gesturing to the relatively heavy bag she was now carrying, not knowing what was in there. Professor O'Hara on a trip? During term time? The Gryffindor wasn't sure she could really picture it. Unless... Yeah, no. She couldn't picture it. |
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Well, enough mental ruminating. Time to get the task before them completed. "We're going up to the rooftops," she answered matter of factly as they walked through the corridor and headed towards the stairs. Did it look like she packing to leave Hogwarts? Hmm...maybe it did look like that from the outside. That wasn't what this was. "I have a task of moderate importance that I've been meaning to accomplish and today seems a good day to attempt it." A short while went by in silence. Very soon she would take the bag back from Anna when they were about halfway there. That time wasn't upon them yet. "How do you like your prefect duties?" she asked after several minutes went by in silence. "Are your fellow students more uptight in your presence than they used to be?" Her tone was just curious. |
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There, she was doing it again. Anna chuckled when professor O'Hara spoke as if Anna herself didn't have anything else to do. To be honest, Anna DID have things to do, quite a lot of them. But they were all homework and she was always happy to put them off for as long as possible, sooooooo 'helping' a professor do whatever surely was a good enough excuse. It sounded great in her head. 'Sorry, professor Sandhu, I couldn't do the drawings and derive the value of gravitational acceleration because I was helping professor O'Hara up on the roof. I did look up at the sky a few times, though.' Teeheehee! "Brilliant, should I get my broom?" Anna asked, sending professor O'Hara her amused look. It was a joke, but she would definitely not say no if the woman conceded. Going up to the rooftops without her broom sounded a bit like a wasted opportunity! Maybe she could attempt to do it later without professor O'Hara as well. That'd be cool. All these thoughts were playing around in her mind as they walked in silence, and her amused expression remained on her face, because it was all so great, lol. She was wasting time avoiding homework AND she was going to have a look at a relatively easy way of getting up on the roof - WITH a professor, which meant she wouldn't get in trouble. Ha. But then professor O'Hara broke the silence with a question that made her amusement vanish. The sixth year pulled a half-annoyed, half-bored face and shrugged. "Eh. It's whatever." Wait, she was talking to a professor, for crying out loud. "I mean, it's okay. I don't really... mind. Not really. Still I'd rather be the Quidditch Captain, but..." She trailed off with another shrug. There, no lies and something the entire school probably knew: Anna Meriwether would rather be the Captain. Of course she would. Quidditch was her thing! Not walking around the corridors telling kids off and 'setting a good example'. Blah blah. At the woman's next question she had to think a little. "Um... I don't think so. I mean, not my friends, at least. I guess some of the first years think I'm always ready to tell them off, but I don't really do that." ..........Maybe another thing she shouldn't have told a professor. Oh well. It was the truth. |
Alice considered asking Anna what was so funny, but she decided against it at the last moment. Of course she did not mind students smiling. It was good for the students to be happy. But asking why a student was smiling was probably not a good idea when you had the reputation of being the strictest teacher in the castle. Anna might misinterpret the question as annoyance, though really smiles did not bother her at all. For now she'd just assume that the Gryffindor was just happy to be able to go to the rooftops. That was probably it! The question about the broom gave her pause. Were there rules against flying inside the castle? Surely that was illegal, right? But she couldn't recall ever hearing that rule - and if she couldn't recall it, then surely it was allowed. "Very well," she consented with a small nod. "You may summon your broom. Be careful." She didn't want to cause an accident. While they waited, the history of magic professor decided to probe some of the answers gave her about being a prefect. Alice could sense her favorite student's displeasure at the job, not just by the words but also by the way she said them. And while she couldn't sympathize, she could try to emphasize. "I'm sorry you had to give up Quidditch. I know you really like it." Alice herself could never understand the sport, but she knew how popular it was and she of course knew how much Anna liked it. "Do you desire to pursue professional Quidditch upon your graduation?" The mention of not telling off first years raised a small alarm bell in her head. She shifted ever so lightly on her soles. (She had ceased walking a few moments ago after telling Anna to summon her broom.) "In my experience working with them, first years are always a bit edgier than everyone else. Understandable that they would be a bit suspicious of us authority figures. But I'm just curious, have you told anyone off since becoming prefect?" She asked this in a conversational way, not trying to seem at all like a probing teacher. |
The halls were creepy - empty although there was daylight filtering through the windows, and the sound of hard soled shoes on the stone floor echoing way more than it seemed possible. Perhaps that clip-clop of his shoes was more depressing than creepy, since it reminded Cornish that he was stuck indoors, in uncomfortable shoes, with students. "Come and get me, creeptastic fog," he cupped his hands and called down the hall, enjoying the echo a little bit this time. |
”Oiiii.” Malachi cringed at the taunt, feeling his skin prickle at the thought that it might be enough to lure the mist out. The point of this little “mission” of sorts was to ensure there had been no breaches. There had been nothing said about inviting those creatures further up. The eerie silence that encompassed the corridor didn’t help his nerves by much either. The Headmaster couldn’t help thinking that every corner they turned would be the one. That ministry aid couldn’t come soon enough. ”I do hope we’ve finally managed to keep it contained. It might be false but that feeling of relative security thinking it’s still two floors away is all that’s been keeping my head in place.” There were officially students everywhere he turned. He didn’t need that limited space becoming all the more limited. |
Cornish actually smiled at the look of genuine terror on Trent's face. Not that he enjoyed making grown men wet themselves, but there was something endearing in sharing their vulnerabilities with each other. "I think we finally have it contained, boss man. How much longer can bad weather last? The sun will burn it off, we'll give this place a good de-hexing, and we'll find those two students... no worse for wear." Did he believe any of that? Maybe. Cornish was a realist, but he didn't see any point to being a fearmonger. "Maybe we could placate the mist with a few annoying professors?" |
”That’s the strangest bit, don’t you think? What sort of bad weather lasts this long and terrorises people?” He wished it was the sort that was just taking its time to leave but something told him that had this mist had any intentions of dispersing in the sunlight, it’d have done it already. Malachi refrained from commenting on the missing students. He had his own beliefs there, grim as they were, and didn’t think they were the sort a Headmaster should be going around spreading. The odds weren’t....great....but the man had seen the look on those students’ faces when he’d called the names of the missing and he didn’t see the need to make things worse. Who knew, maybe Cornish would be right. Maybe they’d somehow...done something... Yeah. There was that. Despite the dread that buried itself deep within the man, he found himself able to offer up a small smile at the latter comment. Was it a nice comment? No. Did he know who the man meant? Yes. But in these times, you had to be able to smile at even the small things just to keep within your right mind. “Sounds like the perfect way to anger the all powerful mist If you ask me. It might give them back.” Cautiously, Malachi peered around the corner, checking before any sudden movements. “Perhaps this is its big plan. Trap us all and force us to get along. We’ve been failing at that this far. It’s no wonder it’s still here.” Yet another thing he did not believe. “All clear.” |
Cornish lit his wand and ran it along the bottom of door frames and following cracks in the floor stones, looking for any whiff of mist. Even a curl of it... but there was nothing. Which was good news, even if it felt like waiting for the other shoe to drop. "I don't suppose we want to do anything to make the mist mad... although you make it sound sentient. My students will tell you that sentience is reserved for beings... and the beasts who don't want to play with us. But not mist." Mist was weather. "I'm sorry if I was flip. I wouldn't want anyone to have to suffer for long in that stuff. Even the small amount of time that I was trapped in it..." He made him shiver to remember. |
Malachi shook his head, more in an attempt to clear it than any form of disagreement. "Right. Right. It's easy to forget that when you're caught in the middle of things and it just won't leave." In the moment, the man marveled at the uncanny resemblance his voice bore to his own children when they whined. Was he whining? At this point, he might as well had been. This mist was stubborn. Stubborn might also have been something reserved for the sentient but Merlin's soggy beard things were getting out of hand. "I wouldn't wish anyone stuck in that thing either. Can hardly imagine how those students are managing out there." In fact, it was his inability to imagine it that brought him to the conclusions he'd arrived at. Those few minutes had been entirely enough for him. Them missing as long as they were......he'd rather not think about it. "How've the creatures been faring?" |
The corridor they had just walked into may have been clear but if they paid close enough attention they would notice the temperature falling. Beyond this corridor, down in the next the mist had already began to seep in. This corridor the men have entered appears to have overcrowded portrait frames and portrait occupants complaining of the poor view in their own corridor. Tiny wisps of mist can be seen just at the corner. Dare they check it out? |
"The ones I could move out are probably doing better than the creatures I had to squirrel away in the Room of Requirement." The Headmaster knew about that, right? Hadn't Cornish mentioned it to him before the move? He probably had. Surely had. It occurred to Cornish that he could see his breath escaping in a small cloud. It was cold. Like really, really cold. "Headmaster..." And then he saw the curls of steam, just like the air coming out of his mouth, curling in the corner. "Headmaster," more intense this time. |
Squirreled away in the what now? Malachi stopped dead in his tracks, turning to give the creature professor a strange sort of confused look. Was that one of the things they'd discussed at the last staff meeting? Had he been so out of it that he never got that memo? Of course, he understood that they were cramped for space and in dire need of housing for their creatures just.....the Room of Requirement? Huh? "What sort of set up d'you--" The second time the man called him, Malachi did become more alert. It was the urgency with which Cornish spoke. It told him something was happening and he was missing it...whatever it was. The Headmaster instinctively looked to the top of the corridor. They'd already come from the other way. His mind told him that if there was anything to be alert about, it would be coming from....the other....direction......... The man felt all the blood drain to his feet. "Cornish?" There was an unfinished question in there, one he just couldn't begin to brain at the moment but it was there. |
Yeah, so he definitely had forgotten to fill the man in on all the details about the creatures. But honestly, those creatures were one of the most valuable assets of this entire school, and they needed to be protected. He was sticking with that stance too. "Does this mean it's still spreading?" Cornish breathed deeply, trying to keep himself from bolting for the next floor. "What does the Ministry say? Can we consider an orderly evacuation? Maybe the youngest students first?" |
Yeeeaahhhhhhhhhh it was time for them to retreat. It didn't take much longer after seeing the first few wisps to realize the mist was steadily beginning to seep into the corridor. Trent turned on his heels, gesturing for Cornish to follow. He'd try to seal this one once they got to the top of it. "Nothing doing for the moment, I'm afraid." As in, no evacuation just yet. "The ministry's working on a plan for accommodations over in Hogsmeade. Until then, the plan is to avoid like we are now and try to prevent any further losses." He hated sitting around and waiting as much as he was sure everyone else did but that would have to be the game plan. The Headmaster spared a glance behind him as he walked. "If it's gotten into this corridor, it's likely in others on this floor as well. This will be ...unpleasant." To say the least. |
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"Nothing isn't a very satisfying answer, sir," Cornish grumbled, slowing down once they were well clear of the corridor and shoving his fists into his pockets. "We can figure out accommodations on the fly, but if the mist rises much further, it'll cut off our access to the Floo network. Perhaps a series of portkeys, but I'd rather be clear of it, honestly." Unpleasant? That was one word for it. |
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"We don't have enough for a full scale evacuation." The floo powder, he meant though whether that was clear was another thing entirely. Malachi drew his wand and began placing physical shields to seal off the corridor. "We'd only manage to get a few out in comparison to how many would be left behind." And the man didn't know an effective way of explaining to some parents why their kids were left behind while others weren't. "Portkeys are still heavily regulated. It'd be a waiting game regardless." Waiting for approval, getting them set up, perhaps as long as waiting for the ministry to get in contact with Hogsmeade given all the paper work that would need. "I'm thinking we'll make use of the tunnels. They're a bit higher up than my floo." By a floor but still, "and will give us a bit more wiggle room." |
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