Entrance Hall

[DaniDiNardo]

Whether you are brand new to Hogwarts or have been here a while, the Entrance Hall is always a breath-taking sight to see. Always memorable are the high ceilings, the colourful portraits on the walls, and the grand marble staircase. Various torches light the large room, keeping it nice and cozy at all times of the year. Arched windows atop the staircase, featuring the four Hogwarts Founders in all of their glory, bring in natural lighting as well.

This room branches off to the rest of the castle. If you are standing by the enormous oak doors and the House hourglasses, to the right are the doors that lead to the Great Hall. Next to them are doors that will reveal a broom cupboard and the basement corridor. Opposite is a door to a stairwell that will take you do the dungeons and another that will take you down a corridor where the staff room and other rooms can be found. Going up the marble staircase will take you to a corridor that connects to the moving staircase chamber. There is a lot to see here, so take your time exploring!

[MUTANT!]

In the dead of night, more accurately the very early morning while the castle slept, this little puff found himself in need of some nibbles. He'd found a few things here and there.

Hobbling along, he came across these very shiny hourglasses. Shiny was the best thing to taste, yes it was. Moving over, the mutant took several little chomps of the red one. Delighted, he gave off a happy little sound that resembled a giggle. Tasty tasty.

The feast paused only when he got that wobbly little feeling from earlier and another little mutant stretched out of him.

Hehe, it tickled.

Both mutants gave each other a greeting cuddle before turning to the hourglasses again. Each took several bites of the remaining three, swallowing up some of the gems when they began pouring out. Again, both paused when the tickling feeling came and were soon joined by two more mutants. All four squeaked their delight before bounding off through the castle in search of something else to eat.

They were gone without a trace.

[Jessiqua]

Off to the Dungeons was her direction, just after breakfast. But something caused her to double back. She was frowning. Something was wrong, but what was it? She looked around before her eyes settled on what it was. The hourglasses.

Ravenclaw had just had points but now they were all missing. Negative points. And not even just a few. "What!?" She said to nobody. Looking around on the ground wondering if they had just... fallen out?

[siriusblackliveson]

Patrick came skirting around the corner ready to head to the common room and get changed before his first class. He was ready to get into his uniform and get to potions. He needed a passing grade so he could possibly get a good job after graduation.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes he stopped in his tracks.

-7,925

"Scuse me?" He hadn't been as concerned with getting house points as when he was a young student.... when he was a very bright eyed first year. Now he just wanted Slytherin to take home the house cup and not lose. Something wasn't right He noticed Hanna stop in her tracks as well.

[Jessiqua]

Patrick's reaction was very fitting. -6433 points for Ravenclaw. "Is this the lowest they've ever been?" she asked him, a deep frown on her face. "It can't be right... no way have people done something so bad that thousands of points have been docked." No way. If they had then it would surely be an expulsion, and not a loss of a few thousands of points.

[siriusblackliveson]

He looked over at Hanna, brows knit together. "I mean last term had a lot of people in the negatives at the beginning of term. But that was only hundreds not thousands" He was so confused how this could have happened? Typically negative only happened at the beginning and now it was all thousands. "Dude, I have no idea. I would think you'd get expelled before they took that many points. I'm so confused. Should we be telling someone?" He was starting to think out rather than in his head.

[Sangeetha]

Kaira walked into the hall, that is when she noticed the housepoints. In negatives???? From what Laila had told her, this seemed like an impossible scenario. She gaped at the points and that is when she saw two older students talking about it. She approached them.

'Hey..umm..it is not always like this, is it? You don't lose huuuuge negative numbers of points, usually, yeah?' she asked them.

'You don't think it is the polyjuice?,' she asked. But even for that, this DID seem like a huge penalisation.

[Ginevra]

Daisy was making her rounds when she spotted Hanna, Patrick and Kaira standing in front of the points hourglasses, each of them looking rather confused.

"What is going on?" Daisy asked as she made her way through them until she stopped and saw the sight for herself. There was something seriously wrong for the points to be, well non-existent. She turned towards the students. "I'm going to talk to the Headmaster to inform him of the matter. Maybe you can talk to your Heads of House and inform them about the hourglasses."

With that, Daisy made her way to the Headmaster's office.

[Jessiqua]

Absolutely. A few hundred points in the negative, sure. But thousand? And every house? "I wonder if we will ever earn positive points," she wondered out loud, just as Kaira and Daisy joined them. But no Gryffindors, hmm?

"Not... huge like this. A few hundred maybe, like last year," she said to Kaira. She didn't bother replying to Daisy about what was going on, because it was very obvious. And she saw it very quickly. At least she was thinking right towards Headmaster level, and Hanna watched as she walked off in that direction.

"I probably should let Professor Stewart know. Did you want to come Kaira?" Not that she expected the first year to do another climb of the stairs. But after four years, her quads were pretty solid from he stairs.

[Sangeetha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessiqua

Absolutely. A few hundred points in the negative, sure. But thousand? And every house? "I wonder if we will ever earn positive points," she wondered out loud, just as Kaira and Daisy joined them. But no Gryffindors, hmm?

"Not... huge like this. A few hundred maybe, like last year," she said to Kaira. She didn't bother replying to Daisy about what was going on, because it was very obvious. And she saw it very quickly. At least she was thinking right towards Headmaster level, and Hanna watched as she walked off in that direction.

"I probably should let Professor Stewart know. Did you want to come Kaira?" Not that she expected the first year to do another climb of the stairs. But after four years, her quads were pretty solid from he stairs.

Kaira was frowning at the hourglasses when she had answered her question. 'Sure..let's..,' she said, to the older girl. What was her name? Oh,it was Hanna!

[DaniDiNardo]

The walk down had done nothing for his skepticism. Eight thousand points lost in one sitting was downright ludicrous and he didn't think any of his staff would. On the contrary, he'd convinced himself over the two flights that this was more an exaggeration on the part of these students. They were teenagers, afterall. That group on a whole tended to be absolutely swarming with hormones and dramatics.

It wasn't until he approached and he noticed the obvious, gaping holes in the sides of the hourglasses, as well as a few of what remained of the gems scattered about the floor that he realized this was an issue.

"Oh for Circe sake."

Malachi walked up to the hourglasses, spotting the Dooley staring without really doing anything. Though, what did one do in a situation like this?

The Headmaster grimaced at the scene. "What on earth.....?" He reached a hand toward one of the holes, searching through his brain for anything that could have done this. The edges were jagged, not smooth. It wasn't done by magic--and good too because he'd been about to start a metaphoric witch hunt for whoever thought THIS was a good idea. No, something very physical had done this.

The man drew his wand and collected all that remained of the gems into his pocket until this could be sorted. "I don't suppose either of you saw what happened." Otherwise at least Swann would've gone into it rather than ask why the points were gone. This new addition to the budget wasn't going to go over well with the board, that's for sure.

"Any idea what might've done this?"

[siriusblackliveson]

Patrick took his eyes off of the house points system and looked at the headmaster. “I didn’t sir.” He turned around completely to continue to address the headmaster. He wondered what had done it and if he was going to be late for class now or if he was going to be let go.

He seriously needed to quit ending up places that trouble lurked. Happened last term, way too many times was he in the class or around students that got in trouble. Was he just a trouble magnet now?

“Was like this when I came around from breakfast.” He watched as the headmaster examined the scene of the accident and wondered what exactly he saw. This did not seem like a normal Hogwarts thing that would happen in his previous four years.

[Lissy Longbottom]

Nettie was just leaving the Great Hall, having finished her breakfast before her first class of the day, when she noticed a small gaggle of people nearby. She couldn't help but think about the way a crowd had gathered when the Fat Lady's portrait had been replaced with Zoryn's face, and just like that day, she found herself being drawn to it. She'd tried to be less nosy but let's face it - she was curious in nature. It was just the way she was and the way she would be forever. Why bother trying to fight it??

"What the...?" she muttered in confusion, taking in the scene as she walked up. The hourglasses...they were totally destroyed! All the gems were gone! Those numbers...her first instinct was to start crying, because her first thought was all her hard work was down the drain. Quite literally, maybe! No, that was silly. This had obviously been some sort of accident, or maybe even a cruel prank. Surely the Headmaster would know that and not hold the real, hard working students responsible.

Instead, she paused and listened to the Headmaster, who had thankfully already been notified. Quietly, the Ravenclaw raised her hand, like she was in class - then she remembered that was silly and lowered her hand with a blush. "Excuse me, Headmaster? Do you think whoever did this...do you think it's a prank? Like the picture of Zoryn?" she suggested. It seemed weird that the two would be related - but now, it was PERSONAL. They were messing with her POINTS. Her hard earned points!

[Ginevra]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

The walk down had done nothing for his skepticism. Eight thousand points lost in one sitting was downright ludicrous and he didn't think any of his staff would. On the contrary, he'd convinced himself over the two flights that this was more an exaggeration on the part of these students. They were teenagers, afterall. That group on a whole tended to be absolutely swarming with hormones and dramatics.

It wasn't until he approached and he noticed the obvious, gaping holes in the sides of the hourglasses, as well as a few of what remained of the gems scattered about the floor that he realized this was an issue.

"Oh for Circe sake."

Malachi walked up to the hourglasses, spotting the Dooley staring without really doing anything. Though, what did one do in a situation like this?

The Headmaster grimaced at the scene. "What on earth.....?" He reached a hand toward one of the holes, searching through his brain for anything that could have done this. The edges were jagged, not smooth. It wasn't done by magic--and good too because he'd been about to start a metaphoric witch hunt for whoever thought THIS was a good idea. No, something very physical had done this.

The man drew his wand and collected all that remained of the gems into his pocket until this could be sorted. "I don't suppose either of you saw what happened." Otherwise at least Swann would've gone into it rather than ask why the points were gone. This new addition to the budget wasn't going to go over well with the board, that's for sure.

"Any idea what might've done this?"

Daisy was now standing near the Headmaster, having talked to him regarding the matter. She was relieved that he was seeing the damage for himself. She watched on silently as he inspected the jagged hole. When he asked for suggestions as to who might have done this, Daisy fetched her notebook from her bag and showed him her drawing of the pink, fluffy creature with tiny horns and fangs (ooc: Mutant). "Headmaster, maybe this might have something to do with it. I mean, I could be wrong."

[DaniDiNardo]

There when he came down for breakfast, huh? "Likely an overnight job then..." He mused, looking to the broken glass that had been left behind. It could've been a bat...technically speaking. It'd have been loud. Alerted the elves. Maybe they heard something. He'd have to make a stop down in the kitchen to have a word with them when he was done here.

His eyes fell to the approaching Ravenclaw. Gladin again. She had a nose for places that were hopping with activity, didn't she? "I wouldn't rule it out entirely. These holes aren't smooth. Any number of things could've caused them. Hell of a prank though, I'll tell you that." As in, of all the things someone could've done. These kids didn't seem to understand the difference between a harmless school prank and destruction of private property or illegal use of a controlled substance.

This new generation left him with many questions.

Malachi leaned over a bit to take a look at the drawing offered by the Hufflepuff Prefect. His brows furrowed. "Swann, I doubt a pygmy puff drilled a hole through these hourglasses and swallowed up half the gems." What was it doing with fangs? The imagination on this one!

"I'll need you all on the alert. Any suspicious activity, you report it. Someone's messing with us and I'd rather get to the bottom of this sooner than later." He'd have to put in a request to replace the hourglasses when he got back to his office. Just barely breakfast and the day was already proving to be "eventful".

"Anyone else have any theories while we're here?"

[Ginevra]

Daisy was getting a bit tired with people thinking that she was talking about a pygmy puff. "I think this may be the creature that was seen at the feast at the start of term. It was most definitely not a pygmy puff. I think it looks more like a fanged puffskein but I thought those were banned."

She paused in thought. "This mystery creature has tiny arms. It isn't as fluffy as a pygmy puff. I'll keep a constant lookout, Headmaster."

[siriusblackliveson]

Patrick glanced over at the headmaster, "correct sir." He saw Daisy pop up and start talking about a pink fluff. A pink fluff that was seen at the opening feast? Well he had seen something like that but he hadn't realized that it might have been something that would be illegal to have on grounds.

He was not about to tell the headmaster he had seen the fluff because it had disappeared just as quick as it had appeared at the bridge. If he saw it again he would run to the headmaster and show him. "Of course. I'll keep an eye out if i see a fluff floating around like Daisy described." He hoped that would be all that was required of him.

[DaniDiNardo]

A fanged puffskein seemed entirely as unlikely as the idea one could have gnawed its way through the solid glass of the hourglasses--but while they were on the subject. "Puffskeins are not on the list of approved castle pets, that's correct, Swann." Putting that out there for them all to hear.

"I'd appreciate any of you bringing it to me, and the owner, the next time around. I'll have Wayland double check it's not just an overzealous pygmy puff but even then, it wouldn't be more than so big." He gestured with his hands as he spoke, estimating to about the size of a large tennis ball. "And those little fangs wouldn't be so useful for doing all this damage."

That part wasn't adding up.

Neither was the part about the gems being missing. Puffskeins were scavengers but they ate organic things. "It'd have a right awful stomach ache munching on gems too, and it wouldn't have been able to eat all these--unless it didn't and some earlier students helped themselves in which case, I'll need you all on the look out for anyone with gems as well. Report them immediately. That's one offence I won't tolerate. These gems are highly valuable and not easily replaced. The more we can recover, the better."

Were they clear on that?

[Ginevra]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

A fanged puffskein seemed entirely as unlikely as the idea one could have gnawed its way through the solid glass of the hourglasses--but while they were on the subject. "Puffskeins are not on the list of approved castle pets, that's correct, Swann." Putting that out there for them all to hear.

"I'd appreciate any of you bringing it to me, and the owner, the next time around. I'll have Wayland double check it's not just an overzealous pygmy puff but even then, it wouldn't be more than so big." He gestured with his hands as he spoke, estimating to about the size of a large tennis ball. "And those little fangs wouldn't be so useful for doing all this damage."

That part wasn't adding up.

Neither was the part about the gems being missing. Puffskeins were scavengers but they ate organic things. "It'd have a right awful stomach ache munching on gems too, and it wouldn't have been able to eat all these--unless it didn't and some earlier students helped themselves in which case, I'll need you all on the look out for anyone with gems as well. Report them immediately. That's one offence I won't tolerate. These gems are highly valuable and not easily replaced. The more we can recover, the better."

Were they clear on that?

Daisy had a really odd theory. "This is going to sound odd but then again, I have been having some odd theories as you know, Headmaster. If it is a creature doing this, maybe it is more than one of the same type. It could account for the damage being done to the hourglasses."

When the Headmaster instructed to keep a lookout for students carrying gemstones, Daisy replied with, "Of course, Headmaster."

[DaniDiNardo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ginevra

Daisy had a really odd theory. "This is going to sound odd but then again, I have been having some odd theories as you know, Headmaster. If it is a creature doing this, maybe it is more than one of the same type. It could account for the damage being done to the hourglasses."

When the Headmaster instructed to keep a lookout for students carrying gemstones, Daisy replied with, "Of course, Headmaster."

Could account for the damage? "No, it couldn't" He sounded distracted as he turned his attention to what remained of the solid glass. It was vexing and added to his ever increasing work load for the day.

"See to it that you pay better attention in creatures class from now on, Swann. Puffskeins are small and they scavenge. They don't go eating glass and they don't eat stones. One puffskein or ten, doesn't make a difference. They don't have the jaw strength to chew through solid glass. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

Didn't matter if there was only one, or more than the one. This wasn't something that a hoard would do.

"They have no motivation toward inorganic things. What reason would they have to want to deliberately gnaw through the hourglasses?" He laid it out for her as he saw it, and from what he was seeing...while puffskeins around the castle would be a bit bothersome, it made no sense that they would be physically capable of causing this much damage.

"I'm going to go have a word with the elves. If anything else comes up, you all know where to find me or any of your other professors. Let's try to remain vigilant." The man cleared up the last of the remaining glass and banished the broken hourglasses up to his office to prevent anyone from hurting themselves on them. He would get this all sorted but for now, he headed off to the kitchen.

[The Narrator]

The once relative calm and quiet of the late afternoon is suddenly interrupted by the booming voice of the Headmaster.

"Everyone report to the courtyard, immediately. This is not a request nor is this a suggestion. There's been an...er....situation that has compromised the safety of everyone within the school. Should you not wish to find yourself on the inside of something pink and furry, I suggest you make your way out NOW." There is the smallest paused, before a belated "Oh. Ahem. Thank you."

The message rings throughout every corridor and every room in the entire castle as well as the grounds. Best get to that meeting place.

[DaniDiNardo]

With the furry little critters rounded up and sent off, Malachi could begin getting his school right and back in working order. The man dreaded repairing the hourglasses just to have them gnawed through again--they weren't cheap and next time the gems themselves might be taken--but after a thorough search of the castle and grounds revealed they'd gotten every last pink ball of fluff, the Headmaster was more at ease that he and the other Professors would not be repairing in vain.

Malachi set the new glass down and fished the gem sacks from his extended pocket.

Thankfully, they'd been keeping their own careful count of the points and would know how many went where.

Once they were set up, it was time to begin polishing. Merlin was it good to have these back. It hurt his head walking by them to breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

Now where did he put that cleaning cloth?