Hogwarts Story: Part 17
Jan. 18th, 2006 06:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unforthI would have written more, but my professor started talking about things I need to know. I hope to write more tonight - I actually got a fair amount of important stuff done today!
We walked down the dark cavern carefully, exchanging uncertain glances with each other. How could there be a person down here, all alone? Who were they? Where had they come from? Behind me, one of the Lunari’s and Celestine both whispered “lumos,” and the narrow passage was illuminated, and we could all see the rest of the cave. It came to dead end only a few feet before us, and there was no one there. Instead, on the ground before us there was an inexplicable inky blackness, and the sound of the crying emanated from there. For several long moments, we all eyed the blackness suspiciously. I feared – I imagine we all did – that it was some unknown monster. I quickly thought through all of the terrors I could think of from my Care of Magical Creature’s class, but I could think of none that fit the description of “inky blackness that lives in caves and cries to attract attention.”
While I was still considering potential evil’s that this could be, Dimitri approached the hole. Bending down close, he spoke loudly, “hello?”
The crying broke off with a light sniffing sound. “Palucid?” asked a broken voice, clearly that of a girl. “Phineas? Is that you?” I did a slight double take, for I knew only one Phineas, our headmaster.
“No,” Dimitri replied, sounding as surprised as I felt.
“Are you alright?” asked Lycia, surprising me. She didn’t usually care much for other people.
“I…I’m fine, but I fell into this hole and now I can’t get climb out of it,” answered the girl. I exchanged a concerned glance with Celestine, for the black ichor-like substance on the ground was certainly not a hole.
“Don’t worry,” Celestine said, sounding worried herself, “we’ll get you out!” At the same time, Dimitri reached his arm towards the blackness, only to withdraw his arm in shock. He shook his head at us – we wouldn’t be able to reach in that easily.
Several moments then passed as silence. Celestine glanced around the cave, looking for a solution, while the Lunari’s spoke softly about spells in their command. Dimitri stared at his hands, still vaguely puzzled by his inability to reach into the “hole.” I paused only briefly, though, before realizing that, while I didn’t have a rope, I did have something that would reach fairly far down into the hole. Removing my robes, I lowered it into the hole, bracing myself to pull up her weight.
“Grab on,” I said, and grunted as she did so. At the same time, at my end Dimitri and Celestine both grabbed a hold of my robes, and together we hauled the girl up with all of our strength, and she emerged.
All we could do was stare in surprise. She was a pretty girl of perhaps 14 years, dressed in Ravenclaw colors and house robes. I had never seen her before, though, and her clothing was distinctly old fashioned and out dated. When she spoke, our shock depended. “Have you found Palucid and Phineas? Are they alright? They were down here with me, they said they had something to show me, but when I called out after falling they didn’t answer, and I’ve feared the worst. It’s been about a week, I think, they must be here some where.” Not giving us a chance to reply, she moved slightly towards the mouth of the cave. “Phineas?” she shouted. “Palucid?” Her voice echoed through the sprawling cave system, but there was no answer.
Taking a deep breath, I put a hand on the girls shoulder. “Calm down,” I said, trying to sound calm myself. “My name is Delia, Delia Prince. What is your name? The names of your companions? If they are missing, we’ll help you look for them.” After all, I told myself, there could be a different Phineas who has been at Hogwarts. That couldn’t explain away the fact that she was a Ravenclaw who I had never seen before, though.
“Oh, I’m sorry, how rude of me,” she said, still clearly distraught, turning around again to face us. “I’m Elaina Sly, and I came down here with Palucid Nox and Phineas Nigellus. I’m in Ravenclaw, and they’re in Slytherin, and I know that’s weird, but Phineas is my cousin so it’s alright.”
Even expecting it as I was, I was still shocked. This girl, Elaina, had gone to school with Headmaster Nigellus. She’d been stuck down here all this time. That must have been 40 years ago, at least. Everyone else was clearly just as dumbstruck, for after a moment Elaina said, “have I said something wrong? Have you seen Phineas?” She paused, though, and seemed to really look at us for the first time. She fingered my Ravenclaw scarf. “You…are a Ravenclaw? I don’t think that I’ve seen you before. And you’re clothing…” she looked me up and down, and seemed unable to find the words to continue.
“Elaina,” asked Lycia, “what year do you think it is?”
“Think it is?” her voice faltered. “Why, it’s 1872.” Her voice broke, though. “Isn’t it?”
Nodding, I put an arm around her shoulder, and waved the others on, that we should continue on our way. “Elaina, the current year is 1914,” I started. “I’m the current prefect of Ravenclaw house, so please allow me to do my best to fill you in. I don’t know how you came to be in this place, but a great deal of time has passed.” From there, I explained to her the events of the last 40 years, concluding with the information that Phineas Nigellus was now headmaster – which surprised her greatly. I tried to explain things calmly and as gently as possible, but she was clearly upset.
Because I was busy speaking with Elaina, I was paying little attention to where we were going, and thus I didn’t notice how far we had gone until I heard voices coming from up ahead. In short order, we had entered a room filled with other students, students I recognized as being from Hufflepuff house. They were speaking to a painting that hung, incongruously, on one of the walls of the cavern. Seeing us, though, they started to move away almost immediately, towards a cavern that split from this room on our left. The Lunari’s glanced at the map that they carried, and then exclaimed, “don’t go that way! There is a basilisk that way!” The Hufflepuff’s didn’t pause, though, and so the Lunari’s and all of my companions headed off in pursuit. I found myself more curious about the portrait on the wall, though, and so approached it.
“What do you want,” the man in the painting asked brusquely.
“I just thought I would say hello,” I replied. We spoke over the course of the next few minutes. He seemed most pleased that I sincerely wanted nothing from him, for apparently the Hufflepuff’s had grilled him for information most thoroughly, and he had worked his hardest to avoid giving them answers. He was a contrary sort, and explained to me that he had been placed down here by Headmaster Nigellus firstly to guard the entrance the deep dungeons (at this point, he pointed at a dark, still lake that lay on one end of the cavern in which we were) and secondly because the Headmaster felt he was most annoying. I offered to free him from the dungeon, but unfortunately the headmaster had enacted spells that made removing the portrait from the wall most impossible. It made sense, though, for the entrance to the deep dungeons was a most important portal, I imagined, and thus it was important to see that it was guarded. To my great amusement, not seeking any information from the portrait actually garnered me a great deal, though. Not only did I find out about the deep dungeons that could be accessed from here, which were an extensive network of dungeons from the ancient days of Hogwarts which were now thoroughly flooded with water from the lake, but I also learned that down a third exit from this room there was something “interesting” – I didn’t pry to learn exactly what – a locked door, and the key could also be found in the intervening area. Furthermore, the portrait complained about the Headmaster quite a bit, about how he frequently came down here but rarely bothered to stop for even simple polite conversation. Still, the portrait had such a poor attitude that I could easily see how the Headmaster would grow weary of its company.
After a little while, my companions returned. The Hufflepuff’s weren’t with them. “Are they still going that way?” I asked, concerned.
The Lunari’s shrugged. “Hey,” said one of them, “we tried to warn them. What they do now is their choice.”
“We should go that way,” added the other Lunari after glancing at the map for a moment, pointing down the corridor that the portrait had told me was “interesting.”
Shaking off my worry for the Hufflepuff students – they were mostly young, and the head boy, who was Hufflepuff’s prefect, wasn’t with them – I accompanied the others down the hallway until, as I had been warned, we came to an intricately carved and worked door with a keyhole in the center of it.
“Alohamora!” cried one of the Lunari’s with a flick of her wand, but the spell had no affect on the door, which remained firmly locked.
“Maybe it’s another riddle,” Celestine wondered aloud, and she and Dimitri started to examine the door closely.
“Perhaps the key we already have would work,” I suggested.
A few minutes, though, were adequate to show that none of these were the correct solution. The door was pretty but seemed not to contain any hidden message, the key that we had was completely the wrong size, and no spell that any of us thought of had any effect. We were starting to despair when we heard a sound behind us.
“What was that?” asked Celestine, sounding mildly distressed.
“We should go investigate,” said Dimitri, and started off that way.
Nodding, I added, “I’ll wait here. Perhaps I can find the secret of the door.” I remembered what the portrait had said about the key, and wondered vaguely if it might be hidden nearby.
“Are you sure?” asked Lycia, and, seeing me nod, she nodded back and left with the others.
Time passed slowly in the dark corridors. I searched the area around the door thoroughly, but found nothing. The voices of my friends echoed strangely through the caves, but they didn’t sound distressed so I wasn’t concerned. After I concluded my search, I simply stood and waited, thinking on all manner of topics, mostly my fears of what might be behind the door. What would I do, I asked myself, if there was proof against the headmaster behind that door? I was convinced in my heart that even if the headmaster had committed the crime he was accused of, he must have had a good reason.
We walked down the dark cavern carefully, exchanging uncertain glances with each other. How could there be a person down here, all alone? Who were they? Where had they come from? Behind me, one of the Lunari’s and Celestine both whispered “lumos,” and the narrow passage was illuminated, and we could all see the rest of the cave. It came to dead end only a few feet before us, and there was no one there. Instead, on the ground before us there was an inexplicable inky blackness, and the sound of the crying emanated from there. For several long moments, we all eyed the blackness suspiciously. I feared – I imagine we all did – that it was some unknown monster. I quickly thought through all of the terrors I could think of from my Care of Magical Creature’s class, but I could think of none that fit the description of “inky blackness that lives in caves and cries to attract attention.”
While I was still considering potential evil’s that this could be, Dimitri approached the hole. Bending down close, he spoke loudly, “hello?”
The crying broke off with a light sniffing sound. “Palucid?” asked a broken voice, clearly that of a girl. “Phineas? Is that you?” I did a slight double take, for I knew only one Phineas, our headmaster.
“No,” Dimitri replied, sounding as surprised as I felt.
“Are you alright?” asked Lycia, surprising me. She didn’t usually care much for other people.
“I…I’m fine, but I fell into this hole and now I can’t get climb out of it,” answered the girl. I exchanged a concerned glance with Celestine, for the black ichor-like substance on the ground was certainly not a hole.
“Don’t worry,” Celestine said, sounding worried herself, “we’ll get you out!” At the same time, Dimitri reached his arm towards the blackness, only to withdraw his arm in shock. He shook his head at us – we wouldn’t be able to reach in that easily.
Several moments then passed as silence. Celestine glanced around the cave, looking for a solution, while the Lunari’s spoke softly about spells in their command. Dimitri stared at his hands, still vaguely puzzled by his inability to reach into the “hole.” I paused only briefly, though, before realizing that, while I didn’t have a rope, I did have something that would reach fairly far down into the hole. Removing my robes, I lowered it into the hole, bracing myself to pull up her weight.
“Grab on,” I said, and grunted as she did so. At the same time, at my end Dimitri and Celestine both grabbed a hold of my robes, and together we hauled the girl up with all of our strength, and she emerged.
All we could do was stare in surprise. She was a pretty girl of perhaps 14 years, dressed in Ravenclaw colors and house robes. I had never seen her before, though, and her clothing was distinctly old fashioned and out dated. When she spoke, our shock depended. “Have you found Palucid and Phineas? Are they alright? They were down here with me, they said they had something to show me, but when I called out after falling they didn’t answer, and I’ve feared the worst. It’s been about a week, I think, they must be here some where.” Not giving us a chance to reply, she moved slightly towards the mouth of the cave. “Phineas?” she shouted. “Palucid?” Her voice echoed through the sprawling cave system, but there was no answer.
Taking a deep breath, I put a hand on the girls shoulder. “Calm down,” I said, trying to sound calm myself. “My name is Delia, Delia Prince. What is your name? The names of your companions? If they are missing, we’ll help you look for them.” After all, I told myself, there could be a different Phineas who has been at Hogwarts. That couldn’t explain away the fact that she was a Ravenclaw who I had never seen before, though.
“Oh, I’m sorry, how rude of me,” she said, still clearly distraught, turning around again to face us. “I’m Elaina Sly, and I came down here with Palucid Nox and Phineas Nigellus. I’m in Ravenclaw, and they’re in Slytherin, and I know that’s weird, but Phineas is my cousin so it’s alright.”
Even expecting it as I was, I was still shocked. This girl, Elaina, had gone to school with Headmaster Nigellus. She’d been stuck down here all this time. That must have been 40 years ago, at least. Everyone else was clearly just as dumbstruck, for after a moment Elaina said, “have I said something wrong? Have you seen Phineas?” She paused, though, and seemed to really look at us for the first time. She fingered my Ravenclaw scarf. “You…are a Ravenclaw? I don’t think that I’ve seen you before. And you’re clothing…” she looked me up and down, and seemed unable to find the words to continue.
“Elaina,” asked Lycia, “what year do you think it is?”
“Think it is?” her voice faltered. “Why, it’s 1872.” Her voice broke, though. “Isn’t it?”
Nodding, I put an arm around her shoulder, and waved the others on, that we should continue on our way. “Elaina, the current year is 1914,” I started. “I’m the current prefect of Ravenclaw house, so please allow me to do my best to fill you in. I don’t know how you came to be in this place, but a great deal of time has passed.” From there, I explained to her the events of the last 40 years, concluding with the information that Phineas Nigellus was now headmaster – which surprised her greatly. I tried to explain things calmly and as gently as possible, but she was clearly upset.
Because I was busy speaking with Elaina, I was paying little attention to where we were going, and thus I didn’t notice how far we had gone until I heard voices coming from up ahead. In short order, we had entered a room filled with other students, students I recognized as being from Hufflepuff house. They were speaking to a painting that hung, incongruously, on one of the walls of the cavern. Seeing us, though, they started to move away almost immediately, towards a cavern that split from this room on our left. The Lunari’s glanced at the map that they carried, and then exclaimed, “don’t go that way! There is a basilisk that way!” The Hufflepuff’s didn’t pause, though, and so the Lunari’s and all of my companions headed off in pursuit. I found myself more curious about the portrait on the wall, though, and so approached it.
“What do you want,” the man in the painting asked brusquely.
“I just thought I would say hello,” I replied. We spoke over the course of the next few minutes. He seemed most pleased that I sincerely wanted nothing from him, for apparently the Hufflepuff’s had grilled him for information most thoroughly, and he had worked his hardest to avoid giving them answers. He was a contrary sort, and explained to me that he had been placed down here by Headmaster Nigellus firstly to guard the entrance the deep dungeons (at this point, he pointed at a dark, still lake that lay on one end of the cavern in which we were) and secondly because the Headmaster felt he was most annoying. I offered to free him from the dungeon, but unfortunately the headmaster had enacted spells that made removing the portrait from the wall most impossible. It made sense, though, for the entrance to the deep dungeons was a most important portal, I imagined, and thus it was important to see that it was guarded. To my great amusement, not seeking any information from the portrait actually garnered me a great deal, though. Not only did I find out about the deep dungeons that could be accessed from here, which were an extensive network of dungeons from the ancient days of Hogwarts which were now thoroughly flooded with water from the lake, but I also learned that down a third exit from this room there was something “interesting” – I didn’t pry to learn exactly what – a locked door, and the key could also be found in the intervening area. Furthermore, the portrait complained about the Headmaster quite a bit, about how he frequently came down here but rarely bothered to stop for even simple polite conversation. Still, the portrait had such a poor attitude that I could easily see how the Headmaster would grow weary of its company.
After a little while, my companions returned. The Hufflepuff’s weren’t with them. “Are they still going that way?” I asked, concerned.
The Lunari’s shrugged. “Hey,” said one of them, “we tried to warn them. What they do now is their choice.”
“We should go that way,” added the other Lunari after glancing at the map for a moment, pointing down the corridor that the portrait had told me was “interesting.”
Shaking off my worry for the Hufflepuff students – they were mostly young, and the head boy, who was Hufflepuff’s prefect, wasn’t with them – I accompanied the others down the hallway until, as I had been warned, we came to an intricately carved and worked door with a keyhole in the center of it.
“Alohamora!” cried one of the Lunari’s with a flick of her wand, but the spell had no affect on the door, which remained firmly locked.
“Maybe it’s another riddle,” Celestine wondered aloud, and she and Dimitri started to examine the door closely.
“Perhaps the key we already have would work,” I suggested.
A few minutes, though, were adequate to show that none of these were the correct solution. The door was pretty but seemed not to contain any hidden message, the key that we had was completely the wrong size, and no spell that any of us thought of had any effect. We were starting to despair when we heard a sound behind us.
“What was that?” asked Celestine, sounding mildly distressed.
“We should go investigate,” said Dimitri, and started off that way.
Nodding, I added, “I’ll wait here. Perhaps I can find the secret of the door.” I remembered what the portrait had said about the key, and wondered vaguely if it might be hidden nearby.
“Are you sure?” asked Lycia, and, seeing me nod, she nodded back and left with the others.
Time passed slowly in the dark corridors. I searched the area around the door thoroughly, but found nothing. The voices of my friends echoed strangely through the caves, but they didn’t sound distressed so I wasn’t concerned. After I concluded my search, I simply stood and waited, thinking on all manner of topics, mostly my fears of what might be behind the door. What would I do, I asked myself, if there was proof against the headmaster behind that door? I was convinced in my heart that even if the headmaster had committed the crime he was accused of, he must have had a good reason.
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-19 05:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-25 06:28 am (UTC)It's Pellucid, by the by. In ROwling-esque style, we made the names mean something. Pellucid means clear or transparent and nox means night, so the whole name would be something like "clearly night".