Making plans. on Potions

Plotter

March 24, 2014 4:21 PM

Advanced Potions by Plotter

The potions classroom was more or less the same as it always was, although devoid of its usual pungent aromas; the classroom was often at its freshest on the first day of term, the summer break having allowed various fragrances, resulting from a wide assortment of concoctions brewed within its walls, to dissipate. Just about everything else in the room retained its usual familiarity, from the ingredients cabinets, carefully organised and full of those items students were most likely to require, to the students’ workbenches, some permanently scorched and scarred from assorted brewing accidents over their many years’ service. However, there was one glaring and obvious omission as the advanced class entered for their first scheduled lesson of the term: the professor was absent.

Professor Fawcett was not usually prone to tardiness, and as the minutes ticked by without bringing with the gathered pupils any sign of a professor, it seemed increasingly unlikely that the potions teacher would arrive at all. Or any other staff member, for that matter, as the substitute professors the advanced students had so far encountered had always employed punctuality.

When it eventually, inevitably, became apparent that nobody – professor or otherwise - would be arriving to teach advanced potions to the sixth and seventh year students who had elected to study the subject, the students were faced with a decision: how to best fill the time that would, ordinarily, be spent learning. Perhaps they would read ahead in the textbook, or perhaps be so daring as to attempt brewing a concoction unsupervised. Then again, there were probably some amongst them who thought their time could be better spent outside of the classroom, and who would stop them from leaving?

Subthreads:

Enough of this... by Jorge Garcia, Pecari

Calling Alicia and all Prefects by Thaddeus Pierce II with Alicia Bauer, Jay Carey

0 Plotter Advanced Potions 0 Plotter 1 5

Jorge Garcia, Pecari

March 24, 2014 6:48 PM

Enough of this... by Jorge Garcia, Pecari

Jorge had been oblivious to most of the chaos that was happening around the school, which was unusual for him since he had always been pretty observant. After the feast the night before, he had spent the last remaining hours of the evening in the Music Room practicing on the various instruments he had available to him. He had only managed to meet curfew just by mere minutes. Thankfully, he hadn’t run into any trouble but he was sure the girls were all gossiping and he was bound to have to listen to how terrible he was to victimize Theresa come the following morning. As a result, he had woken up before the sun, only just as dawn began to peak to head to the Water Room. Purple clouds at that hour wasn’t unheard of and he only thought perhaps a storm was coming since the air felt thicker than normal. In the Water Room, Jorge spent an almost unreasonable amount of time swimming in the fake ocean. He swam for so long that he nearly missed breakfast and only had time to grab some fruit. He hadn’t even had time to shower, so he had gone to class smelling like the ocean. Not that he cared, he loved the ocean.

It had occurred to him on his way to class that there was an unusual amount of elves wandering around. He sometimes noticed them when they thought they were alone and had, on occasion, chatted with them if they had the time. He thought they were smart little things that would one day rise up and take the Magical community to war (and win), but that probably wouldn’t happen for another century or so. He didn’t think they had figured out that their magical properties could be so much stronger than the humans.

Now though, he was sitting in the potions room at the back of the class closest to the window, staring out of it at the strange clouds while he waited for something to happen. He gave a heavy sigh and looked at the clock. Ten minutes. Class was supposed to start ten minutes ago. Where was Professor Fawcett? He was always a stickler for the rules and now he isn’t even following them? What was the permitted length of time before they could declare class dismissed and he could go do some work?

He glanced at the clock again, his wand twirling in his hand like his drumsticks normally would be doing. Only two minutes had gone by. “Alright, this is a waste of time.” Jorge stated, standing up and beginning to clean up his potion stuff so that he could head back to his dorm room. If Professor Fawcett ended up coming after Jorge left, he’d take the tardy, but he wasn’t going to wait any longer.

6 Jorge Garcia, Pecari Enough of this... 0 Jorge Garcia, Pecari 0 5

Thaddeus Pierce II

March 24, 2014 10:10 PM

Calling Alicia and all Prefects by Thaddeus Pierce II

Thaddeus had noticed something off as soon as he saw the pair of elves in his dorm room. He had come out of the bathroom at his normal time to find two of the long eared creatures pawing through his and Evan's stuff, not cleaning but clearly searching for something. In the previous six years, he had never seen elves in his dorm room, either in pursuit of their job or prying into private property. He'd known David when Wilkes was Head Boy. If this was an annual thing done to Head Boys' rooms, he was pretty sure he would have heard about it then.

He'd missed breakfast trying to get the two elves to explain what was going on. It took time and effort and every bit of experience he had with dealing with House Elves, but he'd eventually gotten as much out of them as he thought they knew, which wasn't much.

Nathan Xavier was missing. The Headmaster was missing. There were purple clouds in the sky. The rest of the staff was missing. The owls couldn't get out. These were the facts the elves were able to give him, in order of importance according to them, if the number of times he was told the same thing in different ways was any indication.

So, armed with this minuscule amount of knowledge, he really was not terribly surprised to find that Professor Fawcett was not at his post for Advanced Potions. Thad gave him a little while to show up in case the elves were mistaken and/or overreacting, but he took it as a given that they were on the mark when Jorge Garcia declared sitting around waiting any longer was a waste of time.

Thad stood as well, but not to leave. He had people to talk to before they followed Jorge's example. He wasn't sure how many of the sixth year prefects had opted to continue potions at the RATS level, but he thought most of the seventh year ones had kept it up.

"I'd like to call a Prefect and Heads meeting," he declared, glancing at Alicia as he did so to make sure she was with him on this. "I'd also like at least a couple of volunteers to go check on the first years in Charms and intermediates in DADA." He'd made sure he knew the beginner schedule in case any first years in the hallways asked the badged guy where they were supposed to go, and he made a point of knowing where the Anns were supposed to be as well, just in case he ever had to find them in an emergency. He wondered briefly if this qualified yet.

"Everyone else can take a free period," he declared. "More information will follow at lunch, once we have worked out a plan."

He waited while the other students rearranged themselves, some leaving, some coming to join him, some possibly not quite ready to take the Head Boy's authority and leave a classroom without a professor's explicit permission.

"From what I understand from the elves," Thad began, sharing what little he knew with what remained of the school's oldest authorities, "the staff are all missing, owls can't get out, and there are purple clouds surrounding the school." He condensed the elves' five facts into three and rearranged them to the order he found most important. "Until the staff return and things are resolved, it looks like we're in charge." He was kind of glad the newest fifth year prefects were not yet present. They were untried and they might hold it together better if they were presented with a solid plan that they could help execute rather than just a problem. "Has anybody else learned anything more than that?"

1 Thaddeus Pierce II Calling Alicia and all Prefects 213 Thaddeus Pierce II 0 5

Alicia Bauer

March 25, 2014 1:51 PM

Making plans. by Alicia Bauer

By the end of breakfast, Alicia had been exhausted by the effort of remaining calm and trying to remain in control, but even exhaustion had never managed to catch up with the anxiety which had set in after about half an hour, once it really started to look like Thad was not coming to breakfast and that left her with nothing to do, around trying to herd not-quite-hostile geese, but wonder why he was not there, and what, as it began to look increasingly unlikely that the professors were going to eat before classes, either, that might mean. She should, she knew in hindsight, have escorted the first years to their class just to make sure they had adult supervision once they got there, but nerves had won out at the last. Instead of taking that sensible, responsible course of action, she had instead darted in a different direction altogether, to check the hospital wing (Thad might miss the first class of the year if he were on the brink of death, maybe, if the entire staff was actually in there to restrain him from going) and be torn between relief that he was not dying in there and concern that nobody was doing anything in there before writing that off as a problem for another time and making her way to the Potions room.

There is no reason, she’d told herself firmly, keeping her head high, smile on, and walk to a glide better suited to a ballroom, why – whatever is going on – would take him and leave me. We’re in equals in authority. I’m older than him, if it’s that. That had almost tripped her up when she thought about it; if it was age, then she might be in trouble very soon. Another problem for another time, though. There was no way they’d lack post-school-adult supervision for two weeks anyway. He is going to be in this classroom, and I am not sure if I am going to be more inclined to kiss him or kill him, but whatever I want to do, I will be physically able to do it. I will –

She yanked the classroom door open roughly, taking the tension of the morning out on something at last, and felt her legs shake and her mental dialogue attempt to slip into the spiritual vernacular for the second time each this morning when she looked around the room, though this time it was relief rather than fear inspiring it. If this went on much longer, she thought, a little giddily, she might have to join a religion. Maybe her father would give her lessons, though honestly, even from the very little she knew, she didn't think he was very good at his....

Not relevant, she told herself firmly. “You have no idea,” she told her friend, very calmly, as though talking about the weather on a day when it was not bizarre, “how glad I am to see you.” She sat down. “The teachers are all gone, and when you weren’t at breakfast, I thought you might be, too.”

She set up her desk, but with no anticipation that Fawcett would really come, now. Fawcett almost always beat his students to class. She should, after her detour, have already been behind, and she wasn’t. But it was necessary to wait. Just for a few minutes. She tried to argue with herself about whether or not that made her a coward for a bit, but couldn’t focus on the trains of thought and they were in any case interrupted by Jorge Garcia storming out of the room, followed by Thad calling the meeting she had been hesitating over writing the orders for. She nodded fractionally when he looked at her, agreeing it was time.

Her eyes widened at the intelligence he had managed to gather, including some she hadn’t had. So much for one of her plans; she had meant to write to Anne, figuring her tutor for the outside adult she knew who was the least likely to mock her if it turned out she was overreacting. She shivered a little, something about that making it all seem more real, but focused back on what was practical and relevant. No point in thinking about a plan which had been proven unworkable; she just had to move on to the next plan.

“I don’t know anything else for sure,” she said, surprised by how cool and level her own voice came out, “but I think you’re right to assume we’re on our own.” She bit the inside of her mouth for one second. “I have to retract what I said at breakfast at lunch, and after that, I’m going to the library to do some research.” Or possibly break into the offices of the headmaster and the groundskeeper, if she couldn't find what she was looking for in the library, but no need to mention that yet. “It's not a fabulous chance, but we might be able to figure out more of what's going on.”

She took out a sheet of parchment, which she had begun writing on during that interminable breakfast and had made a few additions to while they waited for a teacher she had known wasn’t coming. “With what we've got now, I wrote down a few thoughts during breakfast. If we could get the elves to accept us, that would probably make things easier, but as long as they keep cooking, I think we can keep things under control. For a while.” How much food was there? They could transfigure one food into another, or make more from what they had, but not conjure it from the air, and she didn’t know if making more from the existing supply would work forever.

In the meantime, though, it felt so good to have a list in her hands. Lists made everything seem more manageable, more under control. “As long as we can keep classes semi-running and someone in the hospital wing, anyway.” Three prefects in seventh year, four in sixth; seven other people weren’t enough to do everything that needed doing even if one of them knew enough about medical charms and potions to take over the hospital. If not, she'd have to do that herself and help Thad administrate, both, which sounded...potentially challenging. “If this goes on until the end of the day, I suggest we recruit the other Quidditch captains and seconds - the older ones, anyway - to help as well, just for extra bodies with badges on them to help keep an eye on their Houses.” Even they had to sleep sometimes. Alicia knew she required at least four hours a night, and six was better; she could pull all-nighters, but no more than two in a week and those not back-to-back. Besides, having the captains close would mean having Cepheus close, and she didn't want anyone she loved out of her sight for longer than it took to use a bathroom until this was over. She'd take whatever got her closer to that goal.

She had thought of more than that. The most trivial was whether or not they should stop wearing their school robes to distinguish themselves from the other students, and the most important, she knew, might very well constitute putting a noose around her own neck in Salem. If the elves would obey them, then she would happily send one of them to the boundaries first, to see if their brand of magic would let them get through; if not, then one of the students who knew how to Apparate would eventually have to try, and she wasn’t sure how many others had their licenses yet. If she could get to the desert, she could go for help, but she didn't want to leave her friends, and didn't particularly want to die if it didn't work, either. Research, though, would have to happen before she intended to allow anyone to try such a stunt, and she thought it would be at least a week before there was a chance they'd be that desperate.

Maybe even two weeks. If they lasted that long, and no one else turned eighteen in the meantime, she guessed she might get to see if she could have been a hero in another life. Somehow, the thought didn't cheer her up at all. In any case, though, she didn't think giving every thought she had had voice right now would be a good thing, so she folded her hands in her lap and focused on this place, this moment.

OOC: Alicia’s thoughts on food are from the bit about Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration in Deathly Hallows.

16 Alicia Bauer Making plans. 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

Thaddeus Pierce II

March 25, 2014 4:08 PM

Plans are good by Thaddeus Pierce II

Thaddeus felt immediately bad for apparently leaving Alicia in the lurch over breakfast. Wringing intelligence out of a pair of elves had seemed more important at the time, but apparently she'd had her hands full with crowd control, which he hadn't even thought about. But clearly, with purple clouds, and elves acting unusually, most of the school seemed aware something was wrong, if not the full details of it. Those were pretty scarce.

"Sorry," he apologized, wincing in imagination of what it might have been like if their places had been reversed. "I'm still here, really." It was an obvious statement and he didn't generally like to make obvious statements, but he wanted to solidify the fact that he had not left her alone as a reassurance.

She spoke up when he finished his initial speech, providing little additional data, but putting in plans to try to gain more through research and keep the school running at semi-functionality until the staff would return. He nodded in agreement.

"It shouldn't be too hard to get the elves on our side. They like to have an authority to listen to even if it's just to say 'carry on' and their masters were the ones to give us badges, so we're the obvious choice if this goes on for a little while." Food might become an issue, eventually, but he believed there was a food garden in the labyrinth so if nothing else, they should be able to continue to subside on salads and vegetables for a couple of months if it came to that. He'd have to talk to Tuppy to make sure she knew to ration the things they couldn't grow themselves.

She also suggested bringing in the Quidditch Captains and Assistants as additional reinforcements, which was well and good but might not be enough either. "I think I'd also like to recruit volunteers from the seventh and sixth years to help with teaching at least. We should keep, at minimum, the beginners running on a regular schedule and it would be good to have the intermediates keeping up as well. Advanced classes might be spread a bit thin though and we don't have anyone who's taken them before for more than a year. We may just need to settle for study groups for us." He really hoped that would not bite them when it came to take their RATS but, with any luck, this would resolve itself in a day or two and their professors could take over as they should.

But they couldn't plan on everything just fixing itself.

1 Thaddeus Pierce II Plans are good 213 Thaddeus Pierce II 0 5

Jay Carey

March 25, 2014 6:33 PM

Volunteering for something else by Jay Carey

Jay had asked the elf trying to open his trunk what, exactly, it thought it was doing when he woke up to the sight of the attempt, but the response hadn’t made any sense. He had briefly considered Stunning the elf, since clearly it had gone mad if it thought Professor Fawcett might be in his trunk, but he had finally just informed it that Fawcett wouldn’t fit in there before dressing as hurriedly as he could and leaving the room. Getting in trouble with the new headmaster on the first day for Stunning one of his elves - Jay's parents didn't have one, but he knew enought to know that kind of thing was frowned on as long as the elf wasn't attacking him - hardly seemed like a good way to get the year started. He had, instead, tried to inform Fawcett himself of the problem, only to find his Head of House’s office also full of elves going through the bookshelves.

He had not run to the Cascade Hall, sure now that there was a real problem if all the elves were acting this way, but he had come close, and had regretted it when he got to the Hall to find that not only was Professor Fawcett not there, but neither was anyone else he might have informed and who might have used the information to good purpose, either. Instead, there was just…Alicia Bauer, talking to Alex, who glanced at him and shook her head the tiniest bit before returning to the conversation.

That had not left much for Jay to do but look over the tables, searching for his three siblings and Lucille, all of whom were present and looked like they were in good health. Aria was not present, which concerned him, all things considered; neither was Thad, who he thought was the next logical person to talk to. Jay had sat down and tried to eat breakfast, since the theme seemed to be to pretend that nothing especially bizarre was happening, but he had not been able to choke down more than a few bites before it was time to go to classes. Alex filled him in on what she knew on the way, but it wasn’t much, and only made things seem worse, not better.

If the remote, wandless Imperius had been possible, Fawcett would have been behind his desk in the Potions room, serious and efficient except for the occasional hint of sarcasm or humor it was entirely possible to miss if you weren’t listening closely. The remote, wandless Imperius was not, however, possible, and Jay found himself in another place without the people who were supposed to be in it in it, wondering how many others there were, what was going on, what the problem was, what problems the problem was going to give birth to any minute now….

He jumped in his seat when Jorge loudly announced that there was no point to staying longer, then looked to Thad when the Head Boy evidently decided that enough was enough and started giving orders. He wanted to hear what went on in the meeting, but stood up as soon as there was mention of volunteers and the other two classes meeting right now.

“I’ll take the beginners,” he said. Brandon was in there. Henry and Anthony were in Defense, too, but Anthony could take care of them both, he was sure, and the intermediates were bound to be less unruly than the beginners anyway. They’d had at least two years to get used to the routines and discipline of the school, where the beginners might do anything if left alone for too long.

OOC: Continued in Charms.

0 Jay Carey Volunteering for something else 0 Jay Carey 0 5

Clara Abernathy, Pecari

March 25, 2014 6:57 PM

They certainly are by Clara Abernathy, Pecari

Clara grumbled in her sleep as her sleep cycle was interrupted by an annoying chirping sound. She slowly cracked open her eyes and grimaced at her alarm clock that was chirping the time. Groaning, Clara reached over and shut the offending piece of machinery off. She sat up in bed, scratched her unruly head of bright red curls and pushed back her covers. She gingerly put her bare feet on the semi cold floor and stood up, yawning. She quickly made her bed and stumbled over to her armoire to search of suitable school clothes. She grabbed a pair of black leggings, her green and black plaid skirt and her green Ramones T-shirt. She also grabbed her school robes with the Prefect badge pinned to the collar. She still had trouble believing that she of all people had made Prefect. Didn't see that one coming she mused silently to herself as she made her way into the bathroom to shower.

She finished her shower and got dressed slipping on a pair of dressier maryjanes with her chosen outfit. Her stepmother Danielle had spent part of the summer trying to coax Clara into wearing more girlish attire. What Clara currently wore was as girlie as she managed to get. Clara glanced at her fashion choice in the mirror and shrugged. At least the outfit was far girlier than her usual ripped up jeans and ratty band t-shirts. Clara forgot about her wardrobe and moved to trying to partially tame her unruly mass of hair. She brushed it out while it was still wet and used a black hair tie to twist her hair up into a messy bun upon her head. A few stray strands had escaped here and there, but for the most part it looked rather decent. She brushed her teeth and then left the bathroom. She was retrieving her schoolbag from its usual resting spot when she spotted a couple of the prairie elves rummaging through peoples things and rummaging through the HoH's room as though they were searching for something.

She followed behind them curiosity making her wonder what they could be looking for. They disappeared, chattering between themselves before she could find out. She caught bits of their conversation and found it rather odd when they kept saying something about someone being gone. Clara frowned at their odd behavior, but dismissed it as she headed out of the Pecari common room towards the gardens. Once outside she was met with an even stranger sight. The sky above the gardens appeared to be a strange shade of purple-ish black. They could almost be mistaken for storm clouds except they seemed to be centered around just the gardens themselves. "What the heck?" She mumbled to herself as she glanced at the sky. She hurried into the school and headed for Cascade Hall. If the professors didn't know about the strange clouds outside she figured someone should tell them.

Clara poked her head into Cascade Hall long enough to notice the elves scurry around helplessly for a moment and notice that the staff table was empty. "Where the heck are they?" She again mumbled to herself as she left the hall and headed for the potions room. She knew if anyone would be somewhere it was Professor Fawcett. He was always in the potions room before anyone showed up. Feeling marginally better about that factor, Clara rushed to her potions class. When she arrived however she found her hopes dashed when Professor Fawcett was nowhere in the room. What the heck is going on here? the Pecari wondered as she glanced at Professor Fawcett's empty desk. Clara sighed in frustration as she contemplated what to do. She couldn't tell the professor so that left the head boy or girl or both.

Clara spotted Thad across the room talking to Alicia and headed towards them. Thad was calling a meeting of the prefects as she approached and she felt a little better about things. At least this way they would have a plan of action. She stopped not far from him when she heard him recount what he had heard from one of the house elves. Strange clouds? Missing staff members and owls trapped here? What did it all mean? She heard both his and Alicia's suggestions and wholeheartedly agreed. If they were going to get through this they needed all the help they could get. "Sounds like a good idea," she nodded to both the head boy and girl. "I'm more than happy to volunteer to be the one to go check on the Intermediates DADA class if you'd like," she volunteered. It made her feel good to be doing something useful.

Clara also made sure to add what she'd noticed about the strange clouds. She had heard Thad ask if anyone knew anything else, but wanted to wait until after Alicia had spoken so she wasn't rude and interrupted her. "I don't think those are normal rain clouds," she told them both. She thought best how to put her next statement. "They're not the same color as normal rain clouds and there's no rain outside. Plus they only seem to be hanging around the gardens," she told them both, hoping the information helped any.

0 Clara Abernathy, Pecari They certainly are 232 Clara Abernathy, Pecari 0 5

Aria Yale, Teppenpaw

March 25, 2014 7:47 PM

Spontaneity can be good too. by Aria Yale, Teppenpaw

Aria had spent her morning down in the kitchen with some of the elves. At least the ones that hadn’t been ordered to continue the search for the staff members. Ms. Tuppy, ruffled and seemingly frazzled, had helped Aria find food for Alice, the Groundskeeper’s cat, and allowed Aria to have some fruit while she was there. Aria and the elves spoke as they worked. They didn’t talk much, they never really did, sometimes Scurry was a talker, but he was one of the elves out searching. Ms. Tuppy had no idea what had happened to the staff. They had all gone to bed the night before, but none of them were there come morning. She had no idea about the clouds. They too, just appeared that morning. It wasn’t anything the elves had ever seen while at the school before.

When it was time to head to class, Aria thanked the elves for their time (of which they all seemed upset by this despite the many times Aria had said it to them before) and requested to have Alice sent to her that evening if Mr. Xavier was not found. Aria would look after the cat in his absence. She didn’t think he would mind too much and Alice was such a sweet cat to her. When the elves agreed to do so, Aria grabbed her school bag and headed off to Potions.

At this point, Aria figured that the staff was not going to show up for their morning lessons and it was obvious to everyone else. Thaddeus called them all together to go over facts and asked for volunteers to go to the younger students. Aria stayed quiet while Thaddeus and Alicia went over their own thoughts regarding everything. Aria liked to be positive about things, but she wasn’t always naïve. She had a hard time believing they could manage a school on their own. She did not voice this however.

“That’s not true.” Aria commented when Clara had finished. “The clouds cover the entirety of the school grounds.” Since the school grounds were about 90% covered by the gardens, her statement was pretty much a certainty if she had not already known the truth. “I was in the Kitchens chatting with Ms. Tuppy. She told me that the clouds arrived early this morning. The owls have been trying all over the school grounds to try to get through – sometimes they just fly around for as long as an hour, but the clouds seem to disorient them and they return to their Owlery.” Aria paused and looked at Clara. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to challenge your statement.” Aria had never known Clara to become upset over anything, but she wanted to be sure she hadn’t offended her. Clara was nice to her, even if when they had first met Aria had thought the girl was making fun of her.

“Ms. Tuppy also said that the elves have never seen clouds like this before or why they have appeared on a day where the staff has gone. The elves are quite panicked, but I feel if they have some order, they will do right by everyone.” Aria said, mostly to Alicia who thought they might not listen to them. Aria leaned closer to their group and asked with the utmost seriousness, “Do you think this is a curse on the school? Or something purposely caused by someone?” Aria did not believe the school had a consciousness, so she didn’t want to say what she had thought earlier regarding the school being upset, but she knew that there were things within the school that had powers to cause chaos, such as the Mirage Chamber from two years ago. But with the staff disappearing and the clouds refusing to allow the birds through, she felt it was far more malicious than what the chamber had accomplished.

“You don’t think we’ll be left alone for too long though, do you?” She asked them. “My parents and I keep a steady correspondence with one another. If they do not receive a letter by me by the end of next week, they’ll start to wonder. I’m sure other parents will too and after, they’ll do something?”

6 Aria Yale, Teppenpaw Spontaneity can be good too. 0 Aria Yale, Teppenpaw 0 5

Clara Abernathy, Pecari

March 25, 2014 8:17 PM

That's true by Clara Abernathy, Pecari

Clara hadn't noticed when Aria hhad quietly joined them until she had corrected Clara's statement about the clouds. Clara frowned for a brief second before she realized that Aria was absolutely correct. From her vantage point upon coming outside, Clara had been so preoccupied with the color and shape of the clouding that she had forgotten the school was surrounded by the gardens. She grinned at her own mistake. "She's absolutely right," she agreed with Aria. "I had been soo startled by the clouds that I forgot they surrounded the majority of the school." She then turned towards Aria. "I'm glad that you corrected me," she told her. "There's no need to apologize," she assured Aria.

She listened to Aria's questions with a small frown on her face. Those were questions she herself hadn't even considered. What if Aria was right and it was a curse on the school? Or worse that this whole thing was being caused by someone outside of the school. Clara couldn't see why anyone would want to do something like that, but people had been known to do terrible things to each other so she had no idea. When Aria asked if they thought the professors would be gone for a long time, Clara sincerely hoped that wasn't the case. She found herself shrugging helplessly. "I don't know," she said to Aria. "I certainly hope not." She offered Aria a small smile for encouragement.

Clara turned her attention completely to Aria when she pointed out that if her parents hadn't heard from her in a while that they would get worried and maybe coming investigating themselves. "You're absolutely right," she agreed. "A lot of parents would be concerned if they didn't hear from their children in a while. Perhaps we'd only have to keep things going until then?" She posed the question to all of them present. Hopefully if the staff hadn't returned within the next few days the parents would come looking in on them. They could hold out til then, couldn't they?

0 Clara Abernathy, Pecari That's true 232 Clara Abernathy, Pecari 0 5

Alicia Bauer

March 26, 2014 12:24 AM

I disagree. by Alicia Bauer

“It’s all right,” Alicia said when Thad apologized for his absence. “Just don’t do it again without telling me?”

She wished that statement hadn’t sounded almost like a question. Or possibly a plea. “Until this resolves itself, anyway, I mean,” she said more steadily, refusing to think what she’d almost thought. “We need to keep things as organized as possible.”

She nodded at the assertion that the elves would probably take them as the representatives of the staff if they presented it that way. “Carrying on will be all we really need them to do, I hope,” she said. Hopefully, the elves had prepared an inventory of everything they had in the kitchens, but it occurred to her that she was not sure if elves, as a general rule, were literate. She had half-assumed they were, but she wasn’t sure. They were not allowed to learn to use wands, but that was separate from not being educated in other things which would increase their usefulness….

She made a note on her list. The number of things she needed to research was just getting longer every second, she thought.

Another note went down when Thad suggested expanding the teaching pool and organizing study groups for themselves, along with another nod. “We’ll make it work,” she said, as close to soothingly as she would in front of all these people, sure he’d hate losing their own instruction even more than she would. Much more, really. Clara and Aria’s exchange on the clouds and the possibility of a curse was met without expression, her eyes moving between the two.

“I hope so,” she said about the possibility of parents storming the compound. “But either way, I doubt this is an attack. Or not one focused on us, anyway.” If it was, then the staff was probably dead – she was pretty sure it was easier to Vanish or otherwise remove bodies from the premises than a group of healthy, relatively magically powerful adults – but she chose not to mention that yet. “Nothing about it looks like anything I’ve ever read in the histories. I’d guess it’s a defensive charm gone wrong.” It occurred to her that a defensive charm could go wrong because suddenly-ambitious dark wizard had touched it just the wrong way, but she decided against mentioning that to them. She smiled wanly. “But it requires more study before we jump to any conclusions,” she said firmly, pushing aside thoughts of being just another data point when her birthday rolled around. If she was, then she was. It was not how things were supposed to be, but then, neither was anything else in the world. Things were never right unless she had the power to force them to be, and right now, she didn't, not with this or many other things. And anyway, the best almost anyone could ever hope for, in the longer run, was to be important enough to constitute a data point at all. Sooner or later, either a thing was studied or it disappeared.

Alicia didn't believe in gods which listened to prayers or that the positions of politicians meant a single thing, power didn't work that way, but she did believe in learning. The only way to solve a problem was to gather all of the available intelligence and apply it. She was itching to issue that retraction and get to the library. She had the glimmer of an idea, but would need to study more, and maybe, if she could find the time, try a few tests. Which reminded her of something else.

"It just occurred to me, though, that I may have another piece of data," she said. "Whatever's going on, it doesn't seem to affect our powers. I cast several charms this morning, and the elves can still appear and disappear inside the school. So that's probably not something to worry about. I don't know anything which could, but...." she shrugged and made another note. There was the anti-Apparition jinx, which could restrain someone from performing one specific magical action, so it was possible someone might have extrapolated how to block or interfere with others. It was worth a thought.

16 Alicia Bauer I disagree. 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

March 26, 2014 1:54 AM

Adding to the conversation by Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

There was definitely something weird going on at Sonora and Waverly noticed it as soon as she stepped out of the Pecari common room and into the gardens. There were purple clouds and owls flying aimlessly, in circles. It was strange and Waverly thought first of her sister, then of her friends. What could this mean? The next few odd occurrences happened during breakfast when she saw the frantic prairie elves scrambling around looking for professors. She had stayed to herself then, not wanting to get involved with whatever Alicia was doing at the moment, but at the same time wondered herself where the professors could have gone. They couldn't all have disappeared, could they?

By Potions class it was clear there was something amiss. Jorge stormed out and Thad did his Head Boy duty and called a meeting, taking charge very quickly. She admired that in Thad and was glad he had been voted into the role. He performed it well.

Waverly listened patiently to everyone's idea of what could be the issue and frowned, thinking of everything she had seen and trying to piece it together. If there were purple clouds all over outside and the owls couldn't fly out, could people get out? "Has anyone else tried to step off the grounds?" she asked. "We know owls can't fly into the sky, but does that trap us to this campus as well? Elves have a different kind of magic than we do, so just because they can Disapparate and Apparate doesn't mean much for us. Has anyone tried it?" She doubted any student had tried to walk off or Disapparate on school grounds in the past day, but it would be worth trying.

"I agree with Alicia; there has to be a magical leak somewhere. Otherwise a person would have to be behind this and I doubt the professors would have vanished so silently and left the school looking so clean if that were the case. I'm sure the prairie elves would've caught a whiff of an intrusion as well. But yes, we should research into this first.

"I think we should split into teams like Thad suggested of sixth and seventh-year volunteers. One team could watch over the classes, another could look for a magical leak if there is one, and another can do research in categorizing all of these occurrences and finding out what's going on in the books. Another team could monitor the grounds as well and keep their eyes peeled for any more strange activity." She looked at Alicia and Thad briefly before looking at the other Prefects for any signs of compliance or resistance. Now that the professors were gone, they were the next in line. Though Head Girl was still a coveted position, Waverly in this instance was glad to still be only a Prefect. She liked leading people, but being responsible for any more messes in a crisis would probably break her down to tears. She was happy to support peace and regulation and emotional stability as much as she possibly could.

0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari Adding to the conversation 0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari 0 5

Aria

March 27, 2014 6:12 PM

Welcome by Aria

Aria didn’t know how to take Clara’s smile. It was similar to the one the girl had given her all those years back that had thrown Aria into the belief she was patronizing her. Aria didn’t necessarily think that’s what the girl was doing now, but she had no understanding of the meaning behind the smile. Aria was not worried about a sudden Dark Wizard taking over the school. They would have already done so. She was just merely putting the thought out there that the school might be under a curse, either purposefully or accidentally. As for Waverly’s comment on it, Aria remained quiet. She could have made a fuss saying that if a wizard, witch, or group were powerful enough, they could easily vanish a group of people without leaving the slightest bit of evidence and there would be no reason for the elves to notice a group of people suddenly vanishing in the middle of the night. Or, perhaps they had noticed, if the clouds played a factor in damages done to the charms of the school, and that was why they were so panicked to find the staff because they knew something bad was going on?

Aria certainly hadn’t been jumping to conclusions the way Alicia and Waverly suggested, she didn’t think asking a general question of the possibility of it being a curse meant she automatically felt that was at fault, but rather, something that should be looked into. They were Seventh Years though and Aria wasn’t the sort of throw arguments for something they misinterpret. Not anymore, anyway.

“We aren’t allowed to leave the grounds, so I don’t think anyone has tried it. We’ve only just now officially confirmed that the staff has all gone. I’m not old enough or licensed to Apparate, but it’s an idea for someone to try who can.” Aria replied to Waverly. She turned to Alicia and Thad, who seemed to want some order and continuation with the younger students. “I do not mind helping teach lessons to the Beginners. They are more apt to listen to me than I think the Intermediates would. Also, if it helps, I have been assisting my mother in her clinic back home since I was a little girl. I’m rather advanced at healing spells and potions.” She wasn’t boasting this information in the slightest, but if the two of them were eventually going to categorize everyone and want their skills, she would rather give it to them now than later.

She was hoping that the staff would return in a few hours and all this panic would be over nothing, but just in case they weren’t, she would do what was asked in the meantime.

(OOC: I know we’ve gotten out of posting order and was going to wait for Thad, but I figured I’d put this out there for the two of them to mull over.)

6 Aria Welcome 0 Aria 0 5

Henny B-F-R, Aladren

March 27, 2014 11:30 PM

Trying to prevent catastophes by Henny B-F-R, Aladren

Henny knew how not to panic. She had had specific guidance from a trained professional in not panicking. And, at first, the disruptions to life at Sonora were more irritating, or curiosity-piquing, than panic-inspiring. There had been elves to be tripped over at virtually every turning, for example. Their behaviour was most definitely out of character and certainly caused her to wonder at the reason behind the sudden shift, but it was not worth panicking over.

She had missed the fact that the staff weren't in breakfast, as Charlie had met her in the hallway with napkins full of pancakes and suggested a breakfast picnic. The sight of the sky had rather put her off this idea but he had persuaded her by stepping out and showing it to be demonstrably fine. They, more than anything else, had unnerved her. They just... weren't right. And nature not being right was usually a very bad sign. She had only picked at her breakfast, not convinced that sitting under them was entirely safe.

As she arrived at Potions class and it failed to start, what had previously been a prickling feeling of unease developed into the sense that something was really wrong, though her immediate thought was that something must have happened specifically to Professor Fawcett. However, as she joined Alicia and Thad at the front of the room, the terrible truth was revealed to her. Maybe it was her training in not panicking, or maybe it was because all the things had built up into this picture of unease so steadily, but she held it together. She took several deep, calming breaths, the suggestions of her peers rattling slightly distantly around her head... However, she had only seconds to digest the fact that they were alone before people started making rational sounding plans. She nodded along, taking more steadying breaths.

“That's good to know,” she eventually spoke up, cautiously replying to Aria's statement about her prowess with medicine. Henny didn't know a lot about the sixth year but the thought of anyone who was not fully qualified administering medicine was not a comforting one. Whilst everyone else had been fretting over the day to day things like classes, her disaster-inclined brain had, essentially, been running on the lines of 'what if something really, really bad happens?' Medical emergencies definitely came under this heading. “I think the most sensible approach is to let anything minor heal naturally. People might not like it, they're not used to having to have the patience, but it's much safer. I also don't think it's appropriate for us to be giving out any medications that are in the Infirmary. If anything major happens...” she glanced at Aria. Whatever her experience, it was probably with more day to day afflictions. “I think we need to establish whether we have any way of getting out or making contact, so that we could seek medical help. I think we also need to do our best to ensure that major accidents don't happen. I think that means either theoretical Potions only, or a very high ratio of senior students to younger ones,” she began, voicing – in as calm and as uncrazy sounding a manner as she could – all of the potential areas for catastrophes that were occurring to her. “Care of Magical Creatures shouldn't be an issue, as I believe the Professor only brings in a species when it's due to be studied... Though it would be worth checking whether anything's been brought in for this week, or whether any of it has been ordered or arranged already. We don't want crates of dangerous animals showing up at the gates,” she added rather too emphatically, “And...,” she looked at Thad. She knew he was so very passionate about the subject at hand, but he was also infinitely sensible. She hoped the logic of what she was saying meant the latter won out. “I don't think it's safe to do Quidditch. If someone fell or got hit by a Bludger.... We don't know that we have the skill to deal with that. We probably don't.” Her voice was a little tight as she said it. She knew it was not helpful to picture Thad's head being caved in, as if he agreed with her now there was no risk of that happening. However, once she'd thought of it, it was very hard to unthink of it and very easy to predict him insisting on playing anyway and then dying. And to also picture a rougue Bludger tearing through the stands, and it not mattering that most of the people she was closest to didn't play Quidditch because then they'd all be in danger too – Charlie always went to games, and- “Please?” she added, sounding rather frightened.

13 Henny B-F-R, Aladren Trying to prevent catastophes 211 Henny B-F-R, Aladren 0 5

Alexandra Devereux

March 28, 2014 2:06 AM

I'm looking out for me by Alexandra Devereux

The staff had not returned by the end of breakfast, but after the tense meal, Alex headed to Potions. When Professor Fawcett wasn’t in the room, she nearly turned around and left again, figuring it was about the right time to put some charms designed to do nasty things to anyone else who tried to enter her dormitory on her door and prepare to dig in for a while in case the school dissolved into utter anarchy, but the sight of the others settling into their seats as though they still thought Fawcett might come stopped her. Being the one to stand out had never been her way; she’d let someone else take any chances she could. So she sat down, too, and began reading the notes she’d made for the previous year’s final exam again to review, just as though she thought class might begin at any moment.

She was just to Golpalott’s Third Law when Jorge apparently had enough of pretending and Thad called the prefect’s meeting. She wondered if he knew Alicia had already been doing things, and, if not, how him taking the lead now might strike the other girl; her father had taught her how to see potential cracks between other people, potential opportunities, though she wasn’t in the habit of taking them and didn’t plan to do anything with this one at all, unless it was try to encourage harmony between the two of them. Thad and Alicia united was actually the best thing for Alex Devereux right now. If the staff didn’t come back before that anarchy broke out, as Alicia’s breakfast talk had made it occur to her they might not, she thought the best-case scenario would be the rest of them offering those two up as a sacrifice, so she and the other prefects could carry on, finish their educations with their badges on, and then make what they could of the world outside with that recommendation behind them.

It was not, she thought, as if Thad and Alicia were really like the rest of them, anyway. They had all been selected for their merits, where Thad and Alicia were ambitious upstarts, swept in on charisma and good networking skills. Admirable traits, to a degree anyway, but the taller the poppy, the quicker it lost its head. Her father had taught her that, too, and she thought he ought to know. Alex did not want to lose her head.

There was no more information, it seemed, but Alicia had her list. Aria and Clara were alarming with their talk of curses, which Alex would have put a stop to herself, whether it was true or not, if Alicia and Waverly had not united on that front. She was even less keen, though, on the idea of leaving the campus.

“I don’t know if we even can leave campus,” she pointed out, her first contribution to the conversation. “Normally, I mean. I tend to assume the adults are smart enough to figure out a way to keep us in unless we’ve got permission to be out.” The miles and miles of nothing but desert around them should have been enough, but there was always one idiot, she guessed. She didn’t think they could force her or the other seventh years to stay if they really wanted to go – all of them, as far as she knew, still lived with their parents, who still bought them things, but they were of age – but that would be a matter of being let out instead of just wandering off.

“We might ask one of the prairie elves to try it, though,” she said. “Or try a floo, if we can find one. I’m sure teachers must have some.”

Aria’s claim of medical knowledge was a minor assurance. Henny’s list of potential disasters was not. “Not a bad idea,” she said about Quidditch even so. “Wouldn’t want anything happening to our Seekers’ pretty faces.” Belatedly, she remembered that one of the Seekers was in front of her, and decided to just move on as though she hadn’t said it. “Good thinking, Henny,” she continued. “We’ll want to be careful what we teach the others in general – I know Jay knows the Charms and Transfiguration beginners’ spells front to back, he had to tutor his brother all last year, he can probably help with that. As for the Intermediates….” She shrugged. “Like Aria said, it’ll be harder to get them to listen. I suggest we split them up by year, at least, for any lessons. Smaller groups are easier to control – however we decide to do that. Alicia, weren’t you saying something about that at breakfast….?”

The Intermediates’ suggestion, she’d had to make, because she suspected the others were too meek to say it or too arrogant to think it, but everything she could pin on someone else, she would. That was what was best for her.

0 Alexandra Devereux I'm looking out for me 0 Alexandra Devereux 0 5

Thad Pierce

April 01, 2014 10:29 PM

Trying to look out for everyone by Thad Pierce

There were a lot of people talking. They were, thankfully, taking turns for the most part, so it was easy to follow, but it was a lot of information coming in from a lot of directions. Thad's head swiveled from one person to another to another, trying to remember everything, but making notes on a piece of parchment for ideas or concerns he felt were of particular import to address and possibly dwell on later.

"Thank you!" he called to Jay as his assistant captain volunteered to go check on the beginners, which were probably the most important group to get a supervisor to quickly. Clara then volunteered for the intermediate group then got involved mini-conversation with Aria.

Once Thad was done writing down on his sheet that the unnatural purple clouds surrounded the entirety of the school and its grounds, and that the elves had never seen their like before, he addressed what he saw as the more pressing issue of the moment, "Yes, Clara, go check on the intermediates." She had offered what she knew to the meeting already and nobody else had volunteered. "Send the fifth year prefects back here, if you don't mind."

He kept his own thoughts that if the owls couldn't get out, it was possible that the school was entirely isolated and nobody could get out or in, so even when the parents did inevitably notice something was wrong, it might not help, to himself. It was an unfounded theory and he didn't want to panic anybody until there was more evidence. Likewise, his only comment on the curse/intentional malice theories was, a nod in agreement to Alicia's remarks and the added caveat that, "There is no evidence to support any theories for what is causing this yet. We just need to stay calm and do a lot more research and investigation."

He added, Magical ability unaffected, to his parchment when Alicia noted the seemingly obvious point. He personally hadn't done much magic that morning, so he had naturally assumed he still could. Alicia hadn't and the fact that they could all still access their abilities as normal was, in fact, one of the few good news points they had received so far today, given how upside down everything else was.

It also hadn't really occurred to him to try just physically leaving the grounds, and he kind of blinked at Waverly for suggesting it. There was, well, dessert everywhere out there. Though, it was a fair point that if someone who knew apperation could just pop out of the dessert to someplace more useful where the would be people who could send help. Thad himself had been learning apperation over the summer, but he wasn't nearly confident enough at it to try something like that yet - not knowing exactly where he was going relative to where he was - and he didn't have his formal license yet anyway. He'd planned to get it over midterm.

"That is great news, Aria," he told the sixth year when she offered that she had some medical knowledge. Henny tried to downplay it, but he disagreed. "I think if we have minor injuries or illnesses, they should be treated, if Aria feels comfortable doing so, so they don't become bigger injuries or illnesses. But," he winced, because he hated this part but she did have a very valid point (his dirty look in Alex's direction at her Seeker comment notwithstanding - though he'd felt a very brief flutter at the part where she'd said his face was pretty, which was entirely not what she was getting at and he had never really given Alex much of a second thought before now anyway), "you might be right about Quidditch." He'd planned to continue on with practices and even try to work something out for reffing games, but he'd forgotten they didn't have a healer. That was a pretty important role and he didn't want to force Aria into becoming a sports trauma medic as well. "And the other high-risk lessons. Avoiding injury is better than treating them at this point."

Despite Alex's slight, she did have a good point, too. He wrote down on his paper, Ask Prairie elves if they can leave the grounds. "When I talk to the elves about the food, I will ask them if they can get out of the school grounds as well, as the two are related in urgency. If they can get out and back in, then the food supply isn't an issue, and we can have help in a matter of hours."

"And locating and testing a floo will be another task for our investigation team of volunteers," he agreed, putting that down in his notes as well.

"So in conclusion, we want three teams of volunteers. One performing staff duties like teaching, looking after the library and hospital wing, and keeping the elves focused and on task. Among the substitute teachers, we should probably split out the students by year group to reduce class size. The next group will be hitting the books and researching. The last will be moving around the school, trying to find clues about what is going on and, ideally, whether we can fix it, be that by locating some means of communication and getting help or actually resolving the problem, whatever it may be. Any other thoughts or comments? Did I miss anything we need to cover?"

1 Thad Pierce Trying to look out for everyone 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Alicia Bauer

April 01, 2014 11:46 PM

We must all hang together or all hang separately. by Alicia Bauer

The others began to concern Alicia with their talk of going outside. “Maybe we could or maybe we couldn’t, but no one is going near the boundaries until we have a chance to study them,” she said, putting as much command as she could into her tone. “We don’t know what it is, we don’t know what it might do to us, and we have no idea what’s on the other side. We might have to risk it eventually, but no one’s going to try today.” She made a mental note to try to conjure up some kind of fence. “I really think, actually, we should keep everyone indoors as much as possible,” she said.

She smiled at Henny, at once grateful and trying to be reassuring, when her friend began listing issues she hadn’t even thought of. “That’s well thought of, Henny,” she said. “If the post can’t get out, I doubt crates of animals can get in, but it’s best to be sure.” She bit her bottom lip, the thought occurring to her that the Gardens still contained their fair share and then some of creatures even if none at all had been imported recently, but she decided not to mention that. If they talked about everything that needed resolution in this meeting, they’d work themselves into fits and still be talking at New Year’s while riots went on in the corridors. They needed a working plan to go forward with, to present to the younger students, and could work out the details once they were sure the situation was under control.

She nodded her agreement with Thad about medical care, much though it pained her to disagree with Henny. The risks were real, since they didn’t know what they were doing, but she would take a chance if she had to. Until the teachers came back, the other students were their responsibility, which meant it might somehow come back on them, however faintly, if something bad happened, some minor injury still bigger than a scratch no one would go to the medic for anyway turned major. She refused to allow it on her watch. With that in mind, she didn’t second Thad’s dirty look at Alex – she just looked at her, without any particular expression at all – but she was glad he agreed that they’d need to reign in Quidditch. She’d study every book in the medical section this year even if Fawcett walked in at this very moment, but she did not want to find out how well she could teach herself to treat a traumatic brain injury at all, never mind if the brain of a friend was the first injured one she had to work on.

“You might be able to keep some low-intensity activies up for the sake of morale,” she said, hoping to make him feel better. “Maybe just leave out the Bludgers?”

That would make her feel better, anyway. She had enjoyed that part of the game so much more when he’d been the one with a bat instead of the biggest target on the Pitch. “Excellent suggestions,” she agreed about Alex’s contributions. Very practical; she made a note of it. She had never wanted to get on Alex’s bad side, but this made it apparent it would be better yet to try to get on her good side. The trick would be, though, in not being obvious about courting her; it was bad enough that all the prefects knew, or would probably eventually figure out, that she and Thad needed them to keep order in the Houses if nothing else. If they started thinking she needed them for ideas – well, that would be bad, and that was another thing that would remain true even if Professor Fawcett walked in right now.

“With any luck, we can keep them persuaded the teachers will be back and that detentions and points will matter until the teachers actually do get back,” she said coolly, anyway, when Alex asked about discipline. Get back - as though they had gone for a morning stroll and would come back at any moment. Which, of course, they could – the question was, would it be of their own volition? Or could some totally unknown set of adults show up? She almost physically craved the comforting vastness of the library. The answers were in there. They were. “We’ll figure out something else if it comes to that.”

Thad listed off their priorities, and Alicia nodded when he was done. “It’s a good start, I think.” She looked around at everyone. “One thing I also think everyone needs to remember is that we have to look calm, whether we are or not,” she added. “If the others see that we’re confident, that we’re doing something and we look convinced it’s going to work, then that may help keep things under control.” She tucked her hair back behind her ear. “If everyone would write down what they feel comfortable contributing, I’ll start working on schedules and things,” she added, wanting that task for herself. “We can give the others a free day today, just in their common rooms if we can catch them before they disperse, and I can have lists ready for us tonight and them in the morning. Hopefully, an elf will go out tonight and be back with help in an hour, but if we need them, we’ll have them.”

Schedules would make everyone feel better, she was sure. Including her, though she knew she wouldn’t feel really okay until either the staff was back or a day passed under a schedule without incident. If she could have, she would have done it all herself, but that wasn't physically possible, so she'd have to trust the others, even the ones she thought were insane or ridiculous or worse. What a cheerful note to start her year off on.

16 Alicia Bauer We must all hang together or all hang separately. 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

Anthony Carey

April 02, 2014 8:37 PM

I'd rather not hang at all by Anthony Carey

On impulse, he checked the first classroom door he came to – maybe a teacher would be there, getting ready for a lesson later in the day or tutoring someone or something, or a ghost, or anything older than he was, he wasn’t picky – but the room was empty, as was the one after that. Maybe we’re the only people left at all, he thought, and wished he hadn’t. There was no way – no way at all! – that everyone except the students and house-elves, who needed humans to tell them what to do and so were not very good for taking charge, was gone. It was impossible. If people could just be made to disappear, then his family would have killed itself off completely before the branches ever formed, back in the really bad old days. Someone had to be somewhere.

In the Charms classroom, he finally found someone, but it was just Jay, who was looking harassed and barely concealed his impatience with Anthony and his group, who he thought ought to already be at the prefects’ meeting no one had told them was happening back in the Potions’ room. Jay said ‘Clara’ had volunteered to go to the Intermediate class, which left Anthony with the queasy thought that people might just be disappearing at random, though he had chosen not to share that with his cousin. Jay had kept his eyes on the Beginners even while talking to Anthony; clearly, he didn’t trust his charges as far as he could levitate them, which was most likely the smartest way. First and second years were not, after all, to be trusted, even though by the looks of it, they were behaving better than his class had.

With that in mind, after asking Effie if she thought one of them should stay with Jay or go back to their own class, he let Henry follow him toward the Potions room, even though Henry wasn’t even an Assistant Quidditch Captain, because if someone put a pumpkin on Henry’s head, Merlin only knew what might happen. The last time Henry had had a bad shock, he’d ended up splinching himself, and if the medic was gone, too…. Only the twin thoughts of upsetting Henry himself and looking like a fool in front of a girl who could carry the tale back to society kept him from running to the Advanced class.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he got there and found a number of sixth and seventh years, seeming to confer, and for a moment almost understood Henry’s obsession with Alicia Bauer – she was talking calmly enough, the word schedule was in what she was saying, and just her position as an authority figure who, at least at Sonora, outranked him already made her one of the most beautiful sights he’d ever seen, along with the others. How long did they have until the first and second years got really bored, or his own class dissolved into a battleground? He was one of the Intermediate prefects, but he thought the Advanced ones would have a better chance of handling it all than he ever would.

“Good day,” he said when no one was talking. “Do – er – do you all know what’s going on, or what to do about it, then?”

Distantly, he did feel ashamed of himself. He was Anthony Carey. He was going to have to be a leader for at least a portion of his life – the very title he was going to end up with, whether he wanted it or not, meant father, implying that all the descendants his brothers and his cousins had would all be as much his responsibility as his own would be, and that was far from a comforting thought even without the thought of what the quality of the job he was doing right now might mean for his ability to do that one later on. No one, though, took over as the leader of the Careys at fifteen; those whose parents died when they were small were appointed guardians to look after their interests, like Mal had and his father had had before him. Only one person had ever led a branch before twenty, and she was an odd case who'd been raised by a powerful Dark wizard who'd allegedly taught her everything he knew anyway. Anthony was a very normal case with parents who were actually sane. That made even more of a difference, he was sure, than the four years between the age he was now and the age Morgaine had been when she became the acting head in Georgia even could. It was no disgrace to let those who were older and more experienced than he was take it, as far as they could, from here.

OOC: I timed things loosely based on statements about how much time passed before things and how long it took me to read the dialogue from different threads out loud. Hope that works out okay. Effie's author gave permission in DADA for her to be moved around.

0 Anthony Carey I'd rather not hang at all 0 Anthony Carey 0 5

Aria

April 08, 2014 8:22 PM

Hanging does not sound like a fun idea. by Aria

Aria resisted the urge to sigh in irritation. They were all getting their spirits in a bind because she and Clara had merely had a small discussion on a theory. One that she knew all the other students were likely to be thinking as well. Apparently, Aladrens could not fathom having a hypothetical conversation regarding the situation.

She didn’t know whether or not to be amused by Henrietta’s wording towards her or the look she gave in her direction. It was clear that she did not think much of Aria’s experience, but Aria wasn’t going to throw a fit over her opinions. She did not know Aria and certainly did not spend time in the clinic with her. Aria certainly wasn’t a licensed Healer, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t capable. If she didn’t have to use any magic to heal another student, she would be more than happy for that, but she would not stand around and watch someone suffer simply because others were scared. Aria knew that those with magic would not know how to care for an injury and that could cause far more problems than her healing it. She felt no reason to prove herself to them and she was well aware of her limitations. Could she heal a cracked skull? No, of course not. But she could heal a simple broken bone. Henrietta seemed to be under the guise that if they say not to do it, than no one would or that they could find a way to medical treatment. If that were the case, they wouldn’t be here twiddling their numbs because the staff would be able to come back. And if the adults couldn’t come through, there was no way of preventing injury. People trip down the stairs, rebels cause mischief, and people who want to fly, will fly – even if the Head Girl was attempting to keep people indoors. It just wasn’t plausible to think otherwise.

At least the Head Boy seemed pleased with her knowledge. She smiled at him, feeling a little happy that someone thought it was worth something, even if it was never called upon. She had spent her whole life in that clinic and planned on continuing to do so until she was no longer of the living. Her peers may think little of it, but her mother was a wonderful Healer who was training her well.

The conversation began to wind down finally when the Head boy began to list off what he had expectations of. She had no idea what group it was that they planned on having her be a part of, but she will do as she was tasked as best as she could.

It was strange that Alicia felt the need to remind people remain calm or at least look the part. Where they not already calm? Aria had not yet felt a need to feel panicked by all that was happening. If the students began to get out of control and the staff was still missing in a few days’ time, then she may possibly feel panicked, but not over a couple of hours of missing adults. Perhaps the mention of this was because Alicia wasn’t calm and she needed to express it? Or she figured someone wasn’t and didn’t want to point them out? Aria wasn’t worried about it. For the most part, the school didn’t may her any attention. She doubted they would start now.

“If that’s all, I’ll just write out my abilities and then go help James sort of the Beginners.” Aria commented, reaching into her bag that was hanging from her shoulder and pulled out a clean piece of parchment and a self-inking quill to write something out quickly for Alicia while the appearance of the Fifth years began another conversation.

It was rather easy for Aria to write out what she was comfortable with. She had top marks in most of her classes, but only a select few she was comfortable teaching others. She wrote down that she was comfortable teaching first through third years in Charms, Potions, and Care of Magical Creatures. She wouldn’t mind familiarizing herself with the Hospital Wing just in case and was on friendly terms with the House Elves. She was even willing to look after any staff animal since she had already promised the elves she would look after Alice. However, if they feel she’ll fit in another capacity, she would be willing to do that as well.

Once completed with her information, she gave it to Alicia and excused herself from the conversation.

(OOC: I might have missed some points in the conversation, if I did, so sorry!)

6 Aria Hanging does not sound like a fun idea. 0 Aria 0 5

DH Skies

April 08, 2014 10:10 PM

Clarification by DH Skies

Hi,

Please can you clarify some things regarding Aria's skills in medical magic.

Although, within the field, healing broken bones may be relatively simple, I would think that even simple medical magic is quite complicated, relative to other areas.

As Aria is under age, she would not be able to practise healing spells under the supervision of her mother (and I got the impression that this is where her experience comes from), unless her community flouts the rules regarding this. Therefore, can you clarify how she has mastered any spellwork in this area.

If you would like me to edit your post, please let me know.

Thanks.

13 DH Skies Clarification 26 DH Skies 0 5

Anonymous

April 09, 2014 6:45 AM

Re: Clarification by Anonymous

I have long since established that this community runs differently to everything else as well as that Aria has been training with her mother for as long as she can remember. This community is not traditional and runs much like the Reservations where they have an agreement with the government and their laws run separate to that of the government. This society does not have formal education training, but rather, runs through apprenticeships. Which means that their 'school' year is not limited to September through June, but rather, is year around and the use of magic begins the moment they are allowed a wand. They do have schooling, but it's not formal and only covers basic education, like reading and writing and basic spells that everyone should know how to do. Their formal education is through their apprenticeship. So, yes, children under the age of 17 can use magic regardless of the time of year.

Aria's apprenticeship began when she was a child by collecting the ingredients for potions. This moved on by learning how to produce those potions, this is why she is skilled in potions as she has long since been learning the process. Actual healing with her wand has only been over the last couple of years. Starting out small with with skin abrasions. The deeper the cut, the more difficult it is for her to heal and most likely will end in a scar. Bones are more complicated, but her community is full of people who easily break bones based on their jobs (such as, working with the cows), so she has the experience with it. Hairline fractures are something she is confident in healing, along with smaller fractures. Chipped bones require more concentration. Compound fractures are beyond her skill level along with head trauma, internal bleeding, missing limbs, etc.

I certainly will never and have never claimed that she is advanced in the work, but she does have experience with and plenty of opportunity to learn while at home. Considering I have established the community long ago and have stated on several occasions that it is an apprentice based community, the use of under age magic is well known. I do not feel as though my post was out of character in any way and does not need to be edited.

0 Anonymous Re: Clarification 0 Anonymous 0 5

DH Skies

April 09, 2014 10:45 PM

Re: Clarification by DH Skies

Thank you, that does make it clearer.

As staff, we do try to read everything but we're only human, and it's not always possible to remember everything about every character. Therefore we sometimes need clarifications where, without the backstory, something seems out of place.

13 DH Skies Re: Clarification 26 DH Skies 0 5