Owls and Wands: A Hogwarts Roleplay

[The Honor Spren]

Lorelei's eyes widened as Eleanor's wand lit up. "Woah. That's neat." Then she frowned. "Just a second." The music had changed to some sountrack from a broadway show. Pretty good, even if there was a lot of American bias.

"I am not throwing away my shot. I am not throwing away my --" 

"Sorry about that." Lorelei smiled. "It can get kinda distracting."  She glanced to the side. There was a boy sitting on the ground  out there. "Are you sure you don't want to come into my compartment?" she called, "I'm sure it's more comfortable than out there."

~∮~

"You want anything?" Michael asked, holding a licorice wand out. 

"Just a chocolate frog." Paloma replied, reaching out to take it. "I wonder if it has a good card. . . . Oh, it's just another Harry Potter. I have dozens of these already." They turned and got to the compartment Michaelhad picked for them. "Hey, I think there's more than one kid in here."

Edited March 27, 2016 by The Honor Spren

[Silverblade5]

@Nashan

 

Hey! Excuse me, mind if we sit down?

[Master Elodin]

Lorielis eyes widened.

"Woah. That's neat."

Yes! She thought. Her first modification had worked. Now to try out her other magitech.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Master Elodin

[Young Bard]

Gregory grimaced, but got up and wandered into the compartment, tugging his cat along behind him, brushing past the girl.

 

Please, don't let them drag me into their conversation. Quickly, he grabbed a book out of his bag and started pretending to read. There. Surely they won't bother me now.

Edited March 27, 2016 by The Young Bard

[Master Elodin]

Eleanor could see that the boy didn't want to be bothered, but she was really curious what he was reading. So she did what any reasonable person would do, and sat down next to him and started reading.

"This is boring. Not enough dragons."

He just grunted, and Eleanor decided to return back to her seat. She looked out the window and saw a helicopter flying behind the train. Storms, she thought. They were the mercenaries her mother has hired to bring her back.

"Sorry guys, just a second."

She opened the window and flicked her wand at the helicopter, turning on the EMP pulse. It stopped moving in midair, and fell to the ground. Luckily, it was a small fall. She closed the window and said

"Ok. All done."

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

Victor's cat slid from his shoulders and made himself comfortable on one of the seats, making Shannon wish he was a prefect after all. He had a cat, he'd given that cat a cool name, he was from a completely different school….dear Merlin, he could very well be the most interesting student on the train. And Shannon liked interesting people. She liked people in general, but the interesting ones were, well, more interesting. 

 

Just as she was mulling over how to say "You'll need to find a different car" in the most diplomatic way possible, salvation entered the car in the form of Serena Lockhart. 

 

A Ravenclaw who had been a prefect the year before, Serena was in her natural state, her nose glued firmly to the interior of a book. Shannon had learned quickly that the way to her good side was to give her plenty of quiet space to read—or, better yet, a good book and quiet space to read it. So long as the rules weren't broken in any meaningful way, Lockhart was one of the less strict prefects. 

 

"Say, Lockhart," Shannon said, crossing to where Victor sat and putting an arm around his shoulders, "Victor here is an exchange student. I know he's not a prefect, but d'you think he could stay anyway? Promise we won't bother you." And if you say no, I've got some lovely books on DADA theory with your name on them. Once I wheedle them out of our DADA professor. 

Edited March 28, 2016 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Voidus]

Serena stood up, pulling her book up with her and turned to look at the pair.

An exchange student? Did they mention something like that?

She cast her mind back to her yearly letter from the school, she didn't remember anything about a transfer student but then they might not be likely to tell all the prefects.

Well he didn't seem likely to interrupt her studies and she was a role model for the school, they'd do best to be welcoming to a foreign student.

"Of course." She replied "The head boy and girl are probably supposed to talk to him anyway."

She was about to turn back to her book when she remembered her manners.

"Pleased to meet you." She said to the boy - Victor. "Serena Lockheart, Ravenclaw prefect."

[Mestiv]

"Victor Brzęczyszczykiewicz" he answered, while picking up Mefisto and putting him on his lap. The cat kept looking at Serena reproachfully, but other than that stayed on Victors lap, where he felt safe. "Thank you both for the hospitality, I feel kinda lost here. As you've guessed Shannon, I'm from abroad, from Poland to be precise. I'll be joining fifth years classes, hopefully I won't make a fool of myself."

 

So far, it seemed that young wizards in Britain were very similar to their muggle counterparts. The train was full of screams and laughter, just like a bus on school trip. However, that didn't help Victor to feel relaxed. He was going to enter a new school, curriculum of which he knew only briefly and he was very insecure about his skills and knowledge. The committee from three weeks ago seemed satisfied with what he knew, however, they may have misjudged him.

 

"So, both of you are prefects, right? What duties do you exactly have, apart from guarding this car from mere mortals?" 

[Clockwork]

     Chas got up. He couldn’t stand listening to this other student any longer- it was giving him a headache. As he walked into the hallway, he bumped into the trolley.

 

     “Anything for you, dear?” the old witch asked.

 

    “3 Blood-flavored lollipops, and a pumpkin pasty, please.” The students in the seat next to him, as well as his talkative friend turned towards him as soon as he ordered.

 

     “1 sickle, please.” The witch barely said before a 1^st-year witch in the seats next to him stood up and said, “Are you really going to eat those? Or are they for a prank?”

 

     “Why would I not eat them? They taste perfectly fine.” He paid the witch, then walked off quickly, before he had to answer any more questions about his tastes, and through it his affliction.

 

     The urge to bite someone was growing, and would soon be unbearable, so he shoved the lollipop in his mouth. The hunger came quicker and quicker lately. He just hoped he’d be alright at Hogwarts. They’d made a plan, but all plans have flaws.

[Mistrunner]

Lizzie was late, as usual.

She flat-out ran across the platform and onto the train, silently berating herself yet again for feeling the need to call her grandmother to say goodbye. She loved her grandma, but the woman was very lonely and very chatty. It was the last time she'd be able to talk to her until Christmas, though. Unless they allowed you to phone people at Hogwarts. Did they even have cell reception way out there? Jake had never answered that question.

Lizzie was already in her school uniform. Was that too pretentious? She saw people wearing jeans. She probably shouldn't be wearing it; she'd gotten strange looks at King's Cross. It looked especially strange when combined with her bright purple backpack, but what was she supposed to do, leave it behind? It had books in it. And her journal (most definitely not a diary anymore, no matter what Jake said and no matter how much glitter happened to be gracing the cover).

As she walked through the train, she spotted a compartment with two girls and a reading boy in it who looked to be about her age. She lowered her voice- she found disturbing a reader to be the greatest of sins. "If it's all right with you, do you think I could sit here?" she asked.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Mistrunner

[Young Bard]

"Hey! Nice skirt."

 

Angus sighed as he walked past the boy who'd spoken.

 

"Shut your bloody geggie and stop being such a bloomin' dunderheid. I've a mind to make a skelt you right here and now."

 

The offending first year spent several moments trying to work out what he'd just said. Eventually, he opened his mouth again for a retort, only to notice that the skirt wearer had already made his way nearly onto the train. "Bloody Scot."

 

Angus smiled once the boy was out of site. He could only pull that trick so many times in a year, but he was determined to make the most of it. People didn't know how to react to a kilt. It seemed to make them uncomfortable or something. Well, that was just fine by Angus.

 

Moving down the train, he didn't notice any of his usual group of freinds. Benny, of course had become a prefect, but the rest of them should be around somewhere. No matter. He could go searching again when the train was underway.

 

In the meantime, he ducked into a compartment. Inside, there were was a first year sitting there, and an older student (Angus thought he was a third year) as well.

 

"Top o' the mornin' to ye!" he cried enthusiastically. He noticed the first year was staring at him with... was that a bright red eye? "Don' mind if I stay 'ere for a while?"

Edited March 31, 2016 by The Young Bard

[Master Elodin]

A girl stood in the doorway of the compartment.

"Do you mind if I come in?"

"Sure," Eleanor said. The girl looked like someone who called her grandmother too often, but she seemed nice enough. She was proud of herself, as she didn't have much experience with making friends. It turned out to be pretty fun.

[Silverblade5]

Noticing the gathering crowd, Michael decided it would be best to move on. He quickly went further back, searching for an empty compartment. Finding one, he went back to get Paloma.

 

"Sorry about that. Guess I still need to figure out how to count properly, huh. Come one, I found one and it's actually empty this time."

[Voidus]

Serenas eyes had only just returned to her book when the transfer student spoke up again.

I am going to regret allowing this aren't I?

Still, she didn't mind occasional conversation, books didn't hold all the knowledge in the world after all, some of it had to be pried from the minds of those who in some heinous act decided not to commit their knowledge to paper.

And he was a transfer student after all, just someone curious about how things worked here and teaching others was something that gave Serena almost as much joy as teaching herself. Not quite since others never seemed to appreciate it as much as she did but still.

"A prefects duties and responsible are multitude and of great importance to the school." She started, eyes glossing over slightly as she visualized the letter she had been sent the previous year. "They are obligated to act as mentors to other students, setting the very best of examples-"

She felt a slight lurch, signalling that the train had departed the station, startling her briefly out of her rote speech. Looking over, she noticed the vacant look on Victors face as she recited the letter verbatim.

No appreciation.

She sighed softly before continuing.

"We stop students from breaking rules and make ourselves available if students need help." She summarized.

[Mestiv]

"A prefects duties and responsible are multitude and of great importance to the school. They are obligated to act as mentors to other students, setting the very best of examples-"

 

Victor looked at Serena dumbfounded. Was she quoting a teacher? Couldn't she just say that they're supposed to be good role models? He found it hard to believe that it was her regular speech pattern.

 

Sudden jerk of the train made him conscious of his face, it most likely wasn't expressing anything polite. Victor smiled, hoping she didn't notice.

 

"We stop students from breaking rules and make ourselves available if students need help."

 

So that's it? No privileges or powers over other students? Except this exclusive car, of course.

 

"Ok, one more thing. The Headmaster told me that I'll be taking part in sorting ceremony. I know that there are four houses in Hogwarts and every student in part of one. But how does that work? The houses compete with each other? They are nothing else but just different bedrooms? What's this sorting ceremony? You're from Ravenclaw," he said looking at Serena and then turned to Shannon, "and what about you? What house are you from?"

 

Victor went quiet when he noticed how many questions he had already asked without giving them a chance to answer. 

 

 

[Curious Anamaximder]

Nax was not suprised to see Angus scaring some poor first years. Nothing new. He walked down the corridor, humming a tune. Shoulda called Aunt Redfern. She's going to kill me. She doesn't know if the Ministry Orphanage got me to the station.

"Hey!!" He heard someone call. Nax spun, wand out, until he saw it was a first year. He lowered the wand.

"Are you Nax Isaac- Oscar? The best duelist under 18?"

"Unfortunately, yes. "

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

"Ok, one more thing. The Headmaster told me that I'll be taking part in sorting ceremony. I know that there are four houses in Hogwarts and every student in part of one. But how does that work? The houses compete with each other? They are nothing else but just different bedrooms? What's this sorting ceremony? You're from Ravenclaw," he said looking at Serena and then turned to Shannon, "and what about you? What house are you from?"

 

​Shannon felt her excitement growing with each rapid-fire question. Serena might have given the most boring answer possible—quoted from the prefects' letter, if she remembered right—but here was her chance to give a real answer. The sort of answer that wouldn't make a transfer student fall asleep on the floor from sheer boredom. 

 

"Slytherin. I'm from Slytherin." She grinned. "Went there after some idiots here told me I couldn't—my parents are Muggles, so there was this big old thing….anyway." She waved the rest of that sentence away; if Victor didn't know about the Second Wizarding War yet, he would soon enough. "Yes, they compete. There's loads of competition. Over everything. Marks, Quidditch, doing nice things for teachers—but you have to be careful there, a few will give you extra points for cheek and others will just take them away. You should go into Slytherin—I can show you around and get you acquainted with the talking stair near our dungeons. Do the stairs in Poland talk? I mean, not all of the stairs in Hogwarts talk, but this one does. You have to hear its study advice—I laughed for twenty minutes when it finally started giving advice about the Nigerian Prince scam, and…." 

 

Shannon wasn't sure, but she thought she felt disapproval radiating from Serena's side of the car, and she'd probably just confused Victor even more. Or maybe not. 

 

"I'm sorry, I'm rambling. But yeah. Join Slytherin." 

[Mestiv]

"...Do the stairs in Poland talk? I mean, not all of the stairs in Hogwarts talk, but this one does. You have to hear its study advice—I laughed for twenty minutes when it finally started giving advice about the Nigerian Prince scam, and…."

 

Whoa, she talks FAST - was the main thought in Victor's head, but after the initial torrent of words, he began to catch up. What was that part about points? The houses must be in some kind of constant competition where they get points. That sounds fun! Her offer to help was nice, but Victor couldn't quite figure out why did she encourage him to join Slytherin. She knew nothing about his skills and abilities. He could turn out to be a disadvantage to her house... And what was that about stairs? Talking stairs?

 

"I'm sorry, I'm rambling. But yeah. Join Slytherin." She finished her speech and finally caught a breath.

 

Another invitation to join her house... The other girl didn't try to recruit me, interesting. Also, wait a minute, wasn't that big, bad wizard from several years ago somehow associated with Slytherin? Weren't they his main supporters or something like that?

 

"Don't worry, you're not rambling, you just talk pretty fast." Victor answered, trying to remember step by step what she talked about. "I haven't met any talking stairs in Poland, but we have singing elevators in our Ministry of Magic." He paused for a moment, figuring out how to phrase his next question.

 

"Wasn't that bad wizard, Voldesomething, related to Slytherin? I have to admit, I've never paid much attention to news and recent history from wizarding world." Yeah, that should be casual enough. 

 

During the seconds he waited for an answer, Victor had a shocking thought. What if she invites me to her house, because she finds me attractive?! 

[Voidus]

Serena was about to resume her reading and leave the orientation to Shannon but then the transfer student said something she could scarcely believe.
 

"Wasn't that bad wizard, Voldesomething, related to Slytherin? I have to admit, I've never paid much attention to news and recent history from wizarding world."

Wow. Not being up to date on news is one thing but how do you forget the name of the most powerful immortal wizard in recent history?

Still, she sensed an opportunity for a lecture, so that gave her a chance to quirk one of her rare smiles.

"Voldemort." She corrected, a small feeling of unease running through her at the name. She wasn't old enough to remember the events but she knew plenty of witches and wizards who still shuddered every time they said it, and so much fear around the name had rubbed off on her.

"Born Tom Riddle, his maternal family the Gaunts were direct descendants of Salazar Slytherin, possessing the rare ability of Parseltongue that eventually led to the opening of the Chamber of Secrets and subsequent attacks on several muggleborn at the school. Of course it's all safe now, the basilisk was destroyed back in may of 1993."

Her tone grew excited as she continued to speak, her eyes leaving her book completely to examine her audience.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

Before Shannon could rescue him, Serena latched onto Victor's question and launched into a lecture that wouldn't have been out of place in History of Magic. It was an excellent lecture, really, full of not only details but explanations and extrapolations, personal and professional theories, genuine interest in her subject and a desire to help her student understand the War, its causes, and what it meant for him personally. Rowena Ravenclaw would have been proud. 

 

The other three Founders would've been snoring. 

 

Prefects had many duties, none of which Shannon had memorized but all of which she had written down and could refer to in an emergency. Interrupting never-ending lectures wasn't one of them, but contributing to the safety of all students was. Falling asleep in a car on the Express wasn't a threat to Victor's safety, not on its own, but it could be. If he was too bored to stay and he wandered into a car filled with….something dangerous, maybe something the Gryffindors had brought….

 

Fine. Serena's lecture wasn't a threat. Not really. But it was endless, and endless lectures reminded Shannon of Professor Binns, and just the name was enough to put her to sleep. 

 

"Come on, Lockhart, skip to the cool part. The part where Potter literally rose from the dead to beat You-Know-Who for good." 

Edited April 6, 2016 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Mestiv]

Victor sat there listening to the lecture about war with Voldemort. It was long. Very long. The train left London already and was now traveling through some loosely populated areas with lovely scenery. The weather was nice and Victor wished that he could go for a hike, see some of the countryside. Back in Poland he loved to travel and would frequently go camping with his parents. When he came to England he hoped he'd be able to visit Scottish mountains, see the wild nature of the northern parts of the island. He also hoped he'd be able to leave the Hogwart castle during the weekends to spend some time sightseeing.

 

His daydreaming got interrupted when Shannon spoke.

 

"Come on, Lockhart, skip to the cool part. The part where Potter literally rose from the dead to beat You-Know-Who for good."

 

That sounded interesting, people rising from the dead to defeat evil wizards wasn't something you'd hear about often. Victor also recognised the name Potter. That was some celebrity auror who's biographies were always available in every magic bookstore he'd visit. Victor vaguely remembered that it was this Potter that defeated Voldemort and now he was about to learn more about that...

[Voidus]

"Come on, Lockhart, skip to the cool part. The part where Potter literally rose from the dead to beat You-Know-Who for good."

Still no appreciation for the full story, but I suppose that is the actual important part. Best to practice keeping things concise, someday I'll need to fit all this into a strict lesson plan after all.

"Yes I suppose, so Harry Potter, also known as the Boy who Lived, the only person to ever survive the killing curse, but he was a baby when it happened the first time. Then he goes to Hogwarts, gets sorted into Gryffindor of course where he becomes friends with two others, Ron Weasley, the Auror, and Hermione Granger, the head of Magical law enforcement, though obviously at the time they were both just students. Anyway during their Hogwarts life they saved the philosophers stone, key to Immortality from Voldemort, then destroyed the basilisk that was in the chamber of Secrets, Harry won the triwizard tournament and escaped from Voldemort who was resurrected by then, he practically taught Defence against the Dark Arts for a year while he was still a student and then of course he went on the run when Voldemort took over the ministry."

She paused for breath for a moment, reaching the part of the story now that Shannon had actually asked for but you couldn't just jump into it like that, you had to give some backstory right? For context.

"So he's on the run, Dark Wizards and Death eaters all over the country trying to find him, he hides out with his two friends and then they break right into the Ministry of Magic, assault one of Voldemorts followers and steal this magic item from her then get out again completely untouched. Later in the year they managed to infiltrate Gringotts and break into a high-security vault, which has only happened once before in history as far as I know, they ride out of the bank on a dragon, break through the roof and fly off again."

The stares of both the carriages other occupants were significantly more interested now, Serena didn't see why riding a dragon was more interesting than signing the goblin peace treaties or ratifying the protections of Werewolves but she was thrilled to have an eager audience for once.

"So they lose the dragon, some people say they killed it with the sword of Gryffindor but I think that's just a legend. Anyway, then they break into Hogwarts, even though there's dementors, and dark wizards at every entrance, they fight them all off and free the school. But then Voldemort comes, and he has this entire army with him and all he wants is to kill Harry Potter." She paused for dramatic effect.

"So then of course, battle of Hogwarts, one of the most famous events in recent history, there were suits of armour fighting giants, students taking on Dementors and teachers fighting the Death Eaters. Harry goes out into the woods and faces Voldemort alone, doesn't pull out his wand or anything, just stands there staring at them. Voldemort points his wand and fires off a killing curse and there's this flash of light and they both go down, Voldemort gets up again and Harry stays down, dead."

"So now everyone stops fighting and everyone thinks it's all over, they're shocked, Harry's dead body is in front of them all. Then the quietest kid in school, Neville Longbottom grabs the sword of Gryffindor, runs straight at Voldemort and cuts his snake up right in front of him!"

This was one of Serena's favourite parts, the quiet underachiever that others didn't notice, taking on the most powerful wizard in the world and saving them all.

"Then Harry just jumps up again! Like he was pretending the whole time or something, everyone starts dueling again, there's flashes and explosions everywhere, the fighting moves into the Great Hall and these House Elves start coming out, stabbing at all the Death Eaters, and suddenly Hogwarts is winning, the only one left is Voldemort, he's facing off against Harry. Then they both fire their spells, Harry deflects the killing curse right back at Voldemort and kills him."

She was somewhat out of breath by the end of her speech, realizing that it had gone on for several minutes even though she'd tried to keep it brief she blushed slightly.

"So yeah, that's what happened." She finished somewhat anticlimactically. 

[Mestiv]

"So yeah, that's what happened." Serena finished her monologue.

 

"Huh, that was more interesting than I thought" Victor had to admit. "They should have made a series of movies about this Harry Potter guy. I bet they would be very popular..."

 

Victor sat quiet for a second, playing with Mefistofeles, who started to hunt one of the drawstrings of his hoodie. Then, to lighten up the mood after the somewhat serious and dark story asked with a smile:

 

"So, Shannon, you're from Slytherin. Are you considering the career path of an evil warlock overlord?"

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

"So, Shannon, you're from Slytherin. Are you considering the career path of an evil warlock overlord?"

 

It was unfortunate that Shannon happened to be sipping from her water bottle when Victor asked, because the ​snerk sound she made sent the water up her throat and out her nose. 

 

"Sorry," she said when she'd gotten her coughing under control, wiping the excess water off her face with her sleeve, "no. I thought about submitting that as my career plan this year, but I figured that'd be kind of insensitive." Too bad. She'd love to see the look on her Head of House's face when she announced her ten-year plan to 'replace my soul with coffee and become immortal.'

 

She knew it was a terrible idea, considering how You-Know-Who had become so powerful—one of those ideas more likely to inspire horror than laughter. It probably would've been funnier at her Muggle school. 

 

"I don't think most people set out to become evil warlock overlords, any….well, except for You-Know-Who. And Lestrange, from what I hear. And the Carrows."

 

Shannon paused, mentally ticking off the worst of the Death Eaters she'd heard about. 

 

"Actually," she said thoughtfully, "never mind. I guess being an evil warlock overlord is something you plan for."  

[Mestiv]

Shannon's reaction made Victor feel proud. He always found it very satisfying to make someone laugh, if it was a girl it was even better. Serena however didn't show almost any reaction to his question. I guess they don't teach humor in Hogwarts...

 

"Sorry, no." Shannon answered after dealing with her water incident, "I thought about submitting that as my career plan this year, but I figured that'd be kind of insensitive. I don't think most people set out to become evil warlock overlords, any….well, except for You-Know-Who. And Lestrange, from what I hear. And the Carrows. Actually, never mind. I guess being an evil warlock overlord is something you plan for."

 

"I personally would rather become a benevolent ruler of the whole magical world, worshiped and loved everywhere I went. It seems easier that way... I wonder what classes should I take to get there..." Victor tried to continue the joke for a while longer, although he was aware that it wasn't too clever. So, not to make it awkward, he switched the subject back to Houses.

 

"So, Slytherins are the bad guys, Gryffindors are the good guys... Judging by Serena here, Ravens are the ones who know too much. What about Hufflepuff? Anything interesting about them?" He made sure to say it in a light, almost silly tone to not offend anyone.