Arriving at Hogwarts, I found a
once fun, open and competitive learning environment had been transformed into a
land of rules and consequences...
Trouble soon came in the form of
a student being lost in Forbidden Forrest, having been sent their on detention
by one Delores Umbridge- head of the inquisitorial squad. Why, you ask? Well
during one of her lessons a student sneezed, and the lost student had said
'bless you' which apparently counts as "speaking out of turn" with
Ms. Umbridge. Heading into the Forest, the other students kept the perilous
creatures at bay long enough to find some fairy eggs. (At this point the
humidity of the forest got the better of me and I went back to the Slytherin
common room). I learned from the fine upstanding Slytherin, Swoop, the fairy eggs
were fed to some creatures, which got us to a line of fire elementals that
needed to be doused with Auquamente. The lost student was found with no voice
(it was stolen by ghosts) A puzzle needed to be solved to free our classmate
and return her voice, while that was being solved ghosts were possessing people
and there were wolves. The students made it back to Hogwarts. Everyone was told
to meet for class with Delores Umbridge at Noon sharp.
The next day, we met with
Umbridge, promptly at Noon sharp (1:30 or so Hogwarts time) who was very
disappointed in us interfering in her 'punishment'. She went on to tell us that
if we thought that was rough, it was nothing compared to what was in store for
any of us who broke the rules. We were then told to sit through a two hour
lecture on the history of Magic, and that there would be a test. Thankfully
before the lecture could even begin, Luna Lovegood and Professor McGonagall
pulled us for a more important task... We were to find the Diadem of Rowena
Ravenclaw.
Shortly after, there lay before
us a perilous quicksand pit that could only be traversed by leaping from rock
to rock. All around, doglike creatures barked and clawed at us. With quick
thinking, a student (probably a Slytherin) discovered that the creatures
responded to good old fashioned fetch. With a healthy supply of sticks, we
managed to distract most of them, and looking back I believe I noticed Janus
rubbing two of their bellies, crying out "MY ARMS ARE GETTING TIRED MOVE
QUICKLY!". The students made it through and we made it to what seemed to
be a set of crude tolls set up by trolls. Vesper paid the toll first, walking unscathed
by the first set of trolls and on to the second. Out of money and with no
allies, the second toll promptly killed him. It seems pretty apparent that we
had to pay the troll toll, if we wanted to get to that boys soul (vesper), or
otherwise just massacre every troll that stood against us. Given the choice
between parting with our coin and showing an utter disregard for the life of
living things, the choice was more clear - they never stood a chance.
Moving forward, we helped some
endangered species find their nest so that they could lay eggs and moved on to
an area that required us to fish for bait to lure some wild cappa in to use
their 'fluids' to open the next path. There were some sharks and through the
use of some complicated magics one of the students had, for a short while, a
shark mount. It was slain when it became clear that his mount was just swimming
around killing students.
We made it to a sea monster, and
discovered we'd need some supplies to properly capture it (nothing else was
working and it was swallowing our students). We headed to Diagon Alley, where a
pudding shoppe was set up to give many of the students a much needed sugar
spike. We found the tools we needed to complete the task, and went forth and
captured the sea monster.
Shortly after, we were led to
Rowena Ravenclaw's ghost. She told that only the pure of heart could be given
her Diadem, and that none of us could be implicitly trusted with it - so we
must undergo a series of tests. We were split into seven teams relatively even
in terms of house. This was done by letting the prefects serve as captains and
do round picks (being the brave and talented Slytherin that I am, I was one of
the first four chosen). We fought off
birds, solving a puzzle that helped us to silence their confusing and alarming
cries, and made it to the next test. Random puzzle pieces were distributed, and
trough teamwork the correct pieces were traded off and seven puzzles were
solved. the next test was a riddle, followed by blindly forming a square with
some string. finally Rowena's ghost was satisfied, but she could not choose who
to grant the Diadem to; so it was left to the us to decide. the student needed
to be pure of heart and must have never had a dark mark. The students came to a
consensus and the Diadem was bestowed
upon Red from Gau Dring. Dumbledore appeared and told us all that we would be
venturing into a horcrux come nightfall to destroy it.
Nightfall came, and we went out
in groups of six students, we encountered challenges (highlights include Sarix
briefly becoming immortal and someone eating a baby). The horcrux must've had
its own immune system, because the skies opened up and torrential downpours and
viscous lightning hit us unrelentingly - which is how the night ended. The next
day we reconvened in the horcrux. its immune system now taxed,we finished the
task and destroyed the horcrux. We faced a few other challenges, one in which
the mighty Slytherin Grebinar retrieved some special flames that burn eternal
(almost symbolic of the eternal superiority of house Slytherin).
We came upon a barrier that could
only be taken down if special creatures were killed by special means (thank you
Enlon for that boost) and we fought through some more trolls (apparently
Umbridge let them in the castle as her personal guard), making it back to
Hogwarts. Dumbledore then confronted Umbridge, claiming that she didn't even
work the ministry and was just insane. He took Umbridge away and we ended our
term.
Overall it would seem this years
term was more about the unification of houses for the common good, and less
about posturing and house rivalry. Hopefully next year things go back to normal. I travel pretty far from Neden lands to reach Hogwarts, and I barely got to
cause any mischief. Maybe next year we can all get back to our beloved Patronus vs Patronus.