>>32556937
>Listen

IT's our best option at the moment. We need exposition.

>>32556937
>Listen to him
PLOT!

You stop trying to scream and calm down a little bit. This place is still creepy and dark, and it has you on edge. You pick up your wand and relight it.

“Okay, good.” The boy says.

“My name is Richard. Sorry about the scare.” He grins sheepishly. “I maybe shouldn't have snuck up on you like that. But you really shouldn't be down here. This is like one of the deepest parts of the castle, you never know what may find you down here.” He looks around. “Look, I'll lead you back up to the Great Hall. But you have to do me a favor, you can't talk about what you saw here. Deal?” He holds out his hand and you feel the silencing charm lift.

“What exactly is this place?” You ask as soon as you can speak again.

“It's nowhere. It's where I come to study. It's not important. I just really need this kept quiet. I'll pay you. A Galleon. Okay?”

>Deal
>Pry for information
>Gouge for money.

>>32557242
>Pry for Info

MORE EXPOSITION!

>>32557242
>Pry for information
We Ravenclaw, We want know everything!

>>32557242
>Pry for information

>>32557242
>Pry for information

“Why do you come to the deepest part of the school to study? And why do you need a skull?”

“I...um, uh... I'm an Advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts student. I'm getting some on hands study with dark arts. I'm down here for everyone else's safety.”

“Wouldn't it be safer somewhere where the teachers could keep an eye on your projects?”

“Well, I, maybe. But... I'll ask, next time I see Professor Morse. Maybe move up to the third floor.”

“What's behind that door?” You ask pointing at the painted door.

“Supplies, for studying.”

“And the skull? It seems almost like an alarm. Like to make sure you know if someone finds this place.”

“Well, like I said its dangerous. I need to make sure no one does anything unsafe.”

“What are you studying?”

He goes silent. His tan skin gets a little paler. “Nothing. Just... We're leaving.” He grabs you forcefully by the arm and starts to drag you away.

>Try to break free. Roll 1d10
>Cast a spell. Roll 1d10
>Go with him.

>>32557595
>Go with him.
He's already proven he's our suprerior in magic, and is bigger than us. So, we'll sneak back when he's not looking.

>>32557595
>Go with him.
No need to piss off the shady older student.

>>32557595
>Go with him

We can sneak back down later.

You let him drag you out of the alcove and back the way you came. Its clear he knows the way. He takes many sharp turns, and at one point makes five lefts in twenty meters and still ends up somewhere new. Walls melt into smoke as you pass through them and stairs file out from behind statues. Finally you make it to the Great Hall.

He shoves a Galleon at you and says; “Not a word. Not to anyone, least of all Professor Morse. And I sware, I will know.” He stalks off back into the dungeons leaving you alone in the Great Hall.

You don't quite know what to do. The last class of the day is more than half over already, but you suppose you could pop in and try to explain things.

>Go to class
>Go to the common room
>Try to follow Richard back down into the dungeons. Roll 1d10.

>>32557595
>Go with him.
Fuck it, let's just rat this shady mofo out later. If his verse has a Filch equivalent he'll be delighted at a chance to break out the thumb screws.

Rolled 1

>>32557876
>Follow

>>32557876
>Go to class
Enough adventure for one day.

>>32557876
>Go to class
I get the feeling first years getting lost isn't an uncommon occurrence.

>>32557876
>>Go to class

You decide to try and catch the end of History of Magic. You head up to the fifth floor and try to sneak into class. Professor Smithe, a fat man with a pencil mustache, smiles as you walk in.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Morris. Lost in the halls?”

“The dungeons actually. A... An older student found me and helped me out.”

“Hm. Well, take your seat, this is the last week that getting lost will be an acceptable excuse.”

“Yessir.” You scramble to your seat and pull out your books.

The class only lasts a few more minutes, and as you are released Alex runs up to you. “You okay? I meant to tell Professor Ricimer after potions that you were missing, and then I meant to tell Professor Varus after Herbology. I was going to tell Professor Smithe.”

“Thanks Alex.”

“You were gone for a long time though. Were you just lost or did something else happen?”

>Tell him.
>Don't tell him
>“I don't want to talk about it.”

Rolled 7

>>32558211
>Tell Him.

>>32558211
>>Don't tell him
We did promise.

>>32558211
>Don't tell him
That older student could help us in the future, maybe even teach us his secrets.
Also, our friend is really unreliable.

>Don't tell
Could go good or bad really.

“No, nothing. The dungeons are just really big. I had no idea how deep the school goes.”

“Sounds like you had an adventure.”

“Yeah.”

The next week is fairly uneventful. You learn the Fire Making Charm (Incendio) in your DADA class. You don't see Richard except during meals, and sometimes in the Great Hall you see him staring at you, you think he really would know if you told anyone.

You manage to do some studying and get a few more hours into potions.

The week is fairly normal until sunday morning. On Sunday you are in the common room helping Alex with his potions homework when one of the first year girls comes dashing into the common room.

“Jenny's gone missing!” She yells. Everyone pulls in close to hear her. You know that Jenny is another one of the first year Ravenclaws. “She didn't come back to the room last night so this morning I went to Professor Ricimer and told him. He talked to Professor Varus who said that she had missed some extra credit work he had assigned yesterday. So they started looking and they found her bag in the dungeons.”

“Thats horrible.” Alex says. You can already feel yourself getting pale. Maybe its nothing, but you have the feeling that you getting lost and Jenny's disappearance are somehow connected.

>Its fine
>Tell Alex and ask what he thinks
>Tell Professor Ricimer
>Other

>>32558949
>>Other
Go look for her in the dungeons.

>>32558949
>Other
Let's go down to the dungeons and look for her. Maybe bring Alex for backup.

>Sounds like a job for Kvothe the Raven!
Go search for her.

>>32558949
>Other
Excuse yourself and go to the dungeons.

>>32558949
>Tell Alex and ask what he thinks

>>32559064
>>32559067
>>32559081
>>32559082
Looks like we're going to the dungeons. But how many people are we bringing? Anywhere between alone and recruiting a posse.

>>32559117
Go wander alone. There shouldn't be anything too dangerous.

You can't tell anyone, not with Richard possibly monitoring you magically. But you can't leave Jenny down there, most of all because you've just realized that if there is a skull down there, it has to have come from someone.

You start to run and are out the door before Alex even starts to yell; “Where are you going?”

You dash down Ravenclaw tower and into the dungeons. You try to follow the path you remember from before, it's not easy going backwards through all the paths that Richard took you on that day, but you finally find the dark alcove, and inside you can hear the chattering skull.

You are walking with Jenny, back up to the Great Hall. You stop.

“What?” You say aloud.

“What, what?” Jenny looks surprised.

You look at her, she's clinging to you, she's scared, covered in dirt, and her left arm is red-black burned and bleeding.

“What happened?” You ask.

“You saved me from a band of pixies that caught me and dragged me into the dungeon.”

“How did your arm get burnt?”

“The pixies were playing around in an old fireplace and burned me. I told you.” She looks confused.

“Right, sorry.” You keep walking.

“Don't turn into Alex on us. I don't think he could have found his way down here... Or back out.”

You're already most of the way back to the Great Hall, and you have no idea how you got here. You take stalk of yourself. You don't feel hurt, you have your wand, you're a bit dizzy. But you can't worry now, you need to help Jenny.

More incoming

>>32559433
Oh boy. We got Obliviated. Even without Harry, Hogwarts still has some serious student safety issues.

Which makes me wonder how much worse the other schools are, that Hogwarts is still considered the safest of them.

>>32559488
A student or two disappears once in a while never to be seen again.

>>32559433
Which house does Richard belong to?

You get her back to the Great Hall, and up to the Hospital Wing. The old man Nurse Asclepius starts to fawn over her as soon as she arrives and sends for the other teachers. He insists that you stay and get checked out as well.

After a while the headmaster arrives with Professor Ricimer in tow. The Headmaster is a tiny man, with tiny eyes and tiny hands. He has little wisps of strawberry blonde hair under his bright blue, wizards cap which matches his blue robes.

“Are you alright, Ms. Brown?” He asks Jenny, sitting on the edge of her bed and gently examining her arm.

“Yes, Headmaster. Nurse Asclepius is taking good care of me.”

“And you, Mr. Morris?” The Headmaster asks turning his head to you.

“I'm fine sir.” You say.

“Good. Now tell me what happened.” He turns back to Jenny.

Still more coming

>>32559539
Richard is in Slytherin. Forgot to mention that.

She starts in on a story about how yesterday she had been coming back from some extra credit work with Professor Ricimer in the potions room when she had been accosted by pixies. She says she had tried to run away from them but had ended up caught in a big nest deep in the dungeons. She explained that the pixies had a hearth in their nest and that they had acidentally triggered some of the lighting charms and burned her when she tried to escape up the chimney. She had ultimately ended up locked in a wardrobe overnight until you had come and saved her the next morning.

When the story is finished the Headmaster turns to you. “Anything to add, Mr. Morris?”

>Tell him the truth
>Tell him the WHOLE truth
>Go along with Jenny's story.

>>32559670
>Tell him the truth\

>>32559670
>Tell him the truth

>>32558949
>You learn the Fire Making Charm (Incendio)
>incendio
>first years
>hey, eleven year olds!
>wanna know how to shoot fire?

ummmm, hogwarts what are you doing. you are a school not an elaborate self-destructing kenetic statue.

>>32559867
Wizard are a bit weird.

>>32559670

>tell him the WHOLE truth.

this shit is spooky.

we should throw that galleon away first chance. preferably into the lake. Its probably cursed as fuck.

>>32559867
Thatcomicinwhichawizardconjuresshotgunsandleavesthemlyingaround.jpeg

“I don't remember any of that.” You say. “I remember going down into the dungeons looking for Jenny, and I remember coming out, but I don't remember anything in between.”

The Headmaster looks confused. “Do you mean that it's a blur? That you have trouble remembering?”

“No, I just don't remember at all, it's like a gap.”

“I remember,” Jenny says. “When we were almost back at the Great Hall and you started acting funny. It was like you had just showed up and didn't know how you had gotten there, but you had been with me for a while.”

“Ms. Brown, can you tell me how Mr. Morris managed to fight off a whole nest of pixies?”

“No, I... I don't remember.”

“Interesting.” The Headmaster becomes lost in thought for a moment. “Professor Ricimer, move your things to the second floor. The dungeons are closed to students until further notice. As for you two,” He looks at you and Jenny. “I think it would be best if your faulty memory was not a well known fact. Please continue to repeat the story you told me, and tell it to anyone who will listen. Mr. Morris you are free to go. Ms. Brown you are free to go as soon as Nurse Asclepius releases you. Good day.” The Headmaster stands quickly and hobbles out the door.

You have the rest of Sunday ahead of you, and you think you'd like to stay out of trouble.

>Study (subject)
>Study (spell)
>Keep Jenny company
>Hang out with Alex

>>32560015
Ha ha ha ha ha

>>32560147
STUDY (Spell)
Gonna have to fight something sooner or later.

>>32560147
>Keep Jenny company
I feel like we should talk to the person that got mind-fucked in the dungeons.

>>32560147

>Ha ha ha ha ha
I sure can call em.

>study(spells that could effect memory. what the hell happened to us?)

>>32560147
>Keep Jenny company
>Hang out with Alex

both. we'll be the pyrite trio.

>>32560147
>Study(mind-altering spells)

>>32560147
>Keep Jenny company

>>32560359

Seconding.

We're a Ravenclaw and can put two and two together.

In character, we know and suspect that Richard is doing some weird shit in the dungeons, and that we "rescued" a girl from his skull hideout.

>>32560015
Or spend it right away to get it away from us. Let's buy some shit ASAP.
>>32560359
Thirded

>>32560449

>not spending the galleon on protection from mind altering bullshit so next time Tricky Richard won't be able to bamboozle us

>>32560449
>>32560506

>SPENDING cursed money

what is wrong with you people

>>32560554
If we don't have it, it's not our problem.

>>32560554

You'd prefer to keep the cursed coin instead?

You say goodbye to Jenny and start for the library. You find Mister Gragora the librarian sticking shelves. He is a young man, only just out of school himself, and he dresses in a muggle suit, which makes you a bit more comfortable around him.

“Do you have any books about mind altering spells?” You ask him in the most polite way you can.

“Not for you, Shane. That stuff is all in the restricted section. Besides you couldn't do any of that magic yet anyway.”

“But I don't want to know how to do it. I just want to learn about it.”

“Heard it.”

“But Mister Gragora...”

“No means no.” He turns back to stocking the shelves.

“Well then... what about protecting against mind altering spells?” You ask.

He turns back around to you. “Haven't heard that one.” He looks around. “Lets go have a look.” He leads you back through the endless stacks of the Hogwarts library. You have a feeling it would be as easy to get lost here as it is in the dungeons. Mister Gragora knows the way like the back of his hand though, and he drags you around like he's tracing an intricate maze.

more incoming

Finally you get to a shelf that is half collapsed against the shelf across from it and Mister Gragora levitates a book down. As it lands he brushes a thick layer of dust and dead bugs off of the book. The cover has big, golden, peeling lettering which reads; 'Occlumencii; A Guide To Magickal Wardes of the Mynd'.

“Bit old, and probably too advanced for you. But it's on the up and up, I feel totally fine letting you borrow this.”

You take the old book from him gingerly. “Thanks, I'll take good care of it.”

You spend the rest of the day trying to make the most you can of the book. You do pick up a few things, but more than anything you realize that if a real, experienced wizard tried to get in your mind, you'd be helpless.

The next week comes and you start to plan your schedule.

What do you want to do with your freetime? (I suggest mixing and matching stuff)

>Hang out with your friends
>Study book
>Study (subject)
>Study (specific spell)
>Other

>>32560815
>Hang out with your friends
>Study book

>>32560815

>Study the book
>Study Charms, Potions, DADA
>Hang out with our friends

Probably the best way to go about things is to get our friends interested in these issues.

If we start studying hard now, we could be a conceivable threat by the end of the year.

>>32560815

>hang out with friends
>pursued them to form a study-group long term?
>study efficient study habits together.
>tell wizarding kids muggle stories (star wars? they'd probably eat that shit up) in exchange for wizardy stories so we can learn about this culture we are apparently adopting.

>>32560815
>Study book
>Hang out with your friends
Study book with our friends! A typical Ravenclaw party!

>>32560899
>pursued

goddammit autocorrect, you cunt.

>persuade

>>32560815
>Study book
>Study (Charms, Potions, DADA)
I'd like to devote as much time as possible to these.
With a bit of:
>Study with your friends
When convenient.

>>32560815
Study the FUCK out of that book. The sooner we have a nigh-permanent ward up, the sooner we can fake being altered and ruin some bad guy's day with shit we were supposed to forget. What's that spell you cast at him? Avadasomething? Here, lemme try...
also, no way THAT could ever go horribly wrong; not knowing the curses and their effects.

>>32560815
>Study book
>Study Charms, Potions, DADA

>>32560815
>Study book
We studied other things over the weekend.

You spend the next week studying with Alex after class in the library. When Jenny gets out of the Hospital Wing she is still wearing a cast but she comes to study with you and Alex in the library. You notice that she is more jumpy than she was before, and you feel really bad, especially since neither of you know what really happened down there.

You pay special attention to that book, though otherwise your studies are fairly spread out. By the end of the week you've read the book through, though you're not sure how much it helped. You do feel at least more ready, knowledge is the greatest weapon you can think of, and you have a feeling you're going to need some serious firepower sometime soon.

The week passes, and the week after that. You keep taking out that book, reading it again. And you and Alex become great friends, Jenny manages to join your little group, and for a while hogwarts seems normal. Though you still cringe when you see the massive scar that burn left, that Nurse Asclepius says she'll have for the rest of her life. “Powerful dark magic.” He called it.

Life seems normal, until Halloween.

End of Part 3

Next thread will hopefully be Friday, though a weekend thread is likely.

I'm having a lot of fun with this and its been years since I've gotten to write like this. Thanks for reading.