>>5744433
>Yakuba Silvermane, a ditzy pureblood Slytherin and history buff.

>>5744433
> Elvira Prewett, a clever pureblood Ravenclaw with a gift for Charms
Neat hook

> Elliot Hallaster, a cunning muggleborn Slytherin with a penchant for Potions
but really, anything but Gryffindor
>"Not Gryffindor, eh? You could be great, you kno-"
Fuck off, you stupid hat

> Elliot Hallaster, a cunning muggleborn Slytherin with a penchant for Potions

>>5744433
> Elliot Hallaster, a cunning muggleborn Slytherin with a penchant for Potions
A talent for mundane chemistry mayhaps?

>>5744448
>>5744473
>>5744489
“What?” You ask, with honest surprise. You should probably try to immediately try to turn it into your advantage somehow, but even the most Slytherin part of you couldn’t muster anything more than a surprised gasp. “Professor, it’s me, Elliot! I’ve been attending your classes since first year! I know I’m more of a Potions than Defense guy but-”

“Yes, yes, so I’ve been told,” he says, dismissively. “When even Headmaster Minerva acknowledged your existence, I realized the issue must lie elsewhere. But still, you must agree that it is strange. Were it just me, I could consider foul play from one of my many enemies from my time as auror, but… Hogwarts itself does not seem to acknowledge your existence. No wizard alive can tamper with its security enchantments.”

“My pensieve has no memories with you, though it shows no signs of tampering. Slughorn’s potions could not make me recall you. The safest thing to do would probably be to give you a drop or two Veritaserum-” you gasp as he suggests the truth serum, “Or even Legilimens, but no, I wouldn't do that to a child unless I had no other recourse. Over the last few days, I’ve cast every easily accessible spell and enchantment I could think of, both on you and me, but found nothing out of the ordinary.”

“What? When did you-”

“Which is truly and utterly bizarre,” he continues, not paying attention to you. “You know, this reminds me of Dumbledore. Whenever he found something he couldn’t understand, he always got a glint of amusement in his eyes, of genuine curiosity… I only have frustration, I’m afraid.”

“Professor, please. I- What are you getting at?” You ask, exasperated.

“I don’t know, Elliot. I don’t know. I don’t have a single idea of what point I am trying to make, other than there being something strange afoot.” His eyes grow heavy, a shadow passing through them. “I can’t help but feel like a storm is coming. The question is… Is it centered on me and my family, and you are simply collateral, or is it centered on you, and I’m the one getting caught up in its winds?”

There is a long silence as you digest what you just heard. A fear slowly creeps up your spine.

“Do… do you think-”

“No,” he says at once, gently touching the scar on his forehead. Then he gives a genuine smile. “Not him. If I can guarantee you anything, it is that Voldemort is not involved. Still very much dead, fortunately.”

[cont.]

“Still, whatever it is that is happening, I figured you needed to know it,” he continues. “If something really is happening, past experience has shown me that not knowing about it can be extremely frustrating and dangerous. I do not intend to hide anything from you, unless it is absolutely necessary. I hope that you will extend me the same courtesy by not revealing this to anyone… Anyone but your closest friends, as I am sure you will do whether I ask you to or not. But no one besides them. Please.”

What are you supposed to do? Say no to the boy who lived?

You nod.

“Good. Now you should go to sleep. And don’t worry too much, Elliot. I think it is quite obvious that if anyone is a lightning rod for disaster, it isn’t you,” he says with a grin.

--

You stumble back to your quarters, heading into the dungeons and speaking the password, your head swirling with questions upon questions. You almost slam into one of your best friends as you head in.

“So,” they ask with a grin. “How was the date with little Miss Potter? Not everyone gets to date their senior, the daughter of the Deputy Headmaster, the daughter of the Savior and the Head Prefect in the same night. Quite the achievement I must say. Don’t worry, as a secret, I made sure the entire House already knows about it.”

One of your two best friends, they are:

> Isaac Canis, a muggleborn specializing in Charms
> Anne Abbot, a pureblood always talking with the Magical Creatures of the Forbidden Forest
> Taylor Cycad, a true weirdo half-blood who spends his nights deep in Astrology books
> Raven Everdark, a forever edgy muggleborn called Linda Cobris who still hasn’t gotten over being a witch. Excels at Muggle Studies.

> Taylor Cycad, a true weirdo half-blood who spends his nights deep in Astrology books
> Raven Everdark, a forever edgy muggleborn called Linda Cobris who still hasn’t gotten over being a witch. Excels at Muggle Studies.

I have identified the Luna-type characters. Friendships with weirdos is always funny.

>>5744499
> Anne Abbot, a pureblood always talking with the Magical Creatures of the Forbidden Forest
> Raven Everdark, a forever edgy muggleborn called Linda Cobris who still hasn’t gotten over being a witch. Excels at Muggle Studies.

Sadly Ebony D'arkness Raven Way isn't available, but Raven seems goffik enough

>>5744499

> Taylor Cycad, a true weirdo half-blood who spends his nights deep in Astrology books
> Raven Everdark, a forever edgy muggleborn called Linda Cobris who still hasn’t gotten over being a witch. Excels at Muggle Studies.

Why, yes, I would like a magical goth potential gf, thank you very much

>>5744503
>>5744540

Hey, Linda,” you wave, still trying to put your thoughts in order.

“Raven,” she corrects. The dark hair, excessive black make-up and black clothes make Linda Cobris easy to stop. Not that she called herself that anymore, of course. Raven Everdark had insisted on being called that since day one, and, of course, exactly two people had actually done it. When you could remember it, of course.

I mean, yeah, you were also a muggleborn, so you knew that discovering yourself to be a wizard was the coolest thing ever, but you hadn’t shown up during third year with your tongue split in two because you were a real snake.

You still hadn’t figured out what sort of a person had done that kind of operation on a thirteen year old, and you were pretty sure you didn’t want to know. Still, she’d hexed people in your name and kept secrets that were actually important, so that made her a friend

“Yeah… that date went… a little weirder than I expected.”

“Ohhhh, why? Is she kinky? Did she tie you up? Did she summon demons to join you?”

“What? Li- Raven, no! Nothing happened!”

“Oh. That’s a shame. Should I go telling everyone you’re that bad of a kisser?”

“Sod off!” You say, but you’re smiling at the joke. “Is Tylor anywhere?”

“No, he went-”

As if on cue, the doors to the Common House open, and a Slytherin Prefect tosses in a bundle of books in humanoid form.

“Ten points from Slytherin, Taylor,” he spits. “For sneaking into the astronomy tower at night. I’ll make it twenty next time, and I swear that if we lose the house cup because of you, I will personally petition the Headmistress Minerva to have you expelled.”

The doors close as the Prefect leaves, and you help Taylor up.

“Still losing us points, aren’t you, Cycad?” You ask the brown-skinned boy.

“It is not my fault that Astronomy class takes place so early! If we want to see the good stuff, we have to go deeper into the night!” He quickly picks his books up with the experience of someone who has done so hundreds of times, adjusting his glasses and putting down the massive telescope he’s carrying on his back. “So, how was the date?”

“She told him he was a bad kisser and left!”

“Really? Did you at least cop a feel of something?”

“Ew, Taylor!”

“What? It isn’t like I’ll ever get lucky with anyone, so I have to live vicariously through him!”

[Cont.]

>>5744556

“Shut up both of you!” You say, laughing, as you drag them towards the good armchairs in front of the large windows into the Great Lake. In the murky waters, every now and then you see a creature pass by, or even the occasional merfolk saying ”hi” in sign language. There were rumors that that window alone had been responsible for increasing morale and helping get rid of Slytherin's reputation of being the evil bastards living in the basement of the school, and you could see why. Even at night, even after five years of this, the view was still fantastic.

You sit down, check if the living room is empty, get an honest oath from them to never say a word of this to anyone, then tell them the insanity of what Professor Potter just told you. They sit in silence for several minutes as they digest what you just told them.

“So… Hogwarts doesn’t know you?” Raven asks? “Doesn’t acknowledge your existence, he said?”

“Yeah. Apparently so.”

Once she says that it takes all three of you a matter of seconds to make the next obvious leap. You are Slytherin, after all.

You once heard a Ravenclaw say that cunning is just bad smarts, but you doubt that a Ravenclaw would have made that connection. More than that, you doubt a Ravenclaw would even have the balls to do anything about it.

“Say, Taylor…” you ask, with a grin. “That lack of acknowledgement of my existence… Do you think it extends to the security enchantments as well?”

“Why, my friend, I believe that if we were to point our telescopes at just the right place in the sky, the stars would tell you that the only way to be sure is by trying.”

“I think I agree.”


> Try to sneak into the Restricted Session, who knows what kind of knowledge you might find there
> Try breaking into one of the teachers' private rooms? Perhaps Charms, which the three of you are atrocious at?
> Try finding your way into another Common Room
> Maybe don’t go immediately abusing your potential powers. Sleep on it first. Maybe look for new opportunities.
> Other (Write in)

>>5744558
>Try to sneak into the Restricted Session, who knows what kind of knowledge you might find there
Delicious forbidden knowledge

>>5744558
>Maybe don’t go immediately abusing your potential powers. Sleep on it first. Maybe look for new opportunities.

>>5744558
> Try to sneak into the Restricted Session, who knows what kind of knowledge you might find there
BEWKS

> Try to sneak into the Restricted Session, who knows what kind of knowledge you might find there

File: 3d1d10774c24ba7eb70f89880(...).jpg (42 KB, 735x413)

42 KB JPG

>>5745121
>>5745098
>>5744572
It takes only a few minutes for you to get ready, and soon you are alone, sneaking out of the Slytherin Common Room under the strongest Disillusionment charm the three of you could cast. You carefully make your way through the dark school, dodging the ghosts and the eventual prefect. Up stairs, through corridors, up some more moving stairs and corridors, almost getting lost because the castle looks completely different at night then, finally, past the potions classroom, into the Central Hall and the Library.

Even more carefully now, you make your way past the rows of books, the wood creaking beneath your feet, your legs screaming at you from being half crouched for so long. Was there an Easy-crouching Potion? There had to be, right? The games you played in your muggle home all had their protagonists crouching for hours, it couldn’t possibly be that difficult.

You file the thought away for now, as the Restricted Session comes into view, the door closed by a simple latch. You had tried to unlatch it once before in your third year (at least half of Slytherin and Ravenclaw had, really) and it had resulted in a large wailing coming from the door and you being launched at Mach 3 through the library, but now…

*Click*

Oh, fuck yes.

You sneak past the door with an evil grin, the sheer potential of the knowledge you could put your hands on flying through your mind. Moste Potente Potions, perhaps? Fifteenth-Century Fiends for Raven? Stars in the Dark for Taylor? Or perhaps-

You see a flicker of light coming from a corner ahead and freeze.

You are not alone here.

Crap.

“Merlin’s balls, why is ancient sanskrit so bloody difficult!” You hear a feminine voice groan over the sound of pages being flipped.


> Sneak closer to discover who’s there
> Go try to find your own books, ignore the stranger
> Leave, you don’t want to risk being caught

>>5745191
> Go try to find your own books, ignore the stranger

>>5745191
> Sneak closer to discover who’s there

> Sneak closer to discover who’s there

>>5745191
>Sneak closer to discover who’s there

File: 00212.png (3.93 MB, 3000x1496)

3.93 MB PNG

>>5745200
>>5745224
>>5745277


Slowly, gently, you approach, peeking through only to see Head Girl, Prefect, daughter of the boy-who-lived, seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and the girl who had asked you on a date only to take her to her father’s office so he could tell you you didn’t exist, the beautiful overachiever Lily Luna Potter. She's pouring over some ancient looking tome, her fiery red hair cascading over the desk.

Considering your current situation, she was exactly the second worst person you could possibly find in here, except for, of course-

When Harry James Potter dropped his legendary Cape of Invisibility on the floor and materialized behind her, you very nearly gave out a scream that every single one of your future enemies would fight to get a memory of, as they would forever be able to use it to blackmail you, given the sheer ear-piercing quality it would have had if it had ever managed to slip through your throat.

You cover your mouth and just watch as the Deputy Headmaster slaps his daughter over the head with a piece of parchment, and she lets out a terrified shriek you immediately mark as needing to file away at a pensieve somewhere, for later blackmail use.

“Dad! What the hell! You nearly scared me to death!”

“I thought I told you to go to sleep.”

“I… was just doing some late-night research?”

“Yes, and I’m a pink acromantula. You’re here searching for an adventure,” he said matter-of-factly. “While abusing your privileges as Head Girl.”

“I can assure you this book is not adventurous at all. How did you even find me, anyway?” She asked, and he simply waved the parchment he’d hit her with. “Using the Map is cheating!”

“The Map is an ancient piece of Hogwarts Security your grandfather transformed into a pranking tool. I merely returned it to its original purpose.”

“You’ve grown boring.”

“Responsible is the right word.”

“Do you have any idea what I could have done with that map?”

“I studied with your uncle George, so yes, which is exactly why none of you ever put your hands on it. A Weasley-Potter with the power of the Marauder’s Map would bring this school to its knees, and its teachers to heart attacks.” Even from this distance, you could hear the smile on his voice. Then his tone shifts to a tired and worried one. “He doesn’t show up on it.”

“Even in there? That thing can beat polyjuice and animagus but can’t find him? Who in Merlin’s name is he?”

“I don’t know, Lily. But it isn’t your job to find out.”

“But I want to help!”

“No, you want to be in a magical adventure like the one your father had. I can assure you they are not fun to be in, just fun to be told about. Please, Lily. Leave it to me. I don’t want you getting involved. You're seventeen.”

"You were eleven."

"Yes, and I'd like my daughter to live a life with less death than mine. It's my job to protect you, not the other way around.”

[Cont.]

>>5745354

“... Fine. Could you at least tell me if you have any clues?”

He sighs and pinches his nose where once large glasses hung. “Are you keeping your Occlumency barriers up?”

“Yes, always!”

“Good. This doesn’t get out to anyone, understand?” She nods excitedly as he pulls the piece of parchment and stares at it for a few seconds, ensuring they’re alone. “The Stone is gone.”

“The Stone? The Resurrection Stone? The Resurrection Stone you told everyone was lost in the Forest?”

“I don’t know when it disappeared from the Vault, I hadn’t checked it in a while. I wanted to see if I could chat with Dumbledore’s shade, see if he had any bright ideas… it was gone.”

“The only people who knew about the stone were… us. Uncle and aunt? Anyone else?”

“No.”

“Have you checked the Wand?”

“Still in Dumbledore's hands.”

“Right. Any plans?”

“For today, take you to your Common Room and make sure you go to sleep. Tomorrow, upgrade any security enchantments that I can so they target him. Hogwarts’ enchantments don’t detect him, but general ones will. He’s a Slytherin, so it won’t take long before he realizes it and tries breaking in somewhere he shouldn’t. And the day after… I restart Hogwarts’ Battle Classes. If another storm is really coming, I want to make sure we’re prepared. Then I go to the Department of Mysteries to see if they have anything that can help us.” He grins again, stretching and picking up his Cloak from the ground. “Now come on, we’re leaving.”

She gets up, picks up her things and the two of them turn to leave, coming directly in your direction.

> Roll a d100. Best of 3, DC 60

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>5745356
Marauder's map is a useful tool, we should keep that in mind now that we know it exists

Rolled 69 (1d100)

Rolled 96 (1d100)

>>5745356

>>5745359
>>5745361
>>5745364


You dash away, quickly getting out of their path and jumping into the shadows of the bookshelves, managing to stop yourself from slamming into them and calling attention to yourself. The duo passes by, and soon their steps fade away into the halls, leaving only your pounding heart hammering in your ears.

So, one of the Deathly Hallows, previously thought to be missing, was now actually missing, under far more worrying circumstances. And the Deputy Headmaster was worried enough about this to not only restart Battle Class, but to go to the Department of Mysteries? That meant things were really worrisome. Potter clearly wasn’t messing about.

>>5745359

The Marauder’s Map. Ever since “The Boy Who Lived: The Truth Exposed” came out a few years ago, joining interviews from hundreds of people, most people with a brain (a group constituted of a handful of Slytherins and Ravenclaws) figured he had some way of keeping track of people in Hogwarts. That was the only way he could have managed to assemble Dumbledore’s Army in his fifth year and keep it hidden for so long, and that whole affair with Moody in his fourth year only made sense with it.

But if Potter had a Map that could track people, well, that was quite useful, wasn’t it?

You store that in the back of your mind for the moment. Right now, you need to decide what to do next. You know the security enchantments ensure only one book can be taken out of the restricted session at a time, and given that this enchantments track the book and not you, trying to take two could trigger the alarms.

You should probably choose carefully. If what Professor Potter said was true, you might not get another chance to sneak in here.

> Take “Moste Potente Potions”, a book of advanced and dangerous magical potions
> Look for “Fifteenth-Century Fiends”, a book on dark creatures and spirits Raven is sure to love
> Search for “Stars in the Dark”, a book on astronomy said to be so mind-bogglingly complicated that it was banned in over a hundred countries.
> Look for a book on another theme (Write in)
> Leave. If you can't come back, this means you can never return the book

>>5745373
> Take “Moste Potente Potions”, a book of advanced and dangerous magical potions

>>5745373
> Take “Moste Potente Potions”, a book of advanced and dangerous magical potions

>>5745373
> Take “Moste Potente Potions”, a book of advanced and dangerous magical potions
Breaking Boggart

>>5745373
>Take “Moste Potente Potions”, a book of advanced and dangerous magical potions

>>5745373
>Take “Moste Potente Potions”, a book of advanced and dangerous magical potions

File: WB-HP-F5-order-of-phoenix(...).jpg (2.3 MB, 2000x1333)

2.3 MB JPG

>>5745374
>>5745375
>>5745377
>>5745420
>>5745470
Not much doubt on this one, apparently


You don't even need to think about it. You dash through the bookshelves, glancing at spine after spine of barely decipherable runes, worn off covers and simply untitled tomes until finding something you knew to be here simply because of its fame. It was the same book the current Minister of Magic had stolen in her second year and used to brew polyjuice in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

Moste Potente Potions, a catalog of recipes for many dangerous, controversial, and arcane potions. And, wouldn’t you know it, you had got an Outstanding in your Potions OWLs last year. You and that tome were like a match made in heaven.

You quickly flip through the book’s horrific illustrations, just to be sure you got the right one, then reverently stuff it into a bag. You head for the exit, unlatch the door and… no alarms ring.

Beautiful.

Was that how Potter had felt when he could roam the schools with a Cape that, if the myths were to be believed, Hid him from any and all detection enchantments? If so, it was definitely less glamorous than you expected, but still absolutely fantastic.

--

It was the next morning’s breakfast when you, Raven and Tyler manage to meet again. The Great Hall is filled with people filling their faces with food as fast as possible to get some minutes of freedom before getting to class, so it is the perfect place to speak without being overheard.

“So, it worked? Man, you could have gotten me Stars in the Dark! Do you know how rare it is?”

“Shh! Not so loud! I got the one that sounded most useful at the time.”

“Still, good to know that Potter is hiding something from you. It would be stupid to just tell you everything.” Raven says with a black-lipstick-covered evil grin. ”Still, the Stone. Think we can bring evil wizards back with it, if we can find it? Who knows the amount of knowledge they hold.”

“Maybe. Some scholars think it just brings reflections of people you know, that it doesn’t actually connect you to the dead. No one knows for sure. In any case, if Potter can’t find it, what choice do we have?”

“Potter couldn’t find you,” Taylor notes. “Maybe he needs his glasses back.”

“Uh-oh. Gryffindor goddess, seven o’clock.”

[Cont.]

>>5745474

You turn just in time to see the redhead beauty waltz through the hall and stop behind you, putting one foot on the bench you’re sitting on, then bending over your head. Your vision is completely covered by the waterfall of fire that is her hair, and you’re sure that the position cannot possibly be comfortable. Still, it is incredibly intimidating in a very intimate way.

“So, mind telling me why my entire house thinks we kissed?”

“Uh, blame her, she’s the gossip,” you say, swallowing dry and pointing in front of you. “Also, I don’t think this position is going to help dismiss any rumors.”

“Really?” she asks, throwing her hair back and allowing you to see again. Then she crosses her arms on top of your head and rests her chin on top of them. “Who?”

As you look around, you can see both Raven and Tylor halfway towards the door.

“What fantastic friends I have,” you mumble to yourself.

“Yeah, sounds like you need another one. Come on, you’re done eating, right?” She says, pulling you by the arm. As you’re basically dragged out of your chair, then pushed out of the Great Hall until she finds an empty classroom, you can't help but notice she’s several inches taller than you. Once she closes the door behind you, she turns around, pushes you against the wall, then places her arm above your head, looming over you like a predator looming over its prey. “So, as far as I’m concerned, this is the second time we’ve ever met. So, I’m Lily Luna Potter. You can call me Lily. I’d like to be your friend. Would you like to be my friend?”

Every single alarm and system on your body is going off at the same time. She is close, very close. You can see that she isn’t only tall, but her time as a seeker has made her fairly fit too. She's only two years your senior, but boy, do those two years make a difference. Your brain is going on absolute overdrive, and so are some other parts of your body. Nothing in your life so far has quite prepared for whatever in Merlin’s name is going on right now.

> Ah… ah, I don’t.. Uh…
> Attempt to regain some semblance of composure and control
> Run
> Other (Write in)

>>5745478
> Run
Secret technique

>>5745478
>Attempt to regain some semblance of composure and control
Let’s not be autistic here

>>5745478
> Attempt to regain some semblance of composure and control
You’re gonna make us roll for it aren’t you

>>5745544
Fuck I forgot I already posted ignore my samefagging

>>5745478
>Attempt to regain some semblance of composure and control

>>5745478
> Attempt to regain some semblance of composure and control

>>5745544
I would never

>>5745536
>>5745598
>>5745718
> Roll a d100. Best of 3, DC 90

Rolled 48 (1d100)

>>5745747
Surely a Slytherin can overcome feminine wiles?

Rolled 70 (1d100)

>>5745747
avoid femoid energy wave attack

Rolled 28 (1d100)

>>5745747

>>5745748
>>5745756
>>5745758
>Mogged by the Potter-Weasley hybrid
It's over

File: the-slytherin-common-room(...).png (4 MB, 1800x1248)

4 MB PNG

>>5745748
>>5745756
>>5745758

You close your eyes and focus. No, you heard her conversation with her dad on the previous day. She’s clearly only doing this to keep track of you, control you and-

“Don’t you want to be my friend, Elliot?” She whispers in your ear.

You snap your head back so fast you slam the back of it against the wall with a painful *thack*. But then she’s right there and whatever words you have simply spill out without any semblance of cohesion.

“Yes- ah, no- I mean, I don’t think your dad would-”

“My dad? Oh no, he’s fine with it,” she lies with a voice that does things to you. “But he’d be furious if he knew the rumors you’re spreading about me.”

“I- No- I didn’t-” you babble as

“But I could help you out with that, make sure he doesn’t hear,” she offers, still whispering in your ear, still breathing down your neck. “Do you want me to help you out, Little Elliot? All you have to do is promise to call me when you’re doing something about that little problem of yours. Do you want me to help you with your little problem, Little Elliot?”

“I really think-”

“This is the part where you say yes, Little Elliot.”

“I- uh- yes, but-”

“Good!” She says, pulling back and away from you, her tone completely changed from an instant before. Gone is the sultry voice, replaced by a cheery, happy chirp. “I’ll hold you to that!”

And then she scampers away into the halls.

--

It takes a few minutes for you to mentally recover.

What, in Merlin’s name, was that!? You think, still putting pieces of your dignity together. How on earth is that girl not on Slytherin?

Didn’t they say that Harry Potter was offered Slytherin? If that’s true, you could see the apple didn’t fall too far off the tree. It wasn’t what you’d call subtle, but… you can’t really criticize the effectiveness.

You straighten out your clothes and rearrange yourself into a semblance of a person before heading to class. The rest of the day, other than the brief moment where you berate your friends for abandoning you with a dangerous redheaded predator, is mostly uneventful, with professor Binns rambling on about the history of Wandlore, Professor Wallemby teaching the beginnings of the Bird-conjuring charm and an idiot Hufflepuff getting stung by a Glumbumble.

Finally, however, the classes end.

“So,” Raven asks. “What are we doing today? Research about your issue? Research about how to kill seventh year Gryffindors? Research how to seduce seventh year Gryffindors?”

“Shut up.”

“We could sneak out to the astronomy tower!” Taylor says. “Jupyter and Mars should be visible right beside each other today!”

How do you spend your night?

> Finish up homework
> Research whatever is happening to you
> Dive into your new stolen book (What type of potion do you search for?)
> Sneak out to the astronomy tower
> Other (Write in)

>>5745786
>Sneak out to the astronomy tower

>>5745786
>Research how to seduce seventh year Gryffindors

>>5745786
>Dive into your new stolen book.
>Research how to seduce seventh year Gryffindors

>>5745801
I'll support the book addition as well.

>>5745786
>Research whatever is happening to you

>>5745786
> Finish up homework

> Astronomy Tower
>>5745788

> Seduce and Read
>>5745801
>>5745802

> Research Yourself
>>5745825

> Be a responsible student
>>5745840

This one is all over the place, isn't it?

--

“Well, I intend to read my… new book.”

“By Merlin, you’re boring,” Raven scoffs. “Fine, I’ll work on my project, then.”

You race up to fetch Moste Potente Potions (now with a fake cover on so no one discovers your crime) and by the time you come down, Raven is already deep into the same pile of parchments she’d carried with her since she was twelve.

“You do know that devils aren’t actually real, right?” You ask as she scribbles something on a corner. “Summoning circles are bullshit.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re jealous I’m going to have a handsome devil boyfriend,” She says, as somewhere in the background you hear the sound of Taylor being caught as he tries to sneak out of the Common Room carrying a massive telescope. “And you’re not.”

“Psh!” You scoff, opening your book. Then a thought occurs to you. “What would your boyfriend do?”

“What?”

“I mean, how’s the selection process going to be? You can’t guarantee that the first demon that shows up is going to be a good candidate. How’re you going to sort them out?”

“Well,” she said, actually considering your question. “I suppose I’ll need to put them through a few trials. Strength, dexterity, skill. Then I’d make him do some tasks for me. Assassinations, most likely. Then I’d have him seduce me, of course.”

It sounded like she wanted a demon lapdog more than a demon boyfriend, but you knew Raven enough to not prod on that.

“Right… And how would he do that?”

"First, I’d have him make me a candlelight dinner,“ she said, leaning her head sideways, her eyes dreamy as she lost herself in her fantasy. ”Then I’d have him sing me praises and shower me with compliments. Then I’d have him kiss me. Then I’d stab him and send him back to hell, and not summon him for a while so he’d think that he’d done something wrong. Then I’d call him back and tell him how lucky he was that I decided to forgive him. ‘What did I do wrong?’ he’d ask, and then I’d say ‘You know what you did,’ and then-”

“Yes, ok! I got it! Forget I asked!” You interrupt her before she gets too graphic in her description. It is obvious you’d been a fool to ask about seduction from Raven.

“Hey, what did I miss?” Taylor asks, falling into the sofa near you after a frustrated escape attempt.

“Raven wants some demon dick,” you explain.

“I was asking about something new.”

“Elliot wants to know how to seduce the Griffindor Lioness and thinks he’s discreet with his questions,” Raven adds.

“Again, I was asking about something new.”

“Did you at least manage to not lose us any points for sneaking out this time?” You ask, changing the subject.

“Didn’t even make it past the door,” he says, proudly. “He can’t take points if I wasn’t technically doing something wrong.”

[Cont.]

>>5745897

Soon you three get into a comfortable rhythm, each doing their own thing. You dive into the book, and realize it is far, far more complex than you realized. Even polyjuice, which Hermione Granger is supposed to have brewed in a bathroom in her second year, was a complicated mess of instructions and rare ingredients, followed by a month of waiting and stirring. And that was probably the simplest one in the book

You didn’t even know some of these ingredients could be used like that, and the logic of how they came together to make a potion was flimsy at best. It was complete and utter insanity.

You love it.

You skim the book overall, getting a feel for the potions, poisons and reagents it contains, but as the hours pass, your eyes begin to gently droop. You fight to stay awake but, slowly and gently, sleep takes you.

--

You are in a forest. Around you, tree trunks that go up forever into a dark sky, and down forever into the mist. You float harmlessly in the air. It is peaceful here, though there isn’t much.

> Wish for a floor to rest your feet on
> Wish for a river to quench your thirst
> Wish for a table upon which you can eat
> Wish for company with which you can speak

>>5745898
> Wish for company with which you can speak

>>5745898
> Wish for company with which you can speak

>>5745898
> Wish for company with which you can speak

>>5745900
>>5745913
>>5745970

You are a Slytherin, you remember, and the darkness beyond becomes tinged with green.

A Slytherin is cunning and ambitious, but without anyone else, there can be neither. It seems logical, then, that you require someone else to exist. As soon as the thought forms into your head, you are pulled, forward and downwards. The trees fly past you at an impossible speed, yet you somehow don’t hit any of them as they blur through your vision.

As suddenly as it started, it stops. Somewhere along the journey, you stopped being Nowhere and were now Somewhere. There is a Floor now, though you did not know what it was made of. It wasn’t important, so it hadn’t bothered with such trivial matters such as Matter and Substance. It is a Floor, the trees grew from it and you are now walking on it.

There is a Hole in the Floor, as if one of the trees had been violently torn from it, roots and all. Some of the nearby trees were Broken, violently, as if something large had been thrown against them. Near the hole, She stands, waiting for you.

“Hi, Elliot,” She says. Much like the floor, She hasn’t worried with substance. You can only feel what she is. She feels like care, and love, and longing, and home. You feel at home here. With her.

“Where are we?” You ask without meaning to.

“We are somewhere we shouldn’t be,” she says. “Somewhere we were forced to be.”

“Why?”

She approaches you, tenderly placing a hand on your cheek.

“Because Something happened. It should have stayed as Nothing, but it is Something. And It is hungry. And it is coming for you. And it won’t stop until it has destroyed you.”

The words should bring you fear, but there is only calm in this place. Peace. You feel worry, sure, but not panic. The words are confusing, this place's logic, which you can now see as something that resembles dream logic but is also much more, is difficult to parse, difficult to wade through. Like your mind is sloshing through thick mud, it is hard to think, hard to speak.

The Floor shakes, as if something heavy has crashed against it in the distance.

“It is coming again. We don't have much time.”

Pick two:

> Who are you?
> What is It?
> What is this place?
> What is happening to me?
> Why does Harry Potter not remember me?
> Why am I here?
> Other (Write in)

>>5745971
> What is It?
> What is happening to me?
Connected I suspect

>>5745971
> Who are you?
> What is happening to me?

>>5745975
Support

>>5745975
>>5746023
>>5745999

“What? What do you mean? What is It? What’s happening to me?”

“There is no name for it, for it did not exist before. It is a new Thing. Born of time and fear and death,” she says, hurriedly. “It wishes to have always existed. It will not stop until it has done so.”

“As for you, you are fading. It has latched onto you, and will not stop until it has consumed you. I am keeping it contained within you, holding it back, stopping it from hurting you more, but my protection will not last forever. If it escapes, if it consumes you, I won’t be able to hold it anymore. It will spread and devour, you will spread It and devour in Its name, first those around you, then beyond. You must not allow this to happen.”

“But this is not why I come to you. I must warn you, Elliot. Do not trust Harry Potter, nor any of his allies. Trust his spawn, if you must, but bind her to secrecy. He cannot be allowed to know of this. He cannot be allowed to know of me or the secrets you must uncover. He cannot be allowed to peek into your mind. He means well, but he has never known how to stop, and he will bring disaster upon us all if he discovers too much.”

“Lie, cheat, kill him if you must, but you must not allow him to help you. He must not be allowed to fight this battle. He must not be allowed to brandish his wand against the enemy. And he must not know why, not until the beast has fallen at last, or else he shall thrust upon us such a doom you will wish Voldemort had ended his line when he had the chance.”

The ground shakes once more, and somewhere in the distance you hear a tree being ripped out from the ground. Her voice changes from caring to fear, and so do your own feelings.

“Go, now! On the final month’s first night, follow Merlin's last light! It will show you the way!”

Her voice echoes through your mind, and her eyes shine bright like the sun. The forest fades in burning white, and you scream in pain.

[Cont.]

>>5746115

You wake up with a jolt in the Common Room, kicking the table in front of you and running the chess game Taylor and Raven were having. The pieces scatter about and roll to the floor.

“Come on, man! I was winning!”

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost. And, you know, of the scary type,” Raven says. “What happened? Sleep paralysis demon? Maybe he got angry that you were teasing his future mistress.”

“No, I… I just had a very… strange dream,” you say, wiping the sweat off your forehead. “A very real dream. I think… I think Professor Potter might be right on reopening the Battle Classes. There is a storm coming.”

You tell them the dream, tell them of the forest and the woman. And of her warning.

“She sounds messed up in the head. I like her.”

“Thanks for the helpful comment, Raven.”

“So we’re not supposed to ask for the help of one of the most powerful wizards available, and none of his friends? Well that’s thestral crap!” Taylor says. “And what is Merlin’s last light? Have any of you heard anything about that?”

“Nope,” you say, shaking your head. Raven agrees.

“Well, then,” he says. “I know what I’ll be researching in my free time.”

“Wait, are you seriously considering paying attention to what she said? I was joking when I said I liked her. Red Riding Hood 101, don’t trust random strangers in the forest!”

“Well, from what Elliot said she sounded trustworthy. Or at least in as much danger as we are.”

“Yeah, or she could be tricking us and making us waste time and allies.”

“What do you think, Elliot?”

> I trust her. We should investigate this by ourselves
> I don’t trust her. We should tell Potter about my vision
> I don’t know. We keep this to ourselves for now, but reach out to him if things get worse
> I don’t know, but I don’t want to risk triggering whatever doom she spoke of
> Other (Write in)

>>5746116
> I don’t know, but I don’t want to risk triggering whatever doom she spoke of
She didn't say "don't talk to anyone" but just "don't talk to Potter" which doesn't quite set off my bullshit detector.

>>5746116
> I don’t know, but I don’t want to risk triggering whatever doom she spoke of

>>5746116
> I don’t know, but I don’t want to risk triggering whatever doom she spoke of

>>5746119
She did say "and his allies", though, which should encompass most of the wizarding world, currently, or at the very least Hogwarts' teachers

>>5746119
>>5746125
>>5746127


“I don’t know, Taylor. But when someone talks about doom, I prefer not to risk it. I’m not telling him. Not right not, at least. Not unless I have no other choice.”

“If you say so,” he says. “It’s your creepy forest lady, your choice.”

“Now, I think we should go to sleep. Again, in your case,” Raven points out. “We have to rest so we can act properly surprised tomorrow.”

- -

The night passes without more issues, and by the following morning you’re feeling less spooked. It is during breakfast that Deputy Headmaster Potter silences the Great Hall and begins speaking.

“Dear students,” he says, his voice booming clearly over all tables. “Several students over the past few years have asked me for a more hands-on approach to Defense Against the Dark Arts. More often than not, my past was cited as a good example of why students should be learning not only defense, but also offense. Times have changed. We no longer live under a threat. But, of course, neither did Britain when I was ten. When I was eleven, not so much.

“A good foundation here should allow stronger aurors to be built once you’re adults. A strong foundation should allow you to face threats head on, or at least know yourselves well enough to know when you should run away. As such, I am opening the first optional course of Battle Magic, an increased workload which will be compensated by diminished homework assignments on Defense Against the Dark Arts for those who participate.”

There are “Oohh”s and “Ahh”s at that as murmurs spread through the Great Hall.

“Each year shall have its own class, starting with sixth year this very evening, but the classes shall be open to all to observe. I hope the seniors will quickly learn to not underestimate the tenacity of first years, and the first years shall learn much about what they’ll be able to accomplish once they’re older.” Then he takes a serious tone. “No mockery for failure will be allowed, and any who do so will swiftly be asked to leave and not return. I will show you everything I can from my auror years, and I shall treat it with the respect it deserves. Of course, misuse of what I teach will be met with the utmost severity it deserves. The techniques will involve some amount of danger, and I expect you to treat it as such.”

[Cont.]

>>5746244

“And,” he says, with a grin. “The student with the best grades in each year will be allowed, if they so wish, to have a no-holds-barred, one-on-one fight against the boy-who-lived, to truly test your skill. Thank you.”

The hall explodes with a mix of conversations, exclamations and just all around shouting as Potter returns to his seat on the teachers table, smiling as if he hadn’t just dropped an absolute bombshell on his students.

“Starting with sixth year,” Raven says, looking at you. “Oh boy, I wonder why.”

“Are you going?” Taylor asks. “Please say no, that sounds like gym class, but worse.”

“You don’t have to go if I go,” you say.

“Yes, but I will feel bad about it. And if I don’t, Raven will hate me, because she won’t let you do it alone because she thinks Potter might try to kill you.”

“What? Why?”

“Easiest way of dealing with a problem,” she said. “I mean, as long as you don’t have horcruxes, but he knows how to deal with those too.” But joining it could be a good way of keeping an eye on him. And he on you. If you don't participate, we'll have a whole evening where we know he's occupied to do things behind his back."

"But at the same time," Taylor says. "If you really are cursed, it might be a good idea to learn from the man who took a killing curse to the face."

> Join Battle Class
> Do not join Battle Class

>>5746250
>Join Battle Class
Know thy (purported) enemy and all that

>>5746250
> Join Battle Class
>inb4 "I wonder if Lily will be there"

>>5746250
> Join Battle Class

>>5746253
If the Potter-Weasley crossbreed isn't there, I'll eat my non-existent hat

>>5746250
>Join Battle Class
Hey qm, did Ron and Hermione have a kid in this timeline?

>>5746315
This is mostly cannon (excluding Cursed Child, of course), so yes, two. But given that Rose was born in 2005/2006, she's already finished school.

Lily was born in 2007/8 and is on her last year, so the only other cannon child to be in Hogwarts at this time would be Hugo Granger-Weasley, who is also in his seventh year so you could still meet him.

Just to put a date on things, the story happens around 2025, as that's when Lily would be on her seventh year (not that it matters much, anyway).

If there are supposed to be any other children that I missed, feel free to let me know. My lore knowledge of what happened after the end of Deathly Hallows is almost null and void. (Though of course I can decide to change cannon, as the next update will show)

>>5746251
>>5746253
>>5746267
>>5746315
The day passes with the entire school talking about the new Battle Classes, and as the time passes you can’t help but feel an increasing feeling of dread. You decided to go to the classes, dragging Raven and Taylor with you, but now you dread its approach, like a dementor in the distance, because you know with absolute certainty that she will be there.

“Hey, Little Elliot!” Comes the familiar voice as her arm wraps around your shoulder, pulling you close. “You going to join the new Battle Class?”

“Hi, Lily,” you say, trying to maintain your composure. “Yes, I think I’ll join.”

“Fantastic! I’ll be there to see you win!”

Then she strolls away with the entirety of the gaze of twenty male students following her, which she ignores with either obliviousness or with a careful performance mastered to perfection.

“Man, why couldn’t I have been the cursed one?” Taylor whines.

“Trust me, I don’t know if she arouses me or terrifies me. Maybe both. Ow!” You say rubbing the back of your head.

“Don’t talk about ladies like that,” Raven says, storing the book she just clubbed you with. “It is not proper. At least not if you don’t intend to actually drag her to a dungeon and tie her up.”

--

Turns out Potter had gotten the Castle to join several classrooms into one, transforming it into a large auditorium. In the outer area of the room, there were elevated chairs for the audience, which was obviously packed. The internal area of the room was divided into several lanes, with a small stage set up in front. Potter’s face was shown on a large flat piece of white stone for all to see, which very much reminded you of a large TV screen from home.

Sometimes it was easy to forget that the boy-who-lived grew up as a muggle, too.

“So, before we begin,” he said. “A simple question. In a battle between a person with a wand and a person without a wand, who wins? Raise your hand if you think it is the person with the wand. Yes, all of you think so. Who here would like to win ten house points along with the chance to stun their teacher? Yes, you, come up here, stay on that side of the stage”

The blond girl he pointed at went up the stage. Potter put his own wand on a table by the stage, then went to the opposite side. Magical barriers appeared around them.

“You are to try to hit me with a simple incapacitating spell. Stupefy is simple enough, but Rictusempra or any equivalent will do. Your goal is to hit me. My goal is to reach you. Ready?” The student pointed his wand at him and nodded. “Go!”

“Stupefy! Stupefy! Stu-”

The first spell Potter simply dodges. The second spell, he jumps forward, falling into a roll. The third spell was interrupted by Potter’s shoe flying through the air and slapping the wand out of her hand. In a moment he closes in the distance as she fumbles on the floor trying to pick her wand, then twists her arm behind her back.

[Cont.]

Rolled 59, 55, 97 + 10 = 221 (3d100 + 10)

>>5746329
“I win. Ten points to Gryffindor for the effort.” The girl went back to her place, blushing terribly. “Why did I win? Experience, sure. But also, I did the unexpected. Miss Falgere did not expect my shoe. She did not expect I would attack, so Protego was not on her repertoire. But I needed to win, and to achieve that I was willing to do whatever it cost. Even lose a shoe.”

“In this class, you will not be taught classic wizard battling, like the ones fought by noble families of old, with rules and protocols. In this class, you may use every single dirty tactic you can think of, as long as it doesn’t endanger your classmate’s life or your own. In this class, I shall teach you to win, by any means necessary. If you are fighting someone and you can throw a punch in their face to knock them out, do it. That’s why we have the Wiggenweld Potion. I shall not allow cruelty, but this class will have violence. If you’re not willing to take it and receive it, this is not the class for you. Everyone else, welcome to Battle Class.”

The class exploded into clapping and cheers and he bowed and began teaching.

--

Soon, the class was being divided into randomly selected pairs. Each pair was to fight to either incapacitate or disarm, at which point wands were returned, positions were retaken and the battle began again. Your opponent was-

“Ah crap,” you say as he enters into view.

“Oh, look at that,” says Brighton Longbottom, the biggest git in the entirety of Ravenclaw. It was incredible how someone with a head that large could have it so far up their ass. “Little Elliot is here. Looks like your new girlfriend came to see me wipe the floor with you.”

“Hey Longbottom,” you say, firing back. “How’s your dad? Still the head of a house that isn’t yours? How’s he dealing with the disappointment these days?”

That made him mad. It was easy, it was simple, and it worked every single time. Not the most cunning thing to do when Brighton was one of the best students at Defense, but you didn’t need to be a Slytherin all the time.

“So, apparently punching is legal in these battles,” he says casually.

“Does look like it,” you agree.

“You won’t take it personally if I need to throw one your way, will you? You know, it happens. Victory at all costs and all that.”

“Oh, of course. You won’t mind if I transfigure you into an ass, will you?” You ask, taking position. “Though now that I mention it, I think someone has gotten to you before me.”

He raises his wand and spells start flying.

> Roll a d100. Best of 3, beating my roll (+10 as he’s better at Defense)

>>5746330
I meant to type "best 2 out of 3", meaning you need to beat 2 out of his 3 rolls. The 97+10 is impossible to beat (other than with a 100), but the other two are not (though difficult)

This is my last update for today. I'll go sleep and get back in 8 to 10 hours or so. I'll send a message on QTG when I get back. Hope you're all enjoying the quest!

Rolled 4 (1d100)

>>5746330
Rollan. In the future, we should pack sand in our pockets for this class. Or just conjure up sand in the opponent's face! I don't actually know if that's possible with Potterverse magic...

>>5746250
>“And,” he says, with a grin. “The student with the best grades in each year will be allowed, if they so wish, to have a no-holds-barred, one-on-one fight against the boy-who-lived, to truly test your skill. Thank you.”
See, that sounds like danger considering our situation. Maybe let's not, just in case.

Rolled 94 (1d100)

>>5746330
We are getting our ass kicked

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>5746330
>>5746457
Maybe not with rolls like that.

>>5746461
Very close, but not enough

>>5746447
>>5746457
>>5746461
You decide to start with a simple Stupefy, but by the time you start forming the word he’s already cast his, and the red bolt comes far too fast. You barely manage to summon a barrier in time, watching as it is deflected into the ceiling, but as you turn back to your opponent-

“Petrificus Totalus!”

You feel your body freeze, your arms locking up by your body before you fall face first on the floor with a thud. Brighton more than takes his time before casting “Finite” and letting you get up with a smug grin on your face.

“Did no one teach you how to block a spell properly, Little Elliot?”

It had taken a total of two hours between Lily calling you “Little Elliot” in the corridor and this bellend hearing about it. It was incredible how rumors managed to move faster than bloody apparition!

“Stupefy! Petrificus Totalus!” He shouts again, but this time you’re ready.

“Protego!” The stunner bounces, but this time you’re ready. You dodge the Petrificus Totalus, then, well, if you’re in Potter’s class… “Expelliarmus!”

The spell hits him in the chest and he spins in place, falling on his ass as his wand flies off his hand. He tries crawling on his knees to get it but-

“Accio!”

His wand flies to your hand, and if glares could burn you’d be long dead. He snatches his wand off your hands and you two position yourselves again without a word. You try casting a spell first this time, but he’s faster than you again.

“Stupefy!”

“Protego!”

The ensuing fight now takes longer, with both of you defending, dodging and casting in something resembling an actual fight. You’re still mostly protecting yourself, with Protego saving you many times, but at least there is a flow you can follow, until-

“Laggan!” From the tip of his wand comes a green spiral of green force which blasts against your shield, shattering it with force, sending you stumbling back. “Flipendo!” You’re flipped in the air and your wand slips from your hand, flying through the air and falling by his feet.

“I… win…” He says, gasping for air. You can see the droplets of sweat on his forehead as whatever that green drill spell was took a lot of energy from him. “Always good to… see you on the floor… Little Elliot.”

“I’m… taller… than you,” you gasp between breaths.

Fortunately for you, a gong rings somewhere and Potter’s face appears over on the large “screen” above.

“Very well, everyone. Today was a good test to learn your weaknesses and strengths. I know some of you are gasping for air, that will improve with time. Next week, we’ll be learning proper form, techniques and other fun activities. See you then, class dismissed.”

[Cont.]

>>5746746
You meet Raven and Taylor by the “repair table”, where those who had injured themselves were going to receive treatment.

“I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“I really didn’t mean it!”

“I said it’s fine.”

“What happened?“ you ask, pointing at the girl’s black eye.

“Our friend enjoys punching women,” she says, deadpan. “Me, specifically. Never thought he had it in him.”

“It was an accident, I swear!”

“Taylor, that’s horrible! How could you?” You ask in fake horror.

“She got in the way of my fist! I was just trying to cast a spell!”

“Tell that to the aurors.”

“There won’t be any aurors!”

You two continue teasing him until Raven gets her eye healed, and as you’re leaving the classroom you feel a chill run down your spine.

“Oh no.”

“What?”

“Hey, Little Elliot!” Lily says, appearing from the crowd. “Good fighting!”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Not really, no,” she agrees. “But I can help you with that. Dad trains me since I was a kid, so I can give you a few pointers if you want!”

“Why would you do that?” Raven asks.

“Because we’re friends! Isn’t that right?”

“Uh… I’ll think about it.”

“Cool! Let me know when you want to train, I know a good place! And bring your friends, too, I’m sure they could use the help.”

She leaves before any of you can say a word.

“Why do I get the feeling she’ll get me killed?” You ask.

“She probably will,” Tylor agrees. “But wouldn’t it be worth it? Ow!”

“Next time I won’t use a book to hit you, and it won’t be in the back of the head,” Raven says, storing the tome in her bag. “Now come on. Let’s see if we can get the good chairs in the common room.”

And so, you leave to your common room as the last day of your first week ends, your dreams still haunting you. The following week will no doubt be filled with classes and homework, but you can choose some things to focus during your free time:

Pick 3:

> Train with Lily (+2 to Battle Rolls)
> Study Moste Potente Potions (+2 to Potions)
> Study with Taylor (+2 to Astronomy)
> Study with Raven (+2 to Muggle Studies)
> Study another subject (+1 to another subject)
> Research whatever is happening to you
> Research the visions in your dream
> Research “Merlin’s last light”
> Other (Write in)

>>5746752
> Train with Lily (+2 to Battle Rolls)
> Study Moste Potente Potions (+2 to Potions)
> Research “Merlin’s last light”

>>5746752
> Research “Merlin’s last light”
> Study Moste Potente Potions (+2 to Potions)
> Research whatever is happening to you

>>5746752
> Train with Lily (+2 to Battle Rolls)
> Study Moste Potente Potions (+2 to Potions)
> Other (Write in)
>Research how to seduce seventh year Gryffindors

>>5746752
>Train with Lily (+2 to Battle Rolls)
>Research “Merlin’s last light”
>Research how to seduce seventh year Gryffindors

>>5746752
> Research whatever is happening to you
> Research the visions in your dream
> Research “Merlin’s last light”

>>5746758
>>5746865
>>5746879
>>5746893
>>5746972

> Train with Lily (+2 to Battle Rolls)
3 votes

> Study Moste Potente Potions (+2 to Potions)
3 votes

> Research “Merlin’s last light”
4 votes

> Research how to seduce seventh year Gryffindors
2 votes

> Research whatever is happening to you
2 votes

> Research the visions in your dream
1 vote

Writing!

>>5746752
> Train with Lily (+2 to Battle Rolls)
> Research “Merlin’s last light”
>Research how to seduce seventh year Gryffindors

>>5747039
Rip, too late.

File: LibraryPottermore.jpg (246 KB, 1000x893)

246 KB JPG

>>5747012

The weekend passes in a blink, and Monday inevitably arrives, bringing with it homework. It seems insane that you still have to do homework when whatever is currently happening is happening, but teacher, it seems, do not care about the dreams you never told them about. So you do your homework and maintain your grades as any other student.

But you still have free time. When you’d previously spend it mucking about with Taylor and Raven, now you sit in the library with tomes upon tomes about Merlin stack atop each other.

“This doesn’t make sense!” You groan after a particularly frustrating paragraph. “Merlin’s story is fucked beyond recognition.”

“Yeah, I’m getting this too,” Tylor agrees. “Merlin studied at Hogwarts, in Slytherin, but it looks like there are mentions of him even before that. He was there for King Arthur in the nine hundreds, but there are mentions of, according to this book, ‘someone like him’ in ancient hebrew scrolls, and there is also something about Atlantis, which no one seems to quite know what it was, but everyone considers to be Very Important. And then it references me to a book written in the fifteen hundreds written in… I don’t even know what language this is!”

“We could try summoning a demon and asking them,” Raven suggests.

“Demons are not a real thing.”

“Oh, and Atlantis is?”

“Apparently so.”

“Anyway, it seems there is an entire field of history research on this.” Taylor says. “One side says Merlin was alive at least two thousand years ago and only passed by Hogwarts to make sure the Founders weren’t doing anything stupid. The other side says that they are, and I quote, ‘a bunch of crackpots who spend too much time smoking goblin weed to be able to differentiate their underwear from their hats, much less fiction from fact.’”

“Oh good,” you say, voice dripping with sarcasm. “You know, you’d assume that whoever this dream-lady is, she would give me more info to go on, but no. No. Cryptic and ambiguous, that’s the way to go.”

“Well,” Raven says. “She said “final month’s first night”. We should have until December 1st to figure it out.”

You groan and bury your face in your hands.

> Roll 3d100. Best of 3 to see how far you progress in your discovery of Merlin’s Last Light

Rolled 83 (1d100)

>>5747059
Analyzing

Rolled 29 (1d100)

>>5747059

Rolled 3 (1d100)

>>5747059

>>5747070
>>5747072
>>5747125
So your research continues, discovering the incredibly murky history of whoever it is Merlin actually is. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, you search for any references to whatever his last light was, without finding success among the hundreds or thousands of books written about one of the most powerful wizards who ever lived.

So you three take a day to relax. You and Taylor head to the top of the astronomy tower one late afternoon before bedtime, while Raven is off somewhere doing something creepy, no doubt. He watches the stars and takes notes while you flip over Moste Potente Potions.

The thought occurs and… well, it wouldn’t hurt to ask, would it?

“Hey, Taylor.”

“Yeah, mate?” He answers without taking his eyes out of his lenses. “Oh, look at that view of Venus!”

“If someone wanted to, ah, say, seduce a certain seventh year Gryffindor… How do you think someone would go about doing that?”

“Well, not much different than the way you’d go about seducing anyone else, I guess.”

“Right… And how would that be, exactly?”

“I’m afraid I wouldn’t know.”

Useless. Both of you, absolutely useless.

“Elliot… You know she’s only doing this because she wants to keep track of you, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

So you resume your reading. The book, of course, also doesn’t provide any answers other than incredibly immoral ones. Love potions, renamed Love Poisons a few years ago and completely outlawed, were not the sort of thing you wanted. Felix Felicis was a possibility, though it wasn’t in this book, and it took six months to brew. Something to increase courage would be good, but you’d get in trouble if the teachers found you drinking firewhiskey.

Still, you keep on reading the book and, though most brews on it require rare ingredients and weeks of time, you learn plenty of new things.

> Gained: +2 to Potions rolls. New total: +12
> Knowledge Gained!
> Polyjuice Potion
> - Time to Brew: 1 month.
> - Rare Ingredients: Powdered bicorn horn, Shredded boomslang skin

--

Time passes and Thursday arrives, the day before Battle Class. You send a message to Lily saying you’d like to train, and you’re about to call Raven and Elliot when… You realize you could not call them.

There is nothing stopping you from having a private class with Lily. Just the two of you. Alone. By yourselves.

Would it be exactly morally right of you to stop your friends from improving their battle skills? No. But were you a Hufflepuff whose very core cared about such things? Also no.

> Call them to go with you
> Go by yourself

>>5747151
>Go by yourself
It's not the best idea, but it's the most appropriate for a teenager

>>5747151
> Go by yourself
Based

>>5747151
> Call them to go with you

>>5747151
> Go by yourself

Rolled 17, 65, 57 + 30 = 169 (3d100 + 30)

>>5747161
>>5747163
>>5747273


“Oh, your friends didn’t want to come?” she asks as you arrive at the empty corridor with a tapestry of some trolls.

“No, the Headmistress passed a ton of transfiguration homework, and they’re only now getting to it,” you lie with the skill of a Slytherin. “Are we just going to train in the corridor?”

“Don’t be silly. Come, follow me,” she says walking past you. You follow her, but as she reaches the end of the corridor, she stops, turns around and goes back the way she came. She goes to the other end of the corridor, stops again, turns around again and walks back, all with you right behind her.

Third time she turns around you can’t help but say something.

“Are… are you lost?”

“Do I look lost?” She asks, turning around again.

“Uh, yes, very much so.”

“Maybe you just don’t know where we’re going.”

“I don’t think we can go anywhere by walking up and down a corridor.”

“Really? Five years at Hogwarts and you still think you can’t get places by going nowhere?” She asks, turning around again.

“Fair point, but I really don’t see anywhere getting closer.”

“That’s because you don’t know where to look,” she says, getting back to the same spot she started at. “See?”

In front of you, there is a large door where previously there was none. Your mouth hangs open, not because a door appeared, but because you know exactly what that door is.

“Is that… the Room of Requirement?”

“Yep. Potter family secret, but since I’m the last Potter in a while to come here as a student I figure it is time to share.” She winks at you and pushes the door open. “I trust you’ll keep the secret. Just don’t take anything out that you didn’t bring in, it gets moody when you do that.”

“I thought it had been destroyed by Fiendfyre! No one who knew it ever revealed where it was!”

“Well, the Room of Hidden Things version was destroyed, but the Room itself is still fine. Takes more than Fiendfyre to destroy Hogwarts!” Then, in a somber, almost inaudible tone. “... Though not much more.”

Meanwhile, around you the room reveals itself to be a full-blown training area. It has target dummies, movable “debree” to simulate a battlefield and even a small muggle-looking gym area with weights and bars.

“So, you train here?”

“When dad’s free, yes,” she says, following with a sadder, “though less now that he began Battle Class. Things have been… less, for the last week.”

“Do you… want to talk about it?” You ask, trying to sound the least awkward you can.

“What I want,” she says, taking a few steps away from you and pointing her wand at you. “Is for you to try and beat me. En guarde!”

> Roll a d100+1 (from your single Battle Class). Beat two out of three rolls (+30 because she’s been training for far longer than you)

Rolled 81 + 1 (1d100 + 1)

>>5747361
>95
So, we have a chance!

Rolled 85 + 1 (1d100 + 1)

>>5747361
Abrakadabra!

Rolled 70 + 1 (1d100 + 1)

>>5747361

>47, 95, 87 vs 82, 86, 71
Missed it by one. Fuck.

>>5747363
>>5747367
>>5747417
“Uh, are you sure you want to- Expelliarmus!”

“Protego! Really? Expelliarmus against a Potter? Rictusempra!”

You were expecting it to be a tough fight, obviously, but she ignores your spells as if they’re nothing. She spins, deflects, dodges and parries spell after spell, jumping from one side of the room to the other, taking cover with whatever is available, blocking with both her wand as with random things she picks off the ground.

Meanwhile, something in the back of your head tells you you’ve been just standing in the same spot for the whole battle, but you’re too worried about casting spells to do anything about it. One thing that is clear is that while you're fighting, she's having fun.

“Stop-Stupefy!-playing-Expelliarmus!with me! Reducto!”

She dives into cover behind a fake, but resistant, rock.

“Why do you think I’m playing with you?”

“Because you’re not attacking?”

“Why do I need to attack? You’re tiring yourself out just fine for me.”

Oh, fuck this.

The moment she dashes out of cover again, you’re ready.

“Stupefy!”

“Protego!”

“Laggan!”

The green swirling drill spell you stole off Longbottom slams against her shield, shattering it and sending her on her ass with a surprised look.

“Yeah!” You shout, quickly followed by, “Uh-oh.”

You try to cast another spell, but your legs give up from under you. You collapse on the floor, immediately sweating and exhausted. It does hurt your ego when she simply walks over and picks up your wand off your hand, with you not having the strength to do anything about it.

“I win. Though I didn’t expect you to use Laggan, to be frank. It’s a crap spell, no one uses it in combat.”

“Yeah? Why? And why- ah- are my legs shaking?” You manage to ask between breaths.

“Exhaustion,” she explains, sitting beside you. “Laggan is a brute force spell, uses a ridiculous amount of power to make the shield burst, and will drain your strength to exhaustion if you don’t have enough power to break your opponent’s shield. That’s why Brighton finished you off with a Flipendo, he didn’t have the strength for anything else. If I’d been casting protego at full power, you’d be taking a nap right about now.”

“Right. That -ah- would have been useful -oof- to know.”

“So, there's your first lesson. Don’t cast spells you don’t know just because they look useful.”

You stay in that position for a while, with her sitting in silence beside you while you recover your strengths. It is… comfortable, even if your lungs are trying to jump out of your chest.

She’s the one to break the silence.

“So, did you find anything new about… you know, the thing?”

> Tell her about your dream
> Keep it a secret for now

Also,

> Write in any questions you want to ask her or topics to talk about

>>5747756
>Keep it a secret for now

>"What spells should I learn?"
>"So, what are you going to do after you graduate? Why?"
>"Do you like being the daughter of the Boy-Who-Lived?"
Begin with on-topic engagement, proceed to the more personal while maintaining an above-nominal level of interest, then feel out loyalties.

>>5747756
>Keep it a secret for now

>"What spells should I learn?"
>"So, what are you going to do after you graduate? Why?"
>"Do you like being the daughter of the Boy-Who-Lived?"
>"Got any plans this weekend?"

>Shield breaking spell is crap
Laaame! Surely it would be possible to tune it up, so to speak?

>>5747756
>Keep it a secret for now
Yah nah, don't trust her yet. Also Lily's general attitude and personality grinds at me at the moment.

>"Any advice for casting while on the move?"

>>5747756
Add
>"Any advice for casting while on the move?"
To
>>5747776
Please

>>5747776
>>5747779
>>5747799
>>5747835
“No, unfortunately. I tried researching it, but if your dad couldn’t find anything I don’t suspect I’ll find anything.”

“Yeah, he’s taking this seriously. He’s seen a lot on his days as an auror, so it is rare for him to be surprised.” She smiles, and for a moment she seems… exhausted. Almost as tired as you are. Then the moment passes, and her wide smile is back up. “You wouldn’t believe the sort of stories he told me.”

“Any you can share?”

“Most are classified, but I’ll think about a couple to tell you next time.”

"Any advice you can give me on my battle skills? New spells I should learn? How to keep on moving and firing?"

"There are three general types of spells you need to think about in battle," she says. "Protection, Disablement and Control."

"On Protection, Protego is the most basic, but still stupidly useful. Works for most things that aren't Unforgiveable. On a one on one, it's what you're going to need most of the time, unless you're fighting a dementor, a troll or a dragon. Unless you plan on staying still, when you can take your time casting a Prismatic Shield. You can't move with it, people can't get in or out, but it's good for creating a small safe zone to treat an injured ally."

"Disablement is anything that can take out an enemy. Expelliarmus, Rictusempra, even Avada Kedavra get in that category. Anything you hit someone with and they're out of battle. It's usually not as important what you're casting, as long as you can go from one to the other in quick succession. Stupefy is ok, but you try casting that twice and you'll see that you need to cast it, stop, go back to its initial casting position and try again. But you can cast stupefy, chain it in an expelliarmus and finish on a somnius and a single swift movement, and that's much harder to block."

"Harder to do too," you say.

"That's why you train."

"And control?"

"Anything you do to make your opponent easier to hit. Melt the floor with a potion so he can't pass? Control. Transfigure the ceiling into a wall to block his way? Control. Put a Prismatic Shield on a door to stop it from passing? Your protection just became control."

"Whenever you're fighting, you need to have a plan, and you need to know what you're going to do next. When I jumped behind a rock, I already knew where I'd go after, and what I'd do if you blocked my way. When I'm moving, I'm not thinking where I'm going. I've already done the thinking beforehand and I'm just executing the plan."

"I... I see. I'm not sure I can do all that while keeping myself alive."

"You'll get the hang of it. But you only need to get to that level if you want to be an auror."

[Cont.]

>>5747884

"Is that what you want to be after you get out of here?" You ask. "An auror?"

"It's the plan? Maybe? I don't know, honestly. A Potter would be hired instantly anywhere they want to work, which makes it ever more daunting to choose. I could choose something without danger. I'm sure my dad would prefer. I just think that... If I don't, I'll be... failing people. If I could be fighting for them and I just choose to be, I don't know, a painter instead..."

> "You shouldn't live your life for other people. Your happiness should come first."
> "It's the right thing to do. People who can help and don't are cowards"
> "Other people's safety isn't your responsibility, nor one you need to pick up"
> "If you want to be a painter, you could just go buy some paint instead of whining"
> Other (Write in)

>>5747886
>"You shouldn't live your life for other people. Your happiness should come first."

>>5747886
> "You shouldn't have to live your life for other people. Choose whatever path you believe in as Lily, not necessarily as Potter."
It's up to each of us to embrace an ideal worth living towards. That doesn't strictly entail the pursuit of personal happiness or the neglect of others.

>>5747886
> "You shouldn't live your life for other people. Your happiness should come first."

>>5747886
> "You shouldn't live your life for other people. Your happiness should come first."

>>5747886
> "You shouldn't live your life for other people. Your happiness should come first."

>>5747920
>>5747945
>>5747975
>>5747997
“You shouldn’t live your life for other people. Your happiness should come first, and that of the people you love. Otherwise you wouldn’t have farmers, or explorers, or mothers or fathers. Or teachers. Or Battle Class teachers, for that matter.” You say, struggling to sit up. “Or should everyone be an auror until they die?”

“I know, I know. I know what’s logic and emotionally healthy thing to feel. I just can’t really convince myself to feel that way,” she says, sighing. “Heart and mind aren’t always in sync.”

“You’re as much Lily as you are Luna as you are Potter. And while all three of those have a history of fighting dark forces, none of them had a choice in them matter. Of the two that did eventually get the choice, one decided to just go off and study magic beasts instead. I read some of her books, they’re pretty good.”

“So you think I should just go off and chase magic cows?”

“I mean, it does sound pretty fun. Though not much safer. I heard magic cows are vicious.”

She laughs our loud, and some of the gloom washes away.

“So, being the daughter of the Boy-who-lived has its issues too, huh? Figured it would be all perks.”

“Psh! As if! I have to hit off reporters and well-wishers off with a stick whenever I go out. Thank Merlin for disillusionment. Sometimes I think about spending a month brewing polyjuice just so I can be someone else for a while.”

“I can only imagine how difficult it must be to have everyone loving you no matter where you go.”

“Ha, ha. It has its perks, but it does get old. Half of the people just look at me like I’m some kind of magical unicorn of purity and goodness, while the other half looks at me like they expect me to pull the Sword of Griffyndor out of my pocket and go kill the closest basilisk. The only person in Griffyndor who doesn’t look at me like that is Hugo, but he doesn’t count ‘cause he’s a git.”

“I figured you two would be friends, given his parents and yours being friends.”

“Oh, he very much wanted us to be friends,” she spits, with venom. “And we were. ‘Till he grabbed my boob and I broke his nose.”

“Oof. I'm sorry that happened.”

“Yeah. He did become less of a git after that and apologized, but the damage was done.”

[Cont.]

>>5748141

“Well, if you ever break the noses of all Griffyndors and need someone to go to the Three Broomsticks with, I know three losers from Slytherin who could use the company of someone who knows how to fight.”

“Are you implying everyone in Griffyndor is going to try to grab my boob? Will they form a line?”

“That would be tactically unwise. I’m sure you’d have a spell that could get rid of them all at once if they stayed one behind the other.”

“That spell would be the Slow Blade of Unusually Specific Destruction and it is banned in over twenty countries.”

“Is Scotland one of those countries?”

“It is not.”

“Then I don’t really see a problem.”

“Other than it would be an extremely violent end for Gryffindor. And a bad time for my boob.”

“I’m a Slytherin,” you say, as if it is obvious. “Plotting Gryffindor’s destruction is part of the curriculum. Sacrifices have to be made.”

“I’ll probably need to tell my father have a stern talk with Slughorn then. He might want to revise the syllabus.”

“Impossible, it’s part of the house’s motto. ‘Slytherin, house of the cunning, ambitious and those who hate Gryffindor in general’. Branded a Magical World Heritage Cultural Phenomenon a few years ago, can’t ever be changed. I’m surprised you didn’t know about it.”

She laughs, and then gets up, stretching.

“Come on, Gryffindor hater. We’ve been laying here for too long. Curfew’s about to start and I have my Prefect duties.”

> Gained: +2 to Battle rolls. New total: +3

[Cont.]

>>5748145

You two leave the Room of Requirement behind and a few minutes later she leaves you at the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room. She says goodbye, but… you can’t help but feel her smile is forced. Or at least more forced than it was a few minutes ago. As she is leaving, however, your eyes cross and-

- you should have kissed him, he does not trust you, he will die, your father will die, your family will die, your -

Your eyes break away from each other and the voice disappears. She leaves, and you can’t help but think she looks like she’s running away. Running away from you.

> Stop her from going
> Follow her
> Let her go
> Other (Write)

>>5748155
> Follow her

>>5748155
> Follow her

>>5748155
> Let her go

>>5748155
> Let her go
Honestly just don't want to spend too much time with her.

Since we have a tie, I'll wait for another couple of hours before posting closing it. If no one else votes, I'll roll a d2 to decide

>>5748155
On one hand, I think sir bold letters will try to eat our face. At the same time, I will never say no to the possibility of discovering more about a mystery as soon as possible, regardless of personal safety (also I hate rolling for ties)

> Follow her

>>5748157
>>5748160
>>5748317
You stay for a moment, stunned. The voice, whatever it was, was deep. It was dark. It spoke directly into your mind, commanding, demanding. It was talking about you. And it didn’t seem to know you were listening.

You dash away after her, making as little noise as possible and trying to remain unseen. This becomes more difficult when she turns the first bend in the corridor, as she breaks into a full-blown sprint, not looking back.

You keep running, taking off your shoes mid run so your feet make less noise as they strike the floor. You slide past the bend on the corridor, slamming on the wall, before breaking into a dash, no longer seeing her. You look around, searching for where she could have gone before following the sound of a door being slammed closed. It doesn’t take long before you hear her voice, shouting, arguing, pleading.

“I can’t do this! I can’t just pretend to be his friend, pretend to like him! That’s vile! It’s cruel! He’s a good kid, he doesn’t deserve being lied to!” She stops, as if waiting for an answer. Whoever she’s talking to, however, doesn’t answer loud enough for you to hear. “I know we’ll die! You said it before! I know it, but this isn’t me! I’m not some harlot who can just throw herself at him so he’ll like me! I don’t want this! Find someone else! I can’t… I’m not…”

“I can’t do this…” Her voice drops, becoming almost inaudible. “You can’t just try take my body like that… It’s not right… It’s not… I’m not… I’m not strong enough. Not for this. We’ve been trying for years. I’m… I’m tired.”

There is a long pause, only broken by the eventual sob or sniffle.

“You’re right,” she says again after some minutes. “You’re right. If a Potter can’t, no one can. We’re close now. We can do this... We can do this.”

You hear her stand up. It might be time to leave.

> Leave before you get caught
> Open the door

>>5748369
>Leave before you get caught

>>5748369
> Open the door

>>5748369
> Open the door
The thing I hate about hp is that it takes so damn long to find something out by playing it safe. Let’s get some answers.

>>5748369
>Open the door

>Leave before you get caught

>>5748375
>>5748382
>>5748431
You don’t know what is happening behind this door, but after hearing that voice in your head and hearing what Lily just said, you can’t just stay here and pretend nothing happened. Whatever this is, you need to get to the bottom of it, and you don’t intend to waste any time figuring it out.

You push the door open and enter the unused classroom.

Lily looks like a mess. She’s clearly been crying, her face is red and her nose puffy. As you enter, her eyes snap towards you in surprise, but the look soon turns to horror as she recognizes you.

“No… No, no, no! Why- why are you here!? You- you can’t be here!” She says, voice filled with fear. She grabs her hair, eyes wide, as the confident and composed person who you spent the last few hours with is gone, replaced by a trembling, terrified girl. “No, you- you can't-”

“Lily, it’s fine. Whatever is going on I can help you.”

“No, you can’t! You can’t! You can’t know!”

See? This is is your fault. The voice comes again through her eyes, directly into your mind, though it is not speaking with you. If you hadn’t hesitated, if you had just done what I told you, we’d have been fine, but now-

She breaks eye contact as she paces around frantically, her hands covering her ears as if trying to stop herself from hearing something. The voice vanishes from your head.

“Talk to me, Lily. Whoever is talking to you, whoever is making you… do whatever it is you don’t want to do, I can help you.”

“No, you can’t! You can’t! No one can!” She says, tears streaming down her face. “No one can know or-” She stops in her tracks. Her eyes widen. “I… I can fix this. Yes… Yes, I can fix this!”

“Lily-”

“Stupefy!” She turns towards you, and her terror is replaced with fury and rage. You just barely stumble out of the way of the spell, crashing against the furniture and rolling on the floor, but she doesn’t stop. She follows it with “Expelliarmus! Somnius!”

You crawl through the floor, throwing chairs and tables between tables as you try to escape her sudden wrath.

“Lily, stop this!”

“I need to do this, Elliot! It’s for your own good! I need to do this or we die! We all die! Petrificus Totalus!”

> Roll a d100+3. Beat two out of 3d100+35

I'll switch to rolling after you. Makes things more tense, I think.

Rolled 62 + 3 (1d100 + 3)

>>5748750
O fugg

Rolled 84 + 3 (1d100 + 3)

>>5748750
It's over bros

Rolled 72 + 3 (1d100 + 3)

>>5748750
bet she'll try to obliviate us

>>5748754
>>5748809
>>5748813
Pretty strong bros

Rolled 85, 88, 40 + 35 = 248 (3d100 + 35)

And here we go...

File: Panik.png (351 KB, 1080x1080)

351 KB PNG

>>5748843

>>5748843
>One success on our part

>>5748843
This is the future you chose

File: 505.gif (22 KB, 310x760)

22 KB GIF

>>5748849
Fuck, I dropped my meme

The +35 meant we were almost always gonna lose with those rolls desu, I just hope it's not a major consequence

We forgot to stay away from crazy, we go pay the price

>>5748853
We knew the sort of rolls she pulled from the training. We're about to get out face kicked in

>>5748754
>>5748809
>>5748813
>>5748843
120 123 87

You dive out of the way, dodging the spell but slamming your ribs against the corner of a table. You feel something crack with the impact and don’t bother holding in the scream, hoping someone will hear you and burst through the door to save your day.

“Reducto!”

No such luck, as the table in front of you explodes into dus and shrapnel, nearly blinding you, only for her to chain it with “Expelliarmus!” Your wand flies off your hand going somewhere and as you roll under another table and out of her sight, you hear “Accio!”.

“I have your wand, Elliot! Come out! You don’t need to get hurt!”

You crawl away from where you fell, clenching your ribs in pain as you are very much already hurt, but you stay quiet, searching for some way out of this.

The table you were just under a few seconds ago explodes in flames with a “Bombarda!”.

Whatever you plan on doing, you need to do it fast.

> Make a run for the door
> Tackle her to the ground
> Throw a chair at her
> Surrender
> Other (Write in)

>>5748891
> Throw a chair at her

>>5748891
>Tackle her to the ground
I want to believe

>>5748891
> Make a run for the door

File: 7x9vse.jpg (59 KB, 531x470)

59 KB JPG

>>5748891
> Make a run for the door

>>5748857
Yeah, I think it's not the worst thing though since we can potentially get some concessions out of Harry after being violently attacked by his daughter.

>>5748891
> Make a run for the door
Yep we need to gtfo to her dad

>>5748900
>>5749071
> Make a run for the door


Roll a d100-5 (because of your freshly broken rib). Best of Three. DC 80

Rolled 59 - 5 (1d100 - 5)

>>5749104

Rolled 69 - 5 (1d100 - 5)

>>5749104
Slither away!

Rolled 83 - 5 (1d100 - 5)

>>5749104

>>5749108
Fuck we were close

>>5749106
>>5749107
>>5749108
Dear God, we've been captured by the redheaded psycho

>>5749108
So close

>>5749114
Just as planned >:)

>>5749114
Should've hurled the chair at her head.

There’s no way you can beat her without your wand, no matter what her father said in his class. Your only hope is to get to the corridor and find help, either another prefect, a teacher or even a painting. No time for hesitation.

As soon as you hear her cast another spell, you bolt towards the door. It isn’t a big distance, a few meters at most, but the side of your body screams at you as you run, almost slamming against the door when-

“Petrificus Totalus!”

Your arms and legs snap towards your body, freezing in place, but not freezing your momentum. Your body keeps moving forward, and without support you fall face first on the floor, your nose breaking with a loud crack.

There is a moment of silence as the battle stops, then a second “Petrificus Totalus!” hits you as she confirms you’re properly paralyzed. She walks towards you slowly, dragging you by the leg until you are far away from the door before turning you over.

“Oh no, no, no. I told you you needed to surrender or you’d get hurt,” she says with an almost psychotic tone. Her eyes are wide, and there is more than just a hint of madness in them. “But that’s fine. It’s fine. Lily is going to take care of you. Lily is going to make everything alright.”

She looks into your terror-striken eyes, almost lovingly, as she gently cups your face. She pulls her wand and touches it against your nose, and with an “Episkey!” she puts your nose back into place. She opens a pouch on her waist and pulls a cloth and a water bottle and starts to slowly wipe your face clean.

And all the while, as she looks into your eyes, you can hear the voice whispering into her head.

Good, good. This should help, it should stop doom from coming, at least for now. But we must… Except this time, the dark voice fades into the background of your mind, still being spoken, still being heard by her, but covered up by a second voice, no the same voice, its conscience split in two, one side speaking to Lily and the other… speaking directly to you.

Ah, so you can hear me when our eyes connect, it says, almost amused. I should have figured this could be possible, all things considered. Fortunately for me, this is a mistake that can be easily mended. You won’t remember this, but, if you do… Do send her my regards, will you?

You try to reply, to send at least a mental middle finger towards the figure, but it seems the connection only works one way.

“Scourgify,” she says, cleaning the rest of the mess she made out of your face. She looks at you, and she looks... better. Saner, at least. She plants a kiss on your forehead. “I’m sorry. I really am. But Lily needs- I need to do this alone. I wish there was another way.”

She points her wand at you, and the last thing this version of you hears is, Very well, dear, but let me give it an extra kick. Should make it a bit more permanent, followed by a quiet, almost sorrowful “obliviate”.

[Cont.]

>>5749156
“So, let me know when you want to train again,” Lily says.

You blink, slightly confused for a moment. Where are you? Ah, yes, the entrance to you common room. You shake your head, scaring off the tiredness of the training, and nod.

“Sure, I’ll probably need as much training as I can get to get through your father’s classes. He doesn’t seem like he’ll take it easy on us.”

“He never does,” she says, smiling. “Bye!”

She turns around and saunters off, and you can’t help but be sad she’s leaving, even if you do love to watch her walk away.

You enter common room, finding it mostly empty. You hadn’t realized you two had pent so much time training, or, as you walk, that you had injured your ribs in the process. No matter, you’ll pass by the Infirmary tomorrow.

So, without a care in the world, you go to sleep.

--

Next morning is, well, rough. First there is this throbbing pain on the side of your body that you can only get rid of when you eventually go to the Infirmary at lunch time. Then, there is Raven and Taylor giving you crap for not calling them to train with Lily, which is very much fair, followed by Brighton Longbottom “accidentally” bumping an entire bowl of fire-dandelions into your your concoction during potions, making your Draught of Living Death melt off the bottom of your cauldron and spill all over the floor.

Finally, Battle Class arrives. As with last time, Lily is in the audience and waves at you as you arrive, watching as her father teaches you proper wandholding form, techniques and a variety of techniques. It doesn’t feel like tiresome work, but by the end you’re exhausted. It is with great pleasure that you welcome the weekend, and the chance to step out of Hogwarts, for a while.

“Ah, Hogsmead,” Taylor says as you three arrive at the snow-covered village. “It really doesn’t get any cozier than this, huh?”

“Taylor, you say that every time we come here,” Raven says.

“I say it because it’s true. So, where do we want to go?”

> Ceridwen's Cauldrons. You need to buy a new cauldron
> Spintwitches Sporting Needs. Maybe there’s something there you can buy for Lily?
> The Three Broomsticks. You’re almost sure you can convince Hannah to sell you some Firewhiskey
> Weasleys' Wizard Wheeze.,Maybe there’s a new trick in stock
> Honeydukes. You’re aching for something sweet after a week of training
> The Magic Neep. You need to find some unusual ingredients for the new potions you’re studying

>>5749169
> Ceridwen's Cauldrons. You need to buy a new cauldron
> The Magic Neep. You need to find some unusual ingredients for the new potions you’re studying
That bitch just mindfucked us. Christ on the cross

>>5749169
>Ceridwen's Cauldrons. You need to buy a new cauldron
>The Magic Neep. You need to find some unusual ingredients for the new potions you’re studying
That was unsettling, especially the kiss on the forehead.

>>5749169
> Ceridwen's Cauldrons. You need to buy a new cauldron
> The Three Broomsticks. You’re almost sure you can convince Hannah to sell you some Firewhiskey

Lets give it a few weeks before we try that again

>>5749169
> Ceridwen's Cauldrons. You need to buy a new cauldron
> The Magic Neep. You need to find some unusual ingredients for the new potions you’re studying

>>5749172
>>5749177
>>5749178
>>5749180
“Well, I need to get a new cauldron. Brighton buggered mine.”

“Oh, right, I also need to go to Ceridwen’s,” Taylor says. “Brighton made my fancy stirrer melt.”

“No he didn’t,” Raven says. “You made that melt yourself because you can’t follow instructions.”

“Hey, it’s my potion stirrer, so I make the story I want for its death. And in my story, Brighton is a twat instead of me being an idiot. Now let’s get going.”

“Well, it looks like Brighton also melted his own cauldron, because he’s in Ceridwen’s too,” the girl says, pointing at the store with a stack of cauldrons haphazardly stacked on top of each other. “And, surprise, surprise, he’s being a twat.”

Brighton is standing outside the shop, holding what looks like a brand new cauldron over his head. In front of him are two almost identical Ravenclw sixth years, Summer and Winter Nott, who are blocking the way of a fifth year Hufflepuff who’s about two heads shorter than he is.

“Give it back, Brighton you utter fuck!”

“Well, you’re not asking politely,” he says, shaking the cauldron away from her reach.

“I don’t need to be polite, you bag of shite! It’s mine!”

“Oh, she bites!” Says the twin with the blonde hair, Summer.

“Or tries to. She’s so short I don’t think her bite could reach even another snake.”

> Tell them to stop
> Try to take the cauldron off his hands
> Accio the cauldron
> Threaten to call Longbottom’s mother, the Three Broomstick’s land-lady, Hannah Longbottom
> Go call his mother Hannah without prior warning
> Threaten to hex them if they don’t stop
> Hex them without warning (With what?)
> Other (Write in)

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3.24 MB JPG

>>5749215
And the Hogsmeade image I forgot to add

>>5749215
>Accio the cauldron
Not very Slytherin of us to help a Hufflepuff, but fuck Longbottom

>>5749215
>Accio the cauldron
Just what we needed, let's just take it, and be on our way.

>>5749215
> Hex them without warning (With what?)
>Petrificus totalis
Might jog our memory.

>>5749233
> Not very Slytherin of us to help a Hufflepuff

>>5749234
> Just what we needed, let's just take it

I don't have anything at all against any of these options, but just to clarify that Slytherin no longer means evil, dickhead or blood-purist (you and all your friends are all either muggleborn or halfblood, for example) like it did on the original series where it is sort of implied the Hat puts all shitty kids in the exclusion zone that is Slytherin.

Ever since Voldemort, where the parent of a lot of Slytherins died while fighting on the Battle of Hogwarts, and Harry Potter spoke out about Snape being a Slytherin allied with the Order of the Phoenix, the number of dickheads has mostly levelled out amongst the four houses (as exemplified by Longbottom).

Ambition and cunning might need allies (or at least for people to think you're the good guy and trust you before you swindle them). Any leader could theoretically be in Slytherin, be they righteous king, vicious dictator, democratically elected president or vicious billionaire (or someone who didn't manage to achieve their ambitions, as well). So what flavor of ambition or cunning you have is up to you.

I do admit the character's personality, goal (besides "figure out what is happening to me") and ambition was not well defined as we fell right into the story. I'll try to set up a scene where you can choose this more explicitly. Should help with making him more consistent (and if it is decided that he's a dickhead, at least he will be consistently a dickhead)

If you'd like to steal the cauldron, or if you'd like the character to not enjoy helping a hufflepuff but doing it out of spite, feel free go with it, just don't feel like you have to do it because your character wears robes trimmed with green

>>5749215
>Go call his mother Hannah without prior warning

>>5749215
> Accio the cauldron
> Threaten to call Longbottom’s mother, the Three Broomstick’s land-lady, Hannah Longbottom
Stop being a cunt Longbottom

>>5749494
Oh, and I'm voting to use accio to give it to the Hufflepuff, not to steal it.

>>5749215
> Accio the cauldron

Tattling to his mom is negative rizz, let's not do that

>>5749215
> Accio the cauldron

Tattling to his mom is negative rizz, let's not do that.

>>5749215
> Accio the cauldron
> Threaten to call Longbottom’s mother, the Three Broomstick’s land-lady, Hannah Longbottom

>>5749215
>> Hex them without warning (With what?)
Stickfast Hex and disappear

>>5749233
>>5749234
>>5749494
>>5749501
>>5749503
>>5749559

“Accio cauldron!” You say, and the pot goes flying off Longbottom’s loose grip, slams into WInter’s head, then falls in your hands. “Got to admit, pretty great spell, this is.”

“Ouch!”

“Oi! You hurt my sister!” Summer shouts, while Longbottom is still processing he doesn’t have the cauldron anymore.

‘It’s your fault for hanging out with someone who swapped his face for a horse’s ass,“ Raven shouts.

“Oh, good one.”

“Thanks.”

“Give the cauldron back,” Longbottom says.

“Or what? You’re going to run to your mom? In fact, should we call her now? I can see the Three Broomsticks from here, so I wonder what she’d say of her son being a dickhead.”

He glares at you, then at the distant pub, before turning leaving.

“Psh. Can’t solve things like a man, Hallaster? You need to involve the adults in everything?

“Oh, no, I absolutely can solve things like a man, it’s just that you are not worth the effort.”

The Hufflepuff barks out a laugh at that.

“Let’s just go, Brighton.” Winter says, massaging the place the cauldron hit her. “It’s not worth getting into trouble right now.”

“Huh, very well. We still have the rest of the school year to make him eat dirt. Let’s go.”

He turns around and the three leave in the direction of the Three Broomsticks.

“Thanks for taking care of that sack of dicks,” the girl says as you give her the cauldron, her wide blue eyes beaming at you. “I knew I shouldn’t have gone off by myself. ‘No, Arty, it’s just over there, you’ll be fine.’ Well, it wasn’t, was it?”

She’s short, with shoulder length auburn hair, and is wearing a set of robes too large for her in which she seems to be trying to hide in. She practically screams “victim”.

“Nah, it’s just Longbottom who’s a prat. He was probably waiting for me, since he knew I needed to buy a new cauldron. Where are the other Hufflepuffs? You usually walk in groups.”

“They’re at Weasley’s looking at their new joke broom. I just popped out for a bit to get a new cauldron now that I got the money.” She looks at her brand new, if simple, cauldron with a wide smile, hugging it. “All mine. Finally. I hate using the school ones, they’re utter crap.”

You think about saying that the cauldrons are much less important than the brewer, but she looks so happy with her new cauldron that you don’t have the heart to say anything.

[Cont.]

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>>5749609


“And, ah, please don’t say anything about this to Longbottom’s mom. I really need my job there.”

“You’re working at the Three Broomsticks?” Taylor asks.

“Yes, all summer, so now I can buy my own clothes!” She says, proudly pointing at her oversized, brand new vests. “Don’t need to use the school funds anymore!”

“Alright, we won’t say a thing,” Raven says.

“Thanks! Name’s Arty, by the way! Pop by the Three Broomsticks later, I’m still working there in the afternoon on weekends. The least I can do is pay you a butterbeer for the help!”

“I’m Raven, this is Elliot and Taylor,” she says pointing. “They’re my bodyguards, but don’t tell anyone.”

“Ok! Bye!” She says, running away hugging her cauldron.

“She’s a fifth year?” Taylor asks. “She could be in third year and I wouldn’t have known.”

“She is. I heard she’s from a… problematic home. She’s probably with Potter’s Child Aid Charity, so she doesn’t have to go back home during vacations.”

Potter himself funded the charity, housed at Hogsmeade, so that muggleborn children with problematic homes could choose not to go back during vacations.

“Well, at least she’s getting through it. Now let's go, I want to get a cauldron too.”

Half an hour later, you have your own brand new cauldron. You then head to the Magic Neep, where a host of fresh and dried ingredients hang from the ceiling, or pots. Most things you have available at the Potions Classroom, but rarer ingredients are not so easily available, or cheap. You check the prices and it is soon obvious that you could buy the ingredients for one of your potions from Moste Potente, but you wouldn’t have the money to buy much else until you got your allowance next month.

Buy ingredients for:

> The shapechanging potion, Polyjuice (1 month to brew, difficult to produce)
> The sleeping draught, Draught of Living Death (1-2 hours, extremely difficult)
> The truth potion Veritaserum (1 month to brew, highly illegal to brew, extremely difficult to produce)
> The antidote to Veritaserum, Mendacium (1 month to brew)
> The drink of irrationality, the Essence of Insanity (2-3 days to brew, difficult to produce)
> Don’t buy anything, save your money

>>5749611
>The shapechanging potion, Polyjuice (1 month to brew, difficult to produce)
This will be helpful for our next break-in. Also, to state the obvious, Lily is playing host to whatever thing the forest woman warned us about right?

>>5749611
> The shapechanging potion, Polyjuice (1 month to brew, difficult to produce)
>>5749639
I think, but head lady also said we could bring her in on it if we had to. It might be a third party.

>>5749611
> The shapechanging potion, Polyjuice (1 month to brew, difficult to produce)

>>5749611
> The shapechanging potion, Polyjuice (1 month to brew, difficult to produce)

>>5749648
>I think, but head lady also said we could bring her in on it if we had to. It might be a third party.
bad idea given what we learned (and were then forced to forget)

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>>5749639
>>5749648
>>5749684
>>5749695
"Powdered bicorn horn and boomslang skin, huh," the old lady behind the counter says, handing you your ingredients as you pass her your gold. "Just be aware that while recreational uses are allowed by law, impersonating someone is a felony and can put you in Azkaban."

“Uh, I’m… not sure what you mean, Sara.” You lie as you pocket the ingredients.

“I’m sure you don’t, darling. Don’t waste it, by the way. Those are difficult to come by. Will your three friends want anything?”

“Ah,” you look around, confused, before correcting her. “Two friends.”

“Huh, I could’ve sworn there was a third. Once your age gets to the three digits, things start to all mix together. Well, have fun with your potions, dear.”

“Thank you.”

You quickly leave the store with your friends in tow, passing by other stores they want to look at, buying bits and bobs you forgot to bring from home and some more dark make up for Raven. As all trips to Hogsmeade do, however, you end up at the Three Broomsticks.

“Hey, you three,” Hannah says, waving you in. “Come on in, find a table, someone will be with you in a bit.”

You three find a cozy table by the windows, and soon Arty slides by in roller skates.

“Hey, you came! What can I get you? First one is on me, just… nothing too expensive, please.”

Soon you’re all nesting a frozen butterbeer in your hands, taking part in the age-old tradition shared by students all over the world of complaining about teachers.

“I mean, they must fire him eventually, right? He’s a ghost, they can’t just let him teach forever!”

“I don’t know, Binns has been teaching since the 1890’s, I don’t think they intend to change it any time soon.”

“But Gorski is so much better than he is! Why can’t he just take over the class?”

“He’s busy, I heard,” Raven says. “Has businesses all over the world.”

“He has wivesall over the world, that’s what you mean,” says a voice from behind you. “And children, too. I expect we’ll have a school year full of little Groskis in a few years.”

[Cont.]

>>5749808
“Lily!” You say, perhaps with a little too much enthusiasm. “Ran out of Gryffindor noses? Did they form a line?”

“More of a free for all, really,” she says, grinning. She conjures a chair from somewhere and sits at your table by your side. “Not only was it a bloodbath, it was a messy bloodbath.”

“What are you two talking about?”

“I’m just being dumb, don’t worry.”

“So, it’s true?” Raven asks, curious. “Groski really has wives all over? I thought that was just a myth.”

“Oh no, quite real,” Lily nods. “I heard McGonagall had to do a lot of work to convince him to come teach us, but at least now we have a History of Magic teacher that doesn’t bore everyone to death, even if he’s part-time.”

Arty slides by and passes a quick round of refills for any who need it.

“Hey, what can I get you?”

“Firewhisky, please,” Lily says, casually.

“Aren’t you a student?”

“And also a seventh year. I’m good, Hannah knows me.”

“Everyone knows you,” Arty says, but leaves to fetch her firewhisky.

“One of the perks of being born three days after the school year starts,” she explains. She also takes her “head girl” badge and pockets it. “You get to get shitfaced before everyone else does. Though the other prefects don’t like it, so don’t tell.”

> Try to get her to let you have some
> Try to convince Hannah to sell you a bottle
> Just enjoy the conversation
> Other (Write in)

>>5749809
> Try to convince Hannah to sell you a bottle

>>5749809
>Just enjoy the conversation

>>5749809
>Just enjoy the conversation

>>5749808
> Just enjoy the conversation

I like Arly, she's not bad for a puff.

>>5749648
she's too unreliable for any trust right now, I think. Maybe if we can exorcise whatever bad juju is in her head

>>5749821
>>5750067
>>5750071

The conversation goes on as you grow privy to some spicier details of the lives of several teachers, details you’re sure no one but a teacher’s kid could ever get their hands on. Soon Lily’s firewhisky arrives, and she downs it in one go, before smiling in your direction and asking for another.

“So,” Lily asks once she’s done regaling you with why exactly the last Defense Professor had been fired (she’d been found with two fifth-years in a broom closet). “Slytherins. House of ambition and cunning. People go to Gryffindor because they’re brave, but you don’t need to be brave about anything, just in general. But ambition? You need something to be ambitious towards. A goal. What are yours?”

“I want to summon a demon,” Raven says, absolutely delighted that anyone asked. “I want to create a summoning circle, I want to find the right incantation, and then I want to find the right cage, and then I’m going to find the biggest, baddest demon with the biggest… horns, and then I’m going to…” She glances at both you and Taylor, then at Lily, clearly deciding at that very moment she didn’t need to reveal all her plans. “I’m going to discover all its secrets. Yes, I’m going to imprison it, and get its… secrets.”

Both you and Taylor muffle a laugh. Both you have been told, several times and in graphic detail, what exactly she intends to get from her imprisoned demon.

“I see,” Lily says with a raised eyebrow. “Remind me to introduce you to a friend of my father. I think you and Luna will have a wonderful time together. How about you, Taylor?”

“I’m going to go to the moon,” he says, simply. That seems to honestly surprise Lily, even more than Raven’s demon plan. “I’ll go to the moon, and I’ll build a house there.”

“Right… I don’t think you can quite breathe on the moon.”

“Well, yes, but that’s why the muggles invented breathing robes that work there. I don’t know how well the bubble charm works on the moon, so when I figure out a way of going there, I’ll take one of those with me.”

“Summoning a demon and getting its secrets, and building a house on the moon. Very big goals,” Lily says, impressed. “And you, Little Elliot? What is your great ambition?”

> To become a great ruler (From where? And how would you rule?)
> To discover something no one has discovered before (New lands? A rule of magic?)
> To create something grand (A potion? A spell? A construct?)
> To achieve something awesome (Great power? Save people?)
> Write in.

> The ambition doesn't need to be realistic, possible or achievable before leaving Hogwarts (both Taylor's and Raven's are pretty out there), but it is still a goal to look towards. I won't give more than general suggestions unless asked, as it is a big part of the character, so feel free to fill in with whatever idea you like

>>5750106
throwing a curve ball here and giving him something relatively undecided yet and say he wants to leave his mark in the wizarding world, in some way shape or form, something like a combination of all options, be recognized or somewhat remembered for future generations

>>5750106
> Write in.
“In the long term? No clue. Right now, I think my goal is to take things as they come. And perhaps have another butterbeer.

>>5750108
>>5750141
I refuse to be out-ambitioned by our friends

>>5750106
> I want to create a portion of eternal life. 150 years seems to little too live

>>5750106
>>5750312
Potion of eternal, or at least vastly extended, life sounds good to me

>>5750106
> To discover something no one has discovered before (New lands? A rule of magic?)
Atlantis asw real, so what about Lemuria? Or Mu? How much of pseudo-science is actually hidden occult knowledge?

>>5750106
>>5750387
> To discover something no one has discovered before (New lands? A rule of magic?)
Something like this Anon said, something like Agartha, or Hy Brasil, or Hyperborea.

>>5750106
>I once heard a tale about something called the Cintāmaṇi stone. It's an object in some muggle religions that can grant wishes. I want to make one of my own, a wish-granting stone...if Nicolas Flamel can create the Philosopher's Stone, I can make this.

>>5750499
Oh, and for other people to reference:
Cintāmaṇi is a wish-fulfilling jewel within both Hindu and Buddhist traditions, said by some to be the equivalent of the philosopher's stone in Western alchemy.

It's basically the same tier as the philosopher's stone, but with a different function and purpose.

I think I know a way to make both of the main ideas work together.
People of these lost places lived for thousands of years, had a shitload of magic potions and artifacts right? But modern wizards don't.
So either the knowledge was lost when they fell, or the raw materials were. So we must find the /x/ schizo lands to make the immortality potion and the wish rock

>>5750106
> To become a great ruler (From where? And how would you rule?)

to rule is to exalt all the people under you - we'd naturally seek rulership of Britain, first by taking over the Ministry of Magic and then by solidifying our house as wizarding nobility, by marriage or otherwise

(if this morphs into being the dictator perpetuus of Wizarding Britain I have no objections, of course)

>>5750509
>become Wizard Hitler 2
kek

>>5750512
Hey, control over others is the classic ambition for a reason! If Granger got to be Minister of Magic AND raise her family's status, we can do better.

>>5750518
did you forget her (muggle) family was already well-off and that she made them forget she exists

>>5750506
That works. I mean, the wish rock has to be SOMEWHERE if there are legends about it, right? Maybe we can just find it instead of make it!

>>5750506
I like this, full blown /x/files wizard would be cool.

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Let me try to consolidate these ideas into something cohesive. There seems to be a few main lines of ideas (other than becoming Wizard Hitler 3: Electric Boogaloo)

> Live forever
> Find Lost Power
> Find the Lost Civilization

And either one could lead to the other

> Finding a Civilization could lead to power, which leads to immortality
> Finding a great power, which allows us to become immortal, which gives us time to find the lost civilization
> Getting immortality, so we can amass great power, so we can use it to divine the location of the lost civilization
> Etc.

And we're pretty sure one thing can lead to the other, but what's really important is that it all eventually leads to us doing the related image. Is that correct?

>>5750551
Seem about right.
We will reclaim what was lost!

Wait, would that makes us wizard Indiana Jones?

>>5750551
Exactly! We will find the truth™!

>>5750558
sounds more like we'd end up like Luna's crackpot dad, at least i think that was her dad?

>>5750561

To be frank, I think the entire trio would have been best friends with Luna, if only they had been born four decades earlier.

>>5750561
looked it up, it was her dad that was the crackpot who told them about the wand

>>5750564
You're only a crackpot if you're wrong, anon. Otherwise you're a visionary

>>5750562
>Incubus summoner
>Moon settler
>Lost civilization theorist
Yeah, we definitely would.

>>5750565
he was a nut that lived in the middle of nowhere

>>5750570
A *visionary* nut who lived in the middle of nowhere and who was exactly correct

>>5750551

As soon as she asks, your friends groan. They know what is coming, but there is no way of stopping it. A fire lights in your eyes, and it comes accompanied by a wide array of hand gestures as you explain your grand vision.

"I want to find a Lost place. We know that people a thousand years ago were more powerful than we were, and could do even grander things. Like Hogwarts, for example. By logic, if we go even further back, people could do even grander and greater things. But, somehow, these things, these places, were lost to time."

"But clues to these places still exist!" You say, suddenly standing up from your chair. "Lost in legend and myth, in stories and tales. Like how Beedle the Bard made the Tale of the Three Brothers into a children's fable, the truth about these places is hidden in plain sight. Thule, Ker Ys, the Isles of the Blessed or, even, yes, Atlantis itself."

"And wherever these places lay, it is my intent to find them and unravel their secrets." You pull your chair in front of you, so you can put one foot on it and lean forward. "Through cunning and shrewd, I shall crack these unknowns open. I will walk into these Lost cities and places, and I will discover what lays within them, be it the Fountain of Youth, the Cradle of Magic, or Alatyr and Cintamani, and I shall take them for myself and remake them in my image."

You stop, savoring the images only you can see of distant lands and impossible cities, all waiting to be plundered by yours truly. It is the solitary clapping sound that takes you off your euphoria-induced trance.

"Wow, that was certainly something, wasn't it, folks?" Arty says, picking up any empty bottles. "Have you ever thought about picking up theater? I think you'd do well. Anyway, can I get you all another round?"

"Yes, please," Lily says. "I think I need another one after that."

"And that's why we're bullied," Raven explains.

"That is one of the reasons why we're bullied," Taylor corrects her. "Don't think your demon fetish isn't a part of it too."

"Shut up, moon man."

You sit back down, ignoring the stares your speech has gained you, the flame inside you relit. It has been years since you spoke about it, the daily school life might have dimmed it for a while, but the dream of Atlantis burns bright within you once again.

[Cont.]

>>5750584


“So, Atlantis, infinite power and eternal youth, huh?” Lily asks, once her firewhisky arrives. “Anything else on your list?”

“No, I think that’s pretty much it. Though if it is possible to get eternal life beforehand, well, that would take the time pressure off.”

“Well, unfortunately for you, Flamel died a few decades ago.”

“Flamel’s recipe was flawed,” you say dismissively. “By the end he was a frail mess of skin and brittle bones, a couple more years and he’d have died anyway. Not that I would say no to his recipe, of course. It did buy him six hundred years of extra time, which I would enjoy having.”

“I see,” she says, amused. “And you suppose that wizards beforehand really were more powerful, and not that we’re just losing knowledge because of the Interdict of Merlin?”

“What’s that?” Taylor asks.

“It’s why we have physical schools,” you answer, annoyed. The interdict was always brought up in these sorts of conversations. “The Interdict stops anyone from getting knowledge of powerful spells out of books, even if you find and read a powerful wizard's notes they won't make sense to you. It has to go from one living mind to another. You can still learn basic spells, but anything more powerful you either need to be taught or figure it out yourself from scratch. Supposedly it was…” You stop as the realization strikes you. “The very last thing he ever did.”

“Yes,” Lily says, as you are too stunned to keep talking. “So instead of us just being weaker, we just know less. So you and I could build a Hogwarts of our own, if we just knew how. So even if Elliot could find Atlantis, he couldn’t use their books.”

The insult to your vision brings you back.

“No, because as I just said, the interdict only affects spells. Not artifacts. Or potions.”

She still stares at you with an amused look, but she raises her hands in defeat.

“Alright, alright, I know when I’m beat. Well, this was fun, but we should probably start heading back to Hogwarts. Curfew will start soon.”

“Are you coming, Arty?” Raven asks as the Hufflepuff passes you by.

“Huh? Oh, no, Professor Potter got me permission to stay here on the weekends to work! But I’ll probably see you during the week, or at least when you come back here!”

So, with you kicking yourself for not realizing the potential connection between “Merlin’s last light” and the Interdict, you all return to Hogwarts.

> +50 points of Merlin’s Last Light research

Pick 3 activities for you to focus on over the next two weeks:

> Train with Lily (+4 to Battle Rolls)
> Study Moste Potente Potions (+4 to Potions)
> Study with Taylor (+4 to Astronomy)
> Study with Raven (+4 to Muggle Studies)
> Study another subject (+2 to another subject)
> Research whatever is happening to you
> Research the visions in your dream
> Research “Merlin’s last light”
> Research Lost Cities
> Other (Write in)

It's beginning of September still right?