Secrets PV Closed

Santario had been one of the ones to call out that they needed to question the two that started all of this, but the cowards ran away and barricaded themselves in the dorms leaving their classmates to their fates. Marion was older; she would have had spells that could have helped them, but instead, she ran. Santario wanted to give Marion the chance to prove that she wasn’t as utterly useless as she seemed. After seeing the note posted, she sprinted to the owlery, not wanting to give the upperclassman a chance to escape this time. Would the girl be able to out cast her if it came down to it? Definitely, but San wouldn’t go down without a fight if that’s what it took to get some answers.

She entered the owlery and looked for the blonde, and once she laid eyes on her, Santario did not hesitate. To Marion, Santario would not look well. Her skin looked sickly pale, dark circles encased her eyes like a raccoon from lack of sleep, and her raven locks normally silky and shiny, a little greasy. Her sharp sapphire eyes, however, shone out just as piercing if not more in contrast to the black circles. “How could you leave us like that? Do you realize we all almost died? You an upperclassman who has spells more advanced than most of us in that room. You could have helped us with healing spells, you could have done something other than being useless. Yet… You ran like you knew something. Like you knew, something was going to happen. Now it’s time to spill.” Her silvery voice was a disgusted snarl as she started her interrogation of the girl.

Santario was not physically threatening at the moment, she did not have a wand in her hand, and she was not in a stance that said she planned on physically hurting Marion. She had, however, put herself between Marion and the only escape if she could.

@Marion Davenport | @Santario Martin

Curled up in a dark corner of the Common Room with a book, Bridget had been studying, at least until her reading was interrupted by a sequence of sharp raps on the door. Sliding her bookmark in to mark her spot, the small girl closed her book, shoved it into her satchel, and slipped off her chair. Who was knocking? That didn't make sense--surely if it was a Slytherin they would've just said the password and come in. Perhaps it was someone from another House, trying to play some prank. But maybe... what if it wasn't a student? Gulping, Bridget wondered if she was the only one who could hear the sound. This wouldn't be the first time that sort of thing happened, and last time had ended with that spider biting her, that horrible spider, and then the pain...

Squeezing her eyes shut to block out the memories that kept surfacing in her recent nightmares, she wondered if she should just go back to reading. At least this time it wasn't the middle of the night, but that didn't mean it was safe...

Her sharp hazel eyes caught on something. There--on the door--some sort of paper? Walking closer so as to make out what it said, the letters came into view. '-- Marion is hiding out in the Owlery, come quick!' That was odd. Still, it could be a trap. Everything since that night seemed like a trap. But what if Marion knew something?

Before she could talk herself in or out of going, a familiar head of raven hair headed out the door. Santario, who had been on the Quidditch team, seemed to think it was worth investigating. She at least didn't get attacked by arachnids the second she stepped out and besides, Bridget was curious. So she followed.

Racing up what felt like endless flights of stairs, finally she emerged in the Owlery. And there, just like the message had promised, was Marion, still hunched over a letter she was writing. Santario wasted no time in accusing the older girl of abandoning them that night, and, honestly, Bridget couldn't argue with the first year's interrogation. Marion knew something. She wasn't innocent. The girl had disappeared since that night, so chances were, she had reason to blame herself for what'd happened.

The beratement was almost certainly not going to be the way to go if they wanted answers, though. Out of caution, one hand slipped down to the pocket that held her wand, ready to draw it at a moment's notice.

"Marion," she started quietly once Santario had finished. "Just tell us what you know." What did Marion know? Bridget had no idea, but considering she hadn't been seen in weeks, she had to know something.

@Marion Davenport@Santario Martin@Bridget Collins

Thump, thump, thump!

Arlo’s large, golden eyes drifted away from his book towards the Common Room door as his head tilted in curiosity. After a few slow blinks, he would cast the reading material aside and scoot himself off the armchair. His large feet landed on the ground with a plop as he made his way towards the entrance. It seemed rude not to answer. 

However, someone else would beat him to the punch. A pale girl with jet black hair would glance at a piece of parchment pinned to the door before quickly making her exit. Another dark haired girl would follow. Whatever they were after seemed rather exciting. As he scurried his way over to the door, he would quickly glance at the message.

-Marion is hiding out in the Owlery, come quick!-

Who the hell is Marion? The boy thought to himself. No matter really. Judging by the quickness in which the two girls left, it must have been something exciting. His little legs went a mile a minute as he tried his best to keep up, but the other two would surely beat him.

As he reached the Owlery, Arlo would slip in behind the other two. Inside was a blonde with a familiar face. Where had he seen her before? As his eyes squinted in thought, his long index finger would tap his chin as he searched his memories. Perhaps they shared a class together? Or maybe they had dined together in the Great Hall by chance? His questions would quickly be answered as the other girls began their interrogation.

“Oh yeah, the girl that heard the noises, just like that other guy.” He whispered to himself as the recognition dawned on him. His little legs carried him forward as he awkwardly stood in between them, his finger held high in the air. “Well...maybe she was just scared.” He offered his simple reasoning before turning towards Marion. “You surely didn’t know that the spiders were there, did you?”

What is the remedy for fear? 

The remedy for noncompliance? Listlessness? Non-compliance? Cowardice? Apparently it was hunting down someone that was in hiding to confront them about their failures and shortcomings, their weakness of character. Marion was far from perfect, something that the muggle-born well knew. The first magical person in a generation, she was alienated in both worlds. Her unfamiliarity and lack of status in the wizarding world and her 'eccentricity' in the muggle world. Her squib parent envied her magic as their had never surfaced. 

Someone would barge into the owlery. At first she would have assumed it was a Ravenclaw, someone that liked to write. Maybe a Hufflepuff mailing something sentimental. It was neither, apparently happenstance would cause @Santario Martin to come upon the young Slytherin. The hagride girl blocked Marion's exit as she confronted her.

“How could you leave us like that? Do you realize we all almost died? You an upperclassman who has spells more advanced than most of us in that room. You could have helped us with healing spells, you could have done something other than being useless. Yet… You ran like you knew something. Like you knew, something was going to happen. Now it’s time to spill.”

"Yeah, I knew you guys were like giving me the side eye like I was making stuff up," Marion retorted. She was a bit emotional at times. She did get scared. That night was scary, but she was not nearly as nervous as her friend Victor.

Marion took a step towards @Santario Martin, she had made one mistake in her verbal tirade. She let Marion know that she was likely stronger than her. More capable of casting spells. Not that she planned on accosting the Slytherin but she knew that the girl was not much of a threat.

"Then when like everything went down because Victor was being chased by some guy and he screamed to lock the dorms," Victor did ultimately share with her the fact that he was being cased down. The fact that they were not safe from their peers. 

"Marion." 

A second girl entered the owlery, @Bridget Collins called out the blonde's name. It was not a one on one, they must have seen her in the halls and followed her here. She immediately regretted ditching Vladimir for some alone time.

"Just tell us what you know."

"Tell you what exactly? That I heard a noise that nobody else could hear. That I was told to not open the door but that someone else" that would have been Jones against majority opinion. "That I seem to be blamed for whatever reason. That you're stalking me!" At least that was the way Marion saw it. Between Victor's warnings, Vladimir's whispers to take caution since last year and now this, they seemed to be right. People were out to get her. 
 
“Well...maybe she was just scared.” 

A third offered, a bit less aggressive or 'assertive' than the other two. How many people had come here? She was getting nervous. She could have held her own against one. Probably evenly matched against two, but a third... she was uncertain. she was starting to get nervous.

“You surely didn’t know that the spiders were there, did you?”

"What? No!" She seemed exasperated by the very question. "Why would I want to open a door an let those things in!" She would have just subjected herself to the brunt of the spiders that attacked in the wave. in fact, she probably would have died had she been alone or with just a few girls when she opened the door. Victor heard the same thing oddly enough, they spoke briefly. A weird coincidence,m whenever those happen it is always a bad day for the both of them.

@Marion Davenport | @Santario Martin | @Arlo Reynolds

Clearly the note on the Common Room door was doing its job as another Slytherin entered the owlery, this one an abnormally short boy she couldn't place. Bridget knew she'd seen him before, probably in passing that awful night, but right now figuring out where she'd seen him didn't matter. Instead, her attention was placed solely on Marion's movements, her words.

Well, asking Marion what she knew wasn't going to work. The short girl had never expected it to, but at the very least it had given her time to organize her thoughts. Besides, it had been worth a shot.

She blinked in surprise when Marion called her a stalker. Having not considered it that way before, the accusation caught her slightly off guard, but she supposed it made sense the older girl would think that. Bridget, at least, was not actually stalking Marion, but someone else certainly was. Who though? That could've been a useful bit of information, so she found herself regretting following the note's instruction to 'come quick' instead of looking it over more thoroughly.

None of them were having any success in getting anything out of Marion--not Santario with her accusations, herself with her directness, or the short boy with his empathy. As she tried to formulate a new approach, her hazel eyes caught on something. Marion's letter. What if it had something about the other night in it? There was enough writing for some revelation... But no. That would be wrong, stealing someone's personal letter. She had no right to Marion's private writing. Or did she? What if Marion did know something? What if that something was in the letter? The night of the attack, kids, herself included, could have died and very nearly did. All the pain, all the fear, every nightmare-riddled night since... If Marion was hiding something, didn't Bridget deserve an explanation? Besides, it was either a harmless letter to her family, I-love-you's and I-miss-you's and potentially a bit of gossip, or the information Marion wouldn't share.

Maybe it was wrong, but Bridget couldn't bring herself to care. She just had to wait, pretend to look like she was trying to think of what to say, and once Marion was distracted by one of the other Slytherins, lunge forward. Then, hopefully, her fingers would snatch up to parchment and then... well, she'd figure the rest out once she got there.

Action | Attempting to steal Marion's letter

After a lengthy afternoon in the library Thomas returned to the Slytherin common room to return his study material. Upon his entrance he found his peers in a state of disarray. Blood soaked carpet, flipped tables, students pacing the room muttering to themselves, others passionately arguing about the recent events. After passively inquiring, it did not take long for Thomas to gather there was an attack with high casualties.

There was brief concern for the few in his house that he held high graces. Well, just the one @Ruby Cazares. Given her role as prefect, he expected to see her playing a part in managing the chaos. Yet she was nowhere to be seen. Thomas could only assume she was amongst the carnage. After briefly contemplating, he approached the common room door with the intention to head to the Hospital Wing. That’s when he discovered a note attached to the door. Marion is hiding out in the Owlery, come quick!

Never has he heard of the girl, but he quickly deduced she played a role in the horrific events taking place in the common room. Why else would someone expose her location, urging others to track her down? Unless of course Marion herself planted this note to misdirect others from her true location. Regardless of the facts, it was intriguing to the boy. Even if Marion was not presently at the Owlery, other students that left to pursue her may offer insight into what happened. Thomas opted to place his concern for Ruby on hold, beginning his trip to the top of the west tower.

With the amount of owl droppings scattered about, Thomas silently acknowledged the architect’s blessing of no windows to entrap the stench. Obviously, it was for the seamless entrance in and out of the tower for the owls, but Thomas could not help thinking how the smell would multiply the nausea of students that came and went.

Thomas took careful steps, keeping his blue eyes fixated on the floor to carefully avoid the droppings. He stayed to the outskirts of the room, robes gently fluttering from the occasional breeze entering the stone openings. There were four others that he could see, they already appeared to be in a heated exchange.

"What? No! Why would I want to open a door an let those things in!"

The three others were facing the girl that spoke, her defensive stance combined with an urgent tone led Thomas to the belief she was Marion. He briefly scanned the three other students. One was pale as a ghost with long black hair and piercing blue eyes. There was another girl Thomas has seen once before, she was the beater for Slytherin’s quidditch team. Lastly, there was a short fellow Thomas did not recognize. Did Hogwarts adapt a pre-school program?

Thomas lingered in the shadows, the others may or may not have detected his entrance. He was unsure if the other three were working together or independently. Only one thing was clear, they all appeared to want something from her. Thomas only let a few moments pass before making his presence known if it wasn’t already. He would step closer to the group of students, blue eyes linking with the girl he believed to be Marion.

“I do not know you…any of you.” His eyes flickered to the other three for a moment before honing back in on Marion. “I do know this. You have been given up.” He spoke directly to Marion with a neutrally calm tone, after all he only had a rough understanding of what happened. “There was a note on the common room door informing us you came to the Owlery.” Despite the fact the girl currently held an owl and feather in her hand, Thomas knew she would not place the note there herself. Unless of course it was all a trap. “Did you tell someone this is where you’re going? Or is someone watching you?” Thomas scanned the Owlery with an intensity, searching for another presence. As his eyes traveled, he followed up his inquires. “Are they watching now?”

Santario took a deep breath. Arlo was right; she probably was just scared, but at the same time, she was still suspicious. Leniency with her guard up would be how to react to this going forward. She was also eternally grateful that people had decided to follow her because all it would have taken from Marion was a good shove down those stairs. Now enter another boy; she did not know who actually addressed that fact immediately.

She moved slightly to give him more room to make his way into the area so that he could address his concerns adequately. She listened to him nodding in agreement It was something that she had planned on mentioning whenever the girl decided to ask how they had found her, but maybe this new boy’s tactic will make her spill any information she had been holding back. “He’s right Marion. If you and the other boy had just come back and explained everything with Professor Jensen, none of this would be happening right now. None of us are here to hurt you; we just wanted to know anything you might have known and why you went into hiding. You have to admit from our side it looks suspicious with everything that goes on within these walls.” The tone of her silvery voice was less accusatory and more sympathetic now.

Really if she had been using her own brain and not wrapped up in all the crazy hell, she had been going through privately, maybe she would have been thinking more clearly, to begin with. With any real look at Santario, anyone could tell she wasn’t doing well and that something was wrong. Bottling it up and trying to shove it down until it exploded was her m.o. “It would be hard to be watching now unless they were an unregistered animagus or far more powerful than we really know. It really is best if we all stick together. People are easier targets when they separate.” It was horror trope 101 never split up. She learned it well from reading her father's books.


@Marion Davenport @Bridget Collins @Arlo Reynolds @Thomas Lestrange

Interacting with: @Marion Davenport

Recently, peace had seemed to be a fabled idea that was unable to penetrate Hogwarts' walls. There were always verbal disputes, a bit of physical retaliation, and the perpetual danger of something bigger threatening the school, and so, it was quite reasonable to assume that some of the students would be quite stressed out as a result. Thora just happened to be one such student, ever flooded with waves of anxiety, guilt, and fear.

If one knew what the little girl had been through in just the past month, perhaps they would understand. But the truth of the matter was, Thora was much too introverted and untrusting to open up to more than a select few. Having been caught up in a suicide investigation that'd nearly cost many of her housemates their lives (where of course they learned nothing), and later in the Potter trial when she came across Evelynn in the library, the Slytherin's life was a far cry from peaceful. The growing amount of homework added to the stress of knowing how easily the sneks had been led into a trap was enough to make anyone crumble. And when you dumped the guilt from watching friends suffer yet not doing enough to help on top, the result was a complete wreck. A nearly broken Thora.

So while it may have been concerning to those who actually knew her decently well, it was no wonder that Thora tended to beeline for the Common Room right when classes ended. To be more exact, it was the relative comfort of her dormitory that the girl sought. The darkened room still brought to mind memories of teary eyes and fearful screams, though it'd been almost a month since the event, and she hated the constant reminders of her failure. However, it almost felt worse to deny her friends--Ruthie, Saskia, and even Bridget--the full truth of what had happened and more importantly, why she had been practically running from society for the past weeks.

A particularly difficult Defense of the Dark Arts assignment had brought Thora to the library, and after nearly an hour of trying to hide in the folds of her still too-large cloak, she'd decided that maybe, the best thing to do was just to stay. To hold her ground. To be brave even though courage was the last thing that she felt. Only mere minutes passed, though, before a raging headache struck, twisting the girl's brain and focus into an unfunctional mess. Of course it had to be today. When she needed time. So, Thora had hurried down to the dungeons, barely noticing the few Slytherins that were going the other way in a thin stream. It wasn't until she saw Bridget, though, that she stopped short. They obviously had a destination, with that steely glint in their eyes, but to where? What was happening? 

Well, students making their way around simultaneously wasn't exactly out of the ordinary, as there was always something to do, but Thora suspected that something was up. Although something in her gut urged her to follow her best friend--and the rest of the Slytherins that had just exited the common room--she resisted it. Her instincts hadn't proved themselves reliable, only furthering the damage each time she plunged into danger, so she continued on. Away from her friend, but towards somewhere that was supposed to be safe. Upon entering her house's domain, her green eyes darted about, studying every shadow. It was a habit she'd developed so maybe she'd feel just a bit better in the place she was trying to make her home.

But the door that was swinging shut caught her attention. Contrasting with the dark material of the door was a slip of parchment. Now, Thora's curiosity was piqued through the throbbing pain in her skull. It was a short message, so within seconds, she knew what she had to do. Marion was, according to the note, in the owlery. She'd been the reason--well, half of the reason--the entire nighttime fiasco had happened that fateful night. Thora had been holding her for interrogation, before, well, everything exploded into chaos and she'd lost hold of her dormmate in the confusion.

Eyes widened in horror, the brunette fought the nausea rising in her throat as she realized yet something else that was her fault. They could've had answers. They could've had so many more answers if only she'd been able to keep a hold on Marion. Maybe then the Slytherins wouldn't have to follow a mysterious message that, for all they knew, could lead to yet another trap. Even though the thought of tracking down Marion once more (assuming, of course, that they weren't being misled) was frightening and only added to the fear threatening to overtake Thora. But they'd lost their first opportunity, and it was partially her fault. So, wasn't it incumbent upon her to help, and redeem herself?

Absentmindedly drawing the aspen wand from her pocket and shrugging her falling robes onto squared shoulders, Thora tried to assume the confident appearance of one that actually knew what they were doing. One that didn't somehow make a fool of herself trying to help. It wasn't convincing, especially with the dark, bruise-like circles shadowing her large eyes and pasty pale appearance, but Thora didn't even care anymore. Life wasn't all about appearance, was it?

Owlery, owlery, owlery. She could probably walk to route to the tall-ceilinged room without much thought, having been there many times over the past weeks. For Merlin's sake, Thora owned an owl. Of course she had to check on the sometimes-annoying ball of feathers regularly. But when she finally reached the door that would, in a couple moments, admit her to whatever fate had in store, and pulled it open, it was a very different sight that met her eyes. Whereas one would expect a scene almost devoid of sound, save the fluttering of wings and the scratch of quill on parchment, the people standing before them seemed like they were directing an… interrogation.

And, of course, Marion was at the center of it all. Hastily shoving her wand back in her pocket, Thora hurried towards the girl. The fear was evident in her posture, her eyes, the tension in her face. While obviously, they needed answers, so there was no doubt why the students crowded around her--Bridget included--might put a crazy amount of fear into her dormmate. Honestly, judging from the anger rising from her chest--anger at her failure, anger at her incapability to help out--Thora wasn't sure she could be any less scary. But she had to try, didn't she? Last time she'd seen Marion, the girl had recognized her, despite her tendency to withdraw. Maybe here was something she could use to her advantage.

"Marion," she called, making her way towards the group. "We don't want to hurt you. And we aren't saying that whatever happened in the common room was your fault or are we. But we want to know what you know. For everyone's good." the girl added to Santario, "So please, trust us. Trust me," Thora swallowed hard at the last part. It was ironic that she was the one to talk about trust, as she found it very difficult to tell people things in confidence. But if it was the best she could do for now, that was that.

But as talk about unregistered animaguses and someone watching them, stalking them, arose, Thora felt just a bit of panic seep into her thoughts. How could someone be watching them so closely? They would have to have breached Hogwarts' defenses without alerting a soul, and been able to follow them around unseen. Besides, why would they take interest in a magical boarding school? They really weren't safe anywhere, were they?

Paranoia was supposed to be irrational. This ludicrous belief that someone or something was out to get you. Paranoia is a destructive, debilitating psychological phenomenon. Something that isolates and degrades ones relationship and psyche. Fearful. Angry. Desperate. However, paranoia is not always wrong. That dire, unsettling sense that someone is watching, pursuing... meaning one harm. 

“He’s right Marion. If you and the other boy had just come back and explained everything with Professor Jensen, none of this would be happening right now. None of us are here to hurt you; we just wanted to know anything you might have known and why you went into hiding. You have to admit from our side it looks suspicious with everything that goes on within these walls.”

@Santario Martin claimed. Not that she believed her. Not that she believed anyone. "Explained what? That I heard strange noises that nobody else seemed to hear?" She was defensive but she was also cornered. "I don't know anything!" She insisted. Not anything that they did not know at the very least. "And it is not like you guys are giving me the warm fuzzies either," she commented with an accusatory tone. She was being confronted, corned by several of her peers. At the very least this would prove to be intimidating, at the worst this might devolve to an assault if she was not careful but she was not entirely certain she would be capable of getting away from them unscathed. He wasn't wrong, they needed to hide. They needed to hide better. Should never have run off on my own...

"Marion." 

Someone else that knew her name. 

"We don't want to hurt you. And we aren't saying that whatever happened in the common room was your fault or are we. But we want to know what you know. For everyone's good." 

@Thora Larkson reinforced Santario's claims. She did not believe her, she did not believe them. Even if she did, what good would it do? It was just going to ruin more lives the more she talked. Not just her life either.

"So please, trust us. Trust me."

The girl urged. She might have gotten through has she had the chance. The time. A statement about trust that was unqualified was not going to get the Slytherin to share her darkest secrets but perhaps drop her defenses some. To give them enough of what they wanted to get them to go away.  "I..." she gulped. "Followed the noise," she claimed, her voice shook. "I did not know that was out there," she continued. 

Additional Slytherins filled the Owlery. They were looking for answers, answers that they presumed Marion had. After all, she heard something that they drew them all from their beds. She, along with Victor were the spark that ignited this wildfire. She was tense, not that she was much of a physical fighter she seemed to be steeling herself for an assault. 

“I do not know you…any of you.” 

There was yet another snake being added to the pit. No wonder the girl felt cornered. @Thomas LeStrange's eyes unsettled her.

“I do know this. You have been given up.” 

His words did not make sense, she was only hardly hearing them over her own bounding heart.  

“There was a note on the common room door informing us you came to the Owlery.” 

But she heard enough of what he said to understand. Her mind was racing, it was hard to put a coherent though together in what was an acute state of panic. "A what?" She looked utterly perplexed, completely confused. Nobody knew where she was, well as far as she was aware nobody knew. "Th-that makes no..." sense. However, his words were true. Who would have known? Did someone just see her run towards the owlery and recognize her?  

“Did you tell someone this is where you’re going? Or is someone watching you?” 

She felt like she had been kicked in the gut. She had no idea. Thomas was scaring her as much as the girls. "I-I..." she stammered. Don't know.

“Are they watching now?”

She turned around, looked away as if she half expected a man in a trench-coat to be standing behind her this whole time. It was the distraction that Bridget needed. The distraction that she took. "Just you?" There was a tone of uncertainty in her voice. Yes, she was being followed by them as far as she knew. 

@Bridget Collins would lunge at Marion, well at her letter. 

Grab attempt: 14
Keep attempt: 10

The girl was fast, she would snatch the paper from the third year. "Give that back, it's mine!" Marion shouted, there was a tone of desperate fear in her voice as the color left her cheeks and her body felt numb. She would attempt to lash out, reach for the girl and try to rip her back. [Next round to everyone has the ability to act/react. Would not have the time to read the letter until she escaped Marion's reach.]