4 Oct 2024, 06:49
The Athanatos Investigations I
September 26th, 2024 - Hogwarts Library, night.
โ๐ฝ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ช๐น, ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ผ.โ
--โถ--
An eerie stillness cloaked the halls of the castle at night. The vast, empty corridors were like the bones of some great beast long dead. Arched, vaulted ceilings formed the ribs of its cadaver and its low and rumbling breath was the darkness that swallowed all.
Finnegan crept through the bowels of the slumbering creature. There was only the sound of footfalls on flagstone, the rustle of a heavy cloth dragging, a nervous breath, then silence.
He paused before the great, looming doors of the library and pulled the cloak of invisibility taut over his shoulders. He had broken curfew before, but it had been for cheap thrills, not to sneak into the library, least of all to read.
'Lumos'. A faint, pulsing light illuminated the tip of his wand. The door inched open and its aged hinges released a bone-grinding creak, like the growl of a beast being disturbed from its slumber. Pins and needles pricked at his neck, boring into him, and from the rafters unseen eyes passed silent judgement.
He entered the library.
Shelves towered over him and shadows pooled in every corner until his wand-light chased them away. A stale, muggy air filled the cavernous space; the smell of dust and parchment that triggered memories of headache-inducing hours spent trying to remember the use of foxglove and yarrow.
He reached the far end of the library and after a final, weary glance over either shoulder, shrugged of his cloak of invisibility. Taking a deep breath, he held up his wand-arm, tracing the spines of books and folders until he hit upon a faded sign that read.
'Hogwarts Headliner.'
With his tongue squeezed between his lips, he stood on the tip of his toes and reached for the archival folder.
'Hogwarts Headliner, issue #0 - May 2019'
Mercifully, the harrowing events described in Evelynn's journal went no further back than the blossom ball of 2019, else he would not have known where to look. Had there been nothing before the Hogwarts Headliner? He supposed it didn't matter.
Gingerly, he put the folder on a desk near the shelf, pulled a chair close and rummaged around his pocket in search of a small jar. He cracked the lid open and pointed his wand inside. 'Caeruleus inflamarae,' he muttered, then put the lid back on.
'Nox.'
Using only the faint and pale blue light from the jar, he began to read.
Last edited by Finnegan Connor on 4 Oct 2024, 20:13, edited 2 times in total.
"He's a dweeby chocolate bar lip smacking nerd" - Evelynn Decipio
4 Oct 2024, 20:02
The Athanatos Investigations I
โ๐ผ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด, ๐ข ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐จ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ป.โ
--โถ--
Even without the neat handwriting denoting the issue number, he would have recognized the copy as belonging to a different time. The off-white pages with a faint, marble-like texture looked more like a menu from a restaurant than it did a newspaper. Perhaps that was why it had been left to collect dust, perhaps no one from the headliner took much pride in their first ever issue. The yellowed paper edges and faded ink just needed ten more years of disuse to fade into illegibility.
Within seconds of scanning the table of contents he found several headings of interest. A cursory glance of the many interviews with what looked to be all Hogwarts Professor proved just how few of them remained. He'd noticed it before, the frequent change of staff, especially that of the nurse. Doesn't matter, he urged himself to refocus on the task at hand.
Find any mention of Athanatos in relation to the Hogwarts Balls or other incidents at school.
The first heading read:
แดแดสแด แดสแดแดสสแด ษชษด สแดษขแดกแดสแด๊ฑ
The second heading was a little more mundane:
แดษด แดxแดสแด๊ฑษชแดษด ษชษด แดสแด แดสแดษดแด
แดษดแดแด
แดแดษชสแดแด๊ฑ
The first article was mercifully short and merely complained about students causing mayhem, though the use of the phrase 'brutal incidents' made him frown. No detail was provided however, and Finnegan concluded that the section had been written by a disgruntled Professor.
The second article spoke about a 'self-constructed' bomb, wreaking havoc, designed and ignited by a 'lunatic Ravenclaw boy'. What had read like a simple prank gone awry proved to be something far more serious. The boy in question had proceeded to go on a 'rampage stabbing', leaving four students severely injured. A statement, allegedly from the Ravenclaw student about his intentions read:
The boy clearly wasn't right in the head. Regrettably, or perhaps thankfully, his last name wasn't Athanatos. Finnegan read on. Four students had been hospitalized and yet the conclusion to the article read:โDestroy the death witches, the stairs, that one vase. Kill the professors and unrestrict the back of the library. Separate, defensible rooms to sleep in and the ability to cook your own food. Make hogwarts a safe place and kill death.โ
No mention of Athanatos anywhere though, he thought. It was hardly a relief. Just below the article was section which had been omitted from the table of contents. An oversight? Or deliberately obscured? It mattered little. The title alone made his heart beat faster.It seems limited disciplinary measures have been taken out against Deathmote who has gone without suspension or expulsion into the rest of semester.
๊ฐษชสแด สสแดแดแด๊ฑ แดแดแด ษชษด สสแด๊ฑ๊ฑแดแดสแดสส
He fished a small, ruled notebook and ballpoint pen from the front pouch on his sweatshirt and put them on the desk. Eve's journal had mentioned several of the 2019 balls, and he had diligently copied down the observations she had made, though he had left out her personal thoughts and feelings on each accident. According to his copied notes, there had been an attempted kidnapping at the Blossom Ball of 2019, yet the aricle mentioned nothing of the sort. There had been a fire and none of the five students who were quoted sounded familiar to him. Not all of them should have graduated yet, so perhaps there was still hope of reaching them. With a frustrated groan he jotted down their names:
This wasn't helping. How could it be that @Evelynn Decipio's journal claimed one thing, yet the Hogwarts Headliner claimed another? He looked back at the notes he had made:
- @Scott Alexander
- @Ami Procoppio
- @Dinara Lucey
- @Elizabeth Linscott
- @Rosie Turner
Why wasn't any of this in the headliner? Either the headliner was mistaken or... Puffing his cheeks he leaned forward and rubbed his temples to stave off the onset of a headache. Could it be that Evelynn was wrong? What if half of what she had written was simply made up? What if all of it was made up? Her writing had been nothing short of deranged in places, so why should he take anything she had written as the truth? So far, looking at the Hogwarts Headliner raised more questions than it answered.Blossom ball 2019:
- Attempted kidnapping.
- Mask and glove stolen from the Department of Mysteries (controls people).
- Ben Eckenrode affected by the mask and glove.
- Harry Potter and partner VanCleaf investigated the theft.
For a while he sat in silence, flipping through page after page of journalistic slop. The headliners of old used to be a lot longer, that was for sure and certain. Perhaps he could send an owl to the students quoted by the Headliner, perhaps they could tell him more about what had happened and then he would know if Evelynn was mistaken, or worse, lying.
Sighing, he got up to return the 0th Headliner to its dusty place on the shelf and pulled out the Hogwarts Headliner issue #1 from July 2019. This was going to be a very long night.
Source: Hogwarts Headliner Issue #0
"He's a dweeby chocolate bar lip smacking nerd" - Evelynn Decipio