Sniffing in the Dark PV Caradoc Browne Finished

1. One being the underground chambers that once protected the Philosopher's Stone. While there was no need to protect anything any longer, those rooms, that entire series of rooms in fact, still existed even if some of the obstacles had since been removed or replaced. However the entrance there would have been on the third floor. There was no direct means of entry on this level.
2. The dungeons themselves, some being large and quite roomy. 
3. Storerooms, there were several.
4. The Chamber of Secrets, but there was no direct entrance to the Chamber from the basement itself. However, the legacy of Salazar's Chamber made it a prime place to keep secrets. 

Her attention snapped to the man as he mentioned encountering something similar before. She almost stopped walking as she listened to him. Creatures in the wood that during their attack, that was similar. Hjørdis nodded as he spoke about the fact that they disappeared with light. But alas, she could not give him much more information. 

"Unfortunately not." She replied as he asked about the spiders, "From the reports I've received... Two students heard noises coming from the common room. A boy and a girl. They woke up their respective dorms and someone opened the door. Once they were in the common room, they were attacked by a hoard of spiders. Their bite released a dangerous venom, cursing the students. But at light, they disappeared entirely, leaving nothing behind." She repeated the story, for perhaps the millionth time. At least, she had gone over and over it in her mind that many times before.

"I haven't been able to track how they got in or if they were shadowlike, specifically. That's the first time I've heard that description." Their trip today was mostly about finding out that very thing. Perhaps there would be a clue that might help them figure out how the creatures got in, in the first place. She had been patrolling that night but she did not see anything - which she did not bother repeating as he already knew. It was why she felt like she had failed them. "Are you okay?" She asked suddenly, instinctively reaching out to gently touch his arm. He had been a victim of these attacks - almost dying to them. This was not easy. They could stop if he needed to. She would do it alone, if required.

Hjørdis blinked as he continued to speak, asking about a vampire and a coven of hags with squibs. She did not see the connection between them all. At least, she would not have until recently. After the professor meeting, she found out that there might be a coven of hags in the forest and that there could be a blood war, perhaps related to dhampirs or squibs. But she had no answer for him. "Lear's ex-wife?" She asked, wondering what she had to do with the situation. To be fair, she did not know much about Lear's personal life. She was unaware that he had been married or had a divorce. Then again, she also did not really care.

She nodded along, trying to follow everything he was saying. A lot of the information were things that she already knew but it was good to hear them again. Perhaps there would be something new that she could pick up from it by listening to another person's perspective of it. She could not understand how Lear knew all of this before everyone else did and why he did not share it with everyone. But she could also no longer ask him. It was far too late for that. 

Caradoc mentioned Umbridge. The letter Lear wrote was so personal, almost intimate, but also not. There was something very strange about that letter. "He wished to give her shelter?" Hjørdis questioned, not following that particular point. 

She allowed the older man to just speak his mind. He was clearly on a train of thought and she just let him continue. Her silence was not a lack of care. It was because she processed information differently. Unlike Caradoc, she internalised everything. She listened to each and every theory he presented or question he asked and thought about them. She would reflect on the words until she figured out the truth. At this point, it was all theories. But perhaps, just maybe, something he said would match perfectly with previous information or evidence she held and it would all start to click into place.

The mask. The thing that they believed to be dealt with. She suspected a similar setting not too long ago. It made sense for him to also question it. Hjørdis stopped walking as he mentioned coming here for the exact same reason. He stared at her, explaining everything. 

Her eyebrow quirked as he spoke of little Nora. He spoke about her often, like a proud father. Everything he was doing... it was all for her, wasn't it? To make this school a safe place for her to come. Hjørdis furrowed her eyebrows. 'She was murdered by Finley' the letter said. The letters addressed to her. "Finlay Vancleaf. Yes." She confirmed, her fingers clutched a little, into balls by her side. She hated this. She was doubting someone who up till recently, she was trusting blindly to heal and care for her students. What if he was actually a murderer? What if he was the one cursing the children and the potion that he administered to them was actually poison? She swallowed. Perhaps she had allowed her students to get cursed by him. "He's..." She started, unsure of what to say. What did she know about him? That he was a talented healer? That he was undeniably kind of cute. 

"I don't know..." She said softly, looking down a little to break eye contact from Caradoc, "I just... I thought..." Her words were as as broken as her mind and her heart was. She struggled to even think of what she was trying to say. Taking a deep breathe, Hjørdis continued after a moment or two, "I trusted him. Well, we all did. I don't know if that trust was misplaced. And I know better than to blindly trust people but... regardless, I trusted him, Cara..." She explained, knowing that was that her downfall. She knew better than to trust people. It was something she had learned a long time ago and yet, for some reason, she allowed herself to trust more openly when she came to this school. People like the man in front of her had broken down her walls a little and opened her up to actually working with other people and relying on them.

"I don't know him well enough to trust him but... I guess, I just..." She sighed, she had an admiration for people in the healing industry. It was something she took seriously. Hjørdis actually wanted to be a healer - a proper one - when she was younger. She only went into the ministry because of her father. Her father came from a long line of people in the army, and he wanted her to join the army too. They were all muggles. The ministry was pretty much the equivalent of the army for her. Perhaps that was why she trusted him a bit more easily than most, "He's a good healer, from what I know. Charming, and... That night, when I brought my students there after the incident, he genuinely seemed... worried. Concerned. When he mentioned the curse, he seemed genuinely concerned that the antidote he was administrating might not work. Like he cared for the children and I- I guess I just believed that." Hjørdis sighed, "Perhaps I still do. I don't know. I'm not ready to sentence him because of a letter and a shared first name but... I just... I guess I doubt him as much as everyone else does now. And I really really want to be wrong in that. I want him to be innocent." She hated the idea that they trusted someone who was responsible for the children's health and for that person to be a murderer. It was worse than if it was a professor or the caretaker. She might have delivered vulnerable students to him, for him to curse them. She hated that.

Hjørdis blinked as he grabbed her arms suddenly and looked her straight in the eyes. Wh- He encouraged her to stay strong, reassuring her. The lack of sleep was clearly getting to her if she needed to be reassured. Perhaps she was getting far too comfortable with the man near her. It made her weaker, allowing her to open up and be more vulnerable. It was a pain, to be quite fair. She nodded, going silent. Maybe silence was the best option. It was much better than spilling out all of her feelings. Feelings, after all, should stay behind the blank facade that she had spent years building up.

She turned and continued to walk through the dungeons. "If not... I might kill him first." She simply stated. Her voice was a little lower than usual, perhaps a quieter darkness to it, her eyes glossing over with the coldness they had been used to showing for many months. Her fingers clutched into fists beside her, clearly angry at the idea that someone could betrayed their trust. If Finlay was the one behind the curse. If he intentionally failed to cure the Slytherins she took to him or worse, intentionally cursed them after all of the attack, it would be hard to stop her from attacking him. Of course, that was not the way. Of course the 'good guys' always restrained the bad guys without harming them. They did not kill people, no matter how bad they were. But no one ever claimed Hjørdis was one of the good ones. If someone intentionally hurt her children, she would lash out at them and it would be hard to stop her. Though, perhaps, she would not resort to murder. That may be above even her. It was, most likely, just a figure of speech.

Hjørdis pulled her wand out of her boot, which was wear she stored it. She muttered the lumos charm, lighting it up, moving around the rooms slightly away from the head of Hufflepuff. She searched the walls closest to her, looking for something, anything to call out to her. It could be a tiny hole that may have been a way in, spider eggs perhaps, some sort of clue. Anything.

Her eyes searched every spot they could see. In the quiet of the dungeons, she heard him speak. It was quiet but she heard her name. Glancing over to the badger, Hjørdis waited for him to continue to speak. He did not. Instead, he was standing still a few metres behind her. Just not moving. Hjørdis blinked, maybe he was not calling her. His daughter shared the same name. Did he think of her? He mentioned earlier that all of this was for her. He wanted to make the school safe again for her arrival in September. "Caradoc...?" She called the professor. Did he see something? Her head snapped in front, eyes quickly searching ahead of him, looking for something that he might have spotted. It was too dark to actually see anything. Perhaps... it was the darkness he was afraid of. "Are you okay...?" Hjørdis continued, stepping closer towards him. The screeching of the door opening echoed in the dungeons. He seemed to be moving again, peeking his head through the door. But, she was not sure this was the best idea.

It did not seem like he was okay. She searched his face, "Let's go back." She stated, simply in a matter of fact tone. They had been walking for a little while and see nothing. There could definitely be some clues further in but Caradoc did not look up for it.

Knowing what she knew now, she knew that the man beside her had been one of the three in a vicious attack. From the sounds of it, they almost died. What they had encountered was far worse than what anyone else had seen. She did not know what they had been through in detail but it was clear that he was scared. Perhaps the darkness of the dungeon reminded him of the forest. It could be the cold that reminded him of something. 

Hjørdis sighed. She knew it had to be searched. The Slytherins were the first house to be attacked in such an intentional, coordinated attack. They had to be closest to the the entrance where the enemies invaded from. For all she knew, there could be an army of spiders within the dungeons, a broodmother that was five hundred years old with all of her babies. Hogwarts was a large castle and there were a lot of secrets that perhaps were never uncovered in a single person's career or school life. But nonetheless, that did not mean it had to be continued by him. She could return later, with someone else.

Though, she did have to admit - even if it was just to herself - that she was glad he decided to accompany her on her patrols today. Venturing into the dungeons sounded like a bad idea on her own. Of course, it should be safe. A quarter of the student population and head of houses lived down here. But given the recent attack, that was no longer something she could guarantee.

Everything she was doing, it was for her Slytherins. It was for their safety. Caradoc continued to speak, trying to convince himself more so than her with his words. She knew she had to do this, but he did not have to accompany her in her mission. Nonetheless, he seemed determined to try. He admitted he was scared but he could not explain it. It hurt seeing him in pain. That was the thing about fear. At least for Hjørdis. Getting hurt yourself or almost dying was bad. But seeing your friends, family, any loved ones or anyone you were responsible for and cared for, get hurt or almost die was a million times worse. He spoke of the hag, almost getting him. But there was more to it than that. He had to watch his colleagues, likely friends because the man made friends so much more easily than she did, get hurt. He likely also scared because if something happened to him, what would happen to his daughter?

She would never admit it. But it was likely becoming apparent that she too was scared. Her fear for her students. They had been through enough, she refused to allow them to be victims of another attack. But without venturing into the dungeons, she could not check for clues that might protect them. Even this. She considered the man near her a friend and yet, there was absolutely nothing she could say that would help. Hjørdis could do nothing but give his arm a gentle squeeze, to say that she was there.

Although she wanted to understand, she did not ask him to explain it. She had not asked the students to explain, despite wanting to know for the same reason. Besides, this was neither the time nor the place to have this talk. He had moved on, pondering out aloud once more as he tried to distract himself.

One hag got as far as the ballroom. 

Hjørdis stopped for a moment. He was right. One was capable of entering the school undetected... How? "Ilvermorny? Did they arrive... with them...?" She asked, more to herself as she listened to Caradoc's words. They could have easily broken into Hogwarts defenses if they were allowed in. If they came at the same time or within the group itself they could have possibly sneaked in. Her eyes narrowed as she wondered if the Ilvermorny headmaster knew of something. Plott was still around the castle, not seeming to leave. He arrived the same night that a hag tricked professors out into the grounds and tried to kill them. Was it coordinated? 

Caradoc bought up the spiders. Did they come with the hags? They were shadowy apparently, could Hags create such shadowy spiders? Was this all connected somehow? "You said they were shadowlike, right?" She asked, recalling something he mentioned earlier as she thought about how they disappeared with light. "If I remember correctly... Shadow creatures attacked the school at least once before... It was before my time but I remember reading it in an old student newspaper," She explained. It was before her time, she could not recall the specific incident but she remembered reading some of the student newspapers when she first arrived for the past year. She caught up with news that happened, through their eyes, as she believed it was important to see what was important to the students.

At that time, there was something about shadows that attacked during an event, they were dispelled at light. Shadows. It was shadows that attacked, from what she could recall. They did not take a specific shape. Maybe they did but she just recalled it saying shadows, not specifically sure if they were spiders or not. She would have to double check.

According to Caradoc, the spiders that attacked Slytherin were shadows. She had not heard that description until he mentioned it earlier today but it made much more sense than them being real spiders, as real spiders did not get affected by the light.

Hjørdis raised an eyebrow. She suspected the same thing but it was a bad idea... She really should not. The dungeons were a dark and cold place. Without their lights, was there even enough to see anything a few centimetres away? The further they went in, the less light there would be. Deep within the dungeons... They would be wandering around in the pitch black dark, missing any evidence and just getting lost without figuring out if they were any closer to a clue or not. 

But then again, if they had not walked in with their lights then who knew what would be lurking within these very walls. These shadow creatures were capable of attacking... But could they curse the students? Or was the curse administered to the students that had been bitten intentionally, afterwards? Her fingers clenched around her wand. If he cursed them... There was only one way to really find out. She wanted nothing more than to see an empty dungeon. If there were creatures this close to the students, they were doomed. But perhaps... it was already too late to worry.

"I really hope you're wrong..." She replied, clearly agreeing with him, knowing full well that he could be right and if he was, it would suck. Massively. For everyone. "Nox," She whispered, swallowing slightly as she did so, turning off her own light. She gripped her wand, preparing for whatever may happen. Hjørdis was silently praying absolutely nothing happened. But now that Caradoc had planted the seed of doubt in her head, she needed to verify. Students could venture into the dungeons. The creatures could easily venture out for another attack. If they were living here... they needed to know. 

"Yes," Hjørdis replied with a small grin on her face. He proposed a suggestion that she thought made perfect sense, which she agreed with and thus, she acted on the suggestion. Why bother waiting when they had already made a decision? They were only delaying the inevitable, "I'm pretty mad if I'm trusting you right now," She continued, mostly teasing him to try and lighten the tension a little. 

It was a little unusual, given the situation but... she had no idea how bad this idea might go. It could easily be the last thing they do. Students for centuries to come will be warned 'Remember the story of the two foolish Heads of Houses that thought to wander into the dungeons in the middle of the night?' whenever they were instructing students to be mindful of the curfew.

"Didn't I essentially just say the same thing?" She asked him as he spoke about a wise man. She had told him that they should leave, it was the equivalent of that, "Pretty sure you rejected me... So... I'm going with your suggestion now," Hjørdis added, mostly to distract from the fact that they could literally be jumped by a million spiders in a matter of moments, and not even be able to see them. Of course, they could lumos again if required but... it could easily be far too late. 

She swallowed her spit and nodded as he arched an eyebrow at her. It was the last thing she would see before the dungeons fell onto darkness. He spoke slowly, his voice echoing in the room. Her eyes would take a little while to adjust to the new setting. It was dark. They could easily lose each other if there was not much light further up. "... We'll see..." She replied softly. Her fingers were gripped around her wand tightly, waiting. She could not see much yet but she was focused on listening. For any noises of something coming closer. Once her eyes started to adjust, "We may have to go further in..." She added, not entirely sure how much they would be able to see.