Locking The Doors Main Story Closed

Interacting| @Jack Burnett
Mentioning| @Thomas Lestrange

Ironically, in Jack's opinion, it was much more rude to call out one's first name than their last name, particularly if you hadn't been introduced to each other yet. Whether or not Santario shared this opinion or if he even believed he was being rude, however, he still would have spoken as he had. The first year was on edge about rather pressing matters and he wasn't about to waste time on formalities, pureblood or not. Having tact was not the same as exercising it, after all.

It also hadn't seemed to occur to the girl that, even if Jack hadn't been near enough or acute of hearing enough to catch her referring to Thomas by the nickname he mentioned, there were a thousand other ways he could have known about what she'd called him. Thomas might have maybe told Jack about said nickname some time after the ball or Jack could have been in possession of Extendable Ears at the time or he could have learned of it any number of other ways.

It was a shame that, even as a former writer and editor for the Headliner, Santario didn't seem to possess the ability to view potential possibilities from other perspectives; at least not in this situation. Perhaps it was the influence of her emotions at the time or her focus on her dinner. Not that the Welsh boy knew, since the girl said nothing on the matter. Instead, he focused on what she did reply to him, his previously grave expression giving way to a broad grin.

"Oh! Please pardon me, then," he answered, dipping his head in a mock show of respect. "As someone who formerly worked on the school paper, I presumed a curious young lady such as yourself would have welcomed as much information as she could get her hands on. But if you already know 'exactly as much as you need to know', then clearly, I was mistaken."

He caught her sapphire blues with his own mischievous hazel gaze. "As for people who stick their noses where they don't belong...takes one to know one, mm? Not that I believe we're any more capable of dissuading each other from said habits than anyone else...but thanks for trying just the same. Nice to know you care~"

With a cheeky wink, the redhead turned away from the girl, mentally reminding himself to ask Thomas at a later date if he was aware Santario wasn't nearly so charming when someone got between her and her meal.

Interacting: @Santario Martin
Mentioning: @Thomas LeStrange

Mentions: @Jack Burnett, Vladimir Athanatos, Plott, @Howard White

Stats & Abilities:

Reducio

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/35

Stamina: 4
Evasion: 9
Strength: 3
Wisdom: 7
ArcPower: 3
Accuracy: 9

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Abilities:

Martial Artist

Mentioning| @Jack Burnett | @Thomas Lestrange

Santario leaves this thread unless stopped.

Interacting With: @Caradoc Browne

Hjørdis resisted the urge to sigh as she listened to the end of the speech. Her silvery blue eyes scanned the room. The tension was evident. She hated it. They all did, there was no doubt about that. No one would be happy to be restricted and almost punished for matters out of their control. But it was for them. They might not realise that, but there was little less left. Summer was their saviour... They could be free of this place. They could survive. That was what was important. It gave the professors a few more months to attempt to figure out what was going on and how to ensure their safety into the coming year. If the situation did not improve, she did not want them to return in September.

She found her usual seat, next to the empty chair. It was noticeable that Lear was not present. It was always noticeable. But for those that did not realise, it was out in the open now. Her glance went to the Slytherin table in front of her. She silently observed them. It hurt to see the pain on the students' faces. Visibly angry, upset, confused, scared... But it was better this than risking more lives. Hjørdis did not know what to do to comfort them. Comforting was not exactly her forte...

The chair next to her moved, catching her attention. She was greeted by the sight of the hufflepuff head of house. Blinking, she waited for a moment but he did not say anything or look at her. Turning away, she looked back across the room. She did not notice the glares of a hufflepuff from the other side of the room. In all honesty, she probably would not have cared even if she had. Most of the students glared at her by now. Looking over to the Ravenclaw table, that was next to the Slytherin one, she ran her eyes down it until she met the familiar faces of her cousins. Callie was not eating. No one really was, in all honesty. She looked scared. Dymphna was doing better from what she could see. But the distance was not very helpful. She would have to reach out to them both. Hjørdis sighed softly. At least they had Alaric to watch over them. At least neither of them had wandered into a forbidden forest.

Her attention was caught by the sound of someone clearing his throat. Glancing back at Caradoc, she heard his words. Her gaze flickered to his usual seat. Plott. She had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. The man was not one that she trusted. "Mhm, of course..." She replied in a lowered voice with a soft sigh. She was about to continue talking but her voice seemed to be caught in her throat, "... R-right..." She mumbled back, turning back to her own plate. It was empty.

Pretense was key here. It was exactly why she dressed in her usual manner: pristine, presentable and perhaps overdressed. She was making an effort to look like she always did. It was as though she was saying nothing had changed - or at least, some things had not changed. There was comfort in the familiarity of things. It was why she never stopped doing her hair, dressing properly or putting on make up. Admittedly, her chosen looks were easier to put together in the past few months - with minimal jewellery or simple make up - but she still did them.

Hjørdis poured herself some juice, mostly because she needed something to drink after talking so much and then served herself a small amount of food. No one cared for the feast. But she was trying. Food was important. Nutrition was important. She knew this, she preached this. So she tried. But she felt watched. Her eyes met his, falling onto the sight of him wiggling his nose again. Opening her mouth, she went to respond. He threw her off slightly as he continued. He spoke quickly but she caught the compliment.

It normally would not have thrown her to be complimented or called beautiful. She thought that about herself. But in the tension of the situation, it was unexpected. Though, it helped to break the tension a little. At least for her. Hjørdis smiled softly, "Thank you..." The head of Slytherin paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. Finding herself looking back into her plate. Picking up fork, she turned it in her fingers. She swallowed, "I think it's better this way," She replied honestly after a moment or two. She did not need to look at his outfit to know what he was wearing. It was casual, comfortable and showed a lot of house pride, "Your outfit, I mean. There's something smoothing in familiarity, especially when everything else is changing around you... And I think... casual and comfortable is exactly what we all need right now..." She added.

Every single one of the Heads of Houses had dressed like they usually did from what she knew. Alaric was always rather smartly dressed. Elaine always wore long sleeves, high necked robes. Hjørdis put in a lot of effort in her appearance, enjoying it matched and was as pristine as possible. And Caradoc... He usually dressed either very casual or rather odd. Whilst the odd was kind of his own fun little quirk... The casual was most definitely preferred - at least, it caused her to mentally facepalm less. It was normal and friendly. He looked more like a dad than a professor.

Hjørdis sighed softly as she carefully picked up a bit of food with her fork. It was only a bite but if she started to eat, perhaps others would follow in suit. She was not really hungry though. The tension, the worry and the fear was gnawing away at her but she was trying. Looking up to the students, she observed the room. Perhaps they needed to break the tension somehow. But the seriousness of everything made it kind of hard. She ate a little. Her right hand sat on the edge of her chair, holding it a little under the table as though she would fall off if she let go. "Though... the shaven look looks good, suits you. It's certainly more you..." She added after a few moments of silence.

He was clean shaven, for perhaps the first time in months. Honestly, she could not recall the last time she had seen it but knew that was his usual look before the recent times. The facial hair suited him too, to be honest. But this was certainly more 'him'. Over the past few months, she knew he was not doing well when his habits changed. Observing people and paying attention to their appearance was her specialty. It told a lot about them. A change in their habits was always telling. This sort of information was precisely how she manipulated people.

Adonis still wasn't entirely sure what to make of everything as he continued to eat. It was a lot so suddenly. He knew some of the happenings and things going around Hogwarts, just not everything or more in-depth details of such things like the others may have known compared to him. But he wanted to know. To be a part of it all like the others and help in any way he could. That's why he was lucky enough to come across Rafael that one day in the library not too long ago and was able to learn things from him. He wasn't scared of hearing about these hags or anything else that happened. Maybe a bit as any other twelve year old really would be. But it didn't deter him or keep him away from wanting to know of these things.

Suddenly, his attention shifted from his conversation with Opeila to Jack as he spoke up. He had to have been on his side of the table if Opeila was directly across from him at the table, so it was most likely he heard whatever was being said. Near the Groundskeeper's Hut? That was awfully close to school. He expected them to only be hidden away in the Forbidden Forest and would attack from there if anyone dared to enter. But on the school grounds? That was something else. Jack also mentioned the possibility of two different covens for the hags. That didn't sound good.

"Hold on, hold on. They were near the Groundskeeper's Hut, like on school grounds? Also, why do you say or think that there's two different covens? Is there like some sort of different appearance to them or? Don't worry I'm not going to go blabbering out of paranoia or something either. Cause I'm not like that." Adonis reassured him with a nod, pulling his head back slightly as he may have been a little too eager when he asked the questions after hearing what Jack told Opeila.

His ears were wide open at this point, trying to catch any other ongoing conversations for as far as his ears could pick up. But then suddenly his gaze followed Jack's all the way over to Santario at another part of the Slytherin table as he suddenly asked her a question. "The 'Reaper'? Who the or what the hell is that?" He asked him with furrowed brows. Adonis had never heard of such a person or thing, or the one Jack was referring to at least. It puzzled him a bit but it made him curious. Although, he couldn't help but snicker in amusement at Santario and Jack's snarky comments to one another.

Interacting with @Jack Burnett
Mentioning: Opeila Seilun and Santario Martin

Interacting with @Amadea Campbell
Open to Interaction

Willow happily bounced into the great hall to join her house at their table, seating herself across from a vaguely familiar Hufflepuff. At this point they were all kind of vaguely familiar from seeing each other at the tables all year and slipping in and out of the common room. While Willow wasn't particularly on time or late, she noticed that the food was being withheld for a tad longer than usual, and for someone as hungry as she was this Friday evening the wait seemed like an eternity.

She put her elbow on the table and propped her head up, her left hand slowly tracing the wood grain when Professor Pendrast began to speak. Normally there weren't speeches before meals so this was just another odd event to a newly developing pit in Willow's stomach. It didn't all seem so bad, the disappearance of their Headmaster was finally explained, something she had talked to both Selim and George about. She felt bad for assuming there was something strange or mysterious about his absence when he was probably just dealing with family stuff. Her eyes drifted over to Headmaster Plott, who presumably had taken up his place for the time being.

The giving of safety rules, however, was unexpected yet definitely warranted with everything going on at the school. The Masquerade Ball was something she had very little knowledge on since she didn't attend, compared to the Blossom Ball which she fully got to experience front and center. Then her own house dad stepped forward to discuss hags. She didn't even know what a hag was in the wizarding world, just another item of research to do. Or maybe even Flash would know about it since he was always the brighter one out of the two of them. It was nice to have information on what exactly their dorm attack was, the darkness was a mystery ever since and it had plagued her dreams nearly every night. An involuntary shudder ran down her spine just thinking about it.

Briefly she wondered if this meant the whole Quidditch match was cancelled, something they trained so hard for, but her brief Quidditch advisor now stepped forward to quell the teams fear. A sigh of relief couldn't help but escape from Willow with a breath that she didn't even realize she was holding. She would adhere to any new rules the Professors threw at her, just as long as she got to play her Quidditch match. Her stomach growled loudly and a small pout appeared on her face, wishing they could eat during these announcements. She listened to the rest of them patiently, noting down the new rules in her mind as well as a peaked interest for the new staff at the school.

Finally, her own Head of House brought them the sweet relief of dinner. Willow quickly dug into her own food, watching as those around her were more hesitant and confused. No use being confused on an empty stomach in her opinion. She looked at the girl across from her who looked a tad older, maybe she would have some wisdom about the situation. "I don't know if you know me, I'm Willow. A first year. Is it like this every year at Hogwarts? Or is this year just like a weird... messed up, scary year?" The young girl didn't like to always let on that she was scared, usually leaning towards the side of taking care of others and keeping her emotions to herself. She hoped this came off as curiosity rather than a fear question.

Interacting with: @Willow Anderson and @Amadea Campbell

Serena entered the great hall in her usual fashion - oblivious and ignorant to the atmosphere from the professor table. Once she settled down, she sighed. There was no food yet. She glanced around her to see who she could bother whilst she waited. It was at that point that she noticed Professor Browne standing up - next to the other three heads of houses. The third year blinked, a little weirded out by the whole thing. It was unusual to see.

It was not long till the speech came. Professor Pendrast spoke of Headmaster Lear. Serena's eyes narrowed a little. She had found it weird that the Headmaster had been missing for a while. He was one of the few people that she owed a lot to and seeing him not around - especially in the past few months - had been kind of taxing on her. There was something about him. He was a strange old man at times, perhaps a little crazy and weird but the familiarity of his armour and the uniqueness attached to it had grown on her over the years. Lear had saved her life, she owed him everything. Honestly, she was blessed with perhaps some of the best heads of houses there ever was. At least, two of them had saved her life when she was in danger. They had each written a letter to her that she treasured to date or said words that she would never forget. At least, she had not forgotten yet. His lack of presence in the castle did worry her. It had for a while. She frowned a little as Pendrast spoke of pressing personal matters. Was he okay? Maybe he was sick... Or had family issues...?

She did not really know but she zoned out for a while in thought. Professor Cutie - otherwise known as Equinox - spoke about some new thing that the dhampirs had to do that did not really concern her. Her mind pondered on other matters - mostly about the lack of food and how hungry she was. It was not until she heard Professor Browne's words. Hags. He mentioned a coven of hags in the forest. Her face paled a little. There was little she knew about hags in general but what she did know was terrifying. More than that... she could hear how angry he was. He was never angry. He was concerned. His behaviour today reminded her of how he was the night they were attacked, though perhaps a little less intense. If he was saying it, it had to be serious and it had to be true.

Her eyes widened as she heard about summer camp being cancelled - no quidditch?! But her panic was over in a few moments. The tournament was continuing on. At the very least, she could continue to play quidditch and it might actually be safer for them to do so for once... She stared at the four who spoke. Summer camp in London. That was... probably a smart idea if there was a frickin' coven of hags on the campus. Was it these hags that were behind the fire in the Hufflepuff common room not too long ago? And the shadow creatures?

Curfew rules changed. It did not bother her. She barely went out past eight anymore, anyway. Why would she when she knew the dangers outside? She stared into her empty plate, letting the words wash over her. Within some time, food appeared. Food made everything better. She started with the most unhealthy looking option and found herself eating a slice of cake.

Her mind wondered over everything that happened. Three years she had been at this school. A lot had happened but things were definitely getting worse. They handled the darkness that night not too long ago but hags? How did they protect themselves from an attacker that they knew nothing about?

"It's like this every year..." Serena spoke up as she heard a voice not too far away asking about the year. She stared into her plate, eating cake as she contemplated how much had happened. The camp out, the lock in, the mask, the constant balls getting wrecked, the common room attacks and now... hags... She glanced up to see her friend Amadea and Willow, a girl she recognised from the quidditch team but did not know very well, "Though... it's never been this bad..."

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Interacting with @Willow Anderson and @Serena Towers

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𝓐madea was spooning some cake into her mouth when a girl sat down across from her. Amadea swallowed as quickly as she could in order to respond to her. Amadea had recognized the girl but could not remember her name. Thankfully, she introduced herself as Willow Anderson, a first year. Amadea gave the girl a smile; she remembered her own first year and how crazy things had been back them with the Masked Figure and other events like that. It was terrifying enough back then and Amadea knew that this seemed to be even worse.

"Hi Willow, I'm Amadea," she said brightly, listening as Willow asked about the past years and how bad things have been. She was debating on what to say in response when her friend Serena jumped into the conversation, mentioning that it hasn't been this bad yet. It was true. Even though the campout, the lock in, the constant fires at balls, and Lear attempting to kidnap the Hufflepuffs were all quite horrible events that Amadea had somehow survived, nothing had been as bad as this. There had never been schoolwide rules because of what was going on, and it honestly made Amadea fairly nervous. She sensed there was something going on and she hoped that the new rules would help.

"Yeah," Amadea said hesitantly, not wanting to make Willow worry too much. "All of these new rules...they kind of worry me," she said honestly, looking over at Serena and wondering if her friend was just as worried. As much as Amadea had been through during her three years at Hogwarts, she knew Serena had been through even more and wondered how much of a toll it was taking on the poor girl. She just hoped that things would be better soon. "But," she said, trying to stay optimistic, "We've always gotten through it in the past. The professors are smart and hopefully these new rules will help keep us safe. We'll get through this too!" Amadea glanced over at the table where all of the professors were seated, watching them converse with each other. They didn't look that worried, did they?

Amadea turned back to the table, hoping that Willow or Serena could provide some more positivity to the conversation; Amadea was seriously starting to worry about what was going on.

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