Closed You Found Me PV A. Mason

Summer had been, well, of course it had been eventful but for the most part, it had been a not so great period of time. Something he would have rather fast-forwarded through. He'd had a brief period of peace with the coming of summer camp. New friends to make, fun games to play, people to be thankfully friendzoned by. It was the fun summer hopes and dreams everyone thinks of. Then there was that rogue one-off game of spin the bottle. A small period in time that vastly added to the used to be zero negative experiences at summer camp. To think he had thought the night had ended splendidly. Sure, there was the strange and unexpected violent tendencies of Dealla Prince but most Hogwarts students tended to have it in them anyway.

Why had spin the bottle been the worst experience of summer camp and quite possibly the entire summer you ask? Two simple words, hag kiss. Hag kiss might quite possibly be his greatest regret within his lifetime.Nothing could top the thick, slug-trail like saliva hag girl had. Also wasn't this girl a student, an average student before she became a hag at Hogwarts? What happened with that? Part of Alec wished in his conversation with Dealla Prince where she revealed Alec's had snogging tendencies that he had more proof and evidence to go off of than he words alone. He has his own signs, his own experiences, but it didn't ever feel like enough. Hag was a big accusation... strangely it fit.

One thing Dealla had brought up in their hag snogging conversation had been about the spider student curse, the one many students had gotten not so long back. It sounded somewhat familiar, the concept, the name but if Alec was being honest, he would have to admit his cluelessness on the subject. Other than the obvious(the name) there wasn't much to go off of. It was frankly frustrating to find any information on the subject. To try and search for it. The curse had been cured somewhat recently. That was it, all he got, all he had. All until the name Illowy Magnard was brought up. Now that, that was something to go off of. He did his asking around, to find out how she was related to this and why her name had gotten brought up in the first place.

A former curse victim who helped with testing and trial running the cures with the old nurse, Brumby, in the hospital wing. She was incredibly involved from what he could tell, and Alec felt if he was going to bring his questions to anyone in searching for some answers, it was going to be her. He'd prepared a list of questions to ask, and of course would pack parchment, ink, and quill in his enchanted satchel so he could take notes. Alec spent some time asking around seeing if anyone knew her whereabouts and finally he got someone to tell him. The great lake... She was on some rocks? Strange, Alec supposed he'd have to see for himself.

Alec would make his way to the great lake walking along the shore, stopping when he spotted, like they said, a girl by the rocks. Alec tilted his head, staring and watching her a few seconds in an inquisitive manner. Right, this was the person he'd been asking all the questions of. It would be an easy visit hopefully, with luck he be able to get some answers and be on his merry way. “Oi! You!” Alec shouted with a grin, he wanted to be loud enough to make sure he would be grabbing her attention. When she looked his way he'd speak again. “Your Illowy Magnard right?” Alec asked, though he didn't need the affirmation of yes, it had to be her he figured it was a better way to continue on after starting out with 'oi' 'you'.

“I had a couple questions to ask about the spider curse, I heard your the person to go to.” Alec explained, Alec was a friendly person, he could make conversation later. This was serious business, he needed to focus, once he got the important stuff out of the way he'd be good to go. “Can you come over here so it'll be easier to ask you questions?” Alec asked already reaching into his satchel to pull out his parchment in order to have something to write on. Alec would introduce himself eventually, in the meantime, there were priorities to focus on.

WC: 807

A soft, warm breeze blew, a reminder that though it was September, it was still summer; though she was certain it wouldn't be long before the chill of autumn finally rolling in through the hill's of Scotland. Soon the leaves would shift their colours and fall. The warm water of the lake would chill and early morning frost would coat the grass before the sun could reach it. Truly it was the picture of a fine, late summer day.

“Oi! You!”

And thus, the tranquility of her day was broken. Illowy looked up from her project to see who in the world was calling at her. A lad she didn't know, or if she did she didn't recognize him, was starting towards her.

“You're Illowy Magnard right?”

She held her head a little higher, eyes narrowing slightly as she tried to figure out how in the world he knew her name. Illowy didn't consider herself to be a popular person. If anything, she thought the opposite of herself. She wasn't a terribly friendly person, neither in conversation nor demeanor. Despite her blooming beauty as a young lady, she didn't give off a warm impression. Her eyes were ghostly pale and cold, and it had been said her stare had a habit of making one feel as though she were looking through you, not at you. This, in combination with her pale complexation in contrast with her dark hair didn't do her many favorite of appearing approachable, "That depends who's asking, and why." she answered back, not yet moving a muscle to meet the boy.

As he explained his purpose, she raised a brow. Why in the world would anyone be asking about the curse? Since it had been cured the year previous, many people were trying to move on and forget it had ever happened. Illowy was still keeping a hand in the pot though. There were still questions to be raised, and answers to be sought out. Like what the curse even was and who had unleashed it unto innocent children. She'd only been a second year when the curse had happened and in many respects, she felt she knew about as much now as she did then. Though she had plenty of ideas.

The lad tried to bid her closer, and she paused to consider for a moment before she finally closed her sketchbook and shoved it away into her bag, getting to her feet, "And why in the world would a lad like yerself care to poke his nose in such things?" she questioned, expertly stepping across the stones until she was back on shore.

Now that she was closer, the snake took her opportunity for a closer inspection of the boy. Icy hues looking him up and down before walking a short circle around him; He might've been slightly taller then herself, but otherwise didn't cut an impressive image. If anything, he seemed hardly more then any other dewy-eyed young lad running about the school. It was cute, and with such considerations, made it feel even more out of place that he would be asking about the curse.

If there was supposed to be an off-putting feeling gained from her cold impression, she would find this discouraging nothing in the fourth year. He hardly made notice to her cold-looking eyes, the way she stared, as if looking through him, though not directly at him. Alec scarcely paid attention or matter to the way in which she felt to be picking him apart, her confusion to the use of her name. He had hardly any reason to explain himself to her unless, of course, she agreed to answer his questions. Perhaps he would have owed her quite a bit more than why he knew of her name.

The girl rose a brow in reaction to what he needed her for. Alec watched her close her sketchbook, she would stow it away in her bag and get to her feet. Illowy would question him as he made her way across the stones, back to the shore. She clearly had been out there before, it seemed to come naturally to her. “A lad like myself? Is there something you mean to imply?” He questioned in turn, finally glancing up from what he was doing with ink and quill. Alec paused and his eyes sought to meet hers. She was defensive, considering the circumstances he approached her Alec didn't blame her. What he intended to question her on was likely to have her on the fence about the situation as well.

“Oh I don't know... I would ask questions to reinduce trauma from the traumatic experience if it all.” Alec replied sarcastically. The Gryffindor would grab a piece of parchment with many a scribbled note on it. One that could be assumed to be his prepared list of questions. He was trying to give her a quick look, but he realized soon after that nobody can read that fast.

There was a few seconds of silence from Alec before he spoke again, to clarify on his sarcasm, “that was a joke, to be fair, it sounded better in my head.” Alec half-laughed. The fourth year set his bag on the ground, in order to focus on taking out his thing while he spoke to Illowy. “I've found there's a lot that goes on at Hogwarts, right under people's noses.” Alec started out, much more than the spider student curse.

It was disturbing how much went on and people never notice. Terrifying how much you could miss. “I figure it fair to educate myself on this subject, which was lacking information and could have gone right under my nose.” He smirked and nodded towards his paper and things. “Are you willing to help answer my questions or not? I'm willing to buy your help with bribes like butterbeer.” He spoke, his eyes settling on her.

@Illowy Magnard
not me just realizing I totally forgot to tag you last time

The way he spoke at her, she couldn't help but raise a brow and pass him a look as though surprised he would dare speak to her in such a way. Even despite he assurance that it was only a joke. She would let it go. It wasn't worth picking an argument over, especially since she was still curious as to why he would have picked her, of all the possible selections, to question about the curse. Truthfully, it never occurred to her that anyone might care to have her insight that wasn't directly involved.

She was looked over a lot, passing quietly under the radar as she did what she wanted, and Illowy liked it that way. In the same vein though, when she was still under the curse, she'd paid witness to some cruelty. Many of the other cursed could get away with hiding their scars; Illowy hadn't been as lucky, having one such scar stretch up her neck and over her cheek. It made her a prime target for teasing by those less then sensitive about the foreboding nature of the curse.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she listened quietly for a moment. He wasn't wrong. Many people never noticed the harrowing bouts of destruction and chaos that went on throughout the castle. No one was truly safe, in her opinion, but so many chose to live in ignorant bliss. At least this boy was trying to be some level of proactive. Plus, the threat of the spider curse happening again still loomed. No one knew yet what the curse was, or why, or who. The more people taking interest, the more likely to gain more answers.

"I'm not a dog. I don't need to be baited." she answered, unaware of the irony in her own sentence. She'd recently become an animagus, an Irish Wolfhound. By all technicalities, she was a dog, but her focus was too honed on the task at hand to quite remember that. Instead, she simply gave a nod of her head towards the near by tree, sitting down in the grass as she pulled her lazy ball of fur she called a cat into her lap, "What exactly are you wanting to know?"

You're totally fine! It happens to the best of us lol! No worries

Alec's joke wasn't taken too kindly, which was fair if he was being honest. He figured the sarcastic tone was enough to make it obvious that was clearly something he had no intention of doing. It was bad thing. He didn't think the human as dark as he did it truthful. Either way, it was going to be a pretty hit or miss type of thing, learning on miss. Humor helped him get through everything, he saw no limits because of this, it came with what should have been expected consequences.

Illowy crossed her arms over her chest as she listened to him. She wasn't pleased with what... bribery? She said she wasn't a dog and he didn't need to be baited. Alec blinked the shock away before bursting out into a laugh in reaction towards her. “It's bribery, not bait. Their very different. If your helping me why shouldn't I at least offer to help you?” He asked, was she trying to bargain her way down from getting a fair end out of the deal? Even if she didn't want anything the offer was still a nice added bonus.

Illowy neaded her head towards a nearby tree and Alec followed. He would learn down, settings his things on the group. Alec was sitting quite a bit away from Illowy. Putting a meaningful amount of distance between him and the cat she had pulled into her lap. Illowy asked what he wanted to know, pulling him from the thoughts of said cat and glanced down hurriedly at his list of questions. Re-reading a few Alec took in a sharp breath of air. “I don't think my questions are going to cover it, their word splatter on a page,” he spoke, he would eye the paper full of questions warily. This was exactly why he didn't stay up and try to complete work at obscene hours hours of the night.

Alec would looked up from his page glancing towards her and the cat. “How about we make this free form?” He asked, he would absentmindedly fidget with a quill in his hand. “You could tell me everything you want to tell me about what you know. It doesn't need to be organized information. I'd sort out random bits later.” Alec suggested. It seemed like the best way to go about this.

@Illowy Magnard

Illowy chose not to answer as he tried to explain the differences between bribery and bait. As far as she was concerned in was one in the same, but that wasn't an argument she felt the need to spend breath making. If it was a favor for a favor, then she'd consider it a debt. After all, there was always a perks to having someone who owed you something. No reason in being too enthusiastic to cash such a favor so quickly.

As he settled down in the grass with her, the snake continued to watch him, still trying to sort out why in the world he was so curious. Surely it wasn't for the Headliner. Usually when they had a question for her, they came right out with why they were asking; this was a personal matter, which sparked her own curiosity if he knew something she didn't.

He prepped himself for his questions, flicking over his notes of questions, which apparently weren't of much use to him as he opted to just have her tell him what she knew, "Assuming you know nothing," the girl began, "I suppose I should start from the beginning..." she shifted a bit where she sat, sorting through her thoughts for a moment. Honestly, Illowy didn't like thinking about that night, though she often still did. It had been years now since the actual incident and yet it had only been in recent months she felt she was finally starting to move past the emotional trauma of it all.

"Three years ago, when I was a second year, two students woke in the middle of the night to a strange sound no one else could hear. One from the girls' dorm, Marion Davenport, and one from the boys', Victor Moore. Our head of house wasn't in at the time, she was doing her shift for night rounds, so it was just students and prefects in the house. Some of the other students, including myself, were stirred up from the other two out of bed and it caused a huge fuss because they kept insisting that something was at the house's front door. I was standing nearest the door while everyone argued about if we should open it or not. Personally, I didn't like the idea of opening the door and thought we all ought to go back to bed and wait until our Head of House returned or at least until daylight." by Merlin did she wish that that was house the night had ended. It would have been better for all involved if it had.

"One boy, he thought I was going to open it because I was standing next to the door. Honestly, my thought process was that I was advanced enough in my studies, I thought I could hold off anyone who tried to open it." she explained, as she spoke her eyes wandered, hardly ever passing in the cub's direction as her fingers absentmindedly stroked through the cat's fur, "I let myself get distracted. It was enough for one girl to get past me and through the door open... and that's when the spiders flooded in." Illowy pressed her lips together in a tight line before finally meeting the boy's eyes again, "You'll have to forgive my memory from this point, its not all mine. Like I said I was right next to the door, and I didn't last long. These spiders, they were massive, like the size of a large rodent or a small cat... but they were... like shadows. But not, because they could bite. And when they bit you it was like your very veins were on fire. And the venom left these black scars, like your blood was turning into lampblack ink. I don't know much about how the other fended off the rest of the attack beyond that lumos spells seemed to destroy them. They apparently vanished as quickly as they came and after that everyone who was injured was rushed to the Hospital Wing. And from then on, once a week everyone who was afflicted had to have a dose of Thick Golden Potion, that's a quarintining potion, to keep the curse from spreading. Though none of the staff made it especially clear what would happen if the curse did spread, but whatever it was, it was either fatal or worse then death." she explained thoughtfully.

She could still remember that next day, when they'd all been released from the Hospital Wing and excused from classes, that first glimpse she'd taken in the mirror to see those horrid ichor scars stretching over her cheek. No amount of makeup could hide it, and she'd only been a child of 12; she hadn't the bandwidth at the time to understand how to deal with such a dramatic change. Nor the shame of knowing she'd been useless to help her fellow snakes. Illowy had never been quite the same since that night in so many ways.

"Have you any questions so far?"

The boy had taken his seat was looking through his things, had already gone on to explain the likely useless list of questions he had that truly felt more like word splatter on a page than anything. Luckily, Illowy was willing to go with it, she would start from the beginning of a story that held onto the boy as he listened. He would hang onto Illowy's words, letting each sentence unfurl a new thought. A strange noise. Marion Davenport, Victor Moore. For Alec one name held more meaning than the other. Which was strange considering she likely would have been but a girl then, nothing close to a hag, and yet he needed to pay close careful attention.

At hearing Marion's name a certain discomfort that edged into the boy's face. Like having eaten something foul tasting. His eyebrows furrowed. Talk of the head of house being out, followed by arguments about a noise they were hearing, whether or not to open the door. Illowy was talking about spiders, spiders that were odd shadowy creatures, the curse from it, a potion. The information, it was a lot to take in at once, but Alec did his best, quick to write notes while he listened and she spoke. It was hard for Alec to wrap his mind around how terrifying the situation must have been.

A look of empathy reached his face at his eyes glanced to catch, a look that cast unspoken words he didn't need to tell. Alec felt sorry it had happened to her to anybody else who had ended up with it. The situation must have been something that had seemed so small at first, suddenly it became serious all too quick. Illowy asked if Alec had questions and he waited a moment before he slowly nodded. “Do you know who opened the door? Was it the girl you mentioned earlier or someone else entirely?” Marion wasn't a hag then... At least to Alec's knowledge, he was trying to get the best grasp of this situation as he could have. He didn't realize Marion had at least been hearing sounds, it was weird she was connected to it at all but it could have been anybody to hear it.

“Does anyone know where they came from, or how they got into the castle?” Alec asked, it felt like important information. If Illowy had known it was likely she would have mentioned it. “Were you ever able to figure out what the creatures were?” They weren't just normal spiders as she had clearly emphasized. Alec glanced to the side, staring off at nowhere in particular, he would focus his eyes on the lake. “I'm sorry,” he spoke, he let out a breath, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. “About what I said earlier. I didn't know how serious it was... Or really what had gone on.” The Gryffindor trailed off, his face lightly flushing red.

@Illowy Magnard

At points in her story, the lad seemed... unsettled. Though whether that was due to the story itself or details within, she wasn't sure. It wasn't enough of a distraction or thought for her to paused her telling at the time. What she did know however, was that she didn't like the look of pity empathy on his face. She couldn't stand the idea of someone feeling sorry for her. Illowy always felt she was above another's pity. Pity was only deserved by the people who succumbed to their situation, and she had survived her's... close as it might've been.

The questions started in, and she tried to take care of answer each one properly, with the drail she imagined he must've been seeking, "The girl's name that opened the door was Elena. She went down pretty quickly too when the door was opened, an' she never got up again." a kind way to put what everyone in the house had assumed. Elena basically disappeared after that night, and was never seen or heard from again. There had never been a fancy announcement or explaination, she was simply gone and everyone assumed the worst.

"I've been tryin' to figure out where they came from and went for years. No one is really sure. My best guess is from the basements or the dungeons if it came from within the school. But a couple years later, the same thing happened to Ravenclaw, so there's no real telling. Ye'd have to ask someone from Ravenclaw what happened that night. I'm not really sure of the whole story." though Ravenclaw had been lucky. They'd been attacked just before the cure had been figured out, and thus, only were made to suffer a couple weeks compared to the snakes, "What they are has been my main priority. If I can figure that, then I imagine its a step closer to sortin' out what the curse even is, then who sent it."

The young witch's cat shifted in her lap for a moment before crawling from her arms to stretch himself in the sun. With that, the girl shifted, leaning back on her hands and stretching her own legs in front of her, crossing them at the ankles as she thought, "I never got this information confirmed, so take it with a grain of salt," she began, "Another student who had been working on solvin' the curse that the time, said that there was an attempt to send a vial of another student's cursed blood out to be tested. I assume by the Ministry or somethin', I dunno. No one is entirely sure what happened, but the phile was broken and the owl carryin' it became infected by the time it reached it's destination. From what I was told, it became similar to the spiders; shadowy and violent. For whatever reason, I assume because it had become dangerous, they couldn't save the poor thing and it had to be destroyed. So my theory is that whatever this curse is, once its taken full effect, the afflicted becomes one of those things, and its non reversible to the best of my knowledge. But, it can be cured if it's taken care before it spreads." she explained, "But like I said, its just a theory since I'm not totally sure if the story's true." it was a grim fate to fear when Illowy had been afflicted. To her, a fate worse then death. To become some strange creature under the control of another force... she remembered the conversation she'd had once with her cousin when she'd first learned this tidbit. A hard conversation pleading with him that, should something bad happen like that, that he'd do the humane thing and destroy her.

No child should be put in the position to believe such a thing should ever be necessary. Much less to ask a loved one to lose hope for them should things go sideways.

Illowy caught his look, awkward and flushed, as he gazed off at the water, apologizing for how cavalier he'd been about the topic before, "Don't worry yer pretty little head over it. I've heard worse." she assured. Nearly thirty years since the last war, and people still held quite a stigma over the Slytherin House. The amount of times she'd heard whispers of how the students deserved it were innumerable; so at least she'd developed something of a thicker skin around it.

The young teen's mind went on, scrambling to question after question after question, he had to slow his mind on order to properly make out the words to a few. Not wanting to overwhelm Illowy with questions in the process either, he picked out what seemed to most important to him in that moment. Asking who opened the door. It was just strange Marion was apart of the story at all, it felt like she was involved in everything one way or another. She was said to have been there for the Umbridge incident as well. She was on the grounds, it made sense but at the same time, it was strange there was so many. The girl's name was Elena... Not Marion. So less suspicious. It was worrying though that Illowy had no idea what happened to the girl.

Alec's next question involved where the spiders had come from. Illowy didn't have much of a clue, which made sense. Illowy then mentioned something she'd heard, about a blood sample that had been sent out. The vial carrying it had broken while being delivered, it infected the owl. Alec's nose scrunched in reaction. If it was real, Alec wasn't sure how the vial would have broken let alone how the owl would have gotten infected. He wasn't willing to think of the logistics behind it either. Illowy had to remind it was just a theory since she was unsure if it was true. Alec nodded, glancing towards the grass.

The boy apologized, Illowy said not to worry about it, which unfortunately, had the opposite affect. Illowy had heard worse? Alec's eyebrows furrowed, a scowl reaching his lips. “Does- does it happen often? People making insensitive comments... I suppose not as much now since it's gone, but before?” Alec asked, he lifted his head, only to look the other directly in the eyes as he asked. There was a pause from Alec, silence as he began scribbling words down, but it became clear through his multiple seconds of silence he was using writing as an excuse to not speak.

Alec was searching for the best words to say. “It's terrible, what happened to you all. At least your cured now.” His eyes flickered up from the parchment to Illowy and back down again. “You worked helping at the hospital wing right? Helping ... er- Brumby was it... Look for a cure?” Alec asked, he head tilting to the side as he spoke, trying to recall the name of the head nurse of the hospital wing at the time. Alec had scarcely needed to go in, he didn't remember much or keep track.

He would set down the quill he was using to write and shuffle from where he sat, with how often he was switching the way in which he sat, he may have been making it far too obvious he was having trouble sitting still during this exchange. He hadn't been able to run his energy off today.

“What was the worst part about attaining the curse? Taking the potion? The fear or mental strain of the idea of it? Or the outward way it shown and looked?” Alec asked, he would set down his quill in order to pay extra special attention to her answer.