Castle at Night open

^{Date:
Mentions: @Denisse De Vera@Millie Ann@Olivia Young
W|C: 410
OOC: Hi! Hope you guys don't mind me joining!}

Elisha had sneaked out of the dorm to find some ghost she could talk to. She didn't want to alert any professors or prefect and risk getting a detention or worse losing any points for her house so she didn't bother to light her wand and only crept around the walls with her hand.

After a few hours with no luck she had decided to return back to the dorm only to realize that she was then lost.

As a first year, it was a normal thing to happen to her, even if she's already in Hogwarts for several days, the complex structure of Hogwarts and it's moving stairs makes it very hard to get used to. Suddenly, she heard a loud voice from one of the rooms which startled her. She stopped on her footstep and thought for a second whether to find the source or to ignore it.

'Well, I've gone this far already maybe it's a ghost this time. Besides what are the chances I get murdered on my first year.' She thought as she slowly walked towards where she had heard the voice.

─

As she got closer, she heard faint murmurs coming from behind a slightly ajar door. Peering through the narrow opening without pushing it wider, she could make out three figures huddled together on a table, illuminated by the glow of their wands. 'Well, they don't look like ghost. Are they prefects?' She wonders as she slowly back away from the door. "Well, I should probably go now before I get caught." Eisha murmured, only for her nightgown to be caught on the door making it creaked loudly in the night. She quickly look back at the three figures huddle together who have now became still as a statue. She quietly sighed to herself and pushed open the door taking a step inside and willing her body to appear more tired than she really felt. Well, if she said she was sleepwalking will they let her off?

"Um, sorry for barging in but I'm lost." Not a lie "I didn't mean to disturb you guys." She eyed them one by one. They didn't look old enough to be a professor or prefect but they weren't faces she was familiar with within the first years. Then, second or third years probably.

mentioning ; @Millie Ann and @Olivia Young; open to interactions wordcount ; 1,053

00.00.00; date sorry it took awhile. this is the longest post i've ever written ; notes

𝕴nitially, the pages were full of scribbled and disordered nonsense. Denisse had furrowed her brows, and begun to consider whether it was some code or cipher. Suddenly, Olivia's eyes were wide, and her face as pale as anything: "Yes, he doesn't suspect a thing."

Denisse's breath had been stolen, her eyelids blinking, as the words upon the parchment appeared to flicker and then melt into the parchment as though it had been drinking them in. She swallowed: "Did... Did you just see that?" she had whispered, although the collective gaping of Millie's mouth confirmed that she indeed had.

Olivia bouncing on the balls of her feet made her squeal, too loud in the deep silence: "Bloody hell, this is cool!"

Denisse's heart had begun beating wildly; leaning her closer, she hovered her finger inches above the ancient parchment; eyes wide with rising wonder. "This... Is enchanted," she breathes out the words tasting unfamiliar yet magical on her tongue.

"A book that...

That can answer questions. Well, not quite; it can only answer one question, once only. When an answer is revealed the wording fades back into the parchment, just as if it'd gone and drunk them up."

Her mind went like a storm during a Black Friday, pounding like an ancient engine within her very ears. This was more than a curious little find; it was a secret. Something hidden away in the darker corners of Hogwarts.

Who had placed this in the room? Could it be a trap? Or just something that was somehow destined to be in their path? She knew she'd be stuck in detention; with eyes of the professors. That it'd kill the thrill far more then an impending spell, so, 'why, oh why,' should she care.

Olivia's little idea makes absolutely more sense of course; all the books she owned answered every single question that she'd ever posed it in the past. A subtle smirk graced her lips, her eyes shining mischievously under the weak torchlight. Gently, so incredibly gently, she let her fingers skim across the fragile parchment, a familiar hum of magic making her skin tingle. "Well, let us test it then," she replied, her voice nothing but a whisper as the adrenaline rushes flowed through her.

Although her voice was even her heart was not, for if it could answer the questions, they would know that what they found is a useful weapon and if the owner could find it, they would know it had been opened, "It must be with great care we ask a harmless and simple question." An exhilarating rush she was feeling far greater than usual, but 'we did just stumble across the most incredible item', and no way was she 'walking away unless I knew what it did'.

Hesitantly, Millie stepping forward; her curiosity overriding her cautious spirit. The weight of the moment was palpable as the three of them, three very second-year students at that, were crowded over the piece of paper. Denisse picked up the quill; Olivia brought out for her as though by telekinesis from bottom her school bag; as delicately as she would ever handle any delicate object.

Dipping the ink, she brought it up above the page. "We need a question," she whispered to them, "an innocent simple question."

What questions could she asks?! Some type of spell, how to find a secret door, where to find hidden goods.

Hmm "what time does the sun rise tomorrow morning?"

The ink shimmered. Then swirled and reformed, growing out of the parchment like tendrils of smoke which became words. "At dawn when the skies bleeds gold".

Denisse took in an audible breath through her teeth, and a smile spreading across her face as the answer, poetic and beautiful, melted away back into the parchment.

She look between Millie and Olivia, her smile widening.

"It works."

The thrill was almost too potent, a hint of danger beginning to seep in. The thought of this books ability to be so informative...could it unveil hidden passages? Would it show them exactly what the professors had locked away from them.

It burned with curiosity, but a touch of sensibility prevailed.

"We can not asking something stupid," Denisse cautioned, her voice still trembling slightly with pure joy and anticipation. "If this book belong to someone they will soon know we'd opened it; If it has something to do with the castle itself"...her voice trail away in to an untold void of possibilities.

Olivia's eyes shone with almost frantic eagerly while Millie's eyebrow was pulled together in hesitant doubt. Denisse felt caught between the two; the excitable pull of the unknown pulling against the rational warning of its potential power. As the three of them drew together under the warm flicker, Denisse had never truly realized this was the very thing she craved; not winning in the field of sports, or schoolwork success, but an underlying mystery of Hogwarts and its corridors.

She remembered her attempt at 'restricted section sneaking' in the previous year and the whispers that still echoed in her mind even now, of the school's ancient and shrouded secrets.

This book, this object of theirs, was nothing compared to those childish thoughts. It was an access point. Her fingertips brushed the parchment yet again and the familiar hum vibrated just beneath the surface and how tempting it was. Tempting to ask about hidden passage.

Deepest secrets of the school, the entire forbidden forest and what was behind that peculiar looking door that she seen hidden.

But she refrained; every question demanded its pound of flesh. 'we've stumbled upon danger,' Denisse murmured, 'but I don't care until I know the cost of this.'. The only noise in the dark room were their shallow gasps for air, the ethereal shimmer from the parchment beneath the torchlight and the occasional drip of water in a distant section of the dungeon. Denisse could feel her heart hammering wildly against the cage of her ribs, her mind in overdrive.

Denisse looked at Olivia and Millie, meeting her friend's eager eyes, their faces in turn flushed by the golden glow of the torchlight and their wand lights: they were in this with her. A sense of resolve swept over Denisse. "Okay," she said calmly, her voice firm and resonating.

"Let us ask it a real question."

abilities. Y1. The Muggle Condition — Y2. Keen Eye — actions. wandering

Olivia and Denisse, with their own strong determinations, had already proofed their suspicion of this magical book by leaving their trail on the page. But, yes, it is just as they had assumed. The book answer one question by a time!

However, in her former stoned position, Millie could only watched her friends doing that. Although her fingers twitching hard, eager to write her own question herself, she somehow still have that odd feeling with the book. Either with the book itself, the owner of the book, and the main point she still wondering hard: how can this potent things just put in here? Could be a trap for a wild, curious, naive students like them. Could be the owner just forgot their belongings (though, it's quite doubtful). Could be ... something they never ever expected. She just stand there, watching how there's a sudden magical poetic scribble on the parchment after her friends had asked their questions.

Seemingly not enough yet, Denisse finally voice her idea that they should ask the real question. Knowing the girl by some classes they attended together, Millie knew clearly what she meant. Some adrenaline booster. Millie can't say a word of that, she glanced at Olivia.

"But don't you think this good things always had its own risk?" Millie then voiced her own thought. Not that she strongly opposed the idea, because deep in her mind she wanted know too. "First thing first, we should asked for—"

Before Millie could finish her remarked, suddenly come a creaking door not far for where they were standing circling the magical book. As if on cue, they froze in place. Millie cautiously lengthen her view while squinting to the direction where that creaking sound was coming from.

"Um, sorry for barging in but I'm lost. I didn't mean to disturb you guys."

Not an adult's voice.

310WC
@Olivia Young, @Denisse De Vera, and @Elisha Pennyworth
wow more crew, eh

_{date;
mentions ;@Millie Ann @Denisse de Vera @Elisha pennyworth
w/c ; 313
ooc ;
Olivia's Speech
Other's Speech
Olivia's Thoughts
sta 7 | eva 5 | str 6 | wis 5 | arc 5 | acc 7}

_{The enchanted book soaked up all the ink in to the parchment once the sentence was read. Olivia's theory about the book answering questions didnt have any rebuttals from Denisse and Millie. Only thing they can do now it test it out
Well let us test it then.
It must be with great care we ask a harmless and simple question
And so the three decided on the simplest question they could think of at the moment.
What time does the sun rise tomorrow morning?
Right after the question mark was drawn on the parchment ink started dropping on to it as if its coming from inside of the parchment.
At dawn when the skies bleeds gold
Oh my god. We have done it. We found a treasure whispered Olivia. Its true the book speaks. It answers question. The real question is how far can It go? How much can we know? How much will it say? Does it know everything? Or is it just a lie?
I think we should ask it another question. A proper one. I want to know who this book belongs to. Maybe we can ask this if we will get in trouble and about the person who last used the book. I mean if this book snitches on its previous owner it will for sure snitch on us. So we either accept defeat or we steal this.
But if the book doesnt snitch we can leave it here. Come every night and attempt to figure out who the owner is and what they are doing with it}

"This Is Her World. You Just Live In It."

mentioning ; @Millie Ann @Olivia Young and @Elisha Pennyworth; open to interactions wordcount ; 389

00.00.00; date ooh a firstie ; notes

𝕿he air in the dungeon felt heavy on Denisse's skin. The light of the torch flickered, dancing across the stone walls as she moved closer to the book. Her heart was still thumping in her chest from the answer the book had given previously; "At dawn, when the sky bleeds gold." The words had shimmered then melted away until the parchment was blank once more.

She wanted more. She wanted to push it, ask it something reckless, something that was real. Her fingertips brushed against the quill Olivia had returned, ink glinting at the very tip. "all right," she breathed out, her voice soft yet firm. "we should ask it something real."

but as Denisse moved to write, the creak of a door made her pause. The dungeon's silence shattered with the creak of the door.

Her head turned quickly toward the sound. Wandlight swept over the dim doorway, catching the barely visible outline of a figure. Her breath hitched in her throat and her pulse quickened- not a professor or a prefect. Too small, too shy.

The girl then stepped in, nightgown swishing on the stone, eyes big while her face held the expression of trying hard to look sleepy. "um, sorry for barging in but I'm lost. I didn't mean to disturb you guys."

Denisse's grip on her wand tightened. Her mind whirled. Another student.

First year, by the look of her.

None of them were supposed to be here. But the book was still on the desk open, parchment still pulsing slightly with warmth.

She met Millie and Olivia's eyes. All three of them had been caught, not by the authority they had been hoping to avoid. Denisse's curiosity peaked again, it burned even hotter now. If the book could answer things, what would it say to being asked about this girl?

A smile spread across her lips, and yet her voice remained low, soft. "well," she said, shifting her eyes from the girl to the open book, "it seems we're not the only sneaky people around tonight."

The air practically throbbed. Denisse's mind worked furiously over the possibilities- the book, the girl, the danger they were in. She leaned back slightly, brushing against the parchment again.

"This will be different," she thought, even so, her eyes gleamed. "but maybe... It can be even more interesting."

abilities. Y1. The Muggle Condition — Y2. Keen Eye — actions. wandering

This situation could be getting worse. Three intruder students who roaming around in the dungeon past curfew is already sound too much to handle. And now come another one. Who knows if this girl could be more troublesome or not. And not to forgetting, this magical book is still with them that even the three still couldn't tell much about it whatsoever.

Instinctively, Millie move over to covered up the book behind her back once she realized this Pennyworth girl noticed its existence around them. Millie can't help but seeing something like familiarized in Elisha's eyes when she looked at the book more intensely. But, somewhat, Millie certain that this book is not hers, even with those looked she shown. So she just politely asked the girl to move her feet to where she came from. However ...

"Can you please tell me about this book?"

With that question being asked, Millie reflexively glanced at Olivia and Denisse. Looking at each other like they just communicating telepathically even if they have no such talents like that. With this deafening silence, Millie clear her throat and said, "Truth to be told, we still don't know much either."

Half true, half lie. She just don't want to risk more about this questionable magical thing to this first year (if her guess correct) that they still trapped in this mist of mystery. Though even so, Millie feel how Olivia and Denisse also contemplated to tell more or not. Millie pursed her lips. This odd feeling of the books still linger on her so she better to not really dirtying her hands even more. But unfortunately, the choice to just get off of here and sleep soundly in her dormitory seems like out of option since she encountered this very book in the first place.

mentioning ; @Millie Ann @Olivia Young @Elisha Pennyworth and @Milica Vranekova; open to interactions wordcount ; 452

00.00.00; date ooh a firstie ; notes

𝕿he dungeon was already crackling with secrets as the book hummed under their shared attention. Denisse’s heart was already pounding from Elisha’s unexpected arrival, curiosity warring with apprehension. But before she could decide if the first-year was to be trusted with these whispered things another sound cut through the silence – the clear of a throat.

From the very beginning the prefect’s presence in the dungeon hung thick with authority, making Denisse’s stomach drop just by the sound alone.

A tall girl entered the dungeon’s cold heart, a sweeping of dark fabric that pulled away to reveal her raven black hair "Look here,”

The girl said a hard edge to her voice.

“I seem to have stumbled upon a group of… troublemakers.” Denisse could feel her stomach lurch and her jaw clench even as she maintained a cool expression. She wasn’t sure she was expecting any faculty, but a prefect was a different story. Trouble.

A word that felt heavy as it landed like a falling stone, but Denisse refused to be weighed down by it. She had pulled enough little pranks to know trouble when she see it, but this was bigger. The book still rested open its words still pulsed, humming faintly.

The prefect’s gaze flickered to their hands on the book.

“Care to explain to me why a group of weirdos is standing around a book in the middle of the night? If it’s entertaining enough, perhaps I will let you off… lightly.” the prefect asked her smirk thin, not reaching her piercing eyes, yet promising a penalty. She held herself still as if drawing power from the sheer gravity of the situation. “We found this book” Denisse said, her voice deceptively calm “we did not steal it, we were just … curious” Her grin was thin but dangerous.

“The book is somewhat of a curiosity itself “ Denisse said, her lips twitching even with the trepidation, “ It tells us of the past and answers a question, then the script fades away” she let her eyes linger on the prefects, knowing her next words were either the beginning of her undoing or an intriguing offer.

“If you believe this qualifies us as troublemakers, so be it, but why don’t you ask it a question yourselves before you condemn us” Denisse could feel her heartbeat in her ears with the rhythm of the book's soft pulsing hum in the air around it . The shadows in the dungeon grew longer as the light from their candles flickered on the dank stone walls but her heart pounded even faster with excitement now rather than fear, as she looked at the prefect the other students and their little secrets, and felt the prick of the challenge.

abilities. Y1. The Muggle Condition — Y2. Keen Eye — actions. wandering

Millie knows she really should have never come down from her dorm, especially at this hour. Like fate has a grudge on her, there was once again, come another presence around them. Different from the first year Pennyworth, this one looks like have some sort of authority or something like that when she walked closer to the four, looking at them judgingly.

Who? Looks quite familiar, but who? Another house's prefect? Caught us red-headed like there's no tomorrow, and with that tone like she never did a wrong things ever before.

Denisse, like she knows this newcomer, opened her mouth and somewhat telling her about the book. Just like that. Calm. Almost tactical, like she pocketing some cool plan and weapons for the bargain. Hearing that, Millie can't help but keep her mouth shut, let Denisse talked and carrying out whatever she was thinking.

And slowly, Millie caught the sense (and realization) from that prefect, that if she really can be bargain with. The book. This mysterious, magical book we found. Not different like us, she looks curious and intrigued by it too. Maybe that's also the thought Denisse have had when she reply the prefect's confrontation.

Alright, let's see, Millie closely looking at the prefect if she found what Denisse just revealed to her can freed them from the detention. Millie then looked down, peering at the open book and throw a hopeful inward wish to it to works as just fine to proof us right.