ch 89 Games
April 7, 1992, Tuesday, 11:17pm
In front of the Potion Store Room…
The Headmaster, the four house heads and the school's caretaker, Argus Filch, arrived at the dungeon area to see the potion store room ransacked.
Broken bottles and glass everywhere. The liquid and specimens inside litter the floor.
Snape frowned as he looked around. Not sure where to start cleaning.
"Argus..." The Headmaster turned to Filch and said, "... Go back to the castle and make sure no students are running around. We'll stay here and check for clues."
Filch nodded, "Aye, Headmaster. I'll make sure those brats don't cause anymore mayhem!"
The caretaker quickly left. Every step he made causes the keys on his waist to jiggle. His cat, Mrs. Norris, followed behind.
With Filch gone, the others look for clues to what happen in the store room.
"Appare Vestigium!" Flitwick cast the tracking spell near the door and golden dust came out from his wand that spread inside and outside the room and down the hall toward both direction.
The dust showed a myriad of scenes that happened earlier that day.
With a wave of his wand, Flitwick control the scene showing and focus on what happened an hour ago.
The golden dust showed a hooded figure broke in the room and searched the place not caring to be subtle when it rummages through the shelves.
At one point, the hooded figure took out a wand and point at every corner of the room.
When the people watching saw the wand, they all showed varied degree of acknowledgement. They weren't surprised because they already know who the figure is.
As the scene continue, the figure's wand stop at one of the bookshelves. It immediately took out all the books and found the hidden compartment inside.
Seeing pass the golden illusory scene playing out, Snape frowned as he found that his secret compartment was empty and his bag of precious rare ingredients is missing.
Before the figure grab the bag, it quickly move toward the door and slamming it open. It look left and right not finding anything or anyone.
The figure returned back into the room and quickly grab the bag and floated out of the store room.
However, it haven't gone far when the bag that it was holding hit something midair.
The figure stops and search the space where the bag hit something, reaching something in the air.
But the figure stops his hand and look at a direction down the hall.
The Headmaster and the other four teachers also look at the direction and saw Marshall Witcherly emptying many stones and a boulder from one of his pouch.
"Stones?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.
McGonagall thought of her earlier lesson with the Hufflepuff and Slytherins. She mumbled, "You don't mean…"
As the Transfiguration Professor had guessed, the stones transformed into different kind of birds of varying sizes and species with a wave of Marshall's wand.
The figure lunge at Marshall, who then points his wand at the attacker and yelled out a spell.
What followed was a comical scene where the hooded figure fought the flock of birds. At some point, a large ostrich body slammed itself to the dark figure, pushing it back.
Witcherly continuously transform the rocks and boulder into new birds, repeating the onslaught on the figure.
"Pfft... hi hi... Sorry. I just find it funny." Sprout let out a giggle and quickly apologized.
Flitwick observed Marshall's wand movement and said, "Avifor... then Oppugno... simple but creative. Don't you think so, Severus?"
"Amusing..." Snape plainly commented.
The scene then showed how the figure retreated to the opposite direction of the hall with the stolen bag.
The teachers watch as Marshall walked to where the bag hit something and picked something from the ground and lifting it up.
"Potter!" Snape said with a frown.
Sprout asked, "What are they doing out of their common room?"
McGonagall quickly reminded her friend, "Witcherly is also out past the curfew…"
"Now. Now... you two. Let's leave it at that for the moment..." Dumbledore said and asked Snape, "Severus, what's in that bag?"
"Rare ingredients that I keep just in case it's needed." vaguely answered Snape.
The others and the headmaster didn't ask further as they already guessed that some of those ingredients might be 'problematic' for the public to know.
Dumbledore stroked his beard and try to think of the possible reason that the figure is rummaging the potion store room. He then remembered Marshall's unicorn foal and what the boy said last Christmas.
"Severus, do you have unicorn blood in that bag?" asked the Headmaster.
The other three house head frowned when they heard the question and looked at Snape.
Snape didn't mind their questioning gaze and simply answered, "Yes."
The rest of the group wanted to say something. But when they remembered that they too have something "dubious" stashed away in their rooms, they stopped.
Dumbledore didn't mind and continue to ask, "How many vials?"
Snape paused for a moment to recall, then answered, "Three."
After making a quick estimation, Dumbledore guessed that Quirrell won't last for long. At least two weeks or possibly three, if Quirrell still has some unicorn blood.
He turned to Snape and said, "I'll send the Prefects to help you with the cleaning."
Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout started to walk back when Snape called out, "Headmaster, I'll send you a bill for the ingredients I've lost…"
*Cough!
Dumbledore waved his hand and quickly picked up the pace without replying to Snape. 'Bill? Those ingredients are contraband. I can't put those into the school's year accounting books.'
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April 8, 1992, Wednesday , Great Hall
"Marshall, where were you last night? I woke up to go to the bathroom and noticed you're not in bed." Ernie asked me while we're having breakfast.
I replied, "Just taking a walk."
Kevin reacted, "A-At night?"
After chewing and swallowing my food, I plainly replied"Yeah. There are some students who roam the castle at night. Some do it for the trill, a test of courage, play pranks, meet their girlfriend/boyfriend from other houses… Stuff like that."
Justin asked, "Doesn't Filch roam around the school to catch those who are out after curfew?"
Looking around, I made sure that no Prefect our older students are near before saying, "Well, avoiding Filch is half the fun, actually. The ones who could avoid Filch, Mrs. Norris, some teachers, the Prefects, and the Head Boy and Girl must be skilled in spell casting or have other ways to evade and hide themselves."
Wayne playfully smiled at me and asked, "So you're saying… You are one of those skilled individuals and can roam around the castle freely."
I didn't give an answer and just shrugged my shoulder and raised my chin a bit. At this point, I can't deny that I'm skilled with spells.
While we're talking about other stuff, I noticed that the Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys just came into the hall.
I excused myself to my fellow Puffs and walked toward the Gryffindor table.
"Hello Guys!" I greeted them, causing the Golden Trio to give me a look that shown how tense they are. 'Did they think that I'll mention last night?'
After taking my seat, I noticed the bags under Percy's eyes. So I asked him, "What happen to you, mate? Tough night?"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione flinched when I asked about last night to Percy.
With a weak voice, Percy replied, "We were asked to…. No. Never mind. It's none of your concern. I just haven't slept last night."
I figured that the Prefects were helping clean up Snape's storeroom until early in the morning.
Fortunately, none of us, Firsties, have Potion class today. I pitied the people who will experience the wrath of a cranky and sleep-deprived Snape.
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9:20 am, Transfiguration classroom
-Hermione's POV-
*QUACK! *Cooo! *Tweet! *Kaa!
"This..." McGonagall was surprised to see how the Ravenclaw first years were able to cast the Avifor spell proficiently.
She then looked at our group that are still stuck at waving our wands onto the stones.
Sue Li then chuckled, "It was a good thing we got to practice with the others yesterday."
"Yeah, Marshall made it so much fun practicing the spell...." Anthony Goldstein added. Before he could say more, Michael Corner elbowed him and directed his friend's attention to the stern expression of the Professor.
I hear Ron complained to Harry, "Man, we really did miss out when we didn't join Marshall's study group…."
Harry sat straight and cleared Ron's line of sight to meet mine. Ron quickly realized that I heard what he said and shrieked his neck back.
'I know. It's my fault we missed out on Witcherly's little study session.' This really just reminds me to control my temper, especially when going against Marshall.
Professor McGonagall then asked the Ravenclaws, "Mr. Witcherly taught you how to cast the spell?"
The Ravenclaws reluctantly nodded. Padma added, "He even taught us how to cast the Oppugno Jinx with it."
Harry, Ron and I looked at each other and remembered what happened last night, and how Witcherly fought the dark hooded figure with his army of birds.
We're realizing the gap between our skill and Witcherly's. He can use such beginner spell to fight.
The Professor asked Terry's group on how they practiced the spell yesterday. Again, we're surprised by what we heard. 'Smashing ice sculptures?!'
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9:31am Class 99, Charms Class
-Marshall's POV-
"Ice sculptures? …. What a brilliant idea, Mr. Witcherly!" said Professor Flitwick as I explained to him how I taught the others the Oppugno Jinx yesterday.
Today, we are tackling the Knockback Jinx using some old chairs.
I already successfully cast it on my first try and gave the other tips on how to cast the spell.
To my surprise, Professor Flitwick called me to the side and asked me on the Avifor/Oppugno when he overheard us talking about it before the class started.
He seems to like the idea of incorporating games in learning spells.
The professor looked over the rest of the class and asked me, "Marshall, what game would you suggest for the Knockback Jinx.
It took me a second to think before answering, "Professor, If you aim to strengthen the force power output, I'm proposing pushing things and aiming it to hit several rows of glass or ice walls. That way, it's easier to gauge and score the students by the number of walls that got smashed…."
"... If the aim is to practice control, then we can make a human scale Gobstone game with heavy marbles if there is available space."
"Brilliant!" Flitwick exclaimed. Enlarging the classroom space, and erecting the walls or creating large marbles are not hard for our Charm Professor.
The professor continued to ask for other games that can be played for some other spells.
Of course, while we're having our discussion, our attention didn't leave the others while they were casting the Knockback Jinx and staying on guard in case of accidents.
By the time the class ended, everyone had cast the Knockback Jinx successfully.
My fellow Puffs and I said goodbye to Professor Flitwick and the Slytherins and made our way toward our H of M class with the Gryffindors.
On the way, Susan and the others asked me what was I discussing with Flitwick. They got excited when I mentioned the games that can be used in learning spells.
While we're talking about games, an idea came to me, 'There is already a large-scale Wizard Chess in the castle. Won't it be nice if there was a Game Room that is open for all houses to play together in…'
~end chapter~