POP! Goes Prefection.

[Caira LaPointe]

It had been several weeks since a 5th year Ravenclaw boy had gone missing and the school had nothing to show for it. Search parties had scoured every nook, every cranny in the vast, rambling castle and had naught to show for it all. Teams of professors banded together to delve into the Forbidden Forest, but only up to a certain point, for they dared not venture too far in for their own general safety. They knew about the dementors that were hiding, swirling, and churning their pandemic of sorrow in the heart of the Dark Wood.

Caira LaPointe was nonplussed. How on earth could a fifteen year old boy disappear in the middle of the night like that? What's more suspicious is that not a soul heard him leave, not a soul noticed he was gone until later in the day. Of course, she did not suspect dark magic at hand here, quite the contrary, she suspected the work of the lightfighters at large. She thought of immediately pulling Zane Lucifer Bishop up into her office for an in depth series of questions, but she doubted that she would get through to him. In her opinion, he wasn't afraid of her, which didn't bode well for either of them for she was a very capable witch, matched against a talented, yet still adolescent wizard.

So instead of just calling one prefect to her office for discussion, she felt it would be enlightening to call them all. A letter adressed to each house prefect was issued earlier in the week, detailing a saturday evening visit with the Headmistress. A sort of meeting that she wanted to hold with her prefects, making sure they weren't encountering any problems, and most of all, making sure they weren't keeping anything from her. To ensure this, she attained a modest phial of Veritaserum and had integrated it slowly in with the steaming pot of tea that she had brought up and set out for her prefects. Redundantly, a platter of sweets was also set out for her students to go with the tea. If none of them would take tea, the veritaserum had been added to the cookie dough prior to baking. She would have her answers soon enough.

Caira was sick and tired of the secret goings on in her castle, right under her very nose. Dark Phoenix thought her a fool for not having unmasked all of the lightfighters, and she already knew the identity of one; Zane, but how hard would it be to crucio the little bastard to get the names of the others? It would be quite simple and easy if she did it that way. And then she would have most likely lost her position, and either would have been toted off to Azkaban, or fled to the Shadow Realm for protection, only to be met with a white-hot, fiery reckoning from Dark Phoenix herself.

She had seated herself behind her large mahogany desk, her hair in loose curls around her shoulders, coiffed to perfection. She wore a teal set of robes and cloaks, hanging loosely around her modest frame, her hands set delicately on the desk, clasped in front of her. Before her desk sat six chairs. There would have been two more for the Gryffindor prefects, but those positions had yet to be filled. So she waited patiently for her students to arrive, planning on greeting them with a warm and inviting welcome, perhaps some idle chatter for a few moments, and then she would crack them like chestnuts. She could not make them drink the tea, but she was hoping at least one or two, if not all of them, would be so grateful as to indulge her with a drink and perhaps a nibble of a sugar cookie, or treacle tart.

[D'rorah Philosophy]

{ooc: lol at the title, you punny person}

D'rorah had received the summons to the Headmistress' office only hours after having been presented with the broken remains of Dylan's broom as she and Kerridon had been leaving the Astronomy Tower. She remembered staring at the letter for a while, reading it through several times in quick succession. It seemed that calamity piled itself on top of calamity these days. After months of relative quiet, Dylan and Alessandro were both gone; and now the Headmistress was going to begin formally asking questions. And so, when she wished for nothing more than to focus wholly and completely on finding Dylan, she now had the additional burden of whatever would happen in this meeting with the other prefects... almost all of whom were Lightfighters, it seemed. Only Susan and Bryan would not be among them for this, as the offices of Gryffindor prefect were both open. She realized somewhere in the back of her mind that Kairava Janavi, whom she had only met very briefly one morning after Divinations class, would be there as well. She wondered if she could turn the existence of at least one non-Lightfighter prefect to her advantage in some way, but couldn't get past the feeling that he would more likely find himself an innocent bystander in whatever exchange occurred between the Lightfighters and Dark Phoenix's lead agent at Hogwarts. Finding it likely that all of their actions would be monitored from this point at least until the meeting Saturday, D'rorah had resisted the urge to call the others together, instead forcing herself to hope that things would somehow work out for the best. Surely, fate wouldn't be so cruel as to saddle them with even more awfulness to deal with all at once.

And so, finding all of her efforts at locating Dylan unsuccessful, D'rorah headed to Caira's office with a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, certain now that attention would be called to the fact that Dylan and Alessandro, both roommates and both Elemental Masters, had disappeared at nearly the same time. D'rorah wondered why Alessandro's disappearance was being brought forward as an issue while Dylan's was not... did that mean that Caira already knew where Dylan was? Was this a confirmation of the fact that Dylan's absence was the result of Dark Phoenix's plans? In actuality, Dylan had been missing for longer than Alessandro had been dead. The thought of Dylan in the Shadow Realm made her feel physically ill. She knew the sorts of things that happened there... endless torture followed either by his acceptance of her as his mistress or his death. Suddenly, she wanted to plunge headlong into the forest herself to find an open rift...surely, with that many Shadows in the forest, there was a rift somewhere that would allow her entry into the Shadow Realm to find Dylan.

But it wouldn't help any of them to have D'rorah rush off into the forest to get herself killed, or worse, corrupted. And, even if she did, there was no guarantee that that was where Dylan was. She had begun to hope that his absence was simply the result of Astraeus' finally yanking Dylan out of Hogwarts, away from D'rorah, away from danger. The woman had never liked her. D'rorah found the thumb of her hand toying with the ring Dylan had given her on the night of the Valentine's dance. That night had been nearly perfect... but it seemed like ages ago. And the memory of it now was tainted with an ache of longing to see him again.

Pushing all of this back and carefully packing it away in her mind, D'rorah found herself in front of the gargoyle before Caira's office. She took one last deep breath to steel herself for whatever was to come before giving the password and descending the winding staircase. At the door to Caira's office, D'rorah raised her hand and rapped smartly on the wood, waiting for acknowledgment and permission to enter before doing so. "[blue]Good evening, Headmistress,[/blue]" she greeted politely, offering a slight inclination of her head as a gesture of respect. Though controlled with her emotions and facial expressions, D'rorah could do little to control what stress and so many near corruptions had done to her physical appearance. After receiving news of Dylan's death, the few streaks of grey in her hair had multiplied. Overall, she just looked... well, old. There were shadows under her eyes caused by lack of sleep mixed with worry. For the first time in her life, D'rorah had sent by owl for makeup so that she might hide the circles and perhaps make her skin appear less ashen. But the effect was not complete... apparently there was just only so much that makeup could do. Noticing that she was the only one there so far, she hoped the others would arrive soon.

[Caitlin Collins]

((I adapted this post from another I’d written which isn’t going to work anymore, so if there are any clashes with timing and stuff just ignore them))

Magical Artefacts From Southern Asia

Private Craftsmen

Private magic craftsmen are quite a commonality in the mid-southern countries of Asia; namely, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Burma, Nepal and Bangladesh. They originated in India with the East India Trading Company and have spread in the last century, particularly during Partition, to the surrounding areas. Wizards and witches who came to India to view what magic this different continent and culture held, if any, suddenly created a huge demand for artefacts when word spread back to their home of the quality and uniqueness of these goods. With such a demand, more local wizards and witches turned to this trade, and traditionally it passed down as a family business, creating the multitude of today.

Today Amritsar is the Indian magical capital for trading, with its own equivalent of London’s Diagon Alley in the form of TRADERS’ STREET. Although there are the normal shops in buildings, the main attraction is the stalls of private craftsmen and their unique goods. Certain names have become famous, with three of the most popular craftsmen (Omprakash & Tuhina Ahmed, Dinesh Singh and Sohan Rao) achieving international recognition for their work.

It is common for each craftsman to have his own signature symbol which is incorporated into all artefacts. This may be something as simple as a branded signature, or maybe a particular Hindu god as the basis of the shape of the item. There is also a magical process of “linking” all items by use of this signature. Although there is no clear definition on what exactly this link does, as it varies with different craftsmen, one of the attributed elements is the ability to use one artefact to find another. The process can be difficult to determine, but past cases show it is certainly possible.

The artefacts themselves vary greatly, but a high proportion are in the form of normal objects, such as jewellery or a keepsake storage box, and contain charms interwoven into their making. Such charms would normally have subtle effects, for instance provoking magic in a child who has not yet shown any, or preventing ageing in material objects the artefact might be placed near.

Unfortunately in recent years the demand for such specialised items has declined with the confirmation of numerous fake or dangerous artefacts being discovered...

Uninterested in the modern aspect of these craftsmen she was reading about, Caitlin jotted down one last note and closed the book she had found over an hour ago now. It had not taken her an hour to read and make note of the parts she needed, but reading about that part of the world from an outsider’s perspective was actually very interesting, although it did make her miss home. She assumed that the pendant was one of those listed as helping to bring out magic, since that was the result it was supposed to bring out in her grandma. But how it was linked to the journal... that, she had no idea. Nor what the journal’s ‘charm’ was.

It was the first time she had read a book off her own back in a long time, but after that strange vision with Alessandro and her grandma and younger self, she had thought it might actually be worth the effort. And she surprised herself by actually enjoying it. Perhaps she would have to start this again... she had always read so much in the past but had kind of stopped except for Mallan’s letters after his death. She had found that soon enough after losing it a few weeks ago – it had been in the side pocket of the bag she used for carrying textbooks and other items around school. She could remember thinking to herself that she would remember where she’d put it, as she placed the small book in that pocket. So of course, it was the last place she’d thought to look.

On the other hand, she still had no idea where she had put her great-grandma’s journal. She couldn’t even remember when the last time was she’d seen it. It was probably while unpacking after they came back to England last summer. Although there were still some unpacked boxes still in the bottom of her wardrobe, if she remembered rightly... hidden, so that her parents couldn’t see they were there. And for her, it was out of sight, out of mind. She hadn’t yet come across anything she needed that was still packed, so it didn’t really matter. So maybe it was there? Pondering where else it might have been misplaced, she slowly stood and made her way over to the shelf she had found this book and replaced it. Although she was tempted by one book entitled ‘Modern Day Indian Wizarding Communities’ a few feet along, she left it for now and went back to pick up her bag, leaving the library.

If she hadn’t had another appointment Caitlin probably would have stayed, but as it was there was a kind of important meeting she had to go to... amazingly enough, she had remembered. Her stomach filled with dread as it had done a few days ago when she’d first received the letter, but she forced herself to head upwards to the sixth floor. This corridor was not one she graced too often except for the room of requirement. Reaching the gargoyle, she gave the password and trekked unwillingly up the stairs to reach the wooden door. She hesitated before knocking, then entered slowly when she was sure she was welcome.

[kairava]

“… twenty four… twenty five.” Finishing his handstand pushups, Kai kicked one of his two feet off the stone wall of his dorm and held his balance, barely, as it hit the ground and he stood up. Letting out a “whew,” and wiping his brow, Kai smiled at his progress. Those were always the most difficult for him. He had tried keeping balance without the wall but after the fifth time of losing his balance and falling over and only succeeding once he gave up and let his feet rest against the stone barrier for the rest of the twenty five. Due to the various predicaments he continually found himself in during his stay at Durmstrang, Kai had begun working out every day, adding new workouts as he went. Strength was no longer as much an issue as it had been and so he had been adding more yoga and other exercises that required more balance. However, balancing on the hands was incredibly more difficult for him, frustratingly so. This was the first time he had actually succeeded at a handstand pushup since adding it to his routine a few weeks ago.

Wiping a few more beads of sweat from his forehead, Kai turned to the wall holding his full height mirror and admired his physique and posed a few times with a smirk before looking around the dorm for his shirt he had taken off shortly into his exercises. Finding it on his bed, he picked it up and was about to put it on before realizing that he had a meeting with Caira and the other prefects in less than an hour. Instead, Kai found his personal towel, which he used so that he would not have any odd visions from picking up a towel provided by Hogwarts that had passed through many hands, and headed to the showers. Finishing the shower and heading back to his room, Kai finished drying himself off and put on a bit of cologne, his formal Hogwarts outfit, over-robe, and matching gloves before making his way to Caira’s office.

Coming across her door, always open as usual, Kai walked in and saw Caira at her desk looking fairly pleasant and the backs of D’rorah and Cait, both sitting in a chair of six. Offering a small yet friendly smile, as he had always enjoyed her company before, Kai greeted her, “Good evening Miss Caira.” He did not waste time though; he really wanted to sit next to Cait. The thought made him blink and pause for a moment before continuing to the seat next to Cait and sitting down. “Hey Cait,” he offered with a broad and friendly smile, forgetting what the circumstances were for a moment, before turning to the Ravenclaw prefect, “Hey D’rorah.” Settling a little more into the seat, Kai waited for Caira to offer tea as she usually did; it would be impolite to serve yourself especially since no one else had. Feeling fairly confident after his workout, Kai tried to strike up more of a conversation with Cait but the only thing that came out was, “How was your day?”

[Zane Lucifer Bishop]

Upon receiving the ever-polite summons from the headmistress, Zee had been livid. The bitch had killed his parents and now wanted to talk to him about Alessandro's disappearance? He could just imagine the smug smile she would offer him along with tea. He wasn't sure yet whether he would simply ignore the request or if he would go. If he went, only one of them would ever walk out of that room, and the odds that it would be him were not promising. But maybe he wouldn't need to make some suicidal attempt to kill her. If he could prove that she murdered Catherine and Liam, he could have her put away in Azkaban! Zee wasn't sure if he wouldn't prefer simply killing her (on the off chance he managed that), but he liked having his options open.

Thus did he set about a rapid investigation on his own. He wasn't sure where to start, but decided if he were to prove that Caira was to blame, he'd have to find evidence that she had been there. It took him some few days of making inquiries, primarily with the school's house elves, before he was able to piece together a somewhat basic timeline of the headmistress' activities and locations over the past week or so. Unfortunately he suspected she would learn of his doings since the house elves all saw Caira as their owner/employer, but if he moved fast enough, it wouldn't matter.

Lacking sufficient time to send an owl and wait for a reply, on Saturday morning Zee used the floo network to go in person to the Ministry of Magic. There it took him half the day just to get access to the official report concerning his parents' deaths. When his considerable powers of persuasion proved insufficient, he ended up having to bribe one of the officials, which wasn't too difficult since, now of age and the only heir to his family's holdings, he was quite wealthy. Finally getting his hands on the report, Zee flipped through it until he found the only part he really cared about at that moment. The Aurors had been able, through a blending of magic and science, to determine the exact time of death. Once he had that, Zee tore the timeline he'd created out of his pocket and compared the times to see where Caira had been, sure that victory was at hand.

A growl of frustration replaced the glorious shout he'd been planning. According to what he had in front of him, Caira had been there at the ministry when his parents died, and for several hours before and after. Changing the course of his investigation, he began questioning everybody who might have seen her there, trying to find something that would disprove this alibi. After several more hours of making a complete nuisance of himself, he was politely but firmly guided to a floo that would take him back to Hogwarts. Indeed he would have been kicked out long before had not his situation been rather pitiable. Zee had grown morosely complacent, letting himself be towed away and stepping through the floo to appear in the Slytherin commons.

There he sank sullenly upon a sofa and stared at the flames. Caira's wand had been turned in at the front desk. Numerous ministry workers told him how they'd seen her there, and he found that she had been in three separate meetings, two of which she'd spent a good amount of time speaking in. There was no question that she had indeed been there. From all he could gather, Caira could not possibly have killed Liam and Catherine. Dark Phoenix did have a seemingly endless supply of followers, and none but her likely knew what all of them were doing. It was possible, perhaps probable, that Caira hadn't even known about his parents until she heard through the wizarding grapevine. He'd been so certain though that it was her. The sureness of action had granted him some semblance of purpose again. Now though he was much as he'd been upon first discovering the bodies. He sat on the sofa, motionless except for his shallow breathing and very occasional blinks.

It was there that his devoted Shadow Warrior found him shortly before the scheduled meeting. He proved as unresponsive now as he had before, and she had to virtually force feed him some concoction she'd brewed up. She told him what it was, but he wasn't paying attention. Guiding him by the hand, Keaira led Zee up from the dungeons, up the many flights of stairs to the sixth floor and the headmistress' office. They were a little late. Sitting where he was led, Zee's face aimed squarely at his knees, though he did mumble out a quiet, emotionless greeting. The others in the room he didn't seem to notice.

"Hello Caira."

[Keaira O'Connell]

The days since the discovery of Zane's parents had proved to be some of the most excruciating days of Keaira’s life. Things were already difficult due to the death of Alessandro, and now to add the fresh demise of Zane’s parents, only proved to make things difficult at best. By the time they had left on their trip, Keaira had bottled up what grief she had, and taken on a new dogma, which basically included living for the day in hopes that the next would surpass the first. Zane however, after discovering his parents had not taken to Keaira’s outlook. For a few days he was nothing but catatonic, barely responding to even the most extravagant of gestures. Yet, Keaira had patience, she hoped that Zane would pull out of the depression that had set in with his parents death, which much to her surprise, he seemed to be motivated for a short while after receiving the summons to attend a meeting with the headmistress. True that Keaira felt little hope in his research being successful, but be that as it may she reminded him of the meeting before he left that morning, and went about with her own plans.

As with her previous encounters with the headmistress, Keaira was skeptical about the innocence of her motives. The woman was a conniving and ruthless one, as such Keaira planned on any encounter with her to be one where battle strategies would be needed. So, upon receiving the summons Keaira had arranged for Hermes to purchase a small amount of antidote for Veritaserum. She then traveled to Hogesmede to pick it up from him earlier this morning, which was the only way she could think of to ensure that LaPoint did not gain wind of her actions. Upon receiving the bottled potion Keaira divided its contents into two vials, one for herself and the other for Zane. With the few days prior Keaira had done a bit more research then necessary to determine whether or not her next action would have any negative repercussions. According to her research the ingredients in the antidote did not clash in the least with the ingredients in the calming draught that Keaira dropped a few drops of into Zane's vial. In fact she could have mixed both vials and given him a full dose of each, without it affecting the effectiveness of either potion, but then Zane would be just a bit too calm. So she chose to only use a few drops of the calming draught hoping that it would keep him level headed throughout the encounter.

However when she discovered him barely even moving on the sofa, part of her regretted mixing the potions, knowing that if he stayed like this there would be nothing to worry her. She told him that it was merely an antidote for Veritaserum, leaving out the calming bit, hoping he would take it, and in the end practically having to all but swallow the liquid for him. Her own potion was consumed quickly after that, and she then took his hand, and began to make their way to the sixth floor. If Zane had been anything but catatonic, he may have noticed that Keaira had the night before had her hair cut, and so it was slightly shorter than it had been earlier in the week. Her hair was also demurely styled, and clipped back accordingly. To match her well prepared hair, Keaira had her best robes, freshly pressed, and had ensured that her badge and shoes were polished. To top off the whole ensemble she had lightly applied a bit of makeup, and a slight touch of perfume, all in all she was quite well presented, perfect for a meeting with the headmistress. But he didn’t notice, at least not that Keaira was aware of. And so she simply went about things as if nothing was different.
As they reached the headmistresses office, Keaira issued the password, and then proceeded to enter the room. From the looks of things, it appeared that they were the last two to arrive, even though there were three chairs left, Keaira felt certain that without any news on Dylan that he was most likely not attending. With there being one chair open next to Dee, and two others side by side, Keaira led Zane over to one of the chairs that remained together and took a seat beside him. Of all the people in the room, aside from Caira, Kai was the only one she couldn’t trust. As of now he was an unknown, and unknowns were just as dangerous as those that she knew were bad. He could easily have been one of the mages servants, and was meant as backup in an attempted ambush. As such Keaira had made sure her wand was easily accessible, and that nothing was on her mind except a blank wall. As she sat down Keaira smiled warmly to the woman, and spoke quietly.

“Good afternoon Headmistress.”

[Caira LaPointe]

It didn't take terribly long before the Prefect team in its entirety had shown up. One by one, the Ravenclaw first, followed by Hufflepuff, then Slytherin. She remained seated behind her desk, acknowledging each as they passed through with a simple nod. She waited a moment for each of them to take a seat and get comfortable before she made another move. Her features were frozen in a perpetual smile of professionalism.

Looking each prefect in the eyes as they sat across from her desk in the five chairs in front of her; one Ravenclaw, two Hufflepuff, and two Slytherin, she began.

"Well, hello my Hogwarts Prefects." It was a warm opening, and if one didn't know any better, they would think Caira to be quite pleased with her subordinates.

"As you are aware, we have recently lost yet another student...This proves to be somewhat of problem, actually it is a big problem. The parents want to know where their children are, and I can't lie to them and tell them that they are here, safe and sound behind these protective walls..." As she continued, her eyes became very wide, and she found herself derailed from her original plan of pleasant talk and sweets. Instead, she found herself wanting to get straight to the point. She closed her eyes and let out a small sigh, realizing that she had not taken the approach she had desired, and tried to regain herself.

"Children...I'm sure you know about certain things going on in the school that I must be completely oblivious to, naturally, as I am held up in here all day. Surely you have encountered something out of the ordinary on your patrols? Late night meetings? Secret rendezvous? There is something hidden that my eyes can't see, and I know that there is some little insurgence afoot that I have yet to place my finger upon. Why students would do such a thing is beyond me...." She paused for a moment as she shook her head sadly and gazed out the window momentarily before shaking her head once more and taking her eyes to the bountiful offering of sweets and tea.

"At any rate, I want information. I want to know who these children are, I want to know why they're doing it. It's cost us too much already. I will not bear another meeting with the Ministry." and at that thought, her face lit up as if she remembered something. "Oh, I suppose I should inform all of you that the Ministry has sent two officials to assist with classes and will be overseeing things here at Hogwarts. Thornelius Stockholm will be here within a matter of days, he will be taking up the History of Magic class, and Arista Blackwell soon after. I don't know which class she will be assisting us with. I want you to make sure they are treated with the highest of importance and respect. She finished. Reaching over to her already full teacup, she picked it up and took a ginger sip, placing it back down on her saucer.

"Would anyone care for some tea before we begin? Or perhaps one of the scrumptious sugar cookies the house elves have whipped up for us?" Her offer didn't sound conspicuous, just slightly out of place for the nature of conversation. She waited for any of them to respond before continuing on.

[D'rorah Philosophy]

D'rorah, nodded her head to Caitlin and then to Kai as he greeted her. "[blue]Mister Jahnavi,[/blue]" she replied in acknowledgment. Keaira and Zane entered last, and seemed to find their seats quickly enough. It was then that Caira began to speak. D'rorah listened quietly, keeping her gaze impassive. She prickled slightly at being addressed along with the others as "children". Technically, it might have been accurate; but it was still so condescending. She wasn't particularly pleased with the notion of Ministry officials being present as teachers. That would almost certainly be an extra unnecessary hindrance to carrying out their meetings and gatherings.

She looked to the plate of food that Caira had indicated, one corner of her mouth tugging downward ever so slightly. Sweet foods had never been of particular interest to her. And overall, she found herself with no appetite with being in the thick of everything that Caira had just mentioned. "[blue]No. Thank you.[/blue] She replied, making two distinct sentences from the statement. "[blue]Though I must admit to having seen the strangest things at Hogwarts,[/blue]" she began, her facial expression giving the impression of complete innocence. "[blue]There seem to be strange, dark creatures that roam in the forest and rarely even make their way onto the grounds. Though, I cannot fathom how that might be the case, considering the alarms and repulsive devices which exist around the school.[/blue]"

D'rorah knew that Dark Phoenix knew she was a Shadow Warrior. There was no reason to maintain much of any sort of veil of secrecy about that fact. Though of course, she could not come straight out about it. Her response was, in its own way, a mockery of the ridiculous pretense surrounding this entire meeting. "[blue]Why, the fact that the alarms have never sounded would almost lead one to conclude that perhaps they had been disabled to allow the entry of certain dark creatures. My understanding is that they were quite sensitive in the past... even drawing attention to those who were merely tainted by darkness through close association.[/blue]" Her gaze changed at the end to a level stare which she held upon Caira. Not that D'rorah was complaining much... those same alarms that would alert them to Shadows and even to Caira herself would have just as quickly sounded for D'rorah and most likely Zane and Keaira as well. But still, if there was to be an inquiry into secrets, it would come from both sides.