Dungeon Staircase

[Essy ze Ninja]

Spiralling down from the Hogwarts Entrance Hall all the way down to the lowest level of the dungeons, the dungeon staircase is a common meeting place for students to catch up before departing down to the Potions classroom or to the Slytherin Common Room. The Bloody Baron favors this staircase and can usually be found brooding around.  

[Porcelaine Ivory]

яεġrετ┃ηστнιηġ ♦ ғεαя┃ησ σηε ♦ ταkε prιdε ιη┃εvεяyτнιηġ

Loosening his tie as he went, Colton descended the stairs into the depths of the dungeons, his breath becoming more and more visible with every step. He hardly noticed the drop in temperature - his mind was already frozen over and his eyes were blurred with visions from his past. It was understandable that the incident with the thestrals had brought out such a reaction in him, pulling him from his social ties and nearly cutting him off from the outside world... No matter how long he contemplated, Colt just couldn't seem to wrap his head around the facts. Gavin's death happened the very winter before entering Hogwarts in his first year. But that was just it! How had he managed to keep his pieces glued together so well until now? So well that his two best friends - or his only friends, rather - were completely in the dark about the demons that lived through his nightmares every evening? The Gryffindor continued to fall apart. The glue that had held him together seemed to be melting, simplifying into water which only helped to dissolve - or eat away at the broken pieces of the twelve year old boy, swallowing him whole just like his social life. Colton hardly noticed that the stairs had ended when they did. He turned onto the lower level corridor without so much as a hesitation in the ghastly thoughts that now haunted him endlessly.

 

[Pale Mist]

phinelia von ichval



second year - ravenclaw
hermes
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬
“In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”
– Desiderius Erasmus
“The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle’s own plumes. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.”
– Aesop
“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”
– Socrates
“If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn’t.”
– Lyall Watson

╔══════════════════╗

The air instantly changed when she re-entered the castle. It no longer pinched at her bloodless cheeks or stung her dark, searching and burned eyes.
The route the Ravenclaw had taken was one to completely avoid the ground floor in fear her friends still resided. A cramp tightened around her chest at the thought and a guilt bubbled at how she had left them in full disregard for only her own selfish problems which were over thought.
She wondered suddenly how they would deal.
Bravely, thoughtfully, selflessly.
She felt like a leech, ruining the delight around her at the fiery warmth of enjoyment. proceeding in her mind with no avail and only looping back to dwelling on her faults and flaws.

These faceless voice in her head had marched her forward in her deep curve around the ground floor and to the dungeons, legs steering toward a destination her mind and head was not yet aware was one on course. Her encounter with the spirit in the Ravenclaw boy had reminded her clearly of the night of the fire - of another presence that she had, till this point, foolishly misplaced. William Nott had also been one she heard, one she saw flee. He was involved in the suspicious events Phi had been mauling over all summer and now all school time, and she was still intrigued and anxious.
Searching for him was surely foolish, however, now was the only time reason ever seemed to allow itself leave. All was game now, broken mind to broken spine. Her curiosity running a wilfire.

Coincidence, or some would call it fate, seemed maximized to its fully potential in the castle and in the Wizarding World as a whole. This speculation had crossed Phi's mind many times as it seemed she so quickly tended to find what or who she searched for in the walls of the school and the boundaries of magic. Things she needed, things convenient, always appeared at the best of times. However, Phi never believed in fate, she realized as she again thought all those things as her physical body began to stumble.
The impact had been strong for one being caused by a boy of such small stature, it threw the Ravenclaw girl off her already fragile hold as she had began to storm in the corridor. Now, balance lost to an oblivion, her feet knocked into each other like vengeful enemies and just as Tay himself hit the ground, shooting the book from his grasp, so did she. Her right side began to fall at a closer angle and her elbow struck the tome the boy had been carrying and stopped its progression along the cold ground.
The rest of her body landing, Phi attempted to regain herself up against the numb pain of the collision of skin to stone as well as the tingling sand feeling now permeating her whole right arm.
A glance was only managed to be caught on the upside down cover of the book before her eyes were called up by Nott's call.
Noticing the fly of hand for wand instantly, she commanded her own nimble fingers to wrap around the familiar decorated malus weapon she faithfully carried in the inside pocket of her robes. Mirroring his action, however, she did not draw it until he drew his - at the point or reason and need.

Her dark eyes shrank in a darker glare at the boy, not answering his demands vocally and instead insulting the peace he wanted with her strong standing presence. She rose herself much higher than he, regardless of her own petite build, and darkly measured him. Eyes flicked finally down to the book once more. Interest ringing in her ears since the impact. The girl was observant and one thing she had never seen the boy now before her doing was reading a book.
She placed her foot on it lightly with no harsh vice, but enough motion to show her dominance over whatever knowledge it held and returned her gaze up to him.

She saw as he clearly tensed, the air around him flexing like an irritated muscle as his eyes of haunting gold glared her down.
She merely started back, the previous glare gone as his words now slipped out in their impatient hissing. A part of her felt like only withholding the words in spite of him further and it rode along with the dominant personality trait of her silence and lack of speech when deemed unnecessary. A decision she would only make.
When he voiced his suspicion and almost observation of her curiosity, her heel lifted off the worn binding of the tome. Eyes relaxing further and their vacant knowlingness returning.
"Only am I curious when there is something to be curious about." his threat went unheard on her ears as instead her focus returned to the book Tay seemed so desperate to return to his possession. A text of History - family history. No doubt personally linked, but the desperation she could hear in his voice but did not see in his eyes made her wonder if their was something more. A shadow of a connected string hidden inside, bound by the crumbing outer shell.
She bent and lifted it off the ground with fluid motion, holding it against the crook of her elbow and again reading the title she held out for herself. Quickly returning to the boy she knew would not curse her for the defiance of his empty offer. Something darker inside her wanted to sneer at how she was not aware he could even cast a spell.
"I think you are far too interested in why I am here, which means there is a reason why you are here." she muttered lightly, unaware of her voiced thought. Tone soft and airy, light and thoughtful - complete oblivion to the threat the words may carry.

^ previously ^

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Her brows lowered themselves, bunching over her eyes in blank dis-understanding at his final jab. "Do not belong?" he re-voiced, "Why do you think I don't belong?" she asked with full apathy to whether emotional manipulation the words meant to hold. Her previous worried, anxieties and even nightmares about both the man and his horror at the Raines' home and her disconnectedness from emotion did not amount and present itself to her as a plausible reason. The girl had been unaware of the facts that were causing the boy's striking gold and green eyes to flash with knowing; her distant-ness in class, her often lapses of daydream and lengthy thought, even her slight loss of humor. Being slowly seeping into the inside of her head where she had once permanently resided was not being recognized by her mind - she had not yet realized the change everyone else was perceiving about her open, physical actions.
A sudden curiosity hit her and her eyes landed on the book and where it was marked. With skilled fingers, she opened the heavy tome with the one hand with which she held it carefully and looked upon the page. Seeing the words and quickly trying to read them - satisfy the idea she had just had.
If William stood before her, accusing her of being both curious, in the wrong and being apparently lost had only meant more a bout his own current situation than hers, perhaps their voiced threat had something to do with what was inside his head.


╚══════════════════╝

 

[Essy ze Ninja]

Slip out the back before they know you were there

and at the worst you'll see nobody cares,

you don't want to be around when it all goes down...

William Dante Nott the Third

Second Year, Slytherin

Previously….

Somehow, the laborious thought of recruiting an army had thrown a weight upon his shoulders that would never roll away. His time, his efforts, all invested for the cause of, of what? He didn’t even really know, and in some ways, that bothered him more than not rising to power at all. But, as it was, he had decided to spend a day to himself—to focus upon himself. The silent pad of soft soled shoes carried him with discreet strides as he held an ancient book, its spine cracked and worn, pages ripped and torn, with many blank pages left to be filled still. A lace of emerald ribbon bookmarked a page down the middle as he carried the text in one hand as he strode down the cobblestone corridor.

Lineage and Wealth of the House of Nott, The Duke of Wales

“…unable to comprehend the differences between Remington, and the rest of the family, William II, Rebecca, the parents, and Alfons Flint, a close family friend, it is, however, quite distinguishable to note that Remington’s mental stability wavers at a different percentage than that which is identified as ‘normal.’ Over the course of studies, the term Oppositional Defiant Disorder is falsely labeled upon him, because, the severe lack of empathy would consequent him as an ideal Narcissist. The depth of this apparent disease is unknown as Remington has harbored an abnormal understanding for acting upon what is expected of him, even if he doesn’t agree, if it means he’ll get what he wants. Developments and testing will be delayed until further notice…

“Consequently, it appears that William the Third had acquired the same mental incapacity for empathy as did Remington before him, and their great-grandfather Edward, though William III doesn’t appear as dynamically invested as did Remington and Edward did, it is possible his advancement with ideal masked opinions and emotions to combat others could be significantly honed whereas Remington and Edward were not.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Currently,

The signature smirk that had stained the stubble features of his uncle for so long had adopted upon Tay’s rounded cheeks, uplifting a sneer on his nose as he stood tall, seemingly trying to stare down on her even despite his short stature. The over looming golden rays shone down on her to bask her in the delight of his pride and arrogance, as if his sheer presence was a gift enough in itself. The classic narcissism could be evident upon every ribbon laced within his very fabrication. Tay shook his head, and with every shake, the blatant tsk tsk tsk echoed upon the stone walls with mocking resolution, as if he knew something that she did not. ”Always so lost in the clouds, an’ in the texts of your books, aren’t you Inchval?”

“I’m not the only one to notice, you know, those lads really seem to care, pity too, because you only ever seem to ignore them. You know, you’re a lot like me, Phinelia… You don’t seem to handle your emotions well, bottle them up, I bet. And even when you’re in a crowd, you’re still alone…” But the dynamic of his voice flattened and his brows creased low over his eyes as he watched her, and without a second doubt spared to the wand pointed at her head, she ducked down to retrieve the book of his ancestry and without a second thought, he bellowed at the top of his voice. ”Aurumflamma!” At once, an explosion ensued, but not a single lick of flames had appeared. The spell, when done correctly, should have exerted a wave of fire, but instead, his emotions pushed a wall of force to collide into Phinelia, throwing her off her feet and knocking her off her balance with such immensity, she actually landed several steps up the staircase before tumbling back down to the ground. Bright golden eyes went wide with surprise, it hadn’t been the outcome he expected or hoped for, but, it was close enough.

One wild step threw him forward to seize his book, but a shadow, a shout, and then a tumble of footsteps had caused him to freeze in his tracks and leave his dismal stare upon the girl. ”Don’t think I’ll forget this,” Tay had all but managed to whisper to her before he turned on his heel in the instant and flew down into the lower corridor away from any prying eyes. Fleeing to the sanctuary of the lower dungeon chambers, Tay resided there, in a rage of panic, and getting increasingly infuriated at his futile attempts at the magical spell he had attempted to cast on Phinelia.

╔══════════════╗
Location:Dungeon Corridor exit to Dungeon Chambers
Injuries:
Desires:Power
╚══════════════╝

..even heroes know when to be scared.

 

[Pale Mist]

phinelia von ichval



second year - ravenclaw
hermes
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬
“In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”
– Desiderius Erasmus
“The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle’s own plumes. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.”
– Aesop
“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”
– Socrates
“If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn’t.”
– Lyall Watson

╔══════════════════╗

the words, which her eyes had just begun reading over at the beginning words, mind ready to work through and understand the printed abstract letters it knew the meaning to. However, a sense interrupted her. Split second before the initial collision, a survival instinct had called upon her attention, allowing her to raise her head just a decimeter before the blow hit her hard. The force was astounding as it was laced with the rage and deep, growing emotion of the caster as just began to realize where his mistake (but ultimately his victory) lay in the spell.
The blow was centered on her lower ribs and the impact threw the breath from her, squeezing every ounce of oxygen from her lungs before they finished the breath they were in the midst of completing. Legs lost the ability to stand and she flew against the cold rock of the stairs. Mind still turned on, once her head collided with the cracked, aged and cold stone it shut off and Phi was plummeted into an instant darkness. Thoughts only revolving around the excruciating pain she felt form broken ribs and head injury for a second before all was lost to her and her body limply rolled down the steps like a crude, discarded doll. Her arm was still snaked around the book and the page which she had opened to, her chest landed on. Odd angle and pressure ripping the page slightly.
Tay had reached, but quickly fled the scene as Phi lay with body unconsciously pulsating with surprise and pain. Eyes shut and mind dark.


╚══════════════════╝

 

[Essy ze Ninja]

Professor of Alchemy
..............Ravenclaw

"The cycle of life only goes one direction,

not even alchemy can change that."

╔══════════════╗
Location: Alchemy Classroom
Thoughts: '...'
╚══════════════╝

The unmistakenable call of an offensive spell shattered his imaginative retrospect as he climbed down to the bottom of the dungeon stairwell to haul several empty and unused cauldrons up towards his classroom where they would exclusively begin potioneering through the second half on the semester. But upon his descent, he heard the bellowing cry of a student and the thunderous foot steps immediately leaving the scene. Angel saw nothing more than shadows as he shouted his warning and then stopped on a dime at the bundle of saphhire robes huddled together with grotesque pain. "Merlin's beard," he had but managed to gasp as he knelt on the floor beside Phinelia and withdrew his wand, only casting a spell to ease her pains before he charmed her unconcious form to flight and hurried towards the Hospital Wing. He may be an alchemist, but he's no healer.

[[[Exit to Hospital Wing]]]

Juan Angel Amorocho

 

[Ronyo Storm]

Dungeon Staircase

Ronyo Storm - Slytherin
second Year

With the revitalizing effects of a good shower helping Ronyo recover his energy the boy had set out to try and locate some of his friends and pass along the warning from the knight. He had done his best to spend as little time in the Slytherin dorms as he could manly due to the increased cold but also from just the overall sense of foreboding and dread he got from the place.

Ascending the spiraling staircase from the dungeon area again had Ronyo wondering who came up with such a dark look for this part of the castle. Sure it was the dungeon area and sure Salazar Slytherin was a parseltongue, but did everything have to have a snake them or a dark vibe? Ronyo just sighed and chuckled a bit as he walked with his hands in his pockets not really keeping one thing on his mind.

As he neared a portion of the stairs something tingle down the boy's spine like a winter's breeze making itself known at the end of autumn. Ronyo had passed the spot while coming down to the common rooms but felt nothing which might have been from his exhausted state. His sixth sense likely had been faded for something like this to have escaped him before.

Looking down the stairs a bit then the other way following them up Ronyo raised an eyebrow. Bending low on the stairs the boy placed a hand on the cold stone. He moved his hand over a few more spots and felt areas that were warmer than the others, which alone meant nothing. However the elevated temperature was around an area of the stairs higher up and also a bit lower down. The higher one felt like someone had dropped a torch on it and allowed the fire to die out from the cold surface. The one further down was just warm as if someone had been laying down on the steps for a period of time. Again not enough to cause any kind of normal deduction towards something odd, but it was the combination of clues coupled with the sensation that pushed Ronyo to believe something more had happened here.

Had there been an accident, or something meant to appear as an accident? It was hard to tell by the vague and too subtle clues that the stone stairs gave. Already the heat was leaving the steps and in a few moments would be no different from the other steps. While Ronyo was a boy who believed in a person making their own fate he was not one to pass up coincidences on a whim. If there had been an accident and with no body that meant the hospital wing would have answers. Likely anyone admitted within the last hour or so would be likely, and given the location it was going to be a Slytherin...or the enemy of a Slytherin. The last thought combined with the warning from the knight and Ronyo found himself moving just a bit faster up those stairs on towards the third floor.  

[Porcelaine Ivory]

яεġrετ┃ηστнιηġ ♦ ғεαя┃ησ σηε ♦ ταkε prιdε ιη┃εvεяyτнιηġ

Colton was at odds with gravity as he nearly flew down the flight of stone steps. Perhaps it was because a new gravity now existed for him. Earlier this week he had mistook the feeling to mean that Phi was now the center of his existence. While she certainly was, it was not her that had been calling him, pulling him this way and that until finally showing him the path to redemption.

The source of the pull called to him again, this time much louder, and—his eyes glazed over with the need to keep moving—he heightened his speed even more, submitting his mind over to the rush of the moment.

 

[Essy ze Ninja]

Slip out the back before they know you were there

and at the worst you'll see nobody cares,

you don't want to be around when it all goes down...

William Dante Nott the Third

Fourth Year, Slytherin

Every year during the sorting feast, it had become a habit to depart down to the dungeons—even before it had been the desirable location of Roi Antiguo. Pursed lips and clenched fists, he recounted the impressionable first years and deliberated who might join their ranks, and who would prove useful as disposable pawns. Even against all of his fury and will, his fingers were tied behind nearly all of the mishaps that had occurred throughout the school, and only a small percentage of the few would likely ever trace back to him if it hadn’t already.

He stormed down fiercely, a rook in a sea of chess pieces, and had found himself lost. He knew what he wanted—freedom. Enslavement of muggles, royal hierarchy of purebloods, a world of magic that was meant to be lived as it always should have: openly, and unguarded, basking in all of the world’s delights and promises, for the pure of blood. But there were so few, and the slain of half-bloods would prove to be a folly in his plans if he hoped to create a wizarding monarchy. After all, he needs soldiers, and war is won with loyalty and bravery and intelligence and deceit, not one, but all. And in that sense, he had done wrong, choosing the path his uncle had, indebted his loyalists, whereas his father, earned his loyalty…

He was at a crossroads, caught between the shadows.

╔══════════════╗
Location: Dungeon Staircase
Mood: Callous
╚══════════════╝

..even heroes know when to be scared.

 

[a porg]

The hours pass

The clock still runs

And yet here I am.

Erianthe Acacia

Eternal Third Year☂Ravenclaw☂Ghost

Unaware of what was currently going on, Erianthe climbed the stairs. It seemed so much easier than before. It was almost as if she didn't actually have to try climbing the stairs. The girl paused for a bit on a landing. None of this made sense. What had Zane done to her down in the depths of the dungeon? Where had he gone off to?

"What am I going to do now?" she sighed to herself, not realizing what had come to pass

Only the good die young...

 

[Porcelaine Ivory]

Having swept the dungeons as commanded and not having found anything, Bailey hurried to the bottom of the dungeon stairs. There were already a few aurors waiting there, and moments after, the rest of their crew arrived.

"Anything?" she asked them just in case, knowing that any auror would have spoken up had they found the culprit. Getting nothing in response, she began to climb the stairs.

"Alright, let's head out to the forest. Remember, stay close, and keep you eyes on your surroundings at all times. Wands out—let's move!" In a hurry now, but being careful nonetheless, Bailey ascended the staircase and led the crew to the forest, taking the fastest possible route.

 

[a porg]

The hours pass

The clock still runs

And yet here I am.

Erianthe Acacia

Eternal Third Year☂Ravenclaw☂Ghost

Despite her current state of mind, Erianthe did realize there was one thing she did know. She could hear voices. They appeared to be searching for someone. Could that person be Zane? Then she heard them say something about the forest. Perhaps that's where her brother went off to, yet she couldn't be sure. The girl simply did not feel like moving.

Only the good die young...

 

[Essy ze Ninja]

Slip out the back before they know you were there

and at the worst you'll see nobody cares,

you don't want to be around when it all goes down...

William Dante Nott the Third

Sixth Year, Slytherin Prefect

The trek down was huddled in bare silence, save for the glowering ghouls and ghosts that haunted on these depths, in the distance, he thought he might have heard the rattling chains of the Bloody Baron burning like a wisp through castle stone walls. He slid further down the staircase than most would just after the sorting feast, every other serpent of green and silver would turn off at the landing right above him to coincide with the common room found dwelling in the slytherin corridor.

Cruel, cold memories ravaged his soul here, still seeing traces of the fire he had created years ago while still very young and weak in this school. But Colton Raines was gone, and Phinelia now was too. He suspected they were together, wherever they were. He’d kill Raines otherwise; the girl would never survive on her own.

He hadn’t heard from his aunt over the summer, and his aunt at school here was, missing? He hadn’t thought to ask what had happened to Silia Rosier.

He shook his head, so many memories tangled him in down here, he couldn’t wait to be free.

Acidic poison pooled around his tongue, especially at the thought of graduation. It only meant one thing; marriage, and soon. His father had been supportive enough to allow him the bliss to choose, but he only wondered more if that was a mistake. As heir, it would be expected of him to marry early, to study law in the ministry, to start bearing heirs… Nearly every wedding, as far back as centuries, had been arranged—a business proposal.

And all to uphold the Nott family name and tradition…

How cruel and unjust, he realized, to have been chosen a path already lined out for him. But only, he realized, as cruel as it must be to be the one sold off.

╔══════════════╗
Location: Dungeon Staircase
Mood: Contemplative
╚══════════════╝

..even heroes know when to be scared.

 

[Devlyn Maycry]

With a thousand lies
And a good disguise
Hit ‘em right between the eyes

MICHELLE CATLIN

Wearing

|||Slytherin|||Pureblood|||Second Year|||

Micehlle had wandered around the dungeons for awhile now hoping to run into Tay. Finally she decided to descend further hoping to find him down in the darkness. It seemed to be where he resided most. As she moved down the stairs her feet fell so lightly on the stone that they made not a sound. Her pale fingers trailed against the wall. Anger stormer inside her. She wanted to rip Damien and Dominic to shreds, hurt them, kill them. Slowly and painfully. They deserved ever bit of her anger and more.
As she turned around another spiral she collided with Tay's back. "Oof." She muttered rubbing her nose. "Well that's one way to find someone." Her anger was perfectly masked by stony grey eyes and small smirk.

OOC:...

Love interest: No One

When you walk away
Nothing more to say
See the lightning in your eyes
See ‘em running for their lives