Disclaimer: This information is provided as a guide so that you can further enjoy the SS School RPG. This information is subject to changes as more information about the characters is revealed in the story. Also, please remember that some of this information may not be known to your character "IC".
| House Point Totals | |
|---|---|
| Hufflepuff | 5865 |
| Ravenclaw | 5735 |
| Slytherin | 4468 |
| Gryffindor | 4152 |
Term Thirty-Two truly began during the summer break, as long-term Headmaster Gaellen Tate resigned and was succeeded by redheaded wizarding university professor and former Hogwarts Herbology professor Anastasia Truebridge. New leadership called for a new showing of the partnership between the head of the school and the school’s board of Governors, and so Truebridge invited the Board of Governors to join the traditional start of term feast.
In a somewhat surprising move, the Governors and new Headmistress decided to ride the Hogwarts Express to the feast, along with the usual student entourage. At the start of term, the Board consisted of former Headmistress, Auror, and current board President Cassandra Rae-Branxton; former Auror, Ravenclaw ghost, and History of Magic professor Vice President Anjelica Lainey; Ministry Senior Undersecretary and board Secretary Ian Amoroso; and businessman/Three Broomsticks owner and board Treasurer Hops Lagerty. All but Lagerty were present on the eventful train ride.
Despite the Board of Governors’ additional presence on the train, unforeseen circumstances caused the Hogwarts Express to lose steam – literally – and to power down halfway to the school. The Headmistress sent off a patronus to the Ministry’s Department of Magical Transportation and the train was rescued, in a way, by the department’s head Armen Recard.
Recard arranged for a set of portkeys to transfer the students to Hogsmeade station. And despite a few bumps and bruises along the way, everyone finally made it to the start of term feast. Recard arranged for the train to be taken back to the Ministry for further investigation, and Truebridge opened the feast with a speech promising “that no more abnormalities will occur under my watch and tenure as the Head of Hogwarts. I will do my personal best to ensure the safety and education of all students at Hogwarts remains protected at all times.”
With that in mind, the delicious elf-made food appeared on the tables, followed swiftly by the elves themselves. The band of merry creatures stumbled through all four house tables before arriving at the Headmistress’ plate with a giant Umbrella Vinora plant in hand. The gift, which arrived for the Headmistress via the elves but not with any message attached, was simply described as “scary” by the house elves and “beautiful,” by the Herbology professors. Meanwhile, the term went on.
The increased presence of the Board of Governors was felt as the Headmistress led them on several tours and invited them to pop into the school whenever they felt necessary. The Board also received a permanent meeting room on the first floor of the school, in a converted and upgraded classroom.
Then… the weird things started happening, as if the start of term events hadn’t been weird enough. The ghosts seemed to awake from wherever they had been hiding, the Headmistress’ green, flower-shaped Egyptian brooch went missing, and the tables in the great hall disappeared overnight. The Headmistress seemed to think it was necessary to hold a séance with the Divination professor, and she discovered, to an extent, that there was indeed a spirit haunting her.
Peeves had been creating mayhem throughout the term, which is not unusual for a poltergeist of his reputation, but then he started getting violent. The other Hogwarts ghosts thought he was to blame for the destruction of a set of perfectly nice library books and the deaths of the entire population of Jobberknoll out in the Care of Magical Creatures barn. The Headmistress, meanwhile, started to think that a specter was now haunting her and stealing her things, and decided to go through an exorcism with the Divination professor, Calista Elwood.
Christmastime in the castle came and went and the prefects hosted a lovely Winter Wonderland theme party for the school with a life-size gingerbread house, baking with the house elves, an ice slide, refreshments, a “Meet the Headmistress” event, and so much more! Much fun was had but the event was rudely cut short when Nearly Headless Nick and the Grey Lady floated in and informed the Headmistress that all four common rooms were suddenly locked...and all the students in each house were locked out! Even students who had been in their common rooms at the time were apparently pushed out of their dormitories and common areas by a mysteriously strong, invisible force. The Headmistress formed a team to investigate the lock-outs and ordered all the students to sleep in purple sleeping bags in the Great Hall for the time being instead.
The friendly plant from the feast got friendlier in the meantime as Professors Sophia Bellaire (Charms), Medea Romanos (DADA), Dash Scabior (History of Magic) and librarian Leobald Kitridge worked to bypass whatever spell was keeping the common rooms sealed. Valuable items and keepsakes also started disappearing from several different professors' offices, including those of the librarian and the Muggle Studies professor. The House Ghosts held secret meetings in the observatory and the broom cupboard as they tried to figure out who or what was being all these mysterious occurrences, and eventually decided to corner Peeves and force him to admit to being behind all these little pranks.
Peeves was led to the Hogwarts Staff Room by a trail of candy, and once he was in the room, he was trapped in a salt barrel and forced to squeal. After minutes of grueling questioning by the other Hogwarts ghosts, the pesky poltergeist finally confessed that it wasn't he who was behind all these pranks, it was a revenge-driven ghost by the name of Isfret. While Peeves was admitting the true mastermind behind this year's mayhem, the students were witnessing it firsthand. The Umbrella Vinora tried sucking a student away in the hot springs, eating an abraxan straight out of the CoMC stables, and nomming an entire row of books from the library's shelves. Then two students saw - or heard, more like - the groundskeeper's wombat go missing with a heart-wrenching squeak, as well as a little garden gnome from the Herbology classroom. What in Merlin's beard was going on?! Who knew the umbrella vinora could be so... hungry??
The Headmistress and her team of professors finally managed to unlock the common rooms, and not a moment too soon, as it quickly became evident that no one in the castle was safe. The kitchens were destroyed by a terrifying force unbeknownst to the house elves, and the charms annex was similarly ruined by Moaning Myrtle. Astronomy Professor Marion Burbage and Ancient Runes Professor Tristan Christiansen were also devastatingly eaten, both right in the middle of teaching their lessons. Despite numerous students being present in both classrooms at the time, both professors were taken by the sneaky plant without so much as a solid eyewitness account to its crimes.
Things came to a head in the Spirit Room when the school's prefects, and their pet cats, were invited to attend and hear the story of Isfret. For it was not Peeves who was behind this term's mayhem, nor was it Moaning Myrtle acting alone; it was an ancient Egyptian spirit who was once banished from the castle and had been seeking a way back in ever since. He managed to sneak onto premises by possessing the form of a brooch, bought by unsuspecting Cairo WU professor Anastasia Truebridge at a market bazaar, and worn by Truebridge all around Hogwarts. Isfret furthered his plan for destruction to the school by roping Moaning Myrtle and Peeves into his plan for mischief, and by taking possession of the ordinarily not-so-hungry Umbrella Vinora.
The prefects meeting with the house ghosts only heard half the story, however, as Myrtle interrupted their tête-à-tête by dropping the missing brooch. Isfret was released as a sliver vapor began to swarm into the room and cover the floor. The brooch glowed a bright light green color and then the four house ghosts were mysteriously, suddenly sucked inside of it. A loud cackling sound overtook the room and then all was silent, with only the quivering brooch still sitting in the center of the room. Myrtle, Isfret, Nick, the Grey Lady, the Bloody Baron, and the Friar were all noticeably absent.
The Prefects decided now would be a good time to get some adult help. They sent a patronus message to the Headmistress, and Truebridge came in confused and yet pleased to see her brooch had been found. The redhead picked it up, despite Myrtle's last words to leave it alone, as everyone explained the reason for their gathering. Gryffindor Prefect Kurumi Hollingberry and Slytherin Prefect Sierra Greingoth noticed some strange writing on the bottom of the brooch as Truebridge picked it up, and suggested doing a rune reading on what might be a clue. The rest of the group thought it might be best to target Myrtle for more information, so they headed to her infamous bathroom first.
Myrtle was hardly what one might call 'cooperative' until Quidditch Captatins Dylan Montmorency (Slytherin) and Milton Shacklebolt (Ravenclaw) started to flirt with her. Then the information oozed out of Myrtle like bubotuber pus from a boil. As Myrtle explained, "A long long time ago, someone brought some Egyptian stuff to Hogwarts and the magic of the school woke up this ghost guyyyyyy named Isfret, who happened to live in this fancy schmancy brooch. Isfret was like a herrrrrrrrro at first to the ghosts, but then he went bad or something- like I said, I wasn't there, so I didn't get to hear the whole story -and the ghosts did this spelllllll to banish him." Apparently he was hell-bent on getting back to the castle and getting revenge for his banishment.
But how were they to get rid of Isfret without the aid of the ghosts who originally kicked him out of the castle? Hollingberry and Greingoth, along with Head Girl Louisa Carter, suggested a little library research to see if they could find out anything on this mysterious Isfret. While at the library, the brooch research party happened to run right into the Umbrella Vinora-hunting party, who still, at the time, had hopes for finding Burbage and Christiansen alive.
Both teams got to work straight away, and with the aid of some valuable library resources, the students were able to discover that the inscription on the brooch were a warning for Isfret. In fact, they said, “ISFRET: BEWARE OF FELINES.”
The students decided to round up as many pet cats as they could, then, while the Headmistress and Muggle Studies Professor Gemma Cerulean decided to interrogate Myrtle further. The team thought that if they could just squeeze the details on how the ghosts originally got rid of Isfret out of her, then they could really and truly be rid of the pesky spirit once and for all.
While most of the Prefects were busy being problem-solvers, Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain Milton Shacklebolt lazily wondered aloud if he could summon Isfret. "I wonder if you can summon ghosts. Accio Isfret," Shacklebolt said, causing a tendril of the green and pink umbrella vinora to come zooming in through the window and over to him. The plant took charge and grabbed Shacklebolt by the wrist, yanking him clear out the window and all the way out to the greenhouses. A rescue party of older students and professors split off from the plant manhunt team/brooch research group and hurried out to the greenhouses. Meanwhile, Cerulean returned with Myrtle in tow.
Out in the greenhouses, the rescue party met up with the plant-hunting group… and chaos ensured. While some students (mostly Gryffindors) tried to duel the plant Muggle-style, others decided to rescue Milton with magic. Then Professor Bellaire (Charms) blasted the plant apart, even though it still had Milton in its clutches, and pieces of plant rained down on everyone.
A few minor injuries later, the Headmistress and co. returned to the library to see if they had made any progress. And, in fact, they had. Myrtle confessed to overhearing the spell to vanish Isfret, something in Latin, and Professor Cerulean figured out that what Myrtle heard was actually, “Absent malm phantoms. No expellomos! Vestra exspectacular inducto!” an ancient banishment spell for spirits. The professors and older students all started chanting the spell together, and just as soon as they started the chant, Isfret himself popped up in the library in a cloud of smoke. He started throwing fireballs around the library, and it being a library, naturally the highly flammable books became enflamed.
The spell did its job, however, and caused Isfret to vanish completely, for (hopefully) ever and ever. The mysterious spirit did leave behind several smoking books, the librarian’s head on fire, and a giant ball of flames in the reference section. The library had to be evacuated and watered down as a result, and a large portion of the reference section was not even salvageable.
At the end of the day, though, no one was seriously injured (except for Isfret, and the two professors that had died), and all of the Hogwarts house ghosts survived to fight another day! Or another evil spirit, if any more decide they need revenge on the school.