Term Fifty-Two: It Comes
| House Point Totals |
| Ravenclaw | 1462 |
| Slytherin | 1310 |
| Gryffindor | 1063 |
| Hufflepuff | 692 |
Plot summary by sweetpinkpixie
FACE YOUR FEARS
Summer seemed to end in a flash and soon professors and students alike found themselves back amongst Hogwarts hallowed halls with a noticeable absence of pink compared to last term. The term began with its traditional start-of-term feast in which Headmaster Trent reminded everyone to be wary of anything pink and introduced the new faculty joining Hogwarts this term: Carmine Beryl (Healer & Ancient Runes), Ayana Sissay (Arithmancy), Simran Sandhu (Astronomy), Grant Cornish (Care of Magical Creatures), Piers Fuller-Thompson (Charms & Groundskeeper), Thereos (a Forbidden Forest resident centaur aiding with Divination), Colin Mackenzie (Flying Instructor & Quidditch Official), and Mitchell Barlow (Transfiguration). While all seemed to be as it should, there was something in the air, thick on the tongues of the centaur and the wings of owls, but it would take time for residents of Hogwarts to see what was coming, for it was quiet, calm and warm within the castle grounds. Quaffles flew through the air, romance beckoned, spells were cast and throughout it, all the student body began to sink into the belief that this year might be among the first where absolutely nothing happened.
Though was anyone really that naive? Magic begot magic, after all.
A shift began in late October when threstrals of the Forbidden Forest were found in the barns and pastures. It was only after much prodding and reassurance of students from Professor Piers Fuller-Thompson that Slytherin Kaiser, Gryffidor Ellie Smethwyck, and Ravenclaw Indigo Rousseau allowed themselves to be shooed off with the reassurance that their Care of Magical Creatures professor would be notified and handle the situation accordingly.
Only, this was just the beginning of what would soon become a mass exodus of creatures from the Forbidden Forest. Unicorns appeared grazing along the meadows near the Black Lake while casting nervous glances back towards the Forest: a scene whose tension only thickened thanks to the ominous (not to mention confusing) words of Thereos. Bowtruckles flooded to the trees along the pathways where they rustled the leaves in their agitation - something that had been seen a little earlier in the term during Thereos Divination lesson in the Forbidden Forest where the bowtruckles had uncharacteristically attacked the class. Buzzards, falcons, kestrels, and jobberknoll flocked to the owlery for safety. Even the colony of acromantula fled and their thick eight-legged forms trampled the flowers of the butterfly garden, risking life and limb (literally, one was smashed by its branches) in their retreat along the path marked by the Whomping Willow. Their message was clear: "Away from danger! Danger in the mist!"
And then...it came.
First slowly creeping its way across the Hogwarts grounds and engulfing everything in its path, the mist pushed even the centaurs from their home within the forest with a foreboding message: Great terrors rest in the mist and certain doom upon those who enter it. Slytherins Nina Castillo and Eiji Rasting, Ravenclaw Trinetta Gladin, Hufflepuff Eniola Abara, and History of Magic professor Alice O’Hara found themselves trapped by the mist within the boathouse. Their screams of terror fell on the ears of the centaur Thereos, who was able to save them from whatever doom lay within.
Along the Black Lake, Hufflepuff prefect Sterling Calrissan and Hufflepuff Regina Amstern too were trapped by the mysterious and bone chilling mist until the arrival of Professor Cornish who was able to lead them to safety. The pathways too was eventually blanketed overcome by the thick menacing grey, wreaking havoc on Professor Fuller-Thompson’s Health and Wellness Club meeting where Ravenclaws Analiese Anderson and Indigo Rousseau and Chloe McCarthy, Slytherin prefect Vita Mallari, Slytherins Eloise Fairfield and Gunnar McCarthy, Gryffindors Cassidy Burke all battled their worst fears.
With nothing but sheer luck and through the guidance of both Professor Fuller-Thompson and Headmaster Trent, were all were able to retreat back to the castle and to safety. A howler from Minister for Magic, Charles Hollingberry, soon arrived for the headmaster who already was devising a plan to keep the remaininder of the student body safe, even as the mist began to creep inside of the castle itself.
Calling for an emergency meeting in the Dueling Arena, Headmaster Tate kept things simple and straightforward: with the mist overtaking all of Hogwarts’ grounds, were all to remain indoors. Under absolutely no circumstances were any to venture outside. Toddles the house elf interrupted this meeting, wailing about the return of his Fluffsies (the mysterious pink mutant creature from last year) returning with spike-adorned whisks.
Knowledge that the kitchens and both Slytherin and Hufflepuff common rooms had remained impervious to the mist and the house elves could still access them with their magic was a relief. The bad news was that on top of the notification that two students had gone missing, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw would be sharing a dorm space … as would Slytherin and Gryffindor. There was also the fact that the lower levels were no longer accessible thanks to the mist’s encroachment.
Hearing about the situation at Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic was quick to respond and sent a team from the Department of Environmental Regulation and Control (lead by department head Olly Emmons-Clarke) to Hogwarts to investigate the situation. The mist proved to be far more daunting an obstacle than originally anticipated and the team was forced to retreat. However, the team was able to deduce that the phenomenon that had overtaken Hogwarts was no weather phenomenon but of an entirely different kettle of fish altogether. Small victories.
The mist continued to creep and crawl its way upwards through Hogwarts and soon Headmaster Trent was announcing an evacuation of the castle to Hogsmeade where students would be put up in the Three Broomsticks and continue their studies wherever the Hogsmeade shopkeepers could provide. After a tense evacuation effort, during which the mist almost seemed to be chasing the fleeing Hogwartians, as though sentient, all as they fled.
In the end, no one else was lost to the mist and term concluded with a somber end-of-term feast at the Three Broomsticks. The fate of Hogwarts was left shrouded in a hazy grey as the Hogwarts Express pulled away from Hogsmeade station for the official start of the summer holiday.
Goodbye Hogwarts...for good? You will be mist.
In Memoriam
We'd like to pause to honor two of our very own, who are no longer with us. We ask everyone reading this to please take a moment of silence in memory of Kamryn Keighley and Thadius Potter who both lost their lives to the mist this past term.
Term 51 | Term 52 | Term 53
