Originally Posted by Corin Vanderbilt, Head of the Department of Mysteries

The silver-haired man leaned forward in his seat as the Headmaster opened the box and revealed what it held. For a second Corin was taken aback-- it looked like a prophecy orb, or at least something very similar in appearance. He was about to ask how it had come to their possession when Tate started to explain....

...Which had Corin taken aback the second time "Other people have held this? With their bare hands?" he repeated, couldnt quite believing what he was hearing. He paused for a moment as the sounds of students going about their classes wafted through the open window, his eyes going back to the orb held safely in the box. He stood up and drew near it. Orbs are orbs and for the most part they all look pretty similar, but Prophecy orbs have something about them thats very specific. "How.... How many people have held this? And have you had any incidents of individuals acting...." Insane? Batty? Bag full of cats crazy? Wait this is Hogwarts, crazy is somewhat the norm ".... unusual-- you know from how they usually behave?"

Originally Posted by Headmaster Tate

"Several professors and a Hufflepuff," Tate explained, as if the fact that the kid was a Hufflepuff explained why he'd picked up a strange orb thingy. It did, at least to Tate. "But it was missing for a while, between when Vindictus found it and it showed up again, so any number of people could have handled it. And one of my house elves was chucking it around at the feast a few weeks ago... probably others touched it then too."

Sigh. It was just mortifying to explain to this Ministry man that he'd let something dangerous into the school and failed to lock it up safely... twice. TWICE. "But no. No unusual behavior. Or no more than is to be expected when hormones and ego compete in small teenaged packages. I haven't seen any symptoms of madness." Because he knew what sort of spells were put on prophecy orbs.

Originally Posted by Corin Vanderbilt, Head of the Department of Mysteries

Several Professors, a Hufflepuff one or more students, and a house elf. Corin’s eyes slid to the side. Hmm this orb has gotten around.

BUT the Headmaster did say there were no incidents of madness, at least not the kind he was concerned about. He eyed the orb thoughtfully "Went missing for a while ..." he mumbled. That could be a variety of things-- people kept it locked up in the dorms or in their rooms like it belonged to them; or this was misplaced around the castle, for something this small that was easy. A small thought played at the back of his mind that the object could move around on its own, but at this point in time he paid little attention to that possibility.

Wait did the Headmaster say "Your house-elf was chucking this around?" What like a quaffle? "Would you have any idea if this orb might have been dropped? If it is a prophecy orb and it cracked its possible that the contents may have leaked out." And therefore that orb was nothing more than an empty shell.

His hand hovered over the orb then stopped short "Have you touched this yourself Headmaster, bare hands or not?" He knows Tate mentioned the Professors, but he couldnt help but ask the question directly to the man himself.

Originally Posted by Headmaster Tate

"It went missing for a few weeks after Max found it, but then it turned up again later. I kept it locked up all summer." Tate knew his tone was growing sharp, but he was the Headmaster and had done his duty to keep the orb under wraps once it was in his possession.

Except when the blasted elf stole it.

"Look, I didn't touch it. I put it up once I found it. Can't you run some tests or whatnot and see if it's dangerous to my students or not?" And now he had run straight into impatient. He was a doer, and this was all talk and no action.

Originally Posted by Corin Vanderbilt, Head of the Department of Mysteries

Yes he can tell that the Headmaster was getting impatient, but Corin wasnt about to get rushed into declaring something safe or otherwise on an object that may or may not be a malfunctioning prophecy orb.

Or something else entirely.

He looked around the neat office for a moment "I cant quite run the battery of tests in your office Headmaster, not unless you want me to make a mess of things." Yeah damaging the Top Man's office wasnt really part of his agenda today. "But maybe I can run a few diagnostics..."

He drew his hand back from the orb and instead flicked his wrist to bring out his wand. Silently he levitated the orb out of its box and suspended it in mid-air, spinning it around slowly as he observed, taking its physical measurements-- height, weight, density. As he did so he realized that the orb didnt have a single scratch on it, nothing that would say it was damaged.

Good, because whatever this is it means its still working. Also not so good because it means it can still do whatever Tate was afraid it might do.

He paced around for a moment staring at the floating orb. He sooo wanted to bring this back to the Ministry and run as much tests at his disposal. "How about... stimuli..." he murmured as he held out his wand and cast a charm to heat up the orb, gradually building up until the orb was enveloped in flames. With a wave of his wand the flames died down.

No change on the orb thus far.

He then tried a charm to cool the orb all the way to the point where it just about froze. He peered into the orbsicle suspended in the air, then waved his wand to get rid of the frost.

Orb looked exactly the same as when he first saw it.

He crossed his arms before him and turned his head to Tate, both baffled and amazed at the mystery before them. Then he had a thought. He turn back to the orb and held his wand aloft, then with a wand stroke uttered a revealing spell.

Staaare. Anything?

Originally Posted by Headmaster Tate

Merlin. The man was KILLING him. If not literally, than figuratively... Gaellen Tate was on the edge. If the Ministry Man took much longer with this fun little game of 'what can I make the ball do next', then he was probably going to end up being ejected bodily from the school. Through the Headman's window.

Calming breaths. Yes. No one was going to die today.

"Anything?" PLEASE, DEAR MERLIN. PLEASE.

Originally Posted by Steelsheen

The revealing spell descended onto the orb, its glass surface crackling and illuminating before promptly settling back down to its usual clear state."Well there you go..." Corin mumbled as he finally saw some kind of reaction from the otherwise dormant orb.

So what does he know about this orb so far?

That many people have touched it.
That there were no report of madness that seemed associated with it.
It doesnt look damaged.
And that there is definitely some kind of spell cast on the orb, possibly on its surface or emanating from within.

Corin levitated the orb back into its box, then turned to towards Tate "Well... its not a prophecy orb, at least not the typical kind. I'd actually like to take a closer look at it back at the Ministry, although of course thats entirely up to you if you would turn it over to us." he wasnt going to seize it, but he will file a report with Alexander. If the Minister wasnts the orb taken into custody then he will cross that bridge with Tate at a later time.

Originally Posted by Cassirin

"I don't mind you taking it," Tate's shoulders sagged. Still no answers, but at least it wasn't a prophecy orb. There was less of a chance kids would end up going completely bananas.

"But just to be clear... is it causing any harm to my students and professors? Should I be worried?" More answers, please.