  DoMVeela
Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Themyscira
Posts: 37,610
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Nerissa M. Tate
Sixth Year
  x8
|  Wowza!
"Homenum revelio."
Nothing.
Well, it was worth of a try. At the very least he'd done what Hirsch always suggested--the whole constant vigilance thing and whatnot.
The inside of the Shrieking Shack the exact sort of thing one would expect from a place that had withstood over a century of what appeared to be total neglect. Despite the evidently boarded windows, the place was somehow lit, however dimly; but it was enough to see dust caked over the floor and particles of it hanging in the air, thickly. Levi's sneeze was a direct response to it and he cast a bubble-head charm, effectively protecting his airways from any more dust.
He probably looked ridiculous but that was secondary just then. The walls had seen better days and he thought it a miracle that the furniture remained, somewhat, in one piece. What was surprising was that, among the dust and ruins, one thing stood out the most, and Levi automatically headed over to the table and inspected it. It was a scroll, and the message it carried made the boy's eyebrows raise in interest.
It was the fancy, slightly pretentious prose he'd attribute to Ravenclaws. The sort of thing that, probably, Ravenclaws were used to in order to get to their common room; or so was his understanding, given what Azura Snow had told him, once. The first riddle was easy enough, maybe; he was supposed to be looking for a key. The second one was puzzling, however, and the first thing that came to mind was, strangely enough, a burner. Fire sprouted out of those and fire could consume wood and fast. Burners were also small enough, too, though the beautiful part was debatable.
Levi focused on the first riddle, however, and went putting about the place. The dining table itself was the kind of display that would have made his mother gag; he had half the mind to vanish all the rotten food, but he was in the business of solving riddles now, and anything could be be a clue. Thankful as he was that the bubble-head charm kept him from smelling the rot, the boy nevertheless looked at in this disdain before heading for the kitchen.
Rust covered the sink and a quick examination with the lit tip of his wand didn't show him anything of interest. The stove was evidently defunct, grease and dust and rust all over; he placed one of his hands to its side and tried moving it, as if it were to reveal some kind of passageway. But it was pointless; it was hard to believe that a key would be hidden inside a stove. And though the second riddle nagged at him, Levi muttered a small--and distorted because of the charm, really--"I'll be back soon," before heading off to the living room.
Once upon a time it may have been an acceptable place to lounge around, but much like the kitchen, age, disuse and neglect marked the sofas. Moths had feasted and possibly through parties all over, and the fireplace looked like it hadn't been used in decades--which was probably true, come to think of it--and though Levi poked around and kicked at a carpet, no key was to be found. He went for the scroll again and re-read the first riddle, trying to make sense out of the rhymes and find the clues hidden within.
The boy took it with him upstairs, where the second floor waited, and just as he had before, he cast homenum revelio though yet again it seemed like no one else was in the room with him. Moths and bedbugs seemed to have taken room in the furniture there, too, and Levi used his wand to continue to light the way. There was what appeared to be the remains of a study area, and a piano, and yet another fireplace. He supposed that if all else failed he could always attempt a summoning charm, though he liked to think the people organizing this task would have been smarter than that. Surely charms had been placed to prevent summoning charms from working.
He continued to go around the place, squatting down and sliding his empty hands over flat surface. Dust stuck to his palms and when Levi reached the piano, the corners of his mouth tugged down. His had been an idyllic childhood, and the majority of his unhappy memories were tied to his mother's unsuccessful attempts to help him develop a musical ear. His mother's preferred instrument for him had been the violin, but after Levi had 'accidentally' dropped him down a flight of stairs, she'd switched him to piano. Yet another failed attempt, of course; he had learned to read music just fine, but the translation from his mind to the stroke of his fingers over the keys hadn't been a smooth one. Ultimately, he'd somehow convinced both of his parents to let him ditch music altogether and he was promptly enrolled in fencing. That had been significantly more enjoyable, though no less painful.
Some of the keys in the dust covered, old piano were missing, and a regretful smile tugged at the corners of his full mouth and one of his fingers slid down and sunk into the keys. It was less music and more of a groan and Levi laughed. Then, abruptly, stopped.
...Maybe it wasn't an actual key what he was looking for. Sitting down and disregarding the dust that spread over the stool, Levi tentatively sank his index finger in yet another key. Maybe it was just a different kind of key, maybe it was several of them, and together they could compose a score...? Tilting his head to one side, Levi wiggled his fingers over the piano and sank them down one by one over the keys.
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