An expected occurrence each and every day, Scrimgeour's low and rough voice booms from the school loudspeakers on the hour without fail. Certain events that transpired throughout October and early November brought with it a number of new school rules, whether you are in favour of them or not. It is better best that you not tune out the headmaster if you wish to avoid point loss, detention, or worse.

"If you see suspicious activity or anyone breaking the school rules, you are required to report it immediately."

Hopefully you will be able to keep these rules straight ... or, if you dare, you'll choose not to. The choice is yours.

Chase hadn't been able to stay in his dorm room not with a moping dorm mate. He couldn't bare it. The dormie had choices to bring himself out of a three year old tantrum but chose not too. It made Chase upset. He always found it frustrating when he saw people that could solve their own problems with a relatively choice (that they COULD control) but they chose not too for some reason. He rolled his eyes and continued walking down the corridor until he forgot where he had been going.

His gaze focused on the Mirror ahead. Had... Had that always been there? He hadn't remembered if it had or not. Though it could have been possible that he had never ventured this far into the castle? The harsher Headmaster's restrictions, the girl's fawning over random blokes, and the amount of work he had caused the boy to go for more walks around the castle. And this led to more adventuring. He didn't mind adventuring. It was something fun... and different.

As he approached the mirror, Chase raised his hand to touch the glass pane itself. Instead of his own frustrated reflection depicted in the mirror, he found a scene of elegant chandeliers, landscape paintings, and the finest golden draperies. It reminded him of Versailles, the Sun King's Palace, that his family had visited two summers ago. Where was this scene from? he thought, touching the glass once more before jumping in response to their new overlord's curt voice.

If you see suspicious activity or anyone breaking the school rules, you are required to report it immediately..

Chase couldn't help but chuckle. Everything about Hogwarts could be deemed suspicious. Events here were certainly out of the ordinary especially with more and more Professors being fired....

Dorian could not remember if he had ever been here before or not. For the moment, nothing looked familiar and his thoughts went momentarily back to when he had been a lost first year. But he was a fourth year now, how in Dumbledore's beard had he managed to get lost now?!

Still, the Ravenclaw did not mind it too much. He always liked to explore the castle although the Grounds were his favourite place to be, especially the entrance gates because it was so quiet there. But since it was too cold outside now, Dorian had been forced to walk inside of the castle instead.

As he turned a corner, the Ravenclaw came to an halt as he saw a student standing in front of a mirror and he frowned, wondering why he was touching it. Did he like his reflection that much? Pfft narcissist.

But upon closer inspection as he got closer, Dorian saw that the mirror did not reflect the place they were in nor the other boy but instead it showed a picturesque scenery with chandeliers and landscape paintings. Odd.

The fourth year was about to ask how that was possible when the voice of the Headmaster's hourly announcement echoed through the hall and Dorian jumped slightly. Even after so many times, he was still not used to the announcements.

He did hear the other boy chuckle after the announcement was made and he thought that this was an good conversation opener. "Like anyone would report, right?" he said with a shake of his head. He was afraid to admit that he had liked the Headmaster's visions at first. Now? Now he wanted him gone and his henchmen as well. "What are you looking at?" he asked and pointed at the mirror.

Chase turned around to see a Ravenclaw boy approaching him and couldn't help but smile at his comment. Honour amongst rebels? Perhaps this boy could be an ally. Honestly anyone was an ally against Scrimmy's prehistoric methods. Madness, he wagered.

"I'd hope not. Apparently people have been fired over simple things like spilled hot chocolate," he shook his head in disgust. "What's next? Anyone smiling will be sent or talking freely will be whisked to detention?" Hogwarts, no more. It is more like a military academy out of those muggle films. He scoffed. "Ridikkulus!"

"This mirror is strange... It reminds me of a room in Versaille, a jaw-dropping palace in France. So many heavily decorated chandeliers and oil paintings.. It could be a museum but..." He turned around to glance at his new companion. "It could be a room in Hogwarts? Perhaps a secret passageway leads there? What do you think?"

Dorian let out a deep sigh and leaned with his back against the wall, crossing his arms over each other. "I know..." he was tired of it all. The constant walking on tip toes, the constant adding of new rules. This was a school, they were supposed to learn in a fun enviroment but these days Hogwarts had felt more like a prison. "I can't believe they fired Professor Stewart and replaced her with that...that..." he huffed loudly, indicating that he was not pleased with the newly appointed Ravenclaw Head of House. "Did you know that he replaced the comic books in our common room with boring encyclopedias? I mean, if he had just added them to the collection we'd have no problem but noooo" he exaggerated the O. "He had to take away a simple joy such as comic books" he shook his head in disbelief. "My dad also used to send my candy from Sugarplums but with them checking our owl posts i haven't received a single one"only the letters that his father had written with no candy.

But despite being frustrated, the Ravenclaw did laugh at the Gryffindor's choice of words. "Did you just use a spell as a pun?" he asked. Gosh, he couldn't remember when it had been the last time since he had laughed. Probably, two weeks ago? And the fourth year used to laugh all the time. Ugh, the Headmaster and his henchmen were sucking all the fun out of everything!

Moving away from the wall, Dorian stood in front of the mirror now as well and peered inside it with a slight frown on his face. He had no idea where Versaille was as he had never been to France before and quite frankly he did not care either. But the room itself intrigued his interest. "Maybe the room can only be found at certain times of the day?" he said, taking a step closer to see if he could find anything that sparked his memory and as he looked, a shadow darted from the right corner and vanished. "Did you see that?!" he asked as he looked behind him and down the corridor to see if anyone else was there but it was just them so far.

He looked back at the mirror but saw no shadow anymore. "Ah, nevermind, i think i'm just tired..."

"Ogre?" offered Chase with a small smile. He, too, couldn't believe that they had gotten rid of Professor Stewart. She had been at the school for such a long time and had always been friendly to students regardless of their house. He remained silent, listening to Dorian describe the abomination that occurred in their common room. His face twisted from unamused to absolutely horrified. Replacing their fun comic books with encyclopedias?! What kind of monster had Scrimmy brought into the school? "NO! That's awful," he said. "As I said in Herbology, this new Headmaster's personality is akin to Venomous Tentacula." He was going to stand by it. Chase was one to speak the truth. Not say lies. He was a horrible liar. But he would have to work on this skill to better survive this new Hogwarts. Chase frowned even more when the Ravenclaw informed him that he wasn't given any of the treats that his father had sent him. And the mate probably couldn't owl back to his father and explain what was happening. "It's as if we're prisoners of the school... There must be something we can do to overcome this all...."

Just exactly what would be the question. He sighed. "In the meantime, I think we all need to stick together through this... I'm Chase by the way. Chang-Woo Spenley formally but my mates call me Chase," he added.

Chase couldn't help but smile when he heard the Ravenclaw's laugh. Laughter in such an open place seemed like a dangerous notion but instead of being uncomfortable about it all, Chase just smiled. "I did... It's weird to laugh now, isn't it?" he spoke and shook his head, glancing at his feet momentarily before up at the Ravenclaw. "That's not right."

He turned his gaze back to the mirror as the Ravenclaw said that perhaps the room that was pictured in the mirror could only be seen at certain times of the day. Huh..... Now that was an intriguing thought. He paused and was about to look away when he saw something move. HUH? Then the Raven said that he was wrong. "WAIT. I saw it too," began Chase. "It was a figure... In the left hand corner. A dark figure as if he or she were hooded...." His eyes remained on the painting. "There! It happened again. Did you see it?"

Ogre.....

"Not the word i was searching for but agreeable" he said as he looked down the hallway in case his Head of House popped up from a hidden passage way. They seemed to do that every now and then from what he had heard from the other students.

He did remember someone had said in Herbology that the Headmaster resembled a venomous tentacula however at the time he had not appreciated it. It having happened in the earlier months of the year when Dorian had found the workings of the new Headmaster admirable and had agreed with them. But that was months ago and opinions changed, he grew up and was finally realising who the real evil at Hogwarts were at the moment. Perhaps not in the form of dark creatures but anyone denying them to have fun while learning was evil in his eyes.

"And with them closing down trips to Hogsmeade it feels even more of a prison. I was so hoping to spend some time without having to think about every single rule" he said as he unconciously tightened his Ravenclaw tie which he had seen in the windows reflection had been askew. "He's an ex-auror right? I think he still thinks he is one..." the way they had to act in classes. The push ups, the running etc. It all screamed Auror Training to him.

"But what though?" he asked. "I mean, no offense but we're JUST students. Going against them without a proper safety plan is like signing your own expulsion papers" he frowned. "I thought once of using someone or more as spies. To get them on the teachers good sides and have them report to our side regulary to find something we could use against them but" he sighed. "There are so many flaws in that plan and not to mention that the headmaster was a dark wizard catcher so a bunch of students playing spies wont be difficult to detect..." he scratched his head, messing up his dark brown hair. "I'm Dorian..." he added as he looked at the mirror again.

Wait....he had seen the shadow as well?
Dorian looked at the place Chase had pointed out and indeed he saw the same black shadow move across the room. "uhm...i don't know what that is but i hope it stays there..." forever cause he did not like it. "What do you think it is?"

Chase chuckled. "It wasn't the exact word I was looking for to be honest. The right word is on the tip of my tongue. I don't know what but I can feel it, y'know?" he said with a shake of his head. Don't you just hate when you can't remember a word that you knew before that so perfectly fit what you were trying to explain! Enter the frustration. Sheesh. "What would you say?" he asked, not even paying attention to the Ravenclaw's wise glances.

The Gryffindor lad remained quiet as he listened to the Ravenclaw speak about how the school suddenly felt like a prison with them closing the trips to Hogsmeade and the running and exercises... It clicked in his mind suddenly. Yes, Dorian may be on to something. What if the man still thought he was an Auror? What if he was trying to... "You don't think he would be training students to make an army of Aurors...?" A force that could be used to take out any important group or person or persons.. No, no.. Chase was probably thinking too far-fetched on this one. Though he couldn't help but wonder what Scrimmy had in mind for them. "Do we know why he stopped being an Auror? Did he retire or was there an event that transpired that caused him to become an ex-Auror?"

If it was the latter, then perhaps they could dig up some dirt on the man and expose him for being cruel.

But then again, perhaps that was wishful thinking.

As Dorian pointed out the possible short-comings of his plan, Chase chuckled slightly. "Alright.. Alright... What would you suggest to do?" Surely the other boy would have a wise idea or two. Dorian seemed very sharp.He turned his gaze back at the mirror and the dark figure.

Chase squinted his eyes... "I don't know..." He paused. "It seems human... Maybe its Hawthorne in disguise?"

What would he say? A small grin appeared on the Ravenclaw's face as he had multiple things in his mind that he would call the new Head of House but sometimes one had to keep those thoughts for themselves. And so, the fourth year merely shook his head. "I think its not wise to answer that question" he said

Unable to stop himself, Dorian began to pace the hallway from one end of the wall to the other end. The distance was short, perhaps three steps back and forth. A frown played on his face which wrinkled his forehead with lines as he thought about what Chase had said for a moment. The thought of them being trained to become some kind aurors made his skin crawl. "Don't scare me..." he said finally and he stopped pacing. "I don't want to be an Auror..." to a lot of people, being an auror sounded cool and adventurous and dangerous. All the things that Dorian did NOT want to be or was for that matter. He mostly kept to himself. Was scared of a lot of things and the word 'adventure' alone made him shiver. No, not for him.

"I think he retired" Dorian said as he glanced over at Chase for a second before his eyes fixed on the mirror. Though he was not really looking this time. "I mean, he's pretty old isn't he?" he tried his best not to laugh by biting his lower lip and when he found his composure he turned to the Gryffindor. "I actually want to know why the Headmaster chose these new professors in particular, don't you?" He asked. He wasn't the only one curious about them right? "I know he said that it was his goal to make Hogwarts a safer and better school but why does he need to bring in these ...goons...when there were perfectly qualified professors in the first place?" Dorian shook his head. "I think he's power hungry..." he said.

And he went back to pacing again. "It frustrates me to no end but i don't know what i'd do. Each plan i come up with in my head has so many flaws once i really start thinking about them" he said. "But one thing is for sure, we need to get the Board of Government on our side if we want to get rid of the Headmaster and his henchmen" How though? Dorian did not know yet. "Do you think the Professors and Headmistress who got fired so far would want to return to teach again?" He hoped so.

Dorian squinted his eyes at the shadowy figure in the mirror as well as he watched it dart across the room again and then laughed again when Chase mentioned that perhaps it was Hawthorne in disguise. "Well that's a terrifying thought" he said casually as if he were talking about the weather.

Chase chuckled at the Ravenclaw's quick response. Ha. Well played. Well played. "Fair enough." He smiled. Who knew who could be listening?

Chase watched with a curious gaze and an ever so slight tilt of his head to the left as Dorian began to pace in the confined corridor. Three steps here and then back. Curious indeed. Chase didn't particularly wish to become an Auror either. He was intrigued by the rigorous training and academic achievements that were required to be one; however, he did not like the thought of becoming anything similar to Scrimmy. Too much regulation and order for him. He needed freedom and space to work -- to let his creativity shine. He remained quiet as he listened to Dorian speak about his own theory about Scrimmy's past. Yeah Old Man Scrim. Heh. New nickname. Maybe Ancient Old Man Scrim would be better? Old but powerful indeed. Chase nodded at Dorian's question too. "No doubt they are incredibly loyal to him... I wonder what connections they have to each other.. Perhaps they're apart of some secret cult or something," he spoke as his imagination bloomed. He kept on letting his mind with those thoughts until he paused. " Perhaps we should try to understand their connection to each other... but can we learn that?" He folded his arms at Dorian's next question.

"I can't say for sure. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't return. The Board has not treated them kindly... unless... our Headmistress and Professors did something wrong..? Whatever is happening, someone must have some sort of dirt on our previous Professors... or our Headmistress," he said and then paused. He was simply thinking out loud but Chase was certain that they would return. They must have been working on something. Hawthorne surely wouldn't go down without a fight. He hoped. "I think they will return. They seemed to like being here..."

Chase noticed Dorian's casual phrasing. "Terrifying? "

Stella was bored out of her mind, she was caught up with her homework and really didn't feel like studying anymore. She was going to go to the kitchen but decided against it seeing how she had no company. Besides she had plenty of hot chocolate and cookies in the common secretly so she was good and full on snacks.


Walking out of the Gryffindor common room she bit her lip wondering where she was going to go, she knew her way around the castle just not the secrets it had. Hm... with it raining it was the perfect time to go do some exploring around the place. This rain was horrible, she didn't like it at all, she liked sunshine and warmness! She couldn't wait until the summee time, sunshine and fun.


Her feet guiding her she wondered towards the fourth floor corridor and stopped short biting her lip, Phoenix said there was a really cool mirror on this floor, maybe she should check it out? Yeah... that sounded like fun, besides she wanted to know as much about Hogwarts as she could and all the cool stuff. Hm... which way was it again? Oh... that's right not too far from the balcony was what Phoenix said. Walking down thr corridor she found the mirror and smiled.


Walking up towards the mirror she seen handsome chandeliers, elegant landscape oil paintings, and golden draperies in the mirror. Looking behind her she seen that none of what she was seeing was behind her. Hmm... that's weird and kinda cool at the same time, maybe this mirror was showing a secret room that's in Hogwarts or around this place? Whichever one it was, it.looked like a cool room. Looking back at the mirror she seen a dark figure she froze in her spot. Ok... maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her, but she thought she seen a dark figure in the right corner.


Looking at the mirror again she seen it was gone, ok... maybe it was her imagination or her eyes playing tricks on her. All she knew that she wanted to see if she saw it again before making a run for the door...

Rylee was having one of those weird mood days. The ones where you wanted to be around your friends but at the very same time you craved nothing more than to be by yourself. She wanted to enjoy the afternoon reading by the fireplace in the common room but every time she picked up a book she managed to only read a paragraph or two. There was an ache in her stomach telling her she was hungry but she had no desire to eat right now.

Rather than just curl up on her bed in her dorm and sleep the entire afternoon away, the third year lioness decided to take a walk. One of those walks where there was no real direction in mind. The ones where you allowed your feet to choose their own path and you ended up where you least expected it. That was always the best way to come across something to do or at the very least get herself lost.

Heading down one of the corridors with Lamb following right alongside her, she hummed softly under her breath. If anyone came upon her right now they would likely think she was heading somewhere with purpose at the pace she was moving but honestly if asked she had no clue what floor she was even on.

Spotting someone standing in the center of the corridor was a little unexpected but Rylee was happy to see it was one of her younger housemates. "Stella, hi! What'cha looking at?" she asked walking over to stand beside her friend. Was she looking at that mirror? Or something else?

She knew she been studying and doing homework for a while so maybe it was her mind playing tricks on her, yeah...that what it was, her mind playing tricks on her. Maybe there was some things about Hogwarts that didn't need to be discovered, maybe this was one of them. Whatever that shadow was sure did scare her, whatever it was. It looked like a person, but she wasn't sure it disappeared as quickly as it came.


Deep in deep thought looking at the mirror and the scenery that was in it, she couldn't help but to wonder if it was a room here at Hogwarts. There was many mysteries here at Hogwarts, so she wasn't surprised if it was a hidden room. Although she wondered who the sahdow figure was, why were they there was more like it. Don't they know it's not nice to scare people out of their wits?


Looking at the mirror and examining it, she wondered if she was going to see the dark figure again or not. She sorta wanted to see if she was, but she sorta wanted to leave. Stella almost jumped out of her skin and let out a small squeal as she heard Rylee. " Oh Merlin, you scared me!" she said regaining herself once again. "Well.. obviously the scenery in the mirror, but I thought I seen a dark figure in the left corner but maybe I was just seeing things. " she said shrugging.

Oh, dear Merlin! Rylee hadn't realized that Stella was so intently lost in staring at the mirror that she had made her jump. Oops. "Sorry! I hadn't meant to frighten you," she replied softly giving the younger lioness a warm comforting smile.

So Stella had been looking at the mirror after all. Upon confirmation of this, Rylee turned her bright blue-gray eyes onto the mirror. What she saw there was absolutely lovely. Chandeliers, golden draperies and such beautifully painted scenes of landscapes. There was no denying it that it was very pretty to look at and even though the young teen knew she was standing in the corridor she couldn't help but look over her shoulder and see if she really was indeed in this room shown in the mirror. She wasn't.

It was like a trick of some sort. One you could only guess how it's done. "It's lovely, isn't it?" She smiled at Stella looking back at the mirror once more. "A dark figure? Where?" Slowly she stepped closer to the mirror. She didn't see any figure anywhere.

Shaking her she smiled at her. "It's ok, I shouldn't have been so lost in my own world." she said shrugging. Seeing her comforting smile did make her feel better, she wasn't alone looking at this mirror anymore. She didn't want to be alone with this mirror anymore, but she hated being alone period. Loneliness was something that she didn't do well in, she was always with someone.


The scenery in the mirror was very beautiful indeed and made her wonder where it was. It sorta made her want to go through the mirror and stay there for awhile. Although after she seen the dark figure she now thought differently and was a bit scared. It didn't look like it was going to hurt you, but it sure did frighten her.


Stella nodded. "Very lovely indeed, where if its a secret room here?" she asked looking at the mirror still. Stella looked at Rylee and nodded. "Left corner, but then again maybe I'm just seeing things like I said." shd said shrugging. She had to be seeing things, Rylee didn't see it so she knew she had to be. Yeah... too much studying is making her see things, which wasn't good for her.

"Everyone gets lost in their own little world every now and than," Rylee replied softly, knowing full well that it happened to her quite often. However as of lately she had come to learn that spacing out was incredibly unsafe around here. One had to always remain constantly vigilant.

Rylee lifted her shoulders a little into a slight shrug. "It's highly possible that there's a room hidden somewhere in the castle that no one knows about. This is Hogwarts after all." Anything was possible. Take the Room of Requirement for example. That room could be anything you needed it to be. So if that existed... it wasn't hard to believe that a gorgeous secret room such as the one in the mirror was hidden away somewhere. "We should try looking for it, it could be fun." Or dangerous. Possibly both.

The figure was in the left corner, hm? Once again taking several small steps closer until she was practically right on top of the mirror, Rylee looked at the left corner of the mirror. There wasn't anything there. At least nothing that was making itself visible to her. "Sorry, Stella but I don't see anything. Maybe it was a trick of the lighting here in the corridor or something?"