Kwadleigh School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Recent History of Kwadleigh - Feb 28-Mar 1, 2003

2006-08-18T00:22:00.000-04:00

"Sir is that really Selena? what really happened to her? I want to know and I've been working so hard to find out" Angel asked "all I know is that she died when Professor Silver was headmaster and that recording... what really happened Professor Armis?"

Armis, still carrying the body of Selena, answered Angel "She did not die while Sliver was headmaster. But yes, the recording is from the time of Sliver. Go to bed. That's all I'm going to tell you, Angel...for now. By the way, if you tell anyone about this, your days here will be limited."

Armis reached the headmistress's room. The door was halfway open. Armis slammed it open fully with his foot. "Nice trip Aylin. I think I should get a double salary, now that I'm also working as the school undertaker. Get her ghost and body in the same room." Aylin was staring at the body of Selena, her jaw dropped. She could not find anything to say.

Armis put the body on the ground and covered it with his cape. "I should have done that before...On the bright side only one student, Angel, saw her body. But don't worry, she'll stay quiet." Armis left the room exhausted.

Angel quickly hurried off back to bed not saying another word, but she couldn't exacly sleep with what she just saw and what did Armis really mean... slowly she fell asleep after she worked a bit on her homework while laying in her sleeping bag.

Aylin almost choked. Well, as a matter of fact she DID choke but she didn't die. Unlike others... "What.. is.. THIS?!" she screamed but there was no one there anymore to hear her. "Dammit!" she cried again. In one instant she locked the door. She had panicked already. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. Why was her body found? Where was it found? Now what was she supposed to do with it? She thought all was clear, all was fine. And now look at this mess!

She uncovered Selena's face. She was still smiling. But she was cold, so so cold. Yet, somehow alive and dead. "Don't tell me..." she mumbled. "It cannot be..."

She got out in a hurry, but before, she covered again the face with the cape. The door was locked with a key. She wouldn't trust a spell now. She wandered for a while on the corridors, passing from locked room to another locked room, through hidden walls, doors, passages. She wanted her trace lost, in case anybody would have thought of following her. And in the end, there she was. 6th floor. A room with only one window. A secret room with no door leading to the corridor, just a link to the room on the 7th floor.

A dark silhouette was sitting in the corner, a book in his hand. His face was covered in darkness. His clothes - long and dark. But he was young. His voice was strong, seductive, and icy.
"They've found her..."
"Why, hello to you too!" he answered, not looking up from his book.
"Cut the crap! I thought it was in a safe place! First the ring, now the body! I thought it's not the time for it!"
He looked up. The same calm, impasive tone: "So what should we do?"
"oh, you don't have an answer for everything, do you?" Aylin mocked at him. "You know, it's time for them to find you too, then we will all die in peace!"
Her body rested against the wall. "I knew the trip wasn't a good idea... But it was safer like that."
"Selena is not supposed to see her own body. We lose everything if she does. She's still away in that world. We need her power there, her dream. She's out link, our only hope. Besides, it was her decision. They are gonna ruin it..."
"What about the ring?"
"We need it back."
"Well, we have time to see about it. For now, I need Selena trapped somewhere safe with you. School starts. Let it go normal for a while. We need time to think of it. We need time to solve it. Then things will finally be able to go back to normal."
"Unless they find out about it before..."
"Hmmm... There's always a way out"

Aylin thought for a second.
"I would trust Armis and Melody but I dunno."

Aylin had been holding tight to her position as a mistress of Kwadleigh. Things have changed since she got in charge of it. The castle was a fotress, a perfect place to hide, fight, cook the next attack. Or just wait in silence for the next move.

"I saw the spectrum" she said. The man was also able to pass through walls, like a ghost. His teeth were incredebly white. "I saw it on the Professor's hand..."
"Then be careful..." the shadow spoke. "You cannot trust anybody here. Besides, you have to bring me together with my real body. I hate being two. I wish the other one would realize that more often."
"Yes, Aylin mumbled. Seems like it's pretty hard to keep the collective mind. It's being 'one' again, trying to take over the body and forget the past. The real self. It's adapting. Improving as a person, since it's a non-person. But "IT" doesn't recall it too often. Unfortunately. I feel like I deal with a lunatic."
"It is like being a lunatic, trust me..."

They carried the body to the secret room.

Recent History of Kwadleigh - Feb 25-27, 2003

2006-04-28T02:57:00.000-04:00

Feb 25, 2003

The third part of the story had left off with Prof. Armis Evil and Prof. Waldow Hunch going down to the lobby of the palce they were staying at Foggie Village.

Armis had no choice but to be accompanied by the now "cured" Hunch...and his watermelon feet. Halfway down the stairs they Armis and Hunch ran into Ellarose, who had been preoccupied with taking care of Mrs.Cardinal. "There are extra, they were too much." said Ellarose carrying a small bowl. Before Armis has a say in it, Hunch grabbed the bowl saying "Gimme that!" and gobbled it down. Upon the sight, Ellarose screamed and ran back to where she had come from.

It should be reminded that earlier, Ellarose had been putting together a bowl of worms and berries to feed Mrs. Cardinal.

Armis and Hunch reached the lobby of the Inn and came next to Prof.Riddle, who was talking to the Shandalar creatures. Shortly after, all of the creatures - except for one - left the lobby.

"I found out some very important information you guys. You'll want to hear this." said Melody Riddle.

Armis, once again looking at Hunch's feet, said "I dunno Melody. It might be too much excitement in one day for some of us."

"It's about the death of Selena. I think the mystery is about to be solved."

"What have you found out Melody?" asked Hunch. Melody got up from her seat and said "We have to go to the forest you guys."

Armis looked impatient. "With all due respect to...um...the Shandalar creatures, and what they have told you, Melody...I am not really in the mood to go out and find more clues, more items, etc. That student, Angel, found a ring...then what happened? Nothing. All it brought was more unhappiness and more uncertanties. Now if you'll excuse me..."

"I think her body is in the forest." whispered Melody. There was a moment of silence, but both Armis and Hunch knew that this was not a joke. "He can take us to her." continued Melody moving her head towards the Shandalar creature.

The three professors agreed to go with the creature. They left a note to Prof. Aylin saying "There's an urgent matter. Take the students and go back to Kwadleigh. We'll come later when we can."

We do not have too much information concerning how the students and Prof. Chateaunoir spent the rest of their time in the Foggie Village.

Feb 26, 2003

In the meantime, back at the castle, students were getting more and more concerned about the "no furniture until you do homework" policy.

"Yes, this has been an interesting week thus far.." Victor says, laying down his book. "...I mean, our professor seems a little strange to me...but over all I can't wait for classes to really get going. I'm going to get an A+++ on potions!" Victor smiles, his ego probably choking everyone in the room. [...]

"So did you guys hear the announcement about us having to sleep in sleeping bags? Is that weird or what!" Brigid says, winking at Ella.

"I know!" Ella said. "I can't sleep on the floor!" [...] "Having Damos breathing in my ear all night!" She sighed. "Well once we learn a few spells maybe we can turn a piece of wood or something into a bed frame and then a few feathers to a mattress."

Feb 27, 2003

Melody had her things sent back to the school including her owl Leto, her python Ares stayed behind at the Inn and her cat Loki went on the walk into the Forest with her, Armis, Waldow and the warlock that was showing them the way Arguld."Armis Evil, Waldow Hunch... this Arguld a black Mana warlock of Shandalar."

Arguld kept his cape on the entire time, you could not see his face from under his hood, a very pale hand was all that could be seen, it held tight to a long black staff that had a skull on the top of it. Waldow knew all about Shandalar creatures because of the time he had spent there with Melody, but as far as she knew Armis knew nothing at all.

"I realise you don't trust this man."

"Would you call it a man?"

"Please Armis, show respect... he is a very wise man and I trust him in every way."

"Pity he doesn't trust me." Waldow crossed his arms in a huff, though he could not see Arguld's face he could feel the stare he was being given.

"And he has every right not to."

"Now is not the time for this Melio."

Melody was taken a back she hadn't been called by her Shandalain name outside of Shandalar before. Arguld continued walking, he led the group into the forest, Loki was at his side, Melody and Armis followed close behind and Waldow grumbled to himself from behind them. [...]

"On the other side of that tree, under the roots is where your Professor Selena lays." Melody was the first to move forward to go look, she was very shocked with what she found.... nothing, there was absolutely nothing there but roots and dirt. "She's been moved" Melody wasn't in the mood for this, either was Armis.

"What do we do now?"

"We must look, Armis you come with me, Melio take Waldow and go the other way."

"I'd rather walk with Armis if you don't mind Arguld."

"I have two reasons for you not too... one, if I'm alone with Waldow Hunch he will die."

"I don't have much of a problem with that."

"Hey."

"Two, you are weak, you must do what you must do, Waldow can assit you, Armis can not, now go."

Arguld walked away from the three professor's, Loki followed he knew what Melody had to do in the forest and he didn't want to be there for it, Armis shrugged his shoulder's and trudged into the thick of the forest after Arguld. "Come on Mel, don't fight it, he's right you are looking really weak."

Melody fell into Waldow's arms, much to her dislike. He helped her walk the opposite way to the others deeper into the forest. Armis and the Shandalain Warlock Arguld walked for ten minutes without saying a word. There was no trace of Selena's body. Armis was not even sure which way they had come from and which way they were headed.The more they walked, the more uncomfortable Armis felt. "I guess we should head back" said Armis.

"Just a bit left till we get there" Arguld replied. "Till we get there? Get where? I thought her body was moved?" asked Armis.

"No, I know exactly where her body is and I am taking you there." Armis, reflected back at what had happened ten minutes ago. It was Arguld who had proposed that they split in two groups and go opposite ways...

"But what about the others? Why have you sent them on the wrong path?"

"I sent them on the right path to where they need to be right now, which is out of the forest. This forest has a negative effect on some people. You saw how Melio was affected. She would not have listened if I had told her that you and I will take care of this alone. I just had to send Hunch with her to take care of her. Plus, they have some unfinished business."

The two men soon came to the trunk of a giant tree. It was large enough to walk in without crouching. Inside the trunk, to Armis's surprise, really was the body of Selena. Her body had somehow been preserved. How exactly, Armis did not know and was not too interested.

"She was dreaming when she was killed. So she was still in another world when she physically died. Now her ghost does not know where her body is. Until she finds her body, she will continue to roam around as a ghost. I want you to take her back to Kwadleigh and somehow make her ghost come in contact with her dead body..."

Arguld pointed to the other side of the tree. "On the other side is a vortex which will lead to Kwadleigh. Take her body and go."

Armis took Selena's body and walked to the other side of the tree. Next thing he knew, he was in one of the dormitories of Kwadleigh. The students were sleeping in their sleeping bags on the floor.

"I hope I make it out of the room without waking anyone up. This will not look good." he thought.

In the dormitory, Armis was spotted by Angel Smallwood. However, nothing really came of this and Angle never brought the subject up again.

Recent History of Kwadleigh - Feb 20-23, 2003

2006-04-19T05:00:00.000-04:00

Feb 20, 2003

Prof. Chateaunoir announces that there will be a trip to the Foggie Village.

Feb 21, 2003

As previously stated, Prof. Evil and Prof. Hunch had worked together and made plans so that Evil would be in charge of Golden Phoenix and Hunch of Blue Unicorn. However, all of a sudden news come in that a person called Prof. Egeria Deosil has been named as the Blue Unicorn head. Who was Egeria and why had she been named as the new head?

Feb 22, 2003

The next day, Prof. Melody Riddle decides to be honest about her past as she talks with Prof. Chateaunoir.

"What happened?" Aylin questioned. "This is not you. I've never seen you like this before..."

"I guess I should tell you about Professor Waldow Hunch and I, I haven't explained to you yet why I have a problem with him." She paused, Melody was still quite upset. "Waldow and I dated back in school, we'd been together for so long. There were always rumours of him being on Voldermort's side the fact that he is so good at the DarkArts doesn't help, he never once denied those rumours, not once and then the day of the first attack of my home-land Shandalar, Waldow was there, picture in the papers and all, proving he was on 'HIS' side, he
attacked my home-land on the day of our wedding!" Melody began to weep

"You never told me you were married." Aylin was shocked by all this news.

"We never did get married, I never saw him again til he walked into this castle and you told me he was the new DarkArts Teacher." Melody began to look angry now "Not only was he a bad guy, attacking my home land, not showing up to our wedding but he died, the entire wizarding world thought he was dead. But he's not dead is he and he never was."

"There must be an explaination for all of this."

"He said that he was protecting Shandalar, sort-of proving how much he loved me, he said he never denied the rumours because they were just that rumours and he said the world had to think he was dead so that Voldermort would leave him alone."

"Well there you go."

"He's still on Voldermort's side Aylin, I know it, he's not here to fix things up with me and fight the DarkPowers, he's here to get the final Mana source, no matter how much I wanna believe him, no matter how much I wanna trust him, I don't and never will."

Shortly after this talk, Aylin announces to the students that the chariot that will take them to the train station will leave the school in two hours. Before the departure, Angel, who had now become very interested in who Selena Zimfindell was, asks her questions.

"Who was Selena Zimfindell? Was she a student here?"

"Oh! How did you run into her name?"

"History of Kwadleigh" Angel smiled sweetly. She was shy indeed. 'I told them that putting Selena there wasn't a good idea' Aylin mumbled to herself. "Well, Selena was the Head of Blue Unicorns some time ago. But she died. Many other professor died last year though..." she smiled. "Why don't you just grab some clothes and hurry to catch the charriot, hm?" Aylin smiled and rushed away, happy not to be asked anymore questions on the subject.

In the meantime, the professors were also getting ready for the trip to the Foggie Village. For some reason, Prof. Hunch was acting very weird.

Armis was packing his bags for the trip. There was a knock on the door and Prof.Hunch entered through the half open door. "Pull my finger" said Hunch.

"I see you've been working on some new potions and they got to your head!" said Armis.

"Hahahahaahah" Hunch started laughing like a madman. He soon fell on the ground from laughing too much and started holding his stomach, still laughing.

"I don't have time for this" said Armis and started to push Hunch out of the room with his foot. With Hunch totally out of the room, Armis closed the door and continued packing. "I hope he doesn't act like this during the trip" thought Armis.

It was in a way a paradox that a man who might be on Voldermort's side could actually be silly. This is still the topic of many debates among the professors. It is asumed that either Hunch is a rather normal person but he messed around with some spells and potions around this time which made him act like a little kid for days, or he is a very evil and cunning man who just wants us to think in that way.

Feb 23, 2003

The students and professors attending the trip finally reach the Foggie Village.

Aylin was hoping for the haunted inn to lift her spirits a bit. It was very dark and foggy indeed when they reached the place. The cemetery was 400 meters further. The air was cold and humid and you could hear the whistle of the wind through the branches of the trees. One side of the inn was touching the edge of the forest. The other one was opening to a large field.

From there, all the way down, you could see small lights flicking in the darkness.

"The Foggie Village..." Aylin announced. "If you want to go visit it tonight, you are welcome. You cannot get lost. Unless you do your best to... But do not enter the forest. There are weird rumors going on around here about it... It's a dangerous place at night."

In the main hall some weird guests were waiting to be accommodated. "They are coming from Shandalar and some other weird areas I don't have too much knowledge about..." the guy behind the desk said. He was an ugly creature. His accent was pretty strong too. [...]

She had hated the train being so late. Almost 7 hours late. And all that because of the storm and the clouds and the damn fog. Yes, it all happened like last time. Safer on land than in the air, of course. Now they had to spend two nights there and miss Monday, the first day of school... Oh well...

She went upstairs to her room. She had business to attend to.

Around this time we also learn about the fact that during the trip Prof. Melody Riddle decides on making Angel Smallwood the Red Vampire prefect. Also during the trip, Melody reaches the conclusion that Prof. Hunch was being affected by a Riddikulus Spell mixed with Confundus Charm. But was that really the case?

Melody had her things taken to her room, Leto flew off to the towns post office to be taken care off for the night, Loki was already in the common living room in front of the fire and Ares got out of his basket once he was placed in her room, he stayed there for night.

Melody went into the common living room with a butterbeer in hand, she sat down close to the fire. A few creatures from Shandalar entered, an Enchantress of green mana, a Priest and Priestess of white mana and a Warlock of black mana, knowing them all, they sat near Melody and talked about their home.

Meanwhile, Prof. Armis Evil had gone up to his room and had been disappointed to learn that he had to share the room with Prof. Hunch.

"No no no, don't worry! It was a Riddikulus Spell and Confundus Charm fused together, well that's what I was told. I wasn't myself, but I'm okay now!"

"So be it" replied Armis, looking at Hunch's feet which were resting inside a watermelon cut in half and carved. "I'm going downstairs Hunch. I saw Prof.Riddle sitting with those creatures. I wanna know what they are cooking."

"Wait for me!" shouted Hunch as he started running with his watermelon 'slippers', shooting seeds at each step.

Recent History of Kwadleigh - Feb 16-19, 2003

2006-04-19T04:51:00.000-04:00

Feb 16, 2003

As you know, the first part of the history had left off with the ghost leading Prof. Chateaunoir somewhere.

The ghost took Aylin to the tower. "Come in..." she called from the other side of the wall. "If only I can find the keys... for this... damn spell-proof lock!" She has learnt the use of keys only for 5 rooms in Kwadleigh. And one of those was this. A key was more powerful than a spell in the wizard world. Because a normal lock can be opened sooner or later by a spell, but a spell-proof one, well, that's another story: only the key made for it could unlock it, and only one person had the key in the whole Kwadleigh. True, she didn't trust the others.

Upon her entrance, she could hardly cover her scream, as her hand ran to the wand kept in the pocket of her robe."Aylin, don't!" the ghost cried. "They are ghost-like orcs.""Soooooo?""So I have a use for them..."

The Orcs looked pretty alive to her. Yellow teeth, smily creatures, bulging eyes... "Where did you get them from?" "Mordor..." "Hmmm..." Prof. Chateaunoir said. "It's a far land...""Yes, full of Orcs. That is irrelevant though. But do you know why I had them here?"Aylin shrugged. The ghost was a gamer. She wasn't in the mood for it now though."I thought releasing them would be quite a splendid idea... A bit of panicking in Kwadleigh. They won't know what hit them. And you and I can mind our own business and finish our work" She giggled."Nice" Aylin's only answer was, and she kicked the door open."Please, my orcs... After you. They can't kill anybody though, right?" she frowned. "Oh?..."

And so the Orcs were released in the castle.

You might be wondering whatever happened after the release of the Orcs. Did they cause chaos? Did people die? The truth is, no one got hurt and no real danger came of them. We are assuming that most of the Orcs were not interested in fighting anyone and just found the fastest exit of the castle and got out of there. This must have come as a disappointment to Prof. Chateaunoir who had changed so much that she would release Orcs just for her own amusement. One Orc was spotted by the new students who were walking through the halls, taking a tour of the castle. They were able to get rid of it with a rather simple spell, "skurge". Shortly after, second year students also joined in and congratulated each other on a job well done.

Around this time, Prof. Evil had secured his position as head of Golden Phoenix, fabricating a story about Prof. Fudge being caught with some virus, while making sure that Prof. Hunch somehow arranged something that would prevent him from coming to Kwadleigh.

Feb 17, 2003

One of the new students, Angel Smallwood became quite interested in who Selena Zimfindell was as she read the History of Kwadleigh.

Angel walks around the school quietly not looking at anyone as she passes them. She is so shy that she wonders into the library and finds a chair in that back corner as she grabs a book out of her bag and starts reading alone in the back corner. She slowly reads her book about The History of Kwadleigh,

"Selena Zimfindell suffered a quite unusual death. Her body wasn't found. It seems she vanished. The only thing that could be found was her ring, in the Tower Behind the Closet...

"What? Tower Behind the Closet? Angel has been only for 2 days in Kwadleigh but she knew when something was akward. And this definitely couldn't have been listed as normal. Selena Zimfindell... She didn't know who she was. Angel decided to question the others a bit about this issue. It was too unnatural for such an important book to describe such weird things, she told herself.

Interestingly, shortly after, the ring belonging to Selena disappeared. The ghost was the first to realize this. The dialogues she had with Prof. Chateaunoir made it clear that the ghost in the castle was the ghost of Selena Zimfindell.

Feb 18, 2003

Secrets, hidden skeletons, dirty laundry of Prof. Melody Riddle's past were now coming out to the open. Most of them were revolving around Prof. Waldow Hunch.

"Listen Hunch, I have in no way forgiven you, I in no way trust you. There were always rumours of you being on Voldermort's side, you never once denied those rumours and then the day of the first attack of Shandlar, you were there, picture in the papers and all, proving you were on 'HIS' side, you attacked my home land on the day of our wedding, Waldow."

Melody stopped for a moment she didn't want to cry in front of him, she started speaking again once she had control of her emotions once more."

So not only were you a bad guy, attacking my home land, not showing up to our wedding but you died, the entire wizarding world thought you had died, then you have the nerve to show up here and expect me accept it all."

Hunch looked at Riddle, he saw that she still had feelings for him, good he could use that. "Sweetie, I never denied the rumours because they were just that rumours, and I was off protecting Shandlar, protecting your home land was more important then our wedding, we could've always done that another day and I went into hiding because of how much I had pissed Voldermort off, I couldn't let anyone know I was alive, he's forgotten about me now and so I'm back."

"But why come here, why come to Kwadleigh's?" Melody began to choke on her words."Because you were here my love." He smiled at her and went to take her hand."Because the final Mana source is here you mean!" Melody screamed at him, she still didn't trust him, no matter how much she wanted to.

Those that followed the behaviour of Prof. Waldow Hunch could easily see that he was like a chameleon. He could be the romantic and innocent man around Melody, a goofball and loyal friend near Prof. Armis Evil, and pure evil when no else was looking.

Feb 19, 2003

Prof. Armis Evil chooses Ellarose, a first year Golden Phoenix student to take care of his beloved cardinal, Mrs.Cardinal. As he does not keep the bird in a cage, but lets it fly around the garden freely, he advises Ellarose to learn about the behaviour pattern of cardinals.

Recent History of Kwadleigh - Feb 11-15, 2003

2005-11-22T19:15:00.000-05:00

All text written plainly is an explanation of the events. All text written in Italics are actual snips from the story posts.

Feb 11, 2003

Prof. Aylin Chateaunoir declares that there will be major changes in Kwadleigh this year. She introduces a new professor called Armis Evil, who has just come out of Azkaban Prison.

Prof. Armis Evil starts to guide the headmistress on what kind of changes need to take place. His first action is to have all of the student furniture removed, so that the students will have to buy new furniture by earning 'house galleons'. The action is justified as a good exercise of teaching teamwork.

Feb 12, 2003

The following day, the valedictorian of the school Lace Chambers from the Red Vampire house decides to leave Kwadleigh. She was in tears and expressed how important wizardry was for her. Was she leaving as a reaction to the drastic changes at the school?

Feb 13, 2003

Prof. Aylin Chateaunoir and Prof. Armis Evil have a lengthy discussion about old times and the future.

"Four died, Aylin" he finally added. "How will you be able to cover the story?"

"Let it be the way it is and no one will suspect a thing. And then we can finally wait for it to happen." Her worried eyes fixed him: "I hope they didn't wash your brain completely at Azkaban. You still know your priorities."

"I rule from the shadow" was his answer. "Six years in Azkaban give you time to think, to plan your return, your vengeance, your life..."

Shortly following their conversation, Prof. Evil wondered why Prof. Chateaunoir had chosen Prof. Hunch to be the new Dark Arts teacher.

Feb 14, 2003

The next day, Prof. Hunch and Prof. Chateaunoir had a short chat about the death of the four students. Such a thing had never happened in Kwadleigh before. Things were definitely changing, but was the change for the good or bad?

"Talking to yourself again?" Hunch's voice echoed from behind. Aylin spinned, barely covering her surprised face with an akward smile:

"Oh yes, as usual... Helps me think better. Oh - she looked as if a brilliant idea had just landed into her mind - and have you seen the new preparations for the new school term?" She started walking him slowly towards the Great Hall.

"The only thing I've seen was coffins being taken out of Kwadleigh through the main door..." Hunch mumbled.

"Oh! Yes... Spies... Ungrateful beings." she groaned, but given Hunch's surprised reaction she hurried to add: "Some heroes too, I s'pose... You can never be too careful these days, eh?"

"What's happened to you, Professor? You've been changing... Sometimes I have the feeling you are using encoded words to explain things." "Oh no, Professor Hunch. It's not that. Must be sorrow..."

At the same time, new students were pouring in to enroll at the school. Some were pretty wise and anxious, while others were just staring at the castle, not understanding that they had to be sorted into a house. That night, Prof. Chateaunoir announced the semester's first sorting results. Some of the students that were sorted did not last long in the school. However, there were three students among them that went on to be very successful at Kwadleigh.

"Welcome everyone" Aylin began, as she stood up from the professor's table. The room became quiet. Everyone was having dinner. 'A bit of history repeating' Aylin thought to herself, recalling the last year's 1st year students. "I am very pleased to inform you about the last sorting events. The Parchment has still some work to do, but we are mainly done for now." Her hand reached into her pocket. A screeching noise came. 'You could be more careful with me, you know' a funny voice echoed in her head. Professor Topanga Seduisant threw Aylin a funny look. "Oh yes..." she mumbled. "Here are the final results for tonight" she started reading as the parchment rolled open: HSF - Silver Dragon Brigid - Golden Phoenix Thessaly - Red Vampire Angel - Red Vampire Kieran - Red Vampire Garette - Blue Unicorn Estaria - Blue Unicorn

As you might have guessed, the three students that went on to be successful were Angel, Garette, and Estaria. Let us not forget that Angel (Smallwood), would be to become the valedictorian that semester. Whatever happened to the others you might ask?

Feb 15, 2003

The next day Prof. Melody Riddle, head of the Red Vampire house and teacher of the Defense Against Dark Arts course, introduced herself to the newcomers. She reminded anyone that were or would be sorted to the Red Vampire house that she was looking for a new prefect, given the fact that Lace Chambers had left the school.

Shortly after in the same morning, the second sorting ceremony took place. This one was less exciting that the first one. The only important result from it would be that a girl named Dragomira Elessa had been sorted into the Silver Dragon house. She would go on to become the only graduating Silver Dragon student that semester. Excellent homework record, but poor girl could not find anyone to interact with from the Silver Dragon house, so she was not seen in school activities too often. She eventually decided to blend in with the students from other houses by the end of the semester.

While everything looked okay on one side of the coin, there were secret plans being made on the other. There seemed to be a secret coalition forming between Prof. Evil and Prof. Hunch.

The two professors walked in the Great Hall, finally coming to what seemed to be a very secluded area of the hall. "Alright. I'm all ears." said Armis. Hunch looked around one last time and said "I found out that you will be in charge of a House. It will either be Golden Phoenix or Blue Unicorn. But just pretend like you don't know, because I found it out going through...well...let's just say that what I did was not very ethical." Hunch let out a laughter as he finished his sentence, and then realizing that someone might hear, he suddenly started looking around again.

Armis said "I expected it. There is a lack of qualified wizards and witches who have the patience to lead a house, let alone teach a course. But... am I going to be able to pick which house it will be?"

"Well..." said Hunch..."I was hoping we could work together on this. You see, the other day the headmistress posted a notice to all professors, and no reply has been received from the head of Golden Phoenix. I am assuming that if it stays that way, you will be in charge of Golden Phoenix and I, of Blue Unicorn!"

"But what about if he responds, Hunch?" asked Armis. Hunch replied "That would deprive me of the possibility of leading a house...and that's why I need your help...we should stop him from replying, at any cost."Just at that point, the two professors heard someone sneeze from behind one of the columns. It sounded like one of the students. The two professors looked at each other and nodded, as if to say "Let's get him/her."

Just as they came next to the column, there was a loud shatter. One of the windows broke and the blizzard rushed in the room. In that short moment while the professors had turned their attention to the shattering, whoever was behind the column had flew.

It turned out that the person behind the column was just a lost student and he had not heard what the two professors were talking about.

Hunch no longer whispered, because with the shattered glass and the wind blowing in, the two professors could hardly hear each other. He shouted "There's no one behind the column, but I'm sure there was... What now Armis?"

Armis answered "Hunch are you aware that the damn window just came down? Anyway...I wouldn't worry. From the footsteps I heard, I'm sure it was a student; probably a new student who was lost. So, I doubt he or she had a clue on what we were talking about. After all, they are still coping with the idea that they are wizards and witches."

When Prof. Armis Evil decided to leave the hall, he was then confronted with a ghost. The ghost would later travel between the floors of Kwadleigh until it reached Prof. Chateaunoir's office. Judging by the looks of their conversation, it was evident that the headmistress and the ghost had met before and were no strangers

"Right. Now show me that thing you wanted to show me!" Aylin sighed. The woman's face lightened - if you can say that about a ghost... "Follow me then!" she winced and lead the way towards the tower staircase. "I'm not like you, don't forget that though!" Aylin cried from behind, when the ghost started vanishing through columns, stairs, and walls.

Melody Riddle Returns. A Conversation.

2005-03-24T10:05:00.000-05:00

Professor Melody returned to the RedVampire common room, a similar way to how she left, just more in reverse. She suddenly appeared, her eyes filled with blood once more, the red drained away and her normal eyes returned, still entraced, her mouth opened, her diamond python withdrew from her body via her mouth.
"Are you alright, misssstressss?" - Ares hissed.
"I'm fine, my love, a little shaken but nothing new," Mel replied.

She took off her cloak and around her waist was a sash. The sash had bottles connected. In the bottles were the wonderful creatures whom were going to work with the students to save the castle, the school and the good of magic.
A red bottle began to shake and fizz, a mighty roar came from within.
"Hush, now not yet," Mel whispered to the Mage. "We have to find the students you each belong to now first."
With that she returned her cloak to her back and double stepped out of the room into the corridors....

Aylin got her potion. Sliver was sitting next to her.
"That wasn't wise, Aylin..." - he mumbled and walked away from her.
"I didn't have a choice. Obviously, your plan is not working either. It's crystal clear that you are trying to cover something. Everyone can smell it."
"They can only accuse me, but they can't prove a thing." Aylin chuckled. If only they knew what the potion contained: that would be just about enough to fly her out of Kwadleigh. And Sliver too.
"You're lucky I can trust you on this," she mumbled. Her eyes darkened and he could read the sadness in her look. "When will I be normal again?"
That was a tough question. Normal? She hasn't been normal for too long. She's been everything but normal. And once again Aylin wondered if she could ever become herself again.
"Sometimes I think that this thing is too much for me. Too powerful! I hope the creatures will help me solve some things..."
"Speaking of creatures and such," - Sliver interrupted her abruptly - "we will be running out of ingredients. Pretty soon."
"But I thought you took care of that!"
"Well, whose fault is it that you start changing unexpectedly now? And not only that! Let us not forget your little..."
"Keep quiet!"
Sliver shrugged. "I better go check on my House".
Aylin gave him a warning look:
"If I were you, I'd be more careful. Soon everyone will know. We don't want that, do we? At least keep it a secret until we manage to solve the 'problem'."
He shook his head. "Yes, of course..."
His hand reached for the doorknob when he stopped: "Oh... one more thing! Sometime soon you have to let me talk again to the 'thing'."

The Secret

2005-03-23T09:28:00.000-05:00

Raven's Return

Upon his return, Raven found out the news from Aliana. It was pretty weird: he didn’t expect this to happen. In other words, it was something no one could expect to happen. He wanted to do something, to help. But then, what could he do? And he didn’t even know all the secrets yet!

The Secret

"It's too soon for her," Aylin tried to explain. "She hasn't been there yet..."
"But isn’t she one?"
"Yes, am I not ONE," Birdy cried.

"So you are... but you don't know what it's like to be one indeed. Not yet, at least. And hopefully never. There's still a chance for you, Birdy. Unlike her..." Aylin pointed to Li with a sad look.

Adara let herself fall on a chair, as far from them as she could.
"What are you?" - Li queried again.

So Professor Chateaunoir tried her best to hide these things. She tried her best to avoid all the happenings. And where was she know? Exactly where she didn’t want to be...
"I'm neither one nor the other... I'm something new. That's why I can't sometimes control my mind. Because the other mind takes over the first one..."

Li nodded and stated, " I see." She walked over to a chair that was near Aylin and sat down. "You speak in riddles a lot."

Aylin smiled again. "You should understand. You know deep inside of you that I am not exactly like you, but still, I am one. Why do you need my answers when you, yourself, have them?"

Li shrugged and motioned towards Birdy. "She needs to know."

"Oh!... Yes, indeed." It took Aylin a few seconds to gather her thoughts. Once the hat gone, talking to herself seemed weird. "The truth is, the answer is still a riddle for us. I am a werewolf, alright - or, at least, this is what I seem to be. But my essence is different, since I am an animagus. I am the one who has to wear the curse and be one herself, until things get better. But we don't know when and how things will get better... Our plan failed, because yes, we had one, until the red light incident. And now... now we don't even know if I am fit to still carry the hat!"

Li cocked her head and studied Aylin. "Where is your hat, Professor?"

She refused to answer for a moment. "Let's just say..." - she hesitated - "Let's just say that it's too strong for me right now and I had to discard it. If I wear it, I endanger myself and you."

"Ah," Lightning replied. Part of her wanted to ask questions but the wolf in her, which was much stronger, didn't care. It wanted to know other things. "Will you change tonight?"

Their eyes met and Aylin tried to read behind that totally lost and empty look. "Snap out of it, Lightning!" - she hissed using her other voice. Adara and Birdy panicked. Maybe these sounded like words to her, but they sure weren't that to Adara and Bird.

Li's eyes lit up and sparkled red. "Snap out of what, Professor?"
She asked very slowly, as if speaking to a small child, in the same weird voice.
"Stop it!!!" Aylin heard Birdy's cry. "Stop it!"
When she turned her head she saw Adara was missing. Aylin jumped out of her bed. As Aylin's attention was distracted, Lightning doubled over in pain for the second time this day. This time she knew it was going to happen. Her eyes turned golden and she managed to mumble, "It's happening..."

"Birdy..." Aylin whispered. But her call only managed to scare her away. She took a step forward.

Lightning felt all her bones shift out of proportion. This was the worst part of being a werewolf. She fell off her chair as hair started growing from everywhere. After a couple more moments of extreme pain, a werewolf stood where Lightning had been.

But Birdy had taken her flight out of the room. And it was impossible not to notice how fast she could run... "Dammit!!" Aylin cried, suddenly hit by the pain. Her eyes sparkled also. She saw Li's shape, ran towards the door to lock it, but fell before she could reach it.

Li lifted her nose and sniffed the air. Her golden eyes moved from Aylin laying on the floor to the open door and a second later she darted out of the room chasing after Birdy.

Birdy dashed down the corridor until she found what she knew was a broom closet. She groped at the door knob, but it was locked. Birdy fumbled trying to get her wand out. "Alohamora!" The door un-locked, and she quickly locked herself in.

She lit her wand, and covered it with her hand, only to give off a bit of light, not enough to attract any attention from the outside. She climbed over the old benches and behind them, to the end of the broom cabinet. Her back sunk against the wall until she sat with her butt on the floor and knees out in front.

That feeling of watching "The Time Machine" was coming back again. She was way too confused. God Birdy! You go messing in other people's affairs, and what happens? You get yourself mixed into them! That's not how things are supposed to go! You're supposed to watch the movie, not play in it! She cursed at herself a few more times until she felt she had put herself through enough pain.

But then - then, "ALOHAMORA!", and the door creaked open, Birdy brought her knees to her chest and put her head on her knees. She was breathing quickly and huskily from running so fast, which was a dead give away to exactly where she was sitting.

Lightning Tells the Big Secret

2005-03-22T09:11:00.000-05:00

Lightning sighed, feeling a bit upset that Aylin was dancing around the subject. She turned away from Aylin and towards Birdy who was still at the door. She moved a little closer to her and calmly stated, "You're a werewolf. That's what that bite is: a werewolf bite. If you look closely at it you'll notice it glows a bit. More so when its close to the full moon."

Li pulled up her knee length plaid skirt just a bit, revealing a bite similar to Birdy's. She glanced back at Aylin, while still talking to Birdy, to see her reaction.
"I'm one too."
She then turned back towards Aylin with a glint in her eyes and said, "And Professor, I'm sure you called me. Just not in the way you're thinking..."

Where Birdy Acts a Tad Unusual

Birdy stepped away from the door.
"Okay, I am going to stop completely what I'm thinking and just ask you, what?!"
She didn't usually pitch fits, even at home; her younger sister, "The Wookie", did that for them. She stopped and thought for a moment, 'Yes, I suppose I can handle that sort of idea. So much for non-mysterious Birdy, eh? She'll just have to run along and be happy wherever she may be...'

Aliana's Call for Help

Aliana hopped off her broom, and headed towards the area where the teachers were. Her cat hopped off and ran upstairs to the Golden Pheonix common room. The girl did not stop. When she reached her destination, she spotted a teacher standing nearby.
"Professor," she said, "I need to talk to you."

Raven's Call

"Help me!!!"
When Aliana returned to the castle, he knew that he had bad luck. But what could he do? He could just continue fighting with that horrible fire crab. And then he remembered the right charm - AQUA DE VITA - and the fire crab returned to the dark forest.

He took his broom, his bags, and the nice baby unicorn that he got for Aylin's birthday. Then he got angry again - WHY? - because that stupid fire crab burned all his new clothes. What was he to do?

He though about it. And thought and thought. Then he decided to transform the burning
clothes to all those new clothes you can buy in that muggle store, near L.A. -
What was the name? Oh, yes... the place was RODEO DRIVE. Then, riding his broom, he returned to the castle with all the new things and with Aylin's present.

The Secret

Aylin knew it. She didn't seem surprised by Li's words. And the bite - she's seen many before.

"So I suppose you figured it out yourself, Li, hmm? Which means you've already been that once? Am I right, Li?" Aylin sighed this time. These were the things she fought to avoid but she couldn't. And the proof was standing in front of her.

Birdy was scared. Unlike Li... And Adara - well, Adara took a few steps backwards. "But I am not one, right? I am not special in that way, am I?" - her voice trembled.
"No... you are not like that." Aylin replied. She felt Li's gaze again. She was trying to enter her mind somehow. Or at least that's what Aylin thought.
"For God's sake, what are you, Professor??!" - Li cried.
"What," Birdy queried.
"You don't feel it, Birdy??"
"No, Li..."

Who Knows the Answer?

2005-03-21T09:01:00.000-05:00

Birdy had fallen silent, but after rolling up her sweater, she bit her lower lip and said, "I'm so terribly confused here. What is going on?" She ran a frustrated hand through her hair and sighed, "Anyone care to explain things to me?"

Aylin couldn't believe her eyes. "Is that... I mean, where did you get it from?"
She wanted to tell her but she was scared. What if it wasn't what she thought it was? Alright, so she wasn't sure about Birdy. But what about Li: Li's wild look and weird words were enough to convince her of the truth.

"Why did you call me, Professor?" Li interrupted, a bit nervous.
This Li was not the Li she knew. It was something with stronger primary instincts.

She avoid a direct answer:
"I didn't call you, but I want you next to me for the next two days. And I want you especially around Sliver... as much as you can."

Li's mouth opened as if to say something, but Aylin stopped her:
"It's enough. All three of you know more than you should... And yes," - she went on turning to Adara - "you have been chosen. I felt it even if Sliver didn’t mention a thing. What you saw was him indeed, but not the real Sliver. You've met his projection. He's in charge of defending the castle from the light. He is the one who knows everything about it and about its creator. He is its guardian and you might meet him again like this. He can't control it though. It's not up to him. It's up to the spell that bound them..."

Adara didn’t seem to feel better. The explanation was still avoiding the hot spots.
"Why have I been chosen?"
"You'll never know. You were the right person at the right time maybe. Not even we, who deal all the time with such magic, understand it fully. But it is obvious that you are special. Just find that special thing you have and no one else does."

Birdy was still trying to remember where she got bit; she wasn’t too sure actually. Li didn't say anything anymore. She simply stared at her professor. A very intense gaze.
"No, Li... You looked for me, I didn't call you," she answered the unasked question.

Birdy, who was, even more confused than she was when she watched "The Time Machine" (up till the point with the guy with brains growing down his back), rolled her sleeve back down - the bright magenta sweater, one of her favorites that she just loved to wear when she didn't have classes - and the long sleeved, white, collared shirt that had a tendency to fly out the bottom of her sweater, covering the top part of her old, baggy jeans; she rolled them both down and folded the ends of the white shirt over the sweater's sleeves.

"I'm sorry Professor, I really can't remember. I think I may have gone out last night, or something... I'm sure all of this is more important than me having a bit of a bite, or whatever, on my arm. So, I'll just sort of go outside, so you can discuss it." She said this for her better judgment, apart from the voice screaming in her head, Since you know too much already, you should probably know enough not to go crazy in confusion! Stay! Stay!.

She stopped as she reached the door, and turned around...

Adara stood there looking as confused as Birdy.
"Professor, there has to be some mistake, I'm nothing special. What if it chose the wrong person? And what do I have to do if I'm 'chosen'?"

Something in the forest

2005-03-20T08:56:00.000-05:00

The creature mumbled something, then turned to stare directly at the girl. Suddenly, she was aware of a trail of blood, underneath her feet. Aliana backed up, almost tripping over Lune, who was standing just behind her.

She paused, confused.
'Lune?' - She asked her cat. Lune shook his head.
She frowned, then turned to the shadowy shape.
'Did you say something,' she asked, cautiously.
The creature's glowing yellow eyes brightened for a moment. Then she heard it again.
Help... Someone... The forest... danger... dark arts...
The voice was faint, and Aliana could hardly make out most of the words. But she got the idea. She nodded.
"I'll get someone."

She turned, and leapt upon her broomstick. As she took one last look at the creature, it seemed to vanish into the undergrowth. She shook her head, and flew on towards the castle.

Thinking back, she realized that no-one would believe her - she herself would be skeptical if she hadn't been the one who encountered the creature. She frowned, and promised herself she would at least try.

The Talk Outside

2005-03-19T08:46:00.000-05:00

"Umm.. could you please leave me alone for a second with the girls? I'm sure they have something important to tell me..." Chateaunoir's words puzzled the other professors, but they did leave the room, with a little suspicion that something weird was going to happen the moment they'd be out.
"I'll talk with you two later," she added.

Mel spoke once they were outside to Sliver and Selena. Topanga had already walked off.
"I must get the creatures here..." - Melody began to walk off, - "...there's a lot to do." muttering to herself as she stroded quickly down the corridor.

"She really does worry to much." Selena worried.
"She works too hard too, I just wish her and Aylin would let us help more,
take on more."
"I agree, but involving the students isn't going to help," Selena pointed out.
"They are wiser and stronger than you think," Sliver returned wisely as a bolt of light went through him, he vanished in a black cloud leaving little stary sparks behind formed in his image.
"I wish he'd just walk away like the rest of us for once," Selena muttered to herself this time and walked away.

Professor Melody Riddle reached the Red Vampire common room. On the rug in front of the roaring fire lay a curled up large deadly diamond python, its head turned to her, flicking its tongue, smelling her presense. It uncoiled and slithered up towards her, swaying as it went, and began curling around her legs, wrapping and coiling itself around her body, moving upwards, swaying at an unheard beat. Its face came to her own face level, its tongue flickered at her lips smelling her, smelling for fear, it swayed side to side, Mel's eyes went a cloudy white as she became intraced.

"Ready Missstressss?" - Ares said.
"Ready!" Her voice was mono-tone and unlike her normal voice, her mouth remained open and the python stopped swaying.

A student entered the common room, the python's head bolted forward and into Professor Riddle's mouth, her body shook violently, her eyes filled with blood as her python Ares pushed his entire body into hers, her skin rippled under the force, the tail went in. The python was no longer seen, the girl watching gasped in fear, Mel's head turned, eyes wide open. Black now and not human, she vanished.

The student stood there in shock and finally screamed. It was Beki. She couldn't shake the sight of her head-teacher looking so evil. Jasmine ran to the screams from her dorm upstairs.

"What is it! What is it?" - She cried out.
"Pro...Pro... Professor Riddle is evil!" Beki said wide-eyed.
"No, she's not, take that back!" Jasmine was angry.
"She swallowed a python and disappeared" - Beki said, tears running down her face.
Jasmine walked over, understanding now, put her arms around Beki. "No, no, no, that's how she travels to Shandalar, it's a horrid, scary, disgusting way, but fast. It's a part of black and green mana. I can do it too, working with serpents in such a way. It's okay, she's not evil, it's all okay."
Beki began to calm down.
"Let's go to the hall and get a drink. We'll wash your face first, eh?!"

Aliana's Broom

2005-03-18T08:40:00.000-05:00

Aliana stood up, and exited the common room. Lune followed behind, silently.
She paused, then decided to go outside. Stepping back inside, she grabbed her new broom, and made her way downstairs. She looked around, then pushed off the ground.

Lune hopped onto the back of the broom, barely changing the balance of the broomstick. Still, Aliana was used to her cat's company. She flew upwards, feeling the cool wind on her face, dressed in her comfortable robes, on a new broom with her pet cat. She smiled, then pointed her broom in the direction of one of the forests surrounding the castle.

As she glided towards the forest, she looked down, noticed something, then headed down, to land.
'What are you doing?' - the cat asked, startled.
'I saw something.'
'It's not safe, you know that.'
'I know. But I need to find out what it is.'
'Alright. Just be careful, ok?'
Aliana nodded and gave a faint smile. 'I will.'

The seemingly one-sided conversation ended as the girl touched down. Suddenly, the cat hissed, and a looming black shape appeared in front of them.
'Who.. Who are you??' Aliana asked, terrified.

Meeting at the door

2005-03-17T08:25:00.000-05:00

"Adara! Wake up, girl!" Selkia shouted.
"Ok, ok, I'm alright... I think. That was really weird."
"What was weird?" Selkia asked.
Adara was about to tell her about the whole vision when she remembered the headmaster's warning.
"Uh... I just passed out, in the middle of the corridor. But I think I'm ok now. Umm... I'd better get back my house common room...thanks for your help Selkia," Adara said in a rush.
She hurried off down the corridor, on her way to Professor Chateaunoir's room, since she had no idea how to find the headmaster`s office.
"What in the world was that, and what did the headmaster mean by all of that?" Adara mumbled to herself. "What is happening around here?" She turned a corner and knocked on Professor Chateaunoir's door.

Lightning rounded the corner and entered the corridor that Professor Chateaunoir's room was located in, with Birdy right behind her. She wasn't surprised to see Adara standing at the door waiting to be let in.

Lightning gave Adara a nod and offered her a slight smile as she walked towards her. She stopped slightly behind her and calmly waited to be let in. Birdy bit her lip, and came about it in a more polite way than the 'bloody hell' approach: "Care to explain what's going on here," she asked as the door creaked open...

Adara scowled. "Professor, I need to talk to you! and the headmaster! I have no idea what`s going on, and I need some answers!" She gave as much of a smile as she could to Birdy and Lightning. "Sorry about that, I've had a rough day."

And inside...

Aylin, like everyone else in the room, heard the knocks at the door. She knew they would come, but she couldn`t understand how that was possible. Unless it's been a weird coincidence...
Sliver stared at the door a bit puzzled, not knowing what to do.
"Open it, hon," Aylin smiled.
Selena secretely exchanged a few words with Mel. Aylin was too preoccupied to pay any attention to them. She saw then Adara, Birdy and Li standing in front of the door.

"Can we talk to Prof Chateaunoir, please?" - Li dared locking Sliver's look with her gaze. It was something like a fire burning behind those eyes: a reddish sparkle.
"She's not feeling well..." - the Headmaster's answer came.
"I'm okay, everyone... Umm..." She pause, unable to take her eyes off Li and her friends. She felt that burning gaze. And she also felt something coming from Birdy.

As for Adara, she couldn't help but stare at Sliver. She didn't know what she was doing: expecting a clue maybe, a word, an explanation. But Sliver didn`t seem to notice that. He was acting as if nothing has happened.

"Umm... could you please leave me alone for a second with the girls? I'm sure they have something important to tell me..."
Chateaunoir's words puzzled the other professors, but they did leave the room, not without a little suspicion that something weird was going to happen the moment they'd be out.
And out they were...
"What happened?" - Aylin's first question came as she tried to sit up.

Adara looked flustered and her face was red. "What happened is that I was knocked unconscious by some stupid glowy light thingy for who knows how long, and then taken to some place with a whole lot of mist, and then scared half to death, and then brought back here." Adara said in one long breath. "And then I saw the headmaster, and he said something about me being chosen by the stupid light thingy, but I don't wanna be chosen! And then I was back in the corridor I was knocked unconcious in!"

Lightning patiently waited for Adara to finish her rant, keeping her eyes locked on Aylin. Once Adara was done, Lightning calmly stated, "You called me."

She saw the questioning look in Aylin's eyes but continued on, motioning for Birdy to roll up her sleeve, then pointing to the bite once it was up. "And Birdy here...well, she has a bit of a problem..." Lightning fell silent then, continuing to look at Aylin with the red sparkle in her eye.

Birdy had fallen silent, but after rolling up her sweater, she bit her lower lip and said, "I'm so terribly confused here... What is going on?" She ran a frustrated hand through her hair and sighed. "Anyone care to explain things to me?"

The Bite

2005-03-16T08:08:00.000-05:00

Birdy brushed herself off. "Er, sorry, no, I'm not sure EXACTLY where she is, but I DID HEAR her earlier," She paused and hissed, "In the forbidden corridor... but sh! I'm not supposed to tell anyone I've been." She shifted her sweater-covered in front of her body, "By the way..." she rolled up the sleeve to reveal two deep cuts, "Any idea what this is? Woke up with it this mornin' and I haven't a clue..."

Lightning's eyes widened as she looked at Birdy's 'cut'. She gently grabbed Birdy's arm and moved it closer so she could see it. After a few seconds of examining, Lightning rolled the sleeve back down and dropped her arm. "Keep that covered," She said softly. "That's a wer...bite. You should come with me to see Prof. Chateaunoir." Lightning turned away from Birdy and started walking down the hall, hoping she'd follow.

The Strange Man

She woke up in the Headmaster's office. Sliver was watching her carefully and smiled when she opened her eyes. "How are you feeling?" Adara was still too shocked and scared to answer his question. She simply nodded. "I'm sorry it had to happen to you Adara... We didn't want that, but now you know."

"You mean it was real?" the student questioned, eyes fixing Sliver. This time it was the Headmaster's time to nod. But "Shhhh", he said, bringing a finger to his lips. It's between you and the other teachers. The students don't know and they are not supposed to know, unless we really have to tell them. Besides, you've been chosen by the light. You are to help us now... It was decided."

"I don't understand..." Adara whispered.
"Yes you do..." he interrupted. "The answer to your question is "Yes, you are"...
"Which question?"
"The most important one" Sliver smiled and simply vanished. Adara opened her eyes again. It felt like a blink but now she was on the same corridor where she'd been struck by the light. Selkia was next to her, calling her name. What has just happened?

The Feeling

Birdy swore, then mumbled a bit about the soggy oatmeal, "Bloody hell, WHAT?!" She asked as she jogged to keep up with Lightning.
* * *
Aylin was still lying in her bed. She had a weird feeling at a moment... As if she could smell something approaching, something powerful. Something that felt her presence as well. She couldn't see anything but she KNEW that something was there. Someone was looking for her. "Do we have any intruders in the castle? I feel someone's presence"

Selena winked. "How can you sense someone's presence, Aylin? Your body is still recovering, so is your mind..."
"I think it's the hat... We have an Animagus among us, in the castle. And not ANY animagus but..." she stopped watching the others carefully.
"I want my hat" she ordered in an attempt to stand up. "And Mel... Your creatures should be brought to Kwadleigh..."

Something happens to Adara

2005-03-15T03:18:00.000-05:00

The red light started strolling around the castle... as if it had a life of its own... No, it didn't pass through walls... but just floated on the corridors on the 2nd floor. The humid hot air covered them all in no time... The light had no shape... It was just red and its core was green... and the more time would pass, the greener it would get.

And then it met a student and her cat. The cat hissed and Adara had only time to open her eyes wide... had no time to panic... The light simply hit her and knocked her down. Then it just vanished, leaving things as if nothing had happened. It was again a cat who started running towards the Professor's Headquarters. Adara was lying on the floor and her eyes were opened. She had a dreamy look.

Birdy bumped into...

Lightning made a noise that sounded like a growl. She slowly pulled herself up off the floor while trying to calm down. She gave Birdy a distracted nod without looking at her. "It's okay...I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going either." Lightning's eyes finally came to a rest on Birdy and she cocked her head slightly to the side. "Have you seen Professor Chateaunoir? I really need to speak with her but I can't seem to..." Lightning's
voice trailed off and she bent over, clutching her stomach and swaying slightly. After a few seconds she straightened up and gave Birdy a weak smile. "So, have you seen her?"

Adara's "Vision" while ...asleep?

Adara awoke surrounded by mist. Slowly she got to her feet and looked around. "What happened? Where are we? Darkstar, do you think....Darkstar? Darkstar? Where are you?" Adara looked around frantically for her cat, but all she could see was mist. Slowly she started moving forward. "Hello?" she cried out. "Can anybody hear
me?" To her right, something moved in the mist. "Who's there?" She was answered with silence. Adara started moving forwards again. Ahead of her a small house was barely visible. Adara started running towards it and had almost knocked on the door when she heard a mans voice inside saying, "The preparations are almost complete my Lord, our forces will soon be ready for attack."

Adara ducked down and crawled under one of the windows.
"Very good, commander. And what have you learned about this wizarding school...Kwadleigh." A second voice said.
"My Lord, it is only a school for children, surely we have more important things for our spies to work on..."
"Fool!" boomed the second voice. "There are powerful witches and wizards residing there. It will be no easy task to take it over. Find out what you can and soon" At that moment Adara heard the front door to the house swing open.

"Yes, soldier, what is it" said the commander.
"Sir, there is someone lurking about outside somewhere in the mist."
"What! How could anyone have found there way here!" The second voice said "Go out and find them! Bring them back to me to deal with."

Adara gasped in shock. She heard the soldier go running off into the mist. "Adara" she heard a voice behind her say. Adara swirled around and saw a strange man standing before her. "You've heard enough. It's time to go back now. Take my hand." The man extended his hand to her. Adara hesitated, then thought about those looking for her in the mist and gave him her hand. And then everything went black.

Aylin's waking up

2005-03-14T05:12:00.000-05:00

Adara strolled through the castle gardens barefoot, humming softly to herself. The cool breeze hit her face, and there was a sense of peacefulness in the air. Then she looked up and saw a green light coming from a tower in the castle. "What in the world could that be?" she asked her cat. A look of shock and realization came over her face as she gasped, "that's the forbidden corridor!" The light then changed to red and she knew that something was wrong. Adara started running up to the castle. "Come on, Darkstar, lets find out whats happening!" Darkstar mumbled as she ran, "You know what they say, curiosity killed the human..."

When Aylin opened her eyes she had no recollection of what actually happened. She was lying on her own bed and the ceiling was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. She's been in a world without dreams, though she had a very weird feeling about the whole thing now. Let's see... the egg... the green egg. That's all she could recall. And then there was that sniffling - the blue cat. Oh, it must have been Spark. Oh, dear Spark!! Such a wonderful creature he was!

She tried to sit up. Sounds of voices were coming from the other side of the door.

"Damn, Melody... This is serious. And it's getting worse every time! What next?" She wondered if that was Sliver's voice. She couldn't understand Melody's words though... but they sounded cut, nervous, agitated. Now and then Selena would interrupt: "She's right, Sliver..."

It was completely stupid... Aylin sighed and lied back again. Only now she realized that her hat was not on her head anymore. She gave a high-pitched cry and jumped up again.

"Where did you put it?!" she cried the moment the door opened.
"Are you alright?"
But Selena's question was ignored. Aylin hissed, eyes crossed with fury. "Where IS IT?"

They simply stared at each other. Aylin question came again, this time booming in their ears: "WHERE... IS IT?!"
"Aylin... you aren't feeling well. The hat is in my room..." Sliver smiled. "There is nothing to worry about"

"Don't you tell me what to worry and NOT worry about!" the reply came. Her eyes were darkening and as her rage grew she felt that weird *thing* in her arms and legs again. "Dammit!" she grumbled as she fell back on the bed. "I don't care how I feel. You have no idea whatsoever of what is actually happening. I *need* that hat!!"

"You CAN'T have it now..." Melody sighed. "Aylin, you can't do it... It started controlling you. You can't keep it anymore. You aren't strong enough. We can't take that risk..."

"I'm afraid it's not up to you or Sliver or Selena... not even up to me!"

"It'll be full moon tomorrow...Aylin" Selena whispered. "That's why I need it!"

Sliver took out a small bottle from his pocket. "You need to drink this..." "And I need my hat as well... What's more important now: the safety of Kwadleigh or my life?"

There was a small pause. "And I think the time has come for the egg to show its power... and the mana should help it too"

Someone's got a secret

2005-03-13T01:11:00.000-05:00

Selkia was alone in her room of the Silver Dragon Tower. She was engrossed in browsing the books on magic she received as a present for her birthday. Suddenly, she heard a scratching noise at the window. She got up and let one of the school’s white owls get in. ”Mmm, a letter from cousin Ron…

Let’s see… I hope he finally decided to leave that school of magic he enrolled at and come to study at Kwadleigh…” While reading, Selkia’s already big green eyes started growing bigger, her hands were trembling holding the piece of paper and her entire body was shivering.

”No waaaaay, finally something interesting is about to happen at Kwadleigh!!! I moved here a short time ago and I bore myself to death”, she grinned.

”Hmmmm, let’s see what the others feel about this. Could a professor actually be an Animagus? That’s so exciting, it’ll definitely remove the monotonous atmosphere during classes”, she said to herself, putting on her purple robe, grabbing her wand and hurrying towards the Silver Dragon living-room. She was so surprised when she found nobody in.

”Weren’t they supposed to do their “Potions” homework?” she thought. ”I surely hope they aren’t getting themselves in any trouble, so that we can lose more points”, she whispered sadly. ”Oh well, Principal Sliver has to hear about this. I can’t tell students from the other houses, I don’t know them that well and rumors may start to spread. Neither can I tell the professors, for I don’t know exactly which one is an Animagus. Why on earth didn’t we find out about this sooner?

I thought the Animagi were all registered at the Ministry of Magic!”. Without realising, she began to speak up. By that time, she had already reached Principal Sliver’s door. But a soft noise made her turn her head; Principal Sliver was standing in front of her, frowning and having a threatening look in his eyes: ”Selkia!!! Oh, my, aren’t you the most restless student around! Haven’t I and Professor Chateaunoir told you dozens of times to mind you own business and stop inquiring about the others’ lives?!?!” he yelled.

”Bbbbbut,Sir…” Selkia stuttered. ”I was only trying to help!” she excused herself, shrugging her shoulders. I’ve just received a letter from my cousin Ron, who is studying witchcraft and wizardry in England. Please read it, it’s not a rumor, it’s a true fact that he found out by accident. And there are plenty of arguments in favor of this. One of the Kwadleigh professors is an Animagus. See for yourself”, she added, giving Sir Sliver the letter.

And Sliver's reaction was "too" normal...

Sliver read the letter and sighed. "Oh well, strange things happen. You shouldn't worry about all this, Selkia..." he said after a while. "We have everything under control" Selkia smiled but her question was still there, lying on her lips: *One of the teachers is an Animagus! *

*They know* Sliver's first thought was. *And this is not good...* He wanted to say something but he felt a strange urge to run and check Aylin's room. It was one minute before Adara's Darkstar entered the corridor... and she bumped into Selkia.

As Melody finds Aylin, Birdy...

Birdy stomped back up to her dormitory, upset that her sexuality had been questioned (in the Morning Owl's article), yet in an odd way pleased that her name was always in the rumor mill... was 'mysterious' a way to describe what is true Birdy-ness? She thought about this for a moment then scoffed at the thought, because she had most DEFINITELY made herself well known for having a superstition against oatmeal, and having a semi-wonderful singing voice. Mysterious?! Hah. Maybe if you were asleep and she woke you up wearing a mask and holding a miniature purple elephant would Birdy ever be even somewhat mysterious. She laughed out loud at the thought of wearing a mask and holding a miniature purple elephant.

BOOM! THUMP! "OW!" "OI!" Birdy found her self butt on the ground, her glasses astray, and red-brown hair all in her face, "Oh for the love of Mike!" she muttered, "I swear it's that oatmeal! WHY did I have to be so fixated on the bloody mail?!" She picked herself up and stuck her glasses into her pocket, turned to the poor soul she walked into, and sort of half-smiled, "Sorry something terrible you know. I'm sort of clumsy. I can do foutes (sorry, I really can't spell in French, it's the spinney things in ballet/dance in general, you have to keep spinning and spinning, if you've seen "Center Stage" Jodie does fourteen at the end of Cooper's ballet...), but I can't walk to my dormitory properly."

The "IT"

2005-03-12T01:04:00.000-05:00

Aylin was surrounded by darkness and the smoke coming out from under her hat was making her choke. "Stop it!" she grumbled and her words were followed by some weird noises. "One day it will happen!" she whispered but her mouth barely opened and her voice was very deep.

"One day nothing will happen! One day there will be no more smoke coming out!"

She was walking in the darkness... 50 steps. It seemed like she knew the corridor by heart. The wand was in her hand and her eyes had a weird sparkle. It was getting hot. She felt the need to take off her hat but she knew she wasn't allowed to. "It's dark, eh?" the weird voice echoed again. Aylin didn’t answer though...

"I bet my body likes it..." A humid hot air was hitting her face. It felt like a sauna. It was terrible. Then she finally stopped, paused and listened carefully. Her finger touched something on the left side and another door opened. Soon she found herself somewhere up, in one of the Kwadleigh's Towers. There was a small hole in the wall allowing the fresh air to enter the room.

But still, it smelled like meat. Raw meat. The walls were covered by green plants and had a smoky color. Aylin kneeled next to the big package lying in the middle of the room. She unwrapped it slowly... very carefully. IT was the same package that arrived a week ago at Kwadleigh. A green light spread in the dark room and
Aylin's hat started bouncing on her head.

The thing in front of her looked like a big and hard egg. More like a rock... transparent green light was passing through it like fog and a small something was moving inside. "It better work" she sighed as she took out from under her robe a potion. The words that followed belonged to something no one has heard before. A muttering... she was muttering commands, or at least that is how it sounded by the tone of her voice. The liquid surrounded the egg and the light changed to red.

"It works. I better let Mel and Selena know it... " She tried to stand up... The smoke grew denser and denser... Aylin covered her mouth... She felt her body changing... then, without realizing, her eyes closed and she fell down. "It's too soon... It cannot happen" she managed to think. If only the others would come to find her before it was too late! She saw a cat in her mind.. a blue cat sniffling on her face...

* * *
The blue cat that was sniffling at Professor Aylin's face was Spark, the same cat that had caught the girls entering the forbidden corridor not that long ago. Spark knew the school, well, probably better than the professors, ghosts and builders themselves, he could get to the other side of the school in a minute flat, under even, if he ran.
He continued to sniff around her body, picking up all needed information, keeping back from the now red colored egg like object.

Then he ran, to anyone watching they would have gasped as he ran at the north wall, going straight through it, at anyone's watching relief. Within less then a minute Spark showed up in a southern corridor, closer to ground level, where he met another male cat, this cat was a brown-lilac color and of the tonkinese breed, where as Spark was a blue Persian... they sniffed around each other, purred a hello and then started meow-ing at each other, paws going up and down at times as if in a cat sign language.

Spark hissed suddenly, the other cat's head went to one side and bolted. He ran so fast he skidded to halt at Professor Riddle's, sliding across the waxed wooden floor the last stretch of the way. "Loki, Baby! What's wrong?" (Loki being Prof. Riddle's cat) "Mow" His paws reaching up in the air in front of him, clawing the air air in a slow, gentle motion, meaning danger.

"Oh, Dear! Aylin! Where is she?" Loki turned tail and quickly trotted off, his head turning now and then to make sure she was following. Melody followed Loki till they came to the top of the stairs outside of the forbidden corridor, there they were meet by Spark, the two cats circled each other and Loki ran off again, back to his post and duties. Spark looked up at the professor before him, his head bowed and he turned to face the wall now in front of him, his tail twitched waiting for Mel to produced the words. The ancient words passed her lips and the seal broke, the door opened. "After you sweetie" Mel said to Spark.

The professors rush to the corridor

2005-03-11T02:00:00.000-05:00

Melody and Aylin were hurrying towards the forbidden corridor. Melody had already got used to Aylin's mumblings, so the moment Prof. Chateaunoir started talking to herself again, she didn't say a word. The whole thing went on for a minute, then:

"If I were you I'd be more careful, Aylin" she sighed. "They KNOW something".

"What do you want me to do?? It's driving me crazy already. I can't leave it in my room!!"

"Sure you can't!! But try to find something ... Smoke coming out of your hat: for god's sake, even *I* would start wondering if i didn'tknow any better."

Chateaunoir simply smiled and nodded her head. The echo of their footsteps could be heard all through the corridor. They were both nervous... Now and then one of the pictures would try to get into conversation with them, but they wouldn't care.

The cat was again in front of the door, meowing desperately. Aylin's eyes widened. "It cannot be!" Melody looked at the door - it was not closed properly. "Who left it open?" she grumbled. "This cannot be happening!"

"And the cat is saying some students got inside!"

"What?" Prof Riddle boomed. Her eyes darkened and she suddenly seemed to grow in the darkness of the corridor. "And the password?" she cried at the poor animal. It meowed again. "Great!! Someone reset it! Who did it though?" The cat wouldn't know.

There was a small silence. Mel simply stared at Aylin and Aylin stared back at Mel. "We should find the students" Melody whispered. She pointed to Aylin's hat: "More smoke!" "Yeah, I know!!" the answer came. "Don't you think I feel it?"

"Spark, go call the Headmaster! Right now!! And I want Prof. Grinch in my office in 15 minutes! Aerusmaelioumytaikeaesculae... " the words poored out of her mouth. It was an order and it was repeated a couple of times. The weird language didn't scare Melody though. She knew the secret. She, Prof. Grinch, the Headmaster and Aylin were the only ones who knew it. Such secrets cannot be trust in other hands.

"Let's step inside!" Prof Riddle invited and she opened the door.

In front of the them, the corridor lay dark and quiet. There were no pictures on the walls here and the walls, once painted in red, had a smoky color now. Chateaunoir's Hat started to bounce on her head. "Should be around here, somewhere..." she whispered. "The students?" "No... " Aylin went on. "NOT the students... IT!" "You let
it walk around like this??" Melody cried in surprise. "Nooooo... But someone else did! And I'm gonna find out who"

There were no students around. "Maybe they got lost in one of the secondary corridors?" "Hopefully not!"

"I'll go inside. You should look for them here! I am sure no one could enter the ROOM. And IT should be around the THING. "

And Aylin stepped in front of one of the walls. "Silver werewolf" The wall opened and allowed her to step in.

Melody remained in the corridor wondering. Where could they be? The labyrinth of corridors was immense. It would matter on which side of the door you'd enter... The 1st one was leading to another corridor that would lead you to the great hall from behind a statue. The second one was the one she was founding herself in now. And the third one was again leading to this, but a few steps further, to a point from where you could come back here or enter the third corridor. She didn't know what to do...

Aylin, on the other side, knew what She had to do in there...

And from three remained two

2005-03-10T01:44:00.000-05:00

Aliana smiled at her, then she frowned. " I... I have to go do some work I promised I would do as soon as I got here." And with this she rushed off. As she entered the Phoenix common room, she looked around at the golden decorations.

This place looked comfortable and accommodating. With a moment's hesitation, she whistled, a sharp, piercing sound. At that moment, a slim blue-grey cat jumped down the stairs. She smiled. "I thought you would be up here." Aliana said.

The cat purred happily, and leapt into Aliana's lap. " I'm not sure if I will fit in here, Lune" she said sorrowfully. "You will learn to fit in, Ali." The cat's voice came, a soft purr. "You're right." She said with a deep breath. "I just have to try to fit in." Aliana smiled at her, then she frowned.

* * *
Adara and Birdy watched Aliana run out of sight. "Hmm... seems a bit shy, doesn't she? Oh well, maybe she has the right idea. We're gonna get caught if we stay standing here much longer. Let's try one of those doors off to the side..."

Birdy ran her hand along the wall until she found a doorknob, "This one ya think?" she opened it and slid in. Adara slid in after Birdy. "A-choo! Kinda dusty in here isn't it. And dark. Now what was that spell..." She took out her wand from the inside of her robes "Lumos!" The end of Adara's wand lit up so that they could see the room clearly.

Birdy's eyes shifted from side to side, as soon as Adara lit her wand, she covered her eyes, "Ahh! Not the light! 'Tis blinding!" she laughed, she stopped when she heard the footsteps that could only belong to a professor, first, the heel went down, then the toe... She bit her bottom lip. Voices were outside, though she didn't really want to know what they were saying. Birdy was beginning to wish that she hadn't wonderfully thought to go down the forbidden corridor...

"You know Adara, clumpy oatmeal DOES put a damper on the entire day..." she smiled, "But we DID find out, that there IS something they DON'T want us to know about..." Adara sighed. "unfortunately, this incident has peaked my curiosity. Now that I know they are hiding something, I want to know what it is. Hey look, isn't that Andrew at the end of the hall?" Adara yelled to him and waved.

"Yes..." Birdy said, "Yes, I think that is him," she ran a hand through her hair frustrated, "WHAT is in there?...If they don't want us to see it, then it must be something IMPORTANT!"

The forbidden corridor

2005-03-09T04:00:00.000-05:00

Soon after, Adara and Aliana met Birdy

Birdy grinned, almost wickedly, "So, the forbidden corridor," she hissed, "Fun, eh?" she changed her voice a bit to a lighter, more playful Birdy, "Don't suppose you've read the gossips this week? Rather hilarious stuff you know..."

She pulled out a bit of the newspaper from that morning and read, "'It was recently rumored that Birdy, who is said to be in the Silver Dragon house, was seen hanging out with "Death Eaters", the supposed servants of You-Know-Who. This reporter thinks that this "Birdy" should be put under a truth potion and questioned about this. People who hang out with Death Eaters are nothing but troubled and should be expelled from school!' Ha!" she laughed, "hanging out with death eaters? what do they think I'm doing, having tea with the Malfoys? going for breakie with the Goyles?" she shook her head. "Oh well," she laughed and stuffed the paper back into her jeans pocket, "Oh yeah, and if you wanna read anymore of that gibberish, it's under 'Rumors with Rudy'..."

Birdy grinned maliciously, "So, let's go..." they rounded into the forbidden corridor, and her eyes widened, smiling, she turned to the others, "So... Let's go!"

Aliana followed the girls, trying not to look so confused. She smiled at the rumor Birdy read out. 'Has there been trouble lately with Death Eaters?' She asked, curious.

* * *

As the girls, Birdy, Aliana and Adara walked the corridors leading to the forbidden corridor, they giggled and laughed about the paper and all the silly rumors flying around, the girls themselves began to jump to conclusions and new rumors began to form amongst them.

Finally they got to the big oak door that lead to the forbidden corridor, there sat a brown cat, he mowed at them. "Typical" said Birdy, "caught by a cat".

Then they heard professor like footsteps coming up the stairs behind them, any moment they'd be caught, they were trapped, couldn't go backwards, couldn't go forwards.... or could they?

"Even more typical!" Birdy whispered, "Caught by a Proffesor too! unless..." she opened the large door and slipped inside, as did the others.

"Hurry up and get inside you guys! Close the door." Adara looked around at the dark corridor. "I wonder why this corridor is forbidden..."

"I dunno," Birdy whispered, "But there must be a reason... because if it's forbidden there's something back here. And I intend to find out exactly what that is! I also intend to find out what's under Professor Chateaunoir's hat!" she smiled, "Not to be nosey, but it's my nature!"

The timetable

2005-03-08T04:33:00.000-05:00

Aliana walked down the hallway, her chin up and her books neatly resting on her hip. She looked down at her timetable. She looked up again, then tried to figure out where she was, then where to go. She shifted her books, then stood up the nearest stairs. They ended abruptly. She turned around with a sigh, and glared at a laughing face who was watching her. She paused, then turned to a teacher who was nearby. "Excuse me, Professor, how do I get here?" She pointed to her list, and shifted her books again as she waited.

* * *
Aylin smiled at the newcomer. "Aliana... Adara... Adara... Aliana..." The two girls shook hands.

"Well, I'm afraid all you can do is turn back, walk to the 1st floor again, walk on the corridor till the Crazy Daisy picture, tell her the password: "Flying Brooms" and then, once you get on the other side, turn left right away... and go up once you reach the stairs. The list will be on your right. One thing to keep in mind... this list likes to move every 30 minutes, so if you think you can't find your way there, either wait here, or Adara can take you there if she has time. *smiles* On special occasions, especially during exams, you will notice that our list becomes a little MORE active than normal, and sometimes WE even have to try to locate it by using special maps."

She then mumbled something about crazy lists and firing it and about stupid hats... and ran away.

Something important comes with owl-mail

2005-03-07T12:51:00.000-05:00

Prof Riddle looked tired indeed. She did her best to look great that morning but her hair was still in all directions. There was a sparkle in her eyes though - probably a result of her mood. Visiting Shandalar was a wonderful idea not only for its inhabitants - who, just like Melody, had to leave for some special reason - but for any tourist that needed a little peace.

Last time Aylin visited the place, Shandalar was still a completely free and calm area, no threats coming from outside. It was a time when You-Know-Who had barely reached his power. Beautiful times, indeed. But then, of course, everything changed: repeated attacks took place against Shandalar and everything was over only when HE was annihilated. The bad times returned now though. And it was a powerful and hated come-back!

* * *
Aylin was completely lost in her thoughts when another owl came and dropped something very large, wrapped in a beige paper, on her head. The little flying thing was Jim-Jam, one of the oldest owls the school had. The eyes were bright red, very uncommon, and the feathers were light orange.

Aylin's face became all a smile. "It was about time, hm, Jim-Jam?" The funny owl nodded and bit her hat.

"IT came?" Melody whispered. Aylin nodded. She wanted to open the package right there, but she knew better than that.

Melody's look was locked on the students' tables: "It's too soon for them to see it." She was right. Too soon indeed. But a couple of eyes were already on her: it was impossible to hide such a large thing, that comes in the room brought by such a weird owl and then, to top it all, falls onto your head. Such things don't happen everyday, not even in the Wizards' world!

"Well... I can't say he rushed to send it but I'm happy we got it!!" She looked up and fixed her eyes on Birdy who was staring towards their table. She tried to ignore the look.

"They'll know it's a secret" Melody smiled. "Especially since you refuse to open it here! Just wait for the rumors!" Aylin laughed. "So what do you think they can say now, Mel? That maybe I brought You-Know-Who in the school, having him wrapped in a large package?" She chuckled.

There was a short pause, then: "You outta put an interdiction for the 4th corridor on the 2nd floor, Aylin!"

Aylin nodded. "I think I will send someone to call Prof. Grinch from his room. He should keep a better eye on that area. Our little curious students will be all around the corridor the moment I open my mouth to tell them it's a 'restricted place' ".

She could barely hear Melody's voice in her ear: "Change the password too, Aylin."

"I'll leave that to you" Prof. Chateaunoir smiled and went back to her breakfast.

There was a strange silence in the room though. Whispers everywhere, lowered heads, funny smiles - she could see them all but preferred not to show she understood what they meant.

* * *
Adara glanced over to the teachers' table, and then focused again on The Morning Owl. She showed the paper to Ravenclaw sitting next to her. "Will you look at these wild rumors. I don't believe this about anyone in our school! Not for a minute! and especially what they are saying about the teachers. More trouble in Shandalar. How's you're mana magic coming along?"

Early in the morning

2005-03-06T10:09:00.000-05:00

Morning. 7am. It had been raining for the past 3 days and everyone's general mood was down. At their tables, the students were still yawning, half asleep and half bored, noses in their cups of tea or milk.

Nothing interesting seemed to happen. The owls had problems delivering the newspapers, packages and even letters. And if one managed to get in in time, then it would be all wet from the drops of rain.

The bad things happening outside Kwadleigh didn't matter that much anymore. Even the teachers were not that talkative. Professor Chateaunoir hadn't opened her mouth at all and the others didn't seem to be too willing to talk either. If the room could yawn, it surely would.

Now and then a clumsy and sleepy student would drop something on the floor and that would finally make some noise, startle the other half-dreaming students... But then... the same boring silence. Suddenly... a distant sound... wings?? Approaching... more wings...

"Oh finally!! NEWS!" was the only and first thought passing through Chateaunoir's head. And as she finally looked up from her coffee, she couldn't help but notice the broad smiles on everyone's faces.

"Well, I hope at least the news about the weather will be good!!" Zimfindell cried as she grabbed "The Morning Owl" with both hands.

Riddle chuckled, not really paying attention to the others. It seemed like she found a most exquisite article. "What now, Mel?" Chateaunoir smiled. "Don't tell me they finally decided to write some "wonderful" things about us. Yeah right.. as if..."

"No... it's just that they announced again... beautiful weather for tomorrow."
"Does that mean we need to buy umbrellas?"
"Yeah... Same old stupid things. Are they ever gonna write something interesting?? You cannot even believe them! More rumors than facts!"

Looking at the students' tables Aylin couldn't help but murmur: "So where did the silence go?" Well, obviously it was gone: Andrew was shouting something towards the Phoenix. Adara was lost in a very deep conversation with Raven. Unicorns were a lot more active than normal and seemed very preoccupied about something, and the Vampires... just muffled laughs coming out from that side of the room.

"Again? I wonder what's it about now" Prof Riddle sighed and shook her head.

The Beginning

2005-03-05T05:48:00.000-05:00

Kwadleigh School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a Hogwarts-like preparatory school with a history dating back many generations. However, certain archives were lost throughout history and little recollection of past events remained, especially since the school was closed for 25 years until 2002.

We do know that Kwadleigh Castle was first built in 1432. It is located in Transylvania, Romania but its exact location is kept secret due to permanent problems with the Muggle world and the Dark Forces.

Kwadleigh School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was founded by a great wizard, Maximus Kwadleigh. It was a time when witches were burnt, when the Muggles in Transylvania were fighting for their independence and when the wizardry world was trying to survive. Many countries had similar schools, but it was a first in the Transylvanian region.

Of course, Maximus Kwadleigh wasn't the only one who made this school possible. There were other extremely important wizards and witches who sacrificed themselves only to build such a place. They are the founders of the 4 Kwadleigh Houses.

The Founders of the Houses were Vlad Vampirelli (Vampire Wizard) for Red Vampire, Romulus Viperinus (Shaman Wizard) for Golden Phoenix, Merlin Inoculatum (Psychic Wizard) for Blue Unicorn, and Serena Regenta (Knight Wizard) for Silver Dragon.

Such information survived to this day as they were carved in the walls of the Castle. Yet, a lot of information on what happened throughout the years have been lost. We do know that the Castle was rebuilt a few times as it was nearly demolished during wizardry battles.

With Aylin Chateaunoir having the Castle rebuilt in 2002 and assuming the position of Head Mistress, it could be said that Kwadleigh was reborn. In her efforts she was accompanied by Melody Riddle and Selena Zimfindell, the heads of the Red Vampire and Blue Unicorn houses.

In 2002, the school accepted first year students only. This is the time when students like Adara, Birdy, Raven, Alfa, Selkia, Aliana, Beki, Jasmin, and Lightning found themselves in numerous adventures in Kwadleigh Castle.