A Secret Society (Closed RP)

[Kip]

Weatherby attempted his best to look casual as he walked down the corridor. He made sure his feet fell naturally, softly but not too softly; he made eye contact with students he passed, but not too much eye contact; he adopted a face, blank yet friendly - his best impression of "unassuming".

Of course, for all his effort, it was largely spoiled by his little sister Waverly, now an eager second-year, who trotted along in his wake. The jovial, social girl was openly greeting nearly every student they passed, and nearly bounced off the walls in her excitement to be joining Weatherby to see this strange place he'd told her about over the summer holiday. She stopped short of divulging their intention though - despite her friendly nature, she still could prioritize, and would never do anything to betray her favorite Big-Wig.

They turned a corner, then another, then another, and there it was: a long, empty corridor with tall vaults and cobwebs hanging from the highest points.

"It looks like no one's been down this way in centuries," she marveled, staring straight upwards.

"That's the hope," Weatherby said grimly, counting the doors as they passed. "Five... Six... Seven. This is it." Weatherby reached out and pulled the door open.

The pair were greeted by a flutter of red and orange, followed by a vase lighting up like some kind of ancient torch. Weatherby quickly shut the door. "Cecil!" he said, a knowing smile on his face. "I'd expected to be the first here today. Seems you've got the right idea though, getting to work right away."

Waverly took approximately no seconds to begin exploring the contents of the room, poking at vases and peeking in every corner. "Wicked! This is a great place to practice some spells."

Weatherby grinned, excited to resume their secret practice sessions again. It would only be a matter of time before the new invitees would begin to show up...

[Barry Goldwater]

"'Course," Cecil grinned at Weatherby and Waverly, still flush with success over the jet of fire that had knocked down his targeted vase. "No sense wasting time in flourishing our wands or talking too much when our job's to practice here, right? C'mon, let's get down to business. I think we ought to focus more on curses this time, they're awfully stronger than those hexes we've been sniping at all last year." Repairing and resetting the vase, he stared it down once again and produced a slashing motion with his wand, the incantation "Petrificus Totalus!" springing from his lips.

[Pontifex Maximus]

Atticus left the Slytherin common room by himself, leaving Violeta to decide for herself if she wanted to come. After all, Slytherins were rather independent. Secretly Atticus wished she would come along, but he was not going to wait around for her to decide. The note perplexed him. He had a pretty good idea who had sent the note, but in the back of his mind he sensed danger. He made his way up to the portrait and recalled the directions...left down this corridor...right down the other...seventh door.

By the time he reached the portrait he was panting lightly. So many steps had to be climbed from the dungeons to reach this spot. So now he had to go left. the corridors seemed deserted. Maybe this was some sort of trap set by other students miffed by his comments in transfiguration? Professor Forsyth seemed to take particular offense to it, so why not others?

The sun was setting anyway, providing an excuse to have his wand at the ready. He drew it and spoke the incantation "lumos." He felt comforted by the pale light emanating from his wand. He took the next right down a cold corridor that seemed completely devoid of light and finally made another left. Now to find the 7th door.

He stopped outside it and knocked.

[Kip]

Weatherby flashed his eyebrows up and down. Our first guest.

The beat on the door was correct, but considering they were violating a number of school rules, it wouldn't hurt to be cautious. He pointed his wand at the door, cleared his throat, and molded his voice into his best impression of a Hogwarts ghost. After all, if someone else had managed to get their hands on the note, they could end up finding their secret room - and they'd have to be sure not to open the door if that were the case. "Yes? Who is it?"

Waverly looked back and forth between Cecil and Weatherby, before shrugging her shoulders and pointing her wand at the door as well.

[Pontifex Maximus]

Atticus heard a muffled response that sounded a bit like the deepening voice of Weatherby. He decided to respond vaguely.

"Royalty." Came the reply. Atticus leveled his wand at the door, ready to counter any attack that might spring from it once opened.

[Kip]

Weatherby glanced to his friends. It's Atticus. "Royalty, eh? What are you doing arou-" Weatherby's distorted words were quickly interrupted by a spat of coughing. He doubled-over for a moment, putting his hands on his knees as his throat spasmed. He slowly rose up, pursed his lips, and gently pulled open the door. "Right. Hello Atticus, glad you've decided to join us." Noticing the outstretched wand, he beckoned for his friend to enter the room. "You've come prepared. Come in, have a look around."

He peeked his head out the door, and looked down both directions of the corridor. "Is it just you, then?"

[Pontifex Maximus]

I should have known it was you two. Violeta decided not to come. She thought it might be a trap, so I came prepared for anything. What is this place, then?

Atticus stepped over the threshold and looked around.

[Kip]

"This, Atticus, is our training room," said Weatherby, spreading his arms. "Cecil found it our first year. It's got some old vases for targets, plenty of space to move around. This is where we want to teach ourselves the things our professors won't."

[Pontifex Maximus]

You've been at this since year one and I'm only now getting invited?

Atticus put his hand over his heart

This pains me, my dear gryffindors. He said with a note of sarcasm in his voice

It is a shame that the dueling club isn't active any more. I quite enjoyed it. So what do we do, duel eachother? Practice spells?

[Kip]

Weatherby grinned, a laugh escaping his lips. "Blame Cecil. He didn't even tell me about this place until I lost it in Transfiguration last year."

He began slowly walking about the chamber. "You've just about got it figured out. We want to teach ourselves the magic that our professors won't. Maldow's lost his teeth ever since the incident in the forest - can't blame him really, he doesn't want to risk another student getting hurt on his watch. We've been learning theory, but what we need to learn is how to defend ourselves. Forsyth's gone looney. Another Herbology professor's on leave, not to mention Gaputa. The only thing that has been constant these past few years is us."

He turned around once he reached the opposite end of the chamber. "We can practice spells in here, on the vases and chairs. We can duel too, if you're willing. Should probably learn some healing first, though."

[Barry Goldwater]

"It slipped my mind," Cecil laughed. "Anyway, yeah, what Weatherby said. We've been training here 'cause honestly, I can't wait for another practical session in DADA, and it isn't easy to focus in Transfiguration either when Forsyth could explode at you over any little thing."

"Anyway, I say we practice first, then move on to duels later. I hope at least some of us knows some healing charms, heh, would look pretty bad if we started heading down to the Hospital Wing with obviously magical injuries."

Cecil points his wand at the vase again and spoke the incantation to his next curse, picturing the vase going up in flames and violently exploding into a thousand or more little fragments, "Confringo!"

[Kip]

Cecil's wand spit out a few flames, but the light quickly snuffed out.

[Barry Goldwater]

Clucking his tongue irritably, Cecil leveled his wand at the vase and tried a different curse, though he again pictured the vase exploding into smithereens in his mind. "Reducto!"

[Kip]

The vase Cecil was aiming at nearly dissolved away into miniscule gray shards, which puffed outwards before lilting to the floor.

Weatherby nodded in appreciation. "Cecil has been the ambitious one so far. He pulverizes these vases with all of these fancy spells, and I usually just manage to muck up my hands with a backfire. You should've seen my hand after I'd been practicing the stinging hex, Atticus."

[Xion]

Ashley, not knowing where she is in the school and in no mood to really care walks down several hallways until she finds a door, after passing several that were locked. "Hm..maybe I'll just see what's in here..but..maybe I should knock..just in case if there are people." She knocks seven times, before trying to open the door.

[Barry Goldwater]

"Yeah...I take it you'll be trying out some different spell this time, Weatherby? One that doesn't leave your hand the size of a small melon?" Cecil teased.

To Atticus he laughed, "Been there, did that last year. Thought it'd be a good time to try something flashier...guess it didn't work out the way I'd hoped, though."

Upon hearing someone knocking on the door, he instinctively whipped his wand in its direction and approached it with brisk, great strides, pulling the door open. "Who might you be, eh - "

Cecil's challenge died halfway out of his throat as he found himself face to face with Ashley. He immediately lowered his wand and moved aside to let her into the room. "Ashley! Uh, sorry about waving my wand in your face like that, thought you might be a less than welcome guest," He mumbled apologetically. "Hey, how've you been?"

[Xion]

Ashley looks at him, not smiling as she usually does, and then she walks in. "Whatever, and I'm fine..I'm not really in a talkitive mood right now. So, what are you guys doing here? Practicing spells?"

[Barry Goldwater]

Whatever inkling of a smile may have formed on Cecil's face dissipated instantly, and it instead creased into a frown. He considered asking her if something was wrong, but decided that would not be a good idea. It's pretty obvious something's up, anyway. You wouldn't just annoy her further by asking, but you'd look like an idiot too. "Yeah, pretty much. I'm trying to get a grip on higher-end spells like Confringo and Reducto, though. Already more or less got the hang of the Stunning Spell, and some other lesser charms, hexes and curses." He paused to shut and lock the door. "Hey, you up for a round of practice? Could help with any duels in the future, oh yeah and our performance in classes too of course. I mean, it's not like I'm spoiling for a duel with anyone or anything." OK, the blind could've seen through that. But the likes of Rinok can wait.

[Pontifex Maximus]

"Trying to conjure some flames, Cecil? Why not try something simpler?"

Atticus leveled pointed his wand away from anyone so that at least nobody might be set on fire.

"Incendio"

[Kip]

Weatherby had instinctively trained his wand on the door, but let out a sigh of relief and lowered it when he realized it was their friend. He offered a gentle smile in greeting, but chose to let Cecil do the talking, increasingly suspecting a fondness for the girl in his friend.

Waverly was less restrained, nearly hit the ceiling upon her entrance. "Ashley! This keeps getting better and better!"