Exploring Hogwarts
Care of Magical Creatures was something she had been looking forwards to for several days now - not that it was a first-year course. Instead, she had examined the various timetables pinned to the notice board in the Ravenclaw common room, and had found that she had a roughly one-hour window where she could watch the Seventh Year Care of Magical Creatures class from the castle.
Hogwarts has been somewhat... Overwhelming to begin with.
The castle was positively enormous, so massive that it would have taken a dozen lifetimes to understand every hallway and room, and that was totally ignoring those ones that didn't make logical sense. If one included the incalculable number of rooms corrupted and warped by errant spells and botched rituals, then Hogwarts could take thousands of years to understand.
Or so the guesses went.
After all, most of the corrupted rooms apparently were sectioned off and secured by the ambient magic of the castle, or so Penelope had told her around the fireplace a few days prior. The fourth-year girl had regaled her with stories of epic quests across the Hogwarts valley, encountering enormous spiders and murderous poachers during the goblin rebellions around the turn of the century. They had seemed fantastical, even to those who lived in a world where one could flick a stick and summon a firestorm. What was perhaps most dubious was the source - a painting of a girl in her late teens, but dressed akin to a teacher, with a scarf denoting that she had once been a Ravenclaw, just like the pair of them.
Both she and Penny had expressed their shared uncertainty as to the actual reliability of the girl's tale, especially given that the portrait had been moved by someone when the two of them had gone back to the Astronomy tower to find it again. And without a name, or anything else to really go off other than this girl’s presence at the school in the time period, the stories that would have been otherwise difficult to verify had swiftly become nigh on impossible to do so, at least, over such a simple story.
Which is why Penny had excused herself from lunch early to head straight for the library in order to track down the most inconsequential of details that could possibly tie the story together.
Of course, Steph was throwing blasting hexes from within the world’s largest greenhouse - she would have been right next to Penny, had Professor Kettleburn not had his Care of Magical Creatures class rather whimsically marching right across the lawn to stand at the quasi-enclosed pavilion that hosted the Care of Magical Creatures class. The silver haired wizard was gesturing wildly, and although she was too far away to actually hear what he was saying - for she was much shorter than the Seventh years, who were making almost breakneck pace across the field and leaving her trying to hastily catch up - she could see what they were headed for.
In the paddock next to the pavilion was a magnificent white stallion with a long horn protruding from its forehead. Another unicorn - her second in under a week, something that went somewhat unrealised in the presence of the frown upon her face as she regarded the animal. It was surely a bit late in the year - as far as the cycles of the seasons went, at least - for a Care class to be focusing upon unicorns.
Still.. It could have been worse - if they were focusing on anything like an Abraxan, they wouldn't even get close to it during this period. Abraxan's were - at least in mating season - incredibly territorial, and inconsiderate of any that they believed could be a substantial threat to their mating. Wizards, through centuries of rearing them, very much fell into that category.
But unicorns weren't much different in all honesty, and when push came to shove, they were known to kill people who tried to interrupt their mating rituals.
.. But surely Professor Kettleburn wouldn't get too close to the Unicorn-
Steph could only watch in mild horror as the silver haired Professor lead his class even closer to the Unicorn paddock, right up to the fence that several of them crowded around and for a brief moment her hurried jog came to an ambling stop as the implications brought her body to a screeching halt. And then she was, for a single instant, immensely grateful that she hadn't forgotten to.. Well, to put it mildly, violate the dress code for the school.
After all - she had been going into this knowing that she would be at the Care of Magical Creatures pavilion and pens, no way in hell she was wearing school shoes there.
Chunky boots dug into the soft and slightly boggy grass, pressing oozing mud onto the toes as her pace quickened, sending clumps of grass flying as her legs carried her even closer to the paddock, up the small hill and to the edge of the paddock, just as Professor Kettleburn vaulted himself inside the paddock. As cliché as it may have been, as far as her father had told her when it came to muggle movies, Steph let out a brief cry of dismay.
"NO!"
The outcry had several immediate effects.
The class of Seventh years practically snapped their heads to look at her, and what a sight she must have been. This tiny first year girl struggling up the hill as her school cloak practically wrenched itself off her as she ran, her face a mask of dismay as she watched their Professor unwittingly make a massive mistake.
Professor Kettleburn himself turned to look at her with his sole remaining eye, confusion evident on his face as he watched her running towards him. But that confusion quickly morphed into what was almost understanding, and the man seemed to try to clamber back out of the paddock.
But the Unicorn was already there - and it was a sheer miracle that it didn't choose to gore the Professor with its horn. Instead, it seemed more predisposed to draw out the moment into a display of dominance - knocking the Professor down with its mass and rearing itself up onto its hind legs, even as the class let out various noises of distress.
She was at an impasse - and time seemed to slow down to reflect that.
She could run for the buckets of chomping cabbages, which were bouncing away some distance from the class - and which almost certainly were meant for the days lesson, given the presence of the unicorn. With one of those, she could hopefully distract the animal, with the logic that if there were cabbages present, it meant the animal was hungry - and whilst unicorns tended to prefer plants, they were omnivores.
But doing that could have disastrous results - the unicorn was already rearing up. It would deliberately miss its first fall - to try and get the Professor to display submission, but when he was on the floor and scrambling to get out of the paddock, he wouldn't be in a position to do so. The unicorn would then inevitably strike him on the second stomp.
Then there was the factor of the class - some of them would probably try and harm the creature with their wands. Given they were Seventh years, they probably knew some fairly nasty spells. Spells that could kill - but would probably just make it very angry. That wasn't a preferable outcome to anyone.
And even if she got to the cabbages before the time ran out, even if she managed to throw one in such a way that it both made it into the paddock, and distracted the unicorn, it would take a miracle for her to nail the bucket at any sort of range with her Relashio.
Her other option was vaulting the fence herself - she would be the target, hopefully. But then she would be the target of a very territorial unicorn. She would need a student to release a cabbage themselves.
It might not be the best idea, but it was ironically enough, probably the safest. If she had distance, she could dive out of the way - Maevel had tried that before with her, and she'd nearly been run down, but she had dived aside in time.
Barely able to believe herself and her actions, Steph wrenched off the billowing house cloak, shoved past one of the Seventh-year students, planted her left hand on the wooden fence, and vaulted herself into the unicorn paddock, giving a terse instruction as she did so. "Bucket!"
Her landing was.. Less than inspiring, half stumbling to her feet as she wheeled around, giving a terse whistle as she did so, interrupting the unicorn just as its hooves thundered down as the silver haired professor instinctively covered his head, rolling aside as the unicorn struck the ground with its forelimbs. The whistle had the intended effect however, the white horse wheeling around and fixing her with beady eyes, a deep orange in colour.
Oh great - this was a male. No wonder it was more territorial than she was used to.
Swallowing, her nerves, she clicked her tongue twice, calling for the Buck's attention, even as she stared it down whilst it strafed slightly to the side, backing up just a little as it did so. Getting ready to charge...
Repeating herself, she briefly locked eye contact with the downed Professor, her voice cracking just a little bit. "Bucket! I need a bucket!"
The Unicorn was fast, that much she knew. But it felt so much faster watching as it levelled its head and charged her, pointing that razor sharp horn directly at her. If it landed right, it would gore her, and that would honestly ruin her first year at Hogwarts - being that it would probably be her only year at Hogwarts if she was struck by it.
But if she jumped aside now - it would be able to correct its charge. No, she had to wait. Wait as it screamed down upon her. Wait as a Seventh-year girl screamed in horror. Wait as-
Now.
Throwing herself to the left wasn't easy on the sodden ground, but it was even harder to correct her leap to the right, and to mislead the charging unicorn. Her boots slipped and slid, but her desperately scrambling feet just about managed to send her crashing into one of the fence posts, bodily slamming into it as the unicorn thundered past her, unseen behind hands raised to shield her.
She barely heard the cry of 'accio', but her eyes snapped to the flying bucket soaring through the air, and her body went into what felt like autopilot. A flick of her wrist brought her wand out, and a cry left her lips as her arm followed the buckets arc. "Relashio!"
The lid of the bucket, tied down by a cord, burst off. From within shot a trio of Chinese Chomping Cabbages, and in an instant, the Unicorn's focus was no longer on the human interlopers. Instead, its hooves thundered by her once again, sending her cowering as it tried to spook her one last time, before it raced off after the squealing cabbages, probably bearing down on them ready to gore them like it had been to her.
She didn't see any of this. Instead, she was busy being hauled through the wooden fence by a girl with.. Pink hair? Regardless, her attention was elsewhere, and Steph found herself staring up into the sky, her chest heaving as she tried not to puke from pushing herself far too far.
"You doing ok, firstie? Not hurt?" The girl standing over her addressed her directly, concern in her eyes as her hair changed colour, shifting from pink to a shade of light blue. Her voice was familiar, and it took a second, but she placed it as the one who had cast the summoning charm. "Hey - kiddo, can you hear me?"
"M'good.. Trying not to puke.." Elegance was hardly at the forefront of her list of concerns, but Steph managed to raise her left hand into a thumbs up, her right still clutching her wand over her chest. "I don't wanna do that again for a third time.. Your hair is changing colours."
The girl standing over her gave a snort of amusement. "Yeah, you're probably fine if that's your concern... Saving a teacher on your what, fourth day? Not bad for a firstie."
The somewhat stumbling form of Professor Kettleburn appeared overhead, blocking yet more of her view of the sky as he peered down at her. "My goodness, Ms Scamander. Are you alright? I do rather owe you my life, I should suppose. At the very least, you've helped me retain another limb, I seem to be losing them like gold around Nifflers at this rate."
"S'all good Professor.." A few more inhales finally quelled the worst of her queasiness, and she pushed herself upright, cringing at the sensation of mud sliding down her back. I really need a shower. "Just... Maybe don't cover equines in their mating seasons.."
"I should have remembered that.. I definitely should not need to have been reminded of it by a First Year." The silver haired professor rubbed his hair with his one remaining arm, leaving the metal prosthetic arm at his side. A bashful expression crossed his face as he glanced aside with his one remaining eye. "Well - when one takes as many bumps to the head as I have over my life, you tend to forget things."
She didn't really respond, outside of a tired nod. With a sudden noise, Professor Kettleburn clapped his thigh with his one good hand. "Ah! Yes, I do have a class to teach. Take a hundred points for Ravenclaw, Ms Scamander, and you should give the rest of your classes a miss for today. Ms Tonks, could you please take her to the Hospital wing, just to be sure?"
"Sure thing, Prof." Steph barely had time to respond to the sudden award before she was hauled to her feet by her still outstretched left arm. A yelp left her as she stumbled her landing, looking up at the grinning face of this 'Tonks' as she held the unsteady Ravenclaw upright. "Easy there, Unicorn Wrangler, let's get you your Professor mandated bludge, eh?"
"Oh- uh. Sure. But I have history of magic-" At the mention of the class, Tonks gave a very blatant grimace, and a soft groan under her breath.
"Lucky you, missing out on it. Binns is easily the worst. It’s basically a free study period, if you haven't figured that out yet." Steph gave a small grimace as she leant down to pick up her discarded cloak. The action just made her more uncomfortable with the mud on her back. "Oh, who am I kidding - you're a Ravenclaw. From what I know, you're like, the only ones who enjoy it."
"First class, so uh." Tonks gave her a sympathetic look - one that honestly bordered more on pity than anything else.
"Well - if you ever wanted a free period, you've got it." With a gentle, yet clearly sheparding, pat on the back, Tonks lead her towards the looming castle, making casual comments on just about anything and everything she could along the way, seemingly out of simple boredom. Still, just as they reached the threshold of the castle, she gave a final remark. "Oh - and whatever you do, don't make a habit of seeing the matron. Madam Pomfrey's great, but for the love of all things, just listen when she asks you to do something."
"Got it."
"Oh, and here-" Tonks flicked her wand, and Steph's spine straightened as the sensation of the mud right up her back vanished in a heartbeat. It was an almost violating sensation, having someone casting the cleaning charm on you without permission, but the uncomfortable shudder faded away shortly - and she gave a soft sigh of satisfaction. Definitely worth it.
"Need to learn that.."
"In your family's line of work? Definitely."
"So - Little Miss Hero, then?"
Steph's forehead quite unceremoniously met the table at the teasing tone that came from the brunette girl who slid in next to her, as her quiet study session in the library was quickly turned into an impromptu get-together. Pulling a face that conveyed an apology only mouthed, Neville slid in across from her, quickly followed by Harry, with Daphne filling up the other side next to the Boy-Who-Lived.
"It was just a spur of the moment thing." Her reply was.. Admittedly poor if her intention had been to throw off their teasing. Indeed, all it garnered was a teasing jab in the ribs from Tracey seated next to her.
"Well - better watch out Harry. Steph's gunning for your spotlight - and she's apparently been miss-sorted."
At the jab, Steph pulled her head up and scowled at Tracey. "I can take the teasing, but being called a Gryffindor?"
A soft chortle escaped the girl next to her, and out of the corner of her eye, she could make out Daphne smothering a small smile. The boys, by comparison, gave more overt responses, with Harry giving a chuckle and Neville a slightly unsure smile. Steph gave him a look that she hoped was reassuring, before bringing her attention over to the other two students on the other side of the table. "I hope you don't mind but, I'd like you to take the spotlight back now. It’s only been like.. Two hours, and there's been people coming over to congratulate me. I had a seventh year tell me that I was 'A credit to the house'."
Her next line went unspoken, but judging by Daphne's slight tilt of the head, as if to convey some minor amusement, she very much picked up on the unspoken 'What does that even mean'. At least, she hoped it was that.
"I suppose they're just happy that they earned a hundred points.." Neville's comment drew a strange smile from Steph - she supposed he was right after all. Even if she had made herself out to be in the spotlight so early on, it had earned her house a hundred points in a single go, very early in the year. Hopefully, that would mean Ravenclaw had a better chance at winning the cup this year as opposed to previous ones.
Hopefully, that would be the excitement for the year.
"TROLL! TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!"
Stephanie Scamander stared at the wooden table in front of her, caught with her fork midway between her mouth and the plate from which she had just speared a piece of cake. Her eyes slowly drifted upwards, coming off the table and sweeping up the front of the girl opposite, ultimately resulting in her locking eyes with the horrified expression of Penelope Clearwater.
What felt like an hour passed as the two girls stared at each other - finally broken by terrified screams emanating from the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables behind Penny. It was ironic in a mundane way, really, that of all the houses to start screaming in fear, it was Gryffindor. Admittedly, her own house and Slytherin were not very far behind the chorus, but
Then again - she was fairly certain it was mainly the first years, given how high pitched the screams were, but she wasn't quite in the right mindset to be commenting on that.
Instead, she was forcing her own scream to be smothered into nothingness as the Headmaster's booming voice rang out in the hall, instructing the teachers and students to return to their common rooms. Even so, as she hurried stood and threw a glance over her shoulder, she watched as Slytherin house remained around their table - and the reason was readily apparent with a heartbeat of thought. Their common room was probably in the dungeons somewhere.
But as her eyes searched for her Slytherin friends out of habit, she only caught the briefest sight of Daphne Greengrass disappearing into thin air, and her words failed her in that moment.
Penny grabbed her wrist before she could give it any comment, and Stephanie Scamander abandoned all pretence of decorum, clambering over the table to hastily follow her house out. Her mind, however, was racing all the same - why did Daphne have an invisibility cloak? Why did she have it on her at a feast? Why the hell was she going off alone? And perhaps most prevalent.
How the hell did a Troll get into Hogwarts?
"Steph- woah!"
Harry Potter's voice briefly peaked as the raven-haired form of Stephanie Scamander practically flew out from behind the desk, pushed past him and threw her hands around the shoulders of Daphne Greengrass, pulling the icy blonde girl in for a tight hug that had her eyes bugging and her words failing her. Steph didn't care, however, and instead chose to hazard her guess at what the blonde girl had done last night.
"Don't you ever go off alone near a Troll again Daphne."
"I-.. How did you know we went near the Troll?" Harry's voice drew what was definitely a groan from Daphne, only just audible even with how close she was to the blonde girl. The reply, however, had the Ravenclaw freeze in place, her grip tightening around the blonde just a little, holding her deadly still.
Steph raised her head and stared directly at the quickly blanching expression of Harry Potter as she ground out her partly horrified, but primarily furious response. "What did you say?"
"Ahem!" The terse cough of the Librarian drew a mouthed apology from the Ravenclaw before her amiable expression vanished just as fast as it formed as she wheeled back around on the duo. Her voice substantially lower, but now a sharp hiss.
"What the hell were you two thinking!? Were you even thinking?!"
Daphne gently pushed the irate Ravenclaw away from her, pinching the bridge of her nose with her left hand, whilst her right was wrapped around her torso, rubbing her ribs. Although the blonde didn't mention it, evidently Steph had squeezed her just a little. "As I was going to say, Stephanie. We didn't intend to go after the Troll. It found us - far too quickly for it to have been a coincidence. I believe someone tried to use it as a tool."
".. To kill Harry?" Her own concerns were forgotten in a moment, and her gaze darted to the boy in question as he stood somewhat awkwardly beside the two girls. She missed how Daphne's lips quirked into a small frown, but didn't catch how Harry gave a small sigh at the remark, making his own comment on the situation.
"Whilst it wouldn't be the first time, I don't think it was." Pinching the bridge of his now, he paused for a few seconds, choosing his words before he spoke again. "It’s got something to do with the dog."
"... The dog?" Unable to keep her incredulity from her voice, Steph turned back to face Daphne, whose lips were pulled thin, her face a slightly concerned mask, as if she were deciding on her words very carefully. Daphne, she could imagine being overly cautious, and perhaps Harry. But both of them together? That was cause for alarm. "What aren't you telling me?"
".. Not here. The walls have ears - if we are to continue, we should discuss this somewhere else."
"What about the Room? The one Sirius told me about?" Daphne shot Harry a look that conveyed just a little displeasure, her tone carrying just a little bit of frustration in it.
"That would be ideal - perhaps too ideal for something so trivial." Harry's response, however, contained an equal amount of frustration and was coupled with a pointed look that gave the blonde girl pause.
"Daphne - Steph is my friend. I trust her just as much as I trust you." He gave a small sigh, even as Steph felt increasingly uncomfortable - as if she had walked into a domestic. "Down in Slytherin, it might be all about keeping your cards close to your chest, but Hufflepuff values loyalty and friendship."
The Slytherin girl stared at Harry with that almost terrifyingly intense glare for a while, a look that Harry didn't match perfectly, but his stony face brokered little argument. The silence hung for almost a minute, before Daphne finally acquiesced with just a slight tilt of her head towards him - and a small smile pulled across his lips. A soft 'Thank you’ was whispered, and Harry turned back to face Steph, just as the Ravenclaw was starting to feel like she was intruding.
"Come on - let's go. I'll warn you, it’s a bit of a climb." It took only a few seconds for her to scoop up her half-finished charms essay and slip it into her bag, but the books took just a little longer to return to their shelves. The charms work done in the library was truly impressive, but even then, she had to walk them to the bookcases before they would sort themselves back to where they were meant to be.
She found Daphne and Harry waiting for her outside the library, and the trio quickly took to climbing the stairs with some haste, ascending through the winding maze of corridors and up staircases that swung wildly as they ascended. Many times, they found themselves waiting as the stairs - or perhaps the castle itself - decided their path should change, away from where they wished to head.
As she went to move off of the top step of a staircase, Steph gave a cry of mild alarm as the stair under her almost immediately began to swing away, the staircase apparently urgent to pull away from the landing where the other two remained. It wasn't dangerous - not really - but it forced her to make the sudden choice to give a jump and basically leap onto the landing, managing to stay upright with a small jog at the end of her leap.
"You alright?" Steph gave a nod at Harry's concerned question, pulling her head up to take in the sight of Daphne, who was standing with her back to them, staring down the corridor.
"What's up Daph?"
".. We mightn't need the room. We're here again." Harry frowned, and Steph took the time to stare down the long hallway. It was entirely empty – which on its own, was unnerving. An empty hallway at Hogwarts – usually there was at least something, a discarded quill, maybe a forgotten textbook. But here there was nothing, not even a lost hair tie or scrap of parchment. There was just dust and the wind, blowing gently down the deserted hallway.
With an uncomfortable lump in her throat, Steph quietly asked the question on her mind – or perhaps, the fear that she had.
"Don’t tell me this is where I think it is, Daphne."
"Welcome to the Third Floor Hallway. Welcome to painful death, Steph." Daphne gave her a sardonic smile as she confirmed Steph’s fears. She looked down the hallway with a new perspective. It didn't look any more inviting, that's for sure. “Come on – you’ll love it.”