paranormals-of-ilvermorny

[paranormals-of-ilvermorny]

Chapter 19

Late.

They were too late.

Somehow during the months between Robin first seeing the monster to them just discovering a lost bracelet, a student was able to find themselves see their final moments at the claws of a Skinwalker. They lost a student, at the hands of a monster that should never have been able to get onto school grounds in the first place, and not one member of the school knows about it. It caused more guilt than stealing from the cookie jar, or failing a test you very well could have studied for. Lorelei laid in her bed, despite it being well past noon on a Sunday, bedridden with guilt.

She was so made at herself, how for weeks now she could have told the students of the dangers of the woods. She should have told everyone to be in their dorms by sundown, or directly after dinner. Moreover, she felt she would have pushed the headmaster more to hear her concerns and do something about them rather than stop. Maybe if there were signs posted around the castle about how treacherous the surrounding forest was, students would be happily going into them without a care in the world that something might be out to hurt them. Mostly Lorelei just wishes she could go back in time and save the student that no one seems to know is missing.

It had been days since the Quodpot game where the girls found the bracelet in the woods. The first thing Lorelei did when they got back to the warm castle was hide herself under her blue quilt, wishing she had never left in the first place. Ever since she would go to class, do her homework, eat her meals, then come right back to bed like a hibernating bear.

The squeak of the dorm’s door alerted Lorelei that someone was entering the room, probably one of her roommates that forgot a textbook or something.

“Lorelei?” Came the soft-spoken voice of Robin. “Can I come in?”

Her friend’s gentle tone surprised her, always used to the energized sports player, it took her a second to realize it was even her. Turning over so she could better face Robin, Lorelei let only her eyes and the tip of her nose be exposed by the unforgiving chill of the room. The movement gave Robin enough relief to know her friend was still in bed and awake.

“Hey toots,” She greeted, slowly making her way to Lorelei’s bed.

“Hi,” Lorelei returned, quiet and muffled from the blanket.

Robin took a seat, the bed sinking a bit from the added weight. They sat in the darkness for a minute, simply enjoying the other’s presence after so long apart. It gave Lorelei the time to think about how she had basically forgotten about Robin while she wallowed in grief, only making her feel worse. Feeling her friend sink deeper into herself, Robin broke the silence.

“Your roommates are worried about you.” She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, the same way someone would comment on the sky being cloudy. That was one of the things Lorelei loved most about her, she could make the hardest conversations simple despite the topic. “I know you don’t talk to them much,” she continued, “but a lot of us care about you, even if you don’t feel it.”

That stung, tears brimming Lorelei’s eyes that she willed to go away. She doesn’t regret for a moment telling Robin about her previous school experiences, including the loneliness she felt. But sometimes when she says something so nice and sincere, Lorelei wishes she didn’t know. More than that, she wishes she was never so alone in the first place, then maybe sweet sentiments like people who she has never spoken five words to caring about her wouldn’t turn her into such a crying mess.

“Lorelei, I’m worried about you too.” That made her heart swell, again tearing up from the foreign feeling of being cared for. “Staying in bed this long isn’t healthy. I’m not saying you need to join a nudist club that runs around in the woods, especially not in this weather.” That made her smile, “I just wanna know how I can help make this a little less harder for you. I wish I could take away your pain and make everything right in that head of yours. I hate seeing you like this, ‘Lei.”

Now the tears were streaming freely down her face, wiping her face on the soft quilt. She knew her actions were affecting others, she just didn’t realize other people were hurting because she was in pain herself. Lorelei decided to be brave, in her own way, and moved to sit up in bed so she could be face to face with Robin.

“There she is,” she said, with gentle blue eyes and a soft smile on her lips. “I thought I’d never see those beautiful brown eyes again.” Lorelei laughed, drying her face of stray tears and a runny nose, feeling a little better as she started to come back to herself. Robin casted ‘accio tissue’ and handed it over, which Lorelei took gratefully.

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking at the crumpled tissue in her hands, “it's just…something hit me after finding that bracelet.” She swallowed around the knot in her throat, making it difficult to speak. “Knowing that there was a student who could have been out for a stroll in the woods, maybe looking for flowers or mushrooms, and was attacked or even killed by a monster without anyone knowing they’re missing,” the tears started to roll down her cheeks again, Robin offering another tissue. “It just made me realize how that could have been me. If I didn’t have you, I could have been out in the woods, and would have been attacked by something that terrified me to the core. I could go missing, and not one person would ever know.”

Robin, who had been listening to her friend’s watery rant and letting her speak her feelings, finally had to say something. “You know that’s not true. For starters, you do have me, and like it or not you always will. Second, what about your parents? Or your roommates? What about all of the teachers that use you as an example for how to perfectly brew Wiggenweld Potion or how to perfectly cast ‘Alarte Ascendare’? Not to mention your freakin’ parents!

Now that made Lorelei laugh, the first time in a while. It felt good. “There are so many more people that care about you that you don’t even know about. So don’t ever for a second think that you could go missing without the whole castle joining in a search party ever again.” Robin grabbed Lorelei’s hand, holding it between her own, and looking in her eyes. “I love you. You’re my sister, and I don’t let anyone mess with my sisters.”

For maybe the hundredth time in the span of the last hour, Lorelei’s eyes brimmed with tears, but these were a much happier kind. “Thank you. That means everything to me, and you know it.” Drying her tears, Lorelei felt ten times lighter, but still felt she needed to get something off her chest. “I also just feel so guilty. Like, if I could have somehow alerted the whole castle of what we found, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened. I wanna make things right for whoever we lost out there.”

“You don’t think I’m not upset about that? Lei’, I was brimming with rage when I ran back and found you with that bracelet in your hand.” Now this surprised Lorelei, feeling like she was the only one to have been affected by their discovery. “I thought that stupid monster killed or hurt someone and we didn’t get a chance to know for certain. I felt like we screwed up and had a duty to protect the school since we’re the only ones who know there’s danger in the woods. When I saw what you were holding, and seeing how sad you were, I saw red. I was so angry that someone got hurt because of something we could have prevented.”

“But you couldn’t have prevented it,” Lorelei tried to reason.

“I know that,” Robin countered, “now. But at the time I thought I could change things.”

“Like I do right now?” Questioned Lorelei, to which Robin nodded her head.

“Besides,” she said, “we don’t know for one hundred percent that whoever owned the bracelet was killed.” Robin, never one to stay still for very long, stood up from the bed. She walked over to Lorelei’s bedside table and picked up the bracelet, giving it an examination before continuing. “So, maybe someone could have just lost it. And we also don’t know who that someone is, considering it’s not very dirty, they might still be in school. I say, we fight our guilt. We can keep reaching out to past students who have been attacked, that way we can gather information and start a record of who, what, and where.”

“And maybe we could put up posters around the castle for the lost bracelet,” offered Lorelei, feeling a little better about things. “Try and see if anyone recognizes it, or knows who it belongs to.”

“Yeah,” Robin agreed, “we can even wait outside the exam halls and ask every student that leaves if they’ve ever seen it before.”

Exams, as in midterm exams. Lorelei completely forgot about the yearly midterm exams, apparently too consumed in her quilted prison to remember. The realization must have registered on her face, because Robin was quick to dissuade any anxiety about the upcoming tests.

“Hey, stay with me alright?” She crouched in front of Lorelei, who now loathed the navy and silver blanket of her bed. “Here’s the plan: we help each other study for midterms, you refresh your super smart brain, and I can relearn everything I should have but didn’t. Then, over winter break we can split up the list of names to write to so we can continue our research after New Years. Okay?”

Astonished by the strategic side of Robin that she must have reserved for the Quod pitch, Lorelei was once again extremely grateful for her friend sister. “How did I ever get so lucky to find you?”

“Ha, please,” she laughed, “what other shy smarty pants was I supposed to annoy? I could never be one of Claire’s goons, that’s for sure.” The two girls shared a laugh, Lorelei happy to feel herself brightening up more than before. She was just shy of being herself again, but was missing something.

“I love you too, ya know. You’re my sister just as much as I am yours.” This made Robin smile, warm and big.

“Could we go for a walk around the castle?”

Grinning wildly, mirth shining in her eyes as she responded. “Of course!” She ran over to the door which she entered from, calling over her shoulder “Be sure to bundle up, it's still pretty cold around the cellars,” before she was gone again.

Dressing as she was told, Lorelei felt warmer than she originally thought possible, knowing she had a partner in crime like Robin. It warmed her to know she wasn’t as alone as she thought she was, and will never be forgotten again.

The next day the girls started rereading their notes from the past few months, quizzing each other every now and then when completed. This went on for a few weeks before the exams took place. Regularly they found themselves in a corner of the library since the Horned Serpent’s common room became too congested with other students also looking for a quiet place to study.

Not all professors were the same, thus neither were their tests. History of Magic was a multiple choice exam made up of one hundred-thirty two questions, such as when was MACUSA established? 1693. What was the cause? The Salem Witch Trials. The girls would test each other frequently to remember the dates of important historical events in wizarding history.

“What law ended in 1965?”

“Uh, Rappaport’s law!”

“Good. What event caused MACUSA headquarters to be relocated from Washington to New York?”

“Ugh, I don’t know this one!”

“Yes you do. Just take your time.”

“Hmm… Oh! The Great Sasquatch Rebellion of… 1893?

“Close, 1892.”

“Dang It!”

There were also the more tactile exams like turning a textbook into a hare for Transfigurations. Lorelei completed the task fairly easily, but Robin needed some help, her book still had floppy ears that might get her an ‘Acceptable’ but she really needed a high grade to pass the class. With a little more work, they were able to get the ears to go away, the book left with the smallest cottontail, which was a great improvement. Defense Against The Dark Arts was another lengthy exam, but unlike History it was open ended and students didn’t have the luxury of other possible answers.

“What is the difference between a normal and chameleon ghoul?”

“A chameleon ghoul can transform into everyday objects to avoid detection while a normal ghoul cannot.”

“Yep. What spell identifies a cursed object and how is it performed?”

“Tap the object three times whilst saying ‘Specialis Revelio’.”

“Correct. What should you cast against a wizard trying to harm someone?”

“Uh… ‘Incarcerous’?”

“I’ll allow it. I also would have accepted ‘Stupify’.”

After feeling comfortable in those areas, the girls decided to read up on their notes from Charms and Magizoology. Thankfully, the professors said they would only be asking one question for their exams which are expected to be answered in sixty-two inch essays. Robin was looking up charms and their counter charms, while Lorelei spent her time researching three animals they learned about in the past months enough to describe their behavior and habitats.

Overall, they were feeling pretty confident about their upcoming exams, as well as what they will be accomplishing over the winter break.

[paranormals-of-ilvermorny]

Chapter 18

It’s a few days later and the girls find themselves discussing what their next step is regarding the Skinwalker. Alleged Skinwalker, Lorelei still couldn’t quite believe that there could be something so monstrous roaming the woods. Sitting at their newly claimed library table, they squeezed themselves close while going over the plan for tomorrow’s Quodpot match.

“Now,” said Lorelei, holding a black pond from Quinn’s wizard’s chess set, “I’ll be posted at tower three,” she placed the chess piece on the paper, next to the tower labeled with a three.

“Right,” replied Robin, following the plan. “And I,” she began, placing her white pond as she spoke, “will stay put by tower five. This way we can watch the woods and keep an eye on the game, in case anything happens.”

“Great, hopefully this plan will prove effective. If not, then we’ll come back to the drawing board or wait until the next game to try again.” It always calmed Lorelei to come up with a back up plan, sometimes several, and this time was no exception.

Tomorrow, their plan will be set into motion and, Merlin willing, the end of the Skinwalker.

December first served as many things for the Ilvermorny students; the countdown of winter vacation, stress for the upcoming mid-year exams, and excitement for the day’s Quodpot match. Adding to this list is the day Lorelei and Robin must kill a monster.

The air was crisp and carried with it the promise of snow, causing everyone to bundle up in their Ilvermorny scarves, hats, and mittens, in the usual cranberry and navy. With everyone bundled and closely seated in the grandstands, the chilly wind could barely stand a chance. Due to their plan, Lorelei and Robin had to bundle extra layers since they would be down on the ground to watch the treeline. Thankfully the wind wasn’t as bad on the ground as it was known to be in the stands. The voice of Grant could be heard in the distance, announcing the arrival of the teams.

“LET’S GIVE A WARM WELCOME TO…. THE THUNDERBIRDS!” His voice echoed through the wind, Lorelei could barely make out the players at the other end of the field. They kicked off the ground and into the icy air, much to the joy of the audience. Their cheers and muffled applause could be heard, causing the grand stands to shake a bit from the movement. Lorelei mentally added that to her list of things to be scared of next time she watches a game.

“AAAND LET US NOT FORGET OUR SECOND TEAM! YOU KNOW ‘EM, YOU LOVE ‘EM, PUT YOUR MITTENS TOGETHER FOR…. THE PUKWUDGIES!” Once again Lorelei could see the players, this time in green and gold, as they mounted their brooms and kicked off the ground into the air. Now the real waiting time began, both girls keeping their eyes peeled on the surrounding treeline.

Shivering, Lorelei rubbed her arms while wishfully hoping the creature will make an appearance sooner rather than later. The one thing warming Lorelei was thinking about Orville hopefully scoring a point, closing her eyes and imagining his dimples. She felt something hit her, causing Lorelei to open her eyes, and saw a pebble on the ground in front of her. Looking towards Robin, her lighter hair color easy to spot across the yard, who shot her a ‘what are you doing?’ look with shrugged shoulders and all. Lorelei returned with the wave of a dismissed hand, feeling her cheeks run hot, while Robin shook her head.

Instead of Orville, Lorelei thought about what she was going to have to do if this creature really does show up again. The obvious answer was they had to, uh, ‘exterminate’ the thing. Although it was hard to imagine, they couldn’t exactly relocate the thing, even if they could it’s extremely dangerous and could harm another large population of people, or worse, Muggles.

But how would they even go about ‘exterminating’ the beast? Yes they learned about the killing curse in DADA, but for one it’s illegal to perform, and two they didn’t practice it in class. What if she accidentally hit a squirrel, or Robin?! Maybe they could just petrify it and lead the headmaster or another professor to it? The combustion of the Quod hitting the pot scared Lorelei back to reality, “Mother of Merlin.”

A sudden thought, completely out of nowhere, struck Lorelei just then. What if the beast was a mother? What if it had a child, or children? Could either one of them really destroy a beastling’s mother, leaving it alone in the world. Wouldn't they also have to take out the young ones as well, to make sure they don’t grow up and carry the torch their mother held and attack students for the next who knows how many decades. Or maybe they’ll grow up, stronger and angrier, remembering the faces that killed their mother when they were young and somehow hunt down Lorelei and Robin when they graduate and start their adult lives. Oh, why couldn’t the headmaster just—

The flicker of a small but bright light could be seen from where Robin was standing. That was the signal, she saw the beast. Once she made sure Lorelei had seen it, Robin darted off after it towards the woods. There’ll be time for moral debate later, right now they have a job to do.

Leaving the comfort of the cheering crowds behind, Robin and Lorelei run after the shadowed beast, the latter having a much harder time than the former. While Robin could jump over roots and dodge low hanging branches, Lorelei could barely make it a few feet into the forest before heaving from the burn in her lungs. But despite the ache, both girls continued to run after the attacker, their only connection to civilization and the safety it promises getting farther and farther away.

At one point, Lorelei closes her eyes a moment too long to concentrate on her breathing, but when she opens her eyes the reddish blonde of Robin’s hair is no longer visible. Lorelei took a moment to catch her breath, partly due from exertion and partly due to hyperventilating from the stress of possibly being lost in the woods. With her hands on her knees trying to gulp down the frigid air, Lorelei spotted something on the ground. She stared at what looked like a beaded bracelet, purple and white, partially covered by dead fallen leaves. Once her lungs were back to proper oxygen levels, Lorelei blended over and picked up the bracelet to get a better look.

Raising it up to the sun's light, the jewelry looked to be handmade, possibly a friendship bracelet? But, what was it doing out here, especially after their race after the monster. There even seemed to be carvings on some of them, although it was very difficult to make out what they were. Then it occurred to her, what if this belonged to a possible victim? The beads didn’t look very old, at least from what Lorelei could tell, which made her stomach twist into knots. The sound of crunching leaves could be heard, getting louder as Lorelei started to panic that the beast wounded Robin and decided to come back to finish off the one left behind. A sigh of relief left Lorelei’s lips once she saw the comforting red-blonde head of hair before her.

“I lost it,” she huffed, clearly worn out from all the running. She pointed towards Lorelei’s hand, the one holding what she found, “What’s that?”

“Robin,” Lorelei quivered, her eyes starting to water, “I think we were too late.”

Holding out the bracelet in her hand, the girls looked to each other as they stood in the abandoned woods, the cold no longer bothering either girl. There was no wind, only the sound of sudden snowflakes gently hitting the earth, melting into nothingness.

[paranormals-of-ilvermorny]

Chapter 17

The day had arrived, the time was now; Thanksgiving had finally arrived. Many students couldn’t contain their excitement for the holiday and woke up early, including Lorelei and Robin. Despite recent events, they were still filled with happy anticipation to spend a meal with friends and family. The only downside was the feast wasn’t until supper, but it allowed students to get caught up on their assignments.

Starting the day with Arithmancy, Lorelei looked over her notes while Robin fought off a frustration headache, as the class deduced that Thanksgiving has twelve letters, one plus two is three, and three indicates happiness and high energy. Professor Holly-Oaks assigned the class a reading for them to learn the history of certain ancient traditions and rituals some parts of the states used to keep dark forces away, including flying serpents and hexes casted by evil wizards.

Taking a small break for a quick lunch, because no one wanted to miss out on any of the delicious food later, then it was back to work. For Herbology, Professor Juneberry tasked the class with explaining the uses of common Thanksgiving herbs, like rosemary, thyme, sage, and bay leaves. Finally, after an arduous essay for Spanish spells, dinner was ready to be served.

The entire school made its way down to the dining hall and found a seat, some at their usual table while others were asked to join their friends or siblings. At their corner table, Lorelei sat with Robin, Quinn next to her, Jordan, Poppy, and some of their friends. They discussed what they hoped would be served, along with the decorations that adorned the room. There were falling leaves from the ceiling, magically disappearing before they could land on anyone, realistic turkey figurines that were walking around and pecking at some of the students. Each table had a beautiful red and orange table cloth with turkeys and leaves woven in brown thread, along with a cornucopia filled with pumpkins and pinecones in the center of each table.

Once everyone had settled into their seats, the headmaster stood up and tapped a glass with his wand to get the hall’s attention.

“I do not wish to keep the festivities from starting,” he began in a loud speaking voice, “but I do wish to share a few words. With this upcoming long weekend, I hope you all use your time wisely and with purpose. You are young, and every moment you have should be cherished and spent filling your minds with knowledge, and your hearts with friendship and joy.” The room erupted into applause and cheers, the headmaster once again speaking after the excitement died down. “Now, let the feast begin!” He finished, clapping his hands twice.

At the clap of his hands, the dining hall’s doors opened and several pukwudgies emerged, each carrying a large silver platter covered by an adjoining silver dome. They hurried across the floor, going up to each table and placed a tray upon tray onto each table until they all had at least six different platters of food. After every table received their platter, the pukwudgies ran back through the doors with one left behind. He must have been Erok, the head chef, for he had on a red and navy bow tie around his neck. Before leaving, he too clapped his hands twice, causing every silver dome to disappear with a whoosh, revealing the delectable feast in his wake. The students once again clapped their thanks for the pukwudgies and their service, waiting until the doors shut to begin eating.

Sitting on each table was a bowl of corn on the cob, buttery mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, boats of gravy, stuffing that tasted otherworldly, and cranberry sauce made with locally foraged berries. But of course, the pièce de résistance was the whole turkey, already carved with crispy golden skin, that each table had for themselves. Of course there were also the usual condiments like butter, ketchup, salt and pepper. To drink was pumpkin juice and fresh apple cider, seasoned with cinnamon and cloves, warming up even the coldest student on this deep fall day.

The feast lasted for hours, students trying to fit as much as they could into their stomachs without feeling sick, knowing dessert was yet to come. The conversation was lively as well, with everyone discussing several different topics it was hard to keep track of, like the upcoming Quodpot match that saw Wampus vs. Horned Serpent. Robin was chatting with Andreas Elrod, the star player for the Wampus Quodpot team, and what he hopes to do after graduating this year. Lorelei was in a deep conversation with Poppy about the history of Beauxbaton and their involvement in the French Revolution. Quinn and Jordan discussed her new found friend in a stray dog she found wandering the woods, after he questioned her for putting turkey into a paper bag. Towards the end, Lorelei and Robin talked about the not so subtle act of Jordan and Poppy playing footsie under the table, both hoping their relationship goes far.

When it seemed the main course stifled the masses hunger, the silver trays and bowls disappeared. In their absence, different pies took their place as dessert. There was pecan pie, apple pie, blueberry pie, pumpkin pie, and strawberry rhubarb all still warm and gooey, paired with bowls of vanilla ice cream. But out of all the classic pies was Ilvermorny’s famous cranberry pie, usually the first to go during the holiday season. With perfectly tender and tart berries, buttery and golden brown crust, all topped off with a sweet crumble on top, it was easy to see how the students gobbled it up within minutes. The best part of each pie, Lorelei believed, was the intricate lattice work and hand cut shapes on top of the pies. They were a beautiful art that tasted just as good as they looked, each top crust covered in an even layer of sanding sugar, big crystals of sweetness that melted in your mouth.

With everyone’s sweet tooth satiated, the headmaster called the feast to a close and everyone was free to return to their common rooms. All in all, it was a very good Thanksgiving dinner and the only thing that could make it better, was the traditional post-dinner nap.

The girls decided to retire in the Horned Serpents’ common room, the crackling of the fireplace and dim lights provided the perfect backdrop for a nap, each girl taking a chair and an ottoman to prop their feet up. With her eyes lightly closed and a lazy grin on her face, it was times like these that Lorelei would often think of her cat Poe. She smiles remembering the first few years she would bring him to school to feel less lonely, but ultimately decided he should stay home as he got older. But the times Lorelei allowed herself to be a full blown lazy bones, she thinks of her cat and his love of finding the perfect napping spot, usually in the sun.

The silence of the room, save for the occasional pop from the fireplace, was interrupted by the growling of a stomach. Opening her eyes, Lorelei looked over to her left where Robin sat, also perfectly laid out in relaxation, and guffawed. “Are you serious?”

“I can’t help it,” she replied with her eyes still closed, “I have a freak metabolism.” She then opened her eyes and took her time standing up from the chair. “I’m gonna go bother the ‘wudgies for a snack, feed the monster in me.”

Lorelei replied with a, “Hurry back”, before shutting her eyes once more and letting the calm of the room overtake her.

“Lorelei! Wake up!”

Feeling someone rustle her body, she opened her eyes and found herself face to face with Robin. Thinking she must have dozed off due to the fact that she didn’t recall hearing the door open, signaling her friend’s reemergence. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Lorelei sat up to best hear what her friend was saying.

“Good, so, you know how I said I was gonna bother the pukwudgies for something to eat?” Lorelei gave a tired nod. “Well, when I got down there the kitchen was empty. So, naturally, I see some leftover blueberry pie and grab a slice. But I heard some muffled voices nearby so I snooped a bit and overheard one of the puks’ say something about more missing food.” This perked Lorelei’s ears right up, like a cat hearing the can opener. “But that’s not all,” Robin continued, “apparently the pukwudgies had their own little feast, but while they did so someone, or something, entered the castle and took turkey scraps. Specifically, they mentioned bones, gizzards, and feathers. By the way, what are gizzards?”

Blinking after hearing all of this new information, Lorelei spoke. “Turkey organs.”

“Eww!” Robin exclaimed, making a disgusted face that said she regretted asking. “Even for a wild animal that’s rank!”

Although Lorelei could agree, there were still questions that this new revelation brought up. What did it want the leftover parts for? How was this thing getting into the castle? But most importantly, is it preparing to try for a bigger prey to mediate its hunger? After all, with a castle full of unsuspecting students the beast basically had a free meal ticket for the next year.

The girls had to do something, and hopefully it won’t be too late.

[paranormals-of-ilvermorny]

Chapter 16

November was coming to a close, but not before a final send off with Ilvermorny’s Thanksgiving feast. The entire castle was brimming with excitement for the day, along with the accompanying few days off. Unfortunately, there was still a little over a week before every staff and student could stuff themselves with turkey and gravy.

For the girls, that meant trying to balance school work and putting together information they already had. Once they received the letter they started to make a timeline of each attack, the year, and if there were any injuries. So far they had Harrison in 1959, Ramona in 1963, and Dessie in 1967. They were waiting for Charlie Dandoy’s letter to confirm if it was a creature attack, or something else, before adding him to the list. The only major injury, thus far, has been Dessie’s whose wand arm was scarred and still affected her.

Deciding to take a break from their work, Robin and Lorelei decided to take a walk around the castle to stretch their legs and get some blood flowing into their minds. They chatted about music and what they hoped to see on the plates come Thanksgiving. While discussing gravy or butter on mashed potatoes, they turned a corner and ran smack dab into a very familiar Pukwudgie.

“Hey, funny running into you two here,” exclaimed Orville. Lorelei thought he didn’t have a single hair out of place, could there be such a charm?

“Haha, yeah, literally!”

He wasn’t alone, standing beside Orville was another boy, about a head shorter than his friend. Grant Rook, a Sixth year Wampus, had shaggy hair, dark eyes, and a face splattered with freckles. Many of the female students, the ones that didn’t ogle Orville that is, found Grant’s full lips very attractive in their resting pout.

“Hey Robin,” he excitedly greeted, “oh and Lorelei,” he added, after a nudge to the shoulder from Orville.

“What brings you guys to this part of the castle?” Asked the latter.

“Nothing much, just taking a stroll to stretch our legs,” replied Robin, oozing in nonchalance. “What about you guys?”

The boys looked at each other, then reached their hands into their pockets. They pulled out handfuls of various nuts, some of which spilled onto the stone floor. Now it was the girls’ turn to stare at each other, before looking at the boys in confusion.

“Why,” Questioned Lorelei, “are your pockets filled with nuts?”

“Well,” began Orville, placing the nuts back into his pockets, “it’s kind of a long story but, we were hoping to—“

“We’re gonna make a squirrel army!” Blurted out Grant, never a fan of discreteness. The four students fell into silence, each for their own reasons; Robin was thinking how they’re gonna need more nuts, Lorelei was questioning the sanity of the boys, Orville was extremely embarrassed, and Grant was hoping they might wanna help. After a very long, and painfully quiet, few moments the silence was broken.

“You what?” Asked Lorelei, greatly hoping she had misheard. “You’re gonna make an army of… squirrels?” The boys nodded their assent, one far more thrilled by the idea than the other.

After another moment of silence Robin questioned in all seriousness, “How exactly are you gonna do that?”

“The plan was we—“

“We train them to throw stones at people we don’t like or they can protect us from evil Wizards and whatnot.” Grant explained, only making poor Orville’s face redder by the second. “That’s what the nuts are for.”

It really didn’t take a genius to realize these boys’ endeavor was not going to work out for them, but at least they might feed some of the local wildlife. That will account for something.

“Oh,” exclaimed Lorelei, as one would when they listen to a child and their whimsy ideas. “Well, where did you get the nuts from?”

Grant, grinning like a fool, answered, “The kitchens, pukwudgies were so busy working on next week’s feast that they didn’t even stop us.”

“Wow, didn’t know they started cooking a whole week in advance.” Said Robin, her eyebrows raised from surprise.

“Yeah, but we must not have been the only ones looking for stuff, they mentioned something about missing food.”

“Yeah,” chimed Orville, his face just a pink hue now that the conversation was changed. “I heard them say they were missing potatoes, corn, and something else I can’t remember. Weird.” He ended with a shrug.

Now this caught the girls’ attention. Missing food? That’s never happened before. Maybe there was more to this than just some missing food.

“Thanks for telling us, we'll be on the lookout,” Lorelei said as they made their way around the corner.

“Yeah, and good luck with the squirrels!” Encouraged Robin, the four of them going their separate ways through the castle. Both girls knew they had to finish their homework, but for now, it would have to wait.

Upon arrival, the entrance to the kitchens was two large wooden doors with iron hinges that resembled a barn door. Similar to barn doors, the bottom half was cut in half to accommodate the smaller chefs to come and go freely. The smell of butter and herbs only got stronger the closer the girls got to the door, becoming engulfed once finally opening.

The kitchens themselves were about the size of a small cottage, covered head to toe in the same sandstone as the rest of the interior of the castle. A wall separated the two main rooms, connected by two large archways, mirroring the other side. In the middle was a large black cast iron oven with antique doors, fueled by everlasting embers; coal blocks that were lit aflame by Peruvian Vipertooth dragons, then charmed to never go out, even by aguamenti. Wooden tables, currently covered in pie crusts and vegetable peels, stood against the wall for more workspace. She leaves aligned the walls, those not obstructed by windows casting natural light into the cellar, housed different pieces of equipment like cutting boards, stand mixers, and colanders.

It was rather difficult to take in the little details of the kitchens, like the small stone steps leading up to the windows, when there were about forty pukwudgies running around. Not hard to identify, pukwudgies were usually four feet in height, covered in porcupine-like quills, and had similar appearances to hedgehogs and their piggish snouts. Their stomachs, where they were the most vulnerable due to the lack of spikes protection, was a lighter cream color instead of the darker brown of their quills. They would go from one cooking station to another, grabbing wooden spoons and ladles to test whatever they were working on, sometimes running over to the shelf and grabbing an herb or salt before tossing some in, only to take another taste. Most adorably, each of them was adorned with a white linen apron.

Over the noise of clinking pots and pans, as well as the sound of sizzling and boiling food stuffs, Robin leaned up to speak into Lorelei’s ear. “I think that one’s the head chef!” She said, pointing to a pukwudgie standing atop a wooden stool pointing and ordering around other pukwudgies wielding a well loved dark-oak spoon and wearing a white chef’s hat. If anyone in this kitchen knew about missing food, it would be him.

Walking over to the head chef, Lorelei had a strange sense of deja vu due to the pukwudgie’s smaller stature, reminding her of kindergarten and being the tallest girl in class. The head chef was still on his stool ordering his workers around by the time the girls made it over.

“Malak, the stuffing needs more pepper,” he told a worker with a pan of breadcrumbs. “Tresk, less kneading in the dinner rolls, they feel like sponges,” he barked at another puk, this one holding a basket of yeast rolls. “And Inksi,” he shouted, pointing his spoon at one standing by the ovens, staring out the window, “if you burn this batch of sprouts, I’m not going to your son's birthday party!” The threat must have worked, for he immediately turned his attention away from the window and stared straight at the oven door.

Seeing an opening, Lorelei approached the busy pukwudgie. “Uh, sir?”

He barely glanced in her direction before responding, “Peanuts are in the pantry.”

Confused, then reminded of their earlier run in with the boys, Lorelei tried again. “Oh, no, we're not here for nuts.”

“Then get out,” he snapped, “Got no time for chitchat.” He said, then hopping off of his stool and scurrying off to another cooking station.

Noticing her friend felt a bit offended, Robin tried her hand at catching the pukwudgie’s attention. “Actually, sir—“

“Name’s Erok,” he gruffed at her.

“Uh, Erok, we were wondering about the food that’s gone missing.”

“Sorry lady,” he told her, a ladle in hand to test what looked like butternut squash soup. “Haven’t the time to sit around and tell you all my problems.” He paused to taste, telling the soup’s cook, “Garlic,” only for them to hurry off and for Erok to continue. “Whole pantry was raided by some stupid students. You know how long it took the foragers to collect all that sweetgrass? And what are a bunch of kids even gonna do with a whole sack of corn?!” He exclaimed out of anger.

Robin, unthinkingly answered, “Make popcorn?”

Erok looked to her, for possibly the first time since they entered the kitchen, and gave her a deathly sneer. “I wasn’t asking.”

Using the opportunity to question the chef further, Lorelei intervened. “Corn and sweet grass, anything else missing?”

Tearing his eyes away from Robin, who was beginning to feel eh what of his stare, continued to scurry on to another station, this time green beans with toasted almonds. “Yeah, some of my worker’s utensils have gone missing. Couple of whisks and spatulas.” He paused again to munch on a bean, “Good flavor, almonds need more time in the oven.” Then, back towards the girls, “Nothing else I can remember,” he told them, leaving to once again hurry off to try another recipe.

Lorelei and Robin exchanged glances, both thinking how odd it was for there to be missing food and utensils right around the same time they saw a possibly very dangerous beast on school grounds. Deciding they weren’t going to get any more information out of the chef, they began to make their ways for the exit, but stopped by a squeaky voice. “Excuse me,” said a pukwudgie that was trying to get between the girls’ legs. They apologized and moved for the pukwudgie to run through. Watching, they saw the pukwudgie run up to Erok and whisper something into his ear, unfortunately just as he had taken a sip of cider.

He spit out the freshly squeezed cider right into the face of the pukwudgie that served him. “WHADDAYA MEAN THERE ARE NO MORE PIE APPLES!? WHAT THEY JUST GREW LEGS AND WALKED AWAY!? WHAT KINDA PIE ARE WE GONNA SERVE THE PEOPLE?!”

Once again the girls locked eyes, clearly thinking the same thing about this abrupt disappearance. Now that they were sure they had enough information, they bid their farewells to Erok. “And by the way, your butternut squash soup could use more nutmeg,” Robin called over her shoulder, only enraging the pukwudgie more.

“GET OUT!”

Leaving the steamy kitchens, the girls decided to extend their trip by going outside and getting some fresh air. They exited out a side door near the southeast side of the castle, leading to the side of the woods where the Wampus den was located.

“Whew,” exclaimed Robin upon first stepping outdoors, “can finally breathe without the smell of sage and cinnamon in my nostrils!” The air was fairly cool, more mild than was typical for this late in November, but was seen as a gift regardless. Lorelei looked from Robin to the woods, thinking about the possibility of something unbeknownst to the headmaster living there. Whilst gazing towards the trees, something fought her eye amongst the dark green of the grass. Sitting halfway between the castle and the woods was an off white and brown speckled something that Lorelei couldn’t quite make out from where she stood. Breaking away from her friend for a moment, she walked over to what she saw. Bending down, Lorelei picked up what looked to be an apple core.

Hearing the footsteps of Robin approach, Lorelei brought the core up as she stood. “Whatchya got there?” Lorelei showed her the almost completely eaten apple, barely any flesh left on the fruit. “You don’t think…” she trailed off.

“That’s impossible… right?” Inspecting further, there was still some skin on the top and bottom of the fruit; green. “Didn’t the pukwudgies say they were missing some apples for the pie?” Questioned Lorelei, looking at her friend for confirmation.

“Yup,” she said, not too happy about the discovery. Suddenly, Robin’s gaze changed from the apple core in Lorelei’s hand to something further in the woods. Never one to back down, she took the lead into the forest, with Lorelei following not far behind. This time, instead of bending down, Robin just stopped and stared. “Welp, someone was hungry.”

Coming to a stop next to the Thunderbird, Lorelei looked down where Robin stopped. Another apple core, similar to the first one, mostly eaten but still revealed green flesh on the top and bottom. “Maybe the you-know-what is on a diet?” Lorelei tried to kid. Receiving no response, she looks to her side only to no longer find Robin there. Momentarily panicked, the fear subsides after her voice is heard a few more feet ahead.

“I think our friend had himself a little snack,” she called, her voice easily heard through the trees and lack of noise. Lorelei thought to herself what a bad idea this was before she followed Robin deeper into the woods.

For the next 20 minutes the girls meandered their way through the woods, at some point losing sight of the castle, following the apple core trail. Although they knew they wanted to find where the end of the trail led, if anywhere, the trepidation they felt while getting farther from help was anything but pleasant. Finally, the trail seemed to meet its end, but the answer made the girls slightly regret even leaving the castle’s safe walls in the first place.

After climbing a small hill, one that made Lorelei question how fit she was, the afternoon sun revealed a large divot into the dirt, filled with uneaten green apples. Staring into the pit, the girls could also make out what looked like brown burlap sacks stuffed to the brim.

Robin was the first to break the silence, “What do you suppose is in there?” She didn’t make a motion towards the bags, but there was no need to.

Feeling sick to her stomach, Lorelei replied, “I think you and I both know what’s in there.” A slight breeze, rare in the forest, pushed through and caused her to shiver.

Biting her cheek, Robin let go before answering. “Well, we won’t really know unless we, you know.” She motioned with her shoulder, pushing it towards the pit.

Lorelei snapped her head and looked to her companion. “You mean you want to go down there?!,” she asked aghast.

Her eyebrows shooting to her forehead, Robin said, “I don’t want to go down there. But what are we supposed to tell the pukwudgies? ‘Yeah, we found your missing ingredients in the woods but we left it because it was in a suspicious looking hole in the ground’.” She explained.

She had to hand it to her, Lorelei thought, it made some sort of sense. But something clearly didn’t want their stolen goods to be found, and the chances of whatever made that nest coming back while they were lugging the food back to the castle was very high. You can’t exactly run for your life carrying a sack of corn. ”Well, what if we just check if those bags are even the stolen food? We can’t see through burlap.”

Nodding her head, Robin agreed. “Okay, we go down,investigate the bags, then get our nosy butts back to the school as fast as possible, okay?”

“Sounds good to me,” replied Lorelei.

Steadily climbing down the hole, it was fairly deep and a bit steep, several leaves that covered the ground did not help trying to not slip. At the bottom, they could get a better idea of what this nest consisted of. They found several jugs, containing who-knows-what, along with a stack of branches and pine needles. They also found the pukwudgie’s missing utensils, all neatly piled together. Untying the top of the bag, Lorelei took a peek into what was inside, hoping not to be scarred for life by the contents.

“Corn, you?”

“Sweetgrass.”

“Okay,” said Lorelei, a little out of breath from fear, “now we can leave, yes?”

“Fine by me,” answered Robin. But just as they retired the sacks, a noise could be heard from the other side of the dirt mound. The snapping of twigs, quickly, and the fast crunching of dry leaves, the sound getting closer and closer to where the girls were standing in the divot. Lorelei could feel her palms get sweaty, her mind and heart raced with the idea of a large hungry beast coming back home to find a delectable dinner of two school girls.

The adrenaline in her veins rushed through every part of her, starting to shake from the fear, mentally begging whoever would listen to not let this be how she died. Looking over to Robin, her best friend through thick and thin, she too was wide eyed and scared for what could be coming for them. Neither one could speak or move, but they looked to each other with the shared sentiment that this was it, the end of their adventures. Lorelei, trying in vain to memorize the features of her friend's face, snapped her head back towards the top of the dirt mound, hearing the creature beginning to climb up. She closed her eyes, hoping for a quick and painless end, not daring to look her killer in the eyes—

“Hey guys!”

“QUINN!” Both girls shouted.

The bright red hair of Quinn Copper shown from the afternoon sun, a shining halo compared to the horns and scales they were expecting. She wore corduroy pants, rolled at the waist, and held up with a black belt. On top she had on a large sweater, most likely her father’s due to how it swallowed her up, and black laced boots made for the forest’s terrain. “Need some help?”

Once Robin and Lorelei had made it back out of the nest, Robin went into big sister mode and immediately started hounding Quinn with questions.

“What, by Merlin, are you doing out here?”

She stated, “I was looking for Fungulus,” pushing her glasses up whilst giving her nonchalant answer.

Neither girl having heard of such a thing, Robin again questioned her sister while Lorelei patted herself off from dirt.

”What?”

“Fungulus,” she said again, this time pulling out a textbook from a brown leather bag she wore across her small frame. With several bookmarks, she flipped to the one she needed then held the book up as one would when teaching. “Fungulus, little mushroom men. Aren’t they cute!”

The book showed different humanoid men with mushroom cap hats, each with a specific name written underneath to correspond with the correct classification. Along with the official writing in the book, there was also writing in ink that one can assume was made by Quinn herself. Lorelei had to admit, they were pretty adorable.

Huffing out a breath of air, Robin continued. “Quinn, you can’t just venture through the woods without telling anyone. You could have been hurt, or worse!”

After making sure her beloved book was secured back in her bag, the younger Copper responded. “For your information I did tell someone, Jordan Nettle. He was laying on the couch.”

“Was he asleep?”

Quinn’s face froze, clearly not having taken the possibility that the older student was napping on the couch rather than merely relaxing. “I don’t know,” she confidently replied. “Besides, what are you doing all the way out here?”

Now it was Robin’s turn to freeze, unsure of what to tell her sister. Thankfully, Lorelei swooped in with an answer, saving Robin from standing there with her mouth stuck open. “We were actually looking for the pukwudgie’s missing stuff. As you can see, we found it, so now we can go tell them where those prankster Wampus’ hid it.”

By the winds of fate, Quinn seemed to believe the sort of lie easily. The three of them began to walk back towards the castle, hoping to make it for dinner, but not before Robin mumbled, ‘It’s a wonder you’re a Horned Serpent’. On the walk back Lorelei tuned out the sisters’ bickering and began to think about the hows and whys of the stolen food as well as the nest. There was certainly something strange going on around the school, she just wasn’t sure what.

[paranormals-of-ilvermorny]

Chapter 15

After her meeting with the headmaster, Lorelei felt much better. An invisible weight had been lifted, comfortable knowing an authority figure knew there might be a dangerous animal near the school, even though he said it was unlikely. Back to her regular classes and being the brunt of Claire’s jokes, Lorelei was happy to exchange Skinwalkers for potions.

But if that was true, then why couldn't she stop thinking about Harrison and Ramona’s attacks?

It was during Arithmancy that Lorelei knew she had a problem. Professor Aster had asked the class how many numbers a person who is responsible or organized would have in their name. When no one raised a hand, he called on Lorelei, always a star student, and expected the right answer. As she was about to speak, for the first time she realized she didn’t know, too busy thinking about the attacks than paying attention to what she wrote down. Thankfully, Robin swooped in and pointed to her parchment. “Four, sir.” Happy with the answer, Professor Aster went on to discuss how to solve for the answer.

Frustrated with herself for letting her thoughts interfere with her school work, Lorelei was going to have to do something.

It was early November and the air was getting colder by the day. The girls were currently outside by the archery range, Robin had been restless all day so they agreed to get some energy out by shooting some arrows. Today the air was crisp enough to bite into, so they dressed appropriately in their wool cloaks, tweed skirts, and thick tights, paired with mittens. Although Robin forgon her mittens to better handle her bow.

Lorelei sat to the side, not wanting to flirt with the idea of getting shot, going over her notes about the attacks. After receiving Ramona’s letter she started to use a spare notebook to keep track of information related to Skinwalkers and possible victims, to better see any potential overlying details.

The snap, thwomp sound of Robin’s bow hitting the target caused her to look up; five points. “Nice shot,” complimented Lorelei.

“Thanks,” replied Robin a bit absentmindedly, busy drawing her bow for the next shot. “How did the meeting with the headmaster go?”

Lorelei shrugged, then realized her friend couldn’t see she said, “Okay, I guess.”

Robin drew back her bow, casual conversation as if she wasn’t handling a deadly weapon. “Yeah? Just ‘okay’?”

“I mean…” Lorelei was at a loss for words. What does she say? Yeah, we chatted and he said I was an idiot for thinking a Skinwalker could be prowling the school grounds, oh, and by the way, at one point he thought I stole from the schools’ greenhouse, no biggie. Definitely not. “We talked and, in the end, he said to leave it up to him. He is in charge of the whole school after all, he has to know what he’s doing.”

Once she got her sight, Robin let go of the bow, effectively hitting the target again; this time earning herself ten points. “Dang it,” she mumbled. This time, turning towards her single audience member, Robin replys, “I don’t see why we can’t just go into those woods,” she gestured with an arrow, “and get rid of the beast ourselves. At least that way we don’t have to worry about anyone getting hurt.”

Lorelei let out a sigh. She could understand where her friend was coming from, finding it a bit frustrating being told to stop any and all research about magical creatures, but what else could they do? “I get it, getting shut down right after finding some leeway,” Lorelei said in her most sympathetic voice, which seemed to calm Robin a bit. “But we can’t just go running into the woods all willy nilly with our wands ready to ‘Abracadabra’ the thing and risk losing an eye in the process.”

Robin, who has yet to draw her bow, huffed out a frustrated sigh. “I know you’re right,” she conceded, “but I can’t just sit around and do nothing with the knowledge that something with teeth and claws is out there looking for prey.”

Left in silence, the girls sat with their thoughts and tried to find a solution to their problem. After a few minutes, made worse by the cold wind, Lorelei broke the silence. “Well…” she began, her mind daring to voice what her heart said to do, “…there’s no reason we can’t continue writing to the attack victims.”

Robin continued to stare at her, unsure of what she was insinuating. “I thought you said the headmaster told you to let go of researching?”

Smiling like the Cheshire Cat, Lorelei responded, “He said to stop with the creatures, he didn’t say anything about writing a few innocent letters.”

Now it was Robin’s turn to smile. “Lorelei Raywood, you sneaky little lady,” she said, her eyes sparkling with the thought of going against the grain of what anyone had said. Drawing back her bow, Robin continued, “I think I can get on board with that.” Letting go of the bow in her grasp, Robin once again hit the hay target.

A perfect bullseye.

For the next three weeks both girls used their time wisely to write letters and get school work done. It didn’t help that Professor Holly-Oaks assigned a three feet long essay on the unforgivable curses and why they were unforgivable.

After waiting a week, they heard back from Harrison’s son Colin, they found out that the attack victim of 1967 was a girl named Dessie Staghart. Once they found that out, they had to search through Ms. Copper’s Oracle Pages to locate her current address. Fortunately, there was only one Desdemona “Dessie” Staghart, so that saved some time writing letters. Unfortunately, it still took weeks for the girls to receive a letter back.

In the meantime, they went to class and tried to ignore Claire’s stupid remarks about how Robin smells and Lorelei will die a lonely old lady surrounded by cats. “You know Claire,” Lorelei decided to reply, despite her own beliefs that it was worthless to, “that doesn’t sound so bad.”

“Yeah,” chimed in Robin, “at least she’ll be surrounded by people who like her, unlike you.”

Claire gave the two of them a deathly glare, enough to turn a man to stone. “Well,” she sneered, “I’d rather live a short life filled with people who can get me higher on the ladder than a long life surrounded by scum who will only bring me down.”

It was a tense few moments as Robin and Claire starred each other down, the already narrow hallway seemingly getting smaller by the second.

“Sorry I’m late, I forgot my class book in the teacher’s lounge,” came the chipper voice of Professor Teagarden, gracefully unaware of the scene she just happened upon. With the classroom door unlocked, all of the students quickly filed into their seats. Sending a mental ‘thank Merlin’, Lorelei dragged Robin away from the hallway to two empty seats at the back of the room.

“I thought we said we weren’t gonna let her get to us?” Whispered Lorelei, slowly pulling out her parchment and quill.

“I know,” she said, a bit embarrassed, “just can’t stand when she attacks people I care about.” Lorelei’s heart swelled from pride at her words. “And who even cares about social class anymore? It’s not like we’re living in the seventeen-hundreds!”

Her outrage caused a laugh to bubble from Lorelei’s chest. “Yeah, but I’m kinda looking forward to becoming a little old lady with a bunch of cats for roommates.”

Robin smiled lopsidedly, “Don’t forget, I’m always gonna be bothering you for a cup of sugar. ‘Oh Lorelei, your house smells like kitty litter!’” She mimicked an old lady's voice. Both girls laughed before getting down to business and writing down potion ingredients.

Finally, after weeks of waiting, Lorelei entered the dining hall with a letter from Dessie Staghart. Clearing a space on the table, they pushed plates of stuffed peppers and roasted zucchini, fearing a grease stain or worse. Using a butter knife they carefully opened the envelope and unfolded the letter.

“‘Miss Lorelei’,” Robin began to read aloud, “what a surprise it was to read your letter’ yada yada yada ‘I recall hearing about another student having gone through a similar experience from my younger brother’ blah blah blah ‘his name was Charlie Dandoy, no one believed him because he was a first year’. Well, that’s just rude. Sorry, anyways, ‘For myself I didn’t want to tell the headmaster, but the nurse said the damage to my arm was too extensive to ignore. He approached me in my hospital bed, where I told him exactly what happened. Out for a stroll… saw something in the woods… got attacked… all I remember was teeth and claws coming at me. He told me not to worry and that matters will be taken into his hands, that this will not happen again.’ Well, what do we say to that?”

Lorelei’s head was spinning, all of this new information causing her to rethink everything. The headmaster knew about the attack, she was seriously injured, and it looks like there were no lasting repercussions towards the safety of the students if it continued to happen again. Suddenly losing her appetite, Lorelei read and reread the letter over and over again.

There was a break coming up for Thanksgiving, so hopefully they can sort some things out with the extra time.

And sending a letter to Charlie Dandoy would be at the top of the list.

[paranormals-of-ilvermorny]

William the Pukwudgie

Name: William

Title: Keeper of Keys/ groundskeeper

Age: unknown

Ever since the creation of the school, William the pukwudgie and his family have taken upon the task of making sure the castle and its surroundings are well maintained for students and faculty. It is said that he was the reason for Isolt’s evil aunt Gormlaith Gaunt’s death, that when his name was called he Apparated behind her and stabbed her through the heart with a poisoned arrow. For his act of service, and close connection to the founding family, the Pukwudgie schoolhouse was named after him and his kind. Through the years William, his family, and several other pukwudgies have chosen to stay around the school and take care of the wizards and witches there feeling that they are too naive to take care of themselves. Despite their constant moaning and complaining of working the castle, and despite the fact they get paid for their work in gold, the pukwudgies remain and continue to service the school every year.

As for William, it is unknown his age or when/ if he passed away. Though many still see a pukwudgie named William place mayflowers on Isolt’s grave, a carved marble statue of her and her husband James that guard the entrance to the sorting hall, every year on her anniversary. When asked if he is the same William, he simply laughs in their face and says that would mean he was over three hundred years old, which he does not deny. Rarely seen due to his age, William the pukwudgie remains an integral part of Ilvermorny past and present.

[paranormals-of-ilvermorny]

Chapter 14

Over the weekend the pukwudgies found the broken-in greenhouse and immediately reported it to the headmaster. Nothing was said until the following Sunday evening before dessert was served.

“Students,” headmaster Pope called out to the full dining hall. “Due to the fast traveling news in this school, some of you may already know that greenhouse three was recently broken into.” This caused some tables to whisper amongst themselves. “Now, this matter will be tended to by myself and Professor Juneberry, there is no need to worry as classes will continue as scheduled. I must also add that if any of you know any information about this matter, I encourage you to contact me or the professor.” His formal speaking voice easily changed when he ended his speech with, “Now, for dessert!”

Sitting at their table, Lorelei ate her mini pumpkin pie quietly, busy thinking about what the headmaster said. She also thought back to Halloween night and what transpired, although, her mind wandered back to Orville and his—

Orville!

Lorelei almost completely forgot that she wasn’t alone investigating the greenhouse. He can even testify to the creature they both saw running through the grounds that night. Looking over to where he sat, Lorelei’s head was swimming with everything she wanted to talk to him about that night. Hopefully, sometime this week she’ll be able to pull him aside and they can talk about what they should tell the headmaster.

That is, if she can work up the courage.

The bell had just rung and Lorelei was currently pacing around in a part of the castle's very frequented corridors. Slowly her surroundings started to fill with students of varying heights and ages, all wearing the mandatory navy and cranberry uniform. Amongst the students her eyes made contact with her target, currently laughing and joking around with his fellow sixth years, as he walked from one class to the other.

All day Lorelei had been stalling and trying her best to work up the courage to speak to Orville, but the bravery just wouldn’t come. Distracted by her ping-pong thoughts of anxiety she wasn’t even able to focus properly on her classes. Too many things could go wrong, from turning herself into a turnip to accidentally setting him on fire, the possibilities to make a fool of herself in front of her crush friend was endless. But the other part of her brain, the logical part, tried to reason that she had to talk Orville into before the headmaster. It was vital for both of them to seek out the elder wizard, if Lorelei tried to present the case she was building against a possible Skinwalker roaming the grounds the more witnesses the better. At the very least they both needed to speak to the headmaster in the off chance he believed either of them to be guilty of stealing. She didn’t want Orville to get in trouble for something he has no involvement in.

As the crowds started to thin with students finding their next classes, the window of opportunity to talk to Orville was waning. Thankfully, his friends scurried off in an opposite direction, leaving the Pukwudgie alone in the hall. Sending a quiet prayer to Merlin, Lorelei took a deep breath for encouragement, and began to walk over to him.

“Uh, hi Orville?” She ventured to ask once close enough for him to hear. His raven locks followed his head as he turned to look at her, a small smile popping up on his face.

“What’s up Lorelei? Don’t usually see you in this part of the castle.” He answered her, too casual and polite to be human.

“Well, I figured I would take the scenic route. Only a few more years left and I wanna remember every nook and cranny of this place.” She answered, unaware if he knew that she left class early to run down four flights of stairs, some of which were bewitched, only to catch him between classes.

He laughed, the sound bouncing off the walls. “I can’t blame you there. But I think I can go the rest of my life without remembering how the third-floor boys bathroom looks,” he told her, cringing at the thought. Choosing to question what he meant later, Lorelei continued.

“Um, it's actually a good thing I ran into you. Since Friday night, and again this morning, I kept thinking how we should both see the headmaster at the same time. You know, to tell him about what we saw?”

Orville’s face was deep in concentration, listening to every word she said. Once finished, he nodded in understanding and brought his hand up to scratch at his chin. “You know, I was actually thinking the same thing.”

Lorelei’s face lit up in surprise. “Oh!”

He chuckled, continuing, “Yeah, I was actually gonna try and find you later today, but since you're here.” His hand dropped, both of them finding their place inside his pants pockets leaving looking very casual. “What if we both went after dinner tonight? Is that okay for you?”

Again, Lorelei’s face was frozen in shock. Maybe he could read minds? I’m pretty sure sixth years learned legilimency. “Yeah, that sounds great! Meet outside the dining hall after dessert?”

“After dessert! I’ll see you there.” He said, smiling so wide that his dimples made an appearance, officially being the highlight of her day.

The two said goodbye to each other, with Orville walking off to his next class. Lorelei just stood there and watched as he left, a smile on her face and warmth on her cheeks. Now that one crisis was averted, she had to climb up four flights of semi-bewitched stairs to get to her next class, effectively clearing her face of any smile.

“Merlin, give me strength,” she muttered.

The rest of Monday flew by, Lorelei catching up on notes she missed and healing her sore calves, with dinner coming and going just as quickly.

“So, the two of you are gonna tell the headmaster about the ‘you know what’?”

Robin asked, as the plates that served roasted vegetables and herbed chicken were taken away. Throughout dinner Lorelei recounted her rendezvous with Orville, ignoring her friend’s smirk, and how they planned on speaking to Headmaster Pope after dessert.

“Yep,” she replied, taking the cookie from her bowl of butternut pecan ice cream. “We tell him everything.”

Robin shot her a raised brow. “Everything?” She asked, “Including how you knew about the creature for weeks before the greenhouse incident?”

Swallowing the cookie was suddenly very hard to do with a dry throat. Lorelei coughed before answering, “Well, yes, but he’ll have to understand why. No one would have believed us if we just went to him based off of two sightings without knowing what we saw.”

Nodding, Robin agreed.

A sudden thought struck Lorelei then. “Hey, why don’t you come with us and tell the headmaster what you saw that first Quodpot match?”

Robin stopped nodding her head in agreement. “Lorelei,” she started, choosing her words very carefully, which she rarely did, “I understand your thinking that the headmaster should know about the creature walking around the school grounds, but I’m not so sure now.”

Lorelei took a moment to study her friend’s features. Her usual bright eyes seemed a bit dimmer, and her lips that practically lived in a contagious smile were now being bitten out of….nervousness? Odd, considering the only thing Robin Copper was ever nervous about was how many points she could score in a Quodpot game. “What do you mean?”

“Lorelei, if there have been at least two other accounts of attacks near the school, don’t you think the headmaster would have already known about them?”

Unable to speak, Lorelei felt as if someone had just casted stupefy on her. She thought about what her friend said while eating her dessert. Recalling back to her letters with Ramona and Harrison, she knows that they both went to the headmaster after their encounters. But surely the school must have tried to do something to stop the attacks, why would they sit by and do nothing?

“Robin,” Lorelei spoke after deep thought, “the headmaster might have known about the attacks, but maybe there was more happening that we don’t know about.” To prove her point, she started waving her spoon around like a pointer. “For starters, it was years ago, way before our parents even attended school. Who's to say what attacked them is even the same creature we saw?”

Although she was staring at her ice cream melting before her, Robin was still listening to what Lorelei deemed plausible causes. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.” She said, but the smile she gave didn’t reach her eyes. Lorelei could still tell her friend wasn’t too keen on the headmaster helping. “Just, don’t put all of your dragon eggs in one pouch.”

With a sad smile, Lorelei replied, “I won’t, promise.” She then held out her pinky as a truce of sorts.

Peering over to her friend, Robin also gave a small smile and joined their fingers together.

They finished their ice cream in silence, each lost in their own thoughts of what they talked about. Lorelei couldn’t comprehend how Robin wouldn’t trust the headmaster to take care of the Ilvermorny students. When he hears about how a dangerous animal is roaming the castle grounds, of course he is going to jump into action. Maybe the attacks stopped after Ramona, she never wrote a letter to the upperclassman that was mentioned in Harrison’s letter, so maybe it was just a fluke.

Soon the bell chimed out to the dinning hall, signaling the end of dessert. Energized with sugar and cream, Lorelei was ready to prove her friend wrong about the headmaster.

“I’m happy to see you showed up.”

Orville’s comment made Lorelei’s cheeks burn with a subtle heat. “Yeah, well,” she said trying to not sound out of breath, “a Horned Serpent always keeps their promises.”

His handsome face screwed up into an adorable inquisitive look. “Is that part of the house requirements?”

Lorelei huffed out a laugh, “It is now.”

The two of them had met up outside the dining hall, just as planned, and were now hurrying to get to the fifth level where a staircase would lead to the headmaster’s office. They scurried up the stairs, Lorelei needing to take more breaks than she would have liked, and past multiple empty corridors of paintings trying to catch some shut eye.

Upon reaching the fifth floor they came upon a very ornate staircase with carved banisters and a long woven rug that ran the length of the stairs. They took their time walking up this set, not wanting to seem out of breath for the headmaster, noticing the intricate details in the rug. It seemed to have each of the school’s mascots, the Horned Serpent, Pukwudgie, Thunderbird, and Wampus, woven in. The creatures were in a gold threading, whereas the rest of the rug was in cranberry red and navy blue. Lorelei could also spot a few native plants and trees amongst the scenery.

At the top of the staircase, the pair came to discover that the rug continued, ending before two wooden doors. In this alcove hallway were two long wooden benches on either side, for parents or students to sit and wait for the headmaster to call them in. They approached the door, Orville raising his hand to knock, when a gravelly voice came from above them.

“Ya can’t just go a knockin’ on any door ya want, pal!” Looking up, the two students saw two perched gargoyles on top of the doorway. Neither seemed to move, so it was difficult for them to decipher which had just spoken.

“My money’s on the left one.” Orville whispered to Lorelei, who was too astonished to laugh at his joke. They must have just heard a recording, right? The gargoyles don’t actually talk…

“Well, if you ya split the winnings maybe we could make an arrangement.” Came the stoney reply of the right one, its beak like lips moving in time with its voice. They were, they are talking! But, how…

“Aw c’mon now, Damon, where are your manners?” Asked the one sitting on the left, turning its stone head to speak to his companion.

“Oh don’t worry, Pythias, you’ll get your cut,” replied the right one, Damon, again. “Know,” he asked, turning his attention to Orville and Lorelei, “what do you two snot-pots want?”

Lorelei was now too astounded and offended to respond, so Orville took the lead. “Uh, we were hoping to speak to the headmaster. It has to do with the greenhouse, if that helps, uh, sirs.”

They looked to each other before Pythias’ wings extended and he suddenly turned to stone, unmoving and cold. Damon, the more lively gargoyle, stood there watching the students, not bothering to make small talk. Within minutes Pythias returned to life and retracted his wings before telling them, “He will be with you momentarily. Take a seat, ya dogs must be barkin’.”

Orville and Lorelei took a seat on the long wooden bench, seated beneath a large portrait of Mount Greylock, the wind and chirping birds could be heard from the painting. It added a nice ambiance to the room, where many people have been alone with their thoughts before.

While they waited, Lorelei and Orville disputed how it was possible for two stone gargoyles to be able to speak.

“Lorelei, I’m not a magizoologist, just leave it be.”

“But they don’t have vocal chords! How does that work?!”

Orville opened his mouth to answer, but he never got the chance, for the wooden doors opened and revealed Headmaster Pope. His face was smiling, kind and welcoming, “Who would like to go first?” Looking at each other, Orville shrugged his shoulders and stood up. He approached the headmaster and smiled, placing a hand on his chest as he told the headmaster his name and year. Lorelei could just make out the headmaster asking, “What brings you in my boy?”, before the doors closed by themselves.

Many minutes later and Lorelei was still sitting alone in the waiting hall with her thoughts. With nothing to do but wait, her mind wandered from what assignments she needed to complete to what might happen next in her current leisure book. She was mentally writing her magizoology essay about the differences between gnomes and dwarves, when the wooden doors opened.

From within the headmaster’s office, Orville came walking out, smiling and laughing, with Headmaster Pope walking besides him talking. “Now,” said the headmaster, “make sure to keep your grades up. The Pukwudgies can’t loose their best player.”

Laughing again, Orville responded, “Yes sir.”

The two men turned their attention to Lorelei, who now stood, before the headmaster spoke again. “Ms. Raywood, would you like a word?” His voice was welcoming, not at all suspicious, which made Lorelei feel a heavy weight lift off of her shoulders. She nodded, hands clasped together as she walked over to the headmaster’s office.

Before following Headmaster Pope, Orville asked if she wanted him to wait for her, to which she said, “That would be great, thank you.”

“Of course,” he replied. “He’s really nice, so no need to feel scared.” He flashed her one of his shining smiles, reaching the depths of his eyes, before walking over to where she had been sitting. Taking a deep breath, Lorelei walked into the headmaster’s office, the door’s shutting behind her.

“Mr. Doe said you two had some information about what happened in the greenhouse on Halloween? Is that right?” The headmaster asked, his Barbados accent adding a subtle charm.

He was sitting behind his desk, an ancient thing that looked like it belonged in a museum. In fact, most of the artifacts in the room did. Along with the heavily carved desk, there were paintings depicting medieval magic, globes with forgotten continents, and vases with what looked to be real gold paint. There was even a large tapestry of the Ilvermorny school silhouetted out of branches that stemmed from a tree, Isolt’s tree, like in the courtyard. The office outlooked onto the dirt path that led to the Quodpot pitch and archery range, the headmaster’s desk sitting before the windows.

After taking a look around, Lorelei made her way closer to where the headmaster sat behind his desk. “Yes, we saw a—“

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” he apologetically said as she started, “but please, have a seat.” He motioned to the weathered red leather button back sofa. Walking around the sofa, Lorelei took a seat, sinking down a bit after what must have been the hundreds of students who had sat here. “Please, continue.”

Taking another, shallower breath, Lorelei started again. “On Halloween night Orville was nice enough to walk me back to the Horned Serpent dormitories.” She recalled. “We had just passed the windows by the Arithmancy classroom when I noticed something moving outside. I go to look out the window and we spot a—“ This time, Lorelei cut herself off. She wasn’t sure why, maybe it was Robin’s words from earlier, but something in her told her to wait before telling the headmaster it was a Skinwalker.

“Yes, what did you see?”

Blinking herself back into the present moment, Lorelei continued. “We saw a strange looking figure, all in black, with long limbs scurrying towards the greenhouses. So, we ran through the castle to catch it, but when we got there the glass was broken and dirt was on the floor.” She finished telling her story, suddenly feeling very nervous that she will be seen as suspicious.

Headmaster Pope, with his fingers threaded on the table before him, took a minute to digest everything Lorelei had said. Finally, after a pregnant pause, he spoke. “Well Ms. Raywood, that is a very bizarre tale. Made even more strange after talking with Mr. Doe.” Oh Merlin, Lorelei thought, what did Orville say? As if he could sense her anxiety, the headmaster continued. “I want to be completely honest with you, and hope for your honesty in return.” Lorelei nodded immediately, wishing more than anything to be proved innocent.

The headmaster stood up from his wingback chair, beginning to walk around as he spoke. “When the Pukwudgies first alerted me that there had been a break in, our protocol is to perform Apparent Vestigium, a very powerful spell as you may know.” Still nervous, Lorelei was a tad unsure where the conversation was going. He stopped before the ancient globe, located at the armrest of the red sofa. “I know you entered the greenhouse that night.”

The urge to run was overwhelming, but unfortunately the rest of Lorelei’s body didn’t get the memo, so she was stuck in a frozen state of fear. Upon seeing her internal panic, the headmaster offered a smile and raised hand, as if to banish any and all negative thoughts. “Do not worry, there was only trace of your wand, along with Mr. Doe’s, at the scene. No magic was performed at all. You’re a very smart girl, top of your classes, if you really had broken into the greenhouse, I would like to think you would have covered your tracks with a spell or two.” The headmaster jokes, but it took a moment for Lorelei to realize that. I’m not in trouble, he knows I didn’t do anything.

“Oh, of course!” She laughed, a little breathy from the still present anxiety in her thrumming heart. “Not that I would ever steal! I’d be better off foraging in the woods than break into the greenhouse for some thistle.”

Headmaster Pope laughed as well, a deep belly laugh that made his whole body shake. “No, you’re a good student, I doubt you could even borrow a quill without returning it.” Lorelei felt heat tickle her cheeks, embarrassed to admit there was some truth. After his laughter subsided, his voice took on a more serious tone than he had before. “I hate to ask of you, a high grade student such as yourself,” the headmaster began, his face becoming slightly grave, “but it would be of great benefit to the school.”

“Of course, anything I can fit into my schedule, that is.” She tried to kid, desperate to bring some mirth back to the room.

Headmaster Pope smiled at her attempt, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Again, he walked a bit around with his hands behind his back. “See, upon further examination of the greenhouse, it appears it was more than just some nettle that was stolen.” Lorelei had all of her attention on the headmaster and what he was saying. “With the help of Professor Juneberry, we discovered jars of missing butterfly weed, coneflower, and sweet grass. We do not know why these were taken, but some theories have been made. If you see or hear anything from other students about these plants, it would be very beneficial to the community if it was reported.”

Nodding, Lorelei agreed, “I’ll do my best.”

The headmaster smiled, showing how some of the wrinkles on his face got there. “If that is all, you may be free to go. I believe Mr. Doe is awaiting you.” Lorelei stood up and slowly started to make her way to the door, all the while thinking if she should tell the headmaster about the Skinwalker. If anyone should know, it would be him, right? “Ms. Raywood?”

Blinking herself back to reality, Lorelei realized she was staring straight at the wooden doors. Turning around to face the headmaster once again, she took in a breath of air before making her decision.

“Actually, sir,” Headmaster Pope watched her, now intently listening, “myself and a friend have been doing some research on magical creatures because we saw something during the last Quodpot match.” Another deep breath to steal her nerves. “I think there’s a Skinwalker wandering around the school grounds,” she rushed out.

For a minute the headmaster didn’t quite know how to react. But once he started to understand what Lorelei had just said, he offered a small smile. “Ms. Raywood,” he began, rising from his desk to stand before it, “I appreciate your input, but as a former member of Body for Protection of Magical Species under MACUSA, I must admit it is a far reach as they are not known to steal. Although unlikely, your concerns will be taken seriously. If you’d like, you can even tell your classmates not to go into the woods alone, to ease your mind.”

Lorelei smiled, a little embarrassed but happy that the headmaster was professional enough to not outright laugh in her face. Of course a Skinwalker couldn’t steal from the greenhouse, what was she thinking? “Thank you sir, and I apologize for my wild imagination.” Headmaster Pope laughed.

“Please, do not apologize for having such a lively mind. One like yours, filled with both smarts and creativity, is a gift for a young woman like yourself,” he told her with great sincerity, reminding her of someone. “Take care, Ms. Raywood. And do yourself a favor and take a break from researching scary monsters.” And with a swish of his hand, the doors open behind her, revealing a standing Orville.

As the two students began to walk back to the edge of the staircase, Headmaster Pope called to them, “You are welcome back anytime!” When finished, his office doors closed with a thunk, a finality to their meetings.

[paranormals-of-ilvermorny]

im begging you to use the Read more function when posting

🫡

[paranormals-of-ilvermorny]

Chapter 13

It was a few days later and the girls were sitting around a table in the Horned Serpents’ common room as rain pelted the windows. They were working on homework, at least trying to, but Lorelei couldn’t focus on the many properties of Dittany in potion making when a huge bomb had just been dropped on them. There was more than one attack on an Ilvermorny student on school grounds. At once, a hundred or so questions came to mind. Was it another skinwalker? Could there be a nest, or burrow? How many more students were hurt? Why has no one done anything?

At least Lorelei got some peace of mind knowing there was a letter out right now for Harrison Cuttler, the other attack victim, so maybe some of these answers can get answered. The shake of the table from Robin’s bouncing leg caused her to smudge a letter, causing Lorelei to look up from her twenty inch parchment over to her, a small smile creeping up her face. “I thought you learned in year one that bigger writing won’t count towards the required length?”

Robin let out a grumble of frustration. “Not my fault my handwriting is the size of a half Dragot,” she said, not taking her eyes off of her paper.

Lorelei let out a huffed laugh, her friend always entertaining her. She knew they would have to talk about the possibility that there are other attacks besides Ramona’sand possibly Harrison’s. Immediately after reading Ramona’s letter, and letting her words sink in, she got to work on writing a letter addressed to Mr. Cuttler that same night before sending it early the next morning before class.

“What do you think about the possibility of another attack? Like, what if Ramona wasn’t the first or only one?” Lorelei asked her busy friend, hoping now was an okay time.

Robin placed her quill down, some of its ink staining her parchment. “Well, I don’t know,” she started, leaning back in her chair, “I mean, what if it wasn’t a skinwalker that attacked the first guy. It could have been something totally different.”

Lorelei nodded, understanding her friend’s words. “Yeah, I thought about that. But, I’m not really sure how to feel about it.” She too took a break from writing, placing her quill in its ink jar. “If it wasn’t a skinwalker, would that make us happier or not?”

Continuing to bounce her leg to expel excess energy, Robin continued Lorelei’s thoughts. “Yeah, on one hand it could be a totally normal wolf attack. But, on the other hand—“

“It could be a werewolf attack.”

Her blue eyes lit up. “Exactly! So, I guess the question is which would you rather have to fight? Something of normal danger, or —“

“Something of magical danger.”

“Yeah,” Robin replied, dejected at the answer to both options. After a moment of silence that both girls used to evaluate their predicament, they went back to working on their essays. The question would linger in Lorelei’s mind for the next few days, until a return letter was received, but for now she was caught between a rock and a magical rock that can cause potentially more harm.

It was a cold early Thursday morning, the day before Halloween. The air was crisp and crept in through the stonewalls of the castle, causing every student to feel it in their bones. The dining hall was decorated in floating jack-o-lanterns, multicolored leaves attached to the chandelier, and different skeletons of owls, snakes, and cats that many students argued if they were real or not.

Breakfast today was pumpkin pancakes, with assorted syrups, fruits cut to look like eyeballs, fingers, and teeth. There were even little pieces of bacon shaped like bats and seasoned skull potatoes. Drowning her large stack of pancakes with syrup, Robin was excited to dig into her sugary breakfast. After taking a bite and letting the notes of cinnamon, pumpkin, and sweet syrup melt in her mouth, she went in for a second bite.

“ROBIN!”

“AAHHH!” She yelped, dropping her fork onto the black and white floor. Glaring at her friend she reached down to pick up the fork before placing it on the table, too dirty to use. “Why would you do that!? Today of all days?!”

Lorelei grimaced, grabbing a fresh fork for her friend. “Sorry,” she said, holding the utensil out as an apology, “I forgot your love of pumpkin pancakes.”

Taking the apology fork as acceptance, Robin mumbled, “They’re called pumpcakes.”

Nodding along, Lorelei responded. “Right. Anyways,” she segwayed into what she really wanted to talk about that morning and her cause for scaring. “I checked the owelry this morning and wouldn’t you know, we got a letter from Harrison Cuttler! And I must once again apologize,” she continued to speak as she took out an opened envelope from her inner cloak pocket, “because I just couldn’t help myself and read the letter on the way over here. Now, would you like the good news or the bad news?”

As she listened to her friend ramble on about the owelry and letters, Robin continued her feast of soggy pancakes. It took her a minute to realize she was asked a question, then another minute to pick one or the options. Robin answered, “Good news”, around a mouthful of food.

Lorelei smiled wide, “I was hoping you would say that. Well, the good news is it wasn’t a skinwalker that attacked Harrison. Instead, it was a,” she looked to the unfolded parchment to quote word for word what was said. “‘A large beast that slithered from shadow to shadow, its form only ever seen when it would strike’, which to me sounds very similar to a shadow serpent that can travel by the shadows of different objects and resembles a snake.” Lorelei’s face fell a bit before she continued. “Now, for the bad news. The first piece of bad news is that Harrison died a few years ago and the letter we received was written by his son, Collin. And more bad news, if he wasn’t attacked by a skinwalker then we might have more than one animal to worry about. But, there is also some medium news.”

“Let’s hear it,” Robin said before taking a swig of some refreshing apple cider.

Making herself a small plate of pancakes and fruit, Lorelei continued her speaking. “Well, although there might be more than one attacking beast, Colin’s letter mentions hearing of another attack from an upperclassmen in 1967, four years after Ramona. So there might very well be another attack victim, possibly leading to a pattern of attacks from various students. Unfortunately, this is gonna mean more letter writing.”

Robin thought about what Lorelei had said as she let her food digest. “Well,” she began, “if writing a few letters means we prevent anyone from getting hurt, or worse, then so be it. Between you and me, I kind of always wanted arthritis by twenty.” This caused Lorelei to laugh and almost choke on a piece of melon.

“You know, I was hoping you would say that.” Causing both of them to laugh, only for the bell to ring signifying the end of breakfast and the start of the day's classes.

Most of the professors certainly delivered when it came to teaching on Halloween, but it couldn’t have been too hard considering the magical advantage they had.

After everyone passed in their potions essays, Professor Teagarden, who was dressed as a garden fae, gathered everyone around a very large cauldron towards the back of the room. It reminded Lorelei and Robin of their first Halloween at school when she had everyone gather around a large cauldron, similar to now, and gave everyone a small vial of orange liquid. When she counted down from three, all the students poured their vials into the cauldron and a cloud of orange emerged, forming the shape of a happy jack-o-lantern and emitting the smell of candy corn. It was such a magical experience Lorelei had dreams of pumpkins with candy teeth.

Today, they gathered around almost exactly like their first year, but this time no vial was passed around. Instead, Professor Teagarden had everyone point their wands towards the pot and instructed them to wait for her command. Upon placing old aviator style goggles on her face, she poured a bright red liquid into the cauldron and had everyone cast ‘Bullabere’, the bubbling charm. Instantly, the cauldron’s liquid started to bubble rapidly as the professor continued to pour different vials, some amber colored and others filled with powders.

“Voila!” Professor Teagarden said, lifting her goggles over her head, “Children, I present to you,” she spoke whilst taking a mug and dunking it into the cauldron, filling it, “classroom made caramel apple cider!” Everyone was handed a mug and filled it to the rim, each student greedily taking large sips. The cider tasted sweet and slightly salty from the caramel notes, and the consistency was a bit thicker than normal cider but warm and spiced all the same.

The rest of their classes were pretty fun too, everyone got to turn their textbooks into bats that flew all over the classroom and terrorized some students. In Magizoology the class got to learn about the scary depths of the unexplored ocean floor, including all of the ancient animals residing there. The classroom was submerged in darkness and students had to do a scavenger hunt with only their wands for light as they searched for Nixies and baby Krakens. Robin keptgetting scared by the professor who was dressed up as a disgruntled old sailor with a yellow raincoat and boots to match. Lunch was a delectable pumpkin soup with bat-shaped grilled cheese and some broccoli on the side. The girls had to try hard not to fall asleep in History of Magic as Professor Starling played a prehistoric video about the history of Halloween from a witch's perspective. The professor was, of course, one of the best dressed in his (probably homemade) vampire costume with flowing black cape and scarlet red vest with a matching earring.

After classes ended, the girls went their separate ways, Robin to take a pregame nap for tonight’s party, and Lorelei off to get some pre-weekend studying done. The afternoon hours quickly went by and soon enough, it was time for the yearly feast.

The dining hall still had all of its floating jack-o-lanterns, multiple moving skeletons, and fall colored leaves on the root chandelier from this morning. It truly was a feast for the eyes.

Everyone was ordered by their house monitors to make their way down by 5:45, so that dinner could begin promptly at six. With everyone sitting at one of the many tables, now decorated with orange and black table cloths, the owl clock struck six past midday and the headmaster stood to speak.

“I do hope you are all enjoying your school year,” Headmaster Pope began. “I don’t want to make this speech too long, so I will leave you with a happy Halloween. Let the feast begin!”

At once all of the tables had silver plates of food magically appear before the students and staff. On the plates were chicken thighs and drumsticks, corn on the cob with butter, pasta in black and purple, hot dogs wrapped in pastry to mimic mummies, mashed potatoes with bloody gravy, even a witches brew stew with different vegetables like pumpkin carrots and skull mushrooms. Everyone dug in and filled their plates, as well as their stomachs, with everything that pleased them. To wash everything down was apple cider, pumpkin juice, and black raspberry soda as well as regular spring water.

All the while everyone ate, above them several ghosts and ghouls re-enacted different Halloween scenes. They would fly from one table to the next, pretending to solve a murder mystery or singing a scary lullaby of headless horsemen. Because Ilvermorny was one of the unhaunted wizarding schools, it was a nice surprise to see the spirits every year for a different rendition of a classic tale. Though, Lorelei has never been able to figure out where the ghosts stay for the rest of the year, or how they’re paid.

Once everyone had had their fill of food, the silver plates were replaced with new ones, this time filled with an assortment of spooky desserts. There were ghost chocolate strawberries, spider cookies, mummy brownies, and spiderweb fruit tarts. The ghosts had concluded their performance by dessert time, receiving loud cheers and applause. The dining hall now filled with happy chatter and laughter from every table, the cheery atmosphere greatly amplified by the delicious food. All in all, it was a very good beginning for a night filled with joy and scares.

The clock struck eleven and the Wampus Halloween party was in full swing. The room was packed with students, some more uneven on their feet than others, everyone trying to move their bodies to the loud music. Some students were still entering, and every time the door opened a large cloud of bats would fly down then disappear for the newest guest to enter the room. Decorations donned almost every square inch, orange and black ribbons strewn across the walls and furniture, pumpkin shaped confetti on the floor. There were even some glowing skulls that floated around the room, molten eyes that looked like the depths of Hell.

Along the sides of the makeshift dance floor there were some tables, usually used for studying, now topped with festive runners and scrumptious foods. Different bowls and plates, some that were being ‘borrowed’ from the kitchens, all filled with on theme treats. There were homemade treats like witches fingers and spider cookies, along with classic candy shop goodies like Zip’s Ginger Brooms, Black Cat Cakes, and Pumpkin Fudge. Munching on a ghost shaped chip, Lorelei looked over the tasty options with little hunger.

She has been on her own since being deserted by Robin in favor of dancing and having some fun with her Wampus friends. Pouring herself some punch, from a bowl filled with berry-blood liquid and hand shaped ice, she sipped whilst watching other students work up a sweat. It could be due to the holiday, but Lorelei had a suspicion it was more to do with the Angry Apple Cider, some students nearly avoiding a broken wrist from dancing so hard. She looked around to try and find the source of the music, a song she believed to be called ‘Werewolf Masquerade’, because there didn’t seem to be any speakers to be found.

“I hope you're having a good time,” came a familiar voice from Lorelei’s shoulder. She turned around to see the same face that sometimes made an appearance in her happier dreams.

“I am, just not much of a dancer. My mom said I was born with two left feet. What about you?”

Orville smiled upon hearing her reply, “Same, I swear I was born with two right feet!”

Lorelei laughed but found that hard to believe, considering how graceful he was on a broom. “But you look so natural playing Quodpot during a game?”

He scratched his neck, a sign of nervousness she was beginning to pick up on. “Ha, yeah, I guess carrying a five pound explosive is less scary than dancing at a social gathering.”

This made Lorelei smile, the fact that he could be so skilled in some areas yet so self-conscious in others made her fall just a bit more. “Well,” she said, her mouth moving faster than her mind could register what she was about to suggest, “maybe we could try not to fall on our butts together?”

Orville’s features lit up, certainly not expecting her to say such a thing. “Are you sure?”

Trying to fight her racing heart, Lorelei squeezed out, “Yeah,” before he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the dance floor.

It wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought, but she certainly didn’t start dancing like a duck to water. Lorelei tried to feel her body and get the rhythm from the bass to match what she wanted to do. Starting out slow, she shook her hips and swayed in place so she didn’t risk tripping over herself. Orville on the other hand went for it; he was wiggling and bobbing his head to the music, terribly off beat. At one point his hands lost a little too much control and almost hit another student in the eye, sneering at Orville and his awful dancing skills. The action made Lorelei laugh, really laugh out loud and clutch her stomach, thankfully breaking the ice and making it easier to try some new moves, even separating her feet from the floor.

After dancing for a while, they were joined by Robin, who had danced her way from one corner all the way to them after spotting her friend, happily surprised that she was dancing for the first time ever. “Happy to see this nerd got you showing off those moves, ‘Lei.”

“Hey, this nerd has got some pretty good moves of his own!”

Robin flipped her head towards him and looked at what he was doing, some abstract form of the shopping cart, causing her to take on a look of disbelief. “Really? You look like a newborn pegasus!”

The tips of Orville’s ears burned just a little bit at her commentary, “Yeah, well a Pukwudgie is known to help people. But how am I supposed to do that with these killer moves?!” Lorelei laughed hard at that, only added by Robin rolling her eyes. He then began to flap his arms and hit his feet, completely out of time to the song. “I call this one the Hippogriff!”

The trio danced up a storm, taking breaks to have some cakes and cider every now and then. They danced until their muscles burned, song after song, Lorelei having a fun time learning that Halloween music is a very large genre when it came to the magical community; they played songs with titles like ‘You’re Colder Than A Vampire’ and ‘Bats In Black’ along with classic muggle songs. Although the majority of students weren’t in costumes, there were still some who chose to wear face paint and looked like pumpkin heads, skeletons, zombies and vampires.

At one point during their dancing spree, Lorelei caught Claire giving her friends a nauseating look then sneering back at her. Deciding not to let her dictate her fun, Lorelei pushed Claire and her dumb friends from her mind, going back to dance as Claire was left standing there with a disgusted look on her face.

Throughout each song that played, Lorelei got small chances to talk to Orville, learning new information about her crush she once thought didn’t even know her name. At some point Robin left the two alone to dance with her other friends, which Lorelei was grateful for. She discovered he was allergic to dogs but not cats, loved the color green, found the smell of wet dirt awful, and hated tomatoes with a passion.

“What about ketchup or spaghetti sauce?”

“Hmm,” he thought, the two of them less energized but still happily dancing, “only if there are no big chunks. Otherwise I have to pick them all out.”

Lorelei chuckled at his childish behavior, “Noted. Hey,” she began, some nerves running through her tired body, “I wanted to thank you for making this night more fun than it started out.”

A bit of surprise came over Orville’s face, but it quickly disappeared with a laugh. “I should be the one thanking you. I wouldn’t be out here shaking my tail feathers if you hadn’t suggested it.” Lorelei giggled remembering his awful signature moves. “Besides, what are friends for?”

Oh

Oohh

That’s all this was. Just two friends, dancing and hanging out, getting eachother out of their comfort zones at a Halloween party. Nothing more.

But Lorelei wished it was more, only making the pain at the word ‘friend’ sting her heart extra hurtful. Although, if she had to choose between not having such a bright light in her life or settling for admiring him from afar, Lorelei would rather choose to keep her feelings inside and accept Orville as a friend. Hopefully in time her heart will recover and understand that her brain was making the right choice.

“Hey, are you alright?”

His soft voice brought her back from the depths of her mind, again thankful for his presence in her life, and his warm hand on her arm made her studpid heart beat faster. Orville’s thick eyebrows were furrowed and his deep brown eyes full of concern, for which Lorelei felt guilty about.

“Yeah, just thought of an assignment I’ll have to finish over the weekend.” Despite her reassurance that everything was fine, there was still concern laced with something else in his eyes. “Actually, I’m getting kinda tired. Probably gonna head out soon.”

“Let me walk you back.”

The two of them argued back and forth about the safety of a student walking the halls alone on Halloween, which Lorelei lost, and were thus halfway between the Wampus dorms and the Horned Serpents’. The moon was waning, almost a sliver in the sky, but still shown just as bright as a full moon would. Some might find the castle grounds to be eerie with the unnatural silence and lack of sunlight, but at the moment Lorelei found it not too unwanted. Especially with the company she was keeping.

“I was always a fan of the classic full moon on Hallow’s Eve.”

She looked over at Orville, his dark hair kissed by the pale light adding silver highlights. They walked side by side, Lorelei with her hands under her arms and Orville with his hands in his pockets, unbothered by the cold.

“I like it, but there’s something magical about a crescent moon. Reminds me of a cat’s smile.” Lorelei told him, trying to keep her gaze towards the ground lest she trip because of the darkness. With her eyes focused on not mistepping, she didn’t see how Orville took his time to study her own moonlite features.

The pair started to subconsciously slow their steps until they stood in a deserted hallway staring at one another. Being one of the taller girls in her year, Lorelei was always a tad self conscious of her height. But here with Orville, who had a good few inches on her, she felt a little less alone. Somehow the color of his eyes started to go from an ordinary brown color, to a defined hazelnut hue with a darker outer ring. It took a little too long for her to notice, but the reason she could see his eyes so definitively, was because they had started to drift into each other's orbit and now stood a mere few feet away. Time and space seemed to stop, everything besides the dimples on his face or the herbal smell of his navy shirt, it did not matter to her.

Just when his mouth opened to speak, something caught Lorelei’s eye from behind Orville. Just to the left of his neck, a dark figure seemed to be hurriedly moving to the right, where the school entrance and entrance hall were located. Too distracted, Lorelei abandoned Orville to run to the nearest window that looked out onto the grounds. The figure was still moving, fast, and was quickly approaching the river that fed into the skating pond.

“Lorelei, wha-. What is that thing?”

The two of them watched as the darkly clad figure jumped the river, which was a good six feet wide, and continued its dash across the castle lawn. Craning her neck, Lorelei tried to foresee what it was running from, and upon finding nothing, checked the opposite way. She soon found what she thought the creature was running towards, light bouncing off of the many glass walls.

“The greenhouses.” Lorelei muttered to herself in realization, then shouted to Orville, “C’mon!”

Running through the abandoned halls and jumping over stairways, all while getting yelled at by several paintings about the dangers of loose carpeting, they were currently racing an unknown creature to the greenhouses. Too distracted by the need to catch up to the being, Lorelei hadn’t thought too far ahead as to what she’ll do once they caught up.

They made it from the school’s main edifice to the greenhouses in record time, both of them huffing and puffing after such an exertion. Lorelei panted, her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath, Orville arriving just seconds after her. “Lorelei…. what—“

“I think…..it went….behind….” She wheezed out, pointing to the backside of the glass houses. Using caution for the first time since blindly running after a shadow figure on Halloween night, the two of them made their way to the back. The greenhouses were designed to have double glass doors on both ends, the one closer to the school for students and teachers to access. The others opened towards the woods and cleared grass, used in the warmer months as easy access for gardening supplies and the nearby path that led to the athletics field.

Turning the corner, Lorelei and Orville were surprised by what they found awaiting them. Upon rounding the greenhouse, the sight of spilled dirt and broken glass from various pots that different classes were working on now lay on the wooden floor. There was no movement, so thankfully the beast was no longer there, but unfortunately they were too late. Stepping over the glass and dirt, there didn’t appear to be any visible paw prints, but it certainly didn’t help that a cloud now covered their light source. Wanting to venture further into the greenhouse, Lorelei started to move, but stalled when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Wait, we shouldn’t go any more. The headmaster and Pukwudgies will want to search everything and do an investigation, if they find footprints they might suspect us of being the cause.” Lorelei reasoned what he was saying. On the one hand, he had a very valid point that she could be suspected of vandalizing the greenhouses, which would only sidetrack the real threat. Plus, if she started to talk about strange figures in black that not only broke into the greenhouse but watched a few games of Quodpot, who would believe her?

“You’re right,” she relented, “I got a little too caught up in chasing the— never mind. Just a little too much sugar in my system, heh.” Orville gave her a strange look, like he didn’t quite believe her, but chose not to speak it.

With one last look at the dismantled greenhouse, Lorelei looked out into the woods, then walked back into the safety of the main castle. All the while feeling like there were a pair of eyes watching from the darkness, hiding.

*The girls are fearful to use the name Skinwalker because upon their reading they found out Native Wizards used to believe that by using its name it could invoke the beast. So they avoid it if possible

[paranormals-of-ilvermorny]

Chapter 12

“Remind me what the plan is again?”

It was mid-breakfast the next day when the girls reunited and Lorelei told Robin about what she found last night. While eating they discussed what it meant to have the knowledge of Ramona’s name, Lorelei coming up with a plan to use their information for their current mission.

She swallowed her mouthful of orange juice before speaking, “First, we find a way to contact Ramona. Then, we send her a letter asking about her attack; what was it, what did it do, that kind of stuff. We also ask her if there were any other attacks, and if so when. Finally, we send the letter and await its return,” she finished, pretty proud of herself for thinking of such a well thought out plan.

As she spoke, Robin took a few spoonfuls of oatmeal and listened intently, no longer suffering from fatigue. She waited for Lorelei to finish before speaking. “One question.” She said, holding up her index finger. “How do we find out her current address?”

Lorelei smiled wide at her friend’s question. “That is where you come in!” At the raised brow Robin gave, she continued. “You write to your mom and ask her to send a copy of her Oracle Pages. This way we can get her current address and can send her the letter!”

“Hmmm, that’s a pretty good plan, ‘Lei,” she told her friend before blowing on another spoonful of oatmeal. “When do you need the book by?”

She gave Robin a tight lipped smile. “I was hoping by the end of the week?”

Robin’s eyebrows shot up out of shock, but as she continued to eat they settled into a furrow. “Okay, I’ll send it by this evening.” She told her friend begrudgingly.

Happy with her answer, Lorelei continued to eat her breakfast before they had to scurry away to Arithmancy.

“Lorelei, someone’s at the door for you!”

She turned to see Yasmin, a seventh year Serpent alerting her. Lorelei wasn’t expecting anyone to be looking for her so she didn’t have a clue who could be asking for her. Getting up off her spot on her favorite wingback chair, making sure to place a bookmark in her current novel, before she went over to greet her guest.

Upon opening the door, Lorelei found there was a figure wrapped in school robes, the hood pulled up to conceal their face. They weren’t too tall, the top of their head reaching around Lorelei’s shoulders, which gave her some idea as to who it could be. “Package for Miss Raywood?” The figure asked in a deep, gravely voice.

Lorelei rolled her eyes and crossed her hands, the chill from outside the common room seeping in. “What is it Robin?”

“Aww, how’d you know it was me?”

In response, Lorelei just laughed at her friend before beckoning her inside the warm room. They went over to one of the unoccupied tables where Robin revealed a large book from the insides of her robe. Holding the massive book out, she let it drop to the table with an incredibly loud thud, waking a poor student from their nap.

“You got the book!” She exclaimed upon the unveiling.

“Yes I did. Oh, mom said to return it by next week so we might need to write the number down.” Although she nodded her understanding, Lorelei already had her hands on the book. The cover showed a classic black cauldron with a glimmering potion inside. The cauldron’s contents were being mixed by a gremlin who was whistling and stirring as if he wasn’t trapped to the cover of a book. He stopped his whistling and looked up at Lorelei when he realized he was being watched.

“Who’ya lookin’ for?” He asked, his voice gnarled and raspy.

Lorelei didn’t really know what to say so she simply asked, “uh, Ramona Woodly.” The gremlin mumbled something about not getting any privacy before the book opened with no help. The girls stared at the book on the table, flipping through dozens of pages, barely making out the names of wizards and witches on the previous pages. Soon the names got to the W section of the alphabetized names, ending on the exact page they needed, first names starting with R.

“Ramona Woodly,” came the gravelly voice of the gremlin, “looks like you’re outta luck, kid.”

Upon reading the names of the book, Lorelei and Robin didn’t quite understand what he meant by saying they were ‘out of luck’. It wasn’t until they saw the number of Ramona’s did they realize the gremlin’s words.

“There’s gotta be at least ten of them!” Exclaimed Robin, pointing to the many similar names, all with different addresses.

Lorelei gulped before speaking. “Who knew Ramona Woodly was such a popular name?” She placed her finger under the first Ramona, then began to count as she slid down. Twelve, there are twelve ‘Ramona Woodly’s in the book. How they were gonna find the right one was going to be a challenge, but hopefully it won’t take that long to write and receive twelve different letters.

“Uh, Lorelei?” Robin asked, tentatively so as not to scare her already distressed friend more. “I hate to pour honey in your already sticky situation,” she began, wringing her hands out of nervousness, “but I just realized, what if Ramona doesn’t even live in Massachusetts anymore?”

Despite her shocked expression from the number of imposters, Lorelei’s eyes seemed to grow even larger, the only thing that told Robin she heard her question. A million thoughts filled her mind, and all of them berating her for coming up with such a flawed plan. Stupid, of course there’s more than one Ramona Woodly! And maybe she doesn’t live in the state anymore, what then? Oh, I never should have thought of such a dumb plan before working out all of the kinks, Robin probably thinks I’m an idiot!

As if reading her mind, Robin placed a gentle hand on Lorelei’s shoulder, giving her a soft squeeze to remind her she’s there. “Lei, if you want, I could help you write some of the letters? Ya know, make the work go faster?”

Her words brought Lorelei back to the present instead of the spiraling hole she was just in. “You wanna help? Even though you hate writing anything that’s not for school?”

“Well, it’s important right?” She reasoned, a smile starting to bloom on her face. “It’s not just a random letter, it’s to find out about the attack, to stop another one from happening again.”

Lorelei looked at her friend and the determination sparkling in her blue eyes, feeling some of it jump across and infect herself too. Her features softened and Lorelei wrapped her arms around her friend’s slightly shorter frame, Robin returning the effort. “How did I get so lucky for a friend like you?”

“Ha, I ask myself that every day.”

“I’m such an idiot,” Lorelei mumbled into her friend’s hair, “what if I mess up and don’t for see another flaw later on?”

“First of all you are not an idiot,” Robin told her, pulling back a bit to look her in the eye. “You are one of the smartest people in our grade. You think Merlin never forgot to put a cork in his potions?” This made Lorelei laugh, the reaction Robin was hoping for. “And if you do forget something or mess up, I’ll be right here to help pick up the pieces and make a new plan. You aren’t alone in this, ‘Lei.”

Warmth spread through Lorelei’s body at the endearing words her friend gave. It also filled her with a renewed desire to crack down and find the answer to their problems, willfully accepting Robin’s help to save as much time as possible before another student gets hurt.

“Well,” Lorelei sighed out, “I guess we should start asap.” Then, with a quirk of her brow, “What are you doing tonight?”

A few days later and all twelve Romana Woodly letters were written and sealed in their envelopes, ready to be carried to their respective owners. Holding the letters in her hand, a very bundled up Lorelei was making her way to the owelry to send them off.

On her walk she remembered the words written on every letter, hoping at least one of them reaches the right person. It took some trial and error, but eventually Lorelei had perfected what she wanted to say.

Dear Miss Woodly,

If you are not an Ilvermorny class of ‘64 graduate, please discard this letter. I sincerely hope this letter reaches you, your name is very popular it seems.

You do not know me, but my name is Lorelei Raywood and I am curious about a certain accident that occurred to you during your time at school. I’m a current fifth year student and by chance have learned your name after reading about your encounter in a book about dangerous creatures. I dearly hope you know what it is I am talking about, and can understand my vague definition. If you do not mind, and the incident does not trigger any negative thoughts, I would greatly appreciate it if you could answer some of my questions regarding the “animal”.

What exactly happened, and where around the school grounds?

How did your silver necklace affect the creature?

Did you tell the headmaster?

Again, if you cannot recall or if these memories are too overwhelming, considering it has been years since it happened, I completely understand and only hope for your wellbeing. Thank you for your time, any reply will help.

Sincerely,

Lorelei Raywood Class of ‘00

P.S. Have you continued your photography?

After giving the working Pukwudgies her letters, Lorelei made her way back to the warmth of the castle, already thinking about how she wanted to spend the evening sipping on hot tea and reading.

Goodness knows her wrist needs it.

Over the next week, classes took up the majority of Lorelei’s headspace that the anticipation of the letters had no room to fester.

During potions the class made Alihotsy Draught, which poor Professor Teagarden had to watch with an eagle’s eye to make sure no class clown tried a sip. Robin had a difficult time cutting up the plant’s stem, known for being leathery and tough, so Lorelei stepped in and the two dissected it with little difficulty. However, there was one point when a bit of the plant’s juice sprayed the girls in the face, causing hysterical giggles to erupt between them. All in all, a pretty good class.

Later, during charms, the class had fun trying to decode what Professor Dollee had written by practicing Aparecium on several different pieces of parchment. Lorelei had some trouble with it at first, but soon got the hang of the motions. One piece of parchment, Lorelei flicked her wrist to reveal the message, only for the paper to read ‘I heard there was a solar eclipse soon, didn’t realize it was your big head’, which seemed out of place for a teacher to write. Sure enough, after a frown formed on her face, the annoying high pitched laughter of Claire and her friends could be heard, the tell-tale sign she planted the message. Robin, having been seated next to Lorelei and read the decoded message, discreetly casted ‘Calvorio’ onto Claire who screamed when she realized a very prominent bald spot appeared on her head. This caused the whole class to laugh, and for Claire to run out of class to the nurse, her friends running after her saying how it didn’t look that bad.

When the girls had Magizoology, they tried to reconstruct the skeleton of a small sea serpent. It resembled a fish, reminding Lorelei of all the times her dad would cook and debone fish at home during the summer. With multiple arched bones that acted as its ribs and connected by one long spinal column, it was easy to see this serpent was around half a foot long. Professor Azarola told the working students how a sea serpent could reach lengths of twenty feet long, and prefer sea water rather than fresh.

Robin in particular had fun expanding the wide jaw of the snake, resembling its land cousin by opening its jaw by unhinging to swallow small fish and shrimp whole and alive. Once everyone’s skeleton was complete, and everyone’s hands were covered in glue, the professor said they could donate the skeletons to the classroom or keep them. Lorelei decided she did not want nightmares of sea snakes gobbling her up, and instead chose to give hers away.

Between classes, the girls got a chance to speak with one of their friends, Rain Knotts. His kinky hair having grown a bit over the summer, his eyebrows were still fairly unkempt, and slightly sculpted cheekbones were very becoming of his face. Lorelei always made it a priority to keep her friendship with Rain, not that he was the only other black student, but one of the ones she got along with best. It was always nice to have someone in your corner.

Rain asked the girls if they would be going to the Wampus’s yearly Halloween party, to which they looked to one another. While being near Claire, a proud Wampus, was difficult it certainly wasn’t worth missing the best party of the year over. Besides, they agreed, with the number of students and size of their common room, there was little to no chance of even seeing her. With a farewell to Rain, they continued their walk to their next class.

The day was cold and it only got worse as the sun began to set, golden rays of the late October sun ghosted into the Thunderbird common room. It was a pretty lazy afternoon with no one around causing too much of a ruckus by swinging or climbing on the different equipment.

Robin lounged with her arm over her eyes to shield the light, taking a well deserved nap before dinner after studying hard for her herbology quiz. Well, she reread her notes, which was a lot for her. So she figured a few shut eyes would help the information sink in. The sound of Quinn scribbling on some parchment in front of her and the sound of hushed voices nearby served as the soundtrack that Robin slowly started to drift off too.

Unfortunately, any hope for a nap was lost when Lorelei rushed into the common room with some envelopes.

“WAKE UP!! WE GOT LETTERS!” She rudely announced, clearly more excited than her resting friend.

“Oh sweet mistress of sleep, how you elude me,” Robin muttered before sitting up to open the envelopes.

Lorelei plopped down onto the sofa next to her and placed the envelopes on the coffee table that Quinn was just writing on, she too scuttled near having had her interest peaked. Before the three girls lay four envelopes, and Lorelei wished with all hope that one of them had what she was looking for.

After opening and reading them, it was apparent that some Miss Woodlys felt the need to respond. Two of the letters said they weren’t students of Ilvermorny, but appreciated the letter regardless of the mistake, and one clearly stated they graduated class of ‘73 but continued to answer the questions about an ill encounter they had with a Muggle’s chihuahua. Thankfully, the last letter contained everything they were hoping for and more. But it also left Robin and Lorelei with more unease than before.

“Dear Miss Raywood Class of ‘00,

I must say, I’m amazed to have received such a letter, and from such a young woman as yourself. I can tell through your writing what a dedicated student you must be. As per your question, yes, I am still a photographer and even have a job working for the Boston Stake. You know, the newspaper?

As per your other questions, yes, unfortunately I do still recall that attack. I was out in the woods looking for a Chickadee with two heads that some younger years said they saw when out playing in the snow. I wanted to get a picture of it to enter the Stake’s Wild Near You contest of natural anomalies. Unfortunately, I never snapped a picture of that bird. Instead I found some weird looking tracks, just as the sun began to fall over the mountain. They looked almost bird-like, like a giant owl.

I remember the violet color of the snow so vividly, how the trees casted long shadows, walking around between the Wampus den and the Old School Ruins. Somewhere behind me I heard the crunch of it as something big got nearer. I recall being knocked down by the thing and tried to get away but couldn’t, feeling paralyzed by what I saw in its eyes. Looking up, I was horrified. What can only be called a monster was looking down at me with these huge orbs that shone the absolute scariest thing back at me: at the time my mother was gravely ill, and in its eyes I could see her dying by herself in the hospital room. By some miracle, it tried to grab a hold of me in my occupied state, but my silver locket burned the skin of its talon. It let out a horrifying screech, giving me enough space to get away and run back to the castle. Once I returned, I tried to tell people what happened, but no one would believe me. Then I thought maybe my camera caught a picture of it, but upon checking the whole thing had been crushed in my fall.

My, all of those memories I had put out of my mind seemed to have found a new home again. That is no fault of yours, dear, simply the way the subconscious works. As for your other questions, the first thing I did the next day was go straight to Headmaster Pope’s office and told him the exact thing I just told you, but with more detail given how fresh the incident was. He told me that it would be looked into over the upcoming winter break, so I left it in his hands. What had happened still rattled me the rest of the year, never feeling safe enough to go past the woods alone, and soon enough it was May and I had graduated. I even asked my now wife, then girlfriend, about that time and she agrees how scared I was afterwards. She even recalled me writing to my mother every week, promising to visit everyday after graduation, but she didn’t know why. I still wear my locket daily, maybe because I internally feel like if it could protect me then, it can protect me from anything. I still never learned the name of that thing.

I wish you all the best in your studies, don’t forget to enjoy every little moment, you don’t realize how much you will miss it. I know I still yearn for their yearly Thanksgiving feast!

Best Regards,

Ramona Woodly

P.S. My wife and I also remember there was a seventh year boy during our first year that said he too was attacked by something in the woods, but everyone just thought he was pulling their leg and trying to make a joke. If it helps, his name was Harrison Cuttler, and I’ve attached his address. Wish you well!”

[paranormals-of-ilvermorny]

Chapter 11

Monday came and with it a massive headache for those few unfortunate students that partied a bit too hard the night before. One such student was Robin, nursing her pounding head with plenty of water and food for the day ahead.

While Lorelei didn’t exactly stay up due to the party, she did have a very hard time sleeping through the night. She was continuously plagued with dreams of owl-eyed monsters with long limbs and a cramping stomach that cost her too many hours of lost sleep. But this morning, as she plated potatoes and eggs onto her and Robin’s plate, she was filled with determination to find answers for her fears.

In the past, Lorelei would struggle with a book report or math packet all night for her studies. She would cry from the frustration, worrying over every little detail wanting to present something perfect to appease her teachers and meet her father’s expectations. After working and failing far past her bedtime, her mother would place a gentle hand on her shoulder and tell her to try again tomorrow, that she can’t expect herself to perform well when her mind and body need a rest. So up to her room she would go, getting a restless night's sleep, only to wake up the next day with renewed vigor to try again and solve her problems. For Lorelei, it comes from a place of feeling like she can control her fears by learning everything there is to know about a subject.

Whether it be algebra, potions, or Skinwalkers, Lorelei always came up with a strategy once she researched her enemy beforehand. One night she had such a bad headache from the stress of not understanding the extra credit for her geometry class that her mother joked she was trying to birth Athena from her head. At the time, Lorelei didn’t get it, only making her head hurt more, but now she understands what her mother and the Ancient Greeks meant. Good ideas take time to develop, and an extreme amount of pain to endure.

So while she took notes for every class she attended, and an extra set for poor Robin who was battling the cursed sun, Lorelei was thinking of every book and topic that they would need to learn their enemy’s weaknesses. Not the mockery from Claire, nor the boring details of the Wizard’s Suffrage Movement for voting was enough to stop Lorelei from trotting down the path she was on. She had the perfect plan, ready to execute at the last ring of the bell.

The slamming of a stack of books awoke Robin from her dreary slumber, that just so happened to take place on one of the library's tables. Somewhere from the other side of the building a loud ‘shhh’ could be heard from Ms. Belrose, the agitation easily heard. Blinking her blurry vision to clear, Robin looked before her and took note of the heft stack of books that were the perpetrator of the noise. Continuing to scan the books, peering over the top was a far too jubilant Lorelei who stared back at her tired friend. A moment passed between them as they continued to stare at each other from across the mountain of textbooks before Robin finally voiced her questions.

“It’s Monday. Why are we here?” She asked in a deadpan tone, drained of all energy.

“Well,” Lorelei began, having enough energy for the two of them, “I was up late last night worried about the ‘thing’.” She said, dropping her voice to a whisper at the mention.

“Oh, the Skin—“ She quickly covered Robin’s mouth with her hand.

“Yes, that! And I figured the best thing we can do is learn everything we can to better prepare ourselves.”

“Why can’t we just say it’s name? ‘S no different from ‘cat’ or ‘crup’.” Said Robin as she removed her friend’s hand from her face.

“Well we still don’t know definitively if that’s what it is.” Cautioned Lorelei, afraid they might get into a dispute.

“That’s not fair! You said you would believe me if you saw it, which you did!” Robin yawned, clearly still fighting the urge to cuddle up and sleep.

“I said I would believe you, which I do. What I don’t believe is that that thing is what we think it is.”

“Okay Miss Rosewood, indulge me. What is your plan?”

At the mention of her intentions, Lorelei’s eyes lit up which told Robin that she was in for a long afternoon. “Well, I thought it would be best to gather every bit of information on the beast, weaknesses, strengths, what it eats, that stuff. Then, we write it all down and bring our findings to the headmaster, along with your drawing, to prove we aren’t making something up and have thought of possible solutions of how to get rid of it.” Whilst talking Lorelei placed each heavy book onto the wooden table, enough spread around to easily look from one to another when cross reading.

After watching and listening to her speak, Robin felt herself give in, despite how badly she wanted to take a very long nap. “Ugh, okay. That sounds like a really good plan. Where do we start?”

Delighted that her friend agreed and was willing to help, Lorelei couldn’t contend her wide smile.

“I was thinking we put together what we noticed about the creature, then we go back to the first book, The Big Book of Fur and Scales,” she pointed to one of the spread out books, “and write down what it says for a concrete description.”

“Alrighty, you have my attention until dinner, deal?”

Once more, they shook on their informal agreement before starting their search. Not long into their reading, Robin broke the silence of page flipping. “Hey, I thought I was sleepwalking to my bed, how did you get me here?”

“Easy, I gently pushed you towards where I wanted you to go. You didn’t open your eyes once.”

“Touché.”

Over the next few hours as what little warmth began to wane as the sun prepared to set, the girls continued to search through their books for anything that related to their new project.

Every now and then Lorelei would have to gently wake up Robin, or face the wrath of Ms. Prim, due to her snoring. So far they couldn’t find much information on Skinwalkers besides their height, habitation, and hunting habits. What they can use for their protection was that Skinwalkers are nocturnal, have an aversion to silver, and how they are thought to nest near villages and populated places.

Lorelei also read up on the history of the animal, like how early wizards once thought them to be shape-shifters or take possession over other animals and their bodies through dark magic, but this was disproved after more research and studies. One passage in a book titled Witchcraft In The America’s caught Lorelei’s eye and led her thoughts astray in search of more questions.

“As part of the Anthropo family, the dermathrope, also known as the Skinwalker, has a similar aversion to silver that has been seen before in its cousin the lycanthrope, or Werewolf. The hypothesis, at the time of writing, is that they carry a certain genetic mutation which causes the body to see and feel silver as an extreme allergen, causing burns on the creature’s skin. The most notable case was that of a student at the proclaimed Ilvermorny School of New England, who had an unfortunate encounter with a Walker, but lived to tell the tale due to her trusty silver necklace. With more reading, it will be found that the anti-microbial properties of silver in all forms has shown to have some effect on dark magical beings, though some are more affected than others.”

What?

An attack happened at Ilvermorny?

And no one else knows about it?

How?

These questions floated around Lorelei’s mind, unable to focus on one to search for a concrete answer. Thankfully, her body seemed to go into autopilot and flipped the musty pages to the book’s cover, in hopes of finding a publishing date. Most of the books that surrounded where the girls sat were either donated or purchased by past students from many years ago, so not all of their information was as reliable as one would wish. By straining her eyes, Lorelei could make out a smudged 1964 as the publishing date. She sat staring at the number for a minute before deciding on what to do next. It might be crazy, but maybe it was crazy enough to work.

But unfortunately, it would have to wait for after supper, as the owl clock chimed six.

In the great hall, several students sat down for a delicious meal of some warm corn chowder with fresh rolls. Many of those students also tried not to fall asleep into their bowl, yearning for their soft beds since this morning. For Lorelei, she kept her mind occupied by chasing the clouds of thoughts that apparated after her library reading. Although thankful for the delicious and warm food served on such a cold night, but she was more than ready to get back to finish what she started.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a familiar voice shined through. “Hey Lorelei, how’s your stomach?” She looked up to see the thoughtful eyes of Orville. It took her a moment to register what he had said, too caught up in the fact that he even came over to talk to her. Once she did, she immediately responded.

“Oh, yeah! It’s much better now, thanks to the ginger, heh. And thankfully no breast milk!” She tried to joke, but instead felt way too embarrassed to have said such a thing with so many people to listen in.

“What the Hell?!” Asked a very confused and suddenly alerted Robin. But instead of burning up in flames of shame, Lorelei instead felt herself burning up from the musical sound of Orville’s laugh.

He wiped the tears of joy from his eyes, “Oh Robin, that reminds me, how’s your project going?” His question was said with a slight hint of laughter. In response, she gave him the look of not knowing what he was talking about.

“What project?”

“Uh, the project about magical creatures. Lorelei told me she was helping you with it.” He asked Robin, Lorelei giving her friend a certain look that told her everything she needed to know.

”Oh, yeah, that. Well it’s going pretty good, I think. Been taking my sweet time to start writing it though.” She lied naturally, basically acting as a second language for her.

“Well, best of luck to you. And if you need any more ginger for your stomach Lorelei, don’t be afraid to stop by.” He scratched the back of his neck while speaking, “A group of second years like to go through the forest on weekends forging for different herbs and stuff. Have a good night you two!” With a cheery goodbye from Lorelei, and a much more fatigued one from Robin, Orville sauntered his way back to his table of friends.

Lorelei couldn’t help but watch him until her sat down to resume her eating, before she was once again interrupted by her friend. “You know he likes you, right?”

With her spoon halfway towards her open mouth, Lorelei paused. Surely her friend was just messing with her, right? “No he doesn’t, he’s just a very friendly guy,” she dispelled any suggestion of his attraction before trying to eat her food again.

Robin rolled her eyes, “Yes he does, I’ve seen how he stares at you.”

Stopping herself from eating once more Lorelei replied, “I think your eyes are playing tricks on you due to the lack of sleep.”

Letting out a huff of air, Robin answered back, “Fine, whatever.” She was too tired to argue, choosing instead to eat some of her buttered roll.

Finally left to finish her meal, Lorelei ate the spoonful of slightly chilled corn chowder as she pondered a brand new thought. Could he really like me? No, he’s obviously way out of my league, and besides, what would a sixth year athlete see in a book nerd fifth year like her?

All thoughts and questions about Orville’s affection were lost when an exhausted Jordan lost the battle against sleep, ending up face first into his bowl of soup.

It was after dinner and the majority of the school went to their common rooms to study or get some extra sleep. But for Lorelei, she ventured the cold once more to visit the library after hours in search of more information. Not up for a night of reading by candlelight, Lorelei sternly told Robin to go to bed and get some sleep, which she happily agreed to do.

After getting the key from Ms. Prim, and hearing a lecture about what would happen if she damaged the school’s book, before going over to the restricted history section. The glass cabinets kept about ten books that required school permission to access, each section of the library had one. The books locked away ranged from containing information on dark magic, to having been cursed by dangerous spells, including dozens that were so old they might turn to dust if mishandled. They were still used, amazingly, by some professors to teach students certain sections of their classes. Lorelei clutched the thin skeleton key and turned the case’s lock, and lifted the glass door. Searching for the right title, she grabbed the heft book and brought it back over to the nearest table that wasn’t occupied, which wasn’t hard seeing as it was early evening.

The book she chose was one of the school’s old yearbooks, dated 1964. She figured she’d start with the publishing date, then work her way backwards, searching for a girl who wore a silver necklace. After nearly forty-five minutes of page flipping, Lorelei couldn’t find anyone wearing a necklace, silver or otherwise. At one time she thought she found her, but it was just an old ink smudged on the page. Having found nothing, she put the book back then took out the next one.

Sitting back down, Lorelei once again began to look page after page for anyone wearing something resembling a necklace. The eerie silence and whistling of the wind began to chill her, in part from the old drafty building, but also because of the fear of what could be lurking just outside the walls. The creaking from the old wood floors didn’t help much, leaving Lorelei to wonder if it was just Ms. Prim or something more sinister. She tried desperately to keep her mind on the task at hand, but her imagination was running wild with thoughts of fangs and claws, ready to strike into the soft flesh of its victim.

With her mind racing, Lorelei also missed the very clear picture of a young girl wearing what looks to be a locket of some kind. Following her finger, Lorelei read the names of the people around her until she discovered the young girl’s name; Ramona Woodly. Flipping through more pictures, Lorelei saw her face again, this time wearing her robes and a large, old fashioned camera with a wide smile on her face.

“Ramona Woodly class of ‘64, pictured above, is an active member of the school’s newspaper acting as its chief photographer. She caught many shots including the winning Quodpot score from this past season. Known by many as the ambitious photo taker she is, in all her years studying at Ilvermorny she’s never been seen without her silver locket.”

Every thought she previously had about drooling beasts with sharp teeth, Lorelei banished after placing a name to the necklace holder.

Romona Woodly, where are you know?

[paranormals-of-ilvermorny]

Chapter 10 (double digits whooo!)

Sunday, October 19, and Lorelei woke up with a very bad stomach ache. She knew fully well that it had nothing to do with what was served for dinner last night, butternut squash gnocchi with spinach, but more to do with the fear of being wrong. There was nothing bad if she was proven wrong on any other subject but this one. Spending longer than usual to start her day, Lorelei lay in bed, motionless and fed her anxiety with fearful thoughts. What if there was a skinwalker? What then? Probably tell the headmaster, he’ll know what to do. But what if he doesn’t believe us? What about the students that have no idea, they could be at serious risk of getting hurt. Or worse, killed.

It took a while, far longer than she had hoped, but eventually Lorelei had a long talk with herself. If, and it’s a very big if, there was a dangerous beast looking to sink its teeth into someone, Lorelei was going to do everything she can to make sure no one gets hurt. To further strengthen her assurance, and quiet the anxious thoughts, Lorelei thought of the not-so realistic probability that a Skinwalker is wandering around Ilvermorny. From doing more research she found out that they are mainly found in the Southeastern part of the states, the complete other side of the country. There have also been no known cases or sightings of them north in the last forty-three years. So with this knowledge, and a very deep breath, Lorelei got out of bed and began to dress for the midday Quodpot match. The uneasy feeling she previously felt in her stomach moments ago had calmed down.

This Sunday Robin was in a mood. She sat in her unassigned-assigned seat in the dining hall, eating some hot oatmeal with brown sugar. It was rare for her to wake up so early on a Sunday, especially when she didn’t have a game, but something was different today. It was also a rare occurrence for Robin to seek inwards for why she feels or acts a certain way; choosing to rather talk to others than to herself.

But this morning she chose to do exactly that. She picked a spot on the table, a bowl containing berries, and asked herself why it mattered so much to be believed about this ‘mystical’ animal.

Growing up in a magic household meant that every weird incident she saw was easily believed when retold to her mom. One time, on the eve of Yule, Robin swore she saw a mouse with three tails run across the fireplace and steal a piece of popped corn from the tree. When she ran and told her mom who was in the kitchen baking gingerbread wizards with Quinn, her mom full heartedly believed her. She even asked little Robin to draw what the mouse looked like, although she admitted to never hearing of such a creature before. Later that week Robin told her friends at the park but they just laughed at her and said what a dumb thing to make up. She got so worked up over not being believed by them that her mother had to come and give her a break.

Lisa Copper explained to her daughter that not everyone has the same imagination, but all Robin heard was that her mother didn’t believe her either and was just humoring her. This, along with a few other times people couldn’t trust what she was saying, built up a wall of animosity towards those who don’t think Robin can be truthful. It exposed a sore in her that festered whenever someone would say, “I don’t think so” or “that’s not true”, but worst of all was, “you’re lying”. Lying to Robin was the biggest crime one can do. Aside from murder, obviously. But to lie about something means you don’t like the truth. Sometimes it's to defend yourself or a friend, other times it's to protect someone’s feelings.

But Robin prides herself on her blunt honesty, even when it's gotten her in trouble a few times. Many times. Of all the people she trusts, the number one person on that list is herself. And she knows she saw something in the woods.

It’s just a matter of getting Lorelei to see it too.

The sun was shelled behind a cloudy sky, but that only made for perfect conditions to play Quodpot.

Today saw the Pukwudgies versus the Horned Serpents, not that Lorelei cared about winning too much. She was more competitive against herself than anyone, sometimes the odd scholarly rival. She, along with Robin, sat in the stand that had the best viewing of the forest’s edge. According to Robin, that is.

As the girls watched the game start, the teams making their grand entrances and agreeing to play by the rules, Lorelei couldn’t help but feel Robin was taking her job very seriously. Sitting with her hands on her lap and eyes glued to the trees, Robin wasn’t going to let a silly little thing like a Quodpot match distract her from catching a glimpse of her monster. Lorelei quietly hoped that by the evening, she’d have her easily distracted best friend back.

The match started with quite a lot of vigor, the Serpent's starting with the Quod and the Pukwudgies trying to delay the amount of time the Quod had before hitting the pot. There were many good plays and passes between team members, David Florian performing a certainly dangerous move around the neck, as the round continued.

”WOAH! LOOK AT THOSE SERPENT’S GO! THEY CERTAINLY KNOW HOW TO SLITHER AND SLIDE.” Grant announced from the speakers box, annoying those unfortunate enough to be sitting nearby. “CACHE BLOCKED BY NUTTER, THEN PASSES THE QUOD TO FIR… WHO SCORED INTO THE POT! SERPENT’S ONE, PUKWUDGIES ZERO!”

The team celebrates before getting ready for the second round, starting with Pukwudgie with the Quod. A team member passed the Quod over to Orville, before he too was blocked and sent the ball to another open mate.

Lorelei had the perfect view of Orville as he rode his broom through the air, still chilly from the lack of sun. His uniform was green with copper colored stripes to show the school his Pukwudgie pride. It was easy to see the way his body works hard to keep up with the sport, the slight definition of muscle strength making Lorelei’s heart beat wildly. She really couldn’t be blamed, how else was she supposed to react to such a dreamy vision as a sweaty Orville wiping his brow and running his hands through his hair. What Lorelei wouldn’t give to comb her fingers through his dark locks while he reads to her from her favorite book.

“CROWELL THROUGH THE QUOD FOR THE POT…”

Not to mention the slight grunts of exertion he emitted as he played…

“OOHH AND MISSES BY A DRAGON FANG!”

…or how his large hands clenched in his fingerless leather gloves…

“THIS EARNS THE TEAM A HALF POINT FOR LANDING IN THE SCORING CIRCLE.”

…his bum snuggly seated upon his broomstick…

“NEXT ROUND STARTING SOON!”

“I’m feeling a little hot, gonna get an ice cold cider, be right back!” Lorelei rushed out to Robin before leaving her seat quickly, her cheeks warming by the second.

The match was looking pretty grim for the Pukwudgies, but that never stopped them from keeping up morale. A Pukwudgie’s spirit can never be broken beyond repair.

With the score nine to four it was shaping up to be a landslide win for the Serpents, but the crowd was still looking forward to the winning goal or any special plays. There was still a chance for the Pukwudgies to win, but considering this round was started by the Serpents, it was highly unlikely.

The whole game Robin has kept her eyes locked onto the tree line, not once jumping up to cheer with the surrounding audience, or laughed when the Quod blew up and left harmless soot on Ulysees Yowie’s face. She was determined to spot the creature and get Lorelei to see it.

And believe her.

As the Serpents passed the Quod back and forth towards the pot, Lorelei took a second to glance at her friend. She was completely oblivious to the game, her only focus was the forest. For the first time all game, Lorelei decided to follow Robin’s gaze and peered across the pitch into the surrounding forest.

When she saw nothing of excitement, she was ready to turn her attention back towards the game. But something caught her eye. There was movement by the tree line, a dark figure, almost tall enough its head reached the top of the tree’s branches. It moved, long limbs gliding quickly, with something flowy like a cape following the movements. Lorelei stared aghast as it moved about six feet from one tree to another, then to a thicker one before it disappeared completely. She saw it, just like Robin said, the ears, the limbs, and the height.

Still in shock of what she just saw, Lorelei looked to her side where she met Robin’s eyes. She too had seen the creature a second time, her mouth open with her corners upward in an astonished expression, almost happy to have seen it. Lorelei however had her own mouth slightly open and her eyes twice their size, the implications of what this means hitting her like a boulder.

There was a Skinwalker roaming Ilvermorny’s woods.

The music was loud, the lights were blaring, and the smell of sweat and dirt was overwhelming. It was safe to say, the Pukwudgie common room had never seen such a lively party.

Even though they lost, the Puk’s were known to throw parties that ranged from mild to “can’t remember last night” for the littlest things. First snowfall of the year? Hot cocoa party! Don’t have a date for Valentine’s Day? Singleton’s party! Lost the house cup? Who cares, let's party! The ongoing theory as to why they celebrate such redundant events, like National Gnome Day, was the food. No one knows how really, but there was always a table of delectable on theme snacks and drinks for the festivities. It seems more like the house members are trying to live up to their house’s name by always feeding the students of Ilvermorny.

Tonight on the infamous round snack table were some classics like popcorn, cider, pumpkin juice, chips and dip. For tonight’s celebration there were also chocolate pretzel brooms, house color cupcakes, and mini Quod’s made from chocolate truffles.

The common room was also decorated in various colored streamers, balloons, and even some glitter shaped like brooms covered the floor. Usually, the green velvet furniture wasn’t sparkling, the wooden tables used for studying didn’t have colorful runners, and the many medicinal plants weren’t covered in crepe streamers. There was also a large antique apothecary cabinet stocked with different gauzes and remedies from a common cold to a broken bone. The Pukwudgies acted as a second hospital wing, which was helpful when you didn’t want to disclose how you got a noticeable scar on your cheek. On the wall nearby was also some herbs drying upside down, most likely to be used by students to make a healing tincture. And of course, a marble statue of Hermes, Greek God of medicine, that as of right now had a party hat and streamers someone placed on him.

Poor guy.

Lorelei wasn’t really in the party mood, having been dragged along by Robin because they “needed a reward for studying so hard”, as she said. So Lorelei kept to the wall, away from the crowd, and watched her friend dance and have the time of her life with some of her Quodpot friends. It was moments like this Lorelei found it hard to believe they know each other, let alone are friends. But that was one of the things she loved most about Robin, how she pushes Lorelei to step out of her comfort zone and try new things, meet new people.

She wouldn’t have such a problem with that, if they both hadn’t seen a possible man-eating beast hours ago.

Trying to take her mind off of what she saw, Lorelei decided to have her own kind of fun until Robin said she wanted to leave. Or she ate all of the snacks. Keeping to herself, she picked up vial after vial of the different homemade healing supplies in the common room’s first aid cabinet. So far she’s seen pastes made from calendula, marshmallow root droplets, and ginger root tablets. By reading what was in each bottle, Lorelei felt like she was expanding her knowledge of medicinal herbs.

She bit into the Quod truffle she grabbed from the snack table, taking a bite and was surprised with the crunchy center. Some sort of nut? Her palette wasn’t the most refined, but if she had to guess…

“Hey, hope your enjoying yourself”

The sudden intrusion to her silent corner scared the living daylights out of Lorelei. So much so that, embarrassingly, she began to choke on the truffle. “Oh Merlin, drink this!” Suddenly a bottle of pumpkin juice was thrusted into her spasming hand. She quickly grabbed it and drank about half of the bottle’s contents. “I’m so sorry, Lei, didn’t mean to sneak up on you like that.”

As her breathing began to return to normal, and her vision started to clear from the tears the coughing fit induced, Lorelei had a whole new reason to be mortified. Standing next to her was the one and only Orville Doe, and she just drank his pumpkin juice. Great.

“It’s okay,” she choked out, not sure if she could blame the truffle on that, “the music must have obstructed your footsteps.” As the air continued to reach her lungs without problem, Lorelei also realized his large hand was on her back, probably trying to keep her alive. Unfortunately, the realization made Lorelei go stiff at the close contact.

To her relief, Orville huffed out a laugh at her joke. He then brought his hand away, almost like it was burned by her, and ran his fingers through his hair. Lorelei felt even more embarrassed than before, watching him bring his hand away so quickly and distancing himself from her. He’s just trying to be nice, don’t read into things.

“Sorry again, I just wanted to check on you since you seemed to be over here alone.” Great, he probably thinks I’m a loser who doesn’t talk to people. Which I am.

Desperate to change the subject, Lorelei steered the conversation away from her. “Honestly I have a bit of a stomach ache,” not a lie, “and was looking for something in your cabinets. I hope that’s okay?”

He had a somewhat dumbfounded look on his face, but on him it looked very cute, shaking his head before responding. “Oh, yeah, of course you can! Here,” he used his long arms to his advantage and brought down a small crate of different glass bottles. “This is specifically for stomach aches and nausea. Let’s see we have ginger, peppermint…Oh, and some fennel seed!” He said lifting the glass bottle of long, thin seeds. He took the top off and poured some into a nearby mortar and pestle, begging it to grind them up. “These are good for lots of stuff, like indigestion, built up gas, it even helps breast milk production.”

A pregnant pause, pun intended, waves through the pair after Orville realized the words that escaped his mouth. Lorelei, not wanting him to feel uncomfortable, decided to play along and ease his embarrassment. “Well, I’ll have to remember that for the future. The very far off future, heh.”

The downward spiral of embarrassing thoughts, evident by his shocked expression, came to a halting stop when Lorelei spoke. Orville’s deer in headlights look was replaced with a small smile and eyes that screamed relief at her understanding. The fennel seeds forgotten, he lifted his hand to scratch the back of his neck, something weighing on his mind. “Uh, hey, Lorelei, do you think—“

“ORVILLE, DUDE!” Screamed a loud voice. Out came Grant stumbling from the uneven ground, making his way to his friend. “Wattaya doin’ over there in the corner, join the party man!” He reached his much more balanced friend and tugged his arm, encouraging his return to the group. “Thanks for keeping this guy company Lori!” He shouted as the two of them walked back to the music and smells. Orville sent Lorelei a mouthed apology as he was dragged away, which she responded with a shrug of her shoulders and a smile.

Looking back to the forgotten fennel seeds, Lorelei grabbed a pinch and put them into her pumpkin juice. They added a slight taste difference, but nothing unbearable. Deciding the night was late enough, Lorelei walked over to the front door and made her way back to her room. The thought of sharing a bottle of juice and Orville’s attention to care warmed her as she walked through the castle on this October night.

Finally, after what felt like a day that would never end, Lorelei was back in her bed ready for sleep. The warmth of her quilt and cotton pajamas warmed her body, but nothing could calm her mind. It always happened when her body would yearn for rest, but the many thoughts that swirled around her head felt like she was running. There really was some dangerous animal on school grounds, and this wasn’t the first time it’s been here. What if the last Quodpot match wasn’t the first time either? Could there be more of them? How long did we have before someone got hurt? What does it even want?

As Lorelei’s brain continued to run down a tumultuous road that spiraled into fear, not even the safety of her four-poster bed could protect her. Lorelei’s stomach ache from earlier returned with vigor, the fennel seeds nor the comforting thoughts of Orville could subside the pain. Tossing onto her side and curling up, she tried to think of pumpkin juice, chocolate, and slow dancing with a handsome young man to calm her mind.

The last thing Lorelei hears before drifting off to sleep is the far off howl of an unknown animal.

[paranormals-of-ilvermorny]

Chapter 9

A Skinwalker, also called yee naaldooshii by the Navajo and Diné people, is a creature of dark magic said to have the ability to turn themselves or disguise themselves as animals. True Skinwalkers do not camouflage themselves as animals, instead they replay a victims worst memory in their large milky white eyes, similar to the Boggart. With long limbs, bat-like ears, and falcon talons to hold their victims in their place, they feed off of the negative emotions and fear the memory brings up. The only known weakness is decapitation, should you be as unfortunate as to cross this dangerous creature’s path.

That was what the book said about what Robin saw, about Skinwalkers. The two girls read and then reread the passage over and over again, willing it to stay in their heads to think back on later. Even after finding a name for the being, Lorelei still wasn’t sure that’s really what her friend saw.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me! You still don’t believe me?”

It was the following Monday, letting the information they discovered sink in over the weekend, when Lorelei told Robin it couldn’t possibly be a Skinwalker in the woods. So when both girls were walking to charms, Robin let her anger get the best of her.

“Lorelei you saw the book, that is the exact thing I saw in the woods! It even had the little ears!”

“Look, I think you saw something, but a skinwalker?”

“Okay Miss ‘I read books’, what do you think it was?” Lorelei was at a loss for words when asked. Even after looking through dozens of gangly limbed creatures, none of them resembled the drawing Robin made. “Or are you just too scared to admit I’m right?”

That hit a nerve, one that Lorelei wished she hadn’t felt. While she prided herself on her knowledge and academic skills, there was still some part of her that felt like she always had to prove herself. So, yes, being right and having the right answer was important to Lorelei. She remembered clearly all the times her mother would ask her a question, only to then find out she was wrong. Lorelei took that as her sign to study everything she could get her hands on, so that when someone asked her about anything, she was prepared. Yes, it did make personal questions difficult to answer, because there was no right answer, and she always takes offense when someone asks for a second opinion. But in this instance, she was hoping to be right because Lorelie didn’t want to believe there was a soul-sucking monster prowling the very woods she loves to walk through.

”I just think we should collect more data first.” She started to say slowly, daring not to disrupt an already agitated Robin. “Who knows, maybe we’ll never see it again.”

To this, Robin let out an exasperated sigh. “Yeah. Boy I hope you’re right.”

Throughout the following week the girls continued to go to class and complete their assignments. It was a somewhat difficult task, knowing there could be a vicious animal roaming the woods, waiting for an unsuspecting animal, or worse a student, to pounce on and gobble up never to be seen again.

But aside from that, there was little to worry about.

The next Quodpot game wasn’t for another few weeks, and they decided to wait and see if the ‘Skinwalker’ would make an appearance. So until then, they had to survive the beastly world of school and fellow classmates.

During herbology, the students were tasked with pruning a Night Phlox, used for potions and perfumes, while Professor Juneberry lectured the class.

“Now, the Night Phlox, also known as the Zaluzianskya capensis, emits its signature aroma during the hours between morning and night, thus getting the nickname ‘Midnight Candy’.” The professor continued to demonstrate the different parts of the plant, pointing at the diagram he drew on the greenhouse chalkboard. “Many perfumers,” he said, pushing his glasses up his nose, “enjoy the Phlox for its vanilla, almond, and honey smells. Unfortunately, the flowers only bloom at night, so gardeners place a charm on them to mimic moonlight while…”

“You gonna pocket a few flowers, Birdbrain?” Came the whispered voice of Claire from across the table as Professor Juneberry continued to ramble on, “Cause you smell more like a Skunk cabbage, pee yew! I can smell you from here!” She continued to sneer, her little accessories chuckling quietly.

For her effort, Robin just gave the bully a once over before continuing to cut the white flowers and placing them into her bin.

“What, am I not worth your time, Red?”

Looking at Lorelei, who gave her a ‘don’t bother’ look, Robin decided to take the bait and give it back to the mouse that dared her. “What do you honestly want me to say, Claire? We’re fifteen, do you really think I care if you make fun of my scent?” Lorelei, despite herself, smiled at her friend's response.

In response, Claire huffed a breath of surprise mixed with astonishment. “Well,” she began, a renewed focus on hurting Robin, “what do you want me to say? How sorry I feel for you that your dad would rather take pictures of mating Dugbogs than spend an hour with you?” This earned a great laugh from the goonies next to Claire.

For Robin, however, if looks could kill Claire would have been dead and buried by now. While it was true that her father, Atlas Copper, worked as a photographer for Animalia, the lead magazine for magic zoologists and animal lovers. They take photographs of animals from all around the world and columnists write about them or any new scientific discoveries that have been made recently. But to say that he would rather take pictures of weird looking animals than be home with his family hurt Robin more than an exploding Quod.

“My parents are divorced,” she stated, trying to keep her cool, “he can do what makes him happy and that just so happens to be traveling the world.” Then, wanting to hurt Claire like she hurt her, Robin added, “At least my parents like me. They send you to your grandparents house during the summer to get away from you.”

“Robin don’t—“

“Well at least I didn’t cause my parents divorce.” Claire quickly shot back, cutting off Lorelei who was trying to reign in the situation. “Or maybe that was your freak sister’s fault. She’s always alone and wandering the woods looking for weird things she read in a book.”

Out of anger, Robin slammed her pruning shears onto the table, causing some other students to look at what was going on. “Don’t talk about my sister you brat.”

“You little—“

“Oh, look at the time, I can talk about nocturnal plantae all day. Uh, class dismissed!” Luckily for Claire, the class dispersed before Robin could continue for another round of insults. Lucky for Robin, Lorelei was the more level-headed of the two and used all of her strength to drag her shorter friend to their next class.

The air was thick this Sunday morning, with fog from last night's rain starting to lift up off the warm ground. Lorelei wrapped her sweater tighter around herself, telling herself how much she would yearn for these colder mornings when she was waking up covered in sweat come July. She made her way over to the owelry, nearly tripping over a misplaced stone while doing so, to check if her mother had sent her any letters.

Usually, as years prior have shown, her mother would write a letter every few weeks. Sometimes there would be a package, but she usually reserved those for really special occasions. The letters usually detailed how life was going back home, how work was, typical conversational things that Lorelei would hear about at the dinner table if she were home.

The owlery door had always brought a smile to Lorelie’s face, this time being no different; carvings of feathers, two large black eyes, and a long black beak, the door was made to resemble a beautiful owl that the spiral tower enhoused. Once the door gave out its usual squeak, alerting the tower’s inhabitants that there was a visitor, she stepped through to keep the early autumn chill out.

Unlike some owl towers, Ilvermorny’s also serves as the school’s mailroom, where owls or other birds drop off various items that a student’s family might have sent. Upon entering the owlery, Lorelei was met with the sight of brown packages in different sizes and shapes, along with the faint smell of owl poop from the upstairs nests.

Along one wall were different cubbies that had the initials of every student of Ilvermorny, the color corresponding to their house, where letters would appear should they get any. Lorelei wasn’t alone in the tower, a few pukwudgies running around organizing and distributing letters to their rightful box, which brought a sense of community like bees working in a hive.

Walking over to her cubby, narrowly avoiding a pukwudgie carrying a stack of packages, Lorelei pulled the long thin drawer that had her initials scribbled in cursive silver ink. Somewhat to her astonishment there was a cream letter waiting for her to open. On the outside it had her name, house, and year of schooling all kept in one snug corner. In the other was her mother’s name and work address of Beaver & Clampitt 374 Betterbrook Ridge along with a stamp of a beaver sitting atop his home. Lorelei used her thumb’s nail to open the envelope as gently as she could, then took out the folded paper inside.

The sight of her mother’s cursive and handwriting made her insides a bit warmer than they had before opening the letter, happy to get a sense of comfort.

My dearest Lorelei,

Things at home have been good, your father finally decided to fix that lightbulb in the garage along with taking up other household chores and cleaning. I swear that man needs a hobby or he’ll drive himself insane. The two of us are doing…okay, but there’s still a lot to work out that you shouldn’t be around for.

I know these past years haven’t been easy, especially since you started your schooling and your father found out who he really married, and him losing his job, but I wanted to tell you what a smart and loving girl you are. I realized, with your sixteenth birthday coming this winter, how many things I wish I could have told you more growing up. I wish most of all that you had been exposed to the magical world when you were younger, you would have loved some of the games and books I read growing up.

If you're okay with it, I’d like to change some of that and implement some new house rules. You’re a young woman, soon to be an adult witch, and you deserve to practice magic in your own home. Again, still more to talk about with dad, but there is always a time and a place for everything. I love you more than you know, always thinking of you and your bright future.

Love,

Mom

P.S. Poe says “meow” but I think he means “hi”.

When she finished reading, Lorelei found it difficult to read the postscript due to the unshed tears clouding her vision. It meant a lot to her that her mother would be willing to speak with her father about what it means to be a witch and a young woman all wrapped into one self conscious being. Every fiber of her body was telling her to be excited for the change, but it scared her to think what might happen if they can’t work together. Divorce. It wasn’t the end of the world, Robin had divorced parents and she’s fine, but for Lorelei it was different. She’s not Robin, because her parents do deserve to be together, belong together. They have worked together beautifully in the past, the only thing different was getting accepted to Ilvermorny. If they separated, her whole world would be thrown upside down.

So for now, as she left the owlery to brave the cold rain of the morning, Lorelei told herself to welcome change, but not expect anything miraculous.

It’s what got her this far.

“You guys excited for the match tomorrow?”

It was a week since she got her letter and currently, Robin and Lorelei were studying for the first DADA exam in a few days on jinxes and counter attacks. They were lounging on a blue couch in the Thunderbird common room, taking a break between every practice exam when Robin would climb the indoor rock tower. Yes, an indoor rock tower.

The Thunderbird common room held no expense when they designed it for the adventurous students. Over the years, many new additions have been made by order students who wanted to give the incoming households everything they wished they had. This included an indoor rock wall, located in the center of the room, bean bags that matched the dark and light blue color scheme of the room, various hammocks for sleeping, and different gym equipment like monkey bars, rope ladders, and swing ropes. This was mostly due to the fact that Thunderbirds almost always had the same energy as a lightning struck cheetah, so they needed a healthy way to get rid of it so they could settle down and work on school work. Besides the many muscle aching amenities, there was also the usual bookcases, with three and a half ancient textbooks, and study table and chairs. Bizarrely enough, there are also different animal posters of owl, bug, and reptile breeds that no one can remember who put them up.

The one who asked the question was Madeline Coil, a fellow member of the Thunderbird’s Quodpot team, who happened to be walking by. Unfortunately, she asked just as Robin reached the top of the rock tower, choosing to wear a set of shorts under her skirt at all times ready to climb. As Lorelei began to answer a simple, ‘yes’, Robin landed hard onto the padding under the wall, causing a loud thud to bounce around the room. Easily, she popped back up and said, “Totally, the Pukwudgies always play a good game,” as if she was there the entire time. “Especially with Orville on their team.”

Lorelei caught the not so subtle eye when Robin mentioned his name, trying very hard not to guffaw at her. Instead, she chose to cross her arms and roll her eyes. “Haha,” Madeline laughed, “Yeah, they always put on a pretty good show for the crowd, even if they lose. Hope you guys get good seats!” She added before continuing on her way.

“Do you think the monster is gonna be there?” Robin asked in a hushed tone after waiting for everyone to be out of ear shot.

“I really hope not,” replied Lorelei, not wanting to see anything except Orville and his shining smile, “but I’ll keep my eyes peeled.”

“That’s all I can ask,” replied Robin, gearing up for another climb. “This time, time me!”

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New chapter of Paranormals of Ilvermorny this Tuesday!!

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Professor Holly-Oaks

Name: Stella Holly-Oaks

Title: Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts & Horned Serpents Head of House

Age: 63

Faceclaim:

Born to her parents, Basilio Oaks and Ileana Holly close to midnight on November 3rd, 1934. When she first opened her eyes, her parents were taken aback with how bright and beautiful her eyes were, mimicking the stars shining above them, and aptly named her Stella. At the age of four she started to show signs of her magical lineage, both parents coming from wizarding families known around Cuba. In one instance, her mother walked in on her daughter playing with her toy dog, only for the toy to transform into a croaking toad. At the age of five her mother gave birth to twin boys, Luis and Alestro, who Stella was immediately in love with and vowed to protect. The family moved from Cuba to the United States when Stella was ten years old because her father got a job on a herbalist’s farm. Stella has many fond memories of that first spring and summer where she, along with her parents and brothers, would harvest and maintain various herbs and plants that would then be sold to a local potion shop. The family was paid good money for their hard work, the farm owner even letting them live in a little cottage on his property, somewhere she used to spend the cold winters reading every book she could find that had to do with good guys always saving others. To this day Stella finds the smell of wet dirt, lemon balm, and firewood brings her a feeling of nostalgia and calm.

Stella received her letter on her eleventh birthday when an American kestrel flew into the open cottage window where the family was enjoying a birthday dinner of Lechon asado, with pork that her father spent hours slowly roasting. Her first steps through the Ilvermorny castle is a memory she never wishes to forget, remembering the dazzling lights of the dining hall that seem to glow brighter every fall she returns to the school. During her years of studying as a Horned Serpent, Stella found she had a talent for transfiguration, but her real passion was protection. More specifically, how to keep those she loves and cares about safe from the many dangers of the magical world. It was this drive to help those around her, even if they didn’t want or need it, that gave her the energy to spend countless nights studying everything there was to know about evil magic and the dark arts.

Following this burning drive to help led Stella to become an Auror, specifically one that tracked down wizards and witches allegedly up to no good. Through her years of service she made quite the name for herself, even being honored with the Coin of Achievement Through Courage and Honor, otherwise known as C.A.T.C.H. It was during an investigation at a seedy shack where a group was suspected to have a list of No-Maj names they planned on attacking, that Stella sustained a minor injury to her shoulder. Although the pain was mild a scar was left from a failed killing curse, which prompted her to rethink this career path. Stella knew she couldn’t protect the ones she loves if she wasn’t alive, so she shifted gears and instead took on the position of Defense Against The Dark Arts professor at her beloved school, feeling hopeful that she could help every new generation of witches and wizards by teaching them the skills they need to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Becoming a professor and deputy headmistress has been one of the most fulfilling things she has ever accomplished, feeling a surge of joy every time a seventh year student tells her they are applying to the Magical Congress as an Auror. Besides teaching, the other thing she is most proud of is creating a heritage week where students and teachers get to eat foods that their fellow peers consider a taste of home, the idea sparking from the many times she would write to her mom to send Ropa Vieja. Although unmarried with no children, something she felt compelled to do after choosing a career with devious criminals, Stella still spends every holiday with her brothers and their families, and feels complete with the knowledge that every student she teaches acts as a surrogate child to her.

Professor Holly-Oaks has beautiful almond shaped brown eyes that dance in the sunlight, freckles from years spent in the summer sun harvesting herbs, and a smile that warms the soul that only a mother can give. Due to age, her once deep brown hair is now gray with streaks of white that she usually keeps down in waves of silver. Her tanned skin compliments her slight Cuban accent like lemon on chicken, one of her favorite dishes, and her burgundy robes make her fuller figure feel like a motherly figure is always watching out for you.

Although she feels the need to protect most everyone who she encounters, Professor Holly-Oaks has a tendency to forget herself and how important it is to keep her body healthy by getting enough rest and food. As a teacher she is strict but fair, always telling her students who don’t pay attention the severity of what can happen as a result. She doesn’t sugar coat anything, always telling the honest truth, but that is not to say she can’t hold back information or emotions when necessary. Professor Holly-Oaks is beloved by many students due to her honest words, past service, and warm approachability, usually the first they go to with a question or recommendation for the school.

When she really lets her guard down she loves to cook for her family while singing and dancing to Spanish music, not caring if her rhythm is on point or not. She is also an avid reader of any true crime novel, real or fiction.

Her wand is made from alder wood with a rougarou hair core and measures 12 inches exactly.

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Ilvermorny Professors

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Name: Furnell Oflyn Pope

Title: Headmaster

Age: 85

Faceclaim:

Furnell Pope was born to parents Nemiah (a half-blood) and Delonda (No-Maj) on May 14, 1912 in Barbados. On his mother’s side he can relate his heritage back to Tituba, the first woman and enslaved person to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem trials. Due to their lineage, Delonda was fearful of Furnell and his younger sister Tilisha’s magic falling into the wrong hands, and therefore restrained their magic use at home. During his years at Ilvermorny, Furnell was sorted into Horned Serpent and struggled greatly with making friends and often spent time alone studying or making beaded bracelets like his mother taught him. He once tried to create a Weather in a Bottle for potions class, which only ended up creating a violent thunderstorm that forced everyone to evacuate.

During a third year trip to the wizarding city, Furnell met and began to befriend witches from the Salem Witches’ Institute. When his parents found out about his new friends, they forbade him from taking and hanging out with them, causing Delonda to disclose her family's history. He learned of how Tituba escaped the witch trials of Salem, and how her hatred of Non Magic’s led to her performing heinous acts and spells against many innocent lives. After hearing of what his maternal grandmother did, Furnell felt ashamed of his family history and believed this was the reason he didn’t have any friends.

1926 saw the attack of New York City and the involvement of Newton Scamander, how his knowledge of magical creatures helped the American wizarding community. It was this pivotal moment that grew the already sparked interest Furnell had in magizoology, leading him to want a career in the field. Furnell had such a talent for magical animals he was able to track down a Giant Squid and was able to make contact and mingle various sasquatches. This love of nature brought the attention of D’lynne Porter, a fellow Ilvermorny student, later leading to a romance between the two. During his seventh year, Furnell’s sister Tilisha chose to study at Salem Witches’ Institute, only fueling the fire that he should hold hatred for his lineage and has driven a wedge between the siblings.

After Ilvermorny, he married D’lynne who birthed a son they named Tonell in 1939. Years after working from home to stay close to his family, Furnell joined the Magical Congress of the United States of America, becoming a new member of the Body for Protection of Magical Species, where he would get to work in an office and travel the country protecting magical creatures and maintaining their habitat. While serving the position, Furnell came across the former pet Chupacabra of the villainous wizard Grindelwald, Antonio, later adopting and giving him the best possible life. He was later asked to personally fill the role of headmaster of Ilvermorny by former headmaster Lambkins, who remembered the bright eyed students he was when he walked the castle’s halls, and felt his presence and character would be a good fit for the school.

Physically, the headmaster has dark skin, thanks to his Barbadian roots, and has scattered wrinkles from his many years of magic. His once long dark hair has turned gray, even leaving an M-shaped baldness to his head, and sports a matching salt and pepper goatee mustache. With brown eyes and fine eyebrows, it's not hard to believe that the current headmaster was once a very attractive man. During his many speeches to the school in the dining hall, his baritone voice is accented by his native accent, adding a welcome sound for the students. Although not the toned young man he used to be, headmaster Pope keeps his figure somewhat trim, allowing himself extra indulgence of his wife’s baking during the holiday season. Standing at a towering six foot, he tries his best to dispel any fear his students or staff might have when coming to him with a question, trying to make all those around him feel at ease.

As a young child, Furnell was insecure because of his lineage, but as he got older he learned to overcome this fear and became less ashamed of the mistakes made by those in his family. It was through this growth that he was able to mend the bridge between him and his sister, forgiving her for joining the Salem Witches. The headmaster can be quick-tempered, pessimistic, and impatient, but never outwardly shows these feelings to students or staff. He is mainly liked as headmaster for his perception that every student has good qualities and can make the most of their life through their studies and experience.

Whenever he finds freetime between completing his duties as headmaster, Pope can be found learning a new language, listening to his favorite jazz band Berryblue’s Orchestra, playing a card game or meditating in his office.

His wand is made from maple wood with a unicorn hair core and measures 14 ¾ inches.