by Essa Nazari
On Monday, at the start of Professor Dumorney’s class, the banshee’s warning started to come true. For those haven’t heard about the Banshee visit, please read Marzia Sterling’s article Scream in the Fog from last week. Death tried to come for the Professors and students of Hogwarts in the form of an attack of several Acromantulas.
Based on several professor reports an explosion caused the Great Hall Courtyard fountain to be destroyed. In it’s place was left a good sized hole with a couple of acromantulas coming out of the hole. No one seems to know what exactly caused the explosion but Professor Rourke stated that it, “took a great amount of force both physical and magical….to destroy that fountain.”
Just as everything seemed to calm back down the situation went from bad to worse. Out of the hole emerged acromantulas. These oversized spiders, have developed a taste for flesh–any type of flesh. And one student, Anathema Ward slipped and then was grabbed by an acromantula before being drug into the tunnels underneath.
Our fearless professors, led by Professor Blackwell and Deputy Headmistress O’Keeffe, along with several students (who were cautioned to stay above) leapt into action. Leading the way into the dark and musty tunnels below. I hate to write describing the tunnels but it is important to understand what those who went below faced. It was dark and musty. Large acromantula webs filled the corridors and served as a blockade against the student invaders. From the ceilings hung the remains of the victims of the acromantulas.
Once inside, the students and professor’s alike divided up, searching for Anathema, fighting the acromantulas who were intent on turning us into their next meal. However, we, the students and professors of Hogwarts, bravely fought back. Together students and professors fought back bravely using a wide variety of spells to prevent these dark creatures from leaving the tunnels and ultimately rescued Anathema.
When Professor Blackwell was later asked if she believed that the acromantulas caused the explosion of the fountain she stated that she believed that “[the] hole was the result of something coming out, rather than going in. An impact of some kind… It would be nice to believe it was the Acromantula. Very nice…” However there was a level of doubt in her voice. It seems that almost all of the professors believe that something more is lurking in the tunnels below the Great Hall Courtyard. What? No one really knows.
During an exploration, lead by Professor Blackwell and assisted by Professor Dracheblume, of the tunnels, some clues came to light of what might have caused the explosion. The first is just a note, written on a torn scrap of parchment. It reads, “I heard a noise. Something is coming.. I’m going to see. My brother is sleeping, he has grown so sick. If you are reading this, it’s already too late. He’s out, save yourself. The diary pieces are your only hope at understanding this, Stay away from——-” the parchment is torn away before we could receive its warning in full.
The second, is an entry of the diary referenced. It tells the story of two siblings, one seven years old and the other an infant boy who, according to the diary was “different” and who required, “special care and special treatment.” The author states that their younger brother, Elliott, was born during a difficult time for witches and wizards because they were being hunted. Their father had abandoned them and the unknown author of the diary recalls how their mother refused to tend to the infant, leaving the care in the hands of the author. The writer goes on to say that Elliott was “sick” to some sort of illness that “slowly rips apart their entire soul and leaves them with but a fragment of their former self.” The writer states that they, “did the very best that I could do by him [Elliott]” but by the age of two, the infant had gone completely mad, to the point that their mother feared him and Elliott’s sibling described him as, “like a rabid dog.” The diary ends this entry with this statement that despite however much they feared their little brother, “However I never would have done what my mother did. I never would have taken my baby brother, put him in a box and buried him that October night.”
Is the past coming back to haunt us? I hope not but my personal advice for all right now is to follow some advice given to me by the then Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor (now Headmaster) Fox. “Constant vigilance.”
