The Shadow of Slytherin

Time for a quest

With Halloween only a week away, the Headmaster is proud to announce the return of the annual quest for Hallow's eve. As is has been tradition. On 30th of October the quest begins, all houses, all students can participate. Each will receive a gemstone, individual ones that contain different variations of colour, some hum, others vibrate, some more send tingling impulses through the hand of the carrier. There are two stones of every kind, you are to find the other and claim them. Caught students will switch to the house of their captor and have to play against their own house, even duel against their fellow students.

The quest itself is simple, multiple clues lead in different directions, no clues are the same. Each player has a fair chance of winning, there are no rules against forming groups and sharing clues with students of your own house. In other words, follow the clues, find the hidden object to unlock the final challenge, and be the first to win the game.

Whichever house wins the quest shall pick their opponent for the duels that open the festivities of Hallow's eve.

Dressed in your school uniform, you head out the common room, Ominis to your left, Alex and Akira to your right, and rush up the stairs. As you reach the entrance of the Hogwarts castle at the Viaduct courtyard, Leander Prewett with another Gryffindor you have never interacted with, come through the door, followed by Garreth, a giant pumpkin sitting enthroned on his shoulder.

"What in Merlin's name are you up to now, Weasley?" you inquire, observing the two Gryffindors turn their heads, then whispering and rushing through the doors upstairs to get away while Garreth is left behind.

A broad grin on his face, he leans closer to you, but loses his balance with the pumpkin on his shoulder, stumbles and falls to the ground, the pumpkin bursting as Garreth lands in the mush that spreads on the ground. However, it is not orange with pumpkin seeds weaved into it, but purple, the long fibres spreading on the ground like the roots of a mushroom, feeding through the carpet over the stone towards the stairs where students shriek and run away, the purple veins spreading farther.

With a sigh, Akira waves his wand, mumbling a spell, and within a glimpse, the purple veins turn to dust that gathers in the debris of the burst pumpkin. "Weasley," he laughs, taking Alex by the shoulder as he leads him up the stairs towards the doors.

"Thank you, Salem, it was meant to be a surprise"

"Another concoction? What would have happened if the veins touched a student? Turn them into a pumpkin as well?"

The eyes on you, Garreth presses air through his teeth, the hand scratching his neck as he stares at the mess on the ground. "They were not supposed to happen. I don't know what that was, Leander helped with the-" The red curls fall into his face as it darts to you, "You owe me, Morningstar, you ruined the Halloween surprise."

"Or saved the entire school from another of your experiments."

Shaking his head, Garreth gathers the rest of his pumpkin, uttering something while the slippery flesh of the pumpkin remains all over the ground. As Garreth runs to gather another piece, he steps aside and slips on the fallen pumpkin, landing face first in the purple dust. "Salem!" he yells out, his fingers covered in mush and dust as he pushes himself to his elbows, "quit laughing."

"As you wish," you chuckle. With Ominis, who listens to you in silence, by your side, you head up the stairs and through the doors where more students have gathered, excited for the quest. Some talk of the previous ones, others about their hopes what this year might hold.

Gathered in the great hall, dressed in their house uniforms, Alec, Atticus, Imelda, you and other students stand opposite the Gryffindors who grin as you prepare for battle.