the Hogwarts Christmas Spirit?

[acciomod.livejournal.com]

Over the last week, it had been growing much colder. The dull, near constant rain of the last few weeks had cleared, and each morning saw a glittering frost carpeting the grounds. Some of the teachers had taken this to mean "Christmas is coming", in particular Professor Flitwick, who had decorated his classroom with tiny, glittering fairies.

With the Christmas Holidays fast approaching, the atmosphere in the castle was fairly relaxed for the most part, but a couple of new Outsiders arriving had caused a few whispers. Thankfully, after the students had become a little more familiar with the ones already present, the whispers were largely wondering why they had arrived so close to the end of term, and why the majority were winding up in Gryffindor House.

Some of the students, however, were clearly feeling a little more hostile towards the new arrivals. It was surely not coincidence that the various suits of armour had taken to harassing the Outsiders - grabbing them, following and chasing them, snatching things from their hands and occasionally even attempting to strike them.

If they listened carefully, the sound of faint laughter might just be heard.

[Yes, a few sixth year Slytherins have decided it'd be a great idea to try and scare the Outsiders. Suits of armour around the castle have been charmed to bug them and them alone - some are just a nuisance, and some are aggressive, depending on who's charmed it.]

Comments

[youngnobelman]

[Wandwave!] Accio Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century!

[The book sails into his hand, and he hands it to Ken. Finally, his work on this spell paid off!]

[empireofmymind.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you....



There must be a way to get this to stop.

[youngnobelman]

Not a problem. [He puts his wand away.] I think to find that, we need to find the patterns in the occurrences and the cause...

[He scribbles something on his parchment, then looks at Ken: Ravenclaw, second year at most, he doesn't normally pay much attention to the younger kids but he doesn't think he's seen him before. Rather than ask outright, he'll do the polite thing and introduce himself, offering a hand to shake.] I'm Thomas H. Norstein, fourth year.

[empireofmymind.livejournal.com]

Ah - Ken Ichijouji, first year.

Is this happening everywhere, then?

[youngnobelman]

Ichijouji... [And the hesitation on the handshake and the slight head tilt...] You're not Japanese, are you?

I wouldn't say 'everywhere'; while it's happening around the castle, the targets seem quite limited.

[empireofmymind.livejournal.com]

Yes, actually. I'm Japanese.

What do you mean by "limited"?

[youngnobelman]

[Touma suddenly bows, switching to slightly accented Japanese.] I'm half-Japanese; I haven't had a chance to talk to a native speaker in years.

It didn't go after me, and they're not targeting most of the students. [Eh, he'll ask outright.] You're not from this world, are you. [Even though it comes out as more of a statement than a question.]

[empireofmymind.livejournal.com]

No.

Are you saying they're targeting Outsiders?

Then, the objective is--



We've got to undo this.

repost for slight addition, sorry

[youngnobelman]

It's still a theory, though I do agree that it needs to be stopped. [Seriously, just give him back his stupid singing suits of armor.]

no problem~

[empireofmymind.livejournal.com]

Isn't there a way to cancel it out? Or freeze it in place--

[youngnobelman]

[Touma steps between Ken and the suit of armor, and it backs down.]

I'm not sure a Full Body-Bind would work on a non-sentient object...

[empireofmymind.livejournal.com]

Then - how about locating whoever's behind the spell? If they're caught, all the spells can be lifted and no more will be cast.

[youngnobelman]

That's the plan, yes, but unfortunately, there's no spell for finding who cast a particular spell. I'm afraid we'll have to find the culprits the hard way.

[empireofmymind.livejournal.com]

The culprit's motives seem clear. So we need to look for clues that'd narrow down from everyone who might dislike Outsiders.



I've only just arrived, so I can't draw on prior experience. But to affect this many large objects with this specific a spell would take considerable finesse and power, right?

[youngnobelman]

[He nods, starting to try and steer Ken to an area of the library away from the suits of armor. To be honest, he's actually a little impressed with how specific the spell is.]

It could well have been a group of people working together to get all of the suits.

[empireofmymind.livejournal.com]

That's true - in which case it's a group of students. Doubting a professor would be ungrateful anyway.



Is this the first case of discrimination?

[youngnobelman]

[HAHA don't get him started on wizarding discrimination.] In general, or against Outsiders in particular?

[empireofmymind.livejournal.com]

--both. The latter's more relevant, but...one prejudice can lead to another.

[youngnobelman]

[Good call, Ken; Touma is impressed. He nods.] The wizarding community here tends to be prejudiced against non-humans, and some 'pureblood' [that's in English] witches and wizards also look down on those with any Muggle [the last time he heard the Japanese word for "Muggle" was when he was like three; he doesn't even know he knew it] ancestry. Naturally, this extended to Outsiders.

[He pauses, unsure of whether to mention last year's opening of the Chamber of Secrets, but ultimately decides against it. Ken can't be that much older than his little sister; he doesn't want to scare the kid.] Up until now, anti-Outsider discrimination's been mostly verbal, as far as I'm aware.

[It's kind of been a relief, because with new people who seem even less worthy of magic than apparently Muggleborn kids like Touma, his housemates haven't been picking on him as badly lately. But he doesn't want someone else getting the brunt of his housemates' xenophobia either.]

[empireofmymind.livejournal.com]

...even that's too much.



Ah, sorry...

So the - obvious suspects would be pure-blooded students with a history of speaking out?

[youngnobelman]

I just wonder if that's too obvious. It would be easy for someone who's a little quieter about their prejudice to use the noisier bigots as scapegoats.

[empireofmymind.livejournal.com]

True...

Just guessing's no good anyway.

[youngnobelman]

Don't be discouraged, Ichijouji-kun. It's a good theory; it just needs investigation, and proof.

[empireofmymind.livejournal.com]

Anyway, I can prove they're targeting Outsiders. If that's true, I'll likely be attacked again.

If that happens...

[youngnobelman]

[Touma quirks an eyebrow at that expression.] You needn't go out of your way to be harassed by them. [Seriously, kid, don't you have other things to do too?]