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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 10 days

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Archives of The Cabal - The Secret Origin of "R"

@ladyofsappho You asked me for this months ago, and you're finally getting an answer. @missnight0wl if you're interested I would also be honored to hear your thoughts. @dat-silvers-girl I just tag you in everything I write by now.

I am not caught up on Beyond, and this will deviate from canon in general, but I have tried to combine my original ideas and head-canons with the established lore about The Cabal. Either way, this is my version of R's story, and it's gonna be a long one, my friend. Buckle up.

The story you're about to hear is heavily redacted. People have fought and died and lost themselves and done unspeakable things to contain the secrets written here. Records are, to put it lightly, hard to find. For that is the nature of R.

To properly explain who they are, what they want, and where they come from…one must take a walk through history. Because R is old. Very old. Centuries old. It was primarily the brainchild of two men, but what truly birthed The Cabal was the social and political situation of the magical world at the time the group was formed. Because it is and has always been intrinsically linked to the passing of the Statute of Secrecy. Without that bit of legislation, there simply is no Cabal. Furthermore, The Cabal has always had a vested interest in the Wizarding schools. So we’ll need to talk about the days before The Statute. Before witches and wizards went underground. Back when the magical schools were still in grave danger.

It started...with the school of magic known as Ruqyah.

Before the persecution from the muggles became a larger problem, the wizarding world experienced a period of prosperity that it would never see again. An era that magical historians would later describe as the “Golden Years” that are estimated to have begun at around the point Hogwarts was constructed at the turn of the millennium. During this time, magical education peaked. The wizarding schools in the world numbered thirty-two, with many advanced institutions rising. Their knowledge and power only grew as they reached out to one another and did collaborations, maintaining strong relationships across the globe. Traditions like the Triwizard Tournament sprung up during this time. At the height of enlightenment was the school known as Ruqyah in Egypt. Built into one of the Pyramids, Ruqyah was a haven of higher learning, famous across the world for producing the best Healers, Beastkeepers, and Magical Researchers.

Though the school no longer exists in the present day, there was a time when every young Mage knew Ruqyah, and its unmistakable sigil - the Eye of Horus. Students from all over the world were permitted, even encouraged, to visit the school and participate in the education it offered. Whether it was for a week, a year, or even if they decided to enroll full time. Ruqyah pursued all sorts of goals, seeking knowledge and power. Theirs was the path to enlightenment and immortality - or so it was claimed. But only the truly bold, only those who had lived in the Pyramid for years ever dared to explore the Tombs of Ruqyah, which were said to be cursed. Supposedly inhabited by a malevolent spirit, who was only to be cowed by the presence of students and staff. It was said that they kept this being at bay by perpetuating the study of such pure magic. To many, these were just rumors, though Ruqyah Alums treated these stories with respect and many believed them in earnest. This was yet another reason such pride was taken in the education of the students. In the days of the Golden Years, Ruqyah was truly considered top class.

But The Golden Years were never to last.

Though tension between the mages and the non-magical community had always been an issue, the problem only grew worse during the fifteenth century. The muggles were still licking their wounds after the terrible phenomenon known as The Black Death, which had suspiciously killed very few wizards, the overwhelming majority of its victims being non-magical. A story began to spread, the idea that wizardkind had created the Plague themselves and purposefully unleashed it onto the world. Whether or not there is any truth to this...difficult to say. The Black Death occurred centuries ago and any record of magical involvement, if indeed there was any, has long since been erased. During this time, Witch Hunting was becoming a very popular profession for a variety of reasons, (many of them religiously motivated) and Muggles soon began rallying together to form organized strikes at wizardkind. The conflict escalated beyond the Ministries’ control as witches and wizards who bore prejudice of their own took the opportunity to fight back.

The conflict raged across the world like wildfire, with no end in sight for three hundred years. A period that became known as The Witch Hunter Wars. Ministries passed new laws, and magical schools shifted the focus of their curriculum's. Some began to prioritize subterfuge…others favored combat. Regrettably, wizarding culture became steeped in hatred and mistrust of the muggles. Even Ruqyah, beloved among wizardkind for the scholars it had produced…it too changed direction and began to train a generation of Dark Wizards who specialized in Curse-Breaking. Who learned the most unseemly of secrets, venturing further into the Tombs of Ruqyah than anyone had ever dared go. Some were even said to have met the demon at the heart of the Pyramid.

But it was not enough. The magical community had always been dwarfed by their muggle counterparts. Through sheer numbers alone, the muggles always maintained the upper-hand, doing more and more damage as time went on. The war had destroyed any goodwill the magicals might have felt toward the muggles, and any witch or wizard associating with them was distrusted on principle. Common ground was no longer possible. Coexistence was no longer possible. By the end of the seventeenth century, several Wizarding Ministries had fallen, and over half of the known Wizarding Schools had been eradicated. Eventually, Ruqyah would join them. In 1679, the ancient and beloved school was stormed and destroyed by Witch Hunters. The following ten years, which later became known as “The Decade Without Hope” preempted a “Final Summit” of the International Confederation of Wizards, who had decided at last that enough was enough.

The Decade Without Hope

The Decade without Hope was…a dark time. The vast majority of the magical community believed that extinction loomed on the horizon. That the muggles would not stop until they were gone. Anguish and frustration gave over to hatred. Many young mages committed suicide. Others entered heavily populated muggle villages and sacrificed themselves by casting explosive curses. The future, if there was to be one at all, seemed bleak. The remaining witches and wizards turned on one another, looting and killing became common. Dark Wizards went unpunished, because who was left to punish them? What remained of the wizarding government had their hands full with the Witch Hunter Wars, with preparing the plans for the Final Summit. But these plans were to be interrupted by two dark wizards. Their names were Henri Jean Alerie…and Dai Ryusaki.

During the days before most of the Wizarding Schools were lost, it was relatively common for a student to spend more years in school, to attend more than one academy and graduate with honors from all of them. Ryusaki was a Mahoutokoro Alum, and Alerie had attended Beauxbatons, but both had also been educated together at Ruqyah. They were two of the last students to graduate before the school was destroyed. Alerie and Ryusaki, who had become close friends, traveled the world together after their graduation to seek their fortune. The teachings of Ruqyah were long since corrupted, and these two old friends worked together as partners in crime. In doing so, they frequently communicated by letter, but to avoid detection should their letters fall into the wrong hands, they never added signatures. It had been a longstanding tradition at Ruqyah for the Headmaster, often known as “The Ruqyah” to sign his letters with the Eye of Horus symbol, which closely resembled the letter “R.” A technique that Alerie and Ryusaki appropriated for themselves as a code known only to them.

Ryusaki's Gambit

After The Witch Hunter Wars, and the fall of several Ministries, there were many precious, dangerous magical artifacts in need of relocation. Due to the adaptive nature of magic, which is itself a living force, Dai Ryusaki and Henri Jean Alerie both knew that the remaining schools of magic would be safer than any Ministry. They were as of yet undiscovered by the muggles and seemingly small enough to fly under the radar. The only remaining school the Witch Hunters were aware of was Hogwarts, yet they seemed reluctant to strike the British school, possibly due to rumors that it was guarded by a terrible monster left behind by one of the Founders.

Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries, as well as their contemporaries in other nations, had already concluded that any dwelling inhabited by multiple witches and wizards for several generations would eventually develop its own independent magical energy, and, in a sense, become a living thing. In the case of wizarding schools, the youthful magic of the students was even stronger, and more changeable. It was the very best chance. Ryusaki knew what needed to be done. He called upon the services of several people whom he trusted. They had graduated from the various remaining schools of magic and eventually rose to lead them, but before that, they had been part of the final classes to study at Ruqyah and were originally Curse-Breakers by trade. Over the years, Ryusaki had maintained correspondence with all of them.

He reached out to Inacio Campos, of Castelobruxo, Zuri Adesina of Ugadou, Sigrid Jorgensen of Durmstrang, Tatiana Morozov of Koldovstoretz, and Hamish Fawley of Hogwarts. There was some reluctance once his colleagues discovered his past misdeeds, but Ryusaki convinced them that his plan was in the best interests of wizardkind, that he was merely trying to repent. Henri Jean Alerie was only too happy to represent Beauxbatons in this endeavor, as Ryusaki represented Mahoutokoro. In time, the two men secured themselves as Headmasters of their respective schools. The only representatives who were not in attendance were Morozov and Fawley. Morozov was disgusted by Ryusaki’s crimes and refused to join the alliance, and with her, the Russian school withdrew from the plan. Fawley expressed agreement with the plan, but was unwilling to play any part in it. Hamish Fawley was gravely ill, afflicted with a mysterious curse from the time he was born. As a result, not only did he have limited time and energy, but he wanted nothing to do with Cursed Artifacts or Curses as a whole. Privately, Alerie maintained correspondence with Fawley, offering his sympathies.

The other representatives went along with this plan, deciding to trust Ryusaki, as he seemed honest…though many of them did not fully trust Alerie. Which was ironic, as he played a crucial part of the plan. It was he who staged the near destruction of the Lebanese Ministry of Magic, where the International Confederation of Wizards had sent them for safekeeping. Using the Imperius Curse to gain access to the heart of the Lebanese Ministry, so the new alliance could steal the Artifacts. Thereafter, Ryusaki waited until the building was empty to cast a terrible fire, a Dark Spell, to make it seem as though the Witch Hunters had struck again, and the artifacts destroyed in the fire. In truth, each of them took possession of one and pledged to guard it indefinitely. To do so, they used their schools. Infused with emergent magical energy that was fueled by generations of children, this alliance truly believed there was nowhere safer. They had all studied at Ruqyah at one point or another. They all knew of the Tombs, those that guarded unspeakable Dark Arts and a nameless Demon.

Within the schools of the Alliance, secret chambers were constructed to house the artifacts, similar to the Tombs. The enchantments and curses placed on these ”Vaults” did not remain stagnant. Left alone, they grew like ivy, evolving and growing in strength over the years. Until, or so they hoped and planned, these secret Cursed Vaults and the treasures they guarded would be forgotten and lost to time. Plotting a strike on a Wizarding Ministry and the theft of the most dangerous artifacts in the world is no small feat. It took the better part of two years to plan, and during this time, the Alliance would communicate with each other using the secrecy they had learned from Ryusaki and Alerie. Signing all of their letters with nothing but the Eye of Horus, represented on the parchment as the letter “R” In time, this group came to refer to itself as Ruqyah, or simply “R” as a coded version - taking the name of the fallen school in an effort to honor the ideals and traditions that were lost. They began wearing red cloaks for subterfuge, echoing the school uniform of the ancient pyramid. Ryusaki could not partake, for he had "turned white" as they say in Mahoutokoro, long ago. His robes would always reflect his sin.

After the Artifacts were hidden, the members of this new faction did not see each other for many years, only communicating through further messages likewise written in code. They had pledged to protect the world from the most powerful and unstable kinds of magic. They knew what kind of danger the Artifacts might have posed if they had fallen into the wrong hands - magical or mundane. Yet during this time, Ryusaki had begun to see the world anew, as he poured himself deeper into magical philosophy. The Mahoutokoro Headmaster had never been wholly evil, and through his efforts with R, he had undergone a change of heart. Feeling remorse for his crimes and resolving to change his ways. Ryusaki dedicated his life to reforming, going so far as to reinvent the dark spells he had learned in Egypt to make them better. He even reinvented the dark spell he had used to destroy the Lebanese Ministry, turning it into the defensive curse known as Protego Diabolica. To the point of willingly turning himself over to the authorities for his various criminal acts - though he did not breathe a word of the artifacts, their locations, or the existence of R.

Alerie, however, went in a different direction.

With access to one of the deadly artifacts, he was free to study it during his spare time running Beauxbatons. During the Decade Without Hope, he continued studies into the most obscure and forbidden branches of magic. Crafting spells, objects, and potions of immense and terrible power. Drowning himself in the rarest and most dangerous enchantments. He went as far as to return to the ruins of Ruqyah and attempt to seek out the malevolent spirit hidden within the pyramid’s depths, thinking he could use its power for himself. But with the school long since abandoned, there was nothing and no one left to guard the entity, who had flourished in the time since Ruqyah’s fall. No one is quite certain what happened to Alerie in the heart of the pyramid. But he was never the same afterward. Some say he went mad, and perhaps he did. But the encounter changed him on a fundamental level. He returned to Beauxbatons wearing a strange amulet and and boasting of how his “third eye” had been opened.

The Crown of Mneme

The International Confederation of Wizards were not blind, they could see that Ryusaki was no longer a danger to the magical world and knew they could make good use of his brilliance - so they made him an offer - to be pardoned for all his past crimes and receive lifelong immunity for any future crimes. In return, they commissioned him to craft a powerful spell that would allow the caster to reshape the minds of others on a massive scale. They invited him to the Final Summit, which was to be held in the Kingdom of Bhutan, to use this magic in a special ceremony. Ryusaki flatly refused such a prospect, until The Confederation fully explained their reasoning.

During this time period, The Confederation was certainly not loved. Much of wizardkind believed that the horrid state of affairs was in no small part due to their inaction and poor decision making. Most did not believe that the Confederation would be able to save the wizarding community. But there were others. Clever mages of higher learning who understood the politics, who were near enough to the inner circle for the whispers and rumors to have leaked down to them. Long before the Statute of Secrecy was signed, many saw it coming. For it was becoming common practice more and more to live a double life, to hide one’s magic from any nearby muggles. Nevertheless, secrecy was paramount. The Witch Hunters could not be allowed to catch wind of this plan. The Final Summit was risky in general. To put all the most important members of the Confederation together, all in one room, was dangerous. Should the Witch Hunters discover that this meeting was to take place, should they strike during the Summit, they would wipe out the Confederation and with it, the last hope for wizardkind. Yet they took a chance and trusted Dai Ryusaki with knowledge of this plan.

After some consideration, he agreed to the Confederation’s offer. He set to work, using all of his magical knowledge and skill in the effort to make the Statute of Secrecy possible. Aided by his old friend Alerie, not realizing that Alerie had plans of his own. Yet as he worked, Ryusaki lamented the fate of wizardkind, doomed to hide away forever…until he had an epiphany. The answer came to him in a stroke of genius. A way to unite both worlds without conflict or bloodshed. Thoughtlessly, he shared his brainchild with Alerie via one of their many coded letters, who then joined him in celebration. In time, Ryusaki crafted the artifact known as The Crown of Mneme. With it, he and Alerie brewed a special potion designed to amplify the Crown’s power when the two were combined. The ingredients for this potion were a closely guarded secret, and the two old friends only ever wrote them down once, on an ancient scroll. These efforts bore fruit, and Ryusaki tested the Crown’s power by treating the trauma of his students at Mahoutokoro. However, attempting to heal the pains and trials of his friend Alerie revealed the horror within his soul, and Ryusaki recoiled. He attempted to excise this evil from his friend, but Alerie escaped.

Regrettably, this discovery sealed Ryusaki’s fate. Alerie could not allow any to learn the truth of what he had seen, of his heritage. The Demon who had hidden in the Tombs of Rugyah for so many years, who now ruled the pyramid in silence…was in truth, a magical creature known as an Ifrit. Precious little is known about them and in the seventeenth century wizards knew little and less. But such an entity is classified as a “non-being” similar to boggarts or dementors, and the Ifrit is highly dangerous. Rarely seen in the West, an Ifrit can live for millennia, and use that time to gradually corrupt the souls of mages around them, yet having no effect on muggles. Long ago, the founders of Ruqyah crossed swords with an Ifrit, bravely fighting the creature and trapping it in an ancient tomb. Building a pyramid around the demon to keep it sealed away, and the prison evolved through the years, becoming one of the most famous wizarding schools of all time. It was always the job of the Headmaster, “The Ruqyah,” to contain the Ifrit.

Alerie had met The Ifrit. The enchantments on the Pyramid prevented it from escaping altogether, but once the last Ruqyah had died, the Ifrit’s magic grew stronger. Before, Headmasters had wielded The Eye of Horus to “block” out the Ifrit’s third eye, which has sometimes been referred to as the “evil eye.” For the Ifrit’s third eye grants them powers such as legilimency, and worse. They can attack and devastate the minds of mortals. Alerie had an encounter with this non-being while it was near full power, and the course of his life became set in stone. For the Ifrit had revealed a shattering truth - many times in the past, it had taken human witches as lovers, one of whom was Alerie’s own mother. Henri Jean Alerie was only half human. The Amulet he wore had been created by the Ifrit some time ago, and it had been given to Alerie as inheritance. In years to come, his seemingly endless longevity and his fearsome talent with the Dark Arts could both be attributed to his heritage. Alerie had left the pyramid a different man, and when Ryusaki discovered the horrors hidden in his soul, he vowed to save his old friend. But Alerie had already decided that Ryusaki could not be allowed to live.

The Final Summit

Ten years after the Fall of Ruqyah, the Confederation met in secret for the Final Summit, in the Kingdom of Bhutan. To discuss their plans, and most importantly, to gauge how successful Ryusaki had been at the task they had given him. The group of mages met and conversed for many days to determine the future of their kind. During this time, when Ryusaki was called upon to present his invention, he instead proposed an alternative solution. He painted a picture for his fellow wizards, describing the utopia in his mind. A world where there was no difference between the magical and mundane. A peaceful, enlightened world where every child born would be blessed with magic. If the Crown could be used for this purpose, there would be no need for secrecy. No need for conflict - no real possibility of another war. The Confederation nervously laughed off such wild delusions and dismissed Ryusaki as a radical before demanding that he relinquish the Crown. When Ryusaki refused, things quickly devolved into chaos.

Ryusaki knew that he could not surrender the Crown, not until he had used it to save the world. The magical community would not hide themselves. They would join hands with their muggle brethren, and together they would expel the forces of evil - creatures like the Ifrit hiding in Ruqyah. The world needed to know about this danger, and that his old friend had already been corrupted by it. Determined to uphold the legacy of what Ruqyah had once been, Ryusaki, who was now on the run, called upon the services of R. A loyal man, Ryusaki expected the Headmasters of the remaining magical schools, the Guardians of the Artifacts, would come to his aid, as he would have done for them. But by then, it was too late.

Alerie had gotten to them first.

As a member of R, he had contacted the others and met with them to discuss the situation. Painting a very different version of events. Alerie claimed Ryusaki’s atonement was a lie. That he had been deceiving the others, and that his sanity slipped further and further toward madness with each passing day. That he had created another deadly Artifact, like the ones R had hidden, and the Confederation was now hunting him. Though the others doubted his tale at first, rumors of Ryusaki’s exploits were spreading, as Alerie’s next visit had been to see the Confederation. With Ryusaki on the run, Alerie had approached them. He offered to do the job that Ryusaki would not, in exchange for the same reward - lifetime immunity from prosecution. The Confederation, who had no other cards left to play, agreed to his terms - none of them having any idea just how long Alerie would live.

Ryusaki’s reputation was soon smeared by the remaining Ministries, in an attempt to discredit him and prevent him from garnering sympathy. His past misdeeds as a Dark Wizard were regularly brought up by his enemies and those who wished to apprehend him and the Crown. The remaining members of R came to believe Alerie’s stories were true, particularly as his newest ally corroborated them. Hamish Fawley, who had previously refused to join R, now accepted full membership and pledged to help stop Ryusaki and hide the Crown of Mneme at Hogwarts, just as the other Headmasters had done in their own schools. Alerie had approached Fawley separately and cut a deal with him on the side. Proposing that the Crown could be used to heal Fawley’s illness and break the Curse on him. Blind with hope, Fawley would have said or done anything that Alerie bid.

Ryusaki had only one friend left he could turn to - or so he thought. The International Confederation could not be trusted. Ruqyah’s members had all abandoned him. But despite the evil in Alerie’s soul, Ryusaki believed he was still a good man beneath it all, and this faith was seemingly rewarded when Alerie appeared like a miracle and helped Ryusaki escape a team of Aurors. The two friends reconciled, and it was at this time that Alerie gave Ryusaki the amulet that he wore, seemingly as a sentimental gift. Ryusaki went on to explain his plan to Alerie. From the shadows, he had worked tirelessly, trying to discover a way to graph magic from a witch or wizard onto a muggle. As he refused to use live subjects or do anything that risked harm to the innocent, his methods were slow and inefficient. There was only one thing left to try - The Crown. Using its power to project magic onto every human in the world by using the wearer as a template. It would never have worked, and Alerie knew this. But Ryusaki was blind with hope, and insisted on acting as the Template himself, just as Alerie planned.

Together, the two men brewed the special mind-enhancing potion necessary to use the Crown on a global scale. Alerie placed the Crown on Ryusaki’s head. Yet as the power began to overwhelm him, Ryusaki was suddenly struck in the back by his oldest friend. The two began to duel. It was during this time that, in the struggle, the Scroll containing the ingredients for Ryusaki’s special mind enhancing potion was torn in half, with each of the men taking one piece. Ryusaki had no strength, the Crown had drained him like a battery, and he had no choice but to take it off, to leave it behind. Yet using the last of his energy, Ryusaki fled, and hid his half of the Scroll. Rather than pursue him, Alerie claimed The Crown, before sending the same team of Aurors - who had been on his payroll the whole time - to apprehend the wounded Ryusaki.

Alerie brought the Crown back to the Magisterial Chamber of Ancient Wizardry, as promised. It was here that the members of the Confederation cast a vote, and soon emerged from their talks with a signed document known as the International Statute of Secrecy, marking the official end of The Witch Hunter Wars. Alerie wielded the power of The Crown of Mneme. With it, he caused all the muggles to forget magic was ever real. The two worlds became permanently divided, and Ryusaki's hopes of a utopia of enlightenment and immortality, a world where everyone had magic - went up in smoke. His dreams died with him, as he was executed for a Dark Wizard shortly thereafter, still wearing the amulet Alerie had given him as a last gift. It is said that the amulet was cursed, and that before his death, Ryusaki's jailers tortured him. By the time he died, Ryusaki's resentment of the Confederation had intensified, their betrayal, to say nothing of Alerie's betrayal, burned him to his last cinder. With Ryusaki's death, Alerie moved to seize control of R. He proposed that the group be managed by an elected leader, like the Ruqyahs of old. His influence grew further as he was unanimously voted to become the new "R."

With no means to fulfill his promise to Fawley, Alerie blamed Ryusaki for stealing half of the Dark Scroll. But there could be no hope of brewing the Mind Enhancing Potion again without it, and without the Potion, the Crown was too unstable to use. Therefore, Alerie reluctantly handed it over to Fawley to keep the peace, and it was hidden in a secret Vault at the bottom of the Hogwarts' Black Lake. Guarded by a dark spell that Alerie himself had always favored. The new "R" continued to revolutionize, with Alerie and the others gathering more and more recruits, as well as beginning to infiltrate the rising Ministries in addition to the magical schools. Meanwhile, Hamish Fawley made a groundbreaking discovery. The magic in his soul, that which came from the Curse afflicting him, contained the raw, un-concentrated power of unstable magic, but this magic could be harvested. If Fawley could be born with such a Curse, so could anyone else...including muggles, and this Curse might just endow them with enough magic to no longer be considered muggles. Ryusaki's dream was not dead after all.

Fawley and Alerie clashed for years to come, with Fawley questioning Alerie's leadership at every turn, and how much it differed from Ryusaki's vision. Until Alerie's mask slipped and he showed his true colors. Fawley and Alerie got into a fight and Alerie lost his temper, exposing his inhuman power in front of multiple "R" members. With no other choice, Alerie was forced to flee, to disappear, leaving Hamish Fawley to be elected the new leader of Ruqyah. He burned away the rest of his life trying in vain to solve Ryusaki's equation - to turn a muggle into a wizard. He died without success, however, his bloodline remained in R, and served as Leaders more often than they did not. Eventually, Fawley's descendant - a boy called Jacob, discovered the existence of R.

As for Alerie, he resurfaced many times under many pseudonyms over the years, influencing events. Working to free his father, to influence The Cabal from afar. The Amulet served him well in this endeavor. Eventually, he would reestablish direct contact with Fawley's descendants, and Jacob's Sibling would come to known him personally. But by then, he was using yet another name...

Under the moniker of Elton Elderberry, Ministry Archivist, Henri Jean Alerie continues to influence events.

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missnight0wl · 2 years

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https://at.tumblr.com/missnight0wl/just-for-fun-how-about-a-character-tier-of-r-and/j1pij9liimue Alright! How about this but with Circle of Khanna members?? Ben Copper Merula Snyde

Andre Egwu Badeea Ali Barnaby Lee Charlie Weasley Diego Caplan Ismelda Murk Jae Kim Liz Tuttle Nymphadora Tonks † Penny Haywood Talbott Winger Tulip K

Beatrice Haywood Bill Weasley Cedric Diggory Chiara Lobosca Fred Weasley George Weasley Corey Hayden Victor Ketsueki

So, this one was definitely more difficult. The more I thought about it, the more I felt like the differences between them are not that big. Also, you didn’t specify it, but once again, I made two lists. And I changed the tiers a little bit because… Well, let’s be real: nobody is at the “Rakepick” level, for example.

By the way, working on this made me realise that we have 22 members of the Circle of Khanna. TWENTY-TWO. That’s way too many members.

But anyway…

“How powerful the Circle of Khanna is?”

“Does R "care" about them?”

The commentary under the cut.

How powerful the Circle of Khanna is?

I'll start with the last tier. I disqualified all of the younger members not only because I don't like them being in the Circle of Khanna, but also because it felt a bit unfair to compare them with the rest. Now, back to the top...

Bill. I guess that's pretty obvious. Rakepick did indeed mentor him, he accompanied us to the Cursed Vaults. We also know he's powerful from the books.

Ben. Ben was called by Flitwick one of his best students in Y1 already. Overall, I believe that Ben is really powerful. And on top of that, I actually have a theory that Rakepick did mentor him secretly because I can totally see her being impressed by his potential.

Tonks. The fact that Rakepick didn't mentor Tonks personally is one of the biggest wasted potentials of this damn game.

Talbott. I was actually considering putting him one tier above, but I wish we could see more of how Talbott handles combat. Other than that, he's definitely quite powerful. He became an Animagus when he was very young, Flitwick called him one of his best students as well.

Diego. Well, Diego is called one of the best duellists of Hogwarts, isn't he? I think he deserves this tier. I just wish we could see how he is in some different areas.

Merula. ALRIGHT. I know that Rakepick actually did mentor her! Then why she's not one tier above, you ask? Because I still believe that Rakepick wouldn't mentor her if it wasn't for R. I insist that the main (if not only) reason why Rakepick showed any interest in Merula is so Merula wouldn't run into R's arms right away.

Barnaby. JC turned him into a one-dimensional idiot, but he was introduced as one of the strongest students of MC's year. I like to think that he'd be a tough opponent.

Ismelda. I don't know, I always saw Ismelda as quite powerful. Like, that spell she used on Barnaby in Y3? I even suspected once that that's why Merula agreed to accept her in her group.

Charlie. I admit I judge mostly based on what we know from the books. I mean, if he becomes a Drogonologist right after school, he has to be good in general.

Chiara. She's apparently a pretty powerful Healer, but I also remember how she was defending students during the Ever-Bashing Boomerangs incident in Y5. She'd be good in the field too, I suppose.

Jae. I mean, he was openly complimented by Rakepick herself in Y5. I believe he has pretty great potential but probably needs practice.

Badeea. Well, she does invent her own spells. Even if they're simple so far, that's impressive.

Penny. I didn't really know what to do with her, to be honest. Like, she's super good with Potions, but... does it make you powerful in general? I don't think she's really inventing or improving potions (except that one time at the beginning of Y5 when Beatrice went missing). And we don't talk much about her combat skills... But in the end, I suppose she can be called "decently powerful".

Tulip. I had a bit of a problem with her as well. I mean, the thing is that we just don't really have a lot of information. However, Tulip is wicked smart, so... there she is.

The whole "Eh?" tier is basically: "Hard to say". Liz was admittedly complimented by Diego and MC for her duelling skills in her SQ, but that's kind of it. I imagine that Victor might've got some power-up after becoming a vampire, but... do we know that? Andre is amazing on a broom, but does it make you powerful? And Corey... Corey is probably the weakest, but it's still more of an impression than observation.

Does R "care" about them?

Merula. Pretty obvious, right?

Ben. I don’t think we’ll ever learn what exactly R was doing with Ben in the previous years, but I imagine he was useful to them somehow - even if he doesn’t remember it (and JC doesn’t remember it either).

Also, I just had an amazing idea: what if all the way back in Y2 when Ben went missing, R actually conditioned him to be obedient to them? The twist is that it has to be activated. So, imagine that Peregrine says a single word, and Ben suddenly turns into a killing machine or something?

Corey. To be fair, I think that Merula kidnapping Corey from all people was mostly a coincidence, but hey. They ended up being pretty useful. I don’t suspect R is using Corey beyond that, but I guess Corey deserves this place on the list nonetheless.

Beatrice. So, I’m still not entirely convinced that Beatrice got trapped by pure coincidence. Beatrice made the Portrait Curse way more personal for MC. On top of that, choosing our friend’s sibling created a potential for inner conflict in MC’s group (and that could be beneficial for R).

I put Penny and Barnaby in a separate tier because I still believe that they could’ve been great moles for R. Penny was really desperate when Beatrice was trapped, and if I recall correctly, she even said at one point that she’d work with anyone to help her sister. I can totally see R using it easily. Barnaby is a character who’s insanely loyal to MC. He literally jumped in front of us to save our life. Again, R could easily use it to blackmail him.

The “They might be useful” tier is basically for the remaining dating options. Personally, I doubt that JC will use it in the main story, but I decided to include it either way. I added Tonks as she’d probably be the best replacement for the players who are not exclusive with any character.

Finally, we have everyone else. To be clear, I’m not saying that R wouldn’t use them to hurt/manipulate MC. I just assume they’re not particularly special to R. Although I guess maybe the Weasley family might be a bit more special, since MC is pretty close to them? Also, I want to point out that I believe both that Tulip and Victor were supposed to have bigger roles in the story, and so maybe they’d be placed higher, but I’m judging based on the current state of the game.

#long post #hogwarts mystery #hphm #circle of khanna #hphm r #marta ranks #ask #thedoodlecat

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carewyncromwell · 2 years

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“Double, double, toil and trouble, Fire burn, and cauldron bubble! Double, double, toil and trouble... Something wicked this way comes!”

~“Double Trouble (Epic Version)” by L'Orchestra Cinematique

x~x~x~x

Haha...bet a lot of you are going, “Is this that one Spiderman meme times two or something?” (I know @dat-silvers-girl thought of it, when I shared this idea with her!!)

And in a way, yes! This picture is modeled off of the “Impersonating Rakepick” chapter in Hogwarts Mystery, specifically Y6Ch35: Infiltrating R!

Though in Carewyn’s canon, the whole affair goes down a liiiiiittle bit differently... (I must thank @missnight0wl for inspiring me with the idea of there being a “fake!Jacob” in the first place. This event is also referenced in passing at the very beginning of the still unfinished, grah Good!Rakepick AU!)

In Carewyn’s canon, the Circle of Khanna is formed by five ringleaders -- Ben Copper, Merula Snyde, Charlie and Bill Weasley, and of course Carewyn herself -- and Carewyn is naturally considered the leader even among the other ringleaders. Like in the game, they quickly come together to build their own teams so as to find a way to take down R, but unlike in the game, they actually end up having more success. Their “stealth” unit -- made up of Tonks, Andre, Jae, Tulip, Fred, and George -- gathered some intelligence about R’s movements in Knockturn Alley, learning that at least one of their less willing members was someone from the Burke family and thus several of R’s meetings took place in the shop Borgin and Burkes. Tonks even accidentally collided with Rakepick once or twice -- although she dearly wanted to take her down right then and there, she kept her head. Changing herself to look like a Dark Witch that she’d often seen in Knockturn Alley previously, Tonks purposefully picked a fight with Rakepick so she could yank out some of her hair “in the confrontation” and make it seem natural. Then Andre’s style talents and Penny’s potionmaking became useful -- for it was decided that to get proper intelligence on R, Carewyn would impersonate Rakepick at one of their meetings and use her Legilimency to tap the brains of the members around her. And considering that Rakepick seemed to pop up in Knockturn Alley rather infrequently and that R’s members generally wore dark scarlet robes to hide their faces while meeting all together so as to make it impossible for anyone to know all of their members’ identities, Carewyn could use Rakepick’s identity and voice to avoid suspicion with anyone who might see her face under her hood, but it would still probably take at least a little while for R to figure out there were two Rakepicks. And if Tonks remained in disguise and Jae remained under the Invisibility Cloak, they could serve as back-up in case Carewyn needed help getting away.

As fate would have it, Carewyn didn’t sense Rakepick at R’s meeting -- all of the minds she found among the other red-robed subordinates around her were pretty open, lacking any Occlumency training whatsoever, and Rakepick’s Occlumency was always very strong. She could sense a lot of fear among the group’s members -- memories of people being subjected to the Unforgivable Curses, and of a pair of piercing, cold, almond-shaped blue eyes under a red hood trimmed with black. There were more conniving minds present, however. One hooded figure in particular, Carewyn realized with a chill down her spine, was the White-Robed Wizard she’d met at the Lakeshore, whose mind held rather violent images of himself standing over an older man dressed in black-trimmed R robes dead and bleeding on the ground, as well as great satisfaction at the image.

Clearly R’s kept together mostly out of fear and self-advancement, not sincere loyalty to its leaders, Carewyn thought to herself.

There was also another image that kept popping up over and over in the minds of R’s members -- a key made out of coral -- to the point that it seemed very important.

Remembering a certain incident in Filch’s office back in fourth year, Carewyn set about trying to locate this key, and soon enough figured out that it was locked up in one of Burke’s drawers, behind the counter. She tipped off Jae, who got to work breaking open the drawer while still under the Invisibility Cloak. It was around that time that R’s Leader arrived -- a moderately tall man whose robes, sure enough, were trimmed with black. He looked around at the assembled hoods, and at once Carewyn got a very bad feeling. She couldn’t sense anything from this man’s mind -- he was clearly a very strong Occlumens. And yet there was more than that -- when his eyes brushed over her face, Carewyn felt something scratching at the outside of her mind...something wanting to get in...

Adjusting the fit of the red robes Andre had made -- dueling the Hungarian Horntail in the Portrait Vault --

Her eyes widening, Carewyn immediately broke eye contact and threw up her best mental wall to fend off the advance.

The man had Legilimency. Very strong Legilimency, the likes of which Carewyn had never encountered before. Even Dumbledore, who was able to read people very well, wasn’t quite so flippant in how he did so -- he still had some restraint, in how he tried to read people...probably because like Carewyn, he understood that it was an invasion of privacy and personal boundaries. And yet even Dumbledore and Snape needed to look someone directly in the eye, in order to look into their mind -- this man’s Legilimency was so strong he could sense her thoughts even when he only was vaguely facing her.

The knowledge chilled Carewyn.

He saw into her mind, she knew it...but had it been enough, for him to know she wasn’t who she was pretending to be? Thinking back on it, Carewyn thought...none of the memories he saw featured anything Rakepick couldn’t have seen herself. She’d also been to the Portrait Vault and seen the Horntail...and it wasn’t improbable for Rakepick to adjust her robes to fit better either...

It looked like Carewyn had truly dodged a bullet, for sure enough, the Leader didn’t make any move as if to capture her. Instead, he merely climbed up onto the staircase at the back of the room and started the meeting. He spoke with an almost grandfatherly affect, in how he glanced around down upon the others and smiled...and yet it felt like the warmth was only skin-deep, somehow. He spoke of R’s successful infiltration of the Ministry, which had leaked false leads to the Auror Department leading them off of R’s trail. He spoke of their successful infiltration of the Department of Mysteries, which gave them leverage over the Minister himself. And he spoke of R’s success in finally locating the second Coral Key needed to unlock the final Cursed Vault, thanks to Patricia Rakepick’s efforts. It was here that he requested Rakepick step forward, so she could be recognized for her efforts -- something Carewynn was reluctant to do -- but with the Leader looking directly at her, she knew she had no choice. Without taking her hood off, she stepped forward, trying to keep her Occlumency up as best as she could, even as the Leader focused solely on her.

Hogwarts -- her Voldemort boggart, back in the Fear Vault -- learning how to Broom Surf with Orion --

No. Detach. Detach.

Carewyn knew she was in trouble. She knew her cover would get blown any moment -- all she could hope for was that she could hold on long enough for Jae to get the Key out of Burke’s desk --

The Leader once again, however, didn’t move as if to capture her...and this time, Carewyn thought she knew exactly why. He wanted into her mind. He wanted to break through her mental shield and get in. Was he trying to figure out who she was before he exposed her? The thought made fear trail down Carewyn’s neck like cold sweat.

At that moment, two more red-robed figures arrived. As soon as the Leader caught sight of them, he spoke in a slightly louder, oddly pointed tone of voice.

"Back from Hogwarts already, Jacob, my boy?”

Carewyn couldn’t hide the shock, disbelief, and horror from her face as the two arrivals stepped forward. The shorter of the two, after the slightest hesitation, slowly reached up with both hands and brought down his hood.

Underneath was a short, stocky young man with long, messy black-brown curls and a pair of skull-like, almond-shaped blue eyes.

It was Jacob.

“I couldn’t make contact,” Jacob said in a low, almost sullen kind of voice.

“‘Couldn’t’ or ‘wouldn’t?’” said the Leader dryly. “Don’t think I’m unaware of how much you resent your responsibility to me.”

Jacob’s eyes flashed. “I did everything I could! She wasn’t in class today, and yet there was no sign of her in the halls or on the grounds either! I even sneaked into her dormroom, hoping to lure her out with a black quill, but she wasn’t there either...”

Carewyn’s mind was racing, unable to comprehend what she was hearing. Jacob was --

No. No, it wasn’t true. It wasn’t true!

As upset as Jacob looked, though, the Leader’s voice came out oddly smug.

“Of course she wasn’t,” he said very softly. “Because she’s right here.”

In an instant, he’d raised his wand, and with a blast of non-verbal magic, he’d yanked Carewyn’s dark red robe right off of her, summoning it right into his waiting hand.

Carewyn was shocked by the abrupt reveal, but immediately tried to compose herself.

“What? What is the meaning of this?” she barked in a very good imitation of Rakepick.

The Leader gave a very low, rumbling laugh in the back of his throat -- like dark chocolate infused with pure, scalding ice.

“Polyjuice Potion,” he said, sounding incredibly amused. “So as to go undercover as Patricia and infiltrate our meeting. Very clever, Carewyn, my dear -- very clever.”

Jacob’s eyes widened in shock. “Carewyn...?”

“Not exactly the reunion we’d anticipated, Jacob,” the Leader said rather smugly, “but at least now, we can settle this...”

The other red-robed figure next to Jacob took off her own dark red cloak, shrugging it to the floor.

It was the real Rakepick.

Knowing her cover was now completely blown, Carewyn whipped out her wand, preparing to defend herself. All of R’s members around her had likewise taken out their wands and were all pointing them at her. One of those such members, Carewyn saw at once, was Tonks, who looked at her anxiously under her cloak.

Don’t attack yet, Carewyn prayed beyond reason Tonks would understand. Not yet.

It was clearly the right call. Rather than take out his own wand or give the order to attack, the Leader merely held up a hand.

“Now, now, my friends,” he said very coolly, “is that any way to treat our guest, after how much work she put in to join us? This is what we wanted, isn’t it, Jacob?”

Jacob’s eyes narrowed tensely upon the Leader’s face.

“...No...” he whispered.

Carewyn whirled on Jacob. “Jacob...why...?”

Jacob turned to her, looking urgent. “Pip, listen to me -- ”

“You joined them?!” Carewyn shouted at him.

“I had no choice!” said Jacob. “They would’ve hurt you if I didn’t -- ”

“Jacob, they killed Rowan! They killed Duncan!”

“Now, Carewyn,” said the Leader rather coolly, “let’s not be hasty. Rowan Khanna died by recklessly jumping in the way of Patricia’s Killing Curse -- that was hardly something we’d planned. And Duncan Ashe died brewing a stronger variant of the Erumpent Potion...his own incompetence is more at fault for that than anything...”

Carewyn’s eyes flashed with rage.

“Duncan wasn’t incompetent,” she spat venomously. “He was trying to protect my brother from you -- just like Rowan was trying to protect Ben, when you targeted him to try to scare me into line -- ”

“Pip.”

Jacob clutched onto Carewyn’s shoulder, trying to pull her closer toward him and away from the Leader. The gesture made Carewyn quiet at once, and she looked back at Jacob, her blue eyes still rippling with confusion and anxiety.

“Protective of your sister as always, Jacob,” the Leader said softly. Carewyn could just barely see a wrinkled smile, under the man’s hood. “I daresay that’s why you never told her of your true allegiance? You thought to keep your little sister away from me -- to keep her ignorant of R and of our intentions for her? Or...was it out of shame, perhaps -- shame that you’ve never been able to shield her from the knowledge of who you truly are?”

“SHUT UP!” Jacob lashed out.

He whirled on Carewyn, his eyebrows furrowing with anxiety. Carewyn stared into his eyes, trying to understand. Was this true? Had Jacob truly joined R, in a misguided attempt to protect her...?

Jacob’s eyes...they were impossible to read...

“Pip,” he whispered, “I’m sorry -- I couldn’t get you involved in this, please believe me...”

Carewyn’s eyes narrowed. “So you ran off and dealt with this by yourself? Even though you know that hasn’t helped either of us?”

We talked about this at the Lakeshore -- I thought you’d realized how wrong we were, to try to shut other people out --

“I knew if I told you, you’d try to help me,” Jacob said desperately.

“And that’s wrong of me?”

“No! But...”

Jacob bit his lip in a way Carewyn had never seen him do before.

“...Once you have R’s mark...they always know where you are,” he said softly. “There’s no running, no hiding -- no safety at all, for you or for the people around you. There’s no escape...ever.”

His expression grew visibly grimmer.

“...You can’t save me...but I thought at least this way, I could save you.”

Carewyn’s eyebrows furrowed. “Jacob -- ”

“We’re family, Carewyn,” Jacob said in a very soft, but fierce voice. “I love you too much to let anything happen to you.”

Carewyn stared at him, her eyes searching his expression.

It was...so closed...so strangely closed. She knew Jacob had the same Legilimency potential that she did, and she knew that he’d likewise studied Occlumency as she had...but she’d never encountered such a strong wall behind his eyes...

“Very touching, Jacob,” the Leader said coolly. “But we’re wasting time.”

He raised his wand -- a long, slender wand made of cedar wood with black opals encrusted into the handle -- and pointed it right at Jacob’s face. In an instant, Jacob crumpled up on the ground, crying out and gasping in pain as he clutched his face.

“Jacob!”

Carewyn immediately crouched down and grabbed her brother’s shoulders as he bent in on himself. Something bright red was shining through his fingers -- almost as if his face was on fire.

“Your brother belongs to R, Carewyn Cromwell -- and therefore, to me,” the Leader said pitilessly. “His membership is for life, however much he might try to fight it. And so you see why it’s pointless, to try to oppose us. Since he’s been expelled from Hogwarts, Jacob is meant to never cast magic again -- meaning that every time he so much as levitates a feather, he adds to his list of offences. This makes your brother a criminal...just as much as we are.”

“Jacob is nothing like you,” spat Carewyn.

The Leader raised his wand that bit higher, and Jacob crumpled up that bit more, gasping in pain. Carewyn brought up her wand to Jacob’s face, trying to access the wound even while Jacob’s hand still covered it.

“Vulnera Sanenteur -- ”

But the light couldn’t seem to make it through. Something almost confused rippled through Jacob’s expression -- then he very quickly put on a grimmer expression.

“...Healing spells won’t work,” he murmured. “Only another person with R’s mark could make the pain stop...if they were willing to take that pain on themselves.”

Carewyn went a bit paler as she looked around at the other members of R. Their fear, self-preservation, and selfish ambition rippled around her in a formless mass -- even Tonks, hiding amongst them, peeked around as if hoping beyond reason that someone would speak up...but no one did.

None of them would take on the pain meant for Jacob. No one, in this whole organization, could look at a man barely 18 and move as if to help him...

“No one cares about your brother enough to protect him from me, Carewyn,” said the Leader softly, “except you.”

Carewyn’s head shot up abruptly as she stared at him. Immediately the man’s mind sunk its claws onto hers, making images come flooding in -- dozens of people, cowering before him -- a man getting his neck snapped with magic -- a house on fire -- Patricia Rakepick herself, with a claw-like hand around her neck --

“There is but one way to protect your brother. And you know what it is.”

The images became more fantastical and surreal -- imaginings, rather than memories. Carewyn saw herself, kneeling before the Leader -- wearing a dark red hood of her own, casting spells at faceless strangers -- sitting at a long table in a cold, grand, dungeon-like manor, surrounded by other people with similarly blue eyes --

“Submit to me -- and you’ll be with your family again.”

The cold claws in her mind made Carewyn feel nauseous.

Stop -- stop!

Blinking through the images as best she could, Carewyn tried to find Jacob, in the real world. She latched onto his eyes, trying to use them and his mind like an anchor.

Jacob -- help me --

But he wouldn’t let her in. She couldn’t get a good grip on his mind -- like he was still blocking her --

Why? Why was he blocking her?

The thought was a troublesome fly in her mind.

Something was wrong. Something wasn’t right --

“Jacob,” said Carewyn -- her voice came out as an odd rasp. “Recite my poem.”

Jacob frowned deeply. “What?”

“My poem,” Carewyn said again, her voice raspier and more urgent than ever. “Recite it.”

Jacob’s eyes narrowed more sharply, looking even more confused than ever. “What are you -- Pip, I...I don’t think now’s the best time -- ”

“I need to hear my poem, Jacob,” Carewyn said more emphatically. A strange flame had flickered to life inside of her. “Now.”

Jacob’s face had gone very white as he stared at Carewyn, struggling to come up with a response. His eyes darted from the Leader to Carewyn and back.

“...Pip -- ”

Carewyn didn’t even hesitate. In an instant, she’d lunged back up onto her feet and raised her wand.

“DEPULSO!”

In an instant, she’d blasted Jacob all the way across the room. Jacob was slammed back-first into the wall with force, a strangled groan of pain falling from his lips as he crumpled to the floor.

“Carewyn!” he choked, disbelieving. “What are you -- !?”

“Polyjuice Potion,” Carewyn spat the Leader’s words from earlier right back at him. “So as to go undercover as Jacob and try to force me to join you.”

She turned toward the Leader, her eyes flaring with loathing.

“Very,” she hissed, “clever.”

The Leader’s posture straightened that bit more, losing all of its relaxed coolness.

“Seize her,” the order came out very softly and coldly.

At once, all of R’s members came descending down on Carewyn. Fortunately she was not alone -- both Tonks and Jae came to her aid, Tonks still in disguise and Jae still under the Invisibility Cloak. Once Jae had tucked the Coral Key securely into the deep pocket of Carewyn’s "Fakepick” robes, he ran on ahead to prepare their escape, while Tonks worked to ward people away from the doorway, so as to create an exit for herself and Carewyn. What ended up helping out a lot, though, was a loud CRACK outside Borgin and Burkes and then a violent confrontation with the R members meant to stand guard out front. That confrontation ended with a familiar young man with dark curls, skull-like almond-shaped blue eyes, and red dress robes over a collared shirt and pants tucked into boots charging into the shop.

When the real Jacob Cromwell burst into Borgin and Burkes and his eyes swerved around, taking in the faces of everyone he could see, he stopped immediately when he took in the person who looked like Rakepick in the center of the room. For immediately, his mind had latched onto the most familiar presence in the room -- the memories and feelings he’d been able to grab onto even while trapped in a Portrait --

“Is all right with the world, Pippa?”

Carewyn felt it at once too and knew.

“Jacob!” she cried in relief.

His heart leaping into his throat, Jacob immediately barreled in front of Carewyn still disguised as Rakepick, knocking one wizard off his feet just with the strength of his shove and then transfiguring another one’s robes so that it wrapped around him like a possessed sheet, trapping him inside of it.

“Pip -- is that you?” Jacob choked, hardly daring to believe his eyes.

“You used to say I was a long-lost kelpie because I salted all my food,” Carewyn said without skipping a beat.

Jacob gaped. “Jeepers creepers, Pip! Of all the people -- ?!”

“Protego!” Carewyn cast a Shield Charm around both of them. “Now recite my poem!”

Jacob blinked, but otherwise did what he was told. “‘The year’s at the spring; the day’s at the morn -- ?’”

“That’ll do!” said Carewyn, inwardly sighing in relief as she nonverbally Stunned another wizard before he could raise his wand and attack Jacob. “Come on -- we’ve got to get out of here -- ”

With Tonks and Jae’s help, the two Cromwells were able to bust their way back out. When they reached the street, however, they found themselves confronted by the real Rakepick. Jacob immediately stepped in front of Carewyn, prepared to protect her, only to be faced himself with his own doppelganger.

“Don’t make us hurt you, Jacob,” said the fake Jacob, his voice oddly soft and cold despite the fire in his eyes. “It would upset both me and little Winnie, to see you bleed.”

Jacob’s eyes widened in realization, before they narrowed to volatile slits. “You!”

He shot a non-verbal curse at him, only for Rakepick to summon a Shield Charm around the fake Jacob to block it. She then shot several more bursts of light into the air, which created a strange, yellowish-white dome around the whole of Knockturn Alley.

“That is an Anti-Apparition Shield, Miss Cromwell!” said Rakepick, her dark blue eyes boring into Carewyn. “It prevents any witch or wizard from Apparating in or Disapparating out. There is no escape for you or Jacob from this place.”

Within seconds, Rakepick had attacked again, forcing Carewyn and Jacob to fight back. Soon Jacob, Carewyn, Rakepick, and the fake Jacob were locked in a slightly ridiculous-looking, but incredibly dangerous four-way duel. Fortunately Tonks soon came to help them, and when the still-invisible Jae caught up with them, he revealed that he had a way out.

“We can’t risk using the Three Broomstick’s fireplace to Floo out of here, with R chasing right behind us,” Jae hissed in Carewyn’s ear, “but they can’t follow us if we Apparate right into Hogwarts itself, can they?”

Carewyn shot a startled look over her shoulder toward where she knew Jae was, even if she couldn’t see him. “Jae, you can’t Apparate on Hogwarts grounds! Even if we could, the Anti-Apparition Shield Rakepick cast would stop us from Disapparating anywhere!”

“Stop us from Disapparating, maybe,” Jae said smugly. “But those sorts of charms only work on witches and wizards -- they don’t work on other magic users...”

CRACK.

In an instant, a cranky-looking, pudgy old house elf had appeared out of nowhere, right into the center of Knockturn Alley.

Carewyn’s eyes lit up.

“Pitts!”

Pitts’s wrinkled, cranky face creased in something like exasperation as he looked up at Carewyn disguised as Rakepick. “Carewyn Cromwell has gotten herself into trouble again, I see.”

Rakepick seemed to have immediately caught on to Jae’s idea -- her eyes widening, she raised her wand and shot a blast of white light right at them, but Pitts blocked her spell with an irritable little flick of his wrist.

“Professor Dumbledore told Pitts to keep Carewyn Cromwell out of trouble,” the elf growled.

His black eyes boring into Rakepick with great dislike, he sank his little grubby hand onto the fabric of Carewyn’s “Fakepick” robes.

“Hold onto your brother,” Pitts grunted.

Carewyn immediately grabbed onto the back of Jacob’s robes -- Rakepick and the fake Jacob shot several more spells at them, and she summoned another Shield Charm to protect them from the blasts -- just as the spells collided with Carewyn’s Shield, the group all seemed to twist and contort and shrink, before they’d all disappeared into thin air with a loud CRACK.

#hphm #hogwarts mystery #my writing #my art #carewyn cromwell #jacob cromwell #patricia rakepick #blaise cromwell #charles cromwell #pitts #jae kim #nymphadora tonks

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