Mystical Signs & Symbols

Right now, at the middle of the day, most of the teachers and students were up at the Great Hall eating lunch. It was the perfect time for Selwyn to enact his plan.

In the past, Selwyn's plans had usually required him to stick around and be caught in the act. That was how one became notorious, after all. Not so today. Today, he intended to begin a quiet campaign of... something.

Anyhow, whatever his campaign was of, it would cause a hue and cry when the next class came down to the pasture. The permanent sticking charm was way more useful than anyone ever gave it credit for. Selwyn stuck his home-made posters across the gate:


Job done, he made the fatal mistake of standing back to appreciate his work...

Fresh air wasn't something you got too often during the days at Hogwarts. For Alexander, it was class after class in the stuffy classrooms. So this year, Alex had made it a routine to go outside for fresh air between lunch and his next class that started an hour later. This time was usually spent walking around the lake, but as he left the castle and walked down the grounds, he could make out a person standing at the Care of Magical Creatures paddock. Considering lunch wasn't over yet, that was quite suspicious. It could be that the student was keen to arrive extra early for Care of Magical Creature lessons, but somehow Alex doubted that. He knew his classmates, 9/10 were not nearly that enthusiastic about anything related to schoolwork. Curious, Alex walked over towards the Care of Magical Creatures paddock.

He first made out that it was a Slytherin NEWT student, then he saw the sign. Caution Ashwinder eggs? Alex wasn't too convinced, they hadn't kept ashwinder eggs since Dippet was Headmaster many years ago. It would probably fool most students though, which was probably the point of this. He recognized the student. Selwyn Thorfin, a year older than him, he and Alex had never got along particularly well, though Alex had to acknowledge that his plans were usually quite well thought out and at times, hilarious. "Thorfin!" Alex called out loudly to alarm him. "Ashwinder eggs?" he asked, looking for an explanation.

Selwyn might have been startled if he hadn't been expecting someone to catch him at any moment. It wouldn't be Hogwarts if there wasn't someone around every corner waiting to ruin his life.

Wearily, he turned to look at the yeller. Ugh, Kaverin. Inbred idiot, though that description could be applied to most of Selwyn's housemates.

"I guess there are Ashwinder eggs around here somewhere," he said, wondering whether he could pass as being just as mystified as Kaverin was.

"They spontaneously combust if they're not kept in a cold area, you know," he added.

Alex almost smiled at Selwyn's reply. Sure, there was a chance that the sign had been left earlier and Selwyn had just happened to notice it, but Alex doubted that. He knew Selwyn, sort of, and this was something he would do. Unless there actually were ashwinder eggs and the sign was a helpful warning, which was something Selwyn would not do.

But Alex knew how to play the game as well. "Yeah, I heard. We learnt about them last Care of Magical Creatures class," Alex lied. He had read it in a book, but Selwyn probably didn't take Care of Magical Creatures, or had probably been dozing off, and wouldn't be able to detect the lie. "We also learnt that Hogwarts stopped keeping Ashwinder after they exploded in the Great Hall seventy years ago. So I wonder why they are here now."

"A better sign would have warned about that Kelpie I saw near the well the other day, I've heard they are much more dangerous. And easily mistakable, they can take many forms you know," Alex added, his thought being that if Selwyn was planting the signs to cause panic, one warning about Kelpies would do a much better job.