[OPEN] What happens in Hogsmeade stays in Hogsmeade

[nonscriptum]

Who: EVERYONE! Especially you!
Where: Hogsmeade Village
When: Oct. 1-2
Rating: PG (Will change if necessary)
Summary: Get your wolf pack and head to town.
The Story:

Ah, Hogsmeade.

They say it's the Vegas of the wizarding world. Or they would, if wizards knew anything about Vegas. Or maybe they'd say it because they don't know anything about Vegas. It doesn't really matter.

What's important is that Hogsmeade is only a hop, skip and jump away from Hogwarts (Hogsmeade, Hogwarts? Coincidence? Wake up, America!), and is host to a number of exciting prospects for people of all ages, provided you're Year 3 or older. Perhaps you're a professor searching for a stiff drink at the Hog's Head Inn to wipe away the stress of the week's classes? Or maybe you're a hapless student with fresh eyes for the little hamlet, eager to try your first Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks?

The village has something for everyone, with all the assorted businesses a thriving witch-and-wizard town could need: grocers, an apothecary, magical item mechanics, clothiers, sporting goods, bookstores, and the Wizarding Wireless Network headquarters.

Where will you be?





NOTE: If there is a particular venue located in Hogsmeade that is not listed and you would like to add it for people to visit, please feel free to make an addition with a context image and a little blurb so the non-HP savvy (who are those people?) can identify it! xoxo

Comments

The Shrieking Shack

[krmvgivv]

[An abandoned house with no working doors and windows, named for the screams once heard inside. Rumors say it's haunted.]

Lena "Tracer" Oxton | Gryffindor 3rd year | ota

[traceron]

[ Before, when she was daydreaming in the last Potions class running up to their first Hogsmeade weekend of the year, it didn't seem a cruel idea. With the free-spirited it never does; it's A Bit Of Fun and, Lena vaguely reasons between making it look like she's doing her work when Professor Miller is glowering her way, no one goes to the Shrieking Shack not looking for a wee thrill. Hm. Yeah she thinks with mounting conviction, only complete tossers take the unwilling. This'll be great!

At some point she slips away from her mates and scrambles down the zigzagging path toward the Shrieking Shack with as much space between her and it to avoid being seen. The nice thing about a haunted house is there's typically easy entry - no one's concerned about repairing a squeaky door in a derelict shack. Squeaks = atmosphere, which plays right into Lena's hands as she finds a tiny closet to slip into and wait for her prey.

Some might hear the airy moans and are tempted into coming closer to the closet. Others are close enough to hear the rattling of chains abrading the metal and wood alike, begging morbid curiosity. And others still might catch intermittent giggles utterly ruining Lena's meticulous planning simply by virtue of her excitement!

Everyone will eventually see a slim be-freckled girl pop out with a RAARGH whose menace is mostly overtaken by her delight. What the decide to do after is up to them :) ]

[postictal]

[He wasn't looking for excitement, or a scare, or much of anything. Really, honestly, he wasn't. At all. Looking for something to make his heart jump to his throat and his wand to whip out with a spontaneous, nonverbal Flipendo fired off wildly in the direction of whoever just -

It only occurs to him belatedly that he's been beset by little more than a third year, a kid, and he, a hulking seventh-year, has just fired off a reflexive jinx at her.

Whoops.]

Shaun Mason | Gryffindor 5th year | ota

[adaptiveimmunities]

Haunted house? History of wild screaming? Even the castle ghosts don't go there? It would be more of a mystery if Shaun didn't make a point of visiting it every time he came into Hogsmeade. He's never found anything especially exciting, but he's honestly hoping to be there the day something interesting does turn up. Maybe he can even write about it for the paper George is trying to start up.

[choosetruth]

George is with him, because of course she's with him, though she's mostly just watching him as he explores, an amused smirk playing over her face.

"No one's heard anything from here for years, you know. You'd get better action out of Moaning Myrtle."

[adaptiveimmunities]

He glances over his shoulder to give her a look. "But then I'd have to talk to Moaning Myrtle, and that is a solid, one hundred percent nope. Not even if she was going to show me where to find the acromantula colony in the Forbidden Forest." He pauses. "Okay, well, maybe if she was going to show me acromantulas."

[choosetruth]

George could probably do the research and find out how to find the acromantula colony, but no matter how happy it would make Shaun, she isn't going to. She likes her brother alive and not eaten by spiders, thanks.

"So you're left with a likely-not-very-haunted house. Poor you." She smirks, leaning up against the fence. "But hey, maybe this is the year the dead come out to play with you. You could get lucky."

[adaptiveimmunities]

He glances back at her, grinning. "Aww, George, you say the nicest things sometimes. You think the ghosts would do that for me? Come back to party for long enough to help keep my mind off our OWLS?"

[choosetruth]

"Has your mind been on your OWLS once this year?" Besides when she prods hm into studying with her.

[lightgunhustler]

"So, what do you think is gonna happen if you visit this place often enough?"

Jo's comment comes without any kind of ceremony as she invites herself to join the Mason twins in front of the Shack, leaning casually against the fence with her arms folded across her chest. It was hard to miss the fact that her housemate found his way to the Shrieking Shack every Hogsmeade weekend-- the village was only so big.

"Honestly curious," she goes on, a smile pulling at one side of her mouth. "Do you ever go inside?"

[adaptiveimmunities]

"I'm hoping for literally anything better than a creepy old building just standing here and slowly decomposing," Shaun says cheerfully, glancing over at her. "This place has a serious Reputation--capital R--and no one in the past ten years at least has seen or heard anything? We talk to ghosts every day back at the Castle, and people are spooked by an empty building?" He rolls his eyes. "It's stupid."

He smirks a little at her next question and jerks his chin toward the shack. "The boards over the back door are loose. You can get in if you're willing to work at it." Shaun... will never get the award for most hardworking Gryffindor, but that's school stuff. He's a lot more willing to work at something when there's a spooky haunted house on the other end.

[lightgunhustler]

"People get freaked out about all kinds of things," Jo remarks, but her tone suggests that she's thinking along the same lines: considering how many ghosts wander the school and visit them during mealtimes, being afraid of an old building really is stupid.

"So that's a 'yes,'" she goes on, smirking in reply. "I take it you haven't seen anything good in there, if you keep coming back. How far in?"

[adaptiveimmunities]

"Not yet. I keep hoping these's more to it that I'll find if I turn over the right rock or pry back the right board," he admits, grinning back at her. "So, you know. Pretty far in, since I keep trying. What about you? Is this your first time making the trip out here?"

[lightgunhustler]

"Never really thought about it before now," Jo confesses, casting another long look towards the building itself. She's often wondered about what might be inside, but she always had something else to keep her busy, never letting her mind wander enough to actually take the time to slip inside. "Kind of can't believe I made it five years without taking a crack at it. Maybe I'm overdue."

Dipper and Mabel Pines | Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff third years | ota

[krmvgivv]

I don't think it's haunted.

[Dipper is standing near the gate, holding on to the fence surrounding the Shrieking Shack and frowning seriously. It's not their first time to Hogsmeade, though the teachers don't have to know that. The twins are good at finding secret passages. That being said, Dipper's always been a little too nervous about getting caught to stick around long enough to do any serious exploration. This is the first time he's actually gotten to go up to the part of Hogsmeade that most interests him.]

I mean, come on, all the ghosts we know actually socialize, and it's not like the lack of doors or windows would stop them from coming out. It can't be ghosts.

[Mabel is actively standing ON the gate, leaning over it so that half of her body is actually in the yard as she purses her lips and studies the building. She’s here because she can’t resist a good adventure, though she’s probably less interested in proving a point than her brother. And she likes ghosts, anyway. Being the first person to actively befriend the Shrieking Shack’s ghosts seems like a perfect milestone for her Hogwarts scrapbook. Too bad ghosts don’t show up in magical photographs.] Maybe they’re just shy ghosts. You don’t know their business, Dippin’ Dot.

They apparently shriek. Do shy people shriek? [Dipper takes a deep breath and puts his hand on the gate, turning towards Mabel. There was no question, really, what they were going to do once they got here. That doesn't make the idea of it any less terrifying.] Are you ready for this?

You shriek. Sometimes. [she shrugs, looking significantly more confident about how this will go. It might be scary once they’re inside, but for now, it’s all good. Another Mystery Twins adventure in the making.] I was born ready, brother. Boop. [she raises her fist for him to bump.]

[He grins, bumping his fist against hers, then pushes the gate open.] All right. Here we go.

[cuteshit]

[The Twins aren't the only ones who have taken an interest in the Shrieking Shack, but they summon up the courage to push past the gate before Kanji gets close-- he, too, has made use of the school's secret passages to help him out when he's running late, but this is one line he's never crossed, mostly because of what he might find in there.

But hell, if a couple of third-years can do it, he can, too. He looks over one shoulder to make sure nobody else is watching before he makes a break for the gate, running to catch up with them.]

Hey, wait up! You guys really goin' in there?

[powerofmabel]

Kanji, hey! [Mabel waves at him enthusiastically, clearly more than eager to invite someone else to their shenanigans. if the ghosts aren't nice, it'd be nice to have the extra muscle.]

Yup! We're just crazy like that. [she twirls her fingers around her ears to accentuate this.]

[krmvgivv]

We're trying to prove once and for all that it's haunted. Or... not haunted. [He shrugs a shoulder, looking over at Kanji.] We'll find out once we get in. Want to come?

[cuteshit]

Come-- with you?

[Kanji looks caught for a moment, eyeing the house in question warily. For as big and tough as he looks, he doesn't know how he feels about potentially running into something a lot nastier than the castle's own ghosts, but... it doesn't feel right to let them go in alone, either.]

... well, if you guys are goin' in, why not.

[Can't let a couple of third years show him up. Besides, could be interesting.]

[powerofmabel]

Whoo-hooo! [Mabel throws her arms up.] Let's go harass some ghosts, boys.

Leon Church *Epsilon* | Gryffindor 6th year | OTA (with one closed thread)

[memory_unlocked]

The stories hadn't done anything to really keep him out because even if it was haunted, nobody had heard anything during the days as far as he'd been able to find out. And given that quiet places in town were scarce, given the overload of students in the places he'd normally seek out.

And after his 'catching up' with his sister which had gone about as well as could be expected, Leon headed for his meeting at the Shack, although if there was anyone actually outside, his steps definitely slowed as he approached.

Re: Leon Church *Epsilon* | Gryffindor 6th year | OTA (with one closed thread)

[beforeblue]

He's already there before the hour is up, squeezing into the tunnel and lurking there until he sees a flicker of light. It's supposed to be a scary place, but he's not heard anything while he's been there anyway. He stands up slowly, reaching for his wand just in case it's someone else.

Something else.

"Leon?"

Re: Leon Church *Epsilon* | Gryffindor 6th year | OTA (with one closed thread)

[memory_unlocked]

He'd discovered the tunnel a few years back when he'd actually gone inside so once he'd gotten past the gawkers, it didn't take him long to get back down there and he held up his wand, the light illuminating his face.

"Yeah, asshole, who else would it be?"

Re: Leon Church *Epsilon* | Gryffindor 6th year | OTA (with one closed thread)

[beforeblue]

He lowers his wand and lets out a soft noise of relief. "I dunno. Could be anyone. We can't be the only people who come in here." Or it could have been a monster.

Re: Leon Church *Epsilon* | Gryffindor 6th year | OTA (with one closed thread)

[memory_unlocked]

"Most people buy into the ghost thing. I don't know why, given we're surrounded by ghosts at the castle but..." A slight shrug and he moves to lean against the wall and held out a bag to David.

"Brought you some actual food. We didn't finish our meal so I figured you'd wipe out what was left."