AN: I hope you enjoy this and are staying safe out there!
-Crow
The afternoon after the game was like the buzz after a party. Slender's wards were yammering over it among themselves as the Guardian in question watched impassively.
"Ah, Mr. Lindermann!" Came a boisterous voice across the grounds. Slender looked to see Hagrid strolling across. The only man who the entity had to look up at (in this form) was smiling widely.
"Hello, Mr. Hagrid," Toby waved, eagerly.
"And hello ta you, Mr. Richards." Hagrid greeted. Toby ticced a little at his alias. "I was jus' comin' on by and saw you lot and figured I'd offer a spot a' tea?"
"Oh, I love tea parties!" Sally exclaimed delightedly.
"Well, I'd hate to impose-" Slender began, but was cut off by the loud half-giant.
"No'sense! Yer always welcome ifn' I have the time," Hagrid added, he started lumbering off towards his hut at the edge of the grounds and Slender sighed, but followed after.
They were greeted at the door by a low growl from under Hagrid's bed.
"Fang? 'Ere boy!" Hagrid whistled, but the dog continued to glare under the bed, shaking like a leaf at the intruders. "Well 'at's not typical. He's usually really friendly." Hagrid muttered disappointed.
He huffed over to the back entrance and held it open, "A'right, boy, out ya go."
The dog wasted no time and bolted the second there was a chance. Hagrid sighed, looking after him. "Ruddy dog. I jus' don't get it."
He shrugged and returned to his guests with a beaming smile, chatting merrily as he put a kettle of water at least several gallons large on a fireplace big enough to hold a funerary pyre.
Slender sniffed a little, looking around the musty cabin, cramped with cages and humane-traps alongside bundles of feathers, hairs, and assorted plant matter. Comparatively, it was very well kept especially since he'd seen the horrifyingly unsanitary conditions of old peasant cabins throughout European history. Still, he'd grown accustomed to a degree of elegance and comfort over the last couple centuries, so the rustic cabin was not terribly to his liking.
Hagrid set out several soup bowl-sized cups on the tabletop along with a keg-sized mug for himself as he poured some amber tea into each vessel.
"-And I tells 'im, 'Dumbledore is a great man. A great man'. And tha' was the end of it, I s'pose." He continued. He settled in with a satisfied sigh and took a draft of his tea.
"So, I guess that Dumbledore guy helped you out?" Jeff asked, looking down at the 'mug' holding more tea than he could possibly chug.
Hagrid smiled widely, "Yessir, after I was expelled from Hogwarts... well, no' many places lookin' to hire someone like me, but Dumbledore convinced 'em to let me stay here after I got my wand snapped. Started taking over grounds duties and Magical Creatures af'er tha'. I've been 'ere... let's see now, 'round 50 years."
"50?" Slender asked, surprised, eyeing the larger man up and down.
"Ah, I know what yer thinkin', but I'm still a wizard. We don't tend ta go gray until we're up in the 80's at leas'." Hagrid winked.
"Wh-what kind of c-creatures do you handle?" Toby asked, excitedly.
Hagrid beamed, "Well, let me see now; there's Grindylows an' merpeople in the lake. The fores' has a lotta creatures like unicorns and proper bein's like centaurs. Don't call 'em 'creatures' they don't like tha'. Outside tha' we got the occasional Hippogriff and bowtruckles. Ya might see an Acromantula deeper in the fores', but they don't leave their nests."
Toby's eyes were glittering with interest while Sally was mostly starry-eyed at the word 'unicorn'.
"That's an impressive array," Slender noted, taking a sip of tea. "I take it they're all local?"
"Yessir," Hagrid nodded. "Lotsa fascinating creatures roamin' around. Now dragons... those are a beaut." He sighed wistfully.
"Dragons?" Jeff said, eyebrows high. "Like... firebreathing dragons knights 'vaniquish' to save the princess?"
Hagrid frowned, "Oh, s'not like tha'. Terribly misunderstood creatures, dragons are. People are always held up by how 'dangerous' somethin' is. Well, the trick with any beast is ta know how to calm it."
"How do you 'calm' a dragon?" Toby asked.
Hagrid heaved a little, "Ah, well... not quite sure m'self just yet. I imagine it can't be that difficult. I mean, just take Fluffy. Play a little music and he falls straight ta sleep."
"Fluffy?" Sally asked, picturing a pink bunny rabbit or puffball creature.
Hagrid grinned widely, "Yep, a real live Cerberus!"
"Cerberus? Like the three-headed dog in Greek mythology," Slender questioned.
"Ah, well, not exac'ly. It's a rare breed a' magical dog, y'see. Very rare, very difficult to find one. But I bought Fluffy off of a Greek chappie in a pub las' year. All trained up an' ready. I lent him to Dumbledore this year." He stopped, realizing something and waving it off mumbling, "Ah, I shouldn't a' told ya that."
"What purpose could Dumbledore have for a three-headed dog?" Slender asked. "Why not a typical guard dog or three if he's insistent on the number of teeth?"
"B-Because Cerberus g-grow 30 feet tall, on a-average," Toby ticced excitedly.
"I correct myself," Slender said neutrally. "What purpose on God's green Earth would Dumbledore need with a deadly, enormous, three-headed dog?"
"Ah, it's nothin' to worry 'bout." Hagrid waved off, uncomfortably. "Top secret, that is. Not s'posed to be tellin' ya, actually."
Slender side-eyed his wards for them to say nothing.
Hagrid continued to himself. "It's nothin'. Totally safe, s'long as nobody goes into that door. Locked tight, too, so nobody waltzes on in even after Dumbledore's warnin'. Ah, well, Third floor's hard ta get to-" He stopped himself, realizing his audience and quickly muttered. "I shouldn't a' told ya that... I should not have told ya that..."
He busied himself with the fire for a moment, letting silence fall uncomfortably in the room. Slender 'cleared his throat' and spoke amicably. "Well, let's talk about something else, shall we?"
"Of course!" Hagrid beamed, visibly relieved and grateful to change the topic.
"I was actually curious about Professor Quirrell. I've heard a lot of rumors lately, but I didn't really know much about him." Slender continued.
"Quirrell?" Hagrid asked, thinking for a moment, "Let's see now, he used ta be the Muggle Studies professor for the longest time. Didn't like it very much, I don' think. Never had much kind ta say 'bout muggles. Then, last summer he went off to Albania. Said he was lookin' for a sabbatical or somethin'. According to him, he ran afoul with a nasty clan of vampires down there. Came back a stutterin' mess and started wearin' that turban a' his."
"So the turban is a... recent fashion choice?" Slender asked, recalling the man's unusual, flaky head during their confrontation on Halloween.
"Far as I know," Hagrid shrugged. "Best leave it alone, I say. Poor soul ran off las' Halloween. Don't know wha' he was doin', but no one's heard a word from 'im since."
"Last I recall, he was taking that troll out of the castle and into the forest," The entity commented offhandedly with an air of 'concern'. "I suppose it's a dangerous task..."
"A troll? Bah," Hagrid waved off. "No, no, trolls were Quirrell's specialty. He could take 'em on with a blindfold and a couple a' first-year spells. He wouldn't be done in by that. Especially since he provided the bigger one down in the-"
He stopped himself again, furiously muttering admonishments to himself.
"There's a larger troll in the castle?" Slender asked pointedly. "I presume it's alongside the three-headed dog, then?"
Hagrid blustered before firmly saying, "No more questions on that! That's top secret, that is. Forget abou' Quirrell, the troll, Fluffy, and what it's all guarding. That is strictly between Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel."
...
"I shouldn'ta told ya that... I shouldn'ta told ya that..." Hagrid mumbled to himself, uncomfortably.
Slender let his wards do more casual, distracting conversation until eventually Hagrid bid them goodnight. With a silent wisp of smoke, he returned to the Mansion.
Slenderman sat in his armchair in the main room, fingers steeped in contemplation. The others who had been at Hagrid's hut were around them, idly waiting.
The conversation with Hagrid bothered him deeply. Firstly, apparently there was an enormous three-headed dog behind the locked door the headmaster conveniently pointed out in the welcoming speech. Secondly, there is now a larger troll behind the same locked door. Thirdly, they are all meant to be 'guarding' an object of significance to this Flamel which likely means more dangerous protections are involved, which brings up a question of why keep it in a school?
And lastly, all of this occurs when Harry begins his studies there.
It settled uncomfortably in his mind; something was amiss in Hogwarts. A plan outside of Dumbledore's usual nuisances surrounding his ward.
And he had a 'gut-feeling' that Harry was still a keystone to all of it.
"Now then," Slender surveyed the room. He'd have preferred Eyeless Jack be present, but the man was currently on some sort of research trip. He sent a disapproving, unseen glare at BEN who was tapping away at his phone before addressing the rest.
"In light of this new information I believe we ought to look into this 'Nicolas Flamel' character and his connections. He's obviously a key figure, and likely powerful if Dumbledore is going to such lengths. And considering Quirrell is involved as well, I believe something is afoot in Hogwarts. The timing of it all occurring when Harry is back in their grasp is worrying to me, so I think this 'Flamel' character is an important piece to a puzzle. Regardless, it may be a clue towards this whole conspiracy, so I'd like to at least know who this man may be.
"I will ask Adrian to look through the Hogwarts libraries, find any magical references to the man, but outside of that I'll need to start a discrete search of the UnderRealm libraries with a few favors and contacts.
"Jeff, Toby, I'd like you to look into the catacombs under the Mansion. We may find a clue. Lastly, I'll contact Mordecai to raid the French libraries-"
"Found him."
Slender paused, turning to BEN, "I'm sorry?"
The sentient virus held up his phone, "I Googled him. Nicolas Flamel. Some 15th century alchemist guy. Famous for this Philosopher's rock or something that makes you immortal and creates infinite gold (geez, talk about hax). Anyways, they think he figured it out and is secretly still alive and immortal because they found rocks in his coffin instead of a body."
"... I see." Slender said, eventually.
"Well... that seems a good place to start. We can look up alchemical texts in the UnderRealm and see if we have any leads from there." He concluded as the others scattered about the Mansion to do anything else.
The entity approached BEN, still fiddling with his phone. "Say, BEN, I've been meaning to ask about this... 'Doogle'..."
"It's 'Google'." He replied, not even looking up.
Slender sighed, pulling another book from one of the UnderRealm's hidden libraries. Miskatonic University was one of his favorite locations to visit for any information gathering as it held some of the most arcane collections.
This location was isolated from the rest of humanity. Quite literally. Outside the windows, an eternal storm occasionally flashed with lightning. The University's campus was perpetually suspended in a void-state inaccessible from the physical plane outside. Any moisture trapped in the bubble that held the University's existence collected as clouds that never rained, but always discharged static from the nature of the Void around it.
It wasn't exactly common for the UnderRealm to 'hide away' a building, let alone an entire campus, but something had happened there. Something that upset quite a few people on the Council, enough to either remove or "remove" any faculty or students before 'vanishing' it and almost any reference to it.
It became a fixture in the UnderRealm, housing books and catalogues of their world. The older Council members enjoying the gothic-Victorian aesthetic enough to use it from time to time.
He nodded in silent greeting to Wilbur Whately, who shuffled unevenly through the shelves on his cloven feet, with a large rolling cart of books in his care.
He picked up another book of alchemy, immortality, and the finicky nature of the human soul, when he spotted a man.
It wasn't exactly impossible for a man to be here, but it was unusual.
Older Council members kept humans that strayed too deep into their affairs as more indentured servants (dare he say, slaves) which would occasionally run errands for them.
Still, this individual garnered a look of interest from him. The man was twitchy and clearly nervous, his wide eyes casting wild glances every so often, but it wasn't uncommon in this place. Some days Wilbur wasn't feeling 'peopley' towards human visitors. Even then, humans who interacted with the Council regularly tended to have... an air of anxiety about them. He had wild, straw-like blonde hair, eyes bugging out like he was perpetually surprised, and a shaggy 19th-century suit assembly.
The man noticed him at last and gasped, freezing in place, hands clutching the books he'd likely gotten for somebody tightly.
"Ah, I apologize for startling you." Slender bowed lightly.
"It- it's no trouble," The man said shakily with a distinct Irish accent.
"May I offer any assistance?" He added politely. It helped being able to reach the taller shelves without needing a ladder.
"No, no, I'm fine. Th-thank you." The man stammered, lowering his head and starting to shuffle his way past.
The entity nodded and began walking away, mind returning to his quest for alchemy texts and ignoring the curious man from his mind.
The man cast furtive glances behind him towards the entity, heart pounding a mile a minute. His hands gripped the 'borrowed' text on realms beyond and between close to his chest.
Steeling his nerves, he swallowed nervously. "Keep it togther, Xeno."
He discretely reached into his tattered, outdated clothing (his attempt to 'blend in' as normal) and with a small twisting gesture on one foot-
-he disapparated.
Thinking on it, Toby was surprised more people didn't pull magical pranks or cause accidents in a magical school. It was, like, schooling 101 to mess with people and with magic, the possibilities were nearly endless, but nobody seemed to think outside the box around here.
So, that's why he stopped to stare at the scene he'd stumbled onto. A boy in yellow-trimmed robes (Hufflepuff, like Nick's house, he remembered) was doing a frenzied sort of tap-dance, clearly against his will from his panicked gasps and flailing arms trying to keep balance. A group of green-trimmed robes (Slytherin) snickered nastily as one put away his wand and kept walking.
Two others, in yellow and blue robes, hung by the flailing boy, trying to help him. "I-I-I go-woah! got this!" The dancer exclaimed.
He pulled out his wand and gestured vaguely to his feet, "F-finite incantatem- woah!"
His feet tangled together in a knot which made him trip head over (flailing) heels. His wand still shot out a misty, almost-colorless spell that made a wide arc from where he was aiming.
Toby didn't react in time and felt it smack him dead-on in the face. For a spell that looks like just a puff of cloud, it hit like a baseball bat. Dazed, he fell backwards himself and lay there, clutching his stinging jaw. The elastic strap of his doctor's mask snapped, landing it right beside him.
"Oh, Merlin! H-hold on, I mean- grr! Finite Incantatem," The girl in yellow exclaimed, pointing her wand at the boy, whose feet fell limply. That done, she rushed over to Toby, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Toby said, looking up with an easing grin.
She screamed, eyes blown wide, and covered her mouth with both hands as she took a step away.
He looked behind her at the boy in blue robes, standing petrified with the same horror-struck face. The boy who was limply on the ground was the same, but muttering fearfully, "It was just a Finite. I swear, just a Finite."
"What's going on?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
The girl put her hands down and swallowed nervously, face still pale. "A-aren't you hurt?"
"No? I mean, it stung a little, but it's fine," Toby reassured. "Why? Is it bruising or something?"
Wordlessly, the girl turned to her side-bag and rummaged around before pulling out a little makeup kit. Her hands shook and she dropped easily half of its contents until she found a little compact in her hands.
Toby popped open the little mirror.
Oh shit.
His gash, the scarring, and his teeth and marred gums were clear as day.
"Uhhh..." He looked down at the ruined medical mask on the ground.
...
Idea!
The gash flickered and was replaced with an illusion of healthy cheek. With a flourish of his hands waving in the air, he said;
"Ta-da!"
...
"It's, uh, what 'muggles' say for a magic trick. You get it? Cause... magic school... and stuff..." Toby petered out.
The group still didn't stop staring at him like he'd just regrown half of his face. Oh wait...
"This is all a dreeeaaam~" Toby tried, waving his hands mysteriously as he began backing away, setting the compact aside on a window ledge.
...
Freak it!
He bolted away, down the hall, past a lot of people who looked after him curiously and would eventually find the three stunned students, the emptied mess of a makeup kit, and a broken muggle medical mask.
"Sleeennnnddyyyyyyyyyy!"
Slenderman sipped his cup of chamomile tea, quietly enjoying the serenity of his living room as he browsed through the ancient texts. There was just something... enjoyable about reading a musty old book and drinking a pleasant cup of tea with it.
He gave a breathless sigh of contentment.
*Brrriiiing-Brrriiiiinngg*
He picked up a classic telephone as the bell-ringer alerted him to an incoming call. He barely raised it to his 'ear'-
"Slendy!" Toby cried, calling from a landline phone outside the ward lines of Hogwarts. "I-was-at-Hogwarts-and-then-there-were-these-students-and-one-of-them-shot-a-spell-that-stops-other-spells-from-working-I-think-but-he-missed-and-hit-my-face-and-this-spell-also-works-on-glamours-so-my-scars-showed-up-and-this-girl-had-a-mirror-and-I-tried-abracadabra-magic-tricking-them-but-that-didn't-work-and-"
Slender took the phone away from his face, still hearing Toby's frantic yammer filtering through the speaker, just quieter.
He set it down on its side.
He took a long sip of his tea.
He sighed.
...
"I am not ready today for this *unique* level of shit."
AN: Ah, Slendy... what do those kids say these days?
Ah yes; 'Mood'.
...
So, a lot of fun in this chapter, so let me know what you think!
Until next time,
-Crow