Jacob steps echoed against the stone stairs as he ventured down the into the darkness. His steps became more confident and quicker as his confidence rose. The castle had opened this dark, damp stone passage to him for a reason, and for whatever reason, he felt compelled to trust the stonework and the enchantment as it led him down the stairs towards the base of the castle. The Wampus Cat Common Room was located underground, Jacob had known that for a while now, but he knew where the entrance to it was, and the passageway he was in was not the same one. Rumor has it that the castle had many secrets buried deep underground, like old classrooms filled with dangerous relics, ancient Dragons that only grew older and never died, a direct access line to the Underground Railroad, or even the ruins of the Ilvermorny Cottage. This secret appeared to be one of the many. For Jacob, finding this passageway was exhilarating.
After a while, he reached the end of the staircase, hundreds of feet under the mountain-side. There, he reached a large wooden door. It was entirely smooth and free of any markings, even free of a door handle. Jacob approached the door and began to push on it, thinking of how the passage had closed behind him at the top of the stairs a long time ago. As he pushed, the door didn't budge; not even an inch. As he kept working to get the door to open, he grew more and more desperate. These past couple of months at Ilvermorny had been hard for him and incredibly stressful. At each and every turn he felt that he was being treated differently, simply because he grew up as a No-Maj his entire life. How did that make him any different than the all of other students?
The door stood silent and still like a stone no matter how hard Jacob tried to force it open. As he was about to give up and head back up the staircase, Jacob realized that he had recently learned Alohomora in Charms and decided to give it a try, door handle or not. He pulled out his wand, held it aloft, and spoke the incantation as he waved his wand, saying: "Alohomora".
Nothing happened.
He held his wand aloft again and spoke the incantation again. Then a third time, a fourth time, and a fifth time, his faith and his confidence wavering more and more each time. His thoughts turned to the Giant, to his friends, to leaving his life behind, to knowing his life would never be the same again. In a fit of anguish, he aggressively waved his wand aimlessly at the door as tears began to stream down his face, saying: "Why…why, why, why why why why WHY?!" he screamed. As he did, a large burst of light erupted from the end of his wand and exploded ferociously as it hit the door. Jacob was thrown back on the cold stone brick floor, his wand undamaged. In a fit of final hope, he gazed longingly at the smoke as it cleared from the door. To his immense disappointment, the door still stood there, as cold and silent as before.
Jacob sunk onto the floor and began to cry hot streams of tears down his face. Everything that had been happening to him and the stress it caused began to bubble to the surface and overflow. He was unable to keep his stress and worries down any longer. In the silence he sobbed, alone and isolated. As his last shred of hope left him, a strange warmth fell over him and blanketed him. He stopped crying, surprised by the sudden change in mood. What he felt within him was love, hope, and happiness, the feelings you get from holding a small child in your hands, or the feelings you get from showing those you love what you mean to them. He felt this warmth emanating from the small Dragot in his pocket.
As he fished it out of his pocket, it began to glow in his hands and fill the passage with a great and calming warmth. It glowed even more brightly in his hands. He lifted it up and walked forwards, stopping at the doorway as words appeared in the stonework beneath his feet. They read: "Listen not with the Ear of your Mind, but with the Ear of your Heart". Beneath that was the simple phrase:
"Welcome Home, Jacob"
Jacob walked towards the door and the warmth of the Dragot in his hands grew greater and greater until the door opened up before him. The chamber beyond was just as dark and quiet, until large braziers lit and filled the room with a multicolored light. Blues, Yellows, Greens, and Reds were mixed together in a Golden and Silver Light that brilliantly lit the chamber. Jacob stood there at the magnificent sight until a voice, a woman's voice, softly called out to him: "Come in, Jacob". At this soft and kind invitation, Jacob walked into the chamber and towards a large Celtic knot that sat engraved in the floor, just like it was in the Sorting Hall. On the walls were four portraits and each one of them moved and watched him as he walked in. They were portraits of Isolt Sayre, James Steward, Chadwick Boot, and Webster Boot.
Jacob stood and gazed at them in awe, turning on the spot just so he could see them all. There they were, almost as if they were still alive and were simply standing in an open window. They smiled at him warmly as he gazed at them all. He stopped at Isolt and saw in her soft deep brown eyes the love a mother would give her child. Her long black hair was braided and tied up around the back of her head. James had a gleam of pride in his green eyes and tipped his large colonial hat at Jacob. Chadwick looked at Jacob with a large grin on his face and ruffled the back of his head with his hand as a force of habit. Webster had his arms folded and had a smirk on his face as he studied Jacob. Jacob stopped gazing at them all and looked at his feet.
"So, you all probably heard me in the passage way just now, right?" they all nodded silently. James spoke up saying "Yer not the first chap to have had a row with the door, you could bet a couple quid on that and easily get yer money back I'd say". Isolt added: "Many lads and lassies even lost the Dragot as they'd be traveling down these there steps" gesturing to the door where Jacob entered. "…those ones always made a right bags of that mess" Jacob staggered there on the spot, still in shock at hearing Isolt and James as if they had never passed. He held up his hands in defense. "Okay…okay…hold on a sec please" he pleaded. "Why am I here?"
"Jacob, you've been chosen for a very special task, over everyone else in my house, Thunderbird" Chadwick began. "Your task is to take my place as a Protector of this school, until you graduate of course". He gestured in his frame to a large book sitting on a pedestal at the opposite end of the room. "We've brought you here to sign this book, The Book of the Family it's called. In it are hundreds of names going back hundreds of years to the founding of this school, with each one of our names being the first entries"
Jacob walked over to the book and gazed down at it. He picked it up in his hands. It was heavy and smelled incredibly old. It's binding had clearly been repaired multiple times and the leather on both of its covers had been replaced as recently as a couple of years prior. He opened the book to the first page and sure enough, there were their names, scrawled out in an elaborate cursive: "Isolt Sayre: August 31st, 1627, James Steward: August 31st, 1627, Chadwick Boot: August 31st, 1627, Webster Boot: August 31st, 1627". He kept turning the pages, staring at the dates besides countless names, deeply moved as they continuously rose the more pages he turned. 1650, 1736, 1890, 1942, 2002, 2017.
He set the book back down and saw a pot of ink and a quill sitting in a small alcove in the wall to the right of the book. He turned back towards them. "So, I sign it like I do my assignments?" he asked. "The very same way, laddie" Isolt replied, smiling, "If you'd like". Jacob picked up the quill and held it aloft on the open page labeled: 2018. "But…" he began, "What exactly is going to happen when I sign this book?" he asked. They hesitated for a second before replying.
"Well, by signing that book, you'll have access to any part of the school and a passage will open in the walls, taking you there as quickly as you wish… it makes for a quick getaway should a Dungbomb "slip" out of your pocket" Webster told him with a wink. James continued.
"Still, that gift of yours comes with a responsibility. Things that happen in the castle caused by the relics and secrets contained within is held to be the Protectors' responsibility. You and the others are responsible of keeping the students and faculty safe from what lies deep in the lower halls" he told him. Jacob held up a hand.
"What do you mean by…others?" he asked. James looked back at him, catching himself before he kept rattling on.
"Oh, yes of course" he said, "You are not the only one who has been given this responsibility. There are three others, one from each of the other houses, that work with you to fulfill your task".
"You're the first one to be chosen this year" Chadwick told him. "The previous protectors all graduated last spring, so naturally, the castle has begun to choose their successors. You just happened to be the first. Let's hope that it will have chosen the other three before the year's end…"
"Why do you say that?" Jacob inquired. Webster answered.
"Well, the year that the Dorus known as Twelvetrees had let slip the location of Ilvermorny, the castle was one Protector short, simply because it hadn't chosen the final one yet that year. The Castle was all in a fuss and was acting up. The Protectors found themselves missing classes just to keep the hallways unblocked, the doors unlocked, and this magic had begun to seep into the grounds as well, causing the beasts in the forests to act up and the Greenhouses were overgrown within days of being cleared" Isolt piped up.
"Well my dear Jacob, that hasn't happened for an awfully long time. When we had lain the enchantment on the castle in the first place, we had allowed the castle to choose whoever in whatever way and at whatever time it wanted. Every four years since the school was founded we have welcomed new Protectors in this room, so there is nothing for a nice laddie like you to worry about" she finished. At that, Jacob took up the quill in his hands, and wrote out the following in a Royal Cranberry Ink:
Jacob Johnson, Thunderbird: October 25th, 2018
Magical Creature Profile: Whintosser
The Whintosser is a mischievous creature native to the coastal mountain ranges of California. It is iconic to the Witches and Wizards of California, so much so that it is the mascot of the California's National Quodpot Team, the Californian Whintossers. It has more than earned this fame thanks to its bizarre appearance. Both its head and tail sit in swivel joints that can spin as fast as one hundred revolutions per minute, its black body is shaped like a triangular prism and covered in a bristly coat of fur. The Whintosser has three sets of legs that are quite useful during earthquakes, allowing the Whintosser to land on its feet during any quake or tremor. While the Whintosser is a fan among Californians, the Whintosser is quite aggressive when provoked and often may attack unprovoked. The method North American Magizoologists have developed for stopping the Whintosser is to lure it into a large pipe. In doing so, all of its legs are working at the same time and in opposite directions, therefore immobilizing the creature.
Replies to Guest Reviews:
1. This story got me thinking. How has the Wizarding world not been exposed yet during the 21st century in the age of the Internet, smartphones and snapchat?
I had received an owl back from MACUSA with the following reply to your question:
Through a lot of night shifts, a lot of close-calls, a ton of coffee, and hundreds of more Obliviators than we've ever needed before. We even have a room here in the Federal Bureau of Covert Vigilance and No-Maj Obliviation filled with phones that somehow caught wind of Magic. Thankfully, electronic devices tend to not capture magic well in pictures, so thankfully our job is easier in that regard.
Remain Vigilant
-Hiranina Taggerbond
2. If a war between Wizards and No-Majs were to break out, as this story implies, couldn't some MACUSA Aurors just Apparate into the White house and wipe Trump, the vice president, the general and all the congressmembers out with Fiendfire or something?
The reply to this question was tied into the letter quoted in the previous question.
It was written into law many years ago that should we have ever been exposed that we would never commit such a crime and horrific act against the No-Maj government. The most that we would attempt to do is to Obliviate them, as we had to with Presidents before in the past. I would also like to strongly remind all that the only one aware of our world in the No-Maj government is only the sitting President. Trump, being the man he is, was at first quite hesitant to accept our presence, and still is. While he has only come to terms with this recently, he'd be the only one that needs to be obliviated and openly advocates for peace between our worlds because he knows what we're capable of. Still, each time the President of MACUSA visits him, a cordial meeting ensues as equals.
3. How many installaments are planned?
My guess at the current time is around 5, but that number could change depending on where the story goes.
-JT