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[01 Sep 2008|12:19am] |
Alright everyone, this is it. The kids are going back to school! Tomorrow afternoon, a starter thread will be posted. You can post your character anywhere from before they get on the train to inside the ship, to getting off and going to the school. This post is just going to be about the students’ first view of the island and the castle. By Wednesday there will be another post describing the island and school arranged similarly to the Hogsmeade and Hogwarts post in the mod journal. There will also be a post in the Great Hall thread where Headmistress McGonagall will be giving a speech explaining the new circumstances of the school. This will be for explaining purposes solely.
As you all know by now, the students will not be returning to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Instead they are going to the island of Coróinbáis to be taught at the Sangster Institute. As per normal routine, the students will go to Platform 9 and ¾s, leaving King's Cross station at 11am. They will reach the Mallaig docks in Scotland at 6pm. From there, the students will leave the train station and walk a good mile to the docks. Anyone who is wearing good summer attire for the nice London weather earlier that day will note that it's a much cooler 60 degrees. At this point, the sky is already dimming.
The students will be boarding the ship in fours and must sign their names off to keep a head count. The ship itself was donated by Durmstrang in a generous offering in sympathy for the destruction of Hogwarts. The ship is a massive wooden vessel somewhere between a Viking ship and a seventeenth century British freight. Don't be surprised to find stuffed busts of woodland creatures or intricate Nordic carvings to depict scenes from Beowulf to the valkyries to the battle of St. George and the dragon mixed in with youthful vandalism. This gift is actually several centuries old. The magic used to keep it afloat and avoid ripples isn't always stable so those on deck may find themselves soaked. Along with that, anyone feeling a chill run along her feet shouldn't worry. It's just a group of ghost rats. Dinner will be served in shifts in one of the storage compartments that's been changed into a small dining hall. Expect to be served a hardy, thick brunswick stew, crusty bread, and yes, ale as this meal is also courtesy of Durmstrang. Anyone with an urge to get drunk and sea sick, go for it. The ship will then arrive at the island on the opposite end of the school at the fishing docks. These docks are used by the island natives who are majority magical. It should be known that there are Muggles living there who are either family members of magical people, people who could not be deterred in thinking there are magical people, and old fish folk who just don't care.
The students will then file out and their luggage will be transported to the castle. They’ll be walking a dirt path uphill to the edge of the island until they come to a field of red poppies. There they’ll find floating circular carriages that are being carried by pixies. Some may notice that their pixies are more rambunctious and will move them faster, while others are not as strong and may have trouble lifting. They will be carried over the thick, dark woods that aren't forbidden but have created quite a paranoid vibe among the villagers. Should you think you see something, well that just might have happened so go with it! Once at the front grounds of the new school the students will enter through massive metal doors, currently covered with cloths, but if any dare peak they'll see metal work depicting scenes of torture and demons ruling over human subjects.
The castle is full of light, almost as if glowing in welcome to the students. First they'll enter a large open foyer decorated in large tapestries depicting the victories and accomplishments of Hogwarts. Two large halls on either side and a sweeping staircase at the far end with four small doors on either side are all to welcomes guests. Following up those stairs is a hall that was visible from the foyer but instead of separate off to the left or right they enter the pewter doors into a vase great hall but instead of the normal four tables there are two ridiculously long tables to take up the space of the castle's former ballroom. Like at Hogwarts there are still floating candles and the ceiling of the room is actually one large dome with frescos depicting the night sky. Once seated the students can easily see that there is a second floor to the room where guests could once watch the dancers below but now it's used for extra study space for the student, with gothic arches with smiling demons sprouting out from the tops of columns, allowing peek-a-boo views of shelves filled with books and small wooden tables for lone study or a tutor and student to catch up on Potions.
Finally McG will make her welcoming speech from the staff table still at the head of the room, while students indulge in chocolate cake, apple tortes, raspberry trifles and bonbons. So if you think the kids are being buttered up for something, you might be right. McG has a couple of surprises in store.
Please take all of this in and have fun with it! Again, that opener will be up tomorrow, so any threads you might want to happen before school you should hurry and get starters up for. And don’t forget to run the friend button!
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