Who: Headmaster Grawlson When: Wednesday Morning Where: Great Hall at Breakfast Why: There's some strange things happening. Note: Plot Explained. Please Read.
Grawlson pushed back his seat and stood, a little nervous despite his many years here at the castle. He'd waited too long to address the situation and it was clear now that things weren't going to go back to normal on their own. The last month had been one theory after another, piles of research and a few experiments that had proved nothing but how serious the situation really was.
"Students," he greeted the crowd before him, all too aware of the nervous, frightened energy that they'd been putting off since the end of this last adventure. It was the worst by far, and had truly shown how vulnerable this was making all of them. "I know that the last few weeks have been difficult ones and you're all concerned about what's going on in the castle. In truth, we know little more than you do, but we're working very hard to understand and control the situation."
He took a deep breath, ignoring the sounds of disappointment and anger coming from his students.
"Unfortunately, we've found that leaving the castle doesn't have any affect over its control of you. If you remember back to directly after New Years, our speech patterns were altered while away from the castle. And a member of the staff experienced memory loss while at his home this past week. The good news is that limited exposure to the castle doesn't seem to cause these results and I've appointed an Emergency Headmaster, should a situation like last week happen again."
He paused here, hoping to let the students and even the staff know that measures were being taken to keep them safe even under the most dire of situations. Unfortunately, he had to go on and the news wasn't getting any better.
"As to your magic, I ask that everyone refrain from casting any unnecessary magic. As you know by now, whatever is causing these periods of change within the castle is also affecting your base natures and also your wand use. As of today, all classes involving wand use will be theory only. I know many of you are concerned with your upcoming OWLS and NEWTS, but we all must make the best of an unfortunate situation."
Which, truly, was a nice way of saying he had no idea what would come of their concerns. There was no way any of them could pass a test as they were now, and he had no way of knowing when their magic might return to normal ... if it ever would. He had his staff and an army of outsiders, including an entire branch at the Ministry, working day and night to right this situation. Secretly, he believed the only reason they'd stayed out from under the Ministry's thumb for this long was because they were afraid to enter the castle and couldn't very well send the students home. In short, they were under quarantine and everyone was pretending that it wasn't the case.
"Lastly, over the next week you'll see some unfamiliar faces within the castle. They'll be doing some very basic modifications to your common rooms. They will be heating and water proofing the dungeons, and cooling and fire proofing the tower. Structural support will be added to both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff common rooms." He held up a hand to forestall too much excitement. "We can't be sure that the charms will be successful, but with a little luck this will make everyone more comfortable."
He nodded briefly to a house elf in the back of the room and an instant later ice cream, chocolate cake and pitchers of hot fudge appeared on the breakfast table.
"Consider this a token of my gratitude for not killing each other or burning down the castle during our memory loss. I'm very proud of all of you. You're showing amazing fortitude inside a very uneasy situation." He motioned toward the tables. "Breakfast has been extended by half an hour. Enjoy your meal."