RPG: Law of the Serpent [Suspended]

[Q.Araignee]

Law of the Serpent

Over seven years have passed since the events of Hogwarts '06/7. Terrin Dinas, a mysterious former Quidditch star and Hogwarts professor, has risen to fame and public notoriety as a man of the people, and a defender of the helpless. Using this reputation, Dinas has won unprecedented support from almost every corner of the British wizarding community. It came as no surprise when he announced himself as a candidate for the vacated post of Minister for Magic, and even less of a surprise when he won the election uncontested. Everyone expected that many years of prosperity and goodwill would follow his appointment. Looking back, nobody could have imagined the severity of the prejudices that he was about to exploit. Not even Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was free from his influence, as he sought to reshape the ideals of the nation. Indeed, Hogwarts was where it all started. Over a thousand years ago, one of the four founders of the school, Salazar Slytherin, wrote his famed journal that recorded the story of his life, his teachings, and a set of rules that he believed would guide wizards to greatness. The 'Book of the Serpent' was lost shortly after Slytherin's exit from Hogwarts, and it became one of the most sought-after and mysterious relics from medieval times. As the Head of Slytherin House, Terrin Dinas spent many evenings strolling around the Chamber of Secrets, as a way to relax. It took a surprisingly short time for him to wander across the ancient hiding place of the Book; the Chamber itself had been hidden for centuries, and Salazar had never anticipated it being found by anyone other than his heirs. Over many years, Dinas read and studied the knowledge of the greatest of the founders. When he was ready, he began meticulously planning. A day would come when the Law of the Serpent would reach across all lands. As Minister for Magic, Terrin Dinas was now very close to achieving his goal. But just as it did for Slytherin, Hogwarts would continue to defy him until its last dying breath. He was willing to let it come to that. The Hogwarts staff were not.

The start of this RPG is set in September 2014

Many thanks to Phoenix in the Ashes for creating this RPG scenario.

If you would like to join this RPG, please create a character through this link.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

All the older students were already in their seats as the staff of Hogwarts entered the Great Hall, and one by one took their place at the large table at the front of the Hall.

Charms Professor Stanley Edwards, who was in his second year of teaching, looked down the staff table at his fellow professors. There was a noticeable difference from the time when he had been at Hogwarts only a few years ago. The staff nowadays, he thought, all seem to be much much younger.

Two to his right was Rowena, who had been a first year and a fellow member of the Hogwarts Quidditch team at the disastrous Interschool Quidditch Tournament of 2007. Seated next to her, he noticed, was another face he recognised. They were in conversation. He felt sure that it was another of his teammates from the Interschool Tournament. What was her name? Lily something, anyway.

There was a staff meeting after the sorting ceremony and the feast. They would all become familiar enough with each other after that.

[GodrictheGriffon]

Lily looked away from Rowena for a moment and skanned the great hall. It was nearly full she noted as a few slackers rushed into the room and scurried to find seats. the sorting would begin soon.
Lily had always enjoyed the ceremony. Except, of course, when it was her turn. She remembered the few seconds of endless fear she had endured when the hat slipped over her eyes and she became blind to the stares of the older students. Lily had sat frozen while the hat deliberated, trying to keep her mind blank on account of a fourth year telling her on the train that the hat took out the brains, shouted out the thoughts, and ate them. She laughed quietly to herself as she remembered how gullible she was. then there were the moments of undecidedness between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. She had only been able to breath again when she was sitting at the Gryffindor table.
Lily turned back around, informed Rowena of the "Brain-Fear", and the two friends shared a good laugh.

[DucksRMagical]

Kaitlyn ran into the Great Hall, out of breath. She had been exiting her carriage when she noticed a few second years by the Whomping Willow. They had been playing a game to see who could get the closest to it. She had to tell them off before she could go inside.

She ran down the aisle in between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff table and sat down at the Ravenclaw table in between Cedric and Natalie.

"Where were you?" Natalie hissed, "The Sorting's about to begin."

"There were a few second years trying to taunt the Whomping Willow," Kaitlyn explained.

Cedric laughed, "They'll quickly learn that's a bad idea."

"I'd rather they didn't learn that way," Kaitlyn grinned at him.

At that moment, the headmaster stood up and Kaitlyn turned to listen to the start of term speech. It would be the last one she'd ever hear as a student.

[Q.Araignee]

After just a year away travelling, Rowena was back at Hogwarts- and delighted to be so. She'd missed the castle, and her friends, an awful lot. It was great to catch up with Lily, who she hadn't seen since the wedding last year. They chatted- Rowena finally got to tell her about her boyfriend, Nikolai- and shared a few jokes while the students got settled.

As the noise lowered, Rowena cast a quick glance over the new students and her fellow members of staff. A few of the Seventh years she knew offered grins, whilst the First years just looked terrified at the whole Hall before them. And there was something familiar about the Charms teacher...

The tiniest of shivers passed down her spine as Rowena recognised Stanley from her First year- and the Interschool Quidditch Tournament. After that debacle, the team members generally stuck to those in their own House. It would be interesting to talk to him in the staff meeting, after about 7 years, she thought.

But before that, there was the Start-of-Term feast. And more immediately, the Headmaster's speech.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

When Professor Roderick Argyle had been offered the post of Headmaster, he had taken it because he so fondly remembered his days as a student, and wished to go back to the school. It was an outside appointment, and the Board were reasonably pleased with it.

Now in year two of his term, the Board were less ecstatic. He had a staff absolutely packed with students only a few years out of the school themselves. When they had told him that they wanted to 'freshen up' the school, they had not meant for him to retire half the staff, and hire a complete set of inexperienced young teachers.

But they couldn't do anything now. Now that Professor Argyle had the approval of the Minister. Nothing against the Minister, of course they would say, but a school like Hogwarts needs to be under the firm grip of an experienced professorship. The staff had barely thirty years of teaching experience, put together. Only a few short years ago, it had been well over a hundred. But the Minister seemed to like the direction that Argyle was taking the school in, and so cautioned the Board against taking any action.

So here he was, Professor Argyle, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, delivering his second start-of-year speech. As he stood up, Professor Edwards half-slumped in his chair and began twirling the fork in front of him with his hands. It was catching the starlight from the roof of the Great Hall above. It was quite beautiful, really. Edwards looked around him. The two former teammates/professors caught his attention again, before he looked further down the table. There were a few more young faces visible, he noted. Other than Argyle, there were only one or two middle-aged professors at the staff table.

He supposed that he could add Professor Binns to that list, though. Do ghosts count?

The Headmaster finished his speech, and the feast started.

[DucksRMagical]

"Wow, I can't believe this is our last start of term feast," Kaitlyn sighed as she took a large helping of chicken.

"Yeah," Natalie agreed.

"We've got to make this a memorable year," Cedric announced, "With you as head girl, we'll get away with anything!"

Kaitlyn playfully punched Cedric's arm, "That's what you think. We'll be busy studying for N.E.W.T.s anyway this year."

"Don't remind me," Cedric groaned.

Kaitlyn went back to her food and thought about her seventh year. The last year as a kid. Soon she would be out in the real world. She wouldn't admit it, but she was nervous about this last year. Especially her N.E.W.T.s. Kaitlyn wanted to go on to study to be a Healer, and she would need top grades for that. She knew if she voiced her concerns, her friends would laugh it off and tell her she's the top in their class and not to worry. She knew this was true, but she was still nervous. Kaitlyn liked the safety and security of Hogwarts and knew that would all change once her and her friends were no longer there.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

The feast went on until everyone in the Great Hall was full. When Professor Arygle clapped his hands, there was a mad rush as all the students tried to leave the room at once. Finally, he signalled to the teachers to follow him to the staffroom. They did so, lightly chattering to each other as they went.

Stan yawned. He hoped that this little meeting wouldn't drag on too long.

[GodrictheGriffon]

"Stanley? Is that you?" Lily asked as she placed the face beside her for the first time that night. It was Stanley Edwards. One of the Chasers from the Inter-School Quidditch team.
"I haven't seen you since graduation! Have you been?" Lily was eager to catch up with as many of her old school comrades as she could before the night was done.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

"Hello Lily, it was such a surprise to find out that you and Rowena were going to be joining the staff this year! It's good to see you again. What made you come back?"

They entered the staffroom.

[GodrictheGriffon]

"Well, I was just out-growing my job at Scrivenshafts. You know how it is. It was supposed to be a temporary job. But then with the wedding and everything else that needed to be payed for, I just didn't have the time or the money to find a new one, so I stayed. Then around the end of term last year, I realized that I was happiest in the Transfiguration Class room. So I went up to the manager, quit, and walked up the road to the school. I was just glad that i didn't back out when I reached the gates because I had my mothers healer's bill to pay. And thta's why I'm here and boring you to death with the details of my-", Lily cut off then. She had just noticed that she was the only one left in the room still speaking. She blushed and fell silent.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Professor Taseff put a reasuring hand on Lily's shoulder. Lily sat down and the two girls smiled at each other. Looking around, all the teachers were there now. On the table were several rolled up partchments, and when Amanda took a closer look, she saw the seal of the Ministry of Magic on them. She knew the ministry always had a say in what was going on at Hogwarts, but she had never in her 5 years as Divination teacher, recieved instructions or documentation on her first day back? This must have something to do with the minister of magic and his proposed changes to Wizarding education.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

Stan took a seat and they waited for Professor Argyle to arrive. Finally, after 3 minutes, the door was swung open and the headmaster entered and apologised. He took a seat next to the table and cleared his voice. Stan noticed the rolled up parchments with the MoM seal, and was immediately worried.

So then, Terrin Dinas wanted to interfere with Hogwarts? Would the Ministry never learn to keep its paws off the school?

[DucksRMagical]

Kaitlyn, Natalie, and Cedric walked back to the Ravenclaw common room. Kaitlyn was relieved of the duty of taking the new first years there, because the new 5th year Prefects were eager to do the job themselves. Kaitlyn was happy about this, because she just wanted to enjoy her last walk to the common room at the beginning of the year. She was feeling a bit nostalgic.

"It's strange, isn't it?" she said as she sat down in a cozy armchair near the fire. "Our last year here."

"Yeah, it is a bit odd," Natalie agreed, "Hogwarts has pretty much been our whole lives since we were 11."

"Aw, don't tell me you guys are going to get all nostalgic now," Cedric groaned, "Just don't cry, all right?"

"Don't worry," Kaitlyn responded, "We'll save that for graduation." She grinned at her friends and laughed.

"Ugh," Cedric groaned.

"Speaking of graduation, have you thought of what you're going to do with your life, Ced?" Natalie asked. Natalie had decided a while ago that she was going to travel for a few years, studying a variety of magical creatures. Natalie did averagely in most of her classes, but really excelled in Care of Magical Creatures. She especially enjoyed hippogriffs, and even hoped to own one someday.

"Nope," Cedric grinned, "Still no clue." Cedric was good at everything and probably could do anything he wanted. Kaitlyn suspected he could have become Head Boy, if he didn't goof off and cause so much trouble.

"Come into the Healing program with me," Kaitlyn told him, "You'd be real good at it."

"I'm not sure I really fancy Healing. I just don't know," Cedric told her. "I guess I'll just think about it more."

"All right, I'm sure you'll find something," Kaitlyn assured him.

"I will. But I don't want to think about it right now. I just want to enjoy our last year of innocence," Cedric told his friends.

Kaitlyn knew the feeling. She was excited about graduation and moving on to become a Healer, but at the same time she knew that things would never be as simple as they were now. Life outside Hogwarts would be much more complicated. Who knows if her and her friends would even wind up living near each other? Let alone see each other everyday like they did at school. Life could take them on so many different paths, and Kaitlyn didn't want to think about not having her friends right there for support.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

Professor Argyle was the sort of chap who always had a cheery smile on his face, as though he was thinking of a joke. Some people found this an attractive quality, and some did not. But it often lead to the assumption that he wasn't playing attention, and that his mind was on other things.

Stan thought him annoyingly carefree, and so did a few other members of staff. Others found him amusing. Terrin Dinas was not expecting a challenge, that was clear enough. The Minister had the approval of almost the entire wizarding nation, after taking a strong stance against the Muggle-Born Liberation Society, which was responsible for a number of vicious attacks on pureblood and half-blood communities over the past seven years.

Many members of the MLS were now permanent residents at Azkaban, although they continually pleaded their innocence. The scandal that had rocked the Ministry when former Minister of Magic Bruno Archibald was discovered in their number had given Dinas that platform that he needed to launch his political career, and now that he had formed his government he was expected to flex his muscles for the betterment of the magical society in general.

Stanley Edwards was not a fan of his old Charms professor. Back when he was at school, he had always thought of him as a cold, calculating figure. Stan also held an intense dislike for politicians.

No matter how many people loved the Minister, Stanley would never forget the face that he had seen as the carnage at the campsite seven years ago unfolded. It had not been one of horror, as it should have been. It was one of complacence, and mild interest.

Terrin Dinas may hold the affection of the entire nation, Stan thought, but he doesn't hold mine.

He hoped that Professor Argyle would stand up to him when the time came.