It started with a field trip.
The students were led into the Forbidden Forest to collect Bubotubers. Just as they began exploring a misty clearing, three masked figures emerged from the trees—bandit extremists. They held Professor Thimblethorn hostage and demanded the students surrender. When Primrose Calloway tried to stand up to them, they broke her wand and humiliated her in front of everyone.
The players refused to back down. Finlay, Caoimhe, Otto, and the others fought back with clever spellwork, holding their ground until Professor Grimbella Thistlepin arrived in a storm of fire and magic. She ended the fight in seconds—and cursed Elias Flint for laughing at Prim.
Then Professor Blithe arrived, furious they’d disobeyed orders, and deducted 50 points from Ravenclaw. Still suspicious, the players hid in the woods and eavesdropped on Blithe and Grimbella. Nothing sounded off to them—yet. When Grimbella moved toward their hiding spot, Caoimhe tried to trap her with Capto, but the spell fizzled. Thinking fast, Finlay cast Infirma Cerebra to confuse her. Lucky for them, it worked—and they got away.
A couple of weeks later, in Potions, Wizzlethorpe announced a research project. The players were assigned Pre-Hogwarts Magical Architecture, but managed to trade for Talking Herbs after convincing Tamsin—and the ever-anxious Miriam—to switch. Their search led them to Ferd, a bitter, talking bush who accused wizards of murdering sentient plants. He pointed them toward a banned book: Crying Roots: Ethical Alchemy, locked away in the Restricted Section.
That night, they snuck out. Tamsin caught them—but Finlay, with one successful confusion spell already behind him, had Infirma Cerebra on the tip of his tongue and cast it without hesitation. They dodged patrols, petrified an animated suit of armor that tried to grapple them, and made their way to the lower level of the Restricted Section. There, they saw someone else fleeing through the stacks, leaving behind {a book about Selyon’s Tower}—a secret structure buried under Hogwarts, sealed away by the Founders for being too dangerous.
They cast Accio to summon the Crying Roots book they were after, and it zipped through the air toward them—unfortunately, right past Agatha. The ghost librarian spotted the flying book, shrieked in fury, and took off after them. They ran, the book trailing behind like a magical beacon, leading her straight to their heels.
Agatha tried to drain their life force. Otto and Caoimhe were badly hurt. Finlay cast Episky to keep them going. They fought her off, grabbed Crying Roots, and barely escaped as the armor reanimated behind them.
Back in the common room, Tamsin was asleep on the couch.
They had the book they were looking for—and an even curiouser one they hadn’t meant to find. Why was someone researching this Selyon’s Tower? And that shadow that vanished into the stacks before them—who is this mystery academic, and what do they want with the secrets buried beneath Hogwarts?