Wednesday March 10th, 2021

The exercise:

Write about: the project.

2 comments:

Greg said...

Hmm, so now you're reconnecting with your friends you're planning a project together? So soon after moving house? :-D

The project
Hermione walked along the corridors of Pigpimples deep in thought. She ignored the polished wooden floors and the marble-tiled walls, the doric columns that sometimes replaced walls (usually where there was a steep drop to several floors below that in any practical school would be considered a serious health hazard) and the paintings and sculptures that were dotted around everywhere. The school itself was rather more like a stately home or a renaissance palace that a school, and while that had perplexed her a little at the start, learning about the history of Pigpimples had explained some of it. Discovering, in the Forbidden Library (a name chosen by Professor Snipe to entice students in to actually look at books), that Pigpimples had been used as a prison and a concentration camp at some points in its history had interested her even more and led to a couple of discoveries that she had yet to find a use for.
"Moorhouse," she said to herself, as her thoughts came together and mixed in a maelstrom of activity. "He's referring to doors because of Moorhouse."
Moorhouse was a suite of rooms somewhere roughly central in Pigpimples and was definitely off limits to students. All Hermione knew about it so far was from the various histories of the school, and one set of architectural plans that had mysteriously disappeared from the library after she'd started studying them. She'd made copies of part of them but hadn't expected anyone to notice or take the plans away. After all, why put them in the library in the first place if they weren't supposed to be there? Moorhouse was some kind of magical interchange and the histories argued whether the school had been built around it or if it had been installed in the school by an early headmistress. The details bored her, but she did know that Moorhouse essentially contained a lot of doors, many more than anyone might expect, and they led to many, many places. What was curious was that doors might not look like doors and that the keys needed to open them could look very much not like keys. The one that all the books agreed on was that a live gerbil was the key to a door called the Moonstone door that apparently led to some part of the Fields of Elysium, and that that was connected to the naming of the school. Somehow.
"Two pages on Moorhouse then," she mused. "As a research project. So... I suppose I'm supposed to find a way to gain access to it without being a member of staff. Or maybe the postgrads can get in there too, but... damnit, what I need right now is a postgrad."
Turning one last corner she reached Grab'n'gore tower and kicked the door as hard as she could. It grunted and opened, and she headed for her bed.

Marc said...

Greg - hah... no.

Before I forget again to mention it, Grab'n'gore is a fantastic twist on the original name.

Anyway. I'm sure this path will not lead to endless trouble for anyone. I am curious to see where Hermione ends up visiting via these doors - because I have no doubts whatsoever that she'll find a way to manage it.