The current Hexy Level is GREEN

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By Casey's definition, the use of his disguise yesterday had been a success.[1] Excluding his mother's perspective, it had been enough to fool Zoe Torret to keep her from poking her nose around the cottage any further.

So, with a slight confidence boost as to the authenticity of the disguise, there was a change to the order of events on the second day of the Hogsmeade weekend. Namely that Hexy was traveling all the way to Hogsmeade instead of just from the Three Broomsticks to Darla's cottage.

This was almost a smarter idea of working it. Casey, to have his permission slip checked again, appeared to be wearing his formal casual clothes. Then, along the path, the moment he had confirmed privacy he untransfigured the clothes. Hexy's outfit had be briefly transfigured to look like something Casey would wear, only for a few minutes as that was all that was needed for scrutiny. That only left removing the amulet and adding the wig.

And thus Hexy could go to Hogsmeade without having to pass any means of security. To amuse herself as a means to pass the time, she waved her wand about, leaving a trail of glowing sparks.

1.	Wondering Child

Ted passed through the gate to Hogsmeade as a Gryffindor third-year, whose name he didn't know, although it was on the permission slip he'd nicked for the day. The fellow wouldn't miss it -- he was laid up in the House with a cold. Once he'd gotten far enough, the modifications fell away,  leaving him in his most natural state -- a drawn and scrawny first year with mouse-brown hair and pale gray eyes.

He groaned, rolling his shoulders. On a full moon day, like this one, his metamorphic transformations required actual thought to maintain, which was rather annoying. Of course, if it hadn't been a full moon he probably wouldn't be taking this risk at all. Butterbeers and chocolates weren't worth a week's detention. But he just couldn't stay cooped up in the castle, not on a day like this when the moon sang on the horizon like a glass of wine. It echoed in stone halls and drove him half-insane.

He was trudging down the path, thinking he might go have a look at the so-called Shrieking Shack, when a trail of lightly glowing sparks around his ankle-level caught his eye. He raised an eyebrow, following them up the path with his eyes, eventually leading to the shape of a girl in the distance, who scattered them about as she waved her wand. Huh.

Tugging his coat a bit more tightly to hide his scrawny frame, Ted broke into a light jog, closing the gap until there was only a few feet between him and the girl. "'Scuse me," he called to her. "What're doing that for, with the sparks? What, did you run out of breadcrumbs?"

At this point, Hexy was figuring out just what to do at Hogsmeade. Visit mother, yes, but that need not occupy her whole time. There was a taste of...doing something adventurous. Lunch with Zoe hadn't been disastrous so why couldn't she do something else.

What, exactly? There were always interesting things to be had at Zonko's, maybe, as joke shops were not the sort of place the cream of the wizard world were supposed to go to. But Casey had really thought some of the stuff there was interesting.

Or if she really wanted to go somewhere she shouldn't, there was the Shrieking Shack...

"'Scuse me. What're doing that for, with the sparks? What, did you run out of breadcrumbs?"

She turned to find a boy shorter than her with just lighter brown hair. What was he on about? "Breadcrumbs?" She didn't get the reference but then she noticed. It had been an absent minded gesture, waving her wand about to trail a line of light showering sparks but the sparks had fallen to the ground where they still lingered.

"Interesting..." That was odd. She had extensive knowledge of what spells she knew, could do or barely maintain, and this was unlike anything she had ever practiced before. Anyone with a wand could get sparks out of it but those were just small bursts of magic. They weren't supposed to stick around to litter the path.

Possible spell invention was put aside when she realized how young the boy was. There was something funny about seeing a first year sneaking off for a Hogsmeade Weekend when she herself was her under a different alias.

"What of it, shrimpy?" Hexy smirked at him. "At least I'm legit. Who did you have to convince to forge you a permission slip?"

Ted felt his face flush red. "I didn't forge anything." As if he could, as a first year. Uncle George probably could've done that, but he'd get in big trouble with the school if word got out, which would hurt sales. Besides, there was no fun to it if Ted didn't work out his own tricks. "I borrowed it. Completely different. And who're you calling shrimpy, anyway? You're not all that bigger than me!"

And he bet he could've won in a fight if it came down to that, too. Sure, the girl was taller by a head, but she didn't look half as tough as Dessa or Lexi, more like that bird-boned Slytherin girl, Sayer. If he could get her wand away from her that'd be the end of it, no problem.

He tried to muffle the blush, but that just made his face tingle like a bad sunburn. Stupid full moon. He shook himself and rubbed his hands on his cheeks to get the feeling out. "Ugh. Look -- er, girl -- you're not gonna tell anybody, right? I'm not doing anything wrong here. I just needed out of the castle. Better here than the woods."

"That's because I'm a fff-third year." If you were going to create a cover story it was best to stick with it. And it made sense for Hexy to think herself as a third year, her stature was scrawny enough and the age and growth blurred so between grades less than a year apart from each other.

The boy's cheeks were red like tomatoes. Hexy couldn't recall if it had been his original skin color but it was too funny to see an apparent sun poisoning victim this far along into autumn. There was something amusing about this boy and Hexy began to think more deviously. She had been looking for something to do.

"I guess it depends on the definition of wrong." She stuck her hands on her hips though her wand was still in a ready grip for swift action. "Like I said, I'm old enough to be here and you're nothing more than a first year going where he shouldn't be. That's enough for action but..." She leaned in, smiled coyly. "Convince me I shouldn't alert the proper authorities. What would you be willing to do for me to keep this quiet?"

Last time he'd been to the Wheezes, Uncle George told Ted that there were only two kinds of students at Hogwarts: the strict rule-abiding types who never got into trouble, and the ones who bent whatever rules they could in order to enjoy life as they saw fit. The later far outnumbered the former. Seeing as this girl was offering him an under-the-table deal, there was no doubt in his mind which one she fell under.

That made things easier, he supposed. He scanned her face, taking in the details quickly. A pinched chin, round cheeks...she seemed slightly childish even for a third-year, which was good. With the full moon ringing in his ears, Ted didn't want to risk extreme changes. Too easy to get stuck. But a little thing like this...yes, he could do it. It'd only be fore a few minutes.

He took a step back, then returned the girl's coy smile. "Oh, I don't know. Ever want to be in two places at once?"

He scrunched up his face, painfully aware of every muscle twist and skin fold as his features shifted into place. His hair and eyes darkened to match. A second later, he'd transformed into her reflection, right down to the dimple in her cheek brought on by the smile. He mimicked her posture, hands on his hips, and tossed his head to tussle his hair just the right way.

"The name's Ted. This is kinda what I do. Useful trick, isn't t?" His smirk widened. "Got me past the teachers. Gets me past a lot of things. Call it a favor or two, I don't mind, so long as it keeps things interesting."

The initial surprise gave way to a fascinated grin when the boy morphed into a feature copy of her. The implications of this were very great indeed. The information was filed away in her brain with every important alert associated with it. Some future use of Ted's ability was going to happen for sure. Anyone who managed to get a metamorphmagus in their pocket wasn't going to waste the opportunity.

Ability aside, making the full connection that this was that 'Ted,' Ted Lupin to be exact, made this all the more interesting. Probably the most well known kid of the post war generation.

"A future favor or two then?" Hexy held out her hand to shake. An important gesture but with an immediate benefit too.

"Come on then!" At the end of the handshake Hexy started to drag Ted further into the village.

"Cool." With a relieved sigh, Ted took the offered hand. "But I reserve the right to say no a few times if I don't like what you're coming up wi~ith--!!""

She dragged him forward with such suddenness that he nearly got pulled off his feet. His surprise knocked the transformation right out of him, his normal features popping and sliding back into place. He winced. Morphing on the full moon was uncomfortable, like his body was resisting the involuntary transformation it never had to suffer. The sting of that resistance lingered in the muscles beneath his face.

He rubbed his cheek with his free hand and jogged a few steps to keep up with the girl. Okay, so maybe she was a little stronger than him, and maybe the extra head of height added a few inches to her stride. But he could still take her. If it came to that. "So, uh, we have a deal? Great. Two things. One: I didn't catch your name. And two: where're we going?"

"Deal, yes we have a deal." It would take a great deal of planning for having Ted play body double and how best to phrase the venture so the little Metamorph went along with it. But now wasn't the time, that plan required the circumstances where having a double was the most appropriate solution.

"Hexy," she said, turning off the main road while keeping an eye out for how everyone else in the village was occupied. She dragged Ted along further before stopping at the end of the street. Panting slightly, she pointed to the lone building past the furthest outskirts of Hogsmeade village. "We're going to have a look around."

She was pointing at the Shrieking Shack.

Ted leaned over to catch his breath, but when he followed her pointing finger with his eyes he straightened. His expression faltered, face going a little slack in surprise. Sure, he'd been kicking around ideas of visiting the Shrieking Shack on this little trip, but now that he actually saw it...

"Oh. Yeah. that's a good idea."

He could see how people thought it might be haunted. There was something uneasy about the way the tall, thin building stood alone in the empty place where no houses belonged, stubbornly refusing to fall despite the long decades of abuse. If he'd heard screaming and howling coming from there, he'd have assumed it was haunted too. But it wasn't, of course. Not really. It was just the place where his father had slipped off to once month every month for seven years to bite and claw and tear his own body to shreds so the rest of the school could be saved.

Ted pushed that thought out and forced a smile. "Right then, so. Looking around. Brilliant. Where do we start?"

"We start with making sure we aren't noticed." It played to be safe in case of anyone who could see students, especially ones so young, heading to a not quite forbidden yet never approached building of sketchy history. At least the snows had yet to fall, so that saved a track obliterating spell.

Hexy sized up the open distance from here to the shack. If they skirted wide and got close enough around the building, they could enter the back unobserved. The distraction had to make sure anyone looking outside would be tempted to look elsewhere.

Something...and a set of doorbells next to an empty barrel gave her an idea. A transfigured inanimate to animate animal wouldn't last long but it would be long enough. One complex incantation later and the barrel was a goat. Hexy placed the doorbells on the goat, added a sound amplifying charm then hexed the goat off in the direction of the Hogs Head.

"Come on," she tugged at Ted again as the noisy bleating and bell ringing goat ran back along the street they had come from. "We enter from the back."

When Hexy started in on the barrel, Ted opened his mouth to ask the girl what she was doing, then closed it again when he decided he didn't want to know. He watched with bemusement as the barrel became a goat. That was some impressive Transfiguration. Was she really a third year?

The anticipation of a bit of mischief about to be pulled welled up inside him, drowning out the moon. Perfect. "Brilliant. Come on then." This time he was the one pulling, jogging to keep ahead of her. After a moment, he released her hand and picked up speed. "Race ya!"

Running through the wild grasses, in the open air so near the trees, felt like breaking loose from a chain. It was brief -- at full speed, it took him only a few minutes to round the field, duck into the thread-bare bushes, and arrive at the Shack's back door -- but damn if he didn't need it. He skittered to a stop on a patch of mud, grabbed the door handle to stop himself, and dangled from it as he feet slipped out from under him on a puddle of mud.

He dangled from it, looking up at Hexy between his arms. "I win." He grinned a wide silly grin and twisted the knob as he regained his balance. It turned, but the door didn't give. "Not locked. I think it's jammed."

Hexy thought she would have to drag along Ted but the younger student had a better sense of timing than what she would have credited him. "Hey, wait!" He took off running. Hexy couldn't match his speed and she couldn't keep up a manic sprint for any length of time.

As the Gryffindor pulled ahead the air forced in and out of her lungs became icy, not cold but edged like a razor, each breath becoming a pain. The hurt included a sore on the side of her torso, an ache across her chest. Never in her history had Hexy ever been expected to run, so while spry looking if a tinge stunted she didn't have the stamina for running. She had to slow to a brisk walk, lest her heaving breaths turn to actual dry heaves.

...and in the middle of the lane running down Hogsmeade, a goat tripped and turned back into a barrel, the bells flung off in the crash. The barrel rolled to a stop not even a third of the way along to the Hog's Head...

Winded, she came up to where Ted had stopped. "It wasn't a...race...dummy." How juvenile and characteristic of a first year. Hexy stood still to regain her breath, ramrod straight but a strong enough breeze would cause her to sway. The jammed door was an unexpected but unsurprising obstacle. This was where her Hand of Glory might have been useful, as beyond unseen light only for the owner it aided with trespasses by allowing any door to be open when held a certain way. However that was unavailable.

"Move." She was still tired from the run but spells could be powered with more than just. She inhaled a long sharp blast, concentrated, then gestured with efficiency of wand movements as she evoked her namesake by casting a powerful Smack Hex. "Infligo!"

There was the boom of a giant invisible fist pounding the door causing it to shake, causing almost the whole wall of the shack to shake! It was tricky using this hex on something that wasn't a human opponent but the spell was successful, the door turned inwards a few inches.

"Keep moving," Hexy said, glancing backwards towards the village again. They didn't have time to linger where anyone could see them. She almost collapsed as she crossed the threshold, bracing herself against the door.

'It wasn't a race,' she said. Only because she'd lost. Ted stuck out his tongue playfully and hopped out of the way when he was told to move. A huff and a puff later and the scrawny third-year girl'd blown the door straight open, nearly buckling the old walls. Ted's eyes shot almost cartoonishly wide, his face momentarily losing its full shape, and his jaw dropped.

"Godric's ghost," he breathed, following her into the old house. "We're trying to sneak in, not break the place down."

She stumbled, bracing herself against the door, and it was only then that Ted realized how red her face had gotten, how much she now struggled to breathe. "Hey, are you okay? You're looking kind of...rough." That was an understatement. It never occurred to Ted that the run might have done this to her. Maybe it was the magic? She'd put a lot into it in the last fivve minutes. "I think you'd better sit down or something. Here, I'll get the door."

The door in question had a twisted hinge, right the top, which made it hard to close. Whether it'd been that way originally or been the result of Hexy's spell, Ted couldn't say. Once they were both through he pushed it shut behind them, throwing his shoulder against the old wood to force it back into place. Hopefully, the locals would just chalk all the noises up to ghosts.

He leaned against the door to make sure it'd latched and looked for Hexy again, but was distracted by his first glimpse of the Shrieking Shack's interior. It matched the outside perfectly: broken windows with splintered boards across the frames, ancient furniture smashed to kindling on the remains of rugs, and dust covering every surface, cold, heavy, and undisturbed. They'd arrived in the kitchen first, but he could see through to another room because the doors were missing or broken on all sides. One of them looked like it'd been smashed through with a fireman's axe. The kitchen's wooden floor was covered rotted holes.

"Woah," Ted breathed, taking it all in at once. "This place is...wow."

Hexy sought reprieve on the floor, ending up sitting in the corner made by a cupboard and the wall, head tilted back to breathe.

In that short time she became hypersensitive to the reality of the world, the absolute physical existence of the space she was in. Wood creaked at every movement and her sleeve brought of a thick layer of dust like a knife through cake.

A self that had come from a wealthy family and a luxurious manor that was now sitting in a derelict abandoned house. Why? Because it was there.

She almost laughed.

Dust had never been a specific allergy but Hexy kept her hands away from her face as to not trigger any sneezing. She glanced around the dingy dimness.

"They say the Dark Lord was here during the War." Curiosity had gotten the better of her as she thought about the battle. This had been were he commanded his forces before moving to the forest and then the castle. Would he have ever...left something here? Unlikely, given the obsessive placing of his horcruxes and his belief that he would win the battle. Still, the house had more of a history than what was commonly associated with it.