#homenumevent

THE SOUL OF LORD VOLDEMORT.

Lord Voldemort thought himself safe. That was why he chose now to abandon his campaign of subtlety and secrecy in favor of open war. He had finally forged his sixth and final Horcrux, so what could the Ministry of Magic hope to do to him? What could the Order of the Phoenix do? He was immortal - or so he thought.

But Lord Voldemort underestimated people. Surely, no one but he was clever enough to discover the existence of his Horcruxes! He did not anticipate the cleverness of others. He did not anticipate Regulus Black. He believed the boy to be dead, after all. A coward in his own destruction - someone who could not handle the power of Lord Voldemort. 

As it turned out, the Horcrux that Regulus had found was only one piece of the puzzle. What he needed to discover was how to find the others. It wasn’t until Sirius Black mentioned the orb and how the dark object was able to kill 100 Muggles in a single night that Regulus realized there might be more than one way - perhaps the Horcruxes could be destroyed without even finding them at all.

He waited; listening in on conversations, learning about the orb, reading about the attack. And, when the battle broke out at the Ministry of Magic, he knew it would be his chance. Regulus moved to the House of Bones and found the orb and activated it using the magic that the Dark Lord himself had taught him. 

Instead of setting its sights on Muggles, however, he selected the target as bits of Voldemort’s soul. He used the locket he had retrieved from the cave that nearly killed him as a focus, and tuned the orb to seek-out the rest. When Regulus triggered the spell, it destroyed the Horcruxes in their locations all over the Wizarding World - and the seventh and final piece as well, the one still residing in the Dark Lord himself.

Those at the Ministry who were brave or unfortunate enough to be in the presence of Lord Voldemort as he unleashed his destructive powers in the battle watched as the final piece disintegrated, though no one there could tell how.

At the same time, wix across Britain felt themselves change. As though a piece of them had suddenly... left. Their bodies, their minds, their soul altered forever. Soon, it would be discovered that Regulus’ ploy with the orb did its trick, but with a nasty consequence.

Those who had been touched by Voldemort’s magic were affected, too. A piece of them was taken from this world as the final piece of him died. Not just his Death Eaters, who were wracked with agony as their Dark Marks burned icy-hot against their skin and deep into their bones, but all those who had ever fallen victim to his dark magicks.

They would survive - the soul could be split into seven, after all; Voldemort had proved that much, even if it had ultimately been his downfall. Losing a single piece was far from fatal. But a body without a piece of its soul... is that worth the life left over?

DETAILS.

The battle is over. The war has been won. 

Those who have had their character face-to-face with Lord Voldemort (either during the game or prior to it starting) would have had a piece of their soul sucked from their body and obliterated. How would this affect them?

This remaining portion of the event will last only two weeks in real time. 

THINGS TO CONSIDER.

Have your characters finish up any final battles they’re a part of - just because Voldemort is dead does not mean all Death Eaters will give up! It will take time for word of his demise to travel.

Characters might think to gather back at the House of Bones.

DARK MARKS AND FLAME.

The quiet, damp spring morning of Sunday, March 21, 1982 is suddenly shattered by the crack of explosions sounding throughout Diagon Alley! As the smoke clears, it becomes clear that several buildings were caught in the blasts, most prominently Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Shoppe and Maxim Talkalot’s Apothecary. What also becomes clear are the two Dark Marks floating in the sky above the burning rubble.

The fear and confusion engendered by the explosions triples as the sight and the whole Alley erupts in chaos and terror. The DEATH EATERS are here. No one is safe.

Some of the buildings targeted seem like obvious choices; others, less so. Florean Fortescue has been thumbing his nose at blood-supremacy for years, and the gossip about his employee’s tiff with one Lucius Malfoy is still making the rounds four months later; really the Dark Mark floating above his ice cream shoppe was just a matter of time. Maxim Talkalot’s apothecary is another matter; the Talkalots have always been sensible, practical people and while almost no one would be surprised were it be revealed that Fortescue’s clerk Sirius Black were a member of that Phoenix Group just like his deceased school chum, Potter, none of Talkalot’s people have any connection to the Order...but someone must have done something to upset the Death Eaters, because a Dark Mark hangs in the air above the ruins of his shoppe, too.

Most of the members of the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol on duty this morning are in Newcastle-upon-Tyne investigating what turns out to be a false report of Death Eater activity; while the Ministry scrambles to call-in and dispatch available Aurors and other agents, the Death Eaters take the opportunity to sow more chaos and fear - and to fight anyone who doesn’t run screaming at the sight of their silver masks.

CHAOS AT HOME.

The Order of the Phoenix barely has a chance to begin to gather and dispatch a few members to Diagon Alley to assist - because trouble has come to find them, too. Shortly after the explosions begin, the Potter Estate is overrun by Death Eaters. It was their headquarters for over three years until it was recently compromised by the defection of one Ainsley Abbott to the Dark Lord (James having been the Secret Keeper for his home before his untimely death at Ainsley’s hands) and the Order has been waiting ever since for the other shoe to drop...but in the meantime, it seemed a perfect location for Maurice Creevey to host his new recruiting broadcasts. It’s large, available, still has a loyal house-elf on staff, is well-warded, and since its anonymity is already jeopardized it would be no real loss to the Order should the Death Eaters be able to trace the broadcasts back to their source. Not that anyone expected that so quickly...

No, a lazy Sunday morning seemed a perfect time for a trial run of their new spell-augmented program and call-in line (and for Emmeline Vance and Benjy Fenwick to finally clear-out the last of the supplies left behind during their hasty abandonment of their impromptu infirmary) and all was going well...until the Death Eaters arrived.

They were able to Apparate right through the wards, as though someone who knew the spells had told them how - or perhaps they’d simply gathered so much magical power that they overwhelmed the magicks that should have forestalled them. However they did it, they were suddenly there with little to no warning and the handful of Order members found themselves abuptly fighting for their lives.

Everything happened so fast that the first few minutes of battle actually went out live on-air before the broadcast cut-off - making for an extremely tense unintended cliff-hanger for the startled listeners! On the upside, those who don’t think it a cheap gimmick in bad-taste as sure to tune-in next time to find out what happened...provided that enough of the Order survives that there will be a next broadcast...

ASSIGNMENTS.

THE WAR RAGES ON...

The appearance of Lord Voldemort unsurprisingly unleashes even more chaos in the streets of Diagon Alley, but as more and more people Apparate to safely, their absence leaves little but dust and smoke to float quietly in the air. The Alley is left with an eeriness as Order members find themselves moving to various locations, many to the safehouses belonging to the organization. 

Those that find themselves at the Potter Estate see a similar scene to what they’d left. But the battle does not last long. Soon, Voldemort has had his way with Dorcas Meadows and Annalise Fawley and calls his loyal servants back to him.

The destruction at the house is palpable. A chandelier was broken thanks to Remus Lupin not too far outside the infirmary, which looks like it’s gone through an explosion. Inside, bloodstains litter the floors from one Emmeline Vance, whom Benjy Fenwick managed to transfer to the McKinnon Farm. Emmeline’s life was saved thanks to help from Benjy and Severus Snape. 

While the explosions in Diagon Alley had been used at least in part as a distraction for the attack on the Potter Estate, that doesn’t mean the damage wasn’t real. Florean Fortescue died in Sirius Black’s arms, a target of the Dark Lord’s attack due to Fortescue’s general speaking-out against Voldemort’s cause. Sirius thought he recognized the spell used as Severus Snape’s sectumsempra spellwork.

Lucinda Talkalot, after witnessing the destruction of her uncle’s shop, joined the ranks of the Order via an accidental trial-by-fire initiation when Lily Evans brought her to the Potter Estate, only to encounter more Death Eaters. While Lucinda’s uncle did not perish in the fray, his shopkeeper Verna died on impact of the explosion. Rumors speculate that she may have been the target.

Also in Diagon, Ainsley Abbott, in silver mask, lifted a jinx off Artem Tremblay’s eyes then ran back into the fight on the side of the Death Eaters, while Branwen Yaxley carved up a Death Eater (later discovered to be Thorfinn Rowle) like a Christmas ham. Artem was able to convince Branwen to let them play with their prey and bring her next target (Alcott Avery) back to the House of Bones for interrogation. 

Lu Travers protected Charlie Weasley from being tortured by Eleanora Avery, taking the Cruciatus in the child's place. After confirming the stunned Eleanora as the Death Eater, Caradoc Dearborn wiped her memory and sent Lu to "the safe house," where they stumbled into the battle and fought alongside the Order, albeit taking care to prevent the Death Eaters from making note of their allegiance.

Regulus Black, over the ineffectual protests of Gideon Prewett, captured and murdered Death Eater Julian Selwyn to prevent his “miraculous” survival from being exposed to the rest of the Death Eaters.

Mundungus Fletcher found a list of dates that had been taken from Nott Manor on the night James Potter died. He showed it to Amelia Bones and, together, they discovered that date of the explosion was right on top. 

It will likely take weeks to sort-through and repair all the damage in Diagon Alley, and even longer before some people feel safe shopping there again -- and of course, the dead cannot be revived -- and as for the Potter House, it is hard to say what will happen with no proper master left to care for it. One thing is for sure, though: this attack on the very heart of wixen London is going to bring the reality of the war home to many people who thought themselves safely insulated before. This is the sort of wound to the spirit of a community that will not soon heal.

DETAILS.

The Death Eater list will be updated to include the changes reflected from this event.

The Potter Estate has been compromised and is no longer safe. Think about what this might mean for your character.

Peter Pettigrew had given up the location and helped get the Death Eaters through the wards. At this time, only a handful of Order members (Severus Snape and Regulus Black) suspect it to be him, but this may change as the plot progresses.

The above notes of what happened during the event is not everything that was on the dash. Admins chose certain plot points to highlight, as they will be most likely to effect the overarching plot moving forward. If you believe something is missing, please IM the admins through discord and we will edit this post as necessary. 

THE MISSION IS OVER.

As the mission comes to a close and a majority of those in the Order get home safely, the news that Ainsley Abbott has betrayed the organization with the murder of James Potter becomes the main topic of discussion with the members. Mary Macdonald was able to retrieve James’ body and brought it back to Lily Evans at the Potter Estate, while Emmeline Vance and Severus Snape helped continue to monitor the map and treat the injured. 

Those who were focused on retrieving the orb had varying levels of success: Edgar Bones and Caradoc Dearborn found what they assume to be the real orb in the cellar. They still need to submit the object to Gideon (without Ainsley’s help, this time) for testing, but are largely confident in their success. Meanwhile, Amos Diggory, Artem Tremblay, and Maurice Creevey discover a map with locations and a list of dates that they believe to be telling of future Death Eater plans. The last group in search of the orb, Isla Sewlyn-Macmillian and Archie Macmillian, were captured by Death Eaters in the chaos after the murder, despite the original assumption by the Order that they would be the safest to blend in.

Sirius Black and Mundungus Fletcher were caught in their attempts to locate Death Eater information by Cordelia Greengrass, thus resulting in her convincing Dorcas Meadowes to let her into headquarters once the chaos began. At the time, Dorcas was alone due to Ndulue Travers abandoning their mission at the first sight of trouble. Lydia Avery was also brought into the Order’s safe house on McKinnon Farm by Daisy Hookum. Despite having not been aware of the Order’s mission, Amelia Bones was also caught in the crossfire and was brought to headquarters later, where she tended her splinched brother.

As not many in the Order knew that Andromeda Tonks was under polyjuice as her sister, Bellatrix Black, she was mistaken to be the real Death Eater by multiple people, including an awkward encounter with Frank Longbottom where he tried to battle her. Despite this, she and Ryland Greengrass were both able to make it safely back to headquarters, where Emma Vanity was reuniting with Dorcas. As Andromeda did not want to blow her cover, she immediately went home. 

Before Alice Longbottom Disapparated, she was able to track down and capture the Death Eater Lachlan Greengrass. She will have to make a statement to the Ministry of Magic about what happened at the engagement party. Lachlan has been placed under the custody of the Auror department and will stay in Ministry cells, pending trial.

On the grounds of the manor, Branwen Yaxley and Fabian Prewett discovered a sinister sighting of sixteen dead bodies. They don’t know what these bodies will be used for, but have taken a picture with a Muggle camera to show the Inner Circle. As it happened so quickly, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were not able to support the Order before the chaos began, but learned of James’ death by a patronus from Emmeline. Despite being able to get the wards down in time for the emergency Disapparition, Marlene McKinnon was still injured by Death Eaters and taken to headquarter by Gideon Prewett, who then went back to the party to help get James’ friends out without more harm. 

THE LOOK-ALIKES.

With the revelation that the “Lucius Malfoy” in attendance at the Rosier-Abbott engagement party was really James Potter, chaos and confusion became the order of the evening -- and for days afterward, as high society scrambled to determine who had really been at the party, and who had merely appeared to attend.

Given the duplicitous nature of many of the Order’s chosen polyjuice victims, and their haste to want to save face rather than admit to embarrassment, it is likely that the world will never know the truth of everything that happened that night. However, we know the various stratagems by which the Order of the Phoenix cleared the guest list for themselves:

LUCIUS & NARCISSA MALFOY: Andromeda "dosed" her nephew, Draco, with a tiny little potion to get him sick (just a simple cold) - but of course, Narcissa and Lucius won’t go anywhere when their precious son is sick!! (A fact well known among their circle.) So they stayed home, while Mary and James "became" them. Andromeda didn't need to get close to do so - just dropped-in while they were out and about.

Their alibi was rendered unassailable by the reversion of “Lucius” to James after his death, and while they scored themselves no social points by staying home (nor respect from the Dark Lord for having let themselves be used thus), everyone has had to get used to the fact that the Malfoys will dote on their little boy above all else.

BELLATRIX & RODOLPHUS & RABASTAN LESTRANGE: To allow Andromeda to avoid her crazier sister and because Ryland didn't think he could, Sirius did the work to slip the Lestranges a sleeping draught strong enough to keep them drowsy into the earlier morning hours. He wasn't seen breaking in to their home and, aside from a potential headache, there shouldn't be any lasting effects to what he did (unfortunate perhaps, but even Sirius wasn't about to kill his cousin in such a situation).

They were roused early by Voldemort himself descending on their home; despite their grogginess from the lingering potion, these most loyal followers dragged themselves from their respective beds and made their way back to the Rosier estate in time to witness the induction of one Ainsley Abbott into their ranks.

CASPER CROUCH: Branwen faked a letter from her mother to Casper Crouch: It's time you go on a date together, how about the party you're both invited to? Crouch, who knew Bran since they were toddlers, was as little pleased by this as Bran would have been herself had it been real. So, when Branwen showed up at his house and offered him a few Galleons saying I’ll give you this if you stay home and say you got sick, he willingly agreed.

Because Fabian (acting as Crouch) would have to leave after an hour by pretending to get sick, all messages coming to Crouch after the party would be something like I hope you feel better! and no one will notice a thing. At least, that was the plan; given what really happened, it’s unlikely anyone will be thinking of sending polite notes worrying about Casper’s health! Fortunately any gossip that “his” presence with Bran might have inspired shoul be overshadowed by the rest of the night’s events, so he’ll probably never be any the wiser -- just cross at having missed an interesting party for once!

ELLADORA ROWLE: Caradoc actually did the whole formal-proposal thing to Elladora Rowle. He does attend with the real Elladora for the first moments of the event and then brings her outside for one of those private (possibly naughty?) talks, where he and Edgar (gently) knock her out and hide her in a bush. Edgar takes over and they search the cellar. After an hour, they plan to switch back, with Caradoc just telling Elladora that she fainted. They would resume the night together. At least that was the plan... until Edgar and Caradoc come up from the cellar to the chaos following the death of James.

Then the plan changes only a little: Edgar flees with the Orb, and Caradoc fights his way to the garden where he revives Elladora and tells her that a battle broke out and both of them were Stunned in the chaos, he must get her home at once - and as no one is likely to check the precise timing of events against Elladora’s bewildered memory, his cover story will be one of the most air-tight of the night.

PERPETUA BULSTRODE: Lu meets Lady Bulstrode on the 14th for a private afternoon tea (and all that it includes). The Order knows Lady Bulstrode thinks herself too old now to attend such events so it is Lu's job to charm her into considering going together. "Oh, please Lady Bulstrode! Who else is ever going to take me to such a dazzling party!" When she agrees, Lu suggests to celebrate this decision with a little "party cocktail" to "knock that age out of your bones". In reality it's only a whisper-dreams potion where every word you hear upon falling asleep will become a vivid and delightful dream. So Lu whispers some sweet nothings about the party into her ear as she falls asleep and then catches up with Dorcas. 

If during the next few days people mention her at the party, she will simply think that between the party cocktail and her age, some facts must've gotten blurred. Certainly she’s not about to admit that she doesn’t remember her heroically maternal rescue of pretty, dim-witted Cordelia Greengrass from the chaos! And if she spends the next few months paying a private Healer for some extremely discrete memory-assistance, well... she’s a miserable old codger anyway. She probably deserves to fret a bit.

EDWIN & MORGANNA YAXLEY: After they agreed on which Yaxley they each would get to play, Mundungus assured Sirius that he would take care of delaying the real couple. How? Fashion sabotage. While getting ready for the party, the Yaxleys notice that the clothes tailored and selected for the night have lost all their charms that made them unique and the latest fashion. This is nothing short of an emergency, and it forces them to ask for a tailor to fix the charms on them in haste. Unbeknownst to them, the sabotour and their 'saviour' is exactly the same person working undercover: Mundungus. Now, woven with the spells that make their garments magical, there is a little hex that causes them to lose track of time -- confused but not completely out, just delaying them enough to give Sirius, playing Morganna, and Mundungus, playing Edwin, the time to sneak into the party.

The hope was that between the fashion emergency and the hex, the real Edwin and Morganna might be a little too stressed and confused to remember exactly at what time they arrived and to whom they'd spoken first. Besides, the only thing that ought to have mattered was that everyone would be in awe of their outfits! That they arrived just in time to witness the party descend into chaos is unfortunate... but at least they didn’t happen across themselves during the hasty about-face they beat the minute they saw which way the wind was blowing!

IGOR KARKAROFF: Having known they needed to gain some part of Karkaroff for the event, Emma accepted to have tea at his house. What was innocent quickly turned sinister as Karkaroff tried to use force to seduce young Emma. Hearing the commotion, Fabian raced to the rescue and knocked Igor out. Together, they pulled a tooth for the potion.

If Karkaroff remembered this, it was unbeknownst to anyone, as he wasn’t keen on sharing how he’d been turned down. He did not plan on attending the party after the debacle and expressed this sadness vehemently to Archie while the latter got ready for the evening. Archie was able to slip Igor a sleeping draught that should last several hours, allowing Daisy to become him for the evening. If asked later, it's possible that Igor might tell the truth...but for Emma's sake, everyone is hoping he'll be too embarrassed to mention it. Still, he certainly knows he didn't go to the party with her....

THE ENGAGEMENT PARTY: FEBRUARY 14TH, 1981.

The engagement party thrown by the Rosiers to celebrate the impending union of their own Jayesh with one Vanessa Abbott is hardly the shindig of the century - Vanessa is of middling social rank at best, and until a little over ten years ago was not even aware of her own pureblood heritage, but Jayesh is besotted and as he’s a younger son, a pretty, vivacious wife with pure blood and little fortune but great enthusiasm is acceptable.

     (Besides, there’s little chance of anyone outdoing the obnoxious gala that fêted the Malfoy-Black marriage any time soon.)

Nonetheless, in these dark times any happiness is worth celebrating, and the Rosiers are not known for their frugality or dullness so it is sure to be a memorable event...

                                             ...especially for the Order of the Phoenix.

THE MISSION.

Having learned from Isla Selwyn-Macmillan that the mysterious Orb that the Order has been chasing since that disastrous night at the Notts’ home, and which is believed to have recently been responsible for the deaths of 102 Muggles, is now being stored at the Rosier family’s chief residence, the Order has decided to take advantage of the party to infiltrate the estate discreetly and retrieve the Orb (and any other potentially useful secrets they can find along the way), an endeavor that will doubtless be helped by the fact that one of their own is the sister of the bride-to-be.

ASSIGNMENTS.

A DEADLY BETRAYAL.

Ainsley Abbott’s betrayal of the Order comes with a deadly cost. 

When the Death Eaters cornered Ainsley with the claim that they’d discovered her true loyalties, they threatened her sister if she didn’t help them. She agreed to defect to the Death Eaters, betraying the Order of the Phoenix in the process. 

Shaken up from the encounter, she watched as James Potter and Mary Macdonald followed Vanessa into an empty corridor after Nessie saw suspicious activity with Maurice, Artem, and Amos. Ainsley saw James hex her sister and assumed the worst - that the Death Eaters were the only hope she had left.

The thought ended with James Potter dead on the floor from Ainsley’s own wand, despite Mary’s best efforts to save him. Taking advantage of Mary’s distraction over James, Ainsley was able to escape with her Stunned sister while the party dissolved in chaos behind her.

DETAILS. 

Yes, James is really dead. Details of how this will affect the Order will come at the end of the event, along with what will be happening with Admin Karli in terms of taking up a new character. James will be listed as ‘deceased’ on the character page and he will no longer be a played character (though past threads can be completed).

Ainsley will be moved to a secondary character and Admin Nicky will continue to play her as needed. 

James’ death negated his polyjuice - so his body soon looks like him again. This can be noticed by other party-goers, therefore tipping them off that the party has been compromised. Order members should work on getting out of there and back to headquarters! They should be able to Apparate in most places of the home, given Gideon and Marlene were successful in taking down the wards. James’ body can either be left behind or retrieved, as decided by plotting amongst players. 

Some characters may not be aware of the death happening at all - and think they were compromised in other ways. Or, perhaps, they aren’t aware of the compromise for a while (those on the grounds or other floors might not know people are fleeing right away!) Lily and Emmeline will be able to tell almost immediately based on having their watchful eyes on the Order’s magical map.

Please don’t feel as though you have to stay within your assigned group for this part. Because there is chaos - threads can be between any characters! 

MISTLETOE MISHAP

The impromptu decorations provided by Emma Vanity were meant to add to the festive air of the Order’s holiday party and perhaps provide a bit of much-needed levity. Unfortunately, she did not realize that some of the harmless mistletoe she bought was charmed...

Now, anyone who finds themselves standing under Emma’s mistletoe with another party-goer may find themselves unable to move away from the charm’s area of effect until they kiss their partner. 

DETAILS

The following pairs have been assigned under the mistletoe threads together, with subsequent dice-rolling to determine if it’s harmless or charmed: