Plot:Pentrals Possessing
A wicked brother and sister use the souls of recently deceased to take new identities. In their pursuit of how to use these souls (pentrals) further, they kidnap squibs, who are believed to be the best vessels. When the squibs release pentrals into the world to escape, mayhem ensues.
How to Get Involved
Who?
Everyone
Plotting Resources
- Plot Development Topics: A swarm of souls upon thee!
- Wiki Page(s) on Relevant Subjects: Pentral
- Tags: Pentrals Possessing
- Primary Contact: Elle
Characters
The Family
The Squibs
Possessed by Pentrals
Investigators/Ministry
Concerned Citizens
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The Events Unfold
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- With:
- Solomon Carstairs
"Carstairs. Happy reading."
She gestured at the pile. "Check to see that everything's in order. I won't be coming down here again."
How true that was, she didn't even know.
I'm writing to you from a CASTLE. Sort of! It feels like one. I'm at my own version of Hogwarts - there's a lake, a forbidden forest (not really forbidden), and a massive owlery in this tower that overlooks the grounds. I looked out the window today and couldn't see where the trees ended, that's how much land there is! And they have horses! Lee (the father) offered to take me horseback riding since Calix is not a big fan.Abigail Reid
- With:
- Abigail Reid
As I was sneaking out of the wing, Calix saw me. He looked like I was committing a murder! He grabbed my hand, speed walked to his room, put on a record, and hissed-shouted at me about how I was butting into family business and that if his parents ever caught me, I was going to get hurt. I yelled that he was being ridiculous, and he goes 'it's your fucking funeral!', and Lee comes into the room and wants to know what is going on, and they get into a yelling match over who is scaring me more (guess what, you both win), and the shouting just intensifies, Calix taunts him about how Lee can't lay a hex on him (some sort of charm the agency put on him to protect squib children??), and then they both look at me, and there's this weird tense moment, and I'm embarrassed to say I burst into tears.Abigail Reid
- With:
- Abigail Reid
Are you upset that I'm staying here? Is that why I haven't heard from you?Abigail Reid
- With:
- Abigail Reid
My mother is the only one who has been writing to me, and the thing is, when I told her I might stay with the Lilly family for the December holidays, she was... strangely normal about it. She didn't send me a Howler. She didn't insist that I visit her. She didn't try to dig for information on Aileen's absence, or remind me not to overstay my welcome. She just... accepted it. I offered to visit her and bring Calix and she IGNORED that completely. Who is this person writing to me and what have they done with my mother?!Abigail Reid
- With:
- Abigail Reid
Do you remember what, or who, we talked about in the shack? I'm in a similar situation, or I think I am. Isn't that exciting? We have the best luck.Abigail Reid
- With:
- Abigail Reid
I don't want to go downstairs and face Lori or Lee. Though I know everything I write goes into the Veil, I just want you to be here. I want us to be home.Abigail Reid
- With:
- Abigail Reid
Just wanted to reassure you that everything is well. The only troubling thing is that Lori lost a friend recently and she's been very upset. Apparently this friend was supposed to visit me, and never got the chance. I'm bummed, I really am. I'm sure this person is as kind as the Lillys have been to me.
Calix is turning seventeen in August. His parents are having this big birthday celebration. They told me all about it, haha! As if Calix doesn't know what they are plotting.
It is going to be the most epic birthday bash. Life-changing, you could say.Abigail Reid
- With:
- Abigail Reid
Though I feel a strange affinity with the character Gilly, I have to say that I relate the most to Sansa. I've been met with the same hospitality that Sansa encountered at Highgarden. My host mother has Cersei's patience and warmth, and Lysa's level head. I suspect she enjoys showing guests the Moon Door. She's even offered to show me once or twice, though I politely declined.
My host father helps keep the Moon Door swinging. When he looks at me he sees the ghost of someone else, like Baelish does. He acts more like Theon, with Theon's courageous heart.
Calix is like Tyrion, if he is like anyone. He interacts with his family in much the same way.
Since Brienne is nowhere in sight, the books have inspired me to imitate Arya. I chant a short list of names under my breath before I go to sleep. They sound like a lullaby, if you run the names together quickly enough.Abigail Reid
- With:
- Aileen Reid
- Quoting:
- Rascal Rosier
Late yesterday afternoon, dementors descended on the English countryside, scattering themselves from Cumbria and trickling in as far south as London. The Ministry received a timely warning and employed I.D.R.E.A.D immediately.
I.D.R.E.A.D. was less prepared for a strange, shrieking mist which appeared to be drawing these dementors south.
The mist has reportedly attacked both muggles and wixes, leaving several dead and many injured or changed. As night fell, the entity appeared to retreat or go into hiding. However, those affected are desperate for answers, and there's no rest for the Ministry as the Departments of Magical Law Enforcement and Magical Accidents and Catastrophes scramble to discover the source.
"We've never seen dementors hunt anything other than souls," a source from I.D.R.E.A.D. revealed.
"Attacked by mist! Sounds like an American horror novel doesn’t it?" author Rascal Rosier remarked excitedly, part of a group of wixes and muggles evacuated late last night from the Croydon area.Maggie Groust
"I was there for Abby. I thought I could save her." Aileen's shoulders hunched. She looked down at her frozen hands.
Twenty one, twenty two.
"But the dementors were coming and the pentral ran into me." She drew in a shaky breath. "I tried to fight it off. It took over."
Thirty, Thirty one.
"It took over. It's still-" her face turned pale.
"It's still here!"Aileen Reid
- With:
- Zelda Sellaphix
- Quoting:
- Solomon Carstairs
Clues emerge regarding the strange 'mist' that attacked the populace on Wednesday evening. I.D.R.E.A.D. has discovered that the mist is the product of dark magic, having been traced back to a pair of siblings known by the names of Lori and Lee Lilly. The Lilly pair reportedly used their manor in Keswick as a base for criminal operations. They are at large and presently being hunted by Aurors. A press statement from Level Two warns that both brother and sister are suspected of multiple murders, forbidden magics, illegal potion dealing, as well as the abuse and mistreatment of unicorns. Should readers discover persons matching the description below, they are asked to notify Level Two immediately. Do not engage.Maggie Groust
"This is not the first time it's happened. Happened this morning. Not as bad. And I think it's what woke me up Wednesday night. I'd thought it was a nightmare but I..."Zelda Sellaphix
“My staff would need to do tests on a small sample.” Miranda replaced the bundle, glancing back at Zelda. “Nothing personal.”Miranda Storm
- With:
- Lorelei Hunt
Knockturn Alley's oldest apothecary, Sellaphix Apothecary, has temporarily shut its doors following an apparent break in the early hours of August 17. The break-in was reported to the Ministry of Magic by owner Zelda Sellaphix on August 17. Auror reports indicate there were no signs of forced entry, and that an estimated 500 to 1000 galleons of damage had been done inside.Niobe Thursby
"Abby?" He resisted the urge to stop and turn to her, even when he saw her rub her forehead out of the corner of his eye; the faster they got out of the park, the better. Besides, he knew the fear he was currently feeling was likely etched plainly across his face. "Are you not feeling well?"Sasha Schlagenweit
"The Aurors think that," she paused, trying to find the right words. "There were people trapped in the portraits, somehow. People that the Lilly's killed over a span of years, Sasha. Like, it's been going on a long time. They killed them, they somehow put the-" She paused, couldn't bring herself to say soul or pentral. "The essence of their victims into the paintings. When we let them out," she trailed off, lifting her hand in a limp gesture. Abby turned her face away, and let out a scoffing, shaky laugh. "It's all just insane."Abigail Reid
"She threw away her phone," he offered, going straight for what felt like the most damming evidence. At least, in his mind. "Then, she started looking for a wand, as if she'd misplaced it. The next moment, she was more like herself, but she was confused - disoriented and nervous. That wasn't the only time I didn't think I was talking to Abby, but it seemed to get harder to tell." That really worried him - along with many other aspects.Sasha Schlagenweit
The ghosts at Hogwarts made death seem funny, like a joke. They floated through walls bantering with each other and helping or annoying the professors. He couldn’t quite connect their transparent forms to real people who had died. Yet this man, this sorrowful old gentleman in his ordinary sweater vest who turned his back on Elaine's polite questions, felt a little too real to Wesley.Wesley Wold
- With:
- Abigail Reid
- Moira McBoid
"Dad, this is Abby Reid. Abby, meet my dad Angus." Moira took another drink, watching her dad's expressions. Angus couldn't help but feel the girl looked familiar, although he was certain he had never met her before. Perhaps it had been from the ghastly news in the paper? He beamed at her. "Abby, it's a pleasure to meet you. I do hope you've made yourself at home."Moira McBoid
"It's getting hard to tell where her thoughts end and where mine begin," Abby admitted, then paused, about to make a joke, but unable to think of one. Which likely did nothing to alleviate Virgil's worries.Abigail Reid
"For our first exercise - if one of you could describe the initial sequence of events, just before you merged?" Yav glanced up at the ceiling, as if to address the disembodied voice. "And the other, please, focus on an object or series of objects you associate with the events being described. Will them to appear."Yavin Morgenthau
"Merlin's bones, Mr. Wold. What ghosts are you digging up? I'm a nosy old man, and can't help but ask."Knox Greyfriar
"The people here may not be heartless," he smiled obviously at Abby, "but the Ministry is. And our friends..." He couldn't very well say they were all heartless cause obviously they weren't. But he didn't think most of them would understand. Frankly, he considered himself lucky that he'd gotten more than lucky with Peyton. "I don't want to bother them with something that they wouldn't understand."Nicholas Bevans
"Healer Misselthorpe? Cannenta Caldwell, from the Board of Warlocks." She stuck out her hand. A ring glittered on her index finger. The third thing she'd stolen from Cannenta.
"Thank you for meeting with me at this hour. I won't take up too much of your time. A Healer's work never ceases, does it?"
Lorelei smiled widely, and then a second later remembered to crinkle her eyes.Lorelei Hunt
- With:
- Aviad Cohen
“All right, little spirit,” he grumbled, picking up the jar. He had never seen anything like it before, and it was time for answers. “Now, what are you?”Aviad Cohen
LONDON - The most peculiar thing happened at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries on the night of the 17th of October, just two nights ago. It all began when four Dementors were spotted in the skies of London headed towards the hospital. The Ministry of Magic’s Interdepartmental Dementor response team IDREAD was activated and within minutes Aurors, Obliviators, and agents from The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures were on the scene with the task of driving away the dangerous beasts and preventing casualties. The Dementors made a beeline to the hospital and began, with all urgency, to assail the building completely ignoring every wix outside.Niobe Thursby
She turned and looked down the street after Donnan. The chill air passed around her. She didn't shiver, or guard her hands in her sleeves.
The pentral hooked arms again with Nemo, giving her arm a gentle squeeze to impart some warmth. Raine and Moira and Aileen did that, for Abby. She was learning. She continued to follow Donnan down the street. He would turn soon. Turn left.
He did.Abigail Reid
"Once a time, of bone and flesh..." she whispered the tune slowly. It was a song she didn't know she knew, and even in the singing of it, she only remembered one word at a time, as if the preceding word summoned the next from thin air.
"Severed now, ne'er to rest, these broken folk, once warm and gentle..."
Even as the words came back, she was trying to remember where she'd first heard them. The sense memory was scratchy and tinny, and something smelled bad.
"...are now Wraith's Feast, a pity, a Pentral."Natalie Morrow
But what, readers, are pentrals? According to Ministry specialists, these formless entities are in fact disembodied souls who have been separated from their physical selves through the practice of Dark Magic. Their behaviours are unpredictable, and can range from benign to outright violent.Temperance Cartwright
"There it is. And I've got to say, it wasn't pleasant. You do this before? Because this is my first time." He stood back, crossed his arms, and by words seemed to engage in this not-so-small-talk casually. But they were talking about unicorn blood, nothing small about that. Along with the creeping ick was also a perhaps equally ominous curiosity.Nathan Briggs
"Iona..." Sol murmured quietly to himself before rubbing his face, tired, not sure if she'd heard him. "What am I doing? Talking to ghosts," he reached across his desk for a sheet of memo paper and a quill. "I'll pull their files. You have to tell me what else you know - if they've had other guises, other names we can investigate."Solomon Carstairs
"I should have been there," his protege scowled, staring out towards the lighthouse. "I'm definitely going to be there for the Death Chamber." Yavin's expression softened and he followed the gaze; they watched the light beam out towards sea. Someone lived in that stark white tower, alone, drawing ships in and warning them away. What a job it was, to see everything when the world can see nothing. One mistake and lives were ruined.Virgil Carstairs
- With:
- Aviad Cohen
- Lorelei Hunt
He had come here to seek power. Surely, any sorcerer who could pervert death so would know about other dark things, like breaking the stench of curses that wormed their way into one's soul. But as he looked into the cold, greedy eyes of Lorelei Hunt, wrapped tightly in another's spirit, Aviad wondered for the first time in a long while if he had made the wrong decision.Aviad Cohen
- With:
- Aileen Reid
- Edward Pratt
"Can I," her voice dropped ten degrees. "Will you, Pratt? I don't see your boss here at present, and I'd like someone to explain what exactly happened during the meeting on Tuesday with Mr. Carstairs, Mr. Morgenthau, and my sister."Aileen Reid
"I woke up, Leander was gone. I went into work like usual. I harangued the Aurors more than usual, trying to find the courage to admit that Lorelei was hiding in our flat."
She looked at Carstairs. Her brow furrowed, caught between anger and sorrow, then softening into regret.
"I didn't ever get up the nerve, did I."Abigail Reid
I am writing to inform you gentlemen that a relative of yours, one Iona McBoid, has been discovered in relevance to a recent investigation. If you wish to get in touch with her please write back as soon as possible, and a meeting will be arranged. However, the department cannot guarantee her attendance as she currently resides in another being, as a pentral. Further information will be provided if necessary. I am terribly sorry for your loss. A similar invitation has been extended to Iona's father and mother.Solomon Carstairs
"I imagine she died a long time ago, Uncle, and her soul trapped Merlin knows where all this time. She can't.... Iona has been unable to move on since her death. At the moment she, and whoever she resides in, are stuck in some half life. She can't... she can't stay." Despite his attempts, his voice cracked on the last word.Duncan McBoid
He gave her a sheepish look before shaking his head, "I haven't told anyone. I thought . . . maybe I could just handle it myself." He shrugged and sipped his tea,"Guess I was wrong. I just don't know where to start. It's been months since it happened. How do I explain not doing anything about it sooner?" Granted his passenger had been quiet for most of that time, it wasn't really his fault, right? He frowned at his own thoughts.Neville Longbottom
Yavin was nodding to himself, his brow contracted into a frown. It worked this time, yes. But what about all the patients on whom it didn't work? Would they have to bring out the dementors for them? "Get him out," he removed his spectacles and rubbed his face tiredly, voice carrying in the overarching silence of the chamber. "Next."Yavin Morgenthau
Watching more tears leak from her eyes Duncan found himself wanting to hug her. To pull her close and offer a comfort and support she had lacked for far too long. He didn’t know how welcome such a move would be, so he remained where he was. Instead, he turned one arm so his palm faced up, offering her an invitation for however she needed. “I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that, and then the years of being trapped afterwards.”Duncan McBoid
Her mother paused for a long moment, and since her mother rarely struggled to find the words, Iona remained silent, looking at her. "She's not a squib like we thought. She's not a squib," Marianne repeated at the slowly dawning comprehension on Iona's face. "She developed magic later, and by that time you were," she paused. "Missing. Lori or whoever was in that house didn't answer my owls, and I just kept doing what I was doing. Doing my best."
Wesley looked over the couch at his uncle, practicing his woeful eyes. In tandem, sensing a game, Wren and Wyatt popped their heads over the couch, looking at their uncle. All three children blinked.
His uncle practiced his stern glare. "No."
Wesley shrugged, turned around and ate his marshmallow. He waited for a better time and a better day, to convince them to go back home one cold day in December, to the cold house buried in the snow.Wesley Wold
"But, from what I'm understanding, it sounds like they know how to separate the two of you and when ... not in corporal form ... you have some ability to chose to whom or where you go," Sasha offered slowly, a questioning tone playing in his voice as he looked to Iona or Abby - he had no idea how aware Abby was of the current conversation - for confirmation or correction. "But, the core problem lies in two souls occupying the same being. I ... doesn't that help point us towards the solution?" he asked. "Potential alternatives seem glaringly obvious."Sasha Schlagenweit
After a beat, Sasha nodded his head. "There's a particular pentral I'm hoping to vacate from its current residence. It's clear that the more optimistic the solution is to that problem, the better. My primary interests are in helping the one who's playing host. But, it would be easier for everyone in the long run if doing so didn't involve the permanent demise of the pentral." Understandable emotions had gotten involved.Sasha Schlagenweit
There had been talk of something happening at a lake house somewhere around Keswick earlier in the summer, but he hadn't heard yet about the pentrals changing appearances or being used as disguises. Kurby swallowed, glancing down, and took another sip of beer; the can was nearly empty again, in nearly record time for the evening. He'd called in a lot of favors with Level Two the previous week, but once his count reset, it seemed like he'd need to try to find more information on Hunt and her pentrals. "I'm sorry, mate," he said after a beat, looking back at Duncan. "What's goin' to happen to your cousin?"Kurby Bagnold
“Blake, watch the door,” Jonas ordered over his shoulder as he took another step into the room. “Something’s wrong,” he said, still wary as he moved closer. “He’s not moving, I don’t know if he’s —“
And then he caught what was wrong.
“It’s a doll,” he breathed, stepping closer.Jonas Trevelyan
- With:
- Aileen Reid
- Kurby Bagnold
"I already said I'd take the help," he said evenly, crossing his arms against his chest in an unconscious mirror of her body language. "Are we goin' to look into the symbol and the shop together, or are you off to Knockturn to see if you can convince that bleedin' place to let you see the ledger for yourself?"Kurby Bagnold
"If everything, hah, if everything goes right?" Yav echoed, rubbing the back of his head tiredly. "I'll think about it. But if we're doing this, Virgil," he gesticulated animatedly. "We're going to, hm, we're going to take every precaution. I mean it. No improvising, alright?"Yavin Morgenthau
"Don't worry about me. I'm low-risk," his smile was crooked but sweet, "and I can do it. If it makes it easier for Flower Girl, let me do this for you both."Virgil Carstairs
He understood then. That redheaded woman wearing his mother's cloak and living in his mother's house was not his mother.Wesley Wold
"You're right," he shot Iona a dry and helpless smile, "Abby isn't going to follow me out. I'm going to send her out with this and I'll follow her. It'll be fine," the wizard added quickly with a glance at the squib. "Just like when I pop back into my body after being in someone's dreams, okay?"Virgil Carstairs
- With:
- Abigail Reid
- Raine Almasy
"I just wanted to see you before you left on your trip. As I'm returning from mine," she raised her eyebrows teasingly. "From Lim-bo," she drawled out. "I've got you beat, I've won the bet, Raine. You can admit it now." What bet? No one knew.Abigail Reid
"I don't know what's appropriate in this sort of situation," she shook her head, her face tense, a wry twitch at the corner of her mouth contrasting with the bleak look in her eyes. "She loved them, but she didn't like to think about them where I could hear her, which makes me doubt whether she'd want me to speak for her now."
Lucy had saved Wesley from the dementor, but would it hurt him or help him to understand that? Aileen couldn't even say where the pentral had gone. Only that she'd left.
"We thought we'd have more time. She didn't have time to tell me," she swallowed, and shook her head again.Aileen Reid
"Everyone's been kind of . . . Weird 'round me. I didn't tell anyone about -" he dodged a pedestrian that was too focused on their mobile to notice them, "you know. Just with losing me Gran. She's pretty much the only family I had left. Feels like everyone's been walking on eggshells."Neville Longbottom
"I'm afraid it's not a mistake. A horrible thing has happened to a lovely, helpful person. Remember, a Pentral is neither good nor bad. They're made from the hurt of ordinary people by the uncaring. Nothing will ever change the helpful life your mother lived," Knox tried.Knox Greyfriar
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