crawling in the dark | cas

[rhys alexander greyback]

is there something more

than what i've been handed?

April 2028
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

”Do we have any boggarts?” Rhys asked, arms crossed as he stared at the scale model on a table before them. Along with classroom study, Vector included practical training for the students. It was apparently part of his curriculum when teaching them about traps. Rhys had observed a lesson with the first-year trainees involving quicksand, which had proved quite entertaining. This model focused on heights—a pervasive and simple fear among most people.

When he hadn’t heard an answer, Rhys finally looked at his old mentor and colleague. ”What? They’ll cross any rope bridge to get away from their boggart.” Rhys added confidentially. It wasn’t common in most parts of the world, but there was always the chance one did not end up in a tomb or cave but something more open but far more dangerous for the available space and heights. He thought of the dragons in South America flying at the altitudes of the Andes, where one may be quite exposed. But again, with the right spells and awareness of one’s surroundings, it was easy to manage and traverse. Much like the trainee who struggled to pull the inner power needed for a Protego Maxima spell in Rhys’ other course, they simply needed motivation in the form of something large and heavy thrown at them. Not that Rhys would ever let said item actually land on the student, but they didn’t know that.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

April 2028

Cas didn’t usually second-guess his decisions – but then again, his choices usually didn’t lead him deep into the hormone-infested halls of a school he’d never actually gone to. The idea had sounded simple enough when Archie had come to Borgin and Burke’s to suggest it, and it had appealed to Cas’s senses as a world-weary mentor who’d seen one too many troublesome trainees in his cursebreaker days. But reality was much different, and Cas struggled not to fidget with the treasure trove he’d brought to entice the students to the finish line – and which of course was heavily enchanted, so they’d also learn a lesson about snatching shiny things without running a spell check or two first.

Speaking of troublesome trainees…Cas didn’t immediately answer Rhys’s question as they studied a model of the training course they were designing for the cursebreakers-to-be. His former trainee had always been prone to finding flashy solutions, even if he’d grown into a capable cursebreaker over the years. His survival rate was still 100%, which was impressive among the veterans of the career path. But Cas didn’t like to rely on actual living beings to do his work for him (especially if they were his siblings, because then they came with sarcasm and sass attached). Not when he could simply enchant an item to do the same thing. “We don’t need a boggart,” he suggested while he moved some pebbles around on the model so they were near the start of the rope bridge. “I have some amulets that can animate objects in their immediate vicinity. They can cross the bridge or try and out-run the boulder.” That seemed like enough motivation to him.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

is there something more

than what i've been handed?

April 2028
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

Rhys thought for a moment and then lightly nodded his head. That would work. "Alright." So, no boggarts. This training course was an important one. Everyone always underestimated heights and where they might appear. Tombs often went far underground without any light to let one know how far. Falling down a shaft could mean many things, including death. The boulder almost made Rhys smirk. "They'll be sick of boulders by the summer." In his advanced protective charms course, Rhys had grown fond of sending boulders and other large and dangerous objects toward the trainees to pull the strongest defensive charms he could from them. And they hated him for it, but Rhys knew they would thank him later.

And he never felt the need to explain himself to them, the story of losing one's best friend in a Purifier caused accident was a story for another time. "What curses do you plan to hit them with?" Their 'targets' at the end, where they had to ensure its safety but also the safety of those handling the objects. Imagine sending a cursed object to a museum like Merlin's and having some adverse reaction occur in proximity to so many people. Rhys had seen the most annoying curses but also incredibly dangerous ones, a few almost taking him out at some point. "They're antsy to leave the classroom, get their boots dirty." Rhys didn't blame them, but with the advantage of hindsight, he felt they should be more grateful for the extra academics in their training.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

There was a time and place to learn about magical creatures, especially the Dark ones that you were likely to stumble across in dark pits or the outskirts of civilization. But there was also something to be said about quickly studying your environment and learning to adapt quickly – magic took a lot less energy and concentration if you learned to work with what you had around you. So Cas liked the idea of enchanted artifacts that would use the surrounding environment to challenge the students – the good ones would outrun the threat, while the best ones would learn how to control it. “I hope so. Paranoia will keep them alive,” Cas said dryly. That had always been Cas's number one lesson, really. If a student saw a giant boulder and flinched, then they’d done their job as teachers. Threats on the job could come from anywhere, especially the things you least suspected.

At Rhys’s question, Cas flipped through his notebook of horrors. A lot of cursed artifacts had found their way through Borgin and Burke’s over the years, which meant Cas had lots of inspiration for things to throw at the students. Acquiring artifacts was fun, but cursing them himself? There was no comparison. “They have to learn about curse activation before counter-curses. I’ve got some jewelry that’s touch-activated. Mimics the effect of Devil’s Snare, although I’ve charmed it all to stay limited to their arms. Prevent wand access.” (That would incapacitate the students without actually harming them and involving Cas in a mountain of paperwork). It would teach the trainees one of the most important tricks of the trade – look before you touch. And hey, if they learned how to work together and why cursebreakers always went out in pairs...even better. Cas flipped to a new page that detailed wall frescos of warriors who peeled off the wall to attack if you got too close. That was based off a nasty experience Cas and Rhys had had in Egypt, back in the day. But he paused to shake his head at Rhys’s observation. “That’s the kind of thinking that leads to accidents. At best.” It was a grim outlook, but how many of his peers had he lost to grisly mistakes? The career jaded you after a while.

rhys alexander greyback