February 28th, 1890 — Hogwarts Lawns
Clue Leverett

Aristide's day had been going at its usual pace and he hadn't noticed anything too different about his day. He had borrowed targets from the Leisure Sports club and had his bow and arrows with him as he set himself up on the lawns away from most of the other students. He didn't tend to pay much attention to most other students but that didn't mean he wanted to accidentally pierce one with one of his arrows. Not that he ever missed a target but one never knew when one of the other students might run across his line of fire when playing their own games. On top of that, Aristide and his bow and arrows were an often known sight among the Hogwartians, just as much as the sight of him with a lyre.

Notching one of his arrows, he let it fly. And rose an eyebrow as it continued to fly, rather slowly rather than the usual speed an arrow would take. This arrow was going so slow it might have seemed still if you weren't paying enough attention. Going over to the arrow, he eyed it curiously. "Interesting," he muttered to himself as he noticed the arrow inching just a bit further.

  

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Clue was following a red fox. This was the sort of thing he did when such pursuits as homework came to an end and the outdoors beckoned with open, chilly arms.

Nestled in his overlarge winter coat, the small lad took another tentative step forward, stealthy as you like — and still the fox did not notice him. Either that or it did notice him but cared not. The fox was behaving rather oddly, not just with its brazen exploration but because its exploration was taking place in daylight hours. It was as if the creature knew something was wrong today.

Such was his fixation on his new woodland friend, Clue did not notice that he was walking into a makeshift archery range. Not until the fox stopped and looked at... an arrow... but a very, very slow arrow, moving through the air, supposedly magically drained of its power. The fox was curious as can be, tilting its head and leaning its maw forward to sniff at the approaching arrow — which, if it sped up now, would injure the poor thing terribly...

"No..." Clue breathed, afraid that precisely this would happen, rushing forward to chase away the fox from the arrow before it was too late.

  

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Aristide rose an eyebrow from where he stood alongside his suspended arrow as a boy he recognized came rushing forward. The fox caught his eye next and he smiled as he recognized it. "Sorry, little darling, Adrienne isn't with me this time," he said to the fox as he plucked his arrow out of the air and put it back in his quiver. Adrienne was the outdoors one between the two and was much loved by animals. And thus so was Aristide, mostly by association.

"Mister Clue Leverett, was it? You're in my twins year and house," Ari said, more stating a fact than asking. People said the boy before him was strange but then they also said the same about him so he didn't take much stock in what other people said. His eyes darted back to the fox as it hopped through the snow - only in very slow motion like his arrow had been just moments ago. "I suppose Father Time has decided to take a nap," he said, more to himself than the other boy.

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italics means Aristide is speaking French

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Thankfully the arrow was snatched out of the air before it could do harm — then the fox turned its attentions to the snow. Wide-eyed, Clue watched as it frolicked with the same slowness as the arrow before.

Clue glanced round at the speaker; Aristide Selwyn, his housemate's Ravenclaw brother. The business with the too-slow arrow (and now the too-slow fox!) was apparently not something that Selwyn had anticipated, and thus not a spell he himself had cast.

Clue glanced around the lawn. "Somebody is casting an Impediment Jinx..." but who?

  

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"It would be effecting us as well but you are moving at a normal speed," Aristide said in thought. "Unless they're specifically targetting my arrows an the fox." Which... he would expect really. People tended to think that he was weird and his life so far had taught him that people liked to bully oddities. Well, there was an easy way to find out if it really was someone casting spells. "Finite," he cast but nothing happened - the fox stayed as slow as ever.

  

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Clue stared at the fox for a while, but was glad to see that it did not seem to be in any pain. Or even discomfort — Merlin, it didn't even seem to be bewildered. It was just... going about its life. Very... very... slowly.

"Interesting", he murmured, still watching the fox, as Selwyn proved it was not a simple spell. "It feels almost as if a pot of mutated time has been smashed, spilling out all manner of anomalies into the Grounds. I wonder if somebody is supposed to be mopping this up."

  

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Aristide idly watched the fox as well and glanced back towards the castle. "I wonder if this is happening just on the grounds or in other parts of the castle?" He said thoughtfully. He wouldn't mind going on a search to try and find more of these 'time pockets'.

  

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Clue was curious too, but certainly not socially inclined to suggest that they go searching for anomalies together. For together was not a concept the strange Slytherin was familiar with.

His eyes darted back to the fox as suddenly the little creature returned to full speed. But it seemed comfortable with both boys in the vicinity, so simply shook its head as if to dislodge some confusion, then sniffed around at some bluebells.

Clue straightened up to his full (puny) height, then made to walk in the direction of the castle to chase his curiosity. Whether or not Selwyn joined him was not his business, but the fact that Clue wasn't actively avoiding him was perhaps the greatest compliment he could give the Ravenclaw.

  

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Aristide was also not the most social but even so, he followed after Clue. "There's a gargoyle statue on the fourth floor that I think looks exactly like the sort of statue that would be near a time pocket." Did he make sense? Aristide didn't know nor did he much care. If Clue came along on his hunch chasing then that was just fine. If not, then Aristide did not wholly mind that either.

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italics means Aristide is speaking French

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Clue became faintly aware that the curious Other was following him, but he paid his presence no heed. Their investigations were separate ventures.

But then the Ravenclaw said something odd, and it lingered in Clue's mind until he could ignore it no longer, and he dropped back a little so they were walking more side-by-side than single file. A statue that seemed like it could be near a time pocket? "Why?"

  

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"It gives off that aura," Aristide said, as if anyone besides maybe Adrienne could possibly know what he meant. Then again, who knew? Maybe Clue Leverett would.

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Through the courtyard, they took some outside stone steps up to the first floor, then headed towards the main stairwell that would take them higher. Clue didn't know where this gargoyle statue was, so he let the Ravenclaw lead the way — but not in silence. Clue was in the mood for logic, and pushed him further: "what exactly is an aura?"

  

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"It's your essence. What shows around you to some people," Aristide explained as he lead the way to the Gargoyle. True to form, as soon as he got near it, time sped up erratically - or rather it would appear to look that way given how slowly everyone else around them had become.

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Clue narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but said nothing. "Your essence", Selwyn had said. But as a Potioneer, Clue knew of no such essence. He'd need empirical proof.

But something else demanded their attention at present. It turned out Selwyn was right — there was something happening around the gargoyle. Other students were present in the corridor as well, but they seemed to slow right down and not realise it, while the two boys seemed to move at their regular pace.

Well, the Ravenclaw had been the one to suggest this bizarre hotspot, so perhaps he had a plan. Clue hung back, watching the other passively.

  

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"Looks like I was right - want to test how far it goes? I'll walk that way and you signal me when I begin looking like I'm going slow," Aristide suggested, utterly fascinated by these strange happenings.

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Clue nodded, able to consent to this moment of "teamwork" because it was a curious experiment more than anything else.

The small Slytherin hung back against the wall and watched with his hands in his pockets. He gave a vague nod when Selwyn, walking past the gargoyle, began to slow. But then he frowned; "you've not just slowed down... you're not moving at all..."

  

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