A Bear Sized Cog In The Machine | Open

Late September

In the world of Bear priorities the state of the clock tower was a high priority to fix. Higher than library which was in such a bad state that he'd actually helped out on multiple occasions - unofficially of course. As there was no way Bear was committing to anything based on the current state of Hogwarts confident that it would all work out. Yes, he'd be back to leisurely studying books that interested him sitting in a hammock stung up between two of the supports of the clock tower as the gears turned there melodic clanks again in no time.

Today those gears weren't turning in a melodic manner. In fact, many of them weren't turning at all which caused the discordant sounds he'd heard since the start of term. Sounds he visited enough to accept that with everything else going on that likely no one was going to put the effort into the clock tower that was put into the kitchens, library, or hospital wing.

Today he decided he was going to give it a try even if he was clueless about his third favorite clock on the Hogwarts grounds actually worked - his top two were in his personal collection. After all, no clock as beautiful as the one Hogwarts had should go in disrepair. The catch was the clock Hogwarts had was physically at least ten times larger than him, and much more complex than any pocket watch he'd ever taken apart. Even worse he was more scared of getting caught in part of it than he was being hit by a bludger.

Now he looked up at the clock with a school broom in his hand. Yes, despite the fact that he hadn't picked up a broom since his first year flying lessons while at Hogwarts he knew how to fly. Or so he hoped. Then he looked down at the brooms he'd brought which was a handful of four school brooms and realized he should be hoping they still remembered how to fly.

He looked at the broom and said " Up ". It didn't move and all he heard was a tick of the clock with to far of a gap between the next one to be on purpose. Then he said " Up " again and at least the broom went to his hand and he climbed on.

Rising in the air on his broom he started attempting to vanish cobwebs off the gears. Then he realized that instead of vanishing a cobweb one of his spells accidentally vanished a gear which had him say " Bloody hell. I was pointing at cobweb not a cog. "

This wasn't good.

Then he shouted " Watch out below! " as he realized that when he touched a gear in one of his cuckoo clocks often more gears fell. Which was scary as some of the gears above him in this clock were magnitudes bigger than he was.

This was a bad idea.

He flew forward and grabbed the gear above it which had been thankfully unmoving to hope that was helping him hold it up.

Bear had been carrying four school brooms after lunch, looking grimly determined in a way that usually spelt trouble. The sight of the Ravenclaw attempting anything involving flight had been enough to send Corbin dashing down to the dungeons for his racing broom.

By the time he returned, Bear had vanished. Corbin stood in the courtyard, scanning the grounds until he heard the discordant clanging from the clock tower - louder and more jarring than usual.

Corbin jogged across the grounds toward the sound, his racing broom balanced over his shoulder. The closer he got, the more obvious it became that something was seriously amiss with the ancient mechanism.

The crash echoed from inside the tower. Someone shouted a "Watch out below!"

A massive gear plummeted toward the stone floor.

"Arresto Momentum," Corbin snapped, his wand already in his hand. The gear slowed to a gentle drift before settling on the flagstones with a heavy thud instead of a catastrophic crash.

He looked up through the maze of clockwork to see Bear hovering on one of the school brooms, both hands gripping an enormous gear that looked ready to join the first.

Of course. Only Bear would attempt major mechanical repairs using Vanishing Spells.

Corbin mounted his racing broom and guided it up through the mechanism, ducking under a pendulum as he rose toward Bear's precarious position. The enclosed space made the tower's off-rhythm ticking sound even more wrong than usual.

The whole mechanism groaned as seized gears strained against the parts that were still trying to move. Bear clung to what appeared to be a critical supporting gear, his school broom wobbling under the strain.

Dark stains on the stone floor below suggested this wasn't the first time parts had fallen from the ancient clockwork.

"So," Corbin said, maneuvering closer to get a better view of how the pieces were supposed to fit together, "were you planning to hang out up there till dinner?"

The crash he'd been expecting to hear turned into a thud. He was looking up and concentrating on staying on his shaking broom that he didn't register the spell Corbin said. He had registered Corbin's voice which was a relief which meant he wasn't alone. Though it meant there was someone else that could get injured due to his foolishness.

He wanted to shout for Corbin to go away. He wanted to shout for Corbin to go to safety. He didn't shout any of those things as he was more scared of being alone. Only a foolish reckless person wouldn't try to get help if they were in danger - even if it put the other person in danger. The overall danger was less if there was two of them and at least Corbin knew how to fly.

"So, were you planning to hang out up there till dinner?"

His stomach grumbled at the word dinner. He said " I might need you to get me dinner. " As he wasn't confident the problem he created by his accident was a solvable by dinner problem.

Then he looked up and realized that the gear he was holding was missing a rod. He pointed his wand at the center of it and conjured a rod that he pulled some of the castle stone to form. Then he said " Watch out I'm going to let go. ". He still held on nervously.

He said " I think if I can cable some of these they'll stay in place so we can get that one up. Though I doubt I can get it to tell time. " Which was an embarassing thing to admit as someone who loved clocks and was dedicated to them telling time. What was a clock that couldn't tell time. He said " Would that make this called a music tower as a clock that can't tell time is basically a music box? "

He didn't know. His rambling was fueled purely by being overwhelmed from trying to fly, the state of the clock tower, and just everything at Hogwarts finally getting to him.