Towers

Fear me not, fleshling, I seek no feast here, nor am I of the Inferi, with whom there is no reason or recourse. Rotted I am, and rotten I was, even in life, but the semi-existence to which I cling is more precious to me than a child of your years could conceive, and therefore I will not endanger it by some ill-planned assault in this time and place. I go to a gathering in these turbulent towers, and lich though I am, you have my word, in my company no harm shall come to you.

Not among the healing shall I stray, have no fear, the hospitality of the Hospital I do not expect, nor would I trouble them with my presence, but the mechanism of measurement, the vast Clock in its skyward sheath, this is an accomplishment worthy a moment's contemplation. To its bells I am drawn, not by lures sonorous but by invocations and considerations compelling to one in my state.

We see about us the many models of galactic sway, of the rhythm of the stars' dance, and indeed, for Astronomy this place is truly fitting and fitted. Their practitioners may here encounter guidance, for the Professor is most often ensconced in his Office, which abutts the classroom.

Amid the stacked and simple stones there, you may find the like in handmade tools, untouched by magic. It may one day be, however, that the supple and supranatural sorceries which are the very bedrock of this place crumble, and in such a time the mundane foresight of the Stone Bridge Tower will show itself like a Phoenix rising from the wreckage of all around it.

That place we shall neither name nor look upon - suffice to deem it a caller to the chthonic, and let us be about our business.

In matters of stygian skills and tenebrous talents, still let the light internal be your guide, if you would not lead another as I now do you, and make the fate of that Defense Against the Dark Arts Tower a bright beacon of Greek fire in your memory; for it taught once, and may, by counterexample, do so yet.

Off to the sides, the scurrying forms go about their diurnal chores, drifting to and fro from their Houses, as they name them, the two here adjacent being Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, each with its own monolith to mastery.

With which in mind, we confront the very symbol of superiority, the Headmaster's Tower, the bastion of beleaguered belief in times of wizard war, and the shelter of softer souls, when not compelled to martial might.

And so our heavy steps bring us to my final destination, within these walls at least. I am to be the object of “Ghoul Studies”, as the Professor for his tutorial requires the leaden voice of experience to fall upon the younglings in his care, that along this perilous, ponderous path they may not follow, nor by hubris be built up to fall from devastating heights. Your company has been welcome, and for what little it may be worth, you have alleviated the burden of one whose suffering has been for decades constant. My gratitude, though the heart behind it no longer feels.