Operation Payout

It was the night before morning and all was quiet in the school. Not a creature was stirring, not even a ghoul. But lo and behold, footsteps were heard on the call as a MASKED Ravenclaw strode boldly into the Great Hall.

The MASKED Ravenclaw, wearing the helmet/mask with the circular opal visor along with a cloak over his black clothing, eyed the hourglasses filled with that depicted the points earned in each of the Hogwarts Houses. He knew that there were enchantments all over the hourglasses but nothing that the good old Finite Incantatem couldn't handle.

Drawing his wand, he headed to the hourglasses, knowing what must be done.

The MASKED Ravenclaw had heard footsteps before almost running into a cloaked figure with a hood in the Great Hall. The moment he heard the person speak, the MASKED Ravenclaw smiled a bit as he recognized the voice and the nickname that only one person tended to call him by.

"Perhaps our solo wanderings happen to be intertwined by fate that we would encounter each other on the most auspicious nights, Sky-Fi." the MASKED Ravenclaw spoke while trying to make his voice sound synthetic and unrecognizable. After all, appearances cannot always mask the true interior that seeks concealment behind the method of obscurity that a person hides behind.

"Now those hourglasses look VERY appealing to my eyes. The points we gain and lost are all measured in there. While the house point system must NOT be desecrated, that does not mean that we leave the fabulous Great Hall as simple paupers if you know what I mean."

The MASKED Ravenclaw grinned behind the opal visor before heading to the hourglasses. With his wand out, he took aim before thinking. 'Finite Incantatem Maxima.'

A light-blue wave of light erupted from the tip of his wand before striking the hourglasses, which were engulfed in an aurora-colored bubble that looked like it was shielding them from harm. He ended the spell after a few seconds when it became apparent that he couldn't break the protective bubble.

"Hmm.... the security enchantments aren't easy to break." the MASKED Ravenclaw remarked before looking to see if there were any runic glyphs that were anchoring them.

Thomas yawned as he went down the corridor. He was fairly hungry, so decided to go look for the Kitchens. He got turned around slightly in the corridors however, so eventually found himself outside the Grand Hall. He heard something smash, and watches Peeves fly through the wall nearby. He stayed quiet for a moment while Peeves seemed to think about where to go next, before disappearing off. Thomas took a deep breath. He supposed he should see what was broken, so opened the door to the Grand Hall, stepping inside.

He couldn't find what had broken at first, and he started looking around, under tables and round corners, only to find nothing. Then he realised he wasn't the only person here. He noticed his sister and someone who was masked, their identity hidden. He wasn't sure if they had noticed him yet or not, they probably had, he was hardly trying to be sneaky. He shrugged and walked over to them. "What's going on here then?" He said quietly, as to not alarm them too much.

Unable to find any runic glyph while hearing a suggestion, the MASKED Ravenclaw considered it for a moment before thinking that it might be a good idea although both of them needed to aim in different sections to overcome the distribution of magic that was protecting the hourglasses.

"It's worth a shot." he remarked before hearing the doors of the Great Hall open. He turned before seeing Thomas enter and wondered on what he was doing this late at night.

Thomas watched until they'd responded. Since when did his sister have two wands? He shrugged, there was probably a reason. He wondered what the two were talking about, and looked at the hourglasses in front of them for a moment. It was pretty amazing to see all the gems in each and every one of them, even if the Gryffindor's amount of rubies paled in amount to all the Sapphires. He supposed he would have to take that into account and start working harder.

He kept calm when Sky pointed her wand at him, he could tell it was just a reflex, it was the sort of thing a lot of people would do... Especially when they were up to something, which made Thomas twice as curious. "Keepsakes? What kind of keepsakes?" He asked nosily before shrugging. "I went to get food, but Peeves came through the Great Hall, as well as hearing something smash, so I wondered what he was up to." He explained truthfully.

Thomas nodded and kept listening, before grinning, if he was understanding what they were up to... "Well, any ideas as of yet?" He asked them. He then noticed they had no gems in their hands and the hourglasses seemed intact, so he supposed that was a stupid question. He looked at the hourglass, trying to think of something, though he shot his sister a quick glare when he realised why she seemed so amused. He then went right back to looking at the hourglasses though... There had to be some way to get into them without damaging them too much. "Any ideas?" He asked them.

The MASKED Ravenclaw looked at both before nodding. "I'm ready to take another shot."

Bringing his wand out, he took aim at the hourglasses before looking at Skyler and Thomas. Perhaps it would be enough but if not, more powerful curses might be needed.

"Ready when you two are." he spoke.

The MASKED Ravenclaw hoped that a combined spell from the three would be enough. If not, he would have to use a Blasting Curse.

'Finite Incantatem Maxima.'he thought to himself before a light blue spell shot out of the tip of his wand just as he noticed two similar spells strike the hourglasses.

The aurora shield appeared once more as the incoming spells struck. Yet, seeing that Skyler was using the Elder Wand, the power behind her spell would no doubtingly be a deciding factor. The aurora shield began to quickly wither before the MASKED Ravenclaw watched it silently dissipate into fragments.

With the hourglasses seemingly unprotected now, the MASKED Ravenclaw calmly walked up to them before waving his wand over them and saw that there weren't any other enchantments except for some charms that were responsible for the movement of the gemstones when points were given or taken away. Luckily, the gemstones weren't enchanted whatsoever.

"Well, time to earn our pay." he remarked.

Taking a small dagger with his other hand, he silently cut a circle into the upper portion of the Slytherin hourglass before removing the glass and placing it aside. He then proceeded to do the same with the other hourglasses.

Taking a few empty bags out of his cloak, the MASKED Ravenclaw placed them on the table before taking one and began filling it up with some gemstones from each house's hourglass.

"Help yourselves but make it quick. We don't have all night." he spoke, gesturing to the empty bags on the table.

After filling his bag up with the gemstones from each house hourglass, the MASKED Ravenclaw heard Skyler's question before thought about it for a moment. He never heard a case where the hourglasses had been broken into and some gems ended up missing.

"I honestly don't know if anyone has ever tried this." the MASKED Ravenclaw answered. "Then again, this probably isn't something that had been attempted in the past. Otherwise, it would've had more security enchantments then just what we have seen tonight."