Maddening (S3E20)

Maddening is the twentieth episode of the third season of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It aired on September 14, 2021.

## Synopsis

Alex and Masie are sitting at a table in the Great Hall, having a little bit of food before the rest of SWOFF arrive. Gail is acting strangely. Alex and Masie approach Gail with their wands in hand. Alex asks if Gail is okay. Gail mainly mutters to herself and sort of responds to Alex saying that she’s looking for someone. Masie asks Gail who she’s looking for. Gail doesn’t say. Masie puts her wand away and offers Gail her hand. Gail keeps saying, “No.” Alex says, “I think I saw them in the hospital wing, right Masie?” Several students start noticing the three of them and some get up from their tables. Alex convinces Gail that “they” (whoever she’s looking for) are in the hospital wing, but she also becomes terrified of him. Gail has her wand out, not pointed in a specific direction, but gesturing with it. Alex has his wand in his hand, subtly hiding it behind his leg and partially with his sleeve. Gail starts to walk out of the Great Hall, gesturing and muttering to herself. Masie walks alongside Gail and mimics her gesturing and muttering and also casts the writing spell that Barney uses behind Gail and in small font so that she can tell Alex, “Get to the Headmistress. Protect SWOFF”, but her spell ends up making the text super small, and her wand is thrown from her hands, which catches Gail’s attention. Alex casts Expelliarmus on Gail. Gail’s wand flies out of her hand. Gail starts to panic and moves toward her wand saying, “No no no, I need that.” The wand spins in the air, and similar to what they saw happen in the Room of Requirement, they see the wand hesitate for a moment, and it starts to tumble toward Alex’s hand. Meanwhile, Rosie, Clem, and Olive make their way toward the Great Hall. They notice a fairly large group of several students (about 20) leaving the Great Hall, not really talking. This is strange since it’s near the beginning of dinner. Rosie and Clem decide to enter the Great Hall, but Olive decides to split off and follow the group of students that were leaving before joining them in the Great Hall. Rosie and Clem walk in and see Alex and Masie hovering around Gail Greytwig. Several students are pointing and whispering. Rosie and Clem see Gail’s wand spinning in the air toward Alex, who had just cast Expelliarmus. Clem runs toward Alex. Alex grabs his wand with both hands and points it at his own robes and casts inflatus on himself so that he can create a “robe bubble” to block the wand. Alex’s robes expand around him. Masie bear hugs Gail and spins her away. Gail immediately starts to fight back, screaming at the top of her lungs. It’s a blood-curdling scream that reverberates throughout the Great Hall. Gail breaks out of Masie’s hold, screaming like she has gone mad, and rushes toward Alex. The wand is heading toward Alex, and he’s trying to avoid it, but Gail’s scream makes him lose focus and he grabs the wand. Suddenly, Alex hears familiar whispering, “No no no, this isn’t the one. Please, you have to. If you don’t find them, everything is lost.” Gail tries to grab the wand from his hand, but he’s inflated. He starts to float away and upward. Several prefects have their wands out, pointing them at Gail and Alex, and ask what’s going on. Alex tells them that Gail’s wand is cursed. Alex tries to let go of the wand but fails. Clem casts Petrificus Totalus on Gail. The prefects turn their wands on Clem, who tries to explain that she thinks Gail’s wand is cursed and that she was going to hurt Alex. The prefects believe her, and they send someone to get the Headmistress. Meanwhile, Rosie has fled and is cowering at the entrance of the Great Hall with some other students. Rosie hears and sees a prefect running out to get the Headmistress. Mrs. Nanny Buckland arrives and intercepts that prefect and talks to them. Meanwhile, Gail is frozen on the ground with a look of terror, fear, and panic on her face. Alex starts to mutter to himself. Masie finds her wand and casts Wingardium Leviosa on Gail’s wand, which is in Alex’s hand. The wand is lifted up out of Alex’s hand, but Alex is singed by some of the floating candles in the Great Hall. Masie feels resistance from the wand against her Wingardium Leviosa spell. Rose Granger-Weasley casts Finite Incantatum on Alex, who begins to deflate and fall back to the ground. Masie asks Clem where Rosie is. Clem doesn’t see her. Masie asks Clem to find Rosie and Olive and make sure everyone’s okay. Rose approaches and helps Masie by casting Wingardium Leviosa on Gail’s wand so that she can hold it instead of Masie. Rose asks Masie what’s happening. Masie explains that she thinks the wand is cursed and that it’s probably not Gail’s fault and that Gail and Alex are both not well and that Clem stopped Gail. Rose calls Samuel, a Slytherin prefect, to check on Gail. Nanny Buckland walks into the Great Hall with Rosie in one arm, being hugged to the side. Nanny Buckland asks everyone to leave the Great Hall. Clem insists that they stay because they were witnesses. Other students begin to walk out. Alex says the wand is looking for a person and is trying to do something. A grey cat rushes into the Great Hall at full speed. Suddenly, the cat turns into Headmistress McGonagall, her wand drawn. Masie catches the Headmistress up on what happened. Flying into the Great Hall on a broom, landing nearby, is Harry Potter and Auror Wisteria. Masie tells Harry a few details and then tells him she doesn’t know where Olive is. Harry asks Auror Wisteria to look for Olive. Harry casts Wingardium Leviosa to take over holding the cursed wand so that Rose can rest. Harry tells the Headmistress that the wand is fighting. Harry releases the wand, and as it begins to fall to the ground, he points his wand at a cloth, which wraps itself around the wand. Harry asks again, “What happened?” Alex recounts what happened. The Headmistress asks if Alex is okay and then tells Harry that she’s going to summon the rest of the professors to have a closer look at the cursed wand. The Headmistress asks if the rest of them are okay. Alex tries to explain what the wand was doing to him when he held it. Masie says, “It’s like the wand is sending them mad.” The Headmistress asks Mrs. Nanny Buckland to bring Gail to the hospital wing. Rosie backs away from Gail. The Headmistress asks Alex, Masie, and Clem questions about what happened, especially about Gail. Masie tells the Headmistress that Gail looked like some of the witches and wizards that she saw when she visited her mum at St. Mungo’s. Alex walks up to Masie and holds her hand as tears roll down her face. Clem and Rosie also move closer to Masie. Clem puts a hand on Masie’s shoulder. Masie thinks the wand is looking for Olive because she’s the only one that’s not there with them and they don’t know where she is. The Headmistress and Harry share a look. Harry also tells the Headmistress that he saw something strange while flying to the Great Hall. He saw about 20 students dispersing from the courtyard, rushing in all different directions. The Headmistress finds this strange and asks Harry to check that out. Harry agrees and says he’ll also look for Olive and report back to the Headmistress’s office. Alex asks if it might be Colin Moot, but Masie asks Alex not to say it. Masie worries about Olive, not wanting Olive to be like Gail (suffer from the wand curse). Masie says that Gail didn’t deserve it either. Clem tries to comfort Masie. Masie wants to go to the hospital wing to make sure Gail is okay. Alex offers to go with her, but Masie says no, she wants him to stay and asks Clem and Alex to look after each other. Alex asks who’s going to look after Masie, and she says she’ll be fine because she’ll be in the hospital wing. Clem lovingly but firmly grabs Masie by the shoulders and tells her that Alex can go with her and that she will look for Olive. Rosie says she’ll help Clem. Masie asks where Lily is. She tells Clem and Rosie to take Lily with them. Masie pulls out a cookie from her robes and gives it to Rosie. The Headmistress asks Mrs. Nanny Buckland to escort Masie and Alex to the hospital wing and Rose Granger-Weasley to help Clem and Rosie find Olive. As they walk with Mrs. Nanny Buckland (holding Gail) to the hospital wing, Masie puts her hand on Gail. Rosie and Clem let Rose know that the last time they saw Olive was when she left them to follow the group of students who were leaving the Great Hall, the same group of students that Harry saw in the courtyard. Rosie, Clem, and Rose head to the courtyard. They don’t see any students in the courtyard. Rosie shouts out Olive’s name. Clem investigates the exits of the courtyard and notices that people have definitely been through here recently. She finds some wet mud with tracks leading into the Transfiguration corridor. Rosie suggests that Rose and Clem call her “Yogi” since she and Rose’s names are super similar. The three of them step into the Transfiguration corridor, following the mud footprints toward an exit that leads outside onto the grounds of the castle, around the same spot where the Whomping Willow is. They find three students near the wall just outside of the reach of the Whomping Willow. Rosie calls out to them, asking what they’re doing. Rose yells at them to get away from the Whomping Willow so they don’t get hurt, but the students seem to disregard them. Rose tells them to wait where they are and prepare their wands, and in case anyone does anything strange, she tells them to cast a Stupefy or Petrificus Totalus. Rosie and Clem make a plan to position themselves on opposite sides so that they can corral the students: Rosie on the other side of the Whomping Willow (near the outside of the North Tower) and Clem by the other exit that leads out toward the vegetable garden. Rose approaches the students near the Whomping Willow. Rosie moves slowly and loudly toward the other side of the Whomping Willow (near the outside of the North Tower), catching the attention of two of the students, who turn away from what they’re doing. Rosie notices that they’re casting a very complicated spell with light particles falling down from their wands. Rosie also notices something moving in a small, 3-4 foot high hole underneath and in between the roots of Whomping Willow. Among the students, their ages vary. One clearly looks older (probably 7th year), and one looks younger, like a 2nd year. They turn toward Rosie and raise their wands. Rose raises her wand and casts Stupefy. The 2nd year waves their wand in front of them, and the spell dissipates. Rose gasps. Clem runs towards Rosie, but with her back toward Rosie and facing the students. Rosie throws her perfect Swelling Solution potion at the students, and it hits the Whomping Willow, splashing the person casting the spell and the one that looks like a 2nd year. The Whomping Willow and two of the students begin to swell. The Whomping Willow smacks these two students. The third one manages to avoid it, and the spell that they were casting begins to finish. A curtain of light, which they didn’t see before, starts to turn to particles and fall away as if it were dust. The student drops their wand, looks like they get a bit dizzy, and falls to the ground. Meanwhile, Alex and Masie are following Nanny Buckland to the hospital wing. Alex asks Masie if they should get information from Gail since her memory would be fresh. Masie says they should be kind at the very least. She suggests that they could ask kindly. Alex agrees that they should be kind. Alex says he read a little bit about stuff with people who get really sick after Masie had told him in her letters about the stuff she saw at St. Mungo’s. Masie is touched that Alex read a book about it. Alex says that he wanted to understand it so he could understand how she feels. She asks him how she feels because she doesn’t know. Alex says maybe sad and a bit frustrated about not knowing what to do. Alex tells Masie a super secret: that he started looking into how he could become a doctor. Masie kisses Alex on his cheek. Alex says, “2 - 1. Not that I’m keeping score.” Masie kisses him on the other cheek. Gail starts to move around in Nanny Buckland’s arms as the Petrificus Totalus spell wears off. Nanny Buckland, Masie, and Alex try to calm Gail down. Alex tells her to close her eyes. Gail starts to cry. Masie squeezes her hand. Masie tries to give Gail a napkin, but she doesn’t react. Masie asks if Gail can hear her. Gail doesn’t respond. Masie asks Mrs. Nanny Buckland to stop. They stop on the stairs near the hospital wing. Masie comforts Gail. Gail says the wand wouldn’t stop talking to her. Gail cries some more. They continue toward the hospital wing. Meanwhile, Rosie and Clem see the magic begin to fall away. About twenty or thirty feet away, Rose yells out and asks what that was. They tell Rose it’s a spell. Rose begins to drag the 7th year student. Clem tries to cast Carpe Retractum but fails and gets injured by the backfiring of the spell. Her spell also accidentally grabs a branch of the Whomping Willow, and she gets dragged off of her feet and gets smashed onto the ground. Rosie crawls to the Whomping Willow to save Clem. Rosie grabs Clem and drags her away. However, there’s a snarl from underneath the Whomping Willow. As night begins to fall, two golden eyes appear under the Whomping Willow. Claws begin to dig into the ground in front of this set of eyes. Rose raises her wand, pointing it toward Rosie and Clem. Leaping out from underneath the tree and rushing out is a dog-like creature. Rosie casts Flipendo at the creature, causing it to flip over and yelp as it flies back toward the Whomping Willow. A large branch of the Whomping Willow also smacks the creature, and it howls in pain. The branch barely misses Rosie and Clem, and they run away from the Whomping Willow. Clem rushes over to the 2nd year but gets hit by the Whomping Willow, breaking a couple ribs. Rosie scoops her arms under Clem and drags her away from the Whomping Willow. Rosie helps Clem get up and supports her as they walk along the side of the castle from the North Tower toward the courtyard. Rose rejoins them and asks if they’re okay and what happened. Rose says that what the students were doing looked similar to what she saw the professors doing to secure the school before the school year started. Rose thinks it was the wards. Meanwhile, Alex and Masie are at the foot of Gail’s bed as they and Nanny Buckland tell Madam Pomfrey what happened. Alex and Masie describe what it’s like to be under a wand curse. Gail hasn’t stopped crying. She’s bundled up in a fetal position on the bed. Masie asks Gail if she can get anything to help her feel better. Gail asks for her cat, Whiskers. Alex offers to get her cat for her. Alex asks if he can feed Whiskers some of the sausage he carries around for Benny. Gail doesn’t respond. Masie stays with Gail while Alex leaves, stopping by to talk with Madam Pomfrey first. He gives Madam Pomfrey a vitamix potion he made as a thank you gift. Madam Pomfrey gives 10 points to Ravenclaw for Alex’s kindness. Alex leaves to fetch Whiskers. Masie notices something strange happening out the window. It looks like a few students are outside casting a spell, illuminated by some of their wandlight as they do so. Masie sees light fall all around them. As the light falls, there is a strange sound from inside the hospital wing, the sound of someone apparating.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Wacksteven - Headmaster of Doom
* Helloitskolo - Masie Skyler
* LuxieGames - Rosalina Earthcloud
* Mirggles - Clementine Goosanders
* Zcotticus - Alexander Pippin

## Characters

* Alexander Pippin
* Masie Skyler
* Gail Greytwig
* Barney Dogwood (mentioned)
* Rosalina Earthcloud
* Clementine Goosanders
* Olive Everglade
* Mrs. Nanny Buckland
* Rose Granger-Weasley
* Samuel Oliver
* Headmistress McGonagall
* Harry Potter
* Auror Wisteria
* Sydney Skyler (mentioned)
* Colin Moot (mentioned)
* Lily Luna Potter (mentioned)
* Unnamed student (potential 7th year)
* Unnamed student (potential 2nd year)
* Unnamed student
* Unnamed dog-like creature - attacked Clem and Rosie
* Madam Pomfrey
* Whiskers
* Benny (mentioned)

## Trait Changes

* Masie: None
* Rosalina: None
* Clementine: None
* Alexander: Insecure moved to the bottom of the list (used to be occupied by Reckless)

## Relationships

* Masie: -1 Clem
* Rosie: +1 Clem
* Clem: +1 Rosie
* Alex: +1 Masie

## House Points

### Players

* Masie: +10 points, rolled 13
* Rosie: +10 points, rolled 14
* Clem: -5 points, rolled 6
* Alex: +10 points, rolled 13
* Lilian: +5 points, rolled 8
* Cornelia: -5 points, rolled 6

### Total

* Gryffindor: 305
* Hufflepuff: 185
* Ravenclaw: 265
* Slytherin: 205

## Downtime Moves

* Masie: Social Activities (Heart), 4 (fail)
* Rosie: Potion (Magic), 9 (partial success), Swelling Potion (kinda)
* Clem: Social Activities (Heart), 7 (partial success)
* Alex: Club (Soul), 1 (fail)

## Quotes

* Rosie: Do you have like a magnifying glass, Clem? Clem: No, I just used my eyes.
* Rosie: Also, should we come up with a nickname system? Do you want to call me, mmm, “Yogi” instead of Rosalina because your - our names are so similar? Clem: Okay, we can do that. Rose: Yogi??
* Rosie: Should we try the yelling thing again? Clem: No, I think maybe like we should look around first. Rosie: Okay, okay. With your magnifying glass? Clem: Yeah, my eyes.
* Alex: That’s maybe why Madam Pomfrey’s so old. Takes so long to become a doctor.

## Fun Facts

* Negaoryx absent was absent for this episode.
* Olive was portrayed by Wacksteven
* Wack did the math correctly on the first round of calculating Hufflepuff's house points but not on the second round.

## Notes & References

1. ↑ https://youtu.be/oKewIqevJJU?t=7263
2. ↑ Portrayed by Wacksteven
3. ↑ In this episode, Wack calls this NPC "Samuel." This wiki assumes that Wack is referring to Samuel Oliver, a Slytherin Quidditch player, but there is a chance that it's a different Samuel.
4. ↑ In this episode, Wack does not name this auror, but calls them "the uptight auror that was with Harry," and that was Auror Wisteria
5. ↑ Wack did the math correctly on the first round of calculating Hufflepuff's house points but not on the second round.
6. ↑ https://youtu.be/oKewIqevJJU?t=4042
7. ↑ https://youtu.be/oKewIqevJJU?t=4067
8. ↑ https://youtu.be/oKewIqevJJU?t=4113
9. ↑ https://youtu.be/oKewIqevJJU?t=5403