As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
In General
- The whole concept of the Cursed Vaults is just this. Who put them there? What's the reason for them at all? All that is known is that they cause catastrophes at the school from cursed ice to Boggarts to petrifying students and staff, the curses that come out of the Vaults are indiscriminate and strike everyone.
- Jacob's disappearance is this to any parent. Your son apparently went insane looking for the supposed 'Cursed Vaults', only to get expelled, his friends died, and then he disappeared. And there's nothing you can do about it. Oh, and your youngest is going to the same school too.
- How much of the whole plot was 'R' manipulating it all behind the scenes? It's clear they wanted to kill one of the Player's friends for a reason, perhaps to spur them in a certain direction. Rakepick was a "small player", and they wanted the Player (and possibly Merula) to deal with her. It's implied that the Circle of Khanna was an idea implanted by 'R' through Merula (as she was the one who 'came up' with the idea) as if to test how good the Player was of leading a secret organization. It was clear that they had used Jacob during his time at Hogwarts. It's very possible that the Player might've been a pawn from the very beginning of their first year at Hogwarts.
Story
Year 5- Beatrice being trapped in the Cursed Vault Portrait for a whole year. It's clear she wouldn't be the same afterwards.
- Better yet, when the Player finally rescues Jacob, it's actually been almost a decade since he'd been trapped in the portrait. More so that he hadn't aged at all. He should be in his mid-twenties when the Player found them, but he's biologically the same age as his younger sibling. The last time he saw them, the Player would have been 8-10 years old and now they're in their mid-teens.
- Rakepick takes the Player aside to teach them the Cruciatus Unforgivable Curse. The Player is unwilling, but Rakepick instead demonstrates by using it on a random bloke in Knockturn Alley. The Player is rightfully horrified by this and claims that they will never use it.
- The dialogue seems pretty ominous, especially the way it's bolded, let's hope it's foreshadowing Rakepick using the curse later on in the year and not the Player...
Player: I'll never use the Cruciatus Curse on anyone. And you shouldn't either.Rakepick: Never say never, Mr./Miss (Player). - The fate of Duncan Ashe, a close friend of Jacob, who had been killed while trying to brew an Erumpent Potion at the request of 'R', though Jacob took the blame. Seeing how far they pushed Jacob, Duncan, and Olivia, it's truly scary how far R was willing to go to further their goals.
- Jacob seems to know that Duncan, his former close friend, is a ghost, which may have been a pretty terrifying first meeting in hindsight.
- The fact that Merula actually knows the Killing Curse. Apparently, her parents had taught her to defend herself with it, which brings to question yet again how ruthless her parents were. It turns out Rakepick fully endorses the training and even walks in on them, asking if they had found 'a rat or something' to kill. Hits harder if the Player actually has a pet rat.
- When Rakepick betrays them, Merula gets a full-blown experience of the Cruciatus Curse and is physically tortured by her until the Player and the others manage to stop her
- The pain was so harrowing that one of the first things Merula, the very proud and individualistic bully, said after getting to safety is that she wanted her mother.
Year 6
- The Player receiving yet again another note from 'R', threatening to kill one of their friends. This rightfully makes the Player so terrified they are willing to abandon their whole livelihood and run away to protect them. They were convinced to stay, but soon after, they were right to be so afraid.
- Rowan's death can be seen as this as much as it is heartbreaking. The whole concept of an ex-Professor killing a student is this in itself, but it's even worse for the Player, Ben, and Merula, who witnessed the whole thing. The Player falls into depression, Merula is absolutely furious and just wants to kill Rakepick even more now, and Ben has gone completely numb from it all.
- They didn't show this in-game, but the trio must've gotten Rowan's corpse back to Hogwarts somehow. Whether or not one of them got one of the Professors or actually carried their corpse back is unclear but unsettling either way.
- The Reveal that the Mahoukotoro Wizard had never meant to kill the Player but rather wanted to kidnap them to join 'R' not only as a member but as their leader. It was much easier to think that they were just being targeted by an assassin for standing in R's way, but who knows what the horrific implications of kidnapping a literal child for a dangerous cabal are.
- The way the Dark Wizard talks to the Player is this. He just seems downright predatory and seems absolutely assured that the Player will join 'R', whether they like it or not. There was a reason why Moody had to step in to stop the conversation before it got worse.Dark Wizard: The mole is loyal to 'R'. You should be too, (Player). Soon you will.Player: Don't say that-Player: No, never!
- Madam Pomfrey getting petrified by the Cursed Vault as well, meaning that literally no one is safe. It also leaves Hogwarts without a Healer, leading to a hurried dash to get to the Cursed Vault before the whole school falls apart from the curse.
- The Sunken Vault is entirely this. A vault with no treasure, only to house a curse so horrid that the vault was sealed again right after being opened. It traps people in a void, paralyzing them and making them experience their ''worst'' and most ''traumatic'' memories over and over in a loop. Not only that, but the Statue Curse it brings on the people of Hogwarts is just as horrifying.
- The Player experiences a maddening loop of Merula bullying them about their dead/missing brother, Rakepick taunting them about being just as obsessive, and Rowan's death. If you didn't get a good look at Rowan's dead body before, you sure are going to now! Multiple times even; over and over again! There's just something horrifying about seeing Rowan's lifeless face in the dark void. Throughout the whole thing, the Player is just begging for it to all stop, all in vain.
- If 'R' already knew what was inside the vault, then what in the hell were they going to use it for?
- While it could be said that Rakepick got what she deserved, being trapped in a vault the same way she did to Jacob, the fact that the Player can ruthlessly trap her in the vault is sort of a scary thought in itself. The Player knowingly trapped her in there, knowing fully well how horrifying it is in there, having experienced it themselves. What they subjected Rakepick to is arguably worse than what even Merula planned for the nasty witch. Unlike Jacob, who was in the portrait and was just disconnected from reality, Rakepick would be in constant mental torture. And no one would be there to save her. She'd be trapped in there forever until she dies of thirst or starvation, (if she can die at all in there at all), if not by other means (again, even if she can). And the Player seems perfectly content with this as revenge for what she's done to Rowan. Even after they hear her screams of agony, they are seemingly eager to leave her there. Even Jacob seems a little disturbed and Ben actually looks mortified.
- Snape was right. The Player does have a lot in common with Rakepick even if they try to deny it. If the Player is capable of enacting this type of vengeance, then what else would they do?
- Just before the Player lets Rakepick into the vault, she tells them that they did the right thing for both themselves and 'R'. Judging by how in a previous note, 'R' had told Rakepick she was on thin ice after refusing to obey them, one has to wonder whether 'R' wanted the Player to get rid of her for them, meaning we had played right into their plans.
Year 7
- The Player gets rightfully terrified when the Minister informs them that they are going to testify at the trial of the Mahoukotoro Wizard, the same one that had hurt and tried to kidnap them the year before. Anyone who has gone to court before can attest to how scary an experience like this is.
- In addition to this, the Player is terrified he might reveal that they want them as a leader and, as such, will implicate them as an agent of 'R' even though they've been working against them the whole time.
- Finding Tonks locked in a chest at the Ministry after just having talked to Tonks, which reveals that the Ministry infiltrator is a Metamorphagus too.
- Zenith Xeep's 'Luscious Locks' solution is a complex version of the Forgetfulness Potion except that it also induces a dementia-like state in the applicants, slowly deteriorating their memory until there's nothing left. And despite an antidote being made, none of the memories lost from this potion will ever return.
- As if the potion wasn't already just scary enough, Zenith willingly drank a whole bottle of it as a last resort to prevent the plans of 'R' from being leaked, permanently putting her in a state of dementia for the rest of her life. Between permanently handicapping herself forever versus letting down 'R', she had chosen the former; one has to wonder how dangerous 'R' really is for her to make that decision.
- Right before the above incident, the Player runs into the Dark Witch who is part of 'R' (the same Metamorphagus that infiltrated the Ministry) and ends up locking eyes with her after rushing in to save Ben. The Player later states that they've never felt more true fear than looking into her eyes.
- The Player suddenly gets the dreaded news at the end of Chapter 20 that their brother Jacob has been found gravely injured. What's more, he has severe burns that seem to be getting worse despite the hospital's best efforts. Anyone who's had a loved one in a situation like this knows how absolutely mortifying this really is. The fact that the Player has no idea what Jacob had been doing, where he had been, and how he got injured just makes it worse.
