Errand Everybody Cleanup Closed

Landon had been itching to put his hands to good use. Hogwarts had taught him much, between wand-movements to an array of magical information from his many classes. However, as much as he loved every minute of it, even the most frustrating ones, he missed doing normal chores or what most people would have called muggle-errands. He didn’t grow up around magic so the concept of waving a wand in the air to expedite hour’s worth of cleaning was lost on him. So when the opportunity to help Professor Vernatis made it’s self known, Landon couldn’t help but seize the chance to get his hands a little dirty and full of possible calluses from the work.

When Landon arrived to the campground, he surveyed the work ahead of him and let out a soft whistle. He hadn’t been at the Blossom Ball but there were rumors that it has turned into quite a party and by the look of the mess around him, he realized the rumors were more factual than fabricated. He walked over to a half-filled fountain and leaned over to get a good whiff of its contents.

“I guess that part was true too.” His innocent nose wrinkled against the foul smell. It seemed as though the Ball’s partygoers thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Straightening, Landon considered each chore that needed to be done and he decided that the best course of action was to begin cleaning up the littered food all over. He could have drained the fountain but the odor had repulsed him enough to avoid it entirely.

Landon picked up and unfolded a nearby garbage bag. Gingerly picking up a half eaten apple by its stem, Landon almost gagged at the layer of ants that were enjoying the fruit’s juices. He noted that the bag didn’t have a bottomless magical modification to it as he dropped the apple into it. He heard a soft thunk and proceeded to pick up random trash.

He was well into a second garbage bag when he looked around and spotted another student helping with the garbage pickup. He was grateful she was there, having underestimated the workload. He could already feel his frustration at the countless pieces of trash he found throughout the floor. He promised himself that he wouldn’t be so reckless when he was old enough to go to such gatherings. He could only imagine the poor animals that may have gotten sick from snacking on the partygoer’s leftovers or worse – he didn’t even want to consider what was happening to those creatures who were brave enough to sip from the foul-smelling fountain.

Passing the dark-haired girl, who had greeted the group, Landon gave her a small nod as an acknowledgement before adding, “You’d think that a school full of wizards and witches, we’d be more mindful and proactive in avoiding littering.” He shrugged, realizing that not everyone shared his view on world issues. “Thanks for coming to help.” In situations like these, being in a different house didn’t really mean much to Landon. He hadn’t succumbed to the competitive nature that most houses had with one another, or at least, not yet.

Landon shook his head in dismay and anger at the lack of consideration when it came to keeping the world green and clean. He wondered if anyone had been reprimanded and points were taken away from their respective houses. And then he considered the chances of it being someone from his own house and decided against suggesting a consequence to whoever was involved. He wouldn’t of put it passed his fellow Slytherin’s and their knack of … reckless behavior.

“Magical parties could definitely give mosh-pits a run for their money.” He chuckled to himself at the mental image of dozens of wizards and witches randomly shoving one another and setting off a host of spells and jinxes in the air. He wasn't sure if the girl would know the muggle-reference but the visual helped pass the time and even distract Landon from the repulsive smell that lingered on some of the half eaten menu items.

An innocent party gone wrong, the victims: the students that were supposed to be protected.

Going back to the Ball was a special kind of nightmare.

But by cleaning it up, seeing it by daylight instead of the eerie glow of the moon, he hoped to break the terrible hold that the event had over his life. It was only a ridiculous ball, ruined by horrific creatures. It wasn't as if the world had ended that night.

The new teacher of Charms, Artemis Vernatis, had told the students that it was their duty to clean up the area. His blue eyes were serious, and his dark, long hair was pulled up into a fancy ponytail. It was a little unfair now that he thought of it; none of the professors but Griffith bothered to help anyone, and now the students had to clean up the charred mess. But it wasn't as if there were high expectations for Hogwarts staff anyway.

Traipsing down to the Campgrounds, he could smell the acute scent of smoke the closer he came to the site. Managing to trek down into the heart of the valley, it was then that he saw the ruins.

The table legs were stabbed into the ground like bones, table cloths smudged in dirt, ragged and trampled over. The ground was barren and blackened, like a great scar in the soil. Faerie lights smoldered on the ground and in the drooping trees, already dead. The fainter odors of soil, ash, rotten food and blood seared his nose, causing him to gag. Tears stung the corners of his eyes, and blinking through the haze, he saw a group of students gathered to do the back-breaking cleaning.

Each of them wore rubber gloves and carried a bag. They looked every bit like survivors in an unforgiving wasteland. Or worse yet, the criminals he had seen on the news, forced to do community service.

This place looks like a prison.

Nearing the huddle with Raine at the center, he picked up neon yellow rubber gloves, slipping them onto his hands. They were a little too large for his fingers, but he shoved his hands deep into the gloves to keep them on. Afterwards, he took a cheap garbage bag and one of those metal trash-grabbers. The teacher was expecting many students; he could tell from the massive stack of grabbers piled on the earth.

Glancing at the huddle, he observed that some wizarding kids looked puzzled at the trash-grabbers. Wizards did have spells for cleaning, although they learned them fourth year. He guessed that they were unused to doing cleaning the hard way, knees on the floor, scrubbing and scraping and picking.

Now looking like an appropriate garbageman, if not one with equipment too large for him, he approached Raine to hear snatches of her words.

"...should get started, now shouldn't we?"

"Yeah," he muttered, still a little displeased by the task. But with a group, it would hopefully be much easier; tons of hands could pitch in, scooping up garbage remaining.

With Raine's words, he set off towards the fountain. It didn't look too well. Seeing the dripping liquid on the soil, he recalled his fight with Dinara right by it, and how the punch was spiked with Veritaserum, unbeknownst to all of the students there.

Bending down near the fountain, he spotted a stray piece of food. Wrinkling his nose he realized that there was a filthy pile of half-eaten cupcakes, tucked right behind the punch-maker. They smelled rancid, reminding him of dirty socks left on the floor for years. Sure, the cupcakes tasted like cardboard and bogeys, but that didn't mean a person had to stash them like that!

The boy pressed down the pads of the trash-grabber, letting the device grasp onto the smushed cupcakes. Then, he carefully slid them into his bag. The more he hunted around the fountain, the more little pieces of cupcake he found, and the more shards of glass. His trash bag slowly filled with the unsavory litter.

“Magical parties could definitely give mosh-pits a run for their money.”

Isaac turned at the sound of an almost cheerful voice from afar, talking about the Ball.
"I bet magical parties are a blast," he offered in agreement, coming over to where Raine and the other kid were. "But this wasn't really a party. Half-giants attacked the place, it set on fire.."

He paused, choosing to pick up a couple of wrappers from the ground. "The Ball was more of a death-trap. Tons of students went to the Infirmary too."

Well everybody gathers around she just stands there- burying her face into her bundled up scarf to help muffle the absolutely wretched smell and scanning the area for the easiest thing for her to do at five foot zero. Her restrictive reach immediately rules out the fairy lights she was previously eyeing when she first arrived. As pretty as they are somebody who's not as vertically challenged could probably do a better job then her. 

And since she doesn't want to get discounted on the house points the young pureblood decides to try and move the numerous chairs out of the way to make it easier for the others to get to the real weird stuff. Maybe after that she can help move the dance floor? Or something else that fits within her comfort zone.

Her grip releases on the scarf. She flicks her wrist and swings it back around her neck so that only one of the tassels rest against her chest. Before getting started the teen cracks her fingers, hoping that it might make work easier even without any proof that that's actually what it does. 

Her fingers dig into the charred metal chairs- how in the world did somebody manage to do that? The melting point of metal is insane- for a moment a frown tugs at her normally beaming face. But it returns into a grin quick enough as she listens to the others talk about parties 'n stuff. 

Well she's never been to one- having been unable to attend the ball- she's heard that their fun and hearing everybody talk so casually about it really makes her feel welcome when she doesn't recognize anybody as her hosue mates.

Though even with her positive thoughts another scanned of the absolutely destroyed room makes her doubt her own words. It's going to take a long while to clean up this mess. She sighs inaudibly before reaching into her hufflepuff style scarf in order to retrieve something to take her frustrations out on. 

Her fingers wrap around some sort of hard candy and she immediately un-spins the wrapper and pushes it into her mouth, rolling it over her tongue as she finishes moving the first couple of chairs over to the least damaged area of the space.

"What'd you guys think constitutes as clean? I mean-" She cracks the candy between her teeth, pocketing it in her cheek while she talks. "We can't exactly comb through the grass for stuff smaller then a pebble." Her tongue swipes across her lips, the artificial taste of strawberry lingering as she leans against the creaky chair tucked against her stomach. 

It's not like they'd be able to get the dirt off of the flower- and some food here or there would probably be fine since it'll compost soon enough. A second- or fifth- opinion would still be lovely though. She tucks a strand of uneven brunette hair behind her ear as she straightens. 

A puff of warm air fills her cheeks and slips past her lips. Evelyn gets back to moving the chairs; they seem to have multiplied the second she looked away. It's like she barely made a dent despite having freed several tables from their seating. 

Lallie remembered Professor Vernatis' words as she walked down to the wreckage that used to be a pleasant turned chaotic party.

Professor Vernatis had explained to all the students that this would be a learning experience for them and that even though the house elves could easily do it, us kids should partake in that learning experience. Lallie was fine with that. Being an active S.P.E.W. supporter Lallie was happy to carry any burdens the house elves might have.

She also knew that a lot of kids probably won't be that fond of labor that didn't use magic so she wanted to contribute. If only a couple of people were going to get their hands dirty she might as well be one.

Lallie was always fine with getting her hands dirty in Muggle-like ways. When she was younger and her father let her help out in the greenhouse she didn't know any spells so she just used her hands and any gardening equipment lying around. Sure her father could've done anything she did ten times better, I mean it's not like her father was a grown man with spells, potions, and charms while Lallie was a small child with a shovel but she felt she contributed in some way.

Lallie finally made it to the remains of the Blossom Ball. It looked like someone had taken a picture of a party, colored parts of it black, erased other parts, and then proceded to throw ten dumpsters on it. Emphasis on ten dumpsters regarding the smell.

Lallie hadn't gone to the ball, she was sick so she just stayed in her dorm all night. She was glad she did though. There were so many rumors floating around about the entire thing. The fire rumor was definitely true considering half of everything was black and charred. It seemed like zero party guests even noticed who or what started the fire which was a little curious to Lallie.

As she walked closer and closer to the remains of the Blossom Ball remains the smell of rotting food and other strange smells she didn't even know existed rammed into her nose. Her eyes were tearing up, but she kept walking. She's conquered the smell of her brother's room, she can conquer this too.

Walking up to the heart of the mess she found several trash bags stacked neatly along with rubber gloves and some sort of grabber-thing. It reminded her of this one toy one of her old Muggle friends had brought to her house. It was a long stick with a dinosaur head on top and a trigger at the bottom. If you pressed the trigger on the bottom the dino's mouth would open and close. 'I guess it's for picking up trash then.' Lallie thought as she collected her items.

A dark-haired girl said that we should get started and everyone started to their own thing. Lallie decided she would target the trash on the outskirts of the party since those trash pieces may be overlooked.

Lallie walked past the fountain and accidentally took a breath. She gagged and was ready to just book it back into the pleasant smelling Hogwarts castle just to get away from that horrid smell.

'Guess kids did put some nasty stuff into the fountain.' Lallie thought holding her nose as she walked over to a tree with cups and other stuff surrounding it. Lallie overheard one of the boys talking about a "mosh pit" or something like that. Lallie had heard of this slug pit in the underground of Hogwarts where there was a bunch of slugs so maybe he was talking about that?

Lallie picked up a singed and burnt object. The entire thing was black, but considering its shape she assumed it was a book. 'That must have been terrifying.' Lallie thought imagining herself in that situation. Just chilling reading a book since you don't like parties. Suddenly you hear a commotion, looking up you see a ball of orange and red flames. Dropping the book you run for the hills, letting the book be engulfed by fire.

She threw the book in with the rest of the trash. She didn't like doing it, but she didn't feel like magic needed to be wasted to restore this book.

Turning around to get another bag she finally took a good look at the place. It was completely decimated, no questions there. The trash situation was looking a bit better, but they still had a long way to go. She looked at one of the girls who was stacking some chairs. 'I'll probably help her with that if I can once I'm done' Lallie thought as she placed her full trash bag in the pile where they were putting them and grabbing another empty one.

The girl stacking chairs asked if we had to pick through all the trash. "I don't think so." Lallie said, "I think we mostly just have to pick up the wrappers, cups, and big scraps of food. Stuff like that. I don't think they'll berate us if we leave an orange rine or something like that lying around."

OOC: hey guys! I’m out of town until Monday and can’t reply yet. If you guys want to interact with each other please go right ahead! I’ll catch up when I can get to my computer. Using a phone can sometimes be a pain when replying.

Raine began to move around and pick up the random garbage littered all over the floor along with some of the other students in the group. There was a handful of students picking up the garbage, as it was the easiest task to do. Due to the group all picking up the garbage off the floor and tables, the dance area seemed to get picked up quite quickly. Even with some of the kids gagging or making comments as they picked up the old moldy cupcakes and ant riddled pizzas all over the tables and floor.

“You’d think that a school full of wizards and witches, we’d be more mindful and proactive in avoiding littering.”

The comment from the Slytherin boy made her chuckle. "Yeah, you'd like to think. But they're all humans so they're most likely just as bad as Muggles when littering is in question," she replied.

The boy and Raine continued to work together in silence until Isaac, a fellow Gryffindor she had seen around her Common Room, approached them as well. The two exchanged a few words, more like he had replied to her comment about getting started on the cleanup process before he went over to the fountain. Raine knew that the fountain was a bit... more disgusting than the food near and on the tables on the dancefloor. The cupcakes that she knew were tossed behind the fountain were probably soggy and most likely smelled horrible. The sickeningly sweet scent of all of the different frostings probably mingled with each other and made the smell absolutely repugnant. Raine definitely wasn't going to mess with that area.

'Thanks Isaac.'she thought with a smirk.

Raine had managed to fill up a bag of garbage and did her best to tie it together. It wasn't a tight tie. These bags were pretty thick and difficult for someone with her small hands to tie effectively, so she did the best that she could before dragging the bag off to the side.

Raine looked around and saw two other girls in the area, a Hufflepuff and a fellow first year Gryffindor like her. One was stacking the chairs off to the side while the other was picking up garbage on the outer section of the dancefloor. After leaving the boys to talk about 'mosh-pits', a term she knew about but also didn't know about, Raine decided that she would leave the three students picking up trash to do just that. Looking up at the trees, the young Gryffindor figured that this could be the next thing she could do. The garbage seemed to be in good hands.

"What'd you guys think constitutes as clean? I mean-we can't exactly comb through the grass for stuff smaller then a pebble."

"I don't think so. "I think we mostly just have to pick up the wrappers, cups, and big scraps of food. Stuff like that. I don't think they'll berate us if we leave an orange rine or something like that lying around."

Raine overheard the conversation between the two girls as she neared the tree closest to them. "I don't think Professor V. will be upset with items that can be eaten by the wildlife, mainly due to what you said with it becoming compost as some point anyway. But I think we should still pick up whatever we can see with the naked eye. An orange rind, of course, will decompose and become part of the grass, but should a deer or other animal come by, who's to say them eating that orange rind won't harm them? It's kind of like a dog eating grapes. You'd never think it would be bad for them, but it's actually quite poisonous to them."

Raine had responded with a smile and a shrug before turning to the first tree. The tree thankfully had a few knot holes where she would be able to put her trainer-clad feet into each hole and climb to the top of the trees. Stopping halfway in the first part of her climb, she turned to the girls "Raine Sage, by the way. And I think we should just do the best that we can. We're kids, not a cleaning crew," she said before focusing back on the tree she was climbing. She didn't have a broom, and it wasn't as if she could fly up there alone, so climbing was what she must do. Higher and higher she climbed until she reached a halfway point where the lights finally stopped. Standing up slowly, the young Gryffindor began to untangle the lights held in the clutches of the tree branches, happy that they were falling off of the leaves quite easily.

Looking down from where she was at in the branches, Raine shouted, "Look down below!" before dropping a handful of the lights down to the ground below. Holding onto a branch above her, Raine continued to untangle and drop groups of the lights down to the base of the tree until she finally finished the first one. With a smile, the young Gryffindor climbed down the tree she was one and helped gather the lights on the ground and placed them in a bag to be collected. She then skipped over to the next tree and began to climb that one as well.

Again, she managed to untangle the lights from the second tree, dropping armfuls of the lights down to the base of the tree. She knew that this would take a long while. There were quite a few trees with the same lights dangling from them. Thankfully it seemed that it was only the trees that were in the center of the dancefloor that were covered in fairy lights and not all of the trees throughout the bloody woods. That would take forever honestly. Moving around the tree she was one, she continued to untangle the lights until the last one was removed and she climbed down that one too.

Leaving the lights on the ground this time, Raine moved over to the third tree. She figured she would gather all of the lights after she was done taking them down from the trees if one of the other guys didn't get to that part first. Either way, she began to climb the third tree and continued this method of light detanglement for the other trees in the vicinity, moving from one tree to the next as fast, and carefully, as she could. Hopefully, since everyone was doing something different now, they would all be able to finish this task soon and the last thing that would need to be done would be to pick up the wooden boards on the ground as a unit and drag them off to the side.

Hopefully we can be done with this before night comes.

Landon instantly felt guilty when another boy, who had joined to help, had clarified what actually occurred to have made the chaos all around them. He almost kicked himself for listening to rumors as opposed to actually seeking the truth. He was a hypocrite, having hated that specific habit his old classmates in his muggle school tended to do at their age. With the sincerest tone, he responded, “I’m sorry! Was anyone hurt really badly?” He hoped not – it would only make him feel worse for his assumption. He knew the infirmary at Hogwarts could make miracles happen but even some injuries were beyond the bounds of magic.

When more and more students arrived and assisted in picking up garbage – he decided to join his sealed bag with the pile that was building to the side. Landon looked up above them to the fairy lights that interwove between the tree branches and decided on tasking himself to remove them. He was grateful that the first year Gryffindor was helping. It sped up the process. Grabbing an empty bag, he set it aside before reaching up and carefully untangling the lightless wires from the tree’s bark and branches. It felt tedious as he finished one tree after another and dumped the wiring in the back. He was sure that by the end of his task, he’d leave the mass lights in a tangle for whoever decided to use them next. But the task didn’t ask for preciseness. The Professor needed the area cleaned as soon as possible and that was exactly what he and the others were doing.

Landon plucked the last remaining fairy lights from a tree. A long scar along it’s trunk caught his attention and he traced his index finger along it’s jagged path. He wondered if this was a result of the attack that the other boy had mentioned and if it was – Landon only shuttered at image of what may have unfolded during the ball. He hadn’t had any intention of going to it when he first heard about the festivities, having always preferred to be alone. However, now he wondered what might of happened to him if he had decided to attend. The thought turned dark and he pushed it out of his head quickly.

The next order of business was the linens that were either still half draped over tables or withered on the ground. With most of the tables cleared of garbage, he was able to grab an edge of the cloth and swiftly smack it against the wind, letting little crumbs fly to the floor. He did the same to the ones on the floor and a sudden memory of his mother gripped him. There were countless times that Landon watched her perform similar tasks around the house, whether it was after during laundry or tidying up his own room. Landon chuckled to himself at how quickly times had changed – how much he had changed.

Landon smiled at the memory before giving the fountain a quick glance as he put away the last folded linen in a separate bag that was provided. He noticed everyone had avoided the task; he included and looked around at the Gryffindor’s that stalked the decimated scene. Weren’t they considered the brave ones, full of courage?

Landon nodded toward the liquid and asked the crowd, “So, who’s going to be our brave soul and tackle that liquid-y delight?” He looked at each of them before adding, “Not it.”

And to ensure he’d avoid the fountain all together, he moved toward lifting one side of the boards that served at the floor. Realizing how heavy it was, Landon tried pulling it aside but thought better of it and asked the growing crowd of help for assistance. “Can I get some assistance here? I haven’t been bench-pressing since arriving to school.” It was a lame joke and attempt at sarcasm.

Lallie nodded in agreement at the fellow Gryffindor's response. Most of the stuff that we can't see will either decompose before an animal finds it, or if an animal does find it, won't really affect them. At least, she hoped it wouldn't. She used to have a Samoyed when she was younger who got into a box of chocolate frogs and he didn't even need any treatment for it. It was baffling considering that dogs are allergic to chocolate.

The animal could also choke on something, but that was almost impossible. The grass had been cut before the ball so it wasn't that high up. The most it could probably hide was bits of food so the animals would be fine.

"I'm Lallie Luna, it's nice to meet you. I agree, but we should still try our best. Especially if we don't want to be robbed of house points." Lallie said directing the last part more to Raine.

Lallie looked around to see if there was any more trash to be picked up. The most important things to clean up were the cups and stuff like that since they didn't decompose well, but the ground looked void of them. The sweets obviously needed to be picked up since most animals can't digest dairy and chocolate, but they also seemed to be cleared out. Most of the ground was actually clean. There are a couple of bits left, but they're being picked up by the other people picking up trash. Her bag was full anyway so she might as well start helping out others.

When she put her bag away she looked up and saw that most of the fairy lights were taken off. She saw that Raine had started taking down fairy lights, but it wasn't that long ago. She guessed with the help of the Slytherin boy it would be rather easy considering they were kind of just laying on the tree.

She decided to help the Hufflepuff with the chairs for a little bit. These guys were probably going to take the longest and she was currently the only one doing them.

After the quite efficient Slytherin boy pulled off the linen, which to be honest was probably easy since a lot of linen had burned which made it easier to pull off the table, he suggested someone should drain the fountain and asked to help with the dance floor.

She groaned, that fountain was the thing she had been dreading the most. She wished that she wasn't a weakling so she could help him. Anything was better than being near that horrendous fountain. She knew no one else would step up to the plate, so being a Gryffindor she decided to.

"I wish I could help with the dance floor, but it'd probably just crush me when I would go to pick it up," Lallie said to the Slytherin boy, "I-I'll drain the fountain. But you guys should help out with the chairs. Those are probably going to take the longest." She placed the chair she was currently moving into one of then shuffled over to the fountain.

'God I wish I knew a charm that prevents you from smelling.' Lallie thought keeping her breaths short so she wouldn't inhale the smell that much. Looking next to the fountain she saw a huge tub along with a couple of smaller, easier to hold buckets. She also saw some rubber gloves along with buckets of soap and water, and sponges. Lallie would clean the fountain later, but the worst of it had to begin.

Putting on the rubber gloves and picking up a bucket she began her task. She placed the bucket into the fountain and waited for it to fill before dumping it in the tub. Lallie made sure to hold her breath whenever she placed the bucket in the fountain. One of Lallie's friends owned a horse and she would occasionally help clean out the water trough so she knew the fastest way to drain it. It may seem like it's taking forever, but it is drained out before you know it.

Around halfway through the draining Lallie started to get used to the smell. As long as she didn't put her face close to the water she was fine. Though she truly wondered what contaminated this water. Considering the smell it probably wasn't something that belonged on campus. Lallie also thought that the spiking of this fountain probably had something to do with the fire starting.

OOC: @Evelyn Moore and @Isaac Ambrose Not sure if we were posting in order but we're probably waiting on you guys to reply.