Trial by Fear: Audience Spectators

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Ileen was excited. The path from the castle to the Quidditch Pitch, a place she rarely visited, already set her in a mood of expectation and tension. The path lined with torches, the three-colored flickering lights had something mysterious about it, and she shivered in anticipation of what was to come, even though the evening was pleasantly warm.

The young girl was not only excited because she expected an interesting performance of the twelve students who had been selected to do the trail of fear. No. Her mood had mostly to do with the fact that four of those students were people she cared about. Her two best friends, Dee and Aida, had made it into the group. Ileen was here to cheer for them and to heal them if something fatal did happen. It was a Hogwarts event, so who knew....
Another participant was her dueling partner, Alexander, and she was here to show him her support, no matter in which activity. And last but not least, there was Alan Vanes, the boy who had found her kitty in the woods.

After the young Slytherin had gotten herself a mug of hot chocolate, which she now clasped with both hands to warm them, she looked around. There weren't many people there yet and most of the seats were still unoccupied.
Thoughtfully, she blew a strand of her brown hair out of her eyes, which today fell open over her shoulder. Hopefully she wouldn't get too cold in her red cashmere sweater, jeans and sneakers. As soon as the sun had fully set, it would get cold.
Ileen blinked once again against the last rays of the setting sun until she came to a conclusion. She would sit at the very front, because that was the best place to see and cheer. The only disadvantage of the fact that almost all the people she got along with were participants was that she was alone. Well, better alone than in the wrong company.

Light-footedly, she hopped down the steps on the bleachers, careful not to spill her drink, and sat down on one of the chairs in the front row.
She peered over the railing, trying to catch a glimpse of one of her friends, or to glean something from the set-up about what was to come.
However, everything seemed to be very mysterious and ambiguous. Anything could happen. She didn't see her friends yet either, but she did spot her favorite prefect. When she saw Lestrange, she grimaced at him, even though he probably couldn't see it. Reluctantly, she was impressed that he had cared about an event for other students. This did not fit at all with the image she had stubbornly imposed on him after her first impression. Well, maybe what was coming was an ordeal and he wanted to enjoy the failure of the people.
Satisfied with this explanation, she smiled. Yes, that had to be it.

Mentions | @Dealla Prince | @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood | @Alan Vanes | @Alexander Varellion | @Thomas Lestrange

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Fear. Excitement. Emotions, feelings. They were just words? Weren't they? After Spring Break ended, some sort of Trial was announced. Paige had stayed at Hogwarts during the break, but it was still something she didn't expect when the break ended. And to add on, her friend Henry Knight was to participate. Paige knew nothing would happen, that the teachers would be there in case something did happen.

But this was Hogwarts, for crying out loud. When has something ever gone right? Paige would be more surprised if nothing happened than if something did by now. No Hufflepuffs were participating, which was sad. But no badgers earned a place, apparently. Paige walked out to the stands early so she could get a good seat. In the middle of a field was a wooden stage with tents around it.

Paige found a seat at the front and looked around. She was nervous because if anything did go wrong, she wouldn't be able to do anything. But she was excited because there would be action! Suspense! And she also knew that everyone who was chosen was capable of defending themselves. She had mixed emotions. She didn't know how she felt anymore.

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The Trial of Fear.

An ominous title for a student competition but not an unfamiliar one to Kazuo. Kimodameshi, a popular pastime for Japanese students, though not usually involving such very real threats as hags. It was a curious idea, especially coming from those two. Thomas LeStrange, rumoured to have made a deal with hags. Why would a servant of those old grannies want to host such an event? Though LeStrange had written that article outing the yamauba recently… was this some attempt at freeing himself from whatever deal he had made? Some attempt at redemption by helping other students avoid the mistake he had made? And Kit Paine, the very, very odd caretaker. Kazuo couldn’t help but to be suspicious of the man with his overly friendly mannerisms and meddlesome ways. Paine practically oozed good intentions in a very road to hell sort of way. Was this event really a harmless test of courage? Or was there something more insidious going on? Well, this was Hagwarts. Even if those two had good intentions, something was bound to go awry.

Certainly, enough Gryffindors had been chosen. The balance as indicated by the torches was glaring in its imbalance. Not a single yellow flame flickered, his own House woefully unrepresented. Probably for the best as he had yet to see bravery exhibited in any but a handful of Badgers and only in small doses. Though he would not speak it aloud, he was somewhat disappointed in his House's lack of presence, and perhaps a bit disappointed that he would not be participating, either. Fear was not something he generally struggled with and if this challenge was meant to actually teach students about threats in the magical world and how to face them, it would have been worth learning. Perhaps he could still learn the lessons from the stands even if he wouldn't experience them firsthand.

As he made his way into the stadium, he passed the torches, eyeing the flames with a smirk of amusement. Give them fire. Very smart. They could start the burning early. Settling into a seat, he studied the layout below with keen-eyed interest. What had LeStrange and Paine come up with? Surely nothing so banal as a muggle haunted house? These were wizkids after all. He could only hope the challenge would involve some truly fantastic uses of magic. Haru poked his head out from Kazuo's hood, letting out a softly curious meow as he stared at his new surroundings with wide kitten's eyes. "This is not a game for you." Kazuo chided his furry companion, giving him a gentle pet. The kitten merely gripped his hand and attempted to chew on his fingers, earning a chuckle from Kazuo.

As his gaze drifted to the stage he noted that only a few contestants had arrived. He only knew three of the total twelve. Dealla Prince, whom he might even admit to liking. A smart girl with a competitive streak and a decently clever way with words. Henry Knight, an odd little snake, a bit too proud for his own good. And Alan Vanes, a fourth-year with an adorable cat. If anyone would be getting his cheers tonight, it would be Dee. He had a feeling she would be able to puzzle her way through whatever they threw at her. Even as he was thinking about her, she was striding toward the stage with her torch. Kazuo watched her pause, leaning forward a bit to trace the line of her gaze. She seemed to be looking in Paine and LeStrange's direction and that alone could be viewed as an indicator of her intelligence if their presence gave her pause. Then she was joining her housemate on the stage and Kazuo pondered whether or not she would be able to hear him if he cheered. He wished he had some light sticks but they would no doubt fizzle within seconds of being turned on. He had settled for asking his Mom to send glow sticks instead. Blue, of course, safely tucked away in his pockets. He would bring them out later, once the trial commenced.

Six had arrived, six more to go.

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Mentioning| @Thomas Lestrange | @Henry Knight | @Alan Vanes
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Serena couldn’t believe that spring break was over and that she was already back at Hogwarts. She had initially planned on spending this evening cuddling with her cat, Oliver, and reading a book in the Hufflepuff Common Room. But then this Trial By Fear thing had been announced. And while Serena was partially relieved and partially disappointed that she hadn’t been chosen to participate, she just had to watch and see what on Earth was going to happen. Was this going to be a mini Triwizard Tournament, or was it something more like a dueling championship? She just had to see it first hand instead of hearing it over breakfast the next day.

So, at around 7:00 p.m., Serena made her way to the Quidditch Pitch. She couldn’t help but be flashed back to around this time last year when the illegal Blossom Ball happened. The twelve-year-old stopped in her tracks. Should she really come to this? Maybe she should read in the Common Room after all. But, this was a school-sponsored event, and the professors would be there if something went wrong. So, Serena forced herself to continue onwards.

She grabbed a cup of hot chocolate from the refreshments table. Serena couldn’t help but notice that none of the torches were yellow. Did that mean no Hufflepuffs were participating? It was interesting how none of them had made the cut. Then again, Serena had really only been doing the bare minimum lately in terms of homework and hadn’t really earned that many house points, so she couldn’t exactly complain.

As she made her way to the stands, Serena looked for anyone who she knew. Not seeing anyone she knew that well, she simply sat down in a random empty seat. It didn’t seem like many people were here yet anyway. Maybe someone she knew would show up?

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Ileen had sipped on her hot coco only twice as her friends finally entered the pitch. Her heart made a leap as she saw Dee and Aida entering the area, followed by a smirk spreading over her face as she saw Dee’s reaction to the presence of a certain Slytherin prefect. She could totally relate to that. And there was also the other Knight. Well, that was about to get even more interesting. Secretly, especially after the hockey game, Ileen hoped both of the Slytherin boys would get somewhat involved in getting jinxed. Knowing Ileen, probably not that secretly.

Her grin got broder as now also Alexander entered. He even noticed her in the slowly growing crowd and made a small respectful bow in her direction. But it could not be that he was the only one who noticed her presence. She was completely indifferent to the fact that she could disturb the devout and mysterious mood with it. So she prudently set her cup down beside her, leaned on the railing, and waved to her friends. "Let's go! You can do it! Whatever it might be…!" Well, she had no idea what they might have to accomplish. "Crush them!"
Satisfied with this, she dropped back into the seat, ignoring any strange looks that might be thrown her way and frowned. Now, when the start of the event was close and she had expressed her support for certain participants, her concerns kicked back in. It was a Hogwarts event. Organized by Lestrange. She hoped her friends wouldn't be harmed…

To distract herself from that thought, she looked around to see who else was here to support the students or, knowing her classmates, what was even more likely, watch them suffer. Her brown eyes scanned the crowd and stuck to someone who was the only one capable of topping her emotion for Lestrange. Kazuo.
Ileen snorted and crooked her head, eyes narrowing to observing slits. Was he drinking or eating something? She was really tempted to mess around a little bit… But maybe not yet. “Hey, Shimada. Here to enjoy other people suffering? Would not surprise me.”
Speaking with eyebrows raised in derision, she cast a condescending glance in his direction. Yes, he was certainly out to see other people suffer. Well, if he was here to laugh at Henry, they might even have something in common. But Ileen firmly resisted finding common ground with the boy. Once she had put one in a box, one couldn't get out of it very quickly. And Kazuo was uncharacteristically unfair and cheeky for a Hufflepuff. The die has been cast.

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Interacting with | @Dealla Prince | @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood | @Alan Vanes | @Alexander Varellion | @Kazuo Shimada
Mentions | @Thomas Lestrange | @Henry Knight

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Five more had entered, one left to go. He spotted Alan's arrival but more importantly, spotted Tiger arriving in his owner's arm. Cats were particularly excellent companions when it came to challenges like this one. More capable of sensing the spiritual than any mortal could hope to, they could be very useful but did Alan know that or had he brought his cat along simply for comfort? If he did realize the value of his furry friend, it would raise Alan's chances at success in Kazuo's eyes.

The other Slytherin had arrived, leaving only one dawdling Gryffindor to arrive. He didn't know Varellian at all but it seemed someone in the stands did because an obnoxious amount of noise burst forth from nearby. His gaze shifted, head turning slowly to settle on Ileen. Of course it would be her. He gave an irritated sigh, contemplating moving seats. He glanced around but couldn't spot a better option that didn't involve a significant amount of effort to move to. Fine. He would just ignore the self-righteous hypocrite with a wholly unsuitable name.

"Hey, Shimada. Here to enjoy other people suffering? Would not surprise me."

Or not.

He turned his head slowly to fix her with a well-practiced gaze of superiority. The type of gaze his mother would often fix on undeserving fools who displeased her. It wasn't a look he often affected but for Ileen, well, she deserved it for the comment she had tossed in his direction.

"If I wanted to watch people suffer, Knight," he said her name with bite. "I would spend more time around you. If you think this event's goal is to bring suffering to the contestants, I think you've already missed the intended point. It's a test of courage not a bloody brawl. The only thing they should be competing with is their own thoughts and emotions."

He gave her an unfriendly smirk then turned his gaze back to the stage in a dismissive way, pulling a box of Pockey out of his pocket and fishing one of the chocolate sticks out.

"Baka~" It was a Japanese word that he had noticed Westerners seemed at least somewhat familiar with thanks to anime and manga. If she understood it, all the better but if she didn't, then he simply amused himself by using it.

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Interacting with: @Ileen Knight

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A couple of years before coming to Hogwarts, Jess had gone to Rome with her family and stayed there for a week. While there, she had gone to take a tour of the Colosseum, which, with its crumbled ruins left pale and littered with tourists in the daylight, looked rather disappointingly mundane considering all the splendor that seemed to surround it whenever it was mentioned. At night, though, when the lights inside its corridors lit the swooping arches of the structure in a gleaming orange light, the Colosseum seemed to come to life, snippets of its former glory rising from the dead and forgotten traditions of its past. In the day, too, while the little voice whispered in Jess's ear from the headpiece handed out for the self-guided tour, it was easy to imagine the now collapsed floor and sweeping seats as complete, full of screaming onlookers as gladiators battled ferocious monsters below.

The Quidditch Pitch brought this image to Jess's mind, now, as she walked towards it, wrapping her arms around her body to protect herself from the night's slight wind. Past the line of students slowly shuffling into the stadium, Jess could see two lines of torches cutting through the darkness with their gleaming flames, no doubt colored by magic. The Quidditch Pitch, while always something of a wonder to Jess for the sheer abnormality of the magical sport it housed, appeared the same way as the Colosseum did now. Normally a rather unimpressive sight, differing from the Muggle stadiums Jess was used to only through the three swooping hoops standing tall on either side of the pitch, the stadium now seemed to hold an air of breathlessness, a feeling of tension in the air as the collective nerves of all the people there united in their anticipation of what was to come. The aforementioned torches, too, reminded Jess vaguely both of the Olympics and, strangely, an image of some valiant knight, holding his beacon of light, hope, truth high as he galloped through the night.

All in all, the small knot of dread, intermixed with an almost overwhelming sense of anticipation and excitement, was exponentially growing in Jess's stomach as each step took her closer and closer to the field that now seemed a completely different world than it had yesterday, when Jess had happened to catch a glance of it while walking outside after classes. The knowledge that Katrina would be participating was pressing on Jess's mind too, turning her stomach over in worry. She was sure that Katrina could handle herself fine in a trial, whatever that trial may be, but that didn't mean that she couldn't get hurt. Or scared. Or scarred. Or generally damaged in some way. And, knowing Jess, if she watched her friend get hurt, it would be the Hufflepuff's heart that would be aching as well long past when the event would end.

Nevertheless, Jess doubted that her heart would fare any better if she simply avoided the event and learned of Katrina's possible misfortunes later on after the fact, so she may as well come and get a thrill from the good parts she hoped would appear in the trial. Besides, this way, she could help cheer Katrina on. Determined to do so, Jess quickened her pace and made her way up into the stands surrounding the Quidditch Pitch. There didn't seem to be all too many people gathered in the stands yet, but then again, Jess had arrived unusually early considering her tendency to be late to things. Climbing up the steps to one of the middle rows in the stands, Jess glanced around. Most of the kids there seemed to favor the front rows, and the Hufflepuff supposed that that was the place to go for the best visual of the pitch, but she had no idea what possible dangers the trial might entail and did not feel particularly comfortable sitting so close to something that could possibly harm her as well. She could see the pitch perfectly fine from the middle row, anyways.

And see she did. Jess briefly allowed her eyes to wander over the tents and tables heaping with food on either side of the pitch before her attention was drawn to the newly erected stage set at the middle of the field and the assortment of students standing upon it. The first person that drew her eye was Dee, who was standing and talking to a girl with shockingly white hair. The Hufflepuff scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. Dee was holding a torch, which meant that she was a participant, though Jess couldn't remember having heard her name listed along with the other participants when the event had been announced to the school. There had been a name similar to hers called out, a Deella or Delilah or something. Was Dee a nickname, then? It probably was, but it didn't matter either way. Dee was here, so there was someone else that Jess had to worry, but also root, for. Giving Dee one last concerned glance, Jess looked around at the rest of the participants. They all looked vaguely interesting, though she couldn't really observe all too much from the distance between them and herself, but the only one Jess actually recognized other than Dee was Henry Knight.

Almost as soon as it registered in Jess's mind that Katrina had yet to arrive, a flash of vivid red hair caught her eye at the edge of the stadium and she traced Katrina's path as the older girl made her way up to the stage. Katrina seemed to be thinking deeply about something, probably mentally preparing herself for whatever the trial would entail. Overall, she looked ready for the trial. Jess truly hoped she was.

Interactions: @Santario Martin
Mentions: Katrina Walker and Ileen Knight
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The announcement of the trials had come as a surprise to Bridget. Usually, the only school-sanctioned events outside of sports matches were balls and it was still too early for the Blossom Ball, if that was even happening this year. She didn't particularly like the sound of this 'Trial by Fear' either, though that was essentially what balls and other attacks were. Viewing it optimistically might have even been possible for the Slytherin if Katrina hadn't been selected as one of the participants, but as it stood, she was worried. What was the purpose of this event? Why the air of mystery? The name implied a competition, maybe something similar to the legendary Triwizard Tournament she'd read about on a smaller scale. That by itself wasn't so bad, she'd be happy for her friend if she got a chance to compete for glory or whatever. But the fear aspect could only mean danger, perhaps even literally facing one's fears, something entirely possible with creatures like boggarts and hadn't her friend--hadn't all the Hogwarts students--had enough of that?

The seventeenth would arrive. Bridget wasn't nervous, really, something that would have been the case if she'd been selected as a participant. Rather she was... apprehensive. Yes, apprehensive. For what this whole thing might be putting students through. For the mere prospect of what could happen that was not planned, as large gatherings of the student body did not tend to go over well.

Bridget made sure to leave for the Pitch well before the trials were set to start; she didn't want to miss anything, and besides, if this didn't turn out to be another disaster, she would be sure to cheer her friend on. The weather was pleasant, spring replacing the bitter winter. She was dressed in a sweater and jeans, not too warm for right now and prepared for the temperature to drop with the setting sun. Her wand was with her, which was nothing new; she carried it with her everywhere since being ready to defend yourself at a moment's notice seemed to be a part of attending the school. The notable difference was more that she half-expected to have to use it rather than it simply being with her out of an abundance of caution or force of habit.

The Quidditch Pitch looked different tonight, the path lined with multi-colored torches and a wooden stage set up. She found herself glad she was just a spectator; she hated stages, though the duelling platform was an exception. There was a table of food and beverages, too, maybe something she'd check out later. The stands were slowly filling up, and she could make out a few familiar faces. Ileen seemed to be in an argument with a boy Bridget didn't recognize, and Santario was there too, both seated in the front row. That was where she headed, partly because she thought highly of both of them and partly because the front was where she would have the clearest shot if things went downhill.

Being with someone she knew sounded like a decent idea. With Ileen already busy talking to someone else, she veered to her duelling partner. "Santario, mind if I join you?" Regardless of the answer, she would look down at the set-up below. Interestingly, Thomas Lestrange was up there with the caretaker, apparently running the event. The twelve participants held their torches. 8 Gryffindors, 2 Slytherins, 2 Ravenclaws, no Hufflepuffs. She recognized all of them but one, a Gryffindor boy who was presumably a first year. Others she knew from duelling, Quidditch, or had just seen around. And there was Katrina, easy to spot with her red hair and teal streak. Hopefully she was ready for... whatever this was.