Trial by Fear Main Story Event

_

_

Interacting with | @Thomas Lestrange | @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood | @Scarlett Aden | @Alan Vanes | @Piérre Marchonné | @Elena Jangleton | @Henry Knight
Mentions | Ileen Knight | Kazuo Shimada | Percival Rainwood | Ruka Burnett-Tân

The first trial proved to be not much of an obstacle. Thomas Lestrange's barbs as she'd entered the circle had received a sidelong smirk, her wand twirling in a quick, negligent gesture. "Like I'd use a second-rate wand for this trial," she'd shot back, her eyes flickering to where she knew the pocket with his wand was. "Perhaps you should try a different one? You might actually manage to hit a table then? They're not that nimble."

The words might have come back to bite her, had her attempts to get the token failed - but, of course, she hadn't. In a sudden wave of calm focus, the token's path out of the fire had been effortless, graceful. Easy success.

Dee turned around grinning, smugness emanating from her with every step, basking in the cheers of her friends. Her eyes flickered up to where she'd seen Ileen and Kazuo earlier. She'd heard both their voices ringing down to her again, and although the sun was slowly nearing the horizon, light turning golden, they were still easily visible. Her steps faltered slightly, her smile brightening at the sight of the blue glowsticks Kazuo was waving, then turning amused as she watched Ileen snatch one of them. Well. They were both still up there, still alive. Should be fine. She expertly skipped over Percival, only a slight narrowing of her eyes betraying she'd noticed his presence at all, before she recognised Ruka on Ileen's other side. The Gryffindor received an enthusiastic wave, her pleasure to see him fueled by his three months of absence before.

Then she was facing Thomas Lestrange again, self-content rolling off her in waves. It was incredibly satisfying that he'd have to hand her the reward for her success - that was, until he slipped. For a moment, she stared down at the token in the grass in disbelief. There was the urge to just turn on her heel, stalk away and leave the token rather than grope around in the grass at his feet for it, pride raising her hackles. But she also wanted to win. No matter, no matter, her pride would remain intact if she emerged victorious, the end justified the means. A sharp glare before she bent down to pick it up, slipping it into her pocket along with the other one. "If your hands are that jittery, I was right not to trust you with a wand, wasn't I?" But when she walked away, her fists were clenched at her sides. Being that aggravating had to be some sort of special talent.

There were only a few contestants left in the queue after her, Scarlett, who approached the challenge with the same spell she'd used, and a similar result, Aida, Alan, with varying levels of success. General Counter-Spell, that was smart. Perhaps she'd been thinking too big, not direct enough. It was an approach fitting her white-haired friend. Something to keep in mind for future challenges, perhaps.

The next set of instructions by Mr Paine split them up into two teams, and Dee directed a regretful grimace into Aida's direction before she turned to her teammates. Alan was a welcome presence - Henry less so. He was one of the few who had firmly cemented his position as someone she disliked during previous encounters, hockey, the duel. She picked a cup with juice from the refreshments, taking a sip, cool in her mouth, pleasant after the heat of the fire on her skin. Piérre and Elena had mastered the first challenge with competence, between them and Scarlett, she could have gotten a worse team.

Putting down the cup, she clapped her hands together and tilted her head slightly, ponytail swinging. "So, how exactly do we want to stomp the other team into the ground?" she asked, smiling brightly. There were ideas forming already in her mind.

Once the ten minutes had passed, Dee would move to pick up her torch, the fingers of her dominant hand closing around her wand before she took her place among her team. Most of them she trusted with their tasks - one she didn't. "Considering we're on the same side for now, do me a favour and make sure your spell does not backfire this time, yes?" she asked Henry, a reference to their duel, her voice derisive even as her eyes focused on the other team. "Don't mess this up."

Action | Sent in private~

Stats
Sta 5 | Eva 9 | Str 3 | Wis 10 | Arc 6 | Acc 8
Evasive Maneuvers | Charmer

_

By SK

_

Interacting: @Rose Moon | @Katrina Walker | @Piérre Marchonné | @Scarlett Aden | @Dealla Prince | @Alan Vanes | @Elena Jangleton | @Thomas Lestrange
Mentioning: @Kit Paine|@Nicholas McCowan
Languages: English | French | Italian | Arabic | Russian
Outfit

Action: Probably will end in disaster....
Race: Werewolf
Abilities: Prodigal Charms Learner
Stats: Sta: 5| Eva: 5 | Str: 5 | Wis: 10 | Arc: 5 | Acc: 6
Inventory: Wand|Slytherin Dueling Brooch|Pocket Knife

@Henry Knight, @Dealla Prince, @Alan Vanes, @Scarlett Aden, @Elena Jangleton,
& @Thomas Lestrange

This fire... it had looked alive. Not Fiendfyre, as the boy was inclined to believe, but certainly different from Muggle fellows. It had been like a twisting snake, a coiling snake which writhed and watched, and stared back at the boy’s green eyes. It was alive, as Mister Window had said.

Respect it, and it will respect you.

Apparently the boy’s ‘respect’ had not been taken in stride. A geyser of orange and red erupted from the table, causing the boy to almost stumble out of the circle. It was blazing, hotter than any Mediterranean day. Piqued ears lowered with something like fear, as if the sheer heat of this fire had the capability to melt the poor boy into a puddle where he stood. Shielding his eyes for a moment, shocked by the light and the heat of the blaze, Piérre had a sudden gripping of stage fright run through him, something that had made his hand tremble and caused his mind to seize with white nothingness.

For a moment, he was sure there was something in the flames. Perhaps his eyes were simply playing tricks on him. Regardless, the spell came to his lips easily, with a small, inadvertent Italian roll of his tongue which had no significant impact on his cast, and just barely able to pull himself together long enough to sever the table legs and sent the token onto the grass. The table extinguished quickly, and the boy patted down the prize before taking it with him, Stability Roll (d5): +5 feeling just a little more confident in himself, Piérre happily left the circle, turning the token in his hands.

The boy who had added on a clever twist on Piérre’s intended joke about safety at the school, Lestrange, walked past Piérre, flipping a coin to him. With an instinctive twitch, Piérre snagged the coin midair in his left hand, keeping it in his pocket with its comrades and brothers in arms; the Knuts.

With another happy hum, Piérre was about to continue walking away, but a quip from the boy caused the Britalian to freeze. His heart turned to ice inside him as a personal jab was made on his behalf. The boy knew well that more than a few people would have heard about the ill-fated Masquerade and the fall of Miss Davenport... the suspicions which were laid heavily on the boy who had helped to carry her high above the ground... so that she could plummet to it.

And worst of all, Piérre had thought that he was going to help. This boy... had been the same one who had compromised Marion, and now he believed Piérre himself to be the antagonist. Easygoing, gentle, curious, but malicious was not something that the boy was. Words spread faster than actions, especially if the motivations of those actions were misperceived and twisted to correspond neatly with desired slander. Slander that the boy was not entirely used to, and whose delightful and unbothered personality was usually able to quash.

Had it... had it been his fault?

No. No it hadn’t been his fault. He couldn’t have controlled the circumstance, especially when there had been no warning, no indication. The hospital wing, a place of terrible dredged up memories from this year and the last. It had not been his fault, right? There had been something else at play. Stability Roll (d12): -11. Then why were others always blaming him? Why did others think him sole antagonist? His meager attempts at help, his smiling visage; were these not enough for the world to at least look over him and pass him by? Or was it because of these traits, these features which indicated innocence, that the universe had made its sole mission to rake the boy across the coals? And if not the universe... only his peers, or individuals who seemed to think that they knew what was best for him, or that they knew what happened in his personal affairs.

“Thank you.” He finally managed to dryly reply, his mind spinning with a mixture of grasping control, numbness, and inability to assess. His eyes met the antagonizing boy’s. Before he could stop himself, the ironclad restraints which held back a sharp tongue loosed for a moment, a cryptic revelation shared in a mumble just loud enough for the two of them to hear floated in the air. “ You were on the broom as well. Didn’t much attempt to save her either, did you?” A pause as eyes flicked away. The moment had passed, but not before Piérre offered a final, louder statement. “It’s okay if you want to hurt me. I know you’re hurting more.” Perhaps he was misguided altogether, the nature of Thomas Lestrange being something that even the bubbly boy couldn’t change, but even in the midst of it, the boy was giving him the benefit of the doubt. Benefits which he tried to give to all, regardless of situation.

I did not push her. I did not push her. I did not push her... I did... not.

She fell and I flew after. She fell and I flew after. She fell and I flew after. She fell and I flew after. She fell and I flew after.

You should have known what you were doing. It wasn’t your fault. You catch your teammates on the daily. It was not provoked. If you had moved a little faster. You weren’t expecting it. There was nobody else to blame. So don’t blame yourself.

“I blame myself.” He whispered shakily under his breath, trusting the sounds of the crowd to drown out his voice, the collective laugh of amusement which came from the boy attempting to fix the table that Piérre had left behind. For a moment, the boy shirked from the laugher, thinking it to be for him, but then shook his head and moved aside. He wouldn’t let this beat him. He could still prove his worth. He could still keep in mind that he had won these two tokens. He had earned them.

But moving on, there were teams to attend to. Piérre gravitated towards them slowly, taking his torch and lingering nearby. His smile had faded in exchange for a more stern visage, tinted with a small smile in the corners of his mouth. Smile, even if nobody else is looking. Alan made the boy feel a bit better. Unlike Piérre’s way of extending empathic concern and offering clarity of mind through desire to persevere, Alan simply... was. Piérre rolled his shoulders, loosening his muscles. There was no use for unnecessary tension. Stay relaxed. Stay calm.

Ten minutes. Ten minutes to formulate a plan. Piérre offered his own through son the matter of course, but his thought were all rum. Too outlandish to possibly work. Maybe the pressure plate would help them out? Not likely. Laughable, but just the sort of thing that a Jester would offer to lessen the stress in an atmosphere. A small snicker here and there from the boy as countless thoughts floated about in his head like soap bubbles, popping at random and encouraging him to share his thoughts, outlandish and absurd.

The Slytherin boy on their team, Knight, joined in as well a bit later, asking what he had missed. “Oh, well, I just suggested we try to hunt down and stand on the pressure plate. Seemed like a good idea to me, but nobody else bit, sooooo...” He shrugged with a small smile.

Though the next jest was supposed to be a joke, and Piérre knew it, the Britalian couldn’t help but shake his head firmly at the notion of setting the other team on fire. “I wouldn’t think that to be very nice. Don’t want to give Mister Bumblebee more work to do. Besides, burns suck. Trust me, I know.” The boy swayed from side to side, humming again.

Eventually, however, the plan was made. Piérre now had a job, and he was planning on sticking to it. At the ready now, his wand flourished before him in case he needed it, legs trembling with anticipation of having to move, the Britalian was determined to push invasive thoughts out of mind for a few seconds and long enough to succeed.

Once again, Piérre was drawn to Henry for a moment. “Ah, well, I’d be careful to stay out of sight for a while if you do. She doesn’t seem the type to mess around with. I’d tread lightly.” He responded in turn to the quip that the boy’s hand might slip and strike one of the oldest and most advanced member on their team. “But to be honest, I wouldn’t put it past her. I believe in you, okay? Just do your best and we’ll come out on top regardless of the outcome!” He cheered on the Slytherin gaily before bouncing on his toes and taking a few paces away in preparation for the next seconds to come.

Stats: Stamina 3 | Strength 3 | Evasion 10 | Wisdom 10 | Accuracy 10 | ArcPower 5
Abilities:
Keen Eye | 25% chance to spot something
Calming Presence | Affecting Student Participants
Inventory:
Yew Wand | 4 Knuts | Some (3) small glass phials* (school supply) | Quick Wit

*One is filled with water

Emotional Status & Persona: Stable (89%) | Embodying the Wonka
Action: Sent in Private via Team

Elena raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise at how well her efforts had paid off. She had managed not only to obtain the singular token required to proceed but had been awared another one on top of that. It was almost too good to be true but she was not going to complain, it was a sign if anything that things were looking up but that didn't meant she should let her guard down. They were just getting into the primary stages though the brunette could not shake the feeling that it had been too easy. Perhaps that was the intention, to lure them into a false sense of confidence to spring a surprise on them. She had seen it done too many times and Elena was not about to become a victim of that trick of books if she had her way. So far though, it seemed she did as evidenced by the two tokens which Elena guarded with her life.

A sign of true acheivment.

Her head snapped up at the mention of teams. Well, this was certainly interesing. She had thought the trials and tasks would all be things that were solo but it seemed their host had different ideas in mind as she listened to the breakdown of the teams. They had three other Gryffindors on their side, a few faces that Elena even knew and taking note of their opponets as well. The concept was simple reallly, keep your torches blazing and protected while exhausting every once of energy within your body to extinguish the opposing team's torches and as always, they were restricted to their magical ability. She didn't think anyone would be crazy enough to physically try to put out an fire, there were certain examples of what that looked like and had they just mentioned a pressure plate? "The pressure plate thing can't be that bad, can it?" She was asking more to herself than anyone else really.

They were after all just students so the brunette doubted very much that even if they stepped on such a thing, it would end in a horrible demise still she would very much prefer not to be the one that ended up with that unforunate fight. "Let's go put ourselves out some torches." The girl said waving her wand in a rather complicated motion and muttering the incantation. It should do the trick and it was really the perfect spell given the situation they were faced with. As long as they could hold their own ground while bulldozing the other team into the ground, Elena reckoned they would turn out alright but as usual, these things were easier said than done. They were after all doing this the magical way and as the Gryffindor had come to learn, magic could surprise you in ways you never imagined. Her hand tightened around her flickering torch as if scared she might drop it if her grip loosened any more.

Nicholas's mood was dark as he stared down, daring not view the remainder of the participants in their attempts to defeat the flames. His strategy had been sound, he was entirely sure of that. However, he had entirely failed at the execution of such. His spells had been clean, precise, and yet he'd missed. Sure, the fire had raged and threatened to engulf him, perhaps he had not showed it the respect it deserved, but that did not excuse his inability to appropriately hit a simple target. First too high, and then too low. The boy could not help but continuously think over and dwell upon his failure, it simply wasn't good enough. Perhaps he wasn't deserving off his role in the trials after all.

So it was that he hung his head, regardless of how the caretaker had instructed himself and the other participants who had failed not to. After all, who was he to instruct Nicholas how to react to his own disappointment. If anyone could judge his own ability, or lack thereof, the boy figured that he was certainly the best choice. After all, how was he to improve or learn if he was to be satisfied with such a miserable performance. That inner monologue ran as if on repeat in his head, the boy growing more and more worked up due to his own thinking. The thoughts were painted clearly upon his face, soured eyes hidden underneath a furrowed and creased brow.

The next trial offered little respite to his worries, a team effort where he would no doubt be the least useful member of his team. Not only would he be letting himself down, he would also be potentially letting down his entire team. It was one thing to fail himself, but another to fail and let down the others competing. His brow furrowed further, into a proper frown.

Still, he had to think through what he could do to ensure that would not happen. The pressure plate added difficulty to the challenge that would already be an uphill battle. He had only recently joined the dueling team, and as such he was untested in the casting of spells at other students, that in combination with the risk of some sort of horrible misfortune meant that he wasn't entirely looking forward to the events to come. But still, his competitive spirit drove him onward. When Kit finished speaking he silently made his way toward the team to which he'd been assigned.

The older Slytherin boy shot him another reassuring smile, and for once Nicholas did not respond in kind. He nodded at the boy, a gesture of goodwill and sportsmanship, although his face remained steady in its expression. Nicholas was focused, he had to make up for his previous failure.

He joined the group, offering little more than a tokenistic greeting, "Hey." Yet he remained relatively quiet and withdrawn even as he spoke. As it was, he was more than content to let the others brainstorm ideas. He was aware that his spell library was relatively limited when compared with the others, although that did not mean that he couldn't support them where necessary. Still, if an exciting idea were to come, he wouldn't have the knowledge base to suggest it.

Action: Doing as strategised
Stats: STA: 7 | EVA: 6 | STR: 8 | WIS: 6 | ARC: 4 | ACC: 4
Abilities: Foulplay
Action: Doing as strategised
Interacting with @Henry Knight, Team One.
Open to Interactions

Nicholas seemed really nervous, as he could only reply with his name. Which, of course, Rose already knew. But she knew exactly how he felt. She couldn't quite say much, either. She gave him a comforting smile before returning to Henry. He asked that Eyre left the team, and Rose nodded. She didn't know what to say about it, anyway. When Scarlett joined them, Rose smiled. "Hi. It is," she said it quietly, her voice sounded a little small to any of those who were actually paying attention. That was the only hint to anyone that she was nervous.

Oh great. The fire was alive. Rose narrowed her eyes at Kit Paine as he made a sarcastic remark at the expense of Thomas. It was, admittedly, funny, but it had caused Thomas a great deal of embarrassment, maybe what caused his comments to some of the participants.

She approached the fire when it was her turn, respect in her steps. Respect the fire, and it will respect you. It seemed to be a little less than the person who had gone before her. Maybe it had worked, then? Her first spell, Extinguio.... missed. It missed! How could it have missed?! She had aimed right at the wood, and right at the last second, her hand must have... twitched? For some reason that was lost to Rose, she missed. Rose growled softly at herself. Last chance. But she steadied her hand and her thoughts, and went with her gut on the next spell. Her first spell had been a result of her strategic thinking. Flipendo had been her immediate reaction after the first spell failed. The hand movement had been one that she had practiced time and time again, and it came smoothly and quickly out of her wand. It was successful, bouncing the token off. She hurried over and picked up the token. She was, sadly, only rewarded one, as her first spell had failed and costed her a precious minute. She hurried back to her spot as the crowd roared.

Henry moved to go after him, and she murmured, "Good luck," as he passed her. The token was clenched tightly in her hand as it cooled off from the fire.. Her luck didn't seem to account for much at all, in actuality. She winced as both of his spells failed. He came back to stand by her, and she said softly, "It's okay. There's always next trial." Yes, this was the first trial. Some people got a head start, but that was all. She still felt bad. She was beating herself up for missing one spell, and he had missed both. She could only imagine how he was feeling right now.

The Slytherin leaned over and whispered to Rose and Katrina. Rose nodded at Henry's first comment, and then replied to his question. "This definitely feels off," she whispered. Then he kept talking and talking. She knew it was just harmless banter, but she didn't know why he kept feeling like he needed to keep talking. Maybe he was just anxious? Whenever he seemed anxious he just talked. Which was the opposite of Rose, since when she was anxious, really anxious, she could barely talk at all. She wouldn't mind it, except that it was distracting her from watching the other people. He asked a lot of questions. Rose didn't have answers for all of them. "The caretaker seems okay. I've heard he's pretty nice. We live at Hogwarts, things are bound to be odd and strange." She was trying to pay attention to what was happening.

Katrina was next. Even though the fire roared in protest of her presence, she went for a much more practical approach, which succeeded brilliantly. She was given an extra token for her quick work, and Rose grinned as she rejoined them. "That was brilliant," she leaned over and said, glancing up at her for a moment. It was no surprise to Rose. Katrina was just all-around awesome.

Rose flinched as Nicholas also failed both his spells. He did not look happy about that at all, and Rose honestly didn't expect him to. She leaned over to him. "Don't worry about it. You can still regain some ground."

The turns went on. Rose found it in her to focus, even though Henry was talking to her and Katrina. Aside from Henry and Nicholas, only one other person- Xailah. Rose only knew Xailah from the Frog Choir auditions, but she was sure that the girl wass a fourth year. That meant she was supposed to have the upper hand in this kind of thing. More experience. Two others were awarded only one token. A fourth year that she didn't know his name, and another anonymous Slytherin. The other six, including Katrina and Scarlett, were given two tokens for their quick work. This already put Rose in the bottom half of the competition, she realized. Couldn't she just have aimed correctly? Maybe she could step it up with the next trial.

Mr. Paine asked for applause for them, and Rose clapped for her fellow participants. She made eye contact with her sister, Faith, in the crowd, who was next to her brothers. Faith nodded at her approvingly with a grin.

Henry continued to talk, and Rose just shrugged in response. She wasn't sure she would be able to force out any recognizable words right now. She was in too much anticipation for the second challenge.

That's when they were split into two teams. Henry definitely seemed unhappy with the team choice.

Rose took in each of her own team. Xailah and Katrina were on her side, which made her feel a little better. They were experienced and Rose hoped that they could demonstrate that and help everyone else a little more. And Nicholas. Rose hoped that her presence would make it easier for him to focus, and make him a little more comfortable. It always helped to have a friendly face. Two others that she had occasional classes with, a pale girl with snowy hair and a blonde boy.

Henry talked to her and Katrina again, like he didn't have anything better to do- like listening. She appreciated his words, though. That he would be by her side any day. She chuckled a little at his joke afterwards. "You have Scarlett," Rose offered, in an attempt to make him feel better.

The next trial was explained. Okay. This made some sense. The moment Mr. Paine stopped talking, Henry started whispering again, offering up several questions. None of them Rose had answers to. She didn't want to make an opinion and then have it upturned. "I don't know," she said softly. She was a tiny bit annoyed at his continuing questions and comments, but under that, she felt that he was... scared. Nervous.

They were given ten minutes to plan with their team, and Henry decided to follow Katrina and Rose like a puppy, asking them yet another question. He lingered by their team, and Rose waited for him to leave. They needed to strategize, and he couldn't be there. He was on the other team. He kept asking questions, and Rose responded with another shrug, saying, "I don't know." He wished them luck and went back to his team. "You too!" she called after him.

For the rest of the time, Rose talked with the members of her team, and then readied herself on the east side of the field, her eyes trained on the opposite team.

For Moderation-

Action: Being angsty, as strategized

Abilities: Keen Eye | Lovely Creature Inventory: Wand

Stats: Stamina- 6 Evasion- 8 Strength- 5 Wisdom- 9 ArcPower- 7 Accuracy- 5

Post was edited to remove the accidental godmodding of Henry Knight. Sorry for any inconvenience, it was my bad.

outfit
speech #bf0040
action discussed with team, privately submitted
abilities prodigal charms leaner, fearless
stats stamina 7 | evasion 6 | accuracy 8 | strength 6 | wisdom 6 | arcane power 9
inventory fanged frisbee + wand

────── ☆ ───────

@Rose Moon @Henry Knight @Katrina Walker
[font=times new roman]T[/font]he fire was alive, eh? Well, Scarlett must've been treating it with some form of respect because it seemed quieter than the blazes the other participants had faced. It was soft and to be honest, Scarlett found it easy to levitate the token and grab it from the air. Too easy. Was it meant to be a lower difficulty-level of challenge for the first trial? Or was it just her? But anyway, whatever the case, Scarlett felt - she didn't know how to describe it. Smug? Okay, yes, she was feeling smug to a certain extent as she caught the bonus coin Lestrange flicked at her. Proud? Sure. But she definitely felt better than Henry, who had collected a grand total of zero tokens. She winced when his spells didn't work. Especially in front of other people, that must've sucked. Rose had retrieved one token, but by far the most entertaining spectacle of the night was Katrina smashing the table on the ground and swiftly picking up her two tokens.

Unorthodox, but impressive. Scarlett grinned as Katrina came back to the group of participants. "Wicked table bashing Kat," said Scarlett, stifling a laugh. But soon, Kat's attention was turned away as Henry started to whisper and talk to Rose and Kat, so that only they could hear. Scarlett felt an uncomfortable twisting sensation in her stomach. Granted, she and Henry weren't that close anymore. They had been best friends when they were seven, but now they were thirteen and though Scarlett didn't want to admit it, they had evidently drifted apart.

Scarlett had no clue what was going on with Henry and Rose. They seemed to spend more time with each other and hang out with each other and do everything that friends did with each other. Scarlett was happy for them. She was happy that two of her good friends were getting on like a house on fire. She just wished they didn't have to leave her in the dust whilst doing it. Okay, maybe Henry and Rose weren't exactly 'leaving her in the dust'. They had talked. The three of them had decorated the Three Broomsticks together. Scarlett had had a sleepover at Rose's house over Easter. But there was just something missing, something that Henry and Rose had that Scarlett had never had with almost any of her friends. She didn't even know what it was, but thinking about it only made her clench her fists harder and caused her to look anywhere but Henry whispering to Rose and Katrina.

Why Katrina? How did they know each other anyway? Scarlett would've liked to think she had a closer relationship with Henry and Rose than a third-year they had only met with this year, but that evidently might not have been the case. But whatever. Scarlett couldn't dwell on this anymore. The caretaker's words flew over her and she briefly registered the basic instructions. Teams, torches, all that stuff. Scarlett found herself huddled in a circle and discussing strategy furtively along with @Dealla Prince, a second-year Ravenclaw she knew only from classes, @Alan Vanes, a Gryffindor Prefect which she - sort of? - recognised, @Piérre Marchonné, who she had met a few times before and had relatively positive interactions with, Henry, and @Elena Jangleton, who she remembered from the train.

Scarlett was so done with Henry by now. Instead of going over to his team to actually discuss plans and strategy, he stayed with freaking Rose and Katrina on the opposing team. Now, if he were trying to be some sort of spy, Scarlett would've approved. But no, Henry just had to talk more with his friends, the two people he trusted the most that didn't include her. Well whatever. Scarlett gathered with her team. Dealla seemed to be taking initiative at the start. "Well," said Scarlett in response to the girl's cheerful smile - cheerful? Well, optimists weren't so bad as she was one herself - "I'm pretty sure everyone has a ton of ideas to figuratively 'stomp this other team into the ground', though I'd be open to any suggestions to see how we could do that physically...although that might be a tad violent." Scarlett gave a small, light laugh.

"Just fingers crossed that one of the other team gets - er - boinged from the pressure plate? Ejected from the pressure plate? Anyway, hopefully someone from the opposing team will step on it, and then voila - problem solved!" Scarlett gave a little jazz hands movement to Piérre before turning to Elena. "And I'm pretty sure the pressure plate could catapult you into the air, making you drop your torch and - um - yeah. That happens."

Henry had also came over at some point and lodged himself between Scarlett and Piérre. Scarlett stiffened. "Nothing much. Finally decided to join us?" asked Scarlett to Henry, coolly raising her eyebrows. She really needed to work on raising one eyebrow to look more intimidating and/or sophisticated. "And wow, that's certainly a loophole, though as Piérre said, not very nice, is it? Hope you're not going to hit me with any fire~"

Burns suck, Piérre had said. Well, Scarlett hoped she wouldn't be experiencing any, anytime soon, though that seemed unlikely at Hogwarts. Anyway, the strategy had been finished. Scarlett was happy with it and Dealla, Piérre, Elena, Henry and Alan were hopefully happy with it. Ignoring the jibe at Henry from Dealla (he deserves it at this point, thought an irrational and rather bitter part of Scarlett).

She twirled her wand like a baton as the competition began. Lights aided the audience's view of exactly when and where the teams would go wrong. Scarlett prepared herself mentally, acknowledging Elena's 'let's go put ourselves out some torches' with a nod before tilting her head at Henry and saying in response, "If you do that, I'll jinx you myself." She gave a small smile directed at no one in particular before twirling her wand a final time as the game started.

────── ☆ ───────

Katrina wasn't really struggling to keep her faux confidant façade up like she'd thought she would. In fact, she was starting to find that it was less of a mask and more of an actual feeling. The lack of competition and overall depth in her life over the last few months made this opportunity that much more dramatic. That or being in the center of attention was getting to her head (again). Nonetheless, her protectiveness had faded enough that Katrina was actually able to feel the excitement rather than the worry, but it was still there, just sedated for the moment.

Katrina took another moment to look over the set-up of the ring before Pierre entered. The table just seemed like a normal table. The token, now that Katrina was paying more attention to it, looked like it was shaped like a flame or a fire or something. Curious. Now, the thing that caught Katrina's attention the most, was the fact that the fire followed Pierre's movements and mimicked them, like it was alive. A flashback to the living forbidden forest interrupted Katrina's mental run-down. The Third Year gritted her teeth and forced herself back to reality. According to the announcer, the fire was indeed alive and you had to respect it. Yeah, because respecting the plants in the Forbidden Forest respected her back, no way was she falling for that one.

Katrina absent mindedly watched the next contestants. It seemed you could do pretty much whatever you wanted. Extinguish the fire, knock the token off the table, cast some sort of charm at the token or table. That was, until it was Henry's turn. Apparently the token had the anti-theft charm on it. Well that just spoiled Katrina's plans.

Henry voiced some concerns Katrina had been fighting from surfacing, "It totally feels like there's something off about all of this. I thought might have just be reading into it too much but… Thomas and the Caretaker in charge? A trail about fear? Arbitrary fire? I don’t know, I just don't like it," In agreement to his statement, Katrina mimicked his quiet tone.

She was up next, Katrina brushed off her skirt with one hand and set the torch into the hole on the outside of the trail with her label on it. Katrina stepped into the circle, hiding any tentativeness. The table promptly burst into flames, brighter and stronger than any of the previous ones, Katrina was blinded by fire for a moment. Katrina matched the attitude of the flames (or perhaps they matched hers) and she strode up to the table with her own fire in her eyes. Suddenly, it felt like someone took a hold of her, like with the cowboys when she'd recklessly decided to punch one in the face, she seemed to move of someone else's accord and approached the table.

Katrina sharply shoved the top of the table as hard as she could. The table toppled over, a triumphant look in Katrina's eyes. Her hands burned, but it wasn't nearly enough to stop her, she brushed her palms against each other and strode to the other side of the table where the token had rolled off. She stooped down and picked up the token, turning and leaving the circle without a backwards glance.

On the way out, Thomas, as Katrina just identified, flicked her an extra token. For what, Katrina wasn't certain, possibly putting on a show or something. Whatever the reason, Katrina didn't bother asking and simply slipped the two tokens into her torch as she took it and returned to Henry and Rose. Both Rose and Scarlett shot her a compliment and Katrina failed at hiding a proud smile, "If it's a show they want, may as well give them one, I suppose," she said, loud enough for both to clearly hear. She noticed a darkness in Scarlett's gaze and felt a tight twist in her stomach, guilt. But now was definitely not the time for that, they could deal with teenage angst as soon as all of the dramatics of the trial were over and they were safe.

Musings aside, there wasn't an insane amount of dramatics in the coming trials. Out of it all, the notable things to Katrina were the token turned into a bird, the goth girl from the train wreck failing at some cool table tumbling stuff, and Alan backfiring a dancing feet spell. There were a few people who didn't end up getting any tokens, Henry and angry boy among them, and a few who got tokens along with Kat and the rest simply got the one from completing the challenge. At the end of it all, there was a round of applause for the contestants and Katrina looked up into the crowd with a slightly proud smile on her lips. They had certainly put on a show for the onlookers and Katrina had to admit she was glad she ended up coming in the first place.

The next trial was announced and this time Katrina listened closer. Have to extinguish opponents torches. Don't let your own get extinguished. Don't drop it. And there's a… pressure plate? What the heck? Something was definitely up. Katrina suspicions rose again. She was fighting confidence and suspicion and she had to admit that it was getting tough mentally. The teams however, were absolute garbage. What she had originally wanted was to team with Pierre, Henry, and Scarlett, all of whom were on the opposite team, and the person she didn't really want to team with at first glance (aka angry boy) and the few people she hardly knew were now all on her team. What luck.

Henry continued on with some of his suspicions, Rose agreeing, and Katrina stole a glance at the two supposed organizers of the event "I hardly know either the Caretaker or Thomas. But from what I do know, they should be the last to organize a school wide event on safety and leadership," Katrina ran her fingers down the wand that was now carefully stored in the holster on the inside of her arm, more comforting than the pocket had been.

Henry mentioned boggarts and Katrina suppressed a shudder, "Boggarts are the only thing I could think of off the top of my head for fear as well. And believe me, they are a lot worse than they seem. And as far as I know out of the twelve of us, there's only a few that could even have a chance of dispelling it so I'd hope it was out of the question," Katrina felt the memories of the last time she'd combated a boggart rise up, that was the last thing she needed right now.

"Good luck," Katrina smiled, "But don't be offended when I blow out all your teammates candles," Henry joined the rest of his group and Katrina sighed, it always felt like she was fighting against the very people she'd want to team up with, at least she had Rose. Turning towards her now teammate, Katrina smiled at Rose, "Ready to get another token?"

Katrina joined the rest of her team with little time remaining and quickly got to speed with the plan. As much suspicion as she had, she still might as well give it her all. It wouldn't hurt, right?

TLTR; Be suspicious, yeet a table, say a few sort of witty lines, brood

For Moderation:

Reducio

Action: You'll see

Inventory: Wand

Abilities: Perfectionist [Crit-Fail Zone reduced by 1] | Healing Sage [+25% on all magical healing] | Charmer [-1 acc for all opponents]

Stats: Stamina 9 | Evasion 8 | Strength 3 | Wisdom 11 | Arcane Power 9 | Accuracy 6

Interacting With: @Scarlett Aden, @Rose Moon, @Henry Knight

Mentioning: All The Other Contestants
@Dealla Prince, @Scarlett Aden, @Rose Moon, @Elena Jangleton, @Aida Mòrsgor-Ama Ellwood, @Henry Knight, @Alexander Varellion, @Alan Vanes, @Xailah Alptraum, @Nicholas McCowan, @Piérre Marchonné

Open to Interactions: Please do!