Lock-in Hufflepuff Gryffindor Event Closed

Amadea followed the sounds of John's singing and the light from Anatole's torch. They walked farther and farther until Anatole's light was no longer visible and Amadea could no longer hear John's singing. As soon as the Huffrindors had joined together, they seemed to have disbanded in the same amount of time. 

Amadea looked around cautiously, wondering where her team had gone. It had all happened in an instant, it seemed. The light from the torch had vanished and John's singing had abruptly stopped afterward. She debated whether or not to call out through the silence, but decided against it in case there was some monster lurking in the shadows. Amadea now wished she had kept hold of the torch. At least she would then have some light. 

A bolt of panic ran through her, causing her to gasp out loud. It seemed to only have just hit her that she was now alone in a mostly dark space with only a hairpin, a map, and her wand. She pulled out the map, ready to take a look at where everyone had gone when she heard something. It started off quietly, a song sung by a child. At first Amadea could not hear the words, but as it grew louder she was able to make them out. It seemed as though a young child was singing about a "silly dancer." 

Amadea had no idea what it meant or why anyone was singing, but she figured it was all part of the event. Or at least, she hoped it was. She was now alone in the dark and terrified. The panic was messing with her head. She couldn't think rationally. Through the mist, she managed to see a dull green spark of light that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Amadea wondered if it meant anything or if she should ignore it. The song was still being sung, and it was becoming horribly depressing to Amadea. 

The terror was taking over her limbs, rooting her in space. She knew she needed to keep moving, try to find someone, but she was so scared. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, assessing her feelings. She was definitely scared. No. Worse than scared. She was terrified. Why? She was terrified because she didn't want to die all alone in the dark in whatever room this was. How could she solve this problem? Fumbling around with her robes, she grabbed her wand, shakily pulling it out. If she could do nothing more, at least she could light her way.

"Lumos!" she commanded, softly but surely. She hadn't had much practice with the spell, but just desperately hoped it would work. Otherwise, she would be traveling blind. Figuring she just needed to keep walking, Amadea began slowly making her way forward, shuffling her feet to make sure she didn't trip and fall. She just hoped there was someone, not something, ahead of her. 

Action: Cast Lumos and continue walking forward (south). 

Oh.

My.

God.

Well firstly, Rosie was offended. Dorian had sped past her, and in the process, took Eris with her, along with Max. She watched them go and she let out an annoyed huff. How dare he? Take her friend like that? She was talking to Eris! How rude. Frustrated, Rosie walked after them. "Sh-She's my friend too, ya know-"

And then everything went wrong.

As Rosie walked through, she got a slight glance of Eris' new facial hair, and before she could say anything. Hell struck. She suddenly had new, fluffier ears, and whiskers grew out of her cheeks. Rosie's heart started racing in confusion and lowkey terror as she watched a tail sprout out from her behind. She was speechless. What had just happened? Her tail was blonde and brown, along with her ears. Rosie slowly rose her hands to touch them softly and screamed when she felt them. She lowered them back down and went to get up, but was yanked back by... A chain? A CHAIN? Rosie's hands went to her neck and she felt the collar around it. Was she an actual cat? A full on feline? She started breathing heavily. She had never felt this before. So embarrassed, so humiliating. She looked around to see all of her friends to be falling into chaos. Dorian was no where to be seen. Anatole was completely gone, and if there was anytime that she needed her best friend, it was now.

In a giant inhale, she started yelling. "WHAT THE ABSOLUTE BLOODY HELL?" She screamed, squirming. "WHAT- MEOW-" Rosie gasped and covered her mouth. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Her eyes started watering. Was she crying? Especially. Rosie started tugging at her collar and winced at the pain in her neck.

However, she stopped squirming when she heard the help me. Rosie turned to the sound, that had easily been replaced with the rushing water. She could've sworn she heard something. A call for help. But there wasn't much to do when Rosie was chained to the door. She slumped back down and felt her eyes start watering. She felt humiliated, and ugly. "GUYS?" She yelled. "MEO-" Rosie stopped talking again and covered her face.

ACTION: Be a cat, scream for her team. Meow? Meow.

To the shadows and the Door

Reducio

Action:  Walk down the hall, tell a secret, step through the door

Mention Lucy, Duncan, Eris, Max, Alan, Rosie, Dorian
PS: anything written in this color, is not something any of you will understand, even if you stand close by. If you decide that you are listening to it, then you will hear it as a low hissing sound.

Under different circumstances, Parcel might have blushed as Lucy dragged him through the door. Or at least recoiled back in fear as a girl touched his arm. He was a modest boy after all and was brought up believing that girls gave you cooties, and cooties killed you. This was most likely a lie his mother had concocted so that he wouldn’t try to kiss any girls yet, or be to much of a Casanova, but Parcel had really taken it to heart.
This time however, was not one for lamenting over cooties. This was a day when Parcel was in his zone, he loved adventuring, searching, learning and walking where no other had walked before, or where no other first year had walked before at least. So that he was touched by a girl did not even register to him, there are no genders on an adventure, only companions!

Parcel lifted his torch up in front of him, lighting the room he was standing in. He meticulously stared around, trying to find everything in the room that peaked his interest. This wasn’t the first time he had been in a cave, no, for he had accompanied his grandfather through caves before. But this one seemed special, the room he was in seemed nearly cut off from the rest of the world. It was hard for a 11-year-old boy to put his thoughts into words, but it was almost like the room was isolated. He hadn’t walked far, but still, no sound could be heard from the basecamp he had walked from.

He then proceeded to look over to where the nest was located. From where he stood, the light could illuminate the whole nest. To Parcel’s dismay, the nest didn’t seem to be a nest at all, but rather a collection of garbage. He could see crumbled up paper, tuffs of hair (He really hoped Lear hadn’t pulled that off from himself) and things like cloth and even some junk that looked like a finger. There were four eggs there though. And they seemed awfully alluring, easily accessible, brightly colored, and just steps away from him… it had to be a trap.

Before Parcel could contemplate more on the matter, he saw something that made him look away. Movement! Movement above him! At first, he hadn’t noticed it, he had looked at the nest and not paid attention to the ceiling of the room. It was however impossible to unsee it once you had seen it. Because above him was a huge serpent slithering around. He gulped down as the huge snake watched over him with a chilling gaze. But as soon as he got a closer look at the creature, he relaxed. The tension left his body as he stared intently up at the captivating creature above.
“Basilisk” whispered Parcel, not loud, and mostly just to himself, but someone standing close by might also be able to hear it. He still remembered reading about the magnificent creature. His father had, for some reason or another, made Parcel read countless books about serpents and snakes when he was younger. Every time he complained and wanted to know why he had to read such books, his father had scoffed and said that he would tell Parcel when he got older. He still remembered a passage from one of the older books, that described the creature. It had a picture with a serpent much like the one in front of him. And remembering this passage was what made Parcel loose all the tension. “Basilisk’s can kill by looking at someone”, this was something he clearly remembered, but the Basilisk above him was clearly looking at him, but he was still alive, so therefore it had to be a trick.

As he watched the basilisk with a meticulous gaze, as if to copy the image of the beautiful creature to his mind, the others began pouring in.
He pulled his eyes away from the serpent and watched as one kid came in after the other, and each one weirder then the next!

There was his teammate, Duncan, Shackled by the hands!
And then the gnome’ish girl, with a great big mustache (that made her look like a fairytale dwarf, more than a gnome)
Two boys Parcel had remembered seeing in a class here and there burst in with the gnome’ish girl, and one of them truly BURST through. He was off, away and out of sight before Parcel could count to 10. He could hear the sounds of running footsteps in front until a sickening TWACK! Of flesh hitting stone made the sound of footsteps disappear.
The other boy(Max), obviously not wanting to run off with the first boy(Dorian), stopped a few steps in front of Parcel. And to Parcel’s great bewilderment, the boy was wearing heels! High dang heels! What could he be thinking, and Parcel even got the feeling that the boy didn’t know how to walk on high heels, because he could see him wobbling a bit as he walked.

But the two weirdest was yet to come! First came a cat girl! A girl with cat ears and a tail! By Merlin’s Green rubber boots, what in the world was going on!? Why was there a tail and cat ears on that girl? And... and was that a collar he saw? Was she really wearing a collar, like a pet?! Who was the owner!? Was... was it one of the boys that had just come in? Parcel sent a disapproving look over to the other Gryffindor boy that had walked in (max), he couldn’t see the other guy (Dorian) for he had already run ahead like a maniac, so all his suspicion fell on poor Max. Was the guy (Max) such a weirdo? Forcing girls to wear collars and cat ears for him?

Before he had time to find an answer, another boy came in. This time it looked like a prisoner from Azkaban had escaped. While Max might be wobbling from wearing heels (for what Parcel presumed to be the first time) this new boy (Alan) was wobbling from the entirely other end, like he was wearing something way to heavy on his head. And that he did, for the dark iron helmet he had on, made him look like a wizard version of what a well-known cannibal could be wearing.

What the heck was going on!? As he stood there perplexed, not able to say or do anything as the scene in front of him took place, Parcel almost missed the sound of something-. No, the sound of someone.
Taking his gaze away from the hairy gnome girl, the speedster, the perverted drag queen, the submissive catgirl, the cookiemonster and the escaped Azkaban convict, Parcel looked south. He was sure he had heard something, a voice shouting, he couldn’t make out words, but it sounded urgent, almost distressed. Was there someone in front of him? Parcel was unsure, he almost thought he had made it up, perhaps his mind played a trick on him to force his eyes away from the peculiar people that had forced their way in.

Parcel’s gaze was drawn back to the Basilisk on the ceiling. He didn’t quite know why, but he felt something like a connection too it. It was the same when he walked past certain statues and paintings too, almost like something in him was calling out to it.
“Do you know if a white haired and bearded man has been through here? Or any other folk before me?” Parcel felt like he thought to himself, he wanted to know if anyone other then Lear had been here before him, if he had imagined the voice or not. He knew he wouldn’t get an answer by thinking to himself, but somehow it felt right. “Would it be fine to pick up one of the eggs, are they prizes or traps?” Parcel thought about the eggs, but at the same time he found it hard to take away his eyes from the Basilisk. “I wonder if you are trapped up there… anything I can do to let you out?” Parcel didn’t know what the projection really was, but if it was a painting, then he suspected it might be lonely here, all by itself. He didn’t know why, but he felt like he should alleviate its boredom a bit if he could.

ACTION: Talk to the Basilisk

Eris didn't really know Rosie, but the girl seemed to have a much calmer approach to the situation than Eris did, herself. She seemed sweet, and she was a friend of Anatole Evans, who seemed alright. Their only interaction had been Eris attempting to comfort the crying girl, which certainly made them close, to an extent. For all her punching threats, kicking, and fighting, there was a soft side to Eris, a side that Rosie had seen. It was almost strange, seeing that the kindly hufflepuff was now being exposed to the real Eris, the girl that she was when she wasn't tied down by sadness over Adam and failed friendship.

That friendship was fine now, and Eris wasn't going to be caught weak and sad, not among hufflepuffs.. or anyone for that matter, if she was to keep the badgirl "i don't care" cliche vibe. Even so, she felt trust towards Rosie, while small and tentative. Even though they hardly knew each other, there was something comforting about the possibility of new friendship. Before she could say another thing, a flash of light and the body holding the light took off towards the door, which was ajar and empty of any other children, and Eris let out a laugh, forgetting about Rosie all together. Eris raced after Max and Dorian, smaller feet hardly able to keep up, straining to match their footfalls. She was falling, horribly, but the boys noticed that. It was at this point that Dorian grabbed her, and the two vaulted towards the door together.

This was what friendship was, the freedom of racing, knowing that you would always be caught and protected by the person you were racing with. It was wild as the magic of Hogwarts, but it was freedom and she loved it. Max and Dorian were the two that matched her recklessness, that fed the waves of madness and violence, screaming at the waves to grow large enough to swallow her whole. A smile grew on Eris's face, a whoop extracting from her lips, just as they almost stopped at the door, long enough for Max to scream about one of their nighttime adventures, before Dorian yanked Eris forward into the room.

The SECRET! Her attention snapped back to the secret they had heard the other children yelling about, as Max let out a secret of their own, just before the three children passed the threshold into the dark room, heart and head still light from the excitement.

The second they entered the room, it was clear something was wrong. Dorian's arm, still interlaced with Eris's, took off with the rest of his body, running straight for the wall. Eris, unable to keep up with him, let her arm drop out of his grasp with a light yank, not taking in her surroundings for a moment, as she strained her neck to watch Dorian slam into a wall. Wh-what was he doing? She'd seen Dorian do plenty of odd things in the short time of their friendship, but slamming straight into a wall was most likely, the worst of all those things.

It was clear Eris did not see, or notice, the embellishments on her face. Her face, while never really took seriously, was worried and somber--if one discounted the childlike drawings that made anything she did seem funny to those with crude humor, such as the Hufflepuff Head of House sitting in the "Common" Room of the caverns.

"Dorian?" Angling her wand light towards the wall, and her friend who was currently detained by it. One would assume the girl was completely idiotic, not even noticing the eggs in front of her for a moment, still straining to see Dorian. Finally, she looked around the room, face turning more scared and confused by the moment.

One of the hufflepuff boys was chained with manacles, and this time, it did not seem like they were a strange fashion choice handed over by Lear. These seemed like real handcuffs, and a wave of fear washed over Eris, while small, she contained it, turning away from the hufflepuff to stare at the eggs in front of her.

They were beautiful, eye catching really, and for a moment Eris's fantasies of magical worlds and dragon taming took over. Were they dragon eggs or underground birds? The eggs were rather large for bird eggs, so maybe, just maybe, they were Big Bird's children. It was clear she had not taken Care for Magical Creature, and her hands itched to grab a hold of the eggs, to take one for her own and hatch it. There was nothing that was going to hurt them, right? This was just an adventure, one that was going to be safer than the Hufflepuff Campout. Professor Cazarez, while strange enough to teach something as boring as History of Magic and talk about boogers, was nice enough. He wouldn't let them get set on fire like Hufflepuffs. Thus, that meant, maybe the eggs were one of the prizes?

"Do you think the eggs are one of the prizes?" Eris voiced aloud, aware of Max standing next to her. When was Dorian going to join them? He might of been overly excitable, but there was no way he was going to hide out in the back of the room forever. The worry in her gut tightened, and for a minute, Eris wondered if she should go check on Dorian. But alas, there was too much going on in the room, and only one pair of hands attached to Eris.

Speaking of too much going on, there was a loud meow piercing the air, and Eris turned around to let out a horrified yelp. Rosie was chained to the door, sporting a new pair of cat ears, and a horrified look.

"Oh my god Rosie! What-what happened?" Obviously, Rosie had no idea, but the ask of "what happened" felt better than screaming and running away. Why half human half cat? That was so gross! Cats were cute on their own, and humans were fine on their own. Why would you combine the two? Poor Rosie.

"Rosie, can you try getting out of there? Stay put, I'm going to look around and see if there's any way to get out of those chains..." The ears would have to wait. Rosie was now a cat, for lack of better wording.

۞ Keep Casting Lumos
۞ Attempt to Look Around The Room (Perception Check)

Mentions: Parcel and Eris

Could affect anyone within the West Room.

Lucy sighed gratefully, feeling the thrill of being the first in the room as well as exploring an unknown chamber. The stone beneath her back felt reassuring as her wand remained brightly lit. Once she had squeezed through the door, she had dropped Parcel's wrist unconsciously as she began to examine the room. While Parcel walked toward the nest, she chose to stay leaning against the wall to catch her breath. Though they hadn't moved far, she was a bit breathless from the excitement of the adventure.

She was briefly aware of a Gryffindor girl [ERIS] making her way through the doorway, but she didn't glance her way. She was too busy studying the room. There seemed to be a passage to the north, which surprised her; these caverns are bigger than she first thought. Lucy pulled at her neck, adjusting her school robes. She felt... warm. That was strange. She had felt a bit cold in the corridor just a moment ago, but the air in this chamber definitely felt warmer than the air outside. She also registered the sound of rushing water had become louder. Where was it, though? She didn't see it in this room. Just a nest that Parcel was examining. It was too far away for her to see everything, though she could see that there were eggs in it, as well as... candy wrappers? The eggs were bright, almost unreal looking. Like a giant  Easter egg. Lucy smiled, leaning her head against the stone behind her. Silly me. Worrying about a mother. What animal would nest in the middle of the room? Or lay such colourful eggs and build a nest of junk? This was clearly planted by the professors.

Eris and Parcel were now fully in her line of view, but she didn't linger on them too closely. There was still something... off. A sound that was out of place. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end and she felt goosebumps prickle over her arms, despite the noticeable increase in temperature. She could feel a sort of presence above her - possibly because she heard it, possibly because she wasn't doing anything else at the moment. From her casual leaning position, she lazily looked up toward the ceiling.

WHAT THE HECK, flashed through her mind as her eyes grew wider and wider. She took in the size of the snake. It was HUGE. It was definitely the biggest beast she'd ever seen - oh my gosh, was that a Basilisk?! She had just read about the history of Hogwarts for her History of Magic essay. The tale of Harry Potter in the Chamber of Secrets was one of the most riveting tales she had read while researching, and she checked off the features of the snake in her mind. Absolutely giant? Check. Golden eyes? Check. Ability to kill with a single glance? Lucy trembled, remembering the more gruesome abilities of the snake. Luckily it wasn't looking directly at her, but it was hissing and moving.

OH MY GOSH, IT'S THE MOMMA BEAR, Lucy's mind screamed, putting two and two together. Of course, it wasn't a bear. It was much worse. It was a mother Basilisk, and the eggs were HER eggs. Fortunately, Lucy is quite a vocal person, and she wanted to warn people of the danger from above.

ACTION:

Movement: Sprint into the north corridor, hugging the wall, with no indication of slowing down
Spell: Maintain Lumos
Speech: Utter an ear-shattering screech of terror
Path: 

Utilizes Advanced Summoning skills to beckon:

Leslez Skoris wrote:Hi, speech is a free action, so these two can chat for a bit before deciding on an action to take.

Sweet, beautiful light. Ami, being the sleep-in-the-back-of-class type of student, didn't quite realize how remarkably bright her light shone, but she did register the fact that she'd cast it successfully, which was good. She could see... sort of. She would only see silhouettes, and simply dismiss it as her spell not being good enough, not being bright enough. Following through the song, the actions, she lay on the ground and blinked- and she was no longer there.

So, where was she? She could see... and there was a wall in front of her nose, and the suffocating feeling came back once more, squeezing her lungs, making her gasp- but she stopped abruptly, realizing the wall in front of her was red velvet, and... was she in a coffin? She was distinctly reminded of a particular scene in the newest installment in the Flavia de Luce series, The Grave's a Fine and Private Place, in which Flavia is trapped in a coffin. However, Flavia had had Dogger to come and save her- here, at Hogwarts? Ami had no one.

Assess the situation, she reminded herself. If she pointed her toes, she could feel something beneath her- thus, the box would certainly have to be longer than 5'2", her height, but presumably shorter than 5'6". Her wand was still glowing brightly in her hand, and her arms were crossed over her chest, like she was dead. Spoopy. Moving her hand, she could feel her finger brush over her own necklace, but something else was there. What was it? Another necklace?

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted, however, by a cackle, a disembodied voice.

"Question: Why did the skeleton go disco dancing?"
Pause
"To see the boogy man!"

The Hufflepuff couldn't stop the flow of childish giggles flowing out of her mouth, partly from hysteria, partly because she actually enjoyed the joke. Her laughs were cut off, however, as she realized that her dad would make jokes like that all the time. Tears of nostalgia pricked at the corners of her eyes, but she quickly blinked them away.

There wasn't any time for- oomph. What was that? Blinking, Ami noted shoes on feet (no, they didn't smell), socks, and legs. Another student, and the shoes looked familiar. Subconsciously, she wiggled her own toes in her slightly-too-big Doc Martens, suddenly aware of just how close the two students were.

"Howie?" she called out hopefully. He could always calm her down in stressful situations, but her hopes were dashed as she realized no, this was not Howie, this student's feet were too small. Who was the other boy that had joined their group, again? She'd been screaming for him just minutes earlier.

"Leslez! Is that you?" she asked hopefully.

ACTIONS
Speech: Converse with Leslez
Action: None (except for natural fidgeting)
Spell: Pray to God her lumos doesn't go out
Inventory: Necklace (personal), Mysterious/Unknown Necklace, Wand (lumos), robes, pants, socks, Doc Martens.
Notes: Will react to second joke once Leslez replies.

As the sparks crackled in the room towards the dancing girl, however, nothing had happened to the little girl. She continued dancing and her song echoed through the silence. The song was starting to get in her head, however, the more the girl sang, the more it started to sound familiar. She had heard the song before.. somewhere... sometime ago. Aurelia then remembered, Spanish dancer! She used to dance to the song when she was much younger. It was one of the first few dances when she first started learning ballet. Even then, it was starting to get extremely annoying for Aurelia. The song kept repeating and she wasn't singing it right, it was 'spanish' not 'silly'.

The room was illuminated for a brief moment as the green sparks burst around the girl. But not that brief moment, Aurelia could see a pair of oblong mounds on the gravel-like ground. The fog prevented her from seeing what it actually was. The light had also allowed her to see a wall and a pair of tunnels. She needed to get away from the girl, her song was ringing in her head. The nearest tunnel was not very far and Aurelia ran towards it, but as she did, she realised her feet were moving but she was going no where.

The brunette's eyes widened in fear, she was stuck on the spot. Her legs could move but she was still stuck to the spot. Was it something the professors had set up? It was probably so and she was going to figure a way to get out of it. Aurelia looked around, her torch illuminating a small radius, there might be something that could help her. If her legs couldn't move then she would use her body, she doubted it might be any different from running but it couldn't hurt to try.

Aurelia went down, laying on her stomach. She ensured her torch angled horizontally but not so close that it might burn her. She then started crawling towards the mound that she had noticed on the ground earlier there had to be something there. It was hard for her with her left hand holding the heavy torch as she did. The girl continued singing her ridiculous song. It was frustrating Aurelia and was making her anxious.

"Shut up! Shut up silly god damned Spanish dancer!" She screamed. Who knew a hologram could be so annoying?

Actions: Perception check. Attempt to crawl towards the mounds. Scream at the girl to shut up.

Yep. Now he was someplace else. Leslez is starting to regret ever coming on this trip, wriggling about in the strange space. It was small and enclosed, but thankfully there was light... somehow. At least he saw Ami before he disappeared into this weird place. Thank goodness for the sparks. He thought she went off without him! Speaking of which... who was this under him? It surely can't be a dead body since it's pretty warm.

"Howie?"

A pause. Nope. He wasn't Howie but he was sure... The voice is uhh hmmm... whose now? Leslez sucked at this. If he was ever in a murder mystery as the only one who heard the killer, he'd surely be useless. Though why wou- ALRIGHT GETTING OFF TRACK HERE.

"Leslez! Is that you?"

Ah, yes. Someone guessed it was him even if he didn't utter a single word. "Yep. It's me." he deadpanned, wanting to get out of the closed space. It was ridiculous. What was it anyway? He heard a voice then, telling the two a joke:

"Oh-ho-ho! Another one, smart... SMART! Gotta ask you two crazy kids something. Ok... OK... here it is. When a knight in armour was killed in battle, what sign did they put on his grave?"

Then the voice giggled uncontrollably. Why. Why is this happening? Just... why. It'll probably be something punny though. It seemed like that by the way the voice is giggling madly. Probably something dumb like 'Rust in pieces' or 'He's ded, lol say bai bai to ur luvley hero chuu chuu'...

Okay, maybe not the second one but still. He didn't bother saying it out loud because he knew these types of people prefer to answer their own questions. After a bit the voice DID answer:

"Rust in peace!"

Well, his guess was close enough. Leslez didn't laugh, sighing instead. Why was he in a box with Ami listening to jokes? This might be a puzzle but it was kind of ridiculous. He supposed he should just have fun while trying to get out. "Ami, any ideas on how to get out of here?" he asked, wondering if she had any ideas. He didn't at the moment. He considered telling jokes to the voice but he doubted it'll listen. Might be just a pre-recorded message!


ACTIONS
Talk to Ami
Consider smacking the voice when he gets out. Maybe.

✸ Rebukes the names Cazarez and Lear and promises unholy vengeance.
✸ Carefully drags himself over to the structure in the middle from a sitting position without moving his legs at all/making as little leg movements as possible.
✸ Retrieves his wand and does a [Perception] check of the structure.
✸ Casts Avifors at the new pair of shoes in an attempt to transform them into birds.