Lightbulb Moment! Errand Open Closed

Honestly speaking, Marius Brown found it rather surprising that not so many pupils were around. He had originally expected to find much more participants; events like this were usually popular, in particular among the first years. It's only natural that hey're always very eager to land their hands on everything; everything always looks much more interesting in the first three months, the Hufflepuff said in his brain, to no one but himself. And then some of them give up quickly because magic turns out to be more complicated than their initial expectation. Others adapt pretty quickly and burn themselves out by stuffing their plates with more than what they can chew. Only few are able to maintain their enthusiasm to stay on extracurricular activities past their third year.

Of course, Marius Jinhao Brown himself was only in his second year at Hogwarts, and some people may consider himself as having no right to have such a thought when he had never been there or done that. But what occurred in his brain was not without any base; the opinion stemmed from his personal observation, brown eyes scanning around the venue, sharp ears catching conversations and introductions mentioning school years, brain analysing and making rough statistical guesses.

Besides, one can chain and cage a body, but not a thought or someone's spirits.

As usual, he began scanning the room once entering. No one he knew was in sight, save for one Ravenclaw who was busy with her friend, or her best friend. Someone she seemed to know well and be close with but Marius did not. The preteen decided not to disturb them; it would not be comfortable for any party if he did, including himself who would undoubtedly be a third wheel.

Without any doubt, it was a good idea to get to know new people, but starting a small talk without someone he did not know was not Marius' strong suit. He always got nervous when he saw new faces, feet cold and many times face frozen in its non-smiling mode. It happened again today, and the boy did not feel he was strong enough to fight the urge and prove to himself that he could do it. That he could put his dream to make new friends into action.

He had a couple of essays to finish tonight if he would like to have a relaxing weekend, therefore perhaps it was an okay idea not to chat too much so he would be able to leave early. But still, there was that feeling of guilt, an acknowledgement that he was using this reason as an excuse to retreat to his comfort, but perhaps not-so-healthy, zone.

Trying to drive away his attention from his guilt, Marius darted his sight to the quills, bottles of ink, and parchments on a table. It might be better for him to just start producing, pouring his ideas onto a piece of paper rather than battling with a dilemma ("To chat or not to chat, that is the question!"). There were even snacks and drinks provided, but the Hufflepuff thought he would not need them. For sure he enjoyed snacking once in a while, but somehow his brain worked better if he took nothing but good old fresh water while working.

Even though a number of supplies had been provided for those who were interested in building their prototypes immediately, Marius could not find any of them satisfactory. But truth be told, the problem was not with the supplies but rather with his mind, blank with ideas. Trying to calm himself down, the brown-haired preteen grab a parchment and a bottle of ink, and then proceeding to an empty chair at an empty table. He did not take any quill, for he preferred to use his favourite quill when composing a creative piece.

The theme for today's event was invention to help the wizarding world. Left hand beneath his chain, Marius tried to brainstorm what problem existed in the wizarding world. Lack of manmade light was a definite answer, but he knew very well that the answer was out there already, refused by many wizards. No matter how good an invention is, if no one is to use it, then there is nothing I can do about it. Promoting LED lights? That won't work unless there is electricity, and it's clear for me that they're adamant about refusing it. Stupid wizards, they let their foolish pride rob them out of a comfortable life...

Something that involved politics? Nah, that would not be a good idea to bring up. Besides, with these things, the only weapon to fight with was knowledge put into words, and the students were supposed to make, or at least sketch or write about, an invention instead of composing a piece of opinion fit for a magazine, a blog, or a newspaper.

The clock was ticking, but Marius' parchment was still as white as snow. The Chinese-English boy began to feel dizzy; he did not want to leave empty-handed after all the minutes he had spent here, but at the same time, he had no clue how to go on. Sighing, he sort of gave up, writing the best idea he could come up with. He no longer cared if it would be considered an invention or not.

"The safety in broom racing is currently concerning," he wrote. "Charms, or the like, should be applied to the brooms during the darker racing days so that racers and their brooms could easily be spotted, thus minimising the number of potential accidents caused by a participant crashing into another participant.

"In case of accident, the athletes who were still on track needs to be warned so that they would be more careful when passing said spot. This could be done with a simple flag signal, or an invention could be attached to their brooms - an invention that would immediately signalled to the broom's rider that they are entering an area where an accident has happened. In order to quickly help a fallen racer to ensure that they will receive a timely aid, trained volunteers could also be stationed at various points.

"Last but not least, I propose that racers ought to be given a chance to voice their opinion if they think the weather condition is too bad for a game. One way to do this would be having them raising an arm, but a charmed item that is put on the brooms and activated by the pressing of the thing is even better. If the majority of participants vote for the race to be postponed or even stopped, then it should be."