Closed Errand Frost and Foremost…

The crisp, winter air nipped at Dean's cheeks as he stood among his fellow students, the excitement buzzing around him almost tangible. Wrapped snugly in his Hufflepuff scarf, he gazed in awe at the ice-covered lake, its surface gleaming under the pale winter sun. Something, a much-anticipated frosty event, was about to begin, and Dean, ever the enthusiast for new experiences, felt his heart racing with anticipation.

Professor Greer's voice cut through the chilly air, drawing all of the students’ attention. Dean, with his usual cheerful grin, listened intently as the professor explained the task with the pebbles. Write down something to leave behind in 2023, she said. Dean thought for a moment, his head slightly tilted, reflecting on the past year.

He shuffled towards the pile of pebbles, his gaze drifting over the smooth stones before picking one that felt right in his palm. It was cool and slightly heavy, grounding in a way. He chose a bright yellow marker, the colour of sunshine and daffodils, and scribbled on the stone with a careful hand. 'Doubts,' he wrote, his letters wobbly but determined. He wasn't quite sure what doubts he meant, perhaps those tiny voices that sometimes whispered hesitations and fears, things that didn't quite belong in the bright, hopeful world he preferred to live in.

Professor Greer's voice rose again, instructing them to carry the stone with them into the lake and then to drop it in. Dean wrapped his fingers around his pebble, feeling its weight as a tangible piece of the past year that he was about to symbolically let go. Or he hoped so. He wasn't quite sure it would do much, to be honest, but he was willing to try nonetheless.

As the signal was given, a flurry of excitement erupted, and Dean, laughing heartily, joined the charge towards the lake. His feet squelched in the cold, wet mud at the edge before he stepped onto the ice. A shiver ran through him, not just from the cold, but from the thrill of the moment. He edged closer to the water, the cold biting through his clothes, but his spirit remained unchallenged. With a deep breath, he stepped into the frigid water, a gasp escaping his lips as the cold enveloped him. It was a shock, like a thousand icy fingers all over his body, but Dean's smile never wavered. Around him, other students were reacting in various ways: some with shrieks, others with laughter, all united in various songs of madness. Dean wadled further in, feeling the smooth stone in his hand as a reminder of his purpose here.

Reaching a comfortable depth, he paused, looking down at the pebble in his hand. This was it, the moment to let go. With a gentle motion, he opened his hand and watched as the stone sank into the depths, carrying away his written doubts. A sense of release washed over him, as if he'd truly left something behind in the chilly waters of the lake. He turned to face the shore, watching as others began to let their sorrows go and something akin to joy began to bloom in his chest. His grin widened, despite the growing cold nipping at his skin.

In the distance, he saw a familiar face, one he hadn't seen in a little while now. Shoving his hand in the air, Dean gasped before shrieking. "Siobhan! Hi! What are you doing here?" he asked, swimming her way with eagerness. Once he was at an arm's length away from her, he grinned, even wider than before. "It's been so long! Did you let the stone go yet? Should I give you some privacy for that? My bad, honestly I was just so excited to see you!"

Mentions: Nope

Speaking, Thoughts, Sound

IC Time: late morning

Marcie wore her lemon yellow one peice, She had decided to put a sweater over it, to keep warm before she would expereince extreme cold! She grabbed her bag, wich she had stuffed with a warm towal, for when it was over, and some clothes. She walked the full length of the grounds, shivering then finally made it to the edges of the great lake. The water was smooth and crisp, There was already alot of people around the lake. Then she looked up as the organizer of the polar plunge explained what we had to do. We had to write somthing we want to sort of leave in 2023 on a rock, the drop it in the middle of the lake! We had to stay there for at most 5 minutes she made herself a goal that she would stay in for at least 2 minutes, she knew that she personally would not be able to stay in for a full five minutes! She made a plan in her mind to distract herself while in the water. she would not think about cold, cause that would only make it worse!

She was super excited and nervous. She grabbed a rock, it was grey, and simple. What should I write? I asked myself. After a while of thinking, she felt a light bulb go off in her brain! She wrote on her rock, Introvert, was that all? She really did want to just leave her shy personality behind, in 2023 but she knew it was easier said then done. She did wish she wasn't such a coward, she never talked to people.Then after a few minutes where we waited for the others to finish up then we all stood at the side of the lake. Once they said Go she bolted straight in the water, she stopped for a moment as she felt the cold nfreeze her legs solid. Every step was an agony as I waded into the waters. I was running into the water, to get it over with. once It was about up to my waist I sank down to get my shoulders under too. It was so cold, my teeth were moving like crazy. After I was fully submerged I started to get my mind off the cold and think of somthing else. Imagine writting about this to Julia!, I thought and then suddenly realized I was still holding th rock in my hands. I dropped the rock and Imagined it sinking to the bottem, beside my feet. I kept thinking about the comming weekends and writting owls to mom and Julia. I thought about getting a pet, a cat? no a toad? then finally I felt I could no longer sit in the water, I looked up and then, that was when they told us the 5 minutes were up. I bolted out of the water and grabbed my bag, pulled out my towal and wrapped it around me. It was finally over! She had stayed for the full Five Minutes!

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speech • #427c9a thoughts • italics others • #ffffff

january 6th, 2024 • date the great lake • location frost and foremost • thread

The wind was cold in Ophelia's face as she made her way down to the Great Lake on Saturday. Having just gotten back from her amazing break, she felt drained and not ready to get back into the school routine, which included homework and classes. This decline in the eager energy that she'd previously depended on had been the reason that she'd decided to join in on the errand being conducted by the caretaker.

To Ophelia, the errand sounded a lot like the New Year's resolutions that others made, except in an opposite way. A habit you want to get rid of instead of something new you want to take on. Since her family never really did any of the traditions for any of the holidays, she'd decided that maybe it would do her some good.

Stopping at the large group of students that were currently standing in front of the lake, the young Ravenclaw felt out of place. She had forgotten to dress in her bathing suit, thinking that they were going to just throw the rocks in. It's a good thing I'm not in my Ravenclaw robes. Those would get really dirty if they went in the water. Deciding that she would only go slightly into the most likely freezing water, she joined the group.

Picking up a small pebble and a black marker, Ophelia retreated back. This, to her, was a personal thing, and she didn't want others to watch her as she contemplated something that she wanted to leave behind. She was probably going to write about an insecurity of hers, not something small like an old sweater, and that was her business only.

Sitting down, Ophelia looked at the bare pebble's blemishless surface. She thought about her past year. How everything that she'd done had been overshadowed by a fear. How she'd tried her best to mingle but hadn't made as many new friends as she'd hoped. How she longed for her understanding mother to be her confidante while she was at Hogwarts. How she missed the school of witchcraft and wizardry when she was away. The past year had been a whirlwind of emotions, of ups and downs, of happy days and sad ones. Nothing had been terrible for her this year, but there was always something to improve. That was her motto, how she'd reached the perfection level that she was at. She looked at what she could improve and tried her best to get there.

Suddenly knowing exactly what to write, Ophelia uncapped the marker and slid it across the pebble's smooth surface, forming words in the loopy, pretty handwriting that she reserved for special occasions. The words were simple. Social nerves. Her lack of being able to communicate easily with people had always defined her life, and for once, she felt like maybe that was one imperfection that she needed to fix.

Standing up, the stone in hand, Ophelia felt like it had become heavier than before. Now, it bore not only the weight of the rock itself, but all the worries and insecurities that she had bestowed upon it. Walking up to the lake, she took a deep breath and stepped inside. Her legs were instantly attacked with freezing cold and she felt the urge to drop the pebble right there and run back to the relative warmth of shore. Bracing herself for more than just minor chills, Ophelia walked on, wincing at the cold. Once she'd got far enough away from everyone else, she looked at the rock for a moment, thinking about all the things that she was letting go with this rock, then dropped it into the lake.

interactions • open! mentions • @Finley Greer stats • sta 6 | eva 5 | str 6 | wis 7 | arc 6 | acc 5

611 • word count xxx • outfit perfectionist • abilities

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interactions ⭒ n/a
mentions ⭒ Finley Greer

IT was a brisk winter day as Amadea made her way down to the Great Lake. Whatever had come over her and made her decide this was a good idea was a mystery, but here she was, wrapped in as many layers as she could possibly find and trodding down toward the cold water. As much as Amadea loved swimming, she was not necessarily looking forward to diving into the icy cold depths of the Great Lake. Even though she knew that the professors had sectioned off a safe portion, a part of Amadea was also entirely creeped out by the murky water and the knowledge of the creatures waiting in the deep. Of course, she knew that they would be safe (hopefully?) but in the back of her mind, she also knew that this was Hogwarts and nothing could be for certain.

But here she was, listening to Professor Greer's voice as she explained what the students were going to be doing. Looking around, Amadea didn't see many familiar faces, but she couldn't blame her fellow seventh years. After all of the crazy activities they were put through, she couldn't blame them if they wanted to sit this one out. It looked as though the students were going to be not only swimming, but tossing some rocks into the lake as well -- or, dropping, not tossing. Despite it being the new year already, Amadea enjoyed the process of looking back at the past and symbolically ridding herself of all of the negative energy from the year. It wasn't like 2023 had been a particularly horrible year for her. There had been the natural highs and lows, stressing about school, family tension, and the general rollercoaster that was life.

As she walked over to pick out a rock, her mind began combing through the events from the past year and wondering what she should put on it. There were plenty of things that she could think of that she wanted to take with her into this coming year, but thinking of the negative was proving to be a bit harder. As someone who tried to look on the positive side of life at all times, it was an exercise that forced her out of her comfort zone, which was good, considering she was about to plunge headfirst into frozen water. Finally, she settled on her phrase, writing Not living in the moment on her stone.

It was natural that her mind raced ahead, especially since she was in her final year at Hogwarts. Thinking and worrying about the future was something that she had become accustomed to in the past year, but Amadea knew that whatever happened in the future was out of her control. Enjoying the last few months of Hogwarts with her friends should be her top priority. Of course, this was much easier said than done, but she took her rock in hand and confidently turned toward the lake. Along with her fellow students, she rushed into the lake with the stone in her hand, dropping it into the depths as she gasped at the contact of cold water on her skin. She tried counting to thirty before running as quickly as she could for land, but Amadea was not sure if she had even made it that long. Oh well. At least she had done it.

Axyen was outside at this event, he already felt cold, despite wearing a long-sleeved grey sweater(with a Hufflepuff pin attached) and long black jeans, he still felt cold. He couldn't believe he was out here and only wearing this outfit. Axyen saw Finely Greer, the Caretaker of Hogwarts who Axyen could assume would be watching over this event. The caretaker greeted the students before she mentioned a task for the students to complete. Axyen didn't exactly feel ready to take on any kind of task, not in this weather, but maybe he only stayed because his curiousity once again got the better of him. So he would simply endure the cold to try and figure out what this mysterious task would be. Finely Greer proceeded to gesture over to some... rocks? Axyen was now completely curious, the caretaker went on to say that the rocks were left in nearly every corridor by some pranksters. The caretaker said that she would need help getting rid of the rocks, so she had a box of markers, which would be used to write something down that would be left behind in 2023. Axyen thought that sounded fun, it was the next part that made him completely reconsider doing this. They would have to run in the freezing lake and drop the rock. They weren't even allowed to throw it! Axyen already felt cold enough being outside in general, so running into the lake was something that really had Axyen think on if this was really worth it. After a little bit, Axyen decided that there was only one chance to do this, and he would just quickly get it done and over with.

Now the hard part for Axyen was picking one thing that he wanted to leave behind, he wanted to leave behind the bad relationship he has with his older brother Jacob. But at the same time, he also enjoyed the prank wars(even though it did occasionally get a bit annoying) he wondered if the fun outweighed the bad. Axyen decided to look at the next topic: his shyness. It was something definitely that seemed good to get rid of, but at the same time he wondered if there was something better that he could get rid of. Maybe something smaller? Axyen thought about it for a minute. There was also apparently a reward for this as well, maybe that could give an idea for what he wanted to get rid of...? Nothing really came up though. Axyen grabbed a black marker as well as a rock, on the rock he wrote "My shyness." before deciding whether he wanted to cross it out or not, but after a little consideration, he decided to cross it out. Maybe it was his repetitive pranks, he wanted to actually be more funny, and now he had brand new ideas on how to make funny pranks. He crossed it out and in the same black marker on the same rock he wrote "Repeated pranks." before picking it up.

Now this was the hard part, he would have to work up the courage to run into the freezing lake to drop the rock. Axyen walked back-and-forth a couple of times just to try and get enough courage to run into the lake. He looked directly at the lake, the instructions never said that he had to go deep but that would make for a pretty cool dramatic effect. Axyen gripped the rock tightly as if it could somehow fight off the cold. Axyen needed a minute to think about this. I am already freezing from just being right here, so maybe I shouldn't...? No, no, I got this. Come on Axyen, you got this! Axyen thought to himself, he began to run towards the lake while holding the rock. It must've looked comical to an extent, but he pushed through, he felt cold water at his ankles. Axyen shivered dropping the rock immediately into the water and quickly ran out, not looking at the rock or what he decided to leave behind. Oh my god that was cold! I am completely freezing! Axyen thought shivering. He thought that surely the cold wouldn't be that bad and it would be in the lake and out of the lake type of deal, but he still felt cold(from his ankles and downwards). Thankfully, that was done now. He would just have to get his reward from the caretaker.

Information

Reducio

741/500 words.

Siobhan Speaking: #556b2f
Siobhan Thinking: #99b39c
Irish Translations:
Interacting with: @Dean Saunders
WC: 793/500

Siobhan stood on the bank of the lake as she pondered over what to inscribe on her stone. She had many things she wanted to leave behind in 2023. Her regrets over leaving her family for Hogwarts... Her fear of the unknown... Her shyness... She had no idea. Was she allowed to take multiple rocks? Looking down at her feet it seemed like the rocks had been enchanted to fit the inscriptions of the students as she pondered over which felt right in her hand. She wated something inside of her to acknowledge that this was her rock, that this would be the proverbial thread to cut once she dropped it in the lake.

Truthfully she had been excited that the lake was being opened up to swim. While it probably wasn't any warmer than the last time she had been wading in it. But this time she was prepped for the chill and she knew that it would be better to swim with a wetsuit that she had bought for the winter swimming in the Lough at home as well as when her family had taken them on a snorkeling trip in California a couple years ago as they visited her father's brother. They had done a wonderful surfing lesson using her uncles boat as well and Siobhan had begged her parents to let her buy a wetsuit for later. It was just so warm. Her wet suit was a light black with teal accents on the shoulders and running up the legs of the suit. This she supposed was to help prevent her from being fully lost under the water.

Thankfully there were no waves in the lake but that was ok. Siobhan would save her interest in lake activities for when they visited her uncle again. However she was excited to get some more use out of her wetsuit. As she sat on the edge of the lake picking up rocks and investigating them, she continued to think about what she wanted to leave in the last year. Finally deciding on what she would write, she hopped in line to pick out a marker. She hoped they still had some green markers left.

Siobhan surveyed the other students who were present at the lake. There weren't as many at this activity as there were in the Great Hall for the swimming lesson; Siobhan expected this was because several of her classmates had nearly drowned or still could barely swim. This may not be the best activity for them as the lake was far deeper and far more dangerous than an enchanted cassserole dish.

Siobhan scribbled the words "My uncertainty" on her rock with a neon green marker in her swirly-girly handwriting before handing the marker back to the adult supervising the activity and heading towards the water. Still no diving board but that was fine. Someone had mentioned that this was a plunge anyway so it made more sense to rush into the water. Upon the blow of the whistle, Siobhan and all the others rushed into the water.

Siobhan kicked and pressed her form foward in the water, swimming just a tad farther away from people but no where that wouldn't be easily accessible to the shore. She dove under the water and marveled at the beauty of the plant life under the waves of the lake. It was a mystical emerald green, accentuated by the glow of the sun. Siobhan gently brought her rock to her lips and blew an air bubble at it before flipping upside down and releasing her rock. She floated under the water for a moment as she watched her uncertainty float to the bottom before she flipped one more time and broke the surface of the water.

As she brushed the hair out of her eyes and shook the water out of her ears, she heard the distant call of her name from a familiar voice. Looking towards where it had come from, she noticed it was Dean, the kind Hufflepuff boy who had helped her negotiate with the owls.

Oh! Hello Dean! I just let my rock go... Have you seen the undergrowth of the lake? It's quite a beautiful sight to behold as you watch your rock sink..." Siobhan explained whimsically as she continued to tread water. As she moved about her body stayed warm due to her wetsuit, however Dean looked positively chilled to the bone.

"I'm happy to see you as well. It's been quite a while hasn't it? Oh but aren't you quite cold?" She followed up with concern written into her facial features.

Interacting with: @Tracey Bailey @Rowan Bellengo and @Victoria Lena Jones
Word Count: 516/500
Outfit:

Reducio

Word Count-546/500
Interacting with @Ophelia Northwell
Mentions- Finley Greer