A Forgery of a Destiny Hufflepuff Only

The examples Serena gave seemed really specific, which made him think they probably definitely happened. He was not at all surprised. This is exactly what he was taking about. Unlimited power usually meant unlimited stupidity, in his experience. When had a group of 11 and 12-year-olds ever been given something dangerous and thought ‘let’s be safe and responsible about this’? No, they strapped explosives to the back of bottle rockets and said ‘hey, let’s see what happens if we shoot them at the football pitch’. Not a real example.....

Meanwhile, Dorothy was freaking out a bit; "These events.. He plans them.. To go wrong. Lear wants to get rid of us. I don't know why. We can't trust anything. Everything is designed to look nice, but it isn't. I wanted to get him this time, but.." He followed her eyes to where the door used to be. Things seemed to be devolving quickly. Still, he couldn't exactly say that anything had gone terribly wrong thus far. Nothing seemed especially dangerous yet...

"I have some food in my bag," he said, hoping he could reassure them on that point, if nothing else. Mostly just snacks and sweets, not exactly a great nutritional profile, but they wouldn't starve at least. Like he said, they'd die of thirst way before that. Maybe they could find some fresh water if they could find a way outside. Seeming to read his mind, Dorothy said;

“I have an idea, but it's really dumb. Like, really dumb”

“Okay..?" Arthur said dubiously, not exactly on board, but not necessarily not on board either. Once he realized what her plan actually was, however, he had some pretty strong reservations. “Ah... W-wait a sec!” he said, hurrying over to Dorothy and the window, recalling that she had missed the whole ‘structural integrity' talk he'd had with Serena. "Can we see if it's unlocked first?" he suggested, seeing if the window would open. If she really thought breaking the window was the best option, he wouldn't stop her though. But.. "Or at least, can we go and get the others first?" he asked. Then at least if the place caved in they could all still escape out of the window. He didn't like the idea of them doing something potentially hazardous while two of their housemates were still down the other tunnel.

Laila meanwhile had found some kind of telephone. He raised an eyebrow at the card next to it. It seemed... A little too suspiciously helpful, perhaps. Or maybe Dorothy's warnings had just made him paranoid. "It's worth a try, I guess," he said, but just in case it blew up in your face or cursed you, he took the phone from Laila and picked up the receiver himself. He didn't know the professor's number, and he wasn't sure Hogwarts even had phones, but maybe they could use it to call home. Dialing the hospital where his mother worked (along with the country code, because wherever they are, it definitely wasn't England), he lifted the phone to his ear. As he listened, hoping for anything other than a dead dial tone, he picked up the card and read it again before turning it over, trying to see if he could read what was crossed out.

Actions: Try opening the window, dial home, inspect room service card.

The door disappeared. The. Bloody. Door. Disappeared. It was official, Marissa had gone mad from sleep deprivation. She rubbed the temples of her head after dropping her backpack on the floor, trying to calm her racing thoughts down. This really was not what she needed right now. Being stuck in a room with basically a bunch of strangers that only had windows and no door, was not on her list of priorities at the moment. Mari noticed other students gathering around in a small group, as if reading something. Someone tried to use a phone but it was proper no use.

This was not meant to happen. Panic rushed through Marissa multiple times, yet she barely showed it. All she did was stand there in shock as others planned and talked to eachother on what to do. What were they meant to do? Stuck in a room with no door but only windows and a lovely seaside as a view. What had Lear done? Did he mean for that to happen?

Mari hurried over to the windows and tried to open one frantically, as if her life depended on it. She was not going to die here or go mad. Not even paying attention to the others, she continued to try and pry the window open.

Interacting with Frost and anyone nearby

'Well...this is certainly a tough pickle...heh pick-Not now Quinn! Anyway what should we do now? Are we trapped here? Do we just sit here? Do we try to escape? Can we escape!?' These thoughts and more raged inside of Quinn's head.

He was so unsure of what to do, and heck he was even panicking a bit. But Quinn did remember one important thing. Specifically what Brannigan made sure to hammer into that thick skull of his.Never Panic. From what the ginger could recall, Brannigan had told him many stories about terrible things that happened because a person gave into their natural instinct, as he called it. To freak out, it just made the whole situation worse.

Combine that with the fact that given their current situation and the lingering thought of this ice melting, despite him knowing it probably won't and it made for a right brutal situation. Right now wasn't the time for panic, though Quinn needed to prioritize. The letter said that they could call for room service and listed various different numbers, not only that it meant that that at least someone knew where they were. Maybe one of those numbers they could call and ask for help...but would they even do that since it also said it was already paid for in full.

"Grrrrrrr!" It was aggravating to say the least. He scanned the room and noticed that some people were beginning to panic. He needed to solve that issue first. They all needed to stay together and work together to escape this place and get back to their friends. It was decided then, Quinn walked near the center of room and away from Frosty and Marian. He needed to rally everyone. "Oh can we have ye attention please?" He raised his voice doing his best to project. "There be something important we need to discuss."

Action: Travel to the center of the room. Read the contents of the letter aloud for all in the room to hear. Attempt to rally the people there, and look for a way to escape.

Interacts with Howard and those in the sandland crew

The colour drained from her face as she read the letter. It was written to the students, announcing the truth about everything. Serena read it, flabbergasted. She knew about Ben and the recent events that had occurred. She was his best friend at one point in time. She knew enough to know it was not his fault but Professor Lear shed more light on the matter than anyone else had. Her hands shook slightly as she read the letter over Howard's arm. She couldn't even read it properly - or her eyes were in such a state of disbelief that they did not comprehend what they were seeing.

All of this happened. Professors came and went... Students almost died and yet no one told them anything? No one except Professor Lear right now. She snapped out of thought as she heard Howard hissing beside her, having read the letter too. She blinked at him.

What the heck was wrong with him?

He wanted to go back into that school that had almost killed her? "Howard, wa-" She started but he had already ran off down the passageway. "What the-" Serena broke into a run after him. She did not know about going back but she had to warn the others that were already here what was going on. They deserved the truth too.

By the time she reached the others, Howard was already convincing them to return to Hogwarts with them. "Howard, are you insane?! Go back and do what?! Do you even know anything other than how to burn the school down? Do any of us?!" Serena started questioning the boy's madness. They were a few students. A small handful, no older than twelve. They were stranded in the middle of somewhere random. His first instinct was not to figure out where they were, if they were safe or if they could get home... It was to go back to a place that had already been ruled out as unsafe - both by personal experiences and by the confirmation of the Professor.

"Do you even have a plan?! Do you even know where we are?! How are we going to get to Hogwarts? And what are a bunch of twelve year olds going to do that the Professor can't?! He's trying to help us!" Serena's voice got louder as she tried to scream a bit of logic into him. He needed to stop for a second and think about what he was saying. She needed to stop for a second and think about what was going on.

The girl sighed and turned away from him, looking around the room. She observed it, trying to figure out what was going on and where there were. She spotted a weird spaced red device that she had not seen before but she looked around to see if there was anything else. What were they going to do?

What did she say earlier?

"They should not go without them... They should all stick together. They were Hufflepuffs... And Hufflepuffs, stick together."

Serena's eyes widened as she witnessed some students trying to open a window in this sand castle, "WAIT!" She screamed at them, "DON'T!" She called out, trying to stop them from busting it open recklessly. They were Hufflepuffs, damnit. Not Gryffindors. This sort of behaviour did not suit them! "EVERYONE JUST STOP FOR A MINUTE AND TALK ABOUT THIS!" Serena screamed loudly in the middle of the room, trying to stop everyone from running around like headless chickens. They all did their own thing. They were supposed to stick together, damnit.

ACTIONS:
1. Read the Scroll, argue against Howard
2. Perception check around the room
3. Try and stop everyone from opening the window

    The girl was, to say the least, so very confused. Everything was happening so fast. Just fast enough for her to start getting frustratingly confused at a lot of things. So she looked to Quinn like he would tell them what to do in this situation. But he didn't look confused or angry. He just looked calm and like he would figure it out. The redhead just sighed and followed his lead, trying her best to keep herself calm. 

     The scroll was weird. Just plain weird. She didn't know whether or not to listen. And that was very strange for a girl who only knew how to obey. What were they going to do? Her friends were still at Hogwarts. What if they didn't get out safely? Where were the other group of Hufflepuffs that stayed at the back? Are they okay? The flurry of ever growing questions scrambled about in her mind, all getting jumbled up. She wasn't smart enough for this and hadn't even noticed where they were now. Breathe, Frosty. Just breathe. 

     Quinn started to move toward the center of the room, away from her and Marian. So she followed, the one thing she could do best. The girl didn't speak up like her friend did. She only stood next to him for what she would like to call 'support'. An easy role that she always seemed to be playing. Not that she was angry at that. It was just how it was. All she was good at was support. Frost stood calmly next to her friend as if it would show him that she intended to keep staying by him. It seemed as though he was actually the only one she knew in this whole room. 

Actions:
Stick with Quinn
Stay calm
Try to sort out her thoughts

Action: Interact with Frost, Quinn, Marian, and anyone else in Iceland. Observe their surroundings.

Lailaflora was right, there was no way that they were going to find water in a room like this. It would be a structural integrity issue, the last thing kids like them were going to want in a place like this. Somehow the pureblood recognized the telephone in front of her, uncharacteristic really for a pureblood to have anything to do with muggle devices and for good reason. Parents did not send their children to magical schools to stub their noses at the muggle community but rather for the safety of child and the muggle children.

Howard was right, Solomon was not the villain this time. In fact he never was, his efforts were always in their best interest despite the fact that his efforts never turned out the way that he envisioned. He bore the burn marks as a burdensome reminder of his folly. His armor had seared his flesh, scaring his shoulder and breast when he walked those flames to take back the last of the fallen before the fire consumed her. He did not regret it, going back for her. He would have done it again.

Howard was not about to make the same mistake as the adults. He knew something and he was going to share. It was a brash move, telling an already terrified group of children that things were worse than they had previously thought.That the villain was their ally.

Howard's rallying speech might have pulled at the sinews of the hearts of some, but Serena was not among them. She was one of the girls that had nearly died. she was one of the girls that understood first hand why the other students made such cruel and tasteless jokes about burning Hufflepuffs alive. Hufflepuff was supposed to be the peaceful, jolly house. Not the house that got into trouble, that got the greatest grades or even ascended the ranks of the magical community. Hufflepuffs were just the friends of these important and awesome people. They were background characters. Yet time and time again circumstance put Hufflepuff on the forefront of disaster, forced them to be powerful and brave.

But Serena did not want to be brave. She wanted to be safe. Serena understood the futility of Howard's desire, but there was a difference between the former Prefect and the young man. Should and would were too different things. They were going to return, adventure called. Their friends were there and in danger. Hufflepuffs stuck together, and they were not together. It was more than a moral obligation, it was a compulsion... a dire NEED that had to be fulfilled. They could be clever and they could be cunning, but only FOR something or someone, not for the wake of doing so. It was their relationships and their love that gave them strength and power, that gave them the will necessary to do what they had to do.

Hufflepuffs were braver than they knew they were. Braver than they sometimes wanted to be. Braver than they probably should have been. But Hufflepuffs were brave for a reason, not to satisfy their wanderlust

Arthur was a pessimist -- thinking immediately about how they might die (thirst before starvation). He was the most likely to survive at the end of a horror movie. The one that does not run out into the dark of night in his underpants to investigate a suspicious noise with a murderer on the loose.

He was alerted to a dumb mistake that Dorothy might make. She wanted to force the window open rather than try to find an easier way out, like a door or a tunnel to the outside world. After all they were in a structure made of sand, the window was likely glass and it did seem to have a simple sill. But how far would a window open and how far was the ground?

The window was unlocked, the sound of the sea or ocean came from the crack on the bottom. Where the bottom of the sill did not meet the bottom of the window as it was left ajar by an inch. The window was not very large and could only be opened a few inches further (darn child safety measures, thwarting children everywhere). If she was to look out the window, she would note that they were not far from the ground, the bottom floor at the very least. Less dangerous than a penthouse suite considering how reckless these kids could be.

As for the phone, Arthur would give it a try. How hard could it be to use a muggle phone. It seemed almost reckless of Solomon to leave such an obvious out for them. But when Arthur picked up the phone he would get a dial tone.

There was hope for them yet.

He would dial a number he knew well and it would ring. While it rang he would look over the room service card, it was written in a language that he did not know but there were pictures of cakes and burgers. Phonetically he might be able to state some of the words with a bit of effort and more than a little luck.

They were someplace foreign.

On the other end someone would finally pick up. "Hello, six-north this is Karen can I help you?" Yes, Arthur got through to someone! It was the hospital, he would not recognize her voice in particular. It had the sound of a thirty pack smoke history and a throat of rusted nails. Yet still, at this moment that was likely a glorious noise.


Marissa was not as gentle or as careful as Arthur or Dorothy. The panicked young girl would attempt to force the window open further than it should be forced. Serena would shout out at her, try to get her to stop. However Serena's words would not be heeded by the terrified young witch. Marissa would force the window open with the little force a child could muster the wall would shiver as the thin plate of glass made from yes... heated sand would shatter. Like diamonds the shards would fall to the ground and the wall would start to collapse.



He has warned Ami. It was always better to adventure with your friends than it is to go about things alone. Advice he should have taken but he never did. People seemed to die when they were too close to him to too long, only the immortals seemed to endure. It was best for her, for all of them to get as far away from Hogwarts as possible. To get away before the curse that took away his family, his chance at having a normal life extended to them as well.

He was not going to save them. This time it was going to be different!

The wall exploded from behind the unhinge Professor, leaving only a wall of flames and smoke behind him that would be drawn from the far by the rushing bitter cold winds.

"What are you doing?!"

"Saving your life girl!" Solomon shouted over the noise. "There are terrible workings at play just beneath the surface. Don't trust anybody, especially me!" Solomon knew that he was going to get himself killed, his plan was pure madness but there was no other option in his mind. The Professors were dropping like flies. One day they were gone. No explanation. Just 'other employment' or no message at all. The mask and the glove was swept under the rug once again. The Ministry was almost as useless as the Hogwarts staff. The resistance to sharing the truth with the student body was telling and dangerous. He did not trust the other Professors, for all he knew one of them had the glove or donned that wretched mask.

Solomon would allow himself to fall back, gravity would take over the rest as he fell through a veil of smoke and fire. His knees drawn up, his neck tucked forward. He would hit the ground with a bone shattering CLANK as the metal armor he wore made impact with the ground a second too late. A moment before he was able to summon the clarity of mind to apparate. he was not foolish enough to do such a dangerous spell within the confines of a moving train, he wanted to SEE where he was traveling to. He wanted utter certainty that the spell would not be botched. He, like most wizards preferred brooms, floo powder and port keys for travel but not because he was not skilled in apparition but rather because there was rarely an opportunity for its use. Powerful charms prevent wizards from coming and going in such ways as they pleased. It left those such as Solomon out of practice.

He could feel the air leave his lungs. There was an intense pressure all around him, as if he was being wrapped too tightly in a wet blanket. The pressure would intensify to the point where he could not stand the pressure any longer.

*POP!*

Solomon was gone, his armor had still crashed into the ground, dented it skid several feet before he was taken away. Well, taken back to the train tracks miles back. In the distance Solomon could see the train chug away. The kids were gone, it would take them a long time to find their way back to Hogwarts. Hopefully they would be gone long enough for him to eradicate the vermin that remained.

He hardly even noticed the blood running down his leg. The drops of fresh blood that painted the tracks as he started to walk back towards Hogwarts. He would disappear again soon enough, a few more miles in the blink of an eye. He... just needed to catch his wind. yeah, that was it. He was too old for this violent sort of travel.

Meanwhile Ami would have the car to explore. Why did Solomon pick a train in the first place, couldn't he have just sent them through a door in Hogwarts. Like a vanishing cabinet, those worked despite the powerful charms that prevented apparation. These doors could have worked on the grounds but he chose a TRAIN of all things.

If she looked around she would not find much. A broken wall with cold air rushing inside. A pair of doors on either side, they looked like normal train doors of solid wood and a tight grain. There was a skylight that would bring her to the roof but again she was on a moving train, standing on top of a slick metallic roof of a locomotive moving at forty or more miles per hour would likely prove to be suicide for the young girl but she had to do something!



Marian had every right to be worried. The train was rushing off to who knows where and the portal that brought them to this distant place was even further than anyplace those tracks could take them. How would her family and friends ever find her? How would she ever find them? It was worse knowing that there was danger back at the school, that sense of survivor's guilt. That need to do something that Solomon had taken away from her as he left her only with the terrible understanding that she would be helpless to save her friends or those left behind.

Quinn was impressive for a ginger. He fought his instinct to panic. His instinct to curl up into a little ball and hide away until this whole ordeal was over with. He had his own apprehensions to worry about but they were secondary to the needs of his peers. It was a sign of a future leader. Shame Solomon would likely never know that. Frost would stand by his side as the young man made his announcement. Well his plea to discuss something important.

Reid would be the first to fully recognize it, the fact that Solomon divided up the Hufflepuffs. he sent them to completely different corners of the globe, not that they would fully grasp this fact. Why, Reid would probably not catch on but Solomon knew his kids better than they realized. His kids were good people. People worth saving. People worth doing the stupid things he was about to do.

He was slowing them down.

How could they go back to Hogwarts when they lacked each-other?

They had a way back, hopefully Ami would realize the power she had being left behind in that car. That lapse in judgement or rather that moment of mercy. He should have hurt her, pushed her into either room and locked her away for her own safety. Let her hate him later. It would have slowed down the student's escape.

But no, here they were in a frigid space with no door back as the passageway remained closed.

Don't trust anybody, especially me.

The words rang in Ami's head as she peered outside the train, Hogwarts rapidly shrinking in the distance. Her mind was racing as she sniffled, the leftovers of her tears becoming more prominent as the aching wind roared past the train, stinging her eyes. She had to trust- she had to trust that her housemates were safe, she had to trust that they knew what they were doing. She had to trust in her friends- that Amadea and Quinn would be brave, that Frost wouldn't be scared; she had to trust in the professors, that Lear knew what he was doing, that the professors back at school would somehow manage to stop this mess.

Turning back to inside the compartment, her eyes locked on to a skylight that she could potentially crawl through to get through to the roof. She wouldn't go on the roof- no, oh no. That was what people in movies did, not scrawny little preteens like her. But it would hurt to at least take a peek outside, from a high point of view- she couldn't see where the train was going from the torn wall, that much was for sure.

But how to get up to the skylight? She was a tall girl with strong arms, but even tall girls with strong arms needed some assistance in order to get to a skylight. Glancing around the train compartment, her eyes lingered on her trunk in the corner, and she immediately dashed over to it. Pushing it over to the center of the compartment, directly underneath the skylight, she stood on top of it, extending her hand toward the ceiling. She was barely tall enough to brush the skylight, let alone tall enough to wind back and punch through it as she had originally planned to.

What was that spell Lear had used to blast the train wall away? Confringo? Cofrigo? Blast it all, what had he used...? "Cofrigo," she said experimentally, tasting the word on her tongue. "Confringo." The second one sounded better, much better. At this point, she was willing to try almost anything- but doubt still whispered in the back of her mind, persistent.

Just look for the brakes, the voice whispered, tinny and sounding remarkably like her mother. Just stop the train. Or join your classmates- it would be so much easier for whoever's controlling your destiny. But she, herself, was stubborn- one thing at a time, and right now, she wanted to see just exactly where they were going.

Pointing her wand at the skylight, she took a deep breath, steeling herself for just exactly what she was about to do. "Confringo!" she cried, cringing backward. The action made her tumble off of the trunk, but her wand would still be firmly aimed toward the skylight.

What had she done?

ACTIONS!
1. Notice the skylight
2. Push her trunk over to the center of the compartment
3. Attempt to mimic Professor Lear, and cast Confringo (assume she sucks)

Riley stared at the clouds in the sky that were slowly but steadily heading towards their location. She was used to reading the clouds from her childhood. Knowing when the rain would come was useful on a farm, after all, as it helped you save time when planning your chores for the next day. The clouds she was seeing didn't look too comforting, and though she knew/hoped they would be safe in the ice hotel, she also got the feeling that they would be trying to leave it fairly soon.

She turned as the atmosphere became more anxious after the boy read the letter. She moved towards the others, finally looking the note over and realizing the situation they were in.

"We're in the Sweden, apparently?" she answered in response to Reid's question. "And I think we're a little bit stuck here."

She looked over at the telephone that was in the center of the room. It seemed very out of place with the aesthetic of the rest of the room, and she wondered why Solomon had put so much effort into the ice hotel only to leave such a gaudy device there. Besides, it wasn't the 1900s anymore, so why didn't he just put a normal telephone there? Even her parents weren't that up to date with muggle technology, and they had moved past the old rotary phone. Such were the useless questions that floated around in her head, before she spoke up to the others.

"Are we going to try to go back to Hogwarts? Because I kind of want to, even if Professor Lear says not to," she said. "My brother is still back there, and besides I've been waiting my whole life to do magic. I can't just sit around here and nothing."

It was probably a pretty childish sentiment, but she was a child and a first year who had been the last of her siblings to attend Hogwarts, so sue her if she had been looking forward to actually doing magic. Also maybe she found the idea of danger a little bit exciting, but what child doesn't find adventure and danger exciting?

"If we're going to do something though, I think we ought to act fairly quickly. I like to think that I'm good at predicting weather, and judging by the clouds out there, I get the feeling we're going to get something strong soon. It might make it a bit difficult to escape if there's something of a blizzard going on."

Action: Finally speak to everyone in the room.

Mentions & Interacts: Reid, Quinn, Riley

     It was cold. Everything was just cold. Not just because of where they were at. The train was going to a place she had never been and all she was doing was standing by Quinn doing nothing. It's what she did best. Being always somewhat useless. The girl let out a huff of a sigh. As Reid entered, he came with a flurry of questions that she, surprisingly, knew the answer to. 

     "Hey, Reid." Frost gave a small smile and a wave. Taking the scroll from Quinn and handing it to the other boy, she gestured him to read it. "Sweden, like she said. Known for having some great ice hotels." The girl continued to stand next to Quinn and began to sort through her thoughts. If they were leaving Hogwarts, did that mean that her friends who weren't here were going to be not safe? At least she knew where they were. The other Hufflepuffs that had come with them were completely gone. She had no idea where they went. "Were you just with the others? Where did they go? Are they safe?" 

     Her eyes it up at the little hope of gaining some information of the other group. Maybe he knew at least a little bit about their whereabouts. The redhead gave the room a good look around. Maybe she would find something useful like Quinn had. It was getting a little tiring being not helpful at all. Not that she was very bright, but it didn't hurt to just try. 

      Frost moved a little bit closer toward the other girl. She looked to be a first year maybe, but she didn't catch her name. The girl shuffled her feet around. "I don't know what to do, honestly. Are we going to try and get back or are we staying?" Continuing to fumble around the room looking for literally anything at all, she was just trying to be helpful. It made her stomach turn to know that she wasn't even helping the slightest bit.

Actions: 

• Give Reid the scroll and ask him a bunch of stuff
• Look around the room for whatever is there
• Try to be at least a teeny bit helpful