Lock-in Hufflepuff Gryffindor Event Closed

[font=times new roman]{ Responding to Anatole Evans & John Johns }[/font]

[font=times new roman]Amadea let out a deep breath she didn't know she was holding. It seemed as though plans were finally coming together and they could continue on their way. Anatole had accepted the team's invitation and John had gathered his things, deciding the group was going to head down the south path. Amadea had no objections to this, as she had no better ideas on where to go. It seemed as though many groups had already left the main area to go explore, so Amadea picked up the torch. Realizing she was the only one with the light, she quickly decided to hand it off to someone else. While her confidence was lifting slightly now that she had found a team, she still didn't feel confident enough to lead her team through the dark with their only source of light. No, she would rather follow. 

She picked up the torch and looked at her teammates. John seemed to be busy carrying his jar of peanut butter (why he had a jar of peanut butter, Amadea did not know) so she decided to hand the torch over to Anatole. "Why don't you take this?" she said, trying to keep her voice from quivering. She didn't want to be seen as the weak Hufflepuff, after all. She dug around in her pockets, trying to see what she had that might be useful during the lock-in. 

"I have my Maurader's Map," she said. Amadea wasn't sure if it would come in handy at all, but if they ever had to track someone down, it would be a useful tool. "I also have a hairpin..." she trailed off, unsure of why she had voiced this aloud. It wasn't as though a hairpin was going to be useful unless they were going to be challenged to style some hair. She threw it back into her pocket anyway. After all, this was Hogwarts, and anything was possible. "Like John, I also have my wand," she added. "Though wit might be debatable." 

She stood, looking down the south path. Many other teams had already disappeared in that direction. Amadea recognized a few of the people from around the school though most were foreign to her. She thought it was better that way; it would be less easy to be distracted by strangers rather than friends, after all and she couldn't afford to miss anything. Every detail mattered. 

Turning back to the Huffrindors, she plastered on what she hoped looked like an enthusiastic smile. "Are you guys ready?" She didn't want to admit it, but she was actually feeling a bit of excitement about exploring. After all, there could be anything hidden inside of the passageways. While that was a terrifying thought, it was also an electrifying one. Amadea couldn't wait to begin. [/font]

Aurelia is now alone.

"Frost?" Aurelia called out as she turned around. The only response she got was silence. The light emitting from the torch only lit up no beyond a few feet. She couldn't see Frost anywhere, the girl must have decided to stay put, darkness just wasn't for everyone. Aurelia continued down the tunnel, she had one goal, to get as far away from Professor Lear as possible. She had a bad feeling about the old man and she didn't want to end up in the hospital wing like the burned Hufflepuffs.

The brunette didn't mind venturing alone. She was capable of defending herself. Most of all, the young girl wouldn't have the burden of watching someone else's, especially a Hufflepuff's, back. She also didn't have the misfortune of sharing her goodies if she ever found them within the cobblestone walls. Where would a few dumb house elves hide them?

As Aurelia walked down the passage, she noticed that the path around her was getting harder to see, it was as if the air around was getting thicker. Then a voice broke the silence, it was one of a young girl. Aurelia whipped out her wand and turned her head around, looking for the voice. Then there she was, a young girl in a red dress, probably no older than six years old, spinning in front of her. No ordinary girl would be seen in a creepy tunnel in the middle of no where, perhaps she was a ghost?

Silly dancer turn around.

Silly dancer touch the ground.

Silly dancer do the kicks.

Silly dancer do the splits.

Aurelia laughed silently as she tried to do a full split. The brunette herself was flexible thanks to many years of experience in ballet. Aurelia widen her legs and her feet effortlessly slid the opposite directions. She laid gracefully on the floor as her free hand reached for her feet in front of her. She was showing the girl how to properly do a split, however, the young girl didn't even seem to acknowledge her. It was strange.

Silly dancer get out of town.

The girl sang as she skipped away.

"Hey wai-" Aurelia gasped when the girl reappeared in front of her the moment she was engulf into darkness. It was a something similar to a hologram, it was something that was featured in many muggle movies like the famous Star Wars epilogue. Aurelia palmed her forehead, she had been interacting with a hologram. She got up from her split position. The Professors must have set this up for who knows why, but to Aurelia, it was only a distraction.

Aurelia lifted her wand pointed to the little girl. She doubt her spell would have an effect as it was only a form of an illusion. She waved the wand. "Verdimillious," She said before turning and running as fast as she could with the torch still in her hand. She definitely didn't want to be handcuffed and put in a dress just because she jinxed a hologram.

Action: Call out for Frost. Interacts with the little girl and show her how to do a split. Cast Verdimillious at the girl. Run forwards.

Parcel maintained most of his focus on the door as he waited for it to open. His ears a bit red after divulging his innermost dark secret. He didn’t want to look to either side and see the shock that probably was on his teammates faces after hearing his terrible secret.
After sacrificing so much for this door he couldn’t help but be disappointed at the lack of action occurring… “Were we-... were we supposed to open the door on our own?”. Parcel had imagined the door opening up as a looming threat with gusts of cold air and dust spewing out on them as their secrets was reviled, but it just stood there like the inanimate object it was, doing nothing else then being a door.
Parcel scrunched his nose a little as he came to the realization that the door might be far more ordinary than he had thought.

When he was about to stretch his arm forward to open the door he started hearing footsteps coming from behind. Had other students gone the same way as them? Or was it perhaps the mother coming back to its nest?

Parcel turned his head to look back in the dark hallway behind them, and what he first saw made his hair stand up in fright. Because in the hallway he could see a tiny shadow coming fourth. A light in front of the creature made it hard to make out any significant features except for the size, and the size was tiny! Was this it!? Was this when he had to have a showdown with the dang gnomes!? Had they come to finish what they started on that faithful day of the Gryffindor tag game!?

The closer the tiny creature came, the more of its features could be made out, and the more agitated Parcel became. It didn’t take long before he could make out a face on the creature, and it would probably be the horrifyingly ugly face of a gnome, a tiny little critter of the wizarding world, it was… it was- …It was a girl?
When Parcel finally saw the face of the creature lurking in the shadows he felt all the tension he was building up suddenly evaporate. It wasn’t a gnome at all, it was just a really short girl… and come to think of it, this wasn’t the first time he had mistaken this girl for a gnome? Why did he always think she was one of his sworn enemies? Was she perhaps like… 1/8 gnome or something? It would explain why she was so short.
Right after the gno- the girl, Parcel could see more people emerging from the shadows.

“What! No, they're going to steal our treasure, Quick, let's try to get in so we can get the stuff first."

Parcel raised his eyebrows a little after listening to Lucy’s hissing. Was it supposed to be a competition or something? He could very well understand the desire to be the first to venture forth in unexplored areas or discovering something that no one had found before them… but a treasure hunt for candy? What was so important about that?

"Let's get the treasure first."

Before he even had the time to come up with an answer to the importance of being “first” in a candy treasure hunt, Parcel felt something tugging on his wrist. He only had time to look back at the door and see a flick of blond hair disappearing into the open slide in the door before he to was dragged in after her. Squeezing himself through the door all Parcel had time to call out to the rest of their team was
“OFF, squeeze in after us!”
They had after all decided to be a team, and Parcel didn’t really want to leave team members behind.

When he got through the door Parcel immediately got his wand in front of him, ready to cast spells like a maniac if anything where to jump out at him. He tried to get a bearing of how the layout was around him as he moved slowly closer to the center of the room. Perhaps there was some candy eggs or something in the nest, so he would probably have to check there.

Action: Perception Check on the room, Move closer to the nest

It didn't work. The stupid spell didn't work. But Ami pushed on, anyways- she didn't need light. She wasn't afraid of the dark- there was nothing that would hurt her down here. Still, it couldn't hurt to have some light, right? Freezing in place and gripping her wand again, no longer afraid of messing up (there wasn't anyone there to see her, anyway), she cleared intoned, "Lumos." If this didn't work, she'd have to resort to taking out her magical candle, but she didn't want to resort to that quite yet.

The gravel crunching beneath her feet, Ami swiveled her head around, trying to look for someone else. Where was Leslez? Howie? Rosie? She couldn't see anyone, where was her team? Suddenly, the dark seemed menacing, scarier... "HOWIE!" she screamed. "ROSIE! LESLEZ!" She couldn't help it, she couldn't help but scream, the darkness was choking her, choking her throat, she needed to make sure she was still alive...

"Silly dancer turn around,
silly dancer touch the ground,
silly dancer do the kicks,
silly dancer do the splits,
silly dancer lay down,
silly dancer get out of town."

"Who is that?" Ami demanded, turning around in a circle. "Who's there?" There was a pause, and the verse, the song, repeated again. The voice was soft, lilting, and childish, and honestly so, so creepy. "HOWIE! ROSIE! LESLEZ!" she screamed again, now hyperventilating. Where were they? 

"Silly dancer turn around,

silly dancer touch the ground,
silly dancer do the kicks,
silly dancer do the splits,
silly dancer lay down,
silly dancer get out of town."

Blinking, Ami's voice was shaking as she opened her mouth to sing along. Was that what she was supposed to do? "Silly dancer turn around," she whispered, shaking. Was she supposed to turn around, then? Was she the silly dancer? It couldn't hurt to try. 

She turned around in a circle, and sang, "Silly dancer, touch the ground," doing the action, her grip on her wand tightening. Was this some kind of demon-summoning ritual? Hopefully not.

"Silly dancer, do the kicks..." What type of kicks? A kickline? Sure, Ami bounced up and down on her toes, doing a solo kickline, feeling rather silly. Well, she was the 'silly dancer', wasn't she?

"Silly dancer do the splits." Easy-peasy. The lanky redhead dropped down, doing the splits, although she nearly dropped her wand in the process. What if she hadn't been flexible enough? No, she wasn't going to think about that. 

"Silly dancer, lay down." Ami did so, lying down on her back. The gravel was pokey and hurt, but she didn't have to lie there for long.

The last line didn't make sense to her, get out of town? "Silly dancer, get out of town." Ami stood up, unsure of what to do. Did she just sign her own death warrant?

ACTIONS

Speech: Scream for Howie, Leslez, and Rosie.

Action: Turn around in a circle, touch the ground, do a kickline, do the splits, lay down on the ground, and stand up. Does not walk in any direction.

Spell: Casts lumos.

And so, the Huffrindors had assembled. John was glad that Amadea had no objection to his suggestion to go south. She did, however, object to bearing the torch. She passed it on to Anatole, making him their official lightbringer. Of course, that also made him the obvious choice to lead the way into the deep darkness of the dungeon they were locked in.

John listened to Amadea’s items in her inventory, the most intriguing of which was…a hairpin. John had seen enough spy shows and movies to know that the hairpin was the ultimate lock-picking tool. Now no door would be beyond them! John always liked girls for being able to have cool stuff like hairpins and being to carry so much more in their purses. There were other reasons why he liked girls, but he wasn’t quite old enough to know what those things were.

“A map is pretty handy, but that hairpin was a great idea! I’m sure that you the master of lockpicking can get us past any door now. And I’m also sure you’ve got just the right amount of wit to cover us in certain situations, just like me and Anatole are witty in different areas. Together, our wit shall equal any professors!”

Normally, this would be the point where they would wait for Anatole to lead the way into the darkness, he being the lightbringer. John, eager to get the scavenger hunt started, had other ideas.

“Now, southward Huffrindors!” John declared, pointing toward the southern tunnel. “Bring that torch and follow the sound of my voice!”

The boy did not hesitate to walk southward, past the professors and any students in the vicinity. John had no fear of the darkness, for his friends were supposedly right behind him with a torch. To make sure they didn’t lose him, he sang the official theme song of the Huffrindors. Over and over again.

Action:
John takes the southern path, singing a song for his fellow Huffrindors to follow.

Lear putting her in a dress? Yeah right, there was no dress that Lear could find that would fit her. None of the dresses that an old man could find were going to fit someone of Eris's stature. Looking back at Professors Lear and Cankersore for a split second, Eris shrugged her shoulders, the perfect image of a quiet child, unable to say anything to their professors in her defense, before heading off down the hallway with Rosie without a word. The second they went farther in, Professor Lear wouldn't be able to hear anything she said and wouldn't be able to see anything she did, so the threat he had made was idle, anyways, even if she didn't appreciate it.

Smile growing on her face as the lumos spell worked and her thoughts of Lear vanished in her excitement over the casting of the spell, Eris grinned at Rosie. "It worked! I had no idea it would work, if I'm being honest." Laugh breaking out of her lips, Eris stopped their walk at the sight of other students in front of her, and their voices wafting back towards them.

There were people ahead of her! What on earth? The group was getting larger and larger, and Eris did not like it. She should be just with her friends, not subjected to the whims of other random children. At least they had opened the door for her group, with some secret or whatever else opened doors in this strange labyrinth. Perhaps the others could be used later on, as bait, or some other plan that was brilliant and dangerous. Admittedly, being cunning was not something that Eris understood, and she shoved all thoughts of the other children's plans away, focusing on the makeshift group that had somehow become her responsibility as their natural leader. Strange that the ex-prefect was leading instead of the real prefect, but who was Eris to judge? She would be the best leader ever, and those other kids would not get her team's prizes. They could try though, and withstand Eris, Dorian, and Max's punches. A feat that nobody had accomplished thus far in the school year.

Turning to her group, waiting for Max and Dorian to catch up, a smile spread across Eris's features, turning to look at the group of students, tactfully ignoring Dorothy Dolittle's vaguely annoying personage. Doing a quick tally of all the kids that were with her, an alarming six due to the presence of the new Gryffindor boy, Eris shrugged her shoulders. In books, this was the time for the speech to inspire and awe those around you. Thus, it was time for her own speech. Although, deep down, Eris doubted it would be inspiring or deep.

Clearing her throat, wand tip still extruding a merry bright light, Eris opened her mouth to speak, ignoring the team behind her fully. "Listen up, friends, random people, and uh, whoever else is eavesdropping on us. We're going to win this, alright? And get all the prizes, even if we have to punch some hufflepuffs to do it--not offense to Rosie. Dorothy, some offense maybe, because I don't know you, but whatever. On that note, let's go through those doors and show those random folks what were's made of!

With that, the girl led the way through the door, hoping her speech had been decent enough. At least that was one leading responsibility checked off the list for the day.

ACTIONS:
۞Keep Casting Lumos
۞Enter through door
۞Attempt a Pep Talk

{ Reid Kovacs, Ellory Prosser, Siege Aramastus Bal, Cynthia Evans }

Serena frowned at the Gryffindor Prefect who replied to her questions with the most useless answer he could have given. Of course, she expected nothing more from him. He always provided her with useless answers that left more confused than clarified. Rolling her eyes as he spoke about the door, Serena barked back at him, "Oh I dunno, maybe you could have listened when it spoke to everyone else?!" She replied, her voice dripping in heavy sarcasm. Blinking as she heard the rest of the sentence, Serena pulled a face, "Wh- What?! Tenta- What? Ugh, you know what? I don't even want to know." She continued, dismissing the rest of what he had to say. It was probably safer not to ask at this point. The girl was not sure she would like his answer, to be honest.

The rest of the time, he remained quiet. He didn't even engage with the other Hufflepuff who had spoken to him, which annoyed her a little further. It was fine not to talk to her. She appreciated the silence. A silent Siege was a safer Siege to be around. But at least acknowledge the presence of the kind stranger who is attempting to help him out. Rolling her eyes, Serena focused on the lock that she was attempting to pick. She moved it around a little until she heard the sound of it opening up. Serena went to stand up, leaving the now open cuffs on him. He could easily remove them himself now, "There. Now can you please just stay out of trouble?" She asked him in a stern tone of voice that Serena was not even aware she had. It was one that was befitting for a mother with an incredibly troublesome child but not quite one that went with the eleven year old Serena Towers who joined Hogwarts in September.

About to turn away, Serena's gaze fell onto his handcuffs. A thought occurred to her that went along with the sternness. "Actually, I think I'll take these too," She continued, opening the handcuffs that were around his wrists and taking them off. Despite her stern tone and harsh expression, her movements were a lot more careful. She did not actually want to hurt the boy, despite her attitude towards him. Despite everything, he was still someone who she had considered a friend... And regardless of that, he was someone who had once saved her life. She owed him for that, at the very least. Taking the handcuffs off, Serena freed his hands - much to her own regret. The handcuffs would come in handy though. Who knew what traps and puzzles the Professor had set up for them all now?  She knew of his fondness for magical creatures... There could be a few around the required restraining. Perhaps it would be something she could use later. If not, they could always go back on the Gryffindor boy if he became a nuisance later on. At least it was a good way to threaten him to behave...

Standing up straight away, Serena glanced at his outfit and shook her head. She tried so hard not to laugh but it was kind of amusing. She couldn't help but relax a little and smile at it, still shaking her head. Turning to the girl [CYNTHIA EVANS] who was helping Siege, she smiled at her, "Hi, I don't think we've properly spoken before... I'm Serena," She started, introducing herself to the girl in case she did not know who she was, "Thanks for helping this idiotic friend of mine out. I heard you mention you don't have a partner? If you'd like, you can join us?" Serena offered, indicating towards Reid and Ellory with her head. She threw in a thank you on Siege's behalf because... well, quite frankly, she was not sure he would do it himself. 

Holding the knife and cuffs in one hand, Serena took the candle in the other and returned to the group after encouraging the fellow Hufflepuff to come with them. "Sorry about that..." Serena said as she returned to Reid and Ellory. "Not quite sure if it would be a shame or well deserved, at this point... But hey, I got these so we can always put them back on if he's causing more trouble," Serena replied to Reid, holding up the handcuffs that she had just taken. She laughed softly a little, deciding it would be better not to reply. It was definitely a weird thing to carry around... a knife that could help pick locks but it appeared to be useful on occasions.

They had been talking about going right before she had left to deal with Siege. Listening in to their conversation, Serena nodded. They had agreed to go East, with Reid opting to take the lead. This was definitely a relief to her. She would have done it if no one else had wanted to but... she really did not want to. Then again, she really did not want to even be here in the first place.

Reaching down, Serena carefully placed her lose items on the ground and pulled her bag closer. She had already taken out her sleeping bag, setting that up already. The bag was a lot lighter now. Contemplating what she might need, Serena sighed and just decided to take the whole bag. It was small and light enough. But more importantly, it carried some essentials for the group. In particular, snacks. Always an essential. The Hufflepuff dropped the cuffs into the bag, before taking out a small napkin and carefully wrapping her knife into it. She returned that to her bag too before zipping it up, standing up and throwing the strap of her bag over her shoulders. 

With her wand on her, her candle in her hand and her bag on her, the Hufflepuff Prefect was ready. "East it is then," She confirmed, echoing their words as she mentally tried to prepare herself. This mostly consisted of deep breathes to try and calm her nerves. Reid had taken the torch and confirmed the route they were going to take. Taking a deep breathe, she nodded. No one else had followed him so far from the group. Perhaps it was best for her to attempt to lead by example and follow after him. 

Lear's Prefect appeared to have suggested a terrible route... But only time would tell. For now, Serena braved herself up to following Reid. Without further ado, she took a step before taking another one. Her entire body focused on just taking that one extra step each time until it started walking behind one of her closest friends, trying to ignore saying 'curiosity killed the cat' in reply to his words. She really did not want to think about that one. Whatever happens, they'll tackle it together... maybe.

ACTION: Pick up Cuffs [Physical Action] + follow Reid into the Eastern path [Movement].
Invites Cynthia to join them, if she wishes too [Talking Action]

Anatole was ready to move. They'd procrastinated long enough and everyone else had practically left. It nagged him a little bit. So he took a deep inhale and then agree with wherever they went. Anatole was relatively good at making decisions, but the last thing he wanted to be was provocative. When Amadea decided to “pass the torch”, quite literally, Anatole jubilantly accepted. ”Sure, I'll take it...but let me take off my shoes first.” Shoes? Why would someone need to take off their shoes before an adventure? It was certainly weird, but Anatole had a good reason. ”If John can hold himself some peanut butter, I can hold myself some high heels.” He took them off: black, maybe four-inch heels with empty phials in the heels. ”Wait! Before you ask why, it's because my robe is a little long and I haven't gotten to go get it mended yet. I'm always afraid I'm going to trip.” Then, Anatole stated the blatant truth. ”I can't carry something as important as a torch with these on!”

Besides that, Anatole had brought one more item with him: a hand-embroidered towel. A friend had given it to him and he had tucked it into his pants. Just in case. ”If you have the hairpin, I have a towel as well. Not like that matters, but whatever. I'm ready! Let's go down the south path!” The Gryffindor boy followed the sound of John’s...excited singing through the darkness, holding the torch in his left hand rather low to scare away any bugs. He was sure to scream if a bug just happened to cross his path. His right hand held the high heels as they ventured forward; The Huffrindors had come for domination.

Leslez did not expect to get lost so quickly. He wished he had cast Lumos successfully, it looks like he didn't. Oh well. He tried to wander through the darkness, before running into a wall by accident. Ouch. He guessed this was what blind people feel like all the time. One thing off his ridiculous(ly long) bucket list. At least he could see the stairs, still slightly illuminated by the light. Should he go back? Nah. He got this far. Always finish what you started, his uncle would always say.  He ventured deeper, but just in case- tried to keep the stairs in his sight. It was strange though. Where were the others?

Not long after, he started to try calling out to his teammates. "Ami? Howie?" he yelled, waiting for a response. When he got nothing, he tried to call out to them again. He swore they didn't go far. Did they run full speed from him or something? 'One more time. Just try.' But then a voice interrupted his yelling in the dark.

"Silly dancer turn around...
Silly dancer touch the ground...
Silly dancer do the kicks...
Silly dancer do the splits...
Silly dancer lay down...
Silly dancer get out of town."

'What in the everloving name of snail-lord...' Leslez was officially creeped out by the voice. He tried to spot the stairs, but it seems he had wandered a bit too far to see it. He tried walking backward as he kept calling out for his friends, to no avail. The rhyme kept repeating over and over... he was sick of i- Wait. If this is a labyrinth, that means it'll have puzzles, right? Maybe this was a puzzle. No harm in trying he supposed. He'll try to sing along and do what it says. It sounds like what children would play as a game, so why not treat it like that? At least nobody's around to see him right?

"Silly dancer turn around..." he began to sing, spinning on his heel. "Silly dancer touch the ground!" he reached for the ground with both his hands, kneeling on the gravel. "Silly dancer do the kicks-" he stood up and kicked as high as he could with his right leg... it kind of reminded him of when his Uncle would literally test how high he could kick and make him practice till he could perfectly kick in a straight vertical line- and it was horrifying how painful it was at first. Anyways, back to the rhyme.

"Silly dancer do the splits!" Leslez slid onto the ground with ease, one leg in front and the other behind him in a line. Thank goodness he mastered this, else he'd probably suffer. His pants were also safe, whew. "Silly dancer lay down..." he laid on the ground, facing up. "Silly dancer get out of town." He didn't know what this meant, so he kept his position on the ground, only rising after several seconds of waiting. Did it work or was he just trolled very badly?

How he wished he learned Lumos.