Interactions: Serena Towers.

So the window smashed. Surprise! This was surprising to Marissa, even though she put all her effort into it, Mari guessed she was not the strongest of people and that it was a GLASS window. Marissa stood there, looking extremely surprised at the window crumbling into glass pieces. She first panicked about how the other students would react. Maybe they would thank her for finding a way out? Or completely kill her for smashing a possible stranger's window. But it was successful anyways! Mari smiled brightly at her accomplishment for a moment before the sand started to fall.

Great. The room was caving in on its self. Just what they needed. Students started to scream and run, trying to get out of the room and away from the falling sand. A random student tried to grab Marissa but she pulled away, too shocked to know what was happening. Then another pull happened, it was Serena Towers this time. Mari panicked and grabbed her stuff whilst running with Serena. But they were to late. The sand buried both of them tightly, hardly any chance to move. Marissa kept an iron grip onto Serena, making sure they would not lose each other. With her other hand, Mari tried to move some sand away, hoping to find an opening or the top of pile. Hopefully the others would be okay.

Actions: Keep an iron grip on Serena and bag. Try to dig her way out.

The walls would come crushing down, with their weight and their darkness. It would sound as if they were within a rumbling belly. The floor would quiver and give way, the walls would push inwards, pinning the children down beneath and against the weight of the earth. It was hard, neigh impossible to breathe in this unfathomable darkness. The earth would try to invade their eyes and their nostrils. It would threaten to block their final breath.

They would not be able to last for long down there.

This was like something out of a nightmare, Arthur would helplessly watch as the sand castle crumbled with his classmates inside. He knew that there was something off with this trip, despite the fact that his peers would tell him nothing. Why was he the one that got out? Why was he the one to survive? They were the ones that had warning! They should have known that this was how things would turn out.

This was survivor's guilt at its finest. Did he deserve to live? Yes, of course he did, they should have been more careful. They should not have even come. Why did they come?

Serena would try to push Marissa out of the way, through a veil of falling earth. Something done right, Serena would have pushed her out of harm's way but Marissa resisted. She should have let Serena save her because she, like Serena would buried beneath a heavy layer of sand.

Arthur would fall to his knees and start trying to dig his classmates out. He screamed that someone needed to call a number. Nobody had any idea what he was talking about in non-Norwegian. Thankfully it was a common second language in Norway, however most of the civilians milling about would be rather far away and their look of shock and horror would become more pronounced as they watched the massive sand castle crumble and a panicked child attempting to dig. It was not every day that a big @$$ sand castle was knocked down, it was a fantastical sight.

This was muggle Norway. Out came the cell phones, this was going to make the front page of Imgur, be a highly browsed GIF on Reddit and be shared with their friends on social media. Calling the authorities would be an afterthought as a dozen or so beach-goers rush like something out of Baywatch to the site of this devastation.



A young woman took a selfie on her sparkly cellphone, making sure that she purses her lips as if she was kissing something and then craned her arm to the other side of her face and pushed her lips out into a duck-like pout. "Like perfect, this is so going up on my instagram," she announced as she started typing on the tiniest of keyboards hidden within the phone. An old man would stop several feet away "wow, that is such a shame," he would verbally muse. He was likely there for moral support. There were a few young men as well, none of them truly understanding the gravity of the situation until Arthur's hand plunged into the sand and gripped the hand of one of the youngsters trapped below.

The children down below were too busy debating, warring against one another to escape in time. 'Safety' was a terrible illusion, one that the Headmaster tried to cultivate, tried to even achieve. However Solomon would fail at every pass. The Sand Castle was intended to be a fun novelty, something to help the kids remain entertained while he tried to save the world. However these children were more like tiny natural disasters that wreck destruction wherever they go, this place being no exception. The only difference being, this time there were no adults to save them, just a scared first year and a bunch of beach-goers.

Arthur would find the wand gripped tightly in the girl's hand, she was trying in vain to cast the Wingardium Leviosa spell but without words as she could not even scream and without the ability to move her wand until now as she tried in vain to flick her wand, Arthur would at the very least find something to grip onto. He would grab the girl's tanned wrist and start to pull, while the girl herself was not heavy the weight of the earth had hold onto her.

As for Marissa, she was still trapped below, nobody was saving her yet.

"Ah shit man, there is someone in there!" One of the (possibly tipsy) beach-goers announced as he came to Arthur's side and attempted to help him pull the poor girl free. Serena would feel a second set of hands grip her arm and with a mighty heave, the sort of yank that would make the girl feel as if her shoulder was going to pop from its socket she would be pulled from the earth. The sand would run off her in rivers and it was everywhere, it had filled her pockets, her pants and even her ears that were probably a bit clogged.But she could now BREATHE. Breathe fresh, refreshing salty air.

But what about Marissa? she was still down there dying. DIG MAN DIG!




Quinn was in an enviable situation, at least in comparison to the sandy crew. The building was still intact, nobody had tried to break out through the window instead of looking for the front door. For the most part they were 'safe' unless one of them decided to cast Incendio and melt the ice fortress to the ground or break a window just in time for a wicked storm.

Quinn eyed the most obvious out -- a phone. He had a brilliant plan: call for help. Reid concurred, it was their way out. Of course who would they call and where would they go? Many of them were pure-bloods, pure-bloods don't have cellular service. As for muggles, they were limited, it would take them days if not weeks to get to them, to find them. The kids could communicate a country, not an address and even then their claim was absolutely fantastical. That was the point of course, keeping the kids away from their parents as well. Solomon was slowly descending into madness, a lack of sleep and an intense worry that crescendo'ed at this very moment or so it would seem. Nobody could be trusted with the kids, therefore they had to go away.

But they kids did not want to stay. Little harbingers of destruction, the ice palace lasted longer the the sand castle but perhaps this was a group of late bloomers. Reid took note of the window made of a thin sheet of ice. The window did not easily give way so Reid did what every logical boy would in this situation, force it free. Reid was but a boy, but he was stronger than a flimsy plate of ice. The window would crack and break, the chunks of ice would blow inward as a strong gust of icy wind would blow into the room.

A storm was coming and the barrier that would protect them was breached. More importantly was there anyone outside. Well, he could have seen through the window the same as he could through the now broken pane. There was nobody outside, it was just a snowy field out there.

Behind the group of students, from where they came - a solid wall they would feel a blast of heat and hear the rumble of earth and the screech of steel. They would see nothing of course, it was a solid wall. Strange. Terrible.





Ami would feel the train rock, the metal below her SCREAMED. The glass broke and rained down on her. She would be thrown against the wall, then the floor, then the other wall and the ceiling. She was like a rag-roll trapped in a drier on spin cycle. She would try to protect herself, her face and her eyes. Everything would happen so fast, she would barely even feel the glass or the flames.

Disoriented but alive Ami would find herself beneath some luggage, it would seem as if some people did not take their luggage with them. She would find herself bludgeoned by a pile of suitcases, when the dust settled the car would be on its side, Ami would be beneath about a half-dozen suitcases.

The train was destroyed. The car only barely intact. From the right Ami would feel a chill, it was a from the cracked door. The other side she would hear a rumbling and then an uncomfortable silence. Less the groan of twisted, settling metal and the hiss of steam the train was otherwise silent. The sounds of nature muted, it was late fall and the chitter of critters and the call of birds   

Interacts with Arthur and Marissa

Serena Towers was a name that was often associated with the Hufflepuff camp out and the fire. People knew her as the girl who had her hair burnt. They did not care about the fact that she almost died or the shadows that attacked her. No. They cared about the fact that she lost a few inches of hair because that was the only visible sign of anything that she had gone through after the healer was done. Magic healed all of the physical wounds... Sadly, it failed to heal the emotional scars left behind that day.

Today was no different. Today would go down in Hogwarts history. Today would be the day that Hufflepuff became a new meme. They had been buried alive on what was supposedly their vacation. This was madness. Every moment of this was insanity and Serena could no longer justify these actions. There was no reason to put children through this... They did not need to go through this... The darkness swallowed her body whole once more. Once more, she was left trying to fight her way out of it.

Her spell failed, which was of no surprise to anyone. Yet she tried again. And again. Wordlessly and practically wandless, Serena continued to try and cast something. Anything that might say their lives. Her right hand tightly gripped her wand as she tried to move it. Her left hand held what she could only imagine was still Marissa's hand. She could not be sure at this point in time, as she could no longer see anything. However, she had been holding Marissa's hand before they were engulfed and she had refused to let go off it. If her spell worked, they could get out of it together... She was not about to leave her behind.

Marissa was one of the people that had saved Serena's life at the camp out. She did not know her well but she knew that the girl had saved her life somehow. She was not about to let her down today. Serena may have been weak. She may be a crybaby. She may give up hope easily and be far too emotional to be a good Head Girl. But despite all of that, she was loyal. And she was kind and caring and she would unselfishly give her life if it meant saving someone else's, especially someone she already owed her life to.

Serena was not going to give up. Not today, no matter what life through at the Hufflepuffs today. She refused to give up and death would have to take her if it wanted to stop her. Her desire to get out burned more alive than the camp out fire had. There was no way she was giving up.

It was at this point that she felt something. Something touched her hand. She could not be sure what it was but it felt like something - or someone - was holding her wrist. It tugged on her. Hope surged through her as the twelve year old tried to get out of the sand. Her hand felt free, as though the weight of the earth had finally been removed from it. Her body started to feel lighter, as sand started to come off. That was when the pain hit her.

A second pair of hands grabbed her and heaved. It felt like her arm was going to be ripped off, torn from her shoulders. It stung, the pain almost making her scream. She probably would have if her mouth was not surrounded by too much sand. The pain was almost intolerable but it was over in a short while. Before she knew it, she was free. The weight had gone, the sand from her face had disappeared. Serena immediately started inhaling the fresh air, coughing into it as she spat out some sand that she had accidentally consumed whilst trying to cast the spell or free herself. She coughed furiously for a few seconds before trying to calm herself down. Serena panted, gulping down mouthfuls of fresh air. She could taste the sand that fell from her lips into her mouth but she did not care.

She could barely speak. But the Hufflepuff did not have time to recover. She did not even have time to thank her saviours. Her hair was covered in sand, it stuck to her clothing. Pointing with her free arm, she pointed back to her left arm. Her hand was still under the sand. Serena had refused to let go. "Mari..." She sputtered out through her coughs, indicating that Marissa was still inside, covered by the earth itself.

Serena gripped her hand tightly, giving it a little squeeze to say that she was still here and she would help her out. Dropping her wand, she immediately started to use her right hand to dig through the sand. She started cupping the sand and flicking it to the side with her free hand. Her efforts were aimed around her left hand because that was where she knew Marissa was. "Mari is still stuck" She coughed out more, trying to remove the sand, "Please... help her..." Serena practically begged the random stranger that had saved her and Arthur near her. The man was taller and broader than she certainly was. He was likely even stronger than both Serena and Arthur combined.

Her mother always told her not to talk to strangers. Random strange men were not people twelve year olds should talk to. However, he had just saved her life and right now, if she did not ask for his help, someone else's life was at risk. She needed all of the help she could get. Marissa needed the help and Serena would do anything and everything she could to give it to her. "I'm coming, Mari... Just.... hold on..." She whispered, through her coughs as she tried to dig her way through to the girl. There was no way that Marissa would even be able to hear her through all of the sand. Serena had not heard anything herself and she was not talking loud enough for most people to hear her. But she still tried. She had to try. "Don't. Let. Go..." She instructed, perhaps more to herself than to Marissa as she gripped her fellow Hufflepuff's hand as best as she could, refusing to let go.

Whatever happened, they would get through it together. Serena would not let go off Marissa's hand, no matter what... Hufflepuffs stick together, after all.

ACTIONS:
1. Hold onto Marissa's hand for dear life
2. Try to free the girl with her spare hand, digging her out as best as she can
3. Beg everyone nearby to help her.

Riley nodded at the plan and said, "I could phone my parents! They do business with muggles, so I've grown up a bit around phones, and maybe they'd be able to get us some help? Though I've never really used a phone like this before..."

She walked towards the phone and picked it up, holding it to her ear to hear the dial tone. She nodded as she heard the familiar buzz. It seemed to be working! It was only then that she realized she didn't know her home phone number. It wasn't like she'd ever had to call it before, after all. She'd always stayed quite close to home, and so she'd never found herself in a position where she would call home. She bit her lip in worry and thought.

"Or perhaps..." she murmured in thought. Her eyes fell on the the 0 and the word "OPERATOR" that was directly underneath it. Her father had once told her if she was ever in need of help and she was unable to access the Floo network, she could always dial the 0 on the phone and someone would help to connect her with her parents. It was a sort of magic, her father had said with a laugh. Now that Riley thought about it, maybe the operator would be able to connect her directly to someone who could help!

It was at this moment that Reid made an attempt to open the window. Riley's eyes widened as she tried to shout, "Wait!" but it was too late. The ice broke as the wind filled the room. Riley hadn't really thought of the situation as too dire until this moment. After all, even if they had been kidnapped before, at least they were in a safe location and had access to food and drinks. But now, she felt a sense of panic and urgency fill her up.

She shivered, her body already losing precious heat. She had stupidly left her suitcase in the last compartment, though in her defense how as she to know that they'd be stuck in an ice palace? She quickly dialed the number 0 and hoped for the best. It was a plan, even if it wasn't a great one, and action needed to be taken. They'd spent long enough being confused and doing nothing. Now even if she was still confused, she would be doing something. Something that might just help make sure she didn't die of hypothermia.

As the phone rang, Riley said, "I'm going to try and get the headmaster on the phone, but if any of you have any other ideas, now's your chance to get them out."

Actions: Dial the operator, ask for ideas, shiver really sadly

Laila stood up, and ran. She tried to escape, but she did not make it. The whole sand castle collapsed. Laila coughed. She was buried under the sand. She did not know what to do. "I know what's going to happen, I'm going to run out of air and die" Laila said to herself. She still tried to dig her way out. Laila's eyes started to get watery as the sand got into her eyes.

Laila blinked multiple times, and went back to digging. If the professor just gave us a shovel, things would be a lot easier, Laila thought. "Help! Somebody help!" Laila cried out hoping somebody would hear her and help her and the others get out of here. But as she did that, sand got into her mouth. She coughed and spat the sand out. Laila figured it was best if she didn't talk like there was infinite air and space. "Think Laila Think" Laila whispered to herself. Laila hoped that the others were okay. 

Laila almost started crying but she knew that she had to be hopeful and think of something because Laila remembered when her mother once told her, just sitting there and crying is not going to help anyone. Ever. 

Ami didn't like this. Not at all. She just wanted to go home, get out of this mess that she had signed up for... children really were quite strangely mercurial creatures, weren't they? It was only merely an hour beforehand that she had been all excited to go on this adventure with her housemates, to spend some time with one of her favorite professors at the school. Now, she wanted nothing more than to get out of this train wreck, and most preferably, back to safety.

In the back of her mind, however, her conscience screamed, The others! Your house! She wasn't a Hufflepuff for nothing, after all. She had no idea as to what had happened with the people who had disappeared through the doors, and it worried her quite a bit. A pang of guilt bit at her heart as the thought occurred to her that she might've done- done something bad, something horrible to them. She was foolish, idiotic, for meddling in situations far beyond her. Right now, she just had to get out- before luggage crushed her, before the smoke suffocated her, before the train exploded.

Would the train explode? Maybe. Possibly. They did in the movies, anyway- and Ami wasn't keen on seeing if life imitated art, especially in this scenario. Pushing at the luggage and the trunks above her as hard as she could, she slowly, carefully began to claw her way out of the pile. She had to get out. 

But blast it all, where was her wand? Wouldn't things be much easier if she just... Wingardium Levoisa-d all of the luggage off of her? Patting her pockets down and glancing around her, she looked around desperately for her wand- the one thing that set her apart from your everyday No-Majs. If she couldn't find it, she would simply return to trying to slowly, carefully, dislodge the various pieces of luggage from obscuring the train. Hopefully, help would soon arrive- to be frank, she didn't know how any of them would fair with under such brutally hot sun.

ACTIONS!

Try to move luggage out of the way
Look for wand
If search for wand unsuccessful, return to trying to remove the luggage

Marian shook her head. She had been daydreaming. Dreaming terrible dreams. Dreaming of her friends at Hogwarts, what might happen to them. She looked around from the ice chair she was sitting on and realised they were discussing two options. Either they could try to go out the window or ring the telephone.

Weren't they in a hotel? There must be a door somewhere.

"Guys, we're in a hotel, there must be a door around here."

Marian stood up and started looking around the rooms, not only searching for a door, but also admiring the room they were in. Though cold, it really was beautiful. But that's not saying much, because Marian could see the beauty in almost anything, even in a crisis such as the one they were in.

A cold breeze blew in. One of the boys had opened the window. Even though she was wearing a sweater, she was too cold.

"It's freezing outside! Why did you break the window? We'll catch our death of frostbite!"

Even though she sounded mad, she was panicking. She stood up and started to pace, muttering things like "We'll be okay, we'll be okay." She turned to look at Frost and Riley, the only sane people (she didn't think much of boys, and she wouldn't call herself sane.) Could she become friends with these girls? She might have to.

Action:
Search for door
Yell at Reid
Stand up, pace, then look at Frost and Riley.

Inventory:
Wearing:

Reducio

undergarments (duh)
socks
boots
skinny jeans
belt
yellow sweater
locket
black beanie

Holding:
Wand
Nearby:
Trunk-

Reducio

1 sweater
3 t-shirts
1 cold shoulder top
2 tank tops
2 pairs of leggings
2 pairs of jeans (high waisted skinny, boot cut)
2 belts
2 pairs of shorts
2 pairs of pj pants
1 pair of long black robes
1 pair of short red robes
1 pair of long yellow robes
swimsuit + cover up + towel + goggles
winter coat
herbology gloves
Hufflepuff pin
undergarments
10 pairs of socks
Hufflepuff scarf
straw hat
Sandals
rain boots
sneakers
flats
2 quills
1 inkwell
excessive amounts of paper
sketchbook
3 muggle pencils
1 muggle pocketknife
toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, hairties, ect.)
Sleeping bag
quilt
sheet
pillow

For the last few minutes, Dorothy had simply stood there, watching the others.  A strange numbness had grown inside her, the type that becomes dangerous if it is allowed to stay.  If she took part in the planning, in the escaping, in the fear.. It would be real.  History would repeat itself, and Dorothy wasn't ready for that. 

So, she stood and watched, face fixed in a blank expression, eyes following Arthur.  Out of everyone there, the first year boy seemed like he was the most sure of himself.  Howard let off a bravado that Dorothy didn't trust.  Serena played the usual "I am a brave head of house girl who will protect all but if we don't move we'll be safer." 

Howard's bravado.  It was as impressive as it was idiotic.  Howard wished to go back to Hogwarts and fight a foe that would destroy their young lives.  Dorothy liked to think she was brave, but the idea of going back to Hogwarts to fight an unknown assailant was rather frightening.  Still, a fierce loyalty bound her to the school, and would perhaps lead to a change of heart on the matter.

Things seemed to be moving along fairly well.  They were calling someone on the phone.  That was a good start, though Dorothy doubted a phone call would get them anywhere.  It would be nice to know where they were.  To know that they were safe. 

It seemed others were freaking out as well.  Good, they had brains.  Shouts filled with strings of paranoia and fear reverberated off the sandy walls.  How would they get out, who would help them, why were they there in the first place? The questions that rang through Dorothy’s mind were verbalized by her fellow Hufflepuffs.  The movements she wished to perform were completed with an idiotic disregard for safety. 

A girl broke the windows, and the world fell apart.  Dorothy watched as the walls caved in on top of her.

Pressure.  That’s what she felt.  The world was dark, and if she opened her eyes to see the course sand burned them.  Like rough fingers it pressed down on her skin, it pressed her further into the ground.  The pressure on her torso was nearly unbearable, as the air was squeezed out of her lungs.  She attempted to breath, struggled for air, but her open mouth was filled with sand.  Dorothy was paralyzed by the weight of it all.

Another gasp for air, but all that was achieved was a thick, choking inhalation of sand.  If she didn’t get out soon, she would die.  She would die without living. 

Dorothy strained every muscle in her body in an attempt to free herself from the sandy prison.  Nothing.  Maybe a wiggle of her arm or a twitch of her legs.  The sand continued to press down on her like a million hands.  It was like that time her grandfather had spun her around on her carousel so fast she couldn’t move.  The state of things were quickly becoming unknown to Dorothy.  For instance, was she laying on her back, or her stomach? 

It was dark, and she was going to die.  No one was coming, Dorothy was going to die. She couldn’t move to grab her wand, she couldn’t save herself. No one was coming.

The sand was on her face, in her mouth, in her nose.  Her eyes were shut, and she held her breath, waiting, hoping, fearing.  Emotion choked her further, and a familiar pain grew in the back of her throat.  But Dorothy couldn’t cry.  It was not only physically possible, it was also not right.  The last thing she did would not be to cry.

Dorothy screamed.  The loudest, most terrifying, wildest scream known to mankind. 

Now she would probably die of suffocation. 

Long live the queen.

Actions:  Get buried
                 Be sad
                 Lose all oxygen through screaming
                 Pass out momentarily


Yay. 

Death by suffocation. That was not how Marissa saw herself dying. Maybe from a magical creature, or drinking too much hot chocolate for comfort. She regretted coming here, to the trip. The last time Mari tagged along was when the forest went up in flames. Why was it that all the Hufflepuff trips ended up in tragedies? She just wanted a relaxing field trip with her fellow house mates, to keep things off her mind. But no. Life wanted her to suffer a tiny bit more. Her second year was no longer looking to be any better.

Sand continued to try and pry into her eyes and mouth. But Marissa kept her eyes and mouth tight shut, for obvious safety reasons. The sand tasted salty but felt horrible in her eyes. Serena was obviously nearby somewhere, Mari kept a grip on her so neither of them would lose each other. But then Marissa felt Serena moving, being pulled or some sort. She was being saved. Mari waited for her turn to be pulled up as well but nothing happened. The sand kept her trapped whilst Serena was probably free. So Marissa continued to try and dig her way out, pushing sand on what she thought was up to cause some sort of signal. Maybe someone would see it.

Finally she felt people try to pull her out. Thank god! Either that or death was trying to pull her down. Hopefully the first, but Marissa continued to hold onto the people on whom where trying to save her. She tried to work them, kicking her feet as if to swim out of this sand. Were the others out? Was anyone else still in there?