Mentor me into finding you, Very Open! Options

[Alice Freerun]

This was the place where her mentor was last seen, right in this very clearance where she should not be standing right now. She had never been to the Forbidden Forest. It was forbidden, meaning she wasn't allowed to enter it, but nowdays no one cared about that rule and every slightly curious soul sneaked in with a blink of an eye.

She had taken it as her duty to help care for the plants in the greenhouses after her Herbology professor's sudden death, and she was just walking back to the castle after covering some of the more frigile greens with coats and scarfs when she saw a figure running down the hill and into the forest.
It was almost curfew and she knew she shouldn't have done this but she did it anyway. She ran after the figure, she had to tell him off and convince him to go back into the castle but she was also curious to see the place where it happened. She did not know Professor Roth but she understood from the rumors that Ferne and him must have had a romantic relationship because they were found laying together in an embraced position, covered by snow and cold as ice.
The rest of the students that were at the scene of crime were kidnapped, appearntly by death eaters, and one of them was Alice's mentor - Angela Crenshaw.
She was obviously worried about all of them but most of them she didn't even know. Angela she did, however, and it shocked her that it was so close to 'home'. It could have been her, it could have been anybody really.
But Angela was kind and fun to be with, she didn't deserve it at all, and clueless, helpless Alice was left alone without her guide. It was only natural of her to want to know more about what happened, and the best way to do so was to look for clues in the crime scene.

Luckily the person she ran after lead her straight to it, and was now standing in the middle of the clearance, scanning the soft layer of thick snow.
She was now glad she managed not to make too much noise and scare him off, he lead her where she wanted to go and she needed him to lead her back out.
A wolf called in the night and Alice turned around in panic, making noise in the process. She eyed the sky but the moon was hidden behind a thick screen of clouds. Perhaps it was full moon, but perhaps it wasn't, the only fact she knew for sure right now was that that person in the middle of the clearance finally acknowledged her presence as he spoke.



OOC: Please join! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Rose Donelly]

The last couple of days had been hell. Roth and Ferne were dead - no, not dead, murdered by Death Eaters (well, that was the theory; no one really knew what happened), four Hufflepuff students missing along with twelve other students from the other three Houses. Security had been amped and everyone was on edge with worry. The Common Room had become stifling and Rose found herself unable to be in the dormitory without staring at Angela Crenshaw's empty bed.

Screw the rules! Rose needed to get out before she completely snapped and began hexing everybody in sight. She really didn't fancy a stay in St. Mungo's mental ward. So, the fourth year found herself bundling up, tucking all of her long hair beneath a woolen hat, and slipping out of the Common Room without bothering to make sure that she wasn't seen.

Really, Rose had meant to go to the Astronomy Tower, like she usually did on nights that she found sleep impossible, but for some reason, her feet disagreed with her once she got up to the main floor and made a beeline for the entrance. She was aware that her subconcious was screaming at her to turn around, but before she knew it, she was outside for the first time in days and Rose just kept walking.

Rose's hind brain began a desperate attempt to contact her front brain and get through with the message "THIS IS A BAD IDEA!" but all attempts were futile: Rose was completely on autopilot and was now sprinting towards the Forbidden Forest.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!?" A voice that sounded like her Mam screamed at her.

"I have no idea." Rose replied honestly, now fully aware that she was heading into the effing Forest. She didn't stop until she reached a clearing. No, The Clearing.

It was the clearing where the professors had been murdered and sixteen students kidnapped. So why the hell was she here!?

Rose groaned at her stupidity and pinched the bridge of her nose. What on earth did she hope her accomplish by running out here on a whim? Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled and someone or something started near by, making Rose nearly jump out of her skin. She spun around, wand in hand and lit in a blink of an eye. The light from her wand illuminated the darkened forest and Rose found herself staring at a first year.

"Oy!" Rose snapped, "Wot the 'ell are ya doin' 'ere!? Don't ya know tha' it's dangerous!?"

Hypocrisy much?

[Alice Freerun]

Alice took a step back at the sight of the loaded wand in the girl's hand. Truth be said she now realized how vulnerable she really was in the forest, why didn't she took her wand out as well?
And then the girl snapped.
"What am I doing here?? What are you doing here?!" Alice asked defensively. The older girl was a Hufflepuff as well, only taller and with very long, dark red hair. It was like a picture from a fantasy seeing her in the middle of the dark, snowy forest with the light of her wand. The first association Alice thought of when she saw her was an elf. Looking so pale in the chilly night, with only a pair of glasses separating her from being an actual elf. (and few more characteristics, like pointy ears...)

A movement was heard from behind her and Alice's head bolted backwards. She could not see a thing, but something or someone was there for sure. Terrified, she slowly walked backwards until she reached the older girl and then clinged to her robes.
"There's something over there" she creased her forehead in fear and pointed at the source of the noise.

[Atlas Brixton]

Atlas wasn't sleeping very well, not like he slept well most nights but the past few nights had been different. He didn't read when he stayed up, he just sat in his bed worrying over Tecinus. The theories he had about Tecinus' whereabouts had long since been tossed out a window. The first night when he found out there were students missing, yes, it was still slightly plausible that Tecinus wasn't in the common room but somewhere else around the castle. But when it ran into the second and third night.. Atlas knew he was missing and it sent his poor little brain into overdrive. That night, he rolled over at least twenty times before he decided that this whole sleeping thing wasn't working out for him.

Sitting and waiting around wasn't working out for him either.

It was possible that Tecinus wandered off in the forest and was not kidnapped, but lost. Atlas nearly got lost the first time he went into the forest. If it weren't for those leaves he trailed behind him.. Atlas probably would have been lost and eaten by something. There was a small voice in his mind that told him that he wasn't thinking logically, that Tecinus really was kidnapped and there was nothing he could do about it but right now.. that voice was overshadowed by fear and an overwhelming need to find his only friend.

Atlas threw the only hooded sweatshirt he owned and grabbed his wand from the bedside table. Atlas only went into the forest once but he explored it well and he wasn't too worried about finding his way back this time. Sticking his wand in his pocket, Atlas jogged down the stairs and scurried out the front door. Atlas headed straight for the forest and wasted no time starting to crawl over the foliage and fallen branches. "Lumos," He whispered, and though he wasn't able to produce maximum light, it was still enough to see the path in front of him.

"Tecinus!" He called out into the forest, receiving nothing but animal calls back. As he advanced, twigs and leaves caught in the mess of his hair and snagged at his clothing. If Tecinus was there, he probably looked a mess. Just like Atlas. "Tecinus!" Atlas called again and paused at the trunk of a willow. When the older boy didn't answer a third time, the hope in him began to dwindle. He took another step forward and tripped over a root, falling flat on his face and losing the grip on his wand.

"Bugger.."

He crawled through the leaves on the forest floor, patting the dirt for his wand. "There's something over there," Atlas sat up and struggled to see where the voice was coming from. "It's just me!" The words fell out of his mouth before he realised that the girl probably didn't know who 'he' was. In that moment, he felt like facepalming. "Sorry, I.." His hands frantically searched the leaves until he grabbed onto the grip of his wand. "Sorry.. Lumos!" He produced enough light to see the form of the girl he was now standing behind.

"I was just.. My friend is missing and he is about this tall," Atlas paused for a moment to indicate his height in the light of his wand. "And he has dark brown hair and dark brown eyes and his hair is really short but it is kind of shaggy and he is much older than me, fifteen I think and he is a ravenclaw and he can't be missing because he's the only friend i have and.. and," Tears began threatening to spill and he was nearly hyperventilating. His voice became small as he scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his hands. "Help me."

[Cassandra Murray]

Cassandra couldn't sleep. It had been three days since Lacey had been deemed one of the 'missing'. It wasn't fair. Lacey was smart, fun, beautiful, and one of the kindest people Cassandra knew. Why in the name of Merlin was she one of the ones chosen? If given the opportunity, Cassandra would gladly take her place. Lacey didn't deserve to be in the situation she was in, whatever it might be. One person did though.

Cassandra.

She was torn between her feelings for her boyfriend and the feelings for her best male friend. Both of which were amazing boys. Her feelings for Jasper were stronger though. He didn't even know about Lacey yet. Neither did Rube. It was sad. She couldn't tell them. Jasper didn't know Lacey, Rube did. Which one would comfort her? Would they both? How she longed to have Jasper's big arms wrap around her.

It was nearing curfew. She knew she shouldn't be out near the Forbidden Forest, but she needed to find her friend. Her best friend. Her other half. She had her wand firmly at her side in case anything was to happen. She considered herself a competent Duelist. She'd be able to defend herself. At least she hoped she would be able to. It wasn't fair. Why Lacey?

Upon arriving at the edge of the Forest, she spotted two students she guessed were ickles. She also spotted another Hufflepuff. While Cassandra was just about 5'5, this other girl was about her height. She was probably older than Cassandra. She doubted she was an ickle. She recognized the one girl as Alice. Then she spoke. "What are you all doing here? Don't you know we could get in trouble?"

Not that Cassandra cared though.

[Rose Donelly]

It was a fair question, Rose would give the ickle that, and it was one she really didn't know the answer to. Rose had a sudden flashback to just before she had gotten her Hogwarts letter when her Mam was lecturing her on the virtue of honesty.

"Remember Rosetta," Mam had said while straightening the collar of Rose's school uniform, "Honesty is the best policy and if you are honest with others, it will gain you their trust. Trust is very important."

"Don't call me Rosetta; it sounds like a old lady's name!" was all Rose had to say on the subject.

So, obviously, her mind was telling her to be honest with the firstie and say that she didn't know why she was out here and that all she really knew was that she needed a breath of fresh air and for some reason, Rose's feet disagreed with her preferred destination of the Astronomy Tower and instead brought her out here.

Yeah...the first year didn't need to know that; she probably already thought that Rose was crazy enough as is. And it didn't matter that her sanity was probably very questionable at the moment.

"I - Yeh know wot? Tha's none of yer business!" Rose sputtered indignantly (because she was such a paragon of dignity, of course). "Besides, I asked ye first." She added childishly under her breath.

Rose shifted slightly and peered at her surroundings with mild interest, tipping her head to the side; she had thought that she'd heard someone calling. Really, she should do the smart thing and leave. You know, be a good role model for the ickles. That was how you got to be prefect, right? Not that she really wanted the stinking badge next year. Too much responsibility and work. Besides, she'd also have the stupid OWLs to worry about too. Ugh, fifth year was most likely going to be a nightmare!

"Right, I think-" the sound of someone tripping had the first year clinging to her. What was she? Some sort of friggin teddy bear? Rose pushed the feeling of fear and annoyance aside and called out into the open.

"Who's there?" She demanded, "I warn yeh - I'm armed an' - " Er, dangerous? No; this Hufflepuff wouldn't hurt a fly, no matter how angry she got. Well, maybe she could bluff? Nah, she was a horrible liar. "An' annoyed. Yes, very annoyed. Yeh don't wanna mess with an annoyed witch." Rose muttered.

She toyed with the idea of telling them that they were about the make her get angry and that they wouldn't like her when she angry. Then she pictured herself turning into the Incredible Hulk. Then she told herself to stop being ridiculous because the most she could do when angry was make something explode...at least, she used to be able to make things explode when she got angry, but it had been a few years since she had gotten that angry and probably couldn't do that anymore since she was more or less in control of her magic.

The someone apologized, making the fourth year snap out of her thoughts and lit their wand. It was another blasted first year. Rose's eye twitched. The boy launched into an explanation of why he was here and a description of his lost friend and asked for help. Er, newsflash kid - there were sixteen students missing! But Rose kindly kept her mouth shut about that and good thing, too, because the kid looked as if he were about to cry.

Oh God, she didn't know how to deal with crying children! Well, she knew how to get Lavender to stop crying, but that was different, plus there weren't any binkies here!

"Please don't cry." She asked, wincing at her own words. "Uh, I'm not sure how I can help." Was it normal to feel helpless in these type of situations?

"What are you all doing here? Don't you know we could get in trouble?" a girl asked after they stepped into The Clearing. Rose's eye twitched again.

"You're one ta talk." Rose grumbled.

[Alice Freerun]

Alice wrinkled the girl's sleeve in her hand and grew smaller in fear, grinding her teeth. She should have never followed her here, she should have just gone back to the castle and called a prefect to save her, hoping she wasn't from Hufflepuff.
Now they were both facing the dangers of the Forbidden Forest and probably no one knew where they were. What if it's a werewolf? Or a giant spider? Or a death eater who came to kidnap anyone who tried to look for clues about the missing persons? Well if that was the case then at least she'll know where Angela and everyone else are. Either that or she'll be dead.

The older girl at her side made an effort to threaten whoever followed them here but although Alice felt grateful for the protection she noted to herself that the girl didn't sound very promising. She just hoped she could cast a decent stupefy.

A boy's voice was heard from behind the bushes, it was just him. Alice didn't know what he meant by himself, it gave her no information about who he was, but something about his young voice calmed her. She let go of the Hufflpuff's robes and breathed in relief. And then the boy managed to stand up and show himself, a first year like herself, only not from her house as she didn't recognize him. He said something about his friend being lost and begged them to help him search but then he started crying.
Alice winced in compassion and walked towards him, leading him to the center of the clearing and pushed him to sit on the ground with her.

Another figure arrived and for the first time Alice recognized her - Cassandra Murray, the girl who advised her to let the homework deals go. She was right, of course, but at the time Alice didn't think straight.
She chuckled at the older Hufflepuff's remark, she was right as well.

Not bothering to answer Cassandra's question she took a seat opposite to the boy.
"Did you say your friend was missing? Mine is too. She's my mentor actually..." she said sadly.

[Professor Konan]

Alice was on duty for the night, especially after the unwarrented deaths of her colleagues. The sucky thing was that they were both from the Hufflepuff house, and her house didn't take it very well, not to mention they were now short of professors to oversee things. Her work pile was going up in stacks, and she had kindly offered to take over Ferne's classes. It was lucky for her that they found a substitute for her instead just so she could focus on her own classes.

But tonight, she was in charge of counting heads in the commonroom, an 'event' they've been doing every night since the announcement. In her opinion, it wasn't the children's need to know. They could have just told the students that Roth and Ferne had to leave the school but the house arrest was because of recent Death Eater sightings. Now that the children knew that the professors were killed, they'd panic even more. It just didn't make sense.

Alice power-walked down to the commonroom and stated the password. The entrance swung open and she stepped in, holding up the hem of her robes ever so slightly. "Alright, everyone. Please gather around. I need to count heads." Her eyes scanned over the faces and tousled hair only to realize that a few kids were missing. Young ones too. She groaned inside and waved them off to bed. She had to go find these kids.

Konan walked out to quickly scan the lawn, sure that she wouldn't find anything. Just as she was about to turn back into the castle, a small light caught her eye, far off into the forbidden forest. Panic gripped the woman and she started to run towards the light. It was either one, Death Eaters in which she would gladly give up her life to fight, or two, kids that were in danger of being killed by Death Eaters. She ran into the forest edge, her little curls flying every where, and her wand already pulled out. Entering the clearing where there were voices heard, she was grateful that it was the sound of children.

But then she just got angry.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" she cried out. "NOX!" Alice pointed her wand at all the light and it immediately went out so they were all standing in the dark. "Light in the dark is an instant lighthouse for danger! What on EARTH made you all want to come out here after hours?! Your Heads of House must be worried sick! We have enough worries on our plate, but if we lost you too---" The blonde faltered, lost on words. They looked scare already; it wasn't her job to make them terrified.

But it was her job to make them learn from the lesson. "Detention this week. All four of you. I'll be sending you a notice, but you're all to come with me now so I can escort you back to your Houses. Let's go!"

CONGRATULATIONS, you all have detention. I will set these up as soon as possible, and PM you with links. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) If you complete your detention, there will be a reward. If you fail to do so, then points will be taken away for being in the Forbidden Forest. <3 You may all post once more in this thread for reactions.

[Rose Donelly]

Rose frowned when the Hufflepuff ickle mentioned that her mentor was missing. Ah, that was probably why the girl followed her into the Forest.

"Nice move there, Rosie." A snide voice in her mind said, "You just led three kids to their doom. What would your Mam say?"

"Shaddup." Rose snarled back, pinching the bridge of her in frustration before straightening up, standing at her terrifying full height of five feet and four inches. It was time to take charge.

"Alright, kids," She said in a no-nonsense tone, wondering if she could get away with calling them kids when she, in fact, was only fourteen and barely older than they were, "I think it's high time ta get back in the castle-" But before the teenaged delinquent witch *snicker* could finish her excellent suggestion/command, a professor stormed into the clearing.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" The professor cried.

Rose facepalmed and swore. Of course, the first time she ventures into the damn Forest and she gets caught. She made a face as she listened to the professor rant. Well, she did have a point about the lighted wands.

"Nox." Rose said and tucked the beloved willow wand back into her pocket before taking a peek at her watch. Ah, they had missed head count. The professor broke off in her rant, as if, Rose assumed, to catch her breath.

"Breathe." Rose cautioned snarkily, rolling her eyes. What!? She was in trouble already; might as well get a few jabs in. What was the worst that could happen?

And then the professor assigned them all detentions.

Rose opened her mouth to protest loudly but the wiser part of her mind took over and jammed her mouth shut, gently reminding Rose that she was the oldest out of this merry band of rule-breakers, therefore she was supposed to be the mature one; she had done the horrendous crime, now she had to take the punishment without complaint and set an example for the younger children.

"Bite me." Rose snapped at the voice. "I don't wanna be mature!"

The fourth year gritted her teeth and took the Hufflepuff ickle by the hand. "Come on," She grumbled, "Let's get back to the Common Room before Professor Guilt-Trip 'ere explodes."

Rose was sure one day her sarcastic demeanor was going to come back and bite her in the arse.

[Cassandra Murray]

(Ooc: We aren't IN the Forest yet, at least Cassandra isn't. She's on the Lawn still, at the edge.)


Cassandra couldn't believe it! There was a Professor there, another one. She began to yell at everyone. Cassandra covered her ears. Sure, she was out after curfew, but she was NOT in the Forest. She could argue with this woman all she wanted but it would get her nowhere. This woman obviously thought she was right even though she wasn't.

Suddenly, Cassandra felt instantly bad for trying to stop everyone from going into the Forest. Maybe if she hadn't been trying to 'do the right thing' then she wouldn't be here and about to go to a Detention. She hadn't ever been in detention before and felt she didn't deserve it. That was just her though. So much for trying to do the right thing. Never again. Next time, she'd let the kids go about their business.

[Alice Freerun]

A sudden movement in the bushes behind her and a row of psychopathic screams. They have been found, and they were in trouble.

Alice's head shot right backwards when she heard the bushes move. She had no time to draw her wand out to protect herself (as if she really knew how to do that... She couldn't duel to save her life) before the mysterious figure began yelling her lungs out at them.
It was a teacher, and they were in big trouble.

Alice had lost the ability to talk. She didn't know what to say in her defense, it's like her tongue disappeared and all she could do was stutter weird random voices.
She should have never come here, she should have known it will only bring trouble. But did she listen to that inner voice? No. She just ignored it and followed her curiosity. Bad move Alive.
The only thing that was good about this trip to the crime scene was that she now felt a little bit closer to Angela and the rest of the kidnapped students, even if it wasn't technically true.

She looked at the professor and tried to hold back a warm stream of tears. She had promised herself not to fall into a detention at the beginning of the year but she had failed. Her parents would be disappointed.

Alice followed the teacher without another word, sobbing silently.