What a ... flat tunnel.

Fyo was not sure he liked the damp airs that hung in the air, or their sticky, rather tacky clutch on his loose robes. The fourth year frowned a bit as he stepped inside, only to be met by a canal of darkness... and then, quite suddenly, a little ray of light. How ... sudden?

He quickened his pace a bit, took another step forward - and almost tripped over something hard. OUUUUCCCH! What the HECK? He squinted at his feet and, in the partial darkness, was barely able to make out the rough outline of what looked like a jagged rock. Or maybe it was a bit of a book. One could never be too sure, right?

What in the name of Merlin's most pointed hats were they going to learn in the Shrieking Shack!? That it was indeed haunted? People died in that blasted shack, and Destiny was on her way there. She must have eaten her brave cookies this morning for her to even be thinking about going in that tunnel. But here she was already in the tunnel.

It was dark.
It was damp.
It was in the Whomping Willow!
For the love of Merlin, Destiny was inside the tree! She suddenly started to feel a tad bit claustrophobic. Maybe some light would help? She pulled out her wand and muttered 'Lumos.' Light definitely did not help her at all. If anything it helped her see the spiders better. 'Spider!' shiver, shiver 'Too bad I don't have my History of Magic book on me this time!' Maybe she shouldn't have said that. After all, the History of Magic Professor was here, in the tunnel, in the tree..

Seriously, what was Mina thinking. She had a healthy amount of respect for the Whomping Willow, as well as an small amount of fear of it. She had learned that one could respect something and still hold some fear of it as well. That was the case for her and the Willow. Being in its presence was slightly frightening, but here she was actually inside it. If she wasn't scared before, she was definetly feeling some fear now.

It was cold and damp. She could feel the dirt caked all around her. The smell of the wet dirt in the air, she tried to only take small breaths, as not to inhale anything that would make her sick. They were all in a very small tunnel and getting sick in it wouldn't be pleasant for anyone. In one hand she gripped her wand, as the other felt around her. We just have to make it to the end, this can't be all that terrible. Like her inner voices knew anything. As she felt her way through the tunnel, she tried to distract herself from the thoughts of what could be in the tunnel with them. She had felt something rub against her ankle and heard a noise, turning her head just slightly she felt something on her shoulder. Stay calm, you silly girl.

Trying to brush whatever was resting on her shoulder, she moved forward quickly. She needed to get out fast. If anyone wondered what if felt like to be buried alive, she'd say it was like this. Her eyes hadn't barely adjusted to the light that was present yet, but she wanted out. I think I might hyperventilate soon...need to get out. Wait, is that light I see? She saw something ahead, was it the end of the tunnel? Oh dear Merlin, please let it be the end.....

I must be crazy, or maybe this is a nightmare??? This can't be real!!!
Chelle kept walking on and on through the cold and damp tunnel. It seemed to go on forever, so it seemed more like a nightmare. It was frightening here, and dark. Chelle could still see the walls of the tunnel- damp and slimy greenish. Ewww, what am I doing here?

As Chelle kept walking, her wand now in her hand, she thought she caught a glimpse of a huge spider on the walls. She shrieked loudly, `SPIDER!' She stopped abruptly and muttered, `Lumos!' The light didn't help as Chelle thought it would. There was no spider, it was just her imagination which was running wild at this moment.

Chelle also thought she heard strange noises from deeper into the tunnel, but didn't pay attention to her thought. Must be my wierd imagination again!!! Or maybe it came from the Shrieking Shack!! What on earth could Professor Truebrodge be teaching in The Shrieking Shack???

By this point, Jake was acting kind of like a zombie. He had an incentive, a reason to do this... The tree couldn't hurt him right now and the only way he could be hurt was if the tunnel collapsed. Testing the ground beneath his feet once he was steady, Jake was pleasantly surprised.

But there was just... He didn't like this dark, enclosed space that was soon to fill with students. He needed to... move down. It might be cooler down there.

Climbing was temporarily swept from his mind as Jake took a steadying breath and started down the tunnel.

Spooooooooooky.

Carter made his way through the tunnel. The cold, dark, creepy tunnel. Not that he was scared, but he couldn't imagine having to crawl through this space every month.

Becca landed on her feet with an "Umpf!". Quickly, she brushed herself off for the most part, and stretched her legs before taking her wand out of her robe. " It's much too dark to find my way in here! Lumos!" As the light filled the tunnel, she saw debris littering the floor; an old textbook, a rollerskate, even a garden gnome!

It was very damp(as well as dark) inside the Willow and Becca had to watch the placement of each step she took or she'd trip over another bit of miscellaneous objects scattered about. Why not explore a little while waiting for the rest of the class?

Mmkay, one thing was for sure---this tunnel was lacking in the lumos department, yup. It was also really damp in here which made the experience pretty creepy for LouAnn. She'd much rather have a nice little stroll to the Shrieking Shack rather than climb through the mysterious and the unknown, but she'd already gone this far. She may as well continue. Besides, she didn't think she could find her way back out the tunnel even if she wanted to. The Whomping Willow was also in a rather whomping mood at the moment, on top of that.

A few moments later, LouAnn realized she could stand, so she pushed herself off the ground and stood to her full height---which wasn't very tall at all. The second she moved forward again, she stumped her toe on some small object with wheels. "Merlin Me!" she fussed, as she fumbled for her wand. With a quick "Lumos!" the tunnel was much brighter, and LouAnn could see that the object with wheels was a rollerskate. She glared at it then moved forward again. This tunnel was just full of one surprise after another, wasn't it?

*sings* Oh my gosh! We're on our way to the Shrieking Shack! SO this is what the tunnel looks like.

Virgi was so excited to go to the Shrieking Shack. She looked at the spiders and the icky gooey stuff and even all the mud. She was such a tomb boy. Catching up with Mina she said," So, you think we are going to learn more about Severus Snape in the Shrieking Shack?" She so hoped so. If there was a Snape there was a Harry, everyone knew that right?

Wesley had never been underneath a tree before.

In fact, the farthest underground she'd ever gone was the Potions classroom, and that was pretty deep.

But, with the absence of light and abundance of dirt, this tunnel seemed deeper.

After giving a polite, shy good-bye wave to Ms. Willow, Wesley had slid down the tunnel's opening along with the others.

Now standing, so short she didn't seem to notice how low the ceiling was, Wesley had forgotten all about how her bottom was probably covered in dirt along with her new shoes from Muggles Studdies, and how she was carrying a distinct odor of moon calf poo.

No, as the tiny child began to walk, she was thinking about how she was underneath a tree, and maybe even the school, and how the tunnel could cave in any second, and then the castle would fall on her, and she would be smushed, and that meant she'd be dead.

SMACK.

Wesley had walked into one of the walls.

Rubbing her head with her left hand, the Hufflepuff decided now was a prime time to use her wand.

"Lumos," she whispered, wand drawn and in hand. Nothing happened. She shook it. "Lumos. Lumos. Lumos!"

Suddenly, the wand tip lit up, illuminating

THE HORRIBLE, MONSTROUS FACE OF SOME POOR SOUL WHO HAD BEEN BURRIED A L I V E.

"WAHHHHHHHH!!!" Wesley stumbled away, hitting her back against the the other wall and dropping her wand.

Hurrying to pick it up, the scared second year left the scary cracked-gnome behind, and ran to catch up with the other students whose wands shone like beacons in the otherwise pitch black dark.

Mental. Absolutely mental.

At least, that's what Tibi thought about the lesson at hand. That was TWO lessons this year he had to dodge that tree. He knew about why and when and how... but he still thought it was a really stupid idea to plant a tree like that and then put kids near it.

Harumph.

So, more than a little bitter about the tree, Tibi slid down underneath it, glad that he'd worn his blinking shoes (meh, dress code? what dress code?). At least if he tripped and died, someone would see his feet blinking and pack him up to send home to his poor distraught mother. He could see it now "Here lies Tiberius Pryce, lost in a tunnel escaping a tree that tried to whomp him to death."

Slipping and sliding, it didn't occur to him to light up his wand, opting instead to feel his way along the tunnel with his hands, getting absolutely grimey in the process.

Making a face that expressed his displeasure at his now slimey hands, though no one could see, Tibi shuffled forward. This place was a mess.

UMMMMMMMFFFFFFTUMBLE.SPLAT.


Plymouth had arrived! All of his gloriously long limbs where outstretched to break his fall. Maybe falling headfirst hadn't been the best idea. Definitely the most fun though. He landed on something soft. Warm. Um.... human?


"Hehe. Umm. Sorry." HUGHUGHUGs for whoever it was though! Plymouth oriented himself with the dim light his classmates were producing and slowly got up with a long, loud, excited, "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!" OH SNAP WAS THAT AN ECHO?!?!? "ECHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"


So maybe under the tree was good too.

Dead. He was dead. The tunnel had collapsed on him and it was..

breathing?

And speaking.

"Ow," Tibi mumbled, groping his own body, making sure things were all attached. Whoever had fallen on him was BIG. And making a lot of noise. Standing and squinting in the dark, he couldn't see, but he thought he recognized the voice.

"Plymouth?" Tibi guessed, his words echoing down the tunnel. "You smushed me."

"Oh. Lil TIBERIUS? IS that you?" Plymouth reached for his living landing cushion to needlessly right him and dust him off. Plymouth couldn't really see, but it's the thought that counts right? "My bad, my bad. Got excited I guess. Hehe."

Ohh. "HEHEHE!" ECHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoo.


"We should SING as we walk! You know Heigh Ho? HEIGH HO. ITS OFF TO THE SHACK WE GO!" And Plymouth set off skip/hopping with LOUD echo-y whistles to announce he was COMING.

A little grumpy over her hurt toe, LouAnn continued through the tunnel until she came upon Tibi and Plymouth. At least Plymouth seemed to be in a good mood. Tibi, though, was apparently smushed. Not a very fun condition to find yourself in, LouAnn imagined. "Hey, Plymouth...Tibi. Are you alright, Tibi?" she asked, shining her wand on the young Ravenclaw boy. Apparently Plymouth, in all his excitement, had landed on poor Tibi.

Tibi didn't seem too terribly hurt, though, so LouAnn turned her attention back to Plymouth. Singing as they went along seemed like a fun idea. At least it wold take LouAnn's focus off her hurt toe. "Heigh ho! Heigh ho! It's off to the shack we go!" she sang along. Plymouth was a fun guy, LouAnn decided. "Heigh ho! Heigh ho!"

"Erm, hi Lou Ann," Tibi said, looking between the girl and Plymouth. "I'm fine."

His face betrayed a bit of confusion at Plymouth's energy about being in the tunnel. Just didn't understand it. "Heigh ho? Yeah, I guess..." People here sure were weird. Watching with a mix of disbelief and odd little kid judgey-ness, the two headed down the hallway.

But Tibi quickly realized that Lou Ann had had LIGHT, and scurried behind them, still refusing to sing.

Mina jumped slightly as she heard Virgi at her side. It was still hard to see a few feet ahead of her, let alone beside her. "Virgi, you scared me." she answered as she felt her heart slow down. "I hope so. I kind of want to know more about the Shack as well. Spooky as it is, I'm curious." she explained as she her hand brushed something moving. Jerking her hand away from the wall, she yelped. "I'm scared to know what that was."

Would this tunnel ever end?

That panic feeling was starting to come back. The darkness alone was starting to get to her and adding in the fact she was a tad bit claustrophobic, she wasn't happy at the moment. Staying as close as possible to Virgi, she pulled out her wand. "Lumos!" A faint light radicated from her wand, but it only served to scare her more. Spiders! Why did it have to be spiders!

Climb, climb, CLIMB.

There was nothing here to CLIMB!

This fact was beginning to get to Jake. He was starting to get the feeling that Truebridge was lying to him about climbing the tree, whether the tree liked it or not. The Whomping Willow would NOT like it... it was disrespectful... but Jake didn't think of that, he could only think of how Truebridge might, like everyone else this year, be giving false information.

And the longer he stood thinking to himself in the dark, the more he convinced himself that this was true. Was Truebridge like... them?

Scowling to himself, Jake picked up the pace and kept walking, his short height still an advantage... he only felt like bowing his head a little as he sped up through the tunnel...

...

...

And walked SMACK into a wall.

"AAOOWWWOOOOO!" he yelled out, before trying to scramble around to find the glasses he'd knocked off his face. Jake's nose was smarting and he couldn't believe he'd managed to walk into the WALL of a STRAIGHT tunnel.

Insanity. Pure insanity.

He could only be glad that he was well ahead of any others, so they couldn't see his display of insane stupidity.

It was dark.

It was damp, too.

That did not do this tunnel any favours. Fyo frowned once more, decided to use his wand for the purpose of illumination --- and nearly walked, head-first, into a wall. "Bad wall," he said, but then he grinned because, when you got over the initial tacky, clingy feel of the rather dark, damp interiors, this was almost ... exciting. This place was FULL of oldish things, oldish things that might date back to the eleventh century!

Okay, maybe not that long ago.

Butttt the poiiint was ... this was FUN! In a dark, damp sort of way, yes, but it was fun. He raised his wand, which now diverged faint rays of yellowish light and examined, in its radiation, the nearest wall. A second later, he had jumped back -- a BUUGGG! Not that bugs were bad or anything. Fyo loved nature, did not even not like little insects. But this bug ... was spotted ... and wasn't it vampires that wore polka dots? So maybe this bug was a vampire? In disguise? Why am I even thinking this?

"Bug," he announced, quite solemnly.



.....

"Hel-LOO, bug."

Sooo, that little spider was freaking Destiny out. Why was it following her? She wasn't exactly scared of spiders, but this little guy was creepy. Pointing her lit wand on the ground so she wouldn't trip over all this junk in the tunnel, Destiny spotted a beach ball? 'Why would there be a beach ball down here?' Shrugging, Destiny kicked the ball and went flying.

Not such a smart move. The ball bounced off the low ceiling and off the walls and bounced right back to Destiny and hit her square in the face! 'Oooowwwwww!' The tunnel seemed to be full of people getting hurt. Destiny pointed her wand to see if the spider was still following her, because you know, she didn't want to be embarrassed in front of it.. The spider was still there and now he was laughing! Who would've thought a spider could laugh!? The only thing to do to a laughing spider was flick it, so Destiny flicked him..

Sliding down, she apparently went too fast and fell forward, landing on something, possibly bruising her stomach. "Oww." she muttered, pushing herself off of the ground and into a sitting position, looking at what she landed on. Except, she couldn't, because it was too dark. Holding her stomach with one hand, she took out her wand with the other, looking up to see a few lights down towards the other side of the tunnel. Muttering, "Lumos", she blinked a couple times to get used to the blinding light before looking down.

What is that? Looked like a shoe with wheels or something. "Strange thing." she pushed it away from her while standing up shakily, holding her wand up higher to add more light. Well, at least under the Willow tree was better than being next to it. The thing couldn't get to her here. Looking around and taking in every detail of the tunnel, Evelyn started forward so she could catch up with the others, making sure she didn't trip on anything.

"Oh sorry. So, what else do you think we are going to do?" She didn't know what to talk about. What kind of elven year old wants to talk to a friend about how scared they are.

This tunnel is fascinating! Why can't I come here more often? And, why can't I see more bugs?

"Lumos!" and her wand lightened to see even more fascinating creatures ahead of her. A brainiac tom boy. That was exactly what she was.

It was just a nice, long walk...

That fact she was under the ground didn't bug her much but, the darkness around her most definitely DID. She didn't like being in the dark. For a few moments, she couldn't help feel blinded, ambling around and flailing her arms a bit like a zombie, hitting a few things. She hoped they weren't people...or things.

Melanie reasoned that it was merely her head messing with her, but she could have sworn she heard screams echoing down the tunnel from a little further up. The girl was about to turn around and amble back to the beginning of the tunnel, so she didn't get lost in the dark, where there was a splotch of light where the opening was....However, before she could even move she spotted something in the darkness, penetrating it's dominance.

THE LIGHT. SHE SAW THE LIGHT! THE LIGGHT.

Ohhhh NO. This was definitely not good. NOT good. She was gonna die. Melanie's heart sped up to a rate she was absolutely positive wasn't average, as she eyed the light near her with eyes the size of dinner plates. Of course...maybe she should have expected it. She was a Hufflepuff after all.

Then, she saw people, that she'd never spoken before in her entire life face's light up in the glow which, mind you, was not supposed to happen. Just as Melanie was wondering why in the world it was taking so long for the flashbacks to come...she noticed...

One of them was holding a wand in her hand. A wand. THAT was where the light was coming from... She wasn't dead.

It took a moment or so for that to sink in, in which she just stood stick straight, blinking in delighted shock and waiting for her pulse rate to go down...

And as she calmed down, Melanie moved forward, taking a deep breath. The lights were moving along in front of her. All she had to do was follow them and hope the people ahead would know what they were doing. She'd be fine.

She'd be fine and not dead. Which was always a plus, of course.

LouAnn smiled and nodded at Tibi when he let her know that he was alright. He was a spunky little first year, she had to admit. "So when does this thing end?" she asked, directing her question to no one in particular. "It feels like we've been in here for forever and a day." She stumbled a little but caught herself before she fell. No telling what she would fall on if she really did lose her balance. "Surely we should be in the shack soon, hmm?" She lifted her wand into the air and let the light fall on different areas of the tunnel. She didn't even see a sign that they were anywhere close. Then again, she'd never been through this tunnel before.