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Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Wonderland
Posts: 62,028
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Beauden Wild
Gryffindor Sixth Year
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Gillyweed Beery
Slytherin Fourth Year
Ministry Department Head:
Franklin Paton
Law Enforcement
Ministry Department Head:
Almer Toots
Transportation
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|  Bathes in Maple Syrup | Dancing Lobster | Mrs. Charlie Weasley | Seneca's Beard | That's So Fetch
If they had to take care of another faux baby again, he was going to drop out of the challenge. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. No offense, Primeaux, but this Gryffindor was just not cut out for parenting, real or fake.
Luckily, he wouldn't have to drop out of the Great Charms Challenge today. The first thing Frankie had noticed was the note on the door telling him exactly what was in store behind the door: a maze. An eyebrow rose after reading the first sentence. Really? A maze? Did the professor think that they were seven or something? The prefect didn't linger on that thought for long, remembering that there was a time limit to all of this. He continued reading the instructions: pick the entrance that takes you east, summon the objects and put them in a basket, clean up the ectoplasm (that sounded pleasant...), get the parchment and read it, all done within forty-five minutes. Easier than taking a chocolate frog from a baby, he thought.
After unlocking the door and it closing loudly behind him, the blond was officially in the maze. Glancing around, he saw the different entrances that would lead him into the heart of the maze ... and he was instantly stuck. Which way did he need to go again? He took a moment to recall the instructions, which had been drastically shortened in his mind: east, summon, basket, ectoplasm, and read.
But, uhh, which way was east?
Frankie blinked as he faced each of the entrances. He had no sense of direction, and there were no signs of which one he should take. No sun, no Big Dipper, there was absolutely nothing for him to use as a starting point. All he knew was that the door was behind him, which really was of no help to him at the moment. He sighed, knowing that he was wasting precious time trying to figure out where he was to go.
"Stupid maze," he muttered under his breath, kicking the ground angrily. "Just point me in the right direction."
It then hit him as if he were just struck by the Knight Bus or had been pushed right in front of it by some redhead. Point me ... point me ... the Four-Point Spell! Merlin's beard, Paton. Why didn't you think of that sooner, you idiot? He quickly pulled his wand out of his pocket and held it flat in his hand. "Point Me," he stated boldly, watching as the wand began to move like a compass. Once it stopped moving, revealing which way was north, the prefect headed straight down the appropriate entrance that took him eastward.
Right now, at this point in the challenge, the boy was running up and down to maze to make up time that had been wasted. He guessed, glancing down at his watch, that a little more than ten minutes had gone by already. After going left, right, right, and left, he found himself unable to go any further. There in front of him, blocking his path, was a heaping pile of random junk. Frankie eyed it, determining that there was no way he was going to be able to climb over it without sinking into it like quicksand. He stared at it for a moment, recalling the five words he needed to keep at the forefront of his mind. East, summon, basket...
Where was that basket? The blond looked around the area for one with haste. It wasn't anywhere out in the open, so he cleared his mind and made a swishy wand movement. "Accio Basket!" There was a low rumble, which caused him to look back at the pile blocking his way. Near the top of it, a medium-sized basket shot out and landed next to his feet.
Immediately afterward, he casted an Undetectable Extension Charm. There was no way all of that stuff was going to fit in that basket without it. He stuck his hand in the basket once the spell was done, just to make sure he did it right. His entire arm fit, and there seemed to be plenty of wiggle room left. Satisfied, he began summoning all of the items into the basket from where he stood. Merlin, this was both tedious and time consuming.
The pile, slowly but surely, did decrease as it was moved from the pathway to the basket. Blankets, robes, various toys, many large black bags filled with who knows what, a Quaffle, a few chess sets, empty boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, all of it had been moved. The very last thing that was summoned into the basket was a pair of Omnioculars. With nothing blocking his way any longer, the Gryffindor booked it down the path and turned the corner.
"YUCK!"
Ectoplasm was everywhere. It was a miracle that he hadn't run into the sticky green substance. The boy couldn't help but wonder just how many ghosts had been here. He didn't linger on that for very long however; precious time was ticking away. Remembering the spell that he learned in his second year, he shouted "Skurge!" and made a Mickey Mouse-like movement with his wand, which produced a green light that started to clear the ectoplasm away. He repeated the spell over and over again, briskly walking along the trail as it cleared.
The pathway then took him around the bend, which seemed to last forever. Frankie quickened his pace, nearly missing the door as he ran by. Déjà vu then overcame him. Was that the door he started at? Was he going in circles? Slightly annoyed, the prefect backtracked. Lo and behold, it was indeed the same door. He walked over to try the doorknob. Locked.
Well ... now what?
East, summon, basket, ectoplasm, read... Read. What the bloody hell am I supposed to be reading?
He then kicked the ground out of frustration, only whatever his foot made contact with budged not an inch. The boy bit his tongue to prevent himself from cursing as a sharp pain surged through his foot before looking down at the ground to see a paperweight with a piece of parchment beneath it. A bit too excited to see the parchment, it didn't instantly register in his mind that the thing he kicked was the paperweight that was way too heavy for a thing its size. The connection was made when he tried grabbing the paperweight with, surprisingly, no success.
Of course just picking it up would be too simple, he thought as he pointed his wand at the paperweight and waved it around quite eloquently as he stated the incantation, "Levioso!" With a flash of white light, the heavy paperweight hovered in mid-air, which gave Frankie enough time to snatch the parchment before it dropped to the ground with a loud thud.
Following the thud, a loud groan escaped his lips. The parchment was blank, and the boy had a feeling in his gut that he did not have time for this nonsense. All he wanted was to get out of the maze for all it was doing was making him angry and tired. If the parchment didn't have a hidden message to be revealed, he was going to blow up the door so he could leave and comfort himself with food.
He tapped the parchment and made a squiggly motion with his wand. "Aparecium!"
Letter by letter, to the sixth year's relief, a message revealed itself. Quietly to himself, he read it out loud as each word became known, "You ... have ... now ... completed ..." Frankie didn't even bother finishing the message when the word 'completed' appeared. He quickly looked down at his watch, seeing that he had only two minutes to spare. Once he heard the door click, a definite sign that he was free of this maze, his hand latched onto the knob and pulled the door open.
Paton out!
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