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The Headmistress enjoyed a cuppa tea at home with her family, blissfully unaware of the NEW events being experienced by the field trip group. At least she was clean and mud-free here, even if she did have bigger.... problems to take care of.

Cris was happy to be able to relax the last few days. He got to explore the Peruvian jungles with the rest of his expedition mates during the day and during the night, they had the rare opportunity to share some Defense Against the Arts and Astronomy lessons with Professor Romanos a and Flamsteed over campfire. Cris actually loved that setting. It felt like he and his fellow students were being privately tutored.

He was still puzzled why the Headmistress had to dash off back to London and Cris hoped that it was nothing serious. However, right now, he was thinking that she was missing this chance of a lifetime experience. Professor Romanos had led everyone into a cave.

It was hidden behind the proverbial waterfall.....and that wasn't surprising because as far as Cris could remember, every secret hiding place in the jungle was always hidden behind a waterfall...at least it did in the books and movies.

So yes, here they were inside a cave...behind the waterfall... and he heard Professor Romanos ask whether they had seen something she had. Cris squinted staring into the darkness.

"Lumos Maxima," he flicked his wand once, drew back and flicked again. A bright flash of light emanated from his wand. Bad mistake. Yes it did light up the darkened tunnel for several minutes, but Cris made the mistake of looking at his wand when he cast the spell.

Now he was seeing a big blob every time he blinked.

"Uh...sorry Professor. I can't see anything right now," Cris told the Professor, as he blinked rapidly to clear his vision. Maybe it would be better if he closed his eyes for awhile.

Yes it worked. Now all he could only see was a blob reflected on his eyelids and that was fading. However, that also meant that he was going to have to stay still for a minute or too, so as not to blindly walk into a cave wall...or worse yet....into someone.

BUMP!!

"Sorry," Cris called out.

After that muddy, troll-y experience this brunette was this close to purposely twisting her ankle so she can be sent home, most specially after the Headmistress had to leave them due to some important business. Hey they were important too you know. Huxley was still there so what could possibly be more important than her eh eh?

But the fieldtrip went on into another week. Really if not for her fellow Claws Mika and the other one she now knew was called Lily as well as the ever present Lex Huxley really would’ve high tailed it outta there. She was of age so she can apparate to places. But yeah she was still there. Alive. Bug-bitten, hair- frizzed and somewhat lost weight but alive nonetheless. She felt she should get a medal just for that alone.

Today they were being led to yet another cave. How have they not been eaten by a dragon yet huh? And it was really dark. Huxley uttered the spell to light up her wand but didn’t venture further than the mouth of the cave. Hey if they started to bloody scream and weird lopping sounds echoes down the chamber she wants to be sure theres an escape route for her you know? So yeah... there she is, guarding the escape route.

After the excitement with the mudslide and troll attack, things had seemed to settle back into a weird sort of pattern of normalcy. Aside from the Headmistress’s unexpected departure, which Lily still figured had something to do with that owl she’d gotten like seconds before the trolls had appeared, that was. The group had kept trekking through the jungle until they’d reached the mountains, back to the familiarity of camp setup and breakdown, plus the Astronomy lessons along with some DADA lessons that she may have paid more attention to than the others. Astronomy was more interesting here, but she still found other subjects more interesting. Honestly, she found the occasional llama stampede through camp more interesting some of the days, usually on those when she was exhausted from all the hiking and climbing. It was hard to focus on lessons when she was tired. She usually had just focused on camping during those times, and sleeping. At least the heat wasn’t quite as unbearable anymore, and there hadn’t been any more rainstorms.

She’d decided that she’d rather avoid being drenched again, although she’d reached a hand out to run through the backside of the waterfall as they’d passed behind it to enter yet another cave. It had been too good to resist, since how often did anyone really get to see the backside of a waterfall. She hadn’t seen many before, but after that little moment she’d walked into the cave after the group, glancing at Huxley as the brunette had simply stopped at the mouth of said cave and acted like she wasn’t going any further. So far they hadn’t come across any dragons or other possible dangerous cave dwellers, so she wasn’t sure what her fellow Claw was afraid of. It was an adventure. She’d left her to her own devices, though, speeding up until she’d reached almost the center of the group and lighting her wand as she heard Professor Romanos’ whisper. “See what?,” she asked, blinking as there had been a bright flash about two feet to her right, illuminating the damp rock walls for a second before dimming again. Seeing as it had been followed by Cris’s voice apologizing, she doubted that had been what they were supposed to be seeing, so she’d tried peering ahead again.

Only to stumble slightly as she felt a body bump into her, and she craned her neck around to see Cris standing there. “’Sokay,” she replied. At least she was still upright, therefore it hadn’t hurt. She was more focused on trying to figure out what the professor had seen ahead, when she would have barely been able to see her hand if she’d outstretched it in front of her face, had it not been for her wandlight. Obviously there must have been something up there, but she hadn’t seen it yet.

You'd think they'd have entered ALL the caves in this continent. But each day, Cassia learns that they hadn't and there were more caves still. And here they were today about to wander into one more. The snake braced herself for whatever that they might face. Maybe more trolls like a week ago? She had to admit it, of all the things that she thought she might encounter, trolls never occurred to her. Not that she was complaining about it. It only added more stories to be told once she got back.

By now, the seven-teen year old had gotten used to walking on rocky ground and not tripping with pretty much everything. She EASILY followed Romanos and the rest of the group into the cave.

See that?

Cassia squinted and tried to see whatever the woman was talking about. Kind of hard to see when it was pitch dark, no? But the way the DADA professor said it was so hopeful and a bit sure. So the slytherin didn't answer with a hope-cruching 'no' and remained silent but fully focused.

One thing for certain. the next time Nigel comes to Peru. It will be in a five star restort. None of this roughing it just for the sake of finding El Dorado. Sure the city might be awesome. But that does no excuse all these day of hair abuse. He was running out of stuff to put in his hair and now it looked hideous.

Just Thankful, it is not grey. Even the repeated lessons on dark animals could not keep Nigel awake. So yeah he slept through those and the astro lessons again. And sorry for being a Drama Llama. But getting awoken by herding Llamas is not fun. Never, especially in the middle of the night.

Now they were being lead into a cave and Nigel did not know what else to expect. Keep you expectations low and not be disappointed sounded like a good motto right now.

It was a nice waterfall. That was certain and no he could not see much right now. But did not feel like answering that because ti would definitely come out sarcastic.

A little over a week had passed since they all nearly got buried alive in mud or whooped senseless by trolls and everyone seemed FINE. He was starting to think that this was something common among Hogwarts students and it scared him just a teeeeeny bit. Mostly because Winchester had them guarded like royal jewels. The American government had these rules that prevented them from doing anything rather fun. Something about "protecting the Muggles". Sure this trip had him just a bit rattled, but it was thrilling and the most fun he's ever had on anything school related EVER. Rorie was definitely missing out. If there was anything he reaaaally wanted to do before they leave, it would be to ride a llama. Is that weird?

So, here they were at the entrance of ANOTHER cave, probably headed towards something else that might kill them, but the professor seemed certain that this one was it. Dec passed his hand through the waterfall as they ventured into the pitch black cave.

Glad that he had bumped into a nice girl...well he could tell from her voice that she was a girl and she sounded nice. Of course not couldn't see her yet, since he was still trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness after accidentally blinding himself by his own light spell.

"Sorry again," he apologized to the girl he had bumped into before shuffling his way blindly to where he remembered Professor Romanos was standing.

....well here's hoping she hadn't moved since then cause he would look really ridiculous talking to a piece of rock...or worse yet...the cave wall.

"What did you think you saw, Professor?" Cris asked the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Had she seen a glimmer of gold? Movement? Another secret cave within this secret cavern?

Yes very mysterious indeed.

Really? They didn't see that?

Goodness, her eyes weren't going bad already. Not that old. Squinting through the darkness, she was quite certain that the faint light up ahead wasn't from one of their wands...or bad eye sight. "Careful." she muttered automatically, not at all glancing behind to see what the commotion was about. Not like she could have SEEN anything to begin with.

"You guys reall-" Woah. Hello Mister Strand. When did you get....there? "You guys don't see the light up ahead?"

Despite knowing, and being told repeatedly, that they needed to keep as quiet as possible as they trudged further and further into the unknown...it only made the astronomer's desire to serenade the group more and more alluring. It was like telling someone NOT to think about pink aliens wearing polka dotted tutus, you know? Which was why he had taken to humming under his breath for the last quarter of a mile they had been hiking.

No big deal.

Tripping on something, Airey pointed his illuminated wand downwards and saw a very attractive looking rock and knelt down to pick it up. Oh, was that...a hint of gold there? Yes, this would do nicely for his rock collection. Smirking as he tucked the rock into his charmed camo suit short pocket, he turned his attention in the direction that Medea was indicating and GRINNED.

"Preserve El DoraAAAAAAAAAdo...the magnificent and golden....and I believe they will..." he sang under his breath as he moved beside her, his lips curling more and more into a giddy smirk with each passing moment.

"El Dorado, El Dorado, El DoraaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaAAAAAAAdooooooo!"

Cris heard Professor Romanos ask whether they could see the light up ahead. Glad that his vision was slowly returning, he was now wishing he had the eyes of a cat and the sonar of a bat because he really wanted to see that light that the Professor was seeing.

"No I don't, Professor," he turned to her before belatedly realizing how close he was standing next to her. Cris immediately stumbled back and almost fell over Flamsteed who had bent down to pick up a rock.

Quickly catching his balance, he heard the Astronomy Professor start to sing as he stepped up next to Romanos. No he wasn't...yes he was!!

Singing!!

...and Cris chimed in softly....

"But all this was granted
For only one millenium
I know my legacy is to fulfill
My promise to all my people
Who have trusted me, the gods
Will approve of us still
Preserve El Dorado
The magnificent and golden
And I believe they will
El Dorado, El Dorado, El Dorado
El Dorado, El Dorado, El Dorado"

....and if he had room, Cris would have started dancing too, safe in the thought that it was too dark in the cavern for anyone to see him doing it.

Honestly, Layla had been totally over the whole trip ever since the mudslide and subsequent near-troll thrashing. So much so that she'd almost begged to be allowed to leave with the headmistress. But she had stuck it out, and now she was regretting it. How many more caves were they going to look through before Romanos decided to give it up as a lost cause?

She had been half tempted to walk directly through the waterfall to enter this cave, but thought better of it. The waterfall was definitely more powerful than a typical shower and she really didn't feel like being washed downstream.

And Flamsteed and Cris earned a side-eye from her. Hadn't Romanos said to be quite.......? Or had she just imagined that?

So as the rest of troops walk into the darkness, this brunette hangs back, taking time to just chill with the waterfalls from the mouth of the cave. Heck if there was ever one thing she enjoyed about this trip its these waterfalls. Rushing water was just lovely to her. Of course she knew better than to hang around the water too much. Parasites you know.

Then there came whispers in the darkness about seeing something. Huxley turned and angled her head, tiptoeing in case she can see what they’re seeing from where she stood. Huh it all looked dark to her, save for the pin picks of light she knew came from their wands. “Whu... what are you seeing?” she hoarsely whispered at them.

She got a reply.... of singing. Whut? Huxley made a face... then started sniffing the air. Was there some kind of crazy gas in the air?Some kind of phantom spell or presence thats making them go coo-coo? She whispered a spell and her wand light glowed brighter, trying to examine the cavern top to bottom, somewhat freaking herself out in case she sees faces or something that shouldn’t be there. Should she follow them? Should she hang back? Hesitation.

Maybe she should just stay put.

Reeeaaally? Maybe her eyes were getting old then. Oh dear, what an awful thought to think. She was soooooo certain about the light though! However, she couldn't help the twitch of a smile starting to appear as she heard Airey singing beside her. AND, who was that joining in? Mister Strand? Only one of them got louder. Very loud. Mother of dragons!

"Airey." she hushed, chuckling as she reached out to grab his arm. Or...chest. Shoulder? No, that was the arm. And definitely the right person. "You're lucky this cave isn't filled vith bats like the last one." So many little cutie creatures of the night. And screaming. So much screaming. Adjusting the bag upon her shoulder, she glanced behind to the others...only to shake her head and start forward. Couldn't see a darn thing.

"Come on. Vere almost there." Maybe.

Dec cautiously had made his way to the side of the cave, keeping a finger on the wall to keep him aware of where was he was at all times. Especially in this darkness. The lit wands of the people in the front weren't doing much justice in his opinion. Oh no, Flamsteed was singing again and with a featuring guest this time. You'd think they'd remember the last cave with the bats and shut up. Dec let out a long sigh, taking a bite out of his chocolate bar, almost jabbing his eye out with his wand which was also in the same hand. He learned in these past weeks that nothing can stop that man from doing anything outrageous.

He squinted ahead at whatever Romanos was talking about. He can barely see in front of him! How can she expect him to see whatever's in front of her, a crowd of people away?! But he also thought he felt exposed being in the back and all, so, keeping his finger on the wall, he made his way to where he thought the middle was for full coverage.

Lily had waved off Cris’ second apology, or at least metaphoric ally waved it off. It wasn’t really necessary, but she also was sort of afraid to move too much when she didn’t want to have to be the next person to apologize for accidentally hitting someone in the dark. A little more light would have been nice, especially since she was also still trying to figure out exactly what Professor Romanos had thought she’d seen. She hadn’t even realized that Cris, or anyone for that matter, had moved away from her and closer to the professor until she heard the woman start speaking and then stop as if she’d been surprised by something or someone. The sentence was finished, though, and her attention had gone back to trying to discern anything up ahead. She didn’t see any lights up there, but maybe their wandlights were making it impossible to see. Anything was possible, and even an imaginary light was better than just being lost in the darkness. Actually, even the bats they’d found in one of the other caves were better than what they were stuck with now. Minus the screaming.

But apparently now they had singing, and she almost sighed. She recognized at least one of those voices, and she was starting to believe that Professor Flamsteed really liked singing random songs at the weirdest times. But then, the acoustics in the cave probably weren’t that different from the girls’ bathroom back at Hogwarts, so maybe there actually was a connection. Plus, he was singing something about El Dorado, which made her wonder if maybe he’d seen whatever Professor Romanos had seen and thought it was the city they were all looking for. She didn’t actually recognize the song, so she chose not to chime in, however quietly she would have done so. Besides, she’d heard the singers be shushed seconds before it seemed they were on the move again. Almost there. Almost where?, she thought, keeping the question to herself as she stepped forward to follow the DADA professor again. She’d find out the answer soon enough.

Being almost there was a joke wasn't it. The singing was making the currently impish Ravenclaw want to place a silencing charm or just stop that annoying guy's tongue from moving. She didn't want to hear singing. She didn't know if singing was a good thing right now...there could have been bats, rats, cats...giant ones, mountain trolls, cave trolls, any number of dangerous creature that the singing could call over to them. Maybe the singing was going to wake up a vipertooth and set it to attack mode....or maybe set it to sleep mode.

"I can't see anything" she muttered under her breath and somewhat to Huxley. Sure if they found the place she was going to rush forward and knock people down like bowling pins...but that was a very giant IF.

Cris chuckled as he finished up softly singing the verse to the song. Even as he did so, he could hear a rustling sound coming his way, like someone was reaching out for him and quickly stepped away from those fingers, suspecting that they were meant for Professor Flamsteed instead.

Squinting ahead, he slowly stepped forward, following the sound of Professor Romanos' voice. Where she was leading them to he didn't know. So he remained alert and vigilant, his wand at the ready.

"Where are we almost at, Professor? El Dorado's secret hiding place?" Cris whispered softly to the Professor.

"Let's hope, Mister Strand." she spoke softly in return, keeping an eye on the ground and where she was walking. Parts of the rock they walked on actually sparkled. Gold maybe? Then again, other parts looked super slimy, and by golly, she was not going to slip and break something.

.........not to mention the cave seemed endless. No one was nyctophobic were they?

After around ten to fifteen minutes or so into the walk, the unnatural darkness ...lightened up. The walls started to sparkle and shine GOLD in areas and wand light wasn't even needed anymore. A large opening into what looked to be the outside world was right ahead of them. Was this it though? WAS THIS IT???? Medea stopped at the cave entrance.

Great gold ruins surrounded the area, the architecture still magnificent to behold. Not a single piece of moss or weed covered them either. Brilliant green, orange, red, and every color and size in between plant-life circled the area in every nook and cranny it could find, and the waterfall and river flowing through the middle of the ruins shined in the sunlight as if it carried diamonds. Something was causing the bushes and leaves to rustle in the near distance, but...right now...all that could think of was...

EL DORADO.

Fourteen minutes after entering the cave, and no more signs of singing, Layla was ready to turn right back and exit the cave again. But then little things started catching her eye. Small glittering things encased in the rocks. They didn't look like your typical glitter either. Nope, they looked like little bits of gold. She picked up one of the rocks, thinking that she could figure out how to get the gold out later (hopefully it wouldn't turn out to be fool's gold).

Then it lighten up in the cave and then............

*BLINK BLINK*

Was this it? Was this El Dorado? It was certainly beautiful. But more importantly, currently at least, was WATER. Layla could just feel the sweat sticking to her skin and it was starting to annoy her. So her first reaction was to simply drop her bag and dash towards the river. "Whoohoo! CANNONBALL!"

*SPLASH*

Cris nodded in agreement with the Professor even though he knew she couldn't see him. As they ventured deeper into the cavern, he kept a look out. For what seemed like an hour, but in reality was only about 15 minutes, Cris noticed that it was getting brighter up ahead. He blinked to help his eyes adjust. Was that something glimmering up ahead?

....as they continued to walk deeper in, Cris eyes began to widen in surprise. His mouthed gaped open. Was that? No it couldn't be. But it was!!

GOLD!! GOLD!! EVERYWHERE!!

The waterfall and the river running through it enticed Cris. He was contemplating on whether to drop his backpack and jump into it when Layla beat him to it. He chuckled when she cannonballed straight into the water.

Stepping away from her subsequent splash, Cris looked in amazement all around him before turning around to look at Professor Romanos, grinning from ear to ear.

"You did it, Professor. You found El Dorado!" Cris would have rushed over to grab her in hug if it weren't for the fact that One, she was his Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, and he didn't want to get hexed by her, and Two, he didn't want Professor Flamsteed to do likewise to him, for hugging his woman.

So Cris kept his arms to himself as he walked up ahead to examine the golden ruins. Everything was so bright...and glittering shiny like exactly what gold should do.

...wait was that rustling he just heard? Cris turned around and squinted up ahead of him. He watched for a couple of minutes but when he didn't hear the sound again, he shrugged and turned his attention back to what he had been examining.

The cave had been ENDLESS, or so it seemed, but Mo was full of the pent up energy of discovery and anticipation. His fingertips were tingling away, and Mo already had his camera out when they finally stepped into the sunlight. He had to force himself to look at the world through his own eyes in between taking it in through the lens, but Mo snapped photos of the amazing plant life, of the ruins, of the golden walls, and of Layla's cannonball (somehow).

Wait. Was that safe? Could they swim here?

Not that he was keen to, since there was so much to see, but he was curious. "Professor, can we go look around, or do you want us to stay with you?" Because his tingling fingertips were telling him to climb to the highest point and see what he could see.

Bats. Airey did not want to be reminded, thank you very much, but since she had brought it up...

"Pity for you, hooray for me," he smirked. Really though, couldn't she stick with the mechanical variety instead of keeping flying rodents with unnatural wings for company? Wait...did she even have a mechanical bat? He was honestly losing track of all the gadgets Medea kept. He would have to do some subtle research. Maybe throw in a mechanical feline while he was at it. He could deal with those. No fur.

And then finally they found it. After his eyes took the time to adjust to the light, the astronomer's jaw dropped and hung open wide. "Sweet...............solstice," he muttered as he took one mesmerized step forward. The feeling of awe that resonated within him could only be compared to the feeling he imagined he would have experienced had he actually been able to go into space. Well, probably. Nothing could top that feeling of looking back down at Earth from the International Space Station, but now he was getting a taste of what he imagined it would feel like.
"Jeepers."

Sliding up beside Medea, mouth still hanging open by the way, he just barely took notice of the bushes rustling but paid no real attention to as his attention was drawn elsewhere. To Mr. Branxton to be specific. He ought to let Medea bask in the discovery on her own and, well, there was something that had caught his eye over that a ways....

"It seems your classmates have taken no time in beginning to explore," he grinned, perhaps with some overly excited eyebrow wiggling attached to the speech. "And seeing as you are providing proper documentation of the trip by all means go look around." In fact.... "Let's take a gander of this way, shall we?" he asked as he grabbed the young man by the collar and began to drag him towards the quivering bushes that also happened to be near a structure that looked to be a sort of observatory temple.

"Tell me, Mr. Branxton, what do you know about archaeoastronomy?"

Just don't try to say that five times fast because you were likely to hurt yourself.

Holy gold muffin...

El Dorado was real. Wudax Mludvark was real.

Were they though? WAS this the real deal? She was having a hard time comprehending it. It was so.........so, wow. Even Miss Channing-Sands' cannonball had gone without disapproval from her. Momentary lapse in safety precautions, oops, but El Dorado. All the rumors and the research and the stories could not have prepared anyone for the magnificence that took her breath away. Her mouth opened to answer Mister Branxton, yet....words were tough, though thankfully Airey took the lead with the seventh year.

Letting her bag drop, she slowly sat down and gaped at it all. "......stay safe!" she called out as an after thought. They...were actually here.

Deep breath. Take it allll in.

Cant see a thing? “Well that is why I’m not moving an inch from this spot.” The brunette said to the buddy blondie, although the draw to follow the tail end of the troop was getting stronger she had to admit. But the darkness was enough to keep her rooted to the spot, with the singing giving an extra barrier from her curiosity getting the better of her.

And then the singing stopped. Ears pricked harder for those unnerving sounds of limbs getting lost so quickly the mouth didn’t have a chance to give audible feedback.

But there was some other audible feedback she heard. Like something, or someone fell into the water, and it sure wasn’t at the pool from her end.

But it didn’t take long before yelps of excitement reached all the way down to the entrance of the cave. She glanced quickly at Mika “Sounds like they found something...” and with the pinprick of wand light clearly gone other than what she held aloft she can also somewhat make out a lighter shade of something at the end of the tunnel.

Hesitate... hesitate..... “—Oh what the heck.” She muttered. She’s following in....

After what seemed to be a long time (because she really did try to make sure there were no booby traps suddenly springing up at her) Huxley found herself, mouth agape, at what looked like a city that goblins made. Everything was made of such finery it was almost unbelievable. She bent low and scooped up stuff from the ground—its like gold dust and precious gems were as common place as soil and pebbles in their world. There was a peculiar sparkle in this brunettes eyes, but then a thought.

She neared the Defense Professor and asked “How can we be sure any of these is real? Like its not some kind of fools gold or something?” because Huxley sure didn’t want to be anybody’s fool.