Compass still clutched tightly in her hand and Lola and Harper hopefully right behind her, Sierra continued walking until a blinding display of colors burst out of nowhere. She paused, her instinct telling her to proceed with suspicion. The whole place seemed harmless, though, and so she continued forward even though she was pretty much walking blindly into the unknown.

...ugh. Where was the Hufflepuff? She should probably let her go first just in case there was danger ahead. Not because Sierra was a wimp, though, but because if something was going to jump out and attack, she sure didn't want to volunteer herself as the victim.

What could possibly attack here, though? ...a rainbow?

She paused when an unfamiliar scene folded out in front of here. It was...pretty, if she did say so herself. She took a few minutes to assess the place, and then her eyes finally fell on the Head Boy, whoever he was, and Iris, the Head Girl. "Oh, ...hey," she casually greeted.

"Sierra, wait up for your MOTHER--you know I've aged and my wee little knees have failed," she panted as the girl was seemingly obsessed with the next part of the obstacle (that did mean she wanted to be a mermaid too, no?) Lola was quite certain that she herself was a mermaid in the past life and there was this longing of swimming under the sea and having gills and having a father that would hold a mighty trident while battling a narcissistic... "...have... have failed me!" Honestly, these human legs of hers were pathetic and she just wanted a bloody tail! MERLIN! As she noticed, her daughter was definitely not slowing down for her! Why?! Oh--she wanted to take up all the mermaid sparkly treasure for HERSELF DIDN'T SHE?! "Why I never..." Did she raise a selfish daughter?

Well that was certainly bad parenting. Discipline ought to teach her!

Lola quickly ditched Harper to get up there first, but the younger Slytherin girl managed to... and and... when they got there... what... what was this mermaid HAVEN?! It was so luscious and BEAUTIFUL. Amazing. A sight to see because she was completely mesmerized by the entire scene.

"MY SISTERS?!" Lola called out, hoping that her fellow mermaid brethren would answer back! The whole place seemed abandoned. OH RIGHT! They didn't speak English did they?! "GARGLEGARGLEGURGLEFISHYFISHY?!" There was no reply. There were no mermaids. This whole thing was a HOAX. Lola's feet were still... feet.

The whole thing was still indeed beautiful and she eyed the Prefects, waving a hello at them, but was then distracted by a trident laying out on the shore. "FATHERRRRRR!"

Harper had to struggle to keep up with the crazily determined Sierra and the absolutely bonkers mermaid obsessed Lola, who were both well into the clearing out of the bramble by the time she caught up to them.

She walked up to stand next to Sierra, but her eyes were on the water, the sun glinting off of it, and the whole lagoon in general. She couldn't get enough. Her eyes were the size of conch shells (how appropriate) as she gazed at the beautiful scenery. She had to remember to breathe when she saw the Head Boy and Girl standing there.

She gave them a small smile and let out a sigh. Noooo sacrifice for her, noo way. At least...she couldn't see a fire pit anywhere. "This is beautiful," it was directed to the Head Boy and Girl, but also to Sierra and Lola (who didn't seem to be paying any attention to the English language).

Harper turned her eyes on Lola and just...watched. For that was all she could do.

He could hear footsteps ahead of him with the rustling of the leaves, Salander huffed and puffed, trying to outrun.... well he didnt know who he was trying to outrun or why he was even running at all. Pushing the vegetation impatiently aside his breath caught in his throat......

... it was a lagoon. Beautiful. Colorful. Warm. And reminded him so much of a once happy memory....

Struggling at the last thought he tried to push it aside, instead focusing on trying to take in the different stuff on the ground and the layout of the land. He doubted he would even remember them all. One of the few times he wished that muggle technology would work at Hogwarts...

... come to think of it, is he still at Hogwarts?

He finally spotted Finn and Iris, waving at them "Nice spot you found here!...." then he looked around "Are.... are we still in Hogwarts?"

Orlando could not believe they were actually here. He had half expected himself to have drowned by now - along with Ryden. But no. They had reached the shore. Clutching Ryden's hand still, he turned to her immediately. "Is your eye sight back?"

He had no problem, still guiding around - now that they were on solid ground and not floating lily pads but still she should see. YES. Noticing, other Prefects moving - he moved too, tightening his grip on her hand. You know, he could let her hand go now ... but he was pretending, he didn't have to.

The forest and then the smell of the vegetation, he was getting excited again - hoping to see his next task and all the while as the scent grew stronger of the begetation around them, Orlando's stomach grumbled. FOOD. He would be needing foood soon.

All thoughts of food disappeared though when the next sight came. It was beautiful. WOW. "Ryden ... can you see what I see?" the boy asked dumbfounded, looking around. Were they still in Hogwarts?

They had reached the shore. THEY HAD DONE IT. Grinning, Ryden blinked out of habit and turned to where she thought Orlando was. If they were on the shore, then her blindness should be gone by now, shouldn't it? Yes, it really really should. Blinking furiously, the brunette found the the black was slowly turning to grey and then to a lighter grey and then...

KOALA BOY. Cue HUUUUUGEEE GRIIIIIIINNN. "WE DID IT!" she exclaimed, in response to his quesion, queezing his hand a little as bounced a little. SUCCESS. Turning around to take in the sights of the world - for she had MISSED them, honestly - Ryden's jaw dropped.

...

WOW. Just, WOW. How did a place like this exist up here? "I..." was all she could say as she lightly pulled his hand - see? CONVENIENCE, no need to let go - and they walked into the lagoon. The brunette's eyes quickly picked up the tridents and things lying around, and then the head boy and girl standing around too. But the LAGOON...

"It's beautiful." YUP. And she would definitely be coming back here.

It was surreal. Orlando loved it. Though he was tired, the whole day had been crazy. The Quidditch match, the boggart, the clues - but in the end, the result was just simply fantastic. It made him happy. It made him want to hug someone -

- someone that was standing next to him. He gave her a small glance before deciding against it. His stomach churned at the thought, his cheek coloring lightly.

His foot that was now without a shoe, curled into the sand - as he tried to discard the sudden urge inside him.

"We did it. Congratulation, Boss" he said, his voice low - smile intact.

"YES. We did. But you helped too - it was all about teamwork," Ryden replied with a grin, then let go of his hand in order to take off her shoes and socks. Taking them towards the vegetation, she put them out to dry and strode right back to Orlando, savouring the hot sand under her feet. She'd MISSED this.

Relaxing her tie a little - NO PROFESSOR LAFAY HERE to tell her otherwise - the brunette visibly relaxed and looked around, nodding first to the Ravenclaw prefect who was the Head Boy before walking over to the things strewn about.

Where were the merfolk? This was clearly a lagoon that had been theirs once upon a time, but it was now quite abandoned. Making a pulling motion with her hand, she blinked as she realised for the first time that she wasn't holding his anymore. Odd. Why had she let go again? Hmm.

But now she couldn't very well go take it back. It was weird. There needed to be a reason. Oh well. "Are there many places like this around Hogwarts?" she asked instead as she made her way back to him, to cover the sudden awkwardness she felt. "Because I've never seen one, and it's almost the end of the year," she added, then the meaning of what she'd said struck her.

END OF THE YEAR. She'd survived. She'd made it. A WHOLE YEAR. At Hogwarts. Father would be so pr- DANGNABBIT. This meant Aunt Lea had been right. Meh.

Watching her discard her shoes, he decided to let go of his only shoe - the other one was probably somewhere at the bottom of the lake. Taking it off, he enjoyed the warm sand on both his feet. "Thank you" It had indeed been team work.

It was so silly really, yet he didn't quite believe that out of all the Ravenclaws = he had found Rydedn to partner up with, in the end. He was celebrating with her - not someone else. WITH HER.

At her question, he shook his head. "No. I haven't seen a place like this at Hogwarts before. It's completely new." Before his brain could control him, he said what he truly felt at that moment. "I am glad, I got here with you Ryden .." his words came out soft, just like the sand between his toes.

Ryden simply nodded as he thanked her. Of course. She wasn't COMPLETELY heartless, you know. And she had enough sense to know when she had been aided and helped, and Orlando had definitely been a partner. In fact, Ryden doubted if she'd have made it across with any OTHER Gryffindor. Petty, annoying, horrid things that they were.

No other places like this? Oh well. At least one existed. Ryden could see herself coming here to study, relax and just think. It was almost like that place back home... As her mind traveled off, the brunette almost didn't notice that Orlando spoke up again. ALMOST.

ERM. Ryden blinked. QUICK, THINK OF SOMETHING TO SAY. THINK OF SOMETHING TO SAAAYYY. Well there was the OBVIOUS thing to say, the truth, but no. There was the lie, but that was too harsh and she didn't WANT to lie to him.

... "Me too," she replied in a small voice, then looked down at the sand and very sneakily retook his hand. Once again, Ryden would like to remind everyone that because she was not USED to the sun - with Hogwarts being icky and grey - that now that she was in it, she had gotten SUNBURNED. Ryden Di Marco does not blush.

What INTERESTING sand there was here... *cough*

Viola was still confused about this whole competition/tournament thing. Ah anyway, she just went with the flow. SNORT. How cheesy.

She walked slowly and caught up with Salander finally. Wow. She caught her breath as she looked at the surroundings. It was a lagoon and it was simply breathtaking. She'd never seen anything more beautiful.

Her eyes shifted towards the Head Boy and Head Girl standing nearby. She gave them a smile before turned towards the shore, noticing the shells and a fishing net lying among the rocks. Hm. Interesting.

Now, what!?

Iris already had her swimwear on under her shorts and tank top, but none of these students here were dressed accordingly for the occasion... As none of them knew this was where they were going to end up. Looking back to the students that were there, Iris grinned again. Then she glanced at Finn, in a way that asked if they should tell them about the need to transfigure their clothes into swimsuits.

Now, time to address the students! "It's amazing, isn't it?" She said, walking to stand next to Finn. "Obviously none of you have your swimming costumes with you right now -" unless you're a weirdo named Lola. Then I wouldn't be surprised if you carried it around with you all the time. " - so you're gonna need to get some from somewhere. Over here is two trunks. One's got loads of swimwear for guys in, the other for girls. Have a root through those and find something that you'd wear." Iris paused, checking to see if there were any unimpressed faces. "Don't worry. I've made sure that there's something in there to cover every taste and style, and they're charmed to shrink or stretch to fit you perfectly."

"There's a changing tent over there - hidden by all the trees - where you can go and quickly change. Your clothes will be safe in there until you choose to change back." The Head Girl nodded. "Alternatively, if you're comfortable with your transfiguration skills, you can simply transfigure what you're wearing now into a swimsuit."

Giving Finn a glance, Iris frowned in concentration. "I've not missed anything, have I? Oh! Yeah. Have fun! Explore! Try not to drown, because I'm not jumping in after you!" Yup... That was just about it. Finn would probably still be able to think of something that Iris missed, though.


OOC:

• There's no incantation for the transfiguration mentioned. If you choose to do that, just RP your character "doing" it without saying the incantation.
• Make sure that your swimwear is SS appropriate AND age appropriate (e.g, no First Years in very skimpy bikinis!).
• Also, if you're going to link, make sure it's to Polyvore or Photobucket or something similar!
• We're going to wait for a few more groups of students to get here before opening the other threads.
• Most importantly, HAVE FUN WITH THIS!

Oooh. There were some people finally getting down here. That was good, because Finlay had to admit that it was getting a little awkward with Iris here. Would she ever actually approve of him? He thought not. So things were definetly going to stay awkward between them. Finlay gave the students that were appearing a wave. They all seemed pretty interested in their lagoon here. Scorree. It was a good idea.

Finn was glad when Iris started talking though, because he probably wouldn't have had a clue what to say. "Yeah....don't drown." Because like that wouldn't be fun. Not at all. Maybe they should've like got a lifeguard or something. But hopefully the students wouldn't go crazy. Because that would've just been plain silly. Finn adjusted his sunglasses, hoping that like he'd be able to go and relax soon. Maybe have a swim too. That would be nice.

First though. He wanted to know if the students had enjoyed the hunt? That would be useful. "So have you all been enjoying your selves so far?"

Dallin was smiling to himself as he followed his maps down to this place. When he saw where he was, though, he grinned. This place was soooo cool! He looked around, seeing everything from the tridents on the ground to the water slide-like water fall. This was definitely worth the riddles he had to figure out to get here.

Someone should have hinted that they would need a swimsuit, though. That would have been logical. Hearing the prefect talk, Dal glanced over at the trunks she was talking about. Eh, he had his own swimsuit in his dormitory. So... couldn't he just wear that? The castle wasn't too far away... and he was good at summoning spells.

When the prefect stopped talking, he wandered over to the changing tents. Muttering "Accio swimsuit," He waited until it came to him, then ducked into one of the tents to change. When he was finished, Dallin went back to the Lagoon. Aaaand... he didn't know anyone here. Niiice.

Caroline followed closely behind Salander and Viola. So this was the last thing? They were heading to their destination. Or did they have more to go?

As she jogged to keep up, with Sal. Why exactly was he running? The smells were wonderful, and the sight was amazing. She could here running water, that sounded so relaxing. They round a bend, and walked into a beautiful lagoon. It instantly made her miss Italy, the light blue waters, and the soft breeze.

"Holy Merlin!" She looked around in pure amaze ment and awe. At some point she lost Salander and viola. strenching her neck she could see the back of his head, she followed him until her partners stopped beside Violia. "This place is amazing." She said with huge smile on her face. Still looking around in amazement.

Now that the surprise had worn off a little bit, excitement was beginning to overwhelm Harper. She grinned hugely as Iris told them of the bathing suits. YES, swimming! She cast a wary glance at Lola at this news, because she could only imagine Lola diving into the depths and not returning.

Trunks of swimsuits. Changing tents. YAY!

"This place is brilliant," she murmured, followed by a brief manic giggle from the back of her throat. Pretzel the pygmy puff still sat on her shoulder, and seemed almost as excited as she was. She patted him on the head with two of her fingers. "Don't get a sunburn now, deary." she warned him with a sideways look, seeing the sun drenching his bright purple puffy-ness.

Harper made her way over to the women's bathing suit trunk and poked around in it, trying to find something that wouldn't clash with her red hair, and that also wasn't a string bikini. Because, let's be honest, those things weren't really swimsuits. They were undergarments. And there was no way that Harper was going to wear her underwear in front of all these people.

She dug around until she found the perfect yellow bathing suit. She held it up in front of her to appraise it. Yellow and polka dots. Awesomeness.

She skipped over to the changing tents and quickly got into it so she could return to the magnificent lagoon.

"Errr - do we get to keep these?" she asked hopefully, looking down at her bathing suit. Because of the charm that was on it, it fit her body perfectly and wasn't uncomfortable in the least.

And it was YELLOW, so...ya know.

Hmm. Where were ALL the students? Hogwarts was full of students, yet there were hardly any here! ... Oh well. Perhaps that was good. Less students to ruin the beauty of the place.

Looking up as a girl in a yellow swimsuit walked over to them, Iris looked at Finn and then shrugged. "Well... We'll have no use for them at the end of the term... so I suppose so..." That WAS a very pretty swimming costume. If Iris had've known it was in the trunk, she'd have kept it for herself. Ah well... Iris liked her bikini. Even if red's not her colour.

Penny arrived at the mysterious location and gasped in awe....It was beautiful...

Walking over to the trunks, she removed a lovely bathing suit in yellow and a pair of flip-flops..... over to the changing tents to get changed..

Emerging she felt a self conscious until she saw another puff wearing yellow as well.. although the yellow was such a lovely color and it was her house color too...yay

Wondering what the prefects had next planned....

After her question, Harper felt a little doubtful. Wouldn't they want them back for other students or something. But, on the other hand, there were so many of them. And as long as they didn't disappear after a certain amount of time...(THAT would be embarrassing)...

Harper beamed at the Head Girl and bounced in place a little bit after she answered. "YESSS!!!!" she clapped her hands together. "Thank youuu, I love this thing!!!"

It was a little awkward at first with no straps, but she soon got used to it. It wasn't like it was going to fall down, because it fit her perfectly.



Harper smiled at the Hufflepuff girl who had just arrived and had gotten a bathing suit on already. She was pleased to see that she was wearing yellow as well. Harper loved the color yellow, but not because of Hufflepuff. She realized now that it must look as though she was wearing it because of house pride. Well, she did have house pride, but...

She cast a wary eye at the Slytherins (mostly Sierra) who she didn't think seemed too keen on Hufflepuffs and wondered briefly if she shouldn't be targetting herself in bright yellow. After all, it wasn't too late for that life sacrifice she was convinced awaited her after following Lola and Sierra. She had read in books how Slytherins used to be more...sinister than they were now. She had always been nervous around them because of the things she had heard.

But Iris was a Slytherin, and she was letting her keep the bathing suit. So - yay for some Slytherins!!

Harper brought herself back to the present, non-fearing Slytherin day and smiled at the girl again. "Nice suit," she said kindly, admiring the yellow.

At least she wouldn't be the only target.

Arya had realized it'd taken her longer to change into her swimwear than she'd thought when she saw other students at the lagoon. Ohhhh wells. Grinning widely, she skipped down the sandy beach over to the school head's. "Hey guys! I see the others have finally made it." Or were starting too, some seemed to be just reaching the place like herself. "Wonder how long it will take them to notice the other things here." Like the rope swing and all the food! She'd already snagged a mermaid cupcake.

"Have you seen Ivy?" Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the area. If memory served her correct, she was at the first or second task, and so should be here by now. Unless she was still changing. It WAS a long way from the towers.

Iris looked up as Ayra made her way out of the changing rooms, grinning. FINALLY. Someone else with a Badge! The head girl grinned. "Oooh, I know. I think they're all just a bit awestruck." Then she saw the cupcake Ayra had snagged. Ooh. Iris wanted to get something to eat, too! Later though... later.

She shook her head at the Hufflepuff's question. "Nope... not yet." She should've been one of the first ones here, though...

Ahhhh! Iris wanted to go swimming in the water! Which was very UN-Iris. Sure, the Groundskeeper SAID the water was safe enough to go in, but no one had ACTUALLY been in it. Therefore, it was still uncertain waters. It was so pretty though... and it was a really warm day. She'd wait until Aaron got here... then she'd go in the lagoon waters. Just because she wanted to push him in first. Hehe.

Arya nodded her head in agreement, pulling her curls back into a braid when they shook out of place. "Very understandable." Hehe. "Hopefully they'll stay that way long enough for me to get first ride on the rope." She began to peel off the wrapper of the cupcake. FINALLY. After sitting in the great hall for what felt like hours, she got food.

Hm. She took a bite of the cupcake and searched for her friend once again. "I guess I can wait to jump into the water til she get here..." Maybe grab another cupcake? Or save one for Treyen. He needed them more. "What are YOU waiting for though?" Her brown eyes went to the head girl. Was she really gonna wait for ALL the students to arrive before having some well deserved fun of her own?

Maybe she should have brought tennis shoes...

Musing this fact as she thought about how much faster the way would've been if she wasn't in sandals, Ivory made her way through the Grounds and around the lake. As it was she already felt like she was a bit behind because she'd detoured to the lake to ensure the third task began without a glitch before going back to her common room to get her swim-gear, so it was no wonder that she was sort of running along on the last stretch of distance.

So much planning had gone into this event that the Ravenclaw prefect just wanted to get there and jump into the water already. She'd even packed her goggles and flippers in her beach bag in addition to a few surprises.

Nose twitching slightly at the smell of wet earth Ivy skipped forward, the rustling of the fronds announcing her arrival long before she approached the edge of the greenery. Reaching up a slim hand, she pushed her sunglasses off her eyes and poised them on her head as she waved happily at the people already there. "Hey guys!" she called out, even as she turned this way and that to admire the lagoon some more. Sure, they'd been here a few times to get the essentials ready but the amazing scene never failed to take her breath away.

"Arya!"Leaping forward to tackle her friend in a huge hug, she clapped her hands together excitedly. "Look, even the weather behaved." Moving to stand between the head boy and head girl, she moved her arms out to give them one armed hugs as well. "We did it guys! It's perfect!" And it was. It really was.

It was definitely a good thing she'd decided to save some cupcakes for Treyen, cause not long after she polished off her own did her bestie appear through the brush dressed for adventure.

Turning her attention away from the head girl, she watched the 'Claw prefect greet the students. Grin widening, she opened her arms juuuust in time to return the warm greeting. "Bout time you showed up!" She pulled back to show off her grin. "I was starting to worry you'd gotten lost." Hehe. Her eyes flicked up at the clear blue sky. "Mmhmm, I think it knows how hard we worked on this."