Aurora expected MAYBE another rat to run out from the piano, but not a BAT! A SCARY RABID BAT!! She shrieked, her voice reaching octaves that would likely scare away any other creatures lurking in the area, and she put her hands over her head. She had remembered something that people had told her about how they liked to fly into your hair for some reason. Like it was a giant nest for them. She patted her head a few times, just to be sure it hadn't flown in there, and then slowly lifted her head. Ok, it seemed to be clear now. Sorry, bat. She hadn't meant to give anything a heart attack in there, but it had given HER a heart attack, so...they were even, yes?

Dusting herself off and coughing once or twice due to all the timber dust in the air now, she walked towards the completely destroyed piano and carefully stepped over the rubble, hearing it crunch beneath her feet as she stepped. In the middle of the wreckage was a hat, which seemed pretty unharmed. Hmmm, that was interesting - but it was most definitely what she was supposed to have. Why ELSE would there be a hat in the middle of a piano if it wasn't important to the challenge?

She picked it up and examined the old thing. Was she supposed to put it on? She thought back to the riddle she had been given, mentioning something about houses...and piglets. She had no idea HOW that pertained to this hat. WAIT! Did piglets refer to...Hogs? Hogwarts? Hogwartians? Was this the infamous sorting hat? She had no clue what it looked like, honestly, although she had heard about it a few times. More than a few times, really. The battered old thing was famous!

She looked inside and dusted it off a bit - she was NOT putting this thing on her head unless she knew for certain that it didn't contain any hidden animals. Namely bats. When she was sure it was empty, she put it on, letting it fall over her brown eyes and feeling kind of ridiculous, but smiling and giggling to herself as she did so.

This was...not at all how she thought this challenge would go. She didn't even know if she HAD to put the hat on or not, but it was a logical guess of course. So what next?

Placing the Hat on your head, you expect something to happen, and indeed it does. It just isn't something that you probably expected.

Suddenly there is a jolt and bright light surrounds you from every direction. There is nothing to fear, however; nothing bad has happened to you. In fact you find yourself suddenly lying on a bed in a white room and there is a Ministry employee coming over to greet you.

Turns out that you were in a magically modified daydream.

The Ministry employee asks you if you require any medical assistance and announces that your scores will be in shortly. You are free to head over to the stands and watch as the other competitors finish the challenge.

OOC: You can now access the stands and other competitor threads.

When nothing really happened - aka, when the hat didn't start talking - Aurora determined that this WASN'T the sorting hat. Which she should have known, seeing as how it kind of looked like a leprechaun hat. Whatever. She didn't know what these Brits were in to. She closed her eyes shut as a bright light engulfed her, and when she woke up, she was surprised that she was laying down. The hat was gone, as was the brooch in her pocket. In fact, she looked like nothing had happened at all - even her make up was still completely in tact.

She felt up to her cheek, noticing that the giant gash she'd acquired was also gone. So...none of this had happened? Not REALLY at least?

She felt a bit groggy, and like she needed a strong iced coffee, but otherwise she was fine. She thanked the Ministry worker and then slowly sat up, ready to join the rest of the competitors in the seating area.