Ooo. A simulation. Ashley was pretty sure she would die in this simulation, but she hoped she wouldn't. She surveyed the situation. Footsteps behind her, and a bridge in front. There are only 2 ways on a bridge however, and the copse beyond it, while seeming like a good hiding spot, also seemed like a good ambush spot. So she did something very unpredictable and risky. Instead of running across the bridge, she silently and swiftly sprinted sideways, hoping to be far away by the time the trolls caught up or figured out what had happened. She'd cross the river later through the water if she had to.

This seemed like a whole invasion of privacy, Carsyn wasn't going to lie here as she followed along though the Professor's memory, wide-eyed. Apparently even her professors had moments of being young and stupid, which was what she learned if she was being honest with herself. Everyone had stupid moments where they didn't act as they should.

But moving on to the main portion of the lesson, it seemed she was going to get the opportunity to meet with her own troll. Sort of. In a controlled situation at least. The seventh year stepped forward into her misty cubicle, already not liking the way it made her eyes feel. Also it was kind of reminiscent of a few terms ago with the mist that enveloped Hogwarts and she was feeling some sort of way about this. "Lumos," she whispered, allowing a light to glow from her wand.

Mamie was pretty excited for this practical daydream thing the professor was testing them with. She'd get to show all her great survival skills! Though if she did have to use magic, it would probably be pretty embarrassing. It was only the first week of classes, after all, she'd only learned like one spell. And she didn't think she'd remember it.

But still, she got her wand out as instructed and moved away from the other students. As the mist came and it got dark, she squinted. Did she have a flashlight? Ooh or wasn't there a spell for light? Mamie was trying to think if she had learned or read about a spell for light when she heard footsteps...troll footsteps? She couldn't be sure, but she started sneaking away from the footsteps...trying to be as quiet as she could and looking for a bush to hide behind.

Whatever was making the footsteps, she wanted to see it before it saw her.

Aboli was busy chuckling with her pal JOSHIE, even laughing at Abolina, when Professor Wiliamson had to go and...MAKE A BIG DEAL out of their "DATE". It wasn't a romantic date! Her cheeks turned bright red, and she normally would have retorted, but she was a prefect now! She took this as her warning to shut up.

They HAD been chatting a lot...

So she just shot Josh a look of 'let's talk later' and rubbed her burning cheeks. Merlin's pants...would everyone think her and Josh were a THING now? Was Fiona here? She hoped not because she did not want her friend to think she liked Josh like that because she DIDNDDDDNDNDNT.

But soon the mist was enveloping them, and she clutched her wand tightly in her pocket, careful not to pull it out in case any troll strolled along and found her threatening IMMEDIATELY.

Her ears twitched.

There was LOUD thudding...Aboli turned to look in that direction, her adrenaline pumping, but she was...frozen...too frazzled, still, from feeling embarrassed.

Also, she knew this wasn't real, so her heart wasn't ALL the way in it.

Unfortunately for this Ravenclaw, the daydream had bounds. It had to; there were too many kids and a finite amount of space for them to run around in.

As the girl sprinted to the side, a large, unseen force pushed her back, picking her up off the ground and literally throwing her back to the centre. It was a bit like running headlong into a forcefield, wasn't it?

Try again.

Casting the spell was a good move for the Prefect, because at least now she could see the reflections of a several shiny eyes, was it, lurking in the water beneath the bridge.

Something was there, waiting for her. Meanwhile, the thuds grew closer, coming in from behind now even as a second set of thuds joined from the copse.

And what could be so large as to shake all the trees across the bridge, enough to set a murder of crows off and flying straight toward her?

Yikes.

Fortunately, as this was Care of Magical Creatures and not Defense Against the Dark Arts, wands were not necessary for most classes, and even defenseless first years would find themselves facing an opponent that was at their just-right level.

There were no bushes around, but there was something long, shiny and reflective on the middle of the bridge, catching the last few rays of light. Perhaps someone should go investigate? From here, it almost looked like... unicorn hair?

The thuds continued, with more coming in from where she was facing now even as a second set of thuds joined from the copse.

And what could be so large as to shake all the trees across the bridge, enough to set a murder of crows off and flying straight toward her back?

Big yikes.

Ugh. A force-field? These simulations were so unimaginative. Guess she had to go onto the bridge. She stepped silently onto the bridge, knowing full well that she was going to get surrounded by trolls. In real life, she would never be this dumb. She sighed. She supposed that she couldn't jump off the bridge either. Seriously, this was lame. This was like, the worst possible thing to do. But she had a plan. She walked quickly across the bridge, waiting for some trolls to pop out so that she could put her plan in motion. She took off her sweater and put it under her arm. Then she dug around in her pockets. She found her wand and her markers, but kept her hands in her pockets. Bring it on, trolls, she thought grumpily to herself.

Thank goodness the troll adventure was over and the professor had escaped unscathed. Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for his loafers. Now as W3 explained their next activity, Naya became a little anxious. Yes it was just a daydream, but having a pretend experience with a troll could still be a little......unpleasant.

No sooner had he explained the situation, then they were in the scene. It was hard to see, but Naya could hear footsteps.......very heavy footsteps. The troll was coming. It had been easy to question the professor’s choices, but being in the same situation made all smart thoughts go out the window. Even though they shouldn’t use magic, Naya had her wand out. She had to be ready for anything, just in case. She began talking softly to herself. ”Don’t panic. Think. Think.”

Well, look at that. The simulation was doing its job.

So far, though, the bridge and the water beneath it remained quiet. All was calm, with not so much as a ripple through the water. There was, however, a creepy giggle echoing from beneath the bridge.

Didn't the first year want to take a look? "Gotchuuuuuuu!" a little voice called out intriguingly, playfully.

Meanwhile, from the copse of trees, a MASSIVE boulder came flying out, landing heavily on the end of the bridge and blocking her path. In fact, it was so massive that the weight of it started to break through the end of the bridge that was connecting it to the ground...

Uh oh.

Did the footsteps belong to a troll? Think again.

Something was making the ground shake with its footsteps. And another something was growing louder... something like the sound of a thousand footsteps, with yells, grunts, and screams accompanying it...

Suddenly, a tribe of what must have been nearly 200 trolls came stampeding out of the forest on the far side of the bridge. Their eyes were white with fear as they jockeyed and shoved each other and all-out ran across the bridge, four abreast, with more falling into the water and even more streaming out of the forest all the time.

What were they running from, and what was Naya going to do about it before they stampeded over her too??!?!

She gave Mr. Williamson a pleased smile. Her answer was basically the same as Valencia's and she had said it first so. What did Mr. Williamson have against hugging? Maybe he was hug deprived and talking about hugs made him jealous. She wondered this as she looked at him for the next few minutes. It was a mystery she would get to the bottom of before the end of the year. Maybe she'd give him a hug just to change his mind about it.

As for the activity, it sounded fun. But also sounded scary and Kiz glanced over to Emmerson with a look of worry. What if the trolls were horrible and tried to eat them? Could that happen in a daydream charm? She had lots of questions. But the MOST important question is, WHY DID THEY HAVE TO GO ALONE?! Kinsay didn't want to go into the daydream by herself. She wanted to go with Emm!!! AND Professor Williamson said that they needed the buddy system. Emm was her buddy.

So she gave Mr. Williamson a big ol' frown and held onto Emmerson's hand tight. Maybe if she held tight enough, the day dream would take BOTH of them to the same troll. It was a genius plan and she was going to try it out. But then everything went misty and all the sudden Kiz was on HIGH ALERT.

Um.

She looked around with eyes WIDE. Where were the noises coming from? Was it a troll? Could she test out her hug theory?

Ahhh! The bridge was breaking! And despite the playful voice from under the bridge, Ashley was NOT interested in seeing what was down there. She retrieved her hands from her pockets and grabbed onto the side of the bridge, hanging on for dear life. If all else failed she could climb. She dropped a purple marker into the water below. Whatever was down there was weird. It didn't sound much like a troll. But maybe it would still like markers. She still said nothing.

Only use magic as a last resort, huh? She had heard that one before. At least Williamson gave them the opportunity if they needed it, instead of banning it outright like Trent's kelpie lesson last term some professors. Nevertheless, Avalon made sure her wand was gripped tightly in her right hand as the mist enveloped her. She squinted, a bridge coming into view. Was this the same exact bridge from Professor Williamson's memory, or was she just experiencing extreme déjà vu?

Her head whipped around, trying to sense which direction the footsteps were coming from. It seemed like they were getting louder behind her. Great. She needed to make it across. But there could be more trolls underneath the bridge. To confirm her suspicions, she kicked a stray pebble in front of her and watched as it tumbled down to the water. There would surely be some sort of reaction from below if the river was filled with trolls, right?

Using slaps and kicks to get away wasn't really recommended from Professor Williamson's response earlier and they were only allowed to use magic as a last resort. Cole gripped his wand tightly as the mist started to envolpe him. He was not pleased at all about being cut off from his peers. He'd have been much more comfortable facing a troll with a partner.

Cole swallowed hard as the bridge came into view and it got darker with the setting sun and he started hearing thudding footsteps approach from behind him. "Lumos!" he casted in a whisper as he started to run towards the bridge. Trolls couldn't run as fast as humans right?

Without know who or what Scooby-Doo even was, the noise elicited from on Joshua Miller was remarkably similar to the shocked and confused 'ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuoh?' of the character. His head snapped back around to look at Professor Williamson and all across his eyes were a series of war flashbacks to previous miscommunications with the ladies. He was certain, and he said this with nothing but affection, that he and Aboli had zero chemistry. At least HE felt like they had zero of that kind of chemistry, but what if SHE felt otherwise and this was just the start of another hot mess?! He caught her glance and simply nodded because, well, not much else that could be done about things right now.

"I wasn't...meaning to, professor," he apologized, even if as he said that he knew how the man had heard their conversation and then how his lame excuse probably sounded. Digging holes was one of his forte.

Josh instinctively held his breath as the mist enveloped him...until he realized that that was totally unnecessary and he exhaled before starting to breath like a normal, sane person. First mantra of the moment was that this was all fake and he wasn't actually in any real danger...so he would see how long that reminder lasted him. Sooooo...there were footsteps coming from behind and from what he could see, he had two options. Hide under the bridge or make a straight beeline for it towards those trees. He had confidence in his speed and nimbleness - thank pops for all the Seeker training - so the Gryffindor took off at a hard sprint towards the COPSE.

When the footsteps got louder and Naya saw the panicked trolls heading toward her, the fight or flight kicked in. There was something coming, something that frightened the trolls. There was no way that could be good. Naya began to run, calling on all of her track and field training to get to the other side of the bridge before being trampled........or worse. At this point, she really didn’t have time to think.

Running as fast as she could, the Gryffindor headed for the trees in the distance. If she could hide, she might buy herself a few seconds to come up with a plan. She absolutely could not get caught. In the back of her mind, she was wondering what was behind the trolls. Realizing that that was a waste of time, she focused on where she should hide once she got to the trees......if she made it to the trees. No she would make it there. She had to.

This activity was AWESOME! Mostly because Cecelia got the chance to interact with a troll and not DIE, which was the goal always, but not always promised at Hogwarts. Ahem. This school was wiiiiild! Anywhoo, the blonde was feeling good and ready when the mist started to close in around her, causing her to feel a little disoriented at first. She held her hands out in front of her, taking a few tentative steps forward as the scenery started to come into focus. Hey, she knew this bridge! She also kind of knew what she’d find when she approached it, and her mind was saying STAY AWAY, but her gut was all YOLO, and the heavy footsteps behind her ultimately had her hurrying towards it.

She was tippy-toe creeping, trying to be stealth so that she didn’t alert any trolls around to her arrival. Thing was, she didn’t have many hide-y hole options to take advantage of if one did pop up, so she simply paused at the foot of the bridge, positioning herself so that she could look backwards and forewards easily so she’d see any trolls coming her way. She did reach for her wand, but she wasn’t using it yet, no worries WWW. She just liked the security of it in her closed fist.

Claudine eyed Williamson, suspicion written clearly on her face. Excuseee him. She was not easy to trick, if that’s what he meant. Anyway, they were moving on now. Claudine stepped into the line that was forming, taking a spot beside Aboli. Well, not exactly beside because you know… they had to spread out. But her Dragon Heartstring wand was clasped in her right hand.

Thank Merlin this wasn’t a group or partnering up activity. Claudine worked best on her own. Right. Care for the trolls; be gentle with them. She could do this, she decided and waited for the Daydream Charm to kick in.

The fourth year watched as the mist came slowly but surely swarming up to her and the others but soon, she forgot about the others. One reason was that they couldn’t now be seen, anyway. The next was that the pounding footsteps took her attention completely. More things happened: the sun went and a bridge appeared. Immediately Claudine was reminded of Williamson’s memory. It was not the right time to think of that as the footsteps grew louder and ever so threatening.

The girl rushed for the bridge.

Mamie was pretty sure she had looked all around, and while it was hard to be certain due to the mist and the looming darkness, she did not see anywhere good to hide. She would keep looking though! She saw something glimmer out of the corner of her eye and whirled around, wand ready for what? Luckily, it wasn't a giant monster. There was something on the bridge.

Mamie took a few steps closer to the bridge, trying to see what it was. It was long and shiny...maybe a sword? She sure hoped so, this whole being-chased-in-the-dark thing was terrifying and a sword would help her protect herself. She started walking...no, running toward the bridge to go find out what it was.

Uh-oh.

The sounds continued. In fact, they were either getting louder, there were more them, OR both of those things were happening. She still didn't move, though, even as the crows migrated to behind her. The hair on her arms stood up, and her previous non-worries about this since it was a simulation disappeared because IT FELT REAL ALL OF THE SUDDEN.

It's not real..it's not real..

She pulled one hand out of her pocket, her left one, and stayed in place. She didn't know why she didn't want to cross the bridge, but it seemed stupid to start moving quickly and suddenly...maybe if she stayed still, she wouldn't be seen *eyes emoji*

What? Professor Williamson thought his answer was well said. Well, that was a pleasant surprise! Heath didn’t think it was that eloquent himself, but he accepted the praise with a small appreciative nod. The more the professor talked, the more curious Heath was about where this was going next. Obviously they weren’t taking on a real troll - too dangerous, and even so, how would Williamson get one here? Maybe they were using dummies charmed to behave like trolls? He had no idea but nevertheless followed the directions to stand spread out in a line with his wand drawn. Oh, a daydream charm? Okay, that made sense!

Heath surveyed his surrounding as the daydream began, or as much as he was able to with that thick mist. So there was a bridge, a copse on the other side, and… what was that thudding? Should he try casting Lumos? The spell would help him see, but it might also draw unnecessary attention to him. He decided to go for it; if he saw the trolls coming, he could better prepare for the encounter. “Lumos,” he cast, keeping his voice as low as possible.

Heath directed the light from his wand at the ground as he continued on his way to the bridge. He was careful to keep his movements quiet and deliberate, his eyes darting in all directions. Unlike the young man in the memory, he would not let his guard down! As he approached the bridge, he assessed the situation. He could try to run across the bridge, but there could be trolls waiting to ambush him if he did, either under the bridge or hiding in the copse on the other side. From his place, he tried to peer under the bridge in search of trolls.

Regardless of how hard they were clinging to each other, the mist ended up separating the girls. For this one, a unique scenario began to take shape.

She was standing on one side of the bridge. On the other, a group of three trolls came ambling out of the forest, and didn't immediately notice her on the other side of the bridge. In fact... they began to sit down, with one fluffing out a piece of cloth, and the other turning over a bag full of ears and legs and other roasted meats. It was hard to tell from which animal these meats came, but it looked a feast nonetheless.

The third troll, the smallest one, appeared to be dragging a stuffed dragon toy by the tail, and plopped down on the picnic cloth to begin tearing into a haunch of meat.

Could she test out her hug theory? Or... should she?

Nothing happened to the marker; a few ripples released from the water, but the voice didn't sound again.

Instead, the bridge began to groan and break away from the rock. It was sinking already! This was the perfect time for the young giggling troll to make its appearance, as it scrambled up the end of the bridge that was still in tact with the land.

"HAHA!" the troll screamed with glee, starting forward for the first year, and showing all of its rotten teeth in joyous anticipation of eating her.

The water remained still, with nothing more unsual than a few ripples coming from the pebble. It didn't make it very far though, so perhaps there were still trolls under the bridge.

The footsteps came closer, and was there something shiny sparkling and bouncing light off it on the middle of the bridge? It couldn't hurt to check, could it?

Trolls could actually run faster than humans, and that was in fact what happened the minute the boy's feet hit the bridge. Four heavy, hairy purple hands came snaking up from either side of the footbridge. Both sets grabbed Cole's ankles as the trolls used them like anchors to swing themselves up from under the bridge.

One hairy horned river trolls let go of his ankle and snarled in his face. The other continued holding onto the ankles and began licking Cole's leg. Had to have a taste of the lad, didn't he?

This time, the trolls waited until their victim had nearly finished his sprint before they made their move. A horde of hairy purple river trolls popped out from the COPSE, some pushing a massive boulder, and some snarling in Josh's face. They were effectively blocking his pathway forward into the freedom of the trees.

Four more appeared on the bridge behind him, swinging themselves up from under the bridge and making a formidable (and stinky) barrier. They crossed their arms and started grunting, as though discussing amongst themselves how many of them the boy could feed.

He was caught between a rock and a hard place, wasn't he?

The girl was a quick sprinter, but one of the trolls was quicker. A young one caught up to her, and without really thinking (as this isn't a strong suit of any trolls ever) elbowed past her. Another one did the same, until three or four trolls were elbowing Naya and pushing her off the bridge and into the water.

She'd be hitting the river in three seconds unless she thought of a good way to cushion her landing...

No trolls were in sight yet, but what was that smell coming from beneath the bridge? It almost smelled like... rotten eggs?

And shh! If Cecelia were listening carefully, she might hear a sound like the crackling and popping of a fire... perhaps she should peek beneath the bridge, to see if someone ELSE had found a hidey hole?

And, indeed, the professor's warnings were correct about tricking kids. As the girl stepped onto the bridge, she set off a booby trap of sorts, for there was a net there just waiting for someone to step on it. The trolls hanging off either side of the bridge pulled the strings on the net tight, cinching Claudine inside as they cackled with glee.

It was almost too easy, sometimes.

The bit of unicorn hair belonged to the magestic creature grazing on the far side of the bridge, near the copse. And now that the girl was halfway across the bridge, surely she could see it too? The glow of the magestic unicorn practically lit up the trees. It did not, however, help with the troll that was lurking on the underside of the bridge.

The minute the girl neared the unicorn hair, the troll (one with long, scraggly hair itself) swung up and grabbed onto her wrist. "HURHRUHRURHUR!!!!!!!!!" the ugly, stinky thing leered in her face.

Something was now making the ground shake with its footsteps. And another something was growing louder... something like the sound of a thousand footsteps, with yells, grunts, and screams accompanying it...

Suddenly, a tribe of what must have been nearly 200 trolls came stampeding out of the forest on the far side of the bridge, the same forest the crows had just flown out of. Their eyes were white with fear as they jockeyed and shoved each other and all-out ran across the bridge, four abreast, with more falling into the water and even more streaming out of the forest all the time.

The stampeded was crossing the bridge now, heading straight for the Slytherin prefect. She was up against a wall (literally, the bounds of the daydream). What could she do to avoid being stampeded?!

This was a wise move by the Ravenclaw, as he was in fact the first student to learn from the professor's mistakes.

A creepy little giggle echoed from beneath the bridge even as the light from the boy's wand hit the face of an infant troll playing with a dollie.

"HERRRRRRRRROW!" the troll's little voice called out intriguingly, playfully, as it crawled out from the bank where it had been hiding. It ran up to Heath and tagged him on the arm, smearing mud all over him and dropping the dollie at his feet. "CURDUR HEDER HEEHEHEHUR?"

The baby troll took off across the bridge, pausing halfway to see if Heath was following.

Oh no! She was stuck next to a creepy troll baby. She pulled out some markers and some muggle candy. Afraid to talk, She just made a hopeful face that said, Here! Friend! For you! Don't eat me!

Not.real.not.real.not.real-----

FLIPPIN' REAL!!!!!!

Aboli SCREAMED bloody murder as the horde of 'em all swarmed from the forest. She had no time to THINK. She just RAN in the opposite direction of them, attempting to get across the bridge before she could do much else. She was NOT a strong runner, but it was funny what fear could make you capable of. The trolls were bigger than she was, though, and could obviously cover more ground than she could. She pointed her wand at the sky and cried, "VERMILLIOUS TRIAAAAAA!" as she ran. Red sparks shot from the end of her wand, and she repeated herself, shooting all the red sparks she could HIGH HIGH into the air.

She was hoping the trolls would be distracted, and she could safely veer out of their way AND attention. She did NOT want to attack them - hadn't Professor W said something about that right before this daydream charm started? What other spells did she know that would cause distractions? Birds? Could she conjure BIRDS?

"AVIS!"

Birds shot upward, one of them lagging behind because it was a NEWT level spell after all, and Aboli had only just started on the NEWT level journey as a sixth year. She was not inept, just inexperienced with the spell. The sound of the spell, too! It was LOUD and had made her heart nearly leap from her chest.

Her legs were on the move still, though. No time to turn around and see if they stopped!

A L O N E??

Like...not together....as in....without holding onto Kizzy's hand the entire time and making little comments and snickering and giggling about the professor letting himself go??

No thanks, that's how people got hurt, even if it WAS just a daydream. Emm stood there, not sure what to do given her unimpressive repertoire of like....two spells. The heavy footsteps caused her to turn in the direction of the noise and of course her wand was out like instructed but if what she thought was coming was what was really coming, this would end in a very different way.

The Professor had nothing to worry about with casting offensive spells. Kid knew how to produce water and levitate feathers. The end.

"Stay away!" Emm called, before giving it a little more thought. "U-Unless you're a baby troll. Then it's okay!"

Mamie was so excited as she reached the bridge and the shiny thing. But...oh, darn, it wasn't a sword. It was a big of hair. Well, she was here already, so Mamie reached for the hair and felt something grab her wrist. She shrieked, then clapped her free hand over her mouth suddenly as she saw the troll that had grabbed her. She didn't want to offend it--him?--with her shrieking.

She spotted the whitish horse - nay, unicorn - past the troll. Was that where the hair came from? She wondered if the troll had just used the hair as bait...or if it had found it and wanted more hair? She imagined a troll couldn't get very close to a unicorn, with its smell.

Not knowing what else to do, she gestured wildly at the unicorn with her free hand, trying to get the troll to look at it. "Hehhhreeeehgrrruhh," she grumbled loudly. Maybe that meant something in troll?

Kinsay GASPED.

It was a troll family! And they were having a PICNIC! Sometimes her family had picnics! Trolls! They're just like us!

Two thoughts had immediately come to mind. Thought a) prove to Mr. Williamson that hugging a troll would create a bond of friendship and help keep you from getting eaten AND thought b) she couldn't interrupt their family picnic! So instead of doing either thing, Kizzy just watched with delight! Actually, no, she wanted to get a closer look. Just a LITTLE closer. She was good at sneaking, so she tried to inch forward as QUIETLY as possible. Tip toes, quiet. Just to see the family. The baby troll had a toy dragon too! It was just like Artemis!

She loved them.