Hearing Carton's praise towards himself and Jude, Evan turned to smile at his Head of House and gave a small nod of thanks, before shooting Jude a small thumbs up as well. He was going to go back to practice with the nets as well, but they were moving on to another spell and about ready to head into the maze. Evan took a few minutes to practice the second spell, muttering "VIN-e-A FUN-i-cul-US" a few times to get the pronunciation down. Due to not having to associate for size requirements, he felt far more confident going into this one and was able to do it by the second attempt.

A bit pleased with himself, he then turned to survey to see if anyone wanted to team up for the activity. He spotted Jude first over with Bella, and he started to move to ask them if he could join them as well, but then out of the corner of his eye he spotted Ash practicing the spell for.. a lot longer than what he assumed she really needed to. A split second later, his feet had changed course and moved towards his fellow 'claw. "Want to team up and tackle it together?" They could go just them, or if she wanted a larger group for safety in numbers and what not that was always an option. "Two fifth year Ravenclaws. We can take it as a friendly OWL practice competition." A small smile.

Transfiguration was one of Arlo’s favourite classes. It was one of those subjects that he actually stayed engaged with when his grandparents used to teach him. Mostly because it was practical, he could actually do things rather than sit around stifling a yawn and pretending that he was listening to whatever babble was coming out of his grandma’s mouth. It was for that reason that Arlo had completed the practice without much trouble and only a few attempts.

Onto the vines alongside the outside of the maze that they could practice on. “Vinea Funiculus” he spoke clearly, pointing his wand directly at a vine, somewhat distracted by a fellow student who was practicing nearby him.

Nothing.

Perhaps he wasn’t focused enough, his mind could wander sometimes even if he was trying to listen. So he tried again, this time without any distractions. To his relief the vine transformed into a harmless rope. Not that he was scared of vines anyway, they were just plants after all.

Now for the main activity and everyone seemed to be splitting off into groups of pairs with their familiars. Arlo however had remained at the back of the group by himself. It wasn’t that he was lazy or unfriendly or unsociable, it was more because he wasn’t familiar enough with the majority of his fellow students to ask to join another group. He hovered around the entrance of the maze waiting for a group to go ahead of him so he could have a little space. He wasn’t scared of getting lost in a maze by himself, should’ve been a Gryffindor!

Ash did not want to team up and tackle it together. She wanted to team up to stop from the professors from making them do horribly stressful things. But on the other hand, you always had to be there for your best friends. But on the third hand, best friends stopped each other from doing bad stuff. Entering a maze with vines and creepy thingys counts. Mazes were literally made for you to lose your way and die! Just look at the labyrinth.

But Evan was serious, and she didn't want to abandon her friend. "I guess... I'll go in if you go in."

Ash took like one step towards the maze and completely tensed up. Could she change her mind? She changed her mind. "I don't want to go in yet. Carton can't expect us to go in there without him." If it was so safe, then the professor should have no problem entering. Ash raised her hand to get the professor. "Are you coming in too?" She wasn't going to be tricked this time.

Violet came up behind Ash and Evan. She'd been reluctant to interfere between two, as she sensed something might be going on there that would not welcome a third party, but then she noticed Ashley was starting to move toward her freaking out mode and decided to intervene. "Mind if I join you two?" she offered, looking over at Evan and hoping he wasn't going to be annoyed.

Turning back to Ashley, she lowered her voice and muttered, "Come on, the professor can't go with everyone and, like he said, it's not real. Might as well get used to dealing with scary things in school instead of waiting till they happen in real life." Raising her voice a little, she added, "I'll go first if you both don't mind. Too bad they didn't teach us this vines spell last year, eh?"

Delilah was getting pretty good at doing the wand movement and incantation separately and thought she may be able to cast a better net, when bam--on to the next spell! Whaaaaat? There was a second spell, and she'd barely managed anything with the first one? Mmkay, consider her the worst possible candidate to battle a mysterious hedge.

Vinea Funiculus. The wand movement literally couldn't be any easier, but the incantation was a mouth full. So was it time to practice some more, or was it time for the maze? Or both?! Why did she suddenly get the impression that she'd need red sparks more than anything in this maze?

HELP.

She needed to find a partner first. Practicing could wait, but if she went in there alone, all the practicing in the world wouldn't matter. "Anybody want to partner up?" she asked.

With an eye roll and a small sigh Bella explained to Jude. "I didn't mean to sneeze mid spell. It just started to itch." Her sneeze had unfortunatley not gone unnoticed by Professor Carton either. Could she hide behind Jude in embarrassment? "Thanks, professor Carton! I will..." Bella murmured back. Merlin, could they move on? Taking a new grip on her wand, she aimed it at the wooden rabbit as she jabbed at the air and said firmly "Incarcolvo!" This time the net conjured itself beautifully around the whole rabbit, as a little comfort after her earlier sneeze miss.

Next was the ropes to vines spell, which seemed nifty for climbing over obstacles in a maze. Bella started to practice right away. "Vinea Funiculus, Vinea Funiculus!" before she heard Jude's question for partnering up. "Yes Judes, I want to be partners!" Bella called as she headed over to Jude to step into the maze alongside him. "Shall we tag team? Like you cast the vinea spells and I do the carcolvo ones? Or have you got a better idea?"

SPOILER!!: Prompt #1 for all students

As you enter the maze, the path forks into three directions up ahead. The left path is winding and bumpy, and the faint sound of something rustling can be heard. The path ahead is straight and narrow. Should you choose to continue on this path, you’ll notice the light gradually dimming. The right path is on a slippery downward slope. Best mind your step if you choose this path!

Norman considered Nam’s question for a moment. It was a valid point, but there was a reason why he’d asked the students not to ensnare each other. It would take time for the students to untangle themselves from the nets, which would be better spent practicing the spell. “It could be,” he conceded. “Sounds like an experiment to conduct on your own time, Miss Nam.”

As he watched the students practicing and dividing into groups, he saw Fox’s hand in the air. He turned and saw Blackthorne mutter something to Fox, but he couldn’t make out what she said. His discerning blue-green eyes lingered on Fox for a moment. He could somewhat understand her worry - that girl had been through true horrors nobody should ever have to face! But at the same time, she’d never learn how to combat the maze obstacles if he were following every step of the way.

“What would it accomplish if I did?” he asked. There was no hint of a reprimand to his tone; it was an honest question. Depending on her answer, he might meet her halfway.

OOC: Please indicate which path your character/group is taking (Left, right, or straight) in the title of your post. You still have 36-40 HOURS!

Jude got the vibe that Bella was possibly sensitive to her sneezing and decided that he wouldn’t tease her again about it or anything else. He had only been trying to make her feel better about the situation. The important thing was that she had agreed to come along with him into the maze. And that nickname she had given him? It was growing on him. “Tag teaming sounds like a brilliant strategy.” Perhaps she had realised that he’d had a difficult time with the first spell.

In the maze now, Jude glanced over his shoulder and was washed over immediately by a huge wave of disappointment. He’d hoped that Evan would have followed him. Turning to face forward once more, he sighed softly. For the first time ever, a thought crossed his mind: were he and Evan drifting apart because of everything? It obviously was not a good thought and it disturbed him a lot more than he was ever going to let anyone know.

The Hufflepuff didn’t even bother pausing in his steps to consider which direction he should take next. The sound of rustling was heard from the left, and that’s where he headed.

Delilah sort of followed a random assortment of students to the opening of the maze. There was still time to find a a partner. Hopefully. Her eyes scanned the crowd for someone who looked like they were by themselves. She preferred an older student, but at this point, anybody would do. She still didn't want to go in all alone, but that looked like what was about to happen.

...and she had mastered how many of the spells? Zero? Yeah...

Before she knew it, she had completely entered the maze. Uhhh... She had NOT meant to do that just yet, but here she was. Her widened eyes looked at all three options. She didn't like that rustling sound coming from the left, and the ride down on the right just looked like a good way to hurt herself before anything ever popped out to challenge her. But that middle path...darkness?

She drew in a deep breath and headed forward. Sure, she hadn't mastered any of the spells earlier, but she definitely knew how to emit light from her wand.

Karleigh was having a difficult time with the net-conjuring spell, but she had difficulty with conjuration in general. It was of course a more difficult branch of Transfiguration, but that fact made it no less frustrating for the fifth year. OWLs would be in a matter of months so she really needed to get good and fast.

But she was pleased when Professor Carton said that the next spell wouldn't be quite as difficult. She really needed that confidence boost right now, so hopefully she had better luck with the vine to rope transformation. She spent a few moments practicing the wand movement and incantation, trying the spell on some of the outside vines. And on her third try, she was pleased to create a rope from the vines.

But by the time she was finished and satisfied with her practice, Karleigh looked around and noticed that a lot of the people she knew had already paired up and were heading inside. Of course they were. That fit in perfect with how things were going lately. But maybe she shouldn't let that get her down and turn this into an opportunity to make a new friend.

She looked around for someone her age who appeared partner-less, but her eyes soon fell on a younger girl in her house (Delilah) who was all alone and heading into the maze by herself. Karleigh did not like to be alone herself and didn't want someone younger to feel that way either, especially when she might not know many spells as a first year.

"Hey!" she whispered loudly, trying not to startle the girl, as she followed her down the center path. "Do you want to work together?"

Hearing Ash agree to go in, Evan gave her a small smile before starting forward as well. When she paused, however he halted as well and turned towards her, a questioning tilt to his head. Glancing back at the maze at her words, he considered it before giving his shoulders a small shrug. "Carton has been one of the good ones. I imagine the reason he isn't going in too is because he has a better vantage point of the maze from out here in case someone gets scared and needs him." But then she was asking if the Professor would be going in too, and he shushed himself. He briefly considered going in ahead but didn't want to leave her, so he'd wait as well.

Violet approached as well and inquired about going with them, and Evan gave another small half smile and a nod of his head, "Please do.". He had zero issues with that, another team mate would be helpful, and Violet was intelligent.

Pleased that her presence was accepted, Violet stood in the entrance to the maze and stared down it to where it branched into three paths. Hmmm....a path with something rustling around, a path where it was getting darker, and a path which sloped downward. Obviously issues with them all, but...

"Okay, let's go," she said with more confidence than she felt. "I say we go left--I'd rather be able to hear whatever is coming than for it to be hidden in the dark, or to come down upon it unwares." She looked back at the other two. "What do you guys think?"

Violet let her gaze rest firmly upon Ashley, willing the other girl to agree to come with them.

Delilah jumped just a little when the older girl gave a loud whisper. It wasn't too much of a jump, because she had tried to train herself not to be too startled by things. She didn't think she'd be a very good witch at all if she was always startled by the unexpected. Her face relaxed and showed a sign of relief when she realized the older girl was asking to partner up. She tried not to be too happy about not being alone after all, but her reply came out more of a "YES!" than she expected. "Sorry. Sorry. I'm a little nervous, but yes. Please," she said.

"Karleigh, right?" she said, her voice lowered to almost a whisper. "I'm Delilah...just in case you didn't know that yet." They were in the same house, so maybe? On that note, she didn't say anything else. She really didn't know what to do, really. Or say.

SPOILER!!: Left path

As you venture farther down the path, the rustling gets louder. The source of the noise soon comes into view: a rushing river. A branch hangs over the river with several long vines dangling down within arms’ reach. How will you proceed?

SPOILER!!: straight path

A large object looms ahead, casting a shadow that envelops the path in darkness. Upon closer inspection, you’ll notice that the object in question turns out to be a boulder completely blocking the way. The boulder is wrapped in vines. What can you do to move it?

Norman caught Nam’s words and gave him a slight appreciative nod. Smart boy, that one! That was exactly why he’d intended to stay outside the maze. He was still waiting for Fox’s answer to his question, but he couldn’t wait too long.

His attention was quickly diverted by the students heading into the maze. His blue-green eyes scanned the top of the maze in search of red sparks in the air, but there were none to be seen. So far, so good!

OOC: You still have ABOUT 12ish HOURS. Please continue to title your post with the path your character is on. If you’re just jumping in, feel free to use the above prompts should your character choose the left or straight path.

Ash tilted her head at Professor Carton. "Please? Just like, walk into the maze and then walk back out in like 30 seconds. So I know I can go in and it's safe." He basically couldn't refuse. Because! If her fear was so irrational, then there was no reason why the professor couldn't come in for less than a minute. Apparently, it was perfectly safe. "Please? If you can go in, I can do the whole thing." There were vines in there. And maybe small animals about to be murdered. And other scary things. It was a MAZE. "Please?" Please please please. She was not a baby and she was definitely not overreacting!

...............................................

"Just because it's school doesn't mean it's not real life," Ash pointed out. Reasonably. Nearly every horror she had experienced had happened in this school. "I guess we can go left." (mostly because Ash wanted Violet to stop staring at her). "If Professor Carton comes to the entrance with us." Ash stared at Carton with a look of defiance(Well, she TRIED to, it mostly came out as genuine fear). She wasn't crazy. Nobody thought so, right? Mazes were bad. Ash looked at Evan out of the corner of her eye. He didn't think she was crazy, right? This was rational. The last time they went in a maze, something died.

Ash walked towards the maze. Look! She was participating and stuff!!! She was doing what people wanted. Now it was Carton's turn. Please.

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat

SPOILER!!: Evan & Violet & Professor

Ash tilted her head at Professor Carton. "Please? Just like, walk into the maze and then walk back out in like 30 seconds. So I know I can go in and it's safe." He basically couldn't refuse. Because! If her fear was so irrational, then there was no reason why the professor couldn't come in for less than a minute. Apparently, it was perfectly safe. "Please? If you can go in, I can do the whole thing." There were vines in there. And maybe small animals about to be murdered. And other scary things. It was a MAZE. "Please?" Please please please. She was not a baby and she was definitely not overreacting!

...............................................

"Just because it's school doesn't mean it's not real life," Ash pointed out. Reasonably. Nearly every horror she had experienced had happened in this school. "I guess we can go left." (mostly because Ash wanted Violet to stop staring at her). "If Professor Carton comes to the entrance with us." Ash stared at Carton with a look of defiance(Well, she TRIED to, it mostly came out as genuine fear). She wasn't crazy. Nobody thought so, right? Mazes were bad. Ash looked at Evan out of the corner of her eye. He didn't think she was crazy, right? This was rational. The last time they went in a maze, something died.

Ash walked towards the maze. Look! She was participating and stuff!!! She was doing what people wanted. Now it was Carton's turn. Please.

Norman studied Fox’s face with an unreadable look in his eye. He could understand her fear to some extent, and it wasn’t a completely unreasonable request. He gave her a barely perceptible nod. “I’ll go in as far as the fork in the path. You’ll have to make your own way from there.”

That was the best compromise he could offer. He would do what he could to ease her (and any other student’s) fears, but he would not accompany her all the way through the maze. How would she learn if he did?

He walked alongside Fox’s group toward the maze and ventured inside, stopping at the point where the path forked into three directions. He stood to one side so as not to block the paths for any stragglers, completely unharmed and unbothered. See? Nothing to worry about!

Evan did not in fact think Ash was crazy. They'd all endured a lot, and the need to be cautious was from a long history of different traumas. And while he had his own demons, he certainly knew she had others of entirely different sorts he could never understand. Their experiences were different, and while maybe he personally did not feel what she was currently feeling, that didn't mean he couldn't respect it and be supportive of what her needs were. Even if his inner Ravenclaw was shouting at him to just get on with the task.

Turning towards Violet, he gave a nod of his head in agreement with her words. "I think that sounds like a good plan." He also didn't really mind what path they chose, willing to take on whatever they were comfortable with.

Once Ash proceeded in, with Carton agreeing to accompany them as well, Evan stepped forward and followed along. They'd already decided on left, so that was the direction he started his feet towards, trying to keep some distance between himself and Bella and Jude ahead so as not to disturb them. Soon enough, a river was spotted, which certainly explained the sounds from before. He could see no way in which a net would be helpful in this moment, so the other spell it would have to be.

... If only he wasn't now blanking on the incantation. He turned back towards the girls. "I think our best bet is to try to swing from these vines and use the second spell to create some on the other side that we could swing to." In a very Tarzan-esque type fashion. "What do you think?"

Now that they were actually down the path, and making their way further in, the continuous and now louder rustling was enough to get him to start paying attention. “Hear that?” Jude asked Bella rhetorically. Of course she did; it was sort of difficult not to. Knowing that they weren’t in any form of danger, the Hufflepuff did not bother holding his wand at the ready. In any case, he didn’t really feel like having a go at vines and what not at the moment. Not anymore.

Soon, the rushing river came into view. Jude took in the layout. Water and vines, the latter of which were close enough for them to touch. “Are we supposed to swing across from this bank to the other side?” he mused out loud to his partner. But it was clear that they needed to turn the vines into rope. "We should conjure a net slightly above the water just in case we lose our grips on the ropes?

“Vinea Funiculus!” Jude pointed his wand at the closest vine. He suspected that with his current mindframe that was the cause for his failure. He’d just have to try harder, right? “Vinea Funiculus!” One vine to rope. “Vinea Funiculus!” Failure. “Vinea Funiculus!” Failure. “Vinea Funiculus!” Success.

It was in this way that Jude continued until all the vines were transfigured. This was definitely not one of his best work during the class in his four years at Hogwarts.

Edit: center path, sorry I forgot the title

Aiden had maaaaaybe forgotten all about practicing the spell cause he had lost himself playing with one of the wooden rabbits. It was so cute! It was only right before the teacher had told them their practice was done that Aiden had remembered they were supposed to be doing a spell and had tried to get it to work, but it hadn't. None of Aiden's magic had worked yet...

But then it was time to go into the maze, so Aiden had picked up his teddy and made his way inside. He didn't see his room-mates to partner with, lost in the sea of people, and so when the paths split Aiden went forward, hoping to find somebody that would take him with them. He really didn't wanna be alone.

But Aiden had taken the wrong path. Cause the more he stepped and stepped the darker it was getting. It wasn't night-time yet, why was it getting dark?? Did anybody know Aiden was scared of the dark?

He saw something very large ahead and kept walking. Should he turn back...? Maybe he should go back and go the other way....? By the time he bumped into two girls (Delilah and Karleigh), he was clutching Wally the bear for dear life, and let out a small yelp. "Ah!!!"

"Well, maybe we should transform them into ropes first--don't want to take a chance on them breaking, y'know," replied Violet. She also wanted to get rid of the vines as quickly as possible, so no one would have time to get nervous about them. And, pointing her wand at the vines in question, she said firmly, "Vinea Funiculus!" and did just that.

Feeling very pleased with herself, Violet turned back to survey her handiwork and suddenly the smile disappeared from her face. Oh dear, now they had to swing on them, right? Violet was not good at athletics. She really hoped she was not going to wind up in the river (if she did, maybe one of her teammates would remember how to conjure a net and fish her out).

Seeing that Carton was in fact still alive(as everyone apparently expected), Ash followed a little behind Evan and Violet. Hey... was that a river? She was very relieved. Rivers were made of water, and they couldn't attack you. She caught up to her two teammates and quietly listened to them talk while she stared at the rushing water as if she couldn't hear them. She did hear them though... "I'll go first." She still had pretty good upper body strength. Plus, she didn't mind being the test subject for kinda-dangerous things. The worst that could happen was just falling and getting hurt. She wondered if the water was even real, and what would happen if the rope broke over the river vs the solid ground.

Ash grabbed ahold of one of the 'ropes', took a step back, and jumped, letting her body weight do the rest. Let's hope Violet was good at her spellwork.

From his place at the fork in the path, Norman observed the groups’ progress, starting with the left path. Nam, Blackthorne, and Fox had made quick work of the first obstacle. There was no reason to think Blackthorne’s spell wouldn’t hold, but still he had to admire Fox’s bravery in swinging first.

Anders and Connolly’s group was also on the right track with the first obstacle. Although it took a few tries, Anders ultimately succeeded in transfiguring the vines into ropes, and the idea to conjure a net across the river? Genius! Now the pair just had to swing across…

His head turned at the sound of a yelp, and he peered down the center path as far as he could. The progressing darkness prevented him from identifying which student had made the sound, but he recalled seeing Prescott, Creed, and Lockwood head down that path. It had to be one of them, most likely one of the first years. He didn’t see any red sparks in the air, so he wasn’t too concerned yet.

Seeing nobody had taken the right path, Norman turned his attention back to the entrance in case of any stragglers. He glanced at his watch and saw that they were out of time. “Alright, everyone! That’s all for today!” he said for all in the maze to hear. With a wave of his wand, two trails of light appeared down the left and middle paths. “If you get lost, follow the lights out of the maze.”

He allowed a few minutes for the students to make their way back to the entrance before giving the homework. “Your homework is a 1000 word essay on ways we can use transfiguration to alter our environment. Class dismissed!”

OOC: Thanks for coming! I’ll leave the thread open a few more hours for those who want to post their characters leaving.