Frights, Feasts, and Friends ((Cass, and others))

[Jason Blade]

Jason stood in the dungeon with his back against one of the cold, stone walls. The Fright Fest had just begun, and students were already grouped up and filing into the maze. Knowing that each student was required to be in a group of two to five people, Jason watched for a familiar face. With none around, he grabbed a blue headband with horns and put it on his head. Deciding he had better hurry and find someone before there was nobody left outside the maze, he walked up to a girl that he only knew from the occasional passing in the halls between classes. She was standing alone, so he figured she would be a good candidate for a partner.

"Hey," he said with a smile as he walked up to the girl. "You look like you still need a group. If you want, we can pair up since I don't have anybody myself. That's only if you want to though," he added, not wanting to sound rude. "I understand if you are waiting for someone else to go through with you."

[Josephine Bowman S7]

((Well since you said we could post whenever, I couldn't resist getting this up now. Hope none of yall mind.))

Jo continued down the steps into the dungeon and couldn't surprise the look of glee on her face as she looked around at the fear inducing decorations. Of course she didn't really think they were scary decorations, but the whole aspect of it being Halloween and all had left her quite excited and she was ready for a night of screams. She headed over to a table admiring the muggle jack-o-lanterns as she passed. For Halloween she remembered carving pumpkins as a kid, even if she was a pureblood it was still something she did. She quite enjoyed it took. There was nothing better than putting your creative juices into a good pumpkin. Especially when it turned out to be a clown face instead of a scary Frankenstein head like you were going for. She smirked at the memory and turned her attention to the table. She quickly grabbed up a red halo and placed it on her head. She had to go with the halo after all she was innocent. Or at least she said she was. She smirked at her own thought again as she turned back to look around. She hadn't found a group yet and she needed to find one asap so they could get started with the maze.

Jo's eyes fell on one of her dorm mates and a boy next to her. Jo glanced around again and realized Cassandra was the only person she knew and so she started off in that direction. "Hey Cass, mind if I join you," Jo said as she motioned back and forth between her and the boy. "I'm Jo Masters." Jo stuck out her hand for the boy to shake. She knew she had seen him around before, but definitely didn't know who he was or even what house he occupied. She just smiled her large beaming smile and nodded as she played absentmindedly with the halo on her head.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cass wandered down to the Fright Fest activities in a state. With so much going on, she was literally pulling her hair out. Papers, animagi work, and lectures swam around in her thoughts. After several days of badgering, Liam had finally convinced Cass that she needed to take a break. Yawning, Cass entered the room and looked around sleepily. Walking towards a table, she saw an assortment of house colored horns. She pulled a pair of red horns on her head. Cass was going to play the little devil tonight. She had been so good since she had been elected Quidditch captain, but trying to stay on the straight and narrow could be so hard sometimes.

After a few moments, a Ravenclaw walked up to her. "No, no that's fine. I really just decided to come at the last minute. I'm Cass. Cass Blackfire. My boyfriend, Liam, demanded that I do something tonight that didn't involve school work or Quidditch." A minute or two later Jo Masters, one of her dorm mates, walked up to her. Even though the two had shared a room for a little while, the two had never really talked. "Hey Jo. You're more than welcome to join us. The more the merrier." Cass smiled one of her warm smiles . "A halo on your head, Jo? It looks like I'm going to be the little devil tonight."

[Celia Richmond]

Tonight. Tonight was Fright Fest night. So she made her way down to the dungeons, hoping that she could find a group, or at least a partner to go round the maze with. Then there was the party afterwards...it should prove to be a fun night! She walked down the hall, with a smile on her face-never before had something like this happened at Hogwarts-not at her time there, anyway. She had never celebrated Halloween properly at home, before she came her, so it was a highlight of the year.

So arriving at the entrance, she went over to the box, and picked out a blue halo. She was definately more angelic than devilish in her ways, but she did have her moments. So she looked round to see if there was anyone she recognised. She noticed a group of 3-a Ravenclaw boy from the year above her, whom she recognised from their encounter in the grounds a week or two ago as Jason, and two Gryffindor girls from her year-Cassandra and Jo, she noticed as she walked closer.

"Hey guys, how are you all? Looking forward to tonight?" She asked cheerfully. "Anyway, I'm Celia Richmond." She offered her hand to the girls-she recognised them from classes, but didn't know them. "Do you mind if I join you?" She asked, hoping for an affirmative answer.

[Josephine Bowman S7]

Jo smirked at Cassandra's comments. "Yes a halo," she said feigning shock. "I know it's almost unheard of isn't it?" Jo couldn't help the excitement she was feeling. She hadn't planned on going earlier, but had decided that she needed to go. She hadn't gone to the Halloween Ball last time because she had been protesting dances, one of her many odd point of views on life and had been about to do the same this year when she found out just how interesting Fright Fest was. She knew she couldn't sit up in her dorm room doing nothing the whole night, so here she was.

Lost in thought Jo hardly noticed it when another girl joined the trio. The girls voice was the only thing that brought her from her thoughts and she smiled and nodded. "I'm doing well this evening and yourself? I'm Jo Masters. I don't mind if you join," Jo said to the girl. She took the hand offered to her and gave her a firm handshake.

[Charles Driscoll H7]

Halloween had not been an enjoyable occasion till Charles came to Hogwarts – the first 10 celebrations of Halloween, at least the ones he could remember and what he could remember of those had not been something he'd enjoyed at all – he remembered watching his father and his friends from a distance - making snide menacing comments he had never really understood, sharing smiles that made the hair on his back stand up – Halloween had not been a fun celebration, it had been a different sort of celebration for them altogether, and the friends' children that he had been forced to converse with found enjoyment only in scaring the hell out of each other but not in a funny way, he had seen and known and taken a vow never to join in the evil, almost sadistic activities they chose to practise and engage in on Halloween.

But then he'd come to Hogwarts, and Charles' memories had faded, for Charles was never one to dwell long on things long past. The past five years of his life had been more compensation than he could ever have hoped for, for every year the celebration was different and it was always fun, from the start of the activities right to the last moment during which the sumptuous feast prepared was ravenously eaten by all the school students. Last year the costume ball had been a blast, and Charles was sure the Fright Fest would be no less. He had been a little saddened at first to learn that his friends Ivy and Nokomis could not join him in a group, but Charles loved meeting new people. And so he optimistically set out in pursuit of someone he thought he could approach and enter the maze with, looking forward to a night of fun.

Charles picked a yellow halo and set it upon his head, then eyed the crowd of people silently. His eyes fell on a girl with a beaming smile who was talking to a boy who looked a little older than her – he took classes with the girl he knew, but only a few since Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were very rarely put together. The group was joined by two other girls from his year and Charles quickened his step hoping to seize his chance of joining them before they reached the permitted maximum. His natural smile lit up his eyes as he approached the group and turned to the girl he was closest to. "Hello, I'm Charles Driscoll, you may remember me from class. I know you’re Celia, and you’re Jo, aren't you, and Cassandra I know from Quidditch as well as class," he said. He looked at each person as he said their name. Charles' memory for names wasn't bad – he believed their was a moment in which every person should be photographed, probably one they weren't aware of – one where it seemed to him their whole being was in their eyes, and because he was always watching people for that moment he usually knew their names from having observed them. He looked at the boy whose name he didn’t know. "I'm sorry I don’t know your name. If you guys don’t mind I'd really like to join your group," he said.

[Ivy Tunstall]

This wasn't exactly what she'd anticipated when she'd learnt Prefects were obliged to help with the maze. As far as she'd understood it, overlooking proceedings to make sure no bullying went on wasn't exactly the same as being one of the observed. But in all the confusion of last-minute preparations she'd found herself whisked aside and dressed up, and being polite as she was Ivy had only been able to register a feeble enquiry as to whether Prefect helpers really needed to be dressed up this much. Presumably the word 'Prefect' hadn't been heard because she'd received only a rather short-tempered reply from the harassed woman who informed her she'd volunteered for it. Ivy had never been under the impression that she'd volunteered to be a Prefect, but she could hardly have complained any further to the irate woman intent on turning her into something even Ivy hardly recognised as herself. And once all that effort had been expended on her it had been decided it would be better if she did actually participate in the same role as the actual volunteers.

So here she was, dressed as the ghost of a princess. A long burgandy dress had been the original costume, coupled with a sparkling necklace that might or might not have been real (Ivy certainly couldn't tell). Her wavy hair was arranged slightly differently than she'd usually have it - most of it pushed back but then a few bits hanging forward in a way the lady who'd done it evidently felt to be suitably spooky. Ivy had to admit she didn't look like herself, but she wasn't sure she'd looked spooky until she'd had a couple of spells cast on her (having been assured it would wear off in a matter of time and been subjected to them without the time to wonder how long a matter of time). Now she was a pearly hue and somewhat translucent from head to toe, including every hair on her head. Ivy tried not to think of it as having gone prematurely grey. Just to make things a little more unpleasant for the group she was guiding round, another complex spell had turned her body heat into icy cold air, at least to anyone else, although she couldn't feel it herself. It must have been the witch's trademark disguise or something, but Ivy still couldn't help feeling a little unease about how long exactly these spells would last.

It was time to go now. She had to take a group round the first task, which involved sticking their hands in bowls of goo as far as she'd managed to divulge from the hasty education she'd received when the mistake was discovered. She had the advantage of a quick 'Infrunites Poematic Eloquor' to help her with her rhyming, but that just gave her extra misgivings about what she'd manage to rhyme 'Finite Incantatem' with. She wouldn't even have any control over what she said. In fact, she seemed to have lost all control. 'Oh well, here goes.' she thought to herself resignedly as she approached the group, and then did a double take. Charlie? How could she possibly ever make a successful bid of being unrehearsedly spooky while guiding Charlie round? But her mouth was already doing the talking, and Ivy could only wonder for now whether he'd notice it was her, what with his characteristic excitement she was sure he'd have managed to muster, her rather drastically changed appearance and her delivery of ridiculous speeches she would never normally even contemplate.

"Good evening friends. Do step this way, out of the cold light of day." she said, the enticing note in her voice something she wouldn't have been able to add had she thought up the rhymes herself. They left the bright bustling room and descended a little further into the dank darkness of the dungeons before she stopped them, talking to them all in a hushed voice. "Once in this town there lived a man named Hal O. Ween. T'was years ago, on this very night, that he was murdered out of spite. They say these are his remains. I can show you, if you like - but here's the deal: you cannot see, but only feel." This explanation done with, she reached up to a hook on the door for five blindfolds and tied them securely on each member of the group. The door of the room creaked as she opened it and ushered the group to the first bowl. "Here is his brain, which now feels no pain." she said, managing to remember the first 'body part' from the list that she'd spent a good while poring over when she'd discovered her plight. Ivy guided each of their hands into the bowl, pausing a moment while holding Charlie's as she regarded the contents of the bowl dubiously and doubted it would feel all that pleasant for her friend, before dunking it in anyway. That was what she was here for now apparently, and she'd just remembered that prolonged contact with her unnaturally cold hand was probably much more unpleasant.
"Make a guess," she ordered them, "but don't mess it up or you'll stay here to clean it up." Ivy almost laughed at herself after that comment, but no, she had to stay entirely serious even when it sounded like a rhyming version of her mother.

((Hopefully, all of you have read the rules. But just in case, you must all guess the correct thing. Which shouldn't be too hard if you're all in communication with each other. Guess anything that you might think could be used to feel like a brain.))

[Jason Blade]

No sooner had Cass introduced herself and agreed to be partners with Jason in the maze, then another girl came over and introduced herself to Jason as well. "Nice to meet you Jo, I'm Jason," he said, introducing himself to Cass as well in the process. He shook Jo's hand that she held out for him. He simply smiled as the two girls joked back and forth about Jo wearing a halo, as opposed to Cass's red horns.

Moments later, Celia, whom Jason recognized from their encounter a few weeks prior, joined the group. Amid their smiles, Jason sensed some nervousness among the girls. He rather enjoyed the idea of being able to lead three lovely ladies through a scary maze.

His thoughts were ruined, yet not in a completely terrible way, when another boy joined the group. Jason didn't remember him from anywhere, and he politely shook his hand and introduced himself once more, this time for the boy. "I'm Jason Munroe. It's a pleasure to meet you..." he paused, hoping the boy would provide a name in return.

Even if Charles had joined the group, Jason wasn't upset. The girls still outnumbered the boys, so it was all good for him. "Well," he said finally, realizing that their group had reached the maximum limit, "we might as well get this maze started." He hoped that the others would follow him as he led the way to the entrance.

As he walked into the darkened hallway, he turned to make sure that there were red, blue, and yellow headbands close by. He didn't want to move too quickly and get ahead of the group. Assuming the temporary role as the leader, Jason weaved his way through the maze quite successfully for a while, reaching only a few dead-ends that he quickly fixed. He figured it would only get harder though, as this was the beginning.

Before long, they found themselves in a room where some students and others who were dressed up had already assembled. Jason looked around and then saw a girl approach. She looked quite ghost-like, and she ordered them to follow her in a rhymed verse. He kept turning to make sure his group was with him. Jason wasn't always the most observant person, and he would feel like a terrible leader, or simply quite foolish, if he'd lost his group.

After being blindfolded by the ghostly girl, Jason listened to her tell a story about a dead man and then place his hands in a bowl with what was supposed to feel like a brain. He was rather amused with this task, yet he had a feeling that not everyone would enjoy it as much as he. It was fun though, feeling the contents of the bowl and trying to figure out what they really were. "If you ask me," he said, noticing that nobody else in his group was talking, "it feels kind of like a bunch of cooked lasagna noodles all pressed together into a bunch." He wanted to take his blindfold off and make sure that his group really was still there, but he waited instead, hoping that either the girl who led them there or one of his group members would say something.

((Sorry I moved us so quickly. I just figured we should get started before it is too late! ))

[Ivy Tunstall]

Charlie didn't make a guess so Ivy didn't know whether he'd realised it was her or not. She'd tried to avoid his eyes, after all, before she'd blindfolded him. But it made her feel slightly insecure - she didn't know whether she was a stranger right now to her friend or not. She'd rather have known, just so she could be careful not to do anything that would scare him too much. Mind you, that was the point of Halloween. Ivy couldn't really persuade herself one way or another. She didn't know whether Charlie liked being scared - well, not being scared, who did like being scared? - or rather being given a scare. There were still many things she didn't know about him, even though they were close friends. She'd never know everything about her own parents, let alone just her friends. Then again, it was partially positive - there would always be something new to talk about.

Someone had guessed! Ivy back-pedalled furiously in her mind to find the answer he'd given. Her thoughts hadn't taken all that long but she'd probably waited long enough to give quite a lot of dramatic suspense already. But in making her hasty reply she forgot that she was supposed to be making up rhymes, and what came out was truly shameful: "Say 'toodles' to the bunch of noodles." Blushing furiously pearly, she led the group onwards. The next one was supposed to be pretty easy. "Here are his eyes, still frozen with surprise." Ivy told them, peering inside the bowl herself in curiosity to see whether they were literally frozen. She placed each hand in the bowl in turn, and then told them, "Make a guess; I may confess."

((Sorry, my rhyming has gone a little wobbly. Remember that Jason can't guess again until someone else has guessed. )