Open Adding to the Rock Collection

[Hudson Triss]

Takes place near the end of Semester 2 Y50 - please join!

Hudson had yet to make a name for himself in any way this past year. He had been pretty well-behaved and had not even received a detention, unlike at his old school. The Gryffindor wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing, but today, he didn't care if his adventure resulted in a detention - he needed rocks. And he needed good rocks, ones that looked magical or maybe jagged - just something unique. His collection was okay, but he had spent so much time working on school that there were no new rock friends in rock chest.

Hudson made his way down towards the forest after classes. It was still light out, but as the trees loomed over him near the entrance of the forest, it became a little darker. He wasn't scared - not at all. His heart was just beating fast for no reason. Hudson looked around where it was still light enough to see and started searching for rocks of any size, but still small enough for him to lug back up to the castle. "Ahhhh!" he exclaimed loudly, finding a reddish brown rock with flecks of silver embeded in the side. This seemed like a good one.

 

[Eris Athanasiou]

Eris had been to the forest more times than any first year probably should have been. However not to toot her own horn she'd yet to be caught and having discovered herself to be quite adventurer and thrill seeker she found herself following the wind to the forest yet again. For a place so full of trees the wind sure seemed to blow through the thickness of them with ease all the time. The Slytherin was fascinated with it and who was she to deny the call of her oldest friend?

Minding her steps the brunette listened to the wind, it was taking her further out into the forest when she suddenly jerked at the sound piercing through the calmness. Who? What? Was someone hurt? It wasn't any of Eris' business, but she was also more and more nosy these days. As if picking up on her interest she felt the wind change its course for a moment, as if to urge her on. Or maybe she was just being delusional and extra nosy, who knew? Walking towards where she'd heard the sound the first year peeked around a tree at first, had it been someone of authority she ought to be careful. She wasn't stupid nor looking to be caught out here. "Oh! You!" She exclaimed as her eyes adjusted and took in the person. It was that boy from Yule ball! "Hudson, right?" She questioned walking closer. It was another first year so she was safe from trouble... for now at least!

 

[Professor Geovanna Adler-Cade]

They may have thought they were safe from trouble, but trouble had a way of finding first year students, especially those that didn't pay attention to the rules. Professor Adler was already in the bushes. It was her turn for patrolling the most well broken rule in the school and tonight she was going to what she could to make sure that first years didn't return to their mistakes. Taking out her wand an ensuring that the students in the distance hadn't yet spotted her, the woman cast a spell on the trees in the vicinity. After a moment they started to shake, as though a rough breeze was flowing through them, bending and whipping the branches as though something was on it's way through the murky bushes towards the young students.

 

[Hudson Triss]

Hudson stuffed the rock in the pocket of his warm robe and proceeded to look around more at the forest floor. There were lots of pebbles, but it took his good eye to sift through the thousands of pebbles and find flecks of gold and silver. Through his search, he heard a voice, which made him almost jump out of his shoes. He looked up to see one of his classmates, another first year, who he had been totally oblivious to until that very moment, overwhelmed by rock insanity. "Me?! Yes, I'm Hudson. Were you looking for me?" he asked Eris, remembering her name because it seemed unique to him. "Eris-" he started before yet again seeing some cool rocks. He picked up a handful to sort through when the wind began to pick up around them. Hudson's attention was drawn to some trees and then a few bushes, and he realized that the light was not as bright where they were standing. "Do you hear something over there?" he asked the Slytherin, looking at the bushes. He gripped the rocks in his hand, ready to use them if he had to.

 

[Eris Athanasiou]

Eris watched the boy with slight curiosity, he seemed to be picking stones or something. Giving him a slight shrug before she spoke Eris answered his question. "Me? No, not really I was just.. following the wind when I heard you exclaim something and curiosity got the best of me." She explained, hesitating a little on the part of admitting what she'd been doing, but then realized there was no shame in following the wind. Maybe it even made her seem a little mysterious, who knew. Hearing her name the Slytherin raised her eyebrows, ready to hear what was coming next but the Gryffindor got distracted by the rocks on the ground. Well apparently it wasn't just her sister that got easily distracted, maybe it was a common Gryffindor trait? She should investigate, maybe she could test on AJ or Nia's best friends Finley and Callie.

Having been too deep in her own thoughts Eris didn't even realize something had happened until Hudson asked a question. Averting her gaze towards where he was looking she peered into the darkness. "Hold on I can't see anything." She said as she fished her wand out. "Lumos." At least they'd learned some useful spells this year. Pointing towards the bushes she began walking, listening to the wind that had picked up. "This wind feels... different." She mumbled more so to herself.

 

[Hudson Triss]

Hudson looked at Eris and furrowed his eyebrows. "Different? How can wind be different?" he questioned her before the wind moved again, and he gripped the rocks even tighter. He walked with Eris a few moments towards the bushes before a big gust of wind ripped through. A little startled, Hudson tossed the rocks towards the bush. There were a couple big ones, and he figured maybe it would scare whatever it was away. Then again, what if it was just a rabbit or something harmless and he had hurt it? The first year pulled out his wand, as well. "Lumos!" he said, looking back at Eris, trying not to look too scared.

 

[Eris Athanasiou]

Eris shrugged, considering how to explain what she meant without sounding stupid. "Well, the wind was blowing the other way when I first came here and then suddenly it just changed direction and it feels more forceful than it usually does this deep in the forest." It sounded aggressive too, a little too so to be natural. Maybe she was thinking too hard on it or spent too much time listening to the wind that she was making up things in her head. Looking at the bush the first year squinted her eyes, trying to get a closer look at the bush. Hudson had thrown his rocks at it and it was now rustling even more... "I think I see something... white? Maybe uh brown?" She wasn't sure. "Here, hold my wand too I'll get a closer look." She said turning around and shoving her wand to the Gryffindor.

 

[Hudson Triss]

Hudson didn't really understand what Eris was saying about the wind. Wind could be forceful anywhere, couldn't it? Then again, he'd never really spent time in the forest, and maybe she had. Maybe the forest had a mind of its own. Maybe the forest was alive, and Hudson wasn't sure he liked that. When Eris said she saw something white or brown, the Gryffindor was confident it was in fact a creature - a rabbit, like he thought. But he didn't want to say that out loud because if he was wrong, then that could be a little embarrassing. He took Eris' wand when she offered it to him and held both wands high above his head to shine the light in the appropriate area. "See anything?" he whispered.

 

[Eris Athanasiou]

Eris leaned forward until she had to part the bush a little so that it was easier to see and she wouldn't get any leaves poking her eyes. "Yes, I thin- AHH!" She began but was cut short by a yelp from her as that something lunged at her. It was a rabbit, a tiny one at that. Eris fell down on her ass as the rabbit used her as a ramp to get a better boost and then seemed to jump somewhere behind her, maybe at Hudson maybe past him or nowhere in his general direction. She didn't know, no, Eris was still in shock.

 

[Hudson Triss]

Hudson screamed when Eris yelped, worried that she was being attacked. However, it only took him a moment to realize he'd been right, and it had just been a rabbit all along. The wind was still going, but he didn't seem to be worried about the bush anymore. "Are you okay?" he asked, offering his hand with no wands to help the girl up as the rabbit ran away. "Also, what are you doing in the forest?" he asked curiously. "I'm collecting rocks," Hudson replied proudly, wondering if maybe she had been doing the same thing. Had he found another rock enthusiast?

 

[Eris Athanasiou]

Eris was a little embarrassed about the way she'd reacted to a tiny rabbit, but took the boys hand to get up. "Yes I'm okay, thank you." She said as she brushed off the dirt at the back of her trousers. Hopefully that Vanity girl wasn't going to see her and complain about bringing the dirt in again. "Oh me?" She asked, though it was just the two of them so not like he'd been asking the rabbit either. "Oh I was sort of maybe listening to the wind? It blew towards the forest so I sort of just followed it in..." The Slytherin explained with a shrug, it was something she did a lot and she hoped this one wouldn't call it ridiculous. "Have you found any cool rocks yet?" She asked, desperate to not focus on the wind listening subject, but also genuinely curious if he had found any cool ones. She wasn't a rock enthusiast but she could appreciate pretty rocks.

 

[Hudson Triss]

Hudson thought it was interesting, not odd, that the girl had been listening to the wind. Was that something that he had missed in class? Did the wind have magical properties, as well? "Do you follow the wind a lot?" he asked curiously, wondering if he could learn something today.

"I did! I found even more, but then I threw those so I guess I could go look for them in the bushes but anywaaay, yes, I have this one," he said, pulling out the red rock from his robe pocket, both wands still in his one hand. "It has silver inside. Oh, you probably want your wand back, huh?" he asked, putting the rock on the ground so he could maneuver two wands at once and give Eris hers back. "I was going to look for more if you'd like to join. It's really dark down here, though," he said, holding his wand close to the ground to see if there were any cool rocks around here, but all he saw were giant roots from the trees. The wind had taken them a little further into the forest than he had intended.

 

[Professor Geovanna Adler-Cade]

While the wind seemed to have caught the students attention, it hadn't given them the foresight to actually leave the forest yet. Professor Adler thought after they'd been scared by the rabbit, that would be it, however they continued their investigation and delved even deeper into the trees instead. As the boy had started tossing rocks into the bushes she was hiding in, and the girl at least put her lessons to good use and raised a light, Geo knew she was going to be spotted too early unless she did something.

Being a Metamorphmagus had its perks, and when she was much much younger, having the chance to speak to another one had opened her mind up the opportunities quite literally at her fingertips. As the first years were searching for her, they were certainly going to struggle given that her skin now resembled the bark of the trees beside her, her usual blonde hair dark green to blend into the nearby foliage. There was of course nothing she could do about her robes, but wearing black had its advantages too.

The professor was moving closer now that the students were preoccupied again with hunting.. rocks? Geo stepped closer, taking every chance she could when they weren't looking in her direction to creep forward. She expected them to catch site of her lingering in the bushes at some point, in fact she was counting on it. Perhaps fear was the way to go when it came to keeping them out of here.