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Emalthya had on her sturdiest shoes and closest jumper, forgoing any robes or scarves or trailing garments because she knew well that loose clothes were a danger when running for your life in a forest filled with sticks and snarling branches.

She also didn't know why first years were being recruited to search the Forbidden Forest for a lost girl. The sixth year next to her was so tall, Emalthya's head only came up to his elbow even though, at eleven, Emalthya was a pretty tall girl for her age. Then again, she didn't really know why a sixth year was going to be sent into the Forest.

'Could be that there's not time to get a group of adults in and they think this girl might be dead already... or dying soon. Still seems a bit upsetting.'

Emalthya remembered being cleared out of one of her past schools when a bomb threat had been made, back in the day when bomb threats had not equated to a national security force descending in search of terrorists. It had turned out to be older students pranking, but five-year-old Emalthya had been terrified, and so had the others in her prep grade.

She was glad that, for this crisis at least, she had her reliable magic wand in her hand, instead of the cut-out and coloured-in paper copy of Sailor Moon's transformation compact that was all she had taken from the school with the non-existent bomb to the sports area down the road to wait out the investigation, though she dropped it there and lamented its loss for some time.

However much she might like to go back to the castle and go to bed, no matter what time of day it was, when the professor glanced her way (probably at the sixth year) she nodded and said "I'll help you go looking in the forest."

Wicka waved to Lucian as he showed up and looked over the gathered students. He had been one of the first to respond. He smiled to the brave students willing to go into the woods. He had always been drawn to the woods himself. And with him and a few other adults that had shown up the kids would be safe enough. At least... he hoped so. "All students going into the woods please come this way!!" Wicka smiled and headed to a spot that was open enough to accommodate the students going in. He looked over the students once more gently eyeing the boy in the wheelchair. He would be ok. And he was glad for the boy's heart. He smirked at his husbands words and simply raised an eyebrow before looking to Niall. Cocky was he? But he nodded and then looked to Mr potts as he spoke.

With the students volunteering to stay behind all briefed and such Potts turned his attention to the rest of the students and volunteers. “Thank you all for being willing to go in and search. While normally searches are conducted in small groups, because of the fact that we don’t want any more students getting lost, we shall stick together!” He waved a hand. “Wicka, here, has Volunteered to lead the search and I will stay behind with the students here!” Mr Potts nodded and headed back inside with the other students.

Wicka gave the man an almost… mocking look but let it go. “Alright Everyone follow me… make a wide arc but stay close enough to see each other.” They set off into the woods and Wicka called for the girl it wasn’t long in until they had a choice. They could keep going straight, or Turn to the Left and look out that way. He called out to the people searching. “Alright! We will take a poll and decide which way to go… who thinks we should stay straight… or should we turn and cover the area here?” He waited giving them a chance to think about it.

(You only need to reply no with students that went in. When you reply please post whether your student is Voting Left or Straight.)
Codes:

[color=red][b]Turn! [/b][/color]

[color=Green][b]Keep Straight[/b][/color]

-Anyone may still enter the meta late, but you must include the first code of either the into the woods or staying at the castle. As well as the currently asked for code-

Basil had been laying on his bed studying when the commotion in the common room had drawn him out. He listened with wide eyes; a student had gone missing? It had to have been serious. In a magical place like Hogwarts, you were bound to have a person missing from time to time; usually they'd be found in a strange place, like inside a cupboard or stuck inside a suit of armor. To raise this kind of commotion, it had to be something out of the norm.....well, the Hogwarts norm at any rate.

He only felt his logic more sound when there was talk of going into the Forbidden Forest to search. If that was where the kid had really gone, there was no telling where they could be, or what the circumstances were of their disappearance. Were they lured away, or taken? Did they wander in, or did a wayward spell dump them in like yesterday's Daily Prophet? Either way, he didn't envy the kid if that was where he was.

He had half a mind to stay at the castle with many of the others, but something inside of him tugged at the desire to go along with the other group, the one braving the forest and it's denizens to search. It seemed so much like one of the stories he loved to write, and who knows; maybe when all was finished, he could use this in a future tale! He wasn't too particularly worried about 'risking life and limb'; it wasn't much different from what his older sister did when she was lifting curses from ancient tombs. This would make for one awesome letter to her as well!

Into the Woods

More or less ignoring the conversations around him, Basil did what he felt he did best and just stayed invisible; just another tousled head among bunches of others doing the same thing. He looked around him in interest, looking for both any signs of the missing girl and anything he might find remotely interesting, such as a plant he recognized. In his mind, if he were searching for more than one thing, he had a better chance of coming across either.

He looked as far ahead as he could when the group stopped, and listened as the question was passed back for those too far away to hear; straight or left? He gave himself time to ponder. If he were someone lost in these woods, it would probably be a while before they discovered that they had become hopelessly lost, and in that, definitely would be further in than they were now. To keep searching here would be a waste of time, especially since if they were this close, they would probably be heard by the party who remained behind at the entrance.

He spoke up, not sure if his timid voice would be heard or not. "I th-think we should g-go straight."

Keep Straight

Into the Woods
When the alarm had rose, Nahuel had already been outside trying to enjoy the last few moments of the day in peace. He was rather alarmed and taken aback when he heard that a girl in his year had gone missing in the Forbidden Forest. He moved to join the group of kids and adults that had gathered at the edge of the forest.

When he spied Basil in the crowd of students he moved through to stand near him. He listened to the Teacher's speech and shifted back and forth feeling rather antsy. It seemed odd that they were allowing young students in to look for the missing girl, but he figured they'd probably have them paired up with some of the older kids or a teacher.

Or maybe the teacher hadn't really thought that through. Maybe they'd stop them from helping. He frowned at that. He was rather good at tracking, he'd more than likely be able to pick up on things that others wouldn't see. He listened to the other kids speaking up and saying what they'd do. He tossed his hair out of his face and followed quietly close to Basil, as his friend went into the forest.

It really wouldn't have taken much to entice Trevor to go into the Forbidden Forest. It had been a dream of his since he had started at Hogwarts. Though hearing that a kid had been lost, was rather sad to hear. He could just imagine how scared the poor girl must be all alone in the Forest by herself.

Trevor joined the throng of students that had gathered near the edge of the forest. He listened as Professor Pots explained what was going on and that they were going to be risking life and limb to find the girl. A thrill of alarm and excitement went through him at that thought.

He was a bit surprised when he heard Oscar's voice raise and say that he'd go in to help look. "I'll help look too." He called out.

Dorian joined the group of would be searchers with a feeling of trepidation. Hearing that their were drag marks his eyes glanced down towards them and shivered slightly. If the girl hadn't just wandered off then something must have grabbed her. There were tons of scary things in the forest that could have taken her.

Hearing the other kids volunteering to go in and help search for the missing girl made him realize he should help look too. When he heard Clover volunteer had him turn to look at her. "I'll help with the search," He called out.

Keep Straight

Walking a few feet away from Basil, Nahuel's eyes flicked around the ground as he moved. He paused to squat closer to the ground to look over the bent leaves and broken branches for the signs of which way would be most the right way to go. He listened as the older girl spoke about water trails and nodded. "Straight would be best," He agreed in a soft tone.


Trevor followed the sound of the adult's voice and moved to where the professor had asked them to go. He shifted slightly from side to side as he listened to the explanation from Wicka. It sounded like a good plan to keep within sight of each other. The last thing he wanted to happen was to get lost in the forest himself. Sure he wanted to go in and look around, but getting lost wouldn't be any fun at all.

As the group walked through farther into the forest, Trevor's eyes moved around warily. He wasn't really sure what he was looking for. Probably just something that was out of the ordinary. He scratched his head when the others started speaking about going straight or turning. Why were they voting on it again?

"Uh Straight," He finally said weighing in on the vote.

Dorian followed Clover and the others into the forest, keeping his eyes sharp and looking around every time Wicka cried the girls' name out. He listened to Clover's and the other kids conversing with one another. It rather impressed him to hear that she knew so much about animal tracks, and wished he could actually make out tracks easier.

When the group came to a collective halt to decide which way to go, he listened to everyone else's vote. It was kind of a fifty/fifty chance like Arona said, though by his count most people had said to go straight so far. "I don't know if my opinion really matters, but it seems like the majority of people are saying straight so I guess I'll throw my vote in with them." He said shrugging.

Nahuel: 4 Damage taken, deals 11, no boost, no heal, Current HP: 46
Trevor: 8 Damage taken, deals 17, No boost, no heal, current HP: 37
Dorian: No Damage taken, deals 5, No boost, no heal, Current HP: 50
Full damage given to opponent: 33

Nahuel's head shot up at the sound of hoofbeats, and he moved back from the approaching centaur. He'd heard of centaurs but seeing one up close was rather frightening. The centaur was tall and imposing, and it looked like it was going to attack them. He swore in his native tongue, his hand slipping to his wand. He wasn't sure any of the spells he knew would do any sort of damage or even slow the centaur's approach down.

Still, from the look on the centaur's face, he could tell that the creature didn't like them being in the forest and was going to do everything in its power to try and frighten them away. He heard the older girl's voice carry as she tried to reason with the centaur, telling it that they were looking for a missing kid. He let out a sigh when the others started throwing spells at the centaur as it thundered towards them yet again.

Nahuel moved out of the way and cast a spell on the ground, making it iced over so that the centaur would have trouble keeping it's footing. Perhaps if the centaur couldn't rush them, it would stop attacking. Though..that was kind of wishful thinking on his part. It was too bad the centaur didn't seem to understand that they weren't intruding with bad intentions.

He turned to glance over his fellow classmate Basil and then at the older kids near him. Maybe coming on this search hadn't been such a smart idea. "Maybe he can't understand English," he murmured. "Maybe he speaks something different."


Trevor's eyes widened as the centaur came rushing towards the group and moved to stand behind Oscar's chair, his hand clenching at his wand. He winced when the staff swung and nearly hit the older girl in the head. Thankfully she was fast enough to avoid it. He frowned when Oscar shot off a spell at the centaur. Could the expelliarmos spell work on getting the staff out of the centaur's hands?

He had frozen himself, trying to figure out what spell he might be able to use against the centaur. He heard Arona's voice call out a binding spell from somewhere nearby. That would be as good of a spell as any he decided. The more the centaur had the same spell shot at him, the more chances that the spell would actually hit him right?

"Petrificus Totallis!" HE called out making the correct motion with his wand at the centaur having to move from behind Oscar's chair in order to do so. Unfortunately when he moved he wasn't paying attention to where he was stepping and his foot twisted wrong on a root and he went down with a cry of pain. "Bloody hell," He muttered and rubbed his ankle trying to get rid of the pain as he scooted closer to Oscar's chair in case the centaur came back his way.

Dorian moved closer to Clover as the centaur made his debut at the top of the hill. He watched as Wicka raised his hand in greeting and trembled as the centaur thundered down towards them swinging his staff. He let out a gasp when the staff came towards Clover's head. She managed to dodge it, stepping even closer to him and yelled at the Centaur in annoyance.

He could tell that Clover didn't like how the others were throwing spells and charms at the centaur trying to get it to stop attacking. He moved to slide his hand into hers and squeezed it gently. "It doesn't seem that he's wanting to listen to reason." He said with a sigh.

He made no move to grab his wand, though he held Clover's hand protectively. He thought of spells that might come in handy should the centaur come back their way. At the moment, all the other spells being shot at the centaur didn't seem to slow the centaur down all that much. Wasn't there a spell that slowed down an attacking foe?

Emalthya's first thought upon seeing the centaur was amazement. Her second thought was utter horror. He's attacking us!

She dithered to one side and the other, watching the centaur cleave through the people on the path, wondering to which side she should run. In the end, she crouched down before scrambling to the side,collecting a smart rap from the centaur's staff as he passed, getting dirt under her fingernails as she used her hands as well as feet; she was too afraid of the fall, even over her fear of the centaur, to throw herself to the ground and roll away.

She folded herself up around her knees, bent to spring up, and lifted her wand up from within the tangle of her own limbs to- what? She'd never stunned anything before, she didn't know how to make ropes appear, and if she did, they'd probably be knotted up like headphones in a pocket. What could a first year do?

I'm not supposed to be here!

The centaur's hoofbeats were loud and hollow, accompanied by crunching as twigs and roots splintered with his weight. He was turning around to make another pass.

The centaur's true danger to a wizard was its greater brute strength and speed. His strength was to do with his weight, which meant his legs were strong, and because his legs were strong, he was fast.

I have to stop him moving, he can't get me if he can't move, Emalthya thought desperately. "Colloshoo!" she said, swishing her wand at the centaur.

His hooves stuck to the ground, but the spell was weak and with a wrench he was moving again.