Simeon Berke

First Year Gryffindor Beater Youngest Berke Brother Fuck with me, I'll make you bleed.

[atfirstlight-rpg]

The Black Lake - Simeon and Open

[simeonberke]

Simeon didn't fight as the squid pulled him under the water. With everything happening in the school, he'd resigned himself to the fact that they were all going to die horrible, horrible deaths.

He'd heard once or twice that drowning was one of the nicest ways to go, and though he wasn't keen on the idea of breathing water and feeling his lungs scream in pain, it sounded nicer than being mauled by a wolf. Or than whatever had happened to that Slytherin girl.

Seb hadn't gone through all this crap, and if he had, he'd conveniently left those details out of his stories, which made Simeon angry. These were exactly the things Seb should have mentioned. Not to their parents, sure, but Simeon would have appreciated knowing that imminent death was coming for him at school.

Moments before death, apparently, afforded people clarity (if they managed not to panic). Unlike his encounter the previous year in the tower, Simeon wasn't panicking, and so he noticed that the squid was flailing around a decent ways away. Which meant...

He looked down, and though he could feel something wrapped around his ankle, he couldn't see anything. Just water.

The water's attacking now!?

That snapped him out of his deathwish and he grabbed his wand and started jabbing angrily at his ankle. He wasn't entirely sure how to fight evil water, but he'd learned a few spells since his last near-death experience, thanks mostly to Caspian and Reiko. Like hell I'm telling him he had a good idea...

He wasn't sure how well a spell would work under water, but he was losing air fast and he needed to try something. The spell came out in the form of sounds and bubbles, but a spark ignited near his feet and, somehow, made the evil water release him.

He swam as hard as he could upwards, and once he burst from the water he scrambled on land as fast as he could. Only then did he notice that his pants and skin had been burned, and it took way too much willpower not to scream. Burns were bad, he knew--hazard of his childhood--but magically induced burns were worse, apparently.

He tried standing, but as soon as he put weight on his ankle he crashed back to the ground, and he screamed, but from frustration rather than pain.

"So how the hell am I getting to the medic then...?" he asked himself, looking around as he considered his options.

[phoenixannestuff]

To the Base || Caspian, Simeon, & Reiko

[reiko-lachance]

Staring into Caspian’s blue eyes, Reiko lost track of everything else. It was just the two of them laughing and having a good time. There was no responsibility of having to learn about an entirely new world or tasked that pulled at her sanity. Just the two of them… and Simeon. Crap! I’m not to loose focus like this. I need to succeed. I can’t be thinking about Caspian all the time. Reiko refocused herself on the first thing she saw. The phonograph.

Glad that Caspian did not seem find her ignorance about a music box idiotic. Reiko went on to explain to try to explain about the mugggle technology. “Music is just stored on chips that computers read. It’s all really simple, and you put the chip in your phone, sunglasses, car… whatever. So, you have it everywhere.

Listening to Caspian’s story caused Reiko stomach to drop. How could so many bad things be happening to at least three of the groups? “I don’t understand, though. We’re eleven. I would think the whole lot of us would be pretty easy to take down if someone really wanted to, right? But, you’re right Simeon, there is no way this is a confidence, but do you really think it could’ve been a professor? I mean, who would want to harm a bunch of new students before classes even starts? None of this makes sense…

[phoenixannestuff]

"A chip?" He repeated, tilting his head to the side. A wood chip, maybe? Or potentially one of potato? Regardless of the material, it probably had something to do with that ‘alectrocity’ thing. But why put wood or potatoes in sunglasses? It was all so over his head. He had been so confident in his intellect, but recent events were starting to shake him. Even Hogwarts made no sense anymore. The tasks, the confusion…. They frustrated him, made him even more restless. He didn’t have all the pieces; couldn’t put them together. And everything just seemed… Sketchy. "Delacroix?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "She is pretty scary. Dorcan, a Ravenclaw Prefect, reckons she cursed a student and got kicked out of Japan. That’s why she came to Hogwarts. Terrifying, really, and I’ve got idea why they let her into this place.” The boy shook his head, scowling. “Still, if she was surprised then she couldn’t have done it, and that eliminates her from the list of possible suspects. Foster too, as he rescued my team. As for the manner of the crime, I reckon it was revenge, sabotage, or complete psychopathy. But then again, it could all have been a mistake.” The boy sighed, shaking his head. Reiko’s point was valid, but no one would be dumb enough to kill a group of first years out in open. Besides, spells could be traced to wands immediately after being cast. These spells seemed so complex, they’d probably been cast well in advance. That eliminated the tracing risk, didn’t it? "Well," he said finally, "there’s nothing we can do about the past except piece the clues together and make sure we’re ready for future incidents. C’mon, I’ll show you something." Caspian stood, striding towards a carpet in the center of the room. Carefully, he lifted a corner, revealing a small, trap-door. Underneath it was a basement, fully equipped with training dummies and spell-books. It wasn’t part of the prank militia; it existed long before then, but his brothers had used it for storage and space. After climbing down the ladder, he gestured towards the other two. “I don’t know lots of magic yet, but I’ve learned a few things. Episkey, a small healing spell, Flippendo, an offensive blast, Reparo, a fixing spell, and Expelliarmus. Oliver and I worked on Wingardium Leviosa, but I can only lift a feather so far. What do you guys know?”

[simeonberke]

From the way Caspian seemed determined to not let them get seriously dead, Simeon found himself wondering if this first year would be more useful than the professors letting crazy dangerous things run rampant through the castle.

Simeon had no ideas. He was as lost as the others, but he lacked Caspian's way with logic. It made sense the boy was a Ravenclaw; he was thorough, contemplative, and way too intense. Simeon was intense, but in a totally different way. It usually was him cursing and threatening people.

He hoped that would turn out to be useful.

The training room was brilliant, and while he'd assumed Hogwarts would have had something like this for everyone, as long as he had access, he didn't care. It would give him a jump on his classmates, and that was never a bad thing.

"The standards. Expelliarmus. Alohomora. Lumos." He shrugged, realizing how pitiful his offering was in comparison. "The parents weren't too keen on my stealing Seb's wand. Sol was more relaxed about it, but--" He stopped short as if something in his brain had shorted out, and after a few seconds he picked up with the next thought. "So I didn't get much chance to practice. But these..." he said, moving toward one of the dummies with a sort of hunger in his eyes, "these will be fantastic. Any chance they repair themselves after we destroy them?"

[phoenixannestuff]

To the Base || Caspian, Simeon, & Reiko

[reiko-lachance]

"Umm, yeah, but I’ve never heard of any of these people before." She laughed as she looked up at Caspian’s face, "I guess I never realized  witches had their own music."

Reiko stared as Caspian started playing music in the most complicated way she had ever seen. She knew they didn’t have common technology at Hogwarts, but she had so far felt like magic replaced it perfectly. Until now… “Shouldn’t there be an easier way to make music with magic? Why are there so many parts… and so big? What do you use when you want to take the music with you? Is it this complicated?” She couldn’t get over how complicated it all seemed. Music was one of the simplest things in the muggle world.

"Are you okay?" She asked as she walked up to Simeon concerned. "Why would they do that to you?"

"Well, mine started off fine, but I don’t really know what happened. One minute I was following strange symbols on the wall, and the next minute I felt like everything had… changed." I’m not really sure how to explain it, but I was definitely falling, but then I was running from something, I think. I’m not sure it all felt like a dream, but then it all just stopped, and I was in a hallway with a professor. It was strange."

[phoenixannestuff]

"Wizards too," the boy added. Reiko’s laughter was contagious, and he couldn’t help but grin a little. Her presence eased his worries, and he felt lighter around her. It perplexed him, really, but he wasn’t dumb enough to question it.   Her question left him baffled, however, and Caspian blinked, confused. “I’m not sure,” he admitted, observing the phonograph. It certainly had a lot of parts, and he didn’t know what all of them did. Were all of them necesary? What was the purpose of the huge horn-thing? The boy shook his head, still pretty unsure. "You minimize it," he explained. "With a spell. Then you can fit it in your pocket." Carefully, he tapped the phonograph, shrinking it into a tiny version of itself. When he was sure she had seen, the boy changed it back. "Do muggles have a different system?" He asked, running a hand through his hair. "If so, how does it work?" Simeon’s story rang true to the boy, and his eyes widened in shock and surprise. “Merlin,” he exclaimed, shaking his head. “The same thing happened to my group. Thomas got hurt, head injury. He was in my group but… I don’t know. The professor who saved us… He didn’t seem to know what was happening either. It’s frightening, really. I think it might be beyond their control.” Caspian sighed, rubbing his temples. Reiko’s story was sinister too, and he wondered what had caused all the trouble. “We’ve got to get down to the bottom of this. Any ideas on what happened?”

[simeonberke]

Simeon shook his head. "No friggin idea..."

It was definitely scary, not knowing what had happened or what else may happen. And term had just started, so the potential for more horror was quite real.

"That literature prof came up and freaked out. Scary thing, though--she couldn't stop whatever happened. She distracted those...things, but we just had to run."

Simeon was embarrassed to admit he ran, but the fact that a professor had done the same did help. He wasn't a pushover, not really, not since a fully grown witch couldn't fix it.

That didn't ease his panic that Hogwarts was going to eat them alive, though. "Either the professors want to kill us, or Hogwarts is really that hands-on, or someone's doing something bad." He paused and ran his fingers through his hair. "I dunno which is worse..."

[phoenixannestuff]

To the Base || Caspian, Simeon, & Reiko

[reiko-lachance]

Stepping into the base, Reiko was immediately overwhelmed. Yeah, she had seen some pretty fantastic stuff in Hogwarts so far, but she’d never seen so much stuff in a room that seemed completely out of place. The room itself was normal. I could have easily been an old gaming room in after school center. But, vials filled with strange colored liquids and moving posters plastering the walls did not belong in someplace so comfortable… so familiar.

She walked toward a low bookcase and started shuffling through the old magazines trying to find something in the room that made sense to her.She grabbed one with what seemed to be a boy band on the cover. And forgetting the fact that the pictures where all moving in the magazine and that she didn’t have a clue whom she was reading about, Reiko actually felt like she could have been back home. 

Hearing Simeon cough, Reiko looked up to see the boy being pawed at by dust hands. She giggled as she walked away from the magazines to look at the map of Hogwarts. “I had no idea the castle was actually this big…” She said aloud as she wondered how she would ever find her way back to the Slytherin common room. Not that she’d mind staying in this room for the next couple years.

[phoenixannestuff]

Caspian laughed, amused by the fact that Simeon seemed to be losing a battle with a dust cloud. It was strange; he had heard so much about the base and now he was finally inside of it. Did it live up to his expectations? Kind of. It was both more and less than he’d imagined simultaneously, but on different planes.

The colored vials were definitely a surprise, and he looked at them with wide eyes. “Mischief, I’d presume, judging from the stories I’ve heard. Maybe a little sabotage as well.” He sifted through the vials, stopping at one that appeared to have a label. “Love potion,” he read, carefully setting it back on the shelf. Those things were crazy, not to mention dangerous, and he shuddered a little. What were they doing with one of those?

"The Archetypes," he noted, nodding towards Reiko. "You into music at all?"

He grinned, setting a record onto the phonograph. It spun wildly, magnificently, filling the room with catchy (albeit crackly) tunes. “Me neither,” he admitted. Navigation really wasn’t one of his strong points, and he feared he’d often get lost around the castle.

"So," he began, attempting to mask his hesitancy with a casual drawl. "How did your tasks go?"

[simeonberke]

With one last violent swat the cloud of dust dissipated, and Simeon was left covered in what could very well have been a decayed human or some ground up foul potion ingredient.

This made his normal glower even worse, but it wasn't nearly as effective as a cleaning spell would be. Unfortunately, he didn't know any of them.

"Well, we almost died, for one. They locked us in with rabid beasts. First there were rodents and random debris, then wolves. And ghouls." He shook his head. "Thankfully a prof came, but I don't know what the hell these guys are playing at. That's not a team building exercise; it's torture."

He may have sounded scared, but he was. If those tasks were par for the course, the next seven years would be miserable. He considered then whether it would be better to risk it or leave and be unable to do even a simple cleaning spell.

But options sucked, but Seb's name was on this wall, and there was no way he'd keep being the little useless brother.

So he'd stay.

But dammit, those profs were trouble.

"Your guys's any better?"

[phoenixannestuff]

To the Base || Caspian, Simeon, & Reiko

[reiko-lachance]

Heading down to the Great Hall, all Reiko could think about were the runes. They had been so strange. Was all magic like this. She wanted to know more about them, and seeing as her friends all grew up in wizarding families, they must know all about them.

Sure, the runes had caused some interesting things to happen, but Reiko had already pushed that from her mind. Classes hadn’t even started yet, and she already had friends that she was hanging out with. And unlike the kids at her old school, these ones are already determined to get ahead and improve. Something Reiko valued very much in people. Being so determined and focused at such a young age had made her an outcast at her old school, but here, she had found people how understood her drive to succeed.

As Reiko skipped up to the two boys, she could tell that something was wrong. She couldn’t tell if something had happened or if they were just arguing. Either way, she was afraid she was going to have to stop the boys from killing each other. “So… where’s this fancy base I’ve been hearing so much about?” She said hoping to break the tension.

[phoenixannestuff]

Caspian nodded towards the boy, lacking the enthusiasm to return his small wave. A grave and ponderous feeling seemed to permeate the air as the two silently awaited Reiko’s arrival. He wondered how Simeon’s task had gone, but judging from the looks of things probably not so well. "Hey Reiko," he greeted, smiling halfheartedly. "The base is westward, or so I’ve been told. Past the twelfth classroom and then left a little bit. C’mon." He set off, walking at a quick to moderate pace. Though shaken, he was eager to see the base, along with all the surprises it surely had in store. His brothers had filled his head with countless stories about it, but it was his time now. After fifteen or so minutes of roaming the halls, he finally caught sight of the retired classroom where the base was supposedly held. It had an old door, with large brass handles and a frame that was bordering on decay. “I know it doesn’t look like much,” he began, “but we can’t accurately judge it before getting inside now, can we?” He raised an inquisitive eyebrow, ruffling through his pockets to retrieve tattered slip of paper . “Maleficium,” he read aloud, tapping the leftmost door-handle with his wand. Click. The door opened with a weary creak, allowing Caspian to poke his head inside. "Lumos," he whispered, before finding a gas light that better illuminated the room. "Woah.” His eyes widened, taking in the sight of the place. It was fairly disorganized, with some old butterbeer bottles and droobles wads lying around, but other than that the base looked absolutely amazing. A map of Hogwarts lay plastered on the front wall, with what appeared to be colored pins marking Merlin knows what. There were Quidditch posters, armchairs… Even an old phonograph in the corner. Suddenly, what seemed to be a flickering list of names caught Caspian’s eye, and he slowly moved towards it. “Prank Militia,” he read aloud. “Members include Kenton Grey, Cormac Grey, Delia Larson, Ash Finney…. The list goes on and on. See anyone you might recognize Simeon? Anyways, I reckon we check out that map and see what’s going on with that.”

[simeonberke]

After what they'd been through, a room to themselves--a haven of sorts--didn't seem so bad. It was big and nondescript and possibly safe from rabid beasties.

"So Seb was here..." Simeon mused, tracing the name "Sebastian Berke" with his fingers. The bastard had never told him. Yeah, he'd run with the Grey boys, he knew that much, but a prankster? Was that really Seb?

Simeon turned away from the names and flopped down in an armchair. A cloud of dust flew up and choked him as if it had hands of its own.

Turns out it did, and as he swatted at the plume, it seemed to fight back.

"God, Seb!" he said, jumping backwards and coughing to clear the dust out of his lungs. "What on earth did they get up to in here?"

It was clear, of course, but it was all so new Simeon didn't know how to process it. Nor did he know what the hell the hundreds of trinkets and phials were that lined the shelves. "No chance they left instructions, huh?"

[phoenixannestuff]

To the Base || Caspian, Simeon, & Reiko

Caspian was curled up in an armchair, still shaken by the tower incident. It had been an hour or so since the group had been rescued, but he still couldn’t shake the growing sense of inadequacy that seemed to building inside him.

His performance at the task had been absolutely pathetic; a failed idea, a debilitating wound, and a catalyst for wolves and falling planks. Maybe he wasn’t as well prepared as he’d initially thought, maybe he was completely and utterly useless.

Without magic, he’d resorted to whacking hedgehogs with wooden boards, which, although effective, wasn’t plausible in most situations. The PSG members, he decided, would have to learn to some non-magical combat techniques along with the standard hexes, spells, and Wizarding skills. That way, if a time ever came when they weren’t able to use magic they’d at least have something to fall back on.  Sighing, he scribbled a note on his communicative chocolate frog card. “Meet at GH after tasks. Going to check out the base. -C.G.”

The sooner they could get started, the better prepared they’d be for the challenges Hogwarts was sure to throw at them. By the next task, they’d be ready for anything. So Caspian ventured down to the Great Hall, awaiting the arrival of the other card-holders.

[simeonberke]

Simeon almost felt bad leaving his group, but they had a professor who, though obviously frazzled, was more capable than he was.

Still, he wondered if Edward was okay. He'd have to check on him later to make sure there wasn't irreversible mental trauma. There probably was considering how fragile the kid was, but he might enjoy more beans or chocolate or something.

It took Simeon longer than it normally would have to reach the Great Hall considering he kept looking cautiously around corners for more monsters, but luckily there weren't any.

When he arrived, he saw Caspian. He waved and walked over, wondering who else, if anyone, was coming. Without a word, he sat down and crossed his arms. He was usually antisocial, but nearly getting eaten apparently made his surly tendencies even worse.

[simeonberke]

Prompt: The Locked Room (Simeon, Edward, Helena, & Marcy)

[shslmotivation]

"Thank you! Thank you!"

Edward stared up at his savior like a puppy staring at its owner. She had saved them! And then he turned his gaze to each of the others in turn, beaming in a manner quite out of place for the situation. Marcy was kind and nice, Simeon had called them his friends, and Helena- his face fell when he saw her throw the rodents to the wolves, and watched them devour them. He thought he’d be able to keep them for the rest of the school year, as pets. He’d already named them, thought about training them.

Softly, he began to cry. It might be annoying, but who could really blame him? He was eleven years old, he had nearly died, and someone had just fed his new pets to some wolves. Following the others and trying his hardest to mask his sobs, his attention was caught by Simeon asking after him.

Wiping his eyes, he gave another smile, rather forced. “I’m okay. Are you okay? You were really really brave back there with the plank and trying to do the spell and protecting us and thank you so much, Simeon!” 

Too oblivious to notice Marcy’s state, he averted his eyes from Helena’s face. He wasn’t angry with her, because he knew she was trying to save them, but the poor things… Edward knew it was unhealthy to keep grudges though, especially if it was with someone you had just been in a near-death situation with, so he managed a smile at her, too.

[helena-ashworth-deactivated2015]

Shit. I was right. He really wasn’t happy.

Helena knew she had to make it up to him somehow, he looked liked he had already grown an emotional attachment to the rodents - and she flung them at a very hungry wolf. 

At least she could of gotten some recognition for trying to help the team out. Helena scowled and looked at her equally shell shocked friends. Should I call them my friends? Apparently we are to Simeon, but maybe he didn’t mean that.  

Simeon looked like a cross between horrifically enraged and very disappointed. Why? The first was obvious - but the latter was probably to do with his failed spells. Or maybe everyone of her team was displeased with Helena flinging a few rodents to their deaths. 

Before she had a chance to evaluate Ed and the unknown Professor, her eyes fell on Marcy. She was shaking and her legs looked like they were going to give in at any passing moment

"Marcy? Marcy are you alright? What did you say about pills?." Helena said softly, steadying Marcy.

[hannahswritings]

Marcy wiped her forehead “My pills are still in there! In about three minutes I won’t be able to walk.” She didn’t want to seem weak in front of her new friends that is what Simeon called them right .

Marcy started to slow down. “Did you hear that?”  she turned her head and squeaked “Who closed the door?” Coming at them was a pack of four wolves.

not again what the hell is wrong with this school!

[simeonberke]

Simeon was ready for a nice long back, or maybe a long bout of unconsciousness, so it was an annoyance when he noticed the chocolate frog card in his pocket.

Meet at GH right after tasks.

He knew Caspian was ambitious, but this was excessive. Then again, for all Simeon knew, the other tasks had gone flawlessly and his team was the only one nearly mauled to death.

Turning to the group, he said, "Gotta run, guys. I'm...glad you're all okay." He clapped Edward on the back, smiled at the girls, and thanked their professor before running off to meet Caspian.

If all the meetings would be like this--right on the heels of almost dying--he would skip some. For now, though, he couldn't afford to miss. Like it or not, he needed to practice, considering how shoddy his spellwork was.

[simeonberke]

{PSG Message: Meet at GH right after tasks. Going to check out the base. -C.G.}

[simeonberke]

Prompt: The Locked Room (Simeon, Edward, Helena, & Marcy)

[maeve-delacroix]

Maeve was just leaving the library when she heard a series of panicked cries. Students were usually loud; it was in their nature, but these shouts were way out of the ordinary. Briskly, she strode towards the sounds, following them until she reached their origin. It was a high tower, one of the designated locations for the first year tasks. As she peeked through the keyhole, her eyes began to widen at the site that befell her. What in Merlin’s name was going on? What appeared to be pack of wolves had a first-year group cornered, and they seemed utterly defenseless. This was so not a safe team-building activity. Hold on!” Maeve called out, dashing towards the door. Locking kids in a tower… Who’s terrible idea was this, anyway? She was dumbfounded, until she saw the damn hedgehogs. “Starkey,” she growled, voice bristling with rage. “I should have know.” She shook her head, abhorrence flashing deep in her eyes. The Hufflepuff was sketchy, and it had taken only a brief encounter with him to detect this. Michael was too friendly, too childish. There was obviously something sinister lurking behind his bright facade. "Confringo!" She yelled, bursting through the door. There was a flash of light and a quick explosion, but it didn’t seem to affect the wolves. "Stupefy! Expulso! Petrificus Totalus!" Maeve blasted spell after spell, but nothing seemed to be working. The wolves started after her, however, and she got an idea. “Tarantallegra!” She cried. A snake shot out of the tip of her wand, and then another, and another. Quickly, the wolves turned to chase the snakes, which gave Maeve and the first-years enough time to escape. Barely, though.  “C’mon! Hurry!”

[helena-ashworth-deactivated2015]

No. The professors wouldn’t be stupid enough to do this - to tarnish the school’s reputation.

The animals might be able to hurt us a little, but would they risk putting first-years through a situation where they can be killed? no. Something more is going on, and I want to know exactly what.

It was as if her reality was crumbling around her. Marcy was crying, Edward had managed to zone out and Simeon looked like he was at his wit’s end. She took the rodents from around Edward’s feet and flung them into the jaws of the wolf. Helena mumbled a “sorry.” to Ed, He wouldn’t be too pleased about that. The wolf began eating and it gave her time to think.

The professors still hadn’t come to their aid and that gave them only one option.

To fight. 

But how? Well, knowing that nobody here could properly use magic, spells were not an option. Wearily looking back at the preoccupied wolf, she began so quickly hammer nails into her plank of wood. It sounded ludicrous - but it was their only option. 

What kind of a beater could I be If I couldn’t hit? Helena shakily clutched her wooden plank, preparing to swing it into the wolf’s snout - But right at that moment, she heard the voice of an adult; A professor! Had they finally came to save us?

The door flung open to reveal a frantic looking professor who was screaming spell after spell, but none of them seemed to affect the wolf in front of her. She took to conjuring snakes next - at least that was distracting the wolves.

“C’mon! Hurry!”

She grabbed her team mates and sprinted to the door. Taking no time to look back, all she wanted to do was to get out.

[hannahswritings]

Marcy was still stunned. “Holy crap.”  She shakily stood up, and followed the group out. I could’ve died!  Marcy speeded up to be with group “What the hell was that? We could’ve died!

She put her hand in her pocket. “Where’s my pills?” her knees started to wobble. Marcy wiped her hands on the side of her shirt. 

"Where are we going?" she whispered to Simeon

[simeonberke]

"Hell if I know," Simeon said, still half speed walking, half jogging behind the professor.

They were safe. That was good, but it was obvious none of them wanted to stay anywhere near that death trap. Away was good, and he was not above running, even if it made him look like a wimp. The failed spell certainly hadn't help, though in his defense he'd never tried it before in his life.

Terrible time for it not to work though... he thought grimly.

"You okay, Eddie?" he asked, turning toward the boy. He was always obnoxiously happy, but Simeon wouldn't blame him for suddenly losing his desire to smile. That was, after all, a shit storm. And if their professor couldn't stop the things, who would be able to?

He didn't want to think about it. Worst case the professors could probably barricade the door and just let those things rot. How long, though, before ghouls died?

He shivered at the thought that they'd be there for years to come. But at least he could stay away from there for the rest of his life.

[simeonberke]

Prompt: The Locked Room (Simeon, Edward, Helena, & Marcy)

[shslmotivation]

Sucking his finger to draw out the blood, Ed smiled happily at the two girls. Their concern was rather nice, seeing as he had never really had much of it as a child. However, he was worrying about possibly bringing morale down with his whinging, so he popped the bleeding finger out of his mouth and moved to put a key in the hole. As he did so, though, it transformed. Not into a cute rabbit or rat, though. A wolf. A real, starving wolf. 

Edward’s first response was to pick up the rodents. While he knew he may earn more bites by doing so, he didn’t want to see them get eaten. Then he turned to the others, voice quiet but unnaturally serious.

"Get back. But slowly. No sudden movements."

More of the keys began to transform, and for a moment he nearly ignored his own advice and ran. Still, he forced himself to stay silent and slow, though he was shaking so much that he could barely stand, and tears of fear were threatening to spill from his eyes. There were several animals now, all snarling angrily at the four, and though he was pressed against the door as far away from them as possible, he couldn’t help but feel terrified. 

Sinking to his knees, he gestured for the others to sit by him. Both the rodents were biting him, now, but he barely felt it, looking into the cold eyes of the animals. And yet… He put on a smile. Unintelligent he may be, but even Edward knew that panicking wouldn’t help the situation. So he grinned at the other three.

"Are you alright? I’m sure the professors will come and help us soon. We’re going to be alright!"

Blood from the cuts was welling up and dripping down his wrists, and coupled with the strong fear written in his eyes, it didn’t make for a very convincing picture of cheerfulness.

[helena-ashworth-deactivated2015]

The keys she was sorting through had gone. Replaced with only empty palms and a shrill buzzing over her head. She choked on her words, unable to fathom what on earth could be causing this. Her had snapped back to her team mates. All seemingly paralysed, but for a different reason.

A wolf. A black wolf, nearly as unsettling as the nearby goblins and approaching ghouls. It was growling and staring hungrily at the nearest student - Marcy.

No, no, no! this isn’t right! I’ve just met these people, arrived at this school. Why would the professors knowingly put us in this much danger? first years?! 

Helena’s eyes grew frantic and she took a step backwards, heeding Edward’s advice. He was smiling? Why was he smiling when we all faced with the very real chance of death, and at best - serious injury? She had to do something, and trying to remember the advice of all those survival books would be a start.

"Don’t make eye contact." she whispered to her team mates, slowly edging towards them. "Edward, don’t bare your teeth." She commanded, frowning at his smile. "All of you, stand up - we need to look as large as possible." 

She picked up a plank of wood. No way she was going to die today. 

[hannahswritings]

Marcy’s jaw dropped ” I can’t do this… someone kill it!”  She felt as if she would die any second.

"The wolf it’s going to eat me…" with all the strength she could conjure, she looked straight into it’s eyes. The wolf growled ready to pounce any minute. The wolf backed up " Guys, seriously any help?" she fell to her knees as the wolf walked toward her.

She backed up against the wall. The wolf loomed over her “Kill it!” she pleaded  

[simeonberke]

Simeon grabbed his wand and immediately wondered what he was going to do with it. Helena had the better idea--at least a plank of wood could do some damage.

Still, it was worth a shot. "Bombarda!" he shouted, voice cracking and wand shaking. He'd seen Seb use this spell--he'd seen Seb use a lot of spells--and though he had never tried it, it was the best hope they had.

The end of his wand flickered slightly, but nothing happened. No explosion, no contact at all.

Trembling, he shoved his wand in his pocket and grabbed a nearby piece of wood.

He held it out with his right hand and stuck his left arm out in front of Ed and the girls. "Stay back!" he shouted, voice still cracking. He knew he was shaking, but he had no confidence at all. These were vicious beasts and they were going to rip the four of them to shreds. Like Helena had said, looking big and tough could save them, though it would probably just prolong the inevitable.

"I'm warning you!" he said, managing this time to keep his voice even this time even though his arms still shook. He grabbed the board with his other hand and put it over his shoulder as if winding up to smack a baseball. "Hurt my friends, and I'll make you bleed, you ugly pieces of shit!"

[simeonberke]

Prompt: The Locked Room (Simeon, Edward, Helena, & Marcy)

[helena-ashworth-deactivated2015]

 Helena sighed and left Ed to Marcy’s care. She decided the more time trying to find the key would be more time well spent. 

She wondered what the others thought of her, "probably something nice" she muttered, nothing like what she really was. She was littered with flaws, biggest being vulnerability. Caring too much about others. This happened a lot - she would have instances where she would act overly nice and friendly, opening up to others; then she would notice what she was doing, and completely shut them out. Kindness is a vulnerability, she couldn’t risk having that trait.

She hated herself for doing it - but it wasn’t going to change anytime soon. 

Helena grabbed the handful of keys that she had sorted out as the smallest, and placed it in the middle of the room to later compare with the others. She glanced over to Simeon, wondering what he was thinking.

[simeonberke]

This was a cluster of insanity, and Simeon wanted out. Not only was he stuck with the moron cuddling the rodent, but the girls weren't doing much to help.

Okay, he wasn't either, but he figured determination counted for something. He wanted out, after all, and the driving force had to be worth something, right?

"You're fine..." he grumbled in Ed's direction. "How much damage could that thing really do?"

He sighed and threw down a handful of keys angrily before grabbing one that looked small. Maybe it was the smallest? Sure. Whatever. He shoved it roughly into the nearest, smallest hole he could find, but it turned into yet another rodent.

At least Ed'll be happy...

[simeonberke]

Prompt: The Locked Room (Simeon, Edward, Helena, & Marcy)

[shslmotivation]

Nobody knew where Edward went when he zoned out like that, but wherever it was, it seemed to make him happy. So he let out a quiet whine when he was snapped out of it by Simeon’s voice. Still, it was hard to upset him for long, and he snapped himself upright into a ridiculously formal position, seeming like he was about to call the other boy Sir, or something.

Instead, though, he just giggled and ran towards him, sorting through the keys with a method that, while not the most organized, was certainly enthusiastic. It was rather amazing, actually. Whenever he thought that he must have found the smallest, another would appear and challenge his views on the sizes of keys forever.

Not that he had had much of an opinion in the first place.

Picking up the newly conjured rodent and cuddling it with one hand as a kind of mascot, he gave everybody a thumbs-up as they searched.

"You guys are great! I’m sure we’ll be out of here in no time with a team like this!" His newfound confidence in success waned a little, though, when the small rodent bit his finger, drawing blood. "Ow. That… It really hurts!" Pausing his work to nurse the pathetically tiny cut, he tried his best to hide his glistening eyes from his cool new friends.

[helena-ashworth-deactivated2015]

Helena smiled a little, Turns out Ed really did have a knack for keeping everyone positive.

She had a pile of the smallest keys she had found by the barrel - if everyone kept it up, we wouldn’t be spending much more of our time in the room. 

"What about we find the smallest keys from each of our barrels," she paused to step out of the way of a passing hedgehog, " and then compare them to the rest of the groups keys. That way, we don’t have to keep dodging planks of wood and nails." She was just about to carry on talking, but any thoughts of that dispersed at ed’s quiet shriek.

I hope it wasn’t a nail to the head, I don’t fancy having to preform surgery with only planks of wood and rodents.

Helena turned around to see a hunching Edward clutching his hand, whimpering. 

"Ed? are you alright?" she approached him, trying to see what exactly was wrong wit him.

[hannahswritings]

Marcy was in mid dig when her brain started to heat up ” I think I got something.” She stated turning to the other students ” It’s not - Oh d Ed are you alright.” she turned toward him trying to think of what could’ve happened.

"Simeon try medium key to small keyhole." she stated trying to un-clench Ed’s hand " That should get us some nails or more wood."

Marcy looked at the them first at Helena she seemed so caring and very smart, then Ed he seemed a little hopeless but he tried his best and that was enough for her. Last was Simeon he was determined to prove himself she could tell but he was the biggest help she could get    

[simeonberke]

Prompt: The Locked Room (Simeon, Edward, Helena, & Marcy)

[shslmotivation]

This was going to be an interesting experience. Which meant that it would probably be fun at first, and then people would start to get more and more frustrated by Ed’s low level of skills and intelligence, and probably yell at him. And that would be sad, because nobody wanted to be yelled at.

Still, right now he was still in the early stages of incessant cheeriness, and looked up at Simeon with a friendly, almost reverent smile.

"Okay, Simeon!" He saluted. "So we just need the key for the smallest hole, right? A small key…"

Getting straight into it, he grabbed through handfuls of keys before he found one that was pretty small, and moved as if to insert it into the first hole he could see. However, had he been paying more attention, he would have seen many smaller keys lying beside it, thus disproving his own ideas about fool’s luck. With a rather annoying smile, he walked over to the hole, and hovered with the key in front of it. Luckily for the team, he seemed to relapse into another one of his catatonic states, and didn’t get the chance to cause disaster.

Well, not this time, anyway.

[helena-ashworth-deactivated2015]

This really wasn’t Helena’s idea of fun. Locked in a room with hundreds of keys and notches, oh joy. what would happen if we could never find the right key? A reenactment of that godawful book her grandma forced her to read - lord of the flies? 

Do you know whats better? Mistakes will duplicate the keys or the notches in the wall; some into even wood, nails and hedgehogs.

Maybe that’s why Helena grabbed the key out of Edward’s hand before he got one of them us killed by a flying flurry of hedgehogs. ”Edward?” she called out, waving her hands in front of his eyes.  She struck a look at Simeon and Marcy , wondering if they’re as equally displeased with this situation.

She had met everyone in her group, thankfully, and had some ideas of how they might help.Ed was adorable, but maybe not the best with social situations, he would probably keep us all positive and not ready to jump out of a window. Simeon was pretty intense, I guess he could glare the keys to submission. Not to sure about Marcy, though, She’ll probably tell us all to calm down, and manage to find the key on her fist try. 

[hannahswritings]

Marcy was ready for whatever was going to happen. She went straight to a barrel, no way was she going to lose “Good luck.” she mumbled

After digging for a while she sat on the floor “What to do… what to do?” she said as she thought of ways to get to the top.

" Anyone wearing high heels?" she said still sitting. jumping to her feet she went back to the barrel looking for a certain key "Got one never mind." she took another step to the center of the room.

She went to a small key hole by the door. She gently placed the key in hole  and out popped some wood

[simeonberke]

Simeon watched the whole thing go down with a shocked sort of awe.

"We are literally going to produce a shitload of wooden planks each time we get the wrong key?" He looked up toward the ceiling, squinting to see just how far up the holes went. "Well, if we need to stand on them or something, that works I guess..."

He moved back toward a barrel and compared two keys. One was definitely smaller, and after a bit of searching, he found one that was even smaller than the first. "Okay, so find the smallest key first, then we can start working on the holes...?" He looked at Edward who may have been in his trance still. He couldn't tell. Still, he yelled at the boy. "Eddy! Get over here and help me dig. You girls want to search on that side?"

He knew it was stupid, but he wanted to see what would happen if he tried another hole. He expected a wooden plank, but out popped a hammer. He tried another key, and it transformed into a small rodent.

"The fuck..." he muttered, then he turned back toward the other boy. "Oy! Ed!"

[simeonberke]

Prompt: The Locked Room (Simeon, Edward, Helena, & Marcy)

This was like camp, except Simeon had never been to camp because it was stupid and wouldn't have been fun.

But this was like camp. Forced activities that he didn't want to do with people he didn't even like.

"Let's get this over with," he said, grumbling as they followed the professor to the room.

It was big. Big, enough, at least, and there were barrels spilling over with golden keys. There had to have been thousands, and Simeon wanted to punch whoever concocted this plan.

"How the hell are we getting through this?!" He asked, moving toward the barrels and scooping up a handful of keys. "There are way too many!"

By now they were locked in, and the single door had a keyhole that was so nondescript it was painful. He imagined this ending in cannibalism, a last-man-standing sort of situation where they would devour each other until they were all dead.

Would the professors even look for the bodies? Probably not. It would be one of those horror stories where Hogwarts killed the students and still managed to function as a school.

The absolute fuck...?

"Well, get digging I guess?"

[hannahswritings]

Ceremony - Simeon and Marcy

[hannahswritings]

"Simeon I’m sorry." she replied quietly. "I just want to graduate and not get sorted."

They walked forward “Who’s the head of the houses?”

The head master started his speech

[simeonberke]

Who were they? Hell if he knew. He recognized one who'd been hanging out in Diagon Alley, but the rest--no clue. Plus that guy might not even be a House Head.

He shrugged. "No clue. Never seen these people before in my life."

The speech was boring, but at least it was short. The headmaster had that much going for him, at least.

[simeonberke]

Gryffindor? - Simeon and Helena

[helena-ashworth-deactivated2015]

Oh, I guess hufflepuffs are all ridiculously clumsy.

"Really? One of them managed to slam a door into my face on the way here." Helena replied, scowling. It would be a bloody miracle if she didn’t have a bruise by tomorrow. 

"I think I saw a few tryout posters on the way here…" So he wanted to be a beater too? "I was thinking of being a beater too, I guess we’ve got some competition between us." Helena mused, her face threatening to give away her hidden smile. A potential rival, on the first day too! you’ve really outdone yourself this time.

[simeonberke]

Competition? Another one? First Caspian, and now this girl, and both about Quidditch.

Interesting.

It was where it stood a chance, though. If it were academics, he'd be screwed. Of course, he hadn't started his coursework, but he doubted he'd excel as quickly as he would at Quidditch.

He smirked. "Yeah, well I'll believe it when I see you fly." He turned and looked her over. "You may be good, but trust me, I'll destroy you." He smiled then returned to his food.

She could be all talk, he knew, but she seemed less full of shit than certain other Ravenclaws he knew. Still, time would tell if she sucked or if she could actually back it up.

[simeonberke]

Gryffindor? - Simeon and Helena

[helena-ashworth-deactivated2015]

"Happy? not exactly." She replied in-between bites of food. so he was aiming for Slytherin too? "Got into Ravenclaw, but at least It wasn’t hufflepuff." She scoffed.

Not that she looked down on hufflepuffs, Just that if they’re anything like Edward (who she had seen being sorted into hufflepuff), She would of had to walk around with several layers of Armour. She grimaced and held the cup in her hand to her aching cheek. 

"But the quidditch team isn’t exactly good…" she grumbled. She was hoping for place as a beater, wouldn’t be very hard with ravenclaws’ crappy team. "You interested in joining Griffindor’s team?" 

[simeonberke]

"Bunch of trainwrecks," he said, shaking his head. "One crashed into me earlier. Fucking disasters..."

So there were two of them displeased. At least the reality wasn't worse. He'd have likely dropped out if he were stuck with the Puffs.

"Yeah. Beater. All I like." If there were no Beater spots, he didn't want anything else. He wasn't fast enough to be a Seeker, and Chaser was pointless. And Keepers were stuck at one side of the field the whole game. Nope, Beater was it. "Just gotta figure out when tryouts are."