[OPEN/ALL] A train on the lawn

Wendy’s mind was doing backflips, her hands sweating against her little brother’s hand, the quiet Hufflepuff trying to remain calm. Pippa was trying to act older than she was, but her hand had caught up Wendy’s more than once. Wendy was not the sort to be okay with suddenly having all of her summer plans stolen from her (and she certainly had a lot) and given the fact that she didn’t know what had happened to Simon or where he was. She would have been just as panicked as everyone else if it wasn’t for the smaller hands slipped into hers.

She was only too happy to do as directed, finding it easier than engaging in the commotion and attempting to find a solution. She was still trying to mentally locate Simon, trying to recall whether or not he had said he was going home early, or taking another route. He had done it before, the trip home being less important than the trip to school to their traditions. She wanted to say he had said he was going to walk through Hogsmeade and Floo back, needing some things before he made the trip back and Mum figured out he had lost the last of his socks… It seemed to be a strange story, but Simon was absent-minded and secretive all in one. She wouldn’t put it passed him.

The door had opened and people wanted to beckon her in, but the little Weasley was right. They needed their things, and she needed to do one last sleep. “Come on, guys,” she said, “we need to get our stuff.”

She turned, a dry lump in her throat as she realized she had a group of people, Hufflepuffs especially, that were ambling after her. She was most definitely not qualified for this position.

Orla Hughes called out to her and caught up with her, falling into step as Pippa moved to stand on the other side of Noah. Wendy glanced over at her Housemate, trying to look more confident than she was. “Y-yeah, it seems so. I imagine we’ll be sorted close to our houses in Hogwarts. So all of the Hufflepuffs should be able to get through that door. But if things are as bad as the others say…” she glanced at Noah, squeezing his hand. “Yeah, maybe it’s a good idea we get our stuff.”

Great. That was all Anastasia needed to put the cherry on top of a dreadful school year: The Hogwarts Express ported across the world and a riddle to solve. It wasn't that she was in a hurry to get home, in fact Anastasia wasn't even sure if she would be staying with her parents or with her brother and Isadora, but stranded with people she'd fallen out of touch with Ana wasn't too thrilled at the idea.

The past year, since her horrendous fight with her Father that resulted in her being removed from Nott Manor, Anastasia had kept a low profile, her inner demons had started to get the better of her. Instead of being mischevous in class and witty for attention she'd secluded herself and any acting out had been purely because of her built passive aggressiveness. She'd lost her friends, spent time alone and was now forced to go along with whatever people suggested.

There was another option, however. She could solve the riddle, help save the day and have the glory that she deserved. The only problem was, Anastasia had traded in any popularity she had when she'd returned to Hogwarts spiteful and turbulent. Nobody listened to her anymore, all her power she'd built in hope to impress her Father had gone. Why? Because she had lost her way, lost her identity and didn't know what she needed to do in life to meet expectations and receive affection.

Instead of leaving the train like other students had Anastasia had held back, gotten out a book from her trunk and began to read only to find twenty minutes later that she really didn't care for reading books. She was a practical girl and wanted to get home. She wanted to walk Knockturn Alley, breathe in the London pollution and melt into the shadows for the summer biding her time whilst she formed a plan in her head of what her life was supposed to be.

Eventually the Slytherin had departed the train and followed other students across the lawn. A Gryffindor she knew to be Ducky had informed the others of a riddle and told the rest of the students they needed to find doors... If this was some sort of staged test the Headmaster had set them Anastasia wasn't interested. Someone would surely come to save them and what would they do to her if she didn't participate? Deduct points? Write a letter home? Her family wouldn't care, not unless the letter was detailing her doing something to humiliate the Nott name...

'This is absolutely ridiculous.' Anastasia called out, rolling her eyes and folding her arms. 'Whoever had set up this little game is wasting our time. Why are we even at this school?' She asked, although this time her question was directed at the boy who appeared to know everything about Ilvermorny, after all he seemed to have all the answers.

Andrew was sick of this little game before it started. He needed to see what he was dealing with. He started looking around for the tallest tree he could find. He went over to it and started climbing it, and the tree flicked him out of it like he was an annoying little bug.

"Ow!" he said, finding himself on the ground. "You're not a whomping willow, you git!" He shouted at the tree. "You're an Elm!"

"You okay?" Poppy asked him.

"More or less," he sighed, getting up stiffly.

"How about that one?" Poppy asked, pointing to a different tree.

"I'll give it a try," he said. He climbed up the tree, not liking that wherever this was, the rules didn't appear to work quite the same as it did at Hogwarts. He got to a branch that was high enough to look over the top of the castle wall, and as he sat on the branch, he saw that there was a tower on each of the four corners of the castle walls. From where he sat, it looked like a vast area of ground to cover.

"Bloody hell," he sighed. "Who's buggered up enough to come up with this asinine plan?" He had visions of himself dragging his trunk and traipsing all around the outside walls of the castle shouting his name at every door until he could find one that would let him in.

He climbed down, frustrated and angry. "All I wanted was to take the train home. It was supposed to be so easy. And now, here we are, hijacked to Merlin-only-knows, and now we've got to drag our trunks all around the outside walls of this entire bloody castle to see if we can get inside. What a lovely way to spend the holiday!"

"I'll go with you," Poppy said softly. "We might as well get our trunks. We'll just take our time, right?"

Andrew shook his head, feeling hopeless and stuck. He headed back to the train to get his trunk. He appreciated Poppy said she'd stay with him, but that was precious little help. She was too small to manage her own trunk. Hogwarts staff had loaded it for her, and she fully had expected Marcus to get it for her at Kings Cross. That translated to one thing to Andrew. He had to drag her trunk and his all around the castle walls.

It just got better and better.

Mercy could barely hear a thing over the more hushed but still talkative crowd and because of her height she was basically shut in a house of tall bodies.
She huffed as people begun to push past her back to the train for their luggage. Her head turned when she heard another person call out from the crowd, her question aimed at André.
She stared for a moment, eyes trained on the top of André's head as if waiting for an answer, whether he answered or not Mercy couldn't hear a bloody thing anyway.
Mercy squinted forgetting about André and her luggage for a moment, she wanted to see these doors for real instead of the idea of them being yelled at her by these new "Leaders".

She set a blank expression onto her face as she worked past the crowd towards the front, seeing the doors for the first time.
Her expression then turned to one of confusion, slightly nervous on top of that, it was then that the situation finally felt wrong and intimidating, she should'nt be here, whatever put them here meant for these people to suffer.
It was a bad feeling and a bad feeling for Mercy never lied.
She gripped the shoulder strap on her bag, her eyes glued onto the middle door.

"We aren't safe here, we shouldn't be here, we need to leave."She said unsure if she was really talking to someone or if she was just talking to herself, either way she had to say it.

Scarlett was standing near the edge of the crowd that lingered closest, now, to the gates. Oddly, she was curious. This tradition was not unfamiliar to her. As something of great importance, being sorted could not be left out. It troubled her, though, to wonder why they were being sorted at the start of summer instead of the fall. Either way, she let herself lean against one of the walls between the gates, watching them debate what they should do.

Katherine, on the other hand, wasn't actually listening. Just thinking. It wasn't until Mercy came up alongside her that she heard the commotion around her again. "I can't say I disagree. But we can't take the ferry back to Hogwarts, apparently. So we have no choice..." Katherine looked directly at her housemate then. "Shall we go try some gates, then? May as well stick together since we'll end up in the same place."

She started off without waiting for very long, hoping that she had encouraged Mercy to join her. Even if she hadn't, what Kit really needed was a lie down. Ignoring the Ilvermorny student that watched her walk off to the right, Katherine started studying the gates. Perhaps there was some sort of sign or symbol that they could figure out. Wisdom, for example, was represented by owls - or, in their case, Ravens - or a number of other images. If they could find any of those on a gate, maybe that would help? It was all made up in her head, though. She didn't even know if the gates had anything on them at all besides a ward.

When she approached the second gate and stared up at it, she found that she was around the corner from her Hogwarts classmates, looking up at another side of what looked like a courtyard. She couldn't tell for sure, though, and didn't waste time on it.

The trouble with knowledge is that sometimes it can be quite painful. Knowing things one doesn't want to, that is. Like the fact that one is dying, and now stuck in a horrible place like this one. Knowledge was a snake in the same way a snake was quite cunning. So she squinted at the top of the gate, trying to make out the design at the top. It did look different, now that she thought about it. It had sun rays built out of the metal. Somehow, Kit knew she couldn't belong there. So she turned to her right once more, wandering to the back side of the gate complex.

André looked around after he had explained the most likely comparisons between houses, and knowing Hogwarts students, he knew they would likely use logic. Ha, no. It had been exactly just how he expected, everyone did whatever the hell they wanted to like always. Of course, he couldn't blame them, first of all, there were a large amount of students there, and it was very likely a lot of them hadn't heard him, second of all, Hogwarts students were some of the most hard headed teenagers in the wizarding world.

With Molly confirming how they could enter a house thanks to using Wendy Fudge as an example, and André knowing more or less which houses they were supposed to enter, this would speed it up. Nodding at the notion that they should get whatever they can out of the train, he stepped towards the front of everyone. Looking at the Slytherin, he raised an eyebrow. How the hell was he supposed to know? He knew about the houses, about the castle, but he had no idea why they were there. "Your guess is as good as mine." He told the Slytherin girl.

Looking back at everyone. "Everybody should split up by house, I think I got it, positive actually." He began to say in a loud and clear voice. "After we get all our stuff. Gryffindors, follow Ducky and I to the Thunderbirds." Turning to Molly. "Ravenclaws follow Molly to the Horned Serpents! Hufflepuffs-" He motioned at Wendy Fudge. "Y'all know what to do." Then he turned back at the girl who had asked him the question earlier, the Slytherin. "Go to the Wampus tower with the other Slytherins house." He explained.

Turning back to the towers, he walked towards the Thunderbirds tower, looking up for a moment and taking a deep breath. "André Mulligan!" He shouted, and after a second... The sounds of the doors opening invaded his ears.

They weren't getting their things. They weren't. Casey's stomach was clenching, her skin dry and cracked and rough from exposure to the elements, grimy from lack of soap. Water - water had become a highly monitored commodity. She knew those students had trunks, trunks full of fresh clothes, and snacks, and maybe even medical supplies. Her mind was dizzy and her body greedy for something fresh and new, for something she didn't have to track for hours, kill with her bare hands, or wait for dozens of others to use first.

They needed those trunks.

"Guys!" she said, her voice loud and commanding, hiding the desperation she felt within her. "Go get your trunks first! We need it, and who knows if you'll be able to get out again, or how long the train will be here. Come on!"

Baker magnified her claims with a "Train first! Then doors!"

He glanced at Molly, who gave him a curt nod before heading towards the train with Margo. Finn was also beginning her timid journey. Ducky's eyes flitted across the moving body of students, nodding, before beginning to move towards the train. He paused as he passed Kit Avery and reached out to catch her elbow. "I'll grab your trunk for you."