Well, it was finally time for his task. Kaiden had been anxiously awaiting this time since he first found out Professor Hadley had said she'd like him to do this. Since his panic attack that had kept him out of the first quidditch match, he had been dreading this thing, and the idea of doing it in front of everyone. However, upon realizing these tasks could not be seen by spectators, he had relaxed considerably. There had even been some munching on toast and things throughout the day.

Kaiden felt more than a little relieved when he handed his wand over before the task even started. Knowing that he need to use it, was pretty great. He even gave an Alice a slight grin. They could do this, what ever it was going to be. It was the best time of day, night time, and to him, it felt like an awesome Scouts camping trip. When they were released to go do what ever the task was Kaiden didn't move immediately. "Hey wait just a second" he said as he closed his eyes for a few seconds, and pressed his palms against them, until they did that thing where he could see white lights in his eyes. He opened his eyes, and blinked. Though that usually helped him see better, he didn't know if it would work with a new moon. He couldn't be worse off though.

"Alright, so, er, you're good at astronomy then?" he asked quietly, stepping forward. The question was more of a way to have something to say than to really ask. He wasn't that dumb, thank you everybody. As they walked slowly Kaiden kept his eyes scanning the area in front of them. "What do you think we are looking for?" He was hoping to see something, anything contrasting in this darkness, or maybe some sort of movement. There had to be something out here for them to find. "Hey, do you see that?" he asked, pointing to the large dark outline not to far ahead of them. "Do you think that could be something?" It was the only thing that seemed to be different about the area they were in. Nothing else seemed to stand out.

Kaiden was a bit weird, she noted, but hopefully in the good way. After watching him press his palms into his eyes, Alice continued on into the dark without her partner. Her hands remained outstretched, feeling in front of her for something that could possibly aid her in completing this task, possibly a lead of some sorts. But she wasn't waiting for him, no, he had to keep up by himself.

"Ish." Goodish. What were they looking for? She pondered his question seriously, still wandering towards anything she could make out in the obscure lighting. "Answers." Alice wasn't quite sure what HE was looking for, but she knew that was what her brain desired right now. Lots of them.

And what did Kaiden see? Because that could have been pointing them towards an answer, too.

Making her way over to where his dim figure seemed to be pointing, she soon collided with a rock. Rock? Boulder thing? It was waist high, and her fingers told her that the top was flat and had things strewn across it. The first thing she picked up was one half of the pair of Muggle devices, and she spent quite a bit of time eyeing it up. A picture of those was in her textbook. What was it called.. a lightflash? Lightflick? Sure, why not?

"I found a lightflick," the sixth year announced matter-of-factly. Honestly, it would have been so much easier to see if they hadn't stripped her of her wand, but she wasted no time in finding the flicker on her lightflick. Unfortunately, Alice wasn't as trained as she liked to claim with Muggle objects, and blasted herself straight in the eye with a flash of white.

Well, at least it wasn't dark anymore.

What else was there? A bag of coins.. Muggle ones, because they definitely weren't galleons. A tiny piece of smooth looking parchmenty stuff with what she was assuming was a Muggle writing utensil. A.. wait, was that a sextant?

This was where she came in.

"Kaiden?"

Oh, okay, so she wouldn't wait for him. That was cool he guessed. Very team spirit and all that stuff. He was just trying to see better so he didn't trip over things like that one girl he knew. But what ever it was fine, and they had some sort of task to find or do or something.

Also, Kaiden realized as they walked, An Alice was weird. Like not too weird, because she liked Odessa and all, but she was making a weird noise, and not saying a whole lot. And shouldn't they be looking for say a question, not answers? that would make more since to him.

"Yeah, that thing." Kaiden said cringing when she ran into what ever the thing was. As he neared it, he was just able to make out that it was a large rock, when Alice said something about a Lightflick. "Hmm? Is that some sort of Astronomy thing?" he asked, just before the beam of light came out of the thing. "A Flashlight!" This was quite exciting, even if the light had been adjusting to seeing by the stars.

Grabbing the other flashlight, he shown it on the boulder and studied their items. "So, we have just one post-it note and a pen? Hmmmm, I think we should try to same the paper for something important." Obviously they needed the paper, and it would do them no good wasting it. He opened the bag and looked in it. There were some sort of weird coins. Carefully he poured them out and examined one. Pence? "I think these are the british coins. I'm pretty sure they function just like the American ones." As in one hundred pence to a pound, and one hundred cent to a dollar. "They just have different denominations," he said eyeing the 20p coin. "One, two... two pounds and forty pence." he noted after counting them up. Taking the pen, he noted that on his arm. £2.40 Recapping the pen, he put them all back in the bag.

There was that gold thing sitting there too. "Didn't we use those in class last year? Its called a Sextent right? Professor Space Man made us go around the school looking at a star or something with that." He leaned down to look at it, and knocked something else. "There is a rock here" he stated, looking at it. "and I think it might be for you." he said turning it so An Alice could see it.

Flashlight. Right. Not lightflick. Psh. Knew that. Totally did.

Alice wasn't exactly sure what a post-it note was either, but she assumed it was the little yellow thing her partner was holding. And a pen? That was the clicky thingy? "I.. don't know what those are," she admitted after a long pause. Under normal circumstances, she refused to let anyone know if her mind was filled with confusion, but since they had to finish whatever they were meant to do together, Kaiden needed to know, yes? "Muggle stuff and I aren't very compatible. That's yours." Post-it thing. Clicky writing utensil. Yep. His.

And the British coins? Those were his, too. Galleons, sickles, and knuts were the only currency this sixth year was familiar with. But once he started on the sextant, Alice perked up again. "Yeah. Sextant. They're used to measure the angle of elevation of a celestial object relative to the horizon. Usually, people use the Sun as their celestial object of reference, but you can use Polaris, too. At night." Hmm. Was Polaris up there? She glanced up at the sky, and then back to Kaiden before grabbing the sextant.

The rock had a number on it? With a degree symbol, and an arrow pointing in a certain direction. It was probably best not to move that. "In class, we used the sextant to calculate a degree of latitude by using the angle of elevation of Polaris and the time of day." That direction... was it pointing to the horizon?

Best to ask. Partners and such.

"Do you think the arrow might be pointing to horizon?" Alice squinted at the rock thoughtfully. "And then.. we'd have to find Polaris and line it up with the horizon using the sextant.... and then subtract the number of the sextant angle from 90 to get the degree of latitude." Was he following? "So 57 could either be number we have to subtract to get the degree of latitude, or the degree of latitude itself. I'm not sure."

Really. She wasn't sure at all. To be honest, she could have been going off on a tangent that had nothing to do with the task at hand at all, but it was the only thing she'd been taught and knew how to do. So... they could try it? And then if it didn't work...

Well. Sorry, Truebridge.

The arrow on the stone clue almost seems to glow in the moonlight encouraging you to go to a specific location. Standing in one place will not help you finish this task.

Best hurry along, there seem to be some ominous clouds on the horizon...

And then... the arrow was glowing. Glowing? What? Were they supposed to go somewhere?

Alice looked at Kaiden, and then back at the thing. Dumb thing. Dumb sextant thing. WHAT did it want her to DO.

"I... don't know whether we're meant to get the sextant angle to read 57, so we'd need to be at 33 degrees latitude.... or if we're meant to get to 57 degrees. Want to try both?" Because that clue really wasn't letting anything else on for her.

Finding Polaris first. "Um... okay, so.. help me find Polaris? Can you spot the Big Dipper anywhere? Or the Little Dipper?"

She didn't know what they were? That was okay yeah? Thats what he was there for. "Parchment you can stick to things... and this is like a quill with ink already in it." It was weird though, weren't pen and paper like... the basics? Eh, Not important Yarborough. Get your head in the game!

The boy nodded as he listened to An Alice talk about the sextant. "Angle of elevation, that would change through out the night right? As we rotated? Polaris, yeah, the North Star, we did that in class." It wasn't the fun class about black holes and vacuums, but it was cool.

"Er... well the horizon is all around us, but, maybe they want us to do it from there?" he added unhelpfully. He rubbed the back of his neck as she stood there talking about lining things up, and subtracting and latitude and stuff. Good thing she knew what she was talking about, even if she wasn't sure which option to go for. "Maybe we can try both?"

And then, there was light coming from the stone. "Well thats odd." he mumbled. Think, Kaiden think. Both? "yes, both is good."

The Hufflepuff walked forward in the direction that the arrow was pointing as he shut off his flash light and looked up. Studying the sky has he moved slowly, his eyes found the big dipper. "There it is." he pointed, tried to indicate with his light. "And we need Polaris, right?" he asked, looking towards the end of the dipper and going up three lengths. "Thats it right?"

She kept squinting at the arrow as Kaiden walked in it's direction, wondering if she was maybe overthinking things and the sextant wasn't necessary just yet. Could it have been possible that they just had to walk in the arrow's direction? Just in case, Alice followed the badger in its direction.

Well. Arrow. They had moved to where it was pointing. Something? Anything? Nothing? Okay.

An already inked quill? "Like a Self-Inking Quill?" Sticky parchment was beyond her comprehension, though. "Hogwarts is Unplottable. Every degree result we get is going to vary and be a bit inaccurate because of that." So it would definitely change.

"Yeah. There. It points to end of the Little Dipper." Which was riiight where Polaris was.

Now.. was them standing right where the arrow pointed doing anything? They had moved. But it seemed like a waste of time to wait for something to happen instead of moving on, so she slipped the flashlight string around her wrist and brought the sextant up to her eye, aligning it with the horizon. Alice pressed the clamp to release the index bar next, bringing Polaris to the horizon.

"Can you see what number the angle reads?"

"Yeah, self inking quill" the Badger said, his eyes still skyward. What were they actually trying to achieve here? What was the end goal, and why were they given the things they had received? "Hey, An Alice? What do you think we have money for? and what do we need to write?" This was confusing. Very very confusing.

When the Lion said she found Polaris, Kaiden pulled his eyes from the sky to watch her use the sextant. Good think she remembered how to use that thing.

"Oh, um." She wanted to know what the thing said. Peering down at the device he shown the light on it. "It says 33. Is that right? Do you think we were supposed to find the star that would be the one for 57? Like the stone said?"

Using the sextant to bring you to the correct location, the two of you better start looking down instead of up for your next clue. On the ground by your feet is yet another clue in the shape of a stone.

Something seems different about this clue. Perhaps you should take note of the differences.

An Alice? "Um.. dunno, but whatever it is, I'm counting on you for help with it." Because she really didn't want to have to figure out how use Muggle self-inking quills. No thank you. Kaiden could do that.

A star for 57? "There's no star for it. If the angle reads 33, we're at 57 degrees latitude now, s-" Her voice was cut off as she took another step backwards and tripped over another stone. A stone? Alice grabbed the flashlight strung around her wrist and fiddled with it for a good several seconds, trying to find the clicker button thingy, before it finally lit up the next clue.

"54.... the arrow is going the other way. D'you think that means longitude? Or just... walking that way to get a different latitude?"

She wasn't familiar with how to find the longitude using the sextant, though there might have been a slight bit of information on that in her mind from OWL studying. But since Alice was most familiar with using it to find latitude, she began walking in the direction of the new stone's arrow with that purpose in mind. "I'm going to try latitude again. So... tell me when the angle reads... 36?" The sixth year kept walking and adjusting the sextant's index bar to bring Polaris to the horizon with each step she took, in case her position changed it.

"And I don't know what that little 20 in the corner of the stone means either."

Did he? Please say you do, Kaiden. Please.

"Yeah, I can help with that." he said with a nod. He just had to have some sort of hint, because he had no clue about when he was going to get to do his part. Or well, the muggle studies part, because he was helping, he WAS.

An Alice was really smart, and she really knew how the sextant worked and stuff. Oh, "Hey, you okay?" he asked after she tripped. She looked okay, but it was important to ask. There was a new stone? he bent down to look at it. "This one is different." Pulling out the pen, he looked at his arm. Just under his £2.40, he jotted down notes on the last stone ↑57°. He added the 33° beside that in bigger numbers. Next he added the newest stone. →54° On the back of his hand he added the thing that was really different. 20. That was odd.

Just as he was trying to figure out the 20 he was pulled from his thoughts. "Errr... I think it probably means we need to walk that way? If we go that way, it will change the Latitude right?" And it seemed like they were in agreement. That was good. "Yeah, I can do that." he nodded and walked beside her, trying his best to make sure he could see the numbers on the sextant without distracting An Alice from what she was doing.

'The 20?" Kaiden resisted the urge to look at his hand, and kept looking at the sextant. "um. I don't know. Do you... do you think it could be talking about the money? There were some twenty pence pieces in there. Maybe its needing one of those for some reason. I... STOP." he said reaching out for An Alice. "it says 36." Taking the pen, he wrote 36° on his arm as well, right beside the 54 and just as big as the 33.

"If we did it right, there might be another stone or some sort of clue on the ground." he said, shining the light around looking for something.

The clouds seem to be moving closer and closer, covering the night sky in its path. Wait too long and you will not be able to finish the task. In the distance you can also hear the sound of thunder creeping closer.

Thankfully for you, you have arrived at the correct location once again. Nestled in a thick patch of dried thistles sits a stone. It may be a bit hard to see, but the moonlight catches it just enough to cause its white surface to glow just a tad.

"Yeah. Latitude change." Was he writing on his arm? Alice raised an eyebrow- wasn't that what the sticky parchment was for? But Kaiden seemed like he knew what he was doing, and she wasn't one to intrude on someone else's area of expertise.

"I don't know what a pence is." ... had Cerulean ever mentioned that? Maybe? What?

Muggles. So weird.

This time, when Kaiden's flashlight came across the next clue, she was quick to notice it instead of tripping over it like before. "56. Let me know when it hits 34? And... if you have to do something with those four little.." O's? 0's? Eh. Alice cast it out of her mind, pressing the clamp to release the index bar once more as she moved in the direction of the arrow, bringing Polaris to the Horizon as she did so.

Anything? More rocks? 34 degrees yet? She waited.

She didn't know what a pence was? How was he supposed to explain that, when they were a little confusing to him too? And would she need to know this? What if he couldn't figure out what this was supposed to mean on his own? "A pence is kinda like a knut, but... different." He'd try to figure out how to explain it later if he needed too. or even after this thing.

Hey look! There was a new rock. ↑56° and 34° both went on his arm. The 0000 joined the 20 on the back of his hand. Kaiden nodded. "34, yeah, I can do that. I don't know about those things though... there isn't a coin for that, or well zero would be no coin so I'm not sure." was the twenty even talking about the 20p coin? Or... maybe they were talking about the 10p coins? He thought there were four of them, but he would have to look again. Later though because An Alice was moving again, and they probably wouldn't have to move far.

Moving along, he watched the sextant as it slowly moved to the desired number. "34, this is it." he said, looking around for yet another rock. "how many more you think we're gonna have to find?"

You have once again come to the correct location and, just as the times before, there is another stone on the ground with a clue. You may need to use your muggle flashlights to find it though. The rock is dark and with those clouds covering more and more of the night sky it is becoming harder and harder to see.

"hmmm." Kaiden muttered as he shown his flashlight on the ground searching. "Any luck yet?" Because he hadn't found anything yet. Maybe they did something wrong this time? But that couldn't be it. They had done everything the exact same. "The last one was kinda hidden, so try shinning your light in the little clumps of grass."

As he said that, his light shown over a little area, and it seemed like there was something there. "I think I found it." he said moving closer and studying it. "Yeah, this is it." He pulled out his pen and wrote on his arm once more. ←58 Wait, that was different too. "This one doesn't have a degree symbol. Do you think they forgot?" the badger asked, moving over so An Alice could see it better. "You think it means the same thing though? Do we have to find 32?" That was the right number yes? Because he really wasn't sure.

And the other marking on the stone? They didn't make any sense to him either. "These marking are strange." he said writing 0001 on the back of his hand. "maybe more clues will help" The Boy Scout said rubbing the back of his neck.

"They probably did forget," she mused, taking the note of the rock he'd found. 32 was the next sextant angle to position then, yes. Alice nodded at Kaiden and began to walk in the direction of the last arrow, doing her best to keep Polaris against the horizon.

"Tell me when it's at 32?" The sixth year released to clamp to position the index bar again and again.

As for the numbers... "You could be right, and it might have to do with the Muggle coins. We're writing them down, yeah?" As in, Kaiden was? "Probably'll need them soon."

But right now, her concern was the sextant still. 32... 32..... there yet?

"Yeah." because if they didn't forget and it meant something else, he surely didn't have any idea what it was supposed to mean.

Kaiden began to walk with An Alice, once more, watching the numbers carefully. It didn't take long for the number to read 32. "We're here." he said jotting down 32° on his arm.

Like before, he shown is flashlight on the ground searching for the next clue. "I... I don't know." Kaiden said thoughtfully, sparing a glance at his hand. "The twenty maybe, but I don't know about the others. And, I wrote them on my hand. Do you think I should write them on the sti... er, the parchment?" Would that even help? or did he have to save the Post it note for something special?

As you approach your final location, you begin to make out a rectangular shape in the distance. No, you have not stumbled upon the entrance to the Ministry of Magic, but it is a critical location if you wish to complete the task. As you get closer you see that the handset is dangling from its cord with the drone of a voice repeating over and over again 'Please insert the minimal fee before dialing the number to make your call.'

"I don't think it matters as long as you have it written down," Alice mused, lowering the sextant as she glanced around her shoes for another rock. What? Where was it? Were there any more? Most everything else Kaiden said went in one ear and out the other. Had he spotted a rock yet or...?

.... what was that?

"That thing over there." The Gryffindor flicked her flashlight on again, directing it in the general vicinity of the rectangular shape she had spotted. Without a second thought, she set out after it, checking behind her to make sure Kaiden was coming too. Was that thing their next clue? What was it?

A telephone booth. It became more evident to Alice as they got closer, and once they had reached, its identity was evident. The handset seemed to be dangling from it's cord, and the repetitive words echoed in her ears. Insert the minimal fee. Dial the number.

Did Kaiden understand this? She didn't, but the sixth year did lift his arm up to examine the numbers on it. "20, 0000, 0001." Pause. "How many digits are Muggle numbers? Do we just put that in? And how much is a phone booth fee?"

Because she didn't know.

"Yeah, okay." Kaiden nodded. Things were defiantly written down alright, all over his arm. He really hoped there wasn't too much more to write. He had written kinda big, and there wasn't much room left.

The boy was thoroughly searching the ground for the next stone. When he couldn't find it, he even got down on his knees to get a better look at the ground. It had to be here somewhere. "You found something?" he replied to the girl, looking up. Ohh, she did! "That's not a stone, its a pay phone!" Getting up quickly he rubbed his hands on his palms on his pants.

He hurried to follow An Alice so he could inspect the thing. "Hey its talking to us! Or well, it sounds like the phone is off the hook or something." Oh, yes, the phone was just hanging there. Number! He had numbers all over his arm!! And it seemed like An Alice was thinking what he was thinking. "We have ten numbers back home, but here, they have one more. Its really weird."

He looked at the number on the back of his hand that the Lion was holding up and thought. "Its too short. But, every time I've called my grandfather or Amelia I had to dial a zero first. So, I think its actually going to be 020 0000 0001. And... I think the fee is 60 pence." the boy said rubbing the back of his neck with the hand An Alice wasn't holding. He had used one of these pay phone's just a couple of times, to call his grandpa to pick him up. He was pretty sure 60p was what the little sign had said to use.

Pulling out the little velvet bag, Kaiden inserted three of the twenty pence pieces into the phone and dialed the number. 020 0000 0001 ... That was it right? He held the phone up to his ear waiting for more instructions.

An upbeat melody begins to play on the other end of the phone. A cheery tune that is lively enough to make you want to tap your feet and perhaps even sway back and forth a little. Soon there is a voice that says, "Congratulations! You have completed the task. This handset will portkey you to the grandstands in 10 .... 9 .... 8 .... 7 ...."

You and your partner best grab a hold before they count down to one or else you may find yourselves stranded in the rain.

As for the post it and pen you carried with you, afraid the time to use those has passed. Use of them would have certainly kept your arm and hand clean.

"Back home? You're not from here?" How did he.... how did he know all this British stuff, then? Was he just guessing? If so, Kaiden was pretty darn good at it.

Alice watched quietly as he inserted the fee and dialed the number, careful to stay out of his way. She wasn't expecting anything to happen right away, so the upbeat melody on the other end of the phone startled her a bit. The sixth year jumped slightly when the voice began speaking again.

Congratulations? They were done? Portkeying? What?

It was all really sudden, but her face broke out into the first smile she'd produced throughout the whole task as she latched onto the handset and motioned for Kaiden to do so as well. "Grab onto it. S'gonna take us out of here. We're done." Grin.

"We make a good team." Fistbump? With her free hand, of course.