If her upbringing had taught her anything it was to not fear the darkness. While the memories of her mother and father were fuzzy at best, she could still recall the calm and collected sound of her mother humming lightly into her ear. Humming while she held her in his lap and rocked her to sleep in the pitch black darkness of their mortgaged home. The sound of the wind was almost empowering, a reminder of the icy chill that crept through the cracks in the broken front window held together with duct tape as her mother coaxed her shivering body to sleep for tomorrow was always another day and the sun had no choice but to rise once more.

Where most saw despair and dead ends, Valerie Gray saw opportunity. This was no different.

The fog was not anything to bat her white eyelashes at either and she was accustomed to it rolling in suddenly over the Puget Sound. Though the combination of these two with the addition of the cooling temperature did add a little unrest, the adrenaline already pumping through the Wampus’ veins as she stood at the edge was a reminder that nothing but shame lay behind her if she did not proceed forward. What good would that Book of Merlin be if it had chosen someone who so easily surrendered just by staring into the unknown?

Muttering a few choice words to herself, Valerie stepped confidently forward and into the forest. A few paces in and the loud snap of a twig under her black combat boots nearly caused her to curse and berate herself aloud for being so careless right off the bat. Thankfully, the Calming Draught she had consumed earlier kept her wild temper at bay and she flourished her wand instead to cast a silent Quietening Charm on herself.

She would not be making that mistake again.

Testing the efficiency of her spellwork by treading on another nearby twig, grinning internally at the lack of sound this time, the proceeded forward and paused now and again to allow for her eyes to adjust to the progressively diminishing light. Soon, however, it became apparent that there was no adjusting to be done in the pitch blackness. Man fears the darkness and so he scrapes away at the edges of it with fire, she quoted to herself with a small smirk tugging at one corner of her lips. Rather than foolishly cast Lumos and give away her location further (further than the initial snapping of the twig had provided this forest’s inhabitants), the sixth year gave a reserved swish of her wand directed at her eyes. “Bestiar eyes,” she whispered on an exhale.

Eyes focused on the path shrouded in thick darkness ahead, Valerie’s thought of and only of the eyes of a barn owl. Soon she could feel the skin around her grey eyes both loosen and tighten at the same time to make way for her new significantly larger, rounder, and more tubular shaped ones. Perhaps efficiency would have begged her to play a different card, but she saw no need to utilize that talent immediately. Once her superior owl eyes had settled into place and she could see the ground upon which she tread, Valerie continued forward with her wand ready for whatever this maze of mangled branches and suffocating fog had to offer.

Clever girl! Using a spell to improve your sight was a stroke of genius, but your new owl eyes can only help you so much.

As you venture forward, all is quiet until...

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

A blood curdling scream echoes in the distance. You've been brave so far, but are you brave enough to follow the scream?

Valerie would stop to occasionally as she proceeded forward to turn her head in order to take in the rest of her surroundings in the ever darkening forest. One of the disadvantages of her owl eyes was the absence of seventy percent or so field of view compared to that of a human’s. The lack of ability to roll her eyes about in her sockets and small loss of peripheral vision was regrettable, but there were always sacrifices that needed to be made for one’s advancement. Always.

Her temporary eyes were able to pick up the slightest of movements on the path before her or among the mangled branches surrounding her. Mostly the erratic and speedy movements of insects presently, each of whom received a particularly salty scowl from the sixth year as she proceed further and further into the forest. The growing chill caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand and skin to become covered in goosebumps. Enough so that, for a fleeting moment, she considered administering a few heating charms to herself but soon thought against it at risk of overheating once she undoubtedly had to spring into action.

Coming to a stop at a fork in the path, Valerie knelt down and touched the earth with her fingers. Even going so far as to pick up some of the cold and slightly damp soil to rub between her thumb and index finger for any indication as to which way she was meant to proceed. But the ground felt cold no matter where her hands traveled.

And then came that scream.

Eyes unable to widen any further, the Wampus stared vacantly ahead as the scream tore through her very core and even the adrenaline froze in her veins. The ground soon began shaking beneath her, small tremors at first but soon into fully fledged and unnatural undulations. Then came the snapping of the trees as the earth became uneven around them; uprooting and crashing into one another. Another loud crack and the tree marking the fork in the path had split into two, scattering bark, leaves, concrete, and thin sheets of metal roofing in every which direction.

And still the ground continued its relentless movements all around her.

And then there was their scream.

Weakness suffocated her further as she knelt on the ground and her mind rattled, reeling, from the three terrified voices echoing within her head. Hands moving swiftly to her ears in a feeble plea for the screaming to cease. For the sounds of the destruction around her to cease. “Make it stop…” came a faint appeal into the darkness. An appeal not unlike that of a small child’s. Only this child was beseeching of themselves with desperation clawing at the edges of echoes into the past.

But then her senses remembered something in her hand and currently pressing into her pale cheek. Her wand. She had her wand. Suddenly the ground stopped shaking and the fallen debris disappeared back from whence it came. Back into memory. And there were not three screams but one. One of unknown origin and of no real association with herself other than being distinctly human. Berating herself yet again for that embarrassing display, Valerie pushed herself up on a deep inhale and straightened her posture on a long exhale. All three of her owl eyelids blinking and ignoring the dull throb beginning to form around the sockets, she roughly dusted off her trousers and violently flicked a few leaves clinging there out of frustration.

On top of it all she now had to follow the predictable path to the left towards the scream like some foolish character in a No-Maj classic horror film for the fundamental need of progressing the plot. The sort of character (typically some dippy blonde) that her and Lachlan throw more than disapproving looks at and hardly be surprised when within the next few minutes of the film were lying dead on the ground in some gruesome fashion having victimized themselves with their miscalculated curiosity.

Curiosity killed the kneazle. Good for her that she was no kneazle. Nor was she a victim.

Shunning any more lingering memories clinging to her subconsciousness, she performed a tight arc while whispering “Disillusio,” opting for the variation of the charm that worked best on living things in anticipation of it giving her a slight edge for whatever lay ahead. Switching her wand to her other hand and performing a swish and a tap upon her more dominant hand, she performed a silent Prehenso and waited for the initial tingling sensation to subside before returning her wand to it. Fingers once again wrapping around her wand, she rolled her shoulders loosen some tension and relaxed feeling the slightly more roughened texture of the cherry wood against her palm. After one, two more deep breaths to recenter herself...she continued forward.

Pull yourself together! You won't get anywhere in this challenge by panicking!

That's more like it! Your Disillusionment charm conceals you from any watchful eyes as you venture onward. The Prehenso spell was a nice touch, too. No more losing your wand this way, right?

You near the center of the forest when suddenly someone- or something- crashes into you from the side, something you probably would've seen coming with normal eyes. It's a small boy no older than ten.

The boys screams and bursts into tears as a dark figure appears from out of the shadows. It sinks of decay and despair as it reaches out a scabbed, rotting hand toward the poor child. Someone needs to save him!

Moving forward with a bit more urgency now thanks to the surge of adrenaline , Valerie was even more methodical and precise in her movements. Her owl eyes only remaining in one direction for a few seconds in any which direction, the air around her grew a chill so cold that she had to pause once to touch a bit of moisture that had trickled formed on her cheek to see if the icy particles had cut her. Interesting. What was even more interesting was how vividly she could see her breath now, only confirming her suspicions when she had initially entered the forest.

It seemed all too…predictable.

Sense somewhat heightened in anticipation, the Wampus turned quite suddenly off the path when she heard the scream coming from a slightly different direction. The sudden change in course caused her to stumble slightly as her footing left the flattened dirt path and entered slightly more uncharted territory, but the scream was getting louder, more distinct, and it only added fuel to the fire burning through her veins.

Then just off to the right there was the distinct snap of a twig and the sixteen year old had snapped her head around just in time to see a small humanoid figure appear from out of the darkness. He reflexes had her wand thrust in its direction and the incantation to a Full Body-Bind Curse on the tip of her tongue when she found her wand pointing right between the eyes of a small boy, a boy no older than Joshua or Ryan, and her arms were moving to wrap themselves around him protectively and instinctively before she could stop herself. Quickly remembering a moment later that she was still under the influence of the Disillusionment Charm, she pointed her wand to herself to remove the charm with silent Finite to make herself visible once more. “Where did yo---”

But her query was soon cut off in due part to the foul stench of the Dark creature before burning her nostrils and causing her stomach to twist and knot. The nagging suspicion that it was absurd to believe that this boy was simply that was very present in her mind. Why would a boy so young be out here all alone? Were the Boards of Governors between the two schools really that heartless to endorse this sort of behavior with their money? Faulty this foolish? Valerie was not buying it and her guard was anything but down. She was suspecting polyjuice potion in play (although perhaps hoping was the better word) but it if turned out that someone had optioned to sacrifice this small boy’s sanity for the ‘joy’ of competing...well...they were going to wish they were meeting a dementor in the woods rather than Valerie Gray in the flesh.

However, given other circumstances, her focus was needed elsewhere and thoughts ceased here.

Her wand hand was moving before anything else, reflexes kicking in along with the need to act swiftly before the rattling breathing of the cloaked figure could begin to influence her mind. The close proximity was already taking a bit of its toll, feelings of helplessness seeping back into her bones and causing her arm to feel a bit sluggish and heavy as she raised her wand while she kept her other firmly on the boy’s shoulder in front of her.

Inhaling sharply through her mouth, Valerie drew on the only moment where she had ever felt truly liberated from the weights of the world and at peace in her heart. She could feel the feathers growing out of her skin in a ticklish ripple as her tall and slender frame began to shrink. Light and ethereal, she took to the sky for the first time and and flew away from all that contained her as the world beneath her talons grew small and insignificant. Freedom. Complete unadulterated freedom. Just herself and the sky. Just her.

Eyes narrowing on dark cloaked figure, she performed a simple circle with her wand before speaking the incantation loud and clear. “Expecto Patronum!” Silvery light began to pour and swirl out of her wand to create a swirling pillow upon the ground surrounding the creature. Balling up as it picked up speed, the glowing mass soon rolled itself into the strong form of a Corsican Ram that cantered around Valerie and the boy once to pick up speed before charging with everything it had ahead at the dementor.

The little boy sobs and grabs onto you, hiding behind you as the dementor draws ever closer. He's lucky you know what to do!

Your ram patronus charges at the creature and makes contact just as it turns its rotting face toward the child. The dementor shrieks and appears to vanish, but before you can comfort the boy, it's back.

Now what are you going to do? Perhaps a different memory would be stronger?

Had the dementor just…………………………...

Shaking her head and tightening her hold on her wand despite the Gripping Charm still in place, she kept her other arm wrapped around the little boy (although she was still not entirely convinced that this was just that cowering behind her back). Her porcelain hand pressing into him and slender fingers knotting themselves in the fabric of his clothing to hold him securely in place against her, her mind reeled as the dementor returned and came swooping back towards them. It had not worked. Why had her memory not worked this time?

Now was not the time to dwell, particularly as the cold's intensity tore her skin and other nightmares from the past began seeping in threatening to shroud her thoughts in darkness. Fight or flight instincts were locked in battle in her mind, a part of her already formulated an escape plan. She could just imagine the snickers of a few choice competitors were she to flee like a cowardly dog with its tail between its legs from a Dark creature as straightforward to defeat (in principle) as a dementor. So no, not yet. She would execute Plan B should all other options exhaust themselves.

As the dementor drew nearer and her hold on the boy strengthening, his trembling form against hers triggered another memory. One that she had been ignorant of (perhaps even avoiding) as she foolishly allowed this challenge to play mind games with her. Inhaling deeply, she allowed the memory to fill her while her trained eyes remained focused on the creature and its gaping mouth.

She is five-years-old and Shane (then three) shivering next to her as they squeeze in one of the cheap plastic chairs around the matchbox sized kitchen table. Mom is carefully counting out the crusts bread (a tunafish day according to some bits clung here and there), affectionately making sure that there is enough for each of them before taking a few for herself. Today had been an especially productive day at the factory, meaning that mom had come home with a surplus of crusts. Enough so that she could fry up a dozen or so with a small sprinkle of brown sugar for a sweet treat. She had also come home with a carton of cranberry juice now poured into three separate glasses, Valerie’s being the most full because “tomorrow was her special day,” as Shane had proclaims. Mom’s face turns up into a weary smile. Warm and sweet smells fill their shabby kitchen. Her little brother hugs her tight and not because of the cold. The three raise their glasses of cranberry juice in a toast to unconditional gratitude and each other. Leaning in smiling at one another, they create their own little utopia for three christened with the gently clank of their cups.

“Expecto Patronum!” she shouted clearly as she repeated the circular wand movement once more. The ram, brighter and seemingly with larger horns than the previous, stood proudly before her for a moment before lowering its head and charging forward.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again! The little boy continues to cling to you as the dementor returns, but he has no need to fear for long. Your next spell produces a much stronger patronus. The ram charges full speed at the dementor, and it disappears before it has the chance to feed on the poor child's soul.

The dementor may be defeated, but you're not done just yet. The distraught boy shakes and shudders as he begins to cry again. Poor thing's been traumatized by the attack! How are you going to comfort him now?

Not lowering her wand until her Corsican Ram patronus came trotting back to her with a boastful shake of its mighty head. Shaking her head and snorting softly as its silvery form dissipated into the darkness of the forest, Valerie turned around and immediately knelt down in front of the boy while making sure her eyes were level with his as he cried. “Shh...it will not get you,” she cooed softly while reaching up with her free hand (the one not clutching her wand) to try and wipe his tears away with her thumb. He bore an infuriating resemblance to Ryan and it was tugging at her heart uncomfortably. Knotting it. Twisting it. Punishing it. Reminding her once again of things she had shut away to survive.

Was this task meant to play mindgames with them? Had she walked right into some elaborate Illusion Charm or even Environmental Illusion Charm that knew what to manifest in front of her. For the briefest of moments her adrenaline morphed into rage and disgust over this tournament using an innocent child like this. She still refused to believe that to be the case, but if this was one of her professors polyjuiced as the child it best be Professor Williams, Potions Master, and not anyone else for reasons she would not disclose in thoughts at present.

Present. She was back in it once again and listening to his cries while suppressing the voices of the past scratched and clawed at her consciousness. He probably had no concept of time out here in the woods so there was no sense in wasting her breath in asking. Besides, it was transparent in manner of his trembling and tone of his whimpers that it had been more than enough time to become overwhelmed by the effects of a dementor. The quick fix remedy for that was obvious, but it had never crossed her mind to carry a bar of it in her back pocket. Her owl eyes searched the surrounding area for anything useful (perhaps that thick stick over there could serve as a walking stick for the boy?) but nothing was feeling particularly inspiring.

As her hand tightened around her wand, Valerie internally sighed and raised it. The mind was an intricately powerful thing, capable of tricking constantly and playing with memories. Even reality. The reality right now was that her pockets were devoid of the very confection necessary to help alleviate the situation.

But she had her wand and it would serve a means of tricking this boy’s mind into thinking she did.

“I have something that will help,” she continued, pushing herself to force a smile on her porcelain features in the same way she had done that day for Ryan. She made an exaggerated display of reaching into her back pocket with her left hand, ensuring that she drew his attention there while her other lifted her wand above his head and began circling it there as she focused on a very specific image in her mind. “Sentio Somnium,” she breathed out as a pale purple string of light dripped from her wand, on to his head, and vanished. Giving the charm a moment or two to take effect, the sixth year removed her hand from her pocket and pulled out a Hershey’s chocolate bar along with it. “Here,” she said while tearing at and pushing this silver metallic wrapping down. “Have a bite. It will help you feel better. Then we will get you out of here.”

The boy sniffles and hiccups as he slowly stops crying. Your words are having a comforting effect on him. He just looks up at you silently for a minute, still trembling a little but much calmer than before.

His eyes go wide. "How did you make that light?" he asks. "And what's that?" He points at your wand.

The questions stop, and he smiles a little as he sees the chocolate you pull out from your pocket. Or at least what he thinks is chocolate. "Gee, thanks!" he says and takes a bite. The boy looks at you with a dazed, dreamy expression as he enjoys his chocolate. "Yummy!"

She could feel the effects of her Calming Draught wearing off little by little with each drum of her heart as she gazed upon the little boy but she was trying to refocus her thoughts elsewhere rather than risk her temper taking over. Whether or not his tremble was from trauma, the cold, or a combination of the two did not matter as she reached down with one of her hands to pluck a rather sizeable leaf from the ground. “Vestis Vellus,” she said while tracing a curly q over it to transfigure the leaf into a warm wool blanket for the boy. “I am Valerie. What is your name?” she asked him while wrapping it around his shoulders snuggly and tying it there like a warm cape. It reminded her a bit of the way she used to swaddle her baby brother to soothe and help him sleep better. Mostly right now she had transfigured a blanket for him to keep him warm.

There was little guilt in her heart as she looked into his glazed over eyes (a result of her daydream charm, of course). It was no different than being told that the Tooth Fairy was the one leaving that penny under her pillow each night as far as she was concerned. It was helping him relax further, less terrified, and more compliant. All of which resulted in a more efficient exit from this forest.

Casting a Quietening Charm on his feet as well, the Wampus stood up and took a brief moment to brush the dirt off her knees. Valerie took one of the boy’s hands in her own and nearly forgot herself for a moment and moved to intertwine her fingers together with his like she did with Ryan, but refrained. Her owl eyes searched around on the ground for traces of her coming footprints so she could retrace them. It seemed the quickest way out of here and quickest way to get this boy proper aid for who knew how far the forest would stretch onward.

As she gave his hand a gentle tug to walk with her, Valerie tried to quell the growing agitation in her stomach and unrest in her chest. It did little for the twitch in the corner of her left eye nor for the ever tightening grip around her wand. “Did you become separated from your parents?” she inquired as they began walking. Were there more people she was meant to search for? More innocents (although she was still holding out hope this all was an inappropriate facade enabled by polyjuice potion or an illusion charm) being exploited for the sake of competition?

And then even the adrenaline in her veins went cold and it was as though the dementor had swooped back down upon them. No-Maj. This boy...was a No-Maj. It was literally as though these people had gone to her home in Tacoma, Washington and plucked her cousin right from his bed and then tossed him in the middle of a forest. Only her cousin at least knew what a wand was because he had seen hers as well as the occasional visiting Ilvermorny professor’s. But not this boy. Not recognizing a wand came with the implication that not even his parents were wielders. No Maj. How dare they?

Her grip around her wand (but not his hand) tightened suddenly and began to shake. She felt as though she could snap the cherry wood in half as she stared down at him. Jaw clenched and back teeth grinding slowly over one another, the overwhelming impulse and desire to destroy something was suffocating and she nearly thrust her wand out to the side to send a Bombarda Maxima at the nearest tree. The only, ONLY, thing that steadied her hand was knowing it may draw unwanted attention.

It was slowly consuming her, her rage, the more she looked at the No-Maj boy. She wanted to break them (the people who had organized and approved this task). To take them into mental state of anguish and torture. To have them torn down spiritually and emotionally drained of any kind of fight left in them. She wanted to see them cry, hopeless and begging for her to stop. She wanted them to be completely at her disposal and completely reliant on her ability to either finish them or let them save some scrap of dignity. She wanted to have complete control over their faculties, and destroy or remind them of how close to their own destruction they just came so that they live in fear of what she could do so they would never repeat this again.

She needed to calm herself down. A difficult task without the spare Calming Draught on hand and she briefly considered performing a Cheering Charm on herself. She feared the results would be more of a barred teeth grin rather than a slightly more level head. The urge to perform Periculum and effectively end the task now was also strong. Closing her eyes briefly, she attempted to count down backwards from some obscenely large number in her head in French. It was something her and Kyle had worked out years ago and produced varying degrees of success when her blood had boiled over and made a worse mess than spilled Draught of Living Death.

...quatre-vingt-douze...quatre-vingt-onze...quatre-vingt-dix…

It was somewhat working. She was at least to a place now where she did not want to burn down half the forest.

Then logic began to seep in through the cracks fury and on another exhale the reminder of The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was there. While she had not paid particular attention to that lecture, she did recall the details and while she could not speak for the Ministry of Magic she was certain MACUSA would never approve of the exploitation of No Maj for sport and scholarship.

Exploitation. That was all this was no matter what was ultimately revealed to be true. Exploitation of No Maj as a people and how was that a pure representation of international magical cooperation?

Doubt began seeping in, cooling her rage further and bringing her blood to a high simmer. But how then did one explain this boy? “Because I am a fairy,” she explained as she recalled comments she had heard the neighbor’s children refer to her as. “A fairy needs her want to perform magic. I am here to guide you out of your nightmare. Stay by my side and all will be right.” She began walking again and, despite her enhanced owl eyes, found the path back difficult to read thanks to her upset now being mixed with suspicion. That and she still had the urge to blow up a tree. “Do you recall how you came to find yourself in this forest?” she asked him as gently as she could through her clenched jaw.

Your spell turns the leaf you picked up into a thick green blanket. The boy snuggles up in it, wrapping it around himself. His trembling soon stops, and he looks up at you. "I'm Joey," he says.

But his expression turns confused when he hears your next question. "I-I don't remember!" he replies after taking a minute to think.

He stares at you in awe. "Ooh, I've never met a fairy before!" he says, but he frowns as he looks behind you. "Where's your wings? I thought fairies were supposed to have wings. Did you lose yours?"

His expression suddenly turns fearful. "Are- are there bad fairies?" he asks. "Is that what made everything go cold?" He cowers behind you. "Don't let the bad fairies get me!"

She felt relieved that his shivering had ceased. “Joey,” she repeated with a small nod. At least now she had a name to help her differentiate him from Ryan (and Joshua). It also came as a bit of an ironic twist of fate (were she to believe in such a thing) that the giving of a name was also calming her blood further. It was easier not to assign and attach unfiltered emotions this way.

“Fairy wings are invisible to humans and we only reveal our physical forms to very special humans,” she stated simply as she continued to look around as they moved slowly through the forest. Her eyes were no longer on his, so Valerie missed his terrified expression but it was apparent in the tremor to his voice. “There are and it was,” she nodded while focusing her eyes once more on the ground in search for her footsteps. There was little sense in going into further detail than that. Not when she had calmed the boy down and he was no longer shivering. A No Maj would be unable to see a dementor regardless. “You are with one of the chosen fairies of the fairy court. No harm will come to you,” she continued to assure him in her gentle tone, perhaps embellishing a bit now with ethereal undertones.

Stopping when he confirmed that he could not remember, Valerie’s brow knotted and hand tightened around her wand. Memory Charms? Had the level of exploitation sunk that low? She would hardly put anything past people who would throw a group of students (the majority under-aged) up against a dementor. She knew of at least one of her fellow competitors who could not conjure a corporeal patronus and yet those Dark creatures had been unleashed.

Shaking her head from these thoughts and others, the sixth year refocused on the boy. Memory Charms or perhaps other magic at work. A dementor's influence would not have erased (or sucked) memories out of a person and she was rather hesitant to assume that trauma would produce this sort of outcome. In whichever case, she was growing tired of idle chit chat (even if she was far more patient with children than others) and the feeling walking predictably right into another trap aggravating at best. “Joey, I’m going to perform a bit of fairy magic on you,” she informed him as she knelt down in front of him again with her grey eyes steadily holding his. Not knowing if his parents were out there still in the woods or how he had even come to be in the forest was unnerving and the Wampus was dissatisfied with leaving conversation there. Perhaps she could undo whatever enchantments they had placed on the boy. If they had indeed used a true No Maj boy they would have to Obliviate him at the end of this once more regardless, so she may as well find out all that she could. “I promise it will not hurt.”

Wand once more pointed at the boy, the sixteen year old rapped him smartly on the head. “SpeRevelio.”

Joey nods when you tell him your wings are invisible; you can thank your Daydream Charm for that. "If we can't see fairy wings, can we feel them instead? he asks. He reaches behind you and tries to feel for any sign of fairy wings and only stops when you confirm his suspicion about bad fairies.

His expression turns frightened when he sees your wand pointed at him. Your promise was not enough enough to convince him that the fairy magic wouldn't hurt. He runs away, hiding behind a nearby tree, before you can even tap his head. He didn't want fairy magic performed on him. Especially when she didn't say what magic she was casting on him.

"Don't!" he cries. He just wants out of this forest. He didn't even want to remember being in this place. "Just get me out of here like you said you would."

She had forgotten how unreasonable one could be in their pre-teen years. A folly she should have well remembered given how often she had had to endure Ryan’s dramatics. But Valerie could feel a growing agitation eating away at her insides and whatever lingering effects remained of her Calming Draught. She would need to speak with Professor Williams about additional alterations to the brew later. She really should have just cast the spell without warning like the last few she had performed right in front of him. There had not been any fuss then. This was the reward for attempting to play nice and stay in character. No wonder she had never been particularly fond of any aspiring Thespians and a career on the stage never appealing to herself.

It all furthered her suspicions, but the Wampus tried to ignore this for now. Ignore but not forget. The more pressing matter was once again calming Joey down. Again.

“That is all I am trying to do. All that I want to do,” came a swift reply from the sixteen year old as she managed to swallow back her growing temper. Do not blast down a tree, Valerie Gray. Do not. It was hardly the fault of a young boy that things were unraveling as they were. No memory of how he had come to be in this forest or even if he had parents out here among the mangled branches? This task was a cruel mind game. More thoughts not to dwell on as it made the swift and fluid casting of a Blasting Curse towards the nearest tree all the more appealing “Your hiding behind a tree will only prolong your time out here and moving away from my side exposed you to the evil fairies that dwell in the darkness.”

She made no movements towards the boy hidden behind the tree for fear he may run off further into the forest like a.spooked deer. Instead she rattled her brain for another benevolent form of magic she could use as a display of goodwill seeing as the transfigured blanket and patronus had not been enough to earn his trust. Or perhaps she should rely on what storytelling abilities she had absorbed from Jesus over the years instead? The latter seemed the most appealing option given his current state.

“White fairy magic such as my own cannot be used to harm or malice, only for good. Or else I would not have been able to fend off the evil fairy. It also created the very blanket draped around your shoulders now, did it not?,” she continued with gentle reminders while her mind journeyed to the pages of some of her favorite literature for a location. A location ironically inspired by the wraith-like creature that had started this whole mess. “Please. I implore you. Come back to my side, to safety, and I promise I will use my magic to transport you away from this place.”

Joey stares into the forest fearfully, then looks back at you. His mind weighs the lesser of the two evils for a minute. Finally he nods. "Okay," he says. It seems your words made some sense to him.

He moves out from behind the tree and walks back toward you with extreme caution. "P-please just get me out of here!" he cries, sniffing a little bit. "I just w-want to go home and- and forget about this p-place!"

Is there some fairy magic you know that might help him forget?

Electing to let the boy come to her rather than initiate and close the distance herself, Valerie spent these precious seconds keeping herself in check. Her suspicions had skyrocketed which meant if she wished to attempt that spell again she would have to do so through deceptive means. A gentle hug and then cast into his back? Perhaps. Valerie was not above such methods if it meant proving herself correct and Scarpin's Revealspell would bring no harm to the child. But the caution to his step, like walking across the frozen lake near her home in late February, she was well aware she was on thin ice.

“I will,” she assured him, continuing her role as a regal fairy and placing one of her porcelain hands gently, but assertively, on his shoulder. His words pulled at her heart uncomfortably and tore her briefly out of the competition to a hospital room where she held Ryan fiercely in her arms while standing beside a vacant hospital bed…

Freeing herself from yet another nightmarish daydream, she refocused her golden owl eyes on the No-Maj boy. “Tell me...where is home?” she asked gently. Already compiling a visual in her head and using her question as a means to not only collect more useful information but to lull Joey into a place of comfort, her imagination paused with the rest of what Joey was saying. Forget. The emphasis on that word was unnerving and something Valerie was confident she could not deliver on. At least not entirely. Memory Charms were a branch of magic she had purposefully avoided any form of in depth study of for fear of performing them on herself. She understood the theory inside and out (that much was easily grasped from textbooks and discussions with the Charms professor) but she had never once attempted one herself, let alone one on another person. She was anything but keen to make now her first attempt at a practical application and risk irreparable damage.

There was also the Confundus Charm she could attempt (and would be her backup plan, she concluded) but her annoyance still had her blood at a steady simmer and Joey recklessness caused pause to believe that said charm could impact his mind to the point he would endanger himself from his confusion. He had already proven he would do stupid things without being enabled by bewitched confusion, so no. Not a first choice option. There was also the risk of a Confundus’d Joey trying her patience further in him doing the complete opposite of what she instructed even more than was considering normal for pre-teen rebellion.

The Wampus therefore elected to readminister her Daydream Charm as she assumed the previous one had worn off by now given the lack of a dazed look in his eyes and lack of drool. She had calculated that her charm would have been a little more effective than the reality was proving to be (how remarkably infuriating). But at least with a Daydream Charm there was the guarantee of mobility afterwards, dazed and slow as Joey may be while lost in the illusion she would paid, he would still be capable of a free range movement that the other two spells could not promise. She had dealt with cousin’s sleepwalking and gentle guiding of him back to bed without waking so this would be no different and come with considerably less risk. Particularly if she completely botched up a Memory Charm and turned the boy’s brain to a consistency resembling scrambled eggs.

She should have just done this from the start, she had come to realize, rather than the bare bones of a Daydream Charm to simply provide the illusion of chocolate and temporary shift in mood. A more potent one was an inkling she had opted not to act upon thinking that it would be too much too soon for someone so young who had just been traumatized by the presence and influence of a dementor. She could recall not wanting to leave from under the table when the firefighter had pulled her free from the rubble of her home, biting him in protest. Perhaps she had been projecting too much of herself on to this task? Her emotions were proving to be her weakness once again, it seemed. Something she would need to rectify before the next round of competition.

“First I will take you away from this place,” she said, swallowing and returning her thoughts to the image her imagination had been previously painting. “To somewhere safe with no darkness and then home.” Her wand began slowly circling above Joey’s head as she whispered the incantation for the Daydream Charm (Sentio Somnium) once again. Her mind was focused and calm, painting as vivid a scene as she could as the familiar purple string of light dripped forth from her wand and on to the No-Maj’s head.

The menacing forest of knotted trees and mangled madness would give way to a lush field of green grass that had a golden twinkle to it as each blade swayed in the breeze nestled in the safety of a valley. His feet would be standing on a white cobblestone path beside her own, leading onward towards a beautiful white stone castle that can be nothing else but the fairy castle, sanctuary. A truly picturesque scene with no doubt that evil things did not come into that valley.

Watching in silence, Valerie waited for the charm to take effect. Perhaps she should transfigure a bib out of a leaf to catch the drool that would surely dribble from his mouth this time. “It is beautiful, is it not?” she questioned with added whimsical air to her voice, testing the depths of waters of the illusion she had created as she did.

Joey trembles a little but doesn't pull away when you touch him. "Here, in Scotland" he replies when you ask about his home. "On a farm."

He nods, and his fear becomes awe as he's transported to the beautiful scene you created for him. "Oh, yes!" he exclaims. "It looks like my grandpa's farm, except for the castle!"

"Where are we?" he asks. He looks at you with a dazed expression. Your daydream charm has done the job! Maybe he'll let you walk him out of here now!

It was intriguing to the Wampus what Joey did and did not remember and now she found herself wishing more than after the initial attempt that her reveal spell had worked. Things were still suspicious, but the tremble to his small form kept her wand at bay once again. She would blame her emotions later. Valerie squeezed his shoulder gently as he spoke of the farm in Scotland and was admittedly a little disappointed he did not provide her with more details. It would have been simple enough to modify her Daydream Charm to fit his description.

She studied his features methodically as the charm took its hold and her hand moved from his shoulder to take one of his small hands in her own. “The homeland of my kin,” she replied with a small nod with cogs her her hand continuously turning to keep her fantasy illusion on par. “We must reach the castle first and then my queen will send you home.” Headmistress Moxley better be able to deliver on that promise, hurtful as it was to the sixteen year old to refer to the woman as 'her queen' even if just to keep up whimsical appearances.

Her owl eyes looked into the darkness ahead and for a brief moment she wished she had used Point Me before she had stepped into the forest. It would have proven most useful now in being absolutely sure in which direction she was walking and which way was the way out. Thankfully her enhanced vision was still functioning despite the dull throb beginning to form from the exposure of the transfiguration spell. But it was not enough to cause concern. She could manage until she had led him out of the forest.

“Let us walk,” she said as she began to lead him with gentle haste through the woods following her arriving footprints on the ground.

Joey nods and smiles at you. "Your home is pretty!" he cries. "Oh, okay!" He half walks, half skips alongside you as you lead the way back. The little one must be excited to meet the fairy queen!

You trace the footprints you made on the way in, and soon the fog begins to clear. As you look up, you can see more slivers of light peeking through the tops of the trees. You're almost there! You finally step out of the forest, and... Joey is gone! In his place is a small dummy with the same clothes the boy once had. You were right to be suspicious!

A woman removes a disillusionment charm from herself and steps out of the woods behind you. She's been following your every move, should something go awry! If you look closely, you'll notice the Ministry of Magic badge she wears. "Congratulations, Miss Gray!" she says, beaming at you. "You've successfully finished the challenge. Here is a portkey that will take you to the stands." She gives you an empty plastic bottle, and you're whisked away as soon as you touch it.

OOC: You may now look at the viewing area and/or other competitors' threads.

Despite the Calming Draught wearing off considerably by this point, Valerie felt the most serene she had been all task while she walked with Joey's hand in her own. She imagined this was what it would feel like were Shane still alive and she walking with him through Jarrell Cove State Park.

But then suddenly his hand in hers grew stiff and lifeless, causing the Wampus to spin around and look at him. But rather than find the hopeful No-Maj boy (of whom she had had a growing suspicion of regardless) there was a dummy. A dummy. And then came the words of a complete stranger who had the audacity to be beaming at her like some Cheshire Cat. Her wand hand nearly forgot itself and for the briefest of moments had thrust her wand so it was pointed right between the woman's eyes.

Congratulations? She could feel all the rage she had managed to ignore resurfacing ten fold and with just the most subtle flick of the wrist she could send a hex at this woman. Stinging, perhaps. She deserved it. They all did. Bleeding the goodness out of a No-Maj and making a mockery of her ancestry.

The dummy, Joey, was no longer simply that. It was a pawn.

Somehow finding it in her to lower her wand, the sixteen year old snatched the bottle away from the woman with an ugly sneer and welcomed the feeling of being pulled from the navel. She had traveled all the way across the Atlantic to be made a mockery of? May her Calming Draught hold just a little bit longer...