A Little Fun, A Little Terror (Haunted House; Open)

[Bethany Rogers]

Bethany loved Halloween. After all, what better excuse to go around spooking little kids and then handing them chocolate if they started to cry? Then, of course, there was the chance to get scared herself. That had always been her favorite part, to the point where she would beg her parents for scary stories even though she knew perfectly well that she would be awake half the night, clutching one of Nina's stuffed animals and staring at her closet door, waiting for the murderer to jump out. Of course, as soon as she had heard about the Haunted House by the side of the Forbidden Forest, she had known exactly how she wanted to spend her Halloween. Afterward she might drop by the costume party, but since her own costume was just a bunch of Muggle clothes (if anyone asked, she would say she was the survivor of a horror movie), she doubted she would stay very long.

The house was eerie, and a shudder ran down Bethany's back as she looked up at it. This would be great. She'd go through once, maybe twice, and then sprint up to the castle imagining there was something after her. Once she was safely inside and had a stomach full of chocolate, she'd laugh about it before lying awake for half the night, her wand under her pillow. Grinning with excitement, she took the front stairs two at a time, then paused inside the front hall. There was an open door to her right, but to the left were stairs. Stairs were always exciting, but an open door was something she couldn't resist. Deciding the stairs could wait for the next time through, she stepped through the door.


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[Sirius Black]

Sirius was not a Halloween guy. In fact, he was not really a holiday guy in general. He did not get excited come the holidays like others. As a kid, his family didn't do fun things around the holidays. They were just like the rest of the year, only it was spent with extended family, so in fact, holidays were actually worse than normal days, according to how his childhood self saw it. Halloween in particular was just to be ignored. He and Reg didn't go trick-or-treating... respectable pureblooded young men did not dress in absurd costumes and beg for candy. And their house was very well protected, so no one came ringing their doorbell either, and they would not give candy to their filthy Muggle neighbors. And that was the other thing. Candy. He didn't like it. Sweets were something given to kids as rewards. Well, Sirius was not a good kid, so there was not much to be rewarded. Plus, it was just expected for kids to obey their parents, they shouldn't be praised for it. So he didn't have much of a sweet tooth; not in the literally sense, at least. And without costumes and candy, there wasn't much to celebrate on the 31st of October... but he could not turn down scaring people.

Technically, Sirius wasn't even supposed to be involved in the creation of the Haunted House. It was organized by the staff and the prefects, but there'd been a little... outsider's influence on his part. To put it lightly, there were some things in the house the Prefects created that the staff would not have approved of, most of which came from the diabolical minds of the Marauders and executed by the two of them that were Prefects themselves. But they couldn't just leave it to terrifying spells and fancy wandwork to do the scaring - no, they wanted to be in on it, personally. So after the house was set up on the edge of the forest, Sirius lurked inside for the first victims to cross his path, even though he wasn't supposed to be there... luckily, no one would know he was there, no one would recognize him, they would just wonder how the Marauders got this enormous ferocious black dog to do their bidding for them.

He lay waiting in the shadows of a room near the entrance, behind an open door, so that he was hidden from view and could shut the door with his paws should someone venture in. His large black paws had been soaked in fake blood, convincingly, and his bloodstained pawprints could be seen around the room, as he was pacing to kill the time, and now he just sat still. Darkness had fallen and people should be here soon. Just on time, he heard footsteps grow louder and louder as they approached the door. Perfect. He remained still in the shadows, his black fur camouflaging him in the poor lighting, so that only his bright yellow eyes were visible. He would wait for this person to find him rather than jump out. So she - he could see now it was a female - could find his footsteps, follow them, and see his eyes, before he did anything... unless she chickened out before then.

[Bethany Rogers]

At first, the room was dark. Bethany rolled her eyes even as she grinned in anticipation. There would probably be a jinxed something in there ready to jump out and make her scream, and she probably would, though she'd laugh right after. Jinxes or no, that was a Muggle trick, and she'd seen that often enough to be used to it. She could say Lumos and give herself enough light to see with, but that would feel like cheating. The fun of a haunted house was in not jinxing everything she found.

As she stepped in, her eyes got used to the darkness. With each breath she expected something to leap out in front of her and shriek, but there was nothing. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she bit her lip to keep from giggling in nervousness. Whoever had set this up was good; she'd never been this scared only a few steps into a haunted house. She was tempted to sprint through the room to see if there was a door at the other end, but then she saw something on the floor. After glancing quickly around to make sure there were no looming, cloaked figures standing by the wall, she knelt to get a better look.

They were bloody footprints. There were dozens of them around the room, made by a large dog, possibly large enough to be a wolf. Were there wolves in Britain? They wouldn't have brought one in from the continent just for a haunted house.

One hand on her wand -- just in case -- she rose and turned in a circle, peering about the room. When her gaze reached the door, she froze. She hadn't noticed because she hadn't bothered to look back until just then, but in the shadows cast by the door were a pair of bright yellow eyes. Wolf, she thought, irrational as it was, and clutched her wand tighter.

[Sirius Black]

It wasn't easy to lay wait in the shadows while the person came exploring. Sirius wasn't the most patient of people - or dogs - but it would certainly be worth it for the reaction. After all, the scariest part was the anticipation, the uncertainty, the unknown of what terrifying treat this room contained. He had to hand it to her, she was awfully brave, for not backing out, for he had given her ample opportunity to do so. He had no idea how much time she took before she knelt down, peered around, but it was plenty of time to leave if she wanted, and yet, she didn't. His animalistic eyes were far better at making out shapes and traits in the dark than his human eyes were, so once she came into full view, he recognized her easily, and could see why exactly she was so brave; he had seen her around the Gryffindor common room. He was not sure if they ever had a real conversation - it wasn't out of the question, considering how much he talked to people - but he was certain he knew the face. Either way, they were not about to converse for the first time here. She would have no idea she even saw him this evening.

When she finally saw him, it was obvious. Her body froze, her muscles tensed. Sirius let his vivid yellow eyes linger on her for a while longer before he let out a low growl, raising it in volume as he slowly got to his feet. He raised a paw to the still-open wooden door and with a small shove, it went slamming shut, which only intensified the darkness. His eyes didn't leave the girl the entire time. He really didn't want to hurt her, but hey, it wouldn't be a real haunted house if you didn't leave with a little scrapes and bruises, right? If she were a Slytherin, he wouldn't care so much - in fact, he'd probably try to inflict a little damage, but he was certain they were housemates, so he'd go easy. Well, easy by Sirius standards, which may still be a little vicious by others'. He crept out from his position by the wall, uttering his ferocious growl again, each step getting nearer and nearer to her, but not doing anything drastic. Not yet.

[Ryan Olsen]

Considering what the evenings options were, there was really only one place that Ryan could go. He wasn't about to carve stupid pumpkins any more than he was going to sit in a room full of people eating sweets and dancing, so short of spending the night in the dorm, the Haunted House on the grounds was his only real option. Feet slopping in oversized shoes, he headed down the lit path that led the way to the edge of the forest. Ryan was kind of surprised the professors actually allowed the house to be set up so close to the forest, and if he'd heard right, it actually opened out into the forest when you got out the other end. That seemed to defeat the point of them calling the forest 'forbidden', but what the hell. Stranger things had happened.

Hands stuffed in his pockets, Ryan stepped up to the door and frowned. Two ways to go. Up the stairs, or through the door. He'd head up, have a wander around the upper floor, then he could come back down and look around the bottom afterwards. The more time he could kill in here was the better. 

Ryan was about six steps up when he heard the door below slam shut, making him jump. He spun quickly, and took a few steps back down. Had someone come in behind him? Or was there actually something in that room that was waiting to jump out at people? Man, now he was questioning the stairs thing. Everything was quiet above, but there was definitely something through that door... 

Slipping his wand out, Ryan tucked it up his sleeve where he could grab it quickly, then crossed a quietly as he could to the door, pressing an ear to it to listen for sounds from within. Was that growling?  Frown returning, he reached for the handle and pushed the door open just wide enough to slide through the gap into the room. For a few minutes he couldn't see anything in the sudden darkness but soon his vision cleared and he could make out another figure in the room, as well as a pair of bright yellow eyes. "Well, shit..." He really had heard something growling.

[Bethany Rogers]

It couldn't be a wolf; Bethany refused to believe whoever had set up this haunted house would turn a wolf loose on whoever walked through the door. It didn't seem like an illusion, though, or else it was a very good one to make such a convincing growl. It had to be some kind of dog, then, and a large one. Whatever it was, it was coming closer to her. She could run, or she could stand her ground and try to face it. Running was tempting, but she didn't know where the other door was, and the dog looked fast. Besides, she wouldn't be much of a Gryffindor if she bolted in the face of danger.

"Nice dog," she whispered, trying to think what she would have done in her old neighborhood if a strange dog came up to her. "You're a nice dog, right? You're not going to bite me, right? I'd have to hex you if you tried." She couldn't tell whether she wanted it to understand her, but she kept her tone light and gentle. "You're not going to try to get me, not if I've got a wand." Her heart was pounding from excitement and a little fear, and she backed toward the other wall, stretching one hand behind her to grab a doorknob. Once she was in the other room, she could run, but not until then.

Then she heard the door at the front of the room open just a crack, and she glanced away from the dog. Damn. If she left now, whoever was there might catch the dog's attention, unless they decided to go for the stairs. The least she could do was warn the person at the door about what was in here. Raising her wand, she said, "Lumos!" and caught her first sight of the large black hound.