Round Three - The Magic Box, Collaborative Fan Fiction Options

[evlpez]

A Magic Box has been left on the head table in the Great Hall. One by one, characters pick up the box, speculate on its contents and leave it in another location. It's clearly marked "Wizard's Box", so we know the space inside is magical and could hold just about anything. None of the characters who find the box can open it, though they will each try more than once. No charm or key works, so we never really find out what it holds inside.

• Describe finding the box in the location in which it was left in the previous post.
  
  
• What does the character(s) think or hope is inside?
  
  
• How does he/she try to open it? (Try a couple of new attempts beyond the easy choices.)
  
  
• Give the box away or leave it somewhere for another character(s) to find.

Each submission in this challenge must follow the previous one, so that all of them together make one continuing story. Please do not end your submission in such a way that it is impossible for another writer to find the Magic Box and continue the story.

All submissions must have a unique title and be posted in this topic



Note to ferrets: Remember that you are writing fan fiction as though you are the Floo-Between user you've chosen. This means that if you've chosen Snape, you are writing as though Snape is writing fan fiction, not as though he is a part of the story. Each character may write as many submissions as they wish for this challenge, as long as each submission is significantly different from their others. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday December 1st.

The Voting Booth for Round 3 will open on Sunday, November 14th. Click this text to go there.

Posts which are not prefaced by the Character Form will be deleted.

When you post, you'll see a button (up by the "code" and "list" buttons) that says "blank character form." If you press that button, the form will appear in your post. Just edit in your character's details and put the body of your text in the middle. If you've chosen not to use a signature for your character, delete that part of the form.

Do not edit your submissions for this challenge once they are posted in the Forum.

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When rating submissions, please use the following score card to guide you:

Score Card

__ Ferret Points for following the mission
__ Ferret Points for technical (grammar, spelling are consistent with the author's character)
__ Ferret Points for overall creativity
__ Ferret Points for characterization
__ Ferret Points for adherence to canon
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Total out of 10 maximum Ferret Points

0 = Poor, 1 = Okay/good, 2 = Great

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[evlpez]

IncrediblyHandsome

Patient
Floo Ferret




Seamus the Hero

Seamus Finnigan woke to the sound of whispering. He'd fallen asleep reading Gilderoy Lockhart's autobiography, Magical Me and had been having the most wonderful dream about performing all the daring spells Gilderoy had mastered. In his dream, he'd taken on the roll of Hero, as Lockhart so often did. He'd travelled and defeated all manner of dangerous dark creatures and did so with flourish and ease. Now that he was awake however, he remembered that his wandwork would never match that of the daring adventurer and author. Just the day before he'd managed to transfigure a cup of tea into a blast of fireworks rather than a pot of ink, showering soot and sparks on those nearest to him.

He swung his legs out of bed and planted his feet on the floor, checking the clock. Too early for breakfast, but too awake to try and go back to sleep, he got out of bed and dressed for the day. As he searched the floor for a pair of socks, he noticed a box on the floor beside Harry's bed, and vaguely recalled the whispered words that woke him.

Harry Potter Sir, will know what to do!

Seamus pondered the box. What was it? Any why should Harry have to deal with it? Was something wrong with it? Was it dangerous? He put his socks on, eyes still on the box, and crept silently to it. Picking it up, he saw the words Wizards' Box on it and wondered what it was for.

Harry won't wake up for a while, thought Seamus. I'll have a look at this box and see if I can find out what's in it.

Seamus carried the box downstairs to the common room and sat it on the table. He pulled out his wand and attempted the usual opening charms to no avail. He wasn't surprised, really. These were the basic simple charms that everyone could perform and even he had managed on occasion without disastrous results. This was going to take some work, and rather than risk damage to Gryffindor Tower, he decided he'd better take it somewhere safe.

He carried it through the castle and up towards the Room of Requirement, thinking of the box and of books that might be helpful. The room would surely provide him with enough information to learn what it was for and how to open it. He realized that he should have brought all of his Gilderoy Lockhart books with him, as one of them would certainly have all the information he needed. As he paced the hallway slowly, waiting for the door to appear, he wondered what was inside the box.

Maybe it's a powerful spell or potion, he thought. Maybe it's something to make a wizard stronger and more powerful than before. Something like that would be really useful to Harry, who's always finding himself facing You-Know-Who, he thought. He paused.

Something like that might be really useful to a muggleborn wizard like me who can't seem to get anything magical right. I could be just like Gilderoy Lockhart, with knowledge like that.

Seamus looked up to see the door to the Room of Requirement appear in front of him. He tucked the box under one arm and reached for the door knob when he heard a hiss. Startled, he looked down the hall to find Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris. She'd caught him. He wasn't sure if being out of the tower at this time of the morning was considered breaking curfew, but he'd run into Filch enough times to know he wasn't ready to take that chance. He slowly bent over and placed the box on the floor, turned and ran back to Gryffindor tower.


I'd like to thank my assistant, Gwen. She helped me put this little thing together, assuring me that I'm a fabulous writer as well as remarkably handsome. If not for Grace, this masterpiece would have been possible. - G.L.