Examination 1 - Alice Longbottom and Derry Flanagan

Kingsley watched as the class filled up, with many of the students looking curiously at the objects in front of him. There were several of them, one for every pair in the class. They were portkeys, leading to a small maze located in a closed off section of the dungeons. The maze had been exhausting to create, but Shacklebolt was pleased with the result, and he knew the students would enjoy the adventure and danger.

Now that everyone was there, he stood up. "When I call your names, come forward with your partner and grab a portkey!" he informed before looking down at his list. "Alice Longbottom and Derry Flanagan."

Alice jumped as Kingsley called her name. She was glad Derry was her parents. Not only did she like him but he proved rather capable on their last Charms lesson, except the time he would become clumsy and burn a whole in his shirt. But it was not like Alice wasn't clumsy as much or probably even more than him. Either way, she knew they would be good parents.

She stepped forward and gave Derry a smile and an encouraging nod. Walking forward, she placed her hand on the portkey and grabbed it tightly. Within a few seconds, she found herself rushing towards a tunnel and spinning in violent circles. Before she could even control her movement she hit the ground with a large bang. Frowning at the force of her fall, she pulled herself up on her feet and managed to look around.

Looking ahead of her she could see nothing but a long dark hallway with a few torches on the side to light the way. "Are you alright?" she asked turning her attention back to Derry and helping him up.

(sorry I took so long I'll reply quicker next time! )

Derry was really glad that his exam was with Alice, someone he considered to be his best friend at the moment. He felt confident that they would be amazing together, convinced that they made a perfect team. He flashed her friendly smile before touching the portkey, after which they were spiralling quickly through a dizzying tunnel. Once at the other side, Derry fell awkwardly, landing nearly on his head. "Hehe, I'm okay, Alice," he said as she helped him get to his feet.

The maze was incredibly dark, but he could see one of the torches and grabbed one. Taking out his wand, he said, "Lumos." He then handed the lit torch to Alice with a wink. "Here ye go!"

After lighting another torch for himself, Derry peered curiously into the darkness at the maze in front of them. "Okay, you ready?" he said excitedly. Even though this was an exam, it didn't feel like anything other than a fun adventure to Derry. "This is gonna be a blast!"

Derry began walking slowly through the maze, then notice there were three paths to choose from. "Okay...left, right, or middle?" he asked Alice.

(Sorry for being away forever! Holiday season is crazy... )

"Thanks" she said and gladly took the lit up torch. Now it was much easier to see where she was going in the first place. As they advanced forward she giggled at Derry's words. Even though she was a bit nervous about the exam, his humor somehow made all of this seem not that difficult at all.

They stopped in front of a crossroad with tree options. Even after examining all of them, she couldn't find anything different about the paths. They all looked the same. "I'm thinking the middle one is the winner?" she suggested. It didn't really matter as neither of them knew what was inside the tunnel so they were just guessing.

Continuing their journey, Alice held her torch high in front of her so she could see clearly. For a moment she dozed of looking around the tunnel when she suddenly felt her step become lighter. With a glance downwards, she realized that the path had came to it's end and there was nothing in front of her but a large bottomless chasm. Being dangerously near the edge, she screamed and fell backwards, hitting Derry in the process. "Ah I'm so sorry Derry!" she apologized as she tried to get herself back up.

"Lumos!" she cast when she finally got up. The light went flying straight ahead and they soon discovered that there was a door on the other side. She looked around and tried to find a way to cross. Looking inside the deep and wide ditch, she could only see large barks of tree floating in a strange greenish sea of water. "Perhaps we can make a bridge from that.." said Alice thinking out loud. It would take them a while, but it was a better option that turning back now.