Week 3: Where's Ryan?

[Prof. Kendra Givens]

For this week’s writing activity, in no less than 100 words, tell us a story of a time when Ryan got lost. How did he get lost? Where was he lost (you can use any Hogwarts location)? If he’s been found, how did someone manage to locate him?

Please post your story below or email to ravenclawevent@gmail.com. Submissions are worth 10 beans if submitted by May 31st at 11:59pm HOL time. Should you need an alternative for accessibility reasons, feel free to send me a PM and we can work something out!

[Mia Fountain]

Once Ryan got lost on his way to the Hogwarts Kitchen. He was headed to the kitchen for a snack after his late night patrol around the upper floors. He became lost after taking a wrong turn in the basement area, and ended up heading deep into the dungeons. He wandered for an hour trying to find his way back out of the maze that is the dungeons, until he found a cozy sitting room. He was getting tired by now, it had been a long day of chasing around miscreants, teaching, and grading assignments; so, he decided to take nap on the couch and try to find his way out of the dungeons in the morning. In the morning his absence was noted at breakfast, so the Headmaster decided to send out a search party. By using the point me spell the searchers found Ryan. He was still napping in the sitting room that was just one turn away from the main hallway in the dungeons.

[Lorainia Riverrider]

Ryan got lost just last week when he took a trick set of stairs. He was trying to reach the Great hall, but instead he ended up in a room he had never seen before. It was filled with big, heavy burlap bags. On closer inspection, he noticed that they were filled with cracked corn and some sort of other animal feed. Ryan is still not sure what room this is. He opened the door to leave and he was on the third floor. A few nice Gryffindors spotted him and helped him find his way to the great hall.

[Prof. Sindor Aloyarc]

One evening not long past dinnertime I was there when Ryan came into the castle dripping wet after nobody had seen him since earlier in the afternoon of the previous day.

Rumor has it that he got pulled into the Lake by the Big Giant Squid. Not sure if he would've been kept mostly above water, or had a chance to utilize some charm or natural remedy he might have had on hand in order to keep himself from drowning, but the story goes that he was actually dragged (gently, I hope) to a place where the Squid likes to have friends over for company. Unfortunately all this social distancing has gotten everyone a little stir-crazy, and apparently our aquatic buddy is no exception!

I did hear someone ask Ryan where he'd been, and although he didn't seem upset, he did answer (over and over again) in a rather dazed and confused way that he'd been "Out to tea." Someone swore he was really saying "Out to SEA," though nobody knows how or why that would be the case. Unless the Squid had magicked them elsewhere, which none of us knew it to be capable of but were very much intrigued by the possibility.

People mostly agreed that based on how long Ryan was away, it very easily could have been both ("Out to tea, out to sea, out to tea, out to sea"), as everyone's been under the impression he was never escorted back to the castle grounds. Hence another opportunity for getting lost!

I saw him walking around the lake a few days after with a rather longing expression on his face. Not entirely certain that he didn't enjoy the experience overall! Albeit an unexpected adventure.

[Iverian Gnash]

Ryan had just finished a very busy day and it was nearing evening when he stepped out onto Hogwarts grounds for a walk. He wasn't paying much attention to others and instead focused his attention on the little birds and creatures scampering about on the grass. It was a bit chilly out and he had just tucked his hands into his coat pockets when he noticed something rather peculiar just beyond the tree line. It looked like... no, it couldn't be.

Nonetheless, Ryan walked over to the forest and disappeared into the trees looking for the unicorn. He knew there were some unicorns in the forest but never thought they could have come so far. Feeling like a child again, he ran through the woods when he heard a slight rustling. Ryan was determined to find this unicorn. By the time he caught up to it in a clearing and realized how beautiful a unicorn is in person, he thought it best to head back... but which way was back?

He realized he was entirely lost with no possibility of return unless he started walking in one direction and got lucky. He sent out a flare with his wand, and before too long a centaur appeared. After a stern conversation wondering why he was in their forest, the centaur led him back to school grounds with a mildly exasperated look on his face. When he reached the grounds, he turned around to thank the centaur but he wasn't anywhere to be found.

[Prof. Will Lestrange]

Somehow Ryan had the idea that Hogwarts Castle had an eighth floor, above the ones we all know - and that this eighth floor was open to the elements, contained an aviary full of eagles and other birds, and was an awesome place to fly around. "This will be perfect for my Flying class!" he thought. So he strode up the main staircase of the castle only to find it stopped at the seventh floor. He then proceeded to check every other staircase he could find: up and down and up and down but to the same result... the seventh floor was as high as he could go. Finally, he made it to the highest point in the castle, the Astronomy Tower - which did indeed have access to the open air at the top - but it was still only the seventh floor, not the eighth. So he got on his broom and flew around the castle tops a few time looking for the eighth floor. He never found the eighth floor, but he got really delightfully lost along the way!

[Prof. Sky Alton]

One evening Ryan was exercising an abraxan winged horse he wanted to show to his 5th years the next day. Something spooked the horse and it took off with Ryan aboard. He tried his best to control matters but the horse was just too upset. There was a nasty altercation with a couple of thestrals above the Forbidden forest and Ryan went tumbling off.
While he found his way back to the edge of the forest fairly easily, he decided to go back in to look for the scared abraxan. It was at that point that he became hopelessly lost. While he eventually found the rogue horse peacefully nibbling grass on the banks of a stream as though nothing at all had happened, he was totally at a loss as to how to lead them both out of the trees again. The abraxan wouldn’t let him climb on again and point blank refused to take flight so that they could essay things from above. Trying to enlist the thestrals proved fruitless as the uppity abraxan had obviously done or said something to mortally offend them. Quite by chance, the two eventually happened on the perimeter wall and were able to follow it round back to the castle grounds. The moment it sighted open spaces, the abraxan took off back towards its stable, neighing shrilly as if the whole thing were Ryan’s fault. Ryan rather lost his taste for flying horses after that day…