The Hat marries people, yo. (Open to those who signed up)

[ugly-old-hat.livejournal.com]

One bright Hogwarts morning, fliers with small, numbered Hat-shaped plastic tokens are sent out to a select group of students via house elf. “Your presence is required at an Awards Ceremony in the Great Hall tonight,” the flier states. “Attendance is mandatory. Formal dress is required. Prizes will be given.”

And so, at the appointed time, the students are ushered into the Great Hall. It has been lavishly decorated for the occasion: streamers, flowers, a champagne fountain, the works. At the front of the hall sits the Sorting Hat, likewise decorated in a wreath of flowers and lots of bling. It sits imperiously and waits until everyone has taken a seat and the beautifully decorated doors have been closed and barred.

“My dear students,” it begins, “we are gathered here today for a wonderful ceremony. A ceremony of magic and beauty, and it is my privilege to be here with you. Now, before you can get your wonderful awards--” here one of the Hat's folds dips in what might have been a wink on something with a face--”are you all carrying your special prize tokens?” It waits for a little longer while the attending house elves (all carrying bouquets of multicolored flowers) check to ensure that yes, everyone in the room has one on their person. “Wonderful! By the power vested in me by the Board of Education, I now pronounce you married!”

Before the shock and outrage can set in, the Hat rushes into the next part of its speech. “No use getting upset, it's legal now! This place has become a haven for loose morals, and you're helping to fix that! Don't worry about your belongings, you won't have to spend a second sweating and becoming undesirable for your new spouses! While you've been here, the house elves have moved your sundries out to your new homes for you, isn't that nice of them? They've even been allowed to charm your new homes so that you can't remove your objects from them! Let's hear it for the house elves!” It doesn't pause for applause. “Now, I'll let you happy newlyweds get to the business of consummating your new relationships in the name of duck waffles procreation. Your tokens are numbered with your new addresses, and a map has been provided at the door. Don't try to run, the ushers have been provided with cattle prods and given the permission to use them.” The Hat waves a strap at one terrified-looking bouquet-holding elf near the front, who pulls a cattle prod out of the flowers and waves it around. “And now, onward! Onward to happy families! Onward to El Mundo Del Sombrero!”

The doors open. The armed house elves swarm, herding the students to a tent village on Hogwarts grounds. Resistance is futile.

Once arriving at the tent whose number matches the number on their token, each student will meet his or her new spouse(s) ...



((The tents in El Mundo Del Sombrero are wizarding tents that appear to be one-bedroom houses complete with bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms, etc. inside. Rearranging and addition of objects is allowed, removal of objects for the purposes of moving elsewhere or returning to the castle is not due to the charm on the tents. Players are allowed to NPC the house elves shocking their own characters if an escape attempt is made. Note that characters will not be barred from returning to the castle later to do other things, e.g., use the library; they just can't move back into the castle. Congratulations on your nuptials.

Feel free to RP in this post, or to post your own separate posts that take place within the dubious sanctuary of your brand-new tent!))

Comments

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice stood back up and chucked her cell phone against the wall of the bedroom, where it promptly smashed to pieces and made a neat little dent where it hit.

"Bathroom's fine," she replied evenly, sulking off with her clothes under her arm.

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

Demyx stared after her. "Whoa." Memo to me: don't get the vampire angry. He changed quickly. Predictably, he left his cloak in a corner.

Striding back in to the living room, he sat down, summoned his sitar, and started to play a song he thought was awfully appropriate right about now. "Now I might have joined the merchant marine if I hadn't learned how to sing, And on top of all that I got married to early, cost me much more than a ring..."

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice was fuming as she changed in the bathroom.

I'm barely here for a week, and they marry me off to this person I don't even know! And I can't call my Jasper and tell him to help me, nor can I send him a letter because GOD KNOWS WHERE HE IS...

The sound of tearing fabric snapped Alice out of her thoughts. She had ripped her shirt right down the middle in anger.

Oh, perfect. Just absolutely SPIFFING.

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

Demyx paused. What was that noise? Oh, well. Prob'ly nothing I'd be much help with. Nevertheless, he dismissed his sitar. Not that this really stopped the music much - Demyx tended to hum when he was nervous.

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice was about to drive her fist through the wall when she realized...

What if this marriage isn't real at all? What if it's all some prank?

She sat on the floor of the bathroom and pulled her knees to her chest. She took a deep breath and began to concentrate.

The music coming from the other room slipped away. The lights near the bathroom mirror faded from Alice's vision. Her eyes glazed over as she concentrated harder.

She prayed her vision would be one she wanted to see...

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

Demyx stopped dead as it finally hit him. He'd been married. He wasn't even sure he was legal, between the facts that he couldn't remember how long it'd been since he lost his heart, and that he wasn't sure what counted as "legal" here anyway. And that blasted hat had gone and married him. The fact that the person he'd been married to was a vampire didn't enter into it. It was that he'd been married at all, and nobody'd even asked him whether he wanted to be.

Water dripped from his right hand, puddling on the floor. Cool it, Demyx. You're losing control.

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice no longer saw the softly lit bathroom. Her vision took over, and she watched intently.

She saw only herself, at first. Then Jasper was in the vision, holding her close. None of this arranged marriage business. Just her and Jasper. Like it should be.

The bathroom door came back into focus as Alice's vision ended. She rose and steadied herself against the sink.

I don't know how, but this marriage isn't going to trap me with this stranger. I'll be with my Jasper soon enough.

She looked at her reflection and smiled weakly.

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

Demyx paced the living room. There's gotta be a way out of this. Not sure what it is, but there must be a way. C'mon, me, think.

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Alice put the two pieces of shirt on and covered herself as much as she could before nearly dancing out of the bathroom to try changing again.

After returning to the bedroom and putting on a functional shirt, she burst into the living room. Her smile could have lit the room as she bounced over to Demyx and cried, "It's not real! We're not married forever!"

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

"That's a relief. No offense, but I'm kind of waiting for the right girl to come along." Cue the double-take. "Hang on... How do you know?"

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

Oh, how is he gonna believe this one? A vampire who can see the future, yeah, right.

"Don't worry about that," Alice responded, "As long as something doesn't drastically change, we're not going to stay married."

[soggynotecards.livejournal.com]

Demyx shrugged. "If you say so. I just wish I knew how we'll get out of this one." Last time I couldn't get out of something, I ended up dying... He discreetly moved his foot over the spot on the floor where water had dripped from his hand.

[alicevamp.livejournal.com]

[[Continued here (http://community.livejournal.com/hogwarts_hocus/1429062.html#cutid1)]]