SOLAR FLARE: The Magical Blackout

[marloww]

A flare is defined as a sudden, rapid, and intense variation in brightness. A solar flare occurs when magnetic energy that has built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenly released. Radiation is emitted across virtually the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves at the long wavelength end, through optical emission to x-rays and gamma

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[nnnoah]

Noah's preemptively donned party hat had ended up hanging off the back of his neck in the midst of his cuddling/wrestling match with Bernardo, finally emerging from the tussle of fluffed fur, his black v-neck t-shirt all but dyed an entirely different shade by the clusters of shed white and gray hairs that had clung to him, just as Megan's strangely hilarious musical selection started to scratch out of the speakers.

It wasn't unusual for bits of the party to arrive later. While he was particularly invested in timeliness in any event that involved his cousin, and Megan was, in general, particularly timely and overly considerate. As for everyone else, it seemed that life (or rather, each other) had caused a snag as far as matters of expedience and schedule-keeping were concerned-

Not that he was thinking about that in any way.

"Megan!" he exclaimed, a bright grin stretching across his face as he turned to the other girl, swiping his hand against the front of his shirt to attempt to brush off some of the mess Bernardo had left before reaching out and waving Megan forward. "C'mon, someone needs to get the party started," he grinned, already starting to tap his foot and wave his arm in an entirely overly enthusiastic manner along with the hokey beat of the music.

[jjjjones]

Megan just about doubled over in laughter. Noah was always the life of the party, full of energy and excitement- and was usually completely unpredictable. And here he was, surprising her again by being more excited than she was about the country music playing.

"Of course it had to be you," she laughed making her way toward him, awkwardly half dancing, half walking.

When she reached him, she took his hand and stood beside him, in true line-dancing form, "Are you ready?"

[nnnoah]

Despite an inherent lack of coordination when it came to dancing (a feel for rhythm wasn't so much the problem as getting his limbs to move in a way that was in any way organized or graceful), Noah was and had always been well being the point of caring about making a fool out of himself, much less so in circumstances when the only witness were family and pseudo-family members.

"Totally ready," he grinned, giving Megan's hand a playful squeeze before stepping into that half-memorized pattern of repeated steps that accompanied the tune.

They had barely just made it through a few measure, however, before he was interrupted midstep by a head-rush-like buzz of mild dizziness, and he braced himself in his resting solid stance for a moment, still cling on to Megan's hand as he threw a look up at a her.

It took a few more moments for the jukebox to fizzle out, the charmed recording slowing and warping into a dragged out cover version of the song before fading away entirely.

The silence hung in the air, heavy with confusion as the three of them exchanged blank glances.

"What was that-" he muttered, his hand still clinging to Megan's.

[gabetate]

As per usual, Gabe and Susan were late. No one was shocked, probably, since they'd had this tendency to be late everywhere they were going since they were children and used to distract each other with silly things. Now they were starting to be even later and for far more interesting reasons. They were having their own private little celebration for Susan's birthday before going down to join their friends.

He wasn't a fan of lifts, but otherwise it meant stairs and that was entirely too much effort. Gabe was twirling a finger around a strand of Susan's hair as the lift jerked to a stop, a but rougher than usual. The doors started to pull apart when they made a metallic groan sound and came to a stop, only a few inches visible between them.

"Um." Gabriel turned to look over at Susan. He'd been stuck in lifts before - because that was the story of the series of unfortunate events in his life - but only Muggle ones that were typically kept in worse repair than they should have been.

The lift in the Leaky getting stuck was, he had the feeling, unprecedented. "Does this happen often?"

[susanbones_x]

It was definitely a good thing that Susan wasn't very high maintenance, usually happy with throwing on a loose tank and whatever jeans she found laying around, shoving her feet into her chucks before running out the door. She was late nearly everywhere she went, hair left to air dry and curl whichever way it wanted, but she always figured she could have been much more late if she bothered with silly things like make up.

Her stomach was churning in a strange way she they made their way down on the lift to the ground floor, feeling uneasy when the whole thing came to a groaning halt. She leaned back against Gabe, unsure if she was going to completely lose her balance.

"No-" she said, her hand on his arm as she straightened herself back up, looking up and around the lift as if she'd actually see something that was broken. "This has never happened before."

Susan put her hands on the doors, looking at the small opening and wondering if she was able to squeeze herself through.

Well, the only way the find out was to try.

But she only got about half way before she was stuck, the top half of her body sticking out while she balanced her lower half inside the lift.

"Hannah! Noah!" she called out, hoping they'd be able to hear her in the dining room. "Um- Help?"

[scilicette]

The feeling that hit Hannah was odd and sudden, a queasiness that lingered in her skin long after the actual feeling went away. She pushed herself up from the table as the music dwindled, casting a weary glance toward Noah and Megan. She tugged at the string wrapped around her chin from the birthday girl hat bestowed upon her, pulling it off as something else caught her ear.

That was a sound she hadn't heard in a while.

"Um- Help?"

She frowned, sparing her cousin and friend another glance before moving into the hallway.

Bernadette came rushing toward her before she could even make it up the stairs.

"Hannah- there's um- there's a problem-"

She gestured toward a small group of people standing in the front entrance of the pub, eyes all darting around in curiosity.

"What's going on?"

"They're-" Bernadette dropped her voice to a low whisper- "They're Muggles-"

Hannah's brow furrowed.

"Um- alright- um-" Hannah wasn't exactly sure what to say. Muggles shouldn't have been able to even see the Leaky, let alone step foot inside of it. "Just keep them distracted for a moment? Don't serve them anything weird, alright?"

Then, she darted toward the staircase. It took her a moment before she figured out what was happening. Yup. That was definitely her best friend sticking halfway out of the lift.

"What the hell?"

[jjjjones]

Megan felt strange. It wasn't anything that she had ever felt before, and the feeling between her brows felt like a screw trying to imbed itself into her skull.

Something weird was happening. The air felt different, and the Leaky felt strange- like it changed somehow. A rush of panic filled her body. "N-n-oah," she mumbled, clutching her other hand to her chest. She dropped his hand and grabbed it again, performing this another three times before she finally let go to clutch her chest with her other hand.

She heard Susan's exclamation and looked at Noah, "We better go help her." Megan wasn't entirely sure if her legs were going to work properly at that point.

Taking in a few deep breaths, she willed herself forward. She almost had to laugh at what she saw, and some of her panic leaving her immediately. "Susan. What are you doing?"

[nnnoah]

Noah had grown accustomed enough to Megan's quirks over the years to know better than to interrupt her even-numbered ritual, waiting until she initiated the separation before stepping away and following her and Hannah out towards the lift.

Only to have just about the same reaction as everyone else, pausing to blink down at the half-Susan sticking out from the lift, and Gabriel visible somewhere behind her within the stalled lift.

"What in the-" he started, not quite finishing that sentence before a burst of laughter overtook him.

Whatever else may be happening, here was Susan Bones, stuck with half of her sticking out of a lift while her friends idly looked on.

"Right, okay, come on, we should probably-" he said, nudging past the two girls and stepping up to the lift's doors, grabbing hold of one side of it and gingerly pulling back on the stuck mechanisms to pry it open.

[gabetate]

"Susan, seriously - " Gabe had probably said it about eight times since Susan had gotten stuck. He'd been too worried that there would be an additional malfunction to fiddle with the open door button. He ended up with a hand pressed to her back as everyone rushed toward them. He did one quick wave at their friends from above her.

He was using his free hand to ineffectually push at one door when Noah made an executive decision.

"Good plan. Thanks, mate." Gabe said from behind the doors. He reached for the one opposite Noah and pulled. It was slow at first, the doors barely inching apart before there was finally enough space for Susan to move.

"I'm not going to end up stuck in here when I let go of this, am I?" He wasn't going to be concerned about it, more glad that Susan wasn't stuck hanging in the middle of the doors, but it was still a thought in his head.

[susanbones_x]

In retrospect trying to squeeze between the two broken doors of the lift, a space barely wide enough to fit her head. Then again, Susan had never really been a rational thinker and often said and did thinks whenever she felt the urge rather than taking a step back to consider the consequences.

Thankfully she had a very strong boyfriend and best friend ready to pull the doors apart and free her.

"Thanks, guys-" she grinned, offering Noah a sheepish smile as she stumbled forward into the hallway. She took a deep breath, happy to allow her lungs and stomach expand completely.

Though, that did never little to clear her head.

She turned back to see Gabe, his flexed muscles under his tee shirt not going unnoticed by any means (though, Noah's hadn't either but that was definitely a bit of cute and sexy overload all at once).

"Just- um, jump out?"

Her first instinct was to grab her wand but she didn't think he'd like that very much.

[scilicette]

"Maybe not jump-" Hannah reasoned.

She spared her best friend a glance, not bothering to pause before reaching for her, brushing her hair back lightly as Susan steadied herself. It was strangely like Susan to get herself in a situation like this, stuffing through the half-open doors before thinking. The problem, of course, was the fact that the lift was like this at all. Though, at the very least, it was only her friends inside and not guests of the inn.

Before she could say anything else, Bernadette came scrambling back up the stairs toward her looking more frazzled than she'd ever seen her.

"What's going on?"

"Hannah- we need you down here-"

She spared them all a final look before following after Bernadette, eyes taking in the growing crowd in the front of the pub. It seemed a rather overwhelming group of American tourists were standing around, easily recognizable by their British flag tee shirts and tote bags. They look like they just came off a tour bus.

"Oh, bloody hell-" she muttered. "We're going to have to lock this place up-"

[jjjjones]

Once Hannah left, Megan walked over and helped hold the other door open, "I'll help hold it open-"

She was a little uncertain if she could actually be helpful in this way, but she couldn't just stand there. "If you're fast, it might be ok."

Or it might end up closing on his body. Megan wasn't exactly muscular. "Susan could help?"

[susanbones_x]

"Oh, right! Yes-"

Susan closed the space between her and Megan in two large strides, positioning herself in a way so that she could get a good grip on the door. She wasn't exactly the strongest considering her small size but teamed up with Megan they'd probably be able to keep it open long enough for Gabe to slip out.

At least that's what she was hoping.

"You're going to have to do this fast," she said, leaning to offer Gabriel an encouraging smile.

[gabetate]

He watched Susan and Megan struggle with the door briefly and gave Noah a semi-apologetic look. At least he didn't seem to be having much trouble. He'd been holding it for a while, though, so it was definitely best to save him from having to hold it open for much longer.

"Fast is fine." As he said it, Gabe slipped out of the life, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste to be out of the small space. He breathed a little easier when he was on the outside of it.

"Thanks. Thanks, guys. You're great."

[nnnoah]

Noah gladly released his grip on his side of the lift's doors, a loud metallic clang ringing out as the cage snapped shut again before the lift was left lying still, empty, and useless, the four of them idly standing around and glancing between each other.

"Well- this is really weird?"

[jjjjones]

Megan moved her fingers before the doors slammed shut. They immediately found their way to her temples, her head still causing her some discomfort.

She nodded in agreement with Noah, "I think Bernadette was saying muggles found their way in?"

What could be going on?