8. Darren O'Hare (5) and Tristan Urquhart (6) Both will be flying; Tristan kills an NPC. Trap: Creatures in the lake that will try to pull anyone who falls in/flies to close under the surface. Creature: None.
Why did it have to be the lake?
That was the main thought running through Darren's head as he clung onto his broomstick for dear life, hands and legs squeezing together and his chest pressed against the shaft too tightly to be comfortable -- though it at least made it easier for him to manoeuvre and stay on his broom rather than tumbling into the lake like Walden apparently had under his watch during the last battle. He had resolved to focus less on dwelling on his mistake from that time and focusing on improving his flying, and especially his duelling, so that the same thing wouldn't happen to his partner -- Tristan this time, just like for the mock duel he hadn't done so well in either -- or to himself for the re-match. However, for all he could practice and run through scenarios in his head like before a Quidditch match, being thrown into a chaotic dog-fight where dying was a very real possibility was always an experience for which he never felt adequately prepared.
His heart nearly jumped out of his chest as he narrowly swerved out of the way of a stray Killing Curse from a nearby duel, and as he dove to throw a Stunning Spell from below at whomever the caster might have been, a dark shadow skimmed under the surface of the water for a brief moment, but went unnoticed by Darren and didn't surface -- this time, anyway.
Jürgen Vogler, on the other hand, did not believe he could die fighting against British school-children who, judging from last time, had neither the ability nor the will to commit murder -- small surprise that despite their country's boasting about how they would defeat Grindelwald, they still had yet to do it and seemed no closer than they were months ago. And so it was with the mindset of the battle being a particularly chaotic Quidditch match with no rules that he flew into the crowd of fliers dogging each other over the lake and chose a dark-haired boy as his pet target. Pulling the handle of his broomstick back so he could ascend and try to sneak up above Tristan, he shouted, 'Confringo!Avada Kedavra!' and fired two streaks of light at him, hoping he could either knock him off his broom or kill him outright -- or even both if he was skilled enough.
Tristan was lucky. The green light from the Killing Curse that Darren dodged caught his eye, and as he looked around for the source, he saw Jürgen above him and aiming at him. Just in time, he rolled out of the way. As he righted his broom, he pointed his wand at the Austrian and sent a Blasting Curse right back at him. Below, the dark shape under the water flickered above the surface for a second, revealing a shimmering, scaly skin before disappearing again under the ripples.
Tristan's barrel-roll had brought him closer to his partner, Darren O'Hare. He'd wound up with Darren because the Hufflepuff had been the closest Keeper to him when the alarms had sounded, and even though Tristan liked him well enough (as much as he could like a former player from an opposing Quidditch team), he would have preferred a different partner. Their last team-up in the mock duel had ended in Darren's capture, and Tristan worried about his mental state after his reaction to Macnair's death. Some people just weren't cut out for battle. Tristan would have flown farther away from Darren, so that they didn't together make a bigger target, but it was just as important to make sure that he was holding up. "A'ight?" he asked.
He didn't have the chance to wait for an answer, as just then a sea serpent rose out of the lake in an attempt at a nearby Austrian, an unfortunate young lad named Peter Urner. Peter sent a Stunning Spell at the snake, but missed, the jet of red light heading straight for Darren and Tristan instead.
'I'm thinking I am, yeah, but -- watch out!' Despite practicing more, Darren still wasn't entirely used to using a wand while on a broomstick -- and Tristan was right that he wasn't cut out for battle -- so instead of throwing up a Shield Charm, he swung his weight around so that he was hanging upside-down in a Sloth Grip Roll and out of the way of the Stunning Spell. While still clinging on underneath and praying the serpent wasn't going to go for him next and pull him into the lake, or that another Killing Curse would be streaking towards him, he fumbled around for his wand before finally aiming it at the second Austrian and shouting, 'Incarerous!' Hopefully that would stop Peter without throwing him into the lake and possibly dying as well.
Jürgen, meanwhile, swore to himself in German as his two spells missed Tristan -- surely that was simply bad luck rather than a lack of skill on his part, for he, Jürgen Vogler, did not lose to non-Austrian children. As he waved one arm around aggressively as some sort of signal to Peter that they should each take one of the boys and that the dark-haired one was his prey, Tristan's own Blasting Curse nearly crashed right into his chest, and he barely swerved and dove out of its way as it clipped several twigs off the end of his broomstick. Growling under his breath, he double-backed and shouted, 'Abscido!Incendio!'
As soon as Darren shouted his warning, Tristan barked "Protego!" to set a shield around himself. When the Stunning Spell missed Darren, it crashed instead into Tristan's shield and dissipated harmlessly. Still, the impact broke Tristan's shield, leaving him open to Jürgen's attack from the other side. The Slicing Hex just barely caught him on his left bicep. The sudden pain caused Tristan to jerk his broomstick to the side, sending the twig end of it straight into the path of Jürgen's Incendio. Tristan cursed under his breath, and pulled the handle up, aiming his broomstick up and away. If he had to take time to put out the flames, at least he could be moving, right? So, without looking where he was going, he turned around and cast an Aguamenti at the end of his broom.
It was a good thing he had thought to go up instead of down towards the lake, as the serpent would likely have aimed for him next. Instead, it hovered around poor Peter, fangs bared, as if waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Peter, seeing Jürgen's signal, ducked out of the way of a feint from the serpent to get a better angle on the ginger Brit. He hadn't even intended it, but his defensive maneouvre against the snake helped him dodge Darren's Incarcerous. Instead of wrapping around Peter, the bonds snaked around the sea serpent's head. It recoiled. Peter, unable to think of anything but snakes for the moment, shouted, "Serpensortia!" and a viper shot out of the tip of his wand towards Darren.
Although Darren had enlisted with the intent to look out for the other players on the Hufflepuff team, it didn't mean he had no concern for anyone else with whom he might be fighting -- and as Tristan had been attacked by the first Austrian, he had tried to cast his own Shield Charm to help, but missed; it was nothing like throwing a Quaffle back into play, after all. He didn't have any time to attempt assistance after that, however, as a snake, of all things, suddenly came flying towards him and wrapped itself around his wand-arm -- if there was any advantage he thought he would have in the air, it was safety from any creatures the Austrians brought along, though he was apparently mistaken. It sank its fangs into his forearm as he clutched onto his broomstick tighter with his knees and tried to pull it off with his other arm as he shot a Slicing Hex and another Incarcerous at Peter, then flew away from him and the surface of the lake.
Jürgen had no intention of letting Tristan get away from him, though he laughed as he gave the boy what he saw to be a generous head-start before tilting his broom back so he could chase after him -- the higher they flew, the harder they fell, right? And judging from the snake that had reared its head out of the lake just now, a tumble into the water would make for a gruesome death even if his curses missed. Once he was close enough to aim properly, he shouted, 'Aguamenti!Glacius!Oppugno!' and willed three icicles he had created from thin air to attack him.
With the problem taken care of, Tristan righted himself on his broom, but he was dismayed to see that the weird German guy had followed him into the air. He didn't have any time to think before the first icicle plunged into his stomach. Tristan doubled over his broomstick handle, and the other two icicles went sailing into the clouds above. Tristan realised that he was lucky. The icicle would melt itself away, and in the meantime, the ice numbed his pain. Maybe. The flesh around the icy dagger in his side felt both searing hot and freezing cold, and even though Tristan knew there were worse injuries, for a few good seconds, he couldn't fathom them.
He rotated his broom to face his attacker, holding onto his broom for dear life, his wand hand clutched against his stomach. He pulled his hand away, trying not to think about how sticky his fingers were and not thinking about how the blood might stain his wooden wand. He pointed at Jürgen and shouted, "Incendio!"
Peter, meanwhile, managed to dodge Darren's Slicing Hex, but this time the ropes from Darren's Incarcerous hit their mark. Peter strained against the bonds and struggled to maintain his balance with his arms both caught at his sides, but he wound up hanging on, sloth-like, upside down by his knees. If Jürgen saw, Peter knew he would make fun. Pausing in his squirming, he grit his teeth and cast Finite Incantatem. The ropes disappeared, although he still hung upside down in midair. Before he even righted himself, he sent a return Slicing Hex Darren's way, and after swinging himself upright, he followed up with Silencio, in the hopes that this British boy would suffer from not being able to say his spells out loud.
By the time Peter had taken care of the ropes, Darren had finally remembered to cast Relashio to force the snake to release him -- he felt a slight twinge of guilt as it fell into the water below -- and had no intention of looking backwards to see if his spells had hit (though he might have shouted something about being Irish if he knew the man thought of him as a Briton); the Killing Curse had to be spoken anyway, so he knew he'd get a fair warning if one of those was barrelling towards him. It was no surprise then that the Slicing Hex came as a bit of a shock when he felt the spell slash open his back -- thankfully closer to his shoulder than his spine -- and as he instinctively turned to see how far behind him the Austrian was, the Silencing Charm hit him as well, and he found no sound coming out of his mouth when he tried to shout, 'Stupefy!', nor was he good enough at non-verbal magic for anything besides pointless wand-waving to have happened.
Well, it wasn't as if he was great at duelling in the air anyway, and he always had better luck with flying -- so pressing himself against his broomstick again, he suddenly pulled back the handle at a sharp angle to change direction, hanging upside-down and then rolling upright again as he flew upwards and headed back towards where Tristan was, zig-zagging in a closed Woollongong Shimmy as he went to make his course less predictable. He had half a mind to lead Peter away from them, but that plan hadn't worked so well last time, and he wasn't about to make the same mistake of being too far away from his partner to help again.
Jürgen, who, on the other hand, could still speak, had grinned nastily when he saw that one of his icicles had hit their mark, though he frowned when the second and third ones missed -- oh well, that just meant the hunt would last a little while longer and he'd have more time to play around with this one. He didn't, however, expect Tristan to turn around and fly towards him, and in his surprise and nervous laughter (which he tried to pass off as a haughty guffaw of defiance), the flames of the Incendio set him on fire before he could throw up a shield. Shrieking and swearing in shock and pain, it took him several seconds for him to cast Aguamenti onto himself, robes and skin still singed and smoking as he coughed, 'Saevio Verbera!' once they were close enough.
Tristan should have put up a shield. He tried when he saw the purple flames, but by then it was already too late. He'd been too distracted judging the Austrian's damage from his Incendio and gritting his teeth from the pain in his gut. When the Smashing Curse landed square in his chest, the icicle in his stomach suddenly became the least of Tristan's worries. He heard a crackle that could have been thunder from the weather traps not too far away, but was more likely the sound of several of his ribs snapping at once. His broom spiraled out of control, and he held on for dear life, silently thanking Merlin that his wand arm was still okay. They'd barely even touched him in the last battle! How was this happening now?
Peter chased the ginger through the sky, sending Blasting Curses and Stinging Hexes after him as best he could in an attempt to slow him down. As he hurtled through the sky after Darren, the two drew close enough to the other skirmish for Peter to see the dark-haired Brit receive the end of Jürgen's Smashing Curse. The old boy still had it in him, Peter thought, and, inspired, he sent his own attempt after Darren.
Tristan didn't quite recover, per se, but soon enough he regained control of his broom. This was really serious, he thought, and with all the blood he was losing, he didn't know how much time he had left for playing around. Not willing to take any chances, he sent three Stunning Spells after the Austrian that had hit him, in the hopes that at least one would connect and get the job done. Delirious from pain and already desperate to be done with this battle, Tristan didn't stop to think of what could happen if he knocked an Austrian from his broom from this height, or if he cared about it.
Jürgen had laughed in triumph this time when his Smashing Curse, well, smashed into Tristan, though he would have been even more entertained if the boy had been blasted off his broomstick as well -- but again, that just meant more time for him to choose a particularly good spell with which to finish him off. The Killing Curse was so over-done by now, but perhaps Black Fire would do? It would be hilarious if the boy fell into the lake and panicked when the water wouldn't be able to douse the fla--
-- except by the time he had decided on what he had intended to be the last spell Tristan would ever be on the receiving end of, there were three Stunning Spells headed towards him. If he was on the ground, it wouldn't have been so horrifying an attack, but from the air, well, this wasn't good. Without time to attempt three shields, he swerved out of the path of the first bolt of red light -- but the second one collided with his chest, and as he went limp and unconscious, the third threw him off his broomstick and sent him tumbling unknowingly into the lake below. And before Peter or another Austrian could save him from drowning, the limb of one of the creatures had surfaced, wrapped itself around him, and dragged him beneath the surface, never to set foot on land again.
Darren, meanwhile, had thankfully been focusing on his flight patterns and trying to Finite the Silencing Charm away non-verbally, rather than paying attention to yet another wizard falling to their watery death in the lake below -- otherwise, he would have froze in shock and horror instead of keeping his mind set on the battle, and perhaps fallen in as well. However, just as he finally lifted the Silencio, he failed to dodge two of the Blasting Curses -- one smashed into his shoulder and forced him to struggle to hang on as the force also threw him and his broomstick forward (and, to his horror, sent his wand falling into the lake) while the second (along with the Stinging Hex) hit and broke his leg as he attempted a half-arsed Starfish and Stick to avoid it when he only had one strong arm left; the Smashing Curse, thank God, missed him entirely. Having no choice but to clamber back on and stick with flying, he dove suddenly, then banked to the right before trying to fly closer to where he thought he saw Tristan via half a Double Eight Loop, hoping it would throw off Peter and that the other boy could help him once they were close enough to him.
He couldn't. Even Peter Urner could see this, when the boy who had just killed Jürgen Vogler stopped moving, eyes wide. Here, he saw his chance. The ginger posed no further threat without a wand, but who was to say this one wouldn't recover and come after him? He'd never thought that Jürgen could be taken down by some British boy who'd never killed before, but here they were. It was up to Peter to finish the job, and he sent both a Slicing Hex and a Blasting Curse.
When Jürgen fell in only to become fish food, all Tristan could think about was Walden Macnair, and how the kid's body had looked when he and Camilla had fished it out. The man had been right in front of him, and now he was in the lake. How was that life? He couldn't concentrate on anything but that spot of empty air where Jürgen's broom had been only moments prior, and so when Peter's vengeful hexes both came his way, he took the full impact of both of the spells, too stunned even to feel pain. Tristan's grip on his wand and his broomstick both slackened as the Slicing Curse hit, and the Blasting Curse was enough to knock him over and off his broom.
The first thing Darren had noticed as he got closer to Tristan was that the man who had been attacking him couldn't be seen anywhere -- but that was probably because he had been scared off and retreated, which was a good thing, yeah? However, just as he had been about to shout at him to ask about it (perhaps he was just seeing things, as he was starting to feel light-headed) and give him a heads-up about the Austrian who was still chasing him, he saw the other boy suddenly being thrown off his broomstick and tumbling downwards through the air -- and while he hadn't been conscious to watch Walden fall to his death, this was what he had imagined it would look like, and he froze in shock.
But there was another part of him that remembered what everyone else had said about making sure it didn't happen next time instead of moping around about the last battle; and so after taking a deep breath, he pressed himself flat along the shaft of his broom, kicked up the foot-rests as well as he could given his injuries, and shot into a steep dive to -- well, he wasn't actually sure whether he meant to try and interrupt his fall, or merely reach the water in time to pull him out before he drowned; but he did know that he had to be quick, especially if the remaining Austrian would most likely chase after him and kill them both if given the chance.
Peter started to chase after Darren, but then a long flash of light from the camp caught his attention. His division had received a message about how Grindelwald would be coming, and Peter suspected that this was it. He'd never seen the man before, and he suspected that this might be one of his only chances. Neither of the Brits could do much damage any more, and Peter wasn't the type to continue fighting after he'd already won, so instead of following the ginger into the lake, he pulled up and flew away towards land.
There was shouting all around Darren about how Dumbledore, and perhaps even Grindelwald himself, had arrived, but he was completely focused on his dive and -- oh, damn, there went Tristan crashing into the lake with a splash. Desperately hoping he was still alive and that the creatures wouldn't beat him to fishing him out of the water, he gripped his broomstick tighter and picked up speed, and -- augh, no, this was becoming a lot like a Wronski Feint, and he was a Keeper, not a Seek--
-- he hadn't exactly meant to crash into the lake like that himself, but as he surfaced and treaded water as well as he could with an injured shoulder and a broken leg to stay afloat, he luckily came across his wand bobbing up and down near him. Once he had grabbed onto and used it to summon Tristan's wand to himself, he swam over to the other boy and gently hooked an arm under both of his once he noticed the broken ribs. And though Darren was a strong swimmer, he knew he couldn't carry both of them back to shore like this and while God-knew-how-many creatures wanted to eat them, and so he muttered, 'Accio broomstick!' and, gripping the handle tightly as possible, willed it to drag them back to land at top speed.
9. Caroline Macmillan (8) and Aloysius Selwyn (7) Trap: Mudballs from all that digging they were doing. Creature: 4 inferi (background NPCs)
Caroline heard the call to arms just as she was beginning to think about going to bed early that night. It annoyed her. But she figured that perhaps it would be a good idea to go and help. She was slightly nervous, and part of her didn't want to pair up with anyone going into the fray. After all, the last person she was with had died. She did not want to see that again. But she couldn't run away. Instead, she set off toward the battlefield quickly, her wand out and ready this time. At some point near the lake, a large ball of mud attacked her. Caroline jumped out of the way, thinking this rather odd, and looked about to see who threw it. But the only person near at the moment was Aloysius Selwyn. And he didn't throw balls of mud, as far as she knew. But that didn't stop her from raising an incredulous eyebrow.
"Throwing mud is pretty rude. I wonder what kind of mothers Austrians had."
If she was going to start a battle, she was definitely going to enjoy it, at least.
Wonderful. Another battle. Aloysius had definitely expected it, but it didn't mean that he was particularly thrilled about the whole thing. However, he was not going to run away this time - not after what had happened to Cecilia. He had his wand out, and was scanning the area for Cecilia in hopes that she was in some sort of moderate safety, though it didn't seem as though any of them were going to be safe.
Caroline's voice took him out of his search and back to the present. "Probably just like my -- " he started to say, when a mudball zoomed out of nowhere and hit him in the arm. "Ouch," he said, rubbing his arm and frowning. That was unpleasant. "What was that?" He spun around quickly, looking left and right, holding his wand out and ready to attack. This was strange. Something about this seemed wrong. Where were the Austrians?
There weren't any Austrians. Well all right. There were. She could see them coming in from the distance. But along with the Austrians were also other things. They were dark, and she had no idea what they actually were. But they looked...dead. Caroline frowned and took a small, instinctive step closer to Aloysius as though them fighting side-by-side would make a world of difference. "I don't know...what are those things?" She responded, but her attention was torn away from the inferi as another mudball came whizzing by. This one hit her shoulder, but instead of really caring, she followed it with her eyes. "It's a ball of dirt." She informed him. "Are they flinging balls of dirt?" Leave it to the Austrians.
Aloysius frowned at the dark things that were moving closer and closer to them as they spoke. As much as it looked like the Austrians were flinging balls of dirt at them, it also looked like they were just appearing out of nowhere. Aloysius continued to look around warily, wondering when he would have to attack. Another mud ball flew towards them, but there was something different about this one - it was on fire. Two Austrians had broken free of some advancing crowd and were headed straight for them, and they must have figured out some way of using the mud balls to their advantage...
"Watch out!" Aloysius shouted, throwing up a Shield Charm and stepping in front of Caroline as an added layer of protection. The mudball bounced harmlessly off the shield, but before Aloysius could revel in his moment of triumph, a dozen more hurled out of the hair and began to pepper the quickly weakening shield.
Caroline only barely saw the flaming mudball before Aloysius' shield bounced it away. He had jumped in front of her, which normally she wouldn't like very much, as she was perfectly capable of defending herself, thank you. But she was not so arrogant to pretend she would have avoided this. Instead of thanking him, which seemed extraneous at the moment, Caroline yelled "Protego!" as well to add to the layer of protection against the onslaught of flaming mud. As if that wasn't enough to worry about, the Austrians were quickly approaching. One, a ginger-haired man whose name was Hansel, apparently, shot a smashing curse toward them. It looked severe, but Caroline side-stepped it. Still, it was a lot to dodge at once. She suddenly wondered exactly what their chances were, but decided to not worry about it and instead, tried to stun the Austrians before they could do any actual damage.
It was as if they were suddenly surrounded on all sides by Austrians, even though there were only two or three of them and then a few more of those dark looking creatures around since the rest of the group had split off and gone elsewhere. Still, Aloysius didn't feel like he was equipped to deal with any amount of Austrian. Aloysius did not have as much luck sidestepping the Smashing Curse, and he had almost escaped it when a thoughtless motion of his arm put his left arm directly in the line of fire. The curse hit him full force in the arm, and he could hear the crack of his bone.
He sort of didn't realise it had happened. His mind was busy, as he flung out an Aguamenti combined with a Freezing Charm that sent a block of ice at Hansel, the pain from his left arm hitting him almost as soon as he shot off the spells. Another Austrian, this one a young man named Jürgen, took advantage of the chaos to shoot a Stunning Spell followed by a Bone-Twisting Curse in their direction.
Caroline didn't like this. At all. She had no idea what she was doing, since she had not had any duelling experience or training apart from Flitwick's quick lessons before the first Reconnaissance mission. It hadn't been enough. Clearly. She had no idea what hexes these were or where the mud balls were coming from. She only barely stopped herself from yelling out as the smashing curse hit Aloysius and she heard the bone in his arm crack. It was frightening, but she tried not to show it. She did not get hysterical. She was not the type to get hysterical. She just had to keep telling herself that. "Are you ..." the query never finished, because the bone-twisting curse hit the distracted girl. She did scream this time, as her left arm was being bent into a grotesque shape and the pain was more than she'd ever felt. She managed to get her wand in position and fire an expelliarmus at the Austrian, trying to distract him.
Hansel was happy that his curse had hit, but the boy's ice shards had hit him, too. They buried themselves in his shoulder, and he got angry. He fired a muscle-killing curse at them, trying to aim and focus on the boy who had hurt him in the first place.
This was actually a lot scarier than Aloysius had imagined it would be. But he found himself going into Battle Mode (a mode he didn't realise he had) and every other part of his brain was shutting down. The bone-twisting curse hit Caroline and he set his jaw and decided that they were both going to get out of this alive. He put up another Shield Charm and used the protection to go to where Caroline was, planning to inquire about her state when the muscle-killing curse got him in the leg, sending him straight to the ground in pain.
He gritted his teeth even as his eyes swam - because he was a Selwyn, and Selwyns didn't cry on the battlefield - and even tried to stand up but fell again and somehow managed to get out an Expulso in between grabbing at his legs to make sure they were still there because they felt like they were going to fall off. As he moved to stand up a shadow fell over him - what was that? "Caroline, I think there is something behind me," he said evenly, hoping that it wasn't one of those creatures they had seen before.
Caroline was in pain. She couldn't move her arm. Luckily, she was able to distract the Austrian from his muscle-killing curse and it stopped. But not soon enough. Aloysius was down and it didn't look like he'd be able to get back up for quite some time. The nasty thought occurred to Caroline that maybe she wouldn't escape alive from this. Maybe neither of them would. But she shook it away as quickly as she could, instead concentrating on the fact that something was, indeed, behind Aloysius. "I think it is one of the Inferi." It was. She had no idea what to do. Her tone was trying hard not to be scared, but she was scared. That was the problem here. She raised her wand and shot a diffindo at the dead object, hoping perhaps that would scare it off. She quickly leaned over and took Aloysius's arm. "Try to stand." she urged. "I can try to apparate us away from here. There's too many." She had a bad arm and he a bad leg and a bad arm. They had to hurry if they wanted to survive.
Standing seemed like the most obvious choice. Aloysius tried, but the pain in his leg was too great and he sank back down to the ground again. Before they had a chance to Apparate away, the Inferi's arm dropped to the ground because of the Severing Charm but it kept looming over them. Aloysius shook himself free from Caroline's grip and used his good arm to move himself backwards before he raised his wand at the oncoming Inferi, and it looked like there were three others that were close behind the first one. He shot an Impediment Jinx its way, hoping that it would buy them some time as they tried to figure out what to do.
Aloysius wasn't really paying attention to the fact that there was still an Austrian that they had to fight, because he was currently consumed with approaching undead. He finally managed to get himself to a half-standing position, saying to Caroline, "If we can just keep them off us long enough, then we can Apparate away." He followed the Impediment Jinx with an Expulso - maybe they could just explode them and then get out of there.
The first inferius slowed down, yes, and the one behind it got hit in the leg with the expulso. But that still left them standing and coming toward Caroline and Aloysius. Hansel was currently employed setting the mudballs on fire, and had them coming with more frequency toward Aloysius and Caroline. He froze a few too, and one of those hit Caroline in the side of her head, confusing her momentarily. That was when Aloysius was getting up, something she didn't quite approve of since he was obviously hurt. But she didn't choose to say anything to the move, even though at first she thought he was gone. Caroline shook her head, trying to clear it from the blow.
Instead of answering Aloysius, she nodded, keeping an eye on him just in case he fell and one of the Inferi took advantage. She wished they could run, but there wasn't any way that was happening. Caroline took Aloysius' lead and shot an expulso at the first inferius, trying to at least pick them off. Inspired by the fireball she only barely dodged, she shot an incendio at the creature. Did inferi feel pain? Maybe not. But she hoped so.
Aloysius ducked the first few mudballs, but the last one hit him square on the right shoulder, singing through his robes before hitting the ground. He cried out in pain, distracted from the hexes he had been sending at the Inferi - another expulso, a slicing hex, an incendio. One of the Inferi caught on fire and dropped off to the side, but the first one took the opportunity when Aloysius was focused on the new hole burnt into his shoulder to attack. The Inferius lunged forward, and before Aloysius had the chance to react, it had grabbed Aloysius' arm and sunk its teeth into his wrist.
Aloysius was really yelling at this point - the whole left side of his body was in pain, and now he had this thing that wouldn't let go of him, and its teeth were going deeper and deeper and the pressure was so great that he had to drop his wand. Tears stung in his eyes and he felt his weight crumple beneath him, and he was probably actually crying now but it didn't matter and then he felt something crunch and all of a sudden the Inferus had let go of his arm. Aloysius fell backwards with the sudden release of weight and quickly tried to recover and get his wand, but -- he couldn't. Something was wrong with his hand. Really, really wrong.
Caroline was busy trying to get rid of the inferi not attached to Aloysius when she heard him yelling. She looked down and screamed too; she couldn't help it. The dark creature was eating his wrist off. She couldn't even watch, but she did point her wand at it and yelled out several expulsos. Finally, they hit, and it let go of Aloysius. She ran to help him, but she wasn't sure what she was going to do. His hand was gone. She assumed the thing had eaten it, but she didn't want to think about that. Instead, she thought quickly and started to gather her robes into a bandage to at least stop the bleeding. "I'm so sorry, we need to..."
But all of a sudden, she heard something that sounded like angor behind her (Hansel was taking advantage of the fact that they were busy,) and then she couldn't breathe. She fell to the ground, too, trying to figure out a way to get the spell off. She couldn't. Wandless finite incantatems were all she was thinking, but they weren't working. Caroline was panicking, but she didn't know quite how to communicate to Aloysius or anyone that she was about to pass out from lack of oxygen. She tried to motion for him to leave. Quickly. At least one of them could get out of this.
His hand was gone. His hand. His right hand. It was gone. Aloysius sat on the ground, stunned, not quite sure what to do. What the hell was he supposed to do without a hand? He felt like he was living in some kind of dream state. There was Caroline, bandaging his wound that he refused to look at because then that would make it real. And then there she was, on the ground, and he couldn't quite tell what was happening to her.
Aloysius continued to stare at Caroline, and to wonder what she was doing with her hands. Oh, he should try to help her. Right. He tried to do some wandless magic, to come up with something that would kill the spell, but for some reason he couldn't make his brain cooperate with what he was supposed to do. He felt uncomfortable because he couldn't really feel any pain. Was he supposed to? This was all so confusing. And how was he supposed to leave? He couldn't stand up. They were both going to die there, he was absolutely sure of it.
She did not really blame Aloysius for not helping. There wasn't much she could actually expect him to do, having just lost a hand and without much use of his entire left side. This didn't make the breathing any easier. Her ears began ringing, and she stopped struggling just because she couldn't anymore. She tried one last time to breathe, or signal, or something but it was absolutely no use. The curse had done its worst, and Caroline fell over completely, dead. She had at least been able to shut her eyes against the impending blackness before it consumed her entirely.
Hansel was very happy. He had killed the girl, whoever she was, and now it looked like his leader was about to do the same. Or something. He couldn't really tell, but a big group of people was going to the center of the field, and he set off there too, leaving the boy to bleed out, which he assumed would be the end of him as well.
Aloysius watched Caroline fall over, and he knew that she was dead. She was dead. Caroline was dead, and he didn't have a hand. He blinked once, and then twice, and then scrunched up his nose because he felt a lump in his throat and he knew what was coming. He suddenly became very light-headed, and he finally looked down at his arm. Oh sweet Merlin, he really didn't have a hand. The shock hit him like a rock to the chest, and he let out a strangled cry before falling over, unconscious. He hoped that he would at least die quickly.
10. Poppy Pomfrey (4) and Regulus Moonshine (7) Regulus kills an NPC. Trap: The floor is lava! Creature: None.
Poppy rushed through the woods just far enough off the shoreline that she could see people flying above the lake but not pick out who anyone was. While their instructed focus had been to defend, not heal, that was all Poppy felt she could actually give someone an advantage with. She was no dueller and while shield charms were coming much stronger and easier to her now, she wasn't about to attack an Austrian with it. "Regulus, hurry, we might be able to get to cover and watch for anyone who needs help at the lake," she instructed to her boyfriend, crouching down behind a tree and looking, one hand balancing herself on the trunk and another holding her bag of supplies steady beside her. It'd be a lie to say she wasn't terrified, especially after nearly losing her ability to heal at all in the last fight, however Poppy dealt with the adrenaline pumping through her veins better than most and while thinking upon the lives they'd lose and the danger her friends were in for too long would make her breath fall short, seeing the blood and injury around her just strengthened her resolve.
The girl glanced over for the Ravenclaw and she was about to reach out for his hand when she felt the ground rumble beneath their feet. Was that a troll? An Austrian? Which trap had been laid on this side of... but she didn't have time to think of it as a blasting curse went zapping above their heads, a tree in front of them exploding.
Regulus followed Poppy as quickly as he could, his injury from last year making him limp in a way that made it hard for him to keep up with her. But he was working hard, with his usual youthful smile plastered on his face gone. Now he looked dead serious, worried that he would lose his cool and be the reason someone died out here on the field. He knew his grandfather would want him to be fighting out on the frontlines, but Regulus was glad that his arms were full of supplies, not just a wand stretched out and ready to hit anyone.
"Yes, right, right," said Regulus, crouching down next to her. He opened his bag to make sure none of the potions had broken inside. The sound of the booms made him stand up, alert. "You wait here," he said. "I'll go look and see what that noise is."
Moritz was proud to be marching along with his comrades. He knew that this was going to be a great conquest, and he held his wand out as he started sulking along the landscape, trying to find a sneaky way to come up and attack the children defending the camp. He couldn't believe so many children had been sent to do the work of men.
He flung his wand toward the trees, casting blasting curses around them all with a sick grin.
Poppy grabbed onto Regulus's sleeve immediately as he went to stand. "Wait!" she hissed. Just as she did so, another explosion hit to their left and the ground began to rumble more. Then behind them. Glancing behind her, Poppy saw a few splotches of color that indicated people not in BAMF uniform. "GO, GO!" she exclaimed now, standing and not-so-gently urging him forward. "To the lake!" Whatever trap they were nearby, Poppy felt like it triggered if Austrians started to cross toward the shore from the trees, and that's where they needed to lead them.
As the pair hurried forward, Poppy saw the ground below them begin to crack, bright red and orange glowing between the breaks in soil. Oh no. This wasn't just triggered by Austrians. They were right in the middle of a hidden lava-field, that had been initiated to reveal itself upon the offensive spells cast in its vicinity.
Dirk was to Moritz's left and had laughed at his comrade's strategy. Flush the children out like rabbits, it would work. They weren't soldiers here, they were scared and untrained and that was a fatal combination in battle - even if a few were creative or stubborn. He spotted two figures rush from behind a tree and he pointed, calling to his friend in German and aiming his own wand to send a couple stunners their way. His aim was shaken though by the ground opening up beneath him - he was forced to pitch to the side so as not to let a foot slip into the new crack. Bewildered, but determined, Dirk made his way forward as best he could amongst the rumbling ground.
Regulus looked at the lava anxiously. He put his hand on the small of Poppy's back. "Go, go, quick!" He urged her. "Toward the water." He looked at the two Austrians quickly hurrying toward them. "I'll... I'll try and distract them, a little," he said. He swallowed hard, but gave Poppy a determined look. "I promise, I'll be there in just a minute."
He swung his wand at the two, casting a stunning spell at Dirk and then Moritz. He cringed a little at having to do it. Regulus wasn't made to fight like this, but he wasn't about to let Poppy get hurt, and he didn't fancy being stuck in the hospital wing or being buried.
"NO!" shouted Poppy and she skidded to a halt. Regulus may have taken the duelling class for five years and she hadn't but she knew Regulus wasn't a fighter. "Regulus, RUN!" she shrieked, lifting her own wand and casting a large shield in between the attacking soldiers and her boyfriend. She was no Gryffindor, but not only was he one of her best friends, but it was her duty to make sure anyone around her came out of this as unscathed as possible. Running away wouldn't help that at all. As she was reaching for him once more she felt the ground split again beneath her and she was forced to teeter sideways with a surprised squeak, grasping at a tree for balance. The areas around them that were solid ground were getting fewer and fewer and she remember now - soon there would only be boulders to perch on as a safe haven.
"Poppy, come on!" Regulus did not like her still being there. He felt his palms sweating, and worried he might drop his wand. The ground was shifting more between them. "Please, I'm coming. Honest, just, I've got to hold them off!"
Just as Regulus was going to try another hit toward the Austrian wizards, Moritz quickly shot a stunning spell at Poppy. He was sweating at all this lava, and he wanted to get away. He gave Dirk a sideways glance as he stopped advancing forward.
Dirk had gotten over his surprise and was now trying to analyze the situation as quickly as he could. The ground was starting to dissolve - but there, a rock - it hadn't moved, and the ground around it was almost gone. Had they left stepping stones for their own? Dirk motioned at his partner to find another and leapt onto the flat piece of solid earth in a few long strides. Just in time, as well, because the soil evaporated and was replaced with molten lava around him as he did. As soon as he caught his balance though, he lifted up and aimed for the boy since Moritz had claimed the girl as his target. "Deprimo! Expulso!" the soldier shouted, aiming at the boy's feet so as to knock him off balance if it didn't manage to hit.
Meanwhile Poppy pressed herself against the tree, only narrowly avoiding the stunner sent in her direction. Then another spell hit the tree and she felt it crack. Gripping her bag and scrambling, the Hufflepuff was only just able to throw herself onto a nearby rock hearing and feeling a crack in her torso as her body hit the stone.
Regulus was quick to put up a protego, clenching his teeth as his shield held, although bits of the rock crumbled at the ricochet of the deprimo. "Poppy!" he called, "Are you all right?" He couldn't turn around with his shield up. But as the spell was gone, he turned and started climbing after her, his wand still out and struggling with the bag as he made his way up a rock.
Moritz smirked at Dirk's work, but had to be careful as he tried to find solid ground to stand on. He moved to a thicker slab of rock and steadied his wand at Poppy against the stone. "Expulso!". He nodded toward the two of them. "They've got some sort of supplies," he yelled to Dirk in German.
Clenching her jaw through the pain of what she was sure must have been a cracked rib, Poppy pulled herself up enough to lift her wand and create another shield to block the exploding hex just in time. Groaning, but the pain not being anything like what she experienced in the last fight, she was able to refocus on what was going on. She surveyed their area of battle now and found very quickly that it had become a plane of molten rock, with various stepping stones and boulders sticking up at times. The last of the trees fell into the lava and Poppy had a clear view toward the lake where others' were fighting. That was the only way out, but they'd never make it from stone to stone with both the Austrians firing spell after spell at them. They had to fight back, it seemed, but Poppy's mind was blanking. What could she possibly do...
Dirk saw the bulky shoulder bags they both carried and nodded. Food? Medical? Whatever it was, getting rid of them may be a benefit. He saw the boy going to reach the girl and fairly snarled as he grinned as aimed right at the boy's bag of supplies. "Abscido!" he called, then concentrated on his hatred for the entire stubborn country of Britain and fired again. "CRUCIO!"
Regulus dropped his supplies. He turned to watch the German soldier and gulped, holding out his hand and casting a Protego before Dirk had been able to even start his spell, knowing that losing the supplies was probably going to be the least of his problems. He cringed as his protego struggled against the cruciatus, but in the end it held long enough for him to start climbing a few more stones. "Are you all right? Poppy?" He turned and looked at her, concerned. She didn't seem to be doing well. He turned back to the soldiers and shot a spell at them. "Deprimo!" pointing toward their feet, feeling a bit sick at the idea that the ground might split and they could fall into the lava.
Moritz grinned when Dirk managed to get the kid to drop his bag, but he focused on the girl who looked unsure and unready. "Crucio!" he called. These stupid British, sending out little girls to fight. Pathetic.
Poppy screamed and felt herself begin to writhe when the curse hit her, eyes rolling back in her head as a pain not unlike that of her muscles disintegrating overtook her entire body. She hadn't been able to get a shield up in time and was suffering for it, the strategy of the battlefield evaporating as she could only manage to concentrate on clinging desperately to the rock she was perched upon. When the curse lifted a moment later the blonde gasped and felt the coppery taste of her own blood in her mouth when she coughed, trying to recompose herself.
Dirk laughed, although he was irritated that the boy had managed to block his curse, and that annoyance became fury as he felt his leg ripped into by the boy's hex. A bloody hole appeared in his calf and he shouted angrily, clutching it for a moment before rounding on the boy again with a growl. "Ossisverso!" he called, no longer wanting to play games and wanting these young, ignorant people to suffer for their stupidity.
The Hufflepuff used the distraction to called out a disarming hex at Moritz with what little breath she had been able to regain.
Regulus was horrified as he realized Poppy was being crucioed. His face was red, and he was angry. This wasn't a game, it never had been, but having her hurting was more than he could take. He got hit by the bone-twisting curse, and while he screamed out in pain and struggled to keep his balance above the lava, Regulus fought to regain control of himself. While it wasn't dark magic, it wasn't anything especially brainy or anything else -- he managed to control himself enough to aim and shout ‘Deprimo!' right at Dirk. But after that his body continued to twist, and convulse, and shudder. He screamed again, fighting for a look at Poppy, to know that she was all right. But instead he started falling, trying to hold onto one of the rocks as best he could while his muscles buckled and writhed.
Still concentrating on his own curse, Dirk wasn't able to release it and also block the boy's intense hex - much more intense that the Austrian would have ever expected. The rock beneath him exploded and knocked him off his feet, arms flailing for balance and not finding any the soldier tipped and tipped. When the giant hole now in his only sanctuary from the molten lava below, he was unable to get another foothold, the stone cracking beneath him. There was a shout in German and a guttural scream before the man was silenced by the magma engulfing his body and head, disappearing completely from view with a sickening squelch.
Mortiz wasn't expecting the girl to regain herself enough to take his wand. That, and watching the boy somehow manage to explode the rock around Dirk was shocking enough to keep his attention. He stood back as he realized his wand was gone, and then stopped, horrified he would fall down as Dirk had. He was done with this place, and these stupid children. He started carefully managing his way, hurrying out of the lava pit and toward safe ground.
Regulus had watched, horrified, as Dirk had sank into the lava. The effects of the bone twisting curse had not stopped, even with the death of the one who had cast them. He wanted to be sorry, he wanted to regret what had happened, but he couldn't as he struggled to hold onto the rock. "Poppy!" He called out.
But his grip wasn't strong enough. His bones weren't twisting so much, but he lost his grip, and slid down the rock a few feet, the soles of his shoes melting from the lava. He let out a terrified scream before he slid further, the lava licking at his legs.
Poppy spun and let out a shriek at seeing Regulus slip further. She launched herself forward and grabbed his wrists. Pain shot up her torso but the adrenaline allowed her to move past it, hooking a foot on the large stone and with a deep breath, she pulled as hard as she could. "HOLD ON!!" she screamed, trying her best to throw her weight into it since her actual upper body strength left something to be desired. He couldn't fall like the Austrian, he couldn't!
He tried to hold on, but his bones twisted and he went further in, the lava tearing at his skin. He screamed again, struggling, scrambling to somehow move, but almost immobile from the pain, the horrible, horrible pain. "Poppy!" he screamed. He could see it, he was going to slip and fall, he'd die, just like the German. He'd die, and there would be nothing else.
But somehow, then, his chin scraped against the rock, and he was pulled up just an inch.
Hearing him scream Poppy felt a terror jolt through her that she never had before: she knew it right then, in that second, if she didn't pull Regulus out he would die. Gripping him tighter, Poppy shoved herself back, pulling him with, not caring if she was precariously close to the other edge of their stone if that's what it took - there was nothing going on but saving Regulus's life. She yanked with everything she had, she screamed and she felt something give - something happened and he was finally coming with her. She snatched at his elbow now, his upper arms, whatever she could to keep him moving up and out of the magma before it had a chance to take him from her.
Finally, he was up. Regulus felt dizzy and terrified, he looked down and saw the lava still bubbling. He let out a choking cry, trembling and too scared to take a look at his legs. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said stupidly. "Poppy, I killed him."
Poppy hardly heard him, she was crying, and she clung to him for just a moment, terrified of him falling back in. She gripped his robes and felt his heart pounding there at his chest and once it clicked that he was alive, she smelled it - burning. Poppy let out another sob but she cupped Regulus's face and directed his gaze to her. "It's okay," she said, her voice hardly coming out in a whisper, so she swallowed and stared at him. "It's okay, Regulus, I've got you, it's okay, I promise." Shock. They were both in shock and somewhere in the back of her mind she knew it, so she let that voice that seemed to know things filter in through the horror and nausea and control her movements and words. "Lie down," she instructed, and suddenly she was a Healer. She gently pushed him onto his back and let herself finally look down at his legs... or what was apparently left of them. Which for his left leg was almost nothing at all - there was bone and some muscle, but hardly anything else - his right was about as bad up to the knee. Poppy didn't feel ill, but the blood did drain from her face. She gave herself exactly five seconds to absorb this, think about Regulus's future, and how his life was now ruined - and then she set to work. Because if she didn't help him now, he would either bleed to death, get a raging infection, or be unable to make it off the battlefield. She moved back up so that he could see her face, as pale, sweaty, and tear-stained as it was, and then she kissed him before pulling back again. "You will be okay, Regulus, but I have to fix your legs. I'm right here. Stay lying down. We're safe."
It was hard for him to lie down and listen to what she said, but he didn't feel like he had enough strength to argue. He couldn't feel his legs, couldn't feel where his toes began and his thighs ended. "All right," he said, although he didn't feel like things were going to be okay. But the pain was making it too hard for him to think, and everything was going black and wrong. He could hear the faint sounds of fighting in the distance, and that made him try to sit up again, before he fell back, gone temporarily from the world.
Poppy had been about to tell Regulus to lie down again but then she saw he was unconscious and her hands paused. She'd have to wake him up again - but maybe after she salvaged what she could of his legs. She didn't know the healing magic behind curing burns like these - she was sure it involved some salve and the tissue would need to be regrown... if it even could be. Could it? She didn't know but she did what she knew how. Her wand traveled across his pant legs, cutting the bit of fabric away carefully, then she doused his burns in water and cast what protective spells she could before levitating them so they were elevated above his heart. Just as she was about to go in and try to work on covering and disinfecting what she could, Poppy heard the sound of the battle shift. Something had changed. Something was different now, beyond their little patch of lava trap. But Poppy Pomfrey's job wasn't to go rushing off to help in this new phase of the fight, it was to stay right here and save someone's life. She always dreamed she’d be doing so someday, but not her boyfriend's, and not like this. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.