11. Eileen Prince (7) and Elsie Prince (8) Elsie kills an NPC. Trap: Protean Charms on the ground that change the landscape at random (eg. slippery, rocky, etc.). Creature: None.
Elsie stood as the Sergeant Proudfoot gave his speech, hand sweaty as she gripped her wand, rocking ever so slightly with anticipation. She had been working on her spells, but she knew she wasn't ready for this. Of the many things Elsie was, stupid was not one of them. Still, she wasn't about to go down easily -- and unlike their last battle, she wasn't about to run away. This time she would face her fate head on and whatever the result, she would not be afraid.
Or at least, that was the hope.
The call for the charge was sounded and she took off with everyone else, though others passed her by. She swallowed the lump in her throat and was about to cast her first spell when she took a step and suddenly the ground grew up rocky in front of her, blocking an Austrian's path in front of her. She skidded to a stop and worried her lip, unsure what she should do next. The sounds of battle filled her ears and she took a few steps back to evaluate her options.
Fester Leitner had been moving towards a girl and he suddenly found himself blocked by rock. That admittedly had been unexpected. He hadn't been particularly thrilling about the fact that he might need to fight with a young woman (his mother had taught him better than that, after all), but if they were going to send women out to fight, then he would fight, and that was that. Although he had to wonder what sort of barbaric country sent women out to fight in the first place. He looked at the rocks, in front of him and pointed his wand at a group of loose ones, raising them and sending them over the ledge in front of him with the intention of dropping them (hopefully) on the opponent on the other side.
Eileen firmly hated battles and she hated duelling and she hated spells and hexes and jinxes and admittedly all of these strong feelings had grown up rather rapidly within the last month or so, but it was still true. She had been working some on spells and she felt more confident in defence at least, and even some basic duelling, disarming spells and so forth, but even so she was hardly ready to fight full grown men who had been trained for such things. So she was mostly going to attempt to help people -- keep her head down and stay alive.
This was the plan, but she wasn't certain how well she would be able to carry out said plan. To be honest as the noise of the battle begin to build up around her, Eileen was terrified. It was only sheer force of will that kept her moving forward again because she had remembered everything that had happened the last time, and she knew that it could have been much worse. For some of her friends, schoolmates and even professors, it had been much worse.
She ran forward looking for anyone who might need her help and skidded to a stop when she saw her sister. Well, more like slid to a stop, because as she attempted to stop the ground had seemed to shift underneath her and what had been perfect stone had turned into a mudslide, sending Eileen's feet skidding far ahead of her and she found herself on her rear end, sliding through the mud like a hog. Falling on her rear had hurt, and the fact that she was covered in slimy mud did not improve her mood and she bit her lip and looked back at her sister.
And that was when she saw the rocks drifting towards her sister and her eyes widened and she scrambled to her feet, hardly caring that she was anything but lady-like when doing so. But there was no way she would get there anywhere close to in time so a warning was yelled: "Elsie! Move!"
The sound of her sister's voice brought her out of her thoughts, and it was almost too late before she looked up and shouted, "Protego!" The stones bounced off the shield and skittered to either side of her and she breathed a sigh of relief. Those stones would have easily knocked her unconscious, if not worse. "Eileen!" she cried, turning toward her sister, "What are you doing all the way out here? You should be back toward the hospital!" She couldn't believe her younger sister was so close to the heat of battle. No, this wasn't want Elsie wanted -- but she had been assigned here. Eileen... Eileen didn't belong. Eileen had to survive.
"Go!" She took a few steps forward and the rocks that had separated them from the Austrian forces settled back into a green field. She saw a stray soldier, most likely the one who had sent the stones at her, and turned on her heel, "Stupefy! Incarcerous!"
Fester staggered back a bit when the ground shifted to flat grassland, and his eyes spied the two girls (because they could not be more than children). While he was not keen to fight them, he stalked toward them, a flick of his wand sending the red stunner flying away from him. The Incarcerous grabbed at his wrist, but he severed the ropes quickly. This was child's play. Nothing more.
"Expelliarmus," he muttered under his breath at the girl who seemed more interested in fighting him. However, he would not underestimate anyone and cast Confringo toward the other girl to knock her off guard and level the playing field, so to speak.
Eileen frowned at Elsie because she could hardly help people who were getting injured in the fray of battle if she were sitting back in a bunker somewhere. someone had to find them and bring them in, but unfortunately that thought cost her response time as she realised too late that the man that had sent the stones towards Elsie was now pointing his wand at her. She snapped, "protego" but it was too late to actually do any good as even as she opened her mouth she could feel the force of the spell as it knocked her backwards for the second time today, and she landed smack in the middle of the mud, gasping for breath.
Fester turned his attention back to the girl who was actually fighting. He didn't like any of this, but it was war and he didn't have to like it. He followed his disarming spell with a swarm of hornets in the girl's direction. Distract her with angry insects and then he could simply knock her out of the battle and go on to find targets that were worthy of his attention.
"Eileen!" Elsie was horrified to see her sister go flying backwards and made the mistake of turning her back to the Austrian soldier and running toward her muddy sibling. She realized her mistake at the first sharp sting of a hornet and she stumbled as the nest slammed into her back. Hornets, angry and buzzing, began to sting her over and over and she bit her lip in an attempt not to cry out. She cast Aguamenti over the nest and wrinkling her nose, she used her wand to create a sloshing ball of mud and dropped it above her head. Skin, hair, and uniform soaked in mud, she trained her wand on the Austrian.
"Back off! She's a Healer you bastard!" She doubted the man knew what she was saying, and she cast Impedimenta and a finger-removing jinx in quick succession. She started toward the soldier, putting her body between him and Eileen.
Fester raised his wand when the nest hit its target and went to cast a stunning spell, only to stop in his tracks as the girl covered herself in mud. It seemed almost a juvenile way to handle the insects, but inventive enough that he was distracted and her impediment jinx hit him square on. He cursed himself under his breath and would have been hit with her other spell except his foot came down and the landscape suddenly changed around him again. His feet slipped out from underneath him as if he were suddenly on a sheet of ice and he landed hard on his back. Damn English Bastards.
Eileen's eyes widened not at the hornets, but at Elsie's language, and it would only occur to her later how absolutely ridiculous a thing that was to notice at that particular moment. She climbed to her feet as soon as she had enough air in her lungs to be able to breathe and started moving towards her sister who now seemed to be as covered in mud as Eileen was. Eileen had decided that she didn't like this Austrian very well -- she wasn't certain she liked any Austrians very well -- and she was going to do something about it.
"Expelliarmus," she cast towards the man since he was actually on his back it seemed a good time to hit him.
The ice he'd cursed before turned out to be a very good thing as Fester found himself sliding -- and sliding meant that Eileen's spell didn't come close to disarming him. He turned over, not even attempting to stand, and from his place on the ground he cast a jelly-legs jinx towards one of them -- he could no longer tell which one was supposedly the healer and which one was the fighter nor did he care -- and then he followed that with "Crucio!"
Elsie hadn't thought anything about her language -- she was much more concerned with her sister's wellbeing than whether or not she was being proper. Eileen's disarming spell flew past her and she would have laughed at the man flying head over heels at the ice, but she wasn't going to be fooled more than once. She threw up a shield charm to block his first spell; it ricocheted off in another direction and though Elsie held the shield charm, she wasn't good enough to block an Unforgivable. She didn't even know if that was possible, to block a spell of such strength and malice, but she didn't have time to think about it.
Her back arched as pain shot through her nerves, making every square inch of her body feel alight with flame. Her feet and hands clenched and she fell to her knees, spontaneous tears springing to her eyes. She grit her teeth so hard she could hear their grinding sound echoing harshly in her ears, but she couldn't break free. This was... this was death, wasn't it?
Fester, annoyed and frustrated, narrowed his eyes as he held the spell. When the girl fell to her knees, he lifted the spell -- he would not kill a child if he could help it. His gaze turned away from the dirty child now gasping for air on the ground and he glared at the other British soldier, if you could even call her that. "Saevio verbera" he hissed under his breath.
"Elsie!" Eileen screamed at her sister's writhing under the unforgivable spell and she turned her attention back to the soldier, her wand pointed towards him. She wanted to make him suffer for whatever it was he was doing to her sister. She wracked her mind for spells that she could actually do, and everything was juvenile and basic and she knew it, but if that's all she had, then perhaps she could do a lot of it.
"Expelliarmus! Locomotor mortis! Stupefy!" The spells were shot off one after another not even entirely caring if she managed to get them right or not. She managed to finish off the barrage with a jelly finger jinx and a jelly knees curse, before she was hit with the smashing curse.
The force of it knocked her off her feet and back into the mud, but her rear hitting the ground was hardly the most painful aspect of the curse. Whatever it had done, it had set her insides on fire, pain was running through her abdomen and when she tried to roll over tears pricked her eyes from the pain of doing so. Something had been broken, she thought, her healer's mind somehow cool and clinical despite the actual pain. Something had been broken and Elsie needed her to be strong -- Elsie needed her to focus. "Rictusempra!" was the only thing she could think of to throw at the man, and it was beyond childish.
Fester had been required to drop the unforgivable in order to knock the other girl back, but now his attention was on the other soldier. He threw a slicing hex in her direction, his intention now to simply keep her down, so that he could walk away.
Elsie gasped for air on the ground, Eileen's shouts the only thing that she was able to focus on. The sounds of battle, the acrid smell of spent magic, she slowly became aware of them again. Unfortunately she wasn't able to move out of the way in time and the Austrian's slicing hex hit her right across her midsection. Her skin split and blood poured and her mental capacities came rushing forward with the sudden, new, keener pain. The Healer in her immediately evaluated the injury. It was not good. Not. Good. She grunted as she pushed to sitting with her arm wrapped around her stomach. She nearly vomited when she pulled her arm away and saw just how much blood had spilled in such a short amount of time.
"Suo derma," -- she managed to cast the spell to at least stop the external bleeding. She looked up at the Austrian, her eyes narrowed in anger and pain. He was distracted, bent over giggling like a fool, and she aimed her wand at him, "Reducto!." She didn't wait to see if it hit him, but rather struggled to her feet, knowing that the ground was not a good place to be in a battle.
Fester had been casting the slicing hex when the other girl's disarming spell hit him. His wand went flying behind him and he had to physically dodge the other spells, the stunner coming far too close for comfort. He breathed a sigh of relief, which unfortunately distracted him enough that he couldn't dodge the silver beam of light fast enough. Giggling like a fool without a wand, he completely missed the other girl coming to enough and casting.
His body went flying, limbs flaying ridiculously. He tumbled to the ground, rolling over himself backwards, his arm making a sharp cracking noise as the ground around him became sharp and rugged. Still giggling, he cursed loudly at the pain and his own stupidity, but managed to snatch his wand. He stopped the tickling charm and now beyond simple anger, he viciously whipped his wand around, sending hundreds of razor-like stones at the two girls.
Eileen was really pleased to see her spell hit and actually work. She was even more pleased when her sister managed to send the man flying. But that pleasure ended almost as quickly as it begun as she realized that her sisters clothes were red.
Elsie was bleeding.
Eileen's heart seemed to settle mid-way up her throat and she forced herself to get up and move towards her sister as quickly as possible considering that she was still in a good deal of pain and felt as if she could hardly walk. But Elsie was her sister and Eileen was going to help her if she could - her own injuries could be forgotten. But that actually wasn't the best thing to do because it meant that she wasn't paying attention to the fact that Mr Austrian had pulled himself back together and was throwing stones at them.
It was perhaps good fortune for the three of them that the ground decided to shift again, from mud to sand, and rather deep sand at that so that Eileen took a step and stumbled, falling forward with her hands out to catch herself. She was now covered in mud, covered in sand, but the stones went flying over her head and as she whirled around to look at the man she realized that he too had been taken off guard by the shifting sand and was now on the ground.
Fester was not pleased about any of this and he cursed the ground under his feet for betraying him. Without actually standing up he whipped his wand at the girls and sent a confundus curse towards the one that had been moving just a few minutes before.
Elsie, still distracted by her previous injury, managed to throw up her arms to block some of the shards of stone that flew at her, though a larger, sharper chunk knocked her back off her feet and onto her back. She made a strangled sound; the sharp rock had pierced her just above the collarbone. She reached over and ripped it out -- fully knowing as a Healer that was the wrong thing to do -- and rolled over just in time to see the confundus fly past her and smack into Eileen. She curled her lip in anger. This man, this Austrian, was attacking her family. As much as she knew this was a war, and as much as she acknowledged they were in battle, there was something more poignant to her in the fact that he was attacking her sister.
Bleeding and exhausted, she got back to her feet. She seared the sand around her, creating a clear sheen of glass, and with one swoop of her wand, shattered it into blade-like shards. "Oppugno!" she shouted, guiding the glass at him, her wand and other arm outstretched. She followed it with a slicing hex of her own, advancing on the Austrian slowly. She would stop him. He would not hurt Eileen again.
Fester nearly snorted with laughter when his Confundus hit his mark, and he followed it with Black Fire, knowing the girl wouldn't be aware enough to extinguish it immediately. He was about to turn his wand on the other soldier when his broken arm was sliced with one of the girl's makeshift glass blades, and his leg impaled by another. He destroyed the rest with a swing of his wand and knocked the slicing hex out of the way. He'd hit a nerve with this girl, and he, for the first time since starting this duel, found himself amused.
As she advanced on him, he did the same until they were almost at arm's length. They raised their wands to one another, almost daring the other to cast first. And then, almost simultaneously:
"Igneus Liquidus!"
"Effodio!"
His ball of acid flew at her, and her gouging spell was aimed straight at his face. This, he knew immediately, was not going to end well. For either of them.
Eileen had been about to raise her wand to send another spell towards the Austrian when she realised that she had no idea what she was supposed to be doing. She stared at the wand in her hand and couldn't remember why she had raised it, or what she was supposed to do with it. Probably fire a spell off, but what spell? She cast a healing spell, although she was so confused that there was no way it would have healed anyone had it hit them, and almost as soon as the words had left her mouth, she suddenly felt on fire.
She looked down to see her abdomen and hips burning and she screamed. There was something she could do to stop this. What could she do to stop this?
It was too close and too quickly for Fester to do anything about the gouging spell at his face. He could have attempted a shield charm, but almost by the time he had the sense to put one up, her spell was in contact with his face and the results were not pretty. He'd moved, but as it turned out that had been a very bad idea, because where it might have hit his ear, the gouging curse came in contact with his eye, and the pain of it was enough to make him cry out in agony.
But that agony was a walk in the park in comparison to the instant later when some of the acid from his own spell splashed back, hitting his face. He staggered back. The pain was unbelievable and he had dropped his wand, it landing halfway between the two of them in the sand. These were children something in his mind screamed. Children and women and how had he ended up like this. Both hands were to his face, but there was no keeping the blood in his body under the circumstances, and he fell to one knee almost oblivious to the fact that he was still howling in pain.
Finish a spell. Eileen's mind seemed half clear for an instant and she cast Finite incantatem and the immediate burning seemed to stop, but it was still painful and she didn't even want to think about what the results of the burn had been. Her eyes lifted to her sister in time to see the liquid splashing her, and her mind was still hardly clear enough to realize what she was seeing.
Elsie had just cast her own spell and didn't have enough time to cast a shield charm, so the ball of acid hit her hard and straight on. She staggered backwards, her own screams of agony mixing sharply with those of the Austrian who was lying on the ground not far from her, his life slipping from him. Her clothes, her skin, her entire being burned. The acid splashed into her open wounds like fire and her screams continued, her throat raw with their strength.
She staggered again, falling to her knees, her wand dropped at her side. She looked down, the Austrian she had been fighting in front of her, his chest no longer rising with breath, and she realized suddenly that she was going to join him. Life was no longer hers. Pain surged through her body, but she turned, falling back on the soldier, her eyes searching for her sister's. "Eileen?"
Eileen was in rather a lot of pain as well, but as Elsie started screaming her eyes widened with realization. Coming off of the confusion was a bit like just waking up as what was happening came back into her mind and she didn't spare a glance for the Austrian past realizing that he wasn't moving.
"Elsie!" She exclaimed, and it hurt to breathe, it hurt to talk, and she felt as if she were fighting to stay awake, even if she were feeling that she needed to stay awake. Elsie was hurt and Eileen had been there in the first place to help people who were hurt and now she felt as if she couldn't even help herself. The idea of moving any of her limbs seemed impossible, and she swallowed and that hurt too.
"I'm going to - we're going to.." She couldn't think what she was going to do because her entire abdomen felt as if it were still on fire despite the fact that she had ended the spell. She forced herself forward, trying to close the gap between herself and her sister. If she sent up sparks -- surely no one from the other side would kill them if they weren't fighting and weren't able to fight... "Elsie, it's going to be all right."
Elsie reached out as Eileen got closer. The two sisters had never been close, never been affectionate, never been particularly close, but all Elsie wanted at this moment was Eileen. When her sister got close, Elsie reached out and grasped her hand. She couldn't speak, but nodded, tears streaming down her face. Darkness was closing in around her, but she pulled Eileen's hand to her heart. She'd never said it before, and she couldn't say it now since if she opened her mouth as she would do was scream, but it was the only way she could think to tell her sister the one thing she wanted to say. I love you.
Eileen really hurt, and to be honest only the mud around her hands and arms kept the acid from burning her as well but she wasn't about to turn away from her sister no matter how much she hurt. She was having a difficult time coming up with anything to say and she was worried that Elsie was going to die and she couldn't do anything about it. She looked at her sister trying to figure out if there was a wound that she could heal -- but she couldn't focus and the mud and the sand was getting in the way.
"Elsie, hold on," she practically whispered. "We're going to be all right."
12. Tiberius Ogden (3) and Charmaine Travers (7) Trap: Giant rogue bludger-esque bolder, a la Indiana Jones. Creature: None..
Charmaine began to run toward the Austrians without much thought as everyone rushed in that direction. The grip on her wand was tight and her mouth was dry. Her heart seemed to be beating out of her chest but she couldn't hear it over the screaming and yelling beside her. She longed to reach out and hold Tiberius' hand, a part of his robe, anything that would kept her beside him. He wasn't necessarily her lifeline, she would refuse to put her life in the hand of another, but Tiberius being beside her subdued the panic that she attempted to keep far from her mind. Her running slowed as she heard Sergeant Major Proudfoot's last cry, a cry of agony. Tears glazed over her eyes for a moment before she quickly blinked it away, following Tiberius in front of her as she cast several defensive charms around them.
Prior to the fight, Tiberius had to keep shutting out the idea that they were so close. If the Ministry could send re-inforcements just a bit faster, or if their wards could hold off Grindelwald's forces for just a few more days, things would be all right. But thinking about it too much would've meant relaxing or becoming more hesitant. He was already heading towards the Austrians with more hesitation than last time, and he had to completely shut out what the noise Proudfoot made meant. Trusting Charmaine's defence charms, Tiberius cast Homenum Revelio.
Even if Lamprecht didn't have a face like he was in constant disdain, he would've made that expression when he felt the revealing charm being cast, especially with a boy and a girl heading towards him. He was standing right there. Sure, he was average height, but things like that were why the British weren't winning. To his frustration, he and his fellow soldiers were called into retreat just as he swore they were about to defeat the children -- Lamprecht was twenty-five, after all -- and their adult nannies last time. With the knowledge that Grindelwald was coming, he was more determined to make an impression, and more determined to win. He was there to cut off scared children running away. Wand already in hand, he aimed a smashing curse at the girl.
Charmaine, who had already expected an Austrian to be nearby, had her wand raised. What she did not expect, however, was how close he was and the curse that quickly came her way. She was barely able to cast up another shield charm in front of herself and Tiberius but it wasn't strong enough. Charmaine turned slightly to the side instinctually, the smashing curse hitting her shoulder and forcing her to fall back a few feet.
Without even concerning himself with the petty girl, Lamprecht cast a crucio toward the blonde boy. He was disappointed when his curse disappeared as it hit a Protego horribilis, previously cast by Charmaine. A look of irritation flashed across his face.
All right, maybe it was quite different working alongside Charmaine when facing some unknown monster picking off students one-by-one than when facing Austrians trying to kill them. Tiberius couldn't help but quickly glance over to Charmaine, and had just managed to throw up a shield charm of his own before the spell hit Charmaine's shield. The grimace on his face faded, and he looked relieved for a second before firing two quick, but medium-strengthed stunning spells at the Austrian.
The two stunning spells were deflected by a second Austrian man who had an odd smile on his face. He was a short man with brown hair who appeared to have already gotten in a scuffle earlier as his hat was missing. Hildebrand muttered something over to his partner as he smiled back at the two young soldiers before him.
Charmaine stood up by now, attempting to ignore her shoulder pain for the moment, at least until they would successfully defeat the two men. "I'm fine," she said to Tiberius, just so that he wouldn't need to ask. Without a pause, Charmaine sent a slicing hex over toward Lamprecht and a stunning spell at the small man.
Lamprecht wasn't going to let Hildebrand's smile disturb him this time. He didn't shield his partner, and instead deflected Charmaine's hex right back at her, and added an Incarcerous, followed by an Incendio at the ropes for good measure.
The way Tiberius's face scrunched up slightly indicated that he didn't entirely believe her, but since Charmaine was still able to go on the attack, and there wasn't time to fuss over her at the moment, he just cast another shield spell, causing the deflected spells to fizzle out. He had just shouted out, "Exp--" when he caught sight of the giant boulder rumbling towards them. Tiberius grabbed Charmaine's arm and Apparated out of the way of the boulder, and behind the two Austrians.
There wasn't much time to process all that was happening. Charmaine noticed that the man appeared to be disinterested in what Charmaine had first thought to be his partner. Spells were deflected and a few others appeared to be coming her way. Tiberius had kept her safe for the slew of spells and before Charmaine even had to chance to wonder what that was rumbling beneath her feet, he had Apparated her away. The Austrians, however, appeared to still be wondering what precisely was happening. When Lamprecht looked around, and then behind, him to see where they went, Charmaine cast two Confundus charms, at each of the Austrians. By the time Lamprecht deflected the charm coming toward him, it was too late to attempt to deflect the one heading toward Hildebrand.
Catching the Confundus charm in the back, Hildebrand's smile became more odd and he muttered some more to Lamprecht. Off Lamprecht's disdainful look and finger point -- followed by a few more smashing curses in Charmaine and Tiberius's direction -- Hildebrand added a bright, sparkling orange colour-changing charm at Charmaine's robes. Except his aim was a bit off.
Gritting his teeth, Tiberius had to cast a new shield charm and was sent skidding back with after the first two smashing curses. Finally, he used his free hand to shove Charmaine out of the way as he braced himself for another smashing curse. Unfortunately, that put her in the way of the colour-changing charm.
Charmaine, who was ready to cast another shield charm at Tiberius was pushed off to the side and suddenly she saw sparkles. On her robes. Orange. The one colour that Charmaine utterly refused to wear. Only there wasn't any time to change it back, nor did she have the time to take it off. At least it wasn't red, that wouldn't be a wise colour to be wearing at a time like this. Charmaine tried to cast Protego in front of Tiberius regardless as she straightened herself back up. She would definitely feel some sort of guilt if Tiberius got injured on her behalf. With her brows furrowed, Charmaine cast a disarming spell at both Austrians. At the moment, Hildebrand appeared to be the easier target. "Petrificus totalus," she yelled at the short man, just as Lamprecht cast a crucio on Charmaine.
Tiberius had been sent a few feet back from where he was originally standing, and he had another Protego Horribilis cast in front of him before he realised that the spell wasn't intended for him at all. The shield he immediately sent up in front of Charmaine weakened the curse slightly, but didn't stop it. And for a few seconds, the shield was gone completely as Tiberius cast a Bat-Bogey Hex at the male Austrian.
Hildebrand had side-stepped Charmaine's spell to scurry off after the boulder that had continued rolling away from them. Until it slowed, came to a halt, and then started coming back towards the group -- or, more specifically, Hildebrand. He smiled stupidly at it for a moment before hurrying towards Lamprecht.
As soon as the crucio hit Charmaine, she let out a scream. Until then, she didn't even know she was capable of raising her voice so loud but the pain quickly overcame the sounds of her scream. Every muscle and bone in her body seemed as if it were on fire. She couldn't breathe and she felt as if she were going to die any moment. The pain just would not subside. By now, Charmaine had curled up into a fetal position and as Tiberius' hex actually met with Lamprecht, the crucio had finally managed to stop. Charmaine gasped for air as she stayed in the same position.
It was Charmaine. Although Tiberius knew he should fully concentrate on just finishing off the Austrians, it was too soon after hearing her in pain and seeing her on the ground like that didn't help. The night was settling in, and it was becoming darker. Even if he wasn't shouting, Stupefy as he moved towards Charmaine, the red jets of light from his wand were giving the spell away.
Angrily -- but still with disdain -- Lamprecht cast finite incantatem at the hex, and at Hildebrand. Confused no longer, he had to scramble to get out of the way of the boulder, and Lamprecht Oppugnoed the boulder towards the two stupid children. The boulder grumbled to a stop before switching directions and lumbering towards Tiberius and Charmaine, taking a few of the stunning spells intended for Lamprecht. Still, it rolled on.
Charmaine heard Tiberius' footsteps approach her. They were still fighting, the war was continued. If she continued to lay here, she'd die. Or worse, Tiberius would die. She couldn't let that happened. Her muscles ached and the trees and grass around them seemed eerily quiet from just a few seconds ago. Charmaine managed to push herself up and although she was still sitting, she saw the positioning of the Austrians, Tiberius, and the rolling boulder headed their way.
Two could play this game. Charmaine Oppugnoed the boulder back toward the two Austrians as she tried to think of a plan of attack. She tried to get up but fell back down and tried again. Her head ached but constantly thinking of her family gave her the strength to at least grip her wand a little more tightly in her hand. Her body continued to ache and Charmaine exhaled unevenly. She would clearly be used for a weak point if she continued to be like this. "Diff -- diffindo," she said in the direction of the taller Austrian.
Tiberius reached Charmaine and slid an arm around her waist to help her up. He wasn't the most attentive, given their circumstance, and the fact that he had cast Expelliarmus at the shorter Austrian.
Focused on Disapparating out of the way of the boulder, Lamprecht only noticed that he had been cut after he appeared to the right of Charmaine and Tiberius. He sucked in a breath through gritted teeth before firing off a non-verbal Slug-Vomiting Charm at the two. The point of that was to use the green light -- like that of the Killing Curse -- to distract them. What he really wanted to do was cast the blood-draining curse, which immediately followed.
Charmaine's eyes widened as she saw two green curses coming their way. She had barely tolerated a Cruciatus curse and here they were about to die. She didn't think twice as she deflected both charms and attempted to step in the way of the Killing Curse. Charmaine breathed a sigh of relief just as the second curse zoomed by her, barely missing her.
Except it hit Tiberius, who had stilled while trying to process Charmaine stepping in front of him. His arm had tightened, in preparing to Apparate in case his Inanimatus Conjurus for a wall of dirt didn't work. It didn't, and -- once again -- Tiberius was hit with the blood-draining curse. His blood started seeping into Charmaine's sparkly orange robes where he held her, and he sent a weak, distracted Incendio at Lamprecht.
Charmaine took a second to cast an Obscuro and a severing curse one after another following Tiberius' spell, one of them were bound to connect. She immediately cast several shield charms around them as she felt Tiberius' grip on her loosen. It took some time for Charmaine to realise that bright red was beginning to stain her terribly complexion-clashing robes and her eyes widened greatly when she realised what Tiberius had been hit with. She quickly kneeled onto the floor with Tiberius, laying him on the ground. Her past six years of taking Healing was of great benefit to Charmaine, who cast Repleo Cruror (although it took two tries; she silently cursed at herself for not taking that final year at Hogwarts) on Tiberius. "Tiberius?" she asked, constantly switching her glance from Tiberius to their opponents.
At first, Tiberius was slightly alarmed to see Charmaine point her wand at him. There was no way one of them cast Imperio on her, right? After all, he could see taller Austrian dodging, blocking, and looking at his arm in absolute contempt at daring to be somewhat in the way of Charmaine's severing charm. Plus, Tiberius swore he'd seen the shorter Austrian scramble after his wand before Disapparating away from the boulder. Tiberius looked less pale as Charmaine's spell worked, and he quickly dragged the sleeve of his robes across his face to wipe off the blood, though it left smears across his face. He also tried wiping the hand of his wand arm while still holding onto his wand. Consequently, he only cast another shield charm.
Lamprecht, however, shouted, "Ossisverso!" at the two -- it was easier with them clustered together like a giant, British Yorkshire pudding or something like that -- not caring who it hit. The light from the spell was barely visible, given the time of day. At the same time, Hildebrand had found his wand and used Abscido.
The first curse Charmaine was able to successfully deflect toward Hildebrand but the second she braced herself for it. It dissolved beneath both of their shield charms. At this, Charmaine stood up and cast an immobulus in the direction of the shorter Austrian. Hildebrand, who was already screaming in pain from the deflected spell hitting him, fell to the ground, dodging her spell. Charmaine's legs still felt numb from the lingering of the crucio. With one Austrian on the floor, Charmaine cast Furnunculus on the other.
The bone-twisting curse stopped almost immediately after Lamprecht saw that it had hit his colleague. There wasn't enough time to shield himself, but he cast finite incantatem almost straight away before the boils became too painful. They didn't slow him down or keep him from running to the side and throwing a series of blasting curses at various heights towards the pair. He intended to put them between him and the boulder.
For a while, Tiberius kept the shield charm under the barrage, his hold on Charmaine tightening from the strain, but he dropped it to cast a knee-reversal hex at the still-mobile Austrian.
As the shorter Austrain stood up, Charmaine didn't hesitate before stunning him. Her patience was running thin and to think that somewhere nearby, Ernestine or Walburga could be there needing her help only made her feel even more antsy. Noticing Tiberius casting a hex at the taller one, Charmaine also dropped her shield charm for a moment to cast a Stupefy.
With both of the children's shield charm dropped, Lamprecht took this as an opportunity. He didn't bother looking over at his colleague who had at least managed to no longer be in his way. He deflected the hexes, one after the other before casting another blasting curse at the boy, just as the boulder rolled by behind him. His eyes then set over at the girl beside him.
Seeing Charmaine cast the stunning spell, Tiberius intended to strengthen it by casting one to immediately follow before he caught the blasting curse. Instinctively, he started to cast a shield charm when he was knocked back into the boulder, making a dull thud and a strange snap sound. He slid down into sitting position, leaving a streak of blood on it from where he hit his head. As the boulder rolled past, he fell onto his side, dazed.
The boulder continued on, towards Hildebrand.
The moment Tiberius was hit by a blasting curse, Charmaine immediately lost her focus. How had she not seen the gigantic boulder heading in their direction? Was that blood she saw? With nighttime finally settling in, her eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness. But even then, she couldn't tell how injured Tiberius was. "Tiberius?" she yelled in his direction, taking a step toward him. "Tibe--"
A Cruciatus curse hit her in the back and Charmaine fell forward onto her hands and knees. The pain seeped through her body and everything hurt too much for her to even let out a sound. Then, all of a sudden, it stopped. Charmaine rolled over onto her side as she heard footsteps coming toward her. This time, the footsteps sounded unfamiliar, they were too heavy. She slowly opened up her eyes to get a good look at the man's face looming over her as he cast another Crucio. This time, Charmaine screamed.
That did get Tiberius's attention, though he first tried to touch the part of his head that was hurting. The pain was sharp, and did make him more aware of his surroundings. It just reminded him how his ribs were hurting but apparently not as badly as Charmaine was hurting going by her scr---
Charmaine felt as if her mind was going to shut down any minute. The pain that she felt -- she just wanted it to go away, to stop. She tried to think of something else but nothing else came to mind except how intolerable all of this was. The thought of her brother briefly flashed through her mind and Charmaine wondered if she was dying, slowly dying so that her brother was coming to fetch her.
And then it stopped, as did her screaming. She laid very still, finally rolling onto her back, her breathing heavy. Charmaine slowly opened her eyes to see the Austrian still standing above her. Her left hand extended slightly, her wand pointing at the man who kicked her wand, and hand, aside. He lifted her wand and pointed it at her, muttering "Musculus Mortis" at her wand arm.
Tiberius had pushed himself off the ground. His feet and socks seemed to squish in his shoes from the blood earlier. At first, he tried a Stunning spell that barely made it a metre past the tip of his wand. Then he shot a barrage of fireworks at the Austrian. Perhaps not the best idea with Charmaine at such a close range.
Although the dark magic had only lasted for a few seconds, Charmaine had passed out from the pain. Lamprecht, finally distracted by the fireworks, narrowed his eyes at who was casting the spells. Upon realising that the boy had managed to attack once more, he let out a laugh. He didn't give up easily, it seemed. He cast another shield charm around himself before casting another Crucio on the British boy's partner. Charmaine woke with a jolt and began to let out another scream.
If Tiberius registered Charmaine's screaming, he didn't let it show at all. Since the man was busy with a duration spell, Tiberius quickly and precisely sent a series of Stunning spells at the Austrian.
Lamprecht, who was waiting for more curses to come his way, quickly ended his Crucio and deflected or dodged the spells. Instead, he levitated the unconscious girl in front of him, using her as a shield. Enough games. He lifted his wand and prepared to hurl a Killing Curse at the boy.
The spells stopped as soon as Tiberius saw Charmaine in the air. For a fleeting second, he considered summoning her, but instead, he sent another barrage of fireworks to mask the noise of him Disapparating and reappearing behind the Austrian. Immediately, another red jet of light erupted from Tiberius's wand -- Expelliarmus again.
Once his wand disappeared from his hand, Charmaine fell on the floor almost lifelessly. Lamprecht cautiously turned around, his hand up as he saw the blonde boy before him. Without waiting another moment, he Disapparated into the trees.
Since Tiberius didn't want to risk the Austrian suddenly reappearing and wrestling his wand from him, he used Homenum Revelio once again, and sent a few more Stunning spells in the general direction of the marker. Then he ran to Charmaine, possibly the fastest he'd ever moved. He cast a shield charm around them before kneeling beside Charmaine. He had to get her out of the way before the boulder came back. Face pale, and the side of his head throbbing, Tiberius tried lightly shaking her by the shoulders.
It took a few more shakes before Charmaine slowly came to. She felt confused at where she was. Was she dead? The hospital wing maybe? It took a moment before her blurry vision focused on Tiberius. Her body ached, everything seemed to be pulsing, and suddenly Charmaine screamed again, pain shooting through her left arm. Her right arm gripped her left as she began to cry. Her breathing became hoarse as she gasped for air. "It hurts, it hurts," she said over and over as she shut her eyes tightly.
Tiberius kept looking from Charmaine to the boulder. His voice remained calm and measured, though he had to keep taking in quick, sharp breaths through his teeth as he scrambled to get Charmaine's wand and get her up in sitting position so they could Apparate away from the boulder. "It's all right. I'm going to get you to the hospital, all right? I'm going to Apparate over the barricade and then I--" ugh, they would have have to get over the bridge, and across the whole entire camp site "--I'm going to get you there."
Charmaine shook her head. "I -- I can't. It hur--" Tears seemed to fall from her eyes on their own. It was as if the crucio on her arm had never left, it felt as if her muscle was simply missing. Her whole arm felt limp and the pain wouldn't go away. Was the Austrians still there? How was Tiberius not being injured? "You have to get away. He's going to get you too --" She let out another cry.
"No, he's run off," Tiberius replied, dimly aware of how not-that-reassuring that sounded. "I'm going to move us away from the boulder and then..." He squeezed his eyes shut as he Apparated closer to the bridge. The pressure from all sides did nothing to ease his pain, and he couldn't imagine it being any better for Charmaine. But at that point, he could hear the thrilled voices and the worried ones. Professor Dumbledore had arrived.
By now, Charmaine had quieted down, just letting out gasps of air softly as she her body shook from time to time. "I can't feel my arm anymore. It hur -- It doesn't feel right." Her voice was soft as she finally opened her eyes. With her free hand, she grabbed onto part of Tiberius' robe, then managed to hold onto his arm. She cletched her hand tightly. "If I die -- I --"
"You are not dying," Tiberius said in the tone of a child whose mother refused to buy him a toy at the store. "Professor Dumbledore is here...." his voice drifted off, because as thrilled as he was to see his Transfiguration professor, and as highly as he thought of the man, it would've been nicer and more reassuring to hear that he's also arrived with a million reinforcements.
"Well," Charmaine said, sounded somewhat irritated. "Fine then." If she died, then he would think back to this very moment and feel terrible for not listening to what she had to say. She clenched her teeth tightly together as she exhaled. What Tiberius said took some time to register. If Professor Dumbledore arrived, then that meant -- "We're saved?" she asked weakly, the pain in her arm intensifying as she slipped into unconsciousness once again.
If Tiberius could see the future, he would've nodded ecstatically and tried waking Charmaine up again so she could witness the best duel on Earth. But at the moment, he just looked panicked for a brief moment as Charmaine lost consciousness again. He cast Mobilicorpus on her before continuing towards the hospital.