Blurred Lines Mods (blurred_mods) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-05-01 02:21:00 |
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3. Reinforcements arrive; BASH!
Fralice calls in reinforcements
Having just escaped from the hags (ugh, she thought to herself, hags) who had seemed all too eager to grab ahold of her, Alice sprinted over the Hogwarts grounds, desperately searching for her husband. It felt a touch pathetic, trying to run as best she could despite her size and yelling for him, but when she cried, "Frank!" none of the duelers turned their head on instinct, and she knew that she would have recognised him anyway.
There was no way that the Order could do this on their own. There were too many Death Eaters and Dark Creatures, and the best thing that Alice could think to do was call in Gairloch. They were better-trained and with more numbers, they could possibly overpower them and drive them out. Feeling the pocket of her robes, her fingers came across the hard surface of her journal and let out a sigh of relief that it was still there...
But she still hadn't found Frank. Dodging a stray hex from one of the duels, she stumbled by the burning remains of Hagrid's hut and then she saw him. Relief slowed her down, and she realised how easily tired she was, these days.
Frank closed what little distance remained between them at a sprint, coming to a stop only when he was a step or two from colliding head-on into his wife. The burning hut was behind them -- and what was left of one of the first victims of the evening -- and he was rubbing soot from his face with his left shoulder as he glanced hurriedly at the surrounding area before giving Alice his attention.
"All right?" A rapid once-over assured him that Alice was not maimed (or chewed on) and that she and the baby were all right; then his gaze jumped to a point behind her as he sussed out the situation. And the situation was dire.
Now that she had found her husband, Alice paused, catching her breath. Her wand was still brandished, so she quickly drew a circle around them, with a small protection charm. That should keep any stray hexes at bay, and, on second thought, a Disillusionment Charm, too. Her heart was pounding in her chest and, now that she'd slowed down, she could feel the baby kicking, unaware of the danger he or she was in.
"Hags. I've never seen them that vicious before. I barely managed to get away." She was only a little worse for the wear, but already she was tired, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could go on like this. "You?" She didn't think he looked that awful, but there was always internal damage and...
She cut off her thoughts, shutting off her worries. She was in battle mode. There was no room for that.
At the mention of hags, Frank couldn't suppress the disgust that manifested itself through a brief grimace, nor the second, slower look of appraisal that he gave Alice. "All good," he said with a short nod -- and so was she, by all appearances. Following her example, he pushed aside the part of him that was not, at this moment, needed -- the worried husband and terrified father-to-be part -- and redirected his focus. No time for what ifs, only for the here and now.
His wand was out, and although Alice had provided for a temporary circle of protection, he held it at the ready. "We need back-up," he was saying brusquely. "We're out-numbered, need support."
"You're right, you're right." Alice took a deep breath, using the hand that didn't hold her wand to smooth and then tie back her rather frazzled hair. "We can't do this alone. We're already out-numbered and surely there are more of them." They wanted Hogwarts, that much was clear, though why, she wasn't entirely sure. Did they really intend to reopen the school? "We'll send a message to Gairloch... and one to Dumbledore, as he would need to remove some of the castle's defenses so that they can come in..."
She bit her lip. That was risky, but it had to be done. Hopefully, all of the Death Eaters' troops were there and no more werewolves, hags, and masked and otherwise-evil people would be coming tonight. And where was Dumbledore, anyway? Not that any of the Death Eaters could take him, but this was Hogwarts.
Frank was nodding, recognizing the same risks and coming to the same conclusion: Hogwarts' defenses would have to come down if they wanted to get people in fast. "Patronus to Dumbledore." He felt the comforting weight of his own journal in his pocket and glanced down at where Alice kept hers. "And Rufus?" Attempting to keep their anonymity intact was little more than force of habit by now, but even as he asked, he wondered if it really mattered anymore -- they could privately ward to Rufus and hope his journal was in his immediate vicinity, or they could send their ghostly magical messengers to deliver the news in their own voices.
Alice paused to consider... Journals were not exactly the most reliable method of communication. What if Rufus didn't have his nearby? Then again, that could be remedied, and she could post the message to all of Gairloch. Better to blow what little secrecy with regards to their involvement in the Order they had left and save Hogwarts than to keep the secret and lose it. "I'll write a journal message to Gairloch, and charm it to whistle, I think. You send the Patronus to Dumbledore." There. That was easy enough.
She drew her journal out of her robes. She didn't have a quill, but a pen was conjured easily. Tapping the paper with her wand, she began to write.
The silver mist associated with the patronus charm was already swirling in the space between time, rapidly taking form as Frank cleared his mind of all but the happiest memory he possessed. As Alice scrawled out the message intended for the Army of Albion, Frank drew the final result toward him with a beckoning tilt of his wand; the almost entirely corporeal dog moved closer, ears pricking as he began to talk in rapid, low tones. "Albus," he began, "the attack is too much. Death Eaters and creatures. Need to level the numbers, so we're calling in Albion. Lower some defenses so that they can get in. Hurry. We're all here; please come as soon as you can."
Alice was not sure of what to say, exactly. Frank was taking care of the patronus, and he would have that done in a minute but... "Here." When he had finished with the charm, she moved behind him, using his back as a surface to write on. Death Eaters have come to Hogwarts, a full-scale attack. There are many of them and Dark creatures as well. We need reinforcements to defend the castle. Come quickly. She paused, and after a moment's consideration, added please. She read the message aloud to Frank and then warded it to everyone living at Gairloch. "It's best if I charm it to alert them, isn't it? They'll look immediately if their journals start to make noise." With a wave of her wand, the ward was charmed to whistle loudly, and Alice was finished.
Immediately Frank's own journal began to whistle. "Okay," he said in a muttered, distracted tone as he pulled it out, briskly flipped through its pages, then shoved the gratified book back into his pocket. "Good, then we're set." He glanced at the dog; as the barrier of Alice's protective circle did not allow magic in or out, the magical creature couldn't leave and instead patiently waited, glowing silvery-white and illuminating the area contained within the wards.
All that was left to do was for Alice to end the spell so they could re-enter the fray while waiting for the calls to get through.
How nice it would have been, Alice thought, to stay in this protected circle until everything was over. She had been aching for a fight for months now, and it had arrived, but it wasn't as satisfying as she would have liked. Frank's patronus was waiting to run off to Dumbledore, though, and that couldn't wait. It would be selfish to stay here when there was fighting to be done. With a mutter of "Finite Incantatem," the dog took off and immediately a gold jet of light sailed towards them. She ducked and it burned into the ground some feet away. "We'd better get going," she said firmly. "Good luck."
Of course, what she really meant was, please don't die, but that was a bit morbid, wasn't it?
"Luck." --don't die, he wanted to add, but that always went unsaid between them. He limited himself instead to giving her elbow a brief squeeze. "Patronus if-- anything. See you on the other side." Another squeeze; then, after stopping a wayward spell that was streaming toward them, he stepped away from Alice, assessing what was going on where with a quick sweeping glance, then starting off in a sprint toward the grounds that lay near the Quidditch pitch.
Alice stood very still for a few moments, watching Frank go, and had to resist the urge to check her journal again to see if anyone from Gairloch had responded. It would take them a few minutes to assemble and then arrive, at best, so she knew there was no point. Squeezing her wand tightly in her grasp, she finally willed her legs to move and began looking for somewhere else that she was needed.
a. Gaius(6), Seonag(3) vs Tabbit(3), Gina(1), Remus(4)
+ whomping willow (attacks indiscriminately)
Cranky from having been dragged away from home, Gaius made his way along the edge of the Forbidden Forest, searching for some sign of the vigilantes or whoever it was they were supposed to be looking for. He figured anyone who wasn't dressed in Death Eater robes or looking mangy enough not to have showered in weeks was likely fair game. With his wand drawn and a shield charm in place (who knew what might come running out of the forest at him), he made his way toward the whomping willow.
After he'd nearly given up on the possibility of finding anything suspect in the area, he saw a girl in his peripheral vision. Trying to keep quiet, he closed as much of the distance between them as he could without risking detection. He enjoyed being able to sneak up on some one and gain the element of surprise when he could, even if it hadn't always worked out to his advantage in the past, and when it had, the advantage had not lasted more than a few moments. But, whatever. Now was not the time for inner debate.
Once he was close enough and carefully out of range of the whomping willow, Gaius flicked his wand in the girl's direction. "Mobilicorpus!"
One of these days, Gina was going to learn that there was a reason that most female Aurors wouldn't be caught dead wearing high heeled shoes on the battlefield. When that was all that one's shoe-collection consisted of, though, one made do with the results of that, annoying muddy terrain and all. Sometimes they came in handy. Kicking criminals where it hurt with stilettos was much more effective than when the same action was done with tennis shoes.
Unfortunately, Gina hadn't gotten near enough to any potential criminals yet to have that be a perk. Her feet kept getting stuck in the stupid muddy grass and the damn Whomping Willow kept trying to knock her off her feet before getting a single hex in. It wasn't the Willow, though, that ended up being responsible for sweeping Gina off her feet -- Gaius's levitating spell hit her dead on and sent her floating up into the air, her feet leaving the ground before she'd realised what was going on. Thank Merlin she hadn't been wearing a skirt. Trying not to have flashbacks to the battle at the Ministry, Gina ignored any desire to try to negate the spell with a finite incantium (as that would've sent her plummeting to the ground) and instead cast a cushioning charm on herself, hoping that when she landed it wouldn't hurt QUITE as much as it would have otherwise.
Tibby had exited the castle with the rest of the order, but hung back, nervous about going headfirst into battle, bunny mask on or otherwise. Truthfully, she felt a bit silly wearing the thing outside of a friendly gathering of like-minded rioters, but she couldn't risk being seen by people that could hurt her or Ioan -- especially when they were pretending to be happy members of the new regime and all that. Oh bollocks -- there was a death eater and there was (someone she assumed was) an auror and she was now topsy turvy in the air. Deep breath, Tabbit, and off we go.
She ran forward, wand in hand, and tried to pull Gaius's attention off of Gina (not that she recognised either) with a "Stupefy!" It wasn't exactly the most creative of spells but she was nervous and it was there and at least it was something she knew how to cast. Flustered, she hurriedly cast a shield spell on herself afterword, realising stupidly that she probably ought to have thought of that before attacking a death eater. Shite. This was scary.
Gaius jumped back away from the stunning spell, which deflected off his shield charm, and lost his focus on maintaining the levitating spell. He glanced over at Gina, feeling momentarily alarmed that she would be falling from such a height before he realised that it was okay -- he'd been planning to do something like that anyway. Except he'd have dangled her in reach of the whomping willow for a while before letting her drop. Oh well. Forgetting to recast his shield charm, he turned with a glare toward where Tibby was running and shot a Tripping Jinx at her.
The impact wasn't as hard when Gina finally plummeted to the ground, but any fall from that height would have been painful, cushioning charm or not. She took a moment to gather her wits before rushing back into battle, almost waiting a moment too long on the ground as one of branches from the tree came crashing toward her. Gina rolled out of the way at the last second and kicked herself to her feet, immediately casting a shield charm around herself before running back into the fray.
As soon as he was back in her line of vision, Gina cast a silent Incarcerous spell at the Death Eater, the ropes rushing out of her wand and whizzing in his direction. She then turned her attention to the girl in a... bunny mask. The sight caught her off guard -- had the Death Eaters brought in their women to fight, but decided the "fairer sex" needed more feminine masks? If she was a civilian, though, Gina didn't want to deprive her of her ability to defend herself. "BUNNY MASK. GO HIDE SOMEWHERE," she yelled, keeping an eye on her to see what Tabitha did in case she needed to defend herself against her, but kept most of her focus on the Death Eater.
Her shield charm going off was probably the single most frightening thing Tabitha had ever dealt with besides learning of her mother's death; she was actually getting hit with a spell. Like, for real. With a sharp gasp, she stepped backwards, watching magic break into shards around her and dissipate, harmless. Another shield spell, then, because if that was frightening, she didn't want to think about how much more unpleasant things would be if she was hit, unprotected, by, well anything.
Gina's command sounded extremely appealing, certainly! But Tabitha had come out here to fight, and fear wasn't going to send her waltzing back into Dumbledore's arms (though she was certain he had very nice arms, and certainly wouldn't have objected to a hug right now). "Sorry!" She said, voice pitching higher with stress. "Need to, you know, protect the castle and things!" She helpfully shot a tripping hex right back at Gaius. Yeah, how did that feel?!
Not only had Gaius been occupied trying to cut through the ropes that Gina had sent in his direction with a diffindo (more cautiously than last time, since it wouldn't do for him to be hurting himself in the middle of another battle), but Tabitha's tripping jinx hit him dead on and sent him sprawling on the ground; however, the worst part was that the fall had knocked his wand out of his hand. Not without some desperation, he kicked to try and free himself from the remainder of the ropes twisted around his ankles while dragging himself to where his wand had landed several feet away. He knew that at this point, he was extremely vulnerable and the fact that both of their curses had hit him was only confirmation that his shield charm had completely worn off. Fuck.
Remus had seen the familiar -- if not silly, although he understood why Tabitha had to wear it -- rabbit mask engaged in a duel with a Death Eater, at he took the first chance he could to go and help her. James was with Marlene now, and he trusted him enough to protect Marlene if she needed it. From the looks of things, however, the two women had the situation under control. Still -- between the three of them, perhaps they could get rid of at least one Death Eater during this. When he arrived near Tabitha's side, he pointed his wand at Gaius and cast a blasting curse at him while he was down.
As a hag, Seonag did not move quickly. She was hoping to run across one of those pregnant women again (though she wasn't really running at all) when she saw the duel occurring between a girl in a rabbit mask and two others against someone she didn't recognise. He was wearing one of the masks, though, which mean he was on their side. She lumbered up behind him just as the jet of light burst came at him. Knowing that she may be rewarded if she helped one of the Death Eaters, she grabbed the man by his arms and yanked him out of the way of the hex along the ground with surprising strength for a frail-looking elderly woman. Shield Charms were beyond her abilities on a good day.
Snarling, she yanked Gaius to his feet and sent two slicing charms, one towards the ropes at his feet, and one towards his attackers.
A hag? Seriously? If it hadn't been the middle of a battle, Gina would have shook her head at who the Death Eaters were sending out to fight their battles for them. Apparently good help was hard to find these days. However, she soon ate her words as a slicing charm came flying towards her, cutting a deep gouge into her upper arm. That nasty little bint. Gina sent another binding spell towards them both, hoping it'd hit at least one of them. If all went well, maybe it would tie them together and the hag would just eat the death eater and save everyone a lot of trouble.
One would think that some one who had just been saved from an ill fate at best might have been exceedingly grateful toward their very own personal hero, but Gaius was just peeved off at being dragged away when he'd finally gotten within reach of his wand. "Unhand me!" he said, trying to shake Seonag off him so that he could go and retrieve the wand -- unlike her filthy sort, he was very little use without it.
Unfortunately, before he could make much of a move at all, Gina's ropes were wrapping around him again and pulling him in much closer to a hag than he'd ever wanted to be in his life. It took only seconds, but in the end, he was face-to-face with Seonag (though not really, since he was considerably taller, but their vicinity to each other was just as discomforting). Oh, this was disgusting. He'd have taken just about anything besides death over this. Wasn't there anyone else around who could save him? Merlin.
With an inhuman sound of fury, Seonag hissed at Gina. A black plume of smoke exploded from her finger tips and she sent (as best she could) a Burning Curse (of the crude variety only a hag could produce) towards where the three opponents were standing. It smelled bad, but hopefully it would give her enough time to get away from this man, though he did look as though he wouldn't taste so -- no, she urged herself, she couldn't eat him, tasty as he may look. He was on their side. She had enough room to bend down, where she viciously gnawed at the ropes that bound them. They were slashed to ribbons quickly in her teeth.
Gaius could hardly contain the urge to vomit when the hag cast her Burning Curse -- the mixture of smoke and the smell of what must have been some sort of dead animal was accosting his nostrils and delicate sensibilities in ways that he'd never had to endure before. It didn't help that her casting magic without a wand made him feel all the more vulnerable without his own -- he'd never trusted the Dark Creatures to really mind their allegiances and the last thing he wanted was to become dinner for a hag. He was far, far too young to die and that would have been the least dignified way imaginable -- killed by a woman, if she could be considered that, since she more closely resembled something that had crawled out of a swamp (and smelled as bad, if he wasn't just suffering from a placebo effect) and eaten; really, it was the worst possible scenario in every single way. It went without saying that as soon as the ropes were released, he darted for his wand and as much distance as he could possibly put between them.
Tabitha gave a sharp cry as she threw herself out of the way of Seonag's curse and, unfortunately, right into Gaius's path. She was easily bowled over by the running death eater, but at least managed to take him down with her. Or, more precisely, right on top of her. Landing in the dirt with a loud thump, she could feel her elbows and wrists tearing open. Silly, petty worries about how this was going to look when she showed up for work tomorrow slipped into and then quickly out of her mind. Screw work! What if he killed her? He probably was just by being too bloody heavy.
Oh shite oh shite oh shite. She gave a scream and smacked at his head, trying to get him to shift, then took to jabbing him in the softer extremities with her wand. "Get. Off. Of. ME!!"
Remus' first instinct was to help Tabitha and so, ignoring the hag for now -- and hoping that Gina would take care of her -- he pointed his wand at Gaius and Tabitha. He was reluctant to cast anything that could cause serious damage for fear of accidentally hitting the wrong person, so he tried a different approach: "Accio Death Eater!" he shouted, ready to dodge out of the way so he wouldn't get knocked over.
Gina's old workplace biases were rushing back in full form at the most inappropriate time possible -- why was she, an Auror, being left to fight the hag when that was hitwizard work when Bunnymask Girl and a teenage boy were going after the Death Eater? She had training for this sort of thing, years of it, and... honestly, she wasn't quite sure what to do fighting against a hag. Her typical method of "disarm first, ask questions later" didn't really work in this situation as hags didn't have anything that they could be disarmed of.
...Except, perhaps, her arms. Her magic seemed to be coming from her hands, yeah? That could be taken care of. Aiming for Seonag's hands, Gina shot a freezing spell at the woman, hoping maybe that would sort of freeze her ability to cast magic for the time being.
When Gaius fell on top of the girl with a bunny mask on, he was far more alarmed than focused on malicious intent. He was happy to try and get off her, particularly after realising that she'd kept him from running straight into the range of the whomping willow, which he knew would have no problems smacking him with its branches if he got close enough -- that stupid tree had no allegiances. Before he could actually shove himself away, though, Remus' spell lifted him off the ground and brought him flying toward him. He'd been Accioed once before and remembered how unpleasant that had been, which he had just enough time to remember before hitting the ground hard on his arm, which snapped painfully under his weight.
Fortunately, his adrenaline level was far too high for the pain to slow him down, though once the feeling caught up to him, he'd be bent over groaning in pain. But before that, he looked around for the perpetrator of that stupid spell and sent a blasting curse in Remus' direction.
Gina's freezing charm hit Seonag, alright, though perhaps not with the consequences that she had intended. Yes, it would have been much more beneficial for a hitwizard with training with this sort of thing to be handling her, but the freezing charm did damage -- it felt as though knives of ice were lancing through her arms. With a roar of anger, she shot flames from the tips of her fingers towards the offending Auror, pale yellow in colour. Her arms melted in an instant, but at a price, the smell of burning fabric and flesh filled her nose and she waved her arms wildly, trying to put out the flames.
Tibby pulled herself up from the ground, feeling a bit worse for wear -- and she felt almost bad for the death eater as he landed very uncomfortably on the ground. That feeling was instantly revoked, however, as he sent a blasting curse at Remus. Well that was not very nice! Glancing about to be sure she wasn't about to be mauled by a tree (though a tree didn't have a mouth so it couldn't maul per se -- whatever!) or grounded by a hag, Tabitha very firmly pointed her wand at Gaius and tried to think of something useful. She wasn't especially brilliant at battle spells, she admitted. "Furnunculus!"
As Remus had moved out of the way when his summoning spell worked on Gaius, what he didn't realise is that he put himself in closer proximity to the whomping willow. The blasting curse was a near hit, pulling up a shield spell in front of his body just in time to deflect it, but he hadn't expected to get attacked on his side where no one else was standing. A branch from the whomping willow caught him on his side, smashing right into his ribs and throwing him several feet. He tried to cast a cushioning charm on the ground before he hit, but pain shot up his side as soon as he tried to move his arm.
Instead, he landed on the ground flat on his face. Remus tried to push himself up, and the sharp pain in his side told him that his ribs were certainly bruised -- if not broken. He stumbled away from the whomping willow before he could get hit again, and he tried to refocus, aiming his wand at Gaius and casting a tripping jinx after Tabitha's own spell.
When Gaius saw the hag's arms go up in flames, he took a few more moments to groan over his pain before sighing. In the time he had before Tabitha's spell hit him, he performed an Aguamenti spell in the hag's direction -- it was the least he could do after she'd saved his life, he guessed. But whatever. A second later, the skin on his legs was erupting in painful boils, upon which Remus's tripping jinx made him fall, bursting the ones that had been on his shins and knees. There was no holding in the scream of pain that followed, particularly when he tried to catch himself with his broken arm, causing the jagged edge of the bone to poke through the skin of his forearm. What was he supposed to do, now?
He wasn't sure, but the best way to prevent himself more pain was to get to his feet. At least he wouldn't be putting any more pressure on his boils that way. Once Gaius was standing, he tried to ignore the fact that his other arm was hanging useless from the elbow down and sent off three diffindo hexes -- one at each of his opponents.
Gina had watched with some satisfaction as the hag merely accomplished in burning the hell out of her own arms, and most of the fire spell shattered against her shield spell. A small bit of fire snuck through near the bottom, though, where she hadn't protected herself, and the bottom of her jeans caught fire. Reacting in the way she'd been taught as a young child rather than as a witch, Gina stopped, dropped, and rolled, trying to extinguish the flames before more of her clothes were effected. The action ended up being for the best - falling to the ground ended up saving her for more damage as the severing charm tore into the ground instead. Once the flames were out, she turned onto her stomach and shot a blasting hex at the hag, aiming to knock her towards the willow.
Seonag fell towards the tree and emitted half of a snarl before, much to her shock, one of its branches came wailing at her, punching her in the face with more force than she would have expected from a tree. A noise that might have been an "ARGH!" issued from her mouth and, enraged that her nose was bleeding and she was sure she'd have a black eye come tomorrow, she grabbed the branch of the willow and cast a severing charm, so that the end of the branch broke away, and threw it as hard as she could at the ginger woman. The willow was now thrashing, as if in pain, and she used the opportunity to scurry away, if that's what her slow movements could be called.
Tabitha did a little jump, and yelled "yes!" to no one in particular as her spell landed... but her victory was short lived, for she was suddenly being bowled right the fuck over by a branch to the back. "UF!" she gasped, slamming into the ground and losing her breath for a minute before sucking air into uncooperative lungs. Ow. Ow ow ow. Ow! Groaning, she began to get up; the tell-tale whoosh of the willow returning made her flatten against the dirt again and she began to crawl forward, flinching as branches slapped the ground next to her head. Forgetting about Gaius and the ugly lady for a minute, she pointed her wand at the willow and screamed "Petrificus Totalus!" The tree shuddered for a minute, and for about seven seconds she felt a surge of relief... and then it threw itself forward for them again and she ran shrieking in the opposite direction.
Remus grit his teeth as he tried to ignore the pain in his side so he could concentrate on fighting, he noticed Tabitha trying to stun the tree, and then... running away, and he felt torn between staying to help the red haired woman and trying to stay close to Tabitha. He couldn't just run away. There were too many people to keep track of -- and in the end, he focused on the enemies. Looking at his surroundings, Remus levitated a heavy rock off the ground, and he sent it flying toward Seonag. He then turned to Gaius, whose severing charm had missed him by less than an inch, and shouted: "Reducto!"
The blasting curse hit Gaius in the chest and sent him flying backward, completely negating all of the work he'd done just to get himself back on his feet. The impact wasn't too bad, but his neck would likely be sore from whiplash the next day and he'd had the wind knocked out of him. However, what made it worse was that he'd landed in range of the whomping willow, leaving him wide open for the tree's branches to swat him, the smaller ends of the branches whipping across his stomach and slashing through both the fabric of his robes and his skin.
He responded the only way he could -- a scream of pain followed by the delivery of a particularly ferocious Stunning Spell, which gave him just enough time to drag himself out of the branches' reach. There, Gaius attempted to perform what few Healing Charms he'd picked up working in St Mungo's in hopes that he wouldn't bleed to death here before he could get decent medical treatment.
The willow had not taken kindly to Seonag's severing hex and was now flailing many more of its branches at her, walloping her on the face and chest. Screaming in rage, she shot more flames from her arms so that the branches were alight and suddenly contorted terribly, writhing as if in pain. She used this opportunity to run, as quickly as she could (which wasn't very quickly) away from it, the smell of burning wood and clothing following her. Oh. Her dress was on fire. She stamped out the flames with her foot, but her nose was bleeding and she could barely see through her left eye, it had been punched so hard.
Tabitha heard a girl scream and turned to run back, afraid it was the nice lady who had told her to run away -- no. It was Gaius. Well. Serves him right. But her momentum was taking her in Remus's direction and she was a bit emboldened by his appearance. Wand out to cast a binding hex on Gaius while he was down (not especially brave, but capturing a death eater might have been useful, right?) Tabitha felt a chill go down her spine, and she paused long enough to look over her shoulder.
A dark figure was crossing through the gates, and before her brain processed what all of her nerves were already aware of, Tabitha was moaning in genuine fear. Her arm fell to her side and she took several steps backward, crying out for Remus.
Remus had not noticed the new arrival, at first -- not until he heard Tabitha calling out his name, and he turned to look at her, eyes moving past her to see the shadowy figure. He had never seen him before, of course, but he was certain there was no mistaking who it was. His very presence was intimidating; it was like standing in a room with Professor Dumbledore, only much, much darker. They couldn't stay here.
He strode forward quickly, and he grabbed Tabitha's arm. "Come on. Back to the castle. Run," he urged, pulling on her arm until she started running on her own. He cast two shield spells -- one on Tabitha and one on himself -- and as they ran toward the castle, he only hoped everyone else was doing the same.
Gina had been picking herself up off the ground -- the treebranch the hag had shoved at her had landed unexpectedly hard, and then she'd gotten thumped in the back from a limb still connected to the Willow while trying to stand up -- when she noticed who was coming through the gate, making his way onto the grounds. Holy. Shit. Gina's hand immediately flew to her wand, casting the strongest shield charm she could muster, and started backing away toward the castle, eyes wide with terror. Fuck this. Fuck this. Hags and Death Eaters were one thing, but she was not prepared to tangle with the likes of You-Know-Who himself. She wanted to be a musician.
She ran to catch up with the two kids who'd been fighting with her, wanting to be sure that they, at least, got to safety. "Go go go GO GO!!" she yelled at them, spinning around to fire Incarcerous spells at the Death Eater and the hag and not bothering to wait to see if they'd landed. Right now it was more important that they all got the hell out of there to safety.
Were all of these do-gooders as cowardly as they were irritating, Seonag wondered as the three people she had been battling ran off. Until, that is, ropes shot at her and she fell over. She was too preoccupied with cutting them (she was getting very tired of performing magic at this point) to notice that any sort of disturbance was going on.
Gaius didn't have the energy to fight the ropes that wrapped around him and he barely noticed the commotion until others began running by, either toward the castle or toward the growing crowd in front of it. Normally, he would have been far too curious to resist joining them, but he lingered, taking his time to remove the ropes with a severing charm. Eventually, he was free and able, with some struggling, to lift himself to his feet to see what was going on. What he saw made him stop, shiver and wish he could run for the castle himself. This wasn't going to be good.
b. Emory(2), Atticus(2) vs Alice(3), Kingsley(4)
Kingsley Shacklebolt was, though he wouldn't admit it, just a bit nervous as he pulled on his boots and threw a robe over himself. The alarm had sounded, Rufus informing all of Gairloch that Death Eaters were attacking Hogwarts, and though he was also excited, it had been nearly five months since he engaged in actual combat (the training sessions didn't count, though he was immensely grateful for them now) and he was acutely aware that he was the youngest and greenest person in camp.
"You're still an Auror," he told himself, "you completed training and you're better than most wizards out there." Of course, the wizards he would be facing, the Death Eaters, weren't 'most wizards,' they were the dangerous ones, the ones who were intimately familiar with the Dark Arts, and that is what made the Shack nervous. "Let me stick my foot up their arse and see how they like it then," he told himself, remembering his father's favourite saying. Right, he was ready now.
With a pop he arrived on the grounds of Hogwarts, in the midst of a battle. He wasn't surprised - he'd been briefed on this - but it still took just a second to get used to being there. There wasn't anyone right around him who wanted to kill him yet, but just to be safe he decided to throw up a pre-emptive Shield Charm. "Protego!" Now to find the Death Eaters.
Emory couldn’t have been more excited!
Perhaps his gall was a mark of immaturity, rather than that of a young Death Eater who felt himself ready and pumped for the challenge; like one of those teenage mudbloods may have cheered when their favoured sports team scored a goal, his heart thumped triumphantly as he appeared with the others of his kin -- the Outer Circle, the up-and-coming followers of the Dark Lord and those deemed unworthy of ascending any higher. But there was very little naivete in the way he surveyed the battle, his wand clasped in his right, gloved hand; no boyishness in his swift side-steps. Emory knew well enough that men who were fond of reveries never made it far on any battle-field, and he was far too enthusiastic to simply observe. Anxiety twisted a knot into his stomach, but he was good at ignoring it -- the satisfaction he felt toward this entire situation, those old coots needing the help from those they liked to downplay, kept any hint of a quake at bay. His hands were steady.
Right? Right.
Kingsley wanted to find Death Eaters? It was not a hard feat. Noticing an untaken enemy was easy work for Emory, as he passed various duels, unnecessarily throwing blocks in front of him -- just in case -- and upon finding his apparent foe, a sharp wolf-whistle passed Emory’s lips before a loud, snarling, “Confringo!”
Atticus was picking his way across the Hogwarts grounds in search of the girl he had been fighting previously - the healer - and doing his part to add to the chaos by throwing spare curses here and there as he worked towards the castle itself. He was brought to a halt by the sudden appearance of two new wizards joining the fray right in front of him and very narrowly avoided colliding into his fellow Death Eater. He took a moment to regain his bearings and look over the new arrivals. The one was recognisable as one of the former Ministry employees from his wanted poster; the other obviously hidden behind his Death Eater mask. Nothing that was any cause for concern - the Outer Circle Death Eater would either prove himself capable of swiftly dispatching his opponent or not, but Atticus still took a moment to throw a silent, offhand expulso at Kingsley. At least there were no damned griffons over here.
Alice was running through the mill of duels. Finally, it seemed, reinforcements were arriving for the Order. Unfortunately, they seemed to be arriving for the Death Eaters as well, which was... not what she was hoping for, in the least. This was bad, it was dire, and she could only hope that Dumbledore would show up and do something drastic before things turned very, very bad for the Order and Gairloch. That, though, was when she saw Atticus's curse headed for Kingsley. A quick protego took care of that. Two against two was better than two on one, after all.
Atticus turned his wand towards the source of the shield that had protected Kingsley, only to falter when he saw a rather noticeably pregnant Alice Longbottom. A flash of anger consumed his senses as he wondered just what kind of barbarians would allow a pregnant woman out onto a battle field. It was an affront to his sensibilities and the last thing he wanted to do was fight her but as she seemed rather intent upon fighting him, he did not seem to have much of a choice in the matter.
Uncertain if his fellow Death Eater would share his reservations, he quickly sent a silent stupefy at the woman, hoping to take her out of the fight quickly. Blood traitor that she was, the child within her was still of pure blood and Atticus would not be responsible for its loss.
Alice ducked out of the way of Atticus's Stun with surprising agility for a woman who was six months pregnant. She wasn't frightened, but she nevertheless was a little weary of dodging, deflecting, ducking... Atticus was right -- she really shouldn't be fighting right now, and yet she was. She didn't pause to consider too hardly how outmatched she might be, because at least she had Kingsley to help her... right?
The Stun fizzled into the ground, inches from where she stood, and Alice cast a Conjunctivitis Curse for both of the masked men.
Kingsley turned the moment he heard the first hex issuing from Montague's lips, but he wasn't fast enough - Alice had already taken care of it. Worry shot through him; Alice was so pregnant - why the hell was she there? "Shiiiiiiiiit," he said, watching her dodge the stunning hex. He was certain it would have hit her. Well, he wasn't going to just stand there and hope more hexes didn't hit her. He shot off two disarming spells, one at each of the Death Eaters, as he raced over to Alice's side. "Shiiiiiit, Alice," he repeated. "You shouldn't be out here." He positioned himself between her and one of the Death Eaters, though he couldn't physically block her from both, and cast a Shield Charm. "Get out of here!"
Alice opened her mouth, almost to reprimand Kingsley for his language, but she chided herself that now was not the time. Instead, she used the opportunity to throw another series of stupefys at their opponents over the top of his Shield Charm. "We're already outnumbered, we can't afford to lose anyone else," she told him quickly. "Besides, two on one isn't fair -- I'm fine. You should have seen me against those two hags." She gave him a smirk, as if to assure him that all was well.
Emory’s stare snapped toward Alice as soon as his hex was blocked -- underneath his mask, his mouth was on its way to scowling in disapproval, until he was able to take in the woman’s appearance. The telltale, feminine bulge caused a twist of his mood as soon as he was able to take it in -- a pregnant woman? Fit for battle? -- and the young man was moved to incredulous laughter, that which nearly distracted him from pounding a Shield Charm before Kingsley’s hex to disarm him had the chance to impact. It was a good thing that Kingsley was of a mind to cast the same charm at the time that he did, for unlike Atticus, who was most reviled to have an impregnated opponent, Emory was quite excited when he’d flicked his wand out and let loose the entrails-expelling curse --
-- only for his path to Alice to be blocked by Kingsley, and his approach requiring to transfer to defensive when the volley of stupefys began to land. The fresher Death Eater swore under his breath, the sound coming out in an inaudible grumble, and he promptly utilized his young bones -- bolting to the side with sharp steps, and fending off the better-aimed pangs with a Shield Charm of his own, adrenaline pumping. A contemplative peer went to the other Death Eater with him -- a senior, he was sure -- and Emory angrily clicked his left shoulder with a rough shrug.
To Kingsley, Emory knotted his eyebrows, skidded his booted feet to a stop, and fired off an, ”Ossisverso!”
Atticus quickly dodged out of the way of Alice's conjunctivitis curse. Then in the other direction as Kingsley's expelliarmus came flying at him. But as Alice let loose with stunning spell after stunning spell, he was forced to throw up a shield as well. But he was not quite quick enough and as the first spell connected with his not-quite fully formed shield, it sent him reeling back a few steps before he could catch his balance. As the shield did its job with the remaining attacks, Atticus moved forward again.
He was about to cast his next attack when he was momentarily distracted by his younger companion and the spell he had chosen. An entrail expelling curse upon a pregnant woman? Atticus was disgusted and for a moment he was almost tempted to turn his wand on his fellow Death Eater for a swift and painful reprimand. But no, that would have to wait. He would determine the identity of just who he was fighting with and a discussion would be had about boundaries - an odd notion for a man who had very few qualms about attacking and killing most opponents but there were limits. They were servants of the Dark Lord, not monsters.
Right. He was still in the middle of a duel and as irritated as he may have been, this was hardly the time to allow himself to be distracted. Dropping his shield, Atticus returned the ex-Aurors' assault with a sectumsempra aimed at the man before pointing his wand at the ground in front of Alice's feet. Grass turned to thick vines that shot up and tried to wind their way around the woman's legs.
Alice ducked as Emory's entrail-expelling curse came at her, a feat that was certainly not made easier by the fact that she was pregnant. It hit the grass, which burst into ugly, putrid-smelling flames. Merlin, she was glad that that hadn't hit, as she was fairly sure she knew what it was, and was also fairly sure that, being pregnant, the results if it had hit would be twice as ugly as it normally was. But the vines, that she had not been expecting. Instinct told her to try to jump away from them, but as one caught onto her ankle, she knew that, like most magical plants, to fight it would probably leave her worse off than she was before. Well, if they were going to fight with plants, Alice could play that game, too.
Without speaking, instead seeming as though she was preoccupied with extracting herself from the vines, which were inching up her legs and uncomfortably tight, she silently Summoned bubotubers from the greenhouse just out of the corner of her eye. The wriggling plants came flying through the air and as soon as they hovered just in front of the faces of the Death Eaters, she flicked her wand and they burst, bubotuber puss exploding over both Death Eaters' hands and faces. "Diffindo!" she muttered, and what was once the grass shriveled and died as it was hacked to pieces.
Emory's bone-twisting curse had hit Kingsley and he dropped to the ground, but after a moment of it he managed to cast a finite incantatem, breaking off the spell and giving Kingsley a wonderful sense of relief. He didn't have much time to appreciate his not-twisting bones, though, as another particularly nasty-looking curse sailed right over his head, passing straight through the place he had been standing only a moment earlier.
He glanced over at Alice as he pulled himself of the ground. She seemed to be handling herself fairly well, but he had seen some of the curses they sent at her and knew this was nothing like her handling two hags, no matter how many times she winked at him. "Confringo!" he shouted, sending one at each Death Eater, then joined Alice in summoning the bubotubers from the greenhouse.
If he had overstepped his bounds -- and most certainly, to tastes less boyishly perverse, he had -- with his choice of curses, Emory was unaware of it. Transfixed on the quarrel itself, the energy gushing through his veins made it impossible for his limbs to keep still -- and as Kingsley fell upon the floor, if only for a moment, the Death Eater began bouncing subtly on the balls of his feet, preparing to dodge, like one of those bulky boxers in a brawl. Ironic was it: in expecting retribution to come from the ex-Auror, it was a belated beat after Alice directed the plant toward his face that he recognised what was happening.
He was clueless, at least until he heard the sound of the clay pots chipping open. And following that, Emory’s brown eyes widened in shock in the peep-holes of his mask, and he violently twisted himself around -- trying his very, very best to push himself to the side, and turn his body around with his hooded head lowered, to avoid the bombardment of splattering pus with his protectively charmed robe. By the low-pitched and enraged, ”Fuck!” that left his mouth, and the horrified pant he expelled when most of the mucus landed upon his back, he had avoided most, but not all. Indeed, a burning sensation gnawed beneath his hood, under the cusp of his collar, on his bare neck, and on his left ear, for his face had turned right, exposing that side, and all was not well.
If he’d been thrilled before, the slight against his looks made the temperamental young man angry, as no other charm may have until then. Expelling a hot lungful of air in a disgruntled pant, he roughly wrung his gloved hands, flicking the excess pus from his gloves, then a fast Scourgify was directed upon his infected skin and robes -- before, finally, Emory was able to point his wand outward again. He should not have fretted so long upon such a move, for the pus was hardly lethal, but its effects were intolerable for one so young.
With a forceful lunge forward, Emory struck his wand out toward Alice. “Saevio verbera!” he pronounced with a sneer, and inwardly, he feared for his concentration -- he wanted the curse to be one that left a mark, to say the very least, but he was too dishevelled to be certain.
While Emory was a bundle of movement and energy, Atticus remained, despite his irritation, the picture of calm. At least considering the circumstances. Kingsley's blasting hex was easily deflected, the spell sent flying back not at him, but at Alice. He could not so easily avoid the bubotubers, however, and he only had time to throw his free, thankfully gloved, hand in front of his eyes to shield them before the plants exploded. His mask and his gloves took most of the disgusting, thick pus, although some still trickled down to find the few inches of exposed skin on his neck and wrist.
It was clearly time for a change in tactics. Determined to drive Alice Longbottom off the battle field before his companion decided to attempt to rip her child from her womb (and really he would not put it past him at this point) he moved closer to the two Aurors and his wand twisted and sliced through the air in a series of rapid movements as he unleashed a barrage of blasting and slashing hexes. Taken individually they would have been relatively mild attacks considering what he was capable of, but the intent of his onslaught was just to overwhelm and incapacitate the two and the flashes of light danced indisciminately through the air in search of their targets.
If Alice had known that Atticus was trying to push her out of this duel, she might have been amused. Why was it that everyone seemed to think that because she was pregnant, she obviously was incapable, or, rather, that because she was pregnant she had some kind of choice about whether or not she got to fight. Nevermind. Instead of a Shield Charm, she conjured an actual shield, so that Atticus's volley of slicing and blasting spells which came near enough to her bounced off of it with tinny ringing noises. The attack over, she let go of the shield and charmed it so that it began to spin, wickedly fast, towards the Death Eaters.
While Alice had been conjuring up a shield, Kingsley hadn't been having the best of luck. Concentrating on the attack coming from the calmer of the two men, he was quick with his Shield Charm but he didn't notice the purple bolt flying straight at Alice until it was nearly too late. He turned, suddenly, and saw that, while she was defending against Atticus' onslaught very well, she was open to the purple bolt.
"Prote-!" Without hesitation he jumped in front of her and attempted another shield but he wasn't quick enough. The spell hit him straight on and suddenly it felt like a huge boulder had been thrown at his chest. Everything went black and barely a moment later he found himself on the ground - the wind had been knocked out of him. "Protego," he tried to say, not wanting to leave himself open for any more attacks, but the words didn't come out. He tried again nonverbally, then laid back a moment as his raspy breath came in short bursts.
Oh, no. Alice was perfectly fine fighting herself, but Kingsley being down... she quite frankly did not want to do this anymore, and she had come to help him and failed. She threw up another Shield Charm alongside his, but was distracted at by the screams that were suddenly echoing through the Hogwarts grounds -- not screams that usually accompanied a battle, but screams of pure, unadulterated terror. She spun around, looking for the source, and she saw a tall, dark figure entering the grounds. She didn't need to look twice to know who that was, and her heart began to pound faster in terror.
"I'm getting you out of here, Kingsley," she said, quickly, leaning over, battle forgotten, and tried to haul him to his feet so that she could help him move away from here. "Protego!" She sent up a series of shield charms in a feeble attempt to protect them from the Death Eaters' retaliations.
Kingsley, from his spot on the ground, did not miss the arrival of the dark figure. He wanted to tell Alice that he was all right, that he had gotten worse injuries from Quidditch back at school, but the presence of He-Who-Must-Never-Be-Named stunned him into silence and instead of protesting, he put his arm around her neck and hoisted himself up. "Shiiiit," he said suddenly and quietl, a flash of pain, fresh pain, ripping through his side. "Rib's broken." With some difficult, as every muscle in his chest pained him, he cast another Shield Charm and started back with Alice to the castle as fast as he could manage, glad the broken windows of the greenhouse were not too far away. He was scared shitless, though he wouldn't admit it, and the only thing he wanted was to be away - away from the Dark Lord.
It was never in Emory’s nature to let another reap their glory without at least some attempt for it to be shared, so, unsurprisingly, after his curse had landed upon Kingsley in a blast of wicked purple; he assisted some in Atticus’ torrent of attacks against the pair. His blasting curses travelled alongside his own, although not so fast -- and it was a delayed moment before his senses expanded upon the larger scene around him, rather than simply Alice and Kingsley, whose leave-taking became eminent when the woman began lifting her compatriot from the ground; to Emory, this was a celebratory turn of events, and he threw an additional pair of Deprimos to Alice’s protective charms for good measure. They were successfully repelled, of course, but it hadn’t been his intention to cause anymore harm as it was to simply rejoice in his dominance.
“Run far, far away!” crowed the young Death Eater, an undeniable smirk in his voice, and his spare hand subtly lowering in an upright tightened fist, to his groin -- to make a vague, but juvenile gesture -- before, finally, the screaming and dramatic shuffling amongst the battles in the distance dragged his consideration outwards. Emory turned his head. And instantly, the blithe smile upon his mouth was slapped to smithereens, and a shock of ice cut a line down the elongated form of his spine, rendering him breathless. Panting, Emory hissed a graceless, “Oh, fuck -- fuck me,” underneath one gruff exhalation, in alarm. Almost frozen to the spot, he watched the Dark Lord’s approach with unobvious, naive dismay, and for once, his bravado was invaded by a deep-seeded feeling of being overwhelmed.
The need to win did not exist anymore -- there was only fear, the desire to survive and disappear, but such was his audacity that he tried to fire off a final, unnecessary blasting curse before seeing to his own retreat. Backward steps, fast and light, inched the young Death Eater away from the sight of his fearful Master. It was time to go.
The source of the panic sweeping through the other three (including his fellow Death Eater, he noted disdainfully) was quickly identified but Atticus certainly felt no compulsion to flee. Instead it was a strange sense, that could only be described as calm exhilaration that claimed his senses with the knowledge that the fight would soon be over and victory would be theirs. The Dark Lord's presence on the battlefield was viewed with nothing but respect and appreciation for his greatness.
He did not care about the fleeing ex-Aurors. Soon enough there would be no place for them to hide. Nor did he even care (much) about the crass insolence of his companion with his juvenile gestures (that were most certainly noted) as that could be dealt with later. He did, however, extend one hand to catch the retreating Death Eater by the arm. "I would advise against attempting to flee," he stated plainly before releasing him and leaving him to his own devices. At the moment he thought if the young man made the mistake of running off before the battle was won, the resulting punishment might very well do him some good. But that was ultimately not his concern and Atticus left him behind as he moved towards the castle steps.
Emory felt his face go pale when his arm was caught by his elder’s hand. His gaze bounced, unblinkingly, from the figure of the Dark Lord, to the older man at his side -- and though his was a wide-eyed stare, and a frazzled one at that, which Atticus could’ve identified easily if he could peer through the shadow of his hood, it was also perceptive. The muscles in Emory’s cheeks tightened, accentuating every sinewy hollow on his profile underneath that eerie mask, and he observed the calm upon Atticus’ visage that was so very lacking on his own. While his reflex was to try to rip his arm free -- he didn’t, he couldn’t, and in that moment, he allowed himself to be obedient.
If Atticus was unworried, why the hell shouldn’t he be? Emory’s free hand balled into a tight fist, his thick fingertips digging painfully into his palm, and after glancing from Atticus’ mask, to his shoes, and then back again, he raised his chin in a sharp nod. “I wouldn’t,” was his reply -- and it almost sounded strong. Almost. There was something at the back of his throat that kept his words from obtaining a complete show of sincerity.
His warning was the boost he needed, though -- and though it wasn’t the intention, Emory was somewhat placated by it. Sucking in a deep breath after his arm was released, Emory bit his teeth into the flesh of his bottom lip and grinded his jaws together -- and followed his superior closer towards the castle steps.