From the Ashes

WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MY WORKSHOP?!

Who: Gabe and William
When: As the dust settles and the smoke clears, extremely early Monday morning
Where: What used to be the entrance hall, before William and Nate blew it up, the irresponsible vandals, tsk
What: Perfectly understandable reactions

The whole resurrection-of-Hogwarts business had gone a bit backwards in the past few days.

In fact, Gabe wasn't sure the entrance hall, at least, had looked this bad when he'd first arrived at the school. There were black scorchmarks on the walls and silver ones on the ceiling and house-elf ash and goo squished between the flagstones, though Gabe had to cop the mea culpa for some of that. The courtyard was going to have to be replanted - relandscaped; re-everythinged - though exterior decorating was really the last thing Gabe was thinking about as he picked his careful way across it.

One of the huge doors - which Gabe would've said were indestructible; clearly not - was simply gone, and the other just had its top corner hanging crazily from one hinge. Schechter had fixed it in place with a spell, but everyone still ducked nervously when they went under it. And really, everyone; the entrance hall might be gutted, but it was packed with people. Seemed like every surviving member of staff was there, along with half of the upper classes, which shouldn't be surprising, considering a lot of what had just transpired would've been visible from two of the commonrooms, and probably audible from the other two.

Gabe wasn't surprised, and he wasn't precisely displeased either. He was totally delighted to see them all looking so thrilled and victorious and, y'know, alive, but right now he was more interested in one person in particular.

Who: Everyone!
When: Sunday, midnight
Where: Ground floor
What: The last stand

Anyone who looked out the windows toward the Forbidden Forest at midnight would have seen, curiously, flickers of torchlight moving out of the forest in a wide arc. If this held their attention, they'd have seen the lights coming closer until they eventually resolved themselves into flaming arrows nocked onto the bows of centaurs, driving the remaining horde of House-elves out of the forest.

With the portcullis still raised, the House-elves made for the shelter of the castle courtyard, flinging themselves against the doors to the entrance hall to batter them down. Some of the centaurs' arrows thunked into the doors rather than finding their smaller moving targets, and the flames quickly spread from the arrow shafts into the old, heavy wood of the doors.

The final battle for Hogwarts was about to begin.


(OOC: Treat this like a party post; join in whenever your character is ready and move between groups and locations as needed, link between threads to let us all know where you're going and coming from. The courtyard is surrounded by stone walls and overlooked by the towers and gatehouse. If the main doors are breached and the entrance hall is flooded with House-elves, the immediate threat will be to the Great Hall, the classrooms on the ground floor which have presumably been cleared, and the two staircases that lead to the rest of the castle - primarily to Hufflepuff and Slytherin.)

Who: Travie and William, with eventual Gerard
When: Saturday eveningish
Where: Library
What: Zombie bites.


( Ow. )

Who: Gabe and Brendon
When: Friday evening
Where: Hufflepuff house and environs
What: Little puffs, little puffs, let me in? (It's cold, and there are midget zombies after me)

When he'd turned a corner and unexpectedly run into a half-dozen knee-high threats, the Lash (well, that's what the crazy Russian who'd taught it to Gabe had called it, and it'd do) was the first thing that sprang to mind, an easy flick of his wrist and an ozone-blue spark. There were a couple of things he hadn't fully appreciated, though. One, just how much damage a house-elf could take without appearing to notice it; all of them went tumbling end over end down the corridor, thudding into the far wall at varying heights, but they all got up again. And two, just how much noice the Lash made; the crack of it seemed to ricochet off the stone walls and even set a nearby suit of armour to ringing faintly. As it faded away, something snarled down a side corridor. A few somethings.

Well. Shit. Gabe had been taking the long way about the long way 'round to Hufflepuff, but fuck that for a lark. He jumped over the lashed elf-zombies, paused to kick one off the ankle of his pants, and legged it. Took two corners at a dead sprint, jumped down the last half of the flight of stairs, and almost overshot the entrance to Hufflepuff. He snagged a hand against the frame, brought the other one back to thump on it and gasped, "Professor Saporta, let me in!" As he dragged himself back to upright and steady, he added, "Please!"

Who: Gabe, Mikey, Open
When: Friday, just before dinner
Where: Ground Floor
What: The undead and indentured

Mikey took the first step off the staircase, his wand drawn and ready. His sleeve flapped a little where it had been ripped open five minutes before and his hand was still trembling from some combination of anger and fear.

There was a suspicious trail of red down the hallway they needed to take but no sign of anything moving, so he took another step forward. He listened next, picking up what he thought was the faint sound of shuffling coming from somewhere. Choosing not to give it too much thought, he looked back at his charges. Anything was better than the moaning that had seemed to be everywhere upstairs.

He waved with his other hand to signal the sixth years down, checking on his wounded as he did. There was one who was a little dizzy from a misguidedly swung chair and another who had reached out to touch the first of the house elves and received a nasty bite. They'd bandaged the second up between them, but he was pale and in need of support by one of the others.

The worst of the situation, however, was that he didn't really have a plan. The Gryffindor Common Room had sprung to mind as a destination but in the end had been too many floors up to fight their way to. The Great Hall, on the other hand, had been only two floors down. With the Dungeons and the Slytherin Common Room just an additional floor away. He was hoping they wouldn't have to go that far, though.

Swallowing and struggling for a less weary expression, he started to lead the children silently down the blood-stained hallway.

Who: Gabe and Travis
When: Sunday afternoon, right after this
Where: Travie's quarters
What: Baking.

The upside to inheriting living quarters from Argus Filch was that, come wartime, whoever had camped out in the school hadn't bothered booby-trapping that set of rooms. Travis could only imagine why they'd passed up such prime real estate; maybe cat urine and fish sticks weren't quite the air freshener scents they were looking for. Understandable. Anyway, it was nice not to worry about cursed lice or disappearing mattresses or any of the other nasty tricks his cohorts complained about in the staff room. It did, however, mean disposing of more rusty lengths of chain than any adult man working around children ought to possess.

Travis had scrubbed the worst of the smell and the stains out by now, tossed some laundry festively around for atmosphere, and called it a day in the decoration department. He was technically not supposed to smoke inside, but he'd been striving to ignore minor rules that impeded his personal fulfillment all his life. So, in anticipation of Gabe's imminent arrival, he was rolling a couple thick joints at the imposing, oversized desk in the tiny office outside his room. Heh. He had a desk. That was still funny.

Item	Quantity	Price
Unicorn Tail Hair	5	12g
Goblin Toenail Shavings	1oz	4g
Clabbert Webs	4 sheets	20g
Giant's Tears	8oz	16g
Bottled Patronal Mist	2 vials	10g
Atlantean Dust	1oz	2g
Fine Italian Chocolates	1 box	25s*
Fountain of Youth Vodka	1 bottle	5g, 7s*
Amorous Caramel Truffles	1 box	1g, 17s*
Sugar Biscuits	1 tin	10s, 3k*
	Total	72g, 8s, 3k**

* will accept sharing of portions in lieu of financial reimbursement
** items I would have bought you while actually in my right mind have not been included on this invoice

[Note to Gabe, Sunday morning]

A nice Hufflepuff lad seems to be under the impression that you conjured a snake that tried to choke young Master Beckett in the library yesterday. Apparently you also shot flames from your eyes and cursed a whole bunch in "some gibberish language".

Do we need to have a talk about public indecency, man?

-Travie

( One stem, three blooms and a scrap of card )

who: Pete & Gabe & anyone else
when: Saturday, lunch
where: Great Hall
what: Lunch! (and experimental cure potioning!)

Breakfast had been a tense, somber affair; Pete had spent most of it sulking in the closest chair he could get to Gabe, pondering the many and varied ways in which is tiny emo heart was breaking.

Lunch wasn't a whole lot better. Gabe still didn't love him and Ryland was still upset and avoiding him. He was starting to think about painting his nails black. And maybe throwing himself off the Astronomy tower.

He picked listlessly at his plate. There was food on it, but he wasn't particularly interested in it. Gabe hadn't been there when he'd shown up, and Pete had spent so long standing there in front of the staff table trying to predict which seat Gabe would pick that people started staring. Then he realized that Gabe would probably pick the chair farthest away from Pete, and almost cried. In public. In front of students.

Who: Gabe & Pete
Where: Gabe's room
When: Late Friday night
What: OMG WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS?! Ahem Pete is very confused and troubled and needs comforting? Oh god.

Gabe was having a very serious conversation with Napoleon, a rhinocerous in a tutu, and this guy he'd met in a bazaar in Tripoli when a chandalier fell on his head, and then Napoleon turned to him and said, "Heads up, bucko," and Gabe woke up with his head half under the pillow and the realisation that someone was knocking on his door. In the middle of the goddamn night? Oh fuck, the sixth years had finally actually managed to do... whatever the hell it was they were trying to do. At this hour, Gabe's imagination was virulent but non-specific, and he barely paused to drag his blanket around his shoulders before staggering across to drag the door open.

Because he'd been thinking sixth-years, his gaze was actually at the right height to, when he blinked the dazzle of the corridor torches out of his eyes, recognise... "Pete?"

Who: Gabe & William
Where: Library
When: Saturday morning
What: Grumpy and grumpier (or: this argument amuses us but probably doesn't further the quest for a cure for Pete. Oops.)

The gift basket had been incredible, Gabe wasn't going to deny it. Maybe he'd had a moment (right after the how did he get clabbert webs? moment) when he'd thought maybe the whole situation wasn't so bad. Then he'd moved a bottle of vodka to reveal pink-wrapped heart-shaped chocolates and remembered that no, no, it really was that bad. And if he'd had any lingering doubt, last night's visit would've kicked its arse.

How serious was Gabe about putting an end to it? He had a full-strength hate potion brewing in his lab right now. That serious. What the hell, right? After this long, Pete knew a lot of the worst there was to know about Gabe already, and Gabe could live with him seeing the rest.

Except he had a feeling that it wouldn't work. The complications with the melding of recipes and the deviations and... Gabe honestly had no idea whether the hate potion might not actually make it worse. Call it a last resort. Plan B.

He was pushing through the library doors this morning in search of plan A. He marched up to the front desk (well, more sort of loped, but there was definite purpose there) and without greeting or preamble launched straight into, "This time I'm not turning your help down."

who: ryland and gabe
when: friday night
where: gabe's classroom
what: second night of trying to fix pete

This was taking far longer than Ryland had anticipated. Their efforts the night before had been fruitless, and so far, current efforts were proving no better. Ryland handed over another ingredient when Gabe requested it...eye of newt, tail of lizard, whatever, and scowled. "Aren't you supposed to be some extremely talented potion's master?"

Because Ryland was not convinced this was the truth. Not when they were on the second fucking night of trying to make Pete normal again.

Who: Gabe and William
When: Dinner break, Thursday
Where: Just outside the library
What: Suspicion, evasion, inquisition, deception. You know, the usual.

The students had been more whisper-y than usual over the past hour or two. Most of the time William chalked this up to restlessness and the customary inability to pay attention to anything for more than a few minutes, but today heralded the somewhat unusual addition of total silence falling whenever any of them caught sight of William watching them.

This was a goal William had been striving toward for months, but now that it had been achieved, he had to admit it was making him slightly nervous. The lack of stolen glances meant that it wasn't about him, which was reassuring - after Pete's antics, he now knew exactly what that was like - but rather something they didn't want him to know. He was hoping it was something he really didn't care about anyway, i.e. which Quidditch player Pritha Chandiramani was smiling at this week, rather than something he really should find out about as soon as possible in order to prevent bloodshed and/or magical mishap.

He'd just locked the door to the library, on his way to see if anyone in the Great Hall could possibly illuminate the situation over a quick bite of dinner, when he looked up and saw that he wasn't alone in the hallway. His first thought was to hide the mongoose under his robe and possibly make a dignified run for it before anything noisy and embarrassing happened, and then he relaxed when he remembered there was not going to be any further giggling from that corner, hopefully ever again.

"Professor Saporta," he said, relieved. "Do you need something? I was about to head down to dinner."

Have you delivered baked goods to the staff lounge?
Find the Potions Professor. Before he finds you.
Really.

Who: Gabe and Adam
When: Wednesday evening
What: Hey, nice wolf, wanna collaborate in a potions experiment?
Where: Where Adam is. Where is Adam? Is Adam in his room? (Maybe this should go under "what".)

Sure, Gabe enjoyed chaos as much as the next guy, and there was an inherent hilarity to seeing his lynx carrying a turtle in her mouth even as Gabe dragged one of his third-years along by his collar for a talking-to, but it was still kind of a relief when the extended-by-issues dinnerhour was over.

Tricky to say, but Gabe thought he probably had somewhere between half an hour and a full one before he needed to be back in Slytherin, putting out fires (possibly literally; one of the sixth years had a magical salamander, and boy was she smug about it). Now that the virus was dealt with, there was another potions project Gabe had been neglecting that he should really get back to. Because who knew when another emergency would crop up and eat what passed for spare time around here.

With that in mind, he set off from the Great Hall with full intent to locate Professor Lazzara. In private, preferably.

who: Gabe & Pete
when: thursdayish, post-patronuses
what: uh oh
where: staffroom

So everything was basically back to normal; Pete's Patronus was back...wherever Patroni usually chill, his magic was back, and he was so proud of one of Gabe's Slytherins for pulling off a seriously complex Quidditch move that he could basically burst.

Also, he'd heard a rumor that there was fresh coffee. Well, it was less a rumor and more hopeful anticipation that someone had made fresh coffee. His hopes were dashed, of course, by the crusty-smelling and empty pot, but it was a simple wave of his wand to set a new pot fixing. He flopped on one of the squashy chairs across from Gabe and pulled a face at him.

"I miss my lion," he lamented. "One roar and every student would shut it immediately. It was brilliant."

Who: All, sundry and their furry soulmates
When: Dinner on Wednesday
Where: Great Hall, whether the teachers' high table or elsewhere as needed
What: Soul manifestation mayhem, duh

The Great Hall was barely half-full for dinner when Gabe stalked in, his feline companion almost matching his gait half a step behind him. And she was gorgeous, ok? She was the most beautiful Iberian Lynx he'd ever seen, possibly because she was the first one who'd ever been inclined to sit still to be admired.

So hanging out with her all day had not precisely been hard. Sure, classes had been a little more full of distraction than usual, and his lynx seemed to spent half of every class padding quietly between the benches and cuffing other tumbling animals, but whatever, it wasn't like a little light relief wasn't totally welcome this week.

Threading his way up to the end of the hall, Gabe climbed up to the high table - from where the Hall really did look like a menagerie gone beserk. He paused for a moment just to admire it before his lynx butted at his thigh and he moved on to find his seat.

who Pete & Gabe
what priorities
where infirmary
when around 10:53

So Pete had his magic back, thanks to Gabe, and he knew from the rumor mill that Gabe had been passed out for over a day, like he was sleeping off the world's worst hangover. Which was good and fine and he needed the rest, but there was alcohol to be had. If Pete knew Gabe (and he did, he was sure of that much), he knew Gabe would not want to miss copious amounts of free alcohol. And the opportunity to dump people into the lake once he was drunk enough to blame it on that was probably no small draw either.

Of course, he first had to regrow and obsessively style his hair. And then he had to break into Gabe's quarters (magically, of course, even though he probably could've done it manually) and pick out clothes for him. Which took about half an hour longer than he expected, but that was, in its own way, to be expected.

Then it was straight to the infirmary, neatly bypassing the nurse with flirting and promises that he was just leaving Gabe fresh jammies and slippers in case he woke up from his very important rest.

He found Gabe's bed and dumped the duffle in the widest slice of available mattress, then climbed onto Gabe and straddled his knees. "Gabe," he whispered loudly. "Gabriel. Gabanti." When that didn't work, he fetched out his wand and pointed it at Gabe's bed, mumbling the right incantation for it to start shaking. Just a little, at first, but if he didn't stop it would be earthquake quality in no time.