From the Ashes

Who: Mikey & Spencer & Nate
When: Friday Evening (back-dated) (30/10)
Where: Greenhouse Three
What: Hogsmeade

Mikey nudged open the Greenhouse door quietly, slipping inside and then shutting it gently behind him with a click. He'd never been more glad to see the back of a week in his life. Between restarting lessons, cleaning, cooking, repairing, and worrying about those in the Hospital Wing, he was a little tired.

It was a good kind of tired though. He felt pretty positive about all they'd managed to get done over the past few days. Meals were starting to come out with fewer and fewer accidents, the Entrance Hall wasn't looking quite so charred, and he hadn't stumbled across a forgotten bloodstain in hours.

It all added up to a bit of relaxation time in his mind. Where relaxation time meant an evening alone with the one person who seemed to be managing to avoid the worst of the castle chores.

He cleared his throat. "Hey."

Who: Everyone
When: Saturday night, Hallowe’en
Where: The armoury
What:

To all staff,

After curfew and following the Hallowe’en Feast, you are cordially invited to attend a holiday gathering in the armoury. Costumes are not optional, so if you find yourself somehow accidentally lacking one upon arrival, there will be plenty available you can borrow from the suits of armour, as they will be dressed for the occasion. Drinks, desserts, and every possible permutation of pumpkin dish will be served, and there will be a festive soundtrack of popular dance music from both wizarding and Muggle cultures to enjoy. Masquerade glamours are permitted in the spirit of the holiday, but please try not to unnecessarily alarm your colleagues. Castle ghosts are also invited to attend the festivities.

Sincerely,
Headmaster Schechter

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.)

[sent to Pete Wentz, Brendon Urie, Gabe Saporta, and William Beckett, identical contents of note + supplies]

Hoping you don't need any of this, but just in case. Sorry it took so long to get out, had trouble tracking down an owl. List of contents & uses below. SS.

-- Dreamvine -- to prevent & clean infections, apply it to open wound
-- Whomping Willow leaves, dried -- chew on them, they're a painkiller
-- Bottle of distilled dittany essence -- good for healing wounds, causes skin to stretch over & avoid scarring
-- Powdered hellebore -- sedative purposes if added to water
-- Bandages

Who: Mikey and Spencer
When: Friday night
Where: The Great Hall.
What: Ill-advised reconnaissance missions.

"There you go," Spencer said, and Eli Torres grinned at him and climbed into the freshly conjured sleeping bag with a sleepy, "Night, Professor." Spencer turned away, tucking his wand aside and rubbing his eyes tiredly, taking stock of the room again. Most of the kids were sleeping or tucked up in bed by now, the adults scattered around the room talking in low voices or taking care of students. Outside, there was a rhythmic thump as a house elf threw themselves against the door or wall or what-the-fuck-ever, and the low, familiar sound of groaning, but it was almost background noise now, which was disturbing enough in itself.

Spencer's eyes lit upon Gerard in with a group of the injured students, wand out, and he frowned, crossing his arms a little. Gerard was doing his best, and he was a much better healer than Spencer had seen amongst other aurors -- and his parents made friends almost exclusively in their workforce -- but they were short on supplies, ridiculously so, and there was no safe way to get up to the Hospital Wing.

Spencer turned slightly, walking through the long room with his hands in his pockets and thinking. It was dark outside, which would be good and bad. There were still house elves crawling all over the ground, but it was dark now, and Spencer could move a lot more quietly without herding a bunch of students with him. "Hmmn," he said, and then he looked up and searched the room until he could catch Mikey's eyes. He hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him properly since they'd arrived breathlessly with a mob of students in the Great Hall, any more than a grin and a slight wave; now, he raised his eyebrows and jerked his head to the side, in the universal gesture of can I borrow you for a moment?

Who: Brendon and Spencer
When: Saturday morning
Where: Ravenclaw Common Room
What: Evil things.

Spencer was probably going to have to buy Gerard a new broom or something as a thank you present. He hung off it awkwardly as he clambered in through the Observatory entrance (which looked like it had already been battered down at some point, to Spencer's mild astonishment). He was mostly just grateful that the Ravenclaws hadn't changed the way to get in from the outside since he had been in school.

The room was mostly deserted, and Spencer figured that any students left in here were probably in their dorms or down in the Common Room. He pushed himself up beside the sink, propping Gerard's broom beside him and tapping his fingers nervously on the counter. He'd sent an owl to Brendon a little while ago, after deciding that the bindrune really did need to be approached by the person who'd probably been under its control, giving him directions to the Observatory for help with "something", but he knew Brendon was probably rounding up Hufflepuffs and might be a while.

He felt itchy and on edge, even though he knew the bindrune couldn't be affecting him from this far away, probably wouldn't have the same effect as the one targeted towards him did. Still, the knowledge of its presence made him uncomfortable. Ravenclaw Tower, he thought, and stared at himself grimly in the mirror. What the fuck, Ryan?

Spencer,

We found another bindrune hidden beneath the Prefects' bath in Ravenclaw. It doesn't mean anything; that antechamber is used for parties, anyone could know about it and potentially have had access. I'll let the headmaster know to speak to the Prefects when we all have more time.

The bindrune is currently on the wall below the window outside the Prefects' bath, hidden under a concealment charm. You should be able to reach it from the outside of the castle or inside, if you happen to be in Ravenclaw Tower. All the secret passages I know of have been sealed off; you would have to either break in or use the portrait hole.

The runes are Berkanan, Ūruz, and Haglaz, with yellow and black cords.

I think possibly someone should tell Brendon.

- William B.

[delivered by a small, grey, tabby cat, with big eyes and a serious voice]

[To Professor Urie]
Hey Brendon, me and William are in the library with twenty-four students, including seven Hufflepuffs from sixth and seventh year. Pete and apparently a few of the Gryffindors are in the Tower; we're trying to work out where the rest of the Heads are. Have you got your kids? Where are you?

[To Professor Saporta]
Gabe, me and William are in the library with twenty-four students, ten of them are Slytherins from fifth, sixth and seventh years, can get names to you on parchment once we have a location. Whereabouts are you? Have you got many of your kids? If anything especially bad beyond the undead hungry House Elves is going on, would love a bit of information.

[To Auror Way]
Hi, Gerard, are you on the grounds? William and I are in the library with some students, were wondering what the situation is outside, if you've still got your broom. Whereabouts are you?

[To Professor Way]
Are you okay?

[Backdated to Thursday Morning]

Spencer,

Lesson in five, so please forgive curt descriptive nature of owl.

Bumped into William yesterday, had quick chat. Certain preferences came up. Perhaps implied I enjoyed tying intellectual Ravenclaws up. Some further discussion ensued. William is now aware I'm seeing someone. Apology here? Rest assured that anything I would like to do to him, I would like to do to you just as much or more. No pressure to purchase bondage supplies.

Conversation then continued. I referred to William as fellow bathroom warrior. He suggested this might be a point of attraction. (Not so). He proposed to warn you lest I attempted to pursue a threesome on such grounds. I stated that threesome was excellent idea. I was around seventy to eighty percent joking.

Should you wish to pursue joke by propositioning William in a bathroom, would be highly amused. Should you wish to imply to William things of a sexual nature yourself, would support you in such an endeavour. Should you wish to attempt to engage William in actual threesome, would perhaps be wise to plan together? Should you wish to dump me and seek emotional fulfilment elsewhere, would understand.

Additionally, during conversation was given impression there were things I didn't know about you that were perhaps relevant to my/our interests. I am to understand the subject of the circus will resonate with you. Please feel free to expand or otherwise.

Also please burn this owl and forget I ever sent it.

Yours,

Mikey.

PS. Not actual owl, am quite fond.

Who: Gerard and Jon (and whoever else is wandering the grounds)
When: Friday before dinner
Where: the Grounds
What: patrolling and eluding certain death, etc etc

It was a gorgeous fall afternoon, which meant a good portion of the student population was out wandering around, basking in the crisp air and kicking through leaf litter. Gerard couldn’t blame them for wanting to get out – weather like this wasn’t going to last much longer, and once it ended they’d be stuffed indoors with hundreds of other teenagers. Poor bastards.

Normally he didn’t mind having the kids milling around outside, even if it did mean extra work for him. They were sort of hilarious with all their teenaged drama and posturing – like a live action soap opera. But for some reason, right now it was making Gerard uneasy. Probably just all the weirdness lately – another Venemous tentacula was probably going to spring up any moment now. At least it’d be dark soon and they’d all be heading inside for dinner.

Although if those Ravenclaw and Slytherin fourth years didn’t stop poking at the grindylows under the docks, Gerard was just going to feed them to the fucking squid and be done with it. He felt a little bad for being short with them, but at least they retreated sulkily to the shore, where they’d be safe. Safer, anyway.

He went back to flying his circuit and scanning the grounds for anything out of the ordinary -- oh, look, Gryffindors shouting at each other. Not what he was exactly call unusual. Gerard made a mental note to check back later and make sure it didn’t devolve from shouting to wandwork.

Something still felt off, though. His instincts were something he’d learned to trust during the war, but he was starting to doubt himself a bit now. He was just wondering if maybe he had time to go get a cup of coffee or something, calm himself down, when he saw something odd by the South Wall. He circled down cautiously for a closer look.

Holy fuck, a house elf! Gerard had never actually seen one out and about on the grounds before, so that was odd enough, and then he spotted another three of them. And – Gerard flared his nostrils, frowning. And they smelled – odd. Like old meat. Gerard called down to them, wary, and they looked up at him with blank, filmy eyes. One snapped its little brown teeth at him, reaching upward. The others started up a low, unintelligible moan.

And that’s when he heard the screaming start.

Who: Spencer and William
When: Friday, just before dinnertime
Where: The library
What: Oh shit.

"Everyone out," William repeated, ushering the lingering students toward the door. He had a dozen or so extremely reluctant fourth-years, which he suspected meant there was an exam coming up soon in someone's class. He could only imagine the insanity once OWL and NEWT testing time came around.

"That includes everyone in the back as well," he called, raising his voice slightly toward the Muggle literature section, where he'd seen Duncan and Rothwell sneak off to kiss earlier. If they thought he was going to lock them in here for an hour unattended, they were gravely mistaken.

The last few students trickled out, and William turned to Spencer with a smile. "Loitering Herbology professors don't get a free pass either," he said, pulling out his wand to lock the doors. "Don't think you're going to swipe the November issue of Plants in Peril before I've gotten to read it. I'm onto your cunning Slytherin plan."

Who: Gerard and Spencer
Where: The grounds
When: Early Tuesday morning
What: Carnivorous plants

If that kid had gotten Diluclo mixed up with thistles, Spencer was going to start handing down some slightly unjust detentions. It was not quite half past five in the morning and he was trudging through long grass that soaked his robes up to the knee with dew, clutching a large mug of coffee at his chest and trying to stay awake in order to avoid faceplanting on the ground or something.

On the one hand, if it was Diluclo, he thought with faint hope, everything would be awesome and completely worth it; he'd been trying to get his hands on some for months, and the idea of it growing wild at Hogwarts was too good to miss. Unfortunately, Diluclo -- or Dawn's Bloom -- looked exactly the same as thistles at every moment except the brief one when the first rays of the sun touched it, and now Spencer was stumbling about in the blue gloom, with a vague direction in mind based on a fifth year Slytherin flapping her hand idly and saying, "Yeah, there was something glowing all blue for a few moments, I don't know."

He was abruptly distracted by sudden shouts, one most definitely a young student screaming, and swung around, blinking in the dim light. Just past a clump of trees near the shore of the lake he thought he saw movement, and he whispered, "Lumos," and set off quickly, flicking a quick charm in the way of his cup so that he didn't slop hot coffee all over his fingers.

There were two students and an adult, and -- perhaps more importantly -- a really pissed off looking Venomous tentacula. Spencer swore under his breath and then pointed his wand, shouted, "Immobulus!" and darted closer. The spell wasn't targeted to work on plants, but it did slow its frantic thrashing down somewhat, and Spencer said, "Domito!" That managed to do the trick; the Venomous tentacula made a harsh, crackling sound and then retreated, drawing its spiky tendrils back into the bloom, and snapping its petals shut closed.

Spencer lowered his wand, breathing quickly, and said, "What's going on?"

Who: Mikey and Spencer
Where: Mikey's room
When: (Backdated to) Saturday night
What: :(

The drink(s) with William at Hogsmeade had been good, especially as they'd made an unspoken, conscious decision to stay on cheerier topics of conversation (which had, okay, involved a somewhat intense theoretical discussion about the nature of sentient plants and their strengths in certain divination spells, but at least it wasn't about people dying). He'd made a conscious decision to go to dinner, despite still being a little bit tipsy, and surrounding himself with good conversation and the laughter of the students had been good, too.

It was perfectly alright, he told himself, to go back to the greenhouses that night a little later than usual, sitting up in the staffroom and half-listening to a 'friendly' argument over the Scrabble game, wandering the halls to keep an eye out for kids breaking curfew, even if that wasn't exactly one of his responsibilities. He sent a few wayward Slytherins back to the dungeons with the promise of siccing Gabe on them if they didn't go to bed right now, and, finally running out of excuses, let himself quietly out of the castle to walk through the cold air back to his greenhouse.

He made it maybe halfway across the lawn before he realised he was shaking from much more than the cold, and before he could think properly about what he was doing or whether it was creepy or inappropriate or just lame as fuck, he turned back to the castle and walked quickly back inside and through the corridors, a fast, stumbling pace. He took the stairs two at a time, swearing under his breath when one set moved and sent him on an unexpected detour, until he was finally standing outside Mikey Way's door.

There was light shining from under the door. Spencer drew in a breath and knocked.

WHO: Anyone. :)
WHERE: the Great Hall
WHAT: Dinner, shenanigans, men with babies... the usual.
WHEN: Evening, Tuesday (10/20)

Having dinner in the great hall was potentially a bad idea. Adam had a full list of reasons why it was a bad idea, written down on his desk back in his office.

The first reason was that it was loud. He could hear it all the way down the corridor. Unsurprising, there were a lot of people in there. Secondly, he was late, and it was rude to join dinners late. (Nevermind that he was late because there had been a diaper emergency, and only a parent could still want to eat after that.) The third, and possibly the most important reason, was that he'd had his fill of teenaged girls cooing at him. Well, not at him, but the little bundle of human currently occupied with gleefully pulling on his daddy's hair. Parenthood was awesome.

He pushed open the door to the Great Hall and sneaked as best he could into a seat, trying to assess whether he was getting himself into Deep Shit by choice of seat, since Merlin only knew what was going on with Certain People anymore. He greeted the person to his left (but not the empty chair to his right) and deftly served himself with his free hand while fending tiny grabby hands off of his face.

Who: William and Spencer
Where: The library
When: Saturday afternoon
What: Old things

It was quiet in the greenhouses. You're being an idiot, Spencer told himself sternly, but ended up conjuring the faint silhouette of the bindrune in front of himself again, resting his chin in his palm and staring. The charred wood, the S rune (what had William called it? Sôwilô--), and fragments of his scarf hanging from either side. Spencer stared, as though it could give him something new, something he'd missed the last, oh, twenty times he'd called it up from memory.

Spencer thought about that night, thought about feeling the faint, evil hum of the thing even when they were just outside the door. He wondered how much stronger that would be if you were tuned into bindrunes, if you knew about them, knew how they'd existed. Spencer knew the exact location of most of the plants in the school, the magical ones especially. He'd seen Jon find magical creatures without thinking twice. The rune had almost felt alive, and Spencer hadn't seen Ryan Ross in a long, long time.

With an exasperated noise, he flicked his wand, letting the image collapse in on itself and disappear, and headed up for the castle, hands shoved in his pockets. There was no point wondering about things, driving himself crazy on his own. He'd get some books, figure things out. Then he could lose the uneasy feeling of dread, even with the dream banished, like he was back in the war.

It was one of the last sunny afternoons of the year, and the students were clearly taking advantage of it; the inside of the castle was mostly empty, and the library had only a handful of students in it. Spencer stepped inside and breathed in the cool room, heading vaguely over to the first section of shelves to get started.

Who: Mikey and Spencer
Where: Mikey's Office
When: Wednesday
What: Whatever the plural of Patronus is

Mikey turned over another essay, rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms out behind him with a yawn. Ordinarily marking essays was pretty dull but after the previous week he was almost glad to be back to the grind. It helped that he had a warm bundle of fur keeping his feet warm too, even if that warm bundle of fur seemed to insist on no shoes.

He peered down at the little bobcat curled under his desk and it blinked up at him sleepily as if to say 'what's the problem?' or possibly 'get back to work, you lazy human'. Mikey wasn't really sure which. He reached a hand down and stroked it gently anyway. After he'd gotten over the initial shock of finding an overgrown cat sitting by the door to his quarters, he'd gotten kind of fond of it. It had definitely made the morning's lessons more interesting at least. Even if he had had to field ten variants on 'if I become an Animagus will I turn into my Patronus?'

A knock at the door had them both looking up.

"Come in," he said as the bobcat yawned and stood up, shifting to wrap itself round his left leg and peer out from the space between his knees.

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: Everyone!
Where: The mysteriously-acquired floating pavilion on the lake.
When: Sunday night, 11 PM, after the kiddies are in bed.
What: The 'virus is cured, we have all slept for a full day, and everyone is alive!' party.

You can get to the white pavilion on the lake via magical means, or there are the first-year rowboats tucked up on the bank available for use. It's hard to miss; there are dozens of candles lighting up the night sky, and the pavilion itself is the size of a small house. There are bottles of champagne and trays of hors d'œuvre lining the walls. There are also over-sized cushions everywhere, so if anyone chooses to spend the night under the stars, that's totally an option. It's been a stressful week; the party might go until dawn.

Who: William and Spencer
Where: Greenhouses
When: After dinner
What: Dreamwalking

Spencer's hand slipped a little pouring water into pots, and the screechsnaps set up an unholy shriek of betrayal. Even so, it took Spencer a moment to blink and work out what was going on, and by the time he jerked the water away, they were giving a good impression of beings in unimaginable agony, rather than having a little too much water.

"Oh, grow up," Spencer said, mumbling a charm that had the excess water soaked up from their soil. He added some extra fertilizer as a pacifying device and rolled his eyes at the contented humming that came from the pots. Goddamn screechsnaps. He was torn between enjoying them greatly and wanting to methodically shred them up himself from day to day.

The sound of someone walking outside caught his attention, and he wandered over the door, opening it and peering out into the dark. "William?" he called, a little surprised. "Is that you?"

Who: Jon & Spencer
Where: The grounds, down to Hogsmeade
When: Friday night
What: Conversations & such.

Spencer left the greenhouses around seven, wandering across the grounds. It was a cool night, but there was no wind and he didn't feel so bad in his lighter robes -- the cold air on his face woke him up, rather, and that was always good. He pulled his wand out of his pocket and pressed the tip to his temple anyway, murmuring a quiet charm, breathing in sharply with the rush of adrenaline and alertness. It wasn't a good way to keep awake, he knew, and he tried to avoid it, but it was the best thing he had.

Jon's hut was darker than usual, nobody moving inside, and even the Jarvey seemed to be elsewhere. Spencer blinked, shoving his hands in his pockets and considering it in a perplexed sort of way for a little while. He realised after a moment, though, that he had been standing still for too long, mind drifting off quickly like it tended to do.

"Jon?" he called. "You there? Um, somewhere?"