Perdition Mods (perdition_mods) wrote in perdition_rpg, @ 2009-05-01 22:31:00 |
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Bianca Spinks, Sasha Roper vs Gaius Travers (8) Bianca's feelings for Harry Potter had always been less than warm. He was, after all, a troublemaker in her mind and, while she felt a twinge of regret at his passing, she had a far heavier death weighing on her heart. She had never sat and declared Parvati a friend, but the Gryffindor had been very dear to her and her loss was certainly a blow. It was that anger, that bitterness and perhaps a touch of regret for never having openly declared her affections for Parvati that urged her onward. She didn't imagine she would manage to find and destroy the Death Eater responsible, but she was going to destroy a Death Eater. Someone was going to pay. It didn't necessarily matter who. She clutched Sasha's wrist tightly in one hand as they wandered one of Hogwarts's many corridors, glancing occasionally at the paintings who shouted warnings or questions but ignoring them for the most part. She held her wand at the ready with the other, prepared for whatever the night might have in store for her next. Of all the company in the world to keep, Sasha didn't exactly think that she and Bianca were going to end up spending this much time together. She didn't mind it, of course, and was in fact rather pleased that things ended up this way, but she was still surprised. A small part of her had thought that Bianca would be off doing her own thing while Sasha opted to trudge along after anyone who wanted her there. Independent, she was not. Perhaps it was just her own way of wanting to make sure that everyone was alright. No one would die if she was with them, or so she thought. But people already had died, people she adored more than anything would never be there to smile at her or sit with her at breakfast or ask her if she wanted to just sit under the stars and talk about anything and everything. Why? What a stupid question. A stupid question with absolutely no answers. A teeny tiny part of Sasha actually wanted to try skipping along or even humming, but her body had no will to do either. She simply walked normally with the other girl, arms bumping, hips occasionally tapping. Her left knee felt like something was clawing at it, but there was no time to spare. "What are we looking for?" she asked quietly, curiously staring at an empty, lopsided picture on the right side of the corridor. "I don't know," Bianca replied, looking over her shoulder at the empty corridor behind them. "One of them, I suppose." There was a note of steely disdain to her voice and she managed, somehow, to remain calm, but inwardly she was terrified, both for herself and for Sasha. "Keep an eye on our rear, Sasha," she added, softening her tone slightly. "Let me know if anyone is coming up behind us, all right?" Part of her wondered if she should attempt to say something more assuring. Perhaps she should tell Sasha that everything would be okay and that they wouldn't both come out of this night alive and intact. However, she wasn't exactly all that certain of the possibility herself and she wasn't sure she could lie convincingly. So she kept her mouth shut and gave Sasha's wrist what she hoped was a reassuring squeeze. It was still unclear to Sasha whether they were looking for a place to hide, a place to just sit and wait for things to end, or if they were actually looking for someone that they could pick a fight with. None of the above really sounded all that appealing on their own, so perhaps they were stuck looking for the most appealing idea amongst a pool of unappealing ideas. Whatever that was. "Okay," she whispered, turning her head so quickly that her neck cracked quietly. "I'm glad we're together." There were distant noises, noises coming from outside the walls of the castle and noises coming from the other side of the castle. Despite how far away they were, Sasha could still faintly hear the shouts and the sounds of things collapsing and breaking. But as long as she didn't have to see it...no, she didn't want to see any more. "I hope that no one is following us." Talking made her feel better, and even if she was just giving a running commentary of them walking and the darkness following, it still made her feel better. Since they'd re-entered the castle, Gaius had been wandering around under a Disillusionment Charm, which meant that no one had noticed him when he'd passed by and escaped to the less densely packed corridors (it certainly hadn't hurt that everyone else had been too occupied in their own engagements, either). He'd been walking around for several minutes before he encountered Bianca and Sasha in the hallway. He slowed almost to a stop, knowing that the charm keeping him mostly hidden would wear off soon, if he hadn't already begun appearing as a faint apparition against the wall. He had to chose his next move carefully, since he might not have as good an opportunity once he'd made them aware of his presence and fortunately, he'd never had a problem attacking some one when their back was turned. So, taking aim at the girls, Gaius used a nonverbal Serpensortia to conjure a serpent from the end of his wand. The snake slithered toward them, tasting the air with its forked tongue. Because Sasha had been spending so much time listening to those fainter, more distant noises, it took her senses a few seconds to tune into the sounds that seemed to be coming from the very same corridor that her and her fellow Gryffindor were wandering in. Her head had, indeed, been kept in the direction it was supposed to be directed in, but she hadn't been able to spot anyone, if anyone was even there. There was just a part of her, that part that raises the hairs on the back of your neck and causes those little goosebumps on your arm to raise, that alerted her to the fact that they were no longer alone. Someone was there. She could feel it. Her eyes were scanning the area behind them, wall to wall, and after a few seconds the trail she was making with her eyes fell straight down to the floor, down to where something dark was slithering forward. At first she thought she was just imagining things, hallucinations causes by way too high adrenaline, but it didn't stop getting closer. "Bianca Bianca Bianca," she whispered urgently, stopping suddenly and bouncing a bit on her feet as her hand reached for the girl whose name she was repeating. Instead of going for the snake on the floor, which was terrifying in its own right, she instead raised her wand and called out a basic offensive spell, aiming for the left side of the wall where she thought she saw something foggy. Bianca was in the middle of opening her mouth to hiss an impatient What? at Sasha when the other girl fired off her spell. Suddenly alert, she whipped around to see what was going on behind her, eyes sweeping along the walls first and then the floor. She didn't notice the person slowly appearing the wall just yet, but the snake slithering towards her was certainly visible enough. Her impatience multiplied and, without pausing to even consider what she was doing, she brought the heel of her shoe down hard on the snake's neck, before sweeping it off to the side with her foot. Hours earlier, she would have demanded that whoever was there with them to reveal themselves, but so much had changed in that short span of time. Instinct had since taken over and, following Sasha's lead, she shouted "Stupify!" at the vague shadow along the wall. The snake slowly disappeared from the side of the hallway and Gaius chided himself for not having picked a more offensive spell, but he'd really only wanted to scare the two girls, hoping that maybe they'd run away and hide somewhere until the battle was finished. However, when they both sent spells, for which he had fortunately been ready and able to deflect with a shield charm, he set his jaw and glared at them -- not that they could see that detail with him still partially obscured, but the disillusionment charm was fading fast from the effort the shield charm had taken. Defensive spells had never been his strongest suit when it came to duels. On the other hand, defensive spells had not been nearly as much of a problem. "Duro!" he said, aiming his wand in Sasha's direction. "Protego!" Sasha shouted a few seconds before the hex from the mystery guest's wand reached her. Her footing was clumsy and a bit shaky with the effort of being suddenly thrust into battle; her body did not entirely understand what was going on, and a small part of it seemed to think she was just practicing in class, as that was one of the only places she was used to actually throwing off such an important spell from her wand. A good offense is a good defense. Or maybe that saying was supposed to be flipped around, but Sasha was not the sort of fighter who could use dark offensive magic whenever she pleased. She probably wasn't good at it, for one thing, and for another thing it seemed too harsh. It was especially hard to fight someone that you couldn't even see, and now that that snake was gone Sasha could stare at the weirdly dense air and wait for whoever this was to show himself. Or herself. "Bianca Bianca Bianca, what do we do?" she asked, speaking quickly and stepping backward. It was hard enough for Bianca to gather her thoughts without Sasha chanting her name and, though she was working hard at not losing her temper, she was still feeling incredibly tense. She felt a slight pang of regret at having dragged Sasha down the hall with her, but it had been the most appealing option at the time. It had either been that or she allowed Sasha to wander into trouble on her own. However, there would be time for regret later. "Sasha, will you please calm down?" she whispered sharply, glancing at her partner for a quick moment before returning her attention to the man appearing before their very eyes. He was much clearer after his shield charm, but that didn't actually help fighting him much and she desperately searched her head for something, anything to throw at him. Her eyes caught on the wall sconce above his head and she shouted "Descendo!" at it, hoping gravity would be working in her favour. Fortunately for the girls, gravity was working in Bianca's favour and the torch fell directly on top of Gaius' head before he had a chance to deflect it. He let out an enraged shout as the hood of his robes caught fire, burning his hair and skin as it traveled down toward his neck and shoulders. At first, he tried to pat the flames out with his hands, which simply resulted in the sleeves of his robes igniting and complicating the whole situation. But a moment later, after he'd forced himself to think more clearly, a well-aimed Aguamenti solved his predicament, leaving him charred, smoking slightly and extremely angry. Whipping his wand forward, he aimed a Tripping Jinx at each of them before transfiguring one of the statues lining the hallway into an angry, growling crup. Sasha suddenly felt like a muggle who was witnessing a muggle car accident. This was their brand of car accidents, and her eyes refused to look away, even as her brain shouted at them to look somewhere else. His shouting made the hairs in the back of her arms stand up; it sounded so...so...painfully displeased! Thankfully, however, she had no urge to run over there and help him, or even offer him a few encouraging words for how to properly treat a burn. At least not once she was suddenly on the floor and the statue to her left started to rattle threateningly, then more violently as the stone vanished and turned into something else. Something she did not like and had way too much experience with. "Not again!" she half shouted, half whimpered, crawling backward a foot or two like a lopsided crab. "Stupefy!" she managed to shriek, hand shaking, legs unable to pull her weight back up. Wide-eyed with shock from actually successfully setting fire to the man, Bianca didn't have enough time to react to his Tripping Jinx and she fell flat on her face, smacking her forehead painfully against the floor. Her impatience with the Death Eater flared and, wincing, she pushed herself up just in time to scramble away from the snarling crup. Bracing herself against the nearby wall to get to her feet, her eyes cut to Sasha. Bianca remembered the time the Carrows had set their crup on the other girl in the Great Hall and she felt a bit proud of Sasha as her Stunner hit the crup square in the face. "Well, I suppose that was better than a snake," she remarked flippantly, directing her words to Gaius. She punctuated her flippant remark by aiming an Incendio at his feet, figuring fire had served her well so far. Gaius was not at all amused by Bianca's commentary -- if she wanted worse, he'd show her. Of course, that would have to wait until he used another Aguamenti to put out the fire that her curse had started on the ends of his trouser legs while he'd been busy trying to prevent Sasha from stunning the transfigured crup. By this point, he was growing tired of the two girls and he'd had just about enough of being burned. If they wanted to see how terrifying fire curses could truly be, he would be more than happy to oblige them. Gathering what concentration he could, he conjured a Fiendfyre and urged it in the two girls' directions. "I'll kill you," he said, mimicking Bianca's flippant tone. "Just like your little friend earlier." Better than a snake? How was a crup better than a snake?? Sasha was lucky that she didn't have nightly nightmares about that little incident that had taken place in the Great Hall. At least snakes could be cute and cuddly if they wanted to be, a crup wouldn't crawl in bed with you and keep you warm when it was really cold! At least that little distraction between the other Gryffindor and the Death Eater had been the distraction that Sasha needed to get back to her feet and rush backwards a few steps. Sasha didn't know much about Fiendfyre; in fact, she didn't know anything about it. It was billowing, billowing more and more, cracking, burning, acting as though it were human...it was one of the most fascinating and terrifying things she had ever seen. And she would have turned and stepped back a bit to ensure that she wasn't in its immediate path, but as soon as he mentioned their little friend Sasha felt her hand rising on its own accord and a Stinging Hex was shooting out of her wand a second later. The comment about her little friend didn't quite phase Bianca just yet. She was, after all, far more concerned with the cursed fire heading straight for her. She didn't know an awful lot about Fiendfyre either, but she knew enough to know that it was smart to get out of its way. It was fairly unlikely that he would have the common courtesy to put out the flames if she happened to catch fire. So she darted backwards, bumping into Sasha along the way and catching the other girl by the elbow to tug her away from the flames. It frustrated her that he'd resorted to something that dangerous so quickly and she paused in moving backwards to throw a Rictusempra at him. Having been far too busy concentrating on controlling the Fiendfyre, which was not nearly as easy as some one like Lord Voldemort made it look, Gaius had not anticipated the two hexes that hit him almost simultaneously. First, he felt an extremely unpleasant stinging, worse than any bee he'd ever been stung by. But before he had time to worry about that, Bianca's hex followed and he bent over with the effort of letting out a very uncharacteristic giggle worthy of a girl half his age. The Fiendfyre that had been pursuing Bianca and Sasha evaporated when Gaius lost his focus, leaving in its wake the charred remains of the statue that he'd previously transfigured; however, he was too preoccupied with his laughter to care. He could hardly breathe -- he just wanted it to stop. Sasha's luck with throwing spells and having them actually make contact with the Death Eater had not been anything to write home about up until this point, so it made sense that a flash of surprise came over her features when her hex, as well as Bianca's, both managed to hit the man. That was when she had started to pay attention to the Fiendfyre, at least now that she and Bianca both had enough space between the raging fires and their bodies. Sasha loved to giggle! And she normally liked to watch others giggle because it tended to mean that they were enjoying themselves; the giggling from the Death Eater, however, was a completely different kind of giggling. She would have been amused if her face didn't still feel so hot from the flames that had come awfully close to licking at her skin. Was it possible to die from laughter? It certainly seemed like a cheerful way to go! "What do we do now?" she asked Bianca, speaking quietly and hoping that they weren't overheard. She didn't know if this was going to be enough to keep him occupied, but it didn't seem likely that it would last the rest of the night, or even more than a few minutes at best. Bianca didn't know how to answer Sasha's question and she watched hesitantly as the Death Eater laughed, unsure of what to do next. Did they run? Did they finish him off? She had a feeling that, if they left right then and there, the laughter would eventually suffocate him. She went to take a step back, still clutching onto Sasha's elbow, when she thought about the one thing he'd said to them. What exactly did he mean by 'her little friend'? That he'd admitted to killing anyone incensed her, but there was a part of her mind that wasn't quite thinking logically. He couldn't possibly know that she and Parvati had been friends, but there was a 'what if?' looming heavily in her head. She took a step forward instead and then another, releasing Sasha's elbow and sending a Jelly-Legs Jinx at him in her anger. "Who did you kill?" she demanded. Gaius had not been far from suffocating when Bianca finally cast a curse that snapped him out of his fit of hysterical laughter, even if it sent up falling to the floor with a less than pleasant thud. His legs were useless, but at least he could breathe, which was the first and only thing on his mind. He took large gasps of air, wheezing as his lungs inflated and deflated and brought tears involuntarily to his eyes. "How should I know?" he said, choking, after a few moments. "I did not ask her name." He couldn't offer more information than that, since he disintegrated into coughing shortly afterward. Her? The Death Eater's revelation of his victim's gender did little to cool Bianca's anger and, not considering her safety, she stepped around the chared statue between them. She still held her wand at the ready, but her reflexes had never been all that stellar and it was very unwise of her to move closer. He was incapacitated for the most part. She should have grabbed Sasha and ran with her, because that would have been the logical thing to do. The situation was clouding her judgement, though, and she wasn't thinking logically. "What did she look like?" There was a note of hesitation to her question and she knew it was a stupid question, almost as stupid as the fact that she'd moved closer in the first place. She knew that either way the answer would only disappoint her, but she needed to know. From behind his mask, Gaius narrowed his eyes at Bianca. He'd finally managed to catch his breath and he wasn't about to sit and have an idle conversation with her if he could help it. But maybe if he continued to answer her questions, he could regain the element of surprise when he began attacking. "Brown hair. Eyes. I think I saw another one of her running around here somewhere," he said, making a flippant gesture with his hand as though he didn't care -- and he didn't. In the past, he'd been far more fussed at the idea of dueling with women, but when it came down to it, he had to do what he had to do and if it involved killing a teenage girl, so be it. She was dead and he felt nothing. No remorse. No guilt. Nothing. It was war and he wasn't about to feel bad for killing the enemy. Sending out a curse that had actually hit the Death Eater caused Sasha to really feel as though she was in the moment, experiencing instead of just watching. She would have thrown another one at him, but she, like Bianca, was also curious as to what this fellow had to say about this 'friend'. Sasha had a lot of friends, or at least she claimed everyone was her friend, so that made figuring things out a bit difficult. Instead of trying to get another curse to form on her lips, she let Bianca do as she wished, simply watching with wide eyes and an arm that was still shaking slightly against the side of her body. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Two of them. Two of them. Sasha suddenly felt a strong urge to run forward and tackle the man and demand he claim he was just making rubbish up, but she couldn't move. "What do you mean, you saw another one of her running around here? Twins??" Way to state the obvious, but she needed to know. But they weren't supposed to be having a conversation right now, if that's what this even was. There was still something rising in her stomach, something she wasn't familiar with. Hatred, perhaps. "Yes," he said, glancing back and forth between the two of them. "Unless she came back from the dead somehow, they were probably twins." In spite of his a vulnerable position without the use of his legs, he couldn't keep the edge of vindictive sarcasm from his voice. They may have both been standing over him, currently in a more advantageous position, but at least he still had his wand. From the way this conversation of theirs was shaping up, he assumed the girl he'd killed earlier had been their friend and he was going to need to make his move fast, before they both got the inevitable grand notions of vengeance in their heads. Without hesitation, he aimed his wand at Sasha. "Sectumsempra!" And for the other girl, "Confringo!" There weren't exactly that many twins in Hogwarts, so Sasha's first reaction was to think about Parvati and Padma. She didn't know Padma very well, though she still liked her; Parvati, on the other hand, had shared a dormitory with her for seven years and was considered a good friend. How could someone be so cruel and heartless to deem it necessary to speak in such a way? A mocking way? Death was not something that should be treated like this! Sasha was torn between wanting to cry and wanting to scream; screaming would get her nowhere and crying would make even less progress. Screaming and crying at the same time would...well, just not work well at all! News like this seemed to pull the girl back out of the little mind frame she had found herself in when her curse had hit him, and all she could think about was wanting to run away and do a Gryffindor headcount. She had no one to blame but herself and her lapse in judgment when suddenly there was a feeling of tearing, ripping, yanking, pulling, pushing, grabbing, opening attacking her chest, near where her heart was rapidly racing for a finish line it couldn't even see. Nothing was happening and everything was happening at the same. The liquid that was tinting her jumper felt funny, though almost calming in a way, like it was there to cool that tearing sensation. But there was so much of it, everywhere, tainting her hand as it dropped her wand and reached up to clutch at her chest helplessly, in a daze, somewhere else, a foreign country. Sasha didn't even feel her legs give out on her, and she had simply passed out, barely able to get air through her breaking lungs, before her head even hit the ground, bouncing once, twice, then stopping and moving no more. Unlike Sasha, Bianca already knew Parvati was dead and so, the second the Death Eater mentioned that there was another one of her running around, she realised that somehow she'd managed to stumble across the one person that she was truly angry with. She suddenly felt as though the air had left her and her eyes went wide as she listened to Sasha confirm her suspicions with the despicable man. It was him. He had done it. Her blood boiled, but before it could boil over, before she could bring her foot up and dig the heel of her shoe into whatever bit of flesh it could find, his Blasting Curse hit her square in the stomach. She felt that helpless feeling of fallng, only she couldn't put her hands out to break her fall because she was flying backwards into a wall. She cracked the back of her skull against it and then slid to the floor, wrapping one of her arms protectively around her middle. The wind had been knocked out of her and she couldn't muster up the air to shoot something back at him, but she whipped her head up to glare at the Death Eater, clutching her wand tightly in her hand. When both his curses hit the girls, Gaius allowed himself a moment to indulge in a self-satisfied smirk before casting Finite Incantatem on his legs. Finally, he was able to get back on his feet and he slowly made his way toward the end of the corridor where Bianca had landed. He glanced down at Sasha as he passed her, smirking at the pool of blood growing around her body -- she was as good as dead. A gingerly poke with the two of his shoe confirmed that she had either passed out or expired already. He didn't have to worry about her. But he was concerned with the other one, who seemed to be conscious in spite of the blasting curse. Holding his wand in front of him, he moved to stand over her. "Don't worry. You will be joining your friends soon," he said, before casting a Bone-Twisting Curse on her, furrowing his brows with the effort. Bianca wasn't sure which emotion she felt stronger as she watched the Death Eater stand and walk towards her. She was still angry, especially as she watched him nudge Sasha with his foot, but she was also absolutely terrified. She'd been beaten and all because of her stupid questions. She hurt far more than she had before and she wanted to crawl away from him, but at the same time she wanted to crawl towards Sasha to check on her. Instead, she pulled herself up into a sitting position and waited, eyes furious as she glared up at him. Her terror grew in the seconds it took for the incantation to leave his lips and the curse to hit her. She pressed her lips into a hard line, refusing to cry out as his curse twisted one of the bones in her leg. Tears welled in her eyes and spilled over, but she forced herself to remain silent as she cast her eyes wildly about her surroundings. There had to be something that could make this stop. Through her bleary eyes and a haze of pain, Bianca noticed a statue of a woman a short distance behind him. Without giving it a second thought, she pointed her wand at the statue and choked out a Wingardium Leviosa, putting as much effort into the spell as she could manage. With a flick of her wand, she smashed the statue into him. Gaius had been concentrating on maintaining the curse, which required as much focus as the Fiendfyre he'd attempted earlier, so when the statue barreled toward him, he didn't notice until it was too late. The large hunk of rock, which was several times heavier than he was, struck him and carried him crashing into the wall with its momentum. The whiplash of the movement caused the death eater's neck to give a sickening snap and the impact crushed him, splintering his ribs so that even if he were still alive to try to breathe, his lungs could not have managed the simple task. There was no flashing sequence of events before his eyes, but his body simply slid lifelessly down the stone wall, coming to rest with every limb limp on the floor next to her. It was one thing to ride into battle envisioning the death and the destruction that would take place and another thing entirely to be at the end of battle surrounded by death and destruction. Bianca had no idea what came next, but she tried her hardest to work out the steps. She let out the breath she'd been holding and it shuddered out of her in a sob. Then, she scrambled away from the dead Death Eater at her side, pausing only when the twisted bone in her leg snapped and shook another sob out of her. Sasha came next and she slowly crawled over to her broken friend, her fingertips searching every pulse point for a sign of life. There was so much blood and Bianca was convinced that, if she didn't do something, Sasha would die right there in that corridor. Getting help was her next step, but that was easier said than done. She wanted nothing more than to lay on the floor and close her eyes, but she couldn't. Not when her entire reason for staying was bleeding to death on the floor next to her. She crawled back to the wall, bracing herself against it so she could pull herself up and using it for support as she slowly limped down the corridor. She only hoped that she would get to help on time. Hannah Abbott, Stephen Cornfoot, William Cresswell vs Walden Macnair Will wasn't really sure what the hell he was doing. Somehow he'd gotten split up from his brother, which he knew was the worst thing that could happen, but he couldn't think about that now. He needed to find something to do instead of just wander around aimlessly or hide. He had ditched his robes, loosened his tie and untucked his shirt for ease of movement. His shirt was already ripped from an earlier scuffle with some Death Eater and his brother. They'd dispatched of him and a wordless argument ensued over whether to kill him or not - Will was in favor of just knocking him out, but Derek had taken the initiative and suffocated the man to put him out of commission. It was a good strategy, if they left him bound he could get undone and then there would be another player in the game on the wrong side. Will just didn't want to use that curse. A red curse whizzed over his head and Will was brought out of his mental thoughts and ducked behind a large chunk of wall rock, not realizing someone else was already there. He looked over at Stephen with his wand pointed at him before relaxing. Glad it was Stephen, because he knew the other boy. They studied charms together and there was no need for him to explain his appearance in this fight and why he wasn't off with his friends, hiding. Except Hortense. "Hi, uh, shit. There's someone after me, I think. A Death Eater. I lost my brother, but, uh," Will said, trying to appear as calm and collected as he could. Another spell hit the rock and bits of pebble flew up over them. "We should do something, I don't think he'd be expecting two of us to fire spells at him." Stephen, too, had gotten separated from anyone he knew well, but considering how much of a mess Hogwarts was at the time, he knew he shouldn't have been terribly surprised. Feeling inept, especially alone, Stephen had ducked behind a boulder to gather his thoughts and to calm down a bit. He exhaled with relief when Will appeared, having been prepared to stun anyone who poked their head around the corner. Though Stephen wasn't the worst dueler in the entire world, he was now even more convinced that he was better at Charms theory or taking care of magical creatures than he was applying offensive magic in a real life-or-death setting. He was already bleeding from being hit by flying rocks and other debris while he had been trying to dodge a blasting curse. "Yeah," Stephen agreed, mind going blank momentarily as he winced, "yeah, try to stun him? At the same time? One of us do a Shield Charm and the other disarms? I'm decent with shields." Merlin, everything was happening faster than he'd expected. Who ever said Ravenclaws were the smart ones? he wondered. "He's going to aim at whichever one of us stands up first," he continued, feeling more confident now that Will was there too. The Death Eater was outnumbered. That had to be a good thing, right? "On three?" They didn't have much time before the Death Eater was on top of them, Stephen was sure of that. Will nodded shakily, "Alright, you do the shield and I will stun him. Let's turn in toward each other, so you're close enough to me that if he hexes the spell will hit the shield." Hopefully. Will twisted a little so he was facing Stephen - he couldn't believe that he was in this position. It was good that he had someone he could trust by his side, even if it wasn't his brother. He held up his fingers, "Go on three," he said quietly before pulling down his fingers slowly. On the third finger he jumped to his feet and aimed his wand at the nearest Death Eater. "Expelliarmus!" he cast, praying that it hit. The battle was on once again and Walden had found himself a target. He followed behind the boy, shooting off a few blasting spells from a distance and then the boy ducked behind a fairly large rock. Walden was quickly approaching the rock and he was within six feet when Will snapped up and acted to disarm him. He shielded himself quickly and kept a firm hold on his wand. He aimed his wand at the boulder, his goal to eliminate it as a possibilty of protection. "Confringo!" Luckily, Stephen's shield was up, which prevented the Death Eater's hex from completely obliterating himself and Will, but the impact still knocked Stephen backwards and it still caught the wall. As it exploded in front of them, he realised he probably should have practiced more - or at least he should have cast a shield that covered more of their surroundings. A large piece of the rock wall hit his right side hard as he tried to move out of the way, but Stephen didn't have time to take note of the injury. "Stupefy!" he shouted, hoping his aim was on, although he wasn't terribly confident. Stephen quickly cast another shield charm and pushed himself off the ground. "Impedimenta!" They had to find some protection, and soon. There was no need to second guess, there was no room for it. Sure, they could have practiced more, but when going up against an adult Death Eater it was kind of hard to think of any way to be better than a seasoned, violent wizard, but they were doing it. There was no backing down now. Will moved with Stephen's stumble, mostly to stay behind the shield, but he also didn't want to be separated again. That would be a good strategy, right? Instead of casting a hex right away, Will took the chance and levitated the largest piece of wall he could and hurled it in the Death Eater's direction, pushing Stephen out of the way - there wasn't a lot of cover but if they could get into a classroom or something, they could hide behind a desk, or even lock him in. "Move move move!" Will shouted, putting up his own shield, just in case. Walden was able to block both spells without much problem but, because his attention was focused on dodging magical attacks, he failed to completely dodge the large object that was sent flying at him. The stone fragment hit his thigh and he staggered back from the force. He was not interested in chasing the boys through the corridors while they chucked things at him and he was becoming irritated. He regained his footing and stood up straight, ignoring the pain in his leg. With a smirk he lifted his arm and pointed his wand at the boys. He sent off another blast and then moved his wand to point at Stephen. "Crucio!" Stephen knew, the minute he saw the streak of light, that he would not be able to get out of the way, no matter how hard he tried or how hard Will tried. The last two thoughts he had before he fell were: were 'this is why I didn't take DADA after my OWLs' and 'I don't think I'm going to make it home from this'. He was knocked over by the blast, feeling his left arm crunch underneath him. Just before the Death Eater's second curse hit, another piece of wall fell solidly on his back, knocking the wind out of him and breaking a rib (or two? he wasn't sure) and then all he felt was pain - pain everywhere, twisting his insides and his muscles until he felt like his arms and legs were going to fall right off. It was just as he'd said to Mandy: no matter how many times he experienced it, it never got any easier. He couldn't even scream. Will had to get out of there, he thought, no longer caring about himself. He tried to speak, tried to tell Will to leave before the Death Eater turned his attention to him instead, but nothing could come out. "Fuck," Will said as he fell back hard on his rear. Now was definitely the time to start panicking. Why had this been a good idea? Oh right, saving people and doing the right thing. Only, well, battling Death Eaters was now very real and scary and Will froze as Stephen was tortured in front of him. This was completely different from class, and from watching his classmates get put under by other students. Snapping out of his frozen stare, as Stephen was tortured next to him, Will bit his lip and held up his wand to start transfiguring the man's foot into a rabbit. He wasn't going for a successful transfiguration, just something painful and distracting, because Stephen needed help and fuck the idea that he was going to get in the way of the spell and take the pain for him, but they could do this, they could defeat him! Narcissa Malfoy was desperately attempting to search everywhere at once and failing. She hated running and she hated Hogwarts, and the combination was slightly less than wonderful. Where was Draco? He was supposed to be alive and in the castle, but at this point she was wishing she had asked for something more specific from that Potter boy. And she had lied to the Dark Lord for him, but thinking about that at the moment was only going to make her feel like throwing up. "DRACO ABRAXAS MALFOY-" her voice was beginning to sound raspy at this point and she hardly noticed Walden or the children he was in the midst of fighting though they were fairly close to them. "Where are you?" Lucius followed quickly behind his wife, also searching for their son. He wanted nothing more than to find Draco, and to take him away from this chaos. His eyes searched every corridor, every classroom they passed, hoping to Salazar that it wasn't too late, that Draco hadn't got into any trouble. His calls mixed with those of Narcissa, and his wand (not that it felt like his, but it was all he had at his disposal) lay tucked in his robes, leaving him defenceless. But he had no plans to join in this fight; all he wanted was his son. Right now he wasn't even thinking about the fact that Narcissa had lied to the Dark Lord; if he did pause to think about it for a moment it filled him with a sense of horror and admiration in equal proportions, but he could talk to her about that later. His priorities were different right now. Walden's attention was on Stephen as he held the Cruciatus but he could feel something in his foot. There was a tingling sensation that was not normal and he quickly spotted Will. He broke the curse and lunged for the other boy. As he moved forward he shot off a stunning spell, followed by a blast. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Narcissa weaving through the melee and he snorted. She was screaming for her boy. She seemed oblivious to him but he wasn't surprised. He had other things to deal with and he didn't fancy being roped into a search party. Stephen gasped for air when he felt the Cruciatus Curse lift. Finally, he thought. He'd never felt pain like that before in his life, and his head felt heavy and foggy as he tried to sort his thoughts out. What was going on? Where was his wand? He saw the sparks from the Death Eater's spells fly by a split second before they hit, with no time to get out of the way from the blast. He was still in such a daze that he barely noticed any extra pain from being flung aside with the blast or from landing. The landing gave him enough of a shock to wake him up enough to scramble for his wand. Luckily, it wasn't his wand arm that was hanging limply by his side and sending jolts of pain up to his shoulder. Once he had his wand in his hand, he shot off a quick blasting curse of his own, in hopes that it would buy him and Will some time to get away. Hannah came rushing into the fray with Hagrid, her wand lifted high. Her eyes were still stained with tears, she still felt miserable and unhappy, as so many had died, and she'd seen such terrible, horrible things. But she knew that she needed to be strong, knew that she needed to keep fighting and not give up. She swallowed hard, watching Walden and gasping. "HEY!" she shouted, trying to turn his attention from Will and Stephen. "I--I--" She waved her wand. "Confrigo!" Will scrambled backward as fast as he could on his feet and bum when he realized that the transfiguring wasn't going to work. He yelled in surprise as the Death Eater lunged at him. It was only the distraction of the blasting curse and someone (a girl? he couldn't tell, maybe Stephen had a really high voice now) that allowed Will to flail as the Death Eater attacked him. He kicked and lashed out with his feet, hoping to hit something valuable to the evil man. Remembering his wand, Will pointed it at the nearest part of the Death Eater and shouted, "Reducto!" It was a three pronged attack that Walden could not get out of and he felt the blasting curse hit his shoulder, Will's foot crunch into his abdomen, and then his left arm started to shrink. He staggered backwards and straightened himself out, prepared to get his revenge on the children. He lifted his wand arm and was about to fire off a killing curse when he felt his robes constrict against his throat, cutting off his air supply. His feet weren't on the ground and as he craned his neck he saw the hairy face of a man who dwarfed Rodolphus Lestrange. Hagrid held Walden's robes tightly and he growled with fury as he lifted the Death Eater from his feet. With barely any effort the giant whipped Walden around and he sailed through the air like a rag doll. He met the wall with a thud and though he was sure nothing was broken, he knew that he would not be moving for a bit. He lulled his head against the stone wall and took a deep breath, closing his eyes so that the giant would decide not to come at him for round two. Hortense Hornby (8) vs Pius Thicknesse The thick wood under Hortense's palm trembled and threatened to fall loose from her grip as she maneuvered through the destruction.The very halls she'd wandered through so many times on her way to class were filled with rubble and blood. It was like something out of a nightmare. A heavy feeling of dread began to settle over her as moved toward the action. She'd walked into this willingly. She'd chosen to come back for this. She could hear antagonized cries and crashes in the distance, growing ever closer. She was getting close to the action again. Her mind begged to turn back but her legs kept moving forward of their own volition. "You can do this," she told herself aloud in nothing more than a whisper sticking close to the wall, eyes moving about in search of any movement near by. She didn't want to be caught unaware. Her wand was at the ready, prepared for anything. She was alone now for now but she never expected it to be long. She'd lost track of the Cresswell's nearly as soon as they'd returned and she longed for just the sight of them nearby now. She felt safer knowing they were around. It was harder watching for her own back. She knew she was only so capable. Fresh cuts and scraps lines the visible pale skin. She'd barely escaped another scrimmage moments before. If others hadn't arrived, she probably wouldn't have. Her mind searched through everything she'd ever learned aiming to be more prepared for her next round. If she was going to be under siege, she was going to give her best to the fight. She wasn't going to find the action, it was going to find her. She wasn't so sure if she was prepared for a new round but it was inevitable. All she could do was brace for it. The part of Thicknesse's mind that was trying to fight off the Imperius Curse still wondered what he was even doing here at Hogwarts fighting children alongside You-Know-Who's Death Eaters -- the very people whom his department before he was appointed as Minister for Magic were responsible for taking down in this war -- but for the most part, he found himself strangely relaxed as he threw curse after curse at one of the adults who had arrived when the battle had resumed. The other man was no match for a former Auror and DMLE head, even one under the Imperius Curse, and went down screaming. A second wizard rushed at him from the side and Thicknesse shot a non-verbal Furnunculus and a Blasting Curse at him -- his aim, however, was off for the first hex as one of those disgusting house-elves ran underfoot, and the spell meant to give its target painful boils on their face headed for the back of a blonde girl instead. Her back had been turned away a reflection on broken glass nearby made her turn on her heels. Hortense's eyes widened as she realized that there was a hex coming right at her and there was very little time to move. She contorted her body to dodge it but it struck her shoulder. Her vanity was glad that it didn't hit her face but it wasn't much of a victory. It didn't process at first who was attacking her. It took a moment for her brain to process that the Minister of Magic was attacking her. Actually harming the Minister of Magic felt wrong. It was a bit like treason. If he was a Death Eater wasn't he the one committing treason though? The disbelief over the identity of her opponent erased any prepared attacks of her own. Her mind frantically searched for anything that might help her cast him off. All she could think about was heating and cooling charms. They'd worked on those weeks previously in charms and now that was all she had. She aimed for his wand hand and shouted a freezing charm. Maybe if he had frostbite, it would be harder to attack. Stop but not do permanent damage. That was what she wanted to do, if she could! Had Thicknesse not been in the middle of waving his wand to cast an Impediment Jinx and Conjunctivitis Curse on the wizard he was fighting, the Freezing Charm would have hit his wand-hand and likely frozen his wand in place -- as it was, he happened to move his arm in time, and the spell brushed the fabric of his sleeve, leaving a patch of frost on his robe. He turned his head in the direction from where the spell came and noticed that it seemed to have come from a little girl to his side. He had no interest in fighting children even when under the Imperius Curse -- especially little girls who were going to throw non-combat spells at him -- but she was still a distraction that might get him killed by someone more competent. He pointed his wand at her and cast a Blasting Curse, Jelly-Fingers Jinx, and Stunning Spell in quick succession. She was lithe and crafty but she was unable to stand a chance against multiple spells in quick succession from a far more experienced wizard. Hortense mentally cursed the fact her wand work was not quicker. Why hadn't she joined the dueling club? Why hadn't she taken Defense Against The Dark Arts more seriously? She attempted a shield charm but it wasn't quick enough by any means. She went flying backwards, legs coming out from underneath her as the blasting curse sent her toward the wall. The impact was bad enough but the Stunning Spell rendered her unconscious. Her wand hit the ground next to her. There was a moment of blackout before someone nearby brought her back with a quick counter spell. Confusion as to where she was struck only for a moment before her location came rushing back. She reached for her wand, careful to not draw attention to the fact she was alert again. Once she'd managed to raise the wand again, she returned the Minister's kindness with an Impediment Jinx which she hoped would buy her enough time to get back to her feet. Unless there were some bizarrely coincidental circumstances, Thicknesse expected at least one of the three spells to hit -- if not all three, given the speed he had shot them at -- and therefore paid no further attention to the girl once he was done. It was only too late that he realised it was something of a mistake, albeit not an especially dire one -- it was doubtful that the girl would be capable of using the Killing Curse, whether it was lack of skill or will power -- and found himself moving more slowly than he had anticipated. He turned his attention back to the girl for a brief moment and aimed another Furnunculus at her followed by a Severing Charm, his arm moving more slowly to cast the spells than usual. Even if neither of of them hit, however, it bought him extra time to lift the Impediment Jinx with Finite Incantatem. In her attempt to dodge another round of Furnunculus, Hortense took the full brunt of the severing charm to her left arm. Hortense couldn't imagine anything that had been done in her classes hurting as much. That all felt like a distant memory at the moment. The charm left a hole in her robe and a thin gash against her skin. It wasn't as bad as it felt. Her good humour was wearing thin though. She decided that the best strategic move for her would be to take a defensive front and distract him while the stronger people around her hit him. She couldn't communicate it aloud, so she just went for it. Hopefully someone would see the open door and go for it. With a flick of her wand she sent violet light shooting toward Pius. A tickling charm felt like a good fit. It wasn't going to leave a bruise but if he was ticklish, it might open some room for someone else to get a good hit in. She followed it with a Toenail Growth Hex. By the time the two spells had been thrown at him, the Impediment Jinx had been removed and Thicknesse was able to block the Rictusempra with ease, the light from the spell dissipating along his shield's surface -- not that it would have done any real harm, but it wouldn't do for the Minister for Magic to be rolling on the floor laughing from tickles. The Toe-nail Growth Hex, however, managed to sneak in and hit him, and he could feel his shoes becoming uncomfortably tight as his nails started to grow rapidly within their confines. Had he not been under the Imperius Curse, he would have finally had enough and just walked away -- she obviously wasn't even remotely a real threat, nor did it seem like she was spoiling enough for a proper fight to follow him -- but the Unforgivable that Yaxley had programmed him with ordered him to retaliate with more vicious spells to get rid of her. He didn't even know what Sectumsempra was, but the voice in his head told him to use it, and so he cast it at the girl's leg, and he followed that with the Cruciatus Curse before he could help himself. Hortense gasped aloud when the Sectumsempra hit her. The invisible sword kept slashing at her, cutting and cutting into her again and again. Her hands moved as if she might be able to fight off the invisible threat but all it did was cut at her hands too, multiple fingers being sliced off. Her forgotten wand hit the floor. She was too busy trying to fight off being butchered to dodge the Cruciatus when it came. At once, it felt like more hot swords were slamming into her. She let out a murderous scream and collapsed at once to her knees. She clutched her chest with her bloodied palms, trying to find a way to make it all stop. The heated colour of her cheeks turned pale as she bled out. She didn't know what to do so she started to rock back and forth on her knees, sobbing. She tasted copper in her mouth. It was everywhere now. Everything was red. Her head was dizzy, strange. "Tell them," she started babbling over and over again nonsensically. Her eyes weren't focused on Pius or anyone as she uttered the words. As soon as the words were out, she started convulsing. Was Sectumsempra even supposed to do that? Had Thicknesse not been under the Imperius Curse, he might have expressed some degree of horror at what he had done, but as it was, he continued being relaxed in his mind as a voice told him to finish off the useless little girl who certainly could not have been of decent blood. He waved his wand and cast Avada Kedavra on her, almost as if it were an afterthought, before turning around to cast Blasting Curses at someone else. The pain was unbelievable. Hortense couldn't think to defend herself nor could she move to attack back. She never saw death coming. She was too far gone to see the blinding green light as it moved toward her. When it hit her squarely in the chest, the shaking stopped. The pain that she'd been feeling ceased. The light went out from behind her eyes not that it could be seen. Her small body slumped face first toward the cool floor, landing face down, dark eyes half-open. There was nothing more than a hollow, bloodied shell left for someone to find when the battle came to an end. That was that. Thicknesse had not even bothered to check if the spell had hit or not -- she couldn't have possibly dodged it while lying on the floor, and the Killing Curse was impossible to block or counter anyway -- as he continued fighting the wizard he had been pre-occupied with. The next second, however, he found himself being slammed onto the floor himself by several Blasting Curses at once, shattering the bones in his torso and arms to pieces. He looked up to see Arthur and Percy Weasley advancing on him with their wands out, and in a few moments -- and after having a piece of the ceiling fall on him before being trampled over by students and even a house-elf -- they had him set on fire and thrown across the room, barely missing one of the Great Hall's windows as he was knocked unconscious after colliding with the wall. And the fighting continued on. |