Kellen strolled into the entrance hall, Elora still on his arm, and waved a hand around to show the decided lack of teachers, "See? Not a problem. We'll be back in the common room before the mud even dries."

He was still having a little difficulty believing how drenched in mud they both were. On the walk back from the lake the wind had made it very clear to him that he should have foregone chivalry and kept his coat on his body instead, but at least he was indoors now and a soak in the shower was imminent.

Elora laughed as she looked around "Perfect!" She needed to bathe. She had had so much fun, but now was filthy. But she also didn't mind it. "What do you say we get cleaned up and meet maybe in...the library? Try and get some work done on the paper?" She smiled to herself. She knew not much work was going to get done on the paper.

Oh right, that paper...

"Sure, let's say in an hour... and a half?" Kellen could already hear the hot water and smell the pomegranate shampoo. That is, if Ian hadn't used all of it for his own messy locks.

Elora nodded. "See you then!" She waved and headed off to get washed up.

Arya was about to atempt lifting the cat playground when she suddenly remembered she could use magic, how had that sliped her mind? "Oh, I can't believe I forgot we can use magic! Wingardium Leviosa." He said the incantation as she preformed the proper wand movements, watching as the cat toy was lifted into the air. She turned back to her friends with a smile. "I'ma take this to my room, wanna meet up in Hogsmeade?"

Ivory couldn't help giggling. Magic of course! Duh!

" Sure Hogsmeade sounds great. Lemme just leave this unnecessaey garment,," She eyed the jacket menacingly,"In the common room. Meet ya on the Main Street."

Alexa was rather dazed and weak and she slipped through the doors into the Entrance Hall. She was covered in blood and dirt, leaves and twigs in her hair... and her face... OH MY MERLIN her face was cut and bleeding, not to mention the massive amounts of dirt that were now caked into the cuts. She was only able to see from one eye so she was making a slow go of navigating the entrance hall. Not to mention her GINORMOUS bare feet were hindering her a bit. THe worst thing of all was that she had no clue how she got that way. None at all! Her eye was oozing gunk and her pyjamas were ripped and she was bleeding profusely.

Lorcan walked into the entrance hall, thinking that some fresh air might do him some good. He hoped that he would see Lexi along the way, he wanted to talk to her and maybe kiss her. He had missed her.

He saw a blonde girl who looked like she had gone ten rounds with the Whomping Willow. Goodness she looked awful!

He rushed over to here and said gently, "Hi, I think you should probably go-" He stopped short, realising that it was Lexi. "Lex? What happened?"

Stopping in the enterance hall, Sabel put his hands on his hips and looked to either side, letting out a heavy huff of air. Now which way was the ---

His thoughts halted as if they had hit a brick wall as he caught sight of a familiar Lorcan and...."Alexa?!"

Dear spirits she looked...he couldn't even describe how she looked, his body frozen in shock for a moment as he stared at her. Then his legs were moving and he skidded upbeside Lorcan, tearing off pieces of his shirt for makeshift bandaging. "What happened?"

Bunching the fabric up he pressed them against a particularly awful looking gash, terror constricting his throat. "Lorcan what happened?!"

Alexa could barely see Lorcan through all of the gunk coming out of her eye. SHe did however recognize both his and Sabel's voices. A sob stuck in her throat and she said in a weak voice, "I have no idea what happened to me... I was in the Great Hall and then I was right here... I have no idea what is going on..." Tears began to run out of her clean eye and the sobs made their way out of her throat. THe back of her pyjama shirt was ripped heavily and she was bleeding from the gashes on her back, blood was beginning to cake up and dry where the dirt and leaves were stuck to her skin.

Her hair was matted to her face with eye gunk and blood from her face, her left shirt sleeve was gashed open and there was blood there too. But the most disturbing of all was her enlarged feet and the fact that she was barefoot. SHe couldn't figure it out...

THen Sabel applied pressure to a gash on her cheek and she yelped out in pain and crumpled to the floor with a resounding thud, the pain finally becoming too much for her to bare.

Taking a constitutional from the library for a bit of fresh air, Kapoor was about to step out of the castle when he saw ...another one! Good heavens! What was going on with the students these days?

He moved closer to the situation and could see that the damage was indeed very bad. "Did anyone see what happened?" He asked the others present, now very alarmed by the re-occurrence.

Lorcan turned and saw Sabel dashing towards them and as much as he didn't like the older boy, he was glad to see him. "I don't know! I just found her like this." He said, feeling a bit frantic.




When she started to cry Lorcan dug out his handkerchief and pressed it into her hand. "Oh, ssshhh! It'll be okay, we'll take you to see Miss Ashford and she'll sort it out, you'll be just fine."

He watched in horror as Lexi collapsed. He knelt down to support her and then glared up at Sabel. "Oh well done!" He looked at Lexi and said softly, "Can you sit up?" He realised that Lexi was out cold. "Look what you did!" He told Sabel angrily.



Oh thank heavens an adult. "No sir, she just wandered in from the grounds. She said that she can't remember what happened and then Sabel touched her cheek and she screamed and passed out."

If the situation hadn't been so grave, Sabel would have flapped his arms in full freakout mode. But it was grave, too grave. Though Locarn had gathered Alexa into his arms, he still felt his legs give way to end up kneeling beside them, trying desperately to do something about the blood; there was too much.

"She passed out from pain." Sabel nearly snapped, almost calling the other boy an idiot, but again...'grave situations'. Tearing off another section of his shirt, he started wrapping what wounds he could reach, watching in horror as blood soaked through the cloth almost as soon as it was tied.

Then there was another voice; a teacher. Thank the spirits. He let Lorcan do all the talking, not caring what blame was placed where at the moment and continued to do what he could with the blood, his shirt suffering greatly. Too much blood.

"Every bed in Healer Ashfords Hospital Wing is full as are her arms, but I have some dittany back at the Library. If you students would accompany, we could probably help keep her stable until Healer Ashford can see her." He said taking his wand and at least levitating the body from the ground.

Alexa was engulfed in darkness, but could hear others talking... yet not able to make out anything. She felt better somewhere deep inside when she heard an adult's voice. Then she felt herself being lifted magically from the ground. She wanted to scream, help me please! Make the pain go away! But she was not even able to see much less speak.

Sending cold looks at Sabel every now and then, Lorcan watched as the Mr Kapoor caused Lexi to rise into the air. He chewed his thumbnail, something Lexi would no doubt have scolded him for. "Do you think she'll be alright sir?" He asked nervously.

"Well, let's hope so. I did try this once before and it seem to have positive results." He said recalling the incident in the Dungeon Corridor. "To the Library office." He said to anyone who was joining them.

The hospital wing was full? Tried this before? Keep Alexa stable? Naseaua wove up through Sabel's gut as he stared at the blood on the floor for a long moment, a sickening sense of dread wiping all color from his face.

Don't die. Headmaster Tate's words rung through his skull like a crystal bell, clearing enough room for enough thought to stand to his feet and set them to the task of following the professor.

On the way he clapped a reassuring hand on Lorcan's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze with a small, weak smile, despite the death looks he was recieving. "Don't worry. She won't die."

That was the theme for the year. The Headmaster had said it, and by golly they were going to live it. He kept his hand on Lorcan's shoulder for reassurance and to gently guide him after the Professor.

Lorcan nodded, a frown settling on his face. "Thank you Sir." He said quietly, following the man to his office.

Lorcan whipped around, forcing Sabel's hand off his shoulder. "Of course she won't die! Why would you even say that?"

It was too much. Lorcan felt the bile rise in the back of his throat. He turned away from Sabel and retched.

Sabel blinked at the other boy in shock and had to swallow back his own bile when the other boy vomitted. Hesitating for a moment, he moved back over to Lorcan, resting his hand lightly on the other boy's back, his voice quiet and apologetic. "I'm sorry Lorcan...I didn't mean it that way...I...What I meant to say was she will be fine." He gave him as much a reassuring smile as he could. "She's a strong. She'll pull through just fine."

Lorcan shrugged the older boy's hand off again. Glaring at Sabel, he hissed viciously, "Just leave me alone yeah? You know nothing, you hear me? Nothin'"

He stomped up the stairs, feeling guilty that some poor house elf was going to have to clean up after him.

That was just...a little cold. Then again, he supposed he did know nothing, although he couldn't really say he had put forth the presumtion he did know something. But it wouldn't be fair to hold it against the boy; not at a time like this.

Letting out a shaky sigh, Sabel was about to run a hand down his face, stopping when he realized he had blood on it; Alexa's blood. Swallowing hard he hurried after Lorcan, hoping that the Professor knew what he was doing.

Reese wandered slowly back into the Entrance Hall with cuts and bruises all over her body along with blood on her pajamas. Her blonde hair was really messy, and there was some pieces of dirt trapped inside some of the tangles in her hair. She had her arms wrapped around her stomach as she headed over to the wall and collapsed down on the floor, and then she rested her head up against the wall and stared up at the ceiling.

Her body was aching realllllly badly. Maybe if she just stood her for a moment or two she'll begin to feel a tiny bit better.

After staring at the ceiling for a moment or two, she glanced down at her bloody clothing and noticed...

HER PREFECT BADGE WAS MISSING!

Torin was a bad Prefect.

He was sneaking out of the Great Hall. But he was wondering where Reese was and why she hadn't come back yet.

He made his way out into the room, and gasped at what he saw. Reese was slumped against the wall and looked hurt.

He ran over to her.

"Reese, are you okay? What happened to you?"

What had she done to herself?

Patrols were sooooo boring. Jack wanted to be anywhere in the WORLD except for here right now.

As he wandered into the Entrance Hall, he noticed that Torin and Reese were gathered a few feet away from him...lollygagging on patrols? OH HO they were going to GET it! Hehe.

As he got closer however, he saw that something was horribly wrong. Reese was covered in what he prayed was NOT her blood, and there was dirt in her hair and she looked like she had been through hell. Without even realizing it he was running towards her, ready to push Torin out of the way to get to her.

"REESE!" he exclaimed. "REESE? What happened to you?" he demanded. Oh god, he was going to puke if that was really her blood...he just KNEW it!