Lorelai nodded and took Sarah hand in her own, while getting up off the floor. As she watched her fellow fifth year get disillusioned, she let out a soft giggle and sighed to herself as she turned her head back to look at Mi- HOLY MERLIN AND HIS SHOE COLLECTION! Masterson had taken her clean to the ground, and it was tempting to just shout out and see if she was okay.

Tempting.

(And because I have to get off for school in a moment ...)

within minutes of starting to work on the shield that was stopping them getting up; it was gone. And in that second afterwards Masterson had ran through and up to the next floor. "I guess, well I guess it's time now ..." She whispered and set about walking towards the steps, taking extra precaution not to hurt Sarah's arm,

"Ok,..Rex..my side hurts really bad." She said as they walked. She was glad that she didn't have to walk and that no one could see them. She would have to tell Harry asks for leting Rex have the cloak. "Aaaahhhh!" Kay called out when Rex headed down the stair to the second floor. "Thank you, aaahhh I'm glad you find me." Kay said with her eyes falling shut. She poped them back open knowing that if she fell asleep that may not be good. He head hurt and she didn't want to go into shock. Which she already was she just didn't know it. Smiling up at Rex, she thought about why was he carring her. "Rex, where are we going?" wait didn't she already know?

Sarah grunted as Torin pulled her up.Her right arm and shoulder was feeling slightly more numb, and her head was spinning still from the concussion.Groping around for the wall as Torin leaned her against it, Sarah was relieved to feel the coldness.It felt nice for a change.

She closed her eyes as he tapped her head, and felt the weird tinglingness of the spell engulf her.Reaching out she took hold of Lori's hand when it was offered, and gave it a squeeze.She would have smiled, but now that none of them could actually SEE each other it seemed rather pointless."Yeah I guess it ---" but she didn't finish the sentence as a resounding crash came from behind them.

Her head snapped round, and her mouth dropped open, as Miranda and Masterson both hit the deck, one tackled by the other.Grimicing, Sarah looked away again and closed her eyes.She knew it was for the best that Masterson won, but it still wasn't nice to see her friend get hurt so badly.Even if she was rude to them all shortly before that.

Sarah nodded as she heard Lori's comment, and saw Masterson run off towards the stairs. "Yeah, let's go.With that crazy Gryffie, and god knows who else up there, we might be needed...." Walking steadily, gripping Lori's hand tightly, Sarah walked over the rubble towards the next level.

Miranda's eyes moved awfully alot under her lids, but it was the only thing that showed she was still with them, somewhow.

There were flashes of green, red, yellow, white. All swimming before her shut eyes, attacking, making her flinch. Her eyes twitched, her head jerked. The flashing, it was too much, cutting at her - eyes fluttered open and she screamed.

Her body wanted to sit up, but being bound by ropes made it a weeeee bit difficult. Her senses came back and it was like that horrible morning in her dormitory again. She panicked, her arm hurt, her head felt like it was going to split open and and she couldn't breathe that well. "Oh- Merlin, oh no no no no!" She looked down at her body, the ropes were not letting her even move her feet.

Suddenly, weirdly, she only just noticed Oliver sitting beside her, her eyes were brimming over with tears. "Oliver?!" Merlin, why is he sitting there? And why hadn't he helped her out of the bonds? "P-please..." she breathed, but her chest hurt for some unknown reason to her, "H-help me..." She looked pleadingly at her friend. Surely he would help her?

" We are going to the second floor" Rex reminded Kay. We will wait for the healer there" Rex told Kay.

Suddenly, Jake Upstead's rang out loudly through the corridor, and it was clear it would reach the fifth floor.

"SAMUEL! GET OUT! YOU HAVE TO RUN! THEY'RE... THEY'RE... THEY KN-"

Oooh. That felt funny, and now Brody was invisible. Okay this was pretty cool, she liked being invisible, but they had a job to do. Up to the next floor. Squeezing Torin's hand she was about to follow him, and the rest of the power puff girl's, but that was still she heard a scream. Brody knew who it was. There was only one person it could have been. Miranda.
Reluctantly she turned around, seeing the girl lying on the floor. The others were going up, and she really should have followed, but something within her was telling to stay on this floor with Miranda.

"You guys go. I'm staying." And she pulled her hand out of Torin's before running back to where Miranda was lying on the floor. Sure Miranda had been being rude to them before, and attacking them, but she didn't hate the girl. "Miranda...."

Oliver had his head tilted back, eyes closed, his back against the wall as he sat by Miranda and waited for her to stir. What if she was just the same when she woke up? What if she attacked him the same way she had attacked Masterson. Would he fight back? ...Could he?

His head was spinning and he started to drift off. The blow to the back of his head on top of the bump from the mysterious injuries he had sustained not all that long ago probably hadn't done his brain any good.

He awoke with a wide eyed jerk when he heard a scream. Sitting bolt upright, he focused on Miranda as she began to panic and then... tears. Miranda was tough as old boots.. she didn't cry, and yet there she was crying and pleading and it was breaking Oliver's heart.

“Miranda.” He croaked out not recognising his own voice it sounded so heavy with emotion. He shifted his position and lay beside her on his side so she would feel less intimidated with him towering over her. “I.. I can't. I can't. You-you're a danger to yourself.” He swallowed back the emotion. “Why did you attack, Masterson?” He asked her in a gentle whisper.


The sound of feet approaching, echoing down the corridor as someone sprinted towards them caused Oliver to jump. He stared at the boy running past. Weird Kid.

Samuel. Samuel.. Samuel.. Samuel.

Sam, Sam. Sam the Man..

Why did that ring a bell? Why did it make Oliver want to stand up and follow after the boy? Why did his wand hand twitch , Stupefy on the tip of his tongue, as one of Miranda's friends wandered over to see if everything was ok? His hand was shaking as he pocketed his wand so he wouldn't do what his brain was yelling at him to do and stun the girl. “W-what's going on?” He asked her trying to keep his voice calm and level. He blinked as his thoughts seemed to fade into grey. He shook his head to get rid of the odd feeling.

Oh... Merlin.

Nancy had been sprinting around the castle, somehow knowing she needed to do something without actually having an idea WHERE she should be doing something. Uh... Yes, not very well thought-through. Still, there she was, panting, with her wand raised and her blue eyes glinting in a mixture of anxiety and determinism. Still, where was she supposed to go?!

Blue eyes darting around frantically they immediately fell on a tied up Miranda who looked just horrible with those ropes around her. EEK! "Miranda!" Gosh, what the heck was going on?! And what the heck was Oliver doing?! Without even glancing around whether there was anybody else - yes, very clever, Nancy *cough* - she stormed off towards the pair, an extremely confused look on her face. "Oliver! What's going on?!" They needed to get going. She could here Jake's voice booming around the castle which meant they had to move. And NOW.

Oliver slowly sat up, tearing his eyes away from Miranda to look at the girl who was approaching them. “Nancy!” He said and you could hear the relief in his voice. He staggered to his feet and pulled the sixth year into a tight embrace like she was a long lost friend. “You're a sight for sore eyes. Thank Merlin you're here.” Oliver had never been so pleased to see anyone in his life.

Releasing the poor girl he looked down at Miranda and frowned mournfully. “She.. she attacked Mr Masterson.” He said incredulously. “She's flipped. He knocked her out because he had no choice.” He looked at Nancy thoroughly confused by her question. “I was going to ask you the same question. Why is everyone headed up to the fifth floor?” And more importantly, because his head was killing as he tried to remember, “Who is the HELL Sam?” The name was going around and around in his head. Maybe he was concussed. Again.

Sam, Sam, Sam the Man,
Sam the Man,
Sam the Man...
[Repeat until you feel dizzy (..er) o_O]

GUH!

“Professor Kapoor is unconscious. I dunno what happened to him. And there's a girl over there...” He gestured at Arya.

He pointed his wand at the wee huffie on the ground. "Rennervate." There. It seemed wrong leaving her there like that.. but Kapoor? He knew he should help, but something niggling at the back of his mind was telling him it would be a really bah-had idea to wake him.

Now Nancy was even more confused than she had been before. What was up with OLIVER?! And why the heck wasn't he up in the Fifth Floor Corridor?! Well, she wasn't either but that was because she had somehow ended up here involuntary. How did you get to the Fifth Floor again?! Uhm...

Automatically patting the boy's back a little awkwardly - they weren't THAT close now after all - Nancy frowned at Miranda on the floor. Why hadn't he helped her?! She was tied up after all. Guh! "She attacked Masterson?!" Nancy mimicked the boy's incredulous look but for other reasons than the boy. She was simply astonished how Oliver seemed to be totally on Masterson's side with this. What the heck?!

"We need to help her." She said slowly, while pointing her wand at Miranda. "And then we need to get to the Fifth Floor." However one got there. She gazed right into his eyes, trying to make him understand. What was up with him? Mr. Barkeep was obviously in trouble and he was just standing there doing nothing.

At Oliver's next question her jaw literally dropped. "Who is-" But she never finished that sentence but simply blinked at him a few times. He had FORGOTTEN who Sam was?! "What's wrong with you?! We need to help him. We NEED to get up to the Fifth Floor." DUUUUH! She exclaimed as if that was the only reasonable way to proceed. Somehow she felt the urge to smack him for being so slow.

Urm.. Nancy looked confused. Oliver gave her a wide-eyed look as if to say, 'I'm NOT kidding.' ..cos usually, under 'normal' circumstances, there would be stupid jokes coming out of his gob right about now. THIS WAS NO JOKE!

He nodded. YES! She attacked the dude ..like a flying ninja.

“NO!” He protested when Nancy aimed her wand at Miranda. “Her brain's become unwired or something. DO NOT untie her.” He was about to raise his wand and point it at Nancy but the next thing she said made complete sense. The fifth floor! They had to get up there! Just why exactly wasn't completely clear to Oliver but he just knew he had to go.

He held Nancy's gaze as she stared into his eyes as if conveying some silent message. What? He frowned confused. She seemed mad. Why couldn't he just remember? ...guh. Because of the head injury.

Help him. It was there.. he could almost see it. Like a name you couldn't quite remember but knew you knew it!

...

....

GASP!

An invisible light-bulb lit up above his head. PING! Oliver's features seemed to cloud over, the light in his green eyes faded and was replaced with blankness. “Finite!” He said pointing his wand at Miranda and released her from the ropes binding her. “C'MON!” He grabbed Nancy's arm and started to drag her towards the stairs. “MIRANDA!” He yelled at her angrily. They had to hurry. They couldn't fail the Bossman. He looked at the younger Hufflepuff he had just revived. “You coming or what?” He asked her briskly.

They had a job to do. They had to help HUXLEY! NOW!

Lina ran up the stairs, FINALLY reaching the fourth floor. "Healer Lina here!" she called out, not trying to sneak this time. "Someone point me to the injured! Where's Arya?"

Arya was surrounded by water, swiming free from her bodily pains and worries. She was completely unaware of all the cayos that had ensued on the corridor, just remained motionless, bound by the ropes.

And then she suddenly felt her self slowly rise from the water, pain slowly returning until she was fully awake. Slowly her eyes began to open, gliding around the corridor as she tried to remember what had happened. She atempted to rise only to realize that she was tied, that's when it all came back to her. She had been stuned in a atempt to protect her friend...her wand! Her frantic eyes searched the floor for her dark wand in hopes to spot it. She HAD to have her wand so she could protect Sam.

She was about to ask the students standing near her about her wand, they had to be on her side other wise she would still be stuned right? When someone called out her name, her eyes studied lina, not sure who's side she was on. But what if someone sent Lina to save her? After a few moments of thought, she decided to take the risk, after all they outnumber Lina if she was to try and stop her. "I'm over here."

Then the boy and girl, who she was know certain were on her side called her to follow. She couldn't possibly follow with her current state, she would have to wait until Lina untied her and hopefully get her a wand. Looking to the older boy she nodded her head. "I'll be behind you soon, go ahead without me! And if you find a wand, save it for me!!" Yes she would need to find another wand until hers was retrieved.

Sprinting as fast as her short legs would carry her, the Hufflepuff tried in vain to catch up to Jack and Jake. Her robes had caught on the third floor's stairs, which were partially overgrown with roses, but she'd ripped it out and continued her journey upward.

Breathing heavily from exertion, wand in one hand and shield up, legs scratched and front covered in Jake's blood, the teenager took in the fourth floor's hallway with wide eyes. Everywhere there was rubble and in some places, smeared blood. Biting her lip, Wesley trudged on, stopping as she spotted the crab girl.

And then that one Hufflepuff. And then some other girl. And then...

"Oliver?" Wesley called out, forgetting all about Jake, and the curses, and concentrating to keep her shield up, and remembering just that Oliver was her friend.

And that she had broken her promise.

"O-oliverrrr! Oliver, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" the tiny third year cried out, running - stumbling - towards him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grangerfan8

She was about to ask the students standing near her about her wand, they had to be on her side other wise she would still be stuned right? When someone called out her name, her eyes studied lina, not sure who's side she was on. But what if someone sent Lina to save her? After a few moments of thought, she decided to take the risk, after all they outnumber Lina if she was to try and stop her. "I'm over here."

Then the boy and girl, who she was know certain were on her side called her to follow. She couldn't possibly follow with her current state, she would have to wait until Lina untied her and hopefully get her a wand. Looking to the older boy she nodded her head. "I'll be behind you soon, go ahead without me! And if you find a wand, save it for me!!" Yes she would need to find another wand until hers was retrieved.

"Arya!" She ran over and kneeled by her. Another set of crab and toy blobs were placed, ones on Lina's sleeve labeled. "Ivory sent me," she said quietly, watching as the little blob toy turned angry and red. The little crab, meanwhile, peacefully beeped Arya's heart beat and glowed with her breathing. If the little blob was right, there was a high chance that Arya was imperiused as well. That certainly made sense.

"Can you tell me where you're hurt?" She leaned in close, whispering. "Who's on our side?" If she was gonna get up on the higher floors, she was going to have to play this carefully.

Oliver nodded at Arya as she told him she would follow. “Don't be long. We need you up there.” He snapped. He narrowed his eyes on the younger girl asking about the injured. She seemed to be no threat. Yet. But he'd be keeping a close eye on her as long as they remained on this floor.

He was fuming. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have allowed himself to be stunned by that blasted prefect? And then to FORGET his job!? His PURPOSE!?

With a scowl on his face he turned to the sound of the familiar little voice of his adopted little sister as she came running towards him. Urgh! WHAT WAS SHE DOING UP HERE!?

He reached out to catch her as she stumbled towards him. “The HELL you waffling about?” He asked her impatiently. “What are you doing here? You need to get back downstairs to safety, Wesley.” He gave her a warning look. She could get hurt.

...By him.

Oh dear.

"I won't be." She shot back, watching another girl run crying over to him. Obviously the girl was not on thier side but she also posed no threat to them so she turned back to Lina. She let out a sigh of relief when Lina said that Ivory had sent her, that meant that her friend was alright and could proceed with protecting Samuel.

She eyed the toy that was beeping in sync with her steady heartbeat and ragged breathing."What's that?" It was kinda cute and somewhat distracting, she would have to get one for herself when Samuel was safe. Where wasn't she hurt, what with the ropes chafing her bare arms, the pain in her chest from being hit by two stunners combined with her already pained ribs and not to mention the small bump on the back of her head."The ropes are starting to burn and my ribs, head and chest hurt....that's all I think."

Struggling slightly in the ropes she looked up to Lina with a somewhat puzzled expression. She should already know who was on our side, shouldn't she? And why was she asking anyway? Arya pondered whether to anwser and if so how to respond. After a few moments of silence between the two she spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully."I'm not exactly sure....been out for a while....whay do you ask?" Was Lina on their side, or just pretending in order to get close to Samuel....she didn't know but refused to give out any extra information until she was positive.

Torin was about to go when Brody let go of his hand. She was staying because Miranda, he knew that much. But he had no idea where she was. And none of the other people knew that he was there either.

He watched the others in the corridor, none of them knowing that he was there.

"I come of my own volition, I wasn't commanded by Samuel. But he and I were doing business back in the Hog's Head." She chose her words carefully, not wanting to mention the Imperius curse. Who knew what that might trigger?

"The little crab is your breathing and heart rate. The little red plastic blob indicates that there's some sort of curse on you. But I'm not officially trained as a healer, so I couldn't say for certain what it was." She began undoing the ropes which bound the girl. "Until you're healed, I want you to move as little as possible so you don't injure yourself further." She murmured a spell to make a quick diagnostic. Indeed, the same thing showed up on her that did on Ivory. Other than that, she didn't seem badly injured.

"Unfortunately, because of that I have no orders from him, and can only figure out which side someone's on if someone is attacking someone I know is on our side, or if someone is obviously protecting Sam." Also true. "I'm not a fighter, but I'm a healer. So I figured I could keep everyone up and going."

She took out a full vial and an empty vial, then a small jar. She poured a dose of healing potion for Arya and handed it to her. "Healing potion. That should help." She began healing what injuries she could. It might make it a little harder for their side, but a healer didn't work discriminately. And she might get an escort upstairs.

Wasn't commanded by Samuel?

Arya didn't know what to make of her words. Lina knew his name, but she could've picked it up from another student. She also knew that he worked at Hog's Head which none of the students attacking her knew about, so maybe some part of her story was true. She still wasn't sure but didn't question the matter any further...for now.

Obviously Lina wasn't a trained healer and her toy crabs were malfunctioning cause she was not cursed, injured but not cursed. Still the crabs were cute, she would have to ask for one. Doing as instructed she moved as little as possible as Lina began to remove the ropes. Flexing her hands she continued to contemplate what was safe to tell Lina.

If she was here to heal then that meant she wasn't much threat to either side, so Arya could trust her but not to the fullest. She still wasn't one hundred percent positive and she had to be, no one could get to Samuel. Accepting the potion she drank it slowly, already feeling its effects. "Then stick with me and I'll try to show you who's on 'our' side. Just don't try to get close to Samuel or revive students on the other side...or you will get hurt." Staring straight into Lina's eyes, she spoke with an firm tone that said she was not to be messed with. It seemed strange coming from the generally sweet first year, but she had a job to do and at the present moment had no time for games. She didn't plan on pointing out every person protecting Samuel unless they were hurt, but she wouldn't allow her to heal those trying to stop them. They were protecting Sam and no one else.

Handing her back the bottle she slowly sat up and looked on the ground surrounding her, gently rubbing the back of her head. She needed a wand NOW. She poked at the little crab and looked to Lina, "Can I keep him?"

By the time she arrived to where Oliver and that one girl were, Wesley was a sniveling wreck. Face blotchy, wet, and slightly snot-covered, the Hufflepuff reached for his outstretched hand but then, looking up at his face, recoiled, letting go and shrinking away. She knew she had been bad. She hadn't worked hard enough. She hadn't worked fast enough.

"Th-the promise! I-I promised y-you I w-wouldn't let a-anyb-body else g-get hurt! And, and your hurt!" He was, face covered in blood and dust, bouncy hair matted and tangled, "I'm s-sorry! I t-tried, I did, but it - it d-doesn't matter! I w-wasn't s-smart enough! I wasn't f-fast enough! H-he's here! H-he's here - the the Hufflepuff K-k-k-ki-KILLER is here! U-upstairs! And- and - and he's g-going t-to k-k-k-kill P-professor L-lupa!"

At this statement, which she had not fully come to before, but now, in the explanation had, the small girl let out a cry. This was not the happy ending that Lettie deserved! Professor Lupa was nice! She was nice -and this bad man was going to kill her! He was going to kill her like he had killed Kyle and Abby and Helios. She was going to die, and if Wesley, if Wesley had worked harder - if she had read those books faster, talked to more people, started searching for answers sooner, this wouldn't have been happening. "I'm s-sorry Oliver! I'm - I'm sorry! I-," Gulping, she stopped long enough to take in his next words, and shaking her head wildly, continued to babble on, "I n-need to - I need to get Jake! He l-left after Professor L-lawson, but he's hurt! And I- I need t-to g-get him! I-I promised...!"

She did. She did promise. She promised Jack she'd take care of Jake. And, dark eyes looking slightly crazed, Wesley shook her head once more. "I - I'm s-sorry Oliver! I g-gotta go! I gotta g-go now!"

"Well, I would prefer if you kept him for now anyway, but when all of this is over if you still want it, you can have it. These are all prototypes. Unfortunately, this is their first real test. But I can tell if someone's gone down with these as well." She pointed to her sleeve where the synced crabs and blobs were. "See? There's Ivory's, and Jake's, and yours. If you want, I could place them on fallen enemies too, to track them. Breathing and heart rate changed when you're stunned or if you're struggling."

She looked up at her, determined. "As for those not on our side, even if I'm not trained, I've been sworn as a healer, so I must help the fallen. They can be restricted, and if they don't need immediate potions they don't have to be revived, but I must make sure that they will at least live. Speaking of such, I need to search this floor to see if there's anyone else."

Bloody hell!!

Marcus had managed to make it to the fourth floor after trying to get through the other levels. He was slightly panic stricken as he tried to look through the crowd of students.

Where was his wife?

"ILIANA" he yelled as he saw more kids throwing hexes at each other. What in the name of Merlin's dusty old broomstick was going on with these kids?

If anything happened to his wife, he will be cracking skulls.

He had his wand out but he wasn't sure which kids were on the good side and which weren't.


ooc: Lawson is trying to make it to the fifth floor to find his wife but needs to be detained a little.

Lina turned suddenly hearing a shout from behind her. It was one of the professors! Taking a chance, she rushed over to him, wand out and aimed at him, her little devices clutched in a hand to her chest. Once she had her back to the other students, she bit her lip and mouthed a 'sorry.' "I can't let you through here, professor." In her hand she managed to get one of her little green smiley blob toys between two of her fingers, just trying to make sure he could see it, hoping he would spot the red angry one on Arya's chest and see the labeled ones on her sleeve. "Please go back downstairs... I have other students to heal."