Checking the girl (Hope) out as he waited for a response from her Leo gave a small inward sigh of relief. At least the girl wasn't bleeding anywhere that he could see. And she didn't appear to have knocked her head on the staircase either since she could scream and sob well enough for him to hear her in the library through two shut doors.

Quick footsteps and rapid breathing alerted him to the arrival of another student (Fern). Looking up at the badger girl he asked with a gesture towards the girl he was kneeling beside. "Do you know who she is?"



Still kneeling by the first year girl's side in his old house colours Leo was just about to pull out his wand and send a patronus for Cece when he registered some of the comments made by the student’s in little crowd that was forming behind him.

Standing up he turned to see who had accused him of attacking a student. Seeing Prefects Miroslava and Barrington there along with a Hufflepuff he thought went by the name Olivia Clarke his eyes narrowed and Leo's disapproval was very clear in his voice when he addressed the three of them not really caring who made what comment. (Olly, Isadora, Nigel). "If you are just here to make unwarranted accusations against a member of staff as well as give comments unbefitting of both prefects and senior students of this fine school then I suggest you all leave and I'll take it up with your heads of houses later. They will no doubt share my distaste in your behaviour. Now if you exscuse me I'm going to focus on the girl that does deserve my attention." HINT!



Leo was about to turn his attention back to the injured girl when he heard a boy's voice pipe up that it was best not to move her. Stealing a glance over in the direction of the voice Leo spotted Alec as well as an unfamiliar boy behind the others. Letting his eyes stop on the boy (Jun) he asked "Can you please go fetch Healer Tillstorm and tell her it's urgent?" Alec was of better use if he remained where he was if the girl got worse or if his fellow seniors needed to be escorted out of the staircases.

Alec Blake Summers: Human Shield.

As long as Jun was protected, Alec didn't mind. But before long, panic started settling in. And his aching body and slow movements weren't helping matters at all. But he kept moving, even if his breathing was getting heavier and heavier the more and more he jogged to the staircase. But... the voice. The one they had heard so clearly back at the

... Oh. And there were other people here too. Had he taken that long to get here or...?

Grey eyes landed on... "S-sir?" And Fern. And another girl. Sobbing, at that. BLINK. Uh oh. This was not a great sight.

... the Healer? "You'll be fine, yeah?" he asked, trying to look at Jun who he was still guarding, "She's not far away and if anything happens..." Nothing should, right? "... erm... send someone?" Since it did look to Alec as if Jun was scared but... he wasn't going to say anything about that.

"Do you know what happened, Sir?"

What was all that shouting about? Grace's ears were bad. But even she could hear that shouting. And it was really loud. But they wanted help apparently. Could she help? Well. She figured she may as well try. The first year walked in the direction of the voice. She was rather slow though. Old age did not suit her well. Ahh. The moving staircase. and a bunch of people.

Oh dear. There was a girl on the floor. The first years eyes widened as she looked at the stuff that was going on. "Is...she okay?"

Right, the healer.

Jun nodded. "Yes professor," he backed away from Alec and gave him another nudge. But Jun rolled his eyes when Alec asked if he'll be alright. "Yeah. Just wasn't going to die for the Head Boy, that's all," He wasn't scared, maybe a tiny bit because he didn't know what to expect. It was better to have someone else go down first so he could prepare himself. But anyway. It was time to get the healer. As fast as he could.

Which wasn't too fast at all.
Hope would just have to hang on a bit longer.

Oh. Oops. The librarian was not supposed to have heard that.

Olly groaned and glanced at the Ravenclaw Prefects next to her. "We can't get past." She nodded towards the group of people which were clearly in their way now. And making a detour up to the towers would require A LOT of effort. Considering she wasn't too good on her legs right now (also additional effort!!) Olly wasn't exactly keen on taking a longer route.

So hopefully the healer would come soon and take the injured person away.

Of Course the librarian heard Dora's guess you could say though. Nigel did not think it was serious. Though with him in front of a down student. What else would you think unless you are terribly optimistic. Now they could no get past guilt trip and all. That hint was not very subtle.

"No, we can't"

Plus two of them being Prefects made the matter closed. They had to stay. And to make matters worse a crowd was growing Alec and all. What is it with Alec, him and the Librarian meeting at the most random times?

"I say let Alec and the Librarian deal with it unless we are specifically asked"

Nigel said to Dora, not loud enough for the Head Boy and Librarian to hear. All that was left to do was not let the growing crowd panic.

"Hotter would definitely be better." Dora agreed with definitive head nod. She actually didn't care if they knew nothing at all. So long as they were hot, they were approved by the Ravenclaw Prefect. She didn't need help studying, but always welcomed a distraction from it.

There was a pause and an air of disappointment before she responded to the other girl. "I don't have much choice, do I?" As much as Dora liked to think that she did what she wanted, sometimes she didn't. And when it came to school, she really didn't.

She could just leave theoretically speaking, technically speaking she actually couldn't. Not unless she went back down which defeated the purpose of coming up all this way in the first place. Dora knew Olly wasn't going to do that anyway.



And then the librarian went on a rant and Dora stood there looking as unconcerned as ever, though she was surprised he could hear them. Better hearing than looks apparently. Also, good luck with finding her head of house.

"Like they've said, Sir. As much as we'd love to leave you and the other students...." Swarm, they came out of nowhere really. "To your rescuing, we can't with our path blocked. But we can certainly stand watch and make sure no harm befalls anyone else. Us being prefects and senior students after all." As he so finely put it. "At least until our path is cleared."

Bigger hint.

To Nigel she just nodded in return, that was the plan she was intending to stick with anyway. Until someone she cared about needed her assistance at least.

Tears just kept flowing and then there were voices. A lot of voices! However they sounded all jumbled up and she stared at each person in turn, noting a familiar face here and there, not really sure how to respond or where to even began. Her hip throbbed at the same rate of which her heart beat and she was biting down on her lip trying not to move for fear that it would all just make it worse.

Staring at the man (Nordic Witch) who was taking the most care to help her. She sobbed and shook still trying not to move. "Fell. Down. Stairs. Hip. Hurts." OH, she those few words seemed to move through her body and shake her whole frame which caused a small squeak to move through her lips.

Someone mentioned healer and she silently begged that they wouldn't take too long. The scene in front of her was swimming before her eyes and she felt like she was looking down a tunnel. "So. Much. Pain."

Another ordinary day at-

HOLY HUFFLEPUFF!!! What happened here?! Nate started to notice a small crowd gathering around a...first year by the looks of it? What happened to her? Nate noticed that the Librarian was there, Alec was there, and a whole lot of other people he didn't quite know. All he knew, someone was hurt from the looks of it. A Ravenclaw student. This couldn't be quite right. Something about this situation seemed...off to Nate. Your hip doesn't just randomly give out while walking down the steps. If it did then that's just bloody mental.

Quickly but quietly Nate made his way down to the scene. He quickly got next to Alec and whispered to him, "Alec, what happened here? I know that kids at Hogwarts are ageing, but something about this doesn't seem quite right." Hopefully no one else heard that. He wanted to keep this conversation....quiet. After all, the last thing he needed was to scare a bunch of kids he didn't know. Last time he accidently did that, things didn't end to well for him. Long story short, there was a bloody nose and a sprained wrist involved. Never scare little kids at Halloween when it there dad is twice your size, and three times your weight.

Hogwarts was at its strangest. Almost everyone was old now, including Professors. And that one stupid question lay on everyone's mind. The nightmare of What would happen when they got too old. Someone HAD to solve this. Before they got unleashed on their relatives at the end of the school year. At least here they could be semi safe. But at their own homes, it was a free for all. And that was scary. Because no one knew that was happening. And the parents! He did you take care of someone who was supposed to be younger than you but was now older. She rounded the corner, thinking of the next step.

WHAT WAS HAPPENING? There was a bunch of people crowded around someone who she couldn't really see. Was someone hurt? She ran up the stairs and tried to get a better look.

It was another firstie, a Ravenclaw it looked like. And she was sobbing. People were arguing about what to do. It was a mess. And the girl with the braid would bet her bottom Knut that it had something to do with being old. The girl said something about breaking her hip. So that's what happened when you got really old. It sounded like her grandma. And her grandma... passed last year. No time to think about that. The little Ravenclaw stepped back to try and clear a way.

She found Nate and walked over to him. "What happened?" Of course she knew about this hip, but how? Was this just an effect of aging? What was going on? More work had to be done.

A scream. A huge crowd had gathered on a part of the Moving Staircase where Leah was trying to get past, and she, the dramatic first year could not be left out on this. Never. However, when she dodged past big students to the front of the crowd, Leah could not suppress a huge gasp.

"HOPE! Are you alright?!!" Leah practically yelled. "No, you're not! Is the Healer here? Should I get her? Did someone go get her? Oh my gosh what happened?" She knelt down in front of her friend and heard her speak. Hope was sobbing. Leah grabbed her hand tightly. "You'll be alright, Hope. Healer Tillstorm can help anybody." She told the hurt girl.

Leah finally got to look around. There were lots of people, not many who were helping. She finally caught the librarian, who must have heard her scream from the library. "Sir, can I stay here with Hope? I'll also accompany her to the Hospital Wing. If there is anything else I need to do, please mention it."

Oh dear, Hope needs to be okay.

Turning his attention to Alec briefly Leo shrugged. "I've yet to establish that since I haven’t gotten that much out of the firstie girl just yet." That is if you didn’t count sobs and screams. "Just stay close Alec and keep an eye on everyone else. I don’t want any more injuries."

Leo was about to kneel down next to the hurt girl again when he was distracted by another firstie girl who looked a bit scared at the sight of an injured peer. Flashing the girl a warm smile Leo said "We’ll get her fixed up in no time. The healer will be here soon." If Cece didn’t come in the next few minutes he’d just carry the girl down a floor to the hospital wing himself.

"Thank you. Fetch Healer Tillstorm as quick as you can." Leo emphasized as the boy left. He wasn’t a skilled healer in the medical arts. Leo didn’t know how you cured broken bones or dislocated arms or diseases.

Turning to Prefect Miroslava Leo responded in the most neutral tone he could manage in the circumstance with a glance towards Nigel and Olly too."Or you could make yourself useful while you wait and sooth and care for the younger years present here that could use some looking after. It can be upsetting to see a fellow peer in pain." HINT!

And if they actually helped out maybe Leo could focus on the girl on the floor.

As the girl piped up in a small voice Leo immediately turned around and kneeled down on the floor next to her to hear what she was saying. Worry etched across his face Leo said in a calm but soothing tone "It’ll be all right dear. Just hang on. The healer will be here any minute." Poor girl, she was sick with the weird disease plaguing the whole school and now she took a bad tumble down the stairs too and broke her hip. Patting the girl on the arm he repeated. "Everything will be all right."

Between one minute and the next Leah appeared by the girl who Leo now learned was called Hope's side looking anxious and worried. Looking over at Leah he nodded with a warm smile. "Of course you can stay here with Hope and also tag along to the Hospital Wing. I think it will be good for Hope to have a friend with her there. We'll move Hope when Healer Tillstorm has come and checked her hip out. I've already sent someone to fetch her."

Where was Cece?

Yes. Definitely. They needed more hot people around here. More hot staffers in particular. Something to look at while in class or studying for exams. Olly agreed again with a nod of her head, fixing the Librarian with a long look. Yeah, they could definitely do with a hotter librarian.

Not much of a choice???

Olly raised her eyebrows and remained silent when Dora did. "Well, you do." She attempted a non-chalant shrug. "There's nothing keeping you here." Pause. "If you don't count friends." So, nothing PHYSICALLY keeping her here next term.



Her lips curled into a small smirk at Dora's reply to the Librarian. Leaning against the banister a little more, Olly looked at the people around them with a sigh. There were more now. Where were they all coming from? Did they not have anything better to do than stand around here?

Wait......what?

Olly actually laughed out loud before she could stop herself, giving the Librarian a look of disbelief. "Right." Did she LOOK like someone who took care of younger students? The two Prefects probably had no choice though. Sucked for them. Not her problem, though.

No, Fern did not know who this girl was. She however, distinctly remembered that the girl wore a blue knee-length dress with a lace bodice and matching tassel earrings to the half-hearted ball.

But even Fern knew this wasn't what the librarian was asking.

She shook her head and tried not to squirm, but it was - there was her BFF Olly! Fern turned at the sound of her popular teenager friend's voice and smiled automatically. But the smile quickly fell into a look of complete shock as the librarian told Olly and the other teenagers to leave, and then all of the sudden Alec was there, and then that first year - A FIRST YEAR - was told to get the healer!? Why not Fern!? Fern could have gotten the healer! And she would have been way faster too!

Then the injured girl was saying something, and Fern was trying to hear, but she was bowled over by somebody. "Hey!" she shouted angrily, "Hey-," HEY! That was Leah! The first year Hufflepuff! Didn't she know better than to go around pushing her elders? Fern shouldered her way back to the front and gave the younger girl a glare.

What was this about the younger students needing soothing? And Olly was saying she would do that? "I can help watch the younger students too!" Fern volunteered eagerly, "I'm very good at soothing."

And to prove her point, Fern patted this young Ravenclaw (Grace) on the shoulder and said, "There there."

Leah nodded at the librarian, smiling a little. It was good to hear that Hope was going to be alright, truth or not. Hey! Someone was being super angry in this situation. Hey! Leah stood up to tell that person to be quiet for a while, but then got a blow in the side of her head. Outrageous, the girl turned around, her eyes wide.

A bossy-looking girl looking a bit older than her was standing in front of her. It seemed that she had shouldered her way back to the front but had hit Leah in the head. Another disadvantage for being short, duh. She was about to shout something back, but held it. She was the one who had shoved the way up front at the start. The two girls were EVEN, except for the fact that Leah had earned a glare, which she surely did not give. "Oh I'm sorry. I was just worried about what happened that I ran up front. I apologize if it hurt your feelings or something." The first year said to the girl, massaging her head pointedly.

Wait. The younger students needed soothing? Soothing? Yeah sure Leah needed soothing from prefects, seeing her friend dying being hurt. But THAT girl was volunteering to take part in the looking after, and Leah did not really want that, no offense. The way she "looked after" a first year Leah recognized as Grace was not good.

Grace was happy. She was kind of scared actually. Was the girl gonna die? She didn't want her to die. Cause that might mean that she might die. And that was not good at all. She looked up at the older person, staring at her. "Is she gonna die?" Because if she was. Grace did not want to be here to watch that at all. She looked from the older student, to the chaos happening in front of her. It was kinda scarrry.

Hope just stayed there staring at face after face. More and more people surrounded her and then there was a friendly face and someone grabbing her hand. She refused to speak, knowing that if she did it would just hurt more. Someone was afraid she was going to die. it sure felt like it and she sure hoped she wouldn't. It was only her first year and she wanted to experience all that life had to offer.

She waited. Where was the healer? How much longer would she have to suffer. Tears fell down her cheeks. "I just want to be normal again." They were softly spoken words and her voice broken slightly, choked by her tears.

Despair no longer! A Ministry Healer had arrived to help! After making quick work of conjuring a stretcher, the injured student is now ready for transport. Perhaps now you should move the student to the Hospital Wing? Surely suffering resting there would be more comfortable than out here on the moving staircase?

Leo looked over his shoulder at the eager badger and nodded approvingly. "Good, good." The older students should take the responsibility of caring for the younger peers especially in these scary times. Not for the first time Leo wondered what was holding Cece up from coming to Hope’s aid.

Leo was about to send his own patronus for Cece when a ministry healer arrived in shiny official uniform and took action. As the stretcher was conjured up and Hope was put on the stretcher Leo said to the healer."I'll lead you to the Hospital Wing." It wouldn't seem right to leave Hope in the hands of an unknown healer even if they no doubt had the same skills and education as Cecelia.



Moving to stand next to the stretcher Leo said in soothing tone as he gazed down at Hope."You'll be fixed in no time dear when we get to the hospital wing. Just bear the pain a few more minutes." Glancing over at Leah he said "Come on Leah, we’re taking Hope to the hospital wing." Leo had heard the short exchange of words between Leah and the older badger but chosen to let them resolve it themselves.

Letting his gaze drift over Alec, Olly, Dora, Nigel, Grace and Fern he said "Thank you for all your help. You can all continue with what you were intending to do. If you want to know how Hope is you can come visit her in the Hospital Wing after dinner. I'm sure she'll be fixed up then." With those words he signalled to the ministry healer and they started to walk out of the staircase area with Hope’s stretcher hovering between them.

"Apology accepted," The Hufflepuff said curtly.

...

She was not going to apologize back, because she had done nothing wrong. If that girl hadn't butted through in the first place, Fern wouldn't have had to get past her.

The 12-year-old's mouth dropped at the Slytherin's question, "Are you stu- I MEAN!" Fern waved her arms quickly, "No! No one's going to die! This is Hogwarts! People don't die at Hogwarts!" ... the arm waving grew more frantic, "Well they do, but! The librarian's here, isn't he? And he knows what to do. So she won't die." There. Fern's arms relaxed. She nodded wisely.

She was just giving the girl another couple pats on the arm, when the librarian spoke to her. Fern looked up from the first year in front of her to give him her most winning, gap-toothed smile before turning to look at Olly, her mouth widening into a grin. Did Olly see? Did she see how the professor complimented Fern? Did she see how cool and mature Fern was? Was she proud of Fern?

Then the healer appeared, and the librarian said, 'Come on Leah,' and Fern had forgotten all about the Slytherin first year she was supposed to be comforting, and was going to say, 'Wait for me!'

But apparently she wasn't invited.

Well. Fern wouldn't be coming to the library anytime soon. Or ever.

Leah turned as Hope spoke again. "You'll be normal again, don't worry. Look, the Healer came." She said consolingly. Help has arrived! It was not Healer Tillstorm, but the girl guessed it was someone she could trust. Leah watched as Hope was carried onto the stretcher. They needed to get going, right now!



Leah nodded as Mr. Kitridge told Hope that she would be alright. She followed him, Hope and the Ministry Healer down the staircase, towards the Hospital Wing. She passed the older girl on her way, but said nothing. She seemed annoyed that she was not invited to go with them.