Uh oh.

The mandrakes seem to work for a minute or two but then the spiders were after the humans again. And they were going after Noel and Truebridge! Gabe seemed to be handling helping the Hufflepuff so Adi hastily went to assist Toby with their beloved Headmistress.

"INCEENDIO!'' He was careful to aim for one of the spiders and not Truebridge. Didn't want to burn her, did he? ''Diminuendo!'' he exclaimed pointing his wand at another one. Maybe if they could shrink them...

Grabbing up her quill Hady quickly took down all that was being said in her fine neat handwriting making sure she didn't miss anything. Pushing the parchment and quill aside she then pulled on her dragonhide gloves making sure they were nice and snug around her fingers and wrists. Perfect.

Next came her earmuffs which she snapped down tightly over her ears once she had them set onto her head. And she was ready to go. Wand in hand she pulled her potted Mandrake closer to her and was just gripping him tightly by the top of his rotted head area when there was suddenly glass everywhere!

Whipping around Hady instantly saw the cause and very much nearly froze. SHE FROZE!

The third year didn't know what to do but she knew standing there wouldn't help a thing. Everyone was yelling as the spiders crept through the hole in the greenhouse and towards them. Before she knew it mandrakes were sailing through the air at the spiders. Did that work on them?

She sure hoped so! She'd been bitten already by the much smaller baby spiders and she could very much recall the painful itchy rash and bites that made her sick right away. These though...these were bigger. A lot bigger...

Shaking her head quickly and pushing her immediant fear aside the brunette followed the Headmistress' lead and yanked her mandrake up from his pot and threw him with as much force as she could towards the nearest spiders. Where the heck was her bestie when she needed someone that wouldn't panic over this to help her along... They had been an awesome team a few terms ago working with the spiders. SIGH.

Holy. Mother. Of. Dragons.

She almost laughed at how doomed they all seemed. See. If they got out the acromantulas would chase after them. They were probably faster with their giant eight legs. They probably had more reinforcements. So really. They were sort of doomed unless they didn't get wizard reinforcements themselves.

And they were going after the Headmistress and a Hufflepuff. Always the Hufflepuff. Seeing as Gabriel was handling the Puffer situation, Beverly stayed near the Headmistress, a mandrake in her arms. The acromantulas were clever and were destroying them. There was NO way she was getting rid of the last few. She was keeping this one as a repellent and shield.

"Scream louder, you! Scream!" She shook the mandrake as if that would make it's cry louder. If it did, she wouldn't have known.

Moving quickly, Beverly started casting in the direction of the spiders. MERLIN. She loved a good fight! Aha! "Stupefy...Stupefy!" Did she get any? "Stupefy!"

It was hard to decipher what spells were hitting and what were not in the fray, but it was becoming clear that the number of acromantulas was dwindling. Just not at a very fast rate.

The initial pair of acromantula on the attack for the two humans (BanaBatGirl and Samia) and already fallen, but were quickly replaced by others to fulfill their cause. And fulfill they did. Wrapping their big hairy tree trunk legs around the human, the pair of acromantula lifted them high above their ugly black heads and let out a loud screech.

A screech that was echoed by the remaining arachnid.

Two humans in their clutches, the acromantula scurried through the fray. Despite being hit by a few spells, their abdomens smoking, their resolve was too strong to please Mother. Bursting forth from the greenhouse, they moved a quickly as their 8 limbs could carry them towards the Forbidden Forest...

Abby was shocked as she saw the spiders run off towards the forbidden forest with the Headmistress and another student what were they going to do and was Hogwarts going to let the spiders get away with it she wanted to chase after the spiders but she knew that it would have been far too dangerous she looked about at her fellow students not sure what to do next

It was no use.

In the last few seconds, all Kate could do was squeeze her eyes shut and hope a miracle happened. It didn't.

Well, it DID, but only because she and most of the students in the class were saved. Sort of. There was still an army of Acromantula after them. On the other hand, the Headmistress and a Hufflepuff were kidnapped and taken away. If Kate could find her voice, she might be able to yell at them or chase after them. She could do neither, though.

When everything was said and done, Kate decided she needed to make a grand escape and get a professor PRONTO. With wide eyes and maybe a few tears, she edged toward the entrance and crawled out. When she was outside the greenhouses, she made a run for it, en route to find the first adult she set her eyes on.

Marsha liked animals. Loved them, almost more than her family - almost… but even she had to admit that acromantuala’s were scary. She was dwarfed by their sheer size and she didn’t know ANY spells that would help combat them. So instead she had run around the greenhouse, colloecting as many pots as she could - taking them to the older students and the Headmistress who were throwing them as fast as they could towards the…. THINGS.

Griffins and Dragons and Hippogriffs were NOTHING like these things… Maybe it was the eyes and the pinchers and the hair legs? Marsha didn’t know, but she thought that MAYBE, just maybe she had found the first creature that she wouldn’t like to have one-to-one time with… and maybe right now, that was a VERY good thing.

AKA, stay away… please? She was only little - hardly worth sacrificing… promise.

Eden's spell was futile. She watched in dissatisfaction and fear as another spider came to claim Bunz...and the Hufflepuff, Noel. With wide eyes, she glanced over at Gabe and took his hand, comfortingly. It looked like the spiders were leaving...

"Gabe...we need to get everyone in the castle...and we need to go find Professor Botros..." she said softly. She felt out of place bossing her peers around, so she would let Gabriel do that.

But she did not let go of his hand.

Her face was blank, and she looked...traumatized. Sure, she disliked Truebridge...but she had never wished the woman dead...she would never have...wanted that.

But her heart was sinking as she thought of the redheaded headmistress being carried into the forest. And Noel....poor Noel Wallace....she sniffled and quickly wiped her right eye with her arm.

What were NEWTs, again? Tests? Really?

Wait, NO. All their fighting, and the stupid spider thingies had managed to snag the Headmistress AND a Hufflepuff (it was always a Hufflepuff). Dot wasn't even scared anymore. Now she was just LIVID. She'd gotten dirty and killed her mandrake and the acromantulas had won the battle.

But not the war!

"FOLLOW THOSE BEASTIES AND TAKE BACK OUR OWN!" She raised her fists into the air and shook them menacingly in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. And at the prefects who were probably going to start bossing her soon.

She was going after her fellow ginger, thank you. Dot started climbing over debris toward the door.

..... So uh.... Could he panic now.... Or?

YES MOST DEFINITELY PANICKING NOW, THANKS. With or without permission.

Zander looked around the greenhouse with WIDE EYES. So basically their Headmistress was gone and so was any sign of hope. And it was basically ALL his fault on account of the whole acromantula thing!!! Uh, sorry Hogwarts. Didn't mean for it to go this far.... Maybe if he just wrote the spiders a giant apology or something... Nah. Who did he think he was!? A Ravenclaw? PFT.

As if.

So uh, what were they supposed to do now? Run to the prefects or something?

Oh wait. He is a prefect. Oh. Well talk about a game changer...

"OI, our spells aren't doing much! We've got to get everyone back to the safety of the castle!!" There was a lot of yelling. Ahem. Actually, these blasted earmuffs would make this a lot harder than that.... Uh. COULD ANYONE EVEN HERE HIM???? Read lips maybe??? Uh. Talk about communication issues, right?

Pointing? Would that be a bad thing? Did the spiders understand sign language??? ZANDER WAS NOT TRAINED FOR THIS! NOT OUR DIVISION.

Instead the Gryffindor opted to point his wand forward, casting a bunch of "Stupefy!" spells as he went. Then he turned to the students nearest him and pointed sneakily towards an exit. This not being able to communicate thing was hard... SOMEONE NEEDS TO TELL A PROFESSOR!!! And Zander couldn't just leave everyone here. WHAT WERE THEY SUPPOSED TO DO? "STUPEFY!!"

Zander was kind of in shock here, people. UH. So he did the only thing he could think of.... PROTECT THE ICKLES!!! So uhum yes, Zander Adair coming through and standing in front of all the short people. Motioning them towards an escape. OI, STUPID SPIDERS!! Gotta get through this idiot before you can eat the tiny tots! Also uh, someone was going to get help, right? Because Zander wasn't sure how long he's be able to hold them off...

.

.

Okay, Eden McGee was clutching his hand...and Gabe didn't even bat an eye at the odd contact. Something was needed to anchor him to the spot because seeing their Headmistress and classmate being viciously dragged away was.........Well......it.....it was.......

His brain was in such a jumbled, frantic state that he couldn't even produce the right word.

There was crippling frustration, too...as tears began leaking down his face. He wasn't equipped to deal with this sort of thing. Not physically or emotionally...but he needed to pull it together. Eden was looking at him almost expectantly...like he was going to...be levelheaded in the moment. He'd have laughed at her were they not about to be slaughtered.

"We need to...get to the Professors with...with astute defensive knowledge." It came out breathless and disbelieving...because he couldn't BELIEVE they were dealing with THIS, of all things. "Botros, yes....but....Dakest, too....and Culloden."

.

.

TRANSFERRING TO HOGWARTS HAD BEEN THE WORST THING TO EVER HAPPEN...IN THE HISTORY OF ALL HIS HAPPENINGS.

Clinging to Eden's hand still, squeezing...and probably hurting it (sorry, Eden), he glanced around. Zander...was right. They needed to get back to the castle. They needed to fortify a base...regroup...come up with a strategy...a plan...."Zander's r-right." HE WOULD NEVER SAY THAT AGAIN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH...Merlin, he took a moment to BREATH. "We should move with...shield spells and...patronuses ready, maybe." Whoever could cast them. "We...need help."

....and what....was Dot doing?!?!?!?! COULD HE CAST AGAINST A FELLOW STUDENT NOW?! You know, Stun and levitate her back to the castle?! Yea, Gabe adored Dot but he was NOT following her into the forbidden forest. He was NOT going in there again. "Dot....there's an age line. You wouldn't get through into the forest, anyway." Blinking as his logic broke through, he continued. "Let's...seek out reinforcements." Professors, essentially...and their peers who were legally adults...with hero complexes.

Sans himself.

Eden didn't bat an eyelash. As soon as Dot broke rank to race after the eight-legged monsters, she lunged forward to grab the girl's wrist--sharply--letting go of Gabriel for a minute.

"DOT. NO. STOP IT!" she shrieked, not wanting ANY of the students to race to their IMINENT DEATHS, CLEARLY.

Breathing heavily, she nodded at Zander, who was, after all, a prefect as well.

"ZANDER--" she didn't think his...stunning spells were doing much. "Gabe--has a point--We need to get back to the castle--we need everyone to go as quickly as possible--and with shield spells...and anyone who can cast any patronuses..." she glanced at her fellow 'Claw.

"...Do you need me to run to fetch someone? Botros? Dakest? Who's closest?" she asked softly. "'I'm...I run every morning--I'm fast--"

Her mind was absolutely racing. Her hand was throbbing from Gabe's grasp, and she wanted to hug Zander because he looked so...forlorn. "I do NOT think we should stay put--" that was VERY clear.

Ravenclaws were TOTAL bummers. Dot didn't even make it three steps before Eden was hauling her back and Gabe was blustering at her. BLUSTERING. She tried to wiggle her wrist free from Eden's grip, but girlfriend must be doing some of those hand exercises. She was strong.

"Send a patronus. It's faster than a person. And it isn't any safer in the castle, I think. Did you see how easy it was to bust down those greenhouse walls? We need to go to the FOREST. I can ride on Gabe's BACK."

It was a very, VERY good thing that they were in such a mess now because there wasn't actually any time to panic. Wait. No. That was wrong. It was a very, VERY BAD thing that they were in such a big mess right now. But, apparently Zander was working well under pressure because Eden and Gabe were totally agreeing with him and they were Ravenclaws!!!

Well uh, at least it LOOKED like they were agreeing with him. To be quite honest, Zander couldn't hear a thing because of these blasted earmuffs. And he couldn't just take them off because there were still plenty of screaming mandrakes on the loose.

AND they were talking so quickly that this lip reading thing wasn't going over too well, either.... PLEASE SLOW DOWN THANKS.

So uh... He got uh... Something about a patronus which Zander couldn't do yet so no. Something about a shield??? And something about an egg and cheese sandwich, though that sounded like a really good lunch, what did it have to do with spiders??? Did they like egg and cheese maybe? Huh. Interesting.

Not sure where he could get the egg and cheese from... But shields? He could do that. No problem. "Protego!!" He held out his wand. Man. It's a good thing he didn't drop DADA. "PROTEGO MAXIMA!!" The point here being to protect all of those behind him so that everyone could climb through and get themselves OUT OF THIS DEATH TRAP!!!

KIDNAPPERS!

Beverly threw her last mandrake like a football after the acromantulas that took the Headmistress and the Puffer boy. Firing spells back and forth...that wasn't going to work. They were going to stay stuck here with the amount of arachnids that replaced the fallen ones.

Beverly's eyebrows rose dangerously too high up her forehead as DOT almost ran after the kidnappers. This batch of Slytherin were honestly not the brightest. Thank Merlin this was last term. She wanted out, and it wasn't because of the spiders.

"No ONE is going to the Forest!" Beverly snapped, shooting a scowl at the younger snake. Did she NOT hear about what happened to Gregoire last term? No Snake was going to get hurt on her watch.

She didn't have time to explain the why's and don'ts, Zander was already working on the shields. "Good start, Adair!" Beverly shouted (she still had her earmuffs). She joined him, casting Protego Maxima to join with his, creating an even larger shield. Who knew it was the Gryffindors with the ideas now.

"Everyone huddle together so we can create a shield big enough and get out of here!" Like the Romans. Testudo formation!

"BEVERLY'S RIGHT!" Adi shouted over all the voices as he moved to stand next to the Slytherin. Sorry but he needed to get his own thoughts in after what had just happened. "Besides... there's an age line as was mentioned earlier by Gabe.'' The Hufflepuff and Beverly had recently encountered that line.

"Good idea, Zander,'' he praised his friend. "When we get to the Castle we should split up into groups to get help just in case there are spiders there.'' At that point, anything was possible. "The younger ones, I know they think they can help but I think it's best they get back to their common rooms.'' Sorry, kiddos.

Now, Adi raised his wand to join in the Shield Charm casting. ''Protego Maxima!''

.

.

.....uh. Eden didn't need to look at HIM like that. Gabriel still couldn't...cast a corporeal patronus...and he'd TRIED; had been trying in the privacy of his dorm ever since that Defense lesson. LUCKILY (or UNluckily), due to the commotion and emotional stress of the current situation, Gabe didn't feel his usual failure and embarrassment...but...

Erm.

"I don't think......we should split up." He'd seen enough muggle horror films to know that when people started doing that, people died...in some pretty gruesome ways, too. It was like saying, 'I'll be right back' in Scream...THOSE SPIDERS WOULD PICK THEM OFF ONE BY ONE! Pausing, Gabe tried to calm the hysteria that was building in his chest. He couldn't have been happier that this was his final term here. AT THIS DANGEROUS PLACE. His nerves just couldn't take the stress, anymore. "We'll...go to-together." THERE WAS ANOTHER PAUSE, AS HE SWALLOWED THICKLY. ".........Protection spells and anything else....we can....can think of."

Wait. Was Beverly saying something?....and Adi? There was too much commotion and mandrake screaming for Gabe to make out anything they were shouting...See, Eden, Zander, and Dot were CLOSE; their shouting broke through a bit...but...Oh...they were gesturing towards the door. A COMMON GOAL, THEN.

.

.

...and no, Dot, you are NOT riding on our back. >.>....

Okay, so Gabe didn't want to split up. Adi could understand that. But splitting up could work as both as an advantage and a disadvantage to them. Nodding at Gabe, he asked the others, especially the Prefects. "What do you guys think? Splitting up could help us get help faster but at the same time it would be best to stick together.''

Adi continued moving with the group towards the door, still concentrating on holding the Shield Charm while keeping an eye out for more spiders. ''Everyone, keep a look out for anymore of them.'' The students knew what he meant.

Eden stayed suuuuuper close to Gabe and met his gaze. "All together? All of us? Or me and you?" she sighed and glanced around at the group.

"Can...anyone produce a patronus to send to a professor?" she asked, waving her wand and producing yet another shield. There was a lot of confusion..Adi and Beverly spoke up, finally, and Eden felt like the prefects were just as frazzled as she was.

Cue more hand grabbing for Gabe....from Eden. "Don't leave me--" she said softly, her blue eyes wide. She didn't know why, but she didn't much fancy being separated from Gabe right now...it was weird, confused her, and she wasn't sure why she trusted him of all the people in the Greenhouse with them right now.

Adi. Eden glanced at him. "We absolutely cannot afford to split up. We need to get everyone back in the castle and get help now--" her voice was growing higher in pitch, and sharper, too. "Anyone who can perform a patronus, please do so-----WE HAVE TO GET INTO THE CASTLE, AND WATCH OUT FOR SPIDERS, Like Adi said--SHIELD CHARMS, PATRONUSES ANYTHING YOU CAN MANAGE--if we stick together as a group, we got this--"

Eden would not enjoy being a prefect. This felt weird. Telling people what to do? Ew ew ew. Eden was better suited to slink in the shadows and...yeah.

Gabe had moved a bit closer (pulling Eden along)...since Adi was trying to communicate something to him; his feet and legs stiff, yet trembling, with each step. He'd missed most of the dialogue...but understood 'splitting up' and 'faster'...There was Ravenclaw reasoning at work here. It might've been faster...but not safer. That was the....the goal, right? To get EVERYONE back safely...

"It'll be....be easier to guard a central target...than several smaller ones. More wands, more magic...more protection for.....for each individual unit." Shout!talking seemed to be...be helping with the anxiety somewhat, even if he still felt dizzy with fear and disbelief.

.

.

...And, yes, essentially everything Eden had JUST said.

Leaning into his housemate's space, so she didn't miss what he was trying to say, Gabriel nodded; also very confused about the sudden respect he felt for someone he'd simply tolerated not five hours ago. "...O-ok-...okay." The stuttering and broken speech were embarrassing additions but, once again, there were far too many things going on to recognize that particular feeling. And fear was much stronger, anyway. More consuming. More real.

In response, he gripped her hand a bit tighter (almost like it was a lifeline), wand clutched in the other. Maybe she could make him strong enough to...fight back?

OMG. ALSO....

"Accio schoolbag! Accio Herbology notes!"

Few acromantulas remained now in this particular group, and no mandrake left intact that had been uprooted, but those that did come round about back into the greenhouse continued to throw themselves towards the humans.

The shield spell was impressive, enough to make the first arachnid disintegrate on the spot from the collaborative will powers of the youthful casters, but it was apparent that it would not keep the acromantulas out for much longer. Not without more mature wizarding blood.

With each one that charged forward, it got that much closer to scurrying all the way through the enchantment.

WRONG SIDE OF THE GREENHOUSE.

Clara was on the wrong side of the freakin' greenhouse.

One minute everything was fine and dandy, and now mandrakes were dead -- pretty much all of them .... and ... and ... what ..... what was even going on!?? Due to being one of the last to get to class, places to choose from were limited and she was no where near Eden or Gabriel ... she couldn't easily reach them. Instead, she'd been backed up against the side of the greenhouse, slowing inching her way into a corner, with no idea whether she was in less trouble or more trouble than her friends. She was on her own.

She tried to keep her head clear - though, that was proving to be incredibly difficult - and kept reminding herself of her own future. In the line of work she wanted to go into, she would definitely be in danger for some of the time, and this was just .... this was just p-practise.

Wand raised, she tried to make herself seem as big as possible. They hadn't noticed her yet, it seemed, and were more focused on the larger group...... Not that that held any comfort for her...

Come on, Wilde. Think...

Angel was scared, she was very scared about the whole situation and now the Professor had gone.

Angel looked around at everyone she liked Adi's suggestion of staying together, she did not want to be on her own now, though what was going to happen with the Herbology lesson, she had been looking forwards to it and now these spiders had ruined it, how unfair was that.

Angel wondered if to try and escape through the greenhouse whilst everyone else was trying to keep them at bay, she had no idea if anyone knew how to sent a patronus.

"We could send up some sort of signal into the sky, like a few spells shot maybe the groundkeeper could see?" Angel continued to stay with the group for now, she was very scared about the situation.

Toby was still just stood there, now with a suspicious looking stunned-mandrake-shaped lump right there under his school shirt. At some point during the chaos, he'd found the time to, uh, rescue it.

Now it just needed to stay stunned so that nobody accidentally died, but really that was the LEAST of everyone's problems. Well... it was sort of on par with the problems, seeing as it was a kind of mortal peril thing. But the Acromantulas were more of an immediate problem. As they were still running at them aND HAD ALREADY DONE A KIDNAP.

"Impedimenta!" Toby cast at the spiders, not able to hear the other students talking and yelling as he STILL HAD HIS EARMUFFS ON. Of course. With screaming mandrakes flying through the air, it had seemed a good idea to keep them on. Invincible or not, they would be loud.

Anyway. Right. STILL SPIDERS TO DEAL WITH. Then he could go chase after the spiders, presumably to the forest. GOOD PLAN.

(Awful plan.)

SPIDERS FIRST.

"PROTEGO!"

The grounds were unusually quiet today, even for a day when there were classes going on. It was the eerie kind of silence that left an unsettled feeling in the man who'd gone off for a walk hours ago. Even more unsettling was the commotion he heard coming from the Greenhouses.

If he remembered correctly...it wasn't...explosions on the agenda for today, just mandrakes. Those...those didn't sound like THAT.

Heading that way, Maddox was forced to pull back when he saw a hoard of acromantulas darting away. Even more unsettling was another set trying to get IN.

WHAT THE KNEAZLE WAS GOING ON???

The man shrunk into the form of a cat, going for stealth as he bolted over. What he saw was a massacre....a right awful massacre and another set rushing in and getting taken out....Going through the front was out of the question but a quick perimetre search brought him to the hole he assumed they'd first crashed in from. On this side he got a better idea of what exactly he'd just run into. "Whoa..." Now stretched back into the form of a man he could see over most heads and over at the spoils of a battle he apparently crashed.

Snapping out of the initial shock, Maddox forced his way to the front of the group to reinforce what looked like a fading shield. "Is this everyone? Where's the Headmistress?" Status report PLEASE?