Eden FINALLY SPOTTED CLARA. Merlin, her heart was in panic for a minute when she couldn't find her. But she stayed closed to Gabe and just squeaked a little when the spiders seemed to charge at them again--she gestured for Clara to come over CLOSER TO HER.

"PROTEGO MAXIMA--" she followed Zander's lead--

Actually, Angel's idea wasn't terrible, and it was literally all they had since...you know, no one had offered to send a patronus into the castle. Eden had her wand POINTED to the sky when...

Oh bless him.

Bless him.

Eden had never wanted to rush forward and hug a professor whilst simultaneously sobbing in his/her arms before, but in that moment...she wanted to. QUIGLEY. Eden just sniffled a little at Quiggles...

"They took her. And they took Noel Wallace. Into the forest." she said juuuuust loud enough for him to hear.

Gabe had just stuffed his notebook back down into his school bag, shouldering it....when he noticed the spiders edging closer; bulldozing at the wavering magical barrier. They were going to break through. They were going to break through and drag every last one of them away...into the forest...to be mauled and snacked on. Spider snacks. That's what they would be. The off-brand kind.

So, could they...stop with the debating and...escape?! Please? Any moment now, really...

...Of course...before they could make much of a move...a two things happened. Gabe, by accident, glanced towards the back corner, on the other side of the charging spiders...and noticed red hair. Specific red hair...but before he could think on it, there was Quigley. Quigley. QUIGLEY.

He swayed on the spot from the absolute relief.
.

.

"....and it's been several minutes....and no, sir." Gabe glanced at Eden, eyes WIDE. WAS THAT CLARA?!..."There's...a girl just there." He was pointing towards the redheaded girl; a fellow Ravenclaw. A Ravenclaw that was Clara. Merlin, his brain hurt.

Adi nodded at Gabe again. Alright, it seemed most of them wanted to stick together and that wasn't a problem for Adi. Right now they needed to get out of here, get the younger ones to safety then get help.

"If anyone thinks they need to re-cast the shield charm at any point in time, DO. IT.'' Some spells had the tendency to weaken after a point in time and this was one of those times they could not afford to let that happen. He himself was going to cast some other charms. "Repello Inimicum! Fianto Duri!'' He really had no idea if he had done these right but if he had, they would have protection that even the spiders could not get through.

Oh, hey! CATMAN TO THE RESCUE! He already had the Superhero like name and here he was to save them. PHEW!

WOAH! Was Gabe swaying? With his free hand, the Hufflepuff reached out towards the Ravenclaw. "You'll be alright, buddy.'' Because it was obvious Gabe was not okay so it was useless to ask if he was. Leaving him and Eden to tell Quigley what had happened, Adi focused on keeping an eye out for more spiders.

Disintegrating as they struck the newly fortified shield thanks to the appearance of a mature (and tantalizing) wizard, what was left of the remaining acromantulas was no more.

No more screeching.

No more pincers clicking.

Just the eerie silence signaling the end of one battle but not the war.

As if this subject couldn't get any WORSE, Caleb could not believe that everything had just...happened. And in the blink of an eye. This whole school year was turning into one big free for all for monsters, it seemed. And now TRUEBRIDGE WAS GONE! Their leader! How on Earth could they do anything without her?! Whenever things had gone wrong, she was the one who always fixed it - but without her, what would they do?

What if she...GULP...died?

Caleb could barely think straight in his panic, but he had been thinking clearly enough to finally cast a protection spell on himself and the few kids nearby. He had never been THAT good at defense spells, sad to say, but he could at least protect himself until help arrived...

Which it did in the form of Professor Maddox just a moment later. Finally! An adult who could do something! Thank goodness he'd gotten here as fast as he had...

"Like she said," he finally piped up into the conversation, finding his voice as he cocked his shoulder at the girl who'd spoken up ever so faintly when Maddox asked what happened. "Headmistress Truebridge was dragged into the forest by the spiders. Along with the Hufflepuff kid," he summed it all up for him. "Right now we're just trying to...well...stop anyone else from getting taken," he explained with a shrug. That seemed like the best explanation at this point - protection spells, headcounts, etc to make sure that no one else ended up as spider chow.

THere had been a lot of them, and well...would they be satisfied with two humans? Surely they'd need more to feast on...WAIT WHAT WAS HE THINKING. NO ONE WAS GETTING EATEN. NOPE. HE REFUSED TO BELIEVE IT. NOT AGAIN.

................. Toby could only stare in abject horror as he watched the acromantulas DISINTEGRATE and DIE. It was awful... AWFUL. He thought the shields would just KEEP THEM AT BAY????? Not do THAT.

It was enough to make him all wibbly. And, in fact, it did. Wibbly and conflicting feelings threatened to engulf him. He didn't know how to make sense of the matter because KILLING THINGS WAS UNNECESSARY, but then... they'd TAKEN Truebridge and Noel! But... Toby still hadn't wanted the spiders to DIE. They could have incapacitated them without doing that. *wibble*

He very belatedly realised that people were talking in the greenhouses. It wasn't until he saw an adult figure in the corner of his eyes that Toby had even thought to look round and pull his earmuffs off. Everything seemed to be dying down now, the spiders were dead gone and Quigley was here to fix everything.

... And also, Toby could go ahead and put Mandy the mandrake, sole survivor of the mandrake massacre of '87, back into a pot. That seemed wise; the mandrake WAS still stunned, but Toby knew his spells sometimes had a habit of randomly wearing off. The entire situation felt bizarre and so so surreal, as the others started talking about what had happened while Toby went right on ahead and repotted his mandrake back into its pot, covering the thing with soil and then casting 'Finite' on it. It felt better to focus on that than on... on anything else. In fact, he was tempted to very aggressively ignore everything else and start tending to the plants instead, making sure they were... okay.

For now, though, Toby turned back to the rest of the group but stayed by his now re-potted mandrake, looking grim and staying resolutely silent.

.

.

NO!

SOMEONE WAS TOUCHING HIM!!! A SPIDER HAD GOTTEN HIM! SOMEONE HELP!

Flailing with a bit too much vigor and enthusiasm, trying to angle his wand, Gabriel whipped his hand around, accidently smacking his fellow prefect in the face...or it had felt like a face. Of course, when he noticed it wasn't a spider that had touched him but.....Adi....the Ravenclaw SQUINTED.

TENSIONS WERE HIGH.

.....He was just going to.....cling to Eden...a bit more. Did he look put through the wringer? Because he FELT put through the wringer.

Abby was dissapointed but thought that the spiders would return she could sense that they were at war over something but not what but what were the school going to do without the headmistress and would any more prisoners be taken by the spiders

Just when she thought things were going their way, the bullies turned into kidnappers. Their little army had been defeated. Maybe defeated wasn't the correct word, but they had failed. The headmistress and Noel was gone. Them being taken into forest wasn't good. With her still having her earmuffs on she didn't know what Dot was going on about, but it looked promising. If AJ had to guess, the young Slytherin wanted to follow, and AJ was all about that life.

Nobody was letting her though. There was always somebody there to spoil the fun. What was everybody saying?No way was she going to take off her earmuffs and get taken out by a mandrake. It was complete chaos. While some of the spiders were definitely getting creamed, there were still more. Spells were flying, and AJ was randomly throwing at spells herself. Some were probably even made up.

It looked like the prefects were trying to formulate a plan but she was more interested in not being a spidey snack. Then Quigley showed up. They were saved. Please let him be down with a search and rescue mission where they would all be able to participate. Finally, she took her earmuffs off. "Soooo... are we going to show those spiders why they don't come in our house and snatch our people?"

Angel was nervous about this whole situation, what did this mean for the school, who was in charge now that the Headmistress was well she was being held prisoner... also she wanted to know what was going on with the spiders, first it was a student last term and now this, Angel really wanted to crawl and hide behind the Professor but she knew she couldn't be a coward it was very important that.

She was still trying to come to terms with it all but at least the cool charms professor was here. "Professor want me to go and get help?" Angel would take on an army of spiders to get some help. "I'm a fast runner." Angel didn't mind going through the spiders as well, if it was needed.

Oh, a professor was there! Yay. Dot didn't even feel bad as she threw her arms around him and held on tightly. Thank Merlin thank Merlin thank Merlin. It was all going to be okay now.

"Professor, we fought them off with our bare hands and wands and mandrakes! And then they still took the Headmistress. I tried to follow, but the sensible Ravenclaws said we couldn't go into the Forbidden Forest after them. But now you're here, so let's go, please. Can I ride on your back on account of the age line? What if they're eating Noel RIGHT NOW? We can't delay."

One moment they were on their own, the next Quigley appeared, and thanks to HIS help, the acromantulas disintegrated. Beverly was quite sure they wouldn't have made it out seeing as there were only a few working together to keep the shield up.

Lowering her wand arm, but not her guard, Beverly breathed in a shaky breath then let it out slowly. Her hands were trembling, she hid it by clutching to her Aspen wand.

"Professor." She watched her step as she approached the man. "Professor Quigley. This was too organized of a plan. They might come back." They didn't seem satisfied she was going to add, but well, she might sound like a loony so she kept that to herself.

She shot a scowl at the Slytherin clinging to the man. If she tried to go into the Forbidden Forest Beverly wouldn't think twice, and she wouldn't regret casting on the girl. It'd be for her own safety.

HooooooOOOOOOOollly Merlin!

Zhenya was absolutely terrified. TERRIFIED. She was terrified of spiders, and here they were; ACROMANTULAS in the Herbology Greenhouses. OH MERLIN. Zhenya's skipping attitude completely disappeared, replaced with a terrified shock. Like petrification. Ugh.

And now they had no headmistress, and a student had been taken. How unfortunate. Zhenya listened as some of the Prefects and other students started telling Professor Quigley about what happened. She was so relieved when she saw him, she almost cried. He would know what to do... it seemed silent, like there were no more acromantulas there, but they might be back...

Every muscle in his body remained tense until the last of the acromantulas was taken out. Then and only then did he turn his attention once again to the students he was now left in charge of. Even while he listened, he tried to pick up any other sounds in the event there was a second hoard heading towards them from a different end.

With all the scents waffing through the Greenhouse it was near impossible for him to do his own checks, leaving him to listen to the accounts being offered.

His eyes steadily widened. Annie was gone. So was Mister Wallace. There was another girl. They wanted to GO IN AFTER THEM??? Something about a ride on his back and age lines. The Charms Professor stepped wide once the Ravenclaw Prefect began flailing before his attention was snatched by a certain Gryffindor.

"Oh yes, Miss Valentine and while we're at it, we can teach them how easily we die." Maddox enjoyed the bravery that existed in his former house but NOT when there seemed to be some organized hit on Hogwarts. His gaze lingered a moment on Dot...who was now attached firmly to him before glancing over everyone else. "You....can have a ride if you want but let me make this clear, no one is going into the forest after those things. The current plan of action is to quickly make our way back to the Great Hall as is the protocol set up for this situation. No matter what you see, don't stop moving." So no, Angel, it won't be necessary to run off looking for help. "Everyone stay close to each other, no loud noises--NO ONE FALL BEHIND." He would be in the rear to ensure nothing followed and to keep the stragglers going.

"Prefects, I need you closer to the front of the group, keep your eyes peeled, do not engage any creatures you see unless noticed. We're not trying to draw attention to ourselves. Through the hole in the wall quickly. I want lively steps if you wanna live."

Pause. "Where's the other girl?"

EEEEEP! It had been a mistake reaching for Gabe to reassure him! Look at him flail there, yo! And then.. SMACK! Adi got a faceful of Gabe's hand. "Ouch!'' Rubbing his cheek, the Hufflepuff surveyed his friend. Okay, you're forgiven, Gabe, since this situation has got everyone jumpy.

But it was all so silent now... was this the calm before the storm?

His eyes snapped to AJ whom he was standing close by to. Naturally she wanted to sow the spiders who was boss. Adi was not being the over protective boyfriend today. Nope, though he was looking out for her. Of course he was, just as he was watching out for the others.

Alrightey, so they needed to head to the Great Hall and they ALL needed to get there in one piece. Trusting that everyone would be looking out for each other, Adi move away from AJ after squeezing her hand briefly to head to the front as directed by Quigley. No taking on the spiders unless the group was made. Got it! He hastily made his way through the hole in the wall, keeping his wand at the ready and making sure his part of the Shield Charm was still active by casting it again.

There was PROTOCOL for this? Had this happened before? Caleb had a few questions about that, but knew that now was not the time. Quigley had his own problems to take care of, especially since AJ had a death wish and wanted to go AFTER them. Really?! Had no one learned ANYTHING from last term and Gregoire? GAHHH. Thank goodness he wasn't or prefect.

"You heard the man," he said loudly to the group before beckoning for the kiddos to follow and taking off through the hole, headed towards the Great Hall.

All of this. It was exhausting. Mentally mostly. One moment she was busting her head over mandrakes, then next thing she was fighting to stay alive - or at least not get dragged away. Beverly didn't think of it as over. If she did her body and mind would relax and she couldn't let her guard down. Especially not when Quigley instructed the Prefects to take the front.

Alert and maybe even a bit jumpy, Beverly took the front, instructing a few of the stragglers to follow and to be quiet.

What if there was another ambush waiting for them?

What if they were the last ones in the castle?

Her eyes drifted in the direction of the gates. It was a tempting idea but...she unfortunately wasn't a wimp. So the Great Hall it was.

"You can't get into the forest if you're a student anyway, even without the age line," Toby had finally spoken up to point out. "There's another barrier."

Because they'd tried. Not in a hooligan kind of way, but in an 'omg a Hippogriff ran into the Forest and we're chasing after it with professors' kind of way, but Toby didn't point out that part, because really he'd rather just stop talking again. But yeah... that thought had just occurred to him, and the Hufflepuff thought it prudent to share that he knew from EXPERIENCE that the forest was literally no-go. Hopefully that meant that Noel couldn't have been carried through, but... somehow Toby thought that maybe the acromantulas had a weird sort of magic that countered it. Maybe? Hopefully not, though.

... But maybe.

Anyway. Toby had taken to hugging his potted mandrake close to his chest, unwilling to let it go again. It was a lot easier to focus on the mandrake than thoughts of the attacking spiders, but it seemed he wouldn't be allowed that luxury for long, as it was time to move out.

Toby hesitated, unwilling to really go anywhere but knowing there would be no arguments. He wanted to bring the mandrake with him, keep it safe and everything, but there was a chance that it would break out of its pot and thus accidentally kinda sorta murder everyone with its lungs of doom, so... maybe not. Toby didn't want to endanger anyone else. BUT he was still keeping the mandrake SAFE, sooooo when Quigley was finishing up his instructions, Toby ducked away and quickly went to hide the mandrake in a concealed spot in the greenhouse (in case the acromantulas came BACK), dumping some more soil into the pot to keep it nice and secure in there. "I'll come check on you when it's all over," he whispered to the plant, then hurried back to the rest of the group, in time for them to all set off through the hole in the wall.

Right. Yes. Okay. Following.

Abby listened to what Professor Quigley and followed the rest of the group and went through the hole in the wall quickly and hoped that this would not be the end of Hogwarts

Thinking was something that just wasn't happening for Clara. Knowing what to do in this situation and actually being able to do it were two very different things, and her instincts were kicking in. One second she was somewhat strong, and the next she could feel the familiar tightening in her chest, along with her palms getting sweatier.

Not now. Please, not now...

She was aware of a louder voice - perhaps a teacher? - but she couldn't make any move towards it or even indicate her position. Eden had seen her, she was sure. Hopefully that was enough.

Now, her breaths were coming in short, staggered intervals.

Her eyes were starting to get droopy...

Clara made one last ditch effort to propel herself towards the group, but they were too far away, and she ended up tripping on a shattered plant pot, leaving a long cut along her arm. She prayed someone had seen her, because she wasn't going to be able to move from this spot alone. Her body was going into shock, it seemed...not that she was mentally aware of that. She was barely aware of the breaths entering and leaving her body.... Soon enough...she wasn't aware of anything at all.

Brian was pretty much paralysed with shock, even his screams dying in his throat as the spiders appeared. HUGE MAN-EATING SPIDERS. There was no way he could tell his ma about this or she'd insist on putting him back into muggle school and have all these wizarding folk sod themselves. Nope. He wanted to learn, and he was already pretty defenseless. He knew his spellwork was sub-par at best and negligible at worst, so he kinda stuck to the back of the class like he usually did.



He was about to crawl under a random thing and hide when he heard a pot shatter. How he heard that in the din was beyond him, but he turned around quickly enough to get whiplash and saw a familiar-looking Ravenclaw redhead. Oh lord, it was CLARA. He knew Clara. Clara was as tough as nails- except apparently not at the moment. At the moment? She looked pretty broken and was that BLOOD on her arm? Scurrying over, he sat next to her and tried to figure out if he should wash that large, ugly gash on her arm or wake her up first. Or maybe wait for reinforcements?

His hands found his wand and handkerchief before he even had time to really think about it. Looked like he'd be washing it, which was probably a good idea seeing as she'd tripped over a pot full of soil and who knew what could have gotten into that cut? "Aguamenti," he said, and even though he could barely hear anything over the sound of feet, used the feeble trickle of water from his wand to try cleaning up his friend's wound. And poke her every now and then. "Wake uuuuup, Claraaaa." Please wake up. Enough people were down as it was. Wake up, wake up, wake up.

Sooo... was that a no? It sounded a lot like sarcasm, and all AJ was trying to do was avenge her headmistress and fellow classmate. It wasn't looking like she was going to get her way though. "Alright..." She was totally bummed out, but maybe they were going to formulate a plan and then they would attack. She was hopeful.

Ugh. No babysitter for her please. AJ followed out behind the prefects and kept an eye on Adi. She didn't want anybody to get hurt, but him especially. Off to plan a spidey attack. At least that was what she was off to do.

Samuel was trying to pau attention to the lesson. Then he heard something about spidees....coool. He loved Spidees. He turned to pay attention to the spidees insread. Probably regreting it later. Oh! They were moving! He got up and followed the rest of the group.