"I SAW! 'Twas the loud Gryffindor girl that disappeared, just over there!" CRAZY STUFF! But the again, that was Hogwarst; Matt was getting used to it. At his friend's next remark, Matt LAAAUGHED out loud. "How funny would it be, though, if EVERYONE went poof? Like, would we start Hogwarts again wherever we go to?" Where would that even BE? Matt was now curious. "I wonder where she went. Do you think we could go look for her?"

"IT WAS! I thought she'd broken you." HAHA. There went Matt laughing like crazy at Chewie's comments. "Took it like a FLYING man." Whichhhhh was pretty cool, Matt had to admit. Flying was cool.

He wanted to duel! "YEEEEEEEEEEES!!!" The Gryffindor raised both fists up for EMPHASIS. He soon brought them down and deadpanned at Tenacius. He hadn't thought of that. One of them had to be the good guy and the other one would be the bad guy, otherwise it wouldn't make SENSE. Good guys didn't fight good guys. "HUH. Um. I dunno, mate, all I know is that I'm a Jedi. I mean, Auror. Both, really." HEH. As you do.

...

"EN GARDE!" The second year leaped back as he held his wand up towards his friend.

............

Okay, she wasnt fooled. Char was gone. Disappeared.
And Az saw it too.

Noelle felt Az move closer to her and didnt hesitate to press her shoulder against hers. Comfort. Safe. Okay... so now what?? Oh right.. partners.

Yes, partners please. But like... where did Char go?" Noelle asked Az and then moved a little forward bringing Az with. No way was she going near where Char had disappeared without back up. They could get to the partnering stuff soon. First, she needed to see what had taken Char.

It was the Gryffindor in her.

"Stay with me?" Noelle said to Az as she inched closer to where Char had been taken. She called out Char's name a few times for good measure. 'Char? Are you here?" Answer!.....

Okay.. Good so Azura wasn't seeing things.. Char HAD disappeared.. Which was good that they weren't crazy..

But bad that their schoolmate was now seemingly gone.

Azura was grateful for the shoulder press as she kept close to Noelle, her purple eyes scanning the room as she held her wand out in front of her.. Already she wasn't liking this.. Her heart was pounding in her chest.. Was this what it was like to be an Auror?

The Raven Haired teen knew that this wasn't for her..it seemed like any moment something could pop up at them and Az would have to run or fight.. Run.. she couldn't do.. Fight.. maybe..

"I don't know.. She was there.. and then she.. wasn't" Azura replied as they crept forward and she bit her lip a little.. Magic maybe?

"I'm not leaving your side." Az replied with a nod.. No way was she leaving Noelle.. A. because she wanted her best friend to be safe.. B. Because well..

She was terrified to be alone..

Heh.. She was NOT a Gryffindor..

She listened as Noelle called out for Charlotte.. hoping to hear something..

Awesome!

Esme always liked working with Hady because they were such good friends and bonded over animals and other cool things. This was going to be so much fun even though the thought of maybe falling into a hole wasn't very nice. She would play to her surroundings and they would both make it out of this non-duel in one piece! Not like the Professor would let anything bad happen to his students... He would be in big trouble with the Healer otherwise!

Anyway...

"Do you want to go offence and I go defense?" Or they could start the other way around. "I mean I'm not - WHOA! Did you see what happened to Charlotte?!" One second she was there and the other she... wasn't.

Yeeeeeeah, Esme was officially weirded out.

What if everybody goes poof? That didn’t even occur to Tenacius. "Maybe? But we are in Hogwarts, we'd likely end up somewhere else!" That was both exciting and alarming to him.

"Nothing can break me! RAAWWRR!!" he puffed his chest up so much and held his breath he suddenly FARTED. And with that collapsed in a heap of laughter.

Whoah wait En Garde? "Eyyy waitaminute this is my hiding place…." he started, looking at the end of of Matt's engaged wand. Uhm uhm what to do what to do? En Garde too eh? "En---GORGIO!" he suddenly cast the spell on that dilapidated window pane next to them, which hung pathetically between himself and Matt. It wouldve grown into an obscene size, enough to block each other's line of sight for a moment….

…….a moment long enough for him to scamper out of Matt's wand range.

Working with Esme would be good. She knew that the younger girl would no doubt give her all and that's all Hady really could ask for in a partner. It wasn't about working with someone on her level all the time, sure that was good to keep her skills sharp and make her think but the younger ones could be feisty too. Just so whoever she partnered with tried and her friend would do that.

"Sure, I can handle that." Offense wasn't a problem for her. If they had time they could always switch after a few minutes. As long as neither of them got injured there wouldn't be any problems. "Huh? What happened t-" Hady asked turning to look over her shoulder where her friend was looking. She hadn't seen Charlotte disappear. "I don't know but lets get going before anything else goes weird on us." Hady grinned walking off towards the building and ducking inside to find some cover away from everyone else her wand held firmly at the ready in her hand.

Noelle wracked her brain and held her wand up. She didn't see Char but that didn't mean she wasn't there right??

She was glad Azura was right beside her. She could always count on her right? Besties for life. She was glad that she wasn't leaving any longer so that they could grow old together. Because they were totally going to be going that.

But now back to business. Noelle had completely forgot about what they were partnering up for. Instead, she sent out a jet of water from her wand in the spot where Char had disappeared trying to see if her shape would be there........ Nope. Nothing was there.

"Az.... What happened to--" Noelle didn't get to finish her sentence though. A flash had hit her that had made her stiffen and fall to the ground. Only instead, she disappeared... Or illusioned like she did before there was another dragging noise and then silence.

REALLY?

REALLY, KID?

What was with Hogwarts students and a lack of ability to fall AWAY FROM THE HOLE IN THE GROUND? Rushing towards the girl, she cast a quick Arresto Momentum at the child before she went down the flight of stairs to greet her. Because at least she'd be doing something.

"There are many safe ways to fall. Through a hole in the floor is not one of them." Just saying.

It was good that they were decided but Esme was having a hard time focusing at the moment because one of her classmates had VANISHED INTO THIN AIR. Even with all the crazy things that happened at Hogwarts that was unsettling. Obviously she wasn't silly enough to think that this was something that the Professor and Lex hadn't planned but that didn't change the fact that she didn't want to disappear. It was a scary thought no matter the context it was done in.

Snapping her attention back to Hady, she nodded. Her friend was right: they needed to get this done before anything weird happened in this place. "Right..."

Once she was situated properly and feeling more settled, Esme was ready to do this. Or at least as ready as she would ever be to do a non-duel because this was something that she had never done before. New experiences and everything; she would adapt okay because she had to. Hopefully this bit of rubble would offer her some protection though of course she cast Protego over herself because it would be silly not to have a shield in place.

Whatever was going on she was sure that it was the work of their professor. There wasn't anyway kids would just 'disappear' into thin air like that and he had no clue about it. Surely this was his doing, a way to keep them all on their toes. Hady could see the look on her younger friends face though and sent her a gentle smile. "I'm sure it's alright. It's probably just part of the game even if we weren't warned about it...always expect the unexpected or something," she told her hoping to help calm her even just a little.

The meeting was nearly over anyhow so if they just focused on what needed to be worked on they would be okay. Being focused and careful would be all they needed.

Waiting several moments until Esme had gotten herself ready Hady found herself a place to stand. A top of a bit of rubble just around the bend of a half crumbled wall. Rising her wand and aiming it around the wall she peeked out towards her friend. When she was sure the girl was ready she quickly cast "Titillando" the tickling hex following it up with "Expelliarmus". Two fairly simple spells that she knew wouldn't harm her friend if they hit her.

Taking Hady's words to heart even if they were only confirmation of what she had already thought to be the case made Esme feel rather better. As long as they stayed in the cover they would be okay though of course Hady was on offensive mode so there was no telling how well that would go over. Maybe the holes weren't the biggest concern that they faced but at least they wouldn't get hurt. All they had to do was make it through the rest of the meeting which probably wasn't going to last much longer anyway.

As the spells moved towards her, Esme suddenly forgot all about the magical aspect of the training as her instincts took over. Instead, she found herself rolling out of danger further behind the rubble that she had chosen for coverage.

Oops?

It wouldn't be to bad. Hady wouldn't use anything that could harm her friend at all. The way Esme protected herself from the spells was a good one but not really what she needed to be doing, was it? Surely they were meant to use their surroundings but casting a shield would've worked just as well and kept the younger girl off the ground.

Hady laughed softly. "You okay Esme?" she called over to her. "Shall we keep going?" Nothing wrong with making sure her partner was safe and not hurt after rolling around on the ground where there was rubble and large holes she could fall into. Making it out in one piece with no injuries would be really nice.

The entire time even as she spoke to the blonde she was looking around. One never could be to sure that they weren't in any danger of being hit by someone else's charms when partaking in an activity such as this.