"I saw it....." Noelle said, still in a bit of a shock at how horrific it looked. She shook her head from the image. She needed to make sure people were safe and the monster wasn't going after anyone.

More people were arriving. And yes! Kane! He'd been there when the monster had come out of the portal. And he was excited. And ready to fight. Good. Noelle could use him. Her wand was out and her other hand was in Olly's because support. "We need to get the younger years into their common rooms first. Then move our way from floor to floor."

Pause

"Also.... poltergeists.... a group of us learnt that the poltergesists could be the reason for the portal. We need them." She wasn't sure for what. But there was a reason they learned about those poltergeists. Even though her attempt to talk to them had failed.

"YOU HEARD THE HEADMISTRESS! EVERYONE TO THEIR DORMS!! BE SAFE!! PLEASE GO IN GROUPS IF YOU CAN!"

Noelle wasn't heading to her dorm though. "If you want to fight the monster.... that's up to you. This isn't some game. That thing is horrific. You're going to have to be brace. And don't leave the group. If you can't handle that, please go back to your dorm." She didn't want anyone taking this lightly. She was extremely nervous and scared but the thought of that thing getting any student... she couldn't let that happen. .... she'd risk her badge...

The monster from the portal...had gotten out.

Merlin's beard.

Rula drew her wand then, just in case, and nodded at Noelle, keeping up with her pace. They definitely needed to get every student - especially younger - into their common rooms. Though, if the monster was really as fast as she said, were the common rooms totally safe either? What if the monster was quick enough to sneak in whenever someone opened the entrance to their common room?

But she couldn't think about that. Instead, she just needed to help Noelle and Olly get the other students to as safe a place as possible. She really wanted to go look for Abey and Junia, but she didn't want to leave these two alone either. Plus, quite frankly, she didn't want to go off alone either. So she was staying with them for now.

And that was when a younger Ravenclaw, one that she'd seen at the library research party, arrived - and then an even younger Hufflepuff came running up with Brent as well. AND he thought they were looking for the monster to fight it?

Then came the booming voice of the Headmistress, confirming the get-everyone-into-their-common-rooms-now task. And Noelle mentioned the poltergeists. Right, they had something to do with this...somehow. But seeking them out again would have to wait until after everyone was safe.

"Preferably you should go to your dorms whether you want to fight it or not," she added. Because as Noelle said, this thing wasn't a joke or a game. It was legitimately dangerous, and they didn't even know how to defeat it or get rid of it.

"DUDE!" was all Brent could say, as his little bro practically dragged him from one corridor to the next. Had Brent not been in complete shock and had he not been legitimately worried about Kane, he wouldn't have allowed himself to be dragged along. As it was, here he was...now in the seventh floor corridor.

...and there were others here, too, apparently all either looking for the monster or trying to get away from it. Some of them were sharing ideas, and others were trying to get everybody to go back to their common rooms. Speaking of which---"Look, man," he told Kane, "I know you want to go all Gryffindor on us and stop this thing, but we don't know what it can do. It might not be as easy as casting the spells we learned in class."

Sigh. It was times like this he wished they'd ended up in the same house. Now he had to send Kane away and just hope he'd be okay. "Look, there might be some good in going back to the common room. If you truly want to find an army, your whole house is there," he added. "I'll drop you off on the way to the dungeons." Because, yes, right now, Brent was going to the common room until there was a better plan.

Then, just like that, NOELLE had a plan.

He looked at Kane then back at Noelle. "Alright, little dude. I'm in if you are. But you stay by me, you understand?" he told him. He just wanted to know his bro was okay in all this mess, and if he could see him, he would know. On that note, he moved closer to Noelle. "Alright, Noelle. Count me in," he said, and he drew his wand.

LET'S GO TOAST A MONSTER.

Juno was really glad that she had been running up and down the stairs these last few weeks, otherwise she wouldn't have made it from the fourth floor to the seventh floor. Luckily they hadn't run into the monster coming up here either.

When she got to the group that was converging, she stopped and took a deep breath.
"Hey guys! We are here to help with the monster hunt. Have you heard anything or seen anything?" Leon should be right behind her...she was pulling him most of the time.
Hopefully he was as good of a runner up stairs as he was on flat ground.

Just to be safe she turned to look for him...

Despite the flat out run he had done from the fourth floor all the way up here, Leon wasn't too winded. He was used to doing ten mile runs around the lake so a few flights of stairs and some corridors weren't that bad..

Though his adrenaline was pumping like crazy! The idea of a terrible monster on the loose and hurting the people he loved and his family was making him push extra hard! To the point where he was almost dragging Juno along!

He arrived just behind Juno and skidded to a stop as he saw everyone there! Noelle, Brent, the little excited dude, a girl he didn't know and another boy he didn't know..

And then him and Juno..

"I heard the Headmistress's announcement, but I'm not going back to the common room.. I'm fighting that thing.. I've been in the portal.. Brent and I were in there together and just barely escaped from that monster.

I'm going to give my all to protect the people I love and this school from that awful thing. So tell me what you need of me, I will do it. " He said as he looked at everyone.. He didn't want to come in and take over. But he wanted to make sure everyone knew where he stood.

As long as there weren't any first years or anything, Olly wasn't going to insist on them going back to their common rooms. He had no authority whatsoever. And he felt safer in a larger group so there was that. He was latched on to Noelle as they kept moving, looking around for any younger students that might need help getting back to their dorms. Where were the professors? Shouldn't they be doing that? Olly hadn't seen one since he'd heard the monster was loose. They were definitely way more qualified to fight it than a group of students. They should probably send for some aurors or something. But in the meantime he'd definitely do what he could.

"Do you think we should head down?" He asked the group. There had been no sign of a monster on the seventh floor. Noelle's plan had been a good one. If they went from floor to floor they'd eventually have to run into the monster, right? And if they saw any younger kids along the way they could help them get back to their common rooms.

Noelle looked around the group of ready students. She nodded to Rula. "We should. But I'm going to make sure that everyone gets into their common room." Just as the Headmistress had said.... just.... in a different method.

Besides, there wasn't a true way to make sure the monster wouldn't get into any of the common rooms. She sure hoped it didn't. That bugger was fast.... and... no. Not allowed.

"keep your wands out and your eyes open. That monster was on the ceiling when it crawled out of the portal. It's fast. Kane, Brent, Juno, Leon... you were there. We stay as a group. And if we get to a floor and you want to go to your common room. Please go. The professors are probably handling what they need to."

Noelle had no idea if she should even be doing this. She really just wanted to go to her common room. To stay with everyone there. To be safe. But another part of her wanted to make sure everyone was off the floors. It wanted to find the monster, help get rid of it.

First things first though. Everyone needed to be off the floors. The seventh floor looked safe. It was quiet besides them now. "Lets head to the next floor." She said agreeing with Olly.

She was on duty to make sure that there were no students outside of the common rooms. She was having some luck and not finding any students but as she was heading to her office on the seventh floor she had heard multiple voices coming from the corridor. Caroleena made her way towards the voices. She looked around at the Gryffindor prefect taking charge but clearly she wasn't doing that well of a job at getting people to listen to her.

Can students for once just listen to the rules? It's like they're trying to get themselves killed. "What are all of you doing out here? Did not hear what the Headmistress had said?" her voice was stern. "If all of you don't get back to your common rooms I'll take ten points from each of you." She wasn't kidding, though she was considering more than ten points at the moment.

DUDE, they were heading into BATTLE. This was going to be AWESOME! That probably wasn't the line of thinking Brent should have, but this was the real stuff, man! They were going to head out and officially use all those spells they'd learned about in Defense class. Forget fighting dummies. They were going to fight a REAL CREATURE. Whatever it was.

He had just nodded in understanding toward Noelle, when along came a professor and pretty much rained on their parade. Ten points lost?! It was only a threat, but still...how were they supposed to fight the monster when points were about to be docked left and right? "We just heard the announcement, Professor. I apologize about being out," he said. He was just buying himself some time. He lingered in place, waiting to see what the others would do. His common room was all the way down. It'd take him forever to get there, and in that time, he'd probably find the monster, he guessed.

...and wasn't that the plan anyway?

YAYYY! It seemed like everyone was on board with this fight the monster thing...unlike that Slytherin girl Brent had been hanging out with. She could very well be monster chow right now, but that was a problem to worry about later. First they had to FIND it! Grinning from ear to ear, Kane bounced excitedly on the heels of his high tops, thrilled that there was a group of people - and a PREFECT no less! - who had agreed with him and were willing to go on a monster hunt!

Brent had been willing to put up a fight for a moment, but he eventually caved, just as he figured he would. Kane grinned and nodded in agreement when he said they were going to stick together - DUH BRO, he had NO intention of leaving him anywhere. Everything was going according to plan, they could get their little army together and take this thing down once and for all!

Until...

RECORD SCRATCH.

Busted.

Salvatore had found them, and she was NOT happy. He could read it all over her face and demeanor. He couldn't blame her - if he were a professor he probably would be super concerned for his students and their safety as well. Still, she had to know how darn STUBBORN some of them were, right?! And if they wanted to fight - well, she could give him detention, he didn't care! She could take away ALL his points if she wanted to!

Well ok. Not ALL of them. And well...she DID have a point. This was probably very VERY stupid. He couldn't help but feel compelled to help, though. Maybe it was because he was around that Ravenclaw guy, he was very inspiring and almost TOO willing to help for his own good. Kane looked over at Brent, who addressed her first, and it was like he could read his mind. He knew what his bro was doing - and he nodded in agreement. He turned to Salvatore and tried his best to look TOTALLY serious.

"Yeah, we were just headed down, Professor. I just wanted to make sure my brother was ok so we could walk back down together," he added. Which was not a TOTAL lie.

Suddenly even more people arrived...and they seemed to think they needed to hunt the monster too. And the new older guy in particular seemed really eager to fight the monster. Merlin. Rula had to just close her eyes for a few quick seconds to calm her gradually building annoyance - which, honestly, was probably fueled more by her worry for her family and friends and everyone else in the school than any actual irritation with anyone here.

And then Professor Salvatore appeared, and she understandably didn't look very happy, and this...actually, this was perfect. A potential blessing in disguise.

"Could you come with us down to our common rooms, professor?" Not only could she make sure they all actually went to their common rooms, but it was also much safer to travel in a group with an adult - an adult who would be much more capable of keeping the monster away than of the students.

Seemed like the perfect plan to Rula.

So all they had to was bid the professor bye for now, and then they could be on their way. They were all the way at the very top of the castle, so they had nowhere to go but down. Pretty much the only ones that would have a hard time justifying why they were going down were the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws.

Brent frowned at Kane. It didn't look good for the younger bro to say that HE was making sure BRENT was okay. Brent felt like a big dork, but he didn't say anything to the little dude. Really, Brent was wanting to make sure Kane was okay, too. "Right. That's what we're going to do. Walk down together," Brent said, and he gestured for Kane and the others to follow if they wanted. Unless the professor was actually following them down, she'd have no idea where they went.

...and then Rula spoke up and pretty much killed that plan. If the professor went with them, she'd make SURE they went to their common rooms. Brent shifted his weight from one foot to the other then continued to linger rather than leave like he'd originally planned. He did cast a look at Noelle. She was a prefect. She could probably walk them down, too, right?

Hint, hint.

Juno was just about to respond to the others when Professor Salvatore showed up threatening to take points from them. She wanted to massively roll her eyes but she held them in place. She looked at all of her fellow students with a calm expression, as if to say, 'Go with me on this, please.'

"Professer, ma'am, we were doing exactly that. We all happened to be up here when the announcement sounded. We were making sure that the younger students were okay and had all their belongings ready before we set off down stairs. Noelle, Leon, Rula, Oliver, and I were just about to escort the younger students to their common rooms, just as the Headmistress asked us to do, as well as dispersing to our own. No need to take points." She gave the professor a small smile. This was a serious matter, and threatening to take points away from them for doing something they were told to do was kinda harsh. "We prefects and older students can handle it. There is no need for you to come with us. I am sure you need to prepare for the fight yourself." She said with a smile, hoping the professor wouldn't walk with them.

Though, what Juno said wasn't necessarily the whole truth, it was basically true. She would drop anyone who wanted to go to their common rooms off, and if they happen to run into the monster...the opportunity to fight would be taken.

Leon tried not to show his annoyance at the Professor in front of them, threatening to take away points for trying to save the school? Or at least trying to find the monster.. What was she doing hmm?

None of this showed on his face though as everyone spoke up about walking the kids down to their common rooms and Leon spoke up.. "See Noelle was going to walk everyone down, but then she'd have to walk by herself back up, so I volunteered to walk her back up after we got everyone down there, we were paying attention Professor. "

He was walking the younger students to their common rooms.. He was a seventh year after all.

And should the monster happen to be on their way down..

So be it..

The professor coming down on them was something that Noelle was expecting. They were a group of students varying ages and houses. It was bound to be noticeable.

"Professor Salvatore. We .." She started but the group had already begun talking. She nodded with some of them. They had the right idea. Noelle did want to make sure everyone was safely in their common rooms before heading back to hers. Did she think that they would find the monster on the way? Hopefully. She wanted that thing out. The drive to be safe was strong. It had been there ever since she got back from the dungeons. And in her own mind, she related that troll to the monster. She wanted to be safe. She wanted others to be safe.

"Yes professor, as they've said... we were heading down to get all the younger years to their common rooms. Juno and I were just going as a group because theirs power in numbers right??" Noelle looked around.

"I think we should get them to their common rooms professor. That monster is loose. We know you need to go help capture it." Noelle gave a smile to the professor, ready to head down to the next corridor.

REALLY BRO?! REALLY?

Kane couldn't help himself. He shot a nasty glance at the Slytherin girl who had the NERVE to ask Salvatore to escort them to their common rooms. NOOOO! What was she thinking?! Kane was going to have to have a serious talk with Brent about getting the rest of his house in line. This was ridiculous. First that one girl he'd met him with a few floors down, now this girl. Did no one want to go on an adventure?! They had two prefects AND a seventh year kid with them. They'd be able to take the monster down, he was sure of it!

Kane looked down at Brent's shoes to see if he was wearing sneakers like he was. If worse came to worse...Kane was pretty sure he could just slip away and get out of here. It wasn't ideal and he wasn't a fan of trying to find the monster on his own, but if it came to that...yeah, he was fast, he could do it!

Really? These damn kids. Being stubborn teenagers was one thing but this was taking it to a whole other level right now. "No groups." she said very sternly. She hadn't even been here ten minutes and she had just about had it with all of them. "I don't care if you're a normal student, a prefect or a head boy or girl or the bloody queen of England you are all to be in your common rooms at this very moment." there was anger in her voice. "Us professors are on the matter at the time being. Now if you all want to continue to break the rule or get yourself killed then I'll be talking to the headmistress about expelling you all." Hopefully the threatening was getting her somewhere. Caroleena was pretty sure that she was not getting her point across.

Caroleena turned her head towards the Gryffindor prefect. "No, Miss. Summers, you and the rest of this absurd group will not be helping the younger students to the common rooms, we have professors on that at the very moment." she looked at the rest of the students. The blonde woman looked at the Hufflepuff prefect and shook her head. She was about to say something to the girl and she figured now wouldn't be the right time. "If you lot are not in your common rooms in ten minutes there will be severe disciplinary actions. If you think I'm bluffing I will be heading to your common rooms to see if you all made it." she didn't care what title was being held by any of these students. Her main concern was getting this kids to their common room. "Do I need to start by taking twenty points from each of you?" did she really? Would more than be willing to take all the points away from these students if she could.

Olly left the explaining to the others. He thought they were all doing a fairly good job at it and there was nothing more he could add. Most of it wasn't even a lie. They had been there when the announcement was made and were going to head to their common rooms, albeit more slowly than they probably should. Unfortunately Professor Salvatore knew exactly what they were thinking and was not impressed. Olly was not scared of point loss but the threat of expulsion made him pause. He didn't think that would actually happen, but he didn't want to take any chances.

"Of course professor. We'll get to our common rooms." He didn't want to leave Noelle, but it looked like he was going to have to. He squeezed her hand before dropping it. "Come on Slytherins. Hufflepuff too," he added, since they would also be going in the same direction. They had a long way to go to get to their common room, and who knew what they might happen to run into along the way. But they would get there... eventually.

Brent's face fell in disappointment. Putting up a fight was useless. The professor was determined, and he was pretty sure if he stayed here any longer, his entire house would hate him once all their house points were gone. "I understand, Professor," he said. His eyes met the others one at a time. His look seemed to say, 'Our work here is done'.

"Come on, Kane," he said, because while he couldn't force any of the others to come along, you could bet your bottom dollar, he was taking Kane along. For one, Westwood boys might be adventurous, but they knew when enough was enough. And this was enough. Then two, that monster was still out there, and he was NOT leaving Kane alone right now. "I'll walk you to your common room on the way to mine."

He gave him his best BIG BRO glare that said 'you better get your Hufflepuff self together and come along NOW'. As for the others, he gave them an apologetic look before turning away and heading off.

Well, the professor had entirely ignored her suggestion, but at least she wasn't buying any of the excuses the others were giving, so Rula was still getting the result she hoped for, at least - kids wising up and listening to the professors and getting themselves to safety. So she wasn't going to complain.

She hadn't missed the look the Hufflepuff kid had sent her, but she wasn't going to respond to it other than offer an innocent little smile. She wasn't sorry that she'd been trying to keep him and everyone else from being eaten by a monster. He'd thank her later surely, whenever he finally accepted the reality that this thing wasn't a game. And thankfully, Brent was making sure he came along too.

She nodded at Professor Salvatore and then quickly followed after Olly and Brent. Hopefully they could get to their common rooms quickly...

Expulsion?

Noelle blinked but kept a straight face. She knew why the Professor wasn't playing around. There was a monster loose. She'd seen it so she knew. But that didn't mean they weren't capable of helping the professors. Hadn't history told them anything? That students were more capable that what adults gave them??

Noelle wasn't about to risk expulsion. And if the professor was going to check common rooms, she couldn't very well sneak out either. She looked around the group. "Alright then. Split up. Ravenclaws, you can head with me back to the common room. Gryffindors too." She gave them a meek smile. They were already on the 7th floor so it wouldn't be much to get them to their common room.

Noelle gave a little finger wave to Olly before she made sure the others were heading out with her, and disappeared into her common room.

The Astronomy professor wasn't going to be leaving until every students was leaving to go back to their common rooms. Shortly after that she would be checking in each common room to make sure that they were there. For a moment though, Caroleena kept her eyes on the Gryffindor Prefect, she was very put off by the girl. In Leena's eyes a leader shouldn't be bringing ANY students into any sort of danger at all. That was not what a prefect was meant to do. She had a feeling Miss. Summers and Miss. Darcy didn't get that memo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Brent's face fell in disappointment. Putting up a fight was useless. The professor was determined, and he was pretty sure if he stayed here any longer, his entire house would hate him once all their house points were gone. "I understand, Professor," he said. His eyes met the others one at a time. His look seemed to say, 'Our work here is done'.

"Come on, Kane," he said, because while he couldn't force any of the others to come along, you could bet your bottom dollar, he was taking Kane along. For one, Westwood boys might be adventurous, but they knew when enough was enough. And this was enough. Then two, that monster was still out there, and he was NOT leaving Kane alone right now. "I'll walk you to your common room on the way to mine."

He gave him his best BIG BRO glare that said 'you better get your Hufflepuff self together and come along NOW'. As for the others, he gave them an apologetic look before turning away and heading off.

Kane WANTED to ask the professor how checking all the common rooms to make sure they'd made it was going to help them fight the monster - but that was sassy and he KNEW it. He also knew that was the stupidest thing he could do at the moment. Even STUPIDER than just running off and hoping she didn't catch him. And no groups?! Did she WANT them all to die? She was basically encouraging them to wander off on their own.

"Fine," he grumbled, shooting Kane a look that said 'You know we're not headed there right away right?' and followed his bro towards the stairs. They couldn't get detention for simply WALKING slowly to their common rooms.