Professor Wayland was there!

Trying to do as told, he swam with minimal movements farther from the cave and the grindylows that looked at them like they were about to attack any moment. Maybe he shouldn't even look back, he thought, to avoid letting the water demons see the growing fear in his eyes.

... but then they attacked. Never mind swimming slowly. He pushed himself through the water as fast as his helpless limbs could take, when he felt a sharp pain in his foot. Please don't let it be, please, please, please...

A silent whimper came out before he bit hard on his lower lip to focus on anything but the sharp teeth that were currently locked around his flippery foot, using the other to try to kick the grindylow away. Oh, Merlin, please don't let him get eaten.

And here came many ugly little reasons that she thought these children were idiots...With a deep breath the she snake rose from her resting position. She had read spell books since years before she was able to cast them herself...and she happened to know a few that would work for this instance. Her only concern was with the volume of little gnashing mouths that was coming at them.

At least there was an adult? A grown wizard should prove enough of a match for them, but just in case she was making sure her little flock of noobs was getting out of dodge. And where was that squid? She casually felt her love of the creature slightly diminsh...

Eria saw closer to Beth, trying to gently push her back and a way farther...the farther from danger Baby Snake was, the better. Hopefully the younger girl wouldn't argue and would just take the cue to swim back farther. Her eyes scanned over to Quinn and then Reese as well. "All of you, swim back farther. Back towards the rest of the group, safety in numbers. Pack it up!" She herself...well she saw the little lion and was going to be a tad stupid today herself.

Eria did not swim to the boy, his propulsion seemed to work just fine...except for the grindylow on his appendage. Instead, she took a good aim and in one swift motion fired "Relashio!" at the water gremlin attached to him. And once more, with feeling, "RELASHIO!!" No one enjoyed boiling water charging at their face and vitals.

The lanky brunette didn't want to destroy anything, but she would do what it took to defend her own and if that meant severing a few bony fingers she would.

From her safe spot at the edge of the lake, she turned to Daisy, who was thankfully wise enough to stay where the professor had instructed, and motioned towards the commotion. There were obviously spells being cast out there and strange sounds coming from the area of the cave. She held up her hands in a "What's going on?" gesture, hoping her friend had more information than she did.

She wondered if they should be getting more help or if they should be helping. She had no desire to go out further into the water, or battle whatever the other students felt the need to blast spells at. No, she was hardly able to will herself to stay at the waters edge and not go bolting back to the castle.

And then the grindylows were attacking.

To be honest, they really should have saw that coming, and it was why Hattie had wanted to get everyone out. She had tried, and she'd seen her fellow prefect Derf trying too, but some of this kids just wouldn't listen to them. Maybe that was something that needed to be brought up. It wasn't as if she was trying to stop people having fun, she was doing it for their safety.

That was the least of her concerns though right now. She was one, if not, the oldest student here, and well she probably knew the most spells. At least Professor Wayland was here too, but the grindylows were going after him too, so who knew how much use he would be to them.

Not really wanting to hurt the creatures, even if they wanted to hurt her, Hattie just pointed her wand at them shouting "Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!" and attempting to stun them. She had no idea of how the spell would work, or if it would even work. But she had to try something, anything that would mean that they could get away.

Okay. Maybe the water was filling CERTAIN people's ears a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiit too much and that was making it hard to hear and understand things (also water sorta refracted and made things hard to see at times too but, you know), BUT EVERYONE NEEDED TO MOVE AWAY FROM THE CAVE BEFORE THE GRINDYLOWS RETURNED AND STOP TOUCHING THINGS THAT THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHERE IT HAD COME FROM! The fifth year had seen and felt far too much to be convinced otherwise.

And Derf was seriously beginning to panic. All the flare spells hadn't drawn the attention of Bartholomew Henry nor Professor Wayland (however for the man had had to swim off with the merpeople) to them yet and the Hufflepuff was feeling the worst sort abandonment issues at the moment. One of the SMALL handful of professors he trusted at Hogwarts...wasn't coming. And they needed him. Not to mention how crestfallen he was feeling over the giant squid not coming to their aid as well. This Hogwarts adventure he had been SO looking forward to was quickly crumbling to ash like a phoenix on Burning Day. Which just meant that he would have to rise from said ashes and have a redo on another day, obviously.

Desperation to get people moving BACK through the green seaweed was hitting such a high that the Hufflepuff was even considering casting spells AT his classmates - a thought that made him feel terribly gross immediately after it crossed his mind - when he heard the bellowing voice of Professor Wayland coming from behind him....

.....and then the man swam right on by him and into the cave.

WOULD PEOPLE PLEASE STOP GOING IN THERE?! FOR THE LOVE OF GRINDY----

Oh.

Oh boy.

Speaking of grindylows.

Derf HEARD the commotion before he saw anything, and instinct had him swimming back towards and into the mouth of the cave to assist anyone there. "Flipendo!" he commanded, hopefully blasting back a grindylow or two that was trying to latch themselves on to him. Since they weren't, you know, quite ON him yet he didn't want to unnecessarily start damaging their long fingers with a preemptive strike - his creature loving heart wouldn't let him. Throwing a few more Knockback Jinxes this way and that, towards grindylows heading towards himself and others, Derf continued to man the mouth of the cave while trying to usher people OUT of there. "Relashio!" he called next, taking aim at grindylows now that had their fingers and teeth involved.

Though his focus on others meant that he left himself open and vulnerable for a bit, and it was enough for one of the creatures to bit him right in the thigh - and those sharp teeth went right through his wetsuit like a knife through hot butter, unsurprisingly. Yelping in both pain and surprise, his reflex wasn't to cast a spell at the creature - which would have been wise - but instead rammed both himself and the grindylow into the side of the cave's wall. "GEDORF!"

Reese's attention was torn from his sister and stuck on Professor Wayland swimming at full tilt toward them and the cave.. And the cave was erupting with Grindylows!!!!

NO!!!!.. He had to help!.. But how?!.. The first year was a good a worthless for all the magic he'd be able to cast in the depths of the Black Lake.. UGH!.. Nope, no magic!.. Just good old fashioned brawn would do, right?.. Even though there was one problem with that idea as well.. Reese Prichard was tall for his age, but the poor boy had barely a visible muscle on his lanky body..

He was about to swim back and join the fray.. To try and help the others, but just as he started back for the cave Eria's spells shot past him.. He was nearly hit as it zung over his shoulder.. " Whoa!.. Careful, Snake Lady!!.. Ya nearly hit me with those!", he growled at her with his eyes narrowed..

Lydia watched with horror as a swarm of grindylows entered the cave. She still floated just outside the cave's entrance, among the forest of seaweed. Suddenly everything was chaos. The grindylows were attacking everyone in the cave, including the professor who had just raced toward them from the merpeople's village.

An older Hufflepuff boy--she thought he was a Prefect--had exited the cave a few moments earlier to tell everyone to swim away but when the grindylows attacked he'd gone back inside, presumably to help the other students and the professor. She watched him do battle with the grindylows. He was holding his own until one of them chomped down on his thigh, and he started yelling instead of firing off spells.

Biting her lip, Lydia hesitated but only for a moment. She really didn't want to see this boy become lunch right in front of her. With a powerful kick of her fins, she flew through the water toward the Hufflepuff, withdrawing her wand from its holster as she did so. As a first year she didn't know many spells, but she did know one that would be useful, one the boy had been using earlier.

Aiming directly at the grindylow attached to the boy's thigh, she cried, "Flipendo!" She could feel the power travel through her arm and through the wand. The grindylow was sent catapulting backward and away from the Hufflepuff.

With her good deed for the day accomplished, Lydia turned right around to make her own escape before one of the grindylows wanted her for a snack next! At the very exit of the cave though she paused, her eye caught by the treasure once more. She dived and scooped a giant shiny coin into her hand. There. At least this would make the whole disaster worthwhile!

Daisy had a bad feeling out what was going on. She looked at Emmalyn with an expression that said, "I think something bad is happening in the distance." She then placed her hand on her friend's arm as if saying, "I think it is best to stay put unless Professor Wayland or Bartholemew Henry say otherwise."

The snakette glared right back at the tiny badger as he barked at her. "If you weren't stupid and trying to go where you don't belong, that wouldn't be a problem." Her words hissed back.

"You'll only make more trouble and danger for the professor if you go back in moron. I won't save you again, get back like I told you to!" She shot another "Relashio!" right past the boy's head.

"If you don't do as I say, I'll hit you on purpose and probably with something worse. I'll have no regrets." Her eyes may have usually been green, but she was only seeing red right now. Her voice was deep and much more serious than her usual snark. The brunette was tired of this and meant business.

As Kye-Shark was exiting the cave she felt a sharp pain near her... well she couldn't quite tell actually, but it was only getting worse! She spun around and growled, mouth still holding that treasure. Then... she saw them. The grindylows that she had tried to scare off earlier were now attacking her tail fin and around her belly! Kye-Shark could feel the razor sharp teeth as they pierced through, and she made a noise that would have even scared her if she wasn't feeling the sting right now. Right now though... Right now she was upset. What had made the other students come over here in the first place?? It wasn't the treasure, because that hadn't been visible until after the first infestation of grindylows had started to settle.

Kye-Shark snarled at the vermin and began trying to attack again, because no way could these grindylows beat a shark right?? Now if she could only work her wand in this form... As the pain numbed subsided, Kye-Shark saw that the grindylow had chosen a few victims already. She charged at them, mouth opening and ready to throw them off the other students. She could smell blood. Oh this was NOT part of the plan! She thought they'd be following the leader with Bartholomew and Professor Wayland, but so far all she could see were children being attacked, no squid to be seen, and Professor Wayland was... well, Professor Wayland was being attacked! Kye charged after the ones trying to get their teeth into him, and tried to throw them off. She had to be careful of course, because she didn't want to throw one while it had its teeth sunk in! It was taking everything in Kye-Shark's power to restrain from actually trying to eat one of these pesky things. Restraint restraint restraint restraint restraint!

Spells were flying in all directions, but the grindylows were determined to hold their own. They weren't going to give up on their human banquet that easily! They dodged the arrows the small girl sent at them. Her other spell hit, making one grindylow go rigid. A couple others ran into the bigger girl’s spell and floated away unconscious. The rest kept coming.

Another grindylow was making a meal of a little boy’s foot when it was suddenly hit with a blast of boiling water. It let go, howling in pain and anger as it bolted back into the cave.

The bigger boy’s spell had no effect on the creatures swimming toward him. The gindylow attached to his thigh shook its head, dazed, as it slammed into the wall, but it refused to let go. It sunk its teeth in deeper when it was blasted backward. It looked around in the direction of the spell, its eyes landing on a little girl. It headed straight for her. Now it was mad!

The shark girl made a few of the grindylows scatter, but not for long. They heard voices nearby and spotted a big girl with a small boy. Dodging the girl’s spell, they charged at the pair. An appetizer and a main course! Yummy!

What seemed like a fun adventure down the lake turned into a grindylow buffet, and Vivian was totally not having it. She was half glad that Wayland was made aware now--thanks, Bel--but that honestly didn't seem to stop the grindylows from attacking. When will Hogwarts ever chill with these life-threatening events? Apparently, never. From experiencing that hag in her first year to that damp portal to the underworld on her third year to students getting possessed to this, she tried her best to stay calm and collected.

But really, it was all a failed attempt... because those bloody bony sea beasts were sticking their ugly heads out of their hiding spots.

"GET OUT, EVERYONE!" She was not going to be a proper head girl if there wasn't a student population to take care of, okay? Even if she didn't want to, she was there and she couldn't just watch those beasts try to make a feast out of her ickles. Cursing under her breath which came out as some muffled underwater sound, Vivian swam towards the cave. "Relashio!" Vivian sent purple sparks towards one of the grindylow before quickly sending out a shield charm just in case one of those lake beasts tried to approach her. It worked on creatures too, right?

Lydia heard the Head Girl shouting for everyone to get out of the cave. No one needed to tell Lydia that twice, but just as she looked up from her little treasure hunting diversion she noticed the grindylow she'd hit with her spell was zooming straight toward her! Oh boy, she'd really done it now. She was gonna be fish food for sure.

Lydia tried to squash the sudden fear that threatened to paralyze her. Ok, it was definitely time to get the heck out of this cave and back to Bartholomew Henry. Where was he anyway? He needed to come and protect them!

Backing up out of the cave, Lydia pointed her wand at the incoming grindylow and yelled, "Relashio!" She didn't really know the spell yet, but she'd heard the Head Girl use it. Nothing much happened. Great.

Letting out a scream that was mostly bubbles, Lydia kicked hard with her finds and attempted to escape the cave!

Reese glared right back at Eria.. He was not one to back down.. " Why don't ya shut it and get up here with me?!.. Let's work as a team, alright?", he barked right back.. Knows the spell now so that he can help.

BUT... His back is turned away from the cave.. He doesn't see them! The Grindylows closing in on him!!!

" Gahhh!.. Ooowww!..", he screeched as he felt their grip.. Instinct took over as he whipped his wand out and pointed it point blank at the accosting creature, " Relashio!..Relashio! ", he repeated until the incantation finally worked.

Eria was far from amused by the tiny badger. She cast "Arresto Momentum!" in the direction of the water demons to hopefully slow them down a bit while she dealt with the tiny redheaded imp. She wasn't the most powerful physically, but her magic generally compensated for that. If the little chompers were slower, perhaps that would help everyone....

She cast a few more meaningful "RELASHIO!" at any grindylow she managed to glimpse, while oompa loompa shook his own off. Now she should have just enough time to get him to safety out of her hair!

"I warned you kid." The she snake stated rather coldly as she aimed her wand at him. Her mouth turned to almost a smirk, she'd put a little fear in him yet... "ALARTE ASCENDARE!" Have a nice trip to the surface kid, see you next fall...

Now that that was taken care of....there were smaller creatures around, perhaps they could get an aquatic assist? "Oppugno!" There were small fish, crabs...things...She'd only ever used the spell on mosquito's before so this might be interesting if it worked.

Well, this hadn't worked out as he had intended.. Not one bit.. That was all Reese Prichard could think as his lanky 5' 2" frame was made into a red-headed underwater comet but none other than, Eria, The Snake Lady.. Le sigh!

Yup.. The first year Puffer-boy had been trying to help, but had gotten himself grabbed and bitten by a grindylow. And as if THAT wasn't enough... He had been attacked saved by Eria.. Well, she might've seen it that way, but his view stood as thus... He'd tried to help and gotten caught up and instead of teaming together she had lashed out and now he was zinging through the water toward the surface at an alarming rate.

" Why?!!!!.., he hollered back as he tried to shake his little fist in frustration.

Sploosh!.. Thudump! " Oof!.. Ah!.. ", Reese landed with a hard thud on the damp shores of the Black Lake. His re-entry into the world above the surface was far less than a happy one.. His wrist was throbbing and his fingers tingled in his left hand. He sat there holding.. No cradling his injured paw as he grimaced passed the pain.

Bartholomew had momentarily frozen at the occurrences of so many things at once. What really stole his attention was the glowing eyes from within the cave. They were eyes easily recognizable to him. Instantly he feared for the students. "Tristan is right. STAY CLEAR.'' Bartholomew pushed his way slowly forward. While Tristan got the students out he would be there to provide any distractions or provide protection should it come to that.

Bartholomew needed to do both. Without a second's hesitation, the squid raised its tentacles. They were strong despite his age. Bartholomew whooped, slapped and punched out at the vicious creatures. Closer to the big girl with a small boy Bartholomew moved in an attempt to protect them. All the while his tentacles were moving agilely.

"Reese!" It was alarming to watch one of her best friends ripped skyward at such high speed. Especially given the were underwater. Quinn turned toward Eria and when she was sure Eria could see her, mouthed, Thank you. If it hadn't been for Eria, Reese could be dead right now. So what if he was flung out of the lake. Serves him, right. Maybe next time he'll think twice.

Still, she wasn't going to be any help here and someone should go make sure Tweedle-Dum was okay. Quinn turned and raced back to the surface, unsure she'd be able to leave the water until the gillyweed wore off.

The worry seem unnecessary as she could already feel the effects start to fade as she drew close to the shore. When it finally wore off, Quinn broke the surface and swam the rest of the way normally.

"You really are a stupid git, you realize that?" Her tone, as she left the water, did not match her words. It was a tone of worried relief. "You could have died. I don't have many friends Reese Prichard. I prefer to keep those I have. Alive." She reached him and knelt down, examining the wrist he was clutching with her eyes alone. "How bad?" The tangled treasure in her hair pulling painfully at her scalp could wait for now. Reese first.

Eria just gave a faint smile as she watched the Puff, making sure he cleared the danger as the Grindylows kept rushing at them. There were so many of them, she knew copper didn't stand and chance and she couldn't let that happen...really for Quinn's sake. And because she wasn't the ice queen she made herself seem to be.

The she snake caught a thank you when she looked to check on Quinn but couldn't respond...too much happening at once for that. The squid drew closer, having helped keep the path clear for the boy.

It was a good thing Bartholomew was close because there were too many to fend off solo...even so one particularly nasty little bugger managed to sink his fangs into her leg. Even underwater, the 5th year's scream was ear piercing.

It was such a sharp pain, when amplified by her condition it was unbearable. The brunette felt a blinding rage and fired "RELASHIO" with her wand tip almost in the little demon's eye. Getting boiling water in your eye like that could just not be healthy...

Thankfully the big beautiful hunk of squidness had come to help with the rescue and was opening up a can of whoop tentacle on the water gremlins. She was fairly safe now with him in the area, showing them who's water boss. Looking down at her leg, she realized that she was still bleeding profusely...uncertain if the little bugger had just torn her or gotten a chunk... No wonder she felt light-headed and dizzy...

Having got the professor, Bel didn't go right on back to the cave, of course not, she couldn't handle any grindylows, especially given she hadn't brought her wand. Though she'd punch them if she had to. She swam back towards where the squid had been though he had seemed to disappear when things started going crazy... oh there he was. Bel stayed where she could see, but out of the way of the cave itself. There was a lot going on. She was going to stay on hand to help any injured though, for sure, that much she could do. With that in mind, Bel waited in case she could help anyone who was injured swim safely back to the surface and the shore.

Honestly, this whole thing, was the whole reason Hattie had not followed in her siblings foot steps into law enforcement. Yes, this was kind of different, but it was also similar and Hattie wanted nothing to do with situations like this. She was content to not have to deal with anything like this every again.

If they survived that was.

She continued to send out stunners, not wanting to actually hurt the grindylows, and she kept an eye out for everyone else. She frowned, watching as Eria sent that little first year hufflepuff flying out of the water. Well that wasn't how she would have done it. But at least he was gone now. She also noted that the girl seemed to be bleeding a lot, and she made a decision that the girl needed to get out of the water now. Right now.

Still sending stunners at the grindylows the blonde swam in her direction. "We are going. now. Before you pass out in the water!" The Giant Squid was here now, and she was sure they were okay. She grabbed onto her the girls hand, and began swimming towards the surface, hopefully she'd come with her. The blonde noticed Bel as they swam, she looked okay, and she was glad of that. But for now her focus was on Eria, so she kept swimming towards the surface.

There was to much going on. Way to much happening that Rylee's head was spinning. One second her brother was yelling at her and the very next he was telling her he loved her but she had scared him by swimming off and putting herself in danger. Then just like that in the blink of an eye the entire atmosphere shifted once more and not for the good...

Professor Wayland appeared and Rylee let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. They could leave now. Everyone would be okay and they would all go back to the surface. Except that's not what happened. She heard Wayland tell everyone to get moving to get swim to the surface.. okay she could do that. Before they could even more there was Grindylows everywhere. Glowing eyes everywhere. And the fear was back. It was back and Rylee could only think of Reese.

Reese. Blue eyes shifted to look at her brother and he was gone. Gone. Not at her side where he had been. And there were screams. Loud piercing screams and blood and utter chaos and this... this was her fault... she hadn't gone into that cave in the first place this may not be happening.

Through the shouts of panic, pain and orders to get to safety she spotted Reese swimming towards that older Slytherin girl. By the time she was able to get anywhere close to them the Grindylow were surrounding them, Rylee had her wand out, casting whatever spells she could think of mostly "Relashio!" as that was what was seeming to work. Her instinct had finally kicked at her brother being in danger... but it was to late. His scream, the look on his face that's what she saw before he was gone, the older snake girl sending him to the surface with some spell, Ry didn't know yet.

That may have been when she lost her focus. All she could think of then was getting to Reese. Bartholomew Henry was here and so was Hattie who was pulling the older snake girl away who looked really hurt but she didn't see Wayland? There was Lydia though?...Lydia?! Rylee didn't even think about as she cast another "Relashio!" at a wayward Grindy and grabbed Lydia's arm. "Come on! We got to go... now.. I need to get to Reese! Swim, Lydia. Swim, to the surface as fast as you can, okay?" Rylee gently pushed the younger girl in front of herself towards the surface. She was going to make sure they both made it out of the water.

It may have taken a bit to get to the surface and her attention was on Lydia and casting spells behind them to hopefully keep the Grindy's at bay. She was still checking for Wayland and anyone else as she swam. Once she felt the effects of the gillyweed wear off and she broke the surface of the water, Rylee looked around frantically. "Reese!" Her appearance didn't matter at all as she made her way over to him making sure Lydia got out of the water also.

"Let me see...," she whispered kneeling down beside him only half aware of Quinn's presence at Reese's other side.

Before he could even blink the Grindylows were on them. He couldn't move more than a few inches without another bone hand gripped him. He knew he had to do something, and quick. He had to get all the students out of harms way. Luckily, Bartholomew was there batting away the nasty little buggers, as well as the older students and prefects using their skills to help.

He hadn't given anyone permission to go to the surface yet, but he didn't blame them for going again. A quick thought came to his mind, and he pulled out his wand. With a quick flick, a current was sent through the Grindylows around him, hopefully freezing them all in place, he made a break for it, sending nonverbal Revulsion Jinxes to any and all Grindylows in his path. But he wasn't leaving this place until he knew all of his students were safe. "Swim to the surface, now!" He called out to them all. Hopefully there weren't too many students with injuries.

Tristan was still intrigued by the treasure. He would definitely have to have a chat with the Headmistress about it....and the Grindylows.

"Oh look, the Niffler," Quinn muttered to herself as Rylee came out of the lake and approached them. For course she'd be here. She was his sister and like Quinn, she cared about him and came to check on him. She might also know a spell to heal broken bones and spare them all a trip to the hospital wing. So Quinn sat back while Rylee kneeled down next to Reese opposite of her, and started to work the tangled pieces of treasure out of her hair. It was no easy task, as with all the excitement and constant motion, the initial snags which probably could have been worked out quite easily, had become full tangles.

If she was going to have to cut these out of her hair she was going to be rudely upset. And would mirror Imogen to send her more hair growth potion. The type Imogen had gotten her after Quinn had finally been discharged from the hospital. Which probably meant Quinn would end up with hair down to her feet until she could get it cut in Hogsmeade. At least she wouldn't look like Rapunzel the way she had after downing three of those last time.

The grindylows kept attacking the students, thoroughly enjoying their feeding frenzy. They dodged the purple sparks the big girl sent, but when they charged at her, they ran smack into an invisible barrier.

A couple of grindylows were caught in the other big girl's spell. One of them was lucky enough to get a bite out of her leg... until boiling water shot into its eye. It shrieked in pain as it swam away. The grindylows attacking the little boy near her weren't having much better luck. They'd managed to get their hands (and teeth) on him when suddenly he went flying towards the surface. What just happened?

The creatures swarmed again, but then the squid appeared. Several of the grindylows screamed as they were slapped and punched away, and several more were frozen in place by the adults spell. Only a few stragglers remained now. The adult's next round of spells made them scatter, and finally admitting defeat, they skunk back into the cave. You won this round, humans. Now get out while you can!