Maddie HAD to get Emmalyn back to the castle. Especially Emmalyn. She knew how unsure the girl was of her own abilities, and just the fact that she currently had no idea what to do was enough to get Maddie moving. "Emmalyn, listen to me," she pleaded. "Inferi are controlled creatures. I don't think we can reason with them. I'm worried that somebody is controlling them, and the Inferi might just be a distraction. I'm leaving, and I really want you to come with me."

On that note, she gave Emmalyn, Nettie, Chloe, and Dorian one more pleading look, and then, with her wand raised just in case of another surprise attack, she joined the group led by Marchand. The one heading back to the castle.

Judging by the state the others were in , Dorian very quickly had the feeling that he was not forgetful and that this wasn't a class.Then why were they all here? And why were some running away after Professor Marchand? With a confused frown on his face, the teenager looked around more carefully towards the water and squinted his eyes when he saw something white emerge from it.

Every color in his face drained away as he realised what was happening and he pointed a finger at the water. But in his fear, he could not speak. He could only widen his eyes and point at the inferi coming closer. He needed to run away. Leave everyone and run. Safe yourself. BUT WHY WEREN'T HIS FEET MOVING. His brain told him to run but his body was not working with him. And then he heard Maddie whisper as he was close by and he was able to look away from the creatures and at her. Right, they had learned the fire whip spell at class! Even he had managed to perform it.

Did he want to run away? Yes. But for once he wanted to help out as well and while having an inner battle with himself whether he should listen to his flight or fight mode, the Ravenclaw had taken out his wand and held it in his shaking hands.

But it was too much. He wasn't brave like them and his magical ability wasn't good either. He would only bring himself in danger and the others as well if he wasn't able to use the fire spell and this was not the time to try his luck.

"I-i'm sorry.." he said but he wasn't sure if anyone was listening to him. He then turned around and ran towards the castle, telling himself he was doing good by not getting in the way. Perhaps he could help out there.

They were under ATTACK?! It was just like the lesson they'd had in History of Magic! Talk about de ja vu. Nettie didn't have time to appreciate how cool that was, though, before movement in the lake caught her attention.

She watched in horror as a skeletal hand came out of the lake, and then chaos erupted. People were screaming, flames were flying - and this was the moment Nettie had been waiting for. This was the true test - was she going to RUN?! Or was she going to fight? She'd told herself in class that she would fight...

And that was just what she was going to do!

"CHLOE!" she cried, turning to her friend who seemed rooted to the spot in horror. "Come on, come with me! Send fire at it!" she encouraged, turning to the Inferi and yelling "INCENDIO!" as she did so. That was all she had in her arsenal, being a first year - but hopefully it would help! She grabbed Chloe's arm and tugged, hoping she would follow her as she ran with the rest of the students towards the castle.

She heard people talking and saying her name, but the first year wasn't moving. Her hand shaking pointing at it, screams had stopped but whimpering had replaced. What was that thing and why was it here. Why was Hogwarts so scary?

WHERE WAS HER BIG BROTHER!!

Finally breaking her eyes away from the creatures she looked at Nettie who was saying to send something at it. "What is that spell?"

Oh...

She just said it, right! "I... I don't know where my wand is." Her eyes frantically looked at the ground. Her wand hand was out so her wand must have fallen, she searched around before she hit her holster and found it. Pulling it out she pointed but dropped it. "I can't do this..."

Once her arm was being tugged she stumbled and followed her friend towards the castle tears coming down her cheeks.

Terrified and completely unsure of what to do, Maddie's words finally broke through to her more reasonable side. "Yes, back to the castle. That's a great idea." Walking backwards like Maddie was, so no attacks could come from behind, she slowly stepped back up towards Hogwarts. "Professor Marchand!!" She screamed "Please wait for us." She hoped he could hear them because she wasn't sure how safe it would be for the two of them to be out on the grounds alone.

"Chole, Nettie, Dorian. Come with us, please. A bigger group is safer and we need to get away from these Inferi." She tried to scan to see if there were any other younger students near the lake, hoping they would join the group back to the castle. Leaving the older students and professors didn't seem right, but she also didn't want them to have to worry about her while they dealt with the Inferi.

As she was moving away, a thought occured to her. "What about the merpeople? If the army has passed them, does that mean they lost the fight? They were trying to hold them off for us. We have to help the merpeople." Her heart was breaking for them. They had warned them of the coming army. They tried to protect them. She couldn't just let them be out there and possibly hurt, but she didn't know how to help them.

Lyn’s gaze was caught by Kay when it moved to her. Usually, the professor was protective of all her students but she found herself even more fiercely having that feeling for the young Hufflepuff. She gave her a reassuring look. “I’m staying here,’’ she told Regina determinedly and took a step closer to Lyn and Maddie. Her defense skills had gotten better over the past few terms since she taken it upon herself to prepare for situations like these... or similar.

With Gaston and a group heading back to the Entrance, the Muggle Studies professor drew her wand and held it at the ready. “We need to keep a sharp eye out. Not just at the water but everywhere else.’’ What was that Roderick always said? Constant Vigilance? This was the time for it.

“Nothing of the sort, Mr. Katharos. It seems that there is something that’s attacking the merpeople. If you wish to stay to help us defend the castle please get your wand out.”

The ripple in the water caught her eyes. “Look!’’ Her wand was raised in the direction just as something white became visible. “Inferi!’’ The word was out of her mouth the moment the entire figure was visible.

It was coming right for them!

“Those who are staying, use fire spells as Headmistress Regina said. But remember to be mindful of where you aim!’’ And without further ado...

"INCENDIO!" Instinctively, she put herself ahead of Maddie and Lyn. Her brain barely had time to register that Dorian was bailing on them but who could blame him? Even Kay was somewhat scared; her heart was thudding in her chest.

While he was running away towards the castle, Dorian suddenly heard his name and he slowed down for a moment and looked back to see Emmalyn telling him to join the group. Should he listen to her or pretend he had not heard her and leave? But she had a good point. There was safety in numbers. What if one of those inferi was already ahead and he ran straight in to one all alone? "Right" he said more to himself and then turned back around to join the group with Emmalyn Chloe , Trinetta and Maddie. "What should we do once we're inside the castle?" he asked them hoping one of them would have an idea. And then he overheard what was being said about the merpeople. "We can't risk that!" he said trying his best not to sound hysterical. "We'll only die if we turn back to help, the adults will help out,now let's go"

Dull, blue eyes watched as others appeared, lighting up by just a tinge at the appearance of her Head of House. Jessa adored the man, honestly and felt just a bit less convinced they’d all be dying out here today now that he’d arrived.

Her brow rose by the smallest degree at Dorian’s question. It was supper time, why would he assume they were having a class.

Never mind. It didn’t matter. The younger kids deciding to stay didn’t matter. If they couldn’t see that they were still learning basic magic and would be more in the way than a real help then it was honestly their funeral. Everyone had to go at some point and with the Headmistress against all evacuation attempts, that day seemed like today.

But then the most glorious thing in the entire world happened.

A hand....then another hand.....a body. Bodies. In the midst of the mild—or perhaps extreme—panic that set in, Jessa Cambridge watched as the epitome of her study came crawling from the black lake. She was transfixed, taken to another world entirely. It couldn’t have been real. They had inferi in the lake all this time......? She’d been in the lake....where had they bee—

”NO, YOU CAN’T!” For the first time since this whole ordeal began, the impassive expression on her face broke, giving way to utter dismay when the Headmistress called for fire spells and her schoolmates actually began casting. “Stop! Wait! You’ll destroy them all!” Was no one else thinking harvesting and preservation????

“Stop!” She pleaded, even with her own wand aimed, she hadn’t cast a single spell. There had to be another way. Couldn’t they keep even ONE—two....keep two, because the school would be the one to keep “the one” and she wanted one too.

The look from Professor Stewart was all she needed to stay. Changing her mind once again, she moved a bit closer to the lake, giving Maddie and the group of younger students a look that said she was sorry. "Be safe. Get back to the castle and warn the others. Tell them all to be ready with their wands if the Inferi, well, if we can't hold them off any longer." A few tears streamed down her face as she wondered if it might be the last time she saw her friends.

Her determined steps took her even closer to Professor Stewart and she held out her wand towards the ever advancing Inferi. Her mind was clear and focused on not only protecting her friends, but taking down the creatures that might have hurt the merpeople. It was probably the dumbest decision she had made in her entire thirteen years.

The sound of spells being cast towards the attackers rang in her ears and she closed her eyes before commanding "Ignisio Funem!" Her eyes opened to see the rope of fire sliding out from her wand and towards the nearest Inferi. It was the best spell she had cast all year, but she wondered if it would be enough.

The look from Regina hadn't gone unnoticed. Nothing was said - nothing needed to be said - but it made the man feel a little better knowing that he wasn't the only one feeling the way he was. Which, well, probably wasn't a good sign given the situation they were in.

And then there was movement at the lake so he turned his attention to-

......

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

Hirsch's grip on his wand tightened. The skeletal hand, the single white hand that looked like it had no life in it whatsoever, was enough to tell him what he needed to know. A sinking feeling settled in the pit of his stomach, a feeling that was only made worse when the entire figure emerged from the lake. And it wasn't the only one: an entire army of skeletal corpses appeared, their skin almost shining in the darkness.

Could he swear? In front of the students? Surely, this was the time for it.

Alarm bells rang in his head and he was pretty glad that some of the students, especially the younger ones, were heading back up to the castle. Inferi were no joke, after all. It only added to the worry he was feeling earlier but, well, there was nothing saying that they couldn't defeat these dark creatures. They weren't exactly outnumbered he hoped.

Something that had helped in another desperate time of need was something he was going to use now because, well, the time called for it. Taking a deep breath, Hirsch drew his wand around in a whip-like motion, all the while casting a non-verbal firestorm charm. Crimson and gold flames appeared and formed themselves into a lasso of fire, something that was almost becoming a favourite of his.

It worked in the portal, it had to work here too. .... Ri-?

........

Oh Merlin. What in the name of-?

The wand was still held up but he couldn't help tearing his eyes away from the Inferi and towards a certain Ravenclaw. "Jessa, what are you talking about?!" To say that he was confused was an understatement.

Hey there was an alligator patronus flying around up at the castle! Chloe excitedly made her way down toward the lake, since alligators and lakes were basically like peas and carrots together... although she was much less excited as she passed a group of her classmates at a distance. Who urged her not to go looking for patronus alligator sending people, something something, making no sense.

Maybe because there were staff members and a few students casting desperate fire spells toward the lake. Toward... gross scaly creatures trying to climb out of the water. Cool cool cool cool cool. "Is it really Hogwarts if we're not put in peril?" She wasn't even scared (not much, at least), but she was sort of annoyed.

SHE HAD OWLS TO STUDY FOR AND THERE WASN'T ACTUALLY AN ALLIGATOR DOWN HERE.

"I told you, Professor Hirsch. I told you this place was upsetting. Ignisio Funem." She wasn't surprised to see a whip of fire slide out of her wand. Not for nothing, her mother was the greatest Charms student at Hogwarts since... well, probably ever.

Noble's brow furrowed at mercheftainess' warning, and he couldn't help but share the same thoughts as others: who or what had attacked the merpeople village and was now headed in their direction? The whole thing made him uneasy. A heads up was better than nothing, but still...a bit more detail would have been nice.

He unholstered his wand flicking it into his wrist as he took a defensive stance in front of the younger students. The young Hufflepuffs - Maddie and Emmalyn - in particular. He looked first to the Headmistress, and then to Gaston, who'd just joined them. "That, we've yet to find out..." he responded, the irritation clear in his voice. He didn't like not knowing what he was facing. But he was inclined to agree with the Headmistress. If these attackers were already at the merpeople village, they likely didn't have chance to evacuate. And did Jessa really say about going via her lab?

"Take whatever you might need from the potions lab," he said, glancing back at Gaston and seeing that look. He understood the man's desire to protect, and though he neither showed it nor would admit it, was relieved to see him pulling back from the front line and taking the students with him. "It might be worth heading by the Hospital Wing for supplies too." Just in case.

As one Professor left, another arrived. "Did you see anything suspicious elsewhere?" he asked Haraldur. He was on his broom, it seemed natural to suspect he'd done a survey on the way over. The lake was vast, it would be naive to assume these attackers would arrive in this narrow spot on the shoreline. "Should we go check on the forest?" The last thing they needed was a stampede of centaurs or acromantulas coming out of there too.

And then movement in the water caught his attention. He didn't know what he expected to be breaking the water's surface, but that bony hand wasn't it. His grip on his wand tightened as the hand was followed by a skeletal body...and that body was followed by others.

Lots of others.

All with dull cloudy eyes.

Without thinking about the young company around him, Noble swore under his breath. He'd studied inferi, but he'd never seen one in the, er, flesh. He couldn't say textbooks or defence lessons had prepared him much for facing them for real either. Regina's voice broke through his awe though, and a trio of blue flames erupted from his wand. Right, yes, focus.

"Incendio tria!" he followed it up quickly. Now was not the time to see if spell had actually hit. But he did see a lasso of fire whip past him, and he turned and nodded at Emmalyn. "Good work. Keep it up." Where was Maddie? Nettie? They were holding up too, right?

It was then he heard Jessa. Was she seriously...? He knew she liked necromancy, but this was a whole another level. "For the love of Merlin, Prefect Eagle, this isn't one of your research projects..." Nor was it going to become one. She needed to start casting and helping her fellow students pronto, or she'd better believe she wouldn't have a lab to come back to next term. He'd make sure of it, if the inferi didn't.

Nettie hadn't seen if the fire she'd sent towards the Inferi had actually made contact. She was trying to keep Chloe moving - the poor girl looked like she was going to completely break down. Which was actually...a very reasonable reaction, and Nettie was honestly surprised at HERSELF at the moment for not doing the same.

"It's ok, Chloe! We'll be ok, we just have to keep moving and stick with the professors!" she exclaimed. She turned back, waving her wand and yelling "INCENDIO!" again, hoping she made contact with something, but she was too far away now from the lake. Which was probably a good thing.

She stopped though, and STARED, at her prefect when she started yelling about - destroying them?! She knew Jessa was a scholar, which was putting it lightly, but really? Was this necessary? Did she not see how DIRE the situation was?! She couldn't help herself. "That's kind of the POINT!" she cried. You know, to DESTROY them!

Feeling some of her adrenaline starting to wear off, she continued to tug at Chloe. "Marchard is heading back to the castle. Let's go, it'll be ok!"

To say she was growing increasingly distraught with each spell cast would have been an understatement. If they kept this up, there probably wouldn’t be any left and jfvfhdgdjfbdhd the thought was enough to send her mind reeling.

How could they...so thoughtlessly....get rid of such crucial test subjects. It’s not like they had their own inferi making factory back in the castle, this was once in a lifetime—regardless of the outcome—and they were wasting it. Denying themselves the joy of exploration and discovery.

Think of all they could learn.

Frantic blue eyes turned to her head of house at his question, her lips parting but her words taking a few extra seconds to come out. It was physically painful to watch. “I...I just don’t think we should be destroying them all. Maybe....maybe if we took a bit more care—or maybe move to contain a few specimens before we go wands blazing then it could benefit us all in the long run.” So that whole rope of fire thing? NOT helping.

Her gaze turned next to Professor Noble. She could tell he was growing exasperated with her but when wasn’t he? What was one more strike on their malformed relationship? “It could be.” She argued, by now incapable of keeping to the casual, almost detached tone that usually came from her. “It could be if we weren’t all so busy destroying them.”

Which was apparently the point, according to her young housemate. Jessa started wide eyed but silently at Nettie, unable to make sense of the situation.

They finally had the undead at their door....and she seemed to be the only one happy to see them. The idea was unfathomable. Circe, even Chloe was casting spells now. Dvdgshdjsgdh. How did she put an end to this???? It was heartbreaking.

Flynn felt like a mess, and he was beginning to look like it as well. He was letting his facial hair grow up, which still only looked like stubble as of right now, and his hair was messy. He had told himself he would not let his seventh year defeat him; yet, here we were. He missed the days when he didn't care because now? Now he had to care -- ewww, that word alone made him sick. Even so, he had to get the scholarship if he wanted to attend WADA because, otherwise, he would not have the funds to go. THAT was the only thing he cared about: attending WADA. He had talent, and he wanted the world to know it.

He finally got to breath in fresh air as he exited the castle for the first time today, and yes, those were pajama bottoms he was wearing. He was wearing his galaxy pajama bottoms that nicely paired with his NASA shirt.

It was only until he got closer to the lake that he noticed something was going on...... and something was coming out of the lake......

He thought for a moment to just ignore it and go about his business, but then he became curious. He shuffled down to where all the commotion was, and his brown eyes widened when he realized what exactly was coming out of the lake. Was that INFERI?! Yeah, he should of just went the opposite direction, but he was here now. He stood behind beside Jessa and asked, "What did I miss?" He paused then added, "Y'know, besides the fact that we're about to be attacked by your friend...." She did consider the living dead her friends, right?

Ronan's head whipped around in Jessa's direction as she argued against killing all the horrible creatures. "Are you kidding? We already know all.... brief break to send another flame rope in the Inferi's direction "...we need to know about the things! They're an abomination! They do dark wiz-" The Head Boy trailed off as a horrible thought hit him and he paled. "Who's controlling them? We need to find that out or who's to say they won't raise more?" You know, since they were dark creatures enchanted to do a dark wizards bidding and all.

And then there was Flynn, whom caused a whole different distraction for poor Ronan. Also, he looked rather good with a beard, did he know? "So nice of you to join us, Kowalski!" he snarked, firing yet another flame rope at the Inferi.

Gaston blinked in disbelief at Dorian's question, but he would leave it to one of the students to fill him in. Right now, he had bigger things to worry about like getting as many students back to the castle as possible before whatever they were facing attacked... and trying to convince a certain Hufflepuff to come to her senses and join them. He gave Maddie an extremely grateful look as she decided to go with him, hoping that would be enough to get Emmalyn to come too, and speaking of the older Hufflepuff...

He was waiting for the headmistress's response to the girl's theory when he saw them... skeletal creatures rising from the lake. The color drained from his face as he immediately realized what they were. Inferi. He mumbled something in French under his breath. Use fire spells only. Of course. It had to be fire!

Suddenly, his thoughts took a turn as dark as the creatures themselves. He hadn't allowed himself to think about the possibility that he might die tonight, but now the thought refused to stay buried in the back of his mind where it belonged. It wasn't so much that he was afraid of dying, more of what would become of the family he left behind. Rose would be heartbroken... Desiree would grow up with out her father, and the worst part was she wouldn't remember just how much he loved her! Thinking quickly, he cast a flame freezing spell on the black book he kept in his pocket, hoping it would survive and get back to them if he did not.

The onslaught of emotion lasted no more than a split second. Wand drawn. he moved in front of Vivian, Isa, Maddie, and the rest of the kids who'd joined the group heading back. "Everyone going back, get behind me NOW!" There was no time to wait on anyone else! He raised his wand, casting a nonverbal Firestorm, and a lasso of fire erupted from its tip. He'd completely forgotten about his fear of fire until that moment. Now he was angry! Those things had threatened his family,his family at home and the people here at Hogwarts who he considered family!

Out of the corner of his eye, Gaston saw Dorian running toward the castle, and the thought crossed his mind to tell him to stay with the group. Taking off alone could make him an easy target for the Inferi! Thankfully, the boy came back on his own before that happened! He saw Nettie and a wandless Chloe had joined them; he gave the girls a quick sympathetic look. It broke his heart to see poor Chloe cry! He wanted to give her a hug, but he had to keep the fire lasso going. "It'll be alright," he assured her. "I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you."

For a moment, he thought Emmalyn was going to come with them as well, and he breathed a silent sigh of relief. But it was not to be. It was all he could do to hold back his own tears as he heard her parting words, and he shot a pleading look at Kay, silently begging her not to let anything happen to her. He turned back to the group. "Everybody, stick close to me! RUN, and don't stop until we get back to the castle! The fire will move with us." And with that, he led the group away as fast as his legs could carry him.

Everything was happening super fast and the she-snake seventh year just stood there for a moment, watching all the buzz around here. OH there was the Head Girl and well, oh nevermind, she was leaving? And Jessa was shouting something about not destroying the inferi, but yet everyone else was shooting fire spells left and right.

Uh sorryyyy Jessa ...... while the thought was tempting (no not really) to go and snuggle with a bony undead being, she also had yet to hear back from a few universities and kind of hoped she would live to hear back from them.

Just as she was about to cast the fire rope spell, she turned at the sound of Flynn's voice and shook her head. Really? Yes, they were exhausted, but at least she'd managed to change from her pajama bottoms before leaving the dorm. As difficult as that was. But hey, if anyone could pull it off, Flynn could... especially with that stubble. "Did you at least remember to bring your wand?" she grinned at the best friend, before turning her gaze back on the crawling creatures.

"Ignisio Funem." A flaming rope emerging from her wand to entangle the inferi. With more intent to cause damage than she'd practiced on the dummies in transfiguration class.

Maddie's face fell as Emmalyn changed her mind and decided to stay with the group at the lake. "Emmalyn!" she said, not intending to yell, but seeing as her emotions were running high, her tone of voice ran high with them. "Emmalyn, I know you want to stay, but think if this--what if there are more? What if they're heading toward the castle? Think of all the people you could save by heading back with us!" The thought crossed her mind to toss the younger girl on to her back and force her back to the castle, but that would probably just hold them both up.

She sighed, realizing her work here was done. "Emmalyn, remember---Ignisio Funem! Just a whip-like motion, and you've got it!" she said. Then on that note, she was gone. Marchand was heading back to the castle, and so was she. The only thing Maddie wished was different was the fact that Hawthorne wasn't going back with them. Maddie had really taken a liking to the Headmistress, and she had a great deal of trust in her. Marchand was excellent at charmwork, though. They had this!

So feeling confident she'd done everything she could do here at the lake, she took off running, Marchand's trail of fire hopefully keeping her safe.

Everyone was saying it would be okay, but LOOK AT THOSE THINGS! How was that okay? She was only twelve, how was she suppose to fend them off when she wasn't even able to figure out a spell like the rest of them. This was not okay and this was not going to go well when her parents found out. Oh, she could hear her Uncle Jorge now on how they needed out of this school.

She just nodded at Nettie and kept following her. Looking around she knew professors were around and they would take care of things, they would, they had to, but making eye contact with the charms professor she looked down feeling stupid for crying and being an idiot instead of brave and knowing spells like everyone else, even other first years.

Moving faster away from the lake she followed the group to the Great Hall.

Her heart pounded as she stood next to Professor Stewart, waiting for what was to come next. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Maddie and the others as they took off towards the castle to defend Hogwarts. It was too hard to imagine not seeing them again. Not wanting to take her eyes off the approaching Inferi, she called out to Professor Stewart “Now what? Is the fire working?”

Without waiting for a response, she commanded “Incendio!” towards the advancing Inferi, once again wondering if fire would even cause pause for a group of creatures coming up from the bottom of the lake. “Incendio!” She commanded again, more than thankful for all the times they had to use the spell in potions class over the last year. Professor Noble would be getting a big thank you for that once the whole being under attack thing was over.

After making a little barrier of fire before them, she switched back to trying her rope of fire. It was far less reliable, so having the fire line in front of her gave her a chance to get it right. "Ignisio Funem!"

Fire. Fire spells, fire ropes and fire lasso lit up the ever-growing darkness. They latched onto the dead corpses. Some were hurt by the spells, flailing and falling back on themselves and back into the lake, but the majority were lucky enough to miss the fire.

The unaffected Inferi moved forwards with surprising speed. They spread themselves outwards as more appeared from the depths of the lake. The army were growing and didn't look like they were going to stop anytime soon. They drew closer.... and closer.... you could almost see every detail on their skeletal figures...

One, the leader of the pack, approached one of the talking adults (Noble). It gripped his hand, the one with the long stick, and held on tight. Another latched onto his other arm and, together, they tried to drag him back... back.... back to the lake.

The other Inferi drew close to the small humans. Arms were grabbed, ankles were held onto and some even lunged at the small humans.

In all the chaos, groups of Inferi broke away from the pack to move in different directions. Out, away from the crowd, and onto the grounds....

There was absolutely nothing she could do to prevent the roll of her eyes when Flynn approached and made the statement he did. He wasn’t wrong, they were being attacked by creatures she happened to look upon favourably but this was not the time for his misplaced sense of humour. “The merpeople showed up, said their colony was attacked and now we’ve got this at our shores.”

Ronan’s point worked against him, it worked against everyone who was currently trying to roast the army. “Exactly. Whoever sent these could send more and if we destroy these instead of engineering a way to turn them into our own army, we’re wasting resources. I don’t suspect we’ll be creating our own army of inferi from scratch any time soon, but we’ve got a ready made one here.”

For however much longer they would last under all this fire anyway.

As it turned out, they were resilient little buggers. Some had been repelled but the vast majority was still advancing and the point at which Professor Noble was grabbed was the point at which she was willing to admit something needed to be done—but she was still firmly of the mindset that not ALL needed to be—

What the....?

Jessa felt the familiar, cold skin against hers, damp from the lake and firm in its grasp. A glance downward revealed an inferi that had grabbed hold of her by the ankle. This one. Could she keep this one? The thought had been a tempting one, until another reached forward and grabbed hold of her arm. Not yet great...or even passable at wandless magic, the Ravenclaw knew she would have to do something before she was no longer able to cast.

Not without hesitation, but clear with intent, Jessa nonverbally cast incendio tria. Jessa recoiled from the heat but didn’t let up on the spell. The proximity made a whip like motion impossible but that didn’t worry her. Quickly she turned her wand to the inferi by her ankle and replicated the spell. A part of her hoped that with so many, it would be okay to get the majority out of the way before deciding which ones to keep later when the numbers were smaller and more manageable. This horde coming from the see.....was less manageable.

She turned her wand next The the Potions Professor and cast yet another incendio tria, hoping to shake a few of his new friends loose but honestly....the group was getting larger and moving faster. How long did they expect to hold them off? Some were already heading for the castle.

Kaysha barely had time to register what Jessa was shouting. Excuse her? The prefect was actually worried about the Inferi? Surely Kay had misheard. The movement in the form of Emmalyn caught her eyes now. So Lyn had decided to stay and fight. Blue eyes caught Gaston's and she immediately understood the look he was giving her. She nodded. The little Puff would be safe. This was good even though the adult wanted to do everything in her power to protect the girl. But who was Kay to tell Lyn to return to the Castle if she wanted to fight? She would just ensure that they stuck together. “Good job, Lyn,’’ she managed to say before casting another spell at the Inferi.

The Professor refocused on the Inferi. Practically everyone there was throwing Fire Spells at the creatures. “I believe so,’’ the reply came. “Look! Some are falling back into the Lake.’’ But it was at that precise moment that she also realised that as some were defeated, more rose to take their places.

Then to Kay’s horror, one grabbed Ignatius. The two may not be on speaking terms but she directed her next round of spells to the corpse that had grabbed ahold of him. “Incendio! Incendio! Ignisio Funem!’’ At the same time, she was trying to keep an eye on the Hufflepuff beside her. The creatures were getting deadly close.

She did not even notice that some of the Inferi had dispersed...

She kept up the stream of fire as long as she could, but the ever approaching Inferi had broken through the flames. One of them had grabbed hold of Professor Noble. “NO!” She screamed. She was finally starting to like the guy, she couldn’t just stand there and let the Inferi take him. “Diffindo!” She commanded at the arm of one of the Inferi that was dragging him back towards the lake. “Diffindo!” She commanded once again, aiming at the other Inferi. First year spells could be just as useful as the more powerful ones.

Just as she was about to fire off another spell to help out the professor, she felt a strangely cold grasp around her wrist. She strained to pull her arm free, pointing her arm at the Inferi. “Diffindo!” she pointed at the things arm, trying to cut it off where it grabbed her only to realize that one had also grabbed onto her ankle.


“Professor!” she screamed out, hoping for a bit of help to get the Inferi off of her body. They were over taking them. Some were getting past and making their way towards the castle. The Inferi had to be stopped before they made it to where the rest of the students were.