A very angry Bettie got up of the floor near the Slytherin table with a blood nose and holding her left arm that got hit by the stinging hex. "I have been injured professor. I went to dodge the spell and fell face first and got hit in the arm by that stupid hex." Bettie said through gritted teeth of pain and anger. She spent all year trying to stay out of trouble and where did it get her?

Zoryn was beyond disappointed when she failed to get Rafferty with her kick, but unfortunately there was hardly any time to be disappointed at all. Because she had been standing right in front of him when he began throwing spells out left and right.

Which in this case meant that she was on the receiving end of a couple of them.... Yay.

The Gryffindor let out an excruciating scream, but otherwise she managed to stay silent. Her stubborn nature was the only thing that kept her from whimpering.. Skin. Was. Burning. It was the most pain she had ever been in. Her body had gone limp. She wanted nothing more than to fall into oblivion.

The beater could feel her whole body swelling in turn, but after a few short seconds the sheer amount of pain was so great that she had honestly stopped feeling anything at all. Tears welled in her eyes as she dug her nails into her palms. There was no way anyone would see her in tears.

Despite the fact that she kept her eyes closed and her senses were overloaded by this excruciating physical pain, she could faintly hear other voices joining their circle.

After what felt like ages (a few minutes in reality), Zoryn’s legs gave out beneath her body and she buckled down to the ground.

The initial shock slowly wearing off, Sylvie started distinguishing voices. Through the tiny slits of her swollen eyes she could make out... sauce? on Ainsworth's face. And Zoryn, and Chloe, and- she yelped, another stray jinx hitting her on her left arm, but it was a mere graze compared to the situation on her face.

Then there was another professor there, with his wand out and she felt a panic set in her throat yet again, shuffling backwards on all fours and away from the offending adults with their wands and their painful jinxes. Disfigured head turning, she saw Chloe kneel down and nodded at her words, not able to manage any more than that. There was no rage in her left, no righteous will to battle like last term. What was the point? Look what he'd done to her. To all of them.

Sylvie was trying to get her wand out of its holster, trying to do as Chloe said, when she noted with muted horror that Zoryn was out. "TH'ORYN!" she yelled, nudging Chloe away towards her friend who was clearly in a much graver situation. Other students were around now too, but Sylvie's watery, squinted gaze had moved now to the two adults still present. At least now she had her wand in her hand.

After some quite interesting, fun and challenging lessons where he taught his students about water plants Professor Wishart sauntered into the great hall in a cheerful mood to get something to eat. He needed a light snack to make it to dinner without starving. However all thoughts on snacks and water lilies we're shot out of his head in the same moment his eyes took in the scene in that was taking place in the hall.

Quickening his steps towards the fallen students at the sound of an excruciating scream, Rafferty with sauce all over him and Foster standing with his wand in hand looking angry. What in flaming rose bushes was going on? Joshua pulled out his wand as he got closer to his colleagues and the students on the floor. His eyes went to Foster first for an explanation since he hadn't seen or heard what had transpired before his entrance. "Professor Foster, what in merlin's acacias has happened here? Who has injured these students? Shall i send a patronus for Healer McMillan?"

Turning his gaze to Bettie he asked worriedly, taking in her blooded nose and as it appeared injured arm "Ms Blackwell do you need some ice for that nose or arm?" Going over to Zoryn and Sylvie and Chloe Professor Wishart asked hurriedly "Ms Norcott, Ms Spinnet, Ms Kettleburn are you all right? Where have you been injured?" Who among them had screamed so excruciatingly from pain?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Birchwoodmom

Wanting nothing more than to grab a quick bite to eat and a hot cup of tea, Foster popped into the Great Hall. Much to his surprise, he stumbled upon a crazed sauce covered Rafferty harming students!!

"What in Merlin's..." he trailed off as he bolted towards them, wand in hand. "Step away from the students, Professor Ainsworth, and put your wand away." Foster's grip on his wand tightened as he positioned himself between Rafferty and the students as much as possible. "Have you lost your mind? How dare you pull your wand on these students!"

His eyes briefly left Professor Ainsworth to glance at Sylvie. "Are you okay, Ms. Norcott? Do you require medical attention? Has anyone else been injured?" He had entered just moments after the spells were cast and was unaware of the circumstances leading up to the incident. No matter the reason, no professor should ever harm a student. It was completely unacceptable.

He glared at the Scrimgeour hired goon. "There is no explanation possible that will make this acceptable. I highly suggest you remove yourself from the Great Hall before you find yourself on the receiving end of a far worse spell than you have been casting at these students." Foster rarely resorted to violence, but he was willing to do whatever it took to keep the students safe.

Who was that telling him what to do? Which one of Hawthorne’s idiotic hires was ordering him around? Rafferty managed to observe that is happened to be one Foster Davis through red, puffy and stinging eyes. “How dare they not follow instructions.’’ Rafferty thundered. “Is that a threat?” he continued in a low growl. Rafferty took a menacing step towards Davis. “I’d like to see you try something.’’ The students were now completely ignored. A temper was on the rise and it was his. What did it matter to him if more students were injured or that Spinnet had fallen to the floor? Even Wishart was ignored. Rafferty just had blazing eyes for the one threatening him.

Did someone need to send for the Healer? YES. YES DEFINITELY. Sylvie's face was swelling shut, Zoryn had literally just passed out from the pain, Chloe could only use one arm, and that sweet baby Bettie was injured too. So yes, the normally placid Chloe was feeling a little impatient at the suggestion that they might need a Healer.

It didn't feel safe to be ignoring Ainsworth, and yet, with so many professors on the scene who didn't agree with how he was behaving and so many students injured and Chloe herself fighting back tears, she was willing to let him be. Professor Foster wouldn't let anything happen to them.

"Please, Professor Wishart... If you help Zoryn? She's out from getting the full blast, but I dont' know where it hit her. Sylvie was hit in the face, and it's bad." She gave the professor the most pitiful look, but at least she wasn't crying. Big brave sixth years never cried. "Is there a counterspell? No one ever taught us the counterspell?" And ice wasn't really making Sylvie any more comfortable, apparently.

Gustave was just about to head to the kitchens to find something to drink we he walked past the Great hall and noticed.. something very interesting going on.

He pulled his wand from his wrist holster and twirled it in long fingers as he walked up to the scene and calmly pointed his wand at Professor Foster. “Kindly lower your wand Foster, it’s not right to act unprofessional around the students.” He said as his icy blue eyes flicked to Wishhart and he sneered a bit.

“Surely these students can take care of themselves can they not Wishart? ” His cold glance barely flicked over the injured students, or the student on the ground. “Or perhaps you would like to be on the recieving end of a spell that you will not recover from? ” He said as he raised an eyebrow.

Unlike Ainsworth he was remarkably calm, but he wasn’t above using spells to get his way.

He rolled his eyes a bit as he heard a student talking and he shook his head, “Stop blubbering Kettleburn, or would you like to know exactly what your classmates are going through? ” He said as he looked down at her.

Just moments after Zoryn collapsed, Joshua entered and offered his assistance. Students were screaming, hurt, and needed it to stop. Without looking away from Rafferty, Foster spoke in a commanding tone. "Joshua, call for the healer and tend to the injured alongside Ms. Kettleburn. I'll deal with Professor Ainsworth's removal. He has attacked the students."

His eyes narrowed as he took a step towards Rafferty in return. "A threat? Oh, you should have done your homework on me, Professor Ainsworth. I don't play around with threats, I make promises...and keep them." There was an eerie calm that had settled upon him as he readied himself to make good on his promise. "I'll say this one last time. Remove yourself from the Great Hall this instant. You are no longer welcome here." There was no way he was going to back down or let Rafferty continue on his rampage.

He no more than finished speaking when another goon entered the Great Hall. "I'll lower my wand as soon as Rafferty leaves the Great Hall." He quickly addressed Professor Le Roux without taking his eyes off of Ainsworth. "And, you would be wise to leave with him. We don't take kindly to Professors threatening or harming students."

Bettie fight back tears from her hurting arm and maybe broken nose and also fight back her anger Bettie trying not to be snappy answer Professor Wishart. "Ice, yes, maybe, would that help?

Foster quickly filled him in on the situation. In another circumstance Joshua would have made a shocked face and noise at hearing what Ainsworth had done to the students but there was no time for that. Taking up his wand he mumured "Expecto Patronum!" and watched for a second how his unicorn galloped out of the great hall to find Healer McMillan. Hopefully she’d make haste to get there.

Crouching down on his knees next to Chloe it was hard for Professor Wishart to miss seeing the pitiful look in the sixth years eyes as he heard behind him how Foster tried to get Ainsworth to leave. Reaching out to pet Chloe on the arm gently he reassured. "I'm here to help all of you Chloe. Haven’t you been taught Finite Incantatem in Charms class? It's usually the go to spell for reversing most jinxes, hexes and curse effects." The look of Zoryn and Sylvie crumpled figures though made Joshua think that there would probably be more healing needed to fix what had been done to them. Gripping his wand tighthly he murmured "Finite Incantatem!" as he directed and cast spells both at Zoryn and Sylvie hoping it’d ease their discomfort until Madam McMillan could arrive.

Joshua was about to turn his attention to Bettie when he heard the unmistakable sneering voice of one Gustave Le Roux. He detested that man as much as any of Scrimegour’s goons. Straightening up he turned to face the other man wishing his eyes could shoot daggers as he answered hotly, anger rising. "No, these student’s can’t care for themselves Professor Le Roux. Can’t you see that they are hurting badly? They need our help to get to the hospital wing for treatment right now."

Professor Wishart was about to turn to the students again when Gustave had the audacity to threaten him and Chloe which made him even more furious as he moved slightly to block Chloe from view as he tightened the grip on his wand once more, facing Gustave. "Don’t threaten me Le Roux or the student’s in this school. I will report this to the BoG and i will make sure you regret it if you raise your wand to attack me or the students around us. I strongly suggest you leave the Great Hall right now with your pal Professor Ainsworth. Neither of you are welcome here."

Beckoning Bettie to come over to him with his left hand Professor Wishart said calmly, understanding that the young slytherin was probably both scared and shocked. "Ice will ease the pain and make your nose stop bleeding until Healer McMillan get’s here." Holing his wand out over his open hand he murmured "Glacius!" conjuring up a small globe of ice which he held out to Bettie. "Here put it on your nose for a little while. It’ll help. Are you sure you aren’t hurt anywhere else?"

Zoryn Spinnet out, yo!

It’s a good thing Zoryn had blacked out because she literally would’ve yelled at Professor Wishart’s absolute stupidity. Seriously, was EVERY Professor here incompetent???? Or maybe she would’ve yelled at Professor Le Roux for implying that this wasn’t at all a dire situation. OR perhaps she would’ve tried to kick Professor Davis the same way in which she had tried to kick Ainsworth, seeing as their Arithmancy teacher was also doing absolutely nothing to help anyone.

But thankfully, Zoryn was out.

The Gryffindor didn’t regain consciousness until a few moments after ‘finite’ was cast. Slowly she began to open her eyes, feeling mildly dizzy and very sore. She did try to make eye contact with Sylvie and Chloe, but ultimately decided to close her eyes again.

There was nothing she wanted to do more than ACTUALLY kick Ainsworth in his ~~manhood~~ but fortunately for that block of cheese, she was in far too much pain to stand up. The hex had hit both her body and legs. And she was 100% not doing okay.

So yeah, the floor was fine, thnx.

Bettie grabbed one of the cloth napkins off the table and made her way to Professor Wishart. Bettie making sure she was in a spot where she can keep her eye on Ainsworth and Le Roux. She was not going to turn her back towards them. With the napkin in Battie's right hand she took the small globe of ice and placed it on her nose and held up her left arm."I was hit in the arm"Bettie said glaring at Ainsworth then to Le Roux and back at Ainsworth.

Finite incantatem? Chloe gave Professor Wishart such a very skeptical look at that. Yes, definitely, she knew that spell, but since her friends were laying spread out all over the floor, it seemed a bit simplistic as a counterspell. Then again, Zoryn was starting to stir, although the swelling still looked terrible. It appeared the professor knew what he was talking about and Chloe Kettleburn was a useless potato.

"My arm was hit too, Bettie. Here, lemme see if this makes it feel better," Chloe pointed her wand at the girl's arm and cast Finite Incantatem. It couldn't hurt, at least. "Maybe you could do my arm? And keep that ice on your nose for now. I know it hurts." Being bossy helped calm her down. That was probably why most people went into teaching around here, right?

She kept her wand loose and ready on the off chance these bozos kept after them in spite of their professorial barricade. If she had to defend Sylvie and Zoryn and Bettie, then she was ready this time. Maybe a nice Tarantallegra. She'd like to see Ainsworth do the Cha-cha Slide.

Bettie watched very closely as she cast the spell on her arm."It feels much better. Thank you. As for your arm. I have not done that spell but I can give it a try if you really want me to."

What....in Merlin’s beard.....was happening?

Fletcher entered the Great Hall for a quick snack, stopping just beyond the giant double doors at all...this.

Wands drawn at each other, Spinnet out (not necessarily a bad thing on its own but there was certainly an issue of conduct here), burns? Threats? The man lowered the apple he’d carried along from the kitchen, stunned at first but quickly regaining his composure at the mention of reporting this to the BoG. “That won’t be necessary, Wishart.” He said, moving into the room with his own calm. If he was disturbed by everything around him, it didn’t show in his expression as he calmly walked up to Le Roux and nudged his wand down with his hand.

“We’ve all gotten a little heated and forgotten ourselves. It must be the impending summer.” He spared a glance about the room, irked beyond what showed on his expression. What honestly were they doing? Were they aware of the image this would cast on Scrimgeour. Something like this getting out would be....inconvenient, to say the least.

”None of this needs to leave the Great Hall. Le Roux, Ainsworth, I’d been hoping to get your help with a few things back in my office. He turned to Foster and Wishart. “I trust you can handle this minor situation appropriately and it won’t need to be brought any further. I’d hate for further re-evaluations to be done.” Scrimgeour might suddenly find himself needing to fire more people if they caught his drift.

“Gentlemen.” He gestured toward the door before heading there himself. Not once did he stop to properly look at the state of the students, it would only aggravate him further. This wasn’t acceptable behaviour, but he wouldn’t go publicly scolding. It was important to maintain ranks.

Was Rafferty pleased to have reinforcements? Yes. Yes, he was. He certainly did not need Le Roux’s help to take on Davis. Rafferty only wanted back up because there were more here who were anti- Scrimgeour. As of now the focus was on Davis. Not the pesky students. Not the idiot Wishart. Not even Le Roux. Davis took a step forward and Rafferty matched it with one of his own. The wand clenched in his fist was raised even higher. “What if I refuse, Davis?’’ The question came out in a menacing growl.

The arrival of Calvin did not improve Rafferty’s mood. Dueling Davis was what he wanted to do more than anything. Not even Wishart mentioning the Board of Governors was going to detour him. Only Calvin could do that because he was Scrimgeour’s right hand man.

Rafferty maintained his stance for a full half a minute. A nasty hate filled glare was thrown at Davis before Rafferty moved exit the Great Hall. The other Hogwartians got no further attention from him.

His heart pounded with anticipation. He was ready to duel Rafferty if that was what it would take to keep the students safe. Foster knew his dueling skills were modest at best, but Rafferty didn't know it. His eyes zeroed in on Ainsworth as he took another step forward and hoped Joshua would have his back.

To is great relief, Calvin entered and called off the goon squad. Foster had never been so happy to see the man and almost laughed at the glare Rafferty threw his way. It took every bit of his professionalism to not give a taunting toodaloo wave as Professor Ainsworth moved to exit the Great Hall. "Don't you worry yourself, Professor Fletcher, Professor Wishart and I are more than capable of taking care of this so called minor incident. You and your fellow professors have far greater things to worry about."

With Rafferty out of the way and La Roux's lowered wand, Foster spun around to help the injured students as best he could until the healer arrived. He looked to Joshua "What do you need from me?" He looked to see which students still needed attention, but Joshua and Chloe seemed to have it under control. Bettie was being helped by Chloe, Zoryn seemed to be coming to next to Sylvie and the others after Joshua's help.

"How did all of this even start?" He asked Joshua, not expecting his fellow professor to have any more of an idea than he did. "And, if that..." He caught himself before saying a word that shouldn't be said around students. "If Calvin seriously thinks that this incident won't be reported, he's a bigger fool that I thought. As soon as everyone is taken care of, you and I have an owl to send."

Gustave really just wanted to hex that smirk off of Professor Wishharts face! Did they think he cared about the BOG? Hardly! Scrimgeour himself had hired him, if anything it was the other mans job that was at stake, and he would be watching him more closely to see if he could find him breaking the rules.

The stupid former Astronomy teacher got fired for having tea on the grounds.

Tea...

Just Tea.

Surely it would be easy to get rid of this guy? After he sent a nice stinging hex his way? Or perhaps something worse? He wondered how well the Healer knew the counter curse to sectumsempra?

He was in the middle of deciding which spell to use when Calvin came over and nudged his wand hand down.

Le Roux just shrugged and with a quick twirl his wand was back it its holster and he was turning to leave.

“It must be the impending summer.” He sneered at the other two Professors.

“Evening.” And with that he was turning and heading off after Fletcher.

Zoryn waited until the cheese heads left to open her eyes again. "When I can feel my legs again, I'm going to kick their sorry little..." she trailed off, looking straight up at the ceiling and addressing no one in particular.

No one messed with Zoryn Amari Spinnet. Revenge would be sweet.

The Gryffindor slowly lifted herself off the floor to a seated position, looking at her Professors who remained nearby. "We all better get O's on the rest of our assignments for the rest of the term. Otherwise, I'm telling my parents. And they'll sue."

Just so everyone knew. Zoryn was going to milk this situation for all that it was worth. It ruined any chances of her getting to play Quidditch for the rest of the weak. Sylvie looked like she was going to wake up with warflashbacks for the rest of the month. And that poor Slytherin just looked hecka confused.

So many things happened and Sylvie had trouble concentrating, because apparently a scorched face was VERY HIGH UP THERE on the list of highly distracting things that HURT, a LOT. The ice helped somewhat, but she could hardly focus on that either.

Wishart was saying stupid things, and Sylvie shrieked and rolled away from the direction of his spell, absolutely not caring if it was supposed to be helping her. NO MORE WANDS FROM PROFESSORS. Her own was useless in her hands, shivering and shaking from pain and fear and anger and worry and pain, lots of pain.

Ainsworth was still standing, and Sylvie felt her eyes well up with tears just from his voice and it was the worst thing she's ever felt, right up until another of the Scrimgeour's people showed up and she tried to scramble to her feet, away from everyone who were very likely to hurt her more. She hadn't actually broken any rules this time, and she'd gotten a dark hex to the face. Professor Hirsch had never let them use dark hexes, and now she understood why.

She'd just managed to get on her knees, her left arm useless to her as it too throbbed with pain, careful not to drop her wand. Turning to Chloe with a grimace, she wanted to ask for a little help once she was done with the kid but then FLETCHER appeared and she froze. If Ainsworth was capable of jinxing her, what would Fletcher do? She was rooted to the spot, knuckles white as they gripped her wand as tightly as she could, scorched and mangled face slowly turning to watch the events unfold.

She was not relieved when they left. She was a little relieved when Zoryn popped right back up, almost as good as new. Davis was talking, Chloe was being helpful, Wishart was doing something or other and she.... needed to go. Right now.

Barely holding back a sob, she heard what Zoryn said as she got to her feet heavily next to her. Through unnaturally puffy, beady eyes she weakly surveyed the scene before her before glancing down at the throbbing welts on her skin. If her arm looked like that, and her face felt the way it did, she could only imagine how disfigured she was right now. Probably unrecognisable.

Another sob bubbled up and she couldn't stop it this time, nor the one after it or the following one after that. The tears HURT and everyone were okay but her, everyone just had small welts but her, useless, helpless, stupid Sylvie. Without a second thought, the seventeen year old turned on her heels and started to run out of the hall, professors and the hospital wing be damned.

Wow... just... wow. Tad had no idea what to do but think, first she was being forced to eat something she didn't like and then other people were involved and.. Curses.. Spells were thrown. And more teachers came over. Everytime he had the thought on this school couldn't get any worse, there it was.

Tad really needed his Auntie Elisa right now. She had something up her sleeve for one and while he didn't want to get into any trouble to be on the receiving end on these punishments... Well, right now it didn't seem to matter anymore. He couldn't last being sweet little Taddy around these evil men. So he got up and brisk-walked out of here.