Well... this lesson didn't seem to be too horrible... they just had to use some charms on some areas to keep the Muggles away, yeah? That was super simple—

And then.

The man fell.

And he didn't get back up.

Quinn blinked. And then blinked again. His brain was on pause. That didn't... that didn't just...hap...pen...rig..ht....?

The blood slowly drained from his face. He turned around, clasping his hands close to his chest. He couldn't breathe. He shook his head. "...n....no...no, no..... no.... no, no, no.... nonononono..." he muttered, crouching down. He just watched someone die. Someone got killed. Right in front of him. He watched it happen. Tears welled up in his eyes and he covered his mouth.

He wasn't moving unless someone made him. He was in shock. There was no way he was turing around. Seeing... that man.... that poor, defenseless man... tears ran down his cheeks and he shivered, trying to hold in his sobs.

Rosier was a villain. Part of his whole bit was threatening to off people at the drop of a hat; she should've seen this coming. It should have come earlier. Eden had been making jokes about killing muggles and muggleborns all term.

But...it felt like everything inside her had become sand and was slowly draining through a little hourglass opening in her stomach. Falling down to become a weight in her toes. Away from her brain, didn't need that, thanks.

She registered screaming in the background. Crying, too - never a good look, for anybody, at any time. Eden didn't cry. She just stood there - shocked, transfixed, numb. She watched Nemesis Upstead - were they sniffing the fallen man to see if he was dead? She couldn't really see. Everything was blurry. But she wasn't crying. Tears did not fall, so she was not crying.

Eden walked away, and then she picked up the pace and ran across the grounds. A tear fell. Just one. Except just one broke the entire Hoover Dam of emotional repression she'd been building up for a long time, and before she could stop herself tears began rushing down her cheeks.

This was not barbaric. Torture was barbaric. They were only repelling muggles. This, in Valencia's opinion, was way underwhelming in terms of what she expected for a practical lesson.

There were times, in her opinion, it was best to steer someone away from dangerous situations. She had no problems at all with this spell.

She swallowed hard at what she did have a problem with... that green light...

She didn't have to think twice as she took off running following some toward the courtyard. She wasn't running with the determination to do well in the lesson. Nope. She had to get away from the scene in front of her.

An session in the common room didn't sound terrible, especially if they'd all be together doing it. Almost like a party. Except one where you wrote essays and not one where there was dancing and games. She nodded quietly and gave Cece the best little smile she could muster. It wasn't the worst thing in the world. They could handle an essay. In any case, they were moving on now, towards the front gates, and Kinsay was curious and very scared about what they would be doing next.

She came to a stopping point around her peers, watching as- Muggles? ..... Those were muggles? Who- How did he- Where did he-

They were real? And Kizzy was supposed to use Spells on them? Her whole stomach twisted up into something really horrible. The brain fuzz was starting to come back and instead of moving to join people she was stuck. Stuck long enough to see the events that were to follow.

Kale. Avada Kedavra. Green light. Thud. Lifeless body. Screaming. Crying.

Dead.

Kinsay James stood where she was in absolute shock. She thought she was standing still, but in reality her whole entire body was shaking. She didn't scream like Adam and she wasn't crying like Quinn, but she was feeling all sorts of sick and all sorts of dizzy and all sorts of really horrible, horrible things. Short breaths. Fuzzy head. Dropped wand. Not okay.

Soon enough Louise wasn't worrying about how to distract a rat anymore, but they were outside and... there were muggles. Louise watched the people lose their blindfolds and ropes in shock, taking a moment to actually digest the fact that Rosier had brought ACTUAL muggles onto the grounds for them to practice on.

Thankfully it was just the muggle-repellant charm.

......

Until it wasn't.

Louise had turned her attention away towards other muggles that were running away, but when her brain heard the two words that came from Rosier's mouth, the redhead turned her head just in time to see a flash of green light. And a body hit the ground. Louise's green eyes were wide, locked onto the dead muggle while her brain processed what happened.

Rosier killed a muggle. Right in front of them.

And if they didn't GO, there would be more dead muggles around them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

One minute, they were talking about rats and hypothetically playing hide-and-go-seek with Muggles.... and the next minute Bernadette Grantham was able to see thestrals.... or would be able to, if she went outside looking for Muggles and wound up in the barns somehow.

But she couldn't do it. She couldn't move. She was shaking, her hands in fists by her side, her feet frozen to the ground. He'd just... offed a Muggle. Like that. For no reason. Someone that coulda been her dad, her granda, her uncle she never met, her brother's roommate.

Bernie was malfunctioning and completely in shock.

Tearing her eyes away from the scene, shutting all of her emotions down to SURVIVE this class, Louise turned back around, numb. She had to go. She had to go find more muggles and... and.... somehow HELP them. Get them to leave.

"Bernie!" Louise called out, seeing the girl frozen in place. She grabbed the girl's arm as she approached her and tried to tug her away from the scene. "Come on, you have to move. Staying will only make it worse." Worse for the muggles, definitely. Worse for them? Well, who knew? If Rosier killed a muggle without a thought, who knew what he wanted to do to THEM?

There was a LOT going on and Atlas found himself incredibly distracted and lacking any real ability to focus thanks to his mind constantly wandering right back to the thought that they were going to have to kill the rat and then the Gryffindor wondering what story to tell himself to get himself to follow through with the order. Of course, there was the obvious one: killing the rat meant that the Neo Alliance would not kill his dad.

.....for the greater good.....

....for the greater good.....Atlas would kill the rat...

He was so caught up in this, breath seizing in his chest, that he missed Quinn expanding on the Gryffindor's suggestion and only came to a little after Bernie had put a blindfold on the rodent. Atlas could identify, with the rat. That was exactly how he felt right now. Like a blindfolded rat lost in a maze and no idea how to get out but searching for something that may kill him.

The muggles appearing had made him nauseous, but there was surprising relief when it was revealed they would just be performing the muggle repelling charm. That...that was...okay...maybe...okay than the alternative...

...spoke too soon...

And then there was that SAME green light. The iridescent green light that he had witnessed in the hedge maze and resulted in the death of a jarvey. For the second time this term Atlas had seen that light and for the second time Atlas thought someone, a person, had died. Only this was different from the start of term feast. Kale Trent had not actually been struck by a Killing Curse that night. This...this was different. This he had even heard Rosier utter the words.

Frozen in horror, an expression that mimicked the man laying on the floor, Atlas stared at the man and the murdered muggle's empty gaze stared back. Remember how Quinn had been wanting to hold his hand earlier? The Ravenclaw got his wish now and then some as Atlas reached out and clasped his friend's hand desperately. There were no tears in the Gryffindor's eyes, there was not even the urge to pee, but there was the urge to NOT end up like this muggle had and standing here under Rosier's wand was a sure way to make that happen. "....we have to move..." he hissed, eyes unfocused and not registering anything but the tracks left by the fleeing group of muggles and their peers. "...Quinn...we have to move..."

We will be next. We have to move. We will be next. We have to move.

And then Atlas took a step forward and fought hard against his knees as they tried to buckle. Moving by Bernie in the next wobbly stride, he grabbed for her robes too to tug. "...we have to move..." But then there was another Gryffindor, a loud one, latching on to Bernie and Atlas' hand quickly released. Too loud...too much attention being drawn...they had to move.

He tugged on Quinn's hand again, moving forward more, it didn't matter where they went at first...they just had to move. They had to move.

Quinn tried hard to focus as Atlas squeezed his hand. He didn't want to go. He wanted to stay here, staring at the grass. But... he knew, in the back of his head, Atlas was right. He stumbled a bit as Atlas tugged him up. His knees wobbled unsteadily under him. His hand was clammy in Atlas's grip.

"A-Atlas..." he whispered, his voice catching as his throat tightened, eyes still pointing towards the ground in front of himself, "...he....he just....th-the man...." A sob broke his sentence off. He cried quietly as Atlas tugged him along.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiallNIP

Quinn tried hard to focus as Atlas squeezed his hand. He didn't want to go. He wanted to stay here, staring at the grass. But... he knew, in the back of his head, Atlas was right. He stumbled a bit as Atlas tugged him up. His knees wobbled unsteadily under him. His hand was clammy in Atlas's grip.

"A-Atlas..." he whispered, his voice catching as his throat tightened, eyes still pointing towards the ground in front of himself, "...he....he just....th-the man...." A sob broke his sentence off. He cried quietly as Atlas tugged him along.

They had to move. They HAD to move. THEY HAD to MOVE.

Glancing back briefly just to confirm that Quinn's feet were moving (Atlas really did not know what he would do if his best friend's feet were still stationary) and to his relief they were...and something inside him pushed to lock his knees again and become the stabilizing element in their duo. The role he usually fell into, the one he had conditioned himself into. Aries was the emotional one, after all.

Tugging more and treading through the snow and AWAY from Rosier. Maybe he and Quinn could just be terrible at finding the muggles, then they wouldn't have to do anything. Atlas was not in the business of saving anyone else today but himself, Aries, and the boy whose hand he was currently holding. Andromeda would be perfectly fine at taking care of herself, that he was sure of.

Okay, so maybe the full-body bind curse hadn’t been the best idea but she was fed up of talking and listening to everyone else all the time! All they did was talk, talk, talk about what they thought would help the rats but no one wanted to act. NO. She would act and actually try to help. With the first activity over, her eyes moved back to the headmaster only for them to widen as he asked his second question.

Force someone to stay away? He was obviously fishing for an answer and one that this little Ravenclaw would not divulge. No Sir. Staying shut, she simply listened to the others answer and tried her best not to judge them too harshly.

Following quietly, Ingrid moved away from her group and mixed in with the rest of the crowd as the headmaster led them out towards the front gate. What on earth was…OH. Even despite the fact that that the charm was indeed painless, it hurt Ingrid on a level she didn’t quite understand to see the actual muggles blindfolded here against their will. It could have been one of her friends.

And then…WHAT the…RUN! was all she could think as a muggle slipped free of the ropes and blindfolds.

Ingrid inhaled sharply as the scene before her unfolded before finally, a scream escaped her lips as the flash of green shot from the wand of the headmaster, hitting the muggle. It was like nails on a chalkboard. Bloodcurdling and terrifying. She was shaking, hands covering her mouth as a tortured scream emanated deep from within her. It was like some joke. Some sick joke, like someone had heard her talking about the thestrals and how she wanted to see them only weeks ago and now…

Dropping to her needs, eyes wide in shock, she simply sat there, unaware of what was happening around her, unable to remove her eyes from the body of the muggle that lay there. So still. Lifeless. The look on his face may have been peaceful but that meant nothing to her. All she could do was stare and scream in horror as the onset of guilt began to dig its claws into her, paralysing her.

Geeeez, Louise! Actually, Bernie would probably be targeted by Rosier next if she kept standing here and staring at the dead man like that. She shivered at the touch from her housemate, nodding to her directions to move, nodding to Atlas who passed by her too.

"Let's... let's go..." Where? She didn't know. She didn't know where to go. All she knew was that she was following Louise now, and maybe even subconsciously reaching out to take the older girl's hand, if she could, because she was so so so disturbed and scared and just didn't want to be by herself now. And what did it say for some of the kids, who just breezed past the dead Muggle like he was nothing? Like he didn't even exist?

She felt a familiar clenching sensation in her stomach again like she might throw up.

...

S I G H.

Lucien pinched the bridge of his nose as he watched several of the children decide to shut down. There was still a class. He had warned them often enough that defiance WASN'T how they would win. Keep muggles out of the castle, was that really the worst instruction he had ever given them?

No. This was indeed on Kale Trent and he would not tolerate the WEAK who could not adapt. If they could not adapt and move on, they had no place in the new world and he was done justifying their existence. Watching them remain motionless as minutes ticked by....

Lucien raised his wand once more, pointing to each and everyone of them that had not made even the smallest move to do as he asked.

"I'm going to count to 3." A long and generous number. "If you're still standing here, YOU will join this man wherever he has gone. I've given instructions and expect them to be followed dammit!" So angry was he that a bolt of random magic shot from his wand, scorching the ground where it landed. "Go." He instructed once more, his tone icy and threatening.

Aboli was unclear whether she owed an essay or not. Her rat hadn't eaten the cheese. She had had it bound by her rope most of the time. But she supposed JUST to be safe, she would write a stupid essay for the stupid headmaster. Whatever. And Minjae shouldn't worry. Aboli didn't blame HIM for the essay.

They were moving on anyway.

How to keep muggles out???? There were a lot of spells and enchantments and stuff. Her classmates were doing well saying that, too. Headmaster Rosier led them to the front gate??? Of the school? And Aboli felt her stomach nervously rumble as she did so. She had a baaaaad baaaaad feeling about this. Very bad. Much bad.

MUGGLES AT HOGWARTS? Not to mention the implications of this. Rosier had grabbed RANDOM muggles from the safety of their homes/works/whatever and now they were HERE. They would be scared, confused, and clueless. It felt awful. They were equating them to lab rats, the previous victims in this class. At least they weren't being asked to hurt the muggles...

Aboli immediately headed for one group of muggles, not sure which direction they would go, but she was going to try not to SCARE them.

And THAT was when she heard the spell behind her. The green. She turned around in time to see the body, and a crowd of her classmates looking stunned. MANY of them had probably never witnessed the unforgivable before, and Aboli hadn't either. Luckily, she hadn't seen the execution - only heard it, FELT it. Kale......poor Kale. Aboli's heart wreeeeeeetched for him. He shouldn't feel guilty, but he would. She knew HE would.

She wanted to help Bernie...she wanted to help little Adam.

But Aboli swallowed thickly, seeing that the truly petrified ones were being taken care of, and swept off. She couldn't stand to be near Rosier. Her body was shaking. She felt like she was on fire. She....she had never wanted to hurt ANYONE as badly as Rosier in this moment. She heard him having a little FIT behind her as she did, and she sincerely hoped NO ONE stayed behind.

Not okay AT ALL.

It was all so real, so terribly real now. All term, it had seemed like a threat used to keep them in line. Even more, she thought it was starting to work. Kale complaining, she already figured he'd be crucio-ed. No big deal, the boy seemed a glutton for punishment. But now....now this man was...he was....one minute he existed and the next.....he......he....

The little girl wanted to be LITERALLY ANYWHERE but here. The sun? The centre of the earth? A history of magic lesson? Any would do.

It hurt her head a little, coming to see what it really entailed and how it really worked and the whole thing made her nauseous enough she turned to run. However.

HOWEVER.

Kizzy wasn't running. Regardless of anything else that happened, Kinsay James was still standing there and there was now a count of THREE.

She didn't know about anyone else but...uh.....Emmerson didn't WANT to see anyone else die. It was too much. THIS ONE MAN who meant nothing to her was ENOUGH. "Kizzy! Kizzy, Kizzy, Kizzy!!" Emm grabbed the girl's wand from the ground then grabbed HER. No questions, no time to be mad at anyone. NO.

"Kizzy we're, next. COME ON!!!" She tugged hard as she could, not ready to die or be EXTRA good at seeing thestrals. "Ingrid." Emm tried to drag Kizzy over to the Ravenclaw. She tucked the wands away to free another hand then took hold of the other girl too. "Ingrid, we're going. Come on come on come on. PLEASE." She tried to tug the girl up to her feet, while making it VERY CLEAR she was moving to do what Headmaster Rosier said. "We're going...going to...to...to....we're going to the lake--the barn--the trunk...tree trunk...courtyard! I saw some run there!! I...we...we're going, we promise." See? Moving. Not standing still. MOVEMENT. No defiance.

Please please please, just move.

There was a small smile on her lips when Claudine agree that the new plan might work. She hadn't even considered that using glacius on the block of cheese might mask the scent of it. If that was what happened, then they shouldn't have much trouble keeping the rat away from it. Only they never got a chance to test out their theory. They were so close too! Lia had a deep feeling that it would've worked... and now... they were going to be stuck writing that essay by this afternoon! "Sorry," she whispered to the girls in her group. It wasn't her fault that they didn't get to finish the activity but it still felt like the right thing to say.

As for the question that was asked, well, she agree with the muggle repelling charm or making the area unplottable to the muggle eye. There were a whole bunch of answers that could've been given. Some much more violent then others. The lesson was once again moving on. There was already an uneasiness growing inside her from the previous question.

The uneasiness grew to nauseousness as they were led closer to the front gates. So when Rosier announced they would be learning 'Repello Muggletum' today and standing right there before them all was a group of blindfolded and hands bound people, she was quick to put two and two together. They were muggles. They had to be. And something deep within her told them they weren't no practice dummies.

This was NOT okay. It didn't matter if the spell they were meant to use wouldn't harm the muggles. The thought of having to chase them around while they were already so scared was unbelievable. This first year didn't want to do it. It wasn't right.

Watching the group of muggles scatter the moment that they could, crushed her. The last thing she wanted was to make their fears worse.

Lingering back wasn't the brightest of ideas this first year had. She had heard Kale's loud statement and while she agreed one hundred and ten percent, she knew right away something bad was going to happen. The flash of green light was blinding and the incantation that she couldn't even dare to speak in her mind still rang loud in her eyes.

Blue eyes widen in shocked horror as Rosier cast that unforgiveable at one of the fleeing muggles. The man dropped to the ground right before her very eyes and all she could hear now was screaming. Whether it was her own screams or someone else's, she didn't know nor did she even care. He had killed him. The man could've had a family that would never see him again. He could've been anyone, any of them! Now he was gone... right here before them.

Hot tears flooded her vision and her breath caught in her throat. She felt like she couldn't breath. Everything was spinning and she wobbled a little one her feet. Where any of her siblings or cousins were or her friends was beyond her. Dahlia was finding it hard to thing. Hard to look away. Hard to move. Hard to breath.

Spiraling was happening fast. She wanted nothing more than to sink to the ground and cry until she couldn't there were no more tears left. Nothing around her seemed to be sinking in. Nothing until she heard Rosier's threat. Now that sunk in and it sunk in fast. Dahlia didn't bother to wipe away the tears that were streaming down her cheeks as she took a very unstable step forward.

The first step was followed by a series of more slow steps and definite stumbling over her own feet. Deep gasping breaths were taken as the first year pulled her wand from her holster, gripping it tightly in her hand small hand.

Where she was going she wasn't sure. Maybe the Whomping Willow or the barn. It didn't matter as long as she was moving away from here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Nem had to admit they were curious, at least at the point when the class reached the gates, and some prisoners were ushered in. So what were they...

The Big Man had said about keeping muggles away from an area, which did imply humane methods, so it made no sense to hope for more than that. All the same, Nem was deeply disappointed when it was confirmed they were just sticking with the Muggle-Repelling Charm. Sure, the Big Man had mentioned using other methods, but was it really time to totally out themselves in front of everyone? ... Maybe. They'd play it by ear.

One thing Nem knew was that they were splitting off and taking this activity solo, so as to not be held back by the rest of these dunces. They had just prepared to start the pursuit, when, speaking of dunces: Kale Trent.

Naturally, Nem hung back to watch the fireworks, and this time they were not disappointed.

There it was, that unmistakable burst of green light, which Nem anticipated only a second before it came, once they'd heard that first syllable. The body slumping to the floor with the heavy finality of death, alive and thinking and alert one second, gone the next. A 'who' to a 'what'. Snuffed out in a moment. Pretty neat.

More than enough, too. At least in one respect.

Aware that the Big Man was probably not at his peppiest, Nem diverted just a moment to go look at the corpse on the ground all the same, drinking in the sight with an almost impossibly empty stare. They even started to crouch down and really study its face - just to see, you know? - but a nearby scream pulled them from their thoughts. Right. Lesson.

With a glance towards the Big Man, and a little glint of something in their eye, Nem turned reluctantly away from the cadaver and stalked away in the vague direction that some of the muggles had gone. Impassive once more, they took the Luck kid firmly by the arm and tugged him along with them. "Come on. Now."

Quote:

Originally Posted by aRogueOne

Okay, so maybe the full-body bind curse hadn’t been the best idea but she was fed up of talking and listening to everyone else all the time! All they did was talk, talk, talk about what they thought would help the rats but no one wanted to act. NO. She would act and actually try to help. With the first activity over, her eyes moved back to the headmaster only for them to widen as he asked his second question.

Force someone to stay away? He was obviously fishing for an answer and one that this little Ravenclaw would not divulge. No Sir. Staying shut, she simply listened to the others answer and tried her best not to judge them too harshly.

Following quietly, Ingrid moved away from her group and mixed in with the rest of the crowd as the headmaster led them out towards the front gate. What on earth was…OH. Even despite the fact that that the charm was indeed painless, it hurt Ingrid on a level she didn’t quite understand to see the actual muggles blindfolded here against their will. It could have been one of her friends.

And then…WHAT the…RUN! was all she could think as a muggle slipped free of the ropes and blindfolds.

Ingrid inhaled sharply as the scene before her unfolded before finally, a scream escaped her lips as the flash of green shot from the wand of the headmaster, hitting the muggle. It was like nails on a chalkboard. Bloodcurdling and terrifying. She was shaking, hands covering her mouth as a tortured scream emanated deep from within her. It was like some joke. Some sick joke, like someone had heard her talking about the thestrals and how she wanted to see them only weeks ago and now…

Dropping to her needs, eyes wide in shock, she simply sat there, unaware of what was happening around her, unable to remove her eyes from the body of the muggle that lay there. So still. Lifeless. The look on his face may have been peaceful but that meant nothing to her. All she could do was stare and scream in horror as the onset of guilt began to dig its claws into her, paralysing her.

Right. Moving. He needed to move. He couldn't just sit here because Rosier would get angry at him - and his loud warning and count down to the class a few seconds later told Adam he was right about his hunch. Adam didn't even register that Nemesis had been studying the body like it was a cadaver in a lab - he'd still been too spaced out, wondering if the poor man was going to be able to have a funeral or not.

He slowly started to move, his feet feeling like lead. He had to go somewhere, as instructed. Where would they be able to relax a bit? Process a bit more in safety without Rosier watching them? Maybe...uh...uh...the barns! Yes! That would be a good spot. "Let's go to the barns," he announced, not sure if Nem was intending to follow him but if they were...well, that was where he was going to move.

INGRID! Thank Merlin! She was standing nearby, looking just as shocked as Adam felt he probably had looked, and he grabbed her hand. "Ingrid, come on. The barns," he said quietly, giving her a tug. "We have to do it or Rosier said we're next!" he hissed.

What came next was somewhat of a blur. She neither heard the words of the headmaster nor really cared what he was saying. Someone had died. They’d actually died, there, in front of her. The spell had hit the poor muggle man and he was…lifeless. Dead. Like her innocence.

For a moment, she almost keeled over, ready to lay there and sleep so that she would have a brief pause from whatever it was that was going on in front of her when a brief tugged on her arm shook her out of her own thoughts. “Huh…? Oh”. Mustering whatever will she had left, she allowed herself to pulled up and allowed someone, Emmerson was it? To drag her away from the…

the…

She couldn’t think about it now. It was just too much. Nodding at Emmerson’s words, she had been about to follow her until someone else had began to tug at her arm too. Swiftly, she swirled, about to tug her arm away from the killer whoever it was when her eyes finally settled on the familiar image of her twin. “Adam!”. Grabbing him, she pulled him in tightly for a hug, her chest convulsing as she cried silent tears into his shoulder. [SIZE=1]Thank go was all she could thing as she moved away slightly to look at him. “Adam! Come with us! We’re going to the courtyard”. She was not ready to let him go but she also wanted to stay in a group. It seemed so much safer than there being just two of them. Grabbing his arm, she dragged him along as they all made their way to the courtyard.

Kinsay was shutting down very quickly. She didn’t put up any protest when Emm grabbed her, nor did she question it. Were they friends? Was everything okay between them? Was she supposed to be mad still? Was Emm supposed to be mad still? Nothing seemed to matter and none of these questions seemed to surface.

Instead, Kinsay somewhat managed to snap out of it, allowing herself to be dragged towards Ingrid. And Adam. Apparently.

She didn’t really understand what they were going on about, but she did understand that she wanted to be anywhere but here. Whether it was the courtyard, or the the barn or the tree trunk. It didn’t matter. Kinsay was ready to run for it, even though her lungs didn’t feel like they could handle anything more than a brisk walk. She'd follow Emm (not that she'd have much of a choice if Emm would still be holding onto her, which Kinsay did not mind one bit). No one else could get hurt. No one else could die today.

Violet was just trying to keep her head down and not attract negative attention in this class. Fortunately their rat exercise hadn't gone horribly awry, and she was inwardly breating a sigh of relief when Rosier brought out the people. Kidnapped, bound and blindfolded people. To be used as class experiments. This was just what she'd been dreading all semester--a situation where she'd be faced with either having to do something she absolutely refused to or be punished or killed for not doing it.

So she was glad when Rosier said they'd just be using the Muggle repelling charm. That wasn't so bad, that was actually a good charm to know. If only they weren't testing it on real people, who'd been brought here against their will. Trying not to think too hard about what would happen to them once class was over, Violet skirted the crowd and headed in the direction of the castle. That was not usually a particularly dangerous place, but right now it was full of brutal Neo-Alliance thugs who wouldn't hesitate to hurt a Muggle if they came across one.

Suddenly Violet was arrested by the flash of green light in her peripheral vision and the sound of gasps from some fellow students, and looked over her shoulder just in time to see Rosier strike down one of the Muggles. The Killing Curse! Violet had heard of it, but of course never seen it done. It was one of the Unforgiveable curses. And Rosier had used it without even thinking twice. Violet knew he wouldn't hesitate much longer to use it on one of the students, either. And look at the man--so angry his wand was discharging into the ground around him. Power, but no control. Violet was both frightened and disgusted--no matter how powerful a person was, if they couldn't control themselves, they were no better than a child.

Violet had seen a dead man once, in an alley in Muggle New York. That had been some homeless derelict who'd died of exposure or bad living. A glance had been enough to give her bad dreams for weeks. But she hadn't actually seen the man die, not like this.

Not waiting for a second glance, Violet hurried on toward the Courtyard area before the castle, before something else happened to someone.


OOC: Sorry if I disappeared for a few days, my power has been out, and is not that reliable now, so if I start something I can't finish, I apologize in advance.

SPOILER!!: Kizzy, Ingrid, Adam

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

Right. Moving. He needed to move. He couldn't just sit here because Rosier would get angry at him - and his loud warning and count down to the class a few seconds later told Adam he was right about his hunch. Adam didn't even register that Nemesis had been studying the body like it was a cadaver in a lab - he'd still been too spaced out, wondering if the poor man was going to be able to have a funeral or not.

He slowly started to move, his feet feeling like lead. He had to go somewhere, as instructed. Where would they be able to relax a bit? Process a bit more in safety without Rosier watching them? Maybe...uh...uh...the barns! Yes! That would be a good spot. "Let's go to the barns," he announced, not sure if Nem was intending to follow him but if they were...well, that was where he was going to move.

INGRID! Thank Merlin! She was standing nearby, looking just as shocked as Adam felt he probably had looked, and he grabbed her hand. "Ingrid, come on. The barns," he said quietly, giving her a tug. "We have to do it or Rosier said we're next!" he hissed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aRogueOne

What came next was somewhat of a blur. She neither heard the words of the headmaster nor really cared what he was saying. Someone had died. They’d actually died, there, in front of her. The spell had hit the poor muggle man and he was…lifeless. Dead. Like her innocence.

For a moment, she almost keeled over, ready to lay there and sleep so that she would have a brief pause from whatever it was that was going on in front of her when a brief tugged on her arm shook her out of her own thoughts. “Huh…? Oh”. Mustering whatever will she had left, she allowed herself to pulled up and allowed someone, Emmerson was it? To drag her away from the…

the…

She couldn’t think about it now. It was just too much. Nodding at Emmerson’s words, she had been about to follow her until someone else had began to tug at her arm too. Swiftly, she swirled, about to tug her arm away from the killer whoever it was when her eyes finally settled on the familiar image of her twin. “Adam!”. Grabbing him, she pulled him in tightly for a hug, her chest convulsing as she cried silent tears into his shoulder. [SIZE=1]Thank go was all she could thing as she moved away slightly to look at him. “Adam! Come with us! We’re going to the courtyard”. She was not ready to let him go but she also wanted to stay in a group. It seemed so much safer than there being just two of them. Grabbing his arm, she dragged him along as they all made their way to the courtyard.

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Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Kinsay was shutting down very quickly. She didn’t put up any protest when Emm grabbed her, nor did she question it. Were they friends? Was everything okay between them? Was she supposed to be mad still? Was Emm supposed to be mad still? Nothing seemed to matter and none of these questions seemed to surface.

Instead, Kinsay somewhat managed to snap out of it, allowing herself to be dragged towards Ingrid. And Adam. Apparently.

She didn’t really understand what they were going on about, but she did understand that she wanted to be anywhere but here. Whether it was the courtyard, or the the barn or the tree trunk. It didn’t matter. Kinsay was ready to run for it, even though her lungs didn’t feel like they could handle anything more than a brisk walk. She'd follow Emm (not that she'd have much of a choice if Emm would still be holding onto her, which Kinsay did not mind one bit). No one else could get hurt. No one else could die today.

It would be near on impossible to explain just how RELIEVED Emmerson felt when everyone started moving. The man was on the count of two and the girl had received enough education to know what came next.

"No time! No time" They could hug when they WEREN'T standing in front of the man who promised to off them next. While she did let go of Ingrid, Emm's grip reminded......vice like on Kizzy. It didn't matter what all had happened before. This was happening now and had put things into ridiculously clear perspective for the 12 year old.

"Fine, courtyard. Okay. NOW."

And with that she took off at a sprint--still Kizzy!clinging while she hoped Adam and Ingrid would do the same.

Rosier was not a patient man and her heart kept skipping beats in anticipation of the dreadful next number. It was time to be elsewhere and she was gone.

Later, she would consider all that happened in this lesson and appropriately freak out but right now, the Gryffindor was in both survival and hero mode. THERE WAS NO TIME FOR THINKING.

Heath had followed Rosier and the rest of the group to the gate where his eyes were immediately drawn to the blindfolded people. Who were-? Muggles. Rosier “borrowed” muggles. His heart clenched as he imagined what Rosier might do to them when he was done with them. A storm of emotions - sadness, fear, anger roiled inside him. Too many emotions to process at once! He needed something to distract himself before they showed, so he focused all his attention on Rosier, hanging on to every word he said. Repello Muggletum, defend an area of the grounds… Okay, he could do that.

His dark eyes followed the muggles as they scattered, but before he could follow them - Those words, that green light! Heath took an automatic step back the moment he saw that light. All he could do was stare horrorstruck at the lifeless muggle, his hand clapped to his mouth to stifle any sound that might’ve otherwise escaped. That poor man… he was probably someone’s son, someone’s dad. As he tried to block out the image of that man’s grieving family, another worse thought occurred to him. It could’ve been his dad or grandpa on the receiving end of that curse. It could’ve been any one of them! It could’ve been…

He felt his throat choking up and his eyes stinging, and that was all it took for his fight or flight response to kick in. No matter what happened, he would never give a glorified bully like Rosier the satisfaction of seeing him cry! He needed to get out of here now, before his emotions got the better of him. He beelined for the creature sanctuary, breaking into a run as he heard Rosier’s threat in the distance.

Claudine didn’t need to be told twice to follow Rosier. Memories of what had been done to Ashley and others still lurked clearly in her mind. She had the suspicion that nothing good was going to come from whatever was to come next. How right she was. Blind folded and tied hands? But maybe things didn’t have to be as bad as she imagined. As long as she kept the Muggles out of trouble, right? Claudine was about to be no fool as Kale was being. She was going to save her own neck and the Muggles’ while she was at it. A win-win- situation that would be. Claudine clenched her jaw, her heart thumping in reaction to what she had just witnessed.

Rosier’s outburst was enough motivation to get Claudine moving. Avoiding anyone’s gaze, she turned and started making her way to… wherever else.

The fuzz in her head was loud and made everything difficult to understand. There were so many thoughts and so many feelings and nothing made any sense whatsoever.

Emm's tugging helped keep Kinsay alert enough to sprint along. Even with her mind shutting down, her legs were working just fine. Maybe it was a rush of adrenaline kicking in. If the choices were fight or flight, Kinsay would choose flight any day of the week. They weren't ever fair fights. Not here anyway.

So she ran as quickly as her legs (and Emmerson) would take her, following the group towards the courtyard.

Fiona had tried to deter the group of Muggles in the courtyard without much luck. She was now collecting her belongings, wondering how Rosier's group of men were going to deal with the Muggles. Fiona thought about how aggressive her approach had been and frankly, she wasn't going to stress about it because if her family found out that she had shown the slightest bit of kindness to Muggles, who knows how they'll punish her.

Was this a turning point in Fiona's personality? Maybe. Definitely.

From the time she had left earlier to returning to the gates right now, Lia looked even more of a mess. Smudged tear streaks still stained her flushed hair, strands of long light brown hair had come loss from the pigtail braids and clung to her cheeks. She had definite bruising and cuts from having branches swung at her by very frightened angry Muggles. However she was no longer crying, the tears were gone but the pain in her chest and heart were very much still there.

She had done her best to help those that were also at the Whomping Willow but honestly, none of them did all that great of a job. All Dahlia could hope for was that the muggles weren't about to be hurt or worse... it was something she didn't even want to think about.

Locating her bag, the small Ravenclaw slung the strap over her shoulder. Could they leave now?

Mamie dutifully returned to the gates to fetch her things, as the parchment at the Whomping Willow had told them to do. She was not only disappointed in her and her classmates' ability to work together, but...well, she was worried about the fate of the Muggles. They had failed, despite their best efforts. What did that mean for the Muggles' fate? She hoped they would just be obliviated and returned to...wherever they'd been kidnapped from.

She doubted that would happen though.

She finally saw the dead Muggle on the ground. It hadn't been hard to believe when the others told her, but...it still made her uncomfortable and a little sad. She was at least glad she'd already run off after the other Muggles when that happened. The twelve-year-old had had enough trauma for the year day, without seeing a man murdered in front of her.

She picked up her bag, gave one last nervous look around whilst trying to avoid eye contact with the corpse and the headmaster, and hurried back to the castle. What had she learned today? Only that working with others was hard and scared people were irrational.