Cornelia was still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes by the time she made it out to the courtyard. She was still in her pyjamas, her feet wearing the fluffiest of slippers, and her hair was definitely not cute. The sudden alarm clearly interrupted her much needed beauty sleep. As she trudged closer, half her mind was still waking up while the other half was wondering who made their headmaster so upset that they needed to be summoned so early in the morning.

She made quick work (as fast as her not-fully-awake little body would allow, at least) of gathering with a pocket of Slytherins. No words were said from the first year. She simply stood there, her eyes glancing around, waiting for whatever was coming next.

At the courtyard in 10 minutes...

Had this been for lets say, a class, Minjae would have turned around and slept for another 5 minutes but the tone in the Headmaster's voice automatically made him move out of bed as if under the imperius curse.

The Hufflepuff got dressed in his uniform with his tie hanging loose around his neck, spend a few minutes trying to locate his shoes before remembering he could do magic and took one quick look in the mirror and grumbled knowing he could do nothing about his bedhead hair.

Reaching the courtyard with a slightly puffy face he had eaten in the middle of the night , Minjae's unease heightened upon seeing the Alliance surrounding the courtyard. He held his alder wand in his hand yet concealed under his Hufflepuff robe sleeve and quietly waited.

Shreya didn't know if she should be concerned that the sound of the alarm hadn't exactly surprised her. Startled, yes. But she had been filled with so much doom-and-gloom lately that she figured it would only be a matter of time before the Neo-Alliance started taking more drastic measures. Perhaps 4:30 AM meetings were the first step in that direction.

Still dressed in her sleeping attire, she pulled a long, heavy cloak over her shoulders as she hustled toward the Courtyard, ushering a few students along with her as she did so. This was certainly not a time for dilly-dallying.

She was anxious, that was certain. And it disturbed her that she knew as little as the students did about whatever was about to happen. But Shreya didn't let it show. She steeled her resolve and took a stand near the perimeter of the group, keeping a side-eyed gaze on the students. Just in case.

Avalon didn't know it was humanly possible to wake up with more dread in the pit of your stomach. She decided that Rosier's blaring voice was absolutely the worst possible alarm clock. The Ravenclaw rushed down the stairs from Ravenclaw Tower and into the courtyard, fearful of what was about to happen, but knowing there was no use in trying to stay behind.

It wasn't until she arrived at the meeting spot that she realized she wasn't wearing shoes. Ohhh, this was bad. She crossed her arms, both because of her nervousness and to generate warmth, keeping one hand secretly tucked into her robe—where her wand was. Her eyes flicked around the area anxiously, suddenly feeling very alone.

Huffing and puffing slightly from having to run from her office in the Hospital Wing to the Slytherin common room, ushering all the snakes out of bed, and then out to the courtyard...Gabi had finally made it. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun, which was something she would NEVER wear outside of leisure time. She hadn't exactly been anticipating a meeting at 4:30 AM though and...well, this what what she had to do. Not to mention she was still rattled from that RUDE alarm that Rosier had used to wake everyone up.

She settled in the back of the group, near Schmoe and the other muggleborns who were clustered around him, mostly to keep a protective watch over them.

Being woken up at 4:30 am wasn't terrible. Being woken up by the insane alarm along with the evil man's booming voice wasn't terrible either. Neither was having only gotten maybe an hour of sleep, if she was lucky. No, all of these things she could've handled under more 'normal' circumstances.

The circumstances weren't normal though. It hadn't been since day one here at Hogwarts. So when she had finally managed to fall asleep sometime around 3 am that morning, the very last thing she had wanted was to be woken up so soon. She was still very much recovering from her injuries from some previous lessons she didn't want to mention. Not to mention the reoccurring nightmares that caused her to wake up drenched in sweat, tears and sometimes screaming. Sorry dormies.

There was an immediate panic that flooded through every inch of her small body at the sound of the alarm and Rosier's voice. Dahlia practically tumbled out of her bed, rubbing sleep from her eyes as she tugged on a pair of socks and a pair of boots. Yawning widely into her arm she grabbed a waaaaaaay to large hoodie from her trunk which most definitely wasn't hers, thanks Tadhg and tugged it on over her pjs.

Messy hair, don't care, that's what the hood was for. Another yawn and more rubbing at her tired eyes, Lia made her way from the dorm, into the corridors and alllllllll the way out to the courtyard as fast as she could without completely falling down any stairs.

Probably looking even tinier and very much unlike her happier self, the young Ravenclaw joined the growing crowd. Blue eyes only searched for a couple of people... none she saw as of yet. This only made her heart race in her chest and her breath quicken. Merlin help them all if they didn't get here real soon.

Considering the nightmare she was having at that exact moment, Ivy was almost grateful for that alarm that jolted her right out of it. Almost. Because then came Rosier's voice and his words ringing through the castle, and she was not grateful for that, not in the slightest.

But it didn't really matter what she felt, did it? She threw her blankets off, shoved her feet into a pair of socks, and hurried out of the dorm. She had so many flights of stairs she had to cover in ten minutes between the Ravenclaw tower and the courtyard, there was no way she was risking that time by trying to get dressed. Thankfully, at least, she'd gotten used to sleeping with her wand in its holster on her arm, so she didn't have to think about grabbing it in her panic.

Professor Kitridge had already been out in the corridor, and Ivy felt a momentary relief that she had a professor to follow along with. Even though she was moving as fast as she possibly could, it felt like time was melting away faster than normal. She spotted Professor Peralta too, but her brain hardly registered any of the students that were running by. She just needed to get o the courtyard.

And finally, she was here, huffing and puffing into the cold early morning air, but trying to quickly and quietly get her breathing under control. She doubted she was the only one who wasn't used to sprinting down several flights of stairs, but she still wanted to draw as little attention to herself as possible right now, not knowing what was in store for them.

Joining the crowd, she found a spot by Avalon to stand, still trying to steady her breathing, wrapping her arms around herself to stave off the cold. A warming charm would be needed, but she'd deal with that in a couple minutes.

Sleep what was sleep? Tadhg doesn't think he had a full good night of sleep since the Headmaster took reign. Although Tadhg just gotten to sleep not too long ago when he was awoken by the alarm and the booming voice of their lovely Headmaster. Letting out a groan and rolling his eyes he gotten up and gotten dressed. In his pajamas bottoms and shirt he grabbed his slytherin green hoodie putting it on along with his socks and shoes slipping them on.


His blue eyes were filled with worry about Lia and his Claw and Lion friends in the tower, it was a long way. Biting his lip he walked towards the courtyard not saying a word. His blue eyes looking around he sighed in relief seeing Lia there, but what about Quinn and them? Walking towards Lia he let out a small smirk like smile seeing her wearing one od his hoodies.


Taking her hand in his he squeezed it in comfort to calm her down the best he could. He wasn't going to let go, they would have to make him do so. Besides having his hand in hers calmed him down from everything that was going on. Standing beside Lia his hand in hers he waited.

Gabrielle was AWAKE and she was HERE and she definitely had MATCHING SHOES ON.

Well, she had shoes on, and that was a difficulty at that time of the morning. Being woken up startled, she'd managed to shove her feet into something and grabbed one of Leighton's hoodies before following her classmates down to the courtyard. The hoodie was partially because it was cold, and partially because it was Leighton's, and right then she wanted to be wrapped up in his hugs.

Because that was probably going to be frowned upon, wrapped up in his hoodie would have to do. Stifling a yawn behind her hand, she hovered on the edge of the crowd, running her fingers through her mane of tangled curls.

4:30 AM! What on god’s green earth had made the headmaster decide to get them up at this hour Ingrid did not know. What she did know was that the pyjama top that she had on over her hoodie and the fluffy magnolia pyjama bottoms she had on were soooo comfortable, even as she wandered through the halls at this time of the morning. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea but she was way too sleepy to do more than that at this point. After all, she still hadn’t had her morning cup of tea and shortbread biscuit yet! Times at Hogwarts were indeed getting darker.

Wand in hand, she wandered out into the courtyard and blended into the crowd near Avalon and Ivy – her fellow Ravenclaw - or rather, behind her because she for sure didn’t want to be seen at this particular moment in time.

Violet had more than enough reasons to hate Rosier already, but waking them up in the middle of the night was definitely right up on the list. She'd pulled on her school robes over her nightgown and woolen leggings and thrust her already-stockinged feet into her outdoor shoes and hurried out to the courtyard. But not before grabbing her wand, too--just in case. Violet never went anywhere or did anything without it nowadays.

Lurking in the back of the growing crowd of students, she began looking around to see who (and what) was there and trying to get a sense of her surroundings (though that was hard since it was still dark). The stars overhead seemed brighter than usual, and in unusual formations. Violet guessed it must be very early in the morning, a time that she had seldom observed the stars.

Ten minutes...

Ten Minutes to get from the Boys Gryffindor dorms to the grounds of the courtyard. Christian was lucky if he could make that on a good day. Unless he was running.

And at 4:30 am in the morning he was not going to be running. He was still in his PJs. Well there wasn’t time to change into proper attire. Life or death situation here. No time to look his best. Oh well...

The third year made his way into the courtyard where there was already quite a few people down. With a yawn he was hurriedly being ushered by Professor Peralta to move on inside the courtyard. He nodded toward the other professors, as well. Looking for someone to bounce off ideas about what this very early morning meeting was about. Hopefully whatever it was, he would be back in his bed before lunch time. He missed his bed already.

Ten minutes to get to the Courtyard!!

He had a will to live.

Noah quickly got dressed in his robes, splashed some water on his face to look relatively awake (or as alive he could possibly present himself), touched up his hair with a brush, and then skedaddled all the way down the stairs and out the door.

Phew. He made it. Just on time. He saw his peers waiting all quietly and thus he walked quietly over to stand next to Minjae. He gave his friend a small smile and a nudge before looking over to see what was about to happen.

The alarm noise hadn’t come as too much of a shock to Gracelyn’s system, considering the Hufflepuff had felt like she wasn’t really getting decent sleep for ages now. Especially since she’d found it quite easy to make her way into the courtyard wearing her uniform, albeit the obvious wrinkles that told the story that she’d fallen asleep wearing them. Not that she’d stayed asleep for long, even before the rude awakening.

Even so, wrapped in her school robes as they had been the easiest thing to grab on her way out of the Hufflepuff dorms, she looked terrible. Barely awake wasn’t the worst of it, honestly, but she’d stayed quiet as she first considered taking a position by her head of house, but changed direction at the last minute to stand by Cece and Kale. Back to her former decision to show solidarity, and standing with friends made her feel the slightest bit better. Even when said friends looked just as bad as she figured she did.

Well.

This was it.

Aboli thought so, anyway. It was in the middle of the night, the alarm...had sounded angry, and she was just so so so so so scared. She spoke to no one as she ascended to the courtyard besides the spare younger Slytherins here and there, brushing her gloved hand against one every now and again in comfort.

Or maybe it wasn't comforting at all, but she did it anyway.

She fell in line next to Noah, slipping her hand into his, her heart beating so quickly that she hardly acknowledged Minjae who was standing nearby. But she did give him a nod. Gosh. They were both muggleborns, too. She was fearful for them. What was Rosier about to do?!

Apollo didn't sleep a wink last night. He'd rested, sure. He tried to sleep. But he'd been up alllll night thinking about the field trip to the dragon reservation. He had so many questions stewing in his brain. Firstly, hadn't Williamson put Nemesis in charge of the group as one of the oldest? Sure he didn't really know the older Slytherin, but he knew of him enough to know he was older and basically hadn't even tried to find him when he got separated from the group. Had he not heard Ingrid's name being called by the Hufflepuff boy, he and Dahlia might have gotten left behind. But then again, being woken at 4 in the morning by that loud alarm, perhaps that might not have been such a bad thing. Nothing good EVER came from being awoken that early, even if one was already awake, as he recalled from his older cousins telling him about that boot camp one year they were forced to do. Actually, Apollo might have preferred that.

He wanted to throw up, but also knew he shouldn't. Throwing on his uniform as fast as he could, he'd checked to make sure the Flamsteed Twins were up and out of bed before leaving the dormitory. Bella. He needed Bella. Arriving to the courtyard, he felt the knot tighten in his throat when he didn't see her. He spotted that Nemesis over on the outskirts, shooting a side-eye in his direction, but nothing more than that for that the time being. There was more pressing matters on Apollo's fatigued brain.

He spotted another first year Slytherin, Tadhg, making his way over to him. "Where's Bella?" He whispered urgently. If he had to sneak back in to get her, he would even if it meant risking his own life, but he hoped she would be down in the next few minutes.

Yolanda was trying her very best not to throw up. she'd run all the way here without heed to her aching calves, the sharp pangs or breath, the way her heart exploded in her ribcage. She had never been less aware of her physical being, the irony of it all was lost on the hufflepuff as she pushed her way through the gathering throngs of students and teachers alike.

She would not be stopped until she saw all their faces. Emmerson, Kizzy, Flynn, Tavie, Cece, Phoebe, Teddy, Nemesis, Kale and Mavis- she had never hated the housing system so much. "Emms." Yoyo panted, stopping behind her beautiful little sister. She reached for Emms' hand, seeking the warmth and connection- the reminder that she was alive and well. "Kiz, are you alright?" she peered carefully at the other James sibling, looking for any signs of pain, physical and emotional. It was no real use asking, Yoyo bitterly thought, for what answer or help could the dark haired beauty offer? Words could only do so much...

a flash of golden hair caught the Hufflepuff's attention. Cece. the relief was short lived, but much needed. She didn't call out for fear of the hooded figures and Rosier's wrath, but she tried to catch her dear friend's attention with a pointed look as if to say 'i've got you.'

Kale. Poor wretched Kale, Yoyo wished he wasn't here at all, it wasn't fair for so many reasons... some of which were more selfish than she wanted to admit.

Yoyo's eyes burned but she willed herself not to cry as she surveyed the hoods, their menacing aura as suffocating as gas. She hated them. hated them right down to her bones but she was not Phoebe, and she was not Kale and no matter how furiously her heart beat, Yolanda Luna could only manage to glare.

The loud alarm and booming sound of the headmaster woke Devin in a panic. He was no morning person, but the adrenaline from the shock was enough to motivate him to get out of bed instead of falling back to sleep. Ten minutes? That was just unfair. It wasn’t even enough time to get dressed properly and perform his morning hygiene routine, much less get all the way from Gryffindor tower down to the courtyard. It would probably take upwards of 5 minutes just to get down all the stairs, maybe even longer if the moving staircases weren’t in his favor. What time was it? Half past four. Ugh. This was disgusting. No one should ever have to be awake at this time and being up this early was punishment enough. No way would he be mentally alert enough for classes later today if he was sleep deprived. Oh hippogriff dung, he’d wasted 2 minutes already. Devin rolled out of bed straight into his slippers which were usually reserved for use only within Gryffindor tower, grabbed his wand, and ran to the bathroom to pee really quick before starting his mad dash to the courtyard. Bleary-eyed and still half asleep, Devin ran downstairs, following the other Gryffindors. He dreaded what gathering students like this could be for. There was a gut-wrenching fear that killing curses would fly. This must be some sort of public executions of the muggleborns or something equally horrible. Either that or someone was already dead and Rosier wanted to make sure the lesson to obey him was not lost to the other students. Whatever this was, it certainly wasn’t good.

It wasn’t until he arrived at the courtyard and took his place near Kinsay and Emmerson that he realized he had been sleeping in just his boxers and had not taken the time to put on any additional clothes. Well, here he was literally standing in front of the whole school in his underwear. This was about as embarrassing as it could get. It was at this point that one would usually wish for death, but given that death was already a very real possibility here despite his pureblood status, he recognized that death wasn’t really what he wanted. So, instead he was blushing a deep red and wishing he was invisible.

Quinn was much more than disheveled this morning.

Ever since the absolutely nerve-wracking chaos that was the field trip, he had been extremely worried about... well, everything. And especially now that he'd finally had The Conversation with Bernie, he was especially on edge. He was honestly worried that he was going to get killed by coming here, that somehow Rosier had found out they'd had one single conversation and everything was over with. But he would definitely die if he didn't go, so... what was he to do?

Quinn stumbled out into the courtyard in his pajamas and that was it. He immediately regretted this, but he was in such a rush to make sure he didn't die that he hadn't thought about it. Now he was walking across cold stones barefoot, shivering from cold (and nerves, but you wouldn't know it) and trying to catch his breath while the frigid air stripped his lungs raw. His bedhead and the bags under his eyes only heightened the visage of an absolute wreck.

He went and stood wordlessly next to Eden, waiting for Rosier to Avada Kedavra him out of existence.

Norman didn’t mind waking up at this hour. He was an early riser by nature and would’ve been awake about an hour from now for his morning run anyway. What he did mind was waking up to Rosier’s voice (aka the most irritating sound in existence) blaring through the castle. At the sound of that alarm, he sprang into action. He practically leapt out of bed, tugging on his shoes and a sweatshirt over his pajama top. Grabbing his wand on his way out the door, he ran down the flights of stairs as fast as his legs could go, ushering along any students he saw on the way.

He made his way into the courtyard, standing in the spot that gave him the best vantage point to watch the students, Rosier, and his followers all at the same time. Despite his nonchalant outward appearance, he had a bad feeling about this. He’d encountered dark wizards before, and all of those encounters eventually ended one way. Was this the time? Merlin, he hoped not! If what he expected did happen now, these children were in very real danger!



These days, Heath wasn’t sleeping much. He had been lying in bed, tossing and turning in a vain attempt to fall asleep, when he heard the alarm. Suddenly wide awake, he three the blankets off and got out of bed. He was able to get his shirt, trousers, and shoes on in under a minute - thank Merlin he was used to quick wardrobe changes! For once, his theatrical experience actually came in handy this term! He pulled his school sweater over his head as he rushed out the portrait hole. There wasn’t time to put on his robes and tie, but half a uniform was better than none at all, right?

He sprinted the rest of the way to the courtyard, his heart pounding faster with every step, though he wasn’t sure if that was from the exertion of running the whole way or from the sense of dread creeping over him. What was this about? Was this a mass execution? Were they being summoned in the middle of the night to die? Feelings of fear and impending doom overwhelmed him, emotions that he hadn’t felt this strongly since that night two terms ago when he thought he was going to fade from existence. Just like that day, he hoped that if he did die here, he’d go before…

Heath’s dark eyes searched the courtyard for the girlfriend, but he didn’t see her anywhere. Please let her make it here in time, he thought frantically as he stood near a group of his housemates (Avalon, Ivy & Ingrid).

Rosier stood in stone silence, watching the students and professors enter the courtyard. He half expected their to be grumbling, questioning, protests about the ungodly hour. To their credit--and perhaps to avoid certain death, none did. In fact, the only to speak had been Nemesis Upstead and while the man needed a word with that one, he did little more than nod in his direction, his lips still pressed into a hard line.

As the last of whoever had a grain of common sense trudged in, he got right into it.

"I've tried with you. Merlin knows I have. Disappointment and defiance after disappointment and defiance. Your inability to adapt is telling. It says to me you won't survive the new world and there's no longer reason to keep trying with you." He wished he could say he was surprised by the outcome but these children...even the staff. It had been a long term thus far.

"It's been brought to my attention that some of you..." He paused, taking a leveling breath to remember the patience he had decided on. His voice carried in icy calm fashion. "Decided to try alerting the outside world to the happenings of the castle. Did you really think it would work? Did you HONESTLY think that if you could have made ANY difference at this point, I would have let you leave? You don't get it, do you? A new world is coming whether you like it or not. We're already all over Europe. Do you think this is the only school? Do you think we haven't gotten everything figured out?" This movement went far above them. "Actions have consequences. You are fast outliving your usefulness and have lost your privilege of freedom."

At his next pause, he rolled out some parchment. "The following students will be escorted to their new quarters, no longer allowed to roam the castle. You have your friends who decided to play hero and deviate from what they were brought there to do to thank. Some of you have your tainted families for that."

"Williamson, step forward." He called the man. He had a few things in mind. "Men, secure the children. If any give you trouble, take them, too." He was not fussed. There was enough room, even for those who had not originally been on the list.

There was a lot going on, even before the Headmaster began to speak. Emm watched Moose go take a spot by Ashley--funny how this was becoming a recurring theme--as did Schmoe. Cece, who had promised to protect her and Kizzy was now standing over there with Kale...the kid who was ALWAYS trying to die...after promising she would be careful. The little girl's world was shrinking by the minute and she could hardly make sense of it.

The steadying force was Kizzy's hand in hers--and then Yoyo's. It was hard having a sister in another house during all the chaos. Emmerson could only ever ensure the safety of those with her. To see Yoyo had made it...had come to stand by her when she had her own friends to stand with, it melted Emmerson right down and she was now using a vice like grip to cling to her sister with her other hand.

She wanted to say something, anything. But the place was so silent, the Gryffindor feared even thinking too loud would get her in trouble.

It was better to keep her mouth shut.

Devin showing up in his underwear scarcely registered to her because in the next minute....her fears were coming true. She was right. All the worry she had haboured that Headmaster Rosier wouldn't be happy about the trip, it was happening and...and....that list....it had a lot of her favourite people on it. The most notable was the one she was currently clinging to and Emmerson felt her entire heart tear itself out of her chest.

"No...no...you can't." She found herself whispering, her head shaking despondently. They couldn't take Kizzy, they couldn't. They couldn't take Sammy or Matty or Cece or Flynn. That...that was almost all her friends. Emm wrapped both arms around Kizzy defensively, the only thing she could think to do. "No, don't take her, she didn't do anything, no."

Being awoken at the crack of dawn by the alarm and voice of headman Rosier had not been what Bella had been dreaming about that this day would start with. Tumbling out of bed she had sleepily put her robes on and hastily pulled a comb through her hair, and made sure her dormmates we're up before she left for the courtyard; being ushered there by Professor Recard.

Bella was scared and worried for what was to come. Entering the courtyard she only caught the tail end of headmaster Rosier's speech as she silently made a beeline for Apollo's comforting and safe figure noting who was there and who wasn't in her year and house. Coming up beside Apollo she slipped a her left hand into his as she whispered to him."What's going on? Who are being escorted where and why?"

When the headman gave the order, those lining the corridors moved forward through the crowd of teachers and students, roughly pushing anyway who stood in their way before latching on to those who had had their names read.

They took firm hold of the children, ready to drag them away. After. They were not done here, afterall.

The utter defiance of the pureblood child (Cambridge) did not faze them. One simply grabbed her, too. Resistance was not advised, but it was expected. For that reason, extra space had been made.

And another who clearly did not take the Headmaster's ten minutes seriously (Connolly). To arrive at the end of his speech meant she would have been late. One grabbed her. She would learn today.

Did any others dare defy?

This was weird. Some people were barefoot, some were in their underwear, some were wearing mismatched clothes. Nobody saw Ash doing that. SHe was a muggleborn. She needed to watch it.

Speaking of, she was getting arrested now. First she was terrified... but this was honestly hilarious. Rosier was so weak that he didn't even kill them. Just locked up a bunch of twelve years olds. She felt a stirring of hope. He wasn't as strong as he said he was, clearly, since he was now reassuring himself about how he wasn't gonna fail. Famous last words. And now he was grouping the biggest troublemakers in the school together? Was the man sane? Ash let her eyes drift over to the other kids. Don't resist. This is okay. Ash had expected death. She had not been killed. she made no indication of how amused she was. She was going to WIN. Ha ha ha. She stood there calmly, waiting to be taken. So long as she did not protest, she would be fine. Couldn't say the same of the other kids. Could they not make this worse, please?

Someone was holding onto her. Didn't care. She stood there calmly. They weren't going to get a reaction out of her, no matter what they did. She was too prepared to hide her emotions.

Did she see this coming? She wasn't sure, but it didn't shock her either. She couldn't help the relief sigh when she didn't hear her own children in that list, but she didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad at this point. It meant that these people thought her own children would work for them and she really thought they wouldn't until she heard some of the things that went on at that trip. Did her own child really help?

Cassie couldn't think further that that thought because there were many names on that list that worried her, all of those names really, but Bernadette was one that really worried her. Could the girl just please do what she was told so she could survive this? Cassie wanted to beg her, but dared not to move. Curtis was the other name, her god son, she wanted to grab his arm and protectivity place him behind her.

She moved just a bit, but she stood still and didn't make another move. She just bit her lip hard and stood watching everything going on.


Gemma had been standing quietly, she had been doing what she was told for awhile, but it seemed that her efforts at the trip to let dragons free so the ministry would come were failures. It seemed by the headmaster's words that they already had control in those places. She felt the tears in her eyes as the realization that this was never going away, that her dad might be in danger or they might not ever see him again hit her.

She wanted to run to her mother, but she stayed still. The only thing that came from her was a whisper, Not Curtis no, no, they couldn't take him. They couldn't hurt him or any of her other friends.

Please don't hurt them.