Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! ((Plot people))

[Melody Bang-Bala G6]

((Ah'm not wanting to cause any confusion 'ere. Ah don't mean Mayday as in May 1st, Ah mean Mayday as in t'distress signal. )

Melody had actually been doing her work for once. It might seem to some people that she never did it. She certainly found plenty of time to do other things. But that was because she rarely just sat around. She was always having fun or practising music. But she did have to do her homework at some point and she'd taken herself off to the library to get it all polished off. Herbology, Potions and Astronomy were all done now and she was ready to go. Doing work for too long made her long to play some kind of instrument. Flute, piano, guitar or singing. She skipped a little as she got out of the library and made her way quickly through the corridors towards Gryffindor tower. It felt good to have those loads off her mind, the responsibility dispensed with. Her mood soon mellowed though and she was left walking along the corridor just like any other normal student, save for the bunches bobbing faithfully besides her as always. That sort of behaviour wasn't normal for Melody though. She could more usually be found doing something outrageous.

Something felt wrong right now. Melody wasn't one for sensing things innately, however fun she might find Divination - but there was something about the atmosphere that just didn't feel right. She frowned and then her eyes widened as she saw two men coming towards her along the corridor. Goodness, there weren't any handsome Death Eaters, were there? Quite the opposite, in fact. Inevitably though, they'd seen her. Melody turned and bolted. She was a fast runner, and although it was most likely as futile as anything else, it was the best chance she had to get away. She'd try to find a professor... but that chance was taken away from her as a spell tripped her up and brought her sprawling to the ground. From the searing pain and the crack she'd heard, she was pretty sure that had broken her wrist. She cried out at the pain - she couldn't help it, but she rolled over nevertheless so that she could see the Death Eaters advancing towards her. It wasn't very easy, because one of them seemed to have cast a spell that was still pressing her down to the floor with almost unbearable pressure. One of them was pointing their wand at her, and Melody was pretty sure in that moment they were about to kill her. They were just enjoying it. "Expelliarmus!" she said, taking her chance. The Death Eater's wand flew out of his hand but it brought no relief to Melody. She could see from the look in her eyes that just meant she was going to suffer more. She bit her lip very hard to stop herself from crying out in pain anymore and started trying to reconcile herself to the fact she was about to die. That was going to take a lot of getting used to.

[wormy]

So far this attack hadn't proven anything, aside from the few fun moments they had. Peter was about to turn and leave, forget this whole thing. Then again, if he did this, he would surely be seen as a failure in the Dark Lord's eyes; and that was exactly what he did not want to happen. That's the whole reason why he agreed to doing this. Aside from the fact that he was afraid if he didn't accept he would lose his other hand as well. He walked a bit in front of Amycus as they made their way down the corridors. There still wasn't any sign of Potter, and there wasn't much of anyone in the halls now.

They turned another corner and came upon a small girl. And she was a smart girl too. She ran as soon as her mind registered who they were. Before Peter could react, Alecto appeared from a classroom with her wand drawn. She calmly said, "Locomotor mortis." In seconds the girl had tripped and there was a sickening crack. Alecto cast another spell that was keeping the girl crushed to the floor, and Amycus advanced toward her, his wand raised. She used expelliarmus and his wand flew from his hand. Amycus cursed and turned to his sister and Peter after being thrown a couple of feet; "Let's go! She isn't worth it!" Him and Alecto left, leaving Peter with the girl.

Peter wouldn't leave. She'd seen too much. She would surely tell a professor. He pulled out his wand and with shaking hands, "Crucio!"

[dana]

Dana laughed merrily as her conversation with Sapph continued on with a rather happy undertone despite the fact they were discussing the Potions OWL. Dana herself had never been overly good at potions, but studying had paid off and Dana had gotten an E on her own OWL. She had exceeded her own expectations too. But Snape, despite his unique way of teaching – don’t all professors have characteristic ways for explaining difficult matters?-, prepared his students, at least those, who bothered to pay attention, almost shockingly well for the OWL. And supposedly Hogwarts NEWT scores in Potions were the best in the whole world! That mattered quite a lot. Then again Snape didn’t accept just anyone into his NEWTs class either. Dana was just glad the OWL had already passed for her. She had been stressed beyond belief while preparing for the exams but for now she could try to comfort Sapph a little.

“Don’t worry so much. Follow my train of thought for a moment, will you? Your regular grades are good and also so – you would get let’s say 50 per cent at the very least even impromptu. Teachers prepare you even more – a total of 75 per cent let’s say.Add all the revising you have done and still will: you‘ll easily get over 90%. See? Simple and easy. Even oafs like Goyle got OWLs done so the only dilemma you’re facing is whether or not you get maximum score or some points below it,” Dana grinned at Sapph a sharp gesture adding the final stop to her small talk. Dana grimaced lazily as she thought them over herself once again. It was easy to talk this way, but she knew from personal experience that to believe in it before OWLs was a whole lot harder. Still Dana didn’t have any doubts that Sapph would pass OWLs with brilliant scores.

Dana perked up a little rather suddenly. What had that been? Why on earth would someone be... screaming? Dana exchanged a glance with Sapph before pulling out her wand and sprinting down the hallway. Was it some Slytherin trying to bully youngers again? Dana turned and stepped around the corner only to stop sharply. This view was too familiar. Much too familiar. Dana’s mind flew back to the train. She had seen the Death Eaters there too before Kris had banished her to the front of the Hogwarts Express. In this rather abandoned hallway and a shortcut to the Ravenclaw common room Dana most certainly hadn’t expected to run into DE’s once again. Dana raised her wand almost instinctively yelling “Stupefy” while her mind was buzzing with dozens of thoughts racing around. Her spell must have still worked as the DE stopped his spell rather abruptly. Dana silently begged towards any god or goddess that might be listening to get them out of here alive and with all their senses. She would spend hours in Hardy’s class honing her dueling skills and she would work more properly in class if they could just get away safely from here. No one seemed quite ready to move yet. Dana was almost too afraid to breath as she stood there her wand still raised and pointed at the DE’s as an almost expectant silence fell onto the hallway that seemed to go on for ages even if it in reality was probably only seconds. “Melody,” Dana muttered glancing at the young Gryffindor worriedly out of the corner of her eyes as she tried to think of something to do or say to get away from here as quickly as possible.

[dolohov]

Screaming had always drawn Antonin like a magnet. When he was small, he would stand at his window in the middle of the night just to hear the cats yowling, hissing and spitting at each other. Now he listened to the trials of humans. He caused them. He was the creator of trauma and destruction and he loved it. But the situation he'd just hastened to wasn't quite as heavenly as he would have liked. Certainly there was a young girl on the floor (he kicked her in the ribs as he went past), but there were also two older girls, who both looked perfectly capable of putting up a fight. Especially since they were prepared. Antonin glanced at Wormtail in irritation. He'd just been standing there? Maybe you couldn't expect anything more of a rodent nobody wanted. The Dark Lord might not be so pleased when he heard about this either. But it wasn't going to remain two against two for long.

"Imperio!" Antonin said, pointing his wand at the girl who looked the older by just a small way. "Walk forward," he commanded quickly to make sure it had worked. Good. It had worked perfectly. "Now hurt your friend all you can." he said, pointing to the girl standing beside her in case she misinterpreted him as meaning the small girl on the floor. He took a moment to watch in satisfaction as she cast "Strangulo" and added his own "Flippendo" to knock the girl being attacked off her feet before grabbing hold of Wormtail's normal arm along with its horrible masticated nails and pulling him off in the opposite direction from the young girl on the stone flagged floor. She'd be there for a while. Antonin wasn't sure but he thought Wormtail might have dealt with her again while he was paying attention to the real threats. But now they could go and deal with some other people. Perhaps do more of what they'd actually come here to do.

((Didn't put that you did actually do anything Wormy, but hope you don't mind what I wrote. Just makes more sense for him to have been getting someone or other. )

[Sapphire Phoenix R7]

Sapphire smiled politely at Dana as the other girl attempted to reassure her, letting all the advice wash over her. If Dana wanted to give it, she could. Personally Sapphire knew that with a little more work, she'd be fine. Potions wasn't her favourite subject actually but she always made sure she understood what was going on and tended to do well. Secretly Sapphire knew that she should be fine for most things with a bit of work. That might not stop her getting stressed, or very busy. But it did stop her getting particularly worried in all reality. "You've missed out the element of chance," she told her friend calmly, her mind half on other things. "But don't you get worried about me. I'd prefer a relaxing evening to one trapped in the Slytherin Common Room doing yet more practise for my practical owls," she continued, smiling slightly as she thought of the threat Dana had made a while ago now. It was just a bit closer to the actual exams now though. "Or pretending to be a Pureblood. Doubt I'd be welcome even then."

Sapphire didn't get a chance to finish her thought as they both heard screams. A glance was all they needed to send both into action. Screams could only mean trouble. And Dana was a prefect after all. Where there was trouble, it was her duty to sort it out. Sapphire pulled out her own wand and set off after Dana. She wasn't particularly athletic and Dana had had a headstart of a couple of seconds, but Sapphire could run fast if she wanted to. She caught up with Dana just before the corner of the hallway, stopping just as abruptly as her friend. The last time Sapphire had come across Death Eaters had been at the World Quidditch Cup Final, and even disorganised Death Eaters had been terrifying enough. Sapphire placed a hand on Dana's arm momentarily for reassurance as she came round to stand to the left of her friend, still able to point her wand at the pair of Death Eaters since she was left-handed. In the ominous silence she could hear her own elevated rate of breathing. She was no cool-headed-in-a-crisis kind of a person. She didn't know what to do next. This wasn't the kind of trouble Dana was expected to sort out.

It was a Death Eater who made the first move. Just his eyes were enough to make Sapphire flinch. They were about as heartless as she'd seen. Merciless. He was the kind of person who killed for enjoyment. She had taken a step back before she knew it and she took a sharp intake of breath as Dana obeyed his instructions. She was on her own then - Melody didn't seem in much of a position to help. And she felt a whole lot more insecure. Dana was quite a strong witch. But Sapphire didn't really want to raise her wand against her. In jest it didn't worry her but in reality... Sapphire watched as Dana turned, her wand now pointing at her. "Dana..." she said softly, but she knew it was in vain. Her friend probably couldn't care less right now whether Sapphire was friend or enemy. She was just someone to hurt. And hurt she did. She cast a spell to strangle Sapphire. Well slow hurt more, Sapphire supposed... but it did give her some time. She knew the counter curse. She was about to cast that when another spell knocked her backwards and she landed on the floor, her wand knocked out of her hand.

'Darn', she thought as she sat up, wondering slightly why she'd gone calm again. Wasn't much else to do, she supposed. Trying to breathe in enough air even when it was becoming impossible (the invisible grip on her throat seemed only to be getting tighter by the second), Sapphire retrieved her wand which thankfully hadn't gone too far. She couldn't remember the counter curse anymore. It had gone. She couldn't think what to do to stop Dana doing what she was doing, but one of the other Death Eaters was casting a spell at Melody. "Protego!" Sapphire said, even though it took nearly all her breath. She thought it had worked. "Melody, run while you can, get a professor!" she urged the other girl. She didn't watch to see whether the Gryffindor took her advice before doing what it had just occured to her she should have done in the first place. "Stupefy!" she said, pointing her wand at the Death Eater who had placed the Imperius curse on Dana. Her pronunciation of the words was hoarse and restricted but the red beam of light shot out as strong as ever. Dana should be back under her own free will, but the effects of the spell hadn't stopped. "For the love of Zeus Dana, take it off damn you!" she said, the words barely coming out. But they were sharp enough. Dana had to take it off soon, whatever she was wasting her time doing now. Did she not realise what she'd done while she was under the curse? What she was still doing? Sapphire didn't look at her friend; there was nothing more she had strength to do right now. She couldn't breathe and the pressure on her throat would surely collapse her windpipe anytime soon. She just closed her eyes so that it was under her command when the world went black.

((Sorry it's turned out a little long, and sorry to have kept you all waiting so long. ))

[Melody Bang-Bala G6]

This death was definitely not going to be quick. Melody heard the start of the curse and tensed herself. She'd heard of the curse. It was almost impossible to not have done. But she couldn't remember what the point of tensing yourself was; as soon as the curse hit she couldn't remember anything much else anyway. She couldn't remember when it had hit and she couldn't remember a time when she hadn't been in such pain. She couldn't think about anything else and it was only after a while that she realised that noise she could hear was screaming. It was her screaming and she hadn't even realised. But suddenly the pain stopped and she was left just with that pain in her wrist. It seemed almost tame by comparison. No longer under the restraining spell she'd been under before, Melody propped herself up on her elbows and saw Dana and Sapphire there. The older Ravenclaws seemed to like talking to her sometimes. She smiled at Dana as best as she could behind the back of the Death Eater, because she couldn't do anything else. But she felt less scared. The rational part of her mind told her that there was no reason for the two older girls to be able to make the threat disappear, but not much of her mind was rational right now.

Just then a boot made sharp contact with the side of her chest and she fell back again with a small "Oof." That pain had lasted and it had winded her as well. If that happened you were supposed to crouch so you could catch your breath weren't you? Or was it breathing into a brown paper bag? No, that was hyperventilating. She couldn't think clearly about what you were supposed to do but she got herself into a crouching position despite the pain in her chest still being there. She couldn't do anything other than watch and almost gape as the newly arrived Death Eater put the Imperius curse on Dana. And Dana cursed Sapphire. Curses that could change who you were were more scary than the one she'd been tormented with. Melody didn't know a Dana who would ever do what she was doing now. As Sapphire shouted to her to run, Melody pushed herself up immediately and started stumbling back along the corridor, whimpering at the pain but trying not to let it affect her any more than that. She should've run as soon as she could.

Here was a teacher's office. Professor Foxcroft's. Praying through gritted teeth that he would be in there, she hammered on the door with her good wrist and started talking as soon as it opened. "Professor!" she said, speaking quickly in her urgency. "Death Eaters... in t'school, that way." She pointed the correct way along the corridor before making her way past. She could see an unoccupied chair inside the office and she needed to sit down. "Dana an' Sapphire, they're there... an' Dana's been Imperiused," she expanded. "Please go and 'elp... Ah'll stay 'ere." she told him as she sat down on the chair. Her wrist and chest hurt so much but she wasn't going to sob from the pain. Not while he was still here - Dana and Sapphire needed him as quickly as possible.

[dolohov]

They hadn't gone that far when he heard the other Ravenclaw start to fight back. Too late he realised that the 'Stupefy' he'd heard had actually been aimed at him, and the next moment it had taken effect. But he wasn't a lone Death Eater, and pairs were more of a menace. They spurred each other on, and they could help each other up again if that was really necessary. So he was soon standing up again, his eyes pits of fiery ice. He was infuriated, incensed - and it showed. A mere student could Stupefy him? Well, they'd pay. And so would the other girl for not having done her job quicker. But Wormtail had fled. Stupid, cowardly thing that he was. What you'd expect of a Gryffindor and a rodent, he supposed. Why the Dark Lord accepted such inferiority into his service escaped his cold reasoning, but perhaps there was a use for everything. Mudbloods could be used for fun. Now Antonin turned round and pointed his wand at both girls in turn. It might be his honour at stake, but he'd enjoy it nevertheless. "Petrificus," he ordered. They wouldn't be able to move anywhere now. And he'd make them suffer. The younger girl first.

Antonin walked over to the girl he'd put the Imperius curse on and slowly ran one finger down her cheek, smiling at her knowingly. "Oh no, I meant hurt her a little bit more than that. Let me demonstrate."

[cleo]

Cleo felt Kris tense next to her. Stopping her sentence from mid-word Cleo looked at Kris, knowing that the Slytherin’s hearing and sense of smell were much keener than hers. That and the things Cleo already knew about Kris all combined into Cleo trusting Kris’s senses at cases when he tensed up much like a wolf ready to pounce on it’s prey. Cleo raised his hand and touched Kris’s shoulder as the boy stood still his head cocked to the side as he was listening to something. “That’s Dana,” Kris muttered suddenly before busting into a run with his knees bent a little, moving almost soundlessly. Cleo absent-mindedly admired the grace of his steps as she grabbed hold of his long shirt and hiked it up a little bit over her knees in an attempt to stay on Kris’s trail. Luckily they didn’t have to move far as after a few moments Cleo heard Dana’s all too familiar voice as well with the rather curious urgency in it.

Rounding the corner a mere moment after Kris Cleo froze as she took in the situation. “Death Eaters,” Cleo murmured as even though Cleo had never seen the masks they wore before, there was something so easily recognizable in them – even only after hearing stories – that Cleo didn’t doubt the fact even for a moment. Cleo noticed Kris’s want already being out making her slap her arm on Kris’s hand: “He’s using Dana as a living shield.” Looking pointedly at Kris fro a few moments Cleo left finding a way out of this situation to be Kris’s problem. Slytherins were known for being able to get out of most anything clean, so this should be good enough practice for Kris. Yet Kris’s hand reaching her head and pulling out the elaborate hair-pin he had given Cleo before was unexpected. This was hardly the place to start questioning Kris so Cleo just let her hair fall onto her shoulders as she took a couple of steps to the side Cleo glanced at the Death Eater warily before lowering herself to her knees next to Sapph’s side. Cleo’s fingers glided onto Sapph’s neck and Cleo let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding when she felt the pulse.

“Ennervate,” Cleo murmured pulling her wand out and pointing it at Sapph’s temple watching how some colour returned to the face of her dorm-mate. Sapph made a voice deep inside her throat and Cleo sprinkled some droplets of cold water from her wand onto Sapph’s face trying to wake her from her faint. Cleo would feel quite a bit better if her friend woke up.

[kris]

Kris felt his blood boiling. He was protective of what was his and Dana most certainly was HIS sister! And Cleo’s almost subconscious statement of Death Eaters only fueled this fury, making Kris feel the bitterness of being blinded all the more. Cleo’s sharp warning and the pressure of her fingers on his arm as well as the warmth of the family heirloom ring on his finger barely had the effect of keeping him from blowing up in anger. But he had responsibilities. To his sister and most of all to Cleo as she was wearing his engagement ring. Yet it took all of Kris’s self-control to keep his voice pleasant as he turned the pin he had taken from Cleo’s hair in his left hand. “Quite a meeting, don’t you think? I feel as I should be ordering tea for our guest,” Kris commented as if this was a tea-party with unexpected guests that he was at. Tapping the pin in his hand a couple of times Kris concentrated on transfiguring it by his memory. Luckily transfiguration had always been his best subject so it only took three taps before Kris was holding onto a black muggle revolver with a filigree handle. It was even loaded so Kris slid his wand back into his sleeve. A Death Eater would be wary of an attack or a hex. But the Slytherin crest on his blouse, Kris’s pleasant tone of voice and the innocent looking muggle equipment in his hand just might ease the nerves of the Death Eater for a little while.

“Have you ever watched the tricks of the so-called magicians? Some of them are rather interesting. Dana, darling, would you mind helping me present one to our guest here?” Kris asked with a pleasant smile on his face as he raised his arm with the gun. A moment later Dana’s voice did sound – low, quiet and wavering, but not breaking – and Kris aimed the gun towards the correct direction following the guidelines Dana gave. “Yet, however pleasant this meeting has been all things come to an end, don’t you think?” Kris asked at the same time as he pulled the trigger the loud bang of the gun-shot echoing loudly in Hogwarts hallways. The sound seemed almost louder than it should have been and so foreign in the halls of a magical school, yet Kris had never before been more grateful that he had shown enough interest towards history and weapons to have learned to use muggle guns as well as his wand.

The shot had been successful though as Cleo called out a loud Stupefy and a few moments later Kris heard the dull thump of someone’s body hitting the ground heavily while he himself rushed forward catching Dana’s shoulders a moment before she completely fell onto the floor. Kneeling down Kris softly turned Dana’s body around in his lap pulling his black silk-blouse off, not caring the least at the sound of buttons ripping. A couple of strong pulls later Kris had managed to remove one of the sleeves from the rest of the blouse all the while smelling the metallic stench of blood and gunpowder as well as felt the slow dripping of blood onto his trousers. Folding the blouse widely Kris found the wound in Dana’s shoulder and gently placed the blouse on both sides of the holes where the bullet has passed through her shoulder before applying pressure on the wounds and tying the ripped off sleeve around it as well. He couldn’t really do much better, but Kris knew that he had to stop the bleeding.

The loud footsteps Kris had been hearing approaching stopped as Cleo spoke rather bluntly: “He’s dead. Dana’s passed out and looking quite pale.” Kris could hear the smirk in Cleo’s voice as she greeted the newcomer. Kris had told Cleo about the conversation in DADA and Cleo had found it amusing so without any hesitation in her voice she greeted the professor with a clear: “Foxie.” “Hang on, darling,” Kris murmured while tenderly dropping a kiss on Dana’s forehead. Reaching his hand out Kris took hold of the pistol and tucked it under his belt at his back before shifting himself so that he could lift Dana up on his arms. Raising one of his arms a little Kris felt Dana’s head fall onto his shoulder as he turned following Morrigan’s directions as the small kitten had started to move on his shoulders once again. Kris heard Cleo help someone to their feet behind him before the sound of heels follow Kris on the way to the Hospital Wing.

[Professor Julius Foxcroft]

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said and he could not keep the panic out of his voice despite how much he wanted to sound reassuring. His worst nightmare had been realised: Death Eaters were inside his school, among his students, wreaking havoc and taking lives right and left. He would not stand for it! This was a sacred place, these walls and the charms and enchantments around every corner were here to protect and Hogwarts had always had its reputation, and it almost broke something inside Julius every time an enemy penetrated the gates and hurt the people here. He wished he had been here a few minutes ago, but now was the time for damage control. He looked at the determined faces of the students before him. He didn’t ask questions. “Right then, I’ll deal with the body,” he said, as if he dealt with dead bodies everyday.

There was only Sapphire before him, sprawled on the ground and looking as if she was drifting somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness. There were marks on her neck that looked rather serious. She needed a potion, he was almost sure of that, but he did the best next thing and placed his wand near her neck and whispered an incantation. It would feel like soothing fingers were massaging at her neck and he hoped it would make the girl feel better. Her face was pale and she was sweating and there was a slight dazed look in her eyes. “Phoenix, I know you won’t like this,” he whispered, more to himself than to her. And then he carefully took her into his arms and carried her and followed in the direction Kris had taken. He could have easily placed a Levitation Charm on her but he thought that if she was at all conscious his arms around her this would be a more supportive approach, and he stroked her back a few times on the way. He placed her gently on one of the beds, gave the other three a quick glance, and then headed out. He needed to go to the body and then to Melody.

He remembered what Cleo had called him as he looked at the body before him. It had not been the time to comment on her open show of disrespect. He wondered what Kris was feeling now, what it was like to kill. It had been one of the reasons why he had followed through with his Auror training; it was not something he could imagine himself doing. And yet now Julius almost felt like kicking the dead body before him. These were his students, the only people he’d allowed himself to get attached to in his years at Hogwarts, their stories were his, he was a witness to their lives, cheered when they succeeded and comforted and pushed them when they failed. They drove him up the wall many times and made him proud only a few, but he lived for those moments, remembered them and cherished them and they were everything he had known and the reason he still believed his life had purpose. He’d be damned if he let Death Eaters ruin their lives and his. He said an incantation and fire set to they body, and when it had burned completely, he said a Vanishing Charm. The ashes disappeared. How he wished the actions of the man could have as well.

Back in his office the Gryffindor second year was attempting to put on a brave face but he could see she was in a lot of pain. He pulled a Pain-Killing potion out of one of his desk’s drawers and made her drink a rather large dose and then carried her like he had carried Sapphire, and he felt tears come to his eyes. She was only twelve. What had happened to her and how would this experience affect her? He’d been twenty-five when Beth died and he’d almost given up on his life, given up on believing that there was anything he could and would still see the beauty of. And Melody was so young and she had probably seen so much evil in the past few moments. He placed her on the bed and the sat down beside her and put his face in his hands. He heard the soft footsteps of Madam Pomfrey close nearby.

She was going to have a lot of work to do.