Eni was terrified. She couldn't move forward to the screams because it brought her closer to them. The things. Their mouths. My god, their mouths were horrible. What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?

Her wand lit, she clung to it like it was her safety. It was her safety. It's her wand. She has a wand. What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?

Don't panic. Don't panic. Don't panic. She repeated to herself as the creatures came closer. Panic. PaNIC. PANIC. PANIC! PANIC!! PANIC!!!!!!!

"Protego Munio!" Eni yelled in her terror. Suddenly a bunch of rocks came flying at her - "Ahhhhhhhh!" - but suddenly stopped before her and began to make a protective wall around both her and the professor like her spell intended. Terrified. Utterly terrified.

Eni heard the screams, she couldn't just stay locked behind a stone wall. She wouldn't be safe there forever, but at least it gave her time to think of a plan. And be terrified. Why can't I shake this?

Yes, Trinetta, it was him. But the Slytherin was a little too preoccupied at the moment to shout back at her with his usual sarcastic retort and some jab about her stupid locket just becase he could. No, rather than indulging in his frustrations as he enjoyed doing a bit too much, Eiji Rasting was realizing just deep his troubles were. Literally.

After colliding into something, panic began sinking in as his arms and hands could find nothing solid. No dock and not even another whack at whatever it was he had just bumped into. Just wet. More wet. More nauseating moist slapping.

And there was shouting. So much shouting. And...what the actual hell? The professor was going to report them? FOR WHAT? Taking a swim in the boathouse waters? Not exactly intentional, professor. Too preoccupied with staying afloat, the Slytherin could not make out the shrill quiver to the professor's voice. But he could make out an unfamiliar voice that was talking way too bloody much. WAY too much. And then, beyond a reasonable doubt, he could make out the shrieks of Nina...and it honestly sounded like she was being eaten alive by something.

"NI---" Gurgle gurgle gurgle. Down went Eiji under the water, his twig like arms and legs unable to support him above water. Or so he thought. His feet had, in reality, managed to touch bottom a bit ago and when he leaned his head back the water circled around his face just so, covering his ears and creeping across his pale skin to over his eyebrows and submerging his chin. Perfectly capable of breathing...and yet...

....his instincts were telling him to kick, to jump. His mind was racing and entirely irrational. His lungs would surely start burning terribly soon, making him all the more desperate to get to that surface NOW. Despite the want to breathe, to inhale, he knew he couldn't. It would be fruitless to do so and so he could only float there, holding his breath and waiting for someone, anyone, to notice him. Water would fill his lungs, making him heavier and heavier...the terror was setting in, seizing his chest, and despite himself one James Eiji Rasting began to cry while feebly flailing his arms about.

Must get to the surface...must...must...


.............mommy.......

Nettie just clutched her knees closer to her chest as the screaming continued. She couldn't completely place that shrill screaming (Nina), but there was someone else here beside Eiji and the professor. And someone else was shouting out protection spells. She was pretty sure it wasn't the same person who was screaming, so that put the count at...five including her? Six? Four? She couldn't do MATH right now! It was too late for those protection spells. They were all dead meat, she was sure of it. They were all goners.

Moments passed, which felt like an eternity, but after a few seconds of pure panic...she hadn't been engulfed in a swarm. A tiny, optimistic voice in her head reminded her that sitting here WAITING for them to get her was not going to solve anything. It was just going to make things easier for them! Biting her lip and hiccuping slightly due to the constant sobbing, she leaned forward and on all fours, started to...slowly crawl forward.

Something kept telling her she was alone, and her motions were futile. Eiji wasn't there. O'Hara wasn't there. Whoever else was talking wasn't really there. She'd been abandoned. She was alone, forever, just like she always was. No one cares about you. No, no, that voice just didn't feel right. She felt like that was a lie. She'd HEARD Eiji, she'd HEARD O'Hara, she knew they had to really be there.

Crawling along slowly, still panicking about the impending doom coming for her...she approached the edge of the water. She could hear splashing around, but couldn't see anything. She could barely see the water in front of her. The screaming had gotten louder, though. Someone else was in the water with Eiji. Ignoring the nagging voice that told her that this was all still a trick of the imagination, she bite her lip and swung her legs over the edge, dropping in to the cold lake a second later.

"Eiji?! EIJI!" she called out. If she knew it was Nina flailing around as well, she would have called out for her too. Thankfully, Nettie was able to swim decently well, despite the fact that she couldn't touch the bottom with her small size.

Don't even bother, they abandoned you, remember? You're all alone...

She shook her head, determined to not listen to the voice that was nagging and NAGGING her to give up and just sink to the bottom. She held her arms out in front of her, spinning around in the water and hoping she made contact with anything...

And hopefully she'd be safe in the water from the creepy crawlies, but the voice was telling her THAT was also a stupid, naive thought...

Alice felt Eni's back pressed up against hers, even while her hand tightly clutched the Hufflepuff's hand. She heard the girl shout about needing to get out of there and that the professor needed her wand. But how could they when they were surrounded - and even more humiliating, her wand wasn't with her. Being a history of magic professor who was notoriously bad at magic, she rarely felt the need to carry her wand around with her while exercising.

But before she could even begin to formulate a reply, the things with the wands started chanting. It was a countdown. Only one thing could possibly happen at the end of the countdown. She knew in her heart that of everyone at the docks (or in the water), she alone was their victim. She alone would be inflated with air and sent bobbing into the sky like a balloon.

"ENI!!!" she shrieked, turning to the girl with a delirious look in her eyes. "I am losing my mind! You have to get the others and get out of here!"

The countdown continued. Now it was joined by clapping and hollering. Everyone was here. Everyone was watching her. They were all laughing and pointing at her. They were all going to watch her disappear into the sky. And everyone was the wrong age. This couldn't be real. She was going crazy, probably because of that oar.

But then -

Eni summoned a wall of stones. Just like that, the crowd couldn't see her anymore.

Alice let go of Eni's hand and placed both her shaky hands on her shoulders. She tried to clear her mind. "CAN YOU SUMMON YOUR BROOM?"

It was the first clear thought she had had since being hit with the oar.

”AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”

But no, Eiji. Despite how shrill her shrieking sounded, she wasn’t being eaten alive by something… YET.

But ‘yet’ was the keyword. Because the more and more they circled her, the more hungry they LOOKED. And Nina’s concerns were wildly shifting from her running mascara to becoming someone’s LUNCH. Or about ten someones. The Slytherin had lost count in all the panic, but there were enough to be circling around her with a rather wide diameter. Though it wouldn’t be long before they drew closer. They were probably plotting on the best mode of attack. Would they eat her arms first? Or her legs?

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.

After the initial, horrifying fear, Nina finally stopped screaming. She needed to THINK. There had to be a way out. She— ”EIJI!!!!!” Okay, so. She was screaming again. But at least this time it was a name? She couldn’t SEE him, but she could hear the sputtering. He sounded like… He was drowning? And… He sounded CLOSE. He was being circled too!!!!!!! BREATHE. THINK. BREATHE. CASTILLO.

Again her heart was beating incredibly fast, she felt like vomiting right then and there. But instead, she stepped around within the circle, her arms reached out in front of her. She needed to find Eiji. There’d be strength in numbers… Just as she was starting to give up, she felt someone’s (Eij’s) arm… Or at least she HOPED it was Eiji’s arm. ”Eiji!?!??” Ahem. In case.

Never mind the fact that she knew they were still being CIRCLED, but Nina’s attention had momentarily shifted to something even WEIRDER. ”Are you crying?” Also, never mind the fact that she, too, had been crying. He couldn’t see her face, right? Because she still couldn’t see his. But she did HEAR the whimpering, that sense was not impaired.

THEN THERE WAS SPLASHING (Nettie was getting closer, but Nina was about 8021% convinced that the splashing wasn’t due to a PERSON). They were coming. They were coming to eat her AND Eiji.

And then it struck her. They were BOTH going to die here.

”AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

Even with the wall up Eniola could still hear the screams, could still see the shadows of the figures from the water playing on repeat in her mind. She was going crazy. She wanted to curl over, hands over her ears. She couldn't take it. What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?



"Professor! Professor! What are you seeing? What's happening?" Eni felt so helpless seeing her Professor this way.

Eniola was so shaken with everything she barely registered the professor grabbing her shoulders and yelling in her face. A broom? What? Why do we need a broom? In this fog? "Professor, trying to fly in this fog - I'd just as soon hit the wall of the castle as I would the middle of the Lake."

Regardless, she summoned her broom and hoped the professor had a plan. Eni certainly didn't. "Accio broom!"

While he was waiting for darkness to take him, his lungs literally did begin to burn and because he was doing so voluntarily (though his mind thought it was necessary) his self preservation instincts kicked in and he gasps for air suddenly...which took him entirely by surprise because there was no gasping or breathing under water. So how had he just now...

...hallucinating. That much be it. His mind was trying to give him peace before the water took him...

....and then his eyes opened slightly, nothing more than slits, when he heard his name being called. Numerous times. What? What was going o----


WHACK

An arm (one of Trinetta's haphazardly spinning ones) smacked him right in the face, again, and he angrily grunted. At least it managed to half dodge his broken nose and his cheek and opened EYE took the bulk of the impact. And in the next instant someone (Nina) was grabbing on to his arm).

"....h-huh?" he murmured, confused and feeling limp as he bobbed helplessly in the water where he stood. Eyes open, he was confused once again when all he could see was a thick silvery gray and not dark murky green.

...........was he already dead?

That SCREAM told him otherwise.

But how could someone scream like that under water? Maybe he WAS already dead.

"N-Nina?" murmurs pathetically, because her voice was the one dominating his eardrums at the moment.

Nettie's burst of courageous energy was almost spent. She could feel algae at her ankles as she bobbed up and down in the water, but her brain was telling her that she was wrong. She was being attacked again, tons of little legs running up HER legs and engulfing her in a swarm that would eventually drag her under...

WHACK! Nettie felt her hand connect with something - or someONE more accurately - and she let out a gasp of surprise and relief. She'd thought for sure the voices had been right and she had been abandoned - unless this was all just a rouse. A hallucination. No...she tapped his face roughly a few times, just to make sure he was real. Yes, he was real! There was no way he wasn't. She was close enough now that she could see him somewhat clearly in the mist - enough to know she'd tracked Eiji down finally. Except...there was something ELSE grabbing him. OH NOOOO, they'd found her, they found him, they were going to take him away from her...

"Nina?!" she let out a confused cry when she recognized the voice calling out for Eiji. There was lots of splashing and flailing nearby, and through the mist she could JUST make out a mop of dark hair attached to the figure that was currently grabbing on to Eiji for dear life. In the back of Nettie's fogged brain, she knew she couldn't carry both of them through the water to safety. She wasn't strong enough Especially not when Nina was freaking out like that. She had to think of something else. If she didn't, the swarm was going to get her and find them, and then they'd truly be goners.

WAIT! An idea popped in to her head during a fleeting moment of clarity, and it was worth a shot. She reached in to her pocket with her free hand and pulled her wand out of the water, raising it in to the air. She remembered that there was a life preserver on the wall, probably hanging there to fulfill some kind of school safety protocol, even though she'd never seen it in use. "ACCIO LIFE PRESERVER!" she exclaimed, hoping it was still hanging on the side of the wall where it had been ever since she started coming to this place for some alone time. She held her hand above her head for a few moments, a sinking feeling hitting her stomach as time ticked on...it hadn't worked, they were all going to drown and leave her here alone...

And then it was there, flying through the air in to her outstretched hand. She caught it and immediately brought it down to the water in front of her with a splash. "EIJI! NINA! Grab on!" she barked at them. "And try to stay calm!" she added, mostly directing that one at Nina. The more she flailed around like that, the more she'd get water in her mouth and continue to panic. She was a bit concerned that Eiji was just floating there like a limp noodle. She wasn't sure which was worse - Nina screaming, or Eiji looking like he'd resigned himself to his fate. Using her arm that was still holding on to him, she tried to pull him on to the preserver - which didn't do much but would hopefully get him moving in the right direction (she wasn't Superwoman after all). As long as she could muster enough strength to keep his head above water, that was all that mattered. You were NOT dying on Trinetta Gladin's watch, Eiji Rasting!

She HAD to push through the nagging thoughts in her mind that kept reminding her that they were coming, they were going to get her, they were going to eat her alive with their tiny little pincers...no, she had to keep going. She had to save them! From a problem that SHE had created by pretending she was wielding a lightsaber but, details.

Now...which way was the dock?!

Moving swiftly like a coursing river over the grounds, hesitating not as his hooves struck mist covered ground, Thereos managed to follow the screams to the boathouse just as the haze thickened like sap and slowed his movements. Heavy hooves tromped upon the wooden dock as his strong arms batted futilely at the mist in attempt to clear the path. A great unrest settled into his chest and all too easily his carnal fight or flight urges were engaged.

"WHERE ARE YOU, YOUNGLING?!" he voice bellowed as he moved forward cautiously. Until he came upon the forms of Professor O'Hara and a youngling. "Was it your screams I heard?" he questioned hastily, his dark penetrating eyes looking the professor up and down disapprovingly. Had she no dignity?

It took Alice several moments (during which time the terrifying countdown continued) for her to realize what Eni had said. "You wouldn't crash into walls if you only flew up," she explained hastily, trying not to show any signs of panic in her voice. It bubbled over all the same. "We need to help the others! We can fly over this cursed mist. Get on-"

Before she could finish her sentence, what seemed like a miracle happened. A competent grown up appeared. One of her colleagues. His earlier shout had been ignored by Alice, who assumed it was part of her madness. But now he was standing right in front of them m. It was impossible to deny he was real.

Alice hastily straightened herself, trying to ignore both the countdown and her headache. She allowed herself to be comforted with the realization that the crowds of chanting people had to be fake, or else Thereos would have acknowledged them. "THEREOS!" she exclaimed, wincing in discomfort at her throbbing head. "Thank Merlin you're here! I think there are students in the water! I tried to help them, but someone attacked me. I am hallucinating, Thereos, and I think Miss Abara is, too."

And his judgmental look was the least of her concerns. He could judge her after they helped the students.

”Eiji!” Nina was flooded with absolute relief, though being with Eiji didn’t really help their current situation as they were still SURROUNDED. Dying together was better than dying alone right? Oh no no no no no no. She was NOT dying today. There was so much she had left to do!! "…..TRINETTA?” The Slytherin looked around at the sound of the other familiar voice (a futile attempt at finding the Ravenclaw, as she still couldn’t bloody see anything through the fog).

….You know? Out of every scenario Nina Castillo could have thought up, being saved by Trinetta Gladin had not been one of them.

But the Slytherin DID grab on to the life preserver, which was admittedly a quite clever idea. Though that still didn’t help with the SITUATION. They were still surrounded. They were ALL going to die???? What was Trinetta’s brilliant idea? To SWIM to them? That was even worse than staying put in the middle of their circle. No. Nina was NOT going to give up like that.

And so she did what any reasonable person would do. Because she had heard a voice. An adult voice. One that wasn’t crying. "WE’RE HERE, IN THE WATER, THERE ARE THREE OF US!!!!!" Or at least she hoped, there wasn't anyone else, right?

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!! !!!”

And also, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” For good measure.

Everything was in such a contradictory state right now and - perhaps to absolutely no one's surprise - Eiji was irritated by it all. There was no screaming or other loud noises when you were under water...so why was he hearing all of this NOISE right now? Of all the thoughts and sounds he imagined himself hallucinating on the brink of death...Trinetta screaming his name was not one of them.

His eyes, resigned and vacant, looked up into the grey haze and could just barely make out the blurry faces of his friends as his body was guided through the water a little more by urgent hands and arms. Grab on? Grab on to what?

At least he had the calm thing under control.

Acting like a gangly rag doll in Trinetta's arms, it was Nina's next series of screams that did him in and he lifted his head with an exhausted groan. "Will you knock it OFF," he whimpered. "If I have to drown here I would like to do in peace without your screaming."

He was unaware that Thereos had arrived and he was equally ignorant of the fact that he had just talked - something that shouldn't be possible.

The judgmental look only tightened as the woman spoke and it was a pleasant blessing he had not heard the absurdity about flying in the mist or his face would have twisted all the more. Even the birds had fled the grounds and Thereos knew it was only a matter of time before the owls of Hogwarts wised up and fled as well.

It truly was no wonder that some of his kind still questioned how natural selection had not weeded out the stick wielding magicians.

Hooves in constant motion, legs unable to remain stationary under these circumstances, Thereos continued to wave his hands to push the air unnecessarily aside. "I will deliver those in the water," he declared boldly. "Your...wand knows the spell of Polaris. Make haste in its use and follow back to the castle."

He could easily hear the thrashing of the younglings in the water and his hooves were swift to approach the edge of the dock and grabbed a bit of rope used to tie the boats to the dock. The youngling's screen proving to be just what the centaur needed to know where to throw it. "Take hold of the rope," he instructed as he released the rope and heard it splash gently in the water. "I will pull you to safety and carry you back to the castle on my back."

And as he waited on baited breath, Thereos heard another set of footsteps approaching and all the hairs on his arms and back of the neck stood.

Under normal circumstances (when her head didn't feel like it would crumple to pieces and she wasn't hearing voices), the increasingly judgmental look would have greatly annoyed her. But these were not normal circumstances - and the only emotions she could feel were relief and gratitude. She wasn't going to be turned into a balloon, after all.

That relief and gratitude temporarily turned to anxiety as soon as he told her to use her wand. How could she explain that she didn't have it with her? That would have made her seem like a fool - never mind that she that she rarely used magic and that she was jogging and a wand would have been inconvenient. "Understood," she said instead, and then anxiously turned to Eni to whisper - hopefully out of earshot from the centaur. "You've been very brave during this whole encounter. Ten points to Hufflepuff. I'm proud of you. Now...could you please cast Polaris? I seem to have misplaced my wand."

If Nettie had been at all in the right mindset, she probably would have raised an eyebrow and asked where her points were - she was LITERALLY saving lives here after knocking them in the water to begin with and no one on land seemed to be batting an eye! True, it was probably because no one could see her through all the mist at this point, or hear her over Nina's shrill screaming. Merlin, the girl was going to pop her ear drum if she screamed like that right in her ear one more time...but rest assured, if she had heard that, the opinionated Ravenclaw's blood would have been simmering and she'd have had some things to say. It didn't matter now, though. All that mattered was the fact that she was in the water, wearing her soaking robes that felt heavier by the minute, with a drowning Eiji and a screaming Nina...

It was a good thing the centaur came when he did. The panic and fear was starting to set in again - despite the fact that Eiji and Nina were both safely on the life preserver. The thoughts were creeping in to her brain again, and she was starting to feel like THINGS were crawling on her. That couldn't be possible, she was in the water! They couldn't swim! Or...COULD they??

She could hear Thereos' BOOMING voice calling out to them, and then a rope had materialized in front of her. Finally! A chance at salvation! A wave of relief washed over her as she also realized she wouldn't have to drag Eiji AND Nina to the dock, which would surely tire her out. Nettie felt her heart swell with hope and she tugged on Eiji a little harder. "Here! Grab the rope!" she yelled at both of them, grabbing on to the end herself and moving her hands so there was plenty of space for the Slytherins to grab on as well. Hurry, before they get us and I'm all alone again...

…. Leave it to Eiji Rasting to be a jerk even as they were all on the brink of death.

Nina gave him a VERY pointed look (one which was probably wasted as the dUMB mist was still blocking everything out). But his commentary had done the job in getting her to shut up. Because while she was still absolutely terrIFIED. She was also highly offended! It wasn’t like he was doing much better! He was just dangling there like a limp noodle, as if BECKONING them to attack. At least the screaming had kept them away… For now.

The next succession of events would have been incredibly irritating if Nina had actually heard them. Because, for the record, she would have been vERY upset to know that the Hufflepuff girl had received fifty points for doing absolutely nothing. Letting them all DIE in the water. That and there was no spell called ‘Polaris’??? So perhaps it was a good thing that Nina had not been paying attention to the commotion above water. Her preoccupation with those who were circling her came first and foremost. But she would absolutely be irritated upon reaching safety (which they hopefully would, as she did NOT want to die here).

She did, however, listen VERY carefully to the only sensible adult present. Don’t get it wrong, Nina was still VERY unsure about having a centaur as a Professor (as she was still incredibly terrified of him), but he was trying to help and that was more than she could say about O’Hara. And so, even if it would be just this once, Nina trusted him.

It was a good thing that Trinetta found the rope because Nina was still very much struggling to see anything. She only knew where to find it because of the Ravenclaws instructions. The Slytherin took hold, looking around FRANTICALLY.

Had she promised to stop screaming? No? GOOD. Because they were swimming towards her now and Nina Castillo was going to be eaten alive. ”AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Yes, she was holding onto the rope. But she was also kicking her legs and moving around a whole LOT. They were all going to die here.

THEY HAD TO GET OUT OF THE WATER ASAP!!!!

A limp noodle was the perfect way to describe one Eiji Rasting right now. He even had the gangly form to fit the bill. As reserved as he was to the fact that he was drowning, the more noise there was the more irritated he became and the more irritated he became the more his brain began working.

If this was the afterlife already...then surely he was in hell. A professor awarding points to someone who hadn't even acknowledged him in the water, DYING. Nor Trinetta or Nina. Then again, he supposed it was rather on brand. Awarding a student who only took an interest in the professor's well being and maybe he WASN'T in hell. But being ignored WAS absolute TORTURE to the Slytherin. It was why he had lashed out at Missa.

...............Missa.

...he was never going to see her again. Never affectionately trace her earlobes and caress his thumb over his the scar there...never feel those cheeks as soft and rosy as strawberry marshmallow fluff...

"....take care of Rebecca..." he muttered into the air.

Those tears were back. Just a bit.

And he was moving in the water again, drifting, and with Trinetta's arms tightly around him while Nina insisted on being insufferable and screaming again. Arms out to either side, Eiji willed his brain to shut up - it wasn't supposed to invoke PAIN and SUFFERING like this while on the verge of death, was it? - and allowed his arms to just float out to either side.

Was any of this over yet? What ever happened to resting in peace?

Eni felt terrible. Like her mind was being pulled in a bunch of directions. She may not be able to see them any more, but her head. It hurt and was making it hard to focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. There's was here. Was he here? Was that all a dream? O'Hara didn't seem to think so.

Wand? My wand! Where's my wand? She thought to herself in a panic. It was in her hand. She wanted to smack herself, she felt so stupid. She didn't even register the points she just wanted to get back into her dorm room and under the blankets and never surface again. "Okay Professor, polaris!" She called out and waited for the directions to pop up. Grabbing Professor O'Hara's hand she began to make her way back to the castle, grateful for Thereos taking care of the others. She wasn't sure how he saw anything in this fog, she certainly wasn't having the easiest time with it.

The spell cast by the young Hufflepuff woman did nothing and her wand as there was no incantation in the wizarding world by that name. A case of mistaken identity and confusion, surely, as the mist continued to drift and ghost, glide and dangle; enrobing everything it could within the boathouse including all those still trapped within.

The approaching footsteps continued, but Thereos focus remained steadily on the task at hand.

Unfortunately for the woman, despite that very centaur's senses being on edge and heightened from what he had been performing prior to his kin's call, he could not hear what she had just said to the youngling. Though it did not take much for him to piece together what had been said as the youngling made an attempt at casting a spell. Why was the youngling making an attempt at casting and not the professor herself? Questions the centaur would demand answers for at a later time. His priorities lay elsewhere presently.

"Polaris is the name of our Heavenly Northern Guide," he hissed towards the dim witted two legged one. How was it that humans struggled so with his instruction? Perhaps the headmaster had done all a great disservice at the start of term feast in instructing his subjects to merely smile and nod whenever the centaur spoke? Soon he felt the rope he had cast into the water grow taut as the younglings in the water took hold and he pressed his strong centaur hooves against the dock as he pulled them in. Three younglings if the shadows he made out in the haze were correct, though the looks of one were grave and it both brought upon immense sorrow and deep rage to witness. "Reach out and grasp your salvation," he instructed while his body lowered to kneel and his arm muscles rippled. "Has the sun set upon one of you? Give them to me so that I may pull them forth from your watery tortures...the remaining two of you climb out then climb on to my back." He would carry the wilted youngling in his arms to be received by his kinsmen back at the castle and laid to rest accordingly. "I trust one of you has a wand and knows which words to speak to invoke the spell of Polaris?"

The footsteps grew louder and then ceased, drawing Thereos' attention away from the three younglings in the water to glance over his shoulder. His expression paled, fight or flight charged forth into overdrive, and he froze.

"....no....no...it cannot be...it cannot..."

"Professor Thereos! I have no intentions to be rude but can you stop with the vagueness! I want to get out of here and I'm not sure why you're telling me about a star that I can't even see through this fog!" Eniola was so incredibly frustrated. She couldn't believe she just yelled at a teacher! When her head was on right she'd have plenty of time to regret it and apologize, but right now? Right now she needed to get inside. Far, far away from this mist. She didn't have time to solve the mystery of Thereos right now.

What do we do? What do we do? What do we do? She couldn't think straight. She needed to focus. Focus. Focus. Focus! She felt like her head weighed twenty pounds and she could hear hissing. It felt like there was a snake right at her ear. It was freaky. She could practically feel it's tongue rattling beside her ear.

Why? Why? Why? WHY!?

Trinetta was HEARING the words Thereos was saying, but not really registering them much as she felt herself being pulled out of the water. As soon as she was safely out of the water, she felt all her anxiety release. She immediately began to bawl, her arms feeling like jelly from the exhaustion of waving oars, pulling deadweight Eiji to the rope, and then holding on to said rope as she was being rescued. To make matters worse, she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing up, and heard the scuttling of the teeny tiny legs on the dock once again. Oh no, they were back! THEY WERE BACK!

Tears continued to roll down her eyes, and like a zombie, she climbed on to the centaurs back as he instructed. At least this way they'd have to go through a whole man-horse before they got to her. He said something odd, though, that turned her attention back to him. Had the sun set on one of them? What on Earth did that mean? It sounded like he was saying one of them had died. Nina certainly wasn't dead - the screaming made that much obvious. Did he mean...Eiji?

Oh no, noooooo no no no no nooooooo. He left. He LEFT! He left her all alone...

No, that couldn't be right. It just didn't...feel right. There were many reasons that Nettie was certain, 100%, that Eiji Rasting was not REALLY dead. He'd been basically useless, floating there like a log, but no, she just couldn't bring herself to believe it. Also, he was way too stubborn to just...drown like that. Clutching the centaur, she shook her head. "He's not dead, Professor..." she said softly. She'd heard him mutter something about Rebecca just a moment ago...

Polaris...Polaris...she had no idea WHAT the centaur was talking about and she was so tired and scared and alone... Why was he talking about the North Star at a time like this? She heard Eni yelling about stars and not being able to see, and she was inclined to agree with the girl. It made no sense, what he was asking...the spell of Polaris? Ugh, she felt like she was going to be sick, and her head might burst open from all the emotions she was feeling. They had to go soon though, they were basically open targets out here in the open!!

Wait...WAIT...somewhere in Nettie's brain, that same energy that had helped her think of the life preserver was kicking in to gear again. She had no idea why she made the connection - stars were certainly not her area of expertise - but it just clicked like a lightbulb. UGH. Why hadn't he just ASKED for that specific spell? Centaurs.

She pulled her wand out of her pocket, hand shaking as she held it in front of her in her open palm, trying to remain balanced and not drop it in to the inevitable swarm forming around them. "POINT ME!" she exclaimed.

Nina continued to scream the whole time as they were pulled out of the water. Because they were being chased and those things could swim a lot faster than Theros could pull. Somehow, in a way that didn't entirely make sense, they had managed to reached the ledge before they were eaten. But Nina was far too disturbed by it all to reason through the logic. Instead, she used all of her might to pull herself back onto the dock. Her whole body was dripping, weighing her down as she lifted herself out of the water.

She was safe. But they were still there.

Her entire body was shaking. She wasn't bawling anymore, not like Trinetta anyway, but she was quivering. Half because she was freezing cold (the temperature outside and the fact that she was still drenched did not make this at all an enjoyable experience) and half because she was still terrified out of her mind. She wanted to go home now more than ever. This would never happen at Beauxbatons. They were as good as dead. She couldn't believe that they had made it out of the water unscathed. It didn't make sense.

But then again, nothing made sense. She was far too cold and far too scared to think straight.

The only good thing about this state of mind, was that it had inhibited her ability to speak. Or scream, for that matter. Because now that they were on land, Nina had officially shut down. She helpless climbed onto the centaur's back without a single word. It seemed that Trinetta was quite fine with doing the talking anyway. And she was right, Eiji wasn't dead. He was just a limp noodle full of eternal sass.

But Nina stayed quiet, clutching onto their Professor for dear life. She wanted to go home.

At first the centaur wondered if he had somehow lost track of his own limbs and was gazing upon his reflection in the waters. A human form, horrifying to behold, stared back at him with the most twisted and unpleasant varieties of smirks imaginable. As the figure opened it's mouth to speak, another voice cut through the fray in Thereos' heart....

........the audacity.

Thereos, already unimpressed by Miss Abara's performance, became even more so at her attempt to scold him despite he being as clear as the summer sun on a cloudless day. "Do not shift the blame to me, youngling, for your lack of fundamental knowledge," he snapped coldly. Perhaps a lesson to be learned here that revision was necessary for those wizarding exams students were constantly stressing about unnecessarily. He was even less certain what to make of this woman. A conversation to be had with the headmaster once he escorted these younglings back to the castle. "Now is not the time for such human pettiness." Seeing as everyone wished to leave this haze and the feeling of dread from being enveloped in its vapors.

But he would deal with this disrespect at another time. His priorities remained elsewhere still.

His strong trunk-like arms reached down and grasped the robes of the fallen, pulling the soggy young man forth from the water and cradled him in his arms like a stack of hay while the other two climbed on to his back. "I see he breathes still," the centaur nodded as he rest one of his palms over the boy's chest and felt the steady rise and fall of each breath along with a heartbeat.

The figure, seemingly content with hovering nearby as it spat its hateful and condescending agenda, began to wear heavily on the centaur's spirit and threatened to throw him into despair. It was only the trembling grip of those two younglings on his back and the weight in his arms that pulled him from that pit. "Well done, Miss Gladin," his voice rasped, a throat as dry as a desert, as he pushed his hooves against the dock and rose. "Tell me which way your wand dictates. And you two, Miss Abara and Professor O'Hara, my clutch my tail to follow." Less they become lost even further.

Slowly, least his knees buckle as they trembled, Thereos pressed forward slowly so as not to lose any of the five humans depending on him. "Your words h-have no impact on me," he proclaimed to the figure who then antagonized the centaur further by pulling up its trouser leg to make sure that the centaur could see just how mutilated his once perfect figure had become. "N-N-None!"

So Polaris wasn't a spell. She had just told Eni to cast it anyway. CURSES! Why did Thereos have to be so symbolic? Well, now the history of magic professor was relieved that she hadn't brought her wand with her. Otherwise, she'd have been the one trying to cast a non-existent spell!

But at least the students were safe and they about to head back now. A sharp stabbing pain in her head made her very briefly consider asking who had dared hit her in the head. Right now her head hurt so much that she wanted very much to subtract 1,000 points from whichever cursed house was unlucky enough to spawn that student. Thankfully, she said nothing. The fog had altered all of their behaviors, and she knew that the attack on her poor head was an accident. Come to think of it, her rewarding fifty points to Eni might also have been a result of distorted thinking.


"Your tail?!" Unfortunately, the professor was unable to hide her disgust at the notion of holding unto her colleagues tail. "Fine. Just get us out of here." And she grabbed the tail, reluctantly but tightly.

What was he saying about words having no impact on him? The fog must finally be getting to him. That wasn't good. "Just breathe slowly," she advised. "Those voices aren't real." It seemed both of them were hearing voices, though no doubt the voices spoke different things.