Swallow. Swallow, swallow swallow. And not the bird. Miranda was having a hard time getting that lump in her throat to stay down. Oliver's gaze was making her nervous, and she almost flinched as he shouted the name 'Sam'.

Sam... That name sounded familiar... But who or what was it? Her eyes scanned the floor as she tried to remember, but, nothing. He did not look happy. Not at all. But she didn't answer him. Dangit! She needed a plan or they might all get toasted.

Nancy's impatience seemed to be making Oliver annoyed, which was not good also. Miranda knew Oliver well enough to know how this might affect him. But she kept looking straight at him and made sure to keep her grasp on the little huffie behind her. Save Wesley...save Sam.

Wtf?! No, not save Sam. What the hell!?

She shook her head at how the boy was mocking Wesley. Her own eyes narrowed. "Shut the hell up, Curly!" She barked, not even remembering she could've just stunned the guy. But this heated 'discussion' kept her mind on nothing but keeping them all unhurt.

And he had the AUDACITY to jab his wand AT HER!? But the flicker of anger she felt died, and instead a sorrow made its prescence known. "What happened to you?" She asked softly, keeping her brown eyes on his green ones.
Slowly, she reached out a hand to rest on his outstretched one. She didn't want to take the wand away from him, or alteast that was not her intention, but rather to just maybe... feel if Oliver was still in there, somehow.

Ack! The threat! Uuuuuuuuh...


What the hell!? Suddenly the wand was being removed from Oliver's grasp, and she watched with a dropped jaw how it just simply...floated away. How did that happen!? And off was Oliver to take it back. And he did, casting a spell at whomever it was had taken it. Crap. It was an invisible person! BUT WHO!?

Miranda's eyes grew wide at the voice behind her and practically froze on the spot. Another little student? Groaaaaaaaaaaan. Oh maaan, how was this going to work out?

Questions questions questions. She still kept her eyes on Nancy and Oliver, not even THINKING of turning to face the newly arrived girl. "Listen," she said to...all of them, "You don't need to do this... just- get out of here. But don't hurt them." Surely, if the Gryffindor girl heard that, she must realise she should GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!

"BRODY!?" For a minute, there had been some strange force of...something that had run off with Oliver's wand. But now it was quite obvious it...was a girl. HEH! Right there, on the same spot that Oliver had tackled said strange force, was now the solid body of her fellow Huffie!

Seeing a good distraction, Miranda turned to Wesley, gave her a quick smile and then grabbed her by the arm. Heading for the Gryffindor firstie, she did the same, hoping to drag them off to hide behind a large heap of rubble. She didn't have time to think if she was being forceful, because all that mattered was to keep them safe. "Come on! You have to get out of here!"

And Brody! Crap! "Brody! Are you okay??!" She called out rather panicky. She needed to go help her! Miranda grabbed hold of her wand and was soon setting out to do some.....damage.

GUUUUUUH!! Not Miranda too. NO WAY Miranda didn't know what they had to do either. What had happened to them? Had they been head-walling together?! Well, at least Oliver remembered now that they had to get to the Fifth Floor and/or prevent other people - the EVIL!People - to get there. They needed to help Mr. Barkeep.

Nancy only snorted dismissively at Oliver's rather annoyed reply to her question and turned around so she didn't have to bear the sight of that whiny little Hufflepuff...with her cape. Wait, CAPE?! What the heck was that cape-thing about anyhow?! And Miranda didn't seem to remember even though Oliver had explained it so well. GUH!

Pointing her wand at everything she tried to make sure that nobody would attack Oliver, her, Miranda and all the others from behind while she half-heartedly listened to the others' conversation. A few snickers escaped her lips at Oliver's taunting "SuperWes" words which sorta explained the whole cape-thing. SuperWes?! SNORT!

At Miranda's determined "NO!" Nancy did turn around however to stare at what was happening between them. Which was not good. Not good at all. "Miranda..." There were no words to express her feelings however so she simply flailed with her wand in her hands before turning to gaze at Oliver. A look of concern flashed across her face at the boy's words...he wouldn't hurt Miranda...would he?! "Oliver...don't..." She softly grabbed his shoulder to keep him from cursing Miranda...or whatever he was thinking of doing.

A irritated snort escaped Nancy's lips at the arrival of yet ANOTHER tiny girl who was pointing her wand at them. Yeah, right. Like she was a match to any of them. "Langlock!" She sent a stream of light at the tiny Gryffindor (Roxanna) with a dismissive roll of her eyes. That should do it. Hopefully. Just as she turned back to see and make sure Oliver hadn't cursed Miranda - she wasn't too worried about this SuperWes person - she gasped at the sight before her eyes.

WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!?!

Oliver's wand was hovering in mid-air and hopping down the corridor?! GUH! There was somebody there and they were definitely disillusioned. Which was bad, very bad. How many others were there?! With a small automatic nod at Oliver it was now her turn to point her wand at both Miranda (*eek*) and this SuperWes person. And to be honest she did not like it one bit. Though they were a danger to their plan so there..."DON'T MOVE!" She snapped at the two Hufflepuffs while her eyes flickered back to Oliver and his wand...and whoever it was he was currently wrestling.

BRODY?!?!?!?!? Nancy gasped not only because she could now see the person who had attempted to steal Oliver's wand but because she was quite certain of something. Torin was probably around here too somewhere...he wouldn't let his girlfriend on her own in times like this. EEK!
"STUPEFY!!!" The 17 year old sent the Stunner at Brody as she attacked Oliver. Not good. Nobody was going to hurt Oliver and prevent him from helping Mr. Barkeep. If only Miranda would see sense again.

She could only barely hear what Miranda was saying but it made her face tear up with anxiety. Jeez! "Miranda, we need to go. We need to go to the Fifth Floor. What happened to YOU?!" No way she was going to stop protecting Mr. Barkeep. Whatever the Huffie Captain had to see. "Don't you see?!" One last attempt to pull her back onto their side...

Torin saw a bit of a situation come up and Brody becoming visible again. But she seemed to be okay on the most part, so he decided that maybe it was best if he moved on. So he undisillusioned himself and started heading towards the stairs, so that he could deal with the blocks.

Miranda seemed to be pondering who this Sam fellow was. Oliver merely kept his eyes on her and waited impatiently for it to click the way it had with him thanks to Nancy. But *sigh* - nothing. “Do you want her to get hurt?” He asked and nodded at Wesley. “Cos I'm doing this for her own good. She turns around and goes back downstairs she'll be out of harms way. There's NO WAY..” He pointed at Wesley. “...I'm allowing HER to go up there!” No way. And this wasn't all about Sam, was it? Because what was the little puff going to do to him? It was also because deep down in his heart and beneath the curse he didn't know he was under, he cared about Wesley and would feel to blame if she got into difficulty up there.

And you had to be cruel to be kind, right? hehehe. ...Or so his dad always told him when he removed his belt.

Curly? Groooooan. Not her too. “Yeah. Nice come back.” He taunted. But he must have let his guard down for just a moment because Miranda's hand was on his. He almost flinched away from her touch but he remained where he was, his eyes softening a little and a bit of their spark returning as she asked him that question in that soft tone of voice. If it hadn't been for his wand being snatched he may very well have been persuaded back to the 'other side' just there and then by that simple gesture. Damn Miranda and her Hufflepuff heart!

Nancy's voice pulled him back under and his expression became stony once again. Nancy's hand was on his shoulder. “I'll do what I have to for Sam.” He simply replied to the Slytherin girl. “And you should too.” He added because really, how else were they going to do this task if they showed everyone, friend or not, mercy?

He didn't hear Nancy hex the Gryffindor, which he would have deemed unnecessary, as he ran off after his wand.

Another hit to the jaw. Great. Oliver was getting VERY used to being hit by girls, and it was most certainly a girl judging by the rubbishness of her punch. Hehe. Another guy could have broken his jaw.

She blocked his spell and he cursed. Maaan... he was so fuming right now. WHY DID NONE OF THEM GET IT! He clenched his free hand into a fist by his side frustrated that no-one except Nancy seemed to understand that his intention was not to hurt anyone.. it was just to protect Sam but they kept attacking HIM and leaving him no choice! Jeeez! It was pretty simple.

She came into focus and sure enough, it was a girl. A ruddy Hufflepuff girl - he should have guessed. He took a couple of paces back and trained his wand on her. “Please. Just go downstairs. I don't want to fight you.”

The next he knew, his legs had glued together and over he toppled onto the floor. This was so not good. Now he was SEETHING! “You little...” He trailed off clearly panicked by this claustophobic hex and forgetting that he could free himself with a simple 'finite'. While he was incapacitated, he was oblivious to Miranda running off with the two younger students. “NANCY!” He yelled for the girl's help.

Merlin's PANTS! This was not good.

Little hands clutching on to the back of Miranda's robe, one holding her wand, Wesley listened, sniffeling slightly, as the scary Slytherin and Oliver talked. They were going to hurt Miranda. Well, they were trying not to - but they were. Then they were going to hurt Wesley. And - eyes wide - the Hufflepuff picked up, at last, what they'd been talking about the entire time. Sam. Samuel Huxley. AKA The Hufflepuff Killer AKA The Kidnapper AKA The EVIL, SLIMEY, FOUL, HAIRY, DISGUSTING, AWFUL, DISTURBING MAN OF ALL EVIL-SLIMEY-FOUL-HAIRY-DISGUSTING-AWFUL-DISTURBINGNESS who Imperiused 10+ students and made them fight each other and made Cela watch and now was trying to KILL her Ancient Rune's Professor.

Wesley figured she could probably cast Incendio if she really wanted to with all this information. Not that she would, but she could.

And it was, while stewing over her hatred for this man, crying having stopped, that Wesley accidentally blocked out what was happening until Miranda was pulling her and some other unknown (langlocked?) girl back behind some rubble.

Unable to see Oliver, or the scary girl, or anything else besides Miranda and this new girl, Wesley grabbed on to Miranda's arm before she could chase after Brody (who was here! And a totally awesome substitute Beater, by the way, even though that didn't really matter right now.),"Miranda," she whispered, quickly, urgently, searching the older girl's dark eyes with her own, "Don't listen to them! That man - that Samuel Huxley! He's the one who killed Kyle and Abby and Helios! He's the guy who's been hurting everybody - making them fight for money! And now he's after Professer Lupa, and he's Imperiused loads of people to help him! I think Oliver and that one girl are Imperiused too, like Tibi was, only he still is, but - so - just don't listen to them!" It was a rather poor finish, but the Hufflepuff meant every word she said.

Brody rubbed her cheek, wincing at the pain she felt. Man. That dude's punch had really hurt, had he not ever learnt how to respect ladies, especially superior and well bred ladies just like herself.
Oh. And he had his wand trained on her now. Oh what a gentleman. He wanted her to go downstairs. "You want me to go downstairs?" She pointed her wand straight back at him, resting her other hand on her hip. She was not going downstairs, not unless it involved pulling him with her. "How about No?" And she stood her ground because no boy, not even some rude idiot like this one was, was going to make her change her mind.

She heard someone shout a stunner, and she ducked quickly, allowing th spell to shot over her head. Thank goodness for quick reflexes. She glanced around the guy to see who it was. Nancy. "Protego." She pulled up another shield, just incase Nancy tried anything again. She had bigger people to deal with right now, and Nancy was not going to stun her.

Miranda was shouting now, and Brody glanced behind her. Was Miranda going to get Wesley out of here? That was good, even though it would leave her on her own, but she was sure she could cope. She was Brody Summers after all. "I'm Fine Miranda" Because she hadn't seen that bruise yet. "Get Welsey out of here." That little one was not getting hurt.
She glanced back at the guy, and smirked. He obviously did not think that she was going to curse him then did she. "Stupefy." But wasn't the guy a bit stupid to not figure out that he could have gotten out of the leg lock himself? Silly boy.

Torin turned back when he was about half way towards the stairs. There was something that he wanted to do before he got rid of the obstacles. He wanted to punch that Oliver guy in the face. For trying to hex him and also for punching Brody in the face.

He walked right over to the Slytherin and punched him in the face. Hard. "That's for trying to hex me. And punching Brody."

Then he turned back and went back down the hallway.

Rushing to the fourth floor Josh found another chaos here which was not a surprising thing. He did not care, though. He was determined to follow the girl and do as expected from him. He did not care the fact that he was wandless. However the girls did not seem to be around here somewhere and woah! There was a blasted wall.

All right. Hearing some words on getting upstairs from inside the chaos he ran to the stairs where he found other two students arguing and... O.O Huge snakes plus other obstacles on the way.

''SOMEONE VANISH THOSE!'' yelled the wandless and nearly hopeless Gryffindor boy. ''I NEED TO GO THERE NOW!''

Torin was surprised when he heard this boy run down the corridor and start yelling. Well, he had better do what was asked. Especially seeing as he had wanted to get up the stairs too.

He reached the stairs - avoiding the serpents - and started calling out, "Evanesco!" pointing his wand at all the creatures and then the boulders when they were gone. Then he started shooting the spell at random places to get rid of the trip jinxes.

Then that was finally done, he pointed his wand at the stairs. "Finite." Now the stairs were back to normal too.

The last thing Roxanna had expected when she approached the group was for all her questions to be ignored. The only boy in the group shot her a disgruntled stare, but didn't say anything. The oldest Hufflepuff (Miranda) though spoke to her which made Roxanna start to fanthom the severity and danger of the situation. Everything wasn't all right. If she stayed she could get hurt.

She really wanted to get out of there just like that older girl ordered her to but she couldn't move her legs. Roxanna felt very weird standing there and listening to the conversation that transpired between the slytherin boy and Hufflepuff girl. Who in merlins name was Sam Huxley?

Confused Roxanna looked for guidance from the darkhaired hufflepuff. Minutes later she flet how she was dragged forcefully backwards "Wai----t! What are you doing? I can defend myself." Roxanna had been about to say more when the spell from the other slytherin girl hit.

"OUCH!"

Roxanna cried in pain an agony as her tongue curled up into her out mouth. The slytherin girl was evil. Turning to the older hufflepuff with fear in her eyes she wondered what the girl had done to her.

When he finally saw the boy again, a new surge of adrenaline hit him and he dashed forward. As soon as he was within reach his hand clamped down on the student's shoulder and he spun him around. It was Josh. His eyes widened and his voice came out as more of a snap than he intended. "Josh?! What are you doing going up there without a wand?! Do you even know what you are blindly running into?"

He wanted to shake the body desperately, to knock some sense into him. Don't do this, please. He didn't want to see another person hurt.

And the very next moment the obstacles had vanished one by one and Josh was mostly glad that the snakes were gone. Phew! Someone had actually cared about his yell of help. He looked around to see who was that wizard or witch to show his gratefullness however he could not see anyone around. Weird. Then ''THANK YOU!'' he yelled and attempted to rush upstairs just when...

Someone caught him by his shoulder and Josh turned around only to see noone but Sabel. Was he the one who vanished the obstacles? Well...obvious not concluding the words he spoke. ''I need to find Evelyn and Destiny!'' he said alomost out of breath ''Evelyn has my wand. Something got into her...them. And people are hurting her...them. I won't let this happen. I am gonna get my wand and take them out the fight. I want to finish thing this thing. I don't care if i die as long as it ends. LEMME GO!'' he finished and ran to the ther floor as fast as he could.

Sabel tried to maintain his hold, opened his mouth to tell the boy what was really going on, but he was out of his grip in an instant. "IDIOT!" He screamed as the boy dashed up to the next set of stairs.

The boy really was going to get himself killed. He couldn't let that happen. He had to protect him. Ignoring the pain constricting his chest, sending a silent agonized apology to the other students on the floor, he dashed up the steps behind Josh.

Nancy blinked a few times, gazing back at Oliver at the boy's words. She should, shouldn't she? Still, if there was a way that didn't involve hexing Miranda then she would honestly prefer that one. "You're right..." She replied in a voice that could only be described as extremely ashamed of herself. How could she have thought otherwise?!

Blue eyes flickering back and forth between Miranda, SuperWes and the langlocked Gryffindor and Oliver's little fight, Nancy proceeded to point her wand at the Hufflepuffs in case they were trying anything. Who knew? Miranda wasn't on their side after all it seemed. Not anymore. GUUUUUH!!!

Oliver's yell for help distracted her for a moment - and gave Miranda the opportunity to drag the two younger students away. Gasping Nancy watched as Brody successfully sent a spell at Oliver which made his legs lock immediately. That mean, stupid...She cursed under her breath before sending nonverbally putting up a Shielding Charm just in case. Now on to Brody.

However, unfortunately she was too slow to get rid of the spell effects before Brody sent a Stunner at Oliver. Oh, no you don't... "Protego!" Nancy shouted to repel the spell before it hit Oliver who was just lying on the floor. Hopefully this worked. It had to. "Expelliarmus!" She sent a Disarming Charm hurtling towards Brody before again nonverbally directing a Finite! at Oliver.

"TORIN!" Guh, she KNEW he had to be around here somewhere. But now it was too late. He had just appeared and gone off to punch Oliver right in the face. Nancy literally growled at the Hufflepuff Prefect who had just injured her only (it seemed) associate in this. As soon as he had turned his back on them she sent a furious "Stupefy!" after the boy. He had PUNCHED Oliver after all. GUH!

It was only then that Nancy noticed Miranda, SuperWes and the Gryffindor girl had disappeared. Crap! They needed Miranda. Well, at least they weren't attacking them or anything. Besides they had other things to worry about. The annoying Torin had just blasted aside the blockade which meant there were more students coming for them. And they weren't on their side that was for sure. "WE NEED TO GET GOING!!!!" She yelled at Oliver...and Miranda.

"Confringo!" Hopefully it would hit something - the wall which it was aimed at - and cause a little distraction. They needed to get to the Fifth Floor.

Oliver somehow managed to get his brain into gear and cast 'Finite' on himself ending the rude girl's spell. He heard her next hex and squeezed his eyes shut knowing full well he wouldn't have time to block it.

When it didn't come, he opened his eyes to see that Nancy cast a shield to protect him. Breathing a sigh of relief, he got to his feet again, glamcing over to where Miranda and Wesley HAD BEEN! Where had they gone!? He looked towards the stairs leading up to the fifith floor. His eyes went wide with panic. No! They couldn't have done. If anything happened to either of them...

Crap. He had to get a grip. He was supposed to be defending the Bossman here, not worrying about a couple of Hufflepuffs deciding they were lemmings. ...Are lemmings rodents? hehe. Oh dear.

Nancy had gone into autopilot, throwing hexes and spells all over the place. Oliver was grateful because his reactions had slowed right down. It didn't help that Miranda and Wes had vanished from sight.

Glaring back at the girl who had just hexed him, with his wand still trained on her, he was about to send a nasty hex her way when there was another student right up in his face. Had he been invisible too?

....Oh crap...

CRACK!

His jaw felt like he had been hit with a brick. Not like Sarah's swipes at him.. or Brody's; this was a proper punch by someone who knew what they were doing. He heard the sound of his jaw cracking and saw the black dots which started to dance before his eyes before he felt the pain. “Gu-aaaagh!!” he yelled and clutched the side of his face. Two more teeth dislodged from the back of his mouth and he was sure his jaw had been dislocated.

What in the HELL?!!!

Without even thinking, he ran at the boy who had done it who had turned to leave, jumping onto his back hoping to bring them both to the ground. He slammed his fist into that boy's face.

Payback.

“She... “ Punch “..attacked...” thwack. “... me first!” he managed to get out though it hurt his jaw like a bugger.

"THE STAIRS, NANCY! BLAST THE CEILING AGAIN. BLOCK THE WAY THROUGH!" He yelled at the girl. Crapping hell.. his eyes watered from the pain in his jaw. Shouting was a VERY bad idea it seemed.

When did this all start to go so horribly wrong?

Eurgh. Nancy was still throwing spells all over the place. She was VERY annoying. "Protego." She quickly shouted, shielding herself again. She was not going to give that stupid Slytherin she privilege of knocking he out or something. She watched the girl. She would have to do something about her, and seeing as Oliver was now distracted.

By Torin now so it seemed who had just smacked him one in the face. Oh go Torin. She giggled a little, as she pulled another shield up, so that Nancy could not get her when she was distracted.
Wait. Torin was going again, but Oliver was chasing at him. Ouch. "Tor!" That sounded like it hurt, and Oliver was very annoying. "Stupefy!" She shouting, pointing her wand in the general direction of where Torin, and Oliver were, hoping that she would hit the right target, she didn't really want to stun her boyfriend.

Oliver was shouting at Nancy, and Brody was not going to let her block the way through. "NO!" She shouted, running at Nancy, and basically jumping on her, hoping that she would knock her to the floor. That would stop her from blocking the way. "I don't think so."

Nancy winced at the sound Oliver's jaw made when it connected with Torin's fist. EEK! That sounded bad, very bad. Her eyes locked on Oliver who was now chasing after Torin and tackling him Nancy had completely forgotten about Evil!Brody. Staring at Oliver punching Torin - which made her wince no less than it had when the Slytherin had been hit - Nancy racked her brain where Miranda had disappeared off to. Hopefully she was safe...

CRASH!!!

Nancy's thoughts were interrupted by the enormous crash the wall made when her confringo charm hit it. Not that it did too much good. The stairs were still not blocked. GUH! "Bombard-"

SHRIIIIIEEEEKKK!!!!

The 17 year old never got to finish the spell as it was right then that a few things happened at once. First, she heard Brody's voice shout something which again made her want to facepalm herself at her own stupidity. How could she have forgotten about the Hufflepuff girl?! Guh! She didn't have time to react however as she felt herself being tackled to the floor by somebody...Brody.

Smack! Nancy collided with the floor, briefly knocking out all air from her lungs. As soon as she had refocused on the blonde above her she cursed under her breath before she did the first thing that came to her mind...pull hard at the girl's hair. "Get off me!" She yelled while trying to wiggle out under Brody. Unfortunately, she couldn't even use her wand as she was literally pinned to the ground.

Okay. So she totally hadn't thought this tackle through really had she. If Nancy fell to the floor, then it was quite likely that she would also be joining the girl on the floor. But if it meant that she stopped Nancy blocking the stairs than all was good.
"Eeep" Even though Nancy basically cushioned the floor it still hurt a little, but now that she was practically on her it meant that Nancy could not get away. Now if she could just get her wand...

...."OUCH Get of my haiirr!" That HUURT. Pulling at Nancy's hand, she tried to get her hair out of the Slytherin's grasp. But she still wasn't going to get off of the girl. "No." If it meant that she was stuck her and unable to do anything, which was a positive. Now, her next mission was to get Nancy's wand out of her hand. She grasped at Nancy's wand hand, trying to pull it out of her girp. "You're not blocking the stairs."

Nancy's grip around the girl's hair tightened as Brody started pulling on her hand. Hehe... During the struggle for the blonde's hair the 17 year old accidently slapped her square across the face...not that she regretted it or anything but it just wasn't purposefully. Now it had happened a small smirk tugged at the corner of her lips, however. Hehe...

...her little feeling of 'victory' was only short-lived however as Brody seemed to have noticed her inability to use her wand at the moment too. GUH! "Oh, I will!" Nancy replied through gritted teeth as she tried to yank her hand out Brody's grasp. And mind you the girl was stronger than she looked. "Stop it!" Yank Yank! Right then she noticed what danger she was exposed to with Brody being able to cast spells when she couldn't.

"Protego!" That should work even though she couldn't exactly move her wand-arm.

Eurgh. The girl was pulling her hair even more, and it really hurt. "Get off my hair girrl!" Didn't this girl understand what her hair meant to her. She continued to struggle, trying to get the girl off, until she slapped her. Woah. Harsh. Her mouth fell open, and she let go of the girls hands to rest her own hand against her cheek. Make that 2 bruises.
Right. This was war. "You're going to regret that." She growled, punching the girl. Woah. When had she gotten so Muggle like? unladylike? Her Mother would die if she saw this now.

"I don't think so." Not with me on top of you anyway. Hopefully someone would come along and help, because she didn't know how long she'd be able to keep Nancy pinned on the floor for, maybe Miranda could help. When Nancy put a shield up Brody actually remember she could cast a spell. "Incarcerous" She pointed her wand directly at Nancy, hoping that he'd be able to get through the shield. Nancy was annoying and needed to be made immoible. "Stupefy." That might help too actually.

The way Brody was fighting for her hair made Nancy snicker smugly. Oh, no, missy, she was not going to let go of that, not anytime soon anyhow. Hehe... The moment the Hufflepuff released her hand she yanked at a strand of blonde hair hard with an evil smirk on her face. Yes, that would do-

"EEEEK!" Nancy shrieked in surprise as Brody's fist connected with her face. Her cheek immediately heated up and she felt tears springing to her eyes due to the pain emerging from the warm part of her face. Even though it hurt like hell, right now all Nancy could think of was getting revenge for the girl's punch.

Kicking hard at whatever she could reach she felt her foot connect with something which felt a lot like a shin. "Oliver!" She didn't know how he was doing with Torin. Nancy elbowed frantically not even noticing anymore whether or not she hit Brody or not...until she stopped dead mid-elbow. This was it. Closing her eyes Nancy nonverbally strengthened her shield in a last attempt to repel the spell Brody had sent hurtling at her.

...and it had apparently held. Go her! "Confundo!" Nancy muttered with a small flick out of her wrist, trying hard to tilt her wand so that it was directed at Brody. However the little distraction it had cost to cast the spell prevented Nancy from reacting fast enough for Brody's second spell...which immediately stunned her completely.

GUH!

Oliver suddenly and unexpectedly released his grip from the hufflepuff boy he was attacking. He groaned loudly and stumbled backwards gripping the side of his head. Memories and emotions seemed to come flooding back to him so fast that it hurt his brain.

Where the hell was he? And w-what was he doing!?

Blinking, he looked around the hall taking in the destruction and damage. Nancy fighting with that girl – the one who'd attacked him... and.. and he'd punched her in the face in exchange. He swallowed. His eyes went wide and his breathing ragged as it suddenly became clear to him that he was responsible for much of what had gone on here.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to control his breathing as the beginnings of a panic attack threatened. What had he done? What had he done? What had he done? Oh GOD! He looked at the boy whom he had been throwing punches at all of a few seconds ago and opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out his mouth but a croak. He wasn't even sure what he wanted to say. Apologise? It somehow seemed pathetic given the enormity of what he had done.

He felt the side of his face. It was so painful. He used his hand to crack his jaw back into place and let out a muffled cry of pain. But so what if it hurt. He deserved it. He deserved the missing teeth and the wound to the back of his head. He deserved to suffer for causing such pain to his friends and peers.

But there was a reason for it all, wasn't there?

Samuel Huxley.

Without a word to the others in the corridor, Oliver took off in a sprint, all the way along the corridor and up the stairs leading to the fifth floor. That man was going to pay.

If one had been paying attention to Nancy's face they would have noticed the change in her blue eyes. They went from a mixture of wild, crazy and still rather blank to sheer panic and shock. What the heck was she doing?! Blinking repeatedly at Brody Nancy was unable to move due to the Stunner the girl had sent her way...because she had been trying to block the way to the Fifth Floor. GUH! What was this all about?!

Her eyes now staring straight ahead at the blonde girl she felt the panic rise inside of her. What was she doing?! What had she been doing?! Why had she been fighting Brody?! What the heck?! Out of the corner of her eyes - she couldn't move her head after all - Nancy could see Oliver hovering on the spot for a moment awkwardly before simply taking off. WHAT THE HECK?! Wasn't he going to help her?!

Well, she probably deserved being stunned like that. She had ATTACKED Brody after all. And Torin. Gulp! Like watching a film all emotions and happenings flashed across her inner eye and with every new image the panic inside her increased. That wasn't her. That was somebody else. It had to be...and somehow all the while one name and face came up over and over again.

The barkeep. Samuel Huxley.

Samuel Huxley. Samuel Huxley. Samuel Huxley.
He did this, he did that.
Samuel Huxley.

Miranda frowned, listening to Wesley. Why did that name sound so familiar? But little Wesley was really busy explaining everything, and Miranda only got about half of what she said.

Imperiused. Professor Lupa.

Ofcourse.

There was chaos everywhere, and Miranda only barely saw Oliver and Nancy going about and fighting whomever they were fighting with. The Slytherin boy was wrestling with...TORIN!? Crap. They needed to move. now. Get everyone safely out of here. 'He's the guy... making them fight for money!' Miranda was starting to feel dizzy, she rubbed her face with a hand and tried to blink the blurryness from her eyes. "Wesley, please, listen to me." She said, holding the girl by her shoulders. "No matter what happens, no matter what you see, I need you to promise me to get out of here - to safety! Okay?" She looked into the girls eyes, and then noticed the Gryffindor passed out on the ground. "Ennervate!" Wand pointed at the girl, hoping she would wake up. "Wes, take care of her," she gestured to the little Gryffindor. With a smile, she hurried out of her hiding place.


A stunner was sent her way, swooshing besides her head. She heard it. Merlin! Thank goodness it didn't hit. She could hear Oliver and Nancy crying out, snarling and sending spells everywhere. Miranda had to help them, no matter if they were acting weird. And if Wesley was right - which she always was - the two had been imperiurised. They needed help.

She was ducking and trying to head towards the two students when sudenly something hit her on the leg. That man - that Samuel Huxley! He's the one... She fell on the floor and hit her head again. But this time she didn't pass out from it, but lay there and groaned. She tried to stand up...

"AAaaargh!" Miranda held her head, doubling over. Merlin, what's going on!? She took a deep breath...and when she straightened up, she felt allright. Actually, she felt great - and with a mission. Frowning, she looked around and saw Wesley standing besides her looking quite horrified. Ugh, tears. Miranda did not like those. At all.

As if a on-off button had been switched on, the Captain straightened up and looked around. She needed to be elsewhere. "Oliver! Nancy!" She called out, seeing them doing whatever over there. Pffft. They didn't have time for this. "TIME TO GO!"

Sigh. With her shield up at maximum strenght, Miranda hurried over to where Nancy was passed out. "Ennervate!" She called out...again, hoping it would work. And where the hell was Oliver?! "Oliver! WE NEED TO GOOO!"

Come on already! Sam needed their help!

Crap it all!
Miranda didn't need them! With a snarl, she turned on her heels and headed off to the fifth floor corridor.

Antonio had responded to the call for help that Cadence had made in his office. He wasn't quite certain what was happening, but as he walked through the castle he knew instantly where the commotion was coming from, here on the fourth floor. It sounded as if an entire war had broken out. He began to rush, ready to join in and help in whatever way he could. Someone was apparently taking over the castle and threatening the students, and that was all he needed to know.

As he gripped his wand, he knew he might be in for a very long battle. He had heard about a time, long ago, when there had been a battle fought here at the school, one where there had been many casualties on both sides. Was this going to be like that?