Just as Gemma had regained her balance and dignity...what was left of it...she felt an extra weight at her side...a tug even...she glanced behind her to see a young girl clinging...literally clinging to her and peaking out around her at something...

She followed the young girl's gaze towards...was that Theroes? how had she missed that before...o yes she had missed it because she was being tackled to the ground by another professor.

She glanced at the young girl, "Hello?" she asked kindly. "May I ask why you are hiding behind me...." she said tilting her head slightly to the right side...really why was she because Gemma wasn't going to be much good against a Centaur....

Gemma smiled at the two professors that had been her bread to the sandwich. "I'm just fine...I guess we had to get things started by knocking someone off their feet with this party...tooo bad it was our feet that were knocked out..." she said trying to make light of the situation.

She glanced towards the young girl that was upset...well almost freaking out...hiding behind Max..."O Ms. Indiana, we are all right..." she said with a little nod up and down, "I figured you were just testing us to see if we were thinking on our toes, but no we weren't..." she said with a shrug and a little giggle.

Yes that was Gemma...Ms. Optimistic....she glanced back towards the Centaur and then at the other professors as she dusted off her pajamas and her now dirty butterfly slippers, "Any idea what the Centaur is doing here?" she said with a now serious face...this was truly odd for him to venture into the grounds...but even odder for him to venture into an event...that meant something must be up....as she thought she began to twirl a piece of hair around her finger...a sign of her nervousness...

Laura looked at Zhenya and shook her, head, seriously why couldn't Kurumi take the stupid spell off her, she was hating this but she wouldn't cry, she'd done enough crying for now, well at least she knew Zenya was safe, if she was with her.

Laura looked up at the Professor and smiled, before pointing at the Hooves Fellow, since if it attacked them and tried to eat them she would be the last everyone else would be eaten first and maybe she could escape before the Hooves fellow saw her.

Laura was still clinging and peaking out from behind the Professor, she then pointed to her mouth trying to tell the nice Professor that she couldn't speak because someone had put a spell on her, hopefully the nice Professor would take off the spell.

Selina snuggled up to her pillow as she heard a ruckus in the tent start to buzz. Did people have no manners? She was having a very pleasant dream where she was flying through the air in the midst of a summer night. If she squeezed her eyes shut tight enough she could almost feel the wind on her face, but alas the people around her were making far too much noise for her to even keep the dream alive.

The redhead buried her head into the pillow even more trying to block out the noise, but it was proving quite difficult for her to even melt away back into a dream state. Merlin willing though, she was going to try. She was tired. So she nuzzled her noise into her pillow and stubbornly attempted not to stir.

His purpose was to provide a warning and the adult humans were obviously ignorant of both the signs in the celestial heavens and the situation that was staring them in the face.

Thereos was about to reveal all to the man who flew in the skies when another man dismissed the cryptic warning as if it were a joke. He rounded on the man and stomped his hooves. "Are you blind to the danger that's escaping from the Forbidden Forest?" he chided angrily. "A rogue Hippogriff is not just any animal! You're mighty lucky that you only received a scratch. Blast-Ended-Skrewts and Thestrals are also escaping along with other creatures. These events and others have been foreseen in the celestial heavens. Mars is in retrograde. Things at Hogwarts are amiss."

His rant was abruptly interrupted by the adult human female and he snorted his displeasure rather loudly. "My name is Thereos and the human they call Tate has me instruct the younglings at Hogwarts in the art of Divination."

Vindictus chuckled at what just happened. "It's okay, Indy," he said in a fatherly voice. "I'll protect you from the big bad professors."

Uh oh.

Touchy centaur spouting nonsense about doom and gloom.

"That's rather odd. My pitch is next to the Forbidden Forest and I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary," he announced loudly. "The wards on this school were quadruple checked after the pirate incident, so I just think someone's trying to have a laugh at our expense."

Oh yes. Indy had picked the right professor to protect her. Vindictus was a very good head of house. Indy didn't feel so scared anymore, but she was going to stay here, nice and snuggled up to her head of house. The main reason was because she'd probably find out what had happened, and what was going on. Which was she whole reason why she was over here in the first place. So, if she knew that she would've felt pretty good. "They're very bad...falling all over the place." Little Hutchinson giggled, smiling up at Professor Vindictus. Yup. She felt pretty at home right here.

Andd....the fallen Professors did seem to be okay. So that was good. She wasn't going to get expelled because they hadn't died. Indy was pretty happy about that. She smiled at the three Professors, but didn't say anything. If she kept quiet, they might forget she was here, and then she'd find out what was going on. She could totally keep the cutesy look up for now.

Gosh, it was good he wasn't usually that clumsy, or he'd have problems getting through life. Mind you, when someone makes you jump or knocks you off balance it was understandable. Isabelle just gave Edvard a smile when he apologised for their fall. Of course it was accepted as it was an accident and not meant. She wasn't going to hold that against him.

She was glad they all seemed to be okay though - it could have ended up rather nasty. When he enquired after her, Isabelle patted herself down and grinned. "Well, I think I might have some bruised ribs, and I'm a bit winded, but I'll live. Nothing broken, thank Merlin."

"Certainly an interesting turn to the evening, I'll say that. I only came down to see what was going on," Isabelle laughed, wincing slightly as her ribs throbbed.

At Gemma's words to the little Ravenclaw, Isabelle turned her gaze back to her as well - giving her a warm grin. See? They were fine. Bruised, but fine. And quite possibly a little embarrassed to have done that in front of the students.

Her gaze shifted however when Thereos started talking. Up to that point he hadn't said anything when Issy had been there, so maybe now she would get an answer to her previous question - what was going on?

Animals leaving the forest? Mars in retrograde? ....she had never quite understood Divination, it wasn't one of her better subjects, it had to be said. But it was for the centaur, and his tone was...worrying. Even if Max was being dismissive.

Giving him a glance, Issy cleared her throat and moved forward slightly. "Thereos, you say things are amiss, but do you know what?" If they were trying to escape, surely something was causing it.

Minerva had gathered Laura's things to bring them closer to the professors since she had refused to go away from them. "Laura I packed your things up so if the professors want us to go back to the castle you don't have to worry about it. Then she looked at Professor Cerulean who was asking Laura a question. "Professor she can't talk. Kurumi put a silence spell on her. I have been trying to help her calm down as Professor Roslund asked me to do, but I guess I wasn't doing a good enough job. She is upset because Professor Thereos came in as we were falling asleep and I think the noise of his feet scared her awake. Now she thinks monsters are coming to eat us. So she is hiding behind professors hoping to stay safe." she hoped it was ok to but in, but Laura wasn't able to speak so she as her friend could say what was going on hopefully.

Even though she could normally sleep even if a boggart would start dancing step next to her, Gwendolyn reacted totally unlike her this time. What in Merlin’s beard is going on?, she asked herself and looked around. All the Professors were there… Thereos too… they were talking about something coming from or going in the forbidden forest… and then there were the three Professors… errr… never mind. FOR.HOW.LONG.HAVE.I.BEEN.SLEEPING?!?!, the young Ravenclaw asked herself, not getting what was going on there.

Still not willing to ask any stupid questions of what was going on, Gwen tried figuring that on her own. At first when she heard Thereos say something with 'Mars is retrograde', the girl felt like laughing. Whut? You’re actually serious about this? You blame Mars for the escape of the creatures. O____o All riiight?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thereos

His purpose was to provide a warning and the adult humans were obviously ignorant of both the signs in the celestial heavens and the situation that was staring them in the face.

Thereos was about to reveal all to the man who flew in the skies when another man dismissed the cryptic warning as if it were a joke. He rounded on the man and stomped his hooves. "Are you blind to the danger that's escaping from the Forbidden Forest?" he chided angrily. "A rogue Hippogriff is not just any animal! You're mighty lucky that you only received a scratch. Blast-Ended-Skrewts and Thestrals are also escaping along with other creatures. These events and others have been foreseen in the celestial heavens. Mars is in retrograde. Things at Hogwarts are amiss."

His rant was abruptly interrupted by the adult human female and he snorted his displeasure rather loudly. "My name is Thereos and the human they call Tate has me instruct the younglings at Hogwarts in the art of Divination."

"I'm not blind," William answered the centaur with a skeptic glance. "I'm just... doubtful. I've dealt with my fair share of dangerous creatures, Thereos." Yeah he already knew who the centaur was. Come on. He had worked with dragons in the past too, so.... he was not scaring William with his cryptic warnings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by demented_death_eater

Touchy centaur spouting nonsense about doom and gloom.

"That's rather odd. My pitch is next to the Forbidden Forest and I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary," he announced loudly. "The wards on this school were quadruple checked after the pirate incident, so I just think someone's trying to have a laugh at our expense."

"Exactly," William piped up, pointing at Max and then back at Thereos. "My JOB is to keep an eye on the creatures out here," probably including his so-called 'colleague' and, "I am not worried in the least."

Quote:

Originally Posted by MeredithRodneyMckay

Giving him a glance, Issy cleared her throat and moved forward slightly. "Thereos, you say things are amiss, but do you know what?" If they were trying to escape, surely something was causing it.

Aha see! ANOTHER skeptical professor! William was going to just grab this bull by the horns and cut to the chase.

"If there's so much 'danger' in the forest," William scoffed loudly, "why don't you just SHOW us where it is? Actions speak louder than words, Thereos."

Do it. You won't.

"If you cannot be bothered to watch the signs and learn to read them," Thereos intoned, his eyes flickering to the patches of sky visible above them as if he was truly addressing the stars and not the people surrounding him. "If you cannot do those things, then I am not sure I can say a word of proof to you. I know what the signs say, and I know what the animals fear. You are all too human to listen to the world share its secrets openly, even when they could not be spake more clearly."

His tail flicked impatiently. The time weighed heavily upon him, and he was already speaking too freely.

"You understand nothing." There was an unspoken 'puny human' tacked on there at the end, and Thereos finally lowered his gaze to the impatient man. Ifs and whys were all very well, but he placed too much emphasis on his own limited knowledge of the universe. Answers didn't make sense if you didn't have the capacity to understand.

"I will take you into the forest, although you would be wiser to heed the creatures who flee from its depths." And he turned with a stomping of his hind legs to canter in the direction of the darker smudge of shadows and trees against the already dark night.

Right. Sure Willy understood nothing. Sure he did. He only had TWO university degrees that proved he had understood at least SOMETHING.

Hmmph. He was starting to think centaurs were RIGHTLY CLASSIFIED as BEASTS.

"Lead the way," Mr. Clip Clop. William cast a glance and a shrug over his shoulder at his colleagues and followed the centaur out of the tent, his wand at the ready. Then he remembered something, and poked his head back in, looking around for the host of this party.

"Ed, you should come too. Let Hecate, Seren, Max, and Isabelle take the four Houses back to the castle." William nodded and then poofed after the centaur. Around the lake and through the woods, to see nothing they would go.......!

Zhenya was now frightened. The Centaur wasn't being very friendly, and she thought that if the Professors didn't understand what was happening quickly that he would be very angry and lash out.

She squished herself right into Laura, who was next to a Professor. "Laura... I think you're right," she whispered in her ear so that the Centaur wouldn't hear. She was definitely starting to shake.

Minerva had been standing still with Laura when she heard Zhenya she automatically put her arm around Zhenya "It's ok Zhenya the professor will work it out." Then she turned to the group of professors surely they saw the fear in students faces "Professors excuse me not to interrupt but would you like us to gather students and head back to the castle?" she looked for the prefects that had been waking students up to see where they were and if they had woken everyone up yet.

What on Earth was going on?!

August was typically a well-mannered and sweet kid but he did not appreciate being woken up from a deep and peaceful sleep. After being shaken awake by Kurumi, Auggie finally finished rubbing his eyes and then grumbled his way over to where all the commotion was, his Gryffindor Prefect friend was nowhere to be found. What had she needed!?

Then a whole matter of things happened--Professors were falling over, Thereos and Professor Williamson were heading off into the Forbidden Forest before the 4th year had been able to tell the centaur about his and Kurumi's comet discovery, and now they were to be escorted back to the Castle?!

"HOLD ON A MINUTE!" Auggie shouted, a bit more loudly than he had meant too--he was frustrated and had not the slightest idea of what was going on. He turned to Professor Lafay, Bentley, Magnus, and Vindictus before speaking again. "What is happening? I needed to tell Theroes about the comet I saw! Why are we going to the Castle, are we in danger? And where is Kurumi!?" he asked the last part after a breaf second of breahting.

The sleepy lion was definately not himself after being woken up in the middle of the night. With a small voice he added regretfully, "Sorry for yelling I'm just...tired." He wanted to be in bed--now.

Well, that was actually quite rude. It wasn't that Isabelle couldn't be bothered to learn, she just never had the brain power to take it all in like some people. So Divination wasn't her best subject - sue her. And that had to be the first time she had heard the phrase 'too human' being used as an insult.

She opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again when Thereos replied to William. Take them into the forest. Well yes, that might be the best idea - if he actually wanted to prove anything to the 'too human' disbelievers.

And off they....trotted.

As Fina was not present, and the kids had to be taken back to the castle, William's suggestion didn't come entirely as a surprise. She nodded at him to confirm she would do just that, then blinked into the darkness as he went again.

Watching them for a moment as they disappeared into the gloom, Isabelle turned to look back the assembled children. Hufflepuff's, you're mine tonight, it seems.

Most of the students had already begun to pack up their things. Even if they had stopped to try and spy what was going on with the staff and the Centaur. Scanning the crowd for anyone wearing a yellow and black badge, there seemed to be no prefects present. Biting her lip, she was just about to clap her hands for attention when Minerva spoke up.

Looking down on her Issy smiled. "That is the plan, yes. We'd like you all to head back up to the castle. I'm in charge of the Hufflepuff's for now, so any help you could give in corralling them would be much appreciated."

And now one of them was shouting. Turning her head in his direction, Isabelle gave the boy a raised eyebrows appraisal - and a not too approving stare. He was lucky he apologised at the end of his mini rant, or he would have been in a little bit of trouble for raising his voice to them like that.

"Mister Goldstein. We are escorting you back to the castle because the sleepover has, unfortunately, come to an end. There is no danger that I know of," unless Thereos could actually point something out to William. But then they wouldn't know about that yet anyway. "I'm sure Thereos will be more than happy to hear about your comet find some other time. For the moment he has important business to attend to. Now please, take direction from your prefects and Professor Bentley." And also - don't panic.


------------------------

Now. Clapping her hands loudly to wake up any people that had the ability to sleep through everything that had just happened, Isabelle raised her voice to be heard. "All right! Any Hufflepuffs that are here, please collect up your belongings and follow me back to your common room!" Sometime, like, soon. Now.

Minerva smiled back at Professor Magnus to show she was calm and willing to help. "Anything to help professor" she turned back to Laura this might be the challenge though she though. She turned back to Professor Magnus "Umm Professor" she got closer to her "Laura has been freaking out since Professor Thereos came in and scared her awake. I have been trying to calm her down, but I guess I didn't do a very good job, because Kurumi put a silence spell on her and she hasn't been able to talk since. She has seemed to be calm could we get the spell off of her or should we wait until we get back to the castle?" Minerva wasn't sure what the right answer could be. Laura could stay calm or get all upset vocally once the spell was off. She hoped she would stay calm. Turning back to Laura "Laura we are going to head back to the castle. Professor Magnus is going with us so we will still be with a professor and still be safe. I have collected your things already so they are right here. You can walk right with me if that will help make you feel better." she then turned to the other Hufflepuffs looking for any that might still be asleep or confused.

Signs? What signs? Signs in the heavens?

Edvard had never been more than an average Divination student so he was pretty clueless to what Theroes was saying but the centaur didn’t need to be rude. Rudeness didn’t exactly make people want to assist you he wanted to point out but held his tongue. Something in the Forbidden Forest were scaring the creatures. Whatever could that be?

Shrugging Edvard mumbled to himself. "How can we understand if you only speak in riddles?" Thereos actually took William up on his request to show them what he was talking about.

As Thereos and William disappeared out through the tent entrance Edvard was going to go over and see how Seren and the lions were faring with the packing of belongings when William stuck his head back into the tent and motioned for him to come along.

Quickly glancing around at the student’s and assembled professors he raised his voice to be heard all over the tent. "All lions report to Professor Bentley. Slytherins go to Professor Lafay and Ravenclaw’s report to Professor Vindictus and they’ll help you get back up to the castle. I’m sorry the sleepover had to be cut short."

With a final glance around the tent Professor Roslund trotted out of the tent after Professor Williamson and Thereos to go see what all the fuss was about.

Gideon nodded as the girl accepted his instructions, figuring the boy would follow suit if only to go along with his companion. The 5th year decided to move on, rounding up the gathered Gryffindors as he had been instructed to with Kurumi. hearing a familiar lion voice start speaking loudly, the boy turned to spot August asking for information and seeming impatient and worried about things.

Guess that was one less Gryffindor he had to actually WAKE up.

They were making enough rukus to rouse most of the students up he supposed. Regardless he made his way over to the other boy only one year his junior. "Well Kurumi and me since I guess I'm filling in for Adam tonight.," he remarked with a shrug having heard the professor's instruction to him to follow the prefects. Made no problem with him...he was fine helping out.

"Come... I'm trying to find the last of us Gryffindor boys to get to the castle and its a bit harder out of uniform unless I reconize them. Maybe ye can help."

Ella saw Minnie talking to Professor Magnus and Laura and walked over, her things already packed. "Minnie, are we going back to the castle now? Gideon told me to gather my things when I was talking to Logan so I'm all ready." She waited for Minnie's reply, looking around at the others in the tent and wondering if they were feeling as anxious about the abrupt ending to the party as she was. What exactly was going on?

Logan, apparently, had been sleeping through all of the..whatever was going on. His eyes shot open at the sound of voices all around the tent. At first he thought he was back in the dorm, but he wasn't. Then he remembered. This was the sleepover..balloon...whatcha-ma-call-it...

Logan sat up and looked around, confused. Had he really slept through all this and-WAS THAT A CENTAUR?! He blinked and rubbed his eyes, looking around. Was this a dream or was it real...?! He sighed and yawned. Angry at being woken up, he wondered out loud, "What in the world happened?"

Minerva smiled at Ella "Yes we are going to head back to the castle with Professor Magnus. I'm glad you have your things already. If you see any young puffs that don't seem to be awake or are confused try to get them to pack up and get with the rest of the puffs so we can all go back together and be safe."

As Minerva was talking with Ella she saw Logan looking confused. "Logan we are going to need to head back to the castle. You need to pack up all your things and find either Kurumi or Professor Bentley so you can go back to your common room with the rest of your housemates. Do you need any help?"

Laura was still hiding behind the Muggle Study Professor but Zhenya was with her now, she wasn't moving from this spot, she looked straight at Zhenya and gave her a quick hug, she would have told her, I told you the Hooves fellow wasn't friendly, but well she still couldn't speak, she just stood there hiding behind the Muggles Study Professor, hopind she would take the silence spell off her soon.

As Lily slept through all of the noise and chaos, one point startled her awake. Someone was clapping their hands really loudly... Lily opened her eyes and looked around and saw that a bunch of people were packing up and getting ready to leave, even though it was still dark out. Lily got out of her sleeping bag and stretched... What were they doing waking people up at this hour? Since Lily was now awake, she figured that they had a good reason to be picking up their stuff so Lily started to get her stuff together, only she did it slowly because she was still half asleep.I wonder why Taylor or Angelina aren't up yet... Lily thought as she moved over to them and started gently pushing them, trying to get them to wake up.

"Oh right. Er...okay..." Logan said, getting out of his sleeping back and packing everything away quickly. He then stood up and looked around the tent for Kurumi or Professor Bentley.