Chris looked around and felt like the spiders were closing in. He held the shield the older boy gave him as close as he can. He looked toward the door and the empty gap between the group and the door and shook his head, "Group." Yup he wasn't going to get snatched by a spider. They were going to stay as close as they can to the group and back up with them.

MORE PEOPLE! He breathed a sigh of relief as more professors and students joined. They were going to make it. They were going to live. He stood behind Tor making sure to watch them from behind and hoped that Tor was watching the front.

Maggie GLADLY went to stand behind him.

VERY GLADLY!!

Once she'd moved to stand behind Culloden, Maggie glanced behind her, up the stairs again, and pointed her wand there. Just in case. It would suck if someone was to attack them from behind. Because a) it would be HER who'd be eaten first. Obviously. Also b) the potions professor would be dead. Which wouldn't be pretty.

Mostly because of a) though.

And then suddenly there was another voice. A familiar one. Yay. More professors. Also someone with an ACTUAL plan. Because Maggie was slowly starting to realize that Culloden's sucked. Why were they still standing here?? They were supposed to be running into the Great Hall. Like Moxley had just said.

So with her wand raised and ready, Maggie stepped around Culloden and started running after the Muggle Studies Professor. She did glance behind her for a moment to see if Culloden was following them though.

Also more Bombardas were flying the Acromantulas way. Those had seemed to be quite effective earlier.

Okay, group sounded really good to him too. He didn't much like the idea of being out in the open and running for the Great Hall, shield or not. The shield was perfect though, nice and big and just as tall as him. He held the shield up to keep the spiders back and smacked one that got too close. His eyes peered around them as more people appeared, good! More reinforcements to help them. Once they were in the Great Hall, then what was going to happen? How were they going to get the spiders to go? What about the other students in the school? The other professors?

He was backing towards the Great Hall with the group keeping behind his shield when he felt his feet leave the ground and squealed fighting whatever had him. Wait...person or pinchers? He stared down the back of whoever had him over their shoulder and stopped kicking, though he still had his shield. What in Merlin's name??

Chris looked up as he felt Torie leave and his eyes grew wide wondering if it would be a huge spider and he'd just lost his best friend. What he saw though was his friend being carried toward the Great Hall. "Tor!" he shouted. He grabbed a hold of his shield tightly and hurried after the grownup as fast as his little legs could carry him. Nope he wasn't staying out here by himself. Wasn't going to happen. Hopefully the shield would work. He pushed a few spiders back with his shield as best as he could and flung random spells in the direction of the spiders not even sure what they were or if they would do anything.

Arachnids continued to fall as they were struck by one spell or another, several spells in some cases, but their numbers were too great for it to make too much of a difference now.

Aletag, now dragging its precious turkey off to the side, could not take seeing its brothers and sisters slain in this manner. It was just going to hide over here in the corner with its prize.

Several more charged past him, barking at their youngest sibling to get up and help the cause. But he refused, hugging his whole turkey close. One tried to take the turkey away from Aletag by force, but the runt was able to hold on tight as it retold the tale of what had transpired before its black eyes.

"WHICH ONE?" sheered one of the massive black bodies.

Aletag reluctantly pointed one of its legs towards the human responsible (VRSCIKA). "GET HER!"

The small group scurried towards her, one of the more dangerous of the humans bearing a magic stick at the time being, on the full offense. A few fell, struck by her spells...but their numbers were overpowering and soon one had her in its grasp.

Waving their legs triumphantly, what remained of the small group left for the outside, taking the young human with them.

Aletag, meanwhile, continued to almost pet his turkey with his pincers as the battle raged on. Until something shiny appeared before him (a patronus). Pincers sinking into the flesh of the turkey, the acromantula eagerly followed the patronus where ever it went towards the stairs.

Still with its turkey.

Meanwhile, the attack continued. As more and more human fleshies gathered in the space, they became even more wild and unpredictable with their movements.

Ilia was right. They WERE going to stick together. But why was Henric giving him a kerchief? His head? The sixth year raised his hand to move it along his temples and forehead. Bringing the hand before him, he noticed the blood. "I hadn't realised,'' he mumbled. It was now he noticed the stinging of the cut too. "Thanks, Henric. Yeah, we will. We can do this!'' POSITIVE VIBES!
.....................

Oh goody! Great thinking on Toby's part using the Silver Shield charm on Torie and Chris. Adi still made sure he was in front of them both. Don't ask. If one of his Hufflepuffs were in danger, he naturally jumped into papa bear mode or something of the sort. NO spiders messed with his Puffs!

In the midst of all the spell throwing, Adi hadn't really registered the fact that Maggie, Culloden and Moxley had joined them though he DID notice that one spider and his turkey. At least they had one distracted and not causing any danger to the human group.

But then...

WHAT?

WHYYY was that spider pointing at Ilia?! "HENRIC!" Adi shouted, despite being close to him and Ilia. "They're coming after Ilia.'' NONONONO! They were not getting to her. "Arania Exumai! Arania Exumai! Arania Exumai!'' The spells were directed at the group after his Snakette friend.

What was a Bottleneck? On much less stressful situations Javier would've been more than happy to explain but well, spells happen. "Never you mind, just stay close with us." As he wordlessly sent a sharp knockback jinx towards some. Whoa, more students and.. was that Cossy and Moxley over there? His eyes were plenty distracted from all these furry hairy spider legs all over the place.

Then suddenly he heard and saw some being commanded to take one of his students. Oh that did it. It wasn't his son, but still.. That was someone's daughter. A child for Merlin's sake. "Back off." His blue eyes turned stone-like as his jaw clenched as his voice was dripping in ice. One by one, assisting the male prefect he sent an intense severing charm towards all those legs that had been wrapping around Miss Valke so she could be free. Even if it meant slicing and dicing those spiders like tomatoes and other vegetables he had quite the expertise on. This Professor was not joking about keeping these students alive.

Still sending out more jinxes towards extra the spiders, "Sabel, how's your end looking?" He would look but well, he couldn't. "We'll need to clear this round before the rest get in." Which meant.. well, it was his fellow colleague's call now if desperate measures were needed to be done now.

It was good. The number of spells he heard being cast. Thing subsequent zing and zip and zap. Even from Fuller-Thompson. It was good, despite it being so wrong. Killing, having children kill and harm. That wasn't so good. But it barely tickled his thoughts.

What did catch his attention was Yoongi's lack of tatical terms. Something that perhaps he would have to rectify in his next lesson. For now, it was agreeing with Javy in the form of a "Just focus on the ones that come close."

Once they hit the doors, that concept would turn into the bottleneck tactic all on it's own.

Three more severing hexes were tossed out, along with a bombardia at the floor close by where spiders were filling, and then he heard it. A spell he wouldn't have thought any student would know or use. Words would have been had, if this wasn't so desperate a situation. If the girl hadn't suddenly been....

Several, vile words spewed from his lips, none of them any type of spell incantation. Or right for children ears. But what about any of this was right? He turned sharply, sending a severing charm to join Javy's before he was forced to turn back to his own side. As much as he wanted to burst out after the kid, as much as he wanted to pursue the spiders that managed to drag her out of the entrance hall. He couldn't. It would open up his side to the spiders. The students that were left. That they were still responsible for.

A few more colorful word choices, and cutting spells left him. The relief at seeing two more Professors in their midst barely scratched the surface. One, Moxley, was already making a break for it with a student over her shoulder. His gaze snapped to Javy briefly, a quick calculation before it was decided. "Not good!"

She wouldn't make it through without a break in the lines. None of them would.

"Everyone, STAY TOGETHER! FOLLOW MOXLEY!"

Fire blossomed in his eyes as he turned back to the horde. A step away from the students pressed against his sides and both wands were circling overhead, flame sprouting in a firestorm above him. A firestorm directed towards the milling mass of spiders between them and the Great Hall.

Acromantulas were falling, but MORE KEPT COMING. It was like a never-ending wave of gross ugly spiders that wanted to eat them and Sophie continued sending one defensive spell after another, her movements fluid as she waved her wand in correspondence with each incantation she shouted. She continued cycling through the same spells - "Stupefy! Immobulus! Incendio! Bombarda! Impedimenta! Glacius!" - so much that it started looking like she was dancing rhythmically, but the hardened look of stress and fear on her face took away any real beauty in it. The hurt and dead spiders probably contributed to that lack of aesthetic, too. It was HARD to keep up, though, and she wondered how any of the younger kids were even surviving - acromantulas were coming from all sides and she had to spin to keep up, and a few times one got WAY too close for comfort, but all in all, she was still ALIVE. Panic was a very powerful motivational tool.

Then a few things happened in quick succession: a Slytherin girl used a very nasty spell, Sophie saw Tobes passing out shields to the little ones and her heart soared with adoration for him, she spotted Culloden when she spun to stun another charging spider and a brief look of relief washed over her face when she made eye contact with him, and the spiders were CARRYING OFF THE SLYTHERIN GIRL.

Sophie kept shooting one spell after another at any and every spider who got too close, and she couldn't take a break to try to save the girl as OTHERS were doing that and making THEMSELVES vulnerable - so she had to try to defend THOSE people from the spiders, too, and she aimed one carefully executed spell after another at the acromantulas, anger in her tone as she shouted the incantations.

This was ridiculous. There was no end in sight. What if this just kept going until ALL of them had been captured like that other girl? What the spiders decided to target HER next, and Dakest, Culloden, and Javy just... let her go? What if they just let it happen because they had EVERYONE to look out for, and she was just one girl? Was that what had just happened with the Slytherin girl? Was she disposable? Would they let her get EATEN?

At the thought of the professors letting her get taken away, emotions were starting to break through her courageous, fierce fighting spirit and her throat grew tight - so tight that no noise came out when she tried to shout STUPEFY! at an attacking acromantula, but light from her wand signaled a hit anyway. She didn't even realize she'd done it non-verbally as she was purely focused on regaining her composure and finding her voice again, and she was now backing toward the Great Hall, right after she'd heard someone mention it. To the Great Hall. That's where they were supposed to be headed - so that's where she was going now, slowly but surely.

...And then Dakest was BEING WILD. FIRESTORM. CIRCLING ABOVE THEM, AND THEN AT THE SPIDERS IN THEIR WAY. THAT was an empowering sight and Sophie murmured a few choice words in response to Dakest's impressiveness as she pressed on with her spellwork. And FOLLOW MOXLEY SHE WOULD.

Henric cast more spells to the incoming group of spiders in front of them. Why were they attacking them? What was their cause? Why now? His brain went completely mental trying to figure out these unpredictable creatures. Everytime they blast away one, more would come and attack them. It was utter chaos! There were so many of them but he didn't stop trying his best to ward off those nasty beasts along his side. Then llia cast a spell that he had only heard of in the books but never been thought before in school. Had she gone mental too? Where did his sweet, quiet, animal-lover bestfriend go? What happened to her?!

Before he could fathom what just happened, llia was suddenly dragged across the floor by the horde of spiders that had managed to break through their protective shield. "NOOO!!!! LLIA!!!!" His voice thundered. With his last-ditch effort to save her, he cast multiple spider-killing spells at them.But it was too late, she was swiftly taken away by those giant arachnids and he could only watch helplessly on the side. Believe him,he wanted so much to chase after them and he would make them PAY!! He didn't care less about risking his own life, he wanted to save his bestfriend! However, Henric was suddenly pulled back and they were told to follow Moxley. "WHAT ABOUT LLIA?!!"he shouted, he was on a verge of exploding from all the mixed emotions he was having. NOT GOOD,indeed.

His shoutings were not heard,apparently....because Professor Dakest had formed a fiery wall in between the great hall and the entrance, preventing any escape for him to go after llia. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING,LLIA IS STILL OUT THERRE! LET ME GO AND GET HER BACK!" He didn't care that Professor Dakest was his professor he was shouting to, llia needed saving!

This didn't even seem real. None of it did. Toby had never even seen this many NORMAL sized spiders in his life (ACCUMULATIVELY), let alone big man-eating ones. Or... uh, no. Not man-eating. Let's not think of words like 'man-eating' at a time like this.

He glanced back at the first years to make sure they were still doing okay, and turned his attention properly to the spiders. It was all... it was getting to him, it really was, but he didn't have TIME to process things properly. The Hufflepuff, almost totally on autopilot, had started sending off spells at the spiders without even thinking about what he was doing or knowing what spells he was firing or even if they were real official spells at all.

Fear was driving him. Pure, unadulterated fear... though he probably still wouldn't have admitted such a thing, even now. And not even just fear of the spiders; that paled in comparison to the pure rage he could feel and hear was being given off by most of the humans that surrounded him. It scared him to feel so engulfed by it, by them, even though he knew they were justified in their anger. And so Toby channeled that fear into wordlessly shooting off a series of spells that were something like a mixture of a knockback jinx and some sort of zapping spell, with the odd (unintentional and thankfully unnoticed by Toby) fire spell, out of a need to stop what was happening. To stop it right now so everything could get back to normal and the spiders would go away and everyone could stop being angry and everything could just be normal normal normal again.

... And... and people could stop being carted away by spiders...

Toby froze right in the middle of what he was doing, staring after the group of acromantulas as they disappeared out of the front doors. Dakest and Javy had both reacted in, uh, their own ways, Toby had noticed, but... the girl who'd shouted at him earlier was... gone. Again, no real time to process, though the guilt was already rushing in and it felt like it was stabbing him in the gut. And though they couldn't really spare even a second's lapse of concentration from anyone, Toby just stood still for a moment, impassive and staring, on the verge of total shutdown.

Until the order. The order to follow Moxley, who had swooped in and grabbed one of his the first years to take them to safety. Stay together, follow Moxley. Right. Autopilot to the rescue, Toby started forwards after the woman, but a second later he became aware of Henric's yelling. Toby didn't really think about what he was doing, only knew that the words 'stay together' were still rolling around in his head, and so he reached out and grabbed a handful of Henric's shirt with an urgently mumbled, "C'mon," which was likely not heard through the din in the Hall. It hadn't escaped him how particularly difficult the other boy was taking that latest turn of events, and he really felt for him, but he was quite worried that the kid would try and run out there when what he needed was to get to safety. Toby tried to pull him sharply onwards, keeping a tight grip on the younger boy's shirt, so they could follow Professor Moxley's path with the others...

... and that was when Toby saw the firestorm directed right at the spiders, likely an attempt to clear the way.

Merlin. He felt like he was gonna throw up.

Yoongi was still shouting various spells at the spiders, making sure that he did not hit any of the students. It was chaos and it seemed like every time they hit a spider, more would take its place making it unfair for them. They needed more help, right now!

As if they could read his thought, Yoongi saw a few students and Professor Culloden enter the scene from the stairs below. And Professor Moxley, wherever she came from entered as well and ran to Torie , grabbed him and ran to the Great Hall with Chris running behind them , holding the shield Toby had given them for safety.

All of this went unnoticed for Yoongi because he was too busy casting spells and trying not to cry. He wanted to cry, he wanted his parents, he wanted to go home. He never got the answer to his bottleneck question but to be honest he had only shrieked that In panic. He could keep his ground when he knew what to do, following orders wasn’t so hard. But when he had to follow orders he did not understand he would freak out because what If he did the wrong thing? So he would stay close to the Professors for now.

He had shot a knockback jinx at one of the spiders coming from his left and gasped out loud when a firestorm made by Professor Dakest was headed in the direction of the spiders. At any other time, Yoongi would have been watching in awe. But this was not the time as he heard him shout to follow Professor Moxley. And he did. He was halfway at the door when he heard a blood curdling scream from behind him. Curious enough, Yoongi looked back, and saw Henric screaming for Ilia. A slytherin girl who had been taken by the spiders and he wanted to puke. Toby was amazing though. He liked this Huflepuff, he was more brave than he thought he was as he grabbed Henric’s shirt . He did not hear what they said but he knew that the seventh year was trying to convince him to come to the great hall with all of them.

GOSH! MORE spiders kept coming no matter what the group did! How many of these things WERE there? "Incendio! Arania Exumai! Incendio!'' Adi was alternating between two of the spells that seemed to be working best for him. Had. to save. Ilia! He didn't want to think what would happen to Henric if she was taken. She was his bestie after all.

And what were those words coming from Dakest's mouth? If the situation wasn't so bad, the Hufflepuff would have shot a quizzical look. There were firsties around here! "Arania Exumai!'' NOTHING seemed to be working to stop that group of spiders because more were taking their places.

What?! That was it? Follow Moxley? Adi wanted to defy that. One of his good friends had just been carried off by an acromantula for Merlin's sake. Half of him was totally with Henric but the other half knew that it wouldn't be right to go running off after the spiders which were more than likely to be heading to the Forest... and there was an age line there.

Adi gripped one of Henric's arms to calm him down, his hand and fingers cold with apprehension for what may become of Ilia. NO! Positive thoughts! Leaving Toby to pull their house mate, he in turn was towed to follow Moxley. "I almost ended up like Ilia,'' he thought numbly. But this wasn't about him. "We'll get her back, Henric. We'll get through this.'' Those latter words were the exact ones Henric had told him earlier. Hopefully they would help now.

Bottleneck, got it!

Cosgrach slowly started to approach to the entrance. Moxley was there too, and it didn't look terrible. Four professors, several very capable students and a good (probably the only possible) plan. He didn't realise Maggie had left his side, but it didn't matter. As long as she was safe, he wouldn't hold it against her.

Ugh.

While still shooting spells at the acromantulas, he followed Moxley. Student safety was his first objective, obviously, but he also wanted to live thx very much. So honestly he wouldn't turn back if any of those students didn't follow them inside the Great Hall. He didn't grab any of them either, he just did his best with spells (thank you Maddox for teaching him!) to protect anyone he saw was in danger...

While failing to protect that Slytherin girl...

Well, they couldn't help her now. Yes it hurt him etc, but they had to protect who was left first and find her (along with Scot, Lux and Cinna) later.

Marsha was little. That fact was well known. She wasn’t THAT great with spells yet, she was good at the ones she knew, but she didn’t have an extended knowledge of spells. Which, in situations like this was a VERY VERY bad thing.

On her side though, she could run. Fast and for a long time…. but that only helped when they were running and not trying to be cautious and get out of the way of the spiders that were EVERYWHERE. Oh my GOD. She was so glad that she wasn’t already terrified of spiders… but even knew that there was a chance she could be now - ‘cause they were huge and scary and taking pets, students and Professors alike… she stood no chance… not really, she was only little!

She was easy prey.

Urgh.

Clutching her wand in her hand she was randomly shouting spells, trying to copy the pronunciation and the wand movements that the others were using; occasionally one would work and she’d hit a spider but mostly she was just doing badly and trying not to get in the way of those who COULD be helpful to the Professors right now.

Gosh… Where was Lance? And were her aunts okay? Griffin...

She continued to worry as she followed everything through the entrance straight to the Great Hall, being ushered in by Professor Culloden.

Screeching and waving their legs wildly at the sight of the firestorm, the majority of the horde covering the entrance hall backed off. Some were unfazed and continued to charge forward, never to be seen again save for eventual ash on the ground.

For now at least, the acromantulas were kept at bay long enough for their prey to escape inside the Great Hall.

But they would be watching with their dark beady eyes and waiting with clicking pincers. Waiting, watching, and searching for their next opportunity.

There was no satisfaction in the knowledge that the firestorm was working to push the horde back, to stop them from advancing just long enough to let students and Professor's get into the Great Hall. Today, right now, things just were. They were just necessary.

And it was necessary to keep up the spell as he slowly walked towards the Great Hall, covering the retreat of the remaining students, of those flocking from other areas of the castle. It became more of a barrier, than an offensive spell, as he made no pursuit to extend the fire to those acromantulas that had backed off. A wall of flame, between the spiders and the people. A dangerous trap for those acromantulas that thought they could make it through.

The stench was sickening, making him want to heave several times. The heat was horrendous. An empathetic throb had started in his dominant hand, a reminder that he had been burned once. That he knew what it felt like....

Above all, however, the strain of keeping up the spell, for so long, was taxing. And he knew he couldn't keep it up for forever.

He could have tried to press forward, to use the spell to consume what he could of the horde before he had to end it. Make things easier for the students and Professors in the Great Hall. He might have too, had Brown and Toby's words not jostled around in his head. Had he not held onto the faint hope that, being sentient beings, the acromantulas might bring back those captured and try for a bargain of peace.

Sentient beings. It would be a massacre. Not a defense. It wasn't necessary. Not yet.

The students were getting into the Great Hall safely. That was his first, and only, priority.

He held out with the spell until the last student was lost in sight behind him in the Hall, and then a few minutes longer, to see if more would come. When he was certain that was the last of them, Sabel weaved the fire around in its wall one more time before sending it crashing down on he floor in front of the acromantulas, sending up a fountain of liquid flame that rained down in all directions. And effort, to force them back, one more time.

It did well to force himself back too. His hand snagged on Brown's sleeve, turning them both and herding her into the Great Hall.

People were screaming about the Slytherin girl that had gotten taken, but Sophie was VERY keenly aware at that moment of Tobes escaping successfully into the Great Hall. That eased her worries significantly and the prefect kept shooting off her defensive spells as more students followed Moxley inside, but she stood her ground - she wasn't going in there yet. No. Not until the younger ones were safe. She would be one of the very LAST to go inside, right along with Dakest, at the very least. She wasn't going to leave him and Javy out in the Entrance Hall to fend for themselves. Fully capable, they were, but so was she.

So she kept fighting the good fight until the very last moment, when Dakest let her know it was okay to fall back by tugging on her sleeve and pulling her along with him into the Great Hall.

She wasn't going to argue at all - quite the contrary, she latched onto one of his arms and hurried inside with him like her life depended on it.

Funny that it did.

The large double doors were his biggest priority. Maddox felt it a good idea he went and did the charm on this one given the perimetre that would need to be covered to ensure the entire large entrance was coated with the charm.

As he'd already given the instructions to the others, he expected they would get right to the windows in the hall as well as the doorways leading to other parts of the castle. This was the only way into the Great Hall if you didn't count the back entrance they'd fortified. No matter which way they entered, they would have to come through here.

Wand out, the man focused all his attention on the door. Had to make it still Hogwarts. Couldn't change very much but there needed to be a snake, a large terrifying snake. Didn't matter that they all only imagined one snake, there was only to be one and stepping through multiple entrances wouldn't add more at any rate. They just had to do it right. "Sentio Somnium." The man did the circle as wide as he could, being sure to catch every inch of the door's width and height.

Well this was it. Janelle listened to the instructions that Professor Quigley gave the group. It was time to make this daydream happen. Leave no possible entrance uncharmed. They couldn't afford to miss any openings, not a one. Janelle knew that she had to do the best charm work of her life. No pressure, but failure was not an option.

Janelle tried not to think of the fact that they were going to have to be in the daydream at some point. It was only a dream, only a dream. Right. Shaking that thought from her mind, Janelle began to concentrate on what she was about to do. She pictured the Entrance Hall in its normal state, but with a nasty, large, yellow eyed snake slithering through. It had to be believable and scary for the acromantulas.

Heading to the nearest window, Janelle kept the picture in her mind. With her mind totally focused, she moved her wand in a large circle. "Sentio Somnium." To make sure that she hadn't missed anything, she repeated the spell. This time she tried to make the circle even bigger so that every inch of the window would definitely be covered. Satisfied that the window was secure, Janelle moved on.

Sophia followed closely behind Maddox as he exited the Great Hall. The room was chaos but she had done her part and figured there was not much use for her in here. Surely the other professors and those who had joined them would be able to restore some calm.

Sophia opted to enter under the daydream charm to ensure that it looked and felt as real as possible. And besides years as Charms professor gave her enough expertise to handle undertakings such as these.

She rubbed and rotated her wand arm while Maddox gave out his instructions.

When he was done, Sophia headed for the door to the left of the Entrance Hall where she went to work at applying the charm.

Lovely, there were more arrivals and with good measure in assisting. Right before Javier set off to exit The Great Hall behind Maddox and Sophia, he turned his head towards the remaining group of students waiting to make eye contact with one in particular. Then giving a nod. I'll be back... His thoughts drifted into the look before abruptly turning. Right, it was time for action at last.

Once he was back in the Entrance Hall, Javier rolled up his sleeves. This was going to be interesting. He had done quite a number of charms with his Creature Housing, so this almost would be a replication based on the instructions. Leave no base or crack uncovered.

So scoping around the perimeter, he began wordlessly levitating and moving the remains of all the Acromantula corpses over to a corner in a pile away from the others. That should help reveal any secret cracks or holes below. Not vanishing them just yet as he considered this to be substantial evidence of the events. Perhaps also serve as another scare tactic to the remaining that dare attempt to set foot? Right after, Javier began applying the charm to the nearby windows high above.

Listening to Quiggles' instructions, Eden felt all...heroic and serious right now. Still clutching Gabe's hand very tightly, she wondered if Clara would follow them. Also, holding Gabe's hand was...lol. Wow. With Clara around, she should feel bad, but Eden was so focused on keeping Gabriel Banner calm and collected and stuff...that she wasn't thinking about how weird it could be for Clara.

So...like...normal Hogwarts, but with a basilisk. Eden wasn't sure if this would work....she knew when Cutty had done the charm on her, or was it a potion? Regardless, the daydream magic was strong and so believable...and somewhat fun. Well, not for these spiders but, yeah.

"Sentio Somnium..." she repeated under her breath, and she eyed one of the windows nearby--"Come on--we can do over here--" she said breathlessly. Ugh. UGH. The nerves of getting this spell just right!

"Sentio somnium!" she said sharply, the spell hopefully doing its job...and with Gabe's help, Eden felt like they could do it.

.

.

.......At least...there wasn't a tumult of shouting and screaming in the entrance hall. A small comfort, but a comfort, nonetheless. So, cheeks still flushed and breaths coming in short gasps, Gabriel slumped slightly; leaning over to rest his forehead against Eden's shoulder. The relief of being in a somewhat quiet place was making him dizzy. Disoriented...but no less terrified.

Just to clarify.

Thankfully, Quigley's voice cut right across the fog in his mind...and though Gabe wasn't looking directly at the professor, he heard every word...even if they did seem far away and kind of muddled. It was to be expected...since he felt like his head was stuffed with cotton...or petroleum jelly...or some other type of jelly. Something.

...Don't overdo it with the imagination. Focus on doorways and windows...

Swallowing thickly, he glanced at Eden...and then nodded. She was leading him toward a series of windows...that they could focus on, away from the others. Pausing to watch her work for a moment, while muttering the spell to himself, Gabe resolved to try. His visualization wouldn't be perfect...He'd only seen pictures of basilisks...but.....Well....They were probably more terrifying in his mind, anyway. Gabe!brain made everything seem more intimidating, more terrifying, more....dangerous.

He was ridiculous. Er...essentially.

It was a shaky start, as he began casting at the two windows closest to him; the enchantment stuttered and broken....but with repetition, the incantation come more easily...and he'd kept the mental picture of Hogwarts in his mind; laid out perfectly, in contrast to the snake...Something he could thank Prefect duties for. Going on rounds presented areas of the castle one wouldn't usually frequent, maybe...Depending...on...things.

"Sentio somnium!"

Trailing behind Maddox were several professors and even some of the older students. She saw Mister Banner next to her and nodded her approval. His magic was strong enough for this. Oh, and there was Miss McGee! She was a welcome addition to the group as well. Oh, and Miss Guidry was here! There didn't seem to be students from any other house yet, actually. A fierce bubble of pride welled up inside her, but she mentally shoved it back down into her stomach. It was time for focusing on the daydream now, not house pride.

Coughing, clearing her throat, and then swallowing. Focus, focus..

She closed her eyes briefly, summoned the image to mind, and spoke clearly. "Sentio Somnium." Her wand moved in a circular motion, and she opened her eyes to repeat the incantation. "Sentio somnium, sentio somnium, sentio somnium.." Aiming for windows, cracks in the walls, the staircase, and everything else she could think of, she kept repeating the same two words: sentio somnium. Then, she finally focused her efforts on the giant oak doors where the acromantulas would have to enter. She wanted them to be hit with the full effect as soon as they set their hairy legs on the flagstones.

Looking around now, she noticed what Javy was doing. "Wingardium leviosa," she said, helping him to pile the bodies. "This ought to make them think twice, yes?"