Given the chaos that was assured any moment, Cole let retorts to his suggestion slide. They were all under stress and the last thing they needed was useless banter. Cole DID understand what Dakest was trying to say though. Emotions were high, and these kids' friends were kidnapped. There was a need for them to get out there and help in any way possible, he understood.Nevertheless, he didn't want anyone else getting hurt because they failed to take precaution and let the younger students run with their emotions.

He was about to correct himself, and emphasis what Francesca had just said about not letting anyone below fifth years join in but the younger kids were ALREADY lining up. This insanity. Thankfully there were some rationality left because someone else from the staff (Cece) arrived and took away the younger ones. Cole was grateful.

When Dakest turned to him, Cole nodded right away. The simplest way was to ‘follow the spiders’ but not the safest. “The acromantulas - when they are excited, they tend to secrete poison. We found a lot of it at Hogsmeade when we were investigating there earlier. They are excited obviously. I am positive we can track the poison trail in the forest and get to where they took the victims”

When Dakest turned to pair up the students, and brief them – Cole remained quiet, nodding along to his plan. It was solid. And then the staff member (Cece) who had taken away the younger students earlier was back, taking away an older student this time. Cole wasn’t sure HOW to react to this, so he couldn’t help but comment: “I think it would be wiser to take away the kid with the bandaged arm” He pointed at Henric.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

...

But she was also only fifteen years old, and not very brave or clever or interesting, and her face really HURT from where Maggie had hit her. So... mostly she just really wanted her mum, or Kyroh, or Dima... or anyone who would hug her and tell her they weren't going to have to do this anymore. Her best bet was to stick close to Professor StarMan, who wasn't foolhardy.

"I can help, sir professor man." She rubbed her cheek and waited for directions.

Airey would let the whole "sir" thing go given the circumstances. Now was not the time to waste breath on such matters - just ignore the fact that he had been inappropriately sarcastic not too long ago.

"Stellar," he said, giving the Slytherin a sturdy salute. "Wand out, Miss Wojack. We are going to offer our companions some additional cover."

Whether it would actually work was another story entirely, but he did not just want them sitting here all huddled up in a corner or something. Movement and a feeling of purpose was what helped keep the mind sharp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lizasaurus

Torie whimpered as he heard the words 'staying to protect the Great Hall to go over that way. He'd heard Chris ask if he could just stay under the table, and Jay was with Toby now. He was sitting there all alone and didn't want to be alone, so he headed over to the Astronomy professor. Defense, protecting the hall, and the school. Okay, he could do this. Mum had said they were great at defense, so he just needed to be more assure of himself. If he could do that and believe he wouldn't fail he'd survive be able to help. He didn't want to come back next year now and would probably beg mum and dad to stay home, but he wanted to get out of there alive first! Taking a deep breath he got to his feet and headed towards the professor.

Offering the Hufflepuff a small smile, he gave a small nod towards the boy's wand hand. "Wand at the ready," he instructed softly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl

...
So she shuffled over to where Professors Flamsteed and Moxley were, still not saying a word and just wanting to hide - or, um, protect the Great Hall. Yeah, that.

"Wand out, Miss Hensley," he nodded. Way to be a broken record, Flamsteed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

...
Somewhere in the crowd, Kate heard a familiar voice and decided to follow it. Staying behind to protect the Great Hall sounded good to her. That meant all she had to do was find Professor Flamsteed and stay put. Finding him, Kate looked up and said, "I'd like to stay behind and protect the Great Hall." Did that mean she could just go hide behind a table somewhere and come out when this was all over?

"Stellar," he said as he made his way around the group with his own wand clenched tightly in his hand. "Wand out."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

...

It was then that he realised that the comforting hand on his shoulder, courtesy of Flamsteed, had gone, and the Hufflepuff dragged his sleeve across his face to try and wipe all the tears (from his ALLERGIES) away before urgently looking around for the guy.

Where was he where where where where where had he gone?

WAIT. THERE. Toby SAW him, or rather he heard him first, and immediately started towards him, still wiping his face with his sleeve from time to time as he wordlessly made his way through the crowd, finding first years and other young students that were staying behind and shepherding them towards Flamsteed.

At last he reached him, and automatically drew went to stand right up next to Airey, practically sticking to him like GLUE and just about refraining from going all out and clinging to the man's suit. He was staying here, with the professor, hovering around him like some sort of... moon. YEP.

"Def-defensive spells, y-yeah?" Toby said, his voice thick with all the emotions. He sniffed, seemed to realise he was still, uhh... obviously emotional, and quickly turned so that his face was away from the majority of people so he could wipe at his face and eyes and compose himself as much as possible. C'mon, Toby. STOP CRYING. A few more deep breaths with maybe a tiny sob slipping through again to try and calm himself down and no feel quite so sick, and he turned back again. Defensive spells. Help the kids. He was fine. "Sorry. Al-allergies." Ahem. "OKay. Defensive... s-spells. Helping. R-right."

Oh. Sweet. Solstice.

Bring on a horde of acromantulas. He could handle those. But tears? Nope. The Astronomy professor was in the presence of his kryptonite. Airey may be daft in the presence of human emotions, but he was not enough so to believe that Mr. Toby was wiping his eyes because of allergies. He knew the seventh year well enough to call his bluff, but he was not going to do so out loud.

It was not the time.

Hand back on the young man's shoulders, Airey gave another encouraging squeeze and spoke softly. "Wand at the ready, Mr. Toby. One step at a time. You can do this."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emerald McDougal

From her position near the back of the hall Emerald had stood and taken in all the cacophony of voices and the plan of action. As everyone started to divide into groups the brunette, considered her options. With a last glance at her bag of pranks she made her way over to the blond professor in charge of protecting the Great Hall. "Professor Flamsteed was it? I'm here to offer you my assistance in the protection of the Great Hall and the students that are staying behind. I've got a host of pranks and even some fireworks we could use against the spiders."

To keep busy Emerald moved over to examine the cover cloth and the basilisk scent vials, never had she thought she'd need to play the part of a snake to win over spiders.

He had been so concerned with the students that he had hardly taken notice of the people from Hogsmeade making their appearance, so it was rather convenient that one came up to...er...sort of introduce herself.

Although he naturally knew who she was. He frequented that shop often.

"Thank you for coming," he said hurriedly. "We'll keep your items on reserve." In case...well...just in case.

Fireworks and other joke items would only interfere with the others' attempts against the spiders. They needed something that wouldn't unintentionally cause harm to others...and he thought that maybe he had an idea.

"And we can use those for sure to celebrate."

Can? Yes. Will? Hopefully.

Confidence. Right. Needed to encourage that and keep it positive where positive where possible. Especially in the presence of so many younger students.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The1HBIC

"I promise there will be no spiders making their way into the Great Hall. You are far more safer in here than you will be out there," she said as she gestured to the outside. "The professors and the people that are here from the Ministry are not going to let anything happen to you. But in order for that to happen, we need to have all students who are under the age of 17 stay here in the Great Hall." Of course Cece preferred if ALL students stayed behind, but she knew no matter how hard she tried, she could not make that happen.

"If it will make you feel better, you can stay right by my side. I won't let anything get to you." Including that pufferkid who wasn't even a prefect who thought he could tell her snakes what to do.

Woah WOAH WOAH!

When...where...what?

Not wanting to cause too much of a scene, but also unable to keep his mouth shut, Airey made his way towards Cecelia with his eyes all bugged out and mouth gaping.

"This school is just as much theirs to protect as it is ours," he said, trying to keep his voice low enough so that it was only the Healer who could hear...but not doing so well at that. Those things are not going to spare anyone if they break through, so she really should not go making promises that they may not be able to keep. Hogwarts did promise to keep its students safe and, well, look at this astronomical mess they were in now. "Let them. It's their right."

His sudden tone of confidence and determination just now surprised even himself, but he was soon scampering away with a sideways shuffle back towards the group of students with his wand twirling between his fingers.

He would most likely wet himself later once he realized what he had just said and to whom...but...you only live once? Right?

Ahem.

"Alright everyone, listen up," he said loudly. "Besides Arania Exumai, rumor in the corridors is that fire has worked well against the acromantulas. Now, casting Incendio would be FAR too dangerous a task while plans are being executed. May accidentally cause harm to one of our own. Which is why I suggest create a perimeter of bluebell flames as well as fire a few rounds off once those doors open, if nothing else than to be an additional distraction for the acromantulas while the daydream charm takes effect. Robes may be singed, but no harm will come from that."

Besides, most everyone's robes were in shambles already. Even his suit, as he just noticed now, was no longer in perfect condition. It was ON, acromantulas. SO ON.

Again, this was mostly to give this group something to do to keep their minds focused and alert on something other than wanting to wet their trousers with what could be. Or crying because of, ahem, allergies.

"Wands at the ready and get to it. Use whatever lightweight scraps you can find for the flames to condense around. Even bits of your robes. And remember, these flames can also be directed to a desired location. Just try to focus on your duty to protect Hogwarts."

OOC: I cannot find a SS canon incantation for Bluebell Flames and since it is a HP canon spell for a subject I do not teach, I do not feel comfortable making one up. So...just roll with not saying anything specific or doing a specific wand movement for now<3

Benzi looked around at the Great Hall as the students and professors split up into the different groups. There were the daydream charmers heading out with Quigley, the Profesors who were staying inside with the younger kids, and then there was their little team rescuers. He was actually rather relieved that the search and rescue group was the smallest because too many people would really do more harm than good.

Eyeing Noel's friend Maggie as she stepped up to claim she wanted to be a part of the search and rescue, Benzi's eyes immediately went to the Ministry fellow who had insisted all the rescuers be from the older lot. Yes, this would be a good time to speak up Mr. Ministry.

Oh hey, Cutty! Raising his arm and about to call out his friend's name, Benzi blinked as he suddenly felt little arms wrap around his waist. When he saw that it was none other than little Marsha, his features softened and he gently patted her on the back. "You be good Hanover, Suri's looking forward to you Diagon Alley trip this summer," he murmured to her, and smiled as she ran off.

And once more, thank MERLIN AND THE STARS ABOVE that Suri was safely at home with Mum.

In the meantime conversations had continued, and Benzi nodded as Dakest spoke up, liking the idea of pairs and REALLY liking the idea of being paired up with Cutty. They'd been practicing together for MONTHS now, they knew each other really well by now. Perhaps The DADA professor had noticed?

Uh. Where was Puck going? Should he-? But then Healer Murdoch - aka Slytherin head of house - spoke up and rendered Benzi silent.

She was taking Cutty AWAY? But this was his partner! Benzi WANTED to speak up, but like Dakest had said to those other Slytherins, he felt like it wouldn't really be in his best interests to be on Murdoch's bad side. In fact, the prospect of facing the actromantulas alone seemed much more appealing.

Deciding to let the Slytherins hash it out for themselves, Benzi turned to Dakest and the Ministry man (Cole)who's name he keeps forgetting. He had an idea, and even if the prospect of carrying it out didn't seem like that much fun, he felt like he should still suggest it. The more the seconds ticked away, the higher the chance that they would be too late, and he was NOT about to let that happen.

"Professor and, um, Ministry sir," oops yeah, no name for this guy, "what if we don't wait for the acromantulas to attack? Spiders travel in straight lines, if we could disillusion ourselves and fly above them, we could see their entry point into the forest which would make tracking them much faster.. And we'll find the poison trailer quicker." No point to mention he HATED flying. Complete side note. Noel's life was worth it.

"We're a small group, there are probably enough school brooms to go around for all of us. If we fly low and fast, I think it could work?" he said, twirling his wand in his hand as he looked between the two men to the other Professors to his fellow students, specifically Sophie. Perhaps she could chip in with ideas? Ravenclaw and all, he trusted her more than he did the rest of them.

He listened to Quigley very well. So, they're gonna cast the charm at the entrance hall? Well, it wouldn't be a problem. He could do this, yeah he knew that he could. It wasn't that hard huh, casting the charm to protect the others from those big hairy spiders... Okay, not just ordinary spiders but acromantulas! Jackson was about to follow the charms team and Quigley to the entrance hall but then he listened that Healer Murdoch didn't allow the Slytherin student to join search and rescue team with Dakest.

Should he step up? Or not? Well, maybe he should and it seemed like Dakest needed somebody to replace the boy but... It was dangerous out there but.. He's a Gryffindor. So.......... "Professor Dakest, sir?" The Korean boy then spoke to the DADA professor. "I was uh... I was joining Professor Quigley's team to do the charm actually. But uh.. If you still need a person to be in search and rescue team, I am ready to replace him." he said in confidence.

He couldn't help but smile at Maisie. He did have a tiiiiiny crush on her. And yeah, AJ knew about it. "Sure,'' he said. Chocolate wands were great! But he wasn't in the mood to eat now. He would save it for later but he didn't want the Shopkeeper to feel bad if he refused.

Adi watched Janelle go off, feeling confident that she would do her best. Despite her age, she was great at her spellwork. But back to Marsha. "I know you will.'' Oh! Alexandra Eris! "Yes, I know her. I can help you find her if you like.'' There was no way Adi would let her go without leaving her with someone she trusted fully. Marsha seemed to want her aunt a whole lot so help find her he would.

"We'll be safe, Marsha.'' There was no guarantee of that but Adi wasn't going to worry her even more. "Come on, let's find-'' Oh? Dakest was telling AJ she should stay. The Hufflepuff wouldn't say anything aloud but he felt a ton of weight lifted off of him. AJ would be safer here, or so he hoped. And she could take care of Marsha! Yeah, this worked out fine. He looked at AJ. "You'll be a big help here too, baby,'' he told her with a smile then passed one of Marsha's little hand over to his girlfriend. "AJ will take really good care of you.'' Adi gave AJ a tight hug. Yeah, yeah. He didn't care who saw.

The sixth year turned his full attention to Dakest now. He was going to listen to the man, not play hero and whatever else. Okaaaaay, so the buddy system. Adi looked at Henric immediately but Dakest had already assigned him a partner. Yoongi! GREAT! He could work with the Gryffindor. He returned Yoongi's smile. "Got your back. You too, Henny.'' Henric might not be his partner but he was closest to him than any other person in this group.

Adi nodded at Dakest when he had concluded. Yep, he would be rushing for Lux...well, if he were to see her first. Henric would have Ilia covered. What was that guy (Cole) saying? Oh... Henric's arm. Pffft. Good luck with trying to change his mind, dude. Henric could be super stubborn too.

But... But... This wasn't fair. Henric was the same age as her. Why did HE get to go and not her? You can't have chocolate in class, he says. You can't go out to the forbidden forest to attack spiders with your friends, he says. Well, WHAT could she do, Dakest? Apparently babysit. It was official AJ Valentine had been labeled a baby. Normally she would protest, but even though she REALLY wanted to go, she knew this wasn't the time or place. Not to mention having a tantrum about it wouldn't do a thing for her 'I'm a mature fifteen year old' stance she was attempting to make.

AJ blew out air. "Yes sir. I understand." Looking over the rescue group longingly she gave them all a farewell. "Kick some spider butt." You know, for her. The lion walked over to Adi and gave him a hug. "Be safe and bring back the others," she whispered in his ear before she let go.

Her eyes landed on Marsha. It looked like she was already pretty well taken care of with Lance and Dot. This was nothing against Marsha as AJ adored the younger lion. AJ was just mega bummed that her request had been denied. "I guess I'll go see what the others need me to do."

Dragging her feet along, she stopped before Airey and just behind Marsha. "Search and rescue reject here, sir." She caught some of what he was saying as she made her way over. AJ would be able to help Marsha. In fact she wasn't going to let the first year out of her sight.

Abby wasn't sure if she wanted to put herself in danger or not so she made her way over to where AJ was and stood by her and said "I don't want to put myself in danger at all" Abby looked up to Professor Flamsteed and said "What can i do to help out sir"

Henric turned sharply at the creature ministry man, woah...woah...did he just single him out because he had only one arm to defend himself? That was completely uncalled for! So what if he had one arm to work with? It would not stop him from kicking your pretty bottom, mister! Even if he was an adult wizard, that didn't mean he could tell him what to do. He had no right to take away his place because he thought of him as an invalid. Henric had battled hunger and the blistering cold before,the slight pain in his arm was the last thing in his mind right now. Crippled or not, he wasn't going to back down.So, not in a million years. Glaring steely at the man,"Mister, I'm following the group, I can hold my wand as skillfully as anyone in this room even with my arm tied behind my back or in my case, one bandaged arm, I'm not staying, I can fight, I can defend, I can help..." He hissed, feeling like he finally hit his peak of controlled anger. If they thought of binding him here, they thought wrong. He would find a way to break free from their rein and he would go A.W.O.L.

What was going on? Why was Cece and Sabel telling students they could not go. "I'm not sure at a time like this we should be telling very capable especially older students they can not help the charm or help us with search and rescue. We are going to need as many as we can and I think Zhenya, Aj, and Cutty are very capable Wizards." They really didn't have time to argue and they needed all the hands they could.

Turning as she heard a student she gave a smile, "That's a good idea if we could Benzi, but we really need to get out of the castle while the spiders are distracted, so we do not have the time to go find brooms." She looked towards the adults in the group. "The attack team has headed out I think we need to go with Professor Dakest's plan and get in a ready position to sneak out."

She took a deep breath her nerves crashing her usual peppy sweet. This was no time for snaps, there could be snaps once the missing were found safe.

No, of course it wasn't a good idea to be blasting fire spells in here where there were a lot of people. That would be a last resort, if there were acromantulas in here trying to eat everyone. At least if they did have to use incendio there weren't too many books in here that could be burned. It would be terrible if there was a fire in the library or in Ravenclaw tower. It felt safe in here with all of the students and professors, but she was worried that the acromantulas had them cornered. Maybe this wasn't them keeping the acromantulas out, but the acromantulas penning them in. With the whole school in the great hall it would be easier for the acromantulas to eat everyone if they got past the defenses.

Search and rescue? Like going out into the forest to try to save the people who were probably being eaten right now? Sounded like it would just end up as feeding the acromantulas more people. Maybe there was a chance that the search and rescue team would survive. She remembered what had happened to Gregoire. Anyone going out into the forest might end up as acromantula food. She didn't want to lose her friends and professors. Everything would be better if no one died, but the headmistress and other captured students could be dead already or being eaten right now. They couldn't let that happen. She was scared of the acromantulas, but she couldn't let her wand absorb these negative emotions.

She moved over to where everyone who was staying was gathered. It would be safer to stay in here with Professor Flamsteed. Well, maybe. Sometimes things happened to her around Flamsteed. Wand out, Penelope listened to Professor Flamsteed. Bluebell flames? Fire? Penelope stuck her arm into one of her pockets that was much larger on the inside due to an undetectable extension charm. There was sure to be something that could fuel a fire in her pocket. Penelope started to pull things out of her pocket. Lint roller… pet rock…. other stone that she rubbed when she was thinking…. questions notebook…. book…. So far none of the things that she had found would be suitable for making a fire. She put the items back into her pocket and stuck her arm into her other pocket. Oh, spare parchment! That would work, right? "Professor Flamsteed!" Penelope held up a large stack of blank parchment for him to see.

Angel was not happy one bit, she had been rejected by the cool DADA Professor, she knew thought that perhaps he was right and the Librarian wasn't mad with her which was also good, she had felt her little heart break when she had made him cross but he had forgiven her and that was nice of him.

Angel didn't want the Cool Professor getting hurt but he would have Adi, Cutty.... Okay maybe not Cutty since the Slytherin HOH was screaming for him to stay where he was. He would also have a few others which was going to be good for him, though she really wished that she could watch his back but she wasn't allowed.

Angel saw Abby and AJ together and smiled at them before she went over. She hadn't realised before that Marsha had hugged her, she had been trying to beg the DADA professor and just knew her robes were being touched "Thanks for the hug." Angel smiled at Marsha as she spotted her, she didn't want her to think she had no manners. "Professor Flamsteed, Anything you want me to do?" Angel looked at her Head of House.

Dot gave very sage nods at the professor's words, and she dropped her hand absently from her stinging cheek as she consider the very important work she was being given by the professor. Set up a perimeter. And they were going to offer cover to those going into the forest after Noel and the others. It all sounded very official and important, and Dot took that seriously.

She gave Marsha a comforting squeeze and gestured toward the main action. "We gotta help out now, 'kay?"

So the perimeter first, and then they could cover the departing group as they left. The stone floors and lintels created a bleak area for a bluebell flame, and she was considering setting her robes on fire in a doorway when she spotted her classmate with a handful of parchment. Loads and loads of it, like she wanted to write a novel or something. "That's clever," Dot sidled up to Penelope and offered to take some of the parchment. "Maybe we can twist it into a sort of rope shape and lay it across all the door and window frames?"

Okay, so she wasn't scared, or so she said. It still wasn't going to stop Cece from having her students stay in the Great Hall where she felt they would be most safe. Especially those that weren't even of age yet. "Just know that I"m here if you need me," she called out to the girl as she headed over to Flamsteed's group.


"You can go over to Professor Flamsteed's group. Help them with securing the Great Hall." Just because they were staying inside didn't mean there wasn't anything for them to do.


What? No arguing? No but I'm of age I can do what I want? This really surprised Cece, but what surprised her even more was Zhenya's request. "Of course you can help me. I'm sure I'll need all the help I can get once this is all over." The healer would love to think there wasn't going to be any need for medical treatment, but she wasn't stupid, she knew there were going ot be injuries. "You can start now if you want. Keep an eye out for the injured. Gather them all near the staff table. It'll be a lot easier to treat those that need help if they are all in the same general location." Plus that area would keep them away from the Entrance Hall, which is where they were trying to draw the arachnids to.


"I would love to make him stay back, but seeing as how I'm not his head of house, I do not have the authority to make him do so." As for his bandaged arm, Cece knew nothing of it. She was not the one who bandaged it, and apparently the boy didn't think it was something the healer needed to even know about.


Astronut say what?

"If you want to let your students go out there and get themselves killed, then by all means let them. I however am not going to do that, especially with the younger students." Which Maggie happened to be. Cece took her job as head of house very seriously. She was not going to let the students of Slytherin house do anything that she willingly knew could get them killed. She didn't care who liked it or not.


And here was another person telling her how to handle her students. "Like I told Flamsteed over there, I am not sending my Slytherin students out there to their impending death." Again, she didn't care who liked it or not. "If and when you ever become a head of house," which Cece did not ever see happening, "then by all means, you go ahead and let your students do whatever they want. But for now, you just worry about yourself and not what I'm doing."

Not waiting for a reply from her, Cece turned on her heal and walked away. She had more important things to do than stand around arguing with this nut.

Almost expecting Healer Murdoch to decline her offer, for some reason, Zhenya's eyes widened, and a smile spread across her face when her request was met with a YES. Really? Zhenya was actually going to be able to assist tending to the wounded?

Zhenya nodded, of course she wanted to start now. Keeping an eye out for any injured. She glanced over at the Staff Dais, where she saw a few supplies. "Got it," she said, confirming the location of treating the injured.

She was ready to go searching through the students to see if there were any injuries. Did anyone trip over on the way to the Great Hall from Herbology? But she looked back to the Healer first. "Thank you for saying yes. I won't let you down."

Maggie hadn't exactly STORMED off so she could still hear the Healer when she called after her. She even stopped to look over her shoulder. "....thank you." Manners were a thing and she DID have them.

Also having Healer Murdoch on her side was definitely a good thing.



Speaking of sides, Professor Flamsteed AND Professor Morgan appeared to NOT be on Healer Murdoch's.

Uhm. Okay, Maggie was just going to linger here next to her Head of House. She wanted to hear this. And she kind of enjoyed watching the Astronomy professor get bested by the Healer. Did he honestly think she wanted to go out there to protect the school? Seriously? The Gryffindors could do that. But she was NOT one of those. However, the whole staying in here thing still wasn't too appealing either.

She didn't really have a better alternative though.

"Yes it does." Fire. Working on the acromantulas that is. She'd blown one of them up, remember? Yes. She was definitely an expert on how to kill those giant creatures.

So if anyone had any questions, Magdalena Natalie Traulton was here.

Was it really her duty to protect Hogwarts? Maggie didn't think so. And she most certainly was NOT going to tear pieces of her robes off. So instead she looked around for something else to use. However seeing as it wasn't time for any of the meals there weren't any napkins or the like lying around. Oh, wait...

"Can the house elves send us something to use?" They didn't have anything better to do, right?

. . . was Cece for real?

Cosgrach looked at the woman incredulously. Good thing Airey and Cassie beat him to answering the woman, because his words would have been much harsher. However, the woman kept being a whiner. Cosgrach was sure at that point that she had bribed the Sorting Head to place her into Slytherin, because none of the Slytherins would behave like this. However, she turned to indicate discussion was over and Cosgrach snorted to himself. Airey and Cassie had said enough. He didn't need to add more. He just took a step towards Sophie and Henric. Obviously he was going to be responsible of them. At least, the other 3 head of houses were reasonable and let 'their' students fight. Someone had to teach Cece that Hogwarts mattered as a whole, and Slytherins weren't the only humans alive.

"Thank you, Jackson," he said at the Gryffindor boy who offered to replace the Slytherins, and approached to the door, though he did NOT get too close or out yet. He didn't want to spoil the daydream charm.

"We go out when the spiders appear to be under the effect of the spell," he said to the team, to add to what Sabel, Cole and Cassie had already decided. Was everyone ready?

Zhenya definitely wished she could go with the search and rescue group, help find their stolen people and bring them back. Use her knowledge to help. She understood Healer Murdoch though, and why she didn't want her Slytherins to go. She knew her parents would be grateful for that.

But here in the Great Hall was where she was needed, and she wanted to help the injured. Still, those volunteering to search for the stolen Headmaster and other students, and rescue them, were brave and were about to do something very dangerous.

Zhenya walked over to the assembling group, "Good luck everyone," she said. That was all she had to say. There were no words she could say which would up the morale of the rescue. She had faith that they would ALL make it back alive; the search and rescue team, and the stolen group.

A whole lot was happening. Not long ago, he was with Josie…got distracted by Lachlan’s cobweb beard, remembered he’s got Herbology that hour, rushed towards the Entrance, but then was ushered back because apparently, a very important person in the school got abducted by a group of acromantulas, and he did bet that the same attack went on in other classes. Ethan furiously took big steps back towards the statue of Lachlan amid the chaos to retrieve one Josie Edayson, and finally there they were in the Great Hall, safe and sound. They got around the school and spiders unscathed, thank Merlin.

It pays to know the secret passages, no?

Still panting, he held Josie’s hand tightly, as they went further inside the Great Hall. The Slytherin tried to make sense of what was currently going on while his mind raced. Where was Simon? Was he stuck in the Library? How about Grayson? Was he left in their dorm, busy admiring his face? The sixth year wanted to roam the castle to see if his mates were alright, but then suddenly got overwhelmed with the realization that Mordred was correct about his guess. Ethan had been communicating with his older cousin about the cobwebs he'd seen at the first floor, and the latter gave him a small lecture about the different kinds of arachnids, and how to defeat it should the situation get worse.

First things first. Ethan pulled Josie along toward Caleb and made his presence known. “Hey.” He said in a rather serious tone, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Hi, hello, prefect. Ethan Mordaunt – not dead.“Have you seen Simon? Grayson?” Ethan didn’t make much eye contact with his prefect, obviously busy scanning the room for his friends. He’d seen Cutty talking to a woman who looked familiar, and Brooklyn who went toward Flamsteed. Seeing the two a-okay made him feel a bit calm, but then a man…a man that was too familiar made eye contact with him, and Ethan couldn’t be more torn with his emotions. Was Mordred going to stay with the rest of them, or will he be joining the search and rescue team?

So he was right about the cobweb buzz, but Mordred was not ready for the worst kind of spider business. Their group was immediately summoned to investigate about the acromantula venom that was seen back at Hogsmeade, and it was clear that the arachnids made its way towards Hogwarts. Mordred’s gears turned inside his head as he made fresh assumptions, and possible plan of action. He made one last big, but swift swing of his wand arm, and an unsuspecting arachnid that was blocking his way met its demise.

Without a word, he entered the Great Hall without attracting attention to himself, and sidled immediately to where Tancred and Addison stood. Being an adult, he was tall enough to quickly scan the room and immediately spotted Ethan…with a girl.

Smirk.

A quick nod of acknowledgement was given, and he scanned the room further for another boy. It wasn’t hard to spot Cuthbert. The young man had a very Mordaunt aura to him, so he pretty much stood out for him. Mordred did not wait for the dark haired boy to acknowledge him, because there were now professors taking turns in the dais as they gave out instructions. Mordred had nothing more to offer with their plan, but there was a particular idea in his head that needs addressing. He made eye contact with the professor who ordered to use the Daydream Charm, but then Mr. Professor (Quigley) was too focused to put his plan to action right away.

He can’t blame the man, because the Entrance Hall was top priority. They need to work on the major entry points first of course, and move on to the smaller ones. Watching the other kids surround their perimeter with bluebell fire, Mordred turned to Tancred and Addison. “We should have sealed off the passageway from Honeydukes to here, don’t you think?” Mordred said dryly as crossed his arms in thought and stroked his chin. Those pesky spiders just might use it to escape and call in reinforcements from another entry point. Mordred’s gaze lingered on the woman whom Cutty was talking to. Chocolate wands, eh? Dead giveaway she’s the shopkeeper for Honeydukes.

Kate patted her pockets then began searching the floors for anything that she could catch on fire. Pieces of her robes?! Okay, yeah. Last resort, right there. She guessed it would be too much to ask for her to borrow a piece of somebody's else's robes... She weaved her way through a small group of people in search of something to use.

NAPKINS!

That's right! They were in the great hall, which meant there would be napkins on the tables. Kate hurried up to the first table she could get to and saw nothing. With a slight panicked look on her face, she hurried down the table a little to find nothing there either.

She wedged her way back into her little group and overheard Dot and Penelope talking about an idea using parchment. "I can help with that, too," she offered.

Sabel took the lead of the group together with the ministry man Cole which Leo had no prior encounters with an told them what the plan of action was. Then the students were paired up in buddy teams which Leo thought was a marvelous idea considering where they were going. The forbidden forest was not exactly the safest place to venture into. And then Sabel and Cassie got themselves in a bit of a dispute with Cece over which students were allowed to go forth and attack the spiders. Leo kept silent. He knew that it was no use. Cece was going to do what she felt was best for her snakes and nobody was going to be able to budge her on that.

Benzi suggested they use brooms to get from the castle to the forest quicker but Cassie brought up a good point. They had no time to waste. Taking a step towards Adi and Yoongi he said with a glance around the group. "I like the plan. Let's just hope we can execute it and bring back the missing students and our headmistress unharmed."

Rolling up the sleeves on his robes Leo asked in response to Cossy's comment. "How will we know when it's time to sneak out? Shall some of us keep an eye on the events in the Entrance hall?" That was where the charm casters had gone.

Benzi waited expectantly for someone to remark on his idea, and frowned when the students seemed to show no interest in his plan. Did they not want to go get to their friends as soon as possible? Odd. He'd been sure that some students would be more excited by this idea. CUTTY would have at least made some form of comment but the Slytherin head of house was making things very difficult.

The Ravenclaw eyed the newcomer to their group (Jackson) with some trepidation. He'd been practicing with Cutty for MONTHS and he didn't even know this person. How was he supposed to trust this guy to have his back? Nothing personal of course, this Gryffindor could very well be the best dueler of the century but Benzi didn't know him. ... Could he pair up with Sophie instead? And he was eyeing you, Slytherin girl (Zhenya)who was wishing them good luck. He... did not know what to say to that, so he nodded and that was that.

Hang on. The almost seventeen year old blinked in surprise at the comment that the Divination professor made, and then was completely baffled when Kitridge joined her opinion on this topic. "But can't we just summon them, professors? Surely we could just "accio school brooms"?" Or does it not work like that?

As for when was a good time to sneak out, Benzi kept silent. Sneaking out through hordes of acromantulas was really not his area of expertise. Unless they wanted to use his broom idea, which he still totally thought could work.

Daisy had attempted to check in with her Head of House, but he was busy arguing with Nurse Murdoch and some other teachers. She’d stuck around long enough to hear Nurse Murdock mention making sure the wounded were in the same general area. It’d made sense and she watched the older student to whom Nurse Murdoch had given the instructions head off. It was a good idea to know where the triage area would be in case she herself got injured or if another student needed help. She’d next tried to find her prefects, but none of them were around either.

She had been trying to find a place to fit in when Professor Flamsteed started yelling. She stopped to listen, eyes widening. Blue bells? Did he honestly think that would work? She wasn’t so sure, but she wasn’t the adult with the years and years of knowledge to help back up my decisions. Even so, fire charms weren’t really Daisy’s forte. She was more skilled in water charms since they came in handy where she lived on a dragon reserve. As such, it was probably better if she found a place out of the way of the older magic users. If they were going to use fire, it might be best if she stood on stand by with her water charms in case something got out of hand.

With all the hullabaloo, she’d lost Noah. She still was uncertain why he had come up to the hospital wing to get her. He was an odd duck. If she didn’t know better, she’d have thought he had been worried about her but why that was she would never have guessed. He was nutters and a jerk and yet she despite it all, there was something about him. She sighed and headed in the direction of the triage area to help with the wounded…there she’d be out of the way and yet still usefull…

Daisy followed after the older student. “Hey,” she called trying to dodge around some of the students scrambling to help with the bluebell flames. “Hey! I can help you set up triage…” What did she know about a triage? Well, she’d spent quite a lot of time with the dragon reserve healer(s) when she was home for the summer and before she had started at Hogwarts. She was skilled in a lot of basic healing spells and knew muggle first aid. Despite her size and age, regarding the few things Daisy knew, she knew well.

LOUD NOISES!

No really, this was chaotic, yes? More organized now than at the start, at least. That was a plus. Moxley had made her way over to where Rocket Man was and took a look at who she'd be watching over. All of the bratty kids had been sent off in search of the spidernapped crew, right? No? Okay, fine. She'd look after them, too.

...She seriously suffered sometimes for her profession.

"I've got some candy to snack on and we can use the wrappers to fuel the flames, kiddos. Let's get to eating and lighting things on fire!" PAUSE. "Safely." There. Done.

With that, the Muggle Studies professor emptied the candy contents of her pockets out onto the table and let the students have at it. Food and fire were distractions enough for the little ones, right?

Needless to say, that once the groundwork for their plan was made up, things started going wonky very quickly. First, there was Cece stealing yet another one of his team members. While he could understand the sentiment behind it, he most certainly did not appreciate the verbal hashing that came with it.

It would only be a suicide mission if his ranks kept getting pulled out from under him. Clarification, his older, more experienced ranks. Perhaps he shouldn't have dismissed the younger students. Perhaps, all hands on deck was really what they needed now. His eyes tracked both Angel and AJ as they left on his dismissal, finding it hard to balance a feeling of responsibility and need.

Thankfully, there were other distractions to attract his attention.

Sabel opened his mouth to respond to Cole's brilliant idea about the poison trail, his words halting short at the mention of Henric and his arm. No sooner had his gaze locked on the boy and his pleading words, than Jackson was joining their group and Benzi was forwarding a rather impressive idea.

He turned slightly to both, and found his words halted once again as Cassie spoke and Cosgrach moved to the doors. Sabel blinked a few times at those gathered in the group, before catching his voice before it could evade him again. "Jackson and Benzi, pair up. Brooms would be brilliant...."

It didn't last long. He trailed off as he moved up beside Cosgrach, giving the man a side-glance of silent consideration. If they could find brooms it would be brilliant. If they could make it up to the tower......

Even that thought puttered off as he took a peek out into the hall. He was sure some of the color that had returned to his fatigued expression fled once again. If they all thought there had been a horde before, their definition was about to be re-written. Scratch getting to the tower, merely getting out halfway across the entrance hall would be a feat on it's own.

But there looked like an opening was happening. Something about the way the spiders moved, the light in their eyes. Distant, distracted, bordering on the edge of something. Fear? Panic? Rage? Whatever it was, it was as thin of an opportunity as they were ever going to get.

"No time for summons, Mr. Rider. Brooms won't find us quick enough. Seems like the daydream charm is taking hold, and that time is now, Mr. Kitridge." He turned sharply, his wand already moving to begin the disillusionment blanket over the group of them. "Form up everyone. Stick tight together. Don't attack anything unless you would like to be an afternoon snack. Move quickly and swiftly through the entrance hall and out onto the grounds. We make straight for the forest. Cole, you're in the lead. Let's find that poison trail, and our friends."

With that, and with the disillusionment blanket in place over them, Sabel led them out into the great hall. It would be along the far wall, quick and soft as shadows as a great writer once wrote. Hopefully, the spiders didn't like chasing shadows.

--------------
Heya peeps! Let's declone from here and move on to the forest! Feel free to include a summary of the difficulties of getting out of the entrance hall, but we can assume that everyone has made it For now...dun dun dun! We'll stop at the 'age line' first and move on from there. PM or VM myself or any of your leading Professor's with questions or concerns

"Merci, monsieur," Maisie smiled as she took a moment to give the young man a quick kiss on the cheek before attending to the other monsieur.

Undivided attention now on Monsieur Dakest, the Honeyduke's shopkeeper gave an affirmative nod whilst twirling her wand between her delicate fingers.

"So considerate of zee children," Maisie praised, batting her eyelashes wistfully at the Ministry official as he mentioned the young student with the injured arm.

But the batting of her eyelashes did not last long as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor spoke up again. Quickly applying what concealment charms she could to those nearest her, and herself, of course, Maisie followed closely behind the man.