"Ready" said Kitty, feeling immensely grateful that Hady was willing to walk them both up to the castle. She got into position, leaning slightly into Hady. They could begin the long treck back to Hogwarts now.

Never a dull moment? That was something he didn't think anyone should be proud of at least, though he did take comfort in her looking not so happy. Goodness this was crazy, he just kept watching to make sure the Headmistress was alright. ] "Should a few of the adults be headed towards the forest to see if she is fully gone?" They didn't need her showing back up and stealing children. He looked around to see if there were any students needing anymore help.


"We are good for now here Yoogni, your job is to make sure the younger students are back in the castle safe. Thank you." He figured the headboy could take it from there.

He couldn't help but eye the other professor a little. He thought this was out of control? Julien looked around and felt most of it seemed to be over and the children were finally heading to where they needed to be. "We have no missing students, do we?" How would they have known which students were out here with that thing? "Maybe we should have prefects or the heads of house do an attendance of their houses to make sure." How awful would that be to get a letter from a parent that a student didn't come home for Christmas. Though he'd hope that someone would notice one missing before that would happen.

A first year, the hag did this to the first years. He wasn't surprised given the beings were not ones with hearts. They were hunters and the first years of course would be the weakest for her to take on first. Lifting his wand he did the counter to fix the boys face. No more antlers nor nose problems for you. "Should be all better now." The poor kid was scared to death, most of them looked that way.

"You know maybe the elves has some cookies or brownies in the kitchen that could make you feel better." Trying to encourage the child and maybe any around him to head back to the castle where it was safe.

Amur felt bad for the kid. Just generally, horrifically bad. She had scared him. The hag had scared him. Life had already scared him. It was cruel and unkind and goodness she just wanted to hide him away from scary things.

The drive and need to help the kid, steadied her a bit on her feet. Granted, so did the boy's latching and the extra support she got when she wrapped one arm around his shoulders in a shielding-hug-sort-of-way. Who was supporting who now?

"It's gonna be okay." Because it currently wasn't okay. She gave the kid a small, half-attempted smile of reassurance as she began to steer them away from the pot and fire and panicking children. Her mind was racing with ways to make things okay. To make the kid feel better, like he was safe.

A rock under foot caught her attention, but not before the kid mentioned getting sick. Amur smiled at him in that way only empathy could. "No shame in it. I already did, back there." She tilted her head over her shoulder, then pointed to a nice set of bushes. "There's a good spot for privacy if you need to."

Helpful. See? She could be helpful.

Her eyes ghosted over the kid, looking for any sure sign of injury or damage. She couldn't see anything, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. "That nasty creature didn't lay a tooth on you, did she?"

Okay, so that might encourage his need to get sick, but it was a valid question.

Hady gave the two girls a light smile. The day had been long already and the trek back up to the school and inside would be a slow one but together she was sure they'd make it. "Alright then, let's get going."

Slowly step by step Hady walked forward, an arm still around each girls waist. She wasn't the tallest, oldest or by far one of the strongest but they'd manage together. Once inside they would worry about anything else...like stairs. "We'll be inside soon enough, can you make it?" Keeping them talking was always good. Staying alert and paying attention would help the walk move faster.

The girl was nice and warm, which was good because since the smoke had started to wear off of him Jaemin had started shaking. Part of it was the cold, and part of it was that he was scared and freaked out. At least the cold part could be solved by the very nice Gryffindor girl helping him. All Gryffindors were officially forgiven for the food fight at the beginning of the year. Pardons for all, because this Gryffindor was the best.

Except for the whole 'you can puke in those bushes' thing. Jaemin did not want to puke anywhere. Throwing up was awful, and he knew for sure what would happen after. Still, his stomach kept doing the thing where it bounced up into his throat, making him swallow as if that would push it back down, and he knew he was going to have to. The need intensified when she mentioned the hag's teeth, and he immediately thought about being bitten, about the hag eating not just someone, but him... he lurched a bit toward the bushes, letting go of the girl's arm, and half-disappeared behind him to empty the contents of his stomach.

It hurt. The little boy stayed where he was, on his hands and knees, the acidic stomach contents making his throat ache and his eyes prickle with tears. A quiet little whimper escaped him again, and he squeezed his eyes closed.

Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say, because no sooner had she mentioned teeth and eating than the kid was off to the bushes. She didn't blame him. Not one bit. She'd already gone down that road. Thing was, she felt a bit better. So maybe it was a good thing? Getting rid of the icky feeling would allow a better one to settle in.

Thing was, now she was without her own mini-support, which meant that she was doing her own share of stumbling towards the bushes. She caught onto one of the branches to help keep herself upright, but didn't bother going around them to see the kid. Puking was a private matter. Though the sound of it was enough to make her want to puke again.

The only reason she didn't, was because the branch she was holding was very interesting. It had a plethora of colors, browns and grays and a little red cherry-like seed on the end of it. Her mind was racing forward, away from the cooking pot and to how she could help the kid.

With determination, Amur broke the branch free, pulled out her wand and got to work. It took her a few minutes, but soon she had what she wanted to. It wasn't the same result as a stone, but it was very pretty. And the good thing? If the hag showed up, it would be a quick spell and BAM! They would have the utmost protection!

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

With a small smile, Amur got down on her hands and knees and, being careful to keep the gem held in one hand, scooched around the bush until she could see the back of the kid.

"Hey......you okay?" She scooched a bit forward and gently tap-rubbed his back. "Feel any better?"

Foolish question. At least he hadn't found a hag behind the bush. In hindsight, sending him behind a bush when the Hag had disappeared behind folliage, was probably a poor judgement. Still, he was relatively alive and no hag.

She gave his back a little pat-pat. "I've got something awesome to show you, kid."

The small boy sniffled a bit, lifting a hand to wipe at his mouth before sitting up and using his sleeve to rub his eyes. This always happened when he threw up... it made him feel like a big baby, but he couldn't help it. Trying to breathe, he looked at the girl and nodded a little. He was okay...

"My throat burns," he whispered, more to himself than to her. He could do the aguamenti spell... but he didn't know how to conjure glasses, so it was a moot point where they currently were. Still, his stomach felt a lot less churny, so... maybe this had been for the best. He scooted back a little so he wouldn't be behind the bush anymore and, wobbling a little, reached for her arm again with his clean hand.

The stomach ickiness had faded a bit, but his fear hadn't gotten to that point yet. She had to stay close to him so he wouldn't get eaten. Okay? He sniffled again. "What is it?"

Well, he most certainly did not look okay but that was to be expected after retching. So, Amur didn't press the matter. The sore throat too? Well, that was a given. Unfortunately, she didn't really have anything to give the kid that would be remotely helpful, so they would have to wait till they got back to the castle for that one.

For now, she would try to help in other ways. As in, proving a distraction. Hopefully not a distraction that got them thrown into another pot, but a distraction nonetheless.

With a grin, Amur gently pulled the boy in close and opened up her other hand, that was gently curled around what she had created. There, resting in her palm, was a miniature, stick-looking dragon. Why? Because dragons were awesome and solved all the world's problems. And clearly, if they got in a bind, they could just enlarge it and TA-DA! Perfect protector.

For now though, it was distraction time, and Amur held the little creature out to the kid. The stick-dragon was friendly and curious enough and made a little cooing sound up at them.

"I present to you, the very reason you don't want to go back home." Because at home, one would not get eaten by hags but they also certainly wouldn't get to learn how to create dragons. Priorities here.

Haddie nodded. Then choked out a small, dry, "Yeah." She cleared her throat and when she continued her voice was a little closer to normal. "I can make it. Going to need help on the stairs though." Her legs were quivering and threatening to give out at any moment already. It wasn't that they hurt or anything. It was just that her muscles had been straining too much for far too long and were quit literally done for the day. She'd watch this happen to her brother that time he suddenly wanted to work out to impress a girl, over did it and found his legs wouldn't work for the rest of the day. It had been funny when it was him.

How were they even going to handle the stairs? Every scenario she could imagine just made her limbs feel all the more weaker, as if to say Yeah, right. Not happening that way.

The small boy was shivering a little less now, and his little hands weren't trembling quite as much. Still, he wasn't going to let go of the Gryffindor girl again, because she clearly had a much better handle on this whole situation and how to protect oneself. She was stuck with a diminutive Slytherin aaaaaall the way into the castle.

He rubbed his nose on his sleeve, blinking rapidly to make sure he wouldn't cry anymore. The thing in her hand caught his attention, and he sniffled a bit more as he looked at it. It... moved?

"It's a dragon?" He murmured, reaching for it. He stopped himself and looked at her, curiosity cutting through being scared. "Can I touch it?"

It was neat. And distracting.

There was no denying it. She. Was. PROUD.

Proud that the kid didn't run away screaming. Proud that he was interested. Proud that Hogwarts was teaching her something useful. Proud that she had created a dragon. Just all around, proud.

With a grin, Amur nodded. She gently took the kid's hand and then held hers with the dragon in it next to his. The creature had no issue in ambling over to the boy's palm and sitting there. It looked up at him with all the curiosity of the world. Of course, it wasn't really a dragon, and no real dragon would ever do such a thing. It was a fake, and it was under her will more-or-less. But that didn't make the moment any less real. Or that was at least what she told herself.

"You can keep him. And when we get back to the castle I can teach you how to make your own." Back to the castle, because she hadn't quite forgotten about the hag or her unknown whereabouts. So, she clambered to her feet and, willing or not, pulled the boy up with her.

Heave ho of they must go!

Ariadne had been frozen this whole time. Not FROZEN, like the way some people were, but completely frozen in fear and not wanting to move. At ALL. The hag had run away (she hoped), the Headmistress had almost died, and now everything seemed to be winding down. Ariadne didn't have an injury, there were antlers on her head, and her legs were LEGS and not snakes. Did she want to leave and head back to the castle now? YOU JUST BET SHE DID.

Nobody had to ask her twice.

Ariadne gathered up everything that belonged to her, took one last look around and saw that nothing needed her attention or whatever, and then she took off RUNNING back to the castle. Yes, RUNNING. If the hag was still around here somewhere, she'd have to catch Ariadne if she wanted to cook her. And just in case, the woman was out there waiting to cast some magic, Ariadne ran in zig-zag motion to try and throw off the woman's aim. She probably looked like a loser right about now, but at least she was a LIVE loser.

It was cute. Smaller than Sniffler, much smaller, and lighter. Jaemin was pretty sure it would break if he moved his hand the wrong way, so he didn't move it at all. He watched it for a moment, trying to get his breathing all the way back to normal, before looking at the girl and managing a very, very, very slight smile. His cheeks and nose were red, and his eyes were still a little more shiny than they would be regularly, but the distraction really helped.

"Okay," he murmured, standing very carefully and trying not to wobble on his feet again. The castle would be much better. He could rinse out his mouth and they'd be safe and the old hag definitely wouldn't be able to go inside too, right? Nobody would let her come in. The castle was safe, and held the promise of learning new spells that would make all of this stuff just... go away.

The little boy held onto his new Gryffindor friend, carefully cradled his new little dragon, and together they all three made their way back to the school.

SPOILER!!: Haddie

Haddie nodded. Then choked out a small, dry, "Yeah." She cleared her throat and when she continued her voice was a little closer to normal. "I can make it. Going to need help on the stairs though." Her legs were quivering and threatening to give out at any moment already. It wasn't that they hurt or anything. It was just that her muscles had been straining too much for far too long and were quit literally done for the day. She'd watch this happen to her brother that time he suddenly wanted to work out to impress a girl, over did it and found his legs wouldn't work for the rest of the day. It had been funny when it was him.

How were they even going to handle the stairs? Every scenario she could imagine just made her limbs feel all the more weaker, as if to say Yeah, right. Not happening that way.

The stairs. Hadleigh had already been thinking about this situation as they all slowly made it forward step by step. "Don't worry about that just yet. When we get there I'll come up with something." Even if she had to levitate Haddie and then Kitty up each flight of steps one by one. Somehow someway all three of them would get to the healers office. "Right now though just keep your mind focused on each step you take. Remember that with each step we're that much closer." One task at a time was all they could deal with right now. No need to complicate things before they had to.

Ugh! Kitty groaned when Haddie mentioned the stairs. Her legs hurt enough right now as it was, and they weren't even back to the castle yet. She felt like she might drop any second. Plus, her head was still stinging from a where that stupid bird had attacked her - a small trickle of blood ran down the side of her head from the scratches.

"What were they thinking when they hired that thing anyway?" Kitty talked in order to distract herself. If she didn't talk she knew she would break down in tears. "I hope they catch her and throw her in Azkaban for the rest of her life!" She winced as a unpleasant itching feeling reached her head, combing with the pain. "And that stupid bird! I hope we catch it and eat it!"

Moxley made a mental note to go and check on the Ravenclaw boy at a later time but for now, she was trying to get her head on straight. Rubbing at her forehead, the brunette surveyed the scene once more. Most of the kids seemed more than eager to get away from here which she was glad about. Now for the issue of the woman who'd caused the whole thing.

Julien's words snapped her back to reality and she nodded. "We should check the forest and perhaps take turns monitoring it tonight. I would hope she wouldn't be crazy enough to return for her things but who knows..." Was it bad that she hoped the woman did show her face, if only so Moxley could issue some payback. Her inner Gryffindor was roaring for retribution. Eyes landing on James, she checked to see he was aware of the plan. "Let's regroup, inform the other members of the staff, and get a move on this before anything else goes wrong." Like, she was a fan favorite here at Hogwarts and she had a reputation to protect.

As the smoke dissolved and people talked in LOUD NOISES, Katherine finally snapped out of confusion and could think clearly again. She remembered what happened, and as she reflected on them while Jacen went to check on her hero, Professor Moxley, she felt like she was going to throw up. A HAG had tried to EAT a human being.

............

She was scarred for life and when Jacen, who saved her life although she didn't acknowledge it yet, pulled on her sleeve again, she got up as if she was in trance and held his hand tightly. Her face was blank, and she clearly wasn't fine at all. Without a word, she began walking towards the castle with him.

Again he saw that munchkin’s (Haddie's) glare and again he did not care. Was he supposed to? Because she looked as threatening as a tiny kitten who had it’s yarn stolen. Re: Not at all threatening. Especially for a man who had dealt with beasts like dragons and skrewts. Kittens were as cute and nonthreatening as they came, sorry kid.

As for Julien, James gave him a firm nod. ”Good idea,” as long as the hag was still out there and hungry for human flesh, they’d best keep track of their students. ”Meredith and I arrived in the heat of it all,” heat as in literally. A kid was being boiled. ”No saying as to whether or not a kid got snatched up before we could get to them.” And the others looked so out of it that there was no telling whether or not they had taken notice.

In his peripheral vision he noticed Barefoot helping out some little Slytherin and it brought the SLIGHTEST grin to his face. As for what Meredith was saying, James couldn’t have agreed more. ”I’ll volunteer to take the first shift, and as many as you’d need me for.” One because it always helped to put oneself in good light around a boss. But most importantly because he wanted to get revenge.

”Sounds like a plan.” Though if they left Poncho Paul out of the loop, no harm done. Ahem. James thought of the bloke as a pretty useless person anyways. "I can stick around and make sure the last few stragglers make it up to the castle if you want to head up and notify the rest of the staff?"

SPOILER!!: Kitty

Ugh! Kitty groaned when Haddie mentioned the stairs. Her legs hurt enough right now as it was, and they weren't even back to the castle yet. She felt like she might drop any second. Plus, her head was still stinging from a where that stupid bird had attacked her - a small trickle of blood ran down the side of her head from the scratches.

"What were they thinking when they hired that thing anyway?" Kitty talked in order to distract herself. If she didn't talk she knew she would break down in tears. "I hope they catch her and throw her in Azkaban for the rest of her life!" She winced as a unpleasant itching feeling reached her head, combing with the pain. "And that stupid bird! I hope we catch it and eat it!"

Why hadn't she noticed that the girl was bleeding? Hady blinked her eyes at Kitty taking in the small scratches on her face. She was no healer herself but she did know something that could take care of that right now. "I know a spell that can heal the scratches for you if you like," she told the younger girl glancing at her once more. "Or we can just wait until we're at the healer and have her do it." It was her choice really.

Mentions of the Hag/Lady made her inwardly cringe but keeping a straight face was vital. "I have no idea but I know the Headmistress will handle her and that insane bird too." If they didn't have faith in the Headmistress then who could they have faith in? No one and that wasn't a good thing.

Oh would you please? I think I would be able to walk better if I wasn't bleeding like this from my head. You're amazing Hady." Kitty stopped walking so that Hady could heal her, thankful of all that she was doing for them.

SPOILER!!: Kitty

Oh would you please? I think I would be able to walk better if I wasn't bleeding like this from my head. You're amazing Hady." Kitty stopped walking so that Hady could heal her, thankful of all that she was doing for them.

Of course she would. Anything to make it easier for the girls to get upstairs to the healer. They still had a ways to go yet. "Sure," she whispered quietly coming to a stop when the younger girl did. Pulling her wand from the holster on her wrist she aimed it at the scratches on the girls head. "Episkey," Hady cast confidently hoping the small gashes closed up. "There. How's that?" Did she feel any better?

Amazing? Hady. Nah-uh noway. Hady shook her head laughing quietly as she returned her wand to it's holster and slid her arm back around Kitty. "Nah I just do what I should it all." Nothing at all amazing about doing what was right.

Once it seemed that there was a solid plan of action in place, Moxley felt ready to get back to the castle. She nodded at James and gave him a small smile for volunteering to take the first watch, that was one thing covered. "If you two could do that, it'd be great." There weren't many children left to usher back but the stragglers could use a push and James and Julien could definitely handle that. "Thank you both for helping. I'm going to hurry back. I'll keep you posted. James, let me know if you see anything suspicious during your watch."

And with that, the headmistress set off for her office as fast as her little legs could carry her.

Julien looked around to see if any other children needed him to help. It didn't seem like it and everyone was starting to head back to the castle, which was good. His eyes went to the tent. Maybe they could check it out to make sure there was nothing there that was going to harm anyone. "I'm going to dispose of that." He pointed towards the tent and the pot. One less thing the children had to worry about.

He nodded at the headmistress as she said she was headed back up and James was going to take the first watch of the forest. "Sign me up for the next one that is fine." He had avoided the hag as much as possible through out the months and now he was glad of it, but it seemed James had more personal reasons for wanting to keep her away not just the children. Well maybe it was just the children.

With one more look he turned and headed towards the tent with his wand up to check for curses and protection charms.

"Will do," he nodded, watching as Meredith started heading towards the castle. Then turning to Julien, he gave the Charms Professor a quick nod before walking around the area to make sure there weren't any other hazards they should be aware of. He waited for the last of the kids to make their way up.

Meanwhile, James was going to head back to his office and prepare for his first shift.