That was easy, and Nem considered that the most potentially difficult part, getting Bernadette to come with them. They'd half expected her to try and stay and fight, but that was based more on a conversation they'd had at the very start of term. It made sense, they supposed, that as well as avoiding making waves in all this, she might also opt not to surf the ones that did appear.

An interesting turnaround, but then, a fair amount had happened this year. Arguably.

Nem started for the door again, leaning down to murmur inconspicuously in Bernadette's ear again - although, evidently, she had not caught on to the advantages of disillusionment, and how to not be so obvious. "Put a shield up. Blast anyone who tries to stop you." They meant anyone too. Neo-Alliance. Hogwarts Faithful. The... inferi.

Nothing Nem hadn't seen or smelt before, of course. Not even something they hadn't seen or smelt in the last ten minutes. They weren't remotely surprised, either, that some had made it all the way into the castle, nor particularly concerned. Bernadette knew what she was doing, surely.

New plan. Nem corrected their course, pulling Bernadette not towards the door now, but again skirting the fighting, only really needing to line up with and then reach the wall that backed onto the grounds. Far less hassle.

Bernadette seemed to nod numbly to herself, since Nemesis was invisible and all that, and murmured the spell to make her favorite shield charm. She shivered at the sight of the undead rolling into her former home, but she supposed, suddenly, that the sight of them shouldn't matter. Hogwarts hadn't been very kind to her over the past year and now she was leaving it behind forever.

Forever and ever and--- "They smell worse than I do," she murmured to herself. To herself only, of course. Of course Prisoner #24601 would be talking to herself after months of captivation… it just made sense… nothing suspicious to see here, nothing at all.

She was prepared to blast anything at any time always, but she shivered again and gave Nem's hand a squeeze. Bernie didn't ACTUALLY feel like fighting. She was just so done and ready to go. "How am I getting out of here," she added under her breath, glancing toward her invisible friend, or at least, where she thought they were by the hand she was holding. "Where all have you been already?" And couldn't she see them one last time before she left, please?

Julien was impressed by the students wand work. These student seemed to be well aware of what all was going on and he could appreciate it. His heart was racing as he kept fighting the neo-alliance, but it sank a little and had pride when his nephew was next to him. The more family here the more he knew he could lose, but having Torrance there and fighting showed how much the boy had grown and how proud that made Julien feel he probably could never bring into words.

"Keep your eyes open and stay close." He shot a few more defensive spells into the group of alliance follower. What happened next though Julien couldn't even have predicted. The smell hit him first before seeing the inferi coming in. "What the hell?"

He moved quick, because the ones on fire were going to set things in the castle a blaze. "Tor, get the fire out with me." He sent water at the dead and then used a slicing charm to cut their heads off if he could. He had heard the boy asking if he was okay and he nodded, but only a quick nod because these inferi had to be dealt with.

They were a bit ripe, yes. "You should have seen the bridge," Nem replied, still quietly, but not trying too hard to murmur given the environment they were both trying to traverse. Chaos covered up most things, particularly conversation, in the sense that not only should it stop others from hearing, but Bernadette might not hear them either, if they were too quiet.

Briefly putting that first question on hold, Nem swerved around a stumbling, burning inferius - and... a jet of water? ... sure - only for a sudden jolt to shoot through their foot again. From the bridge until now, they'd not felt it, or perhaps just been able to ignore it, but the rush of adrenaline was almost over, pain was creeping in (including a new source in their ribs), and exhaustion was threatening to make itself known. Yet here they were, wasting using up these moments on getting Bernadette Grantham out. If ever there was a debt to be repaid...

Still. It worked out in their favour regardless.

Sharing time would come later. Nemesis knew they could get themselves out of this, however it ended, whichever 'side' won, knew there would be future opportunities to talk. They tightened their grip on Bernadette's hand now, and stopped, a short distance from the wall. "Here and there. Get ready to run for the gates." No need to explain when, she'd figure it out. Only telling her the destination had been necessary, in case they got separated out there. Invisible and all. Speaking of.

Moving as quickly as their battered and fatigued body would allow (which was still not exactly a sluggish pace, not just yet) Nem rapped their wand this time on top of Bernadette's head to Disillusion her as well, then turned it onto the wall. "Bombarda Maxima."

The resulting explosion blasted a section of the castle wall outwards (and maybe a little inwards too), freeing up another, much more convenient exit for them. Nem tugged on Bernadette's hand, pulling her that way so that they could flee into the night, ideally before anyone could register her sudden Disillusionment.

VESNA PETROVA: NEO-ALLIANCE ALIGNED

Her fall to the ravine had been... painful. Vesna had managed to escape the ropes sent out by that blasted auror just before she landed on the rocks, some last minute magic softening her fall... barely. The anger boiling in her blood was one of the few things keeping her alive and ascending up the sides of the ravine to get her sweet, sweet vengeance (which was another thing keeping her alive.

When Vesna made it to the light of the castle again, it was clear that her trip to the ravine had not been a pleasant one. In fact, she looked much like the inferi that crawled their way into the great hall right before her. Her hair was tattered and matted with blood, half of her face was torn and unrecognizable. Her clothes were wet - from either blood or water, who knew - and stray remnants of ropes from the auror's incarcerous spell dragged behind her. By the ragged wheezing in her breathing, it was clear she also had a collapsed lung, probably spiked through by one of the bones in her rib cage.

She was alive, but she looked dead. And SPEAKING of dead.... SHE WANTED EVERYONE DEAD.

The Bulgarian woman, dragged herself into the entrance hall of the castle, where the battle had moved, the visible part of her face distorted into pure anger. The woman spat out a mouth full of blood. Then she let out a blood-curdling battle cry (scream, more like) as she raised her wand towards the sky.

"rrrRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Waving her wand around like a madwoman (which she was, in case you doubted), Vesna channeled all of her anger into sending a storm of lightning bolts all around the hall.

Dara Vitvinina: Neo-Alliance aligned

Dara had managed to make her way through the collapse of the wooden bridge. Her full lips were bruised from landing on a wooden plank, blistering, her robes were scratched in places, and her silk smooth hair was tasseled leaving her to tie it back into a ponytail. Dara had always considered herself the loner of the type, never aligning with any league but her own, calling the shots with secret missions as ambassador. But she was tempted by one thing, the power and wealth. She had a family to care for that would benefit the most from the Greater Good and so she found herself on the line. To protect her son and husband, she had to make a choice and at the time the winning side was for the Greater Good. She was all but forced to go through this alone against her will and if she were to go down for it... at least her family would be safe and learn not to follow her path.

"..Vesna?" Dara turned to her comrade in arms who was not herself. From the looks outside she would've assumed she had perished from that height. Suddenly she was blinded by the rogue lightning bolts, one of which shot her in the arm stunning her.

"OUCH!" Dara then yelled, "You've gone mad, control yourself! Remember the plan!" But that was all she spared before she running off with her wand in hand. Remain control, calm, and collected. Walking calmly, hair was pulled back into a ponytail with her face expressionless. She walked passed some students running before gazing at one adult (Julien), "Obliviate," Dara aimed at the man before throwing a Protego over herself as quick as her arms could cast and then running. Her left shoulder was still momentarily stunned from the lightning earlier.

The hooded wizards were becoming less in numbers but they were still fighting. Seeing more students here gave them some delight and one fell being hit by the girl's spell (Aboli) while her partner sent the Cruciatus Curse towards her and the boy. While others laughed at the inferi coming to fight. A few were knocked down by something flying at them. Turning they found the source (Tucker) and sent the killing curse his way.

Seeing lighting flying and spells going this way and that a witch glared at the two men standing near each other and a wicked grin moved across her lips, "Avada Kedavra" she pointed towards the younger of the two.

Noticing a hole being blown from the side of the building a few spells went flying the way of the girl (Bernie). No students are to leave right now.

Things just seemed to keep getting worse around here. The alliance seemed to be dwindling, but more kept coming into the castle and then the dead things all around. Julien worked to try to get the fire and take out the dead, but soon he was turned facing the spells yet again. The lighting came close and he dodged it, but then he saw a woman pointing her wand at Torrance.

"Torrance look out." He pushed his nephew out of the way and turned to pull his shield up, but he saw to late another witch sending a spell directed towards him. He only had a moment before the spell hit him and his memory and thoughts stopped and he stood there and blinked. Before he could even finish the blink the killing curse that was intended for his nephew hit him and he fell to the ground.

Aboli hadn't noticed Bernie, but if she had, she would been more RAAAAAAAAAAAAGEEEEEEEE at the Neo Alliance minions. MORE people she cared about in the line of fire.

The 7th year Slytherin was SO. DONE.

And if Noah were thinking any thoughts about her, she wasn't observant of that either. Now was not the time to have dreamy THOUGHTS about your partner, Noah Nam! It was time to FEAST ON THE ENEMY. CAUSE PAIN. It did register, however, the drastic difference in the spells Aboli was choosing to cast versus Noah's. She was aiming to hurt and maim - to cause pain, to make them feel the exorbitant amount of loss and hurt Aboli had suffered this final term - HER FINAL TERM - here at Hogwarts. It almost made Aboli soften her blows.

Almost.

That was until the undead, the foul stench of them, drifted into the Entrance Hall with eerie ease. Aboli gasped, having never seen one before in person. Until this point, they had been pictures in a book. While fascinated, Aboli couldn't help that sliver of fear that cascaded down her spine into her fingertips. It turned her cheeks pink, and she tried to push down the gut feeling of dread. "We need to attack with fire!" she shouted at Noah, hoping and the adults would see the inferi soon and start attacking. "Lacarnum Inflamari!" she shouted, aiming her wand tip in the horde of corpses' direction.

She did NOT notice that the older man [Julian] was trying to get the fire OUT because Aboli was trying to KILL THOSE THINGS. Who CARED IF THE SCHOOL BURNED - it hadn't even crossed her mind to NOT try to get the inferi with fire. In hindsight, she might have questioned this decision, but alas.

She did not right now.

There was a boom, and Aboli jumped at the hole in the wall and the falling debris. Who had cast that? Her eyes were all over - there was a CRAZY LADY barging in here INTO THEIR CASTLE TRYING TO BE EVIL and ABOLI GROOOOOOOOWLED!

A lightning bolt barely hit Aboli, but the force of it was enough to send her aside onto her bum. She scrambled up, SCREAAAAAMING back. Aboli cast a biting jinx on a nearby piece of debris, and the thing CHOMP CHOMP CHOMPEDDDDD around before she sent it FLYING at the woman, both hoping it would knock her out AND bite her to bits. TAKE THAT CRAZY STUPID LADY.

She didn't manage to see an Alliance member get hit with one of her hexes, but Aboli sent a SHARP stinging hex at the one who aimed a Crucio at Noah - she had flung herself out of the way to avoid being hit by one herself. It was only once the spell made contact with Noah that Aboli felt more anger coursing through her.

The absolute ripple of previously intangible anger. She was no longer in control of what came out of her mouth - spells, curses, and language alike. "Noah?" she asked, stepping in front of him, producing a shield charm over them both while she assessed his pain.

"The bridge???" Bern's little voice was slightly higher than average with concern for her Nem. "Which bridge, Nem? Tell me you didn't do something stupid...."

She was so caught up in trying to make eye contact with invisible Nem that she nearly flinched and ALMOST punched them in the stomach by reflex when they suddenly tapped her head to make her invisible. But she didn't; she showed remarkable self-control just in time. "Oh. Thank you," she mumbled, squeezing their hand back. Now that she was just focusing back on them and their hand contact, she wasn't so afraid nor jumpy when the hole blasted through the wall.

...but of course the Neo-Alliance had to ruin her plans again. If there was one spell Bernadette was slightly competent at, it was the shield charm. So she saw the spells that ew of a prisoner was sending her way and slightly dodged them, both by stepping closer to/in front of where she thought Nem was standing, and by throwing up a shield charm.

"Uhhh, now what?" She should probably just run, shouldn't she. Her heart was pounding louder than ever in her ears but she was still clinging tightly to Nem's hand. She just didn't want to let this one go.

Torrance stood beside his Uncle doing his best to keep up with the old man. He was far more talented with Offensive spells than Torrance could ever be but perhaps he could be the support that was needed. Toss up Shield Spells to protect while Uncle Julien sent out the stupefies and the expelliarmuses and all that jazz. "That's the plan!" He retorted. If there was one thing he noticed about himself it was how focused he'd become. His plan to protect was working perfectly until he stopped for just a brief moment. The reeking smell of rotten flesh filled into the space of the Entrance Hall as Inferi came limping into it.

Water? But why? Oh crud...some of the Inferi were on fire!? How...what had? He decided to leave that up to the others. He would keep up support and the Shields.

Besides the inferi making an appearance the Neo-Alliance looked to be dwindling in numbers. One of the ladies looked almost as dead as the undead. He put up a shield to protect Uncle Julien from some of the Lightning but felt himself get shoved to the ground. "Wha!?..." He looked up from the ground. He watched as some other woman had just wiped the mind of the toughest man in their family. "No...!" He was too vulnerable now. He couldn't do anything while on the ground like this. He whipped his wand up to try and throw some protective charm around Uncle Julien but there was a flash of Green Light and Next thing he knew Uncle Julien was on the ground. "NO!" Torrance shouted even louder. He scrambled over to the lifeless body. Grabbing a hold of his shoulders. "no no nonono." He whipped his head up eyes streaming with tears and rage. He looked eyes with the woman who had wiped his mind first. If she hadn't done that. If she hadn't messed with his brain. Uncle Julien could have dodged the Killing Curse. He could have...he definitely could have. He looked toward him once more trying to understand why his last act was to throw him to the ground. He stood over Uncle Julien. No one was going to get near him. No one else was going to touch him. Torrance was so full of rage right now. "Incarcerous!" He shot ropes from his wand toward the fleeing woman who Torrance held most responsible for this death (Dara)! Then followed it up with "Expulso!" a blast of blue light exploded from his wand in her direction next!

Noah optimistically thought that they had a decent chance of survival at the present moment. Well... that was until the undead appeared. He blinked for a moment, lowering his guard, as he eyed the creatures. Wow. They were waaaay uglier in person than in textbooks. And they smelled like rotten flesh.... Meat gone off. He scrunched his nose, trying to hold his breath at their foul smell. Ugh.... a bubblehead charm would have been useful about now. Their smell was only exacerbated by the fact that they were on fire. He rolled his eyes. Of course some of them had to be on fire too. Like Julien, he thought extinguishing the flames was their best course of action. Thus he moved. His eyes widened as he readied an augmenti to fire but then he heard Aboli advising to use fire. “On it.” He nodded, changing course and moving his wand in a whip like wave, sending a non-verbal fire rope towards the inferi. Hopefully he got a few of them. “I think we should switch to...”

He didn’t have enough time to finish his sentence before a terrifying growl from a SHE- DEVIL. Who? What? Where? Why was she covered in ..... he couldn’t quite tell but he evaded her attack with a quick protection charm. Lightening cracked, separating him and Aboli for the briefest of minutes. “ABOLI!” he cried as he subconsciously made a potentially fatal mistake as he turned to check on her which led him wide open to be the perfect dummy for the Neo Alliance Goonies’ Cruciartus Curse.

He had been right in his lower abdomen. And every description that he had read in Defense Against the Dark Arts class simply could not do it justice. Oh yes. It was very much worse than the a thousand gif knives slashing into his body. He felt on intense searing pain wash over his very being. It started slowly but exponentially grew in levels until it was unbearable. He shut his eyes (as if that would help the pain) and dropped his wand. His wand and his body hit the hard ground at the same time, producing a thud. Then the pain hit him like a school bus hitting a certain plastic blonde. Yeah. From that movie. Or so he had imagined this is what it must have felt like.

Much worse.

The searing pain erupted across the seventeen year old’s body, causing his muscles to seize and him to crouch over. Every single cell was on fire. He painfully gasped for air to fill his lungs but found barely any to satiate that hunger and stop the pain. He bit his lip, drawing blood as his body involuntarily shook. The blinding pain continued surge, forcing him to take shallow breaths to bear the pain. Fleeting images passed through his mind. Memories combined with his present reality. He felt sick.

Uncontrollable tears rolled down his face as he tried to fight back but failed. Would the pain stop if he couldn’t breath? If it were the end for him would be finally find peace instead of every bone and muscle being simultaneously shocked, burned, and ripped apart.

Eventually it stopped and he gasped for air and finally found it. However, he barely had any strength to stand. Noah found himself grimacing as he willed himself to sit up. He had to get back up and fight. He couldn’t stop and give up right now- even if he wanted too. He really wanted to sleep.... To go home to his family. Hug his parents, his siblings, his friends..... Aboli. No he couldn’t sleep. She was here. So was Minjae. Kimmie too. And his mates. He couldn’t leave them to fight the good fight without him.... Sleep was tempting but he didn’t have plans to be come one of the undead just yet.

The lion boy weakly looked up through heavy eyelids at Aboli before placing one shaky hand on the ground behind him. It took every fibre of his being and his stubborn mind filled with determination to grip his wand. “I-I’m....” His voice was shaky as he willed himself to get up. “I can stand... I think.”

———
WHERE WAS TORRANCE SPADES?!? AND HOW AND WHY was he so fast?!? Involuntarily, she pouted. Her little legs couldn’t keep up and besides she wasn’t that short!!!.

She weaved her way in and out of the crowd, dodging and deflecting spells as she charged towards the castle. He had to have made it inside. He would have gone to the action to help.

When she got inside the front door, she looked behind her to find that she had been separated from Simon. She paused, debating about heading back onto the battlefield to find him but stopped. He would be fine. She knew it. Or seriously hoped. She needed to find Tory.

She rounded the corner to find... INFERI ON FIRE?! Students on the ground.... A man collapsed or was he.... Oh no.... Her eyes scanned the scene and then found Tory flinging spells at two women. She paused, not knowing how to react. She had never ever ever seen him so ENRAGED.

Vi readied herself for another fight but quickly cast a shield spell before firing a non-verbal BOMBARDA! at the INFERI before following up with a few stinging hexes and stunners. She had to get to Tory.

Perhaps this battle was wearing more on her mentally than she originally thought, because Avalon could have sworn that she just saw Bernadette Grantham under that black cloak. But as soon as Avalon had registered who it was was, the girl disappeared. Or seemed to, at least. Had Avalon just been imagining the whole thing?

There wasn't time to dwell. Because the Inferi had made their way into the castle. Avalon had heard murmurs about them on the bridge while she was in the Great Hall. But seeing them in person, right in front of her, was a whole new horrific experience. "INCENDIO!" she yelled, flicking her wand at the group that was getting terrifyingly close to her. A side glance toward Aboli showed that she had the right idea, too. They needed more fire.

But then, there was a crazy, awful-looking woman joining them. And she was not playing around. She brought a unique fire of her own.

One of the mad woman's lightning bolts barely missed Avalon, striking instead against the metal on the door next to her. The resulting electric force was enough to knock the wind out of the Ravenclaw and throw her to the ground. And then there was a man getting killed. Killed! And then Noah was on the receiving end of a crucio curse.

Avalon was terrified. From the looks of it, there was no way they could overpower all these Inferi and Neo-Alliance members. They were severely outnumbered, and outpowered. Where were the professors? Did anyone else know they were in here, trying to fight them off? Would this be where it all ended? Merlin, she wanted to see her parents again. A part of her hoped they had come here to fight for her. To fight for Hogwarts. But she hadn't seen them yet. Did that mean they didn't come? Or did it mean something entirely worse?

Noah's pained gasping made her shove the avalanche of horrible thoughts out of her head. From her heap on the floor, Avalon managed to retrieve her wand (which had skidded a few inches away from her) and cast a Flipendo toward the Neo-Alliance follower responsible for the unforgivable curse against Noah. She pushed herself back onto her feet, shouting, "BOMBARDA!" toward the Inferi group as she did so. Anything to keep them back. Anything.

For the record.

"I don't do stupid things."

So jot that down.

They weren't going to get anywhere by just standing here, especially if Bernadette had been noticed. There was a way out available to them, unimpeded and mere feet away, and they were making use of it. "Now we run."

Nem pulled Bernadette towards the hole in the wall, pulling her through it after them and, no, not letting go of her hand. Yet. Running would be problematic, hand in hand, but they both had the same destination in mind if and when it became necessary to let go. If it came to it, they would regroup at the gates.

"Don't get distracted," Nem said simply, once they were out in the night air, their tone flat and businesslike. Ultimately, if Bernadette got all caught up in a fight, it was unlikely they'd lose sleep over leaving her behind, especially while they were in their current state. She had a brain in her head - somewhere - and should be aware of that, but Merlin knew the girl really was ruled by her heart. That was what made people do stupid things. "And try not to die." With that, they started to run yet again, pushing through the obtrusive pain in their foot, and chest, and... everywhere, through the fatigue trying to drag them down.

Into the darkness Nem hurtled once more, this time pulling Bernadette with them.

The water from Lucien's wand quickly quenched the fires on the flaming inferi, and they promptly tripped over their heads and fell when he decapitated them. Two down.

This attack was not very well coordinated, the inferi might have thought if their brains could think. One wizard killing fire with water, others fighting the dead with fire. The flames from the pair of students (Aboli and Noah) took to three inferi, who proceeded to continue wandering the hall trying to attack the living, but now with fire consuming their arms and torsos, and even one of the inferi's legs. They bumped into each other, then bumped into a witch (Vesna) who looked closer to the dead walking than to the living.

The Bombardas being cast by another student (Avalon) and a woman (Vi) were effective...four inferi caught in the two blasts burst into bits, which scattered throughout the entrance hall.

The other three inferi continued to wander the hall, still attempting to wreak havoc on the living, Order or Neo-Alliance alike.

Dara's fleeing was one of the wisest moves she had committed in the situation. After wiping the older man (Julien)'s mind she turned just as someone else's killing curse hit him, she didn't see it happened, but she heard the younger companion of his cry out in pain.

"He shouldn't have turned his back in a battle," Was her response. Time to go. Dara had enough of this battle and was considering leaving it all to go back home. But she had to carry out the plan, so she built up a quick Protego blocking (Torrance)'s first spell.. But the second one however left her back wide open for the shot. Ironic given her last bit of advice.

"UHH!" Dara felt as if a hammer swung at her back sending her flying into a wall. The impact on the wall was enough force to send her flying again in a pinball fashion. The blunt force against her chest knocked the wind out of her before she flew out of sight out of the hall landing at the doorway. Her eyes fought to remain open as the darkness came to claim her. Eventually, the eyelids won and she closed her eyes rendering her unconscious. She wouldn't be wiping anyone else's mind at this time.

o_______O

Tucker could only watch in slight horror as the younger blonde girl (Aboli) started screaming and basically going insane on the Alliance members. It was great and all, truly admired the enthusiasm and everything but...YIKES. That was slightly terrifying.

His little candle stand stunt earned him a Killing Curse from the Alliance, which he skillfully dodged. He was a Cursebreaker, you couldn't take him down THAT easily! Dodging spells was what he did for a living...

Except, uh, lightning spells apparently.

Letting out a yelp, the bolt from the crazy Alliance witch (Vesna) hit him and threw him back against the wall. Dazed, the man fell to the ground, blinking wildly and trying to shake off the blast as he scrambled to his feet...only to stumble over again. Ok, take it slow. Deep breathes. Slowly the room started to refocus in front of him, but he felt like he'd been hit a truck. Something in his brain told him he needed to get to the Great Hall, he could rest there...stumbling, he managed to make his way out of the battle, seeing stars the whole way as he scrambled to safety.

One thing Bryony was absolutely sure of: that assuming her charm had taken the crazy witch (Vesna) out for good would have been a bad idea. The ravine under the wooden bridge had been too deep for her to get visual proof, and seeing as said bridge was now collapsed into said ravine, again without visual evidence that anyone other than several inferi, Hadley and her former headmistress were at the bottom, she’d chosen to move toward the castle. And, unsurprisingly, her proof that her job wasn’t finished seemed to be in the entrance hall. The witch was not looking too good, either. It was almost funny, except the blonde Auror wasn’t laughing.

She suspected things wouldn’t seem funny for a while, actually. Battle wasn’t amusing. Even dueling wasn’t amusing, but this was on another level of unamusing. Either way, she sent a nonverbal Confringo in the direction of the stumbling inferi (and possibly Vesna), followed by a shield toward the few people she thought she recognized as Order aligned. Plus the students. No kids were going to get hurt on her watch.

Torrance was not done! Uncle Julien still lying at his feet he wanted to throw down more spells at the woman. He watched her block his ropes and was ready to up the lethality of his spells but then she was tossed into a wall by his expulso. His grip on his wand tightened ready to go at it more with her whether she was conscious now or not. He pushed his foot forward but his leg caught on something. He looked down to see what it was. Uncle Julien's arm was laying over his foot. Dammit...dammit you old man. Even in death you keep him in check. The tears stopped for just a moment as he heard Vi. She was in the Entrance Hall. "Vi!" He shouted. "Vi grab that woman!" He pointed toward the hall she had attempted to flee down at toward the unmoving body (Dara). "Tie her up, drag her into the Great Hall! Take her wand off her too!!"

There. He wasn't going to harm the woman any farther. Every fiber in his being wanted to put her through as much pain for what she had done. But, He wasn't going to loose himself over your Death, Uncle Julien. He levitated his body off the ground and slowly backed up. Making his way back into the Great Hall.

Two things: one, were those students fighting and two, WERE THOSE INFERI?! Oh Merlin, now she knew what Ronan meant when he said those things were the worst. She could smell them from all the way over by the door. Of course, the stench hadn't been what he had been talking about, but whatever.

Archer dropped the school broom she'd been holding (how else did you expect her to get around the now out-of-order bridge?) and whipped her wand back out, aiming it at the Neo-Alliance Members and casting "Fulgari". Maybe at least one would catch it.

In hindsight. He should have stayed back and gotten some healing. The former Badger Head Boy was really pushing his limit in this battle. Not just him everyone else, He looked around to assess his surroundings. Inferi (again) He recoiled from the rancid smell they were emitting into the Entrance Hall then with his wand threw up "Protego Duo!" Holding off a few bolts of lightning coming from in front of him. He followed the streak of lightning back to it's source and his eyes saw her. (Vesna) The crazed woman from Azkaban who had nearly killed him, killing Tank instead. Then nearly killed him again at the Wooden Bridge.

She looked awful. Like she had been threw much worse than him and he was. Oakey had been in plenty near death experience to know when someone was on their last legs. "Stop!" He shouted toward the murderous woman "Stop, if you keep on like this you'll only kill yourself!" Perhaps if he restrained her. She had to be too weak to fight off any kind of binding if they hit. Then she could go back to Prison.

Firstly "Immobulus!" He cast toward a few Inferi to hold them off in their tracks. Then he turned back toward her. His wand drawn. "Incarcerous!" He sent thick hempen rope from his wand toward the Azkaban Prisoner.

A small smile graced her lips as she and a student's spells destroyed a few inferi. Progress was being made. Small progress. But her attention was back to Torrance fairly quickly as he was yelling at her to grab the woman. She nodded and quickly acted, quickly casting a non-verbal Incarcerous towards said woman (Dara). NO ONE MESSED WITH HER BST FRIEND AND GOT AWAY WITH IT!!!

Vi Salander quickly threw a couple of spells towards the Inferi before realizing that Tory had left. Huh? Where had he gone?

"Need help?" she asked the younger student (Avalon) as she readied her wand, ready to take on more Alliance Members and Inferi.

Speaking of a certain auror......

Angry, aching and still running on pure adrenaline, Ronan Carter scurried into the Entrance Hall firing spells at anyone obviously on the wrong side. And he wasn't holding back, using the lighter spells, either. Nope, it was Frostbite Hexes, Scorching Spells and Sectumsempra. One couldn't go light with these people, he'd learned that the hard way earlier tonight (by the way, why were all battles at night?). The anger that was giving his spells extra oomph? That came from the fact that he hadn't managed to catch up with a certain vampire or even find him. The auror had headed this way hoping Goldwasser had done the same to join his Alliance buddies, but no sign of the wayward vampire yet. Still, he could be of some help here, more so than at the Ministry.

And no, he hadn't spotted (or smelt) the inferi yet, thankfully.

The three inferi who had not yet caught fire were now also burning, thanks to the nonverbal Confringo from the witch Bryony. Now flames blazed on all six inferi, though some were decidedly more scorched than others, relative to how long they’d been on fire.

The freezing charm (Oakey) hit two of the inferi, who immediately stopped bumbling about. Frozen in their tracks, they continued burning, becoming more and more obviously charred as the corpses continued their cremation.

The additional spells from Vi Salander caused the remaining inferi to fall to the floor, where they continued to burn.

As the fires burned on the inferi, even those that hadn’t been immobilized stopped moving. The charred remains of the Neo-Alliance’s victims were no longer viable weapons for the Neo-Alliance’s resident necromancer. As the fires started to burn themselves out on the corpses, the last of the victims’ bodies were freed from the spell. The inferi were no more.

Lumbering forward, leaping over rubble, darting around little patches of flame and inferi, and running through the legs of several people appeared a silvery wispy opossum. It scaled several obstacles before settling on a perch to present itself to the rowdy and hostile crowd. And then the voice of the Minister, strained but strong, erupted out of the spirit guardian’s open mouth.

“Citizens...supporters and members of the Neo-Alliance...and supporters and members of the Order of the Phoenix alike...please...I implore you, lay down your wands. Lucien Rosier, leader of the Neo-Alliance, has fallen. This battle of divergent ideals and ideologies must cease. The path forward for the Neo-Alliance is at its end … though not without hope for clemency upon negotiation. This war is over. Rise to a higher dignity...and lay down your wands … so that no more of our people must die...so that we may restore peace…”

It’s tail uncoiling from around its roost, the opossum began to climb down but dissipated into thin air before reaching the ground.