EVENT: Wandering the halls
Name(s): Open to anyone not in the Library log!
Location: All over-- except the Library and Great Hall
Week: 41
Time: Around midday Saturday onwards, following the posting of Cid's journal
Rating: Uhhhhhm. There is violence, all mun approved, and a crazy ghost.
Note 1:PLEASE SEE THE POST IN THE OOC COMM ABOUT INTERACTIONS IN THIS LOG. REPLYING THERE ( Read more... )
Location: All over-- except the Library and Great Hall
Week: 41
Time: Around midday Saturday onwards, following the posting of Cid's journal
Rating: Uhhhhhm. There is violence, all mun approved, and a crazy ghost.
Note 1:PLEASE SEE THE POST IN THE OOC COMM ABOUT INTERACTIONS IN THIS LOG. REPLYING THERE ( Read more... )
"Smoke and mirrors, little ones, you can't run along to join the circus until you know fully all the tricks of smoke and mirrors."
Mmmmm, yes. She did enjoy disappearing acts and surprise tactics. Just like the circus her precious school had been reduced to. It was a ring of animals. Repulsive little animals, all wretched and all better suited to drowning in a sack than any other occupation.
Ah, what was this? Still here? Step by step, she came closer. Always, always closer. So close she could smell the filth of them.
"How bold," Belladonna said with a smile, and in a sickening moment her fingers were twisted through Catty's hair, movements faster than they should have ever been. Her fingers dragged against the little whores scalp, digging, searching, feeling. "Hello, little cat. Such a bedraggled little stray," she whispered against the girl's ear.
In her other hand, her wand remained trained on Harry. "Run along. Leave the Widow to dine in peace." Cold, marble eyes snapped to set their gaze on Harry. Would he run or keep up the paces he had set?
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Before he could say anything, however, he spotted Catty, and let out some language that he probably shouldn't say in front of a lady. He had planned to run once the first years were safe, throwing some spells behind him to draw Belladonna's attention and allow him to get away. That plan had just gone out the window.
Before Harry could tell Catty to run, suddenly Belladonna was behind her, her hands in Catty's hair, yanking the girl's head back. Harry felt a flash of fear at how powerful she was, and that something so dangerous had his friend.
Then a second later that fear was replaced with anger. Harry didn't like bullies, and for all this things raw power, at the end of the day all she was was a racist bully who was too bitchy to just lay down and die.
"Yeah, well, enjoy your meal ma'am," Harry replied stiffly. Then he kicked the helmet that had come to a rest at his feet right at Belladonna. A second later his wand flashed up with a speed that came from training against a man who would break his bones if he failed. "Confringo!" he shouted, sending the blasting charm at Belladonna's head. Then in the same breath, a trick he'd picked up, he shouted, "Conjunctivitus!"
The first curse was meant to draw Belladonna's defenses, and leave her vulnerable to the follow up curse, a nasty one that caused your eyes to feel like they were on fire. Justin had used those on him more than a few times.
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She jerked her head to the side as Belladonna whispered in her ear, trying to get away, and ending up only hissing in pain. Oh, right. She was trapped. Like an idiot. "Strays shouldn't be worth your time," Catty muttered back, her voice a lot more even than she expected it to be. Was this how adrenaline worked?
Dine in peace? She didn't like the sound of that; she didn't want to end up being some bitch's meal for the night.
Glancing at Harry as he spoke, Catty's eyes grew wide in panic. They were both stupid, but he wouldn't be moronic enough to curse- And then he did.
"Harry, just run already and get help!" She screamed at him. That would be the best thing to do, right? Even if she didn't want to be left alone? There was no way in hell Harry could think of challenging Belladonna and win. He should be running now that he cast those curses.
As Catty struggled to free herself from the grip she was held in, a prayer her mother had said to her came unbidden to her mind. O Mater Luna, Regina nocis, audiuvo me nunc.
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With a painful wrench, Belladonna pulled Catty in the way of the projectile weapon, and a wordless flick of her wand pulled up a shield. The attacks were absorbed into a black void. Harry may have trained himself to bloody ruins, but she was still far older and far more experienced than he.
"Dull," she whispered. The Widow drew herself up to her full height, and calling down those Dark Arts she was so well versed in, the hal seemed to shrink, the light around them fade to black, as if it were only those three of them together. An aura specifically designed to cripple those about her with fear rolled over her in waves, and she directed her wand at Harry. He was fast, to be sure, and imaginative, but he had yet to do something worthy of her interest.
"A swim in the River Styx may yet refresh you." The words had barely fallen from her lips when the ground groaned, shifting into a slowing, grasping mystical quagmire that would pull like tar and chill them to the bone.
If they wished to play with a Maiden of the Dark Arts, then play they would.
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"Hell's bells, do you ever shut up? Seriously, I was scared five minutes ago, now you're just being obnoxious!"
He kept up the pressure with stunning spells, Expelliarmus, and even a few Incarcerous charms. None were meant to get through, none could hurt Catty, but all were likely creating the image that he was a normal student.
Then, just when Belladonna seemed to be bored with the game, he pointed his want at the tar and muttered, Terra Fistus.
A second later a large hand rose out of the tar, and moved to snatch the physical ghost.
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"Damn," she muttered, her legs still shaking in fear as it grew darker, the room shrinking. Not a small space, please Selene, not a small space. She couldn't handle small spaces, and a shrinking room made her feel a little sick. She wasn't doing anybody any good in this position, trapped like a wild animal. Not herself, not Harry. Quickly tucking her wand into her pocket, leaving both of her hands free, she reached for Belladonna's hand and pried at it. She was cold, terrified, and every bit as determined to get the hell away from here. And the wand was safer in her pocket than it was in her hand while she tried to get away.
She could hear and feel her hair rip as she tried to release herself from the grip, hoping that whatever spell Harry had just used could distract the former ghost just enough to wrench herself away. Her lower half struggled to get out of whatever this mire was pulling at her. "Let go of me, you crazy bitch!"
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"Language, Miss Turner," Belladonna noted absently, wand carving patterns into the air as she examined the hand clawing for her. This was very interesting. "We have quite a show, it seems, and I will not have you spoiling it with your rudeness." The grip stayed in place, unrelenting as she wrenched Catty around to draw her from the mire.
Well, if it was summoning he wanted, summoning the boy could have! It was a treat to get to use her favourite spell with good cause twice in one day, to be sure! "Animus tendo." Arcane words rolled off her tongue and the ground shuddered as, once more, the arms of Hell's beasts reached up to claim the hand. Black, oily tentacles that shone slick, green and purple, wrapped about the hand. They snapped and coiled, and one even snatched for Harry's leg to draw him closer.
"You see? You got off quite easily," Belladonna noted to Catty pleasantly, as if she were commenting on something as mundane as the weather.
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Right now, though, he was too busy fighting for his life to think about that.
Suddenly, though, she mentioned Professor Rangiku, and Harry's heart skipped a beat. That moments hesitation almost cost him dearly, and Harry threw himself back through the sludge, out of the way of the groaping tentacles. Cursing himself, he fought down the little shiver of icy fear her words had inspired. The ghost was just trying to freak him out, get through his defenses. Nothing had happened to Professor Rangiku, she was too strong for that, and she'd...she'd promised she wouldn't leave him.
'Then again, so had everyone else,' a small voice inside him pointed out.
Clamping down on his fear, Harry tried to figure out some way to get to the ghost. He had to deal with her first and save Catty, everything else came second. His mind raced for a plan, and then suddenly he hit on one. It was utterly insane, but if it worked, he might live long enough for Ebenezer to kill him for breaking his promise and using that spell.
The first step was to allow the tentacle reaching for his leg to seize his leg, which really said a lot about the intelligence of this plan of his. Harry's teeth gritted down hard as he felt the appendage squeeze on his leg like a vice, and he felt like the bone could snap at any moment. Forcing his way past the pain, Harry gathered all his magic into him. He needed iron concentration if this was going to work, and if he slipped up for a second everyone here might die.
Remembering his training in pain control, Harry envisioned a flame, then pushed everything out of his mind but it. His fear, his pain, his anger, even Catty's face were all pushed down into the darkness of his mind, until only the flame remained. Harry let one hand sink into the tar to stabilize him, then put his wand to the tentacle, visualized the spell and clung to that image with desperate determination, and shouted, "If you liked that, you'll love this bitch! Fiendfyre!"
In an instant three flaming serpents, each crackling with utterly malevolent power, flew along the tentacle towards Belladonna. Sweat poured down Harry's face as he tried to control the spell, fighting the snakes urge to simply burn everything before them until there was nothing left. The spell's will was great, and Harry almost lost control, but then his eyes flashed up to meet Catty's, and his will turned to steel.
He would save her.
With a hiss of rage, the snakes flew towards Belladonna, staying clear of Catty.
"She might have, but you won't!"
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“Professor Ran...” She said softly, a piece of her breaking inside.
Crying out, she winced at being pulled from the mire, and she could feel the slow trickling of something warm and thick on the back of her neck. Blood. It had to be. Her scalp could only go through so much damage before this would happen.
Catty stared out at Harry as the tentacle reached for his leg, eyes growing wide in horror as it wrapped itself around the limb. She gritted her teeth together. Where were the professors during this mess? Why hadn't she grabbed one when she decided to search for Harry?
The snakes caught Catty's eye as they were summoned. Her eyes wanted to shut at the sight of them, but she had to watch. Something in her mind clicked. This wasn't a normal spell for a normal wizard to know.
“You think having to be in close quarters with you is easy?” She waited for Belladonna to toss her out, to let go of her already. She'd take the mire and the tentacles, because she had to admit to herself, the terror of not knowing what the ghost wanted to do by keeping a firm hold of her was enough to drive her insane.
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Her energy was focused on the spell, and she scowled. She had no inclination to let a child such as this engage her in such a manner. It was wearisome, wasting time with such infants. Belladonna whispered a spell, and as her fingertips dug into Catty's scalp, her energy began to drain into Belladonna's body. She may as well augment herself a little, even if it was from such a pathetic little slip of a girl. Energy was energy, after all, as blood was blood.
Finally the fire was gone, and Belladonna whipped her wand back to dismiss the void, and once again stabbed it towards Harry. "Fultacio!" Blue lightning cracked towards him, the same Lightning Curse as from that day, but for that now is was wielded by the hand of a far more dangerous magic caster. "See how you love your fool professor now! See what she has wrought on you!"
Still, energy seeped away from Catty, as Belladonna dragged her forward with her as she drew closer to Harry. "Look upon her work!"
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Then it hit him. He probably couldn't save himself, but he could save Catty. He had one more card to play, and in a way it was the ultimate trump card. When he was thirteen, Justin had taught Elaine and him a particularly difficult spell, one that he had only later realized was highly illegal. It was called a Death Curse, and despite the name the death itself was the casters.
What the spell did was take every last scrap of the lifeforce of the caster, and inflict a permanent curse upon the one who killed them. It was a way of ensuring that even if the caster died, their killer would not ignore their victory. Harry guessed Justin had taught it to them so that if they were ever killed they could still hurt his enemies. He'd had them as walking timebombs.
Closing his eyes, the sixteen year old braced himself for death, before opening them to stare Ghost Widow in the eye. His eyes widened slightly at the lightning spell, but then he smirked.
"Oh, so that's how that spell got out. I suppose I should have expected it was you. You know, I think I love her a little more. I'd rather get killed by one of Professor Rangiku's spells than the sloppy crap you throw together. I mean, a mud pit? At least the Professor has class. Besides," his voice softened, "She's not the one using it, you are. The only one I'll blame for my death is you bitch, and I'll die smiling knowing that eventually Muggleborns and half bloods will outnumber pure bloods and take over, and you'll be stuck around to see it!"
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Things were starting to became a little hazy, and she wondered if it was from the blood now covering her neck. No, she didn't know a lot about anatomy or anything, but there was no way she had lost enough blood to make her woozy yet. Her eyelids fluttered a bit. Panic rose up in her like bile, but it was a brief flash, slowly being overpowered by the tiresome blanket being thrown over her.
Catty wasn't an idiot. She was being drained, fueling the old witch's magic with her own energy. Her energy was being used against Harry. Catty was powerless, being forced to watch blue bolts of lightning flash towards Harry, the sickening feeling of knowing that it was her own energy being used clenching at her.
She wasn't ready to die. She had so much to do, so much to make up for. She didn't want Harry to die for her. "H-harry..." This can't be the end. A tear slipped down her cheek.
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