[Library] The Alive Paintings

[Kristiana Thorn]

Sometimes she didn't trust her own instincts. Right now she would admit this was one of those times. She kept telling herself to stay in her own room, not bother venturing out into the halls people are crazy the school is a total mess and why should she bother putting herself in the thick of it all. The smart thing to do would be stay in but then sometimes smart and Kristiana didn't go. Now she was out and in the hall, stuck with a few people she wouldn't have been around other wise and now they were stuck here together with something after them.

When had things gotten so bad? Even the headmaster seemed to be acting like a babbling dunderhead. This is who her fate rested with, what a shame. If anything was going to save them it would have to be taking it on whatever it was on their own. Students forced to protect themselves while the headmaster spoke to himself.

Lucky Ellie was thinking along the same lines. She sort of took charge trying to get a game plan out of Hubbles. Krista thought it was probably useless he was content having his own conversation with some imaginary friend. Kristiana was about to suggest something when finally the man snapped out of it and snapped into action. He started barking orders telling them to use Incarcerous on the dragon. Would it work she had no idea but it wasn't as if they had any other choice.

She was told to aim for the dragon's back legs. Grabbing her wand holding it out in front of her she pointed it at the thing trying to get proper aim at the legs. When she thought she had a good shot her mouth opened wide and she said "Incarcerous" the rope flew out of her wand and wrapped themselves around the beasts legs.

[Nancy Wolfe]

A mere six hours since her arrival at Hogwarts and already she was up to no good. Miss Nancy Talula Wolfe, by the sounds of her name, makes her sound like a little princess who would be a precious little girl who would sit and play pretend tea parties with her dolls sitting in chairs around her but if you were friends with her in Beauxbatons you would know that she would of more likely downed the tea like some fine whisky and more likely karate kicked the dolls heads out of the window. Nancy did not like the extreme strictness of the famous French wizarding school, and to her it was like being in an army of barbies. Many of the girls there were very shallow-minded and nothing existed except for make-up and boys. Nancy was not one for airs and graces unlike all the bumbling bimbo's at Beauxbatons, and that was her main cause for getting transferred.

After being blessed with the awesomeness of the sorting hat (not to mention asking the Headmaster if she could keep the awesome fashion accessory) she had been given a bed that had housed the other girls of Hufflepuff's junk. The mattress had sunken in with the weight of their belongings and so after flipping it over and leaving the bed unmade along with unpacking a few things she had gone to eat dinner alone, nobody really including her. Still, she was the new girl, since when on the first day do they get noticed?

A few hours after dinner it had become dark enough to go to bed, but Nancy was restless. She didn't even try to sleep, instead just sitting at the end of the bed with her head in her hands watching the other girls talk and gossip every so often including her until they all retired to bed. Sleep was definately the last thing on her mind as her topaz eyes searched the room as she sat in the dark in her pyjama vest and shorts. Grabbing her wand from the bedside table she slipped her feet into her skater trainers and wandered out of the Den and into the dark of the main entrance. She followed a series of corridors, no idea how she got there or where she was going but she was simply just exploring her new home without any disturbances...or was she?

A few light thuds pounded down the corridor she was on which made her gasp and turn the way of the sound, extending her lit wand to see further down the corridor. It was still pitch black and she had no idea how far it continued. If it was prefects then she was in serious trouble and so she began to tred lightly as she continued the way she was headed, albeit a little more cautiously.
It wasn't long until she heard a scream and muffled voices and it made her jump. She broke out into a run, in two minds and unsure whether to find the source of the scream or run away from it, either way she was just running and fate would guide her. Her wand arm extended as she ran hurridly down the black corridor it wasn't long before she bumped into something that felt like paper and she fell backwards, saving herself with her hands behind her but losing her wand. She scuffled her hand along the floor to pick it up again and shaking she lifted it above her into the face of who she had bumped into.

She recoiled in horror, trying to pushing herself backwards as the horror child started towards her but Nancy was so shocked she couldn't scream, all her breath was being used to try and keep calm. Instead making little whimpering noises as the child got nearer and faster as she scuttled backwards her wand bent her finger and she gritted her teeth before the kid almost jumped on top of her and she kicked the thing square in the chest before scrambling up and regaining her balance. She jogged around the kid as it clutched at its chest that now had a messy rip in and was revealing a beating paper heart. Nancy was not sure what the hell was going on, but she continued to run in the direction the child had come from until she bumped into the back of a taller girl with blonde hair.
"Holy mackrel, What in Merlin's name is going on?" she gasped, doubling over slightly, using the blonde as a leaning post before standing up straight again as she clutched her belly and offering her some sort of lame smile as a thanks.
"Did I transfer at a great time or what!?" she grinned cheekily.

[Ellie Rook]

Elle felt herself fighting not to turn and run as she shielded the smaller Gryffindor. She felt as though she had another part of her telling her to turn and run, leave everyone behind. Ellie felt the sweat gather on her forehead as she watched the dragon come closer and closer. She glanced again at the Professor. He seemed to be fighting with himself. Ellie saw the resemblance to her own fight as she heard him talk aloud. She prayed the real Professor Hubbles would win the fight. However, some other part of her hoped he would failed, turn and run, giving her the green to trun and run as well.

However, Ellie's good side prevailed, and so did the Professors. Ellie watched as he approached the dragon. She raised her wand higher, Sarie at her side, Kristiana somewhere behind her. She wanted to make sure she had a good shot if the Dragon did anything. Within seconds the dragon reared and out of it mouth the fires of hell flew. Ellie screamed, and turned as the Professor did and ran. However, she was stopped by a figure. The ghost girl that had started the whole thing was coming toward them.

Ellie's heart was pounding, she felt like crying. She wanted to just sit down in the middle of the corridor and wait for the dragon to come and swallow her whole. Her knees became weak, and she locked them so as not to fall to the ground. She fought her urges as the little girl came closer. Ellie really wasn't all that worried about the little girl in the face of the dragon.

As she watched the little girl, Ellie noticed that the girl turned and disappeared. Ellie brought her attention back onto the dragon. The Professor seemed to be fighting with him self again. Ellie didn't know how to help him. It was an internal battle.

Finally, he shouted out his orders. Ellie smiled, that was the old Hubbles she could rely on. She nodded and waited for the perfect moment to cast her spell. She noticed Hubbles and Kristiana got theirs out. Ellie raise her wand and opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, she felt someone lean on her, breathing heavily. Ellie jumped and screamed. Her wand turned and the spell she had just cast was cast at the girl standing behind her.

"Oh god..." Ellie said, seeing that she had just captured a girl. She didn't recognize her, but recognized the Hufflepuff outfit in the dark. Ellie pondered, as the Hufflepuff prefect she should know everyone in her house. Ellie immediately reached down to untie the girl. "Apparently, you're new..." Elie said in a hurry as she cut away the knots. She really knew how to do that incarcerous spell. However, Ellie's distraction might have lost the battle. She turned, remembering the dragon she was supposed to be fighting. She looked at Kristiana and Professor Hubbles struggling. As they held on, the Dragon opened his mouth and a large spout of fire poured forth, just missing the group. Ellie screamed. That was her fault. She didn't know what to do. She fell, tears coming to her eyes, wand slipping from her hand.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Team work, that is what they needed, all four of them needed to work together to restrain this monster and if everything went to plan then they could come up with a way as to either get the dragon back in its frame or destroy it for good. The problem was this was Hogwarts and things were never easy or normal here and by now you would have thought that Dan would have learnt this. Cue the string of strange events!

To start things off another voice seemed to come out of no where behind them. Turning around to look over his shoulder Dan saw the newest of the Hufflepuff clan, heck the newest member of the school turn up. At first the only thing Dan could think of was ‘Not another one to protect’ but then he also decided to look on the right side that it was also another wand and another brain to help them get out of this situation. “Good evening Miss Wolfe. Shouldn’t you be in bed?” He raised a questioning eyebrow and tried to be jovial about the matter but in reality what was there to be jovial about this whole situation?

What happened next all seemed to happen in a blur to the headmaster, but first of all Ellie’s spell went wrong and she ended up roping up the new arrival then due to this slight lapse in concentration the dragon was able to open its jaws, show off a set of rather dangerous looking teeth and send more flames down the corridor in their direction. Diving for cover Dan broke the spell and hit the floor with a bump and a smack of the head. And from here things just did not get better for the headmaster.

As if struggling with a painted dragon that at this present moment in time seemed indestructible the last thing Dan truly needed was for one of the members in his party to start crying. This was not to say that Dan was bad at comforting females when they were having a rather emotional moment, when it came to comforting grown women he was normally one of the best men to have around (you can ask Jen about that) but when it came to his students…well he could not really comfort them in the same way. Forgetting about the now almost free dragon Dan bent down and picked up Ellie’s wand and nervously handed it out towards her with one hand while he rather awkwardly patted her shoulder in sympathy.

“Ellie its…it will be alright.” Dan’s voice had become soft and gentle and even against his own better judgement he soon found himself pulling the Hufflepuff into an embrace. “Everything will be okay.” He cooed gently almost as if he was trying to get a baby to sleep. “I will find a way for all of us to get out of this I just need you to have some faith in me and faith in yourself.” Pulling away slightly Dan looked Ellie in the eyes and offered her a small smile. “We can do this together.” Leaning forward he gently planted a kiss on her forehead before standing straight, brushing the creases out of his trousers and finding a new surge of energy and confidence.

“Right then I shall give 50 house points to the person who gives me a half decent idea of how to kill this bloody monster.” His cool blue eyes were straining to see through the darkness and focus on the dragon that was still moving towards them. “I mean it is a portrait after all it may not be living but it has to have a weakness.”

[Ellie Rook]

Ellie sat in a crumpled mass. She was done for. Dead, burnt, a tasty midnight snack. Strangely, she was ok with this. As Ellie felt her wand slip from her fingers all together, she felt a kick in the back of her head. She lifted her head and looked at the Dragon as everything fell apart, Professor Hubbles dogging the flame. Ellie sobbed. Another kick in the back of her head along with a GET UP! DON'T BE A BABY! However, Ellie could also hear mad laughing, which just made her break down completely. Something was wrong in her head.

So to catch up on whats happening. There is a darkness in the castle. A darkness that had been slowly seeping its way into anything and everything that inhabits the castle. The dark magic effected the students, changing them, making things seem different. the darkness slowly took over Ellie's mind so smoothly and softly that she never knew what was coming, until now. In a moment of need she needed her bravery and leadership the most, and this is when it all abandoned her, leaving her in the dust, alone in her own darkness on the dirty floor of the corridor.

Ellie could hear the dragon roar, but she didn't care anymore. She was cold, scared. She continued to sob folded in half. Ellie's eyes were black, drenched in darkness. The next thing Ellie remembered feeling was warmth. Not warmth from the that of the dragon, but warmth from a soft touch. Ellie looked up at Professor Hubbles, but could not meet his eye, as he gave back her wand. She let the tears flow. She felt his hand on her shoulder and more warmth entered her body. She was able to look at him in the eye, her eyes still black.

Ellie's breath was caught in her chest as she felt herself being enveloped into Daniel Hubbles arms. He spoke kind words to her, and she felt a power in her heart. Ellie grasped her wand as the embrace ended. Faith Ellie had no faith, and in a second, her faith was restored. She trusted herself, and most of all she trusted Professor Hubbles. The final action, a kiss on the forehead gave Ellie hope. She believed everything the Professor had told her. The darkness, which had once been laughing in power was screaming as the light came back to Ellie's eyes. She nodded. "Together." She whispered.

As the two Hufflepuffs, past and present, parted, Ellie took a deep breath. she exhaled and with that exhale she felt her self return. Her true self was back. She stood up, and finished untieing the new girl. It wasn't the time for introductions, and she was sorry for that.

Ellie knew that the Professor was right. They would have to work together, but they had to start somewhere. Ellie wouldn't care if there wasn't points up for grabs, she wanted to beat this monster. She thought, her mind becoming clearer and clearer as she kept that kiss of Professor Hubbles bright on her mind. Ellie knew it hadn't meant more then like an Uncle giving his niece a kiss, but it had given her hope, and a renewed since of faith. It was god with her.

The Dragon was from a portrait, so did that make it an object? "Professor, can we blow it up it, like an object? maybe just it wings and get it back to its..." That dragon roared and took a step closer. "Or just blow it up it all together..." Ellie suggested, ready to fight with all she had.

[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie who had used the leg locker cruse to hold the front legs. She head the headmaster ask one of the students about bed. Why had he even asked he already had three other students with him. "Professor, its made of parchment we could try setting it on fire."

She wondered had made it leave its painting in the first place. "But that might make them even more angry." She wasn't sure but the really felt like they had lost some thing. It was something in the air. It was thick tension the kind she felt when she lost an essay and needed for that morning. What could have been taken they where painting you couldn't reach in and take some thing. "Has anything gone missing in the castle lately?" She voiced.

[Nancy Wolfe]

Within seconds, and still being in slight shock from the paper kid trying to either eat her or rip her to shreds, Nancy was caught in a web of thick rope and the girl who she was leaning on was now babbling and panicking really badly. Nancy knew by her expression it was an accident, but thinking about it she would be scared if a random red head with amber eyes popped out of nowhere. The sight of the dragon however sent Nancy to become horrified especially when she was now restricted from doing anything by a mass of heavy rope. Her wand arm was now tight by her side and the ropes were getting extremely tight and all Nancy could think was she was going to be left like a dangling piece of meat for either the Dragon or the kid to feast upon.

"Well this isn't the best welcoming party i've ever had, but in the circumstances I think it's better than nothing" she said trying to wiggle free as the girl started to untie her. Giving her a quick nods of appreciation, Nancy watched the ropes drop to the floor before rubbing her wand hand's wrist. The rope had constricted it so much it had left a faint red mark around it and it was now feeling rather tender. Shaking herself off she realised she looked rather ridiculous in her pyjama vest and shorts but how she looked didn't really matter right now.

It was then as she raised her wand and saw the face of the Headmaster (the one who said she couldn't keep the sorting hat no less) that spoke to her about her being in bed. Nancy couldn't help herself, although she tried.
"Well I can always go back to bed now if you prefer?" she said, faking a yawn and a stretch before returning her eyes to his.
"I am getting a little sleepy, besides I wouldn't want to get into any trouble now would I, Professor?" she smirked cheekily before she heard the paper footsteps and cackling moans of the demon child raising up once again. She could even swear that in the heat of the moment she could hear it's paper heart pounding in it's open chest.

"I've got the paper dolly, Sir" she said, stancing herself with her back to the dragon and her lit wand extended down the length of the corridor so she could see the kid walking briskly before starting into a hobbling jog towards them. Nancy's wand wasn't the best of them, being made of Leprechaun hair and her not being Irish and all, but it was hers and that was all there was too it. Besides, only she could keep the little stick of junk to work...on the odd occasion.
"Come on mate, just work this once for me yeah? I promise I won't let you get chewed on by a cat again" she whispered to her wand, willing it to work. The gnashing little blighter was just a few metres away from her now and although her heart was beating just as violently and loudly as her enemies, she knew hers was real.

"Let's play Rock, Paper, Scissors. I assume you choose paper? Well..." she grinned, casting a charm into the air a large pair of scissors emerged from the end of her wand and began floating and snapping at thin air, awaiting her next orders.
"...Scissors beats paper, you're screwed" she shrugged playfully to the creature before flicking her wand and the scissors flew through the air, snapping away at whatever came into it's path which just so happened to be the demon child painting from hell. A high pitches wail echoed the corridors as the parchment turned into confetti and littered the small area of corridor. It was then that the scissors came flying back towards her and began cutting small chunks of Nancy's hair before she managed to stop them from working. Now here she was with shorter lengths of hair than others, but she could sort that out later.

Just to be safe, Nancy set alight to the pile of trash laying in the corridor. She had seen way too many horror movies where they somehow join back together and there was no way in hell she wanted that little sod coming back and biting at her ankles. Turning back to the group she re-assessed the situation and stood in between the other Hufflepuff and a taller girl, he wand at the ready she stood awaiting orders from whoever would give them, she was on foreign turf afterall.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Dan has asked for ideas and by George his students where giving him some ideas. The proud headmaster stood with his head held high, his wand at the ready and a wide grin on his face as he listened closely to each student’s suggestions and thought them through carefully. First to speak up was Ellie and she came up with the every sensible idea of blowing the dragon up. “That would work.” Dan nodded in agreement and then the little Gryffindor spoke up and she too was thinking along the same lines of just setting the creature on fire. “That too would also work Miss Thimble and most likely more affective. But how is it producing the flames?”

Dan would have tired to find out a bit more about the flames however the newest member to their party had caught his attention (and it was not just her brightly coloured hair) but how she took on the dead girl with such confidence he was dam proud she had been sorted into Hufflepuff. As she set the small cuts of parchment on fire Dan forgot all about the approaching danger and instead gave Nancy a round of applause.

“Bravo Miss Wolfe. Twenty points to Hufflepuff for your display of courage and initiative.” As she joined the group he gave her a pat on the back and he was about to start to bark orders about attacking the oil painted dragon when Sarie spoke up and what she had to say made the little gray cells work overtime. Had something been taken from the castle? He could not recall anything but then saying that it was late at night and Dan could not really think of much at this present moment in time.

“In all honesty Miss Thimble I have no idea. You guys are around the school more then me, have you noticed anything change?” Dan was not normally one to admit when he did not know something, always trying to act like he had the higher ground but there was no way he could lie out of this one as he truly had no idea. With an apologetic shrug at Sarie the headmaster turned his attention back to their enemy, a slight glint in his eye and that confident smile filling his weathered and tired features once more.

“Everyone ready?” He looked around at all the girls around him to make sure they were ready to join in. “Lets burn baby!”

The darkness of the corridor had now been eradicated by a pillar of flame coming from the tip of Dan’s wand and heading straight towards the dragon.

[Kristiana Thorn]

This was not something Kristiana was used to. Others usually did the fighting for her, she was often protected by others. So now standing here in the hallways at school facing down a portrait of a dragon was pretty unbelievable. Now they were there trying to figure out how to kill it or get rid of it but in the midst of all of that they had to seal with a whole bunch of unexpected coincidences.

One of them being someone else showed up a girl no one really seemed to know. But her appearance sparked some interesting turn of events. One mistake by Ellie who it seemed used the Incarcerous spell on the new girl caused a backlash. Things suddenly went from bad to worse.

As everyone's attention got diverted the holds on the dragon were released and it came at them again. Breathing fire or whatever, Kristiana kept closing her eyes and had no idea what was going on until it was too late. Professor Hubble was trying to figure out what to do about the dragon now.

How sad was this a hallway full of wizards and they were all cowering from a painting. Well Sarah or whatever the little Gryffindor's name was said something that made sense. The dragon was from a painting and they were made of canvas set it on fire and it would burn. That was probably worth a try. Again Hubbles took charge but somehow managed to use this tragedy to favor his old house. They were about to be torn to shreds by a painting but hey why the heck don't you give Hufflepuff some points. Where were points for Gryffindor it was Sarah or whatever who came up with the winning idea and they were pretty much all there risking their necks trying to battle this thing.

Unable to keep her mouth shut she said "is now the time to be showing favoritism Headmaster, I think we're all pretty much showing courage and what not. She just got here to boot I don't think you're being fair, the parents would hate to hear about that and a lot of other things going on here." They were in danger but hey she wasn't going to let an injustice like that go.

[Ellie Rook]

Ellie was distracted, like Professor Hubbles by the new Hufflepuff. Ellie managed a faint smile. As the new girl basically ripped the paper doll to shreds, added funny and witty comments as she did, Ellie felt more hope and faith in her surroundings. The darkness had lost all hold on the sixth year now. Ellie was back and ready to fight.

Ellie joined in the applause as the new girl finished her fight. She had done a spectacular job, and the points awarded were well deserved. Ellie turned to hear Kristiana's voice. The Slytherin had basically stood around watching them fight and had done nothing to contribute. Ellie's face became red as she listened to what the snake had to say. The Hufflepuff prefect stepped forward toward the younger girl. "Shut up Kristiana. It is neither the time nor place, and you deserve anything least of all, now get over yourself and help us." Ellie said, turning back to the Professor as they pondered what to do.

Ellie shrugged as Sarie asked if anything had gone missing. Ellie wasn't the most intuitive person around. She didn't notice her surrounds and memorize the object placement of the castle, considering things were so likely to move or be moved inside the stone walls. "I don't think it is the time to figure out why this is happening." Ellie mentioned to the group. "I think we should maybe focus on stopping it from attacking us and mangling us to death..." Ellie said. Her and Professor Hubble had experience with bewitched, evil objects. They knew most of all that they had nothing on their minds, if they had minds, but pain and destruction.

Ellie nodded to Sarie's idea of burning them. It would be the most effective way to handle it. Ellie smirked, "You know me Professor, I do enjoy a good exploding corridor." She said, holding her wand out, waiting for her signal.

[Kristiana Thorn]

Kirstiana watched as the Hufflepuff walked up to her. Maybe she thought that Krista was supposed to cower or be frightened of her, but Krista simply watched the approach with amused eyes. Of course the girl began giving her attitude yelling at her, telling her how she didn't contribute. Unable to help herself Krista laughed, the laugh was caused by the fact that this little no one was actually yelling at her when not too long ago she was crying her eyes at balling like a baby. If she thought she was going to win any points or gain any respect from the younger Slytherin, she had was in for one rude awakening.

Krista allowed the brats tirade, sighing when convenient. There was a place and a time for everything, there would be a place and time for some payback. For now they were supposed to be focused on this thing they were battling. Again the Hufflepuff girl tried to take charge. Odd how most Slytherins had a thing against Gryffindors because from where she stood Puffs were a useless, and sorry lot, who thought a bit too much of themselves.

Whatever she was done with this thing they needed to get rid of this thing so she could get away from these people the far enough away from the stench of them the better off they would be. Plus this ruddy painting was getting on her nerves they needed to obliterate it already.

"Let's just get rid of this thing already I'm sure we have better things to do, if blowing up the whole hall is what it takes let's do it. Headmaster what spell should we use."

[Nancy Wolfe]

Nancy grinned when the Headmaster patted her on the back, not because she was being a goodie two-shoes but because it made her feel accepted, and within a few hours of being here it must of been a world record. Giving a sheepish grin, she showed her first sign of shyness before kicking it out of herself and concentrating on the task in hand. If anyone asked her if she was scared right now she would reply 'do cornish pixies get on your nerves?'. Even if you were the bravest soul in the wizarding world, how could you not be scared even just a little? The truth was although her face didn't show it, she was scared for her life.

Finding her way inbetween the two blondes, Nancy gave a confident looking smile to the Gryffindor, the kid had the bravest guts she'd ever seen except for some of the brutes at Durmstrang. She was a little warrior and Nancy grew strength from that, knowing that she was going to fight until she had nothing left. What a brave kid.
Her sight was then blocked by the girls either side of her beginning to fight and Nancy swooshed her head around frantically for a split second at her surroundings, surveying them of any immediate danger before realising the girls were actually fighting with each other. Without a second though she looked back at the Gryffindor and the Headmaster to see if they could spare a few seconds and then she stepped inbetween the girls before fists and spells started flying at each other.

"Would you quit it!" she said, expanding her arms between the girls to keep them far away from each other.
"We could all die and you two arn't helping at all. I'm being selfish here but I'm not going to die because you two won't just play nice for five minutes. Now help us!" she shouted at the girls in panic, her eyes glowered red for a few seconds before slowly the colour bled out and returned to topaz once again. Her hair had stiffened and had turned scarlet red before it softened it's brightness and returned to it's animate state. Truth was she was scared and that's why she freaked out at the girls, she panicked for her life, she panicked for their lives, but mostly she panicked for Sarie and the headmasters who were trying to deal with this thing on their own.
"Professor, I don't want the points if it's going to cause arguements, i'll just be happy to get through this without losing any limbs"

Turning away from them she started walking towards the dragon once again and aiming her wand at it's snout. She was in line of fire but she didn't care right now, common sense was gone she just wanted to get rid of this thing that was terrorising her new home.
Normally she would have inserted a witty one liner but it had gone beyond joking now and if they all didn't work together then they were doomed. A long burnt flame extended from her wand towards the dragon, hitting it in the face and stunning it's own flame back into itself.
Time to fight fire with fire.

[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie heard Kristiana muttered something about house points. Sarie didn't care there would be time for rewards later. Getting out was the top issue. She looked at the dragon. She did the Incendio spell aiming at the dragons legs. She noticed the Ellie and Kirstiana where fighting and the new girl yelled then turned back to the dragon. It was working but it was like trying to burn chip bags.

The legs where shivering up and not spreading the flames. She threw the spell again and the same thing happened. They have to do it all at once. Sarie bit her lip. "If you two are finished we can get this thing off out backs." She shook her head. House unity was really needed right now. More than needed at any other time.

[Ellie Rook]

Ellie knew that she shouldn't be getting riled up or let the Slytherin rile her up that much. However, she was going on an emotional roller coaster at the moment. She had just plunged down a huge drop, only to get back up again, with the help of Professor Hubbles. Ellie was reaching her top game, and with that, she became highly agitated. She couldn't explain why, it was just what was happening. Ellie would see later that she had no control over most of her emotions.

"Ok Ok." Ellie said, taking a deep breathe to calm down, as she turned to glare at the new girl. Ellie didn't need her on her back to, so she tried to relax. The new girl probably thought Ellie was completely insane, however, one could definitely argue that this wasn't the true Ellie. She was just a little lost at the moment.

"Lets go then." Ellie said, as the dragon, who seemed to have gotten distracted by something gold and shiny, as dragons like to hoard treasure, while the argument was happening remember what it was doing and returned its attack on the group. His tail swung, knocking over a statue, which exploded as it heavily hit the ground. Ellie covered her eyes with her arm to protect them. Her wand was raised and ready, waiting fr the ready sign and the decision to be made.

[digger21]

How long had Kay been watching the scene? A long time. Kay couldn't believe her luck when her day and her night had been a bust. After never getting to see the Headmaster, Kay had only gotten a silly story about a deranged red-head threatening paintings. Kay was sure that the powers at be in the Daily Prophet would not be happy with that. She knew that they were expecting more from her, and Kay was going to give it to them.

The day had worn on, prowling the Hogwart's grounds, hearing nothing, except something about a Hufflepuff blowing up a corridor some night, however there were no other leads. Kay was beginning to see that the interesting things happened at night in the castle, so she headed back to the Hogs Head and got Amaranta all ready for bed and fed. After reading the little girl an excerpt out of the day's Daily Prophet writer by the reporter a desk away from her in the office. He had someone squeezed out of the Wizengamot that they were breeding illegal krupts. Kay laughed as she finished the article, looking over to see her daughter snuggled up and asleep. If Kay had written the story, she would have made up something a little better then illegal dogs. However, the reporter was young, and he would learn.

Kay decided that she needed to continue her investigation of the castle, but it would have to be that night. She grabbed her cloak, wand, quick quotes quill and note pad. Placing her hat on her head, she walked through Hogsmeade and back to the castle.

It took her a while to find the old passage way in and out of the castle at night, but soon, the former Ravenclaw was in. The castle was dark, Kay remembered that even the smallest of lights could be seen shining off the stone work, and so she decided to walk by moon light through the corridors.

Kay had wandered through the school for about an hour. She would need to find something fast, or return to her sleeping daughter empty handed. In that case she would really have to work that stupid red head/ painting story up to something much interesting. However, just as the reporter was about to return to her bed, she felt something. The castle had actually shaken, the stone beneath her feet had sent vibrations up her legs. She heard a long bang and crash from ways away left. Kay turned immediately and jogged to the sounds.

Kay came across lights in the darkness. She quickly hide behind a column of stone. From there she had a perfect view of the action. At this point, she could see a girl, a student, with wavy hair untie another girl, another student. How the girl had gotten so tangled in ropes, Kay would never know. She could also see a smaller be-robed student struggling with ropes that went out of view for Kay, and an older man, rather good looking that she instantly recognized from his picture in the Daily Prophet as the headmaster, also fighting with ropes. Kay could not see what they were connected too. The girl with the wavy hair had finally untied the shorter girl, and she helped her up. Kay couldn't believe it she had found her story.

Quickly she reached in her purse for her quill and note pad. However, she had only grasped her quill when she heard a loud roar, and another vibration shake the castle. A spout of flame appear toward the group and the monster Kay couldn't see stepped into her view. "Oh my God." Kay whispered under her breath. A Dragon! This was huge. Where did the dragon come from. If Kay never found out, she was sure she could make up something good.

Kay watched, hand still in her bag, unmoving. She couldn't tear her eyes away. The ropes snapped and the man and the girl were defeated, diving out of the way of the flames. The girl with the wavy hair screamed and fell. Kay saw her wand slip from her hand. The girl seemed to be a pile of nothing, as she just lay, crying. The dragon was upon them, the group of five unable to get it under control. One girl, seemlingly pretty, really just stood around, not helping. Kay was sure this girl was the smartest of them all, just staying out of harms way, that's what he would do after all.

Kay witnessed the Headmaster scoot over to the fallen girl. Though she couldn't hear what they were saying, she could see perfectly. He first handed her the wand she had dropped, and the picked her up and held her in an embrace. Despite the horror of the dragon, Kay couldn't help but smile. The headlines were roaming through he mind.

In the Heat of the Night:
Headmaster and Student
fight for love.
or
To Dodge the Dragons Fires:
Headmaster Abandons Students
to Dragon for Love.
or
Embrace the Fight:
Student is Lovingly
Comforted by Headmaster:
His Wife's Favorite Recipes.

It was a hit. The Headmaster's fate was sealed as Kay held her breath watching him kiss the student's head softly, with much caring obviously. Perfect.

Kay was distracted from the lovely, rather age confused scene as the dragon again demanded to be the center of attention. Kay was sure she was safe in her hiding space for now, but she just wished she could hear better. The dragon stepped forward, toppling the corner of the wall the had been blocking Kay's view. The stone created a wall of fallen stone, just far away the Kay would not be seen but she would be able to hear what was going on. Closing her bag, she ducked low in the shadows and fit herself up against the rubble. Perfect, she could hear the babble of the crusaders.

The girl with the wavy hair who the Headmaster was just comforting was up and holding her wand, seemingly ready to fight. Kay smirked, she could add bi-polar to her description of the girl: plain, with a mass of unruly hair, her robes ripped and burnt, stumpy with out much sign of woman hood, weak under pressure and seemingly bi-poplar. Perfect description for her readers.

While Kay was thinking of her beginning paragraph, the girl who had formerly been tied up was fighting her own foe. Kay could see the gorey, dead girl that the girl was fighting. She seemed to be nothing but parchment, made of paper. For the first time, Kay got her full view of the Dragon. It looked really really real. It fought like a real beast, flames and heat and everything. It was hard scaled and dark green, not a specific type of dragon Kay had ever seen, more like everything most fearsome about individual dragons put together. The dragon seemed to be rotting away, its flesh turning to black and peeling away at some places. Kay was sure it smelled and it looked gruesome.

However, as Kay doubted the group, the formerly tied up girl had beaten the paperdoll. Kay could hear the Headmaster try and make a plan, and the younger girl giving a good suggestion. Kay was looking in her bag for her pad when she over heard the bipolar girl mention blowing up a corridor. Kay smiled brightly, she finally had a face to the story she had heard earlier. Perfect, but no she needed names. How would she ever get them?

The bipolar girl was now fighting with the pretty girl who hadn't contributed in the least to the fight. Kay doubted that the sweet girl had said anything to set off the bipolar craze. Kay could add insane girl out for blood to her description now. However, the fight was soon over, the group realizing they needed to work together to beat the dragon.

The girl's seemed to stand in attention, waiting for their leader, the Headmaster, to give them the go ahead. Kay hadn't been really paying much attention to him lately, but she had noticed that he seemed weak. Talking to him self. Kay grinned, they really did make a cute couple, get past the age difference and the fact that he is married and you have a perfect match of the bipolar girl and schizophrenic man. Kay heard the dragon step closer and she could no see the rotten flesh on his back. The dragon turned toward her, and roared. A shiver went down her spine and Kay ducked, scared for the first time since she found her story.