“beyond wandpoint” 121 by gingerbred

[beyondwandpoint]

“11 13e Thurs - And (aka Triage)”

Severus, Slytherins: Draco Malfoy, Theo Nott, Blaise Zabini, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Daphne Greengrass, Harper Hutchinson, Ella Wilkins, Astoria Greengrass, Tomasina Touchstone, Others: Crookshanks, Sunny the house elf

Mentioned briefly: Slytherins: Alberta Runcorn, Bartholomew Burke, Akira Murakami

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Originally Published: 2020-03-23 on LJ / DW
Chapter: 121

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Characters:

Severus (HoS, Potions)

Slytherins: Draco Malfoy 7S (Prefect, Team Captain, Seeker, Swot), Theo Nott 7S (Swottiest, Nervous Wreck), Blaise Zabini 7S (Keeper (but only in the Quidditch sense...)), Vincent 'Vince' Crabbe 7S (Beater, Inferi Princess), Gregory Goyle 7S (Beater), Daphne Greengrass 7S (Sparkly! Fwoopers!), Harper Hutchinson 6S (Prefect, Chaser, flash Robe Model), Ella Wilkins 6S (Prefect), Astoria 'Tori' Greengrass 5S, Tomasina Touchstone 5S (Prefect, Potions savvy heiress),

Others: Crookshanks 'Crooks' (Hermione's half-Kneazle), Sunny (the Snapes' house elf)

Mentioned briefly: Slytherins: Alberta Runcorn 7S (Grumpy.), Bartholomew 'Bart' Burke 5S (sallow), Akira Murakami 5S (Prefect)

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Previously:

In exchange for going to get the girls to help the seventh year boys Wednesday morning, Harper relieves Blaise of his ultra flash robe. Daphne is kind enough to Transfigure him a pair of babouches to match, although admittedly her first try doesn't go quite as planned because Harper had made the ratty things out of an old rag. Alberta was quick to mock. (091b LJ / DW)

Wednesday night fifth years Bartholomew Burke, Akira Murakami and Jay Petrel deploy a variety of hexes and jinxes in the seventh years' bathroom. (113a.1 LJ / DW)

Sunny seems to think there's something well worth mentioning going on in the seventh year boys' room. Severus is dead set on ignoring it until he can't, cheers. (119b LJ / DW)

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Severus is reasonably comfortable with his decision to ignore... whatever is going on with the seventh years, but he has a sinking feeling it might be wise to breakfast sooner as opposed to later, and so he turns to his elf.

"Sunny, if you'd be so kind, a bowl of porridge, please. And a couple of rashers of bacon," he adds with a look at the half-Kneazle playing intently over by the fireplace with Goyle's waded up homework.

Despite his dissatisfaction that Severus hadn't shown any interest in his ever so exciting news, the elf pops off almost immediately, admittedly with only a somewhat restrained, "Yes, Master of Potions," forgoing all 'oh's and 'Sir's. On balance, Severus decides he's better off, although perhaps he should wait to judge until he'd tasted his breakfast... On the other hand, Sunny is too much of a perfectionist to perform poorly, taking a great deal of pride in his work... That probably helps. Despite the slight uptick in elven reticence, Severus is banking on there being no appreciable difference in service. He won't be disappointed.

Somewhat ironically, Sunny considers his reticence punishment enough, proving, were there any doubt, that different species often have substantially flawed understandings of one another. But as humans have plenty of difficulty with that just amongst themselves, the house elf can easily be forgiven that particular failing.

Severus directs his attention to the second of the scrolls that had been waiting on his desk this morning, and is pleased to discover it's Zabini's assignment for Minerva. Well she won't give him any quarter - he smirks to himself at the image - especially not after Draco had 'forgotten' his Tuesday. He'd half hoped there would be another assignment of his in today's takings. Filius and Hagrid had been too soft on the boys, and Binns most likely hadn't even registered the lapse. Merlin knows, Severus himself had never taken the ghost's class seriously as a student. He'd viewed it as a relatively quiet time to work on other, more interesting, more useful material. Not that he'd dream of saying so - as a Head of House, he has an obligation both to his students and fellow staff - but it doesn't change the facts.

And there, Zabini has made another error; Severus' fingers twitch reflexively as if he were holding a phantom red inked quill. Pity the Selkies don't produce an ink for correcting. He deliberates how to go about suggesting to Minerva that she should ask Zabini about best practices in dangerous creature Transfigurations, and then reluctantly has to reject the idea. She's no idiot, and it's highly unlikely she won't begin to question the reason for the missing assignments and, if he meddles, both his involvement and the reason for it. Still... He likes the image of Zabini trying to explain his unpreparedness to his colleague.

His breakfast appears in front of him, and he begins to eat as he finishes looking over the seventh year's work. His porridge is eminently pleasing, and he wishes for a moment he could justify eating in every day. It's down to the quality of Sunny's meals, first and foremost, but he's never found the noise and activity of the Great Hall particularly good for his mood. As he's about to Incendio the Transfiguration assignment, he looks once more to the half-Kneazle. He hadn't failed to notice the animal had been watching him closely ever since his breakfast arrived. He'll have smelt the bacon. Severus lifts the parchment, and the feline slowly and deliberately raises a paw and bats Goyle's work into the flames in the hearth. It disappears in a crackle.

Severus laughs.

"I imagine that's your version of an Incendio then?" He shakes his head at the creature, who sits there watching him intently. "Would you like Zabini's, too?" He asks. Without waiting for an answer, he hasn't gone soft in the head, he balls the second parchment up as well and again tosses it to the animal who seems to take great pleasure in chasing it back and forth in front of their fire.

Severus finds himself watching his antics as he settles in to enjoy his breakfast. It draws his attention to their lounge. Now that he has a chance to simply sit here and take it in unobserved, he can admit, it's much improved thanks to Miss Granger's suggestions, and her idea to place a magical window behind the books had been truly inspired. It's made the room a great deal brighter.

He's a little embarrassed the idea hadn't occurred to him long ago, but then it hadn't really been necessary until he'd moved the shelves out here. Hmm. Which made the witch both the source of the problem and the solution. The thought leaves him somewhat uncomfortable, for reasons he can't quite fathom. It most definitely wasn't a metaphor, and he feels forced to add a caveat: it was meant only in the narrowest possible sense in the case specific and certainly not in a general fashion.

He's not sure if that makes him feel any better, but it seemed worth the attempt.

She appears to have gotten over her earlier agitation, for which he's grateful. He'd begun to suspect it would prove more deleterious to his digestion than the hurly-burly of the Great Hall. She also seems to have finally remembered to take her Draught of Peace, a fact he knows enough to sincerely appreciate. It would be very distracting indeed to have to instruct someone like Kurz while she had a strop on.

The half-Kneazle has paused in his games and comes to stand beside Severus' desk once more, and he renews his 'mrawr'ing from before with interest. No doubt he feels it's time to demand a cut of the bacon.

"You can have it all once we're done, but there are some things we need to see to first."

He could swear the animal heaves a much put upon sigh, the fact he finds that amusing is as good an indicator as any that he's warming to the moggie, and the feline follows him as he goes to the bookcases and withdraws two books. Again it trots after him as he crosses to the door to their chambers, this time without complaint.

"When we're done," Severus promises once more, as though he understood. Perhaps he does. "This shouldn't take long."

And it really would have been a matter of moments if he hadn't been interrupted by a sudden disturbance to his wards.

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Draco runs back to the seventh years' bathroom, without any trace of his usual composure. "Help is coming," he assures them. He casts a Protego, drops to his knees, and carefully enters the room. Gregory hasn't stopped screaming, Vince has gone stock still.

"Oh? Where are they?" Blaise asks, deceptively casually behind gritted teeth from where he lies, scant inches above the floor. He's having great difficulty keeping his breathing even through the pain.

"Harper went to get help."

"Harper? Really? And he didn't want my Slipshoes to go with my robe for his trouble?" That may have been a snarl.

"Merlin's beard, get over it, would you? He's coming to help, and we need every last bit we can get. If yesterday hadn't proved it, I should think this has." Draco is clearly losing patience with the boy, and he isn't wrong. "Theo?" He asks more gently. "Is your Protego holding up?"

"Theo's Protego was the gods damned problem!" Blaise growls.

"Blaise, cut it out. Theo?" Draco tries once more. Theo has taken to whimpering, Draco thinks this is shock. Unfortunately he doubts a Stupefy and Rennervate are the solution here. "Theo?" When no answer comes, he isn't really surprised, he just casts a Shield Charm for him, tightening it around the last, and hopes he isn't making things worse. It really is hard to tell at this point.

"Gregory, don't move. We'll come to get you," the Prefect tells their other roommate as he tries to decide what to do next.

"Move?" Vince snorts. "How on earth do you expect him to move?"

Which... Fair point. Draco can barely hear himself think over the screaming, and feeling a little guilty for it, he nevertheless casts the House Privacy Charm on Gregory, and like that, all that's left are Theo's whimpers and Blaise's ragged breathing.

It's an improvement, although the whimpers now prove even more unsettling.

Draco explains to the Beater what he's done. "Just Finite it when you're... ready," the last is a little apologetic, because what he really means is 'less loud and bothersome' and they both know it.

First things first, he'd already satisfied himself he hasn't the foggiest how to help Theo, but he thinks he understands how to help Blaise, he's just less sure about the advisability of it. He can get to the boy safely enough, with some care, but trying to drag him from the room while maintaining the necessary Protegos... He's not sure he can do it alone. And Blaise is too busy using his wand arm to clutch the other to his body to be of much use. It's unclear if that makes all that much difference, though, as it's exceedingly difficult to maintain a spell in that state as Draco knows from personal experience. Which reminds him to cast another Shield Charm for the Keeper, too, just in case.

As if on cue, or perhaps the Charm had simply nudged him into action, Blaise begins to rock slowly back and forth in pain, and the Prefect calls out, "Be careful! Mind the Protego's edge!"

Blaise mutters something derogatory about Protegos again, and Draco leaves off rebuking him once more, although whether Blaise accepts it or not, he was incredibly lucky Theo had gotten off his Charm when he did. Draco is still inching cautiously towards the Keeper when he hears voices from their room.


"I don't understand? There's no one here..." Tomasina, Draco is sure.

"What was wrong, Harper?" And that's Daphne. Draco's never been so grateful to hear her before. Just as long as she doesn't start in with her Fwoopers...

Harper has a brief and surreal moment when he wonders if this is an elaborate prank after all, fuck the lot of them... It's baffling that the screaming had just stopped like that. Either there was something worth screaming about, or there wasn't, but it's more than a little disconcerting to have it end from one moment to the next. And he knows full well the seventh years haven't got any Pain Relief. They'd sent him to Pomfrey with a broken nose in an attempt to obtain some just last weekend, and he's fairly certain Vince hadn't received his resupplying order yet. So there's this odd, vertiginous, disorientating sensation of wondering if he'd imagined it, because the girls hadn't heard a thing, or if Draco was recreating the Weasel's Halloween-costume-of-extremely-poor-taste-and-great-insensitivity for some reason, or if this was the seventh years' piss poor idea of a joke...

And then the trio advances far enough into the room that they can see into the lavatory... And stop dead in their tracks.

Blaise is on the floor, sort of writhing, but there's no obvious sign of injury. Other than the writhing, that is. Unfortunately as Harper well knows, that lack of visibility doesn't always mean much. Draco, thoroughly bloodied, is on his hands and knees crawling very slowly towards the Keeper, but at least he doesn't seem in any apparent pain. The same can't be said for Theo, who stands there making vaguely strangled noises in a worrisomely large and possibly growing puddle of blood, pooling at his feet in an invisible bowl. Vince and Gregory are over by the showers. The deep green curtains that normally hang there appear to be missing, which provides an unobstructed view of the boys. They're a sight: Vince teetering precariously on the basin's lip, Gregory half in, half out of his shower, both boys covered to different extents by a viscous black substance and there's some blood there, too. Gregory seems to be screaming, not that they can hear a sound from him. None of that registers as it normally would, however, because the two Beaters are there in all their glory, naked as the days they were born.

That may make an even greater impression as Gregory is frankly hung like a horse and pierced to boot.

Daphne squeaks, there's no point in sugarcoating it, and whirls around to face the other way. Presumably she'll be of less use that way.

Tomasina manages a more dignified if slightly lascivious, "Oh!" and so strangely utterly fails to avert her gaze.

Harper swears under his breath as he grabs the robe lying on the floor nearby, it will later turn out to be Draco's, and with a regretful glance towards Daphne - he really hadn't meant to set her up for something like that - he stalks towards the lavatory. Draco and Blaise both shout for him to stop, which he does, because apparently that's becoming a thing now, too.

"Don't come in," Draco adds, not altogether helpfully to Harper's mind. He's getting a little tired of people telling him what to do today, and it's still before breakfast. He balls the cloth together and throws it at Vince with some force, admonishing him to put something on. There's still a vestigial sense they could be having him on. Pervs.

Vince, his blackened left hand held oddly away from his body, snatches at it with some near comically wild gesticulations of his right, as if he were desperate to catch it but even more eager to keep it well away from him, before finally securing the robes, and yells back at Harper, "You're shitting me, right? That's your priority?" Almost as though to make a point, he makes no move to cover to himself. Prat.

Gregory, however, does. Apparently something about the girls' presences has registered, his mouth claps silently shut, and with his right hand stretched awkwardly behind him as if propping himself against the shower wall, he moves his glistening black left hand to try to cover the relevant... 'bits' really doesn't do him justice... parts in a bid for at least some modesty. Knowing Gregory, presumably more for Daphne's sake than his own.

This time Vince joins Draco's and Blaise's screams for him to "Stop!"

Draco doesn't leave it at that. Before anyone can blink, he's twitched his wand, crying, "Petrificus," and has put a Partial Body-Bind on his roommate before he can move any further.

Which is about the point when Harper begins to take in some of the details. The use of the Partial Body-Bind in place of the Full had kept Gregory's limbs from snapping together, that was to be expected, but he hasn't fallen over either, probably because of the hand propping him up. And then the boy's position sinks in, and Harper realises it's less a question of being propped up than somehow tethered to the cream coloured tiles on the wall behind him, as though his arm were somehow supporting his weight as he sags forward against that hold. All of which was probably for the best, and falling seriously ill advised, as his left foot seems stuck to the floor at an uncomfortable angle.

No.

No, that isn't correct.

It isn't stuck.

It looks like it's been impaled, pierced clean through by a bloody glass spike emanating from the floor itself, running through the foot and extending as much as six inches in the air above the injured appendage...

Which isn't making a great deal of sense, but magic is often like that.

Draco tries to explain his actions to his friend once more, "Gregory, promise me not to touch yourself..." Tomasina may just have choked trying to swallow a snicker, Blaise shoots her the best glare he can presently manage from the floor, and Vince's isn't far behind. Draco ignores them and continues, "or anything else for that matter with that hand, and I'll let you go." Unsurprisingly the Beater is unable to reply. "Uh, right. Just try to hold your arm away from your body," and he undoes the spell. Gregory's left hand drops dangerously for a moment before his muscles adjust and then he quickly shifts it so it's a little off to the side and behind him. It makes his torso appear to jut even further forward, the shiny, thick black streaks across his shoulders, muscled torso and half his head in stark relief to his pale skin.

"What is that stuff?" Tomasina asks in regards to the dark gloop, coming to join Harper in the doorway.

It coincides with his "What happened?"

"Is it safe to look?" Daphne adds her bit. It's still rather squeaky.

"Probably not," Harper answers, uncomfortable. He's getting the feeling Daphne hasn't had a lot of exposure to the naked male form. For reasons he can't quite articulate, he wishes she hadn't begun to address that deficit with the sight of Gregory of all people.

"Definitely not," Tomasina corrects somewhat libidinously, her gaze still fixed on the naked Beaters.

Tori and Ella come rushing in. Tori's "Oh," sounds about as warm as Tomasina's was; Ella's "Uh..." is a sight more restrained.

Clocking the blood on Draco, Theo has yet to register, Ella begins to walk towards the room, and shaking his head, Harper extends his arm, blocking her path, just as Draco repeats his earlier warning for them not to enter. Ella gives him and Harper puzzled looks, but Harper shrugs, he has no answers for her, and Draco is too busy concentrating on not crawling off his Protego.

"What do you need us to do?" Harper asks the blond, who has now succeeded in reaching the Keeper.

"I need help with Theo, getting Blaise out of here, freeing Gregory, and... Vince, could you walk?"

"If you solve the issue with the floor." There are some sinister looking shards arrayed in front of him much like the one through Gregory's foot that would seem to explain what he means.

"Whose Protego is best?" Draco asks and the small group looks from one to another.

Daphne has to clear her throat, but volunteers, "Mine, I think."

"Right, then I need you to cast one in front of us close to the floor."

Daphne comes up behind the others who part to make room for her. "I don't quite follow." She holds up a hand to the side of her face to block the left half of the room (not coincidentally, the half holding the showers) as best she can from her view, concentrating on keeping her eyes trained on Draco. It works rather well, and she hardly needs to think about Fwoopers much at all, and that's mostly brought on by the bloodied sight of the Prefect. Tori wonders sometimes how they could have been raised in the same household, but greatly underestimates the influence of friends in adolescent development, non-trivial at best, particularly in a boarding school environment.

"You don't want your Protego to touch the floor," Draco replies, pointing to a pile of shredded green cloth lumped in the corner. The gesture seems something of a non sequitur, especially as they don't immediately recognise the rags for the sad remains of the shower curtains they'd been up until several minutes ago. The group still looks confused and surrendering to the necessity, Draco decides to demonstrate to save himself some time and effort. He Summons a sheet of parchment which whips over their heads, close enough that Harper ducks slightly at the draught, and perhaps inspired by Theo's work earlier, Draco Transfigures it while still mid flight into a towel which he Banishes in an arc to slap with some force onto a patch of floor a safe distance from the other boys. As soon as it hits the flagstones, dozens of long, angry looking skewers of glass shoot up from the floor, piercing it repeatedly, effectively pinning it where it lies.

Merlin. The group clustered by the door stands there blinking in shock.

"Pressure," Blaise grits accusingly through clenched teeth in Theo's direction, not the he seems to notice or care. "It was water and pressure." Which doesn't really help the others much as explanations go, but causes Vince to angrily swear.

"And how the hell didn't you detect the Spell on the floor in the first place?" He hurls the accusation at the other boy.

"It's just like Draco was saying about the Practice Room, the floor can't be spelled. It's Imperviused to magic."

"Does it look impervious??"

No, it certainly doesn't just at the moment. Across the surface there are transparent crystalline shards radiating out of the floor, usually into something, sometimes flesh. On the other hand, the stones beneath seem undisturbed... It's clearly a different material altogether, and not a simple Transfiguration of the floor. Or not so simple, given Draco's observations about the immutability of the castle's substance itself.

Draco tries to clarify the situation to Daphne, "If your Protego touches the floor, it has to contend with that. If you can keep it suspended, if you cast it high enough, that's one thing less weakening it. It'll be safer, easier to maintain. I need you to cast one between Blaise and the door, and I'll try to drag him clear using it..."

"Why don't we just use the Mobilicorpus?" Harper asks.

"I didn't want to jar his arm... I don't know what's wrong with it," Draco explains his logic.

"What's wrong with it is it bloody well hurts!" Snarling. Blaise is definitely snarling.

Dragging the Keeper about doesn't seem any safer to Harper's way of thinking, and he has a solution to Draco's objection as well. More fool he for not thinking of it himself. A moment later, that's all it takes, the sixth year has cast a Partial Body-Bind of his own on the Keeper and Mobilicorpused him to the door. Blaise lets out a moan that runs a few scales as Draco winces just from the sound, and Ella most judiciously refrains from critiquing Harper's technique. That's unlikely to help matters at this point, and there's an excellent chance any discomfort (and surely it was only that) caused to one of the seventh year boys was deliberate on Harper's part. She knows her friend only too well.

The others move to allow Blaise's semi-rigid form to pass as Harper manoeuvres the Keeper through their midst. He probably doesn't hit the doorframe with force more than twice in the process.

"Sorted," Harper states a mite smugly, letting the Keeper down to the floor in the bedroom amidst an aria of groans. Without the benefit of a Privacy Charm, the Petrificus most evidently doesn't keep one from that. The groans only get worse as Harper casts the Finite. "Ella, do you think you can take a look at his arm?"

"I don't have any Diagnostic Charms..." she begins, trying to explain her options.

"Just do what you can," Blaise snaps. It probably wasn't meant to be waspish, but the pain makes everything come out rather peevish.

"'Please'," Harper corrects him, with a warning note to his tone. Blaise frankly can't be arsed at this point, he simply ignores the sixth year.

Draco has begun edging his way back to Theo. Merlin, he still has no idea what to do there. Still on his hands and knees, he calls over his shoulder, interrupting their bickering, "No, I really need Ella's help in here with Theo," and that settles it. "Let Tomasina and Tori handle Blaise. Harper, you help Gregory. Daphne..."

"What's wrong with Theo?" Daph asks Draco, now nervously eyeing the blood at her friend's feet, but receives no satisfactory answer.

"Ella and I will take care of it, Daphne. I need you to concentrate on casting a Protego so Vince can get out of here."

"But..." Daph frankly wants neither to be accountable for his safety nor to have to stare at the naked boy while performing the Charm. Her hesitancy shows.

"Try to make it as flat as you can, so he'll be able to walk across it." Draco tells her.

Reluctantly, Daphne is nevertheless about to try doing as Draco asked, when Harper interrupts, wand already in hand, "Why don't we just Mobilicorpus him out of there?"

"No!" Both Draco and Vince shout in reply.

"Don't you dare!" Vince adds, immediately endearing himself more to all present.

Draco registers the looks on their faces and tries to explain yet again, "We don't want anything to touch that black stuff. Nothing. We can't risk it. So if you aren't absolutely certain your Mobilicorpus won't wobble..." As it seems unwise to admit knocking Blaise into the doorway was entirely deliberate, Harper doesn't begin to try to argue the point, but Draco is correct inasmuch as it is far from a precision Charm. It tends to rely on decent clearance as much as the accuracy of the practitioner.

Harper lowers his wand, the seventh years relax, and Daphne casts a few Protegos experimentally as a warm up. The idea of her Charm failing and Vince landing on that cursed floor isn't doing great things for her confidence. Harper feels for her there.

"Ella, Harper, do you trust your Protegos enough to try coming in here?" Draco asks them. After his demonstration with the towel, they're both a little less sure about that than they'd have been a few minutes ago. Ella's expression definitely says as much, which is funny, as she's unquestionably the more qualified of the two after the Head's Self Defence lessons, but then she lacks some of Harper's natural confidence, and that has a way of negatively impacting one's intent. Her confidence stems more from being a much loved only child, his from being tried and tested, primarily due to his father's neglect. It might not have been pleasant to come by, but the irrefutable proof of experience serves him better.

"You want me to walk across a Protego towards you?" Ella asks. "And couldn't Daphne cast it?" Daph seems even less happy at that suggestion. The responsibility for Vince was bad enough.

"It's more difficult going navigating someone else's Protego than your own," Draco answers simply.

"Wait..." Harper tries to interrupt.

"And why are you crawling?" Ella asks, because surely that seems to belie the ease of 'walking across' the Charm's projected surface. It hadn't precisely inspired confidence at any rate.

"I never said you had to walk. Crawling is fine," Draco responds, but Ella looks mulish, and he decides he'll have to explain this too if he wants her to do as requested. "The Protego is invisible until it connects with something and even then it's quite difficult to see, and it certainly doesn't help that the thing is naturally curved. It needs to rock down with you as you pass, and you need to cast the next one before it touches the floor." He needn't expand on the reasons for that after the demonstration with the towel. They've learnt that lesson well enough.

"Wait..." Harper interjects once more.

"And why is Vince supposed to be walking then??" Daphne pauses in her warm up exercises.


Tomasina kneels beside Blaise and begins to palpitate his arm. If it's a little rougher for his earlier glaring, that's probably only to be expected. Now better able to moan without the Petrificus, he does so. Protractedly. He manages the better part of an octave before she stops, unsure what she's looking for anyway. Which was probably why Harper had suggested Ella take a look in the first place. Oh well.

Draco flinches sympathetically. "Tomasina," he calls out to her, ignoring Daphne's question for the moment, "do you have anything for the Pain?" Considering her potions supply, if Vince isn't able to help, she's most likely their best bet, and that was probably exactly what Harper had been thinking when he'd insisted she come with them immediately.

"A Stupefy," she offers sweetly, her eyes narrowing, the seventh years' involvement in the Head's bonding not even remotely forgotten. It doesn't matter how pretty the boys are, nothing changes that.

"Let's hold off on that for a little," Draco doesn't sound happy at the thought. Blaise's expression indicates he shares that opinion, but he'd caught Tomasina's look, read it correctly and is presently straining to be more polite. It doesn't come naturally.

"I think an Icing Charm might be your best bet," Ella suggests to Tomasina from their little group huddled at the doorway. Draco silently curses his oversight; he'd performed one on Theo but never thought to cast one on Blaise. Or Gregory for that matter. Merlin. What an idiot. He remedies the latter failure immediately, and the difference it makes in the Beater's demeanour is all too apparent. Draco really should have thought of it sooner... Damn.

Meanwhile in the bedroom, Tomasina and Tori exchange glances, and without a word, Tomasina rocks back on her heels, signalling for her friend to take over. The Greengrasses always were better at Charms.

"Blaise?" Tori asks, seeking his permission.

"Just do it," he replies, his jaw nearly locked, and she does. It must have worked, because his breathing begins to become more regular. Tori looks the slightest bit pleased about that. There's something rather nice about being competent.


Equally as eager to have the situation managed, Draco turns to Daphne and trying to finally get her moving, commands, "Just cast the Protego, and Vince can walk out of there..."

"Stop," Harper tries again.

"We could Transfigure a bridge..." Tori suggests, registering her sister's discomfort, if not addressing the reason.

"Know the Spell for that, do you?" Vince objects from his perch in the shower, not incorrectly, but his tone leaves something to be desired. On the other hand, he'd only very narrowly escaped the same fate as Gregory, and is understandably nervous just at the moment. "And if you set it on the floor, those spikes appear. I've no idea how high they can get, how about you?"

"But a Wingardium Leviosa..." the fifth year retorts.

Draco is losing patience. It's like herding Kneazles. Or snakes.


Daphne meanwhile sets to doing as the blond instructed, trying to restrict her gaze to Vince's bloodied feet. Unfortunately her peripheral vision extends well above his knees.

"Do you think you could put the robe on?" She asks him uncertainly, gesturing to the clump of fabric still dangling from his hand. It would go a fair ways to covering up those other dangly bits...

"No," Vince growls, but after some highly acrobatic groping with that hand behind him in the shower, evidently to retrieve his wand of all things, he moves the wadded cloth (and aforementioned wand) awkwardly in front of him to obstruct her view of his privates, and she visibly relaxes. Given he needs her concentrating, that's unquestionably for the best.

"Stop," Harper tries with more emphasis. It's proving more than passing irksome that he seems to be the only one present to actually obey that command.

Draco has resumed working on Ella to convince her to crawl over to him, she looks patently unsure, and Harper has had just about enough of the medley of suggestions confusing matters. He turns to Daphne and all it takes is a gentle hand on her arm, and she's forgotten to mind Vince at all. Just as well then that he hadn't started his walk over the Protego yet.

"Daph, could you please put up the Privacy Charm on them and the girls? I think we need to stop and give this some thought." It's harder to cast the Charm on others than oneself, and the requirement to keep it secret probably meant he'd have to cast it silently and wandlessly. With the exception of Daphne, the other girls present are all too young to have learnt it, and Daph has a good half a year on him. She'll be better at this, he's sure. He as no problem admitting that - Merlin, no, he quite likes that about the girl - but he does mentally add practising the Charm to his list of things to do.

It says a bunch about how she feels towards Harper that she simply does as he asks, not hesitating to include her sister and Tomasina in the Spell either, and soon ignoring Draco and the others is a snap. It's also revealing that she'd excluded Ella from the Privacy Charms. She knows those two are thick as thieves and can't imagine he'd meant to keep her out of... whatever he intended.

Draco has probably gotten louder to judge by his reddening face, but Ella can't hear a thing, and suspecting the culprit, she turns to Harper and asks, "What happened?"

He cuts right to the chase instead of answering her question. "I think Draco has had something of a shock himself, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to take a moment to think this through." The girls have to agree with him there, and when they don't object, he goes on. "There's no way a Protego is our best bet. I think it worked in the moment when the curse started and he just hasn't reconsidered since. And it really doesn't seem smart to have anyone crossing that floor with just the one spell between them and... Well."

"He said a Mobilicorpus is out," Ella feels pressed to remind him. "For Vince at least." Dropping her voice she asks, "Or can you do one well enough..." She glances meaningfully at Blaise. Perhaps they need a Privacy Charm of their own.

"Not to guarantee no contact, no. Draco was right. But Tori had a good idea with the bridge..."

"Except Vince wasn't wrong there either..." Daphne objects softly.

"Alright. Towels." Not what they were expecting him to say. "They're easy and right up your alley, Daph." And she looks like she doesn't see how that's the answer to much of anything really. Right. He's got this. "You could Transfigure them longer, long enough to get from here to Draco and Theo, or from the showers to us." She's about to object, and he holds up a hand to stop her, continuing to outline his idea. "I can cast a Petrificus Totalus on the towel, that's a Firstie's Curse," it was notoriously and somewhat ironically easier than the Partial Body-Bind he'd only just successfully cast, "and then a Wingardium Leviosa would see to it that it stays off the floor. Another Firstie's Charm." He adds encouragingly. "There'd be no more need for crawling, which should speed things up." Certainly if Draco's dilatory pace is anything to go by. "And if we cast Protegos beneath that, then I think it will be safe enough." The girls look to one another, but neither can come up with an immediate objection.

"We could even cast redundant Protegos," he continues a little more enthusiastically, pleased they seem to agree, "successively just to be sure, but that should be safe. The trickiest Spell of the lot is the towel Transfiguration." The girls can't help it, they begin to grin, and then Ella starts to giggle (although some of it's nerves), because for N.E.W.T.s Transfiguration students such as themselves, it really isn't a difficult bit of magic, except everyone knows Harper has always been sort of rubbish with cloth, as the training kit he's currently wearing very clearly demonstrates. He notices their reactions, wrinkles his nose and then smirks in self deprecation, "I didn't say it had to be pretty." Daphne has half a mind to add a meander to the towel just to show him. "Are we agreed?"

"I feel a lot better about it than crawling over a Protego anyway," Ella sounds relieved. "Daph, are you comfortable with that?"

"I think so, yes. The Transfiguration should easily hold at least as long as we need it."

"Good," Harper replies. "Also, I think Theo has to be our priority here," Daph can't help a worried look at that ominous pool of blood and is exceedingly grateful to hear Harper say it. "So the first thing to do is get Ella safely over to him, then me to Gregory, and probably only then worry about getting Vince clear, or am I missing something?"

Daphne's brow furrows in thought, and she asks, "Why is Vince standing on the basin's edge? Why doesn't he just stand in the shower?"

Harper nods; she has a point. He turns back to face the boys in the bathroom, Draco seems irate at being ignored. Harper absolutely understands the feeling, cheers. Drawing himself up to full height for effect, every advantage helps, the sixth year begins calmly explaining the situation to them, "We've got a better plan. I'd like a little more information to improve on it. If you agree to answer my questions one at a time, I'll end the..."

Which is the moment Draco realises what they must have done - apparently he's frightfully slow this morning - and casts the Finite for the House Privacy Charm himself. And that would be why it's useful to know rare Charms. Blast. Harper sees Draco's wand move and prepares for the lambasting to follow...


When it doesn't, he nearly begins to laugh.

Whatever Daphne had cast, it wasn't the House's Charm, and Draco's Finite Incantatem did fat bugger all. He could kiss her. Uh, not that he would, of course, but Harper can't stop grinning. Good witch in a pinch, Daph.

He waits for Draco's silent rage to pass, apoplexy clearly suits him, and then starts once more "As I was saying, if you agree to answer my questions one at a time, we'll lift the spell." By which he means Daphne, because he hasn't a clue what the Countercharm is either. He assumes she'll play along. "I believe we can forgo Oaths as to that." That was a bit of show, really, the suggestion purely for effect, as he'd have had no idea what they were promising as long as the Charm was active anyway. Draco's eyes narrow slightly, recognising it. Vince's and Gregory's don't. Two for three, Harper decides, not bad, and he'll have gained some ground in Draco's estimation just for the attempt. The boys nod, and with a nod of his own to Daph, the witch ends the Greengrass family Privacy Charm. Silently. Wandlessly.

Yes, damn good witch in a pinch.


Draco visibly has to struggle to hold back a few choice words, but he's already lifted a hand in warning to keep Vince from protesting, too, and so deciding he's the most likely to see reason and be of actual use, Harper directs a couple of questions at him which further aids him in moving past it. Ultimately it probably helps that Draco's hardly in a position to object particularly to the effective silencing treatment either. "Why is Vince not in the shower itself? Is the floor cursed there as well?"

"No." Draco shakes his head. "That black substance is incredibly sticky and has a tendency to spread. Whatever it was was in the soap, and it's on the shower floor now. He needs to avoid it at all costs or we're not getting him out of there. Not easily anyway." And just like that, Harper suddenly realises what that stuff must be. Sticky black goo? Merlin, he'd wanted to see the Japanese wheeze deployed since the first time he'd heard Akira mention it. Absolutely brutal in action, though. He'll need to ask the fifth year about it later. And of course Akira will no doubt appreciate a firsthand account of the havoc it wrought in exchange...

"It's not just Gregory's foot keeping him pinned there. His hand is stuck to the wall." Draco tries to impress the difficulty of the problem on them, "Well and truly stuck."

Gregory's head bobs emphatically in agreement, which sets his cock to swinging in counterpoint. Daphne's cheeks go pinker and her gaze shifts to the ceiling and Harper does his level best to ignore her response. Apparently Gregory still has some kind of Silencing or Privacy Charm on him. Hmm. Harper won't have been the only one to favour that solution then. He's betting it was Draco, but then that's easy to narrow down given Blaise's and Theo's conditions.

"Alright, Ella's going to come over to you. You cast the Protego when she gets there, Daphne will cast one on top of it, and Ella will cast another one on top of that. They should stack well enough." Daph quirks an eyebrow, by nature both cautious and a little timid, and so he tries to convince her, "It's for the best to have at least one of the Shield Charms cast by someone not standing on that floor." Mercy, no, that makes perfect sense. No arguments there. "And yours are better."

He smiles encouragingly and Daph takes her cue to get started on the towels. The ones folded on one of the sinks don't respond to an Accio. Although not a given, that had been a likely enough result. She next tries a Wingardium Leviosa of her own, and soon has them suspended in the air.

"Vince, are you in any shape to help me with Gregory, or do we just need to get you out of there?" Harper asks the Beater. He's far from his favourite person at the moment, but those glass skewers seem grave enough that he's able to put their differences aside. At this rate, someone was likely to be seriously hurt. Looking at Gregory and Theo, he isn't altogether certain someone hasn't been already.

"I only have the one hand free," that would evidently be the one holding the robe which he begins to lift in demonstration. Daph's back to staring at the ceiling. "I can't use the other."

"Oh, sorry. Allow me," Draco exclaims, finally realising why the fact Vince is still stuck holding his robes might present a problem. A twitch of his wand and he's Banished them to lie on his bed. The Depulso comes suddenly enough that it virtually tears the clothing from Vince's grasp, which leaves him briefly struggling to maintain his grip on his wand while once again stark naked, and Daphne looking anywhere... but.

"Forgive me for this," Tori whispers with a wink to Tomasina, and with an artful inverted heart-shaped swish of her wand, has soon conjured a fig leaf to cover him. Tomasina tsks in disappointment.

"Think you could do one of those for Gregory, too?" Harper asks, surely only because he's incredibly considerate like that. Ella nearly laughs, both at the thought and his transparency.

"I'm not sure a fig leaf is going to do the job," Tomasina smirks. Gregory seems rather gratified to hear it, Harper may have just blushed. Slightly. Fortunately Daph misses it as she's rather busy looking elsewhere.

Tori casts again, and soon Gregory is also - sort of - concealed from view. Tomasina doesn't refrain from heaving an audibly disappointed sigh. Gregory looks downright pleased by now. But then if it helps take his mind off his foot, that's probably for the best.

"I take it there isn't a 'Maximus' version of the Charm?" Tomasina quips.

"Not even a Duo," Tori admits, faux scandalised.

"I doubt a Duo would have helped either," Tomasina shakes her head in mock rue, and Gregory may just have giggled. It's hard to tell thanks to the Privacy Charm, and some of it's probably nerves, too - perfectly fair; everyone's a bit jittery - but the girls' silliness goes a ways towards cheering him up. Naturally Draco's Icing Charm won't have hurt either.

Harper does his very best to ignore them and tries to get Vince's attention again. "Your hand, your left, with the stuff on it. That's why you couldn't crawl, right?"

"It would have made it a lot harder..." Vince replies and Tori and Tomasina stop trying to hold it in and just start giggling, Tomasina asking Tori how her Modesty Charm would hold up under those conditions. Immature little things. Harper, annoyed, can't help thinking he wouldn't have brought them along to help if he'd known there were undressed boys involved. This is why he prefers older women... And now he has to try to forget he just admitted that, even if only to himself. Hmm.

All business - well, close enough - he continues questioning the seventh year, "But your wand hand is still free..." Laughter now, and one of the silly little geese chimes in with a thoroughly inappropriate 'oo er missus'. Blaise tries to get the girls to do something useful and help him up off the floor and over to his bed. It takes some effort to get their attention, let alone their assistance.

"Yes," Vince answers in reply to Harper's question, waggling his wand demonstratively. Harper is just thankful for the bloody fig leaf.

"And the cuts on your feet. Are they serious, do we need to take care of them first, or can you help me with Gregory?"

"I mean they hurt," Vince's eyes tick to Gregory's foot, and he wonders if he should have said so, "but I think they're fairly superficial. It would be nice, though, if one of you could stop the bleeding..."

Harper turns to look questioningly at Ella, and she tells them, "I think I can help there." Preparing, she removes her robes and Banishes them to the nearest bed.

"Then I guess we're ready. Daphne, would you care to do the honours?" Harper gestures to the lavatory a mite theatrically, he's hoping it will help calm their nerves, because that floor is downright terrifying. He considers it likely, in the face of Akira's wheeze, that the fifth years are behind this. At the moment Bart seems the most likely candidate for the curse on the floor - the Burkes are clearly mental - and Harper means to have some words with him later. He isn't ruling out resorting to physical violence, either. Anything happens to Ella, and it's a guaranteed thing, in fact. He squeezes her shoulder reassuringly. They're about to do this, and they're going to absolutely smash it. He's sure. He takes a deep breath to psyche himself up.

Feeling a little self-conscious with all eyes upon her, Daphne Transfigures the first of the towels.

And suddenly instead of the long deep green stretch of cloth she'd intended, they're staring at another pile of lint, this time floating in mid air for all to better see.

"Seriously???" She cries.

Blaise laughs, fully understanding what probably happened, but seeing the humour in it, Tori contemplates leaving him to fend for himself, and Harper has every intention of Hexing him later.

"And I'm supposed to trust her Transfiguration??" Vince demands. "Alberta was telling us how she flubbed your slippers yesterday, too," he whinges to Harper. Leave it to Runcorn. She insists on being a witch of the very worst sort. Wench.

Vince shoots a significant glance at Harper's feet where those very same slippers are not presently in evidence, almost as though implying the Transfiguration had failed in the course of a day, what bollocks, and Harper finds himself resolving to wear them every moment he can from here on out. Vince can get stuffed.

"This is stupid. Just have Draco do it," Vince insists. Tosspot.

Draco is still maintaining his and Theo's Protegos, his, probably the tenth in minutes, is feeling a little bit too wobbly for comfort just at the moment, and honestly, annoying as it is to have to admit it, Harper's idea had been better than his own. "Daphne's capable of doing it," he reassures his roommate. He sits in Transfiguration with her, and has done for years. And Vince has already demonstrated that he doesn't know all that much about the subject himself this morning.

Unfortunately Draco's vote of confidence gets a little lost in Harper's more vehement, "Shut it, Vince.

"Daph, it'll be the same issue as it was with the slipper Transfiguration." Not that she needs him to tell her that, but it's reassuring to know not everyone thinks she's a failure. "Just try again."

"What were those towels originally?" She sounds exasperated. People really need to start mentioning that in advance if they want her to do decent work. Nimue's naughty knickers...

"Parchment," Draco answers immediately. "A standard sheet of parchment each."

Daphne runs the numbers, she's really quite good at those, and with a look of grim determination, she casts again and soon there's a long sheet of deepest fluffy green floating in tightly packed ripples in front of them. "Do I need to get it into position first?" She asks.

Harper shakes his head, "The Petrificus Totalus will snap it into place." He performs the Curse even as he answers and then has to laugh when the towel is stretched to its full length. Daphne had put a running border of interlinking silver snakes all the way around the thing and a rather flamboyant Slytherin crest in the middle. That might just be the politest - and prettiest - 'naff off' anyone has ever seen. "Nice work." He tells her, grinning. She shifts her Wingardium Leviosa to bring it into place between the doorway and Theo.

He casts the first Protego under it, careful not to let it bump into the floating towel. At his sign, Daphne casts the next, it flows perfectly into the shape of his, and then Ella puts her own on top of them. It's hardly thicker than a single Shield Charm would have been and offers three times the protection. Satisfied, Harper squeezes Ella's shoulder once more, "I won't let anything happen to you."

"I know," she smiles. She takes the hand he offers to help her up onto the towel, and without a backwards glance, she walks over to Theo and arrives before Draco does at his cumbersome crawl. Yes, Harper had had a much better take on things.

Draco rises up on his knees to cast the first Protego for Ella. He makes it as flat as he can, it'll make it easier for her to work there. Daphne's follows almost immediately and then Ella's own, and Harper can't quite resist adding his to the pile. He'd felt a lot better about Ella's safety when she was standing on the towel. Standing on air like that... With nothing but the Protegos between her and the floor... Better safe than sorry. Ella catches him doing it and flashes him a bright smile. He shrugs, that's what best friends are for.

With a deep breath of her own, she prepares to step down onto the Charm.

Harper's wand is at the ready. At the first sign of trouble, he means to Mobilicorpus her out of there, but she takes that step and there's a small flare of white light as her feet connect with the Protego, and a bob in height as it dips and then rises again as she moves towards its centre, and then nothing else. It worked perfectly. Draco can't help thinking he really is a prize idiot for not coming up with something like this on his own.

"You'll want to Impervius your uniform," he tells the sixth year Prefect. A look at his own dress shirt shows the merit of the suggestion, and she complies. He'd been smart enough to remove his robes, but hadn't thought that far ahead. And to be completely accurate, he'd removed his robes mostly because he was worried about them triggering the curse on the floor.

"Theo?" Ella tries to get the boy's attention. He doesn't respond. Her hand placed gently on his shoulder likewise produces no reaction.

"I'll be right there," Draco assures her, which doesn't explain anything but that seems about par for the course today. She debates trying to use a Mobilicorpus to bring the blond to her Protego, but isn't sure if that wouldn't cause it to sink too low or if she can even land him that accurately. He's not far enough away to warrant taking the risk and she resolves to wait until he makes it there on his own. And anyway, she still needs to make sure Harper gets where he's going in one piece...


"Alright, my turn," Harper quips, trying to keep his tone light. He takes Blaise's dressing gown off and sends it to lie with Ella's robes. Blaise may have glared at him for the reminder. "Can we leave that towel floating there, Daph, or should we use it for me to get to Gregory?"

"I'd rather leave it in place just in case," she answers. "So as not to strand them if they need to make a break for it." She isn't wrong about that. She closes her eyes to listen to her magic and answers, "I can support another, so it'll be fine."

It's a definite advantage to relying heavily on a couple of Firstie's charms.

Again she Transfigures one of the towels, Harper isn't surprised in the least when it sports another highly decorative serpentine border and crest, and he trusts her not to overextend herself. As before, he, Daphne and Ella cast the Protegos beneath it, and this time Ella stands prepared to lift him out of there, a Mobilicorpus ready on her lips. He's soon made his way to Vince and Gregory, the terrycloth bridge ending neatly right between the two showers. He doubts there's half an inch to spare. Daph may just be showing off, although her attention to detail and precision Transfiguration is presumably lost on Vince. Talk about casting pearls before swine...

Before Harper steps down to see to Gregory, he tries to help Vince to safety. Reflexively he casts an Impervius on the towel first to keep the blood from Vince's lacerated feet off Daphne's beautiful work. A rather common side effect of not having much is taking excellent care of the things one does have; the Spell was practically second nature. Immediately he realises how silly that was for something that was basically just some parchment. They'll probably only Finite it when they're done, more's the shame.

Feeling a little foolish for that, he reaches out a hand to help Vince up onto the towel bridge. He waits for Vince's foot to find purchase, and then he pulls. It's more of a strain than he expects, and he buckles slightly, the Impervius makes the surface a little slippery to boot, and there's a moment when Vince begins to lose his balance and rather naturally starts to flail. That sticky left hand of his comes dangerously close for an instant and Harper has a fleeting moment to wish he'd managed things better as he tries to dodge it, and then with a loud 'Petrificus' it freezes in place.

He turns to see Ella grinning, wand in hand. "You can apply the Partial Body-Bind to a single limb you know."

With a "Thanks," Harper finishes yanking Vince up on the towel, and then Finites the Curse himself.

"Maybe you should have done that for Blaise then," Vince grumbles at them both, mostly because he just had a fright he hadn't been remotely prepared for and is covering, but also because he's often dumber than a box of rocks.

Between that and his disparagement of Daphne, Ella has had rather enough. And if she hadn't, well his attack on Harper last night, or the Serpent he'd sent her last year for not wanting to date him, or his involvement in the Head's bonding make her reaction almost predictable. Vince really isn't the sharpest Diffindo in the House.

"Why don't we see to your feet first?" She asks, ever so saccharinely.

Vince is fool enough to think she took his comment as a compliment, reason enough not to date him right there, and Harper is exceedingly pleased with his Exploding Snap face, because he doesn't even crack a smile. He knows that tone. Ella is about to make Vince regret being alive.