Beginning of the end?

((Order'll be here in 12 hours))

Sam felt a sense of vertigo as the ground beneath him Erupted, sending himself, the earth, and several student flying high into the air, affecting some more than others. Unfortunately it seemed that he had been right at the core of the explosion, so he flew high into the air, however this helped in preventing any earth from landing on him and crushing his body, something which really proved to be a benefit, funnily enough.

But that didn't mean he wasn't hurt, coming back down to the ground with a loud thud and standing up only to find a large gash in his forehead.

Shaking his head to focus and straightening up as the battle around him raged, he managed to notice out of the corner of his eye a jet of light flying his way. "Protego," he shouted, thankful he'd spotted it just in the nick of time.

Looking around he saw the source of the jet, Doyle, Jack and Michael appeared to be fighting with a bunch of Death Eaters.

Not Dark Followers, Death Eaters.

Oh god.

Running to reinforce his friend, he spotted the grey hair of his former Care of Magical Creatures teacher. "Reducto," he shouted, aiming at Thaor's face. That was for all those stupid Flubber worm assignments.

Caelani didn't join the battle immediately. Now that the schools wards were down, she was able to apparate directly into the midst of the Acromantula nest in the Forbidden Forest.

The spiders reacted quickly to the intrusion of a witch on their turf and Calli was grateful for the shield charm that surrounded her as she lured them out of their lair towards the more tender and tempting meat of the school children fighting on the grounds.

"Well this is all very uncivilized! I think you all should- excuse you!"

Simon was a coward, so he should have been hiding out, but when he had initially seen the fighting he had not. The reasoning was because he was stupid. If he wanted to live, he would have hidden out. But instead, he shoved his nose in the whole ordeal, trying to look and sound important. He was failing spectacularly, because in the middle of a battle, no one cared.

Merely minutes later, though, he was raggedy, and tired, and frazzled. His hair was on end from the blast, his legs and jeans were ripped and bloodstained for falling over and tripping. He was sporting a hurt arm because of a stray spell, he was dizzy, he was near tears, and he wished his father was their to save him from the hell of battle.

And now, Death Eaters were here.

But that was the least of his worries. He had just glanced at the forest and his mouth opened in shock as he raised his capable arm. He mouth silently for a moment before repeating a hushed word, over and over. The word got louder and louder, until he finally screamed, "SPIDERS!"

"Protego Totalum!" MIchael flicked his wand the instant the young woman raised her wand back against him. He wasn't about to let the students immediately around him be injured if he could help it. "I normally don't like to strike a lady, but I have yet to see one," he said. And then the same boy that he had tried to insulate from Thaor was firing at him.

He turned his wand to the side and flicked it at the boy to merely sit him on his arse, maybe scoot him back a few feet. "Wrong target, Lad," Michael said. Then he redirected his wand back to the woman in question.

"Alright. Let's get back to business. Sectumsempra!"

Protego Totalum--shield/protection spell
Nonverbal spell--directed at Sam Grigori
Sectumsempra--slashing spell directed at Marla Higgins

This time, Amelia hit her mark. The hulking wolf that had been flanking the lighter-colored one rose into the air and was thrown against the ground, clearing the path to her main target. Amelia was just raising her wand for the attack when the other werewolf that had been serving as bodyguard seemed to sense her presence, and though she was invisible, he managed to lunge in her exact direction, teeth bared.

“Pro-pro…” Amelia stuttered, too scared to get the words out of her mouth quickly enough to raise the protective shield around herself. As the wolf grew closer and closer, Amelia crouched and threw her hands over her head, bracing herself for the impact of teeth against skin and hoping she would find her voice before she lost her throat.

But the impact never came, and when Amelia looked up again she saw that the darker wolf had been thrown backward and had a long, dangerous-looking gash across his torso that was weeping dark red blood onto the grass. The Ravenclaw girl raised her head cautiously from beneath her arms and looked around for the werewolves she had been pursuing, but couldn’t see them among the chaos.

Amelia had just stood back up and was trying to get a better view when she was knocked violently to her feet. For a second, Amelia raised her wand in defense against whatever had hit her, but she realized belatedly that it was the earth itself that had moved in relation to her, and not the other way around. Someone had sent a blasting curse into the center of the battle, and she was not the only one on the ground. She was the only one invisible and on the ground, however, and two students tripped over her legs in their hurry to retreat into the castle.

“What the hell?” One of them said as hit the ground, only a meter or so away from Amelia. “What was that?”

Amelia, not knowing whether he would be friend or foe, didn’t want to wait around to give him the chance to answer that question, so she hastily got to her feet and moved again to the outskirts of the battle to avoid accidentally running into anyone or anything. She headed toward the gamekeeper’s hut, subconsciously staying in the shadows even though she was already invisible. With the beating her body was taking, though, and all the magical forces around her, she wasn’t sure how much longer this disillusionment charm was going to last.

As she reached the hut, Amelia heard screaming from the edge of the forest. She would have thought the voice belonged to a girl, or maybe a first or second year boy, but when she whipped her head to look for the source, she recognized Simon in the light from the still-burning willow.

And he wasn’t yelling for nothing. All along the tree line, giant, black spiders were emerging, trampling over one another to be first onto the scene of the battle. Amelia had read about these – acromantula, they had been named – but had never seen one in person. She was very nearly stunned by fear, but Simon was in much, much worse shape. He was too close to the tree-line, and though the spiders were quickly approaching, he hadn’t made any move to escape.

Amelia didn’t owe Simon much loyalty – they had been on one blind date, once, and even that hadn’t been all that great – but she couldn’t just watch him become arachnid food. So once again, Amelia found herself running headlong into danger. Even the strength of her runner’s legs couldn’t carry Amelia fast enough to get a good edge on the aracromantula before it got dangerously close to Simon, and she was forced to leap toward the boy and throw an arm around him as she dragged him to the ground.

“Protego totalum!” Amelia yelled, throwing up a shield around the herself and Simon as she held him to the ground with her weight. There was no point in non-verbal spells anymore. If Simon hadn’t figured out there was someone invisible nearby, he was even more dense than what she had assumed from their date.

((Jackles, sorry about the slight god-mod with bringing Simon to the ground. If you want me to change it, I certainly will.))

Thaor knew Doyle wouldn't trust him, he was ready for an attack from him. He flicked his wand and the ropes fell to the ground. Doyle, why don't you just wait for Jess to get here, he know's where my loyalties lay. Thaor said, turning to Jack as she sent a blasting curse at him, he managed to step to the side, but the force still knocked him down. Thaor jumped up. Watch it Jack. Listen to Mr. Tremaine here. And not all Gryffindor's are useless. Just the ones who attack the wrong people.

Protego! Thaor said, blocking Sam's curse.

As for you, It was nice....who am I kidding, I hate you. Avada Kedavra Thaor said, shooting the killing curse at Marla.

Michael, what is the status of the castle? and is the order on the way? Thaor asked, looking for more death eaters to take down.

"Dunno," Michael said, glad to finally get Thaor on the right side of the battle lines. "Took you long enough, you old fart." MIchael looked back at the castle behind him. "The castle? Its still there. Can't tell you much else. I've been a little busy trying to teach this wench a few manners. Care to help?

"I don't know about the Order, but they never miss a good barroom brawl. Not to mention that Robert has a rather snazzy plan kicking off. Hang in." He looked around and saw the ground being littered with spiders.

"Really?" he frowned. "Spiders? Oh for Pete's sake. Too bad Robert's missing the bugs. Finite!" He fired at the spiders.

After the headmaster had, irritatingly, tried to put out Lucy and Selwyn's fire and her accomplace had stalked off into the centre of the battle to bring what mayhem he could to their enemies, Lucy was left to her own devices.

The end of the fire meant the end of any proper light source, not to mention the loss of the intimidation against the werewolves. Lucy had moved closer to the forest, hoping she could set alight some bushes and shrubs nearby when the acromantula attacked.

She hadn't heard them coming, of course. The noise from the fight was loud enough in her ears. Lucy's first clue that something was wrong was when two spindly limbs hoisted her into the air like human war banner.

She screamed in terror as she was tossed among the acromantula like a plaything.

Jack stared between Michael and Elldir. She trusted Michael, even after the disagreements at the Order meetings, but how could she trust Elldir? She felt her hand tighten around her wand, making the scars of the words "I will not act like a know-it-all brat" go white. Because it had only been one detention not all the words were legible, but 'know it all brat' certainly was.

"Stup-" she had to stop herself as she began to curse Elldir. "How can we tell?" He fired a curse at a Death Eater and she watched the Death Eater dodge it and then begin cursing at Elldir. It wasn't enough for Jack. She pointed her wand, straight at Elldir's heart. "Prove it."

(its fine Amelia! XD)

A slight pop penetrated the stillness of Hogsmeade train station, one of the few places that the battle had not yet reached, it seemed as if the Death Eaters had forgotten about it, or had simply decided it wasn't worth their time, however Jess had counted on that being the case, and had decided that it would be the closest location that was still mildly discreet.

Immediately after his arrival he heard the soft pop of a small army of witches and wizards appearing behind him, finally the cavalry had arrived, and not too late, judging by the sounds echoing throughout the Greater Hogwarts Area.

Mounting his broom, which he'd carried with him, he shot into the air, flying high and fast, not checking to see the people who were undoubtedly following him were with him, and soared through the sky, completely unopposed as he gained a sight into the state of Hogwarts.

Boy that was some state.

There seemed to be a large crater right between the Gameskeeper's hut and the Whomping Willow, which was glowing lightly as if it'd recently been burning, what a sight that must have been, and spells were still flying left right and centre, no clear battle lines having been drawn just yet, something he aimed to change very soon.

Making a gesture to the Order members behind him he pointed at a small group of fighters where the spells seemed to be flying with the least opposition, this point truly seemed to be the epitome of the battle which lay before them.

Without another moment's hesitation he dived through the sky, quickly dropping down to a level equal to that of the top of Hogwarts, with no break in speed just yet.

As the distance between the ground and his body lessened he pulled up, slowing down dramatically and lowering to the point where his toes skimmed the ground, perfect for his plan.

The group of fighters he was aiming at was straight at his 12 o'clock, so he jumped off his broom, breaking into a run the moment his legs hit the ground, sending the broom careening directly at a masked and hooded figure.

"We're here," he shouted to no one in particular, cursing at his earlier hesitations at Number 12 Grimmauld Place which had allowed the Death Eaters to entrench themselves in the school, clearly they'd learnt of the impeding battle before even he had.

"Deprimo," he cast, his wand trained on the head of one of the fighting Death Eaters, aiming to blow it, and the Death Eater, out of existence.

"Jack, you need to subdue the fighting students, we'll take care of the Death Eaters," he said sternly, waving his wand and blocking a spell which was flying his way, saying nothing of her apparent attack on Elldir. It wasn't Jess' responsibility to help that man in any way, shape or form.