the Severely Incompetent but Sincerely Determined Rescue Squad

Casey continued to squint up at the castle, fully aware that something of importance was happening, and that it directly affected her blonde cousin. But something about that window had her unsettled, something about the fact that someone had a light on when she had been outside the school before and every window had been shrouded in darkness. If she weren't a Weasley, she might have chalked it up to coincidence. But walls of stone had never come up out of the ground either.

She heard a commotion from behind her and she whipped around. The gaggle of students seemed one short and within moments, she felt her body turn to approach them. She was near when one of the Yaxley's called for her, and she quickened her pace to a jog, her right hand still firmly holding the poker. She figured out what had happened and found her eyes lifting back towards the window.

Who is doing this?

She blinked back into the conversation and pointed at Dolohov's retreating back. "I mean... that's a pretty good idea."

Right, but the girl had hurt herself. She cleared her throat. "I don't have a map. But I know it. It's just going to be getting over the walls." She looked at Diamond. "I can go with you."

She hated the idea of leaving the group, of separating from Dom, of leaving them without defense. But Kit was going to need help. And if Scarlett didn't have any of the potions left, that meant finding something to help.

(OOC--I have Addie's permission to godmod Declan, just FYI)

He looked at Liesl. The idea was a good one, except for one thing--Kit was hurt, and Andrew didn't know how badly. He wanted to keep Liesl's idea as a backup plan, but he knew quite clearly that, unless he could come up with climbing equipment, flooding it and risking Kit's injuries might be all they really had.

"Thanks," he told Liesl. "It's a good thought." Casey was willing to take him inside. Good. Weasleys were overloaded with energy and drive. They were good people to align with. He wasn't opposed to taking her along--if he could do it safely. he didn't know her climbing skills, but nevertheless, she was younger, and he felt responsible for trying to make it as safe for both of them as he knew how to do.

He needed a rope. He had to have a rope. He looked around. Transfigurations weren't his strong suit. He saw the adults who had come here for, presumably some sort of investigating purpose. Somebody had to know the spell. He took the belt off from his pants and took it over to the grownups. He made a gesture to Weasley to not go anywhere, that he'd get back with her in a moment. He appreciated her offer, and he intended to take her up on it.

"Hey, Adult People," he said. "I need a rope--a strong climbing rope. This is the closest I've got. I didn't get an O in Transfiguration. I need as long as you can get me because I'm going to have to double it. If you can get me 100 feet, that gives me close to 50 feet of climbing space., so whatever you can get me, I'd appreciate it."

One of the adults--the guy--transfigured Andrew's belt into a semi decent rope of some uncertain length, but it was definitely better than what he had.

"Thank you." He took the rope, but also glanced down at the potions that were close to the adults, next to Scarlett. Was there a pain potion amongst them? He knew what a pain potion looked like, and he didn't see one there, not even remotely close to one, unless someone had a totally different formula for a pain potion. Either way, at this moment, he still needed Weasley.

He took the rope and went to Casey Weasley. "You seriously want to come along? If you do, and if you can climb at all, I can get you over the wall. But we don't have the climbing gear we need. I can freehand it, but, I'll tie you to me, and I'll go up first and find the handholds and footholds. You'll have to trust me. We'll have to climb down, instead of rappelling because the wall is angled out. If we tried rappelling, we'd hit up against the rock, but if you're up for it, I can get you over the wall and back.

"Here's what I'm looking for. We need pain potion, a blanket or a sweater for her. It'll get really cold down there when it gets dark, and we'll need to find some way to drop food to her that won't break up if she doesn't catch it, some water... We have to find a way to get her those things without a rope long enough to reach her. I'm gonna try to find a metal flask for the pain potion. Maybe we can find more than one? Or something? I'm open to suggestions. Make sense?"

There was something magical about - well, magic. The focus it took, the restraint or the stretch that one had to handle in order to accomplish their goals, it all pointed in one direction for him. Truly, he wasn't very skilled at magic, partly because he had not been a great student, but almost equally because he doubted himself. Clearly.

Hence a rope that was potentially shorter than the boy had wanted. Andrew, wasn't it? Declan thought he recalled teaching him back during his questionable time as a substitute at Hogwarts. Bits and pieces, then, started to flicker back into existence. He didn't know the name of the girl who sat in front of him, but Declan wasn't sure that he ever had.

He looked over his shoulder again, eying the blonde woman curiously. Her explanation had been a little shoddy in its randomness and how roundabout her story seemed to be. But he narrowed his eyes at her for a moment before something registered. "...Dom," he began slowly, looking from her to the shield to the kids huddling around what must've been a hole in the ground.

The redhead in front of him was explaining to someone that she didn't have pain potions but Declan blocked everything else out. His head turned again. The boat. Merlin, right. He didn't think they'd actually sent work back to Oliver, or to Jack. But with things like they were - and the students! the missing students! - Declan felt that there was only one thing, really, for him to do.

Pulling out his wand, he conjured up a patronus charm, giving is far too much to say for his level of ability, but he sent it off to Oliver anyway, just hoping.

"I seriously want to make sure Kit doesn't die, so yeah, that's sort of the option we have." Casey was so irritated by these fresh students. They didn't understand that one had to make a plan and go for it. She had seen the way infections worsened and how quickly it happened, had watched a healthy student become malnourished and sickly so quickly. Things took a turn so quickly - had they not just witnessed that with Declan?

She wanted to remind him that she had been hunting rats and patrolling the school for months on end, but now wasn't the time for Gryffindor pride, she supposed. "I'm capable," she said. She knew she could do it. Her muscles were wanting for protein, but she was spry and she had stamina. "We'll just get as much useful stuff as we can. Come on."

Dom reached up to swat away a tear that had formed at her eye when she heard her name come out of Declan's mouth. For a moment, there had been this sincere worry that she wasn't going to get him back, but this slight assurance flooded her with relief. "Merlin," she whispered, squeezing his hand.

He sent off a Patranus and she pated his arm, desperate to ensure all was well, "Are you okay? Does anything hurt?"

His mind was already focused on the climb that lay ahead to be ruffled just because she seemed to be a little offended.

"No offense," he said quietly, finding the center of the rope to be able to double it. It made retrieval easier of he didn't have to anchor it to something on the ground. "I just don't know your rock climbing skills. Its not generally part of the curriculum." With a weird bit of knotting, he fashioned a waist-tie o sorts that used three layers of rope so that it wouldn't be so cutting.

"Here," he said, "slip this around your waist and then tighten it up by pulling here," he showed her where in his weirdy knot to draw in the slack in the waist belt. "Then, if you pull on the knot here," he showed her a loop on the top of the knot, "it'll act like a lock, rather than a slip knot." He wished he had harnesses, but, yeah, right now they were all wishing for a lot of things.

He made a similar waist belt for himself at the other end of the rope and tied it around his own waist and secured it. And then there was the business of no gloves, no chalk, no nothing. He grabbed a handful of dust in his hands and used it as a substitute for chalk, to try to help him grip a bit better. He hadn't had to try to use dust or not, but it was worth a try. Maybe they'd pass a classroom and he could snatch a piece of chalk or chalkdust--maybe.

He scanned the wall itself to see where it looked like the rocks weren't quite so jagged and sharp. There were a couple places that looked climbable. He tried the place that looked the best to him and tried a couple of times to see if he could get a grip on the wall itself. He found a good foothold to start with. That was a plus.

"The dust might keep your hands from slipping--maybe. Its not the same as chalk, but it might be worth a try," he said, reeling up some of the slack between them. "Take your time. One foot on a foothold, then use the opposite hand to grab a handhold. Helps you keep your balance. Take your time. Breathe. Be sure you get a good feel for each foothold and handhold before you reach for anything else. If anything doesn't feel right, speak up. Under other circumstances, this can be really a lot of fun."

He didn't really feel he needed to ask her if she were ready. Casey Weasley seemed to be one of those folks that was born ready.

"Let's go," he said. "Follow whenever you want." He stepped up with his right foot to the first foothold he'd found. He slid his dusty left hand up the wall to the first decent handhold, tugged on it, hung his full weight on it to see if it would hold. Satisfied, he brought his left foot up to a foothold that was higher than the right foot, and a handhold for his right hand that was higher than his left. One he had hand and foot holds for both hands and feet he shifted his weight from the lower hand and footholds to the higher ones. Great. One step. From here it was rather like "Lather, rinse, repeat"--"Step, grab, test, Step grab, test"

There was plenty of slack that she had room and time to pace herself however she liked. He figured once he got a few steps up, she'd probably follow behind him. It was going to be easy, right? All he had to do was to remember all he'd learned--and to not mess it up. Piece of cake, right?