Always Clean Up Your Own Mess

Thaor had been sitting in the empty Slytherin Common room for about ten minutes, or, what he assumed to be ten minutes. He couldn't seem to keep track of time, he was unsure if this was due to everything that had just transpired, or if it was normal for ghosts.

He had just stood and headed towards the exit when he heard someone, he knew that voice, but from where? Kate he said to himself. Thaor turned his back to the voice, then turned towards it and flew towards it, passing through walls, and came up through the floor to find himself standing face to face with Kate.

You called. He said, looking deep into her eyes, if such a thing were possible for a ghost.

~~~

Thaor Jr's blood began to boil, he began to question everything he knew. Someone had cursed his father, and caused him to do horrible things. Caused him to turned on the only friends he had left in the world, and live a life full of hatred, a life alone with no family nor friends. That is not a life worth living.

But we know that there was someone in the Department of Mysteries, I will not rest until I find out who, and bring them to justice for this. Thaor said, looking around and motioning to Hogsmeade and the castle, all of this.

Thaor turned to Robert, who, thanks to polyjuice potion, still looked like Michael. What do we do now, where do we start? he asked.

Kate was taken aback seeing Thaor as a ghost. He was dead? Really dead this time? She paused a moment, wanting to be certain this was not yet again some lame "I'm-dead" scheme to get him off the proverbial hook one more time. She hardened her gaze, unable to not be truly livid with him, and she studied him. She yielded to her seer's abilities that told her that this was truly a ghost and not some illusion he had conjured.

"You'd better pray that Robert is still alive," she said coldly, narrowing her stare icily. "Or I will gladly spend my eternity making yours an utter hell. If you think you had to run before, you have no clue what I will do to you. You won't hide from me, no matter what side of the veil you're on."

She found herself feeling relieved he was gone, as much as she knew Robert would be beside himself now without a hope of a countercurse. Kate would not give up on him. Nor would she allow him to give up on himself.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked him. "Haven't you done enough? Do these children a favor and cross over and leave them alone. There's nothing they need from you."

Outside, Robert looked at Thaor Jr and then at Michael. He signed to Thaor, and Michael watched, knowing he would have to translate.

"He says that just because it happened in the Department of Mysteries does not mean it was a Ministry employee at all. All you have is a location." Michael sighed. "You have opportunity and means. You do not have motive. As I see it, its going to be more than a bit difficult to narrow down the list. Your father made an enemy of most of the wizarding world when he killed all those people in Diagon Alley. The Death Eaters got blamed for it, and they weren't ready to welcome him with open arms anymore either. The Order certainly wasn't going to welcome him after his crimes. I don't know of many neutrals yet that didn't have an opinion where he was concerned. Its a much shorter list of who didn't have an axe to grind with him."

Robert signed again, and Michael translated. "If you want to start someplace, find out all the places where he'd been staying. Search anything he left behind. Maybe he left something useful."

It appeared that the students had been evacuated out of a back entrance to the castle and were quickly walking to an underground harbour: the boat house. With the help of multiple geminio charms Amelia was able to load the students onto the boats an have them set sail across the lake. They would arrive in a woody path that would follow to Hogsmede station, then Hogsmede. Hopefully the fires of Hogsmede would have been extinguished by now. Even if they weren't it was safer than Hogwarts where, from her boat on the lake she could see Gryffindor Tower was still ablaze.

Someone was falling, falling from the feiry tower down the side of the castle. It was visible who, it was merely a silhouette. A silhouette enough to make the students point and scream. Then, as Amelia glanced around she noticed that Hallie wasn't in the boats, nor had she helped along with the other staff to get the students swiftly to safety. 'No!' Amelia gasped, panic stricken at the sight she'd seen. That silhouette, the fallen hero, was Hallie.

---

As Hallie fell her mind began to wander, she began to think about the things that made her happiest. Her Mother, her father, her brother. Maura and Ryo. Kenneth and Taranee. The flirtation she once had with Brian and Carth. Theodore: her wedding, the house she had just gotten with him. Surely she would have become a mother, watched her children go to Hogwarts an grow up to become little mischeif makers. It was just a shame she wasn't going to see all that.

Hold on. Hallie wrenched her eyes open, she was still plummeting down the tower, she was still alive. Why had she gave up? There was still hope she could survive, she needed to Survive. Her wand had been dropped on the staircase but with an effort she reached for a windowledge. She didn't grasp hold but it slowed her down. WHAM! Her leg caught against a bay window that Pertruded from the second floor landing. Hallie unleashed a deafening scream as she felt the bone in her leg snap. The Auror managed to grasp hold of the ledge, at last she had firm grip until...

The window ledge broke off causing Hallie to fall once more to her- Plumf. Someone had broken her fall, or something. It must have. The ground wasn't that soft especially from such a fall unless this was it, this was what death felt like. A cushioned fall. Hallie looked around her, a student was helping her up as he'd semi-caught her from her fall. He was beginning to ask her questions, why had she gone up there, why hadn't she evacuated?

The only words that came out of Hallie's mouth however was. 'My leg.' And with that Hallie fainted in his arms, her wand lost in the fiendfyre and her blood-coated bone was sticking through her shin.

Sam was outside helping Professor Cooper load the students onto the boat and help them off one by one.  Seeing someone crash through the window, Sam's eyes widened when he saw it was clearly Hallie that was falling. "HALLIE!" Sam screamed but it was clear that he couldn't help seeing how he was on the boat.  "I'm going to go help her."said Sam calmly getting out his wand.  "Accio firebolt!"Sam cried as his broom came towards him.  "Will you be ok Professor Cooper?"Sam asked her softly. He knew he was out of school, but he couldn't break the habit of not calling her Professor.

Knowing that she probably was ok, Sam took off back towards the castle.   Quickly landing his broom he seen that Hallie was ok but she was clearly hurt.  Looking down at her he turned to Aaron.  "We need to get her to St.Mungo's or something quick!"said Sam.  "I'll send a Patronus to St. Mungo's I'm sure Sophia will respond!"said Sam quickly.  Getting out his wand and flicked it as a Lion shot out of it and soared through the air before disappearing.

He knew that it wouldn't be long before Sophia would be here, it usually didn't take Sophia long to respond.  It was obvious that they needed a healer to help.   Sam didn't know who was all hurt, but with Sophia here, he knew they would get the help they needed.  "You got her there mate, if not I'll take her from you."said Sam. Hallie and Sam weren't really friends, but they did know each other and fought side by side to save Maura. Sam's mind froze for a second. "Maura and Sarah and the others!"Sam thought to himself. He didn't see them anywhere, he hoped they were ok. He knew they were strong people, but he knew they couldn't handle something this big!

Katrina-Carlotta knew that she was not alone in battling the fiendfyre, but she knew very little other than that. All of her concentration and energy was being put towards the destruction of the dark flames, meaning that she hadn't spared even a second to look around at the other wizards helping her.

The dark witch had been ignoring practically everything around her, finally content in the idea that she wouldn't be attacked while her back was turned. At least, while she was working to control the dark magic wreaking the school. As soon as it was all gone, Katrina-Carlotta was aware that she'd probably need to flee. Once the larger threat was eliminated, at least a few of the light wizards would almost certainly turn on her.

Then an Order member called out to her, asking if she could see the heart of the fiendfyre. Of course she could see it. Hell, she could sense it. The concentrated center of the dark spell was practically reeking intoxicating power. To her own senses, anyway. He asked if she could get it, and her lips pursed.

The assassin tried to formulate some sort of plan, aware that it would be far easy. But then the cursed flames began to refocus upon her, as if it had known what she was thinking. There was no way she'd be able to protect herself and attempt to destroy the magic at the same time.

Marcus Belby looked to her, and offered to cover her. Katrina-Carlotta could see the reflection of the flames in his eyes, and became fully aware of what covering her would mean for the man. He'd be bait. It was an insane idea, and if she failed the wizard would almost surely die. It felt a little odd, that he trusted her like that. Then again, it was far more likely that Marcus just felt like there was no other choice. Nodding an affirmative to Belby, the European broke the eye contact the two of them had been connected through.

Fiendfyre was an odd thing. It was magic, but even then it was far stronger than it had any right to be. It could break through even the strongest of protection wards, and could destroy practically anything. The most peculiar thing about it, in Katrina-Carlotta's opinion, was the way it acted. It could take the form of creatures, but sometimes preferred to be just flames. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to which it chose, either. While it certainly couldn't be considered alive, the magic was aware. It couldn't think the way that humans could, but it was capable of acting and reacting. The witch made a mental note to look further into fiendfyre when they all got out of this. If they all got out of this.

Watching Belby take the fire's attention away from her out of the corner of her eye, Katrina-Carlotta prepared. The trick to perfect aim was a hell of a lot of practice, and staying completely steady. With this difficult a target, even the slightest of movement could cause her spell to go wide. Making sure her breathing was as steady as she could make it, the assassin listened for her heartbeat. The fiendfyre sufficiently distracted; Katrina-Carlotta took aim, let all the air out of her lungs, waited for her next heartbeat, and fired.

When Du Hunt nodded, Marcus glanced around for something to, perhaps, annoy the fiendfyre. It seemed to him that the burning basilisk was pretty testy anyway, so all he had to do was irk it further.  

He saw a fountain not far away, in a courtyard. Well? What better to annoy a fire than water?  He fired a spell at the fountain and launched the water directly into the flame.  

The water hit the flame and caused smoking, sparking, sizzling--and rage from the beast. It spun around, away from Du Hunt and it headed straight for Marcus.

"Come and get me, you dumb garter snake!" he bellowed. The beast roared, reared up, and attempted to strike. Marcus leaped back behind some of the tomb rubble.  He grinned. He rather missed this sort of adrenalin rush.

And then, the beast exploded.  The flame burst into a cloud of magical spark and then simply fizzled out.  Du Hunt's shot had been true--right in the heart of the spell, and the beast was no more.  

Marcus was impressed. He stood up and dusted himself off, looking over at Du Hunt.

"Nice shooting," he smiled. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."  He looked around. Fires remained in Hogwarts and in Hogsmeade.  Destruction seemed to be everywhere. He had no idea how many had been hurt or killed, but it didn't look good to him.  As he looked around, Tremaine's illfitting clothes now annoyed him. He flicked his wand at them to make them fit, at least temporarily, even if it wasn't his style.  

"Let's hope...Michael..." he chose his words carefully, knowing Du Hunt was far from stupid, but not wanting what he knew to be public knowledge either, "is still alive. I need to know Elldir didn't kill him. Its way too quiet."  He could not see, in the dark, what had happened at the tomb, and he was envisioning he'd have to somehow launch a pursuit to find and kill the mass murderer if Robert had not prevailed. If Elldir had survived, he believed he might well be in the position of actually needing a mercenary to hunt him down and eliminate him.  Marcus's duties were first and foremost to protect the Lupin family. He could not afford to go chasing after Elldir.  If he had escaped, Marcus would need to collect Robert's corpse, collect his widow, and immediately take her into hiding.

If Robert had survived, Du Hunt did not have to worry about her position on the wizarding most wanted list.  Not tonight, anyway.  The fact was, Marcus wasn't done needing Du Hunt yet, and he wasn't going to let the ill informed Elldir Jr decide to arrest her.  He would choose to stand up to him and protect her from arrest tonight.  He might not promise it forever, but tonight she was safe as long as she was with him.

"Brian!" he called, finding Robert's son-in-law not far away. "Where's Kate?"

"I'll find her," Brian called, wanting to go see if Robert was alive, but knowing Robert's standing orders. Above all else, they were to protect his family.  He had his orders, and at the moment, that meant he had to find Kate first.  He had to leave Marcus and Michael to determine if Robert had survived the face off with Thaor.

"Care to come with?" he asked, in case they needed to face down the man who, without any conscience, had killed hundreds.  He had a silent thought. If Robert had survived and if his polyjuice had run out, then his bringing a Death Eater right to him might indeed be very hazardous to Marcus's own health. "After all, what's the worst that could happen?" he flashed Du Hunt a slightly mischevious grin.

James arrived in the center of Hogsmeade with a number of his better hunters. The smell was rather intoxicating for James.

"Smell that?" he said to his hunters, sniffing the air. "Lots of potential here. Find them. Take anyone you can turn. Keep any cubs. We can turn them. And kill anyone not worth turning. Be quick--before the buffoons show up."

"Consider it done," one of the males said. "Can we kill the buffoons?"

"If they get in your way," James shrugged. "What's one less auror anyway? Just don't let them do too much screaming. We don't need the attention. And besides that, its annoying." He glanced over and saw the boats leaving the boathouse. He grinned. "Little boats, aren't they?" he mused.

"Yes," one of the women said. "Very small. Filled with cubs."

"Yes," James grinned. "And we need cubs. Go get a couple of them. Sink the boats. Grab the cubs. Turn who you can. Try not to kill them, but perhaps a token or two might send a nice message to the humans."

"Yes, James," a male said. He motioned to a female, and then headed to the water to sink a couple of the boats and kidnap or kill everyone in the sinking boats.

Dylan had proven himself worthy of being a part of the pack recently when he'd turned one of his own housemates into a wolf like they were. She had obviously not been happy about it,but the boy had not cared one bit.

This was the only reason Moira had allowed him to accompany the rest of the hunters into Hogsmeade. Moira loked at James and said, "Maybe he should go to. Some don't know what he is and since he's a student he'll be able to gain thwir trust and lead them back where we can turn or kill them." She told him softly.

Moira nodded toward Dylan and he nodded back before running off with the two who'd gotten a head start in getting to the boats filled with cubs.

"I can go too if you need me to. Or I can stay with you. Your choice." She added with a raised eyebrow.

Amelia continued to move silently across the lake, chaperoning the other boats. A couple of professors had taken the lead whilst others were positioned in boats throughout the mass movements of students. All of them (ooc: sorry to god mod) continued to stare blankly at where Hallie had fallen. Some of them may have known it was Hallie, or who Hallie was - others perhaps not so much. Whether they knew or not wasn't a factor, all of them stared blankly at where her body had fell from the tower.

The students were in safe hands, there were enough of them to help each other once they arrived at Hogsmede. The entire school was moving across the lake, which mean't almost a quarter were NEWT students and would help the professor's care and reassure the younger ones. Amelia needed to go back. Return to see if her daughter was alive.

'Reverse.' Amelia spoke blankly, a couple of students in the boats around her looked slightly befuddled. However all became clear as Amelia's wooden boat obeyed and began to stream back towards the castle.

Withdrawing her wand Amelia tapped the boat muttering some sort of incantation that allowed her to increased speed before, alas, her boat docked against the gravel.

Clambering out Amelia began to hurry full pelt towards the bottom of Gryffindor Tower. She can't be dead. She can't be dead. I'll make it. She'll be there alive. I'll make it. She can't be dead. The same cycle of words played in Amelia's hand for three minutes before her feet came to a stop a meter away from where Hallie, Sam and a student were. She had a stitch in her left side and her breath was heavy and dry.

'Hallie.' Amelia gasped as she rushed down to where Hallie was unconscious in Sam's arms. 'Hallie.' the mother repeated as her eyes began to fill slightly whilst they gazed over her leg.

The only sound that came from Hallie was an 'ouch' as she stirred for a moment before drifting off again. Her daughter was alive! Hallie was alive! She'd gotten there in time. 'How? Did you? Is she? What?' Amelia, for once, was finding it difficult to convey her feelings. A cocktail of both shock, gratitude and fear rang through each and every question.

Sophia was working long hours at St. Mungo's trying to keep St. Mungo's running up to speed. It was some what hard without Khaat or Robert telling her what to do. But she knew they'll be proud of her that she kept it running. Sophia was taking cover of patient filing as a patronus shaped in a lion appeared through the window.

She knew who patronus it was but she was confused until it spoke in Sam's voice. 'Soph help trouble in Hogswarts, need all the help we can!'

Taking it as her cue Sophia quickly changed and grabbed her cloak before she apperated to where Sam was. Appearing with a pop beside Sam her eyes widened at the sight before her. "What the hell happened?"Sophia asked him before she looked down at Hallie.

"Oh geez, a broken leg."said Sophia sighing. Taking pieces of glasses out of her leg she quickly flicked her wand at her. " Subsisto Crudus!'said Sophia stopping the bleeding. "Episkey!"said Sophia once again healing her leg. "subsisto poena!"said Sophia softly as the spell shot towards her to stop her from being in pain. "Scourgify."said Sophia as the blood disappeared. "Lastly, Ferula."said Sophia as a banadged appeared on Hallie's leg.

Flicking her wand one last time at her Sophia muttered. " Rennervate!" waking Hallie up. "You ok now?"Sophia asked her softly looking at her. "Is there anyone else hurt?"Sophia asked them curiously. She was here to help, not only as a healer but a fighter as well. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, it was almost a battle of Hogwarts all over again.