Needing a bit of leverage. [OPEN/BATTLE]

Hallie:

Hallie felt Oliver arrive besides her. There wasn't time for greetings, the death eaters were already clambering into the building and could well be on their way to causing harm to the muggles or whatever their motives were. Instead Hallie continued to examine the middle floor window that was open. It seemed the perfect entrance. Some members of the order would be able to evacuate the muggles and it'd also give them good footing and stop the death eaters in their tracks before they reached the upper floors.

'I think the middle window is the best bet.' Hallie replied continuing to examine the route through the window. There was a drainpipe by the backdoor but it wasn't close enough to the window to climb across. Looking higher, however the drainpipe curved at an odd angle and ran higher, across to the bathroom window above.

'Incarcerous.' Hallie said, firing a long rope from her wand that coiled and tied itself around the pipe causing the rope to dangle down over the open window and to the ground below.

'We'll have to go one at a time, I can't imagine the rope will be strong enough to support us all.' Hallie told Oliver before running forth towards the rope and fastening it around her where she slowly began to climb herself up the rope using her feet to support her on the wall until she was in through the upstairs window, arriving in a small bedroom with nothing more than a wardrobe and a single bed.


---

Alexander & Corrine:

Alexander nodded at Jane's suggestion. It seemed a decent enough idea. Besides, the sooner they got the Swan girl the better. Not that the Nott boy would have minded a little wand action with the death eaters. Since his failure in capturing James Blood he had an urge to prove himself. He wasn't one for dueling, that was more his sisters expertise, but he did need to brush up more on his wandwork and so had been practicing. Debuting a new curse to the Order would be the perfect opportunity to solidify his amateur reputation. How times had changed from when he was the popular pure blood at Hogwarts.

'I'll take the middle.' Alexander replied. 'Are you okay with the top floor?'

Corrine nodded, wanting to keep her mouth shut. She was glad they were separating, for a moment she thought she'd have to follow Alexander around. Thankfully at the top floor the other death eaters wouldn't see her hold back against the use of torture that they no doubt would be using on the muggles to extract information on where the Swan girl was.

Alexander and Corrine both began to make their way up the stairs to the first floor landing.

'I'll just head up again.' Corrine muttered quietly, before leaving Alexander on the first floor landing who went into a nearby room in search for a source of information.

Jack had arrived with Veritaserum mere moments after they had all been summoned away, it seemed. Gabby had been polite enough to wait for her, knowing she would be pissed to be left out of the dark when she could be of some help to someone. So they aparated off together, Jack's stomach sinking a bit as she let the full weight of their location sink in. The muggle in. If there was something wrong there, it was going to be really wrong.

Jack and Gabby arrived, both a little breathless, as Hallie began preparing some way to get in. Gabby turned to Oliver as Jack backed up, shrewd eyes picking the building apart. "I mean, is the front door barred? Maybe there's a way-"

BOOM.

Jack Dyllan had all but blown up the front door.

She looked over at Oliver and Hallie and Gabby. "I'll get the baddies to party with me, you guys party with the muggles?"

Oliver followed after Hallie, standing beneath the rope in case anything went wrong. He just hoped he would be quick enough to help if that was what it came down to. He looked up to find that Tobias had come up along his other side, also on the look out for any issue that might befall Hallie as she made her way up. She made it inside without any real incident, though, just as Jack suggested she take on the Death Eaters while the others helped the Muggles.

"I don't think it's that simple," he replied with a frown, grabbing onto the rope and kicking his feet up against the wall to use it as a sort of base as he began to climb up. Oliver didn't bother to tie himself to the rope, instead simply swinging himself into the room behind Hallie.

Just as he was about to ask if she wanted him to go through the door first, Oliver heard someone out in the hall. His hand went to her shoulder in a silent gesture of warning, and he looked over his shoulder towards anyone who might have climbed up since then. "There's definitely more than one of them," he murmured, inching towards the door. "I'll see about distracting this one, or someone can help. But we need to split up and find the others before they hurt someone."

With that, he strode across the room, throwing the door open and raising his wand to face whomever was standing there.


[ooc: RJ, if you want to break off and do a duel, we can hop back in when we're finished? May to keep from cluttering so other people don't get lost? Up to you! Was thinking it'd be Oliver/Alexander, maybe with Hallie running by to go after somebody else? I dunno!]

Someone had underestimated the Ministry.  Well, to be precise, they had underestimated Monroe, but that was to be expected and entirely met with his approval.

The muggles could barely use magic - they certainly couldn't apparate - whereas anyone who was really determined would have no trouble getting into the Buckley Inn.  

Monroe had reasoned that in an emergency anti-apparition charms would only hinder the rescue efforts and it was not only possible but highly likely that someone would eventually attack those muggles.  He had therefore been wakened from his slumber by a wailing which indicated someone was using magic inside Buckley Inn, from the alarms that he'd placed there instead.

The young department head appeared in a crouch in front of the door that had just been blasted off its hinges, his wand levelled at the intruders.

"Why, Ms Dyllan, so lovely to see you," he remarked as he took in the scene, standing and dusting non-existent dust from his shirt.

"May I enquire as to your presence in my Inn?"

The reason for her presence was obvious, if the sounds were anything to go by.  Apparently, whoever was trying to break in had made the assumption he intended them to make.  People remained so predictable.



((Darling Jane, I do believe I'm on the same floor as you))

[ooc: Friendly reminder that magic is not working properly, yet! Take that into account in whatever way you think your character might be affected! Be creative!
Also, Message from Jackles : "it has come to my attention that in my mad dash to cram in as many posts as I could in the twenty minutes I have had free since moving, I majorly misread this thread... My bad. I'm the stupid one. Not Jack."
Hopefully this post will put it all to rights and get everybody included ]


Jane was starting to think that, really, she must be some sort of genius. The other Death Eaters were a floor above, and all kinds of ruckus was coming from them. The Order, undoubtedly, had found a way in on the second floor. The first, or ground, floor was quiet enough. She did avoid wandering too close to the Muggle and that bizarre elf of his. How did he even get an elf anyway? Jane shook that off, and wondered yet again if she really found herself on the side of the Death Eaters. Tonight was starting to make her think that, while she did enjoy the power that she would hold as one of them, it might not suit her well enough.

She didn't want to kill anyone. She didn't want to be responsible for the actual capture of the Swan girl - or, rather, either of them. She wanted the title without the effort, or the cruel deeds. But she wasn't sure she could really get away with that. Not with Alexander or Lorcan, one of whom was clearly fighting someone upstairs, and the other who had sent them and told them they should fight to kill the Order. Oddly, his pity towards the Muggles didn't really register.

A crash sounded behind her, towards the front of the place again. Had they attacked the same door? The elf must have done better than she thought at bracing it. There was at least one voice outside, and Jane had to make a decision. What side would she stand on?

Turning quickly, she rushed towards the entrance and threw off her mask, ignoring the fact that she was being showered a bit with debris from the explosion. She coughed a bit into her elbow as she pushed aside some spare boards of wood, and looked up to see a redhead and a darker-haired man beside her.

"They're searching the place!" She told them, blinking away the last of the falling dust as it aimed for her eyes. "They're looking for someone."

[RJ: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ]

(ooc: Alexander is dueling Oliver on the first floor landing. I figured it'd be easier to write that in an ooc here seeing as I've already done a full post detailing that in the separate thread just so people are aware?)

Hallie:
Following Oliver out of the room Hallie saw a couple of death eaters running to the upper floor via the staircase at the end of the hallway. There was no order members up there yet and the blonde really needed to halt the death eaters and help the muggles. There was just one problem: A death eater (Alexander Nott) was blocking their path along the hallway to the staircase.

'I'll check these rooms.' Hallie had told Oliver before leaving him to duel Alexander. There was no use both of them wasting their efforts against the death eater. Oliver was more than capable to handle his own and Hallie had to find an alternative route to the upper floor.

Not bothering to knock on Hallie burst into the room at the end of the hallway to find herself with a muggle who screamed at her entrance and fell from the desk that was stood in front of a window that overlooked the street. The muggle must have been watching the commotion outside as the death eaters had blasted their way in.

'It's okay! I'm going to get you out of here!' Hallie reassured the man who rubbed in head where he'd hit it on the corner of the table, leaving a slight lump.

Taking a step closer to the man proved to be the wrong thing to do for he reached for the wand he was being trained to use and pointed it at Hallie.

'Stay back! D-don't come closer or I'll- I'll.'

'Sir, put your wand down. I promise I'm here to save you I just need-'

Hallie had took another step closer, the man had cried an incantation, waved his wand a lightly to wildly and flung it across the room where it set fire to the curtains.

'Oh, God! What have I done? Put it out! Put it out!' He cried, sweat now pouring from him.

'It's going to be fine! I will do I-ll!'

'I'm sorry! I, I panicked! Please, help me!' He cried, clumsily tripping over his own feet as he tried to back away from the fire.

Not bothering to help the man up, who now seemed to have decided to hide besides the wardrobe Hallie focused on the curtains, waved her wand and said:

'Aguamenti!'

However instead of producing a jet of water to extinguish the curtains and stream of fire was emitted from her wand and only contributed to the fire even more.

'No.' She gasped, casting the spell again to only more disastrous effects as another jet of fire was conjured and this time falling onto the mattress and casting an orange glow across the room. Hallie knew magic had been intermittent although she hadn't yet be affected by it. Whether it was because she was surrounded by muggles with magic or the fact that the muggles failed attempt at magic had sent her haywire she wasn't sure. All Hallie knew was that the Inn had been invaded by death eaters and was now on fire.

'Come with me.' Hallie pulled the man up and returned to the corridor where Oliver was dueling Alexander.

'Magic's gone haywire again!' Hallie callied, kicked open the door across from the room where the fire had started.

'The curtains caught fire and when I tried to put it out I only made things worse!'

But Hallie didn't wait for a response from Oliver, as long as he had heard her warning that was enough for she had a sweating muggle on her hands and had ran into another room before beginning to break the wardrobe door off.

'Help me!' She called to the man, not wanting to risk using magic again.

'What are we doing? We need to call the fire brigade!'

'Shut up and help me break this door off.' Hallie retorted, no longer caring if the muggle was scared or not. There was no time to be scared they had to evacuate as soon as possible. 'We're going to smash the window and you're going to jump out.'

'WHAT?' He shouted, falling back to the floor after the wardrobe door managed to break free from the hinges...

(OOC: I didn't know if we were allowed to use NPC's but I figured I'd spice things up.)



Corrine:

Hurrying upstairs Corrine found herself on a deserted corridor. The lights were on this time and the sound of a cry ahead told her that there were muggles on this floor. Her hand was beginning to shake. She was really doing this. She was on a mission with the death eaters, had broken into the Inn and was about to threaten muggles to tell her who the Swan girl was so that she could take her back to D'Eath Manor.

Maybe she could reason with them. Tell them she was on their side, tell them to run and pretend the Swan girl wasn't there. Hadn't Lorcan told them the muggles were to be left and not harmed? Or something like that at least. He said kill the order and locate the Swan girl, maybe if the Swan girl wasn't there then the death eaters would all just leave.

'Hello?' Corrine called out not really expecting a response.

Taking a step forward Corrine soon realised that she wasn't alone. Another death eater had joined her.

Great. That's all she wanted. Corrine had hoped the Swan girl was on this floor, so that she could warn her, tell her to pretend she was somebody else. She could hardly issue that warning now that she had company. Unless she acted stupid, hinted that the reason they were here was because they wanted Swan. Hopefully that way the Swan girl would have enough sense to keep quiet.

'We're here for-' Corrine paused, glancing at the death eater besides her who she believed to be called Ben. What if the Swan girl understood Corrine's warning and stayed quiet. Would that make the mission all the more difficult? Would that mean all of the muggles would be taken back and questioned, tortured, until they said which one of them was the Swan girl? Not only would Corrine be blamed for that mistake but it could result in more people getting hurt than necessary.

We're here for. Corrine's words trailed away as she looked at Ben for instructions. The best thing for her to do was keep quiet and follow orders. Yes. That's what she'd do and if she got chance to warn the Swan girl during that then that would be great.

Monroe blinked, looked from one woman to the other.

"Good," he replied after a moment.

"Let them search, use the time to evacuate the other muggles. Anyone with half a brain could predict something like this would happen, so there are no wards on the building. Use floo or apparition or whatever else you can think of. Hopefully we'll be able to keep them from finding whoever they're looking for at all."

He did not add that the sacrifice of one person was less dire than the deaths of everyone in the building. The members of The Order of the Phoenix were ridiculously invested in feeling noble. It was necessary to couch his language in touchy-feely sentiment to get them to do anything at all.

Jane knew that what the man in front of her said made sense, but for a moment she just stood there. She had seen Ben go upstairs, but hadn't fully processed it. "Right," she replied with a nod. "Then we had best head upstairs. I haven't seen anyone down here since the first explosion."

Turning to head upstairs, she heard a cry of shock. And- was that smoke she was smelling? Her eyes widened and she moved up the stairs more quickly, gripping her wand tighter against her palm. At the top of the stairs, she was nearly run into by a spell hurling towards Alexander. Shouting came from a room down the hall, but she knew she would have to go past the dueling men to get there. If there really was a fire, as she suspected there was when the taller, unmasked man's attention was caught briefly by the scent of the flames in the room next to him, then the people a floor above had no idea.

The blonde they were looking for could very well get burned up at this rate, Jane realized. She couldn't have known, of course, that two floors above her, Hadley had been discovered.

Hadley's eyes widened when she heard footsteps outside, and knew that she really should have focused a bit more on the training that Monroe had tried to instill in them. She had been so worked up about whether or not it was all true that she had never fully given the lessons her all. The little boy next to her, whose name she believed was Brian, whimpered and crawled farther into the corner of the closet. Hadley held a finger to her lips, silently begging for him to be quiet. When he nodded she let her shoulders relax a bit and put her ear to the door of the closet.

We're here for-

Who? Hadley wanted to ask the question but knew it would be foolish to do so. A lower voice called out, saying, "We're here to help get you out of here. We haven't much time."

Hadley wanted to believe him, but she wasn't about to bring Brian with her to find out if it was true. She saw no use in waiting to see if they were being truthful or not. She told the boy to stay put, promising to come back, and inched her way towards the hallway.

"Put your mask away," Ben told Corrine quietly, tucking his own into his pocket. "They won't trust us if we look threatening."

Inside, his mind was whirling with the possibility that this woman might turn him in. He had time to save the girl if he could only just get a hand on her arm. If they found her, he could whisk her away and have the Order help her. But Corrine had to believe he was fully aligned with Lorcan, didn't she? He couldn't have anyone knowing the truth about his loyalties.

"We can't catch the girl if they're all afraid of us."

The sentence escaped just as a door opened to their right, revealing a flash of blonde hair curlier than any Ben thought he had ever seen before. Had Jane said the Swan girl was blonde? Ask, Corrine, he begged silently, shooting her a look. He was far too worried about blowing his cover to do anything else.

Elliot hated period dramas, but even he could appreciate that watching reruns of Downton Abbey had probably just saved his life.

He was holed up below stairs in the kitchen, and he had found his weapon. Sure, he'd have liked the surgical precision of a scalpel. Then again, he'd have liked to still be practising his skills on corpses in a lab, not applying them to people who were walking around.

So he'd considered the alternatives and chosen a fish boning knife from the block. Elliot figured it was long enough to intimidate, slim enough to manoeuvre, and had the advantage of a somewhat flexible blade. Not to mention how wicked-sharp it was.

Now, to make his escape.

Elliot left the kitchen and crept up the short flight of steps that led to the main levels, scrunching up his nose at the plaster that was now pattering around his feet like so much carcinogenic snow.

He edged the door open and slipped through the crack, onto the ground floor. This was good, there didn't seem to be too many people around and most of the noise was coming from upstairs.

Knife held loosely at his side, he continued cautiously toward the front door.