Citrus-y (Sterling) -- TW: Self Injury/Creature Abuse

The elf finally obeyed him, rushing to get the poor thing some help. He listened carefully to who he assumed was Pepper, talking with Mimosa. Someone had legitimately ordered all these elves to witness Silky practically kill herself. His mind raced for a way to stop her, but even as she stood, he also stood, supporting her but not letting her move forward just yet. There had to be a way around it.

He momentarily thought of using a stunning spell, as then she wouldn't be able to follow through with it, being unconscious, but he had no doubt that would injure her more, and she may just attempt to finish her task when she woke up. As he thought an idea came to him. The other elves couldn't catch her, but nobody was about to order him not to catch her. If she must follow through with the act, he could at least make sure she was somewhat safe.

Mimosa suggested she just not go through with it and he shook his head, releasing the elf from his grasp as she seemed to get more frantic to follow orders at the thought of not following orders. He turned to Mimosa quickly but kept an eye on Silky as well. "That's not how elves think. Not following orders is basically a crime for them, as bad as a wizard killing someone else." He may have over exaggerated some, but the girl needed to know the severity of the situation. "Regardless, I'm going to catch her, as there is no rule against that."

Sterling finally let the elf go, probably because she would hurt herself more if she struggled in his grasp. But when he turned to explain to Mimosa how elves had to follow orders, the child's nose wrinkled in distaste. That sounded like an awful idea.

Instead, she watched as Silky shakily got to her feet, hearing small cracking sounds that didn't make sense at first and then when they did, Mimosa's face went white. the young Slytherin looked terrified for the first time s she realized she had heard the elf's tiny bones cracking with every movement.

"W-where's the nurse," she managed, innumerate shivers running up and down her body as she watched Silky climb the wall, her movements punctuated by the soft sounds of bones crunching and healing and crunching and healing.

'Sterling, she needs a nurse..." Mimosa whispered, raising both her hands to hold herself together as the elf reached the ceiling, ready for her last dive. "STERLING, SHE CANT JUMP, SHE'S HURT!" Mimosa screamed just as the elf launched herself from the rafters, her screams mingling with Mimosa's as the Hufflepuff Seeker lurched forwards to catch the tiny thing.

Sterling turned back to Silky as he heard the bones cracking, a look of worry and disgust on his face as he watched her. He glanced at the child, her whole body shaking and wanted to hug her but he had to focus. One problem at a time. His own hands were shaking with nerves as he watched the elf, positioning himself where he figured she would likely go.

He flinched as the child screamed, almost losing concentration as the elf threw herself from the rafters. He was only slightly mispositioned and lunged forward to catch the little thing. She dropped fast, and as she hit his arms he gasped softly, honestly surprised he had caught her. He had caught her. She would be ok. He breathed a sigh of relief and held the tiny elf as firmly as he could without hurting her, knowing she must be in a great amount of pain.

He turned to the little Slytherin, a relieved smile on his face. "Look. See? She's ok. Silky is going to be ok." He held her gently and lowered himself to the floor. His body shook with adrenaline and he honestly was afraid that if he kept standing he would either collapse or drop the tiny body in his arms. He studied the elf for a moment and nodded when he noted that she was breathing ok. She would be fine.

Mimosa's eyes closed of heir own accord when the elf jumped, her tears gathering behind closed lids as the situation kept dawning on her. She expected another crash like the first two that had drawn her and Sterling to the kitchen but this time, no crash came. Instead she heard Pepper's loud weeping and felt a crushing weight inside her.

Silky... Like her uncles... but before the thought could connect, Sterling was talking to her, making the young witch open her eyes to see the little elf cradled carefully in his arms.

"Look. See? She's ok. Silky is going to be ok."

The little brunette nodded, tears streaming down her face a she stared at the helpless elf. Who could have done something so awful to poor Silky? Why would anyone want to do something so awful? She wanted to ask but the tears wouldn't stop long enough for her to form her questions.

A moment later, the sharp voice of the school nurse rang through the kitchen, the kindly witch having just arrived to witness the scene. "What's all this then?" the matron asked in clipped tones as she moved to Sterling and Silky. "What happened here, who hurt the elf?"

The young girl continued crying, but she nodded, showing she understood. He held the elf for until the nurse got there, trying to move as little as possible so as not to aggravate any of her wounds more than absolutely necessary. He was tired. So tired, and as the adrenaline wore off that became abundantly clear.

The nurse finally showed and Sterling couldn't help but laugh in relief. "You'll be ok now Silky. This nurse will take care of you." He then turned his attention to the nurse, voice thick in his exhaustion, but still did not release his hold on the elf. "Someone, we didn't see who they were, I'd talk to the elves about that much, maybe Pepper could help you, ordered Silky to jump from the rafter thrice, and the other elves not to help. I don't know whether or not they were ordered to watch, which would make it crueler, but a large amount of them did out of worry, even though they were ordered not to help. I caught her when she jumped the third time, but we got here too late for the first two, only hearing the resulting sounds."

He held the little thing for a moment longer before standing carefully and handing her to the nurse, wincing as she was exchanged. "I hope she'll be ok. I'd like updates on her progress if that'd be ok." He looked at Silky. "Möge dein Schmerz bald lindern Silky," he smiled at her, before turning to Pepper. "Now, who was it that ordered this?"

Sterling and the nurse exchanged important information which Mimosa couldn't understand, but she knew it was important because the nurse was listening raptly and grown ups always listened attentively when it was something really important. In the end, the Hufflepuff seeker gave Silky to the nurse who promised to fix her up and send regular updates to Sterling regarding the elf's progress.

When the nurse had left, Sterling turned to the other elves, asking who had ordered such a horrible thing. Mimosa shuddered visibly at the prospect of someone knowingly doing such a hing, a shudder that was mirrored by almost every elf in the room.

"We is not being allowed to say his name..." Pepper finally offered, his huge eyes pleading with the humans to understand. "He is big, very big and tall and he is saying that anyone is to iron their tongue before they is saying his name." Another elf wailed in the background, lolling out its burnt tongue to show it had already tried once and had to bear the punishment for it.

"The boy is liking Silky, he is always asking for her by name, so Silky is getting most of the punishments. Silky is wanting to die many days but Silky cannot. pepper is not letting Silky." Pepper admitted this with a helplessness that transcended species. Right now, he we simply someone who knew he had failed to protect a friend.

"C-Can you tell us... s-something besides his name then?" This time, it was Mimosa's tentative voice to permeate the quiet. Her crying had slowed and the last of her sniffles had turned into hiccups. "Something that tells us who he is?"

Most of everyone left in the room shuddered as he asked who had ordered this horrid display and Sterling understood the feeling. But instead of just feeling disgusted, he felt mad. No; that was an understatement. He felt... enraged. Not only was it an appalling thought that someone would order these creatures to behave in such a way, but it angered him. How dare him. How dare that guy take away these elve's free will. Not only take away their free will but take away their safety, to force them to hurt themselves in a way that could have ended in Silky being dead.

Sterling turned to the elf with the burned tongue and spoke as gently as he could manage right now, trying not to take his anger out on any of them. "You should go with Silky and the nurse. She can help your tongue heal, that must hurt pretty bad." He turned back to Pepper, his blood boiling as the elf speaks of how the boy abuses and bullies Silky to the point where she would resort to suicide if she could.

"You're a good friend Pepper. I know how hard that must be, and you've done an excellent job. I hope next time you will trust someone to help all of you. From now on, I wish I didn't even have to utter these words. From now on, even if he tries to order you not to, I order you to get help for you or any of your friends, and to disregard however he tells you to punish yourselves." He turns to look at them all. "That goes to each and every one of you."

He wasn't sure if that was really how that all worked, and if they would feel like they were able to follow that order, but he hoped they would. "You may follow this order by your own free will, and you don't have to follow this order if you don't feel comfortable with it."

He listened to Mimosa and raised one eyebrow at Pepper.

As Sterling encouraged the elf with the burnt tongue to go see the nurse too, the poor creature simply shook its head, melting into the background of his concerned peers. The Hufflepuff made a long, sweeping speech about his orders versus the boys which confused Mimosa a lot. She had never been given an order in her life so clearly had no idea how to follow one, let alone keep track of multiple orders and prioritize them. In her childish mind, it just seemed easier to locate the primary offender and stop him instead of changing how things were done.

So when even Sterling grew quiet to listen to her question, she was sure she was on the right track, gaining a little courage and steadiness of breath from the realization.

The kitchen was so quiet, she could have heard a pin drop. hopefully one wouldn't but that was the expression anyway. Finally, his entire body encased in a Hogwarts monogrammed tea cozy, Pepper spoke up.

"He.. is b-b-being from Gr-Gryffindor." The entire room waited for something terrible to happen to Pepper, so when nothing did, everything let go a collective breath they'd been holding in.

"H-he is being v-very tall," Another female elf spoke up, her ears perked as if something large was about to fall on her head. When nothing dd, the others took courage, coming forwards one by one.

"He is having gold hair."

"He is taking Potions class."

"He is having his NEWTies this year."

"He is being on the Quidditch team."

The order seems to have worked as one by one the elves started confessing different traits of the boy's. He was tall, had blond hair, was a seventh year Gryffindor, he took the potions class and was on the Quidditch team. He knew the boy they were talking about but struggled to remember his name, making him even more frustrated. He frowned, trying to remember it, before looking to the elves.

"Thank you all. I know that must have been scary for you. Does anyone happen to know where he is now?" He was stuck between two possible outcomes for the boy. He could either turn the Gryffindor into the headmistress, or he could confront the boy himself. He was leaning towards a confrontation but wasn't sure how much help that would really be, though his anger was trying to convince him it would solve everything.

He turned to Mimosa. She seemed to be one that followed Quidditch pretty closely, and would likely know the boy. "Do you know his name? The blond seventh year on the Gryffindor team?"