The Cleanse (Basilisk Attack Thread. PG-13 for violence and death)

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Kenneth slipped through the gates at dusk, 20 other Basilisks following him in the gloom. They all had the customary black scarves tied around the lower half of their faces and black hoods pulled low, the Basilisk motif rearing up the side of the hood. He nodded to their escort who was allowing them into the castle, a man who also kept his face hidden. It was something Ken could respect and so he let the man keep his identity secret; if he had betrayed them, Ken would find a way to end him, despite the numerous contacts the man seemed to have.

The group had moved through the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, avoiding Hogsmeade and getting within sight of the castle undetected. Then came the tricky part: they would move from the spur of Forest, around the back of the Quidditch pitch and cross the river to enter the castle from the rear, by the greenhouses.

The first part of the plan went off without a hitch. The Basilisks circled the pitch, their cloaks allowing them to remain unseen in the growing dark, even as they crossed the river on a efficiently constructed bridge. They were approaching the greenhouses when things began to go wrong.

A man and a student exited the greenhouses when they were still a good distance away. The student was a Pureblood: Ken had memorized all the faces of the Pureblooded students before this mission and his lip curled in disgust. It took Ken a moment to recall the man's name, but he had studied the staff of the school as well. He was Adam Samuels, the Herbology professor. A Muggleborn, so Ken had no quarrel with him.

Taking careful aim, Ken whispered the spell that would remove one more piece of scum from the earth. But as the last syllable left his lips and the green light shot from his wand, Samuels turned and saw what was happening. The man foolish shoved the kid aside, getting in the way of the green light, which enveloped him. He fell to the ground with a thump as the kid scrambled away.

Ken straightened out of his crouch. "Ugh. You five, find the kid before he raises the alarm." He motioned for the nearest members to leave, hopefully finding and killing the scum before he got too far. "The rest of you, inside as planned. We're about to make the Pureblood scum regret ever being born." With that, he strode into the castle, his own personal army at his back.

Spoiler:

It was the day of love - as many would call it - and Jacques was sick of seeing the enchanted cupids flying around the castle giving people a Valentine letter from some idiot or another. Jacques was not fond of the idea of love. Love was a woman's weakness - or one of them, anyway - and he had no part in it. Not because he hadn't been shown love, because he had, but the Slytherin didn't like it.

It confused his image - which was a reality to him - of power.

The only way of getting away from the idiocy (as it had spread to the Serpents Lair, too!) was to get out of the castle. Which, Jacques realised, presented him with an opportunity. Whilst reading his not-so-legally-acquired Dark Arts book, Jacques had come across a number of potions, and plants that were of interest. Some of these plants could be put in to potions to nasty effects, and, well, the Slytherin was intrigued by this.

Which meant, Jacques had gone down to the Herbology Greenhouses to see the professor. Bribery was a skill that Jacques was still learning the more refined art of, and as he tried it on the professor, he could see that it was not working. In fact, Professor Samuels had all but thrown him from the Greenhouses, in the process of marching him towards the Headmaster's office in the hope it would put some kind of fear in to the Slytherin.

It was not, however, Professor Samuels that did that.

As they started across the lawns from the greenhouses, Jacques noted a group of men moving through the grounds, with a small amount of confusion, Jacques noted they were not... well, they didn't look friendly...

The Slytherin was not wrong, either, as a jet of green hurtled towards him.

Feeling his breath hitch, Jacques barely registered the growled "Go!" from his professor as he was shoved aside. His legs worked on auto-pilot in that moment, his heart already hammering in his chest as he darted back towards the castle. He thanked Merlin for not giving up on the running after Christmas, for it seemed it would be the only way he was going to get away in that moment.

Noting jets of light skimming past him, Jacques zig-zagged enough to avoid the spells, but not so much to slow himself down. Should he call out? No...

Too much energy.

Hurrying in to the courtyard, Jacques was thankful to see it empty - or perhaps a little annoyed, he wasn't sure as he ran through the gap in the doors. "HELP!" The French boy called out as he ran through the door in to a deserted hallway - perhaps he'd just missed dinner?

The sound of footsteps was nearing in that moment, and he knew his father's words of caution over the Christmas holidays were not just idle talk now.

Oh no, Jacques realised in that moment that he was definitely not as strong as he thought he was, he was twelve, and he had at least three grown men after him. He was terrified, and he didn't know what to do. His heart was hammering, trying to free itself from his chest.

And there was no help to be seen.

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~ Clement Heir ~ 24 ~ Athletic ~ 5'11" ~ French Accent ~

Thanks to .V0ldiemort @ TDA for my signature!

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Naomi was sitting in the Common Room, reading by herself and wondering vaguely where Finley had gotten to when the vision hit.

Darkness, darkness. Black on black, a mass of people winding like a snake through the school grounds. A green light silhouetting a shape, a green light that no one should ever see...

Running, panic, shouting. The sound of footsteps and heavy breathing an imminent death. One voice, one voice rising above all the noise...

"HELP!" The French accent gave her a pretty good idea who this was...

Past an intersection, then another flash of green light and it was all over.

Almost before her vision receded and her normal sight returned, Naomi was up and out of her chair, sprinting down the stairs towards one of the first floor corridors. She had recognized one of the portraits in the background of her vision and she felt an unexplainable sense of urgency. This was going to happen now, or at least close enough to now that she didn't have time to go for help.

Though Naomi planned to call for help from anyone she passed, the halls were strangely empty. Probably everyone is either with a date or holed up in their rooms wishing they had one, she guessed, remembering the date. Regardless, there was no one to help her when she skidded to a stop just around the corner from the hallway she had Seen. She could already hear the commotion and she knew she'd have to time this just right...

"HELP!"

Naomi tensed, then leapt at the person as they ran past, knocking the two of them to the ground. A green light sailed over their heads, but Naomi was already scrambling to her feet, pulling Jacques with her. "Come on, we need to go!" she yelled, sprinting down the new corridor and hoping to lose their pursuers in the twists and turns.

Jacques breathing - already uneven by this point - skipped for a number of seconds as something hit him. In a panic, the Slytherin believed that he'd been hit by the curse Professor Samuels had tried to save him from.

Except something hard hit his side, knocking the breath from his lungs momentarily.

An explosion just beyond him made Jacques aware that he'd been missed, and looked to his side to see a familiar face. Natalie... Or something. Listening to what she said, Jacques pushed himself to his feet, hurrying after her, one hand on his side that ached a little bit.

Skidding around the corner, Jacques could hear the shouts getting further away, taking a moment to lean against the wall out of sight, the boy coughed, trying to get his breathing back. "We're gonna die." Jacques muttered, pushing himself to stand up. "There's no use running!" He insisted to the Ravenclaw, looking over his shoulder as another bang came, closer than the shouts.

Despite his words, however, his legs moved, trying to keep up with Naomi with the energy from the adrenaline coursing through his body. "What are you even doing?" Jacques asked the witch, somewhat breathlessly. Why were people so confusing, helping people when they could save themselves?

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~ Profile ~
~ Clement Heir ~ 24 ~ Athletic ~ 5'11" ~ French Accent ~

Thanks to .V0ldiemort @ TDA for my signature!

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Naomi wasn't in the best shape, but the adrenaline coursing through her system was enough to get her a good distance from the attackers. Still, she was glad when Jacques stopped for a moment and braced her hands against her knees, panting. When Jacques started ranting about how they were going to die, Naomi rolled her eyes and reached out her hand, slapping him across the face. "Pull yourself together or we will die!" she snapped, surprising even herself with her attitude.

As they began running again, Jacques started asking stupid questions. "I'm saving your life, that's what I'm doing! Left!" She skidded around the left corner, then grabbed Jacques' arm and tugged him behind a tapestry where there was a passageway.

They ran further before Naomi ducked into a room, still off the secret passageway and shut the door, throwing every locking charm and protection spell at it that she could. She even turned the door to stone with Duro. At a glance, it would look like part of the wall. They were as safe as she could make them, for the time being.

The slap echoed in the hallway, and Jacques face turned incredibly sour as he looked back at the witch before him. Surprise hinted in his features, but mostly anger was taking over because she had dared to slap him. Nobody raised a hand to Jacques, not if he could help it. Not even his mother.

"Saving... my life?" Jacques scoffed, making an inconceivable noise as she dragged him around the corner. All this man-handling was so Muggle, Jacques was growing disgusted with the whole thing.

As they ran in to a classroom, Jacques threw his hands up in disgust. "Oh, great. Now you've gone and put us in a dead end, with no help. Do you have any idea what's out there? Who's out there? But more pressingly, do you have any idea who you just slapped? The consequences of such actions in my country. You'd be lucky to leave with your life."

But as he finished his tirade on her actions, Jacques noted that she'd very calmly blocked the door up, and confusion touched his features for a moment, his eyes moving back to the witch as his hand nervously moved to his wand. Was this a trap? Jacques wasn't sure, his cheek stung, his chest ached, and his mind was scrambled with the innumerable amount of possibilities of what was going on.

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~ Profile ~
~ Clement Heir ~ 24 ~ Athletic ~ 5'11" ~ French Accent ~

Thanks to .V0ldiemort @ TDA for my signature!

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Seamus did not believe himself to be a bad man, no, he was a man who sought revenge, but he was not a bad man. This, at least, had been his ideology when he had passed up the information to the Basilisks in the first place. He was seeking revenge, but he was not a bad man for doing so.

Getting in to the castle for Seamus was not a difficult task, he was a Healer at St Mungos, and Hogwarts' inspection was due that month. He'd passed the information on to the Basilisks, and what they did with that information was up to them.

He'd been contacted though, to act as a way in, and Seamus had done so. Helping the group through the gates of Hogwarts meant his hands were clean of guilt, but he still could get payback on those men who'd made his life hell in school.

Seamus had kept his face covered when the group entered, waiting for the last to enter before he closed the gate behind him. He'd watched them until he could see no further, and then - when he saw the first jet of green, he'd turned from the gate, and walked away from the chaos behind the gates.

He knew it was wrong, deep down he knew, but he couldn't stop himself from doing it.

Entering the Three Broomsticks, Seamus had down two Firewhiskey's to still his shaking hands, and then left the establishment once more.

It's for the best, Seamus told himself as he apparated away, trying not to think of the Healer inside the castle who could potentially get caught up in the action.

Because of him.

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"It's not a dead end, there's a window we can use to escape if we need to," Naomi said calmly, pointing to a window in the corner that, while small, they would both fit through. It lead out to a courtyard with several doors to different hallways.

As she was finishing up her spell work, Naomi just sighed and waited for Jacques to finish. "Are you done? I know there's people out there trying to kill us and I'm going to guess it's the Basilisks, since they've been on the move recently and they would have a reason to go after the school. Lots of Pureblooded students here. My Da told me they might be a problem over the summer, since he's been hearing a lot about them at work."

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know exactly who I just slapped. Jacques Clement, French, heir to the Clement family and fortune. Also a huge brat and a person who would have been dead five minutes ago if it weren't for me, so I don't really care about the "consequences" since I didn't have to see your dead body lying in a corridor." She shoved her wand back in her pocket, muttering about ungrateful twats. She had 5 year old cousins who were less bratty than this boy. She refused to think about how she already had Seen his dead body lying in a corridor, since they could afford for both of them to be losing it right now.

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Daniel had been filing the last of his paperwork for the evening, he knew he was late for the dinner he had planned with Naomira, but he knew she would forgive him. After all, they would not be together if she wasn't somewhat fond of his quirks! He'd just sent an owl to the witch in question, explaining he would be another half an hour, when something... odd happened.

An explosion, he was sure, erupted from the floor below him.

Frowning for only a split second, Daniel grabbed his wand and ran from his office, moving to the stairs, he could see chaos below him. Growling with anger, the man brought his wand to his throat, not needing to speak as he thought of the spell that would fill the castle with his voice.

"STUDENTS, TO YOUR DORMITORIES IMMEDIATELY. PROFESSORS, THE CASTLE IS UNDER ATTACK, FORTIFY THE CASTLE, AND KEEP THE CHILDREN SAFE." Daniel's voice boomed through the passageways, though he knew it wasn't much, he didn't know what else he could say. In the next instance, Daniel's Patronus went running down the stairs, and through the front door of the castle, on it's way to alert the appropriate authorities.

Hurrying down the stairs, the Headmaster moved in to the fray of the action, wand raised and ready to take on any bastard that thought they could take down his school.

Running a hand through his hair, Jacques tried to calm himself down, but despite no longer running, his heart was still pounding in his chest, and he felt sick to the stomach. The adrenaline from the run was fast running out, and the reality of the situation was hitting the Slytherin harder than he could ever have imagined in that moment.

The witch proved she was, at least, not stupid, as she explained who she thought the people to be. And at the point where she pointed out there were a lot of Purebloods in the castle to attack, Jacques leant against the side wall of the room, sinking down it slowly.

Natalie, or whatever her name was, was still talking as Jacques put his head in his hands, taking deep breaths as the reality set in. "I don't want to die." He told the witch, not looking up from the spot he'd chosen to stare at on the floor.

No, Jacques was not losing it - he refused to lose it, but somehow... It seemed like...

"STUDENTS, TO YOUR DORMITORIES IMMEDIATELY. PROFESSORS, THE CASTLE IS UNDER ATTACK, FORTIFY THE CASTLE, AND KEEP THE CHILDREN SAFE."

The sound of an explosion sounded somewhere beyond the wall that the witch had created, and Jacques flinched, not knowing what he could do in that moment, his eyes moved to where the door had been, wondering if it would truly be enough to keep him safe.

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~ Profile ~
~ Clement Heir ~ 24 ~ Athletic ~ 5'11" ~ French Accent ~

Thanks to .V0ldiemort @ TDA for my signature!

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