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

There wasn't much that Winter feared, but war was definitely on top of her list. Winter had a ridiculous fear of it, because the idea had always seemed terrifying. Death, pain, violence...many of the things Winter refused to believe in were combined into a single event. That was enough for her to be afraid of war.

She had been working on a healing potion for one of the kids in the Hospital Wing, a simple one, when the Headmaster's voice filled her work office and most likely the rest of the castle. "...THE CASTLE IS UNDER ATTACK, FORTIFY THE CASTLE, AND KEEP THE CHILDREN SAFE." Those words sent chills through every single part of her body, the vial she had been holding fell to the floor and broke into tiny pieces of glass. Her hands shook, and Winter realized she had been holding her breath. She couldn't even go to the supermarket without tripping over a box, how was she supposed to keep anyone safe?

Finally taking a breath, Winter looked around. She had only two students in the Wing, so they would be easy to hide. Walking out of her office, Winter glanced at the two boys, both of them with wide, scared eyes. The older one, Peter, stood up immediately, wand ready. "If you're going, I am." he said, his voice as strong as Winter remembered it but calm nonetheless. She had known Peter Sexton for a while, because he was interested in Healing Magic and had come to her with questions, but she had underestimated his willingness to help.

Nodding, Winter glanced at the younger boy, a Second Year Ravenclaw who still had a cough and raised her wand. Casting an invisibility spell on him, Winter told him to stay in her office. "Lock the door if you have to, but don't move until I get back to you, Aristotle." The poor boy had been in the Wing for a few days now, and Winter knew that he was vulnerable, the most pure soul she had met so far. It would break her to know he had gotten hurt. Seeing her office door close and lock, Winter turned back to Peter. "Let's go."

She ran in front of him, following the voices and screams. They ran in the opposite direction of most students until they reached the Entrance Hall. She noticed the Headmaster, as well as Professor Moon and the man Winter realized was the enemy, the bad guy. It took her a second to realize they were the infamous Basilisks, and when she did, she instinctively pushed Peter behind her. He may be almost a head taller than herself but he was still a boy, and he was a pureblood.

With everyone knowing him by name and looks, it was harder to hide him. Though they were still at a distance, Winter would leave that decision to the boy. He could either run or stay, but she sincerely hoped he chose to run off. In a flash, Winter recognized the killing curse. The guy in the middle of the chaos had casted it and sent it directly towards the Headmaster. Without thinking, well - thinking about the safety of her leader, Winter ran up to the crowd, but the Headmaster dodged the spell in a matter of seconds.

With a breath of relief, Winter took a spot by the crowd, her wand ready. She may not be one to stand at the front but it wasn't due to fear, but because she wasn't confident enough that she could singlehandedly protect anyone. However, something kicked in when she saw Peter standing next to her, the same feeling of protectiveness she had with her brother Charlie. Whether or not she wanted to, it seemed Winter would have to fight.




(((I have spoken to Jake about Daniel moving out of the way, so I've got his permission )))

Bennett didn't have a girlfriend. He didn't want one either, but he liked Valentine's Day because of the insane amounts of chocolate that people are fond of handing out. Everyone seemed to be interested in trying to spread love and all that, that they considered chocolates to be a physical representation of that. So far, he had met five strangers who had handed out chocolates and his hands were full of the goodies that he was more of less out of it. All he wanted to do was eat the sugary goodness, really.

With his head in the clouds, Bennett walked over to the Greenhouses, because he still had some plants to check out for potions. He may be smart, but he didn't know everything. He didn't even make it to the actual greenhouses, as there seemed to be a commotion of sorts and Bennett was barely on the edge of it. There were people everyone, some running and some casting spells. It was terrifying and ridiculous and something that Bennett didn't want to witness.

He had made it almost to the forest when he realized that some of the people weren't students, but taller figures under a cloak. It took him a second to realize they were being attacked, mostly because he had been so out of it that the Headmaster's announcement was the big give-away. Panicking for a second, Bennett dropped the chocolates to the floor as he remembered he had a wand to use in case of attacks. Reaching for it, Bennett looked around, hoping that the hooded figures would be more interested in other things than on a Fourth Year.

They all seemed to be entering the castle, and Bennett's first instinct was to run away from the building. If that's where they were headed, he was sure as hell going to stay away from it. Running towards the forest, Bennett didn't care about the creatures because he wasn't afraid of them. He was scared of people, the ones with the cloaks. Nobody was throwing spells his way, which was great, but there were flashes of light all around him and he didn't know what to do. He was freaking out, and Bennett rarely freaked out. As he came closer to the edge for the forest, he noticed a smaller figure nearby, bent over.

It was a Gryffindor boy from one of his classes, though he couldn't remember which one he knew his name was Alberi. Bennett ran up to him. "What are you doing?!" Bennett asked between breaths, because he wasn't a runner. "We're under attack!" he glared at the younger boy as if he should have known that immediately, though Bennett soon realized the Gryffindor was probably as scared as he was. "Come on, now's not the time to pick up stones. Either we hide and live or we stay and possibly die. Or get injured."

Kai listened to the bickering between Adaline and the snooty French boy and rolled his eyes, clearly tired of listening. At some point, he zoned out but he was pulled back to reality when he felt Adaline's glare towards him. He felt the tug of the boy and realised that Adaline wanted him to let go, so he did. He watched as she led him away, into the forest and followed quickly behind with Naomi. However, he was not prepared for what was bound to happen next.

He could hear Adaline's grunt of pain and he watched as she mouthed words, her face contorting as she felt more pain and he instantly knew, the baby was coming. He stopped, his mind shut down as his heart began to race. This was not the time nor place. This could NOT be happening, NOT now. He wasn't ready, she wasn't ready. They were under attack for crying out loud and it was Valentine's Day! Kai's hands found his face as wave after wave of panic hit him and he began to move again, however, it was sheer adrenaline. Adrenaline kept him close to Adaline. Adrenaline kept him going and he looked over to Naomi in hopes that being a girl she would know what to do because he sure didn't.

For once, he was glad that the French brat was behaving, having realised no one gave two craps here about him but somewhere deep down, Kai wished he'd give a bit of trouble to get his mind off what was happening. However, that also wouldn't be a good idea because Kai might seriously hurt the 12 year old.

For Kai being the one not giving birth he was surely the one breathing heavy and panicking. It was as if he was feeling the labor pains.The pains that would bring his child into the word screaming, hopefully not loud enough to attract attention to them. Hopefully, Adaline could hold off.

Too big... Too small... Alberi continued to collect his rocks, thinking of a plan on what to do. He felt hopeless, clueless. Never had he encountered an attack, he never even imagined that something such could happen, to him from all people. Now did the boy see how weak he really was. And hated it. He hated not knowing what is going in, not knowing what to do... And, if he didn't die today, he'd probably try to change that. As he liked to say, better safe than sorry. And now he definitely wasn't safe and definitely was sorry. Anyways, he told himself to stop sulking. So, he continued to collect stones.

After a while of being fully concentrated and fully oblivious to his surroundings, some boy suddenly went up to him and asked him some question. However, Alberi didn't manage to hear it, to startled from the surprise attack. And that meant letting go of all his stones he had been so neatly collecting. He frowned as he watched them fall and felt a slight anger towards the boy. Did he see he was busy trying to survive? However, he tried to keep that in, now wasn't the time for anger. Now was the time to... Not die? Well, that's reassuring. Then the boy decided to point out the obvious. Yet again stopping himself from doing something (this time it was rolling his eyes), he realized he could have seemed rather unusual collecting random stones off the ground. But couldn't the boy find out that himself...

The last thing made Alberi sigh slightly. Well, thanks for pointing that out... Shaking his head slightly, he began to talk, his voice weaker than he intended it to be. “I'm collecting the stones for self defence... So I can can hit them in the head if someone actually tries to attack me. That's pretty much the only way I can protect myself at the moment...” He said, motioning to his pocket, hoping the older student understood that he didn't have his wand on him. And hoping that, for once, he actually sounded nice, unlike usually.

The day had started out perfect, Kai had been planning a surprise dinner date for Adaline that night since it was Valentine's Day, however, when the Headmaster's voice had boomed throughout the school, it had completely ruined all hopes and plans for a romantic evening.

Instead, he was here with his girlfriend and two younger students and he was in a panic and they were in the middle of the woods and his girlfriend was in premature labour. What else was Kai suppose to do? He didn't fail to recognise that his girlfriend had protected them with ruins before she went into full fledged labour but now what was he to do? He didn't know how to deliver a baby. He wasn't ready for a baby.

At Adaline's voice, he paused for a moment, staring wide eyed at her as his thoughts raced through his head. He was having a baby, they were having a baby, Adaline was having a baby. His baby. Kai hoped to Merlin that Naomi knew how to deliver a child or his child might not make it. Most of all, he hoped that no one would hear them, that the protective ruins would do just that and protect them.

As he heard her voice again, he conjured up a small cot and a sheet because it was all his poor brain could muster. "Don't push," Kai said, starting to panic again as he also conjured up a baby blanket and baby clothes. "Here," he said, helping Adaline lie on the cot and covering her with the rather large sheet to give her some discretion.