Welcome to the Moment

"You know I can't tell you that." He grinned. "Ai? Pretty name for a pretty girl." He gripped his wand tighter by his side. She didn't seem like much of a threat to him right now, but safety first. He was very grateful for the fog that the Dark Lady had charmed to surround him and the other avengers. The first thing people would have noticed was his fangs, and he had a feeling that the fact that a vampire had joined the dark side was something that wasn't supposed to be spread around.

He perked up as he heard her say she was head girl. More the challenge more the fun. He noticed the boys under the table but he really had no desire to harm them in any way. He was more fixed on the girl. "Like our little recruiting party?" He chucked. "We need more members and could definitely use a head girl." He cocked his head to the side and looked under the table. "How about you two [Albus, Scorpius]?" He moved to the side. "I'm going to be nice and turn a blind eye on you both.Just be warned if you even try to attack me, I wont hold back." He said starring at the two boys before turning his attention back at Ai "but you are not so lucky,"

When Scorpius heard Ai's voice, he lowered the spell he'd put on the table, watching it change back, glancing over to see the man that they had been fighting had fallen. He remembered hearing Professor Smith's voice, a voice he never thought he'd feel thankful to hear call out to him, and pushed Al and Rain forward to take Ai's hand, eager to get them out of there as soon as possible.

But then he saw someone behind Ai, and sunk further back under the table, cursing the fact that attention had been drawn to them, feeling far too weak to transfigure the table again. He should've never changed it back to speak to Ai. He should've been stubborn and just waited there. But he hadn't, so he needed to think of something else to do, as Ai turned to him and began to speak to him, stalling.

As the man turned to them, Scorpius tensed, grasping Albus' hand tightly. He had one hand on Rain's back, just so that he knew she was still there. He relaxed as the man turned his attention back to Ai, not knowing what exactly to do, completely baffled by the fact that they were being let off. They were trapped now, but also exposed.

Zach grimaced as he looked down at himself and the wounds that the fog had left on him, stinging at his skin quite painfully. "I have to look at me though, Weasley, it's not good," he said lightly, before listening to what she had to say. "Okay. Okay. I'll see if I can."

He looked around and almost groaned when he saw another one of the foggy figures by Ai. What was their problem? Grabbing a seventh year boy who he knew to be able to apparate, he span him round. "Okay, start getting some of the younger ones out, okay? Apparate. Use your brain. Spread the word." He waited to see if the boy would obey before making his way towards the Avenger by Ai.

"Excuse me, can you stop trying to kill my students?" he snapped, poking the man [Mitchell] on the shoulder with his wand. He looked at Ai and tilted his head in the other direction. "If you can apparate, get some of these kids out of here," he told her. "Unless you want to stay and face off this one with me." He grinned and pointed his wand at the foggy figure.

Ginny glanced over Zach, feeling her stomach turn slightly. That fog hadn't been exactly good for him. She wracked her brain for healing spells that she knew, having learnt some through countless hours of playing sport, but she imagined the best thing to do would be to get him to the hospital. Right now though, as much as she hated to admit it, she was still convinced the children were their first priority.

As Zach started to tell an older looking boy to begin apparating people out, Ginny turned to check on Albus again, seeing a girl standing with them [Ai]. She paled slightly as another Avenger appeared in front of them, but before she really had time to reach, Zach was heading over there. She had to trust him, as hard as it was. After the little demonstration of his abilities earlier though, it was less hard than she expected.

Ginny began moving through the crowd of people, spelling her hair back to normal, wondering where healers were when you needed them, trying to patch people up enough that they could escape. She eventually found Molly with another boy, grasping her niece's hand, decided that the boy looked old enough to be seventeen. "I need you both to start apparating the younger students out. Not all of them know how to get out, and I'm assuming you both do," she said. "As many people as you can, get them out, and stay out, unless you think you can handle more."

She wasted no time in leaving again, heading to the exits, finding a fogged woman standing by the main entrance. She strided towards her, pointing her wand and throwing curses in the woman's direction, before seeing her double over and apparate out. She got to the door, managing to open it before turning back to the room, breaking into a run as she headed back to where Zach and her son had been. She couldn't leave them any longer. She just hoped that the girl who was with them had taken them away already.

Cecily squeezed her eyes shut as a silent prayer as her spell missed Emily, asking why she had to be against someone she knew. It was much easier when she was simply defending her fellow followers, rather than fighting against someone. Before she had chance to prepare another spell however, a younger student had approached Emily and was requesting her presence elsewhere.

But then she was hit with a curse, doubling over in pain, eyes snapping up to see a red haired woman approaching her, casting more spells in Cecily's direction. Wasting no time, Cecily apparated away, straight to a ledge near the top of the building, grasping the wall as she steadied herself. She saw the redhaired woman leave to go do something else, obviously assuming that Cecily had left.

But the Frenchwoman was too busy to focus on this lone fighter, too busy counting how many of the Avengers were left. She spotted Mitchell, who seemed to be between a man and a younger student [Zach and Ai]. She saw Katia enjoying herself with two students who were wrapped up in a snake [Thomas and Kiva]. She caught Vera, who was beside Sasha, her brother, who seemed to have been hit. She narrowed her eyes, knowing that Fyedka wasn't there. He had taken a girl and left. Though she trusted that he had his reasons. She had not spoken to him much, but the Dark Lady would not trust him as much as she did without a reason, and he did not seem like the disobedient type.

Cecily wondered when would be a good time to break Nubillia out of her fight, knowing that it wasn't long until they would have to leave. She had delayed people leaving, but the door was open now, and people were getting out and apparating away.

Ai smirked.

"I might be interested" She said too softly for the kids under the table to hear. Than Professor Smith came over to them. She smirked again and nodded at professor when he told her to apparate the students out of here.

She knelt by the table.

"Lock hands" She ordered. "I'm apparating us to Hogsmeade" She waited for them to Lock hands, than she grabbed Scorpius's hand, who was nearest. "Please work" She whispered. A loud crack sounded and the four students vanished.

(To Scorpius, Albus and Rain. I have apparated us to Hogsmeade and created a thread here.... http://www.hogwartsrises.com/t599-are-we-safe#3836)

A curse was shot back in her direction as her own charm failed, so the fogged woman had been paying attention after all. When Emily was just about to send a curse flying back, she felt a younger blond girl [Bea] tug at her sleeve and she turned to see what was wrong. Something about another fogged woman, wanting to hurt her friends. It wasn't like Emily could tell her no. She left the woman at the door, gave the girl a quick nod and then let her lead her to her friends.

When they reached them, Emily's eyes widened though. The girl and the boy [Kiva and Thomas] were wrapped in a snake. The redhead did the first thing that came to mind and cut the snake in half and watched as it fell to the ground, quickly walking closer to the pair. "Are you okay?" she asked, before she realized the woman was still there.

She wasn't a very skilled fighter, but she would give this woman [Katia] everything she had. If she was crazy enough to wrap children in snakes, then there was clearly something wrong with her.

"Can one of you apparate? Take the others and go!" she ordered to the three children behind her. They couldn't even be that much younger than her, but they had to get out. Emily turned back to the fogged stranger and pointed her wand at her. "You're crazy," she told her, not really knowing why, before she fired as many spells as she knew, hoping that at least one would hit the woman where it hurt.

Vera screamed, angry and annoyed at things not going her way. Her fog was acting to slowly and the man was not supposed to know the counter spell. He cast a stupefy but she was able to jump out of the way. Before he cast anymore spells, he was running towards another Avenger, one which Vera recognized as her own brother when she looked better. She felt her blood begin to boil when the man made her brother fall to the ground.

She apparated and appeared again on the ground next to Sasha. She hauled his upper body onto her legs and pointed her wand at the man's back now he was distracted by Mitchell. He would not get off so lightly, no one angered Vera and then got away with it. He would pay, and she would make sure of it.

Her spell was whispered and she knew it would take a while for it to actually activate. But that was what she wanted. The man would not suspect a thing, and he wouldn't even know what was happening when his bones would begin to break. The curse would not kill him, it would only bring pain. Which was just what Vera wanted.

She turned her attention back to the unconscious Sasha in her lap, deciding she would need to get him out of here. She placed a hand on her brother's shoulder and gripped her wand in the other, apparating them both away.

Katia couldn't help but be slightly impressed at the boy talking back to her, especially seeing as the girl was still a snivelling mess. Really, she thought people who wanted to work in the ministry had to at least have some kind of guts. She raised a brow at his arguing back, smirk on her face, but she had nothing to say to it. She thought that she might even be nice to him for it.

"We're here to change your world, boy," she explained, growling slightly as he accused her of being scared. "If it was up to me I wouldn't bother hiding my face. But don't you worry, I'll be sure to let you see it one day. Maybe you'll even be standing beside me, if you had any good in your mind," she giggled slightly, playing with her wand. "After all, I know we are not the only ones who disagree with the way the Ministry runs things. With Muggles."

"I don't care about driving you away," she stated flatly, not happy about the reminder. "But I must obey orders," she sighed longingly. "Oh, how I long to play with my toys as I want, but alas! I don't have a choice. Still," she began to whisper playfully. "There is a very pretty boy who most certainly will not forget my visiting him. He would have to be blind to miss the part where my name is carved into his skin."

She knew the boy was probably stalling. But she did love it when her toys played back with her. The snake tightened it's grip once again, head raising and flickering it's tongue out along the boy's face as it hissed, far more entertained by him than the girl.

But then the snake was cut loose, falling to the floor in chunks, and there was a redhead in front of her [Emily], rather than two children. This woman was stealing her toys! First Fyedka, and now this bimbo? Since when was it Let's Steal from Katia day? And why was she not informed? Games of stealing weren't fun if the victim wasn't aware that they had to protect their things! Honestly, these people did not understand how to play properly.

The woman called her crazy, something that Katia had been told many times and shrugged off happily, but then she was already fighting, and Katia swore as she quickly began blocking the attacks, one or two hitting her, growling playfully at the quickness. This was a lot more entertaining than two children. She began firing spells back, starting with weak childish ones, before growing to bigger, better spells, finally throwing the cruciatus at the woman with all her might, wanting to hear her scream.

The woman [Emily] nodded and Bea felt a rush of relief go through her body. She really wouldn't know what else to do, everything that she's ever learned in DADA has left her brain and anyway, she seriously doubted she had a chance against that insane woman. She was so grateful that the lady will help them and she wanted to thank her a thousand times, but she knew she will start crying if she said another word.

When they reached Thomas and Kiva, though, and she saw the giant snake around them, tears started running down her cheeks and she was doing her best not to start sobbing. She was convinced the woman was only doing that because Bea ran away and it made her feel so guilty like she's never felt before in her whole life.

Then the good woman slit the snake and Bea ran forward to hug Kiva and the boy, now that the masked figure's attention was on the lady that helped them. She cupped each of her friends' faces with her hands like a concerned mother, asking them quietly if they were okay. Kiva seemed pretty shaken, but Thomas seemed to be in a better state and Bea was glad that at least he was close to okay.

"I can. Thank you so much." the older Hufflepuff told the nice lady, her voice thick because of her tears. She turned back to Thomas and Kiva and took each of their hands into her own.
"Hold tight." she said and closed her eyes, once again praying to all the Gods that this will work. She's never Apparated with other people before, but this was a life and death situation and she was going to do everything in her power to get them out.

She turned on the spot and there was a loud bang that seemed to be muffled in all the chaos that was going on and the trio was gone.

A silvery Panther appeared admist the fray. It appeared to a red haired woman (Ginny) and Ai voice floated from it.

"The children are safe" The voice said. "I have taken them to Hogsmeade Park. Albus and Scorpius are in need of medical assistance. Hurry, Please" Than it vanished.

Ginny came to a halt as a silvery panther appeared in front of her, the patronus carrying a message for her. She felt a weight lift of her shoulders as it told her that the children were safe, Albus' face flashing in her mind, along with Scorpius' and their female friend. They were safe. They were going to be okay.

But when the voice spoke of medical attention, she felt a sick dread creep up on her. Albus needed medical attention. But glancing around the chaos that was here, she wasn't sure she could leave. She wanted to, more than anything. She wanted to find her husband and go get her son and take them both home and just be with her family. But she was needed here.

Sucking up all of her pride, Ginny began casting her own patronus, one person on her mind. Because she was sure that if Scorpius also needed medical attention, the man would help. She was sure of it.

"Deliver a message to Draco Malfoy," she said, the name strange to say. She felt like she hadn't spoken it in years. Only when referring to Scorpius. "There's been a problem at the Ministry. Albus and Scorpius are in Hogsmeade Park, and need medical attention," Ginny narrowed her eyes, voice thick with pain and desperation. "Please help them. Both."

Zach turned away from the avenger and moved back off into the crowd, looking around for someone who needed help. Another reason, he thought, not to turn up to Ministry events. Something always went bloody pearshaped. Next time they asked him to help out at something, he was saying no. Big fat no. No of morbid obesity.

Ginny was running back towards him and he raised his eyebrows at her, when she stopped as a patronus slinked in front of her. That must have been Head Girl. Her kids were probably safe then. He found his way over to her, giving her a questioning glance. "They okay?" he asked, keeping his wand out for cover. "Your boy and his mate. They alright?"

He was about to ask her something else when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his arm. "That was weird," he muttered, looking down, before gasping as it struck again, though more forceful this time. "Gah, Merlin!" he hissed, grabbing at his elbow when the pain repeated in his other arm, and then began in his leg, causing him to stagger and fall. He yelled out as the pain grew stronger, feeling as if everything about him was breaking. What was happening?

Ginny was surprised to see Zach meet her half way, giving a tight smile at the question. "Yeah, they got out okay. But Al and Scorpius need medical attention," she trailed off slightly, a scowl decorating her features. "I-I had to send a message to Malfoy, to tell him to go get them and look after them," she was incredibly unhappy about the fact that she was trusting her son's well being in her old enemies hands.

Her scowl became more confused as Zach mentioned something being weird, raising a hand hesitantly, trying to decide what to do. It wasn't until he hissed in pain and grapped his elbow, both hands rushing out to support him as he fell to the floor, cursing as he began yelling. "What's wrong?!" she demanded.

Glancing around the Ministry, Ginny noticed that things seemed to be getting more and more under control, though she couldn't see the Minister. Swearing under her breath, Ginny kept her hold on Zach as she sucked in a breath, making up her mind very quickly. Getting Albus out of here was something that she'd trusted to the girl who was with him so that she could stay here and help, and she'd even trusted Draco to look after him, but now there didn't seem to be anyone around to help. "Hold on, I'm taking you to St Mungo's," she muttered, apparating away before she had a chance to second guess herself. She would come back as soon as Zach was out of her care.

Ai reappeared in the mist of the fray. She looked around to see if any other students needed her help. She had her wand at the ready, in case that man appeared to her again. She noticed that Professor Smith was gone, she made her way back to the table to see if the man (Mitchell) was still there. As she made her way to the table, she kept looking around, to try to avoid an attack and to see if anyone needed her help.

"Choshi ga warui desu" She muttered, feeling her forehead. She was stressed, and she was getting a migraine.

After making sure Louis was okay, and not going to die on her, Dom had to make a decision. Either she'd stay safe with her brother or she'd go back to the Ministry and try to help more people.

She wasn't going to deny that a part of her wanted to just stay with Louis and make sure nothing would happen to him, but then there was the other part of her, the part that kept reliving the screaming and shouting and the blood.

She had to go back.

So the red head apparated back into the chaos, feeling more lost than before. The crowd inside the atrium seemed to be less than it had been when she left, and she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. But there were still tons of people, tons of screaming and tons of spells flying around.

Dominique spun around, hearing a loud scream behind her and watched as a girl [Emily], with a very similar hair colour to Dom her self, screamed in agony and before she could stop herself Dom raised her own wand and shouted "Stupefy!" from the top of her lungs, aiming her wand at the fogged figure torturing the other red head.

Katia smirked as the redhead fell to the floor, feeling incredibly pleased with herself. The children had vanished, and she was once again left with less than she had. She'd just have to focus all her attention on the pretty woman on her knees instead. If people were so insistant on saving others, then they should be prepared for the price they had to make.

A loud shout from the side with a flash of a spell had her shooting up a protection charm as quickly as she could, snarling as she stumbled back from the power of the spell. It had been simple, but she'd almost fallen. And that just wasn't on.

"Have you come to play too?" Katia asked sweetly, twirling her wand round in her hand. From that first shot, the woman didn't seem like she was here to play around however. With a slightly manic grin on her face, Katia snapped her wand straight to the new redhead, wanting this one on her knees as well. Both bowing down to her. Like she was Queen.

"Crucio!" she hissed lowly, grin still in place.

Emily tried to block as many spells as she could, her shield charm growing weaker with every spell that bounced off. It crached completely when the woman shot a cruciatus curse her way, and Emily fell to her knees, bracing her body on her hands as a scream fell from her lips. She didn't want to scream, but she couldn't stop herself. She couldn't keep herself from screaming out in pain, screams growing louder the longer the curse went on.

Emily was having trouble breathing, but then suddenly the intense pain was gone, and she fell to the floor. She panted to get in air again, her nerve endings still felt like they were on fire. But there had to be reason the woman stopped torturing her, so Emily forced herself to push off the ground and turned back to the fogged figure, who was now duelling another redhead [Dominique].

"No," Emily croaked, her fingers wrapping tightly around her wand as she pointed it at the woman's back while she was crucioing the redhead she did not recognize. The woman was on the floor now, screaming like she had been doing just moments ago. This fogged figure had to be stopped, she couldn't continue like this.

"Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!" she screamed, using all the strength she had left to fire the curse three times in quick succession.

Katia jumped on the spot as the woman fell to her knees, wanting to crown herself. Queen Katia. Ruler of the redheads. There did seem to be a lot of them. And those screams were just beautiful. The woman herself was beautiful. And slightly familiar. There was something about her that just reminded her of-!

Her train of thought was cut off as more spells were thrown her way, letting go of her hold on Red Number One [Dominque] and turning her attention back to Red Number Two [Emily], blocking the curses as quickly as she could, stumbling backwards as she did so. Some little worm was getting one up on her? She thought not.

Slashing her wand through the air as quickly as she could, Katia sent knife-like spells through the air at the woman, before screaching like a petulant child, sending a blast straight for Red Number One's feet, creating an explotion. It wasn't fair. They weren't allowed to gang up on her. They were supposed to be playing as slaves to their Queen, not rebellious fools.

Dom hadn't been prepared to ever feel so much pain. She wanted to kick herself for whining when she broke her leg in third year. This was much worse than breaking a leg. It felt like someone was crushing every single bone in her body and refused to stop, and the worst part was that she knew the woman was enjoying it.

Dominique wanted to stay strong, she wanted to not scream and to not fall on her knees infront of this awful... being. She just wanted to be able to take it, to be able to handle it. But she couldn't. Her knees gave up way too easily and she screamed louder than she ever thought she could.

But then just as quickly as it had started, most of the insane pain was suddenly gone, and what was left of it wasn't so unbearable. Dom forced herself to look up, seeing that the other red head had gotten on her feet and was fighting back. Could they do it? The two of them? If they worked together? They needed to keep the fogged lady busy, not give her a single chance to attack them without being attacked back.

Dom raised her own wand, without thinking she shouted a protection charm between the fogged lady and the red head, but before she could try to protect herself, she was knocked backwards by a forceful explosion around her feet. "Bitch." Dom uttered under her breath, shaking slightly as she raised her wand again. "Impedimenta!"

At least her curse did what she wanted them to do, because the woman stopped torturing the other woman. Though, Emily wasn't quite prepared for the next spell that came flying her way. She put up the strongest shield charm she knew, but a part seemed to get through before she managed that, and she felt something slash right into her cheek, tears prickling in her eyes as she could feel warm blood on her face. The cut stung immensely, especially when salty tears touched the open wound.

'Don't think about it Emily, there is no time,' she told herself, forcing to stay on her feet. The woman [Katia] sent an explosion at the other redhead's feet, and if Emily hadn't been certain before, she was certain now. The other woman was utterly enjoying this. She was enjoying causing them pain, making them suffer. Like a child playing with her new toys. It made Emily's blood boil with anger, and for a few moments, she forgot about the pain she was feeling and pointed her wand at the woman once more, trying to remember all the spells and curses she had been taught.

"Stupefy!" she screamed again, but she didn't stop at that. "Expelliarmus!" she cried, using all the strength she had left. She had to separate this woman from her wand, she had to.

Katia managed to block Red Number One's attack, stumbling backwards and falling, narrowly avoiding Red Number Two's first attack. But then her wand was gone. It was out of her hand. Her wand was gone. Where was her wand?! She turned to see it land in Red Number Two's hand, snarling as she looked between the two women, on her hands and knees, shrinking back.

She was never beaten. How had she been beaten? She refused. Never would she be trapped again. She scrambled to her feet, moving faster than she had in years, closing the gap between her and the lithe girl. She would not be beaten.

She would not be beaten.

Katia threw herself into the ginger haired woman, knocking them both to the ground, seeing red as she covered the woman's face with her hand before smashing her head into the floor, one hand wrapping around her neck. How dare she take Katia's wand. Ever since recieving her wand, Katia had not been parted from it. Her wand was more precious to her than her own heart.

Her wand was more precious to her than this pitiful whore's heart.

Dom felt a wave of relief wash over her when the red head's spell worked and the fogged woman's wand flew into the air, but her relief didn't last long because before she could react the fogged woman had thrown herself on the other girl, tackling her to the floor.

Dom knew she needed to react quickly, but her mind was blank. She needed a curse. A good curse. Now that the woman was distracted. A curse. Any curse! "STUPEFY!"

Now, where was the wand? Dom looked around, spotting the wand a little bit away from the red head, who must've dropped it when the woman threw herself at her. The girl seemed to be unconscious. Or dead. No, she couldn't be dead, she had to be unconscious. They were both going to be okay. Dominique just needed to think fast. She reached out, her heart beating in her chest as she grabbed the wand from the floor and for a second she looked up, finding the fogged woman again before she did the first thing that came to her mind and snapped the object in her hand in two.

Next thing she knew, Dominique was throwing herself on the floor, managing to get a hold of the unconscious redhead and apparating them both away.

Cecily watched Vera and Sasha leave, biting down on her lip nervously. Her stomach throbbed with pain from where the curse had hit her, and it was taking a lot of effort to stay standing where she was. But if she was to fall now, it would be a long drop.

She watched as more people seemed to leave, the people who had been fighting Mitchell leaving, Katia's situation turning from her against two children to her against two adults. When the Russian was disarmed and threw herself at one of the redheads she was fighting, Cecily disapparated to Nubillia, speaking quietly as she did so.

"My Lady," Cecily started. "We must retreat. Finish off what we are doing now, and move elsewhere. Most 'ave left, and Katia 'as lost control. I will 'ave to attempt to remove 'er. It is time for your finale, My Lady."

Nubilia dropped her wand as she heard Cecily apparate to her, allowing the (now dead) minister to drop to his knees. Distracted by the glee and adrenaline coursing through her, she hadn't noticed the old man pop off about five minutes ago. Cecily's arrival had jolted her back into focus, and she turned to face brunette. "Awh, the party's over already? Pooey." She sniffed slightly as she flicked her wand once again, carving a gash into the man's face.

"What do you mean, 'most have left,?" she stopped, suddenly, gripping the wand in her hand so hard she was sure she'd find her fingernails embedded there later. But that wasn't important now. She surveyed the atrium from her vantage point on the stage and groaned; only a couple of avengers were still standing, one of them even having the nerve to go tackle some redhead woman. "Merlin, can't I trust anyone to do anything properly," she muttered, dissapparating to the balcony vaguely opposite the stage near the middle-ish of the atrium without another word to Cecily, knowing she'd do what she deemed appropriate and taking the dead man's body with her.

She gripped the marble ledge to steady herself as she landed, swaying slightly on her feet under the man's weight. She hated her job sometimes, it was always so much effort! But someone had to do it, and she considered herself one of the only ones up to the challenge. Nubilia rolled the body onto the ledge, then with a deep breath, waved her wand and said the spell for a slow-starting fiendfyre that had taken her years to perfect, hastily expelling it from the balcony, murmuring an incantation to help it go farther into the center of the room.

Nubilia made her exit as the crowd below her exploded, twisting away in a flurry of robes and mist for the underground room underneath the Hog's Head where she was sure the Avengers who had left at least had the sense to wait for her there.