Black PV Slytherin Participants Finished

Interacting with @Arlo Reynolds

As she wailed nearly uncontrollably in the dark clouds of her mind, running away of something that kept on catching up on her, she suddenly felt something warm touching her cold hands. Within the darkness she tried to follow the soft light of what seemed a small bonfire. She didn't know what it was but it was better than staying within the inky abyss of her mind.

Her wailing turned into a softer sob. Her iceblue eyes drowned in puddles of blood blinked slowely, bit by bit she became more aware of her surroundings again. The pain was still unbearable. Like a pulse, it came and went. On her back, shoulder and leg. She tried to keep her voice down but it was really hard. It hurt so bad. She whimpered as a stranger tried to comfort her with kind supportive words:

“Don’t worry. It going to be ok. The man is going to get you a potion to make you better.”

She felt abit confused and disoriented but tried to focus on what seemed to be a boy. Her face must've looked terrifying... Her make-up had probably been slowely dissapearing because of the constant stream of bloody tears. Yet, she didn't care. She just wanted to start feeling better. To be released from this pain that tormented her entire being. Before she'd tumble back into the darkness of her goopy mind, the boy started to gently squeeze her hand and hum a lullaby. It was so gentle and light... It reminded her of the times she got bullied at school and she couldn't sleep. Her mother would come in and softly stroke her hair as she'd hum a song. This made her feel so safe... So grounded...

She sniffled and for some reason, his song seemed to soften the pain, even if it was just a little. Her breathing would still be shakey from all the crying, some blood would still seep from her eyes, but it was more bearable than it was before. Quietly, she'd listen to his voice and feel the warmth of his comforting hand.

Andrew was miserable, to say the least. Arriving at the Hospital Wing, he found the place already occupied full of Slytherins. Fortunately there was an empty cot for him to lie on, near the back of the room. Andrew recognized several faces, those that were lying in cots around him. One of them being @Dan Palmer. Andrew mustered a weary smile at him, if anything to assure Dan that he was right there with him, soldiering through the pain together. As much as Andrew wanted to talk to Dan, he wasn't in the mood for conversation. He currently had a pulsing headache from all the pain. Not just physical but psychological pain, after what had happened in the Common Room. On the other hand, perhaps talking might be of good distraction, to get his mind off his arm where the spider had bit him.

As the seconds ticked by—which felt like hours—the burning sensation in his arm grew steadily worse. Or was it just his imagination, after bearing with it for so long? And where was the cure? Andrew's patience was starting to wear thin in desperation, struggling not to writhe in agony.

"Just cut it off or something!" He snapped at one of the nurses, who calmly didn't take it personal. Anything to be rid of the pain, was all the poor boy wanted. It was his left arm anyway. At least it wouldn't affect his spellcasting should he have it removed.

"Someone, please help!"

A tone of urgency caught Andrew's attention. He turned his head, recognizing one of his Housemates—little @Arlo Reynolds—trying to reach up into one of the medicine cabinets. Mustering his strength to sit up and stand from his cot, Andrew walked over to where Arlo was stretching on his tippy-toes.

"I got it." Andrew wasn't the tallest boy his age, but the part-goblin dwarfed him by comparison. Reaching into the shelf, where Arlo directed, he pulled out a bottle of what appeared to be a golden mixture inside, and handed it to the boy. "Here." He gave a small smile behind a grimace of pain. It would take too much energy and concentration to question the boy what it was for, but clearly it had to be for some medical purpose. Hopefully a cure for whatever was afflicting someone.

He would plop down in his cot again. Fortunately he could turn his head to face the back wall, where less people were likely to notice the hot tears streaming down his cheeks as the coursing fire in his arm overwhelmed him. Shutting his eyes, he focused on slowing his breathing, trying to tune out the cries of anguish all around him. Perhaps if he could force himself to go to sleep, at least he wouldn't have to feel pain anymore.

@Bridget Collins occupied one of the many quickly filling beds. The puncture marks where the spider bit her was clotted over, it was not bleeding. In fact it never really bad. However, branching from the point of insult was a darkness and a terrible, deep ache that refused to relinquish its grip on her. 

@Tyranni Whitethorn another cot. The young Seer had her first, perhaps, vision. A bit too young to be afflicted by her sight. Well, perhaps in such an obvious way. There was this nagging intuitive sense that helped keep her safe time and time again, this notion inside of her that she never could quite grasp. Still the visions came earlier than they should have. What did that mean.

@Nico Shymane continued to bed and scream. Presumably she was carried, likely by one of the older students (NPC, going to claim Erin because you were special to Alex she came back for you). She might have been a Prefect but she was still just a child. Her teammate was hardly the sentimental type, she was not even sure why she went back but she had no intention to stay. There was too much noise, the screaming and the wailing not just from Nico... it was silent and it filled the air, gripped at her heart and tried to steal her breath.

@Astrea Soleil Neptune was not going to die, but she was badly hurt. Tucked into the sterile-seeming sheets of a vacant cot by an older boy. He was hard to scare, big and better known for his worst moments Patrick Kowalski (NPC used in other events) would place the unmoving girl down on the bed in front of him. He would have preferred a pretty girl like Marcia in his arms, not that he wanted her hurt but he had a feeling that was the only way he had any hope of getting anywhere near the girl. "She's not dead," he announced out loud. "But she kinda looks it," he muttered as if his mouth was full of marbles. 

The Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team, @Dan Palmer occupied yet another bed. He was not nearly as injured as some of them and he was able to carry himself to the Hospital Wing under his own power. He was trying to stay calm, keep his heart slow. Try to not die. Would this mean that he was out for the next Quidditch Game? Missing a few classes might seem like a reward, but missing a game was nothing short of a tragedy. Slytherin had a real chance of taking the 2020 victory, but not if their captain was out of commission or worse yet, dead.

"Just cut it off or something!"

@Andrew Vance complained. A sentiment that many of the students might have shared, sadly some were bitten in places that could not so easily be amputated.

One boy would answer the nurse's query, @Arlo Reynolds the smallest (likely) among them.

“We were awoken in the night... A couple of students heard noises outside the Slytherin Common Room. The door was opened...and then the spiders came. They were all over us, but some of the others lit their wands and they just...vanished. Professor Jensen showed up and told us all to come here. Please, we need help.”

The boy quickly explained, not that the situation made a great deal of sense there were two things that stood out -- one that they were bit. Whatever was coursing through their veins was a poison of some sort. Secondly, that the spiders dispersed into thin air. The nurse had seen that before, he knew what to do and what was needed. Well, he had the basic idea at the very least. It was almost two years ago when it had happened, in the forest the darkness had come to life and assailed several students. Some received treatment for their injuries in this very wing, mostly inhalation and burn injuries, there were no bites. However, he had a brief conversation with their Head of House and a concerning secret was shared. One that he thought was managed two years ago but obviously it had not been.

He needed thick golden potion. Something to contend with the curse that the children were presently suffering from. This was not a natural ailment, this was dark magic of a likes nurse VanCleaf was ill-prepared to manage.

While Arlo was one of the very few with the presence of mind to help, his tiny body prevented him from being of much assistance. He was too small, his legs too stumpy and his arms too short to reach the cabinet that housed the potion that the nurse so desperately required. 

"Someone, please help!"

The incredibly tall, by comparison, Andrew Vance would shuffle from his bed and make his way over to the cabinet that Arlo was struggling to reach. The potion, thick golden potion was clearly labeled with neat penmanship. He should have brought the potion over himself, Arlo was distracted by a crying girl that he was trying to now comfort with the potion in hand.

The nurse, looking over Bridget's wounds at this moment would ask, "is it getting numb?" It wasn't, not that he would know. he was trying to rule out other possibilities. "Please, bring it over here," the nurse called out. There was an impatience in his voice. "You guys have been cursed," there was no use hiding it. This was not some run-of-the-mill spider bite, this was the sort of thing that was meant to kill but not before it made someone suffer. "I think," he added. He could not be certain, but he was almost certain. Of course, why kill. Why hurt anyone? Who did these kids make so mad that someone would feel compelled to do this?

"Is it getting numb?" the nurse said. It took Bridget several long moments to realize the question was directed at her. "N-No. It's..." She gasped at another particularly bad burst of pain. "It's not getting numb. It's feels like my veins are on fire..."

At least, she didn't think the wound was numbing. With the pain this bad, she wasn't sure if she'd realize if some of the feeling went away. But it hurt so much. Besides, Bridget didn't think she'd ever been so aware of each and every physical sensation--each throb of agony did not go unnoticed. Yanking the sleeve of her sweatshirt back down, she hid the site of the wound. She didn't want to see the black anymore, couldn't handle the glaring evidence of the living nightmare she was in.

"You guys have been cursed. I think," the nurse announced, and the small girl felt all the remaining color drain out of her face, leaving her deathly pale. Cursed? By who? If she hadn't been in such a state, she may have been interested in the possibilities of such a claim, but as it was she didn't care. All that mattered was if the nurse would be able to undo the curse. Looking up into the man's face, she felt her confidence in his ability to fix everything fade. He looked shocked, horrified, overwhelmed, not prepared to help all of them.

Sniffling, Bridget turned away, curling her shoulders in and hanging her head. Her adrenaline had faded and she gave up on watching for any spiders coming to attack her again. Let them bite her if they wanted. At least the torture would end sooner. Bridget had no fight left. She was no longer afraid of arachnids hiding beneath the blankets. Lying down on the bed, the small girl huddled into the fetal position and waited for it to end.

As Arlo reached as high as he could for the potion, another boy would answer his call for aid. “Thanks!” He called out as he grabbed the potion and made his way back to the nurse. However it would be that moment in which he was distracted by the wails of another. As his large hands wrapped around hers, an old lullaby his mother used to sing escaped his lips in the form of a hum. It wouldn’t take long for her shouts of pain to soften into dull whimpers. “There there. Just breathe. It’ll all be better soon.” He gulped after the last words left his mouth. Or so he hoped. 

“Please, bring it over here.” The nurse’s voice cut through the air. With a bit of a hop, Arlo would turn away from Nico. He winced as pain tore through his knee with the sudden movement, but the man’s words ring true. The children needed treatment and they needed it now! With a limp, the boy would make his way over to the man. “Here you are. Thick golden potion.” He reached out to hand it over.

“You guys have been cursed, I think.” He explained. 

A rush of panic flashed through Arlo. “Cursed!...Cursed!” The boy’s usual deep tone rose a few octaves as he began pacing around in front of the nurse. He had thought himself doomed back in the common room, but it seemed that fate had destined him to die in the Hospital Wing. 

Bridget was nearby. She explained that her wound wasn’t growing numb, but the pain sure was. Arlo bent down to raise his pant leg. “Oh no!” He cried out as the site of his wound was exposed. The black that was coursing through his veins had spread. His eyes darted around the room and then back to the bottle of potion that was now in the man’s possession. So many injured, some possibly dying. Oh hell! Maybe they were all dying. “Is there enough for all of us?” He asked in a shaky voice, barely above a whisper. Tears would leak from his large, golden eyes as he looked up at the nurse. 

Opeila looked bad. She layed in one of the hospital beds, curled up into a crying little ball that was covered with long brown hair.
Her legs were still black from the venom and she was shaking in pain.
Never had the girl experienced something as painful.

She would have felt deeply ashamed for the way she had acted in the common room, the holding on to Flash, the begging for help, if she hadn't known that she couldn't have done anything different.

She tried to breathe against the pain. In. Out. In. Out. Relax. She would get through this. They were giving a potion to some of the injured students, hopefully to at least take the pain away. Would her legs stay black afterwards? Would she have black legs forever?

If her father ever heard about this, he would forbid her to go back to Hogwarts. Opeila was sure that not even Lady Margery could change his mind then.
The brunette had closed her eyes, still whimpering quietly, bit focusing on breathing slowly. She could do this.

What sorts of spiders had those been? Did they come from the Forbidden Forest? And why did they come just when Professor Jensen had not been there to protect them?

She remembered Selim and his knives. Opeila wished that there had been an opponent that he could have used them against...

Mentioning @Flash Holmwood @Hjørdis Jensen @Selim Faust

Selim ended up trailing the ones who headed to the hospital wing after grabbing a few things from his dorm... syringes and alcohol wipes that he kept in his trunk for opportunities such as this. He did end up helping a few students here and there who where struggling, though, despite how little he really cared.

As they entered the ward, he watched as the nurses bustled about, calling for a potion of some sort to stop the curse. He knew he'd have to act.

Eyes scanning the people afflicted who were unconscious or writhing on their beds in pain, his eyes landed on one particular duo.

Flash Holmwood, his dormmate who he hadn't bothered interacting with ever since he came to Hogwarts, and Opeila Seilun, a girl he had met one night while he was up in the common room then promptly forgot about.

His dormmate was fast asleep, probably from the stress of the situation. The girl was curled up in obvious pain, idly he contemplated just knocking her out, it would probably help her, if anything... unless his peers still felt pain when they were unconscious.

No matter, he couldn't really take some of her blood as a sample if she was awake... perhaps he could simply speak to her.

Well, at most, if he was caught, he'd get detention, which wasn't really much of a threat to him.

Mind made up, he decided he'd just have to gamble that the girl wouldn't notice a needle amidst the excruciating pain of the venom-curse coursing through her veins.

So, he made his way to her, attempting to stay out of the way of the people moving about. If he did reach her side, he would make sure his back was blocking his actions as he took out a syringe. Humming in thought, he took out a disinfectant swab, disinfecting the needle for good measure instead of wiping the area where he planned to insert it.

Looking over her, he positioned the needle, and tried to slide it under her skin where it had become mottled and black, which honestly looked painful.

If he positioned it right, he would hit where he knew there was a vein (Some of the small perks of being taught assassination, human anatomy). If he hit that vein, he wold try and draw out blood, and hope that the small pinprick of pain wouldn't be noticed.

If he were in any other mood then a scientific one, he would probably see this as a rather odd thing to do. Right now though, all he was thinking of was getting a sample of tainted blood to study how a curse could be administered by a bite, and if he could make an anti-venom.

Honestly, he doubted he could, but his curiosity was still there.

___ ___ ___

[Action: Inserting a needle in Opeila Seilun to take her blood]

Opeila waited, hoping for a teacher to come over and give her the cure to this.... whatever this venom was.
Flash on the chair next to her bed had stopped moving so she was quite sure that he had fallen asleep.

Breathe. In. Out.
She could trap the pain inside, push it into a small area... or pretend that she could, her imagination did the rest...
Opeila could feel that her body managed to relax a little. Something she desperately needed, her muscles had been cramping for the last hours, since the spiders had bitten her.
Her vision was still blurry with tears, but it didn't matter. The pain was still there but suddenly endurable sometimes.

She was not prepared for that sudden pain in her leg. Opeila's eyes widened, she gasped in pain as she felt the needle being inserted into her leg. She turned her face, that was barely more than a pain-distorted mask to her housemate, her teeth and hands clenched. Black hair. A face she couldn't recognize, only the triangular fringe caught her attention for a split second until the pain was hardly bareable.

Had she been able to think clearly, she would have been angry. How dare this person stick a needle into her leg while she was laying on a bed, unable to defend herself?

Anyway, Opeila could not think that clearly. She just closed her eyes, new tears streamed over her face. She was shaking, whimpering, not knowing who or why this was done to her.

Edited because of rolls.

@Selim Faust

Hjørdis had been rushing in and out of the room, trying to make sure everyone got to the wing safely. She knew Finley had been given a summary of events before leaving him to treat them as she went to make sure she helped any stragglers.

The Head of Slytherin ushered the remaining students into the hospital wing, bringing in the last lot of injured students. She could hear their screams and see them crying. They had been broken. Whatever happened tonight was something they would remember for years to come, she knew that much if nothing else. They were all so young. It seemed to be the youngest who had gotten hurt in this event. Those who were unconscious probably would be the fastest to recover, ironically. 

Their expressions on their faces would haunt her nightmares for years to come. There was no way for her to cushion this blow. She did not even know who the enemy was. Spiders, apparently appearing out of nowhere and disappearing long before she had the chance to even catch one. Her own expression was usually blank, emotionless and often seen as cold. But she was human. And inside her cold icy exterior was a beating heart that breaking at the sight of them. They should not have had to experience this. No child should. Haven't they all gone through enough? There had to be some sort of explanation but she could not fathom what it would be.

"Fin, how can I help?" She called out to the nurse, once she had ensured everyone was present in the room, quickly striding across the room to him. The female had to do whatever she could to try and make this situation a little better. Vancleaf. She probably ought to have called him Vancleaf in front of students. She normally would have but it slipped her mind. There was no doubt that she was in more of a panic that she was letting on to be. Of course, not many would pick up on that, perhaps only those who knew her very well but she knew. She recognised she was slipping up.

Going up to him after he had assessed a lot of them, she dropped her voice into a whisper and asked, "Any updates?" Not sure if he was going to say anything they wouldn't want others to hear. Her eyes almost pleading for him to give her anything but bad news. Hjørdis needed to know whatever information he could give her. She just silently hoped he did not say anything about fatalities. She had not had the time to assess each and every student. Some could have been hurt far more than she could see. She feared for the worst. But secretly, she hoped he would provide her with a positive update to say they would all be healed and healthy, at least physically. He might even have some sort of information, perhaps the poison was from a particular type of spider or from a specific region. Anything to help narrow down the mystery and the endless questions running through her head. 

She did not hear him say anything about a curse, entering moments later. 

The only joy in this whole dire situation was the fact that she could stare at Finley's cute face whilst she was here.  He was most definitely handsome, and talented. Being able to deal with so many injured students so efficiently was definitely appreciated. Even if he was dressed in his... pajamas with a bath robe over?! She did not question the attire. Well... she did but only momentarily and of course, internally. He was certainly not expecting a room full of screaming children at his door from the looks of it. She was not in much better shape, to be fair. Her usual pristine look was probably falling apart quickly this morning. The woman might be dressed better, even though all she was doing was going on a patrol. But that was all before she came back to utter chaos. Her hair was definitely falling out of place by now, she probably had stains and scuffs all over her clothing and there was just zero time to care. Her priority was the safety of each of these children.

Her eyes scanned the room. None of them deserved this. She should have been there. She was on patrol duty, how did she let this happen? How did a hoard of spiders enter the premises without her knowledge?

Mentions: @Astrea Soleil Neptune

The crisp white sheets wrapped around Nick would have reminded him of the summer nights when he was younger. During the day, when his mother was at work, Nick would clean the house, write, hang out with friends, or just do something to occupy his time. Then at night, when his mom came home, the two would watch movies on their couch, snuggled up in some sheets because it was too warm for blankets.

He would've been feeling that nostalgia, if he wasn't in so much pain, or unconscious. Surprisingly, Nick had, for once, not screwed up a spell and had actually cast Incendio correctly. But, his luck was short lived, since he immediately threw that flame onto a girl's hair. Then, a myriad of spiders latched onto that same girl and she went unconscious. Nick knew deep down she could've survived that if it wasn't for him

Finally, karma worked against Nick, and he was attacked by two heavy spiders clamping onto his chest and shoulder. The chest spider bit into him and hit his blood stream, immediately filling his chest with venom and pain. He would've probably fallen after a while, but the shoulder spider gave a final blow that made him immediately pass out in pain.

Nick has felt pain before, but this was different. It was this throbbing pain that consumed his world. It felt that every single time his heart beat, every single organ was exploding out of his body. His blood literally felt like it was boiling. That was also probably because the venom was circulating in his bloodstream. He wasn't one of the first people to be poisoned but the blackness was travelling through his blood and his skin fast.

Despite all of this, deep in his core, past all the pain, he felt an immense amount of guilt. He wanted to help out with the spiders, but all he did was make things worse. He started a fire, contributed to that one girl getting knocked out, and him being knocked out makes this whole process a little bit harder for the teachers and nurses.