Event Sending Out an S.O.S. OPEN Closed

While it wasn't Cy whose quarters were nearest to the entrance, it was Cy who had the best hearing. This, of course, was obsolete when the walls were noise-canceling, but it was not when Ceta heard the calls from the basement, showed up in her quarters with a loud crack! and announcing her presence and its purpose quite loudly.

She had not been asleep. It was after curfew, but who ever knew her to sleep after curfew? The only days she slept before midnight were the ones when she wanted to wake up at four in the morning, which might not have its own reason, but tonight was not a night like that. She'd been deeply engrossed in a lengthy letter she had to send to some old colleagues back in America, asking for help on the case of the disappearing spiders - after all, they had all been Cursebreakers at some point, even if she had left job along with a couple of the others. But they all shared similar expertise, and two - or maybe eight - minds were better than one.

She descended the stairs carefully, wand strapped securely onto her thigh holster, with Ceta holding on to her perhaps unnecessarily long sleeve as a practiced guide. She hadn't taught today, in fact had barely walked through the halls at all today save for between meals and to her office and back, and the fabric usually wrapped around her head was missing. Hopefully her stray gaze wouldn't bother anybody - she was not unskilled at directing it where it was supposed to go, if someone found themselves uneasy.

However, Cy felt the utmost surprise when she discovered that the familiar voice calling for help did not come from the door, but rather above her head. She stopped in the middle of the Entrance Hall, arms crossed and wand out. "Piérre? Why are you... forty feet off the ground? And way after curfew, too." A quick motion of her wand and a muttered incantation aimed towards his voice brought the boy - and whatever he was holding onto, if he did choose to hold onto anything - descending toward the ground. As the tintinnabulation of shattered glass reached her, she grimaced a little, making a beckoning motion with her wand to bring him away form the window. "Did you crash through the window? What's going on?" Wow, she hadn't thought the first years had the guts.

There was still the question of what'd happened, though. And he said something about... mosps, and an attack. This school certainly liked its drama. "Calm down, hon. I'm gonna need you to give me as many details as quickly as possible." Either the hags were at it again, or kids were stupid. Both were equally likely. Possibly even both were true at the same time. She reached for Ceta in preparation of calling someone else, tense.

@Cypresse Lian

Thank goodness someone had their ears on tonight; quite literally in Piérre's case. Of all the people the lad was expecting, Miss Cy had not been one of them. Yes, Piérre was familiar with Ceta, Cy had told him that the house elf usually helped her with grading assignments, and yes, Piérre knew that the Transfiguration teacher had the best ears on this side of the ocean (and probably the world, but let's not be too hasty), but truth be told, the boy had almost been expecting grizzled professor Price to be chastising him for the noise and the interruption. This was a bit of a pleasant surprise.

Dressed in a rather beautiful long-sleeved shirt, which looked to Piérre almost like a kimono, Miss Cy was led now by her house elf, and Piérre was immediately subjected to questioning. First thing; what was he doing 40 feet over the Transfiguration professor's head? "Alley Oop! I'm on a broom, Miss Cy!" Easy enough, and probable to understand, as was the bit about being after curfew. After all, more than a few students were breaking curfew as it was right now... but as far as shattering the window as the Britalian had come hurtling into the castle...

As Miss Cy waved her wand, Piérre felt himself slowly being lowered to the ground on the school broom. He almost didn't want to be let down. He felt much safer in the air... more maneuverable, and certainly more agile. "Y-Yes... I suppose I did..." Piérre glanced back at the last bits of glass falling from their panes. It wouldn't take too long to repair that little injury; besides, Piérre had taken more of a risk, taking a chance to get hurt more than the glass had been. "And I'd do it again too, Miss Cy, because I think people out there are getting way more hurt than I could have!"

Then the questions of what was going on: Typical adult concern and wanting to get everything they could out of any source possible. If he was going to help anyone, Piérre was more than willing to spill, even if it meant that he could be considered a snitch or a twit. If the Ball had gone as planned; no hitches, no attacks, and no complications, far be it from the Britalian to spoil anyone's fun or secrecy. He would have sooner lied and bit off his tongue than spoil any good times which had come of breaking or disregarding the rules, but things were now compromised. Things were compromised enough that the twelve year old, inexperienced, and certainly far too big for these shoes Gryffindor had to finally come clean and admit to himself that this was why the Sorting Hat had placed him in the scarlet and gold.

He was the protector.

"Miss Cy, everyone here is crazy; including me." Piérre bit his lip as he jumped off his broom, the light tapping of his footfalls drawing close to Miss Cy before arms were thrown about the transfiguration professor. Of everyone in this school, well, among the Professor population, Piérre considered Miss Cy the closest to a kindred spirit... almost like a guardian. Maddie was a wonderful caretaker, and certainly the age of the foster parent both helped and was a detriment to her ability to care for children, but Miss Cy was different from Maddie in all sorts of ways. Miss Cy was warm, funny, kindhearted... and if Piérre dared... almost motherly.

Though he had never met his biological parents... Piérre hoped that once he did, he would find them to be as witty, smart, and outgoing as Miss Cy; or the Bianchis for that matter.

"It was a secret, Miss Cy, a secret!" Pulling away, Piérre dashed to the broom, picking it up and beginning to mount. "We wanted a Blossom Ball, so students and some Prefects obliged us. It's at the Quidditch Practice Pitch, there are lights everywhere!"

As if to solidify his words, a violent Periculum lit the skies, followed by two crimson flares, which nearly blinded the Britalian as he looked back out the shattered window. Though he knew that Miss Cy would be unable to see the lights, other professors surely would. They had to get help, now!

"A swarm of Mosps came from the Great Lake! Suspicious activities... I don't think that this can end well! Miss Cy, please believe me! I know I'm the class clown, but if something really bad is happening..." The hearsay of the Masquerade Ball filled Piérre's mind. "History's gonna rewrite itself... and only God knows what else could happen to amateur, magical, and highly stressed out students!"

Piérre kicked into the air again, gently floating nearby Miss Cy again so that she knew he was there. If they were going to work together, each head to know at least approximately where the other was...

Actions;
Main- Spilling the beans and remounting broom
Movement- Floating to Miss Cy and preparing to fly
Bonus- Noticing Flares and Periculums

Just to reiterate what Aaron Jones mentioned in his Moderation Post, other professors may be drawn to the ball by other means (Periculum, the flares, and general chaos), and they are permitted to post in the main ball event this coming Friday (5/29)

If there was anything that all Hogwarts alumni tended to agree on, it was that Hogwarts students tended to be kind of dumb. History, it seemed, proved this hypothesis correct, as did very recent events. Then again, she had been a Hogwarts student not so long ago - though she could confirm, with all of her heart, that she had also been kind of, if not utterly, dumb. Then again, she'd also been iconic, so maybe sometimes this dumbness wasn't such a bad thing, after all.

"Reparo," she incanted towards the broken window, and the glass shards flew up to meld back into the pane before the boy reached the floor and stepped on any. "Only in Hogwarts," she snickered as the tink-tink-tink of glass ringing against glass fit back into place floated over their heads. "Are you hurt at all? Crashing through glass ain't exactly comfy." And yes, she knew that from experience.

She was not, however, expecting to hear footsteps running toward as the broom reached the floor and feel arms thrown around her waist. Her own arms came down automatically, even in her shock, to accept the embrace and pat him on the back. "Yeah, I guess that's true," she responded after her surprise had worn off, chuckling. "I am a mad scientist, after all."

But the phrase that got her attention was the next one - people out there are getting way more hurt than I could have. Her incredulous laughter died away at that, her features shifting into those of alert concern. There had been strange happenings recently, outside the castle and inside. If this was one of them, there was no time to be wasted. And as Piérre explained, she nodded, conflicted on whether to congratulate them for their initiative or to palm her face at their hindsight. But she understood all too well, and right now the matter was not to think of discipline, but to keep everyone safe. Things going wrong would be a lesson in itself - if they didn't learn why the ball had been prohibited after this, why, then, it'd just be natural selection.

Not that she could see the lights that he mentioned, of course. But as he pulled away, she motioned for Ceta, leaning down a bit to tell her quietly, "Fetch Artemis for me, and Miss KK, fast as they can get here. You heard all that, right? Fill them in." These two were some of the most skilled at the arcane she knew, not to mention possibly the easiest to convince not to send out a mass detention - they were kids, they made mistakes, even big ones. The elf disappeared with a loud crack that echoed across the high ceiling of the hall, and she twirled her wand with a quick mutter under her breath, summoning her jacket onto her in an instant.

"Mosps," she muttered, wracking her brain for what she knew about them. "They usually stay in the Forbidden Forest... they were probably drawn to the flowers, if you guys had them in the Blossomball, we usually block the scent if we need to do something with a lot of flowers outdoors. Red ones are aggressive, purple ones are usually just curious unless you attack them, but those stingers can be..." She trailed off with a grimace, not wanting to scare the boy, but sent the doors open with a flick of her wand and a short incantation. "Vernatis and Kat - that's the new Astronomy professor - will be here in a second, I need you to give me all the details you can in the meantime," she told him quickly, checking her wand holster quickly and exchanging her skirt for pants with another spell.

Getting @Artemis Vernatis and @Kateri Karr

It was about nine at night when Artemis decided that he would call it a night and try to relax in his quarters with a nightcap and some light reading to clear his mind. He was wondering idly about everything that had happend in the last month and his mind wandered back to the discussion from a month ago about the Headmaster. The man was still missing and they didn't know where to even begin. But dwelling on the "where you could be" wasn't going to help anyone. So until the next staff meeting about this situation came up, Artemis was going to relax and do his part by making sure the wards were up to date and ensuring that the students were all protected from now until they left for the summer.

And speaking of the students, they should all be in their common rooms by now; safe and playing whatever games teenagers play on the weekened after curfew or getting themselves ready for bed. It wasn't his night to patrol the cooridors but he doubt that there would be any rule breakers. These kids know that something is going on and desire to be safe as much as the professors want them to be safe.

'It was going to be a peaceful night.' The man thought to himself as he took a sip of his drink.

A soft 'POP' sounded next to him and though he wouldn't admit it, the little elf startled him a bit. He recognized the elf as Cypress' elf and wondered what the woman could want from him this late at night. Artemis sighed. "Unless it's life and death, whatever your mistress wants from me will have to wait until breakfast tomorrow."

The little creature bowed before speaking to him. "There is trouble mister Arty, sir."

'Arty?' the man raised an eyebrow in thought. The elf continued, "Trouble with the students. One student crashed through the window in the Entrance Hall and is talking to young Miss. Many students are in danger, sir. Young Miss requests that you come to her quickly." she finished before popping away.

"Crashed through the window? The hell?" Artemis quickly stood up and put his cup on the table in front of him. He grabbed his robes from where he tossed them and hurried out of the door to his quarters, letting the door close and disappear as he ran down the hall. Three flights of stairs, taking two at a time, Artemis ran through the school until he skid to a stop right next to Cypress and her elf. The new Astronomy professor was standing nearby as well. Artemis inhaled a few times to catch his breath before looking sternly at the student in front of them and asked, "What...happened? And why are you out of your common room?"

It had been a long way to go for the new Professor to settle herself in completely to her news surroundings. A quiet night was exactly the sort of evening Kateri had been looking forward to since arriving at the castle. Tonight wasn’t going to be that night however.

Arms crossed and enjoying the fresh night air, Kateri stood on the outer top of the Astronomy tower. She had debated going for a run but as per her office hour listing felt she would just stick around for the night in case anyone should need anything. With the year coming to an end and her just having joined the staff she wasn’t sure if there would be even more students coming to call on her for help or just out of curiosity as some others already had. Finding a peace as her deep brown eyes scanned the skyline, the stars above flickering calmly overhead. That’s when she saw it. Red flashes off in the distance. She felt her hackles raise and whirled around at the familiar crack noise of an elf materializing.

Nope, no peace tonight. The young professor would quickly learn what it truly meant to work at Hogwarts.

—*—*—

”What is going on?” Kateri had run from the tower all the way to the hall at the request of Lian’s elf. She let out a breath as she strode towards the Professor, noticing a student speaking to her. Looking the boy up and down she tried to asses what his role was in this supposed chaos. Turning her attention back to Cypresse, Kateri motioned a hand towards the direction of the pitch. ”I noticed something off while in the tower but it wasn’t long before Ceta got ahold of me.” She was about to explain the sight of what clearly must have been a Periculum when another voice thrummed through the room. Another Professor joined the small group and seemed as equally concerned about the situation but also the student who stood near Lian.

@Cypresse Lian, @Artemis Vernatis, & @Kateri Karr

Of course. Charms to dull the scent of the flowers. The boy had indeed seen how the Mosps had been attracted to the scents; or at least how the purplish ones like Philipe had been. The boy let his mind wander as he thought about what was possibly happening to his lit_ big insect friend. He had seemed gentle enough, despite the imposing-looking stingers. The more Piérre was thinking about it, the less the name Mosp made sense... they were almost like mosquitoes, save for the stinger. The stinger should have been on the bugs' noses... that would explain why some were aggressive and some were gentler; or at least more docile. Could that be comparable with male and female mosquitoes; the females that suck blood and the males that usually sustained themselves on plant sap?

Forcing himself to shake free of his wild musings, Piérre refocused on Miss Cy. As many detail as possible... Taking a deep breath and nodding to himself, Piérre tried to recall as much information has he could. There had been so much in that brief time. Perhaps he should have stayed longer, if only so that he could have found more information to make it easier on Miss Cy and the other Professors that were soon going to show up to help.

"Well, it was a normal ball. It was really nice. I went out in my Quidditch outfit, like most of the group did in order to stay partially disguised... Oh no, my uniform is still out there!" Star-talking, one of Piérre's favorite pastimes... or at least it was a pastime he accidentally engaged in. "Never mind! So, there was typical stuff; dancing, playing, arguing... then a couple of kids got into a fist fight over something or other. It was a Ravenclaw who was apparently a witness of Harry Potter's murder of Umbridge, Vladi-mire? Vladimire!" Piérre did not mention his captain's name, for the Ravenclaw who had thrown punches as well seemed a little too shady to be trusted. He had seen the bag that the fellow had been carrying around after all, and the boy had looked dapper. If there were two things that Piérre had learned from cliché movies, it was that there were two things that could never be trusted: Men in fancy suits with a low profile, and men in suits with a low profile carrying suspicious-looking bags.

It seemed that Piérre's ADHD-like energy was starting to take over, for his fingers were twitching on the broom handle. "After the first few punches... the lights went out; like, the candles were snuffing out one by one, as if to make a statement or a villainous entrance. Fire ensued." Piérre had seen flames of the flowers that the Mosps had been attracted to, and he had been sad to see the bugs almost squealing in pain, even if they could have been a threat...

"And I met Philipe." Piérre said rather clumsily. "He's a purple Mosp that came my way, and he's really cute and friendly, and please don't hurt him." Piérre rattled off one thing after another. "Then I called Charevelynn: Charlie and Evelynn to Alley Oop me and then I came crashing through and here I am Miss Cy!" Piérre gasped foor breath. "I wish that I could have known more... but... that's all I know."

By this time Katty had shown up and Piérre turned to look at his newest professor. With a huge smile to see a friendly-ish looking face, Piérre waved eccentrically, trusting that hopefully Miss Cy could fill in or abbreviate what he had already mentioned to her. Not long after, Mister Arby's showed up. Mister Artie was a more familiar face, and whenever Piérre saw him, he always thought that Mister Artie should have like, a Baconator or a Son of Baconator on hand... Mister Arby's... haha...

As Mister Arty began to shout though, Piérre's smile broke and he winced as his ears lowered and folded down to protect his hearing. He hadn't meant to break the rules. Well, that was wrong... he had meant to break the rules, but... he hadn't meant for these terrible events to take place. Surely not everything he had done up to this point had been wrong. After all, he had come to get help. But then again, these were adults. Adults sometimes had difficulty seeing into the minds of children; the eccentricities, the honesty, the love that never seemed to vanish... and the fear. So much fear that could come of a tiny vessel.

"I know, Mister Arty... but please, please wait to give me a detention until we can help the rest of the students!" Piérre attempted to reason his side of things... the side in which he had crashed through a window and started wailing like a banshee. "Then I'd feel good doing whatever punishment you see fit for me to perform, okay?" Piérre smiled wanly, kicking his feet above the ground and beginning to hover closer to the door, prepared to throw it open for the three of them. The Terrible Trio indeed!

Leaves the thread to move to the Ball

Fire, mosps, random fight with this Vladimir dude. Sounded like a typical Hogwarts event. She stashed the three in the back of her memory for safekeeping. If the purple mosps weren't bothered, then they should be relatively happy to frolick among the flowers, oblivious to what their red-colored counterparts were up to. Unfortunately, she had a feeling not all of them were purple.

It really was strange being a professor now. On one hand, she'd been in Piérre's place not so long ago, thrumming with energy to get out there into the action, whether it was for the adventure or because sitting and waiting just didn't feel right. On the other, she could never bear the guilt of bringing a child out there after they got out and getting them hurt, so she quite clearly understood that professor's decision.

But her vacillation didn't amount to much, because if she knew Piérre and his mischievousness, a trait that almost matched her own, then she knew that he probably wouldn't stay put even if Mr. Artie's words were correct, however convincing they were. So as soon as the charms professor turned away, she bent down a little—she didn't really need to, the woman was barely an inch or two over five feet tall—and whispered in the student's ear. "Look, hon, I know I can't control whether you're going to dart back out there or not, even if I tell you that what Professor Vernatis said is true, which it is. I totally get it. But whether or not you stay, here: Ferula." Cy made a tapping motion mid-air, and a roll of bandages and splints fell into her hand. "You don't know the spell yet, but you can try to tie these manually to anyone who might have gotten hurt. Stay safe, okay?"

And with that she gave him a quick hug and reached out for Miss KK's hand, hoping not to fall too far behind Mr. Artie. "No detentions," she grumbled to her guide as she followed. "Isn't the punishment of this mess enough? If anything, just make them clean stuff up. They were going to have to do that anyway. And if they're stupid enough to try this again, then, why, it's just natural selection."

@Artemis Vernatis, @Cypresse Lian, & @Kateri Karr
Terribly sorry for a terribly late response

Piérre had no intent to stand idly by while he knew that both innocent creatures driven by nature or forces not under their own control and students like himself were being harmed. It neither was in his nature or his house's cliché expectations. However, Piérre himself was not cliché, and he never wanted to be that way; so when Mister Arty gently guided the first year off his broom, green eyes stared at him inquisitively and with something that almost looked like hurt. The Charms teacher was trying to obviously act as a father figure. A father figure that was a rather shaky pillar in Piérre's shaky and ever-changing life.

There was much truth in everything that Mister Arty had said; things about getting students back in once piece, things about perhaps guiding them back to the Hospital wing... that mention of guilt if the Britalian was harmed after returning to the chaos that he had been thrown from. Piérre did not disagree with anything, but the conditions under which he was being told to simply stand idly by were impossible to ignore. Getting students to swallow their pride in thinking that they could destroy any threat that came to them? That was about as easy as trying to think of the Nemean Lion as a kitten (granted, Piérre did think of that beast as a misguided kitten, but that was besides the point). The Hospital Wing being a safe place to recuperate? Nope. Not after what Piérre had seen on Valentine's day with the incantation of the Sectumsepra curse. As far as being harmed himself?

That was a risk that the Britalian was willing to take.

Piérre was not a bad liar. His experience with telling tall tales and bluffing the truth or warping it into semi-believable fairy recollections had somewhat silvered his tongue and general countenance. He knew how to fake just about anything with the moxie and the slyness of any Slytherin. Who knew, maybe he had fooled the Sorting Hat itself...

Wordlessly, Piérre nodded numbly, already feeling the stab in his heart as he felt the loss of trust that Mister Arty had stated that he had in the Britalian. He would understand... surely. Piérre didn't like to lose trust; it was the only thing that made him feel as if he was not a thorn in everyone's sides. But, he was a decent spellcaster, even if he was not a tank or a stalwart individual. He knew how to stay out of the action, how to manipulate variables to his best interest. They were skills he never utilized often, but they were skills and proficiencies nonetheless. Call him Chaotic Chaotic. There was no stopping the Storm.

With a ruffling of his hair, which Piérre could not help but smile at-- it was an action that Carlos had performed often-- Mister Arty was out the door with Piérre's broom, leaving the Britalian feeling rather helpless, but determined. Already, the Astronomy professor, Miss KK, was gone, no doubt having followed the Charms teacher. It was only Piérre and Miss Cy now.

Bandages and splints fell into his hands. A bandaging spell. Looking at Miss Cy, though he knew that she could not see him, Piérre whispered back, just loud enough for her to hear. "I'm no healer, Miss Cy, but I'll try. I'll see you there."

The interpretation was hers to divine.

A few beats after the professors left, Piérre offered a few of the bandages to the first few people who came in from the chaos. "Nurse duty. Don't let anyone go to the Hospital Wing, please. Just trust me on this one."

Bracing himself for any and everything, Piérre sprinted out the door, prepared for the worst. Unfortunately, death didn't seem to understand--

One does not simply kill an Italian.
They keep coming back.

Back off to the Secret Blossom Ball