Blossom Ball Dancefloor Event Closed

"-and I missed that conversation. I don't know what his motives are but... I don't know, things just seem... weird."

Xailah nodded at the girl. Precisely. Something is wrong. Very, very wrong. She was beginning to feel upset, when the blond stated that she had no information, but then the boy spoke.

“Hi, first of all, my name is Arc. What’s yours?”

She was hesitant to tell them her name. She leaned closer to the group so that only they could hear. "Xailah. My name is Xailah." She didn't want others to hear. Not now.

“Secondly, that big boy’s name is Edwin. Heard of him?"

She couldn't help but let out a short chuckle, "Edwin? Aha, what is he? A freaking bird?...Ssssorry the boy has a funny name, but it is unfamiliar to me. Anywayssss, continue." She said with a settle wave of her hand. She did a little spin, as she listened to the boy give a description of Edwin. Rosie Turner huh? Name sounds familiar. Xailah wouldn't say anything just yet, not until she heard what all of them had to say.

"Not sure if you know me from the Common Room, but I'm Raine Sage. I don't think I have any information about this party that you don't already know. The boys that the Headmaster is dressing down right now may have spiked the punch but I'm not one-hundred percent sure about that. What I do know, is that that giant kid over there with that girl on the dance floor,"

When the girl finished, Xailah tapped her temple with two fingers. "Thissss boy is indeed up to no good. I overheard him talking with his group. They sssseem to be targeting people with no partnerssss, and who drank the punch." She paused for a second to look at the tall boy dancing with the ginger. "I thought nothing of the conversation, until one ssssaid: Do you think anyone is going to miss her." then she pointed over to the older boy that she was previously with. "I cut him with some glass laced with the punch. I plan to quessstion him in about," she pulled her pocket watch from her side, glancing at the time "-in about twelve minutes now. I told him to meet me in the woodssss near here, but he might be a no-show."

She turned back to the group. "I hate to ask but if he sssstays here, can one of you question him? See if the punch affected him? Maybe we can get more answerssss-" She was interrupted by screaming. Fire. Lots and lots of fire. Lovely, but deadly. And for a second a little voice in her head told her to run and help the other people.

No. Too many cooks spoil the broth. There were already plenty of people helping, and there was bound to be more help coming. The blonde that was in the group ran to help the other people. Xailah reached out to grab the girl, but the blonde was already out of reach. "We can't worry about the fire. If Edwin and his group are ssssmart enough, they will use that fire as a opportunity to take Rosie out of thissss area. Now, I can't sssstop you if you feel the need to help out with the fire, but you ssssshould consider the fact that we are probably the only people who know ssssomething is up." She stepped closer to the small group. "How would you feel if ssssomething happened to that girl; knowing that you had the chance to help her, but didn't take that chance?" She shook her head. "That fire is the least of our problemssss, more people are willing to put out a fire; over helping a sssstranger." She looked at the group, her gold eyes now red from the light of the fire. "Choice is yourssss. Help them, or help her."

Interactions: EVERYONE NEAR THE FIRE.

Clearly smaller than most of the first years around the fire, Eris pushed herself through the tangled mass of limbs, clinging onto her water bottle as it eventually ran out of water. When the Slytherin girl yelled at her, the panicked Gryffindor let out a noise of utter disgust, pointing to the burn marks upon her face. "I'-'ve- been through this before." Her tone was panicked, fevored really, as she looked around for more objects to aid in putting out the fire.

Eris managed an apologetic wince, realising she had come off as far too headstrong and rude. But, there was no time to take away her words. For, they really were the truth. They had to do everything to stop this fire, to make sure that nobody else found themselves stuck in the hospital wing like she had been, without friends or any aid in dealing with burns.

She took a deep breath but found no sense of relief in breathing. This always happened. Every year, fire marred every event. Every goddamn year, every goddamn event. It wasn't fair, but life wasn't fair. And she hated it. She had the most authority here, she realised. If two girls had responded to her screaming, they were looking for someone to lead and help the situation. And as the Fawley Heiress, perfectly trained in analyzing situations and running them, she may have a chance in stopping the fire before it did anything else monstrous.

The more she stared at the fire, the more panicked she got. And, without Eris noticing, and without any prodding, her hair turned a melancholy shade of dark blue. The colour that Eris' hair often reverted to when she was panicked or saddened, it was a stark change from her ginger locks.

Cursing the professors for not teaching them spells about water, she turned to the line of people starting to pour water. Looking at the blonde Slytherin in charge of that, small stature making Eris have to stare up at the American girl, she rushed over to her. Admitably, Eris was small enough that running took an awfully large toll out of her, each of her footsteps larger, as her feet pounded against the ground in a desperate chase to meet the Slytherin girl. Once she arrived, Eris panted, having regained her former gusto, knowing that others were willing to try and help out. Unlike the last time, she wasn't alone with just one person. There was a whole group.

Seemingly calm again, Eris looked at the blonde Slytherin girl and managed a smirk. "Lovely day to be burnt alive, wouldn't you say?" She teased, finding humour to be an excellent way to cope with the fact their whole school was about to go up in flame. If she could make someone else smile or laugh, at least she was doing something alright before her eventual death by flame.

God, she wished she had more water. This was all very stupid, and very panic-inducing. But, while Eris was wishing upon things she did not have, the black haired girl from before came charging up to the makeshift group that had assembled. She also heeded the words of the black haired girl.

Blowing an errant strand of hair out of her eyes, Eris nodded her head. "Can't hurt to try. There's a bloody pack of us around here. Some of us can dip the tablecloths and the rest can start the water train.

Interacting with: @Eris Fawley and @Summer Hearst

Pride made her want to ignore the second year. Between the way she'd barked at the younger students, and flippant behavior towards the fire, Illowy didn't quite want to listen to her. Call it a stroke of the ego, however, when the girl agreed that Illowy's idea might possibly work that made her nod, "We'll give it a shot then." she looked back once more over her shoulder, "Before anything will work though, we have to keep breaking up the tables. Its like when birthday candles are too close and it makes one really tall flame." she explained, swallowing hard before looking back between the two girls.

Between the blonde she figured could manage and direct the water vase idea, and the second year who clearly had an unsavory past with fire, Illowy decided to herself it would just make more sense for her to keep on making firebreaks between the tables the way she had been before to manage the height of the flames, "Gryffindor," she spoke towards Eris, still unsure of her name, "Can you try to get a couple tablecloths as wet as possible and we'll try to get them over the fire, okay?" wither the girl would actually listen to her or not was beyond the younger girl, but still holding tight to the vases, she started back towards the fire.

Within just a few feet, the hot air was blowing her hair back a little. No time to cower back, she put her vases down and began pouring the water out near the edge of the table before starting to gather up her dress skirt in her hands. Using the fabric like oven mitts, she started shoving the table as quickly as she could, trying to put a foot or two between the next table. Once satisfied, she picked up one more face and continued on in the pattern.

(Attempted) INTERACTIONS: Eris Fawley & Professor Lear

Mentions: Cecily Quinn, everyone at the fire

Adam hadn't even realized what was happening until Eris screamed. It was a terrifying scream, aimed right in his ear, as she'd been about to talk to him beforehand. Like that of a banshee, or a murder victim, perhaps, it shocked him out of his party haze and drew his attention immediately to the pyre rising from the downed table. Of course. He didn't know how the fire had started, too involved in his own inner conflict to have been paying attention, but it had to have been another student. Who else could have done it?

Sometimes the other students at Hogwarts absolutely confounded the young boy. Most of them, or at least the ones that he'd talked to, seemed to be perfectly friendly -- and perfectly normal. There were a few, however, that maybe shouldn't have made it through the doors at all. Usually Adam hated to speak badly about anyone, but there was still a lingering sensation from that feeling from earlier, making the truth spill forth just a little bit easier even in silence. How on earth had the professors taken a look at someone like Kaegen Deathmote and decided that he could attend school with the rest of them? Why, he'd nearly killed Adam in first year, even if it had been Adam's fault. And what about Charles York, the culprit of last year's ballroom fire? He was willing to bet that the person responsible for this current blaze was just as unhinged and irresponsible. Just as dangerous. Why wasn't something being done to regulate any of their near-criminal behavior?

Well, it was too late for any of that now. The fire had started, and it was roaring higher and higher as he worried. The sight of it frightened Adam, a wild force burning unchecked, and he couldn't imagine what it was doing to Eris. That had to be his first priority in all of this -- making sure Eris was okay. She'd certainly be terrified; he'd seen the way she looked at her burns and scars from the last time around. As he reached forward to guide her gently away from the scene, however, he found that she was already gone. His hand met empty air as she dashed forward towards the flame, and he stumbled forward with the momentum in surprise. Frightened for both her safety and sanity, Adam tried to call out to his friend over the noise but found his voice falling far too short of her ears. "Eris! What are you doing?!"

There was no way that this could turn out well. It was Eris and a bunch of first years at the scene, trying their best to figure out a solution to the fire on the spot, but while they put their heads together the flames weren't getting any smaller. Nothing they could do would help -- how could it? They were no older than 13, far from equipped for this task. Eris's feeble water supply had already been used to little effect. By the time they got one table out, another would surely catch, and it could easily spread to the grass below. They'd all get hurt, or even worse, killed.

The only solution seemed to be to find a professor, or an older student, maybe. Adam spun in a circle, trying to see over the shoulders of the upper-years around him to find someone that looked like they knew what to do. He knew he'd seen the headmaster out here at one point -- was it worth it to call out for him? It certainly couldn't hurt. "Professor Lear! Professor Lear! Fire!" He was essentially shouting at nothing, as the old man could have already left the scene and he would be none the wiser. In the moment, however, it was all that he could think to do. "Fire! Someone help!"

As the fear that accompanied the minor crisis swelled up in Adam, he finally broke into motion, but not in any direction that would help. Instead he found himself headed in the opposite direction of the fire, leaving Eris and the others behind to deal with the blaze. He told himself that he was looking for a professor, but really he couldn't stand to be near the table where someone might get hurt. Apparently, Adam was no good in an emergency. What a way to find out. He found refuge behind a tall, wide tree and sunk to his knees, leaning against the trunk and breathing hard. He wasn't the one with a traumatic history, and yet the flames bothered him still. This place was supposed to be safe, wasn't it? It didn't feel very safe at the moment.

In all the chaos, the boy had completely forgotten about Cecily Quinn, the girl that he'd called over only to disappear in the next moment. Hopefully, Cecily would understand the sudden shift in action. The circumstances warranted such a thing, didn't they? In a moment, Adam would go and help, one way or another. In just a moment, he'd find Eris and Cecily and they'd stop the fire successfully.

Or he could stay here, safe and unscathed, behind this tree. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad after all.

Interacting with @Erin Ryan and briefly, @Andrew Vance.
Mentions that mess of a fire.

Elijah smiled widely at both Erin and Andrew before he gently escorted her onto the dance floor, although he couldn't help but feel that she seemed to be more in control than he was. It wasn't a feeling that he enjoyed at all, and her comment unnerved him. What did she mean, an empty kettle? Was he not brilliant? Witty? Charming? He had never had to impress someone before, and this girl was clearly hard to impress. 

So then why did he want to impress her so badly?

He decided that it had something to do with pride. He was proud of his ability to get along with everyone, to trick them into thinking that he was their friend, that he truly valued them. He was the person who lied his way into every situation- and though he didn't know it, or about its existence, he would've been ruined by the veritaserum-spiked punch. Telling the truth all the time would completely destroy him and his reputation amongst his classmates- plus, lots of ugly thoughts that he normally kept inside his head would come spilling out, which certainly wasn't a good idea in the slightest.

A meal. So she wanted to make a meal out the students, tearing them apart with her teeth... or her words. Honestly, from the look of her, it was probably both. Her next words only backed up her first few words, and Elijah decided that he instinctively admired this girl in some strange, twisted way. He knew he shouldn't admire such a strange and twisted girl, but he couldn't help but applaud her ruthlessness and ballsy-ness. If only he could be a little more like her, a little bolder, but instead, he was simply subtle and abstruse.

"Dance is perhaps the one thing I can consistently do reliably," Elijah answered, staring defiantly into the slightly taller girl's eyes. The statement was, of course, true. He had been taught to dance from a young age, and besides intaking loads of information at once, it was, perhaps, the only thing he could do consistently well. "I can lead quite well, thanks." Gently placing his hand just above her waist, he took her other hand in his and tilted his head slightly, listening to the music. His feet began to move, his arm making sure to keep Erin the regulated 9 inches away from his body.

He stiffened slightly as Erin commented on his attire, taking some rather grand assumptions as to the cause of his lack of a suit. He forced himself to relax, however, and decided to be just as brutally honest as she seemed to be. What could it hurt? It was just one person, and an older student at that. It wasn't like he would ruin anything big, like he would cause his huge fortress of a facade to come crashing down. "Neither, surprisingly," Elijah answered candidly, letting go of her waist for a moment to spin her as gracefully as one could spin someone taller than them. "I came down for food, maybe to mess with someone, and instead found a poor boy in desperate need of a Prince Charming to save him. So, here I am... dancing with the devil herself, apparently."

However, he had to admit, the flames caught his attention and kept it, and he shot a glance towards it. "Do you feel like playing heroine tonight, Miss?" Elijah asked Erin, glancing back toward her. "Or perhaps instigator?" Because in his opinion, both were viable options, and both were roles that Elijah had played at some point in his life. As a hero, he was kind and charming, bold and brave. But, like with every under-the-radar activity, he was a subtle instigator who knew how to avoid the blame, should it come to that. He waited for Erin to make her choice, still dancing with her.

Elizabeth dropped down to the ground, coughing and gasping. This was useless. The didn’t even budge. Not even a little bit. Why couldn’t I be half giant, she thought, crawling away from the fire as fast as humanly possible.

She reached the others who were trying to take out the fire just as they began discussing getting a tablecloth wet. “What will we do? Throw the wet tablecloth on the fire?” she asked, still sitting down on the ground. She felt breathless and weak. She tried to take a deep breath, but instead coughed. Her eyes stung and her arms and face burned as well as her hands. No more trying to save the day. She just wanted the fire out. She didn’t care how.

She stood up, moved to the nearest table, and began throwing the plates and paper cups onto the ground beside it. Here’s a vase, she said weakly, handing it to anyone who would take it. Then she grabbed the tablecloth and began pulling at it, letting it drag into the ground. “Can someone take the other side?” she asked, hoarsely as she made her way toward the fountain. I’m never going to another party, she thought miserably. And if there is any trouble again, I’m getting as far away as I can.

Interactions: everyone by the fire

Interacting with @Nico Shymane

It didn't take them too long until they arrived at the scene, well, approached more like it. Nico was holding onto Alex's robe while he was leading the way to the main area of the party. As they got closer, the noise started to make sense, so did the light. It was fire, just like he thought, just like last year, someone set one of the tables on fire, he doesn't remember how that was resolved last time, but with the amount of people gathering around it, it seemed like they got it covered.

He was looking around for a bit to try and spot the stand with the refreshments and as he was looking he saw someone rushing with a large bowl filled with some sort of purplish liquid. The student quickly disappeared into the crowd huddled around the flames and yelps of disappointment echoed from the scene, whatever it is they tried to do there didn't seem to work. So much for his plans to help the Nico. He thought that it couldn't have been the only beverage served in that party, but as they reached the tables holding the various dishes, turns out it was. Alex looked at Nico for a moment and pondered for a solution.

"Ah!"

He exclaimed suddenly as an idea struck, well, more like a memory. He just recalled that Erin told him about a stash of butter beer back at the lake, not ideal but it would do.

"Doesn't seem like we'd get any drinks here... Though, I just remembered that I can get us some butter beer if you're up for it"

He mentioned quite casually, he wasn't quite aware that butter beer is not something anyone could get, especially not on school grounds, but he did get a similar impression from Erin the other day.

"Its near the lake, actually not far from where I found you, if you're not tired we could go there and get some now"

He started feeling somewhat parched himself, butter beer just felt like a good idea at the time though he would likely regret mentioning it at that very moment sometime in the future. Nonetheless it would be worth it to go and get it if she'd agree, the fire didn't seem that interesting anymore anyway, there's so many people there that its pretty much being taken care of and it wont be long before the professors would arrive to handle the situation either.

Interacting with @Alexander Cloverfield

[/center]She sticked close to Alex, still holding onto his sleeve gently but tight. Arriving at the Dancefloor, Nico couldn't believe what she saw. The Dancefloor that once looked so beautiful and peaceful was now a source of chaos and fear. Her eyes darted from student to student: some tried to throw the punch on the fire, which failed miserably. And now they're trying something with tablecloths and bottles of water... Nico wasn't sure if it would work out but there were alot of people helping to put out the fire. Surely, it would be taken care of soon.

Alex guided her past the chaos, stopping by the now empty bowl of punch. No drinks here it seemed. His eyes met hers. He didn't really look at her, it was more an absentminded stare where he thought to himself... Or something. His plan was foiled...

"Ah!" He suddenly exclaimed. Nico shrugged shortly, in surprise by his sudden 'Eureka' moment. ''Doesn't seem like we'd get any drinks here... Though, I just remembered that I can get us some butter beer if you're up for it"

B-Butter beer... She had no idea what that was. Looking down at the crest of his house, she tried to think what 'butter beer' could be. Was it... Butter in a glass? Or was it ... beer made of butter? Did her father ever drink something like that? Or was this another one of those things that are known in the magical world? Many questions rose but... trying it wouldn't hurt, would it?

"Its near the lake, actually not far from where I found you, if you're not tired we could go there and get some now"

'I-I have never tried it.. nor.. do I know what that is.. B-But .. Sure! I want to give it a try.' Her iceblue eyes looked up at him as she smiled abit shy, blushing. Aslong as he didn't leave her side tonight, she didn't mind. As quick as they came here, they left the scene, back to the Lake. Nico looked over her shoulder a couple of times, at the flames that licked.

The Care of Magical Creatures professor had been summoned by a young Gryffindor who had been looking for a shovel. He had started towards the Campgrounds at a moderate rate of speed that drastically increased when he saw the billowing smoke cloud that was rising above the treetops. So he moved faster, leaving the little boy behind as his long legs propelled him towards the problem. On the way there, he saw two students, one of which he recognized as Nico Shymane, from R.O.A.M.

She was smiling, and blushing, and walking away from the fire. His eyes narrowed at both of them for the brief moments it took before they walked out of sight, towards the lake. He doubted they had even looked his way, but if they had it would have been fairly obvious that he was not very happy. A short while later his mood worsened as he saw a fire very much out of control, as well as several students who at least were putting up a decent fight. A decent fight that wasn't doing much good, but it was the effort that counted. Sort of.

The welshman took a deep breath, and went through "Griffith's rules for dangerous natural phenomenon". The first, was to make sure that it wasn't in your head. He had a passable knowledge of Occlumensy, so that didn't take much more than a second to verify. The second was to make sure that it was a real fire, not a magical unquenchable fire. Reaching into his pocket for his wand, he mumbled

"Finite Incantatem"

And was happy to see no effects. So it was probably just a normal fire then, that was pretty easy to deal with as long as none of the students got hurt in the process. His sharp eyes made a quick, more or less accurate assessment of the students that were getting tangled with the fiery mess. He saw one student take off running, he saw a few students flat out ignoring the burning blaze, which irritated him to no end, and a few girls throwing pitchers of water and such at the blaze.

He did recognize one of them, a girl by the name of Eris Fawley. She reminded him of a little dragon, and they had spent some time sending owls back and forth. A funny little girl that certainly did not need to be fighting fires. Neither did any of the other students present. As upset as the professor was, however, he handled creatures for a living, and a hobby. He knew exactly how to be calm in an emergency, to walk and talk and breathe with a perfectly collected confidence that broadcast clearly his ability to deal with whatever was coming.

"Back away from the fire, and stay together. Don't leave the area until after I've handled this. If any of you are a prefect, you're in charge of making sure the rest of you stay. If there isn't a prefect, I'm putting Ms. Fawley in charge."

It was the logical choice, she looked to be the only second year currently fighting the fire, and she had been prefect in the past. Plus, she was the only one he actually knew, which did help his judgement call a bit. He was going to have to question them later, and mop up whatever horrible mess careless students had been causing.

Pointing his wand at the fire again, the professor spoke clearly, and firmly. He was going to put out the fire, and then deal with the students, and hopefully not be forced to deal with both at the same time. Where were the chaperones, even? Why had no one dealt with this before him, why had it taken a kid running to find a shovel to even get a professor?

"Aguamenti."

A jet of water starts to blast at the fire, weakening it and beginning to put it out. It wasn't all that hard to see that the professor was getting the upper hand in the conflict, and once the fire was down a little bit he moved closer and began to stomp on embers and little fires with his boot to focus more on the larger blaze, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the students were getting on okay. They were the main priority, but to help them he had to first take out the flames.

Illowy didn't think she'd ever been so happy to see a professor in her life. While it would still be some time before she would be taking his class, she at least knew who he was. Without hesitation, she put more space between herself and the fire, dashing past the wizard and back towards the group of girls she'd been working with, wheezing a bit from the mix of exertion and smoke.

Arms wrapped around herself, she watched the wizard intently as with a wave of his wand and a spell she was now intent on learning, he began the task of extinguishing the blaze. As water washed over the flames, it was like relief was washing over her as well, heart now longer feeling like it might very well burst out of her chest. Though she still wished she could have done more to help, she was more then happy to leave it to an adult.

For a moment, the Professor looked back at the lot of students and she couldn't help but echo his action, looking around herself. As far as she knew, no one was too terribly injured. The young Slytherin then looked down at herself. Dress ruined, sweater lost to the fire; she looked subtly over her hands and arms, the stinging becoming gradually more apparent as the adrenaline slowed, and blistering in some places starting to set in; now wasn't the time to fuss about that. She'd deal with it once she was sure the fire was completely out.