Allegra Thornton
Hogwarts Staff
Administrative Assistant Witch
^it's just me^
Posts: 2,420
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Post by Allegra Thornton on Jan 4, 2007 20:01:45 GMT -5
Lockdowns seemed to happen more and more often lately, but Allegra always took them seriously. She had been working in the library when Ticloon had made the announcement. Without even stopping to think about what it could be about, she rushed up to the common room, threw her books on the couch and yelled up the steps to the dorms. "OKAY GUYS! You heard the Headmistress! Head count! Get down here now!" Yes, she'd give everyone still roaming the castle a few moments to get up to the tower, but Merlin help anyone who decided to ignore the lockdown. {the time would be aprox. 8pm, btw. Post that you were asleep and I'm calling the nurse }
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Post by kaymerrickson on Jan 4, 2007 21:34:30 GMT -5
Kay stumbled down the steps from her dorm room to the common room below two at a time. It probably would be a bad idea to be late to the summons, and she really didn't want to risk anyone's wrath at the moment. She was about halfway down when she realized that she hadn't brought along anything to do, so she raced back upstairs, grabbed her History of Magic book, and ran right back down the stairs. She was really wondering why she had to report to the Common Room, since she was already up in her dorm. Reaching the common room, she noticed that it was empty besides for the Head Girl. Sitting down in one of the chairs, Kay called out, "I'm here. What's wrong?"
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Allegra Thornton
Hogwarts Staff
Administrative Assistant Witch
^it's just me^
Posts: 2,420
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Post by Allegra Thornton on Jan 4, 2007 21:45:29 GMT -5
"Lockdown... fire someplace on the grounds apparently," Allegra answered, flopping into a chair and opening her book. She hated fires, but from the smell of smoke in the air she could tell this one was much smaller than the last one the school had gone through. She would do her best to keep her panic at bay by getting some studying done. That was the ticket.
"They just need to make sure we're all accounted for and keep everyone out of the way while they get it out," she continued, her words sounding a lot calmer than what she was feeling inside.
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Post by roarbitz on Jan 4, 2007 23:54:25 GMT -5
Jack stepped through the portal, wondering why the head mistress was ordering everyone back to their houses. He made it through just in time to hear Allegra tell another girl that they were trying to make sure that everyone was accounted for. “Why do we need a head count at eight?” he asked a bit confused about what was going on. He had already been on his way up here from the kitchens when he heard the announcement but still hadn’t seen anything really out of place. There was however a smell that suggested that it was a fire that had caused the sudden lock down of the school.
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Allegra Thornton
Hogwarts Staff
Administrative Assistant Witch
^it's just me^
Posts: 2,420
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Post by Allegra Thornton on Jan 5, 2007 1:04:33 GMT -5
She clicked Jack off of her mental tally and had to take a deep breath and remind herself that it was still way to early to panic over missing people. Kellen, Drew, Ari, the firsties... Merlin, she hoped someone steered Patrick Burmin in the right direction.
No, she couldn't start worrying yet. She had to be calm.
"There's a fire or something," she told Jack non-chalantly, turning the page of her book though she had no clue what it was she had just read. "It's just a safety precaution is all."
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Kellen McCrea
Wizard
Healer-In-Training
Hey. Don't lose your spirit.
Posts: 152
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Post by Kellen McCrea on Jan 5, 2007 1:37:34 GMT -5
As soon as Kellen got to the common room, he started a mental headcount, too. Another pair of eyes couldn't hurt anything. It was still early, though, and he seriously doubted this fire was as big a deal as the last one. Some students might even think it was a drill and try to blow it off--bad idea. He glanced around, looking for one student in particular.
Kellen made his way over to Allegra, sitting on the coffee table across from her. Keeping his voice low, he said "Keep an eye out for Hiro, all right? He's got a...thing about fires."
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Allegra Thornton
Hogwarts Staff
Administrative Assistant Witch
^it's just me^
Posts: 2,420
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Post by Allegra Thornton on Jan 5, 2007 1:46:49 GMT -5
Allegra nodded back, thankful that Kellen had shown up. In her own panic, she had forgotten all about Hiro's history. Hers was just an irrational fear. His was at least grounded in something.
"Drew's not here yet," she told him, all the while telling herself it was still early, very early. Ravenclaws were trickling in every minute. She was over reacting. Her brother somehow manged to miss every single emergency head count. He was probably in Gryffindor, checking on Alhana. That's where he had been during the last fire.
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Post by charonholler on Jan 5, 2007 2:20:50 GMT -5
Charon had been sitting in the armory, studying, when the headmistress' voice rang through the school. He'd gathered his books and stood slowly, shaking his head. They couldn't go a year without at least one lockdown, could they? He'd slowly and unhappily made his way back to the common room, grumbling to himself. The thought of being cooped up in the common room with the rest of his house didn't please Charon any more when he walked through the portal than when he'd left the armory. Walking over to a couch and sitting down, he called to Allegra, "Hey, I'm here."
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Post by kyleh on Jan 5, 2007 7:46:08 GMT -5
Kyle was in the owlery when he heard the announcement (sweet magical announcing system). He was just wondering why all the owls were a bit edgy. A couple of them even took off when he approached them. It took him lot longer to finally hold one down and tie the letter to its leg.
Of course, being a firstie, he didn't know this was not the first time there's a fire. Nor did he know why the Headmistress had to call all students to their common rooms. It's just a fire, which could be put out in no time by magic, right?
"Think we will be here long?" he asked as he passed Allegra, sitting on the other side of the common room.
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Gail Lawrence
Witch
Leaky Cauldron Waitress
Just looking for something new.
Posts: 274
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Post by Gail Lawrence on Jan 5, 2007 11:37:24 GMT -5
Gail was in an empty classroom on the third floor, trying once more to get her wand to work. The room sat on the far side of the castle. A strange smell came in through the open window, and for a while she dismissed it. However, when smoke was visible outside, she made the connection. Rushing to the window, she could see the Greenhouses on fire below her and a ways to her right.
She had barely stepped up to the window when Ticloon’s voice came echoing throughout the castle. She sighed at the new lockdown. However, she quickly packed up her things and headed back down to the first floor and the common room, evading a few house elves along the way.
Giving the password, Gail came into the common room. Allegra and Kellen were trying to establish some order and do a head count. Before she reported in, Gail did a count of her own. Ari, Charon, and Jack were here, as was the little firstie. Drew and Hiro weren’t in yet. They were probably somewhere else. Hopefully, they got here soon. Neither was Pat, come to think of it. She hoped the house elves got Pat up here alright.
Finished with her personal count for now, Gail headed over to Allegra and checked in. She then found a place to sit down. Seeing an empty spot on a sofa, she headed over and sat down next to a slouching Charon. They sat in silence for a moment. Then Gail turned and asked wryly, “So. What were you doing?”
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Allegra Thornton
Hogwarts Staff
Administrative Assistant Witch
^it's just me^
Posts: 2,420
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Post by Allegra Thornton on Jan 5, 2007 16:50:36 GMT -5
Charon, Kyle, Gail. Click, click, click. Three more Eagles were added to the list which almost got them to the half-way mark. It was still early. No need to start worrying yet.
"There's a fire on the grounds," Allegra answered. The faint smell of smoke was starting to give her a headache and she reminded herself that the castle was the safest place to be at the moment. "Can you guys see anything from the window?" She wasn't about to look and see how bad it was.
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Post by kyleh on Jan 5, 2007 22:12:59 GMT -5
Kyle was not all that close to the window, but he also was not far. He got up and bounced towards the window. Opening it, he leaned as far out as he could without falling and looked.
Feeling almost cheerful (what's to worry anyways?), he reported what he saw to the Head Girl. "Can't see much, other than the big puff of smoke," he said. But something was different. The smoke was not black in color. "Green smoke, think its from the plants?"
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Post by charonholler on Jan 5, 2007 22:39:02 GMT -5
Charon wasn't a whiz at herbology, but he was good enough to know that none if the plants in the greenhouse should be giving off green smoke. That meant that something else was going on. He got up from the couch where he was sitting and joined the firstie at the window. Looking out, he could see the green smoke that Kyle had mentioned. It wasn't really billowing out like smoke should. In fact, it was more like an image in the sky. An image of a skull...with a snake. Without thinking, Charon yelled out, "Woah! It's the Dark Mark!" Now that was exciting. Some Dark wizard had pulled off an attack on the castle. He wondered if they'd managed to get away or not.
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Allegra Thornton
Hogwarts Staff
Administrative Assistant Witch
^it's just me^
Posts: 2,420
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Post by Allegra Thornton on Jan 5, 2007 22:41:48 GMT -5
Allegra sighed heavily, hearing the fire was on their side of the castle. The forest would have been much more noticable than this was. Even the lake fire had cast an orange glow over the Ravenclaw Common rooms. The Field? The stables? The greenhouses? The fact that Kyle mentioned the plants verified her last suspicion, except for...
"Green smoke?" she asked, suddenly getting to her feet and going over to the window herself. She recognized what she saw immediately, even before Charon had named it though she had never seen an actual Dark Mark cast before. The last time on had appeared in the sky, she had been too young and on a totally different continent. It was the mark of death.
"Where's my brother?" she called out frantically, looking towards anyone who might be able to answer her question.
{FYI- not pretending to have any knowledge I shouldn't. I panic like this every lockdown}
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Kellen McCrea
Wizard
Healer-In-Training
Hey. Don't lose your spirit.
Posts: 152
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Post by Kellen McCrea on Jan 6, 2007 1:32:42 GMT -5
Well, that declaration was enough to wake Kellen up a bit. If there really was a Dark Mark, this was no routine lock-down. He jumped up and made his way to the window just a few steps after the other students. Sure enough, there it was. He'd never seen one cast before, just replicated places, in the Prophet or something, but there was no denying it. Well....that wasn't good.
"Okay, listen up, everybody," he started after clearing his throat. "We don't know what's happened, so I don't want any undue panic, okay? This might all be a prank, or something." He might have tried to convince them it was another grafitti-type incident like what'd happened to Stoney a few weeks ago, except he knew who was responsible for that and...hey, where was Ari anyway?
Kellen caught up with Allegra. "I'm sure Drew is fine, really. We've only got about half the house in here yet, he'll be here soon."
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