Closed Retaliation

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eurydice could not help but be excited for the day. After the disaster that was yesterday called Tug of War, she’d decided that it was just best to spend time with her friends than wasting all her energy to figure out how to fit in with the girls at Heta Omega. Sure, she and Rose had told each other than they were going to do it together, but the club wasn’t really getting any more appealing in her eyes. Oh she’ll still stay. Mostly because she wouldn’t want to accidentally guilt Rose into leaving. She’ll wait until Rose decides that she wants to leave the club before Eury tells her that she felt the same. If Rose ever decides to anyway. For now, she’ll just have to lift her mood by hanging out with friends. Today, she’d actually decided that she was going to visit Mr. Dak in the Kitchens after breakfast.

Breakfast during the weekends was a generally calm time in Hogwarts, Eury found. Which is why she figured that after she’d eaten, the house elves wouldn’t be so busy. Or at least, that’s what she’s hoping for. In any case, she made her way down to the Ground Floor in a summer dress and a pair of open-toe shoes that she thinks would be suitable for a nice round of tea with her house elf friend after breakfast. It was still quite early though, not entirely surprising since it was the weekend, so very few were milling about that she wondered if she’d maybe gone overboard in getting an early breakfast. There wasn’t even a soul with her as she walked down the corridor towards the Great Hall.​

 

[Morrie Ayre]

The early mornings when the castle was quiet suited Morrie just fine. She dressed in an oversized hoodie and sweatpants since it was the weekend after all, and she certainly wasn’t trying to impress anyone. Then she headed out of the dungeons toward the Great Hall for breakfast.

As she walked, Morrie flexed her fingers, the stinging sensation from tug of war the previous day proving rather annoying. Just as she reached the entrance hall, she spotted a younger student ahead of her, specifically the one who had called her and Vanity hags during tug of war. Her scowl deepened, and without thinking on it, she pulled out her wand then cast "Serpensortia!" straight at the girl, conjuring a red milk snake to chase her as payback for yesterday. Morrie felt a bit disappointed that she hadn't managed a king cobra, but at the end of the day, a snake was still a snake.

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eurydice had been enjoying a fairly peaceful walk with the corridors so empty this early in the morning. She knew Jonah wouldn’t be up for at least another couple of hours. And Hina-nee would be heading down soon enough. She wasn’t sure about Rose since the Gryffindor tended to avoid crowds. But if she was lucky, Sayuri or Kael-nii would already be in the Hall. They were early birds. Or at least Yuri-chan was. Kael-nii never seemed to sleep to her. Maybe she’d spend time with them before heading down to the Kitchens later on. Lost in thought as she was, she was snapped out of it by someone yelling a spell.

It didn’t take long to find them, and on instinct Eury crossed her arms up in front of her face even if she knew that it would not protect her from a spell hitting her. It wasn’t yet second nature to use a wand for things like this. When nothing happened to her though, she took a look at who threw the spell and recognized one of the mean girls from yesterday. She’d been about to call out when she heard hissing and noticed the bright red snake slithering towards her.

Eurydice’s brothers and dad might have been in Slytherin, but she has never interacted with a snake out of containment before. Nor was she ever curious enough about them to warrant picking out species. And so she didn’t know what snake was in front of her just that it was slowly slithering towards her and that was enough to make her back away slowly, hands in front of her, fear clogging her throat. The snake did not slow and Eury tried to match its pace before suddenly, her shoes caught on the floor, making her lose her balance and having her fall back on the floor with a surprised yelp. That startled the snake and with an angry hiss, it lunged which made Eury shriek and crawl and claw her way to stand and run, scratching herself on the stone floor, shoes left behind as she ran away from the snake and towards the Great Hall, not looking back.​

 

[Morrie Ayre]

Morrie watched the Hufflepuff panic and fall as she scrambled away from the snake. Once suitably frightened, Morrie made the snake vanish in an instant. Calmly, she strolled towards the Great Hall behind the first year, the snake now gone. "Consider that a warning." Morrie said in a low and almost bored voice, though her eyes gleamed with delight, her whole body now buzzing with adrenaline and feeling intoxicated by the rush.

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eury ran as fast as she could straight towards the Great Hall. Her heart was pounding and she couldn’t focus on anything but putting distance between herself and the snake, one foot in front of the other. “SNAKE! SNAKE!” she screamed just as she turns into the Great Hall, her bare foot slipping on the floors of the castle causing her to fall to the ground once more. She quickly gets up though and lunges to climb one of the seats in the Great Hall, looking around wide-eyed for the snake that had been chasing her, only to find none. She probably looked like a lunatic - hair disheveled, dress dirty, shoes missing, legs and hands scratched, maybe bleeding. The adrenaline was high, her nerves frazzled. And then that… that… that hag strolls in without a care in the world, the snake - the snake she summoned - nowhere to be found. And with the Slytherin’s words, Eury just exploded, a war cry coming out of her brought about by the fear coursing through her veins. She lunges, wand out screaming the only offensive she’d learned this school year. “STUPEFY!”​

 

[Professor Benjamin Kaster II]

What in the world is going on? Ben isn't sure what's happening as he sees Eurydice Nightray, his sister in law, eleven years old racing into the Great Hall screaming at the top of her lungs about a snake. Only, he can't see any snakes. That's strange. He can't imagine a snake could just slither its way through he castle without anyone noticing, so he's up and out of his seat and heading over to check on her when she suddenly pulls out her wand and aims it at an older Slytherin girl. Before she even gets the chance to cast her spell, Ben's wand is in his hand lightning fast and he quickly casts Accio at her wand before breaking into a run to skid to a halt between the two of them. "What the bloody hell is going on! Both of you, right now, follow me out of the Great Hall." He hasn't been here very long be he knows this kind of behaviour isn't going to be tolerated and someone is going to have to explain what the hell is going on. He has no idea what the Slytherin girl has to do with any of this, but she had been standing behind Eurydice when this happened, so hopefully she can shed some light. Casting spells in the halls is definitely a violation of rules and especially not in the class room or in an officially sanctioned duel. "Tell me what that was." He says, looking at the Slytherin to speak first.

@Eurydice Nightray @Morrie Ayre ​

 

[Morrie Ayre]

Morrie had hoped to slip away to the Slytherin table at an opportune moment, but stopped when the first year whirled around with her wand raised. Morrie barely had time to register the stunning spell. It was fast, and she knew she wouldn’t have had time to dodge it if the professor hadn't intervened when he did. She let out a steady sigh of relief, smirking victoriously for the briefest of moments before furrowing her brow in almost all the right places to appear convincingly concerned. Under the surface, Morrie prickled with anger that the first year had tried to stun her, but didn't react since she had been stupid enough to try in front of witnesses.

Morrie huffed at the instruction to leave the Great Hall, she’d only just arrived and was hungry after all. Still, she followed the professor out to answer his questions. "I honestly have no idea," Lying came easily for her, sometimes easier than the truth, "I didn't see a snake. Maybe it was a trick of the morning light? Or maybe there was one and I just didn't see it." She suggested helpfully.

 

[Professor Benjamin Kaster II]

Ben nods to her, he also could not see a snake so he's not sure what Eurydice might have been screaming about. The older Slytherin has not pulled her wand out and should Eury's stun have landed, this would be a very different conversation as it is. He's not used to handling kids all that often, both his kids are too young to cause him problems yet, so he's only a very new dad - but he can tell there is something weird going on. People don't just start pointing their wand at people, but everything he has knowledge base on is for adults, not for a bunch of kids. Yikes, he's really out of his depth here. "Thank you," he says, nodding to the Slytherin before returning his attention to Eurydice. "Now you, Eurydice, please tell me what happened from your point of view?" he can't make any judgements yet, though he has already determined that he will be taking points off of Eurydice. He has no choice in that, the whole Great Hall saw her point her wand and shout a spell at the Slytherin. He will have to send her to her head of house. What he says to Landon though will depend on what Eury has to say for herself.

@Eurydice Nightray @Morrie Ayre ​

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eurydice was vibrating. She could barely think and she would have physically attacked whoever dared to take her wand from her. Her wand that had been useless against that snake but would have definitely been enough for the hag if it hadn’t been taken from her. By her own whatever-in-law that Benjamin was. And Eury had been to shocked by it to say anything, her blood still rushing around in her head. She looked like a mess she knew, walking around barefoot in the castle after that mad dash that had her tripping in the Great Hall. And then that hag had the audacity to lie that had Eury yelling in absolutely fury and lunging towards the Slytherin - wand or no wand. Except Benjamin grabbed her around the waist and all of the events caught up to her making her sick, puking her guts out on the floor before erupting into big heaving sobs. She tried to tell Benjamin in between breaths but failed miserably as she spoke in both English and Japanese in between sobs - only a few English words becoming comprehensible every now and then as she worked herself up into hysterics. “Snake… Red… Chase… Corridor… Hag… Kael-nii… I want my Daddy… Jai-nii and Tizi-nii… Snake… It… Chase… Kael-nii… SNAKE”​

 

[Morrie Ayre]

Strangely, the more distressed the Hufflepuff became, the more de-stressed Morrie felt. She took a deliberate step back, watching the Hufflepuff completely lose it. Vibrating with rage, then lurching to puke everywhere was pretty crazy and gross behaviour, even by Morrie’s standards. As they sobbed and babbled incoherently, Morrie leaned slightly away, she didn't want to be put off her breakfast by this. She gave Professor Kaster to a shrug, "Can I go now?"

 

[Professor Benjamin Kaster II]

Ben honestly can not believe the behaviour that she is displaying as he tries to figure out what Eury is trying to say. As she launches for the Slytherin girl, he grabs her to stop her before letting her go quickly and putting himself between her and the older girl. He doesn't want to start manhandling students, even one's he's technically related to. He looks over his shoulder as the Slytherin speaks and nods. "Yes, you can go, I'll alert your head of house about what's been happening though, he might choose to speak to you about what happened." Ben can't be sure anything has happened with the way Eury is behaving, but he's also not stupid enough to believe that this was all entirely unprovoked. He doesn't know the Slytherin, but he kind of knows Eurydice, and he knows this isn't something her parents would tolerate, sort bogles her mind that she is acting this way. "Thank you for coming out with me, head back inside if you want, I'm going to take Eurydice to her head of house." He says, looking down at her. "Can I trust you to walk to Professor Carter's office or do I have to force you?" He won't actually force her of course, she's a child, but he can track her down easily enough if he has to do so later. "Twenty points from Hufflepuff for trying to attack a fellow student, twice." He adds, almost forgetting he's supposed to be a professor for a moment.

@Morrie Ayre @Eurydice Nightray ​

 

[Eurydice Nightray]

Eurydice felt tired and icky and cold as she cried, arms coming up to hug herself as she tries to stop crying. She wanted her brother. Kael-nii would make it all better. He’d understand what Eury was saying. He’d listen to her. But Kael-nii wasn’t in the Great Hall yet or he would have been here in an instant. She just wanted to have breakfast. And then there was Benjamin who obviously didn’t care. And believed a random girl over family. In fact, he obviously didn’t believe her that there was a snake at all. A bright red snake slithering towards her while angrily hissing. Eury shuddered and whimpered softly at the memory and almost vomited again but there was nothing in her stomach. Her hands and knees stung too from all the falls she had taken. And now she had to walk across that corridor again? She didn’t want to. Her sandals could stay lost in that corridor. “Bugger off,” she said softly as she walks away from the Great Hall, heading towards a staircase away from that corridor. She supposed now she had to see her Head of House about the lost points. Jonah had the right idea, there was no use asking help from professors - even ones that supposed to be family.

@Professor Benjamin Kaster II ​