* Burn

[Isaac]

Isaac, too, noticed the smoke, and flung his wings outwards, scattering it. More for his personal comfort than hers. His hands clenched and unclenched, his jaw twitching, as two forces waged a battle within him.

[Professor Romani]

The snowy haired woman noticed his action and didn't know what to make of it. She hoped with all her heart that she was getting to him... but the red glow of his unseeing eyes had not dimmed... in fact, he seemed to be getting even more angry.

"Isaac..." She spoke his name gently, almost as if to comfort him. It was strange... before this, he had been ready to kill her and slammed her into the wall, now... she felt her compassion writhing within her.

[Isaac]

"Leave me alone." Isaac said, taking a step backwards. He turned to leave, the fires he had set all but forgotten now.

[Professor Romani]

"Wait," she said automatically, taking a step forwards, and half raising a hand after him. "Tell me... what is happening?" Romani stopped and used her hand to gesture about them. "The Forbidden Forest is on fire, the Lake is frozen, and I hear screams that the Ravenclaw Common Room is a rampaging inferno... what has happened?"

[Isaac]

"The sword, that is what has happened." Isaac said, and abruptly ran the length of the room and leapt through a window, the glass flying every which way as Isaac flew upwards and out of sight.

[Professor Romani]

Astraea Romani continued to stand silently, watching as he flung himself through the window, the wind stealing into the Great Hall and whipping her garments and hair about gaily. The fire roared in new found fury as it fed greedily on the air.

'The sword..."

Mechanically, she set forth to dousing the fires again, her mind embroiled with what he had said.

[Eleanor]

Eleanor made a mad grab for her bag as Professor Romani summoned it, but realized that she would rather have it in the possession of a teacher than that mad...thing. The flaming of her wand brought another gasp from her as she threw it onto the floor, smothering the little flame with her bootheel. Hearing an ominous little snap, the girl lifted her foot to see that she'd broken the tip of her wand - just the very tip, nothing that couldn't be fixed with a little spellotape, but the thought of doing something so foolish brought long-overdue tears of shock to her eyes. She looked up to Romani as Isaac departed, pushing through the rest of the Great Hall to get to her.

"What was that about?" She asked urgently, and sufficiently fearfully. If such a creature could just waltz into their school and cause such chaos - perhaps they weren't as protected as she'd first assumed.

[Zee]

Zee ran into the Great Hall moments after Isaac left, wand at the ready. The black jeans and shirt she was wearing were slightly singed, and she had smudge marks on her face. Besides that, she looked wide awake and alert. She took one look around, and yelled an emphatic,
"Sh*t!! Someone torched the Great Hall, Nnhy!" she yelled, back out of the room.
Then Zee saw Professor Romani.
"Thank the lord of all Shnees! Finally, an adult! Hey! Kelly set fire to the Ravenclaw Common Room, and I just saw a freaky a** vision about Magic Horizons being swallowed in Hell! We're trying to get everyone out of the school!" she said breathlessly, as she hurried over. She saw the tender bruises forming on the Professor's skin, and Eleanor standing behind her, looking scared and clutching her bag.
"Man, what happened here?"

[Nnhy]

Nnhy came striding into the Great Hall after Zee, swearing profanities that probably hadn't even been invented yet. Blood dripped off her body and stained her clothes, but she didn't seem too aware of that. She absently picked up dinner knives from the tables, and added them to the growing collection in her back-pack, and covering her belt.

"Friggin' bloody hell!! People are not making this easy!" she snarled, but stopped when she almost ran into Zee and looked around.

"Whoo, what happened here? I swear, if one more person decides to light even a friggin' candle, I'm going to immortilize the moment for the whole damned school," she muttered as she surveyed the damage, keeping a tight grip on her favored knife. She wiped away a trial of blood dripping into her eyes, as she tried to think of what to do next.

[Zee]

"Take it easy, Nnhy, there's a teacher here." Zee said to her...disgruntled...friend. "And do you really need all of those knives?"

Zee turned back to Romani.
"Nnhy's been helping me through the halls." she said, as if that explained Nnhy's appearance. "Something's happened to some of the students, like Kelly, that's making them insane. It has something to do with a woman, and a red sword."

[Professor Romani]

Professor Astraea Romani was still watching after the demon's departure with a strange expression on her face. Almost as if... what she had feared for a long time was coming true.

With that strange expression, she turned her head silently towards Eleanor and lowered her eyes, admitting that she really did not know. The tables continued to burn but unheeded, for they were apart from any tapestry, and at the moment... her mind was clouded with many other disturbing thoughts. Suddenly, a couple of rather loud voices joined the roar of the flames.

" Miss Zee and Miss Nnhy, please mind your language. Even though we're experiencing... a little difficulties right now, I'd appreciate it if you kept some dignity." Romani stated professionally. Even though the school was under attack, she had to keep your cool and be sure to keep as much normalcy as she could.

"The Ravenclaw Common Room you say? Has it been evacuated?" The Professor began slightly alarmed, for she had become quite partial to the Ravenclaw House, having come from one rather similar to it while she was at school. "Kelly Simmons... she is one of the Prefects there... what about the other Prefect? Is she the same?"

'A woman with a red sword... no... it couldn't be...'

[Eleanor]

Eleanor nodded silently, sensing that she shouldn't press the Professor for any more information. She headed up to the High Table where her bag still sat, trying to look as unassuming as possible. She ducked behind the stately table, diving for her bag as if it were going to be grabbed away from her again. She rifled through the contents quickly, worried that something had gone missing. Divination books...inkwells, parchment...a slightly crumpled sketch of the Flobberworm...notes...teabags....Doran... No, it looked like everything was still there.

Hoisting the fraying canvas strap over her shoulder and supporting the underside of the bag with one arm, the girl quickly left the flaming scene for the comfort of her common room. Perhaps things would be better in there...

[Zee]

Zee shrugged her shoulders.
"I honestly don't know. Kelly was keeping some of the students from escaping last time I saw it. Jade Cross was protecting them. I was busy trying to get everyone to the Hospital Wing, for smoke inhalation. That's where we saw the vision, by the way." Zee explained as best she could. There was quite a bit to tell, and, as Zee saw it, not enough time. She saw Eleanor head out of the Hall.
"Hey! Where are you going?" she yelled after her.

[Nnhy]

Nnhy nodded an apology to Professor Romani while she scavenged the tables for more knives, throwing them in her bag, she dug around until she found a specific knife. It was strapped in the side. She pulled it out and looked it over. It was one that Johnny had given her. It was long and wicked looking, with a crabclaw hook at the end. She called it Rictus, a.k.a the devil's toothpick. *aint that a scream?* Finishing admiring it, she stuck it into her belt and flung her bag pack onto her back. She listened with half an ear to what Zee was saying, but paused when she saw the other girl, Eleanor was it?, leaving the hall. She ran after her.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going? Please, we are trying to evacuate as many students as possible."