asgardmeridiem | The school, the school, the school is on fire...

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The school, the school, the school is on fire...

Who: Anyone who wants in on it!
What: The school is on fire.
When: Days 420 around sundown and after.
Where: The school in Odin's district.
Rating: We'll see!

The sun is slowly going down and Barty Crouch jr is in Odin's district, as he's been every day for a good while though, since he first realized how easily Will Graham fell into habits. The difference is that today he isn't headed to the cafe they always meet at right away. Instead he stands leaning against a wall, ever now and then glancing at the school and waiting for a sign. He has placed the mirror - a present from Albus Dumbledore himself - in just the right position fixed it to the corner of a building and waited for the sun to hit the reflective surface at the right angle.

Dumbledore had talked of smoke and mirrors and now Barty had found the right tinder. He waits until he can see smoke, faintly but there. It would be another hour, he suspects, maybe even more before the fire spreads far enough to be noticed. But it would burn, of that he had no doubt.

It is starting to get dark when he takes the mirror back, making sure to remain unseen, and he heads down the road to meet Will. He doesn't know if anyone is still in the building he just set on fire, he doesn't much care either way. The flames would rise high and Severus Snape would feel the heat.

[OOC Notes: I purposefully set this up like an event log, so just like for them, feel free to make a header comment detailing what your character is doing at any given time. If you want to do any more last minute plotting, head on over to the plotting post! Also, here is the IC post with some of what led up to this if you want to read up and/or still tag in! I backtag forever. Slowly.

If your character has been near/around/in the school before the fire started and would thus be a suspect and/or suspect other people he or she has seen, you can play that part out here too!

Times: Before the fire, during the fire, right after the fire. ...duh.
Places: The parts of the schools that will be affected are: The library, the auditorium and several classrooms as well as Evy's office.
Obviously you can also have your character be outside the school or in the hallways or any unaffected part if they want to use the chaos to, I don't know, mess up Snape's office a little.

I just ask that no one saw Barty do what he did, so we can have more fun with various suspicions cast about.]

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Well, doesn't this look suspicious. A snarl twisting on Severus's lips, teeth gritted, he grips Longbottom's scruff tighter, balling it in his fist, and he gives the boy a firm and angry jerk against the way the boy is trying to claw Severus' hand off him.

"Why? So you can scurry off into the night with your tail between your legs?"

It occurs to him somewhere in the back of his panicking mind that this doesn't look good, the way he's manhandling Longbottom. After everything Longbottom had confronted him about. After Miss Carnahan had questioned him about his treatment of Longbottom.

He shoves that all aside, though. He's too angry to see reason outside of why on earth Longbottom would be in his school after everything that's unfolded.

"Don't tell me, Longbottom, that after your courageous display of harsh words on the network, that you've lost your nerve."

Neville's breathing comes quick and audibly raspy, lungs feeling scraped raw from the inside after all the smoke inhalation. He makes a choked, vaguely terrified noise as Snape shakes him once, and his fingers lose all boldness in their scramble to get him off but he never quite stops trying to pull himself free.

"Are- are- are you trying to burn me alive, is that it?! Given up on trying to just shut me up?" Barely thinking, feeling white hot and lightheaded, he goes for a different tactic and swings back a foot, kicking out right at Snape's shin. Anything to get Snape to release him, to put some some distance between himself and this terrifying, looming, angry nightmare straight out of the worst of his dreams. "Finally got tired of letting other people to do your dirty work for you, right? Let me go!"

Severus lets out a shout of pain, all furious retorts blanking from his mind for the moment. "Bloody--!"

His hand instinctively releases Longbottom to grapple at the wall - and suddenly, inhaling a hot, dry breath of smoke, he begins to cough; a dry, wheezing cough that makes his lungs feel like they're on fire and his throat feel like he's choking on gravel. He doubles over and for a moment it seems like his knees might buckle under wracking strength of his coughing fit.

They need to get out of here. He despises Longbottom with every fibre of his being, but he's not interested in either of them burning alive. His hand shoots out to grab Longbottom again by the front of his shirt, snatching it with a groping grab. He pushes himself away from the wall with a staggering lurch and begins roughly hauling the boy along after him in the direction towards the nearest exit that leads outside.

Neville's reaction to that is instantaneous. He shrills a desperate "No!" and tries to fight against the direction Snape is leading them, paying very little heed to which direction it actually is.

Never mind that he was literally just walking this way a minute ago, in his half-cooked mind he's now being dragged down to some horrible dungeon like the one at Hogwarts, where he admittedly spent about a fourth of the last year holed up for being insufferable to the Carrows and inciting rebellion.

Between his throbbing shin and his lungs fighting for fresh air, Severus almost doesn't have the energy to drag the boy, not with the way Longbottom fights against him.

It's a messy, clumsy, almost brutal scuffle; Severus is in no way pleasant to Longbottom about it, not with the way both hands are now grabbing and yanking him about: one hand twisting and pulling at the boy's jumper, the other hand seizing hold of the boy's arm with an almost cruel tightness.

"Stop fighting, you fool!" he ferociously chokes out.

The arm that Snape has now got in a vice-grip is the one that caught fire earlier, with the burnt patch through the sweater's elbow, and it's that particular action which finally makes Neville stop resisting.

Mostly because he nearly blacks out for a second or two. He lets out a short, undignified squeal of pain and sways on his feet, managing to catch himself just before his knees gave way. He feels like the skin of that arm has been melted into a sort of raw, bubbly putty, and that Snape's fingers are going to mold the fabric of his sweater directly into it.

"I'm going to be sick on you," he threatens, thickly, queasily, feeling like his mouth has been stuffed full of smoky cotton balls. He has no idea where the thought came from, but he is now under the very convincing impression that the only way to expel some of his pain might be to vomit it out. Onto Snape's robes.

Good Lord, one would think Severus was gutting a pig with the way Longbottom is squealing out in pain. Although, as Longbottom sways and staggers on his feet like he's about to pass out, Severus becomes vaguely aware through the panic that he's gripping a rather badly charred part of the boy's jumper. No doubt the boy is a nursing a nasty burn underneath it.

"Don't you dare," he snarls, hauling the boy a staggered step after him, and he need only throw a cursory glance over at Longbottom to see how queasy and faint the boy looks.

As he fights back another wracking coughing fit, his other hand dashes up to grab a tuft of Longbottom's hair. With a fierce shove, he forces the boy's head away from him. Just in case.

Neville whimpers dully, stumbling when Snape starts moving again, the fingers of his free arm curling ineffectively around the fabric of the Headmaster's sleeve. He's hyper-focused on the pain in his arm, and doesn't really register when Snape speaks to him, but when he suddenly finds himself facing the opposite wall he gets the gist regardless.

Then, in a moment of pure, unadulterated spite, Neville times a wobbly-kneed stumble along with suddenly, rapidly shaking his head to dislodge Snape's hand from his hair.

The vertigo-inducing movement is really what does it, and he (quite purposefully) turns back, gives a wet cough, and then vomits a tad violently right down the front of Snape's clothes.

Take that, sir.

Severus is approaching the exit with the boy in tow; it's only a matter of feet away now. As he trudges through the hazy corridor, hand still gripping Longbottom's arm, he fights through the dizziness beginning to spin in his head, tries to fight off coughing to avoid drawing in another lungful of smoke, tries to push down the rippling beginnings of nausea starting to take form in the pit of his gut.

The sudden deluge of vomit purging onto his clothes has Severus suddenly letting Longbottom go. He stumbles back against the corridor wall, wildly staring down at the revolting mess. It's dripping down his tunic, his slacks, has splashed over his shoes; a wet, soggy, acidic warmth. Black eyes snap back onto Longbottom and even through the thick, suffocating smoke, Severus can smell the--

With a snarling bare of his yellowed teeth, Severus grabs Longbottom's jumper and drags him with merciless manhandling towards the exit. Bangs the door open to a side alley entrance where the dumpster is kept, sucks in a desperate breath of fresh air, shoves Longbottom out ahead of him hard enough to send the boy sprawling onto the ground.

He takes no more than a few stumbling steps before he suddenly launches into a body-wracking coughing fit; he's doubled over, sagging against the dumpster as his legs very nearly cave underneath him, coughing to the point where he himself is close to emptying the contents of his own stomach on the ground.

Luckily Neville lands mostly on the non-burnt arm, and he lays there for a good long moment listening to Snape cough and trying really hard not to puke all over himself, this time.

His own breathing is loud, and rattles like it has to claw its way out of his throat. It's still hard to see out here in the mostly open air, in the shadow of the burning school: his eyes feel like they've been scraped raw with sandpaper and it hurts every time he blinks. This is a horrible kind of pain, worse than the Carrows' fists or their knives. It's not nearly as bad as the Cruciatus, of course, but with the curse there was no thinking or moving or trying to talk: the mind is blank for everything except excruciating pain.

Here, it's like being half-in and half-out. Neville pushes himself up, slowly and with a tremendous effort, coughing wetly a few more times along the way, though he seems to have completely emptied his stomach already.

Sorry, Snape. (Not.)

"You- did this--" he gasps out wildly and with a vicious stab of his finger towards Snape, burnt arm limp at his side and legs looking barely capable of continuing to hold him up for much longer. "Didn't you?!"

Will's been jogging down the alley by the time he comes across the scene, and arrives just in team to see it all play out. Desperate to find an entrance that wasn't already overtaken in flame to see how bad it was for himself, to see if he could get inside and actually pull anyone out, collapsed or no, he had come to it as a last resort. It seemed most everything else was too dangerous, and while he knew full well that rushing into a burning building in the hopes of saving a life or two was a fool's idea, if he could have found something safe enough—

He figures he's been completely unseen because they're both struggling to get proper air, and nothing much is more important than being able to breathe. Seeing the kid looking like he was shoved out and falling on an arm that looked in desperate need of healing he hadn't quite mastered just had him stopping in his tracks, curious about who it was coming out behind him or if he'd just launched himself out of it as fast as he could. Professor Snape. It made sense (he was always there, from what Will could tell), and if the situation had been something other than a building lit on fire, he'd probably be able to recognize Neville. He'd watched all that mess with Barty rather carefully, but for now? He couldn't make heads or tails of who he was.

That shine on Snape's clothes was rather familiar. No wonder he was eager to get the kid away. Vomit wasn't exactly a welcome addition in any wardrobe department to most people.

He's content to watch (so curious, such a curious thing, but he's not winding either of them up with malicious intentions behind it) until the accusations start flying and the kid looks ready to fall over just trying to stand, Snape looking ready to get rid of the contents of his stomach, too. He's already imagining who is going to be blamed for the fire if nothing indicating faulty wiring or an accident is found (and worrying a bit about how to go about saying the one who's probably the biggest suspect didn't do it because he was with Will), but neither of them are really in a state of mind or body to get too into it. Nor is one of them in a state of body for Will to pull him back if it came to that, so that course of action is out of the picture. He shouts a Hey! as loud as he can to be heard over the crackling of the fire as he comes up on them quickly, moving to stand between them in case the kid decides that if he can stand up, he can start a fight. That, and if he does fall? Will can catch him.

"Take a breath, both of you. You're out of the building, but it's not safe right here. We need to get further away than this, and then we can try to figure out how it started." He looks from Snape to the kid and back, this unshaven guy in an overly large jacket who probably doesn't smack of actually knowing what he's talking about, but as calm as anyone can be. "Can you both walk, or do you need help?"

He'd had a terrible day. These two? They'd had one so much worse that he could put it out of his head entirely.

Edited 2014-03-25 01:33 (UTC)

Running the back of his shaky hand over his mouth, wiping away sooty saliva that's hanging in a string from his lips, Severus uses his weight braced against the wall to stand tall again as his coughing subsides. His throat is raw. His lungs are aching. The smell of vomit piercing through the stench of smoke and ash doesn't in any way help matters.

Through the fog of dizziness clouding his head from lack of breath, he hears Longbottom's shrieking accusations - and that's enough to make Severus come back to his senses. Bloodshot eyes landing on the boy, a look of ferocious anger twists on his sweaty, filthy face and he shoves himself away from the wall to lunge at Longbottom. Hands outstretched, ready to grab Longbottom and slam him against the wall--

Someone suddenly shouting is what has Severus coming to a staggering halt. Eyes cut up sharply in the voice's direction. Mr. Graham, he realises.

"I'm fine," he coldly replies - or croaks, given the state of his throat - but the man has a point: they need to get further away from the building. Taking a swaying step around Mr. Graham, leaving faint, wet footprints in his wake from the vomit oozing down his shoes, he snatches Longbottom by the jumper again.

"Get moving," he snarls, shoving the boy ahead of him.

Edited 2014-03-25 01:57 (UTC)

Several things seems to happen all at once, to Neville. Will speaks, and his attention snaps around to the newcomer so fast he nearly pitches over backwards - and then out of the corner of his eye he notices that Snape has lunged for him.

The terror comes rushing back, quickly, and it spreads across his face with a telltale pallor, but Neville doesn't actually have the time to scream or jump. Because Snape had actually stopped there, hands out, looking furious and horrifying. The stranger, Neville realizes, his presence has stopped what he is sure would have been a rather unpleasant throttling. Snape is still putting on a show for the people of Asgard, pretending he's not completely, staggeringly unworthy of being Headmaster to a school of any name, let alone one called the Albus Dumbledore Academy.

Heart beating a painful staccato rhythm in his ribcage, Neville manages to address Will's question with an: "I think I ca-- oh!" But then he's being seized again, and shoved, and snapped at by the last person in the world he wants to take orders from.

He stumbles, reaching up over one shoulder with his good hand to try and take control of his sweatshirt back from the Headmaster for the second time in ten minutes. "Yes, you're always fine, aren't you?" Apparently he's not done ranting, heedless of their audience and completely derailed. He tries to wheel around and be accusing to Snape's face, but turning far enough makes the material of his jumper catch and drag along the burn on his arm, so he gives that up very quickly. "Nobody else around you ever is - let me go - but you'll find a way to make it through, won't you!"

There's a time and a place for just about everything. Burned and having just come out of a building on fire is not the place for pushing and shoving and hate-fueled accusations (there's a lot of hate here, he doesn't need that pesky pure empathy to tell him as much). He has no idea who set it or if it was intentionally set in the first place, but it can all wait. He shouldn't have to explain the importance of getting away from a raging fire, he really should not, and he hardly has the patience at the moment to get into a long-winded spiel about it. They're both obviously very upset with each other, but the biggest priority at the moment is to get the hell out of Dodge.

If it wasn't apparent enough, the loud sound of a window shattering nearby is something he hopes convinces the two of them more than he might be able to as he reaches out to make sure Snape keeps his hands off the kid. It's a controlled move when he takes hold of his wrist, banking on one adult appealing to another worth meriting attention, especially considering he's not clearly pleading.

"Professor Snape, we need to get out of here. Check you both for smoke inhalation. This can wait until after we're not risking getting covered in heated glass." He turns to the kid, still just as calm. "Go ahead. I'm between you now. He's not going to grab you or push you or anything else, and the shouting match has to stop. We have to go. Now."

If they still insist on airing out all their issues while risking that air turning to smoke, he's going to have to try a different tactic, because telling a kid he's got his back only to turn around and shove him to get him to go would be a terrible first impression.

God, he's so grateful he never taught children back home.

Edited 2014-03-26 02:39 (UTC)

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The school, the school, the school is on fire...

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