LET THE CHAOS BEGIN

[Blaine Landon Koon]

Only moments after Blaine heard Sirius erupt with anger at the sight of Blackwell, he felt the effects of a healing charm starting to work on his body – the pain slowly lost intensity as he could feel the large gash in his side and along the side of his head stopped bleeding and his vision started to come back into a better focus. Clearly one of the aurors had skill with healing spells and at the moment he was grateful for it. The room was lit up with spells being cast all about – mostly directed right at Blackwell – he watched for only a moment, long enough to see Juliette fall from his fathers’ grip to the ground. His first instinct was to try and go to her, to get her to safety – but when he tried again to get up, even after the healing charm had started to take effect, his body was too weak, it couldn’t support him and just as he had managed to stand up he found himself collapsed again.

Just in that moment an auror had shown up at his side and without a word grabbed Blaine’s arm and put it around their shoulder, lifting him up and helping him to stand – but while Blaine attempted to pull them towards Juliette, towards his wand, the auror instead forced him further away from the chaos surrounding them. “No! My wand, I need my wand… I have to kill him!” he protested, shouting by the end of it; but it was no avail as he was moved away – supporting all his weight on his uninjured leg and the auror until they finally spoke, telling him to sit back, helping him to the ground, propped up against a wall. The auror summoned Blaine’s wand, giving it back to him but telling him to stay where he was – then went back towards the rest of the fight.

By now Blaine was far enough away that he was certainly out of the line of fire yes – but that also put him out of range to do real, lasting damage to his father without risking injuring someone else instead. He swore under his breath, scanning the room now for Juliette – who had thank God been taken away from the chaos as well – an auror had pulled her out and now she and the auror who had rescued him were now performing charms – likely protective and healing magic – on Juliette. The whole scene was unfolding faster than he could keep up because of the pounding in his head that hadn’t stopped even when the blood had finally clotted thanks to the healing spell that had been used on him when the aurors first arrived.

Before he knew what was happening, he had felt the ground shaking below him and then the vast hallway was filled with a thick smoke after a loud bang. When the smoke cleared the two aurors who had been protecting and helping Juliette had gotten up and run across the way to help one of the other aurors who had been injured in the blast that knocked everyone who was near it to the ground. This wasn’t good – Blackwell was free and Juliette wasn’t protected – he attempted his charm from before – but he couldn’t focus enough, the pounding in his head continued – he closed his eyes, trying desperately to conjure up the patronus end of the spell – but he already knew it was too late.

Sirius and Claire were still getting to their feet and finding their bearings again when he looked back over to them, then his eyes found Cato’s for only a brief moment before he heard the curse his father spoke – his wand pointed directly at Juliette. There was no time – he tried desperately to get up again, managing to stand but unable to put enough weight on his leg to move away from the wall – he closed his eyes again – waving his wand, trying as hard as he could to concentrate – and the magical barrier formed around Juliette once again.

But Blaine hadn’t been the only one trying to save Juliette – he heard a pained yell come from Juliette’s father Sirius and watched as the man fell to the ground – blood pouring like a fountain out of three deep gashes along his side and torso. He had seen Blackwell perform that spell before – and everyone he had ever seen it used on had bled out – there wasn’t much time to get him any sort of help and Blaine stood there against the wall, watching the man bleed uncontrollably with no idea how to stop it. If there was a counter to that curse – Blackwell had certainly never taught it to him. Through the shock of what he was watching unfold, he managed to keep the barrier up around Juliette, continuing to protect her from Blackwell for as long as he could…

[James Sirius Potter]

From the second he saw Blackwell with his hands on his daughter he had more or less lost all control – he kept his wits about him as far as ensuring that nothing he did could put Juliette in further danger, but as far as watching his own back, those thoughts were long gone. His only focus was doing as much damage to Blackwell as possible, killing him would be a satisfying ending to these years of horrors induced entirely by this one man. His rage grew as he cast hexes and curses, silently and with a murderous look in his eyes – a fury that had been growing inside him for years that was finally manifesting. He caught site of Juliette falling to the ground – that was when he forced Blackwell back into the wall behind him.

Someone had him pinned down – Sirius noticed Claire come up next to him – unleashing all her power, the two of them working in practically perfect sync, curses flying all towards Blackwell. He felt himself be pushed to the side – just as the flash of a hex flew past his shoulder – and he glanced to the side to see that Claire was watching him, she had pushed him aside just in time to miss that one. The world around him was coming and going – he was definitely aware of Claire next to him, the auror attempting to keep a constantly fighting Blackwell in place – he could hear the screams of his daughter in the background, and with each one be became both more worried for her and more infuriated towards Blackwell.

The intensity of the curses he chose and the force with which they were executed only grew stronger by the minute. He listened for any sign of a word from Blackwell – or the sound of more guards showing up behind them – he attempted to be as alert and focused as possible as he continued to run on adrenaline fueled anger and instincts. He could hear Blaine screaming at his aurors to get him his wand – even if he had many reasons to dislike the boy, he had done his best to save Juliette and he had done a damn good job at clearing the way, but he had done enough and Sirius hoped the boy would listen to the aurors and stay put. He wanted all of them getting out of there in one piece, including him.

The room had filled up with smoke and lights – it was hard to tell what exactly was happening and what damage may have already been done – but he wasn’t going to let up until he knew for a fact Blackwell was done for. Or at least he didn’t plan on it until a loud bang echoed off the walls and the floor shook as the entire hallway filled with smoke once again – the blast knocked him off his feet, landing hard on his right side with a groan as his knee made forceful and direct contact with the ground, there hadn’t even been time to brace himself. He heard people getting up – adrenaline pumping Sirius grabbed his wand and then he pushed himself up off the ground quicker than probably should have been possible for him.

As he got to his feet – having trouble to balance at first – he was trying to figure out where everyone was at as the smoke cleared. He saw Claire first, she was closest to him – and then he saw both aurors leave Juliette as they ran in to rescue their injured teammate who had become unconscious in the blast. Why would they both leave her? Someone needed to stay with her before that psycho got his hands on her again. Sirius didn’t need to take a second thought, he was already running towards her – the pain radiating from his knee and through his leg protesting every movement, but he was completely ignoring it he started to close the gap between himself and his daughter – hopefully before Blackwell got back to his feet.

However that thought was too hopeful, Sirius glanced at Blackwell – he had a devilish look on his face, a malicious grin – and then Sirius heard him utter the word “Sectumsempra” with his wand pointed directly at Juliette. Pushing harder, his heart racing, it was a matter of seconds and he had put himself between Juliette and the curse – he had used a shield charm – but it was either too weak because of how unfocused and pained he was or the curse had just been stronger than the charm and it cut right through the shield – and then his flesh. It felt like a blade had sliced into him, he managed only a step or two after the curse had come in contact with him, before he hit the ground, blood pouring from three large wounds that went along his right side and across his torso.

The pain was intense – he had let out a single, loud, pained yell as he hit the ground – an then he went silent – holding his side, trying to put pressure on the wounds, to slow the blood flow. He had saved Juliette for now – he lifted his head to turn and look at her – she was behind a barrier now – he turned his head the other direction and saw Blaine, leaning against the wall, holding up his wand, clearly the one protecting Juliette – and then he looked back towards Claire, Blackwell and the other aurors trying to get a handle on what was going on and what was going to happen next. Then he started to feel lightheaded, the pain intensified and he shut his eyes and clenched his jaw tight, swearing with what little breath he had left and trying so hard not to yell out in pain again in front of his daughter.

[Claire Pierce]

Sirius was still working with her, not utterly losing his calm or mind yet, but Claire could tell the rage was building, and he was unleashing it with growing intensity. Claire was living up to her reputation as incredibly powerful as she kept everyone in mind and also worked with complete and terrifying control of both herself and her magic. Blackwell then cast a different curse: "Sectumsempra," she heard, panic flaring up in her then. There was a malicious grin on his face as he cast the curse, directing it toward Juliette. Claire was too far away from her, and was instead closer to Blackwell himself; she was about to do something - lunge forward, cast a new curse, do anything - in response, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Sirius practically dive over to Juliette. He managed to get there just in time, getting in the path of the curse just as it hit - and then he collapsed, blood pouring out of the three massive wounds that had ripped across his chest and size. As he let out a single shout of pain, Claire had already turned toward him, her mind racing, while she sent a few more curses over at Blackwell.

Claire was on the other side of the room in a matter of seconds, and immediately set up her strongest protection spell; she couldn't set this one up in the midst of action, as it didn't work with movement, but it was a variation of one of the spells she used on her own house. It was a spell of her own design, one that nobody else knew, so it was not one that Blackwell could get through easily (or perhaps at all - she did pride herself on her protection spells for good reason). For good measure, and for Sirius's sake, she quickly set one up around Juliette as well; she had one around her already, but it wasn't as strong, and Claire worried about Blaine's ability to keep it up. Around her, the rest of her team had instantly stepped up to take her place without any questions, moving to protect them and deal with Blackwell. Meanwhile, Claire knelt next to Sirius, who by then had shut his eyes, was reduced to swearing, and clearly had little breath left in him. He was losing blood very quickly, but at least Blackwell hadn't cut off a body part with the curse. There was still a terrifying amount of blood all over his chest and out around him though. "Breathe," she instructed, gripping his hand with her free one. "Stay with me, Sirius." Aiming for her voice to be even, it partially betrayed her; there was a small tremor in her voice, but he was so out of it that he probably wouldn't notice. Still, Claire was managing to be strong and rational and coolheaded enough. She didn't want him to pass out, and she needed him to stay as calm as possible, which she would acknowledge was a tough task.

Claire felt a panic and fear in her that she felt very rarely, and had been feeling far too often recently. It had only been a handful of months since the last time Sirius had been hurt and this - this wasn't good. This was different than Sirius breaking his leg again, breaking every bone in his body. There was only so much she could do here; she could heal it as much as possible, but she knew that she couldn't heal it completely, so the necessary healing had to be done at the hospital. She didn't have dittany with her either, and he would need that soon to prevent terrible scarring; there might be scarring still, as she remembered it was supposed to be applied immediately, but that wasn't something to worry about just then. But right after speaking to him, letting only a few precious seconds pass by, she began, murmuring, "Vulnera sanentur." The first phase of the counterspell eased the blood flow, though not as quickly - immediately - as she would have liked. Blood seeped into her pants and covered her hands as she traced the cuts, her other hand still tightly gripping his wrist, both to reassure him and to keep track of his heart rate. "Vulnera sanentur." It felt like an age before the blood stopped flowing out, though that was just in this state heightened by anxiety and desperation; then the spell, as she continued to say it again and again, started to heal the wounds and end the effects of the curse. Claire knew it wasn't enough - he really needed to see an excellent healer - but she hoped it would hold for long enough, until she could get them out.

For a valuable second, she continued to stare at his wounds and his pained face, knowing he was near passing out from pain and blood loss. She had to get them out of there, now. Though she hated having to get up from his side, Claire was moving again seconds after finishing, unleashing a vicious assault on Blackwell. It was enough to push him back and incapacitate him for now, preventing him from getting another curse at Sirius or at her, and Claire used those important moments to convey to the aurors that they had to get Blaine out of there. Before Blackwell could get at her again, Claire had Sirius hovering above the ground - there was absolutely no way he would able to stand - and Juliette leaning against her. With grips on Sirius and Juliette, she sent a wandless, final brutal attack at Blackwell, and then she was gone. Reappearing at St. Mungo's, Claire had brought them to the floor for spell damage, as close to treatment as she could get them. As she stood there with two injured people and an appearance that suggested she herself was injured - all Sirius's blood - she had no reason to yell, but instantly she was shouting for certain healers and explaining the injuries as aghast healers rushed them into rooms.