Game one

"Diana and I could make sure no other student is around." Nicolas offered. "She's a Prefect anyway, it's like in her job description."

Diana glared at Nicolas but then she nodded. "Yes, I suppose that would be best."

Zabby shrugged. "I'll help take the Headmistress to the Infirmary. Anyone want to help? And we are very capable students, Professor. We will do fine."

"I'll help Zabby," Lycoris offered.

Eglantine nodded. "Very well, Miss Gallagher, I would be most grateful if you accompanied the Headmistress to the along with Miss Calantha." She lowered Kiara to the floor so that they could use their own levitation spells to lift her. "I suppose then that Professor Kaminski and I will be investigating the lockdown."

Zabby turned to Lye. "Ready?" She muttered the levitation spell and lifted the Headmistress up. "Let's take her up to the Infirmary."

"Ready," Lycoris affirmed, and cast her own spell to hopefully make it more stable. "Um, that way?" she asked, pointing with her free hand.

Zabby nodded, and they took off. "Somethings off, don't you think?"

"With the castle? I think so. I don't see many people around. And it's ominous." Lycoris kept her hand steady.

Zabby shook her head. "It almost feels like... I don't know what it feels like. Do you?"

"I can't put a name to it now," Lycoris replied.

Zabby shivered. "But it's making the castle very cold..."

"I don't see why you had to offer looking for students Nicolas," Diana said patronizingly.

"What would you have rather done?" Nicolas said.

"Oh I don't know? Investigate why we have a lockdown in the first place?" Diana said sacrastically.

"Like the teachers are going to let us do that." Nicolas said easily. "D, they think we're kids, they're happy for us to do mundane task like these but not do the real stuff. This arrangement gives us the freedom to do whatever we want."

Diana rolled her eyes, "You're impossible."

Sevastyan closed his eyes as the two pairs of students took off for their intended destinations. They may be capable, but Sevastyan had a terrible feeling about letting them go off on their own.

"Vell, vhere shall ve start, Professor?" Sevastyan asked in an attempt to push the negative thoughts and painfully reminiscent memories from his mind. "This vill give the students some practical exercise in Defense Against the possible Dark Arts, at any rate..." he mused to himself.

"Cold or not, we'll have to deal with it as well as we could, won't we? Hm, Zabby? Isn't it here?" Lycoris paused in front of the Hospital Wing.

Eglantine watched the students disappear, already having a bad feeling about the entire situation.
"The Headmistress' office, would be a good place to begin." She suggested.

"Nick?" Diana called out. She brought out her wand.

"Nick? Nick, where are you?"

"Boo!" Nicolas appeared from a suit of Armor behind Diana, which earned a scream from her.

"Nicolas!" Diana shouted. "That wasn't funny!"

Nicolas who'd been laughing, so much in fact that he had to hold the wall for support, disagreed. "I think it's hilarious!"

"Merlin, you're so immature sometimes." Diana said in a huff, turning into corner and leaving him laughing, alone, in the corridor...

-----

Nicolas had tears in his eyes when suddenly he noticed someone there. "What are you doing here?"

But before he could draw his wand or anything of the sort, the culprit stepped forward, gasp the sword from the suit of armor and stabbed him right through.

Nicolas’ eyes filled with rage.

"Thou art a villain..." Nicolas managed to breathe out before he dropped to the floor.

-----

"Nicolas?" Diana popped her head from around the corridor when she realized that he wasn't following her anymore. She saw Nicolas lie motionless on the floor. She felt her heart drop. There was something wrong. "Nicolas!"

The villain ran and quickly disappeared. There was no way Diana follow the culprit.

Diana broke into a run, until she reached Nicolas and whence she dropped to her knees.

She felt his pulse.

Nothing.

"Nicolas, Nicolas." She said frantically. Moisture was starting to impair her vision. She pulled her wand out. "Nicolas, please don't do this, this isn't funny..."

She knew it wasn't a joke. Nicolas wouldn't joke about something like this...

"Nico," She reverted back to his nickname… when they used to spend every minute with each other. "Please wake up. Please."

She tried to heal him, but it was no use, the wound was deep and he wasn't breathing anymore...

"No... please Nicolas, don't do this..."

Blood, there was so much blood. The red pooled around him.

“Nico, por favor, no se muere!” Diana shouted tears now freely falling. She stood up and pointed at her throat. “Sonorus!”

At the top of her lungs she shouted. “HELP! HELP! SOMEONE HELP! PLEASE! NICOLAS CASILLAS IS…” she couldn’t bring herself to say the word. “BADLY HURT!”

"Zabby? You hear something?" Lycoris asked, worried. It was an ominous thing, what they were talking about, and the shouting was not helping. At all. It was loud, yes, but she didn't really want to hear the words. "It's Diana's voice, isn't it? She's yelling... for help?"

Zabby stopped. "Yes...We need to get the Head Mistress into the hospital wing." Moving into the infirmary, she quicky explained what was going on. Once back out into the hall, she said, "This is bad, Lye. We need to go find Diana and Nicholas."

"Very vell, then..." Sevastyan agreed and began to make his way to said office.

- - - - - -

At the sound of Miss Casillas's voice, Sevastyan stopped mid-pace and glanced up at the ceiling in an attempt to locate the source of where the call was coming from.

"Oh Дерьмо!" the Russian swore. He had the sinking feeling that 'badly hurt' didn't quite cover the extent of the damages, though a fool's hope tried to keep a flicker of optimism that that was all it was: an injury. "I think ve may just need to put the investigation on hold, professor, in favor of haste..."

Allowing his wand to roll about in his palm, Sevastyan practically growled, "Point me!" However, instead of having it point north, Sevastyan muttered a few choice words so that it would direct him to the scene of the attack.

"This vay!" he shouted and took off at a pace that was very nearly a run, assuming that Eglantine would likely be right behind him.

Zabby saw the Professors running towards Diana's voice. She caught up easily. "Did you hear it too?" she asked, running along side Eglantine.

"Yes," Sevastyan replied, not quite sure whom she was addressing. "Vhere is Miss Calantha?"

Without really waiting for an answer, the Defense Professor added, "This may or may not be a trap. I'm assuming ... I have no need to advise ... that ve all stay alert?!" There was more caution in his uneven voice than anything as he continued his pace whilst going up a flight of stairs.

Eglantine heard Miss Casillas call for help and quickly hurried after Sevastyan.

----

"Is the Headmistress safely in the infirmary?" she asked, pulling her wand from her pocket. As she hurried toward where Miss Casillas was she prepared herself for the worst...

Zabby pulled out her own wand. "Lye's coming." ((She hasn't posted and I wanted to get to Diana...))

She nodded to Eglantine. "Yes. She is. We made sure of that." She paused in her talking. "Professors? Do you think something worse than injuries happened to Nicholas? That's the only thing I can think of besides Helen that could cause her to freak out like that..."

((I know, but Sevastyan doesn't... ^_^))

"Perhaps," Sevastyan offered neutrally. He didn't want Miss Gallagher to fret.

Rounding the corner, Sevastyan slowed his pace to a kind of half-jog, and then to a walk as they came upon the pair they'd left not long before: Diana, standing... and Nicolas, well.... given the pool of blood the young lad didn't look to be in too great of shape, to put it nicely.

"Miss Casillas... vot happened?" Sevastyan asked tentatively, his approach a great deal slower than he'd initially been going. "Professor DeLanquar, vould you...." he queried and gestured with a nod in Diana's direction, before heading over to check the body... Sevastyan didn't feel he had enough experience in the field of cajoling.

Eglantine paled, coming to a complete halt at the sight. Upon hearing Sevastyan, she paid as little attention as possible to her bleeding student and carefully pulled Miss Casillas away from the body.
"Diana." she coaxed softly. "Tell me what happened." There was no use in feeling for a pulse or a heartbeat from Nicholas Casillas, a quick diagnosis spell cast wandlessly along with simple observation. With her hand, she motioned for Professor Kaminski to cover the dead student.