How...could things have gone so wrong...so quickly?
It was beyond her ability to process. She was being splattered from all sides, jostled and shoved. It was a scene straight out of a horror film, scarier than Nosferatu or anything else they could cook up for the theatre. When the Gryffindors overturned their table, Kathryn understood that all decency had been lost. Her brother and his girlfriend were slinging spells; liquids were crossing the room with limited precision, and...and no one was doing anything about it.
Horror took hold of her at the sight of the professors at the dais doing nothing to make it stop. That horror doubled when she watched the Slytherin head of house take the Hufflepuff head of house with him back through the door.
No one was coming to the rescue. No one would –
In a flash, something grabbed her by her robes and yanked her across the Great Hall. Kathryn felt as if she'd been dragged into the mouth of chaos itself, sent flying like the clumps of food that had been shown equal regard. It was enough to make her tearful; the little girl was far too overwhelmed to see any 'good' that had rallied the lions and badgers together. Could any of this be considered good? Did anyone dare insist there was a silver lining while something mushy slapped her across the face?
A quiet meal – that was all she'd wanted. A moment for her nerves to settle after the overwhelming day she'd had.
This was overwhelming.
When she landed, it took her an extra moment to realise that it was on a chair between Mr. Maddox and her mother. Tearful blue eyes looked between them, confused and beyond the limits of what she thought herself capable of enduring. She didn't understand why the room had become what it had or why neither of them had tried to stop it when both of them had their wands. Both were powerful; both knew plenty of spells that could make everyone stop long before she'd arrived at her dishevelled appearance. But they hadn't. They let food fly – food was still flying. Peering down the dais, she saw others equally confused, some put out...but no one saying the one word that might return order.
...Why?
Away from the chaos, Kathryn could feel the uncomfortable way her heart pounded. All of her was growing warm as adrenaline forced its way through her system.
Mr. Maddox got her clean, reducing the temperature inside her chest. Then the plate arrived. Instinctively, her hand reached out to begin filling it as she'd tried to do back at the Ravenclaw table, but her nerves were fried, and it was clear she'd slipped into autopilot.
It was too much.
There's nothing left but
SILENCE
Galen gripped his wand as he made his way briskly from his office to the Great Hall. The house elf that came to him had given him the full run-down: food fight, professors – not just professors but house heads – doing nothing, the deputy turning away. Incompetence the full way around.
With a silent flick of his wand, the doors to the Great Hall swung open. Yelling filled the corridor as his blue eyes skimmed the chaos and mess that greeted him. An overturned table, food dripping from the ceiling, a Ravenclaw boy lying prone in what he hoped was marinara sauce, and roughly the entire student body who had apparently decided, collectively, that Friday night dinner was an appropriate time for open warfare.
MacLean didn’t raise his voice, he didn’t need to. He simply flicked his wand into the room before him and the sound stopped immediately. Food froze mid-air very briefly before dropping, wetly, to the floor. The overturned table righted itself quietly. All of the students discovered quite quickly that they could not emit a sound, no matter how hard they tried.
Galen let the silence sit momentarily before making his way through the mess to the dais, careful not to step on any food if he could help it. He learned a long time ago that shouting never worked, that silence was much more effective in situations like this. His pace was even, hands clasped behind his back, wand still firmly in one hand, gaze moving around the wreckage.
He noted the Slytherin and Ravenclaw students clustered together, still dripping. He noted the Gryffindor table, conspicuously first to be turned over. He noted the empty space where his Deputy Headmaster ought to have been standing.
Galen stopped near the dais, his gaze settling briefly first on Maddox then Julia long enough to communicate that he was disappointed in both of them for their lack of action. The small girl between them was the one that he knew was having trouble; it was no secret she was the target of some very spoiled rich brats.
Finally, he turned to the students in the room. “If you are finished, you shall enjoy the rest of supper cleaning up the mess you have created. No one is to leave this room until it is how it was before war broke out.”
He turned back to the adults in the room – not just Maddox and Julia, but the other professors who had failed to do nothing. “I need someone to please explain to me why no single adult in this room decided to do anything about the mess that was being made.” His voice was even, stern. While the children were to clean up the food, the adults would have their own punishments later.
Rae had made her home in the chaos.
The screaming, the food being thrown, and the general cacophony of the night turned sideways provided the perfect background for the sort of anarchy that had consumed the moment. She welcomed Laura's indignant screams. They were music to the ears of the girl who was determined to teach her a lesson no matter what it took
But then the Great Hall went still.
At first, the food was still flying and students were still running around, but all at once, a collective understanding seemed to settle in the room. Rae noticed it, her mind taking only a moment to catch up. While the younger Slytherin's mouth remained open and her face still contorted with raw emotion, there was no longer any sound to confirm that she was being sufficiently terrorised. Easing back, Rae could see the rest of the hall suspended in a moment of stasis as food that was thrown slowed. It all became easier to understand when she caught sight of the headmaster walking his way through.
It had to be his doing. What a buzzkill.
She drew her wand, silently ending the incantation she hadn't given the man permission to put on her, but in the new silence, there was no need for words. Rae shoved Laura away from her, straightening as she quietly scourgified her robes. Without being given the needed time, it was hard to say whether the lesson would actually stick, but she had no issues revisiting it in more private quarters should this turn out to not be enough to finally convince Cavendish that Kathryn wasn't the target she wanted to be taking aim at.
The order to have the place cleaned wasn't a difficult one, nor was it enough to dampen her conviction that little Harry had done the right thing. They'd all done what needed to be done.
Satisfied, she walked her way back to the Slytherin table and began vanishing the splotches of food that had fallen onto the ground. With everyone working, the task wouldn't consume too much of her night.
She would see her new friend later.
And just like that, it was over.
Maddox watched the headmaster make his way through the great hall, deciding he would be more involved than Gideon had decided to be. Where the deputy had decided that it was none of his business, Galen was of a different mind. And good for him, A responsible adult had been needed at some point. There was no telling how much longer the chaos may have continued otherwise.
And they would be cleaning it themselves. Could the night get any better? Maddox returned to his meal, occasionally glancing at Kathryn to ensure she was alright. Now that the room had been reined in, he supposed she might have been able to have an easier time settling.
I need someone to please explain to me why no single adult in this room decided to do anything about the mess that was being made.”
Maddox swivelled the pumpkin juice in his goblet, taking a moment to get it properly stirred. He sipped, letting the flavour wash over his tongue and the coolness quench his thirst. "What mess?" He knew what the man meant, of course. The Gryffindor table had had to be turned upright; food had had to be stopped midflight. Most, if not all, of the children had food on them instead of inside their bellies, and there had been more insults hurled than may have strictly been warranted. Someone really had needed to get a responsible adult at some point. In this case the responsible adult found them.
From the corner of his eye, he caught the smirk that played at his wife's lips. She extended her cup, clinking it against his, but obviously just as clueless about what MacLean may have been on about.
What he saw was retribution. Students had collectively taken matters into their own hands, understanding that some battles needed to be fought.
And now they cleaned.
It was the natural order being restored, and you certainly wouldn't find him with any complaints.
"You should try the ham, MacLean. It's particularly succulent tonight. The elves just keep getting better, don't they?" With a flick of his wand, Maddox had the man's chair lurch from beneath the table.
"Join us. The second half of the show is about to begin." Actions meeting consequences. He didn't quite agree with it this time, but someone had to clean it.
The great hall went still and silent. Food hung in the air, mid toss, screams were cut short, tables were righted and the Head Master walked with purpose to the dais at the front of the hall.
Well shit. This wasn’t good.
“If you are finished, you shall enjoy the rest of supper cleaning up the mess you have created. No one is to leave this room until it is how it was before war broke out.”
And with a pop all the food mid flight disappeared. Buckets of soapy water, sponges and scrub brushes appeared every five feet on the house tables and large trash cans were put strategically around the hall, congregating near the worst hit areas.
Getting to his feet, Brooks walked towards a bucket, eyes glaring at the Head Master, annoyed that he stopped the war and ruined all their fun. The other adults had let the fun continue, not bothered in the least by their display of food aerodynamics. He can safely say that peas and rolls performed very well in the flight department.
Spaghetti… not so much
Finding Mysty in the mess, Brooks went to talk, but his voice didn’t work, which made what came next all the more annoying. Cleaning the No-Maj way.
What a load of shite.
Tugging on Mysty’s sleeve, covered in a conglomeration of god knows what, he handed her a sponge, grabbed a bucket and started cleaning. They would be there for hours.
Focusing on the table in front of him, Brooks had managed to shovel a large amount of food into a garbage can. Think smarter not harder was a good way to describe the boy, so it shouldn’t shock anyone that he had come up with a pretty good system.
After moving all the empty dishes to the end of the table, they were left with an eating surface COVERED in food. Brooks grabbed a long wooden spoon and used it as a bulldozer to scrape the food into the garbage can. Moving from one section to the next, he made quick work of the piles of food left on the table, then someone was coming behind him with a sponge to clean the surface.
Looking towards this house, he decided to leave the Ravenclaw table to his house mates. They brought this upon themselves,
The good thing about Rook was that it didn’t take much to get him straightened out and focused on the right thing. She watched with amusement as he snuck attacked someone in his own house. She made her way back towards one of the main instigator’s, dodging food flying through the air.
By the time she reached the younger girl, and had a filled gravy bowl she’d dumped peas and carrots and other various vegetables in, had it raised above her head, and let go just as the headmaster silenced everything.
Green eyes found Brooks momentarily before looking at the man who was left with the burden of cleaning up Hogwarts’ reputation after their headmistress was carted off to Azkaban.
She watched him assess the situation.
“If you are finished, you shall enjoy the rest of supper cleaning up the mess you have created. No one is to leave this room until it is how it was before war broke out.”
Morgan frowned. Didn’t he know what had caused the situation? She thought all of it should rest on the shoulders of the group who insisted her little step-sister was someone who should be bullied relentlessly.
But no. It was on them. She then watched him speak to her father and step-mother, biting her lip as she looked back at the mess. Perhaps she'd be in trouble with the school, but the people who really mattered had done nothing to stop the food war. That was all she needed to not be that worried about the consequences of her involvement.
Morgan then spotted Brooks taking a bucket. She could use magic to clean, maybe, but she figured she may as well follow him. If they had to suffer, at least they could suffer together.
Besides, she kind of liked the butterflies she got when she was around him.
Benji didn’t immediately react, busy as he was. In between fists to the younger boy’s flank— still trapped in a headlock — and the words of warning he was saying, there didn’t seem to be much room to notice the two observers nearby. Drago didn’t catch it all, something about a Kate whom he had no idea who that was, murder and someone’s mum. It didn’t make much sense to him, which only spiked his curiosity the more.
Matilda’s strident and continuous protests, and her increased wriggling trying to get free made it impossible to get a clear understanding of anything though.
Hoisting his betrothed off his shoulder, Drago set her back on her feet, face as impassive as it had been the entire time. “You should go back to common room,” he said, lifting his chin in the direction of the staircase, waiting and expecting her to comply. He would not let her weasel away again. If she tried to bolt back into the Great Hall, Drago would be ready to snatch her up once more and then he would carry her all the way up there.
Unexpectedly, however, she went for neither option. Instead, she turned on Benji and the boy still struggling to break free.
"If you adjust a little I can kick him in the stomach for you.”
Drago blinked. Do what now? “What are you—”
"You've been working out, why is he still conscious. Really Benji Teresa.”
Stunned speechless, Drago was left to watch the girl who he’d barely managed to disengage from a food fight, throw herself into the next thing as though that was entirely normal. A real fight this time. If one could call it that; the boy didn't exactly stand a chance to begin with.
But for a moment, the world stopped feeling real.
Four food-splattered people, gathered outside the Great Hall, two of them actively beating up another while he stood by and watched. Was this a fucking dream? Had he missed something? Was this entire school simply insane? Maybe it was a cultural thing he just didn't get it.
But regardless of any reasons and explanations, Drago felt like the most foreign foreigner to ever exist. After a beat, he finally regained control over his brain and body. "What is happening?", he asked again, wrenching himself into the thick of the commotion, trying to keep Matilda off, and get a pause into Benji's efforts long enough to get an answer. "Why are you beating child? Who is Kate?"
powerplay approved by both players <3
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