Manticore Massacre

[Jonathan Webster]

Jon Webster was wandering down High Street to go home and check on his bear when he spotted an absolute disaster. And no, he did not have anything to do with said disaster, despite his amazing propensity for getting himself into trouble.

The disaster: an actual, real-life, at-least-a-few-feet-smaller-than=an-adult (he had taken NEWT-level Care of Magical Creatures, okay) manticore was loitering in an alley. Jon gaped. It looked slightly docile, but it was a level XXXX magical creature they only kind of did docile. He considered sending up wand sparks but decided that that might just piss it off. If he wasn't a Gryffindor he probably would have considered running away from the manticore, but he was very Gryffindor and this was the most adventure he had had in ages.

It was only when he had drawn his wand that he saw the two women, just outside of the alleyway. Jon edged closer, eyeing the manticore with its twitching tail. He paused several feet away and called to the ladies: "Don't panic, but - well, you might want to, uh, move away from that alley's opening. Quietly. Without panicking. "

  

[Astoria Champagne]

Miss Astoria Champagne was running a few errands for her father, so she was out and about, heading away from the shops and down high street to where her father said he would meet her. She wasn't really paying much attention to what was going on - she was fairly busy daydreaming about the things she had read or had seen, and almost stepped right towards the big manticore.

She smiled at the woman that was also walking the same way as her, because she knew her. "Good afternoon, Aurelia. How are you doing this fine afternoon?" she asked, but then she heard a familiar voice talking to them, so she turned around to see that it was Johnathan Webster, one of the men running in the election. But she heard what he said and she raised a delicate eyebrow.

She turned around and saw it. She almost screamed and fainted but she put a hand over her mouth. Astoria was scared out of her wits and without thinking she lifted her skirt and ran behind Johnathan, and hid behind him. "What is that horrid thing?!" she asked, squealing with fright. She didn't want to get hurt, but she might of made it upset from the loud clacking of her heels and her squealing.

  

[Aurelia Wallingford]

"Gwenyth you go ahead pick up the order for father and I'll meet you at Honeydukes!"Aurelia called to her chaperone with a wave. "James is feeling better and is craving some lemon sherbets."

"Alright, miss," Gwenyth called before disappearing into the next shop. Aurelia smiled before turning and heading towards the next shop. She was wearing one of her favorite dresses today, which was a nice cream with bows adorning the front. It was only a few seconds before she realized who she was walking alongside before they issued a greeting to her. She offered a smile back. "Astoria!" she said, genuinely pleased to see her friend. "How lovely to run into you, thank you I'm-"

"Don't panic," the words made Aurelia stop in her tracks, looking towards the voice. She recognized him! He was running for minister in the upcoming election. But why was he looking at them with such a fearful expression? She followed his gaze and her jaw dropped, her heart stopping in her throat. "It's a manticore...." she said, dread clear in her voice. She couldn't move.

The manticore did not seem to take well to Astoria's squeals, and it let out a roar. It reverberated throughout the alleyway, and advanced towards Aurelia, swiping a claw at her. Aurelia shrieked, finding her motor skills again, though the manticore's claw had already clipped her shoulder as she scrambled backwards before tripping over the cobblestoned pavement and falling on her back. She grabbed her wand, though she knew perfectly well it was extremely hard to defeat a manticore. "Oh, help..." she moaned. "Oh help, oh help...."

  

[Jonathan Webster]

One of the women was behind him now - that was good, at least if he died he was going to die heroically, ha, emblazon that on his tombstone - but the other one had slipped in front of the manticore and oh god they were all going to die. He was too handsome to die!

Jon stepped into the alley - away from the girl who had ducked behind him - and shot wand sparks from the manticore. It didn't hurt the creature - no, manticores were hard to hurt by magic, and even though this one was very young it was also a freaking manticore - but it did piss it off. It lunged towards him and Jon trotted backwards, paying no mind to the awkwardness of the movement as he did.

"Cast a shield charm!" Jon shouted at the girls as he trotted backwards, wand outstretched, and the manticore stalked towards him. "Protego Duo! Cast a shield charm!"

He waved his wand at the beast again and hoped for the best - it was very young, something had to work - "Stupefy!"

Nope.

  

[Astoria Champagne]

Astoria would have been somewhat surprised that Aurelia didn't run when she did, but she wasn't really thinking too much about it because she was terrified of the beast. What if it killed her? She was too young to die! At least wait until she had popped out a couple of children. "Wait, where are you going?!" she screamed, almost crying because of the fact Johnathan had walked away, leaving her exposed to the beast. Though it wasn't like he left her just because - he was going to try and save them.

Astoria ran back towards where Aurelia was laying and knelt beside her. She saw that she had a hurt shoulder that was already bleeding and her dress was torn slightly at that spot from the claw. "Aurelia, you're hurt, we need to get you to the hospital," she said urgently, but then she heard the man's voice again, shouting at them to cast a shielding charm. She had dropped her wand because of the fright but she ran to go retrieve it. Once she grabbed it she said, "Protego!" Hopefully since she was close enough to her friend, the charm would protect them both.

She started breathing heavily, scared and she felt herself start to get lightheaded because of the corset crushing her torso. She had to slow herself down before she fainted and that wasn't going to help anyone.

"Try something stronger!" she called to Jon, continuing to sit with Aurelia. She then took a piece of the torn fabric that was laying on the ground and pressed it against her wound, hoping to soak up the blood some. There wasn't too much to worry about, of course, but she overreacted when she was panicking like this.

  

[Aurelia Wallingford]

Aurelia was vaguely aware of the throbbing pain on her shoulder, but adrenaline was pumping through her system and she was quite sure she could have gone without aid. It wasn't until Astoria pressed the bit of fabric to it in an attempt to staunch the blood that Aurelia let out a small hiss of pain. "I am alright," she said, though up close her eyes were wide as saucers. She gripped onto her friend and clambered up quite ungracefully, but a quick test of her foot told her her ankle was also sprained. James and Riff were going to kill her.

Aurelia grabbed her wand and pointed it at the creature. "Reducto!" she cried. Even though there was a loud bang, her spell didn't do much good. Aurelia didn't expect it to - what she'd read of Manticores they were extremely impervious to all known charms. "How are we going to get rid of that thing?" she said desperately. "We can't let it get into High Street!"

  

[Jonathan Webster]

"We have to - we have to -"

They were going to get murdered and then everyone else was going to get murdered and then Orestes Lestrange was going to be acting Minister forever.

No.

No, he did not accept that - he did not accept the idea of dying. It was offensive and he deserved better than that because he was Jon Webster damnit. He was a Gryffindor! They were supposed to be good at this heroic thing! Miriam was his sister and she was great and surely he had inherited some of that somehow!

"We have to catch it!" Jon said, "All we have to do is catch it!"

"Incarcerous!" he yelled, pointing his wand at the young manticore. Ropes shot out from his wand to bind it - it was not enough to immobilize it entirely and the thing still thrashed, but it was progress.

We will not die we will not die we will not die I AM NOT GOING TO DIE DAMNIT

  

[Astoria Champagne]

Astoria let go of Aurelia when she said she was alright - she didn't want to hurt her friend or make her upset. Anymore than she probably already was. Maybe this was why the women always had to have escorts. Because things like this happened. But luckily there was a brave, Gryffindor alumni who was willing to help them. If they made it out alive, Astoria would be sure and try to persuade her father to vote for him. Just because he's the reason why she wasn't dead.

"How do you expect us to do that? she breathed out, blinking a few times and trying to get the dizziness to pass. She couldn't faint now, how embarrassing! Plus that thing could attack them at any minute and she wanted to be able to run from it when it happened. She clasped her hands together and smiled when the beast was finally trapped in ropes. The thing still was trying to break free and it very well might but it definitely was somewhere. She couldn't believe the Ministry for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures even let this happen. Her father will be having a nasty conversation with them once he found out.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she yelled, pointing her wand at it. It was starting to have trouble struggling against the rope, but it still was able to move some. The thing was just so unimaginably strong. They had to get someone out there to get it. She could only think of three ways to get it to stop. And all three were unforgivable.

He'll save us! I know he will! Go Mr. Webster!

  

[Aurelia Wallingford]

They needed to take it down, at least long enough to get it under control. Half of Aurelia was crying with fear - it was easily 3 times her size, and it's fangs looked like it wanted terribly to sink themselves into one of the three in the ally. Aurelia did not fancy seeing someone gored by a manticore fang anytime in her life, thank you very much. She'd already gotten clipped, and her arm was positively throbbing. Aurelia wracked her brains; she was a Ravenclaw for Merlin's sake, she was supposed to be clever! Funny, the text books had failed to mention how hard it was to think of a solution with a manticore roaring spit all over you and your companions.

Aurelia put a hand on her head, her eyes shut, trying to remember all she'd read on manticores. They were extremely stubborn, known of human speech, it's skin was impervious to all known charms, and it was hard to subdue by magic....it's skin was impervious...to all charms and hard to subdue by magic.... Aurelia pulled out her wand again, and taking a deep breath, stepped forward to help. The sharp pain zinged up her leg, and she staggered again before righting herself. "Mr. Webster, we have to subdue with without spells!" she shouted over the manticore's roars. Part of her heart ached - it was an animal, it couldn't help it's nature. "Sp-spells won't h-help, we need something h-heavy to knock it out! Physically knock it out!" Her words started as stammers and grew stronger as she was more confident with her answer. "Either that or we must confuse it to give us more time!"

Looking to her right and left, Aurelia searched desperately for a heavy object. If the manticore could speak, would he have been able to hear her? Most likely, if his roars weren't drowning out her voice in the first place.

  

[Jonathan Webster]

The blonder one, the uninjured girl, was helping to fight it off - but it was so hard. This manticore was young - or at least smaller than it should have been by rights - but it was still a freaking manticore and fighting it was at least the hardest thing Jon had done so far this year. It was struggling against the ropes and - given time - he fekt that it would escape, which meant that they were screwed, and -

Oh. Oh, the injured one was a genius. Jon could not help but grin. In a move that would have made his eleven-year-old self proud - and as he trotted backwards, away from the struggling manticore - Jon pointed his wand at the alley's only dumpster and shouted "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The dumpster floated upwards and carefully, carefully, Jon beckoned it to hover over the manticore. It was filled with at least a week's worth of trash and was just slightly larger than the manticore itself.

So Jon dropped the dumpster on top of the monster. The crash of it falling was almost deafening and there was trash scattered around it, but the manticore did not move, and he sent up wand sparks because now it was officially the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures' problem.

"We should get you to the hospital," Jon said breathlessly, kneeling beside the two girls.

  

[Astoria Champagne]

Astoria knew that her efforts in defeating the thing wasn't really going to help too much, but she had to at least try. It was better than dying off. She was Slytherin alumni, so she didn't have the courage that Johnathan had, or the supreme wits like Aurelia had, but she had pride and ambition. If she wanted something, she'd get her way. And she wanted to get out of this alive, and nothing was going to stand in her way. She kept beside her friend, seeing her face when the pain went through her leg. She was so worried about the poor girl. Where were their chaperones anyway? Surely they'd be realizing they weren't back at a reasonable time so they must return.

"That's a great idea! said Astoria, nodding to what Aurelia said. She was a genius! Then they could have the people trained to take care of things like this come out and get it. It wouldn't be their problem anymore. Her eyes followed the dumpster as Jon lifted it up with magic and then winced when it fell onto the creature, covering it in week old trash and knocking it unconscious. She wasn't sure if it was dead or alive, but at least they were safe now. He threw up sparks and she breathed a soft sigh of relief. She looked at him and gave him a week smile when he came over to them.

"My father...he's still in the shopping area. He's probably looking for me. And Aurelia's chaperone ought to be looking for her," she said, with worry, "We must find them before going to the hospital. So they don't worry." She was dying to thank him, give him a kiss, or hug him, or give him a gift - something to show how grateful she was, but right now she was focused on her friend's pain and the fact they had people who were probably out looking for them.

  

[Aurelia Wallingford]

Aurelia's shoulder was aching even more, and she had to bite her lip from crying out in pain. James and Riff were definitely going to kill her - they did not like hearing their sister had almost gotten eaten, along with a ministerial candidate and one of her friends, by a manticore. Aurelia tried to make a mental note to tell her father to vote for Mr. Webster - it really was the least they could do, she reasoned.

Relieved that the manticore was gone, Aurelia felt lightheaded and could see stars dancing in her vision. She gripped Astoria's hand, trying to stable herself. Oh Merlin, if she got sick, she would never hear the end of it. Nodding in agreement with Astoria, afraid to open her mouth, Aurelia looked towards the entrance of the alley, which they were not far from, and saw Gwenyth passing by. Thankfully, her companion looked automatically rather than just passing by and immediately saw Aurelia, her face paling visibly seeing Aurelia coated in blood and being supported by her friend. "Miss Herondale!" Gwenyth shrieked, dropping her parcels.

Gwenyth please don't faint, we can't have 3 women for Mr Webster to take care of... Aurelia pleaded silently. Thankfully, the woman did nothing of the sort and hurried to her side - Aurelia transferred her grip from Astoria to Gwenyth. "Well, we found one chaperone," the witch winced, gripping Gwenyth's hand tighter. She imagined her face was getting paler by the second. "We only need Miss Champagne's and we shall be set..."

  

[Jonathan Webster]

Oh, right. Chaperons. Jon supposed that he was lucky that he had never needed one of those - especially considering his wild youth - and now was really not a good time for them to be missing. Where had the chaperons been five minutes ago, when he had needed them? Oh, the humanity!

There was one chaperon - now they needed the uninjured girl's - Miss Champagne's, apparently - father. Progress. Jon didn't do well with blood - he could handle heroics, but not blood - and this was a nasty situation to be in. They needed to get her to the hospital. The ministry needed to get here. He needed to be sure that this had actually just happened - what the hell was a manticore doing on High Street?

"I don't think we can search without moving her and I don't want to move you, Miss -" the chaperon had shouted it "- Herondale without going to the hospital. Do you see him anywhere?"

  

[Astoria Champagne]

Astoria often wished she didn't need to have an escort with her because sometimes she just wanted to be on her own. But then things like this happened and she was glad that she always had someone to protect her. And the one time her father trusted her to run and grab something for him while he waited for her, she nearly gets murdered by a freaking manticore.

"Father shouldn't be too far, he would be looking for me by now," Astoria said, the tone of her voice suggested that she was more or less hoping he was rather than being sure. She would think he would but she never really knew. She nodded towards her friend's companion and smiled at her as a greeting, shifting her over to her so that she could stand up slightly. She frowned at the site of some blood that was still on her hand and she almost fainted at the site of it. It made her queasy.

"Astoria, my darling! What happened?" called William Champagne, her father, finally coming down the road and seeing his daughter's hands in blood and another woman on the ground, looking in pain along with a man he knew to be running for Minister and a woman who seemed to be injured lady's chaperon. He rushed to her and held her in his arms before turning to Jon and said angrily, like he was going to hit him, "You!, what did you do to my daughter?!" Astoria quickly turned and she said, "No, daddy he saved us. There was...a...a...manticore."

  

[Aurelia Wallingford]

Aurelia paled even more when Mr. Champagne started yelling at Mr. Webster. She scowled. Well, if they had been attacked by Mr. Webster, the scenery would be extremely different now, wouldn't it? Astoria and her would not have been looking so relieved, now would they have? Aurelia stepped forward to speak in defense of their savior, "I apologize for my boldness, sir but your daughter is right, Mr. Champagne!" she exclaimed, gripping poor Gwenyth as the pain mounted. She must remember to tell father to give Gwenyth a raise - she put up with entirely too much with rarely any complaint.

"Mr. Webster was helping us - he was the one who noticed the manticore in the first place and helped us. If it were not for him, one of us would have surely come away from this disaster with a sting rather than a mere scratch -" however said scratch was quite larger than one and appeared to be more of a gash instead, "- which would be even more devastating." The witch's clear voice rung throughout the alleyway, though it was shaky. She took a final breath, and looked at Mr. Champagne with pleading eyes. "Please, sir Mr. Webster saved Astoria and me." She looked back to Mr. Webster, a glowing smile on her face. "We owe Mr. Webster our lives..."

  

[Jonathan Webster]

Oh, good. The father was here and now he was yelling at them. Jon really could not win today - but then, finally, another Ministry official apparated into the alley and Jon gestured rather helplessly to the squashed manticore, watching as the other man paled.

Well at least it's not awake for you, Jon thought, and then he was standing up. "Miss Herondale, you need to get to the hospital," he said, "Can any of you apparate her there? I have to - talk to my coworker -"

He was just glad that everything worked out.