#24 Raven's Last Cry [SQ]

MJ had come to the platform as quickly as her feet could carry her, ignoring shouts of warning or any older student who might have tried to steer her towards her common room. She had to come here and see what was happening.

She panted softly, wand gripping tightly in her hand as she gazed at the familiar portrait. For a moment, she was fooled into thinking everything was okay and she had somehow allowed her imagination to run away from her. But there were others here too so she can't have been wrong.

Then the raven screeched and MJ put her hands over her ears - it sounded so pained that she felt sorry to hear it. When it took flight, she watched it leave and then turned back. The portrait was inky black now and it made her stomach twist, worried about what would happen next.

Words started to appear and MJ tried to read them quickly but commit them to memory too.

"Does this mean we have to fight?" She questioned, hoping the other two wouldn't hesitate to go to the sixth floor and defend their Artefacts.

"I mean, I'm only a first year but obviously we have to go." MJ added and waited for Grace or the older girl to chime in.

[OOC: If need be I can remove mentioning Grace and Lindsey, I just felt it made sense since they'd have arrived at a similar time!]

Lindsey had pushed through the wave of Gryffindor, her wand out as she fought through the crowd. She had eyes only ahead, as she turned into the correct area where the painting was. The two others arrived about the same time and she winced when the raven screeched loudly at them. Lindsey let eyes wander to check for prefect to try and rush them away. But, they were lost in the mass of people trying to flee to safety.

When the Ravenclaw spoke, she looked over at her and then looked to the Gryffindor who spoke up about how they were special. Lindsey read over the lines again and again. Lindsey let her fingers trace over the frame and then she turned to the two younger student.

"They found us worthy enough to bring their artefacts here..." She said as she looked at each house here. Hufflepuff was missing and she felt a pain in her chest. Had they not found someone able to bring their artefact here? "We have to protect them." Her accent was full of fire and determination.

"If they are on the sixth floor, there may be another entrance or they are just on there way here," Lindsey said as she twirled her wand in her fingers absent-mindly. It was a habit when she thought to herself, to move her fingers.

Grace agreed, nodding vigorously. "The sixth floor." She tried not to be too worried about the intruders. After all, the Founders were on her side, so she couldn't lose! Especially since she had two people on her side who were ready to help her out. She wanted to show those intruders what a chosen one (or three, actually) looked like!

"Yes. Hurrying is good." Grace nodded. She gripped her wand tightly as she left for the sixth floor. They couldn't let another second go to waste, especially when Hogwarts itself might be in danger. It was too terrifying to even imagine what was going on in the rest of the castle. Maybe the Potions classroom was completely buried!

Grace tried not to wonder if she could get a little boost on her exams for helping out. She doubted it, but it couldn't hurt to try. She hurried down to the sixth floor, ready to kick some butt.