#nox.plotdrop013

[noxtms]

it's the last race of the day, and most of the gathered crowds of the tutshill derby are more subdued now than they've ever been. it doesn't matter if they're exhausted from screaming their support for their chosen hippogriffs or from having over indulged in the perks of their tier ; the end of day fatigue feels all the same.

the circle remains one of the most packed areas of the entire course, even as guests from tier two and three begin to filter out of the main gate, content with what they've already seen. everyone who bought tickets for the one place where they could lounge beneath an unrelenting sun on checkered picnic blankets ( or ignore the race altogether in favor of the chaotic carnival, still loud and drawing attention ) is intent on enjoying their day to the max, which has seemingly lead to an unspoken refusal to call it quits too early.

raceday goers in delicate heels they're over wearing still stand next to their friends in full suits at the inner railing, though top hats have been abandoned and ties loosened and or discarded. the jockeys urge their hippogriffs into the starting stalls one by one, showing no signs of being affected by the crowd-wide weariness. one by one, the gates at their back close and they tighten their grip on their reins.

one hippogriff - a dapple gray with a brilliant streak of platinum white running through their mane - bucks wildly, inside their stall. their jockey tries to regain control of them, in vain, even as the witch on their far right raises her wand to the sky and begins to count down, her voice magically magnified. "3, 2, 1…" and the hundreds of wix still gathered and watching with ever eager eyes let out a cheer as an explosion of red sparks marks the start of the last race, and the hippogriffs begin to run.

the first group of hooded figures that apparate directly into the center of the carnival goes unnoticed, in the initial excitement. the second, third and fourth - popping into existence between food stalls and game stands and, in the case of one unlucky group, behind the porta potties - pass just as easily beneath the radar as wix exchange galleons for game credits and enjoy their last drink of the day while the final race unfolds. the fifth set of individuals who appear at the edge of the large expanse of green where parasols and picnics have been set up is noticed by a little girl who tugs on her fathers sleeve and is hushed when her rising voice interferes with the commentary. 

no one is given the luxury of remaining clueless to what is happening for very long. one of the first to have materialized from thin air throws back his hood to reveal the silver mask of his kind to the immediate crowd, and as realization dawns on them that something is amiss and they begin to scatter in the death eaters paths, he raises his wand to the sky and shouts, "morsmordre."

TRIGGER WARNINGS for death, injury, drowning, assault, fire imagery.

true chaos erupts at the appearance of a writing snake and skull over the circle, and as the cheering turns to screams of terror, the dementors join the fray.

some, like CHARLIE & ISADORA ( her daughter held tightly in her arms ) have enough of their wits about them to disappear with a crack as the light begins to dim and the heavy chill sets in. few others, KEIRA in their number, are frozen with fear. more, still, panic. when the crowd begins to stampede, everyone pushing over each other to get away, there is no thought as to where they're running to beyond anywhere but there.

the first killing curse thrown lands true. an attendant at one of the bean bag throwing stalls slumps over the front as her most recent customer, MATTIE, screams and ducks out of the way, a protego cast just in time sparing her from the brilliant red of a stunner that comes, not from the death eaters now marching on the derby, but someone in the crowd whose aim goes wild. they manage to crawl beneath the counter of the stall, pulling all their limbs in close and trying their best to disappear.

ANDIE loses MARCO in the crowd as it converges and abandons any thought of immediate escape to fight against the wix moving in the opposite direction, trying desperately to find her son.

the searing orange of a careless bombarda hits the huge fish tank behind one of the carnival stalls and the sharp edges of uneven glass shards rain down on DUDLEY & DIANA. the latter of the two manages to throw up a physical barrier between herself and the onslaught of glass, rushing water and dozens of goldfish, though her ignorance of his muggle status means that DUDLEY is on his own, his only protection his own arms, thrown over his face.

"ex- expecto-... expecto-" PERCY mutters, his wand arm shaking something fierce as he tries to crawl backwards from the dementor that has already made a meal of what happy energy he had managed to conjure. the creature swoops low and feasts again, paling him all the more and causing him to slump, defeated, against the ground. it's only when it returns for the final kiss that ARTHUR'S weasel puts itself in between them, and the last thing that PERCY feels before he passes out is the warm relief of safety that really has no place here.

a death eater knocks RHEA clean off her feet with a lucky leg lock curse and she topples with a cry that turns swiftly to a scream as she's placed beneath crucio. she writhes and gasps for air and thinks this has to be the very worst pain of all, and she's never going to escape it, when HENRI hits her assailant with an incarcerous to the back. black robes conjured from thin air move like snakes and bind the death eaters arms at their side, and when they lose their balance and topple at RHEA'S side, HENRI gives them a heavy kick to the face for good measure. they don't, however, remember the counter spell for the leg lock curse; after a moment of frozen thought, they do the next best thing and drag RHEA by her arms into the imagined safety of an empty stall.

LAVENDER & PARVATI end up back to back ; neither knows how they managed it, but the two are forced to work in tandem, clumsily, against the death eaters that seem to come from all sides. when one of them manages to hit LAVENDER in the face with a well timed stupefy, the other targets the death eater with a hissed oscausi, causing their mouth to disappear as if it were never there in the first place.

high above, a dementor unseats one of the few jockeys who remains completely unaware as to the chaos unfolding down below. he hurtles towards the ground at a truly alarming speed, destined to collide at full force if it weren’t for the interference of LUNA, who seems to be the only one witnessing his fall. a cry of arresto momentum slows him down so that when he lands, it’s gently and onto untrampled grass. she gets only a moment to enjoy the wave of relief that rushes over her before she’s hit by friendly fire, in this case, a red stunner to the back.

ISMENE'S hands are bloodied by a fall that has her vaguely dazed and shaken beyond belief when someone grabs her roughly by the arm. she screams and almost hexes ARTURO directly in the face before she realizes that her assumed assailant is actually tugging her out of the crowd and into the gap between two stalls. no sooner are they under cover does he push a sobbing THESEUS into her arms, forced to break a vice like grip that she's had around his neck since the death eaters descended. "apparate her out," he demands, and ISMENE opens her mouth to protest, but nothing sensical comes out, "now, ismene. and if you find polyneices, tell him we need aurors." she forces herself to suck in a lungful of air and nods, disappearing with her niece before his eyes. he grips his wand a little tighter and then he throws himself back into the stampede.

JULIUS is hit directly in the chest by a powerful wingardium leviosa and sent flying through the plywood back wall of one of the stalls, landing in a mess of stuffed animals and assorted debris.

in tier two, pandemonium that is not unlike the scene unfolding in the circle, though entirely self made. the crowd here screams and runs and knocks each other over in much the same uncoordinated way, but what many don't seem to realize is that the death eaters are focusing their attack on the inner ticker holders. dementors may not know such distinction, but the first of them to break away from the mass that swoops overhead is banished with a patronus from MEERA.

AJAY is beneath a hook a duck stall with AUGUSTINE when a killing curse goes wide and hits the roof, causing an uncontained explosion of sickly green. the wooden support beams collapse in on them along with the flaming tarp, crushing them both beneath their weight, but luckily enough, ASTORIA & ANTIGONE see all and rush to their aid. a death eater takes aim for ASTORIA as they douse the flame, but ANTIGONE is quick on the draw with a petrificus totalus, and together, the two are able to levitate the debris and grab the two beneath.

confused by what's happening around them and acting on very little thought at all, TEMPEST directs their patronus towards a little boy lost in the crowd and about to get devoured in the worst of ways. the glowing falcon swoops low and drives away the threat against MARCO, and ANDIE grabs for him without thanks to spare, twisting on the spot and getting them both out of there post haste.

panicked wix push and shove their way towards perceived safety, not caring who they stamp on in their desperate bid to get away. ADORA is not the only one to trip over abandoned belongings and fall painfully to the ground, nor are they the only wix unable to find their footing again in the mayhem. half crawling, half pushing upwards with all their might, a knee collides with their forehead, dazing them on impact. they lose what little height they've gained as screaming wix trample over them, throwing their arms over their head and curling their knees up to their chest in an effort to minimize the amount of their body able to be reached.

GINNY attempts to counter a barrage of curses being thrown her way by one overzealous death eater with a bat bogey hex that goes wide and hits a stuffed bear instead when her arm is jostled. she’s hard pressed to do much more than deflect curse after curse when every attempt she makes at firing back or disarming them is skillfully dodged or fails to hit the intended target thanks to the panicked crowd, so naturally, she does the only thing she can do when she’s backed into a food cart. briefly using it as cover ( the brilliant red of crucio sailing over her head as she ducks behind it, the wicked yellow of a ribboning curse slashing across her arm when she reaches up to take hold of the handles ), she unlocks the wheel with near malicious intent and runs them down with it before they have a chance to puzzle her next move. 

the death eaters are the least of JUSTIN'S problem when one of the dementors breaks from the fold and targets him directly, pulling any of the happiness he had felt over the course of the day from him with gaping maw. OTTO attempts to hit it with a stupefy to little success, and another dementor joins the group, choosing to latch onto OTTO. the two are forced to their knees by the weight of their despair, but just when hope seems lost, the bright blue of an otter commanded by HERMIONE - her other hand held over a gash across her upper arm - sends it packing, right away. "go," she tells them both, and neither thinks twice about gripping the others hand and apparating out.

in tier three, ANTON'S vips are pushed all the way up to the wall of windows, watching the scene below unfold with abject horror. the aurors amongst them - some working security that day and others invited personally by the minister - apparate out one by one and into the crowd while one lone wix, a member of the raceday organization board, shouts for everyone to remain calm.

OLIVER, LAVINIA and KEIRA ( finally unfrozen ) are three of the many who decide to take their chances out on the course, ducking beneath the barrier and running full pelt across the stretch of sand, hoping to find safety in the grandstand. the security charged with ensuring that this didn't happen over the course of the day have abandoned their posts to try and gain control over the situation, so there's nothing to stop them slipping through. when OLIVER'S ankle twists, the two strangers exchange a wide eyed look and weigh their options before they turn on their heel and come back to him, using their combined strength to half carry, half drag him the rest of the way. when a dementor bores down upon them at the final leg, it's physically beaten back by a jockey atop a dappled gray hippogriff who chooses not to head to safety.

a death eater roughly the size and shape of AMYCUS has WREN'S hair knotted in one hand and SEAMUS held under crucio by the wand in his other. as WREN struggles against his grip and kicks at him, again - which just so happens to be the very move that got them into this mess - he grits his teeth behind his mask and pushes their head under the water of one of the surviving dunk tanks.

GRACIE ( limping, now, and sporting a nasty cut over her lip ) finally locates them after a desperate search and tries to hit the death eater with a stunner, but AMYCUS is too fast ; he drops the crucio on SEAMUS, who's left harmless and gasping for air, firing a killing curse at the blonde that she only narrowly dodges. the battle is unfair, with GRACIE using every schoolyard hex and auror standard curse in the book that comes to mind in quick succession while AMYCUS deflects and fires back with vicious intent, her sisters head still held under water. desperate and aware of how little time she truly has, she throws a final petrificus totalus at him and is amazed when his grip slackens and he falls to the floor ; it's only when he lies stunned and prone that GRACIE sees her father, MATTIAS, stood behind him, wand still raised. the two rush as one to grab WREN and get out of the heart of the attack.

at the exact center of the circle is the ferris wheel, a huge, wooden contraption with psychedelic string lights that are still pulsing amidst the chaos and twenty passenger cars in varying, sickly fluorescent colors. it's already been hit by a number of wayward spells by the time a small group of death eaters break free from the majority and take aim. the combination of the spells they shout ( confringo, screams one, while bombarda maxima is shouted by a coordinated duo ) causes immediate and catastrophic damage to its structural integrity, and that's before they pull back their arms and go at it a second time, and then a third, and then as many as they need to take huge chunks from the supporting stands and inner beams. one of the passenger cars breaks free and crashes into a stall, drawing a terrified scream from MATTIE, still hidden beneath its counter. more, still, hang loose by little more than a thread.

the whole thing sways, dangerously, in the cool summer breeze.

one of the death eaters one final bombarda.

and then, with the sound of snapping wires and one deafening creak, what's left comes down in one.

PHOEBE, huddled on the floor of a nearby food truck and desperately trying to control shaking fingers enough to scribble her firsthand experience on the back of a discarded receipt, feels the crash as it reverberates through her shelter and loses her stubby pencil as she tries to find steady purchase. ORIANA does their best to leap out of the way of one of the supportive stands. they manage to clear its path but land on their arm with a sickening crunch. NIKO ( having made every effort to stay out of the path of death eaters who proved themselves content with throwing curses in his direction in the moments after they apparated in ) puts himself into its path without meaning to and is engulfed by dust & assorted rubble from the collapsing structure. MOLLY, having gotten separated from her husband in the initial stampede and having taken shelter in one of the other empty stalls, doesn't have a hope of doing anything to stop these events unfolding as they do. the roof of the stall caves in with the weight of ferris wheel debris, and splintered wood becomes a dangerous weapon all of its own.

the nearest death eaters don't even wait for the dust to settle before they let out a triumphant cheer, one of them even going so far as to send a celebratory incendio towards the most flammable pile of rubble and watching as it goes up in flames. this show of victory is their mistake, and the mass arrival of the ministry's elite - with none other than MINISTER KARKAROFF at their forefront - couldn't come a moment too soon.

ANTON is a terrifying sight in his own right, but there is something doubly sinister about the addition of his patronus - a sleek vulture that he conjures without ever seeming to utter a word and commands high into the sky, instructing it to swoop and soar and dive at the dementors still gathered overhead. with the bird of prey now in their midst, they can't seem to work out what to do, and amazingly, they begin to scatter even before the minister's patronus is joined by ones conjured by the aurors. he turns his focus to the three ringleaders, the three individuals responsible for the fall of the ferris wheel; he parries their assorted curses with little effort and cuts them down, one by one, with near clinical precision.

the AURORS that apparate in begin to turn the tide on the death eaters immediately. across the circle, masked figures begin to disapparate in terror, but the ones that don’t are swiftly apprehended with spells designed to take them in alive, and take them in quietly. among them, TONKS & KINGSLEY are a well oiled machine that needs little introduction and uses their disarray against them; while one takes careful aim and hits any death eater they come across, the other is forever watching their back. ARTURO has never been happier to see POLYNEICES, who gets the death eater responsible for taking him down with a leg binding curse with the full body variety and casts the counter charm with practiced skill, helping him to his feet with a grim, “better late than never, right?” 

and by merlin, it is. it truly is. the expulsion of the dementors lifts the fog of fear that had fallen over the circle at large, and the realization that the death eaters are on the ropes and scattering in a panic of their own renews the fight of those still standing. lead by the minister and alongside the aurors, the gathered crowd pushes them back. and even after everything they’ve faced, there still manages to be a bleak sense of triumph when the snake & skull is banished from the sky. 

ROUNDUP OF DAMAGES, INJURIES & FATALITIES : 

most of the food trucks, carnival stalls and picnic set ups are entirely destroyed ; anyone who didn’t have the forethought to grab their things when they were apparating or running will likely find them crushed underfoot or burned beyond recognition, as many of the death eaters that moved through the circle set fires as they went ( which aurors struggle to get control of, in the immediate aftermath ). a few wayward spells took chunks out of the wall and shattered windows of the distant ministers box building, and a few more flew into the grandstand crowd and added to the panic, but the other areas of the tutshill derby racecourse are nothing compared to the devastation on the inner circle. 

the death toll climbs heavily throughout the evening until the aurors announce the final total as twenty four, which grows to twenty seven as a small number of raceday goers succumb to their injuries over the course of the next few days. only a handful of these victims were actually killed by the painless killing curse. 

adora crabbe suffered serious injury when they were crushed by the stampeding crowd and will be forced to recover at st mungo’s for however long it takes. they’re lucky to be alive.

ajay mishra and augustine verne suffered major injury when a stall collapsed in on top of them and will need to spend a few days recuperating at st mungo’s. 

amycus carrow was nowhere to be found when mattias moody led a small team of aurors to where he had left him, stunned, and his current status is unknown. 

andie macnair and her son suffered some minor injury in the chaos but are more badly shaken than anything else. 

antigone xu is shaken, but relatively unscathed. 

arthur weasley is badly shaken, but relatively unscathed. 

arturo de la rosa suffered some minor injuries over the course of the attack and has been advised to take a day off work to rest and recuperate ( though he’ll be back in the office bright and early tomorrow morning ). 

astoria yeşilçimen is shaken, but relatively unscathed. 

catherine warren briefly lost consciousness and is quite badly shaken after their encounter with amycus carrow and will be forced to spend the night in st mungo’s for observation. 

charlie weasley, having apparated early on, remains unscathed. 

diana dyer has sustained some minor cuts, but shouldn’t have to see a healer to take care of them.

dudley dursley has sustained some major cuts to his arms, but a liberal application of essence of dittany on the scene should keep him out of st mungo’s. 

ginny weasley suffered some minor injury in one vicious dual but is more badly shaken than anything else. 

grace moody has sprained her ankle and suffered some minor injury over the course of the attack, including a nasty gash across her lip that should be tended to by a healer on the scene. 

henri catchlove is shaken, but relatively unscathed. 

hermione granger suffered some minor injuries over the course of the attack and is quite badly shaken up. she should be taken care of on the scene. 

isadora meadows and her daughter are unscathed as thanks to having apparated away early on. 

ismene xu suffered minor injuries in an early fall and is badly shaken by the whole ordeal, though should take some comfort in the fact that she got her niece out safely. 

julius crabbe suffered a minor concussion and should avoid things like drinking and operating heavy machinery for the next several days.

justin finch-fletchley is quite badly shaken after his encounter with a dementor and will need to spend a night in st mungo's for obseration purposes.

keira quirrell is shaken, but relatively unscathed. 

lavender brown will be forced to recuperate under the watchful eyes of the st mungo’s healers after being hit by a powerful stunner to the head.

lavinia lacefield is shaken, but relatively unscathed. 

luna lovegood should be fine after a checkup on the scene but is advised to take it easy for the next twenty four hours, anyway.

mattie fortescue is seriously shaken up by their ordeal and will need to spend a night in st mungo’s where healers can administer copious amounts of calming draught. 

molly weasley suffered serious and life threatening injury in the collapse of the ferris wheel, in part impaled by a splintered beam from the stall she took cover in. her life hangd in the balance at st mungo’s. 

niko karkaroff suffered serious injury in the collapse of the ferris wheel and had to be dug out of the rubble; he was taken to st mungo’s from the scene before he regained consciousness. 

oliver wood has sprained his ankle in the chaos, but should be able to have it tended to without having to visit st mungo’s. 

oriana trelawney broke their arm when the ferris wheel came down and should spend at least the night in st mungo’s, where qualified healers can administer copious amounts of skele-gro before they head home.

otto crabbe is quite badly shaken after her encounter with a dementor and will need to spend a night in st mungo’s for observation purposes. 

parvati patil is shaken, but relatively unscathed. 

percy weasley is quite badly shaken after his encounter with a dementor and will need to spend a night in st mungo’s for observation purposes.

phoebe fletcher-blake is quite badly shaken, but relatively unscathed ( and has come away from the attack with one hell of a story ).

rhea holiday is badly shaken by her time beneath the cruciatus and is advised to have a stiff drink ( or several ) when she gets home.

seamus finnigan is also quite badly shaken by his time beneath the cruciatius, and has received the same advice. 

tempest clearwater suffered some minor injury over the course of the attack but in comparison to everyone else is doing ok. 

OUT OF CHARACTER :

this marks the end of our tutshill derby event ! no new event based starters should be posted from here on out, but you can feel free to continue any derby threads you began over the last two weeks and are now welcome to transition into the aftermath, if you'd so prefer ! as mentioned a few times over the last few days, our next event will be kicking off in one weeks time but is not actually an event at all - i can confirm that it'll be isolated to the writing discord, which will give you plenty of time to enjoy the chaos this plot drop has provided on dash !