Charmed & Dangerous

    Prue was at Hogwarts to help McGonagall with a secret task -- something that should have only lasted a few days--when the outbreak had started. The Headmistress put the school on immediate lockdown until further notice for the students until she figured out what was going on outside. She had asked Prue to help her contact the Ministry, given that Harry was still one of her best friends and if anyone would know what was happening, it would be him. She did try, but couldn’t get through at all...probably because everybody else had the same idea to contact the Ministry as well. She tried the Floo Network, hoping to get to Harry directly, but it was blocked. “Blocked?” The concern in Minerva’s voice was transparent as Prue told her about her failed attempts. “What is going on out there?” A rhetorical question, obviously, as Prue had no way of knowing the answer any more than she did. “I’m afraid...we may have to send the students home, Miss Halliwell. At least until this all gets sorted.” Prue nodded. The school may be the safest place for them during the year, but they had no idea what any of this was... Or where it came from or how to deal with it. It started with the Muggles but could it affect the Magical World too? It seemed possible if the Ministry was going to such great lengths to shut everything down.    Prue offered to assist with the Magical Creatures and calling the staff together so McGonagall could come up with a solid plan. As she made her way through the halls, the children were running about; some teary eyed, some terrified unable to get owls to their parents, and others believed it was all just a prank or just a Muggle thing that would never get to them so it was stupid to worry. Either way, Prue’s texts weren’t going through and she couldn’t get a signal to save her life. Maybe it was the castle...but she’d had no problems before. McGonagall made it so that Prue could still contact her family while she was there. She hastily shoved her phone in her pocket, upset with the lack of service as she was very much hoping to get ahold of her husband...and her mother. She rounded up the professors and sent them all to the Headmistress’ tower where they could discuss the situation further without young, nosy ears prying. Meanwhile, the witch made her way down to Hagrid’s, greeted by Fang and Merlin. She was quickly enveloped by the half-giant’s arms and a whirlwind of worried Hagrid mutterings she only half understood; things like, “-thoug’ yeh were gone already” and “was so werried, I was ready tuh chase yeh down myself, I was.” Prue patted her former guardian on the shoulder, unable to breathe well with the crushing weight of his large arms. “Still here...can’t breathe though...” “OH!” He set her down, holding on to her shoulders, apologizing profusely and how he forgets his own strength when he’s scared. --- The two discussed a plan of their own for the creatures, hoping to keep them as safe and as far away from any potential harm as possible. Prue kept checking her phone, but the signal was still undetectable. She sent several more messages hoping that at least one would send through eventually. She headed back to the castle to find McGonagall and update her on her and Hagrid’s plan and to ask if there was anything else she needed before she went home. She told the Headmistress about her phone, making Minerva seem more worried as she never disabled that privilege. Prue told her that she needed to go home that night, to check in and make sure her family was alright. Nobody knew if this thing was isolated or if it was spreading and how far... Minerva agreed and thanked Prue, told her that if she wasn’t able to return in the morning that it was okay and that she understood. Prue thanked her as well, assuring her that she would do everything she could to come back first thing. Heading to her personal chambers to pack the few things she’d brought, she orbed down to the Castle Grounds. Looking around one last time, she inhaled deeply before orbing home----or rather, attempting to orb home. It felt as though she’d hit a large concrete wall and bounced off like a fly off a light bulb. “What the f--” She landed on the ground hard as it repelled the witch straight back to where she started. “You must be joking,” she muttered as her eyes wandered over the grounds she’d literally just been on. She tried again but it ended the same way; Prue flat on the earth in front of the castle. A third attempt proved just as useless, hitting the ground even harder, rolling backwards this time down an incline. “Sonofa--!”She grunted in frustration and hit the grass with both of her hands in defeat. “Bloody bullshit.” She hoisted herself up off the grass, picking her bag up and headed back into the castle. Minerva was in the Great Hall now where the students were also piling in. “Professor!” Prue walked quickly to the professors’ table at the front of the Hall. “Professor..there’s a problem.” As she explained what happened with her inability to get home, she and McGonagall became increasingly more alert and terribly worried about this situation. Prue felt her nerves going haywire, her stomach in the tightest of knots as she fruitlessly checked her phone again. If she couldn’t get home... she really didn’t want to think about that. “I’m going to check the news,” she whispered to Minerva as all the students finally filed in to sit at their respective tables. She felt like she couldn’t breathe again, not knowing what was going on here let alone over in the States where her family was. She didn’t have any way of contacting them it seemed and no way of getting back.Even the Hogwarts express only went to King’s Cross and that would’ve been just as useless as her phone right now.     She could still orb though, which was good...it meant that it wasn’t a natural magical block so much as a wizard-made one. A wizard made one could be undone. She orbed into an ally in the city where people would be watching all the news stations at once. People were running about, screaming and running into each other, the drivers no better as she drove recklessly through the streets. Prue narrowly missed getting struck by a car as she stepped out of the ally, sidestepping just in time. “Asshole!” She shouted at the man who almost ran her down. Shaking her head, she hurried down the road to a front window display of telies where the local Muggle news was flashing emergency signals before anchors were advising people to get to their homes and stay there. Nobody was sure what was causing people to go mad..rabid? Apparently they were attacking other people. Biting and killing them. Prue’s stomach, already in knots, now convulsed as they showed footage of a ghastly looking man attacking another on the street, biting his shoulder and tackling him to the ground..but he didn’t stop there. He kept biting...gnawing on the man until police officers had pulled him off--to which he began attacking them too. Prue was staring at the screen intently when she was startled by a loud scream somewhere behind her. She jumped and turned around to see London police pinning a woman to the ground and another man on the ground holding his bleeding arm.

                       What. The. Fuck.     It was almost as if the scene she’d just watched on the telly had manifested on the street before her, except the person in question this time was a woman...she looked ill with sullen, grey skin and sunken, glazed over eyes. She was snarling at the police officers holding her down, snapping at them with gnarly teeth. The police officers tried to hold her but she was strong...thrusting and thrashing about, intent on biting anyone near her. “Bloody hell..” the words slipped from her mouth as someone grabbed her from behind. She spun around, ready to fight off one of those.... people, when a familiar face greeted her instead. “Ginny?” “Prue!” The two women, relieved to see one another, hugged the other tightly, exclamations of elation exchanged between them before Ginny pulled Prue off the street, into a small tea shop. “Ginny.. what in Merlin’s name is happening out there?” Ginny shook her head. “I don’t know, but..it’s bad. It hit the Muggles first but... we’re not immune to this, Prue. Whatever it is, it can get to us too. Everyone’s up in arms and the Ministry is up to its hat in paperwork and phone calls just trying to get a grip on it.” Prue’s eyes softened on the redhead, granted still full of concern. “I tried to get to Harry but the Floo system..” “It’s down, I know. Harry couldn’t get home and we couldn’t get to him either. It’s terrible. Everything is under lockdown. I suspect Dad is still there too..” “Dammit.. Isn’t there any way of getting in? The tunnels?” Again, a head shake from Ginny. “No, they sealed them off a few years back..reckon they didn’t want a repeat of the old days.” “Probably smart..”     The girls talked for a bit, each explaining their stories so far and their experiences. Prue told her about Hogwarts and McGonagall’s plan and Ginny told her how Mrs. Weasley was in absolute panic. “Do you think I could see her?” Prue asked, terribly upset herself but the thought of Molly in distress over half her family missing was rather unbearable. Molly was like another mother to her when she was young..to this day she still checked up on Prue just the same. “I suspect she’d love that very much.” Ginny smiled, taking Prue’s hand and apparating to the all too familiar Weasley residence. It still looked the same from the outside. Prue wasn’t surprised to see that it was still mainly the same on the inside as well. For a moment, she forgot about the scene she’d just saw on the street when that beautiful clock ticked to change Ginny’s location to HOME. “GINNY WEASLEY! YOU SAID NO MORE THAN HALF AN HOUR!! I WAS WORRIED SICK THAT SOMETHING MIGHT’VE HAPPENED OUT--” She stopped frozen stiff when her eyes landed on Prue, immediately welling with tears. “Prue, dear, sweet Merlin..” she stuttered a bit as she spoke, approaching the younger with with open arms, enveloping her in a tight, motherly hug. “Oh, it’s so good to see you, dear! You had me worried too! I hadn’t heard from you in weeks and then this mess out there, dear me, it’s just awful. People are stuck at work and at home...The Prophet put out an emergency issue.” She was still talking and hugging Prue, which was honestly welcome as Prue returned the hug. She missed Molly and it was good to see her, especially now. “I’m glad you’re alright. I saw something today...It’s bad out there, Molly...really bad.” She didn’t want to scare the woman, but she wasn’t about to sugarcoat anything right now either. Not after witnessing what she’d seen. “I want to try to get into the Ministry...I’ve done it before. There must be a way to do it again.” “Darling girl, always so brave... they’ve really stepped up on the security the last few years. Arthur has had trouble just getting through the doors lately, they’re being such sticklers.” Ginny nodded and they all sat down at the kitchen table. Molly used her wand to bring over the tea kettle and a basket of biscuits. “Mum’s been baking all day. She’s a bit stressed.” Prue chuckled softly, chest tightening as she thought about Piper and what she might be doing right now. Probably sending Leo to find out what the hell is going on if this mess is happening in the States too...she really hoped it wasn’t though. “Nothing wrong with stress baking. It’s a productive distraction.”     Her visit lasted for several hours, only two other family members able to make it home in that time. Molly insisted that Prue stay with them after telling them about her inability to get back home, but Prue explained that she was needed at Hogwarts to help McGonagall but she would definitely check in again with the Weasleys for as long as she was over here. Prue left slightly more worried than when she’d arrived, although relieved that several members of the family were still okay, the others were still unaccounted for--including Arthur and Ron..and Harry. Two of those three might be at the Ministry, of course, but how safe was it there right now? If no one could get in, they most likely couldn’t get out either. It was madness. Nobody was handling this well, it seemed. With good reason but the execution lacked something to be desired for sure.

    Prue decided to stay off the streets of London now, instead taking a side trip to Hogsmeade for some supplies. It was close to Hogwarts, after all, and she didn’t feel like going into Diagon Ally this late. The Knockturns made their way about around this time and Prue had zero energy or desire to deal with them just now. Stopping in to see Rosmerta after grabbing a few necessities, Prue had a couple shots of fire whiskey and sank into a chair by the fire. She held her head in her hands, body shaking as she breathed deeply in a shallow attempt to calm herself. How the hell could this be happening? Whatever this even was? And how could nobody know? Someone had to know something. The news was useless as of the moment and so was the Prophet. It was all warning and speculation. Bullocks. Widespread fear propaganda. It always was. They overplayed everything to make the public dependent on them. It’s how the world worked. She sat back in the chair, running her hand through her hair and pulled a pack of herbal cigarettes from her bag. She lit one with the fire in front of her as an idea rose to the surface. Maybe she could still use the Floo Network to contact Danny...she’d only have to hope that he was near their fireplace. If she couldn’t use it to travel, maybe she could still use it to communicate. It was worth a shot, she supposed...It was her only shot really. She took a few hits from her cigarette before kneeling in front of the fire. She took a pinch of Floo powder and sprinkled it into the flames before chanting the spell and saying Danny’s name. Unfortunately, the fire reacted negatively, as it would whilst blocked and flew out at the witch instead. She ducked sideways but not before the flamed danced across her upper arm, leaving a nice burned patch and a hold in her shirt. “AGH FUCK!” She shouted, sitting against the bottom of the chair, holding her arm with her free hand. “Fuck, fuck, FUCK!” She stomped her heel on the floor, gripping her burned skin. She was starting to not feel it at all as her nerves took back over. She really was completely cut off from her family. Rosmerta came rushing over with a towel and some herbs. “Oi, love, you really made a mess of yourself tonight, haven’t ya?” Prue’s eyes closed, head rolled back to look up at the ceiling while the elder woman pressed the herbs and rag to her wound. She hissed in pain as they stung her sensitive skin. “Yeah...I guess.. I’m sorry Rosie, I thought.. I hoped that I could get hold of my husband..the Floo Network is down completely though, unfortunately and I’m blocked off from .. well, everything it seems.” Rosmerta gave her an understanding, yet sad look. She clearly didn’t know how to help beyond the burn and she felt bad for it. Prue told her not to feel bad, that she’d figure it out but it was really taking its toll on her today, not being able to contact her husband and daughter. Rosmerta gave her another shot of fire whiskey, with no bad pun intended, before she left for Hogwarts and suggested she go see Madame Pomphrey to heal the rest of her arm. She thanked her for her help and everything else...and to stay safe in the meantime. Rosmerta returned the wishes of safety and Prue orbed herself back to the school.     Prue entered the Great Hall, where the students had cleared out, presumably to start packing up their belongings. She didn’t know what the next day or so was going to hold..but she suspected it wasn’t going to be easy. She could guess, however, that it was going to be ridiculously, exasperatingly long... One thing she did know for certain was that she needed to find a way to contact Danny somehow...and if it meant breaking down that damn force field spell by bloody spell, she would get home to her family. No matter what.