Watching in awe as Fantasma blasted the monster back to the Hell that spawned it, Nikki was speechless. She had only heard hushed whispers and stern warnings concerning the incantation, Avada Kedavra. The words were always spoken like a putrid curse; a fiendish weapon used only by the lowest of the low which guaranteed immediate death upon its target. As if it weren't shocking enough to watch Fantasma so boldly wield it with a bravado she had only ever seen in him when meeting one-on-one, the beast had withstood the first two casts. Twice over did it cheat death.
She was snapped out of her trance when Rio announced he had found something, and immediately did she dash to his side to take a peek inside the hatch herself. Nikki was overcome with a morbid curiosity while she watched the viscous, inky black liquid spill out of the stone walls and slowly fill the storage cellar, coming into contact with potion reagents and brewing tools. After falling into another, albeit shorter trance, Nikki breathed a sharp gasp and her head snapped up straight to view the slain beast slumped in a charred corner of the room.
"Don't touch anything?" Nikki loudly parroted the words, turning to Fantasma with a scowl, "This black sludge is touching everything! It's ruining Swagglebone's whole inventory! And that- thing- could've been in here chugging potions, or just...wrecking them!" mouthed off the shook Ravenclaw, coming to stand and wildly gesture out towards the monster in question, "Is there a potion that resists magic? Or curses? Or, no, maybe this anomaly of an undocumented hell-creature reacts to potions differently? Reacts to spells differently?" Nikki continued.
Past a certain point, she began to sound less like she was worried, and more like she was just confused and trying to work out every possibility in the vain hope of stumbling upon a eureka moment. It sure appeared as though she had, though, as she soon fell silent, and narrowed her eyes at the downed beast, then turned to peer down the hatch again. "Or perhaps..." Nikki murmured, brusquely brushing past anyone standing between her and the monster as she brandished a short knife. Kneeling before its corpse, Nikki cautiously held her knife to its arm, and firmly pressed the blade against its hide and attempted a horizontal incision, seeking to draw blood with a small vial held ready to collect it.
Nikki's fuzzy ears jumped upon catching the professor's mumblings, and the costumed Ravenclaw was hasty in her reaction. "Wha-" she first stuttered as she whipped around to again stare down Fantasma with a scowl, "Another victim? Who was the first victim?! Is there more than one victim?!" Nikki grilled the professor with real concern returning to her voice. She paused however; taking a breather while gears turned in her head, "...did you know about this thing beforehand?"
@Jeremi @Yun Lee @Ver @Takumi @Kaykay @Gummi Bunnies @Otto @Glostechk
It took Nikki awhile to draw blood from the monster due to its thick hide but finally the blade broke skin and allowed some blood to seep out from the wound.
To the accusations Professor Fantasma's brow started to sweat profusely. "I-I just misspoke." He responded. "T-These are things that...h-how could we have known? W-Why hide it from the students? I-It's really absurd really..."
Before he could say anything else another voice came from the air. "Yes, things like these would be informed to the students." Professor McGonagall had arrived into the classroom to which she quickly closes the door behind her and put the locking spell on the door so that no one could enter or exit. "You thought this was a good idea, Finnegan? Perhaps not the best extra curriculum activity." She looked over the students there and spotted Rio. "And I see Mr Myre is back at it again as well...this is a proper mess isn't it?"
@Yun Lee @Ver @Takumi @Kaykay @Gummi Bunnies @Otto @Glostechk @Archmage Jeremiah @Neko Shogun