Broke Down (OPEN TO SITE!)

[talls]

January 21, 1976
1:00 pm

It was a normal Tuesday afternoon. Passing time was always hard to naviagte, and people were expected to bump into eachother.

Alice Hoggs, better known to the school as Ferret, walked slowly, mostly dragging herself through the halls. She looked dishevealed, dark circles graced her under eyes. Her clothes were wrinkled and she had buttoned her shirt wrong.

But she didn't care. She had gotten no sleep for almost two weeks striaght now. Every time she closed her eyes, she was visited by a nightmare that she awoke to with a scream, to awake looking like a new person. And she feared sleeping in class in case the same thing happened.

She tried not to complain. She didn't want people to worry. She wasn't worth people worrying right now.

Behind her, she heard someone calling a name. It wasn't hers so she ignored it. Suddenly, her shoulder was grabbed and she was spun around to face a large Hufflepuff, who was panting for breath.

"Damn it Jen will you just-oh..." his face was flushed, noticing that she was not the person he had been looking for. "Sorry, I thought you were someone else."

With that simple sentance, something snapped. In her mind, Ferret heard people comparing her to others, telling her she looked like someone else.

"She looks just like Mary!"

I'm Ferret.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were Jack."

I'm Ferret.

"Oh...sorry, I thought you were April."

I'm Ferret.

"I thought..."

"I thought..."

"...someone else..."

"I'm Ferret!" She had screamed it. "I'm Ferret! Not Jack, not Lisa, not Alexis! I'm Ferret!"

The hall had frozen as Ferret screamed. She clutched at her hair, claws at her face. Slowly, she began to change. She became a woman with blond hair and a baby bumb. She became a man with a long white beard. She became an old woman who had a scar across her neck.

Ferret went to her knees, yelling that she was Ferret as she changed forms. Soon she began taking familar faces. Sirius Black. Narsissa Black. Chase. Lachie. Ashton. Lily.

She continued to scream her name as she took every form but her own. Tears ran down her cheeks as she screamed that she was Ferret, no one else.



_{OCC: Alright people! The thread is up and have a ton of fun! Consern, mocking and shock and awe are encouraged.}

[ash]

Ash had been wandering around a little pointlessly for a while now, uncertain what to do with his time. At some point he'd ended up down on the first floor. Where was he heading? Outside maybe?

A shout caught his attention and he spun around, noticing that all around him people were doing the same thing, searching for the source of the noise.

Not only was the voice a familiar one, but the words too...

"I'm Ferret! Not Jack, not Lisa, not Alexis! I'm Ferret!"

Ferret? What was wrong? Where was she?

Ash pushed through the crowd that had begun to form, determined to get to the center of it. Who were these damned people? Could they not get out of his damned way! This was his best friend who was shouting, did they know that? He pushed and shoved people out of the way, not caring.

When he finally reached the front of the crowd he froze. There she was. Or at least, there was her voice. Her appearance though was changing so fast that it was hard to know who it was he was seeing. Random faces... Familiar faces... His face? Did she just turn into him?

Not long before Christmas Ferret had told him about her morphing but... even this was hard for him to take in. What could he do? Was there even anything?

He could see the tears that streamed down her face as she screamed her name over and over again. Someone bumped into him from behind and he stumbled over and landed hard on his knees, close enough to Ferret to reach out and touch her.

Ash grabbed for her hands that were alternating between pulling her hair and scratching her face and he tried in vain to pull them away. "Ferret! Ferret! Look at me!" Still her body morphed and changed between people - faces he knew and some that he didn't - some students, some not. Did she know all these people or were they just random faces?

"Look at me!" He gave up on trying to keep her hands away and looked around him quickly. Was there anyone here who could help? Where were the professors? Damn it the Hospital Wing was on this floor... had anyone stopped staring long enough to go and get help yet?

Ash looked back at her and he was sure his own fear showed on his face and his words were spoken quickly. His hands reached for her face and he tried to make her look up at him. Still she screamed her own name. "Yes. Yes. You're Ferret. You're Ferret. Only Ferret. Just Ferret. No one else. Just you. Just Ferret..."

[remuslupin]

Remus was in the library checking out a book on vampires for Defence when he heard it. Surely there was nothing on earth that travelled faster than gossip down the Hogwarts network - the news was only a few minutes old.

At first Remus frowned and tried to ignore the disturbance and focus on his reading, but he couldn't help but hear snatches, and when he heard the words "changing faces..." accompanied by "..going crazy in the corridor by the Hospital Wing." his face paled to a sickly white with shock.

"Ferret..."

Spurred on by a desperate fear, Remus leaped to his feet, casting the book aside as he ran for the entrance, pelting through the corridors of the castle and hurtling steps four or five at a time, unable to slow down for fear of tripping and breaking his neck. Drawing on every scrap of strength, speed and endurance that his lycanthropy gave him, Remus raced against his fear towards the corridor in question, desperately hoping that he wouldn't be too late.

[Emily Prescott]

Emily was heading back from the hospital wing, thankful Madame Pomfrey had supplied her with a potion for her headache. Running her hands through her hair, she decided to begin heading back to the Library when a cry caught her attention in the busy hall.

Her steps faltered and she looked around startled at the heartbreaking sound. She searched for the source and spotting a crowd forming she moved her way towards it. Immediatley knowing who it was when she listened closely to the the cries, "I'm Ferret! Not Jack, not Lisa, not Alexis! I'm Ferret!"

What was going on?

Em maneuvered her way to the front of the crowd, scowling at the people stood there whispering, concern for her room mate evident on her face as she made her way to the front of the still growing crowd. What she saw made her stumble to a shaky halt, her eyes widening in surprise. Was that Ferret? It sounded like her but...her face...it was changing...Sirius, Chase, Narcissa, Lachie, Ashton and Lily...Ferret was a Metamorphmagus and she was highly distressed.

Before she could move towards the girl Ash was closing in on her, reaching out to comfort her, his hands holding hers away from her face which she'd been scratching. "Oh my god..." she whispered, covering her hand with her mouth, "Somebody go get Madame Pomfrey..." she said to someone over her shoulder, not looking away from them till they actually moved.

When they finally did she stepped closer to Alice, crouching down a few steps away not wanting to crowd the distressed girl but wanting to be there, she had to be the only person around who called her Alice, but somehow she got away with it. "Alice...? Ferret...listen to Ash..." she was at a loss of what to say, how in the world could she say anything that was going to help her, "Just try and breath okay...Ferret...?"

[Sirius Black]

Sirius was heading down to the Quidditch pitch with his broom hanging loosely over his left shoulder. James was nowhere to be found, Sirius half wondered if his friend had returned to running after Lily, it wouldn't surprise him really, though he did think his friend needed to back off a little, maybe then he'd have a better chance with the red head, until then there were plenty girls wanting to get close to James, if only his friend would give them a chance.

"I'm Ferret! Not Jack, not Lisa, not Alexis! I'm Ferret!"

Sirius was tore out of his musings quickly upon hearing the screaming Gryffindor. His eyes immediately found her further down the corridor and feeling slightly concerned he started making his way down to where she was on the floor, pulling at her hair and scratching her face. "What the hell..." he said out loud, shooting a mean glare at the other whispering students.

Before he could say anything though Ferrets face began to change, and Sirius was stunned to see himself there on the floor for a moment. He stumbled to a halt in shock and looked at everyone else to see if they were seeing the same thing, from their reactions he knew they could. Turning back to look at her he saw a few other faces and shook his head, "Damn...!" he muttered.

He ran a hand through his hair, his broom dropping down to his side as he took another step forward, "Beat it...now..." he growled at some of the nearby students. Watching with satisfaction as a few of them scattered away, before he turned back to Ferret, seeing Ash trying to help Ferret, and Emily crouching close to the other girl, trying to regain her attention. Shaking his head, he ran a hand through her hair, wondering where the hell Madame Pomfrey was, hadn't Emily sent someone to get her and where were all the Professors?

[aliice]

This school was perhaps the most boringly pathetic place that Georgie knew of. Was it any wonder that she spent as little time in here as she possibly could? Nothing interesting ever happened and it was just the same old crap again and again. It bored her to no end.

Today though, it actually looked like something interesting was going to be happening after all. And she was in the right place at the right time to see it happen.

"I'm Ferret! I'm Ferret! Not Jack, not Lisa, not Alexis! I'm Ferret!"

A crowd immediately started to form and, not to be left out, Georgie headed for it too, wanting to see what was going on. Ferret? Wasn't that the ridiculous name that lousy Gryffindor went by? Typical of a Gryffindor to cause a scene, wasn't it?

"Move." That was all she needed to say before students scarpered away from her. Her reputation around here was well enough known that when seen, anyone with a brain in their heads got the hell out of her way.

Georgie looked on a right scene. Well, well... If they little weasel (or mole or whatever the hell she was) wasn't a little metamorph. Now here was a surprised. Georgie smirked, watching as a couple of students, clearly friends, flocked to help her.

"Now isn't this a sight to behold. Hogwarts finest... rolling on the floor. And you people wonder why you're muck to us?" The blond in the Gryffindor robes was definitely a mudblood from what Georgie could remember.

She stood there, one hand on a jutted hip, the other by her side and a smirk on her face. "How utterly pathetic. But, I suppose we all need to get our entertainment from somewhere."

[lovelylayla]

Layla had been worried about her friend for a while now. Lately, Ferret had been irritable and seemed to be losing control of her morphing ability. She’d always seemed to have issues with her image because of her unique power, and Layla had tried to support her and boost her confidence, but something was different now. And every time she was mistaken for someone else, whatever was wrong seemed to get worse.

She knew that their other friends had noticed too, but as far as Layla knew, none of them had spoken to each other about it. They had all resigned to worry silently to themselves. With each passing moment, however, the decision seemed to feel more and more like a bad one. And Layla had started to worry more and more about her friend.

It wasn’t until she passed by Ferret in the hallway, just in time to see her frantic display, that Layla truly began to fear for her friend. Hastily, without even thinking, she dropped her broom ― having been on her way to Quidditch practice ― and rushed to her friend. She watched as Ferret continued to morph into different people, screaming her name as she did. Layla kneeled beside her, wrapping her arms around the crying girl. She would stay like that for as long as she needed; holding her friend and making shushing noises to calm her. While she was vaguely aware of someone other people talking, Layla couldn’t care less who it was or what they were saying. All that she cared about at the moment was helping Ferret.

[/justify]

[talls]

This wasn't right. People were staring. They knew now, she was ruined. She could never come back, she could never get away. She began rocking as people kept telling her to calm down. That she was Ferret, she was Alice, to listen to whoever was speaking to calm down.

But she couldn't calm down. No one knew who she really was. She was Ferret. She was Alice Hoggs, but everyone thought she was someone else. She heard the whispers, she heard the voices talking about her as if she couldn't hear.

Muck.

Freak.

Pathetic.

Crazy.

Entertainment.

Monster.

Those words felt like they were being pounded into her skull. She could hear only them, canceling out the words trying to help her.

Then arms wrapped around her. Someone was sufficating her, trying to end her, she couldn't breathe. She was dying. Dear god she was going to die.

The girl push who was ever on her off her. She had become herself again mostly, just her eyes and hair color flashing to a different shade every moment. People were staring. Some mocking, some with consern, some in fear.

It was the fear that stood out, Ash's fear standing out to her the most. She clutched at her heart. She was so scared. And she scared them.

Monster...

She was a monster. She needed to get away. Needed to hide and then disappear forever. She could do that. But the wall of people was too thick, to many to let her through. Glancing behind her, she was the flash if the sun starting to set in the afternoon sun. Turning, she ran towards the window, covering her face with her hands, she jumped through the glass.

And she began to fall.

[Emily Prescott]

Emily stood up, glancing over her shoulder to see if Pomfrey was on her way yet, growling in frustration she shook her head, shooting a small smile as Sirius began ordering people to get lost. They were all staring as though this was some kind of entertainment...sick...couldn't they see the distress Alice was in? Her fingers inched toward her wand but she paused, knowing she was likely to get into some kind of trouble if she fired any kind of spell at them to make them go away, Sirius seemed to be doing a good job of that, despite the state of shock he seemed to be in.

Her eyes drifted back to Alice in time to see Layla crouch down beside her but before Emily could say anything the younger girl was wrapping Alice in a hug and like Emily predicted that seemed to be the last thing Alice wanted. The girl pushed off the physical attention and stood, the fear in her eyes as she looked around completely heartbreaking.

Before Emily could inch forward, reach out to her or even turn to see if Pomfrey was here yet Alice turned and all Emily could do was watch wide eyed as the girl ran towards the nearest window., covering her head with her arms. "Alice don't...!" she called out, her hands covering her face in horror, her eyes widening in disbelief as the girl jumped through the window, a loud crash echoing through the crowded hall, "Oh my god..." she whispered behind her fingers, before turning back to the crowd, "Somebody get help!" she yelled hurrying towards the window, seeing somebody run past her and reach it first...

[Chase Connors]

Kira Mills:

Kira was heading up from having a late lunch when a shout caught her attention. Just along the corridor from where she was people were starting to gather into a crowd, and, Kira being Kira, she was nosy and wanted to know what was going on.

She was stuck at the back of the crowd but her heels gave her a bit of an advantage to help her see over the shoulders of the people in front. There was someone on the floor in the middle of the crowd and their face - she didn't know whether it was a girl or a guy but the voice suggested girl - changing from person to person.
People who she assumed were friends were crowding around her and making comments and trying to calm her down and stuff but nothing seemed to be working. All around her people were talking and whispering and saying stuff, but Kira couldn't make out anything they were saying.

"What the hell is she?" She asked loudly over the crowd, her nose curling up as she watched the body and face of whoever was on the floor transition from one person to another. The sight was ghastly!

[Chase Connors]

Holden Snydman

Who was screaming? Some one was screaming and shouting and all around him people were turning to search for the source of the noise. Holden had been on his way to the library to study since his NEWT exams were coming up soon, when the commotion had begun.

His friend tugged on his harm and all put pulled him down the stairs to go and see what the drama was about this time. Rhys jumped on the spot to try and see over the crowd of heads, and all around there were shouts and whispered - Hogwarts gossip chain at its finest.

"Where's the monster?" Holden's friend shouted with a grin on his face. Holden grabbed his arm and glared.

"Are you crazy? Some one could be hurt!"

Rhys pushed him off and ran for the crowd again, still trying to see over the heads of the gathering students. Holden stayed at a distance and looked around, wondering if there were any professors here yet. He was on the wrong side of the corridor to the hospital wing and there wasn't much chance of getting though. He just had to hope someone else had gone instead.

He turned away, thinking of heading for the nearest classroom but another shout caught his attention. There was a loud crunch of breaking glass, and then the screaming really began.

[Chase Connors]

Marie Banner:

Marie was an inquisitive girl and if there was one thing she loved about Hogwarts, it was the gossip chain. Or more specifically, she loved being the one who started it. That of course, meant finding gossip in the first place.

Of course, where there was drama, Marie was always the first in the middle of it and today was no different. A girl started screaming and shouting in the first floor corridor and her face kept changing into those of different people. "What a freak!" Marie cringed and looked back - what a horrid sight! It was like something was alive under her skin... like molten lava was running through her and causing her skin to pulse and stretch over it... "Ew!"

Marie turned around and saw some of her equally giggly and gossipy friends at the back of her crowd and she inside, she grinned. "She's possessed. Holly! Tell Mable and Sooty!"

This was the perfect Hogwarts gossip moment.

[Chase Connors]

Bonnie Cole:

"What was that?" Bonnie turned to her friend and frowned. It sounded like shattering glass... Was there more fighting in the corridors?

Someone ran around the corner from her and shouted something about a girl jumping out of a window. That sound of breaking glass!

Bonnie and her friend shared a look and then ran quickly to the nearest window, throwing it open. Sure enough, there was someone on the grounds below. Bonnie looked up that side of the building and saw that the window was one on the first floor. "Oh, my god..." She whispered. Even just falling from the first floor, that would still hurt. Was the girl okay? She... she appeared to be moving...

Bonnie could see the sun reflecting off the pieces of broken glass on the grass around her. She could have been stabbed by broken glass!

"Someone get Madam Pomfrey!" She all but screamed out of the window. Why weren't there professors there already?

[James Potter]

James followed the commotion. All around him there were shouts and yells, and from the center of it all, some one shouting "I'm Ferret! I'm Ferret!" over and over again.

James pushed people roughly out of the way as he battled his way through the crowd. Could these people do nothing but stand and stare?

"Someone go to the hospital wing!" He shouted over the crowd, elbowing some punk who made a stupid comment and continuing his battle forward through the crowd.

As he ran, he pulled his wand from his pocket just in case. He couldn't exactly see what was going on and the shouts and whispers didn't help him much. Something about changing appearance?

He got to the front of the crowd in time to see Ferret launch herself at the nearest window and the glass shattered easily. There was less that a seconds pause before people started shouting and screaming, and a flash of blond hair shot over to the window.

James was close behind and pushed through quickly, wand already outstretched. "Arresto Momentum!"

He leaned out of the window and looked down. Ferret was on the ground. Had his spell worked? Was he too late? Did he miss? Was she hurt? Was she bleeding?

From here, there wasn't much that he could see and he spun quickly, eyes searching the crowd, but for who, he wasn't sure.

[remuslupin]

Remus hurtled round the corner into the corridor just in time to hear a wave of poisonous whispers begin, all of them directed at his girlfriend who he could now see panicking hysterically on the ground in the middle of the hallway as Ash tried to calm her down. The wolf stirred inside him, its predator's aura beginning to emanate from his skin as he glared around at those gossips he could see, images of tearing throats and breaking limbs bombarding his mind.

But there would be time for that later, Remus reminded himself, and revenge was a dish best served cold. Without slowing a beat he began weaving his way through the crowd, still travelling at the same hectic speed which which he'd run here and managing to avoid injury only through his werewolf senses and adrenaline-sharpened reflexes. When he was nearly clear of the crowd Remus saw Ferret stand unsteadily and glance at the window, and he was hit by a sudden wave of dread.

Redoubling his efforts to reach her, Remus gave up on politeness and began shoving and throwing people out of his way, his werewolf strength ensuring that he quickly burst through the edge of the crowd. But too late, for Ferret was already in flight, heading out the window and so Remus did the only thing he could do, making use of all the momentum he'd gathered during his desperate flight.

He jumped after her, hearing James' cast a spell and feeling a tangible wave of relief hit him as he watched her fall slow, only to vanish as he heard her leg crack as she hit the ground. Landing on his feet, Remus hurried over to her, panic rising as he smelled blood in the air. Casting the Diagnostic charm that Madam Pomfrey had used on him more times than he could count over the years, Remus patted her cheek and asked: "Ferret, can you hear me? If you can, I want you to open your eyes, okay?"