Grant's reflexes were rather good. They had to be when you took care of magical creatures for a living. But even he took a few moments to react to what happened at the base of that tree. Seeing Keegan go down, the creature on top of him, and then Ciaran having the courage to go in with the hex and then bare-handedly grapple with the Deathmantle, Professor Baer took action.

He came around the other side of the tree from where he was, wand already out to perform the petrification spell. Since Ciaran was positioned facing him, with the creatures back displayed for his spell, it hit the creature with force. The effect was, naturally, instantaneous. The Darkmantle froze where it was in Ciaran's hands, stuck in the position of trying to get its jaws around his fingers.

"Shit. You boys alright?" He saw that the Darkmantle had gotten its jaws around Keegan's arm, and he figured that Ciaran had to have a few scratches at least from its claws, if not a bite or two. "Here, let me get this thing off of you and then I'll take a look..."