Even at my worst i'm best when i'm with you

[Madeline Walden]

To Maddie it felt like she spent most of her time in the Forest lately. She was hardly ever in the common room now which was fine by her because it was so tense in there as a result of the feud between her and James that had escalated recently. The feud had been going on so long now that Maddie didn't really know how it started but she wasn't in any hurry to end it. She was thankful that Charlotte seemed to be on her side though, Maddie could always count on her. They always had the best times together and tonight wouldn't be any different. Maddie felt like she had neglected her friend lately, between classes and planning the adventure club with Hemi it seemed like she didn't have any spare time to socialise with her friends.

The only natural place for the two friends to meet was the Forest, they had exhausted the other parts of the castle in their first year and it was time for the two to explore the Forest. Maddie had no expectations for the night, if they saw a creature that would be incredible but it would be just as nice to spend some time messing around with Charlotte. She leaned against a tree near the entrance to the Forest and waited for her friend to turn up.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

It was heading towards the end of the semester and all Charlotte wanted to do was do better than last year in her exams. She didn't do too bad last year but her ultimate goal throughout her life was to beat her last one no matter the situation. It was all about doing better than herself and when it came to exams she tried her hardest to put as much effort into it wherever she could. But today was different and she had planned to actually go out and do something with one of her good friends, Maddie. Out of everyone at Hogwarts Maddie was admittedly one of the people that Charlotte loved hanging out with the most. They had always managed to get up to some very exciting adventures and she was sure that today was going to be no different, especially since they were going to the forbidden forest - a place that Charlotte hadn't come across in quite a while. It was also a place that both Maddie and Charlotte hadn't really explored in yet.

"Hey!" Charlotte exclaimed across the grounds as she just spotted Maddie in the distance. She jogged to make her way quickly over to her and the tree she was leaning on near the entrance of the forest. When she made it, she smiled excitedly at the Gryffindor. "Shall we go in now?" she asked, gesturing towards the dark depths of the forest. Without waiting for an answer, Charlotte began to skip happily inside, keeping an eye on the rocks and tree branches below her feet. "Lumos." she said, taking her wand out of her robes and creating a beam of light at the tip of it. She would have to try and remember the way back out and hopefully Maddie was keeping an eye of where they were going too. Charlotte led the way, not really knowing where to go and desperately hoped that they'd come across something interesting soon.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie grinned when she saw her friend approach her, she left her spot on the tree and nodded as she began to walk with Charlotte further into the Forest. "I'm not sure what we'll find tonight. I think there's been enough student activity with the centaurs to last them a lifetime!" she joked. Maddie did wonder how they would get back out of the Forest and back to the castle after because all parts of the Forest looked exactly the same, so finding a way out would be difficult. She didn't have anything to drop either so it would just have to be luck. She shrugged her shoulders and carried on walking with Charlotte further into the Forest. "So how is your Quidditch thing going?" Maddie asked her friend trying to make conversation. She had never thought of taking up Quidditch herself, she liked watching the game but she wasn't too bothered about actually playing it.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte was glad that Maddie seemed to be pretty confident about entering the forest. Not only was Charlotte also confident but she was excited and something was telling her that entering the forbidden forest was a good idea for once. She made no effort to look up from where she was going and kept her eyes to the ground, hoping that their footprints would be able to lead them back when they were done. When Maddie mentioned the centaurs Charlotte paused for a moment, realising that she had never seen one of them before. They seemed like interesting creatures and it was a surprise that many other people had seen them except for her. "What do you mean? Was there some kind of centaur party or something that I didn't know about?" Charlotte asked, wondering why Maddie would say such a thing.

Charlotte felt quite pleased as Maddie kept the conversation going and started talking about quidditch. Charlotte didn't think she would but she actually loved quidditch and found the sport to be probably the most interesting thing Hogwarts had to offer. "It's going great! I haven't played a single game though because the snitch was caught within the first few seconds." she told her, chuckling slightly. "I was surprised I made it on the team though. I guess it just goes to show that if you don't try you'll never know." Truthfully, Charlotte didn't think at all that she'd make it on the team. She had been going up against older people who she had beat for the only remaining position as chaser and she felt quite pleased with herself. "You should join the quidditch team! It's very fun!"

Sorry for the lateness.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Even if they didn't find any creatures tonight Maddie was just grateful to be spending some quality time with her best friend. They hadn't really been on many adventures so far this semester which was strange for the two friends as last year they had countless adventures. Most of them involved breaking some rules, but not all of them. The ones where you had to break some rules were the ones that were most fun though! As they were chatting Maddie didn't even realise that she had let slip a secret, it was only until Charlotte picked her up on it did she realise. What should she do now? Lie? Tell the truth? Would Charlotte be hurt if she knew the truth? Maddie didn't like lying to her friends and since Charlotte was a good friend of Hemi's too he wouldn't object about their little secret getting out... would he? "Erm, well... You see... There... There has been" she began, stuttering, not being able to get her words out. She eventually stopped walking and turned to Charlotte. "Promise you wont hate me if I tell you the truth?" Maddie asked her friend. She was concerned about telling Charlotte because she didn't want her to feel left out, the last thing she wanted was somebody else unhappy with her.

Maddie grinned at Charlotte, she seemed genuinely excited about Quidditch and Maddie was thrilled that she was on her house's team. "Oh yeah, I remember! That match was unbelievable! Will you be able to play the next one?" she asked. "I'm not surprised! From what I remember in first year you were a really good flyer" she complimented Charlotte. Maddie thought about Charlotte's comment, Quidditch had never really crossed her mind, not really . But you should never say never, perhaps in the later years when she felt more confident on a broom she would think about trying out. "I think i'm better cheering you on right now" Maddie giggled "maybe one day we can play against each other" she suggested, her eyes sparkling.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte felt very confused when Maddie seemed to struggle answering her question. As far as Charlotte knew, they were pretty good friends who could tell each other anything but it kind of made Charlotte wonder whether or not Maddie felt the same way. Was the truth really that bad that she couldn't even tell her? "Oh, uhh... sure!" she said hesitantly, not wanting to make any promises. "You can tell me anything." Even if what Maddie was going to say hurt Charlotte it probably wouldn't last very long. She was a very forgiving person, especially when it came to people that she was close to. She gave Maddie a reassuring smile, hoping that whatever she was going to say wasn't going to come as too much of a shock. It couldn't be that bad, right?

"Yeah, I can definitely play the next game! I'm really excited for it actually." she told her, already feeling the adrenaline rush of being able to get on a broom and fly freely in the air. Before Hogwarts she hadn't really thought much of Quidditch at all but the freedom she felt whilst on a broom was amazing and Charlotte couldn't wait for her next game where she'd hopefully be able to score some goals for her team. She smiled slightly at Maddie's compliment, wondering whether or not what she was saying was true. Charlotte had earned herself an easy O in that subject and she was quite disappointed that she wasn't able to take that subject again this year. "Thanks," she muttered, unsure what else to say. Compliments were not always something Charlotte was good at taking.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Sorry this is late!

Maddie took another deep breath and stood in front of Charlotte "Okay... well" she began looking Charlotte in the eye. "Hemi had this idea of starting a super secret adventure club and well... that's what we did. It was only for first years though, nobody else but a handful of them would know about the club... and well since you didn't have any idea I guess it was a success?" Maddie finished flashing a small smile. "We've only had one 'adventure' so far and that was into the forest to see centaurs..." she added quickly. Maddie looked at her feet and kicked some stones around while she waiting for Charlotte's response. She didn't quite know how her best friend would react to what she had just told her. Maddie and Charlott shared similar traits like loyalty and Charlotte had proved her loyalty countless times. Maddie didn't know how she, herself, would react to hearing news like that. She didn't know if she would be angry or understanding. Rather selfishly she hoped Charlotte would be understanding.

She grinned at Charlotte's enthusiasm for playing Quidditch. Maddie preferred to watch, but preferred cheering her friends on most of all. She couldn't wait for the day that Charlotte would play against James, Maddie would have to pretend to cheer for Gryffindor but she would really be on Charlotte's side. She couldn't imagine being on the Gryffindor team while he was on it too, it was a convenient excuse to stay away from the game and to stay away from him. She looked at Charlotte and smiled, even if they didn't find any kind of creature tonight, it was just as nice to spend time together, talking.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

As Maddie explained to Charlotte what the secret was, Charlotte took a while to process everything. Maddie and Hemi started a club without her and Charlotte didn't know what to think of it. She had gone to the club fair at the beginning of the year, eager to try and find somewhere for her to belong but none of the clubs provided sparked even a little bit of interest in her and she had unfortunately given up on it, despite her parent's protests about it. Charlotte didn't really give up on many things and joining a club had always been one of her goals ever since the beginning of her first year when she first found out about them. She was a little disappointed that none of them suited her but tried to brush it off as best as she could, not really trying to think too much about it anymore. But now, after finding out about Maddie and Hemi's own club, Charlotte became even more disappointed than she was before knowing that she could not join the only club that she liked. A frown appeared on her face and she looked towards the ground, breaking all eye contact with Maddie.

Charlotte kept Maddie hanging for a while as she thought it all over. Charlotte knew that her two best friends were probably closer to each other than she was to them so she shouldn't at all be jealous over the fact that they were doing something so big without her, but she was and she couldn't help it. But maybe not involving Charlotte in the club was a good idea? After all, first years wouldn't dare think of joining an adventure club with a Slytherin in it. Adventures were for the Gryffindors and it would only make sense if two Gryffindors were the leaders instead of a Slytherin. Charlotte cleared her throat before speaking. "H-have fun with that." she stuttered, not being able to help herself. She couldn't really say much else and only hoped that a creature of some sort would come out somewhere and make her happier, destroying the growing feeling of betrayal inside her. If anyone or anything could make the situation even a little bit better, she'd gladly take it.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie instantly regretted telling Charlotte about the Adventure Club when she saw her best friend's face fall. But she didn't blame Charlotte for her reaction, if she was in her shoes she would have probably reacted the same if not worse. Charlotte's loyalty was to be admired and Maddie hated testing her boundaries like this, Charlotte had proved her loyalty again and again and what had Maddie given her in return? Secrets? Trouble? Maddie should have realised that Charlotte would have loved to be involved with something like the Adventure Club. Maybe the saying ignorance is bliss was true, if Maddie hadn't mentioned the club everything would be okay.

She racked her brains for some way to cheer Charlotte up but she couldn't think of anything. The only thing that could cheer her best friend up now would be a creature coming to greet them but they seemed to be few and far between these days. Could she offer to bring Charlotte into the club? Or was that going to seem patronizing now? She thought it was worth a try anyway. "Hey Charlotte..." Maddie began, breaking the uncomfortable silence "you could always join me and Hemi with the club? It's a lot harder than we first thought... herding around a load of first years" she continued "and we could use imagination like yours, you have the best ideas on things to do!" she finished, trying to cheer up her best friend. This wasn't all talk though, Maddie really did think that Charlotte would be brilliant at helping with the Adventure Club but it was up to Charlotte if she wanted to join them.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

There was a part inside Charlotte that was furious at herself. She should be happy for her two friends but instead she was noticeably upset and she knew that Maddie could see that too. If there was any way Charlotte could have taken back what she said to replace it with a congratulations or even just to change her tone of voice to a happier one to get rid of the tension then she would easily take it. Charlotte was truly happy for them both and she really did not know why she was so upset at all. It was their business and she should just leave them be. There was no reason for her to be jealous but she was glad that Maddie had told her nonetheless, despite her hesitation. Maddie was her best friend and there was no way that Charlotte could ever hate her for simply starting a club with a friend. Truthfully, she had nothing against Maddie at all and supposed that it was more of her own fault that she wasn't in the club in the first place. If Charlotte put in more of her time to spend with Maddie then maybe they would be closer and there wouldn't be this problem at all.

Charlotte was very taken aback when Maddie asked her if she wanted to join their club. Both Maddie and Hemi had come up with the idea themselves and Charlotte thought it would have been quite rude to intervene in such a thing, especially since she was trying to stay away from her head of house as best as she could this year. But did Maddie really think Charlotte had a good imagination? Charlotte didn't think she was very skilled at many things at all and she felt her heart lift slightly when Maddie complimented her. Charlotte didn't really know what to say. She looked up at Maddie, a smile forming on her lips. "I'm sorry I made you have to ask that." she mumbled, feeling her cheeks turning a bright red. "I really appreciate what you're offering but both you and Hemi made the club yourselves. I mean, I don't want you to feel like I'm forcing you to make me join it. I would really love to join your club but if you ever feel like kicking me out, feel free to tell me, without hesitating next time." she told her, her voice lowering and turning into a mumble with each word. She really did not want to ruin the club for the both of them and was hoping she had made the right decision. Being part of a club seemed like such a big commitment and there was no way Charlotte wanted to mess anything up at this point.

Sorry it's pretty long!

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie's heart lifted when Charlotte responded positively to her attempt at starting a conversation again. She hated seeing her best friend upset, especially when she was the cause of her misery. Thankfully, Charlotte didn't seem like she could stay mad at Maddie for very long which she was grateful for. The tension was lifted when Charlotte smiled at her and Maddie couldn't help but smile back. She grabbed her best friends hand and jumped up and down. "Okay, yes! This is going to be so good, with your help this club will be better than ever! We'll have so many first years turning up to our adventures that we'll have to turn some away!" she chatted away excitedly. Maddie was actually glad that she could share this experience with her two best friends, they were going to have the best time together. "Once we find Hemi we'll have to think up some plans on what to do next..." she added grinning.

Sorry mine is so short

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte was surprised at how excited Maddie turned out to be. She didn't feel like her joining the club was going to help at all as they had already seemed fine by themselves but she still jumped up and down with her, glad that her friend was happy. She wasn't quite sure how Hemi would react to such news though as she hadn't seen him in quite awhile, ever since the Mandrake incident where he kept quiet the whole time. She felt like something was up with him ever since then but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. He was a pretty good friend though and Charlotte only hoped that maybe her joining the club would make them become a little bit more closer.

"So, where have you been so far, other than the forest?" Charlotte asked as they continued on walking. "Did the first years like it? How many first years are there anyway?" Charlotte had too many questions to ask about this new discovery and she hoped that Maddie didn't mind her doing so. After all, she was apart of the club now which hopefully meant that there were no more secrets between the two, which Charlotte was very happy about. "I hope Hemi is fine with me joining it." she added with doubt in her voice. What if Hemi didn't agree with Maddie's decision and he only wanted the club for themselves? There were many things going on in Charlotte's head that she couldn't quite explain and she knew that it was going to take a while for her to get used to it all but she would eventually.

 

[Silus Hollister]

Silus couldn't help but smile softly to himself as he felt a cool breeze wash over his face. He relished how the forbidden forest seemed to welcome him as he neared its edge. To Silus, the atmosphere always seemed to change whenever he escaped there. It was comforting. While most people would have probably found it unsettling, it wasn't that way for him. It was relief, and the some of the tension from the boy seem to slowly unwind as he relaxed his posture. He was all alone, just him and the wild...

He sighed and rolled his eyes as he began to hear voices. He should have known by now that he wouldn't be the only one out and about here. To give them credit, not all the students here were as cowardly and boring as he had first painted them. No, some seemed just as bold as himself at times.

The voices were very close now, and he raised a brow, recognizing both. He could hear the two speaking of an adventure club. Silus smirked. He remembered that from last year. From what he knew, they'd only had one adventure (if you could even call it that), and Silus knew because he himself had participated. So, that was still on? From what was said, he got the gist that one of the girls felt left out. Apparently she hadn't been aware of the club before, and it seemed she felt excluded. He rolled his eyes, it had simply been a spur-of-the-moment thing.

He spun out to greet them. Sure enough, the faces were familiar, and surprisingly, Silus wasn't feeling like being as much of a jerk as he usually was. "You know, if he let me in he'd most certainly let you." He said in a poor attempt at trying to be nice. He just sounded pissed when he said it.

Out of Character:

If you don't want to add Silus to the mix, just ignore this post, lol.

 

[Hemi Te Rua]

OOC: Speak of the devil? I was meaning to post in here for ages.

Hemi was looking for Maddie and had been looking for Maddie for some time. He asked a female Gryffindor to check the dormitory but she wasn't there, he checked various other places including the Dueling Chamber and Great Hall but she was nowhere to be seen, he had looked in enough places to decide that he was getting closer. Hemi thought for a moment, maybe she was in the Forbidden Forest. She did spend a lot of time there.

It was worth a look in his opinion, so he grabbed his cloak and entered the Forbidden Forest. The forest was was eerie as always and Hemi came to realise that this was his first time into the forest unaccompanied. He removed his wand, cast the lumos spell and held it ready for protection, aware that potential danger was around him. He continued on and not before long he was able to follow voices. He understood now why it was so easy for Professors to catch students with all the noise they made in the Forest. He caught up with the group, finding Maddie, Charlotte and Silus, a boy he remembered from his first year having some kind of meeting in the forest. Hemi wondered if this was Adventure Club 2.0. "I knew I'd find you lot here," He said, announcing his presence, "What's going on?" He asked curiously, thinking he might've joined something exciting.

 

[Justin Cliffeton]

Professor Justin Cliffeton had made a note to do regular rounds of the Forbidden Forest, because it was sure to be chock full of students wherever they might be. He couldn't understand the attraction of somewhere that could pretty much kill you at any chance it got. He just rolled his eyes at any of the people he found. As he was on another such round tonight, he was completely prepared to find students out here. Sure enough, as he got further into the forest he heard a bunch of voices. He approached a handful of students and couldn't believe his eyes. "Well, well, well.. what do we have here?" He asked, wondering if this was some kind of meeting. As his eyes rolled over some of the people, and resting on Hemi and Madeline, he sighed. "All of you will kindly follow me back to my office, and we'll hear your stories." He said with a smile.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie shrugged her shoulders to Charlotte's question "only the Forest at the moment" she explained to her friend. "I'm not sure what we're planning next, you can help us decide!" she grinned. "I think they liked it, well if they come back for the next one we'll know for sure" she joked. "I think maybe like 5 or 6 turned up to the first outing. We had quite a few sign ups though". Maddie reached out to her friend and rubbed her arm "Of course he'll be fine with it" she reassured Charlotte.

Suddenly it seemed as if half the school were in the Forbidden Forest that night. Maddie rolled her eyes at the first uninvited arrival, the boy Silas, that had caused so much trouble at the school last year seemed to have been keeping a low profile this year. Well, until now at least. "Hello Silas" she said coldly, she and the boy had not exactly been on the best of terms. "Why are you here?" Maddie shot him a quizzical look as he mentioned the Adventure Club himself. She was sure that he was thinking of something else as their Adventure Club was exclusively for first years. Nevertheless, she was about to indulge the boy in his delusion when the second surprise of the night turned up in the form of Maddie and Charlotte's best friend Hemi.

Maddie smiled at Hemi and gave him a quick hug before returning to her spot near Charlotte. "Where else would we be but the Forest?" she said to Hemi grinning. The pair had spent a lot of time in the Forest and it was almost like a second home for her. She didn't even have to think where she was walking now, she just automatically knew the best way into the Forest. "Nothing much, Charlotte and I were just catching up when we were joined by both you and Silas" she replied, filling Hemi in on the night's events. She wanted to tell him more but not while Silas was with them. Adventure Club business was very secret. "What are you doing here Hemi?" she asked her friend.

Unfortunately, the conversation was cut short when they were joined by a Professor, Professor Cliffeton to be exact. Maddie (and Hemi for that matter) had already had too many run ins with Professor Cliffeton and she guessed that they were not his favourite students at the moment. Maddie sighed and looked to her two best friends apologetically, she seemed to be getting them into a lot of trouble these days unfortunately.

 

[Silus Hollister]

Silus tilted his head to one side, sightly puzzled. Something that Walden girl had said wasn't adding up. Sign ups... he thought. He smirked as realization began to dawn on him. They weren't speaking of the hunt for secret passageways back in their first year. This was something far more recent -- and most certainly a more mischievous event. He chose to ignore the girl's cold greeting and her rude questioning on why he was out here. That wasn't as important. He eyed the Walden girl and sent her a knowing look. "You've been leading little first years out here, haven't you?" he said half-grinning.

It seemed to Silus that they could've just thrown a party out here as he could hear yet someone else coming towards them. It was Hemi, and he leaned up against a nearby tree as the Walden girl greeted him. He rolled his eyes as she asked him what he was doing here. "Could've told you she'd ask you that." he murmured. Not much happened after that however, as yet another joined them. This time however, it was a professor. Silus sighed as he eyed the wizard. "Great timing, Sherlock." He remarked, not thinking nor caring about the consequences of it.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte was glad that the Adventure Club only went on one adventure so far. She was scared that if they had already met a few times then it would feel even weirder to join if everyone already knows everyone. Luckily, that didn't seem to be a problem at all, especially considering the fact that only 5 or 6 people bothered to turn up. Nonetheless, it was only their first meeting so she was sure that they'd end up getting way more people as the club was more well-known to all the first years. She smiled as Maddie reassured her that Hemi would let her join. She knew that the three of them were going to do so well and she was beginning to become very excited for it.

Before Charlotte could say anything else, all at once everyone seemed to be joining them. At first she thought Silus walking towards them was a creature and she began to jump up and down, excited for a second until she noticed that it was him. She didn't know what it was but there was something about him that she didn't really like. He seemed to have been eavesdropping and it angered Charlotte that he was. It was quite rude to eavesdrop and she almost had the urge to slap him across the face after his annoying comment until Hemi came over to them. She beamed at him, wondering if he came by coincidence or if it was planned. He seemed like he was looking for them for whatever reason. "Hey!" Charlotte exclaimed to him, ignoring the fact that Silus was there too. She nodded, agreeing with Maddie that they were just catching up. She didn't want to say much with Silus around and kept what they were really talking about quiet for now, despite Silus probably already knowing half of it. Did Hemi really let Silus join their club? She found that very hard to believe.

It wasn't until the professor came that Charlotte felt a scowl come across her face. Truthfully, she much preferred the appearance of Silus than their deputy headmaster. She rolled her eyes at him. Why couldn't students just enter the forest by themselves? Charlotte didn't see any danger with the forest and it only annoyed her that the professors thought otherwise. Did he think he was cool catching students doing nothing but minding their own business? She only hoped that her head of house knew nothing of this. "We didn't even do anything." she muttered angrily as she began to walk away from the group and towards the professor's office, wanting the meeting to be quickly over.