Closed fools to go it alone

[Demi Zephyr]

Standing on the outskirts of the forbidden forest, Demi was peering in through the trees. It didn't seem that scary especially given it was the middle of the day, and the broad daylight shining in through the trees just made the place look interesting and enticing. She could understand how somewhere like this might be different at night, and if there were any creatures in here, well it would be the perfect time to come out from their naps. Why though, were there even places in the school that they couldn't go? The whole idea of having an entire forest that was out of bounds to students didn't make any sense. Why not have a fence so that students wouldn't even be tempted? Besides if there were creatures in there, wouldn't it be better for student safety to not have the doors wide open to student-sized snacks?

She thought she'd walked far enough away from everyone for anyone to spot her out here, although perhaps that was naive. There would be anywhere that was "private" for students in a school like this. Demi did want to find somewhere that no students ever went, somewhat that she and her friends could call her own, but the likelihood of that happening was slim. She turned her head at the sound of a voice. Was it a voice or was she imagining it? She'd slept well in the first night in her new bed so she didn't think so, but then again this was a magical school and whatever expectation she held, she should throw them out the window if anything was possible. "Hello?" she called out, wanting to know one way or another whether she was actually still alone.​

 

[Lumos Walden-Cade]

Lumos couldn't help himself. Despite his assurances to his dad that he would stay out of trouble for at least a week before he started making trouble, the second he'd heard about the forbidden forest, (his father had given him and Nox a lecture before they'd left that included DO NOT GO TO THE FORBIDDEN FOREST and a bunch of other things he'd stopped listening to almost immediately) he'd started planning about when he would go. There was something about the fact that it was forbidden that told Lumos he absolutely had to go. Why would you call something forbidden if it was actually forbidden. Didn't that just make kids more likely to want to go there? Why would you not call it the forest of way too much work? No one would go and find it then, right? Surely this would have made more sense to him. Still, the moment he'd been able to slip away he'd headed down to the forest entrance and seen another girl there. From her tie she looked like she was a Ravenclaw. Lumos by comparison was dressed in his brother's Hufflepuff robes today. In case he got caught and he could blame it on Nox. (Sorry Nox.)

"Who are you talking to?" he asked, looking out into the streaming light that was moving through the trees here at the edge of the forest. "Is there an invisible person here? Do they have an invisibility clock?" He asked waving his arms in front of him beside the girl to see if he could find whoever she was talking to. An invisibility cloak would honestly have been such a help if he could have gotten his hands on one. Did they even make those anymore? Merlin he wished he had one. He could have snuck into Professor's offices and stuff, not that he was totally sure what he would do once he was there, but that wasn't the point, the point was he could be in the rooms and they would never know. Or, he could do things and never get caught and the great thing would have been that Nox wouldn't have got caught either because they can't get caught if they're under an invisibility cloak. "I don't see anyone?"

@Demi Zephyr ​

 

[Demi Zephyr]

Demi frowned as a boy came into view, immediately asking her a question. "What's the point of an invisibility clock?" she asked, imagining how difficult it would be to locate that if it started with an alarm in the morning to wake her up. She'd never be able to find it. "Well I'm here aren't I?" she asked the Hufflepuff, "Don't I count as someone?" she teased back, peering back in through the trees. "Were you saying something, before?" she asked, wondering whether the voice she heard had come from this boy or if there really was something else inside the forest that was trying to entice them in.

"Hello?" she asked again, just to make absolutely clear there wasn't another student hiding around the corner, before she stepped forward and into the tree line. She didn't wait to see if the Hufflepuff was going to join her, or really what he was about to do himself. If anything, having an audience just made her want to be the brave one even more and take the first move. She'd heard about the things that went on in these trees too, how it wasn't unusual for students to come in here. So why should it be any different for them? "Are you coming?" she whipped her head back over her shoulder to the boy, quietly hoping he wasn't going to leave her on her own. It may have been daylight but the forest wasn't exactly inviting, even if she did want to see where some of the cooler kids would once hang out.

@Lumos Walden-Cade ​

 

[Lumos Walden-Cade]

"I meant a cloak, you know one of those things you can hide under, like Harry Potter, right?" he asked her, wondering if maybe she didn't know a lot of things. In his experience most girls tended to know a lot of things, but perhaps this girl didn't know much, like what an invisibility cloak was. There was no such thing as an invisibility clock after all, so why would he have meant that, even if he'd misspoke. "Sure you count, but you're looking into the forest, so I figure you're looking for someone, are you?" Some people were really weird sometimes, he didn't understand why there were weird people. He shook his head at her when she asked him if he'd said anything before. He didn't think he had, but then, sometimes he said things without paying attention to what he was saying, like invisibility clock. "I just got here."

The girl called into the forest and Lumos turned to watch her, wondering what she might be looking for, it seemed a little strange to him that someone might be in there, but then, his dad had told him he shouldn't go in there, which of course meant that was the first thing on his list of things to do. He just had to know, he was insanely curious and what was the worst that could happen, after all, it couldn't have been that dangerous or surely they would have warded the area right? "Yeah, I'm coming," he said, quickly following up behind her. "I reckon I know why it's so forbidden, maybe they're breeding thestrals in here and they don't want us to see them, even if someone of us can't see them, like me, I can't see them." He didn't think he could see them anyway.​

 

[Demi Zephyr]

Demi grinned at the Hufflepuff, they were so naive, "Of course I know what you meant," she felt as though she knew more than most of the first years combined given how much she read. "I'm looking because I thought I heard someone in there, but," Demi shrugged, continuing to wander in further between the greenery. She didn't know that the boy had just got there, for all she knew he was the one making the noises she was trying to figure out the source for.

The first year was glad when the boy followed her in, because as fun as it would have been to explore on her own it certainly made her feel better that she had backup if something were to go wrong. She thought about his comment about the thestrals for a moment, "Well, that's good that you can't see them," she couldn't either though, which meant they'd never know if his theory was correct. "Do you think thestrals can see each other?" Demi had been around creatures for so long but had never considered whether their rule applied to themselves. She continued to walk deeper into the forest, determined to find something that would show them why it was forbidden. She was only in her white shirt, skirt and Ravenclaw tie, despite the weather, and she did hope she wouldn't find anything that would dirty her only clean shirt. "What's your name?" she asked the Hufflepuff, careful not to trip on any stumps as they walked. ​

 

[Lumos Walden-Cade]

Did she? he was beginning to wonder if maybe the girl was a bit dense, not that he was going to say that. He wasn't stupid enough to think he could say something like that and for the girl not to probably lay him flat on his arse. He knew enough girls in his life that would have no problems doing that after all, and Veronica would have probably been the first in line. Millie wouldn't be far behind and Bailey would probably lecture him first but she'd flatten him too. That was just what happened when you grew up with sisters. Not that he could blame them, Eden was still only young and he knew there was a lot he would do to protect her, so people saying what he was currently thinking about her would have probably been enough for him to lay them out - still, he was a hypocrite and he could easily acknowledge that. "Well, I don't see anyone," he said, looking into the area she was looking. He really wondered if an invisibility cloak wouldn't have been necessary here, there were darkness and shadows around for the moment, but it probably wouldn't last for long, and it was a good thing they were in the sun, because that meant they could see, even if it also meant they could be seen from the castle, which actually made him think about stepping quickly into one of the shadows of the trees. "Be careful because they can probably see us from the castle, not to mention the groundskeepers can probably see us too," he warned her, gesturing into the darker parts of the path so that she wouldn't be so visible from the windows of the castle.

Her question about thestrals made him pause, it was a pretty good question. "I don't know, remind me to ask the care of magical creatures professor when we get to that point." He didn't even know what classes he was going to be taking then, he still has this year and next year to get through before he could even think about trying to do any other classes. He didn't want to have to think about it anyway, that was just more classes he had to deal with and he wasn't entirely sure he even wanted to deal with the ones he had now. "I'm Nox, what's your name?" He asked, wondering if she would give him her real name, since he hadn't given her one, but she didn't know that, and the great thing is she should have heard it at the sorting, so she would probably know a Nox existed. "I know it sounds fake, but I guess my dad was trying to be funny and then they forgot to take it seriously," but he liked his name, it was unique and he'd never met another Nox or Lumos.​

 

[Demi Zephyr]

Just because you couldn't see someone didn't mean they weren't there. Growing up with a big family Demi knew to be skeptical of everything until you could prove it true or false for yourself, you never knew when a sibling was trying to get the better of you. "I'm not stupid," Demi frowned, wondering why the Hufflepuff thought she didn't know to keep out of sight of the staff members who would no doubt punish them for being here. "No, I thought I'd hold up a big flag and wave my wand around using Lumos," she scoffed but followed his indication regardless to the darker path as though that had always been her intention. She had no intention of getting caught by anyone that evening, least of all anyone who felt like giving some first years their first detention.

Demi glanced up as the Hufflepuff said he'd ask the professor of Care of Magical Creatures, "You know, when we're third years, that's going to be my favorite subject," she announced proudly before continuing, "So, I won't let you forget." She'd ensure this boy kept to his word even if it meant she had to write it down somewhere in her dorm when she got back to the castle. "Your name is actually Nox? What do you have a brother called Lumos or something too?" Demi chuckled to herself, amused at her own joke until Nox informed her perhaps his dad thought himself funny. "You're really not kidding?" she asked, puzzlement etched across her face. "Isn't that like, really rude?" she continued, "Why are you named after a light being put out? That's like saying you "extinguish the glow" or something," She wasn't quite sure what she was trying to say, but it certainly didn't sound like a positive name, even if it was meant as a joke. "Do you have a nickname?" Demi was still walking deeper into the forest as she added her own introduction. "My name is Demi, and maybe it's a joke too because a Demigod is actually part-human, part-deity, at least according to Greek Mythology." Demi paused, "I'm never sure to which of my parents that is most insulting.." she trailed off, wondering if they'd ever considered they had referred to one of them as being superior to the other.​

 

[Lumos Walden-Cade]

Lumos didn’t understand why the girl was upset, he’d made a suggestion because they’d been on the illuminated section of the path and honestly he was a little doubtful that she would have moved if he hadn’t suggested it. He turned his head away from her and rolled his eyes. She was being awfully dramatic. Was this what girls were always like? Tori had told him that Veronica had been really upset about a boy lately and that just didn’t seem like a normal response to him. Veronica never got upset over boys. The darker path was probably not anywhere near as safe as the rest of the place had been though not that he regretted it. He didn’t want to be punished though, not at all. That was why he was in his brother’s Hufflepuff tie.

Lumos didn’t think he was going to take the Care of Magical Creatures class anyway, if he was being honest, it just seemed like more work he didn’t want to do - since he hardly wanted to do the rest of the work anyway and it was years away anyway. “I don’t even have a favourite subject now how can you possibly know it’ll be yours then?” He supposed some people just knew that sort of thing about themselves though, not him, could never be him. Half the time he didn’t even want to deal with a subject he should be good at, Defence Against the Dark Arts. He was intending to fail that class though. “I do actually have a twin brother, Lumos and Nox, he looks exactly like me,” he said, nodding to the girl. He wasn’t sure she believed him, but he was honest that his brother and he were named Lumos and Nox. He had grown to like it, he’d never disliked it honestly. He thought it was pretty unique. He shrugged as she went on, he didn’t know quite why things were the way they were but from what he knew his mum had died pretty soon after he and Nox had been born, so maybe there had just been a lot going on at the time. “I don’t mind it, I think it’s pretty cool actually,” he told the girl, looking around at the area, wondering how far they’d have to wander before it might become a problem. “No nickname, Nox is pretty shallow in terms of nicknames, I guess Lumos could be shortened to Lu? But that’s a bit stupid,” and he didn’t like it. If you weren’t going to pronounce his whole name you needn’t bother.

Her name sounded pretty cool though, Demi. “I dunno, I like it, Demi is nice and maybe it’s not insulting to your parents, maybe it’s just saying you’re going to grow up to go on a great quest, or something. Can I come when you go? That sounds like it would be really cool.”
​

 

[Demi Zephyr]

It was a surprise for Demi when she heard that some students just didn't know what they wanted to do or what they liked. Sure maybe she didn't know specifically, but how could they just have no clue at all? "My dad is Magizoologist," she explained, walking slowly further into the forest, "Our house has been full of animals since before I was born, so I'll probably be best at it. That's how I know," she grinned at the Hufflepuff. Maybe something would surprise her and she would prefer something else between now and then, but she doubted it.

Demi may have been joking about his brother, but apparently, she'd hit the nail on the head. She wasn't sure what to say when she found out Nox did in fact have a brother called Lumos, although at least he didn't hate their names she supposed. "Yeah, I suppose Nox is hard to shorten," she considered for a moment, "although maybe you could lengthen it! Noxy or.. Noxy-Doxy, like the fairy" She giggled, knowing that was exactly what she was going to refer to him as from now on. She would cross the Lumos bridge when she came to it, but since it was currently irrelevant, she let finding a nickname for his brother drop for the time being.

The idea that her parents wanted her to go on a quest was exciting, although Demi didn't really know what that would entail. "Are you sure you'd want to come with me?" she asked. No one had ever offered to join her with anything before, not even her sisters. "That could be fun, especially if we're both investigators.. or inquestigators," she chuckled to herself again for a moment, "What kind of quest would we do?"​

 

[Professor James Cade]

James just had a feeling. He had volunteered to take patrol duty in the grounds around the forbidden forest because he knew with his twin sons at the castle they would find their way there. Lumos especially, he was always the ring leader of the two so he shouldn’t have been surprised when he was sorted into Slytherin. He was disappointed not to have the twins in his house where he could have kept an eye on them, but it was better for the Gryffindor points total that they weren’t.

It wasn’t long before James spotted two small figures in the dark, he knew in the pit of his stomach they were first years and at least one of them was his. As he got closer he could make out it was a boy and a girl, James fished his wand out of his robes and whispered “Lumos,” With the added benefit of some light and a closer look he saw a familiar back of the head but to his surprise, yellow robes. “Nox! James yelled towards his son which made his wand light go out. ”Dammit,“. He relit his wand and stepped closer towards the pair, he didn’t recognise the ravenclaw girl but he knew the face of his son, even if he wasn’t one hundred percent sure which one it was with only the robes to go on. ”What are you doing out here?“

 

[Lumos Walden-Cade]

Lumos genuinely thought it was kind of cool that her dad worked with animals. Both of his parents were Aurors and he was very proud of them too, he did have a tendency to go around telling anyone he met, but he also didn't want people to think he was bragging - okay maybe he was a little bit, but he liked Demi actually, she seemed really cool regardless of whether or not she had known about the path in the sun thing. It wasn't really that dark so he wasn't sure it was going to matter anyway in the grand scheme of things to be honest. "My house is mostly just full of my siblings, I have a bunch of older siblings, all sisters, one twin brother and then a baby sister too, they're super annoying, my older sisters not Eden, she's cool. Sometimes I like to put sticks in her hair and make a little stick crown." Because she was the forest fairy princess. And he would be her fierce protector until the end of the world.

"Noxy-Doxy? I'm not sure how I feel about that," maybe it didnt matter how he felt about it since Nox wasn't actually his name. Oh well, he'd probably not apologise to Nox later but he would tell him at least. Probably. Just to maintain consistency. "Of course I would want to come with you, being an inquestigator sounds like the absolute best thing ever, right? And we could go on a quest to- Dad!" He looked up as soon as his dad shouted his brother's name, and then couldn't hold the laughter that bubbled up when his wand light went out. He bet his dad was regretting their choice of names now. "We were going on a quest!" He says looking over his shoulder at Demi. "Right fellow inquestigator?"​

 

[Demi Zephyr]

By the sounds of it, Nox had a bigger family than she did and that was saying something. Demi hadn't met other families that had four siblings, let alone any more than that too. Demi listened as he spoke about his baby sister, and while Echo was also her younger sister, she didn't think she'd let her get anywhere near her hair with any sticks. Demi however also knew what it meant to feel closer to some siblings than others, and while she'd never admit out loud she had favourites, it was refreshing to hear that perhaps she wasn't the only one. "It sounds like you have a huge family," she stated, "I have an older sister and a younger sister, and also a little brother but he's the most annoying of them all," not to mention it was obvious that he was their mother's favourite. She'd never hidden the fact that she'd always wanted a boy, that was why there were so many girls.

Demi grinned as Nox seemed keen on the idea of being an inquestigator. Yes, that would be their full job titles from now on. "Dad?" She asked, turning her head just in time to see one of the professors turn out the light from his wand, apparently by accident. The Ravenclaw giggled as Nox had, thinking the best thing to do if this professor was his dad was just to be as friendly as possible so that they could both get away with being in the forest unscathed. As the professor got closer she realised it was Professor Cade. "Your dad is the Head of House?" she whispered to her new friend, wondering if this would come with some benefits of its own. "Yes, exactly," Demi was quick to back Nox up with anything he needed, after all he knew his dad better than anyone. ​

 

[Professor James Cade]

James eyed the two of them suspiciously. He had been lenient the first time he had reprimanded some students and he knew that catching two students of different houses in the forest meant dealing with two heads of house and James wasn’t sure it was worth the hustle. The closer he got to the pair, he noticed that it was just the two of them, was he supposed to believe that Nox had snuck out to the forest without Lumos? Maybe if he did it for a girl, but even so he had his suspicions. “Nox, the only quest you two should be on is back to your common rooms, promptly,” The inflection on his ‘name’ was hopefully enough to make ‘Nox’ aware that James was onto him, he wasn’t totally convinced he was the twin he was claiming to be.

 

[Lumos Walden-Cade]

Did he know? Lumos narrowed his eyes slightly squinting at his dad. He knew it was hard for them to be told apart, he was sure Geo only managed it because she was so used to imitating them, and he had no idea how Tori always knew which twin he was, but it had always been a difficult skill for his father to learn and to date, he hadn't. He couldn't suddenly have gained the ability could he have? There was no way his dad knew he wasn't Nox, he was grasping at straws. "Sorry fellow inquestigator, we've been nabbed!" he says, trying to get back into Nox's head. He tugs his yellow robes a little tighter to ward off the chill in the air. "Don't worry, I won't tell him your name, he can't take points off you," he might be able to take points off of Hufflepuff, but he can't if he doesn't know the Ravenclaw girls name, right? He had no idea how that worked. Was this Hufflepuff loyalty? Did it count?​

 

[Demi Zephyr]

As the professor got closer, Demi realised it was the Professor Cade. Also known as James, someone she'd heard a bit about from her dad's experience of the school when they'd attended together. Iris hadn't told her he was here, so maybe she just didn't know. She knew it had been years since they'd spoken, and maybe James wouldn't even remember who Aion was, but it was strange to see the man in the flesh standing before her. She tried to picture him covered in food, which at least made this particular experience less intimidating. "Oh, drat!" she said dramatically, turning to face her fellow inquestigator but gave him a smile as he said he wouldn't tell his dad her name. It was probably for the best, not just because she didn't want points taken off her, but because she didn't really feel like telling James that she was here at school either. What if James decided to be even harder on her with his punishments? That would be totally unfair! "We'll have to resume our inquestigating elsewhere sir," she added to Nox with a nod, hoping they'd get out of this completely unscathed.​

 

[Professor James Cade]

It was late and James didn’t fancy raising the respective heads of house required to punish the two students in front of him, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to show some leniency to his son the first time he caught him out of bed after curfew. “Just go to bed both of you, and I’ll pretend I never saw you, this time,” James said firmly. He wanted to make it clear, particularly to ‘Nox’ that he wouldn’t tolerate any further troublemaking from him and that he was lucky that he was the one to find him on his first excursion to the forest.