Closed Hatching A Plan

[Lysander Summers]

#108990​

Lysander had been inside the Forbidden Forest enough times to pull off entering with a casual air and practiced ease to avoid anyone taking any notice of him, but this time was different. It was an effort to focus on anything but the sound of his heart thundering in his ears, or the fact that it felt as if everyone he'd walked past on the way from the castle to the treeline somehow knew what he was doing, like they'd all attended a mass-legilimency class a few minutes prior. He avoided eye contact the whole way, pretending he had a very important something to get to. Quidditch practice? An impromptu Wild Patch meeting? Excuses raced through his mind even after he'd safely crossed into the forest. He let out a long-held breath. He was being ridiculous. No one knew. How could they know? What would they find? What was the worst he'd done so far? Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing as brilliant as what he'd planned to do.

"Come on, Big D. We're gonna make history, you and me." Lysander murmured to the toad under his jacket, with a final glance at the fading castle behind him. He hadn't meant to steal Hester's toad as a part of his grand plan, it had just happened. Any toad would have done, but Big Douglas had just been sitting there, alone and in the open, as if he were waiting for him to come by and pick him up for an adventure. It was destiny guiding Lysander's actions, that was all. He was going to do something great. Something life-changing. It was a thrill, equal parts terrifying and exciting. People wouldn't have understood until he proved himself to them first. He knew he could do this. He had to do this.

Of course, he'd had the foresight to pick out the perfect spot beforehand. It had taken some scouting out, an area far enough away from the school that it wouldn't be bothered or disturbed by some younger students traipsing about. He knew the way by now. It didn't take long to find. A specific, unassuming tree, with just the kind of hollow in its trunk to comfortably fit a toad. Lysander had worked his charms to make it more hospitable for the amphibian. Big Douglas was going to be living there for a while, so naturally it had to be cozy. A luxury getaway. Yes, that's what this was. Big Douglas deserved a break from the castle, right? A damp, mossy home to keep warm in, and no shortage of insects crawling about the forest to eat. "Here we are." Lysander said, voice barely above a whisper, as if the trees themselves could hear him. He lifted the toad out and into the hollow, pausing before he could properly set it down. "Woops, almost forgot." He said. He fished around in his bag until he found it. The egg. Brown, plain, entirely unmagical. For now. He set it down in the bed of moss and foliage, nestled comfortably, safe. He lowered the toad over it with no small amount of care, every hair o the back on his neck raising in anticipation. Nothing could go wrong. He was here, it felt too late to go back a second time. It had to be perfect this once. "I need you to look after this. Can you do that for me?" He asked. He stared Big Douglas in the eyes, trying to convey his thoughts, as if the toad could understand exactly what he needed from him. Perhaps he could. He only got that same, blank expression back, but a singular croak, and the fact the toad seemed comfortable where he was, was enough to convince him for the time being. "Great. I promise, you'll love it here. I'll come and visit every day if I can." He reassured the small creature.

Lysander stood with the toad for a few minutes more, making sure it was settled in, until finally he withdrew his wand and cast his final enchantments. His hand shook with anticipation, a jittering feeling he'd not been able to shake. His heart refused to slow, and he had to steady his arm with his other hand long enough to finish casting. The toad, the hollow, both vanished behind a wall of bark that crept its way up the trunk of the tree, both part illusion and protection to keep Big Doulgas safe, and to keep anyone or anything finding him before it was time.​

 

[Aspen]

Aspen was doing her usual patrol of the forest checking her snares when she heard footsteps. And the sound of someone talking. She was used to seeing students in the forest enough to recognise that there was only one person though they seemed to be talking to someone. She watched as the boy passed her but kept her distance abd continued on to check one of her traps pleased to find her dinner in there. She ahe habd t stuck around to watch as he was using his wand and magic was something she was not totally comfortable with ineless it was from someone she knew well. A while later she heard him returning along his path. As he came towards her she moved to make herself more visible. hello Lysander daughterfriend she said. She hadn’t seen him for a while and he now seemed a lot more like a man than a boy.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander had been certain he hadn't been followed from the castle, yet he'd forgotten that it didn't mean he was necessarily alone. The deed was done, but it hadn't eased the fluttering in the pit of his stomach or made him any less tense, so when Aspen stepped out from the trees on his way back, the teenager jumped about a foot in the air with a yelp, his wand firing off panicked sparks. He could have sworn his heart had stopped for a few seconds, and he leaned against a tree to catch his breath. "Aspen, heeey." He panted. He'd been listening out for the sound of footsteps, not hooves. "What, uh, what are you doing here?" He asked, as if it were somehow weird for her to be in the forest, rather than the other way around.​

 

[Aspen]

Lysander seemed to jump a foor in the air as the sight of her and the sparks that his jump created made her jump a little as well.. she hadn't meant to startle him. but there he was he must have been so los in his own world not to have even thought of looking and listening to the world around him. oh what a luxury to be armed with a stick and not have to think about anything else in your surroundings. "Oh you know I fancied a change of scenery. and thought a walk through the forest would be something a little different." she said her tone dry. where else did he expect her to be. I could ask you what you are doing in the forest, especially in theforest waving that stick around and making it explode

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander nodded a little too quickly while he listened to Aspen, pretending to be more interested in their casual conversation than he was. His eyes kept darting past her, eager to get out of the forest and further away from the scene of the...well, he would have argued if what he was doing truly counted as a crime. "Doesn't the forest all pretty much look the same?" He commented, not quite picking up on her tone. He wasn't sure if where the centaur lived was any different, but as beautiful as he thought the forest was, a lot of it was much of the same thing. "I didn't mean to make it do that. You spooked me, sneaking up on me like that. I thought you were a professor." He said with a small, nervous laugh. He lowered his wand, tucking it into his pocket. "I was just...practicing some advanced magic. Wizard stuff. Didn't want to do it too close to the school in case it went wrong, you know? It's safer out here. Especially with this wand. Always exploding." He tried to explain. It was easier to lie when it was at least somewhat close to the truth. "Uh, but, I didn't know you were here too! I would have been way more careful. You don't happen to like, have anywhere else you can walk do you? It's a really good spot to practice here and if something goes wrong, I don't want anyone else to get caught up in it."​

 

[Aspen]

Aspen hadn't expected the boy to talk so much after her comment. "It isn't all the same when you know the forest. but I was joking." she said. she had thought that was what humans did. though maybe not. she listened as he rambled about his wand messing up and him practising advanced magic. "If you If your magic as that dangerous maybe you should practice where someone can help you if it goes wrong." she said. "think about those living in the forest. there isn't many places left where we can live in peace you have castles and gardens, and houses and the whole country, the whole world you can go and find somewhere else to practice I cant. I cant even go into the whole forest" she said. she wasn't meaning to be cranky. she usually liked finding students in the woods making friends and talking to them. but with the passing of the year she was already thinking towards winter. when she needed every part of her territory to ensure she had enough food.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander shifted restlessly from one foot to the other. The more Aspen and he spoke, the higher his chances of getting caught by anyone else were, and the harder it would be to maintain the lie. "It's not...it's not that straightforward." He tried to say, but it was useless to elaborate on the subject any further. He didn't expect anyone at the school to understand, how could you expect any different from Aspen? She seemed to think he had the whole world at his disposal, and he had to wonder just how much the centaurs knew about wizarding culture, or the school. He couldn't imagine growing up and only living inside of one forest, as large as it seemed to be. Centaurs couldn't blend in to the muggle world the same way wizards could, and he could only guess they would have been hunted down, simply for being born as what they were. Just as wizards hunted the so-called "dark" creatures they were afraid of, which was exactly why he was in the forest in the first place. If he could change wizards minds about something they didn't really understand, then maybe someday soon even the muggle world could change enough for centaurs not to have to hide in their forests. Baby steps toward progress. That's what this was, right? It was more than the glory.

Not wanting to argue, Lysander decided to nod along to Aspen's words, trying to simply appease her rather than listen to them. She was wrong, but he couldn't tell her why. This was the safest place for what he was doing. He simply had to trust that his spells were enough to keep her away from Big Douglas' tree. "I get it, I get it. I'm not going to get in your way, or anything else's. I have it all under control." He tried to reassure with a small smile, edging further toward the castle. He picked up speed as he passed her, checking an invisible watch on his wrist as if he were late for an equally imaginary meeting. "I have to go! Lots to study." He laughed casually, beginning his jog back to school and eager to leave Aspen and the forest behind him. "But trust me!" He called back over his shoulder. "Nothing will go wrong."

---

It had all gone wrong. Lysander had felt it before he'd seen it. A stillness to the forest that wasn't present before, a general sense of…wrongness. It was unnatural, the quiet. It had been weeks since he'd hid Big Douglas away, and he'd come every few nights to check up on him. The area had always been teeming with life. Bird calls and cricket chirps, the rustle of leaves as someone's runaway puffskein prowled through the underbrush on the hunt for insects. Sounds you didn't notice until they were no longer there. They'd all been present on his way in, but there wasn't a peep in this particular part of the forest, save for the occasional drip, drip of water from the recent rainfall, or the crunching of mud and leaves beneath his feet. It was unsettling. Lysander had tried to ignore it, mentally reassuring himself that he was simply being overly paranoid. After all, he wasn't meant to be here for any reason, let alone his reasons.

Then he saw it. A bird - still, motionless, resting on the forest floor. It could have been asleep, if it weren't so unnaturally still. He rationalised that it must have simply fallen from its nest, just a result of the upsetting reality of nature. Until there was another. And another. Various critters of the forest poised in differing states, no visible signs of what had killed them, but a distinct absence of life in each of their eyes. "…No." Lysander breathed. He felt ill. His heart ached to see a single creature lose it's life unnecessarily, but this…there were so many of them, everywhere he looked. They stared back, almost as if they were accusing him. His steps faltered, more hesitant and uncertain. He had to push himself to keep going, down the morbid path until he reached it. The tree. It looked just the same as he'd left it, the hollow concealed behind an illusory wall of bark. He took a breath, and another, and waved his wand across it. Gradually, the spells faded, leaving only the hollow, and a single, cracked egg inside. "No." He repeated. No, no, no, no, no. This wasn't supposed to happen. It was too early, according to the book he'd read. It shouldn't have even been able to escape through his spells. He got closer, searching by wandlight through the interior of the hollow and straining his eyes against the dark. There it was, a small pit in the wood and dirt, made malleable by the recent rain. He followed it down to the base of the tree, where a long trench snaked its way from beneath the roots, from where something had slithered out. It was free.

A muffled croak caught his attention, and Lysander stood back up, frantically searching the hollow for the sound. Big Douglas. How could he have forgotten? He'd meant to remove the toad before it came to this. It wasn't supposed to have hatched yet. The toad sat in the corner, legs kicking and partially entrapped under the mud until Lysander pulled him free. He must've been startled by the egg hatching and gotten himself caught, but he was alive. The only thing Lysander had found this deep into the forest that still was. The toad frantically hopped from his grip and back towards the way he'd initially come from. Lysander froze, that brief rush of relief turning to ice in his chest, eyes trailing the toad's path back towards the castle, until it had disappeared entirely. The castle What if it got out? The forest, the animals there, they were the least of his worries if it escaped into the grounds. The edge of the forest had been lively, so he had to assume it had gone deeper rather than closer to the fringes of the grounds. But for how long? How long until it reached somewhere it shouldn't? He had to find it before anyone found out what he'd done. Before it was too late.​