Irresistible Risk

[Phoebe Holland]

When Phoebe returned to Hogwarts for her fourth year, she had promised herself she would behave. Her mother was now running for minister, and Phoebe worried if she got into too much trouble it would reflect badly on her mother. But at the same time, she figured none of the voters would really care that much about what her kids did. Right? It really was about her political views, and those were clearly the best. But just to be safe, she had decided not to do anything against the rules. At least for the first few weeks.

But that promise seemed less important when she was tossing and turning in her bed at night, unable to sleep. Ever since she had visited the forest and been caught, she wanted to return to it. Not only that, but the desire to do something was just there. Her body was pulsing with energy, and Phoebe knew sleep was far off. Surely, nobody would notice if she went out to the forest at night? Just for a moment? She just needed to clear her head. If she happened to stumble across something interesting on the way, that was just a bonus. For a moment, she considered waking up Veronica to ask her to join. But she knew she would probably have to convince her friend for a while. And it was nice to see her sleeping peacefully for once, it was rare enough. Phoebe tiptoed out of the dormitory after pulling on her robes. This was a solo mission.

Somehow, she managed to make her way from the tallest tower all the way to the grounds and into the forest without being seen. She had been very careful, and still felt a little twitchy at every movement she saw. But how many teachers would be patrolling the forest at night? Surely they needed their sleep too. She entered the forest and waited until she was probably out of sight from the castle before casting lumos. Her wand shone a bright light on the nearby trees, making her feel more at ease. As long as she had her wand, she was sure she could make her way out of any situation that might arise. A grin made her way onto her face. Tomorrow, she might regret staying up this late. But now she felt ready for an adventure.

 

[Perry Wyatt]

It was deep at night and Perry couldn't sleep anymore. The past couple of hours he had woken up ten times alone and he couldn't find the best position to lay in today. He decided to get changed and grab some fresh air. He knew he wasn't allowed to go outside of the dorm at night so he made sure no one heard him sneaking out. Perry was surprised on how easy it had been, he hadn't seen any patrols nor had the paintings busted him. Maybe they were sleeping, something that normal people did at this hour of the day. Perry opened a door that lead him into the gardens. It was eerily quiet and Perry made sure with every move that he wasn't being followed.

The air was nice and Perry decided to go for a stroll. Clearly he was out of his mind at the moment, but the air did wonders. He was glad that he got himself dressed, being busted by someone in his PJ's wasn't high on his bucket list. It had been hard to let his feelings for Geo go, he thought he and Geo would get together, but the Hufflepuff beater had apparently beaten him to the game. Now he just didn't want to see over think about her ever again. Hate was more powerful than love he learned. With his mind on the witch he once liked he strolled farther and farther away from the castle. He was glad that he had brought his wand and some camping equipment. Like a flashlight and a can of bear spray. He couldn't be too prepared, he also thought of camping outside he knew how to set up a tent, but that was way too much of a hassle.

Perry wasn't sleepy at all and when he got his mind together once more he found himself into the forbidden forest. The moon had lit most of the path before, but the forest was dense and the moon wasn't doing it anymore. When Perry looked to the left he spotted another light. A light that didn't came from the moon. He grabbed his wand and decided to sneakily come closer to the source. What if it was a Professor or Prefect that was on patrol, what was he going to do. He couldn't stun a Professor, he didn't have the skill even if he wanted to. He dimmed his wand and grabbed his flashlight, he tried the on button, but it didn't want to come on. He was sure he had charged it why wasn't the stupid thing working. He needed his wand for defensive spells, Lumos was too dangerous at the moment. He slammed the light against the bark of a tree and hoped it would work.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

The spooky atmosphere of the dark forest made Phoebe feel more awake than ever, and she didn't think there was any point in going back to her room as of now. Adventure was in the air, and she knew she would have an amazing story to tell everyone about in the morning. She kept her wand in front of her to keep her path well-lit as she made her way deeper into the woods. She didn't want to trip and fall. Breaking an arm would make for a story, but not one to brag about. A sudden noise made her gasp and jump, turning in the direction of the sound. It had almost sounded like something smashing into a tree, but what? Phoebe's heart was pounding, and all the spells she knew flew right out of her head. She knew in this moment that if something came at her in the dark, she wouldn't be able to defend herself easily. "Who's there!?" She called, a slight shake in her voice betraying how much she had been startled by the noise. "I'm sending a stunning spell in that direction in three seconds if you don't show yourself!" She added, her voice slightly shrill. Her threat was meaningless, as she could barely remember how to do a stunning spell in her panic. But maybe her words would get her out of this situation.

 

[Perry Wyatt]

The fact that his flashlight wasn't working wasn't really going in Perry his advantage. He was prepared and now his preparation didn't seem as good as he wanted it to be. At least he got his bear spray to get rid of angry animals. He was sure the source of the light was a person. When he slammed his flashlight against the tree trunk he heard a girl clearly. The voice sounded familiar, but he had no clue from where. Perry shrugged and was scarred that she was seriously going to stun him. She sounded pretty serious and he didn't want to leave Hogwarts in a casket because someone used a spell under stress wrongly. Perry held both hands up in the air and moved behind his tree. ''Easy, Easy, I am not going to hurt or tell on you'' Perry said quickly. He took a good look at the girl and remembered her from classes. He knew she was a Ravenclaw, but that was pretty much it.

Perry threw his flash light in his back pack, it was useless anyway and grabbed his bear spray and illuminated his wand. ''I am Perry'' he had no clue what he was going to do in the forest, but now he was here he was excited. The forest was special, it made you feel curious and that was probably the danger of it. He had brought water and some food so he wasn't going to die out here. He was a fourth year which meant he knew quiet a lot of spells now. ''We could use the quietening charm on ourselves so we don't get exposed by others'' Perry wasn't overly smart, but he had remembered the charm from lesson three in charms.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe's heart was pounding in her chest, and the slight wavering of the light coming from her wand showed how much her hand was shaking. She held her breath as something moved from behind the three, exhaling in relief when she saw it was just a boy. A boy she knew, even. "Oh." She said, lowering her wand slightly. "Hey." Phoebe tried to conjure a confident smile on her face, but the experience had shaken her more than she would have thought.

She raised her eyebrow as she saw what the boy put in his backpack. "You brought a flashlight? You know those don't work here, right?" She asked skeptically. How had anyone gone through four years of Hogwarts without realizing something so simple? "I'm Phoebe." She added, turning her head to look around for anything else that might give her a scare. Somehow, her heart hadn't stopped beating quickly. She shrugged at his suggestion. "We could do that, but they'd still see our lights. Besides, we could also just whisper." She muttered, not looking at the boy. Unreasonably, she was a little angry with him for startling her so. "What was that noise you were making? What are you even doing here?" She demanded, glancing at him.

 

[Perry Wyatt]

The girl didn't seem old enough to be a prefect and she didn't look like she was going to rat him out the second they were out of the place. Perry remembered here from some lessons they shared, her name was Phoebe. That made all of this a lot easier. ''Well the flashlight works on solar power not on batteries, I am not that stupid.'' Perry said while smiling at her. ''I am Perry.'' Perry said getting out the formalities. What Phoebe said was true if someone was here they would spot their lights first and then go to the sound. Light in the forest was rare and you definitely needed the light in the dense parts of the forest.

''Yeah, you are right'' Perry didn't like to say it, but she was. ''I thought my flashlight would turn on if I gave it a wack against a tree'' Perry muttered sheepishly. At least he came prepared Phoebe didn't seem to be wearing a backpack. He had packed to survive, she didn't really look very prepared. ''I wanted to spot magical herbs, plants and maybe some creatures.'' He hated the fact that they yet had to get real plants at herbology. They still were doing basic stuff, which wasn't very interesting. ''What are you doing here anyway, you don't look very prepared'' She didn't seem to be caring cans of bearspray or foldable mosquito nets.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe watched the boy warily. She knew he was in her classes but didn't know much else about him. She couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes when he defended his choices by claiming the flashlight worked on solar power. It was still technology, still electricity. Though she did file that knowledge away for later, she looked at the boy as if he should have known that wouldn't work. "Right." She deadpanned, looking away from him. She was more annoyed with him than she should be, she knew, but she was a little angry about the way he had startled her.

Phoebe was a little glad he agreed the silencing charms weren't necessary. A part of her also thought if they used those, they wouldn't be able to scream if anything dangerous actually did pop up. Though her rational mind knew any screaming they did would probably be too late anyway. It was still nice to have their voices in a dark forest at night. She huffed a little as he mentioned whacking his flashlight against a tree. "You're about as bright as that flashlight." She muttered, way past being polite. But as she said it, she still hoped he couldn't hear it. She felt even more indignant when he said she didn't look prepared. "The school is right there, we're not going on a day long hike through the wilderness. I'm just taking a walk, exploring. I couldn't sleep." She eyed him skeptically. "What else would I need besides my wand?"