Closed Just a Forest

[Freddie Lagowski]

It was just a forest. From the outside, it looked pretty ordinary. All right, it kind of made your skin crawl - but Freddie was sure it only looked spooky because everybody said it was. There was nothing obviously unnatural about it. Nothing you could put your finger on. If someone had told him it was a lucky forest full of unicorns, it probably would have looked inviting.

The Ravenclaw had been standing on the edge of the lawn for several minutes. His daily walk around the grounds always brought him past the forest, but he had thus far resisted the urge to venture in. He had no good reason to. If he wanted to get lost amongst trees, there were plenty in the labyrinthian gardens on the other side of the castle, and importantly, he wouldn't have to worry about centaurs, or massive spiders, or whatever else was said to lurk in the forest. A kid had died in there once, he'd heard. Shot by a centaur's arrow. Probably a rumour. Probably.

Come on. Of course it was a rumour. If the forest was so dangerous, they wouldn't leave it open for kids to wander into. Freddie clenched and unclenched his fists, like he was sizing the trees up for a fight. Why was he so scared? Why couldn't he do it? Nothing bad was going to happen - the chances were so small. Ugh. He was such a chicken.​

 

[Kaysi Zhefarovich]

Kaysi had been finding a reason to get close to the forest whenever she could, and as far as she could tell there was nothing that made it scarier than any other forest. She wanted to write home and ask her parents about it, but something kept stopping her from mentioning her interest to them.

Today, as she approached, Kaysi spotted another student. She recognized him from one of her classes but that was about all she could recall of him. She slowed, noticing how focused he appeared, and not wanting to interrupt. At first anyway. "Are you going in?" she asked, giving a quick glance around. They seemed to be the only two around.

 

[Freddie Lagowski]

Freddie looked around. Oh. He knew her, didn't he? Some girl from one of his classes, maybe. It was hard to remember which. They didn't sit near each other. He had no idea if she was nice, mean, or something in between, but that was probably a good sign - it was the people with a reputation you had to be careful of. "I dunno yet. I was thinking. Maybe," he said, sliding his hands in his pockets. "Are you?" She would never. Girls were scared of stuff like that. Or just more sensible, or something.​

 

[Kaysi Zhefarovich]

Kaysi was immediately more interested in the boy after she'd heard his reply. She gave a small shrug to his question, her gaze equal parts mischievous and attempting to play innocent. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not" she replied. She glanced to the forest once more. "Do you think there's some silent charm on it that'll rat us out if we get too close?" she asked, curious to hear someone else's thoughts on the matter. Considering how emphatically the Headmaster had warned them away, she expected gates or something obvious to keep them out. She hadn't even spotted a 'Keep Out' sign so far.

 

[Freddie Lagowski]

Freddie smirked. She was definitely thinking about it, like him. And she was definitely more smarter than he was, because he didn't even think about charms. He looked around til he saw a stone, picked it up, and threw it into the trees. It got caught in the leaves for a second before dropping to the ground. That would probably have set the charm off. He listened for the sound of teachers coming. All he could hear were birds. "Nothing?"​