Closed Just Outside the Forest

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel could definitely claim that he was a curious boy. He liked reading about history and occasionally exploring elements of it too. The new school he was at had lots of big areas to see and explore. So many elements to read about, and learn the history of. His current book being a very specific history of the school was proving to be quite useful. He was using it to learn some of the history that the other book had left off. There were a number of things that he hadn't known about that he now knew. Emmanuel had come outside, with the weather holding out a bit he had decided now was as good a time as any to be outside and looking about. He had come to the lake front and spotted the shrine to the boy who had drowned in the lake, one he had given his respects for, and the rose bush too. But now he was stood, outside the forest staring in. The Hogwarts a history book which he had ready had much to say about this forest's counter part. This forest was seemingly newer and still gave off a vibe of being older than anything else. He wasn't going to go inside...it was forbidden and the last thing emmanuel wanted to do in his first week was get into trouble, but he could look at the edges of it from where he stood outside of it. he didn't need to get closer. But he wondered if here too there were giant spiders, centaurs and unicorns. ​

 

[Joshua Lynch]

Joshua had been amazed by Hogwarts so far. There were a lot of portraits on the walls that talked, the stairs that moved a lot, which was really unhelpful in Joshua's opinion. He was sure that he was going to run into a lot more magical things that he was unfamiliar with. The new Gryffindor had decided to look around the school for a bit, maybe even try and explore any hidden passageways he could find that would lead to somewhere.

He then noticed in a distance that someone was standing outside the Forbidden Forest. Now that they were told that they couldn't go into the forest, it had kinda made him want to explore it, though he was a little nervous to see what lay ahead. Josh decided to make his way to the person to see what they were up to. When he got closer, he had noticed that it was his friend, Emmanuel. "Hey, dude! How are you doing? What are you... doing?" Josh asked, a little hesitantly as he had asked his friend what he was doing.

 

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel was still stood, at the edge of the forest not stepping inside, as he was approached. He'd been ready to say all that to whomever came close but it was a friend. "Josh!" he greeted warmly, equally excited to see his friend. It was funny to him that this was the second time they were hanging out in a manner which was perhaps a bit dangerous. "I am just looking, not going in, just...looking," he said, since he didn't really want to go in, he was happy to be at this distance from what was in front of him. To not be in the forest, but he was just watching. "What about you?" he asked, sicne the boy had presumbly come towards the forest. ​

 

[Joshua Lynch]

Josh looked between his friend and the forest that was in front of them. Sure he wouldn't mind exploring the forest. An adventure would be pretty neat. But also the idea of them entering the dark and forbidden forest had made him a little nervous to go in. The flashbacks of them at the scary mansion and the noise that they had heard had given him goosebumps just thinking about it. Joshua shrugged at his friend's question. "I dunno really. I was just exploring the castle. Everything is so cool and new!" Josh said excitedly as he looked around. Josh couldn't wait to learn more about this magic stuff. The Gryffindor looked at the forest in front of them. "What do you think is in there? I wonder why it's forbidden"

 

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel glanced back at the forst, unable to tear his gaze away from it. It was just so interesting to look at, to ponder what creatures would be found inside. "Yes it is!" he said. "Have you spotted any ghosts? I haven't seen any yet," Emmanuel asked, very curious if Josh had had more luck with it. He then shrugged, "Forests in general can be dangerous, if you are alone and get lost, you might not get back out. Then I know in the other Hogwarts there are unicorns, spiders, giant spiders, centaurs....not sure if there are those here," Emmanuel listed, it was what he had read of the other one, and had to imagine, besides maybe the spiders that were probably unique to the other forests. ​

 

[Joshua Lynch]

Joshua smiled as his friend agreed. This whole new world was still new to him, and he was excited to learn about all this cool stuff. He thought that some of the magical stuff had weird names, but he didn't really mind if he was being honest. Josh shook his head at his friend's question. "Nah I don't think so. I thought I did see something the other day though! But maybe that was my imagination" Joshua said with a chuckle and a shrug. But now that he was in the magical world. Anything was possible. Josh listened as Emmanuel had listed to him some facts about the forests and the possible things that were there, his eyes widened slightly at the possible animals. "Unicorns are real? Giant spiders?" Joshua said, gulping a little. How are giant spiders possible. "What are centaurs?"

 

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel didn't doubt that Josh had perhaps seen something lurking within the forest, he was sure that there were things lurking and that they would occasionally be seen. The boy had not thought about the fact Josh might not know what those sorts of things were. He gave a little nod, "Oh yes, to both, unicorns are still very rare and they tend to be skittish around humans but they are real," Emmanuel told him. "Giant spiders too, but those are highly illegal," he assured him which given the trouble which had occured last year might not mean a whole lot, but they were certainly unlikely. "Centaurs are half human, half horse, supposedly they're very good at reading the stars and fortune telling, but are also very territorial," Emmanuel said. "I've never met a centaur," He hadn't met any of them, but that was the one he had last mentioned. ​

 

[Joshua Lynch]

Joshua's eyes continued to slowly get wider and wider as his friend explained to him about the creatures that lay in the forest. There were still so many things he had to learn about the magical world. But they seemed interesting and he wanted to learn more about the magical forest. "Giant spiders are illegal? Why's that?" Josh asked as he tilted his head in confusion. How many magical animals were there that were illegal? Josh muttered a quiet 'woah' as Emmanuel had explained to him what centaurs were. "They sound very cool! And they just live in the Forbidden Forest? Further into it? I wonder how big this forest is" Josh says, as he looked at the forest, still a little nervous to go in. "Did you hear about that basilisk thing that happened here last year? I wonder what happened"

 

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel nodded, "Well, it's illegal to breed them, they eat people." he said with a little laugh, since it was pretty horrible as a thing, but they were rare, so he knew that it was unlikely for them to ever come across one. He nodded, "Probably very big, but I thiink we're just in a part of New Zealand with a lot of magic, and a big forest, so, they're likely wandering in and out of the official grounds," he wasn't entirely sure how it worked and his voice held some uncertainty but he didn't mind. He nodded, "Yes, seems quite dangerous, but it would be exceedingly dumb to breed one, Basilisks cannot be controlled," emmanuel said, "One of my aunts studied dangerous creatures. She used to tell us stories all about some of them when I was growing up," ​

 

[Joshua Lynch]

Joshua nodded as Emmanuel had explained further as to why they were illegal, though his eye went wide yet again at the mention of the spiders eating people. "They eat people?" Josh asked in shock. He didn't think that there were actually many dangerous creatures in the magical world. He thought they were kept safe from them through a sort of magic spell or something. It seemed he was always learning something new about the magical world. Joshua nodded as Emmanuel had explained his opinion about the whole basilisk situation. It did sounds a bit dumb but he thought that breeding a huge snake was cool, though he wasn't gonna admit that. "How are basilisks breed anyways?" Josh asked his friend curiously. He perked up a little at Emmanuel's statement. "What stories were they?"

 

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel nodded, "Yes, but again, they are very rare," Emmanuel said trying to at least reassure his friend that though they were dangerous, it was unlike that one existed in this forest, and he didn't want his friend to worry too much about it. Emmanuel had to shrug, "I don't know actually, given that it's an exceedingly dangerous creature the way to breed one is a closely guarded secret, you can probably find out in the restricted section of the library," Emmanuel said, he wasn't sure how it was done, and didn't think that his aunt would ever tell him, if she even knew. "One was about the other Hogwarts, that had a centuries old basilisk living in the pipes," he said, "Aparently it was massive," Emmanuel added.​