Open New Familiar Places

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan had heard a lot about the Forbidden Forest but despite the warnings and the name itself, he couldn't stay away. He had heard about the Basilisk, which he had had to look up, but it still didn't deter him from exploring it when he could. Usually the best time was in the afternoons when the sun was still high but prefects hadn't started their patrols yet. It had taken some time but he found a perfect spot of mostly cleared flat ground to start making a fort. It had taken some time, several weeks to be exact, but it was slowly coming together. He had only been in the boy scouts back home for a few months but they had covered how to make a shelter in the woods and he had committed it to memory. He knew it wasn't much, just some sticks on top of more sticks in the forest but it felt like a place that was totally his which was so hard to find in the castle. Even his dorm felt suffocating sometimes. Ethan wasn't brave enough to sleep out here but maybe one day. Today he just needed some quiet and he set his book bag down heavily and took a seat against one of the trees that helped make up the walls. Instead of reaching for his textbook he should be reading, he grabbed his notebook full of sketches and observation notes and started to write down anything important he could think of, like the few snapped branches he passed on his way in that he hadn't seen before.

 

[Yuelia Rossingol]

The problem with having a tremendously intelligent pet, thought Yuelia, carefully trudging through the Forbidden Forest, was that he was too smart to listen to simple direction. It was her fault for bringing him out of the castle and into the grounds, she understood, but Thanatos had been entirely unwilling to go with her, instead flying off towards the forest. Yuelia had not wanted to go into the Forbidden Forest, as she had no desire to get in any sort of trouble with the professors. But she did want her bird back. If he was acting up she might just have to have him act as an owl and send a letter off to her father, work off the excess energy. She'd kept an eye out and snuck into the forest, following him down a path and cracking some brittle branches underfoot.

Yuelia was quiet, almost afraid to raise her voice for fear of being discovered, but she had to try to get Thanatos to come back so she could get out before someone caught her. Casting a quick Lumos, Yuelia looked around, trying to find the raven amongst the branches. "Than," she called, in something of a loud whisper. "Than, please, get back here." Just as she did, she heard a sound behind her and gave a loud gasp, worried that someone had followed her. "Who's there?" she asked, spinning around and pointing her wand in the direction she'd come from, momentarily forgetting that she wasn't supposed to be there at all.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan chewed on the cap of his pen and tried to think of anything else he needed to take note of before he tried to add more detail to his centaur drawing. He had heard they lived in the forest but he had yet to see any evidence of that yet. But when he heard what sounded like a voice his head snapped up. Immediately his mind started to race with all the different creatures he had heard of that could mimic human voices. He stayed frozen in places for a moment until he heard it again. Finally he scrambled to his feet and ducked his head out of his fort and took a few tentative steps. The trees were thick in this area and while he could hear someone he couldn't see them. But as he got farther away from the fort the voice started to sound more familiar and when he walked around another tree he almost fell on top of Yuelia. Yuelia who also had her wand out and pointed at him. "Woah woah woah." he said quickly and held up his hands. "Just me." he stammered out before she could jinx him.

 

[Yuelia Rossingol]

When Yuelia thought about it, she had been a little off lately. Maybe Thanatos was unhappy with her because of it. She'd been worrying about how she'd be able to do Herbology and Potions going forward, considering she struggled on a lot of the physical tasks. And feeling rather down on herself because of it. Maybe he wanted her to apologize. She scowled - if that's what he wanted, he could've done it without flying off into the Forbidden Forest and potentially landing her in trouble. Especially now there was someone there. When she listened, she could hear footsteps getting closer, and she trembled on the spot.

The light from her wand pointed at Ethan, who had almost landed on her while stepping through the forest, and she gave a tiny squeak of shock, quickly putting her free hand to her mouth in embarrassment at the sound. She was a Slytherin, she shouldn't be afraid, after all. "Oh." She held her wand to her chest instead, the light pointing towards her chin in a way that was probably creepy looking but she didn't really realize if it was. "Um, sorry. What are you doing here?" she whispered, quickly regaining her composure as much as she could.

 

[Wisteria Lacewing]

Wish had gotten pretty good at sneaking around without being seen. She hadn't meant to, but she wanted to visit her bowtruckle friend in the forest and it was difficult to do that with eyes on her, so slipping away before someone noticed her was a useful skill. The spot where she could usually find Beep wasn't too far into the forest, but Wish had noticed a lot of sticks had disappeared whenever she went in there and it had been making her more nervous than usual. She tiptoed through the forest, careful to stay light on her feet and not trip over any branches or anything that could make a sound.

Wish pressed herself close to a tree as she heard voices, heart thundering in her chest as she listened for the source. She flinched at the spooky light, before recognising Yuelia and Ethan and relaxing a fraction. She wondered if she should maybe get her own wand out too, just to she wouldn't be left out of the threatening. Wish leaned her head out from behind her tree and blinked at the both of them. "Are you having a forest party?" she asked. She really just wanted to go give Beep the treats she'd brought, but Wish didn't want to be impolite and just ignore the other students in the deep, dark forest that none of them were supposed to be in.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan kept his hands up as Yuelia questioned him. “I was-” he started to say but he stopped short and wasn’t sure just how much he wanted to tell her. He had made his fort just for him and he didn’t exactly want to share it with anyone if he didn’t have to. But before he could come up with an answer he heard another voice. He turned to see that Wish had also decided that now was the perfect time for a trip to the forest. “N-no.” he stammered, nervous even though he wasn’t sure why. Usually his trips had been silent except for his own footsteps. Somehow this whispered conversation felt much too loud. “Not a party.” he explained and took a step away from Yuelia. “I was just…on a walk.” Ethan said finally. “What are you two doing out here?” he asked.

 

[Yuelia Rossingol]

Ethan seemed disinclined to share, but Yuelia supposed that made sense. Her father had told her it was very rude to pry into people's business when she'd been nosy about his shed. And while she was certainly curious, if Ethan wanted to risk himself that was his own problem, as she had more pressing matters. She shrunk into the dark a little as her dormmate approached, trying to hide the trembling of her hand holding her wand. Wisteria was at least the most pleasant of her dormmates but she didn't particularly like showing weakness in front of anyone. Yuelia turned a little, pointing her wand up at the tree above her where Thanatos was preening, gloating a little. "I didn't want to be here," she explained in a whisper, a little huffy. "He's in a mood." She glared up at the raven, hand on her hip as she tried not to look scared and more in control. He was probably testing her, in a way, but she wished Than would just obey her sometimes. Especially in the spooky dark forest they were banned from. "Get down here," she hissed, not wanting to stick around a moment longer than she had to.

 

[Wisteria Lacewing]

Wish couldn't help but be a little disappointed that there wasn't a secret forest party happening. She hadn't expected there to be one, but she thought that it might be a little bit more fantastical and fun if such things did happen at Hogwarts. She found it a little odd that Ethan had chosen the forest to go walking in where there were other perfectly good places that didn't involve the risk of tripping over tree roots, although perhaps he was into the excitement of potentially faceplanting. "I was just visiting my friend," Wish answered. She stared at Ethan for a moment, certain he was hiding something but not knowing how to ask about it. She'd spotted Beep on a nearby tree, the creature having heard her voice and coming out to investigate. She went over to scoop him up, watching Yuelia's raven warily. Thanatos was a little scary, and Wish hoped that birds weren't interested in eating bowtruckles. "Do you think he knows he's being naughty?" she asked, peering up curiously.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan for a moment thought Yuelia had gone crazy until he looked up in the branches of the trees above them and saw a sleek black raven peering down at them. He gave her a sympathetic look as the bird had no reaction to her pleas. Wish’s answer about why she was here gave him pause but he shook his head. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be dragged into anything that involved a mysterious “friend”. But the moment he did, his curiosity grew. “Probably.” he said, answering Wish’s question. He had spent enough time around birds to know that they were much smarter than you expected. Suddenly Ethan remembered the extra owl treats in his bag tucked away in his fort, he hadn’t thought to bring it with him. He wasn’t sure if they were as tasty for ravens but he thought it might at least get him a bit closer. “Um, I think I have an idea but you have to stay here.” he said quickly before ducking through the trees until he found where he had stashed his bag.

 

[Yuelia Rossingol]

Yuelia waa caught between sheer curiosity and also the politeness she'd had drilled into her. She knew it wasn't actually her business what Ethan waa doing, but she couldn't help but reflexively peer after him, any subtlety in the action ruined by her pointing her wand in his direction. Although she was equally curious about the newest addition to their mismatched group. "Who is this?" Yuelia asked Wish, a little warmth in her tone despite her discomfort. She would have to tell Thanatos not to hurt the creature. If he ever listened to her again. "Than has been rude lately," she admitted, with a slight sigh. "And he's too clever not to be doing it on purpose."

 

[Wisteria Lacewing]

Wish watched Ethan curiously, but dutifully obeyed his request to stay put. She didn't like secrets and felt a little sad she was being kept out of something, but she didn't want Ethan being upset with her, so she just waited for him to get back. Holding the bowtruckle close to her chest, she carefully moved her hands so Yuelia could get a better look at him. "This is Beep!" she introduced, cheerfully. The bowtruckle pulled at a strand of her hair, and Wish tried to brush it out of reach. She double checked that Thanatos wasn't going to swoop down and eat her little friend before continuing. The bird was a little intimidating to her. "I... accidentally brought him to Hogwarts, so now he lives in the forest." Wish smiled, a little guiltily. She could've brought him back home over the Christmas holidays, but really she didn't want to be left at the school without him, and he seemed happy enough.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan spared a glance behind him to see if the girls were followed him but he sighed with relief when he seemed to be alone. It took him a moment to reorient himself but he found what he was looking for which happened to be a few stray owl treats from his bag. When he returned he was surprised to see that everyone was where he had left them, but was glad no one had been eaten by a shadow monster or anything. But that wasn't quite right. They had been joined by another creature. "Woah, who's that?" he asked when he noticed the thing that looked like a bundle of sticks in Wish's hands.

But he shook his head and held out the treats for Yuelia. "Here." Ethan said breathlessly. "Maybe you can coax him down with these." he explained. It wasn't much and he wasn't sure what kind of food the raven ate normally but he hoped that it would at least not make things worse, like causing him to fly even farther into the forest.