Outskirts of Adventure

[Aion Zephyr]

Aion chest physically hurt. His mind had felt numb for the last few days, and even though he managed to keep up with his studies, he had to give himself a break to breathe every now and then. The day was drawing to a close, and deciding to take a walk outside as the sun was setting, he found himself walking towards the line of trees to the side of the castle. Obviously, this was the forbidden forest, and while he had no intention of breaking any rules, he was curious to know what animals exactly lived on the school grounds. Surely it couldn't be anything too dangerous, not with underage students able to wander straight in.

He paused, stood alongside the treeline as his eyes tried to find a path through the thick greenery. They didn't get too far, as the foliage was far too dense. But as he stood and watched the leaves sway in the light breeze of the wind, it calmed him, and he was absorbed once more in his curiosity. Fearful that perhaps he had been followed by a younger student, he daren't venture too far into the forest. Instead he decided to walk along beside it, taking in the atmosphere where the grounds met the legends of the beasts within.

 

[Danielle Gates]

Danielle was exhausted after completing some homework for her Potions and CoMC classes. Dinner would be in a few hours and she wanted to break from her school load. Potions was fairly easy for her but she was somehow struggling with her CoMC. Grabbing her coat, she slipped into it and stepped outside the common room, making her way for the grounds.

The sun was about to set when she set foot outside the castle. Danielle was contemplating where to go when the dense tress of the forest caught her eye. Not that she had any plans of venturing there but she was thinking that maybe the smell of the forest and the atmosphere it brought might clear her fogged mind and inspired her to finish the remaining workload for class. She started walking toward the forest, stuffing her hands on her coat pockets. The breeze cooled her face, playing softly on her hair. She smiled at this just as she reached the edge of the castle grounds. She released a deep sigh as she looked into the forest, wondering about the creatures that resided in there. She knew about centaurs but aside from those, she had no idea. Heck,nobody knew maybe.

She may have been standing for quite some time when she heard footsteps from her left. She braced herself for some scolding, thinking it could be one of the professors, since it came from the direction of the side of the castle. She took a peek without actually looking when she saw that it was not a professor but another student. He looked familiar since he had been in her class as well. She squinted her eyes, racking her brains for a name to match the face. Then, she remembered. Aion Zephyr, he was a Ravenclaw and he was fairly good at CoMC. Better than her actually. She looked toward the other direction, wondering if he had noticed her there.

 

[Aion Zephyr]

Aion was only distrupted from his thoughts as he heard the rustling of the leaves. His head jerked quickly in the direction of the noise, hoping to find neither danger nor a Professor. To be honest, he couldn't wait to graduate. He'd be free to explore as he felt necessary. As his eyes adjusted to the shapes, he thought he spotted someone. In order to be sure however, he'd have to check it out. Moving further along the tree line, he approached a girl. Danielle. He recognised her instantly, mainly from their Care of Magical Creatures lessons. Despite this, he'd never spoken to her before now. At least she were a 7th year though, and he would have been worried if it had been anyone else, especially the younger students, out here in the forest. Not really sure if she wanted to be alone, but also appreciating any company of his own right now, he decided to try his luck. "Hey," He said, hoping she'd spotted him already and he hadn't just scared the bejeebus out of her. Removing a tree branch from his path, he found himself face to face with the girl, and he gave a welcoming smile. "I suppose I'm not the only one to take a walk before dinner then?" He added, his own hands returning to the pockets of his jacket. The sun was already lowering enough for the air to get chilly. "I hope I'm not interupting anything?".

 

[Danielle Gates]

Danielle, still looking at the other side of the forest and with her thoughts on her homework, heard her name being called. She knew the voice since she always heard it from her CoMC class all the time. She glanced at the source of the voice and found herself face to face with Aion Zephyr. So, he did see her which she didn't mind since she welcomed his familiar presence especially in this place. She returned his smile with one of her own. "Aion, hi." Her hair caught the soft breeze and she kept it in place with her hand. "Yeah, I guess. Catch some fresh air and take a break from school work. And you?", she asked in return to the Ravenclaw boy in front of her.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?".

Danielle shook her head at this. "No, you didn't. What's there to interrupt, right?", she laughed softly. Both of them always attended their CoMC classes but never got a chance to have a friendly conversation. It was either they were both absorbed in their own lives or didn't usually hang around the same places since she was either at the lawn or at the common room.

 

[Aion Zephyr]

"Same I suppose" Truth be told he had more than one reason to be out at this time, but he wasn't comfortable spreading his issues around to strangers. He smiled at her response, of course there was nothing he was physically interrupting, but she could have wanted time by herself. "Do you want to walk?" He offered up, feeling more awkward just standing there. Perhaps if they were to spend some time together, they could do so as they walked the length of the forest front, before returning to the Great Hall.

He gestured his arm, indicating she should go first, before following along beside her. Asides from knowing Danielle was a seventh year, he was quite ignorant to who she was. He began with the only thing he could think of. "You're taking Care of Magical Creatures right?" He asked, knowing full well since she was in his class, but hoping to spark a common interest. "It's one of my favourites. Sometimes I wonder what animals really are in these forests" He looked down to the girl hoping that she would agree.

 

[Danielle Gates]

"Do you want to walk?", Aion offered to which Danielle accepted. Now that he was here and she was not alone, she felt less nervous walking near the forest. Aion, being the gentleman, gestured for her to go first. She fell into step,walking slowly as to match his pace. When they started walking, Danielle was racking her brains on what they should talk about. Aside from being on the same year and taking CoMC together, she didn't know him that well. She was about to ask on the only common thing they had when he beat her to it,"You're taking Care of Magical Creatures right?" She glanced at him by her side and nodded. "Yes, you too right? I saw you in class as well." She did remember seeing him there, of course.

What he said next caught her attention. She also found the class interesting and the thought he voiced out was also in line with her thoughts. "It's one of my favorites too. That, Potions and Muggle Studies." She gave him a bright smile as they walked comfortably side by side. When he mentioned about the animals in the forest, she gave a small nod. "All I know from my brothers are centaurs and bats. Apart from that, I have no idea." There were many times that she was tempted to venture into the forest but it was not worth the risk of getting a punishment and losing house points.

 

[Aion Zephyr]

He smiled as Danielle mentioned she also enjoyed a couple of other subjects. "Potions is good, but not as fun as it was at Durmstrang" He said truthfully. They were allowed to experiment and were left to their own devices at the Bulgarian school, and while he did enjoy the subject at Hogwarts it was much more guided. "I moved to Hogwarts to take Care of Magical Creatures. That and Ancient Runes" He finished, moving branches out of their way as they walked, twigs snapping underfoot. As she explained about the animals, he was aware how easily he would be able to get carried away on this topic. "There are so many interesting creatures out there. One day, I'll research some new ones". As soon as he was finished with his education, he couldn't wait to start exploring the rest of the world; What animals were out there that had yet to be seen? At the back of his mind, he also hoped he would own a few creatures, but one goal at a time. "Do you know what you'll do once you're graduated?" He asked curiously. While he had his own plans, they'd changed dramatically in the last couple of weeks. He'd gone from imagining a life with Madeline to being a single searcher once again. Since hearing that his ex-girlfriend had found comfort with another Gryffindor, Aion held out less hope than he did at the time of their break up that that was really it for them.

Not wanting to think about it, he turned his attention back to Danielle. He'd made more friends this year than he had in his previous two at the school, which was surprising considering he was doing his best to back away from becoming social. He had a task in mind and he'd be distraught if he became too distracted.

 

[Danielle Gates]

Danielle smiled back at Aion as they were talking about school subjects. She was slightly shocked when he mentioned that he studied in Dumrstrang. Of course, that was why she hadn't known him since sorting. He moved branches out of their way. Twigs snapped as they stepped on them. She was trying her best to keep her balance since the ground they were walking on was fairly uneven. When she talked about the animals she knew that were on the forest, she knew that they were on Aion's favorite topic. His voice was evident when he talked about wanting to research new ones. The idea of going on an adventure to discover magical creatures sounded more exciting than going on the family's usual holidays.

"Do you know what you'll do once you're graduated?"

The curiosity was noticeable in his voice which peaked her curiosity. She didn't have any concrete plans that could get her out of her own mother's plans for her. To accompany her on her business travels. She sighed heavily at this. "My mom wanted me to accompany her on her business travels. Which I don't want to, you know." They kept walking in comfort. She shrugged as she continued, "I just want to explore the world. Be on my own to find out what I want. I just don't know where to start and how to convince them to let me go on my own." She glanced at Aion with a sheepish smile. "Crazy, right?" She started to laugh when she almost lost her balance. She flailed her arms to keep herself upright and managed to catch Aion's arm.

 

[Aion Zephyr]

Aion nodded as Danielle explained that she wanted to travel. He could easily relate, and luckily didn't have a family who objected to his dreams. "If you want to travel, you should do it. Now is the best time of your life to do so" he said, "Pick somewhere you really want to go and just, take yourself away" He moved some more branches out of their way as they walked, but noticed that the Hufflepuff was losing her balance. He offered an arm out to steady her, and helped her through the trees as they walked. It was a good job they weren't in very deep, as the ground underfoot would only get more difficult the further they went in. Aion couldn't wait to travel more himself. He'd been to a few countries but no where near enough. He hoped one day Maddie would join him out there, but the way they'd recently parted Aion wasn't sure whether she still would. It was hard how often she continued to pop into his head, but at least he knew that she was able to do her own thing now and not have to worry about the Ravenclaw. Afterall, he'd only ever wanted her to be happy, and for that he had had to let her go.

 

[Professor James Cade]

James didn't get out into the forest as much as he used to. Getting caught carried much greater risk than it used to now that he seemed to be gathering titles, but with everything that was going on James needed a break from patrol and the places he was allowed to go. The forest was a fun place and he needed that, if he was lucky there might be a few pesky first years that he could yell at, take his mind off everything. It was warm, so James left his robe in the dorm and ventured out onto the grounds, his tie lax and his shirt a couple of buttons loose, he felt relaxed.

He wasn't quite in the forest when he saw some activity, a familiar face along with a not so familiar one. Aion and a girl James didn't know, though they seemed to know each other, James wondered if there was something going on between them, she was a big step down from Maddie if that was the case. "Didn't mean to disturb your romantic getaway Aion," James scoffed, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

 

[Elt]

Elt would never have gone into the forbidden forest by herself (well, she'd never have owned up to it), but when she saw an older Gryffindor student heading towards the trees, she jumped up from her spot on the lawn at once and followed him in. 'Enforcing the rules' was how she liked to think about it. If a professor sprung upon them, she could simply tell him or her that she had been following this very disobedient boy in so that she could remind him the forest was out of bounds, and she'd never get into any trouble! Meanwhile, she got to wander along the edge of the forest for a bit, plucking strange and rare flowers and weaving them into her hair. By the time the boy came to a halt, she was wearing practically half the forest's flora on her head. "UM," she said loudly, stepping out with a fierce scowl on her face. "I don't mean to disturb your little walk, but this forest is OUT OF BOUNDS." She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at all three of them. "EXPLAIN YOURSELVES."

 

[Danielle Gates]

Danielle nodded at Aion's advice. She was grateful to have talked to him about this. "Thanks. Wish me luck on that though. I have to find an excellent reason to convince them, especially if they knew that I would be going on my own." She huffed at the thought of having to negotiate with her mother. Her dad would be okay with it as well as her brothers, but not mom. An idea came to her but made her frown at the same time. She glanced at the Ravenclaw beside her. "How about- Oh, never mind." There would be no way Aion would let her come with him if he was to go on adventure.

Just as Danielle was about to completely slip, Aion offered his arm which she gladly accepted. He continued guiding her while removing branches out of their way. Technically, they were already under the trees of the forest but they weren't actually inside it. With the Hufflepuff's hand on the Ravenclaw's arm, they continued walking in comfortable silence. "What are you going to do when we graduate, Aion?", she asked with a smile. She wondered if he was already hungry and was about to ask him when she spotted someone a few yards in front of them. She squinted her eyes to see clearer when that person spoke up, "Didn't mean to disturb your romantic getaway Aion," She recognized the voice as James Cade, a Gryffindor prefect. She stopped walking, holding into Aion's arm as she softly pulled him to a stop too. She held her breath as she waited for the man beside her answer James.

 

[Aion Zephyr]

As Aion listened to his new companion, she was just asking him a question when they heard a rustling up ahead. Aion lifted his head cautiously, curious to know who had arrived, hoping it wasn't a Professor. The Ravenclaw gave a sigh when he realised it was James. He really didn't need to hear what he had to say, not today. Aion scoffed at his passing comment, "Yeah, romantic getaways are real high on the list right now". If he were able to do such a thing he wouldn't be in the mess he'd recently found himself. He looked at the sixth year, presuming that he had been entirely informed of his current situation, given that he appeared to be one of Maddie's closest friends. If anyone knew what he was going through, it would probably be James. Aion felt a tug on his sleeve and realised that Danielle was holding him back. Did she think he would try and fight him? She really wasn't doing him any favours though; If it got back to Maddie that he'd been found in the forest with the Hufflepuff just weeks after breaking up with her to focus on his work, he'd have no hope. Trying not to offend her, he lightly shrugged her off.

"I don't know if.." He began, before he was quickly called off by another voice beyond James. He peered round to see the small girl flailing around, seemingly angry to have caught them. He ran a hand through his hair, considering that a quiet evening on contemplation was fast turning into a midnight party. "Elt. We're not in the forest." He spoke to her first. She was a few years younger than Aion but he'd seen her around the common room on occasion. It wasn't as though she were a prefect either, and so really she should be making the most of her freedom while she had it. Aion wasn't in the mood to argue, and instead he looked around feebly at his current company, wondering how on earth an odd batch as themselves found them all in one place.

 

[Danielle Gates]

Danielle dropped her hand as she looked on at Aion and James face each other. Aion responded to the Gryffindor with a scoff. Clearly, the two knew each other and seemed to have taken a mutual dislike. She chose not to say anything as not to fuel the confrontation more. She was half pleased, though, that it was not a professor who found them although facing a professor would be better than seeing these two exchange snide remarks. Suddenly, going back to the Great Hall sounded a better idea than continuing their walk here since they were already interrupted and the amiable camaraderie they were enjoying was already broken by the arrival of James.

The Hufflepuff was about to suggest her idea to Aion when she heard a small voice telling them off for being near the forest. She was tempted to laugh at this and still admired the girl's bravery for following them, or maybe James, here. Elt, as what Aion called her, was told by her Ravenclaw friend about their actual location. She must be a Ravenclaw as well since Aion called her on first name basis. She noticed Aion looking around at the company they were having. This made her follow his gesture and decided that would be the best time for her to intervene. Tapping his shoulder softly, she calmly said,"Aion, I think it's best if we go back to Great Hall. It's almost dinnertime. That is, if you want to. Or we could go someplace else and continue our interesting conversation." She smiled at him in a friendly way before facing James passively.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Sixth Year had been eventful for Madeline and it was still only the start of the first semester. Everything had been an intense whirlwind and she barely had time to breath or truly think about things. Especially since classes were getting even more demanding which meant she had been feeling pressure like never before. The Gryffindor Sixth Year had decided to take a walk of the grounds the rare evening that she had free to clear her head of drama. Halloween and the confrontation with Lyra had really taken it out of her; Lyra was so fierce and relentless that she wouldn't rest until she had spit you out. Maddie couldn't understand why, after everything, James had chosen to stay with someone who was so poisonous which greatly annoyed her.

Maddie kicked stones aside as she walked closer to the edge of the Forest where she saw James dart inside and her curiosity got the best of her so she followed her fellow Gryffindor a little bit further into the Forest. However, she had stopped suddenly as only a couple of steps away was Aion and her heart sank into her stomach and she immediately felt like she was going to be sick. He wasn't alone either, he was with another girl and Maddie felt her blood boil as she saw her grab onto Aion's arm. She waited for a moment before deciding she was going to step out from behind the trees and say something but James said it all for her. However, the adrenaline coursing through Maddie's veins was too much for her to bear, she couldn't just stand around and watch; that just wasn't her. She stepped closer to the little group that had formed and looked the girl up and down before turning to look at Aion and then, finally, James. However, before she could say anything at all to them she heard a voice, almost as angry as she felt, shout at them all for being in the forest. Maddie didn't know the younger girl but Aion referred to her as Elt, it was a name that she vaguely recognised but she didn't know why. From the look of the amount of flowers on her head in the shape of a crown she guessed that they had probably crossed paths in the wild patch club but that was it.

The sound of the other girl addressing Aion and asking him to leave the Forest with her infuriated Maddie. Had Aion really replaced her already with this...girl? When he was supposedly wanting this time to study and work on his grades because he couldn't dedicate enough time to someone else while he was focused on his studies; which was clearly a lie. Maddie knew that he was lying and making up excuses when he broke up with her only a few weeks ago. He just didn't have time for her! But he had time for this other girl! It all made sense now. She laughed in spite of herself "Oh i'm sure you'd love to drag him off somewhere else and 'continue your interesting conversation' wouldn't you?" she spat. "So how long have you two been together? How long did you wait to move on?" she demanded looking from one to the other. "You know what I don't even care. This is hilarious" she cackled.

 

[Professor James Cade]

James had to laugh at Aion's comment, how was he to know he wasn't out on a romantic stroll with the girl. He didn't know the circumstances of his break up with Maddie. For all James knew the older boy was just looking for post-relationship flings. "Hey no judgment, but for what its worth I think you're an idiot," No reason was good enough for ending his relationship with Maddie, certainly not if it was so he could spend time with the blonde next to him. "So what are you doing here?" He asked the Ravenclaw curiously. If he was so adamant that he wasn't on some kind of date then he must have a reason for being near the forest.

The yelling from the little goblin girl made James jump as it was unexpected but once he calmed down he looked at her and raised his eyebrow. "We're not in the forest but if we were so what? I'm a prefect I can go where I want," James said proudly. It made him sound rather arrogant but he was in no mood to care what strangers and Aion thought about him.

Suddenly, the one person whose opinion of him did matter appeared. After what had happened between them the last place James wanted to run into Maddie was in the proximity of her ex-boyfriend. He didn't know what her feelings were for the Ravenclaw boy. Did she wish she was still with him? Would that be her preference, Aion over himself? Just thinking it made his heartbreak. Seeing the way Maddie was acting around Aion, her reaction to the mystery girl did little to quiet his paranoia that he was her consolation prize. "How about we leave the love birds too it?" James asked Maddie trying to hide the slight crack in his voice.

 

[Aion Zephyr]

As he heard the voice beside him talk once more, he closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers for a few seconds. This was not going to help the situation, and if anything Danielle had just given James another excuse to fire comments his way. He didn't want to go and have dinner. He didn't want to leave. He'd come to the forest for one purpose and once again, much like the rest of his life recently, it was being blown way of proportion. He ignored James as he called him an idiot. What did he know?

He sighed, releasing his hand and opening his eyes once more. His stomach dropped immediately as he spotted a familiar face in the tree line. Just perfect. He couldn't stop a chuckle escaping his lips at the ridiculous situation he now found himself in. Of course, the one person he really didn't need to see here right now just turned up. Why was she even here? He must have spotted James or Elt approaching the woods. Aion glanced at the younger Gryffindor boy when he told Elt he was a prefect. His arrogance was becoming more irritating every time he met him. "You sound so much like Ezra." He added, matter of factly. He knew the brothers didn't have the greatest of relationships, or at least they didn't last time he spoke to the Durmstrang, but sometimes it appeared as though James was slowing following in his footsteps.

His focus was broken once again as Maddie retorted at Danielle's comment. Clearly the girl was still mad at him. Mad at him for hurting her, leaving her, and now apparently spending time with someone when he wasn't able to do so with Maddie. He was quite aware of how this looked, but if Maddie honestly believed that this was the kind of person Aion was, maybe he hadn't known her well at all. It didn't stop his heart from breaking all over again at the sight of her distressed, but he wasn't sure what else he could do to prove himself of his intentions. "So, apparently, I can't even come into the forest now without being badgered" His voice still relatively calm, it wasn't as though he could feel much more defeated than this. With James fuelling the fire, Aion decided to just blank him completely. He didn't know what was going on, not really. Aion didn't particularly feel like explaining himself, but he couldn't bear watching his ex-girlfriend get so unnecessarily riled up. "Look, I took a break from reading to clear my head. Been quite hard to concentrate recently" He said simply, his eyes fixed on Maddie. He wasn't sure what she found to be so "hilarious", but his frustration continued to bubble beneath the surface of his calm exterior. He turned to Danielle, one hand lifted to her arm. "Perhaps you should go to dinner. I wouldn't want this to get any more out of hand" He said quietly, unsure of where this conversation was going, but hoping they'd at least make it back to the castle with minimal damage.

 

[Danielle Gates]

Danielle watched as Aion and James exchanged snide remarks as to why she and Aion were together. The Hufflepuff did not realize that the peaceful and amiable conversation they shared would result to this. To make matters worse, Madeline emerged from the tree line, looking at her with murder in her eyes. Like she was going to curse her into next week. Her eyes just jumped from the young Gryffindor and the prefect before landing into the Ravenclaw beside her. He looked calm yet somehow she could sense that he was already irritated. Who wouldn't be? Just because two people of opposite sexes were together, it didn't mean that they were dating or something.

Danielle listened to Aion as he reasoned out, although he didn't need to, in her opinion, as to why he was out. She, being a seventh year herself, understood this. However, these young students didn't. She glanced up at Aion when he touched her arm, telling her to go ahead without him. Sure, she could do that to escape the tense situation they were all in. A situation where she was unexpectedly caught in between. Glancing at the Gryffindor girl from the corner of her eye, she looked back at Aion,shaking her head, "On the second thought, I think I would stay here with you. After all, I also wanted to a break from all the studying we, seventh years, had to do.", she replied with a smile. More like a smirk for Maddie's eyes. Plus, she didn't want to leave Aion alone to deal with all of this. That would be selfish of her.