Open Show You the Way

[Jasper Night]

((Open after Jess))
Jasper was excited about today's trip to the forest. It wasn't his first trip, nor would it be his last. He really liked going into the forest on adventures, and especially enjoyed meeting a centaur last time. He had talked Lily into going with him this time, and he was excited to show her around and to show her how good he was at navigating the forest. He grinned proudly as he lead the way in. It was daytime, as a nighttime trip into the forest would probably be too much for the Hufflepuff, but the trees created a shadowy world on their own the moment they lost sight of the castle behind them. Jasper lit up his wand, then shone the light at Lily. "See? It's not so bad here." He told her. "And if anything comes our way, I'll protect you, okay?" He had no idea how he was going to do that, but he hoped it would reassure Lily a little. He wanted to have a fun adventure with her, and that wouldn't happen if she got scared enough that they had to turn around. He turned in a circle. "I think the last time we met the centaur we went that way." He said, pointing north.

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily was unbelievably nervous. And beyond terrified. Should she even be here? Rose would kill her if she knew. Which was exactly why Lily hadn't told her little sister where she would be today. She swallowed nervously, tucking her hair behind her ear as Jasper tried to reassure her. "And who's going to protect you?" She teased lightly, wrapping her hands tightly around the strap of her bag nervously. She glanced the way he pointed, swallowing nervously again. "So... you want to go see them again?"

 

[Jasper Night]

Jasper could tell Lily was a bit nervous, but hoped that would pass once she realized the forest really wasn't all that scary. He scoffed at her question. "I won't need anyone to protect me. I can protect myself AND you." He said with complete confidence. He then paused and touched her arm, uncharacteristically gentle. "But... Lily, if you want to go back at any point, I'll walk you out okay? I won't even laugh at you." He said. "But seeing the centaurs again would be cool. I think you would like them." He said with a smile. "And I'd prove that I wasn't making it up."

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily bit her lip, turning to look off into the trees. This was definitely a bad idea, of course it was, why would- she was startled out of her thoughts when Jasper touched her arm. She turned back to look at him with wide blue eyes. A slow smile spread across her face as he finished speaking. Acting on impulse, she placed her hand on his arm and stood on tiptoe, kissing his cheek softly. "That's really sweet of you, Jasper." She told him. "Thank you. I... I think I'll be okay." She stepped back and gave him a soft smile. "Let's go."

 

[Jasper Night]

Jasper knew Lily was a bit more fragile than him, so he knew he had to look out for her. He probably wouldn't have thought to say something comforting to her if they'd gone on this trip two years ago, but somehow, he seemed to be maturing a little. Though he didn't expect Lily to kiss his cheek, it startled him. He laughed it off, wiping his cheek with his hand and hoping she couldn't see him blush in the shadows of the trees. "Oh, uh, it's nothing." He said quickly. "If you ever wanna go back, just say the word. I'll walk you out." He hoped that wouldn't result in another kiss, he'd never been kissed by a girl before. Not even on the cheek. Unless his cousins counted, but they didn't. It was very weird. He nodded and led the way. He held some branches out of the way so Lily could duck under them. "I wonder if I should call for Aspen..." He mused.

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily gave him a nervous smile, following him as they moved forward. "Thanks, Jasper." She told him. It reminded her of how Elliot had been during their earlier years at Hogwarts. El was always so kind to her. She sort of wished she'd asked him to come along. Though that might not have been a good idea. Today was for her and Jasper. They didn't spend enough time together. She made a silent note to spend more time with her other friends this year, too.

She looked up as he mused about calling for someone named Aspen. "The centaur?" She asked nervously. "I've read they appreciate respect. Trying to summon one might not be a good idea." She told him. "The last thing we want today is an angry centaur." She bit her lip. That would be very, very bad, wouldn't it?

 

[Jasper Night]

Jasper was glad the moment of the kiss was fading, though it was hard not to think about it. Should he have reacted differently? He didn't know, but Lily didn't seem to linger on it, so neither did he. "Aspen is the centaur, yeah." He said. He scoffed when Lily said that trying to summon one might not be a good idea. "Aw, c'mon. Aspen's practically a friend. She likes me. I totally charmed her." He said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. "But let's just keep looking, maybe you have a point. If any other centaur heard us yell they might think it's a bad idea and get all weird about it. Or a professor could hear us." He said, thinking out loud. "Though I don't know if they actually patrol the forest. I bet that's just a myth." He said as he pushed aside a few more branches and hopped over a puddle. "If you were a professor, would you rather look around in the forest for misbehaving students or sit inside and drink coffee?"

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily looked around the forest, admitting to herself just a bit that if you took away the obvious danger and the repercussions of being out here, it was very pretty. She turned back to Jasper as he continued to speak. She smiled softly and stepped up onto a tree root before dropping down the other side. "That depends," She teased him lightly, "Are you in my class? And how many times have I caught you trying to add things to the punch?" She giggled softly. "If there were many kids as mischevious as you in my class I don't think I could ever rest." She smiled at him.

 

[Jasper Night]

Jasper gasped in fake outrage as Lily said it would depend on him. "Oh wow, Professor Lockwood, how rude. I only got caught putting something in the punch once." He said, pointing at her, though he couldn't stop a grin from forming on his face. "And of course I would be in your class, I would be your favorite student because I'm so funny." He grinned and then stuck out his tongue at her. He was so busy with talking to her that he tripped and nearly fell on his face, at the last minute he managed to catch himself. "And the most graceful, clearly." He added, poking some fun at himself as he took a careful step forward. "If you were a professor, which subject would you like to teach?" Jasper asked her as they kept going. "I guess Charms for me. I bet I'd do better than stupid Haden anyway. Flying is fun too, but I'm not sure if it would be fun to teach." He pondered this as he walked. "Remember when Maddy flew away during flying in our first year? I thought Professor Holland was going to explode." It was strange how long ago that suddenly felt.

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily gave him a small smile. "And you got caught with the dung bomb, too. Remember?" She paused, remembering as she said it that it might not be the best thing to bring up. She giggled as he said he'd be her favorite student. "Maybe my most troublesome student," She teased. "Forgetting homework and being late." She nudged him. He started to fall and her hand shot out to grab his arm. Not that he needed it, he caught himself. She drew her hand back, relieved.

She thought over her answer as he gave his. "Couldn't I just be the librarian?" She asked. "That would be the best place for me, really." She nodded decisively. "I think I might actually be a librarian when I grow up," She told him. "My dad is. My mum is a doctor." She smiled. "So either way I think they'll be happy. What do you want to be?" She asked him, hopping over a root. She smiled as he brought back their first year, blushing and tucking her hair behind her ear. "I'm glad that's what you remember about flying lessons," She told him. "I was too afraid of heights to finish the course with you. Remember?" She shook her head, embarrassed to think about it.

 

[Jasper Night]

Jasper frowned. "Well that wasn't just my idea." He said, annoyed at the reminder of that moment. It had been humiliating to get hit with the dungbomb himself. And then to have Tyler and Blake lie about it... He hated them for it to this day. He was glad when Lily moved on, and nudged her back. "I'm not late that often." He mumbled, pointedly not mentioning the homework because he had forgotten it a lot over the last years. He snorted when Lily said she would be the librarian. "I guess you could, but Librarians have to shush kids if they're too loud. Can you do that?" He couldn't imagine Lily being scary enough to get kids to be quiet. But maybe they'd be quiet because they liked her so much for being nice and sweet. That he could see. "That actually sounds like a nice job for you." He told her. "I want to be an auror when I grow up." He admitted to her. "But I heard you need really high grades, so I don't know if I can." He shrugged, trying to seem like that didn't worry him. "But if that doesn't work out, I can always rely on my awesome Quidditch skills." He added in his usual boasting tone. He remembered now that Lily had been afraid to fly, and wished he hadn't brought it up. "Well... I remember now you mention it. But that's okay. As far as fears go, flying is a pretty reasonable one."

 

[Rosalind Lockwood]

Rose was furious. She had spent all morning looking for Lily, only to learn from some Gryffindor girl that some boy had taken her sister into the forbidden forest. It was FORBIDDEN. What was he even thinking? She would probably kill him. He deserved it. What would he do if Lily got hurt? Or caught? Wasn't it dangerous? She tore through the forest, rage blinding her to anything around her. Where were they? Then she heard her sister giggle. There. She turned, bursting through the trees next to the boy like a wraith. "YOU!" She shouted, using her momentum to punch him in the face. "What in the &^&* are you thinking bringing her out here?" She demanded, turning to her sister and grabbing her by the arm. "We need to go back to the castle. Now. It's dangerous out here." She told her sister, starting back the way she came.

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily wanted to apologize for bringing it up but thought things might be more awkward if she did. She decided letting it go would be best. She giggled as he defended his work in class. "Uh-huh, sure." She told him. This was actually fun. With Jasper here, it wasn't that scary. She bit her lip. "I won't have to, they'll love me." She told him with more confidence than she felt. She giggled again as he told her his options for when he grew up. "I think, either way, you'll be great at it." She told him with a smile.

And then it happened. Lily froze as Rose burst through the trees and punched Jasper in the face. She looked at her sister in horror, pulling her arm away from Rose. "What did you just do?" She asked her sister sternly. "Why would you even- No! Rose, you can't keep doing this! Jasper is my friend and you can't treat my friends this way!" She walked over to him, looking extremely apologetic. "Jasper, I am soooo sorry. Are you alright?" She asked him softly.

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel knew he should have known better than to take the forest patrol route so happily. It had seemed to him like it was the easy deal since no one was supposed to be down here, but of course that would require students actually following the rules. He didn't know what he expected. Still, Angel clicked his tongue when he spotted a younger student rush into the forest, quickly following her only to find even more in here. Angel was generally all for unbound adventure and all that, building character, but he really did have to step in when things started to get violent. Besides, the girl was right, it was actually pretty dangerous in here.

"Woah woah woah, what's going on in here," Angel said, holding his lit wand aloft as he stepped forward to take in the scene. "I would have commended you on being the only one with common sense here, but you lose all points for the punching part," Angel said, shaking his head disbelievingly. "Actually, yeah, 10 points for the punching," He said, trying not to feel pleased with himself for the joke when he was supposed to be disciplining kids. "And 10 points from you two, I guess, for being out of bounds," He said, flicking his wand over the other two students. "Now come on, forward march, adventure over." He said, ushering the kids in front of him so they could get out of the damn woods already. They could asses the damage to the boy's face and see if any heads of houses needed to be talked to once Angel didn't have to worry about them tripping over a centaur or man-eating plant out here.

 

[Jasper Night]

Jasper nodded in agreement when Lily said the kids would love her so she didn't have to be a strict librarian. "Thanks." He said, happy that Lily had confidence in him. She had said he would be good at any job he picked, and it was a nice thing to say. He opened his mouth to talk more about their future after Hogwarts, curious about Lily's plans, when suddenly someone burst through the trees. Jasper barely had time to register it was a girl who looked a bit younger than them before she was shouting at him. Then she punched him in the face, and Jasper fell back and tripped over a log, landing on his behind. "HEY!" He yelled, shocked and upset. "What are you DOING?" The girl was now dragging Lily away, but Lily pulled free. Jasper was wildly thinking she was some insane kidnapper trying to steal Lily away for whatever reason, but then realized Lily knew her. He blinked up at her as she apologized. "No! I got punched in the face!" He said as she asked if he was okay. He got to his feet and brushed off the leaves, blinking quickly. But then a professor showed up, and Jasper scowled at him. He figured they would lose some points, but he expected the girl who had punched him to be punished more. "Hold up, that's not fair! She should get double the points taken off." He argued. "She's both out of bounds AND she punched me." He pointed at the girl. "For no reason!" He wasn't budging until justice had been served, he decided.

 

[Rosalind Lockwood]

Rose's brow furrowed and her jaw dropped as Lily pulled away from her. "This isn't the kind of friend you need!" She responded to her sisters' defense of the boy. And then a Professor appeared. Great. "And where were you when they came in here?" She asked him defiantly. She put a hand on her hip, glare shifting between everyone around her. "You deserved it, bringing her in here," She told him. "As if you could protect her." She scoffed. "Why don't you just stay away from my sister?" She asked him angrily.

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily shrunk back as Jasper yelled at her. "I-I'm s-sorry," She stuttered, tears building up. Her eyes went wide as a Professor appeared. Wait, had he followed Rose? Lily felt horrible. This was all her fault. She bit her lip. "Rose, that's enough." She chided her sister, turning and starting to leave the forest. She was never going to do this again. If Jasper ever spoke to her again. The thought that she'd lost her friend nearly made the tears spill over, and she scrubbed them away before anyone could see her cry.

 

[Professor Angel Castillo]

Angel drummed his fingers on his arm as the group started bickering. Woe betide him for expecting this to go smoothly. Sometimes Angel thought maybe dealing with snargaluffs would be easier than kids. Now he had one kid refusing to move, the other one continuing threaten everyone, and the third looked like she might be crying. Angel pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right, enough of this," He said, point his wand decisively at the boy sitting down. "You, up, we can discuss what's fair when we're back on school grounds. And you-" He said, pointing in turn to the punchy girl "-Watch your mouth, you're not helping your sister by making even more trouble," He said, jerking his head over at where the crying girl was already, thankfully, moving. "Now, vámonos, I'm serious." Angel said, nudging the boy on the ground with his foot, his previous good humor evaporating the more these kids squabbled. The last thing he wanted to deal with was heads of houses and come off as a hard-ass but Angel was quickly discovering he didn't have the patience for this at all.

 

[Jasper Night]

Jasper quickly wiped his eyes on his sleeve, the tears were only from shock and not because a girl had punched him hard. At least, that's what he told himself. He stared at the girl uncomprehendingly. "She wanted to go here, she wanted to explore. Lily can make her own choices!" He said to her, angry now too. Then he looked at the professor and scowled at him. "She PUNCHED me! That should be worse than going into the forest, which she ALSO DID, by the way!" He said as he got up and brushed himself off. He grumbled as he started moving towards the castle, but shot the professor a glare. He was just as unfair as Professor Haden had been. Maybe even worse, as this had happened right in front of his eyes. He didn't look at Lily or her stupid sister as he trudged forward to the forest.