Tunnel Vision For You

[Alliyah Jackson]

Friday evenings were very thrilling in the outside world. Those people of the youth normally paid their religious, Friday visit to a local nightclub or tavern to enjoy the freeing sensation alcohol gave them. With friends, one could easily sense the fun aura all of them contained as they drank their weekly problems away with a few shots and accompanying that with reckless dance moves to either impress the opposite sex or simply make a fool out of themselves for once and have fun with it. Alliyah envied those people who were free to do whatever they wanted in the much more massive world outside the boundaries of Hogwarts. Currently she was stuck in the damn school and as soon as she graduated, she was certain she would never look back at the halls of the ancient castle again. Enough was enough and ever since Ally discovered other ways to have fun and enjoy her life, she wasted no time making plans on how to wreck the entire New Zealand down once she graduated. Of course, a job was in order for her to survive because partying until the dawn cracked up the sky was not a sufficient activity for her entire lifetime. Eventually she would get bored with it and her beloved parents would be terrified that their daughter was still rebelling at the age of 25. Alliyah though, was not especially vivid about what she wanted for her future, so she settled for planning those frivolous activities instead of her professional career.

Because of the fun she craved, Ally devised a plan to go out in the middle of the night to enjoy what was in the silent, and soothing air moving about. Recklessly, she set out this Friday night for the Forbidden Forest. She only wanted some fresh air and with a thousand trees there to give her the fresh oxygen she needed, she was sure to enjoy lurking around rather than tossing and turning in her bed to find the perfect position to sleep in. In no time she dressed herself up like she would go out for a walk, under the blanket of sunlit rays with a pleasant face on. Ally was ready however for a cold trail towards the forbidden forest and there, she would do her best to climb up a tree and hang on, for her to see the pale moon and silently gush on its beauty to herself. She was doing only the simplest pleasures in life so surely no one would really think she was causing trouble. Leaving the common room was easy for the portrait that kept the Gryffindor Common Room hidden swung open with no sound creaking through the air. Treading lightly was easy too, but the instinct to stay hidden never abandoned Ally's nerves. It had been two hours passed curfew, and here she was breaking the rules like a foolish first year. No matter though, if she was going to get detention for this then so be it. She was a seventh year and supposedly fearless. Nothing can f*ck with her anymore.

The doors were closed but Ally pushed them open for her to go through. She felt no enchantment whatsoever that detected anyone passing by so for now she was quite safe. The looming trees ahead gave off such a sinister aura but Ally's sheer bravery urged her to continue what she started. Her feet dragged her willingly and Ally's eyes were attached on the incredibly thick trunks that were impossible to climb. Some were miniature versions though and maybe that she can manage. As her footsteps led her, she stupidly did not avoid a medium sized rock jammed to the ground and half of its circle-esque shape was protruded. With a double take, she stepped back before she could even enter the forest and crouched down. "What the f*ck!" exclaimed the blonde, temporarily forgetting that some people were actually on patrol on this time of the night. She gingerly pressed a finger to the part of her boot where her small, stubbed toe was located. The instant she felt it, she scowled because of the growing sensitivity and hoped that there wouldn't be a nasty bruise anywhere there by the morning.
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[Speed Stark]

Speed packed up his papers and stretched as he stood from his desk. Marking was certainly something that made teaching a little bit of a pain. He enjoyed imparting what he knew on eager students, but sometimes having the read the essays and the quiz answers was less than fun. Especially when it was hitting the later hours of the night and he would really rather be doing anything other than staring at the writing of thirteen and fourteen year olds, regardless of how much he enjoyed teaching them, or how good their assignment was. Consistent marking at these hours was going to make it impossible for him to sleep. The young professor put down his quill as a cramp overtook him. He looked at the time to see how long he had been sitting, and realised that he was skirting the time for his patrol. He jumped up from his seat, gave Elvera, his niffler, a pet on the head, before rushing out of his office and locking it on the way. Walking across the grounds, Speed realised that he was a little more than just skirting, and decided that a quicker coverage of the area was in call. Thankfully, while unable to apparate around to check the most common hiding areas for students, he was able to run around in his animagus form, a hare, and move much faster than any student here.

After checking the cliffs, the gardens, the rosebush, and the lake, Speed powered towards the Forbidden Forest, and moved swiftly under logs and over uprooted tree roots. His highly sensitive ears picked up movements that humaniod ears would have missed. It was definitely a female, and he was almost positive it was a student. He made a bee-line towards the noise and skidded to a stop about half a metre from the young, blonde girl. His nose wiggled as he examined her, noticing that she appeared to have a sore foot. But what in Merlin's name was she doing out here in the first place? Every single year the students were told this forest was dangerous, and every single year there would be someone lurking around out here. He returned to his bipeddled form with his arms folded across his chest, and his head tilted slightly. "What are you doing out here?" he asked, finding himself having to say the exact same thing at least once a night. "The forest is out of bounds, can you walk?"
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[Alliyah Jackson]

Her smallest toe was sore but not too painful that she would half to balance on the other half of her foot. Ally's teeth clenched as she hissed like a Slytherin and if any student of the green and silver house heard her, they would have clapped like a proud parent. The ominous sight before her suddenly seemed so small as her focus was now on the little toe she dumbly hit on the jagged rock. With a huff, she squatted and still continued the cautious touches she did, to see if the pressure could indicate whether what she was feeling would lead to a nasty bruise the next morning. It was a pity, because she actually wanted to wear her newly purchased sandals for the entirety of the day. Suddenly her boot seemed so suffocating to her foot's skin and she bit her lip in mild irritation, bothered that anyone out there to patrol could see her. They would see her crouched, pathetically examining some stubbed toe, whilst they idly wondered whether to report her to her Head of House or simply take off house points and move on. Ally dearly hoped for the latter. Or better, she hoped no one heard her loud curse that could have put all the birds in the forest squawking but thankfully, there must have been an invisible blanket barrier that mellowed down the tone of her voice. Gladly it was not too bad.

For the last time she applied pressure on her toe, not noticing that a hare was in front of her, a meter across. She would have stroke the little, furry thing if she had seen it but at the moment her attention was captivated by the already ceasing pain in her toe. She muttered something inaudible under her breath and thought that it would soon be forgotten. Ally very slowly rose up to her feet and felt something else rise up in front of her. Her heart almost skipped a beat because she did a double take and stumbled backwards when she saw a human form of a young man in front of her. It was impossible for him to just stand in front of her without being noticed, so her mind immediately set up for some possibility as to why he was there immediately. In a matter of milliseconds she wondered if he was an animagus, because that could be a possibility. Was he using his form to get around the castle unnoticed? If so, she suddenly wanted to have an animal form in order to do the exact same thing.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Ally and her blue eyes were fixed on the man or professor or whatever, who was standing right there as if he was there for the past ten minutes. She clutched her chest in surprise and deciphered if he was truly asking her if she could walk. Was he here to make fun of her? She narrowed her eyes and shook her head, but at the same time, stood up straighter and more confident than earlier. His dark locks were swept by the soft breeze and Ally was instantly taken by his good boy kind of appearance. It was sweet, but tempting too. She smiled coyly, "But would you help me walk if I asked you to?" She was fine, she could definitely walk and his help was not needed. She only wanted to catch a whiff of his scent but that seemed too flirty and fast for a student like her. Those appealing features he had, had struck her in the past but she always ignored him in the hallways. He was a professor of some subject and now she couldn't remember which one. All she knew was that he was attractive and hell, would it hurt for a student like her to subtly hit on a professor like him?
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[Speed Stark]

Speed had not meant to spook the girl, now that it had so obviously happened, he felt a pang of guilt, however he remained silent on the matter and waited for her to calm herself down a little. She was an older student, so he was sure that she would know what an animagus was - the Transfiguration teachers were animagi like himself. However, considering the darkness of the forest, it may have been kinder to approach in his natural form, but there was little point in that. He was not nearly as fast in his current form than that of his hare. He waited patiently for the girl to gather her wits before doing anything, for he knew that it was never wise to approach someone when they were riled up. He had been in similar situations in his life, and appreciated distance when given. It wasn't like she could run off, either. The young professor was quite confident that he would be able to identify her later and follow this situation up, if she even managed to get away in the first place.

Speed's eyebrow rose slightly when she stood up and spoke, being confused by her wording. He had asked and thought that the offer was clear. If she could not walk, then someone had to help her. He wasn't about to leave her in this forest by her - with an injury to boot. Perfectly healthy, adult wizards had lost their lives in this forest, among others. He may as well resign if he were even considering just abandoning the student here. She was by no means big, so he was perfectly capable of helping, and then he would return her to the castle infirmary and think of a punishment that would hopefully stop her from repeating this silly action. "Yes, I would," he answered, taking a step towards her and holding out his hand to help her stabilise herself so they could begin the trek back to the castle. "Come on, take my arm."
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[Alliyah Jackson]

A shake of her head was enough, but the young professor did not seem to grasp the fact she was fine. Totally and completely fine. The pain of a stubbed toe would be gone in less than twenty four hours which to Alliyah was really okay with her. A stubbed toe cannot give a major limp anyway. When she asked him however, he reached out to her to give her support -- literally, at that. Alliyah stepped back instead of moving forward to accept. The coyness laced to the quirk of her lips was added, because he was proving to be such a caring and gentle young man. She absolutely loved men like him, though his species was running around ten times less by the minute. In front of her was a good looking male who was willing to carry half of her weight and she was shallowly touched by that. "I'd love to take that hand, but I'm fine." Ally's bright blue eyes blinked at him, because winking seemed to rapid for a flirty advance. She felt like he was her prey and she was the predator, waiting to pounce any moment. Hell, he really was cute and she couldn't let him off without making a mark on him. What a waste of her flirting skills if she didn't.

She raised a questioning brow and proceeded to pout. She cautiously stepped forward, in a slow and watchful manner as her eyes tried to decipher if he was going to immediately report her. He was a professor so instinctively she felt he was going to drag her to Professor Kingsley's office instead. Why did this night turn out to be such a failure? All she wanted was to chill in the trees and cut herself from civilization for at least three hours as she was lounging on a sturdy, yet slightly low branch of a tree. The pale moon was glistening over them, enough for her to see him whilst she talked. "I'm Alliyah Jackson. Gryffindor," introduced the blonde and this time allowed her legs to let go of the stiffness she initially had. When she was about a meter away from him she bit her lip to show her interest in him. "I know you're a professor but... Before you can even drag me away, I want to know your name. You're professor...?" She dragged her words towards the end, looking at him whilst she expected him to complete her sentence. Whatever name he had was going to be embedded in her head the entire night and his face would be with her the entire month. When he answered her, she allowed a loose smirk to play with the pinkish hued skin that was her lips and her eyes looked into his innocently. "So... I get to call you by the title of professor by day... By night, do I have the privilege to call you by your first name?" queried Alliyah, thinking that that capsule sized double meaning would give him a hint of her teenage attraction.
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[Speed Stark]

Speed nodded, and allowed his arm to drop as she made it clear that she was fine, and capable of walking. He watched that she didn't wander too far, but was relieved that she wasn't injured. It was always more complicated if the student were to be injured in the forest. Not to mention having to deal with the nurses at this hour. Some of them could be quite snippy when awoken to deal with students that traversed the forest by themselves, and while Speed was adept at potions and herbs, he would never try any of that on a student. The implications that could be created if he stuffed up just weren't worth it. Deciding to try and impart some knowledge onto her - and hopefully discourage any repeat offences - Speed inclined his head to their surroundings. "It's good that you're fine, but you really need to be careful. you could have been injured, and that's bad enough. The forest is dangerous." He released a small sigh afterwards, suspecting that his perfectly sound worry and advice would just float through one ear and out her other ear. Next month he'd probably run into her in the forest again, or he'd heard about a blonde seventh year getting herself injured in here and find it was her. It was a terribly harsh cycle. Luckily, during his time he had never known someone to be seriously injured, he knew it had happened.

Speed blinked and tucked his hands into his pockets as she approached, having decided to not wear robes but muggle clothes this night. The animagus found it odd that she so easily gave him her name and house. He had expected to have some trouble, as kids that ran around in the forest often wanted to remain in the forest. He could not count on one hand how many times he had to hunt down students that had ran away. And then having to nearly drag them to their head of house because they ran. If they didn't bother running and just behaved civilly, then he would simply give them a warning, and take some points. The running just annoyed him. "Stark. Professor Speed Stark," he finished, watching her carefully. He had no idea why she was behaving so shyly, but put it down to the fact that she felt she was in trouble - which she was. However, his eyebrow rose up his forehead as she spoke once more, and suddenly everything made sense to Speed, making him feel rather awkward. Running his tongue across his teeth, he could not help but think that, perhaps he should not step into forests of any sort, anymore. Bad things always happened in forests. He smiled politely, not wishing to hurt her feelings, but wanting this to stop. "Miss Jackson, I think you should continue to call me Professor Stark. Regardless of the time." His hand reached to scratch the back of his neck shyly, as he found himself uncomfortable and in need of getting out of this forest with the student as soon as possible. He took a step towards her, and gestured to the way of the castle. "Come now, we must return to the castle."
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[Alliyah Jackson]

Indeed, the forest had things... Creatures, in fact, that mysteriously lurked behind trees and in the deepest shadows of the forest. Centaurs resided there and probably exiled werewolves too. Ally nodded at Stark, agreeing that whatever things lived in there had to be dealt with moderate to extreme caution. His tone made him sound sincere, but Ally knew several professors only asked so they could keep their job and reputation as a professor intact. "Thanks for your concern," muttered the Gryffindor and shifted her wright on her other foot. She was alright and no harm was brought upon her. That was the only important thing now besides from the inevitable that he would have to drag her to her Head of House.

She was closer to him now and even with the breeze, she still could not distinguish what scent he was wearing. Did he even put cologne regularly? When she introduced herself she legitimately hoped the name Alliyah or Jackson would be embedded in his mind for the next week or so. In the castle, Ally was certain there were more than twenty people who would call his angelic face handsome. He was a a catch, but he most possibly did not pay mind to his looks or he simply did not flaunt it. Simple guys were cute and Ally couldn't help but be drawn to him more. She pouted, her lower lip sticking out perfectly when he dismissed her advances. So of flirting was not his game, what was? Ally was not equally embarrassed but more of disappointment washed over her pout. "You're no fun, love." Her long blonde hair swayed as she tilted her head in an evident manner. The blonde crossed her arms, feeling that she should push him more to fluster his cute self. "Ah, you see I didn't call you by your first name. Surely you would allow me to call you that, yeah? You can't deny a girl everything." She purred in her last sentence and licked her bottom lip that was starting to get chapped.

She sighed, theatrically, whilst she stood another step closer. Her punishment must be reduced to something less damaging, like a reduction of 10 house points. Perhaps sneaking out to the forbidden forest would cost Gryffindor 20 points and she couldn't allow that. "Fine, I screwed up but I swear on Merlin's pants and I didn't mean to cause trouble. Can we just skip the part wherein you drag me to Kingsley?" She pleaded and Ally was willing to continue her puppy eyes if she had to. "Just dock off 10 points, professor?" Gryffindor was behind their rival, the Slytherins and even if Ally did not participate that much in the housr rivalry, she felt bad for her fellow Lions. For the past two years Slytherin was ruling Hogwarts in an iron fist. The Head students were Slytherins and Ally secretly thought they had something to do with Slytherin's jump of house points."Slytherin is already kicking our ass. They're ahead by a lot."
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[Speed Stark]

He was comforted by the fact that she wasn't ignorant. Having an argument about whether the forest was dangerous was not on his agenda tonight, and he was glad that she wasn't ready to engage in such an argument either. Alliyah didn't seem particularly please, but she had been caught out in the forest, so Speed didn't expect her to take much comfort or sincerity from his words, even though he meant everything he had said. In fact, if she had have believed his every word and acted positively, he would have been a little suspicious. He rolled his shoulders as a breeze hit him, causing a chill to run up his spine as the sun and its warmth had long since left them. With his skin now pricking in the chilled air, his hand brushed up his sleeve in an attempt to warm himself up as they were lingering in the forest more than the professor had expected. As the forest often did, the breeze picked up a little more, bring fresh air to his lungs, while his vanilla scent probably reached the girl, and anything else out here. As a frequenter to the forest, this was not an outright bad thing, as he picked vanilla because of its distinctive smell when compared to the harsher smelling forest and native plants, whose smells he could pick up when in his animagus form.

Speed refused to show a physical reaction to being called 'love', as it really wouldn't help. To him, she seemed to be enjoying this, and it made him a little nervous. He didn't want her getting any ideas, or doing something that she would surely regret later. She didn't seem to be noticing his disinterest, or just wasn't interested in registering it. As she continued, however, the professor realised that she was doing this to purposefully agitate him, well, that was what it felt like. Her impropriety was disconcerting, and unfortunately he did not see many options open to him that didn't include upsetting her, which probably wouldn't help this situation anyway. "Alliyah, this is hardly the time for that," he stated, using her first name in an attempt to get her to stop pressing him. If he gave her that little victory, perhaps she would stop searching for more.

Speed folded his arms across his chest, finding her theatrics to be mildly amusing, as he remembered himself trying to talk professor's out of handing him punishments. To be perfectly honest, he wasn't in the habit of 'dragging' students to their heads of houses for entering the forest at night, if it was the first time he had caught them. Especially if they had literally done nothing but meander through here. It just seemed like a waste of time for both him, the student and the head of house. He preferred to take points and perhaps a detention if he felt it was needed. It was rare to find a student that enjoyed cleaning up after Colin the hippogriff. At the mention of the points difference, he shook his head slowly. "Perhaps Gryffindor is behind because people keep sneaking out?" His hand brushed through his hair. "To be perfectly honest, I don't usually 'drag' students to their head of house because they walked into the forest, otherwise I may as well move into the office." And, in an attempt to get her back on track with what he expected to happen next, he once again gestured to the way of the castle. "Now, we best get back to the castle before it gets colder than it already is." And she didn't even have a jacket for merlin's sake. Surely she was concerned over getting a cold?
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