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Hogwarts Grounds
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Forbidden Forest
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((I am. But if you read what we posted in the Hospital Wing you're welcome to join.))
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((What if she's already spying on him? Then if everyone else comes and confronts Henry, she'll have overheard them and then she'll have the upper hand.))
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Christen crouched behind a large oak, peering at the boy who was composing a letter.
She removed her wand from her sleeve, just a precaution.
She cast a disillusion charm upon herself and continued to watch the boy. He looked about her age, 6th or 7th year, and he looked stern.
Christen felt a nagging thought in the back of her mind, saying, 'Come one, he will never see it coming. Just like that Larkin girl. Jinx him," Christen pointed her wand in his direction but just as she did so, she heard voices and footsteps.
((Awesome! Okay, I'll go ahead start the others off.))"Shh!" Larkin hushed Yellow and William. She winced every time a foot landed, crunching on a leaf or snapping a twig. Didn't they have any concept of stealth?
She scowled. She was more than a little on edge. Sure, she was grouchy, but even more than that, she was terrified.
Earlier, Yellow had spotted Henry escaping the Ravenclaw Common Room. What entailed was the three of them following her would-be killer!
Will would tell her she was exaggerating. After all, they didn't really know if it was Thorn or not.
But she was convinced.
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Christen shivered, and pulled her cloak tight around her. It was mid winter, in the evening and it was cold.
Christen stopped when she heard one of the two girls speak.
She listened harder, and recognized the girl's voice, as Larkin's.
...The girl she had placed jinxes and curses upon. Christen stepped out from the trees' shadow, trusting her charm to conceal her.
"Larkin, calm down. We are gonna be louder if you keep rushing us through the forest, we don't need to run."William said, whispering.
She turned around to give him an incredulous look. "There's a difference between rushing, and leading, Will." She growled, voice low. "And I thought you two were the ones in a hurry to get here." She shivered and turned around again. This forest gave her the creeps.
Her hand went to her pocket. Better take her wand out, just in case.
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She crawled closer to Larkin's party, listening closely.
She wondered what they were doing here. Confronting the boy with the letter? Had they found her out? Just relaxing? No. Not relaxing. You don't need a leader to relax.
And in the forest...
Of all places.
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Thorn. They thought it was Thorn.
Christen smirked and continued to watch the party through the trees.
She got bored of watching Larkin's group and turned her attention to Thorn again.
((Eep! So sorry guys! Grace, I didn't notice you commented, sorry!!))
((Yes. Yes you are. :) Sorry! Haven't been on in awhile))Larkin breathed a sigh of frustration. "Sorry," she forced an apology.
They walked a few steps more before Larkin came to an abrupt halt. She put her arms out to stop the other two.
Henry was just breaths away, sitting at the trunk of a tree. It looked like he was writing out something. An essay maybe? Or her death sentence... She shivered.
She edged everyone behind a thick tree, trying to stay out of Thorn's sight.
"Okay, what do we do know?" She looked to her friends.
"What, indeed?"
Blast!
Henry.
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Henry's wand was pointed directly at the three stooges cowering behind the tree.
Idiots. He could hear them coming from a mile away.
"Come to confront me, have you?" He refrained from rolling his eyes. He knew more than they thought they did.
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Christen jumped when Larkin's voice reached Henry.
Henry had his wand on them, no wonder they suspected him! But they were wrong.
Something brushed up against Christen's ankle. She looked down and nearly shrieked.
A big, thick snake was slithering up the tree she was leaning on.
She directed her wand at the reptile and flicked and swished until the serpent was floating above her, writhing in mid-air.
Christen glanced at Larkin, the girl Yellow, and Thorn hoping they hadn't noticed anything. Nope.
Christen tossed the snake into the clearing where the others were standing.
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She was looking for it like crazy when she heard voices.
She hid herself behind a tree and with surprise, she saw Henry in a small clearing talking to some other students. THere was also this girl from the common room, Delany's friend.
Yellow?
She guessed the Forest had been busy welcoming new people.
Then she saw it, Henry's wand. he froze. What was he doing?
Her mind started spinning, trying to connect the dots but there were basic things missing. Did she intend to go and help him? He helped her in need.
Then, as if a god of Fate was laughing at her trouble, the small griffin engaged Henry, without him realizing it.
Great...Now I have to go.
She took a step and revealed herself.
"Am I interrupting?"
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Needing more cover, Christen climbed the nearby tree and perched on a thicker branch near the middle of the tree trunk.
Moments later there was the sound of a new voice that startled Christen so much that she almost fell out of the tree. A girl's voice, it was.
Chris peered through the thick tree limbs and recognized the girl, she had seen her in classes and at meals. She believed her last name to be Thornwall.
Interesting.
As all the commotion was going on, Will slowly backed behind the tree where he had been hiding before, and had dropped his wand. He quickly picked it up as he heard Yellow shriek, and saw a huge snake latched on to her arm. "Relashio!" He yelled, using the same spell he used to make the squid release Larkin. However, it bounced right off the snake, as if it had some kind of magical barrier.
"EVANESCO!"Larkin winced as a jet of light burst forth from Henry's wand. She blinked. The snake dissolved into thin air.
"H-how did you?"
Henry looked grim. "Forget it, Bell! Take care of her!"
Henry's eyes were scanning the forest. "It wasn't venomous, I'm sure of that. She'll be okay. But we may not be. That snake didn't just come out of nowhere." His wand was at the ready.
"Thornwall," he finally acknowledge her presence. "Did you see anyone--or anything?"
Larkin wasn't listening. She was panicking over Yellow. "Does it hurt? Oh, what can I do?!"
Henry grimaced, pushing back memories of the last time he'd encountered a snake. Only that time there were much more serious effects."Right. You're welcome." He went to Yellow, pushing Larkin aside, none too gently. "Since everyone else is completely incompetent..." He muttered a spell under his breath. Bandages wrapped around her wound. He shrugged. "That should do. I'm afraid I can't help the pain."
He looked to Ruby again, who seemed to be contemplating something. "Well?"
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Larkin's head hurt. She was so confused. One moment she was so sure Henry was the one they were looking for. But now...
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She had been considering revealing herself to the group but as they were on the warpath already, she stayed put. She frowned slightly. She would have enjoyed their attention.
Christen leaned up against another branch for balance and thought of ways to deceive them if they were to discover her.
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She put her wand back in her pocket and looked at Yellow. The other two panicked for a bit but calmed down as Henry took care of the situation.
"Before I showed up, I saw a shadow lurking around, but I thought it was my baby griffin, that is why I followed it." she said, picking it up.
She looked at Henry.
"What is going on?" she asked, her body tense, and her face extra cold and serious.
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Thorn had backup, Thornwall obviously trusted him. No. That surely wouldn't do.
Christen smiled evilly removed her wand from her sleeve. She concentrated with all her might on Thornwall's energy and thought, 'Imperio'.
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Ruby screamed and fell to her knees. She couldn't think, the pain was great. She couldn't even take her other hand to work.
Her screams filled the frozen air.
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She silently pleaded that someone would do something, but then she realized. 'Wait a minute. I have her under my control, don't I?' She thought. She willed Ruby to get up, and do something about the wounds.
But, what is this? Thornwall wasn't doing a thing, she was fighting. Fighting Christen's curse.
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An annoyance. In her head.
Imperious Curse.. Ruby panicked, someone was out there trying to control her. She fought with all her might and grabbed a hand.
Henry's.
"Like the Meadow... They-- in the trees like us..." she coughed while saying a last word.
"T-trap..."
Then she gave everything up. She felt her body giving in to the Curse, but there wasn't much she could do anymore.
She was at the mercy of someone she didn't even know.
She only wished that the others would stop her if she did something dangerous.
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Christen was scared. She'd done so many cruel things, but never used an unforgivable curse. Never.
But here she was, with the mercy of a girl she didn't know at her fingertips.
And what had she ment? "Like the Meadow..."
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Henry's eyes widened at Ruby's reference to the meadow. "Everyone. Wands out. We need to get out of here."
He gathered Ruby in his arms, not trusting she could walk on her own, and picked her up like she weighed no more than a feather.
"You'll be okay. Everything will be okay," he muttered.
But something wasn't right here. It wasn't just Ruby's baby griffin. Something else was scaring her. A curse?
Let's go!"
He grabbed her wand from her hand, just in case.
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"They know. Something about the meadow." she thought.
She had to follow.
Christen began to shimmy down her tree, as quietly as possible. She dropped to the ground and considered her predicament. Following on foot would not do, to noisy and slow. Christen concentrated on her broomstick, with all her might. She waved her wand and whispered, as softly as possible, "Accio."
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Delany knew she had heard voices. She was on her broomstick, whizzing above the canopy of trees.
There
Delany slowed down and plunged through the layer of leaves. She landed on the forest floor in the midst of a group of people.
"Larkin? Yellow? Henry?" She stepped back in alarm, noticing as she did so that Henry was holding someone, unconscious, in his arms.
She rushed forward. "Ruby."
"No!" Henry yelled to stop Delany. "Wait. Do you think you could circle above, try to find out who else is here. Someone's watching us."Larkin perked up as flying was mentioned. "Or I could do it. Er-if you don't mind, that is, Delany. I-I'm a good flyer. And, I have a feeling that whoever's been watching us has been after me." She averted her gaze from Henry, feeling guilty for accusing him.
"I want to stop him....her. Whoever it is." She gulped nervously.
"There's only one broom. Look, I don't care which one of you flies up," Henry panted. "I'm getting out of here. Thornwall needs to get to the Hospital Wing."
((You wanna pause? Alison said she'd be on later today. I want to give her a chance to post))
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However she felt extremely weak. Like there was no power left in her body. She opened her eyes to see Henry carrying her and the others around him.
She morphed and tried to stand up and relieve Henry of the task of carrying her.
"Wh... what.. happened?" she said, also realizing that her wand was missing.
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((Thanks Ally. And what's all this stuff about the meadow?))Will had kept quiet, watching things unfold and silently analyzing everyone, figuring out what everyone had to do with this. He finally spoke up saying, "Delany, no offense to your flying skills but I think Larkin should go up. Someone needs to take Ruby to the hospital wing while some of us stay here and find who did this. The more people that get involved, the more complicated and dangerous it gets. Enough people have gotten hurt because of this."
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"Hospital?" said Ruby confused. "I'm fine, put me down Thorn."
Then she remembered the blood loss. That was the reason of her weak state. She felt dizzy.
"Or...actually on the other hand, I'm not fine."
Henry nodded. "Yes, yes. Just someone, get on the broom already."He held out an arm to keep Ruby steady. "What's happened?" He laughed. "You tell me. Can you walk? Never mind." He hoisted her up again. "We're leaving."
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Larkin grabbed the broom. "Uh, sorry Delany. Don't worry, I'll bring it back!" She grinned and then mounted.
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Henry sighed in relief. Finally, someone taking action. "Everyone else, it's time to go. Bell has a broom, she'll be fine on her own. But if we stay here, we may be toast."
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She couldn't talk anymore. Exhausted she just closed her eyes and leaned on him.
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She removed her wand from her pocket and held it in front of her.
"Maybe Will should go with Henry, you know, so he can protect him if anything happens. No offense Henry but you've got your hands too full to handle an attack."
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Christen cursed. She'd lost the connection with Thornwall and now she couldn't fly because Larkin had just lifted off again.
Now it was Henry's turn to be irritated. He was already a few steps ahead of everyone. "Maybe we should all leave because if we don't we might be killed. Your call." He rolled his eyes. Couldn't anyone listen properly? There was no point in staying. If Larkin found out who it was she could in touch with them after they got out of this cursed forest.
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"Henry..I th-think I'm gonna pass out...Blood loss..." she said mumbling.
She couldn't even think properly. So weak.
He held her tightly. "Don't worry. We'll make it." He pressed on, not caring if any of the others followed him anymore.
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"Mm.. thank you.." she said weakly. Then she felt as if falling into a comfortable numbing. She passed out thinking she was just falling asleep.
It seemed like hours he had sat in the common room trying to pen his thoughts down. All of his attempts to communicate with his parents had failed drastically. Maybe it was because he couldn't speak a word to them without being reprimanded for being disrespectful and ungrateful. It was a strained relationship, that was for sure.
Finally, he decided to slip away into the Forbidden Forest to find some peace and quiet. He picked a tree not too far into the forest and sat at its base.
He didn't even know who he was writing to anymore. The crumpled up paper with the name Artemis scratched out a thousand times would suggest he needed to talk to his old friend.
Friend. He grimaced. Better not. She'd expect an apology, and that he couldn't give.
Perhaps one of his brothers. Peter wouldn't do, of course. The only contact they had(which wasn't really contact at all) was when Henry mailed him his potion.
Thomas it was then. Henry smoothed out a piece of paper he pulled from his robe and began to write.
Dear Thomas,
You know I hate writing letters, but...