NOTE: I do not own any of the ideas or characters expressed in this story (except Cassie Jackson). All of these belong to J.K. Rowling.
Sorry it's taken so long for this update to get here! I know I said it would definitely be up by yesterday, but well, things happen haha. Anyway I realized that last chapter I made a huge mistake, I forgot that Luna got taken from the train! I had her just magically back at Hogwarts for no reason, lol sorry guys. But no one noticed, so I guess it's okay. I just went back and edited her out, so it's not necessary to go back and reread. Just know that Ginny was the one who came up with the plan to go out and Neville, okay? Alright! Thank you all so SO much for reading this far, it does mean a lot! Comment to tell me what you think? Thanks, I love you all (:
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Cassie P.O.V.
We wait until midnight to sneak out. Katherine, Cho, and I hurry down to the back of the school as quietly as we can, hoping to get outside without using the main entrance. My chest feels so tight that it’s almost painful as we tip-toe through the halls; the last thing I want is for us to get caught by the Carrows. But we make it safely outside without anything bad happening, and I finally breathe easily once again as soon as we step out into the warm night.
Katherine is grinning as she grabs my hand and tugs me faster down the hill after Cho, all three of us running silently towards the ForbiddenForest. I know Katherine must be so excited to be breaking rules and defying the Carrows—but I’m so used to it now that I only feel worry at the thought of being caught. But I push aside my fears and race after her, because being outside is making me forget about reality back inside the castle.
We make it to the edge of the forest safely, near Hagrid’s old, empty hut. I give one last glance at Hogwarts behind us, looking up at the few glowing windows and feeling free for the first time all year.
Then I turn and disappear into the forest after Katherine.
We wait until we’re inside enough that the castle isn’t visible before lighting our wands. This dark area of the forest is suddenly illuminated by three wands, and we face each other with broad smiles on our faces. We made it.
“Okay,” Cho whispers, keeping her voice down and glancing around us. “Neville should be here somewhere, and then we’ve got to wait for Ginny to come down as well. Then we’ll split up like how we agreed on, yeah?”
Katherine and I nod in agreement, looking around at each other seriously. It’s starting to sink in, where we are and what we’re doing, and my heart is pounding with a sort of nervous excitement.
The three of us lift our wands higher and move deeper into the forest, walking slowly and looking around for Neville. We’re too scared of attracting unwanted attention by calling out for him, so we’re left to just silently searching for him. It only takes about five minutes for Neville to come out of the darkness, breathing heavily and clutching two Death-Cap mushrooms.
We crowd around him immediately, patting him on the back and congratulating him on already getting two. “Eighteen to go, that’s easy,” Katherine says, smiling warmly at him. Neville shrugs sheepishly and pockets the mushrooms, clearly unused to all this attention.
“You guys made it out okay?” he asks, looking around at us with concern. We nod, and he sighs with relief. “Thank you guys so much for helping me, I really—“
There’s a loud rustling to our right, and all four of us spin around automatically, pointing our wands to the source of the noise in fear. My heart pounds as the bush in front of me quivers, and I shakily lift my wand higher. My hand is clutched around Katherine’s, both of our hands tightly pressed together.
But then Ginny stumbles out into the open, making us all jump. She looks really flustered as she brushes leaves off her shoulders, looking up to see the four of us pointing our wands in her face. She pushes Cho’s arm away in annoyance, huffing angrily, “Calm down, I didn’t mean to scare you. Sorry it took me so long, I had to wait for Alecto to leave the area around the Gryffindor common room and then I got kind of lost in the forest…”
I roll my eyes and lower my wand, trying to get my heart rate back down to normal. She really scared the crap out of me, does she not realize how on edge we all are—
“Ok, let’s split up,” Neville says, nervously wringing his hands together in front of him. “Me, Cassie, and Cho will go that way, and then Ginny and Katherine will take that direction? Try to get about nine mushrooms all together, and then we’ll meet up back here and see if we’ve got twenty.”
“Right,” Ginny agrees. “I researched a bit, and the mushrooms usually grow around places with a lot of moss. It shouldn’t take that long to get enough with the five of us.”
I nod along with everyone else, all of us standing close together and keeping our voices down, the darkness of the forest pressing at our backs. The glow of our wands illuminates Neville’s scared face eerily, and he continues quietly, “If anything happens, anything bad, send up red sparks. That way the rest of us can come and help. But please, please be careful. Alright?”
“Of course. Relax, Neville,” Katherine says, smiling and patting his back. “We’re gonna be fine. This will be fun!”
Well, I wouldn’t consider this “fun”, but I keep quiet. I’m jumping at any sudden noise, any time something far off in the forest makes a sound. Cho’s doing the same, keeping her head raised and looking over her shoulder every so often. I’m glad I’m not the only one who isn’t completely at ease in the ForbiddenForest…
“Alright. Good luck,” Neville says, eyeing us gratefully one at a time. “Let’s go.”
Cho, Neville, and I separate from Katherine and Ginny, heading off to the right on our own. The three of us spread out a bit and keep our wands lowered, lighting up the forest floor as we search for the mushrooms. I keep my head low, eyes skimming along the tree roots and dirt to see if I can spot moss. The air feels damp and seems to cling to my skin; I shiver as I realize there’s a thin layer of fog along the ground. This is going to be a long night…
We walk for about a half hour before any of us find something. Cho calls us over excitedly, causing Neville and I to run in her direction as fast as we can. I trip over tree roots and large rocks until I stop next to Cho, who’s bent over a wide stretch of moss. She digs at the ground hurriedly, finally pulling up a Death-Cap mushroom with triumph.
Neville and I congratulate her as she pockets the mushroom, straightening back up with a grin on her face. She points at the ground and says, “There might be more around here, let’s have a look.”
The three of us spread out around the area of moss, keeping low to the ground and searching. I find another behind the nearest tree and tell the others happily, earning me words of gratitude. Putting the mushroom deep inside my robes, I slowly head back to where Neville and Cho are.
“Excellent, Cho’s found another,” Neville says as I get closer, smiling broadly at Cho. Cho, who seems to be having the best luck out of the three of us, must surely be blushing in this darkness. “Now we just need five more, and then we can head back to where we started. Let’s keep going.”
It must be around two in the morning now, and I can tell Neville’s getting nervous that we’re losing time. The night seems to be at its blackest, and our wand light doesn’t seem to stretch as far as it did earlier. That probably just adds to my fears when an eerie howling echoes off in the distance.
A werewolf.
My heart stops at the sound, and the three of us completely freeze. The wolf howl shatters the silence, and it feels like the entire forest is holding its breath. We hang on to each other in terror until the noise stops, but once it does, none of us make a move. After a full minute of silence, Neville whispers, “It was far enough away. We should be okay.”
But he still doesn’t move. The three of us are just standing there, frozen in fear. A full two minutes must pass before Neville finally takes a shaky breath and steps away from me and Cho. When nothing happens, he turns to us and says slightly louder, “Alright, come on. We’re fine.”
Cho and I hesitantly detach ourselves from each other and follow after Neville, still keeping our wands raised high. The three of us slowly set off again, but now we’re being much quieter than before. The reality of being in the ForbiddenForest hit us hard; it was almost like we’d forgotten where we were. We’re in danger here—how could we forget?
The three of us head off deeper into the forest, staying away from the direction of the werewolf just to be safe. As the minutes pass by, my heart rate slowly gets back down to normal. We return to our search for the mushrooms, and another two hours drag by uneventfully. Neville finds two more mushrooms and I find one, leaving only two before we can go back.
I’m starting to get tired as I bend down over a patch of moss in a small clearing, blinking my eyes sleepily as I look for a mushroom. I’m exhausted, and my legs are tired from walking over tree roots all night. It’s getting hard to keep my eyes open when I suddenly spot one, hiding behind a rotted tree trunk. I happily stumble over to it and dig it out of the ground. Now we only need—
Another werewolf howl rips through the night air, and I’m so startled that I drop the mushroom. It sounds impossibly closer.
I clasp my hand over my mouth and bite down on my fingers to keep myself quiet, my chest heaving in fear. I turn frantically to look behind me and realize I can’t see Neville or Cho anywhere. I quickly lift my wand higher to spread the light, but it doesn’t seem to be enough. I remember the necklace Draco gave me and shakily pull it out from under my shirt, breathing almost soundlessly, “Lumos.”
The extra blue and green light comforts me a little, but the adrenaline is still making my entire body shake. The darkness of the forest is starting to suffocate me. I turn around and around in terror as I realize I’m completely alone with a werewolf somewhere nearby.
“Cho?” I whisper, terrified to be too loud but absolutely frantic at the thought of being alone. “Neville? Neville!”
I hear something crashing through the leaves behind me, and I spin around instantly with my wand pointing straight out. The light of my wand and necklace floods over Neville and Cho as they both stumble into the clearing, and I just barely keep myself from hexing them accidentally. Neville puts his hands up and looks around at the glow of green and blue colors in confusion, hissing, “What—“ But then he stops, and I know he’s heard it too.
Someone’s screaming.
My blood runs cold as I look up to the sky, seeing red sparks flash above the trees. Time seems to slow down as I bring my head back down to look at Neville, and I see his confused expression slowly turn to one of fear.
Then time snaps back to normal, and I take off running.
I don’t even know if Cho and Neville are following as I sprint through the forest in the direction of where the sparks were set off, whipping past trees and vaulting over tree roots faster than I would have thought possible. My only thought is that Katherine and Ginny are in trouble, and I don’t know what I’ll do if one of them gets hurt.
I must run for a full five minutes before I finally slow down and stop for a moment, unsure of where to go. Cho and Neville come to a stop beside me, both breathing heavily and looking around frantically. Then I hear another sharp cry of pain, closer, and I take off again.
When I finally reach them, my legs completely freeze up and I stop dead.
Katherine’s lying on the forest floor a few feet away with Ginny next to her, large gouges in the dirt around them. Ginny’s absolutely sobbing, clutching at Katherine and mumbling words that don’t make any sense. My wand slips out of my fingers and drops to the ground as I see blood.
Neville brushes past me suddenly, running over to the two of them and dropping down next to Katherine. I finally force my legs into motion and step forward, slowly coming closer until I can see Katherine.
The robes on her left arm are completely shredded, and my stomach lurks a bit when I see blood all over her arm and on the forest floor. Blinking in shock, I look down at Ginny. She’s crying so hard that her words are jumbled up, and I try hard to understand as she sobs, “She—it happened so fast—we were—I just—it came out of nowhere—the werewolf—“
I drop next to Katherine, pushing Ginny slightly out of the way. I look down at her pale face and realize her chest is barely moving. The breath catches in my throat, and it’s suddenly very hard to breathe.
Katherine’s been bitten by a werewolf.
“Ginny, it’s okay—“ Neville stammers, trying to get her to calm down without losing it himself. He bends over and starts to lift Katherine off the ground, turning his head to me and chokes out, “Help me get her up—back to the castle—“
I snap back to reality, suddenly feeling very calm. “Okay,” I say quietly, leaning over and half lifting Katherine up. Neville manages to hold her on his own, and he quickly starts to head away from the clearing towards the castle. I start off with him, saying over my shoulder in a shaky voice, “Cho, can you—“
But she’s already doing it. Cho picks up all the fallen wands and helps Ginny, who’s now a complete mess, up off the ground, and she starts to lead her out of the forest after us. I hurry after Neville, the entire forest spinning. This can’t be happening, there’s no way—
We’re hurrying as fast as we can out of the forest in the light of the slowly rising sun, the blood still trickling freely down Katherine’s robes and getting onto Neville’s coat. I grab Katherine’s hand like she’s my only lifeline, just how we did when Ginny first surprised us earlier tonight.
Except this time, Katherine’s hand is completely limp.