"I can't believe we're actually going to do this," Rudy said as the four Gryffindor second years walked down the main stairwell. Lily found it slightly difficult to move due to the four shirts she had on underneath her cloak.
"You better believe it because we-"
"What are we going to do if we see them down there?" Hugo asked, interrupting Lily's sentence.
Lily looked at her cousin with a smirk, "I'm glad you asked, my dear cousin. We're going to wing it. I don't have a plan."
She wasn't surprised when she saw her cousin's jaw drop. It nearly hit the stone step. Lily tried hard to keep from laughing.
"Wing it? Are you serious, Lil?" Eli asked, his eyes practically popping out of his head. "That thing they're meeting out in the forest almost bloody tried to kill me last month. We can't go in without a plan. This can't happen."
"You're bloody mental, Lil," Rudy said, stopping on the step. "I'm sorry, but we aren't-"
"I'm pulling your legs," Lily said, stopping and looking up to her friends who looked at her with wide, terrified eyes. "Do you honestly think I would go in without a plan? Have you met me? And I thought we were all friends."
"Well, you sure sounded pretty convincing there for a second," Eli said, moving down the stairs once more. "I thought you were serious."
"Same," Rudy said, nodding. "I know it's not like you to not have a plan, but you had me fooled."
"I mean, last year, when we went into the forest, we didn't exactly have a plan," Hugo said. "That was kind of winging it, and we all know what happened that night."
Lily stopped and looked up at her cousin, "You know that was different. Molly's life was practically on the line that night. She's family, Hugo. We had to save her."
"She's absolutely irritating though, Lily," he added on. "We should've left her in the forest the night."
"You're insufferable," Lily told him, her words sharp and her eyes narrow. "Molly's family. Family doesn't-"
"I'm pulling your leg, Lil; lighten up," Hugo said with a little laugh. "Merlin, did you think I was serious?"
"Well, you have told me she is your least favorite cousin several times, Hugo," Eli said.
Lily smirked Hugo's way.
"I was there; I heard it as well," Rudy added on.
Lily's smirk grew larger.
Hugo narrowed his eyes his friends, "You aren't helping the situation at hand, idiots."
"I'm starting to pull your leg now, too, Hugo," Lily said, letting her smirk fall into a smile. "I know you didn't mean it entirely."
"I'm pulling your leg, Lil," Hugo said. "I actually-"
"If one of you says 'I'm pulling your leg' one more time, I am going to pull all of your legs off slowly and painfully."
Lily turned around and smiled at Cassie, who was a few feet behind them with a smirk on her face. She had a streak of eye black under each of her dark eyes.
"Nice eye make-up, Cassie," Hugo said. "It's really pulling my leg."
Lily scrunched up her face and shook her head at him, "That doesn't even make any sense, Hugo."
"Have I ever made any sense?" Hugo asked, looking at Lily with a cheeky smile.
She sighed, "No not really."
"I decided to put some of this on because this is a covert mission," Cassie said as they continued down the stairs to where Nora had just emerged from a hallway that led to the Slytherin dungeons. "Covert missions require eye black; it's been in any Muggle film I've ever seen."
"Are you ready?" Nora asked as the five others got to the bottom of the stairwell, interrupting Cassie's continuous talk about eye black.
"I think so," Lily said with a nod.
"You never actually told us your plan for this evening, Lil," Rudy said.
"I'm glad you brought that up," she said as she started walking off to the castle's main doors. "We just need the twins to see us when they're with the hooded thing. They need to see us, looking straight at them. After, we run. Take off. We get out of the forest as quickly as possible."
"That's it?" Hugo asked, sounding completely underwhelmed. "That's the giant plan?"
"It makes sense," Nora said, looking at Hugo. "If they see us, they can't deny what they've been doing. And we shouldn't duel that hooded thing until we really know what we're up against."
"Did you tell her this beforehand or something?" Eli asked.
Lily shook her head, "No, but that's exactly what I was thinking."
"The best minds think alike," Nora said, smiling Lily's way. The two friends give one another a high-five.
"The pair of you are bloody mental," Hugo said as the six headed toward the door. "I can't believe you're smiling about this, Nora. You just high-fived for Merlin's sake."
"I'm pulling your leg," Nora said, blushing.
"I will seriously curse the next person who says that," Cassie said, shaking her head. "Honestly, what is up with you five and that dumb saying?"
"Don't know," Lily said, pushing open the front door of the castle slightly enough, so the six of them could slip through.
"Well, it's irritating," Cassie said, following Lily out of the door. "The saying itself doesn't even make any sense in the first place."
"Does anything make sense anymore?" Hugo asked as he shut the door once everyone had walked outside. "Are we even alive?"
"Existential crisis much, Hugo?" Rudy asked with a laugh.
"Rudy," Hugo said, stopping and looking at his friend, "I don't even know what that means."
"Would you two shut it? We've got to go find the twins," Eli said, shoving them forward.
"And here I thought Rudy was supposed to be the salty one," Hugo said, elbowing Eli in the stomach.
"Will you boys shut it, so we can get on and find the twins before we're all caught out of bed? I don't think any of us want detention or house points deducted," Cassie said, her voice snappy.
The boys groaned from behind the three girls as Lily led the second years down the front hill and toward the Forbidden Forest.
"We've got to get past Hagrid's," Eli said, his voice low. "If he catches us, we're doomed."
"Hagrid's not going to expel us, Eli," Nora said.
Lily shook her head, "No, but he certainly won't let us get down into the forest. He might give us a detention or two at the worst."
"He's just a big softie, bless his heart," Cassie said.
"Walk as quietly as possible," Lily said back to her friends as they crept across Hogwarts's lawn toward Hagrid's.
The six tiptoed across the cold grass and were nearly into the woods when Nora stepped on a stick, which made a loud crack through the silent night. Hagrid's dog barked, and the lights in his hut turned on.
"Run!" Lily said in a low voice before taking off into the darkness of the forest. They couldn't be caught. Being caught was not an option.
Using every ounce of speed in her body, Lily tore off toward the forest, hearing her friends close behind her. They all ducked under the trees' lowest branches and ran for a minute until Lily stopped in her tracks, hands on her knees and breathing heavily. Running was not her favorite activity.
"You alright, Lil?" Eli asked as Hugo patted her on the back.
"Aren't you Chasers supposed to be athletic?" Cassie asked through her own labored breathing.
"On a broom, yes. On foot, not necessarily," Lily said, standing up straight and taking one last heavy breath. "You don't have to run to play Quidditch."
Nora looked back to where they had ran from, "I think we've lost him anyway; there's no way he would be able to keep up with us. We should still keep going if we want to find twins though."
"Where do you think we'll find them?" Hugo asked before shuddering. "Hopefully not near the herd of centaurs."
Lily shivered, remembering the arrow in her cousin and the blood that stained the floor of that old, magical car months ago, "Same. We should hurry up and find the twins before we run into something unfriendly like a centaur herd."
"I didn't hear an answer to my question, Lil," Hugo said. "Where are we supposed to look for these twins? This forest is enormous. How are we supposed to find two eleven year olds and some creep?"
"I don't have the answer to that, Hugo," she said, looking back to her friends. "They can't be very deep in the forest though. We'll just have to search until we find them, and hope for the best."
"I've never been in the forest," Cassie said as the six second years started walking once more. Lily turned back to her friend and watched as she took in the forest. "It's pretty scary."
"You don't know the half of it, Cassie," Rudy said.
"What brings you six out here?"
The hairs on the back of Lily's neck stood up at the question. Someone had found them; Lily's plan was ruined. Slowly and defeated, Lily turned around slowly, but relief washed over her when she recognized the person- ghost, rather- behind them.
"Colin? What are you doing out here?" she asked, her mouth dropping.
"I've seen you around before!" Nora said. "You're-"
"Colin Creevey, at your service, ladies and gents," he said, nodding to Nora.
"Aren't you supposed to be stuck in the castle?" Hugo asked.
"Hugo!" Lily said, shaking her head at her cousin's lack of sensitivity.
He shook his head, "Just the Hogwarts grounds. I like to roam the Forbidden Forest from time to time; it's an interesting place. I saw the six of you coming, and I was wondering what you were all doing out here. It's late, and you should hardly be wandering here without a teacher."
"We're coming to save our friends," Lily said, telling a small fib. "They snuck out, and we're trying to get them back. Have you seen the Sanger twins?"
"I did see them actually," he said. "I actually followed them down here. They're over that way." He pointed to the east.
"Thanks, Colin!" Lily said before turning to her friends. "Let's go."
"Good luck!" Colin yelled as the second years sped eastward and deeper into the forest.
Listening intently, trying to block out the crunching leaves and sticks under their feet, Lily didn't hear anything. No voices. Not another cracking stick from another person in the woods. They stopped in place after five minutes of frivolous running.
"This is useless," Eli said. "They aren't out here. Let's just go back to the castle before something in this forest kills one of us."
"Kinder."
For the second time that night, the hairs on the back of Lily's neck stood. A wave of terror ran down her spine. She recognized the word as German, but she was certain that the voice didn't belong to one of the sisters. "What was that?"
"It wasn't me," Cassie said, a tone of fear in her voice that was foreign to Lily. "Hugo, this isn't the time to be pulling our legs."
"Don't look at me," he said. "Whatever that word was, it wasn't in English, and we all know I'm not bilingual."
A crack of a stick echoed through the forest with the volume of a gunshot. Lily stiffened.
"Are we still going to confront them?" Nora asked. Lily heard her friend gulp.
"Kinder, komm zu mir," the voice sang.
"We won't be able to confront them if we're all dead," Rudy said, his voice shaking.
"Let's get out of here," Eli said, his voice urgent.
"KINDER! DIE REVOLUTION KOMMT!"
"Run!" Lily said.
And just like that, her plan was foiled. They wouldn't be unveiling the mysterious Sanger secret.
The six second years didn't stop running until they reached the castle, practically bursting through the doors. They collapsed onto the stairs.
"That was bloody mad," Hugo said through a coughing fit.
"I see why you were so scared of that thing, Eli," Rudy said. "Even its voice was awful, mate."
"Revolution," Lily said slowly, thinking back to the last thing the voice screamed. "Merlin, the revolution. It's still happening. What happened last year-"
"It isn't over," Eli said, looking up to meet Lily's eyes. "What are we going to do?"
"I'll tell you what you're going to do!" a voice squeaks. "You're going to head back to your dorm rooms and go to bed."
Lily looked away from Eli and felt her stomach drop when she saw Flitwick standing before them all in his night robes.
"Professor, we can explain," Cassie said, ready to talk to her head of house. "We were-"
Flitwick shook his head, "I don't want to know what you've all been up to this evening. Detention, all of you. I will specify tomorrow. For now, get to bed."
"Yes, Professor," the six said in unison.
Flitwick continued down the hall. Nora split from the group, heading into the dungeons, while Cassie started in the direction of Ravenclaw Tower.
"Well," Lily said after the four Gryffindors had been walking silently for a few minutes, "I guess I owe boys an apology. I was reckless and stupid and almost got us all killed. I'm an idiot."
"We were the idiots that decided to back you up, Lil," Hugo said. "It's not your fault."
"Don't beat yourself up, Lil," Rudy said.
Eli nodded, "We're all safe, and that's what matters."
"Yeah, but I got us all in detention," she said with a sigh. "I'll talk to Flitwick tomorrow morning before class and take the blame for everything. You all shouldn't have to go for something I caused."
"Lil, the five of us chose to go into the forest with you," Eli said. "We all could've said no, but we didn't. We won't let you take the blame."
"On the contrary-"
Lily heard Eli smack Hugo upside the head for that comment.
Despite her being distraught over the twins, the near-death experience, and detention, Lily was glad to know her boys had her back; she was certain Cassie and Nora would have it as well. To her, the friendship between her, Hugo, Eli, Rudy, Cassie, and Nora was more magical than any spell she had ever learned.
-+-
Yeah, I know it's been a while. I guess senior year kind of happens, you know. College applications and all that jaaaaaaazz. Yeah. So here we are! I really want to try and get through this book as quickly as possible. I love where it's going, but (I'm not sure if I said this last chapter or naw) I have four really interesting characters set up for the next book that I can't wait to write about! Two of which I've been waiting to write for literally years. I can't wait! So yeah! Thanks for reading, voting, and commenting! You guys are literally the greatest!
-aquaseahorse