Note: Such a long update...Enjoy :D
"The Devil is real. And he's not a little red man with horns and a measly tail. He can be beautiful really. Because he's a fallen angel and he used to be God's favourite"
-Anonymous
Flora sat in Tessomancy, commonly known as Divination. She sighed as she eyed her cup in front of her. The tea sat in the small cup, but she was always on edge on the supposed prophecies. She eyed the brown beverage in front of her, her pointer finger skimming over the edges.
"Have you thought about the offer?" A raven haired asked, making Flora's attention go onto the familiar Hufflepuff. Flora slightly frowned as she remembered sitting alone, but nevertheless she spoke to her.
"The Music Club, right?" Flora inquisited, her eyes resting on the pretty girl in front of her.
"Yeah," she chirped.
"It does seem cool," Flora spoke.
"Cool?" the girl asked confused. Floras eyes widened before she mentally slapped her face.
"Haha... I mean, it sounds pretty good," she corrected herself.
"So that means you'll do it?" she asked.
"Yeah..." Flora trailed off, gesturing for the girl to say her name.
"Maggie Trudgeball," she introduced.
"Flora Nightingale," Flora replied. They both shook hands before the teacher gave Flora a tap on the shoulder and gestured to her tea. Maggie gave a shy smile and grabbed a piece of paper from her robe and placed the folded parchment on the table.
"Times for practices. We'll be doing an opening song at the Yule Ball," Maggie smiled. " So just come to the rehe-" Maggie was interrupted by the teacher scolding her.
"Miss Trudgeball for the last time, go back to your table!" The divination teacher spoke, although it was her first time saying such a thing. Maggie winced at the scolding, but she got up and mouthed a slow 'sorry' to Flora.
Flora was now sitting at the Slytherin bench eating some of her food before a familiar cologne filled her senses. She played with her food her mind relating to how weird it was that she could sense him... She wasn't a dog. Flora shrugs of the thought about scents before actually acknowledging the presence beside her.
"Tom."
"Nightingale," he spoke. She rolled her eyes at his formality and shot him a dirty look.
"Have you caught the key for that egg thing?" Flora asked, shoving a mouth full of food into her mouth. Tom frowned in distaste at her stuffing her face, but shrugged. Finding that her actually eating is better than skipping dinner and heading to her room after classes. "Hello?" She sung teasingly waving her fork in front of his face.
"Can you stop that?" Tom asked, before hesitantly shoving a piece of paper on the table. Flora set her fork down and picked it up and unfolded it.
====
Green grass,
The Summer air is an ever last,
Don't let it trick you though,
It's filled with lies...
Scratching through dirt,
To find the loved one which is hurt,
Dark trees consume your love,
So...
Don't let it trick you though,
The forbidden place is filled with all time lows.
====
"My only guess is the Forbidden Forest," Flora spoke, handing the parchment filled with writing back into his hands.
"I know that,"he whispered before giving her a side glance. "Someone went into my room last night" he told her. Flora eyed him in return and frowned. "They wanted what was inside the egg which was this," he quietly informed her, before carefully putting it back into his robe. "I think it was your little friend," he told her.
"Eduardo?" she incredulously asked.
"Yeah" he told her. She gave him a look that said 'Are you serious' which he gave her 'Yes I am' nod.
"Tom... There's spells and guarding charms set up, anyways, why are you confusing this to me? I don't know him very well... And he seems nice," Flora pointed out before getting up and leaving the Hall. She made her way down the corridors before she heard foot steps behind her. She stopped and turned around.
"What do you want now Tom?" she asked, turning around to face Professor Slughorn. Flora frowned and an apology was about to slip out about her rudeness, but he beat her to it.
"Tom and you have seem to grown on each other this past term, eh?" Slughorn pronounced..
"I'm not quiet sure if that could be a proper phrase," she whispered, her gaze flickering towards Slughorn's hazel eyes.
"Nonsense," he laughed, patting his pot belly.
"Oh Flora," Dumbledore spoke behind her. Flora turned back around to meet the greying man.
"Professor," she spoke, nodding her head.
"Look Flora. This must be done, you'll be safe," he started, casually looking around the corridor for any peeping eyes before raising his wand. Flora threateningly raised her wand from her robe to him.
"What do you mean... Dumbledore?" she spoke, cautiously eyeing him.
"Stupefy," Slughorn whispered, his wand shooting out blue towards the girls back. He frowned at her body slumping with a groan as her curly locks were sprawled around her face. Now feeling guilty at what he just did, Dumbledore gave him a reassuring nod of the head.
"Two more to go," Dumbledore's deep voice grumbled as he placed a charm on Flora. "Take her to The Forbidden Forest please," he ordered, before turning around and letting his cloak follow him.
It was the next day when the students were filled into the seating stands that were conjoined with students. The three contestants were now facing the Forbidden Forest and Tom couldn't be even more aggravated. He ended up trying to find Flora ten minutes later to see she had disappeared, and when he crossed paths with Dumbledore he knew for sure that the old buffoon had took her.
It all made sense to him now and he growled at his stupidity. The answer was right in front of him. Tom cautiously eyed the Eduardo dude beside him and gave him a glare. Eduardo shrugged Tom's hateful glare and looked away. Remembering him nearly being caught trying to break the rules.
"As you all know, this is the Forbidden Forest. Danger lurks, but don't worry, they'll be watched. If any of the champions are hurt they'll be back in no time to be treated to. 3 lucky people are within the forest and these 3 students duty is to get them back. So with that..." Dippet spoke, his wand pressed to his throat. "Go!"
Excited cheers filled Tom's ears, but he shrugged them off and ran into the forest in a hurry. He dodged trees and vines as he made his way, not knowing where to go. But, then he remembered about the poem.
"Green grass," he muttered to himself, before stepping around a spiders web. In the depth of the forest, weird gurgling of noises filled his senses and he cautiously raised his wand.
"Lumos," he whispered, allowing light fill his dark surroundings. A scream of a girls voice was heard atleast about 200 meters away in front of him and he jumped slightly at the suddenness. Birds stirred in the tree tops before they squawked and flew away in a heap.
Before long he made his way around danger and traps and fund a clearing. Three wooden poles sat in the middle as 2 people were tied up to them, one of them inevitably being Flora Nightingale. He noted that the girl which he was versing had already come here, but he didn't know what had happened to her. But, Tom's attention was soon drawn into a stone figure with a marble axe in his hands.
"Choose the one on the far right. Only one person, do not untie two otherwise you'll face consequences," the grumbling of the figures voice spoke. Tom rolled his eyes at the statue before running over to Flora who was slumped into the pole, her brown curly hair covering her face. Tom quickly untied the ropes from around her small wrists and combed her hair away from her face with her fingers.
"Flora," he spoke, trying to get the girls attention, but she was unconscious. He sighed as he stood up and pulled his wand from his robe. His blue eyes gleamed with need as he spoke. "Rennervate" he casted. The brown haired beauty stirred in her deep sleep. She came to her senses and tiredly got up before opening her brown eyes.
"Where are we Tom?" Flora asked, her brown eyes glancing furiously around her.
"The Forbidden Forrest," he answered before a red flare went into the sky. "Someone's gone to the infirmary. Common lets go before the other gets here" he spoke. Flora nodded in response before following him.
"Has anything happened which is dangerous yet?" Flora called out after him. Tom slowed down to a halt at the edge of the clearing before answering her as she was now beside him.
"No," he answered, before gripping onto her wrist as he stepped into the forest and out of the clearing. Immediately howls filled their ears and their eyes widened as Tom dragged Flora with him. "You jinxed us Nightingale. Stop with that face and actually RUN!" he yelled.They made their ways over fallen tree trunks. The howls seemed to echo and rebound off of the greenery surrounding them.
Their heartbeats pounded in rhythm for each step they took. Flora spluttered endless profanities as she ran. In a split second their pace quickly stopped as a huge wolf pranced in front of them. It bared it's fangs as it nuzzled it's head to the side to get a better view of the two.
"Flora," Tom's voice was dangerously low as he spoke. "When I place this spell, we run as fast as we can okay?" he questioned. Flora gulped, but nethertheless she nodded in acceptance as the wolf snarled again. Bringing their attention quickly onto the mahogany fur coated wolf.
"Aqua Eructo," he spoke, pointing his wand in the beasts direction. Water splurged from Tom's wand as he waved it around, cynically making the wolf drench with water and being forcefully tumbled into a couple of trees. Tom stopped the spell as he ran, overtaking Flora whilst doing so. He rolled his eyes as he grasped onto her wrist, pulling her along.
Flora might've felt like a ragdoll at the time, but she didn't care. Her fingers grasped onto her wand which she had found placed in her boot awhile ago in the clearing and she huffed as she stupidly turned around. The drenched wolf gained on them as the pair ran and ran. Flora squealed, before she saw that the dark trees were getting healthier and healthier as they advanced through the forest.
"We're nearly there," Tom yelled behind his back, his eyes widening at the creature behind him and Flora. Before Tom could place a spell, Flora pointed her wand to the carnivore.
"Avifors!" Flora screamed, her wand swishing towards the target. She didn't know if she was allowed to use any spells, but at that moment she didn't really care. The drenched brown wolf suddenly stopped and crouched down on all fours as it painfully contorted with pain. It shriveled as bones cracked, her gaze widening at the pain it was experiencing. Passing the line, Tom huffed as cheers were heard.
But, Flora's gaze was on the wolf that was moving into weird places as it's bones crackled with displeasure. White feathers appeared on the mammal, before a puff of black smoke enveloped the frame of the animal. The smoke soon drifted away into nothing, leaving a dazed Flora. She knew what would happen, but she didn't think it would've been that painful for the creature.
The once dangerous beast...
Was now a bird.