(Lake) Lake by star light and a hopeful flash

[Dax Simmons]

Dax listened to Sarie as she explained the call that the creatures made, he gave a small smile and looked over at his shoulder at the young Gryffindor, although he was blinded for a moment by the light from her wand. She seemed to know a lot about Thestrals and that reassured him slightly as although he had read about the in books he never thought about trying to find them.
It was then however Sarie asked him about Loren. He had simply brought her up in casually conversation and as normal someone was asking about her. With a smile still playing on his lips Dax turned his attention back to where he was walking and talk slightly louder so Sarie could still hear him.

“Loren is my long term girlfriend. Although at present she is working down in London and as you can see I am up here. So it is turning more into a long distance relationship. We send letters and I visit her occasionally but she works so hard….”

Dax stopped, there was no point going into a large rant about things to a person he did not know about a situation he was so confused with that he had no idea what was going to happen. All he could do was hope that once Loren had complete her training he can leave this post and they can go wherever to be together.

[Sarie Thimble]

"She sounds nice." Sarie smiled. She looked around in the forest. Waiting to her the Thestrals to make nosie. SHe didn't have any raw meat to offer them it might be a little harder to find them.

She heard some thing moving in the bushes. She turned to see what it was. She flet her heart skip a beat. "Dax..." She said. "Do you hear that?

She began to shake but she didn't know she began to have a really bad feeling. Is it a dementor? she thought but wasn't sure.

[Dax Simmons]

Dax smiled as Sarie mentioned that she sounded nice, she was nice in his eyes she was amazing and although she had her slight flaws he did not mind, he was such a push over it suit her demanding personality. He was in fact so caught up in his own little world that he only just heard Sarie call his name. Turning around on the spot he pointed his wand over in the direction she was looking, moving it around frantically to try and see as much as possible. With a glance at Sarie he noticed she had began to shake and quickly moved over towards her, standing in front of her almost so that if anything was coming for them then he would be in her way.

“Ok Sarie if I say run I want you to run and do not look back. Look after yourself first.”

Dax did not know where this was coming from, if he had been in the forest as a student he would be running as fast as possible in the other direction. But now he felt like he had responsibility to look after Sarie and he would not let anything happen to her. Gripping his wand tightly Dax tried to keep his hand straight as he pointed the light into the forest. The air seemed to be getting cold and the wind seemed to be getting up, noises started to come from the area in front of them but he could not work out if it was something coming through or the wind blowing the leaves on the trees.

[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie listened to Dax. She wasn't going to leave him. She was pretty good a the sheild charm anyway. "I dont think so! I'm not leaving you hear with whatever that thing is." She knew it wasn't firendly or human. She tired reaching into whatever its mind is. She could which told her it wasn't human or a werewolf. She could reach into thier minds she had done it once.

[Dax Simmons]

Dax gave a nervous laugh as Sarie mentioned that she was going to stay with him, she would be doing nothing of the sort. She had promised not to put his job on the line and by staying she would do. Holding up his wand a little higher Dax kept it fixed in the one place where the noise was coming from. With a deep breath Dax took a step forward noting that it was getting colder the further he moved forward. All feeling of excitement and adrenaline was leaving him slowly and being replaced with panic and fear.
Slowly Dax continued to step forward ignoring the please from his mind to turn back and run. Although he was soon doing that when something caught his wand light. All feeling of hope went from him and a shiver ran down his spine.

“Not tonight.” He groaned as he quickly turned on his heel running towards Sarie while shouting at her. “Sarie it’s dementors, RUN!”

Reaching out he reached out grapping hold of the girls hand and started to drag her after him and they ran threw the forest. He did not know where they were going and was more then certain that they would soon be getting lost but he did not care as long as he got away from the ever growing cold and unhappiness.

[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie wiped out her wand with her free hand. "Expec..." She shivered. THen tired again she thought about the flash of fire. "Expecto Patronum." The sliver phinoex appeared. It went soaring behind them. She was having hard time keeping up. "Dax slow down I think we're okay now."

[Dax Simmons]

Dax could hear Sarie trying to cast a spell behind him. He could not help but roll his eyes as he heard her shout out ‘Expecto Patronum.’, the light from the spell lit the area around them for a brief moment but as soon as she started running with hi it soon went and only the light from Dax’s wand showed them the way. His heart was pounding in his chest as he kept on running, making sure not to lose Sarie’s hand that he was now clinging onto tightly.

“Sarie dementors never give up unless the come across a very powerful shield spell and seeing as you are only a second year I think they will still be hunting after out happy memories. But I will give it to you that was a good cast but I fear not good enough”

Dax took a deep breath while trying to ignore the burning sensation in his legs, he had not run this fast and for so long in years and it was showing. With a nervous glance over his shoulder he could see movement, the warmth of the air was slowly dropping into the cold chill once again and all joyful thoughts of Loren that he held close to him in his heart were melting away to despair.

Skidding to a halt Dax let go of Saries hand and began to push her behind a rather large tree. With a harsh glare Dax turned away, his chest pounding wand held tightly in his hand unable to stop it from trembling. Silence fell around the forest, the cold air was starting to become unbearable and a shiver ran down Dax’s spine, and then he saw them dark clocked figures hovering above the ground slowly towards him. With a nervous laugh Dax jumped on the balls of his feet and started to sprit in the opposite direction to where he had hid Sarie Dax was never one to stand and fight or scarifies himself for people that he was not close to, so he used the one thing he was good at. Running away.
Glancing over his shoulder he saw that they were following him, for once his plan was working.

[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie watched Dax run. She didn't want to stay behind the tree where she was hidden. Black robed figures moving at the other end of clearing. She was scared. She saw Dax running. They feed off of happy memories. Well she would just think of life before Hogwarts when she was always unhappy. She pictured Dax's face. "Dax dont worry about me just get urself out turst me." She hoped that he would hear it and not freak out.

[Dax Simmons]

Running always seemed a lot easier when you watched other people do it or if it was a leisurely jog, but at this present moment in time Dax felt like he was running for his. The only thing he was focused on was putting one leg in front of the other as quickly as possible and not falling over. Branches flew past him, cutting his skin, his cloak kept getting caught in the under growth and it soon was looking rather sorry for its self.

But something distracted him from the simple task of running for his life, he heard Sarie’s voice but it was in his head. Confused by this he did not pay attention to the low hanging branch and he hit it square on. Falling to the floor with groan he closed his eyes trying to ignore the pain and find the strength to stand up and carry on running. Managing to sit up Dax looked around for the Gryffindor nervously.

“Sarie!”

He did not know what he hoped to achieve by shouting out her name but the one thing he noticed was that everything was going cold, the dementors must be close. Scrabbling to his feet and searching for his wand he managed to stand up, his head still spinning from the impact with the branch. And then he saw them, the pain seemed like something petit and his heart was in his mouth.

‘Expecto Patronum’

A sliver light came from the end of his wand and reached out towards the dementors, he tired to hold the happy thought in his mind but it was not working. With a small nervous laugh Dax decide to revert back to his previous plan of running.

[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie watch Dax try a spell then began to run again. She wanted to help him but what she could do? Dax told her to run. She did but she went around trying to find him. All the trees all the same. "Dax!"

She still the extreme cold. She hoped Dax is alright. She saw a demetor coming at her. She thought of every thing that made her happy."Expecto Patronum" It worked. She took of running again. She tripped over a root and fell into a ditch. She wiped her mind blank so they couldn't find her. She shivered. She was worried about Dax.

[Dax Simmons]

His head was pounding almost as fast as his heart, he wished he could find a way of summoning the courage to look back over his shoulder but he hated the thought of looking over his shoulder and seeing a dark figure coming for him. But this courage was almost thrust upon him when he heard Sarie call out his name.
Dax stopped and slowly he turned around in time to see a flash of silver light in the distance through the trees, it had to be Sarie. He started to hate himself for bringing her in her and into this mess, he was meant to be the responsible one but he was running away and letting a second year take them on.

Taking a deep breath Dax started to run in the direction the light was coming from, he had to get to Sarie and protect her. But as he got closer the light faded and he saw the silhouette of Sarie fade away but she was running, running towards him. Holding out his wand to show the way Dax was shocked to see she was no longer there. The ground had just swallowed her up, or so it seemed in the mere panic Dax did not think about the idea of there being a ditch. This was mainly because Dax had a dementor closing in on him, but with this sudden surge of courage and panic Dax knew it was now or never.

“Expecto Patronum!”

His voice rang out in the trees around him as he thought hard about his happiest memories, He thought about Loren at the tournament ball who beautiful she looked, the way she smiled at him, their first kiss, their first dance. A smile filled his face at the mere thought and the spell seemed to be working. It took the shape of a fox and bounded towards the dementor. At first it did not seem like anything was going to happen but then the rattling breath of the creature seemed to fade away and it disappeared into the darkness.

[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie heard Dax's voice. It sounded close but far away. She poked her head out of the ditch. "Dax is that you?" She had her wand ready. She knew that this was a good time to call it a night before they came back. "Dax maybe we should go back." She wondered if they should tell the headmaster about the attack? Then he would know she was in the forest and that would get both her and Dax into trouble. She didn't want him to lose his job. She would take a detention which what most student got when the went in to the forest. She was a little shaken but that was life. "Dax should we tell the headmaster what happened he want to know."

[Dax Simmons]

Lowering his wand, heart pounding Dax looked around to try and find Sarie, he heard her voice again but this time it was not in his head, she was near by. Moving his wand around frantically in hope of finding her he caught a glimpse of something poking out the ground. Walling closer he noticed it was Sarie’s head….she was in a ditch.

With a small smile playing on his face Dax walked over and crouched down near her and listened to what she had to say. There was reason to what she was saying as telling Darrow about it would have been sensible but he did not want to get into trouble for even bringing a second year into the forest. So slowly Dax shook his head.

“No Sarie we are not hurt, and there has been no damage done. Headmaster Darrow does not need to know anything, he has enough on his plate as it then has to worry about a stupid grounds man thinking he will show off and take a second year into the forest.”

Pushing himself back into standing position Dax held out his hand to Sarie to help her out of the ditch, and just like before he had a warm smile on his face.

“Come on lets go and find you some Thestrals.”

[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie climbed out of the ditch. She giggled. "Alright, yay Thestrals!" She dusted herself off. She smiled and looked around. "Why are they so hard to find?" She asked. She looked around trees trying to figure out where they might be.