(Forest)Under the shade of the tall, creepy trees!

[Harrison Greg]

March was a time of year when everything seemed fresh. The coldness of the winter was passing and finally the trees where starting to look green, the sky was the perfect colour blue and dark lake reflected that. But Harrison was not their to look at nature or take in the beauty of the area around him, no he was outside because he had been kicked out of the castle by his mates. It was the old joke that if you do something stupid then you have to leave the castle for an hour, no matter the weather, no matter the time and today was Harrison’s turn, his mistake was trying to chat up Slytherin.

As he wondered to the edge of the forest he looked into its dark depths and wrinkled his nose. It has been a long time since he had stepped foot and walked under the shade of the tall, creepy trees. He used to be hooked on it the thrill of going somewhere which had ‘forbidden’ in the title, after all he is a Gryffindor it was his way to show he was brave. But now for some reason it did not seem as tempting, someone had died in there at the end of last year…at the hands of his uncle.

[Jac Shaw]

Jac was taking a leisurely stroll through the grounds when she noticed it was dark. She hadn't noticed it getting dark or the time flying. Her hands were deep in her pockets of her jeans and her purple hoodie pulled tight. There was a slight nip to the air, despite the cold season having past and Jac hunched her shoulders. She had been wondering the grounds, thinking mainly, and that was why her hair had turned a dark brown. It seemed unlike her but as she thought her mood diminished.

Ahead of her the forest stretched before her, dark and foreboding. There was something else there too, a figure, of someone walking by the forest. Seeing the opportunity to lighten her own mood, Jac sneaked towards the figure. When she was close enough to make out features on the figure she thought she recognized who it was though she wasn't entirely certain. Despite that, she decided to give herself a little rush of blood.

Having sneaked close enough, Jac began to run and rugby tackled whoever it was. The two rolled into the forest, Jac laughing hysterically and her hair turning bright pink. Leaves got caught in her hair and as they tumbled, Jac lost a shoe. She could feel the soft peat like ground move under her every time she was under but when they finally stopped rolling, Jac hit the back of her head on hard ground. Jac pushed herself onto her elbow and rubbed the back of her head. "Man, that's going to kick me in the morning," Jac giggle d, closing one eye.

[Harrison Greg]

A wind blew, rustling the leaves in the trees above him and a few birds took to flight above him crowing in the wind. He watched them above him for a moment until he thought he heard a noise in the forest. Looking around the darkness Harrison was half tempted to pull out his wand and shine a light around when he realised the noise was coming from behind him. He had only just managed to look over his shoulder when a mass of pink hair appeared and he head the floor and started to tumble down the grassy bank with whoever it was who had tackled him.

Finally the world stopped spinning and he lay face down in on the sodden floor, grass tickling his face and the water seeping into his clothes. Rolling over onto his back the sky came into view and also the sound of a fellow Gryffindor. Looking to his left Harrison saw Jac Biggerstall laughing to herself.

“I should have guessed it would be you Biggerstall. You’re the only one mad enough to rugby tackle anyone.”

He gave a small laugh and pushed himself up into the sitting position trying and started to wipe off the lose bits of grass that were clinging onto his blue jacket, he then moved to his hair and made sure that it was still in place and finally he stood up and brushed the grass off his jeans groaning every time he came across a grass stain.
After Harrison was satisfied that he was looking reasonably respectable he walked over towards Jac and held out his hand to pull her to her feet.

[Jac Shaw]

Jac was still laughing when she clapped her hand into Harrison's offered hand. She pulled and was standing before she knew it. Brushing herself off, Jac shook her head, her hair flashing a brilliant white before draining into a dark oxblood red. Clapping her hands on her legs in a musical kind of beat, Jac began to clean herself. Her jeans and hoodie were covered in grass stains and dirt and her hair was speckled with leaves and twigs. She laughed at how ridiculous she must look as she began combing her hair with her fingers.

She straightened and smiled at the Gryffindor. "I'd hate to disappoint," Jac chuckled. Rubbing her arms down, Jac grinned at Harrison. "So, what brings you to this nick of the woods?" Jac shook her whole body before stretching herself a little taller. She relaxed and looked around. "Not much seems to be going on tonight. Not that I'm complainin' mind, I'd always choose quiet over getting hounded by ... well, werewolves." She smiled again before thinking to herself how tall Harrison was.

[Harrison Greg]

Harrison stood on watching Jac brush herself off, her hair flashing different colours as she talked away about the castle being quite. She had a point and with a small glance around it suddenly dawned on him how they were the only ones around. Turning back to Jac he realised she had stopped talking at it was his turn to say something. With a in take of breath Harrison shrugged his shoulders before continuing in his cool, calm and collected way.

“The forest has never held much danger to me, been in a few times when I was younger but I was never chased or attacked. Maybe I have not lived?”

He gave a small chuckle at this last point and turned back to the forest slowly walking into the deeper sections where the trees became thicker, the light became dimmer casting shadows onto the trees making them look more gruesome then they were. The sound of the wind howled around him and a small spread across his face as the fear within him slowly increased.
Harrison’s figures tightened around his wand and with a small flick a light shone from the end forcing the dark shadows around his to disburse. Turning to look over his shoulder Harrison tried to see where his fellow Gryffindor had gone.

“Do you care to join me?” He shouted towards Jac “Might find something to liven this place up?”

[Jac Shaw]

Jac could tell that Harrison was watching her, she could feel his blue eyes following her movements and she smirked to herself. It was nice to have a little attention, Jac pointed out to herself and thought that it was probably why Girty liked that Simon bloke so much: because he gave her attention. Shrugging lightly to herself, Jac threw her dark red hair over her shoulders and noticed that the Gryffindor's vision was no longer on her.

She followed his line of sight and peered there herself, leaning towards him to get a better view. She saw nothing and didn't have a chance to enquire as Harrison's attention was back on her quickly. When he chuckled, Jac had to laugh, hard. She had been both chased and attacked and she had the war wounds to prove it. "You haven't mate," Jac said and clapped a hand on his shoulder as though he needed consoling for the fact that his life was so piteous and dull. Jac found it most amusing and smiled widely in the dark night.

Jac looked back to where Harrison had been looking, still trying to figure out what in Merlin's name he had been looking at so intently. She leaned back, trying to see if maybe that tree wasn't in the way but even as she saw all around the tree she didn't see anything worth staring at. Perhaps Harrison's eyes were more keen then her own. Perhaps she was looking right at it and not even seeing it or perhaps nothing was there.

Suddenly Harrison's voice came to her from much farther off then before. Jac whirled around and saw that the sixth year was no longer standing with her. "Harrison?" she called before she spotted him. "Coming! Can't let you have all the fun, now can I?" Jac chuckled to herself and began to jog till she had caught up with him. She looked around at the tall trees. She had seen so much of this forest, seen so many trees that they all began to look alike. She smiled to herself in the silence before she added, "you know I've been both. Chased and attacked."

[Harrison Greg]

Jac made her way towards him with a light jog. Harrison noted how at ease she seemed considering they were in the forest. She seemed to have such a familiarisation with the forest Harrison could not help but smile, partially when she came up with the comment about being attacked and chased and as he studied her he guessed she would be the time to do such a thing.

No Gryffindor would be able to deny the fact they did not know Jac Biggerstall. She was their house champion and one of the most alive people in the common room and although they would share the odd conversation and have the occasional laugh they never did anything together. Jac was not part of his group, she may have been well known but Jac was, in Harrison’s eyes, weird. Her hair changed colour, she would do extremely random things (the rugby tackle being a prime example) and would spend evenings in the forest. No, Harrison did not count her as one of the ’popular’ Gryffindor’s.

“Both?” Harrison questioned as they continued to walk further into the forest. “You seem to have a habit for getting into danger. Which some my count as being rather fun, others incredibly stupid and bad judgement on your behalf.” Harrison turned to look at Jac with a wide grin. “I have not made up my mind on that yet!”

[Jac Shaw]

It was a lovely night, Jac decided smiling around the forest. There was the fact that they were in the eeriest and most deadly forests in Britain and there was the fact that it was the place that had nearly claimed her life on more then one occasion but other then that it was quiet lovely. The moon light was streaming through the branches, sort of, and the air was cool. Not it's usual mustiness. Jac figured this was because of the recent melting of snow that had put much moisture in the air. That reminded her that there would be many creatures waking from their winter long slumber. She would need to be wary.

Harrison, at her side, seemed nervous. This was to be expected and Jac began to think that perhaps she should be to but she could just not make it past the point of a casual glance around every now and then. It was good to be observant but overly nervous made you see demons that weren't really there and that lead to others getting hurt. Jac put her arm around Harrison's shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. "Don't fret, Harri-boy," she chortled, "I'll protect you." She released him and chuckled softly.

At the mention of danger, Jac shrugged. "What can I say?" she chimed, flicking her now long curly hair over her shoulder, "Flare!" She smiled to herself because she thought she was very funny and she was more then likely the only one who did. "Bit of all of it, really. Though it's dangerous, it's usually because I'm doing something I shouldn't be and it's usually not the best idea in the world but ..." she shrugged, "as most ideas go at the time it seems like the right and best thing to do." She looked around, deciding that keeping an eye open was the best idea, but then turned to Harrison and smiled.

[Harrison Greg]

They seemed to be walking further into the forest and the trees started to be closer together creating wall of tree trunks making it almost impossible the see through the trees onto any possible oncoming danger. There would occasionally be a gap where a tree had fallen and it relived a bit more of the forest.Harrison looked back over his shoulder almost in an attempt to try and work out how far they had come, and where they had come from. However as he turned around to look at Jac he noticed that she was smiling about something and as he listed to what she had to say he could see why.

“It really does sound that you live in this forest Jac and I bet the creatures love you. Disturbing there sleep to run around like a mad woman doing what ever it is you do in here.” Harrison frowned and looked at one particularly tall tree. “What do you do in here?”

Harrison had heard so many people talking about walking in the forest, having adventures and facing death in the face. Half the time he did not believe what people said, mainly because he could not believe there would have a forest that dangerous by a school full of teenagers who clearly will rebel against the name and do anything that is labelled as forbidden.

[Jac Shaw]

As the trees got thicker, the air got mustier and there was less and less light to see by. She could no longer see each twig as vividly as she might have with the moon light. It became cooler and she had an eerie feeling the were being watched but Harrison was too jumpy and nervous about being in the forest to be told that. She didn't want him to panic because that was when people got hurt. She couldn't be sure though and she didn't want to look behind her but she had the feeling. The hairs on the back of her neck were on end and she didn't like that feeling.

She was pulled away from her worry when Harrison's voice drifted to her ears. She looked to him, a distracted blank expression on her face. "Hmm?" she mumbled. "Oh, um, not really... I don't actually spend that much time here. Spend more in the kitchen then out here. This place actually gives me the willies but I have spent time here." She smiled at Harrison. "But mainly just chatting with centaurs, spying on unicorns. The more exciting things seem to find me nine times out of ten."