[Forest] First of Many

[Prof Brianna O'Donnell]

Since Bree had arrived back at Hogwarts after spending Christmas with her family, she had heard nothing but worried thoughts from the mouth of one of her best friends, Dia Hubbles. Of course all these worries revolved around the woman’s husband and of course Bree was not surprised. The man was notorious for making his wife worry but Bree, being the friend that she was, or not quite, only said words of comfort to her friend. She made Dia a promise that first evening she was back that she would keep an eye on Dan for her as Dia seemed to be out of sorts.

Bree had managed to convince her father to allow her to borrow the family house elf for a short time, until Dia had calmed down about the whole situation, and she had commanded him to inform her of any peculiar behaviour the man exude. It was just after dinner on the second Tuesday evening after being back at Hogwarts that Jekyll came to Bree, who was sitting in her office with her feet propped up on her desk and a copy of the Daily Prophet open in her hands. Slowly dropping one corner of the paper, Bree peered over the top of her desk at the short elfman who’s eyes were just visible over the desktop.

His voice was low, croaking and submissive. “Begging your pardon, madam,” the house elf murmured, wringing his hands with each other, “but it’s about the man you said I was to watch.”

Bree dropped her feet and sat up straight in her seat, now able to see more of the creature’s head then before. “Yes?” she demanded.

“He’s left the castle.”

“What? When? Do you know where he was going?”

“About a minute ago and I do not know, madame. He didn’t say.”

“You spoke to him?”

“No, no, no, of course not, though he was muttering something. I didn’t understand what he was saying so I came right away.”

“Thank you, Jekyll. You may have the night off. I shall go after him myself. I don’t want to be sending you where I don’t know where you are going.”

“O you are too kind, madam, too kind. Thank you.”

And with a pop! he was gone!

Bree jumped to her feet, throwing the paper onto the desk while storming out of her office. She ran towards the Staff Room. She hoped that some of the staff would be there. Opening the door, Bree leaned into the room, leaning on the door. “Dan’s lost it,” she said decisively to those who where there – noticeably not Dia – “I’m going after him but I need some of you to come with me...” Bree let go of the door and walked down the corridor towards the Entrance Hall. Her long legs took her far fast; she practically ran down the steps three at a time, it was clear the woman was in a hurry.

Flying out of the open front doors, Brianna managed to just catch a glimpse of Dan as he disappeared into the tree line of the Forbidden Forest. “Of course,” Bree sighed. It only made sense that Dan would be going into the forest again. After their first unsuccessful mission into the forest Dia had told Bree that that was one of the things that Dan seemed to focus on with worrying fixation. “Come on,” Bree said to those who were with her, “let’s see what our intrepid leader has in store for us this evening.”

Bree set of once again at her quick pace but then realised that some might not be able to keep up with that so she slowed down some.

[Professor William Vaid]

As he sat in the corner of the staff room and for a change with a coffee in his hand, Will was having a break from marking homework that was stacked high on the small coffee table in front of him. The coffee wasn't really doing much to help him focus or to keep him away.

His cup kept tilting slightly, occasionally spilling a little drop of coffee onto his dark grey trousers and causing a stain to soak into the material. The heat of the droplets kept waking him up and his eyes pinged open in horror before he wiped the liquid from his leg.

His eyes kept drooping and he kept going in between unconsciousness. Putting the cup down he lay the daily prophet over his lap to stop any further spillage before picking it up again and continuing to lol his head in the corner. The coffee was surely not working and so in vain, he strengthened it so it was more like a huge espresso. Now it seemed to work!...for all of five minutes.

He took the opportunity of extreme awakeness while he could and raced through as many papers before he started to feel tired again. Man these kids could write loads when Will really did not want to mark huge essays of parchment couldn't they? Giving a sigh, he rubbed his face into his hands before leaning back into the chair again and succuming to the land of nod.

It seemed like just a couple of seconds before Bree burst into the staff room and said Dan had lost it. Jumping almost out of his chair, sending his newspaper scattering all over the staff room floor, Will stood up quickly as if he had just been caught doing something he really shouldn't of before he looked around the room with a frown, picking up his black jacket and followed Bree out the door even before it had time to close again.

"Bree, slow down will you!" he panted, still a little shocked at being suddenly awoken.
"What the heck is going on?" he asked, continuing to try and catch up with the Slytherin head. He almost stumbled over his own two feet as he fled to catch up with her and somehow managed to catch himself before he fell and broke his face and he struggled to put his jacket on as he was jogging to keep up with her fast pace.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

His hands were wrapped around his coffee mug as he clutched the warm porcelain to his chest. The fumes and the steam from the coffee floated into the air, one visible the other a potent smell that danced up towards him, clouding his senses with the bitter smell of coffee and the steam…well actually clouded his vision as the change in heat made his glasses steam up. Slowly he raised the mug to his lips, letting the warm brown liquid flow into his mouth only for it to be quickly spat out again as the realisation hit him. His face was one that showed nothing but disgust and as he hung his tongue out his mouth as if that would automatically take away the taste he slammed the mug down upon the table.

“I don’t like coffee. Why am I drinking coffee?” There was no one else in the room for Dan to talk to apart from himself, and that had seemed to be a habit he had been falling into a lot. In fact Dan had been doing a lot of things recently that he could not explain so talking to himself and drinking coffee was really just the tip of the ice burg. With on last look of disgust at the coffee mug Dan gathered together the sheets of parchment that were scattered around his desk and he roughly stuffed them into every pocket he had on him.

“It has to be there…it has got to be.” He continued to mutter to himself as he ran down the hidden steps from behind the gargoyle and onto the seventh floor corridor and hurriedly made his way behind a few bookshelves and tapestries to get to the ground floor as quickly as possible. As he approached the Great Hall the last few students were drifting out from dinner and one pulled Dan over rather abruptly, three guess who?

“Dan! What in Merlin’s name are you doing?” Girty was finding hard not to laugh at her brothers ‘mad scientist’ look, his hair was all over the place, his coat was wide open and hanging off his shoulder, a blue scarf was draped around his neck and there were slips of parchment sticking out of his pockets.
“I’m not doing anything!” Dan stated a bit to forcefully as he nervously glanced around the Entrance Hall in fear that they might be listening.
“Course your not.” Girty agreed with her brother sarcastically clearly though Dan had not picked up on the note of sarcasm.
“Yeah…walk on then.” He was not even looking at Girty now and once again started to troop out of the castle muttering to himself once more.

“Darkness calls with silhouettes standing tall; there shall be a shimmering silver pool; which in the moonlight will be clear to all!”

He kept muttering this verse over and over again as his feet guided him out of the courtyard, across the castle grounds and towards the borders of the Forbidden Forest. His determination and focus onto the task seemed to over come any feeling of the bitter cold that was so numbing to his fingers. Stopping on the boundary of the forest the Headmasters normal cool blue eyes were glazed over and tainted with red from the lack of sleep, but they still surveyed the silent darkness.

“But they don’t know what lies ahead, when stars are veiled and hope is dead.”

Without falter the man started to walk into the forest once more, he went without wand light, without fear and without concern. He would let his senses guide the way; he would put faith in the magic that ran deep in his veins to help him over come the impurity that had taken over the school. He did not know how long he had walked for; time was a concept that no longer bothered the man the only thing that did was the paranoia that he was being followed. Glancing over his shoulder he swore he saw movement and instantly he froze on the spot.

“My ears and thy eyes do not deceive me! I know you’re watching me behind that tree.”

His voice echoed around the forest and it shock with anger more then cowardice. Today he felt like he could take on the world, nothing would get in his way, he would discover the evil that had befallen the castle!

[Prof. Hannah Edgecombe]

Hannah had been in her office trying to prepare for her next lesson. The room was quiet, the students were off doing whatever it was they did when classes were done. It didn't matter she liked the quiet it gave her time to think allowed her creative juices to flow. Her hand flew across the parchment as idea after idea came to her. Soon she had one page filled with things to do, it was rather difficult at times to find a way to make divination more interesting. No matter she was willing to try.

After her last idea she stopped dead. Her hand froze with quill in it. Her eyes glazed over and she now looked like she was staring into space. She was having a vision and it was taking all of her focus. She saw Dan in the forest, then Bree following after him while Will followed her out of the castle. She got the sense of something grave happening but could not see what it was. All she knew was that she had to get out there and stop them.

Throwing on her coat, she virtually ran down the corridor, the caretakers cat watching her as she gave it the evil eye and watched it slink away. Throwing open the doors into the cold. In the distance she could see part of her party walking into the forest. She didn't slow her pace determined to catch up.

Hannah called out to Will hoping he would at least stop, and try to stop Bree. Hannah was worried about her but she couldn't understand why. For some reason she didn't think they should venture into the forest but she continued on anyway. "Please wait for me" finding a way to pick up the speed she finally reached Will's side.

"Dammit what's going on? Why is she so determined to go into that forest?" Hannah asked him. "We should go back I don't like this I don't like it in the least Will something..." she could say she just had a feeling but who would listen to that if only her vision had been clearer. She simply knew they were going to be sorry going in there. "We need to try and stop her." Running up to Bree she tried to make her hear reason, "Bree come on what's so important that you have to go in there, whatever it is we can sort it out some other time. Come on let's turn back." Her fear was mounting the further in they walked. Hoping Bree would see sense Hannah kept her eyes locked on the woman not even noticing she was getting herself injured by branches hitting her all about the face and body.

[Prof Brianna O'Donnell]

It didn’t take them long to get to the forest and Brianna was glad for it. She was panting slightly but her sport training was helping her adjust. She knew she had to get to Dan before he did something stupid, she just knew he was going to do something stupid. Dia had spent all of the previous night watching Dan sleep, she’d said, and he’d seemed so uneasy. What was bothering him so that not even in his sleep he was safe? Brianna would do anything to secure the happiness of a most beloved friend and the man of her life.

Will’s voice came to Brianna’s ears. She’s almost switched off every other sense but her eyes she’d been so focused on the spot where Dan had go into the woods. They passed through it now, into thick brush. Brianna moved it out of the way as she steadily made her way through. “Will,” Brianna said, just as she heard Hannah’s voice. It made her smile to know she wasn’t the only one concerned for Dan but Hannah’s words worried her. Brianna watched Hannah’s eyes as the woman spoke to her. She cocked her head to one side, eyes still locked with the Divination professor’s.

“So tense, Han,” Brianna smiled at her with a misty expression on her face. “Don’t worry dearest. Dan’s just going through a rough spot and we’re just making sure he’s alright. We shouldn’t let any out on their own after dark.” The tall woman lend forward and gave Hannah a kiss on each cheek, something she’d seen her mother do a thousand times. “We’ll be just fine, won’t we, Will?” Brianna looked over at the other professor with the same distant expression on her face. It had suddenly come over her, this peace, a harmony and acceptance that what she was doing was the best thing that could be done, for her friend, for her college, and for herself too.

Turning from Hannah and Will, Brianna looked around them, still smiling. Waving a hand, the ex-Slytherin began walking. “Dan went this way.” It was no secret that with her various jobs Brianna had picked up a trick or two with tracking. She knew she wasn’t all that good at it but she’d found many a specimen for her class, she’d been practicing and that came in handy now. She walked with determination but with carefully placed steps, precise and deliberate. As she walked, Brianna explained the story for those who would listen.

“Dia has told me many times that she’s worried about Dan. Worried that he’s taking this story about the cause for all the strangeness that’s going on around the castle is in the forest and she’s worried that he might do something dangerous. So, I made sure that I knew what he was doing at all times. When I heard he’d finally gone mad and let the castle I knew he’d come here. He’s drawn to it … there’s something here that draws him in …”

Brianna had stopped walking abruptly. Dan was a few feet ahead of her and he’d stopped walking too. Jumping behind a tree, Brianna’s breathing had quickened, her heart sitting in her throat. Hearing Dan’s words, Brianna stepped out from behind the tree and gave Dan a smile. “Hello Daniel,” she said with a placating tone, “how are you this evening? I see you’re beautiful wife isn’t with you? Shouldn’t you go find her? Wouldn’t protecting her be easier at her side?” Brianna wasn’t sure why she’d said any of that but it had felt so natural, just as natural as the smile on her face.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

His heart was pounding, his fists clenched ready to swing a wild punch at anything that came his way. Dan’s wild eyes were fixed upon the tree from which he saw movement and as he braced himself to charge in and stare fear in the eyes, but it made the first move…and greeted him. The headmaster was not sure what shocked him more; her calm tone or the fact that for the first time in what must have been years Bree O’Donnell was smiling at him. Dan slowly started to step backwards laughing to himself thinking that it was all a trick of the mind, a trick of the castle but from the darkness behind Bree he could see two other figures. This was as real as the tree he had just backed into.

Something did not settle right with Dan though, Bree never talked to him like this and would never mention Dia unless it was to shout at him about something he did or should have done. Swallowing hard Dan tired to find his voice, the courage and bravery that had been running through his veins was slowly seeping away and he was giving into a mist of confusion and paranoia.

“My fair lady is safe from harm, although I fear that she isn’t calm. The purity of her blue eyes, see straight through my complex lies. The web I have woven is so thick; I need to solve this problem quick.”

Pushing himself away from the tree Dan looked around the Forbidden Forest nervously, before freezing and stared into the dark depths of the forest. And that is how he reminded for almost a minute, not blinking, barely breathing just staring out into the darkness, hypnotised by the expansive of nothing. It was only when a cold breeze rustled through the trees and blew a slip of parchment out of his pocket did the man become animated again. Moving with quick, sharp reactions Dan reached out and snatched the parchment as it tumbled to the ground. As soon as it was safe in his cold fingers he grasped it close to his chest and a look of determination filled the man’s face.

“The darkness knows that we are here, and that is something I fear. Now come with haste and complete this task, so that we can escape from deaths cold grasp.”

Roughly he shoved the parchment back into his trouser pocket and headed into the darkness among the trees. It may not have been the direction he had originally been heading in but Dan knew that with the grace of the stars that shone above, albeit veiled by the canopy of leaves and the dark storm clouds, he knew they would find their way in the darkness.

[Professor William Vaid]

How the woman was walking so fast Will had no idea, but he eventually caught up with her and she stopped abruptly, he almost ran right into the back of her, but managed to dig his heels into the dirt to subside the impact, simply brushing his arms against her gently before turning to her side and placing a hand on her arm. He studied her face for a moment and she looked as crazy as what Dan sounded.

"Bree..." he started but then Hannah appeared from nowhere, and in this tense atmosphere, Will was really happy to see her. She looked just as worried as Bree did and Will couldn't help but think he'd missed a vital chunk of the puzzle.

Hannah was then at his side and it was hard for him to fight the urge. The dark and rather eerie atmosphere held something heavier in the air that Will was really unsettled by. It was no use, if they were going to die he would never forgive himself for not doing it.
He grabbed Hannah's hand and looked at her concerned yet protectively before he stepped forward, placed his hand behind her head and kissed her, more forcefully than he'd expected. He brushed her hair away from her face before letting her go but pulling her closer to his body, lighting the way in front of them with his wand as Bree began walking again and spoke to Dan.

Will pulled forward and stood behind Bree for a moment, unsure whether to intervene or not quite yet. The man looked like he was totally crazy, mumbling rhymes to himself and to Bree. Will lightly brushed the back of his head with his hand before letting it flop to his side. It seemed Bree had this, but Will's uneasiness definately wasn't settling. He didn't like this feeling, not one bit.

Dan began mumbling again and Will's eyes widened slightly before turning into a frown.
"Bree, he wants us to follow him? Shouldn't we just drag him back to the castle? He's obviously not right in the head..."

[Prof. Hannah Edgecombe]

This was bad so very bad. Her whole body suddenly felt cold and it had nothing to do with the weather outside. A feeling of dread came over her like nothing she ever felt before. There was nothing she could do to stop Bree who was acting like a flipping loon kissing her on the cheeks as if they were old friends. Half the time Bree didn't even seem to like most of the professors she worked with. What was she even doing out here now what was so bleeding important.

Hannah had so much going through her mind that she didn't notice Will who seemed to be noticing her. Suddenly she felt her hand being grabbed. Half closed eye lips fluttered open her green eyes looked into his and she knew what he was about to do even before he did it. He kissed her like he had not kissed her before forcefully almost what she would call possessively. There was no way she could resist he was her hearts desire so she kissed back. With just as much passion. Whatever happened now she would have this moment. The kiss did not last long but as they broke apart Will kept her close to him. Wanting to feel safe in his arms she became frustrated when she didn't.

They walked on Bree acting just as strange as ever and she wishing she could have seen her vision more clearly. Then her eyes spotted the reason for Bree's need to be out here. Dan again here in the forest. Ever since her prophecy some weeks back Dan had been acting odd though she kept that to herself. Now here he was proving it to everyone. Standing in the middle of the forest with some paper muttering things that rhymed. Bree trying to coax him back to the castle, but he didn't seem to want to go. No, he was trying to go further into the forest.

Hannah felt it then the dread had returned. Now it was her turn to grab Will's hand, moving her lips closer to his ear she tried get his help "Will they can't go in there Bree can't go in there. She's in danger you have to help me keep her out." Hannah now felt like the frantic one. Her eyes were wide with worry and a tear slid down her face. The forest held no hope for them they were in danger all of them if they ventured further inside. She had to get them to turn back. Again she looked imploringly at Will hoping that whatever had been going on with him lately could take a back seat for a little while.

"That's not Bree, at least not the Bree that we know she's off and Dan he's acting stranger then usual." Though Hannah wondered if that had anything to do with his extracurricular activities. She saw it last time she was in close proximity to "her" it wasn't a shock but it Hannah thought better of her. Apparently she was wrong dead wrong. Ok she was getting off track with that, lives were at stake here and so far she wasn't getting through to anyone...

[Prof Brianna O'Donnell]

Brianna shook her head slowly from side to side, her short brown hair falling over her eyes, and she snorted a laugh, sarcastic and assuming. “She’s less safe then you think, Daniel,” Brianna said, not lifting her head until she spoke again after a pause. “She needs you by her side, Dan, now. I know you can’t understand that but it needs to be said … almost as much as you need to hear it …”

Dan seemed determined to keep going though and there was an odd sense inside the tall woman that compelled her to follow him. Will didn’t seem as confident and Brianna merely smiled at him. “Don’t worry so much, William,” Brianna said with a complacent smile on her face. “Daniel’s never intentionally put us in danger; I’m sure nothing’s going to happen.” She clasped his upper arm, squeezed and nodded. “Have faith, Mr Vaid. Moves mountains and all that …” Brianna then dropped her arm and quickly followed Dan, the same plastic smile plastered on her face.

Brianna heard Will and Hannah talking but she didn’t stick around to listen, she didn’t care what they were saying. She followed Dan, not particularly closely because it was hard catching up with him when he was in this sort of determined mood. So the Care of Magical Creatures’ professor kept her distance, ducking under low hanging branches and stepping over old, fallen tree-trunks. The more they walked, the darker it was becoming, Brianna thought, so she sped up to catch up with the man she was supposed to be following.

There was a snap that wasn’t from one of the four pairs of shoes she knew was walking the ground of the Forbidden Forest that evening, and the worst of it was that it came from somewhere high above her head. Brianna scanned what little of the surrounding area she could see but didn’t see anything and carried on walking. Dan had stopped and Bree was walking closer to him as she spoke. “Daniel, there’s nothing here …” she began, searching for the right words to defuse this situation. “It can’t be anything in this forest. It’s full of magical creatures and trees … and on occasion fog too but something powerful enough to cause all the destruction and chaos that’s been going on up at Hogwarts, I just don’t know th-”

A large mass smacked into Brianna, knocking her to the floor. She knocked the back of her head on something hard and she could feel her eyes threatening to pop out of her skull. She lay were she was, dazed, until the eight legs, the large pincers, the hairy body all came into focus. She would have screamed but she had been winded by her fall. The thing grabbed her by the shoulder, digging its pincers into the flesh on her shoulder, and dragging her off under some brush and disappearing into the darkness.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

“Dia?” Dan muttered, acting almost as if that name was foreign to him. In his slightly crazed state names meant nothing only the darkness that had been descending upon the school. Slowly turning his head Dan studied the tall woman who was walking beside him through the darkness. “My wife shall be safe, as soon as the evil has been driven from this place.” Brianna was right to think that Dan was determined, he was, he wanted to protect the school and everyone in it and by walking in to the darkness in the belief that the evil came from the forest and that he, Daniel Alexander Hubbles would be able to save the day. However little would he know that he would not even be able to save one person let alone the hundreds that lived in the castle.

This was when everything went wrong, the dangers of the forest that he so casually threw to one side now became painfully into full focus as out of the darkness they were attacked. Tumbling to the floor all Dan could see was the forest floor and as he quickly pushed himself up to his feet Bree was no where to be seen. “ohmygod SPIDERS!” Dan could not help but stare at the spot where Bree had just been standing and how now there crawled a many eyes, snapping jawed, hairy legged spider and it would be safe to say he did not react well…although on the brightside it did stop him from speaking in rhyme and knock all thoughts of the ‘big evil’ living in the forest right out of his head.

Dan could not help it and he let off a high pitched squeal that many would expect from a Hufflepuff, but most likely a thirteen year old girl and not from a fully grown man of the grand age of thirty. It seemed though his squeal had attracted more of the eight legged creatures and soon Dan was being faced by five or the creatures. That was too much for the not so brave headmaster and with a small squeak he turned on his heel and started to run in the opposite direction.

“So you left Bree to die?” He could just imagine Dia asking him later, the broken look on her face and voice wavering in both sadness and anger.
“I was saving myself!”
“You left my closest friend to die?”
“In a way…”

He stopped running, his chest heaving, heart racing and mind swarming with this imaginary conversation with his wife. With a small sigh Dan looked over his shoulder back into the darkness. He could not believe he was doing this; he was now running back through the trees, back through the darkness and head on into danger as he went to save Brianna O’Donnell, the woman who hated him and he hated her. But she was Dai’s best friend (that fact still baffled Dan) and he loved his wife enough to do anything to prevent a forwn to appear on her face.

His shaking hand reached into his jacket pocket, desperately fumbling around for his wand. As he withdrew it the bits of parchment fluttered down to the forest floor but he did not care about that anymore. He had a Professor to save! It was time to don that red cape and become Super Dan! The problem was however Super Dan had no idea where he was going and the mere sight of the spiders sent shivers up his spine and to cry out in fear. “BREE!” He shouted hopefully that maybe she could cream out in pain just to give him a sign of which way to go.

There seemed to be more and more spiders now and with a few flicks of his wand, a yell of “Arania Exumai” and a bright silver flash the disgusting many legged monsters were sent flying backwards smacking into trees, impaled on fallen branches or shot so far in the darkness Dan could stop worrying about them.

“Urgh! Gross, Gross, GROSS!” Dan had stopped running, in fact he was now doing a very strange kind of dance as he tried to get the fine silk like spider webs off him. It was after a few moments of tugging at his clothing, running his hand through his hair and inching his skin in disgust of touching the vile stuff that the headmaster realised where he was…the spiders den.

[Erys Grace]

{ Rrgh, sorry, I'm being a bum joining in this late, not sure if the invitation still stands. :/ Pretend she was sneakily following them? }

It smelt like death. Or to be more accurate, spiders, but any animagi with a finely tuned sense of smell could've guessed they'd be encountering both that night, if they so chose to venture any further. Time ticked unevenly, in lurching and shuddering gasps, quickening and slowing to the viscosity of molasses in the span of but a few partial seconds. Erys remembered how she came to follow the gaggle of professors, she remembered at exactly ten minutes before 'sneaking' out so to speak--at eighteen it wasn't technically considered sneaking, as she was still a member of staff, at least somewhat--she had pressed her tongue against her bottom lip, scraping the last remnants of salt-taste from dinner and swallowing happily. She had sat in the Slytherin common room in the family armchairs and thought to herself, is this what I've become? Some archaic accessory to the faculty of Hogwarts? Had the kitty lost her claws? She grimaced, eyes glinting. No.. I've been gone for too long. The Slytherin declared, gearing up and slipping out of the common room without even a glance behind her. Instinct told her something was going to go down, something not particular pleasant, and if she retained even a sliver of Erys left, she would find herself there.

She had left the castle then at the sight and smell of a group of professors on the move. Most distinct were the scents of Hubbles and O'Donnell, with hints of Edgecombe and Vaid in there as well. It didn't take her long on paw to catch up with them, and hear the madman's rambling. Pausing mid-stride to scrunch her cat's face up in an expression of odd fascination, Erys continued on, careful of her footing in case any stray, dry branch revealed her location. It seemed more than one person tonight was a little on the paranoid side, and she didn't want to get caught and possibly fired. No, she would keep herself down low, watch and observe. At the sound of a high-pitched, ever so girly scream, Erys peered out from the bushes across from where something had occurred, where Daniel Hubbles, the bearer of the shriek, started loping in the opposite direction. Blood's tangy, rust-like perfume had touched the air here, quite recently. Only seconds had passed before it was first spilled, and it reeked of Bree.

With any authority figure, whether there were relations or not, Erys possessed the same attitude: respect is to be earned, not willingly given, even if you held a certain title. They were all witches and wizards here. People. But with Bree, over her years at Hogwarts Erys had developed a somewhat softer outlook on her. They could have even passed as family at some points, or at least aunt-niece, sometimes. And even if she busted her at some points or scolded her, like any proper authority figure would do, Erys much preferred Bree in the Head of Slytherin position than any non-Snake scum. And this would be her exact excuse for why she had to help her if anyone asked, when in truth she got a sick feeling in her stomach at the thought of not having her around. Even as Hubbles came to his bearings and stumbled back after the professor, Erys had already shot through the undergrowth after her, as burrs and thorns tugged at her fur and pricked at her paws. "Professor!" Erys tried to shout--but it came out as a loud, feline snarl--forgetting at that moment she was still a large bengal cat. Spiders. Her senses tugged at her urgently, and she whirled around in time to strike her claws at the eyes of a large arachnid.[/color]

[Prof Brianna O'Donnell]

[[ ooc: yeah. I’ve been away but thought this should be ended while I’m back. It might be a little like flogging a dead horse but Bree’s been with me for such a long time telling the last of her story seems fitting. I’m still willing, if all the rest of you are? ]]

---

She’d no idea how they’d suddenly appeared but that was typical of them. They swarmed and flooded you with numbers, as if their freakish size wasn’t enough already, and Brianna should have remembered this but at that exact moment she wasn’t really thinking anything in particular. Her head swirled, her vision tripled and danced as she stared around her. She wasn’t being dragged any more, she realised, as she felt cool damp ground beneath her. She propped herself up on an elbow, reaching behind and feeling her throbbing head. It was wet and warm and she knew what that meant.

Brianna groaned audibly, momentarily forgetting herself, but at the sound of hissing and clicking it all came back to her in a flood of pain that shot through her shoulder. The acromantula that had grabbed her had dug hard into her bony shoulder. The flesh was torn, her blouse and jacket becoming soaked with warm fresh blood. It was painful but bearable so she dropped her arm and sat up. Her head reeled violently, threatening to fall off her shoulders, but Brianna tried to see through it, trying to look around her. She saw many shadows moving around her but no solid lines could be seen.

Her head gave an especially vicious throb when she heard a distant should of her name … at least she thought it was her name. She couldn’t be sure of anything just then. Brianna wasn’t prepared to handle something like this, not bloodied and bleeding. She was probably attracting every blood-thirsty creature in a mile radius and the way her head swam she wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it. She’d have kicked herself had she been able to for being unprepared. She knew better then to just stomp through the forest, especially with everything in her world acting crazier then usual. If she got to live through this, she’d certainly never make the mistake again.

The next moment an involuntary howl of pain escaped her throat as a white-hot flash of pain shot through her leg from her calf. She made to reach for the aching limb only for her vision to finaly focus on the eight eyes of a second giant-spider grabbing at her leg. Its pincers were not as big as the first but they were big enough to cause her pain. The first grabbed her by the shoulder again and pulled her onto her back, as though staking its claim, but the second didn’t back down. Bree cried out again as the two began tugging at her. She thrashed around, trying to get loose but soon realising that that only made it worse, their pincers digging deeper into her with each movement.

There was a feline cry from above her head but Bree wasn’t focusing on that. Her shoulder felt as though it was being wrenched from its socket, being dug at with a blunt trowel but the sensation soon mutated into a burning of all the flesh and bone in her left arm and shoulder. The burning sensation was dull at first but as she continued to thrash about, trying to escape the cluches of these creatures, the intensity increased exponentially, until she honestly thought that it would be better if the acromantula did rip her arm off. She kicked at her second attacker with her free leg, mostly missing it because of her disorientation but twice in a row she hit it square on the top of the head, striking a few eyes with her flat heal.

It was to no avail though as the second spider bit down harder on her leg, pressing its sharp pincers deeper into her leg; she thought that it felt as though it almost struck the bone. Seconds past and the same burning that was radiating through the top-left of her chest now began streaming through her leg as well. The burn emanated down to her foot and up towards her bad knee. Many times, she had put her life on the line for a friend or a creature and her knees had begun to pay the price for it because she wasn’t as young as she once was but now, that didn’t matter. She wailed a cry of pain again as her heart felt as though it had jumped into her throat. Drawing breath was painful, her head lurched again as her neck began to grow unwillingly limp, and she was starting to struggle to feel her fingers in her left hand. Unfortunately she could feel her left leg and her shoulder.

Her heart gave a nauseatingly powerful thud in her throat and crying out was no longer an option.

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

There were very few moments when Dan Hubbles would ever say he had been truly scared but none would ever compare to this moment, right here, right now. He was frozen in place, he had stopped breathing and his eyes were going stinging as they slowly went dry as he even stopped blinking. This was something he had heard, it was part of the Harry Potter tales but for some reason this was a part of it he never believed in as it had just seemed too far fetched. But now he was standing in the spiders den and he had to re-think everything…or at least he would if his brain would work. There would only be a handful of things that would snap Dan out of his and seeing as one of them would be sitting in her office back at the castle the headmaster was going to have to hope a few more came along.

The first was the on coming wave of spiders that seemed to be approaching him, and although he was screaming at himself to run away he still reminded routed to the spot, the hand that his hand was clutched in was shaking as if it was a phone on vibrate and still he dared not draw breath. Then something happened that finally broke his trance like state, a large Bengal cat jumped out of the darkness and straight into the path way of a spider, clawing at it and fighting it off. Dan was not stupid, he knew who the cat was and the mere thought that one of his students was risking their lives made him put a very wobbly foot forward and point his wand once more at the eight legged creatures.

“I am the headmaster of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry; these are small creatures that eat flies. You are better then them and can beat them.”

Dan kept chanting to himself as if it was a complex spell that needed his full concentration, he was doing this to try and keep his confidence up as jets of silver light broke the darkness that filled the forest and the spiders flew off in opposite directions. He could not believe he was doing this; he was fighting off spiders trying to save Bree…talk about doing a 180 flip! With every silver flash Dan would not look to see if he hit his target but at the forest floor looking for anything that looked body shaped. But it was not a body he saw at first, but a trail of glistening blood and then the bloody curdling scream!

Then it stopped…and then there was silence.
Nothing…
Silence…

Dan’s stomach sunk there and then, was he too late? Had Bree bled to death before he could find her? Would he now be killed as well only for these creatures to eat them both so their bodies would never be found and…and….SMACK!

His large feet had hit something, at first he thought it was a log or a root but they were not normally soft and squishy. But it was too late to investigate Dan had toppled forward and landed with a crunch on top of one of the spiders. He could feel the warmth of the creatures blood seep in through his shirt and as he rolled onto his side, his body stinging in pain the headmaster fumbled around for his wand and with a quick whisper of ‘lumos’ the area around them was covered in a blinding light. It must have been the first light these eight legged monsters had seen as they seemed to cower at the site of the glowing orb at the tip of Dan’s wand. The look of satisfaction did not last long on Hubbles face as he finally saw what he had tripped over.

“Merlin no…” Quickly scrambling over to the side of his Care of Magical Creatures Professor Dan looked down at her blood stained and pale features. This was not a pleasant sight and he knew something needed to be done…but he needed to get Bree away from this living hell first of all. But he now had a problem, the spiders seemed to have worked out the light did nothing too them and the bravest of the brave were heading straight for them once again. With a small whimper Dan had no idea what to do and with a frantic look at Bree he wished she would just say something to him and tell him what to do. “I don’t want to die…not now.” He could not help but carry on whimpering, it was not getting them anywhere and it would do no good getting himself into a state but he could not help it, no matter how hard he tried to act all macho and brave he was still a scared little Hufflepuff at heart.

That was when he felt something on his back, the cold pincers grazed his neck and that was it! Desperately shaking off his suit jacket Dan threw it to the ground and started to just stand on anything around him that moved. He poked his wand in the eye of one spider and kicked others away from him…he seemed to completely forget he held a stick of wood that would allow him to cast complex spells, but alas Dan had returned to a very savage way of kicking the crap out of anything that was near him! In his mind Bree was dead, there was nothing he could do now expect stop any of the pests from ripping her to bits. It was then a rather larger spider stepped out from among the trees, the others were the same size as a medium sized god this…well this looked like it could eat a caravan whole for dinner and still have room to polish off a few tents…it was enormous. It was then when the Hufflepuff in Dan sounded out once more, he knew that no matter how much he waved his wand at it or tried to kick it the monster would keep coming back….”Run!” He squeaked to no one in particular, but this time he was not interested in just saving his own life as he bent down and pulled the limp Bree up into his arms (which was difficult seeing as how tall she was) and with all the strength running for his life would provide Dan darted off into the trees. “Close together and thick don’t you think?” He muttered the body he was carrying. “Stop that bugger from getting any closer.”

He was not sure if his theory would work as the smaller spiders were nipping at his heels but he had to try something, anything!

[Erys Grace]

Blood spattered her fur as the shriek of the spider she had slaughtered only added to the atmospheric chaos. Unwittingly she had probably saved Hubbles' skin, but the thought hadn't even crossed her mind as she barrelled at two more of the fanged creatures, her own teeth bared as she hissed and flailed. Somewhere close by her right the headmaster had finally found a working brain, and was going to use his wand--er, nevermind, he was just planning to stomp the crap out of them then. Rolling her eyes with an exasperated 'typical Hubbles' mrowl, she batted her claws at the legs of an oncoming beast, whirling around as the heavy smell of blood finally hit her. Crying out in feline surprise at the body of her beloved Head of House, this sudden lapse of attack gave the spiders the opening they desired, and she suddenly disappeared under a mass throng of writhing black.

Gasping for breath as the wind was knocked out of her it took a moment or two before Erys could think clearly, and by then she had taken a fair few nips to her sides. Hissing angrily she dug her jaw into the back of the nearest spider--which was happily crushing her ribs--before ripping out a chunk of its flesh. At this the creature howled in pain, scrambling off of her and giving her time to kick and flail her way out. Breathing steadily now, legs shaky but steady enough to stand, Erys watched as Dan tried to pick Bree up, felling to a spider on his back. As she bunched her hind muscles to leap though he tore his jacket off, throwing it to the ground before picking her up again. Nodding her satisfaction the Slytherin darted after, pelt ragged with sweat and blood as she jumped on the backs of spiders, smashing them into the ground before jumping to the next one. It was like a demonic game of leap-frog, only the object was to completely crush the thing you were leaping. Leaving an obvious path of smushed insects in her wake, hopefully for the other professors to find, were they close by, the Slytherin followed the scent of her professor's wet blood, not daring to glance below her at the trail of crimson often pooling around her paws.

Her back felt sticky and her head throbbed, but she continued on, confident at the survival of O'Donnell. She had to, she was a Slytherin. Tough as nails, right? No one was invulnerable, but.. Erys swallowed then, mouth suddenly terribly dry as her paw clubbed a spider out of her way. She hadn't even seen her wounds in the fray, had she? Maybe she was just covered with spider's blood.. The Slytherin, struck with a feeling she hadn't often encountered in her eighteen years, breathed heavily, head low as she followed after the headmaster, leaping around him to tackle an arachnid out of the way. Clear the path. He has Bree, they much be protected. Echoed her thoughts, driven by duty and loyalty not to Hubbles but to her Head of House, as she threw herself in harms way first. They had to get her out of here.

Was she even still with them?[/color]

[Prof Brianna O'Donnell]

The world is dark.

There is no sound that Brianna can hear.

She feels too much, a heavy ache in her chest, pain shooting up her right leg and... it’s too much.

Suddenly there is a sound, soft at first but then rhythmic against her ear.

O, how her neck hurts. All her eyes want to do is close ... no, they are already closed.

Suddenly, her whole body is moving. She isn’t sure if she is walking or being carried but with a stomache-churning roll of her head the rhythmic beating goes away and the world is still dark.

Brianna finally manages to slowly open her eyes, just a crack though, as the throbbing in her left shoulder had extended to her neck now and was crawling viciously up her head. Her throat was dry ... and though her eyes were open now she couldn’t see anything. Was the darkness real? Had she strayed so far from life that this was all that was left? ... No ... there was someone at her side and something told her that they were moving, moving fast too. Closing her mouth, Brianna tried to swallow but only ended up coughing, small drops of blood flying from her chapped lips as her chest rocked her thin frame.

“Wa...” she tried again, her voice croaking and sore, “water.”

She wasn’t sure if the word had actually come out of her mouth ... it might have been all in her head but she couldn’t be sure that that’s where she was. Her sore foot hit against something and while her scream echoed inside her throbbing head – at least she thought it did – she wasn’t sure if the sound had come through her dry throat. She tried to swallow again with more success this time; her mouth moistened a little and she licked her dry lips.

There was no denying how banged up Brianna was. The calf of her right leg was burning and she was certain that somewhere along the time she had broken her ankle. The burn was searing up and down her leg in revolting waves that made her wish she could just cut off the limb. There was a new pain in her side, as though a few ribs had been broken somehow. Her left shoulder shouted white hot at her and she could officially not feel her left hand or her fingers. What she could feel in the arm she wished she could not ... and still the pain rolled wave after wave up her neck and started down her spine now too. She could scarcely keep her head up, no matter how hard she tried.

Brianna tried, nonetheless, to keep her aching eyes open and to keep her head up. She had to see someone ... something sooner or later ... but it was still too dark to see ... wait ... “Dan?” Bree croaked. She wanted to question him further, asking him what he was doing, why they were in such close proximity, and if he knew about the acromantula. She wanted to tell him to run but her reeling mind soon moved away from that quickly onto the fact that there was actual contact between them. They were touching. This was when it suddenly occurred to her that there was something terribly wrong.

Just as suddenly as this thought came to her, her neck gave way, light flooded her vision and fresh cool night air met her screaming lungs. Where they out of the forest already? She hoped so. The arachnids wouldn’t follow them beyond the boarder of the forest, this she knew for certain. But the light ...? Was it a full moon tonight? Or was this the end for her? Another wave of nausea gripped her insides violently, squeezing her stomach ferociously. What little she’d eaten for dinner came up so quickly and spilled out of her mouth she’d hardly realised she was on the ground when she was. Cool, neatly cut grass. They were out, she was certain of it.

throb

Her neck gave way again, her head throbbing all around the top of her spine. Her bloodied shoulder, decorated with holes gave way and her scraped-up cheek met the grass ... cool against the burning in her face. She’d landed awkwardly on her arm but it didn’t matter.

“We’re out now ...” she croaked. “It’ll all be alright now ...”

And the world is once again dark ... for much longer then before ... forever ... it seems.