AJ decided to gather a group of friends to explore into the Forbidden Forest. He had always loved going there to relax, but now wanted to go deeper than ever. He asked a few friends to ask a few friends to see who wanted to join him. He had a little group of all Houses and all ages.

He woke up early like he said he would and would meet them near the Gamekeepers house. He was wearing his school uniform under his heavy cloak. His wand was in his hand already. The sun was just rising when he walked out down the hill to the edge of the Forest. He had asked a girl he had known to bring food; everyone had given her seom galleons and sickles to pay for their food. She had gone the previous night.

AJ was growing nervous nobody would show. But in the distance he saw shadowy figures making their way towards him. He didn't wave just incase they were professors. But when they came closer he realized they were in fact part of the group he was going in with.

She lurked in the forest, she'd been there hours. At times she practically lived within it's boundaries, accepted by the creatures for, if they didn't, they knew she'd hurt them. They left her alone and, in return, she let them live in piece. She was oerdue for her potion and that spelt trouble if she ran into anyone, unlucky for the students that lay just beyond the border.

Valentina ran over to where she would be meeting her firends.

Since that morning was chilly, she had put a dark green winter coat on with her school uniform underneath and some black boots on.
The grass was frozen, and as she ran down the field towards the edge of the forest, she listened hard to the soft crunching of the grass underneath her feet. She could just about make u the uniform of Andrej, her Ravenclaw friend.

"hey, Aj!" she called, almost in a whisper, but loud enought for him to hear her, "what are we gonna do today?" she asked, redoing her pony-tail (and showing off her silky brown hair).

she looked around. Noone alse had arrived yet.

she blew into her hands for warmth, a soft, small clowd rising from her mouth, and shivvered. it was very cold that morning.

"and who alse is coming?"

He hadn't known who was coming with them. When Valentina asked he just responed with guesses, "Perhaps Casey and John from Hufflepuff, April from Slytherin, others I suppose."

He noticed Valentina redoing her hair. Leave it to a girl to fix her hair before they go explore e dangerous forest. He snickered a bit.

"Suppose I see someone else coming down now." He said pointing up the hill.

John wasn't sure why he had decided to follow a kid he had only met yesterday and go into the forest, but he was. Before he knew it he had made his way across the grounds and to the edge of the forest, okay so maby he was as excited as he was nervous to do something that was a bit out of character.

Spotting a couple of people he began to walk towards them, when he got a little closer he recognized AJ and another girl and waved.
"Hey." He greeted with his usual smile.

April traveled down the sloping lawns, and saw a group congregating in front of the woods. Well, quite a bit of people were coming then. She hand't known that. At least Veronica wasn't here... yet.

"Hey everyone," she called, ignoring A for a moment. She smiled at everyone, except a boy she didn't know, and then turned to AJ.

"Hi Aj," she said, smiling a little, and not sure what to say.

"Hi John, this is Veronica."

He greeted the two of them. Then April came up.

"Hi April!" he said giving an awkward hug.

"Well I suppose we can go in. I don't think anybody wants to wake up this early"

He led the way into the forest with everyone behind him. He loved the woods. Fog was beginning to grow around them, and the deeper they went the thicker the woods grew. Moss was growing all over the trees and AJ could barely see in front of himself.

"Everyone still here?" he asked, barely deep into the forest.

Casey had been nervous and fidgety ever since agreeing with AJ's plan. She'd only gotten a couple of hours of sleep due to her nervousness, still she was set on going. She made her way down to the forest, weary of any Professors. She found the group quite easily, and smiled nervously in greeting, "Hey guys!"

Casey looked at the forest wearily, not sure why she'd agreed to do this. She followed AJ into the forest, wondering what type of trouble they might possibly encounter, which didn't really help of course.

"Yup, still here." Came Casey's small voice in reply.

"Nice to meet you ." John said with a nod toward the two girls that had joined the group He smiled when he saw Casey join them, but was a little surprised she had, like him, it seemed odd for her to be doing this if the dance had been anything to go by.

"Hey Casey!" he greeted as they began to walked deeper into the forest staying close to the younger Hufflepuff, having some want to protect her that he couldn't explain.

Though it was just past dawn AJ was suprised on how many people actually woke up and joined him. As he led the group of cloaked students into the forest he couldn't help think that danger laid ahead. He was certain they would come across wolves and snakes and other normal muggle animals but was worried about vampires when they got deeper into the woods. They all walked in silence, not out of fear, but because they were all so tired. But AJ knew they needed to get out early to make it deep into the woods.

About a half hour in the reached a familiar opening AJ had been before though he hadn't been there in ages. He had been further than this before, but only a few times. "Anybody need a rest?" he asked knowing that even in the daylight the Forbidden Forest was dangerous and scary.

The sun was now up as they rested and ate some breakfast, however it was shadowy underneath the thick trees.

When breakfast was finished and the other students were finally awake he warned, "If anybody wants to turn back, I suggest you do so now." he knew it was going to be quite dangerous from this moment out.

Aj led them in the forest, and even let them take a break to eat. He seemed really excited, but not many other people were fully awake to start conversation. April was thankful; perhaps with no noise no creatures would awake and possible eat them. She shivered, remembering the last time.

"If anybody wants to turn back, I suggest you do so now." Aj had warned them. April laughed coldly for a minute; she was ready./ She gribbed her wand in her pocket.

"I'm still ready to go," she said confidently, staring at Veronica intently. "I'm not sure about the rest of them though. If you're scared, you might want to... head on back."

Ellie raced out of the castle. She had told AJ she would come to the forest that morning with the other pupils to explore, but as per usual she had slept in. She raced through the grounds and saw a group of students standing at the edge of the forest. Well that must be them she thought to herself, who else is up at this hour to go exploring the forbidden forest?

They began to walk into the forest. Ellie sprinted, "You guys wait up!" she shouted. That was probably a bad idea she would wake the whole forest, "sorry!" she whispered as she caught up.

"Sorry, forgot where i was, I hope i didn't disturb anything" she added. "Sorry I'm late,!"

She watched them, hungry and half-mad. Such a strange assortment, why even some of the slytherins were getting invlved. She spat on the ground as the thought of it, associating with those people was not a good idea. Plus, they were out of bounds, none of them could get her in trouble without being in trouble theirselves.

She cast a spell on herself, causing her to appear more frightening than she actually was, and so she would blend with the shadows, be nothing but a silhouette until she deided to reveal herself. She mved into the clearing, a silhouette. Nojne of them would no who it was, all they'd see was a figure holding a wand and looking very dangerous.

The forest was growing thicker still, it didnt seem to stop. However, it was growing a little hilly. There were enough people to all be able to attack anything that attacked them. April had moved up to his side to help lead. AJ pulled his wand, he was growing nervous that someone or something was around. He knew nothing would attack them, well he hoped.

"Wands out everyone," he warned. The sky was now gone, everything was shadows, trees covered every inch above them.

He whispered, "Lumos" to give him some light. The group was walking in a tight formation. Whoever was in the back, AJ felt worried that they would be attacked first.

Ellie joined the back of the line reluctantly, however she was last there and she had no choice. Before she had entered the forest she been in a very good mood, apart from the whole being up at the crack of dawn, however as she got deeper and deeper into the forest her happy mood depleted and was replace with anxiousness.
She was constantly looking behind her.

"Wands out everyone,"

Those words only heightened her fear, she whipped her wand out and too muttered "Lumos" she held it in front of her and continued walking with the group she was sure she could sense something, that someone else was here, something was wrong. However she convinced herself it was just her mind playing tricks on her, but she couldn't get the thought out of the back of her mind. She continued to look around her.

He noticed some of the group shaking as they walked. He was sure that this was the deepest they have ever gone. Probably the first time many have entered the forest, he thought.

He had been enjoying himself, though most of his group were scared. They had seen many owls sleeping in the trees and tons of small animals that didn't scare any of them. He swore he saw shadows in the distance but hadn't been sure.

They came to a place that could be called a clearing, but it was still dense. "Anybody want to practice dueling?" He said turning to all of the faces behind him.

As they got deeper in the forest and it got darker, John was sure that someone or something was watching them. He had been keeping to the back, deciding it would be best to have a guy in the front and in the back of the group for protection reasons.

He had his wand in his hand and had been absentmindedly playing with it , He didn't want to appear as nervoce as he was, but he wanted his wand in hand incase something happened, he was a little relived when AJ suggested that they all take their wands out and lit the tip of his as well. He knew he could have turned back, but he already had made it this far, it just didn't make much sense for him to turn back now.

Casey decided to stay near John, she certainly didn't want to be up front, and well, being closer to John seemed more appealing than any of the other options. Her nervous was getting the best of her, and her heart seemed to skip a beat at every snapping twig, or every supposed shadow. She got the sense that they were being watched, but she figured it was just her nerves.

Casey wanted to speak, but the silence was too great and she feared breaking it. She took out her wand, as ordered, and lit the tip of it. She was too far in to head back now, the sky was no longer visible, she wasn't sure why she'd agreed to this at this point.

He figured everyone was more frightened now. "Is every-" he stopped talking suddenly. He saw something run across him a few yeards infront him.

"I think I just saw a manticore!" he whispered-yelled. (like a sphynx).

He took the light out of his wand ready to fight it, or whatever he had to do. His palm was so sweaty from nerves he nearly dropped his wand. He saw five pairs of eyes peering at them through the trees ahead of him.

"watch out," he heard a voice yell as one lunged for him, hitting him squarely in the chest...

"You alright? Casey?" John asked Casey, putting a hand on her shoulder, she looked as nervous as he was feeling. He wasn't really in the mood for dueling, if something were to go wrong, he didn't want to have to run back to the castle for help and find his way back again. He looked back up when he heard AJ say he thought he saw something, and as soon as he did he saw one of the Manticors had hit Aj before he could do or say anything.

“STUPIFY!” He yelled, wand pointed at the beast closest to them and running up to the front of the group to see if AJ was alright. "AJ!" he yelled, getting closer and sending another stunning spell. "Are you ok?"

The creature jumped on him while his head was turned due to the scream of one of the people behind him. All of a sudden he was on the ground. He heard John yell Stupefy and he was free from the clutches.

"There's more!" he yelled, sending hexes at them. All of a sudden hexes were being sent over his head. There were more than five, Two jumped at him, slashing him in the chest. He had come across these creatures before but had never been attacked. He heard a girl scream in pain, throwing off one of the Manticors to see who it was.

April watched as the manticore flew at Aj, and April dodged to the side. She had her wand ready, and sent a stunning spell just as another boy did. His collided, hers missing by inches, as she was trying to avoid hitting AJ. She slid off to the edge of the circle that had formed. The beast was in a rage.

"Aj, are you okay?" she yelled, sending a freezing charm at the manticore, hoping to slow it down. She missed the first time, but the second one hit home. The beast froze in place, and April went over to drag AJ out of the way.

He didn't have a chance to respond, but he bounced up and was in the fray. AJ was right... they were surrounded. She saw a beast heading towards her, and she stunned it quickly before grabbing his arm.

"We really need to move!" she urged.

Casey nodded, forcing herself not to jump when John put his hand on her choulder. "Yea, I'm fine. My nerves are just getting the best of me. I don't usually do this sort of thing. . ." She responded, flashing John a small smile.

Casey looked up ahead, nervously, as AJ said that he saw something. Before she knew it a Manticore lept out at AJ, attacking him. She let out a small scream of surprise, but pointed her wand in the direction of the manticores in the event that anymore came out. She ran up to AJ, just behind John, shouting "Stupefy!" as another Manticore came out of the shadows. Taking her by surprise, a Manticore lept from the bushes, attacking her. Casey screamed in pain as she fell backwards, the manticore on top of her.

Hearing a scream of pain, John turned around and saw Casey on the ground with a Manticore on top of her. He began running back towards her sending another stunning spell at it, and yelled for Casey to get up and run if she could. As he got closer he heard a noise behind him, but he didn't turn around, he wanted to see if Casey was okay, but before he could take another step forward, another one of the Manticores lept out from the shadows hitting him in the back and sending him to the ground, his wand flying out of his hand. The earth seemed to spin beneath him as he searched for a rock, and chucked it at the Manticores head, but that only made it more angry, and it attacked again.

By now AJ had realized that this may have been a mistake. But in some sort of sick way he was enjoying himself. He sent a Disillusionment charm non-verbally and and then some other hexes. The other students seemed to be frightened but also enjoying some wand fighting.

AJ started to really enjoy himself. He sent another spell, shooting water out of his wand to drive the creatures away but miss, being slashed in the face. He sent the spell again, sending off the herd. One was seriously hurt and was carried away by a larger one.

He was panting, "Is everyone ok?" He looked around to see if anybody was injured. "Shall we press on?"

He very much wanted to, but was now afraid others were to scared to keep going.

As soon as she got the chance, Casey was up, her hand gripping her wand tightly. She turned to find John being attacked by yet another manticore. She sent another stunning spell towards the manticore, hoping that that would do the trick. Apon looking around Casey realized that AJ had pretty much taken care of the whole situation, big surprise there. She turned her attnetion back to John, offering a hand to help him up. "Thanks for that, by the way." She said with a smile.

At this point, Casey was a little shaken up. Admittedly, she actually wanted to go on. They were in this far, why back out now. But she knew if the others wished to go back, she wouldn't mind that either. "I think we should press on. We made it this far...."

He was suprised Casey spoke up, he for sure thought she was going to be the first to say to turn back. He hadn't meant to show off, if that is what the others thought; AJ just acted quickly. He felt that people were expecting him to take charge.

"Is that okay with everyone else?" he asked and when nobody answered he assumed everything was still okay.

He started to walk to the left, while the creatures went towards their right. AJ noticed the others consoling each other, telling themselves everything was okay. He was hoping people weren't angry at him, and were enjoying themselves.

"Er, maybe we should rest a bit? If that is what everybody wants?"

He was worried the others weren't trusting him now.

OOC: i kinda got left behind, so i'm going to fill it up.

Valentina had been silent all the way. She was in the middle of the line, maybe because she was the youngest.
in the silence, she kept seeing weird and scary shadows that often made her jump.

just as Aj shouted a weird name, she realised she had no idea what Mnticures were until they attacked. She was amazed that her teammates reacted that way, because if she had to fight, she would have probably killed one of the creatures, and she hadn't had a clue if that was allowed. So she had to shield behind someone, and occasionaly screamed with fright.

when those creatures left, Valentina felt really embaraced. That's not going to happen again!... she thought.

"Is that okay with everyone else?" Aj asked. Valentina hadn't answerd before, but now she did. She didn't want to look like a scaredy cat.
"yes!... I mean... That's fine with me!" Valentina mumbled, still shaking with the recent attack, but now she was ready.
She took out her black wand and pointed it sideways.
[ IMPORTANT]
She thought for a minute.

"Ellie" she said, looking back at the brown haired girl, "you must check behind us, and attack anything that looks suspicious!"

"Aj, " she looked at the front, " you have to look out for anything and gesture us to stop or attack!"

"April, " she looked over at her Slytherin friend, " you guard Aj's back, make sure to spot anything unusual and point it out... After all, you are Slytherin's Seeker!" She gave April a proud smile.

"Casey, John!" she looked around at the two Hufflepuffs, " point you wands completly sideways!"

"and finally, i will look upwards! we don't want any more of those nasty creatures, right?"

She smiled at herself. what a genious, i am! Valentina thought with a satisfied smile.

Forgetting that it was rude to give orders, she added: "Please?"

All of a sudden orders were being barked out by little Valentina. They were resting and nothing was going wrong. Maybe she was getting a little paranoid and scared, maybe she just figured she could lead the group.

Whatever it was most of them ignored her for the moment, eating snacks they brought. He leaned over towards Casey, John and April. "We may need to come up with a plan to protect the younger kids. Casey, I know you're good with charms, any protection charms or something?"

He asked, trying to get his close friends to help. He knew they were good leaders, even though they didn't think so themselves.

"April, I know you're good at dueling and hexes, stay close to the smaller kids." he whispered.

"John, want the front or back?"

All of this in a low whisper, he noticed Valentina listening in.

"Good ideas Valentina," he said to make her feel good. "But relax, we're just eating now. We'll head off soon."

"Thanks." He said to Cases. Once the manticores were gone, and he could get up again, he grabbed his wand before joining the others again. Casey was right, there was no point in turning back now. "You guys alright?" he asked everyone.

"I'll take the back, you know where you're going in here better than I do." He replied, still keeping a cautious eye out. Aj was a better leader, hands down.

"we'll continue to rest," he said after John decided to take the back. It had been a couple of hours of walking already. It was Saturday so nobody had any classes they could be out all day.

"When everybody is ready we will head deeper. I've heard of this swamp that is close to the lake, but pretty far out. We should go there? Unless anyone else has a better idea."

He was open to any suggestions that would be given.

(OCC: Just going to catch up first! )


Ellie had been looking over her shoulder when the Manticors first appeared. She saw one attack AJ and soon realised that they were surrounded by them. One was heading towards her she immediatley reacted and quickly shot an Impendimenta Jinx at it to slow it down. She then yelled "STUPEFY!" and stunned it quickly in the chest.

Soon enough they had gotten rid of the Manticores. AJ seemed to be putting everyone in there places. Ellie offered to stay near the back, she didn't need looking after. Another young slytherin had barked out some orders, Ellie just dismissed them, she had already been looking out at the back, was she stupid or something.
She continued to watch out, she could still sense something.

"Yeah the swamp place sounds good!" Although she had been scared at first the adrenaline had kicked in and she was feeling oddly a bit excited, however she was still wary.

AJ noticed Ellie sitting alone, but agreeing to the swamp idea. He excused himself from his group and sat next to her.

"You okay?" he asked, noticing a cut in her arm.

He felt bad that people were getting injured, he should have warned them just how dangerous it really was.

"Looks like it hurts."

She'd been following them, noticing how weak they were. She was getting cocky, her duelling record since the arrival of 'the power' was amazing. No losses. She had instincts greater than any seekers, she just didn't like flying. She wanted to duel, but more than one on one, she had grown bored of duelling with seemingly no challenge and now they had just willingly walked into her territory. No school rules here. She waited for them to stop and then she emerged, showing herself for the first time, cold smile 'pon her features. "Well, well, well, what have we here?" she questioned, voice deadly cold. "I'd say a group of students who think they're tough. Should we see how tough they really are?" she was talking to herself, wand drawn, looking deadly.

April had managed to take on her own share of manticores, and knew that she had the skill of a good dueler. Normally, she wasn't very brave, but she was definately up for protecting her friends, and was pretty loyal when she had to be.

April agreed to AJ's request as they sat down and snacked. Some of thier number were hurt, and just sitting alone. AJ joined Ellie, a girl April didn't know too well, and helped her through it. AJ had told her to gaurd the younger ones, so April stared around, making sure everything was okay.

She didn't say too much, knowing AJ was truly the leader. But she was ready to go on.

"The swamp sounds great. Let's head on, everybody, so we're back before nightfall."

April had just spoke when Flame emerged from the shadows, and looked like she was ready to fight. April stood up to stand her ground.

AJ jumped a little, not expecting someone else to be in the forest. He had seen this person before but never talked to her. He noticed everyone draw their wands, but waiting for some reason.

He didn't know what to do, "We mean no harm!" he shouted for no reason. If Flame wanted to fight, she was going to.

They waited for someone to make the first move. Should I? he thought to himself.

Just then, a hex went flying past his hed towards Flame.

"Levicorpus!" he yelled, his wand pointed at the assumed enemy.

She dodged one, two spells, smirking coldly, her duelling a dance, beautiful, intriuging. Her eyes blazed with a passion they met only when it came to magical blows, meeting head on head in a game of brain, not brawn. She was nimble, light on her feet, and she had a great knowledge of what to do and when. The power guided her, but inside her brain had a holding aswell. She wanted to scare them, show them exactly with whom they were dealing and seem as the Ravenclaw seemed in command she chose him as her target. Wand aimed, mind locked, and the non-verbal crucio shot, heading straight for the boy.

AJ saw Flame ready to strike. He was big: an easy target. He wasn't going to pretend he was a dueling champion, his game was more of strategy, outsmarting the opponent. He knew that he would need to get the others to safety, but how.

He dove when Flame pointed her wand at him. A tree got the blast.

"Run! Get out of here." He wasn't sure if they heard him, or would even listen to him.

He transfigured a branch into a tree. Or had attempted to, it just turned into a medium sized shrub. It sort of protected his friends.

Flame's eyes were transfixed on him.

Aprol rolled her eyes at Flame, who had managed to dodge several spells, but AJ had also dodged his. Aj was doing what April called "acting the hero", and trying to save everyone, which was ridiculous. She side stepped the pathetic bush and ran out next to him, ready to fight.

She looked at him quickly, then back to Flame. "Are you okay?" she asked, dodging a spell sent from Flame. Although Flame was using a little nonverbal magic, April could see the concetration on her face as she tried to do so, therefore making it prediactable.

She sent a stunner in Flame's direction, hoping at least one of her spells would make some contact. She knew her and AJ would have to work together as a team to take on Flame, who was more advanced than her and perhaps AJ as well.

Casey liestened to AJ, thinking that he had the right idea. He had a good point, if she could find a good protection charm, that would certainly help them a lot, and perhaps make it easier to tread through the forest, knowing they were a little safer. She racked her brain for charms that could be used to help protect them. But before she got the chance to respond a figure entered the clearing. Another student, but looking a heck of a lot more deadly than any regular student.

Casey kept her wand out, ready to strike if need be, but at AJ's orders she went with the others, looking for cover. She figured, at this point however, that their best chance was to stand and fight, if they all got their bearings then they should easily be able to take Flame. In theory. She turned to the others, knowing that something needed to be done. Casey followed April, taking AJ's other side, somewhat surprised at herself. She stood ready to duel.