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Post by laceyashwood on Oct 24, 2008 22:11:55 GMT 1
Lacey Ashwood walked out of the castle and onto the grounds. It was just dusk, and the sun was setting on the horizon. Sometimes Lacey would go for a run at this time; she’d taken up running at the beginning of last summer, and had tried to stick with it, no matter how busy she was with school. Now was always a good time to go, because it wasn’t too hot out. Same with the early mornings, but Lacey preferred to sleep instead of get up early.
She wasn’t running today, though, more just going for a walk. She shoved her hands into the pockets of black button up jacket to hide them away from the crisp fall air. She liked the fall, with its pretty colours and the smell of “Halloween”, as she liked to call it. What she didn’t like was the cold. Lacey was more of a summer person, rather than a winter person.
Lacey kicked through the colourful leaves that lay scattered on the grass, her head down, not watching where she was going. She was just ambling along, had no real destination in mind. She’d go wherever her feet took her tonight.
She looked up when the layer of leaves on the ground became thicker, and stopped walking. Looking around, Lacey realized she was on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. How she’d gotten here she didn’t quite know; it hadn’t seemed to take her as long as it usually did to reach the Forest…not that she came out here often. Sure, Lacey was always up for a good adventure every now and then, but why would she, the girl afraid of almost anything, come inside the Forbidden Forest at will? She wouldn’t, that was for sure.
But she was already here…her feet had lead her here…why not continue? It wasn’t like she didn’t have her wand with her (Lacey touched a hand briefly to the pocket of her jeans to make sure that it was in fact there, which it was), and it wasn’t like she didn’t know the spells. She could defend herself alright, if need be.
Lacey looked away from the castle and back to the forest as she continued on her way. She kept her head up, now, instead of down. It’d be best to be on the lookout for anything dangerous, she thought.
She stopped a little ways in. It was darker, now, and with the trees as dense as they were it made it even darker. Lacey pulled out her wand and lit it, holding it out in front of her. She waved it around, lighting up the trees around her. A quiet rustle caught her attention, and she moved her wand in the direction it had come from, her heart beginning to pound in her chest. Oh, why had she come in here? It was such a bad idea.
It was quiet again, until Lacey spotted the thing that had made the noise, and then a sharp intake of breath could be heard.
A spider, just smaller than the palm of Lacey’s hand, sat on the leaves, staring at her.
Lacey backed up slowly until she hit a tree, and stared at the spider, her wand still pointed in its direction. Spiders – her biggest fear. She couldn’t stand the small ones, and this one? This one was big, in Lacey’s opinion!
She was so afraid to move, so afraid that if she ran, it would chase after her, that all she could do was stand there, with her wand still pointed in its direction.
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Post by james on Oct 24, 2008 23:01:53 GMT 1
Another late practice. While the chances of Gryffindor taking the cup this year seemed more and more a reality, Starke had to wonder if these long and frequent practices were about more than winning the Quidditch Cup. Amelia seemed determined to win, and even more determined to show that she could be as equally successful as Quidditch captain as James had been anticipated to be. While everyone was a little surprised that James was not captain, entirely based on coincidental circumstances of course, Starke did not think that it was any reason to punish the rest of the team. For crying out loud, by the time the first game came, they would be sleeping on the field, from exhaustion. But he could also understand Amelia’s point of view. Some people were less than enthralled to have her leading them. But the person the least enthused really should accept the fact and move on.
Tired, and actually a little grumpy for once, Starke trudged away from the Quidditch field. He just wanted to fall onto his bed and go to sleep. Forget the Charms paper he had. He’d just do that Sunday night before it was due the next morning. It had been all he could do to change out of his quidditch robes and into his normal attire. Now, despite the cool weather, he could practically feel the soft pillow against his face, and the soothing sensation of closing his eyes.
The pleasant thoughts brought a hint of a smile to his face, until his eyes caught the shape of a student crossing the lawns. It was a queer sight, as she seemed to be determinedly headed straight for the Forbidden Forest. Just let her go, Starke. He thought to himself. While he sometimes did let students off the hook, he wasn’t a heartless bastard after all, he did know that the forest was forbidden for good reason. And how would he feel if anything happened to her in there? Oh for crying out loud, you know you’re going to follow eventually. There was no sense taking another step towards the castle, if he was just going to get to the doors of the courtyard and turn back then. And by the point, there was no saying what sort of peril she might encounter.
He really did not want the screams of a terrified girl to lead his way, so he took off after her at a bit of a jog. She was a fair distance away, had been even when he first spied her, so it was awhile in the forest before he would find her. Why did he always do this to himself? He was no Ravenclaw, despite how intelligent he could seem, and he was always getting himself into situations without thinking about the consequences. It had not occurred to him that in addition to her facing peril, he might too.
It had to be the growing darkness that made his mind jump at every sound. His ears were alert, but his eyesight was dimming. He was about to pull out his wand, when the sight of a bobbing light caught his attention. He headed directly for it, cursing it for continuing into the forest. This place was dangerous enough during the day. It was probably some silly little first year on a dare. He got quite a few of those.
When he finally approached the light, which had suddenly frozen in position, he could just make out a girl’s face from the reaches of the light rays. His brow furrowed. Well, she was no first year, but what was she looking at? He did not even think to be afraid as he turned around and found a freaking huge, hairy spider under spotlight from her wand.
“Woah!” He let out instinctively, subconsciously whipping his wand out of his pocket. The initial startle faded, and he waved his wand with his usual control, “Flipendo!” He called out, and the spider was blasted back, out of sight. While a successful spell for banishing such annoyances, it was really only good for small things. But that was all that was needed. Right?
Starke turned to the girl again; she hardly needed detention. She looked positively petrified by the encounter. “You all right? I’m Starke, by the way.” He said, holding out his hand, though it was difficult to see. He thought he recognized her, just by passage in the corridors and what not.
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Post by laceyashwood on Oct 25, 2008 0:58:20 GMT 1
Lacey held her wand out in front of her. For someone supposed to be an intelligent Ravenclaw, sometimes she could be really, really, stupid. Like now, for instance. Why had she let her feet carry her here? She must not have been thinking straight. She'd never go in here on a normal day.
The spider seemed to stare at her in the light of her wand. It didn't look as scared as Lacey was at all. In fact, it looked like it was trying to decide whether or not it should attack and eat her, or just leave her alone. Lacey wondered if she'd taste any good. She tried to distract herself from counting the number of eyes it had by focusing on the sound of footsteps coming closer, but it was hard.
Footsteps?
Coming closer?
Lacey looked away from the spider just for a minute to look through the trees in the direction of the noise from the footsteps. Oh, how she hoped it wasn't a bigger spider...or something worse. She looked back to the spider as she saw it move in her peripheral vision and pushed herself back against the tree. It couldn't just go away, could it? No, it had to come attack her.
Woah!
Lacey turned her head to look at the boy who'd joined her, the stunned expression still on her face. Oh no. Of all the people to come and rescue her, it had to be a prefect, didn't it? What was his name again? Lacey couldn't remember. Oh well. Either way, she'd be in so much trouble when this whole incident was over. Damn. She really didn't have time for a dentention.
She watched as the prefect pulled out his wand shot the spider into the darkness of the forest with a spell, and sighed in relief when it was out of sight. She lowered her wand and stepped away from the tree to face him as he spoke.
"Fine, now," Lacey replied, smiling half-heartedly. She had to admit that she was glad he'd come. She could've stood there forever if the spider never left. "Thanks for that," she said. She felt a little dumb standing there. It was just a spider. She knew very well that he was a Gryffindor, and was probably laughing at her in his head right now at how cowardly she was.
She could see his outstretched hand from her wand light when he introduced himself as Starke (Lacey remembered knowing that at some point), and took it. "Lacey," she told him, shaking his hand. She dropped it, and looked around awkwardly for a minute, trying to decide if she should try and make up an excuse to get out of getting in trouble. Nah, she decided, there was no point. "I suppose you're going to give me a detention now?" she asked Starke, her face expression pleading him to tell her no.
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Post by james on Oct 25, 2008 11:27:37 GMT 1
To be perfectly honest, if Starke had come across that hideous spider all on his own, he probably would have freaked. He had a tendency to do that. If someone else was afraid, there could not be a scrap of fear found by him. But if he was alone, even his Gryffindor heart could skip a few beats. But courage was not necessarily the absence of fear. Only a fool was free of fear. And yes, he could be that sometimes as well. But most of the time, it was just him harnessing his courage, and taking fear by the reigns to do what had to be done.
Even if that meant playing the hero to a young, Ravenclaw damsel-in-distress. In distress she certainly seemed to be. Maybe he was just too used to Gryffindor girls, who were able, willing, and determined to do everything on their own. They were like two-year-olds in that department. While he loved a number of them to death, they could drive him nuts with their desire to live up to all the boys, and ignore any attempt to help them.
Ravenclaws were much more receptive in that department. While their intelligence served them well, conjuring it up in the face of a terrifying spider was a whole other practice. Hufflepuffs were similar in this department, but they tended to be a lot more aloof to their surroundings. They probably would not even be aware of the gargantuan on the leaf. Oh how Starke would pay for the exaggerations going on inside his head.
Though Lacey, as he soon found was the name of his company for the moment, claimed to be okay, she still seemed a little shaken. To be expected of course. He smiled when she took his hand, but this quickly turned to an inquizzitive expression when she looked out-of-place and contemplative for a moment. He wondered what was going on in her Ravenclaw mind, but she was sooner out with it than he thought to ask. His eyebrows went back up in surprise, soon followed by a little smile. “Well, I dunno… you know, it’s really against school rules to be out here.” He was clearly joshing her, as he tried to go on with, “I should think a Ravencla-“
He stopped suddenly. A gentle rustle quieted him, his expression falling serious. His ears were on alert again, as his eyes were temporarily unfocused. He looked to Lacey briefly, to see if she had heard the noise too. He tried not to let on, even in his expression, that his heart was starting to thud rather hard against the inside of his ribcage. Certainly that little, huge spider couldn’t make that large of a shuffling sound. How was he supposed to vocalize his thoughts, though, to Lacey? “How you doing? You all right?” He asked, as though about the spider again. He could not help the underlying tone, conveying the fact that there might be reason to worry again.
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Post by laceyashwood on Oct 25, 2008 14:05:15 GMT 1
((And I knew that...? Lol, I think I just read the "seventh year prefect" as "head boy". Anyhoo, I edited it (: ))
Lacey bit her lip, just waiting for Starke to tell her that she'd have a months worth of detentions cleaning the trophy room, or some other god awful punishment like that. She smiled a little; he was clearly just joking with her, which she was glad about. She hated getting detention. Maybe having run into a prefect tonight wasn't so bad. Not that Lacey would make it a habbit of running into them when she was breaking school rules....
Lacey frowned in confusion when Starke suddenly stopped mid-sentence. People didn't do that unless they had a reason. She looked around at the forest for a second, trying to see throughthe darkness that had settled there, before turning back to him. "What?" she asked, lowering her voice a little. They should just leave. They could talk on the way back up to the castle. Standing in the middle of the Forbidden Forest was a dumb thing to do.
He must have heard something, another rustle or something like that, and just didn't want to scare her. But what it if was something worth being scared about? Like the spider coming back to attack? Or worse, a bigger spider, or something that could actually kill them? Her heart started beating faster, just at the thought of something that could kill them. Why was she so stupid? Ravenclaws were not supposed to be stupid!
She snapped out of her irrational thoughts as Starke spoke again. She could tell there was something wrong...something to be worried about. "Um...yes?" she lied. She wasn't alright. Lacey was scared out of her wits. She looked around the forest again quickly, and then back to Starke. "I think it'd be a good idea if we left," she said, her voice quiet. She took a few steps in the direction of the way out, holding her wand up in front of her to light her way, but stopped when she heard a soft rustling sound. Lacey turned to Starke, her eyes filled with fear and nervousness. "Did you hear that?"
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Post by james on Oct 25, 2008 21:38:22 GMT 1
While Starke did haul a number of people off to the Headmistress for a reckoning, he also had a tendency to let people off. Especially if it was their first offence, and he was likely to be questioned for his whereabouts as well. That latter was not quite as much of a motivation as some people would think. His unpredictable mercy was truly borne of the desire to please people, and gain their praise. If it was someone who would surely be ungrateful, then they would have no chance with him. If he could get the praise of his peer, he would get it of the headmistress.
But his invitation for her gratitude would not finish. And now, praise was the furthest thing from his mind. While, indeed, he did not want to frighten her, Starke was starting to worry that there really might be a reason to worry. There were a lot of dark and scary things out in the forest, untold dangers beyond even that which he knew of. And he knew of plenty enough to make him agree with Lacey.
He knew Lacey was scared, despite what she said. This was clearer when she suggested they leave quietly. He nodded, briefly, making to follow after her in haste. He was right on her heels when the rustling came again. He could not help his eyes going wide, as he stared aimlessly back down at Lacey, who was facing him now. He was close to her. Awkwardly close. But this was the last thing on his mind. In fact, if he could move, he would have stepped right next to her so he could feel her presence, rather than just sense it.
When he finally focused on Lacey, instead of just staring at her, he nodded briefly. He let out a cold breath. In the dim reaches of the light from her wand, his breath could be seen wisping away into nothingness. He wished that were true. But there was something. Something there. He turned slowly. His arm pressed gently against Lacey’s shoulder to look back from whence they had shortly come. “Keep moving.” He advised, just above a whisper. To motivate her, he took her elbow in his hand and tried to nudge her on.
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Post by laceyashwood on Oct 25, 2008 23:20:44 GMT 1
Lacey looked up at him, realizing that he was closer than she'd thought he'd been. But that didn't matter to her now like it might have had they not been in the situation they were in. She didn't really find it awkward, or anything, more comforting. If she'd been alone, she'd probably have died of fear by now. It was sort of nice, in a way, to know that someone was there with her. And that it was a Gryffindor, too. Gryffindors were supposed to be brave, weren't they?
She bit her lip when Starke nodded that yes, he had heard the same quiet rustling noise she had. She lifted her wand a little bit, moving it around them to try and getting a better view of forest around them, but there was nothing to be seen but trees. She lowered her wand again as Starke nudged her with his arm, before telling her to keep moving.
Lacey just nodded to agree with him. It was probably best that they kept quiet, incase whatever was out there had good ears and could hear them from a mile away. In fact, there was probably a hundred things in this forest that would be able to hear them...a hundred things that were possibly hungry at the moment. She didn't doubt it for one second that those wouldn't want to eat her and Starke if they caught them.
She walked as quietly as she could onward out of the forest, slightly comforted by Starke's hand on her elbow. In her other hand was her wand, guiding their way out. They were farther into the forest than Lacey had originally thought, as she couldn't see the edge of the trees in the distance, but maybe it would come. Or were they going in the wrong direction? Maybe they were just heading deaper into the forest. Lacey didn't even want to think about that.
The only noise now was the crunching of the fallen leaves beneath their feat, and Lacey hoped that'd be the only noise they heard until they were safely out of the forest.
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Post by james on Oct 26, 2008 11:12:31 GMT 1
While Starke highly doubted Lacey would physically be able to protect him, nor would he expect her to, actually touching her brought a great sigh of relief. It might have seemed like he was trying to guide her out of the forest, but part of him was also clutching to her. He’d never admit, of course, but the fact that she was letting him do so was giving him further courage. But that did not mean that he wanted to hang around.
His foot landed on a twig, loudly snapping it in half. Startled from the noise, his grip tightened on Lacey, but he made no other indication of being frightened. Aside from clearing his throat and encouraging her on. For crying out loud, it was dark. He could barely see a thing beyond her wand. It finally occurred to him to pull out his again and double the light source.
He whispered the spell and the tip of his wand matched Lacey’s. He felt slightly better being able to see a tad more. It was better than nothing. Another crack came, and he stopped dead cold in his tracks. He glanced at Lacey. “That one wasn’t me.” This time there was no hiding the fact that he was on edge. She was in this as much as he was, and he knew little more than she did about what was approaching them.
It was only a beat, a beat that gave him the opportunity to turn, before a body the size of his own torso, with at least an eight foot leg span, came flying at him through the darkness. In ducking his shoulder towards the creature, and blocking his face with a scream, he anticipated the furry body colliding with him. A large leg knocked hard against his chest, and he stumbled back into a tangle web he had not previously seen. While it was not a sticky surrounding, Starke could not help but notice the spider’s legs flying towards its prey. He no sooner got his wand pointed towards the foul beast, than it started producing more silk to wrap his legs up in. All the while, he was unaware of the amount of noise he was making, natural yells and groans that one would make when about to be eaten by a giant arachnid.
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Post by laceyashwood on Oct 26, 2008 15:06:33 GMT 1
Lacey walked on through the forest, the light from her wand leading their way. Man, was it dark. Her wand’s light was barely doing anything to help. She heard a twig snap loudly from behind her and jumped, startled, at the sudden noise. She could tell it had just been Starke, though, when his grip tightened on her arm and he cleared his throat, probably to encourage her to keep going.
She was so focused on getting out of the forest that she didn’t even hear Starke whisper a spell; she only realized that he had when their light source grew bigger. That was better, Lacey thought, a bit easier to see now with double the light, although not very much. It was better than nothing, at least.
Another snap of a twig came, and Lacey stopped, halted by Starke. She turned around to look at him as he spoke.
That one wasn’t me.
Lacey could feel the fear bubbling in her stomach. “Me neither,” Lacey whispered. Something else was out there, and for all Lacey knew, it was coming for them.
One second it seemed as though Lacey was standing upright next to Starke, and then next she was lying on the ground, her wand a foot away from her. She grunted, winded a little bit from the impact of whatever had made her fall, and stumbled to her feet, reaching out for her wand. She whipped around to face the source of the groans and yells. That was possibly the biggest spider she’d ever seen! If it hadn’t already been attacking Starke, and if that hadn’t motivated her to try and help, she probably would have fainted right then and there.
What could she do? Lacey was terrible in these kinds of situations, and her wand wasn’t the best in them either. Lacey tried to think as fast as she could back to all of her Defence Against the Dark Arts classes…what spells had they learned?
“St…stupefy!” Lacey shouted weakly, and a jet of faint red light shot out towards the giant spider. The spider was blasted a few feet away from them, but not far enough for Lacey to be content, and seemed to be knocked out for a few short seconds. The spell hadn’t worked as well as she’d wanted it to. It stood up again on all eight giant, hairy legs, and looked at Lacey. It seemed to just realize she was there as well, and looked almost overjoyed about it. She began to back away from it as it advanced slowly, her mind blank of spells.
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Post by james on Oct 26, 2008 20:52:14 GMT 1
Hardly noticing that Lacey had also been physically offended, Starke was frozen with fear. Though his wand was in a prime position for casting a defensive spell, he was too taken with the binding of his body that he could not fight. He stared at the Acromantula wide-eyed, not thinking what to do until it was knocked out of his immediate sight.
He remembered Lacey was there, and did not have to give her a second glance to know she had blasted the spider away. “Abrumpo Web!” He called, pointing his wand down his front. A golden jet from the tip of his wand spliced down the binds, and he was able to break away just in time to leap out onto the back of the spider. He gripped the fuzzy body tightly. While the spider was the largest thing he had ever seen that lived and breathed, it was actually a rather small spider in comparison to the size they could get.
While it had been moving in on Lacey rather slowly, it now was furious with the impact of Starke’s body. Starke, while wrangling the spider’s body with one arm, attempted to hold on and point his wand at its head at the same time. Before he could fathom a spell to stop their attacker, Starke was thrown off onto his back. His wand was lost from his grip. His gaze focused only briefly on the beast to realize that it was advancing again on his counterpart, before he threw himself over onto his stomach, his hands scrambling though the woodsy debris.
Starke could feel his hands growing raw as it brushed fiercely over the ground. He was sure his palm was cut by now, but an excitement grew within him, distracting him from the pain, when he felt the handle of his wand.
Unsure of what the spider was doing now, he spun back over and shot his wand blindly in its direction. “Impedimenta!” He yelled, hoping to stop it in mid motion, at the very least slow it down.
Starke was on his feet quickly, running towards Lacey. He breathed Lumos again to light the tip of his wand, so he could actually find her.
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