June 1st - June 19th
It's almost summer! The last few weeks of school have come, and students will need to study hard for their final exams! Don't let up yet, or your grades won't be what you want them to. Of course, the weather is almost perfect and pristine, in attempts to lure students away from their studies.
Bad to the Bone [2.7.09] ISO: Brid
There must have been something about breaking rules that was so undeniably...addicting. Once you started, you couldn't stop. And then, once you had a role model that also liked to break rules, well, it just nudged you along. Breena Stacey was the kind of person that simply needed to go sky diving and get it over with. She evidently had some serious thrill problems that would best be worked out in the most drastic way possible. But since that wasn't an option for her at the moment, she would have to resort to whatever she was capable of at Hogwarts. And that, unfortunately, turned out to be breaking the rules as much as possible. She and Brid had broken into the Caretaker's office a few months before, and had been in some serious trouble for it, but that simply wasn't enough. She wanted more! It had been so long since she had done something against the rules.
So now she and Brid had formulated yet another plan. Something else a little risky and against the rules. Something...fun. Breena had to admit that she had misjudged the house of Ravenclaw until she had met Brid. Because of their love to learn, she had assumed they would all be the kinds that followed the code of conduct like it was religion. As of now, however, Brid and Breena were partners in crime. Together they would obstruct justice, defy peace, whatever all that jazz was. It was a grand life. The fact that they could be caught at any moment just got the adrenaline pumping like no other. And if they successfully entered the forest and made it out alive, they could brag about that for the next six and a half years! Think about it! Six and a half years of bragging rights! Even if they DID get caught, that was completely worth it.
Breena and Brid had planned their little encounter out. It wouldn't be a haphazard occasion in which they ran around like chickens with their heads cut off. No, instead it was articulate. Error free. Sure to be a success. Well, as long as Flint didn't stick his nosy nose into their business. That would ruin things, to say the least.
The two had planned to meet at eleven o'clock sharp. If they got caught they would experience double penalty (breaking into the forest AND being out past curfew) but they couldn't risk being seen by another student that would snitch on them. You could never rely on anyone else except those close to you. That was Breena's motto for the night. In order to not attract attention to what they were up to, their meeting point was behind the Greenhouses. Out of view of a passerby. Breena had hurried through the corridors, bundled up in her coat and scarf so not to freeze in the darkness of the night, and finally made it to the grounds. She was almost home free! The way she looked at it, their greatest chances of being caught were from their dormitories to the greenhouses, and then from the greenhouses to the forest. Once they were IN the forest, they were probably guaranteed a good hour for exploring. Then once they left the forest, they were in danger of being caught again. But as long as they made it from the forest to the castle afterwards, they would be homefree from the charges of being in the forest.
Needless to say, Breena had put a lot of thought into that night.
Now she crouched behind the Greenhouses, making sure that she was entirely hidden. Bouncing up and down on her bent legs, she waited for Brid to come so they could start their adventure. THIS was going to be a night to remember.
Bloody hell, why did Ravenclaw Tower have to be near the top of the castle? Never mind the fact that it was a tower. At times like "these", it was inconvinient, and frankly, Brid wasn't in the mood for inconvinient. She was actually not in the mood for much at the moment, but that was simply because she was incredibly nervous.
The Ravenclaw girl had displayed such a brave streak since she'd arrived at Hogwarts that she was starting to wonder why, exactly, she hadn't been placed in Gryffindor. But then it occured to her that she was doing dangerous, rule-breaking things because she wanted the thrill. Well, that wasn't quite true. However, she was actually in it for the information. Breaking into Flint's office? There was access to files of information on other students from the past, keys to how people acted and maybe even why. Sneaking into the Forbidden Forest? Sure, it had to be forbidden for some reason or another, but maybe that was just a protection for something incredibly amazing. Who knew what could be found in the depts of the forest? And she honestly thought that it was only called 'The Forbidden Forest' to keep the students out, because the professors and prefects couldn't be bothered patrolling the entire thing. It had to be huge.
It was really the sneaking out after dark that was making Brid nervous, since she couldn't justify it mentally. There was nothing for it now, however, since she was already halfway down to the greenhouses. She was dressed in the darkest muggle clothing she could find, several hooded sweatshirts, sweaters, and long sleeved shirts on underneath her jacket. Her scarf was tucked under the jacket, so that the bright bronze wouldn't give her away and get caught on something, and her blonde hair was covered by a black hat, though still loose. She was dressed for the weather, for once, mostly because she wasn't willing to let herself get sick again.
She hestitated in the doorway before racing toward the greenhouses, looking left and right to make sure that no one was there to catch her. She was a fast runner, and her long legs carried her there within a matter of seconds, where she practically fell over in her hurry to crouch down beside Breena.
"Ready?" She whispered, trying to cover her nervousness. It wasn't hard; she was incredibly excited. They would be the talk of the school if they pulled this off - even if they didn't! First years, sneaking out after curfew and getting into the Forbidden Forest? The detentions they could earn would be horrific, but this was definitely worth it. "Let's go!" She grinned and glanced around again before standing up slightly and racing towards the forest in a slightly doubled over crouch, doing her best to keep low and behind buildings, bushes, and everything else she could use as shelter.
Re: Bad to the Bone [2.7.09]
Breena froze as she heard a crunching on the grass close by. It was probably just Brid, but she couldn't take any chances. She held her breath, waiting as the steps got closer and closer. It HAD to be Brid. When her fellow first year nearly slid to a stop next to Breena, she exhaled quietly, feeling relieved. They couldn't relax at any time until they were in the forest, which would probably destroy any thoughts of relaxing the way it was. They had kept their business quiet and between the two of them, so there wouldn't be a chance of another student spilling the beans to a teacher. So they were safe in that aspect. But Breena had never been out past curfew. She didn't know who lurked around once the sun went down...
"Ready?" Brid whispered, and Breena nodded eagerly in response, hoping her friend could see her even in the dark. Once they got into the forest, they could light their wands. "Let's go!" Brid said, before racing toward the forest, half crouched. Breena followed closely behind her, pausing every few moments once she was in a shielded position to glance around and make sure they didn't have any company. After one final glance, Breena made the last bolt toward the forest, and soon, she and Brid were in the trees. They were hardly thick yet, but Breena took that opportunity to stop with her back against a particularly thick oak tree to catch her breath.
Panting, she looked ahead to see if Brid had stopped or not. Darkness pressed against her eyes, so she could hardly see if Brid was anywhere around her. Well, if Brid was about two inches in front of Breena's face, she would see, but then again that would cross physical barriers for both the girls, so it was highly unlikely. "Well we made it this far!" Breena said in an excited, hushed whisper. Hopefully Brid was somewhere close, or Breena would sound a little bit loopy. In the forest, against a tree, whispering to herself. Oh yes, that was always splendid.
Breena finally deemed herself ready to continue, and darted from her oak tree to another, hiding herself. The trees were still very sparse, and if someone was close enough, they would see her. She plotted her pathway, and quickly jumped from tree to tree, hoping to all that was high and mighty that she wasn't making much noise.
Finally, once the trees were thick enough, Breena pulled her wand out, and whispered "Lumos!" A beam of light appeared out of the tip of her wand revealing Breena's face, pale from anxiety, yet her eyes were gleaming with eagerness. "Brid?" She whispered, scanning the trees for her friend.
Lyssa Kerr
Bridget "Brid" Campbell
1st Year Ravenclaw Fly on the Wall
Adrienne Denton
4th Year Ravenclaw
Chaser It's all in the Details...
Jordyn Huntington
4th Year Gryffindor Eh?
Sera Tilton
7th Year Gryffindor
Prefect/Chaser Overachiever
Re: Bad to the Bone [2.7.09]
As they cleared the first of the trees, Brid pulled her wand out from her pocket but didn't light it - at least not yet. They could still be easily seen from the castle grounds, and she didn't want to be the reason they got caught. She slowed down a bit, though, so that she didn't trip over a root and fall sprawling onto her face, or something equally embarrassing. In the dark it was hard to see anything, and she glanced over her shoulder only to see that Breena wasn't there. Her heart nearly stopped, and she froze, leaning against a tree as though it would provide her with some sort of protection. Had she lost Breena already? She was too close to the school to risk lighting her wand to see if her friend was nearby, and she wasn't willing to shout Breena's name to see if she answered. What if a professor or a prefect did? Or worse yet, something not human?
Already her imagination was starting to run away from her, and quickly she stopped her imaginings before they could get too exciting.
Taking a breath, she gasped when she heard the crackle of footsteps, peering around the edge of the tree and hoping that it wasn't an adult. But no, it was Breena, and she let out a long breath of relief. At this rate, her heart was going to give out before they did much exploring. Shaking her head at her own jumpiness, Brid continued into the forest, holding her wand out and glancing over her shoulder every so often to see how far she was from the castle. She lost sight of Breena again, but figured that she'd be able to find the Gryffindor without too much trouble. After all, they could wander that far from each other in so little time; it was simply impossible. After six months of rooming with mostly logical girls in a House filled with mostly logical people, it was becoming second nature for Brid to start thinking about things in a logical manner.
If only her mother could see how she was thinking now...
"Lumos," She whispered, igniting the tip of her wand brightly. Over to her left she could see another glowing wand tip, though in all other directions it was pitch black. Merlin; had this really been a good idea? She all but ran to where Breena was, her wand casting shadows in the trees around her. She thought she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye, but dismissed it quickly and focused on not letting herself get scared. She was not going to wimp out!
"Brid?"
"Here," She whispered back, her grin appearing a touch hesitant, but otherwise relaxed. Glancing around, she asked, "Which way? We should probably go in one direction..." So we don't get lost, she added silently. How were they going to find their way out? She had absolutely no idea, and no spells came to mind which would help. She knew she'd read about some, somewhere, but hadn't been able to perform them herself. She was, after all, only a first year. Grinning at Breena, she couldn't help but exclaim, "We did it!"
Re: Bad to the Bone [2.7.09]
Breena's eyes scanned her surroundings, but in the pitch black of the night, she couldn't see a thing. Even with her wand lit at the end. It only shed a small beam of light onto the ground. She was suddenly wishing that they had thought to bring a lantern or a torch or something. Maybe they could make a torch...no that was dangerous. Breena didn't want to get expelled for not only being in the forest, but for burning down the whole thing. Definitely not a good idea. Her eyes needed to adjust to the utter darkness though, or it was going to be a difficult trip through the forest that night. In hopes of adjusting her vision faster, Breena blinked furiously, but to no avail. She would have to just sit and wait it out. And be blind as the three blind mice until then.
"Here," Brid finally whispered back. Breena whipped around in Brid's direction, and when her faint wand light hit her friend, she smiled in relief. Being all alone in the forest would have been an absolute nightmare. "Which way? We should probably go in one direction..." Brid whispered. Breena silently agreed, and started searching the ground for some sort of pathway or marker so they would be able to find their way back.
Before Breena found anything, however, Brid exclaimed, "We did it!" Breena turned around and looked at Brid, and couldn't help but return her grin. They had! They did it! Even if they got caught now, they were in the forest, and they were only first years! Breena was sure there were some upperclassmen that had been going to Hogwarts for years and still couldn't say that they had been in the forbidden forest! Actually, most of them would probably say that! Breena and Brid were just a highly special case. Which highly special bragging rights they could flaunt for their entire lives.
"We're either crazy or amazing," Breena replied with a grin, as she continued to search the ground. She took a few steps to her right, the leaves crunching underneath her feet. Other than the two of them, the forest was quiet. Extremely quiet. To the point that it was eery. A chill sprinted up Breena's spine, but she tried to shake it off. The forest couldn't really be that dangerous, could it? Nah. Not at all. Probably just a few bowtruckles here and there.
As Breena continued to wander, she finally came across something of a narrow dirt path. There were leaves scattered over it, but it was clear enough of a path for them to follow. "Hey Brid!" Breena called. "There's a path over here! Let's follow it!" Waiting for Brid to catch up, Breena looked ahead down the path. Nothing but darkness...
Lyssa Kerr
Bridget "Brid" Campbell
1st Year Ravenclaw Fly on the Wall
Adrienne Denton
4th Year Ravenclaw
Chaser It's all in the Details...
Jordyn Huntington
4th Year Gryffindor Eh?
Sera Tilton
7th Year Gryffindor
Prefect/Chaser Overachiever
Re: Bad to the Bone [2.7.09]
Brid wasn't sure what to do with herself. Her rational - sane - side screamed at her to hightail it back to the castle pronto; they'd been, they'd seen, and now it was time to get out. They could still claim they'd been in the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night as a first year without getting caught. However, the problem with remaining in the forest was that their chances of getting caught by something (human, creature, or even something else) were getting and higher and higher with each second. She honestly couldn't think of a good reason to stay in the forest, except for that they were already there. What could be the harm in staying for a while longer? They hadn't yet seen anything particularily interesting, though the trees were pretty big, and it wasn't like anything had attacked them yet. She could have been panicking over nothing, and that was more likely than not in her opinion.
That was why she was actually more excited than terrified; an entire forest of opportunities lay before them, so to speak. She couldn't even begin to imagine what they would find in there, and honestly, she was only imagining the good things. Imagining the frightening things, like werewolves and vampires and centaurs, would only make her more nervous.
"We're either crazy or amazing,"
"As much as I'd like to say we're amazing," Brid couldn't help but laugh, holding up her wand to see where Breena was headed without trailing the Gryffindor, "I don't think that's completely true. We've just got the craziness and brilliance all in one package; how else could we pull this off?" It was true, to an extent. They had had to plan this out, and once they had formulated the plan they had both had to be crazy enough to even try and pull it off. This wasn't like breaking into Flint's office, which hadn't been well planned at all - though, in retrospect, pretty informative. Of course, if they did get caught Brid had the feeling that they'd be in detention for months, and she wouldn't be able to claim Dragon Pox to get out of this one. Shuddering a bit at the thought of getting sick again, she turned and frowned when she realized Breena was out of range of her light.
She decided after a second to continue in the direction that Brid had headed, which was probably for the best as she heard moments later, up ahead of where she was walking,
"Hey Brid! There's a path over here! Let's follow it!"
She caught up with Breena in no time, breaking into a run and holding her wand aloft so that it lit the ground well enough for her to run. She still was a little worried about tripping and falling on her face, since she wasn't the most graceful of girls and in a place like this, it was all too easy. 'Yeah, I got into the forest, and got a faceful of scratches to prove it!' - not exactly her idea of bragging. Coming to a halt beside Breena, she grinned at the other girl and glanced down the path; it was faint, but there. And very, very dark. Suddenly, Brid had the urge to turn around again, but forced it back and lifted her wand sightly, hoping to illuminate the path a little more.
"Where d'you suppose it goes?" She asked, her voice suddenly hushed; she was nervous, but didn't know how that equated into nearly whispering. Glancing at Breena with a mischevious smile, she added, "I suppose we're going to have to find out!" She wasn't courageous enough, however, to take that first step and begin walking down the path.
Re: Bad to the Bone [2.7.09]"As much as I'd like to say we're amazing,"Brid started, laughing. "I don't think that's completely true. We've just got the craziness and brilliance all in one package; how else could we pull this off?" She did have a point. You had to be good to be able to plan an excursion such as this, and you had to be downright stupid to actually go through with it. Breena was certain of that fact. There were dangerous things in the forest, and there were huge consequences for getting caught sneaking around in off-limits territory. But that was what made it all worth it, right? That's what made the heart pound and the adrenaline pump. There was something to be said about adrenaline. It was like an organic, 100% natural, body created drug. Because people, like Breena, could go positively crazy off of it. She just couldn't get enough of it. Which was perhaps why she was going to kill herself before she reached her Sweet Sixteen.
"Where d'you suppose it goes?" Brid asked in a hushed voice. Breena peered down the path, trying to see ahead so she could possibly answer Brid's question, but it was simply too dark. "I suppose we're going to have to find out!" While Brid seemed gung ho about it, it didn't look as if she were ready to take the first step herself. Ah, and that was why the two of them were friends. They got crazy, ridiculous, obnoxious ideas together, Brid was a Ravenclaw meaning she was supposed to be logical and rational, which helped while formulating plans, and Breena was a blindly bold Gryffindor. Match made in heaven, right?
"Aaaaand," Breena started with a grin. "We're off!" With that bold sentiment, she began to tentatively make her way down the path, keeping her eyes open for jutting roots or anything of the sort. She, like Brid, didn't want to trip and fall on her face. Though she would like showing off the bruises. She would just have to make the story more interesting. She got attacked by a herd of centaus and barely made it out alive. Yes, that sounded lively enough.
Stumbling a bit on the uneven ground, Breena continued, her mouth agape and her face ghostly pale. She was a little bit shaken, yes, but not enough for her to go running back to the castle in a frenzy. However, a large tremble in the bushes ahead of them was enough to make Breena stop dead in her tracks, watching the shivering leaves in fright. "Oh no..." she mumbled. They were going to die. Some monstrous beast was going to charge out from behind the bushes, eat them whole, and go on it's merry way. And then no one would ever know what came of poor Breena Stacey and Bridget Cambell. How many teeth was it going to have? And claws? Lots of those too, right? Oh bloody hell, this was a bad idea.
Heart pounding in her ears, Breena didn't dare to rip her eyes off of the bush. "Just in case we die..." Breena started in a dramatic, hushed whisper. "I just wanted to tell you you're my best friend..."
Email This To a Friend
Topic Commands
Click to receive email notification of replies
Click to stop receiving email notification of replies