Why are we here again.

Sam shot a furtive look around the clearing as he and Rhys entered it, giving a final squeeze of each other's hands before forsaking their physical connection to bask in the glow of the glorious tree standing before them in the middle of the first well lit place he'd seen in what felt like half an hour

The first well lit place they'd seen in half an hour.

Yeah. Sam couldn't see a thing.

"Holy..." he cursed, his hand flying to his eyes as he stumbled around in circles for a few seconds before finally lowering himself to the ground simply so that he couldn't fall.

Of course that didn't mean he couldn't jump, and when Felix's voice once again met their ears he did jump, his fear escaping his previously well maintained sense of calm via a few choice words.

"Here," he said, stumbling forward and pressing his palm to the base of the tree, Felix's voice ringing out before he took in what Rhys was saying.

"Your wand?" He asked, looking around but failing to see it. "No," he said after a long pause. "Wh- where could it be?" He asked. "I didn't see anything enter the clearing," he added, a rising tone of panic filling his voice.

"Sam! What's wrong... can you see?" Rhys looked up at him, and stumbled over to where he sat, and she took hold of his hand, holding onto it carefully as she looked around for her wand. "I don't see my wand Sam... Sam I don't see my wand!" she gasped, and it was really starting to sink in that they were completely at Felix Barker's mercy. The voice had announced that Sam had a tree as well, and it had gone silent after that. The animals started to make noise again, and it was then that Rhys realized she heard something circling the clearing.

She gasped and looked around, before she realized they were completely surrounded, and it's then that she saw her wand. It hadn't dropped onto the ground, oh no.. it was up in the branches of the tree. And she knew what that meant.. she had to climb the tree to get it.. but if she climbed the tree to get it... with the things all around, it would look as though she were trying to get away from them, and something horrible would happen. Suddenly she got really tense and she stopped moving completely. "Sam... we have a problem." She whispered, her eyes locked on him, his hand clasped in both of hers. "There is something circling the clearing, and my wand is up the tree... something bad will happen if I climb up to get it.. do you realize what that means Sam?" She whispered and then frowned, and looked at him. "Someone near me will get hurt.." She could feel the tears threatening to leave her eyes, but she couldn't let him see her weakness. "We'll have to move on.. we have to hurry Sam.. we have to get out of here.... wand or no wand.. we have to move." She said and pulled on his arm, trying to get him to move out of the clearing as fast as possible.

"Rhys," Sam said, his voice torn as he looked around for the wand, finally spotting it in the tree she'd mentioned and cursing vehemently for a few seconds.

"Rhys, it's your wand, we can't just leave without it," he told her, his voice dripping with agitation as he thought of all the time they were losing to this. They would never reach all the trees at this rate.

"Besides, we need to fight it, how do you think you could manage that without a wand?" He asked, finally giving up as she dragged his arm, and by association - himself - outside of the clearing with her, following what looked more like a sort of trampled down section of forest than a path.

"We should go back," he said after a few minutes of silence between the two of them, broken only by the crackling of the undergrowth as they trapsed through the forest. "I mean," he said, "It's your wand... surely we can fight whatever was circling the clearing off long enough for you to fetch it," he suggested, knowing in his heart that he was wrong.

Rhys was stumbling along, stumbling until she could hear the noises fading in the background. "Sam... we couldn't get it.. we couldn't have.. "She whispered, turning to look at him. "I know.. I need my wand, but you have yours! We'll make it out okay! I'll buy a new one I don't care.. but if I were to climb that tree... no matter what happened on the ground... I'd be counted against for trying to hide up a tree.. and you know what he said about that! And I couldn't bear for you to get hurt." During her passionate speech, Rhys wasn't really thinking about what she was actually saying. Until it was out of her mouth of course. She had just admitted, in a way, that she cared about him. She didn't care for many people, sure her family was awesome, and she had a few friends, but she was confused for her feelings for Sam, and she knew that if Barker went after anyone.. it would be Sam.. not her family.

"I mean.." She said, as though it would help take back what she had just said. "There were monsters.... around there.. they would get you.. if I went up the tree.. for my wand.." She finished lamely, and then looked up at him, tears glistening on her cheeks. She felt naked without her wand, exposed, and in danger. Sam was her only hope now, and all she had with him was a shared detention and the grip they had on each other's hands, nothing more. The holding of hands was a comfort tool, not anything else. They had been thrown in this, and they needed to know that they had each other, it didn't mean anything more to Sam, she was sure... is that why she felt so... crushed? Knowing that he didn't like her like that.. he was a 5th year.. she was a 4th... things didn't happen like that, and it made her sad, and confused, and almost angry at the same time.

"We should keep going.. who knows how far away the other trees are.. "She whispered and forged on ahead, her hand still locked in his.

Awkward situations are awkward.

Even more awkward when you were feeling a little awkward to begin with, in that way that you're fine about it, and you've accepted it (afterall, don't we all feel at least a little awkward all the time?) but at the same time, the moment it grows at all, all the awkwardness you'd had under wraps suddenly becomes really...

well...

awkward.

So when Rhys let something slip, something he'd suspected, and something he'd even... well, let's not go into it (The inner workings of the mind... oh how they could be elaborated)
Suffice to say, from the time they'd entered the forest up until this very second Sam'd changed from believing he was the only confused one there, to knowing that they were possibly in the same boat.

Detention or no detention, that rocked.

But then, almost like its metaphorical little friend the balloon, Sam's happiness deflated. Self confidence issues how crippling you are! Sure enough, just after she'd made him feel elation above anything he'd felt in... well, he had found a bottle of butterbeer in his trunk the other day, so that didn't really create a good benchmark for passing of time, but just after she'd sent his spirits soaring she'd turned and thrown them back down to the ground through a hasty denial, met by someone who was only too keen to accept, someone who'd expected such a thing to happen, which really dashed his hopes.

Looking away for a second he thought he heard a sniffle, people often didn't realise that when they cried, no matter how well hidden, their breathing did become a little tighter, and as such the noise changed. Sam oughta've known, he'd heard it enough times.

"Come here," he said, turning his body to face hers before pulling her into a tight hug.

"It'll be alright, we'll come back in the daytime and find it if we need to, or Barker will have it - lets face it, it's the kind of thing he'd do. Steal a wand just for laughs," he muttered venemously.

"But you're right, we've got one wand, that's enough for us, we can share if need be, and those trees wont find themselves. One second," he said, breaking off the hug and placing his wand on his palm.

"Point me," cast Sam, watching his wand spin to a point. "I thought as much. we're heading deeper into the forest, duh," he said with another lighthearted chuckle, commencing the walk once more.

"Ah, and there's another," he shouted, starting to run towards the tree, letting go of Rhys' hand for a second before stopping in his tracks. "Here, we do this together, sorry," he said, grabbing her hand once more and walking with her into the clearing.

(Sorry for the tangents in my post, I like to get off track with Sam. He's not very 2 dimensionally written.... nor is he 3 dimensionally. I think he has a bit of me in him xD)

Rhys was suddenly pulled into a hug and she felt her body immediately go to his warmth, wrapped her arms around him and held on tight, trying to forget her fears of the night for a little bit longer. She took a deep breath and immediately felt dizzy, he smelt so good! How could a guy smell so good? It was impossible! Running through the forest, getting scared.. and he still smelt like heaven!! She tried not to act like she was sniffing him of course, but she couldn't help it, she sniffled once, and had to make it look like she was on the verge of tears to keep the situation from being less.. awkward.

But when he let her go, and then pulled her into another clearing, The tree was there, and with his hand clasped in hers, she felt safe for the first time since entering the woods. She looked up at the beautiful tree, and smiled slightly. It really was a lovely piece of wandwork, the ability to make a tree so beautiful that it made everything feel wonderous. And it was then that she glanced at Sam, and felt like her heart could stop beating right then. The glow from the tree made him look like a god, like seriously, a god who was to handsome to be human. So unhuman, and human at the same time, she nearly wanted to faint. She couldn't help but stare at him, her eyes locked on the angelic beauty of his face that the tree was giving off.

It was then that she noticed the smell. A horrid, putrid, acid smell, and she felt her whole body tense. She moved closer to him and looked around the clearing. When he reached out to touch the tree, she did as well, and then pulled her hand back, her arms flung out, her whole body shaking. "Something's wrong.. something is wrong... Oh...." Rhys felt her body feel like it was filled with lead, and then it was taken away and she felt like she was floating. She gripped his hand for support, and then gasped, nearly fainting. It was like she didn't have enough oxygen. "Sam.... whoa... the ground.. why is it spinning? Whoa.." Rhys fell backwards against the tree, and looked up into it's branches. "Pretty lights..." She whispered, and suddenly lights did shine, from all over the tree, little bright blue lights.

They descended upon Rhys, and floated around her head, a soft giggling sound came from them, but at the same time, they were giving off a putrid odor, one Rhys didn't seem to smell as she batted at the lights, looking like she was drugged. "Sam... you gotta try this.." She giggled and sunk to the ground by the tree, looking around at the lights as they played in her hair and rested on her skin. Suddenly though, Rhys yelled out and slapped her arm, the light flew away in time, but an angry red welt appeared on her arm. "Ouch.. that hurt.." She said, coming out of her stupor, until suddenly another one stung her. "ouch! Let go.. get them off of me!" She screamed and thrashed, trying to hit them as they stung her in multiple places, on her face, and hands, and arms, and legs.

"Sam! Help me!" One grabbed her hair, and then another looked like it was creating a web, a web that it was attaching to the tree, and then attaching to her feet. "Sam!! Help! Help!" At the same time this happened though, something else came into the clearing. Something, large, and hairy, with saliva dripping down it's muzzle. Then it lifted its head and howled at the moon. "It seems it is snack time.." A voice said from the trees, and more appeared on the edges of the forest, closing in on their prey, one of which was being strung up by the ankles to the tree.

((As your MSN thingo should let you know, I don't know what the Blue things are.
So Imma gone play that Sam doesn't either :O))

Sam flashed a... well, what he hoped appeared to be reassuring... grin at Rhys as the two of them approached the tree, feeling his stomach do a flip as he saw that she was looking at him too - what was up with him? Very weird feelings...

Anyway, feelings or no feelings the two of them had a job to do, and as such Sam found the two of them reaching out to the base of the tree, pressing his palm to the trunk at the same time as she did, smiling at her once more as the voice of Felix rang out for the two of them.

Then something weird happened, Sam took his eyes off his friend for little more than a second before he heard her cry out, noticed the sudden tightness on his hand, and be jerked towards the ground as Rhys slipped down.

"Rhys?" He asked, looking at the girl who had just a few seconds ago seemed perfectly fine fall unconscious... or into some sort of trance, unconscious people couldn't speak.

Blue lights? Sam couldn't see anything, she was going nuts, it appeared. "Rhys," he said, a note of panic rising in his voice, "Rhys, you're freaking me out, I can't see any - " he said, dropping silent suddenly as he saw the welt appear on her arm - clearly something out of the ordinary here, a thought which only grew in Sam's mind as she started rolling about, lashing out wildly as more and more welts appeared.

The thing about people screaming and thrashing about, coupled with the fear that people experienced in environments such as this one lead to a lot of noise being created.
Like. A lot.

And the thing about a lot of noise is that it can attract unwanted attention, as well as hiding many other noises. It was for this that Sam failed to notice the sound of scurrying coming from behind him, and also failed to notice the sound of clicking that signalled only one thing - Acromantu...las? acromantulii? Who cares.

His first real awareness of those creatures came abruptly. Suddenly, without any real warning (none that he heard anyway) he felt something grab him before he was thrown into the air, flying through the clearing until he hit the ground with a loud thud, his own screams being drowned out by the noises of the acromantula entering the clearing.

And then there were Werewolves. Jeez, this wasn't anyone's day was it? Cursing vehemently Sam whipped his wand out and blast the Acromantula on top of him away, clambering to his feet (something which he could never explain in the future) and looking around the clearing.

Fortunately the Werewolves seemed to have better things than two scrawny humans on their mind, what with a whole colony of Acromantula bunching together in groups that were all too delectable to the hungry beasts.

After carving a path through the fighting creatures Sam finally found himself back next to the tree Rhys was hanging from. "Relashio," he cried out, sending the Acromantula around her flying. "Quick, lets get out of here," he shouted, grabbing and pulling her down into his arms, before pushing his way out of the clearing, and out of the creatures' reach, before finally letting himself wind down

"I think we should be far enough away by now," he muttered, leaning against a tree before his legs collapsed beneath the two of them, causing him to slide to the base of the tree with Rhys still in his arms.

"Oh god," he said after a brief pause, still clutching to her like his life depended on it.

"I really, really hate spiders."

Rhys was screaming as the Spiders pulled her up into the tree and started to string her up. She saw Sam fly through the air and she screamed louder "Sam!!! Let go of him!!" she screamed until her mouth was covered by a web and she was forced into silence, she felt a pain in her back, and everything went black.

When Rhys awoke, she was curled up in Sam's arms, tears were falling down her face, and she couldn't move, and she could barely breath. "Sam." She mumbled, her mouth covered so she sounded muffled "you okay? Help..." she whimpered loudly and struggled carefully to show him she was awake. He was holding her so closely though, and she didn't want to move.

Despite the edge that his nerves were set on, Sam had found, for the first time that night, himself to be at a reasonable amount of peace as he sat there, leaning against the tree with Rhys in his arms, and as such he found himself dripping in and out of a state of sleep, barely noticing that Rhys was still bound up.

So it came as a little surprise to him as he heard a muffled yell coming from his lap, bringing with it the first realisation that Rhys' mouth was covered.

"Oh shit," He muttered, grabbing his wand and tapping her mouth to make the web disappear.

"Sorry," he said quietly. "We should head off again. You ok?" He asked.

When he finally untrapped her she gasped and pushed her face into his chest. She was in pain, a lot of pain. She whimpered, tears falling down her face, she was shaking with fear and couldn't stop the sobs from escaping her. "I'm sorry Sam... I'm so sorry." she whispered. She was half sobbing and she held onto him for dear life. "I don't want to go on Sam, I don't want to die." she whispered, tears falling down her face as she slowly looked up at him.

"I know we have to go... But I'm so afraid... There were werewolves and... Those blue lights... I'm so afraid Sam." she whimpered and buried her face in his chest again, wincing and letting out another soft sob, trying to get her emotions under control. After a moment she cried herself into hiccups. "I'm sorry..." she whispered and wiped her face, looking into Sam's eyes to make sure she hadn't totally messed everything up with him.