Why are we here again.

"Thanks," Sam said, his voice flooding with happiness as he felt his wand touch his hand, a small wave of warmth washing through his entire body, from his feet to his fingers, as his extra limb reattached itself to him. Lending his wand to someone else... as noble an act as it was, was not something he planned on doing ever again - the feeling of hopelessness, of being completely useless was just too much for Sam.

He heard her voice and saw, in the corner of his eye, her head jerk up, his own mirroring hers with only a second's difference, along with his wand following to point straight up at the sky. "Oh," he said, his voice laced with venom, "right... just a reaction," he muttered, lowering his wand and grasping her hand firmly in his own.

"Lets just go on," He muttered, pulling her along a little as he left the clearing

Rhys smiled at him and held onto his hand firmly. "Thank you Sam.. for.. lending me your wand." She said lightly, moving closer to him and taking off into the woods with him. It was dark, and she lit her wand, smiling up at Sam. "I'm so afraid he'll grab me again.. like.. I never want to let go of your hand.. ever.. ever again." She said, squeezing it for emphasis, and grinning at him. Suddenly she tensed up and slowed down. "Did you hear that?" She whispered, looking around at the trees around them.

There was an odd huffing noise, and it sounded like.. sniffing. "Lets go.. hurry." She whispered and took the lead, pushing through branches, and around trees, hearing the snuffling getting closer. And then not far from them, there was a howl. "Oh no... they found us again." she whispered, talking about the Werewolf pack that had found them before. "Do you see a golden tree? how many more do we have?!" She asked, gasping, out of breath from fear and exertion.

"It was nothing," Sam replied honestly. "Though I can't say I'd do it again, I must admit," he added as they continued to walk in what he hoped was the right direction. "I felt sort of... naked, as if I was missing a part of myself. It's not pleasant, but hopefully it wont happen again," he muttered before squeezing her hand.

"Nor I yours," Sam replied, "Never again. He wont grab you, I promise," he said, pausing in his tracks for a second to look at her before they continued on, his own wand lighting up as they made progress along the path, avoiding the winding and treacherous roots that seemed intent on tripping him up.

However a few words from Rhys stopped him dead in his tracks. As soon as she mentioned it, he began to notice the sound, then recognise it for what it was. "Quick, we need to leave, hopefully they've not noticed us, but just in case," he told her, pointing his wand skyward and casting a stunning spell, knocking a bird out of the tree and onto the forest floor with a dull thud.

"Hopefully that'll attract something bigger, and then they'll go for it, rather than us," he told her, his fingers crossed and his mind doubtful of the success he was facing with such a hastily, and rather shoddily constructed plan.

He then tugged her along, running in what he hoped was a quiet manner before answering her question. "We're on our fifth or sixth one, I think, but I can't see the next tree," he muttered, extinguishing his own wand's light for a moment so that he could try and detect the faint glow of one of the trees off in the distance.

The noise was getting closer, closer and closer and Rhys was starting to freak out again. They not only had to compete against Barker, but they had spiders, and werewolves, and who knew what else in the forest.. and Barker probably wouldn't care if they died, he was probably leading the werewolves right to them! Rhys took a few halting steps after Sam had stopped to try and see the tree, but it was pitch black.. nothing. "Oh Merlin we are gonna die out here.." She whispered, holding onto his hand tighter.

Rhys stood there stricken, but suddenly she noticed something that not only made her happy, but extremely worried and sad. "Sam.. I think the sun is coming up." She whispered looking up at the branches and seeing it was getting a bit lighter, the pitch black was more of a dark grey, and she was starting to be able to see the outline of leaves around her. "We aren't done yet Sam... we'll be able to have another detention!!" She whimpered and looked around her in near tears. The sounds of the werewolves were getting closer, and they had no way to go. They couldn't climb a tree, and the sun was coming up. They had no choice but to choose a random direction away from the wolves and go..

"Calm down," Sam hissed, squeezing Rhys' hand firmly before looking up at what he suspected was the sky - she was right, it was getting lighter, judging by the looks of things, and whilst day was probably an hour or two away, it was time that seemed longer than a lifetime, yet shorter than a minute.

He had no time to ponder on what he was seeing, however, as the sniffing and crinkling sound of what was almost certainly a pack of werewolves drew closer to them. "Quick," he whispered, his eyes darting around the forest surrounding them. "This... this way," he said, standing up and running, almost dragging Rhys behind him, pointing his wand over his shoulder and sending as many diversionary spells behind the two of them as possible.

"There," he shouted, the roar of his spells mixed with their hasty movements nearly drowning his voice out, "another tree, just there!" He yelled, altering their course to fly towards a glowing patch of light not too far away

Rhys let Sam lead her away, her mind was going crazy, and any sense of bravery from her house was gone. It was different.. being brave in name, and being brave in face. You could say you were brave when you are a Gryffindor, but only a few special people were truly brave, the rest of the house just basically managed to scrape by with the Gryffindor title. Sure being Gryffindor gave you something to boast about, and that's what they were wasn't it? They were the jocks, in a muggle school they would be the most hated, not the best loved. They wore a brave face, but when it came to actually being brave, most of the house would run in fear. Or freak out like Rhys was doing.

She was starting to feel numb, and at that point she realized that her welts were hurting more and more. The adrenaline should have been high enough to keep it away, but at that point she was to numb to feel the adrenaline. She just had to trust Sam to get them to the tree and away from the wolves. When they finally burst out into the clearing, Rhys stood gasping, clutching her arm, and staring at the tree. Nothing appeared to be wrong with the tree, so she ran forward and pressed her hand to it.

Kill him now.

The voice was loud, but she realized that it hadn't been spoken, it was a demand, the second her hand hit the tree, the voice shouted at her, and she stood frozen, her hand on the tree. It hadn't announced that she had gotten the tree, instead the voice had spoken. Frozen, Rhys stared straight at the tree for a long moment, unable to move.

Do it now!

Rhys suddenly withdrew her hand, and spun around to point her wand at Sam, and then she smiled. "NO!" She shouted and pointed her wand at the sky, firing spells like mad. "I will not! NO! I won't do it! Stop ordering me around! Stop it!" She screamed, unable to keep back the hysteria and fear out of her voice.

IDIOT!

And the voice was gone. Rhys fell to her knees gasping for air, her wand held limply in her hand, her chest heaving, her body on fire. But he was gone, his voice was gone, and she was so happy she hadn't done as it had said. "Sam! Sam! Are you okay?! Sam what.. what happened?"