We are definitely not lost

Somehow the weather has gotten even colder than before. Alice tucked in her scarf around her neck for protection and she kept walking. "You coming?" she asked Amelia, who was just behind here. The sun was still out, which was a good sign. Although she wasn't sure how long that would last. Walking around these parts of the ground probably wasn't a good idea to do even in the daylight, but especially not during the night. Strange creatures come out at night, things you could never even imagine existed in these woods. Or so everyone tells her. But Alice thought of that as more of an urban legend to scare off the students. They came to the edge of the forest and Alice stopped, turning her head to Amelia for her approval.

Technically, they weren't allowed to go any further. But for the first time, she didn't care. And she doubted Amelia would either. The last thing she was thinking of right now was the possible detention they could get if they got caught. This whole thing was rather unusual for Alice and not exactly her typical type of behavior. But she was just in this different mood today and she didn't want to fight against it. It was curiosity mostly that was pushing her to go forward. Knowing she might actually find was she was searching for in those woods made her feel excited. That and she had never actually been to the forbidden forest before, she only heard stories about it. Not that she would admit that to Amelia.

"So what do you think...shall we?" asked Alice turning her head to Amelia and waiting for her response.

Amelia fallowed Alice a few paces back. She took her time. She was admiring the leaves. She loved autumn. It was so pretty. She was such a girl, she thought to herself. She didn’t mind that anymore.

Amelia knew this was a bad idea. This is the forest where her sister was killed. She was ready to face the forest though. They will not beat her. She would fallow Alice anywhere; she wouldn’t let anything happen to Alice. No one else she knew would get hurt unless she was died.

“Alright but I’m taking out my wand and if we get caught my mum is going to kill me,” she said taking out her wand from her bag holding it in her hand. She would not be caught defenseless. She was also excited. She wanted to take on the challenges of the forest.

"Good idea" said Alice nodding and she took her wand out of her pocket and placed it firmly under her grip. All of this seemed less dangerous when Amelia was next to her. Probably because she seemed a lot more experienced in these things than Alice. So, she thought, who better be her buddy in crime than her.

"You're not the only one. My dad would bury me in a coffin if he found out. And probably invite you to the funeral just to teach you a lesson as well...So the point is we better not get caught then" she said. Although that was a bit easier said than done. They would just have to be extra careful not to be noticed by someone. The might be able to achieve that if they stayed quiet and not made too loud noises.

They went into the forest together, walking in deeper with every step they took. Alice tried to recall the directions she was told a few days ago, and thankfully she remembered them well. Trying to get around this place was another thing though. As they walked further in, she couldn't help but walk a bit closer and closer to Amelia. The threes were so dense and dark, she could barely see the path in front of her.

“Lumos!” casted Amelia. She wasn’t going to walk around in the dark. She didn’t trust anything in the dark. She may just harm a perfectly harmless tree in the dark. She had never been a fan of the dark. She didn’t mind having Alice with her though.

“Where are you going?” she asked as she crept around the words trying not to make much noise. Who knows what was watching them? That didn’t bother her much. She had a wand, she’d be fine. She could see her boyfriend’s face if he found out she went into the Forbidden Forest. It was going to be fun to tease him about it, or maybe she wouldn’t. She didn't want to upset him.

Even with Amelia's Lumos spell, the forest became increasingly darker as they walked forward. Maybe it was because of the denser trees or even the fact that the sun was slowly going down now. Either way, she didn't liked it that much. Her eyes quickly scanned the forest ground before taking a step further. The last thing she needed was to be attacked by something, or even someone. So they had to be careful.

"Rumor has it the professors hid something in the forest, as for the time being they had to keep it safe and hidden from the students. Some people say it's a dragon. A very young one though. They are just waiting for the Ministry of Magic to take things over and take him away. Apparently he was injured in his flight so he landed near the castle. One of my friends swore she saw it in the woods. Deeper though, after passing a small pond she said. I remembered the directions well, don't worry" said Alice as if that was supposed to try and reassure Amelia this wasn't a crazy idea. Alice was aware it was, but still for some reason she didn't want to go back.

“That’s so cool. I love dragons. I keep trying to get my mum and pa to buy me a mini dragon. They are so cute and harmless most of the time. I think if my parents don’t get it for me my grandpa will. He loves dragons just as much as I,” Amelia said excitedly.

She had always loved dragons. She remembered her mum telling her stories about dragon when she was little. She bought on dragon book when she first learned to read. Then she got another magical one that would make a 3D image of a dragon on the page. The second book was from her grandfather and she still has the book in trunk in her dormitory.

"A dragon? Really? My dad wouldn't buy me a dog, he thinks that too dangerous and too big of a responsibility for me. I would love to have a dragon as a pet. And I agree, they are harmless most of the times, you just need to know how to handle them that's all. That doesn't mean they are dangerous." said Alice. She had always thought of dragons as adorable and really hoped they would find the one they are looking for.

She repeated the directions in her head. They seemed so clear when she first heard them. But being in this dense forest with nothing but darkness around her made following directions almost impossible. It didn't help that with every step she took she heard creepy noises scattered around the forest. Some even made her jump up a bit. But she continued walking nevertheless. "Lumos!" she said pointing her want in front of her. Amelia's light wasn't enough anymore it was dark. So now they were supposed to turn left and at very large rock...but all Alice saw were trees. Not a single rock in sight. "Is this a bad time to tell you that I've never been here before?" she asked with a guilty smile.

"A mini-dragon,” said Amelia. It wasn’t like it was a fully sized dragon. It couldn’t do that much damage. She didn’t think.

“This is bloody brilliant. We’re going to get lost and some sort of creature is going attack us,” she sighed. She should have known this home. If she got out of this in one piece it would be a miracle. Two Hufflepuffs in the Forbidden Forest was a bad combination now two Hufflepuffs who didn’t know where they were going in the Forbidden Forest was even better.

Amelia didn’t yell though. She wasn’t really that worked up over it. She was taking this one step at a time. If she didn’t think about that bigger picture she would be fine.

"Sorry..." said Alice with an apologetic smile towards Amelia. Although she knew that apology didn't mean much right now. She had to concentrate on getting them back on the right track now. Repeating the directions in her head for the hundredth time, she had an idea of where they might need to go. "We are not going to get lost. It think it's more further down and then we'll turn left. It can be that far from here. I'm sure of it" she said with a reassuring voice.

She never even realized how large the forbidden forest was before. Getting lost here was much easier than she though. Now as they went deeper into the woods, every little sound started to freak her out. You could never be to careful here, so she tried to examine everything around her before continuing forward. And as she was about to take a few more steps, she heard a loud noise coming from the bushes. She flinched and let out a small squeaking noise out of her mouth. That...thing, or whatever it was, came rushing from the side and straight into the bush near them. Not even thinking Alice took her wand out in a panicky manner and pointed it at the bush. "Expelliarmus!" she shouted. But the only thing that ran out of that bush was a scared little squirrel. "Damn animal..." she said frowning.

Amelia rolled her eyes at Alice. She didn’t say anything over. It was that bad. Who was she kidding this was horrible. She was barely keeping her calmness.

“Maybe we should head back. I really don’t want to find something bigger than a squirrel,” she said. She heard a slight crack then nothing. Then another crack shortly after. She turned around.

“Who’s there, show yourself!” she ordered. She had her wand draw out ready to be used. She didn’t think it was human but who knows in here, it could be anything. She was starting to regret coming into her. She had a very bad feeling about this.