A place in the dark where the animals go |OPEN|

[demetri]

Hey Jude, don’t make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better

Demetri bit back a curse as his foot caught in a tree root, nearly tripping him and sending him flat on his face. He flailed his arms, catching hold of a branch and tearing apart his palm. He scowled, examining his bleeding hand. “Perfect,” he mumbled. He glanced around guiltily, then pulled out his wand and tapped his palm, mumbling a spell. Many of the magical sentient creatures hated the wizards at the castle, and would kill him if they saw him using a wand. However, it seemed clear, so Demetri decided to risk it. The skin on his palm grew back over the wound, closing it up and leaving his skin smooth. Demetri continued on his walk, desperately wishing he could use his wand for light.

It was noon, but the forest was still dark. He wasn’t that deep into the forest, yet every now and then he heard the scuttling and moaning that signified some large creature passing by, just out of sight. Demetri shuddered; he disliked going into the forest at all. The creatures there no longer feared or respected the wizards, and would as soon kill a student as look at him.

Why was he there then? Demetri was hunting for Red Caps. He had his wand ready, though hidden, and a bag that he had spelled to contain a huge enclosure, though the bag was small enough to fit in his pocket. The Red Caps were little demons that he was going to use for class. In a mixture of Care of Magical Creatures and History of Magic, he was going to talk about major Muggle battles that had affected the wizarding world, though they might not have known it. The Red Caps, which were common around battlefields, would make the class more interesting, though many of the more bloodthirsty students would find it interesting in the first place.

Demetri crouched at the edge of a marsh, where the Red Caps usually hung out, waiting to lure in humans. His entire body slowed down; his breathing calm and even his heart seeming to slow down. His wand was clutched tightly in his hand, though it was hidden under his jacket. For a few minutes, there was silence.

Suddenly, the quiet was broken by footsteps. The sounds of the forest ceased as all the creatures ran, and Demetri spun to his feet, his wand pointing to the intruder. “Who’s there?” he asked, his tone commanding. It was probably a student, and he wanted to make sure they were okay so he could get them out of the forest right away.

[molly]

<sub>Not everything has a meaning. Not very profound, right? Well, I betcha it's true. Y'know, some people just read way to deep into things, trying to find the hidden meaning in things that clearly have no meaning, trying to look into things that were obviously given no thought. Some people just think there's gotta be a rhyme and reason for everything. But I tell ya, that's not true. Or, at least, it wasn't for Molly-Willamina. Particularly on that dark afternoon in the even darker forest. Darker forest that was...forbidden...yeah, we'll get to that part.

Now, Molly-Willamina was not stupid. In fact, she was very smart. In fact in fact she was a very bright ravenclaw student, ravenclaw being the house known for being smart. Of course, she and the sorting hat were the only ones who seemed to acknowledge this fact, but maybe that was only because of the the mindless things she did on occasion, as she was doing today.

Now, note I said mindless. She was doing a mindless thing, not a stupid thing. No, the thing she was doing was very not stupid, in fact it would have been a very good idea if it'd included some mind. The problem with this idea was that there wasn't enough thought put into it. The concept was there, the motivation was there, it just was not very well thought out. But what exactly was this magnificent, not so magnificently thought out plan that took place in a place that she shouldn't have even been in in the first place? Well, I'll tell ya.

Molly-Willamina had read a thing you see. A book type of thing to be exact that had a whole bunch of neat other things written in it. One of the things that Molly-Willamina had read was a plant growth tip that was supposed to growth plants. Duh. The book had said that a seed taken directly from the inside the fully ripened fruit would grow at a faster pace when planted in the darkness. Of course, that book was the book of untruths, but does that make the idea any less worth the try? Well, yeah of course it does, but like I said: it was a mindless plan with no real reason.

The most mindless part of the plan was that Molly-Willamina had planted the seed directly from the middle of the fully ripened fruit in the place where she shouldn't have even come ten steps close to: the forbidden forest! Dun dun duun! Oh sure, instead of just keeping the purposeless plant in a dark cupboard or something, hide it in the middle of the forbidden forest! Real mindless there Miss Molly-Willamina. Literally.

So, can we all guess what Molly-Willamina was mindlessly doing in the forbidden forest that day? That's right people. She was checking on her hopeless little seed. I mean really, you learn it in pre school that we all need an equal amount of rain and sun to grow. But whatever, the plan was missing a brain that day, and was apparently wearing bright yellow trench coat. The expression 'coming with bells' could also be taken almost literally in this situation because as Molly-Willamina unknowingly approached a human figure the braces on her legs made a clinking metal sound.

Right, I said unknowingly right? This is not the mindless part of Molly-Willamina's plan. This was the dipsy 'in my own little rainbow world' part of Molly-Willamina. She hummed a soft tune as she limped on her unsteady legs toward the marsh where she'd planted the seed thinking that wet soil would be better than any old normal soil not knowing that if the seed hadn't been eaten by some animal by now it had probably drowned. But she didn't care cos right now rainbow world was wearing a matching yellow hat over top of it's messy mop of hair.

Then all of a sudden: 'who's there?' Molly-Willamina was instantly pulled out of rainbow world only to be standing, facing a mysterious shadowy figure. She wasn't scared, or shocked. She was merely taking the time to think up a smart ass answer. Finally she said, in the darkest most mysterious voice she could not conjure up:

"That depends on who you are."

The voice had started off deep and chesty, but she lost it at the end, her voice returning to the high pitched girlie sound it was and breaking into a light giggle.</sub>

[demetri]

Hey Jude, don’t make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better

Demetri did not like the forest. Period. When he was a student, he had explored the edges of it, like almost all of the idiot Gryffindor boys had before him, and would do so afterwards. However, times were different now then from when he went to school. Before, groundskeepers kept the worst of the animals at bay. Now, the dangerous creatures were almost encouraged to come out and scare, or even hurt students. Demetri always had an uneasy feeling as he walked along the edge of the forest now, as if the creatures that lurked inside were only the tiniest step from showing themselves and invading the open grounds of Hogwarts.

However, he still occasionally ventured in, usually looking for signs of student activity. Though he got complaints from students whose fun he had ruined, he brushed them off. Better that they be mad at him then end up as food for a kelpie. Besides, his students rarely hated him; he could usually do something to make it up to them.

As the student came closer, Demetri realized that he recognized her. It was a Weasley, and a very distinctive one at that: Molly-Willamina. Though many of the teachers refused to call her by this name, Demetri had always done so. For some reason, she didn’t like being called Molly or Weasley, and he saw no reason to be belligerent. The sound he had taken as the jangle of jewelry or spare change was the sound of her leg braces rattling and she picked her way through the dank forest. He stepped away from his hunting spot, carefully making his way over the voice.

“Don’t worry, Molly-Willamina,” he said, his tone cheerful despite the dark forest. If he yelled, chances were she’d run away, and he couldn’t risk that. Besides, she was with him now, so she would be at least a bit safer. He came into her view, and he affirmed that it was indeed Molly-Willamina. “It’s me, Professor Selkirk. What on earth are you doing out here?” he asked, trying to sound commanding but sounding rather baffled. He gallantly held out an arm to help her over a rotten log so she could stand on firmer ground, knowing full well that she might refuse the help.

TAG ! MWW!
WORD COUNT ! 378
LYRICS ! Hey Jude by the Beatles
NOTES ! Sorry it took so long!