The Soul Hunters | Hp Next Generation

14 - The Forbidden Forest

"You know, it's been a couple of weeks now and we haven't exactly utilised the fact we can turn into animals." James was saying to Astrid and Delilah during their transfiguration lesson.

"Yes, but James," Astrid replied, "what exactly are we supposed to do? There's not exactly much a giant reindeer could do around the castle."

"Au contraire, Astrid!" James replied. "There's plenty a giant reindeer could do around the castle! But that's not my point."

"What is your point then?" Delilah asked.

"The forbidden forest." James replied.

"The forbidden-!" Astrid began, slightly louder than she'd anticipated, so she quickly lowered her voice to avoid suspicion from Munslow. "The forbidden forest?!"

James sighed. "Think about it! The forbidden forest is only forbidden because the inhabitants don't like humans! I'm sure they wouldn't object to a few animals messing around."

"James-" Astrid began, but Delilah cut her off.

"No, you've got a point."

Astrid turned to Delilah, shocked. "What?"

"He's right."

James nodded in victory. "So, tonight then?"

"Tonight?!" Astrid exclaimed. She looked to Delilah for reassurance, but Delilah just shrugged. "Alright." Astrid replied.

***

Astrid did not tell Ophelia and Toby what she had planned to do that evening. For some reason, she assumed Ophelia wouldn't be all that pleased. Instead, she thought it best to tell them when they returned back to the castle safely.

"Ready?" Delilah said, looking between James and Astrid.

"Ready." The two replied together.

Delilah took James's hand, and all three of them closed their eyes. Astrid focussed on the memory of last time she transformed, and how Ophelia had guided her through it. She closed off her mind and remembered the sensation of flying, and how funny her vision looked and how weird her arms felt. It seemed to be working, but Astrid couldn't quite remember what brought her back last time. Then it hit her: Ophelia's kiss. How was she going to replicate that here?

Luckily, she didn't need to. Instead what brought her back to earth was hearing the screech of a robin. When Astrid opened her eyes again, she was perched about a foot off the ground, staring up at a reindeer and a robin. The robin wasn't looking too pleased at the reindeer; clearly James had irritated Delilah in some way. However, the issue was quickly resolved as Delilah perched onto James's antlers and chirped, suggesting he move forwards.

Astrid flew into the air, and maintained her position equal to James as she followed him through the forest. It felt weird. Astrid had never been in the Forbidden Forest before. Clearly James had, but that didn't surprise Astrid in the slightest. He appeared to know the way to wherever he decided their end goal was, so Astrid just followed him. It was that or he was just wandering randomly, but he was at least wandering with confidence.

After a few minutes Delilah flew off of James's antlers, and joined Astrid following behind. Flying through the forest wasn't quite as nice as flying through the skies, Astrid would admit, but it was nice to feel the freedom of flying through the wildlife rather than walking everywhere, and suddenly she understood why James and Delilah were so desperate to come out here.

At one point on their journey, they passed a small herd of centaurs. The herd stopped in their tracks, and watched as the odd group of a reindeer, an owl and a robin made their way past. James, being the most anatomically similar to the centaurs, gave them a bow, and the leader of the herd returned it, allowing them to pass through peacefully.