Adventures At Hogwarts

Horrors Of The Dark Forest

Ophelia woke up before Draco did. She looked at the clock, it read 3am. She glanced over at Draco's sleeping figure and smiled softly to herself at how peaceful he looked. She didn't have the heart to wake him, so instead she brushed her thumb gently over his face as she admired him and placed a soft kiss against his cheek. He stirred lightly but to her relief he didn't wake up. She slowly crept out of the bed trying her best not to disturb him and walked over to his desk scribbling a note quickly before placing it on the pillow next to him. As silently as she could Ophelia pulled on her leggings from the night before, threw on her shoes, and slipped out the door.

She was a little worried that if she stayed until Draco woke up he would have a change of heart about the events of the previous night and scold her. She didn't plan on sticking around long enough for that to happen. Ophelia quietly crept down the stairs and out of the Slytherin common room.

It was still so early that the hallways were completely deserted. Not a soul was in sight. Ophelia found the silence kind of comforting. The only sounds came from the birds chirping to each other, as if they were saying good morning and greeting the day. The deep hum of the frogs by the Black Lake mingled with the soft crooning of a choir of crickets to create a beautiful symphony. Ophelia was wide awake now and didn't feel like going back to her dorm. She found herself longing for an escape. Somewhere where she could just get away from everything and pretend that the whispers, stares, and judge mental eyes that seemed to constantly follow her around Hogwarts didn't exist. Even if it was for a little while. So she slipped out of the halls silently and wandered around the courtyard by herself, drinking in the peacefulness of it all. She then decided to pay a visit to The Owlery. When Lotus saw her mistress she chirped excitedly. Ophelia smiled warmly as she scooped up the small bird in her arms, stroking her affectionately.

"How about we go on a little adventure," Ophelia whispered, "Just you and me. Would you like that?"

Lotus chirped and flapped her wings excitedly as if to say yes. Ophelia climbed back down the tower carefully with Lotus perched on her shoulder. When the reached the foot of the tower Ophelia looked around, trying to decide on what she wanted to do.

"What do you think Lotus? Should we take a boat out onto the Black Lake? Or should we explore the Dark Forest?"

Lotus chirped and taking off flew to perch on a near by tree branch. She tilted her head to look at Ophelia expectantly. Ophelia laughed and her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Alright then! Dark Forest it is!"

Lotus flew back down to perch on her mistress's shoulder once more as Ophelia made her way to the edge of the forest. She stood hesitantly for a moment, looking deep into the forest, trying to decide whether or not she was actually going to go through with it. She knew that it was supposed to be strictly off limits to the students. No one was allowed to enter, unless being escorted by a teacher during detention, which was rare.

She had overheard the twins a few times boasting about how they had snuck into the Dark Forest frequently, although she wasn't quite sure how true their stories were. But if the twins could do it then so could she. Besides, how scary could a forest truly be after all? And she had never been one to back down from a challenge. Who knew? Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as everyone said it was. Ophelia took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and stepped into the forest. She had only taken a few steps when she realized how foolish it had been not to bring some sort of lighting. The further into the forest she walked the darker it got. Lotus chirped nervously and ruffled her feathers. Ophelia pulled out her wand and quickly used the Lumos spell, casting a most welcome light around them. At least they could actually see where they were heading now.

Ophelia wasn't really sure where she was headed and didn't really have a particular destination in mind, so she just kept walking straight into the forest. The forest itself was extraordinarily beautiful. As she looked around taking in her surroundings she noticed that they were surrounded on all sides by all sort of by beech, oak, pine, and sycamore trees, which were probably thousands of years old. The ground underneath her feet was covered in a soft blanket of grass and moss. She also noticed how oddly silent it was. There were no birds chirping and no animals scurrying around. The only sounds was the soft rising and falling of her footsteps and the occasional rustling of leaves as a gentle breeze swept between the branches of the trees.