Victoire Weasley and the Four Statues

The Prophecy

Nothing really arranged in the following days for James. He was reaching one of the lowest points of his popularity, and two of his biggest allies, Victoire and Ted, would be leaving him in less than two months.

The Hallowe'en feast took place on the night of the 31st of October, as it always had. Victoire enjoyed the feast, though she would have enjoyed it a lot more if she had been able to sit with Ted and James. Stupid Houses. She thought.

James didn't show up that night. First, Hallowe'en night had always been quite grim for the Potters, as it had now been 45 years since James first of his name, and his wife Lily Potter, James' paternal grandparents, had been murdered by Lord Voldemort. But Victoire suspected that James mainly wanted to avoid the crowd, as he had done all week. Showing up as early as he could for lunch times, and leaving before everyone got here. Victoire was also under the impression that he was pushing away Emily, his only friend among the Gryffindor ranks. But she knew that she couldn't do anything about it, as he wouldn't listen to her.

So, she did as she could, and on Friday night, she and Ted met James. The sun had disappeared behind the horizon a good two hours ago by now, and the Hogwarts grounds were plunged into darkness. Everyone was back in the warm castle, because as November came, so did the cold. Victoire and Ted were waiting for him near the Gamekeeper's cabin, Hagrid, a huge and gentle man, who lived near the edge of the forest.

"You okay ?" asked Victoire to James when he appeared, before realizing that she had only asked this all week.

"Yes, damn it, would you chill already !" he replied irritated, as he slid behind the huge pumpkins that hadn't been turned into juice. They were enormous, and therefore offered an excellent hide out, even to someone as tall as Ted.

The three of them sat side by side against one of the pumpkins, and James, sitting in the middle, unfolded the Marauder's Map. Ted and Victoire at his sides, they all leaned in, to look for unwanted company.

"Can you guys see anyone ?" whispered Victoire.

Apart from the small black spot in the cabin, who's parchment read the name "Rubeus Hagrid", no one else seemed around. As Ted and James nodded negatively, Ted said :

"Let's go then."

And they took off into the forest.

The Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts was a strange and mysterious place. Many generations of students and teachers had dared to explore the dark paths among the trees throughout the centuries, but none of them had entirely been prepared about what they had encountered.

Victoire had visited the forest two times, each time in the company of Ted. The first time had been on her Second Year. She had just gotten into a fight with Dom, who had sent her an horrible letter, and she was deeply upset. Ted, of course, had offered to cheer her up. And he had. That night, she had encountered a Hippogriff. She had a special relationship with those animals, as her wand, that she deeply loved, wore a single Hippogriff feather at its core. It had been truly magical, and they had befriended the creature, to the point were they were able to stroke his blue feathers. It was after this first visit that she had decided that if she would explore the world, she would do it with Teddy. The both of them were adventurers, and had the same thirst to explore. He had agreed of course.

The second time, it had been at the end of her fourth year. They had been running away from Peeves, the poltergeist, who had caught them trying to get to Honeydukes through the passageway behind the one-eyed statue. But Victoire had remembered from the book "Spirits and phantoms : a guide to the afterlife" that Poltergeists were chained to the place they haunted. So they had fled towards the Hogwarts ground, and encountered Mrs Norris, Filch's "watch cat". Fleeing from her, they had ended up in the forest, and had taken a glimpse at the pack of wolves. Finally, as two wolves had began to chase them, an old Muggle car had erupted from nowhere, and brought them back out of the forest, back to safety. Victoire later learned through her Godmother Ginny, who was the only adult to know about her adventures, that the car was a Ford Anglia, that used to belong to her paternal grandfather Arthur.