The Girl From Hufflepuff

Chapter 18

     Florence led them down a secret passageway through the woods. Florence and her mother were usually the only ones who used it. It had only taken a few minutes before they arrived at the small wooden cabin.
    Florence walked up to the house and peered through the window. The house was a wreck, she quickly ran to the door and went through. There were signs of someone putting up a fight against someone or something.
"Well, I guess check the place. See if you find anything useful." Florence sighed and went to the small kitchen area.
The group looked around the small cabin. Lily was looking at a table by the couch. "Hey guys. Is this something?" She held up a wand.
Florence walked over and examined it. It was her mother's wand. "This is hers. Whoever was here made sure she was defenseless."
"Guys you gotta come look see this." Casey called from the back of the house. The rest of the group had been crowded around lily and Florence. So they all walked back towards her.
Casey was crouched on the ground outside the back door. Florence walked around her and crouched down next to her.
"It's footprints." Florence smiled.
"I know." Casey's excitement grew. "Maybe they'll lead us to your mom. And maybe Teddy."
"Ok, then let's follow them." James interjected.
"Does everyone agree? Because there's
Still time to go back and we don't know what's going to be at the end of these footprints." Florence said looking at every person.
They each nodded.
"Let's go then." Florence said.
They followed the footsteps deeper into the forest. The group had walked quietly lead by Florence and James. After about thirty minutes of walking, Florence suddenly stopped and put her arm in front of James, stopping him and the group.
She simply pointed and James looked. He saw a cave and in the opening was someone standing there. Deeper in the cave he saw someone tied in a chair.
"Is that your mom?" James whispered to Florence. He grabbed her hand that she had put out to stop him.
Florence glanced at their hands, "Yeah it is."
"What do we do?" Casey leaned forward from behind the two. "Sorry for ruining you guys moment."
   "Well there's two dementors blocking the cave so we have to get past them first. Since my patron is is a small cat and the least noticeable I'll cast one. Once we get inside the cave, as far I can tell there are three people. All have mask on so there's no way to tell who they are. Casey and Bradie come from the left of the cave. Lily, James, and I will come from the right side. Wait for my que, then we attack together." Florence whispered quickly. "Go."
   They split up and in minutes they were on side of the cave. Florence pearled around the corner and whispered, "Expecto Patronum."
   The cat shot out of her wand and chased off the dementors and went unnoticed to the people inside. The walked along the caves edge staying as quiet as possible.
Once they were very close, Florence leaked her head around the corner of the cave. She saw Casey waiting on the other side. Turning back to her group she whispered, "you both ready?".
"Let's do this." Lily whispered and James nodded in agreement.
Florence turned back towards the other side of the cave and nodded to Casey. At the moment they all jumped out and started shouting spells at the kidnappers.
Florence has easily taken down one by surprise and out of the corner of her eyes saw lily and James taking down another. Casey and Bradie were doing the same. After a few more spell we're cast each was on the ground unconscious. Lily chanted a rope spell under her breath and each one had their hands and feet tide up. "Accio wands." Florence said.
Three wands shot into her hands and she looked around proudly at her friends. Lastly she looked at James, he was looking at the person tied to the chair. There was only one person.
Florence walked slowly over to the woman and took off the mask, "oh please don't hurt me I don't know anything." The woman begged.
All Florence could do was drop to the ground and hug her. "Oh Florence, baby, I knew you would find me. I always knew you took after your father." Her mother whispered into her ear.
Casey has walked over and started untieing the woman from the chair. The moment was sweet but Florence looked back at James, he wiped his nose and looked anywhere but at her.
She walked over and gently took his hand, sliding her fingers in between his. "Mom, this is James Potter, he's-" Florence started.
"Wait, James do you know a Teddy?" Florence mother's head looked in his direction.
Florence saw hope rise in James as he looked at her. "Yeah he's my brother. Do you know where he is?"
"They transported us together. The drive was pretty long so we talked quite a bit. He was so young and all he talked about was his family and you." The woman smiled fondly remembering the ever so young, blue haired boy. "He said you would come save him."
Florence saw the smile rise on James face, one she hadn't seen since she kissed him but it faded quickly. "Do you know where he was transported?"
"Not exactly." She answered rubbing her finally free wrist. "They talked about a place deeper in the woods, maybe in the forbidden forest. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure they said a cave in the forbidden forest."
"Well then I guess we're going to the forbidden forest." Florence said, still holding James hand.
"It's to dangerous."her mom stood up facing her daughter now.
"My friends helped me find you. A woman they're never met. Now my friends brother is in trouble and I'm going to help him." Florence took a step towards her mother. They were now face to face. "So are you gonna help us or not?"
     James interjected. "I got detention a lot my first year. As a punishment we were forced to go into the forbidden forest with Hagrid multiple times. So I have a decent knowing of it."
The woman eyed her daughter and James. "If I go, there's some explaining I have to do." She glanced down at Florence hand, still gripping James hand but now very tightly. "And by the looks of it you have some explaining to do too."