Guts and Glory - Trouble with Twins, Book 2

The Gamekeeper

The sky was turning into a pretty dark pink color as we split off from the rest of the team. The January breeze was cool as ever, but at least the snow of the past few weeks was beginning to melt. I wondered where exactly Charlie was taking us. I also had the suspicion that students weren't often found in this area. Surely a prefect wouldn't be leading us into somewhere dangerous?

Oh, but he was. If the sight of the giant forest in front of us wasn't enough of a clue, Fred's excited expression gave it away. 

"You're joking! Are you actually taking us in?" He asked, eyes wide.

"I've been sneaking in for years and I've never really gotten in trouble." Charlie smiled and walked ahead of us, moving towards the opening in the trees that exposed a pathway. Before taking another step, I looked behind us, worried that someone would see. 

George noticed, facing me and saying, "Don't worry, it's dark out. Besides, you wouldn't want to miss this. We might never get another chance." 

Only partially reassured, I faced the forest again and followed after Charlie. This had to be the Forbidden Forest, the one place Dumbledore made it clear we were to stay away from. I didn't care much about losing house points, but getting expelled? That was more troubling. 

And yet, I was reassured by Charlie saying he'd been doing it for most of his time here. He was one of the smartest people I had ever met, so why shouldn't we trust him?

We stepped inside the forest and my jaw dropped. It somehow looked even bigger on the inside than from out there. In the distance, animals were making loud noises, and I could've sworn I heard the howl of a werewolf. 

"We can't stay for long, but I wanted you lot to see it once before I'm gone. The creatures in this forest know me, but they haven't a clue who you are. It'd be too dangerous alone. And, of course, the professors would never let you near it.'' Charlie said, simultaneously warning and encouraging us about this place. 

A little further in, we came across an open clearing. The sun was out of sight now, and the soft light of the moon illuminated the ground ahead of us. I stepped forward and noticed something on the other side of the clearing. It was getting to dark to see them properly, so I pulled out my wand.

"Lumos."

I knelt down to the ground and looked closer. There were small, pure-black flowers bunched together beside the trees. I had never seen any like them in both my mother's garden and the one at the Burrow. They twirled with the wind and occasionally released a puff of smoke from their petals. 

 I stood up again and moved around. There were bushes of different kinds of plants I couldn't recognize, though I assumed some of them could likely be found in the ingredients cupboard down in the Potions classroom.

"It's not nearly as scary in here as they all make it out to be." I took a few steps backwards and rejoined the Weasleys.

"You haven't seen half the things that live in here." Charlie asserted. 

I fully turned around to face him, and asked, "Like what?"

"There's harmless stuff, like unicorns and deer, but there's also Werewolves, a Centaur colony, and a horde of Acromantula. Shame there isn't a dragon in here." He sighed, but I was just relieved nothing had come to kill us yet. I liked this part of the forest very much. 

Then, off in the near distance, I heard something rustling through the bushes. As it came closer, the noise started to sound much more like... a horse. Part of me hoped a Unicorn had come to see us. Moments later, the creature bounded into view and started to circle us.