The Forbidden Forest

Luna just shook her head. "No. Things are fine the way they are," she lies, trying her best to sound convincing. "She's one of my best friends. I don't want to risk losing that."

"Alright, Luna, I'm not trying to push you or anything," he said with a smile. "Just know that if you ever need advice, I'm always here for you, okay?"

Luna smiles up at Rad and nods. "Okay. Thanks Rad...for listening," she says with a small, sweet smile, liking that she has someone other than Rose to talk about all of this with.

"No problem at all. But I'm gonna head back to the castle, if that's alright. Just send me a note if you ever wanna talk, or something, okay? I'll see you around, Luna!" he said, pecking her on the cheek, giving her a brief hug, then leaving.

Luna just smiled and waited for Rad to leave before going over to give Abacus a hug because he's her favorite of course. Then she walked up to the castle feeling all contemplative and stuff.

Run, run run. Breathe. Run some more. Flee, from the enemy.
Tristan had let the inner animal take over completely, all human thought was gone. All he wanted, no needed, to do was run as far as possible into refuge. He was being careless, leaving tracks so he could be followed, and not bothering to duck away from oncoming branches. He was cut up, his clothes were torn, and is shoes had somehow disappeared way back near the entry of the Forest. His feet were cut up and bare, but still he ran on and on and on...

Caradoc, worn faux leather coat thrown over his cotton sleeveless tee, walked towards the forest, wand out, and Scruffles the stuffed wolf in hand, a rather uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. He'd been unable to sleep, knowing Tristan had probably run off to the forest again, but this time it was different-- this time, he knew it was his fault, and now he knew quite how dangerous the forest could be, and exactly how defenseless his friend was. "Tristan?" he called out softly, lighting the tip of his wand as he crouched close to the ground, listening for the noises of the night and searching for tracks. "Aha!" he muttered, following the trail, but as he went deeper into the forest, the light wasn't enough, and the trail seemed to disappear into the mossy ground. "Fuck," he muttered, wishing he'd stopped Tristan from leaving in the first place. A rustling of leaves made him freeze and whirl around, but he saw nothing but a small furry creature and let out a breath, deciding to cast a patronus charm to help him. "Expecto Patronum!" he said quietly, and a beautiful panther burst from the tip of his wand, facing him and awaiting command. "Follow the trail," he murmured, and he took off after his patronus, until finally he saw Tristan, curled up upon himself, looking injured, though not badly, and quite frightened. "Tristan," he called again, his voice barely above a whisper, and his tone soothing. "Tristan, it's me. Don't be frightened, I'm not going to hurt you. And here, I've got Scruffles, okay?" he said, his patronus lingering at his side as he held up the stuffed animal.

The light grew unbearably bright even though he knew it wasn't morning. And then that voice spoke to him from the light...and he grew angry. Uncurling, he slunk out of his hollow, crawling along the ground on his hands and feet. He growled, deep in his throat, the scratches and cuts along his body itching. Feral eyes looked back and forth, and he growled again...the growl turning into a high keening noise of misery as his eyes feel upon Scruffles. Raksha leaped forward, grabbed the stuffed wolf in his teeth, and bounded into the shadows in one swift movement. "Go away." his voice was raspy and hoarse, and slightly malevolent. "Tristan doesn't want to see you. Go away."

Caradoc took a step back, wand raised, slightly shocked at his friend's more than strange behavior. "You are Tristan, though," he said uneasily, his patronus taking a step forward, teeth bared. "Tristan, please, listen to me, you're not safe here. Nobody is, but especially not you. Come back with me, to the castle. I won't stay in the dormitory if you don't want me to, okay? I know you don't wanna be around me, and that's fine, I promise I'll leave you alone, but you can't stay here. You'll get hurt, worse than you already are," he said concernedly, his voice gentle and tentative.

Raksha hissed. "I'm Raksha, demon. Not Tristan. And anyway, why would you want to be there for him? Why do you care? No one has cared for him, besides me." Raksha crept out of the shadows and into the light, and hissed at the giant panther, almost challengingly. "It's safe here, for animals like us. Go away."

The panther started to growl and stood its ground, but made no move, otherwise, just as Rad stared down Raksha, utterly confused, but in no way frightened. "Demon? I'm not a demon, Raksha," he said unsteadily, slowly putting the pieces together from their last few encounters, that had all ended rather strangely. "I would want to be there for him, because he's my friend, and I care about him, sincerely. It doesn't matter to me who has or hasn't cared about him in the past, I just know that I want him safe, and warm. You're shivering, and you're bleeding," he said simply, taking off his own coat and holding it out to him. "At least put it on. I don't want you sick," he warned, his voice firm and cold.

"Fool, Raksha means Demon. Tristan Raksha." Raksha sat on the ground, cross legged. Then he kind went still, his eyes unfocused...and Tristan's voice spoke. "I'm already sick...go back to the school, Caradoc. Leave me alone." shivering, he reached back and grabbed his wand and Scruffles. "I have everything i need now."

"I'm not leaving you alone, so don't try that with me, Tristan," he said quietly but confidently. "You're coming with me, and I'm going to make sure you're inside, warm, and safe, and you take care of yourself, if you won't let me do it. Now come on, or I'll get you myself. Can you walk, or would you rather I carried you?" he asked, a hand on his hip as he looked at his friend sternly. "You'll get worse, out here. You can't defend yourself, you said it yourself, Expelliarmus isn't going to help you out here, and you can't even do that much. Now please, Tristan," he called softly. "You'll be safe with me."

Tristan gave in, as he always does. Standing up, he wobbled a bit before he caught his balance. "I...i think you'd better carry me. It took a lot to run this far." he waited patiently for Rad to pick him up. "I'll have to come back out here, on the full moon anyway..." he whispered, looking up to gauge the size of his Lady.

Caradoc stepped forward and swept Tristan into his arms, covering him with the jacket, then moved him so he was able to carry him with one arm, with Raksha resting on his shoulder, giving him free range of his wand arm, which grasped his wand. The panther began to lead the way back into the castle, as Rad barely processed Tristan's words, and then it hit him. "The full moon," he echoed, his face paling in the darkness as he looked at the broken figure in his arm, shaking his head sadly. Well, that explains a lot. Caradoc walked them back into the castle.

Draco took off his outer robe and dropped it on the ground next to a rock. Tucked out of sight he decided it would be safe there and he started to stretch. As he loosened up his calves and hamstrings he took deep breaths, clearing his mind. Every day before his runs he would clear his mind out then just let it free with his body, both running wherever the wanted to for as long as they could. Swinging his arms he made sure he was fully loose then he strapped his wand holder to his arm and slid his wand into it. Looking around he made sure there was no one else in the area then he set off around the forest.

As he ran Draco let his feet slowly start to set a pace, strong long strides taking him past the trees at a steady pace, not too fast to start with. Immediately his thoughts went to Pansy and their earlier conversation. She told him that he couldn’t have everything he wanted, that he had to make a choice between her and the dark side but to him that seemed unfair. Why was it that if she wanted to stay on the good side and she wanted him there then that was how it had to be? What made it so that she could get what she wanted? She had set them at an impasse where only one of them could have what they wanted and that was wrong. She had to have learnt by now that you can’t get everything you want in life, she had to know how the world worked. She was not naïve or stupid, she was no Astoria, but she was a hypocrite. She talked about not wanting him to join the death eaters and how she could never be with him if he did but at the same time her family was just as far in the fold as his, she had grown up with it and she wasn’t going to escape it unscathed. Even if she managed to escape now she would still have the tinges of darkness, she had learnt it too and she had at one point been more interested in it than he was. Just because she was not being pushed to join the cause and could thus give up her dark arts didn’t mean she was going to either. He knew that she had put them aside for now and he knew that she wanted to turn her back on the dark side of her family but at the same time when it came down to it he didn’t think she would turn from her family either no matter how dark they were.

As he ran Draco continued thinking on this track and slowly he got more and more frustrated with Pansy. He couldn’t call it anger because he wasn’t angry at her, he understood why she was saying these things, but he knew she was wrong and he knew that deep down she knew she was wrong too. After almost an hour of steady running Draco found himself physcially back where he had started, but mentally he was much more certain of himself now. He had to stop apologizing to Pansy and actually try to talk to her about this, to voice his opinion again to make her understand. Picking up his robe he wrapped it around himself and headed back into the castle to take a nice shower and finish up that damn potions assignment.

Continued from here: Boys Dorm One

Luna smiles as she walks into the forest with Hermione, feeling more than a little excited about searching for unicorns. She doesn't think anything dirty about going deep with Hermiome, because she is an innocent Lunacorn. Mhm. "Of course I'll stay with you," she promises, smiling up at Hermione as they walk along the trees together. "What sort of creatures did you find the last few times you've been in here?" she asks curiously, keeping her eyes open for possible unicorn sightings.

Hermione thinks her Lunacorn is just the most adorable Lunacorn ever. She doesn't really want to talk about the dead unicorn, though, because that would be upsetting. "Well Harry and Ron have come across Acromantula in here. And Centaurs of course. Andagiantonce," she mumbles, holding tightly to Luna's hand and lighting the way with her wand. She make sure to stick to the path, keeping her eyes peeled for any signs of movement.

"Oh. Centaurs are interesting," she says as she keeps looking around. She's never met a Centaur before so she doesn't know how annoying they are. "I've only really seen thestrals and whatever Hagrid shows us during class, but that's about it. Acromantula...Those are quite rare, aren't they? I didn't know we had them in here."

"'Interesting' is a diplomatic way to put it," Hermione comments. "And yes, Acromantula are rare, but very very dangerous. And where they do exist, they exist in rather large numbers. Harry and Ron were lucky to escape with their lives after their encounter." She follows the path around a corner, falling silent as her eyes peer into the forest, searching for that telltale silvery glimmer.

Luna listens intently to Hermione's mini Care of Magical Creatures lesson, not feeling at all nervous about being in the forbidden forest. "They sure are good at getting themselves into trouble," she comments, smiling as she continues looking for a unicorn. "I wonder what else is in here. Probably loads of Dabberblimps," she says casually, as if everyone would know what those are.

"They are," Hermione says with a fond, nostalgic smile. Then her face crumples in confusion. "Luna? What's a Dabberblimp?" she wonders, bracing herself for one of Luna's nonsensical but gorgeous explanations.

Luna looks back over at Hermione and blinks. "Dabberblimps? They're little creatures that are born as fish and live in the lake, then they turn into birds and move into the forest. They can't fly though," she explains, speaking as if she's simply telling Hermione the weather.

Hermione stops in her tracks, staring open-mouthed at her girlfriend. She wonders where on earth to begin explaining to Luna everything that's wrong with that when she catches a flash of silver out of the corner of her eye. "Luna," she gasps, her voice dropping to a whisper. "That way." She inclines her head in the direction of the movement and starts edging forward as quietly and carefully as she can, one hand still firmly encasing Luna's slightly smaller one.

Luna looks at Hermione in slight confusion before she realizes that look her girlfriend has. She turns to look over at where Hermione is gesturing to, her face lighting up when she sees what looked like a unicorn tail. She keeps her hand firmly intertwined with Hermione's, slowly and quietly walking towards the source of the silvery flash. As they eventually get closer, making their way through more of the trees, Luna's eyes widening at the sight of the pretty, silver unicorn in front of them, and it's a good thing that Luna is a rather quiet person because squealing right now would be a bad idea. "Wow," she whispers in awe, smiling at the unicorn that's still oblivious to their presence.