A/N: Okay, I just had to do this. I love Harry Potter and Kind Arthur and I've been kicking around the idea of doing a crossover for awhile. The character I used is the same one from my story "Ataraxia" (yeah, I'm lazy). Anyway, I'm really not sure about this story. Crossovers are fun to think about it, but they almost always never work out very well. Ah well, tell me what you think......please be nice! Bye for now!
Chance, Coincidence, Reason.
Chapter One: Everyone's Worst Day
She must have done something wrong. Something horribly, terribly wrong. She must've angered someone very important in a past life, or perhaps she was just terminally unlucky. Maybe the forces of the world had suddenly aligned against her over night, or perhaps God was just in the mood for a little joke. Whatever the case, when Darwin Moore had gone to sleep at night in her plushy four-poster bed, only to wake up face-down in a puddle of mud, she wasn't laughing.
Her head hurt and her eyes stung. She rolled over and struggled into a sitting position. She wiped the muck from her eyes and cursed everything that came to mind. The only thing she was aware of was that she was cold, wet, dirty and royally annoyed. She surveyed her surroundings with sore eyes, tasting something she prayed was only mud in her mouth.
"Oh, what the hell?!" She asked aloud, to no one in particular.
To her utter shock and disappointment, she discovered she was in the middle of a forest. As well, to add insult to injury, or maybe just insult to insult, she saw that what she thought was a puddle was actually more like a pool of mud and she was drenched in it.
For a moment, she did nothing. She just continued to sit in her pool of mud, her arms limp at her side, while her waking grogginess cleared. She looked left, she looked right. For a moment, nothing. A bird chirped overhead and a slight breeze ran through the trees. Nothing.
And then, all in an instant, a tidal wave of emotions hit her.
"Arrgggh!" She howled.
She was furiously indignant, severely confused, a little hungry, and grossly uncomfortable, but mostly, she felt sorry. She felt sorry for the person who's idea this was of a prank. A sick, daft prank which had been taken way too far. Taking pictures of someone in compromising positions while they were asleep, okay, that's funny. Pouring water on someone while they're asleep, okay, that had comedic potential too. Even moving someone's bed down to the Quidditch pitch while they were asleep, it would take a lot of commitment, but yeah, that was funny too. But this, this was just way out of line. It showcased a dedication to pranking that was just ridiculous and completely unfunny. She mentally promised the culprit of this shenanigan a world of hurt as a means to show her "appreciation" for their dedication to their craft.
She scrambled to her feet, only to find that they were wobbly. Well, she had never slept on a forest floor before, so she didn't really know what to expect. She again wiped at her eyes and then grumpily began on her way. Without really thinking about it, she followed the gentle slope in the ground. She had never ventured very far within the Forbidden Forest, but she had gone far enough to know that as you went further in, the ground climbed higher and higher.
As she walked, she considered who her tormenter might be. It had to be someone she knew, and it had to be someone in Gryffindor. That left Lily Evans, who she highly doubted had it in her to play such a mean prank, and the Marauders, who she knew did have it in them. The permanent pranksters were always getting into trouble for there antics, but even this seemed extreme for them. She didn't know what form of intoxication had convinced them that this would be funny, but she was sure she would find out and when she did, ohhhhharrgghhhgrrr— Her thoughts had ceased to be thoughts and were now merely mental growls as she was not yet able to determine what she would do when she found them, she was just too angry. The nerve of them! And it was winter too! It was freezing cold and she wished that they would've been considerate enough to leave her cloak in the forest as well.
She continued to walk with the air of a grumpy child who hasn't had their nap for the day. Above, birds chirped loudly. A whole flock of birds, just chirping away, the sound increasingly annoying, pounding in Darwin's ears.
"SHUT UP!" She screamed. "Just shut up, all of you!" You'd think those bloody birds would have a little more consideration, she thought to herself. After all, she did wake up face down in the dirt and was in absolutely no mood for the wonders of nature. It can be expected that anyone else finding themselves in a similar predicament would, as well, not be in the most rational states of mind either.
She continued on, and the forest, thankfully, remained fairly quiet. The forest floor gently sloped upward, which struck her as odd. Maybe her so-called friends had brought her deeper into the forest then she had thought. She shrugged it off and continued to walk. Five minutes turned into ten, ten into twenty, and soon, she found that she had been walking for nearly forty-five minutes.
She swallowed hard and her breathing quickened as she tried not to panic. She looked around her, but nothing looked familiar. With a sinking feeling in her stomach she only now considered something that had been pricking at the back of her mind when she first started walking. This wasn't the Forbidden Forest. The trees were too sparsely spaced, the light filtering in through the tree tops was too abundant, and the suspicious lack of evil beings was a dead give away. She wasn't in the Forbidden Forest, which meant that she was nowhere near the castle.
I would like to be able to say that Darwin put on a brave face and continued on her way, undaunted by her dilemma, shoving her fear aside and boldly facing whatever came her way, you know, a strong, independent female, and all that. But no, not this time. She did what any seventeen year old witch would do in her position – she plopped down by the nearest tree and began to cry.
Her hands were flushed and shaking, her nose was runny, tears continually ran down her face and she was making a sound akin to a goat in extreme pain.
The thing with crying is that you can only do it for so long. Eventually, everyone stops, no matter how bad it hurts. When Darwin finally ceased her sobbing, she found that she was still in the same forest, next to the same tree, and, more importantly, she was still lost. Well, not exactly lost. In order to get lost, one has to first know where they are. You have to be on the right highway in order to take the wrong exit and get lost. You have to be in the right city in order to walk down the wrong street and get lost. And you have to actually know which forest it is you're in before you can say that you're lost in said forest. I suppose in Darwin's case she more "displaced" because she simply didn't know what the hell was going on.
She stood up and abruptly kicked the tree she had been sitting under. Instant karma. Now her foot hurt. She winced as tears of pain pricked at her eyes.
She made the simple deduction that she wasn't going to accomplish anything staying where she was and decided to continue walking. There had to be some sort of competent living being somewhere close by. The earth was, after all, inhabited by billions of people and she figured she would eventually come into contact with one of them if she just kept going. And that's what she did.....for a really, really long time.
She thought she had been walking for days, but it was really only a few hours. But still, even the slowest walkers can cover some distance in the span of a few hours and she was increasingly becoming distressed by the fact that she had not run into anyone yet. All she had seen were the stupid trees, with their stupid leaves and which there seemed to be way too many of in comparison with the amount of humans in this forest.
Her feet dragged and her stomach growled. Her clothes were itchy and dirty and all her limbs ached. Her eye lids felt heavy and she just felt oh, so tired. She trudged on and still, no sign of human life.
The panic she had been fighting all day was slowly getting the better of her. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears as the light slowly drained from the forest and night approached. Evil things lurked at night, especially in forests, and she grew very scared. She wished she were back at the castle, snuggled safely away under a pile of blankets in her room. For crying out loud, she even wished she could be doing Potions homework right now. Anything was better than this.
During the day, the forest had been quite non-threatening, but now it grew quite sinister. She could not see very far in front of her, even with the aid of the Lumos charm, and had to watch her steps carefully. Every sound she heard made her heart jump. A twig snapped, leaves shook, the wind whistled – she thought she might have a heart attack. It was only now that her mind fully explored all the possibilities of things that go bump in the night.
As she squinted against the horizon, she thought she could see the woods thin and clear. She wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but it was a change of scenery so she moved toward it. Just as she was making her way through a dense group of young trees, whose springy branches she had to push aside, it began to rain. Actually, more specifically, it began to pour.
"Oh, come ON!" She cried indignantly, her arms angrily straightening at her sides. Promptly, the branches she had been pushing aside sprung back to smack her square in the face. The loads of snow they had been bearing flew into her hair and mouth and at that moment she wanted to hurt something very badly, or break something, or maybe destroy a priceless piece of art. Of course it had to rain, it couldn't just snow, because that wouldn't be bad enough, it had to rain so that all the snow on the ground would turn into ice and she would be skating her way out of here.
She let out a howl of frustration and then painfully shoved her way through the trees. She felt a stinging on her face and arms and knew she had succeeded in scratching herself. Why with my luck, she thought, the wounds will probably turn gangrenous and then I'll have to spend the rest of my life with hooks for hands and no face. She shuddered and continued on.
As she drew closer, she saw that indeed, this was the long looked-for exit from the forest. She had had just about enough of this forest, with it's trees and dirt and disgusting little bugs that crawled on the bark of the trees. She broke into a run, and of course, the rain was angled perfectly so that it flew directly into her eyes, forcing her to squint, with of course forced her to inadvertently trip over every tree stump and log she passed. She gripped her wand tightly in her hand, the light from it flickering in all directions.
She finally made it out of the forest and now found that she was in a sloping valley. She walked forward a few steps, only to turn around and run back to the forest. She kicked the nearest tree with as much force as she could muster, as if to say HA, there, I win!. After that, she felt she could go on her way.
When she spotted a group of lights and could make out the form of buildings up ahead, she wasn't surprised. That was just the way these things worked, right? You escape from the danger only to find safety. Simple.
She walked very quickly toward the lights, but as she walked, she grew more and more confused. Instead of seeing flats and pubs, like you'd expect to see in a little town, she see what looked like straw huts, and wooden fences.
"Well, this is different." She said to herself. Maybe they were Amish? She continued on, dauntlessly ignorant.
There was a dirt path leading into the town and she followed it. As she grew nearer, she saw that there were a few people milling about. Maybe this was a film set then. The people were all clad in rags and they looked unmistakably like the stereotypical peasant. They were dirty, soaked with mud, holding farm instruments, hunched over and between them all they might have had one full set of teeth.
The first people she walked past, did not look at her and she did not stop to talk to them. They were so dirty she feared she might contract some sort of disease just by talking to them. These people looked too genuine, too real, to be actors. Her stomach lurched and she couldn't help but feel panicked. She pulled her robe tight about her and continued on, very happy that she had again fallen asleep in her uniform. Sure, she looked completely alien to these people wearing her uniform, but wearing her pajamas instead, that would've just been embarrassing.
She passed a few more people, who paid her no mind, and it suddenly occurred to her — what was she supposed to say anyway? She herself didn't understand what was going on, so she really couldn't ask for help. She pondered this for a few more moments, and looked up to see that she was now standing in front of a large wall with two enormous wooden doors in the middle of it.
"Halt! Who goes there?" She heard a very strong male voice ask, startling her.
She glanced behind her and all around. "Are you talking to me?" She questioned.
"Who goes there?!" Uh oh, now the voice sounded angry. Okay, time for the friendly face.
"My name's Darwin. I– I was wondering if you could help me, I'm a little lost." She squeaked out. She couldn't see who she was talking to, but she still felt like an idiot, none the less.
She heard boots scraping against the ground and she could tell someone who was quite heavy was coming toward her.
She didn't know what to expect, but this certainly wasn't it. Before her, she saw a heavy-set man with an ugly face wearing a helmet and clad completely in armour. And, was that a sword at his side? Not for the last time that day she wished again that she knew just what the hell was going on. The man had to be some sort of soldier, that much was obvious. He wore a pale coloured cloak and even his boots were covered in armour. He regarded her with a very strange look indeed, like he thought she might be a mass murderer.
"Hi." She said goofily.
The soldier did not reply, just continued to regard her.
"I'm lost."She restated, as if that would explain away all the weirdness of the situation.
"What are you looking for?" The man asked after a few moments. His eyes narrowed and Darwin couldn't help but feel like she was digging her own grave. She suddenly wanted to run away very badly, back to the forest. At least none of those disgusting little bugs carried swords.
"I'm looking for Hogwarts." She said, not really thinking about.
"Hog -warts?" The repeated.
"Yeah, you know, Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry?" She said as if it were obvious. Un oh, huge mistake.
The man's mouth dropped open and he just stared at her. She saw his hand move to the hilt of his sword.
"You're in league with Merlin!" He cried.
"What? No. I'm sure I don't know who you're talking about. Look, I think I'm going to go now. Thanks anyway!" She cried and tried to run away. The man grabbed her arms and then tackled her to the ground.
He yelled something, but she couldn't hear what. For the second time that day she found herself face down in the mud, and oddly enough, it still wasn't funny. Soon, more people arrived, all of them dressed like the first man.
"She's an evil witch!" Cried the man who was holding her down.
"No, no I'm not." She spluttered beneath him.
There was a pause, as if they were all waiting for her to explain herself.
"I'm a good witch!" She cried. That was absolutely no help at all. The scuffle continued, only now she didn't have a fighting chance. They easily overpowered her. She tried to reach her wand but it was no use. She screamed and begged them to let her go. This really was turning out to be just an awful day.
She had not noticed the small house of stone that stood near the large wooden doors when she had first arrived, but she did now, as that was where they were taking her. She struggled hard, there was something ominous about the little building and she for one did not want to find out what it was.
"Please, just let me go!" She begged.
"No. You must given salvation." Said one of the soldiers who was holding her.
"No, really, that's okay. I hear this sort of thing is highly overrated." She said, squirming again.
They said nothing, only continued to drag her toward the small stone building. When they got there, the first soldier let go of her, only to be replaced by another. There was a small door in the building and it opened to reveal the most butt-ugly human being Darwin had ever seen. He looked like a sort of monk, dressed all in black with a rope around his waist. The soldier gestured toward her and the monk's eyes narrowed. They spoke for a few more moments and the first soldier gestured for the other's bring her forward.
She was now face to face with the ugly man and he looked even worse up close. He was nearly bold and his skin sagged. His teeth were yellow and he had little rat claws for hands, which he now presumed to caress her face with.
"Child, you will now receive the salvation of the Lord." He said, his voice ecstatic.
"But I don't want to." She whined.
The soldiers shoved her inside and she took the opportunity to pull out her wand. She hit the closest one with the Blasting curse and he went flying. She was just about to cast the curse again, when the monk pulled her wand from her hand and sneered.
"Devil spawn! You must be cleansed from the earth!" He said as he pulled the heavy wooden door shut.
"Hey! Give that back!"She yelped, reaching for her wand and he batted her hand away. Right then, out of the darkness, two more monks appeared, and they were just as ugly.
"She claims to be a witch." Ugly monk number one said to the others.
"I am a witch, well, a witch in training anyway." Darwin said, trying to explain herself. At this moment, nothing was making sense to her. She was far too confused to feel frightened. Who were these people? And what were they doing here? And what was with the religious fanaticism? The monks only looked at her as if she were the most disgusting, vile thing they had ever seen.
They gruffly pulled her forward and down a jagged set of stone stairs.
"You're hurting me." She said, but they did not even look at her, only tightened their grip on her wrists. The first monk still held her wand and she saw him slip it into the folds of his robes.
They brought her to a small dungeon-like room, with many small compartments cut into the walls, closed by steel bars. The smell was an awful, gut wrenching smell. She tried breathing through her mouth, but that barely helped. Her head swam and she thought she might be sick.
"Did something die in here?" She asked, in spite of herself. It really was just an awful stench. She was sure she had never smelt anything quite so bad. She was just about to ask if they would open a window, when she heard a girl's voice.
"More like someone." The voice growled angrily from somewhere to the left.
"Silence!" One of the monks screeched.
"Ahhh!" Darwin screamed. She hadn't realized that there were people inside those little compartments. And more, to the point, dead people inside those compartments.
She felt panic rise inside her again and struggled forcibly against the monks holding her. She clawed and punched at them, nearly breaking free, only to be tackled back to the ground.
"You are all sick little bastards!" She screamed at them. "You're all insane! Let me go!" She panted. Her face felt hot, and as she looked around the dungeon, it seemed much smaller now then when she had first come in.
"You must be sacrificed to our Lord for your sins." One of the monks said to her with an eery calm. Darwin had the sinking suspicion that a lack of sunlight, lack of fresh air and being dropped on his head as a child had now caused this man to be permanently deranged.
"Buddy, I usually fall asleep during mass but even I know this isn't the way it works." Darwin growled. She figured there was no real use trying to reason with them, but what choice did she have?
"You presume to know the ways of our Lord? Filthy heathen, you shall learn some respect." Another one of the monks growled at her.
They pulled her to her feet and then shoved her into one of the little compartments in the wall, close to where the voice from earlier had come from. Tight chains were placed around her wrists and then the cell door was closed. It made an ominous sound, and Darwin momentarily wondered if she would ever leave. The monks scurried off to a small room adjacent to the dungeon, and closed a small door behind them.
The cell, of course, was dreadfully dirty and it smelled as if something had died in there. Darwin's stomach turned as she realized that something probably had. She dared not think of the diseases the cell was ridden with, and pulled her knees to her chest.
"What did I do wrong?" She whimpered. But there was no answer. She again felt tears prick at her eyes and let them come freely. This just had to be the absolute worst day she would ever know, just had to be. It was unfair, of course, unjust, sure, but there was a reason for it. She was just taking the first difficult steps in a long journey, a journey that would change her life forever. On the stage of the world she had a small, but important, part to play.
Chance, Coincidence, Reason.
Chapter One: Everyone's Worst Day
She must have done something wrong. Something horribly, terribly wrong. She must've angered someone very important in a past life, or perhaps she was just terminally unlucky. Maybe the forces of the world had suddenly aligned against her over night, or perhaps God was just in the mood for a little joke. Whatever the case, when Darwin Moore had gone to sleep at night in her plushy four-poster bed, only to wake up face-down in a puddle of mud, she wasn't laughing.
Her head hurt and her eyes stung. She rolled over and struggled into a sitting position. She wiped the muck from her eyes and cursed everything that came to mind. The only thing she was aware of was that she was cold, wet, dirty and royally annoyed. She surveyed her surroundings with sore eyes, tasting something she prayed was only mud in her mouth.
"Oh, what the hell?!" She asked aloud, to no one in particular.
To her utter shock and disappointment, she discovered she was in the middle of a forest. As well, to add insult to injury, or maybe just insult to insult, she saw that what she thought was a puddle was actually more like a pool of mud and she was drenched in it.
For a moment, she did nothing. She just continued to sit in her pool of mud, her arms limp at her side, while her waking grogginess cleared. She looked left, she looked right. For a moment, nothing. A bird chirped overhead and a slight breeze ran through the trees. Nothing.
And then, all in an instant, a tidal wave of emotions hit her.
"Arrgggh!" She howled.
She was furiously indignant, severely confused, a little hungry, and grossly uncomfortable, but mostly, she felt sorry. She felt sorry for the person who's idea this was of a prank. A sick, daft prank which had been taken way too far. Taking pictures of someone in compromising positions while they were asleep, okay, that's funny. Pouring water on someone while they're asleep, okay, that had comedic potential too. Even moving someone's bed down to the Quidditch pitch while they were asleep, it would take a lot of commitment, but yeah, that was funny too. But this, this was just way out of line. It showcased a dedication to pranking that was just ridiculous and completely unfunny. She mentally promised the culprit of this shenanigan a world of hurt as a means to show her "appreciation" for their dedication to their craft.
She scrambled to her feet, only to find that they were wobbly. Well, she had never slept on a forest floor before, so she didn't really know what to expect. She again wiped at her eyes and then grumpily began on her way. Without really thinking about it, she followed the gentle slope in the ground. She had never ventured very far within the Forbidden Forest, but she had gone far enough to know that as you went further in, the ground climbed higher and higher.
As she walked, she considered who her tormenter might be. It had to be someone she knew, and it had to be someone in Gryffindor. That left Lily Evans, who she highly doubted had it in her to play such a mean prank, and the Marauders, who she knew did have it in them. The permanent pranksters were always getting into trouble for there antics, but even this seemed extreme for them. She didn't know what form of intoxication had convinced them that this would be funny, but she was sure she would find out and when she did, ohhhhharrgghhhgrrr— Her thoughts had ceased to be thoughts and were now merely mental growls as she was not yet able to determine what she would do when she found them, she was just too angry. The nerve of them! And it was winter too! It was freezing cold and she wished that they would've been considerate enough to leave her cloak in the forest as well.
She continued to walk with the air of a grumpy child who hasn't had their nap for the day. Above, birds chirped loudly. A whole flock of birds, just chirping away, the sound increasingly annoying, pounding in Darwin's ears.
"SHUT UP!" She screamed. "Just shut up, all of you!" You'd think those bloody birds would have a little more consideration, she thought to herself. After all, she did wake up face down in the dirt and was in absolutely no mood for the wonders of nature. It can be expected that anyone else finding themselves in a similar predicament would, as well, not be in the most rational states of mind either.
She continued on, and the forest, thankfully, remained fairly quiet. The forest floor gently sloped upward, which struck her as odd. Maybe her so-called friends had brought her deeper into the forest then she had thought. She shrugged it off and continued to walk. Five minutes turned into ten, ten into twenty, and soon, she found that she had been walking for nearly forty-five minutes.
She swallowed hard and her breathing quickened as she tried not to panic. She looked around her, but nothing looked familiar. With a sinking feeling in her stomach she only now considered something that had been pricking at the back of her mind when she first started walking. This wasn't the Forbidden Forest. The trees were too sparsely spaced, the light filtering in through the tree tops was too abundant, and the suspicious lack of evil beings was a dead give away. She wasn't in the Forbidden Forest, which meant that she was nowhere near the castle.
I would like to be able to say that Darwin put on a brave face and continued on her way, undaunted by her dilemma, shoving her fear aside and boldly facing whatever came her way, you know, a strong, independent female, and all that. But no, not this time. She did what any seventeen year old witch would do in her position – she plopped down by the nearest tree and began to cry.
Her hands were flushed and shaking, her nose was runny, tears continually ran down her face and she was making a sound akin to a goat in extreme pain.
The thing with crying is that you can only do it for so long. Eventually, everyone stops, no matter how bad it hurts. When Darwin finally ceased her sobbing, she found that she was still in the same forest, next to the same tree, and, more importantly, she was still lost. Well, not exactly lost. In order to get lost, one has to first know where they are. You have to be on the right highway in order to take the wrong exit and get lost. You have to be in the right city in order to walk down the wrong street and get lost. And you have to actually know which forest it is you're in before you can say that you're lost in said forest. I suppose in Darwin's case she more "displaced" because she simply didn't know what the hell was going on.
She stood up and abruptly kicked the tree she had been sitting under. Instant karma. Now her foot hurt. She winced as tears of pain pricked at her eyes.
She made the simple deduction that she wasn't going to accomplish anything staying where she was and decided to continue walking. There had to be some sort of competent living being somewhere close by. The earth was, after all, inhabited by billions of people and she figured she would eventually come into contact with one of them if she just kept going. And that's what she did.....for a really, really long time.
She thought she had been walking for days, but it was really only a few hours. But still, even the slowest walkers can cover some distance in the span of a few hours and she was increasingly becoming distressed by the fact that she had not run into anyone yet. All she had seen were the stupid trees, with their stupid leaves and which there seemed to be way too many of in comparison with the amount of humans in this forest.
Her feet dragged and her stomach growled. Her clothes were itchy and dirty and all her limbs ached. Her eye lids felt heavy and she just felt oh, so tired. She trudged on and still, no sign of human life.
The panic she had been fighting all day was slowly getting the better of her. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears as the light slowly drained from the forest and night approached. Evil things lurked at night, especially in forests, and she grew very scared. She wished she were back at the castle, snuggled safely away under a pile of blankets in her room. For crying out loud, she even wished she could be doing Potions homework right now. Anything was better than this.
During the day, the forest had been quite non-threatening, but now it grew quite sinister. She could not see very far in front of her, even with the aid of the Lumos charm, and had to watch her steps carefully. Every sound she heard made her heart jump. A twig snapped, leaves shook, the wind whistled – she thought she might have a heart attack. It was only now that her mind fully explored all the possibilities of things that go bump in the night.
As she squinted against the horizon, she thought she could see the woods thin and clear. She wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but it was a change of scenery so she moved toward it. Just as she was making her way through a dense group of young trees, whose springy branches she had to push aside, it began to rain. Actually, more specifically, it began to pour.
"Oh, come ON!" She cried indignantly, her arms angrily straightening at her sides. Promptly, the branches she had been pushing aside sprung back to smack her square in the face. The loads of snow they had been bearing flew into her hair and mouth and at that moment she wanted to hurt something very badly, or break something, or maybe destroy a priceless piece of art. Of course it had to rain, it couldn't just snow, because that wouldn't be bad enough, it had to rain so that all the snow on the ground would turn into ice and she would be skating her way out of here.
She let out a howl of frustration and then painfully shoved her way through the trees. She felt a stinging on her face and arms and knew she had succeeded in scratching herself. Why with my luck, she thought, the wounds will probably turn gangrenous and then I'll have to spend the rest of my life with hooks for hands and no face. She shuddered and continued on.
As she drew closer, she saw that indeed, this was the long looked-for exit from the forest. She had had just about enough of this forest, with it's trees and dirt and disgusting little bugs that crawled on the bark of the trees. She broke into a run, and of course, the rain was angled perfectly so that it flew directly into her eyes, forcing her to squint, with of course forced her to inadvertently trip over every tree stump and log she passed. She gripped her wand tightly in her hand, the light from it flickering in all directions.
She finally made it out of the forest and now found that she was in a sloping valley. She walked forward a few steps, only to turn around and run back to the forest. She kicked the nearest tree with as much force as she could muster, as if to say HA, there, I win!. After that, she felt she could go on her way.
When she spotted a group of lights and could make out the form of buildings up ahead, she wasn't surprised. That was just the way these things worked, right? You escape from the danger only to find safety. Simple.
She walked very quickly toward the lights, but as she walked, she grew more and more confused. Instead of seeing flats and pubs, like you'd expect to see in a little town, she see what looked like straw huts, and wooden fences.
"Well, this is different." She said to herself. Maybe they were Amish? She continued on, dauntlessly ignorant.
There was a dirt path leading into the town and she followed it. As she grew nearer, she saw that there were a few people milling about. Maybe this was a film set then. The people were all clad in rags and they looked unmistakably like the stereotypical peasant. They were dirty, soaked with mud, holding farm instruments, hunched over and between them all they might have had one full set of teeth.
The first people she walked past, did not look at her and she did not stop to talk to them. They were so dirty she feared she might contract some sort of disease just by talking to them. These people looked too genuine, too real, to be actors. Her stomach lurched and she couldn't help but feel panicked. She pulled her robe tight about her and continued on, very happy that she had again fallen asleep in her uniform. Sure, she looked completely alien to these people wearing her uniform, but wearing her pajamas instead, that would've just been embarrassing.
She passed a few more people, who paid her no mind, and it suddenly occurred to her — what was she supposed to say anyway? She herself didn't understand what was going on, so she really couldn't ask for help. She pondered this for a few more moments, and looked up to see that she was now standing in front of a large wall with two enormous wooden doors in the middle of it.
"Halt! Who goes there?" She heard a very strong male voice ask, startling her.
She glanced behind her and all around. "Are you talking to me?" She questioned.
"Who goes there?!" Uh oh, now the voice sounded angry. Okay, time for the friendly face.
"My name's Darwin. I– I was wondering if you could help me, I'm a little lost." She squeaked out. She couldn't see who she was talking to, but she still felt like an idiot, none the less.
She heard boots scraping against the ground and she could tell someone who was quite heavy was coming toward her.
She didn't know what to expect, but this certainly wasn't it. Before her, she saw a heavy-set man with an ugly face wearing a helmet and clad completely in armour. And, was that a sword at his side? Not for the last time that day she wished again that she knew just what the hell was going on. The man had to be some sort of soldier, that much was obvious. He wore a pale coloured cloak and even his boots were covered in armour. He regarded her with a very strange look indeed, like he thought she might be a mass murderer.
"Hi." She said goofily.
The soldier did not reply, just continued to regard her.
"I'm lost."She restated, as if that would explain away all the weirdness of the situation.
"What are you looking for?" The man asked after a few moments. His eyes narrowed and Darwin couldn't help but feel like she was digging her own grave. She suddenly wanted to run away very badly, back to the forest. At least none of those disgusting little bugs carried swords.
"I'm looking for Hogwarts." She said, not really thinking about.
"Hog -warts?" The repeated.
"Yeah, you know, Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry?" She said as if it were obvious. Un oh, huge mistake.
The man's mouth dropped open and he just stared at her. She saw his hand move to the hilt of his sword.
"You're in league with Merlin!" He cried.
"What? No. I'm sure I don't know who you're talking about. Look, I think I'm going to go now. Thanks anyway!" She cried and tried to run away. The man grabbed her arms and then tackled her to the ground.
He yelled something, but she couldn't hear what. For the second time that day she found herself face down in the mud, and oddly enough, it still wasn't funny. Soon, more people arrived, all of them dressed like the first man.
"She's an evil witch!" Cried the man who was holding her down.
"No, no I'm not." She spluttered beneath him.
There was a pause, as if they were all waiting for her to explain herself.
"I'm a good witch!" She cried. That was absolutely no help at all. The scuffle continued, only now she didn't have a fighting chance. They easily overpowered her. She tried to reach her wand but it was no use. She screamed and begged them to let her go. This really was turning out to be just an awful day.
She had not noticed the small house of stone that stood near the large wooden doors when she had first arrived, but she did now, as that was where they were taking her. She struggled hard, there was something ominous about the little building and she for one did not want to find out what it was.
"Please, just let me go!" She begged.
"No. You must given salvation." Said one of the soldiers who was holding her.
"No, really, that's okay. I hear this sort of thing is highly overrated." She said, squirming again.
They said nothing, only continued to drag her toward the small stone building. When they got there, the first soldier let go of her, only to be replaced by another. There was a small door in the building and it opened to reveal the most butt-ugly human being Darwin had ever seen. He looked like a sort of monk, dressed all in black with a rope around his waist. The soldier gestured toward her and the monk's eyes narrowed. They spoke for a few more moments and the first soldier gestured for the other's bring her forward.
She was now face to face with the ugly man and he looked even worse up close. He was nearly bold and his skin sagged. His teeth were yellow and he had little rat claws for hands, which he now presumed to caress her face with.
"Child, you will now receive the salvation of the Lord." He said, his voice ecstatic.
"But I don't want to." She whined.
The soldiers shoved her inside and she took the opportunity to pull out her wand. She hit the closest one with the Blasting curse and he went flying. She was just about to cast the curse again, when the monk pulled her wand from her hand and sneered.
"Devil spawn! You must be cleansed from the earth!" He said as he pulled the heavy wooden door shut.
"Hey! Give that back!"She yelped, reaching for her wand and he batted her hand away. Right then, out of the darkness, two more monks appeared, and they were just as ugly.
"She claims to be a witch." Ugly monk number one said to the others.
"I am a witch, well, a witch in training anyway." Darwin said, trying to explain herself. At this moment, nothing was making sense to her. She was far too confused to feel frightened. Who were these people? And what were they doing here? And what was with the religious fanaticism? The monks only looked at her as if she were the most disgusting, vile thing they had ever seen.
They gruffly pulled her forward and down a jagged set of stone stairs.
"You're hurting me." She said, but they did not even look at her, only tightened their grip on her wrists. The first monk still held her wand and she saw him slip it into the folds of his robes.
They brought her to a small dungeon-like room, with many small compartments cut into the walls, closed by steel bars. The smell was an awful, gut wrenching smell. She tried breathing through her mouth, but that barely helped. Her head swam and she thought she might be sick.
"Did something die in here?" She asked, in spite of herself. It really was just an awful stench. She was sure she had never smelt anything quite so bad. She was just about to ask if they would open a window, when she heard a girl's voice.
"More like someone." The voice growled angrily from somewhere to the left.
"Silence!" One of the monks screeched.
"Ahhh!" Darwin screamed. She hadn't realized that there were people inside those little compartments. And more, to the point, dead people inside those compartments.
She felt panic rise inside her again and struggled forcibly against the monks holding her. She clawed and punched at them, nearly breaking free, only to be tackled back to the ground.
"You are all sick little bastards!" She screamed at them. "You're all insane! Let me go!" She panted. Her face felt hot, and as she looked around the dungeon, it seemed much smaller now then when she had first come in.
"You must be sacrificed to our Lord for your sins." One of the monks said to her with an eery calm. Darwin had the sinking suspicion that a lack of sunlight, lack of fresh air and being dropped on his head as a child had now caused this man to be permanently deranged.
"Buddy, I usually fall asleep during mass but even I know this isn't the way it works." Darwin growled. She figured there was no real use trying to reason with them, but what choice did she have?
"You presume to know the ways of our Lord? Filthy heathen, you shall learn some respect." Another one of the monks growled at her.
They pulled her to her feet and then shoved her into one of the little compartments in the wall, close to where the voice from earlier had come from. Tight chains were placed around her wrists and then the cell door was closed. It made an ominous sound, and Darwin momentarily wondered if she would ever leave. The monks scurried off to a small room adjacent to the dungeon, and closed a small door behind them.
The cell, of course, was dreadfully dirty and it smelled as if something had died in there. Darwin's stomach turned as she realized that something probably had. She dared not think of the diseases the cell was ridden with, and pulled her knees to her chest.
"What did I do wrong?" She whimpered. But there was no answer. She again felt tears prick at her eyes and let them come freely. This just had to be the absolute worst day she would ever know, just had to be. It was unfair, of course, unjust, sure, but there was a reason for it. She was just taking the first difficult steps in a long journey, a journey that would change her life forever. On the stage of the world she had a small, but important, part to play.