I gripped hard on the one thing keeping me alive. I could smell the slight tinge of burning wood from the tree behind me. Mixed with that was the extremely obvious smell of my fear and the scent of the woods I was in. I could barely see a few feet in front of me, and any time I actually did see some form of light was because I was either being attacked or being the target of a badly aimed spell. I'd already had to dodge stunning spells, frail disarmament spells, flipping jinxes and an annoyingly repetitive aguamenti charm.

I love Defence Against the Dark Arts and all but sometimes Professor P could be a real maniac. I mean who throws a group of clueless third years into the Forbidden Forest? Well at least the forest isn't the same as it was back in the day, filled with Acromantulas [Giant Spiders from book 2] and what not.

My muscles flexed instinctively as I felt a spout of water hit me square in the back, drenching my already torn shirt and shorts. I cursed slightly under my breath, whirling around and letting go of a stunner towards the first sight of movement I saw. I made sure to cast the spell somewhere to the side of the object, in which direction was up to my discretion, or so Professor P had reminded us a few weeks ago.

"Blimey, I'm freezing here, no need to make it worse!"

I head the satisfying sound of a loud thump as something large hit the floor of leaves in the clearing I'd found myself in. I'd made sure not to cast light with my wand so as to not attract attention to myself, but I couldn't resist going to check what I'd hit with my spell.

"Lumos"

I said it in a hushed whisper, tucking my wand behind the thin material of my shirt to somewhat dim the light that appeared on the tip of my wand. I made my way towards the sound I'd heard earlier.

"What the-?"

I felt the back of my neck prickle just as I bent over to look at the log on the floor, a grotesque moving and smiling face that stuck its tongue out painted on it. I felt my body turn around on its own; my wand hand shooting out in front of me, it felt like I'd slipped out of my body and was watching as it moved on its own.

"P-Protego!"

I stuttered with the spell, the cold causing my body to break into a shiver as I saw the red bolt strike against the invisible shield that had sprout out in front of my body. I glanced at the origin of the spell, a mess of black hair on a large lanky form disappearing into the trees before swearing loudly.

"T-Ted? Is that you? I'd know that voice anywhere..."

I gave my wand a slight twirl as I heard the rustle of leaves behind me, followed by the familiar squeal of one my classmates. I flicked my wand once towards the sound, my lips moving rapidly. I saw her flip into the air as I fully turned and watched her fall on top of a pile of leaves. My breath was slightly ragged as I approached the wand that had been thrown out of her hands. I picked it up slowly, pocketing it and offering a hand to Rebecca.

"Sorry Becca, you made too much noise. Hm? What's wrong? You aren't hurt, are you?"

Rebecca glanced towards me with wide eyes, the colour draining right out of her petite face. Her lips seemed to be moving along with her shivering body. Her finger rose up to my side, as she pointed somewhere behind me. I smelt its smell before I heard the rustling of whatever was behind me. The scent caused something to click in my head, my entire body going rigid, and my grip on my wand tightening.

"Becca, relax… It's a test, n-nothing's going to happen, no sudden movements"

"Huh, it's going to…e-eat"

"Quiet Becca!"

I slowly turned on my heel, the most beautifully abstract animal I'd ever seen stood before me. It had a mane of black and the appearance of what looked like an inside-out horse. It threw its head into the air, letting out a loud neigh. I kept my eyes on the Thestral, my mind whirling. I gave my wand another twirl; it was a habit in moments of stress. The Thestral raised its top lip, brandishing its fangs at us as it lowered its neck.

They wouldn't let a Thestral wander into the test grounds unattended, someone must be monitoring it somewhere. My eyes roamed the woods, trying hard not to move my neck as well. I'd seen drawings of these great beasts in our Care of Magical Creatures textbook, never once had I see one though. The Thestral seemed to glance straight at Becca, instinctively; I pulled her body behind mine. The winged horse turned to look at me, its head cocking to the left. Its body seemed to convulse suddenly, my eyes widening. It turned into a girl with pale brown skin, dark black hair resting gently on her shoulders.

"Van? Since when could you..."

The girl's skin drained of what little colour it had. A knife lay embedded in the chest section of her robes. A drop of red hit the floor as the girl dropped to her knees before lying motionless on the floor. My breath caught in my throat, tears welling up in my eyes. She couldn't be dead, it made no sense. How'd she even come there, shouldn't she have been doing her test?

"Riddikulus"

I barely heard the spell being cast as I saw the clearly dead Vanessa morph again into a slip of paper, before watching as a pair of scissors started to cut it into pieces. The cold, exhaustion and sudden emotions of seeing Vanessa lying on the ground finally took its toll. I dropped to a knee, my hands moving towards my head, clutching it at either side. I heard Becca sigh in relief as I saw a pair bare feet rush towards me. I felt a hand lift my head up and I saw the exasperated face of Teddy Lupin, DaDa teaching assistant.

"Bloody Hell James, you okay? No no no , Prof Potter isn't going to like this one bit. Come on kid, don't you faint on me!"

Of and if I forgot to mention, I'm James Sirius Potter, son of world-reclaimed Head Auror Harry Potter, son of annoyingly caring yet brilliant Professor Ginevra Molly Potter, God-brother of Teddy Lupin, proud Gryffindor, Quidditch Chaser and named after two of the bravest men in the world, according to my father. Welcome to my life.