A/N: After much debate, I've decided to take the previous 4 chapters, edit them, and reformat them into 10 smaller chapters. This will make reading easier as well as making future chapter lengths consistent and updating more frequent. I also removed Bernice's accent to make the story easier for those who have trouble reading and interpreting written accents.
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"Unbelievable," Goldie whispered as she pushed a handful of curls out of her face to study the map. "Did you get us lost?"
"Me?" Catlin, the oldest of the lot, gasped in defense, "You're the one leading us."
"Yeah, with a map you made," she shot back.
"Shut up, both of you!" Evelyn, the redhead, spoke up, annoyed, "We're gonna get caught."
"I can't get caught," said Goldie, not the least bit of panic in her voice. "I have too much stuff to do. I have to take photos at the Quidditch game this weekend."
"Yeah and she," Evelyn jerked her thumb back at the second girl, "is a potential prefect. This will go on her record – if they keep records in this place."
"Wait," said Catlin, "I think I hear someone coming – hide!"
All three took off separately, heading for the shadows of the castle, finding refuge under bushes or against the corners of stone pillars. Waiting with bated breath, they listened closely. They could hear soft murmuring and footsteps, but couldn't see anything yet. Peeking out from their hiding spots, they squinted into the courtyard lit up by the half moon overhead. The footsteps and the conversation were getting louder, but they still couldn't see anyone. Perhaps whoever it was, was above them – walking along the open air corridors the three girls had just used.
Finally the footsteps stopped, but the talking didn't. They could make out what was being said as the voice carried on the still night.
"Be careful, James – you're stepping on my Padfeet."
"Oh, shut up, Sirius," came the reply. "I am not. It's Peter."
"I'm not! Ow – you've just elbowed me in the eye!"
"There's not enough room under here. James, you should really do something about this."
"Do what? I'm not a seamstress. Besides, what's it matter? We're out anyways."
All three girls watched in amazement as suddenly – out of thin air – a group of boys appeared. The one in the middle folded what looked like a blanket over his arm and adjusted his glasses.
"Right," he said, "now that we've got that all sorted … where's Remus?"
"Old Moony is probably waiting for us," said the boy with shoulder-length black hair. "It's not a full moon yet so he won't be in the Shrieking Shack."
"This is what happens when we sneak out separately," the glasses-wearing boy sighed.
Catlin, the potential prefect who felt she was going to pass out from holding her breath, sat up a little straighter against the castle wall. The Shrieking Shack? That's exactly where her group was going. She glanced around to find her friends; even though she couldn't see them, she knew they were thinking the same thing. What were these boys doing, going out to the Shrieking Shack? Or, rather, not going there? It sounded like they made a habit of it, but only around the full moon. Were the ghosts extra active around then?
Silently, they watched as the three boys headed off into the distance to look for their missing friend. The girls slowly came out of hiding, meeting together in the shadow of the ancient castle.
"Evelyn," whispered Catlin, "who do you think they were?"
"Other students," she replied.
"Oh, jeez, thanks. Where do you think they're going?"
"It sounded like they were looking for someone," said Goldie, finally fishing a bobby pin out of her pocket and pinning her curls back. "Their friend, maybe?"
"Did you hear what they said?" Catlin kept her voice low but she felt excitement bubble up inside.
"Yeah," nodded Evelyn. "They said something about the Shrieking Shack."
"Are they going to be there too, then?" Goldie asked.
"No," said Catlin. "They said whoever they were looking for wouldn't be there."
"So where are they going?" Goldie watched the boys disappear into the dark forest.
"I don't know," Catlin sighed, "but I think we should get going. If we wait around here, we're gonna get caught."
"We've already gotten outside," Goldie replied, grinning. "We'll be fine." She held up the carefully drawn, but incomplete, map in front of her face, stepping out into the light to see it better.
"Can't we just use Lumos?" Evelyn held up her wand.
"Once we're farther away," Goldie said, tracing a line along the map with her index finger. "Are we here? Do we pass the West Tower? Wait … which tower is this?"
"There are so many towers," Evelyn grumbled. "You just need four, if that."
"I'll enchant it so it lights up itself," Catlin said. "Then we won't need to use our wands. We don't need to go all the way to the West Tower, but we can use it as a reference point."
"You should enchant it so it shows where we are," Evelyn suggested, looking over at the map, pointing. "Are we there? Isn't that this corridor here?"
"No," Goldie said, already knowing Evelyn was horrid with directions and maps. "Look around and see if you can find a landmark -"
"Here, we're here," Catlin interrupted, poking her finger to a spot on the map. "That tree," she indicated to a smudge on the paper, "is there." Pointing to a large tree ahead of them, she said, "I know where we are. I made the map. I've triple checked it. Besides I remember that tree because it looks like it's waving and I thought it was friendly – so I put it on the map."
All three looked over at the tree and indeed, it had a twisting branch that curved upwards and spreading twigs that looked like nimble fingers. They trembled in the autumn breeze, giving off the impression of hand gently waving salutations at the group.
"Everything looks different at night," Evelyn noted, "but at least you have your tree. He does look friendly. Have you given him a name?"
"Not yet. I couldn't think of a tree pun."
"Ashley. Elmer. Mister Birch."
"Okay," Goldie said, "then that means we need to go that way to get to the Shrieking Shack."
"Let's go then," Evelyn said eagerly. "We're wasting time and I'm out of tree puns."
They headed off in what they assumed to be the correct direction, keeping close together and casting hurried glances to keep watch. Once they were into the trees and the moonlight was obscured by the overhead branches, they each took out their wands.
"Lumos," they said in unison and soon they were surrounded in blue-white light that pushed shadows into hiding under the long branches of pine trees. Huddled over the map, they figured out which way to go.
"I think we head in that direction," Catlin said. "This is harder than I thought."
"Did you bring anything to amend the map?" Goldie asked.
Catlin rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a jar of black ink and a quill. "I guess this will do. I brought pencils over the summer but someone snatched them. Back to using quills."
"I don't hear anything, do you?" Evelyn lifted her wand higher, away from the group. "Isn't there supposed to be, you know, shrieking?"
Goldie folded the map. "Maybe the ghosts are sleeping," she teased. "I guess we'll find out once we get there."
The girls marched through the trees and down sloping hills. Their wands lit the way, blue lights bobbing around in the dark.
"I don't think I've been this far from the castle," Evelyn admitted. "I mean, aside from field trips to Hogsmeade."
"Are you sure there's an entrance to the Shrieking Shack here?" Goldie waved her arm around, shining light all around. "Not that I don't trust you, but it's all … field! And trees."
"Yes, I'm pretty sure," Catlin said. "I overheard Dumbledore mention it to Madam Pomfrey. I'm pretty certain it's by a tree ..."
"Did they happen to mention what kind of tree?" Goldie looked around. It was beginning to seem a bit hopeless. They only had so much time before they had to sneak back inside and get to bed.
"No – but … It'd have to be big enough to hide it, right?"
"We're surrounded by pine trees," Goldie observed, pointing with her wand and sending light upwards. "All of them are big enough to hide anything."
"What's an entrance to the Shrieking Shack doing on Hogwarts property anyway?" Evelyn used her wand's light to inspect a tree that had lost most of its lower branches. "I mean, the Shack is all the way in Hogsmeade, isn't it? What's it got to do with Hogwarts?"
"I don't know," Goldie murmured as she checked out another tree, circling around it to check for a secret door. "But there are ghosts in the castle, so maybe there were some really bad ghosts that were haunting the school so they forced them to move? You know, for students' safety?"
"According to the villagers, the ghosts are really violent." Catlin shuddered involuntarily, but she couldn't tell if it was from the idea of vengeful ghosts or the breeze running through the trees. "People say they can hear them screaming and tearing apart the inside of the Shack."
Evelyn frowned as she bent over to pull pine needles out of her shoes. "Can ghosts do that? Tear things up, I mean? I guess if they're corporeal – but they're not, you know, living. All the ghosts at Hogwarts just float around and go through walls. I've never seen them actually interact with anything. Hmm … maybe that's why they moved them to the Shrieking Shack. Not just because they're violent, but because they could actually hurt someone. Ooh, that's scary!"
"Well," Goldie huffed, crossing her arms, "they've certainly done a fantastic job of hiding this supposed entrance. There are hundreds of trees on this property, and we can't check them all tonight. And there's no way we can mark the ones we've already checked! This is going to take ages."
"That – wait! Did you hear that?" Evelyn turned around, holding out her wand. "I – I heard something. Do you think a teacher found us?"
"No way," Goldie stammered, turning to face where Evelyn was looking. "We were so careful! Maybe it's a squirrel."
"It sounded bigger than a squirrel," Evelyn whispered. "Like, teacher-sized or something."
A noise to the right grabbed their attention and they spun towards it, three wands raised in defense. Light poured over the creature that had made the noise – a huge stag, standing just a few meters away, staring at them. Pine needles and leaves crunched under its hooves as it took a step forward, its huge black eyes shining eerily in the light.
Gasping in surprise, they hurriedly shuffled backwards, wide-eyed.
"That's the biggest deer I've ever seen," Goldie said.
"It's going to stomp us to death," Catlin concluded. "Or stab us with its antlers. That's not how I want to die. I mean – I haven't given it much thought, but I just decided that's not the way I wanna go."
"You're the one who wants to be a magizoologist," Goldie said, nudging Evelyn in the side. "Can't you … speak to it or something?"
"Deers aren't magical creatures. Besides – I'm not a deer whisperer!"
"Can't you do something? It's – it's looking at us. You're always reading that Wonderful Beasts book, aren't you?" Goldie gripped her wand tighter. "What do we do? Stun it?"
"It's Fantastic Beasts, and you can't use a spell on an animal," Evelyn said quickly. "Maybe if we turn off our lights it'll go away …" Slowly, hesitantly, she lowered her wand. "Nox." A third of the light disappeared.
"Nox," Goldie echoed and her wand went out. Now only Catlin's light remained. She felt frightened either way. Having the light meant that this massive deer could see them – but it was some comfort knowing they wouldn't stumble around blindly. Plus not having any light would leave them in the dark with the beast still close to them. Could deers see in the dark? Just as she was about to put out the light, they heard something move behind them. Turning on their heels, Catlin's wand illuminated a huge black dog, standing even close than the deer was. Fearless, it stepped closer and bared its teeth. Out of some combination of fear and stupidity, the girls started screaming.
"Nox!" Catlin shouted, leaving them in nothing but the light of a half moon. Suddenly all logical spells and responses left them and they took off running. They were nearly blind as their eyes adjusted to the dark.
"Is it following?" Catlin shouted, clutching her wand.
"Keep running!" Goldie sprinted forward, nearly dropping the map as she ducked between two trees.
Evelyn said nothing, conserving her breath for running away and not useless commentary. They broke through the trees and came out into a clearing.
Catlin glanced over her shoulder to see if they were being followed. She could barely see anything, but she was convinced she heard footsteps – or rather, pawsteps – running after them. She turned back around and saw too late that she was in a collision course with a massive tree. She ran straight into it with a solid thunk and her legs folded instantly, her head slamming against the cold earth when she collapsed. Groaning, she blinked her eyes open to look at the branches above. She gingerly touched her nose and felt blood running down her lip.
"Catlin!" Evelyn shouted, changing course and running for her friend. Hearing the commotion, Goldie also diverted from her path.
The huge black dog jumped in front of Evelyn, baring its teeth again and growling. She stumbled back, feeling her heart leap to her throat. Any way she tried to run, the dog was there, its fur bristling up on the back of its neck. When she got too close, it made like it was going to bite her and its jaw snapped shut with a startling sound.
Goldie got a few feet closer before the deer galloped in her way, looming over her and pawing at the ground with its large hooves. She skidded to a halt, holding out her wand.
"I'll hex you!" she shouted. "I don't care if you're a deer!"
When she tried to get around, the deer lowered its head so the girl was faced with long, branched antlers.
Catlin slowly sat up, rubbing at the immense headache that throbbed throughout her entire skull. She watched the branches above her slowly start to twist and swing. At first she thought it was double vision from an oncoming concussion, but she blinked away stray tears and saw that the branches were actually moving. She watched as they swiveled and wrenched down, cutting through the air.
"Oh my gosh," Goldie realized, watching as the clubbed branches tried to take out whatever had disturbed the trunk. "It's a Whomping Willow." She tried to run around the deer but it kept throwing its head towards her, threatening to impale her with any number of the sharp ends of its antlers. Frustrated, she just shouted over the noise of the groaning tree. "Cat! You have to get out of there!"
Catlin fell back to avoid the tangled vines above and flipped onto her stomach. She tried to army crawl away but she was pushed back by the branches punching through the air. She wasn't nearly fast enough to run out of harm's way before another branch could swoop down and strike her, and there was nothing else she could do. Throwing her hands over her head, she nestled into the grass, hoping someone would get her out of there.
She felt something brush against her arm and looked over. A large rat scurried past and Catlin shrieked, throwing herself back from it. The rat scrambled under the roots and disappeared. The tangled edge of a branch rushed past Catlin, knocking her over and leaving several long stripes across her face. She went to grab her face, but screamed and let go when her fingers knocked against the bridge of her nose. Kneeling over, she let the blood drip down into the grass. It didn't help much and she started to feel lightheaded. She could still hear her friends screaming at her to get away from the tree. Groggily, she tried to stand up but, to her dismay, she was buffeted by another branch that caught her arms and legs and she spiraled down hard, landing on her back. For a moment all sound ceased and everything went black. When she regained her vision, she was staring up at the sky.
Catlin barely noticed that the branches suddenly stopped moving above her, the tree seemingly frozen. All she noticed was that the shaggy black dog had a hold of her coat by the shoulder and was dragging her across the field. She flailed uselessly, too scared to actually fight off the animal. Once they were a safe distance from the tree, the dog let her go. Goldie finally managed to run past the deer while Evelyn ran up to the girl lying sprawled on the ground.
Goldie stuck out her wand and shouted, "Everte Statum!" A burst of orange light shot out of her wand and the dog flew backwards, tumbling along the ground. They took the opportunity to grab Catlin and haul her to her feet, dragging her towards the castle.
Catlin planted her feet down and helped to move along, and soon they were able to jog up the hills, through the trees, and to the castle. Out of breath, they fell onto the stone steps, collecting their thoughts.
"That was the worse idea we've ever had," Evelyn gasped.
"It was terrifying," Goldie agreed. "Why are those animals so big?"
"I don't know. Magic?" Catlin wiped blood on her dress. "Too bad that tree wasn't as friendly as that one," she motioned to the curved tree that continued to wave at them in the night breeze.
"Maybe it was," Evelyn said, "and it just got angry because you face planted into it instead of shaking its hand – er, branch."
"I think I may've broken my nose." Catlin reached into her jacket to grab a tissue. Her eyes widened and she searched through all her pockets, patting them down.
"What is it?" Goldie watched as Catlin frantically searched the area around her.
"My wand!"
"What about it?"
"I can't find it!"
"Where would it be?"
"I don't know! I -" Catlin looked over to the distance, the direction they had just come from. "Oh no."
"Wait, seriously?" Evelyn stood beside her. "You dropped it? Back there? Well you're never getting it back."
"What am I supposed to say? A dog ate my wand?" She winced and touched her forehead.
"Maybe we can get it tomorrow," Goldie offered. "Let's get inside. Do you need to see Madam Pomfrey?"
"No … I think I'll be okay. If I feel bad tomorrow then I'll see her."
"Come on." Goldie led the two girls inside, cautiously guiding them through the dark corridors, avoiding any teachers doing their rounds.
Far away by the Whomping Willow, the large rat found a wand lying in the grass and picked it up in its teeth, scuttling along after the black dog and impossibly large stag.