Lost in the Woods
The forest was dark and quietly menacing, the light from his wand throwing long frightening shadows out in front of him as the wind moaned through the branches of the trees. It was a stark contrast to the pitched battle of light and sound raging just beyond its borders.
Graham had never considered himself stupid but in retrospect he should never have even contemplated joining the Dark Lord. His family was dead, his name tarnished beyond repair, his friends were all either already dead or dying out on that battlefield and all that awaited those who survived was Azkaban or a lifetime of slavery depending on who emerged victorious.
He was done.
Even if he could find someone who knew the counter curse for the spell that was making his blood into acid and liquefying his organs, what was the point? It was over for him.
Eventually pain and exhaustion halted the slow steady plod of his feet the snap of fallen twigs halting as he eased himself down beside a fallen tree.
"Hey mister, are you alright?"
Graham frowned, craning his neck to try and pinpoint the source of the soft childlike voice.
"Who's there?"
"Not there, over here silly," giggled the voice.
Graham turned and there, a little ways away from him on the edge of the log was a phantump. A spirit of a child who'd been lost in the woods who had died and possessed a stump.
"Hey, kid, what are you still doing hanging around here?" asked Graham.
"I'm waiting for my mom," said the phantump cheerily, "She said that if I ever got lost I should stay put so she can find me."
"That right?"
"Yeah, but," the phantump's wide softly glowing eyes dropped to examine the forest floor and its little branches drooped sadly, "I've been waiting here an awfully long time."*
"Tell you what kid, I'm lost too," said Graham, "So why don't we wait here together? Sound good?"
The phantump smiled as well as something with a tree stump for a head could smile.
"Yeah, that sounds great!"
AN: Done for Romi's Autumn Flashfic Challenge! (for those who don't know a phantump is actually a pokemon but I thought it was something you might find in the Forbidden Forest so I just kind of went with it...)
*based on the phantump comic by pupmutt on tumblr
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Pokemon XY