Chapter 1 - Missing
"It's over?" Fred whispers, his croaky voice echoing over the ruins of the Forbidden Forest.
"It's... over." I nod, trembling slightly, hearing the sound of wounded unicorns whimpering, a tear streaming down my bleeding face.
The past hour had been the most unsettling experience I have ever been through. What, with the loud screams and blinding flashes of spells flowing through the air, I'm surprised I'm still standing, actually, I'm the only one still standing – Fred has just collapsed on the floor. So, I suppose I'm on my own, once again.
It was quite surreal, in fact – the whole experience, I mean. It wouldn't have happened if I hadn't have caused a big stir by falling into the secret meeting that was being held in the depths of the Forbidden Forest. I suppose that's me though: clumsy, silly Emily Walker.
One Hour Earlier...
"Come on Albus! We've got to be in the common room before 6, or the prefects will give us detention!" I yelled, panting slightly after the exhausting race my friends and I had just had. My first year at Hogwarts had been one of the best years of my life and I wanted to end it the best way possible: with my best friends, Albus, Fred, Jenny and Rose.
"I'm coming, Emily! Wait for me, I think I'm going to have a seizure." Albus heaved, bending over. The others were already at the steps and Albus was still at the edge of the mysterious Forbidden Forest. I ran towards him, laughing at his imitation of having a heart attack.
"Emily! He- He- Help me!" He jokingly croaked, his arms around his neck.
"Okay, Mr Potter. I know CPR, so let's get down to the procedure." I played along with his joke and went through the steps of CPR. He occasionally gasped, but I knew he was only messing. I was sort of hesitant, as I was forgetting some of the steps of CPR. However, I didn't need to do any more because Albus played dead.
"Oh no! He's dead! My dear friend, Albus has died!" I pretended to weep, knowing well that he was still alive. I didn't even need to worry, because I heard a few chuckles escaping from his mouth. Eventually, we were both lying on the soft, green grass, laughing until our stomachs hurt.
"I can't believe you fell for that!" He exclaimed.
"What? Of course I knew you were joking around!" I gasped, shocked that he thought I was that gullible.
"Sure you did..." He teased, poking me in the ribs.
I sighed, knowing that we already had detention. We had been playing around for 10 minutes, so it was well past 6pm by now. We lay on the field outside the Forbidden Forest for what seemed like forever, but it wasn't uncomfortable or awkward at all. We were at peace with the world, reliving the past year inside our heads. The wonderful memories we had shared. To think that a year ago, I didn't even know I was a witch was quite odd. My life had changed in a blink of an eye. I had met so many amazing people in such a short space of time, which is quite extraordinary. Looking back at that moment now, I realise that it was perfect. Albus and I were so calm... The world itself had been put on a standstill, just so we could take it all in. Of course, Albus had known he was a wizard from the moment he was born, but I only found out about my powers on my eleventh birthday.
I closed my eyes, expecting to lie there forever. I was about to doze into the sweet place of dreamland, when somebody was roughly shaking my body.
"Ahhh!" I groaned, suddenly becoming a ninja on the person shaking me.
"Emily! Ouch!" A familiar, soft voice whined.
Ever so slightly, I opened my eye lids and was greeted by four hazy faces. Blinking quickly, I tried to sit up.
"Come on, Emily! The prefects are coming! We need to hide somewhere..." Fred, my cheeky, red headed friend whispered.
"What? What happened?" I croaked. For some reason, I thought I had been asleep for two minutes, but apparently, I had been out for more than half an hour.
"You and Albus have been asleep for over thirty minutes! Albus woke up straight away, but you take forever to completely wake up." Rose trembled, her mother's sensible genes taking over.
Jenny gave me her hand, and I jumped up, ready to go.
"Okay, then... We need to hide somewhere, quickly." I stated, firmly.
"Albus, Emily and Fred, you need to hide in the Forbidden Forest. Rose and I will distract the prefects and whilst they're occupied, you can run back into school." Jenny instructed, her excellent leadership skills showing through her usual shy personality.
"How are we going to distract the prefects?" Rose questioned, curiously.
"I'll tell you on the way, follow me!" She began to run, but she noticed Albus, Fred and I, standing as still as a lemon, completely stunned at her sudden change of character. "Go on then!" She urged, almost yelling.
I stumbled backwards, and Albus and Fred followed my lead.
"Well, that was... peculiar." I said. "Come on then, before they come back and find us."
We quickly set off towards the forbidden forest, hoping to find a big enough tree that would hide all three of us – after all, the prefects would be coming towards us very soon. Eventually, we found a reasonable sized tree, that was quite deep into the forest, so nobody could see us. For some odd reason, I felt a bit strange in this foreign land. Maybe it was because I couldn't see the castle, but I could still hear Jenny and Rose distracting the prefects, so I supposed it was okay. I could hear the birds tweeting and chirping above us. I could almost imagine what they were saying, "What are they doing? Are they out of their minds? They must be complete idiots if they think it's okay to come into the forest at this time!" And, unfortunately, I agreed.
We were as silent as mice for a few minutes, wishing that Jenny and Rose would hurry up. Albus and Fred were chattering, as though they had no care in the world.
"Shut up, you two!" I whisper-shouted (is that even a word/phrase?). They must have noticed the urge in my voice, because they obediently closed their mouths, and waited.
I listened as hard as I could for the sound of Rose and Jenny talking, but I just couldn't hear ANYTHING! It was as though the entire forest was on a standstill and the rest of the world was moving on. My heart skipped a beat, as I couldn't even hear the soft chirps of the birds above us. What on Earth was going on?
"Fred? Albus? What just happened?" I whispered, worriedly.
"I have no idea." Albus stated.
A/N: Hi! My name's Amy and I'm a new author. I've never really wrote a proper story before, so I don't have much experience with publishing stories online. I've always wanted to upload a fan fiction and now I can, so... YAY! I hope you like the first chapter. I'm not exactly the best at starting stories - I always have loads of ideas jammed in my head and when I finally get the chance to write it, I forget about it! So, this chapter might not be amazing, but I promise it will get better as I progress through the chapters. I am currently trying to get the main plot of the story in these next few chapters, and then the story will go on properly. So, I hope you enjoy and give me any reviews so I can improve! Bye! :')