Disclaimer - Harry Potter and all of the character belong to J.K. Rowling.
-Chapter Four-
Deep in the Forest
Saturday morning came, and Albus found himself being jerked awake by a loud clap of thunder. A storm had settled in over night and it didn't look like it was going anywhere, anytime soon.
After Albus, tossed and turned and couldn't get back to sleep, he thought it best to just get up. He got dressed and wandered down to the common room, where the rain slapped against the window pane more loudly and the flashes of lightning illuminated what the roaring fire did not.
Albus sat down in front of the fire, he was able to get one of the good chairs, as it seemed he was the only one to be awake, although he found it hard to believe everyone had been able to sleep the raging storm. He then took out a book that his brother James had given him for his eleventh birthday.
'Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp,' Albus murmured to himself, as he read the cover of the book. Although Albus didn't go for any team in the Quidditch World Cup, he loved the sport, and loved the feeling of the wind rushing past his body and through his hair, as he rose higher off the ground. He didn't have a broom of his own, his father had bought James a Nimbus two thousand and one, for his twelfth birthday, and James, occasionally, if he was in a good mood, let Albus fly it. It may be a little out-dated, but it still holds up against the brooms that are out today, and what an amazing feeling it is flying it.
Albus opened the book and began reading. It wasn't the first time he had read the book, he must have read it five or six times by now, but he still loved to re-read it and jog his memory. Though, by now, he had memorised most of it anyway, and he found himself skipping a lot of the pages as he could recite them, word-for-word.
Sighing slightly as he read the final page, he put the book down and walked over to look out the window. The rain hadn't backed off at all; it even seemed to be getting stronger. From what Albus could see, the ground was no longer lush and green, but dirty and muddy, with water flowing down the lawn, like a river. He could barely see Hagrids hut through the thick rain, and wondered if Hagrid would still want him and Arthur to go down there.
This brought up another question that had been playing on Albus' mind. What was Hagrid going to give Arthur, a boy whom he had only met the day before?
Maybe he felt sorry for him, Al thought to himself, maybe Hagrid, too, noticed something was wrong, Albus shook his head. He didn't want to think about that, it wasn't his business what happens in Arthur personal life, and if Arthur wanted to tell him something, he would.
Albus heard movement from upstairs in the dormitories. Everyone else must of started to wake up. He walked over and sat back down in the chair next to the fire, picking back up, Quidditch Through the Ages and decided to look at the pictures, while he waited for his friends.
Soon, in small groups, the rest of the Gryffindor's started making their way down the spiral staircase, some of them jumping as a loud clap of thunder struck outside. Albus, seeing Rose and Arthur, got up and greeted them.
'Good morning!' Albus smiled at his friends.
'Good?' Questioned Arthur, as he looked out the window and watched the rain pelt against it, 'we have very different opinions on what "good" is.'
Rose grinned at the two boys before turning and waving at some other Gryffindor's that had been waiting by the portrait hole.
'I told them that I would be hanging out with you this weekend,' she said, looking from Albus' face to Arthurs.
'Brilliant!' Albus' face lit up, 'you can help us with the Potions essay!'
Smiling, and forgetting about the gloomy weather, the three of them walked through the portrait hole and made their way down to the Great Hall.
'Ooooooooh! Ickle firsties!' Albus, Rose and Arthur had just wandered into a corridor that would have been empty, if it wasn't for Peeves the Poltergeist.
'Go away Peeves!' Albus demanded, while trying to dodge the chalk that Peeves was throwing.
'Ooooh, that's not very nice, Ickles!' Peeve's did a quick backflip in mid-air before vanishing. Albus gestured the others to move and they started running towards the door at the other end of the corridor, but before they could reach it, the large rug that lined the floor, was pulled out from under their feet.
Peeves howled with laughter as Albus, Rose and Arthur, lay sprawled on the floor.
'Don't you have anywhere else to be, Peeves!' Arthur said, getting to his feet, 'I hear that some second years are playing with some dungbombs on the seventh floor.'
Peeve's face lit-up and he did a sort of pirouette in mid-air, 'Oooooh, this should be fun!' He sang as he swept out of the corridor.
'How do you know there are second years with dungbombs on the seventh floor?' Rose asked as they continued down the corridor.
'I don't, but I knew Peeves couldn't resist getting his hands on dungbombs,' Arthur replied, smiling at the others.
'Good thinking, make sure to keep that up when we do these essays,' said Albus, causing them to think about all the homework that had to be done.
Finally, they reached the Great Hall. It was filled with student who obviously couldn't sleep through the storm any longer, all of them piling food, rather gloomily, onto their plates. Lightning flashed through the clouds that floated above the tables, and for the first time since he had arrived at Hogwarts, Albus wished that he could see the ceiling instead.
The three friends had just started eating when Albus', brown barn owl, Randal, came swooping down and landed in front of him. Randal was soaking wet and shivering, fluffing his feathers up to try and get warm.
'Randal! What are you doing!' Albus quickly scooped the owl up and put him on his lap, where Randal, immediately, snuggled close, to warm up, 'you should be in the owlery!'
'It looks like he's got a letter,' Arthur pointed to the owl's leg, where a small bit of parchment, which was dripping wet, could just be seen.
Albus untied the letter from his owl, who let out a soft hoot, before flying up to perch next to a flaming torch.
Albus, unrolled the letter, and read aloud:
Sorry for sending Randal, Al,
I was going to come up to the castle to see you myself, but something
came up. Then Randal showed up and I decided to send you this. I still wish to
give Arthur that thing I told you about yesterday. It's not the best weather, but if
you could come down in the afternoon, that would be fantastic.
From, Hagrid.
'He still wants us to go down there? In this weather?' Arthur said with a shocked look on his face, 'I'd be surprised if we don't get blown away!'
'I'd be surprised if we don't drown,' Rose said, dropping her bacon back onto her plate and looking over at Arthur, 'what do you think he's going to give you?'
'I have no idea,' Arthur replied, not willing to even take a guess, 'hopefully nothing too big, my trunks already pretty full.'
'Only because you brought a whole library with you,' Albus joked, grinning at Arthur.
'You can't talk,' Arthur shot back, 'I'm surprised you could fit anything else in your trunk, what with all the books,' the grin faded from Albus' face and he opened his mouth to make a retort, but was cut off by Rose.
'When you two have stopped coming up with clever comebacks, and decided who the biggest nerd is, I think, we should start that potions essay.'
Arthur looked at Albus, who shrugged, before turning to Rose, 'fine, we'll stop. Anyway, it's looks like you've taken the mantle of Chief Nerd.'
Laughing, the three of the finished breakfast and got up, making their way back to the common room to retrieve their bags, before heading off to the library.
With each step they took, the smiles on their faces faded a little more, as the dread of writing the essay started to take over.
'I can't believe we are spending our first weekend here, in the library!' Scoffed Albus.
'It could be worse,' Arthur said, 'we could be in the hospital wing.' Albus snorted and tried to stifle a laugh, but quickly fell silent when Rose gave them both a piercing look.
'That is nothing to joke about, what if one of us had ended up in the hospital wing!'
The two boys looked at each other, then started to get their equipment out of their bags and while Albus had his head under the table, he muttered 'alright, Aunt Hermione,' under his breath, so neither of them would hear him.
'Right,' Rose said, putting her potions book on the table, 'let's get started.'
Albus and Arthur nodded in agreement and the three of them got to work, flicking through their books and writing down as much as they could.
Albus wasn't sure how long they had been working on their essays, but it seemed like hours. People came and went, some fellow first years and even the occasional second or third year, came over to help them out and in return ask for some assistance. Albus' hand had just started to ache, when all of a sudden; Arthur slammed his book shut, which was immediately followed by Madam Pince (the Hogwarts librarian) telling him to be quite.
'Sorry!' He whispered, before turning back to his two friends, who had confused looks on their faces, 'I'm done,' he declared.
'Really?' Questioned Rose, unsure that Arthur had done it properly.
'You have such little faith in me,' Arthur replied shaking his head and tutting.
Rose rolled her eyes, 'well, have you finished?'
'Yes,' Arthur said and stopped shaking his head, 'well, I have for today. My hand hurts,' he put on a fake sad face at looked at Rose.
'Oh, boo-hoo,' Rose grinned, 'I think I've had enough too.'
'Thank god!' Said Albus, closing his book, 'I think I've fried my brain!' He packed all of his equipment away and looked out the one of the libraries windows, 'I think we missed lunch.'
The other two, looked out the window and saw that the rain had backed off, and was now just a slow drizzle, they could also see a small, shining orb, resting behind a grey cloud that sat right over the mountains. It was definitely past lunch.
Arthur moaned, 'I'm hungry!'
'Stop complaining, I'm sure Hagrid will have some food you can enjoy,' Rose said as she stood up and started packing away her things.
'I doubt it,' Albus said, picking his bag up and swinging it over his shoulder.
'Right, let's go to Hagrids -'
'Albus Potter?' Arthur was cut off by a voice that had come from the door of the library. All three of the looked up to see who had spoken, and they saw a pale boy with slick blond hair and a pointed face.
'Can I speak with you?' Scorpius Malfoy asked, walking towards the group, 'please.'
Albus nodded, then turned to Arthur and Rose, 'I'll meet you down there,' Rose opened her mouth to protest, but Albus gave her a reassuring look, and her and Arthur made their way out of the library.
Albus sat back down and place his bag back on the floor.
'Thank you,' Scorpius said taking a seat on the opposite side of the table, 'how's your potions essay coming along?'
Albus looked at Scorpius, he knew that he didn't want to talk about homework, but being polite he replied, 'I should finish it tomorrow.'
'I've already finished it,' said Scorpius, though he wasn't being pompous, he actually remained quite expressionless and his voice remained as it had been the night they first met, 'I can help you with yours, if you want.'
Albus stayed silent. He was quite shocked, Scorpius Malfoy, a Slytherin, the son of a man whom, he had heard, cause a lot of trouble for his father, offering a helping hand. Scorpius seemed to read Albus' mind.
'Look, my father told me what he did when he came to this school. He told me about your father, Harry Potter, and how they...' Scorpius trailed off and looked out the window, apparently not sure how to explain their father's relationship while at school.
'Didn't get along,' Albus finished the sentence simply, still looking straight at Scorpius.
'Yeah,' Scorpius said, turning his attention back to Albus, 'I don't want to be like that,' he stood up, 'so, if you ever need a hand...' he turned and started to walk away.
'Wait,' Said Albus before he could stop himself, causing Scorpius to come to a halt and turn around, 'I - I'm dead awful at potions,' Albus stared at Scorpius, he had no idea how to finish that sentence and wasn't completely sure if he wanted to.
Scorpius smiled then nodded, 'all right then. I'll see you in potions,' and with that, he turned on his heel and walked from the library, leaving Albus staring at thin air, wondering, what just happened.
Pushing what just happened, to the back of his mind, Albus walked briskly out of the library and rushed back up to the common room to dispose of his bag, before running back through the castle and out into the grounds.
He made his way down the lawn, slipping and sliding, trying not to fall in the steady stream of water that coated the ground. Rain was still falling, though much more lightly, still Albus decided to pull his cloak over his head. He looked around and felt a little uneasy, being all alone in the grounds, it felt as if he wasn't supposed to be here.
Finally he reached the small hut on the outskirts of the forest, and saw a light, dancing in the window, and the silhouettes of Hagrid, Rose and Arthur.
Knocking on the large wooden door, he heard movement from inside, then the door swung open and the warmth radiating from the fire, spilled onto him. Hagrid stood in the doorway, beaming down at him, with his small, beetle-black eyes, then he gestured Albus inside.
'Hey, Al,' said Rose, who was sitting at the large table, next to Arthur, both were grasping rather large mugs of tea. Albus nodded at them and joined the table
'Tea?' Hagrid asked, closing the door.
'Yes, please.'
Hagrid got to work with mugs and jugs, while Albus looked at his two friends. Rose wasn't paying him any attention, but instead was looking at Arthur, whose face was beaming. As Albus turned to face him, he heard a faint 'hoot' and saw that in Arthur's lap, was a small, snow white owl, that was nestling up to Arthur, to keep warm. Arthur caught Albus' eye.
'Isn't she great!' He exclaimed, 'Hagrid said he found her in the forest, hurt and lost, so he nursed her back to health.'
'Yeah,' Hagrid said as he put a mug of tea in front of Albus, 'I as gonna, give it ter the school ter use, but though' yeh migh' like 'im.'
Arthur beamed at Hagrid, before turning his attention back to his new owl.
'You got a name for him yet?' Arthur asked, taking a sip from his tea.
'Not yet,' replied Arthur, still not taking his eyes off his owl, 'I've never been very good at naming things,' he gave a stiff kind laugh before falling silent.
The all sat in silence, drinking their tea and listening to the soft patter of the rain, falling on the wooden roof. Then Albus broke the silence.
'Why did you want us to come down in this weather?' He said before he could stop himself.
'Oh - er - no reason,' Hagrid said, looking down at his enormous feet, while the three students look at each other with their eyebrows raised.
'Hagrid?' Albus asked cautiously.
'Fine,' Hagrid gave in, 'I wan'ed ter show yeh some'in,' he looked at them and started to play with his large fingers.
'Well, you can show us, Hagrid,' Arthur said, still stroking his owl.
'it's - er - no' in 'ere, it's in the fores,' Hagrid looked out the window to avert his eyes from Rose, Albus and Arthur, who were all staring at him with their eyes wide.
'The forest?' Albus asked, 'we aren't allowed in the forest.'
'You'll be with me, it'll be fine,' replied Hagrid, still looking out the window, as the rain drops glided down the pane.
'But, isn't it dangerous?' Asked Arthur, trying to keep his voice steady, 'Aren't there dangerous beasts in there?'
'Yeh'll be righ' if yeh with me,' Hagrid shuffled his feet, before turning back to the three students, 'so how's yer homework goin'?' He said, trying to change the subject.
'Fine, we'll get through it,' Rose quickly said, 'is that why you wanted us to come down, even though it was raining?'
'Yeah,' Hagrid said quietly, 'less people can us.'
Rose, Albus and Arthur looked at each other again, having a silent discussion, not sure on what to do. Hagrid beetle-like eyes were glancing to each of them, for seconds at a time.
'Yeh don' 'ave ter if yeh don' want ter,' Hagrid said quickly.
'No it's OK,' the worked left Albus' mouth before he could stop them and he quickly turned to look out the window, but could feel the shocked eyes of his friends, burning the back of his neck.
'Grea'!' Hagrid walked over to the door and swung it open, 'C'mon then, we bes' be off.'
Albus got up first and walked over to the door, he could still feel the other two's eyes glaring at him, as he walked out of the cabin and into the cold afternoon air. Rain softly fell on his face as he looked up at the grey clouds, some of which were starting to turn very dark again.
'Right, c'mon, follow me,' Hagrid closed the door behind him and started off towards the forest, Albus Rose and Arthur followed him.
'I can't believe we are going in there!' Arthur exclaimed as they reached the trees.
'As is said, yeh'll be righ' with me,' Hagrid said as he leant down and picked up a wooden crossbow, that had been resting on a large boulder, then continued walked towards the forest.
Albus' heart skipped a beat when he took his first step into the forest, and he started to wonder why Hagrid needed the crossbow if everything was going to be OK.
The tree's of the forest were thick and the bushes and shrubs that sat on the ground were dense. Larges roots stuck out from the earth and leaves littered the path they were walking . Albus couldn't feel the rain anymore and could see no sign that any rain had reached the ground. He looked up and saw the branches from the tall tree's intertwined with each other and spreading overhead like a canopy.
They had been walking for only a couple of minutes, but to Albus, it felt closer to an hour, and it looked like it too. The further they walked, the darker it got. The tree's got thicker and the path they walked got thinner, causing them to walk in single formation.
At one point Hagrid stopped before turning around and telling, Albus Arthur and Rose, to use their wands as a light.
'We're lucky we already learnt this spell,' Rose said, before all of them muttered 'Lumos' causing the tips of their wands to cast a bright light around them.
On they walked through the forest which grew denser and denser. Soon Hagrid stops and look around him, raising his crossbow, before murmuring to himself and stepping off the path and continuing further into the forest. Rose, Albus and Arthur, reluctantly followed.
'I swear, if Hagrid wasn't a friend of your families,' Arthur whispered, and looked around him shuddering, 'I would think he was going to kill us! I mean, look around, no one would find us out here.'
Albus stifled a laugh, but didn't reply. He had a very strange feeling, but he couldn't pick what it was. After everything he had heard about Hagrid, he would never have thought he would lead students into the forest blindly, not telling them where he was going. Then Albus remember his father telling him about Grawp, and he laughed to himself before his stomach dropped.
I hope he hasn't got another giant He thought, as he looked at the back of Hagrids head, his shaggy black hair tangled together with leaves and twigs sticking out of it.
A couple times they stopped and Hagrid would lift his crossbow up and scan around them, waiting, but when nothing happened, he would lower it again and continue walking, stepping over large roots, ducking under low hanging branches and untangling their robes from sharp sticks.
Suddenly, Albus heard a sound. Not the running of water or the rustling of leaves, but the sound of hooves slamming against the hard ground, and it wasn't just a set of hooves, it was many, as if a whole herd of wild horses had decided to come running through the forest.
Hagrid stopped dead and raised his crossbow, before gesturing Albus, Rose and Arthur to get behind a bush that sat to their left.
The hooves got louder and louder and soon they sound stopped completely and all Albus could hear was the heavy breathing of his friends, and whatever stood around them.
'Hagrid!' The deep voice rang around the forest. It wasn't a grateful tone, but more of surprise and a hint of anger, 'why are you here?'
'Jus' lookin' around,' Hagrid replied.
Albus stayed still. He wanted to look around the bush and see what was happening, but at the same time, he didn't want to take the risk of being seen, so he decided to look around at Rose and Arthur, whom had their eyes shut tight, listening.
'We have told you many times, Hagrid,' said a different, higher voice that was full of concern, 'you are not well, and are not aloud this deep in the forest. A great danger lay in here.'
A murmur ran through the creatures, though Albus couldn't make out what they were saying, and he heard their hooves stamp on the ground.
'Yeh 'ave no righ' ter tell me how far I can go inter the fores!' Hagrid growled.
'We fear for your safety, Hagrid,' said the same deep voice as before, it was calm and soothing now, 'as well as the safety of our world.'
'You have never ventured this far before, Hagrid,' another voice said, almost matching the first, 'not even for your… Brother.'
'I need ter get further!' Demanded Hagrid.
'Deep in the forest has seen dark magic, Hagrid,' said the higher voiced creature, who seemed to have come closer, 'I think, it's time for you to leave.'
Albus could hear the sound of leaves crunching and twigs snapping, and Hagrid ambled into sight, still looking ahead of him.
'Fine! I'll leave the rudy forest!' Though he instead of continuing to walk backwards, he stopped and looked towards the sky.
'The stars are, already, so bright tonight,' the deep voiced creature said, 'we have read them, Hagrid, several times over the years, since the war. Be on guard my friend.'
Everything went silent. Hagrid had turned his back on the creatures and stayed still, it barely looked as though he was breathing. After a minute or two, Albus heard some scuffling coming from behind Hagrid, then the sound of hooves filled his ears. The sound grew fainter and fainter, until his ears were filled with silence, once again.
'Righ', c'mon,' said Hagrid roughly, before walking away. Albus, Rose, and Arthur scrambled to their feet and followed him, back through the thick bushes and trees.
The trip back through the forest seemed a lot quicker than before. They got back to the original path in no time and soon found the trees and vegetationthinning out. No one spoke all through the journey back out the forest and Albus' ears were filled with an eerie silence.
Soon, the edge of the forest came into view and once they reached it, they were met with slow falling rain, which fell onto their faces. The grounds were now very dark, as the sun had set. Patches of stars could be seen through the breaks in the clouds and as the creature in the forest had said, they were indeed bright.
'Righ', now, off yeh go, ter the castle, before yeh get in trouble,' mumbled Hagrid and he strode over to his cabin and went inside, only to reappear second later with Arthur small, white owl.
'Thanks Hagrid!' Arthur called, but Hagrid didn't respond and walked back inside his hut.
The three of them stood their for a minute, before realising that they need to get back up to the castle, muttering 'nox' so the tips of their wands went out, they stowed the thin pieces of wood into their robes and made their way up the wet, slippery lawn.
Albus knew, the next day, he would have to put what happened into a letter and send it to his father.
He would want to know He thought, as he, Arthur and Rose walked towards the castle.