Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling, and I do not own Harry Potter, no matter how much I want to.

Chapter Fourteen

The Voice of Reason

Rose tore through the forest, not looking back, ignoring the creepy sounds emanating from deep within the tall trees. Twigs cracked loudly beneath her feet, making her vulnerable to the creatures of the Dark Forest. Branches whipped her arms and face, leaving scratches and red marks everywhere there was exposed skin.

Hot tears of anger poured down Rose's face. It was unfair; life was unfair. She had been dealt a bad hand, and there was nothing she could do about it. Why did Draco Malfoy and his evil wife have to be such jerks? Why couldn't they let their son live his own life? And why did they have to ruin her life as well? It was unfair, and she resented it with all of her heart. And Albus, Albus Meddling Potter, why couldn't he keep his fat head out of other peoples' business? What did it matter to him?

It wasn't long before Rose collapse in a puddle of her own tears, her legs aching, unable to run any further. She sobbed until there was nothing left, until her puffy red eyes could produce no more tears. Why? She kept repeating the same word, over and over, in her head. Why? Why, why, why?

It was a very long time before the voice of reason in the back of Rose's head took over. You have to chose; either go back to school or keep going, and run away. They'll start looking for you soon, so it's now or never.

Rose couldn't bear it. She could not bring herself to go back; she couldn't look Scorpius Malfoy in the eye ever again. Her heart had been broken, and there was nothing to do about it. Going back would bring her no joy. What was so great about Hogwarts, anyway? She couldn't see what made it so special to Scorpius. The only thing she could possibly do now was keep going. There was no other choice. It would be hard; she would never see her family again. But she could make it. She wasn't even sure she wanted to see her family. She especially did not want to see her father or her uncle.

Rose struggled to stand up. It was tough; she had been weakened by the run. She had never been great at endurance. Grabbing a low hanging branch, she managed to pull herself up. Taking a deep breath, she started walking slowly, deeper and deeper into the forest.

That was when she saw the first spider. It was tiny, but Rose had inherited her Father's fear of spiders, and alone in the huge forest, it just about scared her out of her wits. Breathe, Rose, she thought. It's just a spider. It's just a spider. Breathe.

In and out, in and out. Rose had to remind herself to breathe every few minutes, as fear often deprived her of that natural rhythm. After a while of the same pattern, walking and remembering to breathe, reality began to sink in. If she didn't go back to Hogwarts, where on Earth was she supposed to go? She certainly couldn't stay in the Dark Forest forever.

The constant breaths were now coming in short spurts as Rose stopped and spun in a circle. She had to get out of this forest, and fast. She was terrified and alone, she had no food, no water, and no means of staying alive. "Help me, Mum," she whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek, the moisture surprising her slightly.

Which was the way out? She was sure she had come from that general direction, but that would lead her back to the school, and she didn't want to go back to Hogwarts. Think, Rose, think! What would your mother say? But Rose's mother's word were not what came to her. It was her father's voice, saying "Follow the spiders? Why can't it ever be 'follow the butterflies'?"

Rose was very confused. She was sure that she had never heard her father say this before. Where would that have come from? Where had she heard that before?

There was a rustling at her feet and Rose shrieked in horror as a spider the size of her head scuttled past her foot, nearly touching her. It was closely followed by at least ten other spiders of similar size, and at least a hundred tiny spiders. One of the small spiders crawled up Rose's leg and she began to hyperventilate.

"Oh my God, oh my God!" she cried, wringing her hands, trying to think what to do. What would Mum say? What would Mum do? Think, Rose, think!

Finally, Hermione's voice appeared in the back of Rose's head, reassuring and familiar. "First of all, brush that spider off of your leg." Rose did as she was told. "Next, take out your wand. You're a witch, remember? Can't you think of a spell, any spell?"

"No," Rose cried. "I can't think of anything! Help me, Mum! What spell should I use?!"

But her mother's voice was fading. "Think of a spell... Any spell... A spell, Rose. Think of a spell..."

"No, no!" Rose moaned. More spiders were coming. She wracked her brains, looking for the first spell that came to mind-

"Wingardium Leviosa!" she cried. The nearest spider rose ten feet in the air. "Oh no," she moaned. What were flying spiders going to help?

"Follow the spiders..." whispered Ron's voice in the back of Rose's head.

"What?" she whispered. "I'm supposed to- follow them?"

To Rose's utter horror, her feet began to move, one in front of the other. Right, left, right left. Following the spiders. Possibly the stupidest thing she had ever done. Taking advice from her father? To follow spiders no less? She was going senile. But she could not stop. Her feet kept moving, right, left, right, left, one in front of the other.

The trees were growing taller and closer together, the light was getting darker, and the underbrush was getting thicker. A thorn on a nearby rosebush ripped a hole in Rose's robe. Still, she kept walking, against her better judgement. Before she knew it she was standing in a hollow that was filled to bursting with millions and millions of spiders.

She had thought the spiders earlier were big; they were nothing, nothing compared to this. Some of these spiders were as big as Rose's house.

She was totally and completely surrounded, a wall of spiders on every side. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," she muttered to herself, her eyes widening. The spiders began to close in on her, and it was as if her brain was shutting down. "What do I do?" she said aloud, wringing her hands in distress again.

Wait- there was a spell her mother had taught her. It wouldn't hold them all back and not for long, but it could be enough. Rose pulled out her wand and screamed, "REDUCTO!"

The spiders on one side were blasted backwards, unable to move, an invisible wall blocking their path. Rose spun around quickly. "REDUCTO!" she screamed again. The rest of the spiders were blasted backwards also.

Momentary relief, although her problem was not yet solved. There was still the matter of escaping. The seconds ticked by and she began to panic again. There was no way out of this- any minute now the spiders would be able to move again and they would attack her and eat her for dinner.

Rose looked upward in despair, hoping for some kind of vine that she could climb up. Instead, she realized that there were no trees at all above her head. The sun was shining directly down on her. She had been unaware of the light. Usually, she would have been happy to see the bright yellow sun smiling down at her, but not now. It had ruined her plans, her last hope, her only means of escape. All she could do now was wait, and hope that it wouldn't be painful.

"I wish I could find some way to escape!" she cried out at the top of her lungs, even though she knew it was pointless to waist her breath now.

The first spider started to twitch and advance on her, and Rose was sure that she was doomed. Then she saw it. A dazzling creature, leaping down towards her from who knows where. It sparkled like nothing Rose had ever seen before. It was like a million diamonds embedded in the creature's skin. Other than the sparkling, it appeared human, but it did not act thus. It hurtled towards Rose at a blinding speed and grabbed her in one arm, throwing her over it's shoulder. She squeezed her eyes shut as it jumped, higher than Rose thought any creature in the world could possibly jump, way out of reach of the spiders and into a nearby tree. It set Rose gently down onto a large branch and was gone before she could get a closer look at it.

"Oh my God," she breathed.

Rose just sat there, stunned, for at least ten minutes before she decided that she needed to get out of the tree. She stood up slowly and carefully, her knuckles white as she gripped the branch above her head. Taking deep breaths and small steps, she slowly made her way to the edge of the branch. A branch from a nearby tree connected to it, and Rose continued on to this branch.

She continued like this for nearly an hour before she decided that she was far enough away from the spiders, and it was safe to climb down. Rose looked down nervously. She was very high up, at least fifty feet. She had never been very good at climbing trees. Hugo was the tree climber in the family. Luckily, there were lots of sturdy looking branches on the way down. In no time, Rose was on the ground, feeling shaken, but thankful that she was not spider meat.

What had that sparkling creature been? It had been so beautiful, so graceful, so perfect. Rose had never seen anything like it in her whole life. She wished it had stayed a little longer, so she could have at least said thank you for saving her life.

Where to now? Rose asked herself. I have to get out of the Dark Forest, before some other freaky creature comes and eats me. She had been right, taking her father's advice was not the smartest idea ever.

Rose sighed, knowing there was only one solution. She had to go back the way she came, and then think of a way out through the Hogwarts grounds. She turned in a circle, looking all around her, realizing that she had changed course when she had followed the spiders.

"Shit," she muttered, realizing that she was completely and utterly lost.

She closed her eyes, trying to remember a time that her mother had told her what to do if you're lost in a forest. But somehow, the subject had never come up. She spun another circle. She obviously wasn't going to go in that direction, she had just come from there, and that was where the spiders were.

"I'm just going to have to guess," Rose muttered to herself. She turned her back to the spider-direction and took a deep breath. "This way, I guess."

She began to walk purposefully forward, pushing the needles of pine trees out of her way. She stumbled on roots that had grown above the ground a few times, but each time she picked herself up, brushed the debris off of her robes and kept going.

The trees began to grow closer together again, and Rose knew she was going the wrong way. She didn't want to go towards the dark, she wanted to go to the light. She turned around again. There were only two options, now. She couldn't keep going the way she was going, because that was obviously deeper into the forest. She couldn't go the opposite, because that was where the spiders were. That left either that way or that way.

"Rock, paper, scissors," Rose muttered under her breath, before realizing- "Wait, that only works with two people. Stupid. Okay then, I'll go... this way." She pointed to her right. "Oh my God, I'm going crazy. I'm talking to myself," she said, horrified. She shook her head and headed in her chosen direction.

After a very, very long time of walking, tripping and more walking, the sky above Rose's head began to turn blood red. "Oh, no," she moaned. "The sun is setting."

Rose couldn't continue once the sun disappeared from the sky. She wouldn't be able to see, let alone tell which direction was the right one. She sat down on a fallen tree next to her and buried her face in her hands, letting the tears fall once more. She would just have to wait it out till morning now. As if she would ever be able to fall asleep in this place.

Soon the sun disappeared completely, and Rose was covered in a blanket of darkness. She looked up to the sky, her face drenched in tears, her eyes puffy and red. The full moon shone down at her, accompanied by the twinkling of a million stars. "I wish I could find my way out of here," she whispered. "Could you show me the way? Point me?"

"The stars cannot speak, little one," said a voice behind Rose. She jumped, staring up at the speaker in terror. "But they can be read, if one knows how."

Rose could barely make out the outline of a creature she had only ever read about in books. Half-man, half-horse, a centaur stood above her, bow in hand, a quiver of arrows slung across his hairy back. "Oh my God," Rose whispered for the hundredth time that day.

"My name is Jaiko," it said. "I am a centaur, if you have not already figured that much out."

"Yes, I figured," Rose muttered, still utterly terrified. "You scared me to death."

"We do not harm foals, young one," he said. "You mean no harm to me, and therefore I mean no harm to you. But I might be able to be of help."

"You can help me?" Rose asked excitedly.

"I can read the stars," he said simply, yet seriously.

"And... what do the stars say about me?" Rose asked.

"They tell me you are lost, alone, and afraid," Jaiko said without even glancing upwards.

"What else do they say?" Rose breathed.

"The sun, my dear," the centaur said. "It sets in the West, as the old saying goes. When it sets, the stars come out, along with their friend the moon. The planets become clearer, and we centaurs come out to read the future in the sky."

"And what are they telling you tonight?" Rose prompted.

"Do you see that bright star?" Jaiko asked, pointing to a particularly large and bright star in front of them. Rose nodded. "It is Saturn. It is a rare occurrence to see Saturn with the naked eye, and I have never in my twenty years seen it shining so brightly. It is a sign."

"A sign of what?"

"Revenge. Vengeance. It will come to pass. Someone has been plotting revenge for many years, and their opportunity will arise."

"And what does that have to do with me?" Rose asked, getting slightly annoyed.

"For your sake, I should hope that it has nothing to do with you," he said. "Unless you have been plotting revenge on someone for many years?"

"Not many years," Rose muttered. "Just for a month or so."

"What was that?"

"Nothing. What else do the stars say?"

"It is nearing February, and February is the month of love," Jaiko stated. "That star there, and that one over there, they are Cupido and Lazarine. Cupido is the match maker. He attempts to make love happen for people. Lazarine attempts to stop love, out of jealousy. She loved Cupido when they walked this Earth as humans, but he turned he down. Ever since then, she has been plotting against him. Perhaps it is her revenge that will come to pass. Let us hope that it is not so."

I wonder which one of them is affecting me, Rose thought sarcastically. Lazarine, hands down.

"Do the stars tell you how to get out of the forest?" Rose asked. "I'm lost, as you so rightly pointed out yourself, and I need to know the way. Could you point me in the right direction?"

"Alas, no," Jaiko said, hanging his head sadly. "I do not know the way, and the stars do not tell me. I live in the center of the forest with a herd of centaurs, and we do not venture outside our own boundaries."

"Oh," Rose said, despair enveloping her again.

"I must go now, young one," Jaiko said. "Good luck."

"Wait!" Rose called desperately as the centaur turned to make his leave. "Don't you know anyone, any other centaur who knows the way out? Isn't there a centaur who's been on the grounds?"

"There is one," Jaiko said, his face clouding over. "But we do not speak of him. He was banished years and years ago when he accepted a teaching post at Hogwarts. We are not the servants of humans, and he gave up his home and his herd by deciding to become just that. Goodbye, my dear."

And Rose watched in despair as her last hope galloped away into the darkness.

A.N.- House-sized spiders, centaurs, and mysterious sparkly creatures. Pretty much your typical day in the Forbidden Forest. Please keep reading guys! Your support has been great. And don't forget- review, review, review! =]

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