Disclaimer: As always, I apologize to the very scary lawyers at Warner Brothers, Scholastic and Bloomsbury for taking their product and twisting it around. Damn creativity!

Special Thanks: To Emma (FireSprite) who did a lovely beta job on this chapter. She's awesomeness in a can. Go read "Incendio" if you haven't already.

Chapter II: Into the Woods

The Forbidden Forest stood before the three students as a massive, ominous wall of trees and shadows between them and their goal. Neville felt a chill go down his spine when he looked at it. There were no creatures stirring. He couldn't actually see them, but he knew they were there. He had heard stories. Everything was silent, even the howling wind, as they looked upon it. It was as if the forest was trying to lull them into a false sense of security only to spring the trap once they were inside. A loud clap of thunder shook the silence (as well as their already jangled nerves) and caused Neville to jump.

"What should we...?" Cho questioned uncertainly. She really didn't want to go into the forest. Dumbledore had absolutely prohibited all students from entering it. There were werewolves and monsters in there.

Not hearing her, or not caring to, Ginny lurched forward before Cho could finish her sentence. "Let's go!" Ginny cried as she made a mad dash for the forest without hesitation. Neville grabbed the back of Ginny's nightgown and pulled her roughly backwards. "Oof," she grunted as she stumbled. Ginny glared at Neville. "What'd you do that for?"

"We can't go into the forest, it's forbidden," he explained.

"Hence, the name," Cho piped up sarcastically.

Ginny glared at Cho too. "Don't you understand?" she shouted. "They wouldn't go into the forest for kicks. Someone took them! We have to help them!" She looked at both of them imploringly. Neville and Cho still looked dubious. "If either of you were in there, the three of them would go after you, no questions asked. So stop being so bloody wishy washy. We're going," she cried, frustrated.

Neville shuffled his feet embarrassedly. "We could--"

Ginny cut him off. "What?" she shrieked, her tone taunting. "Are you scared? You've been in the forest before, Neville Frank Longbottom."

Neville gasped at her words. She had middle-named him! Only parents could do that. Ginny must really be ticked, he thought.

"I can't believe you'd just let your friends, my brother," she added, "die in there!" Ginny looked murderous. Neville looked away. He didn't want to challenge her, but he didn't want to go into the forest either.

Cho offered Ginny no support. "Why don't we get a teacher? If they're really in trouble then--" she began reasonably, but Ginny wasn't listening. She had already turned her back on Cho and was headed determinedly toward the forest. She would go without them if she had to.

Neville sighed and threw his hands up in the air. "Ginny, wait!" he called out and took off after her. The mud splattered up his legs as he ran, following the flash of red hair. He could see that there would be no changing her mind, and there was no point in letting her die alone in the forest. The sound of feet splashing in puddles behind him told him that Cho was following as well.

"Neville! Neville!" she screamed.

Ginny's fiery, red head was disappearing into the forest now like a little flame dancing in the midst of a black night. Neville had to squint to make it out. He didn't want to lose her, so he paid Cho no mind and ran harder. Ginny was small and quick. Neville, on the other hand, was stocking and heavyset. All those years of his Grandmother giving him extra portions had not paid off. Ginny was getting away. With every step she was just a little bit farther ahead of him than she had been before. "Ginny!" he called. "Ginny! Slow down!" But his voice was lost in the whistling wind. She didn't hear him.

"Neville!" It was Cho again. She was just as quick as she was on the ground as she was on a broomstick. She had easily caught up to Neville. Cho grabbed his arm harshly and whirled him around. "Don't," she ordered. "We can't go in there!"

Neville stopped. He was breathing heavily. "We have to," he panted. "We can't let her go in there alone."

"Why?" Cho shrieked. She was livid. She could barely form the words to hurl at him. "Why are you Gryffindors so ready to go jumping head first into mortal danger? That's not brave. That's stupid! We're three students. Two of us are still in are pajamas! We aren't prepared go out in the rain, let alone fight whatever took the three of them."

Neville looked down at his muddy feet. He didn't know how to explain this to her. They were losing valuable time, his friends could be dead by now. "They're my friends..." Cho scowled. That wasn't a good enough explanation. He looked up at her earnestly and continued, "Maybe we should have got a teacher." He looked around. He hadn't noticed before, but they were already inside the Forbidden Forest. The trees weren't heavy yet, but they had definitely crossed the line of no return. "But it's too late for that now, isn't it?" He turned to leave. "I have to find Ginny," he tossed over his shoulder as he ran, his eyes roaming the horizon searching for a fleck of red.

"Why do you love her?" Cho shouted after him.

Neville stopped dead in his tracks. That wasn't what he had expected her to say. No one was even supposed to know. He suddenly felt very naked, despite his golden snitch boxers. Cho Chang had spoken all of two words to him before tonight and suddenly she knew his most private feelings?

Sure, he loved Ginny. But it didn't matter. She only had eyes for Harry Potter. That didn't stop him from loving her, of course. For years he had mooned over her the way she had mooned over Harry. He knew every freckle on her face. Neville sighed. A couple of months ago, he had resigned himself to the fact that they would never be romantically involved. They were just friends-- very close friends. They shared something together. They understood each other. It was a different kind of love; he knew her better than anyone else. He had never had such a good friend.

Neville ran his tongue over his teeth. He did that when he was thinking, but only Ginny would recognize it. He didn't know how to explain this. "Ginny has been in love with Harry Potter since she was ten," he began uncertainly, "but he never returned her feelings. Then, by some miracle, he asked her to the Yule Ball two years ago. The only problem was: I had already asked her." His head shook with mirthless laughter. "That was her dream you know? She told me she wanted him to ask her -- that she had always hoped he would. But do you know what she did?"

Cho suddenly felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. There was something about the haunted look in his eyes that kept her from answering.

"She told him 'no,' Cho. She turned down the famous Harry Potter, her dream man, for me. There aren't that many people who would do that, let alone people who would do that for me. She knew I wouldn't be able to find anyone else and that Harry would. She didn't want to hurt me."

They were quiet for awhile. Both shuffled their feet embarassedly. Cho felt unexplainably guilty. Then Neville started talking again with renewed vigor. "I'm going after her. You can stay here or go tattle to a teacher if you want but I'm going after her." With that, he turned and left.

He wasn't very far down the trail before Cho trotted up next to him. She didn't look mad anymore. She finally seemed to understand and Neville was glad. They needed to be together if they were going to help Harry, Hermione and Ron. They had to be a team. They walked along in companionable silence, looking for Ginny and trying to feel out the other's mood for a bit before Cho finally spoke up for the first time since his diatribe.

"How do you know?" she asked.

Neville looked at her, puzzled. "Know what?" he asked.

"How do you know that you couldn't have found anyone else to go with you?"

She avoided his eyes as she said it. His ears turned pink.

* * * * *

Ron felt a sharp smell smack him in the face. A man in tattered, black robes was returning to the clearing. Hermione and Ron remained silent, hoping he wouldn't do anything to them. They were painfully aware that, since they were tied up, they were entirely at his mercy. He didn't seem to notice them, however; he was too busy inspecting Harry's bindings.

It was the kidnapper that smelled so foul, Ron realized. He had probably been living out here, wherever here was, for some time now. His skin was white and waxy like someone who hadn't seen the sunlight in a very, very long time. Or someone who was dead, he thought, shivering to himself. The man's robes were in worse shape than Ron's and his hair was long and unkempt. Bathing appeared to be out of the question.

Ron could see how Harry would have mistaken him for Sirius. He looked like he had been on the run for years. The only difference was that their kidnapper didn't carry himself with the same confident and inviting manner that Sirius did. He seemed to crawl along the ground when he walked and he shook like he was expecting something very frightening to happen. He seemed about as happy to be here as they did.

Whatever the frightening event was, Ron was sure Harry was about to play an integral role.

Ron turned to Hermione again. They exchanged concerned looks with their eyes. Hermione's eyes were as round as saucers. She looked like she wanted to tell him something but didn't want to give herself away. Ron hated when that happened. She probably had some useful information to tell him. Although, he couldn't for the life of him, figure out what it could be.

He racked his brain, but he couldn't think due to the smell coming off their attacker.

* * * * *

Ginny stood at the end of the trail staring off into the pitch black. Few people ventured into the Forbidden Forest and this was where the beaten path ended. She knew she should go deeper into the forest but she couldn't tell which way that was. It was too dark to see more than a few feet into the forest. On one side of her, there was unknown peril and on the other side there was also unknown peril. The questions and doubts kept swirling in her brain. Which way would lead her to her brother? Would either way? It was possible that she was headed in the wrong direction entirely. Suddenly she wished she hadn't run off without Neville and Cho. It was a decision she had made on an impulse. Perhaps she should have thought about it a little first.

Strange noises from all sides made her on edge. Was that just the wind or was it something else? Every little thing sounded like a monster she had read about or a kidnapper lurking in the shadows. Ginny looked behind her, willing Neville and Cho to appear. She didn't want to be alone in the forest anymore. At least if they were around she would know if she was hearing actual noises or just going crazy.

Ginny squinted into the darkness. She would swear there was a tiny, blue person on that tree up ahead. But that was impossible. People weren't that small and they didn't have insect wings. They weren't blue either, now that she thought about it. The figure seemed to be made out of moonlight. Now she was sure she was going crazy.

That didn't calm her down at all.

"Ginny!" Ginny's heart leapt at the sound of Neville's voice. They had come after her. She could've kissed him! Never in her life had she been so glad to see Cho Chang. "Ginny," Neville said again as they ran up beside her. The relief was evident in his voice. Ginny smiled weakly at him in an unspoken apology. Neville grinned back. She was forgiven, of course.

Ginny turned to Cho. "Am I glad you guys are here," she admitted. Cho cocked an eyebrow.

Then her eyes fell on the figure behind Ginny and her mouth formed a pronounced "O."

"What is it?" Neville asked curiously. Cho pointed at the little, blue girl who was dancing around emitting a high-pitched jabbering. "A pixie."

"Oh, thank God!" Ginny threw her hands up in the air. "I thought I was having hallucinations."

The pixie pointed at them and giggled mischievously. She shrieked something unintelligible in her pixie language and laughed again.

"It's kind of cute." Interested, Ginny stepped forward. Now that she knew she wasn't nutters, it was far more intriguing. "I think it's a baby."

"I wouldn't get too close. They can be a great bit of trouble," Cho warned. But she didn't sound like she believed what she was saying -- only quoting a textbook. How could something so little be trouble?

Behind them, Neville snorted. He wasn't enthralled by the little pixie the way the girls were. "Tell me about it. One time, Lockhart brought some of them to class and--"

Ginny and Cho weren't listening. The pixie had begun dancing along a gnarled tree root. They squealed girlishly in delight. Neville rolled his eyes.

Just then, more squealing assaulted their ears. It wasn't girlish at all. It wasn't even human. The trio looked around. It was coming from the left of them. Slowly, pinpricks of blue light emerged from the darkness. "More pixies," Cho breathed warily." They were coming closer. Now they looked like blue fireflies in the night. The baby pixie started squeaking incessantly and clapping her minute, pixie hands. She was ecstatic to see her friends.

"Uh, I think it's time we make our retreat." Neville motioned for the girls to follow him. They didn't appear to hear him over the din.

The pixies swarmed around them and buzzed excitedly to one another. The trio looked nervously at one another. One baby pixie they could handle, but a mass of them was an entirely different story. Neville backed up slowly, trying not to catch the attention of the giggling creatures. He remembered all too well how hard they could be to control.

The baby pixie flapped her wings tentatively and rose shakily into the air like a child just learning to walk. She shouted something in pixie talk at Cho and Ginny as she flew by. Neville was shocked to see her land on his head. She laughed shrilly from her perch as she did a little jig. Neville felt his stomach drop into his feet. He had a bad feeling about this even though the pixies didn't seem angry. In fact, they seemed to think this was a game.

A small group of pixies broke away from the swarm. They flew over to the baby and Neville, who tried to escape but to no avail. They were all over him now. They moved quickly. So quickly that Cho and Ginny didn't have time to react when the pixies seized Neville by the ears and lifted him into the air. The swarm chuckled heartily.

"Hey! Let me go!" Neville yelled. They didn't listen. He had a feeling they probably wouldn't have even if they could understand him.

The pixies flew higher into the tree-covered sky. Ginny and Cho watched in horror as the pixies took off into the night. Neville was almost out of sight by the time Ginny snatched Cho's hand and began to run after them. The pixies were much faster than they expected. Neville's shouts were becoming harder and harder to hear. Soon the only thing they had to follow was the occasional flash of gold from his Snitch boxer shorts and the shrill laughter of the pixies. Eventually, that too faded, leaving Cho and Ginny lost and alone in the heart of the forest.

* * * * *

Neville yelled for Ginny and Cho until he was hoarse. He couldn't hear their footsteps crashing through the underbrush anymore. The pixies refused to put him down. They giggled whenever he asked. It was that perpetual laughter that was driving him off his rocker. He wanted to throttle them; of course, he would need very small hands to do that.

The pixies were now entertaining themselves with a new game, Hit Neville with Every Branch We Pass. It was quite painful. Neville was sure he was going to have scars all over his legs after this. He grunted as another, particularly thorny branch slapped him in the face.

"All right! That was fun, how about you guys put me down now?" he suggested. The pixies squealed and continued flying into trees.

He had a plan now. It wasn't a particularly good plan, but it was a plan none the less. Neville felt another tree whack him in the face. He reached out in an effort to grab something- anything that he could hold on to. His hands fell on a bendy branch. Neville quickly seized the branch and managed to twist himself out of the pixies' grasp.

They stopped flying forward and began fluttering around his head, jeering at him. "Oh, shut up," Neville moaned. The branch wasn't that sturdy and he found himself in even greater danger. He was going to fall to the ground! Stupidly, he looked down. Not only was it a long way to fall, there were dozens of pointy branches blocking his path.

The pixies thought this was the funniest thing they ever saw. They giggled happily as Neville scrambled around, searching helplessly for a way to keep himself from falling. He noticed a thick, old tree limb seconds before he heard the twig holding him up snap underneath his weight.

At first, he didn't even realize that he was falling. Then it literally hit him in the form of a heavy limb across his bum. The ground was rapidly approaching. Neville didn't have long to think of a way out of his predicament. He tried to grab a branch, but that didn't work. Finally he did the only thing he could think of. He grabbed his wand and pointed it at himself.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted the levitation spell. He felt a pull at the back of his stomach, like he was caught on a string, as he rose higher into the air. Wow, he thought, it worked. Up until that point, he had only used that spell on feathers. Now he was rather proud of himself for thinking of it. "Finite Incantatum," he hissed when he felt he was at a proper distance to the ground.

Neville landed with his ankle at an awkward position. He felt sharp pain course through his leg to his knee. He cursed a lot then sat on a tree root to examine it. His ankle didn't appear broken. Thank goodness for small mercies. It was a bit tender. He wouldn't be running off half cocked into any more forests tonight. No more running, period.

He was shocked out of his reverie by the sound of approaching footsteps. Neville tried unsuccessfully to hide himself in the underbrush. The bushes just weren't thick enough to cover all of him. He strained his ears to hear over the pounding in his chest. He could only imagine what kind of horrid creature it was.

It didn't sound quite like footsteps when it got closer. They struck the earth too often and too hard to be human. Still, it sounded familiar. Like... hoof beats! He jumped up with a start. Neville peered out into the forest. A large beast was bucking above him. First he saw hoofs that connected to the horse's body and finally the torso and head of a man.

"Oh," he murmured more to himself than anyone else. "Centaur."

* * * * *

Ginny fell to the ground in a heap. She couldn't make her legs run anymore. She felt horrible and defeated. She fought to keep the large tears threatening to spill over her cheeks back. They had lost Neville and they hadn't managed to find the missing trio yet. Now what?

Cho stopped and searched the skies. She suddenly looked very tall to the seated Ginny. "Did you see which way they took Neville?" Cho asked regally. Ginny wondered why she wasn't out of breath like she was.

"No," Ginny answered darkly.

"Which way should we go?" Cho apparently hadn't heard the despair in Ginny's voice.

"It doesn't matter," she answered mournfully. "Neville could be anywhere. Harry, Ron and Hermione are probably already dead. I don't know where we are. And there's no way to tell which way will bring up back to Hogwarts."

Cho sighed. "I see..."

Ginny felt anger boiling inside of her. Anger at the situation, at the forest, at herself and now at Cho. "Do you? Do you see?" she demanded spitefully. "Because all I see is people picking pieces of our mangled bodies out of this bloody forest for weeks!" She was on a very short fuse and didn't need this from Cho Chang.

Cho shuddered. She was obviously thinking about all the horrible things that lived in the forest. The kind of things that could mangle a pretty, young girl's body. "I here there's werewolves here."

Ginny chortled. "I wish," she spat sarcastically. "It's not the full moon, maybe they could help us." She thought of Professor Lupin. He was the only werewolf she knew and if all the others were anything like him then she wished there was a whole pack of werewolves living in the forest.

"There's no need to get snippy!" Cho turned on her angrily.

Ginny laughed heartily. "Really? You don't think freezing your bum off out in a forest filled with murderous creatures while three of your friends and your brother are probably dying painful deaths is a good reason?" She narrowed her eyes menacingly. "Then do tell, what is a good reason to get snippy?"

Ginny suddenly felt like crying again. Cho had the nerve to look concerned. "It's all my fault," the younger girl wailed as the sadness over-powered her. "If we die in here it's because I ran off after them without thinking. I'm so stupid!"

Cho sad down next to Ginny and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Ginny, if your first reaction to danger is to go help the people you care about, that's not a bad thing. There should be more people like you out there," she said softly and soothingly. Cho smiled supportively and conjured warmer robes for Ginny to wear. At least she could solve one of Ginny's problems.

"Thanks," Ginny sobbed. The robes were scratchy, and not nearly as nice as Cho's, but she wasn't going to complain about that. She just wanted to go home, to have things be the way they were only a few hours ago. She wished she were warm in her bed right at that moment, dreaming about Harry.

The girls sat in silence for awhile while Ginny cried. Cho continued to look for Neville in the sky, which proved futile. Eventually she just gave up. A few tears managed to find their way down her face, but Cho abruptly brushed them aside. She really didn't want Ginny Weasley to see her cry.

"Why do you hate me?" Cho asked abruptly as her thoughts shifted.

"I don't hate you," Ginny replied surely. "I just dislike you a great deal."

Cho giggled. "All right then, why do you dislike me a great deal?"

"I'm jealous," she answered simply. At least she knew the root of the problem. "Harry likes you and not me."

Cho looked away. "Harry doesn't even know me." Ginny looked at her quizzically. What did she mean? "We never talk much on account of him turning bright red then running away whenever he sees me," she explained.

"Yeah, well," Ginny sighed, "he's had a crush on you since he laid eyes on you."

Cho shook her head sadly. "What kind of relationship is that? He takes one look at me then swoons." Ginny blushed. That's what happened when she first saw Harry. Cho didn't seem to notice her discomfort and continued thoughtfully. "I want to know him before I date him. I don't want to be that girl that goes out with guys because they're famous or rich or handsome." She laughed again as a funny notion struck her. "Because if those are the standards, I'm going to end up with Draco Malfoy."

Ginny giggled too. "You'll have to fight Pansy Parkinson for him."

Cho chuckled caught up in the complete absurdity of the moment. "I could take her!" she declared proudly then made a slapping motion, showing how she'd smack Pansy around.

Ginny nearly fell over she laughed so hard. There was just something about the image of Cho Chang getting in a chick fight with Pansy Parkinson that she found highly amusing.

"Besides," Cho whispered once their laughter had subsided and they came back down to Earth. "I haven't been able to date anyone since Cedric died." Cho got a gloomy, far off look on her face.

Ginny shuffled her feet uncomfortably. "How are you doing?" she asked, feeling guilty.

"I'm all right. I'm sick of people asking me that." Ginny shifted in her seat again. "Sorry," Cho apologized quickly. "It's nice to know that you care how I'm doing and all but no one really wants to hear about it." Ginny put a friendly arm around Cho's shoulders and let her talk without interruption. "When I think about it, I get sick to my stomach. So I try not the think about it and just get on with my life but then I feel guilty because, well, because Ced can't get on with his life. But I know he wouldn't want me to be guilty. He'd want me to move on. He just wanted everyone to be happy. Then I'm so angry. He never did anything to anyone. He didn't deserve that." She sighed. There didn't seem to be an escape to this circle of depression but she had clearly given it a lot of thought already. "So on one hand I'm upset, on another hand I'm guilty and on another I'm angry and on still another, I'm confused."

"Wow," Ginny whispered not knowing what to say. "You have a lot of hands."

Cho snorted.

* * * * *

Neville stared up at the massive form of the centaur. It had an appaloosa body and long brown hair. Neville couldn't move for fear (and also the pain in his leg, but mostly the fear). The horse-man looked down at him curiously. Then, seemingly unimpressed, he turned his attentions to the Heavens.

"Venus is out tonight," it said sagely.

"Uh, excuse me?" Neville asked nervously. He had never spoken with a centaur before, although he heard they were quite intelligent. This one just didn't seem to make any sense.

"Venus is out," it repeated. The centaur peered at Neville for the second time. It was as if it was seeing him for the first time, however. "You are the Longbottom boy," the centaur observed.

"Y..yes," Neville stammered. He wondered how the centaur knew his name. How could that be? Centaurs didn't get involved with humans. The only person he had ever heard of them knowing was Harry. And Harry was famous! Was Neville's future written in the stars somewhere? That was odd, he was no one special. "Uh, what are you looking at?" he asked curiously.

"Venus is out," it replied simply.

Not pleased with this answer, Neville decided to try again. "How do you know me?"

"It's not my place." The centaur seemed to think that he should have known that already. It was now quite perturbed.

Neville gawked. So there was something that the centaur wasn't telling him! It seemed to take pity on Neville after noticing his lost expression. "You shouldn't be out here," it whispered as if it was afraid someone would hear him.

The boy flushed. No, he wasn't supposed to be out in the forest. "I know it's dangerous out here--" Neville began to protest but the centaur cut him off.

It shook its maned head. It wasn't that. "You had better get going if you want to save your girls."

"My, my girls?" Neville asked. He didn't have any girls...Suddenly fear gripped him. Ginny and Cho! They were in danger. That's what the centaur was trying to tell him!

The centaur had returned to examining the stars. He was looking at something else now. "The ritual is almost complete," it noted then looked at Neville again. Neville didn't have much time to wonder what ritual it was talking about because the centaur made motion to leave the clearing. "Good luck, boy!" it called.

Neville turned to leave as well. He was a good ways away from the clearing when he heard the centaur whisper cryptically, "When the three fight the body dies." Or it could've been something else, Neville didn't have very good hearing, but that's what it sounded like.

He knew now why so many people hated centaurs. They knew so much and told you so little. What ritual? What body? And who were the three? Was that Harry, Ron and Hermione? Were they going to die? He plunged onward into the darkness of the forest. He didn't have time to think about this now; Ginny and Cho were in danger. That was the only part he had understood, and it was in the forefront of his mind.

* * * * *

Ginny was dozing preciously on Cho's shoulder as Cho craned her neck in search of Neville. She did no more than that out of complete, utter defeat and the fear of waking Ginny. Cho sighed. She really had no idea how they could find Neville, let alone save their other friends. Pixies were unpredictable. Her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier. Ginny's rhythmic breathing was starting to lull Cho off as well but she fought to stay awake. It just wasn't smart to fall asleep in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.

Out of the corner of her eye, Cho saw a ribbon of darkness advance on them from the shadows. She jerked to a fully alert state. Had she been dreaming or had something really moved out there? It looked to be nothing more than a shadow. Heart pounding in her chest, Cho gently shook Ginny awake.

"Ginny," she murmured. "Ginny wake up. There's something out there."

"Whazzit?" Ginny asked. She opened one bleary eye and looked at Cho. At first she seemed confused as to where they were and what was going on, then she jumped, becoming completely conscious of her surroundings. "What do you think it is?" Ginny asked under her breath.

Cho shrugged and looked again. There was definitely something moving along the root of the nearest tree. She couldn't quite make out what it was. It blended in perfectly with the darkness and moved like it was swimming through the shadows.

Then, as if in slow motion, the creature slithered out of the shade and into a patch of moonlight. Ginny emitted a high pitched squeaking sound of fear. Her skin was as pale as paper. Cho knew she looked just the same.

It was a huge, black snake. And it didn't look happy. The snake spit and hissed at them threateningly. The girls tensed as they looked it right in its eyes. In its six eyes. This wasn't any ordinary snake. It had three heads jutting out from its scaly body. Each head looked meaner than the first.

Cho shuddered. "It's a runespoor," she whispered to her friend. This apparently meant nothing to Ginny so Cho patiently explained. She had the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book memorized. "The Runespoor originated in the small African country of Burkina Faso. A three-headed serpent, the Runespoor commonly reaches a length of six or seven feet. Livid orange with black stripes, the Runespoor is only too easy to spot--"

Ginny hushed her. "All right. I get it. You could've just said 'it's a big mean snake with three heads" you know?"

Cho gave her patronizing look. "Runespoors aren't usually aggressive."

Ginny looked form the large, hissing snake to Cho. "Really? Could've fooled me."

The snake lunged forward at the girls interrupting their conversation. They shrieked and dove out of the way. The snake seemed to be confused, unsure of which witch to go after. Moments later it got a third distraction.

The crashing of bushes and heavy breathing alerted everyone in the clearing to Neville's approaching form. He pulled up behind the runespoor, gasping for oxygen.

"Neville!" Ginny cried joyously. She was about to give him a huge hug when the runespoor got in her way and sent her back up against a tree. She grabbed a fallen branch and shook it at the snake menacingly.

"What is it?" Neville asked, backing away slowly.

"It's a Runespoor," Ginny answered, as if she had known that all along and gave him a look to tell him he was inferior for not knowing. Cho stifled a giggle.

"Why does it have three heads?" he asked. After all, one should be sufficient.

Cho, knowledge girl, spoke up again from across he clearing. "They each have a different personality. The left is the planner, the middle is the dreamer and the right is the critic." She jumped away quickly as it dove at her. "The right head," she explained, much to her chagrin as she was closest to the right head, "is the only one that's venomous."

Ginny relaxed a bit, realizing she was safe for the moment. "How do you know all this?"

Cho scoffed. "I actually do my schoolwork."

Ginny was slightly offended by that statement but decided to shrug it off. She did her schoolwork but she was two years behind Cho. "No, no. I mean how does one know about the different personalities of the heads?"

"Oh." Cho jumped out of the way again. " Parselmouths can talk to them, can't they?"

That made sense. The three friends proceeded to play an intricate game of 'Keep Away from the Runespoor' while it continued to lunge at them. It seemed as though each head wanted to go after the person closest to it but couldn't since the other heads were holding it back.

"What do you think it wants?" Ginny piped up again.

Neville sighed exasperatedly. "I think it wants to kill us, Ginny!" he shouted.

"But Cho said they're not usually vicious!" Ginny retorted angrily. Neville looked to Cho for confirmation. She nodded her head.

"Dark wizards keep them as pets sometimes," Cho added gloomily. They were all beginning to realize what was going on.

"So a dark wizard sent this big snake to kill us." Neville concluded. "Great, now my day is complete."

"But only parselmouths can talk to it," Ginny thought out loud. There had been only three parselmouths at Hogwarts since its inception and only two were living. "Harry wouldn't send a monster after us..." Ginny's voice trailed off. They all had reached the same conclusion. There was only one other person it could be: Lord Voldemort.

* * * * *

"Well that's friendly," Neville grumbled. He glared down at Voldemort's snake. "He couldn't have sent, say, beautiful women to lure us away..." Neville's voice trailed off, Cho and Ginny were looking daggers at him. Apparently, they rather preferred the snake to beautiful women. Neville sighed. Where were other guys when you needed them?

"OH!" Ginny exclaimed, realization dawning over her tiny features.

"What?" an unenthused Neville wondered. He was still bitter about the beautiful women.

"Voldemort didn't send the snake after us. It's guarding something!" She grinned proudly.

"Like what?" Neville wasn't getting the point.

Cho gave him a condescending look. "Three people are mysteriously kidnapped and hidden somewhere in the forest and you have to ask what it's guarding?"

"Oh," Neville whispered. He was feeling quite stupid now.

"That means we're getting close!" Ginny grinned broadly. Suddenly, their situation didn't seem so hopeless anymore. They were close. She could almost feel Ron's presence with her. And perhaps Hermione's as well because everything was starting to make sense and she was rapidly forming a plan. "I have an idea," she announced.

"Does it hurt?" Cho asked playfully and smiled sweetly at Ginny.

The redhead glared. "No," she answered tonelessly. "If the right head's fangs are poisonous, then all we have to do is get the right side so mad at one of the other heads that it bites it. Then the Runespoor will die."

"When the three fight the body dies!" Neville exclaimed, proud of himself for finally understanding what the centaur had meant.

"What?" Cho and Ginny demanded in unison.

He motioned behind him. "I met a centaur and he told me that when the three fight the body dies," he admitted sheepishly.

"And you were going to tell us this when?" Cho asked peevishly.

"I dunno," Neville pretended to be thinking about it. "I was gonna wait until we were all dead and then curse myself out for not realizing sooner but this seems like a better plan." He winked at Ginny. "I didn't know what the heck he was talking about until now, Cho," he grumbled defensively.

The three didn't need much more planning. It was obvious that the right head, the critic, was easily annoyed by the other two heads and vice versa. Cho dared to stand right in front of the critic while Ginny distracted the left head, the planner. The critic made motion to bit Cho but was pulled back when the planner moved toward Ginny. The two heads began to hiss and spit at one another while the third head sat idly and stared dreamily at Neville.

"I think he likes you," Ginny teased. Neville snorted.

Cho watched the other two heads intently. "I wonder what they're saying."

Neville and Ginny looked at each other and shrugged. If she really wanted to know...

"You bloody bassssstard," Neville hissed in a comic imitation of a snake voice. "I almossst had her."

Ginny assumed a high pitched taunting voice of the critic. "You did not. You sssssssuck."

"I'll get her."

"You couldn't get pointy earsss at a Sssstar Trek convention." They flinched as the planner plunged forward and bit the critic. "Ow! Hey! Sssstop that! Unfang me! That hurtssss a great deal!" The critic quickly retaliated. "Take that! And that! And some of thissss!"

Neville chuckled. "Ow! Ouch! Ey! Argh!" The critic was easily beating the planner. It swiftly dug its sharp fangs into the scaly neck of the planner. "Oh. That's gonna leave a mark."

The planner seized up as the poison started to flow through its system. Cho shuddered imagining that happening to one of them. It looked very painful. Then the dreamer was ripped out of its imaginary world when it too started to seize. Finally the critic felt its own poison flowing through its body. Only then did it realize it had made a deadly mistake. The body of the Runespoor gave one final shake before collapsing lifelessly to the ground.

The trio gaped at the motionless body. It was dead. It was really dead. They had beaten it. They grinned and high fived each other.

"So what else did this centaur say?" Cho asked abruptly once the euphoria had died down.

Neville was caught off guard. "What?" He blinked. "Oh. He said that you two were in trouble and I'd have to hurry if I wanted to help. And," he added mysteriously, "that the ritual was almost complete. I thought he was talking about you two but obviously that wasn't it."

"Odd..." Cho looked thoughtful. "There must be some ritual that Harry, Ron and Hermione were kidnapped for."

"But if it's not complete yet then we still have time to help them," Ginny reminded her.

"Right," Cho turned to Ginny, "but we still don't know how to find them."

"The Runespoor was here, so we must be getting close," Ginny pointed out.

Neville watched the two of them bounce ideas off each other. Each time he opened his mouth to add something they cut him off. He felt out of the loop. The two girls were on a roll.

"Well, if dark wizards are doing this, they'd want to get as far away from Dumbledore as possible," Cho reasoned.

"And put a lot of dark creatures in between them," Ginny agreed. "That would mean going deeper into the forest."

"But we don't know which way that is."

Ginny looked down at her feet. She did that when she was doing some major thinking. She focused on a twig that was dug into the hard soil on the ground. There were tiny bugs running along it. Probably scurrying to get out of the rain, she thought. Then for the first time, she noticed something: it wasn't raining anymore. She listened closely. She could still hear the wind roaring above the trees. Ginny looked up. It was still too dark for her too see how thick the canopy was, but she could tell that they must be deep in the heart of the forest if the canopy was keeping all the rain out.

"Cho!" she shrieked. "It's driest where the trees are heaviest. We can figure out which was too go by how wet the ground is!"

Cho clapped her mouth over her mouth. Of course! Why hadn't they thought of that sooner? It was so obvious. The girls squealed in joy and relief. They hugged each other. Then squealed some more.

Neville rolled his eyes. Girls.

"I liked it better when you two hated each other." He paused. "Hey, why don't you hate each other?"

Cho narrowed her eyes. "We've bonded over some quality death time," she replied sarcastically. Ginny giggled into her hand.

Neville didn't laugh however. "Huh?" He scratched his head.

"Nevermind," Ginny sighed. Then she brightened. "Let's go find out friends!" she cheered.

"Yeah!" the other two cheered back.

* * *