A/N: Okay — apparently I can't put in tables or drop caps, so sorry about the odd formatting. The class schedule was supposed to be a table. I'll try and fix it soon. And if you haven't figured this out yet, I really like cliffhangers…hehe.
DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING new.
H A G R I D, O G G,
A N D M R. P R I N G L E
Lily and Siandra decided that they'd leave about one on Sunday for the forest, because, as Siandra pointed out, they wanted to be in the common room by nine o'clock, and they wanted to have light while they were in the forest, because it was so thick with trees. Siandra kept thinking that there was some little thing that she forgot, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't bring herself to remember it. Lily suggested watching Ogg and the other person that was with him going into the forest to see where they went because she doubted that there was a path and she didn't think that they would be eager to help her do their homework. Siandra thought that they had come up with a great idea because none of the other people seemed to be thinking of going into the forest, and there weren't many people around it, just Ogg and the other person. She thought that there probably wasn't anything much of interest except for the plants, and that satisfied her except for that little nagging of something she'd forgotten.
On Sunday at noon, Lily and Siandra picked up their herb sketchbooks and their identifying guide and some quills, and packed them into an old star-patterned bag of Siandra's and at a quarter until one, they set off for the forest.
"I don't know why no one else has thought of the forest! It's the perfectly logical place to look," said Lily as they both walked down the stone steps, their bags banging against their legs, "Maybe they're afraid of getting lost or something like that. Don't worry, we won't." she added, seeing the look on Siandra's face.
What if they did get lost? She hadn't thought of that before, and it seemed to worry her a little, until they both arrived at the forest's edge.
"Ogg goes in this way," she pointed to a rather crude path, just an opening between the weeds, "So I think we'd better go in this way too."
They both cautiously stepped over the weeds and into the forest. It was rather dark, but the floor was covered in lush greenery and they soon had all the plants that they needed. They turned back and found that it would be quite easy to find their way back. If, that was, there hadn't been a large figure standing in their way.
It was Ogg, the gamekeeper who had shown them to Hogwarts, across the lake. But right now he wasn't looking as kindly as he was when he showed the way. He was looking very sternly at them.
"Come on now, you're going to see Mr. Pringle about this!" he said gruffly, pulling them both by their robe collars and leading them back through the forest. "Honestly! In broad daylight! He'll have you for this!"
Siandra would have like to have protested about this, because there was nothing wrong, but there seemed to be something wrong with her tongue. She barely noticed as Ogg led them both back through the castle and down to a corridor on the second floor that they had never been to before and into a large office at which a staff member they had never known sat.
"And these are the troublemakers then? Good," he said, looking up from his paperwork. "I'll deal with them for now. You may bring Hagrid in later for questioning. You may leave."
He had rather greasy brown hair and his eyes were staring coldly at them. From beside her, Lily gave her a scared look.
"So, you two find rules above you, do you? Wandering around where you shouldn't be, trying to make trouble? And in only the second week of school, dear me, what a disgrace. What do you have to say for yourselves this time, eh?"
Siandra stuttered trying to find the right words to defend her, "B — but it's not after nine o'clock is it? We only went in there at about one, and we didn't have a watch so we didn't know that it was so late, we just lost track of time, honestly!"
"In the Forbidden Forest, it is always past nine," he said, and grinned wickedly.
"The er…Forbidden Forest? Er, why is it called that?"
Once she said that, she immediately wished that she hadn't as it was obvious to why it was called the Forbidden Forest. The nagging feeling was coming back to her and she was trying in vain to figure out what it meant.
"Because it's forbidden, you nasty little first years! And ah, here they come."
"But we didn't know! Dumbledore would have said something at the feast!" said Lily, who had been keeping quiet the whole time.
Then Siandra remembered. She hadn't heard him say that at the feast because Lily had asked her something about the ghosts during his speech. That was why Lily hadn't heard it either. She was about to say something to Lily about this, but just then, three people came in the doorway. They included Ogg, the other person that was usually with Ogg, and Professor Pimea. All three of them sat down in chairs facing Lily and Siandra, and all three of them wore very stern faces.
"Hagrid!" Mr. Pringle, the man sitting at the desk, said sharply to the other man on his right. Siandra supposed that his name must be Hagrid. Hagrid, if that was his name, turned and looked at Mr. Pringle.
"Were you the one who lead them into the forest? Filled their heads with some nonsense about it not being out-of-bounds? Did you think that it would make you look good if they were expelled?" Mr. Pringle demanded to Hagrid. "I suppose that it was Lily he was after, considering her (ahem) history," he added to Professor Pimea. "You have been keeping a close eye on him, Ogg?" Ogg nodded solemnly.
"It wasn't me! I din' show 'em nowhere!" pleaded Hagrid.
"He's right it was just — " Lily was interrupted by the swishing cloak of Albus Dumbledore as he entered the office. There was becoming quite a crowd in there.
"I have heard that Hagrid is being accused in this room. I believe that I have cleared him from this nonsense?" said Professor Dumbledore.
"But Professor! Hagrid just coaxed this muggle-born and her friend into the Forbidden Forest! He was hoping, no doubt, that they would get expelled or wounded or killed or…." pleaded Mr. Pringle. He seemed intent on getting Hagrid in trouble.
"It wasn't him!" shouted Lily, expressing her outrages both at being called "this muggle-born" and having Hagrid being accused for their wrongdoing.
"Hagrid? Ogg? You are dismissed. Professor Pimea will decide what Lily and Siandra's punishment will be."
With these final words, Dumbledore, Hagrid, and Ogg left, leaving Lily and Siandra with a stern-looking Professor Pimea and Mr. Pringle looking like he had been denied chocolate for the rest of his life.
"Now you two," said Professor Pimea, rounding on Lily and Siandra, "You have disgraced the Gryffindor house! You — "
"We didn't know that it was out-of-bounds and we were going in there to do homework anyway and we didn't go far and we followed the path! Please, professor!"
"All the same, I am shocked at such behavior. You will each receive detentions, and, let's see, thirty points from Gryffindor each. I will send you an owl when you are to receive your detentions. You are to go straight to your dormitories."
Professor Pimea waltzed out of the office and Mr. Pringle shooed them out. They walked silently up the five winding flights of stairs up to the Gryffindor common room, dreading the response of their fellow Gryffindors when they saw that Gryffindor was already sixty points behind in their second week.
When they had to shout the password ("Camillo") at the fat lady, who was asleep, and entered the common room, it seemed that none of their fellow Gryffindors has passed the giant hourglasses that told the points yet that day, and she dreaded when they would. She wondered if they did negative points. She and Lily hurried up to the girls' dormitory and Siandra collapsed on her bed and looked at Lily.
"I can't believe our luck! Ogg had to be there of all places and he had to catch us. And imagine what all the other Gryffindors will think when the see the points…." Lily frowned darkly as she trailed off. "I wonder why Mr. Pringle kept trying to accuse Hagrid," she finished.
"Oh, I know. And we have to do detention too. Professor Pimea shouldn't have taken away all of those house points! But at least we got our Herbology assignment done!" said Siandra and it made her self feel just a little better that something came of it. Just then, Leanne and Claire walked in.
"Hey, why are you up here?" asked Leanne, concernedly.
"We, er — " Siandra paused not knowing what to tell them, but then spilled the whole story out and Leanne and Claire listed sympathetically. "And we're so afraid of what the other Gryffindors will think! We weren't trying to rule-break or anything!"
"It's okay," soothed Claire, "I hope that they will understand." She said this with much conviction, but it was clear that neither of them thought that the other members of the house would quite understand.
They both locked themselves in the girls' dormitory and waited for Claire to slip them some food from dinner and a small flask of pumpkin juice for them to share. They still didn't know if the rest of the school knew and tomorrow they would have to unlock their dormitory and go to classes and they didn't know that, hostile house or not, there would be something unexpected to look forward to next week.