DISCLAIMER: Am I going to have to do this every chapter? Oh well, people always seem to have so much fun with them! The characters in this story as well as the setting and ideas belong to the wonderful, glorious, goddess of writing, J.K. Rowling! A lot of the characters are mine, though, as is the plot, so no stealing!

A.N.: Hiya and thank you for reading the second chapter of my story! bows I hope you enjoy it! In this chapter, though, I am sorry to say that there will be no appearance of Harry. sad sigh But there is the next chapter! And the chapter after that! So Harry lovers, stay tuned!

Chapter 2

Into the Woods

"RAAAAAGH!"

Karkaroff sprang up in his bed like a jack-in-the-box, breathing heavily, eyes wide. What a dreadful dream, he thought, running a hand through his hair. But as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, the pain that coursed through his left arm told him otherwise. He clutched it as a stinging sensation crept through his stiff body.

He rolled up his sleeve and looked at it. The skull encompassed by the snake seemed more gruesome than ever, relentlessly burning pitch black into his pale skin.

What was it that Voldemort had said? 'I believe we shall meet again soon, Karkaroff…' Eurgh. Even the thought of that cold voice made him shiver.

Wait a minute… thought Karkaroff. He said he'd be…

COMING BACK!

"Shit!" he swore to himself. I've got to leave… I've got to get out of here!

An hours or so ago...
"Hey," whispered Rachel. "Hey, Alea, you've got to wake up and get ready for the woods now."

"Just a few more minutes," groaned Alea. She yawned and turned over in her sleeping bag.

Rachel rolled her eyes and shook her sister. "No, not in a few more minutes! You have to start getting ready now! I'm already set to leave. If you don't hurry up, then you might never be able to go. And besides, you're the one who wanted to be the explorer today, not me! And you'll miss it just because you wanted to sleep in! So stop being such a lazy git and wake up!"

"Oh, all right, all right, I'm going." muttered Alea, rubbing her eyes and sitting up in a sleepy daze. "Remind me again. Why we're waking up this early?"

"Because we need to get Mum, Dad, and that creepy caretaker out of this campsite as soon as possible!"

"Oh… yeah." Alea slipped on some new clothes as she talked to Rachel. She was so tired that it took her a whole minute to realize that her shirt was on backwards. She smiled sheepishly at her sister.

Raising an eyebrow but saying nothing of it, Rachel continued. "Okay, so who do you want to work on first?"

"Huh?"

Rachel rolled her eyes again.

"Who should we get out of the campsite first?" she said pronouncing every syllable loudly and accurately.

"Oh! Uh, why not Mum and Dad?"

"Finally! I got through that thick head of yours. Alright, lets go."

". . . How are we going to do this again?"

Rachel sighed, and said, "Just follow me."

"Glad to see you girls are awake and moving!" said Mrs. Avis brightly.

Mr. Avis just mumbled grumpily under his breath, never quiet the morning person. He took out his lighter and a pack of cigarettes. He removed one, lit it, and stuck it between his teeth.

Mrs. Avis frowned. "Please, dear, not so early in the morning…"

The whole family knew that Mrs. Avis absolutely detested her husbands habit, as she frequently reminded them, always scolding Mr. Avis for it.

"Morning Mum, Dad," said Alea brightly, hoping to divert their attention from the impending row. It wouldn't do to have that argument between them, today of all days.

Thankfully, everyone relaxed somewhat.

"Morning, Alea. How did you sleep?"

"Marvelous, Mum!" she smiled. Alea pulled some dark hair out of her light green eyes and put it in a bobby pin. She was much more awake now. She had changed into green T-shirt and flare jeans. She wore her hiking boots, too, which she had bought specially for the trip.

"Would you like some breakfast, dears?" asked her Mum, motioning to a small fire that she was keeping a pan of sizzling sausages warm over. The pan next to it was filled with fluffy, golden pancakes.

"Yes, Ma'am!" said Alea, grabbing a plate and forking some food onto it.

Rachel glanced at Alea disgustedly who was shoveling food into her mouth. Alea slowed down, glaring at her sister, as if to say 'What! I'm hungry!' It was true, too, seeing as she hadn't had much of a dinner last night, it being mostly canned food.

"So, Mum, what are we going to be doing today?" asked Rachel, looking back to her parents.

"We were thinking of going to explore the local village. While we were driving through, I saw the most adorable souvenir shops and some delightful little cafes! We'll have lunch, and then maybe do some sight seeing!"

Alea and Rachel both silently doubted that there would be many sights to see in a town as small as this. Mrs. Avis, though, having lived in busy, bustling London most of her life, would have an absolute ball there.

"Oh, that, um, sounds great but wouldn't you two rather go alone?" said Rachel. Alea nodded helpfully. "I mean, you two barely get any time to yourselves these days, and me and 'Lea were talking about it last night and we decided you could, you know, just do whatever you wanted to today. Have a romantic candle-light dinner… ur, go see a movie… you know!"

Mrs. Avis frowned apprehensively. "That does sound nice, I suppose... but what about you girls? Surely you don't want to stay here alone all day…?" she said disapprovingly.

"Oh, Mum, you know us!" said Alea cheerfully. " We'll find something to do. We can have some chips and sandwiches for lunch and, uh, maybe help out poor Mr. Karkaroff!" She slapped a crooked grin spreading on her face. 'They don't know the half of it,' she thought to herself.

"Well, ah, alright. I guess we could do that, yes," said Mrs. Avis reproachfully. "What do you think, Michael?"

Mr. Avis coughed as he sat up straighter. He glanced from Alea to Rachel and declared, "They're old enough to look after themselves, Stace."

She sighed. "Well, then, I guess it's settled", said Mrs. Avis anxiously. "Your father and I will get ready, then." She still seemed to think that it wasn't such a good idea for them to be left all on their own.

And by the sad smile on Rachel's face, she didn't seem to think it was such a good idea, either.

"Two down, one to go!" whispered Alea excitedly, waving as her parents drove off.

Alea and Rachel walked across the camp to the storage shed. It was a small dingy shack that needed grave remodeling, with the door only hanging by its hinges and some boards contaminated with mold.

"Look's like this is going to be an easy break in," stated Alea confidently.

"I wouldn't be so-"

"Oh, hush up!" said Alea jokingly. She tugged on the door handle once, but nothing happened. And then twice, but it wouldn't budge. Well, she thought, irritated, third time's a charm. She pulled again, so hard she was afraid the boards might break, but it still refused to move.

"Alea, you're going to hurt yourself. There's a lock, stupid! Now what?" said Rachel.

"Hold your shirt on. I'm not finished yet," muttered Alea, blushing, feeling quiet foolish. She hated it when Rachel corrected her like that.

They sat in silence for awhile, trying to find a safe way to break in when…

"On your head," said Rachel, pointing.

"What?" asked Alea, thoroughly confused. "Is there a bug in my hair or something?"

"The bobby pin in your hair, idiot," said Rachel rolling her eyes. She was quite short on patience. It would all be Alea's fault if old Karkaroff caught them.

"Oh!" Out of her hair, Alea pulled the bobby pin she had put it in at breakfast. Sometimes, Alea guessed, it paid off watching those silly mystery shows that her sister enjoyed so much.

Alea stuck the pin in the keyhole and started jiggling it around. She thought that she was close to getting it… just a little more!… when she suddenly felt a sharp zap of something run up her arm. She let go of the pin in surprise, and, crazy as it sounded, watched as it seemed to be spat out of the lock and onto the ground.

"It… it must be rigged, or something," stammered Alea, staring at the strange lock and massaging her hand. "We're not going to be getting in that way anytime soon, that's for sure."

They both stared at the lock for a little longer, utterly bemused.

"Couldn't we just break down the boards? I mean, some of them look pretty weak to me," commented Alea

"No. Karkaroff will have known we would have made the mess, then."

Alea sighed. "Well, unto Plan Bthen."

"Oh, must we?"

"Of course! Besides, this way is much more fun."

Back to the present…
Karkaroff turned and looked at the bed stand next to him, examining the electric digital clock. 11:37. He had come quiet accustomed to the muggle way of life these past six years. Of course, he would have much rather lived back in the wizarding world, but hey, living was living.

Karkaroff stood up slowly and started to hobble (the mark was still bothering him, and when it bothered, it hurt all over) towards his emergency suitcase, which he always kept handy, when, suddenly, he slipped on something.

Soap, of all things. When did I put that there? What kind of idiotic person am I, to leave soap in the middle of the floor? Of course he didn't really have enough time to think all this because he was, of course, slipping.

"AAAARGH!"

He skidded forward on the soap, flailing his arms around, until he tripped over a piece of string. There was a series of clangs, clunks, bangs, and thumps as he tripped. He flew down towards the floor, head first. But he never hit it, for he was jerked into the air. He had been – he was caught in a bloody net…!

"What the...?"

Was this Voldemort's doing? Had he suspected him to run? Was this his utterly demented idea of amusement? But that chance was soon driven out of his mind by a strange noise from somewhere out his window.

Laughter?

He turned around, or at least tried to, and saw two teenage girls popping their heads out his window. They walked through the door, which had been left slightly ajar since the visit last night. One, a brunette, was giggling like a maniac. The other, a red head, was gazing up at him with sorrowful eyes.

The giggling one said to him, "Sorry, old man. Y-you had the storage cupboard locked up so tight, that we couldn't get anything to make a mess with. We had to use our own stuff and go t-to P-p-plan B." At this, she went into hysterics.

"And why, might I ask, did you bring a net with you?" asked Karkaroff in a strangled voice.

"Actually that's a good question…Why did we bring one?" asked Alea curiously.

"You can never be too careful," said Rachel superiority.

"Yeah, you never know when you might need one," said Alea, mocking Rachel, still giggling.

"Oh, shut up, Alea!" said the red head. "D' you know how much trouble we're going to get in for this?"

"Awww. Come on Rachel," the girl named Alea whined. "You have to admit it's at least kind of funny? Besides, you of all people should know how persuasive I am. He won't tell anybody."

Karkaroff glared at the pair of them.

"You think you can keep me from telling your parents about this? Oh, no. You'd better watch out, 'cause when they see what you've done-"

"Oh, I'm so sorry," said the brunette who didn't look sorry at all, "but our parents are gone for the evening. And while we're gone, you'll have this to think about." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "If you tell anyone about our leaving, I'll tell our mum and dad that you steal your customers money from their wallets while you think their not looking and we ran off into the woods because you threatened us when we figured 'it' out."

Karkaroff laughed. "And who do you think they'll believe? You or me?"

"Oh, definitely us. They'd trust us with their lives," said the brunette. "Without a doubt," she finished with a little nod.

The red head glanced over at Karkaroff. "Here." She said, and handed over a chocolate bar, a water bottle, and a sandwich. "Incase you get hungry. Ok, Alea, well, it's now or never. Let's go," she said to her companion.

"Right," said Alea, finally calmed down, though still smirking at Karkaroff.

And together, they left Karkaroff's cabin.

And Karkaroff, with it.

"Wait! Just where do you think you're going! You've had your fun now get me down from here! If you don't I'll-"

But the brunette, Alea, he remembered, simply turned around, stuck out her tongue at him, and slammed the door shut in the poor guy's face. He never even got to finish his sentence.

"Well," he said to himself. He dug his hand into his bedclothes' pocket. "No matter. I'll just use my wand and cut these ropes away. Stupid little fools. Will they ever be in trouble once I-"

Again, he was stopped short.

Where the heck is my wand? he thought fiercely to himself.

He turned around again and – "Damn", he said weakly to himself.

For there lay his wand, on his bedside table, just out of his reach.

"Well, now that that's over with-" started Rachel.

"We can finally go into the woods!" finished Alea excitedly.

"Not exactly the way I was going to put it," said Rachel in an aggravated tone.

The two sisters walked off towards the woods at a quick pace, but then, as they neared the tents, Rachel pulled away.

"What are you doing? Not chickening out now, are you?" asked Alea.

"No, I'm not 'chickening out'. I'm getting our things, if you don't mind."

"…What do you mean by… 'our things'?"

"It's our supplies… for just in case we get lost or something."

Alea starred in disbelief as her only sibling dragged out two boulder-like bags from inside their tent. Rachel grunted as she heaved one up over her shoulder and passed the other one over to Alea.

She started counting on her fingers. "It's got soap, a flashlight, three days ration of food and water, some pans for cooking the food, one of Dad's cigarette lighters, to start a fire, of course, a blanket each, one of those electric compasses that Mum bought us, extra batteries, a first-aid kit, and clothes. Oh yeah, and mine also has a cell phone and a couple of maps," she added.

"And when, exactly, did I state we were going on an African Safari?" asked Alea, who had been taken aback by the backpacks. "We don't need half that stuff! All we would've needed, if anything, would have been a snack, a flashlight, and maybe a water bottle."

"No point in not being prepared," said Rachel matter-of-factly. "Just carry it around, okay? 'Cause if you don't, I'm not going."

"Whatever," said Alea, rolling her eyes at her sister's antics. "Let's just go!" She dug out her watch from the backpack and looked at the time. It was 12:05. "Let's stop wasting time so we can have as much in the woods as we can get!" she said with an impish grin.

And, swinging her immense backpack over shoulder, stumbling slightly at the weight, she and her sister, at long last, trooped into shady Hemiline woods.

A.N.: FINISHED CHAPTER TWO! HORAY! Okay, next chapter: more Karkaroff, Alea and Rachel will start their trek into the woods and we'll get to see more Harry! Everyone loves Harry! Oh! And please R&R!