It was early evening, and Ginny Weasley was taking a refreshing stroll around the grounds before dinner was ready. She approached the Lake, and stopped for a while, to watch the glistening ripples, and how the slowly rising moon reflected upon the water. As she turned to head back towards the castle, something in the moonlight caught her eye. Over by a tree, she noticed two abandoned school bags. She walked over to them, and noticed a big library book was there as well. Kneeling down, she examined the bags, and realised that one of them belonged to her brother, Ron. Looking at the other, she recognised it as Hermione's. Frowning, she picked up the heavy book, reading the front cover - 'The Book of Fairy Tales'. Curiosity got the best of her, and she couldn't help opening the book, and reading the contents page.
"Oh! Little Red Riding Hood" she whispered to herself as she looked at the names of the three stories.
A noise behind her, like a crunching of leaves, and snapping of twigs, made her jump and look around. A dark figure was looming out of the shadows, and Ginny gasped and stumbled back, tripping over the bags that were behind her. Landing painfully on her backside, she looked up fearfully, as the figure walked into the moonlight. Then...
"Are you ok?" Neville asked, leaning over and helping her up. She sighed with relief and annoyance.
"Yes. You really shouldn't sneak around like that." she said, straightening herself out.
"Sorry," he muttered, looking highly embarrassed. Ginny leaned over and picked up the bags and book.
"Its ok now. Have you seen Ron or Hermione around, by any chance?" she asked him. He shook his head.
Sighing again, Ginny slowly started to make her way up to the castle, with Neville by her side. Every now and then she'd look dreamily down at the book in her hands, as if desperate to open it up and read it.
"What is that book about?" Neville asked, trying to strike up a conversation. Ginny smiled.
"A book of Fairy Tales. My favourite tale is Little Red Riding Hood." she looked over to Neville, who looked utterly confused.
"Little Red... What?" he said. Glad of a chance to open the book again, Ginny stopped dead in the middle of the grounds, and flipped the book open, to the beginning of Little Red Riding Hood. Neville peered over her shoulder to look at the pictures, as she started to read the book out. As she got into the first paragraph, a massive gust of wind came out of no where. It blew at them, making stepping forward impossible to do. The wind was pulling their hair and robes with it, so eventually, they both fell backwards, and Ginny lost grip of the heavy book and the school bags as she fell.
It was quite a heavy landing, and painful, seeing as Ginny had only just recovered from her last mishap. She looked over at Neville, whose eyes were clenched shut. She shook at his shoulder.
"Get up, its ok, the winds gone." she said kindly. He peeked open an eye, looking over to her. Then, when he got a proper look at her, he yelled and crawled away from her. Ginny looked over to him in surprise and confusion.
"Neville! Wait, whats wrong?" she yelled after him. Pulling herself up and starting after him, it was then she realised that she was surrounded by trees. Trees weren't there a couple of minutes before. Neville seemed to have realised this as well, and he stopped mid crawl to look around. Ginny noticed this, and caught up with him. "Whats going on here? Why did you run away?" she demanded at him.
He didn't say anything, just pointed a shaking finger at her. Still confused, Ginny looked down. What she saw made her jump as well. She had on a long, elegant, velvet cloak, bright red, with a hood on the other side. She ran her fingers over the material, pulling it up for closer inspection.
"Wow," she breathed in amazement. Then she looked at what used to be her school skirt and shirt, was now a black silky dress, trailing long enough to trip her up. "Neville... What am I wearing?" she asked.
"Er.. a black dress and red cloak... with a hood," he said, which was unnecessary really. She knew what she was wearing. "Why has your clothes changed?" he added, nervously. Ginny chewed her lips, and looked up at him, properly.
"I don't know... Why have yours?" she asked, laughing slightly at his reaction to her words.
He looked down at himself, in the same manner Ginny had done, and jumped slightly. His black Hogwarts robes and uniform had gone. Instead, he was wearing a white shirt, too old fashion for Hogwarts attire, a waist jacket made of some sort of animal skin, and a jacket of animal fur. He looked disgusted by this, and then he looked at his legs. He was wearing very un-stylish brown trousers.
"I look... Horrible," he declared, dismay written over his face. Ginny rolled her eyes.
"You look like the man in the illustrations, in Little Red Riding Hood," she said cheerfully. Then she stopped smiling. "Wheres the book?" she asked, turning around.
"I think the more important question is, 'Where are we'" Neville said nervously. Ginny had to agree with him there.
"We must have been... blown into the Forbidden Forest," she decided slowly. Neville looked as if he was going to be sick at those words. "Although... That still doesn't explain how our clothes were changed." she added. Neville now looked like he was going to faint.
Ginny grabbed his arm. "Our best bet is to get out of the Forest, then worry about whats going on." she said confidently, beginning to drag a shaking Neville along with her.
They started to move in the direction that Neville had been running, seeing as that was the easiest way to decide where to go. Neville was lagging behind Ginny, looking highly concerned as he glanced at the hood that draped over her shoulders, and down her back. It was red. Little Red Riding Hood. And she had said that he looked like the man in illustrations of the tale. The conclusion he had made, was quite simple. They were in deep danger.
"What exactly happens, in, er, Little Red Riding Hood?" he asked, trying to sound casual. Ginny looked at him for a moment, and suddenly delved into the storyline with great enthusiasm.
"Well, Little Red Riding Hood meets a Wolf, who asks her where shes going. He's a very charming wolf, so she tells him," Ginny began. Neville looked at her in disbelief.
"Why on earth would you tell a wolf where you are going?" he exclaimed, looking utterly shocked. Ginny carried on, ignoring his interference.
"She tells him shes visiting her Grandmother, and pointed out what direction she lived." she continued, brushing past stray branches that threatened to knock her out. Neville was getting more and more shocked as she went on.
"So the Wolf goes ahead, and when he gets there, he eats her Grandmother."
"What!"
"And then Riding Hood arrives, and she has a rather fun dialouge with the Wolf, who she believes is her Grandmother," Ginny said, ignoring Neville totally. "But then the Wolf eats her, and goes to sleep."
"This is extremely violent," said Neville nervously, nearly concussing himself with a branch.
"Then the Huntsman chops the Wolf open, with an axe, as it slept, and let out Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother, and filled him back up with rocks," Ginny finished.
After that, there was a long silence. Neville seemed too shocked to speak. Ginny smiled, she loved that story, her mother had read it to her so many times when she was little, it was imprinted in her memory. Although she also felt Neville's worry. She was, after all, wearing a red cloak, with a hood. And he did look a lot like the Huntsman. But this was ridiculous thinking. There was no Wolf, there was no Grandmother, and, she thought as she looked over to Neville, there was no axe.
A tiring half hour later, filled with silent worrying, Ginny slumped against a tree, in frustration. "We're not getting anywhere," she said moodily.
Neville looked relieved for a rest, and easily fell to the floor, looking like a nice little nap was in need. Ginny slid down the tree, into a sitting position, deep in thought. Both in a daze, they didn't realise the slowly approaching noises, of footsteps penetrating the forest floor, and hushed voices, until it was too late to run and hide. Coming through the forest, was a girl with long black hair, put up in braids, wearing a long white dress, which was highly inappropriate for the forest. Behind her was a boy with shocking red hair, wearing a red jacket which clashed horribly, and brown trousers, sort of like the ones Neville had been subjected too. Ginny crawled over to Neville nervously, and was about to get up and run, when she recognised a voice.
"Slow down," said Ron huffily, as he nearly tripped over another tree root, trying to keep up with Hermione. She had surprising will power, seeing as her feet were killing her. Finally, he tripped over a stray branch, and landed awkwardly, face first, in a pile of soggy leaves. Hermione looked back and laughed, but stopped as soon as she caught sight of Neville and Ginny. Ron groaned, and sat up, rubbing his jaw. He looked wearily up to the others.
"Oh, hello Ginny," he said casually. As he sat up, he took a double take. "GINNY!" he cried, looking shocked and happy to see her.
"We were looking for you," Ginny said weakly, leaning over and hugging Ron. Neville got up, and smiled nervously to Hermione.
Ginny got up as well, and looked at Hermione grinning. "You're Snow White, aren't you?" she breathed, taking in the beauty of the dress. "Such a gorgeous dress!" she cooed.
Hermione glared at her. "I am not Snow White." she huffed. "Its not plausible." she added. Her argument to their predicament went unheard though. She had lost the attention of her friends, as they were now looking around themselves nervously. This reaction was caused, naturally, by the loud howl they had heard seconds before.