At lunch in the Great Hall, Crede tried to spot the brown haired Slytherin girl from earlier. Eventually giving up, he took a seat next to Nara and Megan. Scratching his softly purring kitten softly on the belly, he continued to look around hoping for a glimpse of the girl who had helped him. Glancing down finally at the cat, he asked, "What about you, Nautica? You know where she is?" In response, the cat simply meowed enigmatically.

Once they had finished eating, Crede stood up. Immediately the small cat hopped down from the table and ran off, disappearing from view. He sighed after it. "All the females I see just keep running away from me." He turned around to see Megan and Nara staring at him and coughed uncomfortably in the silence before finally muttering, "Besides you two."

The group found their way along with the other first years out to the patch of lawn where the flight instuctor, who introduced herself as Madam Hooch, stood waiting next to a line of brooms. Splitting up as they arrived, each moved for a broom when asked to do so. Crede had almost reached the broom he had picked out when another boy half-shoved him out of the way. Looking up at the rude boy, who appeared to be from Slytherin, Crede muttered, "Heffer."

Just as the larger boy turned with an angry expression on his face, Madam Hooch found her way between them. "Drayson, is there a problem here?" Her tone was wary, and it seemed this wasn't the first time she'd had to step between the boy and someone he had antagonized.

Still glaring at Crede for another moment, Drayson finally shrugged and shook his head. "No... no there's not." He then turned and continued on to the spot while Madam Hooch gestured for Crede to find another broom.

Once everyone was situated, the flying instructor nodded, satisfied. "Everyone be certain to stand next to your brooms. Do not touch them yet." Another moment of waiting while people shuffled around, and then she continued. "Now, if you are all ready... Hold out your hands and call your brooms. In a firm voice, with your hand over the broom, say, 'Up!'"

Crede 's broom seemed intent on burrowing itself further into the ground as he continued to repeat the one word mantra of 'Up!' to it. Meanwhile, Nara's jumped straight into her hand and Megan's hovered for a moment as though it was considering it before flopping back down. So pleased was she by her success, that Nara actually bounced up and down and let out a squeak of pleasure before covering her mouth and looking around to ensure that no one had heard her... which of course they had.

Madam Hooch paced up and down the line, giving encouragement and advice to everyone until finally all had managed to pull their brooms up to their hands. The class continued with everyone progressing fairly well, except for Crede, who could not for the life of him get his broom to do anything he wanted it to. Nara, meanwhile, refused to allow her broom to fly higher than ten feet off the ground, so terrified was she of heights.

Midway through the class, as Nara attempted to coax her broom an additional few feet up without looking down, her broom abruptly stopped in midair. As she hung there motionless, Madam Hooch blew her whistle. "I didn't say stop!"

Peering down at the woman, Nara shook her head frantically. "Neither did I! D-did I m-mention I-I hate h-heights?" At her words, the broom rocketed forward. Nara barely managed to grab onto the handle tightly as the thing swept with surprising speed across the grounds. As it did so, she screamed. "EEEEEEEEEE!"

Back at the class, as everyone stared after the departing girl in shock, Madam Hooch took a broom for herself and ordered everyone to land and remain where they were before chasing after Nara. With a look of confusion, Megan turned to Crede. "I didn't know Nara could do that."

Crede blinked and shook his head. "M-Me either, and I don't think even Nara knew she could do that."

By then, Nara had reached the Forbidden Forest. "EEEEEEEEEE!" The broom suddenly dipped down into the trees as she continued to scream and hang on for dear life. She came close to fainting, but managed to avoid doing so mostly from the fear of what would happen if she did faint and fall off. The broom continued to zoom through the forest at breakneck speeds, passing tree after tree, with the small girl barely able to maintain her death grip. A tree passed, and then another, and another. "TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

As abruptly as it had begun, the broom halted and Nara flew forward off of it, landing in a large pile of soggy moss. As she rolled out of it, covered in the gooey mess, the girl made a face. "Ewwww." She whined for a moment before realizing that she was in the heart of the dark forest with no way of knowing how to get out of it, or even which way to go. Her eyes widened and she attempted to shout, only managing a whispered, "H-help..."

She began to stumble blindly through the dark forest, twitching at every noise. She clutched her wand tightly, having no idea what she would do if something did jump out other than poke it in the eye. As the young girl found her way into an empty clearing, she looked around fearfully at each bush. Inching forward, her eyes darted to one in particular as a rustling noise emerged from it. A soft whimper escaped Nara as she tried to back away, but her legs refused to cooperate. She whined apprehensively as the thing within the bush began to emerge, its eyes glistening in the dark. Finally, her eyes widened and she let out a choked gasp as the thing revealed itself.

Back at the clearing, upon seeing Madam Hooch circling over the forest on her broom, apparantly unable to locate Nara, Megan turned to Crede. "We have to help her..." She swallowed hard, then began to trot off.

Blinking after her for a moment, Crede finally muttered and followed. "Great idea."

Eventually, the two of them reached the edge of the forest. Megan bit her lip and nodded into the dark woods. "She went down in here..."

Nodding, Crede spoke in a voice that tried to sound calm, but betrayed himself with a slight quiver. "Great... I wasn't paying much attention at the banquet, but isn't this place off limits?"

"Yup." Without another word, Megan began walking into the forest. "You can stay here if you want."

With a sigh, Crede began to follow, rattling off numbers in a low voice. "20...30...40... well into the negatives." When Megan looked at him curiously, he shrugged. "House points."

The two of them continued pushing their way through the forest, having no real idea where they were going. Looking around apprehensively, Megan asked, "Do you hear anything?"

Crede shook his head. "Am I supposed to?" Halting, he looked around and listened to the sounds emerging from the dark woods all around them. Finally he just shook his head. "We're in trouble in the forest, and we're in trouble out of the forest. Let's just keep going."

A few minutes later, Megan stopped again. "Where is she?"

Crede shook his head. "I don't even know where we are. How do you expect me to know where she is? What do you want me to do, just say 'Where's Nara' and get an answer?" Before Megan could answer him, a sudden light made them both jump and yelp. Realizing the light was coming from his pocket, Crede tentatively looked inside. The orb that Deondiev had given him was glowing. Blinking, he pulled it out and held it up. As he moved the orb around, the light faded and strengthened depending on where he was holding it. Eventually he held the orb in a direction deeper into the forest, where the light seemed to have become brightest. Glancing at Megan, he asked, "Worth a shot?" At her nod, they began to follow the light, both hoping that that phrase didn't become too literal.

Stumbling backwards away from the thing that showed itself, Nara's yelp sounded incredibly loud to her as the creature turned to look at her doubtfully and tossed its head. Squeaking fearfully before she recognized the creature's single horn, Nara finally spoke softly. "P-pretty...n-nice horsie... unicorn." She kept her eyes on the wicked looking horn while taking a few steps closer. "I-it's okay... I-I'm l-lost." When the thing lowered its head to her, she stepped even closer. "P-please...I-I'm scared a-and...I j-just w-wanna go b-back" The unicorn inclined its head in a way that Nara swore was a nod. She tentatively put up a hand to pet it, and as she did, a feeling of calm began to come over her.

The calm feeling persisted until both of them were greeted by a shrill screaming sound. The unicorn snorted and looked up as it took a step away from Nara, who let out another squeak of fear while looking in the same direction. The screaming continued as both Megan and Crede, who had stumbled along the hill above, came tumbling into view. Crede finally rolled to a stop while Megan crashed into Nara, sending both girls crashing to the ground.

Looking down at Nara, who had ended up underneath her, Megan smiled, relieved. "Oh... there you are." She giggled softly as Nara waved, then hugged her. Finally climbing to her feet, Megan began to look around. "Are you o-- That's a unicorn."

Nara looked at it and smiled. "I-it's okay...t-they're f-friends."

Standing and brushing himself off while putting the now dark orb back in his pocket, Crede turned around. Spotting the unicorn, he jumped back. "U-Unicorn?...What?" In response, the creature took several steps away from him.

Stepping closer to the unicorn along with Nara, Megan glanced at Crede. "I don't think it likes you."

Crede shrugged."I must not have high marks in the mystical creatures department." He then crossed his arms in a pouty gesture and walked back to the foot of the hill. Meanwhile, the girl's petted the unicorn for a few minutes until it tossed its mane once more and then trotted off. While they were trying to decide whether to follow, they heard Madam Hooch calling for Nara.

Looking up at the sound of the voice, Nara called back. "I-I'm o-over here!"

Within moments, Madam Hooch and the large man named Hagrid had rushed into the clearing. Looking relieved, Hooch started to Nara. "Oh dear, there you are. I..." She spotted the other two then. "What in the name of Godric are you two doing here?"

While Crede scuffed the dirt with his toe and didn't respond, Megan answered quietly. "We... we were looking for... for... her..."

Hooch pressed her lips together in a grim smile and nodded. "Commendable effort, but the forest is forbidden... still though... What do you think, Hagrid?" She looked at the giant of a man.

Continuing to look around the forest while clutching his crossbow, Hagrid responded quickly. "Awww... 'weren't no damage done. They outta be let go. 'Twarent fer these two, summat bad might've happened."

Nodding agreeably, Hooch addressed the three of them. "Right... Okay, dears. We'll take you out and since you had the best of intentions, you get no punishment. If you set foot in here again, you'll get detention, you can bet your boots. Now, may I see your broom, Ms. Maraj? Where is it?"

Shaking her head, Nara looked around helplessly. "I-I don't k-know."

Frowning, Madam Hooch took a moment to glance around the clearing. Not seeing the broom anywhere she finally turned to Hagrid. "Let's just get them back to the castle." At the large man's nod, both began to lead Nara, Megan, and Crede safely back to school.