I think I know where this will go, sort of. Be happy.
"I have an idea," said Sirius. "Let's just kill ourselves now and spare whatever's out there the trouble, shall we?"
"Way to be optimistic," said Christian grumpily.
"Yeah, you're right. I guess imminent death shouldn't dampen anyone's spirits."
"I sense anger," said James, attempting to keep the mood light and failing miserably. Everyone started talking, yelling at each other. It grew louder and louder, until —
"SHUT UP!" shouted Mary testily. Everything fell silent.
"That was really loud," said Sirius after a moment.
"So Mary's being loud, what else is new?" said Remus sarcastically. "At least it worked. Now, moving on, what we've got to do now is decide what we're going to do…"
"Well, that cleared that up, Remus," said Allie.
"So we've just got to go round in circles for a while, then," said James. "Good plan, Moony."
Remus rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean… formulate a plan…"
"How can we formulate a plan if we don't know what's happening?" Christian asked, obviously confused.
"I don't actually know."
"Wonderful! This is just perfect!" Aidan said, suddenly voicing his opinion. "You've gone and got yourselves into this mess, and know you can't get yourselves out of it!"
"This is the sound of me not caring," said Sirius, looking vaguely towards the sky. Aidan glared at him.
The ominous twig snapping sounds were coming closer.
"We're done for," Wormtail moaned piteously.
"Why don't you go cut the cheese somewhere, Wormtail, as you're not exactly helping," Sirius said sharply. Peter blushed and said nothing more for a while.
Snap. Snap. Crack. Snap. Crackle. Pop.
Ok, so the ominous noises weren't really those of a name-brand breakfast cereal with really hyper mascots. But they were definitely becoming louder and closer.
Snap… SNAP… SNAP…
"It's right outside the clearing, I can tell!" said Sirius.
And indeed, a few seconds later, something entered the clearing…
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed Peter. Everybody else stared at him, wondering why he was screaming at the sight of the fluffy little rabbit that had just hopped into the clearing.
"Sorry," he said a moment later when he realized everyone was staring at him, smirking. "G-got a little p-paranoid there…"
"Nah, really?" Sirius asked.
"Aw, you're so cute!" said Mary to the rabbit, reaching towards it to pet it.
"Why, thank you. I know I am," said Sirius, running his hands through his hair.
"She meant the rabbit, you idiot," Christian snapped, disgusted at his blatant display of narcissism.
"I knew that!" Sirius said unconvincingly.
"Git," said Liz idly.
"Riiiight," Remus said, laughing. "Anyway…"
"How are we gonna get out of here?" Allie asked. "This forest or planet or whatever, I mean. How are we going to get back to Hogwarts?"
This question brought up a whole stream of others.
"Why are we even here in the first place?"
"Where are we?"
"How long are we gonna be here?"
"What's with the rabbit?"
"Do we have any food? I'm starving."
Everyone rolled his or her eyes as Sirius asked this.
Since nothing was really happening and no one could figure out what to do, Sirius said, "Let me see that box again. Who has it?"
Liz was still holding it and she handed it to him.
Sirius took the box and immediately began inspecting it.
"Sirius — why —" Allie began.
"I just feel like we're missing something," he said without elaborating any further. By this time, everyone's attention had been caught and all were watching Sirius. After a few tense moments, he proclaimed, "AHA!" and pointed to a keyhole — another one — hidden in one of the corners on the inside of the Box. "Where's the key?"
"In the Box, Padfoot," Remus said as if he were explaining 2 + 2 4 to a four year old. "You're looking at it."
"Oh. Right."
He picked up the key and fitted it neatly into the hole. What had been a cleverly disguised false bottom sprung open, revealing a slightly tarnished locket and a tiny piece of parchment bearing these words:
deyort sede brothgi rsiemit ehtne hwyln onepo; nopae wruo ymai
"Allison, you can read this, right?" James asked.
"Yeah," she replied confidently, and took the paper. Only when she had read through it several times did she develop a crestfallen expression and change her answer. "No."
"What? What's the matter? What's it say?" James asked.
"No," Allison repeated. "I mean I can't read it. I don't even recognize the language."
"What?" Remus said dubiously. "You can't understand it? But then... then that means it's not even a real language!"
"Yeah, I know."
"But then… what's it say?" asked Christian. "What's the locket for, and why would anybody go to the trouble of writing random letters on paper and then locking it in a box?"
"You know what, I don't think we should touch that locket until we figure out what the parchment says," said Liz. "Plus it's getting dark, and I think we're going to be here for a while."
And so it was. The forest, while dark, was eerily quiet; every so often a bush rustled, but the air was void of the normal night noises. Taking heed of this, the students sank down onto the ground, pondering the paper, the way back to Hogwarts, or, in Sirius's case, how he was going to nick food from the kitchens as soon as they got back. Where are the house-elves when you need them… he thought as he drifted off to sleep.
All right, it was short and pointless (like Dubya), but hey, I finally posted, right? And who can figure out what the parchment says? grins widely as crickets chirp loudly Right…. well it's honestly not that difficult… I took a leaf out of JKR's book, actually. So have fun, wear sunscreen, review, and I'll send you an e-gnome. My gnome muse was throwing a birthday party for my friend's gnome, and a bunch of their gnome friends showed up, and now they won't leave. So please, I beg of you, REVIEW SO I CAN GIVE YOU A GNOME!
