A/N: For all those wondering…yes. I do have a pairing planned…that's all…alright, alright, I'll throw you a bone. It's one of the pairings that's been mentioned in the reviews…that's all you get. But it doesn't come into play until the second story and then there are circumstances that will be confusing and there's a very good reason I chose the pairing (besides the obvious…you know, me being the author). You'll just have to wait and see.

A/N 2: What? No house elf names…tsk tsk tsk, for shame. Oh well.

A/N 3: My reviewers! I love ya'll. Really, I do. Thanks to: mysticallove, anon (ooh, good question. I have the picture in my head but I didn't think to write it out. I'll have to do that in the next story when she changes), Just Me (see above mentioned author's notes, but if you really, really want to know send me a personal e-mail and I'll get back to you), gaul1, Anne79, godessa39 (they won't get to the school until chapter 11…and I make no promises that they'll meet…especially since I've already written that chapter and therefore know), Sukera, onlimain (I'm so glad you loved it so much…I must be getting better. Yes! Go me! And nice catch with the Snape thing, I'm glad you noticed, but you won't really see anything about it until the next story), thegirlwhocantcry (I'm glad you like it, and thank you for your kind words, it means a lot to me), Jay, Lightdemondarkangel, AnimeHanyou39, and sparky24 (there are 15 chapters in this, one for every year. I think of this like a huge prologue, it was just too big to add the rest of the story to it so I let it stand on its own).

A/N 4: About next week's update...two words for you (and all it implies):

1) Finals.

2) Week.

xoxox

England, March 2010.

crack

"Shhh! You want to get us killed?"

Three figures crouched low in the shadows provided by the outer wall of the castle.

"Don't glare at me Samantha. I'm not the idiot who stepped on the stick."

"Shut-up! I didn't mean to. And it's Sam you loser."

"Brian, Sam! If the two of you don't be quiet I'm gonna leave you here."

His two companions looked down submissively and mumbled a quick "Sorry."

Sam reached out and tugged gently on his sleeve, "Sean, I don't understand why we have to do this."

He glared down scornfully at her, "Don't tell me you're getting all girly on me now."

"No," she looked towards their destination, "but this just seems so pointless. I mean come on. We have to knock on the door of some old cabin. What's the point?"

"Sam," Brian spoke up, "you heard what those third year Ravenclaws said. We have to prove them wrong." He looked at Sean for confirmation.

Sean nodded, "We can't let them get away with insulting the Hufflepuffs like that."

Sam took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, "You're right. We need to do this. I'm with you."

"Let's go," Brian said in a low voice.

The three crouched down lower in the shadows and gathered their cloaks about them hoping to blend into the darkness even more. They silently ran towards the tree line of the Forbidden Forest, praying no one would notice them.

Sam tried to ignore the pounding of her heart as she neared the edge of the forest. It wasn't necessarily that she was scared of the forest…alright she was lying to herself. She was terrified. She was sure something growled and she wanted nothing to do with whatever was lurking there, ready to pounce on her with their large claws, ripping her to shreds…

She let out a small whimper.

Next to her Brian wasn't doing any better. His palms were sweaty and he knew any minute now one of the teachers was going to step out of the shadows and give them detentions for the rest of their lives. He would be stuck at school forever. Filch would hang him by his toenails from the ceiling. He only had one year left! He couldn't stay here forever! Damn those Ravenclaws for running their mouths. He could be peacefully sleeping right now but no, he had to stick by his friends. Stupid loyalty.

He could practically feel his toes losing circulation already.

Ahead of them Sean swallowed deeply. It was really his fault they were in this mess, although he had conveniently shifted the blame to the Ravenclaws. They had been blathering on about how no one dared to go near the cottage at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. They were going on and on about the facts. As if that really mattered. They lived in a magical community and they thought that nothing was weird about the cottage. All they had was rumor and speculation. No real hard evidence. He had been tired of listening to it. So maybe he should have walked away, but that wasn't really his style. And so maybe he shouldn't have dragged is friends into his mess, but he couldn't help it. And when that cocky Abigail Winters had turned to him with that superior smirk on her face and said that he was too much of a coward to actually go and see the cottage himself…was he supposed to walk away from the gauntlet that had been thrown down? He thought not!

But now he was starting to regret the decision to take the dare that had been given. The forest was just plain spooky, and he was sure he saw something moving in the darkness. He slowed down and paused to take a closer look, not paying attention to his surroundings, concentrating solely on the forest ahead of him.

He suddenly felt something slam into his back and he let out a shout of fright before getting control of himself and turning to glare at his companions. "You two bumbling idiots are going to make something out there find us," he hissed.

This time his friends didn't back down, "We're not the ones who yelled, mate," Brian said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah," Sam added, "You want to warn someone when you're going to stop for no good reason. It's dark. We can hardly see anything, give us a break."

"Sorry guys, this place just creeps me out."

He couldn't see Sam roll her eyes in the dark, "We're in the same boat here."

"Lets just get this over with alright?"

"How far away from the place are we?" Brian asked.

Sean looked around in the dark and spotted what seemed to be a run down shack in the darkness. He pointed to get his friends' attention, "Right over there."

Their eyes followed where he pointed and Sam asked, "And all we have to do is grab something from the inside and that's it, right?"

Sean nodded, "That's all they said."

"I don't like this," Sam stated, "What about the witch that lives there. Do you know what she did to the last student that trespassed? I do, and I don't want it happening to any of us. Heck I wouldn't wish that fate on a Slytheren."

"Sam, do you really think Dumbledore would let someone that dangerous live here for so long? And anyways, the place looks abandoned. It's just rumors and speculation."

Sam rolled her eyes, "Perhaps you didn't notice the fact that we're standing on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. A very dangerous place that Dumbledore has no problems in allowing to remain standing. He just gives a warning every year and leaves it at that."

"Yeah," Sean argued, "but has anyone actually died?"

She gave him a look that clearly showed him what she thought about his intelligence level, "Have you not heard of the Lewinski's?"

"That's just a rumor."

"No it's not. My sister was friends with Kristy before she disappeared."

"Give me a break, do you really expect me to believe that the school would still be standing if there was any real danger in the forest. Come on," he pleaded, "Lets just get this over with so we can get back to the dorms."

She sighed and nodded, "Alright, lets get this over with. Brian, come on…Brian?"

"Oh my God."

"Sean, where the hell did he go?"

"There's no way he could have just disappeared. He was right here, where could he have gone?"

"Brian this is not funny. Come out now!"

"Shh, not so loud. She'll hear you."

"What kind of idiot are you!" she hissed at him. "She obviously took him, and we're next. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. This was all your stupid idea that's going to get me killed! Why did I have to listen to you?"

Sean hopelessly looked around for his missing friend, "People don't just disappear."

"Hello! Magical community. They disappear all the time."

They were both so immersed in the fear they felt that they never heard the snap of a twig breaking behind them. "We need to get out of here."

"I'm with you there, but we can't leave Brian behind."

Sam looked at him incredulously, "Are you serious? Look. What are we going to be able to do? We need help, and backup. There is no way we are going to be able to search for him on out own."

Her panic was not helping Sean stay calm. He took a deep breath to stop himself from hyperventilating, but it didn't work. "Alright, lets go back to the dorm and get some help. He'll be alright," he said unconvincingly.

Sam nodded quickly, grateful that they were leaving the forest. After all, like Sean had said, no one really died in the forest. And Dumbledore would never let some crazy person live in the woods where there was clearly a risk to the students. She just ignored that nasty rumor about the Lewinsky's. After all, her friend could have been lying. Yes, she tried to convince herself, it would all be fine.

They made it back to the common room in record time after quickly shouting the password (fides) to the grouchy painting of a stick thin old man in a bed attempting to get some sleep. They rushed past the few people studying after seeing that there were only first years there. They would have been no good at all. What they need were some huge seventh year quiddich players…hopefully a beater.

They decided that they would go their separate ways after getting some supplies that would help them find Brian. Sam was almost to her room when she stopped in disgust and realized that she had no idea what they would need to save a friend from the grip of death by an evil witch, and really, after she had thought about it, what was going to be more helpful than their wands?

Obviously she had gained the capacity for thought now that she wasn't screaming in terror. She ruefully shook her head and trudged back to the boy's section to find Sean when a piercing scream sounded.

It was a testament to the school that none of the students, other than her who had picked up the pace sure the witch had found them and was eating Sean as she stood there, reacted to the shout that had been released. It had become a normal occurrence.

She skidded to a stop at the open door to the room that Sean and Brian shared and her jaw dropped open in shock. There was Sean with his mouth hanging open, much like hers, pointing a shaky finger at what he was sure was an apparition.

It was Brian, rolling out of bed, having been awoken by the screams of his roommate, looking like he had just had the best sleep of his life.

The finger started shaking even more, "How…you- how can…I don't-"

"How the bloody hell did you get here! I can't believe you would pull something like that," Sam, apparently, didn't have the same problems Sean did with speaking. "You just left us there to worry over your sorry hide while we were thinking that you had been killed or eaten!"

Brian groggily rubbed the sleep from his eyes before sitting up in bed, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't even try to pretend you don't know what's going on. Do you think this is funny because no one else does!" Sam was on a roll, "Of all the inconsiderate, selfish, unamusing stunts you could have pulled and you do something like this. Do you know how scared we were? Do you! We thought you were dead!" She gave him one last scathing glare before throwing her hands up in the air and stomping off, "Men!"

Sean was finally able to throw a coherent sentence together after hearing Sam's rant, which he completely agreed with, minus that last part, and glared at Brian who was looking decidedly scared of the female species, "What happened?"

"Listen man, I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know why the hell I'm getting yelled at and I don't really appreciate it." The more he thought about it the angrier he became. Who were they to yell at him? It wasn't like he was doing anything wrong.

"You really have no idea what's going on, do you?" Sean asked.

Brian just shook his head, "What's the last thing you remember?"

He thought for a moment and tried to rub the headache that was beginning to form away, "We were making plans to go to the cottage. You were supposed to wake me so we could go tonight." He blinked and looked hard at Sean, "Hey, why didn't you wake me up. Now the Ravenclaws will think we're soft."

Sean just shook his head in disbelief and spoke very carefully, "We did. You, Sam, and me all got up tonight to go to the cottage. Then you disappeared and we came back here to look for you."

"What are you talking about? That never happened. Trust me, I would remember."

"Oh, it happened alright, and either you're the best actor I've ever met or you really have no clue."

"I'd go with option number two if I were you. Although that does explain why Sam was so mad." He leaned back in the bed and thought about it for a second before realizing what it meant, "Oh man! Do you realize what she is going to do to me for revenge?"

Sean just smirked, "Yep, and boy am I glad that I'm not in your shoes right now. You can anticipate at least a month of watching your back. And if you're lucky, she'll catch you early on and whatever she does will appease that righteous indignation she's feeling right now." He patted his friend on the back in mock sympathy, "The best of luck to you," he couldn't hold in the snicker. "You're going to need it."

Brian just groaned and rubbed at his temples harder, "I don't think I can deal with this right now."

"Looks like you don't have a choice."

He sighed, "I wonder what happened. You said that I really was with you tonight and I just disappeared?"

Sean nodded, "We were right about to go inside the cottage when we looked back and you were gone."

"Hmm. This is going to bug me until I figure it out."

"Speak for yourself. I'm just happy we all survived." He looked Brian up and down, "And in more or less one piece."

He moved to the door, "I've had enough adventure for one night. I'm going to see if I can find anything to eat, then I have to study for that Divination test. Want to come?"

Brian shook his head and waved him away. The last thing Sean heard as he was walking away was Brian muttering to himself about staying away from mysterious blonde women who were too attractive for their own good.

He ignored it as the ramblings of a mad man.

After all…some things are better left unknown.

Tbc…