Moving quietly through a forest with a group of children is almost impossible. Helga turned around and instructed the group to halt and with the sound of her heart beating loudly in her ears, she said to the carefree young wizards: "Everyone, remember, muggles could be anywhere. We need to be more careful, all right? How about we…". She was interrupted by the sound of a cracking branch. She quickly brought her finger to her lips and looked around sharply. The children, realising the seriousness of the situation, all stopped moving and listened. The silence of the dark forest was terrifying. It was as if to signal that something was coming, like how the world becomes deafeningly silent before a hurricane. Leaves above their heads made a slight sound as the wind moved through them. Helga slowly looked up and saw them.
"It's her!" said a male voice.
"Run!" she screamed at the children and recited protective spells around her as tall men jumped off of trees onto the ground and headed towards her.
"You filthy bitch, we'll get ya! Nothing your spells can do 'gainst this!" shouted one of them while another took out his knife.
A child screeched behind her. Helga turned around and saw a man dragging the youngest child by his hair. He must have fallen when running away. The other children were faster and already disappearing into the darkness of the deep forest.
She sprinted towards the boy and grabbed him by his shirt. The man slapped her across the face. Tearing his shirt, she pulled the boy towards her and kicked the man in his groin. The boy clung onto her and screamed, tears streaming down his face. The man fell on his knees and looked up at her with unstoppable anger in his eyes. He was ready to kill her right then and there. He was foaming at the mouth from anger. Helga kicked him in the face and started running. She heard the rest of the group shouting and running after her, but their flying knives and stones could not get past the protective barrier she created. Helga felt getting weaker and knew she had to find a place to hide soon or the men would soon catch and kill both her and the boy.
Small branches kept hitting her in the face and she started tasting blood in her mouth. Her muscles were heavy and tired of supporting her and the child while she was sprinting. She tripped and slid down into a hole dug underneath the stump of a giant tree. She reached for the wand hidden in her boot and quickly recited powerful spells to hide and seal the hole. Laying there, she put a hand over the boy's mouth and listened. She heard the men's footsteps approaching and them arguing about where she disappeared to. After a while of searching for her, swearing and laughing about what they would have done to her had they caught her, the group headed back.
Helga waited and waited, to be absolutely sure they were gone. She realised there was little space in the hole and both her and the boy were running out of air. She created a hole with her wand and crawled out, followed by the boy. He sat down and started crying. The poor thing was shaking from fear. Helga rubbed his back and noticed the back of shirt, or what was left of it, had his name sown at the collar.
"It's all right, George, they're gone now. We're all right", she said in a low voice and moved closer to him. He put his hands up, reaching for her, so Helga picked him up and held him close to her chest while signing to him. The sun was setting and she still needed to find the rest of the children, so Helga got up and kept walking.
When she finally got out of the forest and found herself in a meadow surrounding a lake, she noticed a fire in the distance. As she approached, she heard children's voices. Luckily, the kids followed the plan set up for emergency situations and waited for her at the nearest meadow where they set up a fire. Upon reuniting with them, Helga used a mix of protecting and muggle-repelling spells to secure the site. She then opened her coin purse, adapted with the undetectable extension charm, and took out some remaining grains and dried fruit for the hungry kids.
As the sleepy kids drifted into dreams around the fire, Helga finally sat down and took a deep look into the fire. She wondered about what could have had happened if they kids were caught. They may all have been dead. The men had not an ounce of mercy in them, they wanted blood, they were hunting. All because they knew she was a witch. The rise of these incidents and the persecution of witches and wizards made life incredibly difficult. She longed for times when muggles and wizards used to coexist, even though she remembered them very faintly because wizards were persecuted in Wales for decades. So she came to Northumberland, after hearing it was safer but it turned out to be the same.
She took out her map and noticed they had made good progress that day. If they are quick, they may reach camp Salutem in about three days. Camp Salutem was up north in Strathclyde and it was the only place truly safe for wizards. Many tried to reach it but ended up getting caught using magic. She had to be very careful. Of course, it was harder because people still knew here in these areas. Well Sylvia managed to get there and was waiting for Helga, which kept her hopeful.
George gently nudged her and climbed into her lap, like a cat. He curled up into a ball and started sucking his thumb. His blond hair was so light that it reflected the red flames of the fire. She touched his cheek lightly and smiled somewhat sadly. Looking around at the group of fifteen children, adolescents and older teenagers, not much younger than herself, Helga pondered about the bravery of their parents. They trusted her to take their children and bring them to safety, to bring them somewhere they might learn magic and not worry about being caught. The responsibility was suffocating but it was the right thing to do. The only thing to do. Even if it meant they all might die.