Chapter Five: The Dark Forest
Here's a couple of quick notes. First of all I made a mistake when I had originally stated that Aaron would be learning about nonverbal spells this year as well since I forgot that he was supposed to be a seventh year, and second of all since I didn't remember that thestrals were taught in their fifth year at Hogwarts, since this is set twenty years before Harry's time then I'll just pretend that it used to be their seventh year since it's going to work better for the story.
As soon as lunch was over Aaron started to reflect on all of the homework that he had so far. He had to write an essay for Snape for all of the things that a memory potion was used for, he had to practice on his wandless magic in defense against the dark arts, and on top of all that he still had to write a song to sing in the talent competition and come up with a group name.
He was now headed to care of magical creatures class which he would be taking before muggle studies and that's where he would be having his first driver's education class of the year since even though he was a pureblood wizard, he still desperately wanted to drive and own a car of his own. On his way to care of magical creatures he bumped into Rickie.
"Oh hey Aaron, do you have any idea what Professor Kettleburn will be teaching us first?" He questioned him.
"No, I don't." Aaron began. "All I know is that it's supposed to take place in the dark forest." He told him when suddenly Rickie came to a sudden stop in front of him.
"They're joking right? It isn't nicknamed the forbidden forest for no reason. There's trolls, fire salamanders, and werewolves in there!" He cried.
"Come on Rickie, our professor will be right there with us and he'll probably have some troll repellent with him and fire salamanders are usually too skittish of people, and werewolves only come out at night." Aaron pointed out as Rickie just simply looked at him for a few moments before heaving a sigh.
"Yeah I guess you're right and it's a really good thing as well because I really don't want to get in a fight with a troll, get burnt to a crisp by a fire salamander, or get bitten by a werewolf and become one myself." Rickie said.
"My father told me that my grandfather was born a werewolf because my great-grandfather mated with a female werewolf when they were both in their werewolf forms." Aaron explained before they continued on their way towards the Hogwarts grounds. Once they caught up with the rest of the group, Rickie locked eyes with another Ravenclaw witch.
She had light-blonde hair tied up into a black ponytail holder and had light-blue eyes and fair skin. "That girl sort of looks familiar." He said as Aaron chuckled.
"That's because she's Justin's sister. I'm really surprised that you two haven't already met." He began. "Jasmine, this is mine and Justin's best friend Rickie Lake,.. Rickie, this is Jasmine Long Justin's older sister." He explained while Rickie stretched out his hand and offered it to her.
"Pleasure to meet your acquaintance Ms. Long." He said and just as Jasmine was about to shake his hand he smiled at her and kissed the back of it. Jasmine smiled back at him and blushed when suddenly a man with dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes appeared.
"Good afternoon everybody and welcome to your first care of magical creatures class of the year." He began as he turned to face the class and Rickie dropped Jasmine's hand and then whirled around to face the front of the forest. "Now the creatures that you may or may not see before me is what we're going to wind up studying today." He explained as Rickie's eyes suddenly widened in complete and utter amazement.
"He's as loony as you are!" Aaron exclaimed inside a whisper as he watched their professor randomly go up to a tree.
"Aww,.. aren't you a sweet little thing?" He questioned inside a baby voice while petting the air in front of him. "Oh and look, you've brought your foal. Is it a boy or girl?" He asked while kneeling down and staring down at the ground and whinnying. Aaron just simply rolled his eyes and started turning back around.
"Wait, where are you going?" Jasmine wondered as Rickie was still way too mesmerized to realize he was about to leave.
"I can't do this anymore. If I stay in this class one more second I think I'm going to wind up losing my sanity like Rickie and Professor Kettleburn." He said as he started walking away.
"Wait Aaron, you can't just leave! You'll get into trouble!" She cried.
"No I won't!" He began over his shoulder. "Once I talk to Professor Dumbledore about it I'm sure he'll understand and agree with me." He told her while he started making his way back towards the castle.
Later on that day after classes were over Aaron met Derek in the courtyard and both Justin and Rickie were there as well. "Hey, what happened to you during care of magical creatures class?" Rickie wondered.
"I couldn't take it anymore. I went to Professor Dumbledore and told him that Professor Kettleburn had way too much firewhisky and that I decided to drop that class." He explained.
"But Aaron, you don't understand_" Rickie began as Aaron just simply heaved a sigh.
"Forget it Rickie you can tell me later. Derek, why exactly did you gather us altogether like this?" He wondered as Derek just simply grinned at him.
"Well, I figured that we all could work together to get our homework finished so we can start working on writing our song for the talent show auditions." He explained as Aaron couldn't help but grin back at him.
"Sounds like a great idea, but next time in the future if you want to get my attention during lunchtime, just come up and tap me on the shoulder. Deal?" He questioned him while offering him his hand.
"Deal!" Derek cried out in agreement and then shook his hand.