5 feet of parchment stretched along a table in the library. The four of them had finished adding every room in the castle, added labels to each of them, some marked with crosses, which meant in dire need of repair.
They had finished their first task. They leant back in exhaustion; they had been up for 36 hours straight.
"Well," said Godric, putting his head on the table, "what now?"
"What do you mean what now?" said Salazar
"What? You want us to be done?"
"We are done, Godric," Rowena said in exasperation
"Yes. And now what have we to do? Nothing. What now?"
"Godric, I think we should wait until tomorrow," Helga replied patiently
"The sun is still up"
"We have been up all night,"
"The sun is still up," he repeated, "I am tired, yes, but the day is not meant for sleep,"
"The night is not meant for work either, but if we are breaking all the rules," Salazar grumbled
Godric stood up. "Friends, let us explore the forest,"
"What?" the three of them chorused, looking up at him incredulously.
"It is our land, is it not? We have the right to explore it,"
"Godric…" Rowena sighed
"Come along, it will be fun!"
"Its awfully dark in there, I don't trust it," Helga said hesitantly
"We won't ever know, unless we go in,'
"This is a bad idea…"
"Why did I agree to this?"
"If something tries to eat me, Gryffindor, so help me…"
They had made it a few feet into the forest, and despite it being just the middle of the day, they could barley see anything due to the gloom.
"I don't like this, Godric…"
"don't worry, Helga, you have a wand, you can go to the east with Salazar, Rowena and I can go the opposite way, but we won't be very far away,"
Rowena trudged behind Godric bitterly. "This is pointless,"
"Oh don't be such a bad sport, Rowena," he replied, with far too much optimism. "What is the point of all this anyway?" she grumbled
"Its an adventure, there doesn't always have to be a reason," he shrugged.
"Trespassers!" exclaimed a voice from behind them! They spun round to face a man. No not a man
"A Centaur!" Rowena gasped
"What are you doing in our forest mortals?"
"Your forest?"
Rowena elbowed Godric
"Yes, our herd has dwelled here for over a hundred years,"
"We apologies sir, we will be on our way,"
"Not so fast," the Centaur blocked their path by rearing up on his hind legs, "you should know not to come here again,"
"we won't, we swear"
the centaur was about to say more, when he turned his head sharply to the right, and retreated into the forest.
"that was strange…"
"Godric.." Rowena whispered, they stared as frost started to cover the forest floor and a fog rolled in. they looked, wide eyed at each other, before running off in the same direction as the Centaur.
"What do you think is in here?" Helga asked nervously.
Salazar shrugged "maybe wolves, badgers, I don't know, perhaps-"
Helga shrieked as a rat ran past, he rolled his eyes, "mice,"
"Well, I have a feeling worse things live here, we shouldn't have come,"
"Yes, well, maybe further in.." he stopped suddenly, causing Helga to walk into him.
"What are yo-"
He shushed her and pointed to the clearing in front of them. In the clearing, feeding on some plants, was a pure white unicorn foal.
Helga gasped and they watched it for a moment, when suddenly out of the bushes an animal came and attacked it with a shriek, it looked like a mix of a goat, a dragon and a lion. Helga almost screamed before Salazar grabbed her hand and they disapparated before the beast noticed them.
The four of them almost collided with each other at the edge of the lake. "What's going on?"
"Look behind you!" Godric exclaimed, drawing his wand.
About a dozen shadowy, cloaked figures emerged from the fog, bony fingers reaching out towards them.
"Demetors!" Salazar exclaimed.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Helga yelled, a silver badger shooting from the tip of her wand.
Rowena produced a silver eagle, Salazar, a snake and combined with Godric's lion, the creatures retreated. And they were met with silence.
"I knew we should have just gone to bed…"
A/N: this chapter was fun to write! so sorry about the slow updates and all... i blame school. well i have ideas for new chapters, please review what you think, i really want opinions
