Chapter 7: Finding themselves
By Blodeuwedd84
Beta: higginszoo
Sue threw herself on the muddy ground of the Forest , exhausted. She had been walking for what seemed like hours, trying to find the others or the exit, or both. She wasn't sure how much time had passed since that centaur had attacked them. There was still sunlight, but it was growing darker by the minute. Or maybe it was just the Forest that was too deep, the trees tall and very close to each other, hiding the sun from her eyes. She sighed and wondered if anyone was looking for her. By this time, she figured Filch should have already come back and realized they were missing. The teachers could be looking for them, probably to give them more detention. But would they think about looking into the Forest ?
Oh, damn! This isn't funny. Not at all. She shuddered. A chilly wind had started blowing between the trees, but she knew it wasn't just the cold. She was scared, as much as she hated to admit it. What if nobody found her? Would she die in there? Starving to death, or maybe freezing, perhaps even eaten by some creature of the Forest .
She closed her eyes, trying to make the dark images that were playing in her head go away, but it only got worse. She knew there weren't many people who liked her back in school. If she were to be sincere with herself, there wasn't absolutely anyone. She had admirers, yes, some fans, but no real friend. Who would miss her if she died? Her father was probably going to be sad for his younger and rebellious daughter, the one he could never understand, the one he could never really control and that for the last years he scarcely knew. Her older sisters would probably cry a little bit, say how sad they were, then resume their perfect lives: the older, Mei, was a very successful lawyer and lived in the United States ; the middle one, Lynn, was currently in University studying English and was an exceptional volleyball player. They were both muggle, as was their father. Sue was the only one in the family who was a witch, like her mother had been. Her mum, Cho Steel, neé Chang, had attended Hogwarts a long time ago, and had been, like Sue, a Ravenclaw and a Seeker. And that was pretty much all she knew about her mum's time in the school. She had later married a muggle and lived happily until a cancer took her life away and stole her from her family. Sue had been five when she died, and she could still remember her sweet voice, that later became somewhat of a whisper, when she was too weak to speak. Sue would do all sorts of misbehavior in front of her, just to hear her mum yelling at her, but she didn't – she no longer could. Her beautiful hair had fallen out due to chemotherapy. She had had to spend most of her time in bed, and her radiance and energy had disappeared. Sue wanted to be with her then, but her dad hadn't allowed it, saying it would tire her mom; but she already understood he didn't want her to see her mum like that and suffer. But Sue had already seen her, and she was already suffering, for she knew, even if no one told her, that her mum was going to die, just like Peepo, their dog, had died a few months before. By then, her father had told her that Peepo had gone to Heaven to be with a lot of other dogs and that he was going to be happy there, but she couldn't understand why he couldn't be happy with her. And now her mum was leaving, and she knew that she was never coming back again, so she wanted to spend every minute she had with her, but her dad had said no, that she could be with mummy when she got better. For years she had been angry with her dad, because her mum hadn't got better, she had gone away like Sue had thought she would, and she hadn't been with her. It wasn't really fair that her father had spent so much time with her, and her sisters as well, and she had only got a little more than five years. Really unfair.
Now she wondered if she'd meet her mum if she died. She would have liked it. Thinking about her mum's sweet smell, she drifted off to sleep.
It didn't take long for Albus to realize that he was lost. Completely lost. Not only he didn't know how to get out of the Forest , but now he didn't even know where his friends were. Not that they were really his friends, more like classmates, except for Rose, who was his cousin. But, in the few hours they had passed together, he had had more fun than he'd had in a long while. He pondered about that. Was it their company that made him feel better? It seemed to be. Somehow, he felt more relaxed with them. Albus didn't feel like he had to prove something.
A bird chirped above him, causing him to startle. He rolled his eyes at himself. Startled by a bird? That's ridiculous! He had to admit this adventure thing was over for him. Okay, so maybe he wasn't a very bold guy, but so what? He had other qualities, right? And he had flaws as well. He was an uptight person and he couldn't change that. He wasn't even sure he wanted to change it. The thing was, he never tried to be a nice boy, he just was. James always teased him about that, how he was probably the first Potter to never get a detention. And now he had, but then what? Detentions weren't fun, quite the contrary. Despite the fact that he had had some fun, it had happened because of his new-found friends. Polishing trophies and getting lost in the Forbidden Forest wasn't fun at all. Now he'd had his adventure, he figured it was about time to stop. So, he wouldn't be the first Potter to never a detention, but it didn't mean he had to get many of them, right? Maybe his older brother was right, maybe he was different from the rest of them. He wasn't mischievous and he actually liked some rules, unlike the rest of his family. All his family. His brother, his sister, his mother, his father... And then he realized. All the time he had spent trying to prove he was different from his father, and all he had to do was to be himself. The reason why he had had fun this afternoon was because he was feeling comfortable with himself, which had allowed him to feel comfortable around the others. If he could just be himself and not worry about what other people would say, he could have a lot more fun! He knew it wasn't easy, but he decided he was going to try it with all his heart. Grinning, he marked the tree next to him with an "X" and resumed walking.
After walking for a few minutes, he spotted a figure near the ground. He narrowed his eyes, as the light was fast diminishing, and recognized the chocolate-brown hair. He ran to her, afraid of the worst, and let out his breath when he found her breathing.
"Steel?" he called lightly, tentatively touching her shoulder. "Sue?"
"Humph?" She stirred, sitting up. "Potter? What are you doing here?", she asked, forgetting in her half-asleep state that they were in the Forbidden Forest and that they closer now.
Al frowned, not sure how to answer her. "Er… Waking you up? I was worried, are you alright? If you are, we should get going, it's starting to get dark, you see…"
"Oh, right. I thought it was a dream. A really weird one where I was friends with perfect boy and perfect girl and ended up in trouble."
Albus just smiled at her nicknames for him and Rose. "Sorry, reality calling. So, shall we?"
Sue stretched and stood up. "You know", she said, before she could stop herself, "my mom dated your dad."
Albus blinked. "Really? Well, if you're anything like your mom, it's a wonder he let her go", he said, half joking, half serious.
Sue rolled her eyes. Was he flirting with her? Great, so he WAS like all the other boys. He's cute when he flirts, though. Or was he just being nice? He was a nice boy, after all. Shaking her head, she decided to let those thoughts for later. After all, they did have more urgent matters. "So, which way?"
Author's note: this chapter turned out to be a lot more gloomy than I had thought at first. Poor Sue, I really pitied her… Thanks for all the reviews! And thanks for higginszoo for being such a great beta!
