"Where are you going so late?" asked Evelyn's dorm mate.
She pulled back her curled hair in a ponytail, "To snog with my boyfriend," Evelyn answered nonchalantly.
"Na uh!" the girl squealed incredulously and launched herself on to Evelyn's four poster bed for more information. Her big blue eyes, lined with long clumpy eye lashes, brushed under her brow ridge dramatically, "What's his name?"
She rolled her eyes at her dorm mate's naivety, "Horace."
The girl's previously excited demeanor melted into one of confusion, "Horace? What sort of name is that?"
"Our potions professor's name."
"EEEWWWWWWW! EVELYN WESTWOOD! ARE YOU CRAZY?!"
"No," Evelyn shrugged and tossed her green and silver striped scarf over her shoulder, "it's detention Sylvia," she grabbed her over cloak, "I'll be back by…we'll, I don't really know when I'll be back," she shrugged and pulled the door closed.
Evelyn stood in the gothic archway of Professor Slughorn's office, "Oh, hello Miss Westwood, is there anything I can help you with?"
She mentally kicked herself in the face, if that was even possible, for coming. The man had obviously forgotten all about it and Evelyn opened her mouth to say 'homework assistance', but was beat to it.
"Ah yes, your detention for the exam interruption…yes, well…" he looked around his office.
"Well, if you don't really have anything for me to---
"Nonsense, I'm sure there's something around here," he said this just as his monocle settled on the flobberworm jar and he plucked it from the shelf behind his desk, "This needs filling. You'll have to go into the Forbidden Forest to get it, but you shouldn't run into any trouble, the Forest is quite calm this time of year," He said this as to reassure her horrified appearance, "Run along, the daytime is fading and you want to be back before the sun goes down," Slughorn added as he went back to scribbling an overly large T on a student's parchment. She grimaced, scraping the large jar off of the surface of his mahogany desk and headed towards the Forbidden Forest.
The dead, fallen leaves crushed under Evelyn's heel as she stomped down the lightly beaten path leading into to the very heart of the Forest.
"Come here little wormy," she whispered as she used the jar's cap to scrape the mucus clad flobberworm into it's new glass home, "Slughorn needs your head for his—
The sound of snapping twigs stopped her from saying anymore as her eyes grew wide in fear of being prey to one of the forest creature's wrath. She slowly rose up from the ground, her heart pounding so hard it threatened to leap out of her chest, and darted to the shelter of a tree with branches that almost swept to the ground making it ideal to climb. The stamping came closer, now accompanied by heavy breathing.
"Hello?" she called to the darkness, "look…I-I have," she looked down to the jar, the handle hanging on her wrist, "a weapon," she finished, forgetting about her wand completely, "and I'm not scared either."
Evelyn stared with saucer-like eyes at the small opening of the Forest where no trees grew, 'What if it's not a person at all, what if it's a centaur. What if it's—a unicorn?' she was taken aback by actually seeing one as it was assumed that they were extinct, but then again, there it was; it's snowy white coat almost glowed while it slowly dragged itself into the moonlit bathed opening. Evelyn sighed in relief and clumsily half descended, half fell from the tree. At the sight of her, the unicorn picked up it's feet, desperately trying to gallop away, but was only able to get a few kilometers away when it's majestic frame stumbled to the ground and laid motionlessly on it's side. The animal's eyes closed into slits as it was acutely aware that Evelyn was hovering over it, "You need help," she said soothingly as she cautiously reached out to stroke it's neck, feeling something cold and wet on the palm of her hand. She quickly withdrew it from under the unicorn's hair, queasy at the sight of blood tracing the crevices of her skin. She used the hem of her cloak to wipe the unicorn blood off of her hand, "Help! Someone…" she frowned down at the dying unicorn knowing that it was completely futile to try to scream for help. It was ridiculous to hope that someone might be taking a stroll in the Forbidden Forest at night, "I'm going to get help. Headmaster Dippet or Dumbledore, or someone at Hogwarts can help you," she tried to sound calm, knowing it to be useless to an animal that had no sense of language.
Evelyn stood up, searching for signs of where she had come from, but was unable to discern one tree from another. A sense of panic slowly began to creep into her thoughts as she anxiously paced back and forth between the four paths set before her, 'I think this opening was on my left, so if I go right, that should bring me back…'
Evelyn quickly set upon the trail before her brain could rationalize a different one. She knew that it was a mistake whenever the sound of running water echoed through out the seemingly empty forest as she definitely knew that she hadn't passed a stream earlier. Her feeling of disdain was fleeting as a peculiar smell seeped into her senses—the distinct musk of smoke.
Maybe if she followed the smoke it would bring her to people who could help her—or harm her, she thought darkly. Evelyn was torn between the two parts of her, one telling her to follow and the other to turn around. But if she did turn around, what good would that do her? She would still be as lost as before.
"Did you hear that?"
Evelyn looked around wildly for the source of the question.
"No," another male voice answered pointedly.
As much as she had hoped that there might be someone else in the Forest, she didn't actually expect that thought to materialize. It wasn't normal that any one person, let alone two people should be wandering around the Forbidden Forest at night, and for whatever reason they were, Evelyn suspected that it couldn't be for any virtuous one.
She dropped to her knees and crawled towards the billowing tower of smoke, but still hid herself in a thicket of bushes. Parting the thick leaves, she peered through the stems to glimpse figures huddled around a fire with the hoods of their cloaks over their heads, rendering their faces in shadow.
"Crucio," a male's voice casually uttered and the other cloak that had been looking in her direction writhed in pain, rolling around on the ground. The spell ceased and the caster spoke again, "if you make sure to pay attention that won't be necessary." The figure dropped to his knees and crawled to him in a disoriented fashion, "Forgive me my lord," he reached for the standing figure's robes.
"Don't touch me."
Evelyn clapped her hand over her own mouth, trying to mute the strained scream that slipped through her teeth as every person present reeled in the direction of her hiding place.
"There is someone here," the presumed leader of the group surveyed the surrounding trees and the rest of them followed suit, dispersing from the tight circle and out towards to the rest of the Forest.
She immediately crawled away from the scene, ignoring how much noise was being incited.
"Over there!" someone shouted and Evelyn knew she had been revealed. Jumping up from the forest floor, she broke out into a run, heading for a destination unknown to her. Twigs and leaves whipped against her legs and arms as she darted between trees to dodge the hexes that were being fired at her. Her hood flew back, catching on a limb as it was ripped right off of the tree that she flew past. Her pace picked up with encouragement by the sight of the disappearing tree line. The towers of Hogwarts came into view, so she headed in that direction. As soon as she set foot back on the grounds, Evelyn finally slowed down and glanced over her shoulder, but the gang of wizards weren't following her anymore. Instead of stopping to linger on it, she dashed up the sloping grounds and towards the large oak doors. She furiously slammed the rusted door knocker, "Please! Let me in!" she shouted while periodically glancing over her shoulder.
Pringle, the caretaker, cracked open the door to speak to her.
"Eh? What da ya want?"
"I'm a student! Let me in!" she showed him her Slytherin crest that was stitched on the breast of her cloak.
"I should let ya stay out there. Students aren't suppose to be out a' night!"
"Professor Slughorn sent me out here. You can go ask him if you want to," she narrowed her eyes at him and he seemed to back down as he opened the door wider to let her in, "Thanks," she muttered unappreciatively.
Evelyn began to make her way back to the dungeons when she realized that somewhere along the way she had left the jar in the Forbidden Forest. She couldn't go back to his office without the jar, so she bypassed it all together and went on to the Slytherin common room, figuring that Slughorn had probably forgotten all about it again anyway. Passing his office, she went on to her own room, slowly letting the door creak open as a small ray of light in the room happened to fall upon Sylvia's face.
"Where have you been all this time?" her dorm mate asked groggily, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
Evelyn considered the question for a moment, "Places."