Mariano, Zala, and Angelica practically dragged Isabella out into the Enchanted Wood when the weekend came. Outside, most of the students were sunning themselves and chatting amiably rather than doing the piles of homework they had brought out with them.
"So, do you want to work on the Memory Charm essay?" Isabella asked the three of them. Mariano lay sprawled in the grass, his face blissful in the warm sun. Angelica was plucking pieces of grass and braiding them together.
"Oh, can't we just ignore homework for today?" Zala asked, leaning back against a rock. Isabella stared at them all. Never, in the five years she had lived in Ravenclaw Tower, had anyone suggested not doing homework.
"I guess so," she said slowly, feeling incredibly rebellious as she put up her parchment and quill. As she looked around, she noticed that all of the students outside were like heliophiles, turning their faces towards the sun. With a jolt, Isabella realized that for them, this was one of the last days of summer. Autumn would be upon them soon and, this high in the mountains, it would surely be a cold one.
"Hey, Vinci!" someone shouted. Mariano sat up straight, looking wild. He clearly recognized the slim, black-haired boy who called out to him from a group of fellows. "Hanging out with your girlfriends? Oh wait, they can't be your girlfriends, because you're-"
"Shut up, Pandaros!" Angelica shouted shrilly. Zala looked embarrassed and as though she wished to be anywhere but here. Mariano had turned white and had frozen.
"That's right, defend your brother, even if he is a fa-" the other boy, Pandaros taunted. Isabella, who had heard enough of the word, felt her face drain of blood.
"Come on, let's go," she mumbled to Zala. Taking Mariano's hand, she hauled him up and led him down one of the many paths into the Wood, glancing back over her shoulder. Pandaros's friends were snickering, but he himself was looking right back at Isabella. She felt herself go cold with anger and continued to lead Mariano away to avoid going back and punching the cruel boy in the face.
Mariano said nothing, but looking shaken and slightly sick. Angelica was clearly torn between comforting her brother and raging against Pandaros, so she fell silent and hovered after Mariano. When they were far enough down the path that they could no longer see nor hear the other students, Mariano dropped Isabella's hand and wandered over to the side of the path. He leaned against a tree, his face turned away from her.
A bird called and it's fluttering shadow crossed the path between him and the girls.
"It doesn't matter to me," Isabella said quietly.
"What doesn't?" Mariano asked, stiffening.
"That you're gay. I don't care," Isabella announced, crossing to him and placing a hand gently on his shoulder. "You're still a person, like the rest of us. All this means is that we can talk about dress robes together." Mariano gave a shaky laugh and pushed himself off the tree. Isabella hugged him briefly.
"Who was that?" she asked Zala and Angelica.
"Pandaros Aiskhúlos," Angelica spat. "A Greek." Before Isabella could asked anymore, however, a faint noise came over the breeze.
"Was that-?" Zala asked, but it came again, a little louder and much more terrified. Someone was screaming. Isabella took off running into the woods. She heard Mariano and Zala following close behind but Angelica shouted, "We're aren't supposed to leave sight of the path!" Not waiting to see if Angelica did follow, Isabella pelted ahead, pulling out her wand as she went. The screams stopped, but there was a frantic splashing sound that led her to the bank of a large pond.
It was glassy and green with reeds and mud all around its sides. There was a book bag dropped near a tree, ink bottle and text book opened. Muddy footprints led straight to the water. As Isabella cleared the trees, a pale white hand splashed up from the water and then disappeared with hardly a splash.
Without stopping, Isabella tore off her purple school robes and waded into the water, still wearing the rest of her uniform. When she was waist deep, she ducked her head under.
It was murky and greenish-grey beneath the surface. Everything was very silent and very calm. Isabella began to swim towards the center of the pond, where the hand had made one last desperate bid.
Something grabbed her ankle and tiny, needle-like teeth bit her. Looking back, Isabella saw a Grindylow latched onto her, ginning its sharp teeth at her. Pointing her wand at it, Isabella said, "Imepimenta!" The Grindylow was blasted away and fell back into the reeds at the bottom of the pond. Isabella kicked towards the surface and gulped in air before diving down once more.
Although she had never cast a nonverbal spell, Isabella knew she would soon have no choice. Waving her wand widely through the water she thought as hard as she could: "Homenum Revelio." A current-like movement rippled through the water. Suddenly, the ripple changed direction and began to flow back to her from the bottom of the pond. She altered direction and began to swim towards the place the current was coming from.
The water was so dark and cloudy, Isabella couldn't see them until she was practically on top of them. It was a Kelpie, shaped like a horse with long, trailing reeds for a mane and sharp teeth. But instead of hooves, it had long talons which gripped a young boy, who was clearly losing conscious as his struggles became weaker and weaker.
"Arania Exumai!" Isabella thought, pointing her wand at the Kelpie. The demon squealed as it was hurled back from the boy, who began to sink slowly. Isabella swam forward and seized him around the waist. Throwing him over her shoulder, she kicked out as hard as she could and made for the sickly sunlight above.
Isabella's head broke the surface of the pond and she gasped for air. There was a shriek of relief off to her left. Treading water, Isabella turned to see Zala, Angelica, and Mariano standing on the bank of the pond.
"Carpe... Carpe Retractum," she stuttered, pointing her wand at a sturdy looking pine tree. A rope shot from the tip of her wand and secured itself to the tree. Slowly, the rope began to shorten, pulling her and the limp boy into shore.
Soon Isabella could stand and she waded through the shallows, kicking off the reeds that tangled around her legs. She bent down and lay the boy on the ground. Angelica knelt beside him and felt for a pulse.
"I think... I think he's alive," she stammered uncertainly. "But he isn't breathing."
Pointing her wand at the boy's throat, Isabella said, "Anapneo!" Instantly he turned on his side and began to vomit water. Zala leapt back, her shoes narrowly avoiding the gush of pond water.
"He's okay!" Angelica shouted, relieved. The little boy sat up, his blue eyes wide. He can't be more than ten! Isabella thought, smiling at him.
"You s-saved me," the boy stammered. Mariano handed Isabella her slightly muddy robes and she put them around the boy's shoulders.
"You're safe now," she told him.
"It l-looked so f-f-friendly!" he told her, looking past her to the water.
"Yes, they do," Isabella said soothingly. "Come on, let's get you inside." But when she straightened up, Isabella found she could not even remember from which way they had run.
"Where's the path?" she asked the other three, who looked very worried.
"We don't know," Zala said, glancing over her shoulder.
"What do you mean? Don't you remember which way we came from?"
"It's the Enchanted Wood. When you leave sight of the path, you can't find your way back," Zala explained.
"Well, what do we do?" Isabella sighed. The other three looked at her blankly while the boy shivered. She sighed and, unable to think of anything else to do, shot five red sparks into the air with her wand. They hung there, glittering and hopefully visible in the Academia.
"What's your name?" Angelica kindly asked the boy.
"Sedgwick," he said quietly, sounding miserable. Mariano went to collect the boy's belongings and put the book bag over his own shoulder as Isabella and Angelica helped Sedgwick stand up.
Someone was coming through the woods. They rounded the last of the pine trees and moved into the sight of the students. It was Professors Hecuba and Francis, both of whom had wands at the ready. Seeing the dripping wet students, they hurried forwards.
"It's against the rules to leave the path!" Professor Francis panted. "And for good reason. Good God, have you two been swimming in Kelpie Pond? Don't you know how dangerous...?"
"I left the path, sir," Sedgwick said, looking miserable. "I wanted a quiet place to study and I... I didn't know... the horse looked so gentle... But it began to frighten me and I screamed. This girl came in after me. She saved me." He jabbed a thumb at Isabella.
"Well, you are both very lucky!" Professor Hecuba said. Pointing her wand at both of them, Isabella felt a blast of warm air that dried her sopping wet uniform. "Kelpies are very dangerous. This particular one has been brought here by Professor Francis to study."
"Is that why there are Grindylows in there?" Isabella asked.
"You saw a Grindylow?" Professor Francis sounded excited. "What did it do?"
"It bit me," Isabella said, showing the holes in her socks.
"How did you stop it?" he asked. "Come to think of it, what happened to the Kelpie?"
"I used the Spider-killing Curse," she told him. "It seemed to work okay. Just blasted the Kelpie back, maybe stunned it a little."
"Amazing!" Professor Francis exclaimed. "Fascinating! I say, young Sedgwick, you were very lucky it was Miss Petrroci who heard you, very lucky indeed. Now, about getting back...?" He looked to his colleague.
"Point me!" Professor Hecuba ordered her wand. It spun in her grasp and pointed into the thick of the pine trees. "This way, everyone!" she said, waving them forward.