CHAPTER THREE

Lost

Al, Will, and Rose filled their plates with food and the Gryffindor table talked merrily to each other about their summers. James congratulated Al with a big hug and a I-told-you-that-you'd-be-in-Gryffindor grin. Al and Will chattered to each other happily while Rose looked around the table searching for something.

"What are you looking for Rose?" Albus asked.

"I don't recall having seen Teddy, he was chosen head boy you know, so he would of led us to the boats," Rose said while her eyes skimmed across the Great Hall.

Al looked across the room too,"Where's Hagrid?"

"I'm not sure," Rose whispered, a tad bit worried.

When everyone finished eating, the head girl of Gryffindor rose and announced for the first years to follow. Al, Will, and Rose got up and followed the head girl and the other first year Gryffindors through the medieval corridors. Al and Will enjoyed watching the portraits talk and the stairs that moved. Rose, however, couldn't take her mind off Teddy Lupin and Hagrid's absence. Something in her gut pulled her thoughts away from anything else. Rose drifted apart from the crowd and wandered aimlessly through the halls. Her mind filled itself with questions. She walked here and there, her eyes glazed over with a zoned out look. She let her feet carry her where they pleased.

meanwhile...

Al and Will stopped walking when the head girl came to a large painting of a fat woman in a pink dress.

"Password?" the fat Lady said with a smile at the new Gryffindors.

"The Leo O' Lacock," the head girl replied.

The portrait swung open and revealed a huge room with an enormous window looking out over the dark lake and green hillside of merry England.

"This is the common room," announced the head girl matter-of-factly.

Red and gold banners and carpets adorned the walls. Huge stone fire-places were on either side of the room, big enough to fit a mountain troll inside them, cozy red chairs surrounded the fire place, and there were tables throughout the room for work space.

"To the left are the girls dorms and to the right are the boy's. First years will take the top floor. This will be your home form now on. If you have any questions you may ask me or Teddy Lupin, who is currently not here right now."

And with that, the head girl sweetly smiled and walked toward a group of girls sitting near the fire. Will looked around, admiring everything about his new home when he noticed that Rose wasn't there.

"Where's Rose?" Will asked Al.

"I thought she was with us," Albus replied looking around the room without finding her.

The two boys rushed out of the Gryffindor Common Room and into the hall.

"Do you see her?" Al asked anxiously.

"No, lets go this way," Will said running down the hall, their footprint's echoing off of the slabs of stone.

meanwhile...

Rose awoke to her senses and discovered she was lying down on a bed of soft leaves.

"Where am I?" Rose asked herself. "I must have fallen over this tree root. I don't remember being in a forest though..."

Rose looked about her. There were huge hardwood trees towering above her, blocking out the night sky. The forest was dark and murky, fog swirled around the ground, and there was movement and cries of animals here and there. Rose was frighted more than she ever was in her life.

"This must be the Forbidden Forest," Rose said to herself, shaking.

luckily she remembered a spell she had read about in the summer to shine light.

"Lumos," Rose said and a gentle light shined out of her wand.

Rose was pleased with herself, this was the first spell she had ever done with her wand. She looked carefully in every direction and decided to turn right. Rose tread carefully through the forest, having to alter her path around giant trees. She stumbled among a trickling brook with green moss carpeting the rocks in the stream. Delighted, Rose thought that if she could follow a stream surely she would find some way out, maybe it even lead to the Hogwarts lake. The night was growing ever more darker and Rose felt her knees would drop if she moved a step further. Becoming thirsty, she took a sip of the brook's ice-cold water and sat on a large rock covered with lichens.

"Let's see," Rose thought to herself. "I must have been walking for at least three hours now. Oh! I do hope I haven't been going in circles. No no, I couldn't have gone in circles. I'm following a winding stream."

Her eyes wanted to close but she fought against her eyes and eventually won.

"I must stay awake," Rose said to herself out loud.

"You better or you might never open your eyes again," said a voice over her shoulder.

Rose jumped and felt cold breath pricking her neck. Slowly she turned her head. Two inches in front of her nose a creature stood, half horse and half man.

"What are you doing in these parts of the woods?" the centaur asked.

"I got lost," Rose replied feebly.

"The forbidden forest is not a good place for young witches to wandering. Even centaurs don't like the wizarding world all that much. However, I see you are a child, therefore I will help you. My name is Hansveer, I am a centaur. Hop on my back and I'll bring you to camp."

Rose did as bidden.

"Thank you Hansveer," Rose said politely,"I'm Rose Weasley. I just started school at Hogwarts. I wandered around the halls and my eyes seemed to have not noticed where I was going or why," Rose continued."When I came to my senses and I was on the ground in the Forbidden Forest," Rose finished, surprised at how pathetic that sounded.

"Well Rose," Hansveer started," I'm taking you to our camp. We're currently at war against the werewolf's, vampires, and mountain trolls, and other creatures that have been hurting our people. So, we're fighting along with hippagriffs, unicorns, these giant spiders, and we also currently have two wizards with us. We're trying to convince other magical creatures to join out cause. No fighting has broken out yet, because we're still gather'n troops," he told Rose.

"Merlin's bead!" Rose exclaimed, "magical creatures are… at war with each other?"

Hanveer didn't answer, but replied sadly "Almost there."

meanwhile...

Al and Will looked around the castle for thirty minuets and took a break.

"We're going to have to tell McGonigal," Will said defeated.

"What if Rose went to the common room while we were looking for her," Al said.

"Let's give it try," Will replied.

The two retraced their steps back two the portrait of the fat lady.

"Password?" the fat lady asked, raising her eyebrows with suspicion.

"The Leo O'Lacock," Will answered with a grin on his face.

The portrait swung open and the boys tumbled in. Victorie walked up to them, ( I concluded that Victorie is Bill and Fleur's child, therefore Al and Rose's cousin.)

"Have you seen Teddy, Al?" Victorie said blushing.

"No, have you seen Rose?" Al asked.

"No. But oh! I'm so happy you're in Gryffindor though. The hat took forever to sort you," Victorie said and walked away quickly, sad that she couldn't find Teddy.

"Time to tell McGonigal," Al nodded to Will and they stepped out into the corridor.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it's going to get better.

I looked through my spelling and punctuation, so if you stumble upon one of my mistakes please bear with me. Thank you. And I love reviews too. If you have any ideas I'll take them into consideration. To pronounce Hansveer it's H a (as in haha) nsv eer (as in ear)