Chapter 9-Into the Woods of Certain Death

Albus set down The Quibbler into his lap and quirked an eyebrow. "You want to do what?"

"Make my own wand," Rose repeated.

Albus rubbed his head. "Forgive me. I did hear you the first time. I really meant why."

"You know why! Look at me, Albus! My wand hates me and none others will take me. Then, I got this idea. I'll make my own. Surely a wand made with my own two hands will help me!"

Albus sighed. This all seemed strangely familiar. "Listen, Rose, it's a smashing idea and knowing you, you'll be able to do it, but where'll you get the ingredients?"

"The Forbidden Forest."

"Who would help yo—Oh, no."

"Oh, yes."

"You are not involving me in this."

"Oh, is the son of Harry Potter afraid of the dark?"

"I'm more afraid of a centaur arrow sticking out of my gut, so you can forget about it. Look, I don't care if you go. Just find someone else."

"But you know the forest better than I do! You've been in it scores of times for detention!"

Albus narrowed his eyes at her. "As amusing as you may find that statement, I've only been within Hogwarts territory and I'll assume that's not where you intend on going."

"Oh, c'mon! When did you get to be such a sour puss?"

"When Lysander spent a week in the hospital wing for a spider bite." He made a point of making as much noise as possible shaking the paper back before his face so she'd know he meant to read it.

"My cousin the middle-aged man," she grumbled. Rose crossed her arms and whipped back her shimmering red hair. "Alright then," she sighed. "Guess I'll tell Patricia we're at it alone, then."

Albus paused and peeked over the paper as she turned away. "Hold on." She stopped and swiveled back around to face him, raising her eyebrows. "Er…Patricia Cassiopeia McLaggen is going with you?"

Rose tried to suppress a crooked smile that chiseled its way into the right side of her face. She nodded. "Oh, she jumped on the opportunity. She loves the animals. You know Care of Magical Creatures is her best subject. That's why I'm bringing her and all. She can often soothe the savage beast. I admire her for that."

"Er…so the both of you are going then? To look for wand ingredients?"

"That was the plan."

On one hand, he didn't want to get eaten, but on another…Patricia Cassiopeia McLaggen, you know?

"Albus where are you?"

"Over here!"

"Where's Rose?"

"Who knows? She's gone. It's just you and me."

The vision of Patricia fell into his arms. "Oh Albus, I—"

He pressed a finger to her lips. "You talk too much."

"You know, I heard her talking about you the other day," Rose continued, snapping Al back to life. "That's really the main reason I asked. She likes adventure. She thought you did too. That's really the only reason I asked."

Al stared at her for a moment, stuttering a bit in his mind. "She was talking about me?"

"Mmmhmmm," Rose smiled, walking slowly away.

Oh, in the name of Merlin… "Rose!"

She turned around as if surprised. "What is it?"

"Er…you really want me to come that bad?"

Her face lit up. "Awesome! I'll go tell Patricia! Remember, Saturday at five!"

She scurried off as Leo shook his head beside him.

"Wha-What's that face?" Albus asked. Leo didn't stop staring scornfully. "What?! I really want to go into the —"

"—forest of complete and certain death," Leo finished. "I know, I know. I get it. I too look forward to getting my arms eaten by three-headed dogs and blinded by ghouls one day."

"Well, what was I supposed to do?! Let them go alone?! Hugo would've killed me!"

"Hugo is two years younger than you and Rose. I think you could've fought the bloke off."

"My father went through that forest all the time. I've gone through it dozens of times for detention. I think we'll be okay."

"Correction, mate, your father went before the Battle of Hogwarts when the animals were tamer and you went in the first section of forest. It's a lot thicker than most people think."

"I think we can do it."

"Can I write your obituary for the second issue of the paper?"

"No."

"That's alright. I'll do it anyway, just in case. I promise you, it will be beautiful."

"I'm so sure."

Albus stared at Patricia Cassiopeia McLaggen with interest. He'd never seen a person so laden with gear in all his life. And he had no idea what any of it was. Nets looped around her waist, sticks clattered against her thy, a loose hat held her hair up. Her clothing was that of long, tight pants and tall boots with some strange shirt without sleeves and tons of pockets.

"It's called a vest," Patricia Cassiopeia McLaggen told him. "You've never seen muggles wearing them? Mother's a muggle. Gave it to me years ago."

Rose was still in her Hogwarts jumper, but had an interesting array of bottles hanging from her clothing and a giant backpack. At first glance, he'd inwardly made fun of the two girls, but the more he thought about it, the less silly they seemed in their odd apparel. They clearly had something to protect themselves with whereas he only had his wand. Wait. Did that make him the damsel in distress in this situation? No, that couldn't be right.

"Can I go back to my dorm?" he asked. "You know, grab some mace or garlic or something? I didn't realize we were going bear hunting."

"No can do," Rose said, clipping a belt around her waist. "We need to get out by sunset. We can't waste any time."

"But it's five in the morning!"

"And what if we get lost? Hm? The woods are ten times more dangerous at night. We'd need time to navigate our way out. I figure by the time we get past Hogwarts territory; the sun will have gone up."

Albus looked behind him. There was a mysterious figure atop the roof overhanging a low window, her hair flashing up in a wave of shadowy tendrils. She gave him the creeps, like she was just distracting him as tiny hands reached out from the darkness from within the forest to grab at his limbs and pull him further inward.

"Listen…" he said tentatively, but when he turned back, the girls were already a solid distance in the forest.

"You say something?" Patricia Cassiopeia McLaggen called without turning back.

He didn't want to go, but he certainly wasn't staying here. "Wait!" he shouted, frantically scrambling through the mountains of dead leaves after them. By the time he reached them, his only physical indicator that he'd reached the right spot was the massive efforts of the two females around him as their supplies clanged around them like a baby was banging copper pots together. "Oh, in the name of Merlin, why don't you just put all that stuff in a bag?"

"Accessibility," Rose said simply.

"Okay, STOP!" the sounds paused around him. "By the time we reach the edge of Hogwarts' territory, the entire forest is going to know we're here!"

"Er…he's got a point there, Rose," Patricia Cassiopeia McLaggen agreed.

"How else are we supposed to carry our things?" she asked.

"Just put an extension charm on your bag."

"Oh, just put an extension charm on you bag," she mimicked. "Albus, if I could do NEWT level magic, do you really think I'd be going to all this trouble to make a new wand?"

"Alright, then, give me a bag."

"Can you really do that kind of magic?" Patricia Cassiopeia McLaggen asked, seemingly impressed.

"If I couldn't, I wouldn't have come here with just a wand." A bag landed on his face. "Thank you," he said pointedly.

He was able to put the spell on the bag after just one try. It was impressive even to him considering he'd never done that a day in his life. All those hours spelling bags dozens of times to hide candies had finally paid off. Little by little, he collected the things attached to the girls, though Patricia Cassiopeia McLaggen refused to remove her net and Rose her bottles, claiming if she couldn't see the labels or color in the dark, their placement on her jumper would tell her. He conceded and from then on they moved surprisingly quickly down the paths. With less bulk, it was breeze waltzing through. After a little over an hour of traipsing in silence, Patricia stopped.

"What is it?" Rose whispered.

"This is the barrier."

"What? How can you tell?" Albus asked.

"Watch." She took a few steps forward. At first, Albus noticed nothing unusual. But then, she turned towards them. For a split second, her face was a still canvas painted a translucent shade of pink from the sunlight's rising glow. She looked pretty there for a moment with curls of brown hair he'd never noticed spiraling out from her hat to cover her face. Then, her features distorted ever so slightly as if he was watching a wave of heat rise off the driveway at home and ripple the details of the surrounding neighborhood for his eyes.

"Merlin," he breathed. "I've never seen this."

"You've never gone out this far," she told him. "I have."

"Wait…you have?"

"Of course."

He looked to Rose. "THEN WHY THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU INVITE ME?!"

"Why the 'bloody hell' did you say yes?" Rose responded smugly.

"She's right," Paticia Cassiopeia McLaggen said with a grin. "The first rule of doing something dangerous is to always bring someone who doesn't want to do it."

Albus's face fell. "You aren't serious?"

Patricia shrugged, enjoying her current power over the boy. "Let's go."

"Wha-but—"

"Unless you want to go back. Through the darkness. Alone."

Sigh. "No."

"I thought you were a Gryffindor."

"He is," Rose replied for him. That's what makes this so pathetic."

Albus gripped his wand, but didn't say a word. He knew they were right. A Ravenclaw or even Hufflepuff would've been a better for him, but the hat placed him in Gryffindor for some reason. Probably just because the rest of his family was in that house.

As he walked with them, he opened the charmed bag and took out the Quick Quotes Quill Rose used for History of Magic. "I pay attention in my other classes," she'd promised. "But that's the class I always do homework in. I can't very well listen to Binns and write potions essays at the same time."

"Rose, what in the name of Merlin would you need a Quick Quotes Quill for in the forest?"

"For you, silly. You should write an article about this in Leo's paper!"

"You want me to write an article about trekking through the Forbidden Forest, emphasis on the Forbidden? We'll get detention for the rest of the year!"

"Oh. Suppose I hadn't thought of that. Well, write it for now and we'll fib a bit later on. How does that sound?"

"Ah…I suppose. How does it work?"

"Just say what you want it to write."

"I don't want you guys knowing what I'm writing!"

Patricia Cassiopeia McLaggen gave him a pointed look. "You realize the entire school's going to be reading Leo's newspaper?"

"Ah…yeah. Suppose I hadn't thought that through much, it's just Leo needed me for it. Had to get enough people."

"Well, I would've done it if he'd asked me," Rose said.

"So would I," Patricia Cassiopeia McLagged agreed.

"Why didn't you tell us he needed more people?"

Albus thought for a moment, remembering the comment Leo had made on the Hogwarts Express. I hate girls. They're so stupid. He'd never seen Leo around girls much, but he'd never full out declared his misogyny or ever really expressed anything but lack of interest. Somehow, the simple comment made his heart clench as he thought about the other day when he'd been with Leo. What he was ranting about, Albus had no real idea, but he could still remember sitting at the desk watching Leo as he paced back and forth, wand drawn, looking as if he might strike something down at any moment.

"I just don't know why she did it. If she likes me, why take my bird? Oh, I know! It's because no one notices her and she just wants attention! She wants to be pretty, I bet! Mysterious. And my bird! What sensible person—she's not sensible! Transfiguration! Can you believe it?!"

"Uh…"

"I know! I hate her! I hate them all!"

He assumed someone had used Lovey for delivering a letter at the owlery by mistake, unaware that the bird didn't belong to the school. Leo, though, was usually a pretty reasonable guy. It wasn't like him to foam at the mouth over something so trivial. Still, he couldn't imagine what else it was and certainly didn't want to get Leo worked up again by mentioning it. It was hard for him to not think that this had something to do with something at home. He remembered asking about his summer, but Leo had brushed off the topic easily. Every time after, Albus hadn't noticed until now, but Leo had kept doing the same thing. Albus didn't know a thing about Leo's summer even though the bloke usually couldn't shut up about his out-of-school activities.

"He doesn't know you two very well."

"Never stopped him from doing something before."

She was right. Something was off about him. All the years he'd known Leo; he was only angry within reason. He got ticked at their teachers and when someone antagonized him, but now he seemed to be angry at half of the student body for no reason. Albus had to wonder what happened that changed him over the summer.