Searching For Centaurs

Arya woke up in the black of night, restless as ever. She had dreamt that she was back home, leading the pack mule into the village, like she did every two weeks. They took the path through the woods, it was a bright day and not too cold. Arry came to a sudden halt when she heard twigs snapping in the thicket ahead. A tall, shadowy figure stepped out..it was a centaur. The sky suddenly darkened, and the wind grew brisk. Then she woke up.

“Centaurs aren’t real,” she breathed into the darkness.

She got out of bed with a start, careful not to wake anyone. She already knew Mitri was a light sleeper from the Hospital Wing. Arya stood and tripped lightly over a book, cursing silently. She wrapped a cloak tightly around her, grabbed her wand, and tiptoed out the dorm and through the empty common room. Finally, she reached the Entrance Hall and lit her wand.

“Do you know what time it is, boy??” A picture of a grubby look old man squinted at her, shielding his eyes.

“I’m not a boy,” she grimaced. She hated when people couldn't tell she was a girl, just because she was so thin and small.

Arry rushed past the portraits and out into the cold air that smelled of snow. Hopefully it wouldn’t snow while she was out, though. She took a deep breath and headed to the forest; she had to find out if centaurs were real.

Mitri's eyes snapped open at the sound of some light cursing. Who would've thought small Arya would have such a cobbler's mouth? Waiting for Arya to leave, Mitri quickly slipped on some shoes and grabbed her cloak. She wouldn't be able to catch a wink of sleep knowing Arya was on an adventure without her.

Mitri silently followed Arya, almost running over someone's wandering cat in the process. Chuckling at the old man's words, Mitri bypassed the picture entirely not wanting to partake in any witty words with the crotchety man and lose Arya.

Mitri picked up her stride as she followed Arya into the dark and mysterious Forbidden Forest. Perhaps they could find some unicorns! Mitri ran up to Arya's back, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Now where do you think you are going? Don't you know the rules? No adventures without Mitri!" Mitri jested smiling. Unicorns would be found! As long as the duo wasn't found out of course...

“Bloody hell!!”

Arya could have kicked Mitri in the shin for sneaking up on her like that. What if someone heard? What if something heard? Gryffindor was in last place for the Cup all of a sudden, and Arya didn’t like the idea of being eaten.

“If you’re going to come along, keep up and keep quiet,” she whispered, holding her wand in front of her and walking into the forest.

It was dark already, but Arry imagined it was thrice as dark deep within. And the trees! She had never seen trees so tall, they hovered overhead like giants. What if they were giants? Arya didn’t know enough defense spells to make much of a difference, but she did remember the Knockback Jinx vividly, and Adelaine had taught her that petrifying spell.

“What if there really are werewolves in here?”

Mitri shivered as the wind nipped at her skin. The forest sure was eerie. Arya's musings did nothing to reassure Mitri of their safety. Maybe they should have stayed in bed, it'd be better than, say, getting eaten. Looking at the sky Mitri gave a sigh of relief, the moon had yet been filled.

"I suppose we are doing an assignment, we are practicing Lumos for Professor Barahir," Mitri whispered glancing at her now lit wand.

"We shouldn't encounter any werewolves tonight, the moon isn't even full. Hopefully we will have the fortune to run across some unicorns though. I was disappointed to find my wand had a thestral hair rather than one of a unicorn. Then again, what is more interesting than an animal majority cannot see?" Mitri whispered eagerly.

Mitri sidestepped a stone in her path, feeling very proud to not have fallen yet. This trip was interesting, if dull at the moment. Looking to see how Arya was fairing, Mitri's foot got caught on a root, leaving her scrambling for balance. Grasping Arya's arm in hope for help, Mitri succeeded in pulling herself and Arya to the damp ground.

A sudden noise caught Mitri's attention and she pulled Arya further into the ground.

"Did you hear that?" Mitri asked scared.

Arya rolled her eyes as Mitri babbled like a brook behind her. Did she not understand the meaning of keeping quiet? Perhaps Arya should have used more meaningful words, such as ‘deadly’ and ‘peril’.

“Maybe we’ll also run into some vampires or giants,” she whispered fervently. “But we might be saved from that if you keep quiet.”

Suddenly, Arry felt herself being pulled down to the ground roughly, her wrist scraping against some bark on the way. She just had to be stuck on an adventure with a klutz. They would be killed and eaten for sure.

“Mitri, what --” she began, falling silent when she heard the noise.

It sounded like branches slapping against a tree. A tiny little creature a couple inches high seemed to walk straight out of the large oak next to them. He looked like a stickman, his hands sassily placed on his waist and speaking in some language Arya didn’t know. She did know this, however: it did not look happy.

“What is that supposed to be?”

Mitri tried not to let the hurt show. She was trying to keep quiet, but it wasn't in her nature. Maybe she'd be better off wandering the forest alone with no one to criticize her. Arya's bluntness was more hurtful than the Gryffinfor may have realized. It was not becoming of a lady to be so quick to scold.

"I believe it is a bowtruckle, but they aren't native to this area," Mitri whispered, barely louder than a breath.

Bowtruckles were peaceful creatures, unless someone had attacked its home tree. This particular bowtruckle seemed to be anything but peaceful, glaring at Arya with hatred. Mitri looked to Arya's wrist, understanding the bowtruckle's anger. It thought Arya meant to attack its tree when she had gotten scratched by the bark falling down!

"Arya, I don't mean to be loud," Mitri started sarcastically, "But I think it'd be in our best interest to slowly walk away. It seems this particular creature thought you attacked its tree when you fell. Unless you want to have your eyes clawed out, we need to be moving. NOW!" Mitri whispered urgently, taking slow steps away from the tree dweller.

The bowtruckle angrily shook it's little fist at her and began walking forward. Arya's expression darkened. This was Mitri's fault; if she hadn't tripped over air like always, Arry's arm wouldn't have hit the stupid tree and the bowtruckle wouldn't be pointing it's razor sharp claws at her.

"So back away then," Arya snapped back through gritted teeth.

It may have been stupid, but it was not Arya's nature to back down from a fight. Not that she was underestimating the little guy, but the bowtruckle had made a mistake when it jumped down from it's tree rather than just surprising them. Perhaps it was a just a toddler bowtruckle. Arya pointed her wand at the stick creature.

"Petrificus totalus!"

To her great relief, it worked. Though, she felt somewhat bad for him. She turned away from the tree and continued walking deeper into the forest, feeling far more confident than before.

Mitri looked at Arya in shock, why was she being so... so mean! Mitri hadn't meant any harm, she was just trying to be helpful. Clearing her face of her hurt, she watched Arya attack the poor bowtruckle. It hadn't meant any harm... maybe Mitri should come back later and reverse the spell on the creature.

Mitri hesitantly followed Arya, afraid of the girl's wrath. Maybe they would be better off separate, but Mitri knew there was strength in numbers. No matter how hurt her feelings got, she shouldn't stray from Arya.

Mitri sighed in resignation, this night wasn't going as planned. Whatever happened to finding unicorns?

Arya grimaced at the obvious look of hurt mixed with astonishment on Mitri's face. She didn't know what to do in a situation like this, when her housemate clearly didn't understand why she could be so annoyed. What was she expected to do? Let the little stick-man claw her eyes out and then go on her merry way? Of course she was upset, but there was no use in explaining it.

The forest seemed to get impossibly darker the farther on she went. Though the trees were thick around them, the chill was suddenly almost unbearable. Arry tightened the string on her cloak and tried to ignore the dropping temperature. A twig snapped loudly beneath her feet and she heard a loud rustling in the bushes just ten feet away..