The Forbidden Forest is Forbidden for a Reason [MATTHEW] [[CLOSED]]

It was a nice day out, and it was the end of the day, classes were over, and most were either taking a stroll by the lake, or attempting to cram for various tests. However, after finishing up the bare minimum of what needed to be done for the next day, plus a few extra, boredom had hit Mei like a baseball hits someone's face. Rather hard. Seeing the crowds out by the lake, and inside, and with her lack of interest in quidditch, the only option that seemed like it'd be any sort of fun would be the Forbidden Forest. The forbidden part, obviously adding to its fun factor.

Putting her cloak on, as it would probably be relatively cold in the forest, she made sure her jeans were on, tennis shoes tied, and her wand ready at hand. Setting out into the slowly darkening outdoors, she made her way over to the forest. Secretly though, she was hoping she'd come across a friend, or at the very least, someone she knew that she could bring along into the tree-infested land.

If Matthew knew anything, then he knew that when somewhere was renouned for being a bad place, one shouldn't go there. He was not going anywhere known as a "Bad place", but instead, was enjoying looking at the delightful little pumpkin patch. However, there was someone else who was headed right towards the one specific "Bad place" in the school. Or outside the school. The grounds. That person, Matthew realised as he peered closer, was Wan-Mei. Someone he'd met a little while back. She wasn't very tall, or have the largest muscles around, and she was only in his year... Which meant she mightn't know very much magic.

So Matthew lept up and pulled on his robes, hurrying towards her as fast as his asthma would allow. "Hey! Ms Chen..." He called out, stepping up to her. "Mei! Are you thinking of going into the forest?" Obvious question was obvious, of course she was going to go to the forest- but Matthew thought it prudent to ask, just to be quite sure. Taking a look at her getup, Matthew could easily tell that she was dressed to go through the forest. Matthew, however, was not. He had three-quater-length jeans on because of how hot it was by the lake, as well as a sandles on his feet instead of decent trainers.

Hearing a small voice, Mei tried to remember where she had heard it before. It was rather soft, and had the sound of heavy breathing that came along with running. Her name was called, and she turned around, managing to hear "going into the forest?" Seeing Matthew, that one boy from the greenhouse, running towards her, she waited there for him to catch up, silently wondering if he couldn't tell from her attire. However, he was someone she somewhat knew, and there, she decided that he would be the one to accompany her into the forest. He did need to change his clothes though, the sandals and jeans weren't going to do, but she could attempt to transfigure them...or accio another pair over instead.

Realizing she hadn't answered his question yet, she chirped, "Yup, I am! Do you wanna join me? After arr, it seems rike it wourd be an...experience for us!" Her accent had slipped in her barely concealed excitement, and was now awaiting a reply. The sooner they set out, the sooner they could get back, when it wasn't as dark. The sun shone lazily, as it awaited a reply. The forest, beckoning her to go in and explore its depths, or at least, find out something new. Besides, it couldn't be too bad...could it?

"Well..." Matthew began uncertainly, "It sounds sorta very dangerous... But I guess if you want to go, I can't stop you, and I definitely don't want to let you go by yourself! There must be a load of scary creatures in there and I don't want you getting hurt. Yeah, I'll come with you." He nodded decisively. He considered going back to the castle to get changed into more suitable clothes, but he didn't want to keep Mei waiting for him, so he figured he'd make do with his current ones.

He took a step forward and looped linked their hands together to make sure he wouldn't lose her in the big scary forest. "Shall we?"

Ahh, Hufflepuffs, the people usually made fun of, thought they were good sports. However, they were underestimated, and Mei was pleasantly surprised to find out that now she had a companion to accompany her through a sure to be danger-filled trip! It was going to be amazing, and magical. Seeing that he wasn't going to do anything about clothes, she accio'd over a pair of sweatpants from some random guy and a sweatshirt over for him, and some shoes and socks. She gave them to him for him to quickly put on.

Setting foot into the forest, a tingling feeling crept over her. She looked ahead, wondering which path would be the best to take, and just decided going forward would have to do.

From her peripheral vision, she took a look back at Matthew, and saw that her hard work in getting those clothes for him was wasted, except for the socks. But, she rationalized with herself that if he wanted to go without clothes and got hurt, she wouldn't be responsible for any injury caused by lack of protection. She did have to admit though, the clothes she accio'd over for him weren't exactly clothes one could wear shamelessly in public. However, the socks and sandals, just...why would he subject himself to it, but no matter, hopefully the centaurs weren't fashion conscious, or the hippogriffs the next contestants on that one American show...Project Runaway or something.

As she went farther into the forest, her brain started kicking in, and telling her that this perhaps wasn't the best idea in the world. Thankfully, there hadn't been any suspicious noises yet, but as she thought more about the boy she was with, the doubts began to circulate. First of all, back to the whole socks and sandals issue, how the heck did he expect to run in this terrain with those things on? She doubted he'd be any good at running too, judging by the lack of well, frankly, attractive breathing, and the slight wimpiness of his physique. But who knows, perhaps he fit the title of "expect the unexpected" and could run away faster than a street dog.

And then her analysis came to herself. She knew she could run fast if she really had to, and she wasn't absolutely terrible at fighting spells. The problem was that she didn't know enough protection spells, and would try to protect herself first instead of...Matthew was it? This wouldn't fare well if somehow he did manage to get hurt due to his lack of proper clothes, and she may be kicked out of the school or something for getting him hurt. Hmm, this wasn't a good idea at all. Before she could contemplate anymore though, a rustle in the trees made its way to her ears. Bringing up her wand into a ready position, she quietly uttered a protection spell over herself. The rustling became louder as she went on. Trying not to panic, she stopped in the middle of her stride and turned around to Matthew.

"Do you hear that rustling?"

Matthew ambled nervously after Mei, nibbling on his lip. He'd already deduced that this was a very bad idea, and he was sure that Mei wasn't to be talked out of going any further, and he would feel terrible if he simply abandoned her. So he stayed loyally behind her, fiddling with his wand. His nervousness was causing the tip of the wand to spit little sparks which would light up little sections of the path beside him for brief moments. He edged closer and closer to her until his front was practically pressed up against her back. To protect her of course, he told himself. He was panting slightly out of nerves too and oh god he must seem like a real creeper, breathing down her neck and rubbing against her back. That almost made him recoil, but fear was much stronger and refused to let him distance himself at all.

He was too busy with his own panic he completely missed the rustling noise from somewhere around his right. It wasn't until she prompted him that he noticed anything at all, at which point he put his hands on her back and kept her moving forward, faster.

Quietly, he murmured, "If you hear a rustling, don't ask if you hear a rustling, just keep going and speed up." He couldn't afford to be hurt now. Or to let Mei be hurt, either... He knew that his wand was poised and ready to attack at any given moment. It was his best hope; in his case, running really was futile.

The rustling grew louder, and, without thinking of the boy behind her, Mei took off in a straight line, but it was to no avail, as something jumped out right in front of her and let out a snarl. Letting out a shriek, she shot a petrifying spell in the general direction of the snarl, and stumbled in the opposite direction. Seeing a hole in a tree, she dove into it, taking a few seconds to cast a protection spell over herself. She took a few seconds to calm down, and assess her surroundings. The opening she dove into was small, perfect for someone her size...wait...Matthew...

Well this wasn't good. Peeking out of the hole, she realized she hadn't run very far at all, and could still see what was going on. And oh...this wasn't good, there were werewolves, and quite a few of them. She couldn't see Matthew with the werewolves blocking her vision, but maybe, she could accio him over?

No, that'd be a terrible idea, the both of them would be trapped inside the little space she was huddled in, and she wasn't sure if he could fit in the first place. What was she supposed to do? Making sure she was still gripping her wand, she slowly crept near the opening of the tree, and whispered "Petrificus totalus.

Matthew wasn't sure what was going on. First there was only him and Mei, and then suddenly- there was just him. But it wasn't just him, it was also a large amount of werewolves, Matthew wasn't sure how many. He wasn't really thinking of counting when he rotated on the spot, trying to find a way out. Seeing none, he wondered if there was a chance he could charm the ground to swallow him up and oh god they were getting closer. He raised his wand and cast his mind around for a spell to use. One of the werewolves lurched forward and, in his fright, Matthew fell backwards. He was sure one of them was salivating over him, and the rest of them seemed to be waiting for him to make a move; he must be the leader. Did that mean Matthew should take him out first?

He didn't think any further, because a claw swiped across his forehead and Matthew reacted in an instant. "DIFFINDO!" He shrieked and one of the werewolves howled in pain, a dark red line visible under the matted fur of his chest. Matthew stared, horrified. These were people, he reminded himself. And while they may be horrible people, they are human lives! But the more logical part of his mind said that it was self defence, that he shouldn't be worrying when they were trying to eat him!

The blood from the slash caused by the claws was dripping into his eyes and making it hard to see. The werewolves were advancing on him but suddenly- one of them keeled over, and Matthew thought that maybe he might have seen a figure. But the figure was wedged in a tree and that wasn't right, nor was it how either trees or people worked. "Wan Mei?" He called out. Another growl caught his attention and he gasped, rolling to the side as a set of jaws lunged at his throat. The result of that action was the wolf on that side toppled over into a heap in the pile of dead leaves behind him. Matthew took this as his cue to make a break for it and he sprang to his feet, darting in the vague direction of the strange tree-person. There was a low branch on the tree next to it and if Matthew couldn't count on his ability to run, he'd count on the werewolves' lack of tree-climbing skills. So he practically flung himself into the branches of the tree and scrabbled up them rather ungracefully. Now that he could get a proper look, there seemed to be at least seven werewolves still after him. Seven!

(( MY MUSE HAS APPARENTLY RETURNED FULL FORCE WOO ))

((WEREWOLVES BRING OUT THE INNER MATTHEW IN YOU))

After she shot the spell, Mei realized something rather important. Werewolves were people, except they just happened to turn into vicious vile creatures every time the moon looked its prettiest. Groaning oh so slightly, she hoped the stunning spell she aimed at that one didn't leave too nasty a mark. After that one bent over, she could vaguely make out a tall lanky human shape in the quickly darkening world. Hearing his faint voice cry out what sounded like her name, she was about to respond before she saw him nearly get his throat taken out by another nasty werewolf. Holding back a scream, because that would just give her away, she nearly cried in relief when she saw him run toward the tree.

...and climb up it?

Deciding to take another look at the werewolves, she quickly counted...and oh...seven werewolves. Beautiful. Figuring that if she didn't run relatively soon, she suffered the very high chance of being severely injured, dead, or turned into a werewolf. Feeling a drop of something on her hand, she looked at it to see blood. Sparing a glance up at what she presumed to be Matthew, she could make out a few scratches on his forehead. "I hope he doesn't completely hate me after this..." she thought to herself. Deciding that while he looked weak, he could handle himself pretty well, and to save her own skin, she took off even deeper into the forest,

Seeing a tree that was relatively easy to climb up, she quickly did so to catch her breath. The werewolves didn't seem to have picked up her scent yet, so she was safe for the time-being. Seeing some scratches on her arms in her hurry to get away, she made a note to herself to stop by the hospital thing first thing after they got out of this mess in the forest. It was a rather exciting experience though, perhaps next time she should bring some more people? Wait, what was she thinking, all this nervous energy must be making her crazy! Leaning against a branch, she took a few deep breaths while trying to come up with a plan to get out of this.

Suddenly, she felt a creeping in her skin. Thinking it was just the scratches, she didn't think anything of it, until a searing pain came through on her legs! Stifling another scream once again, she reluctantly looked down. Minuscule spiders were all over her legs and arms, piling onto them squirming around. Panicking, she brushed as many as she could off while dealing with the pain of the burning bites. With the last bite particularly painful, she let loose a shriek of pain, as she jumped off the tree, hoping by running fast, she'd be able to get rid of them.

Once Matthew was sure he was out of the werewolves' reach, he started to focus his attention on Mei- Except she seemed to be speeding away, further into the forest. Two of the werewolves persued her, which worried Matthew. He pointed his wand at one and sent a stinging hex his way. The werewolf let out a pitious moan and fell to the ground, swelling at his side where the spell hit. Matthew winced and bit his lip, feeling terrible for what he'd done. But there was no time for that now- He shot a sticking charm at the other one, which caused it to get caught on a tree. At least that one didn't seem to be causing him any pain, it was just stopping him from moving.

Now to follow Mei. He slowly reached out and grabbed the closest branch connected to the tree nearest him and swung over to it. Easy enough. Now he had to clamber carefully around to the next tree and repeat the process. It was slow and difficult, but he was getting there. However, he heard a shrill scream which could have only been from Mei and gave up being carefull, darting and scrambling gracelessly fourty- maybe fifty -feet over the ground, following the noise. His breath came out in rasps and he was sure that if he kept this up, he would run out of breath and die, but--! But there was Mei! And she was panicking and then she was leaping off the tree and then she was running! Matthew pointed his wand at her and yelled "SCOURGIFY!" causing the spiders, and all the dirt and grime on Mei, to drop into a big messy pile on the floor.

It was then that Matthew realised that his footing was not the greatest. He had one foot balanced precariously on the tip of a thick branch, and one hand clutching at a much thinner one by his head. His other foot dangled in mid-air and his right hand held his wand up. Matthew's limbs were trembling- all the stamina he had from his monkey-like adrenaline rush of swinging through trees was gone. And now his muscles couldn't support him. The branch beneath him wobbled. Or was it Matthew who wobbled? He wasn't sure. But one way or another, he was falling, and crashing into the thick, muddy ground bellow him. It wasn't the softest of landings, and it did mean that his glasses fell off and snapped. But that was the last thing on Matthew's mind because oh god, he just fell from the sky! His vision had gone white and there was a searing pain in his skull.

His hand shot out and grabbed the closest thing to him; Mei's shoe. Ok, not useful, but at least he knew she was there. He dragged himself up into a sitting position. His vision swam, and there were four Meis (without his glasses, he would usually see two, but as Matthew would later explain, the dizziness from the fall caused him to see double as well, and that caused the doubles to double). Leaning heavily on a tree, he panted and spat out some mud. He tried to say, "Mei, the werewolves are still after us, they can probably smell us right now, we should hurry and hide!", but it came out more of a slurred, "Meeiii... werrcoming... smells, hide...!", which wasn't very useful for the situation.

So, a better idea was to grab her hand and pull her somewhere safe. Except the only place he seemed to be going was closer to the ground... But that wasn't right, he was walking forwards but now he's walking downwards? And then the floor punched him, and Matthew was sure his nose was bleeding. "We sleep should sleep...", he mumbled, wishing the patch of grass by his head was his pillow, and not part of the horrible forest he was convinced into. He wished that the rock digging into his side was his mattress, not located in the forest, but far far away.

(( =3= I like causing Matthew pain. Mei needs to do something. :D Good luck with that. ))

The pain becoming worse now, Mei was close to tears, when suddenly, she heard the unmistakable voice of Matthew. Huh, she didn't know scourgify could be used for this, but either way, she was glad the spiders had fallen off her into a disgusting mess on the ground. About to say thanks, her eyes widened in horror as he started wobbling in the tree. As in slow motion, she ran as fast as she could over, but it was too late, he crashed into the pile of mud below where he stood. Wincing at the pain that he must've endured, she quickly made her way over.

Suddenly she felt a tug on her shoe, almost screaming because she thought it was a werewolf, she sighed in relief when she saw a human hand. When he started to speak, she found herself barely able to make out the words, "Mei, coming, smells, hide." Then, seeing him pretty much pass out, mentally, she finally let it out. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MY LIFE? Though really it was her fault in the first place, and Matthew was just simply doing the chivalrous thing, she pondered. However there wasn't much time left. After all, the coming either meant something bad was coming, he was coming to help her, which he had so that was redundant, or one of the werewolves was coming...or the first and latter option mixed together.

Groaning at her lack of strength, she decided to fix Matthew up a bit first. Flinching at his head injury, she tore off a piece of her cloak and started wrapping it around Matthew's head. Tearing another piece off, she cleaned up his bloody nose, noticing that his glasses were gone. In the darkness that enveloped them she couldn't see where they went, so risking the chance of being overheard by a werewolf, she quickly whispered an "Accio Matthew's glasses," and quickly, seeing the shards in her hand cast "reparo" on them. Putting them safely inside her cloak pocket, she now faced the problem of transporting Matthew.

Hearing the cry of a werewolf, she knew she had to act fast. Suddenly, as if by inspiration, she remembered that earlier, they had just learned a hover charm that would work on humans, instead of exclusively on objects like Wingardium Leviosa. Quickly uttering the incantation she had to find a place to throw the werewolves off their trail. Oh right! If theoretically, dogs couldn't smell through water, werewolves probably couldn't either. Stumbling through the forest, she prayed that she would find a pond of - THERE!

Making her way quickly over, she tread through the small pond, and then took refuge by a weeping willow growing on the edge of it. Carefully lowering Matthew down on the ground, she waited for him to wake up. Hopefully, there was nothing wrong with this water (which knowing her luck it'd be something of a deathly spell or something she just walked through) and he'd wake up, and they'd find themselves back at the castle.

Matthew felt something wrap around his head. Then another thing dab at his throbbing nose. These somethings made him feel slightly better and then- and then his vision became a lot clearer. He blinked a couple of times. His vision still swam and he still could not think, but it was getting better. It must be Mei doing something or other, and he appreciated it. But the next thing he knew, he was in the air and there was nothing holding him up. Matthew didn't move or flail or anything, because he didn't want to fall down and hurt even more. He wasn't sure where they were going because he was staring upwards at the sky, but he did know they were moving quickly because he could hear Mei's rapid breathing.

Then, he could hear water. It sounded like someone was walking through water and Matthew was a little surprised- he didn't know there was any body of water inside the forest. And he couldn't work out why Mei would choose to go through water anyway. It was night time, and wet meant cold, plus it was the forest and it sucked to be wet in the forest and woah- suddenly, he was not in the air any more, he was on the ground, and he hadn't even noticed being put down. His eyes refused to open, but his jaw was working fine, so he moved it, trying to speak. His vocal chords, however, were defiant and no sound came out.

Matthew started to panic. What if the hit on his head had given him brain damage?! And he now couldn't move the muscles in his eye-lids or his tongue or make any more sound?! The idea of this scared him so much, that Matthew's eyes shot open and he gasped, blinking up at the night sky through the thick branches above him. "Mei? Are we safe?" Panic averted. He could see, and he could talk, so if he did have brain damage, they wouldn't be any of of the symptoms then. What a relief. He almost laughed, except that the situation didn't exactly call for it. This was not the time, nor the place to be laughing. He held a hand out in front of him, perhaps in order to feel where Mei was somehow, but something distracted him

It was a soft white glow. Matthew, with slight difficulty, turned his head to see what was causing the glow and gasped, letting his hand fall to his side. There, peeking out from behind the trunk of a tree was a small, silver unicorn. Now, if Matthew could remember his Care of Magical Creatures class correctly, he knew that Unicorns were silver when they were young, and it was when they were around 4 years old they turned pure white. This one must have been attracted to them by the fact that Mei was a harmless girl and he wasn't exactly dangerous-looking, all injured-like. So, to make absolutely sure Mei had seen the (obvious, glowing) cute unicorn, he pointed at it and made a funny little gasping noise.

(( This should be a new chapter of this tale, called 'Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining' ))

((Yes, indeed, part 2 of this epic adventure!))

Waiting for Matthew to wake up was an agonizing experience. Her senses running in overdrive, every little noise had her heart racing and pounding. Now that she thought about it, it was rather cold outside, and noticing herself for the first time in the past few hours or so, she realized that she was shivering really badly. Her teeth were starting to chatter, and inwardly she groaned. Before she could start descending into a dark deep hole of self-loathing though, she noticed some movement from the boy close by. As he shot up, it dawned on her that he was awake.

Then, to her relief, he started talking, normally though his voice seemed a bit tired but that was understandable. Blinking at his question, she replied quickly, "Uh hah yeah, we're safe for now..." When he held his hand out, she was somewhat perplexed at what exactly it was he wanted her to do. She started to high-five him when she saw his relieved expression, and instead, settled on taking his hand and squeezing it tightly. Then she saw his gaze wander somewhere else behind her. Afraid to turn around, she stared at him for a bit. When he made that interesting sound between a squeak and a squeal pointing behind her, she decided she might as well take a look. But, not without brandishing her wand.

Eyes popping out of her head, the tiny unicorn glowing in the darkness of the forest suddenly calmed her down. She never though that this would be happening, that she'd meet an actual unicorn! It was adorable, its head peeking out, fascinated by her and Matthew. She wasn't the best at Care of Magical Creatures, but Matthew looked like he'd be able to cover that pretty well. However, she did know that if there were any sudden movements any normal animal would run away. Enchanted by the unicorn she tried her best to stay still.

But a sneeze due to the cold forced its way out of her mouth, and expecting the unicorn to gallop away, she frowned.

Only...it didn't.

Instead, it shyly took a step or two forward. Deciding nothing was going to hurt it, it came towards Matthew and Mei, confidence in its every step. When it got close enough, it cautiously lowered its nose by Matthew's head, smelling it. Afterwards, it just stared at Matthew curiously, as though he knew something the young unicorn didn't.

Mei just watched all this in awe, not quite sure what to do.

Mei eventually seemed to notice the unicorn. Matthew had never seen one before and it was amazing. Mei seemed to think so too, at least, she looked entranced by it. That was, until she sneezed. Matthew nearly jumped out of his skin, he certainly was not expecting that. The unicorn, however, didn't flee like Matthew was worried it would, instead it came closer. Matthew tried to sit up to get a better look, but his muscles started to protest, so he laid back down. The unicorn decided to amble over and poke its nose at Matthew's head. The warm breath tickled and Matthew screwed his eyes shut.

The unicorn was cute. More than cute, though. Mystical, too. Matthew raised his hands and followed his instincts, gently petting the unicorn's muzzle. He slowly but certainly started to feel better- stronger, even. Perhaps unicorns had healing powers? Or maybe Matthew just thought they did and that was causing some sort of placebo effect? Either way, Matthew was sure he could stand up now.

So he held out his hand to Mei and asked, "Help me up? We can't hang around here all day, we only have..." he checked his watch, "ten minutes before dinner starts!" If Matthew was honest, he was surprised it wasn't already the middle of the night. After all, it was cold and dark enough to be night time. The unicorn seemed impatient. Or excited, Matthew couldn't tell. It kept bobbing up and down and wiggling its back-side. It was a funny sight, and also kind of cute to Matthew. Perhaps it could sense their situation and wnated to help? Well, he wouldn't be surprised. Never underestimate a unicorn.

(( Sorry this is terribly late, and short! ))

Ten minutes already! Those twenty minutes in the forest had certainly taken them both for a ride! She pulled Matthew up, and brushed herself off; she really didn't want to see herself in the mirror right now. She chuckled a bit at the impatient unicorn waiting for them. Maybe he wouldn't mind carrying Matthew? Somehow, Mei dragged Matthew close enough to the unicorn, and tried to drape him over the mystical creature. Luckily, it happened to be exactly what the unicorn was looking for, and it snorted before trotting off with Matthew awkwardly sprawled on its back.

Mei walked behind, recounting the events in her mind. She'd have to write them when they got back to the castle. The glow the unicorn emitted amazed her, and she wondered whether or not it was a dream. It was a peaceful atmosphere, the calm after the storm, and it was silent except for the crunching of leaves underneath her feet. She could smell dinner as they got closer and closer to the end of the forest, and with that, Mei realized just how hungry she was. She could eat the unicorn if she really wanted to, not that she would! When they reached of the forest, the unicorn whinnied before shaking itself to get Matthew off. It nuzzled them both once more before retreating back to its home in the forest.

Turning to Matthew, the only thing she said before taking his hand and running to dinner was, "Well, that was fun!"

((I think we can close this thread))