Why Not to Lose Your Wand [[ Dominik ]]

Throughout his entire life, Dominik found himself being attracted to things that people told him to stay away from. The reasons for this changed given the circumstances, but the basic principle was the same. Whether it be a teacher, authoritative figure, or even just his parents, it made him even more curious about what lied in spots he wasn't supposed to look. Coming to another country hadn't changed this obnoxious personality trait in Dominik. He was just as stubborn with the rule here as he was back home in Romania.

There were many places that has caught his attention around the school and its grounds. It was a large castle with large grounds, this was to be expected. In spite of all this, there was one place in particular that stuck out in his mind above the others. No matter how much he tried to forget it (which wasn't often, on purpose at least) the place would always weasel its way back into his thoughts since it was written about in so many books he read. The forest that he was told was forbidden right by the school. Supposedly there were so many creatures in there that he had always wanted to catch a glimpse of. The temptation to just run off and check was always present in his mind, but Dominik wasn't an idiot. He knew that if he did that he could get killed and no one would even knew what happened. He didn't rule out adventuring out there eventually, but it would require planning.

Despite the fact he knew he shouldn't go alone, it was hard to resist temptations. There was a rule that students weren't allowed to trespass into the forest, but there was a loophole here. There was really no rule stopping him from staying around the forest. When utterly bored out of his mind, Dominik would do just that. Today was one of those days. Unfortunately, the most he ever got from the forest this way was some small and incredibly boring creatures coming out. On occasion there was an unexplained noise, but it was rare.

Today turned out to be one of those rare occasions, but in a different sense from the normal. Dominik had been sitting near a tree that wasn't part of the forest, keeping an eye on it, but also finishing a pesky essay under the shade. That was when he heard something out of the ordinary coming from the forest -- a human scream. That was never a good sign, and given the circumstances of the place and his general mindset of jumping to the worse conclusion, it lead him to think something horrible and violent was happening to another student. It sounded close too. Abandoning his essay, figuring this was a great time with an excuse to go in there, he ran towards the forest and entered a little.

He didn't go too far in. At the same time, he was hidden from sight to anyone outside the forest. "Hello?" It was quiet and he wasn't speaking too loud since he had figured that the person in trouble would be close by. Odd. This all left him with a horribly unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Hello, is anyone here?" This time, he spoke a bit louder in hopes that whoever it was would actually answer his calls. If they didn't, he was about to leave the forest before whatever ate the student got to him.

Raivis sat there, his accio mumbling ceased now. He was just...simply trying to regain that composure he'd lost, and get his pulse down to a normal level. It's basically been the most terrifying thing that'd happened to Raivis...It'd been quiet scary when he'd been fallen on by another person in the Hufflepuff doorway when he first arrived, but that wasn't even enough to compare to the evil scariness of whatever creature or plant had touched him. He could swear it must have wanted to eat him, or something equally gruesome...Sure, perhaps Raivis' imagination was running a bit wild, but honestly, the Forbidden Forest wasn't 'forbidden' because it was full of small, harmless creatures. Raivis felt quite a bit justified in this particular fear.

Running his fingers over the wood of his broom, Raivis glanced back up at the forest now and peered inside, as if he might catch a glimpse of whatever had touched him. A cold chill ran up his spine, Raivis could swear he heard someone speaking. Freezing in his place, Raivis listened closer, eyes wide as saucer plates. Was it human? He could barely hear it...Could the creature that tried to get him speak? Perhaps it wasn't evil, and was simply looking for a friend...Raivis had no clue! This did however, introduce some confusion in Raivis' mind, what if he'd hurt the poor animal's feelings? That would just make him a rude person, and he would feel bad. but what if the creature was trying to trick him, and pull him in, to kill him?

Either Way, Raivis stood up and walked a few steps closer, trying to hear better...straining his ears a bit, Raivis could hear it certainly sounded human...kind of had an accent, but Raivis had his own accent as well, so...was it...was it another exchange student? Raivis pondered this thought for a moment, debating if he should answer the call. Really, if it turned out to be am evil creature, Raivis would probably be consumed like a little snack. Sighing, Raivis gripped his broom tightly and held it before himself defensively.

"Hello? Am here, a-are you lost?" he called, and waited. Nothing came shooting out of the forest, not yet...so, Raivis held his broom like a weapon, and trudged back into the forest. Perhaps this person had lost a wand too, or maybe they were just lost and needed help getting out of there. One thing Raivis was good at, luckily, is fleeing. He could maybe get them out of there. "...You are human, right?" He wasn't sure why he asked, a not human probably wouldn't say no. But Raivis might as well have asked! It was cautionary!

As Raivis took a few timid steps within the forest, he glanced down and watched his feet for odd creatures crawling around...so far, he hadn't seen anything other than some odd plants, and was tiptoeing ever so quietly through the woodlands, eyes glued to the ground. The forest was mostly quiet, aside from some odd, nonhuman noises coming through the thick trees and plant life. That was, it was mostly quiet until Raivis jumped into the back of another blond student wandering in the forest, and let out a cry of shock, thinking him to be monster, and turning again to run away. He didn't even check so see whose back he'd run into.

It was a few moments before the feeling he was getting inside lifted in the slightest. He had been just about to turn back the way he came when he heard something that made him stop in his tracks. A voice again. It was certainly human, so it wasn't the forest playing tricks on his mind. That wasn't necessarily true, as there were creatures in the forest that spoke like humans, but it made Dominik let his guard down for a moment to hear a human voice in return. Though it was clear the voice came from a human, he was unable to hear exactly what was being said. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the area on the outside of the forest, and it was muffled. It was hard to tell where exactly the voice was coming from, and then it came again, closer to him. Honestly it was a little nerve wracking. His paranoia set in as he imagined the voice coming from a creature playing with him deep within the forest.

Apparently Dominik had chosen the wrong time to turn around to ease this thought from his head. By the time he heard someone close to him approaching from behind, he didn't really have time to react. Next thing he knew, something had just bumped into his back. With a small startled noise, Dominik made distance between whatever had bumped into him and himself. Turning around, he drew his wand from his pocket to face the strange creature that had bumped into him.

Dominik didn't find some horrible forest creature though like he had read about. It was a boy who appeared to be much younger than himself judging on solely his appearance. This sight wasn't half as bad as what his mind had created an image of, so the boy came as a type of relief. He must have been the one that was talking. Dominik lowered his wand slightly, still keeping it ready just in case. Really though, the boy didn't look particularly threatening. "Were you the one that screamed?" he asked simply, not answering either of the boy's questions. He wasn't ignoring them, he had just simply not been completely decipher what was said when they were asked because of distance.

Raivis stopped his cowering(okay, not completely, but a little, at the least!), and turned to face whatever he'd run into...it'd spoken at him, and Raivis had that slight embarrassing feeling that he may have actually run into a person. Raivis hoped he'd spooked them enough they wouldn't realize how...jumpy Raivis had been. Turning to see whoever he'd bumped into, he saw an older looking student stand, wand out, looking at him. Raivis shifted in his place, moving just a little bit behind a tree he was next to, hoping the boy wasn't going to stun him, or curse him, or something...Just in case, Raivis slipped his hand into his pocket, meaning to grab his own wand...but, it was empty. Trembling a bit in fear, Raivis remembered he'd lost it, and that was the whole reason he was wandering out here in the first place. Now that it would be much help to him, Raivis really didn't have a high success rate when it came to spell casting, and he would probably be too afraid to do something if problem should arise. Though if anything, Raivis could whack the other with his broom, which likely wasn't going to do much.

"I-I...I think I was," Raivis murmured, keeping his voice quiet. He didn't want to attract the attention of someone else. Then again, his scream did likely bring this certain boy into the forest, which Raivis noted in case the boy tried anything; if one scream brought help, another could maybe bring more. "Did not hear any other screams...A-are you lost in here?" he inquired, gripping the inside of his pocket and urging his wand to just appear there, other hand holding his broom tightly. Hopefully it was him that the boy had heard, otherwise...things could get scary. Scarier. It meant there was another, possibly dying, student out in the woods, and they would have to go rescue them...in that process, they might die...

Swallowing, Raivis put both his hands on his broom and glanced up- it was a bit thick to fly out of there, sadly, so that wasn't a sure escape route. He could try...but it might end up being painful. Again, he hoped he wouldn't have to use an escape route, and prayed this certain Gryffindor was going to be kindly to him.

Though there was a fair amount of distance between the two boys, it was obvious that the other boy he had run into was a bit shaken up from the thing. Though Dominik might have initially been shaken up right after the incident, and was still suspicious of the other boy's actions and reasoning for being there, he was sure he didn't look that scared. Still, he retained his position just in case. Judging from the boy's tie and robes of yellow and black, the boy was a student and must have been sorted into the house of Hufflepuff. At least he was a student, that was reassuring that he wasn't a horrible forest creature.

As the smaller boy spoke, Dominik noted that he had an accent. While Dominik himself was cursed with an accent that he just couldn't shake off no matter how hard he tried, he always noted other peoples. "You think you were?" he repeated in a mumble to himself, wondering if he had heard correctly. He wouldn't have been surprised if the other boy didn't catch his words, as they were meant for only himself. Seriously, how did this kid not know if it was himself or not? It was a simple question. "I'm not lost. I thought something was wrong so I came in to find the problem." Alright, maybe half of him was using that scream as a chance to finally come in the forest too, but the boy didn't have to know that. If Dominik had received a straight yes or no answer from the boy, he wouldn't be as on edge as he was right now. If it wasn't him who has screamed, someone else was out there in trouble with who knew what. With that, who knew if they would be next on the list. Another glance at the Hufflepuff made him think that he would be the type to scream a lot in fright.

Dominik couldn't decide if the Hufflepuff was acting incredibly suspicious or he was just very jumpy. Sadly the two usually came hand in hand and it was hard to tell between one or the other. In the boy's case, it wasn't helping the situation any between the two. He couldn't blame him for thinking like this though. The situation both students were in was far from the most ideal and friendly conditions to meet in. They were in a supposedly frightening and deadly forest, after all. This fact couldn't be forgotten. Apparently the other boy wasn't very worried though. He didn't even have his wand out. That was either an idiotic move or a brave one. He couldn't decide which.

Even if he was aware of the fact that this was a dangerous place, Dominik was unsure if the other boy was aware of all this judging by the way he was acting. Next think he knew, the other boy was walking towards him and Dominik still found himself in a slightly defensive position with his wand. He could be paranoid sometimes, even if he denied it. "So it was you then? You should have just said so." Yes, that would have made things better right from the start. Dominik couldn't bring himself to completely trust a stranger in the middle of a forest right off the bat like this, but that made his suspicions ease a bit more. There was something of the other boy's statement that rubbed him the wrong way though.

"Something touched your leg?" he questioned, looking around the floor of the forest for anything that looked threatening. All he saw was a typical forest floor littered with a mishmash of leaves, dirt, grass, roots, and other growths. There was nothing out of the ordinary that looked like it was capable of touching someone's leg like the way Dominik was picturing from the Hufflepuff's statements. "What kind of something was it?" He looked back to the smaller boy curiously, wondering if he had seen what it was and simply not been able to identify it. Another part of him was wondering if whatever it was was still out there. If it was just here, whatever it was couldn't possibly have been too far off in the forest. That wasn't a good thought.

Well yes...Raivis could have easily just said 'yes, it was me', but what if there really somehow had been another person in the forest that screamed at the same time as him? They'd never know! Raivis knew most people thought he was either silly or paranoid, but it all made perfect sense to him...Gosh, the day Raivis' eccentric thoughts got through to someone, they would see they'd made fun of him or thought he was weird for nothing, and he'd be a hero of sorts, who predicted some kind of devastating tragedy, maybe even helped stop it...so, what if there really had been another person in the woods? With a sigh, Raivis dropped his gaze to the ground, and watched closely for creepy crawlers of any sort, while he tried to justify his frightened ramblings.

"I know, I-I know...am sorry, I just, what if it wasn't be a-and someone else..." Raivis trailed off, figuring this guy wasn't going to understand Raivis without a relatively long explanation. This probably wasn't the time or place to be telling stories or exploring each other's psyches, so Raivis just left it at that. He ran a hand down his broom and tapped the wood anxiously; this guy certainly wasn't making the situation any friendlier, not that Raivis would expect people to be friendly, especially in the Forbidden Forest of all places...Maybe he thought Raivis would tell on him for being in there? That was definitely possible...Looking back up with a small smile(an attempt to show the other he wasn't hostile, though it came out more as a strained, shaky muscle twitch), he said, "I am not going to turn you in f-for being out here, since that would be mean...I-I promise I will not attack you? Do not even have a wand right now," he tilted his head and tried to look as un-vicious as he could. Not that looking vicious was a problem he really ever had.

Raivis, after a few moments of what felt like a failed attempt to be friendly, he looked back to the ground and searched for any other instances of the demonic, evil being that had touched him, he nodded. "Ja...D-do not know what it was, but it was cold...l-like an ice cube touched me..." he shivered a bit and shifted his broom, ready to smash anything that moved and wasn't human. "I-I um...I think I need to go though, will be okay," he nodded at the Gryffindor(which looked more like a nod to the ground), and headed off the other way; he really had to find his wand.

"It is fine. Don't worry about it." If he was coming across as rude, he honestly hadn't meant it to be that way. He was just looking for some answers and standing with his back to a forest of potentially deadly situations while trying to decipher the answers wasn't exactly the way he enjoyed doing things. Though, admittedly, this was was a bit more exciting than sitting and chatting over lunch. No matter how many times the boy said something about not really knowing if it was himself or not, Dominik didn't really understand the confusion or why it was so difficult. He was sure that it wasn't that hard to tell if a noise was made with your own vocal chords or not.

When the other boy revealed that he had no wand, Dominik looked at him with a bit of disbelief. Really, why would someone enter a forest with the word forbidden in its name with no wand? The Hufflepuff did sound like an exchange student like himself, but he was sure that he at least knew the meaning of that word if he was accepted to study here. At the moment he wasn't sure of the smaller boy's reasoning for this nonstrategic move, but he didn't question it. Maybe he was judging a book by its cover here, but it seemed to fit in his head. "I'm not worried about getting in trouble." he replied. "I have the excuse of coming in here to help another student if anyone was asking me." Though he might automatically assume the worst in people half the time, this boy didn't look like the vicious type to attack regardless of having a wand or not so he dismissed the thought without even needing confirmation from the kid himself.

Once again during this meeting, Dominik found himself repeating some of the boy's words again as he continued to look around the forest. "Like an ice cube..." With this new piece of information, he was just as baffled as ever. He basically had an encyclopedia of magical creatures known to exist and even creatures who were only rumored to exist in his head and he couldn't recall anything fitting this description that would be in this forest to attack this boy. Strange. As he was thinking, he barely registered that the Hufflepuff was leaving until he turned around to talk and saw him retreating in the other direction. "Oh wait! Where are you going?" Dominik called after him, finally breaking his silly defensive stance though his wand was in his hand. "You aren't staying to look for your attacker? Since this was something he couldn't figure out what it was, he was a bit excited personally.

Raivis really was concerned with finding his wand and not...disturbing his classmate any longer, now. He really didn't want to have the guilt hanging over him if he got the Gryffindor killed...that'd be bad. He'd be in a lot of trouble if that happened! Besides, if the other student got killed, then Raivis was pretty sure he would get killed as well. Raivis stopped his walking and thought for a moment. If he continued on to look for his wand, he'd likely get killed or maimed by a creature in the forest...but if he asked the Gryffindor to come with him, they'd both get killed. ...What was he doing? Raivis felt his face drain as he realized how...well, stupid he was. For even wandering into the forest in the first place! He honestly had no idea what he was doing...it couldn't even be called bravery! He was pretty sure he'd just had a very bad lapse of judgement.

Raivis stared down at his feet and clutched his broomstick, then slowly turned back to the other student and stayed quiet for a moment as he tried to think about what he should say. Raivis wasn't very good at thinking about his words before he said them though, and he had a wonderfully hard time keeping his mouth shut before his thoughts ran free. And thus, Raivis attempting to think about what he would say did not last long, "I-I just need to find my wand! Dropped it in here somewhere, I need to find it...you should not come with me, because I am likely going to d-die in here, and you will too!" He explained quickly. The thought of death was not a happy one! But...well, Raivis needed a wand. So he would search...at least for a minute or two!

Without waiting for the Gryffindor, who Raivis was sure would be scared off now, Raivis turned and started wandering off once more, determined to..well, not be a wussy and explore a bit of the forest. He could do this! Even if something weird touched him, or something tried to eat him! Or he fell into a hole, or slipped and broke a bone, or got a concussion, or...Raivis felt a cold fear trickle back into him and he stood there, frozen. He hugged his broom for comfort, and made a small laugh. "...M-mister, will you c-come with me for a little bit..?" he asked, leaving behind all thoughts of guilt.