Chapter 18
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Santana muttered to herself as she looked around at the tall intimidating trees. Everything looked the same, whichever way she turned.
"BRITTANY" She yelled as loudly as she could. There was no response. Sighing heavily, she bent down and picked up a stone.
"Such a freaking genius you are Santana." She continued to mumble. "You only had one thing to do. Don't go into the forbidden forest." She walked to the tree closest to her and scratched a big X into the side. "Well look around idiot, look at where you are!"
She really couldn't believe that she was in here, let alone to save a girl she didn't even really know, but she knew she couldn't go back. She may be in danger, but she at least knew how to send out sparks with her wand. Brittany….Brittany was in far more danger than she could ever be in. She couldn't go back and just leave her.
"This is how I die." She marked another tree. "Okay." She looked around carefully, trying to see if she could at least hear Brittany, but there were so many other noises, other animals, Santana realised, that it was impossible to know if it was Brittany or not. She was just going to have to pick a direction and stick to it.
As she started walking, she had the comforting thought that at least Sam was getting help. Teachers would be swarming the forest soon enough, looking for them. All she had to do was not die until they found her.
"BRITTANY!"
The only problem was that this forest was massive. Brittany could be anywhere, and most importantly, Santana herself could easily get lost. At that thought, she quickly marked a giant 'X' on the nearest tree. See, she thought to herself, she wasn't completely useless. As long as she remained smart and kept out of the way of any large or dangerous creatures she would be fine.
Actually, there were significantly fewer animals about than Santana had imagined. She'd expected the forest to be crawling with all sorts of creatures, yet she was yet to see a single one. She could hear them, oh yes. Birds in the trees, and some kind of clicking sound, like a beetle or crab. Of course she knew there were no crabs in the forest….well….to be honest she didn't actually know that. For all she knew there could be some sort of crab – squirrel hybrid scurrying along the forest floor.
She looked down instinctively, just to make sure there was nothing at her feet.
This was not good. She'd spent all of five minutes in the forest and already she was freaking herself out.
"BRITTANY!"
If she were a giant furry cat, dropped off or chased into the forest, where would she run off to? Maybe if she could find the cat, she could find Brittany. What was that cat's name again?
"Lord…blubberton…." She tried out. No, that felt too stupid even for Brittany. It definitely started with Lord, but Santana knew she would feel incredibly foolish yelling out 'Lord' for the whole forest to hear.
"Why couldn't she just name her cat something normal like-"
The bush beside her shook, silencing Santana immediately. She raised her wand at it, quickly backing away. Her mind raced with what it could be. The bush wasn't too big, so it couldn't be a werewolf or an actual wolf….It had to be something small, but for the life of her Santana couldn't come up with anything. She didn't know that much about magical creatures. It after all wasn't a subject she would start until her third year. All she knew were the creatures so terrible that they made it into stories and comic books. Trolls, giants, werewolves, vampires, ghouls, and ghosts. She didn't have any real idea of what sort of animals lived in the forest. Just that they were dangerous.
The bush shook even more violently.
Deciding she didn't want to stick around to find out what it was, Santana turned to run away, but then she heard the most peculiar sound. A high pitched squeak. Like a baby bird. She turned, her fear momentarily forgotten, to see several very small…creatures.
She frowned at them, trying to figure out what they could be. They looked small enough to be some sort of insect, but their bodies almost looked like that of a sheep. Four legs, though they didn't look hooved to Santana, more like they had two very squishy toes, a short tail, that was sticking upright, and two perky ears. A Llama was probably a more accurate comparison, because the creatures had very long necks, putting their heads several feet above their bodies. To top it all off, their bodies were covered head to toe in light grey fur, and their eyes were the clearest of blue.
Santana was stunned. She watched them all walk towards her, others emerging from the bush, eyes fixed on her, completely unblinking. She had never seen anything like these creatures before in her life. They would be cute if they weren't so weird. The way they walked had their bodies shuffling from side to side like they would lose balance at any moment and fall over.
But then one of them opened its mouth and let out the squeak that had caught Santana's attention in the first place, and she snapped to attention once more, realising her wand had gone slack in her hands. She scrambled back quickly, then turned and ran. She didn't know what those creatures were, but the fact that they weren't scared of her in the slightest despite her being much larger than them had her thinking that maybe they were more dangerous than they seemed.
She didn't want to find out.
"BRITTANY"
It was getting a little darker now, and as she stopped to make a mark on a tree she realised that there were more trees around her than before. Or were they just closer together? Santana figured that meant she was moving deeper into the forest, where everything was, for the most part, left alone. She stopped to look around. It was a little quieter now. An eerie sort of quiet that told her the animals that lived in this part of the forest didn't like to be disturbed.
If she was on edge like this, it was unlikely a cat would wonder in so deep. So turning on the spot, she chose a path to the left and headed that way, making sure to make the marking a little bigger to clearly show her change in direction.
Her heart nearly stopped as a fox sprinted across her path, but it didn't slow down or spare her a second's glance, and before she could even scream it was gone. She placed her hand over her heart and exhaled, her left hand gripping her wand just that much tighter.
************
"Brittany I swear." She mumbled, as her robes got snagged on a twig and she had to wrench them free. "I swear if I die because of your stupid fat cat."
It felt like she'd been in the forest for hours. Even though she'd walked back to the front of the forest, where the trees weren't as big and more spaced out, it was becoming harder and harder to see the forest floor. That told her it was nearly sunset. It would not be a good idea for her to be roaming around the forest at night.
"BRITTANY!" She screamed. "WHERE THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU?"
Something was moving in the distance. Santana could hear it and it sounded like it was running. Changing direction once again, Santana picked up the pace a little.
Once or twice she was sure she heard a cat meowing, but it never went on long enough for her to follow it. So she changed tactics.
"Here kitty, kitty." She said, bending over so she could better see the forest floor. "I know you don't like this scary forest as much as me….so come out so we can both get out of here."
Suddenly something came crashing out of the trees to her right. Spinning around so fast she fell on her backside, Santana raised her wand and yelled,
"Verdimillious Tria!"
Green sparks flew out of her wand, hitting the creature that had been charging right at her in the stomach and sending it rolling several feet on the ground. It was only when she got up from the ground herself, hand shaking violently, that Santana realised the creature was human-shaped, blonde, and groaning.
"Samuel Evans?!" She shrieked, rushing to his side. "What the bloody hell are you doing?"
"I came…." Sam strained to speak, but he was clutching his chest, his neck and face red. Santana could see he was in a lot of pain.
"Sorry." She said guiltily. "I thought you were….I don't know you could have been anything."
Sam nodded.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Then she looked up and around, her eyes wide, searching. "Are you with a professor?"
"No." Sam coughed. "Told the others-"
"Which others?" Santana asked alarmed. "Are you telling me you didn't get help like I told you to?"
"The ones by the whomping…" cough. "The whomping willow."
The third years, Santana realised. Well that wasn't too bad, they would know to get a professor. She looked down at Sam and felt her stomach sink a little. She kind of wished he'd sent them in here after her instead of coming himself. Now it was just another person she was going to have to take care of.
"Sam…." She sighed, helping him sit up. "I really wish you'd have just gone to get a professor."
Sam looked up at her like she'd just suggested the most absurd thing he'd ever heard.
"And leave you in here alone?" He seemed to have gotten his breath back.
Santana rolled her eyes as she sat down next to him.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't need your protection before you believe me?"
He took a deep breath, stretching out his chest as he did. When he didn't wince in pain, he turned to her.
"You can tell me until you're blue in the face Santana. It's not going to stop me wanting to do it anyway."
Despite herself, Santana felt her lips tug up in a smile. She'd missed Sam, though she'd never admit to it. Mike was cool, and Sebastian was a little more like her and Quinn than Sam had ever been, but Sam had always been fun. He was goofy, sometimes outrageously so, always trying to make them laugh. She'd known since meeting him that he would be a Gryffindor, set as he always was on being a hero, and when they'd all turned eleven, she'd slowly started to prepare herself to lose him. She'd made sure that when the time came she would be able to forget him, and she'd been able to, for the most part. She'd gone nearly the whole year without talking to him or thinking about him.
But she knew that wouldn't be possible after this. Not after he'd just blindly run into the forbidden forest to look for her. To make sure she wasn't alone.
"Besides, who's going to serve as a distraction for any monsters we come across so you can get away?"
Santana allowed herself to laughed. The prospect was a very real possibility for them, but she had to admit that it all seemed less scary now that she wasn't alone anymore.
"You're a muppet you know that?"
Sam turned to frown playfully at her. "You're the one that ran in here in the first place."
"Yeah." Santana sighed, looking down at the floor. "I guess we're both idiots."
Her head snapped up as she heard a voice in the distance. She squinted her eyes, trying to see if she could make anything out.
"What?" Sam whispered, getting to his knees like he was preparing to run.
"Did you hear someone…"
Santana stood quickly as she heard the voice again, sounding further away.
"Is that Brittany?"
They were silent for a second, trying to hear, but Santana couldn't hear it anymore, and from the look on Sam's face she assumed he couldn't either.
"What did you hear?"
"It sounded like someone yelling."
She took a step forward, stopped, then walked to where she'd been before Sam had scared her and picked her rock.
"What's that?" Sam asked, walking gingerly towards her. It seemed he'd hurt his leg when he'd gone flying from Santana's attack. She cringed apologetically. "Forget it." He said, smiling.
"I've been using it to mark the trees, so I can follow it back in case something happens or I got lost."
"Clever."
"I usually am." Santana smirked. She took her wand out and muttered a quiet 'lumos' before walking in the direction she'd heard the voice. "Let's go this way. If it was her, that means she's close. The sooner we find her the sooner we can get out of here."
****************
"BRITTANY!"
"PIERCE!"
Santana was beginning to wonder if they were ever going to find Brittany. Dark thoughts started swirling in her brain, images of Brittany dead on the forest floor, or what could be considered worse, bleeding from a werewolf bit to the neck. She saw the sad eyes Brittany had the day Santana had not really implied that she was stupid, and pictured them filled with fear as well.
"What are we going to do if we can't find her?" she asked, raising her wand higher as she and Sam stopped to look around.
Sam bit his bottom lip, his brow creasing slightly.
"You have to say something or I'm going to start freaking out."
"I was just wondering…why do you care so much?"
Santana glanced at him, trying to pretend his question wasn't the most complicated thing she'd ever been asked. She shrugged.
"She's…She's like a puppy or…like a bowtruckle or something. You don't pick on a bloody puppy you know?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah, she's really nice too. Not very smart but neither am I really." Sam chuckled. "We've started struggling through our homework together, and she always has really nice things to say whenever I get down about not getting it."
Santana suddenly felt guilty. She bit at her bottom lip, avoiding a spiked plant that looked sharp enough to stab right through her shoes.
"We uh…you know we had a deal…"
Sam turned to frown at her.
"September first, when I dared you to jump in the lake?"
"Oh!" He nodded. "I kind of figured since I was sorted into Gryffindor-"
"Yeah well, a deal's a deal. Besides, you-Don't touch that!" She quickly slapped his hand away from a low hanging branch he had been intending to push out of the way. He jumped back, retracting his hand.
"What? Why not?"
Backing away, Santana pointed at the branch with her wand, illuminating it fully.
"Oh no." Sam whimpered. A dark green snake was coiled loosely around the branch, head poised right above where Sam had been about to place his hand. "Thanks." He squeaked.
"Anytime."
They moved quickly passed that tree, glancing back just to make sure the snake hadn't decided to follow them.
"Phew." Sam let out, grinning at Santana. "That was close."
Santana couldn't smile this time. She was acutely aware of how low the sun was getting, and every time it dipped lower she felt the anxiety coil tighter in her stomach.
"BRITTANY!" She screamed, now feeling desperate.
"We're going to find her." Sam said. "Any minute now."
"Mmhh"
"I what?"
"What?"
"You were saying a deal's a deal and I…."
Santana frowned. "I don't remember. But you kind of proved that even though you're a Gryffindor, you're still…." She paused, trying to think of the right word.
"Sam?"
"Yeah." She chuckled. "Don't tell anyone, but I've kind of been forced to admit that not all Gryffindors are that bad. You just needed sense knocked into you."
"I did kind of." Sam rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I'm sorry I didn't do anything when Adams said what he did about your parents. I was scared I wouldn't fit in if I looked like I was siding with another house, and I didn't have you guys anymore….I didn't want them to hate me."
"Mike will be glad to hear you apologised. He's missed you so much he's wanted any excuse to forgive you for months."
"What about you?"
Santana wanted to say she forgave him. He'd stood by her twice now, alienating himself from his house in the process. In her book his slate was clean. But he was still a Gryffindor. She couldn't have him thinking this little adventure meant she'd start hanging out with him again.
"I forgive you." She said carefully. "But once we get out of here-"
"Shhh" Sam gripped her arm, looking around wildly. Santana's heart rate instantly doubled.
"Is it a creature or Brittany?" she whispered.
"I'm trying to listen."
Santana strained her ears, trying to ignore the sound of birds and the many insects and small animals hunkering down for the night. Then she heard it.
"LT!"
Her eyes snapped to Sam's, seeing the hope and relief reflected back at her. But it was short lived, as seconds later a piercing scream filled the air, followed by the loud squawk that sounded like it came from an eagle, only this eagle sounded very large. Santana held her breath, staring at Sam, who seemed to be thinking the same thing she was. Brittany was in danger, and they were the only ones that could save her.
****************
"Okay." Santana said, frantically running her hand through her hair. "Okay….okay….okay…"
"Okay what?" Sam hissed. "What are we doing we have to go save her!"
"From what?" Santana asked, rounding on him. "We don't even know what's got her. We don't know….we could just end up getting killed too and then…and then no one would even know where we are."
"They can follow the trees you-"
"They don't know I did that!" Santana yelled. "That was just for me."
"We have to save her Santana. That's what we came in here to do isn't it?"
"Yeah but I can't…." Santana turned away from him, her breathing picking up. "I'll die if I try fight some creature."
"Santana."
"I'll die Sam! I'm not supposed to be in here. I….I wasn't supposed to come in here. Oh man my mum was right."
"So what? You're going to leave her?" Sam asked, pointing aggressively in the direction they'd heard Brittany scream from. "You wanna run away?"
Santana licked her lips, looking first into the forest where Sam was pointing, and then back where they'd come from.
"I could go get help…"
Sam gaped at her, seemingly unable to speak. He stared so hard Santana half expected him to break out into Spanish like her mother usually did. Instead he broke eye contact, shaking his head.
"Fine Santana." He said, turning away. "You do that. I'm going to help her."
All Santana could do was watch him run off. She couldn't bring her feet to follow, though she knew she should. She had come in to the forest to help Brittany after all, but she hadn't actually intended to encounter any monsters. Much like when she'd gone into the dungeons, she knew it was dangerous, but on the whole had fully expected to find Brittany and get out before anything got them.
Running into a situation knowing she was going to be facing a creature she knew nothing about and probably couldn't defend herself against was exactly what her brother had told her she would never do, because she wasn't stupid. It's what McGonagall had told her not to do in order to not end up like her uncle. It's what her mother expected her to do.
She was fast. She could run back and get help. Now she knew exactly where they were, she wouldn't have to waste time wondering around. In fact professors were probably already in the forest, looking for them. She could find one and bring them here. It wouldn't take long.
Yes. She took a step back, then another, feeling more sure of her decision as seconds ticked by. Getting help was the responsible thing to do. It was the smart thing to do. It was something she never did, something she was sure her uncle never did. Something that couldn't get her killed.
She turned, jogging back the way she and Sam had come. She'd get help, save Sam and Brittany, and show everyone that she wasn't as arrogant or reckless as they all thought. But then that deafening screech came again, stopping Santana dead in her tracks. She could feel her heart thumping wildly as she turned to see birds filling the sky over the trees behind her.
She didn't have a choice now. As scared as she was, and as stupid as she knew it was, Santana didn't have a choice. She cast one more glance in the direction of safety, then sprinted as fast as she could towards the birds.
**********
The first thing she saw when she arrived at the scene was Brittany sunk to the floor and pressed against a tree, then she noticed the giant half horse, half eagle creature reared on its hind legs in front of her. Its front legs looked like claws, Santana supposed that since it had the beak, the wings and the feathers, of course it would have claws. No these were talons. They seemed to be several inches long and very thick.
And at any second they would tear at Brittany's face.
"Brittany!" she yelled, both to get the creatures attention and Brittany's. Both of them turned to her, Brittany looking relieved, the creature looking wild. It backed away from Brittany enough to put Santana in its sights, which Santana was grateful for, but its wings were flapping in an agitated sort of way that told Santana it was no less dangerous now that it was on all fours.
"Are you okay?" She asked, without taking her eyes off the beast.
"Yeah." Came Brittany's delayed and very shaky reply. "But Sam's…."
Santana tore her eyes way from the creature, which for now seemed to be deciding what its next move would be, to look for Sam. Her heart stopped when she saw him lying several feet from Brittany, half in a bush with blood streaking down his arm from his shoulder. She looked back at the creature.
"I'm going to try and get to you."
"No don't." Brittany cried. "That's what Sam tried and it….it…."
"Well I'm not Sam am I?"
She took a deep breath and raised her wand, pointing it up to the sky.
"Vermillious"
A jet of red sparks flew out of the tip of her wand, soaring several feet above the trees and exploding above them. The creature didn't seem to like that. It once again reared up, letting out a shriek so loud Santana had to cover her ears with her hands. She wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that it had now decided she was more of a threat than Brittany, and had begun to advance on her.
Thinking fast, she cast the knockback jinx at the ground close to the creature's feet, hoping to scare it enough to keep it back. It worked, but Santana immediately realised she shouldn't have done it.
Sent into a frenzy by the small explosion Santana's spell had caused, the creature took flight. It rose several feet in the air, and then surged forward right at Santana. She only had time to raise her arms to protect her face, and in the next second, felt a deep, searing pain shoot through her entire left arm. She dropped to the floor, crying out in pain, as the creature flew back, cawing loudly.
"SANTANA!" Britany screamed.
Shaking violently, Santana looked down at her arm. Her sweater and shirt were shredded open, and what was worse, so was her skin. There was a deep gash along her forearm, the sight of which almost had Santana passing out.
She swallowed hard, biting her lip to keep from crying.
"Santana watch out!"
She just managed to roll out of the way as the creature dipped down, striking once again. Its talons struck the ground by her chest with such power Santana felt the ground shake. Without waiting for it to try again, she scrambled to her feet. She grabbed her wand, which had flown out of her hands when she'd been attacked, and then ran the rest of the way to where Brittany was.
Tears were staining Brittany's pale cheeks. Her eyes were bloodshot from how much she'd been crying, and Santana could see that her sweater was torn down the middle.
"Are you hurt?" She asked, looking for any sign of blood. Brittany shook her head, stopped short, and then nodded. She grabbed Santana's free hand, which happened to be her injured left, but with how terrified she looked, Santana couldn't bring herself to ask her to let go.
A sudden gust of air blowing her hair was the only alert she got this time that the creature was upon them. She turned just in time to see it lowering its front legs to strike. She squeezed her eyes shut, felt Brittany tense beside her, and cast the only spell she could think of.
"Protego!"
She only knew the spell had worked by the fact that neither she nor Brittany let out any screams of pain.
She slowly opened her eyes.
The creature was sprawled several feet from them, its feathers badly ruffled and covered in dirt. It shook its head, as if trying to clear it, and staggered slightly as it tried to get to its feet. Santana couldn't believe it.
"It actually worked?" She breathed, reaching forward and touching the invisible barrier that had formed in front of them. "I can't believe I actually….it worked?"
She turned to Brittany.
Brittany nodded, eyes wide but no longer crying.
"How did you do that?" she asked, her voice slightly hoarse and sounding suddenly weak.
Santana turned back to the creature, which though it was standing, was still looking unsteady. She had no idea how she had done it. She hadn't been able to cast the spell yet, though she'd been practicing with Quinn and Mike, and she'd had to use her right hand instead of her left, which she thought would mean the spell wouldn't work since Olivander had chosen her a wand based on the fact that she was left handed.
By all accounts the spell shouldn't have worked. And yet…
There was a faint whistling coming from somewhere to their left. At first Santana thought it was the birds again, but then she recognised the tune and felt her heart soar. They were saved. She wasn't going to die, Brittany wasn't going to die, and she didn't have to try do anymore magic, which was good, since her brain was starting to get fuzzy. She looked down and saw her blood dripping down from where her hand was joined to Brittany's down to the floor. That was why….she was losing a lot of blood.
"Santana?" Brittany asked tentatively.
Santana blinked lazily, feeling herself sway on the spot. She had the last thought that hopefully her protection charm would stay strong until they were found, before she was falling to the ground, unconscious.