The forest was dark and otherwordly at night, hell, it was creepy during the day. Alan, Ben, and Merula, were examining something under a bush, " what should we do with it?" Alan questioned looking back at the others, Merula frowned, " there's nothing we can do, if we touch it we could die , but if we cast spells on it, they could rebound." Ben began to shudder uncontrollably, enough to make Merula notice, " what's wrong with you Copper?" she asked sharply, "you don't feel that?" Ben asked puzzled trying not to fall over, "feel what!?" Merula said irritated Alan started to shake violently as well, " wha- what, it's so cold" Alan breathed heavily, "you two better not be messing with me!" Merula yelled." trus-tt me" Ben said, " I wouldn't l-lie to you." The group did not notice at first but just over a hill a large group of dark hooded figures were coming their way. " What are those things?" Ben asked, the figures got closer, " dementors" Merula called back. A large group of dementors boxed in the triad, "oh shite" Alan whispered to himself, " Alan? what should we do?" The slytherin girl asked nervously, " Merula, I'm glad you asked, but you-you don't need my permission to run" " I'm not running" Merula said, "alright...Expecto Patronum" Alan yelled, but just as a white panther bounded from his wand it dissapated due to another patronus running down the hill, it drove the dementors from the area, Merula walked over to the iradescent blue cat, ' a lioness patronus' she thought, staring at the creature in awe. The cat quickly disappeared due to its owner walking through it, this person wore a long red robe that covered their face, their voice pierced the air, it was deep, but Alan couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. Merula drew her wand, and shot a spell at the figure, who blocked it easily, they threw a spell back at her, it hit, and she went down as if someone had thrown her a medicine ball. " Foolish girl, you call yourself a great witch, yet you can't even block a simple knockback spell, you're nothing but a washout." Ben and Alan pulled out their wands and took dueling stances, " you want to duel me?" The new threat asked exasperated. " I feel we're evenly matched," Ben said determined, " please, I'm stronger than the both of you combined" they scoffed, "we'll see" " it will be fun watching you die then."
The surrounding area was littered with spells from both sides, in a moment of hesitation Alan was hit with a spell causing him drop his wand and fall to the ground. Ben continued to fight without Alan, he stumbled a few times, but he wasn't going to stop. Meanwhile Alan seached for his black coloured wand on the dark forest floor amongst the dirt and dry grass. Watching overhead as magnificent wafts of blue and red soared above him, finally after what felt like forever, in such a small amount of time Alan grasped the familiar feeling of his blackthorn wand. " Incendio" he wheezed a large flame shot from the wood lighting his opponent's robes alight, the robes were extinguished by their owner, although they were now tarnished and darkened. Alan rejoined Ben and the duel continued, but their opponent grew tired, suddenly they yelled, " enough! I feel I've won this duel... Avada Kedavra!" A green jolt of light poured from the wand, Alan felt hands on his shoulders pushing him out of the way, he fell and rolled, looking up he saw darkened red cloth fleeing into the forest, he stood up and followed after.
Alan ran as quickly as possible, trying to cast spells accurately, the same went for his opponent, as the two ran, thorned branches tore at their clothes and scratched their skin, low hanging branches bruised them, but they kept on running. Alan was determined he was going to catch the robe wearer. They uttered incantations back and forth, some could set the entire forest ablaze, some trees began to smolder. They ran into an area with thick trees, Alan lost sight of who he was chasing, when he reached the clearing on the other side, it was empty, they were long gone. Alan leaned up against a tree and stared off into the starry night sky. The moon was high in the sky, it was peaceful and as pretty as a picture.
Alan hiked back to where his friends were, but upon his arrival Merula ran to him wrapping him into a tight hug, tears streaming down her face, " Alan, I'm so sorry!" She said through her tears. Alan pulled the girl off him, his hands on her shoulders. "What's going on" he questioned, Merula's eyes widened, "you mean you didn't see?" Alan was in a fog, clearly not understanding what was wrong. Merula sniffed, and put her face in her hands, " fuck...come on, follow me." Merula led her friend to Ben who was kneeling next to another person who was laying on the ground motionless, it was a student. Yellow lines amongst the black robe went well with their long golden blonde hair. "Penny" Alan whispered, he ran over and knealt down beside the body, he placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and rolled her over, it was Penny, her once beautiful blue eyes had been drained to a cloudy grey. Alan had been hit with a wave of shock, then doubt. " Penny wake up!" He said moving her shoulder, " do you think I didn't try that already" Ben said halfway serious, trying to hold back his tears. " shut up, shut up, she she isn't gone" Alan cried, he checked to see if he could hear her breathing. Nothing. He started compressions, tears streamed down his face, " come on, come on, you're not gone, you're not gone," Alan slowly stopped doing compressions, "no, no, no, no, fuck, fuck, god damnit," at this Alan turned to Ben and hugged him, to which Ben could no longer compose himself, and cried with his distraught friend. "What happened?" Alan asked, "she saved your life, pushed you out of the way." Ben said, his voice quivering, "I could've been there for her in her final moments" Merula sat down with the two boys, " there's nothing you could have done, the killing curse is instant... I'm sorry Alan" she said wrapping her arms around both boys.
The group regained some strength, especially Alan, who carried Penny, all the way back to the castle. When the group arrived, they walked through the halls, no one was around, and prefects were most likely washing up for the night, the corridors echoed at the group's foot falls. They reached the infirmary door, there was light underneath of it. Ben swung the door open, and the group walked into the candle lit room. Madame Pomfrey was sitting at a desk, Alan laid Penny on an empty bed. Madame Pomfrey noticed the new arrival, and walked over, she looked at the three students, Alan was in bad shape, he was bloody, parts of his robes were torn or bloody, and his shoes were muddy. The other two werent in as bad as shape, just a few scuffs and bruises, but the girl on the bed looked as she had seen a ghost. "What happened?" she asked, " she's dead" Alan whispered, "what?" The woman asked her eyes wide, " I want to speak with Professor Dumbledore."
Madame Pomfrey sent an owl to the Professor, and a moment later recieved one back, " all of you report to Professor Dumbledore immediately" she said in a stern voice. As the group was leaving Alan watched as Penny was covered with a white sheet. Once in Dumbledore's office, the triad stood around waiting, when Dumbledore walked out of a hidden book case, it shut behind him as he entered the room. "Sit" he said calmly, the group sat down in chairs, Dumbledore sat in his chair. " Madame Pomfrey sent me an owl discussing the unfortunate death of Miss Haywood. Her letter also informed me that you three brought her in, so I'd like to be informed on what happened" he said with a very serious look.
Alan ended up falling asleep in his chair, and had a strange dream in store for him. He walked through the dark Forbidden Forest, a thick fog rolled in, and a gust of wind swept through carrying the words that all overlapped eachother, " they changed again" "it's worse this time" "some more drastic than others" " I can't sleep" "who are you" "lying seems..." " I know you" "familiarity" "doubt" "overcome" then all went black.
Alan awoke from his dream, if you could call it that. His two friends were gone, and Dumbledore was sitting at his desk writing. Alan stumbled over to the headmaster's desk, " what time is it?" Dumbledore looked at the student, whose wounds had been cleansed and robes that had been repaired over night, " it's almost 9:00 am, but there's no need to worry, I've excused you and you friends from your classes today to recover from last night's events, there should be some leftover food in the Great Hall, you can use my fireplace if you want." Alan walked to the back of the office where a fireplace sat, he took a handful of floo, " thank you Professor" Alan said before stepping into the fire place, " Great Hall" he said sternly before dropping the dust. The Great Hall contained two students, Ben and Merula, they were eating still, slowly. Then the fireplace fire glowed green and Alan walked out, he saw his friends, and headed their way, " hey guys, he said softly," Merula waved, but Ben greeted his friend, who sat down and tried to enjoy breakfast to the best of his ability. They didn't talk about what happened, they just sat in silence.
After dinner that night, Ben walked off to the corridor closet, to clear his thoughts, but when he arrived he wasn't alone. Alan was sitting on the floor sobbing. "Alan?" Ben asked, " what?" Alan said turning to face his friend, "are you alright?" Ben sat down on a barrel. "I-I tried to forget how much pain her death caused me" Alan said breathlessly, " so I brewed a forgetfulness potion, but I botched it, and I can't stop crying, and really nervous, I need help." "Let's go see Snape" Ben said. Ben helped Alan walk to the threshold of the potions classroom. Alan cried terribly "She's dead. She's dead. She's gone, why didn't I fight harder, why didn't I do something, *sniff* Ben, tell tell me why didn't I do something..." Alan cried into his friend's shoulder, as he hugged him. " It's all my fault, I ran away..." he continued. Ben brought the sobbing Ravenclaw into the classroom, sat him down, then walked into Professor Snape's office. "Professor, Alan Morrissey drank a botched forgetfulness potion, do you have an antidote?" He asked, Snape stopped grading papers, got up from his desk, and followed Ben out to the classroom where Alan was talking nonsense at this point. Snape opened a drawer, pulling out a small vial, he basically forcefed it to his wailing student, who stopped crying. " I'm sorry Professor" Snape smiled an understanding smile, "people grieve in different ways Mr. Morrissey, yours just might be making rash decisions." Alan slumped, " Mr. Morrissey, grieving takes time, everyone is feeling what you feel, I understand that you and Miss Haywood were close, she was a great student and cheerful kid, I'm sorry for your loss." Snape walked back to his office and sat down at his desk. "Come on Alan let's go" Ben said. The two exited the classroom. That night Alan lay awake, until 11:48 pm, he drifted into a terror induced sleep, over and over again the words" they changed again" "it's worse this time" "some more drastic than others" " I can't sleep" "who are you" "lying seems..." " I know you" "familiarity" "doubt" "overcome" over and over again...
