Stupidity and Bravery Go Hand in Hand {Open}

[Zoe Townsend]

Zoe let out an over exaggerated sigh of utter boredom as she stared out one of the many windows that gazed out over the grounds. She found it interesting that people were running around, and while it wasn't overly hot, running still caused sweat, and sweat was gross. A strand of bright, bubble-gum pink hair fell into her face and Zoe frowned, pulling a clip from a pocket of her jeans. She wasn't wearing any of the bright colors she usually wore, unless one were to count the outrageous color of her hair, but she hadn't felt like standing out today.

As Zoe pinned back her hair, her eyes kept wandering over the people on the grounds and noted that no one was near the forest. Of course, it was Forbidden and most people weren't stupid enough to go in...but Zoe wasn't exactly most people, nor did she consider herself stupid; so was it bravery that was causing her to walk down the corridors to the Grounds, nearing the forest with every step?

There was quote that she remembered her mother saying; "Bravery and stupidity go hand in hand. You can't have bravery without the stupidity." What had caused her mother to say that anyway? Zoe's brow furrowed as she thought and she chewed on the knuckle of pointer finger, one of many odd quirks that she had. It very possible that it could have been when her father attempted to fix the roof of their house by himself instead of calling a professional to do it. He had, like every man usually does, stated that he was quite capable of doing it himself and that a professional cost too much money; not that money had ever been an issue for the family. He had fallen off the roof less than twenty minutes of having climbed up, and he also managed to break the trampoline in the process.

Zoe's thoughts had occupied her mind so thoroughly that she hadn't noticed that she was nearing the forest. She stopped and gazed forward, tilting her head to the side ever so slightly as she considered the consequences. Of course the tales of the dangers that lurked within would give anyone pause, but Zoe's thoughts were more of what her mother would say should Zoe get caught. Everyone said that creatures were more dangerous than mothers, but those people quite obviously did not live with a high strung mother.

Eventually, Zoe decided that the cons of going in far outweighed the pros, so she did what any un-sensible person would do. She went in. She didn't think to look back to make sure no one was watching, not that it would have mattered since she was sure that some of those people out there had at least seen her standing there. The forest was cooler and darker, but the sun shone through the branches and glanced off the leaves, giving everything a slightly green tint. How could a place so beautiful be so dangerous?

[Benjamin Ellis]

Benjamin was one of the very people running around outside that Zoe had seen from through the window. He enjoyed the feeling of exertion as he placed one foot in front of the other at the steady pace of his jog around the lake. He took in everything that was going on around him, his eyes flicking here and there to watch some first year girls doing handstands in the distance, or noticing the slowly growing fruits on trees, or to see some seventh years frantically studying for their exams under a nearby tree.

Finally coming to a halt after a full loop of the lake, Ben sank to his knees, breathing heavily with a grin and turned his head again to take in more details of his surroundings. Something in particular caught his attention; a pink-haired girl heading across the lawn towards the Forbidden Forest. He watched her with interest, sitting up properly so it didn't hurt his neck. It was easy enough to recognise her as Zoe, another Gryffindor a couple of years above him, by her hair. Her clothes were quite mute today though in comparison to what they could sometimes be like. He didn't know her that well, but if she was about to do what he thought she was, then he might as well follow. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do.

Sure enough, a few moments later she left her position standing at the edge of the forest and stepped into it. He quickly rose to his feet, not wanting to lose track of her, and raced across the lawn, not even hesitating at the line of trees as he ran in to catch up with her. He knew that people had probably seen the both of them enter, but oh well... Catching a sight of that pink hair again, Ben's pace increased as he called out. "Hey, Zoe! Wait up!" he shouted, making him jump as a bird in a tree suddenly launched out of its resting place in surprise at his loud voice.

[Zoe Townsend]

Zoe hummed softly as she walked, her hands shoved as deep into her pockets as they would go, which wasn't far. She kept going deeper, not bothering to really watch. All she knew was that she was still on the main trail. It was so quiet, and while Zoe had seen a couple of birds, none of them made much noise, so the sound of running feet, while faint, was still fairly audible.

Her name was called and Zoe turned, seeing a boy run towards her. "Who..." she thought slowly, starting to recognize him as he came closer. Zoe didn't find it all that odd that he knew who she was, she only stood out like a soar thumb, and she knew he was a Gryffindor, and he was younger by a couple years, but what the hell was name? "Benjamin!" she thought rapidly.

Zoe smiled at him, having to look up as he came closer because of her height. "Hey, what are you doing out here?" she asked kindly.

[Benjamin Ellis]

At one point Ben tripped, almost going flying into the undergrowth to one side before managing to steady himself, then continuing at a slightly slower pace in the direction Zoe had gone. Finally, she turned, and Ben stumbled to a halt a few metres away from her, bending over for a few moments to catch his breath. Once that task was done, he raised his head to grin cheerily at her, moving up to stand straight again as she asked what he was doing.

[red]"Well, I saw you heading in here and thought I might join you. That okay?"[/red] he asked with another bright smile. His eyes were wandering around in interest at their surroundings, having never really been in the forest for any significant length of time before. He had attempted it once last year and had ended up in detention for two weeks because of it. Then, he hadn't even made it a few metres in before a teacher was grabbing him by his shirt and hauling him out of the forest and up to their office in the castle.

It was much quieter and less dangerous than he had imagined, with the sun shining through the gaps in the trees above. He supposed they were still quite near the edge – the further you got in, the darker it would get. And the more dangerous... he grinned slightly at the thought of such adventure, even at the same time knowing it wasn't a particularly clever idea. But then, he had never been a great student, not naturally intelligent or anything. He turned his attention back to Zoe once his survey of the forest was complete. [red]"Are you looking for anything in particular, or just exploring?"[/red] he asked.

[Zoe Townsend]

If Zoe were to be completely honest with herself then she would admit that having someone else wandering the forest with her would be a nice pleasure, so she nodded, "of course it's okay." Zoe looked around again, still amazed at the beauty, and asked, "it doesn't really seem that dangerous does it?" As she spoke, a colorful, and rather large, butterfly flew past Zoe's face and she took a startled half step back, a grimace coming over her face. She hated butterflies.

"I've never been in the forest, so I'm just exploring I suppose," Zoe answered, her eyes still following the butterfly as it flew to the other side of the forest. She took a couple steps back, just to start walking and go further into the forest, "shall we walk and talk?" It occurred to her that the deeper they went, the more trouble they would get into if caught, but at this point it was something fun to do.

[Benjamin Ellis]

Ben grinned cheerfully as she assured him that it was okay, not really bothering to think of whether or not it was genuine. He was optimistic enough to simply assume that it was. [red]"It really doesn't. Don't know what all the fuss is about really,"[/red] he replied in agreement.

His smile widened as he saw a large butterfly pass by, which for some reason made Zoe step back. He stepped forward as quietly as possible, reaching out for it with outstretched hands. But just as soon as one finger brushed it, it suddenly flew in the opposite direction as if to get away from him. He sighed and dropped his hands, watching its progress with his eyes for a few moments. [red]"What was that for? It's just a butterfly,"[/red] he tells her with some confusion. He never had quite understood fear of insects of any kind; they were so much smaller than humans, and butterflies in particular were really pretty.

[red]"Sure,"[/red] he agreed to her suggestion, taking his wand out just as a precaution as he set off further into the forest, his eyes still darting everywhere to take things in, a smile on his face the whole time. [red]"I tried coming in before, but a professor noticed straight away and hauled me inside to give me detention,"[/red] he told Zoe conversationally, not even thinking that it might put her off moving any further in. As it began to get a little darker, he performed a lumos spell to light their way and ensure he didn't miss any details. He loved getting to look around new surroundings.

Closing his eyes for a moment he paused, not giving any thought to what Zoe might think of this, and took in the place as he would have had to five years ago, without his sight. He could hear birds mostly, chirping away, but also the general rustling of the undergrowth around them. Beneath his feet the ground was soft, with a layer of plush grass covering the mud beneath it. He took in a deep breath and smiled wider as he smelt the woody aroma all around them, interspersed with the always pleasant smell of flowers. He stayed like that for several moments, having totally forgotten about his companion for now.

[Zoe Townsend]

Zoe blushed slightly as she mumbled, "butterflies are freaky," as quietly as she could. She wasn't afraid of all insects, just some, and one of them happened to be butterflies, even if they were bright and colorful. "Have you ever seen a butterfly's face? It's so..." she paused, but couldn't come up with an intelligent sounding word, so she finished with, "they're just so bug like."

She watched him pull out his wand and wondered if maybe she should do the same, but she opted for just keeping her hand next to the pocket it was sticking out from. "Really?" Zoe asked as he mentioned his previous venture into the forest. "I guess they really don't want kids coming in here, but the least they could do is tell us why."

Zoe continued to walk, getting entranced by the things around her, when she realized that she was leaving the blue light from Benjamin's wand behind. She stopped and turned, raising an eyebrow slightly as he just stood there with his eyes closed, but she didn't interrupt. It's not like they were going anywhere important. Zoe did, however, step closer to the light emanating from the wand and looked up. The trees were thicker here and less light came through, which gave the forest a dark and damp feeling.

[Benjamin Ellis]

Ben grinned across at Zoe as she stated that butterflies were freaky. [red]"No they're not! They're so colourful and pretty, and they have wings! Don't you wish you had wings sometimes?"[/red] he asked with a bright smile, walking backwards so he could watch her. His senses, enhanced so much from when he was blind and couldn't see what was in front of him anyway, prevented him from tripping over anything, although his feet did scrape rather loudly across the forest floor. [red]"And what do you mean, 'bug-like'? They're bugs, of course they're bug-like! Don't you like any bugs? They're really not as scary as everyone makes out, and butterflies aren't even ugly like spiders."[/red]

He turned to face into the forest as it began getting darker, walking next to her instead and holding his wand up and shivering a little as he felt the chill emanating from the trees around them. [red]"Exactly. Giving us an actual reason for not going in makes much more sense than just saying 'don't go in there! It's dangerous!'. It's not like we can't look after ourselves either... sure, some little firstie might get lost or fall over and hurt himself, unable to call for help. But we've been doing magic for years,"[/red] he reasons.

Ben opened his eyes again as he heard Zoe's footstep, his eyes seeking out hers as he shivered again. [red]"Strange how it's so much colder in here,"[/red] he commented, unaware that the reason for the chill throughout the forest was the dementors, shadows and wraiths that inhabited the forest nowadays. Not thinking any more about it, he stepped forward and deeper into the forest.

[Zoe Townsend]

"Sure they're colorful and all that, but it doesn't mean they aren't creepy." Zoe shrugged, "maybe it was the stupid butterfly wallpaper my mom had in our bathroom. And I like lady bugs. They're cute and they're small." Her head tilted slightly as she thought, and as Benjamin asked if she wished she had wings, her mind created an image of what she would have looked like. Zoe giggled and nodded, "having wings could certainly make life more interesting."

She nodded, "but obviously just them telling us not to go in is good enough for most people. You don't often hear of people getting into trouble because they decided to explore the forest." The light from his wand was no longer penetrating the darkness as well as before, and it was difficult to see further than five feet aheah, at least for her.

Sticking her hands back into her jean pockets, Zoe's shoulders hunched a little bit, "well there is less light coming through. That's probably it." She was trying to get rid of the sudden, anxious feeling that had settled into the pit of her stomach, but she wasn't about to turn back around, so Zoe staid next to Benjamin while they walked further in.

[Benjamin Ellis]

Ben laughed aloud when he heard about the wallpaper Zoe's mum had put up, and her apparent disgust with it. It reminded him of the day he had come back from St. Mungo's with his eyesight healed, and he had seen for the first time exactly what this 'yellow' colour was when he saw it painted on the walls of his bedroom. One of the first things he had done was to change it to a much nicer shade of blue. He shrugs at her mention of ladybirds. [red]"Ladybirds are fine. But I don't see what's wrong with butterflies. They're different to just drawn out versions on wallpaper anyway,"[/red] he reasons, then shrugging slightly. [red]"Ah well... I guess it doesn't matter."[/red]

He grinned across at her as he heard her giggle at the mention of having wings. [red]"I think yours would be... pink," he tells her with another grin, "and not like butterfly wings, of course... more like... bird wings, I reckon,"[/red] he concluded. [red]"What would mine look like?"[/red] he asked with raised eyebrows, a totally serious question. Slightly odd, perhaps, he would admit that much, but he was genuinely curious as to what Zoe thought his wings would be like, if he had any.

Ben frowned as his lumos illuminated less and less of their surroundings, finally stopping as it became difficult to see what was only a few metres in front of them. [red]"Lumos Maximus!"[/red] he calls out, brightening the glow of his wand. He gasped and halted as he thought he saw a dark figure to the side, but it quickly faded into the shadows and darkness that his wand still wasn't penetrating. An illogical sinking feeling set into him as he swivelled, his wand pointing out to try and search for any other shapes in the darkness. [red]"I... I think maybe we should go. There's nothing really in here to see,"[/red] he says quietly, stepping closer to Zoe. Perhaps this hadn't been such a good idea after all... although he didn't really know what was making him so nervous.

[Zoe Townsend]

Zoe gave a small laugh as they walked and gave a small shrug, "you would expect that being as colorful as I am I would love butterflies. I guess you could just call it a very odd fear of mine." She played with her bright pink and black hair and waved it front of her own face, smiling at him.

She nodded, "you're right, they probably would be pink, but I like the thought of angel wings better, you know? I think their so much...grander looking. Of course, the size would probably cause me to fall over." Zoe heard the seriousness in his voice as he asked what she thought his would look like and she tapped her finger against her chin. "I think it would depend on what your favorite color, but I could see blue..." she took another second to think, "blue angel wings." What did her weird obsession with angel wings come from?

The anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach began growing and hearing Benjamin gasp didn't help her jittery feeling any. Zoe hadn't seen anything, but she kept thinking they were being watched, so when he suggested they turn back, Zoe had to restrain herself from agreeing rapidly and making a run for it. "I agree, we should start heading back." At the same time, however, Zoe wanted to keep going forward, even though she knew she probably wouldn't.

((OOC: if the pink is too hard to read let me know))

[Benjamin Ellis]

((I copy it into word anyway so it's not an issue. On the skin I have for Ben, the pink in your last post was easier to read than the one you were using before though.))

Ben grinned at the thought of having angel wings, closing his eyes for a few moments as he walked to imagine the sight of the pair of them walking through the forest with huge feathered wings on their backs. It would probably inhibit their ability to move through the trees quite so easily though, he considered, so perhaps it was better in these circumstances that neither of them had wings. Opening his eyes and dismissing the fantasy, he continued walking, wondering where that strange feeling of fear in the pit of his stomach was coming from.

Glad that Zoe agreed, Ben abruptly turned around, heading back out of the forest at a slightly faster rate. [red]"Maybe you should light your wand as well,"[/red] he suggests, wondering why she hadn't done so already. Normally, he would love to go further in whether it was cold and getting dark or not. But that chill that was coursing through his veins was making him very uncomfortable and it was screaming at him to get out of here. He glanced over at her to make sure she was keeping up with what had turned into a jog, and thought he caught sight of something in the shadows again. He sent the light from his wand at it, but again he couldn't see properly.

[Zoe Townsend]

Zoe swallowed hard against the lump that was forming in her throat and held her breath for a moment, letting it out slowly to quell the rapid beating of her heart. She fumbled around for her wand for a second as he suggested that she light her own, wondering why she hadn't thought about that before and mumbled, "sorry," pulling it out. "Lumos!" The extra light gave them a little bit more in the way of sight, which was welcoming, but at the same time Zoe saw light flash off of something...or thought she had seen it.

Pursing her lips together, Zoe had to quicken her pace so that she could stay even with him. "I don't care how dark it is, it's way too cold for this to be normal," she told him, looking around and trying to spot something that would offer an explanation, using her wand to make peering into the shadows easier. Her voice was calmer than what she had been expecting when she asked, "do you think that something can be causing this? Like, something not...natural?"

[Benjamin Ellis]

Despite moving away from the centre of the forest and back towards the edge, it did not seem to be getting any lighter. Ben spun about as he jogged, trying to search with his eyes for a lighter area that might indicate if they were going the wrong way. The extra light from Zoe's wand did help a little in seeing where they were going, but it was still unnaturally dark. [red]"Is this even the right way?"[/red] he called to her. Before he had been sure, but now... not so much. It was the darkness everywhere and the feeling of fear growing in his stomach that was causing him to doubt himself.

He nodded in agreement at her words that it was too cold, increasing his pace again, glancing across at her to make sure was keeping up. [red]"I don't know... there's all sorts in here, or maybe it's like this so that the creatures can survive,"[/red] he ponders, then shaking his head. [red]"Maybe we should think about that once we're out of here,"[/red] he suggests, not wanting to get more frightened than he was already feeling. His normal cheery, optimistic nature had entirely melted away to leave a very jumpy and nervous boy. Switching his wand to his other hand, making the light flicker for a moment before solidifying once more, he grabbed Zoe's hand and began to run, pulling her along as he tried to get away from the darkness and coldness that was now pressing in on them from all sides. His breath came short and fast and he could see the mist from it in front of his face. Zoe was right... this was really far too cold for May, even in the dark.