"Hmm, I'm not stupid... I only want to see the forest by daylight, but... i'm not so stupid to enter it! I don't want to get eaten..." muttered Sonea to her two rats while she slowly walked closer toward the forbidden forest but she didn't entered the forest, she even didn't passed the keep away signs, she just stopped a few meters before the signs and... just stared at the forest. But, even by daylight the forest seemed... eh... scary! Not that she EVER would say that out-loud! Noooooo! She wouldn't say something like that and to let people think that she was just a little girl!

Oh! She saw something! Quick she looked left from her but... there was nothing... maybe she had seen the death groundskeeper and was he haunting the forest because he had been working here? And... he even liked the forest, maybe.... She shivered and looked at her two rats. "DON'T EVER GO IN THERE AGAIN, DO YOU UNDERSTAND!" Hissed Sonea to her rat Sir Blue, because he had been the one who had ran away from her the previous year.

Sir Blue made a scared noise and hide inside her pocket, apparently afraid for her but that was good, he needed to be afraid because SHE had almost been eaten alive in the forbidden forest! Because of Sir Blue! "There are monsters in there" spoke Sonea to her rat, Little Princess, "I remember them, they were evil and they wanted to eat us..." The third year shivered and hated it to be so close to the forest, but she... wanted to prove that she wasn't a little scared second year anymore, she was a adult now! She was already thirteen year old! She almost wanted to step forward to enter the forest, just to prove that she was now able to defend herself and her rats, but...

She was just too much a coward and she... eh... stepped backwards instead of forward, she just wasn't brave enough AND she didn't wanted to lose her precious house points! She din't knew how long she had been standing there, before the keep out signs, maybe five minutes or more, but she just decided that it was better to leave. Maybe if she had been a Gryffindor she would have entered the forest, but she wasn't so she turned around, ready to leave with her two rats, Little princess on her right shoulder and Sir Blue inside her pocket...

Flapping his wonky little wings, Furmy was pleased to be out delivering something. He didn't always get to send a lot of things because he wasn't as big as the other owls that could send a lot of big packages which seemed popular, but this time, the delivery was perfectly suited for him, and he was delighted.

Now where was the human that this was supposed to go to...?

Hoo! There was the girl person near the trees. Scary trees...he would make this quick.

The little owl swooped down and landed in front of her, setting down the package and letter. "Hoo." This is for you, girl person.

Then he rose once more into the air and flew off, not wanting to stay near those trees for too long.

Wand in his hand, Nick stood in front of his door ready to open it. He was always cautious when leaving his hut and would always make sure that he locked everything up with protective charms. As he was about to use the spells he heard the hooting of an owl and he stopped to listen. Of course, hearing an owl at Hogwarts was nothing to worry about 'cause it was normal. But this time he heard one near his hut and near the forbidden forest.

With a small sigh, he remembered telling Leo that he hadn't chased anyone out of the forest yet...would today be different? Leaving his front door, the groundskeeper walked around the back to the edge of the forest. It didn't take long before he saw a little girl, staring at the trees and inching a bit closer. He folded his arms, standing a few feet away and observed. Technically, she did nothing wrong. She wasn't passing the keep out signs...yet. So he couldn't do anything but wait.

The owl he heard earlier seemed to be a delivery owl as he took note of the package for a second. And then the girl was talking....more like loudly hissing at someone. Okaaay, creepy girl right there. Nick frowned and tried to listen but he couldn't make out her words, obviously he couldn't see the little pets she had with her.

Well, time to make himself known. Clearing his throat LOUDLY so that the girl could hear him, he walked toward her. "I hope you weren't planning on entering the Forest , were you?" he casually asked.

Already turned around, ready to leave she … huh? Was that a owl? Why was a owl flying here? She looked around her, wondering if she was not alone, because she simply didn’t suspected that the letter would be for her, nobody was sending her a letter, only… her mom… was this owl delivering a letter from her mom? But this was not Nabber, the owl from her mom… But who else would send her a letter? The owl landed in front of her and… left not only a letter for her, but also a package! Oh… she wasn’t so sure if she was happy with this! She didn’t wanted to receive more bad news! She really didn’t wanted to read it if this letter and package were from her mom!

But because she knew that she needed to look, just to make sure and because that, IF this was from her mom, and she didn’t responded to her, she would be in trouble… So, with her hands shaking and a worried look in her eyes, she opened first the letter and… OH!!!! It was from Daichi!!!! Daichi had send her a letter, he didn’t had forgotten her!!!

Now smiling and grinning like a fool she opened the letter and read what was written in it and he smile even widened. She was so NOT surprised to read that he was now working in a store, it was SOOO Daichi to do something like that!!! He had always acted a little… Eh… He acted just like Daichi, she didn’t knew how to describe him, she never was really good at things like that! And when she saw that he had now EARRINGS she laughed out-lout! She REALLY wanted to see him now, to see how he had changed!

Oh, a surprise, a surprise!!! He had bought something for her! She really liked presents!!! She hoped that it was something cute and pink cause she REALLY, REALLY liked pink!!! But her smile disappeared when he wrote her that he didn’t was angry with her anymore… Why had he been angry with her? She had done nothing wrong, right? She had only helped him with his fear for eating a duck! He had liked it to eat them… He even had helped her to prepare the duck and when she had asked him if he liked it and if he wanted more, he said that he loved it! But ONLY when he discovered that it was a duck he had eaten and not a chicken he had become sick… that was just strange! He had liked it! So… had he really been angry with her because of that, she only had tried to help him… Okay, if she needed to be honest she needed to say that she secretly liked it to bully him like that, he had been a prefect AND older than she, so she had been really proud about herself that he had been fooled like that by her!

Not that she EVER would say that out-out, she wanted MORE presents!

So, she opened the package and… AHHHH!!! “THIS IS SOOOO CUTE!” Yelled Sonea while she saw the pink rat earrings! She loved it!!! “Oh, I need to thank him!” Muttered Sonea to herself and just then she… heard a voice. "I hope you weren't planning on entering the Forest, were you?"

Totally stunned she turned around to look who was behind her and saw… the new groundskeeper! Quickly she looked at the forest and the keep away signs to check if she didn’t had done something wrong, and when she saw that she didn’t had broken any rules she relaxed a little. “No eh, Mr. Cantwell, I was just watching the forest. I don’t want to go back there, it’s a REALLY sharing place to be, you know” spoke Sonea slowly while she first looked at the forest and next at the groundskeeper and frowned. “Can I ask you something, sir?” She waited a few seconds before she started to speak again. “Are you good in dueling? Can you fight against Dementors???” She really was curious about this, simply because she had trusted the former groundskeeper and he eh… was now… death? His soul was eaten by a Dementor, so that was the same as being death right?

It hasn't even been that LONG since she was near the forest, you know? It has been a while since she'd stepped into the shadows of the greatest forest ever. She wasn't going in right now, though, but she was walking relatively close to the edge.

The boundary between ordinary and extraordinary, or whatever. The forest really wasn't magical, it was just a pretty forest. If anything involving magic happens inside it it's only because it's surrounded by wizards. Geez, LOGIC. This is why she didn't think it should be forbidden. Seriously.

And the groundskeeper owed her a tour, FYI.

Now, remember when they went inside to get Milton's present? Well, they got it all wrong back then, they didn't even need to go inside. Why? Her eyes scanned for something to pull back to her, preferably far away and in direct line of sight, yeah? Otherwise it wouldn't work. Since Lottie wasn't going to pull back a living - yet tiny - tree from the ground, she settled on a rock, it seemed to be medium sized... she better pick a smaller then. She did. Just to try it. Wand out - since she ventured neeeaaar the forest - and whipping motion and all, "Carpe Retractum!" Her eyes followed the purple rope as it got to the rock and then she pulled, no strength required, really, she could fit the rock in her palm, so it was relatively small.

That worked. She could give this to Airey and tell him it was special because it had come from the so-called forbidden forest. HA. No. Lottie had thoughts to share with Lex now, so she was going back to the castle. Yup.

Nothing to see here, Groundskeeper.

This is so cute? what in the name of Merlin was the girl talking, no wait, shouting about? Nick cocked his head to the side as he tried to see what the package was that the girl had gotten. What? he was the curious type! But whatever she got was too small for him to see so he let out a quiet sigh and ignored it.

It was kind of funny though, seeing her freeze in place the moment he had opened his mouth. He had had that effect during his own school years whenever he wanted something from the other students so...yes, this was like dejavu for him. Well, the only difference now was that he now had a good reason to be a little scary. heh.

"Just watching the forest eh?" he looked at the girl suspiciously. Had he caught her before she was about to enter and was now making excuses? Or was she telling the truth? Well, he had seen her just standing there, talking to someone. Which reminded him... "Who were you talking to earlier?" he asked as he looked around the place. Was she a distraction and another student had already entered the forest? SUSPICIOUS!

Dark brown eyes still looking at the edge of the forest, he turned his gaze back to the young girl and was slightly surprised by her question. Was he good at dueling? What kind of question was tha---oooh. The old Groundskeeper's fate, was she testing him? "I've never encountered a Dementor before, if i have to be honest" really, he hadn't and he wasn't going to give the girl false hope by lying. What if another dementor showed up and she hid behind him? "But i CAN make a patronus, if that's what you're asking"

And to prove it, he waved his wand in the air and thought about something that made him happy, once he had a thought he said the incantation in his mind and a silvery mist like boar appeared in front of him. "What's your name?" he suddenly asked as the boar disappeared.

Lex felt like she'd all but exhausted the grounds in her search but she wasn't done yet which brought her here. With every step she took toward the forest Felix protested more and more, until finally she'd had it with him and his claws possibly ripping into her under shirt. Oi!" To get his attention first. "Knock it off. I'm not actually going inside. How would I see the sky?" Believe it or not Felix, her common sense worked about half the time. Okay. No. Not nearly that often, pffft, lolz, no, but it did on occasions like this where she didn't want to go giving herself extra work to do.

When the kneazle didn't stop squirming she yanked pulled him from her shirt and tossed him to the ground. He'd be fine, landed on his feet and everything!

Lex took a moment to make sure he hadn't drawn any blood. It didn't seem that way, just some marks that would fade between the time it took her to get back to her Common Room and tomorrow after breakfast. Anything longer than that and she'd be taking it up with him personally.

"Now see? I can view the sky much better just standing right here. You worry too much." Lex glanced up--Op! Lookie heeeeere. Not even here five minutes and she'd already made a discovery. Bootes if she was correct. There was another discovery too....something shifting just beyond the first few trees. Lex took a step toward it causing the kneazle to shriek before rushing back in the opposite direction.

"Felix! Get back heeere!" She WANTED to go INSIDE the forest, NOT away!! Bloody kneazle, take a hint!! Ugh!

...

BLINK.

...

He was near the Forbidden Forest. Alec glanced around quickly before continuing his walk close to the edge of the trees. It was probably a good thing he didn't have to go inside amongst the trees for the stargazing since it would be hard to see the sky if he went inside. He didn't particularly want to go inside given what could be lurking in there. And memories. And certain events from the previous term.

Something the boy failed to understand was why he was here in the first place. He never usually came by this area of the grounds if he could help it. So... to be here... he frowned down at the star chart before looking up at the sky. The quicker he found whatever it is he needed to find, the quicker he could get out of here. This would actually be a lot easier if he knew what it was he was looking for. Or... if this was the right day to go out on this--

... HEY! Was that...?

... He had no idea what it was. Alec looked through the chart, mentally crossing off any celestial bodies that didn't match whatever it was that was up in the sky. Planets... no. Single stars... probably not. Constellations... He ran a finger down the chart until it landed on one constellation in particular. Could it be...?

The book was held up to the sky where some comparisons took place before... Alec grinned. GRINNED. Bootes. HEY! He had found something out here! That was something he didn't think would happen so close to the Forest.

And speaking of the Forest, the Hufflepuff wasted no time in getting out of there.

Caleb did NOT really enjoy the idea of going close to the Forbidden Forest, but it was necessary. It was the only place where he could get a good view of the sky today, for whatever reason. He was a little rusty too, so he wanted as much open air to work with as possible since he hadn't stargazed in like, forever.

Standing fairly distant from the entrance of the forest, he looked up into the night sky. "Ok, where are youuuu?" he said softly to himself, staring up at the stars. After consulting his star chart a few times, he'd finally found it. "Aha!" he exclaimed. There it was. Bootes!

He made a quick note on his charts and then headed back into the castle before a werewolf got him or something.

She was here in an adventure. *GULP* And no, she wasn't afraid or anything. What makes you think so? Was it because the color drained out of her face when she stepped inside the forest? Psht. That was the sun playing tricks on her skin. Or maybe it was the fact that the sunlight was hardly visible here! Those tangled trees. Did they not trim them or something? Or was it realyl dark now and she'd lost track of time? Couldn't be. She'd just got here. And was ready to flee actually. But no, she had stuffs to do. Venom needed to have a look around here.

And the other, more important reason was searching for a constellation or planet or just anything related. She hadn't gone that far but now she thought that maybe it was easier to locate what she wanted more than the other places. Though, so far, she wasn't doing very well clutching the telescope tightly and walking slowly her head whipping around at the smallest sound of movement. Or the wind.

She so needed to lighten up. What the worse that could happen. Eeehh.. wrong thought, WRONG thought!

If anything bad occurs, she'd just flee and HOLLER. The groundskeeper would hear. That was his job, yeah? To collect hollering students and rescue them. Hoping this one could save himself more than the last one. Heh.

Gathering the courage, the fifth-year ignore everything and decided to focus on the sky. The faster she found something the faster she got out of here. She tightened her grip around the telescope to steady her trembling hands. Squinting she started searching the sky. Mhhhmm.. Please let her find something pleeeaase!

THERE! Man, if only she wished for something else or more. Like passing her owls. Maybe next time. But now, she was grinning upon finding bootes. YO! The name was weird a little bit but whatever. She found it and that all it mattered. Time to flee! Nope, sorry, Venom, no tour. Lex would probably volunteer.

She wasn't actually in the forbidden forest. Nope, Ella was simply skirting along the edge in search of a good star gazing spot. She'd actually been hoping to sit by the lake but it seemed that her classmates had already occupied most of the prime stargazing spots there. She'd have to camp out next time to make sure she got one before the crowd. Yeah.

And she totally wasn't scared. Not at all. She was only a little uncomfortable about being this close to the ominous woods at night but she had her wand and she was a fast runner so she'd be totally fine, right? Right. No worrying here.

After setting up her telescope and star chart, the seventeen year old flopped down and looked up. It took her a few minutes of searching but eventually she found the big dipper. That...was actually pretty awesome since she'd read that Bootes, the herdsman dude, trailed the big dipper. That meant he had to be around there somewhere. Hm.

"Gotcha."

There he was. And that was the staff-looking thing there, yeah? Ella glanced down at her chart to make sure and smiled a little to herself. Cool, another one to cross off the list.

She...could totally get out of here now, yeah? Not that she was scared, mind you. She was just...cold or something. Mhm. Time to pack it in for the night.

Adi had to admit it. He was a tad bit scared of going into the Forbidden Forest. But it must be done! Hoping he won't have to dwell too long here, he speedily set up his telescope and pulled out his star chart. He rammed his eye to the looking glass and scanned the sky. Scanning...scanning..."What was that?'' he suddenly exclaimed, pulling away from the scope and automatically reaching for his wand. But it was only an owl hooting in a nearby tree.

Shaking his head at his stupidity and jumpiness, the firstie returned to scanning the sky. And in no time found Bootes! Awesomeee! The first constellation down!

Ohhh. The Forbidden Forest? Well played, Flamsteed. Well, that is IF Sophie was actually able to find anything here. If she did, it wouldn't exactly be Flamsteed's doings, as he couldn't control where in the sky the stars would be. Sophie was just having trouble finding something tonight, and she'd thought that maybe she could set up just outside the forest and find something at this angle.

So that's just what she did. In a matter of minutes, her telescope was all set up. By this point, she was an expert at levitating it and setting it up. She'd come a long way since group one of this project. She got out her star chart and telescope and began the search. She could hear a few sounds coming from the forest, which only slightly distracted her. She wouldn't get eaten by a wolf, would she?

*GULP*

Just then, she caught sight of a constellation she had seen in either her book or her chart. Bootes? Was that it? IT WAS! How did you even say that word? Either way, Sophie didn't want to get eaten by anything crazy and wild, so she documented the finding and packed everything up.

Astronomer Tora was out and about once again! She crept sneakily into the night to find her tonight's target- Constellation Bootes! Tora grinned at her own dramatics and nudged her floating constellation supplies further towards the Forbidden Forest, Astreglobe in hand. She had already checked where Bootes could be found, and had debated on going another night when she realized her astronomer's device pointed towards the Forest. She soon realized that if she didn't go tonight, she would just have to go tomorrow; you're more often hurt by hesitating than by what you were hesitating to do, went the phrase Tora lived by. It especially applied in this case because even if she went to the Forest to do her homework, the Groundskeeper would be nearby to save her from anything that she couldn't handle herself whereas if she didn't do her Astronomy homework....

She chose to do her Astronomy homework.

Setting up the scope at the very very edge of the forest, she pointed it away from the trees and checked her globe once more. Yup. Right over... there! She fixed her telescope on one of the stars in the constellation before zooming out to get the full picture. Weren't the stars just amazing?

Yes, Alice was aware that she didn't have use her telescope to spot every celestial body on Flamsteed's list, but was she going to venture out without it only to find she didn't need it? Nope, not happening. The sixth year was levitating it around the grounds, trying to find a new spot for stargazing when she began to consider heading a little... out of bounds. Or not... technically. Just around where she couldn't actually get into trouble, but where it probably wasn't safe either.

Gryffindor, though. No doubt she could take whatever came outta that forest, yeah?

She set up her telescope at the edge of the forest, trying to ignore the eerie sounds echoing inside its trees as she peered up at the night sky. Bootes... hm. The herdsman guy, right? Didn't he trail the big dipper? Alice found that constellation fairly quickly, and it led her right to the one she was looking for.

Ta-da. Another down, a million more to go.

Because Alice was good at suggestions, Kat followed them. The Head Girl came to the Forbidden Forest while levitating her telescope and then examined the sky. It was dark... well, duh. It had to be dark so that the stars and constellations could be seen, right? Otherwise it would be dumb. But then, some planets do like making appearances early in the morning.

Ugh. Forbidden Forest. It was kinda creepy at nighttime. Especially the creatures in there. Like, what if she saw a man-eating thing from there? Run. But that only made her a coward and she was no coward.

SNORT.

She wasn't here to look for creatures, though. Here to look for something on her list of stars, planets, and constellations. After setting her telescope up, Kat wrapped her blanket around herself and peeked through the eyepiece. Once a bit of adjusting of the focuser happened, she spotted a familiar constellation.

"Bootes," the Head Girl whispered to herself and then ticked the constellation off her list. Gah, the sounds were creepy.

The Forbidden Forest didn't seem like a natural place to go star gazing, not to mention it was sort of out of bounds, but Mo didn't intend to go INTO the forest. He'd just skirt around the edges while he sought out another constellation. Bootes?

Mo was familiar with a number of constellations, but this was not one of them. He seriously needed his star chart to figure out where the constellation was, and he intended to look up the story behind it when he got back to his dorm. Maybe after sleep, but eventually, he would look it up.

According to the chart, he could use Ursa Major or Draco to find Bootes, and Mo carefully traced them in the sky until he spotted the new constellation. It had several bright stars in it, which meant that there was no reason that Mo shouldn't have already been aware of Bootes. That was just sloppy Astronomy, son.

There was a crackling in the woods, which reminded Mo of exactly where he was. Best keep moving on so he didn't get eaten. Or earn himself a detention, which was way worse.

Of course she had to check the Forbidden Forest at least once right!! Hopefully she wouldn't be going in though. She set the telescope down and set it up. Walking away from it before looking through it, of course this back fired on her as she took three steps and tripped on a rock, and she fell. Picking herself the seventh year looked around no one saw that right??

She looked around yeah no one. Nerida quickly went back to her telescope and started looking through. Hmm which one would be here. Bootes... It was!! Yes!!!!

This was not the place where Sarah wanted to go at night.. unless there was someone's life to save. She held her wand tightly as she adjusted her telescope to her eyes and looked up. She needed to find bootes still..

What was that? Was that a sound? She must be imagining things. She looked up.. ywah there was bootes. There was no time to contemplate that item now, she had to get out of here ASAP! She ticked it off on her paper and ran towards the castle.