Forrest checked his watch as he entered the library. It was only an hour or so to his curfew time, and he hoped it would be enough. He also hoped that the librarian was away at dinner or something, because he didn't think what he was going to attempt would be considered well. He looked around and saw no one. GOOD. Maybe he really was in luck... he walked fast towards his destination, and halted by the infamous border of the section. He did NOT cross it, but just stood on it. Staring into the piles of books that looked dusty and old, but not dangerous. How could a book be dangerous? Not that he wanted to know how. All he wanted was a book about legilimency, but he had a feeling he would never get the permission for it. Maybe by staring, he could make a book move.

Yeeeeaaaah.

"Now, hide and don't make a sound while we're here in the library, animals are not allowed" said Sonea with a hiss to her two rats, who were now hiding inside her pocket.

Entering the library she looked around her, she wanted to have a few books with beauty spells and information how to make a potion to get more beautiful, but she had NEVER FOUND ANYTHING! she had searched for it during her second year and she was convinced that the librarian was hiding them in the forbidden section, and she wanted to have those book! Maybe she could read them inside the library and make a copy of them and return back... she wasn't so sure if it was a good idea to take the books out of the library because she didn't knew if the books were protected with a spell and if there would be a warning when she would take them away. So she had her schoolbag with her and inside her bag some tools to make a good copy.

And she was lucky, the librarian wasn't anywhere to be seen so she was more and more convinced that her plan would work! And if not, when she would see the librarian, than she could always say that she was searching for HIM because she needed help! But she didn't thought that the librarian would see her, she had looked careful around her before she was walking toward the forbidden section.

But... what? Why was that mudblood boy standing there? Oh, she wasn't allowed to call him that anymore, so she narrowed her eyes and looked at him. Why was he staring at the forbidden section, as if he WANTED to enter it? A smile crept over Sonea's face and she stepped slowly forward and stopped behind the boy. "What are you doing here?" whispered Sonea besides his ear and... She placed her hands on his back and tried to push him forward, hoping that he would stumble forward and INSIDE the forbidden section. She looked with a grin if her plan was working, she wanted him to enter the section first, so that she could follow him and even blackmail him to follow her...

Please book, come up and walk to daddy already? How long did he have to stare for? Ten minutes? Eleven? Twel--

"AAAAARGH I DIDN'T DO NOTHIN'--" WHAT WAS THIS SOMEONE WAS PUSHING HELP HELP--

The boy did not walk forward, but rather fell into the section. Crossing the border. Breaking the school rules.

It really was a miracle how he didn't faint. But his fall wasn't the most graceful either. It hurt, y'know? His knees and palms hurt, because he fell FACEDOWN. Right there. Making a scene, only there was NO ONE to help him and he was there all ALONE with his attacker--

He tried not to panic, but it was HARD and he just panicked MORE. He finally rolled around and before he had any time to see whether he was bleeding, he accidentally looked up to meet his attacker's gaze.

"Sonea?" His face only paled further. He feared this girl like he feared no one else. And it was HER again who'd deliberately sneaked up on him and pushed him.

Towards the Restricted Section.

To break rules.

He didn't even try to get up. What was the point? He was cursed anyway. Surely there was some alarm to call the librarian, and he was going to get detention no matter what. He wasn't going to spend his energy on this. Trying to hold back his tears of indignation was a better option, so he looked away from the stupid girl and just checked his knees and arms. Although they hurt horribly, they didn't bleed.

Could he cry now anyway?

Oh, her plan had worked and he had not only stepped inside the forbidden section, but he had fallen in it! Hmm, but... now that she looked at the boy she felt some pity for him so she knelt besides him, but still NOT crossing the line to the restricted section, and looked down at the boy. She wanted him to enter the forbidden section, but hurting him had not been her intention. So she asked him if he was okay, even if he was afraid of her or even would hate her. "Are you hurt?" She didn't hoped it, but she had needed to this, she needed to see if it was safe for her to cross the line.

The third year old looked careful around her, wondering if the librarian would be alarmed because Forrest had crossed the line. She wanted to run as fast as possible away if she would hear somebody coming and she would leave Forrest behind when she needed to. But... she didn't heard anything so... maybe she was lucky and there were no problems!

Grinning she crossed the line and offered the boy her hand to stand up, if he would accept her hand, not that she cared... "Why are you here? I didn't knew that you were interested in FORBIDDEN things!" the third year old spoke with a whisper, but she grinned while she spoke about him being interested in forbidden things.

What? Was Sonea actually asking him how he felt? Forrest blinked at her in confusion and even forgot about his pain and indignation. Was this a trap or nightmare? Maybe it was both. But it certainly was not 'none', because Sonea wasn't famous for her good heart.

Was he expected to answer? People answered questions, right? But what about questions from the most feared people? He didn't trust his voice to be straight. But maybe, with shock...

"No." That was all he could muster, and it concealed his fear. Good thing his voice was straight in this one-syllable answer. And good thing Sonea was just as distracted as he was, because he wanted to listen around for any signs of police sirens for his trespassing.

No one came, no one issued detentions.

He eyed her hand, and decided to deliberately ignore it. He got up by HIMSELF although it was pretty painful, and just refused to look at her. He wasn't going to give her that satisfaction. He was just going to leave--

"What? What are you talkin' about?" he snapped, glaring at her stupid grin. "I am not interested in anything. It's you." Let's get that clear, okay?

Ha, she even wasn't surprised that Forrest wasn't okay and didn't wanted her help, and if she was honest, she didn't wanted to help him or to give him a hand, he was dirty because he was a muggleborn, and muggleborns were dirty and they were stupid in general, so she had HOPED that he would refuse to take her hand, and.... She was lucky! She did a step away from him and looked in another direction, away from Forrest and deeper inside the restricted library. The library there looked darker and because of that it looked mysterious! She liked that...

With a sneaky look in her eyes she turned back to Forrest and folded her arms. "You can't go back Forrest... because... If you're going to do that i WILL tell everybody that i have saw YOU enter the restricted library all alone and that i was also curious and only wanted to see what you were doing here, so if you are going to tell anybody about me, i will get you also in trouble!" The third year old pointed with her finger at the boy and while she did that she smiled her best innocence smile at him.

"So... If your are a smart boy, and i'm sure that you can think a little for yourself, even now that you are a mud... A mugglebron than you are smart enough to help yourself and come with me! And if you're a good boy and listen to me, than i even will help you to search for a book YOU want to read!" She spoke to him as if she was talking to a little child and she liked it to do it, just to make him feel uneasy and to be in control of the situation.

Oh, what was she smart!!!

What? Why couldn't he go back now? Forrest opened his mouth to argue, but closed it after a short while as Sonea made herself clear.

...

He blinked and clenched his jaw tight.

......

Breathe... he couldn't breathe...

.........

"N--y--I--" No, NO, NO! This couldn't--she couldn't--NO! This was a nightmare. This was a nightmare and he was going to wake up THIS MOMENT WHY WASN'T HE WAKING UP!? His eyes watered and his head started to throb. This was reality. He was going to--he already had--break rules. Hufflepuff would lose points. He was going to cost them the House Cup. He remembered the conversation he'd had with Bristol. The girl had put up with him so far, but not anymore. Especially if he costed his house the cup. Everyone was going to hate him. He was going to break school rules and everyone was going to hate him and Bristol-Tobias-Minerva-Ella-far too many people to count--had Sonea ever heard of Azkaban? How they tortured people there? HAD SHE? He was too young to go to jail! He tried to breathe, but he couldn't. His breath was ragged, and he turned away just in time to hide his tears.

He was an IDIOT. He hated himself before anyone else.

"Lead the way," was all he could muster in a shaky voice, still hiding his face. Bristol's face flashed through his mind, and he winced. She was going to loathe him. Would she believe it had been Sonea's trap?

Oh, was he really listening to her? If somebody was trying to do this to HER she would just have ran away and IF a teacher would ask question she would just have pointed her finger to the other... But, apparently he wasn't so smart but that was a good thing for her! Yes, she didn't minded that he was't acting smart! There was nobody here to see them, so there was a good chance that if he would decide to run away that nobody would see him, but again, he wasn't so smart and she really, really liked that! She smiled her most sneaky smile at Forrest and placed her finger over her lips to show him that he needed to be silent and started to walk forward, heading to a big bookcase to hide behind it.

Standing behind a bookcase what was blocking the view from anybody who was looking at the restricted section she turned her attention to the not so smart boy and grinned again, she was now really excited about this and she now realized that she had missed it to do something what was not allowed, it gave her an adrenaline burst!

"Listen careful to me if you don't want to get in trouble... We need to work together now if we want to do this and we need to whisper all the time!" she herself was now also whispering and she pointed with her fingers toward her own lips to make her pint clear. "And... I'm the boss, so you need to listen to ME!" she now pointed at herself but just when she wanted to say something more she stopped, did she just had heard something? Worried she made a warning movement with her hands toward Forrest and listened, but when she didn't heard the sound again she realized that they needed to walk further. "Follow me" said Sonea in a low whisper and tried to walk as silent as possible toward the next bookcase to be a little further away from the entrance from the restricted section.

Sllence, silence, silence. Of course! Of course he had to keep quiet! Not only did he want to hide his fear of her, but also because there might be people to hear and report them.

Silence. If only he didn't want to cry.

She was clever enough to hide behind a bookcase, but that idea didn't even cross his mind. He was in the open right there; looking pathetic, scared and nervous. One last drop, and he was going to EXPLODE.

Work together... whisper all the time... she was the boss... follow her...

He covered his ears, though he didn't look like he knew what he was doing. He was trembling a little. He didn't follow her like she'd requested. On the contrary, he started to make NOISE.

"No, NO, NO! I WON'T follow you, I won't follow YOU, this is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG."

He was sweating coldly, and he looked awfully pale. Breaking school rules...

...someone save him.

It was well after dinner and the library visitors were thinning out as the student’s headed back to their common rooms in time for their curfews. Leobald was out on his usual night round of the library to check for forgotten belongings, misplaced books and just generally seeing that everything was in order before he himself called it a day and went back to his office. Passing by the front desk to drop off some forgotten belongings that he was going to give to the caretaker he heard a buzzing noise.

Walking around the counter to investigate the buzzing noise it got more intense and then he heard an agitated voice of a boy too. Someone had tripped the silent alarm in the restricted section!

Pulling out his wand Leo felt his mouth dry up as he with quick steps headed towards the roped off section of the library. One scenario after the other came to him as he hurried on. Were there burglars in the library? Was someone injured? Had a fire merlin forbid broken out among the prized tomes?
When the restricted finally came into view Leo was prepared for the worst and his pulse was so high that he could hear it beating in his ears. Quickly surveying the area he let out a LOUD sigh when he saw that there was no fire, no burglars just two second year student's.

Approaching them he called out as he recognized them. "Forrest, Sonea, what in the world is going on here? Did you two trip the restricted sections alarm?" And why was Forrest looking as pale as a ghost?

Okay, he did what she wanted, and that was a good thing, she didn't wanted to get caught here in this part of the library so it was a relieving thing that Forrest was doing what she wanted and stayed quite, until now... When she looked behind her from where she was hiding she saw that he just stood there while he looked as if he REALLY wanted to cry, like a STUPID little baby! A dump muggle mudblood baby!

WHY WAS HE STANDING THERE? was he stupid? Why didn't he hide like she did? Wanted he to get caught? She wanted to find her forbidden beauty potion and spells book! SHE REALLY WANTED TO HAVE HER BOOK! She looked around her with a worried look in her eyes and ran back toward the boy. "Come with me" hissed the third year and wanted to grab him by his arm when... Oh nooooo! Her eyes widened when she saw the librarian, and... He called for them! They were caught and it was HIS fault! He had been standing here so in the open, clear for everybody to see him! Why was this boy SOOOO stupid!

But... she needed to get herself out of trouble, and if he was smart he would do what she wanted and maybe he could help himself also. If the situation would be different than she would just have left this boy behind, but she needed him to get out of here...

Quickly, when the librarian was still on a safe distance she whispered something to the boy. "If you are smart and want to help yourself, than lie and help me, i have a plan" said Sonea quickly and with a low voice before she turned her attention to the librarian.

With her eyes big from a faked shock she looked up at the librarian when he was now almost besides them. "Oh, professor, i'm SOOO relieved to see you! We need help!" She did a step away from Forrest and looked at the librarian while she pointed at Forrest. "I saw that Forrest fell to the ground and i wanted to help him but he didn't wanted my help because... eh... well... he didn't trusted me after or fight last year... so he ran away from me! And i wanted to stop him because he seemed to be in pain and... the next moment i didn't recognized the library anymore!" she paused and looked with a faked confused look around her and than she turned her attention back to the librarian.

"Where are we? And what alarm?" The third year old frowned and looked AGAIN around her, faking again some confusion. "Eh, professor, i thing that it's better for Forrest to sit and to look if he is really injured, he had fallen really hard..."

Azkaban, Azkaban, here he came. It was bad, it was awful, it was horrendous!--and all for what? For he was too bloody curious? For Sonea was the worst person he'd ever met? Hands still over his ears, he knelt down and closed his eyes as he tried to take deep breaths. His mother'd said deep breaths would help, but they weren't helping at all. His mother--what would she think of him? Would she still love him? He started to rock back and forward slightly. Breaking rules... he was the worst person on earth.

He didn't hear the footsteps, nor did he hear Sonea's whispering. As he was facing away from the normal library, he didn't see the man coming either. He was just kneeling there, hands over his ears and eyes shut tightly. Forrest only noticed what was going on when the librarian addressed them. They were caught! He was going to jail! He couldn't... breathe... he gasped for air as he was still oblivious to their words. There were LOTS of words, but NONE made any sense to him now. His breath was ragged, and now his hands were on the ground in front of him too as he stood on all fours. He choked as his face got too red this time.

He was just... too young for jail.

No burglars, no fires but Sonea seemed to be in a state of shock. Why else was she talking so fast that Leo almost had trouble following along with what she was telling him had happened? Leo focused on bits of it. Forrest injured and in pain and Sonea didn’t recognize the library anymore? Having been there for their fighting next to the swamp Leo knew that Forrest had good reason not to trust Sonea. She was a snake and thus slippery as an eel in some situations. Could he trust her now?

Not showing any hints of scepticism he said. "Well it’s a good thing that I showed up when I did then isn’t it?" His eyes briefly fixated on Sonea as he asked just double-checking if she was okay or not. "Are you sure Forrest is the only one injured because you seem a little disoriented?" Pushing his wand back into its holster he gestured with a hand around them. "You are currently standing upon the entrance to the restricted section of the school library and it’s getting close to your curfew."

Going over to Forrest that was kneeling on all fours on the floor Leo crouched down beside him and put an arm around the boy’s shoulders. "How are you feeling dear? Where does it hurt? Do you need to see the healer?"

Words, many more of it from Professor Leo. Forrest didn't even try to listen. He felt spent. Rules... they were to be followed. What was he if he disobeyed them?

...a hand on the shoulder...more words...healer...would healer save him from Azkaban? Did that mean he had to walk? He couldn't walk.

"Yes." Please carry him or something?

Was he believing her? Oh, she hoped it because she didn't wanted to lose AGAIN some house points, not now that the school year has JUST started! But there were some things worse than losing house points... she remembered the detention professor Botros had given her the last year and... she shivered. She didn't wanted to be punished again like that! Her face had been covered with mud! The mud had made her ugly and she HATED it to be ugly! She wasn't ugly so she HATED it to walk around with a face like that!

"Yes, it's good that you are here so that Forrest didn't need to run away from me anymore..." She faked some curiosity while she asked her next question. "How did you know that we were here and that Forrest had fallen? Did you hear us?" She tried to sound innocent, but the real reason why she was asking this was that she wanted to know WHAT the librarian knew and how long he had been watching them. She needed to know this because she needed to change her plan if he had seen what they were doing...

"I'm okay, i just tried to figure out where we are, i don't remember that I've been here before, or is the library changed while i was home during the summer vacation?" And again, she faked a surprised look while she stared at the librarian. She did her best to NOT get caught this time so she NEEDED to tell a good lie and she hoped that the librarian would believe her AND that Forrest wasn't doing anything stupid this time. But if she was honest she didn't really trusted Forrest, he was a Mudblood after all and they were all stupid, so she hoped that he would kept his mouth shut and to let HER do all the talking. Luckily he didn't had done something stupid for now...

"Oh! A.. Are we already in the restricted section?" she tried to sound worried while she widened her eyes. "I didn't knew that professor! You need to believe me!" she pointed at Forrest while she turned her attention to the hurt boy. "I just... wanted to see what he was doing..." She eyed Forrest darkly, trying to show that she really was annoyed now.

Luckily the librarian now turned his attention to Forrest so that she had some more time to think about this lie and how she could safe herself. But while she tried to think of a solution she watched Forrest, worried that he would say something stupid, but... Wow! He did exactly what she wanted! Or he was really in pain or he was also fooling the librarian... But, she didn't really cared WHAT he was doing, as long as he did it good!

Standing up for a moment Mr Kitridge turned to meet Sonea's eyes as he explained. "I have an alarm system set in place to alert me if someone is walking around where they shouldn’t be without permission." And screaming voices works too. But he left that part out. He wasn’t exactly interested in discussing the library’s layout with her but he commented kindly just the same. "The library looks pretty much like it did last year. Only difference is that I’ve furbished a room adjacent to the study areas into a room with information on all known wizarding professions." It was nice to hear though that she was okay even if Leo was going to escort them to see Cece to get them both checked out.

Trying to keep his pulse from rising again out of anger this time Leo gestured with an irritated hand gesture behind Sonea at the big sign and the visible chains over the shelves as he said curtly. "You aren't in the restricted section luckily enough for you both. If you had been you'd have both earned yourself a hefty point loss and a detention faster than you can say liquorice wands."

"This time I'm only giving you both a stern warning. If I find you both here a second time this year I won't be as forgiving. The restricted section is not a place where you muck about for pleasure is that clear?" Leo let his eyes dart over to Forrest. They wouldn't leave before both Forrest and Sonea had said that they understood.

Sonea... was actually being good? Could he call it that, or did she just want to get out of this, er, mess? He was going to believe the latter, but she did a wonderful job of getting them out of trouble. From what he understood, she wasn't lying that much either. She just left out some parts. Other than that, she was telling the truth. Kind of. In an excellent way, too. If he wasn't so worried for himself, he would have appreciated her brain.

No one helped him up. Maybe the professor didn't see how much shaken he was? Whatever the reason, it was kind of rude. He didn't show his annoyance though. His muscles felt less weaker, so he got up on his own and eyed the professor. He wasn't going to look at Sonea, though. Never. He was done trusting the girl.

...

"Pardon?" They were... he was... he was setting them FREE! He laughed maniacally shortly before composing himself. "I mean, I understand completely." No detention, no point loss!

YESSSSSSSSSS. He owed Sonea one.

A alarm! Ohhh! Sonea opened her mouth surprised, and she didn’t faked anything this time, no she was now really careful because she needed to remember this if she wanted to do something against the rules again. She didn’t knew where the alarm had been installed and if it was just a tool or magic, but she now knew that she needed to be more careful the next time, and she was sure that she would do something against the rules again, when she didn’t knew, but she was sure that she wasn’t able to behave herself all the time. But… it was now more importantly to get herself out of trouble, and she needed Forrest for it, to play along with her. And if her plan was working than she needed to make clear to Forrest that she didn’t had helped him because she wanted to get him out of trouble, no… she only used him to safe herself and he could help himself by helping her…

Hmm, the librarian was… not acting as if he was angry with them or if they were in trouble, he just answered her question seriously! Okay, she needed now to fake some interest and nodded to the professor while he spoke, showing him that she listened to him and that she really was interested. But… the truth was that she didn’t cared at all for the library and she wouldn’t have seen any changes even if all the bookshelves would be painted purple with golden spots on it… No, she didn’t knew that the librarian had made some changes, but she needed to act like she cared about it!

Oh… they… weren’t in the restricted section? Oh, they were really lucky, but she was sad at the same time. She had failed! She still wanted to find her forbidden potion and beauty spellbook! Hmm, now she needed to think of a other way to find the right book, but trying again to enter the restricted section wasn’t so smart at the moment… So trying it again was not a option, not now and not in a few weeks.

Bah, could he read her mind? She just wanted to return in a few months to try it again, hoping that he would have forgotten it, a few months was longer than a few weeks, but… He had warned them that they would be in real trouble if he would find them here again, so IF she wanted to have her book, she needed to get it in a different way, hmm, could she buy it secretly?

But, that was not something she needed to worry about, not now when she was still in the library. “I have understood it sir” said Sonea calmly while she tried to not look at Forrest. The boy was now standing and the librarian hasn’t helped him, ha! He was acting like a lunatic while he laughed so she really tried to NOT look at him, she didn’t wanted to get herself in trouble because he was acting like a creasy person…

From somewhere in the library a clock chimed reminding Leo that he needed to escort Sonea and Forrest back to their respective common rooms. He was going to notify Hecate and Josephina of where he had found then too just as a routine since they would be arriving after their curfew’s had started.

Forrest's manic laugh caused Leo to turn to study the young boy closely. Was he really all right? Satisfied that both Sonea and Forrest seemed to have taken his warning seriously he moved over to put an arm around Forrest’s shoulders to steady the boy who minutes ago had been standing on all four looking as if he was about to pass out or worse. "Let's get going then, shall we? Your curfews have already started a few minutes ago and I expect that your head's of houses are wondering where you are."

Steering Forrest in the direction of the library door Leo said to Sonea. "I'll follow you to the dungeons, but we'll stop by the kitchen first to see to that Forrest get's back to his common room safely first." Getting in motion Leo expected Sonea to follow as he started to walk towards the library door.

New timeline for Alexa Cambridge.

Leading Alexa over to the Restricted section Leo heard the voice in his head going over and over how not right this was. He ignored it all and walked up to stand with a good protective distance from the book section where the shelves shook and books rattled against their chains. Holding out his hand to stop Alexa from going much further Mr Kitridge said "That's the furthest you can walk. I don't want you to get injured." he gestured with a thumb over his shoulder.

"This is the restricted section. This is where the books both of dark, evil and dangerous origin reside." Leo lectured in a low voice. Now that she had seen the section could they leave?

OMG!!!! OMGOMGOMGOMG!!!

Alexa had practically erupted with excitement when the Librarian gave in and said he'd take her to the restricted section. He said he wouldn't do it again without written permission and she nodded enthusiastically. Yup. Got it. One time deal. Restricted section. Killer books. EEEeeeeep!!!

Lex drew her wand as was instructed and followed behind Mr. Kitridge. The first thing she noticed was all the books rattling against their chains. Poor babies. They just wanted some time to play. While they walked she tried reaching out to touch one but immediately withdrew her hand when what looked like a fanged book tried taking off her finger through the chains. "Cool...." She muttered under her breath, not at all put off. On the contrary, she wanted to see MOAR so WHY pray tell was Mr. Kitridge signalling for them to stop?

As far as she went? No. No no no no NO. No. She hadn't even seen half the books yet. No. Seeing as he was nice enough to comply she wouldn't throw a fit, she'd bide her time and listen to him speak. "Fascinating. What's further down this way?" She asked, casually stepping off in that direction. Pay no attention to the curious Gryffindor, wand out, ready to get a better look.