Hearing Bay's whispered request, Jasmine replied, "Of course you can". She reached out and handed him a couple of the nice warm blankets. "You have to be freezing."

Jasmine stood back and listened to the conversation. She didn't like the thought of anyone going into the Forbidden Forest without sufficient back up. Two Professors and three students did not seem like an adequate posse to her. There had to be more people coming to help out.......she hoped.

Voices were heard and more light was seen as the humans congregated at the entrance to the FORBIDDEN forest, thus waking the second acromantula from its slumber. Clacking their pincers, the two enormous spiders communicated with one another while staying hidden in the shadows.

For now.

In his eagerness to get out to the grounds and find the sparks Leo had forgotten to bring a jacket, gloves and a cap against the teeth chattering winter air. If someone was in trouble you had to act swiftly. Turning to Victor as he stepped up next to him he shrugged worriedly. "I'm not sure. It had to be a person(s) who sent up the flairs. Only witches and wizards use wands." There were of course the occasional house elf that had come upon wands but Leo highly doubted that this was the case this time.

It was by that time that Piers joined fully dressed for the investigation in a thick coat and a scarf. Nodding Leo confirmed. "Hello Professor Fuller. Yes, the sparks undoubtedly came from somewhere inside the forbidden forest. We need to go in there and investigate to see too that nobody is injured or in danger." Shivering in the biting cold Leo was about to suggest heading into the forbidden forest since really there was no use standing around in the cold when prefect Cassia and Jasmine from his own house showed up with blankets. Accepting a blanket from Cassia he said. "Thank you Cassia and Jasmine. We are going into the forest to see if we can find the person(s) who sent up the sparks. Will you two join us or head back to the castle?" It seemed like a good idea to provide them with the option Leo reasoned since the forbidden forest was a risky place after all.

Join them in the Forbidden Forest? What? Ten minutes ago Jasmine was sitting in the Library, relatively warm and talking about magical creatures. Now she was being invited into the Forbidden Forest where there were........things. How did this happen? Her first instinct was to run back to the castle as fast as she could never look back, but her conscience would not let her go. If there was someone in the forest that needed assistance, she had to do her part to try to help.

This crazy conversation was going on inside Jasmine's head. She was not a brave Gryffindor, she was a Ravenclaw. She was supposed to be the smart one and the smart thing to do would be to leave while she had the chance........but she could not do it. Before she knew what she was doing, the good Jasmine spoke up. "I'll go with you", Jasmine said. She immediately wondered if she had done the right thing, but it was too late to turn back now, wasn't it? Man, she sure wished that she had been there for the entire "How to handle creatures when they were out of control" meeting.

It was really really cold. The more she stood there the more she realized that. It was very considerate of Professor Thompson to send them with these, else the group wouldn't have been able to go anywhere or achieve anything. Since it's pretty hard concentrating on stalking and investigating creepy flashes while you froze out and struggled to breath.

Seeing that Jasmine gave Bay a blanket, Cassia offered one for mister Kitridge and there was still one available for Professor Fuller. Did he want one or did he have some warming charm going on because that'd be really smart and handy. Unless he had different things on his mind. Like what/who on Earth they were looking for and where could it have gone.

"I'll stay as well," She said. As much as fun the creatures meeting was, this seemed really exciting. If only Lex was here, the Gryffindor would enjoy such occasions. But not worry, if the snake knew one thing it was telling stories with the needed amount of dramatic effects. Alexa would feel like she was here. And since she was staying, the snake wrapped a blanket around herself. There was still two available. In case someone needed an extra one.

Sooo, it was adventure time it seemed. Cassia was on full alert and was waiting for the professors to give directions.

Bay stood there all wrapped up in the blanket.. "thank you" he said to Jasmine. okay now it was time to get his body temp back up. Listening he waited to see what they were going to do.. and yup he was right.. they were going to go into the forest.. and the invited the girls the come along.. sounded good in his book more people the better.

"so whats the plan Professor?" he was wondering if they were going to split up in groups of three and two or if they were going to go in all together.

Okay, okay, enough chit chat. There was potentially a student in danger out there and now they had a little pack of investigators to get going. Fuller didn't take a blanket, though he did appreciate Javy's kind thoughts. If the Creatures man knew he was out here... welp. He could deal with that later.

"Let's go," Piers said urgently, taking the first step into the thick of the forest. It was cold and there was no time to waste, so he started the journey into the forest, holding his lit wand out so he could step over large branches and roots and wave spiderwebs away.

After some consideration Cassia and Jasmine decided to stay and be a part of the investigation team going into the forest. "Take your wands out and keep vigilant. The forest is a dangerous place especially at night." Leo instructed Bay, Cassia and Jasmine. Changing the grip of his own wand he let his blanket drop. He couldn't carry that in the forest. To Bay he said "The plan is to go into the forest. Find whoever sent up the sparks and get out quickly."

On Piers order Leo ushered the student's to come along as he too took the first steps into the thick forest. With his wand lit he walked cautiously over roots and branches after Piers shivering in the cold.

The group was ready to head into the Forbidden Forest and Jasmine had her wand at the ready. Saying, "Lumos", her wand produced a beam of light to help her see along the way. Unlike the men, Jasmine preferred to keep her blanket around her as long as possible. She would have no problem discarding it should the situation warrant that.

As they began to enter the forest, Jasmine was on high alert. Eyes darting side to side, she tried to be on the lookout for anything.......out of the ordinary. She wished that she had Professor Cassie's spidey sense right about now.

The clacking of the two acromantulas' pinchers intensified as the humans moved forward and intruded on their forest. At least the rude female who had woken the first with her sparks was not with this group. The tribe had had quite enough of her presence in the forest poking her nose where it did not belong and overall being a nuisance in their territory. Nests, as she had so tactlessly referred to it the last time they had encountered her here.

"What business do you have here?" the first spider questioned as it marched out from the shadows in front of the humans as it waved one of its eight thick hairy legs at them menacingly. "Humans need not tread here. It is unsafe."

"We have warned the strange speaking woman before to stay away, and yet she does not listen. Now you are here," bellowed the second as it too appeared from the shadows and scurried its way around the human group to the back. "Why?"

With the humans sandwiched between the two acromantulas, they waited impatiently with their pinchers clacking together for answers.

So they were here to track down the source of the sparks. Both men didn't seem to have an idea about what the cause might be. Or if they did they didn't show it.

Falling into steps behind them, Cassia drew out her wand and contemplated lighting it up. She then decided against it, it might bring too much unnecessary attention. And it was possible to see now that two of them had cast Lumos. She just needed to watch out where she stepped. Tripping and falling would only slow them down and they didn't need that.

So on she walked with the others and nearly jumped out of her skin when something appeared in front of them and started talking. GULP.

Squinting ahead, the snake noticed that there was only one. That until she heard the second one speak. Needless to say that neither of them sounded friendly. And did they say other woman. What other woman? She wondered if a professor had beat them to the forest to question the sparks but surely they'd have seen her. Strange speaking woman, though.

Instinctively, she tightened her grip on her wand and pointed it at one of the spiders. Juuust in case. She remained silent though, better let the adults do the talking.

O_O

Two gigantic spiders where did they come from?

Gulping down hard Leo flashed a glance at the kids and exchanged a look with Piers of worry before he responded his throat slightly dry as he took a little step forward to protect the kids. "We have come in here to find the human(s) who sent up the sparks over the forest. Are any humans here inside the forest besides us? Can you take us to them? We promise to escort them out."

Why had Lolita made trips to the forbidden forest again and again even though the acromantulas had cautioned her against it? "Have you seen the strange speaking lady in the forest today?" Leo asked doing his best to ignore the sound of the two spiders clicking pincers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ACROMANTULAS!

The clacking of the two acromantulas' pinchers intensified as the humans moved forward and intruded on their forest. At least the rude female who had woken the first with her sparks was not with this group. The tribe had had quite enough of her presence in the forest poking her nose where it did not belong and overall being a nuisance in their territory. Nests, as she had so tactlessly referred to it the last time they had encountered her here.

"What business do you have here?" the first spider questioned as it marched out from the shadows in front of the humans as it waved one of its eight thick hairy legs at them menacingly. "Humans need not tread here. It is unsafe."

"We have warned the strange speaking woman before to stay away, and yet she does not listen. Now you are here," bellowed the second as it too appeared from the shadows and scurried its way around the human group to the back. "Why?"

With the humans sandwiched between the two acromantulas, they waited impatiently with their pinchers clacking together for answers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordic Witch

O_O

Two gigantic spiders where did they come from?

Gulping down hard Leo flashed a glance at the kids and exchanged a look with Piers of worry before he responded his throat slightly dry as he took a little step forward to protect the kids. "We have come in here to find the human(s) who sent up the sparks over the forest. Are any humans here inside the forest besides us? Can you take us to them? We promise to escort them out."

Why had Lolita made trips to the forbidden forest again and again even though the acromantulas had cautioned her against it? "Have you seen the strange speaking lady in the forest today?" Leo asked doing his best to ignore the sound of the two spiders clicking pincers.

Piers continued the hunt, occasionally looking back to make sure they hadn't lost any students. When he turned his head back to the front, he noticed two very GIANT black, shiny eyeballs right in front of his face. Those eyeballs were attached to... a giant spider. Acromantula. Oh, no, TWO acromantulas. Brilliant.

As the spiders began to speak, Fuller carefully guided the students between himself and the Librarian, just in case the hairy spiders wanted to get nasty.

He nodded at Leo. He seemed a bit shaky, but he was asking the right questions. He wondered what the spiders meant by "strange speaking lady". That could have meant a foreigner, that could have meant a teenage girl. Teenage girls communicated in very strange ways. "Where is she?" And could they stop clacking their pinchers around? It was creepy.

okay.. so they were going to go into the forbidden forest.. wand in hand he followed until they were stopped but the huge spider.. gulp and it was speaking.. letting the Professor's take care of this he stood there thinking of spells just in case the thing decided to charge at them. He had a few in mind.. but he had to keep focus..

wait.. they were talking about a strange speaking lady.. and Professor Fuller seemed totally worried.

Well Jasmine was looking for something out of the ordinary and she found it. Ahead of them were two annoyed looking Acromantulas who were repeatedly clicking their pincers. This could not be good. Jasmine listened as the Professors spoke. Hopefully everyone would remain calm and not do anything crazy.

The clicking of the pincers did not stop. In fact it intensified as the two giant spiders communicated with each other about the silly humans who wanted an escort into the forest. And to look for that crazy lady of all things. "Do you humans make it a habit of not listening when you have been warned? First the lady with the funny accent, and now you want us to lead you into the forest to look for her. I'm sure if she is still in there it will not be a pretty site. Our children have been very hungry lately, and with her not heading our advice to stay away..." The bigger of the acromantulas trailed off while looking towards the other one behind the group.

"You really don't know what you are asking for here, but follow me. We will show you where we last seen the crazy one. Just know this. We can not and will not promise your safety once inside the depths of the forest." It would be every man and student for themselves. Turning around, the big one lead the way as the other one followed behind.

Yes humans, we have you trapped here.

.....

..........

................

A chill ran down her spine and it wasn't the cold since the blanket did a very good job of providing warmth. It was the the spider's words. Whoever that lady with the accent could have been a meal for the creatures. GULP. Or was the spider trying to frighten them off, because it worked the minute those pincers started to move.

Cassia's hand remained on her wand and she looked from Kitridge to Fuller. They seemed to know what they were asking. And despite the fear, the snake found herself curious to find out who this woman they were referring to was. Plus the two men seemed like they really wanted to know who she was and it meant there was something more the students didn't know. Great, she was willing to risk her life to find out about shifty stuff. That happens when spending lots of time with Gryffindors.

However, she convinced herself she had nothing to fear. Two grown-up wizards were here and she was not bad herself with hexes. She liked to believe she could handle herself if anything happened. Not that she wanted to test that.

When the creature started walking, the seventh-year waited for the professors to take the first step then she'd follow.

The clicking pincers creeped Leo out but he did his best not to show it. Shaking his head he protested against the acromantulas accusations. "We most definitley heed warnings but if a human is potentially in trouble then we have to go into places that are unsafe." It was what they had to do in order to help whoever had sent up the sparks.

The statement that the baby spiders were hungry didn't make Leo less creeped out it only made his determination to find Lolita firmer. "We have to take our chances. The lady is our colleague." He stated with a glance over at Piers.

As one of the acromantulas agreed to lead them to where Lolita was last seen Leo said with a look over at Bay, Cassia and Jasmine. "Let's go! Keep close, stay together and most of all keep vigilant of the forests inhabitants."

Starting to walk after the acromantula deeper into the thick forest Leo hoped that they'd find the lady with the strange accent for all he knew it could be one of a number of his female colleagues with strange accents since there were a few.

following in their steps to make sure he didn't get lost Bay listened while they were talking to those huge spiders.. wait.. the lady is a colleague.. that can only be two choices, either Professor Romanos… or the new Professor he had met on their summer school trip.. and he didn't see either on his way down.. gulp he really hoped that they would be okay.

Seeing Mr.Kitridge stepping deeper into the forest Bay had tighter his grip on his blanket that was the only thing keeping him warm right now, thank goodness that he had just recently learned about the Kenaz rune to help keep a fire.. it might come in handy.

He lifted his wand and said "Lumos" man it was ever dark and scary in here.. why couldn't this person need help during the day time and when it wasn't a bloody storm outside. brrrrrr… his teeth were starting to chatter.. "think warm thoughts" he told himself as they were flanked by the huge spiders… it made him feel less comfortable.. one was in front and one as in the back.. like they were guests at dinner… ewwww.. he hoped not.. he'd really like to live.

The acromantulas did not bother listening to the man as he carried on about the crazy lady. For all they cared, she could stay out there and freeze. It wasn't their problem she was out there, they had already warned her to stay away.

As they traveled deeper into the forest, they continued clicking and clacking their pincers as a warning to anyone around. They might have also been letting their children know about the humans. No need in letting a fresh meal go to waste. One never knew when they might get another one like this.

Once they were in the heart of the forest the spiders stopped. "There," the bigger one said looking off in the distance. "The crazy woman seems to like that area."

Now where was she? This spider was getting hungry.

The Forest was already dark, but it got even darker and mistier the deeper you went in. In the thicker parts of the forest, lurking in the shadows were the Monsters. There were intruders in their territory and they did not like intruders.

A whole pack of the Monsters emerged from the trees. In the darkness, it is difficult to tell what they are, just know, they are BIG. With their natural defenses intact, the Monsters attacked first the spiders, deeply goring the large one in front before pushing them aside to attack the humans. A few Monsters got rowdy enough to scratch and bite the man in front (Leo) and the student beside him (Victor) while knocking the others to the ground.

The Monsters did not mean to kill, just harm the humans enough to scare them so they would not return to their home in the forest. Once the damage was done, they vanished back into the thickness of the trees, leaving the humans and the spiders once again to themselves.

Bay was still walking and it was getting creepier by the second and he could barely see infront on him and was his mind playing tricks on him because he thought he heard nosies. Wrapping the blanket closer around him to feel more secure which he knew wouldnt help at all but he tried to think it was. He was just about to ask the older men a question ehen the huge spider infront of him was being ripped apart by something huge. He couldnt see, bay fumbled for his wand and before he knew his these thing or things were after the search party.

Bay screamed like he has never done before in his life "AHHHHH" he felt a scratch and he thought that hurt. Wiggling on the ground he felt it bite him... More screaming came from his throat. He had no clue what was happening around him or to the rest of the group, all he felt right now was sheer pain.

Those damn spiders really needed to work on their bedside manner.

The attack happened rather fast. He heard the movement before he saw it, thanks to the darkness of the forest. He shot a few defensive spells blindly at the large masses that were attacking, but it was so quick and sudden, that he wasn't able to do much damage before he was knocked onto his back on the ground, getting the wind knocked right out of him.

And then they were gone. Once Piers regained his breath, he scrambled onto his knees to evaluate the others. "Is anyone hurt?!" he shouted, trying to remain calm as he shined his wand light over them. That's when he noticed Leo and the Gryffindor boy were injured. He gestured to the other students who were not hurt. "Help me get them up. We need to get them out of here." Whoever sent the sparks was long gone now. He gestured to the Gryffindor boy while Piers went to assist Leo. He figured he could help the grown man more than the students could.

Everything happened so fast. One minute she was walking slowly her eyes darting to the sides in preparation for anything and the second minute she found herself on the ground. It was dark so she barely so anything especially with the others' wands being knocked down to the ground as well meaning she wasn't the only one.

What told her that it was absolutely not okay was Bay's scream. It made here push herself up off the ground cutting her hands in the process and trudging closer to him. Her legs weren't really injured but her knees had troubles keeping her up.

"I...I'm fine..." she breathed answering mister Fuller. Save for the mild heart attack. Crouching down next to Victor, the snake reached for her blanket that fell on the ground when she was knocked out and threw it over the Gryffindor. It appeared that Mr.Kitridge was down, too.

Sliding her hand behind Victor's back, Cassia looked around for Jasmine, to make sure she was alright. She also thought they could carry him out together, the Ravenclaw girl from a side and Cassia from the other one. That'd be tiring though, and they were shaken as it is already. Drawing out her wand which she just picked up from the ground, she cleared her throat, "Wingardium Leviosa," A shaky swish and flick. But it worked.

The Acromantulas were big and scary. It didn't help that they mentioned how hungry their children were. And they were supposed to follow the spiders deeper into the forest? As the group started to walk behind the Acromantulas, Jasmine had a bad feeling.

The only warning they had was a rustling sound and then it was total chaos. Jasmine heard a scream and the next thing she knew she was on the ground. Jasmine hit the ground hard and it left her momentarily stunned. Feeling something on her arm, she realized that she must have cut herself during the fall. Once she was able to recover and catch her breath, Jasmine slowly got up. It was extremely dark and her wand had been knocked from her hand when she fell. Feeling around on the ground, she was able to find it and quickly lit it. As she lit her wand, Jasmine heard Professor Fuller ask for help. It was then that she saw Bay and Mr. Kitridge still on the ground and injured.

Rushing over to Bay, Jasmine saw that Cassia was already there, apparantly OK. She was trying to move Bay and Jasmine was there to help. Trying to comfort him, Jasmine said, "Don't worry." "We're going to get you out of here." They would have to get out of the forest quickly because it was no telling how badly Bay and Mr. Kitridge had been hurt.