Jaden was surprised to see the two shadows come running at them. He still couldn’t quite make out who they were, or what house they were even from (you’d have to be about three feet away for that) so his first instinct was to panic.
“SAM… Sam they’re running at us, WE’RE GONNA GET IN TROUBLE quick quick HIDE,” Jaden wasn’t thinking rationally (honestly when did he) the girls obviously knew where they were standing. He glanced quickly at the two girls before scrabbling up into the tree, hissing for Sam to join him. He hadn’t noticed one of the figures land in a bush with a small plop.
“OHOOOH NO, BRO. I am NOT touching that—” any fear of falling or six-legged freaks of nature became a second priority when the muted crunch of snapping twigs forced his hands into an embarrassingly futile scramble to follow Jaden. If they fell, that was a chance to get away and there was 100% not a chance he’d let that pass.
Jaden’s feet were in the way—that was the excuse he gave himself—and he had probably not climbed anything higher than train steps in a Very Long Time. Sam floundered about for a while with the lowest branch he could reach, snapping off several chunks of bark from the unfortunate tree, before managing to fling himself halfway over the limb next to Jay.
He halfheartedly kicked his legs a few times in an attempt to pull himself the rest of the way up and completely failed, so there he stayed draped like a dead cat and hoping that whoever was after them was too short to reach him.
Rubbing her nose (it certainly wasn’t painless to fall on it after all), Ellie lifted her head without actually bothering to fully get up and looked around. The bushes and the undergrowth were in the way but she didn’t really give it much thought so when she couldn’t see her friend anywhere, she just assumed she had disappeared. In what way disappearing friends were okay, no one can be entirely sure, but Ellie believed that maybe Alice had found an ingenious way to hide.
She, on the other hand, lacked hiding ideas but certainly didn’t intend to do any more running. The two boys in the distance had now taken to climbing a tree, and it seemed like one of them was either having some trouble, or had been hung to dry on a branch much like a sad discarded sock. While divination wasn’t Ellie’s best subject she could easily foresee herself sharing his fate if she attempted to go up a tree, and just then she realised that her hair was now full of leaves and could be suitable camouflage - it naturally looked a bit like a nest or tumbleweed anyway. Lying on the ground was certainly more comfortable than running or climbing, and her natural laziness confirmed it: she had found the perfect hideout. Sort of.
am i a good wizard now
apparently you need to see the hi-res because tumblr hates me
Ellie had been pretty sure it was two people at first, but considering the sounds they made she was beginning to wonder if Alice had in fact startled menagerie escapees. Whatever they were the noise was pretty amusing and she couldn’t help but giggle, but was interrupted by someone shouting “HEY”. It sounded like it was followed by another sentence but Ellie couldn’t quite catch it, so she turned to Alice with a questioning look.
It was disappointing to know they were just ordinary people though (her mind had already made up a few new species to be discovered on hearing their cries). She was contemplating whether or not to say “HEY” in return but scaring them had been fun and a “hey” would ruin the effect, although now she was starting to get worried about them.
So as usual, she ended up seeking someone else’s opinion (or in this case, Alice’s): “Do you think we should apologise or…?”
“Hmmm, I don’t know actually….”
The initial glee at scaring the other two had worn off, and Alice’s throat was now sore from the effort of even magically shouting. Not to mention the headache she now had from it. She was worried she’d given Ellie one too….
She took one step, then stopped, suddenly dizzy. Ugh….what was WRONG with her today? Couldn’t she handle even 2 idiots without panicking?
There was a loud slamming noise from behind her and she spun round, heart pounding. Was that a…teacher….coming towards them?
Oh god, this was all my fault. It was that bloody SPELL, I must have been too loud!
Well, I’m definitely not going to get caught out here.
Mouthing ‘Run!” to the unaware Ellie (she didn’t want to risk shouting again, and anyway, she couldn’t) she began to sprint towards the trees- right towards those boys, hoping her friend was fast enough and that they had realised what was going on too.
Ellie noticed Alice was feeling uneasy but didn’t really know what was going on. As she was about to ask, Alice suddenly took to her feet (and she may or may not have said “run”, Ellie wasn’t really sure).
In her confusion she just followed her friend without even checking what was happening. Perhaps someone else had heard the shout? Or maybe the two boys’ sounds had attracted one of the species she had made up in her head (she wasn’t quite ready to dismiss the possibility after all) and her friend hadn’t realised that the Snarfies actually use those two sets of horns to attract a mate and not to stab students skipping class. Maybe “Snarfie” wasn’t a suitable name for such a glorious animal after all but—
And then she realised she was actually running.
“Okay, Ellie, remember, you have to breathe properly” she thought. “Firstly, nose NOT mouth…”
But she kept on gasping for breath instead of following her own advice, and soon enough she was so dizzy she wasn’t really sure if she was running towards two boys, or two trees, or two Snarfies, or maybe four boys, and then her mind drifted onto considering the possibility of tying one’s own feet into a knot which was precisely what she felt when she fell face-down into a bush.
Ellie blinked rapidly, trying to make out whether she had gone too far in spacing out again or if she’d actually seen something. Just then, she heard Alice mumble something.
“Alice?” she asked. “Did you see that or was it just me?”
She supposed they could have been real since her friend was staring in the same direction, and her mind usually had better things to occupy itself with rather than silhouettes of people. But if they were real, just who (or what) were they running away from? What if something bad had happened to them? Or what if something bad was about to happen? People don’t just run away like that, you know.
(All the negative predictions in Divination class were probably taking their toll, as was the worry after having skipped it.)
Alice had almost completely forgotten her friend had been with her- once again, it was like Ellie had simply appeared in mid-air. Maybe she had- she was so quiet and off into her own world that half the time they could be sitting down side by side reading and completely forget the other was there! Typical.
She shifted uneasily from foot to foot. “Yeah, I definitely saw them.” She paused, frowning at barely hidden boys in the forest. Were they really being this stupid, hiding and snickering like a bunch of naughty first years? Ugh. “I think it’s time to stop messing around. I’m going to go speak with them.”
“Sonorus” she whispered, pointing her wand at her throat. Haha. They wouldn’t know what was coming now.
“HEY, YOU TWO IN THERE.”
Sam and the toad on his shoulder made very similar frightened squeaks and he looked at Jaden, wide-eyed. “Aw, we’re in for it NOW.”
He didn’t actually have anything helpful to say. Just that, sort of preparing himself for the inevitable being-caught and fall from splendor, back to being a normal student with normal responsibilities and even a degree of free time… No, that would be terrible. He’d never live it down. EVER. And for such a dumb reason, too! Sam contemplated lobbing Wocket at the approaching girls and making a dash for the darker trees before they could figure out it was prefects sneaking around, but by then there was no point in it and it would suck if only Jaden got caught…
He let his arms fall at his sides and slumped back against a conveniently near tree, watching the speaker now. Sure, they could definitely not get out of this. “HEY. Uh, how’s it goin’?”
Jaden made an undignified squeak-screech, something skin to a dog getting its tail stepped on while a horse gave birth. Fortunately, it was semi-drowned out by Sam and Wocket’s lovely chorus. Well there went his plan. Clapping one hand over his mouth and the other against the tree, he tried to calm down. If he was expecting anything it certainly wasn’t that.
A distant part of his mind noted that Lily had scrambled up said tree after the voice sounded. Jaden stared hard at the tree and… he figured if he could climb it, he could probably coach Sam up it, too. Until Sam called out to the girls. Nevermind that idea.
“Fuck it, man, let’s just go out and see who it is. It might be some girls from my class, we have this hour free right now. Not everyone is a delinquent like you,” Jaden stopped bothering with whispering, and spoke in his normal volume, poking Sam at the end of his tirade.
Ellie had been pretty sure it was two people at first, but considering the sounds they made she was beginning to wonder if Alice had in fact startled menagerie escapees. Whatever they were the noise was pretty amusing and she couldn’t help but giggle, but was interrupted by someone shouting “HEY”. It sounded like it was followed by another sentence but Ellie couldn’t quite catch it, so she turned to Alice with a questioning look.
It was disappointing to know they were just ordinary people though (her mind had already made up a few new species to be discovered on hearing their cries). She was contemplating whether or not to say “HEY” in return but scaring them had been fun and a “hey” would ruin the effect, although now she was starting to get worried about them.
So as usual, she ended up seeking someone else’s opinion (or in this case, Alice’s): “Do you think we should apologise or…?”
Gryffindors? Well, that wasn’t a hard decision. Sam nodded and marched very deliberately towards the trees, figuring that spiders were better than Gryffindors because at least they weren’t BULLIES. They were just scary. Wocket chirped in his pocket at the sudden bouncing when he broke into a full-on sprint for the trees, Jaden close behind him and he was pretty sure his (majestic and REALLY COOL) cloak might have been almost whacking his friend in the face, blown back so intensely. Like a superhero’s, except they were running in the exact opposite direction of Good Lawful Civilian Activities.
He ducked between the trees, spinning on his heel to look at Jaden and flashing him a lopsided grin. “I hope it’s someone good, then, and not a prefect! That would be a little TOO rebellious.” Sam scrambled back a little ways into the undergrowth and focused on watching the approaching figure and not the possibility of spiders. He fished Wocket out and plopped the little toad on his shoulder, just in case.
Jaden’s smile widened as Sam began marching determinedly. He began to follow Sam’s apparent lead when a flash of orange caught his eye and his cat hurled herself into his arms. He bent down slightly to catch her, and scratched her ears in That One Spot he lifted his head to find Sam sprinting. Adjusting Lily in his arms for a firmer grip, he took off after Sam, his sneakers making little noise on the soft grass. Seeing Sam running faster than he was, he doubled the efforts to catch up, managing to be within arm’s length of the wildly flailing cloak. If that cloak never choked Sam at least once in his life Jaden would be severely disappointed.
Finally catching up with Sam, he sidestepped to behind a tree, gently lowering his cat, who wound around Sam’s legs. “Heheh. Yeah. Who needs… rebellion anyways?” Panting, Jaden peeked around the tree’s trunk to wait for the passerby. He coughed a couple times, during which he smiled as the pointy hat came closer.
Why had they run away?
Alice frowned, watching in growing confusion as the two boys suddenly changed direction and sprinted into the forest, half hiding themselves behind a tree. If they were trying to avoid her, they were going about it completely the wrong way- she had seen exactly where they were heading! Idiots. They certainly couldn’t be from her house.
At least she….hoped not.
Oh god what if they WERE?! She was completely busted THEN. She only got on with a few people there, and these two were unlikely to be them, or she’d have brought them along with her. If one more person got her into trouble over something petty….
She gripped her wand a little more determinedly and quickened her step, muttering slightly to herself.
((once again sorry for messing this up and THANK YOU))
Ellie blinked rapidly, trying to make out whether she had gone too far in spacing out again or if she’d actually seen something. Just then, she heard Alice mumble something.
“Alice?” she asked. “Did you see that or was it just me?”
She supposed they could have been real since her friend was staring in the same direction, and her mind usually had better things to occupy itself with rather than silhouettes of people. But if they were real, just who (or what) were they running away from? What if something bad had happened to them? Or what if something bad was about to happen? People don’t just run away like that, you know.
(All the negative predictions in Divination class were probably taking their toll, as was the worry after having skipped it.)
((i just want to see how posts will look on this blog))
