Trees are not for playing.

Now if they want me they will have to come and get me. No one likes coming out here except me. Mirielle almost had every tree in this forest memorized like an old friend. Almost every tree except the ones that were in the centaur area. She was never going there. Her mother told her tales of the centaurs.Even if they are brave enough to come out here they won't ever get up here. Not without magic. Mirielle smiled as she looked at the other two wands in her hand. Suddenly she heard a sound.No animals come this close to the castle. Mirielle breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth.If I get stressed I'll fall. No noise and they can't locate you. Mirielle adjusted herself on the branch. Sitting on top of the huge branch, her feet crunched up in front of her and she continued to breathe deep but silently. She didn't want the people finding her.I should've gone deeper into the forest.

Christiare was surprisingly fast, but not as quick as Arya as they sped out of Gryffindor tower down, and out to the Forbidden forest.

Saints don't let us get caught...

Christiare begged mentally as they ran into the forest.
She nearly tripped on every rock and stone as they ran in, making so much noise she was nearly scared to death that they would get caught.

Arya ran with Christiare into the forest. She didn’t even blink an eye when she saw Mirielle was headed for it; luckily, she and her housemate had stayed a good ten to fifteen feet behind the Slytherin the whole way down. She wasn’t even sure Mirielle knew she was being followed.

“Bloody hell, Christiare, would ya quiet down?” she reprimanded the girl, who seemed intent on calling the attention of every beast in the forest. “Honestly, Christiare is a mouthful; I’m calling you Tari from now on, that’s much better.”

Walking slowly and quietly, a noise several trees away made her stop immediately. She pulled Tari behind a tree and motioned for her to stay quiet. Arry was positive they’d just found their target. Looking around impatiently for some ideas, she felt a light tap on her arm. It was a tiny bowtruckle! In fact, it was the same one that had attacked her the first time she ventured into the Forbidden Forest. He seemed rather tame this time.

“Hello there, little fellow,” she whispered to what could be mistaken for a strip of bark..a strip of bark with razor-sharp claws. “I’ve got a job for you.”

It nodded along as Arya confided her plan: the bowtruckle and his friends would find Mirielle’s tree, attack her (nicely, not too violently) and get their wands back. The group of bowtruckles ran off to do their work.

After Mirielle heard the noise she waited as quietly as she could up in the tree. Especially since she suspected it was the two gryiffindors.They wouldn't dare come in here without an escort. She watched as her suspicions became true. It was Christi and Arya but they weren't stopping.Well, they are gryffindors. She watched them, fascinated at what they'd do in the forest, defenseless against the mysteries hiding in the forest.Bowtruckles. Clever for a gryffindor. She'll most likely send them after me if they don't attack her. Mirielle watched as the bowtruckles agreed to do Arya's dirty work.Hmm, how to get away?Mirielle became more nervous as the bowtruckles advanced towards her and she began to lose her footing. Then she saw the branches next to her.Not too far. I bet I can make it. She stuck her wand in her intricate tied ponytail, if she was going to lose anyones it wasn't going to be hers, and tucked the others in her pants pocket. She knew it was a risk doing that, that the wands might fall out but she didn't mind theirs so much. Who cares if theirs breaks? With that all done Mirielle took a leap of faith.

Mirielle was no longer in sight, but their two wands dropped to the forest floor. Arya rushed out to grab them, pocketing hers and tossing the other to Christi. She could still hear the bowtruckles rustling around in the trees. Motioning for her comrade to follow, Arry lead deeper into the forest; Mirielle would not be let off that easily.

“She can’t have gone too far in,” she whispered to Tari. “If we just go this way…”

Arya came to a halt. Something was different. The forest was silent; too silent. No birds, no wind, no bowtruckles. What was going on? She realized the problem far too late.

“CENTAURS!” she shouted, turning on her heel at the sound of the furious hoof-beats. “Run!!”

Christiaire nearly immediately began to run, attempting to keep in stride with Arya. She'd only heard stories about centaurs, and honestly, she wanted to see one. Yet she knew little of the magical world, and to her, Arya seemed like an expert. An expert, that was on her side. She could hear the hooves coming closer as she ran, and was running out of breath.
Now she regretted standing up to Mirielle more that a mite.
Yet, she didn't have time to contemplate what was going on.
All she had time to do was run.

As they ran further, the centaurs only seemed to be getting closer. Arry glanced back quickly, but she still couldn’t see them. Finally, she pulled Tari into an enclosure in the middle of a small clump of trees. Looking around, she realized something that made her rather uncomfortable.

“We’ve been running the wrong way,” she announced with a sigh. “We must have taken a wrong turn somewhere.”

The beating of the hooves sounded loud and heavy on the hard-packed earth, and louder than ever. Arya pulled out her wand, just in case, and gestured to Christi to do the same. She remembered her first time in the Forbidden Forest; she and Mitri almost ran into a pack of centaurs. She’d never seen one though.

“They’re so close,” she whisper-shouted to Tari.

Not five seconds later, the centaurs shot into site. They were majestic and quite possibly the strangest sight Arya had ever witnessed. As expected, their bottom halves were the bodies of horses; they looked no different from human men on top. They slowed their pace and glanced around, and Arry froze. This won‘t be good, she thought grimly. They know we’re here.

Memories flashed through Christiare's head as they were surrounded. The centaurs had the same expressions. In her head their voices blurred to the same angry shouts. In her mind, sending her back to a day she never wanted to remember.
She curled up on the ground, feeling the same sensation she had felt that day. This is where it would end.
She cried the same words she had cried that day, little did she know they were the same words the centaurs themselves had cried before.
"I'm not a monster, I'm not a monster!"

Arya seemed to be frozen in place, which was really unfortunate because she was almost positive they were going to die. Clearly even Professor Renoir’s lessons did not prepare them for actual unexpected confrontations. The centaurs surrounded their little sanctuary, and a rather buff one dragged Arry out. Meanwhile, Christiare seemed to be having some sort of mental breakdown.  

“Burr, calm her,” one said firmly to a small auburn-haired centaur.

Burr trotted into the circle (how could he fit?) to follow his orders; Arya couldn’t hear what he was saying, so she turned her attention back to the group. The one who seemed to be the leader was huge, and albino - this seemed to make him even more frightening. His red/pink eyes stared straight into her soul.

“We’re not botherin’ you, sir,” Arya stammered, mustering all the courage she could find. “We ran the wrong way is all, we were trying to leave when you came runnin’ out!”

The group exchanged antsy glances, then looked to the albino to see what his reaction would be.

“You are too feisty for my liking, little human,” he stated grimly. “I am Thorn, leader of this pack. You and your comrade have trespassed on our land.”

Before anything else was said, Burr came out into the open with Tari.

Tari looked up feeling a hand against her back. Burr knelt next to her, and looked into her eyes with an expression of compassion.
"No- You're not. Yet you and your friend kind of are on our territory. So if you wouldn't mind leaving?"
Tari stood.
"If only I knew which way to go." She said, worriedly
Burr nodded, then thought for a moment. He pointed to some moss on the back of a tree.
"That moss always grows on the north side of a tree, the castle is to the east of here. You can keep track by that."
Tari nodded, and both she and Burr exited the tree circle.

When Burr and Tari came out, they looked calm and content. That was not the case for the rest of the group. Arya didn’t know too much about centaurs, but she was learning tonight - they’re overly proud, extremely serious, and they do not like feisty little girls. She had overstepped the boundaries.

“I didn’t mean to offend --” she tried to say, before he interrupted.

“You have brought this upon yourself, and your human authorities have not done their jobs,” Thorn boomed, and big buff Finden tightened his grip on her. “I believe we need to teach them a lesson, so you and your friend will be our example. We are not savages and we deserve respect, but they don’t see that.”

“Well you’ll bloody well look like a savage when you torture us and leave us to die on the front steps of Hogwarts!” she shouted, squirming.

This probably wasn’t a smart idea; but, as they were going to be killed anyway, she figured she may as well give it a shot. Thorn stomped closer to her, and she knew she’d done it; this was the end. But before the centaur could lay a hand on her, they heard a new voice yell “STOP!”

Charles Stone's expression was furious, on two accounts. He fumed as he stepped into the group, the centaurs allowing room for him to get by to the students.
"Lannister, Le Clerc, What in the name of Merlin are you two doing in the forbidden forest? Nevermind it now, I'll deal with you later. Thorn, please, these are first years, you can't really intend on holding firsties can you?"
Christiare was both frightened and impressed by the gamekeeper in that moment. She wanted to pop in a good word for Arya, or possibly herself even, just to defend themselves. Yet there wasn't a pause while Thorn and Stone bantered.
"This is the last straw Charles, no more students in our part of the forest, understand!?" The lead centaur said gruffly.
"Let them go." He sighed.
Tari was eternally thankful when she saw Arya get released, and she ran over quickly to Charles, who watched the centaurs leave before turning to guide the girls out.
"I'll have to have points taken from Gryffindor for this. The Forbidden forest is off limits to every year. Detention probably, also, to the both of you. I'll have to take this up with the headmistress you know.

Arya had never liked Charles Stone more than she did in that moment; Thorn surely would have taken them away if it weren’t for the gamekeeper. No wonder Renoir and Aitken were so crazy about him. Her smile disappeared though when he talked about points and the headmistress.

“Oh, please, Charles, please,” she pleaded, for once sounding like the 11 year old she was. “It wasn’t our fault! Honest! Mirielle Ward, she took our wands, we were just trying to get them back!”

“Wait, wait,” Charles stammered, glancing around frantically. “There’s another first year in here??”

“Yes, Mirielle,” she told him, for the first time wondering where the girl was. “We followed her in here to get our wands back, I think she’s in the trees somewhere.”

Charles paused and seemed to need time to think about this. Finally, he sighed.

“You two are good kids, and I’ll believe what you say,” he assured them, calmly. “If you’re telling me the truth, then I’ll let this part go, but points will still be taken. If Mirielle really did lead you here, she’ll get the brunt of the punishment.”

Arya nodded frantically and took a deep breath, not realizing she’d been holding it. Charles lead them out of the forest and directed them up to the school while he went back to search for Mirielle. Arry ran as fast as she could up to the tower, glad the night was over.

Tari was more than glad when Arya and her arrived back at the tower.
As she readied herself for bed, she only wished for two things, that she'd never go into that forest again, and that Stone wouldn't tell Professor Vici what had occurred over the past few hours.