The light that peaked through the sparse foliage above you seemed grey, like it had been shone through a misted glass.
You did your best to stay quiet; there was no good reason for this, only a deep grumble of dread that coated your guts, settling at the bottom of your stomach as you glanced around every few moments. Every direction looked the same, save for the way you came. You glanced back, the light of the castle slowly fading as you strayed further and further away from your guaranteed safety, prioritising adventure over security, which—at the time—seemed like a good idea.
The orb lit up the path, it's cool white light throwing shadows over the tree trunks, which ducked and dodged as you passed them. It all looked the same: tree after tree after tree, branch after stick after stone as you weaved through the woods, haphazardly looking around as you hoped that you didn't catch a glimpse of some half-formed creature lurking behind you, crouched and waiting.
It continued like this for a long moment; the orb staying at the same jittering pace. At this point, you wondered if you were just hallucinating, if someone had slipped something into your drink and had made you go crazy.
You glanced back again, yet instead of seeing the castle faded in the distance, all you saw was what was around you: the looming beaches that hung from tree trunks, pointing to you as you looked back at them.
Suddenly, that balanced of security was lifted, dumped in a swamp and slathered back on you, soaking you in an anxious dream, that dropped off your fingertips as they tucked themselves into each other, doing their best to hide.
The orb was your only option now, your only real source of light, so you had no choice but to follow it; and you did until you couldn't.
The orb halted, hovering in mid air as you stopped with it. You waited for it to move again, but it didn't. You looked around, realising that you were stood in a small clearing, the ground clear of trees in a neat circle around you. Weird. You looked around the edge of the circle, along the ground, and saw the ground was clear of debris in a few spots. You walked over to one, peering down at the short tree stump that looked back up at you.
You realised that someone had made this place, a designated circle for something or other.
The the panic began to set in, and you realise what you'd gotten yourself into. A random circle in the woods was prime territory for a cheeky little human sacrifice, and a floating orb that lead you there? You were definitely in danger.
But who wanted you out here, so far away from the safety of the castle. For a second you considered the idea that it may have been Malfoy, playing a stupid trick in you, but you doubted that he'd ever have the guts to go out in the forbidden Forrest: he was as much a coward as a cunt, so that ruled him out.
There was a crack behind you, a snapping twig. You froze. What the fuck. Someone was there with you, or maybe something. You would've been comforted by the fact that it was probably an animal, of it weren't for the fact that any "animal" that lived in the forbidden forest was there for a reason.
A crackle sounded from behind you; the crunch of leaves under a boot.
It was someone.
Another crackle, this time moving to the right. They were slowing pacing around behind you, from the sounds of it just outside the circle.
You couldn't turn around, so frozen in fear that you couldn't even run. So you waited; waited for the big reveal: who was gonna kill ya?!
Crunch crackle crunch, the footsteps rounded your side, a figure appearing in the corner of your vision, slowly drifting into view.
"Hello darling." They said, a strand of frizzy black hair being blown away from their mouth as they spoke, hitting their pale lips as they carved out a smile.
