#10 Secret Forest Venture

“Naw, I missed you too!” Amber returned the surprise hug with a laugh.

With one glance, she noticed the scarf around his neck: a Gryffindor one. How had he acquired that one now? Before she could ask, she was distracted by him playing in the snow. With a chuckle, she watched and had the utmost desire to throw a snowball at him – and she almost did.

Only almost because she wanted to get the ingredient hunt done first. Perhaps afterwards.

Alright, definitely afterwards.

With a smirk, she listened to his adventures. The geckos reminded her of her own experience with the Fire-Belly-Geckos, leaving her with a mixture of glee and uneasiness. The combination of creatures and fire had the tendency to do that to her.

However, her feelings didn’t matter anymore when he mentioned Evan – or rather the snogging part. She stopped dead in her tracks and pulled at his arm.

“He did what now?!” Amber blinked in surprise, then released him with a grin.

“So that’s how you got the scarf! I had wondered about it… But don’t tell me you’re starting to collect a scarf from every house – and smooches?” She teased him with a friendly punch on his arm before venturing forward, well knowing from who he had collected a Slytherin scarf before.

Though she wasn't sure if those two actually had gone as far as that - and a part of her didn't want to know. Only a slight part, though, because it would just be such good teasing material!

“And before you ask: no, you can’t have my scarf!”

She tightly grabbed the scarf around her neck, with no intention of sharing it with him, just to realise that it wasn’t actually hers but Joshua’s. A soft smile shortly played across her lips before turning into another grin.

“No, that one neither!”

Before she could tell him about her own adventures on the day before, they arrived at the Forbidden Forest and entered it.

Amber gave Caine a playful jab in the side at his teasing.

“No, I didn't! I just… didn’t want to go alone in there. Who knows what’s in there! And I know you have my back!”

Caine would be there for her if it really mattered. She trusted him.

“Broom Polish? Sounds like a great idea! Maybe I should brew some too…,” she pondered, then added, “Though let’s focus on the Higgus Spores for now before we tackle a Spitroot or so. The sooner we’re done the better.”

She didn’t have the desire to stay in this part of the forest for long…

Amber took out her wand as a precaution and trudged forward through the forest, carefully looking where she stepped while keeping an eye out for the Higgus Spores.

After walking for a while, they came across an area with less trees. Soon it was clear why: it was a swamp. Though, something felt out of place...

Amber took a closer look and spotted the thing she was looking for, the large bulbs. They looked exactly like the plant in the books – but there had been nothing written about them growing in a swamp… Wait a second…

Following the slime oozing out of the bulbs with her eyes, she understood. That was no simple swamp – the whole forest ground was just covered in icky slime!

Because of her research she had expected slime, but not this much!

“Bleh, why does this remind me now of the Sporlim ooze? At least it doesn’t smell…”

With a raised eyebrow she examined the situation. She knew she had to dig out the spores from those bulbs. And there was only one way to do so…

“Well, I think it suffices if only one of us endures this ordeal here…” Amber sighed and laid down her bag beside Caine.

Knowing she would need to wade through all of that, and the probability of slipping or losing a shoe was high, she decided to leave the scarf and boots behind as well, rolling up her pant’s legs. Her feet felt cold already, but she had no desire to walk home later barefoot.

Amber grabbed some jars and stored them inside her jacket before she carefully dipped a toe into the slime. Yuck, it was cold and slimy!

She finally took a step forward and sank in, deeper than she thought she would until she felt the ground. How much slime was there?!

Carefully she waded forward, her arms outstretched for balance, slowly lifting one foot after the other. Each time it made a sucking sound as she freed one leg from the slime. It all went well and she almost reached one bulb, when suddenly her leg didn’t come free as easily.

Not expecting this, Amber still was about to move forward, and therefore fell flat into the slime.

At least she had the presence of mind to reach forward with her arms, so that not her face had landed in the muck.

Grumbling she drew her hands out of the mud and somehow managed to get up again. Amber clasped her stuck leg with both of her hands and pulled, but it took her a few attempts as all her limps were covered in icky slime.

At long last she could venture forward and reached her destination. She grimaced at the sight.

Great, more slime…

Before she even thought about taking out a jar, she formed her hands like big scoops and shovelled the slime on top of the bulb to the side like a mole, then dug deeper. There was so much slime, Amber felt like she would never reach the bottom of the plant.

She soon was covered in cold slime from head to toe, even the parts that hadn’t been slimy yet.

After it felt like hours, the spores came into sight. Amber let out a sigh in relief and took one of the jars out of her jacket. The jar almost slipped through her fingers and the lid was difficult to even open, but she managed. Carefully she seized some of the ball-shaped spores and put them into the jar.

As there were enough spores left to fill a second jar, Amber repeated the same procedure and safely tucked away the filled jars in her pocket. Glancing back back towards Caine, who stood on dry land, she groaned at the mere thought of walking back through the sea of slime. But she couldn’t very well stay here, right?

With determination she made her way back, but because shovelling slime had already been taxing, there wasn’t enough strength in her left to fully pay attention to where she stepped. This resulted in her escaping to land only through slipping, crawling and wriggling herself out of the almost endless slime.

Exhausted she arrived near Caine, though managed a grin at the sight of her friend.


She held out her hands towards him.

“Do you have a dry handkerchief? Or can you provide me with some water? Then at least my hands are clean…”

Amber had no desire to make all her bag slimy as well… Though perhaps it was inevitable.

He had gotten both scarfs that way…

Amber blinked in surprise, her cheeks turning slightly red. She was so astonished that she didn’t even tease him again.

She hadn’t expected Caine to reveal this to her… Then again, he had just casually mentioned that someone had stolen a kiss from him…

Talking about it so nonchalantly made her wonder how much experience he had in this… particular area. Certainly more than her, at least… Which was easy to achieve, though she didn't care it was.

–

No hug? That was a bummer…

“Aw, you’re missing out; my hugs are always awesome, even the slimy ones!” Amber grinned at him, but accepted his decision. Even she would have declined her proposal. Probably.

Though why did he offer her his coat?

“Your coat? Won’t you be freezing? I’m fine, I’m not –“

She wanted to say cold, but her trembling body betrayed her, sending constant shivers down her spine. Somehow, it was colder out in the air compared to being in the slime…

Or perhaps she had been too focused on gathering and escaping the slimy sea to notice the cold creeping up on her. Dangerous…

Still, she set out to object. However, his expression made it clear: There was no chance he would let her leave without getting bundled up in his coat.

“Fine…” Amber grumbled and held out her hands in the flowing water, washing them as clean as she could.

She motioned for him to continue, and she tried to wash off her feet as well. She had no desire to slip into her boots with slimy feet…

The only issue was, the spell produced cold water, which only made her limbs grow icier. The cleaning charm helped a bit too, but Amber still felt the icky slime all over her. She just wanted to have a hot shower now…

Glad for his decision to leave the forest, Amber nodded and quickly slipped into her socks and boots, though had the feeling they didn’t help much. And rolling down her slimy pant legs was icky as well... Why had she just cleaned her hands?

“Thanks!” When Caine offered her his coat, Amber gave him a warm smile – the only thing that felt warm on her right now.

She wrapped the coat tightly around her, feeling the residual heat from Caine still lingering in it, providing her with at least a bit of warmth. However, the coat’s hem almost reached her knees, and the sleeves were way too long, making her feel like a little child.

“Yeah, good plan!” she sighed at the mere thought of a warm shower. That sounded just heavenly!

She took his offered hand with her own, wrapped in a sleeve, and grinned.

“But promise me you’ll take me with you next time. I really wanna see how you swim through this sea of slime!”

She laughed and started to head back through the dark forest, making sure Caine had her bag with him. She shook her head and grinned.

That boy was often so chaotic, though still kind and thoughtful, like a gentleman. Even if he didn't always look like one. Was she glad to have him as her friend...

As they reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, her pace quickened with each step on the way back to the castle, the thoughts of a hot shower lingering in her mind.

[OOC: Exit]