October 22, 2031
Care of Magical Creatures
By: Nimona Romani
Care of Magical Creatures class began with a normal foggy excitement and the hope of practicing our whistles to call out some Jobberknolls, to study them in their own environment. Professor Halsey gave the standard warning about the Dark Forest after explaining the lesson for the day. Alex Halsey and I were the lookouts for our class to make sure no one wandered off as we entered the circle path in the forest and remained in the area. We were ready to find some Jobberknolls! Some of us were excited though, apprehensive of entering the Dark Forest, with good reason. Professor Halsey made the first whistle to show us how to call a Jobberknoll. There were the obvious ominous noises and the cold wind as to be expected from the forest, though nothing could have prepared us for what was coming.
TROLLS!! As well as a Giant!
A group of forest trolls and a bloody giant came out of the dark fog, Alex and I were far enough away from their impact site not to get hit by their entrance, we both sent up red flares for emergency. Professor Halsey and Fifth Year Demi Hartley both suffered injury from impact, the rest of the group were stunned. We were told to run, but many of us stood to defend our fellow classmates or were too terrified to run at all. Professor Halsey tried to get us to leave and to stop casting at the trolls as we were only angering them further. In my quick thinking and use of Mobilicorpus, I moved Demi out of the way of harm since she had fallen unconscious. Spells were going off as we tried to defend ourselves while awaiting help, many of us too terrified to run and wanting to protect ourselves, each other, as well as our teacher.
Professor Riley and Professor Rask both arrived moments later, along with another who was unknown to us which, if I had to guess, could’ve been from the Ministry. The Forest trolls suddenly began to ran off as the apparent appearance of a Basilisk slithered from the trees leaving only the giant to be dealt with. AJ was grabbed but through his quick thinking and use of Stupefy managed to get the beast to let go of him long enough to get away. Fifth Year Slytherin, Henri Song was not so lucky, however, and got tossed through the trees though thankfully he was relatively unharmed.
The appearance of the basilisk, that was nothing more than an illusion, thankfully made the giant reconsider its choice to try making any of us a meal and it, too, retreated back into the forest without realizing the snake wasn’t real. While quite a few of us were injured, there were no death’s and everyone made it back to the castle safely. We are all truly grateful for the rapid response of our Professors in this harrowing situation and this has definitely brought a new respect for the dangers of the Dark Forest. This event goes to show that even with proper supervision, anything can happen.