Searching for Spells PV Kendra Ackerman Closed

Kendra rushed through the long corridors of the castle. She was late, she didn't like the feeling of being late. The library door appeared in front of her as she took one last turn almost slipping as she did so in such a hurry. She straightened her robes and pushed the hair out of her face while trying to catch her breath.

 She had been delayed while trying to clean up after a potion that went terribly wrong during class. Her skills were still lacking and she hoped her spellwork to prove much better. She was determined to face relentless creatures in the Forbidden Forest after all.

 With a slight push the library door creaked open and that wonderful smell of old parchment and dusty books filled her nose. It felt so familiar, and so safe. The company of books was always comforting to her as she had spent so much time among them growing up. She stepped inside instantly noticing her new friend patiently waiting for her with her face buried in the History of Magic book.  She smiled and walked over to her. Alice was too absorbed in her studying that she didn't notice Kendra even when she was standing just next to her. 

"Is it that interesting?" she asked with a wide smile on her face. 

"Kendra!" Alice exclaimed, looking up from her homework. The other girl was giving her a mischievous grin, and Alice quickly returned it. 
"It actually is very interesting you know. The Goblin riots were put on for a good reason, really, and wizards are so unfair to them even today. It's a lot like the muggle world, ripe with racism and exclusion. But I digress" Alice realized she was rambling and quickly closed her mouth, instead busing herself with putting her homework back in her bag. Then she stood, leaving her things in the chair, and strode forward through the aisles. The library was so much bigger than she ever imagined, and she couldn't fathom where they should start. 
"Er, maybe I should look for any books that give information about the forbidden forest, and you could find some books for defensive spells? And then we could meet back here and start our research." She suggested, hesitating in the middle of the aisle. Kendra seemed receptive of this so Alice moved forward again, heading for the section that she knew "Hogwarts, a History" would be in. She hoped to find something akin to "Forbidden Forest, a History" there too, but figured that there probably was no such thing.

Kendra agreed with Alice's idea and with a quick nod she turned around and her eyes begans scanning the signs indicating what every aisle is dedicated to. 

 Creatures.
 History.
  Botanology.

So many different sections. This wouldn't be too easy. "Okay I need spells" she thought to herself while pacing around, searching. She eyed the Restricted Section but decided to best avoid the temptation of repeating mistakes of the past. As she was walking through the main aisle, her eyes caught something. Spells. She would expect a fancier section name, but it is what it is. What about spells though? She thought of looking into basic level spellwork as a start, but going one level up was, after all, what this expedition was about. She picked out a few books. 

Protective enchantments.
Dark Arts Defence: Basics for Beginners
Facing the Inhuman.

Stumbling across the Gilderoy Lockhart shelf she rolled her eyes and didn't even give it a second glance before walking out of the aisle. 

"Alice I think I found enough for now." she called carrying the books up to a big desk, located just under the large library window, that was letting in a soft warm pleasant light. She stacked them one on top of the other and patiently waited for her friend to bring the rest of the books. 

After pulling out "Hogwarts, a History" Alice walked through the aisles, her eyes alighting on one labeled "Creatures". She hoped that there would be more specific books for what she wanted, but she couldn't be sure. As she browsed she saw "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" and pulled it out. Beside it was "Creatures Dark and Mysterious" and she took that too, assuming that if anything was in the forbidden forest it would be, in fact, dark and mysterious. She started walking down that aisle again, intending to go back to their spot after hearing Kendra call to her, but another book caught her eye. It was small and indiscreet, with the words on the spine written in fine golden print. It was titled "Ministry Cases Dealing With Magical Creatures: Years 1900-2000". That's a mouthful of a title Alice thought, but never the less she pulled it out. Perhaps there will be cases dealing with creatures from the Forbidden forest she thought hopefully, adding the small book to her stack before heading back. The alcove was well lit and comfortable, and she sat next to Kendra and immediately started reading through "Hogwarts, A History" again. There was a chapter dedicated to the forbidden forest, but mostly it talked about how it was banned and that the centaurs and thestrals called it home. It didn't go at all into detail of what other creatures could be lurking in its depths. 

Kendra began flipping through Dark Arts Defense: Basics For Beginners only to be extremely disappointed after a few minutes realising the book only provided theory without mentioning actual spells in case of any real interaction with Dark Magic. 

"What a waste of time..." she complained tossing the book to the side and picking up Protective Enchantments.  

This book proved to be a lot more useful. She read through the pages absorbing all the information excited with everything she was learning, making sure to keep notes in a piece of parchment on the side. After one hour Kendra finally turned to Alice with a bright smile on her face. 

"I found so much stuff!" she exclaimed "It looks like only one of these spells is on our level though..." her mood changed in seconds as she showed Alice what she had written on the parchment. "It's the Fire-Making spell, but I believe the most important spell we ought to know is the Shield Charm... The thing is, it's extremely difficult and in the book it said that there is a great percentage of adults that are still not able to achieve it." she sighed "This looks much more difficult than what I expected... Did you find anything useful?" she asked the Ravenclaw girl hoping her research would seem much more promising.

Alice sat with Kendra, searching through the books. It was calming, sitting in the library with only the sounds of books around them. She flipped through "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", making notes on certain creatures that seemed likely to be living in the forbidden forest. She was almost halfway through the book when Kendra spoke. 
"If we practice we can probably do the shield spell" she said, feigning confidence that she didn't really have. "I've found tons of stuff too. This book" she motioned to "Hogwarts, a History", "says that the biggest herd of Thestrals in England can be found on Hogwarts grounds, but that their tame and shouldn't be a bother. It also talks about the Centaur herds, which will be much more difficult to deal with if we run into them. I should probably try to find a book about their habits and customs..." she trailed off, thinking for a moment, before shaking herself out of it. "and then Fantastic Beasts talks about these giant spiders, I'm not sure if they're in the forbidden forest or not, but it says that they love large dark spaces, but not caves, so it feels likely. They're aggressive and eat meat, so they might be a big problem if we find some." she shuddered, imagining running into a gigantic spider. She wasn't scared of them, per se, but an aggressive, gargantuan one didn't sound pleasant by any means.

Kendra listened carefully to what Alice had to say on her discoveries. Actually learning about the creatures was the most terrifying part of this investigation so far. She shivered at the thought of huge spiders that feasted on meat but felt rather intrigued thinking they might run into Centaurs. She had seen pictures in books and the whole idea seemed fascinating even though the danger might be even grater. A thought crossed her mind. 

"Is there anything in there on not so dangerous creatures, or maybe on something that could protect us, like maybe faries or elves?" she inquired. After all everything needs balance, there should be something equally strong that lives in the Forbidden Forest and opposes all these wild and vicious creatures.  

She allowed Alice to return to her research as she took out her wand and checked her notes again. This was neither the place nor the time to practice spells but she was eager to see if anything even happened. 

"Incendio." she whispered. Nothing happened. "Incendio!" she said a little louder. A few sparks shot out of the tip of the wand and Kendra's eyes brightened with fascination. She would practice further in the Study Room but for now she felt a little more positive about their expedition.

"That's interesting. You're probably right, I didn't even think about that!" Alice said, twirling her hair. She hand't thought about good creatures being in the forest because, well, it was called the forbidden forest, after all. The name did not encourage much optimism. Both Kendra and Alice fell silent, Alice quickly looking over the books again. Something to help us... she repeated to herself, over and over. She was halfway through reading a sentence about faeries, muttering under her breath "...fairies are almost constantly grooming themselves. They possess a weak brand of magic that allows it to evade its predators such as the Augurey. The fairy cannot speak; instead..." she stopped short as Kendras wand emitted a few feeble sparks. 
"Was that the spell for fire that you were talking about? Cool! I can't wait to try it!" she said with enthusiasm. She briefly explained to Kendra that fairies, at least, wouldn't be of much help to them before returning to her book. She read about unicorns, thinking that if one trusted them it may be help to get away, but not much else, and about hippogriffs, that she thought would be extremely helpful but tricky to gain the trust of. 
It was an hour or two later and Alice was deep into a book titled "Rumors and Legends of Hogwarts" when she looked up, perplexed, and said, "This book says there's some sort of enchanted car that lives in the forest too... It's been known to appear and help students in times of trouble. I'm not sure if it true, though, because this book also said that if you go out to the middle of the quidditch pitch at midnight on December 3rd and chant "Fuzzy toes" three times a weird leprechaun like creature will appear and give you three wishes" she snorted at the thought of the absurd rumor before turning her eyes on Kendra. 
'Did you find anything else?"

Kendra smiled at Alice as she commented on her little practice. She listened as the girl explained to her everything concerning fairies, which left Kendra a little disappointed since she had always considered fairies to be some sort of beautiful magical life saving creatures.  Returning to her research , she wrote down some Healing spells, since in case of the worst they would definitely come in handy. Most of the offensive spells were higher level magic, which was also very disappointing. More than an hour later Alice spoke again and Kendra felt herself being dragged out of a weird sea of knowledge, that had almost been drowning her for a considerable amount of time.

"A flying car?" she chuckled "That really sounds ridiculous, but nevertheless it would be extremely helpful!" she said feeling like it was the first hopefuls grounds they had stepped on so far on their research. "I found a handful of Healing spells, and also a couple more offensive ones that seem to be a little easier than others." she explained as she closed the Protective Enchantments book. "Now I am really curious to see what this is about." she said picking up the Facing the Inhuman book. 

It turned out to be a very dark book that in Kendra's opinion could as well have been placed in the Restricted Section. It spoke of Dark wizards and also supernatural beings like vampires and werewolves. She shivered reading some parts and felt a heavy atmosphere forming around her after a while.