The Time for Ridicule is Over

Chapter 3

Arcadia regained some of her constitution and pulled herself to her feet. She marched over to Gideon and came face to face with him.

She screamed, "Sodding git! You bloody near killed three people tonight and I wasn't far off either!" Arcadia swung a right hook that connected with Gideon's jaw. She saw the ripple of the impact in slow motion as his face quivered with the collision of fist and bone. His dark eyes lost their vicious shine and he spun sideways into a number of other students, crumpling into a heap.

"Oy! Who's there?" There was only one person with that voice that Arcadia recalled, Hagrid! A low growl meant Fang wasn't far behind.

After that, all the commotion happened at once. The three students that had been left behind in the race finally made it back. Two Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw pointed their wands at the jars of Bluebell Flame and whispered "Finite Incantatum!" The lights were immediately extinguished and the containers fell to the ground. After that, some students took off running for Hogwarts school grounds while others resolved themselves to hiding under leaves, rocks, and behind trees.

Arcadia had a better idea. She was wounded, but she could still muster enough strength to fly one last time.

"Noelle! Are you still here?" Arcadia tried to keep her voice down without making it so quiet that it wouldn't carry through any of the Forbidden Forest.

"Yeah!" Noelle was hidden in a clump of brush about three metres away from Arcadia.

In mid-run, Arcadia scooped up her blanket from the ground and ran over to Noelle. She straddled her broom and told Noelle to get on.

"What?!" A look of fear gripped Noelle as she looked for an explanation from Arcadia.

"We don't have much time! If we make a run for the school with everyone else heading that way, chances are we're going to get caught. If we take the high road..." Arcadia hoped that Noelle would understand the plan now.

Noelle wasn't completely convinced, but considering the alternative, this was a better idea than anything she could come up with in a pinch.

Heavy footsteps were nearing their position and Noelle didn't need to be told twice to get on the broom. Arcadia kicked off with what little energy she had left, and the Nimbus slowly climbed up through the heights of the forest. The leaves brushed their heads as they looked below to see Hagrid and Fang combing the forest for the source of the earlier disturbance. The extra weight on the broom was evident, but there was still enough lift to continue the ascent above the treetops.

"I don't want to take too much time flying around because the longer we're up here, the easier it is for someone to spot us. I'm going to head for the seventh floor where the bases of some of the towers meet the castle." Arcadia pointed the Nimbus west and slowly moved towards Hogwarts.

There was little moonlight as a number of thick clouds obscured what would have otherwise made Arcadia and Noelle very noticeable inky black of the night. After a few minutes, the pair landed on the roof where the Gryffindor and Astronomy towers began their reach for the sky.

"Why didn't we just go all the way to Ravenclaw Tower? It would save us the trouble of having to navigate the halls with all the students running about," Noelle postulated.

"Noelle, I don't want to be the one to test the limits of the Nimbus's capabilities. If the broom stalls, plummeting one-hundred and fifty metres from the sky will leave us pushing up daisies." Noelle seemed to agree with this point. She figured that since they had made it in one piece this far, tempting the fates any further would lead to reckless endangerment of their lives.

Arcadia hid the Nimbus in her blanket and grabbed Noelle's hand. They raced to the door only to find it locked. Noelle aimed her Willow wand at the lock and whispered "Alohamora!" and the mechanism clicked open. Arcadia cautiously eased the door open and peered inside. Footsteps echoed through the cold, empty hallway. Others were undoubtedly trying to remain covert while avoiding any professors or prefects that were patrolling for curfew violators.

Noelle turned to face Arcadia. "Oh, bugger! Isn't there a spell that would silence our footsteps?"

Arcadia tried to think. "I imagine there is one, but we haven't learned it yet. What I wouldn't do for a spell book right now!" She scowled and walked from the balls of her feet to the toes with great care as the two Ravenclaws crept along the stone floor. "We need to get to the west side as quickly and quietly as possible; from there it's just climbing Ravenclaw Tower to the dormitories." Arcadia had been quite tolerant of the pain in her side until now, but the throbbing had finally become too strenuous to bear. She fell to her knees and started drawing slow, deep breaths to stop her head from spinning. Perhaps she had lost more blood than she was prepared for.

"Oh no... Arcadia? You're looking dead peelie-wally!" The colour had drained from Arcadia's face as she started to shiver and perspire.

Noelle strained to lift Arcadia up and steadied her with an arm around her side while holding her arm over Noelle's shoulder. "I can't just carry a bunch of dead weight so you have to help me Arcadia... Just walk with me, slowly." One step at a time, the pair continued down the hall until they happened to come across a confused Gryffindor.

The boy sniffled, "I can't find Gryffindor Tower... Do you know where it is from here?"

Noelle shook her head. "It might me back down the way we just came."

"I wouldn't keep going down this hall, I just saw Professor Snape lurking around the corner. He's still rounding up people who came from the race." The boy lowered his head and starting jogging past Noelle and Arcadia.

No sooner had the boy left then the professor made his presence known. "I know you're here boy. I don't want to have to spend all night playing babysitter. The longer this takes, the much less lenient you can expect me to be when doling out a punishment for breaking curfew."

Noelle, seeing his greasy black hair and swishing cape in the distance, spared no second to guide Arcadia into the nearest classroom to hide.

"I don't know how much longer I can take this Noelle..." Arcadia's breathing was becoming more and more shallow.

At least one of those other students who raced went to Madame Pomfrey for first aid. I have to take the chance and get Arcadia there... I don't know if she will make it though the night if it's spent in her bed. Noelle was going spare, for the deterioration in her friend's health was growing.

She pressed her ear against the door, hoping to hear Professor Snape's footsteps fading down the corridor. His verbal intimidations to incite the Gryffindor boy to give himself up became louder and then diminished as Snape prowled further down the hall.

Noelle threw Arcadia's arm over her shoulder, eased the door open, and started to maintain a steady pace in the opposite direction of Professor Snape.

"We just have to make it down four flights of stairs and we're there. OK, Arcadia?"

"Mmm hmmm." Arcadia was focusing on each step she made, putting the dizziness out of her mind and the pain that was shifting from throbbing to sharp with each motion of movement.

The pair took the four flights of stairs with severe caution because any misstep could leave Arcadia with a condition far worse than just a bloody gash in her side.

Reaching the third floor, Noelle was greeted with commotion in the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey was indeed treating the others who had fallen victim to Maigny's deceit tonight. Noelle led Arcadia into the room with the clean white sheets neatly straightened on every bed, save the ones that were occupied. The two Hufflepuff boys and the Gryffindor girl were being tended to with speed and efficiency as Madame Pomfrey rushed between the three. The Hufflepuff boy who had been elbowed by Maigny now sported a large bandage on his nose, and the Gryffindor girl was wearing a nightshirt over a thickly wrapped bandage around her midsection. The second Hufflepuff boy who had taken the full force of a tree branch was receiving a healing salve for the massive bruise covering his chest.

Arcadia lay down in the bed next to the Gryffindor girl and closed her eyes. She was safe now. She had won the race and would have someone take care of the awful wound on her ribcage.

"Merlin! Another one? I hope when you four have recovered, someone will have the decency to tell me just what happened tonight for students to be injured so terribly!" Madame Pomfrey rolled up her sleeves and tended to Arcadia.

Arcadia slowly faded into unconsciousness and spent eight hours undisturbed beneath a warm blanket, the thoughts of pain entirely out of her mind.

When she finally awoke, she was greeted by the people she was least excited to see. Professor McGonagall was standing over her with Professor Flitwick peering over the bed. The two were impatiently waiting for Arcadia to explain Madame Pomfrey's distressing news that she had turned up in the Hospital Wing at two o'clock this morning.

Arcadia turned to the three other students who were sitting up in bed, looking equally as nervous as she. Their faces told Arcadia that they expected her to provide a narration of the previous night's events that would leave the three of them free from punishment. She sighed and turned back to meet Professor McGonagall's stone-faced gaze. Arcadia imagined that news about the race in the Forbidden Forest had already reached all of Hogwarts and there was no amount of lying that would cover it up now. She resigned herself to her fate and took the plunge.

"Professors, we competed in a broom race against Gideon Maigny." There was no way she was going to let him get out of disciplinary action. "Throughout the course, Maigny and his 'associates' made every effort to make sure we did not finish the race." Arcadia recalled the scream of 'NOW!' that had been uttered right before tree branches were let go to hit the Gryffindor girl and Hufflepuff boy. The yell sounded extremely close to Gideon's voice in her mind. "The wounds under our bandages are the evidence enough -"

"Miss Caldwell, I am more interested in the fact that you, Miss Reed, Mister Adelaide, Mister Maigny and Mister Kinnard were in violation of quite a few school rules." She ticked them off on her fingers. "Being out past curfew, on Hogwarts grounds, and in the Forbidden Forest, just to name a few. I understand that your injuries were not caused by attacking trees, but without any specific proof to corroborate the source of your wounds, I cannot directly punish Mister Maigny. What I can do is see that the five of you serve detention with several others I caught wandering the hallways and school grounds after curfew last night. I will also be writing to all of your parents to make them aware that their sons and daughters are being disciplined for your severe lack of good judgment."

The four students groaned, now facing the reality that they would have to appease their parents' Howlers and satisfy the professors in serving detention.

"Miss Caldwell, I am well aware that certain students enjoy exacting a bit more... cheek than others, but I do hope that in the future you will exercise more restraint when giving into the whims of an unruly student." Professor McGonagall shifted her weight and began to walk towards the doorway of the Hospital Wing with Professor Flitwick following in her wake.

When she reached the door, she abruptly stopped to add an afterthought, Flitwick nearly bumping into her from behind. "I must admit, this is the first time in my tenure at Hogwarts that I've heard of anyone having the resolve to take on a daunting task such as racing through the Forbidden Forest on a broomstick. I highly recommend you try out for the Ravenclaw's Quidditch team." With that she left with a smirk and strode out of the Hospital Wing.