"Hurry up Ami! Time's almost up and we still have one more coin to find! Slytherin and Gryffindor aren't that far behind us!" Mina called out to her friend as the two of them searched their common room high and low for it. The 'test' had hit in the middle of lunchtime and they had exactly two hours to find four coins that pertained to their house. Each coin had a certain amount of points on them and would be tallied once all of them were collected and returned to Dumbledor.
An hour had already passed and so far Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Gryffindor were currently tied. One more coin left and soon it would all be over. For now. Of course finding these coins was no easy task at this point. All of them extremely well hidden in plain sight and in spots no one would think to look.
The first one was found in Hagrid's hut, securely hidden in one of the many pots that littered his walls. The second was found in the library, in plain sight. However, it was located directly in the Restricted Section and getting past Madam Pince was going to be a tough one. But of course, working as a team, Hufflepuff managed to divide and conquer. Three members distracted Madam Pince, while two others managed to carefully extract the coin from its spot.
The third coin was found in the trophy room, hidden amongst the quidditch trophies. Something shiny had caught Mina's eye and she discussed it with Ami. Even though Ami was short she still attempted to try and reach it but only failed in which she earned a snicker from Mina. In the end, their house Perfect Seokjin saw them struggling and he easily got the coin. Which led them to move on and search for the last coin.
It's been two months since school started and everyone was settled in comfortably. In those two months, Ami and Jimin grew closer as friends. They met a few times at night to go check on the magical creatures. Jimin invited her and Mina to hang out which meant Mina and Yoongi got to see more of each other. Of course the rest of the guys were there as well.
Ami used those chances to take peaks at Taehyung, for some reason she felt like he would avoid her when ever she was around. What she didn't know was that Taehyung saw them sneaking around at night a couple times and he couldn't help but feel a bit jealous.
"Ami! I know where the last coin has to be! It's in the Forbidden Forest! It has to be and if not, it's at the Reserve for Magical Creatures! Let's split up and see what we find! We'll meet back in the dining hall, okay?" Mina said before quickly running off in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. It was daylight now, so she had to be very careful sneaking into it and even more careful to not alarm Binxie seeing as she only ever saw him at night time.
Once she made it past everyone, she quickly walked into the forest, following the familiar path she always took at night until she approached the giant winged bird. She kept a good amount of distance between her and the creature, holding her hands up as she called out to him. "Binxie. Hey, it's me. I know, I know. You're not used to seeing me in the day." She said to him, watching him closely as he inspected her closely. He let out a huff of air before slowly approaching her until he was in front of her.
"There's my handsome boy. I need your help finding something. You think you can help me?" She asked softly, petting his snout gently as he nudged it against her cheek in a silent yes. He lowered himself to the ground and she swiftly mounted him, gently tangling her fingers in his mane as he stood back up.
"Okay buddy. I'm looking for a coin. Something shiny and circular. It's small too but when the light hits it, it'll glow." Mina said to him. Others would think she was crazy, talking to a horse in the middle of a forest but the joke was on them. Abraxan were incredibly smart creatures and understood what humans were talking about through the gestures they made.
Binxie shot through the air, his large wings spreading open before flapping as he soared through the air. He circled above the forest before flying just above the trees as the two of them searched for the coin. Any glint that bounced off the sun was all they needed. She hoped Ami was doing okay.
Ami was searching high and low for the bloody coin. The reserve wasn't that big and the stalls were fairly easy to search through. It was even easier for her to sneak past everyone to get here. Most of the creatures were out, leaving the stalls empty to search through. So far Ami was coming up empty handed but she wasn't giving up. Two more stalls left and the shed was left to be checked. If it wasn't here, then it had to be in the forbidden forest like Mina said. Ami hoped Mina was doing okay in the forbidden forest with all those dangerous creatures roaming around.
"These points better be bloody high." Ami mumbled to herself as she came up empty handed on the last stall. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she marched over to the shed, making sure no one was in sight before yanking the door open and stepping inside as it slammed shut behind her. Her first thought was to charge right in and tear everything apart but since this was the last spot, she took her time. She didn't want to miss anything.
"Are you freaking kidding me?!" Ami grunted out in frustration, running the palm of her hand down her face as she kicked the shed. Once again she turned up empty handed. She took her time and still didn't find anything. If she had her wand right now, she would have used it to help her find it but they were all taken away from the students. One of the many rules that were put into the place for these tests.
"Shit. Only twenty five minutes left." She said as she looked at the time on her phone. She quickly unlocked and called Mina, seeing if she had any luck. On the third ring, she finally picked up. "Mina! Did you find anything yet? I looked everywhere and didn't find anything. Even the shed is a bust." Ami whined into the phone. So far it seemed like no one else had found the remaining coins seeing as how an alarm was to go off signaling the winner.
"I think I found it but there's a problem." Mina said over the phone, hesitating for a moment before she continued to speak. "It's with Aragog. It's dangling from inside the entrance of the cave but I don't know if I'll be able to get it. He only trusts Hagrid and I'm trying not to be a part of meal time."
"It's too dangerous Mina. You can't go in. Let's just forget it and head back to the school. It's not worth you or Binxie getting hurt. Just come back. If anything, Gryffindor will take the win. We'll come in third place. Not a big deal." Ami said into the phone, pacing back and forth outside the school gates as she spoke to Mina. Both girls had a huge fear of spiders and of course it would be with Aragog. Sneaky, sneaky professors.
"Hello! Earth to Ami! Did you hear what I said? I'm going to retrieve the coin. Binxie will act as a distraction for me. It shouldn't be too hard for me to reach. I'll call you as soon as I get it and if you don't hear from me, well it was nice knowing you." Mina laughed out weakly before hanging up and sliding her phone into her pocket.
"Mina! Wait no! Don't hang up on me!" Ami yelled into the phone but all she heard was a dial tone. This girl would be the death of her. "Shit. Mina you idiot. This isn't good. Fuck fuck fuck." She said as she continued to pace back and forth. She didn't know what to do at this point. She could go and get the other members of her team to help aide Mina or she could wait and see what happens. Or. No. She couldn't ask them. They weren't even in the same house.
"Okay Binxie. This is going to be very dangerous but I need your help. I need you to be a distraction for me. I need you to lead away some spiders for me while I go and retrieve the coin. Can you do that for me?" Mina said softly to her friend. With a nod of his head, he landed a safe distance away and the two of them split up.
Oh this was such a terrible idea and she knew it. She messed up. Big time. She had managed to barely get the coin and was currently running for her life, dodging tree limbs and roots as she went. Aragog had spotted her and had sent his children after her for trespassing. But that wasn't her main issue. She hadn't seen or heard from Binxie. She kept calling him but he didn't respond. She was worried now.
"Ah!" Mina screamed out as she tripped over a tree branch and tumbled down a hill until she slammed into the ground. Everything hurt and she couldn't move at first. Letting out a pained grunt, she slowly pushed herself up from off the ground. She felt something trickling down her face only to realize it was blood. She must have cut her forehead open when she hit the ground. She didn't get very far when she heard a hiss from above her.
'Please don't be what I think it is.' Mina thought to herself as she slowly lifted her head. There before her was one of Aragog's children, slowly creeping down towards her. Even if she were to make a run for it, she wouldn't get very far. She was trapped and she didn't see a way out of it. The hissing got louder and all she could do was close her eyes. She really was going to die.
She didn't know how long she had her eyes closed but everything went deadly silent before she felt a gust of air and heard a small thud. Peaking her eyes open, she let out a scream before quickly backing away. In front of her was just the head of the spider, having been perfectly decapitated from its body. She knew only one thing could do that and he just happened to land next to her.
"Binxie!" Mina cried out happily, quickly wrapping her arms around his neck and nuzzling her face into his coat as she tried her best not to cry. She was so close to dying and he saved her. Another fun fact about Abraxan's was their wings. Fluffy and soft to the touch, but they were incredibly dangerous. Given the right angle, they became sharp and could slice through anything.
With the help of Binxie, Mina quickly stood up and mounted him. Her wound had stopped bleeding but she definitely was going to need stitches. Once more, Binxie soared through the air and flew towards the directions of the front gates. She hoped Ami was okay and hadn't had a complete meltdown. She pulled out her phone and looked at the time. Five more minutes remained.
Ami was indeed having a meltdown. After Mina had hung up on her, she had quickly pulled out her phone and called the one person she knew would keep her calm. Jimin. He answered immediately and listened to everything as she cried into the phone. It didn't take long for him to grab Yoongi and soon the two of them were meeting up with poor Ami. Jimin just held her in his arms as he did his best to keep her calm.
Yoongi was just as worried as Ami but he didn't show it. He just wanted Mina to come back safe and sound. The Forbidden Forest was extremely dangerous and with Aragog lurking in the shadows just made things even worse. At this point, all they could do was wait. There was five minutes left remaining.
"Ami! Up here! I did it! I got the last coin!" Mina called up from above as three figures came into her line of sight. She was surprised to see Yoongi and Jimin with her but paid no mind when she landed. Both the boys helped her off, being careful when they saw the wound on her forehead.
"Thank you Binxie. Now get out of here before you're seen." Mina said softly, petting his head before the winged beast took off. She watched him disappear into the sky before turning to look at the three standing before her. "I got the coin." Mina said with a smile as she held it up.
"Don't you ever do that again! Do you hear me?! I was so scared!" Ami cried out as she hugged her best friend to death. She never wanted to experience the amount of emotions she just went through worrying about Mina. She was always the brave one so this was new to her.
"I know I know. I'm sorry but we're almost out of time so let's go. You can yell at me later." Mina laughed out as she looked over at Yoongi and Jimin. "You two better hurry back before we all get in trouble and thank you for keeping her company." Mina said softly as she gave them each a kiss on the cheek before grabbing Ami by the hand and racing back into the school.
The clock was ticking and they didn't have much time left.