Do you like treasure hunts? If yes, follow me on this adventure. Make your decisions wisely.

We are walking in the "Forbidden Forest" under a canopy of stars, with only each other for company - you and me. 

Being kidnapped was not a great adventure. But it looks like there is more to come. We were dropped off in the "Forbidden Forest" by a band of surviving Death-Eaters from the Second Wizarding War. They are now members of an organization called "The Death-Eaters' Revenge", led by Delphini, Voldemort's illegitimate daughter. Needless to mention, she is also the only surviving heir of Slytherin. Children of previous Death-Eaters have also joined her organization over time. Some of them may be in our own beloved school, Hogwarts. The sky looks gloomy and fore-boding. The tall, dark, and looming shadows of huge trees make it difficult to see our path, except for the luminous fireflies visible in the distance.

Choice 1. Follow the fireflies.

Choice 2. Continue straight on the path.

Choose wisely.

If you made Choice 1, read sentence 3.

If you made Choice 2, read sentence 4.

3. You decided to follow the fireflies. I chuckle lightly and follow you. "What are you doing, sniggering like that?" you snap at me.

4. You continued straight on the path, while I followed the fireflies, leaving you behind. But I will come back for you; don't you worry.

If you read sentence 3, read this paragraph. I don't answer, but I remove a corked bottle from my robes. It contains a beetle I transformed into a button to help me replace the ones on my Hogwarts uniform, because I am quite prone to wardrobe malfunctions. The Death-Eaters did not take my bottle away because they thought it was insignificant. I open it and trap a firefly inside, then screw on the cork tightly. My bottle lights up and serves as a constant source of light for us now. "There, a flashlight" , I say, grinning hideously. You rub your hand gently on the cork of the bottle and say, "Great idea." . After a few minutes of wandering, we find ourselves in a familiar clearing. "We've been here." , you say, and add after thinking for a while, "This is where the Death-Eaters first brought us after we were kidnapped. We hid our wands on the lowest branch of a tree here when they were busy readying their brooms and not paying attention to us, remember?" . "Yes.", I say, "Indeed you are right." . With our self-made flashlight in hand, we look around for the tree we hid our wand in. After some wandering, we reach a spot that looks way too familiar. I reach for the lowest branch of the tree nearest to us and give it a light shake. A slight rustling sound is heard, and many brown leaves fall to the ground. Two more objects fall off the tree's branch. Our wands. You pick yours up gleefully, and I pick mine. We have found our wands. Congratulations on your to-the-point observation skills and great visual memory. The first spell you cast is "Lumos". I am happy to see you delighted. I cast the Wand-Lighting Charm too. We gleefully hold our wands in our hands for awhile, appreciating the feel of having them back, then move forward. On the immediate path in front of us, we see a long trail of spiders. 

Option 1. Follow them.

Option 2. Don't follow them.

Make a wise decision.

If you chose Option 1, read sentence 5. 

If you chose Option 2, read sentence 6.

If you read sentence 4, read this paragraph. "Now the wand.", you think to yourself, "It should be somewhere here.". I have completely forgotten about our wands. But you remember. We hid them on the lowest branch of a nearby tree as fast as we could when the Death-Eaters stopped at a spot in the Forbidden Forest to retrieve their broomsticks from the hiding place they had singled-out. One minute after that, we were on their brooms behind two of them, you behind the fat one and me behind the lean one, journeying to our doom at the organization's lair. You don't manage to find the wand, but you feel hounded. You see lots of partially luminous shadows in the distance, ranging from whitish in color to a patchy combination of off-white and pale gray. They are on all sides, around you. "Gytrashes", you think. You watch them closely, and you can see that they are closing up on you. You instinctively move towards a tree, hoping to climb it, but something falls off the lowest branch of the tree on your head. Your wand. "It is indeed my wand.", you say, as you feel it familiarly in your hand. What would you do?

Option 3. Cast "Lumos".

Option 4. Cast "Avada Kedavra".

Option 5. Cast "Expelliarmus".

Make your choice wisely.

If you picked Option 3, read sentence 7.

If you picked Option 4, read sentence 8.

If you picked Option 5, read sentence 9.

5. You and I follow the spiders. I chose to trust you on this one. We end up in a darker part of the forest. The atmosphere here is mysterious, and for some reason, the air in our vicinity appears to be darker than normal. We soon realise we are in the lair of huge, black, hairy spiders. We have reached Aragog's den. We hear loud clicking sounds all around us and realise that we are in grave danger. We are surrounded by hungry acromantulas clicking their pincers. They must be Aragog's grandchildren. How many are there? One, two, or eight? You are grateful that we are not in the center of their shelter. We are only facing a few acromantulas in the front of the den, from a minimum of three to a maximum of eight in number. However, this could have been entirely prevented if we hadn't deviated from our original path to follow the spiders. Acromantulas are ferocious creatures. What do you do?

Option A. Cast "Araneus Exumai" . It is the Spider-Repelling Spell.

Option B. Cast the "Immobilization Charm" and the "Stunning Spell" multiple times.

Decide wisely.

If you decided on Option A, go to sentence 10.

If you decided on Option B, go to sentence 11.

6. You didn't follow the spiders. That was a wise choice. I smile at your great decision-making capabilities. I keep my wand ready, holding it in the air, and follow you, and together we make our way towards Hogwarts Castle. Soon after, we reach a very familiar location. From this spot onwards, we recognize our way to the castle from the forest. Congratulations. Skip everything else and go to the last paragraph to see for yourself the rewards of your brilliant decision-making.

7. You cast "Lumos" when faced with gytrashes. Congratulations. That was a brilliant display of spell-casting appropriate for the situation. The gytrashes scatter in every direction, leaving you alone. As you feel happy and put your mind to rest, you begin walking again. Minutes later, an individual with a dark outline, carrying a light going on and off, beckons to you from a path off yours. What do you think, and how do you act?

Choice A. It's a hinkypunk. Ignore.

Choice B. It's Jace. Call out to him and shout that you found your wand.

Choice C. It's a hinkypunk. Direct your wandlight towards the creature to examine it more closely. If it's a hinkypunk, mentally prepare to cast the Knockback Jinx.

Pick after putting in some thought.

If you chose Choice A, read sentence 12.

If you chose Choice B, read sentence 13.

If you chose Choice C, read sentence 14.

8. You cast "Avada Kedavra" on a pack of gytrashes. Gytrashes are spirits. You can't kill them with the Killing Curse. Wrong spell. They are about to pounce upon you when I arrive from nowhere and my "firefly in a bottle" light drives the gytrashes away. Gytrashes are afraid of light. The gytrashes have scattered, and you are glad to reunite with me. You hug me tightly. We trace our footsteps back towards Hogwarts Castle, side by side. We both know the direction from here. Congratulations. Most of the adventure is over. I saved your life. Skip everything below until the last paragraph, in which you get to know the results of your choices and good circumstances.

9. You cast "Expelliarmus" on a batch of gytrashes, which are wandless creatures. Not much help. Very poor decision-making. Or, let's say, a really bad choice. The gytrashes close in on you, and you don't have enough time to think of another spell. Luckily, my wand falls on your head from the tree. The impact causes you to think clearly, and you cast the Wand-Lighting Charm using both wands one by one. With two wands alight together, you manage to drive away the gytrashes. They are dark creatures, afraid of light. They are classified as spirits by the Ministry of Magic. Once the gytrashes depart, the double light from two wands in your hand attracts my attention. I was nearby. "I have found you. " , I say, "It took me a while to find the place we hid our wands, but here I am. And it looks like you have already found those." . "Jace" , you say, finding comfort in my presence after your terrible ordeal. You hand my wand over to me, and together we make quite the pair, hugging each other and breathing sighs of relief. The two of us walk back to Hogwarts Castle. We both know the advisable direction from here. Congratulations. Most of the adventure is over. You didn't make good choices but your circumstances prevented your fateful death, and destiny reconciled you and me. Skip the remaining portions except the last paragraph, in which we are gifted with the results of our excellent and favorable circumstances.

10. You cast the spell "Araneus Exumai". Unfortunately, it is effective only against a small number of acromantulas and is extremely difficult to cast. It would require a highly proficient wizard or witch to cast the spell with sufficient willpower to stop the acromantulas long enough. Your spell was not much help. But I step in instead. I cast the Stunning Spell and the Immobilization Charm, stunning and paralyzing quite a few of the giant spiders. You follow suit, and in a few minutes, we have controlled the immediate horde. Not waiting for the spiders to recover or for their friends and family members to come to their rescue, we run for our lives. We soon clear out of Aragog's lair and come back on the path where we last left to follow the trail of the spiders. You choose to go the other way this time. I respect your decision, and we reach a familiar place. "Hey, this looks familiar.", you say. Indeed it does. I make my way to a nearby tree and examine its branches. "We have found the place.", I say as I do so, "or you have.". You jump in delight as you recognize the tree. We both know where to go from here, so we head back to Hogwarts Castle. Congratulations. It's almost over. Skip everything you encounter and go straight to the last paragraph, in which you will learn about the rewards of befriending a proficient wizard and your on-point observational skills.

11. You cast the Stunning Spell and the Immobilization Charm on as many acromantulas as you can. Great choice. I follow suit, and soon we clear out of Aragog's lair, having temporarily left the giant spiders behind. We run as fast as we can and come out into a clearing, where we stop to catch our breath. Realizing we are out of danger for now, I say, "You are one brave and smart person.", as you smile. It seems that you paid a lot of attention in your Defense Against the Dark Arts Classes. Looking forward, we notice a familiar tree trunk. "Isn't that the tree we left our wands on?", you say. "It is, indeed.", I reply as I run my eyes over the tree you indicated. We both know how to get to Hogwarts Castle from here. Congratulations. We made it. Or, you made it. Move on straight to the last paragraph to find out about the rewards of your excellent, quick decision-making and practical-oriented spellcasting.

12. You thought I was a hinkypunk and completely ignored me. I felt quite sad. I followed you silently thereafter, not disturbing you on your lonely travels. You walk faster and faster to finish the road to your destination quickly, for fear of being attacked by the hinkypunk. After a long journey, you come out of the forest. I emerge into the clearing outside the "Forbidden Forest" right behind you, with my "firefly in a bottle" flashlight in hand. You successfully defeated the gytrashes, but entirely failed to recognize Jace. Jace is quite offended. Well, the publisher of this magazine, Hiya, says that I most closely resemble a hinkypunk with respect to my zodiac sign because I am an Aquarian, as you know if you saw it in the previous issue of this magazine. However, I haven't been more offended or hurt until now. As you hand over Jace's wand to him once you see him, he walks straight to Headmistress Oshiro, who is waiting for both of you in the distance. She seems to have been looking for you all along, and relief covers her features as she sees you and Jace near the Forbidden Forest. Congratulations. Go straight to the last paragraph, to lay your eyes on what rewards are awaiting you for your efficient survival tactics, bravery, and determination.

13. You wave at me frantically and shout, "Jace, Jace. It's me. Come here.". I listen to you and make my way to your side. You are glad to see me and hug me tightly. "Thank you for bringing me back on the right path." , I say. You hand over my wand to me, and we make our way to Hogwarts Castle together, holding hands. However, you made a fatal mistake. It could have really been a hinkypunk and not recognizing a hinkypunk in the forest might have disastrous consequences. I chuckle to myself at the thought and tighten my grip on your hand. You've probably realized your blunder too, and a momentary shadow of slight suspicion and self-doubt passes over your face, but you let it go. Congratulations. We are in this together. We are headed in the right direction. Skip anything else you see, and move on straight to the last paragraph to appreciate the rewards for your expert handling of the gytrashes and your strong friendship with Jace, thanks to your friendly spirit and welcoming nature.

14. Congratulations. You are neither careless nor a coward. You made the right choice. You were not careless or stupid enough to trust a possible hinkypunk without confirmation. You were also brave enough to wait to find out more, and knowledgeable enough to know what to look for and how to stay prepared for the worst. You look me over by wandlight and realise that I am not a hinkpunk. You call out to me, and I come over. We hug and you hand over my wand. I appreciate your help at bringing me on the right path and make a warm gesture to say "Thank you.". I hold your hand. Well done. Those were a few well-made decisions. The worst is over. We are walking towards Hogwarts Castle. Skip over to the last paragraph for the rewards of your wisely picked choices and carefully made decisions.

My. That was one hell of a ride. I am more than content that we have reached the end of our perilous adventure. "Where have you two been?" Headmistress Oshiro asks, magically signaling the staff of Hogwarts to stop the search for us in the castle. "You have been missing for two days.", she says. We both stare at her open-mouthed, stunned. "I, I", you begin. "We were kidnapped by Death-Eaters.", I say, "We were taken away from the cliff overlooking the Black Lake.". "We were gagged and forcibly dragged to the 'Forbidden Forest', then mounted on brooms and transported to Delphini's lair. The heir of Salazar Slytherin is back.", you finish breathlessly. Headmistress Oshiro looks at us in concern. We promise that we are quite unharmed. This kidnapping was more like a warning call by the Death-Eaters to the Wizarding World. Headmistress Oshiro sighs heavily in relief. She pats our backs and accompanies us to the interior of Hogwarts Castle, where we ultimately find ourselves sitting on plush chairs across the Headmistress's table in her office. She removes two objects from her drawer and hands them to us. It appears there is one of them for each of us. "You have been through quite a thrilling and dangerous experience. Here's a little reward for your bravery.", Headmistress Oshiro says. You squeal in delight when you realize what it is. It's a Wizard Cracker. Mine is, too. I am extremely pleased and overjoyed. That was a joyful end to our difficult and troublesome ordeal. We pull open our Wizard Crackers and find - complete the story on your own.

Did you like the adventure?

To talk more about this adventure, owl Jace. 

- Jace Rhodes, Journalist, Sales Manager, Editor, Hogwarts Monthly Magazine.