Nolan stood in the group with the rest, his mind on the forest. He remembered seeing the dark mass of tress from high above the courtyard. It had seemed like any other forest, but he knew from stories that there was a huge list of reasons it was forbidden to students. He had to wonder whose idea it had been to set up a school so close to such a dangerous place. He'd asked Roy about it when they met up at the lake before dinner, but the older boy and his friends had been more concerned with the excitement of Nolan's detention. That and teasing him about his "new little girlfriend."

According to Roy, they'd likely just make them walk at the edge of the forest picking herbs or something. Maybe have some harmless but intimidating creature hang out in the shadows just out of sight to give them a good scare. Still, he couldn't say he wasn't looking forward to it. He'd prefer to actually be able to do some magic before heading in there, but the presence of the professors eased the small bit of anxiety he had. 

He was trying to remember everything he'd heard about the centaurs when one the girls ran up to the group, out of breath. 

"Did you hear? I just heard! They just told me... The headmistress... She... She... She forbid quidditch! I mean.. Just for us... for Slytherin! Slytherin quidditch is cancelled! Because of what happened on the train! There she banned us from even having a team!" 

Nolan's stomach sank. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was just unfair. It was... unreasonable. It was cruel. It was, he had to say, a little overdramatic. Obviously he hadn't expected to play this year. He hadn't even planned to try out until maybe his fourth year when he had a good hold on his studies. But he'd been looking forward to the matches. He'd been excited to see the school matches, cheer on his own team. As part of Slytherin, he had wanted them to beat Gryffindor and hold it over Judoc's head. On top of that, a whole year of no Quidditch would put Slytherin at a disadvantage for the next few years. Who knew if there'd be any skilled older players by the time he wanted to try out.

"She can't do that!" he blurted out. The ache in his stomach deepened. This wasn't fair. It was only his first day and the events of the train had already given him a bad reputation, gotten him detention, and now this. [i]Still don't even know what that whole deal on the train was about in the first place,[/i] he thought bitterly.

All his excitement had left him. Nolan stood among the rest of the first years . He looked around to see where Caelum was, he hadn't seen her quite yet. From behind he heard the girl from class talking. Of course she had something to say about all this. "Yeah... Harry Potter. Don't they say he nearly [i]died[/i] just about every time he went into the forest?" To be fair, Harry Potter had started nearly dying practically from the day of his birth. But it had been a long day, and now Nolan just wanted to get it over with.