All she could think was that it was loud. So loud. Stepping out into the main ministry entrance they were surrounded by aurors, reporters and the general magical public that had managed to get in.
Harry held her hand tightly as he navigated them through the crowds. So crowded and so loud. She glanced back to see if he was behind her, she could just about see him but Harry didn't slow his pace. He kept tugging her through the throngs of people, giving her no further chances to look back.
Five weeks earlier
Something was wrong. She knew before she even opened her eyes. She was damp all over and everything hurt. Suddenly, she couldn't breathe and her eyes flew open as she started to choke. Everything burned; no matter how many times she tried, she couldn't seem to breathe properly as water bubbled its way out of her mouth. Just as she began to panic, breathing began to get a bit easier. With every deep breath it burnt her throat but at least she could now breathe. Glancing around her with her eyes stinging, she took in the beach and the rock face in front of her and then the water behind her.
'Oh God...Neville...Theo...Olivia...'
She looked around frantically and gasped around in her sleeve for her wand. Nothing. Her wand was gone. She got to her feet quickly and looked out towards the water. There were a few bits of debris that she could see on the sand and in the water but nothing large. She saw a few books that had been in her bag.
'The extension charm must have failed...'
She picked them up out of the water. They were drenched but she may as well rescue them and move them to a sunny spot to dry. It was ironic that in the one time she would have been grateful for nearly anything in her bag that wasn't her books, it was books that Hermione Granger found. Clothes or the tent or food, medical supplies; even cutlery or a cup would've been more useful than books right now.
She couldn't see virtually anything up on the rockface; so she decided to check the beach first for anything useful and signs of life, before trying to find a way up the cliffs to get a better look around. Gathering anything near to her that could be useful first would be a good start. After all, if she washed up here there was a good chance that other debris and maybe other people were here also. Besides, climbing the rocks directly could be dangerous and without her wand or any potions, getting injured could be catastrophic. Perhaps she could walk her way around the beach to the other side of it though.
About halfway down the beach she spotted two large objects in the water. She ran towards them and into the water. The first object was part of the tent. Unfortunately, that meant that it was no longer magical, it was simply a piece of material, not even functional as a normal muggle tent. She gathered it into her arms and dragged it onto the beach, before heading to the second object.
She stopped before getting too close this time. It was obvious from this distance that it wasn't an object, it was a person.
Hermione stood still for a moment before forcing herself to move closer. They were dead. She knew that but she needed to check to be sure, she needed to know who and she couldn't really let them just drift about at sea... They deserved better than that. Near anyone deserved better than that.
As she reached the body she held back a sob, telling herself it wasn't the first friend that she had seen dead. Olivia. Olivia had been her first friend at work. Hermione and Olivia worked in the curses research department. They had started the same day and worked together for three years...she was one of her best friends...
There was no breathing, no heartbeat, no pulse. Her skin was a horrid greyish colour and cold. She couldn't bare to touch it more than necessary, instead clutching the witches cloak and towing her towards the shore. She tugged her all the way to the rockface, ignoring the sudden weight once they were no longer in the water, before covering her body with the piece of tent for now.
Standing shakily she carried on down the beach. She paused to throw up suddenly. Her friend was dead. God only knows whether Neville and Theo were alive or dead. The fact that they weren't here wasn't exactly encouraging news given the situation.
Their small group had been tracking and researching a number of murders committed using a strange unknown curse. Neville and Theo were the two aurors escorting Hermione and Olivia into the field to follow a lead in their research. A freak storm had hit out of nowhere and torn the boat that they were travelling on apart. She didn't actually remember much after the boat shaking and her being thrown into the water.
She found nothing along the rest of the beach, except a way up the cliffs. The rocks at this end started lower and built up to the tall rockface the other side. She supposed that she should just consider herself lucky to still have all her clothes and shoes attached at this point. Not that she didn't really wish for her wand but climbing the rocks without her shoes certainly wouldn't have been pleasant.
She removed her cloak to make climbing easier, glad that she was in muggle clothing rather than her office work robes. She left her cloak under a heavy rock, so that it wouldn't blow away and continued her scramble upwards.
At the top of the cliffs, she found that the island wasn't that large. The side that she started on was pretty much a line of rock and sand, on the others side of the rocks further down there was more island. It held a small hill of yellow looking glass and further down a thick patch of trees, as well as more sand. It didn't look like a large enough island for many mammals to inhabit and the was certainly no signs of people, or even signs that there had ever been people here.
'Don't panic Hermione.' She told herself shakily. 'Use your brain. Think.'
She had magic, the wandless kind anyway. That meant she was able to start a fire and probably produce some suitable water for drinking if she couldn't find any fresh. She could make light and pull off basic stunners and shields but it was all basic magic...she certainly couldn't transfigure a shelter or boat or conjure a patronus without her wand. Still, she wasn't dead and with magic she had some hope of staying that way.
The sun was low in the sky, she probably had only a handful of hours left of light. The most immediate issues were water, shelter and food. She could go a couple of days, maybe a week or so without food if she absolutely had to but water was essential. She didn't know much about actual survival but she knew that much. She needed something to use as a cup...
Deciding the most sheltered place from the weather was further down the island amongst the trees but that the best chance for other debris was the side of the island she washed up on, she headed back down again, collecting her cloak as she went.
She studiously avoided looking at the tent material as she passed it. There was time to think about that tomorrow. By the time she reached the point where she originally landed, the sun was starting to set. She found a spot on the rocks that seemed fairly sheltered for this side of the island and sat down, with her fortunately now dry cloak wrapped around her. She should stay this side for at least tonight, if she was lucky someone might come looking for them and spot her. If she was really lucky her wand might wash up here too. She had gathered a few tiny pieces of dried seaweed, glass, leaves and wood from the beach on her way here. There were no big pieces that would burn for a long time but it would have to do.
"Incendio." She murmured, forcing her magic though her hands to the small pile. She sighed in relief at the wave of heat now burning in front of her. She glanced at the books she had rescued earlier and cringed. She hated the thought but she was more than likely going to end up burning them.
She tried to use wandless magic to transfigure a flat rock into a bowl like shape but it did nothing more than heat up in her hands. She sighed and got into a position with her face close to the rock before conjuring water. The water obviously ran straight off of the flat rock and away but she managed to get a good few mouthfuls before it trailed off altogether.
A small sob escaped her lips as she huddled into her cloak again.
Hermione woke with an ache in her neck and back. She had fallen asleep slouched against a large rock, curled up into a ball. It was very bright this morning. The air already felt a bit warm, although she herself felt cold. She sighed and sat up to look around. It was then that she saw a large shape in the water.
Hermione felt her heart clench.
'Please don't be another body...please...' She thought desperately. Her heart sank as she moved towards the water. It looked like some debris and amongst it...definitely a body.
"Why?!" She cried out in frustration. She sobbed and frantically scrubbed at her eyes, telling herself to get a grip, even though she just wanted to sink into the sand and stay there.
She didn't notice the body move.
A noise. A loud noise. He winced and opened his eyes. He remembered being in the water. The events of the day before came back to him and he remembered where he was. Floating on a part of the boat with a life support float around him. He looked around for the noise.
His eyes widened in relief at seeing land so close. He hadn't seen a thing yesterday but debris. Worst of all being that he didn't know where the others were. His heart leapt for joy as he saw a figure knelt on the beach.
"Hello!" He shouted, his voice cracked so he tried again. "Hey! Hello!"
He saw the figure move, looking up suddenly and getting to their feet.
By the time they ran into the water, he could see a female figure clad in muggle jeans with messy hair.
"Hermione!" He shouted.
"Neville!" He leapt off the boat panel he was sprawled on and into the water. His legs went like jelly under him and he went under for a moment, before he managed to make his limbs work. He swam shakily towards her, wading once he could touch the bottom.
He felt her impact his body, they both went into the water off of their feet at the force of it.
He hugged her back tightly, for once not embarrassed in the slightest at the sign of affection. He had thought he was alone out there. All night he had wondered how long he could even survive floating around in the water. He had feared the others were dead. Seeing Hermione was like a gift from heaven right about now.
"Thank Merlin you're alright." He said, not even lightening his grip. He felt her sobbing against him as he tried to veer her back towards the shore.
"Oh God...Olivia, Neville...Olivia's dead." She cried. "I thought I was the only one that made it. I've been here alone all night!"
They made it to the sand where they both practically collapsed. The sand felt warm and welcoming after being in the cool water all night.
"Theo?" Neville asked.
"Haven't seen anything." She replied. "She's up there...I'll need to move her or bury her or something before the heat..." She cut herself off and covered her mouth with her hand as she felt sick again. Neville rubbed her back and looked around.
"We'll sort it." He nodded. "Don't suppose you've got your wand?"
"No." She shook her head.
"Yeah, I gathered as much...wishful thinking though." He nodded. "Any supplies?"
"Nothing yet. There's part of my tent covering the body, I have my cloak and a book...I burnt one last night to keep warm." She replied. "I should get that debris and we should check all around the beach again for anything else useful."
"I'll do it." Neville said, getting to his feet.
"You've been in the water all night, have you even had any fresh water?" She asked. He shook his head. "Right, well give me the float then. I'm going to see if I can just walk out as far as I can, then summon them to me."
She did just that. Standing as close as she could get to it, while still touching the seabed; she held out her hand and trust her magic at the items.
"Accio."
Neville moved to walk a little way into the water also; he took the items from her piece by piece, placing them on the sand.
"Looks like a portion of the cabin, a cushion...plastic sheet from something..." Hermione mused. "No wands, no rope...no food. An empty water bottle and a bowl...a hat. The bottle and bowl will be useful for water at least. Right, we need to build a signal fire or something."
"We haven't got any wands." He sighed.
"No but I can perform a wandless incendio. Although for everything else we'll probably be doing this mostly the muggle way." She nodded.
"Do you know how to do that?" he asked. She bent over and rinsed out the water bottle and bowl as best she could with sea water, before they gathered everything in their arms and dragged it right up to the cliffs.
"Sort of. I'm not an expert but I've read about survival stories, and I studied up a bit on the subject before the year Harry, Ron and I spent in a tent. That was different of course…I knew that we were going to have to be on the run at some point and so I was able to prepare…gather supplies." She sighed, and wandlessly filled the water bottle and bowl with water for them to drink. "Don't drink it too fast, you'll make yourself sick."
"Thanks." He nodded.
"Basically the most important thing is, find fresh water; unlike muggles I can do that bit with magic, although a source of fresh water would be a good idea still in case my magic fails later." She explained. "Find shelter, food, assess any nearby dangers and gather any supplies that may be useful as well as building a signal to aid rescue are all important too."
"I can't do wandless magic." Neville admitted, handing her back the water bottle.
"It's hard, I'm not good at it." She replied, taking a few sips herself before putting it down. "I've got the skill and the technique…but I'm just not that powerful. Don't get me wrong, I can hold my own but raw power helps a lot with wandless magic. You should see Harry with wandless magic. You're magic is more powerful than mine…if you could get control of it, you'd be able to pull off more powerful wandless magic than I can."
"What makes you think my magic is more powerful?" he frowned.
"I've seen your stunners." She smiled. "Honestly Neville, it's there. You could be a really powerful wizard, you've just never been that comfortable learning things."
"Do you think maybe...could you teach me?" he asked.
"Maybe, once we've got the essentials sorted…certainly couldn't hurt to try. It'd certainly be useful if we could both do magic." She nodded.
"So a signal?" he asked.
"Yes, muggles use either smoke signals, fires, S.O.S. signs or flare guns…obviously we don't have a flare gun." She sighed. "Still, there's a beach both sides of the island and I'm thinking we should have a sign on each side. Maybe build a signal fire at some point later if we need to."
"Alright, you can get started on that, I'm going to go down the beach." He said stiffly.
"Neville…no…I can-"
"No. Hermione, you know what you're doing with the signals and signs and stuff. I will do this." He told her firmly. She nodded sadly.
It was strange watching him walk away from her. Part of her wanted to go with him, nothing to do with the task at hand…simply because she didn't want to be alone. She had been so afraid yesterday.
She looked up at the sky, it was still morning…they needed some form of shelter; so she decided that they would start working on that no later than midday. It was odd not knowing the exact time and just guessing by roughly where the sun was in the sky, but she didn't need to know the exact time. Casting any sort of tempus charm was wasting magic that could be used on water, which they did need.
Not wanting to run out of rocks, she decided to draw a reasonably sized but not huge sign in the sand before she began. She didn't want to end up with a massive 'S' and nothing else. She stopped a couple of times for water and took off her jumper by, what she made to be, around midmorning.
When she finally finished, she headed back their temporary base to sit and have a drink of water before going to find Neville. The sign wasn't as big as it could be but it would still be visible from pretty high up. It was better than no sign at any rate and she could always make it bigger later. She didn't know how long they had been working but the morning probably was over now and it was quite warm, the sun was nearly straight over them. Neville made his way towards her not long after she sat down; he brought with him a long handled mop and a sail or at least part of a sail.
She took in his grim appearance and handed him the water bottle. He nodded his thanks and took a seat next to her. They stayed silent for a while, before her stomach growled loudly.
"What now?" he asked.
"Well…there's not much we can do here. We need to find some shelter and hopefully some food." She told him. "We should go explore the other side of the island and find a good spot for shelter, now that we have a help sign set up this side."
"Right." He nodded, standing and offering his hand to tug her to her feet. "Are we taking all this?"
"I think that'd be best. We can use that sheet you've go there to put everything on and carry it all at once between us." She suggested, taking the sail from him and spreading it out of the ground.
"Like a stretcher." He nodded. He lifted the large panel and placed that on the sheet first, before they began putting everything else on top of it. Carefully, they lifted the sheet from each side and began their way down the beach.
Hermione slowed as they passed a patch of disturbed sand, a pile of rocks at one end…the grave Neville had made for Olivia. It was terrifying. Her friend was dead. She had died at sea, probably by drowning and been washed up on a deserted island like she was no more than driftwood and debris. Buried in a crudely made grave…with none of her family around to say goodbye. They would have to dig her back up and take her home with them…she couldn't leave her here. Olivia's family deserved to hold a proper service for her. If they ever made it off this island and got home of course.
"They'll find us 'Mione." Neville's voice said softly, as if sensing her thoughts. "When we don't contact the office for check in, they'll start looking."
"What's the protocol for check in times?" she asked him.
"For this case, it was three days." He told her. "When we don't check in tomorrow morning, they will try to contact us for a full twenty four hours. If after twenty four hours they are unsuccessful then they will use a tracking charm. As auror's a vial of blood was taken from each of us upon sign up, to use for a strong tracking charm if needed. Less than forty-eight hours Hermione and they'll be on their way…and that's assuming they don't already know that something has gone wrong."
"Right, you're right." She agreed. "We'll be fine."
"Exactly, no more than a week sat on a beach in the sun." he agreed.
"A week. We can do that." She nodded. "As long as we continue to have access to clean water and can make some sort of reasonable shelter we can last a week."
"That's the spirit." He said, as they carefully climbed over a lower part of the cliffs with their cargo, in an attempt to reach the wooded area of the island.
"Yeah, studies have shown that a reasonably healthy human can last for up to two months without food as long as they have water. So as long as my magic holds out we'll be fine." She sighed in relief.
Her relief was short lived, when Neville began to look more and more pale as the day wore on. They hadn't found food but had found a small pool of fresh water. She determined that it was where the rain water ran down the rocks and the rocks were damp but there was currently no water running down them, the pool was at the bottom of them in a shady patch, which prevented it from evaporating. It seemed pretty fresh because it was still relatively clean, possibly even from the storm yesterday. Not far from the pool of water was a small clearing in the trees that she decided would be a good spot to try and make some sort of camp. It seemed pretty sheltered, since it was fairly close to the backs of the cliffs. It was a start at least.
They made something of a makeshift, sloped tent out of the sheet of plastic by firstly tying it, somewhat dubiously, using some long leaves to tree branches and then impaling the two bottom corners into the ground. They could work on building some sides to it later. Next they made their way out to the other beach, to dry what they could in the sun.
Neville sat on the sand looking ready to collapse and let out a horrid cough. Being in the water all night must have made him ill.
"You should go to sleep." She told him. "The sand is nice and warm…if we lay my cloak down you can lie down and get some rest…you can't have slept well last night."
"No, I'll help with the rocks." He said, gesturing to where she had begun the second 'S.O.S.' sign on the beach.
"No, you can help later. Neville if you get worse you won't be able to help at all. I'll feel much better knowing you're sleeping peacefully and getting better, than having you work hard today only to collapse with the flu tomorrow." She told him.
"Right." He conceded. "Just for a bit then." She spread out her cloak on the ground next to him and gestured for him to lie down.
"I'm just going to work on the sign this side for a bit." She told him, standing and leaving him to rest. Before starting on the rocks she took a much need toilet break in the trees. She had needed to urinate for a couple of hours but had been too embarrassed to go with Neville around. It was silly since she had had the same problem with Harry and Ron when they were in the tent. Well, not exactly...at least they had had wands for privacy charms and such. She dreaded what would happen when it came to the other toilet issue...but since she hadn't eaten yet she would worry about that later.
She worked on the 'S.O.S.' Sign for a while, before her stomach rumbled loudly again. They hadn't found any food. She hadn't seen any animals save a few birds and she hadn't seen any berries or fruit...not that she really expected to find a nice banana tree but it certainly would've been convenient.
She headed back to where Neville snoozed peacefully and sat to have a drink of water. Her best bet for food was probably fish or shrimps or something. She wasn't an expert on seafood as she had never really cared for it but right now a cooked fish sounded like heaven. They didn't have a net or fishing line...and she wasn't hopeful enough to think she could spear one with a stick or catch one bare handed...perhaps she could stun one?
Getting up she made her way towards the water. She paused at the edge and decided that she didn't really want to get her jeans wet again. She glanced back at Neville, he was still sleeping soundly, so she slid her jeans off and her shoes and socks, before putting her shoes back on. It may take time for her shoes to dry but better wet feet than injured feet from sharp rocks or worse.
The water was warmer now, she waded in a little way but couldn't really see any fish close by. Deciding on a different approach, she climbed back out of the water and climbed onto some rocks and carefully walked along them. She finally spotted a few fish but they didn't really look close enough to hit. Worth a try though. Concentrating she fired two small stunners in their direction. Both missed and the fish were gone. She sighed in defeat. No fish then.
Heading back along the rocks to the sandy part of the beach she finally had some luck in the form of a large crab. It didn't run from her as she came closer, firing a stunner at it she rejoiced as it found its mark. She was pretty squeamish about crabs actually and cringed as she carefully lifted it up by its shell. Still, pick it up she did because it was still food.
She made her way back through the trees with it to their camp and the fire pit she had made earlier with rocks.
'Right…now how to cook the thing…' She mused. 'Fire first, worst case scenario I char the thing and it's like eating over done barbeque food.'
She used some of the wood that she had gathered earlier, while making their camp and lit the fire. Looking around, she used a stick to impale the crab and held it over the flames. 'Great…now I'm stuck holding it…' She frowned and wondered how people on those nature shows made those things that stood over the fire out of sticks without those sticks just catching fire.
She frowned and stood up, moving the stick away from the fire and just impaling it into the ground nearby for a moment. Maybe Neville would have some ideas, she had better wake him anyway.
She pulled her jeans back on and quickly moved back through the trees to where Neville still slept. Kneeling down she nudged him slightly.
"Neville." She said softly.
"Mmmm?" he mumbled.
"I've found something to eat, and you need to drink some more water." She told him.
"Right." He agreed. She helped him, sleepily get to his feet and picked up the cloak from the ground, before leading the way back to the fire.
"I haven't figured out the best way to cook it yet…I figured we're just going to have to hold it in the fire." She admitted.
"You got a fire going? That's great." He said, crouching down by it. "Here, let me?" He held his hand out and she passed him the stick with the crab hanging from it.
"I tried to stun some fish but…no luck." She shrugged. "Shame, I'd have much preferred fish. Just the thought of pulling apart that thing is giving my shudders."
"I'll do it." He offered with a smile. "I'll pull it apart enough that you don't have to think of it as a crab anymore."
"Thanks, that'd be amazing." She smiled back. "It's not that I don't want to eat something that still looks like an animal or anything…it's just crabs in particular and lobsters…that kind of thing. They look so much like insects, they just scare me a bit."
"Nice to know there is something that the great Hermione Granger is afraid of." He chuckled.
"There's lots of things that I'm afraid of." She replied quietly. The playful tone of conversation vanished instantly. "This whole situation is like something from a nightmare…or some dramatic movie."
"We'll be fine, remember? A week on a beach." He reminded her. She nodded, trying to banish the sad thoughts from her mind.
"We still don't know where Theo is…or the crew." she pointed out.
"I know." He sighed. There had been the two crew members running the boat that they were on, as well as the four of them. "I…" He had wanted to say 'I'm sure they're fine' but it had been over twenty four hours since they had been thrown into the water. He was in the water overnight and he wasn't feeling great…how long could anyone really last in the water? It wasn't like they had seen any other land around…not that that meant much since he hadn't even seen this island last night, when he was drifting on that panel of wood in the ocean. "Come here."
She got up and came to sit next to him and dropped her head against his shoulder. That was how they stayed, sitting in silence watching the flames flickering around their dinner.
"That actually smells pretty good." She said a while later.
"How about you grab me that bowl and I'll start pulling it apart?" he asked her. She nodded and went to grab the bowl for him.
"We should make sure to leave the leftovers further away from the camp though…they could get pretty gross and smelly in a few days." She mused.
"That's alright, I'll go do it by the water and toss them into the ocean." He told her.
"Good idea." She agreed. He headed off towards the beach and she looked around their makeshift camp. They could do with the sail as a groundsheet to lay on overnight.
She headed towards the beach after him to gather the items that they had left in the sun to dry. She paused and looked towards the water, where Neville knelt on the ground, hunched over the bowl with the crab in it. The sun was getting low now and the temperature would drop soon. She gathered the items and glanced back at Neville one last time, before taking them back to the camp.
By the time Neville came back, the camp looked a little better, or at least it was more than a fire pit and a piece of plastic stuck between two trees.
"Hey, I found your bag. Nothing in it I'm afraid, but I also found some more wood that I left on the beach to dry out and…this." He said as he approached.
"You found proper string!" Hermione exclaimed. "That's brilliant!" She took her bag from him and hung it on a branch to dry out, the charm had definitely failed but still it would do for gathering things in. With proper string they could secure the plastic sheet to the trees better.
"Come, eat." He gestured to the bowl. She went and sat with him and they picked at the bits of crab meat from the bowl. It was good, it felt amazing to eat. It was a shame that she still felt starving afterwards.
"We'll have to do better tomorrow." She commented.
"I don't know, making our own rescue signs, building something that resembles shelter and killing and cooking our own dinner isn't bad considering we have no wands and no tools." He replied, nudging her side. "You did good Hermione, I'd have been clueless without you here."
"And I'd have been very lonely without you here." She replied, leaning into his side.