Hermione wasn't sure, entirely, how any of it had happened. Looking down, brown eyes brought into focus the mud between her fingers, and she could feel the pouring rain beating on her head. As the rain made its way through her curls and down her face, Hermione could only close her eyes and try to replay all that had happened.
She had been running, she knew that; Harry, Ron and Hermione had been running for their lives. When the taboo had been activated, the Snatchers had simply shown up. They had been inside the wards; she thought that would have kept them safe. But they hadn't, and then it all became chaos. There hadn't been anything to do but run; she had barely managed to get the tent back into her beaded bag before she took off into the fastest sprint she could manage. She remembered feeling the spells barely miss her head, scorching parts of her wild brown curls barely managing to stay in her attempt for a ponytail.
And she had tripped. It wasn't raining then, so she could not figure out why in that short moment before she met the ground that she had fallen nearly face down into very wet mud; on a clearly very heavy rainy day. There were no spells passing by her head, no shouts, no cries….and no Harry or Ron. br /Finally braving the idea of checking her surroundings, Hermione realized that she looked like she was still in the middle of the woods she had been in with Harry and Ron. Many of the trees seemed smaller than before, but it definitely felt and looked like the same area. Quickly checking her other side, she realized she was in no immediate danger and stood; covering her eyes to look for somewhere to go. She needed to find out what had happened and where exactly she was. As she stepped to start her walk, she felt a sharp shock in her foot as a crack pierced the air; the whole ordeal causing her to jump and fall into the mud on her backside. Quickly grabbing her foot, she found something sticking out; a very small piece of what looked like gold. As carefully as possible, she extracted it from her shoe and closed her hand around it. The item was small and in this heavy rain, she wasn't sure what it was or why it had shocked her. But she gathered herself and stood once more. Grabbing her wand, she cast a quick spell to remove the mud and a second that acted as an umbrella and took to looking at the item in her hand. It was very clearly broken and brightly gold, but she wasn't sure what it was. And the rain was doing a very good job at preventing her from seeing if anything else was left behind. So as carefully as she could, Hermione placed the item in her beaded bag and took off to finding anywhere she could go for cover.
The forest became thicker as she marched on in the mud, but she still hadn't seen anything she could to figure out where she had been. And still no signs of the Snatchers or Harry and Ron. Maybe she had apparated in shock? She hadn't felt the familiar pull in her naval, but she wasn't sure of anything that had happened in that moment. A quick flash of white quickly gave her a jolt of fright, but as a roar of thunder immediately followed, she realized it was simply a thunderstorm; which quickened her pace to seek shelter. She wasn't sure the tent was a good idea, but she would use it if she had to.
And Hermione marched on for what felt like hours, until the trees had thinned enough and a small town had come into view. Quickly disarming her spell, she received a new onslaught of the downpour; until she knew if this town was magical or not, she wasn't taking any chances with using magic. So she took to using her hand as coverage for her eyes and made a quick dash to the town, hoping she would quickly find out where she was.
Hermione was both shocked and happily surprised as she failed to run into anyone, realizing quickly that she was in a very muggle town; a town that didn't seem to keep up with the times as she hadn't seen any lights on in this downpour. As soon as she found a place for cover, a stone building with a nice wooden awning, she rummaged her bag until she found what she would deem as an acceptable robe to cover her soaking wet clothes and still manage to blend in enough to not bring any extra attention to herself. A quick wring of her hair and the robe thrown on, she made way into a place that seemed to be a store. Hermione felt she could gather some items if she needed, but she was simply just hoping to find a quick way to find out where she was. The door was heavy and took a little effort to open, but she managed to get inside and close it without the rain wetting the dark wooden floors.
A roaring fire welcomed her as did a pale stout older woman with grey hair, who seemed very shocked to have a guest in the weather they were having. Hermione flicked her eyes back and forth and understood that she was in some kind of grocery store that really did seem like it failed to modernize. Without much else to go on, Hermione took to the aisles to find anything that might help her. All the items on the shelf seemed to be sold in bulk, mainly vegetables and grains, but it was the small area for newspapers that caught her attention. Her brown eyes scanned for the woman tending the area, taking in her full beige attire, before finally finding what looked to be a weekly paper. Hermione reached in her beaded bag, rummaging in a small pocket to scrounge up a few of her muggle coins, hoping that whatever the paper cost, it would be enough. Hermione tried her luck with what she had, walking over to the lady tending the store, she held up the paper with a smile.
"Ma'am, 'm sure ye have enough in yer 'and there" The thick Scottish accent threw off Hermione, but she was simply glad that the woman was willing to take what she had instead of forcing her to be sure it was correct. The stout woman took what Hermione had offered with a small toothy smile, allowing Hermione to place the paper up under her arm and close up her beaded bag.
"Thank you very kindly ma'am. May I ask how far it is to travel to London from here?" Hermione was hoping that she'd get enough information to figure out where she was without seeming to obvious that she didn't know where she was. With a little surprise, she kindly took what seemed to be a small pastry offered by the woman.
"Oh, ye 'ave a bit of traveling to go. Few days if ye've managed te wrangle up one of them fancy 'orseless carriages. But ye look like ye traveling on foot; that'll take a while. Few weeks?" The woman did not here the gasp Hermione had taken in, but took to patting Hermione's back when she was coughing from the food she had managed to get lodged in her throat. She hadn't heard anyone but her grandmother call a car a "horseless carriage".
"A few weeks? I didn't realize I was that far out; I've been distracted in my walking." Hermione finally managed to get a few words out, giving a silent nod of appreciation as the woman stopped tapping her back and smiled.
"Can't say I 'ave heard o' many walking travelers 'ere. Not many want te take the time with all the weird fighting that's been going on an' all. But I can see why ye did." The woman took to scratching her head for a moment before returning a sharp blue-eyed gaze to Hermione. "Name is Sophie, by te way. I tend te store 'ere in Lochwinnoch. Oi' ye having trouble eating tha?" Hermione had managed to start another coughing fit, but waved off the older woman's help of patting of her back.
"I apologize ma'am." Hermione quickly swiped at her eyes to blot out the tears the coughing had induced, before righting herself. "Didn't realize I had wandered so far. The days didn't seem like they had passed that much. I've been out…studying animals. Didn't even recognize that I was that far North." A quick smile seemed to help settle the woman before she wandered behind a counter and pull out a glass and filled it with some form of beverage; Hermione was sure it wasn't water, but she took the very grassy smelling drink and took a sip to be polite.
"Yea, I 'eard ye can get lost in ya thoughts if ye forget to look about. Not te worry dear. Ye can wait out the storm in te spare room upstairs. Not much, but I 'm sure it will feel good te rest on something other than te ground." The woman waved her hand and cut off Hermione before she could manage a word in. "Not te worry dear. It is funny times with the fighting going on. Got te look out for youth tha be wandering an' all" The older woman's smile brought out one of her own as she took another sip of the grassy beverage.
"Well I appreciate it ma'am, thank you." Hermione knew she couldn't mention she'd been sleeping in a magical tent that provided the basics of comfort. As Sophie started moving, Hermione took to following her behind the large counter and through another overly large wooden door. Walking to the room offered, Hermione saw that it wasn't much more than a bed and a window; but the thought was what mattered.
"Ye can stay as long as ye need. Rain 'as been going on for a few days, an' I 'm not sure when it will stop. It tis messing with m' crops, but weather 'nt changing for no one." Hermione nodded and did her best to not get the bed too wet. "Did ye leave ye clothes somewhere?"
"Yes, I did. I was in the woods; my tent is holding fine. I was following a bird and the downpour caught me off guard." Sophie looked her up and down and simply shrugged. Hermione really hoped her studying animals story would hold for now.
"Well, if ye need something else, just let me know. Not sure I 'm going te be getting many other people walking in t'day." Sophie smiled before walking out of the room, leaving Hermione to look out the window at the onslaught of the rain. Placing the cup down on the floor, she quickly closed the door enough to be able to pull off her wet shirt and pants. Peering around the edge of the door, she realized Sophie wasn't in earshot or visible range, and mutter a very quick drying and warming spell before slipping the clothes back on and drying off her robe as well. No need to get herself sick if she could prevent it. Finally taking the time to sit down on the not very soft bed, she opened the paper and was very glad not to have anything in her mouth to cause any more choking. Her eyes dashed over the paper to make sure she wasn't reading things incorrectly, before placing the paper down beside her on the bed. Hermione let her body fully collapse onto the hard bed before rubbing her face with her hands. This day had decided it was not going to go very well for her.