Ginny liked her "lost" partners. Unfortunately, they seemed to be having problems.

Around lunch time, Charlie introduced her to Claire, who accepted her coldly. Ginny wondered why she had volunteered if she had to take care of a her month-old baby, Aaron, at the same time. Charlie and Claire had worked out a schedule: she would be with Charlie in the morning, Claire in the afternoon, but they would have dinner together. So Charlie had left.

Claire instantly warmed up. "Hi, sorry about that. We're not too happy with Charlie right now," she explained in her Australian accent as she took Aaron out of his make-shift cradle.

"'We' as in 'you and Aaron'?" Ginny asked.

"No, 'we' as in the entire group." But she wouldn't say any more on the subject. "Isn't that robe hot?"

"Yeah," said Ginny, but strangely, she felt as if it gave her some sort of protection in this strange place. It also had a pocket for her wand. She wasn't about to use magic in front of Muggles, but she wasn't about to go without a wand either.

"Would you like to change your clothes?" asked Claire. "I'm sure we can find something in the suitcases." She put Aaron in a sling type thing and led her to the pile of suitcases. She watched as Ginny found several outfits that would fit her, but none of them had pockets big enough to hide her wand. As Ginny ducked behind some large-leafed plants to change, she fashioned a necklace type thing out of some cords from a pair of pants and tucked her wand down her shirt. It wasn't the best place, but it would have to do.

They went back to Claire's shelter and were playing Go Fish when Aaron started to cry. Claire began rummaging around for something.

Ginny felt slightly helpless, having had no younger siblings to train her in the way of babies. "Can I help?" she asked, holding her hands out for the baby. Mothers liked to pass their babies around for others to hold, she vaguely remembered.

"No!" cried Claire, stepping back and holding Aaron close to her. Ginny felt like she'd been slapped. They had been getting on so well for a prisoner and her captor. "Sorry, no," said Claire, a little more calmly. "I don't really trust him with strangers." The boundary between them sprang up: Ginny was once more a suspected Other. If only they could tell these people what they really were…

Harry was not in any better position. His "lost" partners were Jack and Kate. They also found him a change of clothes. He kept his wand in his back pocket, and used his shirt to cover it. Jack and Kate created a schedule fairly similar to Charlie and Claire's, where Jack had Harry one day, and Kate the next, but they could switch off at any point if they needed to. Harry wondered why they had agreed to be partners if they barely talked to each other.

Kate was probably just as secretive about her past as he was about his. Any questions he asked she expertly deflected, somehow turning every conversation back on himself. He finally gave up.

"So what do you guys do around here?"

Kate laughed. "Nothing really. We wander off into the jungle now and then, but that's about it."

Harry couldn't get the image of the Death Eaters out of his head. "Has there been anything strange on this island? Mist, things tearing up trees, glowing green skulls in the sky…?" He tried to make that last part sound casual.

"Where do you get this stuff?"

"Just, giving examples," he grimaced.

"Mist isn't really weird, though."

"It is in the middle of a jungle."

"That's true," she agreed. "Actually, we do have something tearing up the trees, eating people, stuff like that…"

"Eating people?" That didn't sound like a giant.

She laughed. "We also have polar bears. Is that weird enough for you?"

At least Hermione was being entertained. That's what she had to keep telling herself anyway. Her "lost" partners were Sayid and a Southern American guy named Sawyer. Neither looked happy with their situation. Sayid had to get back to the hatch, but Sawyer had agreed to keep her for the rest of the day anyway. She found clothes in Sawyer's stash. Since it was so hot, she hid her wand in plain sight by finding another stick about the same size and using them like chopsticks for her hair.

Staying with Sawyer basically meant sitting next to his shelter, and listening him talk to anyone that passed by that was worth making fun of. Hermione looked down the beach to try and find the others. Harry was sitting with Kate, while Ginny was walking around with a blonde mother, but she couldn't see Ron anywhere.

Ron didn't just sit there with his shirt off. Ron didn't keep calling her "Sunshine." Ron was a bit of a jerk sometimes though. That kind of fit.

"So, 'Sunshine,'" Sawyer began. "You need any help getting him?"

"Excuse me?" asked Hermione scathingly.

Sawyer grinned. "You've been looking for that red-haired guy for two hours. Or maybe you're just enjoying the scenery."

"I've never been to a tropical island before," she protested, and turned her head away before he saw the blush she couldn't stop.

"Are you sure you don't want someone more -"

"No, thank you," she snapped before he could finish his sentence.

"Take it easy, 'Sunshine.' I was just asking." He settled back in his chair, and started reading a book.

Hermione tried to stay awake by testing herself on different spells. A few hours later, Ginny and the blonde woman came over. "Sawyer, would you mind reading for Aaron?" the woman asked, shifting her crying baby to her other hip.

"Yeah, sure, no problem," said Sawyer, concern creeping into his voice. He moved his chair over. "You have a preference?" He still had a bit of a glare in his gaze, but it was a little softer when he looked at the baby. Hermione couldn't believe it.

She sidled over to Ginny, who was staring at Sawyer in shock. "Wow," was all she could say. "Wow."

"He's not that impressive," Hermione grumbled. Sawyer started reading for the baby, who immediately stopped crying. She took advantage of their captors' preoccupation to switch topics. "What are we going to do?" she asked. "These people have been here for two months. There's no way we can get back."

"Could we use -" Ginny twiddled her fingers to indicate magic.

"No! The Ministry would murder us."

"Well, Voldemort's going to murder everyone else if we don't get back there soon. Besides, we'd be rescuing these Muggles at the same time. Do you know how many people have died on this island? There was the pilot, a federal marshal, this guy named Steve, a brother and sister -"

"Wait, it's Scott," Hermione corrected. "Steve's out gathering mangoes."

"Whatever. The point is: I don't think the Ministry will care that we used magic if we saved forty-some people in the process."

Hermione sighed. "We'll have to vote on it. Tonight, back at the hatch."

Ginny sighed too. "There's not even any Quidditch," she complained, as if that made their whole situation worse.

Ron could have gone for a game of Quidditch right about now. But no, he couldn't. Why? Because he had to fish.

Ron's "lost" partners were this really big guy named Hurley, and a Korean named Jin, who spoke very little English. They decided that Ron needed to learn how to fish while he was on the island, so after he found a change of clothes…Ron was fishing.

"Dude, you gotta stab it," Hurley repeated. He shook his pointy stick, as if that made a difference. Jin was hauling in another net filled with fish.

"Why are we bothering? That guy's already got a ton of fish." Jin must have heard him, because he began gesturing and rapidly speaking Korean.

"Well, there's a ton of people. Oh! There's one! Stab it!"

Ron trudged wetly to the hatch five hours later, without any fish. The others were all gathered around the table again. Hermione brought out a towel, but didn't look at him when she handed it over.

"How was your day?" asked Ginny wickedly.

"Do you need any dinner?" asked Locke, who apparently lived in the hatch.

"No, we ate at the beach," said Harry.

"Speak for yourself," Ron objected. Locke nodded and brought him some food. "Does it have fish in it?" he asked. Locke smiled creepily and went back into his little room. As he ate, the others started arguing. Ginny wanted to use their magic to signal passing boats or the like, but Harry and Hermione wouldn't hear it.

"Maybe we could summon some broomsticks," suggested Ron.

"I don't think that will work," said Hermione.

"But you said it didn't matter how far away you were, as long as you really concentrated," Harry pushed.

"I don't think it applies when you're half-way around the world," Hermione said sadly.

"Well, Sirius always sent me tropical birds, maybe one here can carry a message to the Order…"

"Those were trained, I'm sure. So you'd have to train one to carry it for you, which might take years, and then wait several months for it to reach London."

"We could become Animagi," suggested Ron.

"Again, it would take several years."

"Well, I don't see you making any suggestions," snapped Ron.

"That's because I can't think of any decent ones," Hermione shot back.

"What about we summon a ship or a plane?" asked Ginny. "That way we don't leave these people behind."

"The other wizards!" cried Harry. "Hermione, you said there were two wizards on board that plane!"

"The chances of them surviving…" Hermione trailed off.

"But they might be here. We need to search around. Do you think they'd recognize me?"

"Harry, the whole wizarding world recognizes you."