Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.
Forest of Mystery.
Ron and Harry were walking as silently as they could around the trees. They were both holding their lianas tightly, not wanting to get lost, while in their other hands they held a sword and a throwing knife respectively. Dean and Seamus had decided they would take care of the fish and the water, using the portal Dean had accidentally discovered yesterday. Until now, Harry and Ron had collected some fruits and roots, but they hadn't had any luck with animals yet. All they were able to find were some weird squirrels but Harry had wisely withheld from trying to kill them since they were fast and would probably be very hard to catch; it wasn't worth risking loosing a knife for them. Ron was slowly getting frustrated, it wasn't really that he was in any rush to kill something, but he knew they would need the food. A whole winter without meat didn't sound very appealing. Harry, on the other hand, was much more relaxed, reminding his friend that this was only the first time they were out.
They were starting to run out of lianas when Harry suddenly crossed another portal. They had lost count of the number of portals they had crossed in the few hours they had been walking, but this one was different. It led to a part of the forest with a big lake in its midst. Harry stopped and narrowed his eyes in thought. This place was peaceful and it had lots of water, there was no doubt that different animals would come here to drink. After voicing his opinion, Ron and him agreed to stop walking and wait between the bushes for something to appear.
After an hour, when they were starting to wonder if they had been wrong, Harry saw the first traces of life approaching them. It was a group of about forty animals. With satisfaction, he noticed they were rather small and slow, so Ron and he shouldn't really have too much trouble in hunting one of them. Looking carefully around, his eyes fell upon that was standing a bit apart from the group. Nudging Ron, he pointed toward it. His friend nodded and pulled out his own knife. Silently, they climbed into the nearest tree and, after they were securely sitting, they aimed their knives to the unsuspecting figure.
ZASSSSS
Both boys looked on in satisfaction as the body hit the ground with a small thud and the rest of the group started to run away from the lake, leaving their dead companion were he had fallen.
With a quick movement, Harry managed to get another knife through one of the running animals before they all disappeared. Pleased with themselves, both boys climbed down the tree and, still being careful to keep hold of the liana, they went to recover their food. Ron looked a bit nauseated by all the blood that surrounded the fur of the small rodent. Harry, seeing this, quickly pulled the dead bodies into a bag after retrieving the knives and tightly closed the bag. Looking at his watch, which he had got as a birthday present during the summer, he noticed it was starting to get late and they needed to return to the cave before the others started to worry.
The black haired boy turned to look at his best friend, who was looking much better now that the rodents were out of sight. "We should get going."
Ron frowned and protested. "But, Harry, we're not going to have enough with this, there's eight of us to feed!"
Harry sighed. "I know that, Ron, but you can't expect us to find lots of food on our first try. We still have a lot to learn, and remember, we won't be the only ones bringing back food." When his friend still looked unconvinced, Harry spoke again. "Look, mate, I don't know about you, but I don't want to spent the night outside. It's going to take us at least an hour until we reach the cave and the others won't get any meat if we don't arrive there on time."
The red-haired boy finally sighed and nodded his agreement. Noticing it seemed to be very clean, they drank some water from the lake, then started to make their way back, following the path they had marked.
Twice, they nearly got lost because they walked through a portal that was too close to their path. Luckily, the first time that it happened, Harry had been able to keep his grip on the liana and had been able to walk back. After that, they had just decided to tie a plant around each other's middle so they would stay together. That was a good thing, because when Ron fell through a portal, Harry simple pulled him back to him. This was starting to get annoying; they would need to find a way to spot portals since there were so many. It took them about an hour longer to get back, since they had to be much more careful.
Parvati sighed in relief when she saw the two boys return. They had all been on edge, none of them had liked the idea of getting separated but there really was not much of a choice. Once everyone had left, she and Lavender had started out by getting some more lianas from outside. They were really going to need them if they had to look through the cave. On their way back in, they had pulled the large feline that had attacked them in after them. There was no sense in leaving it at the entrance of the cave for another animal to eat if they wanted it for themselves. Getting over their initial disgust, they had pulled the feline towards a side of the cave promising themselves that they would take care of it later. Once that was arranged, they tied the first liana to a rock at one side of the large cave, and then they went through the portal Dean had discovered. As the boy had said, the portal came out to a river and the two girls washed up as good as possible without actually letting go of the guide plant.
Once they were back in the cave, they walked towards the portal Ron had discovered and went to the other cave. From there, they began to search for other portals. Lavender was doing most of the search while Parvati, who had picked up some parchment and ink, started to draw a map. After a few hours, they had discovered about twenty different caves and decided that that would be enough for now. The biggest cave of them all was the one they had used that night. From there they reached the cave Ron had found; it was small, much smaller than the main cave, but it had many portals. Some of them lead directly outside, but five of them opened to other caves. Those five caves opened to other caves and other places outside, but there were some rooms that didn't have any portals at all. After double-checking those caves, Parvati and Lavender decided they would use them as sleeping rooms since they were somewhat safer than the large cave. They selected the two of the larger caves that would serve as the rooms. Later on, they would be able to each get his or her own room but for now it was best if they remained together. In between the two bedroom caves, there was a smaller cave. Lavender immediately decided that would be a storeroom since they would need some place to keep things stored, like their trunks. In Parvati's map, they named the different caves with either the stone colour or the function. The other caves without portals would be used for storage of the most important things. The others could be used for other things if they reached the point in which they needed more space.
They returned to the main cave and carried the dead feline towards one of the closer rooms. It had white stones and was very cold. They had decided that this room would be best able to store food, since it would conserve it better than any other cave. Once that was done, Parvati noticed it was nearly time to have some lunch. Not knowing when everyone would be returning to the caves, they made only a few snacks. They were already eating when Hermione and Neville returned with their arms full of branches and wood. Hermione smiled slightly at them.
"Hey, what about some help? We've brought a lot of wood, fruits, and plants, but we can't get it in all by ourselves."
Both girls smiled back and stood up. Lavender went back outside with Neville, while Parvati showed Hermione to a cave opposite of the freezing cave, where they could store the wood. It took them nearly an hour to get everything inside. Since no human has ever been in the forest, there was a lot of material to collect. Wood was easily found in the forest from fallen branches and even small trees that had fallen down. Neville and Hermione had headed towards the woods, knowing they would find most of the things they needed there. The first thing they had collected had been as much wood as possible. Hermione preferred to keep to the bigger pieces of wood, since they would be more useful. They had spent nearly two hours bringing the wood towards the cave's entrance. Knowing that no animal would be interested in it, they didn't feel apprehensive to leave it there. After that, they went to the woods once again, always using their lianas to keep together, to collect plants and fruits, and placed them in the bags Hermione had insisted they brought along. Neville was really impressed by the many kind of plants they were finding. And even if they could recognize some of them, there were a lot that still remained unknown. It was while collecting one of the unknown plants that Neville thought about something.
"Hey, Hermione."
The girl looked down from the tree she had climbed to collect some of it's yellow fruits. "Yes, Neville?"
"Do you think it would be possible to make our own garden inside the cave? It would be much more useful than having to go out every time. Besides, then we wouldn't have to worry about winter."
Hermione climbed out of the tree and looked pensively at the other boy. "Maybe, it really depends on the types rooms Parvati and Lavender have found. But we would need a warm room with some kind of sun-light, else the plants wouldn't grow."
Neville nodded, he had thought the same. It would be difficult to find such a room, but they could try. "Ok, I'll remember to ask Parvati about it when we return."
Hermione was still looking thoughtful but nodded nevertheless. It was lunchtime when they decided that they had done enough for that morning and returned to the cave. With Parvati and Lavender's help, they managed to bring everything into the cave and sat down to eat with them. Once Neville was finished, he looked up to the two girls who had stayed in the cave.
"I have a question for you two; have you found any kind of room that we could use to grow plants?"
Both girls thought about it. Lavender cocked her head and asked, "How would the cave have to be?"
Hermione looked up from her snack. "Well, first there should be light, better if it was sun-light. It has to be warm, and the floor can't be made of stone. There should also be a easy way to provide water." She thought for a moment and then added. "And it should be protected, of course."
Lavender nodded pensively and took out Parvati's map. "There's a cave that we could use, but we would have to make some changes." She pointed to a room that was near their bedrooms. "This cave is pretty big; we didn't want to use it as a bedroom because the floor wasn't made of stone, but from some kind of earth. There is a small opening on the ceiling; it looked like it had collapsed some time ago. The stones there don't seem to be very strong and look like they are about to fall down at any moment. If we could bring them down, there would be a very large hole in the ceiling and it would allow sun-light to come in."
Hermione nodded. "What about water, and is it warm?"
Parvati took up on the description. "The stones on the wall are green and even if it's not as warm as in here, it's warmer than outside. As for water," She pointed to the room that led into the green cave. "This cave has a small river, we could made the river change its course to go through the green cave."
Hermione frowned. "I don't know if that would work between portals, Parvati."
The girl shook her head. "These two caves are not connected by portals. They are actually two caves united by a small hall."
Hermione smiled slightly and finished eating her snack. "What do you think, Neville?"
The boy smiled slightly. "I would have to see it first, but it sounds good."
A new voice came from behind them. "What sounds good?"
To be continued.
A/N: Thanks for all reviews.
Forest of Mystery.
Ron and Harry were walking as silently as they could around the trees. They were both holding their lianas tightly, not wanting to get lost, while in their other hands they held a sword and a throwing knife respectively. Dean and Seamus had decided they would take care of the fish and the water, using the portal Dean had accidentally discovered yesterday. Until now, Harry and Ron had collected some fruits and roots, but they hadn't had any luck with animals yet. All they were able to find were some weird squirrels but Harry had wisely withheld from trying to kill them since they were fast and would probably be very hard to catch; it wasn't worth risking loosing a knife for them. Ron was slowly getting frustrated, it wasn't really that he was in any rush to kill something, but he knew they would need the food. A whole winter without meat didn't sound very appealing. Harry, on the other hand, was much more relaxed, reminding his friend that this was only the first time they were out.
They were starting to run out of lianas when Harry suddenly crossed another portal. They had lost count of the number of portals they had crossed in the few hours they had been walking, but this one was different. It led to a part of the forest with a big lake in its midst. Harry stopped and narrowed his eyes in thought. This place was peaceful and it had lots of water, there was no doubt that different animals would come here to drink. After voicing his opinion, Ron and him agreed to stop walking and wait between the bushes for something to appear.
After an hour, when they were starting to wonder if they had been wrong, Harry saw the first traces of life approaching them. It was a group of about forty animals. With satisfaction, he noticed they were rather small and slow, so Ron and he shouldn't really have too much trouble in hunting one of them. Looking carefully around, his eyes fell upon that was standing a bit apart from the group. Nudging Ron, he pointed toward it. His friend nodded and pulled out his own knife. Silently, they climbed into the nearest tree and, after they were securely sitting, they aimed their knives to the unsuspecting figure.
ZASSSSS
Both boys looked on in satisfaction as the body hit the ground with a small thud and the rest of the group started to run away from the lake, leaving their dead companion were he had fallen.
With a quick movement, Harry managed to get another knife through one of the running animals before they all disappeared. Pleased with themselves, both boys climbed down the tree and, still being careful to keep hold of the liana, they went to recover their food. Ron looked a bit nauseated by all the blood that surrounded the fur of the small rodent. Harry, seeing this, quickly pulled the dead bodies into a bag after retrieving the knives and tightly closed the bag. Looking at his watch, which he had got as a birthday present during the summer, he noticed it was starting to get late and they needed to return to the cave before the others started to worry.
The black haired boy turned to look at his best friend, who was looking much better now that the rodents were out of sight. "We should get going."
Ron frowned and protested. "But, Harry, we're not going to have enough with this, there's eight of us to feed!"
Harry sighed. "I know that, Ron, but you can't expect us to find lots of food on our first try. We still have a lot to learn, and remember, we won't be the only ones bringing back food." When his friend still looked unconvinced, Harry spoke again. "Look, mate, I don't know about you, but I don't want to spent the night outside. It's going to take us at least an hour until we reach the cave and the others won't get any meat if we don't arrive there on time."
The red-haired boy finally sighed and nodded his agreement. Noticing it seemed to be very clean, they drank some water from the lake, then started to make their way back, following the path they had marked.
Twice, they nearly got lost because they walked through a portal that was too close to their path. Luckily, the first time that it happened, Harry had been able to keep his grip on the liana and had been able to walk back. After that, they had just decided to tie a plant around each other's middle so they would stay together. That was a good thing, because when Ron fell through a portal, Harry simple pulled him back to him. This was starting to get annoying; they would need to find a way to spot portals since there were so many. It took them about an hour longer to get back, since they had to be much more careful.
Parvati sighed in relief when she saw the two boys return. They had all been on edge, none of them had liked the idea of getting separated but there really was not much of a choice. Once everyone had left, she and Lavender had started out by getting some more lianas from outside. They were really going to need them if they had to look through the cave. On their way back in, they had pulled the large feline that had attacked them in after them. There was no sense in leaving it at the entrance of the cave for another animal to eat if they wanted it for themselves. Getting over their initial disgust, they had pulled the feline towards a side of the cave promising themselves that they would take care of it later. Once that was arranged, they tied the first liana to a rock at one side of the large cave, and then they went through the portal Dean had discovered. As the boy had said, the portal came out to a river and the two girls washed up as good as possible without actually letting go of the guide plant.
Once they were back in the cave, they walked towards the portal Ron had discovered and went to the other cave. From there, they began to search for other portals. Lavender was doing most of the search while Parvati, who had picked up some parchment and ink, started to draw a map. After a few hours, they had discovered about twenty different caves and decided that that would be enough for now. The biggest cave of them all was the one they had used that night. From there they reached the cave Ron had found; it was small, much smaller than the main cave, but it had many portals. Some of them lead directly outside, but five of them opened to other caves. Those five caves opened to other caves and other places outside, but there were some rooms that didn't have any portals at all. After double-checking those caves, Parvati and Lavender decided they would use them as sleeping rooms since they were somewhat safer than the large cave. They selected the two of the larger caves that would serve as the rooms. Later on, they would be able to each get his or her own room but for now it was best if they remained together. In between the two bedroom caves, there was a smaller cave. Lavender immediately decided that would be a storeroom since they would need some place to keep things stored, like their trunks. In Parvati's map, they named the different caves with either the stone colour or the function. The other caves without portals would be used for storage of the most important things. The others could be used for other things if they reached the point in which they needed more space.
They returned to the main cave and carried the dead feline towards one of the closer rooms. It had white stones and was very cold. They had decided that this room would be best able to store food, since it would conserve it better than any other cave. Once that was done, Parvati noticed it was nearly time to have some lunch. Not knowing when everyone would be returning to the caves, they made only a few snacks. They were already eating when Hermione and Neville returned with their arms full of branches and wood. Hermione smiled slightly at them.
"Hey, what about some help? We've brought a lot of wood, fruits, and plants, but we can't get it in all by ourselves."
Both girls smiled back and stood up. Lavender went back outside with Neville, while Parvati showed Hermione to a cave opposite of the freezing cave, where they could store the wood. It took them nearly an hour to get everything inside. Since no human has ever been in the forest, there was a lot of material to collect. Wood was easily found in the forest from fallen branches and even small trees that had fallen down. Neville and Hermione had headed towards the woods, knowing they would find most of the things they needed there. The first thing they had collected had been as much wood as possible. Hermione preferred to keep to the bigger pieces of wood, since they would be more useful. They had spent nearly two hours bringing the wood towards the cave's entrance. Knowing that no animal would be interested in it, they didn't feel apprehensive to leave it there. After that, they went to the woods once again, always using their lianas to keep together, to collect plants and fruits, and placed them in the bags Hermione had insisted they brought along. Neville was really impressed by the many kind of plants they were finding. And even if they could recognize some of them, there were a lot that still remained unknown. It was while collecting one of the unknown plants that Neville thought about something.
"Hey, Hermione."
The girl looked down from the tree she had climbed to collect some of it's yellow fruits. "Yes, Neville?"
"Do you think it would be possible to make our own garden inside the cave? It would be much more useful than having to go out every time. Besides, then we wouldn't have to worry about winter."
Hermione climbed out of the tree and looked pensively at the other boy. "Maybe, it really depends on the types rooms Parvati and Lavender have found. But we would need a warm room with some kind of sun-light, else the plants wouldn't grow."
Neville nodded, he had thought the same. It would be difficult to find such a room, but they could try. "Ok, I'll remember to ask Parvati about it when we return."
Hermione was still looking thoughtful but nodded nevertheless. It was lunchtime when they decided that they had done enough for that morning and returned to the cave. With Parvati and Lavender's help, they managed to bring everything into the cave and sat down to eat with them. Once Neville was finished, he looked up to the two girls who had stayed in the cave.
"I have a question for you two; have you found any kind of room that we could use to grow plants?"
Both girls thought about it. Lavender cocked her head and asked, "How would the cave have to be?"
Hermione looked up from her snack. "Well, first there should be light, better if it was sun-light. It has to be warm, and the floor can't be made of stone. There should also be a easy way to provide water." She thought for a moment and then added. "And it should be protected, of course."
Lavender nodded pensively and took out Parvati's map. "There's a cave that we could use, but we would have to make some changes." She pointed to a room that was near their bedrooms. "This cave is pretty big; we didn't want to use it as a bedroom because the floor wasn't made of stone, but from some kind of earth. There is a small opening on the ceiling; it looked like it had collapsed some time ago. The stones there don't seem to be very strong and look like they are about to fall down at any moment. If we could bring them down, there would be a very large hole in the ceiling and it would allow sun-light to come in."
Hermione nodded. "What about water, and is it warm?"
Parvati took up on the description. "The stones on the wall are green and even if it's not as warm as in here, it's warmer than outside. As for water," She pointed to the room that led into the green cave. "This cave has a small river, we could made the river change its course to go through the green cave."
Hermione frowned. "I don't know if that would work between portals, Parvati."
The girl shook her head. "These two caves are not connected by portals. They are actually two caves united by a small hall."
Hermione smiled slightly and finished eating her snack. "What do you think, Neville?"
The boy smiled slightly. "I would have to see it first, but it sounds good."
A new voice came from behind them. "What sounds good?"
To be continued.
A/N: Thanks for all reviews.
