Chapter Ten; Oswald J Thomas
"How much longer do we have to walk? My feet are killing me!" Amber complained as she came to a stop.
"Well hurry up, you're slowing us down, and it's only making things worse and not to mention making us hungrier." Ginny told her when suddenly Ron stopped and reached down by the rock that stood in front of them.
"Hold on, I think I found something." He said as he bent down to pick a small crumb up off the ground. "We can share it, there's plenty to go around." He explained when suddenly a rather large copper colored ant scrambled around it. Hermione and Ginny gave a sudden shriek from shock. "Oh I'm sorry, did this belong to you?" he questioned as the ant raised his head and looked up at him.
"Yes but you can have it if you would like. Like you just said there's plenty to go around." He responded in an Australian accent.
"Wait a minute," Ginny began. "did he just speak?" she questioned with disbelief as she took a step towards him.
"Yes I did, madam, and I have to say that you all are the strangest bugs I ever done seen in all me life." He told her as he bobbed his head up and down. "And I have lived a long time, for an ant anyway." He explained.
"We're not bugs, we're humans. Witches and wizards." Hermione explained.
"Yikes!" he cried as he backed up a few feet. "What happened to you?" he questioned.
"We got shrunk, and guess whose fault it is!" Ron spat as he quickly turned his head and glared over at his sister.
"Me family warned me about beings like you. As if regular humans weren't enough, all you do is forbidden dark magic." The ant told them.
"Now don't believe everything you hear, we're not all like that, we're actually really nice." Ginny told him.
"Oh really? Then how come that one was just havin' a go at you?" he asked as he turned his head and gestured over at Ron.
"We're brother and sister, it's our job to fight." He explained.
"Now that doesn't seem like much of a family, let me tell you something mate, you're not going to get very far with that rutty attitude." He said with a sigh and a shake of his head. "Anyway, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Oswald J Thomas, but you can call me Ozzie. All my mates do." He said.
"I'm Harry Potter, and these are my friends Ron, Hermione, Amber, Luna, and Casey. And this is my girlfriend Ginny." He explained as he pointed to each one of them as he said their name.
"Pleasure to meet you all." Ozzie said with a nod. "Now would one of you mind sharing a bit of that bread? I worked me thorax off to get it." He explained.
"Oh sure, go ahead." Ron told him as he broke off a bit of the crumb and placed it inside his mouth.
"Mmm, mmm,.." he began as he started to chew. "thanks mate." He said as he let out a rather large belch. "Oh sorry, I beg your pardon." He apologized.
"Oh my God, he's as bad as you and Ginny." Hermione said with a look of disgust before Ozzie let out a rather joyous laugh.
"Well Hermione I'll take that as a compliment. Now it was sure nice meeting you all but I better be on me way." He began as he started to scurry away from them.
"Wait!" Ginny cried before she hurried after him. "Where are you going?" she asked as he stopped and turned around to look back at her.
"Back to the anthill. I reckon me colony is worried sick about me by now since I've been gone such a long time. An ant doesn't last too long when he's by himself." He explained.
"Well what are you talking about?" she asked him suddenly full of curiosity.
"There's a lot of things that can happen to him. He could either get killed by a bigger bug or trampled on by a human, or burned to death by a witch or wizard. Of course my parents told me that back when I was a pupa and that was before I met all of you. Still it's unwise to be on your own when you're an ant." He explained.
"Well do you mind if we come with you? We need a place to stay." Hermione told him.
"Not at all, the more the merrier if you ask me. Besides I could use the company." He said.
"Really? Cause we'd hate to be a bother." Ginny told him.
"It's no trouble at all Ginny." He began with a shake of his head. "Now c'mon, follow me." He told them before he started scrambling away. "You'll have no trouble keepin' up with me, I'm not as young as I once was so I have less energy than I used to." He explained as he led them away.