Chapter 9: Shelter
Unknown
A man with shaggy black hair bent over and pulled some weeds from a small garden. The sun was shining brightly and he enjoyed the work as it gave him something to do. The garden never ceased to amaze him as it was always different. He had learned to enjoy that here. He had been working steadily for several hours and the weeding was almost done. Sure he could have used his wand, but he enjoyed the work. It gave him something to do, which helped make the time pass more quickly. As he finished he stood and stretched his aching muscles and took a long drink of water from the bottle lying at the edge of the garden.
He gathered his tools from his mornings work and returned them to the small shed he had transfigured for them. He then went into his pride and joy a small home that had taken him years to conjure, transfigure, and construct. But then he had the time to focus on it and make it just the way he wanted it. It was still pretty basic with four rooms and a bathroom. The bathroom was his newest addition. Running water and working plumbing had taken him awhile to figure out properly. Sometimes he wondered how he had survived in this desolate place. Then again, as the other option would have surely meant death, he had long ago decided he rather preferred living, even if it was here and he was all alone.
He wandered into the small kitchen and fixed himself a sandwich. He grabbed his version of butter beer from the ice box and sat down to enjoy his well-earned lunch. When he had arrived here years ago he had thought that he would have been better off dead. Once he'd found his way out of the darkness and explored the area he had discovered this haven that had become his home. Magic didn't work everywhere in this strange land and so far he had not been able to apparate since his arrival. He'd grown used to the silence though loneliness still plagued him. He hadn't seen another person outside of his dreams in years. He sighed pushing those thoughts from his mind. Finishing off his sandwich he cleaned up the kitchen from his morning tea and lunch before heading off to the bathroom to take a shower and change.
Perhaps this afternoon he would take another scouting trip. He was low on supplies, mostly wood for his fire to heat his home, and other plants that he discovered were useful as either food or healing remedies, sometimes both. He was nearly out of the leaves he used to brew tea here as well. So far he had not been able to coax the plant to grow in his garden, even when he carted dirt from the area in which it grew to his home just for it. Yes, a scouting trip sounded like a great way to spend the rest of the day he thought with a smile.
Unknown
"Harry?" Tonks queried stumbling again as the two made their way across some uneven terrain. They had finally found their way out of the darkness, only to find themselves in a deserted wasteland of rock and dry earth. Tonks had conjured hats to protect them from the sun as it beat down upon them relentlessly.
"Yeah, Tonks," Harry answered struggling himself. They had rested briefly once they had exited the darkness, but he was still absolutely exhausted. His nightmare interrupted rest from before had long since worn off leaving him feeling even more tired. His body had felt heavier since arriving in this place, and it took more effort to move than he remembered.
"We need to find some cover soon before we both collapse." Harry simply nodded at her statement. They were moving steadily towards a wooded area but had yet to reach it.
"I don't know if we'll be better off continuing to the tree line and taking shelter there or staying here and transfiguring the hats into a type of tent to shade us from the sun. Any thoughts?" This got Harry's attention as he looked at her in surprise. She was actually asking for his opinion. The adults never asked him or the others what they thought about things. Pulling it together, he thought about it for a moment, before answering her.
"If we stay here we can see any enemy that might approach, but it also leaves us exposed to any enemy," Harry replied finally. "Water and a break now sounds very good."
"A rest stop it is then," Tonks said stopping, happy that he agreed with her. She pulled the hat from her head and within moments had transfigured it into a large piece of canvas. With a few more flicks of her wand she had created a simple tent with openings at either end. The two crawled inside. She added a cushioning charm to make the ground softer.
"Now all we need is water," Harry added smiling at her in thanks.
"Just use the water spell to get water to shoot from your wand," Tonks informed him, saying the incantation slowly and causing water to shoot from her wand. She drank some quickly, the rest felt wonderful as it spilled onto her. Harry almost laughed but a look from Tonks stopped him. He tried the spell and was successful on the second try, and had to acknowledge that the excess water felt good in the heat.
"I'll take the first watch, get some sleep and I'll wake you in a few hours," Tonks ordered. Harry simply nodded too tired to argue and lay down with his head propped on his arm. Within moments, he was fast asleep.
Tonks peered through the openings in the makeshift tent watching for signs of attack. She wished she knew where she and Harry had been banished to, but so far nothing had triggered any notion of where they might be. The fact that apparition and portkeys didn't work made it seem like a place unlike most of the world and she wondered if they had been sent to another plane of existence. She had tried to apparate and create a portkey more times than she had revealed to Harry, but she figured her worrying about whether or not she could get them home was enough. If they really were on a different plane then she knew they might never find their way home.
Unwilling to consider that option for very long, she pushed that thought aside and rubbed her face with her hands trying to stay awake. Her body still felt achy and heavier. The spell had not only banished them both but taken quite a toll on their physical strength. Not just any death eater would have been able to cast that kind of spell. Harry moaned in his sleep interrupting her train of thought. She glanced down at him noticing that he was also shifting about though not wildly. She guessed he was having another nightmare. She stoked his hair and whispered soothingly to him. It had worked well while in the cave, so she hoped it would help calm him here. He would need real sleep if they hoped to get out of this. He quieted after several minutes, but she continued to stoke his hair. She doubted he'd had anyone to really do that for him before, or at least not since losing his parents. She couldn't imagine how her childhood would have been without her mother and father to comfort her. Harry seldom spoke of his time at the Dursleys, but from what she had seen while on guard duty and learned in talking to him, she knew that comfort had been the least of the things he lacked as a child in that home.
Time passed slowly as she recited potions recipes and spells in her head to remain alert and awake. It did eventually get darker and very quickly. She decided not to try a lumos and risk giving away their position should any predators come out at night. Harry's sleep had remained relatively restful. She had eventually stopped stroking his hair, and now only did so when he seemed caught in another nightmare. The temperature dropped with the sun, so she cast a warming charm on both her clothes and Harry's. She was used to long stakeouts both from her job as an auror and her work with the Order. She loved her job, most of the time anyway. She didn't always agree with Fudge and the Ministry, and that was one of the reasons she had joined the Order. Her mother had held firm that if Albus Dumbledore believed that Voldemort was not really dead then he wasn't. Of course, it hadn't hurt that Alastor and Kingsley both believed Dumbledore and Harry that Voldemort had returned.
She shifted into a more comfortable position, and glanced down in the direction of the young man stretched out beside her on the ground. It had become so dark she could no longer see him. Nearly a year ago when she volunteered to go on a mission to move Harry Potter safely to the Order's Headquarters, she had not known anything about the young man beyond what she'd read or heard from various Order members. She hadn't needed long to discover that the boy-who-lived did not enjoy his fame, and in fact, was haunted by his past. Her talks with him over the last couple of weeks had revealed even more. The anger from last year that had seemed so close to the surface had faded. Instead, the fifteen year old seemed like a much older man, one with a heavily scarred past and the weight of the world on his shoulders. Dumbledore never informed the Order of the exact wording of the prophecy, but they all knew it involved Harry and Voldemort. Tonks doubted it could be good. Deciding not to dwell on what the prophecy could mean, she let her mind wander to Harry's interest in becoming an auror. She smiled as she thought of all the questions he had asked her about being an auror. She even found herself, more than once, giving into his pleading green eyes to show him some spell that was beyond NEWT level. What surprised her most was that he had picked up each of the spells relatively easily. He'd told her about the D.A. and how he and Hermione had created lesson plans for the others to teach them defense. She was so caught up in her musings and listening for sounds outside the tent, she didn't notice Harry wake up until she heard his voice.
"Tonks," Harry mumbled waking slowly blinking his eyes. It was pitch black. For a moment, he wondered if he'd only dreamed them getting out of the cave.
"I'm here," Tonks revealed moving closer and touching his shoulder briefly. He sat up rubbing sleep out of his eyes. She slid her hand down his arm to his hand and gave him his glasses. Harry shivered slightly at the almost caressing touch as her hand slid down his arm. He blushed when she handed him his glasses as he realized she'd just been using his arm to guide her in the darkness.
"Thanks," he managed his voice softer than usual.
"You're welcome," she replied noting the change in his voice as she reluctantly pulled her hand away from his.
"You should get some rest now. I can take over the watch," Harry offered wondering at the silence that had descended around them after the last exchange. His sleep hadn't been entirely restful, but it had been better than usual. He didn't understand why considering the situation he found himself in at the moment. 'It could be worse,' he thought, 'I could be here alone.' The darkness had become complete at some point and Harry could no longer see Tonks or anything else for that matter. He didn't like the return to total darkness at all.
"Are you sure? Technically, I am supposed to be protecting you," Tonks said worried that something might happen if she wasn't watching even though she knew she needed to rest, and soon.
"Do you trust me?" Harry asked quietly. He couldn't see her face, but the answer was important. She knew her answer. She knew deep down that Harry would protect her. That thought made her feel both warm and safe just by being near him. She needed to stop treating him like a kid and acknowledge that he was a young man, more than capable of taking care of them both and handling guard duty.
"I do, but listen to me, Harry, if you notice anything out of the ordinary wake me immediately, alright?"
"I will." With that she stretched out beside him inside of the tent. Exhaustion pulled her into a deep sleep almost immediately. Harry sat quietly listening for the faint sounds of her breathing and trying to remain alert to any sounds or sign of movement. He wondered again how long they had been there. Neither his nor Tonks's watch had survived the spell, so all they had to go on for time was their surroundings and empty stomachs. He guessed that the others should have noticed they were missing by now. Hopefully, between them searching for a way home and the others looking for them, he'd be home and enjoying one of Mrs. Weasley's home cooked meals within a day or two.
Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait. The odd thing is that this story is almost completely done, but I've been changing it from its original form to play up more of a relationship between Harry and Tonks. Hope you're all still enjoying it. Let me know.
P.S. - Minor edits made on November 18, 2012. Hope you continue to enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, etc. and no money is being made from this story.