AN: Some of you are asking questions like which arm did Harry lose, and who else survived. Please visit the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on The Mighty Slytherins Wiki. All he answers are posted there. Happy reading!)
Their few possessions packed up and ready to go, with Draco laying limply in the gurney and Ginny draped over him, they headed for the gorge. Ron was carrying one end of it and Hermione and Neville carried the other. Between the three of them, it wasn't unbearably difficult, but the strain of carrying two people was still evident on their faces. All but Ron's. Ron was determined to not let anyone see his worry or weariness. He wanted to be the strong one. For Ginny. For Hermione.
Once they reached the edge of the gorge, they all stopped and took it all in. The mere distance. Neville felt as though either since having gotten back to the edge he had shrunk, or the world had gotten a lot bigger. He felt intimidated by the gorge now that he knew they intended to go down in it. It was dark, and made eerie echoing sounds. But the heat of day was upon them, and they were all exhausted and starving. They needed to get a move on.
"All right… let's do this," Ron whispered, taking out their ropes and getting to work fashioning the belts that they would strap to Ginny, Draco and Harry so that they wouldn't fall.
Since Harry wasn't going to be entirely limp like Ginny and Draco, Hermione was going to be on the other end of his rope, just to make sure if he slipped, she might be able to keep him from falling. Neville would be on the other end of Ginny's rope, and, much as he despised it, Ron would be on the other end of Draco's.
"We need to try to wake them," Hermione said softly. "This is a decent idea… but realistically it's impossible for you two to carry their full weight without losing your grip."
Ron nodded, and they all began desperately attempting to wake Ginny and Draco. Ginny stirred and blearily opened her eyes. She hadn't been awake since they'd last fed her, and it was clear that she would have loved to sleep a bit longer.
"Wha..?" She mumbled weakly.
"It's okay Gin. We're climbing down to someplace cool, with food and water, and we can sleep there, okay?" Ron soothed her, trying to keep her awake.
"Uh-huh." Ginny blinked tiredly, not really understanding a word he was saying.
"I need you to stay awake and help me, okay?" Ron pleaded.
"Uh-huh…" Ginny yawned, her eyelids heavy.
"No, you need to stay awake Gin." Ron shook her gently, wrapping the ropes around her hips, around her thighs and back up to fashion a sort of seat out of the ropes, also tying them up under her arms to keep her upright, since it was obvious she was going to just fall back to sleep halfway down.
"He won't wake up," Harry whimpered, shaking Draco roughly, and still the boy remained heavily unconscious.
Hermione chewed on her lip thoughtfully, staring at the blonde long and hard. "Okay. New plan. Let's tie all the ropes together, make it as long as we can, and lower him down first. We'll have Harry go down with him, so he can untie the ropes for us and we can lower Ginny after as well. It's going to be safer this way."
Ron was nodding as she spoke, delighted that Hermione had come up with a new, safer plan. "Let's do that," he agreed, already undoing all the ties he'd put in place, and putting the straps on Draco instead. He tried not to glare at the limp blonde, hating to even have to touch him, but he was the only one who could tie a decent knot. It made him sick how gently Harry touched the Slytherin. He couldn't understand how Harry had possibly grown so fond of him.
Sighing heavily, Ron tightened the knots at the front of Draco's chest, which he would use to connect him and Harry. He began tying the rest of the rope end-to-end until they had a nice, long coil of it. Draco was then tied firmly to Harry, chest-to-chest, and Harry was strapped into the rope system as well as they could get him. If Harry slipped, it would be up to them to make sure that they didn't plummet to their deaths.
"Ready, Harry?" Hermione asked, as she, Ron and Neville braced against the rope, to give Harry and Draco leverage.
Swallowing hard and clinging firmly to the rope with his sweaty right hand, Harry nodded, and they added tension to the rope. Nervously, Harry stepped backwards, shaking as the arches of his feet were now pressed against the edge of the cliff. He whimpered softly, now hanging backwards over the gap, and Harry began to feel his feet slipping.
"Lean back Harry, keep leaned back and just walk backwards, we'll make sure you don't fall," Hermione assured him, also leaning back heavily to keep the rope taught.
Harry obeyed, leaning back a bit more and slowly, carefully walking backwards down the cliff face, feeling Draco's limp weight against his chest. It added to his nervousness, and he wished he could wrap his arm around the boy and hold him close, but he couldn't let go of the rope.
"Alright Harry?" Hermione called.
Harry looked up, noting that he was already several feet down. Swallowing hard, he called out to let her know that he was fine, albeit his voice shaky. Slowly but surely, he walked backwards down the wall, and almost slipped three times, thanks to the unevenness of the rock face.
When he finally got around the biggest jut-out rocks, he turned his head backwards to look down at the bottom of the gorge. Delighted, he took in the river at the bottom, which flowed slowly but surely. The water looked clear and he could see the red earth in the riverbed. He could even spot fish swimming with the current. Filled with new hope, he began walking backwards again, and didn't stop until he was ankle deep in the beautiful, glorious little river.
Grinning ear-to-ear, he began desperately untying the ropes around him, hating how difficult it was for him to do with only one arm, but his eager desperation won over and he and Draco were soon free of the ropes, which immediately began to disappear back up the cliff as the others drew it back to them.
Excited, Harry turned back to Draco and began dragging him over to the bank of the river, laying him so that he was half in, half out. Harry smiled and dropped down beside him, pulling out the water flask that Hermione had given him, filled it, and drank some for himself before he attempted to wake Draco again.
To Harry's dismay, Draco still didn't wake. He didn't wake when Harry splashed his face with water, he didn't wake when Harry poured a little water in his mouth, nor did he swallow it. Harry was terrified of losing the boy. Absolutely terrified.
Hugging Draco tightly against his chest and cradling his head against the crook of his neck, Harry watched as Hermione and Ginny were lowered in the same way he and Draco had been. It was a good fifteen minutes before they safely made it down, and when they did, Hermione was grinning just as widely as Harry had been. She dragged Ginny over and set her down on the bank beside Harry and Draco after freeing herself and Ginny from the ropes.
"Isn't it lovely?" Harry asked softly, looking around in appreciation at the vegetation and water.
"Absolutely brilliant, beautiful," Hermione agreed, sitting down in the cool water, letting it sooth the ache that was between her legs, and trying not to notice the bit of blood that washed away with the current.
She drank her fill of the water as well, carefully washing off Ginny's face and helping the groggy girl drink some of the beautiful, clear water.
In silence, Hermione and Harry watched Neville carefully walk down the wall like they had, Ron holding him up. Briefly Hermione wondered how Ron was going to get down now, until she noticed that actually, both Neville and Ron were climbing down. Unsure what to make of this, she furrowed her brow and continued to watch in silence until they reached the bottom, looking relieved.
"How did you do that?" She called out to them, watching as the boys laughed and splashed in the water, plopping down in it and rinsing themselves off. They hadn't even bothered to undo the ropes yet.
"We drove a stake into the ground, prayed it would hold, and used each other for leverage," Ron replied, grinning at her as he filled up his water flask and drank eagerly.
"Where did you get the stake?" Hermione asked curiously, surprised by their ingenious idea.
"Your purse." Ron tossed it back to her and she caught it. "Presumably there in case you need to kill a vampire? I found like four of them."
Hermione nodded, smiling sheepishly. "I was prepared for anything and everything. I've been adding things to this bag for months. It feels odd now… taking so much of it out." She sighed and began rummaging through it, taking inventory of what they had left.
Everyone was silent, enjoying and taking in the fact that they had successfully made it to a safer environment where they could settle, thrive, and… hopefully… restart the world's population.
The serene was broken in an instant when Neville let out a small yelp, pointing desperately to a grassy bank on another end of the gorge where he had spotted something truly shocking, though not unexpected.
There was what appeared to be a large group of humans. At first, with the distance, they appeared to be zombies, though after staring long and hard, it became clear that they were not. They didn't display any zombie characteristics, such as swarming. They were just standing there, some crouching like more primitive humans, observing the newcomers.
"Do you think they're friendly?" Neville asked nervously.
"I don't think we can afford to find out," Hermione whispered, on the verge of panic. "Look at how they're dressed. They could be cannibals."
It was true. They displayed odd behaviors, and held about them an aura that overall was very off-putting. They appeared to be wearing a mix of African, Indian and Native American clothing, tribal tattoos, face paint and headdresses, though not one of them appeared to be of any of those races, save for two Africans amongst the handful of Caucasians. Rather than looking ancient or futuristic as they were probably going for, they looked rather like children playing dress up, and were rather comical to behold.
Their presence, however, didn't stir laughter in the hearts of the frightened teens, merely struck a nerve that instantly had them on their feet, wands in hand, ready to defend themselves.
"What do we do?" Harry asked nervously, clinging tightly to Draco. "We can't outrun them, we'd be going against the current."
"If they come near us, be ready to fight," Ron replied. It was their only option. The river grew wider and deeper the further upstream they went. They could head in that direction but eventually they would lose their footing and would end up swept right back in the direction of the strange-looking group of people.
Just as they feared, the tribal-like group began advancing on them, and they found themselves sick to their stomachs with fright. They tribe stopped about thirty feet away. Their features were made more distinct now, and that did nothing to calm the teen's nerves. One of them, one of the Africans, the male, had what appeared to be an old Chinese assault rifle. The others all had weapons as well; spears, rusty swords and small knives.
Though they all looked cautious, none were displaying openly aggressive behavior. After a minute of simply staring, two of them stepped forward and began cautiously making their way closer. One female, small and smiling, and one male, tall with an air of importance, began slowly moving nearer until they stood five feet away, and stopped.
"Hello," the girl greeted. She couldn't be much older than fifteen or much taller than five feet, but the way the taller, older male looked at her suggested that he held her in high respects. Her personality already was very clearly bubbly. Her clothing was a little different than the others. She wore flowers in her hair, feathers around her neck and wrists, a tattered floral dress and small black swirls were painted under each of her shining green eyes.
"Hello," Hermione greeted in return, softly. Subconsciously, she edged nearer to Draco. Though logically she knew Draco was unable at present to protect her, her mind forced her body to lessen the distance between herself and her protector.
"I am Nantan. I am the Ambassador of The New Black World Tribe. This is Degotoga, the second in command." The girl introduced herself, and then the taller man.
He wore bearskin, with a feathery headdress poking out from under the bear's lifeless fur. He had a star-shaped painting on his forehead and large streaks on either side of his face. His blue eyes were gentle and thoughtful as he looked Hermione in the eyes. "Hello," he greeted, bowing respectfully to them. "Who among you is your leader?"
Once again, they all turned their eyes to Hermione, who felt herself suddenly buckle under the weight of the responsibility she'd felt so ready to take on only hours ago. Her lips trembling slightly, and her mind questioning the logic behind what she did next, she pointed desperately to Draco, limp in Harry's arms. "He is. But he's been unconscious for days."
Ron instantly bristled, but he bit his tongue, not wanting to make a scene in front of these people.
Degotoga's eyes turned to Draco, and he looked thoughtful. "Would you allow our healer to inspect him?" he asked softly.
Ron instantly shook his head. "No, we're through trusting people. We just escaped another one of these silly little apocalyptic clans a week ago, barely with our lives."
"Ron, we can't survive on our own, we eventually need to explore the option of joining a group like this," Hermione said softly, hugging her arms.
Ron looked irritated at the second blow to his authority, but he stepped down, respecting Hermione's opinion. Still, he looked reluctant to trust yet another one of these silly little apocalyptic groups…
"We are not a Clan, we are a Tribe," Nantan corrected cheerfully.
"Same difference," Ron muttered.
"Ron! Please be respectful," Hermione snapped, not wanting to anger these people. She turned back to them, dipping her head a bit. "We would be grateful for the assistance." It took a lot out of her to trust them, after what she had been through. She reminded herself that Crow had been friendly and helpful until they had spotted Bellatrix...
Degotoga dipped his head in return, and turned to his group, calling out a strange word that they soon learned was the name of the tribe's healer.
Another woman broke away from the group, approaching them slowly. She was the other African, and she was absolutely, stunningly beautiful. Her lips were painted black, and matched her hair which was pulled back tightly from her face and braided over her shoulder. She wore a very small headdress made of large wooden beads, and she wore many necklaces made of the same materials. Her clothing was mostly fur and skins.
Stopping in front of them, she dipped her head low, first to Degotoga who seemed to hold deeper respect for her than she did for him, then to Hermione and the others. "I am Tooantuh, healer of The New Black World Tribe. May I inspect your wounded?"
"Please do," Hermione whispered, nodding to Ginny and Draco and stepping aside.
Tooantuh knelt by them, inspecting Ginny's head first, and then turning to Draco. "They are both dehydrated. We need to get some fluids into them."
"I can't get him to wake up enough to drink anything," Harry told her, softly stroking Draco's damp hair from his eyes.
Tooantuh nodded and straightened. "I can't care for them here. Will you return to camp with us so I can properly treat them?"
Hermione was silent for a moment, nervously fiddling with her sleeves. "Okay," she finally agreed, softly.
Degotoga called for the others to come over and help carry Ginny and Draco. Hermione noted that most of the tribe were female, and only approximately three of them were male.
One of the female faces, covered in red paint, was startlingly familiar. Hermione's jaw dropped as recognition dawned. "Luna!"
AN: So, do you think Luna has amnesia too, or has she successfully become part of this group? Do you think Hermione and the others are safe to trust these people? Who do you think is currently in the most danger of dying?
Special thanks to ThatOneGirlNoOneNotices, LittleMissChatterbox2009 and Icemagic14445 for their amazing reviews! I write for you guys! :D
A always, if you want to know what the characters look like, or hear the theme song for the story, check out the Mighty Slytherins wiki! (Link on my profile)
