One more chapter focusing on the Golden Trio minus Ron plus Miri!
Disclaimer: All rights to their respective owners. But I'm keeping the lefts.
Chapter 38
Megan Should Have Seen This Coming
Hermione laid back against the tree and tried to focus on the images she had seen in her vision.
"I remember a castle," she said. "Beautiful. And then there were these moving staircase and - and they just kept moving. I was running up them, going somewhere. And then the vision changed and I was holding a stick. And the stick became a lion, roaring, and the lion handed me a book...?"
Hermione turned to see if David and Megan believed her.
"Go on," Megan urged.
Hermione sighed. "I remember a teacup, and in the teacup was the shape of a... something. And then there was a big black dog, and a glowing stag. And then I was back in the castle, in one of the towers, and I was reading. And then I woke up to you two staring at me."
"You must like books a lot," David muttered. Megan rolled her eyes.
"Do you know what any of this means?" Hermione asked.
"Yes," Megan replied. "Or at least we think we do. We think that this... world, for a lack of better terms, is not the one we come from. Each district has tributes who have been put in here from a different world. But we don't know why, and we don't know how to stop it."
Hermione took a deep breath. "As much as I don't want to believe that, it does make some sense. But there has to be a logical way to figure this out. For instance, what caused my vision?"
"I did," Megan replied. "For some reason, whenever I touch someone from another district, I give them a vision."
"And you were still surprised when I got one from touching you?" Hermione asked.
The corner of Megan's mouth twitched. "I guess I should've seen that coming. But we needed your water filter, seeing as we're still stuck here for now."
"And now you have it. And I have several unanswered questions." Hermione stood up and began pacing. "Why would someone put us here? Surely this isn't benefitting the capital at all? No, someone else has to be doing this. But why? And who? And how? And how do we fight it?"
"We haven't figured it out," Megan admitted.
"The spell must be really powerful," Hermione figured. "Maybe if we could figure out a way that more tributes realized what is happening, it would weaken the spell."
"But everyone out there is our enemy," Megan pointed out. "Even if they're not vicious, they might think we are and attack."
Hermione sighed. "Oh, I hate these games. I could try to reason with Harry and Miri, wherever they ended up."
"If you promise they won't attack, I'd be willing to talk," Megan stated. "But we did attack them so..."
"They won't. I promise."
Megan nodded. "Let's get a good night's sleep then, and try to find them in the morning."
Hermione nodded and sat back down, but she doubted she'd be getting any sleep.
"Is it a gift from home?" Miri asked, eyeing the... thing.
Harry nodded. "I just don't understand why they thought they needed to send this to me. A map of District 5 isn't much help in the arena."
Miri frowned. "There's more parchment in here. Maybe they're trying to get us to make our own map."
"Maybe," Harry said. "But still..."
Harry rolled up the filled-in map and brought out the blank parchment. He stuck his finger in some of the mud around the water hole and plopped it down roughly where he thought they were.
"We are here," he said. "Where would-" But he didn't finish his sentence, because the mud began to move.
The mud developed into two sets of footprints, each with a name next to them - Miri Laurendaughter and Harry Potter.
"Oh, that's cool," Miri said. "Maybe it's some new tech?"
Harry frowned. "That must be it. Didn't think they'd give technology to tributes though. Do you happen to remember where everything else was?"
Miri smiled. "In fact, I do."
Harry put the parchment down, and Miri dipped her finger into the mud.
"The river runs through her," Miri said, running her finger across the parchment. The steak of mud turned into wavy lines. "We should mark this as the forest." Miri made a mark, and the map drew on its little trees. And a little ways away, three more names appeared.
Eugene Fitzherbert. Jason Argo. Wanda Maximoff.
"This is definitely not legal," Harry decided. "But I guess they can't do anything about it now. Keep going."
Minerva smiled. "A brilliant idea, Albus."
"Thank you, Minerva," Albus replied. "I'm glad they're making use of it."
"One thing, though," Minerva continued. "How does it work?" Albus's eyes twinkled.
"Magic, my dear Minerva. If you'd like a more complicated answer - well, you'd have to ask one of the original creators."
Yes, that's supposed to be the Marauders Map, except in District 5 it wouldn't be magical. But, of course, that doesn't mean the other piece of parchment wouldn't be.