Finding Land
Hermione and Harry greet each other. Hermione owes Blaise a favor. Cory and Hermione take care of Mr. Greyback. They try to figure out exactly where they are. They land on a deserted island.
Hermione stirred and blinked her eyes. She immediately shut them as the bright sun shone directly into them.
"Wake up, sleepyhead. I thought you were a goner. I was trying to figure out the best way to tell mom and dad you died on a trip you didn't even want to go on." Harry teased her gently.
She smiled weakly and turned her face into his shirt. "You're not the only one. I thought I was a goner, too. How did you even find me?"
"You found your way onto a piece of driftwood. Blaise was shining the light around, looking for the other boats. He's the one who spotted you." Harry said.
She turned to Blaise. "Thank you. I don't remember finding that driftwood. All I remember is fighting those waves, swallowing half the ocean. Then I blacked out."
"No problem, Granger. I'm just glad I flipped the light on when I did. Otherwise, you would have floated one way. We would have floated the other way. You owe me a favor now, you realize that?" Blaise teased her.
She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yes, I realize that. Let me know when you want to call it in."
"Oi, Granger? Cory needs your help over here. Mr. Greyback is hurt pretty badly." Tony called over. Hermione twisted around to look at the injured teacher. She paused long enough to remove her high heels and crawled over beside him. She stared in horror at his stomach. It was distended and almost black.
"That's not good, is it?" she almost whispered. Cory looked at her solemnly. He shook his head silently. There was really nothing he could say.
"No. I need to find some way to relieve his internal bleeding. I don't know how I'm going to do it, though. Not without killing him." Cory said, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders. "Right now, I really want to set this leg." he indicated the teacher's broken leg.
"Ok. What do you need me to do?" she straightened up to talk to him. He smiled at her.
"When I start pulling his leg to straighten it out, he's going to feel it. I need you to keep him calm. T'finn and Tony are going to hold him still for me." Cory told her. "I'm going to use a few pieces off of that driftwood you were on last night to cast his leg. I need to figure out how I'm going to tie it together, though."
She ripped a couple of the ruffles off of the dress she wore. "Here, this should do the trick. I never liked the ruffles on this dress anyway."
He chuckled. "It's a pretty dress, though."
"Oh. Don't get me wrong. I love the dress. I just hate the ruffles someone sewed all over it. If not for those stupid things, this would literally be my favorite dress." She smiled brightly.
Thorfinn and Tony got into position as Cory began moving Greyback's leg. They all froze as he tossed his head and began mumbling. "Min, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't get to her in time. She's dead, Min. I'm sorry. I couldn't save her. Hermione is dead." Hermione's eyes widened in shock. She looked up at Cory.
"He thinks you're dead. He was already unconscious by the time we saw you." Cory explained quietly. Hermione leaned over the teacher.
"Fen." she looked up at them. They were all staring at her in surprise. "Obviously none of you have ever been close enough to hear his and Ms. McGonagall's pet names for each other."
"Fen." she repeated softly. "It's all right, Fen. It's all right. Hermione is just fine. Your boys found her. She's with them right now. She's safe, Fen. I need you to relax now. Please, Fen, just relax." they watched in amazement as her words seemed to reach the unconscious Greyback and he visibly relaxed. The boys continued working on setting his leg. Once it was pulled back into place, Cory wrapped the ruffles around the driftwood bracing his leg. Then he shrugged as he looked at them.
"I'm afraid that's all we can do for him right mow. If we were on land, there's a first aid kit here. I'd try to do something about that bleeding. As it is," he left the rest unsaid. They all knew that time was of the essence. The sooner they were found would be best. The sooner they hit land was the most they were hoping for. The teacher's life now hung in the balance. Hermione slid her legs under his head and shoulders as she bowed her head over him. All the boys watched her as she whispered softly to the teacher. She knew there was very little chance he could hear her but it made her feel better doing it.
She looked up at Harry." Harry, come here. I know you have a map in your pocket. Everywhere we go, you have a map to find your way around. Look on it and see where you think we might be. Are we anywhere near the closest supply routes?"
Harry came over and knelt beside her as he pulled a baggie out of his pocket. There was, in fact, a map in the baggie. He pulled it out, unfolded it and laid it gently across Mr. Greyback's chest. He pointed to Australia. "Ok, we left from here five days ago. The cruise ship hasn't been hurrying and we were actually behind schedule. We were supposed to make a stop in Johannesburg, South Africa two days ago. I heard that the captain had to send them a message explaining why we hadn't already docked. They thought yesterday that we were in trouble. Hopefully, he sent them an SOS last night before the ship went down. Depending on if we stayed pretty close to where we went down, we should be near a fairly well used shipping route. If we drifted south, we, um, we might be in a bit of trouble. There are supposed to be islands south of the route but there are rumors of headhunters ON those islands."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Great. Even if we do find land, we might lose our heads. That would be the perfect way to end this vacation. My head stuck on a pike!"
Cory snorted with laughter before he could repress it. Hermione smiled at him. "Hey, don't laugh at me. We might all end up without our heads before it's all said and done."
Tony and Thorfinn were on their knees with their hands capped over their eyes. They were keeping a sharp eye on the horizon. Blaise, Theo, Harry and Ron were also looking. That left Cory and Hermione with Mr. Greyback. "So you're a nursing student, right? I think I've seen you around the medical wing." Cory said.
"Yeah. You might say it's a family tradition. There's been a doctor Granger and/or a nurse Granger in the family for years. I'm following in my mother's footprints." she answered.
"Happy tradition or unhappy tradition?" he peered at her closely.
"Happy tradition. I love being a nurse. For now, anyway. I might change my mind once I'm actually immersed in the lifestyle, but for now, I'm happy with my choice." she told him. "What about you? Happy tradition or unhappy tradition?"
"Happy tradition. I'm the second doctor in my family. I followed my dad into the business." he smiled. He took a bandage from the first aid kit, dipped it into the ocean and laid it across the teacher's fevered brow.
"Do you think he's going to be ok?" she watched him closely. He examined the abdomen before he answered her.
"Possibly. It looks like the swelling has stopped. Hopefully, that means the bleeding has also stopped. I'd still like to relieve the pressure from it but I'm not touching it until we're off this boat." he said absently. She nodded in agreement.
"Oi! Look! Cory, you might be in luck, mate! Look! Am I just seeing things or is that land?" Thorfinn asked excitedly.
He and Tony were grinning and pointing off to their left. Cory reared up beside them. His eyes widened and he whooped excitedly. They grabbed the oars and began steering the boat to the left. Harry, Ron, Blaise and Theo were using their hands to help paddle faster. The strip of land that had appeared on the horizon to their left grew bigger and bigger. Sure enough, it turned out to be an island. It looked like there might be three islands hooked together. They would just have to go exploring and find out. The boys jumped out and pulled the boat up on the sand.
"Would you four care to keep hold of the boat until we get Mr. Greyback settled?" Cory asked the younger boys. Harry nodded. They would stay with the boat. Cory, Thorfinn and Tony quickly used the rest of the piece of driftwood to piece together a homemade stretcher. They carefully lifted Mr. Greyback onto it and carried him onto the sandy beach. Thorfinn pointed at a group of trees crowded together. It would provide some shade until they could build a shelter. Hermione followed them, almost instinctively knowing that's what Cory would want her to do. He smiled approvingly. They older boys headed back to the beach.
Hermione sat beside the teacher. "We're on land, Mr. G. I think Cory might be going to try and work on your stomach wound soon. He's helping the others get the boat out of the water. We have a good spot here. They're going to try to build a shelter. I'm hoping we're not too far from the shipping lanes. They have to know by now that the ship went down, surely. Mom and dad will be worrying themselves sick. Harry and I have been calling them every night on the way home. We missed our call last night. Poor Mrs. McGonagall will be missing you and worrying about you"
She tipped her head as it seemed almost like the teacher smiled at the sound of the other teacher's name. "Oh. You like hearing about Mrs. McGonagall, do you? She's my guidance counselor t shook. I don't think I could have gotten through choosing my course load if it hadn't been for her advice. She knows exactly which classes I need the most and which ones I can bypass. I'm hoping I'll get assigned to the same hospital as Cory. Don't tell him that. He'll think I'm stalking him." she giggled as she talked to Mr. G. She looked up in time to see Cory strip off his T-shirt and tie it around his forehead. He looked over at her and winked as he smiled at her. She quickly looked down as she turned bright pink.