Hogwarts a History – In the dark of the night
Chapter 05 – Separation anxiety
…
"Ron, stop shaking."
"Spu, spuspu, spu, SPIDER!" the brave little Weasley squeaked.
"Focus on the girl half Ron," of her two halves it was probably the stranger, though only because it terminated halfway down and turned into a giant…
"SPIDER!"
"Good grief," Charlie Brown—I mean Su Li grumbled.
"This is going to be terribly traumatic for him," Luna opined. "I was almost sure he'd gotten over this."
"Do we really need to bring him?" Su Li said, hidden amidst her tone the more pressing, albeit fruitless question, do we really need to bring me.
"We can't just leave him," said Harry's mouth, though the rest of his face, traitor that it was, said it was seriously considering it.
"How much further do you suppose it is?" Luna wondered aloud.
"How should I know," said Su Li, who felt, for some inexplicable reason, the question was directed at her.
Luna absorbed this information, adjusted her aim, and queried, "Is it very much farther?"
The spider girl stopped, looking around a moment then looking back at Luna. "How far is very much?"
"Hm. I should think… yes, I should think slightly less than a great distance, but considerably more than a short distance."
A loud smack echoed through the forest, and Su Li removed her own hand from her face, quickly sprouting an angry red mark.
"Lovegood, you are completely mad!"
Luna took no offense at this, after all, "All the best people are."
"Really? I didn't know that," said the spider girl, naively taking the statement at face value.
"It's—open to debate," said Harry, taking the middle ground for the sake of expedience. "Let's keep going. The longer we're out here the more likely someone'll notice we're gone."
Though, as he thought about it, the discovery of their absence wouldn't be nearly as bad as the discovery they hadn't been eaten by the monster. They'd already accused him of setting the beast out. He didn't need to give them any more ammunition.
With the spider girl to lead them, the forest proved more navigable than the last time he'd been there. Fortunate, because down on ground level things looked very different than the day his mad captain had led them on the raid into the spider's nest.
"I wonder if he'll remember me," Harry muttered.
"Spider!" Ron squeaked.
"There's a bridge up ahead."
The spider girl's 'bridge' was just a tree that had long ago fallen across a wide, deep gully. The walls of the far side were nearly vertical and probably some thirty feet high.
"Better not fall down there," said Harry.
"It usually has water in the lower spots once things thaw," said the spider girl, fearlessly stepping up onto the old rotting trunk.
Her steps made wet hollow sounds as she strode the distance, followed by Su Li who walked so lightly she made no sound at all.
Fang sniffed the questionable 'bridge', whimpering and pacing nervously.
"Come on Fang," Harry urged. "If anyone's gonna break this it's not you."
Fang did not appear convinced. Sliding along his belly the first quarter of the way where the tree creaked and sent him scampering the rest of the way.
"I've got a good feeling about this," said Luna, waving jauntily to those on the other side.
"Wish you wouldn't say that," said Harry, still gripping Ron who stared across the bridge.
"Harry. I don't wanna go over there."
"We have to Ron."
"But—look at it. It'll never hold. We'll never got across."
"Ron, the bridge is fine, that's not what you're scared of."
"SCARED! Who's scared? I'm not scared. What do I have to be scared of?"
"Spiders?"
"WHERE! WHERE?"
"Ron, this schtick is getting tired."
Though it didn't look like he was ready to give it up. It took a lot of prodding just to get him on the log and each step was like pulling teeth, by the feet.
"Come on Ron."
"Don't rush me. I don't want to fall. This log is—narrow."
About three feet narrow, flattened on the top by years of creatures coming and going.
"We're gonna be out here till daybreak just getting across this 'bridge'," Harry grumbled.
"I might have a way to speed things up," Luna offered.
A momentary bout of idiocy caused him to forget who he was talking to for a moment, "Sure. Go for it," and thus, hijinks.
Digging into her bag, she produced a small red ball, "Oh Ronald."
"What! What are you doing?" Ron, who was not suffering from idiocy, only a prolonged bout of cowardice, stared at the tiny orb with, what he considered perfectly justifiable trepidation. "What is that?"
Luna rolled the ball in her hand, "I call it, motivation—also sparky boom ball."
Before further remarks could be made, and they were definitely going to be made, Luna gave the little ball a flick and it gently arced into the wood at Ron's feet.
Motivation, thy name be FIRE!
A massive pyre exploded straight up, the fearful recoil knocked Ron on his butt where he displayed his epic crab walking skills, putting as much distance between him and the surprise explosion in as little time as possible.
Harry, to his credit, barely flinched. Though to be fair, he hadn't been Hermione's Mr. Guinea Pig back during her pyro phase.
"A bit much Luna?"
"You think so?" she blinked with guileless innocence.
"I think so."
"It did get him across the bridge."
"And it's now burning its way through the bridge."
Not just burning its own way through it, but a swath almost the full width of the tree which creaked and cracked a telltale warning of what was to come. The tree began to sink in the middle.
"Oh bother," Luna expressed.
Harry groaned, rubbing tired eyes, and staring up at the pitiless, and highly entertained, sky.
"Someone up there is laughing at me. I know it."
He was right.