Next one. N I have to say I'm sorry- I only just realized I spelt "woops" as "Whoops" in the last chapter. Sorry!
The creature was content in bringing this tree down. Apparently, it didn't like the fact that it had been so close to its pray, and yet hadn't noticed. It continued to hit the tree, and saw with satisfaction that the tree was close to giving up and falling down. It rammed the tree again, and saw more bark fly off.
Malfoy and Hermione watched in horror as the beast glanced up at them. It roared with triumph.
"Not…until the fat mudblood sings!" Malfoy shouted at it, then turned back to Hermione. "Right now…since you screamed, I say we sacrifice you to the beast, and I make a run for it."
Hermione scowled. "No. new plan…" she looked around her but could see nothing that they could use.
"Damn…it sounds like a winner to me." Malfoy mumbled, and felt the tree shudder.
"Malfoy, keep thinking!" Hermione shouted, and was almost knocked out of the tree as the creature rammed it again.
"Okay…" Malfoy thought. If they jumped down in front of the creature, it would be momentarily shocked before it tore their heads off…no, new plan. They could fall with the tree and then run for it…but it might be able to run them down…
Right…well, they'll have to give it their best shot.
"Granger, I hope you run as fast as you read!"
Hermione looked at him. "What?"
"When the tree snaps, fall with it then jump n run!" Malfoy said, peering at the creature.
It rammed the tree once more, and they heard the sickening crack of the core of the tree snapping, and it thankfully started to fall away from the creature.
The two prepared themselves, then jumped off the tree just as it crashed to the earth with a deafening THUMP that sent shudders through the ground.
Without waiting, Draco and Hermione ran for all they were worth. Hermione, having slept was slightly more energized than Draco, but he still managed to keep up with her.
They stayed close together, and jumped over obstacles that gave them only second warnings. They could hear the beast running close behind them, not catching up, but not falling behind. It stayed at perfect hunting length behind them.
"LEFT!" Malfoy shouted, spotting a bog ahead.
Hermione's feet stumbled over each other as she sharply made the turn. She ran clumsily, but still, she was at least running.
They were climbing a short hill that was covered in knotted roots. Hermione's foot got caught in one, and she felt the sickening wrench of her body, jolting backwards before she started to fall.
Draco heard her shout in shock and turned around. He reached out, hulled her to her feet, and grabbed her hand ready to run again. Over her shoulder, Malfoy could see the creature, that had paused for a second. It spotted them, roared once more, and started charging.
Bloody Hell! Malfoy screamed to himself, as he dragged Hermione up the hill, then cascading down the other side. Their feet barely had chance to touch the ground before their owners lifted them up again.
The swamps scenery had changed. Instead of dead underbrush, it now had long, thick vines hanging from monstrous trees that were so closely clumped together, that it was impossible to see past them.
In some parts, it was thicker, and in others, it was more breathable.
"Go in there!" Malfoy shouted ,still holding Hermione's hand. Hermione's lungs burned, and her legs begged her to stop. But she ran through the pain, knowing that if that bloody thing caught up, it'd be much worse.
They entered a jungle of vines, and started pushing their way through the curtains. Soon they found a very narrow path, and followed it.
Behind them, they heard the sound of the vines being wrenched down, and snapping in half as something impatiently pushed through them.
Pausing at a fork, they decided to go right. They ran along the path, puffing and panting, both wishing to just stop and rest. But neither admitted it. A nasty vine tried to decapitate them, and almost did. But Draco, who was furious already because he was there, tore at it before it could really do any damage.
Another fork. Left, right….right….right…left…left…righ- no left…right…left…
"I in…circles!" Hermione shouted.
Malfoy looked around…yes…"Shit!"
They had stopped at another fork. "Okay…er…you go right, and I'll go left…go a little way down then climb the vines okay?"
"What?" Hermione shrieked. "I'm not the mate of Tarzan! Are you insane?"
"Yes, now go!" Tarzan?
Hermione groaned, not liking the idea of splitting up, but she ran anyway. About 20 meters down, she jumped as high as she could, and clutched onto a vine with dear life. Breathing hard, she started to hull her self up it, after making sure it was strong enough.
With her hands snaked around the vine, and her legs tangled in it, Hermione rested her head against it and breathed deeply. Her throat was sore and dry, her lungs felt like they were on fire, and her legs simply were transformed into led blocks that refused to go anywhere else.
Malfoy ran left, and continued running. A few minutes ago, he had noticed the beast was smelling them, and not seeing them. Maybe it was blind in close together places…or maybe they had just gotten to far ahead for it to see them through the thickness of the vines. Either way, Malfoy was going to use this to his advantage.
Because they had made so many turns, their smell and scent was everywhere. The beast must be getting crossed messages. If it wasn't, then Malfoy and Hermione were screwed. Well, Malfoy most of all because he was the one on the ground.
He slowed to a walk, not hearing any sound apart from his panting.
Hermione had been hanging for ten minutes. She prayed Malfoy knew what he was doing. If he didn't, then Hermione would be in this hell hole by her self. And as much as she hated Malfoy, she hated that prospect even more.
Her breathing was now steady, though she didn't want to run at least for another half hour.
Suddenly, her breath caught in her throat. Something was coming closer, and it was breathing heavily, not at all like a human. It grunted as it came closer, then paused in a patch of moon light, in perfect view for Hermione to see their hunter.
She almost screamed again and prayed once more that Malfoy wasn't on the same ground this hideous thing was.
It was covered in thick, tangled black hair, though it was rougher around its head. Two long horns poked through the hair on its head, and it was as fat as a rhino (Hermione was amazed it could run to keep up without having cardiac failure.) and stood now on its back legs like a bear. Its feet were as large as Hagrid's, though they were covered in dirt, and had four long, nasty looking claws protruding through. Its nose was like a snout, more like bear than anything else. Its eyes were small and beady.
"What in name of Merlin created you?" Hermione breathed quietly.
The creature had picked up Malfoy's scent. It roared, and ran in that direction.
Seconds later Malfoy was standing in the exact patch of moon light that the creature had seconds before. He looked frantically around him, worried that that roar had meant it had gotten Granger. He glanced up, after hearing a sneeze and saw Hermione.
Smirking, Draco started to climb his own vine. Hermione was looking slightly comical, like a deer caught in the head lights of the muggle contraptions that made loud noises and polluted the world. "In one piece?" he asked reaching her.
"Barely." Hermione replied, her voice faint. "Have…did…I saw…did you see it?"
Malfoy was quiet for a minute, then nodded. "Yeah I saw a glimpse of it before. It looked like the future Weasel King."
Hermione scowled. "I sware to Merlin I will-"
"Come on," Malfoy said, cutting the stream of threats off. "We should go before it follows my scent back here."
Hermione nodded, and started to slide down the vine. They hit the ground, and started walking quickly in the opposite direction that the creature had gone.
Soon they were out of the vine forest, and were making their way through the swamp again. The mist had settled thicker now, and it was even harder to see where they were putting their feet. Though within minutes, they saw another large tree. Malfoy was about to make for it, when Hermione pulled him back.
"I don't think so." She said glaring at him. "This is way too close to that ugly thing."
Malfoy nodded. "Fine whatever."
They continued walking away from the tree, and saw another bog. "Man that's so gross!" Malfoy spat as the water bubbled with brown muddy water.
"So I take it you're not having a shower in that?" Hermione asked, smiling at him.
Malfoy almost looked like he was going to be sick. "Absolutely no wa-"
"Oh gosh I'm an idiot!" Hermione said, slapping her forehead.
"Well I could have told you that…" Malfoy replied, slightly unsure of why she was admitting it.
When Hermione had mentioned Malfoy taking a shower, she had remembered that fantastic prank she had played back in the dingy hotel, and what she had played it with- her wand.
Hermione's hand flew automatically for her wand and closed around the handle. There was no point in bringing it out now- they may only get un wanted attention. But she held onto it, ready to whip it out.
"Why are-"
"Shh don't worry." Hermione said, then continued to walk. Her stomach rumbled. God she was hungry. She mentally added another thing to her list of 'things to be envious of Harry and Ron for.' So far, Hermione had:
. They weren't kidnapped by Death Eaters.
. They haven't been sent to Voldermort's home with Malfoy.
. They got to do their homework safely in Hogwarts.
. They weren't in a stinking swamp with no food or water!
. Oh yeah, and they hadn't just been chased by the most ugly looking thing on earth. And they could sleep peacefully.
As if Merlin was answering her hopes, they rounded the trunk of a massive tree and saw a small pond, that had sparkling water. Malfoy went straight for it. Hermione hesitated, but when Malfoy didn't fall over dead after taking a thankful gulp of the water, she raced over, and started slurping.
"Can we find somewhere to sleep now?" Malfoy asked, his eyes dull.
"Sure." Hermione said, looking around. There were scrawny trees, about as thick as her wrist…no good. There were a few larger trees, but there was one that Hermione had chosen. It was bigger than the Whomping Willow wanna be, and looked more ancient, and twisted.
They made their way over, climbed it, found somewhere flat to sleep and paused.
"I took the last one." Malfoy said, smirking. Without waiting, he laid down with his back to Hermione, and was instantly asleep.
"Fair point." Hermione mumbled, then sighed. She was resigned to keeping watch. She lent back against the tree branch. Then, remembering her wand, and how bloody cold she was, Hermione pulled it out, and was thinking how nice it would be to sit by a fire, when she tried the spell, and all her hopes fell away.
Her wand shivered, and made a sparking nose, before shooting something blue out before dying again. Hermione frowned. She tried something simpler- Lumos. It shivered again, and shot a spark of light out before dying.
"Oh no…please no!" Hermione groaned. So, she was in this place, without a working wand.
Another item to her list:
. Harry and Ron have WORKING WANDS!
After ten minutes of fruitless trying to stay awake, Hermione slumped into a ball and was fast asleep, forgetting about the watching part.
The sun rose, and it was able to sneak into this patch of swamp a lot easier. Hermione rolled awake, and looked around. Malfoy wasn't anywhere in the tree. Or at least, she thought he wasn't. she looked down on the ground, and couldn't see him. For some weird reason, she looked up and saw him sitting as high as you could, watching something.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked, stretching.
"Watching." Came a crisp reply.
"Shouldn't we get moving?" Hermione asked, slightly frozen.
"Maybe." Malfoy replied, distracted.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, rubbing her arms against the chill morning wind.
"Not really." He replied. "Come on Granger, why are you holding us up?" he suddenly snapped, as though coming out of a daze.
"But i-"
"Come on, you know we have to keep moving- do you want to cuddle up to that ugly thing tonight?" Malfoy jumped down from the branch, and landed with a thud on the ground. "Lets go Granger."
"I-" Hermione sighed, jumped down out of the tree and stood tall. Then looked around. "Which direction Captain?" she asked in a mock sailors voice.
"That way mud." Malfoy replied smirking as he walked in a random direction.
"Are you sure this is the right way?" Hermione asked, untangling her shirt from another thorn bush. They had been walking for at least two hours, both with rumbling stomachs. They had been forced to walk around another bog, which Hermione had almost fallen into, and into a small vine forest.
They were almost out of the vine forest when Hermione caught something tangled in the vines. She walked cautiously over to it, and screamed.
Malfoy came running over. "Why are you getting side trac-" he caught sight of what was tangled in the vines and gave a shout of surprise. He grabbed Hermione's arm, ready to run when she stopped him.
"No wait. Its…dead…" Hermione said, carefully walking up to the vines.
Tangled up in them, and with about six vines around its neck, was a creature, exactly like the one that had chased them the previous night. In fact, Hermione was sure it was the same creature. It must have panicked, and started running, without clearing a path…A bad way to go.
The creatures eyes were wide, as was the mouth. But when Hermione peered closer, she saw that the eyes were glazed over, showing no signs of life.
"Okay, come on Granger. This isn't a field trip to the local animal Freak Museum- if it was, Weasel would be in it." Malfoy snorted at his own joke.
Ignoring him, Hermione turned and started walking away.
Malfoy caught up, and soon they were remerging from the vine forest, or death trap, and were avoiding yet another bog. The vegetation was scarce here, so their clothing wasn't torn as much. The mist had lifted though some of it had remained behind.
They turned left, and headed up a small hill, again getting their feet caught in the roots that stuck up at odd angles. Hermione got so frustrated that she snapped at Malfoy to continue. When he was gone from her sight, Hermione sat down, and began getting her foot out, while tears fell down her cheek. She sent Malfoy away, because she hadn't wanted to appear weak.
Once she was free, Hermione stood, and made her way up the rest of the root hill, and saw Malfoy, leaning against a tree.
"Right now?" he asked.
"No." Hermione sniffled.
"Come on."
Malfoy took the lead, and Hermione fell into step behind him. Though she was now walking slower, with her head bowed. She could hear Malfoy mumbling something ten meters ahead.
Hermione approached a fork. Damn it! Which way did the ferret run?
Hermione thought of going right, but changed her mind, and went left.
Draco came to the fork and paused before walking left. He had considered waiting for Granger, and discussing the directional matter with her, but thought against it. He walked slowly, dragging his feet and kicking rocks. Why had he been sent here? He knew the answer, and had asked the question so many times that it was almost imprinted on the backs of his eyelids, so when he closed his eyes, there it was, waiting for him to worry about all over again. And Draco hated that!
He looked up and saw something blocking the path.
"Oh, what now?"
Malfoy walked up to the big black lump that was sitting there, and looked at it. It was slowly moving, as though breathing, but it was breathing shallow. He thought it was dead until it blew out a long breath of air. Malfoy jumped back in surprise.
When he realized what it was. It was another flipping creature! Great. These things were roaming around, at will, and there was obviously more then one! Perfect.
Gingerly picking up a stick, Malfoy took a deep breath and poked the animal in the back.
There was an angry roar, and the beast was suddenly on its feet, glaring down out Malfoy who ran in the other direction.
Hermione heard a roar from somewhere up a head. She started jogging towards it, hoping it was Malfoy, when she saw him come running at her with incredible speed.
"Wh-"
"Nope, wrong way!" Malfoy yelled running straight past her.
Hermione turned to run when she saw a very angry creature running towards her, a mad glint in its eye. She groaned, and quickly matched Draco's pace.
"What…the hell…did you…do?" she panted, as they came to the fork, and this time went right.
"Nothing!" Malfoy shouted back.
Hermione looked side ways at him, like a mother after catching her son with his hand in the cookie jar, and him saying, 'I didn't do it.'
"Well I may…have poked….it…while it …was…sleeping." Malfoy said, almost laughing at Hermione's now peeved off expression.
"Malfoy!" she groaned.
They came to another fork. Hermione went right, while Draco ran left. Both assumed the other would follow. Both cursed when they realized that hadn't happened. But both kept running, unsure of which direction the beast would take.
Hermione cursed again. The creature had chosen to follow her. And she had no idea where Malfoy was, or where she was. So, with her legs and lungs burning again, Hermione continued to power along the small dirt path, hopefully away from the creature.
Soon, she saw her salvation- she was coming up into another vine forest, though this one had a path running through it.
Picking up all her strength, well, what was left of it, Hermione ran, jumped, and clung onto a sturdy looking vine. Without taking the time to breath, as she could hear the creature right behind her, Hermione started climbing up the vine, drawing her legs in close.
The creature stopped when it reached the bottom of Hermione's vine. It roared with frustration, then seamed to grin.
Hermione's eyes grew wide as she saw what the creature was about to do. She braced her self, started swinging the vine, and jumped through the air, clutching another, safer vine.
The beast grabbed Hermione's vine and tugged, ripped and pulled, and soon the vine was falling to the ground next to it in coils. It roared again with frustration as it saw Hermione hadn't fallen with it. The beast couldn't see Hermione, so it began tearing all the vines around it down randomly, and soon the ground was covered in them.
Now Hermione felt like the mate of Tarzan- Jane. She started swinging from vine to vine, unsure of what the hell she was doing or where she was going. She just hoped the creature would give up, go and chase Malfoy, and give her a god damn break.
The creature heard Hermione, and started following the sounds she was making as she jumped like monkey from one vine to the next. It roared, and continued ripping, pulling and tugging.
Malfoy stopped running after a few minutes and listened. Well, the creature wasn't following him. That was one good thing, though the bad thing was, is that it meant it was following Granger, and if she slips, trips, sneezes, or does anything wrong, that thing will be on her in a second- and she'd be dead, which means he would be dead which means-
Oh stop it Draco. Just go back there and help her out then!
Malfoy turned, and started running again, when he heard a roar. That better not mean what he feared it meant. Then another roar. Oh God.
Malfoy turned up at the vines, and saw them coiled up and scattered all over the place. He looked up and saw a bald patch, out of the thickness. Hermione was in the vines again.
Hermione was about to jump when she looked down. There was a large boggy lake underneath her. The creature had stopped at its bank and was now screaming at Hermione angrily, deprived of its lunch. But both it and Hermione spotted the log at the same time.
The creature ran for it, and started crossing it slowly, and waited on the other side, patiently for Hermione to fall or worse. Hermione swayed for a minute, catching her breath back, then took her time, as there was nothing bringing her down- yet.
Malfoy ran, following the path and stopped short at the bog. He looked around and couldn't see the beast, but heard it, shouting from the other side of the bog, covered by the thin layer of mist.
He looked up, and saw Hermione, carefully crossing from one vine, to the next, taking her time, and breathing slowly.
He looked around, saw the log but didn't like it. No way was he crossing this gross pile of muck on just a log. He would only cross it if he was on the titanic…and that was impossible. So there you have it. Draco Lucius Malfoy was not crossing this bog on a log. (A/N hahahaha rhymes)
Draco looked around for another way. Then spotted them. The vines…of course. After making a mental note to tell Hermione she looked like a monkey, he grabbed the neck of one, and started climbing, and was soon at Hermione's level. He started crossing from one to the other, and was closing the gape between him and Hermione and the beast.
Hermione continued jumping and climbing, until finally she saw her next salvation- A large tree. Her arms were exhausted from holding her up, and she made her way to it, and heard the beast cry in anger as its prey didn't fall.
She reached the tree and collapsed, catching her breath and resting her arms.
Malfoy saw Hermione swing herself into the tree and made for it. Soon, he was coming out of the mist.
Hermione squealed in surprise. "Oh its you."
"Yes its me." Malfoy said, landing beside her. "Who else would it be?"
"Our charming friend down there." Hermione replied, pointing to the beast that was now thumping its feet angrily. "That has just chased me!"
"Oh calm down." Malfoy said, sighing. "Give it a rest. It could have gone for me too."
Hermione closed her mouth, too tired to argue, and looked over the edge of their branch. She squinted with what she saw, not able to make it out. It was like a small wall of something, but it was slightly textured…and it was badly shaped, all over the place, and swerving. Whoever built it did not know how to go straight- then Hermione realized what it was. She gasped and her eyes went wide.
"Oh my God."
"What?" Malfoy asked, coming over to her. "What the hell-?"
"Its…a…oh my god."
Hahahahahaha
Nice chapy huh? Anyone know what she saw? (besides me of course:P)
Hehehe alright, ill name those who guess correctly- have fun!
AJ