Oh, and of course, I DO NOT OWN EITHER OF THESE BOOKS!
Chapter Nine:...and Cloudy Days
"Ginny," Ron hissed when his sister joined he and Harry inside the circle of shivering bodies, "where were you?"
She shrugged. "Just...around," she said defensively.
Ron rolled his eyes. "You're nutters."
"So're you," she responded.
Ralph was trying to say...something...but the chattering of his teeth made it inaudible.
"Ah, hell!" he finally managed, "let's j-j-just ge-get inside the shelters!"
Harry suddenly sat bolt upright, some mysterious internal mechanism rudely thrusting him into consciousness.
He stood on shaky legs and stumbled outside. It was morning. No longer raining, but gray and overcast.
*Must be pretty late,* he thought drowsily, *it looks like everybody else is awake already.*
"What are you doing out here?"
Simon jumped slightly. "Thinking," he answered, turning to face the speaker, smiling politely even though he couldn't recall for the life of him the girl's name.
Hermione returned his smile. "Thinking," she repeated, then asked, "What about?"
Simon shifted. "Nothing important," he fibbed.
Ralph nodded curtly to Harry. "Morning," he said.
Harry rubbed his eyes. "Uh-huh," he yawned, wondering where Ron and Malfoy were. "You seen Ron or Mal - Draco anywhere?"
Ralph shook his head.
Harry frowned. "Thanks anyway," he said as went off to look for his best friend and his worst enemy, trying to ignore the slight burning of his scar.
George kicked a rock. "I'm bored," he sigh-whined.
Fred nodded. "Me, too," he said glumly. The two of them walked aimlessly in silence for awhile. Then, Fred poked George in the ribs.
"What was that - ?"
Fred motioned for his twin to be silent. "Can you hear 'em?"
George grinned. "Yeah...sounds like there's two or three..."
"Remember that beast thing they were mumbling about in their sleep last night?"
"Yeah." George wasn't sure he knew what Fred was getting at, but he could guess...smiling, he asked, "So, whaddya think a beast looks like?"
Fred pondered that for a few minutes. "I don't know," he said thoughtfully, "probably branches for antlers, or something like that..."