Somewhere Deep In The Jungle

Chapter 4

Pysgodon

Day Seven – 8 am

The next morning the sun pooled into the clearing through the trees, and Ginny couldn't help smiling as it warmed her face. She savoured the feel, as she knew it wouldn't be long before she'd be back to hiding under the dark canopy and the only opportunities she'd have for seeing the sun, would be when it was baking hot directly above. And it was probable that by the time they found another clearing the sun would have caused heavy storm clouds to form in the sky, and lightening would flash and thunder would roar and it would rain.

Not that she minded the rain, she just would have liked to have been out of the damp, moist air for a little while.

Feeling Harry's eyes on her she looked over to see him watching her intently, a strange expression on his face.

"What?"  She asked self consciously, but he just smiled in response and carried on standing there, looking intent. She caught his eyes, but wasn't completely sure what she saw there, he maintained eye contact but she eventually looked away a small blush reaching her cheeks. "Shall we go?" she asked shouldering her pack, which was strangely lighter than she remembered. 

In a few strides, Harry crossed the clearing and was next to her. He pushed in to the jungle, leading them along at a gentle pace, quite unlike the beginning of their march. It was almost as if he had become resigned to the reality that they were stuck here, and had decided to enjoy it while he could.

Whilst he had maintained watching her yesterday for any signs that she was going to roll over and die, today he was scrutinizing her with less diligence and when they paused for lunch, he had that strange expression on his face again. But, he apparently still was convinced she wasn't well because he kept holding back vines and branches for her, or sometimes, helping her over logs or small streams. At first she'd found it annoying, but after she had resigned herself to the fact that, he was just going have to realize that she was okay by himself, she started enjoying the attention.

It was just after lunch that they came across a small River, and looking into the soft running water, Ginny, hot and bothered was half tempted to jump in. It was only Harry's words of wisdom that stopped her.

"I wouldn't step to close to there,"

"What? Why?" she asked curiously.

"I might not know too much about the Jungle – but I do know enough to say that there are probably all kinds of nasty things living in there,"

"Really? Like what?" she queried, looking at the water with more interest.

He came to stand beside her to look in.

"Well I know that you can have piranha in there…"

"Piranha?"

"Yep, their fish with big teeth," he said thoughtfully, then absently, "strip your flesh in seconds they will,"

"Ew…" she said looking as if she might spot one.

Harry unexpectedly pushed her towards the water, but making sure to keep hold of her shoulders so that he could immediately pull her back. She flew backwards and Harry steadied her as she took a few breathes to calm herself. Harry started laughing,

"I told you not to stand to close!" he said laughing playfully at her expression.

She elbowed him in the stomach, stopping his laughter,

"That was so mean!" she responded good-humouredly, "You're worse than Fred and George sometimes…"

But before Harry could answer, they heard a loud cracking noise in the distance, followed by a deadly silence.

"What was that?" asked Ginny frozen to the spot. Harry moved first, he swung his bag on to his back and handed Ginny her own, pulling out his wand in the process. He started scanning the trees, like a mad man.

"What...?" started Ginny, but he silenced her with a finger. Then she heard a noise and she wondered if Harry had heard it. It sounded like hundreds of flapping wings and there was a screeching noise that went so high pitched that it hurt her ears.

"Ahhh…" she said, clamping her hands to her ears. She felt Harry's arms around her,

"Ginny, what is it?" he asked, sounding very worried.

"That noise…" she managed, she opened her eyes to see Harry's green eyes staring into her own, but he looked away into the direction of the sound. He suddenly went very white, at his expression, Ginny immediately snapped her head around in the direction of his gaze.

Coming towards them, flying along the river and diving through the tops of the trees where hundreds of Bats. Which in it self would be a site for the middle of the day, but these bats seemed distorted, they where much bigger than normal bats, flying quite low and where screeching loudly. It was the way that they descended on everything with there claws and started tearing, before moving on to the next object, forever searching.

The sight and sound of them made Ginny's blood run cold.

"Run Ginny!" whispered Harry unnecessarily, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her along.

They crashed through shrub after shrub, the sound of the bats drawing closer and closer, vines snatching at their clothes, and at Ginny's hair. Just as the bats where about to go over their heads, Harry grabbed Ginny and pushed her to the ground between some buttress roots, wrapping his waterproof cloak about them both.

"Keep still," he whispered in her ear, his breath on her neck.

He held her tightly underneath him, waiting for the noise overhead to move a safe distance away and Ginny wondered if Harry knew quite the effect he was having on her. Because despite the situation, all she seemed to be able to think about was the fact that Harry's arms where around her and that she could feel the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed deeply.

Eventually, he lifted his head up cautiously and peered around. He pulled himself from off Ginny, helping her up but staying low behind the tree.

It was quiet, which was highly unusual for the jungle. They both waited with bated breath, until in the distance they both heard what they had feared.

"Did they find them?" yelled one voice.

"No, keeping searching – we want to find her alive!" yelled back another voice, both coming from the direction the bats had come. Neither voice sounded particularly friendly, and Ginny didn't know about Harry, but she certainly didn't want to meet the owners of them.

So they started running swiftly, making sure to stay between the wizards and the bats.

They must have run for at least fifteen minutes before they stopped and listened, waiting for any sound. They could still hear running and yelling in the distance, Ginny put her finger to her lips in a sign for silence and then signed for them to keep on moving forwards.

Harry nodded his agreement and she grabbed hold of his hand afraid of losing him, as he walked quickly but quietly though undergrowths, disappearing as he slid through bushes.  The land had started to rise swiftly, and Ginny was starting to felt the effects of the combination of a mornings hike, fear and from getting straight out of bed after a near death experience.

Harry lead them along the flatter areas rather than climbing, he turned to regard Ginny, and squeezing her small hand he gave her quizzical look, which she returned with a tired smile.

As they stumbled along breathing lightly, Ginny noticed something towards her left through the trees. She pulled at Harry's hand and he stopped obediently.

"There's some sort of strange pillar or tree over there," said Ginny

They moved over to it, and Ginny had to let go of Harry's hand, much to her disappointment. She ran her hands over the smooth stone; it was probably about the only thing that she could see that wasn't covered in vines. It was a tall cylinder that reached up as high as the tree canopy, it was extremely wide and Ginny couldn't even get her arms to go a quarter of the way around it.

"What do you think it does?" she asked Harry.

"I have no idea," he said looking around nervously, "but let's keep moving,"

Reluctantly, Ginny turned away from it. Harry turned to go, and all her thoughts about the statue went straight out the window when he reached for her hand, entwining their fingers together.