Disclaimer: Look at any of the 1st 9 chapters and there's the disclaimer info.
A/N: Sorry I took so long to get this chapter out. I had this HUGE project I had to do for school and a lot of other school stuff so I had no time to write… but now that I have that out of the way I can write! Because I felt bad for not writing for a while, I decided to make this chapter extra long (which means about 6 or 7 pages in Word as opposed to my usual 4 ½ / 5 pages).
Chapter 12: The Great (or not so) Escape
The wind blew with a greater velocity, an intense howl like a wolf to the lunar goddess echoing through the dense air. The rain was persistent, flooding the school grounds. The clouds took on a smoky appearance eclipsing the reality of the day. Large waves from the lake crashed into the rocky slopes that Hogwarts sat upon. Dark shadows of rare plants and fungi filled the Greenhouses. The caliginous Forbidden Forest looked almost welcoming compared to the glum world surrounding it.
Harry finished getting dressed and walked over to Hermione, her hands over her eyes. "You can look now." Hermione uncovered her eyes, still blushing. Harry, when he was going to get dressed, had asked Hermione to cover her eyes if she didn't want to see him completely bare when he changed his boxers. Hermione agreed, somewhat wanting to take a peek through slightly opened fingers. But she didn't being as prudent as she was. She was still somewhat embarrassed over seeing Harry in just his boxers.
Harry pulled on his heavy winter cloak and got a spare for Hermione to wear. "It might keep us from getting completely soaked to the skin for a bit longer," he explained.
"Harry, you're confident this is going to work, right?"
"Well, I don't think they would really need to put the barriers on the outside of the school. They probably wouldn't think that someone would fly out the windows. Besides only the students on the house teams would have their own broom with them and I'm probably the only one who would think of doing this."
"Well, let's hope it works. Otherwise we may have to go to Dumbledore to get this all fixed. Besides, I want to get this over with. You know that flying isn't my preference when it comes to modes of transportation." Harry picked up his Firebolt and mounted. Hermione straddled the shaft behind him, wrapping her arms tightly around him even though they weren't in the air.
Harry pushed the window open, rain flying into their faces and soaking the floor of Harry's room. Harry kicked off and flew through the window, Hermione hugging him even more tightly as she saw the ground sixty feet below. The wind rocked the broom, slowly pushing them away from the castle. All Harry needed to do was travel about fifty feet around the cylindrical tower, which now seemed to be nearly impossible, to get to Hermione's window.
The rain pounded on their heads and made vision blurry. Harry shouted back to Hermione, the wind so loud that she still could barely process what he was saying. "How will I be able to tell which window is yours?"
"There's a flower pot sitting on the window ledge," she shouted back, her eyes closed to block the flying pellets of water.
"What?" he yelled, noticing that they were still being pushed further from the tower, inching closer to the Forbidden Forest.
"A flower pot! There is a flower pot in the window!" she yelled as loud as she could, straining her voice. "Harry! Hurry up! I can't hold on much longer! The cloak is too wet to get a good grip on!"
"I'm doing the best I can! The wind is too strong for my broom and I can't see an inch in front of me!" Lighting flashed across the sky, temporarily blinding the two teens. Harry started to loose control over the broom, swerving wildly from side to side. Harry tried to spiral higher, hoping that maybe he could find a break in the thick fog too see the now invisible castle.
Hermione began to get dizzy from the broom's elliptical motion. The cold humid air filled her sinuses making her spinning head worse. "Harry," she whispered before passing out. Harry didn't hear Hermione and continued flying upwards. Suddenly, he felt her grip dramatically loosen and the broom's load lightened immensely. Harry realized what had happened and quickly turned the broom around.
All of the quidditch games that he had played in couldn't prepare him for this. He accelerated to the broom's maximum speed. Catching a snitch in light fog was a fairly simple accomplishment compared to a free-falling teenage girl who was descending rapidly from a one hundred-twenty foot height. Harry continued to fly, now at almost ninety degrees from the ground, hoping to catch Hermione before it was to late.
A dark jumbled form of shadows appeared before him and before he could slow down he collided with several sticks and branches. He landed roughly on the damp ground. He lay dazed. His arm hurt and his head ached. He slowly tried to sit up. He didn't appear to have any broken bones (which would have brought back some bad memories from his second year) but he did have a number of bruises and cuts. He observed the environment around him. Large trees, dark shrubs and a shady aura surrounded him. The wind and rain pushed him so far off course that he landed in the Forbidden Forest.
Before he did anything else he remembered Hermione. He stumbled to his feet, his left ankle pulsing with pain, possibly sprained or twisted. His right palm was slightly bleeding from a small cut. He wiped his hand on his now muddy cloak and shouted, "Hermione!" There was silence, broken by the sudden crash of lightning. The rain still came down, perhaps harder than before. "Hermione!" There was still no answer.
Harry limped through the forest, his broom in hand. She couldn't have landed too far from where he was. "Hermione!" He looked around, becoming frightened as he heard a wolf-like bark in the distance. "Herm-." Her stopped as he spotted a limp body hanging high in the treetops; cloak snagged on a thick branch. "Hermione!" he gasped. He mounted the broom again and slowly flew up to her. He hovered next to her. She was still breathing, scratched up a bit, but in good health though unconscious. He carefully pulled her off of the branch trying not to lose balance.
Another crash of lightening illuminated the air. Harry slowly descended with Hermione wrapped in one of his arms to the ground. Thunder still echoed around them. Harry looked around the forest again. They seemed to have been blown very far from the castle since the grounds couldn't be seen through the trees. It would be too far to walk especially with an injured ankle, too foggy to fly through, and an unconscious girlfriend to take care of.
He spotted a deep trench not far away with a small underground cave created from the large tree roots. They could stay there until the storm let up. Harry, still on his broom, flew over to the shelter and carefully carried Hermione inside. The ground was dry. The cave was much warmer than the outside air. Harry pulled out his wand. "Lumos." The end of his wand began to glow, providing some light in the dark subterranean passage.
Harry pulled Hermione close to him, trying to keep her warm, which was a lost cause with their completely damp clothes. Harry continued to stare outside, watching the rainfall, listening to the thunder, hoping that it would all end soon. His ankle continued to throb. He sneezed, realizing that the rain and cold probably wasn't going to help him.
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"Harry."
The air by the fire was warm and inviting. Hermione leaned against Harry on the common room couch, her head on his chest. Harry stared down at her. She smiled at him. "I love you, Hermione."
"Harry."
"I love you too, Harry." Harry pulled her closer, leaning down to link in a passionate, deep kiss.
"Harry!" Harry opened his eyes to see a panicked Hermione in front of him. He looked around. He was still under the tree roots, still wet, and still in pain. "Harry, where are we?" Harry explained to Hermione about her plummet.
"Well," he said. "It looks like it stopped raining." He peered outside to make sure. "The fog's gone and it looks like the sun is trying to break though the clouds. He and Hermione climbed out of the cave. Harry got on the Firebolt and Hermione got on behind him. He kicked off, soaring up past the forest canopy until he could find the direction of the castle. He flew gracefully through the air, no wind to put him off course. They finally reached the tower again and he began to search for Hermione's window.
"There it is!" Hermione exclaimed, pointing to her window. Harry flew to the window and Hermione pulled out her wand. "Abriomí!" she chanted, the window opening. Hermione and Harry flew through the window and got off. "Well, it took a couple of hours but it worked!" she exclaimed. "At least now, you, Ron, and I can still spend time together despite the boundaries. We can meet in one of our rooms."
"Yeah, that is if it doesn't rain."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Tissues littered the floor of Harry's room. It was Sunday morning, and Harry would have been in class with the other guys of the school (thanks to the new regulations) if he hadn't gotten sick from the previous day's misadventures. Harry sneezed and reached for another tissue to wipe is sore nose. A tapping came from his window and he got up, coughing all the way. "Hedwig?" he asked. He opened his window letting Hedwig in with a note.
Dear Harry,
Ron sent Pig saying you're sick. I'm sick too. Have something important, fly over to my room (it doesn't matter if we're together; we're both sick after all).
Love,
Hermione
Harry grabbed his cloak and his broom. At least he had someone to be sick with. Harry opened his window and flew out. Unlike the previous day, it was warm and sunny. The worst day to be sick in Harry's opinion. He rounded the tower until he found Hermione's already opened window.
Inside, Harry saw Hermione sitting on her bed with tissues around her. "I guess the rain won," she laughed before sneezing. Her eyes were watery and her nose was red. "Make yourself comfortable." She cleared off her bed and Harry took a seat next to her.
"So what do you have that is so important?"
"This," she said, holding up a letter. "It's Syrena's response. I haven't read it yet. I wanted to wait for you."
"You mean she didn't send the antidote."
"Well she did send a small package, but it's too light to have some kind of potion in it. That's what worries me. What if there is no potion?"
"Well open it." Hermione opened the letter and read it, Harry looking over her shoulder.
Dear Hermione,
I am so sorry for what has happened. I'm afraid that this may be my fault completely. You see, I'm only half siren and the potion I gave you required the hair of a siren and I used my own hair. That may be the reason why it hasn't worn off. I feel so terrible about myself now. I just can't believe that I could do this to someone. I'm so stupid.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other. "She didn't use the correct ingredients. It makes sense," reasoned Hermione.
"Well keep reading, there's a lot more."
There are two ways to reverse this though. I asked several questions to my mother and grandmother about your situation and I have the answer. The first way is simple but has some risks and may not be perfect for everyone. Not everyone is comfortable with it. The first cure is the loss of your virginity.
"Well that explains why some girls got out of the spell so early. And the pregnancies must be the risk," said Harry.
The second method is much safer but is difficult to make. It is a counter-potion. I would have made the potion but some of the ingredients aren't available in Greece. I sent some of the ingredients though in the package. You'll have to make it yourself. What I sent includes four siren hairs (don't worry, I used my grandmother's this time who is 100% siren) and griffin talon shavings. The rest of the ingredients are listed along with the instructions in the package.
Good luck, I hope everything goes okay and don't forget to use a multiplying curse so that you can have enough for all of the girls at your school.
Your Friend,
Syrena
Harry and Hermione looked at each other again. They finally had the solution to their problem. "So, which are you going to choose?" asked Harry. "I don't want to pressure you into anything."
Hermione sat, staring at the letter. She felt strongly about virginity. 'Sex is something to share with someone you really, truly care about. It's something to share with the person who you are going to spend the rest of your life with.' It was something that her mother always told her.
She stared at Harry. She really loved him and deep in her heart she knew that they would be spending the rest of their lives together. But, she just couldn't bring herself to it. She wasn't ready. "Let's do the potion," she said flatly.
"I understand," Harry said before sneezing. "Could you pass the tissues?"
"Here," she said handing over the box. "Let's see what we'll need to get for this potion." Hermione carefully opened the package. The siren hair and griffin talon shavings were in small pouches. She grabbed the instructions to find the ingredients.
4 strands of Siren's hair
The shavings of 1 griffin talon
1 drop Essence of Unicorn
2 dried infant Mandrake leaves (soaked in dragon's blood the night before potion is made)
3 dragon teeth
1 fairy wing
The crushed legs of 2 spiders (16 legs)
5 mermaid scales
1 dried basilisk heart
The potion must be brewed the night before the full moon. In a cauldron, boil plain water. Add the teeth, legs, scales, and leaves. Allow simmering for two hours. Add the talon, wing, and essence. After another hour of simmering, add the heart and hair. Let it simmer for three more hours. Then let the mixture sit until the next night, the full moon. Let the moonlight shine on the potion for one hour, no more, no less. Bottle and drink.
"I know that we can get the leaves from the Greenhouse. The essence can be stolen from Snape's office," stated Hermione. "How are we going to get the rest?"
"Well, I bet we could get Ron's brother Charlie to get the dragon teeth and blood for us. We can go in the lake to get the mermaid scales. And we could go into the chamber to get the heart. I'm sure it's all dried up by now."
"How about the spider legs?"
"It will be a bit dangerous but I think we can get them in the Forbidden Forest. Ron and I know a place but I think you and I will have to do it. Ron wasn't very fond of the spiders."
"I think I'll be able to get the fairy wing."
"How long do you think it will take to get the ingredients and do the spell?" asked Harry.
"Well the next full moon is on December 18th, but I won't be able to get the fairy wing until the holiday break. The next full moon after that is January 16th. But if you consider the time it will take for Charlie to get us the blood and teeth, then the next full moon is February 14th. We need to make the potion the night before so we need to have everything by February 12th at the latest."
"How do you know all of the full moon dates? We haven't gotten to the moon yet in Astrology."
"We only just started this year but I studied all summer to prepare." Hermione began to cough. Harry sneezed. "I –cough- don't think we'll be going outside anytime soon."
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Thanks for reading… once again I apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out. Again, I am going to have to skip over the thank you stuff in order to get out the demanded next chapter of Pass the Crayons. But I absolutely promise that the next chapter will have a long list of reviewers to thank… And if I don't… you can hunt me down and yell at me.