Chapter 15

The next day came earlier than either of them wanted.

It couldn't have been any later than five o'clock when they found themselves being rudely awakened by the loud knocking of Professor McGonagall on their doors, and then the sound her voice telling them to get up and get ready. The needed to make an early start.

The students filed out into the morning sunlight, some still blinking sleep from their eyes. The rest were already falling back asleep on their feet.

"Now, now, none of that. I warned you all not to stay up late, but you didn't listen. Now you'll have to suffer the consequences."

With that, she led the way down the street and the students plodded along behind her. By the time they reached the edge of the forest, the cool air had already revived them, and most were excited at the prospect of a day's walk in the beautiful mountains.

There were two students, however, who weren't enjoying themselves so much.

Draco Malfoy walked at the end of the line, trying to keep as far away from Ginny as possible. After what happened last night, he was determined not to go near her. She hadn't even given him a chance to explain, she just instantly assumed that he'd been teasing her…Okay, so he couldn't really blame her for assuming that, but did she have to get so hot-headed about it?

If she'd just calmed down for a second he could have explained that it was simply shock that she would want to kiss him, a Malfoy, that made him say that, not distaste. But now he'd never get the chance.

And good riddance! He tried to convince himself that he was better off without her anyway, she would just complicate things. And his life didn't need any more complications. So there.

Ginny led the little group, following right along behind McGonagall as closely as possible. The expression on her face a mix between angry and completely bewildered. No matter how many times she went over their fight in her head, she still thought that she was right in what she had done. But…guilt plagued her. Why would it do that if she'd been right?

Ginny couldn't decide.

They entered the edge of the woods, and McGonagall motioned for the group to cluster round as she explained with the help of a map where they would be going, how long it would take, and what they might expect to see. They listened willingly, all except for Draco. The Slytherin boy stood a little apart, arms crossed and eyes staring vaguely into nothing.

Ginny ignored the impulse to glance at him, but she knew he was listening to every word, even though he appeared not to be. That was the way he was.

McGonagall finished the lesson and motioned for them to follow.

As they walked, Ginny watched with interest as the older witch took a compass out of her robe and checked their direction.

Though inwardly, she was impressed, Ginny said nothing. McGonagall was really taking this survival thing seriously. She wasn't even using her wand to find the directions.

Speaking of wands…

"Professor?" Ginny began as they walked.

"Yes?" McGonagall answered distractedly. Obviously the compass was giving her a bit of trouble.

"When do you think I'll get my wand back?"

McGonagall halted, a flustered look on her face. "Oh, well, I forgot I even had it."

She stuck her hand back into her robe and retrieved it, holding it out for Ginny to take. "Here you are."

"Thanks," Ginny told her sincerely as they started walking again. She felt a lot safer with it in her pocket.

About midday, they came to a halt beneath the shade of the huge trees, and the students rested thankfully. They were already hot and sweating, and the worst part was, they were sure there was more to come.

But McGonagall surprised them.

"We'll camp here for the night. Boys on the left, girls on the right," she added pointedly, remembering their last attempt at camping.

But before a sigh of relief could run it's course through the students, Draco spoke up suddenly.

"But Professor, we don't have our bags with us." There was a slight smirk on his face at the thought that the Professor had overlooked yet another little detail. She seemed almost out of her league with this trip, but Ginny was sure that it was simply the newness of it. She'd get over it.

"Not to worry, Mr. Malfoy, I brought them along." She reached into yet another pocket- Ginny was beginning to wonder exactly how many she had- and pulled out a few small pieces of…Were those trunks?

They certainly seemed to be.

McGonagall caught her look.

"Yes, they most certainly are trunks. And yours, most likely," she added to Draco. "I had Maddy collect everyone's things and shrink them." Her mouth edged into a reluctant grin. "Worked quite well, didn't it?"

Draco's eyes widened in disbelief. "You shrunk my stuff? How could you do that without permission. There's some very valuable stuff in there…"

"Oh really?" McGonagall asked dryly. "Well, you can rest assured, Mr. Malfoy, nothing was harmed. The spell was perfectly safe."

"What about the stuff we'd already unpacked?"

Draco seemed intent on making a fuss about something. He was in a dark mood.

"That was my mistake, really," she said regretfully as she glanced around at all of them. "I meant to tell you not to unpack much yesterday since you would need some of your stuff for this hike, but it slipped my mind." She paused, then went on. "It was taken care of though, and all of it was magicked right into your trunks."

Their were a few nods at this, and McGonagall seemed to think that cleared everything up.

"Okay, now that that's settled, let's set up camp and then we can begin your training."

There were nervous glances as students tried to determine exactly what "training" meant. Probably something to do with survival or the layout of the land, since this was supposedly what the trip was about.

Then again, it was also supposed to be about the ancient history of the village they'd been staying in, and they hadn't studied it very much.

Ginny was beginning to wonder exactly what she could expect from Professor McGonagall.

A/N: Yes, in the next part we get to see exactly what they have to do first…

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I'm sorry about not doing individual thank you's this time, but I'm really busy and barely had time to post this. I figured you'd rather have another chapter. Even if it is short, and there's not much action, it's a setup for the next chapter. Again THANKS!