Gryffindor's Prophecy
~* Sorry that its been so long, but FF.net were evil and put a ban on this fiction just because I had one little authors note in there somewhere. Well I'm back now so I hope you all like this chapter! *~
Chapter 17 ~ Ancient Settlement
Hermione held out her finger. She had cooled down from last night's heated argument and was sorry for reacting the way she did. They would cross the bridge of the human sacrifice when they came to it, and in the meantime, worry about the last four ingredients, 1 drop of blood from a True Gryffindor, one drop of blood from the Heir of Slytherin, 1 large tooth from a Hungarian Horntail and one Quintaped Foot.
'Can we please get this over and done with?' She said, wavering her finger in front of Harry's face. Hermione squinched her eyes shut tightly as Harry produced a pin, which he promptly jabbed into Hermione's finger. She bit her tongue, and Harry collected the blood which dripped from her wound.
'Voila,' Harry said, holding the small jar above his head. Hermione applied a patch to her bleeding finger before crossing the ingredient off her list.
'The last three ingredients will most certainly be the toughest,' Hermione said, her eyes skimming the page over the ingredients.
'No shit,' Ron muttered. They were all getting more and more nervous as the ingredients were collected and piled up in Harry's dorm room.
'I'm Hungary,' Harry said. Ron laughed, but Hermione frowned.
'That wasn't a very funny joke, I know that we have to go to Hungary, but … oh never mind,' Hermione shook her head.
'Do you have a portkey ready for us?' Ron asked. Hermione had taken the liberty of making all the separate portkeys in one night so that they would all be ready for use when they were needed. She pulled out an empty photo frame.
'Ready?' Hermione asked as the boys placed their hands on the wooden frame.
'We're never ready,' Ron replied as they were transported to Hungary.
~***~
The trio looked around, they appeared to be in some sort of mountain village. Busy Hungarian people were walking the streets, traders were setting up shop for a new day, and beggars were already clinging to Hermione's robes. She shook one off her leg and they began walking towards the large mountains.
'So this is Hungary?' Ron mused looking around at the beautiful scenery.
'Yes, but you see where we're going?' Hermione pointed to a large mountain range in the distance. Ron groaned.
'I have a feeling I'm not going to like this,' He muttered.
'No, you're probably right, that mountain range is littered with active volcanoes, more specifically, volcanoes with tendency for Icelandic eruptions,' Hermione said. Harry and Ron stared at her blankly.
'Um…'
'Er?'
'Oh for heaven's sake, this is no time for a Geography lesson, but none the less, Icelandic eruptions occur through cracks or fissures, spewing out basaltic magma, extremely runny and extremely hot,' Hermione explained.
'That can't be good,' Harry said.
'Be thankful that these aren't Plinian or even Pelean eruptions,' Hermione said. Ron and Harry both shrugged, wondering how Hermione knew so much about volcanoes.
As they hiked into the forests surrounding the mountain range, the atmosphere thickened. Every now and then, Hermione would mutter something about Geophysical or Geometrics, and ramble on about different volcano eruptions in history.
'Where exactly to we plan to find this Hungarian Horntail?' Ron asked, plonking onto a nearby log. 'I'm tired and I need a rest before we go any further,' Harry and Hermione accepted defeat, and sat down either side of Ron.
'We aren't actually going to find a dragon this time,' Hermione said.
'That's a relief,' Harry mumbled under his breath.
'So how are we getting the tooth?' Ron asked.
'Well, I did some research, and a heard of Hungarian Horntail's used to nest somewhere around here, if I'm right, there should be a heap of nests, with remains from the dragons themselves, including teeth,' Hermione said smiling.
'Smart girl,' Ron said shaking his head in disbelief.
'So there's really no dragon's left around these parts?' Harry asked.
'Lets hope not,' Hermione explained.
After their well earned rest, the trio set off deeper into the woods, and to a higher altitude. Hermione suddenly stopped. She faced due North, using her arms to point out the directions, muttering them under her breath. Using a series of gadgets and compasses, she came to a conclusion. Turning to the boys, who were dumbfound, she said;
'We need to travel three km North 27 degrees East from our current position, and then from there, two km South 79 degrees East to reach the previous Horntail settlement,' Hermione said proudly.
'Hermione, you need to get a life,' Harry said as they walked past her in the direction she was pointing.
'Wait! That's South 79 degrees East! You need to go this way,' She pointed, 'North 27 degrees East, then South 79 degrees East!'
Ron and Harry rolled their eyes and followed Hermione's pointing.
~***~
Ron hacked through the last shrub to reveal a clearing before some high cliffs. Littered around the clearing were half a dozen rather large nests.
'Wow, this place is beautiful!' Hermione mused, rushing around, sighting everything she possibly could. Harry wandered over to the first nest and found some cracked egg shells. Ron ran between nests, his eyes skimming over them.
'This place would be a dragon expert's heaven! Has Charlie heard of this?'
'No,' Hermione mused. 'This is an old legend which believed false, no real scientists would take the chance to come here and see for themselves if the legends are true,'
'So no one but us has been here?' Harry asked.
'I highly doubt that, possibly the natives of that village we were in have been up here on occasions,' Hermione said thoughtfully.
'Try to find a tooth,' Harry said and searched the nest he was standing near. It was Hermione who finally found a tooth, it was small, as if it was a discarded tooth belonging to an infant dragon.
'Can't we stay just a little longer?' Hermione pleaded. 'This view is ever so beautiful,'
'No,' Harry took the dragon tooth from her. 'Let's go back to Hogwarts,' Hermione rolled her eyes and took out the photo frame.
'As you wish.'
'Wait a minute,' Ron said suddenly. 'All well and good, we've got a tooth, but on the list it specifies a large tooth, we have to keep looking,' He continued to rummage through the nest he was looking through.
'Ron's right,' Hermione through the small tooth over the cliff.
'Hermione!' Harry wailed. 'We still could have used that if we hadn't found a larger tooth!'
'No matter, got one,' Ron held up an extremely large tooth. It was as long as his fore arm and just as wide.
'Wouldn't like to be jabbed by one of those,' Harry muttered.
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~* Ah yes, extremely short, but I have lots of school work to get through, and I have more fictions that I have to write for! *~
~Gryffindor Gal~