A/N:Yay! I finally updated!!
When Ron and Hermione entered the labyrinth after Harry and Ginny, they saw the strangest site before them. There were these bright red and orange fuzzy things doing the limbo, and the limbo stick in use appeared to be one of their own legs! To Hermione, who liked to analyze everything to figure it out, it was the most illogical thing she had ever seen. "These must be the Fieries…" she said softly.
"How low can you go? How low can you go?" one of them could be heard singing. "He sounds awfully like the Cat from Red Dwarf," she said. Ron just stared at her. "The cat from what?" he asked. "The Cat from Red Dwarf," she said. "It's a muggle TV show, and the Cat is a character on it." Ron pretended to nod his head in understanding. "I wish I had a camera with me. Fred and George would LOVE to see this. Maybe they could come up with a charm or something that makes peoples' limbs fall off."
Just then, one of the Fieries spotted the poor Hogwarts students. "Hey, little lady!" "And a little lordy!" another one called out. Before Ron and Hermione knew it, they were surrounded by the rowdy creatures. "Hermione, you're the smart one, what do we do?" To Ron's surprise, Hermione just shrugged. "My guess is, dismember and run," she said, grabbing a Fiery's head and throwing it. Ron followed her lead, and they spent several minutes doing this before they were able to get away.
The path came to an abrupt end several moments later when they ran into a walled area of the maze. Turning around to get out before the Fieries caught up, they saw that they were trapped. All exits had been blocked off. This was not good. And, to make matters worse, two of the walls seemed to be closing in on them. "I've got a bad feeling about this," Ron said. "Let's just figure out a way out of here," Hermione replied.
After studying the walls for a moment, the young witch came to a conclusion. "Kneel down," she said. "Give me a boost. I'll climb up on top of one of the walls that isn't moving, then pull you up." Ron did as he was told. Truth be told, he really liked Hermione, and as more than a friend. He just hadn't garnered up the courage to tell her so, yet. True to her word, Hermione hoisted her friend up, and they both jumped down on the other side of the wall, only to find themselves landing on a narrow ledge.
"We couldn't go over the other wall that wasn't moving?" Ron asked, looking at the wide chasm before them. "I'm sure it's not that bad," Hermione said. "Remember what Sarah said? Things aren't always what they seem in this place, so you can't take anything for granted." Pressing up against the wall of rock behind her, she accidentally kicked a pebble over the edge. Only, it didn't fall.
Tilting her head to the left and looking down a bit, Hermione saw why. The stone bridge that led across the chasm was perfectly camouflaged when looked at straight on, but at a different angle, it was quite visible, sitting on the ledge, Hermione began removing her shoes. Ron looked at her as if she was crazy.
"Er, 'Mione, why, exactly, are you removing your shoes?" "So I can feel the edges," she said. "You might want to take yours off, so you can, as well." "Why would you want to feel the edges? You can see them right there. Have you become suddenly daft?" he asked, pointing out the edge of the ledge.
"I'm not talking about those edges," she said, shaking her head. "I'm talking about the bridge. It goes right across the chasm. If we carry our shoes across, we can feel the edges in our stocking feet, and get across with no problem, just in case it decides to turn or narrow or something."
Ron blinked, still not quite understanding what Hermione was saying until after she had actually ventured out into the stone bridge. Shrugging, deciding it was best to just follow her lead yet again, he did.
For five hours they'd been walking. Typical for Ron, his stomach was growling, and he was complaining about it. "Hermione, do you think we could find some food around here? I'm STARVING." Hermione shook her head. "I'm hungry, too, but we really should continue moving. Who knows how much further we have to go to get to the castle?" Ron knew she was right. He was still hungry, however, so when they came across an apple tree, he immediately went for one.
"Don't, Ron! Remember what Sarah said? Eating here could have bad results." Ron looked at Hermione, shrugging as he plucked first one, then another apple off the tree, tossing the second to her. "That was peaches, remember? These are apples. How bad could it be? Besides, we're both hungry." Sighing in defeat, Hermione took a bite of the fruit Ron had tossed to her.
Colors swirled around both of them as soon as they'd swallowed their first bites of the shiny red fruit. Everything became eerily silent despite the Technicolor hurricane that had suddenly enveloped them. Then, a low, soft music played that sounded as if it came from an Irish flute. When the swirling and music finally stopped, Hermione and Ron looked in dismay as they realized they were at the beginning of the labyrinth. Five hours wasted, and all because Ron was hungry. "Great, Ron, just great. Always thinking with your stomach," Hermione muttered.
Ron ignored this, and the two of them reentered the maze. They were not prepared, however, for what greeted them on the other side. It was a stench so awful, so horrible, that the entire wizarding world's supply of dung bombs could have rivaled it. Ron and Hermione had come to the one place in the Underground neither had ever wanted to see. They were in the Bog of Eternal Stench.
"Fascinating," Hermione said. "I wonder how it manages to stay on you forever. Certainly there must be some way for it to wash off." Ron couldn't believe this. "Here we are, in this horrible stench, and you're trying to analyze it?" he asked. "I don't see how it could POSSIBLY be fascinating." "Well, I'm sure Fred and George would enjoy having a sample of this stuff to experiment with," Hermione said. "I wonder how it came to be." "I don't care how it came to be," Ron replied. "I just care about getting out of here. Come on, there's a bridge over there."
Moving slowly, carefully to the bridge, they were just about to cross when a small red fox in dueling gear sprang out at them. "Halt! No one may cross this bridge without MY permission!" "Come on!" Ron protested. "Give it to us, then, we haven't got all bloody day. We've got to rescue our git of a potions master." "Now, Ron, that wasn't very nice," Hermione said, turning to the little fox.
"You must be Sir Didymus," she said, bending down to the fox's eye level. "My friend here wished away our potions master in a bit of a fit of anger, and we must get to the castle and meet up with our other friends. Might we have your permission to cross?" Didymus bowed. "Why, of course, fair maiden. But one might ask, how did you come to know my name? Very few have had it in mind to actually ask me for my permission. Why, the last was the Lady Sarah, first to defeat his majesty's labyrinth!"
"Sarah's our librarian," Ron said. "She's actually in another part of the maze, with Sirius. She's the one that told us all about this place." "Well then! Any friend of Lady Sarah's is a friend of mine. Come, young sir, let us be brothers! I shall accompany the two of you to the castle beyond the Goblin City! By the way, since you know my name, might I have the pleasure of yours?"
"I'm Hermione, and this is Ron," Hermione said. She liked this little fox, and could see why Sarah did. Didymus bowed. "Well met, Sir Ron, Lady Hermione. Come, let us make haste so that we might rescue your potions master from His Highness!"
As they traveled, Didymus regaled Hermione and Ron with his own tales of bravery, both before Sarah had defeated the labyrinth, and after. Not that they were true, of course, and any ones with a trace of truth at all had been greatly embellished by this Don Quixote of the Underground.
Still, they were entertaining, and helped Hermione and Ron to keep their minds off their hunger. Hours were passing, however, and by the time they'd finally reached the gates to the Goblin City, they found Harry and Ginny sitting there, sleeping. Hermione looked at their watch, and realized they had an hour and fifteen minutes left. She and Ron sat on the ground, gently shaking their friends awake.
"How much longer have we got?" Harry asked, one bleary eye looking up at Hermione. "About fifteen minutes before we have to go in without Sarah and Sirius," she said. "So, how long have you two been waiting on us?" "About fifteen minutes, actually," Ginny answered, yawning. Ron introduced Didymus, and the five sat discussing everything they'd encountered in the past twelve hours.