Neville Longbottom (Boy 11, Gryffindor) turned back to face north, now satisfied at knowing what exactly happened to someone caught in a forbidden zone. He had been wondering that ever since it was mentioned back in the classroom, and now he knew. While he was at it, he also got rid of that annoying boy who was following him. He had thought that the way he killed Justin would have been enough to scare the other boy off, but no. Too bad that he had to be so stubbornly persistent.
Neville looked at his tracker. Most of the remaining students were hiding out in the forest west of the school, although there were some groups hiding out in buildings. He doubted that any of the snakes would trust one another enough to hang out in groups, though. So it was just a matter of tracking down each student and killing the Slytherins. He'd worry about the groups later.
Checking his location, he re-entered the forest via D-6
19 students remaining
September 2 -- 5:14 p.m.
Harry Potter (Boy 15, Gryffindor) opened the door slightly and looked in at the sleeping Hermione Granger (Girl 8, Gryffindor). He hoped her fever would go down soon. He closed the door, and stepped into the hallway. They really needed to do something about the corpses that were sprawled out in the hall.
Blaise Zabini (Boy 20, Slytherin) emerged from the room that he had been in, and gestured for Harry to join him. Harry followed him.
"What's up?" he asked quietly as he looked around the room. There was a small pile of food gathered on the table in the center.
Blaise smiled. "Found the kitchen." He turned back to the sink, where there was a pot sitting over a fire. "Making us some real food right now."
Harry looked back to the food on the table. There was canned soup, packaged pasta, and other non-perishables gathered. "What are we having?"
"Right now? Stew from a can. Not much, but it'll do. I can make something else if we're all still hungry later."
Harry nodded and sat down in a chair. "Should I wake Hermione up?"
Blaise shook his head as he focused on his cooking. "Not yet. She needs to bring her fever down first. Hey, she's not a vegetarian, is she?"
Harry shook his head. "I don't think so. Why?"
"The stew's got meat in it. Well, I think it's meat." He raised the lid and stirred the stew inside with one of the spoons he had found on the counter. "I'm actually not sure what the hell it is."
Harry chuckled. "Soylent green?"
"That's disgusting," Blaise laughed. He took the spoon out of the pot and put it back on the counter.
Harry shrugged, and the two fell silent.
"Want some coffee?" Blaise asked as he took the bubbling stew off of the fire and poured it into three bowls on the counter. "It's instant coffee, though, so it'll taste like crap."
"Oh. Uh, why?"
He shrugged. "Because instant coffee is just plain nasty."
Harry shook his head. "No. I mean why are you making coffee in the first place?"
"Most everyone'll be running on empty. Caffeine'll help you keep alert." Blaise put the used pot in the other side of the sink, then grabbed a small pot from the counter, placing it onto the fire. "Also have tea, if you want."
Harry nodded. "Coffee's fine." He watched Blaise go over to the refrigerator on the other side of the room and take out a jug of water. "I'm surprised there's a kitchen in here."
Blaise shrugged, pouring some of the water into the small pot. "As I said, only clinic on the island. Sick people need to eat." He grabbed the instant coffee off of the table, and put some into the pot.
They fell silent once more. Harry checked his watch. "We're eating rather early, aren't we?"
Blaise shrugged as he grabbed a tray out of the cupboard above the counter. "I want to give us time in case we have to bail after the announcement. Clinic could become forbidden at seven, for all we know."
Blaise placed one of the bowls onto the tray, along with a spoon, and then brought the other two bowls to the table. "Eat up." He sat the bowls down and grabbed a couple of spoons off the counter, handing Harry one. "The coffee'll be done in a couple of minutes."
"Aren't we waiting for Hermione?"
He shook his head as he sat down in one of the chairs by the table. "We'll bring her something once she wakes up. Let her sleep in the meantime."
It wasn't until they ate that Harry realized just how hungry he'd been.
After they were finished, Blaise walked over to the sink and took the small pot off of the fire. "Coffee's done," he said. He took out a couple of mugs from the counter, and poured the coffee into them. He handed one to Harry as he sat back down.
"I do what the voices in my head tell me to," Harry read the mug. He smiled and took a sip.
Blaise smirked. "I'm apparently the world's greatest grandma."
Harry snickered. "Well, keep reaching for that rainbow and someday you will be."
After Harry finished his coffee, he stood up. "I'm going to check on Hermione."
Blaise nodded as he poured himself some more coffee. Harry walked out and head towards Hermione's room. Opening the door slightly, he saw her sitting up.
"Hey, you're awake," he said as he went over to her and felt her forehead. "Looks like your fever's gone down, too."
Hermione nodded. "Uh huh. I feel a lot better."
Harry smiled. "You feeling good enough to eat? Blaise found some real food in the kitchen. He made stew and coffee. There's other stuff if you want, though."
Hermione shook her head. "That'll be fine." She grabbed Harry's hand as he turned to leave. He looked to her. "I just wanted to say thanks. I know that I'm just a burden..."
Harry shook his head and sat down next to her. "No, you're not! Don't even think that!"
Hermione smiled and hugged him. Harry felt his face flush, although he didn't quite understand why.
They stayed like that for a short while until Blaise coughed from the doorway. They separated quickly, blushing. He smirked. "Sorry, but the patient needs to eat." He put the tray he had been carrying on the bed. "Stew and coffee. If you'd prefer tea, we've got some of that, too, but it'd take a few minutes to heat up."
Hermione nodded as she picked up the spoon and started eating her stew. "This is fine. I'm surprised you found real food."
Blaise pointed behind him. "Kitchen back there." He went back to the door, an amused smirk on his face. "I'll just be leaving you two alone now."
Harry finally recovered his wits. "It wasn't what you think!"
Blaise chuckled, then waved. "Sure it wasn't." He left.
Hermione turned to Harry. "What was that all about?"
"I'm, uh..." Harry began stupidly, blushing. "Not quite sure."
Hermione just looked at him skeptically as she ate.
19 students remaining
September 2 -- 5:59 p.m.
Ron Weasley (Boy 19, Gryffindor) had awakened only seconds ago, and looked frantically at his watch to make sure he hadn't missed the evening announcement. He sighed with relief as he found he still had time to spare, although he did cut it a little too close.
He yawned and stretched and looked around. The fact that he was still alive told him no one had killed him in his sleep. He sighed. He shouldn't even have to worry about things like that.
In about thirty seconds or so, Montgomery would cheerily announce who had died, and where the forbidden zones would be. Ron crossed his fingers in anticipation, hoping that Harry and Hermione were still alive. And also hoping that he wouldn't have to move from his hiding spot. He had made himself rather comfortable where he was, and didn't want to leave unless it was absolutely necessary.
The waiting was the hard part. Waiting to know if his friends were dead or alive was not his idea of a good time. He wanted to be waiting for them back in the common room, so they could all go down to dinner in the Great Hall together. But just wanting it wasn't enough.
"Good evening, boys and girls!" Montgomery announced cheerfully over the island. "I see you've all had a good afternoon."
Ron kept his fingers crossed, praying that his friends weren't listed among the dead.
"We'll start listing the dead once again starting with the boys. Boy 1, Terry Boot; Boy 6, Justin Finch-Fletchley; and an interesting Boy 10, Wayne Hopkins. Why do I say interesting? Well, it seems the lad just couldn't keep himself out of a forbidden zone. I do hope that all of the rest of you will be smarter than that. Moving on to the girls--"
Ron relaxed slightly. Harry's name hadn't been called, so at least he was still alive.
"--Girl 3, Mandy Brocklehurst; Girl 13, Eloise Midgen; Girl 16, Padma Patil; and finally Girl 17, Parvati Patil."
Ron let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. Both Harry and Hermione were alive. But he couldn't quite bring himself to feel totally relieved. More of his classmates were dying.
"Lastly," Montgomery continued, "Take out your maps, my pets. J-7 will become forbidden at 7 p.m. G-9 at 9 p.m., and B-3 will wrap things up at 11 p.m. Learn from the mistakes of others and don't let yourselves get caught in one. Other than that, keep up the good work!"
All was silent once more. Ron hugged his knees close to his chest. He was safe for now.
He just hoped his friends were safe as well.
19 students remaining
September 2 -- 6:03 p.m.
Harry watched as Blaise went from room to room, muttering under his breath as he gathered things and put them into his pack. After a couple minutes of this had passed, Harry finally spoke up. "Is this really necessary? I mean, we can stay here for a couple more hours, can't we?"
Blaise stopped and looked at him. "Yes, but we need to get everything together so we can bail as quickly as possible when the time comes." He walked to the cupboard. "Should've done this sooner."
Hermione watched him. "Where will we go?"
Blaise shrugged as he looked at a bottle, then put it into his pack. "Don't know." He looked to her. "How up to traveling are you feeling? Do you need to rest more?"
Hermione shook her head. "I'm feeling a lot better now. I think I just made myself sick with fear and worry."
Blaise nodded. "Before we leave, I'm going to go catch some sleep in the waiting room. Not really tired, but it's best to sleep while one can."
Hermione stood up. "You could sleep in here. I don't need to stay in here anymore."
Blaise shook his head. "Nah. I don't want to intrude in case the two of you decide to do something naughty." Harry and Hermione blushed, and he left the room, waving. "Night."
There was a pause as they sat there in silence.
"Half of us are gone..." Hermione said so quietly that Harry barely heard her. He turned to her and she continued, looking to him. "We need to come up with an escape plan. Find a way to get rid of the collars."
Harry furrowed his brow in thought. "I doubt that we could just cut them off. Montgomery said that they'd go off if we messed with them too much."
Hermione nodded. "There must be a bomb somewhere inside them." She looked into the distance, thinking. "There's probably some way for them to detonate them by remote control, so they'd have to be electronic in nature. Possibly magical, but I doubt it. Magic doesn't mix well with muggle technology. Maybe..." She trailed off, lost in thought.
Harry looked to her, trying to urge her on. "Maybe?"
She looked back to him. "Maybe if we could find a way to interfere with the electronic signal magically, then we could find a way to remove them safely before they could get the signal through." She paused and looked to the ground. "But without wands that would be hard. Even with wands it would be difficult to gather enough magical energy."
"Wandless magic?" Harry shrugged.
Hermione sighed. "Even to the most experienced of wizards, wandless magic is very difficult to master. I don't think that we would stand a chance of learning anything powerful enough to actively interfere with the signal. Not in such a short amount of time." She paused, thinking again. "If I knew exactly how the collars were built, then maybe I might be able to find something that could electronically jam the signal. But even that would take time, and I don't know how the collars were built."
Harry sighed as he looked at his hands. He thought he might need to change the bandages on his left hand before they left. "I was telling Blaise earlier that if we could somehow take Montgomery hostage, we might be able to escape using him."
Hermione gave him a look. "I doubt that we could get him as a hostage, and even if we could, he's probably expendable. They wouldn't care." She sighed and muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like "sometimes I don't know why I bother".
Harry couldn't help but be reminded of the scene back at the train station, and how she said the exact same thing about Ron. He wondered just how she felt towards the other boy.
"I know it's horrible," Hermione said, interrupting his thoughts, "but I can't help but wonder who out there is killing everyone." She put her head in her hands. "Why do people have to do such horrible things? Why can't they just hold on to the hope that we'll find a way out?"
Harry just stared into space. "Not even 24 hours has passed, has it?"
Hermione looked to him. "Huh?"
Harry sat back, looking at the ceiling. "Not even 24 hours has passed since we were at Hogwarts, watching the sorting and having the feast. And now half our class is dead. That was such a long time ago..."
Hermione nodded, and the two of them sat there in silence.
19 students remaining
September 2 -- 6:46 p.m.
Vicky Frobisher (Girl 7, Gryffindor) sat at the westernmost point of the island on the beach of G-1. She didn't care that she was out in the open. It was a nice and flat area where she could see people approaching her from any side. Not like they could approach from either the north or east. F-1 and G-2 were forbidden zones. No, someone would have to approach through H-1, and that was the direction she was facing.
She had been rather relieved when there weren't any more danger zones announced in the general area she was hiding in. It would be a rather bad thing to just trap herself in. As it was, the only bit of land that was trapped so far was A-3, and that was just a tiny bit of land at the northern coast. But anyone there had until 11 p.m. to get out of there.
That didn't concern her much, though. What really concerned her was her shoulder. Although it wasn't bleeding as much now as it had been before, it still hurt like hell. She knew she should have gone to the clinic to get it fixed up, but she had been afraid that psycho Eloise was still lurking around, waiting to finish her off. And soon after she had been announced as one of the dead, the clinic was declared an upcoming forbidden zone. Damn psycho.
So Vicky sat there, clutching her gun and forcing herself to stay awake as she kept guard over the only direction one could approach from. She couldn't fall asleep. Not when her life depended on it. Not when there was a chance she might not wake up by midnight in time for the announcement. She didn't want to be caught unaware in a forbidden zone. Nor did she want to be caught unaware by a student approaching.
She wondered if that Potter kid was all right. He was rather stupid for stepping into the middle of a gunfight, but then, she had heard he did lots of stupid things like that. He wasn't announced as one of the dead, but for all she knew he could be dying.
She shook her head. That didn't concern her. All she needed to be concerned with was staying alive. And to stay alive she needed to stay awake...
She yawned. Angry at herself, she stood up. She couldn't stay in one position for too long. Not when there was the chance she would fall asleep. She took the class list out of her pack, deciding to study it. She knew there were multiple killers on the island, based off of all the gunshots she had heard that sounded like they came from different guns, and all the silent deaths that she hadn't heard.
'There aren't very many students left,' she thought to herself as she sat back down and looked through the names, trying to figure who might be playing based on who was left and what she knew about them. She would be absolutely shocked if Hannah wasn't playing.
She was going to pencil in a 'K' (for 'killer') by the other girl's name, but stopped herself. She knew if she started suspecting everyone, she'd end up making herself paranoid and lose her mind.
She put the class list back into her pack, and took out a cigarette. She didn't care if it alerted other students to her presence. She was in a good spot, and could see anyone approach. She lit the cigarette and kept her vigil, keeping her gun close to her side.
Occasionally she'd catch herself drifting off, and would gingerly tap the lit end of her cigarette to her arm when she did. It hurt like hell, but the pain helped keep her awake. She didn't care if she'd have ugly cigarette burns on her arms. She just needed to stay awake.
She scowled as she finished her cigarette. Now she wouldn't have that to keep her awake. Not unless she kept smoking until the game was over. But she wasn't a chain smoker, nor did she have enough on her to last quite that long. All she could do was chant the mantra in her head. 'I will not fall asleep.'
Five minutes later, she fell asleep.
19 students remaining