OH, WHAT WILL THE NEW YEAR BRING? Chapter Seven
They arrived in darkness. "Hermione, you still there?" Harry asked feeling around him.
"Hey Harry, you just hit me."
"Sorry," as he moved his hand around.
"Do you really want your finger up my nose?"
"No, sorry," Harry replied giggling.
"Can you see anything?"
"No," Crunch! "Uh, oh, there goes my glasses."
"Crud, oh, Lumos." Nothing happened. "Harry, my wands not working, try yours."
"Lumos." Nothing... "Uh, accio glasses," nothing.
"Well, obviously, where ever they've sent us, we can't use magic."
"Obviously, can you feel the pieces of my glasses?"
There both on there hands and knees, feeling there way in darkness, for Harry's glasses. The moon appeared between clouds. "Here they are! But there kind off bent out of shape, Harry."
"Well, I need to see...." he put them on, "Well, sort of, the lens in cracked."
"Dang."
"That's for sure."
"I wonder what's in these packs, maybe some matches or something."
"I've never been camping, have you?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, when I was a little kid. Should we just unroll the sleeping bags and look in the daylight?"
"Great idea! But I'm wide awake!"
"So am I! Why'd they send us to someplace dark, in the middle of our day?"
"Do we have enough moonlight to dig through the packs?" Harry asked, and just then, the moon went back behind the clouds.
"Not anymore," she felt inside her pack. "There's a tarp in mine, we can lie on that."
"Sure."
After awhile they eventually fell asleep, guess it was lucky they had the late night patrol, the previous night.
They awoke at sun up, around flourish. "Harry, any idea what time it is?"
"Yeah," glancing at his watch, "Four-fifteen."
"Agh, too early."
"I know," he moaned as well.
"Shall we see what's in our packs, now that its daylight, and we're awake," she said with a yawn.
"Yeah," he replied.
Five minutes later.
"Harry, what'd you find?"
"Uh, blanket, rope, a pan, a knife, some water purifying tablets, a bowl, a plate, some utensils, and a hammer."
"I got, stakes, a pot, some utensils, a bowl and plate, more water purifying tablets, a wooden spoon, the tarp, another smaller tarp, and duck tape."
"Duck tape? Why would we need duck tape?"
"I don't have the foggiest idea!"
"That's a first!"
"Hey!"
"But I'm sure something will come to mind," he smirked.
"It looks like it's going to rain! We need to make some sort of shelter."
"Okay, let's then."
"Not here, too low, oh, oh and we need some long sticks."
"Got it, sticks," he went off into the brush and eventually came back with two reasonable sized, branches.
"Did you pull those off a tree?"
"It was falling over!"
"Alright fine, let's go build this thing before it rains, up there, see where I put the stuff?"
"Yep, let's get this done."
"Harry, have you ever been camping?"
"No."
"Have you ever set up a tent?"
"Yes."
"Good, okay, here's what I want to do. We hammer those to branches about oh five feet, no six feet apart, no don't do that, I've got a better idea!"
"What?" Harry asked in the middle of getting started.
"These trees, we can use them, okay... where's the rope?"
"On your shoulder."
"Oh right. Okay, we tie it between the trees," they proceeded in doing just that.
"Now, what? Oh, I know now, we hang the big tarp over that!"
"Exactly!" Harry staked the front part, or what they were going to use as the front, while Hermione staked the sides.
"What about the other end, Hermione?"
"The flaps, we'll um... bring them together against the tree!"
"But... but how will we get them to stay together?"
"Duck tape!"
"Right!"
"Harry?"
"Hmm?"
"Will you get some firewood?"
"Of course."
While he was gone she cut a part of the other tarp and put in a floor, duck taping it to the all ready up parts, to prevent leakage. Also she brought all of there things inside, laying out the sleeping bags to sit on, and rolling up the blanket, putting it in the corner.
It had just begun to rain, when Harry got back with the wood, putting it near the other tree (The other one holding up the tent, maybe 15, 20 feet away).
"Harry." she called.
"What?"
She ran out to him, "Let's put this (A piece of tarp) over the wood."
"Good idea!" They covered the wood and ran back to the shelter, just as it was really starting to pour.
"Should we put the pot out for fresh water?" Harry asked.
"Great idea, didn't even think about that... or food."
"Hermione, what's this piece of metal and rock for?" He pulled it out of his jeans pocket," it was in my pack."
"Flint and steel!" She cheered, as he looked on clueless. "We can start a fire with it, though I doubt today, by the looks of it."
"Yeah, it'll be a dreary one." (You have to remember it's no later then say nine in the morning)
"They didn't give us any food, did they?"
"Hermione, no, they didn't."
"At least we have water."
"For sure, wait," he had been wondering why his jacket was so heavy; he dug through his pockets, and pulled out... Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Beans, Peppermint Humbugs, Honeydukes Chocolate, and more...
"Harry! A stash! Great thinking!"
"Honestly, I had no idea, till now that that was even there, must be from the last Hogsmeade weekend."
"That was in February, oh well, are you going to share?"
"Now, why in the world would you think me......? Wouldn't? I mean we're desperate!"
She just smiled.
After savoring a Chocolate Frog each, for breakfast and filling up there water bottles with rainwater, they realized they should construct some sort of door.
"It's getting cold in here."
"Do we have any tarp left?"
"Yes, a bit," Hermione answered.
"Tape?"
"Yeah."
"What if we tape the piece of tarp up as a door?"
"That would work! We can cut it down the middle, and use a bit of rope to keep it closed!"
"Excellent! Where's the tarp and things?"
"In my pack." They got to work, taping up the tarp, cutting a line down the center and another two sets of holes, one in the middle the other near the bottom, to fasten it closed with rope and paper clips (Which will be explained in just a little while).
"Now, what are we going to do?"
"Uh..."
"Maybe if we empty out our pockets, it'll give us an idea? We've got to have something interesting."
Harry emptied out his pockets, "Ron! Ron! Ron!"
"What about him?"
"He must have borrowed my jacket, or something! Hmm... maybe last year, my pockets are full of Frog cards, cannons cards, and oh that's definitely from last summer, pencils, pens, scraps of paper, erasers, paper clips, rubber bands and licorice."
"Why? Wait, should I even ask?"
"Sure, if you like."
"Why then?"
"Cause when I was bored last summer, I'd carve stuff out of erasers, make things out of paper clips, and even sketched some."
"You know, I could have sent you a jigsaw puzzle."
"That would have been great, I did all the ones left in my room from Dudley, never even opened most them, they covered the floor by the end of the summer."
"Really? So do you like puzzles?"
"Yeah, they really help you take your mind off of things; you just concentrate on the task at hand. Now, what's in your pockets?"
"Hmm... Parchment, quills, a few bottles of ink, oh here's a pack of tooth flossing string mints, put those in the food stash will you?" He nodded. "A ball of wrapping paper with... nail polish inside."
He interrupted her, "Why do you have nail polish?"
"Lavender and Parvati gave it to me."
"Ahh, understandable, the cosmetic obsessed ones."
She chuckled at that, "A handkerchief, a button, some string, and some coins, muggle and Wizarding, hey these ones are from the states, ex- Presidents on them, the little copper one has Abraham Lincoln, on it I think, then the small silver one has Franklin Roosevelt, on it." She was interrupted.
"Hey wasn't he president of America during World War II? Yeah, because he and Churchill and Stalin met up a few times to meet about the war, fighting the Nazis and such."
"Wow, Harry? How'd you know all that?"
"Dudley has a lot of books thrown away in my room, read those too."
"Then the medium silver one has Thomas Jefferson on it, and the big one has George Washington on it, and this huge one, a half-dollar, I believe, yeah it say's it there has John F. Kennedy on it, my cousin gave these to me."
"Wasn't he shot in Texas?"
"Yeah, you know what Ron told me?"
"What?"
"That Trelawnry predicted that some moron who lives in Texas will soon in the not to distant future have control of the states."
"Really, think it's true?"
"I hope not, that doesn't sound like a good person."
"I know, can I paint your nails?"
"What?"
"Can I paint your fingernails?"
"Uh........ How about we paint yours?"
"Only if I get to paint yours."
"Fine, my toes only, maybe."
"Alright Harry, who's first?"
"You, yes you." "Fine!"
The day passed by,"It's freezing in here!"
"I know, I didn't want to complain though."
"Hey!"
"What?"
"Our sleeping bags!"
"Yes, what about them."
"They'll connect, our combined body heat, that'll make it warmer, should we connect the bags?"
"By any means to keep us from freezing to death, I'm all for."
The next three days, passed in rain, our duo was stuck in that bloody tent, or three bloody days, or step outside and get drenched. Wednesday arrived, a beautiful rainless, cloudless morning!
"What time are we supposed to take the portkey out of here?"
"Whenever the owl drops it off I think."
"Yeah, that was what Professor Knightly said."
"What time is it, Harry?"
"Uhm.. Ten."
"Should we start dismantling our wonderful shelter?"
"Yeah, don't fancy going someplace else without it."
"Neither do I."
They carefully took apart there 'tent,' having no idea where they'll end up next, the wilderness, once more, or Hogwarts.
On the dot, a barn owl dropped them a portkey and they were once more whisked away.....
Till next time...
They arrived in darkness. "Hermione, you still there?" Harry asked feeling around him.
"Hey Harry, you just hit me."
"Sorry," as he moved his hand around.
"Do you really want your finger up my nose?"
"No, sorry," Harry replied giggling.
"Can you see anything?"
"No," Crunch! "Uh, oh, there goes my glasses."
"Crud, oh, Lumos." Nothing happened. "Harry, my wands not working, try yours."
"Lumos." Nothing... "Uh, accio glasses," nothing.
"Well, obviously, where ever they've sent us, we can't use magic."
"Obviously, can you feel the pieces of my glasses?"
There both on there hands and knees, feeling there way in darkness, for Harry's glasses. The moon appeared between clouds. "Here they are! But there kind off bent out of shape, Harry."
"Well, I need to see...." he put them on, "Well, sort of, the lens in cracked."
"Dang."
"That's for sure."
"I wonder what's in these packs, maybe some matches or something."
"I've never been camping, have you?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, when I was a little kid. Should we just unroll the sleeping bags and look in the daylight?"
"Great idea! But I'm wide awake!"
"So am I! Why'd they send us to someplace dark, in the middle of our day?"
"Do we have enough moonlight to dig through the packs?" Harry asked, and just then, the moon went back behind the clouds.
"Not anymore," she felt inside her pack. "There's a tarp in mine, we can lie on that."
"Sure."
After awhile they eventually fell asleep, guess it was lucky they had the late night patrol, the previous night.
They awoke at sun up, around flourish. "Harry, any idea what time it is?"
"Yeah," glancing at his watch, "Four-fifteen."
"Agh, too early."
"I know," he moaned as well.
"Shall we see what's in our packs, now that its daylight, and we're awake," she said with a yawn.
"Yeah," he replied.
Five minutes later.
"Harry, what'd you find?"
"Uh, blanket, rope, a pan, a knife, some water purifying tablets, a bowl, a plate, some utensils, and a hammer."
"I got, stakes, a pot, some utensils, a bowl and plate, more water purifying tablets, a wooden spoon, the tarp, another smaller tarp, and duck tape."
"Duck tape? Why would we need duck tape?"
"I don't have the foggiest idea!"
"That's a first!"
"Hey!"
"But I'm sure something will come to mind," he smirked.
"It looks like it's going to rain! We need to make some sort of shelter."
"Okay, let's then."
"Not here, too low, oh, oh and we need some long sticks."
"Got it, sticks," he went off into the brush and eventually came back with two reasonable sized, branches.
"Did you pull those off a tree?"
"It was falling over!"
"Alright fine, let's go build this thing before it rains, up there, see where I put the stuff?"
"Yep, let's get this done."
"Harry, have you ever been camping?"
"No."
"Have you ever set up a tent?"
"Yes."
"Good, okay, here's what I want to do. We hammer those to branches about oh five feet, no six feet apart, no don't do that, I've got a better idea!"
"What?" Harry asked in the middle of getting started.
"These trees, we can use them, okay... where's the rope?"
"On your shoulder."
"Oh right. Okay, we tie it between the trees," they proceeded in doing just that.
"Now, what? Oh, I know now, we hang the big tarp over that!"
"Exactly!" Harry staked the front part, or what they were going to use as the front, while Hermione staked the sides.
"What about the other end, Hermione?"
"The flaps, we'll um... bring them together against the tree!"
"But... but how will we get them to stay together?"
"Duck tape!"
"Right!"
"Harry?"
"Hmm?"
"Will you get some firewood?"
"Of course."
While he was gone she cut a part of the other tarp and put in a floor, duck taping it to the all ready up parts, to prevent leakage. Also she brought all of there things inside, laying out the sleeping bags to sit on, and rolling up the blanket, putting it in the corner.
It had just begun to rain, when Harry got back with the wood, putting it near the other tree (The other one holding up the tent, maybe 15, 20 feet away).
"Harry." she called.
"What?"
She ran out to him, "Let's put this (A piece of tarp) over the wood."
"Good idea!" They covered the wood and ran back to the shelter, just as it was really starting to pour.
"Should we put the pot out for fresh water?" Harry asked.
"Great idea, didn't even think about that... or food."
"Hermione, what's this piece of metal and rock for?" He pulled it out of his jeans pocket," it was in my pack."
"Flint and steel!" She cheered, as he looked on clueless. "We can start a fire with it, though I doubt today, by the looks of it."
"Yeah, it'll be a dreary one." (You have to remember it's no later then say nine in the morning)
"They didn't give us any food, did they?"
"Hermione, no, they didn't."
"At least we have water."
"For sure, wait," he had been wondering why his jacket was so heavy; he dug through his pockets, and pulled out... Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Beans, Peppermint Humbugs, Honeydukes Chocolate, and more...
"Harry! A stash! Great thinking!"
"Honestly, I had no idea, till now that that was even there, must be from the last Hogsmeade weekend."
"That was in February, oh well, are you going to share?"
"Now, why in the world would you think me......? Wouldn't? I mean we're desperate!"
She just smiled.
After savoring a Chocolate Frog each, for breakfast and filling up there water bottles with rainwater, they realized they should construct some sort of door.
"It's getting cold in here."
"Do we have any tarp left?"
"Yes, a bit," Hermione answered.
"Tape?"
"Yeah."
"What if we tape the piece of tarp up as a door?"
"That would work! We can cut it down the middle, and use a bit of rope to keep it closed!"
"Excellent! Where's the tarp and things?"
"In my pack." They got to work, taping up the tarp, cutting a line down the center and another two sets of holes, one in the middle the other near the bottom, to fasten it closed with rope and paper clips (Which will be explained in just a little while).
"Now, what are we going to do?"
"Uh..."
"Maybe if we empty out our pockets, it'll give us an idea? We've got to have something interesting."
Harry emptied out his pockets, "Ron! Ron! Ron!"
"What about him?"
"He must have borrowed my jacket, or something! Hmm... maybe last year, my pockets are full of Frog cards, cannons cards, and oh that's definitely from last summer, pencils, pens, scraps of paper, erasers, paper clips, rubber bands and licorice."
"Why? Wait, should I even ask?"
"Sure, if you like."
"Why then?"
"Cause when I was bored last summer, I'd carve stuff out of erasers, make things out of paper clips, and even sketched some."
"You know, I could have sent you a jigsaw puzzle."
"That would have been great, I did all the ones left in my room from Dudley, never even opened most them, they covered the floor by the end of the summer."
"Really? So do you like puzzles?"
"Yeah, they really help you take your mind off of things; you just concentrate on the task at hand. Now, what's in your pockets?"
"Hmm... Parchment, quills, a few bottles of ink, oh here's a pack of tooth flossing string mints, put those in the food stash will you?" He nodded. "A ball of wrapping paper with... nail polish inside."
He interrupted her, "Why do you have nail polish?"
"Lavender and Parvati gave it to me."
"Ahh, understandable, the cosmetic obsessed ones."
She chuckled at that, "A handkerchief, a button, some string, and some coins, muggle and Wizarding, hey these ones are from the states, ex- Presidents on them, the little copper one has Abraham Lincoln, on it I think, then the small silver one has Franklin Roosevelt, on it." She was interrupted.
"Hey wasn't he president of America during World War II? Yeah, because he and Churchill and Stalin met up a few times to meet about the war, fighting the Nazis and such."
"Wow, Harry? How'd you know all that?"
"Dudley has a lot of books thrown away in my room, read those too."
"Then the medium silver one has Thomas Jefferson on it, and the big one has George Washington on it, and this huge one, a half-dollar, I believe, yeah it say's it there has John F. Kennedy on it, my cousin gave these to me."
"Wasn't he shot in Texas?"
"Yeah, you know what Ron told me?"
"What?"
"That Trelawnry predicted that some moron who lives in Texas will soon in the not to distant future have control of the states."
"Really, think it's true?"
"I hope not, that doesn't sound like a good person."
"I know, can I paint your nails?"
"What?"
"Can I paint your fingernails?"
"Uh........ How about we paint yours?"
"Only if I get to paint yours."
"Fine, my toes only, maybe."
"Alright Harry, who's first?"
"You, yes you." "Fine!"
The day passed by,"It's freezing in here!"
"I know, I didn't want to complain though."
"Hey!"
"What?"
"Our sleeping bags!"
"Yes, what about them."
"They'll connect, our combined body heat, that'll make it warmer, should we connect the bags?"
"By any means to keep us from freezing to death, I'm all for."
The next three days, passed in rain, our duo was stuck in that bloody tent, or three bloody days, or step outside and get drenched. Wednesday arrived, a beautiful rainless, cloudless morning!
"What time are we supposed to take the portkey out of here?"
"Whenever the owl drops it off I think."
"Yeah, that was what Professor Knightly said."
"What time is it, Harry?"
"Uhm.. Ten."
"Should we start dismantling our wonderful shelter?"
"Yeah, don't fancy going someplace else without it."
"Neither do I."
They carefully took apart there 'tent,' having no idea where they'll end up next, the wilderness, once more, or Hogwarts.
On the dot, a barn owl dropped them a portkey and they were once more whisked away.....
Till next time...