Day One
Hermione yawned, rubbing the fog from her eyes as she and Ron stumbled through the empty halls. The hazy gray pre-dawn light washed the passage, turning everything to muted tones that blurred and wavered before their eyes.
She had woken a cranky and sleep-dazed Ron up at five that morning, even though they hadn't gone to sleep until 11:30 the night before. She knew they had to get an early start and be well on their way before the school began to stir into life; they didn't want anyone asking questions. And plus, it was probably better to face a dragon when there weren't other students around that could be flattened or set on fire or whatnot...
Hermione blinked, suddenly jolting into full consciousness. Dragon... up to that moment, she had almost forgotten about it...
How were they supposed to fight a dragon?!?!
She abruptly froze in the middle of the hall, causing Ron to run smack dab into her with a stifled oath. A nearby suit of armor snickered.
"Wha's wrong?" Ron mumbled, pushing his tousled hair from sleepy eyes.
Hermione didn't hear him. She was lost in a horrified daze, visions of looming Norberts towering over her, steely jaws spewing wreaths of flame...
"...ione!! Hermione!!"
"What?! Who?! Where's the dragon?!?!"
"What are you talking about? You spaced out on me. I told you we should have slept more..."
"Shut up, Ron," Hermione snapped, running shaking hands through her hair. "I… I need to think."
Ron, thoroughly affronted by her sharpness but too tired to do anything about it, merely scowled and slumped mutinously against the wall, glaring at a painting of a shrieking princess whose hair was being used as a ladder by a rather porky looking prince. Ron winced sympathetically. That had got to hurt.
Meanwhile, Hermione paced back and forth, eyes wild. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, trying to collect herself. They had to face the dragon, and actually defeat it, not just get past it as Harry had had to do fourth year. How on earth could two scrawny fifteen year olds defeat a full grown, fuming dragon?
Panicking, she ran lists of spells through her mind, gathering and sorting them as she tried to think of the best way to defeat it.
"Hermione, what is the matter?" Ron snapped exasperatedly. "You're driving me up the wall! We've been sitting here for the past ten minutes and you've done nothing but pace around and mutter to yourself. Are you going to tell me what's going on any time soon?"
Hermione froze, staring at him, suddenly realizing that she hadn't told him the full story of Sleeping Beauty. A guilty flush overcame her and she quickly dropped her gaze to her feet. Ron must be feeling even more on edge than she was, not even knowing what they were going up against, and here she was, biting his head off.
Fully repentant, she quickly gave him an abridged version of the story, Ron interrupting sharply as she reached the part about the dragon. He sat up straight, staring at her with wide eyes.
"Oh." He paled considerably beneath his freckles, mouth tightening into a thin line. "So that's what you were freaking out about. We have to get past a dragon. Well… how do they defeat it in the story?"
Hermione threw her hands in the air, resuming her edgy pacing. "Umm… well... the prince throws the sword at the dragon's heart, and it pierces it and the dragon dies. But we can't do that; we don't have a sword! Even if we did, I doubt that either of us would be able to aim that well..."
She trailed off and blinked as Ron suddenly stood up and strode over to the suit of armor that had snickered at them a while back. It gave a rusty shriek of protest as Ron pried its sword from its gauntleted hand, hefting it with some difficulty and dragging it across to Hermione. He held it up before her and raised his eyes, and said very slowly as if addressing the very young or mentally unstable, "Accuracy spell."
Hermione blinked at him. "Oh," was all she could come up with, suddenly feeling very small and embarrassed, a prick of heat sparking on the back of her neck. Ron smirked at her, and she felt a wave of annoyance fill her, accompanied by another odd, prickling sensation she couldn't quite identify. It wasn't a bad feeling, but somehow it just made her even more annoyed...
"Stop looking so smug, Ron Weasley, you look like one of Lockhart's pixies," she snapped, sweeping up the spiral staircase that took them to the upper levels. Still smirking, Ron followed after her, the sword grating over the stone floor.
By the time they reached the top floor, the smirk was gone, and he was panting with exhaustion, sweat trickling unpleasantly down the back of his neck. Doubled over with effort, he dragged himself onto the landing, and after Hermione's striding form, already halfway down the hall.
"Come on, Ron," she called, running lightly up the last flight of stairs that took them to the Tower. Wheezing unhappily, he trotted after her, and they stood side by side, staring at the door to the Astronomy Tower.
Hermione drew a deep breath, planting one hand firmly on the wooden panel. "Well. Here we go."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ginny woke up with a jolt, completely disoriented. She stared for several seconds at the waving green canopy over her head, blinking tiredly.
Wait… the curtains of my bed are RED…
With a shriek of alarm, she jolted upright, her ginger hair flying in a cloud of red around her face.
She was in a tree.
Why was she in a tree??
Wait… Snape…. Fat Lady… Hagrid… lake.
Oh, yeah.
Carefully, she pulled herself into a more comfortable position and looked around. A waving sea of grass stretched out not too far below her, and the lake glowed a dull blue to her left, the far edges shimmering into a blinding white as it caught the light of the rising sun.
She yawned, raking a hand through her tousled hair. "Neville, we should probably get ba… Neville?"
She blinked. The tree was empty.
A prick of apprehension grew in her as she looked around. Where could he have gone? Wouldn't he have woken her up before he'd gone anywhere?
She stood up gingerly, grabbing a nearby branch to steady herself and was beginning to scout out the landscape around her for signs of him when the water in the lake began to ripple.
She didn't pay any attention to it at first, figuring it was the squid scouting around for some breakfast. But the disturbance in the water steadily increased, until the ripples grew into rather violent crashing waves. Alarmed, Ginny clutched tighter onto the branch and leaned out to see what was going on…
The surface of the river suddenly broke. A huge rock jutted out from nowhere, protruding from the middle of the lake, waves crashing violently around it, pounding into a spray of mist. The wind whipped some of the water into Ginny's face, and she could have sworn it was salty, but that didn't make sense… this was a freshwater lake…
That was when she heard the singing. Somehow clearly audible over the crashing waves, a horribly off key voice warbled in the distance. But there wasn't anyone nearby…
The waves began reaching their crescendo, blasting into entire walls of icy water. And suddenly from their midst a figure surged, straight onto the rock, the enormous waves framing the tiny figure. It clutched at the rock, howling, "…ere they WALK, up where they RUN, up where they STAY all day in the SUUUNNN…"
Ginny goggled, her mouth dropping open. The mist was getting in her eyes, so she couldn't see well, but she was sure she had seen fins… a singing fish??
Violently rubbing the moisture from her eyes, she shook her head and squinted into the distance. No, she hadn't been mistaken- the figure sported a healthy set of shimmering green fins. But it wasn't a fish.
It was Neville.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Before she could stop him, Ron had hefted the sword and gone charging into the room.
"Stay here, Hermione! I can take care of-"
But that was all he had to say.
Because the next second, he was gone.
Hermione stared, frozen in the doorway. "Ron?" she whispered, surprised at how tremulous and distant her voice sounded. A second ago, he had been right there, his face red with exertion and the sword swung out before him. But once he had dashed over the threshold, he had just… vanished.
The Astronomy Tower was deathly silent. The dome arched high overhead, and the telescope stood dark and silent in the center of the room, aimed towards the sky. But there was no Ron, no dragon… it was completely empty.
Biting her lip, she latched her hand around her wand, and after a deep, stabilizing breath, she stepped into the room.
The ground suddenly sifted beneath her feet, like grains of sand blown by the wind, and colors blurred and merged together until the room dissolved into a whirl of dizzying light. Before she could react, though, the light faded and solid earth slammed into the soles of her feet. With a shriek, she overbalanced and tripped, still half-blinded by the light. With a dull thump, she landed on top of something soft, warm, and with a very colorful vocabulary.
"Ron!" she gasped in relief, her voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt. Awkwardly, she disentangled herself from him and flung her arms around his neck. "Thank goodness… you just disappeared… Ron, are you all right?"
He heaved himself into sitting position, face flushed an odd shade of purplish-crimson. "I'm fine," he muttered, refusing to meet her eyes, and swatted at her hands. Hermione blinked and flushed, realizing her arms were still around her neck. She quickly let go as if she had been burned, and stumbled to her feet. Ron slowly followed suit, using his sword for leverage. He blinked as he took in their surroundings, confusion darkening his brown eyes. "Where are we?" he said slowly, his hand unconsciously tightening around the sword's hilt.
They were standing ankle-deep in a sea of blindingly green grass, stretching off as far as the eye could see into an equally blinding blue sky. The air was heavily laden with a thick stillness, a suppressed watchfulness that set his hairs on end. He felt as if countless eyes were fixed on them, watching their every move…
He whirled around, but the doorway was gone. Just grass. And more grass. And oh, did he mention? There was grass.
"Hermione, where are we?" he hissed, "Is this some kind of trap?"
"No. I think we're exactly where we need to be."
Ron turned, staring at her in surprise. Her voice had acquired a steely tone and she was staring determinedly into the distance, eyes blazing and fists clenched. He followed her gaze and blinked as a tower suddenly came into view in the distance. Had that been there before…?? He shook his head, sighing. "So you think Lavender and Seamus are in there?"
"They are,"
she said tersely, chin up. "Give me the
sword, Ron."
Ron gaped at her. "What?"
"Give it to me," she hissed, "I am going to make this person very sorry they ever messed with me."
Woah. Accelerate into Dangerous Hermione mode! He knew better than to stand in her way when she used that tone of voice. Still, he wasn't sure that giving her a sharp object when she was in this mood was such a good thing.
As she clenched her fist around the hilt and stalked menacingly towards the tower, he nervously maintained a safe distance, wondering what could have put her in such a bad mood. But as they neared their destination, he began to see why.
Before, he had only given the tower a perfunctory glance, just looking at it long enough to reassure himself he wasn't seeing things. But now, he could see what was making Hermione so angry. What had seemed at first to be a black cloud hovering at the base of the tower he now saw was really something of a graveyard. Well, at least to Hermione it would be a graveyard. A tangled maze of sharpened book spines protruded from the ground, menacing and lethal as thorns.
Right now, he was not envying whoever it was they were going up against. Because they were going to get their butt kicked, Hermione style.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"NEVILLE!!!!"
Ginny had abandoned her spot in the tree, and was now darting around on the shore of the lake, jumping up and down, trying to get Neville's attention. So far, it wasn't working.
"...wish I could BE, part of your WOOOOORRRRRLLLLDDDD!!!!!"
Her voice faltered as Neville's voice shrieked to a crescendo. She halted, ignoring the waves splashing icy water into her shoes, and held her hair away from her face, staring as the waves surged upwards, and then suddenly died down, receding to a sullen mass of ripples. Neville, looking dazed, sank down against the rock, his previous... enthusiasm... suddenly deserting him.
Even from so far away, Ginny distinctly heard a bewildered, "What in Merlin's name was THAT?"
"NEVILLE!" Ginny tried again, and this time he heard her, looking up with an expression of shock.
"GINNY!" His voice was giddy with relief and he waved frantically at her. "Is that you? You have to help me!! I have FINS! Look! FINS! And I keep having sudden urges to break into song! I think Snape got me!"
Ginny clutched at her hair, a nervous habit of hers, her face turning white with worry as she faltered uncertainly on the shore. "What should I do?" she called, voice wavering, "Anyone who would be able to fix this has already been cursed by Snape!"
Neville banged his head against the rock. "You mean I have to STAY like this?? I have FINS!!!!"
Ginny had opened her mouth to snap that yes, she was aware of this, when something suddenly shot out of the water. Neville turned, crying out in alarm and scuttling awkwardly backwards as the squid abruptly surfaced directly behind him. Its tentacles splashed lazily around it, its dark, fleshy skin glowing eerily in the morning light. And... it was wearing a crown.
"HEY! YOU THERE!" the squid bellowed, jabbing one tentacle in Neville's direction.
Neville cowered, huddling against the rock, wishing for all the world that he was tucked snugly in his bed back in Hogwarts, safe and sound, and NOT facing down gigantic members of aquatic royalty. "Y-you c-can talk?"
"YES, YOU FOOL!! NOW LISTEN TO ME! DO YOU WANT YOUR LEGS BACK OR WHAT??"
Neville immediately straightened. Although he was still apprehensive, and not a little nervous, his eyes took on that patented I-am-a-Gryffindor-and-I-spit-in-the-general-direction-of-fear look. "You can make me normal again?"
"YES! IN FACT, I WILL GIVE YOU THIRTY FREE DAYS OF TERRESTRIAL ROAMING, BUT IN THAT TIME SPAN YOU MUST FIND YOUR ONE AND ONLY TRUE LOVE. CAPEESH? CAPEESH."
(A/N: Yes- the time span was changed to thirty for a reason. Trust me on this. ^^)
And with that, before Neville could move, protest, or even blink, he found himself back on shore, legs intact.
Neville had never been more happy to see his legs in his life.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Fairytale Count:
*The Little Mermaid
Well, there goes chapter five. Hope you enjoyed! More Harry/Draco next chapter, mwahaha!