By: TheGreyLady (immaculatecalypso@hotmail.com)
Chapter 11~ Deep Waters
As it happened, the Southern Cross was placed perfectly over the Galapagos Islands. Hermione felt elated. Certainly, if there were a place that Albus Dumbledore would travel to, it would be these islands. Even Darwin had been enthralled by the essence of life that seemed to emanate from this tiny group of land… surely Dumbledore would have felt the same.
They let Harry pay the bill for the room and apparated immediately with their belongings. They didn't want to stay in one place any longer than necessary but were still careful to not leave any trace of having been there. Everything had been scrubbed and sterilized for fear of the Ministry somehow tracing them to this location, as unlikely as that was. They were still wanted fugitives.
When they arrived at Barrington Island, their first stop, Hermione was overwhelmed by the plethora of iguanas. They seemed to be everywhere. She couldn't help but smile; she'd wanted an iguana when she was eight but her parents had denied her. She was already enough of a tomboy, they'd said.
It was little wonder that these islands were considered sacred treasures. The flora and fauna were unlike anything Hermione had ever seen.
They'd thoroughly searched the island before moving onto Santa Cruz. There was nothing there of note, either. They could see the island of Rábida. Since it was early, they decided to explore the island before calling it quits for the day. Together, they stood on Santa Cruz's west beach and focused on the mass of land and apparated.
Hermione felt the usual sensation of her body flying forward… but then experienced a sensation she likened to having a brick wall thrown at her.
If she could have screamed, she would have… but she seemed to have lost the ability to breathe. Her momentum threw her backward at a fearsome speed and she lost the ability to control her movement. Everything whirled by her in a frenzy of manic color. She lost her bearings… she no longer had any idea as to where exactly she was. Unable to think of a safe course of action, she panicked and ended the spell.
She slammed into something that stung her back and felt her body engulfed by something very cold… and she was floating. Opening her eyes, she realized that she was underwater, salt water. Even though her eyes burned, she did not dare to risk shutting them. She couldn't see the sun; she couldn't see much of anything, save for faint outlines of rocks. She didn't know which way was up. Fortunately, her wand still remained in her hand. She focused her energy and tried to apparate again. When she called the spell, however, nothing but unintelligible bubbles came.
This was definitely bad.
Air rises, her brain kicked in after the initial shock. She used what air she could spare and blew a small bubble and felt it trickle over her numbing chin and cheek. Righting herself and kicking off her shoes, she swam for what she hoped was air. Her clothing was dragging against the water, slowing her progress. She quickly undid her blouse and pants, uncaring of her partial nudity, and freed herself from the confinements. Her lungs were burning and heaving for air but she fought the overwhelming urge to breathe, knowing that it would kill her.
Like a beacon, she saw light breaking into soft white fragments through the water. Her lungs felt swollen and she had to release more air than she had as she swam for the surface. The light became brighter until she could make out the orb of the moon itself.
The moon? But it's daytime…
Her arms and legs were in excruciating pain—the only sensation she could feel through her deadening nerves was pain-- but she kept going, the need for oxygen outweighing her discomfort.
She broke the surface and gasped, sputtering and coughing. Her greedy lungs took in breath until her head felt like it would float from her shoulders. After satisfying the most basic need of her existence, she surveyed the area. Water. Lots of water and no land that she could see. She had no idea what had happened but couldn't force herself to get excited at the prospect of apparating again. Her eyes felt like they had been replaced with hot coals and she could barely move her legs… she wasn't exactly looking forward to something possibly going wrong again.
However, she knew that she was in salt water and she knew that sharks also resided in salt water… along with a wide, nasty array of creatures she didn't want to run into. She wasn't afraid of aquatic life when she was swimming within a mile or so of a shore but this open water held far too many secrets for her to feel comfortable. She prayed that whatever had happened wouldn't happen again and apparated despite her fatigue.
Soon enough, she was safely on the island from which they had departed. She dropped in a graceless heap onto the ground, her legs unable to hold her up. She felt the sand on the beach sticking to her wet skin. An unwelcome thought passed through her weary mind, What if the others aren't here? What if I'm the only one this happened to? What happened?
Her head hurt and the metallic scent of blood flooded her dripping nose. Dimly aware, she wiped her hand across her face and examined it. Her nose was bleeding.
Hermione seldom suffered from nosebleeds; she couldn't even remember the last time she'd had one but couldn't bring herself to care. She was alive and, not for the first time in her short life, felt that was a huge accomplishment on her part.
"They could be anywhere, Snape!" Harry's distant and garbled voice sang like music in her ears. Willing herself to force her voice, she called weakly to them.
She heard them call back but couldn't make her voice sounds louder than an unintelligible squeak. Within minutes, Harry appeared.
"Snape! She's over here!" Harry called. He rushed over to her and crouched onto the ground, pulling her limp figure into his weak arms. "Are you okay?" he asked. She nodded, unable to trust her voice to convey her health. He seemed unabashed by her half-naked state… but then again, there was too much blood on his face to discern any sort of embarrassment.
Harry looked as though he had been thrown head first through several sheets of glass. Thick red blood coated his unusually white face along with several gashes and he wasn't wearing his glasses. Severus appeared shortly thereafter and looked as though he'd confused a gravel road with a Slip 'n Slide; his shirt and pants were nearly shredded in some areas. She could see bits of rock embedded in his bleeding skin as he bent next to her.
Dirty, bloody, and broken they were still the most welcome sights she'd ever beheld.
"Are you all right?" Severus asked. She nodded, feeling too weak and lightheaded to speak the words. Harry lowered her to the sand again and buckled against a nearby tree.
Severus collapsed to the sand next to her, wincing, and began to tend to his wounds while Harry started to attend to his own. Hermione balanced herself precariously on her elbows and looked for Ron, he hadn't come back yet. She hazily hoped he was okay when she bowed back onto the sand as her head began to pound with the tenacity of a thousand beating drums.
The next thing she remembered was waking in a tent. She was still half-naked but couldn't make herself care. The pounding headache had ebbed to a dull throb. Feebly flopping her head, she saw that Harry rested on a cot next to her. While his face still carried traces of blood, he had been cleaned and the cuts sealed for the most part… hopefully, he wouldn't have another scar to live down. She could see the sun through the canvas… it was far too bright. She groaned and tried to roll over but felt too weak. Even the shifting of the sheets on her cot sounded like nails on a chalkboard to her.
"You scared the dickens out of us. I'm not exactly sure what happened to you," Harry said softly. She managed to turn her head and suppress the grimace at the noise. "You just fell down and started twitching… But Snape took care of it. He said you wouldn't be feeling too great."
"Ron?" She managed, disgusted with how pathetic she seemed.
Harry chuckled… the sound was so foul that she experienced an overwhelming urge to tear her ears off, "Oh, he's fine. Splinched his arm with a branch, broke the other one. Broke his leg along with it but everything was easily mended. He landed in a hedge of sorts, it broke his fall."
"What happened?" She said, amazed at how loud and blaring her voice sounded in her ears.
"The island is protected by anti-apparition barriers and we ran straight into them. I had no idea how painful that could be. I went right through a store window… thank God, the place was closed for the night. Snape…" he quieted. Hermione became worried until she heard Severus' voice sound softly from the tent's entrance.
"I managed to land on a road somewhere." By God, even Severus' voice sounded grating. "It was daylight but I'm not sure exactly where I was. The both of you are very fortunate that you didn't splinch with anything. Do you know where you were, Hermione?"
When she painstakingly turned her head, she saw that Severus had healed most of his wounds. He'd changed into a shirt she recognized to be Harry's. He doesn't look half-bad in Muggle clothing, she thought. The skin on his arm was a brilliant red… it looked as though Severus had suffered from mild sunburn as opposed to having pieces of his skin peeled away by sharp rocks.
"Underwater…but I don't know where." She replied. Severus nodded clinically and motioned for her to continue. "I was..." she couldn't really think of a proper way to describe how horrific the whole experience had been.
"It is a frightening experience," Snape admitted without any prompting. Turning her head away from the light once again, she heard his clothing rustle as he moved to Harry. "Last one, Potter…" he said. She couldn't catch the rest of it-- he'd lowered his voice so that she could barely hear it.
Harry was suddenly beside her, squeezing her hand. Then he was gone. She struggled against her aches to sit up but Severus' placed his hand against her nearly naked chest to push her gently back down onto the mattress. She tried to ask him what he was doing but he softly shushed her before the first word could even escape. He positioned a vial to her lips and she drank despite the putrid taste of the potion.
"What happened?" She asked again.
"You had an embolism*," he replied quietly, absently running his hand over her hair. "Get some rest, I'll return shortly."
She asked, "So that's what happens when you hit an anti-apparition barrier?" He nodded. "Let's not do that again," she murmured as she dropped off into sleep.
When she woke again, her headache had vanished. She stretched her stiff muscles and glanced around. She was alone. A clean set of clothing rested on the bed Harry had occupied. She giggled when she realized the clothing belonged to Harry, who had apparently brought enough clothing to dress everyone. Obviously, no one, including Severus, wanted to rifle through her belongings. She slipped on the large shirt and jeans, thankful for Harry being mindful enough to include a belt.
She hesitantly walked into the sunshine outside the tent, grateful that her eyes no longer burned. The idea that she had very nearly died weighed heavily on her. Like driving an automobile, apparition was something she did often. Having something so terrible and life threatening during what should have been routine frightened her.
Severus, Harry, and Ron sat on the sand. The boys quickly rose and took turns hugging her gently, as though they were afraid she would break. Harry looked every bit like his usual self. The only things marring Ron were thick black bandages around his arm… bandages that looked as though they had once been robes. She turned to Severus as he rose to his feet. He made no move toward her but gave her a short nod and an arch of his eyebrow.
"The bad news is that the island is surrounded by apparition barriers…" Severus began.
"The good news is that it means this is one of Dumbledore's haunts," Harry exclaimed. "We may have found him, Hermione!"
She smiled with relief. Harry and Ron were grinning like idiots. Severus gave a quick nod; she knew why he was being so distant. He'd been alone with Harry and Ron for a while. They'd probably drilled him for information pertaining to their relationship.
If you could call it that.
"We've been debating whether we should charm an unauthorized portkey or swim to the island. It all depends on you," Ron said.
She questioned, "Me? Why me?"
"You know, your… thing," Harry said, blushing. She crossed her arms and nodded her head, silently asking him to elaborate on the "thing." "You know, your… 'womanly' thing."
Hermione almost laughed as she calculated the days in her menstrual cycle, she was three days late; she knew she wasn't pregnant. As she came to her conclusion, she sighed, "Sorry. I'm not bleeding right now but I'm due. I know that the amount isn't enough to attract anything but I'm not comfortable swimming in open water."
The boys nodded dumbly; Ron blushed until his face almost matched his hair.
Boys…
Severus looked as though he had been expecting this response but then again, the man had been living in close quarters with her for a while. He wasn't ignorant enough to overlook the signs.
"I suppose we could always wait," Hermione continued, "or we could rent a boat."
Before she had even finished speaking, Severus had already charmed the illegal portkey. She knew his reasoning; even at this time, he was trying to protect them all from prosecution. Part of her found it very sweet… another part found it infinitely foreboding. They all grasped the portkey and were transported to the isle.
She found herself surrounded by red sand. She had an unwelcome memory of the final battle with Voldemort-- when blood had fallen like rain and assaulted the innocent earth. Quickly pushing that thought from her mind, she joined the others in exploring the small island of Rábida. Snape had made a comment about the penguins, prompting Hermione to laugh. The boys looked on in confusion.
The island was small, so they had little problem searching it... and everything was turning up empty. They had nearly given up hope of finding Albus when a voice called suddenly from behind them.
"I've been wondering when you'd arrive…"
The four people turned and were greeted with the sight of a very alive Nicholas Flamel.
* For those of you in the know and those of you not in the know, air embolisms are a rare occurrence in scuba divers. The compressed air can get into the bloodstream if proper decompression procedures don't take place before moving from deep waters to shallower depths. In the brain, symptoms are an instant loss of consciousness and convulsions. I have it on (semi) reliable authority that air embolisms can occur in the bloodstream or a joint and travel to the brain… but I haven't seen any documentation to support that. For the purposes of the story, that's what happened.
Author's Notes- Yes… I'm evil. I am Evil-TheGreyLady. I hate leaving you guys on cliffies, I really do… but I've got to break this story up. Otherwise you'd have (as of now) one 60-something page story. And that's a bitch to read in one sitting, especially if you're trying to find a specific part.
Anyhow… Another chapter! WOO HOO! Go me! Go me! It's my birthday! Thanks to everyone who decided to review. You all make me feel happy and joyful inside. Not much to say right now. So I'll end it here.
Betas rule- use 'em.
Thank You's-
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