School Camp – fire-and-ice89
A/N: Sorry about the other chapter being so short, but I wanted to end it with the cliffhanger. This one is much longer. I hope it will sustain you for the next six days, because I'm going away on holidays and I won't have the internet. Yep, that means I won't be able to post until Sunday. Sorry! I'll make sure I write the next chapter while I'm away, though, so I can post it as soon as I'm back.
Replies to reviews:
shadows31: The teachers that I selected to go on camp have nothing to do with the heads of houses, though now I realize it might be confusing with Snape and McGonagall coming along. Professor Trelawney might seem completely random right now, but she has her place, as do the other two teachers. Nothing I do is without reason! Well, most things I do anyway…
Filthy x Gorgeous: Thanks, as always, for the compliment!
ecc3ntr1c: Hey, I like the name! The whole camp idea hit me out of the blue one day, and I thought it was pretty original. I checked on the website, and realized that there's actually a few other stories about summer camp, drama camp, etc., but not many stories about school camp, so I went ahead with the idea!
Mocha Dragon: hahaha, I'm replying to your review, how weird is this? Thankyou thankyou thankyou for all the huge long reviews and feedback, it was so helpful! Sorry I didn't send this chapter to you before posting it, but as you know I am going away tomorrow and wanted to make sure it was posted before I left.
Taurus Girl: As I said, I love cliffhangers and I enjoy making people wait in suspense! Thanks for reviewing again!
dmhg: Yay, you found a new word to use!
Comedy gal: A new reviewer, hey? I'm glad you like the writing and I hope you keep reading!
Okay, at this stage I just want to shout out a few names of people who are loyal reviewers. I'll do the same for "A Second Chance". I just want to thank these people for coming back and reviewing every new chapter:
dmhg
Taurus Girl
Mocha Dragon
Filthy x Gorgeous
Thank you all so much!
Last Time:
Little did they know, they had never held a camp like the one facing them now. If they did, perhaps they wouldn't have been beaming like they were as they waited for the students to arrive.
If they had known, they would have turned them away.
But they didn't know, they couldn't have known, and so they smiled as they waited obliviously for the end of everything they knew.
Chapter Three – Claiming the Victory
The portkey travel was rough, as always, though not as bad as traveling through the floo network.
Harry managed to land squarely on both feet, and smiled proudly for a second, before realizing that most people had done the same thing effortlessly, like they did it in their sleep.
He turned to see Allie standing, already chatting with a few friends.
Of course she wouldn't fall, she's not clumsy like you.
Harry shook his head to clear the negative thoughts, and turned to look for Hermione and Ron.
He saw a disgruntled looking Hermione standing with her arms folded across her chest. He shook his head in sympathy, glancing quickly at the sour face of Snape and the insufferable smirk on Malfoy's.
He wouldn't trade places with her for the world.
Ron still looked tired, and also wasn't talking to anyone. Suddenly, almost as though he felt Harry's gaze upon him, he looked up and the two shared a smile.
Eventually the students realized that there were two people standing before them, with broad smiles across their faces. The chatter died down, and they waited for the two to speak.
"Welcome to Camp Kindle!" The man boomed joyfully. "My name is Greg, and this is my fiancé Joyce. We're both old Hogwarts students, are we're very happy to welcome you here!"
Joyce smiled and gave the students a small wave. She reminded Harry a bit of Molly Weasley with her frizzy red hair. She looked very motherly.
Greg continued. "You'll be staying in cabins for three nights, and doing your solo campout for one night. We have twenty cabins, ten for the girls and ten for the boys. You have about 120 students, I've been told. So, if you do the math, you'll know that there's six to a cabin."
There was murmurs and secret eye signals between the girls in the grade as they all tried to sort out their cabin groups on the spot. The guys stood around passively, knowing that everything would sort itself out.
Greg waited patiently for the girls to settle down. When everyone was quiet, he spread his arms. "That's all I've got to say for now. You have half an hour to sort out your groups, and settle in to your cabins. The girl's cabins are on the left side of the mess hall, and the boy's cabins are on the right. There's only one rule regarding the cabins: no boys in the girl's cabins, and no girls in the boy's cabins. Simple as that, okay?"
The students all nodded. It wasn't any different than they expected. Greg nodded. "Okay, In half an hour, I want everyone gathered back here for the first activity. Off you go!"
Harry walked over to where Ron was standing. Dean, Seamus and Justin had already gathered around.
"We need one more person," said Ron, looking around.
Harry looked too. Standing by himself, he saw Neville clutching a large yellow duffel bag that looked like it probably belonged to his gran.
"Neville!" Harry called out sympathetically, waving his arm. "Come in our group!"
Neville's eyes lit up, and he trotted eagerly over to the five.
"Thanks, Harry," he said, smiling broadly. Harry shrugged, slightly embarrassed by his obvious gratitude.
"No problem."
The six headed towards where the boy's cabins where, and once again Harry felt a thrill of excitement for the days to come. Momentarily, he had forgotten all about Allie.
Camp was for having fun, and he didn't want anything to spoil that.
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As soon as Greg dismissed them, Hermione began to look for a group. There were some disadvantages to having guys as best friends. They were only friends, but when it came down to girls and guys sharing a cabin, there were no exceptions.
"Hermione, over here!" She heard someone called out, and smiled with relief to see Lavender waving her over.
Lavender, Parvati, Padma, Fiona and Allie were standing in a huddle. Hermione pulled her bag up to them.
"Thanks, guys." She said, and the girls shrugged. Hermione knew that if they'd had a sixth friend, they wouldn't have asked her, but she was glad to be in a good group anyway, and didn't care.
She eyed Allie with interest, wondering if she could use this situation to her advantage…or rather, Harry's advantage. Perhaps she could drop a few hints.
"Let's get our stuff to a cabin," Parvati said, and the girls all hoisted their bags onto their shoulders.
"I guess they're all the same inside," Fiona said, surveying the cabins. "How about that one?"
She pointed to one on the very end, furthest from the mess hall. It was almost inside the forest. Hermione looked at the dark, looming forest behind and shivered a little bit, before telling herself to stop being ridiculous.
"Why so far away?" She asked brightly, and the girls gave her a strange look.
"Well, so we can sneak out, of course," Lavender said, giving her a wink. "We're less likely to be caught if we're on the end."
Hermione felt a sinking feeling in the bottom of her stomach. She just wasn't made for these sorts of things that other girls seemed to get such a thrill from. She just saw no fun in sneaking out to see guys in the middle of the night. Of course, that was what she assumed Lavender meant they were doing. Where else was there to go in the middle of a forest?
With a repressed sigh, she picked up her duffel bag and followed the girls into the cabin.
Inside it was warm and cosy. There were bunk beds on three of the four walls, keeping with the tradition of camp etiquette. Lavender, Parvati, and Padma instantly began squealing and ran for the top bunks.
Fiona, Allie, and Hermione looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
"Don't hurt yourself fighting over them," called out Allie, laughing. "There's only three of you want them."
Lavender pouted at Allie. "You spoiled my fun! I was looking forward to a good bitch fight."
Hermione smiled to herself and placed her bag on the bed below Parvati's.
"How much time have we got, guys?" She asked the girls. She hadn't brought a watch on camp.
"Twenty five minutes," called down Padma from her high perch.
"Cool. What should we do?" Fiona heaved her bag onto the bed below Lavender's.
"Well, we can't go and talk to the boys, because we're not allowed to," Parvati said, pulling a face. "Why don't we just stay here and talk?"
Allie went and sat on Fiona's bed, next to Fiona. Hermione shifted uncomfortably on hers. She felt slightly left out from this group of girls, but what else could she expect? She wasn't good friends with them or anything, and she should just be glad that they'd accepted her into their group temporarily.
Still, it was hard to feel grateful as the girls started chatting, and Hermione found herself the listener.
Once again, she wished that camp would hurry up and finish.
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"Time's up," said Neville suddenly. The boys all stopped talking in surprise.
"Is it really?" Ron asked. "That went quickly."
Neville looked uncertain, but nodded anyway. Ron looked at him carefully, and glanced quickly at Harry. Both of them knew that Neville felt left out, but what could they do about it? He just never said anything much, as hard as they tried to draw him into the conversation.
"Come on," said Harry. "We should go." The boys all picked themselves up from the floor and went outside.
Greg and Joyce were waiting for them in front of the mess hall. Gradually all the students trickled out from their cabins, and came to join the growing crowd.
When everyone had gathered. Joyce stepped forward with a box in her hands.
"The first activity you'll be doing is orienteering," she announced. "Now, unless you come from a muggle family, I don't suppose many of you will know how to orienteer. When you have a wand, all you need to know is the words to a spell, right?" She chuckled, and some of the students smiled weakly at her.
"Well, the muggle way isn't quite as simple." She put the box down and pulled out a compass.
Malfoy was standing right in front of Hermione. She saw him lean over and whisper something to Blaise, that sounded suspiciously like, "The 'muggle way' never is."
Blaise snickered, earning him a sharp look from Professor McGonagall.
Joyce smiled indulgently. Students will have their fun, she thought to herself, holding up the compass for everyone to see.
It was greeted with many blank looks.
"Recognise this? No, I thought most of you wouldn't. Well, here's a quick lesson on how to use a compass."
Hermione watched, but only half-heartedly. She'd been camping once, with her cousin's family. Her uncle was an outdoors fanatic, and as a result she'd returned home full of knowledge about the muggle ways of survival, a compass being one of those.
"Wow," Ron whispered to Harry, watching the demonstration. "The things those muggles think of. I mean, using magnetic fields to find their direction, that's just amazing!"
"Watch it," said Harry jokingly. "You're starting to sound like your dad."
Ron looked horrified and quickly shut up.
When all the students had a basic understanding of how to use the compasses, they were instructed to separate into their groups.
Greg and Joyce surveyed the three groups and had a few words among each other.
"All right," announced Joyce, "Greg will be accompanying Group A, and I will be accompanying Group B. Group A, you are going to be navigating through the woods behind the boy's cabins, Group B will be behind the girl's cabins and Group C will be behind the mess hall. Your teachers will give you instructions once you gather there."
All the students began walking to where they were told. Hermione breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Obviously Joyce and Greg had decided that McGonagall looked like the most informed teacher there, and trusted her alone with her group. Thankfully, that meant Snape wasn't going to be solely in charge of her group.
Once all of Group B had trickled over to the trees, Joyce began speaking.
"Now, I want you all to separate into pairs." Hermione looked around for a partner. Fiona was glancing in Parvati's direction, but Dean had already claimed Parvati. With a shrug, she turned to Hermione.
"I'll go with you," she mouthed in her direction. Hermione nodded, and turned back to Joyce.
"You and your partner will get a compass to share," she continued, handing them around. Hermione took one from the box offered and held it loosely in her hands.
"Now, on this sheet of paper I am about to give you, there is a bearing. Each partner receives a different bearing. You and your partner must find the bearing on your compass, and begin to walk in that direction. If you go in the right direction, you will find a flag that contains the next bearing. Follow that one, and you will find another flag. The second flag contains the final bearing, that will lead you to the finish line. First pair finished gets a prize!"
It didn't sound very hard. Fiona came and stood beside Hermione, having taken a sheet of paper from Joyce.
"135°." She read aloud from the paper. "Do you know how to work that thing, because I wasn't really listening before?"
Hermione nodded, already twisting the compass around so that the needle pointed north, and then found 135°.
"That way," she said, pointing into the woods. Fiona smiled.
"I'll trust you," she said. "I have no idea about this stuff."
Snape was hovering in the background, watching the students. Joyce walked over to him and spoke a few quiet words. He nodded, then turned and walked into the forest. Hermione gazed curiously after him.
"One more thing," said Joyce quickly, before the students left. "When you find a flag, you have to take it down, just to prove that you followed your path. To win, you have to bring the two flags with you. Now, are you ready?" Joyce asked the groups. "Go!"
Hermione and Fiona jogged into the woods. Students headed in all directions.
It was much cooler under the shelter of the trees. Hermione felt goosebumps rising on her arms, and shivered.
"Are we still going in the right direction?" Fiona asked. Hermione checked the compass again, and changed direction slightly.
"Wait, can you see something?" Fiona called, pointing ahead. About 100 metres away there was a blue flag waving from the trunk of a tree.
"Yes, let's go!" The girls jogged towards to tree where the flag was. It was taped to the bark, and the bearing, "80°" was written in large letters, with a black permanent marker.
As Fiona pulled down the flag, Hermione adjusted the compass to find the new direction. As they walked, they occasionally caught glimpses of other students searching for the flags. Once, Hermione saw Malfoy and George fighting as they walked along, and she smiled to herself. Malfoy had none of his loyal supporters in his camp group, and it was proving a problem for him.
Hermione and Fiona found the next flag without much trouble. With excitement, they turned in the direction of the finish line.
The two girls broke into a jog, stopping occasionally to check their direction.
After about five minutes they saw the finish line. It was a long strip of red tape strung between two trees. Behind the tape was standing Snape, and Hermione realized finally realized that Joyce had sent him to wait there for the students. Probably to get him out of her way, she thought with a smirk.
At the same time that they saw all this, the two girls heard a shout.
Looking to the left, they saw Malfoy and George break into a run, heading for the finish line.
"Quick," yelled Hermione, and the two girls started sprinting.
The two pairs hurtled towards the finish line. It wasn't just a game. Hermione knew that she had to beat Malfoy on this one, and she was certain he was thinking the same thing.
Malfoy and George were faster runners, but Hermione and Fiona had an advantage. They had been closer to the finish line when the race began, and crossed it mere seconds before George and Malfoy.
Breathing hard, Hermione grinned triumphantly. She returned Fiona's high five and smirked at Malfoy, who was glaring at her.
Joyce appeared through the trees. She walked over to the finish line, smiling.
"Well, plenty of red faces here. Who won?"
"We did," said Hermione and Malfoy in unison.
"No, we did." Hermione said, shocked. Was Malfoy actually going to stoop to this level?
"It was us, fair and square," Fiona agreed. Malfoy sneered.
"I don't think so." He said.
George looked uncomfortable, and didn't say anything. He was a Ravenclaw, with his own group of friends. Much as he didn't like Malfoy, he owed nothing to Fiona and Hermione, and didn't want to take sides on this.
Joyce was confused. Both groups clutched their brightly coloured flags in their hands, so no one had cheated. Who was lying? "Professor Snape?" She appealed, turning to the man lurking quietly in the background. "Did you see who won?"
Snape hesitated, but only for a moment. "Draco and George."
Hermione snorted with disgust. Why would she expect any better from Snape? Of course he would back up his precious Drakie-poo. It was what he did.
The word of a teacher was good enough for Joyce. "Ok, good!" She smiled broadly again.
"What's our prize?" George asked tentatively.
Joyce winked at him. "You'll find out when everyone gets here."
Parvati and Dean emerged from the trees, and the focus shifted to them.
Hermione stood still, fists clenched, seething.
As far as she was concerned, Malfoy had just declared war.
A/N: How could Malfoy do that! Oh, right, because he's Malfoy.
I'm sorry, but you might not see any fluff between those two for a while. Malfoy is a bad boy, Hermione is a good girl, and I think it would (literally) take a huge event to thrust the two together. And, as you can perhaps tell from the cliffhanger in my last chapter, that's exactly what I plan for this story!
My author note at the beginning of the story was pretty long, so I'll stop boring you now and let you get on with reviewing! (hopefully…)
Next Chapter: We stalk Harry and Ron for a bit and leave poor Hermione alone.