Chapter III – Torture on the Riverbank
The whole week went past in what seemed like a blur, Hermione, who seemed the only logical one on the island called a meeting. So grudgingly the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins all gathered and listed to Hermione speak.
"I think wee need to be a little more organized," she said to them. "Firstly, we need to get a signal fire started if we ever want to be rescued. Secondly, we need to build shelters for us to sleep in uncase it rains. And thirdly, I need everyone to help. We also need to find the rest of us, there are more."
Most of the students groaned at the mention of 'help'. "I'm not helping these filthy mongrels," Malfoy spat bitterly. Hermione gave him a murderous stare. It would be strange how after Malfoy saving Hermione for her hatred of him to escalate but it did. Somehow her loathing for him rose, possibly because he knew something about those winds, which Hermione even didn't know, only that they probably weren't wind. She hadn't told anybody not even Harry and Ron, at least not yet she would have to know more.
So that afternoon everybody worked some when looking for fruit to pick, others for meat. As others dug a pit at the edge of the jungle, lined it with flat rocks and shells and slowly filled it with fresh water from the river. Some started a search party, and Hermione, Harry, Ron and a few others built shelters. The shelters had roofs made out of palm branches woven with vines and drift wood and logs stuck into the sad to hold them up, they slightly resembled those Hawaiian tiki huts.
When they had finished Hermione went for a walk.
Trudging thought the soft floor of the jungle as the sunlight flooded in between trees. She arrived at a bend in the river where the water gathered and was reasonably calm. There she removed her clothing, all but a melon green bra and her panties. Slowly she waded into the cool water, when she was up to her waist she stopped and dipped her school clothes in and wrung them out. Returning to the margin on pebbles she hung her clothing to dry on a branch that was at the moment flooded with radiant sunlight.
Hermione sat down onto a smooth water eroded rock skimming her foot over the surface of the water. After a couple moments of this she plunged into the water and swam around. Resurfacing she heard a snap of a twig. Gasping Hermione turned around.
"Who's there?" she stammered hoping for it to not be the worst.
"Sorry," said the voice of Parvati Patil. Hermione was relieved. "I didn't know you were here, I was going to take a bath myself."
"No, no, it's alright. I thought you might be one of the boys," Hermione told her turning around as Parvati clambered into the water.
"Oh," she said, "lets hope there are none around, you can never really know."
Parvati left a while later, leaving Hermione alone again. She then took of the rest of her clothing, if you would call a bra and panties clothes she tossed them onto a warm rock so they could dry.
Then she hears yet another snap, then a grunt, then a thud. This definitely was a boy.
"OK," she snapped looking around for a sign of a boy she snatched her wand from the rock, "who's there?"
Draco Malfoy stepped out onto the shore.
"You!" Hermione said angrily pointing her wand at him. "What are you doing here now, and how, how long have you been here watching me?"
"Long enough," he said, "but sorry, mudblood, I'm not interested."
Hermione scowled at him, flabbergasted.
"Th-the whole time! You s-snake, y- you, you—"
"I know, Granger, don't my ravishing good looks just make you stutter?" she said grinning.
Inhaling she tried to muster up something nasty to call him.
"YOU FOUL, PISSANT FUCKNUGGET!" she screamed aiming her want at the center of his chest.
"And what can you do about it, Granger?" he sneered with a false sense of safety.
"Waddiwasi!" she shouted as a large rock was being hurtled toward him.
Screaming like a girl he tried to escape and narrowly did so as a slightly smaller one landed on his gut.
Getting out of the water she asked him fiercely, "What do you know about those winds?"
"What?" he whimpered.
"Those winds, you know more about them than I do!" she regarded staring down at him unmercifully. "Tell me!"
When his nose began to shrink he decided to tell her, squeaking he said: "They are shape changers, they never die! They can posses your body!"
"Is that all you know?" she quizzed him as his nose started shrinking again.
"They always take the form of wind, but they never want to. When you can see the wind then it's them."
"And how do you know this?" she pressed on.
"Father told me about them, before he was sent to Azkaban! They have a contract with the Dark Lord!"
"That's all?"
"Yes, that's all I know!" he said nearly sobbing.
Hermione lifted the boulder off of his gut and brought his nose to its normal size. Then she realized it. She was completely stark naked. Going red at the fact Malfoy had seen it too she attempted to cover herself with only her hands.
"Just go Malfoy!" she snapped with a note of embarrassment and as swift as the wind changed back into her clothes that had already dried.
For the rest of the day Hermione sat on the beach weaving mats out of vines for the shelters. In total they had build five, and could have to complete them the following day and then one after. Now every time Malfoy was talking to his fellow Slytherins her face could turn deep violet from behind the shadow her brown curls cast onto her face. She didn't expect to get such information out of Malfoy so soon, nor that very day.
When she had completed the mat she put it onto one of the shelters and went to find Harry and Ron.
"I Hermione," said Harry when she said herself next to him.
"Hi Harry, Ron, I have to tell you something." And she told them all about the 'shape changers' but not about torturing Malfoy only that he just spilled it out, she didn't have to tell them every skeleton in her closet.
"Here? On this island?" Ron murmured whimpering.
"Yes Ron, so we have to be careful, they can possess bodies," she informed him.
"They can?" Harry asked surprised.
"And they have a contract with You-Know-Who!"
"That's what Malfoy said? How can you trust his word for it?" Harry asked.
"He said his father told him, and his father is a Death Eater. Well, I'm going to bed now," Hermione said and wandered off to a shelter to sleep.
A/N: Sorry it took so long, but I've been really busy with home schooling and reporting to my online teachers because its report care time. So please review, I love to hear what you think!