After a solid hour of walking non-stop, the group decided unannimously that they were due a break. The trees that had shrowded their view by covering the sun with their leaves were now no longer inconvenient, as they all settled their backs against one to rest their tired legs. They had all taken it in turns to carry the heavy book, which was now resting open on Luna's lap as she was the last to have held it, and she was intently reading the page she was on. Ron and Hermione were sharing a tree, Hermione's head leaning on Ron's shoulder, her eyes closed with an expression on her face that showed how fed up she was. Neville was sitting by himself, against a tree that was further out than the rest. He was visibly shaking with nerves and Harry, who was standing over by where Ginny was sitting, watched him with concern.
"So..." said Ginny, snatching Harry's attention away from Neville. "How do you feel about this Fairy Tale stuff?" her voice was strained, revealing her attempt of making light conversation was more of a panicked query.
"Well... I don't know. I don't exactly like the thought you getting eaten, or Hermione being poisoned and Luna being knocked into a coma..." he said slowly.
"I don't like the idea of being eaten either. Also," she added, glancing over to Neville and lowering her voice. "I don't know if I can trust to be rescued..."
Harry laughed slightly, agreeing. If Neville was to rescue Ginny from her woolly fate then he'd have to stop shaking at least. "Don't worry," he said reasurringly to her, "If he's not up to the job I'll save you."
Ginny smiled up to him and sighed. "I doubt you'll have time to save me this time," she muttered. "Not whilst you're battling a dragon, anyway."
Harry was about to say some more reassuring words but almost choked before he could get them out. "Excuse me?" he spluttered in shock.
"You have to get past a dragon before you can get to Sleeping Beauty and rescue her..." Ginny said looking worried. "Didn't you know that?"
It was extremely evident that Harry didn't know about the dragon, or really the tale in itself. All he had learnt was that Luna was to fall into a deep sleep, and that was enough for him to stomach. But dragons... He slumped to the ground next to her and groaned "Not again..."
Luna closed the book and cleared her throat rather loudly, causing the whole group to look over to her. "The book seems to be erasing the words that we've done," she commented. No one knew what to say to that, maybe because it was a shock, or maybe because they hadn't understood her.
"What do you mean, exactly?" Hermione asked, picking herself up from the forest floor and walking over to Luna. The Princess handed Snow White the book and told her to read the start of her story. Hermione opened to the first page and looked in disblief. "They're gone!" she whispered, but loud enough for Ron to hear her. He got up too and peered over her shoulder.
"What's going on?" he asked, his voice unnaturally high in fright.
"Once we have completed our stories, I believe it shall let us go back home," Luna said, looking quite happy at this conclusion. Everyone else though, it seemed, was less pleased.
"Surely there's a loophole of some kind?" Hermione muttered, flipping hurridly through the pages of the book, looking desperately for something that would give her peace of mind. But she found nothing of the sort.
"Maybe I'm dreaming?" Ron suggested. Ginny came over and pinched him harshly on the arm, to which he let out a squeal of pain and retreated from her. "What the bloody hell was that for?" he yelled at her.
She just smiled coyly and turned to where Neville was still sitting against his tree. Being that he was the only one who hadn't moved closer to Luna and the book when she spoke, he was now her main concern. She went over to give him soothing words, trying to coax him into a more stable state of mind.
Harry sat himself next to Luna, his mind set firmly on dragons and what he'd have to do with one. Again.
He glanced to the Princess, and smiled slightly. She was enjoying this, which normally would have annoyed him if it was anyone else. He wondered how he let Luna get away with it, maybe it was because she carried it so well.
"I guess, if this is what we have to do..." said Hermione in a resigned voice, closing the book finally and looking downcast. "We should get moving, before evening sets in..."
The others agreed and once Ginny had got Neville to his feet, they started instantly along a path Hermione had picked, not questioning her as she moved swiftly along. With Ron trailing moodily along just behind her, and Ginny and Neville after him, Luna and Harry brought up the rear. Luna walked without rush, which inspired Harry to relax ever so much more whenever he glanced at her. But soon they picked up speed, Harry unaware to why his legs were going doubly as fast as they had before until he heard a shriek from the front of the group.
Pushing past Ginny and Neville, Harry ran up to where he found Ron clinging onto Hermione, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist and he looked like he was holding onto her for dear life.
"Ron! What are you doing?" Harry cried, avoiding Hermione's legs which were kicking out, giving the impression she was trying to walk through the air. Ron looked at him in alarm, and was about to say something when Hermione squealed again. Harry noticed her tight grip around Rons arms and wondered what was going on. It looked like Ron was trying to restrain her, and it sounded like she wanted to break free. But her frightened eyes were not because of Ron.
"My legs!" she gasped, and Harry looked to them. They were still pushing forwards and back, walking for no reason. "They wont stop!"
Harry caught on quickly after that, and tried to work out what to do. Ginny and Neville were looking at them in shock, backing away towards a tree where they stood and watched helplessly as Harry tried to stop Hermione's legs from moving. Luna was watching with a gentle expression of amusement.
After five minutes of trying to do something, Harry stumbled away from his two best friends. His stomach was in pain for all the time Hermione's out of control legs had kicked into his stomach, but he was in much better condition then Ron, whose face was pale and sweaty.
Luna went over to Harry who was now on the ground, defeated.
"You know, she shouldn't be restrained like that," Luna commented. Everyone, including a wildly scared Hermione, looked at Luna as if she had just said an extremely vile thing.
"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.
"The spell is leading her to the next part of her story. We're just delaying the process." Luna said smiling at Ginny. She then turned to Ron. "You should let her go now, Ronald." she said quietly.
"To hell I will!" Ron gasped out, and if it wasn't for the roots of a tree he had just stumbled against, he'd of passed out from he pain of her wriggling and weight anyway. As he crashed to the ground his grasp on Hermione was lost, and her legs took complete control of her and she screamed again as she was carried along the rest of the path at high speed.
Amazingly Ron had already pulled himself up, and pushing Harry out of the way - who had gone over to him to help him up - he rushed after Hermione. The others followed suit, but no one could match the determination that Ron had to catch Hermione before anything happened.
Both had passed a deep curve in the forest so the rest could not see them. But they heard another squeal from Hermione, and Harry picked his pace up as quickly as he could, clutching onto his stomach and grimacing in pain.
Stumbling around the corner, the four came to a halt and stared in wonderment. A small clearing, letting in small light from the sky above where trees didn't cover over everything, showed a small house. It looked very out of place, its stone walls old but well kept, a windowsill with a plant was the most exciting thing about it, from the outside.
Hermione's legs were still pummelling forward, and again Ron's new found grip onto Hermione was pushed away. Hermione trying her hardest to resist.
"Her arms!" Ron wheezed. "It's got control of her arms!" Harry rushed forward, trying to grab Hermione before she got too close to the house. Her arms, just like Ron and warned, swung out and hit him painfully in the chest.
"Oh I'm sorry!" Hermione squealed, wanting to see if Harry was ok, but she couldn't. As she approached the wooden door of the house, she turned her head round and gave one last pleaing glance at Ron before her hands worked by theirselves to open the door. Harry crawled back to the others as she dissapeared into the house.