CHAPTER THREE: The Island

Harry felt numb between his legs. He, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione had been flying eastward for hours, with no sign of stopping anytime soon. Hermione had fallen asleep, and Ron had needed to perform a binding spell to keep her on the broom with him. Harry could still see the raven, if only barely. Right now, he didn't care about the International Statute of Secrecy; if they were spotted, they were spotted, but at least they'd be doing something that needed to be done.

Something caught Harry's eye upward a bit. It looked like a cloud, but it was … darker than the others. More shadowy, despite the sun shining clearly on it, and the raven was making straight for it. Harry motioned with his hands for Ron and Ginny to follow him and the raven. Harry could see Ron waking up Hermione just as he sped off towards the dark cloud.

The raven was gaining speed, and then finally disappeared into the cloud. Harry silently sweared at the prospect of flying through a cloud, but braced himself for the wet cold as he headed into it.

But it wasn't wet, or cold. It was dark for a bit, though, but then they emerged into a clear patch of sky, far larger than the area of the cloud. And there, hundreds of feet above the Earth, was a floating island. Two mountains rose on either side; one emitting lava, the other water, and their flows seemed to combine in the middle to form a lively, green island in the sky.

Harry was so transfixed by the sight of the island that when he came to, he'd lost sight of the raven! Looking at the others, it seemed the same thing had happened with them. Motioning with his hand, he signaled them to land on the island. Harry set down on a grassy meadow, followed closely by Ginny, Ron, and Hermione. "What do you suppose this place is, huh?" said Harry.

Hermione shook her head. "I have no clue, Harry! I've never read anything about floating landmasses before! This is something … I don't know how to describe it. It doesn't seem like your stereotypical 'evil lair,' though. It feels so natural."

Ron nodded. "Yeah, I know. Like a page out of a fairy tale or something, but more real." Looking around, he said, "So, where do we start looking for whatever it is we're looking for?"

Harry didn't have an answer for that. Fortunately for him, Ginny did. "We cover this meadow and look for any buildings, or any places where buildings could be hidden. Either of those two mountains or the ground we're standing on could house some hidden bunker, or something."

Harry nodded. "Right, but we stick together. We don't want to get separated and wind up in a position where we can't help each other." They all took out their wands and headed forward. There didn't look like anything other than grass in plain sight.

"I still haven't the foggiest idea what we're looking for," said Ron.

"We'll know it when we see it," said Hermione. But just then, as Hermione took a step, an odd pattern started to glow in the ground about her. It looked like two circles, with a series of triangles and pentagrams inscribed and circumscribed about them. "Ron," said Hermione worriedly.

"Hermione! What is it? What's going on?" said Ron concernedly.

The glow brightened, so much that it was becoming hard to see Hermione, and she seemed unable to move. "Ron! Harry, Ginny! Run!" she cried as she pointed behind them, just as the glow almost blinded them with it's brightness, and then Hermione was gone.

Harry turned around, wand raised, only to find himself staring down what was unmistakably the barrel of some kind of assault rifle. Soldiers in camouflaged clothing were standing up all around them.

Ginny saw them and pointed her wand at the nearest one as if to hit him with a spell. Just as the red glow of a stunning spell was forming on the tip of her wand, a jet of red light hit her square in the chest, knocking her off her feet, unconscious. Harry looked and saw the smoking barrel of a gun pointed right at her. Looking around at what appeared to be around thirty-or-so soldiers, Harry let his wand fall to the ground. "Drop your wand, Ron," he said in defeat. "We've lost this round."