Raptors in the Kitchen

Back inside the Visitor's Center, Harry, Lex, Tim, and Hermione dashed to the end of the kitchen, carefully seating themselves at the back of a counter to avoid producing any metal banging. Though they hadn't heard any screeches or intestines being spilled, Harry and Tim took a short peek over the edge.

Through the window, a reptilian eye peeked through before turning its head to reveal it was the velociraptor breathing against the glass.

Harry thanked his reflexes again, as he clasped his hand over Tim's mouth before he could even gasp in fright.

"Keep quiet!" he firmly whispered into Tim's ear.

But the latch to the door was slowly turning, back and forth until the raptor realized what it was for. A three fingered talon gently pushed the door open ever so slightly before allowing its head to do the rest.

Both Harry and Tim felt Lex and Hermione grasp their hands tighter than ever as the girls straightened their backs, Lex trying not to pant.

"Timmy, Harry, what is it?!" Lex gasped impatiently.

"It's a velociraptor," Tim exhaled.

"Exactly what we needed," Harry murmured.

"And by that, he means you're lucky you haven't seen the way they attack yet!" Hermione added.

All else they needed was a rattling hiss, though Harry stuck his head back at it, no doubt in a state of confusion and disbelief.

"It's inside!" Lex reminded him.

"I know," Harry replied. "And it doesn't look like it's sticking its tongue out."

For a minute, Harry assumed the raptor was breathing, but after some harder whiffs, it led out a louder vibration, most likely from the section of the throat where mucus builds up.

While Tim covered his ears, Harry took another look back, trying not to show anything besides his eyes, and saw another raptor follow the first one into the kitchen.

He took a peek over the other end of the counter with Lex and Hermione, seeing the raptors going in the direction of a third counter off to their left.

"They're diverted!" Hermione gasped.

"Good!" Lex exhaled.

Harry got on his stomach, bending his arms forward, crawling out from behind, army style.

"Come on!" he ordered, waving them along.

The other children followed Harry between the counters, getting as low as they could move, Lex and Hermione at either of Harry's feet. Both girls squeezed close to him with Tim huddling beside them against the long part of the counter.

They heard another throat vibration from the first raptor, whose head hovered over the right counter. The second raptor was crawling on the other side of the left counter, like a night watchman patrolling a restricted area. It clicked its claw upon the floor, like it was sending an alert to the other.

Harry shushed the others as both raptors sent throat vibrations back and forth to one another, as if to tell each other they had no luck yet.

As the raptors turned their heads away, Harry waved for the others to keep moving. Lex was directly behind him, though the second raptor whipped its tail at some pots on the left counter, knocking them to the floor.

Harry pulled Lex out of the way, who gasped loudly as the pots came crashing down. Hermione and Tim crawled higher so they wouldn't bang into anything before turning back into the corner they came from. But Harry and Lex crawled faster, making the pots clang as they bumped into them.

The children leaned against the back of the right counter to catch their breath, Tim trying harder than the others, drawing nervous stares from them. Harry then noticed Tim was sitting in front of some serving spoons hung up on the edge of the counter. He grabbed each of them off their hooks to try and quell any extra noise. But one raptor stuck its head through the bottom of the left counter, just as the last soup ladle fell from its hook, producing another loud clang as it hit the floor.

Now, the raptors snarled harder, as a couple of intelligent creatures may not like their prey tricking them. Harry, Lex, and Hermione crawled past the right counter to the other end of the kitchen, but the raptors found an advantage by jumping back and forth across the countertops.

Even as they reached the other end, Tim remained where he was despite Lex's attempts to wave him through. Harry saw Tim was making a huge mistake by shaking his head, since the raptors were just around his corner, one licking the ladle before taking in a scent of the air.

On the other end, Lex picked up another ladle before gesturing to an open steel cabinet behind them. She rapped the ladle on the floor a few times, but Harry snatched it, as he noticed the cabinet's reflection on another cabinet front ahead of them.

"Let me!" he insisted. "I can fit in there a lot better!"

"No!" Hermione and Lex cried simultaneously.

Harry rapped the ladle on the floor as Lex had done, but faster, as he crawled into the raptors' path. Lex and Hermione crawled to the other side of the counter, but Harry crawled inside the cabinet, pressing his tongue to the back of his teeth, imitating a hiss.

"Over here!" he teased. "A little short on manners, aren't we?"

He kept hissing at the first raptor, sticking out his tongue as the beast came charging for him, only to ram its head into his reflection on the cabinet front.

While that raptor was downed, Harry crawled out of the cabinet, joining the girls, who completely seized him.

Crawling back between tables, they poked their heads out as Tim finally stood up, though he looked like he was having trouble moving his right leg. Watching closer, they noticed Tim was able to put his left foot forward, but only slide his right.

Tim limped to their side, where he saw the door to a walk-in freezer left open, undoubtedly by Hammond when he rescued the ice cream.

"How convenient," Hermione whispered with sarcasm.

The other raptor let out a screech as it stalked after him, only inches away as he reached the door.

Harry and the girls ran over towards the freezer, in which Tim was slipping from the ice all over the floor, though the raptor had slipped much farther. Tim jumped out, slamming the door on the raptor's head as it tried prying itself back out to get him.

The raptor was stronger until Harry, Lex, and Hermione came running and screaming with a push four times as hard. Soon enough, the gap became too tight and the raptor had to pull its head out. Once it was completely inside the freezer, the children kept pushing on the door as they could hear the raptor staggering on the inside.

It didn't take long for Lex to notice a pin locking handle bolted to the door. She fumbled around for the pin, finally sliding it in, and locking the door. This seemed to cause the raptor to retreat, but it couldn't be for long.

"We got it," Lex sighed.

But there was no time for anyone to catch their breath, as the other raptor had regained some of its consciousness and was slamming into things all over the kitchen.

"Let's go," Harry ordered.

As he reached for the door latch, Harry found another pair of Hagrid's eyes staring back through the window, looking quite relieved. He threw the door open to find Hagrid was indeed curling up behind it, without anything that even looked like a scratch on him.

"You couldn't stay out, Hagrid?" Harry exhaled. "Where are the others?"

Hagrid unfolded his arms to reveal Sirius and Dumbledore safely huddling inside his grasp. Dumbledore was covering his nose and mouth, unlike Sirius, who appeared to be gagging.

"That was really quite a pungent odor if ever I'd smelled one," Sirius commented, dryly.

"Perhaps you ought to have another visit with the meats in Hagrid's hut," Dumbledore humored.

"Hagrid, how did they miss you?" Harry queried.

"Well, yeh didn't think a seven foot condor 'ud be a match fer a twen'y stoner like me, did yeh?" Hagrid chuckled.

"I guess not…" Harry shrugged before leaning into Hermione's ear. "Wait till he sees what I went up against last month."

"What was that?" Lex queried.

"Nothing!" Harry gasped, forgetting she was standing off to his left.

Back in the emergency bunker, Dr. Grant was loading a ten gauge shotgun while Hammond awaited at the back of the room, nervously eyeing the wild look in his eyes and hair. Sattler leaned over the center table helping Malcolm lean up, who was beginning to regain some of his strength.

Lupin and Tonks were watching the whole scene from the stairs, waiting for just the right time to make themselves visible again.

"It's just the two raptors, right?" Grant asked. "Are you sure the other one's contained?"

"Yes," Sattler panted. "Unless they've figured out how to open doors."

"Go get my grandchildren back," Hammond ordered. "And Mr. Potter and Miss Granger. I don't believe we need to request that."

He stepped aside as Grant and Sattler rushed back up the three flights of stairs. Lupin and Tonks followed suit, helping them to create a banging on the floor that flooded the whole interior. They traverse with them down the second floor corridor, into the Control Room, all of which were fully-lit, once again.

In the control room, Paul had been banging away on the main keyboard for quite awhile, venting out cries of frustration as Jane stood by.

Grant and Sattler failed to notice Mr. Weasley in the room, but he felt something jerk at his collar as another SNAP filled the room.

The Granger parents had seen Mr. Weasley disappear, but once Grant and Sattler turned at the sound of the snap. But behind them, it looked as though nothing had gone off in the room at all.

There came another tiny whisper which the four of them hadn't heard or even noticed an open panel in the ceiling. Lying in a crawl space on the opposite side was a still-invisible Mr. Weasley, along with Lupin and Tonks.

"Any luck with the computer?" Tonks queried.

"Apparently not," Arthur replied. "It seems I've forgotten that magic and ekel-tronics don't work together."

"E-lec-tronics," Tonks corrected.

"Right," Arthur resolved. "You came back right on time; we've just gotten word from Sirius. If Dumbledore's gone to meet him, maybe I ought to send another communique…"

"I wouldn't bother," Remus replied, gesturing back through the open panel.

"Mr. Granger and Mrs. Granger…" Grant interrupted.

At the sound of his voice, the Granger parents froze, having not it before or since the previous day.

"Dr. Grant?" Paul queried, pulling away from the computer. "What's going on? Where are Harry and the other kids?"

"We'd love to talk, but we've got to get back to the cafe," Grant replied. "We've got some rescuing to do."

"Oh my god…" Jane whispered as she noticed the gun in his hand.

"It seems we've got them where we need them to go..." Lupin continued.

"What's your plan?" Arthur queried.

"All we need to do is wait until the coast is clear," Lupin explained. "Then, we run after, same as before."

"No need," Tonks dismissed. "If we're invisible, we'll just apparate into that cafe, it's just down a few stairs."

"Is that all part of auror's intuition, Tonks?" Lupin suggested.

"Maybe," Tonks replied mischievously. "Won't Mad-Eye be proud?"

They waited until Grant and Sattler were back out of the control room. One by one, they slid back through the open panel, feet first and dashed through the door.

"Huddle up," Tonks ordered. "We may be invisible, but we can still feel each other."

Once she felt Lupin and Mr Weasley's arms jab into hers, she linked them around and kicked off as a loud CRACK filled the corridor, to which Grant and Sattler shifted their heads behind them.

"Keep going!" Grant commanded.

They sped through the corridor, through a set of black metal double doors out to the right side of the rotunda, before rushing back down the stairs, through the doors to the restaurant, where Harry, Hermione, and the Murphy children stampeded back into their arms. Harry skidded out of Grant's way, who picked up Tim again because of his limp.

"In there," Lex panted.

"We locked one up," Harry added. "But the other one should find its way out soon… and it just sounded like a firework went off in here."

"Control Room," Sattler ordered.

"Wait a minute, what about…" Harry paused.

He turned back to the kitchen door where he knew Hagrid, Sirius, and Dumbledore were waiting. Except when he narrowed his eyes in that direction, they were nowhere to be seen.

Harry would have easily been shocked at this sudden absence, as if he'd been outright abandoned by the people who came to rescue him. But he felt a tugging at his arm, which reminded there was too much going on for him to care.

"Never mind," he exhaled. "Where were we?"

"Control Room," Sattler reminded him.

"Of course," Harry exhaled.

"This way," Sattler instructed, gesturing out the doors to the staircase at the right.

But Hagrid, Sirius, and Dumbledore hadn't abandoned Harry at all, in fact, they were no more than a metre away from where he stood. They were all in another corner of the restaurant, where Hagrid tucked Sirius and Dumbledore back under his arms, as he felt something wrap around them.

That and the loud CRACK indicated that Lupin, Tonks, and Mr. Weasley had entered the restaurant, turning Hagrid, Sirius, and Dumbledore invisible with them.

"He's safe!" Lupin exhaled.

"For now," Sirius reminded him. "And he'll stay that way when he's back in my hands!"

"I would like nothing more, Sirius," Dumbledore agreed. "But I fear that will not happen until these Muggles have secured themselves an escape route. I have already reminded Miss Granger of our limited supply of broomsticks, as well as the implications from overseas apparition."

"And our portkey," Arthur sighed. "The amount of Muggles we'd be bringing to the Hog's Head would total eight."

"Then, what do we do?" Sirius queried.

"Well, I reckon them wingless pheasants'll be pryin' their way out any minute, now!" Hagrid bellowed. "Harry still needs help, don't he?"

Hagrid couldn't be any more correct, as behind them, the door handle began to jiggle, there came two throat vibrations, one after the other, and the viewing window became twice as fogged as before.

"Yes, he does," Sirius agreed. "And if we're invisible, we can hold them down and they won't know what will hit them, will they?"

"Let's split up," Tonks suggested. "Maybe we can throw them off that way!"

"How?" Sirius requested.

"Half of us will go through the theater," Tonks replied. "We could walk our way through to that control room."

"And there seemed to be a back door somehow conveniently in every room," Arthur mused.

"Perfect!" Sirius concluded. "Hagrid, you, Dumbledore, and Weasley can take the theater route. The rest of you, come with me!"

Both groups rushed up their stairs, where Dumbledore ushered Hagrid and Mr. Weasley through the showcase theater doors, still open from the door opening charm.

"You can thank Professor Dumbledore for that," Arthur muttered.

"It don't matter, so long as we can get through, don't it!" Hagrid insisted.

"Which way do we go now… cousin?" Sirius teased.

Tonks cast an opening charm on the two black doors at the end of the floor, conveniently with a sign bolted to them, reading Restricted Area, AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks bolted through the doors, into the corridor, which was a lucky entrance for them, unlike the others.

For Dumbledore, Mr. Weasley, and Hagrid, their way out was in plain sight, as the door awaited them at the other end of the theater. They squeezed through the aisles, which was much easier for all but one in that group since the lap bars in front of the seats were all up.

With no one and nothing else to block them, they burst single file through the other door, down the stairs bolted to the side, into the curve, now with fluorescent lights lining the ceiling.

Dumbledore was the first out, very cautiously taking the last step, Mr. Weasley doing the same, though Hagrid found he didn't have to, thanking his boot size for that.

However, it didn't seem so fortunate that he either bent or crushed part of the tracks with every step he took.

"I'd stay on the side, if I were yeh," Hagrid warned.

Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley heeded Hagrid's suggestion, leaning against the viewing windows as they slid along the imitation rock frames with carved dinosaur skeletons.

After sliding past the Genetics, Fertilization, and Hatchery signs, which were much easier to view this time, the trio finally arrived at the control room.

"Which way do you suppose the others went?" Arthur asked.

There came a slight tapping on the glass, as Dumbledore was peering through the glass, toward the circular windows at the back of the control room.

In the opposite corridor, Harry and his group had finally arrived back as Dr. Grant, carrying Tim in one arm, held the door open for Sattler and the girls.

"Here it is," Grant pointed out.

As the four children rushed into the room, Harry noticed the door had a peculiar looking slide lock without a switch on it.

Grant placed Tim aside and ran to back door to lock it, only make the same discovery about the locks as Harry.

Sattler jumped into the seat at Nedry's computer terminal, but Hermione's parents had pulled away from the desk and wrapped their daughter and her best friend into a hug of relief. Their grasp on Harry was especially firm, considering he was still dirty and banged up from the previous night.

"Oh, thank god, you two," Jane sighed.

"Can we can call for help?" Lex gasped.

"We've got to reboot the system first!" Sattler replied.

Opposite the large viewing window, Dumbledore, Mr. Weasley, and Hagrid were leaning into the pane, closing in on where Sattler was, like anyone else would have done in a desperate hour.

"They still haven't worked anything out yet." Mr. Weasley noted. "Although some of us did get fine insight on the functionality of these… computers."

"Try sneaking one of them into your home, Arthur?" Sirius snickered.

But this was no time for jokes since they saw something something had rammed into the control room door, rather hard.

Grant was hurling his back against the back door, dropping his gun on the floor as he tried to pull on the lock himself.

"The door locks!" Grant shouted. "Ellie, boot up the door locks! Boot up the door locks!

But Grant saw the latch underneath the locks turn, before seeing one of the raptors face to face in the window, hungrily gnashing its teeth.

Harry was beginning to wish Hagrid hadn't disappeared so he needn't worry about Grant. He imagined if Hagrid were in there with them, not even needing grasping the latch, instead hurling his back against the door.

But his wishful thinking was interrupted by a slight squeal pouring through the open door crack behind him. On the door window, he noticed a circular fog covering its window, which revealed the raptor's face again as it cleared up.

"Blimey!" Hagrid bellowed. "I didn't reckon I'd see a live one like that,"

"It seems the beast has perfectly fallen into our trap," Dumbledore reasoned.

"How do you suppose the others are handling that?" Arthur asked.

His answer may have come from the flash of blue light on the other side of the circular windows. The raptor's head smashed against the door window, sliding down it, which budged the door open quite a bit as the raptor landed on the metal grate floor, chin first.

Grant was able to shove the door closed again, but the raptor was able grasp the grate in its talons and push itself back off with its feet.

Since Hermione was standing at his left, Harry pulled her along with him to the door, pressing his own back against it.

"Help me, Hermione!" Harry ordered.

"Are you mad?!" Hermione cried. "It only took four of us lock one of those up!"

"Come on, Hermione!" Harry urged, leaning into her ear. "We've closed doors on a three headed dog, what's the difference?!"

Hermione double took to make sure no one heard that, but her quickly dissipated as the door slightly jerked open with another screech pouring in. She joined Harry, counting on her arms to push hard, considering how many books she'd carried in the last two years.

But it wasn't enough, as Harry muscles had not yet developed enough to keep a dangerous predator at bay. The raptor's head couldn't get in, but it still had retractable claws for assistance.

Hermione didn't need to consult her parents to their faces, since they came running. Paul forced his back against the door, while Jane pressed her palms against it, adding some needed inertia for the bucking.

"Excuse me, do I recall my daughter asking permission to risk her life?" He questioned accusingly. "I think not."

"I stand by what your father says," Jane added. "And I believe he's telling you to go."

"Hermione?!" Harry cried.

"Both of you!" Paul added. "You did all you could and needed to! Now, leave the rest to the adults!"

It seemed the adults had the door barricaded, but nothing looked to be prying at the door any longer. Behind the circular windows, there came another flash of blue light from behind the raptor, hitting it in the side, sending it crashing into the corridor wall. After sliding back to the floor, the raptor picked itself up again, only to get hit in the chin by yet another blue flash, tumbling onto its back.

This time, the raptor had to roll off the floor before getting up and tried sniffing the air to detect where these unseen attacks were coming from. But there was no time for that, since the blue lights kept coming faster and faster, making the raptor bounce off the walls like a ping pong ball.

But perhaps what provoked the raptor's spinning was all the whispering that flooded the hall. All of it sounded hushed and voiceless to the point where none of them could be distinguished one from the other. The raptor's unseen attacker was everywhere, or so it appeared to the three wizards watching from the other window.

"That must be Remus, Sirius, and Miss Tonks on the other end," Arthur mused.

"What're they doin' back there?" Hagrid grumbled.

"They seem to be warding that creature off with the Explosion curse," Dumbledore exhaled. "Using unpredictable, almost auror-style changes in attack positions…"

Dumbledore had made that observation in perfect time, since he was interrupted by another reptilian screech. Reflected in the glass, the three wizards saw the other raptor was right behind them, sticking its head over where their shoulders would be, sniffing the air.

"And now, my friends…" he whispered. "I'm the time for such pains has come all too soon."

The flashing blue lights doubled as Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley began hurling them from different spots in the curve, until they saw it writhing around like it was being choked. There was no guessing what wrestled it since a low grunt drowned out its screeching.

"Hagrid?" Arthur realized.

"Who were yeh expecting'?" Hagrid laughed. "Yeh can thank me fer givin' yeh a rest now, eh?"

Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley took that suggestion to heart as they took another close lean into the glass, keeping their eyes on what was going on near Nedry's computer.

On the other side, Harry pulled Hermione away from the door, drawing a rather envious glare from Lex. But she noticed Dr. Sattler studying the maze-like grid on the computer screen, clearly making no progress. But Sattler's head jerked away as she noticed the pow against the back door.

She leaped out of her chair and raced over to the door to help Dr. Grant and the Granger parents, while both raptors were snapping, snarling, and tripping over themselves behind each window.

Dr. Grant, still leaning against the back door, had picked his gun back up, but maintained his look of horror when he saw Sattler get up.

"Ellie, get back and boot up the door locks!" He ordered.

"You can't hold that by yourselves!" She cried.

Dr. Grant kept thrusting whatever strength he had left upon the door, but dropped his gun to allow for the use of two hands. But the first disoriented raptor was still ping-ponging around, giving much harder pushes on the door than with its talons.

"Try to reach the gun!" He suggested.

He was thankful there was a strap on it, which would have made it easier to reach with his feet, had it been a few inches closer. Sattler managed to slip the toe of her boot under it, but she couldn't stretch her leg any further than that.

"I can't get it unless I move!" she cried.

Back at Nedry's computer terminal, Harry noticed Lex had slipped into the command chair, eyeing the screen like an old friend as she zoomed in on the grid. He and Tim each squeezed next to her as she poured through it like the file cabinets in her father's office.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's a Unix system!" she gasped. "I know this! It's all the files for the whole park, it tells you everything. I've got to find the right file."

While Hermione shot a look of envy back at her from behind, Harry and Tim watched in astonishment as Lex zoomed out to reveal a number of different file collections. Each of them were separated by category, but connected to each other by a web, labeled Park.

She scrolled past ones labeled Zoology and Research before finally landing upon one reading Security.

"This is it!" she gasped. "This might be right file!"

She zoomed in on the Security bracket, yet the first file she landed on was labeled Chemical.

"No, this isn't the right file!" she panted.

Lex kept scrolling through, but Harry and Tim had their eyes on each of the doors, as one remained sealed, but the other had a couple of claws prying through.

"C'mon, Lex!" Harry encouraged.

"Go, Lexie!" Tim repeated.

Lex finally landed on a file, reading Visitor's Center, clicking it as the screen switched back to a map of the park, where all the red locks had switched to green, each one reading SECURED.

Off to the side, there was another window which read, REBOOTING SYSTEM… VOLUME - - - NEDRYLAND JP.

"It's switching!" Harry gasped.

"You got it?!" Tim cried.

"Yes!" Lex confirmed.

The computer began to buzz as a green panel reading SYSTEM SECURED flashed onscreen.

Behind them, Grant, Sattler, Paul, and Jane felt the door slam back into frame as the lock automatically slid into place, keeping the raptor on the other side.

"This is it!" Lex continued as the rest of the group gathered around the computer.

"What works?" Grant asked.

"The whole Visitor's Center!" Harry replied.

"Phones, security systems, you name it, we got it!" Lex exhaled with a look of relieved triumph.

On the opposite side of the viewing window, Dumbledore, Mr. Weasley, and a still raptor wrestling Hagrid noticed their looks of triumph and shared some of their own as Grant picked up a nearby telephone, pressing a speed dial button which read EMERGENCY BUNKER.