I'd like to thank fredfred and InquisitorCOC for beta-reading.
Chapter 7: The Breakout Part 1
Godric's Hollow, Devon, Britain, July 6th, 1996
Ron Weasley wished he had an Invisibility Cloak. Or knew how to cast a Disillusionment Charm. Or had nicked one of Fred and George's Invisibility Potions. The real ones, not the ones that fooled the drinker into thinking that they were invisible when they were actually the only one who couldn't see themselves. But since none of that was the case, he just kept quiet and tried not to draw attention to himself as he listened to Harry's dad sum up the results of his investigation - he had no doubt that he wasn't supposed to be here for that.
And neither was Lavender, who was sharing an armchair in the corner with him. He glanced at her; she had taken the news hard. Almost as hard as Rose. And unlike Harry's little sister, who, incidentally, had already been sent to her room, Lavender wasn't trying to hide how worried she was. Ron squeezed her thigh encouragingly. "It'll be OK," he whispered. "You'll see."
She nodded, taking a deep breath, but he could see that her eyes were wet - she was close to tears. So he wrapped his arm around her shoulders instead of her waist and pulled her close. And let her cry into his chest while Harry's dad was talking.
"...and we're sure that both Harry and Miss Granger vanished from the shop after picking up an unregistered and - or so the owner claims - unknown Portkey."
"Unknown Portkey?" Sirius scoffed. "That scumbag knew what it was! He was selling all sorts of dark and shady stuff!"
Harry's dad looked at his friend. "Why would they have left a Portkey lying around on their shelves where anyone could grab it if they had known about it?"
"It's a trap for shoplifters?"
"Hermione wouldn't steal anything!" Granger's mum blurted out.
"And neither would Harry," Harry's mum added. "We have to find out who made that Portkey, not why it was there. If it had been a trap, they would've covered it up, anyway."
"Exactly, dear," Harry's dad agreed. "We've interrogated the clerk, and he claimed not to know where the rope was from, either." He shook his head. "Apparently, he had never asked about it."
"Did he think that it was a normal piece of rope?" Granger's mum asked. "What shop was it?"
"Leopold's Slightly-Used Goods," Harry's dad told her. "In the past, we've found a variety of stolen goods in there, but the owner managed to successfully claim ignorance of their origins and so got off with fines."
"Figures," Sirius muttered.
"So, does the owner know where that rope is from?" Harry's mum asked.
"We're still looking for the owner, Leopold Müller - an emigré from Prussia."
"Might've been a supporter of Grindelwald," Sirius said. "A number of them came over after '46. If Britain had been as tough on them as the rest of Europe, Harry wouldn't be missing right now."
"Sirius!" Harry's mum hissed. "Don't start with this now! We have to focus on finding Harry - and Miss Granger."
"Hermione," Granger's mum added.
Lavender pulled back from Ron and nodded as well. Not that any of the adults noticed.
"Yes, of course," Harry's dad told the muggle woman. "We're looking for both of them."
"But you can't find them. Not with magic," Granger's mum said.
"Not with the magic we - us here - have access to," Harry's mum corrected her. "But we've contacted Dumbledore for help."
"And what can he do that you can't?"
Ron wasn't the only one blinking at the woman. Dumbledore was Dumbledore! If anyone knew a spell to defeat whatever enchantments were blocking a Patronus Messenger, it would be the Headmaster! He had defeated both Grindelwald and the Dark Lord, after all! No wizard or witch was his equal.
"He's Dumbledore," Sirius said. "He's forgotten more spells than we ever learned."
"And you think that he can save Hermione and your son?"
"Yes." Harry's dad sounded confident, but the slight pause before he replied wasn't a good sign, in Ron's opinion. "He also, ah, has some contacts that we don't have access to."
"Criminals," Sirius told Granger's mum.
"Criminals? And he's the Headmaster of Hogwarts?"
"Hey! He fought in two wars - he knows a lot of people. And a lot of them owe him," Sirius replied, frowning. "His contacts were very useful during the last war. Saved a few of us. He'll save both Harry and your daughter as well, don't worry."
"Yes," Harry's dad nodded. "We'll find them, don't worry."
Mrs Granger nodded, but she didn't seem to be reassured.
Ron wasn't, either. He could only hope that Harry - and Granger - were safe. If something had… No. He shook his head. He wouldn't think about such things. Harry was fine. He had to be.
"Now," Harry's dad went on, looking at Ron and Lavender, "I think you two should head home. We don't want any more parents worrying about their children."
Ron was about to protest - his parents weren't worrying; they knew he was with the Potters - but the fireplace flared up and everyone turned, wands drawn.
Dumbledore stepped out of it with his usual smile. He was wearing dark blue robes with small orange stars on them - for him, that was almost subdued.
"Good evening, James, Lily." He nodded at them. "Sirius. Mrs Granger. I came as soon as I heard - I was, unfortunately, not at Hogwarts when your message arrived."
Harry's dad nodded. "Thank you."
"Thank you," Mrs Potter echoed him. "Can you find them?"
"I would like to think so, although I fear it'll require some research - what I've tried so far did not work, which indicates that they are in a location that is protected against magical detection. Quite powerful protections, I have to add."
Which, as Bill had taught Ron, meant the spells were old. Protections grew in power with age.
Lily drew a breath that sounded almost like a sob.
Dumbledore smiled at her. "They are alive; that much I could confirm."
Ron smiled, relieved. His best friend was alive. And so was Lavender's best friend.
Unknown Location, July 6th, 1996
Potter looked devastated. The realisation that his parents wouldn't come and save them had hit him hard. Hermione Granger couldn't remember ever having seen him more miserable than he was right now. He'd always been confident. Or angry, like when he had suffered a well-deserved defeat as a consequence of his own actions. No matter what, he never seemed to give up. Or acknowledge defeat. But now… And he hadn't said anything in some time. Just stared at the ground.
Of course, knowing that they weren't just on a magical island somewhere, but on a magically hidden island, that they couldn't be found with magic - at least not with magic that Potter's parents had at their disposal - was a shock. Hermione had been prepared for it, after the Trace hadn't worked, but to have it confirmed… And it must have been worse for Potter, who had insisted that they'd be saved soon.
She glanced at him. He wasn't crying, but… he looked so vulnerable. Completely unlike the arrogant boy she knew. She almost wrapped her arm around his shoulders but caught herself in time. They couldn't afford to wallow in misery. They had to be active. Proactive. Do something to solve their problems. Now more than ever.
"We'll get out of this," she said.
For a moment, he didn't react, and she wondered if he had heard her. But then he scoffed and turned his head to look at her.
She pressed her lips together and raised her chin a little, meeting his eyes. "We'll get off this island," she said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.
"We don't even know how to get out of this cave," he replied with a deep frown.
"Not yet," she admitted. "But we can't give up!" She drew a sharp breath, blinking. She couldn't lose it now. She had to hold it together. They were in a sticky situation, but they had their wands. As long as they kept their wits about them, they would beat the wyvern and find a way off this island. Muggles had survived worse situations without any magic!
"Who's giving up?" Potter asked with a sneer.
What? He had been the one staring at the ground as if he was about to cry! "I'm not the one who counted on their parents to come and save us." Well, she had hoped they would be saved, but that wasn't the same.
He glared at her. "I almost got the wyvern with my trap."
"Our trap," she corrected him. Her contribution had been quite crucial.
"Now it's our trap, and no longer my fault?" His grin wasn't quite as annoying - or infuriating - as the one she usually saw after one of his so-called 'pranks', but it was more familiar than his lost expression.
She sniffed. "My part worked perfectly - it went for my bait."
He snorted. "I didn't hear you criticise my barbed spike."
"I assumed you knew what you were doing."
"Ah?"
"Yes." She bit back on a comment about phallic symbols.
"That's a first, then."
"What?"
"Trusting me." He shrugged.
"What do you mean?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"You always criticise me."
She clenched her teeth. "My criticism is usually aimed at your intent and morals, not your skill."
"Ah." He nodded.
"Yes." She bared her teeth in a tight smile. That should've been obvious.
He snorted again, but this time, he seemed genuinely amused. "Well, I'll be sure not to disappoint you a second time."
"You better not. If you do and we end up eaten, I'll be very cross with you."
He laughed. "I can believe that. You'd probably become a ghost to properly lecture me."
She frowned at him for a second, then laughed as well. It wasn't really funny, but laughing was better than crying. Far better.
Harry Potter snorted once more, then took a deep breath. He'd needed that. And who'd have thought that Granger had a sense of humour? Not that it was actually funny - they were in deep trouble. Mum and Dad couldn't find them with a Patronus Messenger. Which meant that something - someone - was blocking the spell. "I didn't even know that that was possible," he muttered.
"What do you mean?" Granger asked.
"I didn't know you could block a Patronus Messenger. They always found me," he explained. "Well, not without using the Fidelius Charm." That would have to be able to block even a Patronus Messenger - probably.
Granger gasped. "Do you think we're on an island protected by that charm?"
"Or something else that blocks spells," he said.
"But…" Granger bit her lower lip, he noticed. She went on: "Whatever spell it is - and some variant of the charms to render a location unplottable might work as well - someone must have cast it. Someone hid this island."
"Yes?" Harry asked. That was obvious, wasn't it? Then he blinked. "You mean…"
"They question is: Where are they? And who are they?" Granger said.
Those were good questions. But Harry had another thought. "They might be dead," he said. "These might be old wards, grown more powerful with time, even after the original casters died." That would explain how they could block a Patronus Messenger. As Uncle Sirius had told him, old wards often were very powerful - and 'quirky'.
Granger, to his surprise, nodded in agreement. "That's likely. Normal spells would end with the death of the caster, but wards…" She rubbed her chin. "And if no one is left on the island, just old wards, it would explain why no one has done anything about the wyvern."
"Or this is a wyvern sanctuary," Harry pointed out. "A private reserve, perhaps."
"That would require a breeding population; dragons, and I presume the same goes for wyverns, don't live that long. Or the spell's caster is still alive." She looked at him. "If they check on the island or the wyvern, they might be aware that we're here." She smiled. "They would know how to deal with the wyvern and save us!"
She was right. Anyone able to hide an entire island should be able to handle a wyvern - or breeding population, he corrected himself with a wince; that was a terrifying thought. But… "If they want to." He pressed his lips together.
"What do you mean?" she asked, eyes widening.
"They might not want to save us - not if that means that their secret could be revealed." He looked at the cave entrance. "They hid this island for a reason. A reason good enough to go to such trouble might be a reason good enough to kill whoever stumbles on their secret."
Granger gasped. "That's… That's…" She shook her head. "Who would do such a thing?"
"The Australian wizards kill any foreign wizards they catch on their soil," Harry told her.
"This isn't Australia, though," she said.
"Are you sure?" He raised his eyebrows at her.
"Yes. My parents are interested in the continent - they even considered moving there, at least before I told them about Magical Australia - and so I've read up on the flora and fauna. This isn't Australia."
That was a relief. Not many places were more dangerous than a magically hidden island with a large flying man-eating and magic-resistant predator, but Australia certainly qualified. "There are others who would kill to keep their hidden island, well, hidden." He ignored her smirk at his fumbling sentence. "Dark wizards, for one." There were lots of those around - Dad had told him about some of the more infamous ones. "If this is the refuge of Herbert Kohlmeier, for example..." He winced. The last surviving member of Grindelwald's inner circle, Kohlmeier had earned the moniker 'Butcher of Silesia' during Grindelwald's War, and he had done worse since his flight from Magical Prussia.
Granger had paled, but she shook her head. "I honestly doubt that such a wizard would tolerate a wyvern on their island."
"It might be a pet," Harry retorted. "Trained to attack intruders."
"If that were the case, there should've been a reaction by now from whatever guards are present," Granger told him.
Harry wasn't so sure - many dark wizards were mad, the Dark Arts warping their minds and eroding their sanity, as Sirius had put it. And Harry's godfather was an expert on the Dark Arts thanks to his upbringing. Come to think of it, a number of the dark wizards Uncle Peter had dealt with for Dumbledore hadn't sounded like the smartest wizards, either.
He shook his head. They couldn't afford such distractions. It was even more important to deal with the wyvern now, before whoever had cast the protections noticed them. "In any case, we need a plan to leave this cave and hide."
"We already knew that," Granger replied. "But now we have to assume that we might have to hide from humans as well."
And that further complicated things. He muttered a curse under his breath.
For once, Granger didn't chide him about his language.
Hermione Granger told herself that she had to focus on the problem at hand: the wyvern. They didn't know anything about who had hidden the island. Trying to second-guess the unknown wizards or witches wouldn't help them - quite the contrary, actually.
Although they could take some basic precautions anyway. "Hiding from wizards won't be too difficult," she said. "We can't disillusion ourselves, so we'll have to use muggle means to conceal ourselves. That means that if we're careful, the Human-presence-revealing Spell won't be effective." Which was a small consolation - although they would have to find hiding spots that also hid the markers which the spell would place above their heads.
"There are other ways to detect people," Potter told her.
"The Supersensory Charm will be nigh useless in the jungle," she retorted. "It'll overload anyone's senses." She had discovered that the hard way when she tested it.
"I wasn't talking about that spell. But you can have animals sniff someone out - a conjured dog is as good as the real thing," Potter explained.
She drew a hissing breath. That was true. "We'll have to take care not to leave a trace, then. We'll have to travel through water whenever possible - they won't be able to track us that way."
"Don't underestimate dogs," he said, shaking his head. "They'll be able to pick up our scents along the shore. And some have noses good enough to track people even better than that."
"Did your parents have dogs track you?" she asked before she thought better of it. She noticed him clenching his teeth and blinked. "They did? Really?"
"Occasionally. When I was little."
She snorted. "Playing hide and seek past your bedtime? I thought they would send a Patronus Messenger."
"Not always," he said.
Hermione shook her head. "So we'll have to avoid leaving tracks, then." How would they do that? They didn't have brooms… She blinked. "We'll have to float."
"Float?"
"We can cast Levitation Charms on enlarged planks of wood," she explained. "It'll be slow, but as long as we only use them for a short distance - enough to significantly widen the area any dog would have to search - we should be OK."
"Unless they simply conjure dozens of dogs," Potter said.
She glared at him. "Then we'll have to travel a little further."
He nodded. "Or we lay down fake trails. Your birds could carry cloth with our scent on it."
That was a clever idea. She nodded in turn. "We can do that. Although that would confirm our presence on the island."
"I think we already did that by wounding the wyvern," Potter pointed out.
She briefly pursed her lips. He was correct - almost. "Those wounds could've been the result of an accident," she said. "Palm trees can be remarkably tough." Well, she remembered from a BBC documentary that bunkers made from palm trees in the Second World War had proven to be surprisingly tough - that was close enough.
"I don't think they'll consider that possibility. People who hide an entire island seem like they'd be a bit too paranoid for that."
"Well, we're already assuming that whoever it is will be looking for us," she said. "I'm just pointing out that we could be lucky for once." They certainly deserved some luck - but that wasn't how it worked.
He nodded in agreement. "So, we're back to our original problem. We need to get out and find shelter. Wyvern-proof, and concealed, shelter."
"That almost certainly means a cave - anything else, we'd have to rely on not being detected," she said. "We could dig a tunnel ourselves in the soil." Vanishing Charms worked on earth, sand and similar material that didn't form a single object. "But if the wyvern finds us…" She winced. The monster would likely dig them out without much trouble.
He grimaced.
"I could transfigure earth into stone," she said, "but it would be quite noticeable if we wanted it to be thick enough to hold a wyvern at bay."
He nodded, then grinned. "So, you admit it's a wyvern?"
Oh, for heaven's sake! She rolled her eyes. "Do you have any productive thoughts about our problem?"
"Lighten up, Granger!"
She couldn't. They were still stuck in a cave, a murderous monster waiting outside, on an island which might be owned by a dark wizard who would treat them as witnesses to be disappeared. She blinked. "I think I just solved half of our problems!"
"Yes?" Potter didn't have to look so surprised.
"Yes. We can't disillusion ourselves, but we can still prevent the monster from seeing us. If we cover the area in smoke or mist…" She tilted her head, smiling tightly, as his eyes lit up.
That was a good idea, Harry Potter thought. If they could cover the pond with smoke, out to the jungle, they would have a decent chance of escaping the cave unseen. Although… "It might spot us in the jungle once we leave the area by the pond."
"Not if we keep it distracted," Granger retorted. "You've used a ventriloquism spell in the past."
"The Throw-Your-Voice Charm?" He grinned, both at her reaction to being corrected about the name of the spell and at the memory of that prank. That had been fun - Malfoy had been sure Slughorn was observing them while disillusioned. Granger, though, had quickly realised what he was doing.
"Yes," she said.
"That might work - though I'll have to imitate your voice as well," he told her. With a shrug, he added: "The wyvern might or might not be smart enough to suspect one of us sneaked out if it only hears one voice from the cave."
She nodded. "Good point. We can't underestimate it."
"Well, we can, but we shouldn't."
Another glare. He shrugged it off with a grin. "So, how do we produce smoke?"
"I guess that means you don't know the Smokescreen Spell."
He frowned. "I guess that means you don't know it either."
"It's not on next year's curriculum, and casting it in Hogwarts is harshly punished, so I haven't yet had any reason to learn it," she explained. "But as I understand it, it's quite popular in duelling."
"It was popular, but it's too easily countered these days," he told her. And it tended to trigger fire alarm spells. Harry wasn't afraid of breaking the rules, but the school came down hard on people who falsely cried fire - whether they had intended to or not. And since you weren't allowed to use it in duelling in Hogwarts until seventh year, it hadn't seemed worth the trouble to learn.
She sighed. "Then I think our best bet is burning wet wood - that should produce a lot of smoke. Enlargement Charms should help. We'll need to cast Bubble-Head Charms, of course, so we don't die from smoke inhalation," she explained.
"I can conjure a gentle breeze that will blow the smoke out of the cave," he pointed out.
"We'll still have to travel through the smoke."
Right. "And we'll need to be silent."
"That shouldn't be a problem," she said. "We can sit on a floating plank so we won't make much noise when we cross the pond."
Right, she had proposed something like that already. "Then we should keep the fire on the plank as well - or a fire, at least. That'll hide us from sight. Until we're in the clear, of course." Afterwards, it would act as a beacon for monsters. Whoever controlled the island wouldn't even have to use dogs - just a broom.
Damn. Harry missed his broom. If he had it with him, this wouldn't be a problem at all. Even with Granger in his lap, he'd outfly the monster. He blinked. Wait, his lap? What a stupid idea. You only flew like that in the sorts of stupid stories Rose liked to read. No, Granger would have to sit behind him, holding on to him as he put the broom through its paces, arms wrapped around his waist, chest pressed into his back…
He coughed. Damn, Ron ribbing him about not having a girlfriend must have stuck in his mind or something. He was better than that. And he had higher standards than that, too. It was Granger's fault, anyway. If she wasn't wearing short jeans shorts and that stupid top, he wouldn't be having such weird ideas.
"Potter?"
"What?"
"You looked disturbed." Granger was frowning at him. "Or disturbing. What's wrong?"
Damn. He shook his head. "I just tried to guess how much wood we need to cover the whole area up to the jungle with smoke thick enough to hide us."
"Oh." She bit her lower lip. "Quite a bit, I think. It would be easier if we had certain ingredients, but unless you're carrying a potions kit in your enchanted pocket…"
"I don't have an enchanted pocket," he told her. Mum had told him he could have one when he could cast the spell. Sirius had bought him an enchanted trunk, though.
"Then we need quite a bit of green wood."
He sighed. "I can see the treeline from here." But to cast a Severing Charm, from this distance... He rubbed his chin. "We'll have to use Cutting Curses, I think."
"To cut down trees? I would say so, yes."
And, of course, she would say so with that 'it's obvious, are you stupid or what?' vibe.
He clenched his teeth for a moment, then nodded. "Let's cut down a tree or two, then." He raised his wand, pointed it at the closest young tree, and sent a Cutting Curse at it.
Granger followed his example. Her aim was better than usual, he noted - all her spells hit. Then again, that was to be expected since no one was sending spells at her, unlike in a duel.
His own spells were perfectly placed, of course - hitting a stationary target at this distance was child's play.
"Accio cut trees!" he yelled next, jabbing his wand towards the pond. A moment later, the wood started flying towards him.
Granger gasped, taking a quick step back when the mangled trees entered the cave, scraping against the walls, but Harry grinned and didn't move until the wood came to a stop right at his feet.
He had mastered this spell, after all.
Hermione Granger eyed the cut trees on the ground. That was more wood than she had expected, but that was a good thing - they would need a lot of smoke to cover the entire area. All green wood, and there was also a lot of foliage. "That should do it," she said. "But we might need to float a bit of the burning wood out to the edge of the pond, to cover everything."
"Good idea," Potter told her. "Though that might warn the wyvern about our plans."
She shook her head, then had to brush a stray lock out of her face. Really, this was one of the most annoying parts of the holidays, having to deal with her hair without… She blinked and almost blurted out that she was stupid - she could use magic here! She flicked her wrist and styled her hair into a ponytail. "If the wyvern is smart enough to see through our plan, it'll be smart enough to do so as soon as smoke starts covering the pond."
"I still think we should only float the wood out once the smoke has already covered the pond," Potter replied.
"That'll be more difficult," she pointed out.
There was that insufferable grin of his again. "Nothing I can't handle."
She rolled her eyes. "Let's hope you aren't just bragging this time."
"Hey!"
She tilted her head towards him. "'I'll catch the Snitch before they can score more than five times'."
"That was bad luck! The Snitch didn't even appear until they were ten goals ahead!"
"You mean you didn't find it until then." She scoffed. "This time, there is more on the line than some silly game."
"And we almost won anyway, despite the Slytherins hexing two of our Chasers before the match!"
Oh, for heaven's sake! She sighed. "Can we focus on getting out of the cave without becoming monster food? Instead of, say, rehashing a stupid game from three years ago?"
He opened his mouth, then closed it and glared at her. "You do your part and let me worry about my part!"
"Of course!" But she was worrying about both parts. And there was something else. "We also need to decide where we're going afterwards."
"We'll burrow a tunnel and hide inside it. Deep enough that the wyvern can't get us even if it finds us. And you can reinforce it by transfiguring the earth to stone."
"I told you that would stick out," she pointed out.
"Not if we dig deep enough," he retorted.
"We might hit bedrock quite quickly - this is an island. I doubt the soil is deep enough." And Vanishing Spells wouldn't work on bedrock. "Do we count on finding another suitable cave?"
"We can use earth and magic to modify an existing cave," he said.
"If there is another cave in the first place." She wasn't so sure there would be one.
"Then we'll have to make one and camouflage it. Like a bunker. If we build it in the jungle, we won't be easily found." He grinned confidently at her.
"And if we're found? By the wyvern, or by anyone else?" This was dangerous. They were betting their lives on this working as planned. And if her years at Hogwarts had taught Hermione anything - other than a lot of magic - it was that plans rarely worked out perfectly.
"If we get discovered, we won't be any worse off than we are now - the wyvern knows where we are," Potter told her. "And if there's a dark wizard on the island, they'll know where we are as soon as they check up on the wyvern."
She pressed her lips together. Put like that… She took a deep breath. "Alright. But I reserve the right to blame you if this doesn't work."
He chuckled. "I'll see that I get eaten first in that case."
It wasn't funny. Not funny at all. But she laughed anyway, Even though she knew the idiot was probably serious. "Let's get to work, then," she said. The sooner they were out of this cave, the better. It was getting dark outside, too. Oh. "Wyverns can see well in the darkness. We'll be at a disadvantage if we flee into the jungle at night," she said.
He frowned. "But it'll see us even better during the day."
"Have you ever been camping and put up the tent in the evening, only to discover that you picked the worst possible spot when you woke up in the morning?" She snorted; she hadn't let her parents forget that for years. Unfortunately, it hadn't been enough to get out of going along on their subsequent camping trips.
"Speaking from experience?" He asked.
"My parents, not me."
"Oh. Too bad. Camping experience would be really useful," he said. "Muggle camping experience, at least."
"I've got some experience," she admitted.
"Good." He smiled. "So… you think we should wait until morning?"
"Yes." She nodded. "With any luck, the beast might be sick with an infection by then, too."
She didn't think so, though.
"Yeah," Harry Potter said. He didn't think so, though. The wyvern had had the entire side of its face ripped open, which should cause an infection or something. But while Charlie had told them stories about sick dragons, he had never told Harry and Ron about wounds getting infected or anything like that - it was always some magical disease. And he had told them how often dragons fought, and how brutal it was. Granted, the dragon keepers would tend to a dragon's wounds, but… His gut told him they wouldn't get rid of the wyvern so easily.
He sighed and looked round. "So… who's taking first watch?"
"First watch?" Granger replied. "Oh. Yes, I guess we should keep watch. If the creature manages to block the entrance again or finds another way to come after us directly or indirectly while we're asleep, that would be bad."
'Bad'? Harry almost snorted. Granger was understating things, which was funny in a way - usually, she'd exaggerate harmless little pranks all out of proportion. "I'll take first watch," he said. They were both pretty tired - well, Harry was, and Granger wasn't nearly as fit as he was - she had never been trained to play a week-long Quidditch match 'just in case'. She needed the rest more than he did - and he could stay up an hour or so longer to ensure she was well-rested when it counted tomorrow.
Of course, she frowned at him as if he had insulted her. Well, if she wanted to argue about this, he would oblige her.
But after a moment, she sighed. "Let's get dinner, then. Coconut OK?"
He snorted then. "Is that the daily special?"
That made her snort. "Yes. We're out of fish."
Chuckling, he got up and raised his wand, then visualised the last palm tree he had seen on the way to the cave. "Accio coconut!"
It took longer than he hoped - Granger was frowning again, he noted - but after a minute, a coconut landed at his feet.
"Where did you summon it from?"
"The closest palm tree I remembered," he replied.
"And how far was that?"
He didn't remember. He shrugged. "A few hundred yards?" She pursed her lips in response, and he asked: "Why?"
"Knowing how far we can go from food sources is important."
"We'll build our bunker in the middle of the jungle," he told her. "Coconuts won't be a problem." The jungle wasn't that big, after all - the palm trees would be in reach.
"I guess so," she replied, before sticking the coconut to the ground with a quick flick of her wrist and enlarging it.
"Won't that make it harder to cut it open?" Harry asked.
She looked at him, then cut the top off with a Cutting Curse. Show-off.
A few Severing Charms later, they each had a meal on a plate made of coconut shell.
"Bon appetit," Granger said.
"Thinking of visiting Beauxbatons for the next Tournament?" he asked before taking a bite of coconut. Mmm. He quickly chewed and swallowed - he was hungrier than he'd thought.
"Aren't you?" she shot back.
"Of course." They'd be in their seventh year. Ideal for the Tournament. "Though I thought you'd prefer to focus on preparing for your N.E.W.T.s instead of taking part in 'silly tournaments'."
"Having spent time at Beauxbatons will be a good addition to my CV. Also, based on what we saw at Hogwarts a year ago, I don't think I'll have any trouble with my studies while we're there - even if I were to be selected as a champion."
He snorted at her fake humility. "Do you think you'll be our champion?" If she thought so, she was delusional. Granger wasn't champion material. The last time, every champion had been a great flyer. Two Seekers and a Veela. Who was also an accomplished broom racer.
"We'll find out in a year," she replied with a frown. "Do you think you will be chosen as Hogwarts' champion?"
"We'll find out in a year." He grinned. Who else? He was the best duellist and best flyer in their year. He could beat Granger any day in the ring, and while Ron was good, he wasn't as good as Harry, and no one else came close.
She rolled her eyes. "How mature."
"Takes one to know one," he shot back. She really hated it when her own words were turned against her.
Granger huffed at that, and she didn't say anything else before they were done with dinner and she stood. Harry was about to make a comment about enjoying her sleep, but she stretched, and so did her top, and…
"I don't suppose you know a spell to conjure a pillow, do you?"
Pillows? He blinked. Oh. He shook his head. "No, I don't."
"Too bad," she replied as if that was his fault. "Accio grass!"
A lot of grass flew through the waterfall and ended up on the floor. She gathered all of it, then dried it with a charm before enlarging it.
"Like sleeping in a haystack," he commented.
"Not quite," she told him, unwrapping her robes and spreading them out on the floor.
Ah. He nodded. "You're making a mattress."
"Not quite," she repeated herself with a grin. Then she enlarged the robes. "I'm making a sleeping bag with an integrated mattress."
He watched as she filled the robes with the grass, folded it in half and stuck the edges together. That was clever, actually.
"I assume you can make one of your own," she said.
"Of course," he replied, clenching his teeth a little. He would have come up with that himself, once he was ready to go to sleep. Probably.
"Good night. Wake me up when it's my turn." She crawled into the sleeping bag.
"Will do."
Unknown Location, July 7th, 1996
Hermione Granger stifled a yawn. Dawn was finally breaking, or that's what it looked like through the waterfall, and she was sleepy. And she really missed her books. Having a good book - or any book - to read would have made this stupid watch much more bearable. Why hadn't she taken a book with her? Because she had been meeting Lavender, of course, and it would've been rude. If only she had an enchanted purse or pocket - she would have been able to carry all the books she wanted with her. But since she had a book bag at Hogwarts, she hadn't needed one. And they were expensive. It had seemed smarter to wait until she could make one herself.
Once they were back, she'd focus on that. And she'd also buy camping supplies and other things. And enough camping food to last for a year. She sighed. She wasn't sick of eating coconuts yet, but that would happen sooner or later. And she would get literally sick if she tried to subsist on coconuts alone for any length of time.
She chuckled. They first had to escape the wyvern before they would need to worry about malnutrition. Still, a smart person planned ahead. And one of them had to plan ahead.
She glanced at Potter, in his slightly malformed sleeping bag. Only his head was visible, and only his shock of hair at that. And he criticised her own hairstyle? Ha! She should dye his hair green and pink or something. See how long it'd take him to realise what she'd done.
No, that would be stupid. They needed each other to survive this island. Unlike Potter, she knew that pranking people without a reason was foolish and only served to cause trouble. She blinked. He wouldn't, would he? Trust, but verify. A quick check showed that her hair hadn't been dyed.
Good.
She looked out of the cave again. Yes, the sun was rising. Should she wake up Potter? No. The idiot needed his sleep. Especially after he hadn't woken her in time for her watch. The boy probably thought letting her sleep longer was noble, but all it would do was make him lose out on sleep, which would endanger them both. Sleep-deprived people were prone to making mistakes.
Well, he could sleep in today. Whether they escaped early or late morning wouldn't make a difference - they had no way to judge when the wyvern would be around.
She stretched again, then looked at the coconut. Breakfast was ready. Almost ready.
She leaned back against the wall. She could wait a little longer.
"Alright. We've got the green wood ready. Split so we can float the smaller fires out to the edge of the pond. We've got our own plank ready. Everything's packed up. Now we need the Bubble-Head Charms." Hermione Granger raised her wand and cast, then turned towards Potter. His head was showing the slight shimmering effect of the spell as well. "Everything's ready, then."
"Yes." Potter looked tense. About as tense as she felt.
Well, this was going to be dangerous. If they had misjudged, if the creature wasn't fooled or hampered by the smoke…
No. She wouldn't think about that. They would get out of this cave. Off this island. Back to their families. Back to Hogwarts.
She pointed her wand at the wood at the entrance of the cave. "Engorgio!"
The wood grew, filling most of the cave entrance - as calculated. No adjustments needed.
"Incendio!"
The green wood took a little while to start burning, but soon the flames were licking at the trunks and branches, and the foliage was curling up and turning to ashes. Smoke was already filling the cave.
Potter waved his wand, and a soft breeze pushed the smoke out of the cave. Perfect.
More and more wood was catching fire. More and more smoke was being blown out. This was working. Not that she had had any doubts.
She licked her dry lips. It was difficult to judge how far the smoke had spread. And it was growing hot in here. Very hot.
She gasped. "I think we have a problem," she said.
"What?" Potter asked.
"We have to go past the fire. And I'm not sure splashing water over ourselves will be enough to protect us. We may have underestimated the heat produced by the fire." She should've thought of that. This wasn't a campfire. This was a veritable bonfire. And even with Potter's spell blowing the smoke out, the heat was getting worse.
"Damn," Potter muttered. "We'll have to banish the wood into the pond when we're going out. The smoke will keep for a bit."
"Yes." But they would have to wait until the smoke had covered the whole pond - and until after they had floated the rest of the wood to the pond's other shore to cover the area next to the jungle. Still, not impossible…
Just difficult. And dangerous.
Then she heard the wyvern roar. It was outside.