I'd like to thank fredfred and InquisitorCOC for beta-reading.

Chapter 8: The Breakout Part 2

Ministry of Magic, London, July 7th, 1996

"...I really don't know. Please, you gotta believe me - I don't know anything about a Portkey!"

James Potter scowled at the shivering wizard in front of him as he leaned forward, placing both his hands on the small table in the interrogation room. "Really, Weatherby? It's your shop, and you expect me to believe that you didn't even know what you were selling?" He scoffed. "How stupid do you think I am?"

The man sniffled. "But it's true! I wouldn't have left a Portkey lying around like that! You know me - I keep my nose clean!"

James shook his head. "You shouldn't try to lie like that." He stifled a yawn; it wouldn't do to appear weak right now, despite the late - or early - hour. This scumbag knew what happened to Harry, and James would make him talk.

"But… but…" Another sniffle followed.

Was Weatherby about to cry? Then he was about to break. Time to increase the pressure. "You know what I think? You know what happened to the children. You know exactly what you have in stock and how much you can charge for it. Because it's stolen loot and you're fencing it!"

"No!" Weatherby shook his head frantically. "That stuff wasn't stolen - I got it from a wizard who was selling his great-uncle's estate. You need to ask him, Mr Cobblespun, he sold me the stuff on that shelf!"

"Mr Cobblespun has left the country," James informed him. "Family business in the New World." At least that was what the scum had told the French authorities when he'd purchased a Portkey for Iceland. And the useless Gendarmes Magiques hadn't bothered to question why a British wizard would come to France to travel to the New World! James was sure that once the Scandinavian ministry got back to them - which could be any time within the next few weeks - they would tell them that Cobblespun hadn't taken a Portkey to Newfoundland, but to somewhere else.

"But…" The wretch was gaping at him. "That's not my fault!"

"Exactly." James bared his teeth at the wizard. "He can't help you. He can't tell us that he was the one who sold you stolen loot, and that you had no idea what you were buying."

Yes, the wizard was now crying. "But… I didn't know about any Portkey! And there were no curses on any of the stuff."

"You're the one with a shop full of stolen loot." That wasn't exactly true - no fence would be as stupid as to exclusively sell stolen loot. They would mix it with lots of junk they got legitimately, so they could claim that they had mistakenly bought something stolen whenever someone found stolen goods among their wares. And Weatherby knew how to play the game. But he wasn't used to drawing so much attention. No one really cared about small-time fences. But kidnapping the child of the Head Auror? Harry?

"But… I didn't know!"

"You didn't know? And you didn't suspect? Really?" James scoffed again. "Tell me what was on those shelves, or I'll send you to Azkaban for life!"

The man paled. "Azkaban? For life? But… I only sold stuff! I ain't no dark wizardI I never hurt anyone!" He trembled, shaking like a bush in the wind. "Please! You can't do that!"

"Well, there's fencing stolen loot…" James glared at the man, clenching his teeth as he stood and walked over, then leaned down until his mouth was next to the other wizard's ear. "...and then there's kidnapping!"

"Kidnapping?" Weatherby gasped. "I didn't kidnap anyone! Honest! Please, you gotta believe me!"

"Two children walk into your shop… and they never leave. What do you think the Wizengamot will do when they hear about this? And one of the children was Harry Potter. My son."

"But…" The man was in tears. "I didn't know there was a Portkey! I don't know what happened! I didn't kidnap anyone!"

"You can tell that to the Wizengamot. Harry's godfather is on it." James walked behind the man. "Do you think they'll believe you?"

"But it's the truth! I didn't do anything to them!"

"They disappeared in your shop. And you know nothing?" James scoffed at him again. "What was on those shelves? What happened to them?"

"There was just junk! And nothing is missing - the charms would have alerted us if anything was taken out of the shop." Weatherby sniffled again. "Please - I don't know nothing! It wasn't my fault! I can't go to Azkaban!"

"If you don't want to go to Azkaban, then you need to help us find out where the Portkey took them." James sat down again.

"But how? I would tell you if I knew! I'll tell you everything! But I really don't remember all the junk I bought!"

"But you do remember, though. More than you think." James grinned. He had the man now.

Godric's Hollow, Devon, Britain, July 7th, 1996

The sun had been up for a while when James finally made it home. But as soon as he stepped into the house, he could see Lily standing in the doorway of the living room. "James! What did you find out?"

She must have stayed up all night as well, he realised - he could tell that from her face, too. Her eyes were a little… He shook his head. Focus. "We know a bit more," he said, smiling weakly.

Her face fell. Then she took a deep breath and raised her chin. "But not enough."

He shook his head.

"What do you know?"

Sirius was here as well? James frowned as he stepped into the living room. Remus was on the couch, still asleep. And the rug in front of the fireplace was scrunched. "Did you sleep on the floor?" he blurted out.

His friend frowned. "I rested a little. But that's not important, now. What did you find out?"

James sighed and sat down in his favourite chair. Which, he noticed, smelt like dog. And he was too tired to clean it with a spell. Damn, this felt like the bad old days during the war. How often had they gathered like this, ready to head out and fight? Standing guard?

He shook his head. He had to focus. "I convinced Weatherby - that's the shop's owner - to donate his memory. We also have the clerk's memory. So we can find out what the Portkey Harry activated looked like." He stifled a yawn. "But we need Albus's Pensieve for that." Too bad that the clerk hadn't actually seen what had happened.

"I'll go fetch it!" Sirius said, whirling and striding towards the fireplace.

"Wait!" Lily snapped. "You want to fetch the Pensieve?"

"Well, yes?" Sirius looked confused. "We need it, don't we?"

James sighed. He was too tired for that. All of them were - Sirius usually wasn't this… this much like Padfoot unless he'd just transformed.

"What's going on?"

Ah. Remus had woken up.

"We've got the memory of the shop's owner," Lily explained. "And now we need to go and ask Albus if we can use his Pensieve." Her expression told James that she considered the answer a formality. A sentiment with which he wholeheartedly agreed.

"Ah." Remus got up. "I'll open the Floo for us, then. I hope Albus is already awake."

James didn't care. And he didn't think that the others cared. This was about Harry. And about Miss Granger, he reminded himself. Couldn't forget the other missing student. At least the Grangers weren't here, fortunately.

"Let's go," he said.

"Shouldn't you take a Pepper-Up Potion?" Sirius asked.

"Already took one," James told him. And a second one was… Well, it would render him awake - and cure any cold he might've caught - but he'd crash hard afterwards.

Sirius nodded. He didn't suggest that James went to sleep while they handled things, of course - his friend knew better.

James could sleep once they knew what kind of Portkey the idiot had left on the shelves of his shop.

Unknown Location, July 7th, 1996

Damn. Harry Potter clenched his teeth. The fire was growing hotter than he'd expected. And the wyvern was outside the cave. They needed to float the smaller fires to the edge of the pond, but with the big fire in the way, they couldn't see well enough… He really should have learned the Flame-Freezing Charm, even though the Water-Making Spell was usually fine to deal with fire and had more uses...

"What do we do?" Granger asked. "We have to do something."

He glanced at her. With the smoke filling the cave entrance and covering the pond outside, the light was dim inside here, but he could see she was worried. Obviously, she hadn't learned the Flame-Freezing Charm either. "We'll have to fly through the fire. But first, we need to ensure that the whole area outside is covered."

The wyvern roared again. Would it try to enter the cave? Despite the smoke? The fire might not hurt it, not much - wyverns were related to dragons, after all.

Harry shook his head. They had to stick to the plan. Now or never. "We'll have to be quick. Float the smaller fires to the edge of the pond right after we banish the main fire into the pond. Then we float out through the smoke."

"That won't be long enough to let the smaller fires cover the area to the jungle," Granger pointed out. "And if we wait after banishing the main fire…"

"...then the smoke over the pond thins out," he finished for her. "And with the wyvern right there…"

"Yes." She wiped sweat from her face. "We'll have to levitate the fires blindly. And wait."

He nodded, feeling sweat run down his face. It burned when it entered his eyes. Damn. "Alright." He flicked his wand, ending the Gentle Breeze Charm, and cast a Water-Making Spell, dousing both of them in cold water.

Granger shrieked. "What… Ah."

He quickly recast the Gentle Breeze Charm. "Alright. On three. One. Two. Three."

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

He waved his wand, focusing on the thick plank to the left which he could barely see through the smoke - just its tail end. But that was enough for the spell to take hold, and he saw the plank rise, embers dropping down when it wobbled a little.

Clenching his teeth, he pushed his wand forward, pointing towards the mouth of the cave - and beyond. The plank with the logs stuck to it started to move. Slowly. Too slowly. It needed to move faster to pass through the waterfall without the fire being extinguished. He cursed under his breath, blinking as sweat ran into his eyes, and concentrated on moving the plank faster.

The plank passed through the waterfall - he felt the push of the falling water. He could no longer see it - it had disappeared in the smoke - but he had a feeling, roughly, where it was. It was over the pond now. Moving towards the edge of the pond. But how long did it have to go still? At the speed it was going, it would be… somewhere above the pond.

Damn. He took a deep breath and tried to visualise the pond and the small strip of clear ground between the edge of the pond and the start of the forest. Damn. He hadn't had any trouble when he had imagined it before the fire. But with all the smoke…

The wyvern roared again. Louder. Angrier, if that was possible.

And the smoke suddenly blew into the cave, his Gentle Breeze Charm overwhelmed. How… Bloody hell! The waterfall at the mouth of the cave was moving back and forth - the wyvern was flapping its wings and driving the smoke and water back into the cave with each stroke of its wings! "It can hover? How's that possible?"

"Dragons can hover for short periods of time," Granger said. "Can you cast a stronger wind spell?"

"Not without dropping the fire," he told her. And… where was the plank now? Still over the pond or over dry ground again? Could he risk it? Or should he keep it moving for a little longer? "Have you gotten your fire to the edge of the pond?"

"I think so. The wyvern distracted me," Granger replied.

Had the creature planned this? Just how smart was this wyvern? And how far had his fire floated?

The smoke had filled the entire cave now - he couldn't see Granger any more. And that meant the smoke over the pond would be gone.

And the heat… the hot air wasn't being blown out of the cave any more, but blown back in. It was rapidly becoming too hot to stay in here.

Suddenly, cold water drenched him. "I dropped the plank. Over solid ground… I think," Granger told him.

He did the same, hoping his plank had travelled far enough. Then he recast the Gentle Breeze Charm.

"It cannot hover for too long, not a creature its size," Granger said. "We just need to hold out a little longer."

Was she trying to convince him - or herself? Harry didn't care. He pushed against the draft from the wyvern's wing with everything he could manage. Not that it was much - but at least it kept the heat down a little.

Granger's Water-Making Spell helped as well - and that had been his idea.

Still, if the wyvern kept this up, they'd have to banish the fire into the pond if they didn't want to get burned.

Suddenly, the heat grew even worse. "What the hell? It's getting hotter?"

"The fire's vaporising the water from my spell!" Granger exclaimed. "It's turning to steam! And steam carries heat better than air!"

They were being boiled alive? "We have to banish the fire!" he snapped. "Before we're cooked!"

For once, Granger didn't argue - she snapped her wand forward, and the big fire was pushed towards the pond. She muttered something and repeated the Banishing Charm. More logs were pushed into the water. The heat receded, too.

But so would the smoke. It was now or never. "Mount up!" Harry snapped. "Levitate the plank!" He was already casting the Ventriloquism Charm.

"But… the smoke's thinning. And the wyvern is flying in front of the cave."

"Not any more!" He yelled - the wings weren't pushing air into the cave any more. "But we have to hurry."

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The plank rose up until it was about a yard high. Harry climbed on, straddling it, then helped Granger up, pulling her in front of him. "Push us out!"

"This is crazy!" she snapped - but the plank started moving.

Harry focused on his spell: "We're going to die!" "We have to do something!" "It's waiting outside!" "Oh, no!"

He held his breath as they flew through the remains of the fire, weak flames flickering beneath them. Then they hit the waterfall - and were out of the cave, floating over the pond. Inside a rapidly thinning cloud of smoke.

With the wyvern close by.

"Oh, no! We're trapped here! Save me!"

Hermione Granger tried to ignore the voices Potter was making behind them with his spell. They were in the cloud of smoke covering the pond - which wasn't nearly as thick as she had planned. Or expected. And somewhere close - far too close - the wyvern was flying around. Any moment now, its wings would part the cloud of smoke…

She trembled and willed the plank she and Potter were sitting on to move faster. To fly, instead of floating. Towards the jungle. Fly. Faster than the smoke was fading. She could only hope that the wyvern was fooled by Potter's spell.

They were still far slower than a broom - even the school brooms were faster. If the creature spotted them, they'd be dead. And they were still over the pond - she could see the water beneath her; her feet were almost touching it. But she could see the ground, too - they must be close to the edge of the pond now.

She gasped when she heard the wyvern roar and reflexively looked over her shoulder. Through the fading smoke, she saw the massive beast hovering in front of the cave again, wings flapping furiously.

And each stroke parted the smoke even more.

She suppressed a whimper. If the wyvern heard them… A spell that muffled all sound, not just speech, would be really useful right now. But they didn't have that, so they would have to be silent.

She could see the edge of the pond now, far too clearly. There was a fire burning on the shore, logs half in the water. There should be two fires, though - one must have fallen into the water. The smoke that fire was producing wouldn't be enough to hide them until they vanished into the jungle - because she could still see the wyvern behind them, as a quick glance showed. Which meant the monster could see them as well.

Another roar made her jerk, and she had to quickly adjust the course of the plank as it bucked. If the monster turned its head, they were done for.

No! She drew a breath through her clenched teeth, gripping her wand so hard she feared she might break it, and pushed on. They were past the pond now, over land - she could see the edge of the jungle, ahead of them. But the underbrush they needed, the thick foliage that would hide them from the wyvern's eyes, was still a hundred yards away.

Which was too far. They wouldn't make it. Any moment now, the wyvern would notice them - and would speed after them. No, it would rise, then swoop down, like a giant bird of prey.

She blinked tears from her eyes. Halfway there - they had passed the first palm tree. But they had also left the smoke cloud. She felt naked. Exposed. Helpless. Why couldn't she push the plank to fly faster? Brooms used the same charms! Why hadn't she studied how brooms were made? If she had been able to enchant a broom, they would be safe now.

A dozen yards left. She was weaving between the trees now, and the palm trees were giving way to taller trees. Almost there.

She leaned to the side, as if she were flying a broom, rounding a thick trunk, branches and foliage scraping against her leg and shoulders, tugging at her hair. Almost…

"Fuck!" Potter cursed.

A moment later, the wyvern roared.

It had seen them! They were dead! No!

"Fly! Fly!" Potter screamed. "It's coming after us!"

No! She tensed, focusing everything into her spell. They sped up, breaking through the underbrush - but it was too late. The wyvern was on their tail.

Potter started casting curses as they flew between two tall, thick trees. She heard an explosion behind her. And the monster roared again.

"Fly us into the thick of it! Where the trees are too dense for it to follow us!"

What did he think she was doing? Damn! She clenched her teeth and pushed on, almost ramming another tree. This far into the jungle, the underbrush was growing less dense again. Lack of light, her stupid brain informed her. It made flying easier - but they couldn't hide here. Not if the wyvern managed to break through.

And, judging by Potter's cursing and the crashing noise behind them, the monster had just done so.

It roared, and Hermione froze for a moment. Too close! Too close! Without looking, she leaned to the side as she steered the plank into a hard left turn. A shadow shot past them, and she shrieked when she felt herself losing her one-handed grip on the plank.

Then Potter's arm closed around her. "Keep going!" he yelled as she heard trees splinter behind them. "It's crashed!"

She kept going, half-circling back towards the denser parts of the underbrush. A moment later, they dived through a particularly tall bush, and she had to shield her face with her arm to avoid branches hitting it. Her shoulder slammed into a thicker branch, almost dislodging her again, but she kept going. Her scalp hurt - something pulled on her hair.

But she kept them going. Into the jungle. Through the underbrush. Away from the monster.

Harry Potter kept one arm wrapped around Granger's waist, his wand pointed behind them, and his thigh clenched around the plank they were riding. At any moment, the wyvern could crash through the trees behind them - or above them - swooping down with bared claws to pounce on them, slam them into the ground and rip them to pieces.

He clenched his teeth so they wouldn't chatter - and so he wouldn't bite his tongue if Granger crashed into something; Oliver and frequent encounters with Bludgers had taught him that. Sweat was running down his forehead, into his eyes, but he couldn't wipe it away - he had to keep his attention on the air and the forest behind them. At any moment, the wyvern could reappear. Would reappear. And he had to be ready with a curse. Even if the spell would only distract the beast, it was their only chance. If only they had a decent broom! Not some… slowly floating piece of wood!

They entered another dense bush, and he tightened his grip on his wand when branches and leaves brushed against him. He felt Granger jerk and heard her gasp when something hit her, and, for a moment, he feared they would crash.

Then they were through the bush. He looked up - they were still under a dense canopy of branches. But the ground wasn't covered with underbrush. And… no wyvern. Still no wyvern.

He glanced forward. There was another large and dense bush. "Stop!" he snapped in a whisper.

"What?"

"Stop in the bush ahead of us."

"What? We'll die!"

"The wyvern isn't chasing us any more. We've lost it."

"Oh."

She slowed down, then stopped the plank inside the bush.

For a moment, the only sound Harry could hear was his and Granger's laboured breathing. Panting.

Then he heard the familiar roar - but far away. He shivered. "We've lost it," he repeated in a whisper.

"Yes," Granger replied. "Oh, God…"

The plank suddenly started to descend, and he barely managed to get his feet on the ground before it dropped to the jungle floor. Granger didn't - he almost toppled over when she sagged in his grip before he could gently lower her down as well.

"Oh my God!" she whispered, kneeling on the ground. "We almost died. We almost got eaten."

He swayed for a moment - he must have strained his muscles, clinging to the plank. That must be it. Then he sat down himself, shivering. She was right. They had almost died. If Granger hadn't timed that turn perfectly, the wyvern would've… would've…

He felt nauseous. They had come so close to dying… "Merlin's beard!" he muttered, then closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm down. It didn't work too well - his hands were still shaking, and his teeth… It was worse than after a Seeker duel. Far worse.

But Granger was even worse off. She was trembling - no, shaking like a leaf in the wind. He could hear her teeth chatter. Shock, he realised. Uncle Peter had told him about it. When the battle was over, when the tension left, people started shaking.

Without thinking, he reached out and wrapped his arms around Granger. "We're alive."

"We're alive," she repeated his words. "Alive."

"Yes."

He could feel her breathing slow down as they sat on the ground, clinging to each other. He closed his eyes again, listening to his own breathing. And Granger's. They were alive. Alive. They had gotten away from the wyvern. Their plan had worked. Mostly worked.

"Damn," he muttered.

Granger had stopped shaking, he noticed after a while. She was still clinging to him. Why? They had been almost killed before, hadn't they? They'd barely escaped into the cave. "It's worse than last time," he whispered.

"That was just a brief… attack," Granger replied. "This time… how long did it chase us?"

"I don't know," he told her. "Not too long." It would've caught up with them, otherwise.

"Long enough." She sobbed. Once.

"Yeah," he agreed. And looked up at the canopy above them again. No sign of the wyvern. And they would hear it if it came through the jungle. Still… "We should hide, now. I mean, dig our shelter," he said.

"Y-yes," she agreed. Then she slowly released her grip around his chest.

He let her go and finally pulled his glasses off and wiped his face with his hand.

"Let me," she whispered.

Before he could answer, he felt something brush over his face, and he blinked.

"Make-up-Removal Charm," she said. "It cleans your face."

"Ah." He nodded, then watched her do the same for herself. He reached out, tugging on a piece of wood - a twig - stuck in her hair. "You've got something…"

"Ow!" she protested. "Let me!" Another charm and her hair, which had been a mess, settled into a braid.

So she could do hairstyling charms.

He blinked. They had almost been eaten by a wyvern, and he was wondering about hairstyling charms? He shook his head with a brief laugh at his own stupidity.

"What?"

Hermione Granger frowned at Potter. What was so funny? They had almost died! If the wyvern had been a little faster… She shivered again, gripping her knees to steady herself.

And hissed with pain. What the…? She blinked. Oh. Her legs were bleeding.

"What?"

She ignored Potter and stared at her legs. There were dozens of small cuts, from all the bushes they had flown through, and she could see a bruise forming on her left thigh. And the inside of her thighs… She clenched her teeth as she realised what the rough plank had done to her while she'd been riding it. And her arms didn't look much better.

She aimed her wand at her thighs and started casting Healing Charms. Silently - she didn't want to attract any other predators that might not have been scared away - or eaten - by the wyvern. If they heard her, or if they… "Damn," she cursed. "If the wyvern can smell blood, we need to move. After we heal up."

"What?" Potter blinked, looking at her, then tensed. "You're right. You've left a trail of blood."

"We've left a trail of blood," she corrected him, pointing at a few rips and tears in his pants - and the torn skin below. She didn't quite touch his wounds with her wand, but he tensed anyway.

"Do you want me to heal them?" Healing wounds could be tricky. Hermione had read up on potential mistakes and mishaps when she had studied the charms. Some mishaps were fatal if you failed to or couldn't deal with an infection - or a clogged vein.

"I can do it myself," he told her, frowning.

She sniffed. Typical Potter pride. Couldn't accept help even if it might kill him.

She finished healing her wounds - and she'd had a lot of them; she could have served as a test subject for an entire class learning weak Healing Charms - and looked at Potter. He was finished as well, though that didn't mean anything - his clothes had protected him, unlike hers.

Which reminded her… She quickly cast a few Mending Charms on her clothes. And then on his.

"Hey!" he hissed, apparently startled.

"What?" she asked. "You want to walk around with torn clothes?" If he said yes, she'd happily oblige him!

"What? No!" he whispered back. "But I could've done it myself."

"I was faster. And we need to move - before our blood trail causes trouble for us. More trouble." She didn't want to deal with Smoke Sand Leeches, or Giant Vampire Vixens or whatever monsters the Lovegoods hadn't yet discovered.

"If it could smell such tiny drops, it would've found us already," he retorted. "I think."

"Do you want to bet your life on that?" And it wasn't just a few drops!

He scoffed but didn't contradict her. Or answer her question. "Let's mount up again, then."

"You want to fly?" She blinked. Stupid question - she doubted that Potter would walk a single step outside their classrooms if riding brooms weren't banned inside Hogwarts.

"We won't leave any tracks that way."

"We will leave tracks - those bushes we flew through will have damaged foliage," she pointed out. "And we cannot assume that the wyvern - or any other predator - is too dumb to figure out what that means. Not to mention we'll have left scent traces all along our route."

And she really didn't want to hurt her thighs again.

"But we'll also avoid leaving tracks on the ground," he retorted. "And if we're spotted by the wyvern, we have a better chance of surviving if you can fly us away while I send curses at it."

'A better chance'. Not 'a good chance'. But he was right. She sighed. She really didn't like the idea of rubbing the inside of her thighs raw again. There was a reason real brooms used charms to cushion the rider. But she'd pick that over getting eaten by the wyvern. "Let's go, then. We need to find a good spot for a hidden bunker."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Potter said, grinning.

She sighed at his optimism as she picked up the plank again. "One moment," she said. She cast a Cleaning Charm to get rid of any blood that might have been left on the wood, then started to smooth some of the rougher parts of the plank.

"What's that spell?" Potter asked.

"Sandpaper Hex," she replied without looking at him. She still heard him draw a sudden breath and mutter a few choice expletives under his breath.

"Why did you learn that hex?" he asked.

"Just in case I should ever need it, of course;" she replied. "And who would've known? - it's come in handy after all!" She grinned at him.

"You didn't learn that hex for woodworking!" He glared at her.

"You didn't learn the Cutting Curse for dicing vegetables," she retorted.

"But the Cutting Curse is a versatile spell for Defence," he protested. "The Sandpaper Hex, though… all it does is cause pain. It won't take out an attacker. Unlike a well-placed Cutting Curse - or a Stunner. It's a bad spell to defend yourself with since whoever you cast it on will be angry as hell at you."

She shrugged and grinned at him. He wasn't entirely wrong, of course - like many curses, the Sandpaper Hex wasn't good in a duel. "But it's a useful tool for self-defence," she told him. "It's a good deterrent."

He blinked, then scowled at her.

She smiled at him and finished preparing their ride with a Polishing Charm.

Harry Potter suppressed a scoff. A deterrent? He knew who Granger wanted to deter - him. Planning to use such a hex, just to scare him off? There were pranks, and then there was… that.

He shook his head. He couldn't dwell on this now. He had to focus on getting away from here and finding a good spot for their shelter. The wyvern could return - could find them - at any moment. It had spent more than a day trying to kill them, waiting in ambush outside the cave, and it had even tried to smoke them out… it wouldn't give up.

"Done. Let's go," Granger said. She waved her wand, and the plank rose into the air until it reached hip height.

He nodded and let her mount the plank - well, now it looked more like a broom shaft - before mounting behind her. He felt her tense a little when he wrapped his arm around her waist as before.

And he tensed as well. Now that they weren't in a cave rapidly filling with smoke, trying to sneak or dash past an enraged creature, he couldn't help noticing that his bare arm was wrapped around her bare waist.

Focus! He told himself. Besides, it was Granger. The witch who had learned the Sandpaper Hex to scare him off pranking her.

That helped. "Looks clear," he said, raising his wand.

"Here we go, then." Granger cast a Shield Charm and directed their ride forward.

He kept watching the sky and their rear. Mostly the sky - the wyvern, by now, could be anywhere. "Stay under cover," he told Granger as they passed through a denser bush. Granger's shield pushed the branches away, but they were still going slowly. Carefully.

After a bit, Granger stopped inside a bush.

He looked up - the canopy wasn't as dense here as before; he could see glimpses of the sky. "Back up a little."

After a moment, she did, and Harry felt the branches brush over his back and sides again. One caught in his hair.

They circled the spot, sticking beneath the taller trees, until they hit denser underbrush again. After a while and several more such detours, they finally found a sort of clearing that wasn't exposed to the sky.

"Let's do it here," Harry said, getting off the plank - the pole. Without the charms of a broom, riding such a thing was uncomfortable. He stretched his legs. Very uncomfortable, actually. If only he had learned the variant of the Cushioning Charm that was used on brooms...

Granger looked a little stiff herself. "It's a bit small."

"I don't think we'll find a better spot," he told her. "Unless you want to circle round the entire island."

She looked like she was seriously considering that. "Exploring the entire island might tell us where we are."

"Let's get some shelter first." Then he snorted. "Isn't it your role to argue for more caution?"

She snorted in return, then raised her wand and started casting Vanishing Charms on the ground. "Let's dig."

A bit over half an hour later, they had excavated a decent sized cave with earthen walls and an earthen ceiling. It wasn't as deep as Harry would've liked - there wasn't much soil above the bedrock - but it would keep the wyvern out once Granger finished transfiguring the earth into stone. Harry was gathering more earth to camouflage the whole thing when he felt a cramp in his stomach. It felt like… Ugh.

He hesitated a moment. This was embarrassing. But if he was becoming sick… "Hey, Granger!"

"What?" She appeared in the entrance - far smaller than the cave behind the waterfall; the wyvern wouldn't be able to stick its head in this one. "No, I haven't finished the shelter yet."

"No," he replied. "My stomach's acting up. I think that coconut was bad or something."

"Ah." She looked surprised, then pointed her wand at him.

He almost cast a Shield Charm when she cast an unfamiliar spell at him. A moment later, he felt better. "What was that?"

"A spell to treat diarrhoea. Coconuts can function as a laxative." She nodded, then turned back to the cave.

"Wait! You learned a spell to treat diarrhoea?" There were potions for that.

She turned back round to roll her eyes at him. "Obviously, since I just cast it."

"Are you planning to become a Healer?"

She tilted her head. "As soon as I heard about the twins' new Diarrhoea Drops, I made sure to learn the spell."

"You think I would've slipped you a drop? Merlin's beard, that would've been gross!" he protested. He'd seen the results of one of the tests. That was… Really, how could she think he'd do that? He wouldn't do that to anyone!

"That's never stopped you before." She scowled at him.

"What? No! I never did anything with… diarrhoea." Mum and Dad had taught him better than that.

"You made me vomit slugs for half an hour!"

"That's not the same!"

"It was unbelievably gross!" Granger snapped. "And incredibly humiliating!"

Of course she'd think losing a duel that way was embarrassing! But… "I wouldn't make you shit your pants!"

"What a fine line you draw!" She huffed and went back into the cave.

He scowled. "And you made me pee blue!"

She stuck her head back out of the cave. "That was a simple colour change. I didn't make you piss your pants! You didn't have to clean your clothes afterwards!"

"It's still gross!" And visiting the infirmary had been humiliating. Not that he'd mention what Pomfrey had first suspected, of course.

She huffed and disappeared again.

He stared at the entrance, then sighed - and checked the sky before remembering that they were hidden by the canopy. He wouldn't have used the twin's drops on Granger. How could she think that? He wasn't that… He wouldn't have done that. He knew better than to stoop that low. Slugs were different. That was a known hex, and robes were easily cleaned with a spell. It was embarrassing, but not humiliating. Like any decent prank. How could Granger not see the difference?

He hadn't ganged up on her. He hadn't humiliated her. He hadn't used the nasty spells Sirius and Uncle Peter had taught him or vanished her robes or anything like that. He had only done harmless pranks. Mostly harmless. Hell, he had rejected most of Sirius's suggestions! And he had stuck to official spells when duelling.

Why would Granger think she'd need to learn a spell to cure diarrhoea to protect herself against him?