Disclaimer: Not mine.

The Chasm

Chapter 6

The Choice

They had studied the circle at the bottom of the hill, trying to decide which one to use next. Ronald, having had picked up a small pebbles and thrown them at the monoliths, had informed them two of the sixteen seemed solid. Hermione felt an unusual anxiety, not having prepared for this possibility. She pursed her lips and kept her eyes on what little research material she had available to her, hoping their magic would soon return to enable her to enlarge the bulk of the notebooks she had shrunken. Glad, and thankful, that Ronald did not throw out any more barbs, she took her time, comparing the older known runes to the new, trying to discern a pattern.

"I don't get it," Harry started. "From the Ministry side we could see through it. Well, sort of, but here every thing is solid."

"I know," she sighed and leaned back from the parchments. "I'm sorry guys. I…I don't know what I expected but not this and definitely not a whole circle."

She stood, shoving her notes back in her pocket and hefting up her backpack. "Then let's treat it like a clock and say the two we know are at noon and three, so the next would be at six."

"Don't say it, Ron," Harry warned, sliding his own pack on his back.

"I was just going to say that we should name it."

"Good idea," Hermione laughed nervously. "You can do it as soon as we see what is on the other side."

Entering the portal at the 'six' position single file, Ron then Hermione, followed by Harry, stepped out onto the top of a small hill. The light was hazy, as if a warm rain had just soaked the ground, resulting in a misty fog that rolled in front of them. Turning back, Hermione looked at the monolith, no longer seeing a solid surface, but a shimmering veil that she was able to see through to the empty landscape behind them. Facing forward with Harry and Ron she looked down the gentle slopping pasture and saw a circle of stone monoliths in the distance. Counting quickly she was not surprised when the number reached forty-eight.

"Umm, guys," she called, bringing their attention back to her. "Look at the gate…its transparent. Once we walked through it …it changed."

"Now if we knew if that meant something it would…sorry," Ron said with a grin. "We'll figure it out, right?"

"Well," she said nervously, "Now what?"

"Don't ask me," he said with a loud sigh. "Remember me? I'm just the Sherpa."

Harry looked up at the sky and frowned. "It's…off…like…I don't know…not real. Like what we just left. If all the gates open up on places like this…"

"What did you expect?"Ron snorted.

"I don't know…but not another gate. No one could survive in here," he said softly. "No food, no water."

Hermione started down the slope, anxious to get started. "Come on. We should go through one that we don't know first."

"Right," Ron muttered following behind her. "Why go into one that signifies safety."

"This must be the true entry," Hermione mused. "From here we can travel to the other places. See? The whole forty-eight are here. Maybe the veil isn't a real entry...sort of in the middle."

They walked for what seemed the entire morning, too excited to rest, and too in awe to tire. Hermione pointed out the runes she knew, reciting the common held beliefs of what they signified, but admitted that if these were older then written language it was possible the connotation was added much later and thereby incorrect or meaningless. They passed one water bottle between them as they continued to walk, glancing up at the sky that held the same hazy mist as the land in front of them.

Finally making it to the circle, they all but collapsed on the ground. Hermione didn't pause to relax before she placed the printouts of the runes in the same order that they stood in, pondering their placement. She was determined to find a method to the order, and from it discern which one to enter.

She felt small and insignificant, sitting amongst the strange formations, and stood, walking between them, trying to see if the stonework was the same, if they had been chiselled out with the same tools, by the same hand. Only at Harry's insistence had she agreed to sit down and swallow down another bottle of water, not realizing until she did how tired and thirsty she was.

"Here," Ronald handed her an oatmeal and date breakfast bar. "Found these in the pack."

"It'll do." She pulled her own backpack over and started to unbuckle the straps. "Ron, what time do you think it is?"

"Don't know," he puzzled, then turned and looked up to where they had started. "Must have been a good two hour walk just to reach the pasture…maybe four after that."

"It looked closer."

"Things like this do. Nothing around them to put them to scale. Like…walking to a mountain, you can see it but it can take days."

"That's good. We should have something to go by. If we are in constant daylight we need to remember to eat." She turned back to her backpack, finally pulling out three plastic pouches of pumpkin juice. "Here, we should drink the stuff that won't last first and save the water."

He nodded and took one for Harry as well as his own. "Why is it good?"

"That things are what they look like. I don't like the …sky…the …no sun. At least we know that what we see is real."

"Harry and I are thinking we should get out of here before it gets dark."

"Will it? If there is no sun to set?"

"Yeah, well…we were thinking if it does there may not be a moon, and without magic, it'll be pitch dark. Plus that, we can't use the candles until we get our magic back. We can't enlarge them and as they are now the matches would last longer."

"Look." She pointed to a circle she had made on the ground. "If we think of the old runes as a calendar of sorts, and only the commonly known ones, then count only the blue stones, and we know the arch is missing…but there is an empty space there," she pointed to the far side of the circle, " … twelve… that would put the gate to Durmstrang at the opposite side…See?"

Ronald looked over this shoulder, seeing the monoliths looming ominously around them. "Go on, I am sure you think this means something."

" Okay," she tried to ignore his comment, drawing a line to connect the two gates they knew, then drawing another line, intersecting the first, "if these are spaced by what they do, it is possible that the gates to…to the real world…would be on this line."

"If you are wrong?"

"Then we are right back where we started. I think we should save those two and try one of the others first. They can't be aligned by the sun or the stars like the monoliths we know, there is nothing to align them to."

"Harry?" Ronald called loudly. "Get your arse over here."

"Couldn't find any," Harry yelled as he came jogging towards them.

"Shite," Ronald muttered. "We were looking of footprints, or a path…someway of knowing if these had been used."

"Ground is too hard," Harry panted, collapsing next to them.

Ron tossed him a breakfast bar and pumpkin juice before standing up and studying the monoliths. "This place gives me the creeps. Mione, why the blue stones? Do you think they mean something?"

"No, because it's the only thing I could come up with," she laughed. "Come on guys, if I just said pick one, how would that sound?"

Ronald looked at Harry and saw him shake his head and narrow his eyes, his unsaid comment to shut up.

"Harry? Come see if you can figure anything out."

Hermione showed Harry what she had been working on as he explained what he and Ronald had been hoping to find, both glancing up at Ronald who was still walking, examining the giant stones.

"Ron? Hey, down here," Harry laughed. "Are you with us?"

"So pick one," Ronald levelled his eyes on Hermione. "Come on, we're leaving. It's going to be a guess anyway."

He grabbed his backpack and tossed Harry his own, and pulled Hermione's camera from his pocket and handed it to her. "You left this, it may work later."

"Oh, right." She stood, pulling her wand and tried to blast a small hole in the ground, shook her wand and tried again. "We should bury the empty bottles."

"Leave it," Harry said, "we can take care of it on the way back, this ground it to bloody hard to dig in," Harry offered, sliding his arms through the straps of his backpack.

"This whole place must be warded." Ron shrugged and looked back at Hermione. "Pick one."

"Wait," she said, lifting the camera and trying to snap a picture again. "Shite."

"Must be the battery," Ron shrugged. "Not much good now."

"Great, no point lugging it around," she muttered, tossing it on the ground with the discarded bottles.

"You ready?" Harry asked.

"What if I'm wrong?" She bit her lip looking from one monolith to another and then counting off from the gate to Durmstrang boldly pointed to her choice.

"Then we get to laugh at you. Have you named it yet?" Ronald started cross the stone she had pointed out.

"Just three, the third…I don't know…none of the counting runes are here," she tried to grin. "The trio…you know. Maybe it will be good luck."

"We hope," Harry said, joining them. "How does this one work?"

"I thought I'd look for a set of directions printed on the back," she said sarcastically.

Ron stopped and looked to the top then started around to the side.

"Wait," Harry sprinted over to him, "we should stick together. Hermione, come on." He held out his hand to her.

She nodded and accepted his hand, looking away as she slipped her arm into Ronald's elbow.

"It's like the pillar, at 9 ¾ quarters," she said suddenly. "We walk into it."

"Hope you are right," Ronald tried to grin. "Will hurt like a son-of-a-bitch if you're wrong."

"Could be like the wall into Diagon," Harry said hopefully.

"Right, it is made of magic bricks, and it's spelled." Hermione muttered, pulling them with her to a position that would give them enough walking space to build up some speed.

"One of us should go first. Harry?" Ronald swallowed hard. "That or we could pick one like the last. You know, with a hole to walk into."

"Yeah, let me get whacked." Harry craned his neck to see around the side. "I guess this is as good a place as any."

"Good grief," Hermione pulled her hands from their resting place and strode into the stone, disappearing at once.

"Fuck." Ronald followed her at near a dead run, pushed along by Harry who was close behind.

They jostled into Hermione who was staring at the far side of the gate, trying to sort out where they were. Ronald pulled her into his side, letting out a breath of relief.

"Don't do that again. We should at least go through two at a time."

"Harry," she said, shrugging of the protective arm from around her shoulders, "how many old schools are there? I know France, but that isn't really old, the one in Brazil, but that was built way after the Progtagese colonized it… and we know the yanks are new, I've never really heard of any others, of course we know this isn't Durmstrang and I heard the school in china closed over a hundred years ago."

"Greece, but that's just in the last few years."

"Wherever we are it's in the real world," Ron said from his position on one knee, holding up a clump of grass. "That stuff in we were walking on all day wasn't …wasn't real. With all the moisture, the ground was still hard, the grass …wrong. It seems real here."

"We don't know that, it may be only the entry that isn't real," Hermione looked up at the sky, feeling the sun warm her face.

"We should have brought Neville," Ron said with a sigh, standing up and looking around. "He would know right off where we are."

"It has to be Brazil, how many tropical places could we come out at if you think we are near a school?" Harry tossed out, as if thinking aloud. "We need to try again."

"Hope this works," Ron grumbled.

"It brought us this far," Harry shot back.

"I need the camera," Hermione said, rushing to the monolith. "It will work here, if this is the real world."

She ran, throwing her arms over her face and jumped into the stone leaving Harry and Ron to wait for her.

After a few minutes, Ron sighed loudly and walked toward the monolith. "She never was good at finding things or listening. What part of not going alone didn't she understand?"

Harry grinned and continued examining the flora that surrounded him. "I should take some of these back. Neville would love it…Ron?"

Harry stood and shoved a leaf in his pocket, glancing over his shoulder and feeling uncomfortable staying by himself. Deciding that he should join the others he stepped into the gate, stumbling out and tripping over Ronald.

"She was like this when I came," Ron said, not looking up but wiping blood from Hermione's face. "She's out of it."

"Fuck," Harry spat, kneeling down in front of Ronald, putting Hermione between them, and pulling his wand, holding it loosely in his hand, looking over his shoulder.

"You can put that away," Ron said, nodding to the monolith. "She must have tried to get back to us. Her head took the worse of it but the camera is history."

Harry stood, placed his hand on the gate and felt the blood that still marked the stone. "She must have…we can't go back."

"Harry!" Ronald called, leaned over Hermione, and pushed her shoulder back to the ground. "Not so fast, you've gone and buggered yourself up."

"Ron?" She looked up through a fog, reaching her hand out to cup his face. "What are…"

"Give it time," Ronald closed his eyes and leaned into her hand, enjoying her touch, before removing it and turning his face up to Harry. "We could use a potion here. Got something for swelling?"

"No," Harry said quietly. "You think it's that bad?"

"I'll be fine," Hermione breathed, "just…give me a minute."

"What day is it?" Ronald said staring into her eyes, lifting one of her eyelids and frowning.

"How the fuck do I know," she hissed, slapping his hand away. "Is it midnight yet?"

"She has a point," Harry grinned, feeling the knots in his stomach loosen as she sat up.

"You should stay down," Ron muttered.

"No," she said flatly. "We keep going….just…not that way. It won't let us back in."

"Figured that out all by yourself, hey?"

She narrowed her eyes at Ronald and raised her hand to Harry, letting him pull her to her feet.

"Going to have one hell of a headache," he grinned.

"Yeah, tell me about it," she sighed as her eyes scanned the remaining monoliths. "We should try number four. Gebo, if you want to look for Sirius we should start there," Hermione said flatly. "It's as good as any and the idea of clocks and calendars sure doesn't work."

"Sacrifice…" Harry nodded, grinning at Ronald and walking toward the large X shaped gate.

"You think…"

"No, Ronald, I think he's an idiot but it is the only rune he knows the name of," Hermione said angrily. "Sorry, I really didn't mean to snap. I just…I should have known better."

"How?" Ronald said softly. "Hermione, stop. We are in this together and don't expect you to have all the answers."

She studied his face, surprised that he was not blaming her and felt a rush of gratitude.

"Oh," Ron chuckled. "I'm glad Isa isn't here."

Hermione smiled. "No, I think we could avoid that one. But, Ronald, we know nothing of the others. We need to find something, a … a tablet… some proof of all this."

"Don't you think the Ministry is…?"

"No, don't be a fool. If they sent someone in and they didn't come back, they may have sent someone in after them, but the second time they would have stopped trying. We don't even know… my gods…Harry…no Harry," she screamed and started running, pulling up short, as she saw Harry step into the Monolith. "Ron…we don't know if the others work the same. What if…"

"He can't get back at all?" Ronald picked up his backpack and tossed her one, slinging Harry's over his arms. "Then we better go find him. Fuck, and you were worried about me."

They jogged across the clearing, Ronald reaching his hand to Hermione, glad that she took it without complaints and leaped into the next world.

It was dark, and cold. The landscape was that of rugged mountains, treeless crags and jutting cliffs. The smell of salt water, and cool winds, alerted them to their proximity to the sea. A full moon enabled them to see the ground clearly, and was bright enough that they felt exposed and sought the darker shadows at base of the giant monolith.

The only thing that had alerted them to the fact they were not in the real world was a compete absence of stars, leaving the sky strange and foreboding, directionless and void. Taking turns on watch, only to fall into a fitful sleep, they were awake within a few short hours. Taking turns to walk into the deep brush to relieve themselves, Ronald and Hermione now waited for Harry, anxious to start off again.

"At least we should have a sun here." Ron nodded to the sky where the blackness streaked with deep purple indicating a change of light. "And if what we saw back there holds, there will be another circle."

"We can't even be sure that's…"She spun around, still on the ground, slowly rising to a low crouch. "I hear something…it's not right."

"Shhh," Ron crouched beside her, "Harry?"

"Here," he whispered from deep in the undergrowth. "Wait."

Ron and Hermione crawled backwards, putting their backs to the stone, waiting in silence until they heard him returning.

"Harry?" Hermione stood, peering into the blackness.

Suddenly Ronald yanked her arm and slung her behind him, trapping her between him and the granite face of the monolith. "What do you want?"

Harry had a knife at this throat, his body obscuring his captor, who shoved him roughly forward into the clearing then pulled him to a stop, hissing into his ear. "Where's the rest?"

"Steady," Ron held up a hand, palm out. "Just us. Now, let him go and we can talk."

"What did you bring?" A quick flick of the knife indicated the backpacks and returned to Harry's neck, the blade pushing into the flesh.

"You can have it," Hermione said shakily, "just don't hurt him."

"Dump it," the voice hissed, "be quick."

They upended the backpacks. Hermione unzipped the pockets and unbuckled the clasps not taking her eyes off the knife, nor the small line of blood that appeared where the edge met Harry's skin.

"You can let him go now," Ron said, again pushing Hermione behind him. "You can see …we don't have anything that you need."

Suddenly Harry was released and pushed forward. He stumbled into Ron, gagging and gasping for air as Hermione rushed to him, going down on her knees beside him.

"Who are you?" The dark haired woman asked, waving the knife in the air as if to make a point. "People don't just…wander in…who sent you?"

"No one, we…we came by ourselves. Just to …research. We mean no harm." Hermione slowly reached for a bottle of water and opened it, seeing the woman nod she helped Harry to drink while she inspected his throat.

"We were leaving," Ronald said, looking at the many small knifes the stranger had tied to her leg and belt, knowing in an instant one could come flying through the air. Lowering his arm, he tapped his palm to his jacket cuff, releasing his wand.

"Let it drop," she said coldly, her eyes flicking from Ron to the supplies that lay spilled on the ground and back to Ronald. "Bitch, yes you…is there another? Or does that dark haired one got tits? The matches, toss them to me."

"Anything," Hermione said meekly, crawling over to the matches, grabbed them and flung them, seeing them land by a pair of sandaled feet. "What else?"

"The backpacks," the stranger said, flicking her knife, indicating where she wanted them. "Now move."

She picked up the empty packs and slung them over her shoulder, smirking as the three cowered away from her. "You'll be dead within the week. Idiots! Whoever sent you will have your blood on his hands. So you can go back to your precious Ministry and tell them to stay out of this."

"They didn't…"

"Shut up," she spat. "I would suggest you get the fuck out of here. It's getting dark soon. Unless you know what the fuck is going to happen you better go."

"We need water," Hermione said boldly, pointing to the supplies. "And … there are some smaller things we …"

"You stupid bint, you think your wands will work here? You think all your fine learned magic will do you a damned bit of good here?"

Ronald looked down to Harry, saw him going for his own wand and stepped between him and his former captor. "Why wouldn't it?"

"Bugger off." She turned and spat on the ground, eyeing the supplies again. "That there…give me that."

"Wh…"

"The chocolate. Throw it to me."

"Sure," Harry fisted three bars and flung it toward her.

"What do you call this place?" Hermione hazarded, standing slowly.

"Home." The stranger laughed, squatted down and gathered up the sweets, shoving them in a pouch tied to her belt. "Now go. Take the water…and…leave everything else."

Ronald eyed the shrunken items that lay discarded, swallowing hard he looked back over his shoulder at the monolith. If they left, there was no way back.

"So, you think you know the secret?" He heard her voice milliseconds before she was in his mind, seeking information, ripping through his memories at breakneck speed, then suddenly he was knocked to the ground as Harry tackled him, breaking the connection.

"Fools," she spat, sneering down at the pair on the ground before leveling her knife at Hermione. "You are not even close. Not even. You'll get lost in here and not know it until it's too late. If whoever sent you is so fucking stupid then save yourself and get the hell out if you can."

Ronald strode to Hermione grabbing her elbow and yanking her toward the monolith, taking one more look at the woman they stepped into the gateway. He pulled Hermione aside until Harry was next to them, and only then, fell to the ground holding his head.

"Bloody hell!" he muttered. "Merlin, Harry…it hurt like a bitch."

"Here, it'll help a little. Snape used to do it to me, felt like a hot poker was being pushed into my head." Harry pulled a headache potion from his pocket and handed it to Ron. "Most of the supplies are gone. All we have is what's in our pockets."

"The water," Hermione gasped, "we didn't take it."

"Well, we don't have a choice do we? We can't go back and get it." Ronald sighed, feeling the potion take effect.

"We keep going." Harry said flatly.

"We should go back," Hermione said, ignoring their look of surprise. "Just long enough to put up more supplies. The stuff we have isn't much good shrunken down like they are."

"No," Harry said angrily. "We keep looking. We won't get another chance. You know as soon as we go back our arses will be hung out to dry. I don't care if Kingsley gave us the portkey or not, we won't get another chance."

"He didn't, did he, Hermione?" Ronald said flatly.

"He would have," she muttered. "Okay, so it was Ivan. He made it and…shite, if anyone finds out…"

"Why did he say it was Kingsley?" Ronald said incredulously.

"Because, I told him if you knew it was from him you wouldn't use it and he has some warped idea that since I am your wife I would only be doing this to advance your career."

"She's got you there," Harry grinned.

"Yeah, well…forget the meaning of the runes will ya?" Ron frowned and changed the topic quickly. "Unless we were the ones being sacrificed it was dead wrong."

"If we are right, the meanings were all made eons after the runes were turned into … into…" she sighed loudly and plopped down on the ground. "I have to work something out. I could have misunderstood it."

"What are you thinking?" Ronald lowered down on one knee, studying her face.

"Not now, just…leave me alone while I think."

"Right," he spat angrily, standing up and glowering down at her. "Back to this, hey?"

"What? Ronald, don't start, not now."

"Why is talking to me so hard?" He swallowed hard and walked away, his lips set in a thin straight line.

"You should talk to him, Mione," Harry said quietly as he sat down next to her. "It could be a few days before we get back, you could make this easier."

"I've tried with him, you know I have."

"No, you've always shut him out. Even when we were kids you never really listened to him, not on important stuff."

"That's not fair. I've always listened to him."

"No, you always let him talk. That's quite different."

"He has someone else he can talk with, you know he does. You knew it then and didn't bother to tell me, just let me go on making a fool of myself. "

"No." He frowned at her. "You managed that one on your own."

"I expect you to take his side, everyone else does. Including that wife of yours," she spat. "Just stay out of it."

She gathered up her papers and folded them, quickly shoving them in her pocket and then walked to the closest monolith, declaring it was the next gateway. Hearing Ronald's snort of laughter she turned just in time to see him stride into one on the opposite side of the circle.

"See what I mean?" She turned on Harry. "He doesn't care, he just walks off…he is always doing what he wants and doesn't give a damn about…."

"Not now," Harry said, jumping up and running across the open space. "Bitch later, he's leaving."