Harry of Hog and the Saga of Hogswarth
A/N: Sorry for the delay! I've been a bit distracted with Lost spoilers (I'm so scared!), and I got a new phone, lol! Hm, okay, so when I started writing this chapter I had a completely different scenario planned out… but then this idea came to me, and I decided to go with it. I am a bit confused, but I hope it worked out alright. I had a lot of fun with the dialogue in this chapter, and if you look carefully you can find lines from both the GoF movie and the 1st book, more or less as they appeared… :) I was very excited about using them, as I am really trying to go by a sort of warped canon - with obvious variations, but to make the story recognisable.
rweasley500: Don't worry, it was no big secret! And wow, your review blew me away! Thank you! And I completely agree with you about the Ron/Harry thing, Ron is oftentimes misinterpreted in fanfics… or you know, slightly out of character for the story to make sense, which is understandable of course, but it's nice to counter it with a friendship-relationship fic once in a while :) And yay, I am a complete Robin Hood-obsessee as well! Can you tell? ;) Haven't watched all the different movies though, not yet, but I'm just completely in awe of the whole time period and scenario, which is why I couldn't help putting my favourite fictional characters in a similar scenario!
Avanell: …Wait and see… Thanks for the review:D
theliznach: Thank you, I'm glad you see the connection. There will hopefully be more canon-parallels as we go along (this chapter has a kind of big one). Thanks for the encouragement :)
Ron/Hermione Fan: Well, you'll see this chapter! I'm glad you decided to stick around and review again, I hope you'll continue to read this story. :)
MagikCat: lol, don't worry, I love this story too much not to continue! The reviews probably just affect the update time, because they encourage me to write… but I think pretty much all fanfic authors can relate to that feeling! I'm so happy you liked the Harry/Ron moments, I was very nervous about them actually, there's always the chance of over-mushiness, or people might not like it because it's not in-fanon-character…
Cynthia Cacciola: Oooh, thanks for your review! I hope you stick around for this story! Hermione's coming up:D
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Chapter 5: Collision
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Harry awoke with a start. He was leaving today, he and Ron would set out towards Hogswarth castle. Was he ready? How on Earth did he imagine that two boys… men… would be able to sneak past the guards of the castle and take on the Dark Lord by themselves? But he, Ron and Hagrid had discussed this, and they believed that exactly because they were only two, they could rely on stealth and therefore had a good chance of getting into the castle. From then on… well Harry honestly was not sure, but he knew deep inside that he would not get to rest until he had tried. Besides, they could not hide out in the forest forever, Harry had an estate to reclaim, and Ron… he would come with Harry of course, that was the unspoken agreement between them. Besides Harry wouldn't have it any other way, Ron was the closest thing Harry would ever have to a sibling.
Feeling slightly heartened by this thought, Harry got out of bed. Hagrid was awake and bustling around the stove, preparing breakfast, while Ron was still asleep with his mouth hanging open and his arm dangling out over the bed. Harry snorted. Charming.
"Good mornin'," Hagrid said, and though he tried to hide it Harry could hear the sadness in his voice.
"Morning Hagrid," Harry responded, sitting down at the table.
"So, today's the big day then eh?" Hagrid said, trying and failing to sound enthusiastic.
"We'll be back Hagrid," said Harry, more confidently than he sounded. "I know we will. And then we'll have beaten Lord Riddle, and you will be able to move out of the forest!"
Hagrid sighed. Once, he had actually been living a normal life, in a little village near Godricshollow, which was how he had known of Harry's parents. But when Riddle and his followers had raided the village a few years before King Albus' departure, they had killed Hagrid's father and driven Hagrid into the forest, calling him a freak. On that occasion, Riddle had informed Hagrid that he would soon rule the kingdom, and freaks like Hagrid would no longer be tolerated. Hagrid had been terribly shook up by the incident, and although he had half a mind to go after Riddle and crush him with his bare hands the things the followers had called him had kept him back. Hagrid was an exceptionally big man, and he had always felt inferior to other people because of this. Even though he had lived in perfect harmony with the other people in the village he couldn't help but notice the sidelong glances, or the cries of little children, or the obvious gaping by foreigners passing through the village. When he had been driven out, on some level Hagrid had believed it to be for the best, to keep him away from normal people. Yet when he had found little Harry, and Ron not long afterwards, he knew he had to take them in and protect them, and they had grown to love him like a father. Even though people would always gape at him Hagrid now knew, because of Ron and Harry, that he was not a threat to everyone, and he would move wherever he had to to be near the two young men.
"I'll hold you to that," Hagrid grumbled, and smiled slightly under his massive beard. Harry grinned.
They were distracted then by a loud thump! from the direction of Ron's bed.
"Ow," Ron said groggily, as he untangled himself from his blankets and got up off the floor. "Morning. What's for breakfast?"
Hagrid smiled more widely now. At least whatever happened on their journey, his boys would be together.
Breakfast passed in relative silence, and afterwards Harry and Ron got ready to leave. Each hoisting a small sack onto their backs, and Harry fastening his sheath in his belt, they took one last look at the cabin.
"Goodbye Fang," Ron muttered, scratching the dog affectionately. Fang seemed to understand that something was going on, because he whimpered slightly.
"Keep Hagrid company," Harry mumbled into his fur. Then he turned to Hagrid, who was sniffling slightly.
"Well I'll… I'll see yeh," Hagrid said gruffly, pulling both Harry and Ron into a bone-crushing hug.
"Goodbye Hagrid," Ron muttered.
"Until we meet again," Harry said, attempting a smile as they pulled away.
And with that, Harry and Ron set out, about to experience the world for the first time. Hagrid was left standing along, Fang whimpering slightly.
"Come on then, yeh old wimp. We still have the forest to tend to," Hagrid said to Fang, allowing himself one glance towards the boys' retreating backs, and then striding off in the opposite direction, Fang hurrying after him.
………………………….
Harry and Ron walked briskly up the forest path. With Hagrid they had drawn a path down an old map of the kingdom, and they had determined that the safest route would be to walk north-west until they reached the outskirts of the forest, then move along the edge until they could glimpse the Hogswarth castle. From there on they would have to leave the safe cover of the trees and travel across the open lands, but they would be nearing the castle from behind, and it was therefore less likely that they would be stopped. If they were, they could pretend they had travelled to Hog from the neighbouring country of Mugglewood, which was found to the north of the Hog Kingdom.
They walked in silence for a long time, each lost in thought about the adventures that lay ahead of them. Suddenly Ron exclaimed, "Harry! You know what I just realised? We might see… girls!"
Harry's head perked up. For sixteen years neither Harry nor Ron had been in contact with anyone except Hagrid, and the only knowledge they had of the opposite sex had been from what Hagrid had haltingly explained, about how girls usually had long hair and big lips and when they got married to men they became someone's mother. Suffice to say that this explanation had only left Harry and Ron more confused about the whole concept, and quite frankly the idea that not all people were short-haired and flat-chested was very intriguing to the boys, who couldn't wait to see one of those girl people for themselves.
"I expect they will be quite like boys really," Harry said, shrugging. "I mean, from what Hagrid said they seem quite normal don't they?"
"Yes," Ron said impatiently, "But I mean, it will be interesting! Oh, and what about babies? I know that we were like that once, too, and I do remember you as a tiny mud-faced screaming-"
"Like you were much better!" Harry snorted.
"Didn't roll around the mud as much though," Ron said quietly, and Harry rolled his eyes.
"I didn't-" but he never finished the sentence. At that moment there was a sound like a whiplash, and an arrow went whooshing through the air, catching Harry's sleeve and pinning it to a tree a few feet back. Seconds later a figure had jumped at them from a nearby bush, and wrestled Ron to the ground.
"Identify yourselves!" the person screeched, in a rather high voice.
"Gerroffme," Ron said gruffly, as Harry attempted to pull out the arrow. It was deeply impaled in the tree, and his heart beat very fast thinking of how close it had been to impaling him, instead!
The figure jumped back, long wavy hair flying, pulling out a knife from a belt, pointing it at Ron. Harry finally got out the arrow and pointed it half-heartedly at the attacker. It was quite a short boy, and judging by his voice he was not very old… but his clothes was quite stange – instead of pants and a tunic he was wearing a sort of really long shirt which reached all the way to his feet, and his chest was a bit bulky… and the long hair… as something clicked in Harry, Ron exclaimed in amazement,
"You're a girl!" His mouth was hanging open, staring at the… girl, in front of them.
"Oh well spotted," she snapped. "My name is Hermione. And I suppose you don't think I should be able to live here in the wild, or use a bow just because I'm a girl?" she said haughtily.
"Oh no," Harry cut in quickly, "He means nothing by it. It's just… we've never seen a girl before is all," he finished, feeling a bit embarrassed. His embarrassment only increased at Hermione's incredulous look. For a long time she just stood and stared at the boys, unable to speak. Then her face lit up.
"Ohhh I get it. It's a joke!" When the boys just looked uncertainly at each other she frowned. "No? Well… then it is some kind of trick, to make me think you're some kind of forest freaks instead of Lord Riddle's spies, right?"
Harry looked at her indignantly. "We would never spy for that… that evil…" he trailed off.
"And who are you calling freaks, anyway?" Ron snarled, thinking of Hagrid and his story of how he had come to live in the forest.
Hermione regarded the two boys for a while. "You know what," she said, "It would be foolish of me to believe you. At this time we cannot afford to take chances, I don't think I could-" but at this point she stopped short, her eyes wide and darting all around.
"I heard it too," Harry breathed. The three of them stood quite still for a moment, and then they heard it. Crunch! Silence. A slight rustle of leaves, and then…
"Aaaaarrrr!" a tall, muscular man jumped out from between the trees, brandishing a sword at them.
Harry immediately pulled out his own sword, while Hermione reached for another bow from her quiver. But before she was able to, the man had knocked it out of her hands and was now pointing the sword straight at her heart.
"I knew I would find you! Your camp must be near here I expect, filthy rebel!" He pulled Hermione to him, so that she was shielding him from Harry and Ron, who were edging closer. "Well then, run! Lead me to your camp! I will give you a bit of a head start… I have had a very hard journey after all…" he moved Hermione a bit closer to him and moved his hand up her stomach. "I might need…"
But before he was able to finish the sentence Ron had flung himself at the man, headbutting him and pulling at his arm with all his might. The man released Hermione in shock, and Ron pulled her to him, manoeuvring them both out of the man's reach.
"Harry, now!" Ron shouted, and Harry advanced at the man, who by this time had regained his composure and advanced on Ron and Hermione with a roar of fury. Using this to his advantage Harry aimed a blow at the man's head, but sensing the attack he whipped around, meeting Harry's blade in mid-air. Staggering from the blow Harry aimed again, and their sword met once more with a loud clang. Harry fought the best he could, using all the tricks Hagrid had taught him. He was doing rather well actually, but a horrible thought struck him – how would this fight end? Harry had never killed before, and he suddenly felt terribly unprepared. Caught off guard the man swung at Harry's arm, and Harry was just a split second too slow, and heard the rip of the fabric of his shirt tearing and a searing pain in his left arm where the sword had cut into him.
"Argh," Harry panted, but disregarded his injury for the time being, waving his sword frantically to retaliate the man's heavy blows.
"You can't do it can you, little boy?" the man taunted. "You may be a skilled swordsman, but, you are not going to- Aaaaaaaaaaargh!" the man screamed and fell to his feet, Harry dropped his sword in astonishment as a splash of blood hit him, and then he saw the arrow-tip poking out of the man's shoulder. Behind him, Hermione was standing with her crossbow raised, wide-eyed at what she had done, Ron a few feet away from her looking awe-struck.
Hermione quickly regained her composure, and pulled out some rope from her belt. She tossed one end to Harry as she moved over to him. "Help me tie him up," she commanded. "We will bring him to the camp."
Harry obliged, still slightly in shock.
"Thank you," he said. "For… saving my life and all."
Hermione smiled. "And thank you both for not running when you had the chance. I suppose I need no further proof that you are genuine." She glanced at Ron. "Besides, I hardly think the Dark Lord would send out two teenage spies out of which only one is armed."
"Oh," Ron said awkwardly. "Well we didn't exactly have… I mean Harry's sword was his father's, I didn't…" he trailed off.
"I am sure we will be able to find you something once we reach the camp," Hermione said, and Harry was glad she did not question them further about the subject just then. Harry felt guilty enough as it was that only he had a sword. "You will come with me won't you? I mean," Hermione said softly, "We work for the same cause anyway, and we can help each other…"
"Of course we'll come!" Ron said happily. Harry suspected he was very excited about the weapon Hermione had promised him.
"Yeah," Harry said, "It sounds better than trying to breach Hogswarth by ourselves."
Hermione laughed. But seeing the serious expression on Harry's face she quickly stopped. "Oh, you're serious…" she smiled "You have a lot to learn about the world, I think."
They started to drag the unconscious attacker down the forest path.
"Oh but wait till you meet our leader, he is very wise, he taught all of us… yes, we are quite a few people. Not many girls though, but I expect normal girls cannot so easily join up with the rebel forces." Off Ron and Harry's looks she added, "I grew up with my house maid, I never knew my parents… we lived in Mugglewood for a while, and then we met Sir Lupin, the leader of the rebels, and we came back to Hog with him and a few others…"
Harry, Hermione and Ron continued to talk all the way to the camp, about Ron and Harry's upbringing, the rebels' plans, and much more, already finding that they enjoyed each other's company. There are some things you can't share without liking each other, and saving each other from one of Riddle's big hairy spies in the middle of the Forbidding Forest is one of them.
