Thank you to everyone who reviewed! It really means a lot to me that you like my story. I will try to update as fast as I can think of the storyline. As always, please continue to review, and if there's anything you want to see/don't want to see happen in the upcoming chapters, please tell me in your review so I can do my best to fit your interests.
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Hermione looked at Elsa in surprise and then to Draco.
"What is this spell, Malfoy?" she asked.
"Lengua Totalis. It allows you to communicate using any language, both speaking and understanding. But it's a pretty uncommon spell because even the slightest slip-up could be disastrous. Really, Granger, I'm surprised you've never heard of it," he said in an irritatingly smug tone.
"Yeah, me too," she muttered as she turned away in disgust.
"Well, Granger, since you've already slept about half the morning, I'm going to take my nap and leave you women to do the cooking. Wake me up when it's ready," he said, lying down and turning his back to them. Hermione just rolled her eyes at his chauvinist comment, and within moments she could hear his heavy breathing. He had fallen asleep and she was now alone with this small girl.
"So, Elsa, what should we make?" she asked, turning to the child. Elsa just shrugged. "Well, I guess it's up to me, then," Hermione sighed. She rolled up her sleeves and began.
First, she sliced the apples, cut out the core, and stuck them in a bucket of water. She had Elsa go out and fetch some firewood and once it was gathered, Hermione had the child go wash the rest of the berries and herbs in a small stream nearby. While she did that, Hermione took her wand and started a fire. When Elsa got back, the apples had been cooked and they put the berries in along with some herbs to make a small salad-like mixture.
"Well, Elsa, let's see how this tastes," Hermione said, scooping out a small spoonful of the concoction. She was pleased to discover it was sweet and refreshing, and not a terrible cooking mishap, like food inventing so often is. She promptly got two small bowls for herself and Elsa from the old tub by the window, and they ate happily.
When Draco finally woke up, he rubbed his eyes and looked around, obviously slightly disoriented by his location. His expression quickly changed from one of confusion to disappointment when he remembered where they were. Looking around, he spotted the girls, sitting just outside the open door of the hut. He got up and wandered over to them, eying the empty bowls sitting at their sides.
"Did you actually manage to make something edible, Granger?" he smirked, trying to keep the eagerness out of his voice, because now he was really starting to get hungry. She turned and glared at him, but stood up and walked into the hut. She grabbed another bowl out of the tub and lowered it into the pan by the now extinguished fire.
"Here, eat up," she said, shoving the bowl at him. He stared at the contents of the bowl warily. "Oh, come on. I didn't do anything to it, Elsa and I both had some already," she snapped and whirled around, marching back out to where Elsa sat. He sniffed the food and then took a small bit. His eyes opened in shock when he discovered that it was actually pretty good. He began to eat as fast as he could without drawing attention to himself, and when he was done he set the bowl down and went out to join the girls.
"Alright, Granger, your food was actually not too bad," he admitted grudgingly. Hermione did her best to hide her smile.
"I'm glad you approve," she said. He just grunted and stared off into the distance at nothing in particular.
"Malfoy, I've been thinking," she began.
"So what else is new?" he snorted. She ignored him.
"We can't keep wandering around Germany in our school robes. We know little enough about this whole situation without drawing attention to ourselves," she said. He nodded in agreement. She did have a point.
"Well, what do you suggest?" he finally asked.
"I'm not sure. I could try and change them into some normal looking clothing, but I need to see what the locals wear, first. I'm not really up on the clothing styles of Germany in the 1940's. I think we should try and find a village tonight, stay out of sight, and see what people wear. I can duplicate their clothing and at least then we won't have to worry about our robes," she said.
"Yeah, okay. I guess that'll have to work. It'll be dangerous, but we've got to do it. The only thing is, we don't know where the villages are around here," he said.
"No, we don't. But Elsa does. She could guide us to the nearest village and we can keep her with us and take her to England. There's nothing left for her here," Hermione said, gesturing to the shack.
"Alright, this whole idea just may work. But we have another problem," he said, thinking.
"What's that?"
"How are we gonna get to England? Germany controls every country between us and England with the exception of Switzerland. We could go to Switzerland and try to make connections there, but we'd have to go south first, and then northwest, plus Switzerland is landlocked. We could risk going straight west, but we'd be cutting through Belgium and France, both of which are pretty heavily occupied. We could also go north to Sweden, which is also a neutral country. We'd still have to cut through a good part of Germany, and all the way through Denmark, which is occupied, but we might stand a chance. The only thing is getting across the North Sea to Sweden," he sighed.
"This is like being on a sinking ship in shark-infested waters," Hermione muttered. Out loud she said, "I think we should just cut straight across to England and skip Sweden and Switzerland. We have to go through German territory no matter what, so let's just take the most direct path."
"Okay, fine. Well, the sun is setting now, so I guess we should try and find this village, huh? Elsa, do you know where the nearest village is from here?" he asked, turning to the girl. She had been sitting there the whole time, listening quietly. She nodded her head, stood up, and began walking. Draco and Hermione fell into step next to her.
She led them through a strip of woods, and then across several wheat fields. Under different circumstances, it would have been a beautiful walk in the evening. There was a cool breeze stirring the leaves, the sky was streaked with pinks, reds and oranges, reflecting off of a few small cumulus clouds while the birds sang softly. Draco and Hermione were too busy noticing all the different places a German soldier could hide in the woods, and how little cover there was for them should they come under fire or have to run through the fields.
"There," Elsa finally said, pointing to a small group of houses. It was a tiny town in the heart of Deutschland near the Rhine. As she looked, Hermione could see people walking home, probably either having supper, or just finishing. The site made her miss Hogwarts terribly all of a sudden, and her eyes began to well up.
"What's wrong with you?" Draco asked, glancing at her. He definitely had a lack of tact towards Hermione.
"I miss home," she sniffed, whipping her eyes on her sleeve. "I'm fine, though."
They walked quietly down the slope towards the town, keeping an eye out for any people who might spy on them. When they reached the shadow of a house on the edge of town, Hermione turned to Draco.
"Okay, I'm going to have to find a boy and girl who are wearing pretty normal looking clothes and duplicate them. It shouldn't be too hard, so if you see anyone who might fit the bill, point them out, please." He nodded and turned to watch.
Pretty soon, they saw a group of teenagers walk by and Hermione pointed her wand, muttered a few words, and voila! They had new clothes in place of their robes. Elsa stared in silent wonder.
"Nice going, Granger, now let's get out of here," Draco whispered as she stashed her wand in a pocket of her new skirt. They began to walk away when they felt a hand come down on their shoulders. When they turned, they were looking up into the faces of three large German soldiers.
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Okay, how was that? These chapters are a lot longer than my normal ones! It's kinda fun for me. Please give me reviews, guys! I really look forward to them, and the more I get, the sooner I update.