Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! I do know a lot about WWII, and especially the politics, geography, and some of the major battles. I'm trying to write this as accurately (from a historical standpoint) as possible, but I do apologize if I get a few things wrong. Sorry it took a little longer to get this chapter out, but I had band camp. Oh, and I don't speak German, I just know a few phrases. If I misspell or use something incorrectly, I'm sorry.
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"What do you think you're doing?" the soldier who had grabbed them growled. "It's time for curfew."
"Curfew?" Draco and Hermione asked in unison.
"Ja. Now go home," the man commanded. When they didn't move, he glared at them. "Where do you live?"
"We're-"
"Orphans. We're orphans and we have no home," Hermione cut Draco off and gave him a warning glance. The big man's expression changed from one of mild annoyance and boredom to a mixture of malice and glee.
"Come. We will give you a home," he gestured to the other two soldiers with him. They quickly grabbed the two children and began marching them off.
No one noticed the small girl watching them go from behind a fence. Elsa, who had been facing Hermione and Draco and, consequently, the soldiers, had ducked away in the initial confusion, and the soldiers hadn't seen her through Draco and Hermione. Now, quietly tracking them, she followed the group in the deepening twilight.
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When the Germans finally stopped their march, they were standing in front of a camp full of Nazi soldiers. They guards, offering a guten abend as they passed. They walked through rows of military tents, housing hundreds of Nazis, until they reached a slightly nicer looking one. Their captors knocked on the door at the command of a voice inside.
The inside of the tent was full of papers, electronic radios, maps, books, and other miscellaneous paraphernalia. A man, probably in his early forties with salt-and-pepper hair, stood in the middle of it all, studying a map with his back to them. He turned around to reveal a weathered face with muddy hazel brown eyes and a mustache under a hooked nose. He glared at the intruders none too happily.
"Well? Why have you disturbed me?" the man snapped. Hermione and Draco could feel the hands on their shoulders noticeably tighten.
"We have brought you some orphans, mein herr. Perhaps they could be of use to the battalion. Make food, carry messages, and the like," the soldier who had first spoken to the children said.
The man eyed the children. He took a few steps closer and began to circle them, inspecting them.
"You," he said, pointing at Draco, "Can you shoot a rifle?"
Draco was slightly taken aback at the question. "Well, sir, I've never tried."
The man frowned at him, and then turned his attention to Hermione. "And you, can you cook?"
"Yes, I can." She was a bit offended that he had asked her about something as domestic as cooking instead of shooting.
"Fine. You can both work in the mess tent and try to make something somewhat edible for the men. That will be all, sergeant. Heil Hitler," he said, dismissing the soldiers and teenagers from his tent.
"Heil Hitler." They chorused and marched back out.
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Draco and Hermione had been introduced to the cook, given instructions as to their particular jobs, and shown to a tent. The sergeant hadn't bothered to give them separate tents, deciding that they could figure out their differences themselves rather than wasting an extra tent on an orphan just because they were different sexes.
They curled up on their government-issue cots on opposite sides of the tent. Each was thinking dark thoughts about their situation, wondering how it happened and how, if ever, they would return to modern day England and Hogwarts.
"Granger," Draco said, a thought suddenly popping into his head, "where's Elsa?"
Hermione gasped. "She's not here, is she? They didn't capture her, so she must have escaped! I hope she's far from here," Hermione sighed.
"What if she's not? What if she's still back in that village with no where to go and no one to look after her? We've got to get away from here." He stood up and began pacing the floor, running his hand through his hair in an agitated manner.
Hermione watched him for a moment, puzzled. A question popped into her mind. "Malfoy," she began cautiously, "why do you care so much about a little girl we've only known for a day? She got away, and she'd been surviving on her own for quite a while. I've never seen you so concerned about one person before."
He stopped pacing, unable to decide if he should ignore this question, scorn her for asking something so silly, or answer it honestly. Finally, he decided to answer honestly since they would be stuck together for who knew how long and it wouldn't work to be any more unpleasant than necessary.
"I don't know," he finally sighed. "I've always had a soft spot for little kids, and her life has been so sad. I guess I have a bit of a humanitarian spirit," he groaned. "If you ever tell anyone, you're dead," he added as an afterthought.
Hermione smiled slightly. "Well, how do you recommend we escape this hell hole?"
"I don't know. I guess we just wait until it's really dark and sneak out of camp. It can't be that hard, can it?"
Hermione shrugged.
"Anyway, we still have to get to England somehow. What time is it?" he asked.
She looked at her watch. She always carried an old pocket watch with her. "It's about 10:30 right now."
"Okay, we'll wait until around 1:30 and then try and sneak out. That means we can each sleep for about an hour and a half before we go." He sat back down on his cot and Hermione nodded in agreement.
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At 1:30 in the morning, the camp was completely silent. No one stirred except for the guards who kept vigil on the perimeter. Two shadowy figures darted out of one of the tents and over to the dark recesses of another. They moved like that, avoiding all light and people, until they reached the edge of camp. The guards hadn't seen them. The west side of the camp was about 100 yards from the edge of a thick wood, and this was where the wraiths were headed. They watched the silent guards as they reached the ends of their paths, turned and began back towards the middle. After another of these turns, the guards had their backs to the pair, who bolted towards the tree line.
Once in the trees, they walked about a mile until they found a stream. Both lay down on the banks and drank greedily of the cool water. The girl looked up from where she lay and was startled to see a shadow on the other side of the bank, watching them. Slowly, she moved her hand and shook the shoulder of the boy next to her.
"Malfoy," she whispered, "look!" She pointed towards the shadow. He looked up, equally surprised, until the person stepped into a patch of moonlight.
"Elsa!" they cried in unison. Hermione splashed across the small stream and engulfed the girl in a hug. Draco followed, but greeted her instead with a pat on the shoulder. Hermione watched in amusement.
After exchanging greetings and brief explanations of where they had been, the three settled down to sleep, and all slept soundly until waking in the mid-morning light.
"Well, I suppose we should start walking," Hermione suggested. The others nodded, and they set out.
The afternoon sun was beating down on them before they stopped to rest. After eating, Elsa managed to talk Hermione and Draco into playing a game of tag with her. The little girl was so appealing, they couldn't say 'no'. They were racing around, screaming and laughing as the teens hadn't done since they were children. Suddenly, Hermione stepped in a hole and tripped.
"Ow!" she yelled. She sat on the ground, clutching her ankle; her eyes were red and shiny with tears. "I think I just broke my ankle," she choked. Draco rushed over, carefully moving her hand and feeling the bruised skin. She winced at the pain, and he grimaced at what he felt. Her ankle was most definitely broken, and they didn't have any way to fix it.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to make you a splint and a cane and go a lot slower," he sighed, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice. He and Elsa hurried about; getting sticks and the largest broadleaf plants they could find to construct a make-shift splint.
They finally had her all bandaged and were going to just make camp for the night when several men in uniform stepped into the clearing.
"So, you thought you would get away from the German army, did you?" They recognized the Kommandant from the camp. He sneered at them in a most unpleasant way. "Well, if you thought you had it bad before, you have only made it worse." He cackled and they were immediately grabbed and forced to march. Hermione had to be carried by one of the larger soldiers, since she couldn't walk.
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Okay, it all seems like it's going in circles, I know. But I know what I'm doing, I promise! I'll try to get the next chapter up faster, too, because I know what I'm going to do and how it all ends. I actually did some prewriting for this story! As always, please please please review! I update faster with more reviews.