Chapter 3 (Hermione and Andrea, Part 1)…

"Time for breakfast, guys!" said Ron, as he met his three best friends in the Gryffindor common room.

"We're going to go on the train tomorrow," said Hermione, sounding worried. Her parents had sent her letter back yesterday, but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley still hadn't sent the other school owl back with the form, and Sirius hadn't sent back Pigwidgeon with Harry and Ron's permission slips yet, either.

"They'll probably be back soon," Andrea told her.

"Sirius is probably a long way away," added Harry. "Anyway, it's time for breakfast. Let's see what happens when Hedwig comes back with Malfoy's letter."

"He's afraid of roughing it," said Ron with satisfaction. "I can just tell."

"Well of course he is," Hermione told him. "I'm glad you sent his letter for him, Andrea, since he didn't want to go. Malfoy definitely would have found some way for his permission slip to get 'lost'."

"Ha," said Andrea.

When they were finally in the Great Hall, the post owls arrived. (Pigwidgeon almost knocked over Harry's cereal bowl in his haste to get to him and Andrea). Luckily, Pigwidgeon and Hedwig arrived with Harry's, Andrea's, and Malfoy's permission slips; the school owl returned with Ron's, which meant, of course, that he had managed to find the right house. Sirius said Harry and Andrea could go on the trip (they high-fived each other); Ron's mother said she didn't want him to go because he might get lost, but it was a great learning experience so she was simply forced to let him go; Malfoy's dad said the trip was a dumb idea (as Malfoy announced as loud as he could to the whole Hall), but he could still go if he really wanted to.

"Great!" said Harry. "Now we can all go."



The next day, they boarded the train just after breakfast. It went to a remote location the school had set up especially for this trip. Hagrid was escorting the people to their campsites.

"Hi!" he said cheerfully. "Harry, Ron, you're over here…"

He waved them off.

"Bye, Andrea," said Ron.

"Gosh, it's only for two days!" called Hermione.

"Bye, Ronnie!" called Andrea.

"See you in two days, Hermione!" said Harry. He didn't really want to see her go; but this was a school project, and he had signed up for it, after all. It was to see how well they could do in the wilderness without using magic at all.

"You too!" said Hermione, blowing a kiss. Hagrid, smiling, led Hermione and Andrea to their campground.

"Where are we staying, Hagrid?" asked Hermione.

"In this campsite," Hagrid told them. "Here's your rule book. Every group gets a rule book, and—oh no, I forgot Harry and Ron's rule book!"

"You better hurry, they're already leaving," Andrea told him. Hagrid ran after Harry and Ron, who were talking as they headed off to their campsite.

"Harry! Ron!" Hagrid yelled. "I forgot your rule book!"

"Oh…thanks…" said Harry, catching it as Hagrid threw it to him.

"And here's your rule book, girls," said Hagrid, panting slightly, and giving Hermione and Andrea their rule book.

"Thanks," said Hermione, catching and opening it.

"Well, bye," said Hagrid, leaving.

"We're on our own now," Andrea said, sounding slightly nervous.

"Don't worry," Hermione told her. "It's only for two days. Let's look at the rule book first, though, because I'm sure they'll have ways to find out if we do anything against the rules."

Hermione read aloud:

"Rule No. 1: No using magic.

"Rule No. 2: No killing any animals (that includes fishing).

"Rule No. 3: No visiting other campsites.

"Rule No. 4: No damaging of your or others' campsite."

Andrea smiled. "Well…okay. We just can't use magic, can't kill any animals, can't visit anybody in their campsite, and can't damage our or others' campsite."

"We'll have to make a fire and cook some berries and stuff," Hermione told her.

"Wait a minute…" said Andrea. "If we're here outside in the wilderness for two whole days, aren't we going to get smelly? Yuck."

"Yeah, you know, I was wondering that, too," Hermione said. "There must be a place where we can take a bath, like a pond or something."

"Over there!" cried Andrea, pointing to a little creek. It was nice; it was good for taking a bath.

"Good job," said Hermione. "I guess they did set everything up for us, didn't they?"

"They sure did," Andrea agreed. "We just had to find it."

"There are probably some other things we shouldn't find, though," Hermione told her. "Like poison oak…and look! Poisonberries."

"What?" Andrea asked.

"Look, I know those berries from when I was little," Hermione said, pointing to some shriveled-looking berries that were hanging innocently on a tree nearby. "They're berries that are delicious and perfectly okay to eat, but you'll get a horrible rash, a rash worse than poison oak, if you touch them."

"So how are we supposed to eat them?" Andrea asked.

"Well…" Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, we'll find a way."