Into the Wild
(The Very Long Awaited) Chapter Two
Author's Note
Hello everyone. I deleted & reuploaded this because it's the real chapter two. Chapter three will be up before the date posted in my profile. Thanks for reading, reviews are awesome and make me want to write more.
)O(
They had been walking for ages, or at least it seemed like it. Hermione's canteen was nearing empty, since she was sharing it with everyone. She finally quit being nasty about it and let Draco drink some too. She could not handle him having heat stroke, she'd never hear the end of it from him.
"We really need to find that water source." Hannah said, fanning her face with her hand. "This heat is killing me. I don't think I've been anywhere this warm before."
"Yeah, me either." Michael commented. "Hey are we aloud to use the 'point me' spell?"
Hermione stopped and looked at the pamphlet of spells with hope before she realized that the point me spell was not listed. "No, its not on here."
Everyone sighed.
"Granger, isn't there some muggle way to find a water source, or something?" Draco asked with frustration.
Hermione looked at him with a 'are-you-really-that-stupid'. "No Malfoy, muggles do not have any special water-sniffing abilities."
Draco would have had a smart retort, had Hannah not spotted something that was green and took off running towards it. Everyone else followed quickly, they knew that where there was green, there was water.
)O(
Meanwhile, Harry Potter's group had already found there water source, but they were trying to find a way to build a shelter. Harry was very surprised to see that Pansy was not a useless piece of furniture in the group, and had gone off with Terry to find firewood, and useful potion ingredients, just in case something were to happen. They had all agreed it would be helpful to find any useful items and store them.
Harry and Megan were trying to figure out how to get the shelter together. Megan was a smart girl, and she came up with an excellent plan.
"Harry, engorgio is on the list of spells, right?" She asked with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, it is." Harry replied after looking at the piece of parchment.
"Alright, good."
About five minutes later, there was a decent shelter built completely out of books. Megan had enlarged the books to an extreme size and levitated them so that it made a type of fort.
"It is the desert, so I figured that this should work while we're here. I suppose if we need one of the books, we'll shrink it and replace it." Megan explained as Harry gaped at the structure.
"Are you sure you're not Hermione in someone else's body?"
)O(
Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, very amused, watching all of his students through a looking glass. He tried to keep an eye on them so that he could monitor their progress. He did not really have to watch, there was an enchanted piece of parchment that marked off each group's requirements as they filled him. Really, he was watching for amusement.
Minerva walked in and saw him watching the looking glass with twinkling eyes and a smile on his face. "You know Albus, I would not let many people know about that glass because they might think that this is purely for your entertainment."
Albus looked up and chuckled softly. "I assure you, Minerva, that this experiment is only for the students' safety and to promote inter-house cooperation. Nothing more, nothing less."
Minerva gave him a 'I-am-just-so-sure-of-that' look before she continued. "Of course, Albus. Did you at least warn the students that the last three stages are far more difficult than the first?"
"Minerva, that would spoil all the fun!"
)O(
Draco and Michael had managed to build a make-shift shelter out of some rocks and palm tree leaves. Luckily the green that had attracted Hannah was the water source that they needed to find, and not a heat-induced mirage. Everyone gladly filled up their canteens and drank multiple times before trying to figure out anything else.
Hermione and Hannah looked around the area for some firewood, but only managed to find some tumbleweeds and a few sticks. However, Hermione engorgio -ed the sticks so that they were more like tree branches and that worked to fuel their fire so that they could prepare their food rations.
Strangely enough, no one really argued as they set up their camp. However, sitting down to eat after setting up everything, was a different story.
Draco was staring at a metal tin full of beans. Beans.
Malfoys do not eat beans. The blonde boy thought as he stirred them around. Especially from a bloody can.
He looked around at his other group mates and saw their cans were nearly empty. He sighed heavily and continued to play with his food, rather than eat it.
"What's wrong, Draco?" Michael asked. "Is there something wrong with your food?"
The blonde shook his head. "I've never eaten beans before, especially out of a can."
Three faces looked at him like he was crazy.
"You have got to be joking!" Hannah exclaimed. "Everyone eats beans."
"Malfoys don't eat beans."
Hermione was frustrated. "Look, Malfoy, unless you want to starve to death in the desert, or go find yourself a nice wolf to kill, eviscerate, skin, and cook, I suggest you eat the bloody beans and quit being a wanker about it. The beans are nutritious and they don't taste half bad, there is no reason for you not to."
Draco glared at her for a long time, but about ten minutes later he was full and his beans were gone.
)O(
Ronal Weasley knew that he was not the smartest wizard. However, Gregory Goyle made him feel like he was. Padma had not really ever gotten over the whole Yule Ball incident, and decided that she was going to take Susan and go explore while he and Goyle set up camp. This left Ron alone with the Slytherin who was not making fun of him or threatening to beat him to a pulp, probably the lack of Malfoy bossing him, and he started a very interesting conversation about food.
The conversation started over twenty-five minutes ago and it did not look as if it was going to end anytime soon.
"I just love the taste of pudding, don't you?" Goyle went on about the chocolaty desert. Apparently chocolate pudding was to die for, and Ron did not see where all the enthusiasm for the sweet came from.
"Yeah, it's great." Ron added with a blank face as he started the fire.
Ron was starting to think that Dumbledore really was a loony old coot.
)O(
Blaise had come to terms, about an hour into the project, that his group was going to fail this class, and not get a prize. His mother was neutral in the war, so he was pretty safe when it came to the whole 'going into hiding thing'. He wouldn't need too, Voldemort had come to their house one time, and left. After he found out that Ms. Zabini had already been through four husbands, he decided to let it go without a fight.
The women in Blaise's family were exceptionally scary.
However, Lavender Brown was being quite scary. Blaise realized that her eyes had not left him since they entered the challenge. He wished silently that 'Notice-me-not' was on the list of approved spells, that way their group might actually get something done. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff in the group were nice enough people, its just they were as dumb as Crabbe and Goyle.
He sighed and put his hands on his face.
Hopefully they could at least get somewhere else before the challenge was over. He'd hate to spend three months in the desert. Maybe the next part was the island, or at least the forest. Somewhere with bearable temperatures and more places to hide from strange, obsessive Gryffindors.
)O(
The sun was setting as Hermione and Hannah were cleaning up the campsite and getting ready to go to sleep. Maybe tomorrow they would wake up and get to start the next part of the challenge. Perhaps it would go quicker if Hermione and Draco didn't constantly bicker and argue. They hadn't outright fought, so Hannah hoped that it wouldn't add days to them being here. She sighed and took a sweater out of her rucksack to use as a makeshift pillow, and enlarged a shirt to use as a blanket. Everyone else quickly followed suit, and fell asleep.
About two hours after everyone had went to sleep, was when the wolf started sniffing at Hermione's nose. She giggled and opened her eyes.
Then she screamed.
)O(
"Ah, the first group has met their wolf." Albus said gleefully. After they've completed everything else, the wolf was their last test. To make safe campsite and have a food source. They didn't have to eat the wolf, but it was mainly just for experience in case they had to do it in the wild.
"You really expect them to fight off a wolf?" Severus said, standing in the Headmaster's study, looking into the glass. "They'll run as soon as they find out that there are no defensive or offensive spells in this stage of the challenge."
One thing that Dumbledore had failed to mention to the students, was that the usable spells change with each challenge. The ones for the desert were basic, so you were able to use basic spells. The further you got in the challenges, the harder they became. The next was the forest, then the tundra, then the last was the island.
"Oh, I believe they'll do fine." Dumbledore chucked as he pointed to the glass, Severus' face fell.
"Did my godson just save Granger?"
"Oh, yes, Severus. I believe that he did."
)O(
There we go, that's the development I wanted in chapter two. *phew* I'm pumping out fan fiction like a cow pumps milk. I am so happy I'm able to write again. I just sit down, and do it and it's awesome. Haha.
Reviews are lovely, dears.