For those of you who haven't read The Magician's Nephew, part of this chapter will be unfamiliar to you, but the story should still make sense. If it doesn't, tell me so I can go back and edit it to clear things up. And for those of you who want more Peter/Hermione, hang in there one more chapter!

"Wait! You don't want the others. Just take me and let them go," Harry told Voldemort bravely.

"Harry, no!" Hermione said.

"We're not leaving," Peter said determinedly.

"Well, good," Voldemort drawled. "Because I promised two of you to Jadis in exchange for her help in bringing you here. Now… which two of you are Peter and Susan?"

"We are," Veta said bravely glancing at her brother. Peter almost protested, but him speaking up would have put Susan in danger as well. No one else betrayed them either. Peter mentally promised that he would give them the Order of the Lion himself if they got out of here alive.

"Well… we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I only want Potter and the two I promised Jadis," Voldemort said, a thin grin making its way across his face.

Everyone was silent as they stared at each other.

"Alright. We'll put down our weapons once the others are safe inside Hogwarts," Harry said.

"Very well," Voldemort said, but no one moved. No one other than Susan that is who had been at the back of the group and was able to hid from him knowing she was there. She had been finding her way to the back of the same room. Hermione had said something earlier about him despising "muggle" things as inferior. He would hardly be expecting an arrow to shoot him and was therefore unlikely to have put up ay magical wards against it. Susan finally found the room that had the window in to the room. But there was only a small crack in the window. She would have to have absolutely perfect aim to hit Voldemort through it. A nanometer off and the arrow would misfire. One misfire is all it would take to alert Voldemort to her. She drew her arrow and aimed carefully. She saw most of the others starting to back out of the room. Good, less likely for Voldemort to be able to send one last spell at them. She released the arrow.

It hit its mark perfectly, knocking him down. Susan grinned, knowing no mortal man could survive that blow. Harry and the two Telmarines looked around wildly and saw her. Harry shot a disarming spell at him when he realized Voldemort was already coming back to consciousness. They then turned around and ran as fast as they could. Susan quickly joined them, shouting in frustration, "That should have killed him!"

Death Eaters flew between them and the castle. Soon a full fight was engaged.

"Fall back!" Peter shouted as they fought. "To the lake!"

The others didn't understand his command, but all the Narnians followed it. Hermione grabbed Ron's arm to force him to start coming back. When Susan realized Harry wasn't moving towards the lake, she ran – ducking spells as she went – to him and yanked his arm. "Come on, you idiot!"

"He's not in charge!" Harry protested.

"Don't be an idiot! We need to all work together. You're the only one not following and are going to mess it up!" she said, smacking the back of his head between two shots at Death Eaters. Even after practicing magic, her bow was doing much more good against the death eaters than spells were since the arrows went straight through their Protego spells. And it seemed none of them had studied spells to block muggle weapons like hers.

They all got to the water, wondering where Peter had gone. A few seconds later, his head bobbed out of the water and several mermaids, along with their friend Neria.

"Jump in!" she said. They all glanced behind themselves and quickly chose jumping in after seeing the many Death Eaters ready to kill them. To their surprise, as long as they had a mermaid or merman touching them, then were able to breathe underwater. The merpeople brought them to some underground cavern and they found they could even talk underwater.

"Thank you for your help," Peter said with a shallow bow to the man he quickly identified as the chief. Hermione smiled at his regal, kingly ways.

Harry pushed his way to the front and said, "Yes, thank you." He didn't want Peter to show him up again.

But the merman only gave a slight nod to Harry before turning and giving a deep bow to Peter. "We are pleased to be of service to the High King of Narnia." The other merpeople behind him bowed as well.

"Wha-How did you know who we were?" Susan asked.

"Your majesty," the merman said. "After the Golden Ages ended, many of our kind looked to find a life as far from the Telmarines as possible. Our ancestors swam and swam and swam, eventually finding themselves here. A few who later wished to return could never find the chasm again. Our forefathers passed down legends of the four great kings and queens of the Golden Age. We never thought we would have the honor of meeting and working for your majesties until Neria approached us."

"You have our gratitude for your assistance. Your ancestors would be proud of you," Susan said. Harry and Ron were openly gaping at the scene in front of them. The others all looked pretty shocked as well.

"We have information and a request for your majesties as well," he said.

"Then ask," Peter said.

"Parts of the lake have been frozen. We can only assume that the White Witch had traveled through here. We were not prepared for our lake to be frozen and some are suffering from it," he said.

"We have some spells and potions we can try," Hermione offered. Medicine wasn't her strong suit, but she had of course studied every subject there is.

While Hermione and occasionally also Harry and Ron worked on helping injured merpeople, Caspian asked, "And your information?"

"She returned to the Hogwarts Castle and is hiding somewhere there," the merchief said.

"Can you set up a watch to alert us if she should leave?" Peter asked anxiously.

A mermaid returned into the underwater cave announcing, "The Death Eaters seem to have left."

"We will return you to Hogwarts now. Please call on us again if you need us, your majesties," the merman chief said as a few of the merpeople picked up the humans and swam them to shore.

"Thank you once again," Peter said. The merpeople waved as they disappeared into the lake.

"How do you know their ancestors?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Narnian time works differently," Susan explained. "No more questions, we need to get inside as soon as possible."

When they were all inside and found an empty corridor to talk in, Susan complained, "That shot should have killed him!"

"He's been supposed to be dead before," Hermione said. That was far from reassuring.

"Can you fill us in on this Voldemort? All we've been told is that he is an evil wizard," Caspian asked. Harry and Hermione quickly filled him in on the details.

"What I don't understand is how the White Witch found him so easily," Harry groused.

"That doesn't matter. What matters is now we need to find the witch," Baledin said. He asked Ron, "Do you know where she might be?"

"No," Ron said sheepishly. "Last I knew she was in the Shrieking Shack."

"Is that true? You best not be lying to us!" he threatened.

"I can't believe you betrayed us like that," Harry said. He hadn't thought Ron was truly going to betray them and was rather angry about it.

"I – I didn't know she was working with Voldemort!" he said.

"Even so, you knew she was evil!" Harry retorted.

"She didn't act like it," Ron offered weakly.

"She's an expert at manipulation," Susan said gently. "It's not entirely Ron's fault. It could have just as easily been another one of us."

"What's done is done," Peter said, repeating the words Aslan had said long before. "And we still have the Witch to deal with."

Harry looked at them incredulously. Ron also seemed quite shocked by this, but rather relieved that they were strangely defending them. The Telmarines had at the very least heard of that legend – the Telmarines who despised the Narnians circulated that particular legend as soon as they realized the Narnians were back – and understood why Peter and Susan felt that way. Caspian even went over to Susan to hug her in comfort. She simple placed her head on his shoulder. He began slowly rocking her back and forth. She didn't really need the comfort, but his arms were so warm and inviting she was hardly going to complain. And Caspian was more than happy to have her in his arms.

"So… the Witch," Veta reminded. "How are we going to find her?"

"I have a map," Harry suddenly said. "It shows where anyone and everyone is inside Hogwarts at any time."

"Perfect!" Susan exclaimed. "Let's go get it."

Harry was relieved to finally be the leader again of the group. He wasn't used to following others, or at least not others his age. Sometimes Hermione, but that was because she was a genius. He really didn't like this Peter guy always trying to take charge and the Narnians continuously backing him on it. And it was really embarrassing when Peter's sister called him out on it. At least no one else heard.

Susan motioned for Peter to drop to the back of the group so she could talk with him.

"Pete, there may be a problem. You noticed how Harry was the last one to return to the lake?" she whispered.

"Yeah, and you hit him in the back of his head. What was with that?"

"He seems to be jealous that you keep taking charge. My guess is he's usually the one in charge of groups," Susan responded.

"So what? I should just let him take charge?" Peter asked sarcastically.

"Just don't have a repeat of you and Caspian. That's how we ended up in this mess," Susan reminded.

"Yes, mum," Peter said sarcastically. Susan glared at him. He relented, saying, "Fine, fine. I'll be careful. But no promises if he's acting stupid."

Susan rolled her eyes. Then she suddenly said, "By the Mane! Hide me. It's Malfoy."

"Well, if it isn't Potter. It looks like your group of losers has gotten larger," Malfoy drawled, not noticing Susan.

"Just ignore him," Hermione said.

"Taking instructions from a Mudblood again, I see," Malfoy sneered. Next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground frozen. Ron, Harry, and Hermione all looked at each other, assuming one of them had done the spell, but rather it was Caspian who had his wand out. Peter's wand was also halfway out of his pocket.

"Hey, that spell actually worked," he commented.

"If he talks, you could get in a lot of trouble for that," Hermione cautioned.

"That's why I beat Peter to it. I'll have to return to Narnia eventually, but Peter gets to stay and be a student here. Better I get in trouble," Caspian said with a shrug as if it was no big deal.

"Thanks, Cas," Peter said. Caspian reacted to Peter's lazy usage of his name, but then realized all the Pevensies did that to each other. Perhaps it wasn't considered rude but rather friendly in this world.

"No problem… Pete," he tried cautiously.

"How'd you even know that was an insult?" Hermione commented as they kept walking.

"Mud didn't exactly sound complimentary. And no one should use that tone of voice with a lady," Caspian said chivalrously.

"Well, here we are," Harry said when they got to the Fat Lady. "Dilligrout."

"Um, what?" Susan said.

"That's the password," he explained as the portrait opened up.

"Hey, Potter. Don't try telling us those are more transfer students for Gryffindor," Seamus said.

"Naw, they just followed us in," Ron said.

Seamus and Dean gave the group odd looks, but didn't protest.

"Here," Harry said. He pulled out his wand and said, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

They all poured over the map, each hoping to spot her.

"There! In the Potions room," Ron said.

"She must be working with Snape!" Harry concluded.

"The map doesn't show Snape there. And Dumbledore trusts Snape," Hermione argued.

"Who's Snape?" Caspian interrupted. His class schedule hadn't included Potions, so he hadn't met Snape yet.

"The Potions professor who Harry dislikes," Hermione explained.

"No one likes him," commented Ron.

"But Dumbledore trusts him, so we should too," Hermione concluded.

"Whether Snape's trustworthy or not isn't important unless he's working with the White Witch," Susan said. "And if he's not there, then it doesn't matter. The real question is, engage her in fight now or later?"

"Now!" Baledin said eagerly, already gripping his wand.

"We shouldn't just rush in," Susan said. "Not without a plan."

"But if we wait too long, we run the risk of her leaving Hogwarts and not being able track her," Peter pointed out.

"So anyone have any plans?" Caspian asked.

"The centaurs," Hermione suddenly said.

"What about them?"

"There was clearly a reason why they were sent as well. Neria told the merpeople about Peter and Susan being here so they would easily be open to helping us," Hermione said. "So the centaurs must have some purpose to. If we were just to engage the White Witch and actually win, then the centaurs were here for no purpose."

"We got lucky with the merpeople helping us, that's all," Harry argued. "No way did anyone know that was going to happen."

"You don't understand Aslan. He always knows," Susan said patiently. "We've doubted him in the past, but he is always right and always there for us."

Ron and Harry both glanced at Hermione, expecting her to be logical and argue that. But even though Hermione hadn't really experienced Aslan, she had heard enough from the Pevensies and other Narnians to not dismiss Aslan easily.

"So, to the centaurs?" Caspian said, looking at Peter.

The glance towards Peter for confirmation yet again was enough to make Harry snap, "No! We have no reason to go to them."

Peter was about to retort, but Susan beat him to it, saying, "Let's vote on it. If the majority agrees to go to the centaurs, then we all do it. As a united team. But if the majority disagrees, then no one will. Any objections?"

No one disagreed, so Susan pressed on. She knew it wasn't a fair vote. To do so, they would have needed a secret ballot. But with Caspian having already shown his support for going to the centaurs and Peter and Susan also voting for that, the other Narnians were sure to agree. But she didn't mind a little devious manipulation if it got her what she wanted. "So all in favor?"

As predicted, all the Narnians agreed. Somewhat surprisingly, Hermione also agreed.

"Hermione?" Harry said incredulously.

"It won't hurt, and we might get some good information out of it," she responded.

"You mean like whether Mars is bright tonight or not? They aren't exactly good at giving humans useful information," Harry retorted.

"Well, either way, you agreed to go with the majority, so to the centaurs!" Susan said briskly, not giving time for argument as she headed out of the dormitory. Harry and Ron reluctantly followed the rest of the group. As they were leaving, Harry decided he might as well try to take charge since he knew the forest best and headed to the front of the group. To his disappointment, neither Peter nor Susan looked annoyed by that.

"So, now what?" Caspian asked when he noticed Harry's stride became less purposeful as they entered the forest.

"The centaurs can't just be found," Harry said in an almost patronizing tone. "Hopefully we'll run into one. But if we don't, coming here was a complete waste of time."

After a few minutes of randomly wandering, Caspian spotted Glenstorm.

"Hail, your majesties," Glenstorm said to Caspian, Peter, and Susan.

They quickly explained why they were in the forest.

"You were wise to seek the centaurs' counsel," Glenstorm said gravely. "Follow me."

They exchanged confused glances and followed him. Soon they were in the middle of a large herd of centaurs.

"We rarely care about the human world," the centaur Magorian began, making all the humans rather nervous. "But Glenstorm, Zebulin, and Thunderhead have explain of your friendship with centaurs of that world. For that reason, we have consented to speak with you. But for our information, you must first make a promise to us."

"Name it," Peter said recklessly.

"Humans of this world persecute us relentlessly. But we wish only to be left alone to ourselves. The only quarrel we have with humans is the one they created," Bane said angrily. "Promise us you will work to make peace between the centaurs and humans so we may live in peace."

"Of course," Caspian, Susan, and Peter all said without a second thought.

The centaur looked at them in slight amusement before saying, "It is not you I need to hear the promise from. Your centaur friends have told us of your companionship with our Narnian brethren. If only Narnans were seeking our help, we may have given you the information more readily. It is the wizards and witch born of this world who must make us this promise."

"We promise," Hermione said eagerly. Perhaps S.P.E.W could be expanded to protect all sorts of magical creatures.

Ron and Harry both agreed a moment later.

"You must seek out a valley with a lake in it which is only reachable by winged creature. You will know you are traveling the correct way by a toffee tree," the centaur Bane said.

"A toffee tree?" Ron said dubiously.

"Yes, a toffee tree. In the valley, you will find an orchard of fruit trees. You will know it by the warm and golden feeling it creates, as if from all the most delicious fruits and flowers of theworld."

"The leaves of the trees will be not only green but also blue and silver when the wind stirs them," a centaur names Ronan said.

"And what do we seek from this garden?" Peter asked.

"In the center will stand a silver apple tree known as the Tree of Youth. You must resist the temptation it brings for it brings despair to those who pluck it for their own gain," said a centaur named Magorian.

"Bring the fruit here and plant it. It will protect this world from the clutches of the White Witch. Without it, she would quickly return. Only this fruit and Aslan himself can ever truly keep the White Witch away," Bane concluded.

"These two creatures know how to travel through portals to get to other worlds," another centaur said, leading two strange creatures with him.

"Thestrals," Hermione whispered to the Narnians. "One can only see them if they are dead." She then raised her voice and asked, "But there's only two of them?"

"Yes. Only four of you will be able to make the trip," he responded.

They circled up to figure out who would go.

"I should go," Harry insisted.

"I should go too. It's my fault we went to the Shrieking Shack," Ron said.

"I was the one who tried to call her. If anyone is at fault and must atone for it, it is me," Caspian said.

"We've heard of this place before in Narnian legend and they are talking about traveling to other worlds. If we are traveling to other worlds, Susan and I should go," Peter argued.

"We can't let any of you three to go. We're suppose to protect you as knights of Narnia," Baledin argued. Susan started quickly thinking.

"The three of us and Hermione then," Susan concluded. "She's a knight of Narnia and a witch."

"But –" Harry began protesting.

"Sounds perfect," Peter interrupted. He was starting to see why Susan had been so worried about a row between him and Harry. But he could play this game too. In fact, he had often done so with Edmund. He'd give Edmund the safer job while playing it up to make it seem like he was given the more important and dangerous job. "We don't want too many of the wizards going or else Hogwarts will be less protected should the White Witch attempt to attack before we get the fruit."

Susan caught on and said, "You all will be alright though? Maybe less of us should go because staying here might be dangerous."

"No, we have it covered," Harry said importantly.

"Then let's go as fast as possible so the Witch will have less time to do anything," Susan said, swinging herself onto a thestral. "Caspian, wanna ride with me?"

"Ah… ah…" Caspian stammered. The answer was of course that he didn't want Peter to kill him, but Peter was already helping Hermione onto the other thestral and it seemed that he planned to ride with her. "It would be my pleasure."

"Not comfortable with riding," Hermione muttered to Peter.

"Don't worry. I'm here," Peter said comfortingly. "I've ridden horses and griffins many times before. I won't let you fall."

"Thank you for your help," Susan said to the centaurs before taking off into the air.

As they flew off, Hermione said, "Thanks, Pete."

He kissed the back of her neck and said, "I'm glad we're going together. I love spending time with you."

"You too," Hermione said with an uncharacteristic giggle. "This quest it turning out to be more of a double date than an adventure."

"Double date?" Peter asked, bemused.

"Look over there," Hermione smirked. Caspian's embrace around Susan mirrored Peter's around Hermione, but Susan was an expert rider. She didn't need any help staying on. Peter grimaced as he saw Susan settle into Caspian's chest.

"I like riding with you," Caspian said.

"I know you do," Susan teased. When Caspian looked hurt, she touched his cheek and said, "I am rather enjoying this ride with you as well."

"Let's check the map one more time, mate," Ron said. "You know, just in case she's moved."

"And check up on Snape. I still think they're working together," Harry said. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

"Where is she?" Baledin said. She clearly wasn't in the Potions room anymore.

"She's… she's not on the map," Harry finally said after several minutes of fruitless searching.

"Bloody hell!" Ron swore.