Once again, thank you to my wonderful beta readers, Christina Teresa and Seakays, both of whom are multi-talented and wonderful through and through. Not only that, thank you to my wonderful readers and reviewers. You might well be reminded again that this fic is rated PG-13 (sadly not due to the R/Hr this time ;) ) and that lunch may not go well with the reading of this chapter. Hope you enjoy it anyway. You're the best, you know. NZ

Chapter 22

From Twilight to Darkness

Chapter 21 Summary: Harry sits in the back of Fred and George's shop, anxiously awaiting nightfall so that he can set off for Trapperton. In the meantime, now trapped in the habitat, Hermione tries to explain to Ron that they may be in great danger. They decide to make the best of it, heading for the Yeti feeding station to see if they can collect evidence proving the intentional deprivation of the Yeti. On the way, they happen upon lovers Carl Smeggers and Dr. Voyde discussing that they will soon have someone from the Ministry 'in their pockets'. At the feeding station, Ron and Hermione witness Spyder, the bullying Yeti, gorging himself on what little food the Yeti are given while the others get very little. Leif drops from the trees to harass Spyder and draw him away, baiting him so the others can eat. Trey and Starr appear and share what little food remains with the entire group. After the Yeti leave, Hermione follows Trey and Starr and watches from cover as two handlers leave their cave carrying a box, but the handlers don't leave before casting a pain curse on Trey. Because the Yeti throughout the forest are agitated, it's too dark to recognize even friends well, and the handlers would wish Hermione harm, Ron holds her back from jumping into the fray to help Trey. The handlers are chased away by two other grown Yeti who appear, Trey withdraws to the cave, and Hermione introduces Starr to Ron. Ron and Hermione enter the cave at Starr's invitation and to avoid whatever angry Yeti are heard lurking in the forest. Everyone in the cave hears footsteps approaching from the entrance and Ron draws his wand, determined to protect Hermione from harm this time.

Ron stood with his wand readied, the licking flames of the large fire before him partially obscuring his view of the creature entering the cave. He glanced to one side to see Hermione concentrating as well, her wand held high (... so I'll just save her before she saves herself...).

Glancing to his other side, he saw Starr cowering against the wall, apparently more in fear of the wands than of whatever was walking into her home.

A figure of charcoal gray casually sauntered in from the shadows.

...Some of these Yeti aren't so tall, Ron told himself. Unless it's finally the courage talking...I'm ready, I can do this, I can take that raging Yeti down, even without permanently hurting him, she'll see I can make up for that stupid night...

"Leif?" he heard a startled female voice say from far away. "Lower your wand, Ron."

But there isn't much raging, and someone's talking... "Huh?"

Hermione laid her hand on top of his wand hand and gently pushed downward. "Ron! Put your wand down. It's just Leif."

Leif had indeed stopped dead in his tracks, apparently taken aback by the fact that two humans were standing in the middle of Trey and Starr's cave; he seemed able to tell they weren't handlers, but they did have wands pointed in his direction. Once he recognized that one of the humans was Hermione and the wands went down, the creature's whole demeanor changed. Suddenly, the saunter turned to a swagger, and he immediately circled the fire to stand next to Hermione.

Ron watched the metamorphosis suspiciously before he spoke. "Do Yetis smile?" He did note with some satisfaction that Leif was only about a foot taller than he was.

"What?" Hermione asked. "Of course not!"

Ha! That's what you think, Ron mentally replied, scowling and somewhat reluctantly tucking his wand away in his back pocket.

Hermione looked up at Leif and gently pulled her hair away from his leathery fingers; he'd been tugging at one of her curls repeatedly just to watch it spring back into place.

"You've been busy tonight, Leif – " she said, "--and you look rather pleased with yourself. I'm beginning to wonder if you did bait Spyder on purpose."

Leif's brow furrowed in confusion at the words; he scanned the room.

"No, sorry," Hermione said, showing him her empty hands. "I didn't bring any cards." She looked around until she spotted what she'd been looking for -- a stick that Starr had used to poke the fire when she and Ron had first come in. Picking it up, Hermione started drawing rectangles on the dirt floor with simple pictures inside each one.

Ron tilted his head to try and decipher what they meant. "So this how you talk with them? Except usually with cards instead of dirt, I reckon."

"This is part of it," Hermione explained.

"What's that, then?"

"I was just asking him if the Yetis ever caught up to those handlers tonight," Hermione answered. "But he doesn't seem to know -- or can't tell me without the cards. The Yetis communicate with us, too, when they can use the cards."

"Then maybe one of you two ought to talk with her," Ron said, nodding toward Starr, who was still looking fearful and worried next to the wall. She appeared to be getting even more upset watching Hermione etch pictures in the dirt.

Leif had acted as if he was at home from the moment he'd walked into the cave and Ron got the impression that he might live there, too, or at least be a frequent guest. The young Yeti had previously been so interested in Hermione (not to mention he'd pointedly ignored Ron) that he hadn't seemed to notice what Starr was doing. Trey was still notably absent.

Hermione turned first. "Starr, what is wrong?" She walked over next to the cringing Yeti.

Starr began vehemently shaking her head, but still she would not budge from the wall. The Yeti dipped her shoulder down a bit as she gently tried to push Hermione away and Hermione must have seen what Ron did at the same time.

"What...is that?" Hermione asked softly. "Something's on the wall, Ron -- can you see it?"

"Yeah," Ron answered, stretching upward to try and see over Starr's shoulder. "Can't tell what it is, though -- paint of some kind, looks like."

Hermione tried to lean around Starr to see the wall. As she continued to make soothing comments to the Yeti to calm her, Leif moved next to Starr as well.

Starr and Leif began some kind of Yeti communication that involved an exchange of soft pops and grunts, whistles, and apparently, mental telepathy. Starr was adamantly against moving, but it seemed Leif wanted her to so that Hermione could see what was on the wall. Leif finally managed to coax Starr aside.

Hermione gasped and Ron stared. Leif was still trying to console Starr, who was watching Hermione's reaction to what was on the wall with great concern. Oddly, Ron thought, Starr seemed almost ashamed.

The entire wall had sprung into crude drawings etched in primal colors. The drawings were separated and surrounded by large rectangles like Hermione had been scrawling in the dirt to resemble cards. Like all magical pictures, they moved. Starr must have been performing some type of concealment magic on them at first -- probably why she had refused to move for so long. Once the full drawing had appeared, one actually had to walk several steps along its length to be able to take in the whole wall.

But the drawings there were nothing like Hermione's. The first on the left showed a Yeti standing alone. In the second, the same Yeti was holding some sort of crude, pestle-like weapon in his hand and bashing the head of a small animal, probably once a rabbit, over and over again. It was apparent from the great amount of blood all over the ground in the picture that the animal was quite dead. The last picture in the first row was of a horse.

"A horse!" Ron exclaimed. "Remember that dog-man and Voyde? I told you they said something about a horse!"

From his vantage point, Ron could only see Hermione's back -- and he noted that she hadn't moved since the pictures had appeared. He stepped forward and saw that her hand was held to her mouth as it often was when she was shocked by something. "You know that Yeti?" he tried to ask gently.

"No, I've never seen that one -- actually, it's a badly-drawn version of a generic picture, I think -- one we've used in the lab," she answered, then paused a long moment. "And the paintings mean...if you read them together, they mean...something awful, but I'm not sure why the Yeti would do this. I didn't think they could do this."

Her voice was quavering. Ron looked over to see there were tears pooling in her eyes.

"Leif?" she squeaked out. Using the Yeti picture on the wall, Hermione tried asking Leif with pictures and gestures if the images had been painted by Yeti.

Since the moment Ron had first seen him, Leif had seemed cool and collected, even in the face of the dangerous Spyder, but Hermione's question affected the young Yeti so intensely that it unsettled Ron, too.

Leif began shaking his head 'no' almost before Hermione had finished asking the question. Then he strode to where she had roughly drawn the card for 'handlers' in the dirt. Leif very emphatically pointed at the handler's picture, then at the paintings on the wall. He kept pointing back and forth until Hermione laid a hand on his shaggy forearm to calm him and to convince him she understood the wall pictures were none of the Yetis' doing.

"That's it, then. That's what those handlers were doing tonight -- and part of what they've been doing all along, most likely." Hermione looked even more distressed now, but this time she was getting angrier. "It's like the cards, Ron. The handlers – they've tried to copy the cards Dr. Null devised to communicate with the Yeti. But they've twisted it—all of it -- all of his wonderful research. They've tried to tell the Yeti something horrible that I don't understand."

"Well, it's obviously ugly," Ron said, looking as if he had a bad taste in his mouth "But what do they say, exactly?"

"They read, 'Yetis kill horse'," Hermione said. "The second row says, 'Kill horse good'."

"You have a card to show killing?" Ron questioned. "Yetis tell you about killing lots of things?"

"No," Hermione said, perplexed. "Hardly ever. I mean, when they do, it's about killing a bird or a fish for food. They've never told me about killing something as large and intelligent as a horse. They're not killers -- in their social circles, there's evidence that a Yeti can be banished for killing --they respect life. In fact, Dr. Null says that, in spite of all the ancient stories and legends where the Abominable Snowmen or Bigfoot or whatever the locals call them are shown as frightening creatures, there's never been proof that they've killed anything larger than a goat --and that was likely for food. They've saved the lives of wizards and Muggles found hurt and on their own in the forests or the mountains." Hermione couldn't seem to reconcile the pictures and the message with what she had learned about the Yeti both in books and in the lab. "They're usually so gentle..."

A movement out of the corner of his eye distracted Ron and he saw Starr get to her feet. She slowly walked to the wall and pointed at the 'kill' picture, then she turned to Hermione. Holding one hand out flat, she proceeded to put the thumb and forefinger of the other hand together high in the air and draw a line coming straight down to her flattened palm. There, she opened the descending hand, but held it upright with her fingertips on her palm like some type of standing creature.

"What's that?" Ron whispered to Hermione.

"I'm not sure," Hermione answered, her brow furrowed in thought. "The horse? But then, what's that coming down?"

Ron had the sense to know, after all of these years, that she wasn't really asking him for an answer; she was really asking herself. Good thing, too, he thought, because he hadn't a clue what the pantomime meant.

Hermione shrugged and gestured for her to do it again.

Leif, after watching Starr expectantly, had started acting very oddly: crawling about the cave on top of any flat surfaces high or low and poking around in the corners. Ron just assumed it was normal behavior for young Yetis who spent an inordinate amount of time climbing about in the trees. But he planned to check with Hermione and see if they should be concerned for their safety just as soon as she had figured out what Starr was trying to tell her.

Hermione was still shaking her head, even after Starr had repeated the hand movements. This time, Starr left her fingers dancing on her palm for some time, hoping that Hermione would somehow pick up the meaning from that.

"Rain?" Hermione guessed, clearing a spot in the dirt and drawing the picture for it on the ground.

Starr's head fell to her chest in disappointment and her expression dulled as well. The Yeti scanned the room, apparently searching for another way to get the message across. Her eyes fell on the stick Hermione had used to draw. Tentatively, the Yeti reached for it, asking permission with her eyes.

Hermione's jaw dropped. "You want the stick? You want to draw? Oh, great Merlin, Ron, she wants to draw to show me!"

Ron wondered if he had missed something. But Hermione was obviously way too excited about this for him to say "So?" like his mental reflexes told him to do.

"Isn't that wonderful!" Hermione said excitedly. She reached out and grabbed his arm. "Say something, Ron!"

Damn! Say what? "Erm…good?"

"Don't you understand?" Hermione asked breathlessly. "She wants to communicate with something she writes! She understands the importance of language! The Yeti have never had a written language before -- it's why they have no written history. She could be the start of them becoming a real civilization, Ron! Oh, I've got to tell Dr. Null!"

"I think he may be interested in what else we've found in here, too," Ron said, gesturing aimlessly toward the wall paintings. "Unless you think he may have had something to do with them."

"Oh, of course he wouldn't!" Hermione said emphatically, then thought a moment. "Would he?"

Ron was just moving himself into position behind Hermione to see what Starr had scratched out in the dirt when they were all startled by the high-pitched squealing of a small animal. Ron, Hermione, Leif, and Starr looked toward the source of the noise and froze in shocked silence.

Spyder strode into the cave as if he owned the place. The huge Yeti ducked his head through the doorway and stopped to assess the situation, apparently nonplussed by the struggling and screeching of the opossum whose neck he held in his enormous right fist. Staring boldly and long into each face before him until he moved onto the next, Spyder didn't flinch as he squeezed the life from his small victim and ripped the animal in two. Without breaking his gaze, he lifted one gruesome half to his mouth and fed, the blood dripping through his teeth and onto his chin fur as he slowly chewed.

Ron could almost feel Hermione shiver from in front of him and she made a strange little noise, as if it took some effort not to turn away from the scene in disgust; bravely, she still faced forward. He himself had to battle the urges pushing at him from somewhere deep inside his gut. It was a moment before either friend had recovered enough from their stupor to draw their wands. He edged his way forward next to Hermione.

Spyder stood between them and the door. They could only hope that his show of bravado was intended to warn and frighten them and that once he'd finished, he'd leave as quickly as he came. But the only way they could possibly even the score with an animal the size and strength of Spyder was to wait and see which way he made a move.

"Oh...god..." Hermione breathed during the stand-off as Spyder stared ominously at Leif for some time.

"I know," Ron whispered. "Bloody sick bastard."

"That, too, but...I know what she means."

"What?" Ron asked.

"Spyder," Hermione said. "That was a spider that Starr was trying to show us."

Ron grimaced. "I've told you nothing good comes of spiders."

Hermione ignored him. " 'Spyder kills', she was trying to say. I think he's killed something much bigger than that opossum."

Spyder had finished his little snack. After wiping his blood-stained hands on his belly fur, he focused on Ron and Hermione. The huge, black Yeti had only managed to take two steps toward them before Starr threw herself in front of the two teenagers. Scolding Starr loudly in Yeti-speak, Spyder grabbed her roughly by the shoulder and shoved her easily aside.

Ron winced at the resounding thud as Starr's body hit the cave wall, then slid to the ground. She was moving, but seemed dazed.

Hermione instinctively stepped forward only to stumble over the sack of dog biscuits on the ground. Her wand hand went down to help her catch her balance, and Ron knew that meant her guard was down, too.

A split second later, Ron had thrown himself between Hermione and Spyder. Without knowing what the Yeti's intentions were, he spread his arms and held his wand high, incantations speeding through his mind. But, oddly, he sensed he wasn't alone.

Directly to his right stood Leif, feet firmly planted, shaggy arms spread to protect Hermione as well. Leif glanced at Ron the moment Ron looked at the young Yeti, both of them a bit perplexed at what they'd done in tandem. But they had no time for confusion now and looked back toward the real threat.

Spyder scowled at them both, apparently angered by the insolence of the two young males. He straightened his shoulders, drawing himself to his full, intimidating height, and sent forth a war cry that was loud enough to shake the cave floor.

Chills circuited Ron's body and his ears rang with the echoes in the cave. Once his mind had cleared he watched Spyder move to within five meters of where they stood.

"Stupefy!" Ron shouted and a bolt of red light streamed from his wand.

Ron's eyes went wide when an enormous fireball flew from the campfire and exploded at Spyder's feet. He knew immediately the fireball hadn't been his and once more he found himself gaping at the young Yeti next to him in surprise.

But Spyder was still coming. A bit dazed and sluggish for a moment, the Yeti shook his head to clear it. Somehow he'd managed to shake off the Stunning Spell and ignore the smoky flames from the fireball; his glazed eyes cleared to a glare that was even decidedly more evil than it had been before.

Leif read the look in Spyder's eyes very quickly. He reached one long Yeti arm to the side and shoved Ron behind him, much to Ron's irritation. Even worse, Hermione grabbed Ron's arm and held on, effectively keeping him from jumping back into the fray.

His eyes fixed on Spyder, Leif continued shoving Ron and Hermione together and backwards behind him, as if he was trying to herd them in a certain direction. When he started backing around the fire, the two teenagers finally understood that Leif was trying to move them towards the cave door and still stay between them and Spyder. If they could only circle all the way around the fire without Spyder getting the advantage...

Finally, they had almost reached the point where there was a clear path to the door. But Spyder was almost within a Yeti arm's reach of Leif by now. Ron, Hermione, and Leif could all see the dark anticipation in Spyder's eyes...

A sudden movement from the back of the cave startled them all. Trey limped wearily into the room, looking weak on one side, but ready for battle nonetheless, if that was what it took to defend his home. He took one look at Starr, who was now trying to stand feebly from the floor, and let forth a bellowing war cry that put Spyder's to shame.

Either Trey's threat took hold, or as Leif moved around the room, Spyder began to feel like the creature trapped, but as soon as Trey's call echoed from the walls, the black Yeti went invisible.

Leif looked panicked. He scanned the room quickly, apparently searching for any sign of the huge Yeti. But when he seemed to see nothing, he looked to Trey.

Crossing the room with a limp to help Starr to her feet, Trey turned to a seemingly empty room and released a short shriek. A bluish glow emanated from his fingertips and light bounced into what appeared to be thin air. But it connected to something there and a yelp that sounded suspiciously like Spyder echoed through the cave.

A crackling sound broke the air around them and purple light shot from nowhere toward Trey, grazing his shoulder. He flinched, but didn't fall, and with another bellow, pushed Starr behind him and did something to hurl a good portion of the still-blazing bonfire across the room. Thin air turned roughly into the shape of a Yeti as burning embers from the fire stuck in place on Spyder's invisible figure. The Yetis' male challenge was turning more serious by the second -- and from the looks of it, definitely more deadly.

Ron, Hermione, and Leif had been all but frozen in place as they witnessed what was taking place. But Leif was the one to take action first. Seeming to feel there were no other options, Leif swung around in one swift move, scooping Ron and Hermione together with one long arm. Apparently unwilling to leave Trey and Starr completely alone with the rampaging Spyder, he ushered the young wizard and witch closer to the door, and all but bowled them out together through the entrance into the forest beyond. Leif then disappeared deeper into the cave as a Yeti yell rang out through the door in the rock wall.

"Bloody hell!" Ron complained, trying to untangle himself from both Hermione and the tall, prickly brush they had been thrown into at great speed. "That was close! But did he have to push so hard? You all right?" He managed to stand, rubbed momentarily at a nasty scrape on his arm, and reached a hand down to help Hermione up.

"Well, he wanted to get us out of there safely -- likely doesn't know his own strength yet --" Hermione began to say as she rolled to one side, sat up to grab Ron's extended hand, and started to push off the ground with the other. But her arm gave way and she fell back with a wail.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked worriedly, lowering her back to the ground and kneeling beside her. "What happened?"

"I -- I'm not sure," she answered. "It just hurts." She tried to lift her arm to look at it, but it wouldn't budge. Wincing in pain, she looked as if she was trying to locate where the worst of the pain was in her body. Her fingers on the hand of the injured arm wriggled slowly, but Ron could tell it was ever so painful. "My elbow -- I think it's my elbow."

Wanting to help, but afraid to touch her and cause her more pain, Ron reached toward her, then withdrew his hand. "Do you think it's broken?"

Hermione reached up with her good hand and felt from her shoulder down past her elbow by herself. "The bones seem to be in one piece, but-- oh --" She suddenly flinched and drew in air between her teeth. "Here-- the socket is so much farther away from where my bone should fit in --- I think it's dislocated. My forearm is out of the elbow socket, that's all -- I don't think it's broken."

"That's all?" Ron said, swallowing and staring at the sunken place in her skin where the swell of her forearm should have met her bicep. "So -- what can I do?"

"You have your wand, don't you?" she asked.

"Sure, it's right--" Ron looked down, then reached to his back pocket. "Damn! I had it! When that Yeti kid pushed us out of the door, I was still holding it." He looked back toward the entrance to the cave. "Bugger, and it's bloody dark out here -- I must have dropped it when we were tumbling. Stay put --I'll be right back."

Squinting in the very faint moonlight, Ron started retracing their path from the doorway. Luckily, the wand was only a few steps away. But just as he reached down to pick it up, a horrifying Yeti yell came from somewhere just inside the cave, and an answering call came from somewhere close behind them in the forest. He rushed back to Hermione's side.

"All right -- I've got it," Ron said, kneeling again. "But I don't think we have time to do anything about it here. It sounds like things aren't getting any better inside and there are others real close out here who are just as peeved. Do you think you can walk?"

"I think so," she said. "If I can hold this arm up with the other so it's not pulling the muscles so hard."

Sympathetic pains shot through Ron's arm from shoulder to wrist as he watched her move slowly and with great effort. Seeing the dark line of her wand where it had been lying on the ground next to her, he made sure that she saw him pick it up and stick it into his back pocket. He was afraid to ask, but it was their only choice. "Is there a chance we can get through the gate to the camp by now?"

Hermione sighed and looked up at him in great seriousness. "Yes, but -- only a chance, if someone happens to be going in or out and we can get by them somehow."

"That's better than sitting here doing nothing. All right then, up you go." Reaching his arm around her waist, Ron gently lifted, waiting a few seconds when she had to help the pain by clamping her dislocated right arm to her side with her left. Once she was standing, he performed the "Point Me" spell with his other hand and they set off.

The forest was full of threatening noises. Yeti shrieks and howls rang through the night; the cracking of large branches in the distance and pounding footsteps could be heard from time to time. They avoided the picnic table because they heard voices there -- and even though they knew they might have to surrender themselves to stay alive, they weren't yet ready to turn themselves over to the mercy of Voyde's men. Even the sudden scurrying of some small animal in the brush next to them was enough to set their hearts pounding. But by far the worst moment was when Ron felt his heart sink at the sight of the habitat's entrance.

The flood lamps were blazing, illuminating everything around the fences and the buildings, all the way to the edge of the brush. There was no one to be seen, but huge, thick, doubled and tripled chains surrounded the sturdy steel fence posts, holding the gates tightly locked.

"...And the dogs..." Hermione sighed despondently.

Sure enough, from time to time a dog or three would go racing by outside the fence line, presumably to the point they heard something last. One even stopped to pace just on the other side of the gate. It was easy to tell the animals were excited and on task, their eyes bright and watchful, tongues hanging as they stared into the forest or loped eagerly between the fences.

"I thought you'd made friends with them," Ron said, watching the animals warily.

"Well, they're more likely to recognize me and be friendly if I have biscuits, like I take to the kennels. That's why I brought the sack of them, but--"

He already saw where this was going. "But Ron left the biscuits in the cave."

"Well...yes," Hermione admitted. "Not that you had much choice. But they're guard dogs, Ron. Without the biscuits, and because they've been trained to attack anything that comes out of the forest or tries to get out of that gate besides the handlers, I'm not sure how it would go. It's different because they're on watch now, too -- they're working."

"Actually, at this point, it probably doesn't much matter anyway," Ron said dejectedly. "Because I don't see any way we're going out that gate. No doubt there are wards set up as well?"

Hermione nodded.

"Good of them to be so thorough," Ron said dryly. "Think we can hold out until morning without being torn apart by rioting Yeti?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. They've already started on me," she sniffed, making a lame joke as she carefully moved her arm against her side.

Ron smiled at her bravado, wincing again at the sunken and pointless elbow socket. "Well, at least we may have time to fix that while we're waiting--" he said, "--assuming you trust me to try."

Hermione started to smile at him when they both jumped at the sound of loud crashing through the trees high above their hiding place.

Ron quickly but gently tried to push Hermione farther behind the small bush where they hid, shielding what could be still be seen of her with his own body. They both felt a heavy body shake the ground upon landing nearby, but they heard and saw nothing immediately. Sensing a presence that couldn't be seen, Ron soon heard a noise he couldn't decipher right away.

"Do you hear that?" he whispered.

"Yes," Hermione whispered back. "It sounds like – "

Ron turned to look into her eyes as she looked into his. " – Something big crunching on the bones of something smaller again – you sure they aren't all killers?"

Bushes began to thrash around nearby, though they could still only hear rather than see whatever it was that moved closer and closer to them. Ron raised his wand once more, though he had only a vague idea where to point it.

As the sound was nearly upon them, a hazy purple halo appeared, but it was not far enough above the ground for a full-grown Yeti. Soon a familiar shadowy gray creature appeared inside the halo. Ron felt a gentle push from behind and he moved out of the way for Hermione to step by.

"Leif! You gave us such a fright – again!" Hermione said.

"Yeah," Ron said irritably. "What is it with this –this—Yeti?"

Leif carried in one fist the sack of dog biscuits, and in the other fist two or three of the hard, crunchy tidbits that he popped into his mouth from time to time. Obviously, that was the sound they had heard.

"How did you get away?" Hermione asked him. "Are you all right?"

Ron was annoyed that she'd care so much. "He's better off than you are."

Hermione shot a glare at Ron, then looked back at Leif for his answer. Leif threw the few remaining biscuits from one fist into his mouth and dropped the sack from the other. He first pointed at himself and then indicated someone or something running by moving his fingers on the opposite palm.

Hermione smiled at his attempt to communicate his answer and by reflex lifted her arm to signal "okay". The movement caused her to hiss in pain. Ron rushed to her side on impulse, reaching around her to cradle her injured arm with his own and relieve the overly-stretched muscles. "Let's get that fixed, now that we know it's only this bloke. I can't stand it with you hurting like that any more."

Hermione tried to smile through her watery lashes as the pain brought tears. "Me either."

But just as Ron reached for his wand, Leif stepped closer and gently pointed to Hermione's elbow. He then laced his fingers together and held them up to show her, obviously thinking that she ought to know that meant something significant.

First shaking her head at Leif in confusion, Hermione carefully watched Leif point to her elbow again. Obviously, he wanted to do something about the dislocation.

"Hey!" Ron said indignantly, catching on and facing the young Yeti. "Nothing doing – Leif! Don't you worry --I'll take care of her—er…it." He felt his face going hot for a number of reasons.

The Yeti seemed to recognize his own spoken name, but didn't appear to like or trust the looks of Ron's intentions when he stepped in front of Hermione.

"Ron, I think it's all right," Hermione said gently. "I think he knows he might have caused it when he pushed us – and he only wants to help."

"Help?" Ron protested, turning his back to Leif. "Look at the size of his hands! What if he crushes every bone in your arm? We already know the bloke doesn't know his own strength. I'm pretty sure I can fix a dislocated elbow, but I'm not a mediwizard, Hermione. Mending bone crushings is beyond me."

"Oh, don't be silly," Hermione said. "He'll do nothing of the sort."

"Then I can't watch this," Ron said, stepping aside and turning away in irritation. But against his own will, he couldn't keep from looking and peeked back over his shoulder.

Leif stepped closer to Hermione until his belly fur was nearly touching her limp arm. Timidly and carefully, the Yeti reached under the non-functioning elbow and slowly lifted it, which caused Hermione to bite her lip in pain. Ron was about to draw his wand and interrupt when he saw a faint gold glow about the Yeti's fingers as they supported Hermione's arm. The creature first gently rolled her hand into a fist and pushed in slightly on her knuckles with his other huge hand to span the disconnected space between her forearm bone and her elbow joint, then he held it in position long enough to interlace his fingers around the injury. The glow around his hands intensified.

"You all right, Hermione?" Ron questioned tensely, forgetting he wasn't supposed to be watching and staring where her elbow was surrounded in light.

"I'm fine," Hermione said, working hard to smile up at Leif. She seemed to be worried that the Yeti was concerned about what she and Ron were saying. "It just feels warm. And the pain's starting to go away. I had no idea they could do this…"

"Yeah, I'll bet you didn't," Ron said in disgust. "Figures he'd be dying to show you."

"He's trying to help, Ron," Hermione insisted. As Leif opened his clasped hands from around Hermione's arm and moved away, she flexed her arm several times to try the newly healed elbow. "It's a bit stiff, but back in place and much, much better. Thank you, Leif."

Ron grumbled something he didn't want her to hear under his breath and turned away to consider again the very well-locked gate.

Once Leif had shyly turned away from Hermione after healing her arm, he seemed to sense Ron's concern about the gate. The young Yeti leaned down to pick up the sack of dog biscuits and moved it toward Hermione, but it was Ron who intervened and snatched it from him. Next, Leif moved in front of them and motioned for them to return to the bushes.

Ron scowled. "Now what's he up to?"

"I think –" Hermione said distractedly, watching Leif apparently searching for something on the ground. A slow grin started to appear on her face. "I think he's going to try and help get us into camp – he knows that's the only place we can be safe."

"Great," Ron said dryly and turned to follow her back into the taller foliage.

As they watched from their vantage point in the bushes, now hidden from sight of the clearing, Leif reappeared carrying a boulder the size of a large cauldron.

"I don't even want to know what he's going to do with that," Ron said.

"Oh, I think you do," Hermione said, grinning and reaching out of the brush with her good arm to give Leif a thumbs-up when he checked to make certain the two of them were hidden. "At least it'll be a start, which is all he can give us. Here we go."

In awe, Ron and Hermione watched as Leif curled one huge arm partway around the enormous rock at his side and swung the thing behind him. With first a deep grunt, then a loud yell, he thrust his great arm forward and launched the boulder at the gate, deftly landing it on the padlock and the stacks of looped chains. Blue and orange light with vivid white sparks flashed from the fence and a loud humming vibrated the air around them. Even the boulder was thrown back a few feet before it dropped straight to the ground.

"Whoa…" Ron breathed. "Nice toss."

The chains and the padlock on the gates were still intact, but the impact of the rock had moved one side of the gate such that there was space enough for a lean human to slip through the opening.

Moments later, a man's shout rang out from somewhere in the forest at their backs and heavy footsteps could be heard pounding their way closer. Leif raised a hand in silent salute to Ron and Hermione just seconds before the clearing became empty save for a glowing purple halo collar near the edge.

Two handlers appeared from the brush, first shining their lanterns in all directions once they reached the clearing, then setting them down once they realized the light from the flood lamps was so bright. But even with the illumination of the lamps, it was apparent they could see nothing now that even the purple halo had vanished.

"Over there!" one of the men cried out, pointing to the boulder just below the still-sparking fence.

Four or five dogs, alerted by the crackling and sparking of the violated wards, now barked and snapped at the gate, looking as if they'd be just as happy to rip a handler to shreds as any escaping Yeti.

"Some one of 'em knocked that gate for a loop, the filthy beasts," the other handler said. "Easy to see why Voyde and them wants those animals, what with how strong the bastards are, but there'll be nothin' to save us if they get through to the camp and turn on us."

"Shut yer mouths, yeh slobberin' mutts!" The dogs' barking volume had grown as the handler approached the gate and quieted very little in spite of the man's orders.

"That one's Ulav," Hermione whispered. "I think."

Ulav began to reach for the padlock and chains, then stopped in mid-motion, reaching instead for the wand in his front pocket. Pointing and swinging the wand before him in an arc that could magically cover some twenty feet of the fence and the gate, he mumbled a spell that sounded to Ron vaguely like the one he had learned to reverse the wards. The man then reached out to snatch up the padlock and examine it, with no adverse reactions from touching the metal.

The second handler walked to join Ulav, but was still visually scouring the area. "Where do you reckon the great furball is now? And which one you think –"

Ripping through the air above their heads, a crackling sound interrupted the handler before some unseen force jarred the gate once more. Oddly enough, it seemed as if the sound had begun in one of the tallest trees above and behind Ron and Hermione, though when they looked up there was nothing but dark night above.

Suddenly, a bright fireball swung into the air, arced over their heads and plummeted earthward into the forest nearby.

A terrifying, yet high-pitched Yeti yell smothered the sounds of the barking and snapping dogs just after the fireball landed with a loud, ground-shaking thud and an explosion lit up the sky nearby. Horrifying animal shrieks and a sound so gruesome it turned Ron's stomach quickly followed.

The handlers took only a moment to decide what to do, mumbling something to one another about, "It'll hold – the animals are too big to get through -- the dogs'll slow 'em down" as they snatched up their lanterns, readied their wands, and jogged by on the path next to the two hidden friends.

As the sounds of Yetis, handlers, and magical explosions retreated deeper into the forest, Ron began to feel as if he could relax a bit. Might as well get comfortable, he thought, we're likely to be here for a good long while – at least until those dogs get distracted elsewhere…

"Bring the biscuit sack, Ron," Hermione said and made a move toward crawling from their leafy hideout.

Ron snorted, but reached a hand to her shoulder just in case. "You can't mean you're thinking of going through there?"

"You have a better idea?" Shoving past Ron's hand, she pushed her head from the brush, and turned from side to side to check for anyone coming.

Ron grimaced and grabbed for the biscuit sack. He followed her into the clearing, blinking at the sudden intensity of the bright flood lamps. "Now I'm actually sorry my eyes are adjusting to the light," he said, staring at the frothing jaws attached to dogs jumping at the fence. "They may be smaller than Fluffy, but together they've got more heads than he had. And more teeth. And they're just as angry...maybe more..."

"Oh, now don't tell me you're afraid of a few little doggies..." Hermione taunted.

Ron looked at her in shock. "Are you mad? Those don't look like idle threats they're making."

Hermione had stopped about ten meters short of the fence to wait for Ron to catch up; they both stood watching the dogs for a moment.

"They don't like wizards much, do they?" Ron asked quietly.

"Don't trust them and have been hurt by them a lot, more like it," Hermione answered.

"Hold that bag in your right hand and walk with me. Use the other arm to stay close. It's like it was with Starr – you want them to know you're with me."

Ron was a bit confounded. She didn't seem afraid in the slightest – maybe she truly did believe the dogs would calm once she got closer. He moved up to stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

"Can you help protect my arm a bit?" Hermione asked. "In case they jump up."

"Oh-- oh yeah, of course," Ron said, feeling stupid for forgetting and moving to the other side of her. "You know, I'm not certain that protecting your arm will help much in the end."

Hermione shook her head at him in exasperation and stepped off. "They're still not sure. They've never seen me coming from here before – and they must be upwind."

Eight meters. Five meters…

The largest black dog in the middle of the pack dropped his forequarters from the fence to the ground. As he stared, he stopped his barking aside from one last little furtive yip, then his whole demeanor changed. Tongue suddenly lolling instead of baring his teeth, his flanks began to swing from side to side so violently to wag his stub of a tail that they moved his whole body.

"Bruno?" Hermione said quietly. "There's a good boy."

Ron's jaw dropped. "Is that the--?"

"Certainly is," Hermione interrupted. "Give me a biscuit." Holding the proffered biscuit out before her with her better arm as they slowly approached, Hermione's soothing tone and Bruno's cue soon caused the other dogs to calm as well. In the course of a few minutes, the entire group had been reduced to a whining, panting, and wagging pack. "A bit different, no? Think we can make it past them now?"

Moving slowly beside her, Ron was in awe. "How did you do that? I know you didn't do any magic."

"Maybe it's not officially magic, but I'd say a little kindness could be pretty magical, wouldn't you?"

They had reached the dogs now. Bruno was pawing at the opening in the gate, trying to stick both nose and one leg through to reach his approaching friend.

Several minutes and a sackful of dog biscuits later, Ron and Hermione had made it to the far side of the dog run, apparently as yet unnoticed by anyone human. Hermione's suspicion that the large door to usher the Yeti into the lab might be un-spell-locked at the moment had proven correct, so they had no problem slipping through and leaving their now well-fed canine friends behind.

Once inside the lab building, the lack of any light except that coming from the office room down the hall encouraged the two of them to move down the long hallway and toward the front entrance to the camp. They did have to duck quickly into one of the training rooms when they saw Dr. Null heading down the hall toward the habitat with one of the handlers, but once the two men passed, the camp was virtually empty all the way back to Hermione's cabin.