Hermione tumbled through the door, running into Ginny who stood in front of her. The two girls wobbled and Hermione felt the ground shift underneath her. Looking down she realized they were perched on some sort of surface, suspended in the middle of another vast, black, empty space.
"Watch out!" Anastasia shouted. Hermione looked to her left to see the other girls there as well, all clustered together and holding onto one another. The eight of them stood on what appeared to be a long, floating rock. Peering over the edge of the floating rock, Hermione only saw black. They were literally suspended in space; there was no bottom in sight underneath them.
Looking ahead Hermione saw four rows of similar rocks, though these were smaller, about five feet by five feet each with a flat surface. The rocks formed four paths that led to a thin bridge at the end. Behind the bridge was another small door.
"This isn't going to be good," she mumbled quietly. Hermione took a tentative step forward to examine the situation. The action caused the rock they were all still standing on to wobble again.
"Stop moving, stop moving!" Parvati pleaded.
"We need to split up," Ginny said quietly, holding onto Hermione's arm. "This is too much weight."
Hermione nodded. Somehow they had to make their way along the paths of rocks. Hermione didn't want to think about what would happen if one of them fell over. Suddenly, the rock shifted once more as Olivia leapt from the stone and onto the first rock in the path farthest to the left. Hermione held her breath as she watched Olivia steady herself, only exhaling once the girl stood up firmly.
"That wasn't so bad," Olivia said, a slight tremor in her voice. Hermione watched as Anastasia went next, jumping onto the first rock in the next path closest to Olivia. Then, both Olivia and Anastasia jumped once more, landing on the next rock and making a spot for each of their ladies in waiting behind them.
"You need to keep your arms out at your sides!" Olivia shouted, her body shaking a bit. "To keep your balance!"
Hermione and Ginny exchanged a glance.
"I think I should go first," Ginny said. Before Hermione could protest, Ginny spoke up again. "I'm more nimble than you, Hermione. You don't have an athletic bone in your body."
Hermione gave in and watched tensely as Ginny lined herself up with the path farthest to the right. She watched through her fingers as Ginny took a few quick steps then jumped through the air, landing solidly on the first rock in her path.
"Oh God, Ginny, please be careful," Hermione pleaded. "If you fall over your mother is going to kill me."
"It's okay, I think I can do this," Ginny replied. "I'm going to jump one more time, and then you can jump here, all right?"
Hermione watched as Ginny jumped once more, landing smoothly on the second rock. At the same time, both Olivia's and Anastasia's friends made their first jump, each landing on their mark. Hermione walked into position. Before she made the leap, though, she bent over quickly, inspiration striking her. She made a tear into the bottom of her gown, deftly tearing off two feet of the material.
The other girls watched her actions and immediately followed, making quick work of their cumbersome dresses. That done, Hermione stood straight, took a deep breath, and jumped.
Her feet hit the stone hard and her body doubled over, the weight of the crossbow in her arms pulling her forward. She quickly righted herself, overcompensating by stepping backward. Her bare foot hit the edge of the rock and she moved forward again, sticking her arms out at the side for balance.
"Easy!" Ginny called, watching helplessly.
"I'm okay," Hermione replied, catching her breath. Looking ahead and counting the number of rocks still before of her, she realized with dread she was going to have to do that ten more times.
"Throw me the crossbow!" Ginny demanded.
"No," Hermione said forcefully. "It's too much…"
"I'm better at this than you," Ginny interrupted. "You have to let me help you, Hermione!"
Considering for a moment, Hermione studied Ginny then carefully threw the weapon ahead of her. Ginny caught it, the force of the object causing her to step back once. She quickly righted herself, though, and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.
Hermione looked to her left, checking on the others. Olivia and Anastasia had already made their way to the fourth rock, their friends behind them. Lavender and Parvati, however, were still standing on the original stone they all had landed on and looked to be deep in conversation. After a few more moments of argument, Hermione saw Lavender nod and move forward. She gave a small scream as she jumped, but the girl mercifully landed on the first rock in her path.
Hermione turned back to Ginny and nodded that she was ready to continue on.
The girls moved slowly, each one taking care and time to jump and land as steadily as possible. More than once Hermione felt her heel go over the edge of the rock she was standing on, but she kept at it, moving purposefully along the path. Olivia and Anastasia made it to the end first, each girl lunging toward the bridge. Hermione said a silent prayer of thanks as she saw Ginny soar onto the bridge as well, finally safe.
With one more jump, Hermione landed on the final stone, just one leap away from the bridge. She made to move once more, ready to get this behind her, when a cry made her halt.
Looking over her shoulder she saw Lavender, frozen in panic and crouched on a rock three jumps back from the bridge.
"I-I can't do it!" the girl wailed.
"Yes you can, Lav," Parvati shouted. "I'm right behind you."
Hermione watched the display, her heart breaking for Lavender. Terror was written plainly across the girl's face.
"Y-you all go on without me," Lavender said shakily, a sob escaping her. Without thinking, Hermione turned and jumped, landing back on the rock she had just come from. She jumped again and then once more, settling on the stone right beside Lavender.
"I-I can't Hermione," Lavender said quietly, her eyes settling on her new companion.
"You have to," Hermione replied, urgently. "Lavender, what if Ron is coming for you? You have to keep moving, for him. If you don't he'll be stuck back there!"
Lavender shook her head slowly, a few tears falling from her eyes.
"He's not coming for me, is he?" she whispered. Hermione swallowed hard, her brows knit together.
"I don't know," she replied honestly. "But there's a chance. So you have to try. Please."
Lavender took a deep, steadying breath and carefully pushed herself up, coming to a standing position. She looked to Hermione for confirmation and Hermione nodded, letting her know they would do this together. At the same pace, both girls moved forward and jumped, landing at their next mark.
"Okay," Hermione said shakily. "Just two more stones and then the bridge."
Lavender settled her face in a focused expression and the two young women jumped again. The stone wobbled under Hermione's feet and she heard Ginny cry out. Checking beside her, Hermione saw that Lavender had made it and Parvati was moving behind them as well. With one more deep breath Hermione jumped again and landed on the last rock. As she waited for Lavender to steady herself, she prepared for her final leap. She said a quick prayer, closed her eyes for a moment, then jumped.
Hermione let out a relieved laugh as she realized both she and Lavender had made it. Looking behind her she saw Parvati readying herself for her own final leap. The other girls held out their arms for her as Parvati sailed through the air, at last arriving to safety.
Parvati and Lavender lowered themselves to a sitting position on the bridge. Olivia was resting her head on the hand rail and Anastasia was openly weeping onto her friend's shoulder. Hermione turned to Ginny, to make sure the redhead was all right.
"I'm okay," Ginny said before Hermione could ask. The two girls shared a quick but tight hug. "But let's try to never do that again, all right?"
Hermione nodded and gave a thin smile. Something had just occurred to her and it caused a trickle of fear to go up her spine.
"Ginny," she said quietly. "That was difficult for us and we're lighter, shorter and more agile than a man would be…"
Ginny looked up, knowing exactly where her friend was going with this.
"And Ron can trip over his feet when he's just standing still."
Hermione's eyes welled up fast and she covered her mouth with one hand, suppressing a sob. She shook her head quickly, trying to regain focus.
"Maybe he's not here, maybe's he's not one of the men who jumped through."
Ginny gave her friend a pitying smile.
"Yeah, maybe," she said.
"We need to keep moving," Olivia said suddenly.
All the girls seemed to agree. Olivia pulled the small door open and one by one the girls made their way through. As Hermione walked past, she saw that they were in shadowy darkness again. It looked like they were in a tunnel of some sorts. The end of the tunnel looked to be far, far away and Hermione could make out a tiny dot of light marking the other side.
"What is this place?" Parvati asked. Her voice echoed through the tunnel.
Hermione had no idea. She could only be relieved that they had each made it through the last task and hopefully they could do it again. She turned to look at the rest of the girls. Anastasia's face was still tracked with tears. Hermione put a hand out to rest on the girl's shoulder. Before she could touch her, though, Anastasia opened her mouth in a silent gasp, just before she disappeared all together. Just like the last time, Anastasia's friend was gone the next instant. And then there were only six of them.
"What happened?" Lavender wailed. "She made it through. She didn't fail, it isn't fair!"
Hermione place a hand to her chest, trying to steady her breathing.
"No, she didn't fail," Hermione said slowly. "But I think, maybe, her knight just did."