It was hot in the tent when Harry awoke early the next morning. A few sweltering moments later, Harry figured out why. Somehow in his sleep Harry had ventured over to Puck's side of the tent and was now entangled with the mohawked teen, who it turns out the human embodiment of a space heater.

Despite the temperature, Harry was actually quite comfy curled up on the other boy's fit chest. Puck was on his back and Harry had cuddled up to his side. His head was tucked under Puck's chin, and he could feel the boy's arm wrapped around his waist. He took a moment to savor the feeling of waking up with someone for the first time, though this was not how he had thought it would happen.

Harry had every intention of moving in a moment, to carefully climb out of the embrace he had fallen into. However, the subtle sounds of the waves breaking against the sand and the rhythmic rise and fall of Puck's chest underneath him conspired together to lull Harry back to sleep without his permission.

When Harry woke up again it was brighter in the tent and the ground beneath him was shaking. Slightly panicked, Harry scrambled up only to see Puck wide awake and grinning at him shaking with badly concealed laughter. Harry sent him a silent glare from his original side of the tent, the only reaction being Puck full out laughing.

"You know, Harry," Puck said through his laughter, "I didn't know you were such a cuddle whore. Sneaking up on me in my sleep like that, I almost feel taken advantage of."

Harry valiantly fought off his blush and tried to appear confident. "Yes, well. I did catch you dinner first," Harry replied with a wink.

"Don't worry, Harry. You can cuddle me anytime," Puck answered, fluttering his eyelashes.

"Oh, ha ha. Very funny. Can't say I'm too sorry, though. I haven't slept that well in-" Harry tried to think of the last time he had woken up this refreshed. "Hmm... well a while at least."

Puck sat up, stretching his arms over his head. "I know what you mean, man. I feel great. Who would have thought being in a plane crash would be so relaxing?"

"You know, I've been thinking the same thing. It's kind of like a resort island. I mean, barring the disappearing people, the random magical creatures and the mysterious barrier preventing anything from leaving of course."

Puck chuckled. "Yeah, besides all that."

Together they left the tent, finding their discarded clothing from the day before which Harry hit with a few cleaning spells before dressing. The morning air was cold on his skin compared to just minutes before in the tent. The sun had already risen, so Harry knew they had slept later than they should have. Puck and Harry were the first to awake still, so the others were woken up quickly.

Packing up for the coming trip became a group effort. Puck caught the fish, Mike cleaned them, Finn put the pieces into transfigured containers and Harry cast charms taught to him by Mrs. Weasley on the containers to keep the food fresh and packed them in a backpack separate from the fruit satchel. By the time they were finished packing enough for two days worth, Puck had gotten a good grip on the summoning spell when he couldn't see what he was summoning.

"Now we stink. Like bad, man," Finn complained.

Harry agreed, and cast the cleaning charm at all of them quickly, and after a moments thought transfigured their tennis shoes into hiking boots.

Mike flexed his fingers. "You know, I look clean and smell clean, but it still feels...off somehow. Like the fish guts are there but not there."

"Yeah. Scourgify can only do so much. We have got to get moving if we want to get there in time. That mountain is all the way on the other side of the island, it's probably 100 miles from here, and we don't any clue what is between us and it."

"Don't be such a downer, dude," Puck told Harry with a playful shove to his shoulder. "Yesterday was great, today is going to be no problem."

"He's right, Puck. In all those moves all the bad stuff is in the middle of the island, which we have to pass through." Mike shifted, thinking about that. "Maybe we should just head back the way we came until we get to the other side?"

"Who knows how long that would take? We don't even know for sure how big the island is! It could take days extra and we said we would be there in two."

"I know Finn, but what if it safer? That's more important. Right?"

"I'm telling you guys. It's safe," Puck shouted. "Look we can see the first mile or so no problem and there's nothing there! Just hills, rocks, and grass. Yeah, it's gonna suck walking over that, but it will be better than going back the way we came. Plus we got a ninja spy kid wizard with us. Right, Harry?"

"First, I told you I'm not a ninja spy. Second, of course I would protect you, guys. The quicker we get to our friends, the better I think. Sorry, Mike."

Mike threw his hands up. "Fine, but if something happens I reserve the right to stick out my tongue and say 'I told you so'."

"Duly noted. Shall we go now?"

"And so the four new friends set off through uncharted territory. The veteran wizard, the newbie wizard, the wanna-be doctor and the loveable goofball with his side-kick Max. With the sea behind them and the mysterious hills before them, they began their journey in good spirits. Who knows what would become of them? Who knows what secrets that beautiful green landscape hid from them?"

"Hey, Finn? Can you not do that?"

"Do what, Harry," Finn asked innocently.

"The creepy deep narrator voice, Frankenteen," Puck said.

"Fine! I thought we could use some more drama. Rachel is always talking about drama."

"We crashed in a plane on an mysterious magical island. I don't think we need your voice over for drama, Finn," Mike told him.

They began to climb the nearest hill together. Harry noted it was kind of odd the way that the beach just ended and this whole new environment started up. It even seemed like the weather was different. On the beach it had been warm and dry, with a slight salty breeze, but as they moved into the grass before the hills it was as if the temperature dropped slightly and the air was very moist and a constant wind. It wasn't enough to want to change his clothes and none of the others mentioned it, so Harry dismissed it.

The group naturally paired off as they walked, Mike and Finn a few yards in front of Harry and Puck. The walk was more physical than yesterday so Harry was unable to talk as much as the day before but still made conversation with Puck as they climbed up and down the hills.

"So, who's waiting for you once we get off the island?" Harry asked curiously.

"It's just my ma and sister. My pop split when I was a kid, and I stepped up to be the man of the house. I got in trouble a few years back and the few weeks I was locked up were tough on them. Ma's a worrier. I bet their at temple right now."

"It's good. That they care about you, I mean."

"Yeah. If it wasn't for my ma I never would have got through the whole Beth scandal. She was disappointed, you know? But she really helped me out."

"Is Beth your girlfriend," Harry asked, fearing the answer. His worry was quickly wiped away by the shocked look on Puck's face.

"Fuck, no, dude! She's my daughter!"

Now it was Harry's turned to be shocked. "Your daughter? Wow."

"Sorry, I forget not everyone knows. It was a huge thing in our school, and I'm still catching shit over it."

"Why?"

Puck's gaze flicked to Finn a little ways ahead of them. "It's kind of a long story."

"We've got nothing but time, Puck."

"Fine, but just remember it wasn't my greatest moment, ok?" Harry nodded. "In sophomore year I got a girl pregnant. Which wouldn't have been so interesting by itself, 'cause at that time I slept around a lot. The problem was the girl I got pregnant was head cheerleader and leader of the celibacy club. The worse part was she was the girlfriend of the quarterback, who was my best friend."

"Oops."

"Yeah. Oops. She was a virgin before me, and when she found out she was pregnant she knew it was mine. Her and her boyfriend had never had sex, but she convinced him that she had gotten pregnant when he got off in the hot tub they were sharing. She didn't want me to have anything to do with her or the baby, but I did. I thought I was in love with her, and I just wanted to be a dad like mine never was."

"Did the boyfriend slash best friend find out?"

"Oh yeah. We are all in Glee together, and in glee club nothing ever stays secret for very long. I wanted to make it work, but she kept telling me I couldn't provide or be a good role model. I tried to get a job, give her money but it was never enough and she still wouldn't let me be a part of the baby's life. One night I got drunk and tried to steal an ATM to try and get money for her. It was stupid, obviously, and I got arrested before I even left the parking lot. I was in juvie for two months. Quinn decided to give the baby up for adoption, so in the end I lost my kid and my best friend. It was not a great time in my life."

Puck had been walking close to Harry so he didn't have to talk loud. He was close enough so Harry ran a hand up and down Puck's back in a comforting gesture. "Damn."

Puck took a deep breath and stood up straighter. "Yeah. But eventually he forgave me, we don't really talk about it. I get to see my daughter, Beth, too. It was an open adoption, and her new mom is pretty great. I kind of realized I wasn't ready to be a dad yet anyway. I still love Beth like crazy though."

Harry was silent for a moment. "So, no er... girlfriend waiting for you then?"

Puck laughed. "Real smooth. No, no girlfriend or boyfriend either. Subtle, man. Almost as subtle as your hand on my ass."

Harry, who just realized his hand was still resting on Puck's lower back, squeaked and yanked his hand away. "My hand wasn't on your arse, Puck! See if ever try to comfort you again." Harry huffed and sped up his walking leaving Puck to trail after him.

"Oh come on, man. I was just playing!"

Harry ignored the boy and kept speed walking, which was deceptively hard to do when climbing a hill but Harry managed.

"Harrrry. Don't ignore me."

Still somewhat embarrassed, Harry kept ignoring him, no matter how cute his pleading sounded. He knew if he turned around and saw those gorgeous hazel eyes they would be in puppy dog pose, and he wasn't sure he could resist.

"Harry! I'll let you touch my ass again," Puck singsonged.

Harry gasped and whirled. "For the last time I was not-" Harry's words cut off when he got a glimpse of what was behind him. Sure enough Puck had huge puppy dog eyes, but what made him cut off was what was behind Puck, who had no clue he was in danger if the grin on his face was anything to go by.

Whatever they were had a humanoid shape: two arms, two legs a head and torso, but that was where the similarities ended. They looked to be made of some sort of gnarled bark twisted around itself to give a shape, and at places you could see through holes in its body to the hills behind. Their faces looked like a wooden mask, it's eyes carved out and glowing yellow. Their whole bodies glowed with a sickly yellow light swirling in and out, emanating from the cavities in their chests where it was brightest. There were two of them and they were huge, one at 15 feet tall and the other a few feet taller. The smaller one carried a large club while the larger creature had no weapon.

Harry had no clue where they came from. They had just passed that hill and there was nothing there. Just because he was talking to Puck did not mean he wasn't aware of his surroundings are whatever they were, they had definitely not been there minutes ago. Now, however, they were only about 25 yards from an oblivious Puck. They weren't moving yet, only watching the group.

"See, even you can't-"

"Puck! Shut up!" Harry hissed lowly, ignoring the shocked look that appeared on the teen's face at the harsh tone. "Walk towards me, quickly. Do NOT turn around."

Of course, Puck didn't listen. As soon as Harry said not to, Puck turned and screamed, "Holy shit!" then finally ran towards Harry, scrambling up the side of the hill.

The scream had two effects. One, Mike and Finn who had been ignoring the two while they talked turned around and also began yelling. The second, and worse effect, was the creatures glow turned from yellow to a slightly familiar green and they seemed to focus heavily on the boys, before moving forward quickly. They were so large the ground actually trembled as they stomped forwards.

Harry gripped the back of Puck's shirt as he was losing grip on the hillside and yanked him further up. "Move! Run!"

Harry and Puck caught up to Finn and Mike in moments and they ran for their lives. They boys ran fast, but the creatures were too large to out run. A green beam of light flew past the boys hitting the grass, which instantly withered and turned brown. Harry suddenly knew why that shade of green was so familiar. Spotting an outcropping of rock slightly ahead, Harry pointed them towards it. They were all hiding when another light struck the stone, thankfully not getting through, but the creatures were getting closer.

"What they hell are they!" Finn screamed.

"I don't know! Stay down! Do not get hit by that light!" Harry yelled over loud pounding of the monster's feet against the ground. He moved to the side where there was a gap in between two of the rocks leaving the others protected in the center. He peeked out the side of the rock in time to see the larger of the two send another green beam of light out of the center of his wooden hand. Harry ducked back in time to avoid being hit, and as soon as the light dimmed took his aim at the creatures.

"Bombarda Maxima!" The spell it the smaller creature in the arm not holding the club, severing the lower half which fell to the ground. Almost immediately the wood from the upper arm began to grow, reforming what had fallen. Another green light formed heading straight for Harry, making him duck back in.

"Shit! They regenerate!" Harry turned to the others, taking in their scared faces. He cast his best group shield over them, the purple light formed a dome over the three teens. "Stay here. I fucking mean it. You move and they will be the least of your problems. Got it?" After getting a nod, Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath and moved to the opening he had been using. Harry quickly cast an advanced shield upon himself, before stepping though the opening towards the creatures.

He couldn't let them get close enough to come around the rock. No shield would protect the others against the Avada Kevdavra and, unless he was mistaken, what ever that creature was sending out was exactly like it. Harry had seen enough people be struck by that light, he couldn't let them be helpless. Harry quickly ran from the outcropping protecting his friends, dodging the flashing green flight. He sent another Blasting curse, this time catching the larger one in the knee. It stumbled for a moment, but seemed to regenerate even faster than the smaller. The curse wasn't even effective enough to amputate.

Harry ran fast, leading the creatures away. He thought faster. They had heads and what looked to function as heart, and they were made of what appeared to be wood. The smaller one was obviously weaker as it relied on a club and did not regenerate as fast, so Harry would concentrate his attacks on that one first while doing his best to avoid both. He ran to the closest hill, scrambling up quickly enough that the monsters where still in the valley between. He quickly aimed two Blasts at the smaller, one hit the head and the second missed. The head was already regenerating when Harry sent his next curse after dodging a curse from the quickly approaching larger one.

"Flagare Penitus!" The charm hit dead center of the smaller creatures chest. Flame and smoke began to pour out the cavity, and it screamed. The sound was indescribable, worse than Harry could ever have imagined. The larger one ceased it's pursuit of Harry and turned to look down at it's fallen companion. The green light from the taller creature grew and grew, throwing shadows even in the light of day. Harry watched immobile as the creature collapsed to the ground, thick smoke pouring out of the burning and charred wood and still it screamed until suddenly all sound and movement stopped abruptly.

The land was silent. Nothing moved, not even Harry. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had just done something wrong, even though he was protecting the life of himself and others. The larger creature let out a tremendous roar with what Harry could describe as mourning. The light from the monster was now so bright it actually hurt Harry's eyes. It started forward, raising it's hand to Harry. Even though it felt wrong somehow, Harry hadn't come this far to be killed. He wouldn't sacrifice his life and the life of his friends for this creature. Before the hand could make it's complete assent to aim, Harry fired off the same curse that had killed the smaller creature. It his the monster in it's chest, but instead of fire and smoke the light flashed and seemed to absorb the curse and still the hand fired.

Harry panicked and began to shoot off every curse he could think of while dodging and running, but still the light only flared and the creature came for him again and again. He climbed the next hill and still it chased, Harry backing away as he fired unable to turn his back. His foot caught a rock and down he fell over the other side of the hill, smashing into rocks as he tumbled. When he came to a stop Harry lay in the small valley between two hills, unable to move. He watched as the creature appeared over the edge, and fire last curse he could think. "Avada Kedevra!" Still the light only flared, and Harry knew this was it. He couldn't move to run and nothing could kill it.

From the hill opposite the creature came a loud growl. Harry froze, and was amazed when the creature did as well. They both looked to the hill where the loud growl was coming from. "Bloody hell," Harry groaned. Atop the hill was a large wolf, taller than a horse. It's shaggy coat was a dark emerald green, and behind it Harry could see three braided tails whipping back and forth as it crouched and snarled. Harry saw it still, then leap and knew he was done for.

But the wolf missed him, leaped right over his prone form lying on the grassy floor to land right between him and the creature. The wolf snapped and snarled, saliva falling from it's curled lips. The wooden creature growled and moaned, and they faced off until the light of the creature began to dim, slowly fading away to the yellow it had been when Harry first saw it. After minutes of silence, the creature turned and made it's way back the way it had chased Harry. The wolf watched it go, completely still in its crouched form. More minutes passed as Harry pondered his fate, what this wolf would do.

Harry shifted his leg from where he had fallen on it, trying not to draw the attention of the wolf, but a sharp pain tore through him and he let out a gasp. The wolf turned on him and Harry held his breath as he met the eyes of the huge animal. Harry was amazed to note the bright lavender gaze as the wolf seemed to search his own. They stayed that way until a pain in Harry's chest informed him that he had stopped breathing, and he sucked in air. The wolf walked closer and Harry tried to back away, but the movement shot more pain through him and he whimpered.

The wolf like creature stopped a few feet from Harry and lowered it's massive frame to the ground. Even laying down it was taller than Padfoot when he was standing up. A few moments passed and the wolf began inching his way closer to Harry. It wasn't snarling or even growling, it was watching Harry as if concerned for him.

As it crawled forward Harry couldn't help but plead in a whisper, "Please don't eat me. Please don't eat me. Please don't eat me."

The wolf stopped and snorted as if amused at Harry's fear, which for some reason annoyed him. Harry wasn't positive, but he was pretty sure when faced with 10 foot tall wolf the appropriate reaction should not be annoyance.

"Well, excuse me for being scared, but you could eat me in one bite and still have room for dessert!"

The wolf shook it's head.

"No you wouldn't eat me? Or no you wouldn't have room for dessert?"

The wolf thumped his massive tails on the ground once.

"Oh, that's comforting. Wait! You can understand me?" Harry yelped.

The wolf gave him a look, Harry would swear he rolled his eyes, and nodded.

"Am I speaking a different language, cause the last time this happened I started hissing. So am I barking or something?"

The wolf shook his head again.

"Ok. So, um thank you for helping me and also for not eating me. That was really awesome but...er...not to be rude or anything but what do you want?"

The wolf continued on it's crawl forward and nudged Harry's not hurt leg with its nose, which happened to be the size of his hand.

"I don't get it."

The wolf huffed and fell on to it's side an carefully wiggled until he was laying on Harry's side and Harry's hand was in his fur. Harry mentally noted that the shaggy hair was quite clean. He ran his hands through the coarse coat, marveling at the emerald color.

"So you want to be my pet?" Harry asked confused.

The wolf yelped and jumped up to his full height. He was shorter than Fluffy the cerberus, but Harry still had to crane his neck up to see the wolf's face from where he was still laying.

"So not a pet then?"

The wolf huffed and shook his head dramatically.

"So..companion then?"

The wold seemed to think about it for a moment, then nodded.

"Your not going to eat my friends are you? Cause that's a deal breaker."

The wolf rolled his eyes again and shook his head.

"Alright, well you can join us. I have to get over to them though. Do you think you could help me out? I can fix this, but it will take a while and I want to make sure they are alright."

The wolf nodded and lowered himself to the ground once more, confusing Harry until it nudged his leg than glanced to his back.

"You want me to ride you? You sure?"

It nodded. Harry looked into his eye's warily but the wolf seemed innocent, despite the fact that it had stared down a giant tree monster so Harry carefully rose up on his good leg and maneuvered on to the wolf's back. It was painful, but less than if he had tried to walk over with the wolf's help like he had planned.

"You know, if this is some nefarious plot to bring me back to your cave to eat me, it's working," Harry informed the wolf as he wrapped his hands in the long green fur. The wolf chuffed and rose gracefully to his feet. Harry looked down to find himself about 6 feet of the ground and gripped a little tighter as the wolf began to trot towards the outcropping.

"Now I know how Emily Elizabeth felt," Harry grumbled.*

It wasn't very comfortable but Harry was thankful. He hadn't realized how far he had run, but making it over those hills by himself would have been impossible. It took a few moments, but finally the outcropping was in sight.

"Can you slow down for a minute," Harry whispered to the wolf. As it slowed Harry shouted out, "You guys alright?"

"Harry! You're ok! We thought you were done for!" Puck shouted from behind the rock.

"Hey, I'm coming back. I've got a...friend with me. Don't freak out. OK?"

*Clifford the Big Red Dog reference

AN: So what are you thinking. This is where the adventure part of the story starts to come into play. Don't forget your reviews feed my creativity. You don't want my creativity to starve, do you? *Insert Puck's sad puppy dog eyes here*