Disclaimer!

These characters do not belong to me nor do I make any money off this story. I am merely writing Fan Fiction. The characters belong to their respective author. I hope you enjoy Joining Forces.

Hermione POV:

We decided to go back to the school and tell the professors about the missing students first, however, we were nearing the entrance when it seemed as if there was a chill down my neck before something pounced on me from behind, too quick to react to. Before I knew it, I had reappeared in a small space crowded by trees that towered high above me, blocking out the majority of the moonlight. "Lumos." A little light was better than none. It seemed I was in a forest, but there didn't seem to be much movement around me including the lack of appearance of whatever brought me there. I debated sending out a flare signal, on one hand I might be able to get help and return to the others, but on the other it might invite some less friendly company.

"Hermione!" I heard Ron's voice echoing far away. "Harry! I got zapped here too! Are you there?"

"Ron!" I called, walking towards his voice. "I'm here!" His steps suddenly became louder as we ran towards each other, but out of the dark expanse, something felt off. Ron's footsteps sounded...heavier? Grander, as if there were several trees being pushed aside to make room. I pointed my wand towards the sound, preparing a stunning spell. Soon, a figure entered my view, illuminated by the light projected from my wand. My eyes widened. It wasn't that I hadn't seen large or intimidating looking creatures after so many years at Hogwarts and in the magic world, but each time would still give you somewhat of a shocker.

A large humanoid-like being, shorter than trees but definitely taller than me, walked out. In one way, it reminded me of Grawp, Hagrid's half-brother, but it was definitely much larger and the desire to crush me was apparent. It wasn't wearing much, more like a large sac over its body, but what really stood out was the single eye on its forehead, the pupil focused at me as it smashed a club. The spell I had been preparing immediately fired collided with his attack giving me some time to run away. A cyclops! I noted. It wasn't likely that I would be able to beat one, especially with the chances that I was led there by it. Retreat was the better option at the moment.

"Hey!" It called after me, crashes accompanying it's cry that perfectly mimicked Ron's voice. "Come back!"

"Sump!" A shrill voice yelled, her voice vaguely familiar. "You were supposed to club the brat when you had the chance!"

"I tried!" The cyclops, Sump, groaned. "But they're so tiny, and it's dark and—"

"Quick complaining! If that one was Potter, or Weasley, Granger or even that cheeky muggle-born twit, I won't let you off!"

"How about you chase them? You weren't freed from Azkaban just to yell, how about you do something?"

Their arguing carried on but that didn't hold them back from scouring the forest. I had already made myself invisible and was moving as quietly as possible whenever I felt that Sump would whack off another nearby tree. Is this where Lavender and Colin disappeared to? What about Ron and Harry, did they get pulled in here as well?

"Hermione," It wasn't until a while later when I heard my voice being called again. It sounded like Ron again. "Hermione." The cyclops had already moved past me, but who knew if there was another. Still, I had no clue where I was or if anyone one else was nearby instead of me just being trapped with a cyclops who clearly wanted me dead along with a witch who also wanted me dead. Ultimately, no matter what I said I would lead others to me. "I'm here." I said, pointing out my wand, readying another spell. My voice was low enough that they could hear it, but I wasn't too sure about the cyclops and the other witch.

There was a sudden rustle, sounding as if someone was racing as fast as they could. Before long, Ron came into view. His red hair was matted and filled with twigs and leaves similar to his robes. Immediately upon seeing me, he rushed forward with his arms wide out. "Expelliarmus!" I said, his wand flying out of his hands. Raising his eyebrows, he looked back for a second before noticing how thick ropes had sprung out and that they had already wrapped around him until he fell to the ground, firmly bound. "Jeez, Hermione, what is this?"

"...Are you really Ron?"

"Am I? Of course I am!" He replied, irritably squirming within the ropes as I cast Revelio on him. Once it turned up blank, I finally released my breath and went over to untie him. Still, I shifted my weight on my heels, my wand still pointed forward. There has been too many weird situations showing up as of late. "You are 100% Ron?"

"Hermione," He said slowly. "If I'm not 100% Ron then I'm guessing you're not 100% Hermione either. Would an imposter know about how we trekked around with Harry for months and then I left, partially due to the pendant, then came back thanks to Dumbledore's deilluminator and later on...we got together." He smiled briefly before continuing about the other stuff that happened, but I had already begun to untie him. "Sorry, there were some peculiar things happening. Some cyclops was mimicking your voice, there was also another witch with them as well. I wouldn't want anything worse to happen."

"It's natural, you wouldn't be Hermione if you weren't so cautious. Still, those are some pretty firm ropes." He rubbed his wrists before I passed him his wand. "Had to be sure." I gave him a peck on the cheek before helping him up. He grinned. "Of course, but it's quite difficult to replace someone like me. Say, have you seen Harry? He was disappeared right after you."

I shook my head. "Besides you, I haven't even gotten a glimpse of another Hogwarts student or someone who could be a potential ally to help get us out of here. I don't think there is a specific place to be teleported to, it's likely that all of us are split up randomly. That we could meet up is already pretty lucky, we should find the others and then try getting out of here together."

"Agreed. I didn't see the cyclops, but I did see some dark witches and wizards going around. There was a Carrow, the brother of the two, also some other death eaters, snatchers, most of them our old pals. Some came from Azkaban, the others are supposed to be dead." I thought back to the newspapers of the past few months, the last time I heard, they had died in Azkaban due to a kiss from the demontors, but if this "associate" could bring back the dead, I suppose realistic dead bodies to fool the ministry wouldn't be too arduous of a task.

We around the forest together for not sure how long. The trees covered up most of the light and the area seemed to be a lengthy expanse. For the most part, it seemed as if we were just feeling our way through darkness. It was only when we heard Carrow, the brother's voice again, did we know that we really weren't that close to escaping. If we did fight him together, I think we'd have a fair shot at winning, but what followed was something I wasn't sure about. Ron murmured, "We don't see anyone, but turns out they're all around wherever we are."

"...Ron, how about we follow him?" I suggested warily. "We haven't made much progress, but the chances are they have. Maybe, we'll find some other Hogwarts students. On the down side, we might be walking into a lion's den, but we aren't really walking out of one either."

"I'm with you, but if anything bad happens—you gotta run."

"Why would I leave you behind?" I grasped his hand.

"We won't have to, but I think you can use some spells better than me." He puffed up his chest. "Besides, I think I'm pretty good dueller."

I smiled, giving a kiss on the cheek before we followed Brother Carrow. Everything looked more or less the same, Brother Carrow seemed to know where he was going. At least, for the first couple of times, he got lost for a short while before redirecting himself eastwards once more. Soon, we found ourselves facing a small clearing, still surrounded by trees, but it seemed to be some sort of check point. We had stumble into a few early on, but the further you travel the less there were.

Brother Carrow tapped his wand against the bark of the tree he was leaning against impatiently before his sister appeared. She wore similar clothes to him: all black, nothing fancy; I guessed their situation still wasn't very good. Upon her arrival, he immediately straightened up. "What took you so long?"

"Oh, just actually making progress!" She snapped, walking further into the clearing. I suppose she was the one I encountered earlier. There was some mud and twigs on her, but was more concerning was what she was dragging. Looking positively exhausted was Harry.

No way.

Ron and I glanced at each other, our eyes widened. From the shadows, we both tightened our grips on our wands. If we directly engaged then we'd be undoubtedly alerting who else was around, finding ourselves with even more unlikely chances on escaping. As much as I didn't like it, I held back my breath and continued to wait. At my side, Ron did the same. His teeth were clenched tightly, reminding me of the possibility of him rushing forward in an instant. The Carrows remarks didn't make that fire simmer down any less.

"Harry Potter!" Brother Carrow's voice rose. "I can't believe you caught him."

"Wasn't easy," She admitted, frowning as her brother crouched in front of Harry. "It would have been easier if someone had actually had helped. Though, I can't really say if you would have let him escape instead."

Brother Carrow gave a snort, his nose pointed upwards, but that didn't affect his overall good mood. Grasping onto a part of Harry's hair, he brought his face forward. It was covered with dirt and bruises, but his green eyes didn't waver. Brother Carrow chuckled "Look at this. Harry Potter squirming on the ground like a worm, bet you never thought this would happen."

Hi! How's everyone doing?

For this chapter I referred to the Carrows by either Brother or Sister since I think it's makes more sense to differentiate them this way than if I had them called by their first names when I'm writing in the POV of Hermione and the others.