Disclaimer: Alright all the Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowlings, except for the plot, Zara, Jewel, Enrique, Jasmine, Ulrich, Torrin, Alina,, Leelee, Kai, Finley and Orvin.  Those are mine. So please don’t sue me because I don’t have anything ;)

 

 

Chapter 19—The Village People

 

 

They  stood  inside the small hovel, both of them watched as the young lady walked out of her bedroom.

 

“Jasmine, Torrin? What are you two doing here?” She asked surprised to see them in her house.

 

Jasmine folded her arms across her bosom, “where are you going Alina?”

 

Alina looked at Jasmine and then at Torrin who looked just as disappointed. 

 

“Answer the question Alina.” Torrin said firmly.

 

“Who do you two think you are my parents?  In case you have forgotten I’ve never needed parents so stop treating me like a child.”

 

“Alina,” Jasmine’s voice was impatient.  “Where are you going?”

 

“I’m going with Ulrich.”

 

“You really shouldn’t, he’s not the same Alina.  I could see it in his eyes.” Jasmine was concerned.

 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, just because his father is the most evil man on the face of the earth doesn’t mean that Ulrich is exactly like him.” Alina gathered some of her belongings into a leather knapsack.  She went into the small kitchen and pulled food from the cupboard, some salted meat and fruit.  She put  it into her sack, closed it and swung it over her shoulder.

 

“Alina, Jasmine told me that she suspects Ulrich is going off to find his father to murder him.” Torrin said with worry.

 

“Well I wouldn’t blame him, you should see how Ulrich’s father treats him.” Alina spat bitterly.

 

“No matter what Salazar Slytherin has done, Ulrich has no authority to take a life. He would face serious consequences, even if his father is trying to dominate the world.  You would be considered an accomplice if you are even standing next to him.  Is that what you want?  You would be thrown in a dungeon for the rest of your life.” Jasmine’s voice was full of concern.

 

“I would risk it.  I love him Jasmine, Torrin.” She looked at both of them.  “Ulrich and I are going to be happy together, as soon as his father is out of the way.”  Alina said and she headed for the door, she turned around looking at the two of them with a small smirk.  “Don’t worry about me, you know I always manage.  I’ll be fine.  Now go and hide that scepter, humanity is counting on you to keep it safe.” Alina smiled brightly, she turned, her flaming red hair whipping around gracefully while she walked away from them, out on her own once again.— Harry stirred from his sleep, he slowly opened his eyes and the world came into focus well as much as it could for him anyway. He turned his head and found Hermione looking at him.  Her chocolate eyes were filled with a sweet admiration for him, he could see she was glancing all about his face, when his gaze met hers he noticed she let a tiny smile curve upon her lips.

 

“Morning,” Harry covered his mouth with his hand fighting back a yawn.

 

“Morning.” She said.  Hermione lifted her hand running her fingers through his raven hair, gently and affectionately massaging his scalp. He closed his eyes again, he sighed in comfort, he loved the feeling of her fingers in his hair.  He could sit there all day just letting her play with his hair, it just felt so wonderful.

 

“Harry.” She spoke quietly, “we should get ready and head out.  We still have at least a day’s worth of travel. And hopefully sometime by tomorrow we should be in Camelot.”

 

Harry opened his eyes looking at her, “well then you should stop that.” He signaled looking up at her fingers still threading through his hair.  “You’re just lulling me back into my peaceful slumber.” He smiled with contentment.

 

Nodding, Hermione sat up and reached into her bag that was sitting next to her; she pulled out the bag of food.  She looked in the bag and pulled out an orange holding it out for him to take.  “Here you go.” She said with a smile.

 

Harry too sat up and grabbed his glasses from off the large boulder next to him and slipped them on so he could see properly. “Thanks,” Harry said and took the orange from Hermione’s outstretched hand and began to peel the fruit.  He looked at her for a moment while continuing to peel the orange until it was free from its skin, he noticed she had already changed her clothes and put her hair up into a fresh pony tail.  “How long have you been awake?”

 

“About an hour.” She said crossing her legs underneath her to sit in an indian position.

 

“Well why didn’t you wake me earlier? We could have gotten on our way sooner.” Harry tore the orange in half, then in quarters.  He pulled one of the quarters in half and placed a piece of the orange into his mouth.

 

“I was gonna let you have at least another hour of rest, you were up later than me last night.”

 

Harry nodded, “I just wanted to make sure we were safe before I went to sleep. I don’t like sleeping out in the open where anything can jump out at us.  That cave we spent the night in two nights ago was the best place, shielded from the dangers of this forest.  The hollowed out log we found the night before last, well was a bit better then how we slept just this past night.”  Harry said finishing off the orange.  He looked in the bag of food for something else, he found a banana, some grapes.  “Geese didn’t Dobby put anything but fruit in here?” He said in half amusement and half annoyance. “I mean I like fruit as much as the next guy, but that’s all that seems to be in here.”  He continued looking and to his surprise he had also found a piece of carrot cake.

 

“Well eat the cake slice, I grew tired of fruit as well so I had some of the cake. It’s very good.  The elves did a good job on it.” Hermione said while watching Harry continue to look through the bag.

 

He just shrugged and pulled a piece of the cake out and began to eat it.  It was surprisingly moist and the cream frosting was still smooth and tasted like vanilla.  “Well you’re right, it’s good.”

 

While Harry finished off his cake piece, Hermione dug in her travel bag again and pulled out her toothbrush, toothpaste and a bottle of water, handing it to Harry.

 

Harry smiled with thanks and appreciation, “what would I do without you?” He had forgotten to pack his own teeth cleaning supplies, and he was sure lucky that he had Hermione around who thought of every little thing they might need.  She of course didn’t count on Harry forgetting something very important like his teeth cleaning supplies.  Besides she really didn’t mind him using hers.

 

Harry stood and stretched up, bending back a little to get rid of stiff ache in his back from sleeping on the ground.  He heard several tiny cracks as the tension in his back released.  He bent down and picked up his bag, which he had used as a pillow and held it in his left hand while carrying Hermione’s teeth cleaning supplies in his right.  “I’ll be back.”  With a smile he turned and headed further into the woods where Hermione couldn’t see him while he took care of his bathroom business.  Some things should be kept private even from the one you love, and going to the bathroom was one of them.

 

 

 

Ron looked around the room in amazement, wondering why it was kept a secret. He stared at the portrait that seemed to look exactly like him, except he himself had freckles and the guy in the portrait didn’t. “This is just freaky,” he said out loud.

 

Walking over to the book case Ron pulled out a book.  But it wasn’t a book, it was a diary.  Ron read the cover out loud to himself, “I belong to Jasmine Ravenclaw.  If you find this please return it to me, or else I will hex you so bad you’ll have tentacles growing out your ears.  And don’t think I won’t do it Torrin.”  Ron chuckled, thinking that this Torrin fellow would probably keep this diary just to irritate this Jasmine lady.  And for some reason that last part about the hexing sounded a lot like what Hermione would say to someone who might be snooping around in her stuff.

 

He opened the diary and was about to read the first page when a feminine voice caught his attention.

 

“You shouldn’t read that, some thoughts in there are very private.”

 

Ron snapped the diary closed and stood up, he looked in the direction of the voice and saw a ghost.  “Who are you, and why are you spying on me?” He said eyeing the ghost suspiciously.

 

“I’m not spying on you, I occupy this room.” 

 

“Yeah, well you shouldn’t sneak up on people.  It’s not very nice.” Ron sat down again and opened the diary.

 

“Did you not hear me Ronald Weasley? I said you shouldn’t read that diary.” The ghost was irritated.

 

“What does it mat—hey!  How do you know who I am? I’ve never seen you before.”

 

“I know a lot, let’s just say I can partially read your mind.”

 

Ron looked at the ghost wide eyed with shock, “you can read my mind?”

 

“Not very well, the only thing I get out of your head is that your name is Ronald Weasley, you have four older brothers and a younger sister, who is in love with an—” She paused with a smirk, “asshole. At least that’s what you think about Draco Malfoy.”

 

Ron’s eyes narrowed at the very sound of Draco’s name. “That guy is gonna rue the day he—” The ghost interrupted him.

 

“Yes, yes we all know how you feel about Draco Malfoy.” She said with an annoying wave of her hand.

 

Feeling angry, Ron couldn’t help his glare at the ghost. “Just who are you?”  He lifted the diary so she could see it. “Is the reason you don’t want me to read this because it belonged to you at one time?”

 

“No, no silly boy.”  She said as she floated about the room before sitting in the chair across from Ron.  “First of all, I was once called Rowena Ravenclaw.  You might have heard of me.” She said with a smirk that told him she enjoyed her fame.

 

Ron rolled his eyes.

 

“Hey!” Rowena said glaring, but she couldn’t help the amusement appearing upon her transparent face. “Okay maybe I’m a little proud of my school, you students are doing so well.”   She smiled with pride. “Now, that diary belonged to Jasmine who was my daughter. So please forgive me if I’m a little hesitant to let a strange boy read her most private thoughts.”

 

Ron really wanted to read what was in the diary, he could tell upon the anxious face that Rowena also wanted to know what was in there.  “Well wouldn’t you like to read your daughter’s thoughts, it would be like she was here with you again.”

 

Rowena sighed glancing down at the table, “she kind of is already here.”

 

“What do you mean?” Ron said very interested.

 

She lifted her head, peering into his eyes. Rowena was silent for a moment.  “My daughter’s soul inhabits the body of your friend Hermione Granger.”

 

Ron’s eyes widened.  “That’s impossible.  Hermione well, is Hermione.  She’s an original.  There’s no one like her in the world, Muggle or Wizarding.”

 

Rowena took a breath and explained to Ron what she had explained to Harry and Hermione a few days ago.

 

“So you are saying that I have this Kai Hufflepuff’s soul in me?”  Finally, he was someone important.  He liked it.  “I can live with that.” Ron said with a proud smirk.

 

“Boy, you certainly accepted it quickly.” Rowena said with a smile.

 

“Why isn’t your soul in another body?”

 

 “Because I chose not to travel,” Rowena gave a soft smile. “I’m tired of Body Jumping. I will remain a spirit or ghost until my mission is complete and then I will return to the comforts of the heavens. Zeus, or as the Italians like to call him Jupiter is a very close friend of mine, and we spend our days just watching the mortals below. It’s really fulfilling.  Jasmine’s soul likes to Body Jump, I don’t think she’ll ever get tired of it.”

 

“Well I suppose there’s nothing like a restless soul to brighten humanity’s existence.” Ron smiled as did Rowena.

 

 

 

The late afternoon sun was streaming down on Harry and Hermione as they found themselves trudging up a steep mountain; they had been hiking up the mountain side for a few hours.  It was a good thing that both of them were in excellent shape or their legs would be killing them by now.

 

“You know it’s times like this that I’m sort of glad that I still have to live with the Dursleys for part of the summer.”

 

Hermione was confused. “Why is that?”  She asked while swinging her leg over a fallen tree, Harry did the same.

 

“Since I have to help Dudley loose that weight, I get to go to Fitness World with him. This climb won’t wear me out as quickly.” Harry replied as they were now on the other side of the tree and continuing on their way.

 

“Oh yes, I remember you saying something in your letters to me over the summer about that.” Hermione nodded in remembrance. “How does Sirius feel about you spending half the summer with your horrible relatives?  I didn’t think he would want to split up the time with you for anything.”

 

Harry shrugged, “there’s nothing he can do about it. Dumbledore says it’s still necessary.”  Harry glanced over at her for a moment, “at least I get the Christmas holidays and Easter breaks with Sirius without having to divide of up my time, I only have to stay with the Dursleys for the last month of the summer.”

 

“But then you got to stay with Ron’s family for the last week of the summer.” Hermione remembered she was invited to stay the last week too but had to decline because she was under that orb’s influence.

 

“Yeah,” Harry smiled a bit. “My uncle said he was not going to take me to the train station any more that I had better find a way of getting there on my own.”  Harry shook his head back and forth.

 

“Jerk.” She muttered quietly, mostly to herself.  But Harry heard her.

 

“What was that?” He chuckled lightly.

 

Hermione sighed “oh Harry, I’m sorry but your uncle is a jerk.  And you know I don’t like to talk badly about people, but he deserves my anger.”

 

Harry laughed a bit, “I know. You can get angry with him all you want. I won’t stop you.”

 

Hermione pulled on his arm to stop him from walking, she was about to say something when she noticed that ahead of them were two extremely high walls on either side of them.  Her thoughts immediately flew from her mind when she also heard the restful breathing of something very large.  Harry heard it too.

 

They walked slowly and very carefully ahead and the breathing echoed louder since the walls around them seemed to amplify what ever was in there with them.

 

They saw it a mighty beast which was thankfully sleeping, Hermione was cringing at its extremely large body covered with brownish-red hair, it had at least five legs but they were curled around it.  No doubt when it woke it would be very hungry.  Every once in a while it would open its mouth and you could see two rows of razor sharp teeth.  It made kind of a growling, snarling noise while it snored peacefully.

 

They could see a village off in the distance; the only problem was this creature was blocking the way through the trees.  They couldn’t go around the creature since there was that twenty foot or higher stone wall preventing anyone from going around it.

 

“You know if you ask me it seems like this is a cage or something.” Harry whispered looking around.

 

“I think it’s a wall to prevent what ever this beast is from getting into that village.” Hermione whispered back. 

 

They pressed themselves against the wall to avoid the sleeping creature the best they could.  One of the creature’s legs shot out as if the beast was having some kind of spasm tripping both Harry and Hermione, they fell to the ground with a thud and the creature shifted a bit. It pulled in a deep breath.

 

Harry and Hermione stayed perfectly still, not even daring to breathe loudly as the creature settled back into its curled slumber. Harry thought the creature kinda looked a bit like a spider’s thorax without the head, the legs reminded him of a club that mountain trolls use.  There was probably massive strength within the legs, they appeared thick and muscular even in their curled up state. It’s possible the creature could jump far distances in one jump.

 

The two of them got up from the ground very carefully, stepped over the leg that tripped them.  They were in the clear they could see the village just ahead.  The quickly and quietly walked towards the edge of the woods towards the village.  A smaller figure was approaching them holding something in its hand.  As they got closer to the figure Harry was quite interested to know why a child was roaming around in the woods it was a little girl who looked around ten years old.  She held up something in her hand as she neared himself, Hermione and the creature. 

 

The child saw Harry and Hermione and her eyes widened, but she was still determined, she lifted what was in her hand as she neared the creature.

 

“Harry,” Hermione whispered, “stop her, she has a bell in her hand.  She’s gonna wake up the creature.”  Her voice came out panicked but quiet.

 

Harry nodded and figured out that the little girl had a cow bell in hand and she was gonna ring it.  Harry made eye contact with the girl and shook his head no.  She obviously didn’t agree.  Before Harry and Hermione had a chance to stop her she waved the bell about and it made a loud clanking noise.  The creature shifted making a loud racket.  A gut wrenching, ear piercing roar that shook the trees burst out from within the beast.  

 

Harry grabbed a hold of Hermione’s hand and they started to run from the beast, Hermione stopped causing Harry to jerk backwards and almost loose his balance.

 

“What?” Harry sounded irritated but he kept pulling her towards the village. He heard the sound of the girl in tears.

 

“That girl, we can’t leave her.” Both Harry and Hermione said at the exact same time.  They turned around and saw the little girl crying wildly as the creature approached her slowly, its fangs dripping with acidic saliva.

 

“You run to the village I’ll get her.”  Harry said and without waiting for a reply or argument, he sprinted off into a run back towards the beast.  He brought out his wand and pointed it at a large boulder.  “Wingardium Leviosa!” The boulder lifted in the air and he moved his wand towards the creature.  The boulder continued to rise up in the air as Harry quickly hovered it over the creature.  He ended the spell and rock fell from the sky onto the creature.  The creature sank to the ground stunned. 

 

Harry barely noticed it was still moving as he reached the girl.  Swiftly he picked up the girl who wrapped her little arms and legs around him and buried her face into his chest as he ran towards Hermione who hadn’t moved from the spot when he told her to run towards the village. 

 

As soon as Harry was close enough, Hermione started running for the village with him not far behind. 

 

They were running towards the gate of the village they felt the earth shaking beneath them, the creature wasn’t that far behind them as it leaped into the air every once in awhile to reach its food as they ran away from it.

 

Harry and Hermione ran closer towards the village gates when they saw two people standing by the gate yelling at them to hurry and waving them forward.  Hermione snapped her head around and saw the creature was on their heels.  They ran through the gate as the two people closed the large iron door and two other half giants carried a large tree trunk and set it in its holders to lock the door. The creature was going so fast that it ran right into the door, shaking the walls about the village.  It charged the door again but it didn’t even dent the iron. 

 

Harry and Hermione were lying on the ground breathing hard, completely out of air.  The little girl was still holding on to Harry as she was still crying.      

 

A group of people ran towards Harry and Hermione, a woman pushed her way through the crowd and pulled the little girl off of Harry.  She was in tears.

 

 “Elsa, oh Elsa what were you thinking?” The woman said hugging her child tightly to her.  She glanced down at Harry and Hermione, “thank you.” She said in even more tears.  She sat her child on her feet.  “Now what on earth did you think you were doing?!”

Elsa looked up at her mother, her eyes puffy and swollen from crying, “Jord and Braden dared me, they said I wasn’t brave enough to confront—” She was interrupted by her mother.

 

“I’ve heard enough Elsa.”  She squatted down hugging her daughter to her again, although angry with her carelessness but relived that she’s all right.  She was definitely going to have a serious talk with those boy’s parents. She stood and glanced down at  Harry and Hermione who were still panting heavily, they saved her daughter’s life.  “I don’t think there is anything I can do to repay you.”

 

Harry waved his hand up at her, “it’s nothing, really.” He said still trying to catch his breath.

 

“Nonsense young man, it wasn’t nothing.” Elsa’s mother replied.  “You saved my daughter’s life.” She beamed. “Name what you want from our village and it shall be yours.” Elsa’s mother replied.

 

“That’s not necessary, we don’t need anything.  Except maybe a place to stay for the night.”

 

“Granted.” Elsa’s mother said with a smile. “I’m Elaine, you may stay with me and my family tonight.”

 

“What are you two doing in the forest anyway?” Someone asked.

 

Harry and Hermione looked at each other wondering if they should trust these people, anyone out here could be working for Voldermort, they’ve sure had enough sense not to say where they were going. 

 

“We are Herbalogists and we were studying the plant life.” Hermione said quickly.

 

“It’s a bit dangerous for you two Herbalogists to be out studying plant life this far west.” Someone else said.

 

“Well no one said Herbalogy was easy or safe, some times it’s down right dangerous.” Hermione replied with a convincing smile. “besides, we like a challenge don’t we Kevin?”

 

Harry glanced at her oddly he saw her eyes widen with some kind of signal, and then it snapped ok so they weren’t going to give their names. He caught on pretty quick, “oh yes Tilly’s right we do like a challenge.”

 

“What was that thing anyway?” Hermione asked as she and Harry got to their feet.

 

“That creature is called a Quintaped, they are nasty things.  So far there’s only one of them in these parts.” Elaine said. “It makes it difficult, almost impossible for any of us to leave the village.”

 

“Why is that, aren’t you Wizarding folk?” Hermione asked.

 

“Yes we are, but it takes a lot to even knock it out, let alone kill it.” An ancient looking man with a long white beard walked towards Harry and Hermione.

 

Harry noticed he had twinkling blue eyes, kinda like Dumbledore. He had a kind expression on his face.  “It’s very rare that we have visitors at all.” He said with a kind smile.

 

“We have to be able to leave tomorrow, to continue our research.” Hermione said.

 

“It looks like you two are stuck here, unless you can figure out a way to trick it or even possibly kill it.  The Quintaped hangs around outside waiting to eat anyone that might leave the village.”

 

Hermione shuddered.  She felt Harry’s hand clasp hers tenderly. She glanced at him with a smile.

 

Harry noticed the old man watching them intently and he forced eye contact with the old man.  He saw the old man smile at him with a nod of his head. 

 

“You two must be hungry, why don’t you come to my hovel so we can chat.” The old man offered with a smile.

 

Harry and Hermione both looked at each other for approval of the situation, they nodded at the same time.  It was nice that they really didn’t even need words to understand each other.  They always knew what the other was thinking.

 

“All right that sounds good,” Harry said with a smile.

 

“Well follow me then.” He old man started walking from the center of the village towards his hovel with Harry and Hermione following.

 

The old man opened the door to his small but quaint little hovel, and the three of them stepped inside. 

 

“Why don’t you have a seat?” He said pointing to the table in the kitchen which was set with silverware, enough for guests if the should happen to pop by.  While Hermione and Harry sat down at the table the old man opened a cupboard and pulled down three cups and three plates.  He opened his brick oven and pulled out a pan of roast beef and little red potatoes.

 

Hermione stared at the old man in awe since he didn’t need oven mitts to retrieve what looked like a hot pan.  She nudged Harry in the side getting his attention.

 

“I know.” Harry said in a whisper staring at the old man as he put the hot pan on the counter.

 

The old man cut three slices of the roast beef and put it on the plates, he then put about four of the little red potatoes next to each slice of meat.  He put the plates in front of his guests.  He returned to the counter and pulled a hot kettle from the fire place and proceeded to pour some hot tea into the cups.  He sat those in front of his guests. 

 

“There now eat up, it’s pretty good.” The old man said with a smile, and he helped himself to his own plate of beef and potatoes.

 

After finishing their meal and their plates were cleared, Hermione looked up at the old man.  “Thank you sir, it was really good.”

 

“You can call me Nilrem” He said with a smile.

 

Hermione nodded, “what is it that you do here Nilrem?” She sipped from her cup and set it down with a soft clink.

 

“Well I teach, since the children can’t leave the village they still need to learn the ways of magic.” Nilrem said with a smile.  He studied both Harry and Hermione from across the table.  “So why don’t you tell me who you really are, and what you were doing in the forest?”

 

Hermione felt Harry squeeze her hand underneath the table.

 

“I know you were lying, so why don’t you just be honest with me.” Nilrem said.

 

Harry sighed with defeat, “okay, we are not who we said we were. And forgive us if we’re a little hesitant in telling people who we are and what we’re doing.  We ran into some people, and well let’s just say it’s hard to trust strangers.” 

 

“I can understand that.” Nilrem said leaning back in his chair.

 

“All I’ll say is that we are on an important mission and hope that we will reach our destination soon.” Harry said with a tiny smile.

 

“I suppose that’s fair, you don’t want to give any information to someone who could be an enemy.” Nilrem smiled. “Well you can rest assured that I am not an enemy.”

 

“How can we be sure of that?” Hermione asked eyeing him suspiciously

 

“You may be right, how do you know for certain who to trust?” Nilrem said looking at Hermione then at Harry. “I myself have no idea of you’re the enemy or not, but I invited you into my home.  Now don’t you think you could afoot me the same trust that I put in you two?” He looked between the two teens who looked they were thinking.

 

Harry rested his arms on the table and leaned forward onto them, “all right Nilrem, we’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”  He looked directly into Nilrem’s eyes looking for any kind of deception or evil that might be in him.  “We are on our way to Camelot to retrieve the Soul Scepter for a ghost called Rowena Ravenclaw.” Harry then leaned back in his chair.

 

Nilrem nodded, “It sounds like a grand quest my boy and I hope you succeed. Now it’s a good thing you told me where you were going since there are a few things you need to know about Camelot, for one there is a protective shield around the city to keep beasts and possibly anyone who would want to destroy the great city out.  It only opens every two days for a few hours.”

 

“How far are we from Camelot anyway?” Harry asked

 

“Just a few hours,” Nilrem answered. “If you can get past the Quintaped tomorrow it should only take you three to four hours to get there from here.

 

 Harry nodded, he looked over at Hermione who was covering her mouth fighting a yawn, he then felt himself start to yawn. “Hermione, don’t do that.” He teased but still couldn’t fight it the huge yawn that pushed its way out of him.

 

She smirked, “sorry.”

 

“Ah, so that’s your name.” Nilrem said with a smile.  “That’s a much better name then Tilly, what fool thought of calling you Tilly if you needed to use aliases.”

 

“Hey!” Harry scoffed, “It’s not like we planned this. I just said the first name that popped into my head besides her own.” He crossed his arms over his chest trying to look mad.

 

“It’s not like Kevin is a much better choice either.” Nilrem smirked at Hermione’s glare.

 

“My dad’s name happens to be Kevin, and it’s a perfectly wonderful name.” Hermione said holding her finger up in the air as if she were giving a lecture to Ron about him doing his own homework.

 

“What is your name then if it’s not Kevin?” Nilrem asked Harry who was stilly trying to appear angry.

 

“Harry.” He muttered.

 

Nilrem saw Hermione yawning again, “why don’t you two stay here tonight, I’ll go and tell Elaine that you’re just too tired to walk all the way across the village and that you just want to sleep here.”

 

Both Harry and Hermione nodded while trying to hold back their yawns.

 

“The extra bedroom is through that door and the bathroom is to the right.” Nilrem said pointing to each of the doors.  Harry and Hermione stood and headed for the bedroom while Nilrem gathered up his cloak around him and headed out the door to tell Elaine about the teens staying with him.  “I’ll be back in about an hour.”  Nilrem then left the hovel.

 

After Harry and Hermione readied themselves for bed, they snuggled under the nice warm covers.  It had been a good few days since they had the comfort of a bed.  The ground was no place to sleep that’s for sure.

 

Hermione lay on her back staring up at the ceiling thinking about the journey they made and the fact that they also had to go back was getting to her.  Harry, who was next to her regarded her profile; he could tell she was troubled. 

 

“Are you alright?” He asked.

 

She turned her head so she could look at him, “I was just thinking after we reach Camelot and get that scepter, we’ll have to come all the way back to Destiny Lake. Another four days of travel, more of that swamp and perhaps even those wretched gypsies.”

 

Harry nodded with a sigh, his arm went around her shoulder and he pulled her over so that she was lying on his chest.  It was his turn to play in her hair, so automatically his fingers threaded through her brown tresses.  “Try not to think about that now.”  He said, trying to soothe her always busy mind, “we’ll think about that when we come to it.”  His other arm went around her and he was holding her tightly yet gently.  “You know there is something that I’m gonna miss when this mission is over.”

 

“Well it’s not the blood sucking insects that’s for sure,” Hermione said.

 

“No, that’s certainly something I’m not gonna miss.” He gave a half grin. “I’m gonna miss this. Us, being like this I mean.  It’s really nice waking up next to you every morning; I just know I can get through the nights if you are here with me.”

 

Hermione lifted herself up a bit so she could see him, she lifted her hand cupping his cheek tenderly, “Maybe we can work something out with professor Dumbledore when we get back, It’s worth a try.” 

 

He lifted his hand, covering hers and he pulled it from his cheek.  He held her palm against his lips giving her hand a small affectionate kiss. “And if he says no, one of us can always sneak into the other’s room.”

 

“That could work too,” she said with a small smile. Hermione leaned in pressing her lips against his.

 

Harry’s hand immediately cupped the back of her neck holding her there so she couldn’t pull back. It had been a few days since he had a chance to kiss her properly; they were always in too much of a rush and trying to reach their destination, that there was hardly any time for themselves.  Harry did not want this moment to end so quickly, and his mouth was pressing harder against hers, wanting more.

 

  Hermione must have sensed his urgency since her mouth opened beneath his and she felt his tongue tasting and twirling together with hers.

 

 He took his time kissing her so deeply and slowly that it seemed that time had stopped only for them. Hermione pulled away in her need for air, she caught her breath.

 

“Harry, we really need to sleep. I’m about to fall asleep sitting up.”

 

Harry nodded and pulled her back so her head was lying on his chest again, he had one arm around her waist his fingers trailing up and down her side leisurely, just making her feel at ease.  He kissed her forehead and his head settled back against the pillow.

 

“I hope you’re not too disappointed.” She said sleepily.

 

He glanced down at the top of her head, “not at all.” He thought a moment, “well to be honest I am a bit, but it’s possible that if you weren’t feeling so tired that it would probably be a different situation. Hermione?”

 

“Hmm?” She nestled her head into his chest more.

 

 “I just want you to know that I would never, ever push you into anything.  I’m not one of those guys who demands it every chance they get.  I want to share in the passion, not just take it.”

 

Hermione smiled a little and even though she was almost asleep, she heard him.  “You are so wonderful Harry, I lov….” She couldn’t finish, reality vanished and the God of Sleep had taken her away.—

 

She flipped back her brown hair as she walked along the pond bank, she heard someone approach her.  She turned with a smile.

 

“Ah Jasmine, how does it feel to be back in Camelot?”

 

“Well Finley, it feels great. I’ve always loved it here.”

 

“You know the last time we met was back in your home city.  How have you been these past months?” He folded his hands behind his back as he walked with her.

 

“I’ve been doing really well.”

 

“Are you having any more trouble with that Gryffindor lad?” Finley hoped she did.

 

“Nope, everything is fine with him.  In fact he is here with me.”

 

Finley looked around, “really?  I haven’t seen him with you.”

 

“Well he’s talking with William the weapons master, so he’ll probably be gone for a few hours.  One of Torrin’s passions are fine swords.”

 

“You should be his only passion.” Finley said.

 

Jasmine whirled around to face him, “that is not appropriate conversation with me Finley, I am spoken for and not to mention it’s  incredibly rude of you to say such a thing.”

 

“What? I didn’t say anything.” He said looking around.

 

Jasmine rolled her eyes.

 

“It’s just he doesn’t appreciate you,”

 

Her eyes narrowed, “that’s enough Finley, just because you are bitter and alone don’t take it out on Torrin, he doesn’t deserve it.”

 

“What was so wrong with me eh? Why couldn’t I capture your heart?” He glanced at the ground and kicked a rock with his foot.

 

“It’s nothing against you Finley, you are a wonderful person and a great athlete. And if I wasn’t in love with Torrin, it probably would be you that I would be with.   I’m sorry, we can’t choose who we fall in love with, sometimes I think it’s already set with fate who we love.”

 

Finley sighed “well, he’s very fortunate to have someone like you to love him.”  He heard the trumpets sounding.  “The feast is starting, we should go.” 

 

Finley and Jasmine walked towards the outside area where they held the feast, Jasmine sat down next to Torrin who was still talking with the weapon’s master.  He then turned his attention to her. 

 

     He leaned over to speak quietly to her “Jasmine, when can we leave?  This weapons master is a real arrogant fool and he’s not even that good with any weapon, sword ,battle axe, and he has a really hard time with archery, maybe you could teach him a thing or two about archery. ”

 

“I’ve known William for years, and he’s more shouting and yelling then a man of action.  I don’t understand myself why they elected him weapons master.  And well we cant leave until tomorrow, after the protective shield around Camelot opens, this was  my own idea to keep Camelot safe from evil creatures and beings.  It only opens every two days for two hours to let people in an out” She smiled.

 

“You are sure brilliant.”

 

Jasmine blushed a bright shade of crimson “thanks Torrin.” She smiled.

 

“What are you blushing for?” A tiny smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

 

“I can’t help it, sometimes the things you say or do in public cause me to turn crimson.”  She then turned her attention back to her food.

 

“If me telling you that you are brilliant makes you turn crimson I wonder what would happen if I did. . .” His hand went under the table and rested against her knee.  That was nothing out of the ordinary so she didn’t bring his attention to it.  She picked up a piece of bread and split it in half she lifted the bread to her mouth but stopped in mid air as she felt one side of the skirt of her gown being slowly lifted and she could feel the cool air on her bare thigh.

 

“What are you doing?” She whispered.

 

“You’ll see, more like you’ll feel.” He replied whispering in her ear as his  warm  hand started at her knee and slowly wandered upward to her thigh to pass over a piece of silk which she used as an undergarment. 

 

She couldn’t help her quick breathing and her face indeed was turning a deep shade of crimson.  When she felt his fingers slip into the silk cloth and come in contact with her sex, she had to bite down on her bottom lip to keep from gasping out loud.  “Torrin, please don’t do this here, people will see and hear.”

 

He then pulled his hand away and dropped her skirt over her leg again, he heard her sigh, “I just wanted to see if you would turn red, and well you did.”

 

Jasmine looked over at him, “just you wait, you are going to pay for that.”

 

Torrin smirked, “Oh I hope so.”—The sound of chirping birds woke Hermione and Harry.  Hermione stirred and slowly opened her eyes, the warm sunlight was streaming in through the window.  She sat up and stretched as if trying to reach the heavens.

Hermione glanced down at Harry still sleeping, “come on Harry, time to get up.” She said while shaking his shoulder gently.

 

Harry opened one eye seeing her looking down at him from a sitting position, “morning already?”

 

“Yep, now come on. We need to get going.”

 

 

They quickly dressed and headed out of the room, they took care of their bathroom duties as the smell of breakfast filled their senses. 

 

Harry came from the bathroom carrying his bag over his shoulder, he set it down on the floor next to the table and sat down in a chair next to Hermione.

 

Nilrem walked over carrying plates of breakfast foods for them, some scrambled eggs, toast and he seemed to fry the potatoes they didn’t finish last night. 

 

The two of them immediately started in on the food.  They were sure sick of fruit they had been having every morning, noon and night.

 

“Did you have a restful sleep?” Nilrem asked as he too started on his breakfast.

 

“At least we didn’t have to sleep on the ground.” Harry replied.

 

And the three of them finished their breakfast.

 

“I assume you two want to get out of here pretty quick.” Nilrem said looking at his fingers

 

“Yeah, no matter what is out there we need to get to Camelot.  We’ll just have to chance it.” Hermione replied as she set down her fork and glanced up Nilrem who’s eyes were twinkling.

 

“You two are sure brave and I wish you all the luck in your quest.”

 

Harry and Hermione stood up.

 

“Thanks for your hospitality.” Hermione said with a smile while she and Harry who picked up his bag headed for the door.  When Hermione was out the door Nilrem spoke up.

 

“Harry could I see you a minute before you leave?”

 

Harry turned around, “sure.”

 

Nilrem approached him holding a sword in his had, he handed it to Harry.  “Take this with you, you’ll never know when you’ll need it.  This is a very special sword, it should only be used in great need, and if the situation is right.”

 

Harry took the blade in his hand, it was as if it were singing to him, he could hear a pleasant humming in his head.  The metal looked a little pure and it shimmered, The sun wasn’t even shining on it.  “Are you sure you wanna give this to me?”

 

“Yes, I know you’ll take good care of it.” Nilrem said.

 

Harry glanced at the sword for a moment, he nodded then opened his bag and set the sword in it.  He closed up his bag.  “Thanks Nilrem, Hermione and I will never forget you.”

 

“Same here my boy,” Nilrem smiled.

 

Harry came out of  the house finding Hermione sitting on the porch railing. 

 

She stood, “there you are.” Hermione smiled upon seeing him, she pointed to his bag. “do you want me to?”

 

“Please.” He answered with a smile of his own.

 

Hermione shrunk his bag for him and he tucked it into his pocket.  They started towards the gates of the village.  And approached two men who were sitting in chairs next to the gates

 

“Is it safe to go out?” Harry asked the two villagers.

 

There was a different station with peep holes around the village wall so that they could see outside, several different people who positioned at their stations were looking out the holes.  They each gave an okay signal and the two half giants pulled the log lock off their large door, and two smaller men pulled the gates opened.

 

Harry and Hermione cautiously stepped out of the village and the gates slowly closed behind them.  The beast was no where to be found as the continued away from the village. 

 

“Do you think it’s hiding?” Hermione asked glancing about the woods.

 

“That’s probably exactly what it is doing.” Harry said while grabbing a hold of her hand in a protective gesture.

 

They hadn’t gotten to far from the village when the heard that same loud, ear piercing roar from the beast.  It jumped from an unseen area to land right in front of them.  The whole ground shook that Harry and Hermione almost lost their balance, they turned to run the other way, but the Quintaped jumped again landing directly in front of them.

 

Both Harry and Hermione had their wands out, pointing it at the Quintaped, “stupefy.”  They shouted several times at the beast, and tried the leg locker curse, but that was doing little damage, the creature was still descending upon them.  The spell hit one of its legs, but it seemed to just shake it off and continue towards them.

 

“Incendio!” Hermione shouted pointing her wand at the creature, a fire stirred around the beast, but it didn’t even touch the Quintaped.  “Great a beast that happens to be fire proof” she said in irritation. 

 

They tried more spells, but nothing was affecting it.

 

“Nothing is working.” Hermione shouted.

 

The Quintaped swiped its leg at their feet causing them to fall to the ground, Harry and Hermione landed on their backs stunned, they were now looking up at the creature who was above them, it’s mouth open and the acidic saliva dripping from its teeth.  The saliva dropped onto the ground next to Hermione’s head and they could hear the loud hiss of the dissolving leaves and sticks.  It was now directly over them ready to bend down more and sink it’s sharp teeth into one of them.

 

Harry noticed it had a soft looking underbelly, well it was worth shot.  His foot shot up and kicked the creature in the stomach, it squealed and backed off a moment.  It lifted its own leg to bring it down on them, but Harry and Hermione rolled out of the way just as the foot came crashing down, barely missing them.

 

It just started swiping it’s legs at them in different directions, they knew they couldn’t out run the Quintaped, every time they attempted it would just change directions as quickly and use it’s massive legs to jump in the air and land preventing their escape.  No wonder the villagers had a hard time with this creature, once it has its heart on eating you, it won’t relent until you are in its stomach.

 

After dodging the legs it shot out trying to either hit them or trip them, Harry pointed out that it does have a weakness.  Harry could feel the something warm trickling down the side of his face, he lifted his hand and wiped at it, but he didn’t care if it was blood since he had so many cuts and gashes from this creature that another one really didn’t matter. 

 

The Quintaped had chased Harry and Hermione into a garden of huge rocks and boulders, they were trapped.  The two of them jumped behind a large boulder attepting to hide from the creature, even if it was only for a moment.

 

“How—do—we—kill—it?” Hermione said panting for air, feeling exhausted and very sore. Her ankles were killing her, it took a lot of pain endurance to keep standing from whenever the Quintaped would trip them since it would smash its leg into their ankles.

 

“I think whatever we should do it, aim for the underbelly, it seems to be a vulnerable place.  I mean the hairs are razor sharp and it also protects the creature.”

 

“One of us has to get close enough to it to reach the underbelly, while the other is the distraction.”

 

Harry nodded, “all right you be the distraction.”

 

“What? I was thinking more along the lines of you being the distraction.”

 

“Hermione, this is no time to argue about it.  Just do it. I have an idea.”  Harry said. 

 

Hermione agreed “let’s just hope it works.” She ran out from behind their hiding place and jumped up and down, making a lot of noise and waving her arms in the air like a maniac. The creature started towards her quickly as it neared her more it slowed down, looking for ways its prey would escape, there were none as Hermione pressed herself up against the dead end, it was directly in front of her still as can be.

 

Harry walked around the other side of the boulder while it was distracted by Hermione, he laid himself down on his back so he was facing upward.  He slid underneath the beast since there was a gap between the ground and the beast.  Harry lifted his wand pointing it at the beast’s stomach which did look very soft and squishy.  “Incendio.” He whispered and the spell shot out from the wand catching the Quintaped’s stomach on fire.  The beast shrieked as the fire spread through all over the creature, it was jumping wildly in the air away from Harry and Hermione, it couldn’t go to far because the fire was causing much pain and suffering on the shrieking creature.

 

Harry and Hermione felt sorry that they had to do that its shrieks and screams were pitiful, it was suffering.  He opened pulled his bag out of his pocket.  “Hermione remove the shrinking charm.”

 

Hermione glanced at him oddly but she removed the charm, She watched as Harry opened his bag and pulled out a weapon, it wasn’t just any weapon it was a sword.  “Where did you get that?”

 

“That Nilrem gave it to me,” He quickly ran over to the beast as it was still in agony, it was turned over on its back still writhing with anguish.  Without another thought Harry stabbed the sword into the Quintaped, ending its life.  The creature stiffened and its legs hung limp, it’s breathing ceased.  It was dead.

 

Harry pulled the sword from the dead Quintaped. Hermione who was limping walked up behind him.  She put a hand on his shoulder.

 

“You did what you had to do, now the villagers can leave their village and they won’t have to live in fear anymore from this creature.”

 

He nodded, agreeing.  Harry with Hermione walked back over to where his bag was and he put the sword away.  Hermione reached into her own pocket and pulled out her bag.  She removed the charm and opened her bag, pulling out the vile of healing elixir.  “We should use some of this.” 

 

Harry sat down on the ground, leaning up against the boulder.  “How do we know it’s not poison, after all it did come from Snape.”

 

It was as if Hermione didn’t hear him because she lifted the vile over her mouth a let a drop drip into her mouth.  She swallowed it. “I’ll let you know.”     She felt all tingly where her cuts, bruises and sprains were.  Not even a second later she got to her feet, feeling very good and healthy.

 

Harry had watched Hermione as her cuts and bruises vanished from her face and arms.  And she held the elixir out for him.  He accepted it also taking a drop of it. He felt himself heal up and he also got a boost of energy.

 

Hermione and Harry put their stuff back in their bags, Hermione shrunk them and they were returned to their pockets.

 

Without looking back at the dead Quintaped the started climbing over the large boulders.

 

 After climbing over the huge boulders, they got to the edge of the rock garden and could see far and wide over the landscape.  It was magnificent as they saw the city of Camelot down below.

 

Harry turned to Hermione with a smile, “we’re nearly there.”

 

Hermione smiled back as she too looked upon the great city of Camelot.

 

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