Summary: Its the summer after their seventh year at Hogwarts and finally Harry, Hermione, and Ron have decided to take a little trip down under. They are looking for a nice relaxing stay on an Australian beach but when the towns people are hiding something then it turns out to be a different vacation.
Categories: Ron/Hermione AND Harry/Ginny Characters: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: Series: None
Chapters: 4
Completed: No
Word count: 4767
Read: 9845
Published: 03/02/06
Updated: 08/03/06
1. Time To Travel by bballerj582
2. A Long Road With A Long History by bballerj582
3. When Light Beyond You Window Summons by bballerj582
4. A Special Arrival by bballerj582
Time To Travel by bballerj582
Author's Notes:
J.K. Rowling owns all the rights to Harry Potter,charracters, places, settings, and everything else. I am not J.K. Rowling so I do not own any rights.
The sun was just rising over the town of Ottery St. Catchpole on the fifth morning of summer vacation. Everyone in the little village was still sleeping, but not at the Burrow. As the sun was just creeping out above the top of the large house one could hear two loud banging noises coming from within.
Hermione was standing outside of Ron’s door hitting it repeatedly.
“Get up Harry. Get up Ronald. It’s almost time to go.”
“Five more minutes,” came Ron’s weary voice from within.
“No, now you two. We have to leave in about an hour,” she said.
It was the fifth day after their last year at Hogwarts. It had been a grim year for the threesome. They had just defeated Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard of all time. The downfall of Voldemort was caused mostly by Harry. After seven long years of fighting him they had finally destroyed all the Horcruxes and defeated the Dark Lord. Now, the Ministry and The Order of The Phoenix were finishing up the job by tracking down the last remaining Death Eaters. The tracking had been successful.
The door now swung open to reveal two teen boys who looked like they had just rolled out of bed.
“Good morning!” said Hermione as she leaned over and gave Ron a kiss on the cheek.
Ron started to blush, “Thanks, Good Morning to you too.”
“Good morning Harry,” she said.
“Good morning Hermione,” he replied sleepily.
They started to walk downstairs towards breakfast, which Mrs. Weasley was preparing for them.
“Good morning kids!” she said as they came down the stairs.
“Good morning!” said Harry and Hermione together.
“Hello Mum,” said Ron.
“Are you guys all ready for the big trip?” Mrs. Weasley asked excitedly.
“Yup, we all packed last night,” Hermione said vigorously.
It was true Hermione had made them pack last night so they could get an early start today. Hermione had definitely made them pack for everything that could or might not happen in Australia. Harry was happy though, he was really glad to finally get away. He thought some good time on the beach in Australia would be good. That was the whole point of the trip or at least for him. For Hermione and Ron it was going to be the beach and snogging.
His only regret was Ginny not being able to come down until mid-trip. After defeating Lord Voldemort they had gotten back together. He really didn’t want to leave her even for a couple of days but he knew he had to and it wouldn‘t be that long. She wasn’t able to come until mid-trip because she had plans with Luna Lovegood for some of the week. Ginny wished she could change her plans but she promised Luna so they decided that Harry would Apparate back on Wednesday and pick her up. He wished she could have come sooner, so they could snog like Hermione and Ron.
“Eggs and bacon, Harry?” asked Mrs. Weasley as she walked over to the table with a hit skillet in her hands.
Harry abruptly came back to Earth. “Oh, yes please,” he replied.
After breakfast they all went up to their rooms and got dressed. Then twenty minutes later they were all back downstairs with their trunks ready to leave.
Mrs. Weasley wished them a good trip and Mr. Weasley said be careful. He also checked that they all had their wands. They all did. Their wands were hidden right under there left pant leg, in a wand holding fabric case that strapped to their legs.
Just as Mr. Weasley finished asking about their wands someone came walking down the stairs.
It was Ginny.
She walked briskly over to them. First, she said bye to Ron then to Hermione. Finally she pointed at Harry and walked into the other room. Harry took this as he had to follow her.
He followed her into the room. When they were finally deep in the room she turned around and snogged him. It was a passionate snog.
Finally when they broke apart she whispered teasingly in his ear, “I will see you on Wednesday. Don’t be late.”
Harry hugged her. Then he said ok and goodbye. They walked back into the kitchen.
Five minutes later Harry, Hermione, and Ron we all in a line ready to Apparate. Then with three loud cracks they vanished.
In less than a second all three of them appeared in a large field near the ocean. In front of them was a sign that said “Green Borrow Field” and about fifty yards away from them was a cobblestone road.
“Green Borrow Field that’s right,” said Hermione, “and there is the road we are going to meet my aunt and uncle on in five minutes. We better get a move on.”
“Ok,” said Ron and Harry together with a little grown in their voices. They really didn’t want to walk with their trunks through the grass.
In about three minutes they were standing by the road waiting for a car to come by.
“Are you sure you told your aunt and uncle we would meet them here?” asked Ron as he sat down on the top of his trunk.
“Yes, Ronald!” Hermione said in an agitated voice.
“Hermione, if they don’t know that we are magic how do they think we got here?” Harry asked.
“Umm, well I just told them we would get a cab to here from the airport because their village is only a little bit away from here. I didn‘t want to make them have to drive to the airport. It is a great distance away from their village,” she said.
“But what are they going to say when Ginny arrives?” Harry asked again.
“Well that is just something we will deal with when the times comes, ok?” Hermione retorted.
“Ok,” Harry replied quietly.
At that second a car was coming up the cobblestone road with two people in it. It stopped right in front of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Out jumped a women with brown bushy hair pulled back in a bun and a yellow sundress on.
“Hermione! Oh dear I have missed you,” she said as she gave Hermione a huge hug.
“I know! I have to. It’s been so long Aunt Shay since I have seen you and Uncle Art,” Hermione replied.
“Hey honey!” said Uncle Art from the driver’s side.
“Hey Uncle Art. I would like you guys to meet my friend Harry Potter and my boyfriend Ronald Weasley,” Hermione said in reply.
“Hello guys,” Aunt Shay and Uncle Art said together. Even though you could see at the word “boyfriend” Aunt Shay got a weird look on her face but lost it immediately.
In the next two minutes they were all in the car and halfway down the road.
“I hope you kids are hungry because I am going to make you a great breakfast, when we get back to the house,” Aunt Shay said.
“Oh yes we are,” piped in Hermione quickly.
The truth was that they really weren’t. They had only had breakfast an hour and a half ago but according to Aunt Shay’s knowledge they had been on a plane for a long time.
“You guys picked a bad week to come down here,” said Uncle Art just trying to make some conversation.
“Why?” asked Ron quickly.
“Well this week is a special time for the locals. They don’t like trouble this week and will get aggravated real easily. Also, they have been in a bad mood the last couple of days. So please don’t go causing trouble or looking for trouble with the locals.”
“Ok,” They all replied together.
“It is not like I go looking for trouble, it always finds me,” Harry thought to himself in his mind “ALWAYS!”
A Long Road With A Long History by bballerj582
Author's Notes:
The trio just arrived. The are talking, looking, and seeing the land. Their even asking question. Way to many question. Will Hermione's Aunt and Uncle be on defense to them or will the towns people have problems with them. Read to find out.
J.K. Rowling owns all the rights to Harry Potter,charracters, places, settings, and everything else. I am not J.K. Rowling so I do not own any rights.
As the customer finished paying and started to walk towards the door, Ramona followed behind him.
“Last customer of the day. It’s almost three I must close up,” she thought to herself.
Once the customer was out and away from the door Ramona changed the “Open” sign hanging on the door to the “Closed” side. Ramona then walked back to the cash register and reached for something under the counter.
When her hand reappeared on the top of the counter she was holding a small silver mirror with engravings of stars, the sun, the moon, a unicorn, and a centaur on it. She laid it on the top of the counter. Ramona then pulled a small vile filled with bright pink liquid out of her pocket. She poured the liquid onto the face of the mirror. The face of the mirror shimmered and then went blank again.
“Glen, Glen are you there?” she said quietly.
There was a long pause then an old man’s head appeared in the face of the mirror.
“Yes, Ramona,” he replied.
“I just closed down my shop and am about to start getting ready for tonight,” Ramona said quickly, “What do you want me to bring besides you-know-what?”
“Jill said she gave you the robe and skin, so definitely bring them,” Glen said sternly.
“Ok!” Ramona said in a jittery voice.
At that moment Ramona once again took the pink vile in her hands and placed a small drop on the mirror. After Glen’s face disappeared from the mirror Ramona started to put it back on the counter but before she did she noticed her reflection. She raised the mirror slightly and stared into it. Looking back at her was a women of middle age with small lines on her face and little white streaks in her hair.
“This can’t be me. I don’t look like this. I know its been a long time since I looked at myself but it can’t have been that long. I used to have a full head of brown hair and a perfectly flawless complexion,” she said to herself .
She stood there behind the counter thinking for a second. As she thought she stared out the window. At that same moment a small compact car was driving past the shop on the cobblestone street. It had about five people in it. She just kept watching it and thinking.
“Oh, that’s the Granger’s car. I wonder who else is in it with them,” she stated out loud, “Well who cares. As long as whoever’s in the back doesn’t interfere with tonight. Nothing will matter. We only have three more nights after tonight and all fates will be sealed. ”
Ramona then started to cross the room to a brown chest not bothering to think about why she was growing older so quickly or who was in the Granger’s car with them.
At the same moment as Ramona was staring outside at the car going by on the brick road, Harry Potter was staring out the car window looking at a sign that said “Ramona’s Road Store.”
“So how was the flight?” asked Uncle Art from the driver's seat.
“It was fine,” replied Ron as he tried to keep it cool like Hermione wanted them to.
Ron knew that if he tried to act like they were Muggles it would score so many points with Hermione. These points could add up.
“Oh that’s good. I know those plane rides can some times be horrible. I sometimes have to travel for work,” Uncle Art said.
There was a long pause.
“So what do you do for work, Mr. Granger?” Harry said as he became refocused on the conversation in the car.
“Well I am a… a salesperson. I work for this company that does sales in brooms,” Uncle Art said nervously.
“You work with brooms?” Harry and Ron said excitedly together realizing after that they had just blurted out about brooms thinking flying brooms.
Hermione nudged them both in the ribs as soon as she realized what they had just said and gave them the shut your mouths look.
“So what do your two parents do for work?” Aunt Shay asked.
Harry knew this question was coming and seeing that Ron hadn’t responded yet he decided just to answer.
“Umm…well my parents are both dead. They died when I was younger but I lived with my Aunt and Uncle. My Uncle worked with drills,” Harry replied quickly.
“Oh,” Aunt Shay and Uncle Art said together, “We are deeply sorry about your loss.”
“Thanks,” Harry said but then decided to look back out the window to divulge from this conversation.
He could now hear Ron responding to the question. Outside the window there was some small shops. One of the shops had a bright green sign with orange letters that said “Glen’s Groceries.” After a couple more shops there was a gas station and then it just turned into clear fields. Beyond these fields you could see the ocean.
After a while of driving Harry started to see small stone pillars rising up from the ground. Then he could see a large circle of huge stone pillars coming out of the ground.
“What is that?” Harry asked cutting into the conversation that was going on and pointing to the large stone circle.
There was a short pause with a couple of glances between Aunt Shay and Uncle Art before the answer was revealed.
Finally Aunt Shay said, “Well guys this town used to be home to a sacred society of druids. Druids are…”
“People who believed in magic and the power of nature. The forces of evil and good,” Hermione cut into to Aunt Shays answer.
“Yes, you are correct and well this was a town of druids. They built that stone circle and altar to practice their so called magic on,” Uncle Art said, “Also some of the druid’s descendents still live in the town so they decided to keep it up as remembrance.”
“Do they still practice magic on it,” Ron asked bewildered.
Now this subject had aroused everyone in the car.
“No and I’d rather not get into it right now, ok guys. Also I would like you guys to try to stay away from it,” Uncle Art stated sternly.
Hermione, Harry, and Ron all gave each other looks in the backseat, but said ok. In the next couple of minutes they reached a small sand driveway, which lead up to a white house with nice green trim and shutters on it.
They were home.
When Light Beyond You Window Summons by bballerj582
The darkness outside the little house was growing deeper. The only light for miles was coming from within the house. It was a small glisten of light in a bedroom on the second floor.
In the bedroom sat two teenagers, Harry and Ron. The boys were getting ready for bed.
“So what do you think about Hermione’s aunt and uncle?” asked Ron.
“Um…I don’t know, they seem nice I guess,” Harry shrugged. “They are a little odd though.”
“Well, no offence, they are Hermione’s relatives. What did you expect? Two idiots?” said Ron. “Yeah, right! Just look at Hermione…”
Ron started to trail off as Hermione walked in.
“What about me?” Hermione asked inquisitively.
“Nothing, nothing at all,” Ron replied quickly.
Hermione gave him a suspicious look. “You know you’re a lying git right now, right?” she said. “Well, that’s not what I came to tell you. I came to say goodnight. Also, where are we going tomorrow?”
“I don’t care as long as tomorrow is not that day of girly shopping you wanted,” Ron said grudgingly. “You know I hate shopping.”
“No, tomorrow was not going to be my shopping day, but yes I am going to have one, and yes you are coming, Ronald!” Hermione sarcastically stated.
“How about the beach?” said Harry, trying to stop a bitter fight from breaking out between those two.
“Okay, that sounds good,” said Ron in a muffled voice with his head in his pillow.
“That sounds great!” Hermione exclaimed. “Then it’s time to get some sleep.”
“Okay,” said Ron as he turned over to look at Hermione. She walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss. Then she walked over to Harry and gave him a hug before heading to the door.
She flicked the light switch. “Good night, you two,” she said.
Just as she finished the sentence the room lit up in a sea of green light.
Harry and Ron both quickly scrambled out of their beds and hurried to the window. Hermione was already there.
Peeking out of the window, they saw a large, funnel-shaped green light going up to the sky.
The trio all ran towards the door and descended silently down the stairs, trying not to wake Hermione’s aunt and uncle. When they reached the front door Harry, Ron, and Hermione threw it open, and the three of them scrambled through it onto the front porch.
“What is that?” shouted Hermione.
“I don’t know,” Harry said hurriedly, “maybe it’s just a bonfire.”
"That really sounds right,” Ron replied sarcastically.
“I don’t know what it is, but I’m going to check it out,” Harry called over his shoulder as he started to run towards the light.
“Wait, Harry,” Hermione yelled. “Before you going running to see what that is, do you have your wand?”
Harry stopped to think for a second. He didn’t have his wand on him; he had put it on the bed side table before he got into bed.
With a groan, Harry then turned around and shot towards the porch, through the door and up the stairs. Hermione and Ron followed behind him.
“I’m going to grab my wand and check on my aunt and uncle,” Hermione whispered to Ron as they ran.
In less than a minute all three of them were back outside running towards the light, panting heavily.
After a few minutes of running, Hermione skidded to a halt and yelled, “Oh my…Harry, Ron, the light’s coming from the stone circle.”
Harry and Ron now both stopped and realized that she was right- it was coming from the circle.
“I don’t care, I’m still going,” Harry said angrily back to her as he pulled out his wand.
“But, but…” Hermione started.
“But nothing!” Ron put in. “Something weird is happening and we should check it out.”
“Fine!” Hermione shouted, now getting a little upset.
They started to run again, faster this time. Harry was in the lead, followed by Hermione with Ron bringing up the rear. Coming closer to the growing green light, they started to slow down.
“Harry, Ron, this way!” whispered Hermione franticly.
Once behind the rock, all three peered at the greenly lit circle.
What they saw amazed them. There, standing in the circle, one at every stone, were people in bright green cloaks. There were three stone formations that looked like tables in the centre. On the middle table there were objects the trio could not see. In front of the tables there stood a person in a red robe; they had their hands scrawled up high and were leading the others.
“What is this?” Ron blurted out loud.
“I’m not sure, but I know I don’t like it,” Hermione said.
“It’s a ceremony,” Harry cut in sharply, “and from the looks of it, magical. It reminds me of the graveyard after the Triwizard Tournament. Like when Voldemort was resurrected. When Cedric died.”
All of a sudden, the chanting got louder and clearer.
“On this night in this hour, we call upon the ancient magic set by the elders of life to resurrect the true master,” the people chanted.
At the word master, Harry fell to the ground and clasped his hand to his forehead.
“Mate, what’s wrong?” Ron asked dropping to the ground next to him.
“My…my…my scar,” Harry panted.
“NO!” Hermione screamed.
“It’s them.” Harry pointed, while staggering to his feet. He started to walk slowly from behind the rock.
“No, Harry!” Hermione yelled, catching hold of his shirt. “Don’t, we don’t know what we are up against!” She grabbed his hand and pulled him back towards the rock.
“Let go of me, Hermione!” Harry said fiercely, so loud that the chanting came to a halt.
The trio all turned to look at the circle. The robed people had stopped and, with their hands down, were looking straight at them with unpleasant expressions on their faces.
“Okay, now I think it’s time to go,” Ron said, grabbing both their hands and pulling them back the way they came.
Harry and Hermione caught on and started running too. They heard yelling in the background but didn’t stop. They ran until the reached the house.
“Oh, no!” Hermione panted, “Go get into bed.”
“What…why?” Harry protested.
“Go!” Hermione commanded pointing to the door, “See you in the morning. Remember to be ready for the beach.”
Harry tried to say something in response but couldn’t because Hermione was pushing them into the door. It would be hard to go up to bed and not talk about the strangers they had just witnessed until tomorrow, but he knew he had to.
A Special Arrival by bballerj582
The sand underneath Harry’s toes was extremely warm as he lay on the beach, baking under the sun.” They definitely don’t have sun like this at home,” Ron said, wiping the sweat of his forehead.
“Your right, about that one, Ronald,” Hermione replied. “Now, you two need to put on more sunscreen on.”
“Again?” Ron exclaimed annoyed.
“Yes, again,” Hermione said as she walked over to Ron and started to apply sunscreen. Harry picked up the sunscreen and pushed down on the cap. In that moment a loud crack came from behind.
“What was that?” Harry asked turning around in a second. His heart leaped when his eyes landed where the sound had come from. There, standing right in front of them with many bags, was a beautiful redheaded girl. Harry jumped up and went flying over Ginny.
Her eyes twinkled merrily as his arms quickly circled her body. Harry avidly leaned forward for a kiss and Ginny didn’t make him beg; she was soon kissing him back. Unfortunately for them, Ron’s sharp voice boomed in their ears.
“What are you doing here so early?” The moment was violently lost.
“Neville decided to surprise Luna and take her on a vacation to the secret mountains in Germany where the Snoggelporsh supposedly lives,” Ginny replied peeved. “She wants to write an article about it for the Quibbler.”
“Now that’s a very unique place for you to take your girlfriend,” Hermione joked.
“Yeah, but it just meant that I was free to come early,” Ginny said. “Wait… Did Mum send me here in the wide open view?”
Hermione looked around at the beach, which was deserted beside them. “No, it looks clear,” she said.
“What does it matter anyway? This town is full of magic,” Harry retorted. “They wouldn’t notice if someone just popped in after what we saw last night.”
Ron agreed with a chuckle.
“What do you mean?” Ginny asked, laying down her suitcase and sitting on Harry’s lap.
“Well, last night we saw a ritual of some sort being performed. It was at what is called The Stone Circle. It is where, in olden days, druids would perform magic,” Hermione explained, “And last night it was put to use again.”
“There were people trying to call on something. They summoned a green light around the circle into the sky. That’s when we noticed it from the house and ran out to see.” Ron explained.
“And my scar hurt,” Harry added.
“What? Your scar?” Ginny demanded, jumping off his lap, “Are you okay? Is it him?”
“Yes, and we don’t know yet; we haven’t had time talk about it,” Harry replied.
“And we aren’t going to talk about it. It is not our problem,” Hermione stated angrily.
“But-” Ron started.
“But nothing! We are not getting back into this chasing evil crusade. We are done,” Hermione shouted. “It’s now the Orders and Ministry’s problem to chase dark wizards. I am done! We are done!”
“We aren’t done, Hermione,” Harry contradicted. “If it is Voldemort or Death Eaters, we can’t just sit back and do nothing!”
“Why would you want to get back into this?” Hermione questioned exasperatedly as while her eyes started to fill with tears. “Why would we go looking for more people to get killed? We have lost so many people already: Dumbledore, Sirius, Lockhart, Percy and Krum. We have had more than our fair share in the war!”
Ron clasped his arms around her. “Hermione in every battle there will be people who give up their lives for the greater cause, so, if we let these people get away with what they are doing, all those deaths will be for no reason. I lost a brother, Hermione, yet I know that fight is not over,” Ron said as he looked in her eyes. When as she looked deeply into his eyes, Hermione slowly understood what he was saying. The fire burning in his eyes also reminded her why she loved him.
“Ok, so now we are all in agreement we need to figure out what is going on,” Harry said happily after seeing Hermione relented to Ron’s words. Hermione pursed her lips in a very McGonagall way but said nothing.
“Where do we start?” Ginny asked.
“We start by going back to the house and putting your bags there,” Harry said putting his arm around Ginny’s shoulder and picking up one of her bags. They packed everything in less than ten minutes and eagerly started their way down to the field that would lead them up to Hermione’s aunt and uncle’s house.
“What are we going to tell them?” Ron asked wonderingly.
“Umm… Well, we can just say that she ended up catching an early flight. And that when we were walking back she passed us in a cab,” Hermione replied. “They knew she was coming, but they didn’t think that before Wednesday.”
“That works for me!” Ginny said mirthfully.
Half and hour later, they were all piled into the boy’s room, looking out the window at where the green light had come from the night before.
“How are we going to figure this one out?” Hermione asked worriedly more to herself than the others. “We have none of the things we had when we were at Hogwarts. No books, no teachers, no Order, and no Professor Dumbledore. What are we going to do?”
“Hermione, I admit that I don’t know, but I do know we can handle this,” Harry said reassuringly.
“Why don’t we start by the most obvious thing to do?” asked Ron. “Let’s go down to the circle and see if there is anything we can find out. Maybe there are some clues we can pick up to find out who is behind all of this.
“That’s a very good idea, Ron,” Hermione praised, addressing Ron with a smile that left him with a goofy look on his face.
“That’s where we were hiding last night.” Hermione pointed at a rock. The smell of the fresh grass outside invaded them as they routed back through the path they had taken last night. They could do it more calmly now that they weren’t running for their lives.
“Who’s that?” Ron asked just noticing the guy standing at one of the stones.
“Who cares?” Harry said still walking towards the circle but hesitating slightly.
“It looks as if he’s standing guard,” Ginny contributed. She cast a glance towards Harry warning him. However, Harry kept on walking and the rest of them just followed.
“Who are you?” the man shouted as soon as he spotted them.
“We are tourists,” Hermione shouted back cautiously.
“Well, get out of here. This is not a place for you,” the man replied now grumpier.
“We just wanted to see the great architecture,” Hermione replied. The man started to make his way towards them.
“Is there a problem, sir?” Ginny asked in what she hoped to be a sweet voice.
“Yeah… It’s you!” the man yelled.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.