Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

**AN: The idea for this story came to me several years ago, and has been running through my mind on and off since then. The first 16 chapters were finally written in first draft form for NaNoWriMo 2014. However, there will be much more to the story than what I finished during those thirty days. The premise was simple in my mind: Hogwarts borrows magical-technology from the Americans, and sets up a special project during the summer before the 6****th**** year for Harry and friends begins. Essentially this creates a magical virtual reality, which is designed originally for training Aurors - but they obtain a version to use at the school for a Defence Against The Dark Arts project in the hopes of also creating team building and breaking down inter house rivalries. Obviously, things don't work out as expected…to find out more you will have to read the story. Clearly this will not be canon compliant after 5****th**** year and definitely will not be epilogue compliant. The story will include adventure, angst, maybe a little mystery, hopefully some fun, and maybe even some romance, but as usual with my stories, not with canon pairings. As per my profile page, I don't own anything created by JKR, but this is for fun. At least I have had fun creating this story.**

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><p>1.1<p>

_Summer 1996_

Amelia Bones had left Britain shortly after the return of Voldemort was made painfully public with the events at the Department of Mysteries and the Death of Sirius Black. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement had a lot of catching up to do in order to deal with this very real threat that the Dark Lord and his followers represented. With Rufous Scrimgeour having ascended to the position of Minister for Magic, Amelia was given more authority to strengthen the department. With that renewed commitment from the Ministry, she chose to travel to see what new innovations were being made in the United States. For many years, the wizarding world in Europe, or at least in Great Britain, had been taught that technology and magic could not co-exist. But apparently there were major breakthroughs with certain technology companies making progress by combining their technology with magic.

She spent a week in California learning about some of this new technology, something called Applied Technomancy, which was a special project from the magical department of a company that the muggles knew as Apple/Pixar, which was making digital animated movies which the muggles apparently loved the world over. This Applied Technomancy project was being tested by the American Aurors and Hit Wizards already and she was there to see a demonstration.

Madam Bones was brought into a large warehouse, and inside the warehouse was a rather large machine. The machine had two doors, one on either end, and a rather intricate panel of displays and controls in the middle taking up the space between those doors. A screen that looked to her like a muggle television of some sort was in the middle of the display. The lead researcher, a Mr. Tomas Hernandez, was explaining to the head of the British DMLE just exactly what this machine was designed to do.

"Essentially it is a computer that combines magic with an advanced computer game, and allows an individual or a group of individuals to enter into the program," he began to explain. "In computer terms, we refer to this as a virtual reality, or a simulation. However, with the integration of magic, we can place the participants into this artificial world. We can create scenarios, such as training missions for our Aurors, so that they can be prepared to face anything they may come across in the line of duty. However, within the confines of the virtual magical reality that this machine will create, they are completely safe."

Amelia Bones was a smart woman, she had to be exposed to the muggle world to do her job properly so she had heard of computers, but what Mr. Hernandez was claiming this could do was beyond amazing. "You're saying that the Aurors, or cadets, could go into a simulated fight, face dark wizards, even face a killing curse within this machine, but they won't be hurt?"

"Oh, they would be incapacitated within the machine," answered Tomas, "but they would not actually suffer or die. They would experience pain but no lasting effects. There are failsafes within the program that are designed to be synced with the wands of the witch or wizard before they enter the magical realm that is created within the machine. We can create any sort of world within there. Any environment can actually be created, however, right now we only have a few that have been fully programmed; but we have the capability to create anything that you could ask for."

Amelia raised an eyebrow of her good eye so as not to lose her monocle. "Minister Scrimgeour has made it clear that our Aurors and our Hit Wizards must be trained and we need to train more of them as quickly as possible. This machine seems like it will help us with creating safe but appropriate situations to accelerate their learning."

Hernandez couldn't help but smile. "I would have to agree with him, Madam Bones. It is a unique device. And from the information that we received on the situation in England, all I can say right now is that it seems to us that anything that will help in your getting prepared for dealing with the likes of that Dark Lord can only be a very good thing."

Amelia smiled at the young man. "How soon would such a device be ready to be shipped to England?"

Tomas smiled back at her, "Apparently the order is already being processed. Two machines have been ordered and should be set up by the middle to the end of July. Then it will take some hands on training by our personnel, so as to make sure that your staff understand how to program the scenarios. We will of course, send over an advance team to begin discussions on what sort of material you want incorporated into the scenarios so as to be able to customise the encounters to you're liking."

Amelia tilted her head, quite pleased to hear this. "Well, then, Tomas, I look forward to seeing these units operational as soon as possible upon my return to England.

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><p>1.2<p>

England

Amelia Bones was not a happy woman when she returned home from her trip to the Americas. She partially wondered why she needed to go in the first place as it seemed the decision had already been made by the time she even had arrived to look at the virtual magical reality machine. She did not particularly enjoy her travel back from the United States, but her arrival at her home was even more unpleasant. Walking up to the Ossuary, the ancestral home of the Bones family, she could immediately tell that something was off. She stopped before she got to the ward lines as she could sense that they were missing. Immediately she sent word via a patronus to one of her most trusted Aurors to come and meet her at her home, and she warned him that she was expecting trouble there.

Amelia tried to detect if there were any wizards or witches present on her property but she could not find any such persons. Silently she was grateful that her niece, Susan, was spending time with her best friend, Hannah Abbot, so at least she wan't home when whoever came by had shown up and dropped the wards. Amelia only made it another ten meters before she heard the sounds of apparition and then she was joined by Kingsley Shacklebolt and Alistor Moody.

"What's going on?" whispered Shack.

"I just arrived home from my trip to the States," replied Amelia through gritted teeth, "and I could tell something didn't feel right. Then I could feel that all of the ancient wards, and the new ones which I had put up had fallen. They must have all been deactivated somehow."

Mad-eye Moody seemed to growl slightly at the news. "At least you're learning the constant vigilance that I taught you all those years ago, lass."

Amelia rolled her eyes, "I went through Auror training school with you Alistor, and as I recall I taught you plenty of things back in the day."

His magical eye whipped around manically and his one good eye opened up as if surprised, "I never said ye' didn't lass, I only said you've been finally learning' the **one** thing I have been trying' to teach you."

"Fair enough," she replied with a slight smile, and then she turned and made her way towards the manor house.

There were no signs of anyone being on her property, but once they arrived at the actual manor it was clear that someone had been there. The front door had been blown open, and the inside of the house had been trashed. Her bedroom and that of her niece had been trashed as well. The symbol of the Dark Lord had been burned into one wall by the entrance to make it clear who had been into her home and had taken down her wards, as there had not been anyone home when they showed up at her home. Amelia understood that if she had been at home it is highly unlikely that she would have survived, and if her niece would have been here, she might have survived if only to be used as a toy for the sick beasts who considered themselves superior to other witches and wizards. Amelia started to feel a little ill just thinking about what might have happened if they had actually been home.

Moody looked around and cast some spells to identify what exactly happened and to look for wand signatures. "The blighters covered their tracks fairly well," he commented. "Probably swept the place for their ambient magic once they realised you weren't here so they couldn't be identified."

Shacklebolt nodded in agreement. "Whoever did this had plenty of power to be able to get through your perimeter wards and the house wards. Clearly they intended to leave a lasting impression."

Amelia Bones looked at the deviation of her home. "The impression is definitely going to last," she replied, "trust me on this. But I will be finding out who did this, and they will face the consequences for their actions."

Mad-Eye Moody's magical eye continued to whirl around taking in as much detail of the scene as he could to aid in their investigation, hoping to find some sort of clue, but they all knew for certain it was the work of Death Eaters, even if there was no Dark Mark burning in the sky at this time. From the best they could estimate, they must have made their attack at least four days previous, shortly after Amelia had left for the United States. Amelia thought to herself that at least her travels had been kept secret that the Death Eaters had no idea she wasn't going to be at home.

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><p>1.3<p>

Amelia Bones left the scene of her family's ancestral home to Auror's investigating the attack that had destroyed her family's protective wards and damaged a large section of the manor house as well to the care of Kingsley Shacklebolt. She had stayed at the Abbots with her niece, Susan and then she had an earlier start to the next day at the Ministry. After filing her report on the attack at her home she had a meeting with Minister Scrimgeour who was joined by Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Amelia wondered why the meddling old man was present for her report back to the minister on what she had learned on her visit to the United States and her tour of their magical training facilities for their version of Aurors and Hit Wizards.

Amelia sat down at the small conference table and she was immediately annoyed by Albus' constantly twinkling eyes. Scrimgeour's expression was stern buy calm as she began to explain the Americans' progress in associating technology with magic and how they had been able to utilise that in training.

Scrimgeour spoke up first, "So, this new technomancy field, you actually think that it will be useful for us?"

"Most definitely," she replied, glancing between the two men, trying to gauge what sort of response they each had to her presentation. "This virtual magical reality machine they have, it has the ability to create any sort of scenario for the trainees to experience. They can practice and spells, they can fight any sort of foe, and not worry about serious injury."

"So we have heard," commented Albus, as he had his hands steepled in front of him.

"Yes," responded Amelia, "I had assumed you had already heard some of this. That is why I gather that you have already ordered two of these units even before I returned and made my presentation."

Scrimgeour twitched slightly at her abrasive comment, but Dumbledore seemed to ignore it.

"Well, yes," began the minister, "we did place an order for two units. The advance information we had received sounded like they would be quite useful. Your report is now confirming what we had suspected."

"But why two units, minister?" asked the puzzled head of the DMLE.

Albus' eyes seemed to twinkle a little brighter. "One unit is being installed at Hogwarts for use with students. It will be used as a demonstration project this August, as an extra credit for DADA for those students are allowed to participate. I do believe that we plan to select a number of incoming sixth year students to trial this for a special project. Alistor Moody will be overseeing the project in conjunction with the staff from the Applied Technomancy Project."

Amelia was surprised to have the students being drawn into this. "Sixth year students, using such an advanced piece of magical technology? One that has never been trailed in Britain before. Is that appropriate?"

Dumbledore seemed to understand her frustration. "Of course there may be some concerns, Amelia," replied Dumbledore placatingly. "But this special project will be overseen by technowizards from the American equivalent of our DMLE research department." Then he spoke a little quieter, almost conspiratorially, "It seems our new minister wants to make a point to the people that he takes the safety of our students seriously and he plans to use this as an example of how he is forward thinking and improving the training of our young witches and wizards."

Amelia seemed confused as to how this would exactly help. She turned to face Scrimgeour. "Minister, this seems highly irregular."

Also in the room was the representative from the Applied Technomancy Project, who now stepped forward. "This machine will be especially programmed for one scenario, a magical island training mission. The other machine, at the Auror Training facility, is the one that will have the advanced training modules and programs."

Amelia nodded in understanding. "So, the two machines are not exactly the same."

The representative nodded slightly, "On a technical level, they are essentially the same machine. However, the one being supplied to the school will have different capabilities based on how the programming is set up. One test environment that has been used hundreds of times for new recruits and for test runs. Relatively straight forward stuff."

"Very well," she said, realising that there was little that she could do about this anyway as it was clear that the minister was making it all happen no matter what anyone else said, and he had the full support of the headmaster, even if he was trying to make it look like he was simply placating the minister. She then turned to Albus Dumbledore, "So, if this is to be a special project for entering 6th year students, how will you be choosing which students will be involved?"

Albus' eyes twinkled slightly again. "We will be having three groups of six students chosen to participate in the program," he said with a smile. "Three young men and three young women in each group, the names will all be chosen shortly. Once the three groups have been selected we will have the students come here in early August to participate in the program."

Amelia felt a slight chill run down her spine as Albus seemed much too pleased about this whole situation.

For his part, the headmaster noted the concern on the head of the DMLE's typically stern face. "I am sure you are concerned, Amelia, but I am delighted at this opportunity to help break down inter house rivalries. This could be just the thing we need to help make the right kind of changes we need so that the students can learn to work together, which ever house they are from. This sort of project can also give the students confidence in their spells and magical ability that may someday help save themselves or a loved one if necessary if the unthinkable happens and they are attacked by a few Death Eaters."

Amelia shook her head. "You know perfectly well, as I do, that it is not a matter of 'if' but a matter of 'when' these things will come to pass. However, let it be known that I expect that myself and my team, which I will pick, will be present for ALL of the official project activities."

Dumbledore averted his eyes from her gaze. "But of course, Amelia," he said with a slight bow, "I wouldn't have it any other way."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Again, this story is about the adventures a few students from Harry Potter's year who will be placed in a 'virtual magical reality.' Yes, it is a bit contrived, but in my opinion, a bit of an original idea for a Harry Potter story. Relationships will eventually develop, they will NOT be canon. But as they are teenagers, they may not be strong, (ie, read rocky) and they will be tested for sure both in the 'virtual magical reality' (once we get there) and once they eventually get out. Who will be thrown together? That will be revealed next chapter (I think...) The original draft from the NaNoWriMo project clearly needs a lot of work as that was all about getting a lot of words written in a short amount of time. Now I am working on refining the story (the parts that were written) and then completing the remainder of the story that was left in outlined format.**

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><p>2.1<p>

Lord Voldemort was not happy as he paced around the old Riddle Manor in Little Hangleton. Although he was actually a little surprised that the Aurors hadn't even tried to locate him here, considering the truth being revealed about the events in the nearby graveyard, but with the recent events at the Ministry of Magic and several of his Inner Circle actually being captured at that failure of a mission, it only stood to reason that the Aurors would be searching for him. His Inner Circle had failed him miserably, and they were up against a handful of students who had been poorly trained at best, especially considering the incompetent woman who had been inflicted upon the school as the DADA professor this past year. How his people could have been defeated, even with the arrival of Dumbledore's little private army that refuse to use any truly dangerous spells showed up, was beyond the Dark Lord's understanding. The arrival of the headmaster when he himself was confronting the Potter child was not helpful for his goals either.

But then one of his spies from within the ministry had just delivered this new tidbit of information, that the DMLE was going to be developing a new training program. Some sort of new training device that the Americans were lending them from across the ocean. The informant was still carefully hidden within the DMLE, however he did not have as much details about this new training device as the Dark Lord needed to begin to plan his next moves. However, it possibly explained the lack of immediate searching for his location on their behalf; for if the DMLE was focused on acquiring this new device, some sort of hybrid muggle device that was enhanced with magic, then that would explain why they had delayed their search for him.

But that is exactly what troubled him. Voldemort never took the time to worry about muggles or their technology, and for some reason, the DMLE was taking time away from coming after him to obtain this device. Clearly, he reasoned, he would need more information about this device, and he would need to move out of this manor before the Aurors started looking for him here.

Voldemort called forth the few trusted Inner Circle members whom he had left. The group truly was getting smaller. With so many having been captured at the Department of Mysteries fiasco, he only had Bellatrix at his side as well as Severus Snape when he was summoned from spying on Dumbledore for him. The rest of the inner circle had been captured and returned to Azkaban. "I suppose this means that we will just have to set them all free again then, does't it Bellatrix?" he asked in a tone that clearly indicated he was not anticipating an answer.

Bellatrix laughed, "Of course, milord, when should we begin?"

"Oh not until we have secured a safe place to stay," he drawled. "As it seems that your brother-in-law was unfortunate enough to not make it out of the Ministry of Magic building that night, he is still being detained. I would imagine that your sister and your nephew just might be getting lonely. Perhaps they might appreciate some company?"

Bellatrix frowned at first when the Dark Lord referenced Lucius Malfoy as she despised the man and his cowardice in denying the truth of his service to her master, but then she began to grin at the idea of being able to influence her nephew and the opportunity to take advantage of Lucius' hospitality when there was nothing he could do about it. "You are most wise, as always, milord," she replied with a cackle as she considered the possible fun she could have at the expense of Lucius and his wealth.

"Then we should make arrangements to travel soon," announced Voldemort. "Let Wormtail know, and we will need to make sure that we bring Nagini along safely. Notify the others. Oh, and perhaps let your sister know that she should be expecting a few guests."

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><p>— — 2.2— —<p>

However, at that same time, Narcissa Malfoy was not even present at her home. She had ventured to the gates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves before she entered through those gates and started the long walk up to the main entrance. As she approached the large doors that would lead into the school that she recalled so clearly from her own days as a student, she was startled to suddenly find herself face to face with the very person with whom she came to speak.

"Lady Malfoy," began the headmaster, "this is a pleasant surprise. What brings you here on this fine summer day? School is clearly not in session, and you and I both know that the term does not begin until the first of September." His eyes began to twinkle and then he continued, "I am most positive that you aren't concerned about young Draco's performance, as he has done admirably in most of his classes."

Narcissa's manner did not change from her usual coolness which was efficiently practiced and well rehearsed. "It is a concern which I have about Draco, but perhaps this location is not the most ideal setting in which for us to continue this conversation."

Albus' eyes seemed to twinkle slightly more as he quickly agreed to show her to his office and continue their discussion there. A few minutes later she found herself sitting in a chair across from the headmaster.

"Now, Narcissa," began Dumbledore with a placating tone, "what can I do for you that you did not wish to speak about in a public location?"

Narcissa straightened her back and looked the headmaster directly in the eye, calling on her training as a Black to be as intimidating and forceful as possible in her communication to another individual. "I have heard rumours of a new training device, one that is designed for Auror training. I have also heard about your planned project to select a number of sixth year students and have them use this device for a special program for the end of this summer."

Albus Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, confused as to how someone outside of those who were planning the training session would have possibly learned about the device or the planned summer project. "That is not something I can freely talk about with just anyone, and that is something you should understand if you already know about the device," he replied with confidence as well as not a little unhidden irritation.

"How I learned about it is not of any importance," she retorted. "However, I would like you to consider, if at all possible, to have my son Draco, be included in such a project."

Albus hummed a little in response to her request. "Is there any reason in particular that you would like him chosen for this?"

Narcissa sighed slightly, "Well, actually, there are a few reasons. First, I think such an opportunity may actually help him grow up, to mature in a way that constantly being under his father's wing has not been helpful. Second, his participating may help prevent his being drawn in to certain factions that I would hope that he may be able to avoid."

Professor Dumbledore sighed slightly as he steepled his fingers in front of his own face for a moment. "I fear that it may be too late for young Draco. I have always held out hope that there may be a chance that he does not follow in his father's ways."

"There is still a chance," she pleaded. "I know he has not taken the mark, although I am afraid that he will if he stays at our home for the entire summer holiday."

Albus inclined his head to the Lady Malfoy, "I will see what I can arrange, but I cannot make any promises."

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><p>— — 2.3 — —<p>

Minerva McGonagall was responsible for notifying the 6th year students who had been selected for the experimental program in which they were being invited to participate. Upon receiving the letters notifying them of the special summer project, many of the students complained initially about having to return to the school as they had been looking forward to having their entire summer before them without having to do anything other than enjoy their time away from school. However, a few students found excitement in what the letter represented and in their being asked to participate, while others were simply confused by the whole message.

Harry Potter, however, had not received any letter, and in fact he was still feeling depressed at having once again been relegated to the second bedroom on 4 Privet Drive. He had received the usual warnings from his uncle about not allowing any of his unnaturalness or freakishness to bother any of them this summer. So, for the month of July, Harry had mostly been doing very little, including very little in the way of chores, as he had still been angry at himself over the death of his godfather, Sirius Black. By the time his birthday was coming around, he had mostly come to understand that it truly was not his fault that Sirius had died. But he sill felt a pain in his heart anytime he ever thought about Sirius.

On the morning of July 31, 1996, Harry was surprised to hear a knock on the door so early in the morning. Harry looked out his bedroom window towards the front door and he was surprised to see an older man with a peg leg. Realising he had to move quickly before he was seen by the neighbours, Harry ran downstairs and opened the door to let the grizzled old Auror into his aunt and uncle's house.

Vernon Dursley was woken up by the banging on the door and immediately called after Harry. "We'll have none of your freakishness here today boy, no matter whose birthday it is. We'll call that magical police force and have you thrown in jail, the both of you if you do anything foolish-like."

Moody glared at Vernon standing at the top of the stairs. "I am on that magical police force, and I can and will hex you and throw you in one of our jails if needs be, just for your abusing this fine young boy if you don't shut up."

Vernon was about to protest, but Mad-Eye continued, "Don't you worry though, 'cause I'm here to take the lad away."

He then turned to Harry and told him to get his things together in his trunk and to send Hedwig on ahead. Harry ran up the stairs and was done packing in less than five minutes. He returned to where Moody was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs and simply asked, "Where are we going, the Burrow?"

"No lad, too much craziness goes on there," replied the old Auror.

Harry thought for a minute before asking, "Are we returning to Grimmauld Place?"

"No, lad, I'm taking you back to Hogwarts."

"But school doesn't start for another month," protested Harry.

Moody's normal eye lit up and his magical one started spinning in crazy circles with excitement. "No, but have we got something special in store planned for ye and some of your friends."

Harry was puzzled. "What is it? Who will be there?"

"You'll just have to wait and see when you get there," answered Moody with a deep laugh. "You'll see a couple of your friends, and a few others from your year from the other houses. A special training program is what they're calling it." He then held out his walking stick. "Grab on and be sure to hold on tight, laddie, this next part isn't going to be much fun."

Harry grabbed the walking stick and felt a sudden jerk and a twisting and squeezing motion. The two of them landed in front of the gates to Hogwarts, and Harry felt a little nauseated from the travel as he stumbled towards the ground.

"That's side along apparating, son," explained Moody as he pulled his walking stick out of Harry's grasp, causing Harry to stumble forward slightly once more. He then began his slow methodical walking towards the castle. "The others shall be joining you here shortly, at least the ones from Gryffindor will. I think McGonagall has a soft spot for you, with it being your birthday and all, so she is having a few of the others who were invited arrive today. The rest of the students chosen for this project won't be here until tomorrow."

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><p>— — 2.4 — —<p>

At the Ossuary, the manor house had been repaired from the damage caused by the Death Eater attack and Amelia Bones had the goblins install new wards with a new ward stone. She was sure enough of the safety here that she and her niece had moved back into the Bones' family manor. This afternoon she had the task of explaining to her niece and her best friend, Hannah Abbot, about the upcoming special project, the training session with the Applied Technomacy Project. She knew that the two girls had received an owl from Minerva McGonagall about the project, but she was sure that they would have plenty of questions.

"Auntie," began Susan as her Aunt Amelia sat down at the table with her and her best friend Hannah, "just what is this special project Professor McGonagall wrote to us about?"

Hannah and Susan were clearly quite attentive as Amelia Bones prepared to answer their question. "It is a special training program that was actually developed by the Americans," she began. "The Americans have found a way to combine muggle technology with magic and have developed a machine that uses what the muggles call computers and create an artificial magical world where they can then send their Aurors for training. We have obtained a version of this machine for training our new Auror recruits and our current Aurors to help them be better prepared for fighting the Dark Lord and his followers, the Death Eaters. We have also obtained a second version of the machine that we can use for a special project for some of the students. A number of sixth year students have been selected to come to Hogwarts where the machine has been set up and they will participate in a trial run of this program. You two have been chosen to participate in this project."

"We're going to be trained as Aurors?" asked a bewildered Hannah.

"No, that's not what we're planning," replied Madam Bones. "There will be a special training program placed into the machine that will be used to help you all learn to work together and put your previous training to practical use. Think of it as an advanced course in Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Susan's eyes lit up, "Oh, kind of like what Harry Potter was trying to do with the DA last year?"

Amelia was confused, "What was this DA? What are you talking about Susan?"

Susan looked at Hannah for a moment who just simply nodded her encouragement. "Harry, he taught us, well most of us who wanted to listen and learn when that horrid woman, Umbridge, who was sent by the ministry, wouldn't teach is anything about Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Hannah now spoke up as well, "It was really amazing, Harry was a great teacher. Those of us in the DA, Dumbledore's Army we called ourselves, we all learned from Harry, and we all passed our OWLs."

Amelia listened to what was being said and leaned back and considered their words. "Did he now, and no one at the school felt that was important enough to share with the ministry or even the DMLE? Sometimes Dumbledore and that staff of his just don't seem to know what they're doing with children when I hear stories like this." She composed herself, and then she continued, "Never mind that anymore, what matters now is this training program and this opportunity you all will have. You will be heading up to Hogwarts tomorrow and joining the other students who have been chosen for this special program."

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><p>— — 2.5 — —<p>

Harry arrived at Hogwarts and made his way to the Gryffindor dormitory. When he entered the common room, Hermione, Ron and Neville were already there and greeted him with a shout of "Happy Birthday!" Harry knew that some friends would be meeting him at school, but he was surprised and delighted to be surprised like this.

"Hey mate," said Ron, "so, we've all been chosen for this special program."

Hermione elbowed him in the side, "That's not important right now, Ronald. It's Harry's birthday, and it was Neville's yesterday, we can take time to celebrate now and talk about that later."

Ron turned and looked at her as he said, "Who are you and what have done with Hermione Granger?"

Hermione frowned at him, "It's not like we have any homework we need to do right now, as long as you already did your summer assignments. Besides, this is a special summer project, it's not like we can get get expelled because of our grades over something like this." Then she but her lip and looked at Harry and Neville, "We can't get in that much trouble over a special project over the summer, can we?"

Ron ignored her comments about the summer homework, but Neville stepped forward to greet Harry. "Happy birthday Harry, it's good to see you again. I hope your summer hasn't been too bad for you so far."

Harry was grateful for Neville's comments, "Happy birthday to you too, Neville. Actually, I'm always glad to leave that place where I'm forced to go each summer. I'm not sure if the memories there are worse than the memories of facing Voldemort and losing Sirius."

Hermione frowned as she realised that Harry really hadn't had anyone to talk to since Sirius had died. She stepped up and gave him a hug as she whispered into his ear, "How are you doing Harry, really?"

Harry could tell that his best friend was honestly thinking about him and that meant a lot to him right now, "I'm doing okay, I guess, but it has been hard at times, especially with the news of the prophecy."

Neville's attention was piqued at this comment as he had not been told of this at the end of the school year after their raid on the Department of Mysteries. Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione and he quickly decided that Neville was trustworthy enough and had worked with them enough lately that he started to tell him the prophecy that Dumbledore had shared with him after Sirius had died.

Hermione interrupted him, "But Harry, you said that the headmaster told you to only tell this to Ron and to me. Are you sure you should tell anyone else?"

Harry smiled slightly at Hermione, "I'm tired of people keeping secrets, and Neville of all people needs to hear this prophecy. It's why his parents are at St. Mungo's. It's why he and I weren't raised as brothers, like our parents had planned." Harry turned to Neville, "This may be hard to hear, but it explains why the Death Eaters attacked your parents so soon after my parents were killed." Harry then went on to tell Neville the story of the prophecy as it was told to Dumbledore by Professor Trelawney. Of how Voldemort had decided that the one who it referred to was Harry and not Neville, even though they both fit the requirements of the prophecy until Harry was marked by Voldemort and he obtained his signature scar.

Neville, needless to say, was in shock. Hermione was worried how Neville was going to react to this news. Neville sat down and stared straight ahead for several minutes, quietly contemplating what Harry had told him. Then he blinked a few times and looked up at Harry. "Thank you, Harry, that explains an awful lot to me," he said quietly. "My grandmother told me this summer that she was proud of me when she learned of what we did at the department of mysteries. I finely have my own wand now, and when I was practicing magic this summer, I discovered that I can do all of my spells so much more powerfully. My confidence in everything has grown since you included me in your group last year. And I promise you this Harry, if there is anything I can do to help you in defeating him…Voldemort…Tom Riddle, than as the future Lord Longbottom I vow to do everything I can to support the future Lord Potter."

"Future Lord Longobottom?" asked Harry.

"Future Lord Potter?" asked Hermione.

Neville looked at his friends, "Of course I'm the future Lord Longbottom, once I reach the age of 17 I can take the lordship since my father has been declared incapacitated. I just surmised that Harry was choosing to delay his assuming his lordship title until he finished school since he hadn't claimed the title yet, which he is entitled to do as he is the sole remaining heir in the Potter family." He turned to face Harry. "Didn't anyone ever tell you about this?"

Harry shook his head, "No, I have never heard of any of this before."

Neville frowned some more, "I figured that with Sirius Black being your godfather he would have told you."

"It's not like we really had a whole lot of quality time together," commented Harry.

Hermione decided to change the subject, "Look, I'm sure that this is all important, but there's really nothing that you two can do about it right now. But we _do_ have a cake and a little party for your birthday, Harry."

Harry looked up at Hermione and he could see the concern on her face, and he could tell that she was worried. "It's okay Hermione, I'm sure Neville and I can talk more about this later." Turning back to Neville he added, "Won't we, mate?"

Neville's eyes brightened at being called mate by Harry, "Sure, sure thing, Harry."

As the group sat down to have the cake and the butter beer that was provided for them, Ron asked what anyone knew about this special project that they were invited to participate in was all about.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Didn't you read anything in the letter that Professor McGonagall sent to us? She clearly stated that this was based on combining muggle technology with magic, using something that has been done in the United States for a while."

"I read all of that," commented Ron, "but it just didn't make any sense."

Hermione shook her head, and Harry spoke up to try and help explain. "The Americans found a way to mix magic with computer technology. I have seen some of the games my cousin plays on his computer, and I know that the Americans are using computers to help make the special effects in their movies, so I can only imagine what they may have come up with if they have found a way to combine magic with their technology."

Ron narrowed his eyes as he looked at Harry, "What's this come upper game thing?"

Harry shook his head in frustration and looked to Hermione who rolled her eyes as she spoke slowly. "It's called a computer, and stop being foolish and refusing to say the word properly. You have ears, you heard Harry speak the word, it's not hard to say. Computer. A computer is an electronic device that can run programs that can do things such as complex mathematical tasks, word processing which is a way to write a paper that can be printed up on paper so that you actually don't have to use a pen or a quill, and you can even play games, and some of these games are interactive. As in you play a character that runs around the screen and does things."

Ron still seemed confused but Hermione turned to Harry and Neville. "That must be it, they must have created a magical virtual reality."

"A magical what?" asked a confused Neville.

Hermione had shifted into lecture mode, "A virtual reality in muggle computers is a theoretical imaginary world that is make believe, it exists only within the computer. Therefor it is called 'virtual' as it does not truly exist. However, from what I have read in muggle magazines the technology is not near enough to create a virtual reality environment. The computers can make it look like they have done it for movies, but they haven't really done it in a useful way for computers. Even interacting with other computers over the internet, connecting to other computers, other people using computers, is a new thing and not very efficient as people have to use their telephone lines to do it. But if someone, or some group, has found a way to use magic to enhance what the computer environment is doing, or conversely, found a way to have computers control a magically created virtual reality, then there might be something to this Applied Technomancy Project."

Ron and Neville were completely confused, but Harry just stared at Hermione for a moment. "Do you mean they may want us to go into this artificial magical world to test it out? Is that what this special project is?"

Hermione bit her lip and simply nodded in the affirmative. Ron and Neville simply drank another butter beer as Ron mumbled, "Bloody hell if I have any idea what she's on about with this muggle technology, but I'm not about to complain about the cake or the butter beer or not having to do any more chores for my mum this summer."

* * *

><p>— — 2.6— —<p>

August 1, 1996

The next day the other students who had been selected were all arriving at Hogwarts. The four Gryffindor students had already arrived at the castle, and after breakfast they waited by the main entrance to see who would be joining them. By lunch time they had noted that from Hufflepuff there were five students, including Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Megan Jones, Ernie McMillan and Just Finch-Fletchley. From Ravenclaw, they were surprised that only two students had arrived, those being Lisa Turpin and Mandy Brocklehurst. However, the contingent from the house of Slytherin was quite well represented as they noted that seven students arrived, including Draco Malfoy, Gregory Goyle, Vincent Crabbe, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, and Tracey Davis.

The four Gryffindor students wondered as they gathered back in their common room just how the decisions were made to choose the students who would participate in this program.

Ron spoke up first, "I suppose Malfoy's father bought his way into this group."

Hermione was not impressed. "That makes no sense at all, Ronald, considering as how his father is still in Azkaban after the incident at the Department of Mysteries."

Ron gulped and turned a little red at the reminder, "Oh, you might have a point there."

"But still," commented Neville, "there were a lot of Slytherin students."

"Almost all of them," said Harry agreeing with Neville.

"Except for Bulstrode and Nott," added Ron.

— — —

Meanwhile, down in the Slytherin dungeons the seven 6th years who had been chosen gathered together.

"Do any of you have any idea what this really means?" asked Pansy waving the letter she had received from Professor McGonagall.

Crabbe and Goyle, not unexpectedly, had blank expressions on their faces. Blaise remained impassive, however, sitting by himself, waiting to see how everyone else responded to her question.

Draco ignored the implied question about what the Applied Technomancy meant and instead started to rant about their group. "What this means is that we are the leaders of this school. You all saw who was here. Potter and his small group: just Granger, the Weasel and the squib Longbottom. Those are the only Gryffindors that were invited to this special project. Only two Ravenclaws were invited and only a handful of Hufflepuffs. We, us seven here from the house of Slytherin, are the largest contingent that was invited. Why was that do you all think? Because the school has finally realised who the _true_ leaders are, who the truly gifted students are when it comes to magic. This is a special project that the Ministry of Magic has set up and we are the only ones who were invited here early before school starts to be involved with this project."

Crabbe breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, good. I thought I had to come back early and retake tests from last year."

"Me too," echoed Goyle.

Draco just glared at the two large oafs for a moment. "The point is that we need to take this opportunity that we have been given and turn it into the chance to truly lead this school, to lead all of these students in the ways they all should go."

"And where is that," asked Daphne Greengrass from the far side of the room, "following you blindly right to where your father is, locked up in Azkaban?"

"Mark my words, Greengrass, you don't want to cross me," sneered Draco.

"You don't scare me now, like you've never scared me before," said Daphne with clear disinterest in her voice. "It could equally be plausible that so many of us were picked because Dumbledore felt bad for us. It could also have been that we were randomly chosen and just due to statistical chance, seven members of our house were selected, or how else could you possibly account for your goon squad to have been selected, as it clearly wasn't based on academic merit, or on charm."

Blaise Zambini had to stifle a laugh at Daphne's barbs. He knew that she was always good for a laugh when she stood up to Draco, and he thought it was a shame that she only did so here in the dungeons, for everyone in Slytherin knew that they all were expected to keep a unified front when they stepped out of the common room and in front of the rest of the school. The fact that she and Tracey Davis were so good at largely going unnoticed by the rest of the school, so much so that the other houses just assumed they were simply a part of Pansy Parkinson's 'gang' that Draco usually let Daphne's barbs and challenges go uncontested here in the common room. She never made a play for power within their group or within the house, she just routinely voiced her opinion, made a snide comment and then returned to her silent demeanour and for the most part ignored him and let him play his own games of power and manipulation within the house of Slytherin. Blaise just continued to observe all of this and pondered when the real power plays within the house would take place, as he figured that Draco's reign would not go uncontested now that his father was in Azkaban. However, the room seemed to settle down as Draco ignored her barb.

Once again, Pansy posed her question. "But what does this Applied Technomancy Project really involve? What will we be expected to be doing with this?"

Draco was about to answer when Blaise finally spoke up. "You don't have any idea, do you, Draco."

"It's a secret training program from the Ministry of Magic," he explained defiantly.

"If it's a secret, then why are they having incoming sixth year students get involved with it?" asked Tracey Davis.

"And why would they have the son of an arrested Death Eater get involved with a secret project?" asked Daphne as she stood up and walked across the room, almost challenging Draco to respond to her. "Face it Draco, things have changed. Your father was arrested, caught red handed working for the Dark Lord. The Ministry is actively working to oppose the Dark Lord, which means that your family is not in the position of power you once were, or at least that you thought you were. So, why exactly would you be here if it was a secret project? Or more to the point, as this is a project that is supported by the Ministry of Magic, why are you even here at all? I'm surprised that the head of the DMLE even allowed you to show up for this project."

Draco's emotions had shifted quickly from anger, to indignation to embarrassment and then back to anger again. He quickly realised that he had no comeback to Greengrass' comments about the ministry and his usual boast of 'wait until my father hears about this' would be laughable and weak. As he considered that he suddenly realised how laughable and weak that must have made him sound in the past. However, using his wit and his cunning he quickly thought of a comeback. "Obviously my strong academic work and my leadership within the house of Salazar Slytherin, the greatest of the four founders, has convinced whomever made the decision on which students should be involved in this project that I should be one of those students, therefor I am here as one of those students. Clearly I am here on my own merits, not on my family's name. How many others in this room can say that as easily as I can?"

Daphne walked right up to him and lightly slapped him on the cheek. "Good answer, Draco," she stated mockingly, "you can think pretty quickly on your feet. There may be hope for you yet."

Draco tried to save face as Daphne walked past him and sat down in another chair. "So, Greengrass, what do you know about this Ministry training program?"

Daphne laughed at Draco's question. "Apparently a little more than you do. First of all, it's based on American technology combined with magic."

"And how would you know that?" demanded Pansy.

Daphne slowly turned to face Pansy. "Have you ever heard of the word 'technomancy' Parkinson? It was coined in the United States by the equivalent of their Unspeakables when they developed a way to combine magic with muggle technology."

Draco scoffed at her comments. "Why would anyone want to do that? Other than the fact that they're probably stupid Americans wasting their time."

Daphne shook her head. "You know, Malfoy, showing your ignorance again and again is not becoming. Muggle technology has made some amazing advances. I won't waste your time trying to explain any of it to you, but since you're about to ask how or why I know anything about it, considering my family's business involves imports, which includes business transactions with many muggles from mainland Europe and even from overseas, then my family has had a need to know about muggles and their technology. It has been quite lucrative for us, I'll have you know. The second point is that the Americans are leaders in the field of technomancy, the combining of technology with magic. Now, just because Britain is so backwards that they still teach that you can't combine the two and they still have laws here that ban doing research on the topic doesn't mean the rest of the magical world holds such medieval views on the subject."

— — — —

In the Ravenclaw Tower, the two lone members of that house that had been selected for this special project sat in their common room and discussed what they knew about the situation.

"You did see that Potter and Granger were here, didn't you?" asked Lisa Turpin.

Mandy Brocklehurst nodded, "Of course, and somehow Weasley managed to be selected to participate as well. And Neville Longbottom."

"No surprise there, if the stories are true about his involvement with that little adventure they had at the Department of Mysteries in June when Potter faced He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named once again," commented Lisa.

"Who knew Neville would become so skilled with a wand? But then again, I hear his parents were once quite the pair of Aurors in their day during the last war," added Mandy. "But what about all of those from the house of Slytherin, that was a surprise, wasn't it?"

"Malfoy was the only real surprise, I suppose," said Lisa thoughtfully, "but then again, considering the way the headmaster seems to have a soft spot for almost anyone, maybe it isn't so surprising after all. With his father so recently thrown into Azkaban, maybe Dumbledore just wants to give little Draco a chance to prove himself to be different from his dad."

Mandy laughed slightly at the thought, "Like that's ever going to happen. But the real issue is what is this Applied Technomancy Project?"

Lisa shook her head, "Clearly it's a combination of magic and technology, and it's probably imported from the Americans, considering Britain won't even allow anyone to experiment with combining technology with magic. Probably a law created by some old pure-bloods who were afraid of muggle-borns using that to make themselves even more powerful."

Mandy shook her head at the foolishness of such an idea, "But are those old purebloods really so short sighted that they wouldn't stop and think that people would try and do this in other countries?"

"Who knows," replied a bemused Lisa Turpin, "who knows?"


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: We will have the students be introduced to the virtual magical reality machine...getting closer to entering the VMI...just a little more exposition...**

* * *

><p><strong>August 2, 1996<strong>

It was Friday morning, August 2, and the assembled students arrived for breakfast in the Great Hall. As they walked in they were initially surprised when they did not find four separate tables. When they had dinner the night before they had arrived to find four small tables, but over night the headmaster decided to replace the separate tables with one large table to bring the students together into one group. While the students were surprised at this change they managed to find seats at the table, but they still seemed to largely stay segregated, with the Gryffindors seating themselves as far away from the Slytherin students as possible.

The professors were having their own discussions at their table while the students were mostly eating in silence. Mr. Jennings turned to the headmaster and asked him pointedly, "Just what are your goals for this special project? I mean, why go through all of this just for a handful of students?"

Albus' eyes began to twinkle as usual as he prepared to answer. "The stated objective as we shared with you was quite clear, my boy," began the headmaster as he slowly stroked his beard. Realising that his absentminded mannerism might be distracting, he let go of his beard and put his hands together in front of him as he went on to explain further, "Many of these students' teaching in defensive spells has sadly been lacking over their years here due to an unfortunate series of some professors whose skills were not quite up to our standards. I am hoping that we can both assess where some of the students' skills actually lie, while at the same to push them to expand their own skills and self confidence, while simultaneously encouraging team building skills, even among students who previously may not have been on exactly friendly terms."

Jennings nodded in understanding. "The non-magicals back in the States have similar programs for their students, whether it be called Outward Bound, or on a smaller scale, Ropes Courses. Various types of adventures are created to help with team building and character building for their teens. Those programs are considered quite successful, so I would suspect that you should have some luck in achieving your goals, sir."

Once breakfast was finished, Albus Dumbledore stood up from the faculty table and announced that they would all soon be meeting in the transfiguration classroom where the project would be explained further. He then introduced to everyone the gentleman sitting with the faculty, a Mr. Robert Jennings.

"Good morning everyone, I am sure you are all as excited about this special project as we are. So, to get things started, I would like to introduce to you our special guest for the summer." He then waved his hand towards the man next to him as he continued, "Mr. Jennings comes to us from America where he is the lead Technomancer, that is a wizard who specialises in the art of combining technology with magic. While many of you may know that such research on this subject has been banned here in Britain, however, the use of such technology once developed in other places has not been banned, and it is through the wisdom and the generosity of the Ministry working with our DMLE that we have this opportunity before us. Now, once you are all finished with your breakfast, we shall meet again in the transfiguration classroom at 9 o'clock."

A short while later the group of students had all gathered in the classroom, and they were initially surprised to find it looking no different from how it usually did. There was no large machine, no strange device present, just Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Mr. Jennings.

Professor McGonagall stood up and cleared her throat slightly to get the attention of the gathered students. "Now, I am sure you are all wondering what is going on, but for now you will be learning the details of this project. We will review all of that here in my classroom. The actual project will take place in a classroom where the Applied Technomancy Device has been installed, in the lower levels of the castle, in a previously unused classroom. Mr. Jennings will explain the details in a moment, however, I will first be assigning you into three groups of six students. As a note of explanation, you were all chosen by a random selection process which was then used to select the three groups. The only criteria was to have three witches and three wizards in each of the three groups."

Minerva then stepped back and waved to Mr. Jennings for him to come forward and speak to the students.

Jennings took the opportunity to look over the collected students and asses them briefly. He studied them during the meal times and he had observed their interactions, and he knew that not unlike any group of American teenagers, these young people would have their own issues, their own cliques, their own baggage. He understood that the assigned groups would have plenty of issues to work out, but that would be good for all of them. "I understand that this will be very new to all of you, as the idea of combining technology with magic is a novel one here in England, or Britain," began the tall man with wire rim glasses and short dark hair. "Some of you who have a muggle background may be familiar with computers, and you may be aware of the limitations of computers. However, with the use of magic, we have been able to push the functionality of computers beyond the limits that either software or hardware engineers in the muggle world have been able to achieve so far on their own. The bottom line, and what this means to you is that we have been able to create this virtual magical reality, a make believe world if you will. A place where we can send wizards and witches to train and to practice without fear of getting hurt. A place where we control the environment and their opponents in any and all simulated encounters. It can be anything as simple as a quiet dinner at home, to a vacation get away, to how to solve a crime mystery to a full scale war, based on what we program into the machine."

Jennings paused and looked around the group of eighteen students and he could tell that as usual he had them all fairly well awed by what he had to tell them. "We have chosen one of our original scenarios that we have created to use as the simulation or virtual magical reality for the purposes of this project. This scenario is an island that has been used in multiple ways in the past. Now, you will be sent into this virtual world, and you will have to work together as a team to cross from the south side of this island to the north side of the island. Hopefully this sounds simple enough for you all to accomplish and you should be able to do this without too much difficulty."

Hermione raised her hand to ask a question of the technomancer. "Mr. Jennings, how was this program created? Was this based on typical computer software or is there special software that is used for magical purposes?"

The other students looked at her, puzzled by her odd question.

Mr. Jennings smiled at Hermione, having been warned ahead of time by Professor McGonagall to expect some direct and possibly difficult questions from her. "The source code for the computer work is based on OpenSTEP," he began to explain, "as well as some technology that has been developed for animation at Pixar. We have developed a way to combine this with magic to create what is in essence the virtual reality that you will be immersed in. As far as how this will allow you all to integrate into the system, there will need to be some adjustments made to your wands before you enter the Technomage world, which I like to call MagiWorld."

Hermione nodded in understanding of his explanation but then immediately fired back another question, "How do we know that it's safe?"

Jennings smiled at the question. "An important question to be sure, miss. This is the basic training algorithm we have been using in the United States with our Auror program for the past 18 months. So, it has many safety features programmed into it. As I have already mentioned, the Auror program back in the States has been using it successfully for some time, so I don't think you have anything to worry about."

"You don't know Potter," muttered Hannah Abbot.

"What was that?" asked Mr. Jennings.

Everyone looked at her as she turned bright red with the sudden attention as she had not meant her little comment to be overheard. Finally Susan Bones spoke up for her best friend, "I think what she meant is that trouble always seems to find Harry Potter, so why should this device be any different?"

Mr. Jennings just shook his head, "I am not one to be superstitious, I trust our machines and all of our built in safety protocols. Now, there is a lot that these machines can do. The basic algorithm can be adjusted. It has been modified in multiple ways, from being used for training to using it for vacations, whether it be for a relaxing time on the beaches or for adventures climbing mountains or for kayaking down white water rivers."

Neville Longbottom spoke up next, "Do all of those environments exist on this island?"

Mr Jennings smiled as he responded, "Of course, we can create any sort of environment, the MagiWorld island is the oldest world we have created. It was the first place any of use travelled to when we entered any virtual magical reality. The controls will also allow us to create many sorts of obstacles along the way while you traverse from the southern part of the island to northern end."

Blaise Zabini's interest was piqued by the latest comment. "Obstacles, what sort of obstacles?"

"We can create automatons, basically people to fight," explained Jennings. "If you have seen muggle science fiction movies you might consider them to be more of an android. They may be muggles with weapons to attack you or they may be programmed to be witches or wizards and use magic against you. So yes, you may encounter magical battles or duels along the way."

Harry Potter finally spoke up, "So, is this supposed to prepare us for facing Death Eaters?"

"Possibly," answered Jennings, a little more tentatively. "This is not an Auror training program, but a special project to help you prepare for your Defence Against the Dark Arts class, in addition to be used as a method to help you combine all of your previous years of classes and magical knowledge and use it all together to help you get through the challenges that you will face in the simulation."

Ron Weasley was obviously uncomfortable at the idea of facing Death Eaters, "Will they use the killing curse? These Death Eaters in the program, with they be using unforgivables?"

Jennings was becoming more uncomfortable with where this conversation was headed, but he noticed that neither McGonagall nor Dumbledore were doing anything to intervene or answer the questions. "They might, however, with the failsafes of the program, if you are hit by a killing curse within the program, then you will effectively be hit with a stunning spell, and we will retrieve you from the machine and you will ultimately be unharmed," he said as reassuringly as possible.

Ernie McMillan spoke up next. "How do we know we will not be harmed?"

Jennings was now shaking his head at the constant barrage of questions doubting the safety of the virtual magical simulator. "The program keys you into the failsafes though your wand, which is already linked to you personally. Therefor you are protected from any spells that are cast within the virtual magical reality and from any persons or creatures created within the virtual magical reality."

Hermione asked another question, "Are there any other obstacles besides android wizards and witches?"

Jennings was relieved to be able to move on and explain more details about the simulations. "Yes, we can create animals, any sort of animals. Magical and non-magical, real or imaginary, even ones that are extinct."

Justin Finch-Fletchley spoke up next, "You mean like dinosaurs?"

Jennings nodded, "If desired, yes, we could."

He sounded excited as he replied, "Great, Jurassic Park, here we come. Steven Spielberg, eat your heart out!"

Jennings chuckled slightly at the comment. "It's funny you should mention Mr. Spielberg. Where do you think he has gotten a vision for some of the movies he has produced? We do work with Hollywood, remember. Our founding company after all is the one that brought the world the movie Toy Story." He paused when he got a bunch of blank stares. "Never heard of it, eh? You really ought to check it out sometime, some people consider it ground breaking stuff."

Everyone in the room was then startled by a loud bang as the door was flung open. This was followed by the unmistakable clomp step of Mad-Eye Moody making his way into the room with his cane. The students all stared at the old Auror as his magical eye spun around the room inspecting all of them and then inspecting Mr. Jennings himself.

Jennings stepped back as Moody took over instructing the group about the upcoming training experience.

"I'm here to review with you just what kind of experience you might expect to have on this little 'mission' you're all about to have with this fancy magical technological miracle the bloody yanks have decided to grace us with," growled the old man as he spun around and looked at all of the students, nearly barking at them as though they were fresh recruits to whip into shape as junior Aurors.

"You will face challenges and obstacles. Magical beasts and creatures and tests and hardships," continued Moody. "You will need to work as a team. So, constant vigilance! We will need to adjust your wands so that the settings on the virtual magic world cannot harm you. The wands can also be used to guide you north, and to contact for help in case you get yourself in trouble." As he said that he turned his magical eye first at Draco Malfoy and then at Ron Weasley, the meaning of his magical glare was not lost on anyone in the room. "There will be a beacon at the exit site, that is the only way out. You will be expected to work with the five other members of your group to make it to the exit. This is not a competition to see who can win. This is not a race. You are to consider yourself a team. If you leave someone behind, then your team fails, and you fail!"

Pansy Parkinson dared to speak up first, "But what if someone falls behind, and just doesn't have the skill to keep up. Why should we be judged because of their poor skill?"

"Don't worry, lass," answered Moody, speaking more gently than most had ever heard, "I'm sure what ever group you're assigned to will have pity on you and help you and not leave you behind, no matter how poor your magical skill really is. This isn't a tournament with points awarded at the end, other than failure for not showing up together."

"But what if we do get separated from others in our group?" asked Hermione, with a clear sincerity in her voice.

"Now Miss Granger," answered Moody, returning to his more gruff tone of voice, "you're a witch, you have a wand, you have skills. You're expected to use those skills and regroup and finish the mission together as a group."

Moody then proceeded to explain some more anecdotes on the importance of team work to the eighteen students, keeping them on the edge of their seats with his occasional shouts and wild waving of his cane. Even Jennings had never seen quite the display in any of his experiences back in the States.

Moody apparently was done lecturing the assembled students on more of the details of their special project which they were selected to participate in as Professor McGonagall stood up and began to speak with them again.

"It was mentioned earlier that you have all been assigned to one of three different groups," she stated with her stern tone. "These groups will not be changed and you will be entering into the virtual magical reality encounter with the others in your assigned group on the scheduled days. As it is possible that it may take your group two or more days to make it across the island, each group will be scheduled to begin their mission only after the previous group has completed their mission. Group 1 will begin their mission today, Group 2 will begin their mission on Monday, August 5 at the earliest, and Group 3 will begin their mission on Wednesday, August 7 at the earliest. If time permits, the groups may be given an additional chance to run the encounter again. Now, are there any further questions?"

None of the students spoke up at this point so she proceeded to announce the assigned groups.

"Group 1 will include Tracey Davis, Hermione Granger, Daphne Greengrass, Neville Longbottom, Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter. Group 2 will include Mandy Brocklehurst, Gregory Goyle, Pansy Parkinson, Lisa Turpin, Ronald Weasley and Blaise Zabini. So, that leaves Group 3 with having Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones, Vincent Crabbe, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Megan Jones and Ernie MacMillan."

As she announced the assignments there were groans heard throughout the group as various students clearly were not happy to hear who else they would have to work with, but no one made any definitive statements refusing to work with anyone in particular. Hearing the clear frustration and displeasure being voiced by various students, McGonagall's visage became even sterner. "You may not like everyone in your assigned group, but you better put aside your petty differences before you begin your assigned mission. All of you students have heard from Auror Moody and from Mr. Jennings what you can expect during your project and you will need to rely on everyone in your assigned group."

With that she turned and sat back down in her seat.

Dumbledore then stood up and cheerfully spoke to the students again. "It seems that we have covered a lot this morning as we have reviewed the details of what you may expect with this special opportunity. I now advise you, especially the members of Group 1, to take the rest of the morning to review anything that you think might be helpful, and then after we have lunch in the Great Hall at noon, we will bring you to the room where the Applied Technomancy Device is held and the final adjustments in preparation for the first adventure are currently being made."

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><p><strong>AN: Next chapter should be posted within the next day or two.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: And here is more of the story, with a little tidbit of other details at the end, because the magical world did NOT come to a halt just because Harry Potter and friends were in the middle of a special project at Hogwarts in August…(you didn't think I would forget did you?)**

* * *

><p>— — 4.1 — —<p>

As the students took their break for lunch they initially made their way to their own common rooms before heading to the Great Hall for the meal.

Arriving in the Gryffindor common room, Ron shook his head, relieved that he wasn't in the first group with Harry and Neville who would have to be in the same group as Draco Malfoy. "Tough luck for you two blokes," he said. "And you even have Hermione in your group, that's sure to make the git angry to have to put up with a muggle-born and a half-blood."

Neville stared at Ron for his outburst. He was about to say something when Ron noticed Neville's concern.

"Hey, I wasn't meaning to upset Hermione or Harry by what I said. I was just predicting what Malfoy's reaction is probably going to be, that's all I meant by it," added Ron defensively.

Neville shook his head and then he headed up to his room. He wanted to gather some things to be fully prepared before his group started their 'mission.'

In the common room the other three were discussing some of the possible 'obstacles' which they might encounter on the mission. Ron was fixated on the possible magical creatures they might face. "This shouldn't be much of a challenge for you, Harry. Considering as how you've already faced a troll, a basilisk, a dragon, and even flown on a hippogriff. You've come face to face with a herd of centaurs, swam in the lake with mermen and a giant squid, what could they possibly throw at you that could really be a challenge now?"

Hermione was trying to downplay the danger that they were possibly facing. "This whole project is about teamwork, that much is clear. I don't think the obstacles will be very dangerous. You all heard what we're being graded on. We need to work together, that's why we have students from the different houses assigned to each group. We have to find a way to get past our differences and work as a team. The obstacles will probably be challenges that we have to figure out the best way to deal with, not something that is truly dangerous." Her tone was upbeat as she focused on the positives of the upcoming encounter.

Ron, however, got upset over the idea of being graded. "That's just not fair," he stated begrudgingly, "not all of the other students are being graded. Not everyone is here for this project. Where's Dean or Seamus or the Patil twins? Why should we have to be graded on this if not everyone will even receive a grade? Maybe they should automatically fail everyone who doesn't even participate!"

Harry shook his head in frustration at his friend. "Ron, you're missing the point, it's not about receiving a grade in a course, it's about being evaluated on how well we do the task, how well we interact with other witches or wizards, so we can work on bettering ourselves."

Ron rolled his eyes and then finally let out a loud sigh. "Well, at least I'm not the one who has to go through this with Malfoy. Good luck to you three, trying to better yourself with that bouncing ferret. And you have two more snakes to join you as well. At least you have each other to watch your backs."

Then Neville came back down from his dorm room and he spoke to Harry and Hermione. "Do you two need anything before we head to lunch and then begin our mission assignment?"

The three of them were surprised to see Neville wearing a different robe, but no one made a comment about it.

Hermione shook her head and Harry answered "No, we're good. I've got my wand in a wrist holster already."

The group of friends then made their way down to the Great Hall for the noon time meal.

— — 4.2 — —

After everyone had finished lunch, Albus Dumbledore stood up and announced that they would be heading to the old classroom where the Applied Technomancy Device was set up and the special project would begin in earnest. "Now, if you would all kindly follow Professors McGonagall and Moody, as well as Mr. Jennings, we will begin shortly."

The students quietly followed the teachers and the technomancer down the stairs and along some twisting passageways until they found what Harry presumed was the room they were looking for. It was larger than a usual classroom, and it had only a few scattered chairs along one edge of the room. The machine itself was larger than a muggle airport shuttle bus, which caused Hermione and several of the other students to wonder just how they had managed to move it from the United States over to Britain and then down here into the castle. Examining it more closely, it had what looked like a large door on the right side, a control panel with a series of lights and what the muggle students would have recognised as a television or computer screen in the middle with a large chamber or small room behind that and then another door like area to the left. Sitting down at two control panels with smaller video screens at the middle of the large device were a couple of technicians that the students had not yet met.

Mr. Jennings then started to explain the device or machine to everyone. "Behind me is the Applied Technomancer Device, or as we prefer to call it, MagiWorld. Once you enter the virtual magical reality that we can create, you will essentially be in a completely different realm, an alternate universe if you will. You will be in a world of our creation, of our design. A world where magic truly exists, for we can show you things you have only dreamed of before, places you have only dreamed of going to; whether that be the far sides of the earth or to places created in the imaginations of your favourite authors or worlds created by filmmakers in Hollywood."

"What's Hollywood?" asked Draco Malfoy.

"Don't be an ignorant prat, Malfoy," called out Justin Finch-Fletchley. "It's where the best muggle movies are made. That's a popular form of muggle entertainment, you ought to try it sometime. You never know, even _you_ might actually like it."

Several of the other muggle born students actually sniggered at Justin's comments, irritating Malfoy to no end.

Jennings picked up on the tensions between the pure-blooded students and the muggle-borns and was grateful that such tensions essentially no longer existed back in the United States. "That'll be enough of this old fashioned bickering and prejudice over things that have long ago been shown not to matter at all," he said simply. "Now, as I was explaining about this little contraption here, the ability for this device to do everything which I have claimed it can do is based on magic, and it will need to be powered by magic. That is why we are down here where it can feed off of the ambient magic from one of the magical ley lines that runs underneath this castle. My assistants here are finishing the final touches on the programming and now, I need Group One to step forward."

Harry and Hermione were the first two to separate from the group, and they were quickly followed by Neville. Neville was now wearing a long dark cloak, something that looked like a duster from out of a western, and had on leather boots.

"Looking pretty sharp there, Neville," commented Harry, who had not fully noticed just what Neville had put on when he had first come back down from his dorm just before lunch.

Neville grinned, "Well, after everything that happened in June, and then after receiving this invitation, my gran thought it would be okay if I got a new wardrobe. She showed me some of the things my dad used to wear when he was an Auror, and I guess he dressed kind of cool. Well, if you think this is cool, that is."

Hermione smiled as she placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm impressed Neville, and I think all the girls at school will be quite impressed with the new you."

Neville blushed a little at her words.

Draco just sneered, "So the little squib has grown up and learned how to use a wand finally."

Harry quipped back, "One of these days you might just grow up and learn how to use yours too, so there's hope for anyone I guess."

Daphne and Tracey couldn't stop from laughing at Harry's comment as they came and stood on the other side of Hermione. Some of the other students were surprised as they noticed that the two Slytherin girls placed themselves apart from the other Slytherin student assigned to their group.

Jennings shook his head sightly, wondering how this group would possibly learn to work together after watching this brief interchange. "Now, getting back to the earlier questions about safety. We need to key your wands into the safety protocols of the machine. MagiWorld will recognise you by your wands and your spell use, so you will be safe at all times."

Mad-Eye Moody then stepped forward and held out his hand. "Okay everyone, I'll take your wands now so we can begin to make the adjustments."

Initially he received blank stares from the six students. "You need to hand me your wands so they can be calibrated to the machine," he barked at them. "Did you not listen to the man?"

The six of them quickly removed their wands from where they had them on their persons and handed them over to Moody after he had yelled at them. His artificial eye looked them all over individually as he added, "Much better, but next time, don't trust anyone who just asks you to hand over your wand. Constant Vigilance!"

Then he turned around and started to work on the wands with Mr. Jennings as they were making sure that they would all be attuned to the machine. The group of six students were all standing in front of the entrance to the machine while they were waiting for the work to be done to essentially connect their wands with the machine, and the two magi-techs were making the final adjustments to the settings for the MagiWorld environment they would soon be entering.

Meanwhile, Vincent Crabbe decided to play a prank as he was getting bored just standing around and watching a lot of not much happening. His eyes came to focus on Harry Potter standing up front with his back towards him and he slowly pulled out his wand and aimed it at him as he went to cast a hex at his back side. Crabbe figured what harm could a little bludgeoning hex do, other than knock over the supposed 'chosen one' and embarrass the 'Boy-Who-Lived'.

Ron Weasley was feeling bored at that very same time and as he was looking around the room when he noticed Crabbe pulling out his wand. Thanks to the skills that Ron had actually learned from being a part of the DA the previous year, he was able to quickly draw his own wand and decided to cast a shield charm to protect Harry, as Ron assumed that Crabbe was planning a blind side attack on his best mate.

As Crabbe was about to cast, he noticed Weasley making a move for his wand and he realised that Potter's friend might be trying to intervene so Crabbe quickly decided to overpower his bludgeoning hex. No one at Hogwarts had ever accused Vincent Crabbe of being overly intelligent.

The resulting series of hexes led to a domino effect of events. Crabbe's overpowered bludgeoning hex collided with Ron Weasley's shield charm. This in turn pushed the shield charm into the back side of the six students that made Group One, and it did so rather forcefully. While the shield charm protected them from injury, the momentum generated from the blow pushed the six students forward and they all tumbled into the doorway of the MagiWorld device, which had not been fully calibrated for them yet.

Upon realising that his friends had been sent into the device because of an attack instigated by Crabbe, Ron Weasley shot a stunner back at Vincent Crabbe. Greg Goyle had now drawn his wand and started casting spells haphazardly around the room. Soon the entire room had devolved in a series of spells being cast about as confusion reigned and the professors screamed at everyone stop. Two minutes later, Mad-Eye Moody had stunned half of the students and Jennings was furious.

Silence gripped everyone as they all turned and stared at the results of what had been wrought. There was smoke coming from the main console and the main view screen of the MagiWorld machine was cracked. The six students from Group One had been thrown into the device already, and Mad-Eye started cursing.

"The little buggers don't even have their bloody wands!" he roared. He then turned to Jennings, "Bring them back, now, before something happens to them."

Jennings stood there, staring at the machine, at the damaged controls, and was speechless.

"I said, bring them back!" roared Moody again as his magical eye continued spinning around checking on the device as well as the other people around the room.

Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall were watching this interaction both quite nervously, wondering what could be done to help the six students.

"Don't just stand there, laddie," spoke Moody, "you need to get those children out of that machine. Don't you see, they don't even have their wands, man!"

Jennings jerked his head and faced Moody. "I see that, but I can't, it can't be done. With the controls damaged like that we can't just bring them back. There is only one way for them to get out of the machine. They have to make their way to the north side of the island to the exit beacon. Then they can simply step out on the other side."

"Then send someone else in with their wands and give them their wands," stated Moody, adding as much force as he could into his voice.

"I'm afraid that also can't be done," said Jennings, who had sweat forming on his brow. "The program matrix will reject either the person coming in or the people who are already in the program. It just isn't safe."

Minerva McGonagall stepped forward. "Isn't safe? How can having six young students sent into this thing without their wands and now with your controls all aflame possibly be considered in any way safe? What is going to happen to them?"

Jennings looked from Moody to McGonagall to the control panel and then back to McGonagall. "The safety protocols should be in place. The scenarios that were loaded into the program matrix would most likely have been activated once the students entered the MagiWorld environment. Smart students arriving there without wands should realise that they need to travel as they were previously instructed to the beacon on the north side of the island. The program matrix should cause any student who is injured to appear at the exit. They should all be fine and we shouldn't have any problems."

Professor Dumbledore finally spoke up, "I'm sure everything will work out just fine for everyone, including Harry."

Minerva was not so easily reassured, however, "There were too many 'should's in his answer, headmaster. I for one am not so easily placated by his explanation." She then turned to Mr. Jennings, "You stated earlier that the safety protocols are linked through their wands, which they don't even have with them. How can the device even know that they aren't supposed to be harmed or that they are to be sent out if they get injured if they aren't linked to the machine through their wands? Have you ever had any of your Aurors train in a damaged machine over in the States? Has anything even remotely like this happened before?"

Jennings shifted uneasily on his feet. He was clearly uncomfortable and sweating as he looked at his two technicians who both bowed their heads slightly as they shook them indicating that they had never heard of such a thing. He turned back to Professor McGonagall as he carefully chose his words. "I do not believe that this is something that we have had experience with previously."

Ron Weasley was very irritated and spoke up, "You mean my friends could actually die in there?"

Blaise Zabini responded to his outburst. "You're the one who started casting spells by attacking Crabbe."

Susan Bones then spoke up as well, "Actually, Zabini, it was Crabbe who started it all by casting a spell at Potter. Weasley tried to protect them by casting a shield spell. He tried to protect Harry and everyone else in their group from being blind sided by a hex from Crabbe."

Dumbledore then cast a silencing spell on the bickering students before another fight broke out. "Let's stop bickering about who hexed who, this was supposed to be a happy occasion, a momentous occasion where the students participated in a first of its kind educational experiment and training session. Now we have to provide whatever assistance we can to Mr. Jennings and his team to help make sure that the group of students who have found themselves stuck in this unusual predicament can make it out of there safely."

Mr. Jennings smiled at the support he was receiving from the headmaster. "Thank you, sir."

The headmaster's eyes returned to their usual twinkling, "Now, what assistance do you require from us?"

"Actually," replied Jennings, "my technicians and I really just need time to work on these controls and we need to replace this view screen so that we can at least begin monitoring what is happening within the MagiWorld environment."

"Why don't you just repair the view screen?" asked Moody. He then pointed his wand at the view screen and cast a simple _reparo_ charm at the device.

As the beam of magic hit the cracked view screen the large screen shattered and exploded, sending shards of glass and debris throughout the room. The students all dove for cover as Dumbledore quickly cast a _protego_ shield to prevent any serious injuries from the tiny projectiles that were sent flying throughout the room.

Minerva was glaring at Moody for his foolhardy attempt to fix a complex combination of magic and technology with such a simple spell. Jennings looked up after brushing more debris off of his clothes and stared at the worse mess that the control panel had now become after the latest assault on the highly specialised equipment. Shaking his head slowly he simply muttered quietly, "Well, that's even more messed up. Damn this is quite the mess."

Moody could barely be heard whispering, "Bugger that."

Minerva turned to him and said quietly so that no one else could hear, "It bloody well looks like you did a pretty good job of that already, Alistor."

Dumbledore then looked around the room with his eyes twinkling as he waved his arms, "I think it might be best if Groups Two and Three were to adjourn now to the library and work on preparing for their own missions in the MagiWorld machine."

The students stared at him as if he had two heads and then looked at the damaged machine, wondering why they would want to dare enter the machine now. Before they could make any comments, Professor McGonagall added, "That's a brilliant idea, students, now why don't you all head on up to the library, we'll meet you up there shortly."

The twelve students silently looked at each other and then turned and left the room, making their way towards the afore mentioned library.

Once the students had left McGonagall turned to face Jennings, "Tell me sir, how long before you can repair this machine and retrieve the students?"

Jennings smiled thinly at her question. "Oh, we're going to need some parts shipped over from California, and then we'll need to take the control panel apart and work on putting it back together. That will all take two to three days. And once it is fully operational, we still can't retrieve the students. As I explained quite clearly earlier, they still have to make their own way out of the MagiWorld."

Dumbledore actually frowned at the latest report. "But what can you tell us about their situation inside the machine? Can you tell us anything about how they are doing?"

Jennings shifted uneasily again as he felt all three of the professors' eyes bearing down on him. "As of right now we have no way to determine how any of them are doing. Once we can get part of the controls working, and the view screen replaced, we may be able to at least monitor what is happening to them. As far as what they are encountering within MagiWorld, it is possible that they could encounter anything that was in the database. We won't know for sure until we can get things running well enough to see exactly what has happened and find a way to track what they have experienced, and what program scenarios have actually been running."

Moody was working hard at staying silent as he tried to see through the casing of the chamber with his magical eye while listening to the explanations from Jennings. He also realised that part of the problem was caused by his spell that destroyed the few screen and there may have been some of his stray spells from the brief skirmish that may have caused some of the earlier damage to everything so he did not want to draw any more unnecessary attention to himself at this point, as the whole mess with the exploding view screen was still fresh in his mind, and he was sure it was still fresh in everyone else's as well.

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><p>— — 4.3 — —<p>

**Elsewhere while the Applied Technomancy Demonstration was going at Hogwarts**

Lord Voldemort was growing impatient. He was expecting to have what few members of his inner circle that were not presently in Azkaban serving him and providing for his needs. He had recently left staying at his former location at the old Riddle mansion, as it was becoming untenable to remain there now that his return was common knowledge after the disaster of the encounter at the Department of Mysteries. However, with Lucius Malfoy currently imprisoned on the rock fortress in the North Sea, his staying at the Malfoy Manor would not be a place that the DMLE would expect him to have relocated to, and thus Voldemort considered it to be the wisest choice of places to hide.

Nonetheless, he still had the problem of his followers not being present. He was about to summon them by using the Dark Mark as his impatience was growing when Bellatrix came hurrying into the main hall where he was standing.

Her head was bowed as she nearly whimpered, "Milord, please excuse my rudeness for rushing in like this."

Voldemort carefully lifted her chin so she could look him in the face. "My dear Bella, it will be okay if you can explain to me why there is no one else here."

Bellatrix' eyes briefly looked away and then she gazed back up at her lord and master. "My sister has been missing for a few days, I only discovered this from one of the pathetic house elf creatures."

"And what about your nephew, young Draco," continued Voldemort in his questioning, "is he no where to be found?"

Bellatrix shook her head slightly as her chin was still held by Voldemort's hand. "Young Draco is apparently already gone to Hogwarts, milord. Apparently my sister arranged for the boy to participate in a special program, a new training program for only a select few students this summer."

Voldemort let go of Bellatrix as he began to pace around the room. "This is most unexpected but also potentially useful. We will have to find out more about this training program, and of course it is good that our young Draco is there. Find your sister and bring her before me so that I may discuss this further with her."

Bellatrix bowed her head as she replied, "It shall be done milord."

Voldemort simply said, "Of course it will, just because I told you to do it." He walked around Bellatrix and then he stopped in front of her as he lifted her chin once again, but this time he did not continue to hold it in place. "We do have a slight problem, however."

Bellatrix was now confused as to what her Dark Lord was referring to by his statement.

"You see, young Draco was supposed to take my mark, and then he was supposed to take on a mission for me this fall," he began to explain. "Obviously it is clear that this cannot happen at this time, yet my plans must continue unhindered."

Bellatrix then spoke up, "We will then have to find another to be honoured with taking your mark and with taking up your special task."

The Dark Lord tilted his head slightly, "Then who would you suggest for such an important role? You have heard the plans we had prepared for Draco. Which student would be able to fulfil that role successfully?"

Bellatrix considered the question for less than a minute before she answered, "Nott, I believe the Nott boy would do just fine. His father and grandfather have served you well before. And from everything that I have heard, he has been living in young Draco's shadow at school. This would give him a chance to prove himself among his piers and to you my lord."

Voldemort nodded as he considered her recommendation. "I do believe that you have quite a good suggestion. Fetch the young boy, and we can begin as soon as possible, and perhaps help turn him into a young man."

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><p><strong>AN 2: So there you have it - the group of six students have been sent to the virtual magical island...next chapter, when it is ready...will pick up there. Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone. Sorry for having a 4 chapter intro, the intriguing part of the story that you have been waiting for is coming...and those are the chapters requiring much more editing.<strong>


	5. 5 Welcome to the Virtual Magical Island

**AN: Now our six young witches and wizards (3 each) find themselves inside the Virtual Magical Island…the part o the story which you all have been patiently awaiting for…**

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><p>There was a sound of thunder, followed by a rushing wind. This was accompanied by the sensation of falling, falling like what happens in a dream, yet several people suddenly all hoped they were actually in a dream. However, if this was a dream they were soon to discover that it might be more of a nightmare. The rushing wind stopped as suddenly as did the falling sensation when the six students found themselves sprawled out on a beach. Slowly they stood up and brushed the sand off of their robes and looked around.<p>

"What the bloody hell happened?" asked Tracey Davis nearly screaming.

"I think we were thrown into the virtual magical reality, or whatever it that they called this place," stated Neville as he was looking around to try and take in where they found themselves.

Harry shook his head, "Just my usual streak of luck, as we don't have our wands with us. They hadn't finished calibrating them or whatever it was they were supposed to do to them for us."

Daphne Greengrass sneered at him, "So, this screw up is all your fault, Potter?"

Draco Malfoy was walking around looking over the surrounding area when Daphne made this comment and he stopped and glared at Harry. "No, it was the Weasel's fault. He was the one who cast the shield spell that knocked us into here without our wands."

Hermione spun and snapped at Draco, "Don't you go blaming Ron for that! I heard Crabbe casting that hex at Harry. He was attacking Harry from behind without provocation!"

Draco turned and faced Hermione. "So what, Crabbe was just playing a simple prank. It's not like Potter and the Weasel haven't done such things before."

Hermione was indignant at the insinuation. "They've never done anything so malicious! They don't go around hurting people!"

Draco ignored her protests, "You're just upset because your boyfriend is the one that caused us all to get sent in here without our wands, leaving us defenceless."

Tracey tried to enter the conversation, "Maybe they can send us our wands?"

Hermione ignored Tracey's comment as she responded to Draco. "Shows what you know, Ronald is _not_ my boyfriend."

Draco snickered at her protestation, "Is that because he won't date a mudblood or are you holding out for Potter to finally wake up and realise you've been pining after him since he saved you from that troll in first year?"

"Have not!" snapped Hermione. She then turned to Harry hoping her face wasn't blushing, "I am not pining after you Harry, no offence."

Harry was trying not to laugh at this interchange between the two and he really wasn't sure how to take her vehement denial of feelings for either him or for Ron. "None taken," he muttered quietly.

"Quit trying to deny what the rest of the school can clearly see," stated Draco smugly.

"Stop being such an insufferable prat!" she commanded.

"Ooh, such big words," replied Draco, "but they don't change the fact it's Weasley's fault we're stuck in here with no way to defend ourselves from any of the obstacles between here and the exit."

"Can't they just send us our wands?" asked Tracey again.

"No!" chorused Draco and Hermione. The two glared at each other before Hermione turned and looked at Tracey. "Didn't you read the detailed information about the mission and the Applied Technomancy Project?"

There was silence from the other four at her question until Neville finally spoke up when he quietly mumbled, "I did."

Everyone was surprised at the previously timid young wizard. "Well, I figured I ought to be prepared, so I read through the details. Apparently, once we're in here, nothing else, and to be clear, that also means no one else can enter. It would mess up the matrix or program or something like that. So, we still have to make our way to the north side of the island, to that beacon that marks the exit."

"Terrific," complained Daphne. "We have to do that without wands, and with a couple of squabbling three year olds over there," as she tilted her head towards Hermione and Draco.

"We are not three year olds," protested Draco.

"We weren't squabbling," stated Hermione, "we were simply discussing our disagreements."

"Squabbling," said the four others together.

"But it's still Weasley's fault," protested Draco once more.

Hermione turned and lashed out at Draco again, with her hands on her hips. "For the last time, it wasn't his fault. Ronald was being noble and protecting Harry, and actually he was also protecting the rest of us from Crabbe's attack. Perhaps nobility is something you don't know anything about though. But then again, considering who was casting the hex, chances are more than likely he would have missed his target, even from such a close range. For all _you_ know, the curse would have hit you in the back and not Harry. And since there is nothing more that can be done about _that_ turn of events then there is no more need to bring it up again."

While Hermione was in the middle of her current rant against Draco, Neville noted that there were several men walking along the shoreline coming from the southwest of their position. Neville squinted his eyes and thought he could make out a longboat in the distance on the shore. The men all had large cutlasses or swords hanging on their sides. Immediately the thought of 'pirates' came to mind. Draco and Hermione continued in their argument while Neville quietly pointed out the group of three men heading their way. Harry and the other two girls turned and saw what Neville was looking at.

"They don't look like a very friendly welcoming party," commented Harry.

"I really think we ought be moving on from here," stated Daphne.

Draco and Hermione were still immersed in their argument, unaware of the unfolding situation around them.

Harry spoke up even louder, "Hermione, Malfoy, stop the bloody arguing and pay attention! We have visitors!"

At that point the three pirates reached into the scabbards and drew their swords. Tracey Davis grabbed Neville by the back of his cloak and started pulling him away. "We better get moving, Longbottom," she hissed quietly, clearly not wanting to stay to see what kind of greeting these men had in store.

Harry looked around and noted that Daphne had already started running towards the edge of the beach where there were shrubs leading to small trees and a forest. Harry decided to start running in that direction as well.

Hermione and Draco stopped their argument when they realised that the other four individuals had started to run off of the beach.

"What is their bloody problem?" wondered Draco out loud. Then he turned and noticed the three men with swords who were now bearing down on to the location where he and Hermione were standing. Draco noticed that the others were running almost parallel to the edge of the beach and the trees, in order to keep the distance between themselves and these pirates as great as possible. Thinking to give himself any possible advantage, Draco decided to run directly towards the trees, and Hermione chose to follow him. Hermione managed to stay even with Draco as they ran across the soft sand, and they surprised themselves that they were able to maintain a lead for a while in front of the pirates.

The three pirates, however, noting that the group of young people who appeared to them to be completely unarmed were starting to run and split up, decided to split up themselves, and each one chose to follow one pair of the youngsters.

Harry was following Daphne and they were taking a slightly different tangent towards the woods than Neville and Tracey. Harry heard a slight scream as Daphne's foot and ankle twisted when she stepped into a large hole in the sand which caused her to collapse onto the beach. Harry turned to help her get back up which gave time for the pirate who was following them to catch up to their position. Harry heard the approaching footsteps of their pursuer and he stood up to assess where the man was, only to find that he was quickly bearing down upon them. As the pirate was about to swing at Harry, Harry bent over to help pull Daphne out of the hole as her foot was still caught. The pirate swung his sword over Harry's head. Daphne noted the opening and then using her good leg, kicked the pirate in his thigh, which surprised him even though it was not as devastating as it might have been if her kick had been aimed slightly higher. Harry, however, took the opportunity to use a backhanded swing into the pirate's face which sent him sprawling onto his back.

Daphne was finally able to crawl backwards away from the hole and away from the pirate who had attacked them, when she noted that the pirate was getting up off of the sand. Harry, who was presently trying to help her, had his back to their assailant, was unaware of the movement behind them. "Potter," warned Daphne, "behind you!"

As Harry spun around his foot happened to kick some sand in the air which caught the pirate in the face as he was starting to stand, causing him to scream in pain as he was blinded by the grains of sand. Harry once again used the situation to his advantage and did another double handed punch into the man's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. As the pirate was now falling forward, out of breath and blinded, Harry grabbed the sword that had been dropped. Using the hilt of the sword and a quick motion he hit the pirate on the back of his head with a loud crack which resulted in the man collapsing silently to the beach alongside Daphne.

"Did you kill him?" wondered Daphne out loud.

"I think he's only knocked out," said Harry as he surveyed the damage that was done and looked back and forth between the back of the man's head and the pommel of the sword. Harry then grabbed the scabbard from the unconscious man and placed the sword into it. After a moment he stepped over to Daphne and offered her a hand.

"Do you think you can stand, or even walk?" he asked.

"Walking may be possible, but I think running is out," she said bitterly.

"Hopefully by the time this big guy wakes up, we'll be long gone, so we won't need to do any more running," commented Harry as he offered her his arm to help her up. "But at least right now we have ourselves a weapon, or a tool," he added as he held up the sword which was now sheathed.

"But we couldn't have been hurt, really," said Daphne, "there are safety protocols in here."

"Which are supposed to be keyed to our wands, which are not here," commented Harry. "You hurt your ankle, so how safe is this place? Maybe that's the worst that can happen. Let's hope so, but I don't want to find out we're wrong."

Daphne frowned at the implications of what Harry had said. She then started to walk gingerly on her sore right ankle. Harry noted her limp and offered his arm to her for support. After a moments hesitation she finally and a little reluctantly accepted the help as they made their way towards the edge of the beach and went to try and find where Neville and Tracey had gone, as they were no loner in sight along the beach.

* * *

><p>Neville had been following Tracey Davis as they made their way towards the edge of the forest that rose up from the coast line. They could hear the sounds of the pirate trudging through the sand following them, and Neville did pause briefly as he looked to see that one pirate was following Harry and Daphne and another was chasing after Hermione and Draco. Neville shook his head as he hoped that he and Tracey would be able to lose the pirate after them in the forest but then he realised that would mean they would also be losing contact with the others who came with them into this virtual magical reality. So he followed Tracey to the edge of the sand and told her to run ahead for another twenty meters and then wait for him.<p>

"What, are you stupid Longbottom?" she cried back. "You can't possibly think you'll be able to take him on all on your own!"

Neville meanwhile had crouched down behind a bush, waiting for the pirate to make his approach to the edge of the beach. As the tall pirate ran down the path Neville stuck out his leg to trip the man. He then jumped onto his back as he was falling to his face. However, the pirate was twisting to land on his back and side at this time as well as drawing his cutlass out of his scabbard.

Tracey, who was watching from a short way down the path, screamed as she feared that Neville was about to get killed by the oversized knife. However, as Neville swung his left arm down the sword seemed to glance off of Neville's arm as he proceeded to punch the man in his throat with his right hand. The pirate dropped his sword as it glanced off of Neville's forearm and he then gurgled as he felt himself choking due Neville's fist being forcefully pressed against his wind pipe. Neville then quickly grabbed the sword and stomped on the man's right wrist and heard a sickening crunch of bones that brought a muffled scream as the pirate's injured throat prevented him from making too much noise.

Tracey ran up to Neville from behind as Neville kept the sword pointed at the man who was gurgling in pain at his feet. "I'll kill the both of you," he managed to grunt out when Tracey arrived.

"I don't think so," replied Neville as he then plunged the sword into the pirate's chest.

Tracey screamed into Neville's back as she hid her face when she realised what he was about to do. Neville pulled out the sword and cleaned off the blade on the man's tunic before turning to face Tracey. "Relax. First of all, he was after us, planning to do us harm. Second of all, he is not real, he is a creation of this virtual magical reality. Third, we don't know how safe this place really is. The sword actually did damage to him, it bloody well feels like it could do damage to me or to you, so I'd just rather it be done to him and neither of us and not find out first hand if the safety protocols are working or not. Besides, my hand hurts a bit from punching him in the throat. And since we're not supposed to be here without our wands, and our wands were what was to key us into the safety features, I'd just rather be safe than dead."

Tracey looked down at the lifeless and bloody form in front of them and then back at Neville and could only bring herself to agree with him. She quickly averted her eyes again, not wanting to look at all that blood as it started to make her feel ill.

Neville took a deep breath before he began to speak again. "I have no idea what happened to the others, but as everyone was being attacked before being chased into the bushes, and there are possibly more of these pirates coming to the beach, I think we just need to start making our way north to the beacon."

Tracey quickly considered his words and then nodded in agreement. "I suppose you've got a point." Then after a moment she added, "By the way, when did you become so skilled and cool and everything."

Neville squinted his eyes briefly as he considered her words. Then he tilted his head as he answered her thoughtfully, "I suppose it all started with our little trip to the Department of Mysteries. It seemed that I discovered that night that I did have at least a little bit of skill and bravery that I had no idea before that night I actually possessed. So, following Harry back in June on one of his crazy adventures had many benefits, as that led to my improved self confidence as well as my improved skill with a wand. That in turn led to a renewed interest in my father's career as an Auror during the first wizard war, and learning what kind of magic he preferred to use, what kind of battle armour he wore when facing Death Eaters and what his fighting style was when he encountered Death Eaters. Apparently my dad was one of the three best duellers in his generation, right up there with James Potter and Sirius Black."

Tracey was amazed by the story. "You mean the Sirius Black that betrayed Harry's parents to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"Actually," corrected Neville, "Harry's godfather never betrayed his parents, and if people ever took a moment to consider this simple fact then they would realise that there would have been no way that he could have betrayed Harry or his parents. No, Sirius was set up and then ignored. Harry and his parents were betrayed by a rat."

Tracey shook her head, "Of course you would call someone who betrayed them a rat."

"No, you misunderstand me," he replied, "he was or is a rat. Ron Weasley's pet rat, Scabbers, was really an animagus, who was hiding out in his rat form. He was actually Peter Pettigrew who faked his own death and framed Sirius Black. He was the one who betrayed them to Voldemort. He was the one who helped bring back Voldemort to a new body. Sirius Black was a lot of things, but a betrayer of the Potters was never one of them."

Tracey stared at Neville, not sure what to make of his statements. Here she was face to face with one of her classmates who had previously been considered one of the most mild young wizards in their class, and many even considered him a coward and a near squib, and he had just ruthlessly killed a pirate to save the two of them. Now he was telling her stories of how the most notorious mass murderer and follower of the Dark Lord was actually a faithful friend of the Potter's and Harry's godfather.

"Then why didn't you and Harry clear his name," she asked, "if it was so clear that he was framed?"

"Harry was unable to do that for two reasons," replied Neville simply. "One, Sirius died the night we went to the Department of Mysteries and Harry ended up facing first Bellatrix Lestrange and then Voldemort himself. Two, he hasn't been able to capture the rat and bring him in for proof. The story that he died all those years ago at the explosion in the middle of the street that killed the muggles and was killed by Black was a lie. He is still out there somewhere, causing trouble, still helping Voldemort."

Tracey looked at Neville's face, stared into his eyes, and she could sense the honesty and the passion that he had there. She could tell that something happened that night that the group of them went off with Harry to the Ministry of Magic and confronted the group of Death Eaters, and she was sure there was a whole lot more to the story than what the Daily Prophet had published and even more than what Neville was telling her right now. Finally she spoke up, the words initially hard to form as she realised her mouth was dry from the recent excitement, and looking at Longbottom in a completely different light. "Don't you think we should get going, either to find the others or to make our way north?"

Neville nodded, and then took a few steps towards the beach. His quick glance back to where they had come from showed that no one else was there. Turning back to Tracey he added, "It seems that we are on our own, everyone else is gone. Hopefully they all managed to deal with their own attackers just fine."

Tracey shivered slightly at the thought of what might have befallen her friends if they hadn't been as successful as she and Neville had been. Then she had a second shiver as she wondered if the encounters were all as bloody as the scene she witnessed between Neville and their assailant.

As they started to make their way up the trail they were on, Tracey thought to herself, "You have your own secrets to tell, Neville Longbottom, but after seeing what you just did, I do feel a bit safer here." Silently she followed him, allowing Neville to take the lead.

* * *

><p>Draco and Hermione quickly made their dash towards the trees that were closest to them. The other four students had been running almost parallel to the edge of the beach, but they had a head start away from their would be attackers. Hermione was able to keep pace with Draco as they made their way towards the low bushes. Once they made it out of the sand and onto more solid ground they found it easier to run due to having better traction, but the brambles along the side of the path were slowing them down. The two of them both were aiming for a copse of trees that was about another 50 meters away. There was a slight embankment just before the trees that they had to run up and down, which they hoped would not allow their pursuer to gain on them too much. As they crested the slight hill, Hermione noted some large branches had fallen to the ground from the tree above. She slid to a stop and grabbed one of the branches. Draco, noting what Hermione was doing, followed suit. A few seconds later they heard the thudding of the pirate coming over the top of the berm towards them.<p>

There was a loud thwack as Hermione swung the branch she held and connected with the man's knee caps. This was quickly followed by a scream of pain as the man tumbled down the short hill. Draco scrambled down the hill after the man who was writhing on the ground and holding his knees. Draco swung the branch in his hands which connected with the back of the man's head with a loud crack. There were no more screams and the writhing in pain stopped at once.

Draco threw away the branch that was in his hands.

"Malfoy, did you have to kill the man?" demanded Hermione.

Draco spun around and faced Hermione Granger, in shock at her question. "What did you just ask me? How dare you question what I did, especially after you probably broke his knee caps."

"His patella," stated Hermione, refusing to look at the man lying motionless just behind Draco. "The correct term is patella."

"I don't care what you call it, you may have broken both of his legs," commented Draco, with disgust in his voice over being called out by Hermione on this. "The man was attacking us. His associates were attacking the others. Besides, he isn't even real, that much we all were told before we entered this place."

Hermione was about to protest, but Draco interrupted her. "How do you know he wouldn't have hurt either one of us?" He turned around and grabbed the cutlass from the pirate's side. He picked it up and then he removed its scabbard from the fallen man's side. He felt the edge of the blade with a finger and then looked at Hermione. "Feels pretty sharp to me. Moody said the safety in here was going to be calibrated though our wands. We don't have our bloody wands." Draco held the edge of the blade in front of Hermione's face, "How safe do you feel, Granger? Personally, I don't think taking any chances is worth it."

Hermione took a step back and then she just crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "Fine, be that way."

Draco glared back, "Be what way? Unapologetic for actually helping to save our lives? You're pathetic."

Hermione huffed and started to walk off through the copse of trees.

"Do you even have any idea where you're heading?" called out Draco as he started to follow her.

Hermione didn't answer him as she made her way through some low bushes. Draco continued to follow her, muttering something about hardheaded and ungrateful women. After a few minutes of following her over some slightly uneven terrain, he called out to her again, "Do you even ave any idea where you're headed?"

Hermione kept walking along the trail she was on as she turned slightly to call back to him. "We all know we need to head north, and I am sure that the others are heading north too."

Suddenly she yelped and Draco noticed she had dropped out of site. He ran up to where he had last seen her as he heard a splash. He stopped himself from falling over the same small cliff into the pond that she now found herself splashing around in. Draco quickly surveyed the pond from his vantage point on top of the cliff and saw a clearing on the far side of the pond, about 40 meters away.

"Granger, can you swim to the other side, there may be a beach and clearing over there," he called down.

Hermione, who was treading water, indicated that she thought she should be able to make it there. Meanwhile, Draco made his way around the pond to the clearing, trying to keep an eye on Hermione to make sure she was doing okay with the swimming, considering she was still in her robes. Hermione who was having a harder time than she expected with swimming fully clothed was quite exhausted by the time she reached the far side of the pond.

As she crawled out on the beach, totally exhausted, she sneered at Draco. "I suppose you're going to have your laugh at me now."

Draco ignored her verbal barb and simply looked around the clearing. "We're going to have to get you out of those wet things, get your clothes dried off and such before we can move on."

Hermione was about to protest when he removed his robe and his shirt. Draco then walked out into the woods armed with the cutlass, "I'll be back in a couple of minutes, hopefully with some wood so we can get a fire going to warm you up and dry off your things. Unless of course you can do wandless magic and dry everything. You might as put on my dry things while I'm gathering the wood, and no, I won't be trying to sneak a look, Granger. Don't bother flattering yourself, I'm not interested."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: More to come on the Virtual Magical Island...of course...<strong>

**A quick comments on a couple of the reviews. I hadn't considered a reference to HAL, but that would have been hilarious, in my opinion. There will be, however, some references to popular culture, as I tend to do in many of my stories. (One of my sons just commented about references to Die Hard in another story of mine - HP 24, but with Alan Rickman playing Snape in the HP movies, that one was too much fun to pass up). **

**For non computer nerds, the references to the computer technology were based on Apple and NeXT computer software from the 90s. The characters are all ****fictionalized, those you don't recognize from the works of JKR were created by me for use in this story. **

**Clearly a malfunctioning computer system controlling their magical environment leaves a lot of opportunities. The next several chapters will deal with a few that come to mind. The difficulty here, as a writer, is that the characters don't have their wands, so I also have to create ways for them to get out of their various situations. But that's the fun in writing a story like this. **

**There is lots of editing going on for the next several (ok, 5 - 6) chapters, trying to keep continuity, and also while these six students are 'trapped' in this little world, there will be events happening outside of the device and outside of Hogwarts.**

**Current plan is for the story to continue throughout 6th year, i.e., after they manage to get out of the VMI (MagiWorld).**


	6. Chapter 6 - Harry and Daphne

**Harry and Daphne**

As Harry and Daphne started to make their way inland, it was clear that Daphne was having a hard time with walking after having injured her ankle. Harry stopped and found a couple of thin sticks. Then he removed his robe and he tore a sleeve off of his shirt. Using several strips of cloth from the sleeve he then tied the pieces of wood to either side of her ankle, creating a make shift splint for her.

"Hopefully this will help you get around better," he said as he finished tying the splint in place.

Daphne merely grunted something that sounded like a 'thank you' as they began to walk further down the path. Harry decided to ignore her apparent lack of appreciation as they worked on finding their way northward. Harry was fairly sure that Neville and Tracey were somewhere to his right, or eastward, and that Draco and Hermione were somewhere to his left, or westward; but without a map he didn't think it was a good idea to try and go traipsing off and search for them, but just work on making progress northward towards their destination of the beacon that would enable them to leave this virtual magical reality.

Harry kept the sword in his right hand, determined to stay prepared for whatever they might encounter, although it did not gel nearly as comforting as holding a wand would have felt. Harry presumed that they had been walking in silence for at least half an hour when they heard some noises up ahead. There was a hissing sound which they heard periodically which was extremely painful to the two of them. Daphne grabbed Potter by the arm.

"Do you have any idea what could be making that noise?" she asked.

Harry shook his head, "No, but I sure would like to make it stop."

"If you go charging into that clearing up ahead," commented Daphne, "you won't care about the noise as you'll be turned into stone. Didn't you read any of your book that Hagrid had us get for Care of Magical Creatures?"

Harry gave her a puzzled look, "I read the parts about the creatures we studied, but that of course didn't help any of use those darn blast-ended skrewts."

Daphne rolled her eyes at him. "Painful hissing like that is most likely made by a cockatrice. At least that's the most likely cause of that noise. You really should read more, Potter."

Harry was about to protest, but Daphne continued, "And if it is a cockatrice, just how do you think we'll ever get passed it?"

Harry considered their options for a minute. Fawkes was highly unlikely to suddenly appear to them out of thin air. The hissing sound was dangerous and the mere glance of a cockatrice could turn someone to stone just as the basilisk's vision could cause death. But then Harry realised that not everyone died from looking at the basilisk, as a reflected image of the basilisk only caused paralysis. However, Harry had to figure out how to deal with this new problem. He then asked Daphne, "Any suggestions?"

"Barring pulling a rooster out of your pocket, none come to mind," she quipped, "unless you happen to have a mirror on hand."

Harry was feeling a little desperate. Here he was, stuck on an imaginary island, without his wand, with life threatening creatures in front of him and no real knowledge of how to deal with these situations. He considered that for too long and much too often in the past he had relied on Hermione to figure things our for him (and for Ron as well). He looked at a large smooth flat rock and he considered that if he only had his wand he could probably simply transform it into a mirror just by pointing his wand at it. As he considered this he raised the sword in his hand and pointed it at the stone and whispered the proper spell name. Harry thought about the motions he would do to transfigure a stone into a mirror and sighed as he didn't have a wand but only this old cutlass he obtained from the pirate. Harry put the sword through the appropriate wand motions while he silently considered the spell work. As he finished stating the words for the spell he noted a flash of light emit from the tip of the sword and then strike the stone with a blinding glow. While Harry rubbed his eyes trying to get over the bright flash of light, Daphne commented about the effects of what he had done.

"Was that wandless magic Potter, or do you have a wand hidden there in that sword?" she demanded.

Harry looked at the sword that was still in his hand and then he looked at the stone, and he realised that the stone was a more perfect circle than he had ever created previously and it appeared to now be a sheet of glass.

"I'm not sure how that happened," he said as he wondered out loud. "I guess I wanted it to happen, I had hoped that it would happen, and I just tried to force my magic through what ever I had in my hand."

Daphne stared at him for a moment. "You can't _force_ your magic. It doesn't work that way. Haven't you been paying attention in classes?"

Harry snapped back at her, "Actually, I do pay attention in class, Greengrass, more than you think. Isn't determination on the part of the magic user part of making our magic work? That would be like forcing it."

"That's like hitting a small object with a sledge hammer," she countered. "Determination is will power and concentration, not overpowering someone like in a wrestling match."

"What's so terrible about forcing our magic then?" asked Harry.

Daphne shook her head. "You get unpredictable side effects because most wizards or witches can't control it."

Then Harry and Daphne noted that the hissing sound was getting louder. In their arguing they had forgotten about the cockatrice in the clearing and their own conversation had drawn its attention.

"Is it coming towards us?" whispered Daphne.

Harry listened carefully and determined that the sounds of the creatures footsteps were getting closer on the path leading towards them. Harry then decided to run towards the glass like disk on the ground.

"Don't look at it," warned Daphne, "its gaze can turn you to stone."

Harry kept his focus on the ground and the mirrored stone. As he was scooping up the stone he noticed the legs of a bird reflected in the surface of the stone. He then closed his eyes as he picked up the magically created mirror and held it in front of his face, hoping that he would have it in the right angle. The footsteps of the approaching creature came to a sudden halt.

Harry peered below the stone in front of his face and at the path in front of him. He then carefully moved the stone so he could glance up the path until he saw a stone like statue of a bizarre combination of a bird and a reptile.

"I think I managed to turn it to stone," called out Harry.

"Whatever you do, don't touch it," yelled back Daphne. "Even the touch of a petrified cockatrice can turn someone to stone."

Harry turned around and looked at her, "Sounds like it could be used as a weapon."

Daphne sneered at the thought. "Sure, if you have a way to hold onto it and make sure it never touches you or someone you care about. And don't drop it and trip on it. And make sure that whatever you touch it with will definitely protect you from the effects. So, other than that, it sounds like a fine weapon. Oh, just one more thing, Potter, how the hell are you going to carry it around with you?"

Harry frowned, "It was just a thought."

Daphne shook her head, "Refrain from making any more stupid ones, thoughts that is. Oh, and thanks for saving us from the cockatrice."

The two of them then made their way around the stone statue of the dangerous creature and into the clearing. They saw another path leading north on the far side of the clearing and they decided to follow that. They walked for another hour before they came to a copse of trees that seemed to provide a little ring of shelter.

Daphne was surprised that Harry stopped and seemed to just be wandering around the circle of the trees. "Now what are you doing Potter?"

"Trying to figure out if this is a decent enough of a place to stop for the night," he said simply.

"Stop? Why would we stop?" she asked.

"Do you really want to continue to make our way in the dark? Look, the sun is getting lower over there on the horizon in the West," he pointed out. "We need some place to stay, and we probably ought to think about eating something, if possible, or at least finding some water. And since we have no way of knowing if it will be warm or cold at night, we may need to think about a way to stay warm."

Daphne was about to argue with him, but he continued with explaining his plan. "You stay here, and I'll see if I can find some water or anything else to help us nearby. I won't plan on going too far."

Daphne glared at him, "Why is that, don't you think I can take care of myself?"

"One, you don't have a wand," began Harry, "and if you did, I'm sure you could. Two, we don't know if you could produce magic like I did earlier, or even if I can do it again. Three, we're supposed to be doing this whole thing together as a group, so I really shouldn't leave you alone. This is a group mission as it was explained to us, whether we like it or not."

Daphne's further arguments were cut off when Harry added, "You're welcome to keep walking around on that injured ankle of yours, or you could just sit here and rest and give it a chance to heal the muggle way."

Daphne was not happy with his comments and sat down on a log and folded her arms across her chest. She hated that he had a point that she was at a disadvantage at this point.

Harry went off to the East from the copse of trees and soon found a small brook. While he was glad that he found running water, he now was faced with the dilemma of how to bring it back for them to drink it. He didn't have a wand, but he did have the sword which he had used like a wand once earlier. So, he decided it wouldn't hurt to try and cast a simple conjuration spell and try and make a bottle. He thought about Daphne's warning about willpower and overpowering the spell, but he also knew he wasn't using a real wand. So he began the spell and tried use as much willpower and determination as possible as he concentrated on his desired outcome of the spell.

Suddenly there was a large glass jug in front of him as opposed to a small glass bottle. "Bloody hell," he thought to himself, "that wasn't what I expected either. Then he picked up the jug and filled it with water and brought it back to the area where Daphne was waiting for them.

"Now where did you manage to find this?" she asked, amazed to see a jug of water.

Harry smirked, "Just another overpowered spell using a sword instead of a wand." Then he handed her the jug so she could drink the water.

After taking a sip she looked up at him, "My aren't you full of surprises."

Harry turned away from looking at her as he began to look around for several large stones as he tried to ignore her comment. He soon found what he was searching for and brought the stones over to near where she had been sitting.

Daphne teased him as he set the rocks down, "So, Mr. Potter, what is your next attempt to show off going to be?"

Harry turned and glared at her. "I've had enough of Malfoy's claiming that I'm a show off. I don't need that crap from you, too. All I've tried to do since we ended up here, without wands mind you, is try to keep us safe. So, if you think that's showing off, I'm sorry, but to me it's just trying to survive and take care of those around me. Would you rather have been turned to stone by a cockatrice or been gutted by a pirate? If so, then I'll just leave you here and make my way further north on my own."

Daphne realised she hit a sore spot. She swallowed a bit of her pride to say the next thing to Harry. "Potter, I'm sorry about that. I was just trying to have fun with you. I guess it's just not easy for me to say thank you to anyone for anything. And I really didn't mean to come off like Malfoy. I guess I didn't think about what I was saying before I said it."

Harry took a step back and eyed her carefully. "Apology accepted, Greengrass. Perhaps I overreacted a bit myself there."

Daphne was feeling uncomfortable and wanted to quickly change the subject. "So what is it with the stones?"

"I figured that if we made a fire come nightfall," he began to explain, "that the flames or the smoke might attract beings or creatures we don't want to deal with. But if we managed to heat up these stones, they could radiate heat without giving off smoke or flames and still keep us warm."

"And just how do you plan to heat up the stones?" she asked.

Harry laughed at her. "So far I've done all right with transfiguration and conjuration without a real wand. I was kind of thinking a simple warming spell might not be too hard."

Daphne looked at the water jug and then back at Harry. "So, you intended to conjure a large jug, then?"

"Actually, I meant to conjure a much smaller water bottle," he admitted.

"So what do you think is going to happen if you try and heat up one of those rocks?" she asked, hoping to lead him to the conclusion she had already drawn.

Harry picked up one of the rocks in his hand and felt its weight and looked at it closely, noticing that it had a couple of small cracks in it. Then he turned back to Daphne, "I suppose if it heats up too quickly then it would probably crack…"

Daphne had stood up and carefully stepped next to him. She finished his sentence for him as she grabbed the rock out of his hand, "Or it could explode. Great idea in theory, Potter, but in practice with the way you have been trying to overpower things, you could probably end up killing us."

She placed the rock back on the ground with the other two rocks and then sat down again.

Harry looked at her as he asked, "So, do you have any brilliant ideas?"

"I could try," she suggested.

"You could try?" said Harry almost laughing. He noted the glare from her and then he handed her the sword. "It's just a simple basic sword as near as I can tell. However, it has functioned to help me channel magic a couple of times," he added.

Daphne took the offered weapon, held it in her hand and pointed it at the rocks as she cast a warming spell. To her surprise, absolutely nothing happened. Daphne looked at the rocks and then at the sword and frowned. She tried it again, this time with more determination, only to have the same result. A third attempt with increased concentration yielded no more of a result than the first two tries, which caused her to throw the sword at the stones in frustration. She turned back to Harry and glared at him, "Maybe the sword is only attuned to your magic."

Harry tried not to laugh at her outburst, as he reminded himself that at some point they would be out of the virtual magical reality and she would have a wand and she could exact revenge. Harry considered his options and then suggested that they both try the spell together, but doing it wandlessly while placing their hands on the stones. Daphne agreed that this method would be less likely to over heat the stones as Harry could remove his hands as he felt them getting warmer if it worked. So the two of them knelt down next to the stones and wandlessly tried to cast the warming charm. Then they both felt the stones heating up under their hands. As the stones began to get hot enough that they had to remove their hands they sat back.

"Teamwork," muttered Harry and he noticed a grin forming on Daphne's face.

The two of them then sat down across from each other on logs on either side of the warm and slightly glowing rocks. After several minutes of silence, Daphne finally spoke up. "I want you to know right now, that I do not consider any of what has happened today as constituting me owing you a life debt, so you can get that out of your mind right now. I'm not going to be another one of those girls who owe you a debt."

"What are you talking about?" asked a bewildered Harry.

Daphne blew the hair out of her face and then just stared at Harry. "Really, you don't know what I'm talking about? Let me ask you this, are the rumours about your adventures over the years true? What really happened to generate all of those rumours?"

Harry looked at her, "What do you want to know about? I'll answer any of your questions, it's not like anyone from your house sits down and talks with me that often. Or even at all."

Daphne nodded her head slightly at that comment, "You do have a point there. Too many children of Death Eaters in the house who naturally dislike you because they were taught to hate you. Don't worry Potter, my family never sided with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. So, first year, is it true you saved Granger from a troll? Is it true you found the philosopher's stone and that you single handedly killed Quirrel?"

Harry looked at her, "First of all, its good to know that your family never supported Voldemort. His name was Tom Riddle, by the way, and he was a half-blood. As to the other questions, yes, Ron and I saved her from a troll that Quirrel let into the castle. We were kind of lucky to have defeated him though. Yes, I recovered the Philosopher's stone. I had a little help getting there from Hermione and Ron, but looking back, the safeguards or protections that were set up to keep the stone safe shouldn't have been so easy to solve by a few first year students. Then I did have to face Professor Quirrel, who was in fact, possessed by the spirit of Voldemort. It was during that encounter when he attacked me and tried to kill me that he ultimately died. Whether it was due to Voldemort's spirit leaving him or the fact that Voldemort was possessing him and he tried to grab a hold of me and that physically caused pain and damage to him I can't tell you, but it is true that he ultimately died from the effects of our encounter."

Daphne stared at Harry feeling a little awed. "And that all happened when you were eleven. And hardly anyone knows the real story about it."

"I don't really like talking about myself all that much," commented Harry as he stared at his feet in front of him. "Ever since I learned about the magical world on my 11th birthday and found out the truth about how my parents died and learned about the stupid nickname that witches and wizards gave me, 'The Boy-Who-Lived' I've had to deal with all of this fame for something I'd rather not be reminded of, for something I don't even remember." Harry looked up and into Daphne's eyes. "I'd give up all the ridiculous fame in an instant if it meant I could have my parents back and I could have had a normal childhood." His words died in his mouth then and he looked away.

Daphne could sense there was a lot more to the story there, but she knew enough not to pry at this point. She understood that he was uncomfortable with where the last part of the conversation lead, so she decided to bring up the other issues that had been mentioned. "So, you said you would tell me the other stories. What about our second year, and the Chamber of Secrets? Who really was the Heir of Slytherin? What was all this about you rescuing the Weasley girl?"

Harry looked back at Daphne and drew a deep breath before he started to explain the truth of the adventures behind his second year. "Hermione was the one who basically figured it out right before she was petrified," commented Harry. "She had a clue written on a piece of paper I found in her hand after she had been petrified. As it turns out, the cause of all of the petrifications was a basilisk that had been let loose from within the Chamber of Secrets. This happened because a student had become possessed by the spirit of Voldemort, or as I mentioned, Tom Riddle. Tom Riddle was the first person to open the Chamber of Secrets and release the basilisk years ago when he was a student, and he did so again through the actions of the student he had possessed."

Harry paused to let his words sink in, and he debated internally how much more he should say, but he also realised that the rumours were already around that he had saved Ginny Weasley that year.

"So, it was Weasley's younger sister who had been fooling around with a dark object and managed to get herself possessed by that thing, Volde…Riddle. She's very lucky to even be alive," stated Daphne.

Harry scoffed at the comment. "She is lucky to be alive, hell, she wasn't even conscious when I went down into the Chamber to find her. I was the one who had to fight the basilisk."

Daphne was about to mock him for claiming that he fought a basilisk at age twelve, but she had just seen him blindly attack a cockatrice without being able to use a wand, so why would his claim of fighting a basilisk as a twelve year old have any less merit she told herself. "So then," she commented, trying to keep her tone light, "tell me about this encounter with a basilisk. I presume it must have been a small one if you were able to take care of it so easily."

Harry tilted his head and stared at her. "No one said anything about any of this being easy, Greengrass. Although I did manage to have some help with the basilisk."

Daphne nodded her head, "Now the truth comes out, I'm sure Dumbledore showed up just in time to save the day for his _precious_ golden boy of Gryffindor."

Harry's patience was growing thin. "Dumbledore still doesn't know where the Chamber of Secrets is exactly and he does not have the ability to get in there on his own even if he did," snapped Harry.

Daphne was surprised by Harry's change in tone. "Fine, then how did _YOU_ get into the chamber of secrets?"

"First of all, what did everyone learn about me at the duelling club?" asked Harry.

Daphne thought for a moment. Then she answered, "That you can speak to snakes. So, you're a Parselmouth. That was apparently a big deal to many of the students."

Harry looked at her and waited to see if she would figure out any more details.

Daphne then added, "And as I recall, you were accused of being the Heir of Slytherin, but I take it that you aren't his heir."

"Of course not," replied Harry, "despite the Sorting Hat's initial plan to place me in the house of the cunning and the ambitious, I am a Gryffindor through and through."

Daphne gasped at the thought of Harry Potter being a Slytherin. "You, in our house? While I find that almost hard to believe, I can hardly imagine the reaction that would have caused on the likes of Malfoy, Snape and your precious headmaster."

"Yes," agreed Harry. "But as a Parselmouth, I was able to hear certain whispering in the hallways, whispering that no one else could understand. I eventually figured out that it was a snake of sorts, and Hermione provided me with the clue as to the snake being a basilisk."

"But that doesn't tell me how you managed to get into the Chamber of Secrets," commented Daphne.

"No, but the Chamber had been opened once before, many years ago," explained Harry. "I eventually figured out who the original victim was, and I had their help in locating the entrance to the Chamber."

"Where was that?" asked an intrigued Daphne.

"Too much information for now," warned Harry, "although it wouldn't do anyone else any good, if you can't speak Parseltongue. I managed to get down into an entryway that lead to the Chamber of Secrets, then once again using Parseltongue, I managed to open the final door to the Chamber. That is where I confronted the spirit of Tom Riddle, who was using Ginny Weasley's life force to make himself a physical body. So, he then sent his pet, the basilisk after me. The rest, they say, is history, as I slew the basilisk, saved Ginny when I defeated Riddle's spirit and the school was saved and the petrified students were cured by Madam Pomfrey."

Daphne glared at him, "I think you skipped over a few details there, Potter."

"Perhaps," he said with a slight grin.

"So, how big was this basilisk?" she asked. "Two or three meters long?"

Harry looked up and scratched the side of his head, then turned back to face her. "Based on the size of one of the snake skins I found in one of the tunnels, and on the length from head to tail from walking around her after she was killed, I would guess that she was about 60 feet long, maybe a little more," he said with complete seriousness in his voice.

Daphne was about to call him on his statement when she noted that he was completely serious. "How could you, as a twelve year old scrawny kid, possibly have killed a sixty foot basilisk?"

"As I mentioned," he added with a grin, "I did have a little bit of help."

"What kind of help?" she asked.

"Fawkes," stated Harry, "that's Dumbledore's phoenix, he showed up. And he had the Sorting Hat with him. He brought me the hat, and I noticed there was something inside of the hat. I reached in to find the Sword of Gryffindor. Fawkes then attacked the basilisk and destroyed its eyes, causing her to be blinded and preventing her from killing me with just a look. However, she still was quite poisonous and very quick. The large snake tried to eat me, or stab me with one of her fangs. In desperation I managed to stab her with the sword through the roof of her mouth and into her brain. However, that manoeuvre left me vulnerable and I unfortunately was impaled by one of her fangs on my forearm."

"Now I know you're having me on, because the venom from a basilisk is known to be quite painful and it is also well known that it is essentially fatal," said Daphne.

Harry pushed his sleeve up on his right arm, revealing the scar from the fang. "I fell back onto the floor of the chamber. Riddle laughed at me, despite my killing his pet. He chided me for failing to save Ginny. He laughed as he explained that it was through his possession of her through a dark book, his old diary that she had come across, that he had taken possession of her. It was as if the diary was alive and he was sucking her life force away from her so he could become alive again. I pulled the fang out of my right arm and stabbed it into the diary, and watched as the poison leaked into the book, destroying the dark magic that was enabling him to possess and control Ginny. I was sure I was going to die, but I hoped that maybe I could at least save Ginny as a final desperate act. Then Fawkes reappeared once again, and he did the most surprising thing. Fawkes cried into my wound. I never knew that the tears of a phoenix have the most amazing healing powers. I felt the pain in my arm and body start to go away, and ever since then I have had the scar on my arm, but I've always felt like I've been slowly getting stronger."

Daphne reached out and gently touched the round scar on his right forearm.

"Okay, so now I may be a little impressed," commented Daphne as she removed her hand from his scar. "You defeated a troll at age eleven and saved one friend, you defeated the Dark Lord and killed a professor later that same year, and then you go on to defeat the same Dark Lord the following year right after killing a giant basilisk all while saving the life of another damsel in distress." She looked at Harry and shook her head in mirth. "This is more fantastic than those ridiculous books they wrote about you years ago. And to think my sister used to believe those stories."

Harry smiled at the comment. "She still probably won't believe you even if you tell her these stories I just shared with you. Hell, no one believed me after I returned from that graveyard with Cedric's body and told everyone that Voldemort had returned." Harry then stood up and turned and looked out away from the stones that they were using to keep themselves warm.

Daphne again felt frustrated that in her attempts to get to know Harry a little better that somehow she had said something that seemed to alienate him.

"It may not matter now, but it did seem clear to me at the time that there was no way you would have entered your own name in the goblet for that tournament," she said to his back. "And not everyone in Slytherin House joined the Inquisitorial Squad with Umbridge last year. Some of us would have actually liked to have attended your DA classes."

Harry didn't turn around as he responded to her. "You all knew about it?"

"Almost everyone knew about the DA," she stated, "even if we didn't know what it was called back then. But there were plenty of rumours going around. After the school year ended, I heard from Susan Bones that you are quite a good teacher. I think she has had quite the crush on you, by the way."

That comment finally got Harry to turn and face Daphne. "Oh, and this news is supposed to get my interest? Or is this just another Slytherin game to make me look like the fool after we get out of here?"

Daphne scoffed at his comment. "Think what you want Potter, but you've apparently been the object of desire for more than just Granger and the Weaslette."

Harry raised an eyebrow at Daphne's comments.

Daphne noted his questioning look. "In case you hadn't figured it out yet, Potter, girls talk. And when it comes to boys, they talk a lot."

"I suppose that would include you too, then," commented Harry.

Daphne's expression went blank, "I never said that, and for that matter, no it never has. That does not mean I haven't had ears to hear the others talk. And yes, your name has been discussed quite often, but other than Susan I don't think I'll drop any other names. Also, if you tell Susan I said anything, I will make sure that you will regret it. Are we clear on this?"

Harry nodded as he replied, "Crystal."

After a couple of minutes in silence he spoke up again, "By the way, Greengrass, are you hungry at all?"

Daphne was still sitting on the log and after a minute she answered Harry's question, "Come to think about it, I really haven't felt that hungry at all."

Harry nodded in acknowledgement of her reply. "It does seem unusual that we're not starting to feel hungry, I am beginning to think it is part of this program we are stuck in the middle of, that somehow it is affecting us that way."

Daphne considered Harry's words and her own response to having been present in this world for a fair amount of time since they last ate and considered their lack of hunger. "You may be on to something there, Potter," she said in a way of complementing him.

Harry continued to stare out at the mountains and the forest that surrounded them. "I wonder what the others are up to, where they might be, how they are faring."

"They're probably doing better than us," said Daphne. After a moment of no response from Harry she continued to explain, "With me and my injured ankle and with having to face a cockatrice without even a real wand, it's amazing we're still alive."

Harry remained impassive for a minute, "But we still have no idea what they've been up against. Nor do we know what to expect during the night time here. I suppose one of us will need to stay awake and keep watch."

"Keep watch for what?" wondered Daphne.

"Who knows," said Harry as he continued to inspect their surroundings. "I'm sure there must be all sorts of nocturnal creatures. If the other animals here knew of the cockatrice, then they might just stay away from here. However, if that beast was a randomly generated creature by the program, then we may be in for some unpleasant surprises during the night. And considering my luck over the past five years at school, I think we should prepare for the latter."

"So, you're suggesting that we take turns keeping watch," concluded Daphne.

"Yes, but the more we're sitting here in the open, the more I'm concerned that we need a more secure place to stay put for the night," he added.

Daphne groaned internally, considering her injured ankle. "Now what do you have in mind?"

Harry looked around to the North again, and then he pointed toward some hills to the Northeast. "We should find some place that could actually give us some shelter. Some place like a cave. The most likely place to find a cave would be over towards those hills, a little to the North and to the East from here. If we get started now, maybe we could make it over there before dark."

"And what about these warm rocks?" asked Daphne.

Harry turned and looked at them, then he turned to face Daphne. "We know we can do that together, so we just leave those here, and if necessary find some more rocks to keep us warm later."

Daphne stood up and started to limp towards Harry, "I suppose we ought to get started then."

Harry looked at her as she walked in obvious discomfort, "Or we could stay here and let you rest."

Daphne narrowed her eyes at him, "I can do this Potter. If you can face a basilisk at age twelve, I can hobble along on a sore ankle. So, lead on."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Obviously this chapter focused on two of our main characters. The next two chapters, as you may have guessed, will focus on the other groups of two. Next will be Neville and Tracey, then we will focus on Draco and Hermione. <strong>

**As I have mentioned in a private response to one or more reviews, the relationships that develop here will affect some things when they return to Hogwarts. That doesn't mean everything will just be fine and dandy - because these are teens and the "real life" of Hogwarts will impact everything once they get out of this virtual magical reality...**


	7. Chapter 7 - Neville and Tracey

**Neville and Tracey**

Neville had returned towards the beach after he had killed the pirate who had attacked him and Tracey. After being sure that there was no further sign of the other four group members, he had made his way back to Tracey and they had begun to head north along the trail they had started on.

"It seems the others have all gone their separate ways and have had to deal with their own pirate," he stated casually as he started up the trail past Tracey.

"So, what, you're just going to leave them?" asked a stunned Tracey.

Neville didn't stop or even turn around, but he replied to her as he continued walking up the trail, assuming that she would just follow him. "I do not know which trails they took heading north. I do know where we are though. And I do know that we all ultimately have the same destination," he added. "So, I'm not necessarily leaving them, but expecting to meet up with them. Somewhere, at some point, and hopefully sooner rather than later."

Tracey was having to walk quickly to maintain pace with Neville. "But how can you be sure?"

"I can't be sure," he stated, "but I know what we need to do, so we need to keep moving."

Tracey shook her head and kept walking. After a few minutes of a quick and silent pace, she spoke up again. "So, Longbottom, when did you get to be so tall dark and mysterious, let alone skilled and tough and everything?"

Neville laughed at her question. "If by getting a little more confidence in myself, that all started with accompanying Harry to the Department of Mysteries back in June. My Gran was actually impressed that I showed myself to be a true Longbottom, that I stood up for myself and that I kept up the longstanding Potter/Longbottom alliance by going with Harry. I was able to upgrade my wand and I was given some of my father's possessions, including this cloak which he wore when was an Auror and was working with Harry's dad and his godfather. But I guess most important was my father's journal."

Neville took a break from telling his story when they came to a fork in the path. Tracey was about to ask about his father's journal when she noted that Neville was studying the lay of the land ahead of them.

"Well, it seems we can head down into a valley to the East, or head due north and head straight towards that mountain," commented Neville.

"The mountain doesn't look like it would be much fun," whined Tracey.

"But the valley path will probably be longer," observed Neville.

"But if it is easier, it still might be quicker," she added.

"Perhaps," agreed Neville, "but we were told we would face obstacles. "We don't know if the mountain is just that, an obstacle, and if the valley while appearing to be simple, might also contain more difficult obstacles, such as more pirates, or some unknown monster to face."

Tracey huffed for a moment, "You're not making this adventure sound like much fun, you know."

Neville looked at the Slytherin girl and was surprised by her attitude so far. "I don't think anyone ever meant for any of this to sound like it was going to be a walk in the park," said Neville, shaking his head, and wondering how he ended up with someone who complained so much. "I think we ought to stick with heading north, so what if there's a mountain in the way."

Tracey considered what she had seen about Neville so far today and figured that she would just follow him, "Hey, big guy, I'm just following you here, so I'm really not about to argue."

Neville raised an eyebrow at what seemed like a sudden change in her attitude. Deciding to just press on, he started to head on the trail heading towards the mountain ahead of them. Realising that it was getting late in the afternoon he started to try and determine where they might be able to find a safe place to stop for the night. He also was frustrated that he really didn't know how far they would have to go as they had no map of the island and he had no real idea of the distance they had covered or the distance they still had to cover to reach the North side of the island and the beacon that marked the exit from this virtual reality they had been forced into.

The two of them had been walking for about twenty minutes further when Neville came to a halt, and Tracey walked right into him from behind.

"What's the big deal," she began to say, but she was quickly silenced by Neville.

"Quiet, and just listen," he said in hushed tones. They stood still in silence for a few minutes and Neville seemed to be very tense.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I think I heard something following us in the woods," he said barely above a whisper.

Tracey asked, "Who would be following us?"

"I'm not so much worried about a who as to a what," commented Neville. He then slowly drew the cutlass out with one hand. "That guy, Jennings stated that there could be any sort of 'obstacle' placed in our way, including animals, both wild and magical. It could be a wolf, hell, it could even be a werewolf for all we know."

Tracey leaned in closer to Neville, "Oh great."

"Just kidding," whispered Neville, "it shouldn't be a werewolf, there isn't a full moon out, at least not yet."

She then swatted his arm, "Prat, you didn't need to scare me so."

Suddenly there was a roar as a large beast lunged from the undergrowth of bushes towards them. Neville noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye and managed to shove Tracey away from him and towards the ground as he held up his left arm to block the beast that was flying towards him. All he managed to see was large teeth and large bright eyes. Neville felt pain in his arm as the jaws of the animal grabbed onto his forearm and he was pushed backwards. As he was falling he thrust his right arm and the sword up and into the belly of the animal that he now noted had a tawny coat. The crushing pain on his arm released as the creature let go and now yelped with pain. Neville grasped the cutlass harder and twisted as the animal tried to run away after it landed on top of him and Neville landed on his back. The large cat like animal only managed to make it about 2 meters away before it collapsed on the path with a large gash on its underside with its entrails spilling out.

Neville was about to push himself up from the ground when Tracey stood up and looked at him and screeched. "Oh Merlin, you're covered in blood!"

Neville propped himself up on his elbows and inspected himself and looked at his robes and his arm and then over at the animal that had jumped at them. After a minute of self inspection he looked at Tracey and said with a grin, "Hey, you're right, I am." Then he shook his head slightly, "It's okay, I think it all came from the cat. I think it was a cougar, a large cat found in North America."

Tracey was now kneeling next to him checking on him to be sure he wasn't injured.

"Really I'm fine," he insisted, "just covered in blood and guts from that beast is all." He then sat up and winced as he pushed up with his left arm and hoped that Tracey hadn't noticed the grimace on his face.

Tracey, however, had noticed Neville's reaction to putting weight on his left arm as he sat himself up. "Was that supposed to be fine?" she asked.

Neville ignored her question as he looked at the blood covering his cloak. "It's a good thing that dragon hide doesn't stain with blood," he said causally.

"Eww," commented Tracey as she looked at how much blood covered the young man in front of her. "That's going to be a bitch to get off, and we don't have wands."

Neville looked at her and smirked. He leaned over and slowly pulled a wand out of his left boot. He then passed it over to his right hand and did a quick _scourgefy_ charm and the blood was quickly removed from the robes.

"Bloody hell, where did that come from?" she demanded.

Neville laughed slightly, "My dad always carried a spare wand when he worked as an Auror, and I thought about it and realised that it was a brilliant idea. It cost a little extra, and my Gran had no idea I snuck out and went to Knockturn Alley to get this, but I thought that it would be a good idea to bring a spare wand with me."

"Aren't those illegal?" asked Tracey.

"I'm not planning on finding out as I'm not about to go asking anyone in the DMLE about it, nor am I about to show anyone in the DMLE that I have this," he said simply as he slid it back into his boot. "You're not about to go and tell anyone that I have this wand, are you?"

"No," said Tracey, "but it sure could be useful here, and it sure would have been nice knowing you had it."

Neville shrugged, "I actually haven't really used it before and I kind of forgot it was there in all of the excitement of getting sent here. Besides, it hasn't helped with having the nagging headache and backache ever since we were sent here into this virtual magical reality."

Tracey furrowed her brow, "What are you talking about?"

Now Neville felt puzzled, "You haven't felt that? Maybe its something that only happened to me when we were sent in here. I've had this massive headache and backache ever since we appeared in this virtual world. I just assumed it was a side effect of the magic that sent us here and that everyone was experiencing it."

"No, I feel completely fine," said Tracey, who was now a little worried about Neville. "However, maybe we should take a look at that arm that seems to be bothering you, the one that the cougar tried to bite off."

Neville appreciated the concern but wanted to ignore the issue with his arm. "It's nothing, really," he tried to insist. "I've had worse."

"Doubtful," argued Tracey. "You're not Harry bloody Potter and you don't end up in the infirmary every other month, so I don't think so. You're just shy and timid Longbottom, the near squib until this past summer, so quit arguing and take that dragon hide robe off and let me look at that arm."

When Neville continued to hesitate, she added, "I have had some extra work in healing with Madam Pomfrey. While I may not be as scary or stern as she is, I do know a few things."

Neville finally relented and slipped his arm out of the sleeve. He obviously winced as he did so. Tracey then looked at the arm and there was a large bruise already forming on the arm from where the animal had bit him and the arm was starting to swell up. Tracey tried to examine it with her hands, which caused Neville to flinch slightly.

"Not so tough, now, are you? And you were trying to be all macho and everything," she quipped.

Neville simply glared at Tracey for her making fun of him.

Tracey ignored his look and examined the arm once more. "You know, I could help you even more if I had a wand to use," she said quietly.

Neville pulled the wand out of his boot and handed it to her slowly, "I'm not sure if it will work for you or not, as it was custom designed for me personally." He noticed a questioningly look on her face before he added, "That's all I will say about the wand."

Tracey stared at him in silence for a moment as she carefully took the wand from the mysterious teenager who was full of more surprises by the minute. Neville Longbottom was turning out to be nothing like the shy pudgy boy who started school with them five years ago. Then Tracey's hand jerked slightly as she nearly dropped the wand when it started to feel warm in her hand.

"Is there a problem?" asked Neville.

"No, no, not at all," said the startled young woman. "I just didn't expect that your second wand would be a custom one, that's all. I have heard about customs, and how expensive they can be, and I've never held one or even seen one before." Then she turned to look at his arm and she cast the diagnostic charm that Madam Pomfrey had taught her earlier this past year.

The results of the charm caused her to frown. She looked at Neville and wasn't sure how to explain things to him.

As she was about to open her mouth, Neville looked at her and added with a laugh, "So, give it to me straight, doc, I can handle it, am I going to live? Or did you just figure out that the cougar broke one of the bones in my arm?"

Tracey glared at Neville, "How did you know that your arm was broken?"

"It's _my_ arm," he said with a slight grimace, "I can feel the pain, and I know how hard that bloody cougar bit me and grabbed on with his jaw. If I wasn't wearing the dragon hide cloak, the stupid beast might have bot my whole hand off."

"Well, that's just great," commented Tracey, "because we don't have any Skele-grow potion and I have no idea what to do to help it heal."

Neville smiled softly, "Well I'll just have to bear with the pain, or you can try and use my wand and repair the bone, or we figure something else out, but right now I am out of ideas."

Tracey wasn't sure what to do as she stared at his arm and shifted back and forth from one foot to the other.

Neville ignored her pensive mood as he looked back up at the mountain ahead of them. "We probably should start making our way towards the mountain, as I stated earlier. Maybe there is a cave or something there where we can stay and be a little more protected than just standing out here in the open like this."

Tracey glared at him and reached out a hand, "Fine, hand me your wand, I'll try to heal your broken arm. A simple _reparo_ spell isn't supposed to work in a situation like this."

"Why not? You're repairing something, in this case, it happens to be a bone. It just so happens to have some muscle and skin around it," said Neville. He then handed her back his wand.

Tracey considered the question, "Well, we do use simple charms to help with some things, so I guess it is worth a shot. Although, I am still not sure about using your special wand."

Neville smiled at her, "What's the worst that could happen? You don't fix the bone so it still hurts, or if you're as bad as Lockhart you could remove all of the bones from my arm, but if you do that I will get even with you. And it will be painful _and_ embarrassing."

Tracey narrowed her eyes at him. "Fine. _Reparo_!" she called out as she tapped his forearm with the tip of the wand.

Neville grunted loudly with a cry of anguished pain. "Bloody hell!"

Tracey yelped in surprise and dropped Neville's wand.

Neville shook his head a few times and his eyes were watering. He blinked his eyes a few times and stared at Tracey. "Maybe that's why they recommend Skele-Grow over casting a repair charm on a broken bone. That hurt worse than having the darn mountain lion bite me in the first place!"

"Did it work?" asked a frightened Tracey. "I mean, yes, you screamed in pain and all that, but is your arm really better?"

Neville tilted his head slightly as he started to wave his arm around. "It feels fine." Then he felt it with his other hand, "Seems to feel fine now though." He started moving his hand and fingers and his wrist. "Actually, it feels pretty good."

Tracey knelt down and picked up his wand and handed it back to him. "Sorry about dropping the wand, though."

Neville took it back and slid it back into his boot, "No problem," he said with a smile, "I'm just glad that it worked for you. Now, what do you say we start heading towards the mountain."

Then the two of them started walking up the path, making their way northward again. They travelled for a good forty-five minutes and they could tell that they were heading up an incline. "We must be at the base of the mountain now," commented Neville, "as the terrain is heading up hill."

Tracey was staying close behind him, but she was also trying to stay alert after their previous encounter with the mountain lion. She noted that the trees were starting to get a little taller and closer together compared to the area where they had been in prior. Hopefully the taller trees wouldn't hide too many potential threats.

After walking a little father, Neville stopped to take a look at their surroundings. "It seems to get a whole lot steeper up ahead. Perhaps we can find some shelter up that way if we are lucky."

Tracey just nodded, "Whatever you say, oh fearless leader."

Neville just shook his head, ignoring her comment and continued on their way. They came to an area where the hillside was rising steeply on their right. Neville pointed out a path that lead to an area where he hoped they may be able to find a place to stay.

"Perhaps we can find somewhere safe to stay up that way," commented Neville as he lead them down the path.

As they continued to walk, Tracey spoke up once again. "So, Longbottom, what's it like to have to live in the shadow of Potter, the-boy-who-lived? I mean, people in Slytherin claim he was pampered growing up, hidden away from the magical world."

Neville stopped and stared at her. "What are you getting at Davis?"

Tracey nearly stumbled backwards in response to Neville's clear irritation. "Nothing," she stuttered. "I was just trying to understand what Potter is really like and how he treats those around him, that's all. Everyone knows he hangs out with Weasley and Granger, those three are usually inseparable most of the time. But certain voices in our house try to convince us he is an arrogant prat, but honestly, I've never picked up on that from what I've seen. I just figured as someone who has been his housemate for the past five years you might be able to shed some insight on who Harry Potter really is."

Neville relaxed a little as he eyed her carefully. "Harry's a good friend, and he was the first person to show they had confidence in me, that he trusted me. Harry is none of the things that Snape or Malfoy claim he is. Harry doesn't seek out attention, he does not want to be a celebrity, especially over something that has to do with his parents being murdered. He genuinely cares about others, and not just his friends. Why do you think he taught so many of us in the DA last year? Because he wanted to help everyone learn Defence Against the Dark Arts, not just for the class, not just to snub Umbridge, but to truly help us protect ourselves and our families from Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

Tracey was amazed by how forcefully Neville had spoken. Without realising what she was saying, she mumbled out, "Man crush much."

Neville seemed more irritated with her now, "What was that?"

Tracey hid her face in her hands. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to blurt that out." She then looked up at Neville as she made a crooked smile. "It's just that down in the dungeons of Slytherin, we don't really know what is going on with you all. We get to hear Draco's bombastic interpretations of everything. But some of us actually would like to have gotten to know more students outside of our house. And honestly, some of you all in Gryffindor seem a whole lot more interesting than some of those we have to share our dorms with."

Neville started to relax more. "Well, then, Harry is a great guy, as I was saying. He probably would have allowed some of our classmates from Slytherin in the DA if we could have been sure that you wouldn't have betrayed us to Umbridge."

"At least you can't blame that on anyone from our house," commented Tracey, recalling the word 'SNEAK' being plastered on Marietta Edgecomb's forehead.

Neville relaxed a little at her statement, "No, but it was a group of Slytherins who made up the Inquisitorial Squad that accompanied Umbridge as she tried to break up our group. So, why all of the interest in Harry all of a sudden? Is he who you've been crushing on?"

Tracey swallowed hard at Neville's pointed question. "No, I would never have a crush on Potter! At least not since he faced that dragon during the TriWizard Tournament. Or at least not since the Yule Ball that year, he kind of made himself look like a jerk the way he treated Padma. Or was it Pavarti he took to the ball? Either way, he and the Weasel could have been nicer to those two."

Neville recalled that night, and that he had gone with Ginny Weasley. "I suppose you do have a point, Harry and Ron weren't on their best behaviour that night."

"At least you behaved yourself with the Weaslette," added Tracey.

Neville tilted his head slightly as he stared at Tracey, "And just why would you have noted that, or even remembered she was my date that night?"

Tracey started to blush and turned away. "I just remember things like that really well. Besides, girls talk about guys, and plenty of girls had lots to say about the behaviour of the guys from Gryffindor that year, and most of it wasn't pleasant." She then turned to face Neville, "Except for you, a few of the girls noted that you treated her with the proper respect that a date deserved. You caught the attention of quite a few young witches that night."

Now Neville started to blush slightly.

Before he could say anything, Tracey started into questioning him further, "So, how much did it bother you to see her dating those guys last year?"

Neville furrowed his brow as he tried to figure out where Davis was going with her questions. Then he figured out her implication, "What? No, it didn't bother me at all. Ginny and I went to the Yule Ball as friends. We had no intention of dating. Besides, I don't think I'm her type. She likes Quidditch players and those who are much more athletic than me."

Tracey raised an eyebrow, "I don't know Longbottom, you might catch her eye this year."

Neville was again taken aback by her comments. "Sorry, but I really don't think she has any interest in me," he said simply.

Neville thought he saw a smile come upon Tracey's face as she quietly said, "Good," under her breath.

Neville then asked, "What was that?"

Tracey blushed as she turned back to look at Neville, then she took a deep breath. She quickly considered her options in responding to him, and then she decided to take the Gryffindor approach. "I said 'good' in response to your comment, okay. I'd rather not have any competition from someone such as her," stated Tracey as she stepped closer to Neville.

Neville was a little unsure of what was happening and took a step backwards, away form Tracey. As he couldn't see where he was going, he tripped over an exposed tree root and ended up on his backside.

The sudden commotion of Neville's falling backwards caused Tracey to stop and laugh slightly at the now awkward appearing teen in front of her, and she considered how this looked so different from the young man who had fought off a cougar not so long ago. Neville however scrambled to get back on his feet and then brushed the dirt off of his cloak.

"I think we should just start on our way again," said Neville as he was unsure of how to respond to Tracey at this time, "we really should be looking for a place to stay, that is safe. Yeah, we need to find someplace safe," he added as he eyed Tracey carefully. Then he turned and started to lead the way along the path once again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hopefully the next chapter will be finished being edited shortly. Following chapters will need more work than these first ones which have already been posted. Next chapter: Hermione and Draco.<strong>


	8. Chapter 8 - Draco and Hermione

**Draco and Hermione**

Hermione waited a few moments for Draco to walk away, then she carefully pulled off her wet clothes. She was grateful that she had some dry things to put on, even if it was Malfoy's shirt and robe. Somehow that just made it all seem a little weird for her. However, as she slipped on his shirt, she realised that it was made out of the finest silk and it felt quite nice. Before she let herself enjoy it too much, she reminded herself that it was Draco Malfoy's shirt, and how much he had taunted her over the years and that he was only being kind to her right now out of necessity. She then pulled the robe on and felt that it at least gave her a little more coverage of her body. Then she proceeded to pick up her wet things and hang them on nearby branches to dry.

A few minutes later Draco returned with a bundle of wood. He then set about trying to start a fire, using the back of the cutlass and striking it against a rock in order to create sparks. After several attempts he managed to get a small fire going and then the kindling he had gathered was able to get some larger sticks and then some logs burning.

Hermione was surprised by Draco's skill at making a fire. "I would have thought that you were a Bayden-Powell Scout with the way you started that fire. Who would have thought that a pureblood would know how to do something so mundane as to start a fire without magic?"

Draco stood up and glared at Hermione. "I'll have you know that there was a time when I actually read some adventure books. They may have been written by that Bayden-Powell bloke you mentioned. I do recall that my father seemed quite upset when he found me reading them. I honestly don't even recall where I found them. I may have come across them at a friend's house, or a relatives when we were visiting in France one summer. When I was 8 or 9, some of the things they talked about, about doing things in the outdoors seemed interesting and fun and useful, but my father made it clear that no Malfoy would ever need to waste his time with such mundane things as that."

Hermione actually felt a little sad for Draco when she heard his story.

Draco looked around the clearing, "If we only had some way to hang your clothes up closer to the fire, they would dry quicker," he added. Then he said quietly, "But then again, you did look quite fine when you were starkers."

Hermione turned and glared at him. "You peaked! You actually stayed around to look at me when I changed! You disgusting prat!"

Draco actually turned a little red in the face. "One, you weren't supposed to hear that. Two, I didn't stay around to try and get a peak at you, I happened to pick up a log and lost my balance and in doing so I spun around and I did catch a bit of a glimpse. And three, you have absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about."

Hermione was still seething, "Nothing until we get out of here and you go boasting about how you've seen me and my bits!"

Draco sighed as he listened to her scream. "Fine then, I give you my word, I won't tell anyone that I've seen your bits."

Hermione humphed at him, "And what good is that, the word of Slytherin pureblood to someone like me? With the way you've treated me for the past 5 years, you'll probably tell everyone and laugh how you don't need to keep your word to a filthy mud-blood."

Draco closed his eyes for a moment and then spoke calmly and slowly to her. "I promise on my family name and as heir to the Malfoy line that I will not intentionally speak of this to anyone. Without your permission, that is."

Hermione eyed him carefully, "What does this promise on your family name really mean?"

"It's a simple oath, and as long as I am either the heir of the family or the head of the family I cannot willingly break that promise," he said with a certain amount of exasperation in his voice. "Are you satisfied now, princess?"

Hermione wasn't sure how to react to his promise. "I guess so. I mean, I didn't expect you to make such a vow or oath, it's just that I've never had much of a reason to trust you before, Malfoy."

"Yet here we are," he said, "in the middle of Merlin knows where, in some sort of magical environment that was supposed to be safe, but for some reason everything is bolluxed and it probably all has to do with your boyfriend Potter."

"I told you, he's not my boyfriend," stated Hermione.

"Why is that, I wonder, Princess," added Draco, "is he holding out for someone with less bushy hair? Don't tell me he actually wants to date the little Weasel who's been fawning after him since she was a little firstie?"

"Harry's not dating Ginny," replied Hermione, then after she thought about it for a moment she added "at least not that I know of."

"But the whole school knows she's been pining after him for years," observed Draco. "She's like a little stalker, but dating other blokes trying to see if she can get Potter jealous. All of the girls know this. They even talk about it in the Slytherin common room. I'm amazed none of this has ever gotten back to Potter. Or you, as this seems to be news to you, too."

Hermione closed her mouth from her surprise at Draco's revelations. "Ginny and I are great friends."

"And if she sees _you_ as a rival for Potter's affections then she'll never talk to you about her desire for him at all," explained Draco.

"And when did you become Mr. Know-It-All about relationships? I don't see you being all that experienced in dating. You just have Parkinson hanging off of you all the time," added Hermione. "Is that supposed to impress everyone?"

Draco let out a sigh. "Pansy is who she is, and she thinks that by being attentive to me she can influence my family into creating a betrothal contract," stated Draco in a very matter of fact way. He noted Hermione's disgust at the mention of a betrothal contract and he decided to use this in educating her about magical society. "Do you want to know why purebloods dislike mud-bloods? Part of it is because of the visible reaction I just saw when I mentioned a betrothal contract."

"But that is so outdated," she protested. "That's just barbaric and chauvinistic."

"Says the young lady who only learned about magical society five years ago," said Draco calmly. "Too many muggle-borns, just like you, come in to our world and don't like what they see and want to change everything right away. You don't really take the time to learn about us, to learn about our society, and learn what we do or why we do it. You just show up at Hogwarts, assume you know more than we do and can tell us how we should run things. Your opinion of me is clear, that I act like I am some sort of pureblood prince, but you need to use a mirror Granger. You entered a world five years ago that you knew nothing about, and you can't learn all of our history just from books. So, you show up at Hogwarts, a bushy haired muggle-born princess, ready to change our world, because you know so much better than we do how to run our world."

The bitterness in his voice wasn't lost on Hermione. "Fine, you may have a point about some things. I don't know a lot about the traditions of the magical world. But it is true that the purebloods have created rules and laws that discriminate against muggle borns, that prevent us from advancing within the Ministry of Magic. You saw how people like Umbridge treated Harry and me last year, and the ministry just turned a blind eye to that."

"Corruption within the ministry is not the fault of purebloods or the muggle born," replied Draco, "it's a symptom of governments everywhere. Have you not seen any corruption in your muggle government? You can't tell me that doesn't happen anywhere else."

Hermione was getting defensive now, "Not to the extent that it runs rampant in the Ministry of Magic, and you know that your father has been a large part of it."

Draco eyed her carefully, "You say that like it's something I have had anything to do with and I'm the one to blame for it."

"Ugh," she screamed in frustration. "At any rate, we still need to get my clothes dried."

Draco shrugged, and looked around once more, "As I don't see any rope, the nearest thing I could think of was this." Then he produced a coil of some vines that he had removed from a tree. He then proceeded to tie them between some branches so that Hermione's clothes could be hung up near the fire so as to enable them to dry more quickly.

"Hopefully this should do the trick and expedite the process," he stated once he had managed to finish creating a make shift laundry line.

"Who knew Draco Malfoy could be so handy in the middle of a forest," commented Hermione.

"I already told you, I read a book by Sir Bayden-Powell," replied Draco blandly. "Besides, this is just a simple solution, anyone with half a brain could have figured these things out."

Hermione was surprised at his lack of boasting and the actual humility he was showing. She had never seen this side of him before. As she thought about it more, all she had ever seen was the arrogant, pompous prat who harassed her and Harry continuously when they were at school. She was about to ask why he behaved that way, and then as she was about to speak, she decided not to, feeling too nervous about hearing the actual answer and also about revealing to Malfoy that she even cared enough to know why he was acting differently. Instead she just pulled his robes around her a little tighter.

Instead she asked a rather rhetorical question, "Now what do you think we need to do?"

Draco simply stared at her silently in shock for a moment and decided against answering her with sarcasm. "I suppose you mean after your clothes are finally dried. Other than the obvious choice of making our way north towards the beacon, and somehow try and meet up with the others as this was supposed to be a group effort, I would suggest we could consider finding other activities to occupy our time if those didn't seem to suit your sense of adventure enough." Then he thought to himself that he didn't manage to keep the sarcasm out of his answer after all.

Realising the foolishness of her own question, Hermione decided not to make matters worse and she just simply smiled in response to his reply. Finally she decided to change the subject and return to a comment that Draco had made earlier. "So then, if Parkinson is hoping to get a betrothal contract out of you and your family, and you're not doing much more than using her, who do you expect to get a betrothal contract with despite your behaviour?"

Draco shook his head in frustration, wondering if the young woman before him would ever give up. "I would have you know that there are several potential betrothal contracts that my family has looked into, all of them are quite advantageous to my family in one way or another. And all of them involve a young woman who I would be more than happy to spend the rest of my years with. However, due to proper respect for those families, I am not about to start discussing any of that with a muggle born who is completely uninvolved with the situation and whose business it clearly isn't."

Hermione was hoping to just make some light conversation, and she did not expect it to be thrown back in her face. Then she noted an unusual smell and she turned around to see that her blouse had started to smoulder. She let out a most unlady like shriek as ran to save her blouse. This resulted in the robes she had wrapped around her falling off, leaving her only wearing Draco's silk shirt which was now nearly see through. Draco quickly moved to try and save Hermione's blouse from the fire, but it was quite damaged from the smoke and the flames. He held up the damaged garment and then noticed the embarrassed Hermione was pulling the robe back into place. He decided it would be best to not say anything and he simply handed her the ruined blouse.

"Sorry about that," he said as she took the offending shirt from him, "I suppose I should have not left it so close to the fire."

Hermione remained speechless in response to being handed her ruined clothing.

"You can keep my shirt for now," he added, trying to at least sound as though he cared a little about the situation. He then sat down near the fire to keep watch as the remainder of the clothes dried out.

The two teens kept a silent vigil until the clothes were nearly dry. Hermione stood up and checked the cloth of her skirt and other garments. "I think these will do fine for now," she said softly. "They can finish drying as I wear them, we really ought to get moving on with our trek northward."

Draco nodded in acknowledgment with her comments. He stepped away from the clearing to allow her some privacy while she changed. A minute later she called to him and offered back his robes. As he slipped them on without his shirt he noted that he could smell a certain vanilla scent that she had imparted to the robes. He smiled slightly before stilling his features and then they set off on a trail heading north.

They travelled for about thirty minutes when they noted a shadow cast over them. Hermione was about to say something when they both felt a sudden squeeze on their shoulders and then they were lifted into the air. Draco was squirming and struggling next to her, and Hermione noted out of the corner of her eye that something had grabbed a hold of his shoulders. Then the realisation sunk in that this same something had grabbed her shoulders as well.

The two looked up and saw the underside of a large bird, and they understood that the pain in their shoulders was the squeezing of the talons into their shoulders as the bird had silently swooped down out of the sky from behind them and picked them up.

Hermione looked down and estimated that they were now several hundred feet up in the air. She called out to Draco, warning him to stop struggling, as they would really not appreciate the consequences if the giant bird were to let go of them right about now. Draco looked down and gulped.

After several minutes of being carried aloft by the giant bird they were eventually deposited in a large nest built along a rocky cliff. The two teens quickly noticed that there were a couple of large eggs in the nest with them.

Hermione quickly assessed their situation. She slowly peered over the edge of the nest and suddenly started to feel a little vertigo. "This can't be good," she said to Draco.

Draco noticed the ill appearance she had. "How high up are we?"

"Probably at least a couple of hundred feet," she said as she tried to estimate the distance in her mind. "I never expected to end up in a rok nest."

"We're in a nest made out of wood, not rocks," corrected Draco.

"We're in a nest on the side of a rock wall," retorted Hermione. "What kind of bird makes a nest way up here?"

"Obviously a very large one," he replied sarcastically.

"Yes, a very large bird. A rok, to be precise," she explained with an obvious tone of exasperation. "Or haven't you ever heard of these creatures before?"

"That was a rok? I've never seen one so close before," he commented off handedly.

Hermione frowned at him, "I doubt you've ever seen one before in your life."

Draco smirked at her, "Well, I haven't. But that doesn't change the truth of what I said earlier."

Hermione groaned in frustration with the blonde young man trapped in the nest with her. "So, now what are we going to do about getting down from here?"

Draco looked around the nest they were stuck in and looked at Hermione, "So, you're supposed to be the brightest witch of our age, I'll just wait on you to figure something out."

Hermione's jaw gaped open. "You could help a little, you know, you're stuck here just as much as I am."

"Thanks again for stating the obvious," he retorted. "But we have no magic we can use, as neither one of us has a wand and you're the one with the muggle background. Perhaps now would be a good time to show me some of this famed muggle ingenuity."

Hermione was about to respond to him but she ended up biting her lip instead. The two of them then decided to look over the edge again to see if there was anything that they could figure out that may help them get out of their situation. Hermione was looking to their right while Draco was looking to their left. As she was trying to come up with a solution to their problem, she started to ask Draco questions.

"I always wondered why the pure-bloods felt so superior to muggle born witches and wizards," she said, assuming her words would get Draco's attention. "Why is it that they assume they are better than others when it comes to magic?"

Draco could tell from her tone that Hermione was actually trying to be sincere, and that her question was not laced with either bitterness nor with a challenge. He surprised himself by his internal response of honestly considering the question. He considered what he had always heard from his parents and others within the pureblood circles that they associated with and the standard excuse was that their magic was more pure. However, he also considered what he had seen at school and the reality was that there was those who were of muggle background or of half blood status and they were easily as strong if not stronger in magic. "We have always been taught that our magic is more pure than those whose background is of questionable origins," he said thoughtfully. "We have always been taught that our magic is stronger than those who have a mixed heritage, but anyone who is honest with themselves will see that that is not true." He turned and looked her in the eyes, "Now if you ever tell anyone that I told you this, Granger, I will deny it and claim you made it up to try and embarrass me."

Hermione stopped searching for an escape from the nest on the cliff face as she pondered why he had actually admitted to her the things he had and then gone and demanded that she not even tell anyone what he had said. She shook her head in amazement and assumed it must have something to do with his foolish pride of being a pureblood or a Slytherin or a follower of the Dark Lord. But she was equally amazed that he had admitted to her some things she had observed on her own and had concluded were obvious truths that the purebloods and the ministry were refusing to acknowledge.

Suddenly she was disturbed from her ruminations by Draco's exclamation, "I think I have a possible way for us to get down." Hermione crawled across the large nest and squeezed past one of the eggs to lean next to Draco and looked over the edge of the nest to where he was pointing. "About one hundred feet down that way there is a slight ledge," he said, indicating with an outstretched hand to where he was looking, "if we could find a way to get to that ledge then we might be able to get down more easily from there."

Hermione rolled her eyes at his outrageous thought. "And just how do you think we could possibly accomplish that? We have no wands, we have no brooms. Do you expect to fly there? Or possibly jump? Or can you suddenly crawl across a vertical cliff wall like a spider or a lizard?"

"We could make a ladder, or a rope, and try to swing or climb down there with it," he said, as if it was the most obvious explanation.

Hermione nodded her head impatiently at him, "I'm still waiting for some sort of logical plan to come forth detailing how you plan on doing this."

Draco shook his head in frustration, "Once again I am surprised by your refusal to think things through. We can take your damaged shirt, tear it into strips, and tie the strips to some of these branches here in the nest. Use that as a rope ladder type thing to climb down from here."

Hermione just stared at Draco. "You do know that you're crazier than Harry. How could that possibly work? How could you even get over to the ledge over there?"

Draco looked over his shoulder and down at the ledge. "Either swing on the rope ladder, or hold on and climb across the rocky surface over the ledge. It shouldn't be that hard to do."

Hermione's jaw dropped again. "Shouldn't be that hard! Are you an experienced rock climber?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders, "No, but the point isn't what one's experience is but what the alternative is. Either we stay here and become food for a baby bird, or we find a way out of this place. Just jumping and hoping we learn to fly is not something I think has a high degree of success. Or do you think learning to fly is as simple as just falling but missing the ground? So, in comparison to those alternatives, trying to escape by climbing down to that ledge seems like it can't be too hard. I'll take my chances."

Hermione shook her head as she muttered, "Don't let me ever hear you call Harry names ever again Malfoy."

She then pulled the damaged blouse out and handed it to Draco who used the cutlass to start to cut it into strips. Then they pulled out branches from the nest, which was not as east as they had originally thought it might be. Draco showed Hermione how to securely tie the strips of cloth to one end of the branch and to make sure it was behind a knot in the branch or he would carve a groove in the branch to secure the material so that the chain of material and branches would not fall apart. Soon they had a long chain of branches and cloth tied together. Draco secured one end of the cloth to the middle of the nest and tossed the make shift escape ladder out of the nest. Looking over the edge he estimated that it would be long enough to reach over to the ledge.

Draco turned to Hermione, "I'll start to climb down and then I'll make my way over to the ledge. I'll try to secure the other end over at the ledge and then you can make your way over to me. Unless of course, you would prefer to go first."

Hermione quickly shook her head, "No thanks, you go first, that's just fine with me." She was trying hard to appear brave and hide her fear over the whole idea, but she had to admit that Draco did have a point earlier as she did want to leave before the rok returned to its nest.

Draco then slowly climbed over the edge of the nest and started to make his way down the cloth and wooden ladder, if it could even be called that. Draco was plenty nervous as he started his descent, wondering if the material was even strong enough to hold him, but he didn't want to let Hermione know that he had any fears about what could possibly go wrong with their whole plan. He knew he was not very good at wandless magic or silent casting but he had tried to cast silent charms on the entire length of cloth and wood to strengthen it so that it wouldn't break for either one of them. Draco was grateful that as he made his way down he didn't feel any slippage of the cloth knots. He kept his eyes on the ledge which was his destination, which was the instructions he had left with Hermione - not to look down at the ground but only at the ledge where they would be making their way towards.

Draco started to get the ladder to swing a little and he still did not feel any slippage of the material. He also could feel ridges along cliff face so that he could start pulling himself closer to the ledge. After about five minutes of climbing, Draco managed to get his feet firmly planted on the ledge. He was looking around for a place to secure his end of the escape ladder when he noted that Hermione had started to climb down the rope ladder. Draco braced himself against the cliff face and his feet on the ledge as he continued to look for a way to secure his end which he was holding tight with his hands.

Suddenly the cloth went slack, and Draco turned and looked up. At first Draco thought that the cloth attached to the nest must have come free, but then he could see that the branch had broken loose from the middle of the nest. Draco then felt himself moving quicker than he ever thought possible. He grabbed the cutlass and sunk it into a crevasse in the stone face of the cliff. Then he was tying off one end of the cloth as quickly and tightly as possible to the hilt of the cutlass. Draco turned and watched as he saw Hermione holding on to one of the branches as the make shift ladder was falling. Then the line starting going taught and swinging like a pendulum.

Draco watched the hilt of the cutlass start to bend from the forces pulling on it and then he looked over the ledge where he was standing to see Hermione swinging into the top of a tree below him. Draco swallowed hard when he saw that there was now a slackness on the other end of the combined branch and cloth rope ladder. He also knew that it was about 100 feet below him. Quickly he checked how secure the cutlass was wedged into the crevasse and then he started to climb down the rock face.

He felt a little ill as he tried to rapidly descend towards the bottom of the cliff. Several times he scraped the palms of his hands on the rough edges of the branches that made the ladder. In a minute he was near the top of the trees where he had last seen Hermione, however he didn't dare jump just yet as he still had forty feet or so to go. He was about twenty feet from the ground when he felt the makeshift rope ladder above him give way. Draco prepared himself for a hard landing on the ground and rolled as he hit the soft earth. The pain he felt in his arms and his legs from absorbing the fall was quickly added to by the cascading branches from the make shift rope ladder as it fell down on top of him. Most of the branches missed him, but those that hit him after bouncing off of the cliff were more than unpleasant. The sound of the metal blade of the cutlass bouncing off of one of the branches near his head was enough of a shock for Draco to make him realise that he was lucky that he had not been hurt worse in his efforts to get off of the cliff.

He lay still for a couple of moments as his muscles screamed in pain from the fall. His legs were covered by several of the branches that were used to make the ladder and when he tried to move he winced in pain. He struggled to pull himself out from under the pile of small logs and he finally managed to stand up. As he stood up he noticed that the cutlass was a mere eight inches from his head. He tried to ignore how close that was or that the tip of the blade was pointed directly at his head. Then he looked back up to where he had fallen from and he shook his head in amazement that he was still alive. Then he realised he still needed to find Granger, who had fallen into one of the trees based on the last he had seen of her.

Draco spun around in a circle trying to figure out where to begin his search, and then he decided to follow the chain of cloth and logs as that would hopefully at least give him the direction of what tree she may have crashed into and help set him on the correct course. He started to follow the remains of the cloth and branches only to find that the cloth had snapped during his fall, which made his search even more difficult.

Looking around in disgust, he then decided to continue to follow along in the direction that he had begun to walk in hopes of finding some sign of Hermione. As he limped along he muttered under his breath, "If that mud… muggle-born actually survived this I'll be amazed. If she has, and she doesn't kill me for leading her into this, I think I'll be even more surprised." He continued to search the ground and the trees hoping to find any sign of the witch who he seemed to be saddled with for now.

Thinking he may have seen something in the branches of a tree in front of him, he said to himself, "Merlin, can my day get any worse?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: as stated previously, the next chapters will need more revisionsediting before being posted. Also, they will revert to integrating what is happening with our main characters.**


	9. Chapter 9 - Time to panic?

**AN: As mentioned, this chapter will include events of all six of our "stars" of this part of the story...**

* * *

><p>Harry helped Daphne get to her feet and they started to make their way north. Harry commented to her that the hills to the Northeast may be a good place to look for shelter, such as a cave, as they had agreed that just sitting around several warmed tones in the middle of clearing between a group of large trees really was not an ideal place to spend the night. In addition to helping them find shelter, it would also hopefully lead them towards where Neville and Tracey might be headed, as they had entered the woods farther to the east of them from the beach earlier.<p>

Daphne quietly considered Harry's suggestion and she too hoped that at least they might be able to meet up with Neville and Tracey. However, the early going on her injured ankle was slow as she was getting used to the make shift support that Harry had made for her.

The pair made their way slowly along the trail and Harry then found a cut off that was bearing off towards the Northeast. He pointed out to Daphne the hills rising in the distance and how they were now closer to them, as he tried to encourage her as they were making progress. Daphne was starting to walk more easily as her ankle was beginning to feel a little stronger. The brace which Harry had made for her at least helped to prevent the ankle from rolling over as she walked along the uneven trail, and the support also prevented her from feeling any further pain.

Harry's initial feelings of successfully finding a decent path to follow were soon becoming frustrated as the path they were on seemed to end in the middle of dense brush. He then began to use the cutlass to hack away at some of the branches and forge their way ahead towards the hills that they saw in the distance which continued to loom larger as they made slow but steady progress with each passing minute.

— — — —

Neville had been leading Tracey along the trail towards the hills for some time and he was hoping that they would be able to find somewhere that would provide adequate shelter for the night. He then pointed out to Tracey an area on a nearby hill that had a steep face to the side of the hill which was facing towards the West.

Neville commented to Tracey, "That area up ahead may make a good place to stay for the night if there was a cave in the area."

They started to head towards it, hoping to find some place to take shelter. They both started to increase their pace as they anxiously approached the hillside, hoping to find what they were looking for. Neville thought he spied the shadowed opening of a cave and slowed down his approach.

Turning to Tracey he stated, "We don't know what we'll find in there, so we best be careful."

As he was finishing saying this there was a flash of a shadow darting out from the cave. Neville spun and summoned his wand and immediately cast a shield spell.

Tracey bit her lip so as not to scream, having only recently experienced something similar, as she recalled the attack from the mountain lion. She wasn't sure what was going on but Neville stumbled backwards into her after he put up the shield and the two fell onto the ground. They both then realised that only Neville's shield was keeping them separated from the snarling jaws of a rather large warg.

The oversized wolf clearly was not happy to have intruders, or was quite hungry, or perhaps a little of both. As Neville's shield collapsed he quickly cast a cutting hex at the warg which caused it to howl and jump back.

Neville and Tracey quickly scrambled back to their feet and Tracey drew the cutlass and held it tightly in her hand, preparing to defend herself if the beast managed to get close to them.

The warg's howl was then joined by several more growls as the dark shadows of several others joined it from within the cave that Neville and Tracey had been hoping to use for themselves for the night.

"I guess there's no room at the inn," quipped Tracey as she looked at the pack of wargs that was starting to surround them.

Neville tried to stifle an uncomfortable laugh at her comment before he quietly stated, "Get ready for them to attack, although I plan to preempt theirs with one of my own."

Neville quickly counted at least six of the animals in addition to the largest one which was the initial one to attack them by running into his shield. The smaller animals started to spread out and seemed intelligent and cunning enough to know that they would be better off to attack by surrounding the two people in front of them and then trying to separate them.

Neville whispered to Tracey, "Cover my back."

Tracey turned to move back to back with Neville and drew out the cutlass. "I'm not sure how much help I really can be for you," she said as she trembled with fear at the idea of the wargs coming after them and her not even having a wand to defend herself.

"Just slice at anything moving towards us with that blade," he said confidently, "I'll protect us with spells. Oh, and whatever you do, please don't hit me with the sword."

Tracey laughed nervously at his comment, but her laugh was cut off as a warg jumped at them. Neville however was prepared as he made a quick slash with his wand and a red spell sliced through the warg and it dropped in a bloody mess ten feet away from them.

Tracey yelped in surprise and the other beasts hesitated as they saw how quickly Neville responded. Neville was grateful that only one of the animals had moved to attack, as they were surrounded by so many, and he wasn't sure how many he could hold off at once.

The largest of the creatures was crouched down and eyeing Neville carefully and growling slightly, almost purring as it was preparing for a strike against the two people that were cornered. Neville, meanwhile was considering whether he should make the first attack at this point, or wondered if that would cost him valuable time and possible open up an opportunity for the wargs to attack both him and Tracey.

— — —

The sounds of howling carried over the trees. Harry looked at Daphne and the two of them had a silent conversation for a moment and Harry began to move quicker through the woods. "If there are wolves about and ready to hunt, they must have found something, or someone," he thought out loud.

Daphne was doing her best to keep up with him, wincing in pain as she moved as quickly as she could. "I suspect that you're right, Potter," she replied to his comments, not realising he had not intended for them to be heard by anyone.

Harry had not realised how close they were to coming upon Neville and Tracey as it only took a couple of minutes after hearing the initial howls before he came upon a clearing where he saw a group of wargs surrounding a tall wizard in a dark robe with a terrified witch clutching a cutlass backed up behind him.

Harry came to an abrupt stop and signalled to Daphne to try and not make a sound. For her part, she was making her way as quickly as possible, still limping and still in pain. She found a large rock to lean against to support her while she watched Harry move to enter the fray. Harry made a quick study of the scene in front of him and noticed that the largest warg seemed to be readying an attack on Neville, and that the others were probably going to coordinate their attacks as well.

"Surprise is going to be a bitch," thought Harry as he suddenly ran out into the clearing casting the strongest cutting hex he could muster through the cutlass in his hand. He directed it at the largest warg that was staring down Neville. The sudden red streak of light that seemed to come from out of nowhere startled the entire group. Neville flinched and in doing so he cast a bombarda hex at the next warg and then immediately cast a shield spell as he spun around to face who or what had cast the red spell at the warg.

Tracey screamed at seeing someone move out of the woods and started to slash the sword in her hand randomly. In the confusion following Harry's initial attack one of the wargs closest to her jumped and lunged at her only to be struck in the face by her random slashing movement. The beast cried out in pain as it lost an eye and an ear and scrambled away. The cutlass meanwhile was knocked out of Tracey's hand and spun into Neville's leg, grazing him.

Neville, now spinning in pain, saw several wargs jumping towards Tracey and quickly cast a cutting curse which was effective in taking them out of the fight.

Harry, who had downed the largest warg with his initial attack had been set upon by a few of the other wargs once they realised that he was the one who had taken out their alpha, however he was prepared to battle the three wargs that charged him. He hit the first with a blasting hex, and the second with a cutting hex. However he did not have enough time to cast a shield spell or another offensive type spell to stop the third warg from jumping on him and knocking him over.

Harry suddenly found himself lying on his back with a snarling and drooling warg on top of him ready to rip his throat out. As he was knocked over he dropped the cutlass which had been working so effectively as a wand for him. Trying to figure out how to get through this situation unharmed, he immediately considered trying wandless magic to either banish or attack the warg, but neither proved to be effective.

The warg continued to snarl and drool, and Harry sensed that it was smiling, almost toying with Harry as though it understood that Harry was now powerless to protect himself from the warg and that the warg had won. With a sudden howl and fierce growl, the warg prepared to lunge at Harry's throat, only to be met by a gurgled interruption.

Harry was surprised as the warg fell to one side. Looking up he saw Daphne standing there, with the cutlass having just left her hands after she had buried it to the hilt in the beast's chest.

Harry looked back and forth between Daphne and the warg. "Well, that explains what happened to the warg," he muttered as he stood up.

Daphne looked at him and then pointed at the hilt of the cutlass. "I think you misplaced something, I was just trying to return it to you and something seemed to get in the way."

By this time Neville and Tracey had approached the two who were bantering over the slain warg. "Looks like you did a better job than I did," commented Tracey.

Daphne and Harry both looked at Tracey and Neville, awaiting an explanation. "All I managed to do was partially blind one warg and lop its ear off before wounding poor Neville here. Neville had to finish off the poor thing after taking out a couple more of these horrid things and then heal his own leg."

Harry looked over at Neville who was still holding his wand. "Nice wand you got there mate. How did you manage that?"

"Old Auror secret," commented Neville with a sly smile. "Learned it from reading my dad's journals." There was an odd silence after Neville's comments and then he continued. "I gained so much confidence after going with you to the ministry in June, I decided to read my dad's journals. He wrote a lot about what he and your dad and your godfather did during the war. It's where I got the idea for the spare wand from. These dragon hide robes were his. I kind of grew into them," he added with a slight smirk. "Gran was so impressed when she heard that I helped Harry Potter and how I kept up the family alliances, that she let me have all of my dad's stuff and then she let me get a new wand. She even let me go to Diagon Alley on my own. And to other places to get the other things I needed."

Harry was shocked. "My Neville, you've really come into your own. Oh, and it is so good to see you two."

Daphne spoke up as she gave Tracey a hug, "I'm glad you guys are safe."

"We are now," replied Tracey, returning the hug. "Now what do we do?"

"I think we need to find a safe place to stay for the night," commented Harry.

"Well," began Neville with a slight grin, "I think the nearby cave that these wargs came from was recently abandoned. I gather that it's ours now, by right of conquest."

Harry laughed, "I think you're right, Nev, let's go check it out."

The reunited foursome then made their way to the cave that had once been home to the wargs that had just been eliminated. Casting a _lumos_ spell on the end of several branches allowed them all to have their own versions of a make shift torch so they could easily explore the cave. There was a large area just inside the opening that was about ten feet across. The main part of the cave was about thirty feet diameter and they soon found some narrow passageways that led off deep under the hill but they seemed fairly narrow. The group found no evidence that the wargs had gone down the passages at all and quickly decided to make a room inside the main part of the cave. After gathering some wood they soon made a fire in the main part of the cave. They also gathered some branches which they transfigured into some bedding to make things more comfortable overnight.

* * *

><p>Draco found Hermione suspended in the branches of a tree. He pondered what he might be able to do get her out of the tree and shook his head. "The things I'm doing for a mud, for a muggle born," he corrected himself. "At least no one from Slytherin is here right now to see what I'm doing. Why did this have to be a group project?"<p>

Draco stopped talking to himself as he began climbing up the branches. He found that Hermione was injured but alive. The most serious injury was a branch that had impaled her lower leg. On closer inspection she also had obviously received at least one blow to her head, and he assumed she probably had a concussion.

Softly, he called to her, and her eyes fluttered open. Hermione started to shift and he grabbed a hold of her by her wrist.

"Don't move," he commanded softly. "You're stuck in a tree after that fall," he said, trying to reassure her. "You've got some injuries, but we need to work together to get you out of here, and we need to do it right so as to not make things worse."

"Bugger, my leg really hurts," she said softly through gritted teeth, keeping her eyes on Draco and not looking down at her leg.

"That's because there's a branch sticking into it," he explained rather bluntly. "Like I said, we need to take care of a few things."

He looked at the branch and then at her leg and then he looked back at Hermione. "It will probably be easier to deal with if I cut the branch and then get you out of the tree and then deal with it properly once we get you safely down. Then we can deal with your other injuries. Once we've done all of that then we can work on finding shelter."

Hermione gave him a slight smile. "I suppose somehow this is all your fault, isn't it."

"Hey, whatever, princess," he said roughly back to her, "I'm only in the rescue for the reward."

Hermione stared at him for a moment. "That's not exactly how the line goes, if you're trying to quote…"

"I would never quote a muggle movie," interrupted Draco. "I would never see a muggle movie, your worshipfulness."

Hermione's eyes opened wide at his comments. Obviously he was misquoting a movie and he knew it, yet he refused to admit it. There was more to Draco than she ever imagined. Suddenly she felt a stabbing pain in he leg, she realised part of what he had been doing was distracting her while he was working on cutting the branch.

"Sorry about that," he said, "but I thought that might hurt as I cut through the branch. Now to get you out of here."

Carefully Draco helped to lower her to the ground and then he made his way out of the tree and joined her. He then sat down next to her leg and stared at the branch that was embedded there for a moment.

Turning to face her his face was stern. "This is going to hurt, and I'm really not sure there is anything I can do other than take care of it in the muggle way."

Hermione just nodded and grimaced as he grasped the branch and pulled on the wider end. Both wounds started to bleed and Hermione couldn't help but scream slightly with the pain. Draco ignored her scream as he knew that she was going to have pain with what he had to do. Taking some of the scraps of material that he had gathered from the former make shift ladder he worked on bandaging the puncture wounds. He silently cursed the fact that he had neither a wand to cast any healing charms or cleansing charms, nor did he have any healing potions that would help prevent infection.

After finishing with applying the dressing to the leg and hoping that he would be tight enough to stop the bleeding but not too tight to constrict blood flow to the foot, Draco finally turned to look at Hermione who was a little pale and currently biting her lip.

"How does your head feel?" he asked.

"Oh, it hurts about as much as the leg, maybe even more," she said brightly. "I suppose I have you to thank that I am only injured and not dead."

"You could say that," he said without a smile, "but you're just as likely to blame me for your injuries in the first place. Oh, wait, you already did that, didn't you."

Hermione rolled her eyes at his comment. "Fine, you've made your point." She sighed heavily then looked back up at the cliff that they had descended from and turned back to Draco. "So, we're lucky to be alive, and we're lucky to have escaped from the rok and we somehow still have to find the other four and make our way off of this stupid island."

Draco stared at her for a moment. "That's about the size of it," he replied.

Hermione shook her head in frustration. "Now what do we do?" She then instantly regretted shaking her head as it only seemed to make her headache worse.

"_We_, do nothing," he said with a grin. "_You_, sit still, as you are in no shape to do anything. _I_ will work on making us some shelter. We need to rest for the night. There is a pool of water nearby, it appears to be a small lake with water flowing into on one end. You can hear the waterfall from here. Since we have no idea what to expect for weather tonight, I'll make us a place to protect us from the elements. I'll get us some water, somehow, and if I had a way to perform magic, I'd find a way to make things more comfortable for you, or us."

Draco turned away before she could see the slight blush rise in his face as he realised how his words could have been interpreted. He then got up and gathered many of the logs and branches from the makeshift ladder that they had used to escape from the roc nest. Draco considered that perhaps they might be more useful as a shelter than as a means of escape, considering how the escape nearly cost them their lives and seriously injured Granger. Soon he had put together a lean-to shelter for them not far from the lake. He then helped Hermione over to the shelter and the two of them sat down as the sky began to darken as night approached.

"So, where do you think the others are?" wondered Hermione. "Do you think they're having any sort of troubles like we are? Have they made it any farther than we have?"

Draco didn't even turn to face her as he responded to her questions. "We have no idea how far across the island we have come so far ourselves, what with that bird carrying us. Obviously we still need to be heading north, but exactly how much of the distance we have covered so far, I really don't know."

Hermione noticed that Draco wouldn't even look at her. She started to question whether it was because he felt guilty over her getting hurt or if it was because he really couldn't stand being near her with her being a muggleborn and all that.

"So, we just wait here then, and hope that I can walk tomorrow," she said, making her words sound more like a statement.

"Hopefully you will be able to manage to move more easily come the morning," he replied.

He then pulled out one of the larger sticks and cut off one end with a large blow with the cutlass. The sudden movement and crash startled Hermione. Draco then used the tip of the blade to hollow out one end of the thick branch to make a bowl or cup. After about twenty minutes he had smoothed out the inner surface of the makeshift bowl and then got up and made his way to the small lake. He then filled the cup with water and brought it back to Hermione and offered her a drink. Initially she hesitated, but he made it clear to her that he could easily get more for himself, and they clearly needed something to drink and it was unlikely they were going to find anything to eat. Hermione then agreed and drank the water. Draco stood up and returned to the lake and then proceeded to drink a cup full of water himself before filling it once again and returning with another cup for Hermione. He repeated this until they had each had several cups of water.

Draco gathered the remaining pieces of cloth from her torn blouse that had been used for the ladder and wadded them up. Handing the ball of material to Hermione he explained to her that it was the best pillow that either one of them were bound to find at this point and that she ought to get some rest and he would stay up and keep watch.

"You need to get your rest too," she objected.

"Perhaps," countered Draco, "however, if we consider that we were already abducted by a giant bird, that we have faced pirates upon our arrival here earlier today, and we were told that we would face many obstacles, I for one don't trust the unknowns that might happen to us if one of us isn't awake. And you aren't in any condition to do anything if someone or something happens upon us during the night."

Hermione was going to protest more, but she knew in her mind that Draco was right, and that in and of itself was irritating enough.

Draco sat down by the edge of the lean-to. After they sat in silence for about ten minutes, Hermione spoke up again. "I still wonder where the others could be."

Draco shook his head. "They could be anywhere. They could be behind us, they could be ahead of us, we have no way of knowing. And there isn't much we can do about it before morning anyway."

Hermione shook her head in frustration. "Are you always so cheerful?"

"Just being practical, Granger," he replied, but she noted that when he spoke her name it lacked the usual venom he added to it at school.

The two sat in a peaceful silence for a short while. Then Hermione spoke up, looking at Draco's profile as he had turned away from her. "So, Malfoy," she began, sticking with the less personal surname as he had been doing, "since we're just stuck here, we might was well talk about something."

Draco didn't turn back to face her as he replied, "We had been talking, and I _had_ been enjoying the quiet."

Hermione frowned, "I didn't think that it would kill you, even with your pureblood background to at least get to know someone a little better."

Draco turned his head and glared at her. "Why are you so insistent on getting to know me, Granger? _We_ have nothing in common. Our houses at school are rivals; your best friend, whom you insist is not your boyfriend, is essentially my rival at school ever since he refused my offer of friendship when we were first years. Most of my family follows the Dark Lord, and those that do follow him would just as soon see you dead or worse." Draco then turned away from facing her.

Hermione closed her eyes tightly for a moment, and took a deep breath. She then decided to press on and ignore his protests. "We've both seen Star Wars, and even though you refuse to admit it, you must have liked it enough to be able to quote it."

Draco continued to ignore her comments.

Hermione took another breath and then she started again, "I like sunsets, it's my favourite time of the day. I started to read all of the time because I had no friends in primary school. I'm an only child. Once I found out I was a witch I thought it was my chance to fit in somewhere, but it hasn't seemed to have worked out so well, or at least not like I had hoped. And my favourite colour is green, and that has nothing to do with Harry's eyes."

Draco continued to look away in silence for a few minutes. Then he let out a sigh and he began to speak again without looking at her, "Fine _princess_. My favourite colour is also green. So we have _two_ things in common. I grew up being taught that I am better than everyone else because I am a Malfoy. Anything I have ever wanted or needed has been given to me. There are probably only one or two wizarding families that are wealthier than mine, although no one is sure just how well off those two families really are. And for a little tidbit, your best friend and I are second or third cousins, and he may not even be aware of that."

Hermione sat there in silence for a moment as she considered what she had just heard. "I made polyjuice potion as a second year."

Draco turned and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I presume that must have been in connection with one of Potter's escapades."

Hermione shrugged, "Well, sort of. I messed up and I was partially turned into a cat."

Draco laughed at her. "So, what did Potter and the Weasel do?"

Hermione bit her lip, "I promised not to say anything. You can't tell anyone about this."

Draco tilted his head to one side. "Fine, Granger, I won't tell. Besides it was three to four years ago."

Hermione took a deep breath and then she quickly blurted out, "RonAndHarryTurnedIntoCrabbeAndGoyle."

Draco just looked at her with a confused expression. "What the bloody hell did you just say?"

Hermione shook her head, and tried to relax a little more, and this time she spoke a little more slowly. "Ron and Harry turned themselves into Crabbe and Goyle. They followed you into the Slytherin common room to try and find out if you were the Heir of Slytherin."

Draco stared at her in disbelief.

"Please don't let them know I told you," she pleaded.

"They're braver than I thought," he said with a slight nod of his head. "Mimicking those two shouldn't have been too hard. Daring to enter the Slytherin common room, I never would have suspected the Weasel would ever do something like that. Potter? He's foolish enough to do just about anything."

The two stared at each other for a moment, and then Draco started to laugh. "They really did that? They actually thought that I was the Heir of Slytherin? That's rich." He shook his head in mirth and he turned away from Hermione. After another couple of minutes in silence he stated, "My favourite vacation as a child was going to France. Not just seeing the distant relatives, because actually, I didn't like them all that much. But I remember going to a beach once on the coast of the Mediterranean. I thought it was really beautiful. I think about that sometimes when I try to fall asleep at night."

Hermione listened intently to Draco's comments. "My family has taken many vacations to France. I always liked the coast there. But my favourite place in France is actually the Louvre."

Draco chuckled slightly. "I should have guessed that."

"My favourite type of ice cream is actually lemon sherbet, but please don't tell Dumbledore," added Hermione.

"Chocolate," stated Draco.

Hermione turned to look at him askance, "Excuse me?"

"Ice cream," he stated, "you were talking about ice cream. My favourite is chocolate, nothing added to it. Just simply chocolate."

Hermione was surprised that she was actually getting answers from Malfoy at this point. "If you could do anything or live anywhere, and this stupid blood purity business wasn't an issue, what would you do and where would you live?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "I don't have to do anything, my family's money is such that I don't ever have to get a job. If there was no pending war or battles, then I suppose I might choose to live somewhere on the mainland, in Europe. I wouldn't want to live in the United States. I don't think I'd want to go to Canada. It sounds too cold, and there's not much Quidditch there."

Hermione was about to make another comment when she felt the ground below her shake and rumble. The shaking continued for several minutes and became severe enough that several trees fell over, and many rocks fell down off the face of the cliff behind them. In the midst of the earthquake, Draco instinctively dove over Hermione to protect her in case anything else might fall on top of them. Just after he had done that a large brach fell out of the tree next to them and crashed onto their lean-to. One side of the lean-to gave way and the branch landed on Draco's leg and arm, but Hermione was protected from further injury.

Once the earthquake stopped, and the ground was still for several minutes and it was clear that there were no more falling branches and no more falling rocks, Hermione let out a slight grunt before speaking. "Draco, if you're okay, it would be fine with me if you could get off of me."

Draco grunted in reply as he shifted his body to get out from under the thick branch that had crashed down. "Don't worry, I'm moving as quickly as I can, Granger." As he lifted himself up to get off of her his eyes caught hers staring at him. They froze for a moment stuck in each others' gaze before Draco managed to finally extricate himself completely from under the branch and from on top of his companion. "Are you okay?" he asked as he made sure the wood and branches had not fallen back on top of her.

"I'm fine, other than having someone who weighs eleven or twelve stone jump on top of me and then having a tree fall on top of them," she stated with clear sarcasm.

"It wasn't a whole tree, Granger, just a branch," corrected Draco. "And I didn't jump you, I tried to protect you."

"I didn't say I was ungrateful, Malfoy," she snapped back, irritated with him as he continued to use her last name and she wondered if the perceived compassion he had shown her was gone with the harsh tone she thought she detected in his voice.

The two sat up again and Draco went about repairing their shelter. Once that was accomplished he returned to his position, keeping watch at the edge of the lean-to.

"What do you suppose caused that earthquake?" she wondered out loud.

"Probably just another obstacle they're throwing in our way," he stated half heartedly, not sure of why it would have happened and internally wondering just as much as she was about why such a thing would have happened in a computer created world.

Hermione shook her head in disagreement. "That wouldn't make any sense at all though," she began. "There's just no logical reason to add an earthquake here. It doesn't really test anything for any of us."

Draco turned and looked at her. "Are you suggesting that there is something else going on, other than our being trapped here without our wands and without magic?"

"Frankly," she replied, "not much of anything has been making sense since we arrived here."

* * *

><p>The foursome had finished their limited exploring of the cave. Neville and Tracey had gathered materials for making a fire to keep them warm.<p>

While those two were out gathering the wood, Harry turned to Daphne. "So, your best friend seems to be awful cozy with Neville tonight."

Daphne nodded in agreement, "They do seem to have become quite the close pair of friends in a short period of time." She then looked at Harry carefully and added under her breath, "Don't let that give you any ideas Potter."

She was surprised when Harry quietly responded, "I would never dream of it, your highness."

Daphne's eyes grew wide at his comment and she then quickly replied, "You are so lucky I don't have a wand in my hand right now, Potter!"

Harry simply smiled at her reaction. "Calm down, Greengrass, we may have covered a lot of ground together, but thats it."

Neville and Tracey walked back into the cave to find Harry and Daphne almost glaring at each other.

Tracey was the first one to speak up. "You two do know that all six of us are expected to complete this mission and we are expected to do so together, or did neither of you actually read any of the information that gave to us to read before we showed up for this fun filled adventure?"

Before anyone could respond they felt the ground start to shake slightly. Tracey turned to look at Neville, "What the bloody hell was that?"

Neville shrugged his shoulders, but then a second tremor hit, knocking those two to the ground as they were not steady on their feet yet. Daphne reached out to grab a hold of something and ended up latched on to Harry's arm so as not to fall over.

As the third tremor hit there came a loud rumbling sound. The sound was immediately followed by a loud crash. The four looked up and couldn't see anything as the cave had become completely dark. Harry wasted no time and cast a lumos spell on the tip of his cutlass. Holding it out in front of him he soon found the room with a large pile of rocks blocking the entrance.

"I think we have a slight problem," he stated as he stared at the mountain of rocks in front of him. "I don't believe that there is anyway we can manage to get past those rocks.

"What do you suggest we do?" asked a worried Neville.

"Panic?" offered Tracey.

— — — —

**AN: and we will need to get back to what is happening in the "outside" world...coming soon...**


	10. Chapter 10 - Hogwarts and elsewhere

**AN: Now we will take a look at what is happening outside of the virtual magical device. **

* * *

><p><strong>At Hogwarts<strong>

Albus Dumbledore had called his senior staff together before they went to get an update from Jennings and his crew. The four heads of house had joined the headmaster in his office, and everyone had been updated on the current situation with the Virtual Magical Simulator.

Minerva spoke up first, "When will we have an update on how the students are doing?"

Albus tilted his head from side to side before answering, "I expect that Mr. Jennings should be able to provide that information for us soon."

Pomona Sprout spoke up next, "But those six students, I worry for how they would be fairing, especially without their wands."

Flitwick picked up on her comment, "Considering that three of the students are Slytherins and the other three are Gryffindors, then it could be a difficult situation."

Snape scoffed at the comments. "Obviously Potter is probably up to his usual arrogant behaviour which lead to the entire situation in the first place. If he's not careful he will get the whole lot of them killed. Longbottom has probably already wet himself out of fear, and Granger has probably irritated everyone with her incessant prattling on about Merlin knows what. At least they have some from my house to protect them all. I fully expect that Malfoy and Greengrass will be leading the group to safety, with Miss Davis helping to keep the others in line."

Minerva huffed in indignation at Snape's assessment. "Harry Potter's the only one with any real leadership capability in that group, and you know it, Severus. Your continual berating of that young man is completely out of line, and it needs to stop!"

Snape sneered, "It's not my fault he takes after his father."

She narrowed his eyes at him, "He does no such thing and you know it." She then turned to the headmaster, "Do you have any way of determining how they are doing?"

Albus glanced over at the series of little devices on the shelf, and the one's linked to Harry's health and wellbeing seemed to be doing just fine. "I think that the students are doing just fine, perhaps we should put this argument to rest and see what we can learn from our American colleagues about the progress that have hopefully been making."

— — VMI — —

Work was ongoing trying to repair the device — the magitechs from the United States Department of Magical Technology were working hard at trying to repair the problems with the Virtual Magical Simulator. Jennings had been in frequent contact with others back in California about parts that might be needed as well as trouble shooting issues and conveying information back to the technicians who were actually performing the work on the large machine.

The latest update he had received from his men was that they were making progress, and that a new view screen should arrive within a few hours. Once they had the new view screen and connected it to the machine, then they could check on the progress of everyone within the virtual magical reality.

Alistor Moody was pacing back and forth as he was keeping an eye on the progress that was being made, and he was even more irritable than usual. "It's just not right, them being in there with no wands, with no way to do magic, no way to protect themselves. There is no safety net set up." He grunted once again before asking one more time, "Are you sure there is no way to send them their wands?"

Everyone gave him a wide berth as he continued to pace and grumble, the fact that he was involved with the safety check of all of the wands and he had everyone's wands when they were accidentally sent into the virtual magical reality particularly irked the grizzled old Auror. He felt responsible for the six students, and more so for Harry Potter who suffered at his expense just two years perviously. Moody never wanted to be indebted to anyone and he never wanted to be seen as the cause of trouble for anyone, unless of course it was causing trouble for a Death Eater or dark wizard, but these were just a group of kids. Okay, a group of five students and a Malfoy, he told himself, but if the other five were to come out of there safely, chances were pretty good then the Malfoy brat would probably make it okay with them.

"Isn't there some way to send them their wands?" asked Moody of no one in particular. "There has to be something we can do for them."

Jennings had been leaning over one of the technicians, keeping an eye on their progress as Moody started his louder than usual grumbling and repeating of his question. Jennings had lost count of how many times the old Auror had asked about the wands. He stood up and turned to face Moody, and he took a deep breath as the sight of the man was intimidating and he had heard plenty of stories about the old wizard. "As I have tried to make clear before, any previous attempts to send people into the matrix when someone is already in there have always ended disastrously. So I don't know what you would have us do. We are working on making sure those kids can get out of there safely."

Moody was still pacing as Jennings replied. Then he spun around and replied to the team leader for the Magi-technicians. "But a wand isn't a person, it's a thing. Can't you send a thing into that contraption to help them out?"

"It would still probably end badly," replied Jennings, "if it didn't injure those already in the virtual magical reality it would probably destroy the wands. It just can't be done. You just don't understand how this interaction between magic and technology works."

Dumbledore had been quietly standing off to one side at this point, and then he decided to add his own comments. "Besides my friend, we can't risk damaging or even worse, destroying the students wands like that. It would be too risky."

Moody wouldn't give up so easily, for he was determined to find some way to help Potter and the others. "What if we used trainer wands? A simple wand has got to be better than nothing."

"But the wands wouldn't be keyed into them," argued Jennings, "they wouldn't reinstate the fail safe mechanisms."

"Could we key the wands to the individuals some way," questioned Moody," by using something of theirs, one of their possessions? Having a wand is better than not having one for any witch or wizard, restoring the protections would simply be a bonus."

Professor McGonagall stood up from where she had been sitting and joined in the conversation. Three of her lions were stuck in there and she wanted them all to come out safe as much as anyone. "That sounds like you would need to invoke very dark magic indeed to make that happen, Alistor," she complained.

"And there is still no way of getting them wands in the first place," reiterated Jennings

One of the technicians spoke up. "Actually there might be a way to try. I have been reviewing some of the code that allows us to interface magic with the technology. I think I may have found a way to send items into the matrix after the individuals have already entered the matrix."

Jennings turned and stared at the technician. "I highly doubt that could possibly work, however, let's go have a look at it."

The two then disappeared into another room and reviewed the data and the possibility of sending wands or other objects into the matrix. Their meeting lasted about twenty minutes before they came back to the room with the others.

When they returned Jennings and the technician, Saresh, begin to explain to Dumbledore, McGonagall and Moody that it is possible the plan may work, however due to the damage to the machine, they can't be sure how things would respond.

Moody was irritated by their comments and their vague explanation. "What do you mean? How can you not be sure how things would respond?"

Jennings tried to patiently explain a little more clearly. "We are not currently able to monitor what is going on with any of the six students. We do not know where they are or how they are faring. We do not know where to send the wands. Also, we are still trying to receive information about the database for the MagiWorld scenario, which may have been damaged as well when the fighting broke out."

Minerva McGonagall was also not happy with the lack of a clear answer. "What exactly are you saying?"

Jennings took a deep breath before he went on to explain some of the details that the technician had shared with him. "The scenario may not be playing out as we programmed it to play out."

Saresh then added, "It is possible that the data may be being dumped into the MagiWorld scenario randomly. In other words, anything that is in the program could happen to them at any time."

Albus Dumbledore lost the famous twinkle from his eyes. "You're telling us that you are not controlling the scenario."

Jennings shifted uneasily from one foot to the other as he placed his hands in his pockets and looked down at the floor in front of him, avoiding eye contact with everyone else in the room. "In a word, no."

Moody shook his head in disbelief. "But what does that have to do with the sending of the wands to the students?"

Jennings looked up at Moody as he tried to explain. "While in theory, the calculations made by Saresh here should work just fine, there are problems with the functioning parameters of the program, and a certain amount of unstable magic involved."

Minerva sighed as she admonished the young man, "Please explain this in plain English."

Albus tried to interpret the previous statement for him, "I do believe that he is saying that they cannot predict what will happen when they try to send the wands to the students."

Jennings now nodded in agreement. "Correct. Ideally I would like to wait until we have the view screen repaired so we can hopefully see what happens and see if they manage to obtain the wands."

Albus raised a hopeful eyebrow. The idea of being able to check on the students' progress was a good one, one that gave him hope and he was a wizard who always looked for hope in all situations. "How long until the view screen is repaired?"

Jennings shrugged, "Several hours at least. We're still waiting on a part from the states."

McGonagall then asked, "What about getting these wands? If everything is fine, would it still be possible to send them at least simple wands? Then they could at least do some magic."

Moody nodded, "We can contact the DMLE, they may be able to provide six trainer wands for us."

Jennings was feeling more hopeful. "That may be a good idea, so if someone would work on that, it would be helpful. In the mean time, I will have Saresh continue to work on the program to see what we can do about getting the wands sent to the students, although I am sure there is no way to sync the wands with the students."

Albus then posed a question, hoping to find some way to offer more protection and safety for his students. "Is it possible to sync the protections of the program with the wands, and have those protections then incorporate with the students once they have the wands?"

"While that might work theoretically," replied Jennings, "we could have a potential problem if they do not receive the wands. We are not sure right now if there are any functioning protections for them at all inside the matrix of the program."

Minerva McGonagall was frustrated with hearing too many excuses and not any reassurances that her students were safe. As it was she was angry enough that she had to work on controlling her emotions so as not to lash out against the young men in front of her.

— — VMI — —

Several hours later the team working on the Virtual Magical Reality Device had received the new video display and they were busy connecting it to the machine. Saresh was continuing to work on the programming parameters that would hopefully allow them to send the half dozen wands back into the proper place within the program, even though something of such an extent had never really been tried before.''

Jennings was elated to announce to the other professors that come the early evening that they finally had the view screen operational. At first the only information which they had was biographical on each of the six students. "Well, we do know that they are all alive and it looks as though they are all well. The machine has not yet been calibrated to give detailed information about their health," he added.

Professor McGonagall quickly asked when could they expect such a function.

Jennings frowned as he explained, "The problem we have here is that such details would require that the students have their own wand which would have already been calibrated with the machine. But seeing as that is part of our problem and is part of what brought us to here n the first place, I think we're just going to have to get a general reading on them, such as we have now."

Albus then perked up a little, "So, where exactly are the young men and women?"

Jennings turned to one of the techs who was sitting below the large view screen and then he started to speak to the professors who were present. "As you can see on the side of the panel that is open in front of thou, this view screen, we can look at individuals or we can track them and their progress."

Professor Snape had joined them at this time as three members of his house were also stuck within the virtual magical reality. "So, then, where exactly are they?" he drawled.

"Good question, professor," answered Jennings raising a hand as he turned to speak with the tech once again. The two of them started speaking softly but soon their conversation was growing louder and more animated.

Eventually everyone heard Jennings comment, "Perhaps they are hiding somewhere."

The tech simply pointed at one part of the view screen, "All I can tell you is that their vital signs are fine, they are all alive."

Moody snarled. "Wait, you really don't know where they are on this island?"

McGonagall was also upset, "And you still don't know what is going on with them!"

Jennings held up his hands trying to get the group to calm down. "I can tell you everything I do know. First of all, everyone relax. We just reviewed that the view screen simply shows us some information right now and it can help locate people at times. For instance, this display indicates that they have had some minor injuries, but nothing serious."

"That is not surprising," added Dumbledore. "Considering they don't have any wands," he went on to explain.

"At least they have made it this far," stated McGonagall with a sigh.

"But we're still not sure how far it is that they've mad it," commented Snape.

"Well, we can help them more by getting these wands to them," added Moody, still grumbling. "We should have those trainer wands shortly."

"It is possible that we cannot find them right now because they are in hiding," stated one of the technicians. "However, once we send in the wands, the matrix will be designed to hold onto the wands until such a time as the students are readily found and then the ward system can take over and begin protecting them better."

"And when will you be ready to send in the wands?" asked Moody, although it sounded more like a barking order.

Jennings conversed quietly with Saresh for a few moments before answering Mad-Eye's question. "If you all have the wands together we should be ready to send them into the matrix of the Virtual Magical Reality system in about five minutes.

Minerva McGonagall breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Snape seemed to be sneering less and Moody momentarily stopped his pacing, which was a relief to everyone as they were at least momentarily spared from the steady clomp-clomp of his wooden leg.

A young Auror trainee came running into the room with a small box and stopped abruptly in front of Moody and Dumbledore, momentarily confused as to who they should present the package they were told to bring to the school. The poor confused young man had no idea why he was being sent to Hogwarts in August nor why it was urgent nor why he was being sent to an unused classroom in the basement.

"Ahh, thank you, my boy," said Albus Dumbledore, recognising the young man as a fairly recent graduate from Hogwarts, "I'll take those, and I believe that Mr. Jennings has use of them right about now."

The young trainee just stared at everything in the room and shook his head in confusion. "I'll just show myself out," he said to no one in particular as he turned and left quickly.

Jennings took the box and opened it, and quickly examined the six wands which had been procured by the DMLE for the purposes of sending to the six students. He then handed the box to Saresh who examined the wands and made some sort of scan on each one of them while another technician entered more information into a keyboard on one side of the machine.

After a few minutes, Saresh gave a thumbs up to Jennings who then turned to the group of professors. "Well, thats it, we're ready to send them the wands."

Professor McGonagall stepped forward and looked up at the new view screen which seemed to have a map like picture similar to an aerial view on a muggle television. "Is that the island where they are?" she asked.

Jennings turned and looked at the screen, "Oh, yes. Let me show you some things." He moved next to the screen and nodded to Saresh who took control of a small device and then the map seemed to zoom in on an area on the south of the island. "This is the southern beach of the island, this is where they entered the virtual magical reality, which was just as we planned. From the review of our data, they were met by a group of pirates, and they did really well, although it seems that the six of them were divided into three groups of two."

"Who are in the groups of two? How did they pair off?" asked Snape.

"That we are not sure of," said Jennings, his frustration evident in his response. "As we are having a hard time pinpointing their exact location right now, we think one of the sensors is not working properly, and that may be due to their not having wands on their possession. We have been able to detect some magic use, which we have not been able to explain so far. But as of right now we think that four of them had been getting close to reuniting, and the other two had made significant progress northwards, but we have no idea how they had made it over half way across the island on their own. Nor do we have any idea why those two were separated from the others."

"That is all you have come up with upon reviewing the data?" asked a surprised McGonagall.

"It's not like we can watch video tapes of their every move," replied Jennings defensively, "we have to interpret digital data and make the most out of it and translate it into real time actions."

"All very interesting," commented Albus, "but perhaps we should get a move on with sending them the wands so they can be using magic to help them on their journey. That after all, was the main reason behind this whole situation, to have them practice using their magic in a group setting to help the others."

"Right," said Jennings, and then he turned to Saresh, "I presume we're ready."

"We're all set," replied the lead tech.

Saresh handed the wands to another technician who was now standing by the entrance to the virtual magical reality device. He then opened a small drawer that they had not noticed before. "Apparently the designers of the machine had an idea for such a contingency," commented Saresh as he began to enter more data into the terminal in front of him.

"That should just about do it," he said with a final key stroke.

Everyone stood there watching what was happening, hoping for some clear sign that the students would receive the wands. The machine made a loud whoosh sound. "That should be the wands being sent into the matrix," commented Saresh. "Now, in a few minutes, the students should find wands appearing near them."

Then there was a loud thud from the machine.

"Was that the machine delivering the wands?" asked Severus.

"I'm not sure what that was," commented Jennings, whose face started to betray his worries.

His next words were interrupted by the shattering of the new view screen. Then there was an even louder crash as the entire machine seemed to lurch in place. The shaking of the machine lasted for over thirty-seconds, with several large and distinct convulsions during that time. The group of technicians and professors watched in horror as the machine seemed to spasm for an eternity until the shaking and thudding stopped. The view screens went black and the virtual magical reality machine made a loud hiss which was followed by a large and final crashing noise.

"I don't suppose any of that was supposed to happen," commented Moody dryly.

Jennings mouth was agape and Saresh finally spoke up. "Holy shhhhh."

Snape turned on Jennings, "You better not have just killed my students, or you will pay dearly for what just happened."

Jennings was sweating in fear as he stared at the machine in front of him. "I have no idea what the hell just happened." Then he started barking orders at the technicians. "Get everything back online! Whatever it takes! Get any and all help from the guys in California, call Palo Alto if we have to, but make sure this is working properly and get those students out of there as quickly as possible!"

Jennings wiped his brow and then turned to the professors, "Well, that didn't go as planned."

Minerva McGonagall was usually not one for sarcasm, so when she simply responded, "You think?" her words caught everyone off guard.

* * *

><p><strong>Elsewhere<strong>

The large room was dimly lit, and several witches and wizards were gathered around. In the centre stood a tall and menacing appearing figure, whose red eyes seemed to glow in the darkness that surrounded him.

"Bring the young on forward," hissed Voldemort.

Bellatrix had a sneer on her face as she dragged the teen along side of her in front of the Dark Lord. Voldemort just looked at the young man, and his gaze caused the young man to fall to his knees.

Voldemort smiled as the teen collapsed and looked away from him. "So, young Mr. Nott understands his proper position before me. That is good, my young friend. But remember this, even though you will kneel in front of me, you shall soon be standing tall in front of the rest of our great house, and all the other students in Slytherin will be looking to you, because of me."

Theodore Nott continued to look at the floor in front of him, and after a moment of silence he responded, "Yes Lord Voldemort, it shall be as you wish."

Voldemort looked around the room at his followers who were present, and he locked eyes Bellatrix. "This will be a lesson to all of you, serve me well and you will be rewarded, fail me, and what you thought was once yours will be taken away." He then looked down at the Nott boy, and hissed, "Are you ready?"

Theodore took a deep breath before answering, "Yes, my lord, I am ready."

"Then give me your arm," stated Voldemort.

Theodore pulled the sleeve back on his left arm, and extended it to the Dark Lord standing in front of him. He braced himself so as not to flinch at the cold touch of the Dark Lord's hand grasping his forearm tightly.

Voldemort then asked, "You have already done the required ritual to prepare yourself?"

"Yes, my Lord," replied Theodore, still without looking up at Voldemort.

Bellatrix cackled as she also replied, "The remains of the muggle youth used in the sacrifice is down in the dungeons."

Voldemort looked over at Bellatrix and tilted his head slightly, which was enough to get her to quiet down. Then he squeezed Nott's arm a little harder with his left hand as he placed the tip of his wand on to Theodore's left wrist. "This will only hurt for a short time," he added with a sneer.

Voldemort began hissing words in parseltongue and the tip of his wand began to glow red, the same hue as his own eyes. Theodore groaned slightly, gritting his teeth as he felt the pain of the Dark Mark seeping into his skin. After two minutes of feeling the agony of the magical tattoo take hold and bury itself into his own nervous system, Theodore gasped as Voldemort withdrew the wand from his wrist.

Voldemort then looked around the room as he pulled Theodore up to his feet and twisted him around to face the others in the room. "Welcome your newest ally and our newest weapon against Dumbledore and his lot," declared the Dark Lord. "I present to you Theodore Nott."

The gathered Death Eaters cheered for the young teen as he had been fully welcomed as one of their own. Voldemort let the cheers die down before he spun Nott around once again to face him.

"You do understand what is expected of you," stated Voldemort, and it was clear he was not asking a question. "When you feel your mark burn, you will do your best to return to me, or contact one of my Inner Circle."

Theodore nodded silently.

Voldemort nodded back and he continued, "You will now swear an oath to accomplish the task I have for you. I expect you to kill Albus Dumbledore before the end of the school year."

Theodore nodded as he replied, "It will be done as you have commanded."

Voldemort smiled slightly, "I like a young man with confidence. Now, remember, you may enlist the help of others within your house, but they should not know the true nature of your mission. Make the most of your Slytherin guile and cunning. Some of those who are in your house may not have what it takes to truly follow a strong leader in the face of adversity. Although they may be weak, they will be dealt with if they do not show their worth to our cause."

He then released Theodore's arm and let him step back into the crowd of other Death Eaters who were present. "It may be wise to keep your mark hidden, as you don't want to draw too much attention to yourself. And your house mates, the ones that matter, will soon learn to follow your lead at school, for their fathers will make sure they know it will be as I have now ordained."

Theodore nodded silently in response to the final words from the Dark Lord. The group then began to disperse as they had all seen the event which they had been gathered to witness.

Theodore was then taken aside by his father once the official ceremony was concluded. "Your grandfather lost face with the Dark Lord when he was taken out by a blood traitor during the last war. You need to redeem the family name. You have the chance to get the prestige away from Malfoy, but do not let _him_ know what you are up to, so he will not have the chance to upstage you in this. And do not mess up the chance to make the Nott family name great and feared once more."

Theodore nodded in response to his father, "I understand, and it shall be done." Theodore never had a lot of self confidence before this night, but having been chosen by the Dark Lord himself for this important task filled him with pride and the desire to make sure he proved himself better than his other classmates who were not as fortunate as he was so as to be chosen by the Dark Lord for such an honour.

The older Nott looked at his son, and added one final command, "Now go and prepare multiple plans for the coming year to be ready for any opportunity to take care of the problem that you have been assigned to deal with. And don't worry, we will find a way to supply you with whatever you might need. Be sure to communicate with myself or the contacts we have in Hogsmeade if there is anything you need supplied to you to finish this."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And we will return to the virtual magical reality in the next chapter...<strong>


	11. C 11 - the Virtual Magical Island

**AN: and we return to the virtual magical island...**

* * *

><p><strong>On the island<strong>

Harry and Neville were discussing what to do about the avalanche of rocks that was covering the cave entrance. The two young women were talking amongst themselves. Once the two Gryffindors finished speaking and turned to face Daphne and Tracey the ladies laughed at them.

"So, the gallant young men who are going to save us have figured out a plan," remarked Daphne making sure her sarcasm was clearly evident to everyone.

Tracey hit her on the arm, "I told you they were only trying to devise a plan."

Harry simply shook his head, "So, Greengrass, do you want to try and move those rocks?"

"No, but apparently neither do you, or you would have begun doing so already," she quipped. "I've seen how you handle yourself, both at school and today. Face it, Potter, you're just a typical Gryffindor, charging full steam ahead, damn the consequences."

Harry frowned at her words, "I do believe I showed some restraint and followed your advice in dealing with that cockatrice earlier today."

Tracey gasped, "Wait, you guys defeated a cockatrice? That is **so** cool!"

Daphne rolled her eyes at Tracey's excitement. "It wasn't that cool, those things are deadly. And to be fair, Harry, I mean Potter did most, or all of the real work." She turned and glared at him. "He's the one who can use the stupid sword as a wand."

Neville looked at Harry with awe. "Wait, you don't even have a wand and you used that sword for casting spells? I thought you had a wand hidden away like I did!"

"That's not the point," commented Harry trying to shift the attention away from him. "We're still stuck inside this cave. There are too many rocks blocking the way and we don't think we can move them to get out of here. At least there are the tunnels heading out the back side, so we can eventually start exploring those as a means of escaping from here."

"But we need to take care of Daphne's ankle first," commented Neville. "There is no sense having any of us injured. We need all of us in our best form."

He then tossed the wand to Tracey. "You're still the best with healing charms, aren't you?"

She smiled back at Neville as she snatched the wand out of the air. "You're too kind. Okay, you're probably right," she added a little less modestly. Then she turned to Daphne and cast a healing charm at her best friends ankle and Daphne started to move her foot and stretch her ankle.

"That feels great," she said with a big smile, "you really have been learning things from Madam Pomfrey after all."

"I do try," replied Tracey who then hugged her best friend.

Daphne removed the remains of the splint from her ankle and stood up and walked around the cave. She looked back at her friend, "This feels great actually, I shouldn't be slowing any of us down at this point."

The group decided at this point that they should rest for the evening. They had made a fire earlier and noted that the smoke at least was finding a way out through the cracks between the rocks, so they were not worried about running out of air while they were in the cave. Harry suggested that they take turns watching over the fire, just in case some creature came up one of the tunnels to where they were huddled together. The others readily agreed, and Harry opted for the first watch. After what he assumed was several hours he woke up Neville who then agreed to take the second shift.

Neville spent his watch walking around the cave, thinking about the previous day and everything that had happened, from being sent into the virtual magical reality unprepared, to fighting pirates, to being attacked first by a mountain lion and then by a pack of wargs and then having Harry Potter come and help save them.

Then Neville sat down as he considered the relationship that seemed to be developing between Tracey Davis and himself. He stopped his thoughts for a moment, for he was simple and shy Neville Longbottom, who had long been considered the near squib of Gryffindor and she was a Slytherin with a reputation of being popular with boys. He even recalled hearing rumours that she was popular among some of the witches as well. Neville just shook his head in confusion over everything. He considered that he himself was not what everyone else thought about him, and he had his friend Harry Potter to thank for that. Harry had started the DA classes and Neville learned more about magic last year than in any previous year at Hogwarts. Then Harry had that crazy rescue mission to the Ministry of Magic and Harry had allowed Neville to come along. And Neville surprised everyone, including himself and especially his grandmother by how well he had performed. With that new found confidence he seemed to change over the summer, getting stronger physically and magically as he practiced all of the spells he learned from first year through fifth year, especially everything that Harry had taught them. Then Neville came across his father's journals and he studied them and learned even more. Neville stood up again and continued his pacing back and forth, trying to keep himself awake while he stood guard over their little group.

As Neville considered how he had grown so much over the past year he had stopped his pacing as he had been lost in his thoughts. He had been so lost in his thoughts he hadn't heard Tracey wake up and come up behind him. He nearly jumped when she wrapped her arms around him.

"Hey, there, hero," she purred into his ear, "how are you holding up?"

Neville turned around to face her. As he was about to question her calling him a hero his lips were suddenly covered by hers. In his shock he pulled away from her.

"What's the matter, Neville? Don't you like girls?" she asked feeling hurt. "Or is it just me? Or is it because I'm a slimy snake from Slytherin as your friend Weasley would say?"

Neville was still in shock from the kiss and was still at a loss for words.

"Well, Longbottom," she said stepping back from him with her hands now on her hips, "I _am_ waiting for an answer."

Neville started to blush. "I'm sorry, Tracey, it's just that I was deep in thought and you took me by surprise," he spluttered. "Yes, I do like girls, and yes I do like you and no I don't care that you're a Slytherin."

Tracey smiled broadly at his comments. She then stepped forward slowly as though she was stalking him, "Then this shouldn't be a problem then," she said as she wrapped her hands around his neck and started to kiss him again.

Neville tentatively kissed back, and he felt his face burning as the blood rushed there as he became increasingly embarrassed by his situation. After a few minutes he pulled his head back and took a deep breath.

Tracey started to laugh again at him. "Don't you even know how to snog properly, Longbottom?"

Neville continued to blush, "Can't say that I would, considering I've never snogged anyone before."

Tracey smirked at him as she pulled him closer to her, "Then let me have the pleasure of educating you properly, Lord Longbottom. Just be sure to breathe through your nose, you'll be sure to last more than a few seconds that way."

Neville smiled at her and nodded, his face still warm from the blush that continued.

"Just relax, and enjoy it, and do what comes naturally," she added as she licked her lips before placing her lips gently on his. She kissed him a few times before pulling away slightly. "By the way, Longbottom, thanks again for all the times you saved me today, I'm sure I'll have to make it up to you again and again and again."

"You don't have to do that," protested Neville.

Tracey laughed slightly and smiled at him, "You're missing the point, it's not about what I _have_ to do but what I _want_ to do. And right now this is what I _want_ to do." With that she pulled him in for a searing kiss and didn't let go for several minutes. After the first minute she forced her way into his mouth with her tongue, a sensation which surprised Neville but he soon found to be quite agreeable. As the passion of their kiss grew, the two tripped and tumbled to the ground.

However, before they fell, they were being watched by a couple of their classmates who couldn't help but overhear the banter between the two. When the amorous couple landed on the hard ground everyone was surprised to hear a hollow thud.

"Now that was odd," commented Tracey looking up at Neville on top of her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so clumsy," he said as he tried to get off her quickly.

"Not you," she said, swatting his arm with her hand, "that wasn't a problem. That was actually kind of amusing, if not just a little painful when we landed. But that sound when we hit the ground."

"That had kind of a hollow ring to it, don't you agree, Potter," commented Daphne.

"I'd have to say you're right about that," added Harry.

Realising that they had been observed in their romantic embrace and brief snogging session Neville and Tracey quickly scrambled away from each other.

"That wasn't what it looked like," Tracey tried to explain.

Daphne laughed at her best friend, "Then what the bloody hell do you call assaulting the poor boy with your tongue? Although Neville did seem to enjoy it," she added with a smirk, "at least I didn't hear him protesting very much after the initial attack."

"You were awake for the whole thing?" asked a dismayed Neville.

"Pretty much," laughed Daphne.

"I only heard everything from the point at which Tracey accused you of not knowing how to snog properly, or was it when she accused you of not liking girls," added Harry. "I guess it must have been the latter."

"However, what ever it was that you two were up to is _not_ the point," added Daphne.

"No, that hollow area under where you landed," continued Harry as he stood up and walked over to where they had initially fallen, "that has me curious. What could be under here?"

Harry then started stomping on the area and he reproduced the hollow thud on the ground.

Daphne looked at the ground and then at Harry. "It sounds like there is a chamber or room underneath there," she observed.

"Perhaps there is a way our of here through there," he surmised.

"Well, then, how do we find out?" asked a confused Neville who had managed to get up off of the ground and was a little less red in the face at this time.

"Maybe you could try blasting it with a hex or something," said Harry, "after all, you're the one who actually has a wand."

Neville pulled his wand out of his boot and pointed it at the area on the floor where they had fallen. Daphne held her hands out and yelled at him to stop.

"Slow down, mister," she exclaimed. "Wait for us to get behind you in case the spell ricochets off the rocky floor or something. No sense one of us getting hurt from this."

"She's so smart," added Tracey standing close behind Neville.

Harry just shook his head at the couple in front of him as he quickly made his way behind Neville.

Neville watched the other two move and once they were both standing behind him he turned to face Daphne, "Can I begin now?"

"Go ahead, lover boy," she replied with a grin.

Neville blushed once again and then turned to Harry, "Which spell would you recommend I use?"

"Use the simple blasting hex, _bombarda_, but put as much power into as you can," said Harry thoughtfully.

Neville nodded as he had practiced using different levels of power in his spells earlier this summer.

"_Bombarda_!" he exclaimed as he pointed his wand at the area on the floor in front of him.

There was a large flash on the floor as the spell hit the area and caused an explosion. Dust and debris were sent up into he air and the sound of the blast echoed throughout the cave and down the tunnels.

Tracey muttered as she was holding her ears, "Damn that was loud."

Neville tilted his head as he explained "But Harry said to put as much power into it as possible."

Daphne tried to shake the ringing in her ears away and then turned to Neville. "I think that was more powerful than a typical _bombarda maxima_ spell that an average wizard might cast."

Finally the dust settled from Neville's spell work and everyone stared at the floor of the cave that had a simple black scorch mark and otherwise seemed undamaged. Harry shook his head as he puzzled over the problem. He walked forward towards the area and stood on top of the scorched dirt and rock.

"This doesn't make sense," he began to say. "Neville's spell was powerful enough to blast through even six inches of stone, or it should have been." Harry turned around in a circle and looked back at the other three. "This should not be here still," he said as he stomped down hard on the scorched patch.

As he did so everyone heard the ground underneath Harry begin to crack. Then came the crash as the area collapsed beneath him.

Daphne shouted out "Harry!", while Tracey gasped and Neville ran to the edge of the hole that opened up, sliding to a stop when he saw that somehow Harry had managed to grab a hold on the edge of the rock ledge that remained.

Neville peered over the edge and looked down at a grinning Harry Potter who was struggling to pull himself back up out of the hole.

"A little help, mate?" he asked in between gasps for air.

"What? Oh, sure thing," replied Neville when he realised what Harry had said. "Good thing you have the quick reflexes of a seeker from playing Quidditch," he added as he helped pull Harry up and onto the more secure ground.

"Is that what all of those games were good for after all?" asked Harry as he rolled onto his back and laughed at Neville's comment.

Daphne walked over to the edge and looked down into the hole. "Quit your whining, Potter, it's only about ten or fifteen feet down and it looks like there's water down there."

Tracey now joined her and added, "It sounds like a stream or a river down there."

"Maybe Potter doesn't know how to swim and he was worried he might drown," commented Daphne as she turned to Tracey. "No, scratch that idea, he did manage to save both Weasley, the _thing he would most dearly miss_, and that French champion's little sister, so I guess he _does_ know how to swim."

"I wasn't the one who chose the hostages," protested Harry.

"No one said you did, Potter," laughed Daphne.

Neville now joined the two girls by the edge of the hole and looked down at the underground stream. "Based on where we entered the cave from, it seems that this stream is heading north."

Daphne nodded in agreement, "So, is this our way out?"

Harry got up off of the ground and made his way back to the edge of the hole and cast a lumos spell on the edge of his cutlass. Looking down into the cavern below he replied to Daphne's question, "It looks like it just might be our way out."

Harry then put the sword into his belt at his side and grabbed the edge of the hole and flipped himself over and swung down into the cavern underneath the area where they had been and landed on a dry spot of dirt. Pulling out his sword once more he used the light to investigate where he was. He could see that the water appeared to be fairly clear and the current seemed to be strong enough to carry them out if they only had a boat. Considering they might need something to help them float down the underground river, Harry then conjured a canoe with the cutlass.

"There is some dry land down here next to the stream," he said as he called up to the other three. "The water is not running too fast," he added, "and it doesn't look like is much more than 4 to 6 feet deep."

Harry moved over to the area underneath the hole in the ceiling of the cavern he was in and he helped Daphne and Tracey with climbing down. This new area was clearly not as spacious as the cave they had left above, but the two girls were soon standing on the sandy area next to Harry.

Once Neville had climbed down he noticed the canoe which Harry had conjured and was on the edge of the stream. Neville drew his wand and tried to conjure a canoe as well, but he only managed to make an object that appeared to be more of a raft.

"Conjuration was never my best subject," stated Neville morosely as the others looked at the raft that was now next to the canoe.

The foursome now stood on the side of the stream and looked at their possible means of escape. As they were about to get into the canoe and onto the raft, Harry offered to transfigure the raft into a canoe. Neville quickly agreed that would be for the best, and then Harry proceeded to make the magical adjustment to the raft.

Neville walked over to the newest canoe and Tracey quickly joined him, leaving Daphne and Harry to get into the remaining canoe which Harry had originally conjured. They gently pushed their boats away from the sandy beach and then set off into the stream.

They each began to paddle with their hands which quickly proved to not be very efficient.

Tracey spoke up as she was quickly becoming frustrated with their lack of ability to control the canoes easily. "Maybe making a paddle or two or three or four with Neville's wand to help us maneuver these canoes better might be a good idea."

Neville laughed slightly at the suggestion. "Maybe you should try it," he said, "while I practiced a lot with many spells, I still pretty much suck at conjuration."

Tracey smiled at him and happily took the wand. In a matter of moments they all had small paddles to use to help propel the canoes.

The group started to make progress paddling along the stream when suddenly Tracey let out a scream.

"What the hell was that for?" demanded Daphne.

"Something was swimming by under the water," claimed Tracey. "I know it's hard to see in here with only a little bit of light from the lumos charms cast on those branches, but I know I saw something swimming along underneath us."

"It's probably just some cave fish," commented Neville, trying to reassure her.

"It was longer than some little fish," she said, "and it was wriggling all around, like a snake or something."

"Maybe it was just shadows from the ripples in the water from our paddling," added Daphne, trying to reassure her friend. "It's not like there would be anything in here with us."

As she was saying this something seemed to jump out of the water and tried to bite her hand, causing Daphne to drop her paddle and scream.

Harry quickly picked up her paddle as the canoe glided past it and he handed it back to her.

"That was no shadow," said Tracey as Daphne was trying to calm down.

"That was definitely a water snake," stated Harry. "I've never seen a water snake jump put of the water like that before, though."

"Have you ever seen a water snake before?" asked Neville.

"Well, no actually," replied Harry as he considered the question.

The snake then jumped towards Neville's paddle but he quickly pulled his paddle away and the snake collided with the side of the canoe. All four of them saw the snake this time and noted that it appeared to be at least 4 to 6 inches in diameter.

"This can't be good," said Daphne as she tried to follow where the water snake was swimming.

Harry then started hissing at the snake, which was unnerving to everyone else in the canoes.

"Potter, it's underwater," said Daphne stating the obvious. "It is not going to hear you speak parseltongue, if that is in fact what you are trying to do."

The snake made another lunge at a paddle, this time for the one being held by Tracey, who also pulled it away. The snake seemed to jump completely out of the water this time and they could see that it was over seven feet long.

"That's one big snake," cried out Neville.

"And for all we know, it's probably poisonous so we better not let it bite any of us," added Daphne.

Harry continued to paddle gently keeping his eye out for the snake. Then he slowly pulled his paddle out of the water and he noticed the water snake heading towards him. As the snake attempted to jump out of the water once more Harry slammed his paddle down on to the surface of the stream with a resounding smack. His paddle split in two and his hands stung from the splitting of the wood. The sound of the paddle smacking the water caused the two young women to scream from being startled.

Tracey then pointed out that the snake was floating dead in the water next to the canoe.

"Good shot, Potter," commented Daphne. "You must have hit it right on top of its head."

"I aim to please," replied Harry with a slight laugh.

Neville shook his head, "At least your aim was on target."

"But the paddle is broken," added Tracey.

"That can be easily repaired," stated Harry as he grabbed the two parts of the shattered paddle from the stream. Using his cutlass once again as a wand he quickly cast a charm to repair the damaged paddle.

Once Harry had repaired the paddle the group was able to set off again down the stream, avoiding various stalactites along the way. The stream was flowing peacefully at first but as they meandered along the darkened passageway they became aware that the current was starting to move faster as there was more splashing along any rocks along the shore. As their journey continued there was a growing sound of a roaring noise in the distance. This noise was steadily growing louder as the current also continued to get stronger.

"This can't be good," commented Neville as the canoes were becoming harder to manoeuvre.

"I have a bad feeling about this," added Harry.

Daphne turned around to face Harry and was about to say something when it became clear that there was a glow up ahead where the underground tunnel was leading.

Before she could make her comment, Tracey yelled out, "I think we're going to be free from this dark hole!"

"I think we're heading for a waterfall," called back Harry.

"Like I said," repeated Neville, "this can't be good."

"Paddle harder," urged Harry. "We don't know how far of a drop we're going to have and this way we'll push ourselves farther away from whatever wall or cliff we're going to shoot out over."

"And hopefully avoid any rocks below," added Daphne. "You're so encouraging, Potter."

The four young people started paddling as hard as they could as they were closing in on the end of their tunnel. The glow of sunlight from the opening was starting to hurt their eyes a little as they were so used to the shadows of the darkness where they had been for so many hours on end. The roar of the waterfall was increasing, but they still weren't sure just how big it was based on the noise.

— — VMI — —

Draco had felt that both he and Granger had been lucky that they had not been injured more seriously by either the avalanche from the cliff nor from falling trees when the earthquake had hit the night before. Although he was feeling quite stiff when he awoke, leaning against the edge of the shelter he had constructed for protection and then repaired after the earthquake. He quickly looked around to see that Hermione was still asleep. Draco relaxed a little as she wouldn't know that he had fallen asleep while he was supposedly on watch to make sure they were safe throughout the night.

Draco stood up and began to stretch and started to loosen up his stiff muscles. He heard Hermione start to stretch behind him and he turned to check on how she was doing.

"Loosening up after getting some sleep, Draco?" she asked.

Draco started to blush as he understood she must have known he had fallen asleep. "I only dozed briefly, I stayed awake most of the night."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, "Whatever. Although I should thank you for this pillow of sorts, even if it was made out of my shirt."

Draco smiled sheepishly at her comment, "It was the best I could do. Besides, it was your shirt after all, so I figured you had first claim to it."

Hermione smiled at his attempt to humour her. Slowly she managed to sit herself up, but she winced as she put any weight on her ankle.

"How does it feel today?" he asked.

"Oh, it hurts like hell," she said. "But considering how much more it hurt yesterday, I guess that I really can't complain."

Then she winced again as she struggled to stand up. Draco moved to lend her hand which she batted away. "I can do this on my own," she insisted, "thank you very much."

"Still as stubborn as ever, aren't you, Granger," observed Draco.

"I'm not stubborn," she corrected, "I'm self reliant."

Draco shook his head. He was about to make another comment to her when they both heard screaming coming from the lake. They turned and saw what looked like two canoes shooting out over the waterfall and four people falling into the lake as the canoes fell apart beneath them.

— — VMI — —

The two canoes were then shot into the air from out of the tunnel and plummeted the twenty feet into the lake below. The teenagers all fell out of their canoes but they were at least grateful that there were no rocks for them to land on although the conjured canoes did not fair well with the landing on the lake.

Harry and Daphne were the closest to the shore and started to swim. Neville initially was bobbing up and down, looking for Tracey who came up beside him. He pointed to where the other two were heading and they began to follow them to the shore.

Draco quickly realised that they had surprisingly found the missing members of their group. He started to run to the shore, calling out to them. Hermione began to walk to the shore as well, limping along the way, ignoring the pain from her wound. As Draco was waving to the people in the water he was surprised when they all suddenly went under the surface and the lake became a mass of bubbles and waves.

"What is going on?" asked Hermione in surprise as she caught up to Draco, and quickly grabbed onto his arm to steady herself as her leg was about to give out from the pain.

Looking out onto the lake, the two of them saw the lake turn into an opaque mess of red liquid.

While Draco and Hermione had been making their way to the shoreline, the four teens who had been swimming across the lake were pulled under the surface. Tracey Davis was pulled under first and Neville quickly noticed that she was no longer at his side. He turned and dove after her and soon found that water sprites were grabbing at his arms as he tried to swim towards her where she was being dragged towards the bottom by two other water sprites.

Neville had the cutlass at his side and quickly moved to reach for it, throwing off one of the sprites grasping his arm. Soon he was slashing through the water with the sword and the blood started to flow in the water and Neville continued to swim towards the bottom of the lake in his search for Tracey.

At the same time Daphne and Harry were pulled underneath by water sprites grabbing at their legs. Harry had quickly released his cutlass from his side and made quick work of the sprites that were attacking him. He actually was surprised that the attackers weren't grindylows, the nasty little creatures which he had to fight off in the Black Lake during the second task. But as he had been suspicious that they might encounter something such as a grindylow in the lake he was more than ready to defend himself. The water sprites grabbing his legs never stood a chance. More blood began to flow in the lake.

Harry then spun around and made quick work of the sprites that were dragging Daphne under the water. The two then quickly swam up to the surface and gasped for a breath of air.

On the shore, Hermione was relieved to see two people's heads come out of the bloody water, especially when she saw that one of them was her best friend, Harry Potter. Harry took a hold of Daphne's arm and helped her to the shore. Once they were close enough to stand she quickly shrugged him off.

"I can manage just fine, Potter," she snapped at him.

"Where's Neville and Tracey?" asked Hermione.

Harry and Daphne turned around and looked out across the lake and then they noticed how red the water had become.

"Oh Merlin's…" began Harry cursing the scene before him, but his words were interrupted as Daphne gasped and pointed "Is that them?"

They suddenly saw Neville's head come up for air in the middle of the blood stained water, and then they could see he was pulling Tracey with him.

Harry jumped back into the water and helped Neville pull her limp body to the shore. It was only moments later that the two of them were able to get Tracey onto the beach and Harry knelt by her side and felt for a pulse and listened for any signs of breathing. Harry's face grew long and he frowned as he looked at Neville who had tears in his eyes.

"I tried to get to her as fast as I could," he cried out in between gasps as he was still trying to catch his breath.

Hermione then managed to hop painfully over to Tracey's side. "Doesn't any of you know CPR?" She then knelt down next to the still form of Tracey and began by checking her throat and started to give respirations followed by chest compressions. Within thirty-seconds of giving mouth to mouth Tracey started to cough and sputter.

Draco tilted his head as he watched amazed, "What kind of magic is that?"

Hermione called Daphne over and told her to sit by Tracey and make sure that she was breathing regularly and help keep her head slightly elevated. Then she turned to face Draco, "That wasn't magic, that's a muggle skill, it's called CPR, which stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It's used for drowning or near drowning victims or if someone has had a heart attack. It doesn't use magic, it uses basic muggle science."

Hermione then went to stand up and walk away, but the pain in her leg cause her to collapse, only for Draco to reach out and catch her.

Harry looked on in surprise. "What's wrong?"

"Just a slight problem," Hermione tried to explain through gritted teeth, "I'll be okay in a moment."

Harry could tell that she was clearly misrepresenting the truth and that she was also not trying to get out of Draco's arms as he carefully let her sit down on the ground in front of him.

"The truth, Potter," began Draco, "is that she has a serious injury on her ankle that she sustained when we were escaping from a little bird's nest over half way up that cliff up there." He finished by pointing to the rock wall behind them.

Daphne, Harry and Neville all followed with their eyes to where he was pointing and then looked back at Draco and Hermione.

Daphne spoke up first, "You two managed to get down from there without using magic and the only injury is Hermione's ankle?"

Hermione turned and glared at Draco. Then she looked at the others and took a deep breath before she told the rest of the story, "We really had no choice but to find some way out of the fix we were in. And Draco came up with the best idea we could manage. However, things didn't go exactly as planned. Still, it could have all been a lot worse."

Harry started to get angry now. "What happened?" he demanded.

"Relax Potter," stated Draco, "her head injury is minor. The bruising isn't a big deal and her precious smarts haven't been damaged as you can see. She did just manage to save Davis' life when none of us knew what to do for her. And her leg will get better."

Neville then spoke up, "What happened to your leg, Hermione?"

Hermione looked up at Draco briefly, bit her lip for a moment before turning back to the others. "When I landed in the trees, my leg was impaled on a branch. Draco managed to remove the branch from my leg. Yes, it still hurts, a lot. We don't have healing potions, or even antibiotics, and we don't have a wand for simple healing."

Neville's eyes lit up, "I have a wand, and Tracey has trained in healing with Madam Pomfrey. Perhaps when she has recovered enough, maybe she can help finish healing your leg."

Hermione stared at Neville. "How do you have a wand?"

Draco raised an eyebrow, assessing the Longbottom heir standing in front of him, realising that there was more to him than the near squib that he had always assumed he was for the entire time he had known him since they were young children.

Neville blushed slightly at the attention he was receiving about his wand again. "Well, as I already explained to Harry, and to Tracey and Daphne, I gained a lot of confidence from Harry's classes this past year. And then we had our trip to the ministry with Harry." Neville paused and looked directly at Draco, "Sorry to bring that up again Draco."

Draco shook his head, "I wasn't there, I have no control over my father's actions."

The Gryffindor students all silently wondered about those words coming from the Malfoy heir, who so often would threaten everyone with the phrase 'wait until my father hears about this.'

"Well, as I was saying, after that incident, and gaining more confidence in my magic, I started reading my father's journals from when he was an Auror," continued Neville. "He mentioned in his journals about using a spare wand, as a back up. I managed to arrange for a spare wand. I had it with me when we were sent here to this virtual magical island place. I've been using it as needed."

"That's so Slytherin of you," commented Draco, "not at all like the goody-goody weak willed Gryffindor that everyone at Hogwarts thinks you are."

Daphne sneered at Draco, "Play nice, Malfoy."

"Don't worry, Greengrass," he replied, "I am playing nice." He then turned to Neville, "Have no fear, Longbottom, your secret is safe with me. Any Gryffindor who can go from being near squib status to being skilled and devious is someone who should neither be messed with, nor should others be forewarned about. Anyone who crosses you deserves what they get in my book."

As Draco finished speaking, Tracey started to stir and cough more. Daphne who was holding her friend's head in her lap helped her to sit up.

"There now, Trace, how are you doing?" she said to Tracey as her friend seemed to be more awake.

Tracey slowly reached up to her face with her hands. She rubbed her eyes and had another coughing spell. "What the bloody hell happened?" she gasped out with a hoarse voice.

"Do you remember the waterfall?" asked Daphne.

"Yes, I remember the bloody waterfall," spat out Tracey, her voice still strained. "And I remember the bloody little monsters dragging me under the water." She paused for a moment and then turned to look at Longbottom, "and I remember Neville trying to save me."

A she looked up at him she saw Neville had turned away.

Tracey turned to Daphne and whispered, "What's his problem?"

Neville turned back to face her and she noticed tears on his face. "I wasn't good enough, I wasn't quick enough. I didn't save you, Tracey. When I brought you back to the shore, you weren't breathing, Hermione had to save you with some muggle thing that got you breathing again."

Tracey looked around at everyone who was staring at her. She then looked directly at Hermione and with a very serious tone asked, "Is this true, Hermione? You're the one who had to save me?"

Hermione swallowed hard. "Neville did everything he could. But when he got you here, you weren't breathing. I did what I learned to do in situations like this, and I got you breathing again."

Tracey's eyes lit up and she smiled broadly. "So, Neville brought me to the one person who could save me, so he's still me hero!" She turned and looked at Neville again, "It seems I owe you again, Mister Longbottom, or is it Lord Longbottom?"

Neville was at a loss for words. "Wait, you're not mad at me?"

Tracey smiled at him, "Neville, I still remember seeing you fighting off many of those stinking water monsters, what were they? Water sprites? They were dragging me down and all I could see was you making a bigger bloody mess hacking away at more and more of them. Now, we're both here on the beach, alive and breathing and talking. Who else dove to the bottom of that lake to get me?"

Neville looked away, "It was me, but I didn't get to you quick enough."

"Longbottom," snapped Tracey, "since I'm still here breathing, I think you did just fine."

"Enough of the mushy stuff," commented Draco. "We're all back together. As I recall, this is supposed to be a group project. And we're supposed to get to some beacon on the north side of the island so we can get out of here."

Daphne nodded in agreement, "That was the mission we were given."

"Then perhaps we can work on staying together as opposed to having people running off in different directions at the first sign of trouble," quipped Draco.

"Staying together is a smart idea," agreed Harry. "But we can't go anywhere until everyone is ready." He then turned to Hermione and Tracey, "How are you two doing? We know about Hermione's leg, but what about you, Davis?"

Tracey raised an eyebrow at Harry's sudden formality in using her last name, and she wondered if it was just because Draco was present, or if it was something else. "I think I'll be fine, although I might have to take things a little slow at first."

Hermione smiled slightly, "I'll manage."

Neville then spoke up, "Tracey, do you think that you might be up for trying to heal Hermione's leg? She apparently took quite the fall."

Tracey carefully stood up and brushed herself off. Deciding that she didn't want to continue dealing with being soaking wet she asked for Neville's wand. Neville readily handed it to her and the first thing she did was dried off everyone who had landed in the lake. "I can't believe none of you even thought about drying us off, considering that's such a simple spell," she scolded.

Then she turned and faced Hermione. "Let's have a look at that leg, shall we."

Hermione gave a half smile and pulled the robe back off her leg and revealed the bandage that Draco had placed there.

"Nice first aid work here," commented Tracey as she carefully removed the bandage. "Who knew Draco would know anything about first aid?" She then frowned as she looked more closely at the wound. "This could be a problem if we don't do something about it. We'll have to get some water and wash it out first."

She looked up at Hermione and gave her an apologetic look, "Cleaning this out is going to hurt, so you may want to find something to squeeze hard or bite into."

Hermione looked around and Draco held out his hand. "It's my fault you got hurt, so you can squeeze my hand if you need to." He gave her his left hand and she grabbed a hold of his index and middle finger with her right hand.

Harry stood up and was about to protest and offer his hand but Neville silently pulled him back by his shoulder.

Tracey then asked Harry and Neville to fetch some water with a cup or bottle, which Harry conjured using the cutlass. Hermione's eyes went wide as she watched Harry perform magic without a real wand. In a moment they had handed Tracey the water, which she then cast some sort of spell over which none of them recognised before she then poured it over the wound on Hermione's leg. Immediately she squeezed Draco's two fingers and instead of screaming out loud she bit the knuckles on the back of her left hand.

Once Tracey had finished pouring the liquid onto the wound, which bubbled for a while, Hermione took a deep breath and looked at her as she said, "You weren't kidding when you said that might hurt."

Tracey smiled at her before taking the wand and casting another spell over the wound. Hermione watched as the wound started to heal up.

"So, how does it feel now?"

Hermione tentatively moved her foot and ankle, and then using leverage from holding onto Draco's fingers she pulled herself up to stand. She then began to walk carefully, expecting to feel the same pain she had before, but she was quite pleased to find that she had no such pain anymore. A large smile broke out on her face as she started to move about more quickly.

"Now don't start running, jumping and doing ballet all at once," warned Tracey with a laugh.

Daphne watched the scene and then added, "I think we may be ready to restart our journey soon."

"Which way do we go?" asked Neville.

Draco shook his head briefly before pointing to the north and to a path that lead away from the clearing they were in and up towards the mountains ahead.

The group began their trek northwards again. what was once two groups of three students from houses that were habitually antagonistic towards each other and usually untrusting at best had formed an unlikely bond due to their previous exploits over the previous twenty-four hours. They started to slowly hike out of the valley they had found themselves in, leaving the cliffs and the bloody lake behind them. Neither Harry or Neville commented on Draco's lack of a shirt under his robes, and no one had made any comments about the growing relationship between Neville and Tracey.

They walked along at a pace that was comfortable for everyone considering that both Daphne and Hermione had recently been healed of ankle or leg injuries and Tracey had been revived from the near drowning experience. All six of the young witches and wizards silently marvelled at how far they had come with only one wand and three cutlasses - and those swords had to be appropriated from pirates who had attacked them almost immediately upon their arrival here in this virtual magical world.

The group started to follow a trail that was leading up towards a pass between some hills and towards some mountains. They were at least grateful that the mountains ahead did not appear to be as large as the ones that were behind them. They had guessed that they were over half way across the island but they knew they still had many obstacles to face.

"Did you all experience that earthquake last night?" asked Hermione as they were walking along.

Harry snorted at her question. "That's what lead to our coming out of the waterfall," he said.

The four who had arrived together then told Draco and Hermione their tale of ending up in the cave and finding the underwater river, although they mercifully left out exactly how they found the hollow under the cave, for which both Neville and Tracey were silently grateful. Draco and Hermione did explain a little more about being grabbed by the rok but they did not go into details about how they managed to get off of the cliff face.

The travellers reached a clearing where they stopped for a rest. During the rest period, Daphne and Tracey became irritated that neither Draco or Hermione would reveal any more details of their adventure. The two girls who had been best friends since before starting at Hogwarts were both so frustrated they stepped away slightly from the group.

Turning back to look at Hermione and Draco, Tracey exclaimed, "I can't believe you two won't tell us what you did."

"Unless of course Draco used dark magic and Hermione doesn't want to admit it," teased Daphne.

As she was saying that a dark shadow passed overhead. The six look up suddenly. Draco muttered something akin to 'What the hell?'

Two flying creatures swooped down from the sky and with their hind legs grabbed Tracey and Daphne and flew off, heading west, as the girls screamed and struggled.

The four left behind chased after them briefly but the winged creatures were too fast and were soon out of sight.

"What the hell did I just see?" asked Draco out loud.

Hermione was muttering for a minute and then she finally spoke loudly, almost yelling. "Flying monkeys? Really? The damned programmers put flying monkeys into this matrix thing!"

Everyone was staring at Hermione.

"Excuse me," stated Neville.

"What? What the bloody hell was that?" asked a bewildered Harry.

"I've never heard of flying monkeys," commented Draco as he stared off into the distance where the creatures had taken the two girls and slowly disappeared from sight.

"Of course you haven't. They don't really exist," she stated.

Draco was puzzled, as were the others. "What do you mean?" Draco demanded. "We just saw those creatures swoop down and grab Davis and Greengrass. They definitely looked like the bloody well exist to me!"

Hermione shook her head in frustration for a minute. Then she looked at the boys as she tired to explain. "They only exist in a muggle movie based on a fiction book that has a wicked witch that is green and a good witch who looks like a ballerina who does nothing other than tell Dorothy to click her heals together and repeat there is no place like home."

Harry felt confused, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"It comes from a book called the Wizard of Oz. The flying monkeys work for the Wicked Witch of the West," said Hermione, feeling frustrated. "She had hundreds of them, if not more."

Harry rolled his eyes at this, "You mean that we have to chase after a fictional version of a witch created by muggles for a movie that these Americans put into this virtual reality. What kind of powers does this witch actually have?"

"I have no idea what she could really do here," said Hermione, "but in the movie she sometimes used a wand, sometimes she didn't. But she did have one major weakness."

"And what was that?" asked Draco.

"Soaking her with water will make her melt," stated Hermione. "As in she dies and screams in agony. And it frees all of her minions from serving her. Or at least thats what happened in the movie."

Neville then spoke up, "So if we can track down these flying monkeys, defeat this Wicked Witch of the West by getting her wet, then we can rescue the girls."

"That's about the size of it," replied Hermione. "Or at least that is how it should work if this place follows what happened in the movie."

"Either way we need to figure out how to find them," added Harry.

"And how would you suggest we do that?" asked Draco.

"We head west as quickly as possible," snapped Harry.

"Brilliant, absolutely, brilliant," said Draco as he shook his head. "And how are we going to do that?"

"I don't know, but we ought to at least start walking, and maybe we'll figure something out along the way," said Harry as he started to make his way across the open area on the hill.

The others started to follow him as Harry began to quicken his pace.

"Do you always make things up as you go along?" wondered Draco.

"Usually," said Harry, "unless Hermione comes up with a well thought out plan. Then we try to follow that, but her plans tend to only take things so far, then everything goes pear shaped, and we end up having to improvise."

"You must be fairly experienced with this improvising thing then, I would guess," added Draco.

Harry didn't respond to Malfoy's latest barb, Hermione simply muttered something along the line of 'boys being boys' while Neville tried to stifle a laugh at the comments the two were making.

As the four were making their way across the hills and came to another pass and Harry came to a sudden stop and put his hands out to make sure the others didn't continue past him.

"What's the deal?" asked Draco as he was surprised by the sudden stop. Then he noticed that up ahead in a clearing there were two hippogriffs grazing in a meadow.

Recognising the creatures that were about fifty meters away, Draco shook his head in frustration. "Hippogriffs, I hate hippogriffs. Why did it have to be hippogriffs?"

Harry laughed, "Actually they're just what we need."

"Bloody monsters," commented Draco, "that's what they are."

Harry shook his head as he looked at Draco, then he turned back towards the two magical beasts. He slowly approached them and the two hippogirffs stopped grazing and looked up at him. Harry then stopped and bowed deeply, waiting for them to respond. After a moment, the two hippogriffs acknowledged Harry and bowed deeply in return. Harry then slowly walked forward and spoke softly, "My friends and I need some help. Another couple of friends of ours were taken by some flying monkeys."

Harry shook his head, "You probably have no idea what I'm saying, do you."

One of the hippogriffs seemed to smile and nodded his head slightly.

Hermione then started to approach and the other hippogriff stiffened. Hermione stopped in her tracks and then she did as Harry had done and bowed deeply. The hippogriff looked her over and then after a moment bowed its head in response. Once this had transpired Hermione stood up and then approached it and walked up and started to pet its head gently.

Turning to Harry she suggested, "Perhaps they will help us, and fly us to where the monkeys took Tracey and Daphne."

"That's what I was hoping," said Harry with a grin. "Buckbeak seemed to know what we needed him to do, and these two seem to be quite smart as well."

At Harry's words the one closest to Harry made a soft braying type noise and gently nuzzled up to him. Harry smiled back at the handsome animal. Hermione and Harry then discussed the situation quickly, and acknowledged that they would fly the hippogriffs as they have had experience with flying on Buckbeak before.

Harry called to the other two, "Neville, you go with Hermione, Draco, you climb up with me. But don't forget to stop and bow to the beast first, before you make a motion towards them Do that and everything should be fine. And whatever you do, speak kindly to them and about them. We can't afford a repeat of what happened at class during third year," he added as a warning to Draco.

Draco and Neville looked at each other for a moment and then slowly they approached the hippogriffs. This time Draco actually stopped and bowed, doing as he was instructed to do and when Neville had also done this and the hippogriffs had returned the bow the two teens made their way to join Harry and Hermione with the large winged creatures.

Draco took a step towards where Hermione was standing with one of the animals when Harry called for him to join him. Draco hesitated and looked over at Hermione. "I never knew you had experience riding on one of these animals."

"You may find that I am full of surprises and mysteries," she said, "and a lot more skill and experience than you might give me credit for, considering I am simply a muggleborn witch."

Upon hearing her scathing comment Draco closed his eyes tightly and turned back to Harry. "Very well, Potter, just how do we manage to do this?"

Harry showed Neville and Draco how they would all get on top of the hippogriff. They then mounted the animals and Harry and Hermione spoke softly to them, asking them to fly off to the west, in search of the flying monkeys.

Soon they were all on their way, flying west hoping to figure out where they were heading. The hippogriffs were strong and took to the air easily, even with two riders. They flew off to the west and the riders soon all felt a chill due to the altitude and the speed at which they were flying. After over twenty minutes of flying they eventually saw a dark mountain with what appeared to be a castle on the top in the distance.

"I think that is where we need to go," called out Harry, hoping that the others would hear him despite the beating of the wings of the hippogriffs.

Draco was holding on tight, and refused to look down, but he had quickly decided that closing his eyes while they were flying only made the sensation worse. Neville, who was holding on to Hermione on the other hippogriff was smiling broadly as he enjoyed the sensation. He much preferred flying on the back of these animals to the experience of flying on top of an invisible thestral.

As they neared the mountain the dark castle appeared to have been damaged from the most recent earthquake. Hermione pointed this out to the others, "It seems that the earthquake was quite widespread, affecting every part of the island."

Draco was eyeing the castle and then he called out to the others, "We look to have company coming!"

Several flying monkeys had seen them and had come out to attack them. Neville had heard the warning and carefully withdrew his wand from his boot. He then gripped Hermione a little tighter with his left arm.

Harry meanwhile pulled out his cutlass which he used as his wand and grabbed a hold of the hippogriff a little tighter.

The four flying monkeys that came out to defend the castle and attack them initially headed straight for Harry and Draco. Neville took out the first monkey with a stunning spell that hit it in its wing, causing the wings to essentially become paralyzed and useless and the monkey screeched as it fell from the sky.

Harry managed to hit the next one with a small blasting hex from his cutlass which he continued to use as a makeshift wand. The spell was strong enough to damage the creature's wing and the second flying monkey went spinning towards the ground below.

The next flying monkey managed to get close enough to the foursome on the backs of the hippogriffs that it was able to try and grab Draco from behind Harry. However the winged primate was not suspecting that the rider on the back of the animal would also be armed, and as it tried to grab Draco with its rear claws it found the blade of a cutlass buried into it's abdomen. As it was collapsing towards the ground below, the fourth and final attacker realised that it's accomplices had already been defeated and it turned to flee. However it quickly discovered that the magic of the two in possession of the wand or the special cutlass was something it could not outfly as it was hit from behind by two different spells, sending it to join its comrades on the forest floor below.

A minute later they managed to land the hippogriffs on the castle walkway. The four dismounted and made their way to one of the towers rising up from the battlements. As they approached the tower, the door opened and they found they were face to face with a group of guards armed with long pole arms. Using the cutlasses and magic spells, Harry, Neville and Draco managed to battle their way through to the centre of the castle. Hermione stayed safely behind the three young men as she had neither a wand nor a sword. The group made their way through the tower and came out into the central courtyard of the castle.

They looked up and noted that the main tower rose from the middle of the courtyard. "I presume that is where we need to go to find the girls," commented Harry.

Looking up at the tall and dark tower, Neville added, "I suppose you're right about that."

As they were about to approach the central tower of the castle a green skinned witch appeared right in front of them with a splash of sparks and a loud bang. She had black and white striped socks and a classic witch's hat not unlike the kind that witches in muggle story books would wear. The three boys looked at each other and tried not to laugh.

Draco asked the others, "Is this old hag supposed to scare us?"

Hermione shook her head in disgust. "It can't be that simple can it?"

She then turned to Neville, "Quickly cast an aguamenti charm at her!"

The witch was about to taunt them when Harry and Neville both shouted "aguamenti" while pointing their wand or cutlass at her.

The green skinned witch screeched out in pain, "Help, I'm melting, I'm melting!"

Hermione laughed at the image in front of them. "Like I said, an American muggle movie, that's what they designed at least this part after. I suspect that they figured that British Purebloods would have no idea how to deal with her if we encountered her."

Hermione shook her head in bemusement. "Let's go find Daphne and Tracey."

They made their way over towards the entrance to the main tower, and the gate was being blocked by the leader of the castle guard.

"You can't get past," he stated defiantly, holding onto his halberd with one hand. "This gate is locked and it will not be opened for you."

"We will get past you without your help if need be," stated Harry, "so you might as well just give us the gate key."

"But I don't have any gate key," protested the guard.

"Neville," commented Harry without taking his eyes off of the leader of the guard, "tear his limbs off, one by one, with your wand. Make sure each spell hurts more than the previous one."

The leader of the castle guard looked back and forth between Harry and Neville, and then Neville raised his wand and pointed it at the guard's foot.

Neville asked Harry, "Should I start down there?"

Harry smirked, "Anywhere you like, Neville."

The guard was starting to panic, dropped the halberd and then he pulled out a large key from inside his tunic. "Oh, you mean _this_ gate key."

"Thank you, sir," said Harry with a grin, as he took the key and then proceeded to open the gate to the final tower.

As they made their way up the tower steps they discovered that the remaining guards had fled, apparently leaving the opposite side of the tower. Inside the tower they quickly found Tracey and Daphne. It was with great relief that the learned the two had not been harmed, but they had been thrown into a dirty cell. Neville opened up the cell with an _alohomora_ easily and then cleaned them off.

Tracey nearly jumped into Neville's arms, kissing him hard on the lips as she thanked him for rescuing them.

Daphne just shook her head at the display in front of them.

Tracey released Neville as she exclaimed, "My hero, once again!"

Draco scoffed. "He didn't do this alone, you know."

Hermione swatted Draco on the arm for his comment, "Can't you let them have a moment?"

Daphne then spoke up, "Thank you guys. Now that we've finished with the pleasantries, maybe we can leave."

Harry raised an eyebrow and looked her directly in the eyes, "You're welcome, _Daphne_." He emphasised the use of her first name, which caused her to step back from a half step.

She composed herself and then she replied, "So, Potter, er, _Harry_, how did you manage to get her so quickly?"

"Hippogriffs," he stated simply but with a broad smile.

Tracey released Neville and looked at their four rescuers. "Wait a second, are you telling us you all flew here on hippogriffs? Even, Draco 'that damned beast nearly killed me, wait until my father hears about this' Malfoy actually climbed on back of one?"

Draco sneered at her, "No more comments, Davis. We came, we defeated the green witch, and saved you all."

"The green witch?" asked a confused Daphne.

"The Wicked Witch of the West," explained Hermione. "She was a character in a muggle movie."

"I told you this was something out of the Wizard of Oz," stated Tracey as she turned to face Daphne. Then turning back to Hermione she seemed excited. "So, did you throw water on her defeat her just like in the movie?"

Draco shook his head this time, "I don't want to know how or why you know anything about this, Davis."

Once they finished their banter, they all went down to the courtyard, and once they arrived there Draco wondered out loud how they were supposed to leave from this castle.

"Well, we don't have any ruby slippers, so we will have to actually work to get our of here," commented Hermione.

Daphne looked at Tracey, "Does she always make such strange statements?"

Tracey rolled her eyes at her best friend, "It was a simple reference to the movie, that's all."

After briefly exploring the castle grounds, they soon found a main gate that had been opened by the guards who had abandoned the castle after the Wicked Witch had been defeated. There was a path that led down the hill, winding it's way north away from the castle.

"At least its not a yellow brick road," commented Hermione.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: We have reached the end of what was written in November for NaNoWriMo. Other chapters have been started and are at least outlined, but posting them will be slower. At least this one was longer than usual. Thanks again for reading and reviewing.<strong>


	12. Chapter 12 - Facing a Dragon

**AN: In this chapter, dialogue in italics are parseltongue.**

* * *

><p><strong>Travel north towards the mountain<strong>

Leaving the castle of the Wicked Witch of the West behind, the group set out to make their way north. The road that left the castle didn't last very long and soon they were walking along an old worn dirt path. The path continued along the hillside as it winded through the forest. After the initial descent from the mountain top where the castle was located they then had more of winding path that went up and down along a steep hillside. There was a rather steep drop to their left, but they were not concerned as the path was more than wide enough for three or four people to walk abreast.

As they were rounding a bend, they noticed a slight breeze coming from the North, and then they all stopped.

"What is that horrid smell?" wondered Tracey as she tried not to cough?

"I have no idea," replied Draco, "but it smells worse than anything that oaf Hagrid ever had as deal with in his stupid classes."

"Smells even worse than the troll that we encountered in the bathroom back in first year," added Hermione.

All of the teens were trying to cover their noses when Harry who had been in the lead stopped short. "I think we ought to be careful, it may be the smell of some foul creature."

The others all quieted down as they made their way around a bend to the right. Their view of the path up ahead had been obscured until they cleared a large boulder on their right. The path in front of them was heading up a slight hill when they saw about fifty meters away two large giants standing in an area on the path that was a little wider than where they were hiding behind the boulder.

The group of six all hid behind the boulder as Daphne whispered, "Damn they're ugly," and after taking a breath she added, "and they're huge, too."

"Do you think they saw us?" asked Tracey who pressed herself tight up against Neville.

"I doubt it," commented Draco, "they seemed to be preoccupied with something."

"So, how do you suppose we're going to manage to get past those things?" wondered Harry.

"You seem to have appointed yourself as leader," replied Draco, "and you're the Gryffindor who is always running head first into everything, so I figured you would come up with a plan."

"We could have Harry and Neville attack them with stunners," added Tracey.

The other five just stared at her. Hermione shook her head as she explained that giants were even more magic resistant than trolls, and trolls were fairly resistant to magic as it was.

Neville then spoke up, "As I recall, giants are not necessarily the smartest species of magical creatures out there."

He waited for acknowledgement from Hermione, who indicated that they were considered to be perhaps smarter than your average troll, but that it was generally accepted that they were not known for being philosophers or in any way academically inclined.

Neville smiled as he shared with them his idea. He then told them all to say hidden, and had Harry cast a disillusionment charm on him. Neville then stepped out from behind the boulder and picked up a small rock. He waited for a moment when the giants were looking away from each other and he threw the rock at one of the giants, hitting him in the back of his neck.

"What was that for?" demanded the first giant as he angrily turned back to face the other one.

"What was what?" replied the second giant.

"You hit me for no reason!" exclaimed the first giant.

"Did not!" argued the second giant.

The two growled slightly at each other and looked around. Then the first giant stated glumly, "Well, there is no one else around here, it must have been you."

The two looked around the hillside and did not see anyone or anything else and continued to mumble. The first one started scratching his sides and looked away from where Neville was standing. Neville grabbed a second rock and this time he threw it at the second giant, hitting him in the back of the head.

The second giant turned around and slapped the first giant on the side of his head.

"Hey! What was that for?" demanded the first giant.

"That's for hitting me!" explained the second giant.

"I didn't do that," defended the first giant. "You're a fool."

The second giant waved his arm near the first one, threatening to hit him again.

The two giants looked up and down the path, and the first commented, "There is nothing else around here, and you're just being a fool."

The second growled back, "You're just hungry and lazy, and you're lucky I haven't hurt you more."

The first giant kicked the second one in the leg, which caused him to step back. "Now stop your foolishness," demanded the first giant.

Neville waited for things to settle down and then he threw another rock, hitting the first giant on the leg. This caused the giant to turn around and kick the second giant once more. This now angered the second giant even more and he threw a punch at the first one. The two then roared at each other and started to fight, knocking each other over. As they continued to fight and kick and punch they rolled over each other and down the path towards where the six wizards and witches were hiding. The giants crashed into the boulder which they were hiding behind. Causing the large rock to crack.

Tracey was about to scream, but Neville, who had rejoined the others, quickly put his hand over her mouth.

The first giant managed to clamber back onto his feet. He then went to kick at the other one while he was down, but he did not expect the giant to lunge at him from a crouching position. As the two giants yelled and punched and kicked they toppled over once more, however their momentum took them over the edge of the path and they began to roll down the steep hillside, crashing into trees below.

Draco walked to the edge of the path and watched the two large creatures continue to fall and battle each other. "I can hardly believe that actually worked," he said in dismay.

The others had joined him and stared down the hill as the giants continued to fight each other once they stopped their fall, over 200 meters down the hillside. Hermione was the next one to speak up, "That was quite ingenious Neville. Whatever made you think of that?"

Neville blushed slightly at the complements and the attention he was receiving at this point, "I just figured they weren't so bright and it is fairly well known they have bad tempers, so I hoped to get them to act out and fight each other. I wasn't sure what would come of their little skirmish, but I don't think we could have hoped for a better result."

Harry looked down the hill once more and then back at the others in their group, "That's one more obstacle out of the way. Let's get moving and try and find that beacon."

Tracey smiled and gave Neville a kiss on the cheek, "Once again, my hero, and now you've even saved me from giants."

Draco scoffed in disgust at the scene in front of him. "I thought you had more self respect than that Davis."

Tracey now took Neville by the hand as they began to follow Harry. "You're just jealous that you don't have someone willing to risk their life for you, Malfoy."

* * *

><p><strong>At Hogwarts<strong>

It was a very tired Jennings and crew that were finishing putting pieces back together on the control panel on the Virtual Magical Reality Device. Saresh wiped some sweat off of his brow and took a step back.

"So, no more attempts at sending something or someone into the Magiworld environment," he stated.

Jennings nodded in agreement. "Now, let's get the monitors started up again."

Alistor Moody had been observing the progress that was being made. Once it was clear that the repairs were nearly done, he left the room to report back to Dumbledore and the rest of the faculty. The other professors were present in the headmaster's office when he arrived.

"Welcome, Alistor," greeted Dumbledore, "I hope that you have good news for us."

"Aye, that I do," he said as he took a seat that he conjured to the left of Albus' desk. "The monitoring system should be running now, and we may have an update on the condition of the students shortly."

"It's about time," sneered Snape.

Albus smiled and his eyes resumed their usual twinkle. "Well, perhaps we should adjourn this faculty meeting and go down to visit our colleagues working with the magi-tech device and see what they have to share."

"Perhaps we should limit how many actually go into the room," commented Filius, "so as to decrease the chance of any further damage being done."

Pomona chimed in, "Perhaps just Minerva and Severus should go, as it is their students, after all, who are stuck in that machine."

"Very well," said Snape as he stood up and brushed off his robes, "we shall go find out what information those doddering American fools have for us now."

Minerva glared at the potions professor, "They are neither doddering nor are they fools, Severus. Please be sure to treat our guests with the respect that they so rightly deserve. We don't need to give any outsiders the impression that we are anything less than hospitable and honourable."

Snape sneered as he turned to leave, his robes billowing behind him, "Have it your way and we will continue to coddle them in their incompetence. As bad as first year Gryffindors in a potions class, they are."

A few minutes later, Professors McGonagall and Snape had arrived back at the MagiTech room with Mad-Eye Moody joining them.

"How are we doing, Mr. Jennings?" asked Minerva.

Jennings turned and greeted the trio with a smile. "Ah, welcome, welcome, it's good to see you all. Finally we have the monitors working and we have our first set of data. The most important bit of good news I have for you is that they are all alive and doing well from what we have been able to determine. It also appears that the group of them have all managed to meet up and are together, and they seem to be proceeding towards the goal."

Minerva breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, that is good to hear."

Snape simply sneered at the man, "It is about time that you have something useful for us. Now, what are you doing to help them leave the chamber and return to us?"

Jennings was clearly taken aback by Snape's attitude. "Professor, I'm sure that we have explained this more than once before. There is nothing we can do to help them leave the scenario. The six students must make their own way to the exit beacon."

Snape was not put off by the response, "Yet you claim to have some control over the environment that these students have been placed in, and you state that there is nothing that you can do. Do you not have control over the obstacles that they will be facing, without wands, I might add?"

Jennings bristled at the question. "The program does affect what obstacles they may encounter," agreed the senior manager of the program, "however, those obstacles have already been added to the program matrix. Just like sending them wands was not effective, changing what obstacles are present in the matrix is not something that we can do safely."

Minerva was equally disturbed by this response, "But you explained that you had control over this program, isn't that what you called it? A computer program? Then why can't you change the program?"

Jennings was about to reply when his aide, Saresh, stepped away from the console he was working on. "That is an understandable question," said the young man as he removed his glasses, "however the problem is that the computer program is already in play and when we lost the original interface we lost some of the ability to manipulate the program. The other problem which still affects the entire situation is the students' lack of wands being tuned to the program. This also severely limits what we can do to help them and what we can do to affect the obstacles that they will face."

Snape was frustrated with the responses and turned to leave, huffing loudly as he did so and his robes once again billowing behind him as he stormed out of the room. Right after he left, Professor Flitwick stepped into the room. "Minerva, perhaps you could join us in the Great Hall as we will be meeting with the Group 2 and 3 students as they have questions about what is happening and if they will be participating in the program."

"Very well, Filius," replied Minerva, "I will join you there shortly." Then she turned back to Jennings, "Thank you for your update. If there is any further news you have perhaps you can let myself or the headmaster there any specific details you can share with me at this time that might be helpful for us to know?"

Jennings smiled as he gave her a little more of an update. "Yes, of course. The students are on the East side of the island, but they are making steady progress northwards. They still need to cross to the West side to where the exit beacon is located, but hopefully they will be able to reach that spot within the next twelve to twenty-four hours."

* * *

><p><strong>On the island<strong>

Laving the area where they encountered the giants behind them the group continued over the next hill. As they prepared to make their descent, they had a view of the area before them. The hill sloped down to a flat forested area, however they could easily see that some of the terrain was more of a grassland. In the distance, perhaps less than six miles away, they could see a large solitary hill rising in the northwest.

Neville pointe at the large hill, "Do you suppose that is our destination, the beacon?"

The others all looked at the sight and started to agree.

"If we could only be so lucky," commented Draco.

Tracey made an unpleasant face, "We seem so close, but who knows what might be waiting for us between here and there."

Hermione spoke up next, "I'm sure something will get in our way as we cover the plains in front of us. We were warned that we would have to face many obstacles."

"At least it seems the end is finally in sight," added Harry. "That in and of itself is a relief."

The others agreed with him on that comment. The group then started off once again, following the trail down towards the flatlands in front of them. With the small mountain that they presumed was the location of the beacon now visible in the distance, they quickened their pace. The mood was one of hope and excitement, and the difficulties which they had overcome started to seem like distant memories as the mountain started to loom larger and the trees on the flatlands grew in height.

Harry was leading the way, with Daphne keeping pace just off to his side. Draco and Hermione were following then, with Neville and Tracey taking up the rear of their group.

"Stay alert," called out Neville, "we still need to be on guard in case something else comes to interfere with this journey."

"I'm not worried," said Tracey softly so that only Neville could hear, "as long as I'm near you."

Neville looked away and rolled his eyes, unsure of how much more of this he could take. He enjoyed her company, and he enjoyed the snogging, but he was beginning to wonder just how much she was really coming to depend upon him. He then turned back and smiled at her, and noted her grinning back at him.

Within twenty minutes they found themselves walking briskly along the path that was now evened out, with the hills behind them and the mountain looming in front of them. Their conversation quickly turned to discussing what they were looking forward to doing once they made it out of the Virtual Magical Island.

"I know I'm taking a long warm bath," stated Daphne. "I'm really looking forward to being able to rest."

Tracey agreed with her, "I second that idea. That sounds glorious."

Neville then asked Harry what he planned to do once they made it out of the Magiworld environment.

"I think I'm heading to the kitchens to get something good to eat," he explained. "Who knows what time it will be there when we get out, and if it's not right around the time of one of the scheduled meals at the Great Hall, I don't intend to wait. I'm sure we can find a few eager house elves who would get us something to eat."

Hermione frowned at Harry's comments. "Don't you go abusing those poor creatures," she cried out.

Draco shook his head, "Would you just give it up about those house elves and their rights, Granger. House elves live to serve. They won't survive if they're not working for wizards and witches. Their magic is dependent on their being bonded to someone. They feed off of the magic of their master or mistress. So stop acting like they're slaves, because they aren't."

Hermione stopped walking and stared at Draco, "I'm sure you're just saying that to make yourselves feel better."

Daphne sighed as she entered the conversation, "Actually, Granger, he's telling you the truth. With all of the studying you do, I would have thought that you have researched house elves more thoroughly before you started your little campaign."

Hermione's cheeks flushed. "But that just doesn't make any sense," she protested.

Tracey rebutted her comments, "Does anything else in our world make sense when you compare it to the muggle world you grew up in? It's attitudes that muggle borns have like yours that irritate that old families so much. You make assumptions about the magical world, and judge it and even condemn it based on muggle standards. Don't forget, it was the muggles who used to have witch hunts and try to burn people like you and me at the stake."

Hermione walked on silently, dragging her feet a little as she contemplated what she had been told.

Harry slowed his pace slightly so he ended up walking next to her and gave her a quick hug. "It's going to be all right," he said encouragingly, "just take the time to learn about some of these things before you start your next crusade, and I'm sure that you will have one."

As he was saying this he noted a shadow pass over head. Looking up into the sky he saw a large flying creature gliding towards their group. Harry recognised what it was from a science book when he was in primary school. It had leathery appearing wings, a sharp pointed face, a long thin tail, and no feathers. He also noted that it had it's talons on it's legs extended as it was heading towards Daphne.

Harry raced towards her and tackled her to the ground, just before the flying reptile would have grabbed her. Daphne did not even notice the creature coming, nor did she see Harry running towards her from behind.

As the two rolled over on the ground she found herself on her back, with Harry laying on top of her as she noted the large creature flying away. Her eyes opened wide and she looked up at Harry, realising that he had just saved her from being grabbed by the giant creature. On instinct, she kissed him quickly on the lips.

Harry sputtered in response, surprised by her reaction as he was anticipating her yelling at him for knocking her down. "What was that for?" he asked simply.

"Just a quick thanks, for saving me from that thing," she said with a slight smile. Then she pushed him off of her.

A second pterodactyl was gliding towards the group and Draco saw this one approach. He pulled out the cutlass from where it was strapped to his side and threw it at the flying reptile. The cutlass tore through the creature's wing. It gave a loud piercing cry as it tumbled towards the trees out of control of it's ability to fly.

The first pterodactyl had looped around and was soaring through the air and heading back towards the teens. Neville noticed how damaging the thin wing crippled the other creature rather effectively so he pulled out his wand and cast a freezing spell at the large reptiles's wings. Again there was the sound of screeching pain from this pterodactyl, and it also tumbled into a nearby tree.

The large beast fell into the tree, causing it to fall over, being uprooted by the massive weight of the reptile. The tree however started to fall into the road, directly to where Hermione was standing and watching in awe.

* * *

><p><strong>Afternoon, Great Hall<strong>

Minerva McGonagall and Robert Jennings were seated at the head of the large table. All of the students from both Groups 2 and 3 had gathered and were eager to hear news of what was happening within the MagiWorld environment and to learn of the fate of their classmates.

"I am sure that you all may have plenty of questions about the MagiWorld and the current situation," began Professor McGonagall, "and that is why I have asked Mr. Jennings to join us so as to hopefully answer whatever questions you may have."

Mr. Jennings smiled at the gathered students. "I will be honest with you, as you all saw that things started off not exactly as planned. Since the six students entered the MagiWorld matrix, however, things have been going more smoothly. We did attempt to send them wands to use, and that lead to an overload on the monitoring systems, as well as unfortunately a destruction of the wands we attempted to send into the virtual magical reality. Be that as it may, the news I have to share with you is that all of your friends are doing well and making steady progress to the exit. Our monitoring system is now functioning and the students are on the northeast side of the island, as they make their way towards the exit beacon on the northwest side. It is possible that they may reach their destination within hours, possibly as long as ten or twelve hours."

Ron Weasley couldn't hold back his thoughts, "They're not all our friends, but at least they will all be out soon."

Jennings raised an eyebrow at the comments and McGonagall glared at the redheaded student, which was enough to silence him from making any further statements.

"Do we know if they are safe? Are they really okay?" wondered Susan Bones out loud. "How are they managing without their wands?"

McGonagall deferred to Jennings with a glance.

Jennings cleared his throat before he responded, "From the data we can gather, all of their vital signs are stable. It does not appear that anyone has suffered any serious injuries. We have been able to detect occasional magical outbursts, but overall, from what we have been able to gather, they are making steady progress and they are all together in a group at this time."

Ernie MacMillan raised his hand to ask another question, "So, from what you are telling us, those six are doing okay. But how can we be sure that things will go properly if and when we enter the simulation?"

Minerva paled at the question, as she was unsure how to reassure any of the students after the events surrounding the entire project had played out in such a difficult manner. Jennings, though, was quick to respond. "As I have stated previously, we have used this simulator many times, including this scenario of the Magical Island. As long as the witch or wizard's wand is calibrated prior to their entering the MagiWorld environment, then everything should go smoothly. The casting of spells in and around the room where the MagiWorld simulator is located is clearly a dangerous proposition, and we will make sure that no such repeat occurrences will present themselves prior to any future use of the simulator."

Both Crabbe and Goyle scrunched their faces as they tried to understand what Mr. Jennings was explaining to them. Blaise Zabini noted their reactions and he spoke up to explain, "He means that as long as you two idiots don't go casting any crazy spells around the machine, everything should work just fine."

Crabbe sneered at Zabini for his comment, but Blaise just ignored his fellow Slytherin.

Jennings then added more of an explanation about the simulation after he noted the young wizard try and mollify the other students. "Now, to be clear for all of you, when we are finished reviewing the data from the machine once these students are safely returned to us, we will be making some changes in the program. As this scenario, easily takes several days to complete, just as it is currently doing for your friends, we will be changing the matrix program for future groups that may enter the simulator."

As he was making this pronouncement, his assistant, Saresh, joined them in the Great Hall. "In fact, our lead programmer, Saresh, is here to explain the new module to you in more detail."

The students all nodded to Saresh as he sat down next to Mr. Jennings. "Yes, the MagiIsland program will need to be reviewed before we implement it again in such a situation," he began. "There are too many options and possible dangerous encounters that could occur if things went pear shaped for the individuals interacting directly with the matrix. Therefor, we plan to install another simulation scenario, one that we think may well provide entertainment as well as educational opportunities, but that would be less dangerous and require less of a time commitment to complete the scenario. This new scenario is also one that we have used extensively in training our Aurors back in the States. Instead of investigating the island, the new protocol would send the participants to a large castle which they would then need to explore. This would have less area to cover, more safeguards will be in place, and thus there will be less of a chance for any unexpected outcomes."

Megan Jones raised her hand to ask a question, "What do you mean by having more safeguards in place? Is the current scenario too dangerous?"

Jennings winced at the question, but Saresh jumped in with his answer. "We want to make sure that the students entering the MagiWorld environment will do so ONLY if they have their wands on their person and that wand has already been calibrated to the device. This will help prevent a recurrence of the current situation."

Justin Finch-Fetchley then spoke up. "It seems that the major problems that Potter, Malfoy and the others are having is finding the exit beacon. How will the castle be any different? Will the exit beacon be hidden within the castle?"

Saresh smiled as he prepared to answer the question. "That is quite a good question, and I am happy to share with you that the exit beacon will be located right next to the area where you will enter the simulation. That would allow you to exit immediately, if you so desired; or to trace your progress back to where you started and then easily make your return to the real world."

Hannah Abbot then asked a question, raising her hand to get the attention of either Jennings or McGonagall. "Do we have to participate at this time? What if we choose not to enter the virtual magical reality simulation?"

McGonagall smiled sadly at the Hufflepuff student, "No one will be forced or coerced into participation in this activity, of that you can be sure."

* * *

><p><strong>On the plains of the Virtual Magical Island<strong>

The tree that the pterodactyl had crashed into was falling directly towards where Hermione had been standing. She had been surprised by the chain reaction of events and watched dumbfounded as the tree was falling towards her. Neville had been watching the large reptile cars to the ground and was not paying attention to where the tree was falling.

Hermione screamed out loud. Draco spun around as he saw the tree falling and felt helpless.

Harry had just been pushed off of Daphne and rolled over to see what was happening between the screech of the flying reptile, the crash into the trees and then Hermione's scream. Harry managed to pull the cutlass from his side and once again used it as a wand, casting a shelf charm towards his best friend.

Neville and Draco ran to the tree that had collapsed, fearing the worst for Hermione, however they were both surprised and relieved when they found her lying under the tree under a magical bubble. Neville pulled out his wand and blasted the tree that was now lying on top of the shield that Harry was casting. Once the tree fell to pieces on either side of the shield, Harry dropped the cutlass, having been unable to hold the spell any longer.

Draco managed to help Hermione up from amongst the rubble of the wooden shards that remained of the tree after Neville had hit it with all of his magical strength.

"What the hell were those things?" asked Daphne as she pulled herself up to her feet and it was clear that Hermione was safe and uninjured.

"Were they related to dragons?" asked a bewildered Tracey.

"No, they weren't dragons," commented Harry as he dusted himself off, "they are flying dinosaurs, called pterodactyls."

Hermione took a deep breath to calm herself, "Actually, they aren't dinosaurs. The term dinosaur refers to a type of reptile that walked on the ground. Also, pterodactyls were much smaller, only about 3 feet across. These must have been pterodons, which could have a wingspan from 6 to 18 feet or more. They are thought to be carnivorous, and are often mistakenly called pterodactyls."

Draco put his hand to his face before he looked up at Hermione. "Really, Granger, I don't think we all needed a lecture about the history of those creatures right about now."

Hermione glared at him, "I was just making sure that you all knew the distinctions between the type of extinct flying reptiles that used to exist. And they are incorrectly referred to as dinosaurs or pterodactyls."

Harry walked up to her and gave her hug. "It's okay, we're all just glad that you're okay. Don't worry about the lecture right now, we just need to get on our way and try to avoid any more of these ancient creatures."

Tracey look at the two of them as she stated, "So those weren't magical creatures at all? Well, they sure were ugly."

"Either way," added Neville, "the noise of their crashing and their screeching may attract something else. We really should get on our way towards the beacon."

"Longbottom makes sense," agreed Draco, "let's get moving."

The set off along the path, with Tracey and Daphne both looking up to the sky regularly to be sure that they wouldn't be surprised by anything such as a pterodon or a rok other flying beast again. The mountain was rising more steeply in front of them and the trees along the path had now given way to small bushes. As they made their way closer to the base of the mountain, they could see that the trail was heading up towards a small plateau part way up the side of the hill.

As they got closer it became clear that there was something situated near the top of the path. A large red creature seemed to be lying down on the hillside. The closer they made their way up the trail, they could make out more details of the large red creature. They were able to see small puffs of smoke coming from one end, while at the other end what appeared to be a tail seemed to lazily flip back and forth.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked a worried Tracey.

"If you're thinking that is a dragon, then I would say you're right," replied Harry.

"But I've never heard of a dragon that looks like that," commented Daphne.

"Red dragon, such as the Chinese Fireball," added Neville, "are usually thinner, not quite so thick around the middle."

"Well, it sure is a hell of lot larger than the Hungarian Horntail I had to face a couple of years ago," agreed Harry, "so it is clearly much larger than a Chinese Fireball."

Daphne edged closer to Harry as she stared at the large dragon, "Either way, I have still never heard of such a large dragon. It looks more like a Welsh Green, but it is was to big and the wrong colour."

"Its even bigger than a Ukrainian Ironbelly," declared Tracey.

"Smaug," stated Hermione quietly.

"No, that's not smog," said Neville, not taking his eyes off of the creature, "that is smoke or steam coming from its nose."

"No, the dragon," explained Hermione, "it reminds of a fictional dragon from a muggle book, that also happens to have wizards and other fantastic creatures. Smaug was the name of a large red dragon that lived under a mountain and terrorised an entire village and hoarded a massive amount of gold and treasures under a mountain."

Harry turned and stared at Hermione. "No, not _that_ Smaug," he declared. "This dragon isn't living under a mountain."

Hermione, like the others, continued to stare at the large creature. "No, but I don't see any hobbits around here either."

"Whatever it is, or whatever muggle fantasy this comes from," said Neville, "I still don't see how were going to get past it."

"You don't have a broom, so you can't outfly this dragon," commented Daphne.

"And you sure are't going to be able to fight it with a cutlass posing as a wand," added Draco.

Harry was pacing back and forth as he stared at the dragon, wondering what they might be able to do. The others just watched him walk back and forth as Harry focused on the large red dragon.

After several minutes, Tracey spoke up. "I don't think using any of the hexes that the there champions used on their dragons would do any good."

"Didn't Diggory conjure a dog for his dragon to chase, to distract it?" wondered Neville.

"That he did," replied Tracey, "but that didn't end so well for him, as I recall. His dragon decided to go after him anyway."

Harry stopped pacing and stared at the dragon intently, and then he sighed heavily. "We don't have many alternatives, so I guess it's up to me to try something."

Hermione looked at him askance and then she stated, "Harry, don't do anything foolish. I know how you act when you get that look in your eye."

Harry started to walk up towards the dragon, and cast a disillusionment charm on himself as he spoke softly to the others. "Once the dragon is distracted, make a go for it towards the beacon. Try to make sure it doesn't see you."

Daphne put her hand to her mouth as she gasped, watching Harry head away towards the dragon and then he disappeared from view. The others stayed hidden behind some bushes as they kept their eyes on the dragon. Even though they could not see where he was, they anticipated that something might happen soon.

"Why don't we all just disillusion ourselves and walk right past it?" asked Tracey.

A moment later, one eye of the supposedly sleeping dragon opened up and began looking over the hillside.

"This is why," commented Hermione dryly.

"I know you're there," spoke the dragon in a deep voice. "I can smell you. You smell tasty."

Harry stopped where he was, about twenty yards from the dragon's snout. Then he spoke in parseltongue, and the other students could barely make out a hissing sound.

"_Well met, dragon friend_," stated Harry. "_I do not seek to do any harm, I am merely trying to walk past._"

The dragon flicked its tail lazily about while its one open eye surveyed the hillside, looking for the one who spoke. "_You speak in the ancient tongue, little one,_" commented the dragon. "_But you try to make your way past me by stealth, what are you hiding? Are you a thief?_"

"_I am by no means a thief, dragon friend,_" replied Harry, continuing to speak in parseltongue. "_But I know this ancient language, and I simply desire to get past where you lay. I did not wish to disturb one such as yourself._"

"_So speaks the one who is hiding from me and will not show themselves,_" added the dragon as it lifted its large snout and started to sniff the air. "_I can find you by your foul smell, your invisibility will not save you from my wrath._"

"_Then I shall reveal myself, as a sign of my good faith,_" Harry spoke. All the while the conversation he was having with the dragon continued to sound as hissing to the students observing from their hiding place.

Suddenly Harry became visible in front of the dragon, as he ended his disillusionment charm. The dragon snorted and a cloud of acrid smoke came from its nostrils. "_You are but a mere tidbit, a scrawny thing,_" said the dragon as it narrowed its eye on him.

"_I would think that you would not find me to be a very tasty or challenging meal,_" stated Harry. "_You obviously could defeat me with either a swipe of your leg, a flick of your tail, or a puff of your searing breath. What could a simple person as myself possibly do to protect myself or to even harm one as magnificent as you?_"

The dragon turned its head slightly to focus its other eye on Harry. "_What do you know of dragons, little one?_" asked the beast warily.

"_I have encountered dragons before,"_ Harry replied, standing still in front of the red behemoth. "_And obviously I have lived to tell the tale. However, none of the dragons I have yet to meet were as large or as magnificent as you._"

The dragon snorted another dark cloud of smoke, and Harry even noted a little flame come out of the dragon's nostrils this time. "_How could one as insignificant as you possibly encounter a dragon, and live?_"

"_I must admit that I was lucky, in that I was able to outfly the dragon I met_," admitted Harry. "_However, I am sure that even if I could fly now, I would not be able to outfly or outmanoeuvre one such as yourself._"

"_You speak in riddles, for a person such as yourself cannot fly_," scoffed the dragon.

Harry didn't want to tell the highly intelligent animal that he was a wizard, and he didn't know if the dragon would know about brooms, but since he had already used magic to make himself invisible, he realised that the dragon must have already suspected something strange was going on. "_I used to be able to fly, when I had a special broom,_" he admitted. "_But as I said, even if I could fly, I am sure that I would be no match for you._"

"_So you have said already, little one,_" stated the dragon. "_Perhaps I should eat you, just to end this conversation. I grow weary of your company._"

"_But as I said, dragon friend,_" continued Harry, "_surely one such as me would not be able to fill your stomach. If you are truly hungry, then perhaps there is something more that could tempt one such as yourself. Something, say a little more challenging than a single person standing in front of you._"

The dragon turned its head from side to side quickly, thinking it may have heard something moving through the brush near him on the hillside. Not sensing anything further, the dragon turned its face to stare at Harry, glaring at him with both eyes. "_What could you possibly have to offer me, that I would ever find tempting or even challenging?_"

"_Earlier I encountered several unusual creatures,_" stated Harry. "_Large monkeys, and these monkeys had the ability to fly. There is a castle on a mountain south of here where the flying monkeys live. They would probable hide from one such as yourself if you were to go to their castle, but I am sure that you could capture them all._"

"_What are these things, these flying monkeys which you speak of? How do I know they would be tasty? You smell bad, and unappetising,_" argued the dragon. "_Do __**you**__ eat these flying monkeys? Perhaps that is why you smell so bad yourself._"

Harry took a step back as the dragon lifted its head once more. "_No, __**I**__ would never eat a flying monkey. They are much to large for me to try and eat. And I still would have no way of catching one. I am sure that one as great as you would have no problem with catching any number of those flying creatures._"

"_Do you presume to question my ability to hunt?_" demanded the dragon.

"_Oh no, your gloriousness,_" called out Harry. "_One such as yourself could probably even make a new home for themselves at the castle on the hill._"

"_So says you, little one,_" said the dragon, still letting smoke swirl out of its nostrils. "_But you are not one to be trusted, as you were sneaking up on me, hiding yourself, and now telling me stories of a castle._"

"_The castle is there, to the South,_" continued Harry in parseltongue, "_but the ones who are there must think they have nothing to fear from a dragon such as yourself. They barely even guard the towers. And the flying monkeys can be easily found, and I am sure they would prove to be tastier than someone as scrawny as me._"

The dragon pushed itself up with its front legs and towered over Harry. It stared down at him, eventually turning its massive head sideways to focus on him with one large yellow eye. "_You don't seem to be afraid of me, little one, why is that? You know I could swallow you or just burn you with a breath._"

"_That is why I have nothing to fear,_" replied Harry. "_You could do either one of those things, and there is nothing I could do to stop you. And it would happen so quickly, I could not possibly avoid your actions. So what is the point of showing fear?_"

The dragon lifted up its head and breathed a large spout of flame into the air. It then looked back at Harry with black smoke once again billowing from its nostrils, "_I like you little one. You know your place, and still you do not fear me._"

"_It is because I can respect your power and your skill,_" complemented Harry. "_Next to you, I am nothing. Next to you, those who run the castle to the South are nothing._"

"_You try to flatter me, little one,_" stated the dragon, "_but for what purpose? Perhaps there is something more sinister at this castle of which you speak. Perhaps you are trying to deceive me, to trick me into going there._"

"_To trick a dragon? Of what possible benefit could that be to me? I know that if you were to feel I tricked you, then you would come looking for me,_" explained Harry. "_Where could I possibly hide from one as powerful as you?_"

"_Too true, little one,_" said the dragon with another snort of black smoke. "_Perhaps I will go investigate this castle, and then I will return to find you if it is not as you say. You will be easy to find as I can smell you, I know your scent._"

For once in his life, Harry appreciated his sweaty odor after all that he had been doing as that helped identify him to the dragon, and he hoped that his friends had used some sort of magic to mask their presence from the dragon. "_Of course you will find me, for where else could I go? It is not as though I have any means to leave this island._"

A rumbling sound came from deep within the dragon's belly, which Harry quickly realised was the dragon laughing at him. "_You are entertaining, little one. It will be a shame when I return if I need to eat you, just to teach you a lesson. However, I will go investigate this castle, and these flying monkey things. I shall return shortly, of that you can be sure._"

"_I look forward to our speaking again,_" replied Harry with a smile.

The dragon extended its wings and then with a sudden flap it rose high into the air. The rush of wind from the dragon's flying knocked Harry backwards. He turned and watched the dragon fly away and then he ran up the hill to the exit beacon. When he arrived there, Neville cancelled the disillusionment charm on himself and the others.

"What the hell was all that about?" asked Neville.

"Just simply speaking to a dragon in parseltongue," explained Harry.

"What did you tell him?" asked an amazed Hermione as the dragon disappeared into the sky to the South.

"I flattered him, and told him about the castle to the South where the flying monkeys are," stated Harry with a grin. "And I may have indicated that the flying monkeys were tastier to eat than me. Oh, and I added that the owners of the castle defied him by making such a castle and not even protecting it properly."

"You baited him into action based on his ego?" questioned Tracey.

Harry smiled back, "Yeah, that was essentially what I tied to do."

Daphne shook her head as she stared at him. "You could probably sell an old and broken broom to a quidditch star if you wanted to, if you could get an ancient dragon to fly off like that."

"Perhaps," said Harry as he ran his hand through his messy hair. "Now that seems to be the exit beacon, why don't we leave this place before the big guy returns? I really would rather not be eaten or fried."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Another chapter done. The next two are outlined and will continue to be worked on.<strong>


	13. Chapter 13 - Leaving the VMI

**AN: Sorry this one took so much longer. Now I am down to outlines at best for the story, the material written during NaNoWriMo in November is already published. And finally, our intrepid group finally make it out of the virtual magical reality…**

* * *

><p>The group of six students stood together in front of the beacon that marked the exit from the Virtual Magical Island.<p>

Daphne sighed as she spoke, "We finally made it, and we even did work as a team. At times."

Hermione nodded and gave her a slight hug, and after taking a deep breath she added her own comments, "It sure hasn't been easy, but I think we all learned a lot about ourselves and each other."

Neville turned around and looked back over the island that they had traversed over the past few days. "It sure has been interesting," he said sagely, "but I can't say I'm not glad to be getting out of here, especially before that dragon decides to return."

Tracey leaned into his side and gave him a one armed hug, "I'm glad that I had a chance to really get to know you better." Then she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I guess it is time we leave," added Harry.

As the group turned to head out through the exit gateway, Draco quickly leaned over and pulled Neville's wand from out of his boot where he had been keeping it.

Neville felt the wand being pulled out of his boot and spun around to face Draco. "Bloody hell, Malfoy, what are you playing at?"

Draco took a step back as he pointed the wand straight ahead and stared everyone down. "Let me make this very clear," he began, "everything that happened here, stays here. We are not friends, any of us. Not outside of the houses we were sorted into at any rate. Slytherins and Gryffindors just do not socialise, they do not get along. This was a _school_ project, which required us to work together to complete said project. Once we step out past that beacon, this mission is _over_. We don't talk about this with anyone, not even to the professors. What happened here, stays here, like I said before. The war is coming, we all know it. Sides have been chosen for us. We can't change that. We can't change who we are."

"People can change," proclaimed Hermione. "We can change, each one of us. We changed our beliefs about each other and we managed to work together. That's a start."

Draco refused to even look at her.

Tracey hugged Neville even tighter. "You are not about to tell me what to do," she stated emphatically.

Draco sneered at her, "What you choose to do, you do at your own peril."

Neville stiffened and took a step towards Malfoy, even though he was unarmed and Draco was pointing a wand at him. "Are you threatening her, Draco?"

Draco was surprised by Neville's forwardness, but he quickly steeled his features to hide any reaction. "No, Longbottom, I'm simply being honest." After a moment he added, "I will not attack her, I will not criticise her, I will not ostracise her. But there are those within Slytherin who will. I am just speaking plainly, making sure she knows the facts. Daphne can tell her. It _will_ happen if she associates with you. She _will_ become a pariah in Slytherin if she is dating a Gryffindor. It could only be worse for her if she was dating Potter."

Hermione was holding back tears, "How can you say that?"

Draco shook his head in dismay at her emotional reaction. "It's not me, it is just the way things are. I am not blind, and you shouldn't go sticking your head in the sand." He looked away from her again as he added, "Be practical, be realistic."

Harry spoke up to argue with Draco, "Not all in Slytherin are evil, Draco, and not all in Gryffindor are of the light."

"I know that Potter," replied Draco. He then closed his eyes briefly and shook his head, before staring intently at Harry. "Whatever you think about me, know this, I am still a Malfoy. I can't change who I am, or what I am."

"Anyone can change," argued Hermione, bringing up her earlier comment.

"Can you _really_ change?" Draco asked. After a moment of silence he continued, "You can't change who your parents are anymore than I can. That's all there is to it."

Hermione couldn't stop the tears from streaking down her cheeks. "Is that it then?"

"It's the way things have to be. If everyone is honest with themselves, there is nothing we can do about it," added Draco.

Hermione was nearly shaking as Draco's words hit home. Harry stepped up behind her and pulled her into a hug. "We need to leave," he said softly.

The others all heard his words and stepped closer to the beacon.

Tracey stepped back a bit as she asked a question she felt needed to be aired before they left this virtual magical reality. "What do we tell the professors, then? What do we tell the others?"

Everyone first looked to Draco and then to Harry, however Neville was the one who spoke up first. "We tell them the truth, that we faced various obstacles. That we encountered pirates, and managed to disarm them. Using the cutlasses as tools, we managed to overcome the other obstacles, We don't need to tell them the details, and we don't admit to using magic."

"Snape and Dumbledore will probably try to pry the whole truth out of all of us with legillemancy," added Draco, as he considered the repercussions of not telling the whole story.

"Perhaps," stated Harry, "but if we stick together and talk about how difficult this has been on all of us, that we want our privacy about how things happened, that might hold them off."

"Not Snape," sneered Daphne.

"He will if the headmaster tells him to," offered Draco. "We just need to avoid looking either of them in the eye when we are alone, as I doubt that they would attempt to probe our minds when we are all together."

Hermione shivered next to Harry, "That is _so_ wrong."

"It may be wrong, but it is the way things are," agreed Draco. "Don't fool yourself into believing that your precious headmaster is so innocent. He is not the altruistic leader of the good that many of you make him out to be."

Neville interrupted the little squabble, "Whatever, Malfoy, but we still need to leave here, and preferably before that dragon returns."

"Fine," snapped Draco, "but I hope I made myself more than clear on these issues."

Hermione glared at him, and the others nodded. Daphne spoke up as she said, "Yes, we get the point, we heard you loud and clear, Malfoy. Now, would you give Neville back his wand so we can leave."

Draco inclined his head towards her as he tossed the wand back to Neville. Neville snatched it out of the air and shook his head. "Is everyone ready to go, now?"

The group agreed that they were as Tracey then asked what were they supposed to do with the beacon.

The six of them all gathered around it and Harry spoke up first, "Perhaps it is like some sort of port key, so we ought to hold on to each other and grab it together."

The others nodded in agreement, and they all grabbed onto someone next to them with their left hand and then they reached out to grasp the beacon with their right hand. As soon as all six had touched the beacon, they felt a pulling sensation and heard a loud pop.

The group found themselves falling on to the floor on top of each other as they were thrown out of the MagiWorld Machine. They quickly stood up and brushed themselves off.

"We're really out of there!" proclaimed an excited Tracey Davis.

They looked around the room and were surprised that it was so empty. There was however one magi-tech in the room and he quickly stood up from the console he was sitting at. The surprise on his face caught the six students who had just escaped from the device by surprise.

Saresh stepped forward and welcomed them back. "My word, how did you manage to do that?"

They six students were confused by his question.

Harry spoke up first, "We found the beacon and we grabbed it all together. Isn't that what we were supposed to do?"

Saresh shook his head, "No, no, thats not what I meant. How did you get to the beacon? According to the monitors you were just on the east side of the island, not anywhere the exit beacon."

Draco scoffed at the comments from the technician. "What are you talking about? We've been on the west side of the island for a while now."

Saresh had a puzzled look still and he then went back to examine his monitor. He started typing furiously and then he took a closer look at the readouts. "Damn machine, it had your location transposed, as though the monitor was showing me a mirror image of the island. No wonder we thought you were on the east side of the island." He then looked at the six students that made Group 1 and sat down heavily on his stool. "You really made it out of there! Hell, I need to let the others know! You need to be checked out with the school nurse, I'm sure she wants to make sure you're all okay."

They all looked at each other and realised that he was right, that they would have to be evaluated by Madam Pomfrey.

"Might as well start on our way up there now," stated Hermione.

"What? Can't we at least get changed and cleaned up first?" wondered Tracey.

Harry laughed at her question. "I thought you've been working with her, Davis. Do you want to face Madam Pomfrey's wrath for not seeing her immediately? I've spent too much time at the infirmary to dare want to risk irritating her."

"I guess you do have a point, Potter," agreed Tracey.

The group set off to the infirmary, relieved that they hadn't stumbled out into a room full of waiting professors and other students. Upon walking into the medical ward for the school, Madam Pomfrey was shocked to see all six of them show up.

"No one let me know you had made it out!" she exclaimed. Before any of them could say a word she was already directing them to beds in the ward. "Everyone take a seat. I'll be with you all shortly. Does anyone have any serious injuries? How about you Potter? You're usually the one that is the worst off after such an ordeal. What happened to you?"

Harry was sitting on the edge of the bed she had pointed out for him. "I'm fine, Madam Pomfrey, really I am."

"I'll be the judge of that," she argued back. "But as you and Mr. Longbottom and Mr. Malfoy are clearly not actively bleeding or on death's door, I will check out the ladies first." She then turned her attention to the three young witches as she began her diagnostic spells. "Hmm, Miss Greengrass, you seem to be recovering from an ankle injury."

"I've been doing much better," replied Daphne, "and it hasn't been hurting for over a day. I think I'm doing fine."

Madam Pomfrey looked up at the blonde girl's eyes and shook her head slightly from side to side. "Like I said, I'm the healer, I'll be telling you whether or not you're fine. And other than your ankle, you do seem fine."

She then turned her attention to Hermione. After a quick wave of her wand she again inclined her head as she eyed the young woman, "Another one with a serious injury to your leg. Although it appears as someone has bandaged it and helped it heal."

Before Hermione could say anything Tracey spoke up, "I used some of the skills you taught me here when I've done the training with you. I hoped I made the right decisions in helping both Hermione and Daphne."

Madam Pomfrey turned and looked at Tracey and nodded slowly. "It seems that you will make quite the healer someday, Miss Davis, as so far these two have done well, in no small part due to your help, I am sure." She then stepped up to Tracey and ran a diagnostic spell on her. "Other than being slightly dehydrated and clearly needing to benefit from a good meal, you seem to be doing quite well for yourself."

She smiled briefly at Tracey before she turned around to face the young men. After a quick diagnostic scan of all three of them she was pleasantly surprised. "I think I am most impressed with you, Mr. Potter, that you hadn't suffered some serious injury while you were in that foolish device. Who knows what could have happened to any of you, especially as you didn't have your wands with you."

As she was finishing speaking with Harry, the door to the infirmary flew open and in ran the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, followed by the four heads of house. "Poppy," he called out, "you should have told us right away when they arrived! How are they doing? How is everyone?"

He was clearly out of breath when he barged into the infirmary as were the other teachers who had come with him.

"Now, Albus," she tutted, "I had simply assumed that you knew they were here. At any rate, they all seem to be doing fine, however, they do seem a bit tired and in want of a good meal and plenty of fluids to drink."

Dumbledore's expression was a combination of surprise and relief. "We only just found out that they made their way out of the virtual magical reality chamber. The magi-tech told us that he had recommended they come straight here."

"And that we did, professor," interjected Harry.

Albus raised an eyebrow at Harry's comment and then he looked intently at each of the six students sitting on the edge of their beds. "Well, if everything is in order, then I would like the opportunity to speak with them about what happened."

Madam Pomfrey stepped up to Dumbledore and got right in his face. "I just told you that they are fine and that they need rest and food and drink, and I'm sure they could all benefit from a good shower and clean clothes. Perhaps your little inquisition can hold off for a bit while these poor dears head back to their rooms, and get cleaned up and into some fresh clothes. Whatever you need to speak to them about can easily wait, as can your curiosity."

Before Albus or any of the other professors could say anything, Poppy dismissed the group of students. "Go and bathe and get into clean clothes, then head to the Great Hall for food. I'm sure your professors can wait for you there and ask you their questions after you have had a chance to freshen up and get some nourishment."

* * *

><p><strong>At the Nott family manor<strong>

Theodore Nott was feeling pretty smug. He had been welcomed as a Death Eater, received the Mark from the Dark Lord himself, was given a specific task to perform to show his worth as a Death Eater and now he had the allegiance of Malfoy's two school goons. Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe weren't gifted with smarts when it came to academics, but when it came to helping to enforce someone's whims, and using certain types of magic that might be considered inappropriate by many within the Ministry of Magic they did have some useful skills. He sat back in the large chair in his father's study and looked sharply at the two classmates standing in front of him.

"How did you get out of the program at Hogwarts? I thought that you two would be there until school started," began Theo's questioning of his new supporters.

"Everyone is still waiting on the others to get out of that chamber," explained Crabbe. "We were able to head home while we waited as they said it would also take a while to make sure the machine is working properly."

"Yeah," added Goyle, not helping to inspire any faith in his higher brain functions.

"At any rate, it is good you are here," replied Theo. "There is going to be some changes this year in Slytherin."

"So our dads told us already," stated Crabbe with a smug expression.

"Yeah," added Goyle once more.

Theo smirked as he considered the upcoming changes this school year would bring. More authority for him within Slytherin, more notoriety for him and his family when he succeeded in doing the Dark Lord's bidding. Theo never looked forward to an upcoming school year as much as he was doing right now.

"I'm glad that you understand the changes taking place at school," smirked Theo. "This looks like the beginning of a chance to really make some changes for the better around Hogwarts."

* * *

><p><strong>back at Hogwarts<strong>

The six had finished getting cleaned and dressed and had made their way back to the Great Hall for their first real meal in days. It was early afternoon, but definitely later than the usual lunch time meal that was traditionally served at Hogwarts and no other students were present at this time. As they were the only students in the Great Hall the professors had joined them in sitting at the table with them. Apparently the other students had either returned home or were elsewhere on the school grounds, enjoying the beautiful summer day. The professors were joined by Mr. Jennings, who explained that Saresh and the other techs were working on the machine now that they had managed to find their way to the beacon and return to the real world.

As the three Slytherin and three Gryffindors took their seats at the table, the headmaster spoke up. "We are all glad that you made it out of the MagiWorld safely. I'm sure I can speak for all of the staff when I say that we eagerly await hearing of your adventures, but as our school healer so clearly indicated, sustenance is a first priority. So, tuck in, and hopefully you can share with us some of your experiences."

The six students looked at each other and avoided looking at the professors, especially the headmaster. They started their meal in silence, which lasted a couple of minutes before Neville turned to Professor McGonagall, his head of house.

He began by asking her about the lack of others being present, "Where are all of the other students?"

Minerva looked around the table at all six of the students from Group 1 before she turned back to face Neville, "I suppose you mean the students from Group 2 and Group 3. They already had their lunch, Mr. Longbottom, and some of them are outside on the grounds, enjoying the day, while others have returned home to their families until such a time as the next mission within the MagiWorld machine is ready to commence."

The other students noted that the professors weren't eating, that all seemed to only have a glad of water or pumpkin juice in front of them. The group of students understood that the faculty probably already had their lunch with the other students. Soon a desert appeared on the table, a choice of trace tart or butterscotch pudding. The students were clearly quite hungry, and as they started to eat the tasty finish to their meal,

Professor Flitwick was the first to ask them a question. "If you don't mind my asking, what did you all eat while you spent the past few days inside the virtual magical reality?"

The six looked at each other, quietly shaking their heads, before Harry replied for them. "We didn't really eat anything, sir. We never really felt hungry. We did have the opportunity to get some water and drink it on occasion, but no, we never ate."

The others nodded in agreement with Harry.

"That seems quite odd," remarked Professor Sprout.

Jennings then spoke up, "Actually, it is not as odd as you would think. The MagiWorld environment is designed to do many things, and one of those is that the magic within the matrix helps sustain the witches and wizards while they are inside the environment and they really do not need to eat during their stay there."

The professors and students all turned to look at him, awaiting a further explanation. Seeing that all eyes were focused on him, he then continued his explanation. "As we were designing the matrix, it became clear to the programmers that it would be quite possible for a wizard or witch to be inside the virtual magical reality for extended periods of time. A magically constructed meal was considered as an option, but that would have been difficult to create. How would we create a sandwich for one person or an omelette for another? Would the person have to cook it themselves or is it just ready made? Our answer for sustaining the physical and magical energy of those within the matrix was to have magic itself feed them slowly. What we have learned from those who have been inside the matrix for days at a time is that they don't need to eat and the system works well. While at first the body might think it is hungry when the next meal time approaches, those inside the matrix quickly discover that they really don't have a desire to consume any food. However, their appetites are quite good for a number of days after returning to the real world, as these students have shown us already," he added with a laugh.

Albus Dumbledore's eyes sparkled with mirth at the statement as the other faculty also chuckled slightly at the statement. The students were less impressed with the reactions from their professors. However, the headmaster took the opportunity to direct questions to the students. "Could you all share with us about the adventures which you experienced over the past few days?"

All eyes of the students turned to Draco who merely shrugged in response. Noting that no one else had started to speak, Hermione offered the first meaningful response. "Well, we arrived on a beach on the southern side of the island, kind of in a heap," she began.

"The southern side of the island is where we intended you to start the mission," interjected Jennings.

Hermione bit her lip at the interruption, and then she continued. "We were trying to get our bearings when we realised we had arrived without any wands. The first thing that noted was that we were beset upon by pirates. After dealing with that encounter, we set off across the island, trying to make our way north, as we were told that was where we would find the exit beacon."

"Pirates!" exclaimed Minerva McGonagall. "And you didn't even have wands!"

Harry spoke up next, "We were glad that they didn't have wands either, but soon we were able to get past that challenge before we continued our journey."

Hermione noticed Harry nod to her to pick up the story again, "Then we had several encounters with various forms of wildlife, but we all managed to avoid any serious injuries. We did have to use some hippogriffs to help us make some progress, and eventually we made our way to the final exit point. Covering all of that distance did take a lot out of us though."

The other students all nodded their heads in agreement with what Hermione had said.

Snape looked at the group of them and internally wondered what more they weren't being told, but he already had noted that the other students had silently looked to Malfoy before anyone responded to the headmaster's question and he made a note to speak with the male Slytherin about the actual events.

"Surely there must have been more of an adventure for all of you than what Miss Granger has shared," stated Dumbledore, clearly looking for more details on their experiences.

Daphne Greengrass replied to the comment first. "No, that really about sized up everything that we did."

Dumbledore inclined his head towards the blond Slytherin witch and his eyes began to twinkle more, "I would have thought that there was more of an adventure in there, more challenges or more to share with us."

Daphne stiffened at what she took as a rebuke, and then she looked over at Harry briefly before she replied. "We did learn to work together, despite our house differences."

Albus beamed at her comment, "That is wonderful to hear! If you all learned to work together, then I would have to say the program is a success!"

Jennings noted that the six students were being very reserved about their answers, and he was certain that the other faculty had picked up on the evasiveness of the responses. "If you all do not mind, I would like to discuss some technical issues with you, later," he spoke calmly and evenly. "After all, it is unusual for us to have a group enter the matrix of the MagiWorld without their wands, so I am sure that my technicians would like to review some things with all of you."

Albus sighed quietly, as he realised that he wouldn't be getting any more detailed answers at this time. "Well, then, now that everyone has had their fill, then we can adjourn. If any of you would care to share any more details about your little adventure, my office is always open. You may go and find your friends or return to your common room if you would like. If you desire, we can arrange for you to return home to see your families."

Everyone then left the Great Hall upon Dumbledore's statement.

Tracey Davis was about to head back to the dungeons with Daphne when the school healer came and spoke to her. "Miss Davis," stated Madam Pomfrey quietly, "if you would be so kind as to join me in the infirmary, I have some more questions for you about the things you learned during your recent adventure."

Tracey quickly agreed but was feeling a little nervous about what the nurse might want with her. Madam Pomfrey had already given them all a check up, so she was not sure where this was heading. A few minutes later they arrived at the infirmary and the healer made sure that the door was closed behind them.

"Take a seat, dear," said Madam Pomfrey softly to the Slytherin girl.

Tracey sat down in a chair and Madam Pomfrey gave her a slight smile. "Now that everyone else is not here, and the Headmaster and the other teachers aren't about to run in, I'd like for you to tell me what really happened to you all when you were in the virtual magical reality."

Tracey felt her face heat up as she was worried where this was going. "What do you mean?"

Madam Pomfrey waved a hand at her, "I'm not looking for details about what adventures you had such as that creatures you encountered. You and I both know that there were some serious injuries that were healed fairly well before you made your return. That kind of healing wouldn't have happened just because of a good dressing and bandage with the aid of some ambient magic."

Tracey continued to feel embarrassed and worried by the comments and the direction of this conversation.

Poppy noted the concern on the teen's face and she shook her head slightly. "I promise you that I am not about to tell the headmaster, or even your head of house about this. But someone used a wand to heal those injuries, didn't they?"

"Yes, I did use a wand," admitted Tracey timidly.

Poppy pulled up a chair and sat down across from her. "Now Miss Davis, how did you get a wand, and what exactly happened."

Tracey brushed some stray hairs out of her face and let out a deep breath. "I can't let this information get back to the professors, I promised."

"I'm a healer," reassured Madam Pomfrey, "you can trust me to keep your confidence."

"All right," continued Tracey. "Neville had a spare wand, he had it hidden on his person. When we came across Harry and Daphne, I healed her sprained ankle. When we came across Hermione and Draco, we found that she had a severe injury to her leg, and I healed that."

"I assumed that the injuries they had were more significant than you all were letting on," stated the healer. "Now, tell me about Mr. Longbottom's arm."

Tracey blushed again, "He was attacked by this giant cat, a cougar I think it was. He was protected from more serious injury by wearing his dad's dragon hide cloak. But he had a broken arm. We didn't have any skele-grow, so I tried to mend the broken bone with a repair spell. It seemed to work. He could use his arm much better."

Madam Pomfrey sat up straighter as she heard this latest part of the story. "Repairing a broken arm that way is not supposed to work. Either the magic within the machine helped, or you have a better affinity to healing than most anyone I know."

Tracey blushed at the comment.

"Well, since you have already started some training last year," continued the school nurse, "I will have to insist that you take an elective on more advanced healing with me this year. Would that be okay with you, my dear?"

Tracey bowed her head slightly as she answered the healer, "I would love to. I've always wanted to be a healer."

"You told me that last year," smiled Madam Pomfrey, "and this little escapade just convinces me more that you would do well in this field."

Tracey smiled even more. "If that's all you needed to speak with me about…" she began.

However Madam Pomfrey interrupted her question, "It is fine for you to leave now, Miss Davis."

Tracey stood up and started walking towards the door. Madam Pomfrey called after her, "Now you are going to be studying to be a healer, so don't do anything foolish with that Mr. Longbottom, do you understand me?"

Tracey turned and was even redder from the last comment.

"Oh, don't you try and play innocent with me," added Poppy. "I could tell by the way you looked at him and the way you responded to my questions about him." Poppy noted the confusion on Tracey's face. "It is in your eyes, my dear, your eyes give away your feelings about the boy."

Tracey managed to squeak out a simple "Oh!" in response to the healer.

Poppy laughed at her new apprentice. "Don't worry, I don't think the other faculty has picked up on it, yet. And I am not about to tell them, or anyone."

"Thank you," replied Tracey softly. Then she turned and left the infirmary to head back to her dorm and try and find Daphne.

* * *

><p>Draco left the Great Hall and went out to the grounds around the castle, hoping to avoid running into anyone else. He was initially surprised that there was no evidence of either Crabbe or Goyle still being at the school when he went down to his dorm to shower and change before going to lunch. The absence of those two however made him feel more comfortable as he was wanting to take some time to come to terms with his experiences on the virtual magical island. He knew that he told the others that the events that happened there would need to remain there, now he wondered if he would be able to do that.<p>

Then he heard someone calling his name. Draco turned around to see Daphne Greengrass approaching him. He stopped and waited for her to catch up to where he was standing. He was nearing the Black Lake, and he was grateful that there was no one else around.

"What do you want, Greengrass?" he demanded as the blonde approached him.

"I wanted to follow up with you about your comments you made just before we left the MagiWorld," she said, catching her breath after jogging across the grounds in search of him.

"So, you're mad at me and you plan to date Potter," he mused. "So what do you want me to do about it? My response will be the same thing I said your friend, Davis, I'm not going to tell you what to do, but you need to know that you would just be putting yourself at risk. A big risk. Dating Potter would put a huge target on your back, and I won't be covering that back for you, no matter how nice it looks."

Daphne sneered at him. "That wasn't what I came to talk to you about," she nearly screamed at him. "Actually, I did come to talk about the issue, but not in the way you think…"

Draco took a half step back and eyed her cautiously. "What are you driving at?"

"Mutual protection," she said, looking him directly in the eye.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," replied Draco. "I don't need any protection."

Daphne smiled at him, and shifted on her feet. "Protection. Protection from yourself. Protection from doing yourself any harm."

Draco tilted his head as he looked at her. "I don't know what you're talking about." Draco started to walk away. After taking about five steps, he paused and turned to face her once again. "Why do you want to do this? What do you get out of it? You never liked me, you never wanted to have anything to do with me."

Daphne didn't even turn around to look at him. "Protection, I already told you."

Draco ran his hand through his hair. "You need protection?"

"From myself," she stated, "from myself, so I don't make any stupid decisions."

"We'll talk about this another time, Greengrass," said Draco. "I'll see you around, of that, I'm sure."

Draco then turned around and started to walk back to the castle.

Daphne waited for a minute while Draco walked away, then she brushed a tear out of her eye, and then she started to walk back to the castle as well.

* * *

><p>Ron Weasley was sitting in the Gryffindor common room when Neville and Harry stepped through the portrait hole.<p>

"Hey mates, its good to see you," he called out.

"Where have you been?" asked Harry. "We didn't see you anywhere since we got out."

"I was down at the Quidditch pitch, flying," replied Ron, "then I heard that you guys finally made it out, I came back up here, but you guys were at lunch. I've been waiting up here ever since. So, how was it? You guys managed to get out of there without wands or anything. And I heard you didn't even kill Malfoy."

Harry laughed at Ron's comments. "We were okay, once we realised we had Neville with us to lead us all safely through that magical wilderness."

Ron turned to look at Neville. "So, you help out on our trip to the ministry, you come back here with a new cloak and a new attitude. What have you been up to Longbottom? What did you really do in there?"

Neville was about to reply when Harry held up a hand waving to Neville to not answer. "Neville finally took up where his father left off, that is all," answered Harry.

"Okay mate," said Ron, "but are you going to tell me what happened in there, or not?"

Harry slid into one of the chairs in the common room. "Ron, we're not talk,ing about that. Besides, from what we hear, none of you are going to be doing the same simulation."

Ron nodded, "Yeah, about that, they told us we won't be going to the island. They have some castle that we will explore. Once we are allowed to go in there."

Neville smiled, "Just make sure you don't stand in front of the entrance unless you have your wand with you."

Ron winced slightly at the comment and decided not to respond to it. "But come on, it must have been exciting. Did you have to face all sorts of monsters?"

Harry laughed quietly. "Monsters? You don't know the half of it. But that wasn't what really mattered. More important things happened. Things that will surprise you. Neville, here, even managed to get a girlfriend out of the whole ordeal."

Ron's jaw dropped. "What? You and Hermione? I never knew you were interested in her."

Neville frowned, "No, not Hermione. Me and Tracey, Tracey Davis."

"A snake? You're dating a snake?" Ron turned to Harry, "You did explain to Longbottom the problem with that, didn't you Harry?"

"There's nothing to explain," replied Harry. "Tracey's a good person, so what if she is a Slytherin?"

"But all the snakes, they're evil, they're junior Death Eaters, the lot of 'em," protested Ron as he stood up and waved his arms about. "She's probably just getting close to Neville so she can get close to you, and then do who knows what so she can capture you and deliver you to He Who Must Not Be Named!"

Neville was stunned by Ron's reaction, but Harry shook his head. "Let it go Ron, she's fine and she is not a Death Eater and she isn't setting up Neville or me. She actually likes Neville for Neville."

"But Harry," began Ron again.

This time Neville was the one who interrupted. "Ron, drop it. I know we'll be getting plenty of crap from others around school, but I was hoping that maybe you, a friend, would at least be supportive."

Ron's mouth hung open again as he was startled by the rebuke from Neville. Ron told himself that Longbottom never spoke up like that, about anything. Other than when they were first years and he tried to stop them from leaving the common room after curfew.

"Ron, close your mouth," teased Harry, "you're making yourself look more foolish than Crabbe or Goyle have ever done on their own."

Ron closed his mouth and shook his head. "I don't know if I'll understand you two," he said as he scratched the back of his neck, "but I guess I can try and understand. Cute girl, she's still a snake, but not an evil one." He then turned back to Neville, "I'm still not sure I trust her, but I guess I should have learned by now to trust you and Harry."

Hermione then stepped through the portrait hole into the common room. "There you tow are," she said to Harry and Neville. "Oh, hello Ronald. Sorry to just pop in, but I need Harry and Neville to come with me. The headmaster wants to meet with us in his office."

Ron looked puzzled, "Hey there Hermione, I'm glad you all made it out safely. But why do you all have to meet up with Dumbledore?"

"That's _Professor_ Dumbledore," corrected Hermione. "He just wanted to review with the three of us everything that happened. I think he wants to speak to us without the other three, to see if we'll tell him any more details."

Ron frowned, "Then make it quick, because maybe we can go flying once you get done."

Harry smiled as he stood up and walked over towards the exit, "We'll have to see Ron. I think right now we all just want to rest and recover. It has been a couple of long days for us after all."

Neville followed Harry and Hermione out of the common room and they made their way to meet with the headmaster. Professor McGonagall was just leaving as the trio arrived at the gargoyle at the bottom of the stairs up to Dumbledore's office. As they walked in, Dumbledore waved his hand at three chairs that were facing his desk. He didn't even get up from his chair behind his desk as the three sat down across from him.

"I am so glad you were able to come meet with me," Albus began with a sweet tone. "I really would appreciate it if you could all give me a little more details about your adventure, that would be just splendid."

"There's really not much else to say," stated Harry, hoping to preempt any further revelations about their journeys across the island.

"Oh, come on, Harry, my boy," replied Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eyes, "I'm sure that there must be so much more to tell about what happened. Six students, sent to a dangerous place, without even a wand to help you."

"Magic is not the answer for everything," proclaimed Hermione. "While we had some difficult things to do, such as find our way without a map, it was helpful that several of us had learned some muggle skills that proved useful."

The headmaster raised an eyebrow at that comment. "Oh? Miss Granger, could you elaborate?"

Hermione mentally cursed herself for saying too much, but she was trying to figure out the best way to not reveal too much to the headmaster. "We needed skills, such as being able to turn a shirt into strips of material to tie a ladder together with a bunch of sticks. The boys managed to disarm those pirates, and thus we had weapons to protect us. Really not much exciting happened other than that."

Albus turned his head slightly. "That sounds quite fascinating, Miss Granger, I would really like to hear more about it."

Neville spoke up next, "There really isn't much more to say, Headmaster. We were sent in there without wands, we found ways to work together, but it wasn't all fun and at times it was scary. Honestly, we all agreed before we left that we didn't want to discuss the details with anyone. It was our ordeal, and we don't think anyone else could possibly understand how it affected us all."

The headmaster turned to look at Neville, and his eyes twinkled a little more. "Ahh, Mr. Longbottom, but that is what we are here for, myself and your professors. To listen to your story and help you all process it."

Harry was shaking his head as he interjected, "But that's where you're wrong. We don't need to talk to anyone else about this experience. The main thing is that we all learned to work together, even with our different backgrounds and our previous issues. I think the fact that we all came out safe and proved that we could work together is all that really matters."

Albus nodded in response to Harry's statement. "I would have to agree with you, Harry, that working together is a wonderful thing, especially as you said you were able to put past differences behind you. But you have all been speaking in generalities, I was really hoping that you would share some specifics."

Neville looked at the other two and then he turned back to face the headmaster. "We were attacked by a cougar, an American mountain lion. Having the cutlass with me helped save us. As it jumped at me I was able to attack it with the sword and defend myself. I think all of those training sessions with Harry last year in the DA must have paid off. It helped me think clearly in a difficult situation and respond quickly to the threat of the vicious animal."

"A mountain lion, you say," replied Albus with a hint of excitement in his voice. "But what abut magical creatures, I presume you must have encountered some along the way."

Harry looked down at his feet and then back at Dumbledore. He had a pensive look on his face and then he spoke as he frowned. "No, we didn't have to really fight any magical creatures. The wolves weren't magical," stated Harry as he downplayed the exact nature of the beasts that he and Neville had fought off.

Hermione then spoke up, "Oh, there were the water sprites. After several of you fell into that pond, you had to attack the water sprites with your swords to get them to let you all leave the pond safely."

Albus raised an eyebrow at this revelation.

Harry rolled his eyes, "It wasn't that big of a deal, Hermione. Neville and I chased them away. There really wasn't much to do about it." Harry was clearly downplaying what happened in front of the headmaster.

"And there is nothing more to share about your adventures?" asked Dumbledore, hoping to get something more out of the students.

The three Gryffindors sat there, each shaking their heads slightly, Neville even scratched his head for a moment. Hermione finally spoke up, raising a finger, "Well, there were the hippogriffs we found, which after we made sure that they bowed to us, just like Hagrid showed us a few years ago, they were willing to fly us towards our destination. That helped a lot. That may have helped us avoid some other obstacles."

Albus was smiling brightly at the trio, "Well, flying a hippogriff does sound like a grand adventure. But if you have anything else to share, please let me know."

The three nodded in agreement. They then started to stand up as they prepared to leave, when Dumbledore added one more comment. "Apparently Mr. Jennings would like to meet with all of you. Something about documenting which obstacles you actually faced. It seems they were having some difficulties monitoring exactly what happened, what the matrix generated, and where you all were."

Harry replied first, "We can do that, I'm sure."

"That would be most appreciated," finished Dumbledore as the three students then turned and left.

* * *

><p>Lord and Lady Greengrass had arrived at Hogwarts and were accompanied by the Davis family. They had been notified about something being not quite right with the Magical Virtual Reality simulation that their daughters were involved with and had requested that they be notified immediately upon any more information becoming available. Professor Snape had sent a message to the girls' parents and they had decided that they wanted to see for themselves how the girls had faired.<p>

Professor Snape and the headmaster met with the four to quell any concerns that they might have about the entire process. Once their initial inquiries were answered they indicated that they would like their children to return home for the remainder of the summer, to return on the Hogwarts Express on September 1.

Daphne and Tracey were summoned to meet with their parents and the headmaster and their head of house that afternoon. As the school had no real reason to keep them any longer, Dumbledore did agree to allow them all to use his private floo connection to return to the Greengrass estate.

* * *

><p>Upon leaving the headmaster's office, Hermione returned to her room. She looked around and made sure that the silk shirt of Draco's was right where she had left it, underneath her pillow. She thought to herself that she would continue to wear it as a nightshirt, unless of course he actually demanded that she return it to him. She lifted the shirt briefly, and sniffed it. It still managed to smell of Draco despite her wearing it for a few days. She shook herself from the thoughts she was having and quickly returned the shirt to its place under the pillow.<p>

Upon returning to the common room, she was surprised to find only Neville.

"Where are Harry and Ron?" she asked.

Neville looked up and smiled at Hermione. "Ron went to get his broom, he and Harry were going to go flying. I think Harry went down towards the lake."

Hermione smiled and thanked Neville for the information. She hoped that she might have a chance to speak with Harry before he started flying. After leaving through the portrait hole, she made her way down to the entrance hall as quickly as she could. She was surprised that she was able to meet up with Harry just as he was heading out the doors.

She called out to him and he waited a moment and then the two started to walk towards the Black Lake.

Hermione started their conversation with a question. "So now what are you going to do?"

Harry was puzzled by her question. "What do you mean?"

"About Daphne," stated Hermione.

Harry bristled at the question. "What about Daphne?"

Hermione's eyes brightened as she continued, "Are you two going to hook up at all? Are you going to start dating?"

Harry didn't answer her. He simply kept walking slowly towards the lake.

Hermione frowned as she waited for an answer, hoping that he would open up about his feelings.

After a moment, Harry stopped and turned towards Hermione. "What about you and Malfoy?"

Hermione huffed, "There is nothing between me and Malfoy."

Harry let out a deep breath, "Good, I would hate to think there was."

Hermione winced at Harry's words, but looked away to hide her reaction.

Just then they heard Ron calling to them as he came running up and joined them.

"So how are you guys doing?" asked Ron. "I know you couldn't say too much in front of Neville, but with just the three of us, you can tell me everything. How bad was it? Did you prove to Malfoy that he is just a git and you're the better wizard?"

Hermione's jaw dropped. "We had nothing to prove to anyone. We had to work together to get out of that place. No thanks to you, either."

"You can't possibly blame me for what happened," snapped Ron. "I was protecting Harry. From Crabbe, you know, a Slytherin."

Hermione was trying not to yell at Ron as she replied, "If _you_ hadn't cast that overpowered shield we wouldn't have all been sent into the MagiWorld without our wands."

Ron was indignant at her accusation. "If _I_ didn't cast that shield, who knows what would have happened to Harry, or the rest of you!"

"Let it go Ron," added Harry

Ron turned and faced Harry. "How can you say that? I was looking out for your backside. And you dismiss me like that? I thought we were friends. You sound like you've spent too much time with those snakes. How can you defend what Crabbe did?"

Ron turned and stalked off, carrying his broom with him. He was clearly angry, and Harry didn't get a chance to say anything else.

Harry went to follow him, but Hermione grabbed his arm. "Let him go, Harry, he needs to calm down."

"So, you and Malfoy," commented Harry with a sly grin.

Hermione gasped at Harry's remark. "There is nothing there, and you know it! He is a bigoted pureblood who wold like nothing more than to see me embarrassed or even kicked out of school and have my wand snapped. How could you even think such a thing?"

Harry was amused by Hermione's overreaction to his statement. "I don't know, he did seem kind of protective of you at times. Like most of the time after we all met up together."

Hermione glared at him. "He did not, and if you tell anyone that, I'll make sure you regret it."

Harry just waged his eyebrows at her. "It's okay Hermione, your secret is safe with me."

"Prat," she said, not softening her glare.

"But you love me anyway," he said with a big smile.

Hermione huffed and smiled back, "So, you and Greengrass, eh?"

Harry frowned, "You know as well as I that there is nothing there, that nothing will come of it."

* * *

><p>That evening Daphne and Tracey arrived back at the Greengrass Estate. The extra bed in Daphne's room had been placed there years before as the two spent so much time together. Once they got away from Astoria's barrage of questions the two life long friends settled into Daphne's bedroom.<p>

Tracey immediately went to the desk, pulled out a piece of parchment and started to write a letter.

"What are you up to now, Davis?" asked Daphne, teasing her best friend by using her last name.

Tracey smirked but didn't look up as she kept writing. "It should be obvious that I'm writing a letter to Neville."

Daphne rolled her eyes. "You're hopeless, you know that, Trace."

"I'm not hopeless. You're the one that's hopeless," replied Tracey. "Perhaps you should send a letter to Harry. After all, we did leave before we could see them again."

Daphne winced, "Why would I do that?"

Tracey stopped writing and looked directly at her best friend. "Because you're falling for him," she stated as a matter of fact.

Daphne felt scandalised. "Me, a Slytherin, and heiress to the Greengrass estate, fall for Potter, the chosen one? Never."

Tracey laughed at her friend's protestations. "Wrong, you have it bad for him, I could see it when you kissed him for saving you."

"I did no such thing," Daphne continued to protest. "I pushed him off of me for tackling me. I struggled underneath him and as I lifted my head our faces touched."

"You kissed him!"

"Did not," snapped Daphne.

"Did too," teased Tracey.

"I did not," asserted Daphne, "and if you ever tell anyone that I did, you will suffer humiliations galore."

"Wow," replied Tracey quietly, "you really do feel something for him."

Daphne's response was quiet and under her breath, "Do not."

Tracey laughed at her friend and turned back to writing her letter to Neville.


	14. Chapter 14 More Virtual Magical Reality

**AN: Sorry for the delay. In addition to the usual excuses of life, the universe and everything, this chapter got a little carried away. It is MUCH longer than I initially planned, manly because this chapter includes the description of Group 2's adventure in the Virtual Magical Reality. I had originally planned to simply summarise what they did, but it ended up becoming much more detailed. Hopefully you all enjoy it. It is very different from the adventure the original six had. The story moves on beyond that, but this particular adventure expanded itself as I began to write it out.**

**We will be dealing with our main six characters throughout this chapter, as you will soon read. Thanks again for reading and reviewing. The story line has become MUCH more complicated than I originally envisioned with the brief outline I created, but that is a good thing (I hope). The next chapters are also becoming longer than I initially planned, unless I end up splitting them. This chapter, however, I did not feel would work as well if it was cut up.**

* * *

><p>Neville and Harry and several other students were enjoying breakfast in the Great Hall. He was wondering out loud to Harry about where Daphne and Tracey might be as they had not shown up for breakfast. An owl then swooped in and landed in front of Neville.<p>

Harry raised an eyebrow, "It seems to have something for you there, Nev."

Neville reached out and took the letter from the owl and gave it a piece of his sausage.

Ron then joined them for breakfast and started piling food onto his plate.

"So, is everyone leaving?" asked Harry.

"No, just the purebloods," commented Ron as he started to shovel food in his face. "I guess they have a way to come and go easily and won't be back until it is there turn to go into the virtual magical reality thing."

"Malfoy is still here," observed Hermione who was already at the table.

"Probably just waiting for mommy to take him back to Voldemort," snapped Ron while chewing.

"I'm not so sure about that," mused Hermione as she glanced over to where Draco was sitting at the far end of the table from them, the only Slytherin still at the school.

After the remaining students had all arrived for breakfast, Professor Dumbledore stood up from where he was sitting to address the group.

"I would like to take a moment to make some announcements," he began. "The first is that the students in Group 2 will be starting their adventure in two days. The format has been changed and they will b exploring a castle environment with a specific task. The exit beacon is located at the entrance to the virtual magical reality so we will avoid any problems such as what happened to the first group. It is with great pride in their efforts of working together and their ingenuity that they accomplished their mission without their wands and without any serious injuries."

Neville shook his head slightly at the last comment as he muttered under his breath, "What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

The headmaster continued, "The students who have returned home will be invited back shortly. Also, there will be some new rules put into place. At the beginning of the mission, only the six students in the group will be brought into the room with the MagiWorld machine. This should help prevent a repeat of the events that occurred just prior to the first group entered the machine."

Several eyes turned towards Ron and glared at him, as many of the students who were there blamed him for his part in the altercation that sent the students into the virtual magical reality without their wands.

Dumbledore then concluded, "Now that you have all been updated on our current plans, feel free to enjoy yourselves on the castle grounds throughout the day and again tomorrow. Remember, curfew is still at nine PM."

* * *

><p>Later that afternoon Narcissa Malfoy returned to the castle.<p>

Upon arriving at the main entrance, Albus Dumbledore greeted her. "What can I do for you this fine day, Lady Malfoy? It is a beautiful day is it not?"

Narcissa smiled thinly at the man. "I have a need to speak with my son. I have been hearing rumours about what has transpired. Perhaps he should return home with me at this point," she said tersely.

Albus raised an eyebrow at her clearly less than friendly manner. "I will have him sent for immediately, Narcissa."

Narcissa winced at his slipping into familiarity and using her first name. Although she decides to let it pass as she was accommodating for making sure Draco was enrolled in the summer program.

Draco arrives a few minutes later, accompanied by a house elf. "Why is this thing dragging me down here?" He pauses as he sees his mother and the headmaster. "Oh, hello mother, headmaster."

Narcissa's face showed no response. "Good day, Draco, it is time for us to leave. We have important errands to run."

Draco was about to protest as he saw the headmaster's eyes twinkling at him. He decided to stop his rant and shrugged his shoulders. "Do I need to get my things?"

"I think not," she replied, "you have plenty of clothes at home, and you will be returning here shortly."

Draco remained impassive to her comments as he then turned to nod at the headmaster before following his mother out the front door of the castle. They remained silent until they had exited the Hogwarts gates.

"What is all this about, mother?" wondered Draco, having waited until they were well past al of the Hogwarts wards.

"We need to return to the manor, even if only for a short period of time," explained Narcissa.

Draco tilted his head, "Why is that?"

She hesitated a moment before responding. "The Dark Lord has requested to meet with you as soon as possible. You have to go back home, even if it is only briefly."

They made their way to the Three Broomsticks, then they made use of the floo system and returned directly to Malfoy Manor. Upon arriving in their entry hall, Narcissa turned to Draco once more. "He is waiting on you to show yourself in the main hall."

Draco nodded silently and slowly made his way to the room that was designated as the formal ballroom. He slowly opened the large ornate door and stepped through. The Dark Lord himself was seated on a large chair or throne in the middle of the room. A few of his lieutenants were standing to the sides in a semicircle. Everyone turned to look at who had entered the room.

As Draco started to walk towards the raised dais, Voldemort raised a finger at him as he began to speak. "Welcome home, young Draco. The young lord of the house has decided to join us here in his place," he added with a sneer.

Draco knew better than to respond to the taunting.

"Even though Lucius, your father," he stated, his voice dripping with venom," is still in prison there are still things that I expect from my host. But, alas, you seem to have been to busy to attend to us."

Draco bowed his head and did not look up at the Dark Lord. "I was called to school for a special assignment, a special project."

Voldemort taunts him. "So I have been informed. But what news do you bring me today? What did you accomplish during your time there? I expect my followers to be diligent in helping our goals be reached."

Draco is unsure how to respond. He fidgets for a moment and then he raises his head slightly without making direct eye contact. "It was a school project, we had to work together in teams. We needed to get through a task as a group."

Voldemort sneered at him. "That is all that you had to do? Of what good is that to me?"

Draco then added, "After this project, the Gryffindors think they can trust me, however."

"Use that to your advantage then," replied Voldemort. "Perhaps some good can come from this. Find out what Harry Potter is up to, what he is doing, and report back to me. Also, you must remember, Nott has a special project this year. He must not fail in his assignment. You are to provide any assistance he requires."

"Understood, my Lord," replied Draco without raising his eyes.

"It is clear that the Ministry knows I am back after the events of this past June," continued Voldemort without acknowledging Draco's answer. "Potter and Dumbledore may be a problem, so we need to keep things quiet for now. Do not give them any idea of what our plans may be. They will, however, focus on you, not on Nott. We must use that to our advantage."

The room was quiet for a moment, and then Voldemort spoke again. "Do not fail me like your father has. Now, Draco, you are dismissed."

Draco nodded, "Yes, milord." Then he turned and made his way out of the room.

* * *

><p>The students in Group 2 gathered in the room with the Virtual Magical Reality device. On their way into the room, Moody collected the wands from all of the students.<p>

"We won't be having any of that foolishness this time, now will we," he barked at the six.

Mandy Brocklehurst and Lisa Turpin sat down in the front row of seats. Ron Weasley joined them, and the second row was quickly filled by Gregory Goyle, Pansy Parkinson, and Blaise Zabini. Ron shifted uncomfortably in his chair with the three Slytherin students sitting behind him.

Mr. Jennings walked in front of the students. "Now, we expect that things should go much more smoothly today. No shenanigans today, please." He looked all of them in the eye and his face was stern.

"Due to the safety concerns that were raised after the first group inadvertently entered the MagiWorld environment unprepared and without their wands, we have taken steps to make sure this mission goes much more smoothly and with less problems," he continued patiently. "You will not be heading to the island that the others had to cross. Your mission will be much simpler. When you arrive within the MagiWorld matrix, you will appear in front of an old castle. A very large castle, I might add. Within this castle you may very well encounter all manners of creatures. Your exit beacon will conveniently be located right where you enter. All you need to do is go into the castle, find the missing crystal ball and return to the entrance of the castle and then leave via the exit beacon."

"How will we find this crystal ball?" asked Lisa Turpin.

"There will be clues that you shall find along the way," explained Jennings. "You may have some challenges and some creatures or individuals who may help you or they may hinder you. Working as a team will help you accomplish this mission quickly and safely. Any petty squabbling and distractions could get you injured and will most likely delay your return to us."

Blaise smirked as he spoke up, "Maybe if we just bind Weasley at the entrance and leave him there until we're done we will all be better off."

"We will be monitoring all of you, and if one person is left behind, the program will then make it much more difficult to find the hidden lantern," stated Jennings. "So I wouldn't recommend such an action."

Ron turned and glared at Zabini. "See, you can't do this without me, you slimy snake."

"Snakes aren't slimy," commented Mandy, "they're dry and scaly. Don't you know anything about animals, Weasley?"

"No one asked you, Brocklehurst," snapped Ron.

"You're not helping things, Weasel," commented Pansy, and her tone indicated just how irritated she was with the Gryffindor.

Goyle simply added, "Yeah. Not helping."

The others all stared at Goyle who then sat back in his chair and sulked once he realised that everyone else was glaring at him.

Moody walked in front of the group and came to a stop with a loud clomp of his wooden leg. "Now listen up, you kiddies. You need to stop this bickering and fighting. You will need to work together as a team, something which the students in Group 1 learned quickly, but you all need to learn right now. Just because your wands are now keyed into the safety mechanisms of the system does not mean you can't get hurt. Oh, you'll survive all right, but you may not enjoy what happens if your virtual self get injured or dies." He glared at them all one at a time with his magical eye. "Do you understand me laddies and lassies?"

The group all mumbled that they did.

"I can't hear you through your mumbling, you children," he roared at them. "Stop talking like little babies! Do you understand me?"

There was a loud and distinct chorus of "Yes Sir" from all of six students.

"Thank you, Mr. Moody," added Jennings as he walked back in front of the students. "Minerva McGonagall will check that you have appropriate gear with you. Professor Snape will hand each of you a clue. Once you have your clue in hand and you have been checked over by Professor McGonagall, I would like you all to line up in front of the entrance, side by side. And Mr. Frazelli will make sure you're in the right places and then explain the new entry process."

Snape walked up to the group and handed each one of them a small piece of parchment. Then one of the other MagiTech workers stood up from the console and made sure they were standing in the proper locations.

"Get ready everyone," stated Steve Frazelli, a thin dark haired wizard with a goatee. "You will all need to line up right here. Once the professor checks to be sure you are all ready then my friend Saresh will start the process to have you enter the MagiWorld. We're not taking any chances for another mistake to happen like last time, so we added a new secure step to this process. Instead of there being a simple doorway, there will appear a magical bubble that will be programmed for who it will bring into the MagiWorld. No more, no less, only those keyed into the program will be brought inside." He smiled at them once he was sure that they were all lined up properly.

Once they had lined up as they were told, with only a slight amount of jostling between Blaise and Ron as they ended up next to each other in the middle of the line, Professor McGonagall double checked that they were appropriately prepared for the upcoming magical journey.

Jennings then turned and spoke with Saresh. They exchanged a few comments about some technical information and then Jennings turned to face the six students. "Saresh here is keeping the entrance closed until you all have your wands. We're not taking chances this time." Moody then handed the wands back to each of the students in the group. "You may want to put them somewhere safe, just in case you stumble when you land in the MagiWorld environment."

Most of the students had wand holsters on the wrists, whereas Ron simply stuck his wand into his pocket. Moody shook his head in disappointment when he noticed the lanky red head mistreat his wand.

"On my mark on three," stated Jennings. He then counted out, "One…Two…Three!"

As he called out the last number Saresh turned a couple of dials. The entrance to the Virtual Magical Reality opened up and the group noted a translucent bubble emerge from the machine. Once the bubble had come in contact with all six of the students, they suddenly felt a pressure like a wind sucking them into the entrance.

* * *

><p>Harry Spent the afternoon wandering around the grounds of Hogwarts. Hermione had caught up to him as he was walking around the Black Lake.<p>

"I wondered where you had gone off to," she called out as she managed to get Harry's attention.

"Hey there, Hermione," Harry called back as he waited for her to catch up to where he was. "Just decided to take a bit of a stroll, enjoy the nice day."

"You're worried about Ron being in the MagiWorld, aren't you," stated Hermione.

Harry made a crooked face and then shook his head. "No, actually I'm not," he started pensively. "The MagiTechs seemed to put in some more safe guards, and they completely changed the encounter from what we had experienced. Overall it sounds like they will have an easier time of dealing with the virtual magical reality matrix. It's just their group that I'm worried about. Ron, and three Slytherins. I don't think that the two girls from Ravenclaw will be able to run interference for Ron and his mouth."

Hermione was now walking next to Harry, leaning against his arm as they meandered around the lake. "You may have a point there," she added with a slight laugh. "But at least if the safe guards are truly working, Ron won't be able to stupidly hurt anyone too bad."

"Or get himself hurt bad either," continued Harry.

After they continued on in silence, Harry spoke up again. "So, are you missing him yet?"

Hermione stopped walking and turned to stare at Harry. "What are you talking about?"

Harry smirked, "Just about the guy you seemed to get so close to while we were stuck in the MagiWorld."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at her best friend. "I was stuck with him, and not of my own choosing," she snapped. "We managed to put aside our differences and work together." She took in a deep breath to calm herself from her initial reaction to Harry's words before she continued, "Besides, I don't see you hanging out with your friend."

Harry turned away from Hermione for a moment. "If I even had any idea what you're talking about," said Harry as he still avoided eye contact with Hermione, "I would point out that neither Daphne or Tracey are still on the grounds of the school." Then he turned to look her in the eyes once again, "Besides, you know just as well as I do what Draco said before we left the MagiWorld."

Hermione huffed at him, "And when did you start listening to Malfoy?"

* * *

><p>— — HP VMI 14 — —<p>

* * *

><p>The six students found themselves standing outside of a large castle. They quickly turned around to get a bearing on where they were and they also spread out from the line they were positioned in just before being sucked into the virtual magical reality.<p>

Lisa Turpin spoke up first, "So, what does everyone's clue state?"

Ron was about to snap about the Ravenclaw girl taking charge when he realised that he would rather listen to her than to any of the three Slytherins. Silently they all opened the small piece of parchment that Snape had handed to them.

Each note began: "_To complete this task, you must, as a group, find all 6 keys within the castle — each key will lead you to another, and the final key will allow you to retrieve the crystal ball._"

The notes were not numbered, so there was no clear indication which key they needed to retrieve first.

"Mine says we need to look in the library," commented Mandy, "where do we find the library?"

"I suppose we just have to go in and look for it," stated Blaise. "Mine says to look behind some statues."

"This is stupid," moaned Ron.

"Stupid or not," snapped Pansy, "it is our assignment. My clue mentions an observatory, by the way."

Blaise spoke up again, "So, I suggest we make our way into the castle and just see what happens."

The others eventually agreed and followed the Slytherin in through the main entrance. The doors were large and reminded them all of the entrance to Hogwarts.

Mandy spoke up as they crossed into the large entryway, "My clue mentions something about a dining room. I would suppose we'll find that somewhere on this floor. Anybody have any ideas about which way we should go?"

"Maybe we should split up and look for it in groups," suggested Ron.

"Bad idea," stated Lisa Turpin. "This is a group mission, and we need to stay as a group. What would happen if we get separated and one group gets attacked and the others can't come and help? Or what if someone gets lost?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders in response. "It was just an idea," he added meekly.

Greg Goyle spoke up next, "Maybe we should just look down the hall to our right."

"Why go to the right?" asked Ron.

"Its as good a choice as any," answered Pansy.

The six students headed down the right hallway, and they soon found a pair of large doors.

"This looks promising," commented Blaise as he opened the doors. Inside they saw a large dining table, with only two place settings. These were arranged at opposite ends of the long table. "I guess we found your dining room, Brocklehurst. Now where do we find the key?"

Greg quickly made his way around the table, looking into the bowls to see if there was any food. When he got to the far side of the room, he started waving his arms in excitement. "I did it, I found the key," he exclaimed. He then pulled an ornate key out of the otherwise empty soup bowl.

"Well, this doesn't seem too hard," commented Pansy.

Just then a swarm of pixies seemed to appear out of nowhere and started to attack the group. The six students started casting stunning spells to try and stop the little creatures from harassing them. Greg was becoming frustrated by the small flying menaces getting into his hair and pulling that he started to cast blasting hexes at them. His first attempt missed wide and knocked over a vase on a table next to the wall. His next curse went wide as well and blew up a chair on the other side of the room. His third attempt was directed at a pixie that was flying overhead. His spell missed but it blasted a hole in the ceiling right where the large chandelier was hanging. The crystal chandelier fell onto the middle of the table with a loud crash as it shattered and broke the table in half. At the sight of such destruction going on around them, the pixies then regrouped and flew off, making their escape through a grating near the floor in the far corner of the room.

The group stared at the rubble that was the chandelier and the table. "I suppose that we don't have to worry about surprising anything or anyone in the castle. That crash would have woken the dead," commented Lisa.

"Be careful what you wish for around here," warned Blaise.

They then set off in search of more keys and made their way down the hall. They followed a twisting passage through what they thought would have been the middle of the castle when they came upon a locked door.

"Might as well try that key in there, Greg," commented Pansy. "Perhaps this is one of the places we're looking for."

Greg Goyle was used to being a follower, now he was leading this small group, even if it was only so much as unlocking a door. Greg smiled to himself as he inserted the key into the lock and slowly twisted it to open the door. The door swung open slowly and Greg tentatively looked in to the room and saw that it had a couple of bookshelves in addition to a desk and a large table.

"It looks like a small library," he stated as he walked into the room.

The others followed behind him, and Mandy Brocklehurst spoke up as she came in behind. "It's a study, Goyle, kind of like a private library, a place to do some work, or to be alone."

Greg turned and glared at her, "I know what a study is. It's a small personal library."

Mandy rolled her eyes and stepped further into the room.

"Where will we find the key?" wondered Pansy out loud.

Suddenly there came a loud moaning as a ghost swooped down from the ceiling heading straight towards the group of students. The ghost was shaking a translucent chain which rattled as well. The students all dove to the ground out of the way of the ghost that was dive bombing at them.

Blaise jumped up first and cast a blasting hex at the ghost, but his spell simply blew some tiles off of the ceiling.

Ron saw what was going on and he too began to cast spells at the ghost, only to cause a bunch of books on one of the shelves to burst into flames.

The ghost had turned around and was now flying directly at Ron and Blaise, and the two dove back onto the floor out of the way of the howling spectre.

Greg stood up and looked around the room and at the others in his group who were hiding under the table. Then he looked at the ghost that had once again turned around and was staring at him. Goyle turned his head from side to side and raised his wand as the ghost started to fly towards him. He then cast a series of freezing spells at the creature which caused a patch of ice to appear on the ceiling and the wall behind the ghost. The ghost howled even louder as it prepared to crash into Greg, but Goyle stood his ground. He shuddered as he felt the odd and cold sensation as the ghost flew right through him.

"Merlin, that was weird," commented Goyle lazily as he turned and looked at the ghost. The ghost turned around and stared at the large boy who did not even flinch from his attack. Boyle noticed the puzzled look on the ghost and then he started to laugh.

"You can't do anything to me, or to us, can you? You're nothing to be afraid of!" exclaimed Greg as he realised that the ghost had no physical manifestation.

The others slowly got up from under the table and watched as the ghost continued to fly at Greg, but the large boy continued to ignore the chilling sensation.

"No, it doesn't hurt," he said in response to an odd look from Lisa Turpin. Then he began searching the room for another key and finally found one in a drawer in the desk. After several more passes through the large and uninterested boy, the ghost finally gave up in frustration and flew away through the ceiling and left the room.

"How do you feel after all of that?" asked Mandy tentatively.

Greg tilted his head slightly as he considered what had just transpired. "I guess I could stand using a warming charm, but otherwise, I'm fine."

Lisa quickly cast the requested warming charm on the large teen.

Greg smiled at her, "Um, thanks, that helps."

"So, you found our next key," commented Pansy.

"Oh, yeah," he said as he handed it to the girl who shared his house.

"What's the next clue?" asked Blaise.

"Not sure which is next, but mine says something about a baby's place," added Ron.

"You mean a nursery?" wondered Lisa.

"Yeah, maybe," commented Ron. "It says something about where a baby sleeps."

Mandy looked pensive for a moment, and then added, "We probably need to head upstairs from here, find some bedrooms. They wouldn't be on the ground floor."

The group set off and soon found a series of bedrooms. The doors were unlocked, so they didn't take much time looking through them. On the fourth room they checked, the door was locked.

"Perhaps this is it," said Ron, "might as well give the key a try."

Pansy took the key that Goyle had given to her and tried it in the lock, and sure enough it opened the door. Pansy pushed the door open and stood to the side as she anticipated some sort of attack. Nothing happened. Slowly she peered around the corner and saw that it was a large bedroom, and it appeared to have a separate dressing room off to the side.

"Looks safe enough," she said as she proceeded to walk into the room.

"But why would a baby sleep in here?" asked Goyle.

"Maybe there was a crib in here or something," suggested Mandy.

The group looked around the room and spied some furniture covered with sheets. The members of the group eyed the covered furniture suspiciously.

"It could be under the sheets," commented Lisa, "whatever it is that we are looking for."

"Then lets just remove the sheets," said Goyle as he pulled one of the sheets off an oddly shaped piece of furniture.

As the dust that had collected on the sheet settled after he removed it from a dome like shape it was revealed that it had been covering a table with what appeared to be a bird cage. Greg walked up to the cage and opened the door and looked inside. "I don't see any key in here," he stated.

"You wouldn't put a baby in a bird cage," sneered Ron.

Greg spun around and looked taken aback by Ron's comments. "You would if it was a baby bird," he protested.

Ron just shook his head and walked over to another covered piece of furniture. He rolled back the sheet slowly so as not to create another cloud of dust, and he revealed an old sofa. "Not helpful," he announced as he tossed the sheet back onto the couch.

Blaise walked up to another piece of furniture, which he assumed was a large bed. The covering was large as the it appeared to be a four-poster bed. He carefully tugged on the giant sheet to pull it off of the top of the posts. It came slowly until he had it most of the way off and then it came crashing down around him, again creating a cloud of dust. As the dust was beginning to settle he heard some screams come from the girls. Blaise then noticed that a small group of pixies had appeared again, and he presumed that they had been hiding under the large sheet he had removed. The pixies for their part were flying around and biting and kicking the others, particularly the girls. Once again the students started to cast spells at the pixies, but they were flying fast and dodging the hexes being shot at them.

"Blasted blighters," snapped Ron.

"Can't we do something about these horrid things?" called out Pansy.

"Maybe banish them somewhere," replied Mandy.

"Banish them where?" wondered Lisa as she was still trying to blast the little creatures with hexes.

"The bird cage!" shouted Ron. Then he cast a large area banishing charm at the pixies and directed it towards the cage. The small flying nuisances were sent crashing into the bird cage on the table. Some of them flew in through the open door, others collapsed onto the table from the force of the banishment.

Blaise saw an opening as the remaining pixies were stunned momentarily and he grabbed them and tossed them into the cage with the others. Then he quickly closed the cage and cast a locking charm onto the door.

Pansy and Lisa looked back and forth between the two boys and smiled. Mandy finally spoke up as she stated, "Great team work guys, especially for a Slytherin and a Gryff."

They then set about looking for the key without the harassment by the pixies. The remaining furniture in the room was not helpful. Mandy then made her way over to the dressing room, where she found an old cradle.

"I suppose this is what we are looking for," she said as she walked up to the small wooden bed. She started to look through the blankets that had been left there and quickly found the missing key. Holding it up for the others to see, she waved it around as she exclaimed, "Found it!"

Goyle smiled at the rest of the group, then asked, "So, now where do we go?"

"An observatory would probably be on the top floor," commented Lisa, "and we also have a clue about a key behind statues, so we might need to find a room with art."

"Plus we still need to find the library," added Blaise.

"I thought this was supposed to be easy," commented Ron.

The others stared at him incredulously.

"Did you not even talk to Potter about what happened to them when they were in here?" asked a frustrated Blaise.

"Yeah, but that was different," replied Ron, "we're not trying to cross an island in three days without wands. We just have to deal with this castle in one day."

Lisa shook her head and let out a loud sigh. "No one ever said any of this will be easy."

Ron shrugged his shoulders and turned away before making any further comments.

"Lets get moving," stated Blaise.

The group made their way back out into the hallway, and decided to make their way towards the other side of the castle. They began to search for other locked doors as they made their way down several corridors. They even wondered out loud if the castle was magically enlarged on the inside as they weren't sure that the castle should have been so big based on what they observed before they entered it.

After turning around another corner they came to a set of ornate doors. Blaise, who had been leading the group at this time, quickly confirmed that the doors were indeed locked.

"Would you like to do the honours, Brocklehurst?" asked Blaise as Mandy was still in possession of the latest key.

"Might as well," she stated as she walked up to the door and tried the key in the lock. The key easily opened the lock and Mandy twisted the large door knob and slowly pushed the large set of double doors open.

They quickly discerned that it was a rather large room. In the middle of the floor was a slightly raised area, that to a knowledgable witch or wizard would have appeared to be a duelling platform. On the far side of the room they also noted an ornate display case. Mandy started to make her way across the room when a wizard appeared on the middle of the platform.

"Oh, they have sent me young children this time," the wizard commented lightly. "Will there never be a proper challenge around here again?"

Mandy gulped at the sight of the wizard who had a grey beard that extended a foot past his chin, a narrow and pointed face, but a strong appearing build. His eyes twinkled slightly, reminding the group of their headmaster, however this wizard appeared younger but more dangerous.

"We don't want to challenge anyone," stated Lisa.

The wizard looked at her and crossed is arms across his chest. "Now, now, my child, why else would you all be here? This is the duelling room, after all."

"We just want to see what's in that cabinet on the back wall," added Pansy.

The wizard turned quickly to face her, and he had a sudden fierceness in his visage. "Oh, such a simple thing you ask."

"Then we can go look at the cabinet?" asked a startled Mandy.

"Sure, you can," replied the wizard with a laugh, "after I have been defeated in a duel. Who shall be first?"

The group looked at each other, and none of them were showing any initial desire to battle an unknown wizard. Ron finally swallowed hard and then stepped forward. "I'll challenge you, if that is what we must do to reach the other side of the room."

"Brave, you think you are," sneered the wizard. "You don't look like much of a challenge to me. However, I will oblige you in your foolishness." He then moved to the end of the duelling platform.

Ron stepped up to the other end and called out to the wizard. "What are the ground rules for this duel?"

"Ground rules," commented the wizard with a laugh, "we don't need no stinking ground rules."

Ron's face turned into a frown and he started to shake slightly with being nervous.

The wizard laughed at him again, "My dear boy, of course there are ground rules. It wouldn't be a proper duel without some basic ground rules. Let's see, the first will be no spells classified as unforgivables. The next rule will be that this duel shall be one on one. If anyone tries to interfere, then I will summon other wizards to join in on the fun. Have I made myself clear?"

"He's just an automaton," Ron said quietly to himself, "he is not real, and I can't get truly hurt." Ron hoped his little mantra would help steady his nerves.

"Very well, I am ready," announced Ron.

"Then, on the count of three," called back the wizard. "One, two," and then he cast a blasting hex at Ron before he even said the number three.

Ron quickly cast a shield spell which buckled slightly under the curse. "That wasn't a count of three!" he yelled.

"No one said I play fair," laughed the wizard as he cast a series of stunner spells.

Ron replied by dodging and blocking the spells. He then managed to get off a couple of his own spells before he had to dodge another blasting spell and tripped onto his feet. A white light flashed from the wizard's wand and caught Ron in the leg, which caused him to scream slightly in pain.

He jumped up and quickly raised another shield charm as the wizard taunted him.

"Is that the best you can do, boy?" he called out. "Maybe I should have allowed you to use an unforgivable or two, it might have made this more fair!"

Ron could feel his face warm as blood flowed to his cheeks in response to his anger. However, he called upon some of the things he had learned the previous year in classes with his mate, Harry Potter, and then he started on a quick series of spells, including stunners, blasting hexes and cutting curses. He was slightly pleased with himself that he at least appeared to be making the other wizard have to work at avoiding the spells.

"So, you do have some skill after all," jeered the wizard. "Very well, then, let's make this much more interesting!"

Suddenly three more wizards appeared at various places around the duelling platform. The two newcomers who arrived the closest to Ron immediately began to cast more spells at Ron who had to duck and cast another shield spell to protect himself.

"Bloody hell," called out Ron.

Seeing their friend now being attacked by the extra wizards, the other five students began to attack the four who had suddenly appeared. One of the wizards closest to Ron who had his back to the other five quickly fell from an overpowered stunner launched by Goyle. The remaining three newcomers now turned to face the other students and took up the fight with them.

Ron stared and watched as the newly arrived wizards left him alone. Turning back to the original wizard, Ron called out to him, "No one else joined in the attack! This doesn't follow your ground rules!"

The wizard laughed at the comment. "Ground rules? They're more like guidelines, anyway!" Then he followed up his comments with a new attack against Ron.

A cutting hex caught Ron on his left upper arm and he winced in pain. Looking to see how bad his current injury was distracted him again from his attacker. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed another bright red curse heading towards him. Ron rolled to the side to avoid the curse.

"The young one has some spunk! But I think it will not be enough!" called out the wizard.

As he was boasting Ron winced as he pushed himself up with his injured arm. He then began to quickly fire off a series of curses at the wizard who he was facing.

Meanwhile, the other five students were currently engaged with the three wizards who had been summoned to join the one who was battling with Ron. The group initially had Blaise fighting one wizard while Greg and Pansy fought the second and Lisa and Mandy fought the third. Blaise was managing to keep himself safe by casting shield charms repeatedly, while the others were able to overpower the wizards they were fighting by having a two on one advantage.

Ron's series of curses came quicker than his opponent expected and he was unable to block them all. Two successive blasting hexes to his chest caused him to stumble and cry out in pain. Deciding he had enough of this he responded with an overpowered blasting hex of his own that landed in front of Ron and created a cloud of debris as the duelling platform could not withstand the magical explosion.

The room shook with the force of the blow and distracted the three wizards who were duelling the other students. However, the three wizards fighting against the other five students were not fazed by this and continued to hold their own.

Ron tried not to cough as he was enveloped in the cloud of dust and smoke from the blast that landed just a few feet in front of him. In desperation he cast another blasting hex blindly through the cloud in the direction of the wizard.

The laughing of the original wizard to start the duel came to an abrupt end as a flash of red light connected with his wand. In horror, the wizard watched as the wand in his hand exploded. The wizard was thrown back against the wall from where he had been standing. As he hit the wall he slid to the floor with a loud thump. From the look of how he was lying, it was clear that the force of the explosion had killed him.

As he landed on the floor in a heap, the other wizards all collapsed. The group quickly moved to kick their wands away, but then it became clear that they had all died when their leader had died.

The others turned and looked at Ron in amazement.

"How the hell did you manage that?" demanded Blaise.

"I have absolutely no idea," commented Ron, who was just as shocked as the others.

"Luckiest damned spell I have ever seen," avowed Mandy.

Goyle simply stated, "Wow," with his jaw hanging open.

Lisa Turpin then noted Ron's injured arm and she moved over to cast a healing charm on the wound. Ron looked at it briefly then he rolled his sleeve back down. He turned and pointed at the display case in the back of the room, "I think we can approach that now."

The others laughed slightly at his comment, but Mandy was the first to actually reach the glass enclosed cabinet. "Hey, there are a couple of small statues in here," she called out to the others. She then found a release on the glass panel to the case and slid it back. She carefully moved one of the statues to the side and find a small velvet pouch on the shelf. As she retrieved the pouch she could feel a key in the bag. She then turned and tossed the pouch to Ron. "Looks like we found the fourth key, now we just need to figure out where we head to next."

As four of the keys had been found on the first two floors, the group decided to make their way up to the third floor of the castle. They knew from one of the clues they still had to find a library. The large stairwell led to an open area that had several hallways leading off in different directions.

"I think that this puts us right about the middle of the castle," commented Lisa. "There are two hallways heading north, and two heading south. Any thoughts on which way we should go to start?"

No one replied initially, so Lisa continued, "Well then, since everyone is so full of ideas, I suggest we start with this hallway to the left." She then pointed towards the hallway to the north and west of where they were standing. Again she had no comments from the others who seemed to be still catching their breath after the duel with the wizard automatons. "Might as well press on," she added.

Lisa started to walk towards the hallway she had pointed to and the others began to follow her.

As they are rounding the corner towards the hallway from the landing in front of the large stairway there came a rumbling sound from the hallway to their left. The group turned to see two trolls lumbering towards them, each one swinging a club. Once the trolls noticed the group of six students they started to move faster and the floor and walls began to shake.

"Stunners won't do anything against these things," called out Ron as he started to cast bludgeon hexes at the troll closest to him.

This only seemed to anger the creature and he started to bellow and swung his club through a nearby wall. As the troll closed the distance to the group Ron and Pansy had been backing up towards the other hallways. However, Lisa, Mandy, Blaise and Greg ran towards the stairs which were now to their left. The second troll started to chase after them.

Pansy managed to hit the troll chasing her and Ron in the face with a bludgeoning hex which caused its nose to start to bleed. The troll paused for a moment as it was surprised to have been hurt even slightly by the small people it was chasing. Ron noted the troll had stopped and took the opportunity to try something that worked once before.

"Wingardium leviosa," he called out as he pointed his wand at the troll's club.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing, Weasley?" exclaimed Pansy.

"Hey, this worked once before," he said as the magic lifted the club out of the surprised troll's hand and over its head.

— — — —

Blaise was yelling at the three students with him to run down the stairs. Greg Goyle stopped at the landing below where the troll was and turned and screamed at the troll as he cast a tripping hex. The large creature was now at the top of the stairs and lost its balance. The troll began to fall down the stairs, however when its massive body hit the stairs in front of Greg, the stairs gave way beneath it and it crashed through the floor below as well.

Mandy screamed at the sight of the stairs collapsing between where they were on the landing and Pansy and Ron were above them facing a troll on their own. Blaise quickly moved to pull Goyle away from the edge of the now broken staircase, preventing him from falling down where the troll had just passed.

— — — —

The troll facing Ron and Pansy wiped more blood off of its face and then looked up towards the ceiling where its club now floated above him. Ron then quickly sent the club crashing down into the troll's head, which caused it to stumble backwards. The troll grabbed at its face again as it tripped and fell down into the area where its partner had already fallen and destroyed the stairs. There came a loud moan as the beast landed on top of the rubble, and then it was silent.

Pansy turned to face Ron, "I can hardly believe that actually worked, Weasley."

Ron was about to reply to her when she suddenly screamed and pointed behind him. Ron spun around and realised that they were now face to face with a couple of wizards.

"Merlin's beard, I'm not Harry, why does this keep happening," hissed Ron.

The two automatons pulled out their wands and started to fire curses at Pansy and Ron. Ron rolled to his right as he cast a shield. Pansy was a little slower in raising a shield and she let out a scream as she was hit in her left shoulder by a cutting hex.

Ron briefly turned to see what happened and then in his anger over the situation he jumped back to his feet and charged the two wizards. He cast a series of hexes in rapid succession: a cutter, a bludgeon, another bludgeon, a flame whip, and then another cutter. Because of his adrenaline rush from having just faced the troll and then being attacked by the wizards right after being cut off from the other group, Ron put more power into the spells than he had ever done before.

Ron collapsed to the floor after casting the final cutting spell and tried to catch his breath. He tried to raise a shield spell, but he didn't have the strength. He closed his eyes as he anticipated being hit by a multitude of spells, however nothing came. After a few moments he opened his eyes and looked down the hall to see that the two automatons had been destroyed by his barrage of spells.

Ron slowly pulled himself to his feet and he went to go check on Pansy. "Parkinson, you okay there?" he called out as he walked up to her.

Pansy was lying on the floor holding her shoulder, trying to stop the flow of blood.

"I guess not," he answered for her. "Hold on," he said as he raised his wand. "I only know some minor healing charms, but hopefully this can help." Ron then raised his wand as he cast 'episkey,' and then he collapsed to his knees again.

Pansy initially winced as her shoulder started to heal. She then looked up to see Ron stumbling to his knees in front of her. Then she reached out to support his body as he was clearly quite weak. "You took them out to save me," she whispered. "You even tried to heal me," she added.

Ron managed to stay awake but he fell back to a sitting position. "Yeah, just don't tell anybody," he replied in between deep breaths. He then turned to look at the damaged stairwell. "How do you think the others are going to find us now?"

"Why did you do it?" asked Pansy.

"What are you talking about?" asked Ron in response.

"When we were attacked, when I was hurt," she said softly, "I figured you would let them take me out, but you turned on them and destroyed them. Then you even tried to heal me. I thought you'd let me get injured and sent out of the matrix. I thought you hated us snakes. The safety mechanisms in place would have protected me from any real harm."

Ron didn't reply, he just turned and looked away. Pansy continued to stare at Ron in silence. After a minute, she moved next to him and held him in a gentle embrace, a gesture he did nothing to avoid. The two sat in silence for several minutes, when they suddenly heard footsteps coming up the hall from behind them, opposite from where they encountered the two wizards.

Ron moved slowly to raise his wand, and Pansy jumped up, snapping her wand into her hand.

"Hey, put those things down," called out Blaise with his hands held up in front of him. "Don't shoot at us, we're the good guys."

Mandy was right behind him as she asked, "What happened here?"

"A couple of wizard automatons got in the Weasel's way," explained Pansy.

Lisa and Greg now caught up with the others and Lisa noted Pansy's injured shoulder. "Do you need that healed?"

Pansy grimaced slightly before responding, "I foolishly got caught by a cutting hex with my shield low, but Ron healed most of the damage."

Blaise raised an eyebrow at Parkinson's use of Weasley's first name.

Lisa stepped forward, "Everyone knows Weasley doesn't know anything about healing, let me take a look at it and maybe I can help it a little more."

The others all stared at her for making such a bold comment. Lisa realised that the others all seemed to think she was being arrogant, and then she added, "All I meant is that I have done some extra study with Madam Pomfrey. Tracey Davis and I have learned some more advanced healing spells during our time working with her in the infirmary."

Pansy relaxed a little and actually gave Lisa a small smile. "Okay, then. I didn't realise you were doing that with Davis."

Lisa then finished healing the Slytherin girl's shoulder. "Someone actually did a passable job at first aid for you, Pansy," she added as she finished her spell work.

Pansy glanced at the shoulder and started to move her arm around. "Feels great, thanks Turpin."

"Don't mention it," replied Lisa.

"Fine, I won't," stated Pansy with a smirk. "So, how did you guys manage to make it up here?"

Blaise stepped forward, placing himself between Pansy and Ron. "Well, after our two big friends took their final plunge through the stairwell, we had to look for some other way to get up to this floor. We managed to find another stairwell which was in the corner of the castle. It only started on the second floor, and it took us out at the end of that hallway back there, where we came from."

He then pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket. "My clue states here that we need to get past two wizards and find the library. The key we found in the last room should open up the door to that room. As it looks like you took care of two wizards, I presume we head up that hall."

The others agreed with Blaise's interpretation so they made their way down the hall from where the wizard automatons had come to attack Pansy and Ron. At the end of the hall they found a locked door, and Blaise took the key from Ron and opened the door. Sure enough, the room was a library and there were many shelves filled with books.

"Now to find the next key," stated Blaise as he led the way into the room.

Ron was still weak from his magical exhaustion so he simply sat down at a table in the middle of the room. The other students were searching the bookshelves, and occasionally reading out loud some of the titles of the books on the shelves.

"One Hundred Uses for Frog Eggs," commented Mandy as she looked at one book.

"A Seasonal Parade of Poisons," added Greg. "Are you sure we can't take these with us?"

"Leave it there, Goyle," snapped Blaise.

Lisa then called out to the others, "I found a small chest over here in the corner."

Four of the others ran over to join her and see what she found, however, Ron stayed sitting at the table. That is he remained seated there until he slid onto the floor due to feeling so weak. Ron's body landed on the floor with a soft thud, and the others all turned to see what happened. Pansy was the first one to his side where he was lying under the table.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly.

Ron moaned briefly and then his face lit up with a smile.

Pansy frowned at his reaction.

However, Ron tilted his head to look past her, as looking up at the underneath of the table he saw an envelope taped there, hidden from view. Slowly he reached up to grasp it, but he was unable to get a decent grip and his hand slid off of the envelope. Pansy noticed what he was doing and grabbed the envelope while Blaise and Mandy helped get Ron off of the floor.

"There are two keys in here," commented Blaise as he emptied the contents onto the table. "One looks like the others we found earlier, and one is smaller."

Greg Goyle placed the chest onto the table that Lisa had found earlier. "Maybe that small key will unlock this chest," he stated.

Lisa looked at Greg, "You know, that's a brilliant idea. Smart thinking Goyle."

Goyle blushed at the complement as he wasn't used to ever getting any. "Just trying to help."

Blaise took the small key and placed it into the lock on the chest. He turned it until he heard a slight click, and then the lock sprung open.

"What if that was cursed?" snapped Mandy. "You could have killed us all!"

Blaise shook his head at Mandy. "Relax, Brocklehurst, we wouldn't have all died, this place isn't all death traps. Besides, I think we were supposed to open the chest, why else would the key be there?"

Mandy crossed her arms over her chest, "The point is you should have warned us before just doing that."

"Whatever," replied Blaise with a roll of his eyes.

He then opened the chest and they looked inside, to see several potion bottles. He looked at Mandy, "I suppose you're going to tell us to leave these alone."

"How do we know what they are?" she demanded.

"Maybe because they are labeled," added Pansy who was inspecting the bottles. "This one says its a pepper up potion," she remarked as she lifted it up.

"But how can you be sure? We should be cautious," protested Mandy.

Lisa took the pepper up potion from Pansy and uncorked the bottle. She took a slight sniff and twirled the liquid around in the flask. "It looks like pepper up potion, is smells like pepper up potion, it even seems to have the right viscosity," she added.

Pansy took it back from Lisa and then knelt down next to Ron. "Here drink this, it should help you get your energy back."

Ron smiled as he took the flask and then drank it quickly before anyone else could protest further. He then let out a large burp and sat himself up. Slowly he pulled himself to a standing position and looked at the others and smiled.

"See I told you it would be fine," stated Lisa.

Pansy then smirked at Mandy as well.

Ron then made a face and started to cough. His eyes screwed up tight and he grabbed his stomach and fell to the floor.

"I told you not to do that!" screamed Mandy. "Now he's probably dead!"

Everyone stared at the motionless body of Ron lying on the floor in front of them.

"Now what?" wondered Goyle.

Ron then jumped back up as he yelled, "Got you! I'm fine, in fact I feel better than fine. That is good stuff! Although it still tastes as foul as any other potion I have ever had."

Mandy glared at him for pranking them all. Lisa shook her head and scoffed and Pansy slapped him on the arm. "That was horrible, Weasel," she snapped.

"Just having you all on for a bit," he whined, "no harm, no foul."

Blaise shook his head, "Not funny, Weasley, not funny at all."

Ron frowned at the negative reactions he received from everyone and brushed some dust off of his robes. "Whatever, but at least I am feeling better."

Blaise ignored Ron's comment as he went back to the table where the larger key was still sitting. "Well, this is the fifth key, and we have one more key to find based on the last clue."

Pansy looked around the group as they headed towards the door of the room they were in. "Any ideas where we go next?"

Greg Goyle spoke up first, "We have most of the keys, and we have found them on the first two floors. We still need one more key and then we need to find the crystal ball. I think we need to keep going up."

Lisa and Mandy both stared at him with their mouths hanging open for a moment before Lisa finally spoke up. "You have a point Greg," she began, feeling odd actually using his first name, "who would have guessed you could be so helpful."

Goyle frowned at the comment. "Just because Malfoy uses Vince and I as his muscle doesn't mean we're stupid."

Mandy raised an eyebrow, "No offense, but it just might help if you two did more than grunt and follow him around."

Greg tilted his head to one side and frowned again, before replying, "Hey, we just do as we're told, and I'm not referring to Malfoy."

Lisa was about to ask what he was talking about and Pansy shook her head and quietly added, "Don't go there, please. Just leave it."

The non Slytherin students looked at Pansy oddly for a moment and then they all decided to leave the issue alone.

They then left the room and found a large stairwell heading up to the fourth floor. As they neared the top of the stairs it was clear that this one also opened into a large landing. As Blaise reached the landing, the group heard a loud clang behind them and they turned to see that a magical barrier now barred their way back down the stairs.

"Not good," muttered Ron.

The six students stood together and looked around to see that several creatures were approaching them. Several large wolves were stalking them slowly from across the landing.

"Werewolves, why did it have to be werewolves," added Ron as he saw the size of the beasts.

"Don't let them but you!" called out Lisa.

One of the werewolves crouched slightly and then lunged through the air towards Blaise. Ron raised a shield in front of them and the werewolf crashed into it. The result was a growl from the creature as the students were pushed back.

"There's only three of them," observed Mandy, "we should work in teams to handle them."

"Anyone have any silver?" asked a worried Pansy.

"No, just be prepared to give them everything we've got," replied Blaise.

The werewolves started to spread out as the leader that had already tried jumping at them cautiously eyed the group. Then he began to charge at them, closely followed by the other two. Flashes of red, blue and white light shot forth from the students' wands as the battle commenced. Mandy was knocked over by a werewolf that ran straight at her despite being hit by a bludgeoning hex. The creature that attacked Greg and Blaise was whimpering as it was bleeding from its side after being caught by a cutting hex.

The third werewolf had circled around and made a leap towards Ron. As it was about to bite him, a blue light slammed into his side knocking him away. Ron spun around to see that Pansy had cast the spell that saved him from being bitten by the large animal.

In a minute the spells stopped as all three creatures had been incapacitated, either through blasting hexes or cutting spells. The floor was a mess, but upon inspection, none of the students had been injured. As they checked each other over they noticed that the stairway was still magically sealed.

Looking down the blocked stairs, Mandy commented, "Well we can't go back down. Hopefully we don't have too much more to do and we'l be done."

Blaise nodded in agreement, "Might as well start searching this floor."

After a few minutes of searching they found a spiral staircase that led up to the observatory on top of the castle. Walking in they found a key just lying on the table in the middle of the room.

"Now, that was easy," remarked Pansy.

Ron rolled his eyes and sneered at her comment, "Great, Merlin knows what we're going to experience now that you said things are easy."

"That's not what I meant," came Pansy's angry retort.

The group then made their way back down the staircase with the final key.

"So, one more room to find," stated Lisa. "Anyone have any ideas where we go next?"

There was some general muttering until Blaise spoke up. "I suppose we make our way around this floor, looking for a locked room. We still can't go down the stairs. There was no further clues about where we are to find the crystal ball."

"Maybe we have to go back down to where we started," suggested Ron.

"The stairwell is still blocked," argued Mandy when they reached the landing and the immobile bodies of the werewolves.

The group then decided to head off in the opposite direction from the observatory. As they turned a corner Pansy was in the lead. She stopped short and screamed as she was startled to be facing down the red eyes of the Dark Lord himself.

"Merlin, run!" she shouted as she screamed again.

The students ran back around the corner and stopped part way down the hall.

"What made you react like that?" asked an out of breath Greg.

"It was him, the Dark Lord," panted the girl. "I never expected he would show up here. We're in the school, in this device."

"Then it couldn't be him really," stated Ron. "Besides, have you ever seen Voldemort?"

The others flinched as Ron mentioned his name. Pansy glared at him as she understood what he was implying. "No, I have never seen The Dark Lord myself, but I have had plenty of people tell me about meeting him. And I'm not saying anything more about that." She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to breath hard.

Lisa then spoke up, "But that makes no sense. Maybe it wasn't really him."

"Of course it wasn't really him, we're in the Virtual Magical reality," added Ron.

"Yes, but what if it was something else," replied Lisa.

"Like a boggart or something," continued Mandy.

"That makes more sense," said Blaise as he nodded in agreement with the Ravenclaws. He then lead the way back down the corridor and around the turn. "If it isn't the Dark Lord we encounter, that would be a pretty good indication that it is a boggart."

As Blaise walked around the turn to where they saw the Dark Lord, he now saw his mother lying on the floor, dying. He hesitated a moment and let out a sudden gasp. Then Lisa stepped past him. The figure lying on the floor fluctuated between Blaise's mother and giant snake. Lisa screamed out of surprise at first and then she realised it was just her fears.

"Ridikulus!" she called out as she cast the spell at the boggart that was having trouble maintaining one form with the presence of Blaise and Lisa so close.

The boggart was then quickly defeated and it retreated to the end of the hall, finding an old closet to slide into and out of the way.

The group slowly followed the retreating shadow of the boggart which had fled from the presence of multiple individuals. Just before the closet where it had gone to hide the group found a large door that was locked.

Pansy pulled out the key and tried in the lock, and the door opened. They walked in to the large room which was painted a bright orange color. On a table in the middle of the room was the crystal ball.

"Great, we found it, now what?" wondered Greg.

"Maybe it gives us one final clue or something," suggested Lisa.

Ron looked around at the others who were just standing around the table staring at the crystal ball. Then he stepped forward. "Someone needs to pick it up," he declared as he reached for it.

Lisa and Mandy gasped as he moved to take the ball with his hands, Pansy called out "no!" but he didn't stop. Ron lifted the ball up with one hand and then there was a loud gong, like the ringing of a large bell, and the entire castle seemed to shake.

"Now what have you done?" demanded Pansy.

"Nothing, I just picked up the crystal ball we were instructed to find," replied Ron defensively.

The students turned as they heard the door to the room open behind them. They all drew their wands to be ready for something else coming after them. After a minute of waiting, Blaise let out a deep breath. "Maybe nothings coming," he stated.

"Maybe we're just done," suggested Ron.

The group decided to make their way out into the hall and back towards the landing. When they arrived there they discovered the werewolves were gone and there was no sign of their previous battle. In fact they had noted that all of the doors along the hallway were now open. Mandy looked down the stairwell and noticed that the magical barricade was gone.

"Maybe we can just leave," she said as she pointed at the stairwell.

"Looks that way," agreed Blaise.

The group made their way down and all the way to the entrance. The broken stairways were normal. There was no sign of any fighting or dead creatures anywhere within the castle. Once they arrived at the exit to the castle they found the beacon where they had all arrived.

"We're done," exclaimed Greg with a sigh of relief.

"And we did it as a group," agreed Blaise.

"I'll never live this down," muttered Ron, hoping that no one heard him.

"Okay everyone," called out Lisa, "let's grab the beacon and head back!"

* * *

><p>— — HP VMI 14 — —<p>

* * *

><p>The students from group 2 had returned after their adventure, everyone was safe and everyone had a story to tell their friends. The students who were still at the school for dinner that evening are discussing the adventures of both the first two groups. Mr. Jennings had announced that they would be taking another few days to reset the Virtual Magical Reality to create a similar scenario for Group 3 compared to what Group 2 had just finished but they would need to reprogram many of the obstacles, and probably use a different floor plan for the castle.<p>

Harry was surprised at first that Ron remained fairly quiet during dinner. He had figured that Ron would regale him with the tales of his bravery and how he lead the group, however he mostly just nodded along with the comments which the other students made.

Eventually they returned to the common room and Harry half expected that Ron might go into more detail but once again the tall red head did not say much about his day. He also, surprisingly headed up to bed early.

Harry had managed to obtain his invisibility cloak without Ron or Neville knowing he had it with him. He made his way down to the common room and slipped out into the castle. Harry had been spending time thinking about the events of his own experience in the virtual magical reality, and Ron's recent experience only brought more of those thoughts to mind. Harry always felt better just walking around the castle, so he decided to stroll aimlessly under his cloak. He quickly felt the castle was quieter than usual, even quieter than during the Christmas breaks in the past. But he considered that there were less students present for this summer program and surmised that must be the main reason why it was so quiet.

As he wandered around the old building, he found himself near the dungeons, and then he overheard some voices. This was unusual compared to his experience earlier on his stroll so he quietly decided to go and investigate. Soon he came upon one of the MagiTech wizards leading Septima Vector down the hall towards the room with the Virtual Magical Reality device.

Mr. Frazelli, the man with the goatee, was actively trying to convince the young woman by his side to come with him into the VMR room.

"The programming is really not all that complex," he explained. "I can show you some of the code. I think you would be fascinated by it, because after all, it is based on arithmancy. That's what makes the while thing work. Arithmancy is what enabled us to link the technology with the magic."

The stunning woman professor eyed the MagiTech employee warily but she did not respond.

"I'm sure you'd like to get a good look at how this version of applied arithmancy is different from how we use it in the creation of spells," he added.

Harry noticed that Professor Vector still seemed to be a little wary. She stepped away from the man for a moment as the tech pulled out a bottle of wine. "We could conjure some glasses and finish this bottle here," he said as he showed her the wine.

"I'm not sure I am in the best condition to look at arithmancy tonight," she stated with a soft smile.

The tech leered at her, "Oh, it will be okay, we'll just have a quick look. And I can show you what else it does."

She narrowed her eyes at his comment. "Tony, I'm not sure that's a good idea."

Steve Frazelli frowned briefly and then he gave her a soft smile as he tried to explain himself more clearly. "No, no, maybe you misunderstood. I can show you the types of places we can create with the machine. Places we could go to if we wanted."

"What kind of places?" she asked.

Tony's grin broadened significantly. "The beach, the mountains, the beach, a tropical island, a really nice beach," he explained. "Any number of places actually."

Harry shook his head at how pathetic the man's attempts to whoo the professor were becoming. Harry also assumed that he had only gotten this far in walking with her from plying her with alcohol earlier in the evening.

Frazelli finally opened the door to the Virtual Magical Reality device and he lead Septima into the room by her arm. He quietly stated the password to open the door to the room, and Harry smiled to himself as he was close enough to overhear it.

Harry followed the couple into the room and watched closely as Frazelli went up to the main console. "All I need to do is get her warmed up once we get her unlocked. Then I can load the program for our special matrix scenario, a bungalow on a tropical beach."

Septima shook her head slightly at the MagiTech wizard's behaviour.

Tony started to type in the password, and then he pointed it out to Septima. "See, everything is secure, including this password to get into the system. No wizard would ever figure this out, despite how simple it is." He then read the password out loud as he typed it in. "MagiWorld1995NeXT!," he stated. "Don't forget the exclamation point at the end of the password."

Septima watched him type in the letters and numbers on the keyboard. "And why couldn't a wizard figure out this password?"

"A wizard would have no idea what a NeXT computer is, so they wouldn't have any idea that the design of the system is based on one of those NeXT cubes. Besides, the exclamation point at the end throws off any hackers."

Harry quickly tries to memorise the password as he watches from behind Professor Vector as the technician punches in the information about selecting the module.

"So, how about a quick trip to paradise?" asked the MagiTech wizard.

Septima stepped back and shook her head. "I don't think so, not tonight." She then turned and went to leave the room.

"But I brought a bottle of wine!" he protested.

Septima stopped a few feet from the door. "That's nice, but I think I've seen enough tonight," she added coolly.

Harry smiled to himself as he now had learned the password for the Virtual Magical Reality device. He wasn't sure when or even if he would have a chance to use it, but he figured the information might come in handy at some time. He slipped out of the door to the room during the growing argument between Professor Vector and Frazelli, the MagiTech wizard, as she was holding the door open. Harry thought he might have slightly grazed Professor Vector's robes as he made his way by, and she did stop speaking and look around wondering what might have happened. Harry stopped walking and slid up against the wall int he corridor, hoping that she wouldn't reach out and try to find what might have touched her.

After a minute of her silently looking around, Frazelli asked her what was wrong.

"Nothing," she mumbled, "I just thought I felt something brush past me, that's all."

Frazelli furrowed his brow before replying, "It's an old castle, lots of drafts and not a few ghosts either. It was probably nothing," he added.

Septima just rolled her eyes at the man whom she had quickly decided was becoming a bore, "Whatever, it doesn't matter. I'm heading back to my quarters, and no, I don't need you to escort me."

Harry waited quietly as he leaned against the wall, and once Frazelli and Vector were well on their way, he started to walk away and made his way back to the Gryffindor common room. Upon arriving at his common room, Harry settled down into one of the sofas near the large fireplace.

Hermione had come by the common room, and upon seeing her best friend sitting there after having been missing all night, she took a seat opposite him.

"Harry, where have you been?" she asked. "What have you been up to?"

Harry looked over at his best friend and his face broke into a large grin. "Oh, I was just wandering around the castle for a while."

"But its past curfew," she admonished.

"I was wearing my cloak," he explained. "And I found out some interesting information." His face was in a broad grin.

Hermione's face expressed her worry. "Oh, no, Harry, what did you do now?"

Harry continued to smile at his best friend. "I was walking around and I ended up down in the dungeons, near the Virtual Magical Reality device. As it turned out, one of the MagiTech wizards was trying to woo one of our professors. Or at least he was trying to show off to her. In any rate, she did turn down the offer for wine, and a trip to what I believe was described as a little bungalow on a romantic beach in the moonlight."

Hermione's face went pale. "You shouldn't have been eavesdropping on them!" she scolded. "They might have been having a private moment."

Harry scoffed, "No, no, no, Professor Vector wasn't falling for any of the yankee's lines. But that wasn't what was important. What IS important is that I overheard the password for getting into the device."

"What password for what device?" asked a now confused Hermione.

"The password for the Virtual Magical Reality device," stated Harry irritably. "Haven't you been paying attention to what I am saying?"

Hermione was shocked to have Harry use one of her lines against her. She shook that thought out of her head and turned back to face Harry.

"But what would you do with that password?" she asked, worried about what his answer might be. "You can't possibly want to go back to that island."

"What, you actually thought I might want to go back there?" he replied, surprised by her comment. "No, I was thinking that we, you and I, could look into this device. Wouldn't you want to know how the machine works, what it can do, where we can program it to go?"

Hermione bit her lip in frustration as she tried to decide what she should do with this information from Harry.

Harry noted her frustration and spoke gently, "It's not like I am suggesting we do anything now. We can go tomorrow night, using my cloak to hide us. Think about it, you would have the chance to learn about this device. It's not like anyone is about to let a student, let alone the brightest witch of our age, go in and learn about the program and the device."

Hermione sighed and finally looked at Harry, "Fine, we can go tomorrow night. But that doesn't mean we're going to enter the device."

"Of course we're not going to enter the device," replied Harry as his smile grew. "We have to learn about how it works before we even consider that."

* * *

><p>The next evening the pair of friends snuck out through the portrait hole after Neville and Ron had gone to bed.<p>

"Why are we doing this so late at night again?" wondered Hermione out loud.

"So we don't get caught," replied Harry. "I thought you understood that."

"It was a rhetorical question, Harry," replied Hermione. "I'm just wondering why I let you talk me into this madness."

Harry nodded, but his smile was hidden as they were hiding under the invisibility cloak and couldn't turn to look at each other. Several minutes later they found themselves in front of the room with the Virtual Magical Reality device.

Harry opened the door and they made their way inside. Hermione stared at the large machine, the first time she actually really looked at it since they managed to get themselves out of the device from the fiasco of their group's adventure. Hermione hesitated to approach the machine for a minute, but eventually her curiosity over the device won out.

As she started to examine the console, Hermione smiled as she appreciated her opportunities to learn about using computers during her summers and holidays with her parents. She and Harry sat in front of the main console and she found a small button that resembled the on button for her home computer. She pressed it lightly and the large monitor screen in front of them blinked on and requested a password.

Harry quickly entered the password as he had seen it printed on the screen. Hermione scoffed at that, "Proper security would have the numbers and letters not show up on the screen like that. No wonder you were able to figure it out so easily when Frazelli turned the machine on last night."

In a moment there was a pleasant ding sound as the device had finished its start up routine. Hermione quickly found a menu of options for what to do next on the device, and the screen suddenly showed them a module of the various options.

The display read:

** Scenario Category:**

_ Auror Training 1_

_ Auror Training 2_

_ Avalon_

_ Basic Island_

_ Castle 1_

_ Castle 2_

_ Cruise ship_

_ Desert _

_James Bond 1_

_Jungle 1_

_Jungle 2_

_Las Vegas_

_Terror Island_

_MagiWorld Island_

_Tropical Bungalow_

_Zelda_

"We must have been sent to MagiWorld Island," commented Hermione as she read through the list. "And there are many options that would seem to appeal to muggles, or most definitely Americans. Any idea what they mean by _Zelda_?"

Harry shook his head, "Not a clue. Apparently they're working on another James Bond simulation. As the one here is numbered."

Hermione nodded in agreement.

Harry then asked, "Are there options for any of these scenarios?"

Hermione quickly found a drop down menu for further options. The screen blinked once and a new list of options appeared next to the first.

** Scenario Options:**

_Climate controls_

_Dangerous Creatures_

_Dangerous People - Magical_

_Dangerous People - Mundane_

_Environment_

_Magic levels_

_Safety_

_Tracking_

_Violence_

Clicking on a _scenario category_, she selected the menu for "Cruise Ship." She then clicked on several other options.

The _climate controls_ menu gave her several options: Alaska, Caribbean, Hawaii, Mediterranean, Pacific, Indian Ocean, TransAtlantic, Oceana.

"Where would you like to take a cruise, Harry?"

Harry looked at the choices and quickly stated, "How about the Caribbean?"

Hermione smiled as she made the selection and then she opened the next option.

**Dangerous Creatures** - she skipped this option, leaving it blank, and then amount later she reopened the category and selected none.

Moving on to the next category, **Dangerous People**, once again she selected the option of none.

Under the category for **Environment** there were minimal choices for the cruise ship — level of cabin was only option. "Would you like a state room or a balcony suite? You couldn't possibly want an interior room, Harry."

Harry just smiled quietly as he watched Hermione make the selections. Finally she clicked on the option for Balcony suite.

Under the category of **Magic levels** there was a five star rating scale. Hermione selected four stars, not sure what that really meant.

**Safety** was the next category she selected, and once again there was a five star rating scale, and quickly she selected five stars for the highest safety protocols.

The **Tracking** menu had a simple on/off option. She selected off for the time being.

The **Violence** menu had a ten star rating scale: 0 stars no violence, 10 stars — not recommended for any participants, were the labels next to the options. Hermione quickly selected 1 star, wondering what that might actually mean.

Hermione turned to Harry, "It is all set up for a fun trip to the Caribbean, little violence, no dangerous creatures or people. Sounds like it should be fun for everyone involved."

"Brilliant!" he exclaimed. "So, when can we leave?"

The sound of footsteps in the hallway prevented Hermione from responding. She began the process of logging out of the machine and Harry was waiting nearby with the invisibility cloak, ready to throw it back over them.

In the hallway they could overhear Frazelli trying to persuade Septima to come look at the machine again. Hermione recalled Harry's story from the night before and wondered just why the woman professor would allow her self to be associating with the man once again.

"No, I really don't have any desire to look at your runic display," she protested.

The conversation in the hallway allowed Hermione to finish logging out of the device. One set of footsteps could be heard heading away down the corridor and then Frazelli stomped into the room.

"How dare she refuse me again," muttered the MagiTech wizard. As he walked into the room he hesitated as he thought he heard a noise. He pulled out his wand and cast a lumos charm on the end of it, and quickly searched the room. He found nothing out of the ordinary until he more closely inspected the Virtual Magical Reality device. His eyes focused on the keyboard drawer which had been pulled out and Hermione had not had a chance to slide back into place.

Frazelli took slow steps towards the device, again searching the room with the light on the end of his wand. Harry moved his hand to cover Hermione's mouth so she wouldn't say anything or make a noise as Frazelli walked past them.

The tech stared at the keyboard for a minute, and then he slowly pushed it back in, stowing it away. "I must have left without putting this back," he muttered.

He slammed the drawer shut, making sure that the keyboard was not going to roll out on its own, and then he started to walk out of the room. "Thought I heard something," he muttered again, "I must be imaging things."

Harry and Hermione waited in silence for several minutes after they heard Frazelli's footsteps fade away. The two friends silently made their way out of the room and into the hallway. They continued under the cloak until they arrived back at the Gryffindor common room.

Harry looked at Hermione, worried she would be mad at him for their nearly getting caught. "I'm sorry Hermione," he pleaded, "I just didn't think they would be back again tonight."

Hermione smiled at Harry and he could see the excitement in her eyes. "Are you kidding? That was so brilliant. It is so easy to select a scenario and create a Virtual Magical environment within their preselected parameters. That was fascinating, absolutely amazing really. When can we go back?"

Harry was shocked by his friend's response, and inside he worried if he had just created a monster. Or at least maybe a Virtual Magical Reality fanatic.

— — — —

**AN: So this was a much longer chapter than I originally intended and it was much more detailed and harder to write. I hope you all enjoyed it.**

**AN: Fixed a couple of continuity errors my son found...**


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