Adventurous Hearts Part 2: Nimue's Island

CHAPTER 2: The Island









“How was your evening with Headmaster Snape, Dr. Granger?” Hermione glanced over at Claire, one brow arched high. The girl talked too much and was too interested in Hermione’s personal life. However, she kept things running smoothly and Hermione could not find fault with her assistant’s skill with record keeping, so she tolerated the annoying little witch.









“It was just fine, Claire.” Hermione answered tightly. “Do you have the itinerary ready?”







“Oh, yes, Dr. Granger!” Claire reached into her satchel and withdrew the parchment. “I already briefed the team. You will go in and scout the sight this morning and label points of historical interest. Then this evening the rest of the team will follow to set up camp. Rations are all in order and we have everything we will need for the next thirty days. All is as you requested.”







“Very good, Claire. Is there anything else I should know about?” Hermione asked.









“I picked up your mail and such from the Ministry office this morning…there was a flower delivery.” Claire said, reaching into her bag and withdrawing a single, rare orchid and card. “From Mr. Malfoy.”







Hermione heard the tight edge to Claire’s words. The girl had a crush on the blond wizard, one that was not and would not be returned. She looked at the orchid, not surprised that Lucius would go to the expense of sending her something so delicate and costly. She opened the card and could not help but smile when she read it.







Dearest Hermione,

I find myself unable to forget those hours alone with you in the temple, not that I wish to. I remember so many little things about you, including your birthday. So I send to you a rare and delicate bloom, something unusual and beautiful, much like yourself. Happy Birthday.





Passionately Yours,

Lucius Malfoy







Hermione smiled and tucked the card back into it’s envelope before she placed it into her rucksack. She sniffed the soft scent of the delicate flower before handing it back to Claire.







“Pot that and take it to my house please, and don’t forget to put a stasis spell on it so it will not wilt while I am busy here.” Hermione said as she slung her pack over her shoulders.







“Should I send a thank you?” Claire asked.







“No, he doesn’t expect one either, trust me.” Hermione laughed.









“Doctor Granger…I don’t understand…forgive my impertinence, but how can you be so cold? This beautiful, wealthy, pureblood wizard is smitten with you and you don’t care.” Claire said, her obnoxiously magnified eyes blinking rapidly. “I can’t fathom why you prefer Headmaster Snape to Mr. Malfoy.”







“What is wrong with Severus, Claire? Why do you dislike him so?” Hermione asked, curious.







“He is so cold…so dark…he is truly frightening, I know you and he are…close and I also know it is none of my business but…Mr. Malfoy…” The girl actually sighed his name and Hermione nearly laughed. “He’s so beautiful! So…dreamy and dangerous.”







“He is beautiful, Claire, and he knows it too. Trust me when I say that things just wouldn’t work out with Lucius and me.” Hermione’s voice softened at the end, she wished that the truth didn’t sting so badly. “For the record, Severus isn’t like that with me; I and I alone get his softness and his warmth. Now if you are finished digging into my private life, I wish to get to the Island and start my day.”







Claire nodded, still confused by Hermione’s choice of men but she knew when to back off. She stepped back and watched her boss climb into a small boat and tap it with her wand. Slowly it began inching across the still, flat surface of Dozmary Pool.







As soon as the boat reached the halfway point a thick mist began to form on the water, ripe with magic. Hermione was not afraid, she was expecting it as Nimue’s Island was protected, accessible only on the day and night of the full moon. It had taken her over three years of research to figure out the location and in truth it had been an accident that she considered Dozmary Pool. She had been reading one of the many legends of Arthur and Excalibur when it was mentioned that The Lady of The Lake, aka Nimue, had carried the body of the king away in her vessel.







Something told her not to blow this one off, that this was not just another silly legend, something about this one called to her. Now, as she sailed through the thick, soupy fog she could feel that giddy excitement rising up in her. She squealed when she saw the first glimpses of land. Magic shimmered over the Island, spells and wards that kept it hidden from muggle eyes.







The boat slid onto the sandy shoreline and Hermione climbed out slowly, shielding her eyes from the sun. The narrow strip of beach was made up of powder fine white sands that glittered in the sunlight. Behind it was thick, green forest alive with the sounds of birds chirping. She found a worn footpath and began to follow the curving trail through the woods until the dense forest thinned and she realized she had reached the middle of the island. Atop a hill sat a modest, stone castle. It was not as large as she would have expected, but then again they were talking magic, the exterior could be deceiving.







The stone wall that surrounded it was crumbling and in ruins, revealing a smaller building that appeared to have been a church or temple of some sort before it collapsed. In the small yard surrounding it were several crumbling and precariously tilting headstones and large above ground sarcophagi.







Behind the castle the jagged peaks of mountains protected the island, curving around it like a mothers arms. The steep rock face was mossy and green and halfway down water spilled from a cave, cascading down into a clean, clear lake lined by grassy shores. It was a paradise, fit for a goddess and unbelievably beautiful.







Hermione explored leisurely, slipping in and out of the forest, following the long winding paths that led her through the island. There were orchards, overgrown and ripe with fruit, magical gardens that were still producing vegetables. There were several small ponds well populated with fish and small animals like deer, rabbit and wild pig roamed the woods. It was a self sustaining community offering everything a body needed to survive.







She sighed and took a deep breath while she stood on the shoreline and waited for her team, frowning when she noted that the fresh, floral scent she had become accustomed to on the island was changing, slowly becoming foul and rancid. She looked up and saw that the sun was beginning to set already, fall stealing the daylight. She jumped, looking about frantically when she heard the rustling in the wood line.







She drew her wand and readied her stance, figuring it was most likely some curious animal come to investigate. She screamed when she saw the creature that lumbered clumsily through the brush. It had once been human, or appeared to have been. It was wearing a dress from a long ago era that hung in shreds from her emaciated and dried out body. Her hair, what was left of it, hung in long, soiled wisps from a scalp that was missing large sections of skin and revealed patches of her skull. Her mouth was gaping, lipless and open as though a primal scream were being issued from between missing and blackened teeth.







“Oh my gods.” Hermione whispered, her wand pointed at the creature making its way towards her in a slow, uncoordinated way. Bony hands missing several fingers reaching out to her, a low moan coming from its terrifying visage. She nearly gagged at the odor of decaying flesh as it neared.







“Stupefy!” Hermione watched as the creature flew back several feet, landing on the sandy beach with a crack only to struggle up to its feet again, one arm barely hanging from the shoulder. “What the fuck is happening?”







She turned when she heard sound from behind her and screamed as several of the stinking, rotting creatures began to flood the beach, all of them coming towards her, arms outstretched and in various degrees of decay. She felt the pain as the woman she first saw raked her bony fingers down her arm, leaving a thin, bleeding slice.







The scent of fresh blood seemed to spur the creatures on, agitating them as their collective moans became deafening and they moved more quickly towards her. Hermione did the only thing she could think of, she turned and she ran, her booted feet covering ground quickly as more of those horrid beings began to break through the trees. They grabbed at her rucksack and she had no choice but to slip her arms out and abandon it as she ran for shelter.







She could see the castle and she ran for it. One of the creatures managed to get hold of her arm, twisting slightly as she ran, pulling it from the socket. Hermione howled in pain, her arm limp and useless at her side as she ran for the castle. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw them, the army of rotting, foul corpses coming for her. She grabbed the door to the castle entry and shoved, it didn’t budge. She slammed her uninjured shoulder against it again and again until it finally gave way and the heavy wooden door pushed open, allowing her inside the musty smelling castle.







She pushed at the door to close it, fingers and searching hands crunching beneath the weight of it as she lodged it firmly in its frame. She could hear them moaning outside, their hands rubbing and scratching at the door. Torches flamed to life and she stared around at the dark corridor she found herself in. Dust inches thick covered the floor, her boots leaving tell tale tracks. Cobwebs hung in thick curtains from the ceiling like Spanish moss from a tree.







At the end of the hall was a steep staircase that led to the second floor. Hermione clutched her injured shoulder and made her way up that staircase, anxious to put as many doors between herself and those creatures as she could. She pushed open the door and stepped into an ornately decorated foyer. Marble floors and pillars gave the circular room a cold feeling. Oil lamps lit the walls and she could clearly see several doors as well as another set of stairs, this set curved and elaborately carves.







Things were clean and dust free, no doubt magic had something to do with that. She didn’t waste time looking around, her curiosity dampened by fear for her life. She trudged up the stairs that led to a mezzanine that curved around the foyer; this was also lined with several doors. She made her way to the nearest door and pushed through, finding herself in a small parlor. She lumbered across the room, the pain of her dislocated shoulder making her dizzy and ill as the adrenaline began to wear off and the pain registered. She pushed back the curtains and stared down at the courtyard. Hundreds of those things wandered aimlessly about the island.







She shoved the window open as her stomach rolled and retched. She whimpered in pain and slowly slid down the wall, scooting along the floor until she could curl up behind a large chair and let the excruciating pain claim her consciousness.







~*@*~*@*~*@*~*@









Claire and Gilford stood at the front of the skiff loaded with supplies and the small excavation team. They had been sailing through mist so thick they couldn’t see a foot in front of their faces for what seemed like an eternity. Finally though the thick fog broke and the dim light of a full moon rising cast the island in a shimmery glow.







Slowly the skiff approached, low moans emanating from the island caused the team to perk up curiously, wands drawn.







“Desino Agito!” Gilford cried, the skiff coming to an abrupt halt and jarring the occupants violently.







“Oh dear god, what is that?” Claire asked, shoving her specs up as she stared at the beings on the beach. The slow moving creatures stopped and turned towards them, reaching out with their hands as they came to the water line. More and more of them moving onto the sands from the wood line.







“It’s…oh god this island is cursed!” Gilford gasped.







“Doctor Granger! She’s on the island!” Claire shouted.







“Do you see any sign of her?” One of the other team members asked from behind them.







“No…we have to go after her, Gilford, we can’t leave her on the island with those…things.” Claire covered her nose when the wind blew the horrid stench of rotting flesh in their direction.







“We can’t…if we try to access the island those things will swamp us and we will never make it to her.” Gilford said. “That’s assuming they haven’t already…” He didn’t say it, but Claire knew he thought it highly possible that the doctor was dead at the hands of those things.







“But we can’t just leave her without knowing! If we don’t get her out before the sun begins to rise she will be stuck until the moon is full again!” Claire said, her heart pounding.







“What do you suggest we do, Claire? We are no match for so many of those creatures! They will devour us before we even reach the wood line!” Gilford said, raking a hand through his hair in frustration. “I don’t know what to do.”







“I do!” Claire said, her eyes wide as she reached into her pocket for her wand. “I’m going after Headmaster Snape; he will know what to do! Turn the skiff around, the spells protecting the island will not let me apparate to Hogwarts, hurry!”





~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~



Desino Agito = roughly translates to stop movement