First to Find

CHAPTER 1 - THE FIVE RINGS

It was a hot summer night and the sweat trickled slowly down Hermione's face.  She brushed it away impatiently with one hand as she stood there concentrating on the device in her other hand.  Her fingers twitched nervously as she waited for it to beep, indicating a new Wizarding Geocache had been placed.  It had been over a week since her last find and she needed another FTF, she needed it bad.

Suddenly her Magical Geo-Sensor started to vibrate, it caught her by surprise making her drop it.  "Stupid Hermione!", she yelled at herself.  Quickly she retrieved the Geo-Sensor in her trembling hands and got the details of this new Cache.  "Grab My Log", it was a puzzle cache and a 5/5 which meant it was very difficult to get to, and was going to be very difficult to find... probably a puzzle.  She smiled slightly and bit her bottom lip, she was probably going to get ther first, giving her another FTF as well as a smiley which meant not only did she find the Cache but everyone else would see it too.  

She quickly apparated to the designated coordinates and looked around.  She yelled "Accio Cache" before she caught herself.  Wizard Geo-Caches were magically protected against summoning.  She would have to work a little harder to find and retrieve the cache container and place her wizards mark there.  She was standing at the edge of a dark forest, about to go where no one else had gone before after this cache... it made her wet just thinking about it.

She stood at the forests' edge for a few seconds trying to find the best way in when a tuft of red hair flew past her.  "Too slow Granger, looks like I get another one!"  It took even more precious seconds for Hermione to realize that Ginny Weasley had just flown past her and was well on her way to getting another FTF for herself!  "That Bitch!" Hermione yelled as she threw caution to the wind and dove into the forest after her.  The ache deep inside of her needed to be filled and that log would be hers!

The forest wasn't too terribly thick, but she could still only see about a dozen feet in front of her before the underbrush swallowed everything up.  Branches whacked her in the face as she struggled to keep to the right path.  As she got closer the Geo-Sensor would vibrate stronger, once or twice the feeling would fade a little causing her to adjust her wild flight slightly to stay on track.  Another branch slapped against her face and she flinched at the pain just as she broke through the underbrush into a clearing.  She looked around and saw Ginny staring at a puzzle.  

Five circles were engraved in a rock, they were each a few inches in diameter and arranged about a foot away from a large dot in the center.  Ginny was staring at it and pouting, her right hand kneaded her thigh which made Hermione smile; Ginny always did that when she couldn't figure something out.  Unlocking this puzzle would give her a clue to the next stage of the cache, either a riddle to the next location or actual co-ordinates she could home in on again.  She slipped the Geo-Sensor into her pocket as she stepped forward to examine the puzzle.  Ginny moved aside for her.

After a few seconds Hermione thought she had it, the circles all looked like they could nest, one inside the other.  She reached out with her hand and touched one of the circles and it shimmered slightly and moved a few centimeters when she slid her finger along the rough surface of the rock.  She let her finger drop away and watched as the circle moved slowly back to where it had started.  She frowned slightly, the solution was so obvious but she couldn't do it with Ginny watching or she would lose her edge.

"Hey look, there was a path..." Ginnys' voice trailed off.  

"And that's why you're a bitch." said Hermione.

Her Geo-Sensor started throbing in her pocket telling her that another cacher had just arrived and was homing in on the prize.  Hermione wanted to see who it was if for no other reason than to stop the throbbing in her pants... she felt waves of pleasure washing over her and had to reach out to the rock to steady herself.  Embarassed she glanced over her shoulder to see Ginny looking down the path and pulling out her own Geo-Sensor.  Quickly, she slid the circles together while Ginny was distracted and was treated to an image of an old Willow Tree.  She knew instinctively that the co-ordinates had been downloaded as well.  She staggered back a few paces, watching as the circles quickly returned to their original location only to be greeted to a firm slap on her ass which caused her legs to buckle beneath her as a crescendo of pleasure washed over her body.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." said Ginny who looked down at her, then she smirked a little and said "oh, I think someone's being naughty."

Hermione felt her cheeks flush as she dug her Geo-Sensor out of her pocket.  "It's him by the way, maybe we should work together before he steals another one from us."

There was only one person Ginny could mean, only one cacher who didn't need to be named.  Hermione looked down at her Geo-Sensor to be sure and saw that he had indeed just arrived.  Each cacher was known by a secret name... Hermione was "Frisky Kitty", Ginny was "Fireball".  The new cacher was known only as "Little Charmer", Hermione had never met him and he was new to the game but he had racked up twelve FTF's on the last 15 new caches in the area.  Well, he wasn't going to get this one.

"I, uh... need a few minutes to think about this one."  Hermione strugled to her feet.  She was so embarrased, and so weak, and so wet... but there was no way she was going to let Ginny have this one.  As weak as she was she still hungered for the win.  She walked slowly, slipping her Geo-Sensor back into her pocket so that Ginny wouldn't suspect what she was up to.  She took a few steps and stumbled slightly as the Geo-Sensor in her pocket started to vibrate... oh she could get used to that.

Ginny had moved up behind her and slipped an arm around her waist to support her, "You okay?  Sorry for teasing you back there... sometimes I like to do that myself."  She smiled at Hermione and for a moment it was easy to forget they were competing here.  "The game is just so exciting, sometimes it makes me want to... you know, touch myself just thinking about it."  Now, Ginny was blushing.

"I'll be alright." said Hermione, "I just need a few minutes alone."

"Oh, I couldn't dare leave you alone in this state.  Besides, I bet you already solved the puzzle."

Hermione blushed again, looked at Ginny and then started to run.