Fractured AIAOY 6

Chapter 19

"You didn't ask what I think, but I want-"  Hermione began, her voice not cold or unkind and barely above a whisper.  It was far from both, actually.  "I want you to be sure that this is what you want to do.  That's all."  Hermione was nothing but worried--empathetic, even.

Rebecca had managed to find the path.  It appeared to her exactly as it had their detention during first year, a faintly illuminated path through the now-grown bushes that brought no delay as she simply raised their broom a little higher.

"You can't see it, can you?"  Rebecca whispered back.  

"See what, the ground?"  Both girls had taken to whispering once they passed the entrance to the forest.  There was no way of knowing who or what was around them in the darkness they couldn't see through and the trees older than they could imagine.

"The path?"  Rebecca pointed out the line she was following.

Hermione shook her head.

"And yes," Rebecca answered the original question.  "I am certain this is what I want to do and I'm happy you're here.  I don't think I could do this alone."

"We shouldn't be doing this at all."  Hermione laid her cheek against Rebecca's back, settling in for however long a ride they were in for.  "But I'm glad I'm with you, too."  They were quiet a moment or two, and then Hermione spoke again.  "I thought about the possibility of this happening."

"Me hijacking our trip to force you into the forest so I can demand answers from a tree?"  Rebecca glanced over her shoulder.  "You should go into fiction, you'd make a fortune."

"Poorly worded, but yes."  Hermione chewed at the inside of her cheek.  "I think this is a good idea."

Rebecca jerked the broom to a stop.  "You what?"

Hermione looked around carefully.  "Keep going and I'll explain."  The broom resumed its slow crawl.  "I looked up the astronomy charts to find the dates for what you had listed from the centaur books.  It's not the end of spring, it's the beginning of summer.  The stars and the planets align the second week of June.  We can't keep working with half-answers and outdated-facts.  Not if we are to know how dangerous this truly is."

"I didn't know you guys were still thinking about all that."

"Of course we're still thinking about it."  Hermione sighed.  "And we've all found you during a glimpse at one time or another.  We all hoped you were just daydreaming about Fred."

"Nice."  

"But then..."  Hermione shuddered against Rebecca.  "Becs, what would have happened if you'd stayed in the water earlier?  If I hadn't been there?"

"Probably breathed."  Rebecca raised a hand from the handle to lay it on the back of Hermione's.  "But you were there, and I am fine."

"All the same, we're still thinking about everything from the books and the Wollstone Wood's prophecy because one of us is going to find a way out and your brother couldn't find his way in a library even if he had both your brains."  Hermione looked up at the weight of something looking at them and grabbed Rebecca sharply.  "STOP!"

Staring down at them, directly across the path, was a massive, glowering centaur.  

Rebecca stopped the broom but didn't dismount in case she needed to get her and Hermione out of there quickly.  The centaur in front of the others, the one that seemed to be their leader, looked familiar.  "You were there last year, weren't you?"  Rebecca asked.  "When we brought Umbridge to you?"  The centaur jerked its head in a single nod.  "Then you know we mean no harm."