Xerosis

Cold Fields

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Cold Fields
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The Prophet the next morning was rife with speculation about the new rune stone in the centre of Hogsmeade. Specialists hadn't yet been called in by the time of publication, but the special edition that hit the school at lunchtime had their findings, as well as their confusions as to how it had appeared. They figured out all the protection wards, but they were especially confused by the inactive rune series that needed the other set of runes on the satellites before it could activate.

Harry enjoyed the following days listening to his classmates argue about who would bother putting wards around the small village that was awash in the wake of the Hogwarts wards, or what those inactive runes were for. Everyone had an opinion, though none of them had the rightopinion. For the most part, they seemed to believe it was an act of some kindly group – the Order, said those who knew of it, while those who didn't suggested a group much like it – who was set on protecting them from the muggles or the Dark Lords. Others thought it was a ploy by the Dark Order to make the residents of Hogsmeade think they were safe, and then when they least expected it... BOOM! The whole village gone in a second.

It was all the students – and the Prophet – would talk about for weeks. Specialists were sent in from all over and pleas for information were sent out, but no one came forward and it eventually died down, especially when everyone reported back that there was nothing strange about the stone.

Of course, Harry considered as he and his five friends finished their last-minute preparations, it's all about to start right back up again, as soon as that rune set is active. And we get to miss the whole thing. I hope the others can cover sufficiently.

It being the weekend, no one should notice the six missing students, especially with Morag, Hermione, Neville, and Lillian running interference. If there were any questions, Harry had created a golem of each of them and placed it in their beds. A magical scan would show them to have a relatively mild stomach bug, and they were programmed to respond to any inquiry with, "I'm sick, go away." Not the most sophisticated piece of magic that Harry had ever done, but it should be sufficient to fool any worried professor or, worst-case, Madam Pomfrey. As long as they didn't look any closer than the most rudimentary scans, there shouldn't be any problems.

"Everyone ready?" Harry asked as the others all finished fiddling with their food sacks. They all had enough food for sixty hours, and enough potion to keep them awake for the same amount of time. They had all also been equipped with protective amulets and a magical headset that would enable them to keep in some form of contact, in case of emergencies. The four who would be in orbit the entire trip would always be in contact, but once Harry and Luna got approximately one hundred fifty thousand kilometres away from the planet, they would be on their own.

"I think so, yeah," Terry agreed, pulling on his fingertip-less gloves. They'd been created special by Harry with extra warming and protective charms worked in, so they would have full use of their hands when adding the runes. Only their fingertips and face weren't covered by the protective clothing that Harry had put together with Hermione's help – the girl had wanted to feel useful, so Harry had left her to stitching together the robes and adding the protective runes to them with thread.

Harry nodded. "Okay. Remember, if the solar flare alarm goes off, get back into the atmosphere immediately."

"We know, Potter," Tracey replied, huffing. "You've already warned us that these spells can't stand up to that level of solar activity."

"But what will you and Luna do if that happens?" Li asked, dark eyes worried.

It wasn't the first time she'd asked, and Harry's answer was the same as ever: "We'll manage." He pulled his own hood up to cover his hair, smiling when the others did the same. "Excellent. Let's head out, okay?"