The Phoenix Prophecy

Chapter Nine: The Sea

Sunday- July 13th

Hermione

I awoke feeling very relaxed, which surprised me considering yesterday’s events. I looked at Harry sleeping quietly next to me. He could make me so happy or infuriate me to the point of wanting to beat the crap out of him. Yesterday had seen both extremes. I felt sorry for having actually hurt him.

However, when I thought of the poem he had written for me I couldn’t help but smile. I really appreciated the fact that he had been truly sorry for scaring me, and not tried to make me out to be just a silly, over emotional female.

Yesterday when I got out of bed, I was jealous of Gretchen because she and Ron had done something before Harry and I had. Today I realized that our relationship would progress as quickly as we were ready for it. Trying to force things would only slow them down.

While I was lying there looking at Harry, he started stretching and rubbing his eyes.

“Good morning Mr. Potter,” I said to him, quietly as the others were still sleeping.

“Good morning to you too Miss Granger,” he replied, a smile spreading across his face.

“If you think you can do it quietly, I would like a kiss,” I told him, smiling back at him.

“Oh, I think that can be arranged,” Harry said, rolling over on top of me, gently pinning my arms over my head.

Harry lowered his head to kiss me but just as our lips touched, he pulled back a little. I tried to lean my head forward to put some pressure on his lips. Nevertheless, he kept his head just far enough away that our lips just barely touched. After a couple of seconds of not being able to kiss him, I laid my head back down on the pillow.

Again, he lowered his head so that our lips were just barely touching. He slowly moved his lips around the edge of my mouth lightly touching every inch of my lips.

By now, I was starting to get frustrated, as I wanted a real kiss. None of this dancing butterfly crap. I tried to free my hands but Harry held them solidly in place. He wasn’t hurting me, and he knew it, I just couldn’t move.

“Harry, I’m really starting to get frustrated,” I said looking into his eyes.

Harry just looked at me for several seconds and started lowering his head for another round of the ‘dancing butterfly’, grinning devilishly at me. Two can play at this game I thought to myself. Just as his lips touched mine, I lunged forward and grabbed his lower lip in my teeth. I didn’t bite down, but I had a good hold of his lip and as I laid my head back down on the pillow, he had no choice but to follow.

We just laid there motionless for several seconds. Harry let go of my arms and put pressure on my lips as I release his bottom lip from between my teeth. For several minutes, we just laid there kissing each other. I had placed my arms around his neck as soon as he released them.

“That’s much better,” I said to him, as we took an oxygen break. “You were really starting to get me frustrated. You’re lucky I didn’t bite you harder.”

“Actually that was a test,” he said to me. “I wanted to find out if you are one those females that likes to bite. Now that I know, I had better be very careful, lest I come up short some skin.”

I pretended to try to bite him a couple of times.

“If you are done trying to eat Harry’s lips for breakfast, maybe we could go and find some real food,” Ron said jokingly.

I turned my head to see both Ron and Gretchen smiling at us.

“How long have you two been watching us?” I asked feeling a little embarrassed.

“Long enough to know that I better run a test on Gretchen,” he replied, snickering as Gretchen smacked him in the arm gently.

“You can skip the test Ron. I would like nothing better than to take a bite out of you,” she added, snapping her teeth and smiling at me.

Ron

We let the girls have first crack at the bathroom. While we were waiting, I asked Harry if Hermione had completely forgiven him for the prank we pulled on both of the girls yesterday morning.

“Yes she has, with a little help from a poem I wrote for her to smooth the way,” he replied to me.

“Geez, you wrote a poem just for her? That’s neat. Unfortunately, I’m sure Hermione will tell Gretchen and then Gretchen will be expecting me to write a poem for her. I hope she isn’t going to be too disappointed when she doesn’t get one, because there is no way I could ever write one.”

“Ron, I don’t think you have much to be worried about. I think Gretchen is more interested in deeds that words.”

“Yes, she can be a handful. Mind you I’m not complaining,” I said, grinning at him.

The girls exited the bathroom wearing their flying suits. Sirius and Madelyn were just starting to wake up when Harry and I ducked into the bathroom to get ready for the day. Ten minutes later the four of us had taken some breakfast foods and drinks from our supplies and headed out of the tent.

“We’re heading for the table under the oak tree,” I said to Sirius and Madelyn. “We’ll eat and wait for you there.”

“We won’t be very long,” Madelyn replied, as she got out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

Once we reached the table, we all sat down and started to eat the food we had brought with us. I looked over at Gretchen. She hadn’t eaten anything and was being very quiet. For Gretchen that was quite out of the ordinary.

“Eat up dear; you will need some food in your tummy. It may be a long time until lunch,” I said to her, trying to cheer her up.

“Ron, don’t treat me like a kid,” she snapped, getting up from the table and walking towards the tree swing.

I just looked at Harry and Hermione who were sitting across the table from me.

“Gretchen’s frightened to death about having to travel beneath the surface of the sea,” Hermione said to me. “She got the dry heaves while we were getting dressed. She asked me not to tell you, but I think you should know so that you can try to help her. I also didn’t want you to say anything that might upset her.”

“Thanks Hermione, I really appreciate you letting me know. I knew she was worried, but I didn’t realize she was that scared.”

I got up from table and walked over to Gretchen. She was just staring out over the field in the front of the farmhouse.

“Gretchen, I wasn’t trying to treat you like a little kid,” I said to her, placing my hands on her shoulders.

“Ron, please don’t,” she said to me, stepping away from me.

I didn’t know what to say or do. She had never acted this way towards me since we met. I wondered if I should just go and sit at the table and wait for her to come back. Somehow, I knew that wasn’t the right thing to do. I decided just to talk to her. I walked around in front of her, but didn’t try to touch her.

“Gretchen, I know that you are terrified of having to go into the sea in search of octopus ink. I know all too well what real fear is like. When I saw the spider queen attack Madelyn and then you, I was so terrified that I couldn’t move or even think. I just wanted to shut my eyes and scream. My throat was so knotted that I couldn’t have thrown up if I had wanted to, and trust me I did want to. If you can’t convince yourself to do this, then I will tell the others that you are going to stay here. I feel that I must go to help in any way that I can. No matter what you decide, I will always love and respect you. The courage you showed in trying to save Madelyn from the spider queen is proof beyond a doubt that you are no coward.”

“Would you like me to stay with you until Gawain comes and it’s time to go?” I asked her.

She didn’t answer me but just kept staring off into space. I felt miserable because I couldn’t do anything to help her with her fear. Even though I knew no other person could truly help you with your own fears, I still felt a great loss at not being able to comfort her.

“Gretchen, I will go back and sit with the others to wait for Gawain. If you don’t come back to the table when he arrives, I will tell the others you are not going with us. I love you and my heart truly aches for you, it really does,” I said to her, my voice cracking under the emotional stress I was feeling.

As I turned and took a single step towards the table, Gretchen leapt into my arms and flung her arms around my neck. She was shaking almost uncontrollably. I wrapped my arms around her as tight as I could, while still allowing her to breathe.

“Ron, I’m so scared. Please just hold me and don’t leave me by myself,” she said to me, choking out the words. “I’m sorry for acting like a spoiled brat. I was blaming you for not taking my fear away, instead of dealing with it. I know you can’t fight all of my battles and you certainly can’t cope with my fears for me.”

I just continued holding her for several minutes while she started to calm down and stop shaking. While I was holding her, I noticed that Sirius and Madelyn had joined Harry and Hermione at the table.

“Gretchen, are you ready to go and sit down, or would you rather just stay here for a while longer?”

“I think I’d like to go and sit down now,” she said to me, managing a very small smile on her face.

I kissed her gently and led her back to the table holding her hand while we walked.

Harry

“Gretchen is having a tough time coping with her fear of being underwater,” I said to Hermione.

“Yes she is. She told me about the time she almost drowned when she was eight. Ever since then she has been terrified of being trapped under water.”

“Well if anyone can help her come to grips with her fears its Ron,” I said, glancing over at Ron as he stood next to Gretchen.

“You’re right Harry, they love each other just as much as we love each other,” Hermione said, reaching across the table and patting my hand affectionately. “I’m sure Ron will be there for her whenever she needs him to be.”

“How are you feeling Hun?”

“I’m okay, a little nervous of course. What was it like when you used the gillyweed to allow you to stay underwater while you rescued us last year?”

“At first I was a little freaked out as I changed from breathing with my lungs to breathing with gills. Fortunately, that didn’t last very long, just a few seconds actually. Once I was actually in the water I didn’t think about it any more that I think about breathing normally.”

“Did it hurt when you grew gills in your throat?” Hermione asked, sounding just a little apprehensive.

“No, not that I can remember. There were just a few seconds of panic when I felt that I couldn’t breathe. The biggest problem I remember was how hard it was to swim weighted down with my soaking wet robes. Hermione, what worries me most about this trip into the Sea of Mere is that the ocean is a very big place with lots of fish that would love to eat us for lunch.”

“Thanks a lot Harry. I could have gone all day without hearing that. Now that you mention it, I’m sure that is a distinct possibility. If you’ll excuse me I think I will go and throw up now.”

“Hun, every one of our quests will present the real possibility of one or more of us being hurt or killed. We will do everything humanly possible to protect ourselves, but the risks, as you well know, are real.”

“Harry you are so brave, you truly are my hero,” she said to me with a single tear flowing from her eye and down her cheek. “When I’m with you I feel as if nothing could harm me.”

“I truly appreciate your trust in me Hermione; I will try and never let you down. I love you.”

As I finished telling Hermione that I loved her, Sirius and Madelyn walked up to the table and sat down.

“Good morning,” Hermione and I said to them, to which they both replied ‘Good morning’ to us in return.

“Is something wrong between Ron and Gretchen?” Madelyn asked us.

“No, Ron is trying to help Gretchen with her fear of being under water,” Hermione answered her.

“Well I hope Ron is able to help her. Being afraid of something can really handicap a person,” Madelyn replied.

While Madelyn and Sirius were finishing their breakfasts, Gretchen and Ron came back to the table. Gretchen sat down beside Hermione and the two girls hugged each other for several seconds. Ron sat down next to me.

I could tell by the look on Ron’s face that he was very worried for Gretchen. While the girls were hugging, I told him quietly that if there was anything I could do to help, don’t hesitate to ask.

As the girls stopped hugging each other there was a small ‘pop’ and Gawain apparated about twenty feet from the table. At the same moment, Walt and Martha walked up to the table and sat down across from Sirius and Madelyn.

Gawain approached the table biding us all a ‘Good morning’, which we returned warmly.

“And how are all of you feeling after a day of rest?” he asked us, with a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face.

“We are all doing quite well,” Sirius answered.

“Well shall we get right down to the business of the day?” he asked, and continued without waiting for an answer. “I went to the Sea of Mere yesterday so that I might talk to the Chief Merman. He informed me that the most likely place to find octopus at this time of year was at the edge of the abyss that was about twenty miles offshore. Unfortunately there will be many sharks and other predators in the area as well.”

When Gawain mentioned sharks, everyone gasped. I glanced quickly at Hermione. Both she and Gretchen looked very pale. I was sure we all felt the same but I had been expecting this news. Nothing was going to be easy on this trip, I felt quite certain.

“Because of the long distance and the danger from predators,” Gawain continued. “Gillyweed would be totally useless. You need something to make you fast and agile in the water. Therefore, I have prepared a derivative of the Polyjuice potion that will transfigure you into dolphins. I have obtained some scales from both a male and female that are mates, and were willing to provide them to me.

The reason for using both male and female is that with this potion the basic instincts and abilities of the dolphins will remain intact as you transfigure into their form. Transfiguring into a creature of the opposite sex would be disturbing to your minds. You will feel natural and quite at home with the dolphin mind that matches your sex. Remember dolphins are an intelligent species so you will feel as if there is a second consciousness in your mind.”

“The Mere people and dolphins can communicate with each other. The Chief Merman has agreed to give you directions as to the most likely location of the octopi. In addition he will provide you with a strainer that will collect the octopus’s ink from the sea once the octopus squirts out the ink to cloud the sea so that it can get away or attack.”

“The Mere people will not go with you on your journey to the abyss. You will need to use the dolphin’s echolocation to find your way back to shore. Once you have transfigured use the echolocation to imprint your point of departure into your memories. It will be essential to find your way back quickly as you only have five hours from the time you change into dolphin form until you automatically revert back to human form. You will be able to determine the amount of time remaining, before you turn back into human form, from a built-in clock in the dolphin’s mind. If you have not returned to shore before you change back to human form you will die from hypothermia as the temperature of the Sea is only forty degrees.”

“It should take you about an hour to reach the abyss and an hour to return. That leaves you three hours to locate an octopus and collect some of its ink. If you cannot do that within the allotted three hours come back and you can try again tomorrow as I have prepared enough Polyjuice for two trips.”

“Do any of you have any questions you would like to ask me before we depart for the sea,” Gawain asked us.

“Will we encounter any real dolphins and if we do what are they likely to think about us,” I asked.

“Dolphins are not an aggressive species by nature. Most likely, they will think you are a pod—that’s a group of adults that live together as a unit—they have not encountered before and not bother you. However it’s possible they could decide they want to play, as dolphins are very fun loving creatures.”

Since no one had any other questions, we prepared to say our goodbyes to Walt, Martha and the kids. Everyone hugged and kissed everyone else. Gretchen was even more relaxed as she held each of the twins telling them she loved them and would see them later in the day, kissing them affectionately on the forehead. Finally, we were ready and each of us took hold of the portkey. Within seconds, we were traveling over valleys and mountains until we landed at the shoreline of the Sea of Mere.

Gretchen

The shore was a combination of very large rocks, almost twenty feet high, strewn randomly along a mostly white sandy beach. I was very much relieved that we would be transfiguring into dolphins for our trek beneath the sea. I was still very scared but at least I was no longer terrified. As soon as we landed, I grabbed Ron’s hand for emotional support. Gawain began to give us our final instructions as soon as we landed.

“You will need to remove all of your clothes before you drink the potion as your bodies will begin to change immediately and dolphins have no need or use for human clothing.”

“What did you just say?” Madelyn said, quite shocked by his words.

“Oh … sorry, I forgot how modest most young people are,” he answered her. This is going to be very interesting I thought to myself looking at Ron, who was looking at me with a stupid grin on his face, which I removed with an elbow to his ribs. “You must wade into the water up to your waist before you drink the potion. That way, when you change into the dolphin you will be able to swim out to sea and not be stranded on the beach. The water temperature here in the cove is somewhat warmer that the open sea, but not much.”

“I suggest that the men use one side of this very large rock and the women use the other and then join up after you have completed the transfiguration. I will collect all of your clothes and keep them safe until your return. At that time I will bring them back to where you removed them and wait until you have dressed before we return to the Blyth’s.”

“If this is satisfactory, does anyone have any last minute questions?” he asked.

“When and where will we meet the Mere people?” Sirius asked.

“After you have transfigured, swim about a half mile offshore and use your echolocation to map this spot on the shoreline. The Mere people will hear you and join you very shortly. I’d say they should show up within ten to fifteen minutes at the most.”

Gawain handed each of us a small bottle. The ones for the women had a W on the cork, while the ones for the men had an M.

“Maybe we should watch the guys so we can see how this is done,” I said, trying to sound very serious.

“Gretchen, you know it’s ‘ladies before gentlemen’,” Madelyn said to me, without the slightest trace of a smile on her face.

“Never mind, I think we will just do it the way Gawain suggested,” I replied to her.

I quickly kissed Ron, as did Hermione to Harry, and we walked around to the right side of the large rock. Once we reached the waters edge, we quickly removed all of our clothes and started to wade out into the very coo … old water.

“If this water were any colder it would be a block of ice,” Madelyn said scathingly.

“I don’t know about you two, but I’m willing to chance thigh deep being deep enough,” I said to Hermione and Madelyn.

“Ok, on the count of three we all drink the potion and start wading deeper,” Madelyn instructed us. Madelyn counted to three and we all gulped down the potion. I choked a little as I swallowed the potion. It was quite foamy. Almost immediately, I felt the change begin. I couldn’t begin to describe what the transformation felt like. Within two seconds, I toppled face first into the water, which no longer seemed cold or frightening.

It was as if my human body had ceased to exist and I was some other creature with all of my memories and consciousness inside of it. As if on instinct I suddenly shot forward thought the water without realizing what muscles I had used to accomplishment the movement. If I imagined that I was kicking my feet, I felt my tail fluke wag back and forth, instantly accelerating me through the water. Moving my now imaginary arms caused me to move from side to side and roll clockwise or counter clockwise.

I also felt as if someone was watching me from behind. No matter which direction I turned my head I always felt that someone was right behind me. I started to panic but then I suddenly felt calm. I didn’t hear a voice talking to me but it felt as if some inner sense was directing my emotions and controlling my actions at a subconscious level. I could will the dolphin’s body to travel in any direction. However, if I just sort of let the subconscious instincts take over it was like riding in a vehicle someone else was driving and in which you were just a passenger.

All of a sudden, I felt an irresistible urge to want to go racing around and leap from the water. It was very similar to the feeling I experienced the first time I flew on a broom. It was as if you were totally free from being stuck to the ground and could move in any direction just by thinking it.

As I was completely absorbed in all the new sensations that this dolphin experienced I was shocked by a ringing noise that filled my head. It wasn’t painful it was just there. The next thing I realized was that another dolphin was right next to me. Before I even realized what I was doing, I said ‘Ron?’ in my brain and felt rather than heard a series of vibrations emitted from my body. Almost immediately, I felt a stream of vibrations that my brain translated into ‘No, I’m Harry.’

I looked at him and thought ‘Where’s Ron?’ ‘I’m over here’ came the reply from my other side. I turned to see another dolphin swim up next to me and it started rubbing its snout around my sides. ‘Yep, you are Ron all right’ I thought to myself. ‘This is really neat’ I felt Ron say to me. ‘It’s going to take a few minutes to get use to this way of conversing with each other’ I said to him. “’Boy you got that right’ his voice came back in my head.

We spent the next ten minutes just getting use to communicating with each other. We quickly learned how to ‘talk’ to each other and to keep any private thoughts to ourselves. While we were learning how to keep some thoughts private, we all heard Ron say ‘So that’s what you look like naked. What a body.’ when he was looking at me. We were both embarrassed as the rest of them just laughed at us.

After we had learned how to communicate, Sirius said we should all echolocate the shoreline so that anyone of us could lead the way back. That turned out to be surprisingly simple, just fire a sonar burst and you get a picture back. Of course, the picture wasn’t in color but the detail was indescribable. For the next several minutes we all raced around the sea in pairs, jumping out of the water and splashing back down, only to do it all over again. The dolphin’s body was tireless; it seemed as if we could do this forever.

Harry

Being in the body of a dolphin was an absolutely incredible experience. A human in the water is about as graceful as a Troll in a flower garden. Nevertheless, to a dolphin the water is like the air is to a bird. We had spent the last fifteen minutes swimming and jumping in every way imaginable. The skill and grace of two dolphins swimming side by side was astounding. I felt like Hermione and I were a pair of world-class figure skaters performing their routines in a quest for the gold medal.

While we were goofing off and having a great time, we failed to notice the arrival of the Mere people. After watching us for several minutes, the Chief Merman called out to us. We instantly stopped our frolicking and swam over to where they were gathered.

“Greetings, my name is Sirius and these are my companions,” Sirius said to the Chief Merman.

“My name is Zorron. I am the leader of the Mere People,” he replied, very formally without a trace of friendliness in his voice. “The great wizard Gawain has asked us to provide you with directions and instructions to the location of the octopi colony.”

“Yes, Gawain has informed us that he made such a request of you,” Sirius replied formally. “We are very thankful for any assistance you can provide in helping us reach the location of the octopi colony.”

“You will need to travel to the edge of the Great Abyss which is located approximately twenty of your miles to the east of here. There at the edge of the bottomless depths you will find a colony of octopi inhabiting the caves in the rock wall of the abyss. The depth of the water at the caves will allow you to stay submerged for approximately ten of your minutes before you will need to resurface for air. The light at that depth will be very dim, but the dolphin’s eyes will adjust to see short distances. For longer range, you will need to use your echolocation abilities. Here is a strainer that will collect the octopus’s ink once it has squirted the ink into the sea. The strainer has a strap so that it will fit over your head but not slide past your dorsal fin for transport.”

“We understand those directions and instructions,” Sirius said to the Chief Merman. “Is there anything else we should know that you can tell us?”

“The octopi in that region are very large and will attack and feed on anything except the large Gray Shark that is approximately forty of your feet in length. This animal is capable of biting you in two or swallowing you whole. Your only defense against the Gray Shark is that it is easily confused by having more than one prey to concentrate on at a time. If you attract the attention of this beast and it is hungry then it may be necessary for one of you to sacrifice yourself so that the others may escape and live. Also, be careful around the octopi, as they have been known to attack dolphins from time to time. What other dangers await you I cannot say, as we do not venture into the land of no return.”

“Do you have any other questions you would like to ask?” the Chief Merman asked us.

“No, I think not,” Sirius replied. “We thank you for the information on behalf of ourselves and the wizard Gawain.”

Without saying so much as ‘good luck’ or ‘stupid idiots’ the Chief Merman, along with his companions turned and quickly disappeared into the depths.

“I just remembered I told Fred and George that I would meet them for lunch,” Ron said, pretending to be heading back to shore. At least I think he was pretending. “Are you coming with me Gretchen?”

“Ron, I am just as scared as you are,” Sirius said to him. “We are all scared, especially now that we know what we are up against. If anyone wants to turn around and head back to shore no one will hold it against them.”

“Sirius, let’s just get this done and over with,” I said. “The clock is ticking and we have four hours and forty minutes left before we revert back to human form.”

Everyone agreed to go on with the quest. Sirius said that we should return to this spot with no less than twenty minutes left in dolphin form. That way we could easily make shore and not drown or freeze to death. With that Sirius turned and with Madelyn by his side started swimming due east at a steady rate that would put us at the edge of the abyss in less than an hour.

We swam in pairs side by side for the next thirty minutes. During that time, we talked very little amongst ourselves. We would echolocate the bottom every other minute. One minute the bottom was several hundred feet below us, and the next it was just … gone. We stopped swimming and checked our internal clocks. It had take thirty-five minutes to reach the edge of the abyss. That meant that we had three hours and forty-five minutes to locate and collect some octopus ink.

Hermione

We agreed that on our first dive we would merely survey the layout of the sea bottom below us. Even if we saw an octopus, we would not try to collect any ink. Sirius wanted us to get a feeling for swimming down to the bottom and back up so we would know how long we could stay at the bottom before needing to resurface. In addition, we could test our echolocation abilities on each other to get a feel for ‘seeing’ in the dimly lit water.

We all inhaled several times and on Sirius signal started for the bottom. Swimming with a moderate effort, we reached the bottom in just under a minute. It was not as dark as I thought it was going to be. We could see about fifty feet. After firing several echolocation bursts to make sure there were no other creatures swimming in the immediate area we headed back to the surface.

We had been underwater for a total of six minutes. Everyone said they felt fine, had no problems remaining down for that length of time and was able to see reasonably well at the bottom. We decided that on the next dive we should venture down into the abyss and check the sidewall for caves visually and with echolocation. On this dive, we would all remain together.

After arriving on the bottom Sirius led us over the edge of the abyss. It was like looking into a black bag on a dark moonless night. At first, I was terrified as I started to get the sensation of falling endlessly. I quick stopped looking down and stared at the rock wall just off to my side. We started swimming to our right when facing the wall. We could see that the wall of the abyss was honeycombed with caves near the top of the wall. After searching for about eight minutes, I was starting to feel like I really need to breathe in some fresh air. Sirius told all of us to head for the surface.

This time we had been submerged for a total of ten minutes. I took me about a dozen deep inhalations before I felt comfortable. While I was refilling my lungs with air and letting the oxygen levels in my blood return to normal, Harry swam up beside me and started nuzzling my head and snout. He rolled over so that he was swimming directly beneath me, with our bellies touching.

“Harry, just what do you think you’re doing?” I said to him as quietly as I could.

“Yeah, Harry, just what are you two up to?” Ron asked, with a snicker.

I could hear Gretchen chuckling and looked over to see that she and Ron were about as close together as they could get.

“Hun, would you care to dance?” Harry asked me.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your fun,” Sirius said. “But we need to collect the ink and get out of here just as quickly as possible.”

We all said we were sorry at the same time. Sirius said not to worry about it, but we should get ready to make another dive. We all hyperventilated as much as possible and headed back down to the bottom.

When we reached the bottom, we continued to search in the same direction following the wall of the abyss. Even though there were many caves we didn’t see any signs of life other that an abundance of small fish.

After we had been searching for nearly six minutes I thought I spotted some movement in one of the smaller caves.

“Harry, did you see anything move over by that outcropping of coral?” I asked.

“No I didn’t,” he answered me, swimming over to the wall for a better look. Just as he was about five feet from the wall a mouth of sharp teeth shot straight for him. Harry darted out of the way as though a rope tied around his neck had yanked him sideways. It all happed so fast that I didn’t even have time to scream before Harry was safely out of the way of whatever it was that attacked him. My heart was racing and I was trying to look every way, at the same time, to see if something else was about to have us for lunch.

Nothing else happened as we continued our search along the wall of the abyss. When ten minutes had passed we headed back to the surface. While we were on the surface we calculated that each dive, search, surface and recharge our oxygen supply was taking about fifteen minutes. At that rate, we would have about twelve more dives before we needed to give up and head for shore.

The next eight dives turned up nothing but more small highly colorful fish. During the last dive, I thought I had detected a movement of something with my echolocation. When I fired, a second burst there was nothing there. Still it left me with an uneasy feeling and sense of foreboding. No one else had detected any movement in the area. We had one hour, four dives, left before we would start back to shore.

Gretchen

After eleven dives, we were starting to feel fatigued. Diving and holding your breath for a long time was draining even for a dolphin. It was taking us longer and longer between dives. Finally, we were ready to head back down for the twelfth time.

It was also taking us longer to reach the bottom on each successive dive. We continued searching the caves along the wall of the abyss. I wasn’t sure if I was just getting tired, edgy or both. However, I had a nagging feeling that something was watching us. I hadn’t detected anything with my echolocation, but I still felt something was out there.

Three minutes into the dive, we all saw a large octopus quickly scramble over the edge of the wall and hide in a large cave. The size and speed of the creature shocked me. I guess I had not stopped to think what an octopus would really look like. We swam cautiously up to the side of the cave, which was not very deep. At the back of the cave, I could barely see the creature, who was staring at us with two large glassy, yellowish colored eyes.

“Well now that we have found one, how do we get it to squirt some ink into the sea for us to collect?” Ron asked.

“Remember what Gawain told us. The octopus will squirt his ink to mask its retreat or to confuse a prey when it attacks,” Sirius answered.

“In either case we have to figure out some way of getting that thing out of the cave,” Madelyn added.

“We don’t have time to wait for it to come out of there on its own,” said Hermione.

“We are going to have to entice it to come out somehow,” Harry said reluctantly.

“And just how do you propose we do that?” I asked him.

“What we need is some bait,” said Sirius.

“I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count as to what the bait is going to be,” Ron added rather sarcastically.

We debated for several minutes how to get the octopus to come out of the cave. Since it was getting close to the time we needed to resurface, we headed back up for fresh air. We could discuss what to do once we were on the surface.

“We have three more dives before we have to head for shore,” Sirius said to us all. “Since I, for one, do not want to have to come back here tomorrow, let’s figure out how to get the ink today.”

“Short of one of us acting as bait, we are going to have to outwait the octopus and hope it comes out of the cave on its own,” Harry volunteered.

“I don’t see what other choice we have,” I said. “We should have been better prepared than we are. I mean we should at least have had some idea on how we were going to get the octopus out into the open.”

“Well it’s too late know to start planning,” Ron answered me.

We finally decided on diving down and just watching from above the cave to see if the octopus would come out on its own. If it did then we would fake an attack in the hopes it would squirt out some ink and make a hasty retreat.

We refilled our lungs with air and dove back down to the bottom. We purposely stayed back from the face of the wall so the octopus would not be able to see us. Once we reached the edge of the abyss overlooking the cave where the octopus was holed up we just lay as motionless as possible. The minutes slowly ticked by. After nine minutes, it was apparent that this was not going to work. Sirius told us all to head back to the surface. As we were swimming, back up to the surface the feeling that something was stalking us once again overtook me.

“Well so much for that plan,” Sirius said in disgust. “At this point I think we need to try the bait plan. I will swim back and forth in front of the cave acting as if I’m hurt or dazed. Maybe that will draw the octopus out. If it does than the rest of you can attack it to scare it off and hopefully we will then be able to collect some of its ink.”

“Sirius, I don’t think very much of this plan of yours,” Madelyn added, sounding agitated and angry. “There are just too many ways something can go wrong. And out here if something goes wrong, one or more of us could be killed.”

“Unless you have some other plan, I don’t see as we have any other choice, other that to give up and head back,” Sirius answered her, rather grumpily.

“No I don’t have any other plan. You be damn careful Sirius. I do not want to lose you. At my age finding a good man isn’t easy,” Madelyn replied, trying to sound cheerful.

“I’ll be very careful Madelyn,” said Sirius. “Now let’s head back down and pray that this works.”

We refilled our lungs once again and headed back down for the fourteenth time. When we reached the bottom, we approached the edge of the wall of the abyss as we did last time down. Once we were in position Sirius swam over the edge and several yards in front of the cave where the octopus was hiding. He swam back and forth slowly but the octopus just seemed to be ignoring him. Ten minutes later, we gave up and headed back to the surface.

“Could you see any movement in the cave at all?” Harry asked Sirius.

“Yes, several times I thought the octopus might come out of the cave after me. Every time I thought it was about to attack, it would hesitate and settle down. We have one more dive left. If it doesn’t come out this time we will have to head back and do this all over again,” Sirius said to all of us.

Therefore, we refilled our lungs for the fifteenth and last dive before returning to shore. The clock in my head said we had just fifty-five minutes remaining before we changed back into human form when we resurfaced after this dive. Sirius told us to hyperventilate as much as possible to give us the best chance possible for collecting some ink on this try.

We reached the bottom and just like the two times before this one, we approached the edge of the abyss. Sirius started over the edge to act as bait in front of the octopus. The instant Sirius appeared within view of the octopus in the cave, the octopus shot out of the cave straight for Sirius. It had Sirius in its tentacles in the blink of an eye. The speed at which the octopus attacked caught us all off guard for a second.

We watched in horror as the octopus pulled Sirius towards its mouth. The mouth was very similar to that of a bird of prey. It had a beak for tearing the flesh from its prey. Sirius was struggling trying to break free from the octopus’s powerful tentacles, but without any success. Then at the same instant, we all attacked the octopus from behind. Just before, we reached the octopus; it squirted out a stream of jet-black ink, let go of Sirius and darted down the wall of the abyss at amazing speed.

“Well that wasn’t so hard has it,” Sirius said, sounding very much relieved. “Let’s collect the ink and get the hell out of here.”

Madelyn was carrying the ink scoop. She started quickly swimming through the jet-black ink, which was starting to disperse in the seawater. After several passes through the ink, she said we had enough.

Just as she finished collecting the ink, the largest set of teeth you could possibly imagine, attached to a monstrous body, shot out of the ink straight for us. The instincts of the dolphin took over and before I even knew what had happened I was twisting violently away from the gaping jaws that were about snuff out my life in one bite. I was fast but not fast enough, the teeth missed me buy my body was scraped along the side of the giant shark. The tip of its tail fin slashed a deep gouge in my side near my tail fluke.

It felt as though my body was on fire. The burning sensation was intense. I was momentarily stunned. I heard Sirius yell to head for the cave. Ron was by my side in an instant pushing me towards the cave. One look at the giant shark coming in for the kill was more that enough to spur me into moving as fast as this body would go.

We all reached the cave just seconds before the shark was able to have us for lunch. Luckily, the cave was large enough and deep enough to hold all of us so that the shark was unable to get at us. I was still in terrible pain, but at least I was in one piece. It had been only four minuets since we had left the surface. The clock in my head showed that I had sixty minutes left before returning to human form.

“I don’t know about any of the rest of you, but I just crapped in my pants,” Ron said, sounding totally freaked out. “And I’m not even wearing pants,” he added. “Did you see the size of that monster?”

“Yes Ron I saw much more that I ever wanted to see,” I answered, my voice very shaky from nearly being eaten whole.

“We need to be absolutely still for two reasons,” Sirius said quietly. “First, to try and make the shark forget about us and second to conserve our oxygen. We are going to have to stay in here as long as possible. Let’s hope the shark gives up and goes away before we die of asphyxiation.”

The minutes ticked by slower that I could have ever thought possible. After we had been underwater for ten minutes, we could still see the shark swimming in front of us. I wasn’t going to be able to wait much longer; I was starting to get panicky from lack of oxygen.

Finally, the shark turned and headed out to the open sea heading away from the direction we would be traveling. Sirius let out a single echolocation burst that told him the shark was indeed continuing to swim away from us.

We shot out of the cave and headed for the surface like our tails were on fire. In my case, that was exactly what it felt like. We reached the surface in record time and broke the surface of the water, sucking in cool fresh air for several long seconds. The clock in my head showed that I had 49 minutes left.

We started swimming back towards shore as quickly as we could. We were all very tired from so many descents to the sea bottom, which it was going to be a miracle to reach the shore in time. As the minutes ticked by and we headed steadily towards the beach where we had transfigured to dolphin, I could feel my energy draining away. I started falling behind the others.

Ron realized that I wasn’t able to keep up before I had fallen more than a dozen feet behind. He slowed to swim beside me.

“Gretchen, try not to think of anything but the shore. Just focus on the shore. Picture yourself climbing out of the water when we reach the shore. Don’t think of anything else,” Ron said to me, trying to help me focus on my goal and not think of the alternative.

“Ron, I’m trying to do just that, but my tail hurts. … Please don’t laugh, that wasn’t supposed to be a joke.”

“I know it wasn’t Gretchen, I’m sorry. Just keep thinking beach.”

The clock in my head was down to twenty minutes. I was slowing down. Even ignoring the pain, the dolphin’s body was no longer able to swim as fast as I need to. I shut everything out of my mind and just swam. I tried to ignore the clock as it reached ten, then eight, seven, six, five.”

“Ron, I’m not going to make it,” I shouted, panic starting to grip my mind.

“Yes you can Gretchen, just focus, swim, swim.”

I pushed every ounce of effort I could from my screaming muscles. The minutes clicked down relentlessly, four, three, two ….

Ron

Gretchen and I were within a half a mile of the shoreline. I could tell from my echolocation that the others were just about to reach the shore. The gigantic shark had given up chasing us in search of easier prey. The clock in my head said I had only about three minutes left before I would change back to my human form. That meant that Gretchen had less than a minute to go.

“Gretchen, keep swimming as fast as you can; we still aren’t there yet,” I shouted at her, trying to keep her mind focused on swimming and off the pain she was in. I was totally panicked because I knew there was no possible way she was going to make it back alive. Once she transformed back into human form she would be so exhausted from our ordeal that she wouldn’t have the energy to swim the rest of the way. She would drown or die of hypothermia before she could get out of the water.

“Ron, I can’t feel anything. I’m starting to change,” she screamed at me, her voice shrill from terror and panic. “Help ... me ... Ron, I ... don’t ... to ... dieee ...”

I watched in horror as I saw her start to change. The dolphin body quickly began to change into that of a human. Within seconds, she was completely human. She was wildly kicking her arms and legs trying to stay afloat. I could no longer understand what she was screaming; I only knew she was making some noise. Very quickly, her legs and arms started moving slower and slower until they stopped moving altogether and she slipped beneath the surface.

NOOOOO … I screamed in my head as I saw her body spasm as she sucked water into her lungs and stopped moving. Her body slowly started to sink towards the bottom of the sea. Her eyes were open and completely lifeless. I grabbed at her arm with my mouth pulling her back to the surface and trying to drag her body to shore. I knew I only had two minutes left before I changed back. If I let go of her I could just barely make it back to shore. If I tried to drag her body back with me, I would never make it and I would drown too.

With Gretchen dead, I didn’t want to live anymore. I would rather join her in death than live my life without her. All I could do was cry for the love that I had lost. I just kept swimming and sobbing to myself, knowing the end was near for me as well. ‘Gretchen my love, we will be together shortly, for the rest of eternity, our love shall never die.’

Out of nowhere, I suddenly felt another pair of dolphins by my side. Harry grabbed Gretchen’s other arm and we both started swimming as hard as we could push the dolphin’s body. Sirius was right beside us. I could see the seconds counting down until we started to change. Twenty, ten, five and then I felt the change starting to take place. Within a couple seconds, I was back to human and started trashing my arms and feet. To my total surprise, I found that I could stand on the sandy bottom of the cove.

Harry and Sirius had transfigured back to human form at the same instant I had. They were just standing up as I looked down at Gretchen’s body floating face down in the water.

I quickly scooped up her lifeless body into my arms and started carrying her to shore. I was sobbing so hard that I was completely incoherent. I just wanted to get her body to shore and lay down and die right beside her. My heart ached so badly I thought surely that it would stop beating at any second.

As I reached the shore, I looked at Hermione and sobbed, “She’s gone; Hermione, I-I-I can’t believe she’s gone…” Hermione was crying almost as hard as I was. Harry emerged from the water and quickly ran to her and hugged her, his face was drenched with tears.

Madelyn started yelling at me, “Ron, quick set Gretchen down, and there may just be a chance that we can revive her.”

I knew Madelyn was talking to me but the words didn’t register. I was so overcome by grief that I couldn’t hear or understand anything that was being said to me. Madelyn slapped me as hard as she could across my face and shouted, “Ron, Put Gretchen Down, Right Now.” Somehow, the realization of what she was trying to tell me reached my brain and I snapped out of it. I immediately laid Gretchen down; still crying I managed to ask.

“How can we revive her? She’s been dead for several minutes,” I asked, sobbing out the words.

“Ron, the water temperature is so cold; Gretchen’s brain and vital systems haven’t had time to be irreversibly damaged. If we can get her heart to start beating and her lungs working there is a very good chance she will recover completely.”

Madelyn quickly straddled Gretchen’s waist and started rhythmically pushing on the center of Gretchen’s chest. She told me to pinch Gretchen’s nose and start blowing air into her lungs each time she paused pumping on her chest. We continued working on Gretchen for the next ten minutes but she remained lifeless.

Madelyn look up at me, tears streaming down her face, “Ro..on, I’m so sorry, she’s gone. We can’t bring her back.” Everyone was crying. I just couldn’t believe that she was gone. I looked at her lying there, lifeless, her eyes empty and glassy. I was suddenly filled with anger and rage.

“NO GRETCHEN! You can’t leave me here to live my life without you,” I screamed in twisted agony. She had to come back she just had to. Before anyone could stop me I slammed my fist in the center of her chest, slapped her face as hard as I could on each cheek and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her as violently as I could, screaming at the top of my lungs at her, “GRETCHEN, DAMN YOU … FIGHT … FIGHT TO LIVE, don’t you dare leave me.”

While I was shaking her, her body suddenly jerked in a violent spasm and she tried to draw air into her lungs. The water in her lungs made it almost impossible to breathe and she retched while trying to breathe air into her lungs. Madelyn quickly and forcefully shoved me aside and lowered Gretchen’s head so that the water in her lungs could run out as she continued to try to get fresh air into her lungs.

After a half a dozen breaths where she retched with each breath, she started to breathe more easily. When Sirius brought a blanket from his pack to wrap Gretchen in, I realized for the first time that I was totally naked. No one seemed to notice, or at least no one was saying anything. Harry tapped me gently on the shoulder and handed me my clothes. I dressed quickly without comment from anyone.

Once I was dressed, I went back to Gretchen. Madelyn was checking her pulse and looking at her pupils.

“Can she be moved?” Sirius asked her.

“The sooner we can get her back to the farm and into a warm bed the better,” she answered him.

“I am going to carry her,” I said to Madelyn. She didn’t object and helped me pick Gretchen up off the ground, making sure Gretchen was completely wrapped in the blanket. As soon as I had Gretchen in my arms, Gawain held the portkey for each of us to grab a hold of. Madelyn held one of Gretchen’s hands to the portkey. In an instant, we were traveling back across the mountains and valleys to land in the Blyth’s front yard.

As we materialized in the front yard, Annie took one look at me holding Gretchen and started running for the house screaming for her mother. Martha appeared immediately at the door to the house. She let out a small cry and ran down the porch steps meeting us half way to the house.

“Oh my God, what happened?” Martha asked, her voice shaking.

“Gretchen drowned,” I answered her, mostly blubbering out the words.

“We were able to revive her, just barely,” Madelyn said to Martha. “We need to get her into bed and try to warm her up as quickly as possible.”

“Bring her in the house, we’ll put her in our bed,” Martha answered her.

I carried Gretchen into Martha’s bedroom and laid her down on the bed. Martha had pulled back the covers and was getting some extra blankets from the closet.

“Ron, go and change out of your flying suit into the shorts you were wearing yesterday,” Madelyn said forcefully to me. “Then come straight back here. I want you to hold Gretchen to your body to give her as much bodily warmth as you possibly can. Martha and I will get her into something to wear while you are changing. Now hurry, we don’t have a moment to lose.”

I practically flew out the front door on the way to the tent. Harry and Hermione just looked at me as I ran out the door and towards the tent. I ripped off my flying suit, put on shorts over my briefs and dashed back out of the tent. Harry and Hermione were still standing on the porch with their arms around each other. They both looked pale and on the verge of tears.

“Gretchen’s going to make it,” I said to them. “I won’t even think of any other possibility.”

They both started hugging me at the same time. In seconds, we were all crying on each other’s shoulders.

“Ron, give Gretchen a big hug from both of us,” Hermione said to me. Then she reached up, kissed me gently on my lips, and said, “You better get back in there, Gretchen needs you.”

“Thanks, I don’t know what I would do without friends like you two,” I said, my voice quavering. I gave them each a quick hug and dashed back into the house. I went into the bedroom, Gretchen was wrapped in the blankets and asleep, but she looked very pale.

Madelyn said to me, “Ron climb in bed with Gretchen and hold her to you so that you can give her body as much heat as you possibly can. Don’t hug her so tight she has trouble breathing. Just try to keep as much of your skin in contact with hers as you can.”

“Ok,” I said climbing into bed beside Gretchen. “Damn she’s cold,” I said, shocked at how cold her skin felt.

“Martha is heating some water so we can make up some warming compresses to help add heat to Gretchen’s body,” Madelyn replied.

Gretchen was shivering, but as I continued to hold her and gently rub her arms, she finally stopped shivering except for the occasional shudder. Martha came in with some hot towels wrapped in a dry towel and helped me apply them to Gretchen’s back. After what seemed like forever, but was probably only an hour Gretchen was mostly warm to the touch. She had opened her eyes several times, tried to say something and drifted right back to sleep.

Martha and Madelyn had sat by the bed since we had arrived. Madelyn continually checked Gretchen’s pulse and the dilation of her pupils.

“Ron, I think Gretchen will be fine,” she said to me, smiling reassuringly. “What she needs now is rest. Keep holding her for at least another hour. I want to be absolutely certain that she can maintain her own body temperature.”

Madelyn told Martha and me that she was going to go and check on the others and left the room. Martha looked a little pale, but she managed to smile at me when I looked at her.

“Ron, I can’t remember being this frightened in a long time,” she said to me. “You just follow Madelyn’s orders and I’m sure Gretchen will be just fine.”

“Martha, under normal circumstances I would enjoy applying this much skin to Gretchen very much,” I said, winking at her.

Martha blushed just a little as she said, “I’m sure you do and I know that Gretchen will appreciate everything that you have done for her. Sometime in the future you two will be able to share this much contact under much more enjoyable conditions. Now you close your eyes and get some rest. Today has been very hard on you as well. I’ll just sit here and look after my two oldest, while they sleep.”

“Thanks Martha, I want you to know that we both love you. You are like a second mother to both of us. I do feel very sleepy. So I think I’ll take your advice and try and get some rest,” I said to her, closing my eyes with Gretchen wrapped in my arms.

“I’ll be here when you wake or if you need me,” she said softly to me, as she pulled the blankets up around our shoulders and kissed us both on our foreheads.

Hermione

From the moment, Ron emerged from the water carrying Gretchen’s lifeless body in his arms I hadn’t been able to stop crying for more than a few minutes at a time. We were all in a state of shock from Gretchen’s very close brush with death. I don’t think Harry even realized that he was stark naked when he ran out of the water to hug me.

Watching Madelyn and Ron trying to bring Gretchen back to life, and almost failing, was more than I could stand. I had my face buried in Harry’s shoulder most of the time. The whole time we had spent at the beach reviving Gretchen was like a bad dream that I was trying to push from my mind. Since we had returned to the farm, I hadn’t let go of Harry and he had continually tried to reassure me that Gretchen was going to be ok.

After Ron had gone back into the house to be with Gretchen, Harry and I went and sat on the porch swing. I curled up next to him with my arms around his chest and my feet folded under me. Harry had his arm over my shoulder as I rested my head on his chest. Every few minutes I would flash back to scene on the beach and see Gretchen lying there, lifeless, and I would start to cry. Each time I cried Harry would caress my head and talk to me gently and soothingly.

I just have to stop all this crying I told myself. Gretchen’s going to be ok. She had managed to live through the ordeal. We had all survived and somehow managed not to lose the ‘Ink’ from the octopus in the process. This was a damn good thing, I thought, as none of us would have agreed to go back into the sea. It was the most terrifying ordeal any of us, with possible exception of Sirius, had ever experienced.

Walt and his kids were sitting on the porch with us. No one felt like talking very much. Sirius had been talking to Gawain by the table under the oak tree since our return from the sea. As soon as Gawain disapparated, Sirius walked up on the porch and sat with the rest of us.

About an hour after Ron had gone into the house Madelyn came out on the porch.

“It looks as if Gretchen will make a full recovery,” she said to all of us. “What she needs now is a solid twelve hours of sleep. Ron is helping to restore Gretchen’s loss of body heat,” she said, looking slightly embarrassed as soon as she finished telling us what Ron was doing. She looked as if she was going to explain what she meant by her last statement, but just sat down wearily next to Sirius and leaned her head on his shoulder.

We all breathed sighs of relief. The mood definitely improved because everyone started talking all at the same time. My stomach had finally stopped feeling as if it was in my throat. Not only that I was suddenly starved, we hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and it was now about three o’clock in the afternoon. Since Martha was staying in the bedroom to watch over Gretchen and Ron, Annie and Katie said they would make us something to eat. I told them to wait for me. I got up, gave Harry a kiss and then followed the girls into the house.

We quickly whipped up some sandwiches, fruits and drinks for everyone. As we were getting ready to carry the food out onto the porch, I heard both of the twins crying in the bedroom. I asked the girls if they would mind carrying out the food by themselves and went into the bedroom. Martha had a twin in each arm and was trying unsuccessfully to calm them down.

“Martha, would you like some help?” I asked her.

“Hermione, I’d love some. Thank you. You’re a lifesaver. I didn’t want to leave Ron and Gretchen alone. I told Ron I would be right here in case they needed anything. Would you take Laurie while I feed Lazarus and then we can switch? You might have some luck getting Laurie to settle, Lazarus is a lost cause once he gets hungry.”

I took Laurie and cradled her in my arms, rocking her slowly back and forth while telling her what a pretty girl she was. Martha quickly quieted Lazarus by nursing him as she sat in the chair beside the bed. I asked Martha how Gretchen was doing. Both she and Ron were sleeping soundly. Gretchen’s head was nestled on Ron’s shoulder. She looked so peaceful and relaxed, the color had returned to her face. It was impossible to tell that just a little over an hour ago she had been all but dead.

“Gretchen’s doing fine. Madelyn said she should be good as new by morning. I’m afraid that Ron is going to have his hands full when she wakes up though.”

“Why do you think that?” I asked, puzzled by her statement.

“Hermione, do you remember how all of you felt when you returned night before last from the spider queen’s lair?”

“Oh, yeah,” I replied, feeling suddenly a little embarrassed.

“Well, Gretchen has come as close to dying as you possible could. When she wakes up after a getting a good nights rest she is going to be very sexually aggressive. Her hormones are going to be out of balance for about a day. After that they should settle down to normal.”

“I haven’t felt normal since we arrived in the Realm,” I blurted out, with out thinking and found myself suddenly embarrassed. Martha noticed my embarrassment almost immediately.

“Hermione, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. You are almost seventeen years old. Your body is growing and changing every day. The added stress of the ordeals you are going through would make it almost impossible for you to be anywhere near normal. Couple this with the fact that you are hopelessly in love and you haven’t got a chance to live your life as a normal sixteen year old girl.”

After several minutes, Martha asked me to switch babies. I handed Laurie to her as she handed Lazarus to me.

“Hermione, I notice that you are much more comfortable handling the twins than you were when you first arrived here.”

“Yes I am, and I have Gretchen to thank for it. She forced me to get over my nervousness of caring for babies. Now that I am no longer frightened of mishandling them, I am enjoying caring for them very much,” I said rocking Lazarus in my arms, smiling at him while making soft cooing noises.

Harry

I was glad Hermione went with Annie and Katie to help whip up something for us to eat. I wanted to talk with Sirius and Madelyn. I didn’t want Hermione to be upset any more than she already was.

“Sirius, if these quests continue on the way they have started out, one or more of us is going to be dead by the end of the week.”

“Harry, I’m afraid I have to agree with you. I wish I could tell you and the others that the worst is over and it will get better from now on, but that would be a cruel lie. Gawain and I were discussing various ways of reducing the chance that someone would be serious injured or killed,” Sirius replied.

“Did you come up with any ideas?” I asked hopefully.

“None that will substantially improve the odds in our favor, I’m afraid,” he answered me, sounding quite dejected.

“On our journey to the ‘Well of Light’ we will have full use of our magical abilities, but the Goblins also have very powerful magic and we haven’t a clue as to what to expect once we descend into their caves,” he added.

I remembered that Madelyn was claustrophobic as Sirius started talking about going into the caves. When I looked over at her, she was trying very hard not to let her fear show. Sirius realized that Madelyn was having a difficult time keeping her fear of being in closed spaces under control. Sirius took Madelyn’s hand in his, squeezing it gently, as they looked at each other.

“Harry, I think that tomorrow after all of us has had a good nights sleep, we should discuss whether to continue on with this journey,” Sirius said to me. “We almost lost Gretchen today. We all know that this journey is not some picnic in the woods. I think each of us should feel free to discuss their feelings with the whole group.”

“I think that’s an excellent idea Sirius. Dumbledore has told me on more than one occasion that if you can discuss the things that you fear, you are more that halfway to conquering them.”

“Harry there is something else I would like to discuss with you as your Godfather,” Sirius said to me, looking hesitantly at Madelyn who nodded her head affirmatively.

“I would like to ask you a very personal question. You do not have to answer me if you do not wish to,” he said, looking very serious.

“Sure Sirius, what do you want to ask me?” I asked feeling a little apprehensive.

“Harry, have you made love to Hermione yet?”

I just sat there. I knew what Sirius had asked me but I wasn’t expecting that question in a thousand years. After several seconds that seemed like years, I finally managed to answer him.

“No Sirius, we haven’t had sex. We have talked about it, but we aren’t sure this is the proper time.”

“Harry, the decision as to when a relationship is ready for sex, is one of the most difficult decisions most adults ever make. It is the final commitment that a man and woman make to each other. It signifies that you have chosen that person as the one you love and respect and wish to spend the rest of your life with.”

“Under any circumstances but the one we are currently in, I would do everything in my power to try and convince you to wait until you are older before you consider adding sex to your relationship with Hermione. However you and Hermione, and for that matter Ron and Gretchen as well, are being asked to live and risk your lives as adults. You all have to be prepared to make life and death decisions, and to bear the consequences of those decisions for the rest of your lives.”

“If you are to bear the burdens of adults then it is only right that you be allowed all the benefits and pleasures of adulthood. I, that is, we are not telling you to have sex at this time. That decision is solely yours and Hermione’s together as a couple. You two alone must decide when the time is right. What we are saying is that if you both feel that you are ready to make the commitment necessary for sex to be meaningful beyond its purely physical aspects then we will not try to persuade you otherwise.”

I just sat there completely speechless. I wasn’t sure I was glad Hermione was in the house or not. In some ways, I wished she had been sitting beside me so that she would have heard what Sirius had just said with her own ears.

“Sirius, Madelyn, you will understand if I am more that a little surprised by what you have just said. I do understand what you are telling me. To say that similar thoughts had not crossed our minds would be a lie. This is the first time in my life; of course, it’s the first that I have had a conversation about something that only adults would discuss. Hermione and I will not have sex together until we are certain in our minds and hearts that it is the right time for the both of us. We don’t want to look back and regret that we chose the wrong time or place out of impatience or eagerness.”

“Harry, Madelyn and I have complete faith in your judgment in this matter. We know you and Hermione will reach the decision that is right for the two of you,” Sirius answered me, with a genuine look of pride and trust on his face.

“Harry, if you both decide that the time is right, have Hermione see me for a potion I have prepared for my own use that will prevent an untimely pregnancy,” Madelyn said softly.

The full meaning of what Madelyn had just said hit me like a ton of bricks and I just looked at the two of them.

“That’s right Harry,” Madelyn said, smiling warmly. “Sirius and I have been lovers for some time. We plan to be married as soon as we return from the Realm. You are the first to know. We want all four of you to be in our wedding. I hope that you will all accept.”

“Whow, that’s great news,” I replied, totally shocked. “Sirius, I’m so happy for the both of you.”

I got up and gave Sirius and Madelyn big hugs. After I finished congratulating them, I went to the tent to change out of my flying suit and into something cooler and more comfortable.

Hermione

Annie came into the bedroom to ask Martha and me what we would like to eat. Martha said she wasn’t hungry just yet, but I told Annie I was starved and would eat anything that she brought me. Martha suggested that I put Lazarus back in the crib, go sit at the table, and eat. I told Annie that I would be right behind her as she left the room.

When I reached the table, Annie had a plate with some sandwiches and sliced fruit waiting for me. Annie sat down with me while I ate and I started talking to her between gulps of food and drink.

“Annie, would you mind helping me write a poem for Harry? I loved the one you helped him with last night.”

“I’d love to Hermione. Give me a minute and I’ll go and get some parchment and my quill & ink.”

While Annie went to fetch the parchment, I quickly finished eating and took my dishes to the kitchen sink. Annie returned just as I sat back down to the table and sat down beside me. We worked for about a half hour to come up with something that expressed my love for Harry.

“Annie, you wouldn’t happen to have a couple of hair ribbons you could lend me,” I asked her.

“Sure I do. What color would you like Hermione?”

“Do you have pink ones?”

“Sure do, would you like me to braid your hair?” Annie asked me eagerly.

“That would be wonderful. I really appreciate all this help Annie.”

When Annie returned with the ribbons and a brush, I suggested that we go to the tent where I could change out of my flying suite into shorts and a jersey before she braided my hair. She followed me to the tent and waited while I changed my clothes. Since I was trying to look pretty and sexy for Harry and I was feeling just a little excited at the prospect of reading my poem for him, I decided not to wear my bra.

Annie and I talked while I sat on a chair and she braided my hair.

“Hermione, what’s it like when Harry kisses you?” Annie asked me shyly.

“Annie that’s tough to put into words, but I’ll try. More than anything else, it’s a feeling of togetherness. Oh, there are the normal feelings you would expect; warmth, softness, desire, pleasure. You really have to experience it to understand what its like. I known that probably does not help much, I’m sorry.”

“That’s ok Hermione, I was just wondering.”

“Annie, have you every kissed a boy?”

“No, we don’t get many visitors around here and we only get together with the other families in the area once a year.”

We continued to chat while Annie braided my hair. Just as Annie finished Harry came into the tent.

“Wow, you look terrific,” he said to me, smiling from ear to ear. “Annie did you do her hair?” Harry asked her.

“Yes, do you really like it?” she asked, sounding both pleased and excited.

“I think it’s great.” Harry replied to her, flashing a warm smile.

“If you two ladies will excuse me, I’m going to get out of this flying suit,” he said to us. Picking up his shorts and a pullover shirt, he headed for the bathroom.

Annie said that she should be getting back to the house and see if her mother needed any help. I thanked her again for doing my hair and helping me with the poem, which was safely tucked in my pocket. Shortly after Annie, left Harry emerged from the bathroom dressed in shorts and a shirt. He threw his flying suit over the back of a chair, came over, and kissed me tenderly. He had a strange look on his face and seemed lost in his thoughts.

“Harry, is anything wrong?” I asked him.

“No … no, nothings wrong,” he answered slowly. However, I could sense that there was something that he had left unsaid.

“Hermione, did you get anything to eat?”

“Yes, Annie fixed me something to eat just before we came out here so I could change my clothes and she could braid my hair.”

“How would you like to grab a couple of blankets and go for a walk?” he asked me. I knew he wanted to talk to me about something. Maybe that’s why he wants to go for a walk I thought to myself.

“Harry, I would love to,” I answered him.

We took the blankets from our beds, left the tent and started out across the field towards a small cluster of trees about one hundred yards from the house. Harry held my hand while we walked but didn’t say anything.

“Harry, are you sure nothing’s wrong? You are being awfully quiet.”

“Really, nothing is wrong. I just want to wait until we are alone before I tell you something,” he answered me.

Now my curiosity was really piqued. What did he want to say that had him so deep in thought? Since we would reach the trees in another couple of minutes, I decided not to ask any more questions. Instead, I just placed my arm around his waist and leaned my head on his shoulder, while he placed his arm around my shoulder.

Once we reached the trees Harry spread one on the blankets out on the ground and folded the other one into a pillow. He lay down and patted the blanket beside him, beckoning me to lie down next to him. As soon as we were lying down Harry pulled me to him and kissed me very passionately. After several seconds, he pulled his face back to look into my eyes.

“Hun, I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Well, why not start at the beginning?”

“Sirius and Madelyn told me that since we, that is you, Gretchen, Ron and myself, have to carry the burden of adult responsibilities they would not try to persuade us from engaging in adult pleasures, specifically they would not object to our making love.”

I just looked at Harry for several seconds.

“Harry, if this is some kind of line to get me to make love with you? It’s the lamest thing I have ever heard,” I said, not believing a word he had said.

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me. Why couldn’t you have been there when they told me?” Harry said, while just looking at me. I could see the disappointment in his eyes.

We lay there just looking at each other for many long seconds. Harry didn’t say anything he just looked into my eyes as if patiently waiting for me to say something. Looking into his eyes, I started to get a feeling in the back of my mind that quickly grew into the sudden realization that he was telling me the truth. I opened my mouth to say something but I didn’t have a clue as to what to say. Twice I tried to say something and just gulped.

“How’s that for a real shocker?” he asked me, when I wasn’t able to say anything for several more seconds.

“Let me get this straight. Sirius and Madelyn told you that because we have to bear the responsibilities of adults, then it was ok with them if we have sex together,” I asked him.

“Hun, that’s not exactly how they put it. Oh, it would have been so much simpler if you could just have been there. Sirius told me that under normal circumstances he would try his best to persuade us to wait until we had graduated from Hogwarts before we had sex. Nevertheless, due to the highly unusual circumstances we were now living with, he would not try to persuade us to wait. He said the decision is completely and totally ours. You and I have to make up our own minds about our readiness for this final step in our relationship.”

“They actually said that? Did they say anything else?”

“Oh yeah, Madelyn said that if we decide to go ahead, then you should see her and she will give you a potion she made for herself so that you won’t get pregnant.”

“Wait a minute Harry, if Madelyn made a potion for herself then that means …”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Harry interrupted. “Sirius and Madelyn are going to be married as soon as we return home and they want all four of us in their wedding.”

“Wicked,” I said, as Harry just stared open mouthed at me.

“They really said they are going to get married?”

“Yes Hun, that’s what they said. If you could have seen their faces when they looked at each other you would have known instantly that they meant it.”

“Oh Harry, that’s so sweet,” I said, feeling tears starting to run down my cheeks. I reached over, pulled Harry’s face to mine, and began kissing him passionately. After several minutes of intense kissing, I pulled my face back and said, “Harry, I need a break or we won’t have anything to decide.” The pleasure of hugging and kissing Harry had been more intense than anything we had experienced before.

“I know just what you mean Hun. You sure know how to light my fire,” Harry said rolling on his back to look up at the sky.

“Harry, would you sit up please? I would like to talk this out right now or I am going to be thinking of nothing else until we reach a decision. I would prefer to discuss this in a sitting position, face to face, if you don’t mind?”

“Sure Hun, I don’t mind,” he answered me, sitting up to face me.

“Harry, do you realize what Sirius and Madelyn have done by allowing us to make the decision as to whether we are ready for sex or not.”

“What are you getting at Hun, I don’t follow you.”

“Harry, at our age what is the one thing that bugs you the most? Think about it before you answer.”

“Well I guess it would be that I’m tired of constantly be told what I can and can’t do,” he answered me after several seconds.

“Bingo, you get a gold star and go to the head of the class,” I said, smiling at him and leaning forward to give him a quick kiss as a reward for the correct answer.

“Now add together the fact that we are tired of being treated as kids, plus the intense emotional pressures we are experiencing and you get the very real possibility that we will use sex as a means of relieving the pressure and rebelling against established authority.”

“Hun, I never thought of that, but you just might be right.”

“Harry, I know I’m right and I’m really pissed. Of all the sneaky, dirty, underhanded tricks, this takes the cake. You just wait until I see those two. I’m going to give them a piece of my mind …”

“Hermione, calm down. Why are you so upset?”

I looked at Harry; he was clearly upset that I was so furious with Sirius and Madelyn. I wasn’t sure what to tell him at this point. After wrestling with my conscience for several difficult moments, I decided what to tell Harry.

“Harry, I am upset because I had decided to tell you that I was ready and wanted to make love with you right now, right here. I have even written a poem that expresses my undying love for you. On top of that, I am not wearing a bra so that you would know that I wanted the pleasure of your hands on my body. I figured that we would quickly progress from kissing and touching to making love and this would be the best night of our lives.”

I waited for Harry to say something. His expression was a mixture of shock, no surprise there, thoughtfulness and desire.

“Harry, I know I have just dropped a real bomb on you, so just take your time before you answer me.”

“Hun, could I have a little kiss? While I’m absorbing all this,” he asked me, leaning forward.

“Sure you can,” I replied, kissing him gently on his lips holding the sides of his face in my hands. “I love you, Mr. Potter.”

Harry smiled warmly at me. After a few seconds, he said.

“Hermione has what Sirius and Madelyn said changed your mind about being ready?”

“No Harry they haven’t changed my mind about being ready, what they have done is make me think about my motives and the timing. Up until you told me what they said I had everything rationalized out in my mind. We would be lucky to live out the week, let alone return to our world. I had as much right as any adult to decide what I did with my body. I love you as much as any married couple who love each other. Now in the light of what they have said I have to reexamine all of my motives to make sure I am not acting out of rebellion or for selfish reasons. … Bastards.”

“Hermione!”

“I’m sorry Harry, but you are looking at one very frustrated woman. When I get frustrated I usually swear, get use to it.”

“Hun, how long have you been thinking about all of this?”

“Harry, I have be wrestling with the desire to want to make love with you since the first night I slept wrapped in your arms. “You know enough about me by now to know that I tend to over analyze everything. If we were back at school, I would be combing the library for every book on the subject. By the time I finished reading them all and making up my mind I’d be an old hag.”

“Hun, if you haven’t changed your mind about being ready to make love, and by the way, I feel exactly the same as you do, what do you want to do?”

“This!” I said, leaping at him, throwing my arms around his chest and pulling him down on top of me. “Harry, right now I want to be kissed and hugged, but I don’t want to make love right now, is that ok with you?”

“Hun, that is more than ok, it’s terrific,” he said, and started kissing me very passionately.

During our third oxygen break, I asked Harry if he would like to listen to the poem I had written for him. He said he would love to and propped himself up on his elbow to listen.

“Let me read all of it before you say anything,” I told him, as I got the poem from my pocket and started to read.

I found a miracle when I found your love.....

You shine upon me like the full moon above....

You surround my life and bring my passions to life....

Can you love me forever...will you make me your wife?

I feel the warmth of your sweet lips on mine....

Your passionate mouth ... like the taste of fine wine.

Can you love me forever ... dedicate your heart and soul to me?

For you passion brings me new life...sets my deepest fantasies free.

In a brief moment.....you brought new direction my way....

Can you love me only....within my arms will you every stay?

A friend, a lover ...a soul mate to me.....

I long to be your one and only....can you love me unconditionally?

For I already love you that way ...it is true.....

My heart, my soul, my life...I want to spend loving you.

By the time, I finished reading my poem tears were flowing down my face. I noticed that Harry had tears in his eyes as well.

“Hermione, you already are ‘my one and only’ and I will spend my heart, soul and life loving you,” Harry said in the gentlest, kindest most loving voice imaginable. I fell into his arms and cried happy tears while he held me telling me repeatedly just how much he loved me. After a few minutes, I looked up at Harry and he wiped the last of my tears from my face with thumbs and kissed me deeply.

“Hun, I do have a question I would like to ask if you don’t mind.”

“Sure Harry what is it?”

“Well if you came up here ready to make love, how were you planning on avoiding possibly getting pregnant?”

“Oh that?” I answered him, looking quite embarrassed. “I guess I sort of assumed that I wouldn’t get pregnant the first time.”

“Hun, now that really shocks me because you always think of absolutely everything. You never leave anything to chance if you can possibly help it.”

“Yes I know Harry, to tell the truth I am kind of embarrassed about that.”

“Well now we know that when the time is right we won’t have to worry about that any longer,” he replied.

“Harry, I don’t know how to thank you for being so understanding with me tonight. First I tell you that I planned on making love to you and then I tell you that I think we need to think it over and talk about it some more. You didn’t get angry or treat me like some kind of tease. I’m sure there are a lot of guys who wouldn’t have been as understanding as you have been.”

“Hun, first of all you don’t have to thank me, I’m not ‘a lot of guys’, I love you and want you to be happy more than anything else in this world. You don’t realize how special you have made me feel by telling me that you want to make love with me just as soon as the time is right for us. I am more than willing to wait for as long as it takes until the perfect moment in time to arrive for us. In the meantime I will enjoy devouring your lips and neck,” he said, pushing me onto my back and kissing the side of my neck.

Harry

After a very pleasurable hour of kissing, hugging, nuzzling, and laughing, which included verifying that she really did leave her bra in the tent, I said, “Hun, we should probably be heading back to the house. If we stay here much longer I am going to have trouble being the obedient boyfriend.”

“Ok Harry, my willpower is shot for today. Let’s head back,” Hermione answered me, kissing my forehead, standing up and helping me gather up the blankets. We walked back to the house, arm in arm. It would be dark in about two hours. The grownups were sitting on the porch talking when we reached the house, climbed the porch steps and sat down.

“How is Gretchen doing?” I asked Madelyn.

“She and Ron are both sleeping. They woke up about an hour ago, ate some food and went right back to sleep,” she answered me. “I think they will most likely sleep till morning, which is just what I want them to do.”

“Where are your kids?” I asked Martha and Walt.

“They are finishing their chores in the barn,” Walt replied.

“I understand congratulations are in order,” Hermione said to Sirius and Madelyn, smiling warmly. “Harry and I are both very happy for the both of you.”

“Thank you Hermione,” Madelyn answered, speaking for the both of them.

“Are you going to have any kids?” I blurted out, before I could stop myself, realizing it wasn’t any of my business. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“That’s ok,” replied Sirius, his face relaxed with a genuine smile that made him look younger than ever before. “Since I’m 37 and Madelyn is 35 … hey, why did you poke me in the ribs Madelyn? You age isn’t a secret. Anyway, as I was saying, we are considering having one or possibly two children. We are still young enough, if we don’t wait too long.”

After Madelyn had poked Sirius in the ribs, he was successful in thwarting her from doing it again by pinning her hands to her waist, while he finished telling us about considering children. Watching these two ‘grownups’ play just like a couple of teenagers brought a smile to my face. I realized that Hermione and I would have years and years of horseplay before we were too old for that sort of thing. I glanced at Hermione; she was smiling back at me, probably thinking the very same thing.

“Have you decided where you are going to live, after you are married?” I asked.

“Quite possibly at Hogwarts, as I expect we may both be teaching there,” Madelyn answered me. “If we do not live at the school then most likely we will live in Hogsmeade.”

While we were talking about where Sirius and Madelyn were going to live, the Blyth kids came up onto the porch after finishing their chores. After telling their parents that all the chores were finished, Alec asked Hermione and me if we would like to join them in a game of kickball.

“Sounds like fun to me,” I said, looking at Hermione to see if she was interested.

“Sure, why not,” Hermione replied. “I could use some exercise to help me sleep tonight,” she added with a twinkle in her eye.

We played kickball until it was too dark to see the ball clearly. On the way back to the house, Hermione told me about Annie never having been kissed. She asked if I would give her a kiss so that she would have some idea of what it felt like.

“No I don’t mind giving Annie a kiss,” I said to her. “Question is how much of a kiss do I give her?”

“I think something just beyond sisterly should do the trick,” Hermione replied.

“Hun, I don’t have a sister and I only have two kinds of kisses. One is for people I really don’t want to kiss and the other is for you. Now since I don’t want to hurt her feelings and kiss her like she was one of the Dursleys. That only leaves the kind reserved for you.”

“You can’t kiss her the way you kiss me. That wouldn’t be right, besides I would probably get jealous and then you would be in trouble Mr. Potter.”

“Hey, I’m doing this as a favor to you, how can I end up in trouble?”

“Trust me Harry, you plant a real kiss on Annie and you will be in serious trouble. As in, you won’t be getting another kiss from me period! You must have something in the middle, don’t you?”

“Leave it to me Hun. I think I will be able to come up with something.”

After we walked back to the porch, the Blyth kids said good night to their parents and started into the house to get ready for bed. Just as Annie was about to enter the house I asked her to come here. She walked over to me and asked me what I wanted.

“Annie, close your eyes and don’t open them until I tell you,” I said to her. After she closed her eyes, I gently tilted her chin up with my hand and very lightly kissed her lips for about three seconds. “You can open your eyes now Annie.”

Annie opened her eyes with a dreamy smile on her face.

“Thank you Harry,” she said softly to me. Kissing me so quickly that I didn’t realize she had until it was over, she turned and walked into the house, humming to herself.

“Is that what you had in mind?” I asked Hermione, who was looking at me with tenderness and gratitude.

“Harry, that was perfect,” she said, throwing her arms around my neck and kissing me very warmly.

It was now completely dark outside. I told Sirius and Madelyn that Hermione and I were going to turn in for the night. Martha asked if it would be all right if the girls slept in the tent with us, so that she and Walt could sleep in the loft, because of Ron and Gretchen being in their bed.

No one had any objections, so Martha and Hermione went to get the girls ready for bed. As Martha started into the house, she said to me, “Harry, thank you for what you did for Annie. I know she will remember her first kiss for many years to come. A girl her age should be starting to have some happy memories to remember.”

“You are welcome Martha, but you should be thanking Hermione, it was her idea.”

“Well thank you both,” she said to us, as she and Hermione went into the house. I said good night to Walt and Sirius and went to the tent to change before the girls arrived.

I quickly changed into a sleeping shirt, as the night was going to be warm and I wanted to be comfortable. The girls showed up shortly afterward. Hermione settled Annie and Katie into Ron and Gretchen’s beds. She quickly changed and came back to lie down in her bed next to mine.

I looked over my shoulder at Annie and Katie and told them good night.

“When do I get a kiss?” Katie asked me, her eyes wide with excitement.

“When you are 10 Katie, I will give you a kiss if you still want one,” I told her very tenderly.

“Oh, I think I’ll get Ron to kiss me. I really like red heads,” she replied and laid her head back down on her pillow to go to sleep.

“Harry, you do have a way with young girls,” Hermione said to me, smiling at me affectionately.

“Does that apply to older girls?” I asked, trying to sound very serious.

“That especially applies to this older girl,” she answered me, pulling my face to hers and kissing me very warmly.

Gretchen

I was watching the tropical fish swim back and forth in the aquarium. The endless colors were fascinating to watch. As I watched, I suddenly realized I was swimming in the midst of the fish looking out through the glass at the room beyond. I started to panic because I felt like I was suffocating. The harder I tried to breathe the more my throat constricted. I tried to scream but no sound came from my mouth. The lights started to fade. Everything was growing black as I continued to scream.

Ron

“Gretchen! Wake up, you’re having a nightmare,” I said to her. She was sitting up in the bed screaming. I grabbed her around the shoulders and held her to me tightly. She immediately stopped screaming and after a few seconds managed to stop shaking and find her voice.

“Ron, where are we?” she asked me, in the total darkness of the bedroom.

“We are in Martha’s and Walt’s bed. It’s the middle of the night. Try and relax Gretchen.”

“Oh, now I remember,” she answered me with a shudder.

“Come on Gretchen, let’s lie back down. Would you like to curl up with your back to me or would you rather face me, while I hold you?”

“I would like to face you,” she replied, lying back down.

I lay down facing her, placing an arm over her shoulder. Our faces were just a few inches apart on the pillow. After several minutes of rubbing her back, she seemed very calm and relaxed.

“Ron?”

“Yes dear.”

“Do you love me?” she asked in a quite voice.

“Yes, I love you very much,” I answered her, kissing the tip of her nose.

“Ron?”

“Yes dear.”

“Thank you for saving my life.”

“My pleasure. But let’s not make a habit of needing it, ok?”

“Ron?”

“Yes Gretchen.”

“Do you know that you have the cutest hairs on your chest?” she said running her fingers lightly over my chest.

“Yes dear I know. I think it’s time you went back to sleep.

“Ron?”

“Yes dear”.

“What time is it?”

“It time you were sleeping. Now close your eyes and go to sleep.”

“Ron?”

“Yes …”

“Is everyone else ok?”

“They are all fine and sleeping, just like you should be.”

“Ron?”

“What now?”

“Do you think I’m pretty?”

“Gretchen, girls just don’t come any prettier than you. Now go to sleep so you will still be beautiful in the morning.”

“Ron?”

“You again?”

“How many kids do you want?”

“I don’t know, as many as you are willing to have, I guess. Now will you please go to sleep?”

“Ron?”

“Yes Dear!”

“Do you think I’m sexy?”

“Gretchen, if you were any sexier I would have to clone myself just to be able to handle you.”

“Ron?”

“Yes …”

“Did I tell you I love you today?”

“Yes dear, you have told me many times, and I thank you. But if you don’t go back to sleep I am going to put you under a sleeping charm.”

“Ron?”

“Gretchen, you are worse than a little kid. Next thing you will be asking for a glass of water.”

“Ron?”

“Grrrr… Now What?”

“Can I have a glass of water please?”

“Gretchen, are you deliberately trying to make me crazier than I already am or do you really need a drink of water?”

“Yes I really would like a glass of water Ron. My mouth is very dry.”

“Somehow I’m not surprised,” I said under my breath. “If I get you a glass of water will you promise me that you will stop talking and go to sleep?”

“I promise,” she replied solemnly.

I got out of bed and lit my wand, which I had laid on the table beside the bed. As I was half way across the main room, I heard Martha calling to me from the loft.

“Is that you Ron?”

“Yes Martha, It’s me. Gretchen needs a drink of water.”

“Is she all right? Do you need any help?”

“No I’ll manage. I sure could use some tape to put over her mouth,” I muttered to myself.

“What did you say Ron?” Martha asked.

“I just said I could do with some tape for Gretchen’s mouth. She won’t shut up and go to sleep. And to top it off I think she’s starting to feel a little frisky.”

“Well that’s normal for a person after a near death experience. Her hormones are going to be pumped up a little. Would you like me to go and stay with her for the rest of the night?”

“No, I’ll be fine. I won’t let her talk me into anything she would regret come morning.”

“I know you won’t Ron. I just thought that maybe you needed some good sound sleep. Well, I’m going back to bed. See you in the morning.”

“Ok, see you then,” I said to her as I headed back into the bedroom with a glass of water.

“Gretchen, here’s your water.”

Gretchen sat up, drank the water in a couple of quick gulps, and then lay back down. I set the glass on the bedside table and lay down beside her again.

“Now remember your promise,” I told her.

“Can I at least have a kiss before I go back to sleep, Please?”

“Certainly you can,” I said, kissing her very gently.

Gretchen rolled over so that her back was snuggled against my stomach and I wrapped my arm around her waist. Within seconds, she was asleep.

“Goodnight Gretchen, I love you,” I said to her as she slept and I fell asleep almost immediately.