The Apple Alder Tree: Part Four
`I don't know' Harry said steely, the dead was getting so close that Hermione could see that their eyes were blank and staring of into the distance as their bodies shuffled towards them, barely metres away from
Hermione shuddered as images of what happened to Doctor Andrews flooded through her brain, the man replaced by either her or Harry in her minds eye. Harry pressed in closer to her, trying to gain an extra couple of inches away from them as he spoke softly to her.
`We're in a lot of trouble'
Harry was putting more pressure on Hermione's hand, through anger and fear, but the sting from his grip meant nothing as her mind zoomed quickly in and out of any idea to escape this corner, and the walking dead with it.
`If I just had my wand' Harry said through gritted teeth as he let go of Hermione's hand and raised it in attack, the sickening crunch was loud as his fist made contact with the first of the dead to get within range.
`Then what?' Hermione said as she aimed a kick at another of the dead, Harry was now lashing out continuously at them as they started to surround him, she knew they wouldn't be able to last for very long.
`A million things spring to mind' Harry said angrily as he fought of a dead person who had grabber him and pushed him to the floor `stunning' Harry said as his fist contacted again with a side of on of their faces `freeze em' he let out a fierce kick at another `or fire'
`Fire?' Hermione said, her heart beating quickly as an idea gripped her, but as her brain worked quickly her body slowed down and one of the dead fell onto her, their arms grabbing roughly at her skin as she held it away from sinking its teeth into her.
`Harry!' she screamed as she fought with all her energy to keep the dead from biting her, but his finger nails started digging in to her arms making her shudder under the pain as she felt blood start to pour down her arms.
She almost screamed in pain as the dead was thrown backwards as Harry landed a fist against the dead mans nose, his arms still digging in for life meant that the quick pull felt like a lump of flesh might have been pulled out of her arm.
`Thanks a lot!' Hermione shouted angrily as she threw out a kick at her attackers head and sending him falling even more lifelessly to the floor.
`That's ok!' Harry said, he was struggling against three of them and Hermione wanted to help, but she knew she'd only get one chance for her plan to work, so turning her attention from Harry who seemed to be losing the fight she pulled her yellow v-neck and, rather strangely given the circumstance of impending death, she breathed a sigh of relief to find a slightly blood stained white vest on underneath.
She searched in her pocket for her lighter but froze as she realized she had left it back at her mothers, back at her old life, and now this life seemed to be reaching the end.
`What are you doing?' Harry shouted as he pushed himself backwards and dislodged two more of them, punching the third across the face as he finished.
`Trying to set this on fire and save us!' she shouted back as she pushed one against the wall, without a lighter all she could do was fight till her energy left her, and then she had no other option.
`Fantastic!' Harry shouted excitedly as he stumbled over to her, fighting of another two as he pulled the top from her grip and waved a hand over it, and suddenly, by what Hermione knew must be magic, the top burst into flames as he shouted `quickly!' and ran pushing through the crowd of the dead in front of him.
Hermione was amazed at how the dead had reacted, flooding back as if in mortal fear of the fire, which was burning quickly through Harry's hands as he ran towards the door of the elevator. As they reached the door Harry slammed the button on the door and threw down the now burnt through top, and as Hermione looked at his hands she could see how pink and sore they had become, blisters forming all over them.
The door opened quickly and the pair of them almost fell through, slamming the next button to close them which gratefully closed instantly, stopping all sound of the shuffling of feet that Hermione was sure would become nightmares for her.
`I didn't know you could do things like that without your wand' Hermione breathed as she fell against the wall, her eyes still watching the door to check it was staying closed.
`A person I once knew use to do the trick with candles, put them out and relight them' Harry said distractedly as he looked around the small room of the elevator for something, seeming to ignore the huge amount of pain he must be in thanks to his blistering fingers `its rather impressive to see when you're a little younger'
Hermione watched Harry for a few seconds, trying with all her strength to calm her heart before it beat its way out of her chest, a feat it seemed determined to achieve. Her hand started to shake slightly and as she looked down she saw blood on it and new it was her own form where she had punched one of them and grazed her knuckles. As she looked at the peeling skin from her hand the stinging intensified, feeling like a hole was burning through her whole hand. Following her arm up she saw the claw like marks splurging blood out in a not dangerous amount, but enough to coat herself in red given enough time. She leaned harder against the wall as she used her right arm to hold the bleeding marks and slipped down against the wall until she was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall.
`Hermione we haven't got time to take a freaking break or haven't you realized that the whole world is just about to be murdered?' Harry said angrily as he looked at her as his temper flared.
`I know that Harry!' Hermione shot back roughly, her heart was now beating a million miles an hour faster than before and she knew a heart attack wouldn't be impossible right now `but I just fought off over a hundred freaking zombies and I need a second to gather myself!'
`I fought them off as well and I'm fine!' Harry said in anger again.
`Well done, Harry Potter beats Hermione Granger again!' Hermione said sarcastically as she placed the hand that wasn't stopping the blood from flowing to her heart as she tried to calm her breathing down `aren't you so proud of yourself?'
Harry looked down at her with a blank expression on his face, but her heart didn't allow her to care too much. The last five minutes of fighting against the dead for her life had been more than she could take, and she sat there on the floor of an elevator wondering how the hell things like this had become common place in her life.
`I have to admit that you look rather good in that vest' Harry said as he slumped to the floor next to her, his voice was soft and friendly as if the words were spoken like a peace offering.
`I'd like to thank the ghosts and zombies I get to meet for helping me keep in shape' Hermione said joking, her hand still on her heart as she felt it calming down slightly.
`You forgot about metafilis' Harry said laughing.
`The metal clone things, right?' Hermione asked looking at him as he nodded, she had lowered her hand from her heart as she gathered herself `I hated them things!'
`You and the whole world of 45,000 whatever!' Harry said laughing softly to himself.
Hermione looked at him, he seemed very physically tired but his mind didn't seem to allow himself to rest properly, Hermione had no idea how he kept himself going sometimes. His head was lying hard against the wall behind him, which was probably the most rested she had ever seen him achieve. After most of their adventures he would want to visit somewhere else, somewhere new he usually called it, even if it was just to go for a meal or to watch a film.
`Are you ok?' Harry asked, his voice low and serious as he looked over to her, she knew she must look a bit of a state, the blood was enough to look worrying even though it wasn't and she could barely move her muscles at the moment.
`I'm ok…' she said with a weak smile, the pain in her arm was increasing with every breathe she took, with every beat of her heart that gave it yet more blood to spew out `how are your hands?'
`Not too good' Harry said holding them up, the pink had been replaced by new colours of red and black, and Hermione felt her heart beat faster again at the look of them, the blisters swelling with every second. He moved them down and out of her sight, wincing ever so slightly as he placed them flat down on his legs `but nothing I can't fix when I get my wand back of that freak'
`I think the guy had a certain style' Hermione joked as she turned to look at him `like an incredibly creamed coloured Mel Gibson'
`More like a kitten drowner…' Harry said nastily before he stopped and paused before nodding his head acceptingly `I guess the Mel Gibson comment covers that actually…'
`Mel Gibson isn't that bad!' Hermione said nudging him softly.
`An English person who doesn't hate Mel Gibson?' Harry said in mock amazement `Now I've finally seen everything!'
`Come on, he's was good in What Women Want!' Hermione said reasonably.
`I'll give you that, but it doesn't make up for the atrocity of Braveheart!' Harry said laughing his usual whole hearted laugh `a historical film!'
`Best if neither of us mention The Last Temptation of Christ, agreed?' Hermione said, a proper smile forming on her lips.
`Definitely agreed on that one' Harry said giving another laugh, but he quickly quieted down `are you sure your alright?'
`Yeah…' Hermione said wincing slightly, she rearranged her hand on the cut and realized the blood was slowing down but hadn't stopped yet `so what happened with the fire?'
`Them, like all dead things, live in the cold and damp' Harry explained softly `they hate anything else, the light and the warmth, and especially fire as it's both of these things at the same time'
`Your lucky that I'm lucky then' Hermione said with a smile, all her plan had been was to burn some of them, and she had managed to come across their weakness by a fluke, Harry however wasn't smiling with her.
`There's quite a lot of blood…' Harry said, worry painting his words.
`I just got attacked by the night of the living dead and walked away with a cut' Hermione said laughing, the fact that she was safe for the time being was starting to properly sink in now and even the pain seemed to be leaving her slightly `I think I got out of it all pretty well'
`True…' Harry said, his eyes were squinting as he looked at her arm, but after a moment he shook his head and a smile was back on his lips `And you certainly do throw a fantastic right hook!'
`Well I was a carefree teenager growing up in South London after all, had to learn to protect myself and all that' Hermione said laughing `although the drab life of street muggings and happy slapping must mean nothing to you?
`I wouldn't say that' Harry said sighing `they sound like good concerns'
`You wouldn't be able to cope with just that!' Hermione said laughing, she had been travelling with him for a couple months now and his life was full of a lot more dangers than the ordinary `you need to be fighting something that is trying to kill you!'
`Believe me or not but all I want is a quiet life!' Harry said slightly more brightly `just not a normal one'
`I don't think you ever have to worry about leading a normal life' Hermione teased slightly, wincing as her chest convulsed as she laughed.
`We need to get out of here so I can patch you up' Harry said standing up quickly `I cant tell how serious your bleeding is here, and the human body just loves to throw up horrible surprises'
Harry held his hand out in front of her as he looked down, his eyes asking her to come with him and promising her that she'll be alright. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders, trying to tell her body to gather every bit of energy it had to carry on. She put her hand to her heart, realized it was back to normal then took Harry's hand and felt lighter as he lifted her up to close to him.
`I'm sorry' Harry said quietly, Hermione was now so close to him she could feel his breathe on his face, and see the beginning of tears in his eyes.
`What for?' she said breathlessly, Harry was carrying so much sorrow in his face it made her feel like crying.
`If it wasn't for me things like this wouldn't happen to you' Harry said, his voice was straining slightly `Being attacked by all the foul things in the history of the world wouldn't be commonplace, life and death wouldn't' be such an everyday occurrence…'
`But think of all the things I've seen! The Earth 300 thousand years in the future, the finishing of the Great Wall of China! I've even had drinks with the king himself!' Hermione said earnestly, her life had bad points, just like everyone else's, but the good points meant so much that a balance didn't even exist.
`That evening with Elvis was kinda cool' Harry said smiling slightly at her.
`A world of demons is a fair price to pay for an angel' Hermione said smiling. Harry was so close to her and she watched as his eyes lost their tears and the sparkle came back, his mouth forming into a genuine smile as he looked down at her.
`It's never even crossed your mind to leave me, has it?' Harry said in amazement.
`Never' Hermione said honestly.
Harry took her head in both his hand and leant in quickly, his lips pushing against her forehead as he kissed her in delight, and as he broke he had a huge grin on his face.
`Fantastic!' he said smiling as he broke from her and stepped back, looking up at the ceiling and around at the walls. Hermione's brain was still on that kiss, the feeling of his lips against her skin, his breathe and warmth against her face.
`So…um…what's our plan?' Hermione said awkwardly as she watched him running around the room.
`Just coming up with that one right now' Harry said brightly, he was running his hands over the walls as he inspected their prison of a room. Hermione blushed slightly as she pictured those hands running over other things than just those walls. Hermione looked pointedly down at her feet, hoping with all her heart that Harry could come up with his idea quicker so she could occupy her mind with different thoughts than the ones she was having.
`Got it!' Harry said punching the air slightly as he spun around to her, an excited smile shining from his features.
`What is it?' Hermione asked, wondering what he could have come up with so quickly to get them out of their seemingly helpless
`You're not going to like it' Harry said shaking his head.
`Don't worry, I didn't expect myself to be thrilled by the idea' Hermione said shrugging her shoulders, Harry's ideas may always be ingenious but they weren't the type of thing to fill you with excitement.
`I mean your really going to hate it' Harry said warningly.
`There's little doubt that I'm going to hate it more than your build up' Hermione said a little grumpily.
`Fine, we're in an elevator' Harry started, a look of excitement on his face that meant his plan was going to be extremely dangerous `and where is the only places an elevator can go?'
`Well up and down obviously' Hermione said quickly `but we can't use it without your wand'
`But how does the elevator manage to go up and down?' Harry asked, a smile on his face that was reflected in the opposite in Hermione's heart as she realized what he meant.
`The shaft' Hermione said sighing, Harry was right about her thoughts on the idea not being at all favourable.
`Fantastic!' Harry said brightly `all we have to do is make our way down about 200 floors in the shaft, probably battle our way through hundreds of the walking dead to the Anglia, gather my wand, battle and beat the slimy Bill Bell, and then save the world'
Hermione wasn't liking this idea one bit, and could see a hundred different ways it could go wrong, probably a million different ways, but looking into Harry's face she knew there was only one way to go, and that was standing beside her Harry.
`And you make it sound so easy'
*
So that's the next part, not too much plot development here, but a bit of action, a bit of H/Hr bonding, and a kiss!!! I liked it, and I hope you did too
Till next chapter…
Jms Granger.
P.S - their kiss was actually unplanned, but last chapter got 9 reviews, which made me happy, so I decided to throw this in for you, hope you liked it…
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