THE NEXT DOOR
The Tempest
Chapter Twelve
Hermione opened her eyes. She was splayed out on a hard wooden floor that seemed to be covered in water, and the whole world sloshed around her. It was dark, possibly night, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. She called out to Harry as she struggled to stand-why was the floor rocking? She stumbled left and then right, finally slamming into a thick wooden pole. Was she on a ship? Rain pelted her face.
"Harry!" she yelled. She panicked. Looking around she realized she was, indeed, on a ship, and apparently they were in the middle of a tempest. People scurried about and shouted to each other. She recognized George, Lee, and Oliver. With both arms around the pole to keep herself from falling over, she looked behind her. Ginny and Fred gripped the ship's wheel and fought to maintain control. It looked like they were losing.
Suddenly Harry was stumbling into her just as a large, black wave rose like a monster from the abyss and crashed over the side of the boat. They were drenched with the salty water.
"Harry," she shouted over the howling wind and she clung to him. She tried to help him to his feet.
"Where are we?" he choked, spitting water from his mouth. Hermione shook her head. She couldn't imagine what reality this would have been or why they would have ended up on a ship in the middle of some ocean.
A terrible cracking noise sounded, and the wooden beam Harry and Hermione were gripping snapped nearly fifteen feet above their heads. The beam was part of the mast, and when it tipped over, it brought down most of the sails and the rigging. Harry pulled Hermione out of harm's way. Another monstrous wave slammed the boat. Hermione slipped, and salt water filled her mouth and lungs. It burned her chest, and she fell to her knees, coughing and wheezing.
Panic seemed to have ensued on the ship. There were people running and slipping all around her. Hermione reached out for Harry. A bolt of lightning split the sky above them in half. It lit up the water-logged deck for a brief second-long enough for Hermione to see Harry slip off the side of the boat. She screamed, but the sound of it was lost in the roaring wind and blinding rain.
Hermione slipped across the deck and slammed into the wooden side rails. Lightning flashed, and Hermione saw a body in the water. The body rose and sunk with each crest and trough. Hermione gripped the railing and shouted-it looked like Harry. One more lightning bolt confirmed it. She had no choice but jump over. She couldn't leave him in the water to drown; they entered this world together, they were going to leave it together…dead or alive.
Hermione back away from the railing and tried to get a running start. Before she could jump, another wave crashed onto the deck and slammed her onto the slick boards. She heard a splitting sound. The boat began to rip and crack apart. Hermione cried out for Harry again. Then she flung herself overboard into the violent sea.
Instantly, her head slipped below the water. The sound of the ocean reminded her of the Hogwarts Express roaring down the tracks. She kicked her legs and pulled with her arms for the surface, hoping she wasn't swimming downward. Finally her head broke the surface, and she spit water from her mouth. The salt burned her eyes.
"Harry!" she said, and a mouthful of seawater rushed into her mouth. "Harry!"
The waves were so strong, and she grew tired of treading water very quickly. She didn't want it to end this way; she didn't want to sink without finding Harry. But she was so tired. She closed her eyes and began to fall beneath the waves. Then someone grabbed her and yanked her back up.
"Hermione, don't you dare give up," he demanded.
She couldn't see who was speaking to her, but she could hear him. "Harry," she choked.
"Grab on."
She blindly reached out and her fingers felt hard wood. Harry was floating on a piece of the broken ship. She kicked with what little energy she had left, and she and Harry managed to pull her body onto the board with him. She gasped for air, and Harry pounded her back with a fisted hand in order to help dispel the water from her lungs.
A wave lifted them and tossed them aside, dropping them nearly ten feet. They slapped the water painfully hard, but Harry gripped Hermione and kept her on the board. Hermione's knees knocked into something metal. She fumbled in the dark, and her hand rested on a smooth, bulbous piece of metal protruding from the board.
"Harry, it's a door!"
"What?" he shouted.
"We're floating on a door. Do you think…" Hermione grabbed the doorknob and tried to turn it. It was nearly impossible to get the knob to do anything, but she finally felt it release in her hand. The inner part of the board they were floating on gave way, and Hermione and Harry fell into the angry sea, but they didn't fall for long.
The sting of the salt disappeared, and a sensation of floating instead of falling filled Hermione from her toes up to the roots of her hair. The heavy crush of water was gone, and Hermione's chest warmed immediately. She drifted in to a calm blackness and no longer felt afraid.
When Hermione opened the door, Harry fell against Hermione's back, and their heads rushed beneath the sea. He wanted to breathe, but he knew he couldn't risk sucking water into his lungs. But the bitter cold was instantly gone. His eyes stopped burning. He felt…hot-a different sort of burning. His toes tingled, and the tingles zinged up his spine in a way that made him feel like he was flying. He glided into comforting peace surrounded by darkness.
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