Eventually, after many tiresome hours of walking and hiking through the woods, the centaurs aloud them all to stop for lunch. Harry wished he was like one of those cool nature folk, who could tell what time it was by looking at the sun- similar to what the centaurs did. But he wasn't that cool, and all he knew was that the sun was high in the sky, it was cold, and he was hungry.
The centaurs that had been holding onto harry and Hermione's ropes that bound their wrists tied them to a tree and instructed them to wait. They galloped away to Alexio, who was calling all of the centaurs in front of him and passing out food that Harry and Hermione couldn't see.
"What do centaurs even eat?" Harry asks Hermione, and she turns her attention away from her shoelaces to look at him.
Hermione frowns. "They tend to eat like a vegetarian would. It helps them best, since much of their body is a horse, which is a herbivore. So they sort of... forget about the fact that humans are omnivores and made to eat both plants and animals, and eat based on their horse ways. Veggies. Greens. Good stuff."
Harry nods. "Do they have combined organs?"
Hermione stares at him. "What did you just ask me?"
The corner of Harry's mouth tilts upward. "Do they have combined organs? Like, human lungs but a horse's heart, or maybe they have like the stomach of a horse and the-"
"You," Hermione cuts him off. "are disgusting. Why are you asking me this?"
"Because you're the smartest person I know, and I wanted to start a conversation." Harry says, and nudges her with his elbow, which proves difficult, since his hands were tied up.
She shakes her head. "They have the same organs as a human, though the stomach processes things slightly different than a human stomach since it is connected to their lower half, or the horse half. However, they have faster breathing, and an increased heart rate."
Harry shakes his head. "See, you act all disgusted and yet you know the answer."
"I found it in a book when I was researching for Care of Magical Creatures!"
"Excuses." Harry sings.
As they 'fight', a large and bulky centaur walks over to them, carrying a tray of sandwiches and two glasses of water. He sets them down in front of the two of them, removing the ropes from around their hands and tying them to their feet instead. "There." He grunts. "Now you can use your hands to eat, and you're still all tied up."
"Yes, thank you so much." Harry says sarcastically, rolling his eyes heavily.
Hermione shakes her head and picks up a sandwich. She bites into it and chews thoughtfully. "Turkey. Lettuce. Mustard."
Harry grins. "I want to try." He grab a sandwich and takes a Ron-worthy bite of it, chewing and swallowing quickly. "Ham, cheese, no sauce." He glances at her turkey sandwich. "Wanna trade?"
"No. Ham isn't really my favorite, to be honest."
Harry frowns. "I've known you since I was eleven and yet I didn't know that you didn't like ham."
Hermione takes another bite. "No, that's not it. I mean, I don't really like deli meat. What I could really go for, is Lee's Pizzeria."
Harry nods longingly, thinking of the night he had spent out with Hermione, and ow much fun it had been. "Yeah. Too bad we're stuck here." He catches her sad expression, and moves to lighten the mood, trying earnestly to make her smile. "Hey. As soon as we get back home, I'm going to take you to the pizzeria- just the two of us, like before."
Hermione smiles. "Maybe this time they won't call us 'Harmione'."
Harry grins. "Yeah. But you've got to admit, it's got a nice ring to it."
Hermione laughs. "Yeah, I suppose it does." Then she glances over at the herd of centaurs, all eating and laughing joyously. "How can you even be sure that we'll get home?"
Harry shrugs. "You're the brightest with of our age, and I'm the Boy Who Lived. We'll come up with something- we always do."
Hermione nods, and glances over at the ground. If only they had their wands.
And then, before the centaur can come back to collect them to continue their travels, Hermione grabbed two sticks and a sharp, pointy rock, and shoves them into her pocket.
* * *
By the time the sun had set, Harry, Hermione and the centaurs had traveled miles and miles. The trees had grown thinner, and the woods started to smell of water. Sure enough, not far away was a river, gushing water throughout the woods, and Harry and Hermione both bent down, their hands still tied, to feel the cool water against their fingertips.
The sun was setting now, and the centaurs had begun to fish. They took their bows off of their backs and shot at the fish in the water, other centaurs grabbing the speared fish and pulling them from the water. It was amazing to watch, their movements so fluent and purposeful, as if every action they made was for a reason. The flow never stopped. Fish after fish was pulled from the stream, arrow after arrow pulled from the water, cleaned off, and replaced in the quiver.
Two centaur walk up to Harry and Hermione, who were watching the centaurs, and Alexio was right behind them. "Graceful, aren't they? My clan is made up of only the most skilled of hunters."
They break their attention from the archers and look at Alexio. His hair, as well as hid tan chest and glossy horse bottom, was sopping wet and dripping with water. "Why're you all wet?" Harry asks him.
He nods at the river. "I washed up. Which is exactly what you two are about to go do- out of the archer's range, of course." He says, and looks them both over. "But leave your clothes on. No one here wants to see that." He gestures to the two centaurs with him, and they lead Harry and Hermione further upstream.
Hermione shakes her head. "Getting in the water is a bad idea. It's just above freezing point outside, and the water will get us all wet. We could get sick."
One of the centaurs cocks his head, and the other says "Get in the water." in a deep voice.
Harry and Hermione glance at each other before turning to face the icy looking water. Hermione takes off her shoes and steps cautiously into the water. A small squeak escapes from her mouth, but she takes another step forward, and then another. Harry takes his shoes off as well and walks in behind her.
They did as the centaur instructed, and kept their clothes on. Hermione splashed water up onto her face, washing away all of the dirt and grime. There had been a nasty cut on her forehead from when they were first captured- she washes away the dried blood and touches it gingerly- it was still tender, and she winces.
Harry emerges from the water now. "I found my glasses." He says, and wipes away his lenses as much as he could and puts them on. "Hey. You washed up your cut." He reaches forward and touches it gently. "Does it hurt?"
She shrugs, taking his hand. "A little. It's alright though."
She scoops water up into her palm. "You, on the other hand, have a cut on your jaw that you have failed to clean."
She gently rinsed away the blood that had dried to his face, trying not to notice that he was watching her very carefully with his bright green eyes.
Hermione rinses away every bit of blood on his face to reveal a small scratch on his face. She smiles. "Look at that. It's not even that bad anymore."
Harry doesn't answer, but instead he leans forward and kisses her on the cheek. "Thank you Mione." He whispers.
Stunned, a small hint of blush creeps up in her cheeks, and she smiles a little wider than before. "Of course."
* * *
By the time Harry and Hermione got back to the camp along with their guards, the other centaurs had set up two tents and built multiple fires. Many of the centaurs were standing guard, some sleeping, and other tending to the fires. Two small tents were pitched up, a fire in front of each.
The centaurs that had taken Harry and Hermione to the water shoved them towards one of the fires, and there, sitting on a rock, was two plates of food. The centaurs had managed to pull together a nice batch of fish, as well as berries and what looked like wild green beans.
Hermione takes her plate and sits down on the ground in front of the fire. She looks carefully at one of the berries, which was a startling blue, and pops it into her mouth. "Blueberries."
Harry nods, and takes a bite of fish. "The fish isn't that bad either." He swallows. "Why are they giving us decent food, time to wash up, and a tent? I assume those tents are for us, at least."
"They are." Alexio had emerged, and he now stood in front of them. "None of us centaurs bother with tents, but you pesky humans and your 'need for protection' kills me."
"You act like feeling safe is a bad thing." Hermione states blandly, picking at her fish.
Alexio looks her over, his gaze shifting from Harry's clean plate to her's, which was still filled with food. "You aren't eating."
"I ate a blueberry."
He shakes his head. "Ronando, Leslie, take Harry Potter to his tent and guard it. Miss Granger, come with me."
"I don't think so." Harry says, taking Hermione's hand. "She is going nowhere without me."
Alexio raises an eyebrow in amusement. "She will come with me, unless you wish for us to use a little," he pats the satchel strung across his shoulders. "Crucio, on her."
Harry glares hot fire at Alexio, but Hermione squeezes his hand softly. "I'll be right back, alright?"
He meets her gaze reluctantly, and she sees the worry in his eyes. A quick, reassuring smile comes to her lips. "It'll be alright. I'll be back here safe and sound before you fall asleep."
She releases his hand and gets to her feet, turning and following Alexio back to the stream Hermione had washed up in.
He stops as soon as they were out of view, and she folds her arms. "Spit it out." She says.
"You did not eat your food." Alexio states, looking up to the sky. "Why?"
"I wasn't hungry."
Alexio shakes his head. "You are lying. Try again."
Hermione clenches her fists, making her nails dig into her palms and make red curves into her skin. "Fine. I don't trust you, nor do I trust this food. Why are you all of the sudden giving us cooked food, when for the last few days you've given us nothing more than turkey sandwiches?"
Alexio keeps his eyes trained on the moon. "We do not like doing this to you. Capturing you and holding you hostage. Taking your wands and forcing you to your death. We made an agreement to try to treat you better, with more prepared food and warmer beds, before we have to give you away to Rodolphus."
"Or," Hermione says. "or, you could let us go. Our Ministry can find Rodolphus and get your leader, Sibelius, back to you!"
"No." Alexio mutters. "That is to risky. You could choose not to uphold your end of the deal. Centaurs trust no one but the members of their clan."
Hermione pleads with him. "Then forget about Sibelius! You can lead the clan just fine- I've seen it! You lead the clan, forget about him for just a moment, and allow the Ministry can get him back to you."
Alexio looks away from the moon to glare harshly at her. "We do not leave others behind! I can not trust that you wizards will uphold your end of the deal, and giving up on this plan would mean giving up on Sibelius! And I can't give up on him. He's my brother!"
Hermione sits in stunned silence. "He's your... Sibelius is your brother?" She asks quietly after a moment.
He frowns at her. "Yes. I need him back, even if the clan does not."
"I swear to you, that if you let us go, we will get Sibelius back to you. The Ministry will help- everyone will. Rodolphus won't stand a chance."
He remains silent. Turning, Alexio begins to stride back to camp, Hermione on his heels.
When they reach the other centaurs, Alexio gestures to two other centaurs. "Take her to her tent. Guard her."
And without another word and no more than a flick of his tail, Alexio gallops away.
* * *
Harry was awake and sitting between two centaurs outside of his tent when Hermione arrived at hers. The tents, both an ugly, dark green, were pitched right beside each other. Harry smiles in relief at the sight of her.
"Good to know you're not dead."
Hermione smiles. "Yes, that's always a positive, isn't it?"
"What did he want to talk to you about?" Harry asks her.
"Visiting hours are over." One centaur says before Hermione can respond. "Get in your tents, or we start using Crucio."
Hermione scowls. "You don't even have a wand."
The centaur that had spoken pulls out Harry's wand, and Hermione nods her head, pushing out her bottom lip. "Look at that. You do have a wand." She glances around. "You know, it's pretty late, and I'm tired all of the sudden. Good night."
And then she disappears into the folds of her tent, and Harry into his.
Hermione had to appreciate the tent a little bit. It was most certainly better than the cave. A sleeping bag was rolled out on the ground, and a lantern was lit in the corner. On top of Hermione's sleeping bag was none other than the jacket that the centaurs had taken from her, along with a note.
She picks it up cautiously.
Miss Granger,
I would like to apologize for holding onto this jacket for so long, but there were many... unique trinkets inside that we were not sure were safe for you to have. We checked them over. Some were candy's that made our tongues swell up, and some were pasties that made us puke. Where did you get these items from?
Also, we will not be giving you your Time-Turner back. Yes, we did notice that it is indeed broken, but we still worry of what use you could put to it.
Stay warm.
Alexio.
A fierce anger wells up inside of Hermione's throat. They took her Time-Turner?
Little did Harry and Ron know, back in her third year, Hermione hadn't actually sent it back.
She had given it to Professor McGonagall, telling her that she wanted to keep it, not to use, but as a memory, or a precious item to hold dear- she had never really had anything special like this before.
McGonagall sent it to the Ministry, stating Hermione's wishes, and the Ministry broke the center of it, preventing it from ever working again. However, they had sent it back for Hermione to hold onto as a keepsake.
It was broken, and didn't work, but Hermione wanted nothing more than to have it back in her hands. She had kept it with her every day since she had received it.
She closes her eyes in frustration and crawls into the sleeping bag, and covers herself up with the jacket as well, for an extra layer.
She then lets herself fall into a fitful nightmare.