A Hold to Call Home
Last Chapter:
Harry quickly ripped the moss off the solar panel and the door screeched open. Blaise and the others rushed to where Harry was. Harry gathered Teddy back into his arms from the unresisting Blaise. The group could only stare out at the land and the slightly discolored sky. What shocked them the most was they could see more then one moon and sun in the sky.
"Dear lord." Draco whispered in awe. "We aren't on Earth anymore..."
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For a few minutes all they could do was stare out at the sky. The full weight of where they were and all they had lost finally came crashing down on them. George was the first to let the tears flow. Slowly everyone besides Harry was crying. Harry turned to look at his friends and down at the sobbing Teddy in his arms. He could understand their feelings of loss but to Harry everyone he cared about and loved was here with him. He smiled sadly at them and pulled them down one by one to sit with him on the grass. After the tears finally subsided they all just sat there taking comfort from each others' presence.
What do we do now? Viktor asked.
"What we do best." Harry responded aloud. "We make do. We survive."
The others all turned to Harry. They knew he would guide them, lead them, and always care for them first. With Harry they knew they would never want for anything. But it was time for someone to take care of Harry too. With a grim determination the others decided for Harry they would be strong. For Harry they would make a home on this new world. They would make new lives here.
"Come on." George said as he stood. "We need to find some shelter. Some where to use as a home base for now."
The others rose and looked out at the scenery. Though the meadow was beautiful it offered nothing in way of shelter. The forest that lined the meadow was far too thick to really trek through with no shoes and the thin scrubs the scientist had insisted they wore when they had been placed into the tubs. Blaise scanned across the meadow but his eyes were constantly drawn back to the mountains at the far side of the meadow. Blaise could see what appeared to be cave openings in the distant mountains. He nudged Draco and pointed out to the mountains. Draco squinted at the mountains. A grin spread like wildfire across his face.
Looks like our best bet is the mountain range. Blaise announced. I can see some cave openings and Draco confirmed them. We can check to make sure they aren't inhabited.
That might be a good start. Viktor responded. If it isn't a safe place to settle we can at least hunt some food and use the skins to make better clothing and some shoes.
George winced slightly at the thought of skinning some poor beast. As much as I hate to agree with Viktor, we will need the thicker clothes once winter hits. And fur is warm.
Draco laughed slightly. The others gave him a slight queer look. Sorry. Draco said. I just never imagined when I got my first fur coat it would be like this.
Draco's statement made the others chuckle then burst out laughing. Even Teddy couldn't hold in his childish giggles. Harry settled his laughter first and shook his head with a gentle smile spreading across his face. We'll be okay. Harry thought to himself. We'll survive this together. After everyone had controlled their laughter they began their trek to the mountains in high spirits with smiles abound.
It ended up taking them almost three hours to walk all the way to the mountain range, mostly due to the fact they all had to stop to relieve themselves and rest their feet. Being frozen for so long made for a rather full bladder, though Harry now knew why they all had been put on a liquid diet for the week up to their stasis. Also shortly before they arrived at the mountains they had found a river that was in a slight ravine, which had hidden it from view at the ship. Viktor was quick to point out what an advantage this was. The river was close enough to the mountains that if they ended up settling there a clean water source was close.
Blaise, George, and Viktor had to trek into the forest around the meadow to gather some large logs to build a bridge to cross the river. They were lucky enough to find some fallen logs to make a quick bridge. Harry was a little disconcerted to see the trees had literally been burned through at the base. Harry had a passing thought wondering if this planet had dragons too. He rather hoped they didn't run into any mother dragon guarding her eggs. Once was enough, thank you very much! After crossing their make-shift bridge it only took another ten minutes to reach the mountains.
"Dear Lord!" Draco exclaimed. "Is that a door?"
Sure enough, directly in front of them appeared to be a giant set of doors. Everyone rushed forward in excitement but it didn't last long. The minute Viktor and George pulled the large doors open they all knew no one had been there in a very long time. The door let our a loud creak from hinges not used in some time. Harry let out a sorrowful sigh but quickly smiled when Teddy turn in his arm to look at him.
Harry? Teddy asked.
Its okay Teddy. Harry responded. I was being overly hopeful we would find people but it might be better if we don't. After all, we don't know if the natives are friendly. Or even remotely like anything we have seen before.
Have faith, Harry. George said. We can only hope for the best. It's all we've got right now.
Harry smiled and nodded his head. He then straightened his back and marched first into the hall revealed just beyond the doors. The others cautiously followed Harry. Harry marveled at the tapestries that covered the walls. They depicted space flights. The landing on this world. They even depicted what appeared to be a volcano explosion. The last tapestry Harry came across showed the oddest dragons Harry had ever seen apparently burning something falling out of the sky. Harry stopped and just stared at the tapestry. He ran his fingers along the moth eaten edges and just stared.
Look, Harry someone is on the dragon! Teddy exclaimed in excitement.
Sure enough, there were people, very human looking people, riding on the back of the dragons. Harry stared a bit longer. He could see a small town depicted under the dragons. The town itself was unique in the fact it appeared to be carved into the base of a mountain. All the windows also appeared to have heavy metal shutters on them. Though there was an ocean in front of the town where the thing falling out of the sky seemed to be drowning. The sudden realization struck Harry.
"The dragons are protecting the people from whatever that thread looking thing falling from the sky is." Harry whispered in awe.
Viktor and Draco raced to the doors they had left open and shouted in tandem, "Harry!"
Harry and the others bolted to them. They all stared in horror as a gray cloud seem to be slowly moving towards them. Just in front of the cloud appeared to be a stampede of animals. They could see even from the distance as the thread looking things fell and devoured anything it landed on. Harry shuddered in disgust.
"Throw open the door!" Harry ordered.
"What?!" Draco shrieked.
"I want to save as many animals as I can." Harry said with determination.
The others met his eyes then nodded. They pushed open the doors as wide as they could then pressed themselves against the left hand wall as close to each other as possible. In a matter of seconds they were flooded by animals escaping the threat. As soon as the last animal cleared the door Harry handed Teddy off to Draco and began to try and close the door. Viktor and George rushed forward to help him. They closed the door just as the gray cloud reached them.
Unfortunately not before one of the odd threads fell on Harry's wrist. Harry let out a scream as his wrist was suddenly under the assault of unimaginable pain. The pain made the Cruciate Curse seem like a paper cut. He was immobilized by the pain unable to do anything as the thread thing seemed to be moving up his arm.
"Water!" Harry registered Draco screaming in the distance.
Someone cast an Aguamenti spell but Harry couldn't be sure who. All he knew was the thread thing dropped dead from his wrist. Harry was dragged away from it. It was then that Harry registered Victor holding a constant blast of water on IT. Slowly the pain faded as Blaise chanted healing spell after healing spell. Harry turn to look at his friend and saw the sweat dripping down his face. Harry looked at his wrist and saw all that was left from his encounter with IT was what appeared to be a nasty burn scar.
"Stop." Harry croaked. "The pain is gone. You'll kill yourself if you continue to try to heal my scar."
"But Harry..." Blaise started.
"No." Harry interrupted with more power in his voice. "It won't be my first scar and probably not my last. I won't lose a friend over it."
Blaise could only nod his head. Draco handed Harry a sobbing Teddy before he dragged Harry down with him to the floor. Everyone crowded around Harry hugging him tightly. Eventually sleep claimed them just like that. They would not forget that day any time soon. It would shape how they faced their new world and home.
TBC...