Anmarie Island

"Well obviously this end of the island has sandy beaches and a cove," Seedly told the group of students with a slight chuckle. "But in a few minutes we're going to give you a detailed tour of the entire island, pointing out dangerous areas and places that might capture your interest. I'll give you five minutes to change into sturdier shoes."

The students hurried to change, and Hermione grabbed a small notebook as an afterthought. Harry noticed it and snickered, thinking 'Hermione will never change.'

"All right! Follow me, and try to keep quiet if possible so we don't disturb anything," Seedly said, heading off into the trees behind the cabins. The trees were of all different heights and varieties, many strangely colored. A particular deep purple one caught Harry's eye.

"Whoa," he mumbled, staring wide-eyed at the plant. It was so beautiful. Its stalk was thick and lime green, speckled with red thorns. The purple petals resembled feathers and flapped hypnotically in the day's thin breeze. Harry could faintly hear people talking in the background and decided to catch up, only to realize that his whole body was frozen. He became conscious of only his heart beating and his slow, steady breathing as the mysterious plant continued to bob up and down, beckoning to him. He remained motionless as it slowly inched its way toward him.

As Seedly talked to the students about a rare and medically beneficial slug, Hermione realized that her companion was gone. She had been so busy taking notes that she hadn't noticed he had left her. As she looked around, almost frantically, others began to realize the boy who lived was missing in action. Draco even glanced around a few times, though not nearly as concerned as the others.

"Professor Seedly?" Hermione said, a quiver in her voice. "Have you seen where Harry's gone?"

Both Seedly and Snape painted quizzical expressions on their faces and then hurriedly began to retrace the group's steps. They rounded the corner the group had just passed to find Harry still in his trance. Seedly noticed immediately what had happened. "Damn throceans," he grumbled, approaching the gorgeous flower. He took a deep breath and then began spewing insults at the nearly 6 ft. tall plant.

The students stared in shock at their new instructor as he piled profanities upon the purple nightmare. It finally cowered, grew limp, and sulked away from its prey.

Harry finally blinked his dilated eyes and shook his head. He stumbled backward and was caught by a very ill tempered Snape, who shoved him upright violently.

"What was that thing?" Hannah asked.

Seedly turned to face his surprised students. "That," he began, "is one of the many crossbred plants on this island. It is only native here and can be very, very deadly. Stay away from them. They hypnotize their prey, approach them, and then shoot poisonous red thorns out of their stems. Harry here is quite lucky that the throcean didn't kill him. The only way to make them leave is to yell insults at them. Sorry you all had to hear that." He patted the unsteady Harry on the back, smiled faintly, and then said, "Let's move on."

Hermione walked over to her dizzy friend. "Are you all right?" she asked, steadying him some more.

Harry nodded reassuringly, unable to speak just yet.

Draco brushed past the two swiftly, mumbling, "Smart move Potter," as he went.

Hermione shook her head, watching the blonde boy go. "Just ignore him, Harry," she said with a sigh.

A heavy hand grabbed Harry's shoulder and spun him around. Hermione turned around too, but Snape motioned for her to leave. "Mr. Potter," he said in a raspy whisper, "your celebrity stature won't save you from nature. You are well-advised to stay with the group because if I catch you wandering off one more time you'll spend this summer doing double potions homework."

Harry nodded to the angry man, still dazed and confused, and then caught up with the rest of the students.

They walked for a while until they reached an even thicker section of forest. Seedly pointed out a bird with vivid pink plumage "You might want to watch out for this guy. He's called a Fwooper, native to Africa, and though his song is very pretty, it will eventually drive you to insanity. Mme. Bargs will be teaching you the silencing charm in case you run into anymore Fwoopers."

Some of the students looked suspiciously at the pretty bird before hurrying on, and Hermione frantically scribbled down everything that came out of her teacher's mouth.

They trudged on, gradually being suffocated by more and more wildlife. Seedly finally stopped the group in a small clearing surrounded by amazing plants and even some small creatures. Gnomes in particular were running rampant, playing some sort of game around a lone rock. This, by far, was the thickest and most diverse jungle on the island.

Seedly made note of some of the innocent creatures scampering around. He pointed out some blue sparkly vines used in making memory-inducing potions as well as some foul-smelling orange leaves that many found helpful in making quick stink bombs. Good thing Fred and George aren't here, Harry and Hermione both thought. "As you can tell, there aren't many dangerous things in this section of the island," Seedly admitted. "But there is one thing I want you to look out for." He drew back a large wall of palm fronds to reveal...a dirty marsh. Several of the students groaned, expecting some incredible sight.

Stewart sighed loudly. "There's nothing in their but filthy water and wood."

Seedly turned and smiled at Stewart. "You," he grinned wider, "are quite wrong."

Hermione suddenly realized what she was staring at. They weren't dead woodpiles. They were...

"Dugbogs," drawled an icy voice at the back of the pack of students.

Seedly put a hand to his ear. "Can whoever just said that please repeat it?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "They're dugbogs," he said a little louder.

Snape nodded proudly.

"Excellent!" Seedly commented. "Any idea what they do?"

Hermione perked up again. She was about to raise her hand when Draco began to speak once more.

"They look like pieces of dead wood, but really have paws and razor sharp teeth. They eat other small creatures, especially mandrakes, but also like to attack the ankles of humans," Draco finished monotonously.

At his conclusion, the rest of the students inched closer to the palm fronds and looked into the marsh, now chatting excitedly with their friends. Draco stood by himself, arms crossed, waiting for the tour to continue. Having seen enough of the ugly creatures, Hermione walked away from her classmates and back onto the trail they had been following. Seedly began to tell the class some personal experience he once had with a dugbog as Hermione neared Draco.

He eyed her steadily as she came toward him. She finally looked up and met his sight for a moment before he turned to look another way. Stupid mudblood, he thought half-heartedly.

Seedly continued his story amidst laughter as the deadlocked silence between Hermione and Draco continued. Hermione finally looked at the tall boy next to her and asked as politely as she could, "Where did you learn all that stuff about the dugbogs?"

Draco looked at her and responded, "Lucius. It seems all I ever do with him is train and learn invaluable information."

Hermione frowned. Lucius? Since when did Malfoy call his father by his first name?

"What?" Draco asked suspiciously. "Why are you frowning?"

Hermione thought again of the painful scars she had seen on Malfoy's chest. "Nothing," she lied. "I'm just anxious to get back to the cabins."

Draco's gaze grew slightly icier, but then softened as he looked away.

The group pressed on, and soon reached a change in terrain. The ground became hillier, and was covered in large boulders. The coastline was harsh and rocky, and the whole place looked foreboding. Here they stopped, and Seedly turned to the students and warned, "This area is pretty dangerous, and we're not positive exactly what's in it. For your own safety, I'm going to forbid any person to enter it except in extreme cases, and then in groups of at least two or three. Disobeying of this rule will result in you being sent home immediately."

"I would like to add that the offending student will also be spending a month in detention with me upon return to Hogwarts," Snape said with a nasty smile.

On their way back to their cabins Hermione touched her parched throat. "I am so thirsty," she whined to Harry, who could relate. "I'd love a butterbeer right about now."

"Hey, maybe there's a Three Broomsticks on the island," he suggested desperately.

Hermione cast him a stop-being-so-stupid look.

He smiled. "You never know. They're springing up all over the place. They even put one in Diagon Alley."

"I know," Hermione noted, "I went there after we were done shopping for the island." Her expression grew grave. "I ran into Malfoy while I was there. He called me the 'm' word."

Harry threw his left arm around his friend's shoulders. "Aw, don't sweat it," he comforted. "We've been through this. Malfoy's opinions mean nothing."

Hermione smiled at this comment as they finally reached their huts.

They were told that classes would begin the next day, but they could spend the rest of the day as they pleased. After gulping down a large amount of spiced pumpkin juice, Hermione wandered back into the forest behind her cabin, intrigued by a tree she had passed earlier. It was quite large, with smooth green bark, and surrounding area was clear of any plants. What had interested her, however, were the flashing red lights in the branches. She had been reminded of Muggle Christmas lights, but that seemed impossible here. She approached the tree, and circled it slowly, looking upwards. She sank down against the tree, resting for a few minutes.

She heard a small noise, and kept very still, straining to hear. Without warning, a strange creature dropped from the branches to the ground in front of her, and she stifled a scream. The animal seemed to be a cross between a monkey and a frog, with smooth and hairless skin the same mottled green as the tree it dwelled in. It had long, supple arms and legs ending in webbed hands and feet. She studied its particularly odd face, which had short horns, and a wide mouth that seemed to be grinning. A mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, she noted. Most interestingly was the large pustule on its head, which was flashing scarlet, though much slower than the lights in the tree.

She continued to sit still as the creature sniffed at her, then tentatively reached out and touched her leg. Its forehead stopped flashing, and it climbed into her lap. It peered up at her and began chittering wildly. She smiled, and carefully reached out to touch it, wary of the many teeth.

"You're a clabbert," she said softly. "I've read about you... You seem pretty friendly."

The clabbert looked at her intently while she spoke, and then chittered back excitedly for a while before suddenly jumping back onto the tree, blending in instantly. A moment later she heard a wild chittering above her, and guessed the clabbert was telling its friends about her. She smiled, then stood up and headed back to her cabin, where she lay down for a nap.

She spent the rest of the day mingling, going over her notes, and wandering around the safest parts of the island. She also couldn't help but tease Harry a little about his incident with the throcean.

Hermione was filled with anticipation that night. Unlike most of the other students, she was more excited about starting her classes than the social event they would be having. She closed her eyes and eventually fell asleep to the soothing sounds of the jungle outside.