Bear fighter

Rose was down in the machine room with her mother. They had got the engine working and were moving fast. She was amazed that this actually worked! It had only been a theory, a hope. Her mother had instinctively understood what she had tried to do and hadn't even questioned it, just silently came, and lent her strength to the task. Now they could only hope that the island was only Unplottable, not sealed off any other way and that this boat would actually lead them to it. 

Harry had tried to make the impostor tell them anything, but he seemed to think this was all a perfectly normal day and kept talking about regular things. Sometimes as if he really was Dawson, other times as if he was a family member. It was creepy how much he knew. But anytime Harry tried to bring up Scorpius, James, or Ginny, he stopped talking. Or talked about them as if they were still at home. If any of the others tried to ask a question, he said nothing. It was as if only Harry existed. Whoever this was, they were clearly either insane or bewitched. He would have to have the Healers assess this person, when they came back to shore. First, he needed to deal with whatever awaited them where this boat led them.

Albus was up on deck, scouting, straining his eyes to see if there was any hint of land ahead. They had been moving straight out to sea for almost three hours now. Finally, as if a fog had lifted, he saw a small island appear. It was like it had just risen out of the sea.

"Land!" he shouted. The others came up on deck and prepared themselves for a hostile welcome. But there was nothing. Harry jumped onto the dock first, mooring the boat. They had no idea where they were, or how many would be here to fight them. Harry, Ron, and Albus both spread out to search for any hostile inhabitants. 

Suddenly, a red spell came from behind the dock building. Harry quickly deflected it and Albus ran to assist. He barely recognised the dirty, haggard looking man that kept sending spell after spell towards them. How had he grown a beard? He had never had any facial hair before, but that certainly didn't look like the fake version he used when he was in disguise.

"Scorpius! Calm down, it's us!" he shouted. Scorpius didn't answer. Ron came running as well. Together the three of them should have been able to overpower Scorpius, but he didn't stop. He had chosen the perfect spot, where none of them could sneak around and get in a spell from the side.

"Scorpius! It's okay, we are here to save you!" Albus tried to explain desperately. 

"I won't let you catch me again!" Scorpius shouted. It was unclear whether he had even heard Albus' shout. 

 ***

Rose heard the commotion and spells being cast long before she saw the scene. Was that really Scorpius? Why was he fighting them?

"You don't fool me! I saw you arrive; you're trying to get me to go down there again! I won't do it!" It was amazing that Scorpius actually managed to defend himself against three Aurors like that. But Rose had felt first-hand what adrenaline and desperation could do to a person.

"I think Scorpius has also realised that it wasn't really Dawson that led him here," Hermione said. "And thus, he thinks we aren't who we look like either, since we used his boat. Do you have a way of telling him that we are who we appear to be?"

Rose thought for a moment. Then she moved a little closer, to make sure Scorpius would hear her. She might only get one shot at this. 

"Guovža dáistalit" she shouted. Scorpius hesitated for a moment, looking over at her. It was all Harry needed. He had Scorpius Disarmed in a flash. This seemed to make Scorpius tense up again. He turned towards Harry with a sneer.

"Guovža dáistalit, Mun ráhkistan du." Rose said. Then she kept talking, to let him hear her voice.

 ***

"What is she saying," Ron whispered as he watched Rose move carefully towards Scorpius, still talking in that foreign language. None of the others dared to move.

"It's Saami," Albus whispered back. "The first thing she said was bear-fighter. It was a nickname she gave him after he chased off that brown bear. Then she said, "I love you". I'm not going to translate it all, but it is generally more of the same."

Hermione smiled. She had learnt a few phrases of Saami as well. Draco came off the boat but seemed to understand the tension in the moment and stayed quiet. Rose was close to Scorpius now. She touched his face and Scorpius stretched out his arm and touched her, as if not daring to believe she was real. Then he broke down and started crying in her arms. They both went down on their knees, crying and talking in Saami to each other. The others finally lowered their wands, then decided to give the two of them a little privacy. 

"Where are the others?" Harry asked. He realised that he wouldn't be getting a coherent answer from Scorpius any time soon, but this island wasn't very big. They all split up and started searching. Harry rounded the corner of the largest house there and saw a very welcome sight. James and Ginny were both there, looking dirty and haggard, but alive. James raised a wand at the sight of him. Harry held his hands up to prevent him from feeling threatened. 

"It's okay James, it's me." 

James didn't seem convinced, though Ginny tried to reassure him. James put himself in front of his mother, still pointing his wand at Harry. He seemed to be shaking, either from exhaustion or fright. He seemed to be a bit more stable than Scorpius was. At least he hadn't attacked them right away.

"Prove it." he said. Harry could only think of one thing he could say that the three of them knew but few outsiders would remember.

"Ginny opened the Chamber of Secrets," he said. James lowered the wand. Ginny ran past him and embraced Harry. Harry held onto his wife in relief. He had found them at last.

"How did you find us?" Ginny asked as tears ran down her face. James joined their embrace, also tearing up. 

"It's a long story. The important thing is that we found you. I finally found you."

The three of them eventually made their way back up to the others near the dock. Albus came and embraced his mother as well. Then he looked at his brother.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"It's okay. You got here at last. Took you long enough." James said. Albus grinned and the brothers embraced.

"Who are all the people in the cells? And why is there a man tied up down that hole?" Draco asked.

"I have no idea who is in the cells. The man in the hole is the person in charge of keeping us down there. That hole is the open cell, there are two others that are technically still locked, where we were kept." James said.

James and Ginny managed to give a quick summary of what had happened to them. Harry clenched his fists. No wonder Scorpius had seemed so out of it. He had been down in a hole in the ground for nearly two weeks. That would be enough to drive anyone insane. Harry looked over at Rose and Scorpius. They were still busy with each other. Scorpius looked like he never wanted to let go of his wife ever again. Harry knew that feeling. He felt much the same. He had barely let go of Ginny's hand since he found her either.

Hermione had gone to talk to the people in the cells and was surprised at what she found. She knew many of these people. All of them were witches, about her age, she remembered some of them from Hogwarts. None of them seemed surprised to see her. In fact, they seemed to expect it! They all asked her to please hear them out, that they hadn't meant to do it. What had the impostor done to these people?

Then Ron found the second person Scorpius had Stunned. When he brought her over to the others, it was Ginny that recognised her first. 

"That's Marietta Edgecombe! What on earth is she doing here?"

"And why is she out here, when it seems the rest of her friends and a few more are in the cells over there?" Hermione said as she came back. "They are all convinced they have done something horrible and that I am here to sentence them for it. This is a mess."

"Sam might know who those people are," Ginny said. "We need to get him out of that hole anyway. Though we should probably also keep him away from Scorpius."

"We need to know who the impostor is. It's been over three hours, depending on how much Polyjuice Potion he had, he might be back to normal by now," Ron said. 

"Take the other guy out of the hole and bring him into the main house. Keep him restrained. I'll talk to him later," Harry said. "Let's see if our impostor has changed back yet."

"Don't put the impostor near Sam," Ginny said. "He seems to be terrified of him. So much so that he didn't even dare to defy him when he was not here." 

It seemed Ginny had some sympathy with the man they called Sam, though the other two didn't seem to share the sentiment.