The Phoenix Prophecy

Chapter Seventeen: The Return

Monday – Early Evening - July 21^st

Hermione: 7:15 PM

The dragon that Luther had called ‘Lucifer’ was still blocking the entrance to the small cave outside the door. The instant Luther spoke to it, commanding it to retreat, the dragon quickly removed its head from the entrance and resumed its perch beside the other dragon on the far side of the pool. As soon as Nicole and I were clear of the door, it slammed shut, almost knocking us over. Whether the door shut of its own accord, or Luther and Eliza had somehow managed to shut the door, I wasn’t sure. I was just thankful that it was shut, and shut quickly. The baby Dracks had taken notice of us when I opened the door and were fighting and clawing over each other in an attempt to get at us.

Luther and Eliza floated towards the opening as soon as Lucifer pulled his head out of the entrance. Just looking at the two of them made my blood boil. I knew that if I was to have any chance of outwitting them—there wasn’t much else I could do, as they were already dead and therefore quite impervious to any spells that worked on the living—I was going to have to get my anger under control and start using my brain. Their supreme arrogance was infuriating to the point of distraction. Right now, that was about their only weakness that I might be able to use against them.

Nicole was standing very close to me and I could tell that she was somewhere between scared and angry, just as I was. It was apparent that Luther and Eliza had a purpose for forcing us back out into the open. Whatever it was, I was sure we were not going to like it. I was also quite sure that the baby Dracks were summoned to force us from the room, not to kill us. If the ghosts had wanted us dead, they could have tampered with the door so that we would have been trapped in the chamber with the Dracks. No, they definitely wanted us alive, but why? I figured we were not going to have wait very long to find out what they wanted from us.

“Outside! Now!” Luther commanded, glaring at us as if we were something that was clearly beneath his status.

Not having any other option, I smiled weakly at Nicole, nodded in the direction of the opening, and holding my shoulders back and my head up straight, I started for the opening.

As I had surmised, it was not long at all before Luther made his intentions known. When Nicole and I were standing next to the pool, he ordered me to put my hand out, palm up. I did so, staring at him defiantly.

“Now you are behaving like a good little girl,” he said, obviously mocking me for my defiance. At that moment, I could have choked him with his own tongue. It took every ounce of restraint that I possessed, but I did not respond to his deliberate attempt to make me loose my temper. In order to ignore his baiting, I concentrated on finding a weakness that I could exploit.

Standing there with my hand out, staring straight at Luther, I did not see the other dragon lean forward, stretch out its neck, and drop an object into my hand. I was so startled when I felt something land in my hand, and at the same instant realize that a dragon’s head was just a few inches from my face, that I instinctively dropped what had landed in my hand and yanked my out-stretched arm back.

“You stupid little fool,” Luther screamed as I heard the sound of what I had dropped hitting the water’s surface. Quickly looking down, I caught a glimpse of a flash of gold breaking the surface of the water.

“Get in there and retrieve that ring!” Luther bellowed, seething with rage.

I just stood my ground, not moving a muscle, and stared at him.

“Did you not hear what I commanded you to do?” Luther shouted, his eyes practically bulging out of his ghostly face. “What’s the matter with you? Are you deaf as well as stupid?” he added when I continued to just stare at him.

“You, little one. Get in the pool and retrieve me that ring this instant, or I will have Lucifer swallow your idiotic friend whole, bones and all,” Lucifer raged, pointing at Nicole menacingly.

“Don’t do it, Nicole,” I said sharply, my anger getting the better of me. I wasn’t about to do anything this creep said, no matter how much he threatened us.

“Shut up!” Luther snapped at me. “Do it, little one, unless you want to see your friend die right in front of you,” he added, returning is rage to Nicole.

“Nicole, just ignore him,” I said without taking my eyes off Luther. “He is just bluffing and he knows it.”

“Bluffing, am I? Lucifer!” Luther exploded, pointing his finger at me.

Before I had a chance to move, Lucifer’s tail caught me full in the stomach and sent me flying backwards to crash into a large boulder ten feet behind me. The intense pain would have taken my breath away, if it were not for the fact that the wind had already been knocked out of me. I vaguely realized that I was sliding down the rock and fell face down into the dirt. My ears were ringing and my vision was mostly patches of black with brilliant flashes of light that made my head throb.

I desperately tried to draw air into my lungs, which felt as if they were on fire. As the seconds past and I still could not breathe, panic started to fill me with terror. I was going to die from lack of oxygen. I could feel myself getting weaker by the second, everything was fading to black.

“Hermione! Wake up, wake up.” It was Nicole’s voice coming from somewhere off in the distance. As I listened, her voice became louder. Suddenly everything that had just happened came rushing back to me. I realized that I was lying on my back and the Nicole was hovering over me, pleading with me to wake up. I opened my eyes and immediately shut them again—the pain from the light was too intense to bear.

“Hermione, don’t move, you’re hurt,” I tracked clearly enough to hear Nicole say.

“She’s not hurt, at least not yet,” I heard Luther sneer from somewhere close by.

I opened my eyes just a crack so that some light could get through. Nicole was indeed hovering directly over me. She looked very frightened, and tears were streaming down her cheeks as she held one of my hands in hers.

“What…happened?” I managed to ask, pain shooting through my head with each word I spoke.

“After you slammed into the rock you collapsed to the ground and passed out,” Nicole replied, her voice indicating that she was on the brink of hysteria. “I rolled you over and applied some cool water to your face to revive you.”

I had to let what she had just said sink in for a few seconds. While I was thinking, my eyesight started coming back to me. I was able to open my eyes most of the way without sending stabbing pain shooting through my head. I was even able to manage a very weak smile for Nicole in an effort to reassure her that I was going to be okay.

“Are you going to get me that ring, or shall I have Lucifer and Brutus each grab one of Hermione’s legs and make a wish?” I heard Luther ask sarcastically from somewhere behind Nicole. “They will either rip her legs off, or split her in two. Either way, your friend will die a very painful death,” Eliza added gleefully.

“I’ll do it,” Nicole replied meekly. “Just don’t hurt her any more.”

I was too weak to argue with Nicole, or the ghosts for that matter. Before Nicole stood up, I had her help me up into a sitting position. As soon as my head moved I though I was going to be sick. I wanted desperately to just lay there and not move, but I was damned if I was going to give either of the ghosts the satisfaction of knowing just how much I was hurting.

By the time Nicole reached the edge of the pool, my feeling of nausea had passed and as long as I didn’t make any sudden movements, my head didn’t feel as if it were going to explode. Nicole looked back at me, apparently to see how I was feeling, and jumped into the pool, completely submerging herself under the water.

For what seemed like forever, Nicole remained under water. When she finally surfaced, I started breathing again. After she climbed out of the pool, she showed the ghosts that she had indeed retrieved the gold ring I had dropped. Nicole was soaked to the bone, from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. Her clothes, which had been baggy and loose fitting to begin with, now clung to her body. Even though she looked pathetic, I could tell by looking at her face that she was angry and determined—a look that seemed to escape Luther and Eliza’s notice.

“Give the ring to your friend,” Luther commanded harshly.

Nicole did as she was told and walked over and handed me the ring. When Nicole held out the ring, she raised one eyebrow so that only I would see. Without moving my head I noticed that her other hand, which the ghosts could not see, was pointing to a bulge in one of her pockets. At first, I wasn’t sure what she was trying to tell me. Then it dawned on me, she had collected some more of the Vitriol spheres and was hiding them in one of her soaking wet pockets.

Before I accepted the ring from her, I had Nicole help me to my feet. The longer I sat on the ground, the angrier I became. I was not going to cower in front of Luther and Eliza, even if it killed me.

“Put the ring on,” Luther instructed as soon as the ring was in my hand.

I looked at the gold ring in the palm of my hand and felt a cold shiver shoot up my spine. I knew exactly what it was even without having to check the inscriptions on the inside of the band. If I did as Luther commanded and placed this ring on my finger, then I too would fall under the aging curse and be confined to this island for the rest of eternity.

“Luther, if you think I am going to put on this ring, you can just think again,” I said defiantly, glaring at him. “I would rather be dead than confined to this island with you two for the rest of eternity.”

“We will soon see about that,” Luther laughed menacingly. “Brutus, take the little one for a swim in the lake.”

Before Nicole could react, Brutus snatched her up in his talons and took to the air. The blast of air from the force of his wings nearly knocked me off my feet. By the time I had recovered my balance, Brutus was gliding down towards the surface of the lake, dangling Nicole beneath him.

“Lucifer, go fetch something and dip it in the lake so that Hermione will see what is about to happen to her young friend if she does not put the ring on her finger,” Luther said to dragon, sneering at me as he did so.

Lucifer took off and quickly disappeared from site around the side of the island. A minute later, he reappeared with something about the size of a goat clutched in his talons. As I watched Lucifer glide lower so that he could dip the animal into the lake I felt a growing sense of terror taking hold of me. From the smug look on Luther’s face I knew that what was about to happen was going to more than I could stomach.

Lucifer dipped the head and shoulders of the animal he was carrying into the water. The water immediately began to churn and within seconds was a mass of blood red bubbles. When the dragon rose up a few seconds later and lifted the animal from the water all that was left of its front half was the bones.

At that moment, I knew I was beaten and it was going to be impossible to resist. If I let them kill Nicole for something I refused to do, I would be haunted by her memory for the rest of my life, and that was just something I could not bring myself to do. I looked at the ring I was holding in my hand and felt my throat begin to constrict. As soon as I slipped this ring over my finger, I was never going to be able leave this island again. All my hopes and dreams seemed to suddenly vanish and I felt totally drained.

“Put the ring on now. This is your last chance to save your friend,” Luther said as he hovered over me.

My hand was trembling as I picked up the ring with my right hand and prepared to slip it on the ring finger of my left hand. When the ring touched the tip of my finger, I hesitated, unable to push the ring all the way onto my finger.

“Eliza, tell Brutus to drop the girl,” Luther said without the slightest trace of emotion in his voice.

The image of the animal stripped to the bone came rushing back at me. With all the courage and resolve I could muster, I shoved the ring all the way down my finger until it was properly seated. As the ring slid down the length of my finger, I felt as if I was being sealed inside a crypt, there to remain for all eternity.

“See, that wasn’t so difficult, was it,” Luther crowed. “Don’t look so dejected, you will have the company of you precious boyfriend to keep you company until the end of time.”

“What?” I gasped, unable to believe what he had just said.

“You heard me. Soon your boyfriend will be wearing the mate to your ring and then the two of you, correction, the four of you can spend the endless centuries enjoying all the pleasures this island has to offer,” Luther answered, gloating over his victory.

“Luther, what do you want from us?” I asked as Brutus returned Nicole to the edge of the pool and set her free.

“We need you and Harry to perform a little spell for us.”

“What kind of a spell?” I asked suddenly suspicious that the worst was yet to come, and hugging Nicole when she reached my side.

“You are going to exchange Nicole and Eliza’s spirits so that Eliza can inhabit Nicole’s body. Harry is going to do the same to Alec and me,” Luther replied easily.

I felt Nicole stiffen, as she comprehended the meaning of what Luther had just said. Luther and Eliza were not just crazy…they were completely insane. Neither Harry nor I possessed the ability to perform such a spell. Nicole and Alec would be reduced to mindless vegetables if we attempted such a feat, that I knew for certain.

“Luther, I don’t have the knowledge or power to perform that kind of magic, and neither does Harry,” I replied, trying to keep my voice normal so that I would not appear to be defying him again.

“Of course you don’t. I’m surprised that you can use a wand with out hurting yourself,” he replied, gazing at me with a mixture of arrogance and distaste. “Eliza and I will be controlling your every move as the transfer takes place. The only thing required of you is to breathe.”

“You might as well kill me now,” Nicole shouted, pushing away from me and shouting directly at Luther. “No one, least of all you two, is going to take over my body. I won’t allow it.”

“You don’t have the slightest say in the matter, so sit down and do not bother me with your childish statements,” Luther commanded, contemptuous of Nicole’s sudden intervention.

“Luther, you can’t possible expect to get away with this,” I said angrily. “Just because you were able to force us to do as you wanted, doesn’t mean that you will have the same success with the others.”

“If you are referring to the older wizards and witches that accompanied you to the island, they will fare no better than you two did,” Luther replied conceitedly. “The only true wizards and witches are those born in the Realm. The magical power that you people from Earth possess is pathetic at best. Your best could not even begin to hold their own against the weakest wizard that the Realm has to offer. Now sit down, shut up and don’t talk unless I tell you to.”

Reluctantly, Nicole and I sat down. I was glad to sit for a moment because my head was still throbbing, also it would give me some time to think. Somewhere in Luther and Eliza’s supreme arrogance, there must a weakness we could exploit to our advantage. Exactly what that was, I had no idea at the moment.

Absentmindedly, I began twisting the ring that now encircled my finger. Even though I was now a prisoner on this island, I had to figure out a way to warn Harry so that the same fate would not befall him as well. The thought of having to live without Harry was more than I could bear to think about. I had to focus on doing everything in my power to make sure that Harry remained free. As much as I wanted him with me, I would rather see him free than confined to the same fate I was now facing.

The optimism I had felt earlier for breaking the aging spell was now gone. In its place was an ache that filled me with depression and despair. I felt that I now understood what Ron and Gretchen had been going through since they learned what was in store for them because of the spell. Right about now, I wished that I was oblivious to what was going to happen to me. At least then, my heart would not be so heavy from the knowledge that I was going to lose the man that I loved.

When Nicole stirred beside me, it snapped me out my preoccupation with losing Harry. “Are you okay,” I asked her quietly. Luther turned and glared at us, but didn’t say anything.

“Not really…Hermione, is it going to hurt when…will I know what’s happening?” Nicole asked weakly, obviously terrified about what was going to happen to her. “Will I become a ghost after Eliza has taken over my body?”

“I don’t know, Nicole. Try not to think about it.” I replied quietly.

“I thought I told you two not to talk unless I told you to,” Luther snapped crossly.

“We will talk if we damn well feel like it,” I snapped back. “If you don’t like it then you can go to bloody Hell,” I added, suddenly realizing that all he could do was threaten us. If Luther and Eliza were truly planning to take Alec and Nicole’s bodies, with Harry’s and my help, then they needed us alive or else all their plans would have been for naught. In a flash of understanding, I abruptly realized that we still had a chance of denying them what they wanted and saving ourselves to boot.

Harry: 7:20 PM

It only took a minute to reach the connecting tunnel, open it, and slide through to the outer passageway. Glancing down to the far end of the passageway, I noticed that the entrance to this passageway was not hidden behind a waterfall, as was the case with the previous one. With Alec close on my heels, I started for the entrance, but stopped abruptly when I noticed a faint pungent odor in the air that seemed vaguely familiar. I slowly drew air in through my nose trying to identify the smell, but could not quite identify it.

“Alec, do you smell anything out of the ordinary?” I asked quietly, as I was suddenly alert for some reason that I could not explain. Even though I couldn’t see or hear anything that spelled danger, my sixth sense had kicked in and was whispering in my ear. Over the years, I had learned that ignoring these warnings was a very dangerous thing to do.

“Yes I do, Harry, now that you mention it. It smells like burnt hair to me.”

“I think you are right,” I replied softly.

I placed my finger to my lips, as a sign for Alec not to talk. He nodded his head in acknowledgement and we continued down the passageway towards the entrance very cautiously, hugging the smooth and cold stone wall on our left as went.

When I reached the entrance, I paused to listen for any sounds that might indicate that the girls were nearby or anything that might spell trouble for us. I was feeling very apprehensive. Every one of my senses was tingling with anticipation, ready to notice anything out of the ordinary.

After listening for a couple of minutes and not hearing anything other than muted animal sounds coming from far away across the cavern, I motioned for Alec to wait while I looked around the edge of the entrance to see what lay in either direction. At the same instant that I guardedly eased my head out to see what was off to our right, I heard the sound of a large splash. The sound drew my attention to the base of a small waterfall about twenty-five feet to the right of the tunnel’s entrance. The splashing sound turned out to be of little consequence compared to what I saw, but could scarcely believe.

Perched on a large light-gray boulder, at the edge of a cliff wall that dropped fifty feet straight down, were two dragons. My heart skipped a couple of beats before I fully realized what I was looking at.

Each of the dragons was larger than a draft horse, but nowhere near as large as Cetus or his brother or sister. Even though these dragons were not particularly large, there was no doubt that they could easily hurt or kill a human being. Gauging from the size of the dragon’s wings I was quite sure that they would not have any difficulty carrying off a full-grown man. Thankfully, the dragons’ attention was occupied with the small pool of water directly in front of them and they didn’t see me looking at them.

I very carefully pulled my head back inside the passageway and motioned for Alec to move farther back inside and to the opposite wall of the passageway. Once we were far enough back from the entrance so that there was not any chance of our whispers being overheard outside the passageway, I filled Alec in on what I had seen.

“Harry, you can’t be serious.” Alec gasped, his mouth hanging open in total shock. “I thought Cetus, Gemini and Virgo were the only real dragons on this rock, not counting the Dracks, of course.”

“Yes, Alec. I am completely serious. I would tell you to go and see for yourself, except that I don’t want to risk the dragons catching sight of us. I have a bad feeling that the girls are somewhere close by. The dragons may even have them trapped, for all we know.”

“You didn’t see what caused the splash, is that right?” Alec asked.

“No, I didn’t, I just heard it. And that’s when I noticed the two dragons.

Alec, we need to get closer to the dragons so we can see if they have the girls trapped,” I suggested. Getting closer to the dragons was about the last thing I wanted to do right now. Their appearance had caught me completely by surprise. Unlike Hagrid, dragons were not my favorite creature.

“Yes, I agree, but we need to decide on what we are going to do if the girls are indeed trapped before we go sneaking up on the dragons. If there is no sign of the girls, we can just retreat back here to the passageway. Although, we should have some idea of what we are going to do if the dragons spot us, coming or going.”

“Good point, Alec. I was thinking of all the spells that I know that might have some effect on a dragon. Their magic is so strong that virtually nothing can penetrate their skin. The only three spells that might have some effect would be, the ‘Confundus’ spell, which just might confuse them for a few seconds. The ‘Conjunctivitis’ spell, which could blind them momentarily, or the ‘Lumos Solarum’ spell that creates a brilliant flash of light. The last one could also blind them for a few seconds, giving us just enough time to get away. I could teach you each of these spells very quickly.”

“They sound like they might create just enough confusion to give us a chance to beat it back here and escape through the connecting tunnel,” Alec replied, a thoughtful look on his face. “Harry, when you first touched the ancient wand, did it pass any images on to you?”

“Now that you mention it, I do remember several images flashing through my mind. Why do you ask?”

“I’m sure by now, you must think I’m really weird because of my total recall, but I can visualize two spells being cast against the Dracks by the wand holder. One was used to prevent the dragon from breathing fire, the other kept the dragon from flying. Just how long these spells would last…well your guess is as good as mine.”

“I remember…the spell to prevent fireballs was cast by saying ‘Flamacus Anoxia’ and the spell to prevent flight was ‘Vacuus.’”

“That’s what I remember too,” Alec replied. “Like I said before, I don’t know how well they will work or how long the spells will last, but it’s all we have unless you know how to make us invisible.”

“Alec, funny you should mention that. In my backpack, which is back in the tent, I have an invisibility cloak that my father left to me.”

“A lot of good it is doing us there,” Alec replied sarcastically. “Sorry, Harry. I didn’t mean to…well you know what I mean.”

“Don’t worry about it, Alec. I could kick myself for not bringing my backpack with me.”

“When we get back, will you show it to me? This is something that I have just got to see.”

“Sure, Alec. However, our immediate problem is to figure out how to cross twenty-five feet of open ledge without the dragons seeing us and decide what to do if the girls are being held captive.”

“Well, the first part is impossible. The dragons will spot us the instant we step out into the open.”

“Our only other choice is to wait for them to leave and then quickly sneak over to the pool and see if we can spot any sign of the girls,” I offered as an alternative.

“That sounds like our only real choice,” Alex replied, letting out a sigh of resignation.

“Okay, we are agreed on how to get to the pool. Now we need to decide what we are going to do once we get there.”

“Assuming the girls are either trapped or being held captive, we will have to see if we can possibly free them before the dragons return. Harry, it’s almost impossible to plan anything until we know more about what we are up against. If the girls are not under a spell and free to move, I would expect them to make a break for it as soon as the dragons turn their backs.”

“You’re right, Alec. It would be foolish to come up with any plans until we can determine what the situation is first hand. We will just have to play it by ear as the situation develops.”

We inched our way back to the entrance of the passageway and I cautiously poked my head around the corner. One of the dragons was gone and the other was just taking to the air, headed in our direction. I instantly pulled my head back, flattened Alec and myself against the wall, and prayed that the dragon would not look into the passageway. If it did, there was no way the dragon could miss us.

Thankfully, the dragon was lower than the entrance to the passageway when it flew by. I started breathing again and motioned for Alec to follow me out onto the ledge. Glancing in all directions at once and not spotting any signs of the two dragons, I headed for the pool in a low, crouched run.

Ringing the backside of the pool were half a dozen boulders large enough to easily hide behind. I slipped in behind the first one I came to and Alec wedged in beside me. Apparently, our arrival had gone unnoticed as nothing happened after we hid behind the boulders. With my heart pounding in my ears, I cautiously peered around the edge of the boulder in the direction of the pool. The space between the boulder we were crouched behind and the one adjacent to it was only a foot wide. Through the narrow opening between the boulders I could see most of the pool, but very little else.

Just as I was debating with myself as to what to do next, I heard Luther say ‘Put the ring on now. This is your last chance to save your friend.’ It was obvious from his tone of voice that Luther was very angry with someone. What was equally obvious was that Luther was not the good-natured soul he had portrayed himself to be. His arrogance was unmistakable. In addition, from the way he said the words, it was reminiscent of the way Lord Voldemort had spoken to me the last time we met. He had addressed me as if I was some detestable object. Speaking to me seemed to cause him great pain.

I knew in my heart that Luther was either addressing Hermione or Nicole. My stomach began to twist itself into knots as the realization of what ‘ring’ he was referring to penetrated my brain. When I heard Luther say, ‘last chance to save your friend’, an icy chill shot up my spine, making me forget all about the ring’s impact on Hermione or Nicole. For a brief instant, I was horrified by the thought that we might be too late to rescue both of the girls.

Alec interrupted my thoughts when he tapped me on the shoulder. I was sure he had heard Luther’s voice as well as I did and wanted to make some comment. Not wanting to miss anything that might be said, I put him off with a wave of my hand and continued to listen intently.

When I heard Luther say, ‘Eliza, tell Brutus to drop the girl’ I almost cried out, and would have if I hadn’t shoved my knuckles into my mouth. I was positive Alec heard him as he started tapping my shoulder incessantly. I turned to Alec, mouthed a silent ‘wait’, and then returned my attention to Luther’s ranting and raving. After a short pause, Luther said, ‘See, that wasn’t so difficult, was it’ followed almost immediately with, ‘Don’t look so dejected, you will have the company of you precious boyfriend to keep you company until the end of time.’

Since Alec and Nicole were too young to be considered boyfriend and girlfriend, I was almost certain that the person Luther was speaking to was Hermione. Luther’s last statement confirmed that he was planning to have Hermione and I keep Eliza and him company for the rest of eternity. It was now clear that he must have forced Hermione to put on the ring by threatening to harm Nicole. Hermione was as stubborn as a mule when she wanted to be. However, she could never stand by and see someone else get hurt—not that I could do any different myself. Oh how I love that girl.

Alec was no longer tapping my shoulder. I was sure that he had come to the same conclusion that I had. Next to Hermione, he had the sharpest brain of anyone I had ever known, for a teenager that is. Once he outgrew his childish ways, he was going to be every bit as great a wizard as his dad is.

Before I could turn around and say anything to him, I heard Hermione exclaim loudly, ‘What!’ She was obviously shocked by what Luther had just told her. From that point on, Alec and I just listened to the conversation between Hermione and Luther. I was astounded when Luther revealed that he and Eliza planned to steal Alec and Nicole’s bodies. I turned to look back at Alec to see how he was reacting to this revelation. I was not the least bit surprised to see that Alec was angry. Many people would have been devastated to know that someone was planning to steal their body, but not Alec, or me either for that matter. No one, especially some pompous, self-inflated ghost, was going to take over my body if I had anything to say about it.