The Phoenix Prophecy

Chapter Seventeen: The Return

Monday – Late Evening - July 21^st

Harry: 10:15 PM

I don’t think I took a single breath from the moment Lemke transported us high above Gawain’s island until we were standing on the ground at his mountain hideaway. I was petrified that our spirits were going to be painfully yanked out of our bodies and destroyed in the blast that annihilated the island. From the look of fear and anguish on Hermione’s face as we exchanged glances while looking down on the island, I was sure she felt exactly the same way I did.

Once we were standing on solid ground, I felt totally drained and numb from the sudden realization that we had indeed been freed from the hex, just as Professor Dumbledore had said we would be. I was too exhausted even to feel happy over our newfound freedom. Right now, all I wanted to do was lie down with Hermione by my side and close my eyes. Everything was happening just too fast. I knew that I could not cope with anything more this day. My mind and body had reached the limits of what any mortal person could endure.

After taking only a couple of steps, I heard the distinctive sound of someone or something disapparating a short distance behind me. When I turned around and saw Professor Dumbledore standing behind us with Fawkes and Iseult, I felt a jolt of energy shoot through me. Hermione and I both managed to feebly call out his name in surprise and thankfulness at the sight of his smiling face. In the pit of my gut, I had felt certain that the professor had died when the island was destroyed, but refused to admit it. Looking at him standing there as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, I didn’t know whether to weep for joy or scream out in frustration. The feeling that really scared me, and that I barely acknowledged even to myself, was that someday something would go dreadfully wrong and Professor Dumbledore would be taken from us. When Professor Dumbledore asked Lemke if he would be so kind as to provide us with some food, I suddenly realized that I was famished and pushed my unspoken fears aside. The mention of food quickly reminded me of Ron and Gretchen.

“Lemke, would you also inquire into Ron and Gretchen’s condition?” Madelyn asked as if she had just read my mind.

“I will be only too happy to do so,” Lemke replied and then lead us to a small doorway that was inset into the trunk of an enormous tree.

“The rest of your companions are inside and waiting for you,” Lemke said when we reached the doorway. “I will return shortly with news of Ron Weasley and Gretchen’s condition. I will also set some of my brothers and sisters to preparing an evening meal for all of you.”

“You are a most gracious host and we are deeply in your debt,” Professor Dumbledore replied and bowed respectfully in Lemke’s direction.

“It is my pleasure to serve you and your companions,” the elf replied solemnly, and after bowing his head in our direction, vanished with a snap of his fingers.

Sirius opened the door and motioned for the rest of us to enter the room. I heard Hermione gasp as she ducked through the low doorway and stepped into the room beyond. I quickly followed to see what had caused her to gasp out. We were definitely not inside of the tree in which the door was set.

From the outside, the tree was maybe fifteen feet in diameter, at the very most. The room that was laid out before my eyes had to be a good fifty feet in diameter. It was shaped like an enormous chocolate kiss, the walls curving gently upward to disappear in a point far above our heads. Equally spaced around the outside wall of the room were ten large logs that ran unbroken from the floor to the central point of the ceiling. The logs were easily two feet in diameter and highly polished. Perpendicular to the vertical logs, much smaller logs ran horizontally and formed the bulk of the wall for the room. I had been inside a couple of log homes before, but nothing to compare to the elegance, simplistic beauty or grand scale of this room.

In the center of the room, eight oversized benches large enough for two or even three people to sit on surrounded a circular fire pit. The entire center of the room was sunken below the outer edge of the room, with two wide stairs ringing its circumference. Above the fireplace, in which a cheery fire was burning, a funnel shaped chimney suspended from the center of the room collected the smoke from the fire.

At the far side of the room, I could see a door just like the one I was standing in. There were five large beds spaced along the outside wall on both sides of the room. Between each bed was a short wall that was obviously meant to provide a minimum of privacy. The beds were covered with intricately designed comforters and matching pillows. They looked so inviting that I would have crawled into the nearest one had I not been both worried about Ron and Gretchen, as well as starved.

My reverie over the beauty of the room was very short lived as the entire Blyth family, along with Nicole, leapt up from the benches surrounding the fire and descended on us in a babble of heartfelt greetings and endless questions. The girls were all in tears, even Alec and Walt seemed to be overtaken with genuine emotion as well. We spent the next several minutes hugging each other and exchanging kisses. At first, Nicole hung back, but after Hermione pulled her into a big hug, she overcame her shyness and started hugging and kissing just like everyone else. She even hugged Professor Dumbledore. I was a bit shocked, as I could not remember a single instance of anyone hugging the professor during the entire time I had known him. To my surprise, Professor Dumbledore took her hug in stride. I should not have been surprised. Nothing ever shook his aplomb. Once the greetings were finished, Dumbledore suggested loudly above our babble that we should all take a seat by the fire. I felt sure that the professor needed to sit down. I know I sure did.

No sooner had we all collapsed onto the wonderfully padded benches, than Lemke returned with Professor McGonagall, Ron and Gretchen. Instantly we were all on our feet again, fawning over them. Lemke kept the greetings to a minimum by announcing that supper would be served shortly. With a snap of his fingers, the fireplace and benches vanished to be replaced with a round table and fourteen high backed chairs. An instant later the table, whose center was slowly rotating, was laden with the most delicious looking food I had seen since we had entered the Realm. The aromatic smells alone were enough to bewitch anyone into partaking in the feast laid out before us.

As soon as Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore were seated, the rest of us quickly seated ourselves around the table. Gretchen was on Hermione’s right followed by Ron, Alec, Nicole, and the rest of the Blyths. Sirius and Madelyn sat on my left with Madelyn between Sirius and Professor Dumbledore. All eyes turned to the professor who merely smiled and said ‘let’s eat.’ Professor Dumbledore did not have to repeat himself as everyone immediately began filling their plates with the generous portions of food the elves had prepared.

While I was filling my plate with more food than I could possible eat, I glanced over at Ron and Gretchen. To look at them shoveling food onto their plates I would not have believed that less than an hour ago they had been whisked away from Gawain’s island, all but dead. They both looked exactly as they had the night before. Several times, they kissed each other as they continued filling their plates. When Ron glanced in my direction, he smiled at me with his usual lopsided grin as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. I knew that elf magic was powerful, but I was completely unprepared to find Ron and Gretchen looking perfectly normal this quickly. Thinking back to all the hours I had spent in Madam Pomfrey’s infirmary I felt a little annoyed that the two of them had recovered so quickly. My hunger quickly changed my focus back to the heaping plate of food in front of me and I put everything else out of my mind while I ate until I felt as if I would burst.

When at last I could not eat another single bite, I pushed my plate away and leaned back in my chair. Everyone had either already finished eating or did so in short order. There had been virtually no conversation while we were eating. An awkward silence fell upon us when everyone was finished. I don’t think anyone knew quite what to say. On the other hand, maybe we were just too tired to talk. Lemke stepped silently up beside Professor Dumbledore and asked if the meal was satisfactory. Everyone suddenly found their voices and we all replied in a chaotic chorus that the food was wonderful.

“If you would all be so kind as to stand, I will remove the table and chairs and replace them with the fire pit and benches,” Lemke said after everyone assured him that they did not want any more to eat.

“Getting up from the table took more effort than I expected. Suddenly I was completely exhausted. My legs felt like rubber. I helped Hermione to her feet; or rather, we helped each other. Once up, I pulled her to me and kissed her, after which she laid her head on my shoulder. I think she was using me to keep her from falling down. I didn’t really mind. Any reason that kept Hermione in my arms was a good reason as far as I was concerned.

“Lemke, I’m too tired to even sit. Would it be possible to join several of the beds into one large bed so that we could all lie down together?” I asked. I wanted to chat with Ron and Gretchen, but didn’t have the energy to do so sitting up. I had the distinct feeling that Alec and Nicole wanted to be in on the conversation. There were a great many details of the day’s events that I wanted to go over before a night’s sleep clouded my memory. If I didn’t get some answers, I just knew that I would have a fitful night’s sleep.

“Yes, of course,” Lemke replied. With a snap of his fingers, three of the beds were instantly replaced with one enormous bed big enough for half of Gryffindor house to sleep on at the same time. “I trust this will suit your needs?”

“Lemke that is just what I had in mind.”

“Last one in bed has to wash the dishes,” I added, looking at the others.

With more speed than I thought possible, we all made a dash for the huge bed, which was adorned with a several dozen, large, wonderfully soft pillows and comforters. We quickly arranged ourselves like spokes on a wheel with our heads at the hub so that we could talk amongst ourselves without having to shout. It felt good to snuggle next to Hermione as we shared the warmth of a comforter.

“Ron, I must say that I am in a state of shock seeing you and Gretchen looking completely normal again. Don’t get we wrong, I’m thrilled beyond belief that you two have fully recovered from you wounds and the aging curse. It’s just that I didn’t think you would recover this quickly. The elves certainly possess powerful healing abilities.”

“Yeah, it is kind of spooky, isn’t it?” Ron replied. “The last thing I remember clearly is watching Alec and Claude crash into a table in the Atrium. Then nothing except for recurring dreams that seemed to last forever. Then I awoke to see two elves staring at me as if I had just returned from the dead.”

“What happened to us?” Gretchen asked.

“Mortius rigged the aging spell so that everyone under its spell would be transported back to the circular meeting room where Cetus, Gemini and Virgo were imprisoned,” Alec replied before I had a chance to reply. “Also, once the regulator was destroyed, all those under its spell would instantly age to how old they would be today. Fortunately, for you that was only one day. Unfortunately for all the others they were nothing but bones that hid you both from sight.”

“So how did we end up back here?” Ron asked. “And just what wounds are you talking about, Harry? I don’t remember being wounded. Do you remember being wounded, Gretchen?”

“No, I don’t either,” Gretchen replied, looking just as bewildered as Ron was.

“When you two were transported back to the circular chamber, you must have materialized in mid air and fell to the stone floor,” Alec began. “The fall must have knocked you unconscious.”

“But a fall from that distance wouldn’t account for anything like what Harry was suggesting,” Ron interrupted, looking suddenly apprehensive.

“You’re right, Ron. Your wounds were caused by baby dracks,” Alec replied hesitantly.

“Oh my God, Ron. We were eaten by dracks,” Gretchen cried out in anguish, her face suddenly turning a pale shade of green.

“You were both badly chewed on, but dad and I managed to get to you before the dracks had a chance to do any real damage,” Alec quickly replied and cast me a sideways glance, shaking his head every so slightly. I knew that he was trying to minimize the extent of what had happened to them so that Gretchen would not freak out. His explanation was working. Gretchen and Ron both looked much relieved.

“Well at least the dreams I had while recuperating were pleasant,” Ron replied and suddenly looked embarrassed. His face was much brighter than normal and he had a guilty look on his face.

“Would you care to tell us about them?” Gretchen asked, snuggling playfully against him.

“Maybe later,” Ron answered softly.

I could tell from the look on Ron’s face that he wanted to change the subject, but before I could do just that Hermione chimed in.

“Come on Ron. We all want to hear about your dreams?”

With out thinking, I elbowed Hermione in the ribs under the comforter we were sharing. She instantly returned the gesture, but with considerable more force than I had used. Actually, I was tempted to look at my ribs for it felt as though she had stabbed me with a dagger.

“I dreamed that I was being nursed back to health by two nurses with flaming red hair,” Ron offered before I could think of another tactic to get him off the hook.

“Long lost relatives?” Gretchen asked inquisitively.

“Not that I know of,” Ron replied.

“Were they pretty?” Gretchen asked.

“Yes…but not as pretty as you,” Ron replied and smiled warmly at her.

“Ron, I thank you for your gallantry, but women in your dreams don’t fret me all that much. Especially, as we must have been very badly hurt and were obviously under some kind of spell while the elves restored us to good health. As long as I am the only woman in your arms, I will never be upset by any dreams that drift through you mind.” Gretchen quickly kissed Ron and snuggled closer to him.

“I’m sure you are right about the elves placing us under a spell while they healed us,” Ron began. “The odd thing is that I have this vague feeling that we were under the spell for an incredibly long time. If I didn’t know better I would have said that I had been dreaming for weeks.”

At this statement which I just attributed to Ron’s being badly injured and completely out of it, Gretchen became suddenly quiet, a thoughtful look flashed across her face and vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

“Time spent in a dream has little to do with reality. Ron, I wouldn’t fret over it,” Gretchen replied casually.

I glanced at Hermione to see that she was looking back at me. From the look on her face, I knew that she had noticed Gretchen’s sudden dismissal of Ron’s observation. From the tone in her voice, it was obvious that she wanted to drop the discussion. Everything else about her belayed the fact that she did not want to dig deeper into Ron’s dreams. I had the impression that she was frightened by something.