Chapter 25
The seven met up with Rhia and Emrys inside Arbassa. Emrys cringed at the question about the dwarves. He'd recounted the story about when he himself first encountered the dwarves and their fearless leader, Urnalda. He told them that she was a skilled enchantress and a very tricky one at that. He told them how many times he was tied up and carried like the catch of the day ready to be roasted on a stick. Nevertheless, he agreed to take them near the dwarves' domain because he didn't know quite where the entrances were hidden.
They leapt to the River Unceasing and everyone spread out to look for the entrance by twos or threes in the case of Neville, Emrys and Rhia. Rhia still hadn't gotten over her fascination with Neville and neither did Neville. He was torn between Rhia and Tonks, all have equally great reasons to not get involved with. One, Rhia is too far away and will give a new meaning to long distance relationship. Two, Tonks is older and just doesn't see Neville in any other way than a student, hence, the dilemma with the two women haunting his dreams.
Everyone searched for the cave openings in different ways. Hermione was practicing with her new powers and spoke to the grass below her feet to guide her to the entrance. Harry smiled impressed that she'd thought about it. He was using his second sight to search for the openings himself.
As quick as a sneeze spears appeared before their eyes. Harry had sensed their presence and told Hermione to prepare herself, but didn't do anything since he decided what better way to find the dwarves' realm than by being taken there. He wasn't able to ward the others, but he'd activated their protective bubbles just in case.
Hermione looked at Harry with a smirk on her face. He only had to read her thoughts to know that Hermione was thinking they look exactly like the dwarves from the movie.
The nine teenagers were led inside the caves at spear point into a wide room with a throne carved out of stone. Seated on the throne was a little lady with a pointed hat and robe with geometric shapes. She had a little round nose and round face and underneath what looked like a wizard's hat was long red hair in a braid.
"Ah, Merlin. You visit the great Urnalda?" Merlin smiled knowing that somehow she could read minds.
"Of course. I wanted to introduce my friends to one of the greatest enchantress in Fincayra," Emrys answered with a straight face and a clear mind. He knew from previous encounters with Urnalda that she deemed herself a great enchantress and a wise one at that. She didn't like being bested unless the person truly showed amazing powers that she did not possess or could not learn to possess.
"You lie, but no matter. Your friends interest may, they do." She looked the seven up and down appraising each one of them and thinking to herself how she can best them. When she came to Harry, she paused. Looked into his eyes and tried to read his mind, but could not. The others were easy. They were uneasy and a little frightened, but she sensed great magic in all of them. It was unusual for her to be surrounded with so many magical people when she was only familiar with Merlin at that point.
She tried to desperately read Harry, but could not. He blocked her out and he could feel her uneasiness. He just smiled back as he saw her frown up at him. "You are different. You are not from here, are you? A great enchanter, you are. I can tell. You seek me?"
"Yes, we do? We're here to learn about protecting." She looked at Merlin and smiled remembering the task she'd given him to learn about protecting.
"I see. Merlin did not tell you himself?"
"He cannot. We are to learn it on our own or the lesson will not count. Will you help us?"
"Of course, only if you give Urnalda something in return, agreed?"
"Depends," Harry told her suspiciously. "First what is it you want?"
"Harry, don't," Emrys tried to stop him.
"It's all right, Emrys. I am sure that Urnalda here is a woman of her word and cannot ask for something that I cannot give." He looked at Urnalda and she smirked at him. "What do you want in return?"
"Those strange things that cover your eyes. They look fascinating, they do. I'll be wanting that."
"Harry, no. You can't see without them," Ginny protested.
"It's all right Ginny. All right. If all of us learns the lesson protecting, then you get my glasses, however, if only one of us goes away with the knowledge, then you cannot have my glasses."
Urnalda was ecstatic. She would be the great enchantress with the glasses. She was sure she could use it to see clearly and to somehow block mind readers like Harry had done with her. She was sure it was the glasses. Now she had to think of a way to teach them all protecting and get her glasses.
"All right. Bring me the light flyers!" she bellowed her orders. Emrys smirked at her for she used the same creature for his lesson in protecting. When the light flyers were brought in she gave each one of the teens except for Emrys and Rhia. "Now, then. These be light flyers. They be the most rare creatures in Fincayra, but I happen to have seven just enough for each one of you. Now, you be going through obstacles that are set up by my men. You be required to fight my men with spears, no magic. You need to finish the obstacles and protect the light flyer from harm."
"That's barbaric!" Lavender commented.
"We can do it, all of us. Just remember what you've learned during training," Harry encouraged them.
"But, Harry. If we all go through it and learn to protect the creatures, you'll lose you're spectacles." Hermione reminded him.
"I'll be all right, Hermione," Then it finally dawned on the others that Harry had the second sight and didn't need the glasses anyway. It also dawned on them that he could get replacements when they got back to Hogwarts. All their worries aside, they were ready to protect the creatures.
"Remember. You be not using magic," Urnalda reminded them. She was sure they did not know how to battle. They were merely children who probably relied on their magic. "Begin!" came her instructions. The cave suddenly became dark. Only the glow from the light flyers could be seen. Each one was placed in a tiny glass cage for their protection. When the torches were lit once more, the enchantress, Emrys and Rhia were gone.
There were three different entrances or in their case exits. The task was to protect the light flyer and find their way out of the cave that was full of booby traps and foot soldiers ready to attack them.
"Okay, whatever we do, we need to stick together," Ron suggested.
"Ron's right," Harry seconded. "We have a better chance if we all stick together. Urnalda said we couldn't use magic, but she never said we couldn't use our innate skills, did she. Hermione and I can try to sense where the exit is and that's the cave we'll go through." Everyone nodded their heads. Harry and Hermione tried one exit each on either side and left the middle for last.
Unsatisfied with what they felt on the outside path, they both tried the middle. That was definitely a dead end. Harry then went to what Hermione checked and Hermione went to where Harry checked. They both decided the tunnel on the right was the right path, so off they went.
With spears in their hand provided by the dwarves, they began their trek out of the cave. Harry brought the front and Draco the rear. They'd had more practice with the spear and know how to use it better.
The first obstacle they came across with was what seemed to be a plant whose flowers bite when disturbed. The flowers were pretty at first until one makes a mistake of getting too close and it would try to eat one's head off. Neville found that out the hard way.
"Look! Aren't they beautiful? I've never seen such beautiful flowers before." They almost looked like giant sunflowers with yellow petals. As soon as Neville put his hand close enough to touch the petals, the center of the flower bared jagged teeth and snapped at Neville's hand. Good thing he'd been practicing and his reflexes had been fast, otherwise he'd be missing his right hand.
Then all of the sudden the flowers began to move. Their leaves moved to form arms and the roots formed their feet. They became aggressive and kept snapping at the seven. They'd put their light flyers in their robe pockets and started to attack the plants with their spears.
Ron noticed that the plant actually bled, but it wasn't red blood. The plants bled clear, sticky liquid like the sap on trees. He warned the others not to get it on them because they seemed to be acidic as well. They burned through materials like molten lava.
"What do we do?" asked Ginny as she was backed into a corner by one of the plants. Harry seeing what was happening threw his spear straight into the middle of the flower. The plant withered and died and turned into ashes.
"Everyone, hit them straight in the center of the flower!" he yelled after witnessing what happened to the plant that had cornered Ginny. They did as he told them and all the plants died immediately.
"What is that dwarf thinking?" Ron asked exasperated. "Is she trying to kill us or what?"
"I think she might be," Hermione answered. "I don't think she ever intends for us to leave her caves. She just wants Harry's glasses and she will stop at nothing to get it. She just made the bet in front of Emrys and Rhia to look noble, but I don't think she means for us to leave alive."
"We'll show her a thing or two, wont' we?" Harry told them.
"Thanks, Harry." Ginny whispered a little more subdued knowing the odds against them had just multiplied.
"Harry, how come you couldn't sense her duplicity?" asked Lavender.
"I did, it's just that I thought I was getting her back at her own game by setting the standards. I know only one of us will be revealed the lesson of the song, so even if I had bargained with my glasses, she would have lost anyway."
"Well, nothing we can do but finish this task," Draco told them. "Besides, they didn't say anything about innate powers right?" He morphed into a dwarf before their eyes. "I'll go ahead about 10 paces this time and maybe I could see what our next task is before you all arrive."
"Hon, I don't think there are any dwarves with blonde hair. You may want to change that," Ginny suggested. Draco changed his hair color to red. "Much better. You look so cute, you know." She kissed him on the forehead.
"He does, doesn't he?" Lavender seconded.
"Girls!" Draco muttered as he took off.
"Ron, you go first and I'll take the rear," Harry commanded though in a gentle manner. They've always looked to him for direction, but he'd always welcomed their suggestions. He'd learned that he needed to listen to suggestions and other point of views in order to have good decisions.
After about 20 minutes of walking, they heard Draco's distinctive voice cry out for help. Ron immediately ran ahead of everyone just in time to grab Draco's spear and pull him out of the quicksand.
"Bloody Hell! That dwarf is going to get it when we get out of here!" Draco screamed as the others reached him sitting covered in quicksand to the neck.
"Wish you were taller now, don't you?" joked Ron.
"Sod off, Weasley." Ron smirked knowing that they were free to banter with each other and not worry about
bad repercussions. "By the way, thanks for getting here on time."
"What, couldn't morph in the quicksand?" Ron continued.
"Not when you're panicking and scared out of your mind. No, I couldn't concentrate."
"You'd better change back for now, Draco." Ginny suggested. "But keep the red hair, it looks good on you." Ron smirked at him. Draco changed back to his normal state including the hair. He knew how ridiculous he'd looked with red hair. He'd tried it in front of the mirror once.
"So, any ideas on how to get across without sinking in the quicksand?" Neville asked. "It looks like it's wall to wall quicksand."
"Any ideas, Harry?" Hermione asked. She knew she relied on him a lot, but she couldn't help it. He was her husband after all. It was still weird to think it, but the handfasting was the official way to marry in the wizarding world. The ceremony in the church is just a formal acknowledgement for her family in the muggle world.
"Not really," he answered looking around the cavernous space of wall-to-wall stone and floor-to-floor quicksand. He was trying to see if there were things in the ceiling that they could swing across on.
"Oh, go on you two!" Ron told them. "You can talk to nature can't you? Well, just tell this quicksand to turn solid for a few minutes until we can walk across it."
"That's brilliant!" Harry patted Ron on the back. "Thanks mate." He and Hermione put their hand out over the quicksand and started to talk to it to harden for a few minutes. The others looked on in awe as the surface of the quicksand started turning solid. Harry took the first step followed by Hermione. As they walked across the others followed close behind them. Once they were across the floor of quicksand it turned soft again and to Neville's amazement, a hand had formed to wave good-bye. Harry and Hermione smiled at the hand and waved back.
"Thank you," they told it.
They each checked their light flyer to make sure they were okay and when they were satisfied that they were still well as they watch them dance around in their little glass cage, they placed them back in their robe pockets.
"Okay, this time I'll be careful where I step. But I think it's still a good idea for me to go on ahead as a dwarf," Draco insisted. Harry nodded in agreement and he changed back into the redheaded dwarf. Ginny smiled at him with a little smirk as he huffed away.
Ron followed behind once more and Harry and Neville took the rear putting the girls in the middle. They didn't like the idea, but they soon gave in understanding the boys' need to be macho at times.
After about thirty minutes of trekking, they heard Draco's voice once again. That time however, they heard other voices with his. They gathered close, but not too close to be discovered by the other voices that Draco was talking with.
"Be ready, you!" A black bearded dwarf called out to Draco. "Urnalda said, we be the last challenge and we be making sure they don't go out at all." Draco nodded in acknowledgement and took his place among almost twenty dwarves.
He was giving out a signal for Harry to read his thoughts so that he could give him information and tried to hide the light flyer that was still resting snug inside his pockets. He kept repeating in his mind "There are over twenty dwarves waiting to ambush us. They have no intentions of letting us leave. Prepare for battle. I will change as soon as I see you all walk into view."
Harry related the situation to the others. Instead of using his mouth, he used his mind to relate the message. He saw the others nod in agreement. He told them he'd go first and they follow behind him. He was adamant in telling them to stay behind him at all times.
Hermione was shaking her head vehemently. He looked at her and he knew that if she spoke she would give him an earful. Instead she let him read her thoughts as her nose flared from her obvious anger. She put her hand on her hips and stared at Harry. "Stop trying to protect us! You can't face all twenty dwarves by yourself. We've been training for months on hand to hand combat and weaponry. It's time you let us put them to work!"
Harry answered back giving his thoughts into hers, "I'm your bloody husband and it's my duty to protect you, remember! I brought everyone over here, it's my responsibility to protect each and everyone of you!"
"NO! IT'S NOT YOUR DUTY OR RESPONSIBILITY. HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT EACH ONE OF US IS FOLLOWING YOU BY CHOICE? IT WAS OUR CHOICE TO RECEIVE OUR DESTINIES. WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. WE WORK TOGETHER AS A TEAM DAMN IT! NOT YOU AGAINST EVERYONE ELSE TO PROTECT US!"
Just then, Hermione's last words reverberated in Harry's mind and he realized just what the lesson in protecting was. He told them in their minds "In order to protect something or someone, you have to set them free to deal with their own problems and fight their own battles. In order to protect the light flyer, we should let them go."
Before their eyes Harry disappeared.
A/N: Well there you go. Hoped you liked it. If there are any confusions anywhere, let me know and I will try to clear it up. Thanks for the many reviews. What do you think Harry's power is? He already controls the elements, so think of something else.