Update December 5, 2004: I'm asking for a little more time to finish the 19th chapter. As of the moment I'm not quite happy how it's turning out (aside from juggling time with work) - it's proving to be a little more difficult to write than I've imagined since it will most likely contain the climax of the story (I'm working hard not to disappoint). I'll be redoing some entries before moving on further as I explore for some better ideas while sticking closely to the general outline. The next chapter may be significantly longer than average and I might choose to go beyond the 9000-10,000 word cap if circumstances warrant. I'll make my best effort to finish #19 asap! As always, I thank you for your continued interest with this story!
Announcement: due to some serious problems with Fanfiction.net (what else is new?) and some requests from readers, the prequel of Shadow of the Dark Fortress Part 1 and 2 titled "The Auror and the Oarling" will be posted in Portkey in its entirety. You might want to check it out while waiting for Chapter 19. Thanks!
Author's note: Sorry about the delay, folks! Been very busy with work, and the only time I found to do this chapter was late at night even when my brain was buzzing. But I didn't want to keep you waiting. I hope that it didn't affect the composition of this chapter negatively. Please let me know what you think.
Of course, thanks very much to SEK19005, PottersPrincess, and LadyBlazey for their morale boosting comments! I'm glad you find the story interesting!
Okay, now, let's roll the film! Lights off please…
Chapter 18
The Underground
Harry watched Nagini slither threateningly closer to him at the pit, its eyes brightened by the sight of his new prey. The Death Eaters on the upper floor above him were extremely amused at the show. Harry didn't know if he was fast enough to evade the snake's deadly strike - he didn't even know how he could survive this encounter at all. The only thing he hoped for was to find a way to get out of this pit and to tire Nagini into frustration that it would just leave him alone, but Harry knew that was wishful thinking to the max. Unless help arrived soon, he was a goner.
Harry had backed himself up on the wall behind him and Nagini struck instantly! Harry had fast reflexes - he made himself fall down sideward to the floor to dodge Nagini just in time his fangs had come within mere inches on him. The snake hissed in pain as its nose smacked the dirt wall forcefully on top of Harry - it backed up and straightened itself high to prepare for another strike.
Harry had crawled away from Nagini and he ran behind his back as far away as he can towards the opposite wall where the snake's hole was. Looking back at it for a second, Harry considered getting in but quickly decided against because he'd be definitely fenced in. He knew the pit was the best place to dodge the snake because it was a significantly larger area with more room to maneuver.
He was only a couple of minutes into the encounter and Harry had started to pant - he determinedly looked on at the snake to predict when he'd strike next, not daring to allow himself get off guard. The Death Eaters above laughed with extreme enjoyment.
"This has got to be a new record, my Lord," Lucius guffawed. "Potter had outlived every known dinner of Nagini for more than twenty seconds!"
"We'll see if he'll live another twenty, Lucius," Voldemort sneered. "Whatever he does, he's doomed."
Harry didn't care to listen in on their conversation - he was too busy anticipating Nagini's next move. His life depended on this. He had backed himself another time at a wall and he prepared himself for another strike from the snake, but it didn't come as fast as he expected.
Knowing that striking Harry while he was backed against the wall would hurt again, Nigini feinted and Harry fell for it. Harry had fallen on the ground in purpose to dodge another blow, but as he was falling the snake stopped halfway and waited for Harry to get into his most vulnerable before hitting him. When Harry landed on the ground Nagini positioned for another strike! Fortunately Harry saw his mistake immediately that he used his remaining momentum to do a forward roll to move further away. Nagini pounded the floor where Harry's foot was a split second earlier, sending dirt flying around. Harry's hair literally stood on end when he felt how close Nagini had caught him.
"Whoa!" laughed some of the Death Eaters and they clapped their hands with the spectacle.
"Impressive," Voldemort muttered. "But he won't last long…"
Harry had narrowly escaped again, running behind the snake to prepare himself for another blow. His breath was getting heavier, now gradually affecting his concentration in a negative way. Nagini hissed with growing frustration - he slithered slowly to advance again with his eyes locked on his prey below. Harry knew he was running out of moves - his legs were getting tired, a stitch was growing at his side, his vision getting more blurry, and his endurance fading. One wrong move in his part and it will be over for him.
Nagini didn't wait for Harry to back up to the wall again and swooped down on him. Harry was startled that he fell to the ground on his back involuntarily and this time one of Nagini's fangs had ripped a hole on his robe! As Nagini pulled back, Harry was pulled with him. Fighting to free himself from being bitten further, Harry smacked Nagini with his fists, kicking as much as he could. First Nagini didn't feel any pain, but when Harry's foot had hit one of his eyes he flailed back in pain, throwing Harry to the air and towards the center of the pit solidly, ripping a long segment of his robes. Harry landed on the ground in pain and he felt as if he had broken all the bones in his body. He tried to stand up, but the initial pain of being slammed on the floor was too much for him to ignore. At the same time, Nagini was preoccupied with his own painful eyes at the other end of the pit - he slithered violently around to try to shake off the agony.
Harry thought that was his last hurrah and Nagini wouldn't be as forgiving the next time. Too hurt to move, but determined to live on longer even for just for a few more seconds and not giving up a courageous fight, he crawled slowly towards the snake's hole. If he died today right now, he didn't want to give the Death Eaters and Voldemort the pleasure to see how Nagini consumed him.
Nagini, who had gone through his misery already, probably preferred not to give Harry what he wanted. He rounded on Harry, blocking the path to the hole. Harry looked up towards the towering Nagini in front of him, his teeth gritted. This was the end of it, Harry thought while he stared at the snake's monstrous eyes. One of Nagini's eyes was bleeding, probably even blinded by the injury, and it satisfied Harry immensely - before he'd die, he was sure he had given a good flight. He further made sure he won't die wearing a frightened face.
"Now, you've reached your last, Harry Potter!" Voldemort laughed and screamed. "Kill him now, Nagini…wha???"
Harry heard a heavy thump somewhere. He didn't know what made it. Nagini looked around, and he hissed loudly when he looked at his side opposite Harry.
"It's the Mudblood!" shouted Lucius, pointing to the pit. "She fell down!"
Harry heart skipped a beat. Hermione had thrown herself down to the pit apparently help him! He didn't know what good it would do for Hermione to join in the scuffle, however.
"H-Hermione! What're you doing?" Harry shouted.
"I-I want to die with you," she replied from the other side of Nagini.
"What?"
Hermione grunted in pain when she stood up slowly from the ground to face the snake. Her sudden appearance did something good at the outset: Nagini didn't know who to eat first, Harry or Hermione. It made the snake initially confused, and maybe together they had a chance to escape from the snake - if they had enough time to think of something.
"Take Potter, you imbecile!" Voldemort barked at Nagini, but the snake decided Hermione posed more of a threat to him than the beat-up Harry so he concentrated on her this time. He'd take care of her first before he'd start munching on his prey.
Harry knew this was not turning out good already because Hermione was now in mortal danger. Though he was grateful with Hermione's show of sacrifice and solidarity for him, he initially wished Nagini would have not spent time drooling over his dinner and Hermione wouldn't have joined in. Now the last thing Harry would have thought of before he died was whatever would have happened to Hermione after this.
Some Death Eaters tried to intervene by throwing curses down to Hermione, but they often hit the swaying Nagini instead who blocked their view of her, rocking the snake as it absorbed the hit. Their curses had no effect on him, but Voldemort roared in anger, cursing and shouting at the Death Eaters who acted without orders.
"Cease fire, you idiots!" Voldemort shouted, sending his own curse at some of them, which knocked them off their feet. "You're breaking Nagini's concentration! He can handle the Mudblood and Potter himself!" He looked down at Nagini and he said "Nagini, kill the Mudblood if you want, she's yours! I have no use for her now!"
Nagini towered on Hermione and shadowed her while she backed up slowly towards the wall behind her, much like Harry had done before. Harry knew Nagini won't allow himself to fall into the trick this time and he would strike Hermione very soon. So, in an attempt to take away the snake's attention on Hermione, Harry fought the pain and soreness of his body to stand up, run towards the back of the snake, leap with all his might, and cling on Nagini's back as tightly as he can. Once he stuck on Nagini, Harry didn't mind how ridiculous it looked - and how gross it was - by biting the humongous snake's skin next with his teeth.
Nagini felt the nip behind his back and flailed wildly. Harry was like an annoying insect that was stinging him from behind and the pesky insect needed to be quashed. Harry held on to Nagini with his hands, arms, and to some extent, his teeth as tightly as he could - Nagini couldn't shake him off no matter hard he tried. Feeling that the snake had stopped flailing, Harry opened his eyes. He saw Nagini staring down at him angrily, his hissing tongue just inches away from Harry's. Harry gulped - he knew what would happen next. In a split second, the snake pounced to bite him off, but Harry had let himself go already, falling back down on the ground again, and rolling to cushion the impact of his own landing.
Instead of biting Harry, Nagini had gnawed at himself! Blood spurted out of Nagini's punctured body, and the snake hissed loudly in extreme agony out of his own doing. Harry took the opportunity to reunite with Hermione, who had her hands over her mouth and her eyes wide as she watched Nagini flap wildly on the ground in front of her as if the pain would kill him.
Voldemort roared in fury. "You fiends!" he yelled. "Look what you have done with my Nagini! I will now kill you two myself even with my own bare hands!" He started sending his own curses down towards Harry and Hermione. Harry didn't wait to watch the fireworks coming from above. He grabbed Hermione, spun her around, and stuffed her inside the snake's hole. Dodging the curses successfully, Harry had followed right behind her next.
Harry and Hermione had gotten in the snake hole unscathed from Voldemort's curses. They both looked out of the hole, seeing the last remaining curses from Voldemort bounce harmlessly at the foot of it. It was dark inside, and the only light they could see was coming from the pit, and it was gloomy enough to begin with. They could hear Voldemort's furious tirade from outside.
"Get into the pit and pull them out of there!" Lucius barked.
"Th-They're coming!" Hermione whimpered.
Harry knew what he and Hermione were in for. With nowhere to go now, they were trapped and will surely be captured once again; they didn't know how they'll get away this time. They both heard the thumps of many pairs of feet as they landed on the pit outside, and they could see the Death Eaters' feet scuttling towards them. Devoid of his wand, Harry braced himself for a violent encounter with them.
Hermione gasped, as if she suddenly realized something.
"Harry, move back!" Hermione told him and she pulled him further away from the hole. For Harry, it was probably Hermione's last vain attempt to create more distance from the Death Eater's who'd surely be upon them in seconds. Hermione, however, had other desperate measures in her mind.
Hermione took out a wand from her robe pocket and aimed it to the top of the hole.
"Bombardia!" she yelled. Like a huge artillery round coming out of a cannon, the spell hit the wall on top of the hole and created a cascade of heavy soil and rocks, blocking the passageway completely. Harry covered his head, expecting to be swamped with loose soil from the ceiling, but nothing happened.
A few seconds passed after the last of the earth and rocks fell down. It was pitch dark already inside the snake's hole. They had trapped themselves in it.
"Harry, you okay?" Hermione asked him urgently in the dark. Her voice was shaking, and Harry could tell the pain she still felt with the sound of it.
"For now, yeah," Harry breathed. "Thanks for saving me, but now what do we do?"
"Lumos!" Hermione muttered, and the wand she held gave them a source of light, though it was a little dimmer than usual. "Hey, that's strange - Oh, I think that explains it…I don't know whose wand is this in my pocket, because I'm positive I lost mine out there when Voldermort…" she trailed off and then wept completely, collapsing slowly to the floor. Harry could see her shaking from the dim wand light.
"Hey, hey," Harry said softly, coming over to Hermione, hugging her, and letting her cry on his shoulder.
"H-Harry - did I miss something?" she cried, looking up at Harry. "I don't know what h-happened. We were in Hogsmeade, and the next thing I saw was you on the floor and…and t-then I recognized him immediately!!! I-It was V-Voldemort!!! That was really him, wasn't he???"
"There, there…It's okay to cry. I know how frightful it is for you to face Voldemort like that…"
"H-Harry, I didn't know he was that so scary!!!" she screamed. "He was going to m-murder me…and I couldn't seem to f-fight him!" She bawled again in extreme fright.
"But you were really brave out there, Hermione," Harry whispered. "Others would have given up without a fight…"
"Harry, p-please tell me…where are we? Why're we here? Why?!? H-He was so scary - he was so scary…"
Harry exhaled heavily. Seeing Hermione hadn't gotten over with her shock meeting and facing Voldemort so abruptly yet, he didn't know how to answer. He opted to keep quiet at this time and comfort her, hoping that she'll gradually calm down soon. Telling her the truth how they got here would be bad for now, since it was Hermione who in fact helped the Death Eaters bring Harry back directly to Xanthius even if she was under their control. She won't be able to accept that at once, and it might just aggravate her grief even more. There was a time for that, and this wasn't it. Harry let her cry for a long time - it was the only way she could calm herself down relatively.
"I promise to tell you in another time," Harry vowed later while stroking her hair when Hermione's cry seem to have subsided. She nodded in response, even though her breathing was still choppy. "But I'm glad you're back…"
"Wh-What do you mean?" she sobbed.
"We must now find a way how to get out of here first," Harry said, ignoring her question.
"I-I think I'm okay now," she said, "but I can't still get Voldemort out of my mind…he's so scary…just scary…"
Harry nodded his head, understanding what Hermione was feeling. "You'll get over it, I know you're strong - you always are…" He hugged her tighter and gently let her go to pick up his wand, which was still lit on the ground.
"Hey, this is my wand!" Harry said, goggling at it after he felt its handle. He recalled Hermione disarming him back at Hogsmeade, and while she lost hers during her confrontation with Voldemort, she had Harry's wand in her pocket all the time, which was a very fortunate thing.
"Are you sure?" she asked, her voice still quivering. "H-how did that get in my pocket?"
"Yes, it's mine. But, uhm, I'll explain later. But first…Nox!" Harry muttered. The light on his wand died. He planned to redo the Lumos charm on his own wand to get the most light out of it. However, the light rippling on the walls of Nagini's chamber caught his attention after his eyes had adjusted to the darkness. Puzzled, he said, "Hermione, what do you think it is?"
"L-looks like light reflected from some body of water!" she sniffed, looking around. "There might be a hole somewhere around here…"
"Lumos!" Harry muttered. He scanned the more intense wand light around the walls and ceiling, trying to find the hole Hermione suggested. At last, just a few feet ahead of them on the wall opposite the collapsed hole leading to the pit, Harry's wand light had extended. It looked really like a hole, a tunnel to be more exact, and it was wide enough to accommodate Nagini. Harry moved over toward it, and he could hear water flowing like a river at the other side, and smelling fresher air coming in.
"I think we're in luck!" Harry said, heartened by the discovery. "This could be our way out of here…I hope. Let's go?"
Hermione nodded, trying hard to regain herself. Harry reached for Hermione's hand and they both entered the tunnel at a crouch. It looked very long, uneven, and winding. Careful not to slip (the surface was damp), they slowly moved forward. Further down the tunnel went; they could now hear the sound of flowing water getting louder as they advanced. Soon, they could feel cooler air gushing in to them. They emerged out of the other end of the tunnel and they ended up on a narrow ledge at the edge of what seemed to be a low cliff in a fully enclosed cavern. A rampaging underground river flowed not more than thirty feet beneath them. The cavern had its own eerie light illuminating the whole area, and they didn't know where it came from.
"Nox!" Harry said.
Harry and Hermione looked around as they stood carefully on the ledge, pressing their backs on the cliff. The cavern was huge, and its cylindrical shape followed the direction of the river. Several different plants, moss, algae, and weeds grew abundantly in and around the damp brown walls.
"Where do you think we should go?" Harry asked Hermione. He noticed she was dirty all over. Her robes and uniform were stained with earth, and her face was soiled. If she was that way, Harry thought, and then he might have looked like her, but even worse. He could feel the thin film of dirt on his own face, too.
"I guess we go against the river flow - where it could be higher," she suggested.
"Good thinking," Harry agreed. Pointing to their right, he said, "Lets go this way…"
After they started walking a few feet ahead very carefully, they heard a small and muffled "boom" coming from somewhere. The cliff they stood on shook slightly.
"H-Harry, what's happening?" Hermione said, clinging to Harry and the edge of the cliff at the same time, the whites of her eyes standing out of the gloomy surrounding as she looked around.
"I t-think they're breaking through, the Death Eaters?" Harry thought loudly.
They both looked to the direction from where they came at the mouth of the tunnel anxiously, and soon they saw rays of light coming from within.
Hermione looked at Harry. "Correction, Harry," she said apprehensively. "They're not breaking through - they've broken through!"
"Let's beat it out of here!" Harry said, and he tugged Hermione's hand. The ledge they were walking on was getting precariously narrower - it was just wide enough to accommodate the length of their feet. But they had to move as fast as they can or else they will be captured.
A Death Eater had emerged at the end of the tunnel and entered the cavern. He looked around and he spotted Harry and Hermione getting away (they were about less than ten yards ahead). "There they are!"
Hermione screamed, and Harry tugged her hand to move on along with him. Several Death Eaters had gotten out of the tunnel and inched along the ledge to pursue them. One of Death Eaters shot a violent spell to Harry and Hermione, and it hit the wall of the cliff just inches behind them, creating a tremor that everybody standing on the ledge had felt.
"No!" barked the nearest Death Eater back to his colleague. "You might kill them! Remember what the Dark Lord told us - they're his!"
"C'mon," Harry said to Hermione, "if we move on ahead from them they might lose us - they won't dare to kill us!"
Hermione nodded. They didn't know how far the ledge would go, but they hoped it was somewhere out of here. The cavern looked endless.
For more than a hundred yards the chase ensued. The Death Eaters neither gained ground nor lost it. But soon Harry's spirits dropped when he saw the ledge was getting thinner and thinner as they moved along it, and this slowed them down significantly.
"Harry, I think they're gaining on us!" Hermione said anxiously.
"Keep going!" Harry said.
But it was getting harder to. The width of the ledge shrunk to a third of their feet. Worse, the surface was slippery. One wrong move and they would fall on the rampaging river just a little more than thirty feet above them. Meanwhile, the nearest Death Eater was closing in fast, about a stone's throw away.
"H-Harry!" Hermione whimpered.
"C'mon! I see a new opening up ahead! Just a little more!"
The situation got even much worse for the both of them. Another Death Eater had appeared at the mouth of the opening Harry had found. Harry and Hermione dropped their breath. They were trapped!
"Hold on to me!" Harry said. Hermione grabbed Harry's arm with both hands, and she looked back at the approaching Death Eater who was almost three yards away from her and he was now extending his arm to grab her.
Harry tried to reach for his wand but it was difficult when his left arm was holding on to Hermione and the other grasping the edge of the cliff behind him for balance.
"They're almost on to us!" Hermione shrieked.
Harry didn't know what the Death Eater ahead of him was thinking but he pulled out his wand and pointed it at both Harry and Hermione and bellowed, "Repulso!"
Harry dodged the spell slightly but Hermione was hit instead, and the spell knocked her down from the ledge, sending her down to the river. Immediately after she splashed on the water she was caught in the current and was washed away.
Harry yelled invectives at the Death Eater - some of the Death Eaters who were involved in the chase muttered curses at him, too. Harry only thought of Hermione who was in extreme peril, and he jumped off the ledge and dove on to the water after her, risking injury and death.
Some Death Eaters cursed loudly, and one of them decided to follow Harry's lead and jumped to the water.
Hermione had a head start of a few seconds, and Harry swam along with the current in the hope of catching up to her. The current was getting much faster, but fortunately there were no rocks to bump on. Harry had entered a narrower cavern now - it was getting a little darker that he couldn't see Hermione. Still, he swam.
The river rampage was getting more and more violent, however. Harry could feel it accelerating gradually until he eventually lost his rythmn. He began to tumble along with the flow, and he began to scream, taking in some water in his mouth. He didn't know what would happen to him next - the river flow might even get even more violent, and he was afraid he and Hermione would never survive this, and their bodies would never be found to forever to rot under the earth.
With a last gasp of air, he was submerged in a pipe-like tunnel. The water was falling even more viciously. After a moment, he felt himself stop abruptly - he had gone through a waterfall. He was running out of air and he swam upwards to breath. Soon, he had surfaced and he gasped for air. He didn't have time to examine where he was and began to look for Hermione.
"Hermione! Hermione!" he called, his voice reverberating in the underground cave, but there was no answer. He looked around him, and there was no sign of her at the surface. Harry's heart sank. She might still be underwater!
He inhaled all the air he could breathe in and dove down. He frantically looked around for Hermione, and he hoped he could find her before she'd drown. Harry looked for his bearings, and the most likely place he could find her was near the water fall. He submerged deeper, and he saw something white just ahead of him. The white collar was the only thing that stood out in the gloomy water, and Harry swam faster - it was Hermione, and she was motionless.
Harry grabbed her and swam upwards as fast as he could to the surface. Soon, he emerged from under the water. He found the nearest bank and he swam towards it, Hermione in tow. They passed by the floating body of the Death Eater who jumped after them. Harry didn't feel good seeing that while Hermione was still unconscious.
After a few tense seconds he had reached the shore and pulled Hermione in. Remembering what he saw on a TV show about lifeguards with red shorts and suits, Harry began to do mouth to mouth resuscitation.
He didn't know if he was doing it right, and he began to panic while he administered it. Hermione had been unconscious for a long time and she might be dead already. He didn't know how to do CPR, and tears were now beginning to well on his eyes and run down on his face.
"Hermione, please don't leave me!" he told her, and he resumed mouth to mouth. After a few more tries, there was no response from her.
Harry knew she was dead.
Harry hugged her off the ground and cried in grief. He couldn't believe he'd lost her and he failed to keep her alive. He wailed, rocking her body with his embrace, drenching her wet face with his tears. He wished he had died instead of her. He wished this never had happened. He didn't know what would be life now that she was gone - they had just embarked in a special relationship that would have been wonderful for the both of them. Her passing away was the most painful he felt in his life that his chest was cramping with extreme grief.
Or so he thought.
Hermione jerked. She spit off large amounts of water from her lungs and she coughed off more. Harry stopped crying abruptly and stared at her - he couldn't believe it! She was back.
"Hermione!" he cheered, still with tears in his eyes. "Thank God you made it! I - I thought I already lost you!"
"H-Harry," she coughed, looking up at him with her eyes barely focused. Harry tightened his embrace on her, and Hermione lifted up her muddy hand to pat and squeeze his arm. "Harry, w-what mess have we gotten ourselves into?" she said humorously.
Harry howled with joy, and they both hugged even harder.
-o0o-
Half an hour later, Hermione had recovered her normal breathing after a few minutes of ejecting the last remaining water out of her lungs. She sat down on the damp shore, shivering from the wet and cold, but she was significantly calmer this time. Harry had gathered a few twigs and made a small bonfire lit by the Flamer charm, and that's where they both got some warmth.
They both looked miserable. Hermione's bushy hair was probably now home for a million grains of sand. The soil on her face was already washed clean by her joyride from the river, but her robes and uniform were still drenched. Harry volunteered to squeeze her jumper, robes, tie, and socks of water after he was done with his. He still couldn't do the "Tempera" charm even if how many times Hermione had taught him. She couldn't do it properly using Harry's wand - cold air gushed out instead of hot air.
"I gotta wash my hair after this," she muttered. "It feels disgusting!"
After being subjected to all sorts of punishment that afternoon, Harry sniggered at something at last. Seeing Hermione back to her old self while they were both still in a dire situation like they were in to at the moment had a real motivating effect on him. He had almost given up with living on after he thought he'd lost Hermione once more, but now that she was alive and well he began to think again of what to do in order to escape this underground cavern to somewhere safe. Hermione's life had given him hope to strive to keep on living.
Hermione approached the bank of now Harry knew as a small lake and dipped her whole head on the water to clean her hair. She withdrew her head a bit from the water, but kept her hair dipped, while she stroked her hair free of sand. It was probably the first in Harry's life he had seen Hermione's bare hind neck - her thick bushy hair had always covered all of it ever since he met her (except during last year's Yule Ball when she wore that pretty hair knot). He didn't understand why he was mesmerized about it.
"Harry," Hermione said, extending her hand to him but keeping her hair dipped forward on the water, "could I please borrow your wand for a second?"
"Uh, okay," he replied awkwardly. "Why?"
"Just watch," she giggled. Once she held on to Harry's wand, she tapped it on her hair and muttered something, and suddenly it was covered in a thick lather of a shampoo. "Oh, good," she said. "It worked - only that it has no conditioner, apparently. I hope no one minds me polluting the lake with this. Oooh, that feels so good!"
"Uhuh, yeah," Harry said, getting back his wand but still staring at Hermione's hind neck. "You're right - looks good from here…"
"Come again?" Hermione said bemusedly, looking back at him while she massaged her hair.
"Oh, nothing," Harry grinned.
Hermione laughed. Perhaps she did hear what Harry said. "Harry, do you think they're still running after us?" she asked, while she rinsed her hair after a few minutes.
Harry's face returned to being businesslike. "Maybe, but they haven't shown themselves up till now - I think they lost us. They don't want to end up like him, I guess," he said, pointing to the dead floating body of the Death Eater in the middle of the small lake.
Hermione withdrew her hair from the water and squeezed it. Harry stared at her again - for him it was so different and refreshing to see her do things a real girl does, and she looked striking with her hair all bunched up all together and straight as what he was seeing right then. Hermione had noticed him staring at her; she smiled and slowed down squeezing her hair of water in purpose - she wanted Harry to have a longer look on her.
"Where do you suppose we go next?" Hermione said, swinging her still wet hair to her back and standing up.
"Oh, you're right," Harry said at once. "You stay put."
"Where're you going?"
"I'll have a look around for an exit," he replied. "I got to look for a way out of here…I won't go out of your sight, don't worry."
When Harry started to walk away, Hermione grabbed his hand and pulled him closer to her and kissed him on his lips.
"W-What was that for?" Harry asked, feeling warmth all over him.
"For good luck," she said, grinning. "Be careful where you step, okay?"
"Oh, sure, thanks!" he replied. "You know, you got to do that more often," he said, breaking away from her, smiling.
"Why only me?" she laughed.
"Be right back," Harry said, laughing back, and he started to search for some kind of opening that would lead somewhere. Hermione sat back on the damp shore, but didn't keep Harry off her sight. Harry saw some deep seated rocks that he could climb and went over to it, thinking that he might find something atop.
The climbing was difficult. It took him almost ten minutes to negotiate about forty feet of it - but his efforts seemed to have bore fruit. He saw some dim light between some rocks - like it was made by firelight. He looked through the gaps and saw a passageway at the end of it. He could have been standing on a blocked passage and he began to remove some rocks.
"How does it look up there?" Hermione yelled from below. She had walked towards the foot of the rocky hill.
"I-I think I found something," Harry grunted, lifting up a small boulder with his bare hands and throwing it down to the lake, creating a very loud splash.
"Watch it!" Hermione yelled again.
"Oh, sorry," Harry said. He looked through the spot where the small boulder had been and he knew it was really a passageway, big enough for him and Hermione to walk through upright. It winded to the left, so he couldn't see what was at the other end. "I found us an exit!"
Hermione whooped from the ground. "What can I do to help?"
"I can do this, don't worry about it," Harry assured her. "I'll try to make a small opening between these rocks for us to fit into without making the upper pile unstable…"
Just then, Hermione felt a small tremor on where she stood. She didn't have a good feeling about this. "H-Harry," she said nervously.
"What?" Harry said, pulling out another rock very carefully.
"H-Harry…" she said more urgently.
Bang!
Hermione was knocked off her feet when the cliff, which was part of the waterfall a few meters away, exploded with thick dust. Harry stopped what he was doing to look down and see what it was, and it made his eyes bug out in horror. A new hole was made from the cliff - and amid the dust and debris came in more Death Eaters. They had dug a hole towards the bottom of the waterfall, certainly not giving up on recapturing them like they have thought.
"There they are!" shouted one of them.
Hermione screamed as she watched some half-dozen Death Eaters start to run towards her position.
"Hermione! Get out from there!" Harry yelled.
She didn't need any more telling. She regained her footing and began climbing up the rock formation towards Harry - it was the only way she could get away from the oncoming Death Eaters. She didn't know how she did it, but she managed to scale about ten feet of the rocks upwards where Harry had spent about almost more than half of that time.
The Death Eaters had reached the foot of the rock hill and started to climb up. Harry tried to aim his wand to the pursuing Death Eaters but he couldn't let off a spell - Hermione was directly in between them and she might get hit.
"Harry, j-just keep making a hole between the rocks!" Hermione told him while she kept climbing. "I'm coming!"
Harry nodded and concentrated nervously on the single rock he thought could give them more space to escape. It was heavy, and from the looks of it, it posed a danger of collapsing all the other rocks on top of it, possibly sealing their only avenue of escape if he got too careless. Then he heard Hermione scream again.
Looking back down, he saw one of the Death Eaters had caught up on her and grabbed her foot! Hermione was fighting to shake off the Death Eater's grip from her while she hung on the rocks. A couple more was gradually making progress climbing nearer to her. Harry knew she needed his help now. He dropped the act of prying some stones loose and pointed his wand at Hermione. He could see Hermione's eyes widen at him in wonder of what might have been thinking of.
"Was it Retractum, or Retracto?" Harry asked himself, but he had to decide which spell to use at once or Hermione would be captured.
"Carpe Retracto!" Harry said, and a blue shimmering rope-like beam lassoed around Hermione's waist and it began to retract, pulling her up to him. With the shock of floating upwards, the Death Eater who held Hermione's leg reflexively let go of her and he plummeted down to the water below.
"Grab hold to me!" Harry told her while she was en route upwards to him. She did what he said, and caught Harry by the waist using both her arms. Harry helped her up further, settling her down securely on a large boulder.
"You okay?" Harry asked her.
"Y-yeah, thanks, but th-they keep coming up!" she said, pointing downwards.
"C'mon, help me pull this rock loose," Harry said, "before they're on top of us!"
However, a curse from nowhere slammed on top of the pile of rocks just above Harry and Hermione, blowing the pile apart, and sending heavy boulders falling down. Harry grabbed a screaming Hermione and covered her with his body, pinning her down on the huge boulder where they stood. Harry expected intense pain coming to his back any moment when big rocks came cascading down, but the rocks and boulders miraculously bounced above and around them. Still, he covered Hermione as much as he can from possible injury.
The curse surely came from one of the Death Eaters from below who thought it was a good idea, but it proved to be a very costly mistake in their part. While they scaled up the rock pile to get to Harry or Hermione, they could not get away from or dodge the falling rocks, hitting them squarely and causing them to fall down to the ground. Not all of them survived severe injury, except for one - and about half their number where killed of being crushed by heavy boulders.
Harry felt that the avalanche of rocks had ceased, and he looked around. He heard the loud moaning of wounded Death Eaters from below. Harry was afraid their only path to escape was blocked again, but aside from rendering their pursuers out of action, the other good thing the curse had done was the passageway was already partly clear of rocks. It was big enough to let them through!
He didn't wait a second longer and helped Hermione up to get to the passageway. The last remaining Death Eater was getting very near, his face full of fury. Harry let Hermione in to crawl in to the opening of the passageway, and Harry slithered in a short while later. He got on his feet and prodded Hermione to keep moving. Harry hoped real bad this was an open passageway and not a dead end, otherwise they'll be trapped again. If they were, he knew what to do and ambush the pursuing Death Eater when he advanced.
Much to his relief the passageway went on. The floor was wet and slippery, but this didn't slow them down. The peculiar thing was the walls of the passageway were littered with flaming torches. Harry had another bad feeling about this. What if this was really a trap and they were led back towards waiting Death Eaters at the other side? There was nothing to do now but to find out if that was true.
"Hermione," he said, still walking fast ahead, "don't be surprised if we find Death Eaters at the end of this passage…"
"Funny, but I've been thinking the same thing, too!" Hermione replied anxiously, getting out of breath. "This looks like a freshly dug tunnel…"
"Merlin's beard, I think you're right…"
Further the passageway went. They didn't know how long this was, and there were already shrubs hanging on the low ceiling, to the sides and at the floor. Up ahead they saw a long segment of the passageway with weeds on the floor, but still they kept on going. They didn't guess what it really was until it was too late.
The weeds turned out to be a large net, and it wrapped Harry and Hermione whole in a second. They both yelled in complete surprise, and they felt being hoisted up like in a speeding elevator. Up and up they went, and then the hoisting stopped as fast as it started. By the feeling of it, Harry surmised they had elevated more than hundred feet up.
Harry said "I don't believe it! We fell into another trap!" He looked down, and felt his guts drop after he realized how high they were, though they were exactly level beside a new tunnel opening. It was a hole punctured on the cliff just a few feet away from them. He caught a glimpse of the lone Death Eater who pursued them below cross where they were caught by the net.
The only way to get to the new tunnel was to swing in towards it, though Harry didn't know how to do that.
"H-Harry, what're we going to do?" Hermione asked, with growing fear in her voice.
"Wait, I'll try to reach for my wand…" Harry said, and started to look for it in his robe pocket. It proved to be a difficult thing to do especially when he was almost upside down in the tight net with Hermione entangled with him.
"I hope you're not thinking of setting us loose by yourself, Harry," said Hermione, sounding worried, and shifting herself unsuccessfully inside the cramped net. "We might fall down a couple hundred feet if you're not careful…"
"Do you have any other better idea?" Harry said impatiently, trying to move his hands around the net.
"No, but I don't want to be splattered down there either!"
"Damn! I-I can't reach it!" Harry grunted. "Can you…"
"Can I what?" interrupted Hermione.
"I think your hand is nearer to my pocket…could you try to reach for my wand?"
"How could I? Even if I wanted to, I can't get my arm off this hole of the net…Oh, my gosh! I see some people coming!"
A few men in dirty white robes walking along the tunnel came and approached them. "Look what we got here!" said one.
"C'mon, let's bring them to the boss!"
Harry and Hermione merely breathed and didn't say anything out of extreme disappointment. After all the effort they made to evade capture and Hermione almost drowning in the process, The Death Eaters had caught them again.
The men walked to the end of the tunnel and pulled the net in containing Harry and Hermione towards them with a long hook. Once the net was safe inside the tunnel, one of them cut the rope that hung it, and Harry and Hermione both fell on to the floor painfully.
"Rather quiet lot, aren't they, huh, Bruce?" laughed another.
"H-Harry," Hermione whispered fearfully, "a-are we going to see him again?"
Harry exhaled, feeling afraid for the both of them again, especially for Hermione.
Bruce, the plumpest of the men took out a large knife (Hermione screamed a bit), and cut open the net, setting Harry and Hermione loose. "You two don't look like Death Eaters to me," he said. "But we'll treat you as one until we know for sure who you really are! One false move and this knife cuts through your neck!" He seemed to be the leader of the group.
"Y-you're not Death Eaters?" asked Harry with a slight feeling of relief down on the floor with Hermione.
"If you think we're one of you, you're sorely mistaken!" he said severely. "How bold of you to wander this deep in our territory - we've killed many of your stupid kind already. I think that's better anyway; we reckon if you keep on coming and dying we'll just walk out of here eventually!"
"You must be one of the escaped prisoners…" Harry started.
"See here, how do you know that if you aren't Death Eaters?" The other men murmured in agreement.
"W-we're not! We were captured by Voldemort…" said Hermione.
Everyone else except Harry flinched.
"I'm Harry Potter," said Harry. "We were kidnapped and almost killed by Voldemort - you got to believe us!"
Everyone else except Hermione flinched again.
"Yeah, right!" the man they were talking to snorted. "Just by saying his name and now you're Harry Potter. You're Death Eaters posing as…students. You're here to infiltrate to destroy us."
"But we're too young to be Death Eaters," reasoned Hermione.
"Because you're Animorphagi!" Bruce spat. "You can't do all of your dirty tricks with us - we're too smart to fall for a bloody Death Eater trap!"
"B-But…"
"Silence! We will bring you to the boss and he'll decide what to do with you!"
Harry and Hermione were forcibly turned around and pinned to the wall to be searched. Harry felt a hand dip into his robe pocket and his wand was fished out. Hermione however, fought back, whipped around, and slapped the offending man who held her on his face, preventing him to search her.
"Don't you dare!" she shrieked, pointing a finger between his eyes. Her face was extremely livid.
"Hermione…" Harry said.
"He's so blatantly fresh, Harry!" She said severely.
Bruce made a slight move toward her, and Harry covered Hermione with himself.
"What do you intend to do, boy?" said Bruce menacingly.
"I-I'll do the searching for you," Harry told their captors. He didn't want to give the men the excuse to manhandle Hermione.
"Okay, one false move and this knife will cut your throat!" said Bruce.
Harry nodded and turned Hermione's robe pocket inside out. Hermione folded her hands and glared at the man she had slapped - his face was red with embarrassment.
"These are all the pockets she has," Harry said. "She's unarmed."
"Good," Bruce said though suspiciously. "We'll see the boss now. Move!"
Harry and Hermione were prodded forward and they all moved forward along the tunnel away from the cliff. Hermione had stopped being angry and now felt apprehensive again as they walked further. They didn't know what was going to happen to them again. They had been through a lot of uncertainties today, and they had a bad feeling they still had more things to worry about after this. Hermione clung on to Harry tightly as they walked deeper in the low tunnel.
The walk took more than ten minutes, and at last they had entered a large cave populated by a small group of people. They apparently weren't Death Eaters from the looks of it. They wore white robes like Bruce had on, but not one of them were wearing a Death Eater mask. Harry was almost sure they were the escapees he heard about back in Voldemort's throne room, though he wasn't sure why they were his prisoners at the first place.
The cave was damp and humid. Harry could only count just a couple of small tables and chairs as furnishings with funny little instruments on them. Some people looked at them warily, while others were busy chipping off stones and grinding them into pointy tools. A few long wooden sticks rested on one part of the cave with a couple of men tying the tools at the tips. Harry understood that they were producing spears.
A tall and muscular man approached Harry and Hermione. She was half a foot taller than them, with a dense curly white hair, very pale skin, and white eyes. He looked like an albino.
"What do we have here?" he asked. "They look too young to be Death Eaters…"
"Because we're not…ow!" Harry said. He was knocked on the head by Bruce.
"They were caught by one of the nets we set up yesterday, Hal," Bruce said. "The male says he's Harry Potter, but I don't buy it…"
People who heard Harry's name stopped what they were doing and stared at Harry.
Hal murmured. "Harry Potter he says he is, eh?" he replied. He walked nearer to Harry and pulled back his hair, revealing his scar. "This one comes complete with the scar…"
"But I am Harry Potter!" Harry said furiously.
"I'm not convinced," Hal said, releasing his hold on Harry's hair and walked away. "This could be a trick by You-Know-Who. Probably Animorphagi…"
"That's what I thought so, too, Hal," said Bruce.
"But you must believe us!" Hermione said. "We've been captured by Vol - "
"Don't you say his name again!" Bruce yelled threateningly.
Hal turned back to face Hermione. "What's your name, girl?"
"H-Hermione Granger, sir," she answered.
Hal searched for her name in his mind, and he shook his head. "Doesn't ring a bell…"
"I'm Harry's best friend from Hogwarts."
"You're too far from school, both of you..."
"It's because we've been captured by…VOLDEMORT!" Harry bellowed, rolling his eyes.
Everyone gasped upon hearing Voldemort's name, but not Hal.
"Impressive for a Death Eater to mention his master's name," Hal laughed, "but that doesn't convince me any further."
"Then what in tarnation do you want us to do to convince you otherwise?" Hermione said indignantly.
Just then, one of the escaped prisoners came in the cave, dragging in a dead Death Eater body.
"Where'd that one come from, Abe?" asked Hal, looking down at the body.
"This one came in just behind those two," Abe replied, jerking his head towards Harry and Hermione. "Tried to sneak in, but I ambushed and killed him before he could come in any further."
Hal grunted. "Looks like your diversion didn't work, Harry and Hermione."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other incredulously. "He's not with us…he was chasing us before we got caught in the net…" Harry tried to tell Hal.
"Too late, you're Death Eaters and you will die," Hal said with finality in his voice. "Bruce, take them back to where and execute them!"
"No!" Hermione yelled. "You gotta believe us! W-we're not Death Eaters!"
Hal, however, ignored her and walked away. Bruce and the couple other men who brought them in started to pull Harry and Hermione out of the cave. They both struggled to stay in to plead their case, but they were held on forcibly by the arms to their back.
In an attempt to escape from their new captors, and soon to be murderers, Harry had broken free from Bruce's grip, wrestled him down to the ground and started punching his face to try to get back his wand. Hermione stomped on the foot of the man who held her, making him skip on the other in pain, and she broke his nose with a fist, sending him down to the ground, too. She moved over quickly to Harry to help wrestle for his wand, too.
Several more people had joined in the scuffle. They tried to break Harry and Hermione away from the shrieking Bruce, but Harry was too determined to regain his wand he was virtually stuck on him. Harry swung his elbow back and hit quite a few faces. He and Hermione, however, were soon overpowered and they were separated from Bruce. They were held on to the ground by many pairs of hands.
"I'll kill you here right now!" Bruce growled furiously at Harry and Hermione, took out his big knife, and swung it back to hack them. Hermione screamed in terror seeing Bruce's murderous face.
"STOP IT!" yelled somebody Harry couldn't see. Whoever it was, he made Bruce drop what he was about to do instantly even if he was extremely passionate about stabbing and killing Harry and Hermione. "What's going on here?"
Bruce looked at the unknown person and said, "They're Death Eaters posing as Hogwarts students! They need to be executed!"
"Hogwarts students?" the man said with a very coarse voice. "So, did they say what their name was?"
"Yes," Hal replied, "they say they're Harry Potter and Hermione…I forgot her last name..."
"G-Granger, sir, Granger!" Hermione whimpered.
"What? No, I-It can't be!" the man said. "They're here?"
Harry tried to look around to see who the unknown person was, but he couldn't.
"You know them?" asked Hal. "They might be impostors…"
"Maybe I can ask him questions only the real Harry Potter could answer…"
"Who are you?!?" Harry grunted while being continually pinned on the ground. "Please let me see your face!"
The man walked over and knelt down on one knee beside Harry to take a good look at him. "Hello, Harry, if you're really Harry…"
Harry gasped. He couldn't believe who he was seeing.
It was Willard Wraskon staring down at him, and he was alive.
-o0o-
Chapter 19 coming soon
Authors note (again): Didn't reach the 9000 word mark, but very close. Please leave your review or comments after reading. I'm actually a little concerned I didn't meet your expectations about where I'm bringing this story to, but it's progressing well as I planned it. So that's why feedback is important for the writers (grin). Thanks in advance!
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