Sorry this is so late in the day. My mother was in an industrial accident a few months ago and had to take a pulmonary function test. She developed asthma and is unable to drive, so that took just about all day. That and my grandmother had surgery and wanted me to bake her a couple of pies for when she got home. That also took a while, so I didn't even get to start until seven.Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed so far! I am so glad you like my story! Don't forget to vote on August 15!
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"Okay," Harry said cautiously, looking around the first room. He saw a fire with a cauldron sitting on it, and a table full of ingredients. "Draco, Hermione, what do you think?" he asked them, saw that they were already taking stock of what ingredients there were. Hermione brightened almost instantly.
"I know what it is."
Draco scoffed. "You can't possibly know what it is yet." He studied the ingredients carefully. "There are several spells that use these."
"Yeah, but only one spell uses all these and halogencic acid."
Ron looked at Harry. "I'm not even going to pretend to know what they're talking about."
A light came on in Draco's brain when Hermione said that. "They can't possibly be making it this easy."
"It isn't easy. It's extremely advanced potion making." She looked at the other two boys. "We have to make a cure for the Sleeping Draught of the Living Dead."
"What?"
"It's probably what Lily, James, and Sirius are under." Draco explained. "It can be administered through ingestion, injection or in an airborne form. It keeps the takers in a state of living death basically. Their heart slows to just fast enough to keep them alive, their breathing slows dramatically, all bodily functions nearly stop. It takes months to wear off on it's own, but with the cure, the effects are gone immediately."
"It makes sense." Harry said slowly, "And since I've never heard of it, I'm guessing it isn't common."
"It's very dark magic." Hermione said. "And just as hard as the Polyjuice Potion, but it doesn't have to stew in stages. It can all be done within a couple of hours. I will need the two of you to help." She looked at Draco. "Can you remember the exact instructions?"
Draco just looked at her. "Of course I can. It was on my Potion NEWT. We had to recite the recipe and instructions for a dark potion, and I chose the Sleeping Draught of the Living Dead. You just make that and add the acid. It's simple if you really think about it." He rolled up his sleeves and picked up a decanter of blood. Unicorn's blood. "Potter, get me that gilly root."
Harry paused. "We don't want them to have gills."
"That's gilly weed, moron. This is the root. It has powerful sedative properties."
"You're the Potions geek." Harry said under his breath. He'd never admit it, but he was glad Malfoy had come along. It gave them all a distraction from the seriousness of the position that they were in. It allowed them to keep their minds somewhat off of the possible outcomes.
"I am no kind of geek." Draco said maliciously, stirring the liquid he and Hermione had already managed to produce. He added the gilly root. "We need to let this sit until it turns purple. Dark purple. Once it does, we add the acid, the newt fluid, the griffin hair and the bezoar. After that we wait for it to turn yellow and ladle it out. It will remain usable for twelve hours thereafter."
Harry looked at Hermione, who nodded. "He's right." She stirred it. "All we have to do now is wait."
Ron looked around, saw the door on the other side. "How do we get that door to open when there isn't any handle?"
"Alohomora." Harry said absent mindedly. He was watching Hermione and the potion.
"No locks, mate. So that won't work."
Draco walked across the room to peer at the door. He turned around. "Ron's right. No handle, no locks."
Harry stood. "Well, two people got past this. There has to be a way for us to do it as well."
Hermione joined the three men at the door. "You morons. This is simple."
Ron looked at her in disbelief. "You did not just take one look at this and know how to get out."
Draco chortled. "She takes one look at everything and knows how to do it."
"Why did that sound like an insult?" Hermione demanded, putting her hands on her hips.
"Oh, there's nothing insulting at all about being a walking brain." Draco said sarcastically. Harry coughed.
"That's enough you two. Herms, how do we get out of here?"
She pointed to a small hole in the door. "We put a small amount of the potion in there. I imagine it's charmed to open if the potion is correct."
"And if it isn't?"
Draco looked serious again. "If it isn't, we all die."
Ron shrugged. "Right. Nothing new then. Hey, it's purple."
Hermione rushed back to the cauldron and started adding the final ingredients. Draco dropped in the bezoar and stepped back. "Not bad, Granger."
"Not too bad yourself, Malfoy." Hermione smiled. She always felt good after successfully completing a test. And that was how she had chosen to think of what they had to do. A series of tests. She was much less nervous that way. She perched on the edge of the table to wait for their potion to turn yellow while Draco prepared the beaker and ladle.
"It's ready." Draco said, casting a glance in the cauldron. Hermione took the ladle and filled the beaker and put in the stopper.
"All right. Let's go."
Ron stood up. "What's the next task?"
"The troll." Hermione dribbled the potion into the slot and the door swung open. The foursome looked into the dark room uncertainly and could already hear the deep breathing of the troll. "Lumos." The tip of her wand lit up. The other three quickly did the same. "Oh my God."
Even Draco's eyes widened. "Merlin have mercy." He whispered, looking up.
They were being faced with a troll that was close to fifty feet tall and slathering. His teeth were large and yellow. Harry honestly thought that the beast could eat them whole. And he was impervious to magic. Hermione immediately took control.
"Ron, you go between it's legs and find the right key. We'll distract it. Yell when you get it."
Ron shook his head. "You should go Herms."
"Ron, you're best at that sort of thing. It'll take me longer and we don't have that much time to waste."
Harry nodded. "Ron just go! We don't have time for this." He charged the troll without waiting for a respone. Swearing hotly, Draco rushed after him. He didn't like to be the second into battle.
Hermione shook her head. Men. They always thought they had to rush the enemy. She pointed her wand at herself. "Wingardium leviosa." She rose off the ground, and continued to rise until she was eye to eye with the troll. She reached out with her wand and tapped it on the shoulder. With a roar, it whirled and lashed out at her. She had only a split second to think that perhaps the boys had been right before she was crashing into the wall.
Harry whipped around when he heard the crash. He made a move toward Hermione, but Draco's yell stopped him. "Don't do that!" he snapped, dashing between the troll's legs. "He isn't interested in her anymore. If we get him turned around, maybe we can make him fall."
Harry had an idea. He pointed his wand at Draco. "Yarn!" he yelled, using a conjuring trick Hermione had perfected. A large ball of yarn spun out of the tip of his wand and Draco caught it, getting the idea. Harry started running around the troll, wrapping his legs up, while Draco kept him occupied with blasts of heat from his wand. Once it was tight enough, Harry waved madly at Draco. He shouted at the troll, who turned. His legs didn't work, and he toppled over. Draco managed to grab Hermione and get them both out of harm's way before the troll went over.
"She'll be fine." Draco announced, just lifting an eyebrow when Harry took Hermione from him to carry himself. `Weasley, find that key before he gets out of the yarn."
Ron lifted the key. "Got it." He inserted it into the key, and the door opened. Once all three were through it, Harry still carrying Hermione, who was just beginning to stir. As there was nothing but an empty room and a cave, Harry laid Hermione on the ground while she came around.
Hermione opened her eyes. "I am never going to doubt testosterone again." She muttered, sitting up and rubbing her head. Harry laughed, crouched in front of her.
"Why's that?"
"Because I thought you were morons for charging that stupid thing and that I'd have a better chance of getting around him from eye level. It didn't work." Hermione pouted. "I'm never wrong."
"You were this time." Draco said, eyeing the cave entrance warily. "I think the dragon would be in there."
"Give her a minute." Harry snapped. "She just got bashed on the head."
Hermione laid a hand on Harry's arm. "Don't worry. I'm fine."
Harry pressed a kiss to Hermione's forehead. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I'm sure."
Draco rolled his eyes. "Oh, for Dumbledore's sake, Potter, kiss the girl already. Three of the four people in this room know you're dying to."
Hermione blushed bright red. Harry was nearly as red. "Want me to kill him?"
Hermione shook his head. "No." she pulled him down and kissed him, hard. "For being the gentleman."
Harry laughed as he pulled her to her feet. "I'll be a gentleman as often as possible in that case. Come on guys, let's go." Harry led the way into the cave, the only light they had the glowing tips of their wands.
Ron looked at Draco. "And how long has that been going on?"
Draco lifted a shoulder. "Since we were eleven. Only recently have they started that though." Draco looked at Ron's shocked look and laughed. "Don't tell me you didn't know."
"I had no idea they liked each other."
"It's been obvious from the start."
Ron looked over. "Are we having a civilized conversation here or is it my imagination?"
Draco didn't get a chance to answer. The cave lit up with the fiery breath of a Hungarian Horntail dragon.
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Okay everyone. Two events per chapter. That means the dragon and the maze next chapter, and the unicorn and the rescue chapter after next. After that, the story will be centered on getting the Horcruxes and defeating Voldemort. I'm looking at another fifteen chapters probably. Any suggestions on plot and where you would like to see this go are welcome and appreciated.
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