Hey everyone. I just wanted to address a couple of reviews. One said that the Draco conjuring the dragon in the last chapter was unlikely. Well, the way I see it, Draco is a derivative of the Latin word draconis which means dragon. I think that that would mean his patronus is I dragon, and also that he would have less trouble conjuring a dragon than other wizards. That's just my opinion. And to the one reviewer who keeps telling me that this fic is lacking in dialogue. The first three chapters were hardly anything but dialogue. And the last three have been the trials, and there really isn't a place in there that the characters can sit down and have a talk about everything that has been going on and what they think and feel about the whole thing. And as I don't like writing first person POV's, the amount of dialogue you're getting is just going to have to suffice until the next chapter. But that aside, I really have enjoyed ALL the reviews I've gotten. I hope you review even more.
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Harry looked at Hermione. "Please tell me you know what he just said."
"Of course I do. He said you're right." Hermione turned to the merman and spoke in Mermish. "We are seeking the Chamber where our friends are being held in a sleep state."
The merman appeared as if he were humoring her. "Of course you are. Why else would you be here?" he held up a hand when Hermione would have spoken. "No one has gotten this far. The fact that you have is a testament to your strength, courage and bravery as well as determination and loyalty to both your cause and to each other. You have been deemed pure of heart and intention by the dragon's cave, intelligent by the Potions room, brave by the troll, and intelligent by the maze. Determination is what has brought you this far despite the obstacles that you faced."
Draco was getting annoyed that he couldn't understand. "What did he say?"
Hermione looked annoyed that he had interrupted. "He's telling us what we've done so far." Her gaze went back to the merman. "What do we have to do next?"
The merman smiled. "There is no test here. No danger to your health or life. I am to pick the two of you who are to continue on. Two and only two will be taken to the other side of our home and presented to the unicorn."
"And what of the rest of us?"
"You will wait here with us. If your friends complete their mission, then you will be taken back through and left in front of the first door. No harm will come to you."
"And if they fail?"
"You will meet the same fate as they." He grinned, showing sharp, yellow teeth. "You will be our food."
Hermione sighed. Of course. She should have guessed that before. "All right. Let me talk to my friends."
"Well?" Draco demanded, "What did he say?"
"That there are no tests here, but that he's going to pick two of us to be taken to the other side to be presented to the unicorn. The rest of us will wait here for them to finish. If they don't get Lily and James and Sirius out though, we become merpeople food."
`Well, that's an incentive for ya." Ron joked, then shut up when he got three glares set upon him. Though he couldn't see her, he imagined Ginny was doing the same thing.
"All right, `Mione. Tell them to pick who goes across. We need to get this done."
Hermione nodded and walked back to the merman. "We are ready for you to choose."
"Good. Tell me, human, who has the most to lose if this mission is failed?"
Hermione didn't even have to think about it. "Harry and Draco. It's Harry's parents that are in there, his godfather too. But Draco spent most of his life as our enemy. He's trying to prove himself as loyal to our cause. If he fails to do so, Draco will be hated by both sides. Someone will kill him, and quick."
"You do not wish to go?"
"Of course I do!" Hermione looked appalled that he could even suggest that. "Harry is my best friend. He and Ron and I have been doing things like this since we were eleven. We've never done anything apart. Well, hardly anything. I would love to be the one to go. I'm smarter than either of them, probably than both of them put together. But the only thing I have to lose is my life. It's the same with Ron. There's nothing else he has to lose."
"So this Harry has his life and family at stake, and Draco has his life and reputation to lose?"
"Basically."
"Powerful things are both of those. They can drive men and women to do wonderful and horrible things. This is a good thing you are trying to do. They are the two who will go. Inform them while I make arrangements."
Hermione nodded. "I'll do that." She turned to the other three, caught between relief and disappointment that she wouldn't have to go any further. "Harry, you and Draco are the ones he has chosen to go."
The two men exchanged a look. Harry spoke. "What about you and Ron?" Ginny was just being unspoken of. They didn't want to draw attention to her.
"We have to stay here and wait until you either get them out or fail."
"And what happens if we do fail?"
Hermione lifted her eyes to meet Harry's. "We get fed to the merpeople."
Draco nodded. "We just won't fail then." He walked to the beach, both to wait for their transportation and to give Harry time to say goodbye to his friends. He hadn't been there for more than ten seconds when he felt a hand on his arm. Since he couldn't see the owner, he imagined it belonged to Ginny. "What do you want, Weasel?"
"Just to say good luck." She sighed. "I think it's really wonderful, what you're doing here. You don't have to do this, but you're doing it anyway. For people you've never liked and for a cause you've never believed in."
"Self preservation Weasley. That's all it is."
"So you say. But you didn't have to come. You could have stayed home and not done this with us. But you did it because you knew that we'd have a better chance of getting out with your help. I don't care what you say, Draco, there's a good man in there that manages to break through every once in a while."
"Think what you want." Draco was completely uncomfortable with the conversation. Ginny had changed entirely too much for his liking. She'd grown up while he hadn't been looking, and had gone from an annoying young girl to an only slightly annoying woman. He didn't care for the transformation.
"I really think you'll do it. Get through this and get the Potters and Sirius out of there. Slytherin's are determined and ruthless. You're both of those, and in this case, they're good qualities to have."
"You're entitled to your opinion." Draco heard her irritated huff and footsteps. "Ginny."
"What?"
"You aren't as bad as I thought you were. Thanks for the pep talk."
Ginny walked over, and Draco felt her hands grasp his shoulders. Before he could ask what the hell she was doing, she had lifted herself up and pressed her mouth to his. Before it had started, it was over, and she was moving away. "For luck." She tossed over her shoulder. Harry bumped into her on his way down and lifted his brows at Draco.
"What was that about?"
Draco looked flabbergasted. "I have absolutely no idea whatsoever."
"What did she say?"
"Good luck."
"Well, that's Ginny for you. She's going to get blasted by about a hundred Weasley's when we get back, and she knows it. She also knows that she won't be going anywhere with anyone for a good long while. But she had to make sure we were going to be okay." Harry decided to test the waters, see if the little niggling idea he had in the back of his mind had any basis in fact. "I really wish we hadn't had to break up sixth year."
Draco didn't like the little licks of anger and something he reluctantly identified as jealousy in his gut. "Why?"
"She's a great girl. Smart, brave, strong, unstoppable. And the girl certainly isn't hard on the eyes. And her mouth-" Harry was caught off guard when Draco's fist plowed into his jaw.
"Don't talk about her like that." He warned in a low voice. Harry was impressed by how menacing the other man could sound. He was just glad that the other three people on the beach had seemingly missed the punch. Which, he admitted gleefully, had been well worth the information he had gathered.
"So you do like her." Harry said, indescribably happy to have something to hold over Malfoy's head.
"I never said that."
"You wouldn't punch me over a girl you didn't like, Malfoy. Hell, you wouldn't normally punch me over a girl you do like. It would have just been an excuse to punch me."
"You've got that right." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Draco regretted them.
"You do like her. Does she like you?"
"How the bloody hell should I know?"
"I'm not blind, Malfoy. I saw the whole thing. She's invisible, but I'm not deaf. And you looked extremely surprised. Did she kiss you?"
"Watch it, Potter." Draco warned. "We may not be fighting each other at the moment, but neither are we any kind of friends."
"Just a simple question so I know if I need to return the punch. Cause if you kissed her, that's what I'm going to be forced to do."
"I didn't kiss her."
"Good." Harry eyed the raft four merpeople had towed to the waterline. "I think we're supposed to get on there." He looked at Hermione, who nodded. She could understand the instructions the merpeople were giving.
"Let's get this show on the road then."
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The ride across the lake was uneventful, though Harry and Draco spent the entire time with their wands pointed at the merpeople. Neither trusted the creatures. But soon, they saw the other side, and a magnificent white creature. The unicorn. Harry let out a low whistle.
"Amazing isn't it?"
Draco didn't want to agree, but had to. "Yeah."
Unicorns were excellent judges of character, and would only let them into the chamber if they were deemed to be unselfish. If one of them failed, all five died. "So we get past the unicorn, and then we have to convince the chamber itself to let us in."
"Right. Like the Room of Requirement. We need it to be the place where your parents and Sirius are."
"Let's worry about that in a few minutes." They stepped off the raft. "How do we speak to a unicorn?"
Draco lifted his shoulders. "I think I read somewhere that they're telepathic."
Both men jumped as soon as they heard another voice in their heads. "That would be exactly right. Come closer Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy. I need to get a better look at you. Tell me, how has your journey been thus far?"
Draco answered. "Not easy, but you'd know that already."
"I would. And as I'm sure you were told at the merpeople's far shore, you are the first to enter this trial that has made it to me. No one ever made it past the dragon. Tell me, young Malfoy. How did you conjure that dragon?"
Draco had been wondering why someone hadn't asked him that. "My namesake is the dragon. I've always been strangely connected to them. My Patronus is also a dragon. That made it easy for me to conjure one."
The unicorn considered that answer, found it satisfactory. "Potter, your parents lie in there."
"Yes."
"And your Godfather."
"Yes."
"You've thought they were dead."
"I have."
"Family is a powerful bond. It is the love you have for those people, the same as it was their love for you that allows you to be here. Without their love, you would be dead. And without yours, they would remain in that Chamber until the Dark One pulled them out. Pass. You are worthy." The unicorn turned to Draco. "You have struggled with the life you chose. One of killing and of torturing. You turned from that life, and your family, in order to do what your heart told you was right. You think you're doing it to save yourself, but truly you're doing it to make amends for all the hurt and pain you have caused. Pass. You, too, are worthy. Though in a much different way than your companion."
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Hermione ran to the beach as soon as she saw the merman reappear. He didn't look happy in the least. "Did they make it? Did the unicorn let them in?"
"It did. They passed. They were both worthy. Go back humans. Nothing in the previous chambers will hurt you. You will be able to wait at the entrance, for that is where your friends will exit."
Hermione turned back and threw her arms around Ron. "They got through! The unicorn let them pass! We have to go back and wait for them at the entrance. Apparently the entrance and the exit are the same thing. Let's go. I want to be waiting there when they get out, or you know them, they'll think the merpeople ate us anyway and come back in."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Men."
Ron chose not to comment, and instead opened the door for both of the women.
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And there's Chapter 7. Updates will come regularly this next week, but the week after that, on Wednesday and Thursday, I have my college orientation, so I probably won't get anything posted. I just hate that it's so close to the deadline. But I'll make up for it right after that. Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review!
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