Harry Potter and the Isle of Mists
Disclaimer: I can only hope to attain the creative brilliance of J. K Rowling.
AN: This story is AU after OOTP.
If I Could Save Time in a Bottle
When Harry awakened, the sun was streaming in both high windows, golden beams of light splashing across the bed and floor. The first thing he registered was that his arm was asleep, closely followed by the notice of the mop of brown hair on the pillow next to his.
Memories of last night came flooding back…to his face, by the feel of the heat emanating from it. He blinked his sandy eyes and stretched, trying to work his arm gently and unobtrusively out from under Hermione's head. She mumbled something inarticulately, and rolled over, her eyes still closed.
Harry watched her peaceful face, the dark lines of her lashes smudging her cheeks. He remembered the surging incredible emotion of the night before, the powerful connection between the two of them, and checked under the covers to make sure his pajamas were still on. They were. He sagged back down onto his pillow, slightly relieved. Not that he wouldn't want to… with Hermione, if the opportunity were to present itself, but he certainly didn't want it to happen, if he wasn't going to remember it afterward. His gaze wandered down the curve of her neck to her smooth bare shoulder exposed by her gown being disarranged by sleep.
Hermione's eyes suddenly flew open, and she stared at him in amazement, wide awake. Belatedly, Harry remembered that she could read his mind. He felt himself flushing. She sat up slightly, shyly looking away from him as she straightened the shoulder of her gown, and ran one hand self-consciously through her tousled hair.
"Harry, what - what was that…last night?" she finally said.
"I wish I could tell you," Harry said frankly.
"You said something about our being bonded. Aren't we already? Except for… well…" she shrugged and looked away, embarrassed.
"Dumbledore said we could reverse the bond, if we wanted to," Harry said, speaking slowly as he thought out loud. "Maybe now it's permanent." He watched Hermione closely, as if gauging her reaction.
"I suppose there are worse things than being able to read the mind of the Boy Who Lived," Hermione laughed. "Although, if we…" she stopped talking suddenly, clamping her mouth shut.
What? Harry finally prodded.
If we…if we end up with other people… I mean, in a relationship…won't that be terribly awkward that we can read each other's thoughts?
I don't know about you, Harry said, reaching under the covers and gathering her into his arms, but I don't plan on getting involved with anyone else…ever. He paused for a moment to let his meaning sink in. He stroked one hand down her cheek, and Hermione felt her body involuntarily arch toward his. Besides Avalon said you're my Chosen One. You can't back out now.
They smiled at each other, but Hermione's eyes were serious.
I wouldn't want to back out, Harry, even if I could.
I love you, they heard simultaneously, and she lifted her lips to his.
When their lips touched, it was as if Hermione had been catapulted to some new level of sensory awareness. She was intensely aware of every inch of her body that was touching his, and somehow, she could feel his desire and his emotions and what it felt like to him, with his body touching hers. Everything was enhanced, magnified, amplified, and she thought maybe she would be unable to contain the emotion thrumming through her.
Harry's thoughts were blurred and incoherent; she could barely make sense of them, but she could feel his mind scrambling for a toehold, close to plummeting over the edge of a cliff, and trying to maintain control, propriety warring with desire.
Then his lips trailed liquid fire across her jawline to nuzzle in the crook of her neck beneath her ear, and she felt everything inside her gel. Her hands were splayed across his back, and his fingers quested at the edge of her collar.
We have on too many clothes, Hermione thought suddenly, all rationality gone. What she said was,
"Har-ry," in an urgent breathy gasp.
"Hmmm?" he murmured, his chest vibrating against hers. He pulled the neckline of her gown aside, exposing the smooth length of her collarbone.
Someone knocked at the door.
Harry swore under his breath, as Hermione rocketed away from him, flinging herself across the room into the lavatory, whose door closed with a decisive slam. He sat up in the bed, drawing his knees up to his chin, and said, "Come in."
The door swung inward, and Ron peered in cautiously.
"It's not going to throw you out in the hall," Harry said, sounding irritated. His eyes flickered toward the lavatory door.
"No, it's not that, mate," Ron assured him. "I was making sure…you know…everybody was decent…" He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"Would I have said `Come in', if I wasn't dressed?" Harry's voice was pure exasperation.
There was an awkward silence. Now it was Ron's gaze that darted over to the closed lavatory door.
"Well…" Ron said, hesitantly, drawing out the word, "We're about to go down to breakfast. You coming?"
"Yeah," Harry said, reluctantly sliding to the edge of the bed, and reaching for the stepstool with one foot. Ron had moved toward the door, as if to leave, but turned at the threshold.
"Did you hear music last night?" he asked suddenly. Harry whirled to look at him, alarm in his widened eyes, and fell off the bed.
Ron arched his brows in amazement, snickering audibly, as Harry struggled to stand up and disentangle himself from the coverlet, which he had pulled off the bed with him.
"You all right there, Harry?" Ron said, clearing his throat. Harry stood to his feet, his mouth taut, trying to gather together shreds of dignity.
A light laugh wafted through his mind like a soap bubble, and Harry felt his mood grow a little more sour.
This is all your fault, he grumbled. Looking at Ron, he said, "We'll be down in a minute."
There was another silence, clearly pregnant with questions that Ron wanted answers to, but did not want to ask. "Right, then," Ron said finally, scuffing the floor with the toe of his shoe. "See you downstairs."
Almost as soon as the door closed, the other door in the room opened, revealing Hermione, fully dressed in her clothes from yesterday, which looked freshly laundered and pressed. She was grinning at him. He narrowed his eyes at her, trying to repress the smile that wanted to spread across his face.
"Traitor!" he said, tossing a pillow at her. "You ran away!"
"You fell off the bed!" she countered, a laugh burbling underneath her voice. "Did Ron really hear music?" Harry shrugged, and shoved the coverlet back onto the bed.
"He asked if I heard it," he replied.
"That's really embarrassing," Hermione said, in a tone that just bordered on being a groan. "Is that going to happen every time we - we get close?"
"Close?" Harry asked, amused at her word choice. "I don't know, Hermione," he said in answer to her question. "But so far, this castle hasn't seemed very subtle in the matchmaking department." He entered the lavatory to get dressed, and closed the door behind him.
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All eyes went to them, as they entered the large hall a few minutes later. The conversation going on between Ron, Luna, and Ginny dwindled to a halt. Draco continued eating, although there was clearly malicious amusement dancing in his silvery eyes. Hermione and Harry sat, exchanging glances at the silence.
"So, what are we going to do today?" Ginny asked, trying to get rid of the weird tension that hung over the breakfast table.
"I thought about going to the library and doing some research," Hermione said. Ron and Ginny looked a little disappointed, but Hermione continued, "Harry and I were talking last night, and - " She was interrupted by a snicker from Draco.
"Something you have to say, Malfoy?" Harry asked levelly.
"Talking?" Malfoy said elegantly, one eyebrow raised. "Is that what you call it?" Ginny was wide-eyed, and her gaze darted back and forth from Malfoy to Hermione, who brought her fork down to the table with a bang.
"For the love of Merlin!" she exclaimed. "We didn't do an - that? Okay? Not that it's any of your business!"
There was a strained silence following Hermione's outburst, as everyone but Malfoy became extremely interested in what they were eating. Malfoy merely eyed them arrogantly for a moment, appearing unfazed, before he returned to his meal.
"Well, someone brought us here," Ginny finally stated, in a somewhat normal voice. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd rather not still be here, when whoever it is comes to…well, do whatever it is being planned."
"It could have been an accident," Ron offered lamely, though nobody really believed that. Hermione felt as if they were retreading old conversations.
"If it had been anybody else, I might think it was a fluke…a random spell left over in a strange book," she said. "But since it's Harry…"
"Yes, since it's Potter," Malfoy spat, interrupting her. "Almighty Potter, on whose shoulders the fate of the world rests. That does not help me sleep at night, by the way." He smirked, as four pairs of hostile eyes turned toward him. (Luna was gazing dreamily at the ceiling.)
"If it was only intended for Harry," Ginny put in, trying to stonily ignore Malfoy. "Then why were there three?"
"The Dark Lord was probably trying to use good time management skills," Malfoy pointed out. "Why not do the world a service and rid the world of the entire Golden Trio…all at once?" His voice simpered sarcastically around the phrase `the Golden Trio'. Ron looked like he was trying to plan out how to best separate Malfoy from his nether parts.
"It mightn't've been Voldemort at all," Hermione said. "Ron, you said so yourself yesterday. What if it was someone who wanted to help Harry defeat him? Avalon is a powerful source of Light magic. Why would Voldemort send him here?"
"Then why's he here?" Ron asked sourly, jerking his chin toward Malfoy.
"Because he's supposed to be," Luna said abruptly, in an absent way. Everyone turned to stare at her, waiting for further disclosure. "The path of Fate winds where it will." There was a moment of silence, as the others waited for something more illuminating, and when it did not come, they turned back to the meal before them.
"Do we know that Avalon is a powerful place for Light magic?" Ginny asked suddenly. "I mean Nimue wasn't exactly a paragon of virtue, was she? She imprisoned Merlin."
"Power is neither good nor evil," Luna said, in that resounding, ethereal voice. "It is those who wield it who bend it to their own purposes, for good or ill."
"So that means…" Harry said slowly.
"That if Voldemort came here, his magic might be just as amplified as yours," Hermione finished for him in a voice dark with trepidation.
"Bloody hell," was Ron's contribution.
"But if everybody's magic is amplified, then - I mean there are six of us, and only one of - of him," Ginny said hesitantly, and then her eyes fell on Draco. "There are five of us, anyway."
"We know Harry's and Luna's magic has been amplified," Hermione corrected. "But they're more connected to this place than anyone else. It might not necessarily follow that everyone's magic is more powerful here." The group exchanged glances. "Try something," she suggested, holding up her wand, and saying, "Lumos."
Light blazed from her wand tip, streaming in a white-hot gleam that poured from the end of the wand almost audibly. Harry lifted one hand to shield his eyes.
However, when either Weasley tried it, they managed to produce only the normal amount of light that one would expect from a Lumos spell. Ron looked slightly glum, as if he felt inadequate - only average, where everyone around him was exceptional. Malfoy merely raked them all with an arrogant glance, and refused to perform a spell at all.
"Wouldn't want to make the Weasleys feel badly about themselves," he said soberly, fooling no one.
"I'd think that would rank right up there on your wish list," Ginny muttered. "The only reason that you aren't doing a spell, is because you think that you'll be as lousy at it as we are."
"You're not lousy," Hermione protested quickly. "You cast a perfectly good Lumos spell. Ours was just - more." She seemed uncertain which word to use. Ginny and Ron both gave her `don't try and make us feel better' looks.
"Well," Harry said at length, pushing his plate back and standing up to disrupt the tension that seemed to snake into the room. "Should we check out the library?"
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The castle library was enormous, nearly the size of Hogwarts', but looked twice as old and much more neglected. Hermione gazed around the room like it was a travesty.
"Why would someone put all these books here, if there isn't anyone here to read them?" she asked, looking as if someone she loved had died.
"I cry myself to sleep at night about it, Granger," Malfoy sneered.
"Leave her alone," Harry demanded, spearing the Slytherin with a glare. Draco subsided, but not before raising both hands in a `help me!' gesture and making an exaggeratedly fearful face.
"Stupid git," Ron muttered to Harry, as they wended their way through towering shelves of books. "Why doesn't he come down off his high-horse and help us out a bit? You can't tell me he really wants to be stuck here forever?" The redhead peered through a gap in the shelves at Malfoy, who had settled himself comfortably into a wing chair and propped up his feet.
"I wouldn't think he'd want to be stuck here forever with us, at any rate," Harry agreed, his eyes scanning the spines of the books for titles.
"Can you imagine anyone he'd want less? Two blood traitors, a Muggle-born, Luna, and you. It's like something out of a Malfoy nightmare." Ron snickered, his good humor returning at the thought of irritating Malfoy in any way.
"Here's one on Gryffindor," Harry said suddenly, pulling a large leather-bound volume from a shelf above his head. He handed it to Ron without even looking.
"One minute," Ron interposed suddenly. "How are there books about Gryffindor here? The castle's - when did people stop living here?"
"Maybe the island restocks itself?" Harry shrugged. "How does the food get on the table?" Ron's expression looked vaguely troubled, and Harry could tell that he was thinking of his father's warning to Ginny. Never trust anything if you can't see where it keeps its brain.
Harry and Ron had wandered all the way to the back corner of the library, and had pulled down several more selections, when Harry cocked his head, as if hearing something beyond normal range.
"Hermione says to come back. She's got some stuff to show us." Ron rolled his eyes.
"I don't envy you, mate," he said, clapping Harry on the back sympathetically and shaking his head. "Bad enough the way she nags when she's around us. It'd be worse if you couldn't ever get away from it!"
"It's not that bad, actually. When Snape was having us block each other from our minds, I - I - I kind of missed it." Ron shot him with a knowing look, and snickered.
Back in the center of the library, Hermione and Luna had pushed two tables together, and pulled wing chairs up around the sides, to make a large workspace. Harry and Ron deposited their stack of books on the table, and saw that the girls had done the same. Malfoy was sitting off to one side, his feet crossed at the ankles and propped up on the table. He appeared to be asleep, although Harry doubted that he actually was.
"Look!" Hermione said, as they approached the table. Her eyes were snapping in excitement, as she pointed to a page in a battered, old book. Harry and Ron leaned curiously over her shoulders to see what she was indicating.
It was a hand-drawn diagram, with messy sketch lines still in place, of some kind of crystal, its points and facets clearly visible. Below the drawing, in intricate calligraphy read the caption:
The Claviomnis
A small notation followed, "The Claviomnis, as it is rumored to look, disappeared around the beginning of the second millennium. Whether or not it existed at all is a matter for debate. Legend tells that the Claviomnis was last owned by the Gryffindor family, and, if used properly, could be a receptacle for nearly unlimited quantities of magical power."
Hermione was looking at them expectantly, obviously thinking that they should have gotten something significant from that information.
"What?" Ron said blankly. "Have you seen that crystal around here somewhere, then?" Hermione's shoulders slumped, and the hopeful expression was replaced with one of scorn.
"No, but isn't it interesting?"
"Er…sure, Hermione," he ventured, insincerely. Hermione sighed.
"It was owned by Gryffindor's family! Harry, maybe it's in your vault at Gringotts!" Harry looked at her doubtfully.
"I think I'd remember something that looked like that, Hermione. And besides, this says that it disappeared."
She did not answer, but flipped a page, looking a little despondent. There was silence, while they skimmed aimlessly through various books, searching for some way that Avalon could send them home.
"Hey!" Ginny remarked suddenly, her voice echoing in the stillness, making Ron and Hermione jump. "Avalon has an Oracle."
"An Oracle? Where?" Hermione asked. Luna stopped perusing her volume, and turned her attention toward the conversation, listening placidly.
"It doesn't say. Only that there is one, and that it's supposedly one of the most powerful ever in existence."
"An Oracle - like a Seer?" Ron said hesitantly. The thought that another person might be wandering around the castle without their knowledge made him rather uncomfortable.
"No - no, not necessarily," Hermione said, nearly stammering in her excitement. "An oracle can also be a place… supposedly where a deity reveals hidden knowledge or purpose, through a - a - " Her face fell.
"Through a Seer!" Ron said triumphantly.
"Merlin, I hope not!" Ginny snickered irreverently. "Can you imagine batty old Trelawney floating around this castle moaning about the Inner Eye?"
"Ginny!" Hermione hissed, looking scandalized. Normally, she had no problem whatsoever poking fun at Trelawney or Seers in general, but this did not seem like the place for it. Avalon seemed … alive, for lack of a better term, and she felt the heavy weight of unseen eyes, of unseen powers regarding them.
"So, where is this Seer then?" Harry asked, closing his book, and speaking up for the first time in a while.
"What about that locked door?" Ginny asked, in a voice of trepidation.
"Yes, what about that locked door?" Harry echoed, a strange tone creeping through his words. He looked at Luna, who was watching them with interested, unblinking eyes, elbows splayed casually across the book she'd been reading.
"What is it, Harry?" She asked, in response to his look. She smiled at him, and it was an amused, adult smile.
"Can you open that door?" he asked shortly. Her smile grew broader.
"Of course I can," she said, without dissembling. The other teens exchanged startled glances.
"Luna," Hermione said carefully and politely, "why didn't you say anything before?" Luna shrugged, slowly and languidly.
"You didn't ask me." Hermione sputtered for a moment, but dwindled away to silence.
"Luna, will you open that door for us?" Harry said, phrasing his question carefully. The otherworldly wind blew through the library gently, ruffling Luna's hair and fluttering book pages.
"If it is what the Heir of Gryffindor wishes." There seemed to be an edge of warning in her voice.
Harry, maybe we should - Hermione began, her worry seeping into his mind.
"It is," Harry stated firmly, before Hermione could finish her thought. She shot him an anxious look.
Luna stood, elegantly and gracefully, and seemed to nearly float from the room, obviously expecting them to follow her. As they rose, Ginny swatted Malfoy across the back of his head, and he came suddenly awake, protesting vehemently.
Harry and Hermione had once again joined hands, without really realizing it, as they followed Luna up to the tower. The door in question was battered with age, weathered, almost as though it had been exposed to elements. It appeared sturdy and daunting, however, and did not look like it could be opened under any human strength. It was studded with brass-headed nails, had elaborately wrought hinges, and a gigantic golden ring for a door handle.
Luna turned to Harry, and the two of them seemed to share some kind of moment, apparently communicating out of the realm of human speech or thought. Hermione realized that, oddly enough, she felt jealous.
Malfoy shifted uneasily, but did not speak, evidently deciding that this was a moment that did not require sarcastic reprisal from him.
At length, Luna turned toward the door again, tapping her wand in an intricate, rapidly weaving pattern on the door itself. She muttered something unintelligible under her breath, and the door began to glow brightly, emanating an actual heat that made everyone instinctively step back.
Except Luna, who stood just in front of the door, completely encased in the aura of light, without apparent effect. Ron made an involuntary movement forward, but it was checked by Harry's vise-like grip on his arm.
Slowly and with a ponderous creak, the heavy door opened, revealing a rutted and nearly broken stairway leading upward. Harry laced his fingers more tightly through Hermione's and took a deep breath, pushing the door open wide, and proceeding through it. Hermione went with him, her mind whirling with questions, not the least of which was why Harry's mind seemed suddenly closed to her.
Ron and Ginny made as if to follow, but they were blocked at the door by Luna.
"Only the Heir of Gryffindor and his Chosen One may pass," she said, in a voice that seemed to have suddenly broadened and deepened in timbre.
"Luna!" Ron protested, real fear tripping suddenly into his blue eyes. "It's Harry and Hermione! We don't know what's up there. We can't let them go alone." Luna's eyes flashed with sympathy, and for a moment, she seemed to be the Luna Lovegood they were familiar with again. But she shook her head firmly.
"So it was written, long before you were born. You cannot pass."
Ron knocked her arm aside, and tried to shoulder past her, over the threshold of the door. Already, Harry and Hermione's footfalls echoed distantly on the stone stairs far above them. Luna made no movement or angry protest, but Ron suddenly found himself flung nearly the length of the hallway. Draco let out a short, unintentional, rather nervous burst of laughter, which he quickly quieted.
As Ron picked himself up from the floor, he saw Luna pull the golden ring, with as little effort as if the door were a square of paper. The door clanged shut with a resounding thud, and the very walls of the castle seemed to tremble.
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Harry and Hermione looked at each other with some trepidation as the door closed loudly, and Hermione wanted to shout with happiness when she felt Harry's warm presence in her mind once again.
What happened back there? She asked tentatively.
I'm not sure, he said, shrugging. This though - I feel like something higher than me is driving my steps. Somehow, this is tied in to what I'm meant to do.
They continued to climb, for what seemed like endless minutes, picking their way carefully up the worn stone stairs. Finally, the staircase opened out into a vast chamber, much bigger than what should have been in the apex of a castle turret. They looked around in awe, straining to see the cavernous ceiling that yawned above their heads.
"What the hell?" Harry murmured.
"Maybe the Claviomnis is in here," Hermione speculated, but the chamber seemed to be mostly empty.
However, there was a giant configuration of encircling gold rings that, at first glance, appeared to be adorning the far wall of the chamber. As they got closer, Hermione saw that it was, in fact, nearly in the center of the room. She wondered if this optical distorting was part of the room's magic…for they could both feel it, causing the atmosphere of the room to thrum with nearly physical vibration.
At the center of the rings was a large bulbous glass structure, seemingly hollowed out, and filled with a strange cloudy substance. Harry craned his neck, but the top of the structure was lost to view, another side effect of the powerful magical presence.
"Is this the Oracle?" he asked curiously, reaching one hand out tentatively to touch the artifact.
"Don't touch it!" Hermione warned suddenly, but before Harry's hand could even make contact, there was a low groan, and the rings began to move. They were within the orbit of the outermost ring, and they both ducked their heads instinctively, unsure which way to go or if they even had time to get away safely. But then the ring passed them by, and they only had to jump as the metal hoop swept near their ankles, to be able to safely move away.
Not that it matters, Hermione thought darkly, as they moved back from the rotating structure, and she noted the details. The rings were concentric, each rotated on a different axis. The glass structure was beginning to swing upward, and it looked as if the top half was as bulbous as the bottoms half. The smoky stuff within it sloshed around, swirling in a multitude of colors.
"Sweet Merlin! Harry…" Hermione said in a uncertain voice, grabbing for his sleeve without looking at him. The rings began to swing faster, until the very room around them was a blur. "It's a time turner. I've never seen one of this size."
"That's not possible," Harry said, the very presence of the thing in front of him denying his assertion. They backed hastily toward the staircase, finally turning around to run, as the empty end of the hourglass swung down ponderously. We're not going to make it, Harry thought frantically.
And then, they were out of time.
Literally.
TBC
Hmmm….well there it is. Not sure the pay-off will be worth the wait you had to put up with, and for that, I am profoundly sorry. I did have a brain-wave though, so hopefully, the next chapter will not be so long in coming.
I have a feeling that the chapter title kind of gave it away, but it was too great not to use, so I did it anyway.
Hope you enjoyed.
You may leave a review on your way out, if you like.
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