This chapter is quite possibly possessed by a Horcrux....thanks to Lady Starlight for her work. If the
colors show cool, if not, its something in PK, they are there
Chapter 34: The Nile....yep it's still a river in Egypt.
************************Hogwarts, Transfiguration 1*************************
January 8, 1998
2:25 pm
Hermione looked up as Tonks passed, lecturing on sympathetic magic effects. She tripped slightly and caught herself as she passed Ron, and stopped to lean against the stable Professor's desk. She looked around at the class of seventh years, and after deciding that at least half of them were still awake, she smiled and cleared her throat. "Wotcher, are all of you as bored as I am?" Tonks said loudly and several slightly nervous laughs sounded from the class. A tall, blonde girl now in Hufflepuff colors, that had been a student at Beauxbatons, snorted as she woke from an impromptu nap and more, tittering laughs welcomed her into the land of wakefulness. "Miss Reece," Tonks said, with a barely concealed smirk, "I do not care if you sleep in my class, but here at Hogwarts, generally by the time we reach the seventh year, we learn to disguise it better." The girl blushed and nodded, picking up her quill and posing it over her notes.
Tonks gave her a nod; her point made, and looked out over the class for a minute. She smiled slightly as she took a breath, "I thought we'd have a touch of a change of pace, and talk about, Animagi." Tonks paused to let her words sink in, before she pointed her wand at the board behind her and flicked it. Words began to fill in on the board from the top down, and she waited for a moment, while the class copied down what she had just written.
Interesting, Harry muttered to Hermione and caught her brief, hidden grin. Harry jumped slightly as she squeezed his knee under the table, she refused to meet his eyes as she looked forward studiously towards Tonks. You are so getting it when we finally get out of here, Harry whispered as he started to pretend to take notes.
I can't wait, Hermione replied as glanced down at her paper. Harry smirked and concentrated a moment, sending a flashed image of her looking up at him with lust-filled eyes, of her waiting for him on the bed, from a few nights before. Hermione took a quick, deep breath, calming herself from the sudden rush that the image and emotions associated with it had caused, before she gave him a tiny, half-hearted glare. That...was not fair, Hermione replied softly. She took another deep breath, and reached under the table to pat his thigh possessively, I am so, jumping your bones when we finally get out of this class, she smirked before she carefully blanked her face and pretended to pay attention to Tonks.
Hence my nefarious plan, Harry replied as Tonks cleared her throat and pointed to the board.
"I assume that you have had time to copy down the assignment," she said, giving Harry and Hermione a knowing look for just an instant. "Animagi," she begun, carefully holding in the urge to pace about, as it could and had proved disastrous in the past, "are one of several 'restricted' classes of wizards and witches, along with Firestarters, Weather Manipulators, and Beastmasters. According to Regulation for the Control of Shapeshifting Act of 1872, all Animagi are to register with the Ministry of Magic, upon their second viable transformation or face five years in Azkaban. This act originally also covered such innate talents as Metamorphamagi," Tonks frowned almost imperceptivity, "but that statute was overturned by the Wizengamot in 1902, as for the entirety of the known cases of that talent, it was an inherited trait and therefore it was ruled that the characteristic was a trait the same as hair or eye color and unsuitable for regulation."
Tonks shrugged and finally did give into her urge to start pacing back and forth in front of the class. She looked around at the few Slytherins crowded in the back of the class, neither of Pansy's hands were above the table, and Blaise was looking rather, content, but Tonks didn't say anything. Tonks glanced further up to see Ernie McMillan and Hannah Abbot sitting closely together at a table a couple of spots back from Ron and Neville, they at least looked as if they were paying attention, as did Parvati and Lavender who were sitting one table over from Ron and Neville. She nodded and went on, "The requirement for registration varies from country to country, of course, the Americas don't require it, while until recently, the Chinese Ministry imprisoned any Animagi they discovered." She stopped at Hermione's raised hand, "Yes, Miss Granger."
"Professor," Hermione asked, fighting down the urge to laugh when she used that title in association with Tonks, "will there be instruction in how to become Animagi?" Hermione's voice held the faintest sliver of something else, but fortunately Harry was the only one to notice. He squeezed her hip lightly under the table, causing her to remember just where she was.
"No, Miss Granger, there will not be, unfortunately I do not have the expertise in the subject, other than enforcing the law," she added wryly. "In prior years, Professor McGonagall would discuss the possibilities of such training with students whom showed a possible aptitude or interest, but she is too busy at the moment-" She stopped and glared, not bothering to hide her annoyance as a short, stumpy presence stomped in from the rear door. "Can I...help you, Delores?" Tonks asked in a flat tone of voice.
"Hem, hem...excuse me-Nymphadora," Umbridge said sweetly, not seeming to notice the outright glare the young Auror sent her way on the use of her hated first name. Tonks, barely, tolerated Remus and occasionally Harry or Hermione using it, let alone the hated toad that was hanging around the school. "I wonder if I could borrow Mr. Potter for a moment," she asked with her voice dripping with false sweetness. Tonks gave Harry a covert glance, asking, he returned the tiniest of nods, stood and started towards the rear door where Umbridge was waiting.
Watch your arse, Love, Hermione sent silently as her eyes went blank and looked ahead as she hitchhiked a ride on Harry's senses.
I thought that was your job, Mione, Harry replied quietly and felt the not unpleasant sensation of Hermione's mind sharing space with his. He stepped out into the hall and followed Umbridge to the next classroom down where she shut the door, and a pre-positioned security charm went up.
No, that's my hobby, Hermione retorted, with a tiny, mental grin, before both of their hidden demeanors changed instantly. She's got a class two security ward up, not enough to stop us or any of the Professors, but enough to keep a student from noticing.
Harry did not acknowledge her as he crossed his arms and leaned against the door. "Is there something you needed, Delores?" Harry inquired with poorly veiled contempt. "I do have class to return to, if you don't mind." Harry started to leave, seemingly annoyed. He stepped past a tiny, glowing crystal set near the edge of the door, and felt the barest of a tingling sensation along his leg. Harry was deigned time to examine the sensation before Umbridge coughed and called attention to herself.
"I know you and your-friends in there are up to something Potter, and I will find out," Umbridge stated nastily, "There have been too many absences, too many unexplained, 'sicknesses.'" She smiled, showing pointed teeth, "I already have a report ready for the Minister, Potter; I will see you end up in Azkaban yet." Her smile broadened as if she had just captured the Snitch to end the World Cup, but then slowly faded as Harry continued to stare at her, looking bored.
"Do you remember, what Dumbledore said?" Harry asked softly, after a long unnerving moment. He looked her up and down, and sat down on a desk in the dusty classroom, after first wiping the top of it clean. "That time you and Fudge thought you could take him to Azkaban...Your new master says that I'm 'Dumbledore's man', and I will admit he is right in that, if nothing else. Do you think that the hotel, that that place has become, will more than inconvenience me?"
"You little, half-blooded, and your m..."
"Careful," Harry cut her off in a steel-edged tone, "you might want to consider your words more carefully. People have ended up on the wrong side of a wand for such things. My wand, in fact."
"Are you threatening me, Potter?" she snarled. A dark, lethal smile lit Harry's lips as he detected the undercurrent of fear beneath her voice.
"I like to think of it as sound advice," Harry shot back, before turning his back to the witch and heading out the door. He stopped at the door, "And I am not sure how much good your report to the Minister will do you, if he even survives. He wasn't doing too well in the latest polls was he? Didn't your last master lose a vote of confidence as well?"
Umbridge sputtered as Harry left, closing the door behind him. Harry, Hermione hissed in his thoughts as he paused out of sight of the classroom door he had just left and watched as Umbridge stomped off towards the direction of the Great Hall, why were you baiting her? Harry shrugged slightly, sheepish. I know it's hard, baby, but you can't let her win. I know you want her head, Harry, but not yet.
When then, Hermione? She tortured me, tried to kill you, tried to take this school for her little playground. When? She should be in Azkaban...life sentence remember, that's what Crouch taught us.
Hermione sighed in the classroom as Tonks kept lecturing about the transformations and general classes of spells involved in Animagus formations. Both of them noticed immediately that she was being quite vague on the specifics and totally omitting the needed potions for the initial transformations. I don't know, Harry, I tried once... she paused, she cast a homing charm on you.
That's what that was, Harry mused. He looked up towards the door to Transfiguration one as Hermione slipped out the door and eased it closed behind her. Isn't there like another hour or so left in class?
Hermione rolled her eyes as she crossed the hall and took his hand. She squeezed it as they started off down the hall towards Gryffindor Tower and home. I'm sick, can't you tell? Hermione whispered as she pressed a brick with her free hand to open up a secret passage behind a statue of Reginald the Wonky.
Can I kiss it and make it better?
Maybe later, Hermione laughed as she pushed Harry against the wall, and knelt down. Her eyes went unfocused as she flicked her wrist and caught her wand as it dropped into her hand. Revalo incantium, a soft, glittering mist hissed from her wand, and wrapped around Harry's leg, it passed to reveal a sickly green glow around Harry's left ankle. Hermione snapped her wand at the air and watched as flaming numbers appeared in the air, spelling out an Arithmatic equation. She looked up at Harry as he looked down at her with an amused expression on his face. A Kentarian series spell, Hermione shook her head, I'm amazed she can do the second level incantation to establish the synchronicity.
"You can berate her technique later, Love," Harry grinned slightly, "well, are you going to remove it?"
"And what fun would that be?" Hermione replied, as she looked around the dim passage, before she stopped and grinned slightly. "Accio, Mrs. Norris," Hermione said, flicking her wand in the air. After a minute, the lamp-eyed, surly Kneazle flew down the hall, squalling and hissing as she approached. Hermione raised her other hand to the Kneazle, palm first and an orange, spiraling bolt snapped out and impacted the feline. She froze in mid-air, and continued to float over to Hermione. Hermione set the Kneazle down next to Harry's leg, and pointed her wand at him. Transferato Incantium Retractum, the green glow poured off Harry's leg and gathered on the tip of Hermione's wand. She pointed it at the Kneazle, Projectorm. The glow transferred to the feline and vanished from sight. Obliviate, Hermione whispered softly, she flicked her wand canceling the Petrification Charm, grabbed Harry and vanished.
They reappeared several floors up, in a secret passage just outside of the Library entrance. Harry followed Hermione without question as she slipped out into the main hall after first checking for visible and invisible watchers and led him into the Library. They followed the thin, winding path between the library tables and amongst the stacks until they came into the small alcove were Hermione's table sat empty and waiting for them. Hermione tossed her school bag into an old, rickety chair and perched on the edge of the table. She grinned slyly as Harry stood between her knees, with his hands on the table on either side of her and leaned in to kiss her.
He took a breath, smirking against her lips, before he took a step back, grabbed a chair and spun it around. He straddled it backwards, and looked up at her as rested his crossed arms on the back of the chair. Hermione pouted slightly as she fixed her skirt and looked down at him, swinging her legs idly as they dangled. You're right, she groused, we can't in the middle of the day. Anyway, I've been thinking. Don't say it, Harry.
I would never, he reassured her, what about?
I want to try the final spells and potion for the Animagi after we get back from Egypt, Hermione answered with just a trace of something in her 'voice'. Harry sighed and nodded, as he reached down and took a book from his pack, which he had set beside him on the floor.
Was that all you needed, Mione, he smirked, you didn't have to drag me all the way to the library, just to tell me that.
Hermione didn't answer in words, before she slid down into a chair next to Harry and summoned a book from her bag. She opened, Ancient Wizarding Tombs of Egypt and began to read. Our time would be better suited preparing for our mission than sitting around listening to Tonks talk about how not to become an Animagi. Have you decided whom to take with us, Harry?
No, he admitted grimly, after what happened at Beauxbatons, I don't want to take anyone, honestly, except you and Ron of course. She gave him a small smile and reached over to squeeze his hand where it rested on the table next to hers. But, at the same time, I don't want to take too few, just in case we run into something. I really don't want to take Bill, even after he's told Ron that he's more than willing. The Weasleys have already given too much to this war, Percy, Charlie...hell, Ginny, for all we know. I don't want to take another from them. Hermione didn't trust her words as she dropped her head to his shoulder and sighed. She left it there and continued to read, turning the pages silently.
********************************Dover*********************************
8:30 pm
A heavy, freezing mist fell over the world outside of the small Muggle house as Ginny stood at the window, looking out. She shivered slightly as she watched the scene for a moment before she spun and looked back at the bed where Draco sat, reading a text on Tracking Magic. He caught her eyes with his. "Draco, teach me, I need to know."
He sighed, and marked his place in the book, before slowly closing it and setting it down beside him. He pinched the bridge of his nose and stared, unseeing, at the faded pattern on the quilt for several long silent moments before looking back up at her, "No, Ginny, I won't." He reached over to the bedside table and picked up a mug. He took a sip, frowned, and waved his wand over it. The coffee steamed again and he took another sip.
"I need to know," Ginny insisted, with the tone of a long, continued argument. "I need to survive.
"I won't do it, Red," Draco snapped and stood from the bed. He took a deep breath and crossed the room to stand next to her at the window. "I can't Ginny, please don't ask this of me...Listen, do you know the real reason they are called 'Unforgivables'?" Ginny shook her head mutely, and Draco reached up and ran his fingers through his hair, "bloody pussy teachers," he muttered. He raised his voice back to a normal tone, "The reason that they are unforgivable," he said slowly, "is not what they do, not really. There are other ways to control people, other ways to cause them pain, and I can't even begin to count the ways that a wizard or a Muggle for that matter can kill another. No, the real reason, the main reason is that they are too clean."
"Too clean?" Ginny muttered, bemused.
"Listen, luv, for the lack of a better explanation, when you kill something, nature intends for your hands to get, dirty. You are supposed to feel pain, to wake up with the nightmares, feel the blood on your hands, even after it's long washed away..." He trailed off, as he shivered slightly. "The Unforgivables, the Kedavra especially, demand payment of a different sort...they weaken your very soul instead, a bit of the darkness seeps in, every time you use one. Why do you think Dumbledore never used them? The Dark Lord, my father and my cousin, they are gone, whatever black thing they call a soul is beyond redemption, they must be put down like a mad dogs."
"I...I don't understand," Ginny whispered. "But they are your par..."
"Doesn't mean that I want to be like them," Draco hissed. Ginny reached out, only to have her hand batted away, he took a step back and crossed his arms. "Merlin, you really don't get it, do you, Ginevra? Is this why you were so, fixated, on Potter? 'Cause he was rich and famous, 'cause he was from an old Family?"
"No, I..."
"Fuck it," Draco growled and paced over to the door and pushed his feet into his boots. He summoned a coat from the back of a chair, and started to gather himself to Apparate away, but froze as Ginny clasped a hand on his arm and squeezed. "Goddamnit, let go."
"No," Ginny said softly. Tears were in her voice, as she looked up at him, "not this time." She dropped his arm, paced over to the bed and dropped on it. "Don't go, Draco, I'm sorry, I won't ask again."
Draco came and sat down next to her, not touching and staring straight ahead, "I'll teach you to fight, even to kill, but I won't teach you those. Spells, hand to hand, blades, whatever I know, everything my damn father and his tutors squeezed into my head so I could be a good little Death Eater, but not the Unforgivables."
*************************Egypt, Giza Plateau***********************
January 11, 1998
3:00 am
A dark, moonless night hung over the desert, however, where a weary group of fellow travelers waited silently, the night was not dark. The ever-present spotlights were lighting the well-visited Great Pyramids off to the west, while miles away and across the Nile, the lights of Cairo lit the horizon. The chattering sound of a desert jackal broke the silence as an otherwise unremarkable patch of sand on one of a thousand similar slopes shifted slightly.
I don't see anything amiss, Harry, Hermione sent to the patch next to her, as she looked out towards a blank face of sandstone though a pair of Auror-issue, night vision Omniocculars. Nothing's moved for the last day.
I know, Harry replied from his post to her right and slightly higher on the dune. His wand was in his hand as he crouched in a sand-colored robe, looking around at the area, scanning for movement with only his eyes. Moving slowly, he crept his hand up to cup a wire that ran to a tiny bead in his left ear from a pouch on his belt. "It looks clear, guys," Harry whispered, and waited as several other sets of ears heard his words over the modified mirrors that he and the rest of the team that he had brought along were wearing. Harry carefully didn't look up, just under the military crest of the next dune where a tent was buried and the rest of the group was camped.
"Are we going in then, mate?" Ron's voice came to Harry's ears.
"I dunno, Ron," Harry whispered back, "I'm still nervous, somehow, let's have it again, Hermione, from the top."
Harry, Luna, Bill, Remus and Tonks ignored Ron's muttering as Hermione took a breath and started reciting what she knew about the subject. Hermione took a soft breath, that everyone heard though the wireless as she began, "Alright, ladies, gentlemen and Ron," she added snidely, "I'm assuming certain things here, but taking into account Tom's fascination with the Slytherin heritage, what we are looking for is the tomb of Knatre, the court wizard of Menkaure, one of the rulers of the Egyptian Fourth Dynasty. Knatre's tomb was never found. He also was a wizard from whom Salazar Slytherin claimed ancestry, at least according to Great Wizarding Lineages of History. Since Salazar had no tomb, Tom was probably looking for someone else to emulate. Bill's the expert on the traps, though."
"We are probably be going to be dealing with four to five layers of defenses," Bill picked up, "if what I've dealt with in this area is any guide. The first, typically, is an older version of our modern, anti-Muggle wards, they do still try to redirect them, but if they continue on, unlike modern wards, they will be killed by a quick-acting, lethal-level, Shock Ward. It won't affect us, though, just Muggles. The second layer is normally some type of magical beast either in stasis or just loose, I have no clue what, I've seen everything from a demented Crup to a Dragon."
"What about the other layers?" Remus' voice whispered.
"I have no idea, depends on the personality of the Wizard and what, exactly, they were guarding, generally the more valuable, the more lethal," he replied guardedly, "and with You-Know-Who, having put his...thing in here, I have no idea what he might have come up with."
Harry sighed, and picked up his own pair of Omniocculars. He looked out towards the blank, sandstone wall and examined it. "Let's go then, we can't spend forever here." Hermione frowned worriedly, but followed him, flowing to her feet as sand cascaded down off their sand-colored robes. Another five presences appeared from out of the dunes, in similarly colored attire, slipping and sliding down the face of the dune towards the bottom. The tallest of the five lagged behind, sliding more or less gracefully down the slope, his back to the others as a thin rod probed the night.
Slowly and fitfully, occasionally taking time to scan their environs, the seven slid closer to the blank, stone wall, which was set at least two miles away from the huge pyramids and the enigmatic Sphinx for which this region was so justly famous. Of course, had the average, Muggle tourist known that the immense statue was a more or less accurate representation of the Fourth Dynasty's Court Riddler, they might have looked at it in a whole new light.
An odd, almost burning, tingle ran up their spines as one by one, they crossed an invisible line in the sand, demarking the line at which, if they had been Muggles, their nervous systems would have collapsed in a burst of excruciating pain in the moments before they had died. If there had been any Muggles who had fallen victim to that first layer, the desert had long since buried the evidence. Harry frowned slightly as Ron crossed the combination Redirection/Killing Ward, and turned to examine a seemingly blank light tan wall, thirty or so feet high. He glanced at Hermione; she gave him a nod before flicking her wand over the wall. Black, spiky Hieroglyphs appeared inscribed on the wall, outlining an otherwise invisible archway.
Bill came up behind them and started to read, after a minute he looked at Harry, "It's sealed with a Magical Blood-" he stopped in mid-sentence as Harry reached over behind Hermione's back, drew her left dagger and slashed the palm of his own left hand. With a violent motion, he clenched his fist, before splashing his blood over the pristine wall. A soft tremor erupted for a moment, before a tall, narrow archway appeared in the rock with a tooth aching, grinding sound. Hermione looked over at Harry, her chocolate eyes dark with worry as she took his injured hand in her own and healed it with a flick of her wand. Harry squeezed her hand for an instant, before tapping the side of his glasses and watching the black tunnel, which had been revealed when the stone slid aside, become a green-tinged twilight.
He started off, leading the others as they reached into pouches under their robes and slipped on Cat-Eye Spectacles, they worked just as well or better for natural darkness as they did for the fell darkness of the Instant Darkness Powder in their kits. In his enhanced vision, Harry noticed that the tips of his and the other's wands glowed slightly, not enough to normally notice. The group of seven, with Ron and Luna trailing slightly, walked down a slight incline for several long, nervous minutes. Harry turned a slight corner and heard a soft, almost unnoticeable, CLICK, "DOWN," he screamed, and all seven souls dove for the floor of the tunnel as a fusillade of luminescent darts hissed out of previously unseen slits in the walls to impact and stick almost an inch into the soft, stone wall opposite. Harry stood slowly, holding a faint, glowing shield in front of the group for almost a minute before dropping it.
Bill peered at the darts closely, and let out a soft, low whistle, "Krachati Venom, we'd all be lying there begging for someone to come along and Crucio us, to get our mind off the pain from these buggers."
"Any ideas for avoiding anything else of the like?" Hermione asked, in a slightly breathless tone.
Bill shrugged, "Since we are in a relative hurry, I would suggest you or Harry lead and keep a Protego set to ward off solids like the darts, while the other casts a slight pressure spell ahead. I'll be right behind you casting for triggering wards." He frowned, "Normally on a tomb opening job like this, we'd spend weeks disabling each and every trap. But that one was original, I'm more concerned about You-Know-Who's toys."
"That's something we will worry about when we get to it," Harry breathed, a touch annoyed. He looked back at the rest of them, following in his wake, "Listen, Merlin knows what Tommy got up to when he was last here, so keep sharp." A quick nod from the remaining explorers and he led the way further into the tomb, a soft, worried feeling gnawing at the base of their spines.
After a minute more of slow, cautious travel, Hermione brushed a cobweb away from her face, "What was the most dangerous trap you've seen in one of these, Bill?" She didn't turn from her task of holding up a Protego, just strong enough to slow down anything and allow them to get out of the way if needed.
Bill shrugged, "Don't know about the most dangerous, but the most, let's say, adventurous, one that I've heard about, I learned from Dr. Henry Jones, he's a Wizard Archeologist that Gringotts has on retainer for consultations. He ran across one down in South America, where the item that the tomb was guarding wasn't all that hard to get, but as soon as you picked it up, anti-Apparation Wards sprung up and a huge, boulder tried to crush you, he says he survived by knowing how to run." He laughed softly, "I doubt we see anything like that here-" He and the rest of the group froze as a blood-chilling, trembling roar bounced off the tunnel ahead. Wands snapped outward, tips already glowing as the seven looked for the source of the sudden intrusion on the stillness of the tunnels. Ron took a single step backwards, raising his wand to point over the heads of his friends, and his back foot stepped off into nothingness.
He felt himself start to fall backwards, his heart in his throat; until, with a desperate cry, Luna dove, grabbed his arm, and jerked him to safety. He fell on her at the edge of the sudden abyss, panting as they both looked at each other wide-eyed, their hearts thundering in their chests. Neither said a word; as Luna slowly intertwined their left fingers together and glanced down to see the stones of her ring glowing softly. After another minute, in which the odd roar snapped out again, Ron slowly stood and pulled her to her feet, as they looked back at the seemingly bottomless chasm, that had appeared behind them.
"You alright, Ron?" Harry yelled back as he and Hermione shared a slightly concerned, look as loud, thundering footfalls started to approach closer.
"Yeah," Ron hollered back, "but we might have a time getting back."
"We'll deal with that when..." Harry began, but fell silent as the roar rang out, and suddenly he knew what was causing it, as a gigantic head appeared around the corner ahead. Harry felt his mouth go dry as a huge, fifty-foot body stomped closer, the tunnel walls automatically growing and shrinking to accommodate its bulk as it paused and took a breath...
ASSLANTIUM, Hermione roared, slashing down her wand and a foot thick wall of ice appeared in the tunnel, just as a wall of flame raced down the tunnel at them. The flames from the black, malevolent Dragon struck the ice, melting it, just as Hermione struggled to keep replenishing it, in turn. Out of breath, it stopped and Hermione staggered for an instant before recovering her composure and flaring to full strength once more. She looked over at Harry as he reached over his shoulder and the Sword of Gryffindor came free into his hand. "We need to kill it fast, Harry," Hermione hissed as she muttered something under her breath and a hissing, snarling ball of blue-white plasma appeared in her off hand.
"We can't get past it, and you felt those anti-Apparation wards when you came in," Harry replied, agreeing. "Can you break them?"
"Given time, of course," Hermione replied, then silenced instantly as another wall of flame appeared and her and Harry held back the flames from the rest once more. It stopped, to recharge, and Hermione looked to Harry once more. She gave him a slow, worried nod as she bit her bottom lip so hard that blood escaped, "I love you," she mouthed, and slashed her wand down. The others slipped forward as she did so, rolling behind pillars and bits of rubble.
The wall of ice vanished, and Harry, MOVED. He shot forward, his movements as blur as Hermione reestablished the wall of ice behind him, protecting their friends. She gestured to Remus and Tonks, and motioned towards the wall, they nodded and raised their wands towards it. The Dragon took a breath and shot a stream of fire at Harry. He rolled to his side, conjuring a shining silver shield emblazoned with the rampant lion of Gryffindor as he spun, and caught the stream of flame on his shield. The fire poured around him like water against breakers, before the Dragon stopped, stood back on its haunches and glared at the tiny annoyance before it. It reared back once more, and let loose another stream of flame, Harry rolled and dove forward, diving behind a block of ancient rubble. He glanced back as he felt Hermione getting ready to move to his aid, Now, Mione.
Hermione took a breath and the wall of ice vanished once more as five spell bolts snapped over her shoulders. It reappeared at a shoulder height to allow the others to fire over it as she MOVED, almost vanishing totally from sight as she sprinted across the twenty foot-wide tunnel and fifty yards closer to the Dragon. She rolled and crouched with her back to a large, stone pillar. She changed a glance around the pillar, only to pull back quickly as the Dragon roared in pain with one eye blinded from Bill's Conjuntivitus Curse, and fired at the only target it could see, her. This would be a lot simpler above ground; she growled over to Harry, frustration in her voice. We could really let go on this thing without having to worry about the tunnel collapsing, and we'd have room to move.
The Dragon roared in pain again, as one of Ron's cutting curses caught a weak spot at the base of its wing and dark red blood splashed over the stones. Harry's heart was in his throat as the Dragon fought back, and Ron and Luna were forced to retreat behind another obstruction to survive. Ron gave Harry a quick wave as the fire died down and Harry let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Ron looked over across the tunnel at Remus, Tonks and Bill where the three were crowded behind an oddly shaped chunk of fallen stone, Tonks was attending to a burn on Remus' leg, as he winced and held her other hand. He waved across, reassuring them, and in their distraction, they almost missed the end of it.
Harry waved across at Hermione, got a nod as she took a breath and twin pairs of eyes lit the dark tunnel. Hermione spun out from cover, made a spinning motion with her wand and steel bands a foot across appeared, clamping the Dragon's mouth shut, another gesture and she froze it's long, mobile neck in place. Beads of sweat slipped into her eyes as she held it steady, GO, HARRY!
I got this, Harry replied softly, rolling out from behind his covering block as the blade of the sword in his hand lit bright blue. He ran straight at the wall next to the Dragon's head, jumped up, kicked off and flipped backwards through the air. A bright blue afterimage from the blade intersected the neck of the Dragon, and demarked Harry's flight path as he landed on the other side of the creature in a forward roll, and sprung to his feet as a deafening thump announced the separation of the Dragon's head from it's neck. Harry panted slightly as he looked back, at the huge corpse now filling the tunnel. His eyes faded to normal as Hermione ran over and leaned her forehead against his for the span of several heartbeats, before the rest of the group joined them.
Save for Remus' smoking right hem, the rest of them seemed rather unharmed and Harry nodded gratefully. "Let's get going. Any idea now, Bill?" Harry muttered as he and Hermione once again took the point, and started to clamber over the huge corpse. Hermione made a face as she slipped as she stepped over the neck and found her leg coated in Dragon Blood.
"You know, we could sell this stuff," Ron commented as he passed, "according to the Twins, Dragon blood is in real short supply."
"I don't know, Harry," Bill replied, ignoring Ron as the rest did, "from similar tombs, there is probably a layer of traps under the...." He drifted off as a blank wall appeared in front of him. A single line of hieroglyphs was drawn across the top of the wall, and Bill pushed past Harry and Hermione, as Ron pulled a bar of Honeydukes chocolate from a magically cooled pocket. He broke off a chunk and gave it to Luna before taking a bite, and kneeling down, facing the way they had come. Bill reached up and traced the pictographs with a finger before looking back at Harry and getting a nod, he murmured a long, complicated spell, and watched as the wall split, a faintly glowing line of illumination appearing, then vanishing as the door opened fully.
The door rumbled open, with small bits of gravel raining down. Harry glanced back at Ron and waved him forward, he pointed at Ron and then right, at Hermione and left and at himself. He glanced back at Luna and motioned for her to follow him. She nodded and lowered her hood, before tugging at the black bandanna she had covering her hair tight. She held her wand at a low ready, and gave him a nod, Harry glanced at Ron, to get the same, he knew Hermione was ready, "GO!"
Harry dove forward into the room, leading with his wand. He felt Hermione following him through the door and moving to the right, as Ron entered and moved to the left. A soft scrape of boots on stone behind him announced Luna's entry. Glowing wandtips cast faint shadows on the walls but they did not penetrate the darkness. Nor did their night-vision spectacles penetrate the gloom, only showing a deep, fathomless greenness. With a quick decision, Harry glanced to either side, "Light them up."
LUMOS MAXIMA, four wandtips lit up with blinding beams, brighter than car headlamps, piercing the black room. The beams shot across the gloom, showing a walkway all the way around a huge, buried chamber. A loud, almost deafening hiss, greeted their ears, and slowly, hesitantly the four of them panned their beams down to reveal a rolling, writhing black mass. Bright glints of gold and jewels caught the lights as they slowly waved the beams around, finding solid gold sarcophagi, chests and stacks of gold and jewels, and in the exact center of the room, lying on an otherwise empty stone shelf, a six-foot shaft of carved Yew wood. From this distance it seemed carved with something, but on top, readily visible, a faceted sapphire the size of a clenched fist softly glowed.
Behind them, at the door, Bill slipped in, leading with his wand as Remus and Tonks backed in, with Tonks remaining at the door to cover the tunnel they had just come from.
The hissing redoubled, and Harry looked at the moving ground once more, and Harry took a quick sharp breath as his wandlight caught the glitter of innumerable faintly glowing eyes, Runespoors, Harry breathed as he caught sight of one as it crawled up a statue, its three heads and orange stripes leaving no room for doubt. He looked to Hermione, I guess this is up to me then. Hermione frowned, and shook her head slightly, pointing at herself as well. Harry sighed, but agreed silently, and took a small spool out of his pouch and clipped it to his belt. He watched as Hermione did the same and attached the other end of her Acromantula thread it contained to a solid-looking chunk of stone with a permanent Sticking Charm.
"Stay here," Hermione said to Ron and Luna as Remus, Tonks and Bill came into the room, "if they don't listen to Harry, we'll need you to use flame spells to drive them away." Ron didn't look happy, but sighed and took a position overlooking the well.
"What do you mean, talk to them?" Tonks growled as she looked down into the moving pit of snakes and shuddered.
"I'm a Parselmouth," Harry replied, slightly annoyed as he looked over at Hermione. She gave him a wan smile and leaned out over the fifty or so foot drop. "Let's go, Hermione." He leapt out, and descended down the wall of the pit to the sound of Hermione's boot steps on the wall and the whine of the descender spools letting out. Look at it this, way, Love, Harry said softly as they paused ten feet above the serpents. It's just like the Slytherin common room.
Next date, my dear, dear husband, Hermione replied with more than a touch of temerity, I get to pick the entertainment. She gave Harry a small grin that was more felt than seen in the dimness, Do your thing, Harry.
Harry took a breath, {Let us, pass}, he asked, his words escaping in a hiss.
{WHO!} A loud, many throated hiss answered, as many, many eyes found them, {we were left to guard this treasure.} Hermione looked over at Harry, as Harry's mind automatically translated for her. Her eyes cut towards the staff, and then the surrounding treasures, and shook her head briskly. Harry's eyes widened, in sudden realization.
{We are not here for Knatre's treasure, we are here for the stick,} Harry hissed back, {It was stolen from us.}
An odd murmur seemed to great his words as many, many left heads of the three-headed snakes bent together and hissed almost silently together, {That stick, is...wrong, any eggs laid near it hatch twisted and deformed, and must be destroyed. It was brought here by another one of the true tongue, many years ago, though he said he was a descendant of our master.}
{He is a dark...man} Harry replied, {we will take the stick from this place and only that, so your hatchlings may grow in peace...Will you let myself and my mate, pass?}
Several more tense moments passed as Harry glanced up and saw, Ron, Luna, Remus, Tonks and Bill spreading out around the periphery of the room, to get better angles to cast if need be. {YES,} the floor of snakes replied and like the parting of some dark sea, a clear path opened below them and all the way to the small dais where the staff waited, {take the accursed thing and go.}
Harry and Hermione dropped the remaining ten feet, detached their carabineers, and moved quickly to the stone slap. They both paused, looking down on it, and examined the spells on it and around it, "There's an Alarm Ward up Harry, something will happen," Hermione cautioned him.
"Did you hear that?" Harry asked over the mirrors, via the earpiece still in his ear.
"We'll be ready," the calm tones of Remus Lupin, answered him, Harry took a breath, and reached out and snatched the staff. He felt a stiff resistance as if someone was trying to hold it down, before it came free in his hand. An instant later, he and Hermione gasped in perfect synchronicity as they both felt the sweeping cold of a true Horcrux on the object. A pulse of magic snapped out, and something or somethings stirred. Harry flicked his wand, conjuring a strap on the staff and slung it over his back, crossing the sheath of his sword.
He and Hermione blurred back to their lines, clipped them on, and the howl of overstressed retracting spells accompanied them as they were pulled back up. Bill ran back to the opening, shouted, and jumped back, "INCENDIO!" he roared and a wall of flame shot out of his wand towards the tunnel. "INFERI," he snapped as he took cover behind the wall. Shambling steps came from the tunnel as Harry and the rest joined him.
"You know for a great and powerful, Dark Lord," Harry scoffed, "Tom sure does like the cliché, Mummies in a tomb..."
"You would think he could come up with something better," Hermione agreed, she paused as the sound of fresh Inferi came closer and tugged on her ponytail, "What about Quintapeds, no one uses them much?"
Ron rolled his eyes, "Would you two just do it?"
"You got our back, mate?" Harry asked seriously, and Ron replied, silently, in the same manner. He and Hermione spun out from cover, looking down the passage at it filled with lifeless bodies moving slowly towards them, their sightless eyes and greenish-grey, rotting skin causing a faint murmur of terror at the sight. Imperatum dispersium inferati de flagratto, Harry and Hermione cast as one, and spiraling lines of flame erupted from the tips of both of their wands, joining into one several feet out and changing to a brilliant, emerald green. The spell kept going, spreading into a fan that covered the tunnel and the almost two hundred Inferi packed shoulder to shoulder in it. A second passed, and as if a giant pair of scissors had cut their strings, all of the Inferi dropped to the ground as one.
Harry looked over at Hermione, swaying slightly as she took a staggering step to him. They held each other up for several long, shuddering breaths as the others looked on concerned, before with a rush, they stood, eyes glowing, already recovered from the immense cast.
Tonks and Remus rolled into the tunnel and flicked their wands, a clear path appeared through the Inferi, and carefully, but quickly the group moved through the plug to the clear part of the tunnel and headed up, the bouncing beams of their wandlights illuminating the way. They came to the vast, hole where the tunnel had been and stopped, unable to see the far side.
"Lethifolds," Ron howled from his position at the rear, he and Luna flicked their wands and watched as his hedgehog and her lion drove them back with spectral claws and flying quills. A wall of black approached, swallowing their wand beams. Remus and Tonks let their patroni free as well driving them back. "I would like to leave now, Harry," Ron snapped as Harry ran back, picked up Bill from where he had fallen after tripping over a loose stone, and Prongs entered the fray as well. Behind them Hermione was rapidly flicking her wand, gathering large chunks of stone and casting them into the void, she flicked her wand again, and a narrow, stone bridge appeared over the gap.
"COME ON," she yelled, and started over the bridge. She ran across and stepped out of the way as, Luna, Tonks, Remus, Bill, Ron and finally Harry crossed, her wand flicked again, and they ran down the passage. A soft click sounded under Luna's foot, "DOWN," A storm of darts snapped out from a new firing port, shooting back to impale some of the pursuing Lethifolds, but not stopping them, of course. They picked themselves up, and sprinted off again, leaping over chunks of fallen stone, and around pillars.
Finally after a period of a minute they saw a black outline in front of them, and in a rush, they were free into the cool, desert night. The tingle of anti-Apparation wards fell away, and with a series of CRACKs, POPs, and a couple of silent disappearances, they were gone.
Behind them, the entrance to the tomb ground closed as if it were never opened, any trace of blood absorbed into the sandstone.