Chapter Two.
Sunlight eagerly beamed down upon the blinking face of Harry Potter. He held a bruised arm as a shield, and squinted. The morning tasted delicious, with the dew sprinkled across the garden. A vivid white fence peeked out behind the mailbox and wildflowers planted in the lawn. The raven-haired teen pushed the gate forward, wincing as it creaked slightly. His shoes clicked against the stone path. If he didn't know better, he wouldn't have realized it was winter. It was late March, and it hadn't snowed in over a month. It was still winter, though. He wondered how Luna managed to get her flowers to grow so quickly.
The cotton-yellow cottage in front of Harry beamed proudly, showing off it's full window boxes and newly swept porch. The door had a screen on it, but the insides were dark. The shade was cooling in the odd warmth, reminding Harry of his business at the country home of Luna Lovegood. Rapping on the door, his knuckles were unbelievably sore. In fact, his body was sore. The boy hadn't realized his cuts until this moment, too focus on the Asurian message.
Waiting for Luna to answer, he pulled out the crumpled paper, careful not to rip it. His handwriting was hard to read, and dreadfully uneven, but he wasn't caring about it while his flat was being destroyed. He prayed that the dementors hadn't destroyed his moving boxes.
Feles, noctis lussus nos hic.
Nos adveho per haud sanguis.
Nos reverto ut Urbs, Nemus.
Quod ut superstes calx nos vado.
A few of the words he knew. Harry leaned against the wall, and took a pencil out of his pocket, re-writing the riddle in English, using his own Latin vocabulary.
Cat ___ us here
We come with no blood
We ___ to ___ ___
And to ___ ___ we go
Definitely Latin. Harry beamed at the thought of translating a whole line on his own, but there were still clusters he didn't understand. Noctis was a variation of night, but why was it different? And nemus was a variation oftrees. Luna would know. By the way, why hadn't she answered the door? He'd given her plenty of time. Harry knocked again, more urgently this time. It was getting chilly on the porch.
"Harry! I didn't know you were visiting!" A whispy voice sang from behind the teen.
"Luna, I need help."
"Feel free to come inside, I'll be glad to help you." Lovegood unlocked the door magically, being in the countryside, and walked into the home. It had tiled floors, marble countertops, a stainless steel sink, and a large plastic refrigerator. The kitchen was perfectly normal for any average muggle home, but for a wizard, it was completely out of the ordinary. Harry gaped at her wind chimes and tennis shoes, her note pads and frying pans. Had Harry not known better, he would have assumed Luna was a muggle. She didn't have any strange nick nack collections or moving photos of any sort. In the moment, Harry lost himself in the wonder that was her kitchen.
Luna came around the corner, prompting him of his duty.
"Harry, you seemed like this was urgent."
He snapped out of the daze immediately. "Yes. I have a riddle for you, and I've translated part of it. I'm pretty sure it's Latin, and I think I spelled everything correctly, but there are some places where I'm not so sure, could you help me figure out what it means?"
"Auror things?" She questioned, giving him a raised eyebrow.
"Kind of." He replied.
"Well, hand it over." Luna stretched out her hand, and grabbed a ball-point pen.
Feles, noctis lussus nos hic.
Nos adveho per haud sanguis.
Nos reverto ut Urbs, Nemus.
Quod ut superstes calx nos vado.
Cat ___ us here
We come with no blood
We ___ to ___ ___
And to ___ ___ we go
"Fascinating."
"Well? What is it?" Harry was impatient, since she obviously knew the translation.
"Harry, it is extremely important that you explain to me immediately where this riddle came from." Her tone was deadly soft and urgent. What had he done wrong?
"It's nothing."
"You don't seem to understand the value of this verse. It was a mantra, wasn't it?" What was Luna going on about chants now for?
"So? The dementors were chanting it while they were destroying the town, that's all! Just exploding my apartment, nothing else!" His anger was building up now. He was going to move out of that horrid flat in less than two months, and those stupid monsters come and blow everything up in his face. Blood began to ooze slowly from a scrape on his cheek.
"Were they normal dementors?" Luna managed to remain calm, but she still held a concerned tone.
"Of course they we-. Wait, no. They were those Azuran things."
"Asuras." Luna corrected him.
"Whatever. It's just some fancy title the public posted on them." Harry snapped. He didn't have time for this! He needed to track their source, not stand around a countertop in England's countryside.
"Not whatever. The Asuras are the name of Hindu Demons, and that name is actually being used by the Ministry. It leaked out, and has been used in the press ever since. They are a mutated, super charged form of dementor that is more deadly and lethal than the first. Their coldness will freeze you if they become agitated, and their kiss is nothing compared to a blast of energy. They aren't wild animals. They're a passage between universes."
Something told Harry that Luna had just spilled some confidential information from her Unspeakable's occupation in the heart of the Ministry of Magic. But he wasn't concerned about that at the moment. Passage. That was the key word. He remembered now. Luna, the woman who called Ginny away!
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Suddenly, a dreamy, soft voice rang out in the house. Where had he heard that before? Ginny turned, startled, but knowing. Harry looked around. The voice was coming from everywhere. Where was this woman that called out?
"Ginny… It's time to say goodbye." Who was that? He knew that voice!
"Harry, I need to go. It's okay. It'll be fine. You need to let go of me, though. I can't hold you back from what you need to do." Ginny looked up at the raven-haired boy. She knew that Harry wasn't ready to lose someone this close after the war.
"Ginny…" The voice called out again.
"She's waiting for me. Don't be afraid of her, Harry. She will never harm you." Ginny smiled, and gave the shocked male one last, loving hug before walking wordlessly into the kitchen, opening the front door, and walking out.
Mindlessly hoping to follow her, Harry ran out the front door. He blinked. There was nothing to see except for the puddles. There were no more hugs, only the cold wind swirling, howling. Who was that woman? The one with the airy voice?
Harry knew her. He knew he did.
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"It was you!" He burst out mindlessly, reminding Luna quite a lot of Ron Weasley.
"Excuse me?"
"You're the girl! The one who called Ginny off!"
Luna's eyes got extremely wide, and she looked very, very scared. What was with her today? She was more serious than ever since he showed her the riddle.
"Go! Get out! Go on!" She practically shoved him out of the door, throwing the paper into his hands as the door locked behind him. The shutters flew together, and suddenly the Lovegood residence became foreboding and uninviting.
And as Harry opened the white fence gate again, he looked down at the note card, and smiled. She couldn't run forever. She gave the answer, and was simply waiting for him to figure out the question.
Cat of night sent us here
We come with no blood
We return to City of Trees
And to standing stones we go
BRIDGE.
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Harry scowled, grimacing at the thought of being kicked out of Hermione and Luna's houses. Gathering his courage off the floor, he knocked smoothly on the wooden frame of the ordinary suburban home. 12 minutes later, the door slowly swung open, revealing a bushy-haired woman. Her auburn eyes peered cautiously out, and then, in a mere second, Harry felt a warm hug surround him.
"Harry! We haven't talked in a month! I've just been so busy, and I'm sure that you've been busy too! I was so scared when I saw in the newspaper that your town had been attacked, with you being ready to move out and everything! You can stay with me if you want, or you could stay with… him." Hermione was talking at rapid speed, but when she reached the end, her voice became cold and vicious at the simple thought of Ron.
"Hermione. Breathe. I need your help."
"Of course! Of course! Of course, of course, of course! What can I help you with, Harry? Come inside? Oh, it's been so long!"
Harry smiled slightly, as his best friend tripped over her own feet in happiness. He did feel sorry for not being able to keep in touch with her, but this was urgent. Hermione made way for the kitchen, but Harry grabbed her by the wrist, and led her to the living room. The windows were large, and sunlight spilled into them. Of course, wizards need privacy, and they aren't called magical for nothing. The two pressed through, the girl understanding that this needed to be discussed immediately, whatever this was. Hermione pulled out a small, scarlet book titled, Encyclopedia of Secret Libraries, and turned to page 14. Inside was a slip of paper, with some runes. Harry didn't recognize them, but Hermione obviously understood them.
"Kenaz isa sowulo laguz." Once she uttered the runes, they rearranged themselves. Then, without warning, Hermione dragged Harry by his wrist through the bookshelf, placing the scarlet encyclopedia back on the shelf as she went.
The room in which they entered was enormous, but still cozy. The ceilings were domed, with intricate Greek frescoes and carvings along the stone rafters. Shelves lined the walls, and a fireplace was to the right. Grand artifacts from across the world donned shelves, and a table, with one corner covered in newspaper clippings, was the centerpiece. Wooden chairs with indigo cushions surrounded the table.
"Impressive, Hermione. You told me you had a secret library in your living room, but not a royal researching chamber!" Hermione gave him an icy glare, and sat both of them next to the table.
"You seemed urgent, Harry. What was the problem?" The raven haired boy sighed heavily. This could take a while. "Harry Potter, start talking RIGHT NOW."
"Well, Hermione, remember when my apartment was destroyed by the Asuras-"
"Of course!"
"Hermione, don't interrupt." She nodded. "Well, just before that, I was saying goodbye to Ginny, and I heard a whispy voice telling her it was time to die. Of course I was using the Resurrection Stone, and Ginny said not to fear her before leaving-"
"Harry! You said you'd never use it again! And obviously it was Luna! Don't you think, Harry? Whispy voice? Dreamy personality? We need to visit her! Why did you come here?!"
"Hermione…"
"Oh yea. Not through."
"Well, after a while I figured out it was Luna, and then, the Asura attack happened. They were chanting something in Latin, I'll tell you in a minute. I translated part of it, and Luna did the rest. When I brought up her doing work with the dead, she got extremely angry and kicked me out. She was unusually serious during the riddle translation also."
"Done?"
"Pretty much"
"Well? Do you have the riddle with you?"
Cat of night sent us here
We come with no blood
We return to City of Trees
And to standing stones we go
BRIDGE.
Hermione nodded quickly, silence growing between them as her brow furrowed slowly, as realization swept over the girl's face.
"Harry! Don't you understand? We need to talk to Luna right now!"
"Hermione, I already tried that."
"Well try again! Don't you understand?"
"Hmmm… no?"
Hermione gave an exasperated sigh, and began explaining at lightning speed.
"Harry, Luna obviously wrote bridge at the bottom to help you understand the riddle, but isn't allowed to tell you anything! Have you forgotten she's an Unspeakable? She's sworn not to tell you! City of Trees is a place that you can `bridge' over to the dead, otherwise she wouldn't get so scared when you talked about her talking to the dead, Cat of Night is a person, and they are going to a standing stone place. Dementors and Asuras don't have blood like humans and animals, so that would explain the second line, right? Hmmm… It also seems like City of Trees is where they come from. I'm sure that if we researched we could find something about this. I'm sure that the next Asura attack will be at a place full of standing stones… a museum? A gallery? We need to have Luna come here, we can't just let her get away! Unspeakable or not, we need to stop the Asuras! We could save hundreds of people from dieing!"
"Now wait, Hermione. I think I got the information, but I thought I made it clear that I don't want any more hero crap, no matter how much the paparazzi will lap it up!"
"Harry! It won't take long! They're already pouncing over the Asura attacks, saying how your'e behind it because you are jealous of people with parents!"
Harry's fists balled up in fury. "Oh really?"
"Yes! And you know what we need to do, don't you?"
"Does that mean I have to do it?" Hermione sighed at his stubbornness.
"Think of it this way- If we don't get the information from Luna, you don't have to do it, and then thousands of people die from Super Dementors!"
"Ugh. Fine, Hermione. Come to work with me tomorrow, and we'll corner Luna on her way to the Department of Mysteries."
"Alright."
"So… How do I get out of here?"
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Oddly colored Victorian architecture peered down as a formally dressed Harry Potter walked briskly through the ebon marble hallways, passing offices and meetings as he went, eyes focused eerily ahead. His gaze did not waver when a familiar face spoke to him but instead, the emerald eyed man continued his stride towards the Department of Mysteries. Some heads turned, a few words were whispered, but it didn't matter to him anymore. They should be used to seeing him. He was sure used to their ugly rumors.
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