Harry Potter & The Labyrinth of Doom
Chapter 01 - Welcome the Labyrinth of Doom

I would like to thank Angela Graham for the influence she's given me. Hehe. Thanks a bunch! All characters belong to Ms. JK Rowling, and Scholastic but not me. I only own the story plot. Thank you for science which allowed me to do half of this chapter. Thanks also to my great guy friends : S,C, and B. You know who you are ;)

**

The cell where Harry Potter and his best friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley were being held captive was pitch black. It smelled like mold, and several skeletons were lying in shambles on the ground. Hermione shuddered, wrapping her Hogwarts cloak around her. The guard had fallen asleep on the wooden bench. 'Its a shame we don't have any benches!' The brick floor was cold, the hay was a pale yellow. A bucket of old distilled water stood frozen next to the barred fence, standingnext to it was an ancient threadbare broom.

"Lovely living accomodations." Harry rolled his eyes and kicked the biscuit that was their ration for the day. It hit the ground and a hollow sound filled the room. "The buscuits are solid as rocks!" He exalimed, disgusted beyond words. "So anyone know what's..." Harry was interrupted in mid-sentence by a rattling at the door of the cell.

"Well well, my pets. You are about to face your fat." Wormtail grinned, exposing his ugly teeth rotten with lack of dental care. "Go on! Get out of that cell," he threatened them with a knife in his right hand, while beckoning them with his left. "Don't make me go in there." He snarled, leading Harry Potter, the fearless leader, followed by Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Harry walked up straight and tall, his head was held high. He looked stubborn, and ignorant which was unlike him for he was usually humble and modest. In fact, Harry looked like a candidate for the Draco Malfoy position in The Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone movie. They were led into another room where a bubbling cauldron was in the fireplace. Green bubbles rose and popped on the surface of the brew. Voldemort was taping his long nails onto the table next to him. He sat upon a stone throne, which had pointed edges protuding out from it.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Harry Potter, mudblood, and freckles." Voldemort childed. "I've waited a long time for this. I've chosen a rather exoitc death that you can help prevent, though not for long. I'll briefly tell you what is in store for 'the Boy who Lived' and his friends." Voldemort chuckled, and continued. "You will be placed in the legendary Labyrinth of Doom. I'm sure the mudblood would have read about it. Ha! Good luck getting out of it alive."

"What's the catch? Why aren't you killing us with Avada Kedavra?" Hermione demanded, unfuriated and powered by hate. Voldemort shrugged, wondering to himself why he didn't just kill Potter.

"Since you are my loyal enemy, and I tried to kill you with Avada Kedavra before and it failed. This is a more interesting and exotic death." Voldemort pointed out, at which Hermione rolled her eyes. Ron had turned a pale snow white with fear of Voldemort changing his mind. "The catch is, you die I win. You win and get through, you are free to go.. for then."

"What do you say that we kill this guy?" Ron asked bitterly irritated at Voldemort. "What do you say to that??" Ron pointed his wand at Voldemort's chest.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Voldemort cautioned. Hermione, Harry, and Ron looked at him with disbelief.

"Why would that be?" Ron asked, suspiciously, still holding the wand above his chest.

"Because. I'm the one only one who can let you inside the Labyrinth, which is the only way out from here." Voldemort replied simply. Nodding their heads in agreement, Ron held Voldemort at wandpoint as he showed them to the Labyrinth of Doom.

**

"I can't believe this!" Hermione screeched, in a nervous fit. Her brown hair was messy and pulled back into a sloppy bun. "We have to go through this place in one piece? This place is hello-operator!" Hermione wrinkled her nose at the smell of rotten eggs. "We might as well have gone to the barn!" There was an inscription on the stone wall in front of them. 'Enter thee who dares.' "Very challenging." Hermione mused.

"Really? I couldn't tell Miss-know-it-all." Ron mumbled, Harry knocked his shoulder. Ron pointed out some small scribbling, "If you can read this, you can get into the Labyrinth! Press the button stupid! Oh yeah." Ron pressed the button and the wall shook and shuddered and a couple of pebbles fell down. The wall opened up to reveal an elaborately decorated hallway which led down three corridors. They stepped inside the Great Hallway and the wall slid closed behind them. "Uh oh." There were three torches on the wall , Harry took one followed by Hermione and Ron.

"Wow! I can't believe it! We're actually inside the Labyrinth of Doom!" Hermione gushed, gazing around at the scenery. "So what direction do we go??"

Harry looked up and down the dark passageways. Each path leading toward a certain destiny. Destiny or fate, that you decided. It was obvious that they stay together, as a unity and not break apart or they would come to an uncertain doom. "I don't know! Just pick one." Harry exclaimed, rushing off to do eeny-meenie-minie-moh. (A/N: Sorry can't spell that. Lol.) "That one!" Harry pointed to the corridor to the very far right.

Hermione nodded with Ron, and they procceeded cautiously across the marble tile. The light from the torches barely reached around them, so they walked in a horizontal line, allowing the light to surround them all. There was an odd silence throughout the hall, only their footsteps echoing. Suddenly there was a rumble and a gigantic roar followed them. Hermione hurled around, and what she saw was so hideous she screamed at the sight of them and stood petrified with her hand covering her mouth.

**

Hermione's eyes were glued wide open, unable to do anything but shiver and scream was her worst nightmare. Ron turned a very pale, almost-like Snow White. Harry, who was the only one of the trio that had experience with the foul creatures and drew his wand from beneath his robes.

Pointing his wand at the Dementors, Harry prepared his 'happy thought' as said by Professor Remus Lupin who was an excellent mentor and guidance to him.. even now. "Expecto Patronum!" Harry cried, sending a beam of white light towards the lone Death Eater. The trio beamed radiantly, as they looked at the fallen robes of the once- Dementor.

"Yee-haw!", whooped Harry who was delighted at this plain fact that good had won over evil.. Or so he thought. To their dismay, out of the shadows beyond, where danger lurked everywhere, came a herd of Dementors preparing to give Hermione, Ron, and Harry their Dementor's kiss. 'Now I know why they call this the Labyrinth of Doom.' Harry thought, before encouraging Ron and Hermione to battle off the Dementors.

"Think your happy thought, then yell out 'Expecto Patronius'." He coaxed, guiding Hermione's wand arm to clutch her wand in a rather wobbly manner. Hermione was still shaken up by the one Dementor charging, and was now loosing color in her flushed face rapidly. "Go on, Herm. You can do it!" Harry encouraged, with all of her might she broke through her wall of silence to rejoin the living and shook her head.

"Alright.. If you say so Harry." She pointed her wand toward the Dementors, "Expecto Patronum!" By now, the Dementors were one hundred feet and closing in quickly. They hovered over the stone floor of the labyrinth. The Patronum was hardly effective, and only warded off several of the Dementors. "Oh dear." Hermione cried. 'Mum and dad, you'll probably never see me again, and I want you to know I love you.' Hermione's heart pounded as they closed in. Fifty...

"Ron!!!" Harry called out. A beam of light from Ron's wand shot out, and he had discovered the truth of fighting against Dementors. It was exhausting. They similtaneously shot their Patronius at the many Dementors. Hermione could only count thirty in the front. Forty feet... "We can do it!" Thirty feet... Twenty feet... Ron clutched his head in pain, as he struggled back up to join Harry and Hermione's side.

"We can... No! We will defeat them!" Ron shouted out, his echos bouncing off the walls of the passageway. Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven ... Six... Five.... Four.... Three... Two... "Harry!!" Hermione screamed, as she was chased off by Dementors. In deed it was a scene of havoc and uncanny resemblance to the American Civil War.

**

Hermione ran, as fast as her legs were capable of running. The smooth stone turned uneven cobblestone, and as she realized this, she tripped. Allowing the Dementors to catch up with what little distance she had gained. Hermione shrieked, as the Dementor lowered its hood. Its shaded, mysterious head came closer.. and closer to Hermione, who was trembling with her fear. She could see the bluish-purple outline of their cloaks, though their bodies seemed translucent.. as if nothing was there.

She was petrified with fear, as it grasped her shoulders bringing her closer as it bent down, fully prepared to suck out her soul. She could just imagine being there, and not being there. "Expecto Patronum!" Hermione shrieked with joy as she realized that the Dementor once clutching her shoulders and forming its lips into an 'O' was melting into the background, its purple cloak falling to the floor.

Sinking to the floor, Hermione looked around her. They were not physically disabled.. Just a few cuts and bruises here and there, which was nothing serious. Their torches, which they had once held, but dropped to the floor in the Dementor's pursuit. "Oh Harry." Hermione murmered, hugging Harry. "This place is a nightmare."

"That's why it's called the Labyrinth of Doom." Harry replied, fondly. Ron walked over, his face was dripping with sweat, and he knelt down next to them. "What's next, Miss-Know-It-All?" He asked, half-serious and half-teasing.

"A Labyrinth is a series of different passages. This one happens to be filled with booby-traps all over. All the passages will meet up at one common point, but then I could be wrong and we went down the wrong passage." Hermione replied, flipping a strand of hair out of her face.

"What?!?" Ron yelled, echos rebounding off the walls. "You mean we could be trapped in here.. With all these strange and bizarre creatures?!"

"Yes, that's what I mean." Hermione replied, sarcastically. "No! I was just kidding!"

"Herm, we don't have anytime to be kidding around. We'd better head out." Harry said, looking around at the odd handwriting on the walls.

"I think we should pause and figure out how we ought to do this." Hermione said, a tear slowly oozing out of the corner of her eye. 'Why did you-know-who have to take us here, to this wretched place? It reeks of mold and stale air!'

They had been kidnapped when Voldemort had tried to take control of Hogwarts. Albus Dumbledore did his best to ward off Voldemort, and had succeeded, but Voldemort would not leave without an consolation prize. He had taken Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

**

After recovering from the Dementor's attack, Hermione Granger was helped up by Harry. Limping, as she was running and tripped, causing a sprained ankle. "I'll make it through, you guys. Really I will." Hermione said, rubbing her ankle when the pain hit her.

Slowly ambling through the maze, and the constant fear of death was what drove them continuing through the maze. Finally after some time they came to a door. Opening it, they found themselves inside a circular room surrounded by other doors. The door slammed automatically behind them, transforming itself into a solid wall of brick. A speaker rumbled, and the high-pitched hum of the microphone when it comes too close to a speaker. Voldemort's rough voice filled the room.

"Ha! You believed that innocent story about you being a worthy opponent. Well here's your challenge, you have to find the one correct door within thirty seconds to escape.. alive from this room. Pity I would have enjoyed killing you myself, but it would have drained all my energy to kill all three of you nosy nuisances." Voldemort cackled evilly. "Of course, you can beg for mercy and I will let you live.. being my servants as Death Eaters."

"Shut up you b-"

Voldemort was quick to interrupt Harry. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You see I have control over how long it takes for the walls to interlock and squeeze you to death. So if I were you, I would keep my mouth shut." Voldemort laughed, and the walls started to close in.

**

Hermione grabbed the closest door that was near them. The three worked their way from the outside to the middle. They had nearly fifty doors to open, or they would be squeezed to their doom.

Harry's eyebrows furrowed, and he squinted his eyes deep in concentration and working at stealth mode trying to battle out the challenge of the doors. Each door he tried to open by its door knob would turn to a solid wall of brick. "I've got it!" Ron shouted, the trio ran through the open door just seconds before a pounding sound filled the room that they were previously in. Voldemort's shrill laugh cackled over the loudspeaker.

"He thinks we're dead." Harry said, triumphant.

"Isn't that what we want him to think?" Hermione asked.

"Well, yes. I'd guess so." Harry said. Ron was panting his tongue sticking out, but there wasn't any time to waste. They still had the rest of the Labyrinth to get through.

**

Please review :) Thanks! More romance coming up in the next chapter.

Summary: Will Harry, Hermione, and Ron get through the Labyrinth of Doom? What dangers will they face? Will they survive?