Chapter Eleven
Hermione's Surprise
Harry was clear-headed as they made a tour of the entire island, and flew out to sea several miles before making a huge circle and returning. He felt the power of the beast as it flew and let the air rushing by refresh him. He wasn't at all concerned that they were headed in the wrong direction. It was something about being air-born that made him take pleasure in riding; even if it was a dragon. He was just getting used to the surging power of the wings when they took their last turn and headed back to the island.
They made ever tighter circles over the castle with the full moon shining brightly down. He could begin to see details as they circled. He was surprised at the sight next to the front entrance. "Aren't those giants?" he shouted at Snape.
Snape glanced down and nodded. He yelled back over his shoulder, "I don't know if we will get away without being undetected, but we'll try to reach the northern tower and drop off there. Hold on because this will be tricky."
Harry gulped and clung to the cloth of Snape's shirt. They were spiraling in and going very fast. He noticed other things about the grounds as they got closer. "What are those?" There were a number of figures crossing the grounds. They were visible because of their light colored clothing and white hair.
Snape looked again. "Those are Veela," he answered.
"Veela," Harry said to himself, but aloud. He remembered watching the World Cup Quidditch game and seeing the mascots. They were women or creatures who resembled very seductive beautiful women until they became angry and then he'd seen them turn into a bird-like creature. "Why are they there?" he shouted, feeling the contents of his stomach rolling uncomfortably.
"….very dangerous. They are wild," Snape shouted and Harry heard the end of his words, "Have your wand ready."
Harry nervously let go with one hand and reached for his wand. It was gone. He searched frantically for a few seconds and decided that it wasn't any use. They were landing.
"We're not going to make the tower," Snape yelled. The sound was the last thing Harry heard as the dragon reared back and started his landing with his feet first and his wings back like an owl. The head reared back and the dragon began shooting fire at the landing zone.
Harry felt the action of the animal rearing back and automatically leaned forward, Snape did the same. But the landing was not smooth and they lost altitude and speed too fast and they landed with a violent jerk. Harry lost his hold and found himself flying out into space, flailing at the air and then thankfully landing on something soft and rolling down a steep gradient. He ended up sprawled on a flat stony surface. Almost instantaneously he heard a soft thud nearby.
The dragon seemed to be happy because he stood on the top of the curtain wall and roared and blew flame. He flapped his wings and walked on his two hind legs back and forth and stretched his neck to examine what was below him. He reared back and examined the moon smiling down on him and roared and shot fire at it. The noise was deafening and distracting.
Harry rolled to his back and looked up a set of stone stairs that led to main walkway between buildings. If he had been at Hogwarts he would have been on the open, more flattened area, where the greenhouses usually stood. As it was, he had landed on soft turf of a slope and rolled to the floor of the area just below the stairs. As he rolled over he saw people standing at the bottom of the stairs, the front most person standing within a foot of him and holding a wand pointed at his head.
Not more than a few feet away Harry made out Snape's body. He wasn't moving.
"Well hello, boys," a voice said softly. "That was quite an entrance."
Harry sat up, "Hermione?!" He studied the figure before him. The girl was dressed in men's clothing and had her hair cut short like a boy. There were several men who stood behind her and several women. They were all dressed like Moses' people, the Roma.
"Who came with you, Harry?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Snape," Harry said and struggled to his feet and felt her arms go around him.
"Oh Harry, I have been so worried. Will you ever forgive me for what I did?" she whispered and hugged him tight. "I couldn't help it. He made me, I didn't even know I was poisoning you and….and."
He enjoyed the hug and then pushed her back gently but quickly, " No time for that now Hermione. Check and see if Snape's ok. Lupin and Ron and Moses came by boat. We have to find them."
Hermione nodded quickly and motioned for one of the Romani women to check the still figure lying on the ground. "She is a drabengo, Harry; a healer." She motioned again and several of the figures behind her left them. "They'll find Lupin and Ron and the Gypsy. Now we've got to move and move quickly."
Harry stepped over to the woman who had rolled Snape on his back. His eyes were closed and a dark substance that looked black in the moonlight was spreading across his white shirt. Harry could see what caused it. It was one of the spines of the dragon that had broken off when they fell off. It was protruding from Snape's chest.
"Can you do something," he asked the woman and Hermione stepped in and knelt beside their Potion's teacher. She said something in Romani to the woman and got a nod.
"Yes, yes, she can help him," Hermione said. "But they'll be here any moment and we've got to get him away." She waved her wand and the body rose in midair. As a group they turned and entered a hole in the wall which Harry knew immediately was a sewer outlet. The smell of it was almost as wretched as the dragon's lair had been.
As they moved in the dark Harry felt smaller bodies join them and he was suddenly lifted and carried along as if caught in a torrent of water. "Hermione?!" he whispered in surprise.
Her voice floated back, "Never mind Harry, don't struggle They are house elves. Let them carry you until we are safe."
Harry sat by his teacher and watched as the Roma woman tended to the wound. The spike was removed and the bleeding stopped. He waited anxiously for the man to show some signs of life and couldn't understand why he was feeling so concerned about him.
Hermione was nearby talking to the people and the house elves surrounding her. To Harry, it looked like she had organized the group into a well-oiled, fighting machine. He was even amused at how the dozen or so house elves efficiently followed her orders. He remembered Dobby, the house elf who had befriended him when he was younger, with some nostalgia.
After everyone went in a dozen different directions she came to him and dropped to his side. They were in a large ugly room cut out of solid stone and rather ancient in appearance. The dirt of centuries seemed to be collected on its' walls.
"Are we safe here?" Harry asked. He was feeling the effects of the poisoning reappearing once again.
"So far," she answered. "Malfoy doesn't much care that I got loose and the Roma are with me. We don't pose much of a threat. But he knows you're coming. He's guessed that you've brought people with you." She glanced at the still figure of Snape. "However did you decide to bring Snape along?" she asked, scrunching her nose.
Harry shook his head slowly. "I don't think anyone has any idea what kind of a man he is," he said. "He's saved my life more than once Hermione. Anyway, you know why I'm here. I mean, why I'm really here?" He was afraid to look at her for a moment and then finally unable to delay any longer he glanced up.
"Of course, I know," she smiled. "I knew a long time ago Harry." She walked to Snape's side and bent down to touch his chest. "I know you didn't come to rescue me and I'm not hurt about that. I know you're here to kill Voldemort.' She talked calmly and looked back at him. "The Roma have what they call a 'godaver manush'; a wise one. From their description it is a half-elf, half human who tells them there is one that has been called to assassinate Voldemort. It wasn't hard to put two and two together."
"Did you know that he is Ramond's adoptive father," Harry nodded in the direction of the Potion's master and moved closer. He nodded again at her expression. "Yes, that's his name, and you aren't surprised that I know. Well, Hermione, I won't have much of a chance of killing anyone, if Snape dies or even if Moses gets here soon. Snape has been keeping me alive with a potion, but it's losing its' effects. I'm feeling it already. Each time I lose more and more of myself," Harry shivered involuntarily.
Hermione nodded, "That's why I've spent all my time in locating the antidote and planning a way for us to get it."
Harry looked at her and smiled weakly. "You are amazing. Most people would be trying to figure how to get off this island."
"And most people would have the sense not to try and fly a dragon…" she stopped and thought about it and finished, " anywhere," she said and smiled. "Honestly Harry, you practically sent up red sparks that you were here." Then, she grinned, "Actually, the dragon is still sitting on the wall and burning everything in sight. So I guess you did send up red sparks in a manner-of-speaking."
He nodded and leaned back against the stone wall to rest and asked, "Tell me what I need to do."
She sat and leaned her back against Snape and folded her hands in her lap. "I am so thankful you are part muggle, because you'd never understand this if you weren't," she said.
"Shouldn't I be going after the antidote right now instead of wasting time?" he asked.
"We have to wait an hour," she began. "Let me explain. Stick with me if you can and I'll tell you my plan."
Harry sat and listened, nodding every now and again as she told him.
"When we were fighting at the Department of Mysteries we went into the room with the time devices. There were an assortment of time-turners there. I'd already turned mine in after our third year, but I saw a very tiny one there and it was quite beautiful, so I pocketed it."
"You didn't?!" Harry was amazed. Hermione was a rule-follower. This act of thievery was very unlike her.
"I did," she answered, "and it's helped me escape Malfoy and…and Him." Her face crumpled up and Harry thought she was close to tears. " Harry, I really didn't have any idea! You told us you had faced Voldemort," she whispered the name, "but I had no idea how horrible he really is. He came here once and Malfoy had me dragged up there to that horrific office to see him."
"Did he hurt you, Hermione?" Harry asked coldly, feeling dread envelope his heart.
"No more than he has hurt anyone else, Harry," she said and reached for his hand. They clung to one another for a brief moment. "I consider myself lucky really. That's a story for another time though and I must go on because our time is running out."
He nodded and turned loose her hand. His mind was still on the possibilities of what Voldemort could have done to her. He'd experienced the Cruciatus Curse himself but there were so many more things the evil wizard could have done knowing that Hermione was his friend.
"Well the extraordinary thing about this castle is that it is exactly like Hogwarts; and so very unlike it. The halls, the stairways even Dumbledore's office is duplicated here. Yet, it has the most evil atmosphere," she said and shivered staring up at the ceiling as if visualizing the upper floors. "There are ghosts here too, but they wail continuously and rattle their chains. Dementors usually roam the halls, although Malfoy has sent them outside. It's just so eerie. You can expect anything to jump out at you, poltergeists that are wretched, and boggarts; and it's very dark." She shivered again and wrapped arms around herself. "It's so cold all the time. If I were a prisoner I certainly would have gone mad in no time."
"We saw the Veela and the giants when we flew in," Harry added.
Oh yes, the Veela," Hermione nodded. "There are trolls, although you can usually smell them coming and a particularly nasty kind of animal rather like a rat with very sharp long teeth. A sort of vampire rat." She gulped and looked at him. "But… Well, anyway, there is a room here which is the same as the Room of Requirement. I'd broken away from Malfoy's guards and was looking for a place to hide. I took a chance that if there was one in Hogwarts… well...there would be one here. And there it was." She shrugged palms up as if to say, 'what do you know?'.
"Really?!" Harry gasped and grabbed his ribs. The effects were returning full force and she frowned in sympathy.
"Hold on a little longer, Harry. We have to wait. You see there are stairs leading to Malfoy's office- which would be Dumbledore's office in Hogwarts- and they are inside the Room of Requirement. The stairs don't go all the way. I've given that some thought and I decided you needed to be here on the island and your need would be so great that when we walk into the room the stairs will then reach all the way."
"Then what," Harry grunted.
"The house elves are here as servants just like they are at Hogwarts but they have no love of the masters they serve. I learned from one that just before you arrived Malfoy left his office and left the antidote lying on his desk. By now he's probably returned to his office so I can't just walk in and get it."
Then, Harry understood why they were waiting. "The time-turner! I turn it back, go to the Room of Requirement, go up the stairs, steal the antidote and bring it back."
"No," she said and stopped. "I go."
He started to protest.
"I understand Harry but you won't make it if you go for it," she said it quietly. You can't understand what Azkaban is like until you've been down the halls. There are traps…lethal traps. They are unlike the ones at Hogwarts. They don't just catch your leg and hold you fast; they would cut it off. It's still hugely dangerous even though the halls are almost empty now."
He sat back and tried to change the subject. He knew how stubborn she could be and he didn't have the strength to argue. "Can't we wait for Lupin, Moses and Ron?"
Hermione looked at him nervously and answered, "I don't think they'll get here in time. They were spotted almost immediately. I think they'll be delayed." Her voice dropped and she turned her head to stare at Snape who remained still, his eyes closed.
Harry watched her and sank back. He could feel himself losing ground. "How much time has gone by? he asked.
"It's almost time," she said.
"Tell me the rest before you go," he murmured. "You said something about me being a muggle and that I would understand something. What did you mean?"
"Voldemort keeps in touch with Malfoy by using a telephone," she said quietly.
Harry opened his eyes and stared at her in disbelief.
"It doesn't have any wires leading to it, Harry," Hermione said and laughed weakly. She stared at him with a slightly wild look in her eyes. "You should have seen Lucius Malfoy when he tried to use it for the first time."
"Why?" Harry asked in surprise. "Why a telephone?"
She shook her head and answered, "It's obviously magical because it has no wires. Azkaban has no electricity. Or it's a ploy of some kind. He…Malfoy tried to shout at it at first and then he picked the receiver up and talked in the wrong end. I heard His voice," she closed her eyes momentarily and he saw her shiver again. "He was giving Malfoy orders to send boats over with some of the Death Eaters.
"They were all killed by the elves," Harry managed.
She nodded. "He's desperate to kill you," she said looking at him with huge liquid eyes. "There's something you have he wants too, something that Sirius took away with him when he escaped Azkaban. An object of some kind."
Harry stared at her and repeated, "An object?"
She nodded. "I think it's a key of some kind."
"I think Sirius would have told me last year," Harry said. "He didn't mention anything. I don't have a key. A key for what?"
She shook her head and started to stand. A hand reached up and grabbed her arm. It was Snape.
"I will go to the Room of Requirement and get the antidote," he said opening his eyes slowly.
Harry was already beginning to shiver violently and he could feet the knots in his belly. "Whoever goes, needs to do it now," he gasped.
Hermione pushed the hand off and stood. She looked down at Snape. "No Professor, you're too weak. I'm going."
"Miss Granger," Snape began. He also sounded like he was in pain.
"I'm in charge now, Professor. You have to trust me." She turned back to Harry, ignoring the man's attempts to raise himself into a sitting posture. "Harry, I don't know what you brought with you that Voldemort wants so badly, but he will more than likely show up soon to collect it. He told Malfoy to take it even if you were dead. There's something else."
Harry waited, forcing himself to not groan aloud. The symptoms of his poisoning were coming back quickly.
"Peter Pettigrew was here. Malfoy made him use the telephone. He talked to…" she stammered and stopped. "He talked to Sirius." She turned and moved away quickly, knowing he would have a hundred questions for her. "While I'm gone you can think about it," she said. She pulled a necklace out from her shirt and turned to leave. "If I'm not back in fifteen minutes then you know I've failed."
She hurried away just as Harry spoke to the darkness already knowing she was away. "Hermione, be careful please."