Chapter 13: Among Blooming Flowers
They were in a great cavern, stretching high into a darkened ceiling—one so dark they couldn't see. In front of them were tall, stone columns in the shape of lions. The trio walked among the darkness that seemed to press in on all of them, staring around at anything that would be in the shape of a sword.
When they neared the end of the cavern they saw some torches suddenly come to life so that they could see more… and what was there was a very strange sight.
Ron blinked and rubbed his eyes hard to make sure that he wasn't just seeing things as Harry stared. Hermione walked forward and stuttered, "T-they're a-all…"
"Hats," Ron finished simply.
And so they were… there were hats scattered throughout the room.
Not just any hats though, there were hundreds of them, big ones, small ones, old ones, new ones, some made of cloths, others made of metal, of all different colors and styles all of them fancy or frilly… there were even crowns made of solid gold.
They stared at the hundreds upon hundreds of them, trying to figure out what it meant.
"Ok," Ron said slowly. "What's happening here?"
Hermione strained her eyes, looking around at all the different hats and the walls. "Hey, what's that?!" she called, pointing to the wall at the very end of the room. There were runes carved onto the wall.
Harry held up his torch a little higher, though the room was now full of light and they ran over to see it.
"I can't read it," he said. He then looked to Hermione and asked, "But you studied ancient runes didn't you?"
"Minerva taught me," she nodded as she walked up and placed a hand on the stone. "Let me see… it says 'Put on the hat that only a true sorcerer would wear'."
They waited, but she didn't say anything else.
"That's it?" Harry asked incredulously.
"That's… it," she answered simply. "Just 'put on the hat that only a true sorcerer would wear'. It doesn't say anything else."
"Just brilliant," Ron sighed, shaking his head.
"But there are hundreds of them," Harry said, looking around at all the hats, "Where do we start? And what do we do when we found it?"
"I don't know," Hermione snapped. "Just start trying on hats."
And that's what they did.
For hours onward, they sorted through countless hats. Ron would look through the crowns and try each one on in turn before he would look to the next one. Hermione studied the wizard hats as Harry walked around, picking up ones at random and try it on. When nothing spectacular happened, they would just throw them off and start over.
"Ron," Hermione scolded. "Put down those knight helmets! We have to look through these." She then picked up a stack of fancy wizard, pointed hats.
"Why?" he asked, throwing a particular heavy helmet down onto the floor and coming over to her as she began sorting.
"It said a sorcerer's hat didn't it?" she asked. "We need to look at these."
Harry tossed aside an ugly hat with an enormous stuffed vulture on top, and a flowered bonnet in disgust. What where they supposed to do? What if they had already found it and just tossed it aside? And then if they do get their hands on it, what then? Were they supposed to try on every one until something happens?
That's what Ron thought. Starting to get impatient, Ron started grabbing hats at random and putting them on. When nothing happened he would throw them off before grabbing another.
Hermione kept glancing up at the words on the wall and then massaging her temples as if she had a headache.
Harry walked back and forth, wondering what they were to do… suddenly; his eyes fell onto a hat that had been stuffed in a corner. It was so dirty, patched, and frayed that it blended right with the dirt on the floor.
Curious, he walked over and picked it up. As he brushed off the dust he could see that it was another wizard's hat. However, unlike the other new ones, this one looked as if it had been chewed up and spit out by a pack of wolves… there was even a giant rip near the brim…
He was about to throw it back down when his fingers tingled slightly. Blinking he touched the rim again and his tingling went on… as if there was a jolt of energy coming from inside. Not sure why he was doing this, he shook the hat out and put it on.
This one was so big that it slipped down over his eyes and he was left in the dark. Feeling stupid, he was about to pull it off when a sly voice spoke in his ear, "Oh, you found me?"
Letting out a cry of shock, he felt himself fall backwards and onto the floor, the hat still on his head.
"Harry?" Hermione's voice called worriedly.
"Who are you?" Harry asked the hat.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked and he heard her footsteps as she ran over to him. "It's me…"
"No!" he called to her. "The hat! It talked!"
"It what?" Ron shouted from the other end of the room.
"Shut it for a second!" he called, sitting up, his hands on the brim, to keep his friends from ripping it off, as he waited.
And then he heard a little chuckle coming inside the hat, "Surprised?"
"Yes," he said.
"Yes, what?" asked Ron, sounding bewildered.
"Shh…" Harry hissed as the hat started speaking again.
"I'm guessing that you came here looking for something?" it asked. "Well, you found me, but first you must tell me what it is that you want?"
'I want the sword,' Harry thought before he could say the words, but the hat chuckled.
"Oh?" it asked. "The sword? Now why would you want that?"
'I want it to help my friend,' he thought hard, screwing up his eyes as he thought. 'Please help me…'
"And what is it that you get in return?" the hat asked. "I must say… you are a difficult person…"
'What do you mean?' Harry asked, suddenly feeling frustrated. 'Do I need any other reason? I just need the sword. Once we have that, then we're closer to helping him aren't we?'
He heard the hat chuckle again.
"Very well…" it said to him. Suddenly, there was a terrible squeezing around his head and something hit him so hard over the head that he saw stars… and then more darkness surrounded him.
*Dream*
He blinked a few times to get the sun out of his eyes.
There was a bright afternoon sun above him as he lay in a field that was filled flowers of every color. There were lilies, violets, roses, dandelions and many more that he could not name. It was like he was surrounded by a kaleidoscope of peculiar lights, varying in shades and hues. The field of grass held a pristine shade of emerald that matched his eyes, sparkling intensely under the different sources of light from the blue sky. Different flowers of various names and origins were scattered all around him, all of them abnormally big and blooming. Colors harmoniously mingled with one another, making the ground an improvised version of an earthly rainbow.
The few trees that were scattered far and wide across the green slopes clung on at impossible angles, luscious green blooms thriving among their branches. The wind blew lightly, filling the warm air with flower petals and their sweet floral scent. He glanced up that the bright, blue sky—not a single cloud to be seen. It was the perfect spring day.
At that he heard soft humming and knew who it was at once.
Smiling, he got up and calmly began to walk through the field towards the humming, and soon enough he found her. She was kneeling in the grass, surrounded by all the flowers… she had a bright-red flower, though it was pale compared to her red hair, in her hands and was holding it to her face as she breathed it's sweet scent in.
Waiting for a moment, he slowly approached her, letting his shoes hit the ground so he would not startle her. She opened her eyes and beamed at the sight of him. "You came back," she smiled.
"I always do," he answered as he stopped a few feet away. The wind blew around them, the wind causing her hair to fly in gentle waves around her… it was strange as he looked at her…
The green dress, the flying red hair with her rosy cheeks made her look like a beautiful rose… prettier than any of the flowers around him…
He shook his head hard, trying not to think like that. "What's your name?" he asked, knowing the answer.
She rolled her eyes with a smile, "Why ask a question you know the answer to? I don't remember…"
He laughed as he sat down with her. Her hair blew around gently again and a few stray strands brushed against his face. He stayed silent, not quite knowing how to start a conversation at the moment. After a few moments of silence, she asked, "So where did you go now?"
He grinned and quickly told her about climbing the mountain and going into the giant's village. She stared at him as if hypnotized as he focused on watching her slow weave the flowers into a wreath, making it with all the care and precision of an archer's aim.
When he told her about the hats she suddenly burst out laughing.
"I was expecting—I dunno—a dragon or something dangerous!" she laughed.
He grinned. "That's what I thought too."
No more words passed between them once their laughter died down. Her breathing slowly became normal and he closed his eyes, lying back, he adjusted himself in the field of flowers as he stared at the sky.
The bright sun smiled upon them, causing the carpet of colors near the fringes of the field to glow slightly. He turned on his side as he watched her cupped a single flower in her hand, plucking one fragile petal at a time, murmuring softly to herself.
Pulling off the petals one by one, she said silently, "He loves me…" And with the pull of another petal, "He loves me not."
"What are you doing?" he asked curiously.
"I heard someone say this once," she said smiling, plucking another petal. "I don't remember who, but I know that I heard it from somewhere. Saying it was a normalcy to do this to see if someone you loved really loved you back."
"So who are you thinking of?" he asked, for some reason, feeling a little bit annoyed at that.
She blushed, and just went on plucking petals as if he didn't say anything, until she reached the last one… "He loves me…"
She smiled as watched the wind pick the petal up and it fluttered around limply until it fell on the edge of Harry's nose.
She laughed loudly as she watched him for a moment before she laid down next to him, her red hair falling around her as she looked into his face. She smiled as she reached over to take the petal off his nose.
"What is it?" he asked her. "Why do you look at me like that?"
"Like how?" she asked him quietly, the wind ruffling their clothes slightly.
"Like that," he said… the odd twinkling in her eyes every time she looked at him. Why was that?
"I really don't know," she answered, the blush coming back to her face a little.
He continued to look into those warm, brown eyes and asked her, "I've got a secret… think you can keep it?"
She blinked. "Who am I going to tell? You're the only person I see here…"
He thought it over before he reached over to remove a strand of her red hair from her face. And before he could stop himself he heard himself say, "I think you're beautiful… you know?"
Her face burned red and she sat up straight again, her face turned away from him. He sat up as well… "I'm sorry," he said, his face also burning. "I don't… don't know why I said that but…"
"No," Ginny said, turning her red face back to him. "Thank you…" she then reached up to touch his cheek with the tips of her fingers, and he felt as if his skin burned where she touched him, and his heart started to beat a little faster. "And I think that you're rather handsome myself."
His eyes never leaving hers, he slowly put his hand up and felt her soft hair through his fingers. What was the matter with him? Why was he feeling this way? He'd known her for a long time, but this was a dream for crying out loud! So why did she feel so solid here with him. His eyes slowly began to close and knew that this dream was coming to an end.
He laid back down and she did the same. She took his hand—so soft and warm in his own—"Sleep," she said. "We can talk more next time. Come back soon."
Her face was the last thing he saw before his eyes opened.
(Happy Valentine's Day! I was saving this chapter especially for today! I hope you enjoy it and share this special day with someone you love!)