Chapter 14 – Unbreakable Code
Disclaimer – I don't own any of the recognisable characters in this story.
Last Chapter – "Don't you d- AHHH!" Hermione squealed as Draco pressed the twirled metal into her palm and brought it down in one swift movement. The slice immediately sent a stream of blood into the basin, immediately turning the clear liquid a deep red. It began to swirl in the opposite direction, faster than before. It circled and circled, a vibrant crimson light emanating from it, engulfing Hermione's whole body.
Without warning, the liquid lurched forward, snatching Hermione up in it's bloody hands and threw her into the depths of the basin. Draco heard the scream echo the room around him long after she was gone.
Hermione's chilling scream was washed away by the rushing water. It filled her mouth with crimson and she choked, coughing up water. But it was everyone, suffocating her, desperately trying to drown her. She tried to scream but more blood filled her mouth. Hermione threw her arms around the place – she had the sensation that she was swimming and flying at the same time.
This suddenly ended as she fell, feeling her knees hit stone. Her whole body jolted and shuddered, sending her straight to the floor. Hermione spluttered, coughing blood and water up onto the stone floor around her. She wiped the red liquid from her face, clearing her eyes so she could see. Her entire body was covered in blood; everything from her head, to her clothes, to her feet; she was soaked.
A mysterious breeze passed her, chilling her to the bone. She gazed around the room, unable to find a window. This sent more shivers down her spine.
What is this place? Hermione wondered in amazement. A sting from her hand reminded her what had happened and anger suddenly surged through her. Though she was covered in crimson water, the actual blood from her hand shone more vibrantly than it all. She ripped off the bottom of her jacket, wrapping it around her wounded hand.
If Draco needed to use my blood, why did he have to make the cut so bloody deep? Hermione cursed in her mind. She tied the two ends of the material together tightly, drawing in a sharp breath of pain.
"Damn you, Draco."
On the other side of the door, Draco grimaced. He remembered his first time going through the door clearly, and pictured the pain and discomfort Hermione was going through now. He was thankful that it only happened the first time. Otherwise he wouldn't bother coming in here as often as he did.
Draco raised his left hand, hovering it over the basin warily. He knew this time it wouldn't hurt, but the feeling was unpleasant all the same. Squeezing his eyes shut – a technique that blocked out nausea – he plunged his hand into the clear contents of the bowl. It sucked him forward into it, sending him down a whirlpool-filled path.
He span rapidly, his head spinning as he became dizzier and dizzier. He shut his eyes even tighter, thinking over and over in his head, "Mind over body, mind over body."
This sensation he was feeling was not really all that bad. It was but a spell toying with the mind and if you were powerful enough, you could block it out. Draco was still in need of a little practice, though knowing that he'd come out of it better than Hermione sure helped.
Hermione shivered, laying on her back in a pool of blood-like water. Her body was covered in goose bumps and the nausea had just hit her. It made her head spin, her throat burn and her stomach ache. She closed her eyes, breathing heavily, trying desperately to stop shaking.
Another gust of wind blew around her, making her squeeze her eyes tighter still. She had no idea what was going on and it was getting to her. This time, the wind didn't subside – it got greater; louder - more frightening.
It swirled around her in large loops, the sound becoming deafening. Hermione's robe blew around her and her hair whipped her face. Suddenly the wind dropped to nothing, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. Hermione slowly opened her eyes, blinked a few times and gazed around the room.
She almost screamed.
Draco's feet touched down on the floor lightly, a much more graceful entrance than Hermione's. He looked down at her, smirking.
"Bit wet, Hermione?" Draco teased. Hermione swore quite rudely at him.
"Wow, you are a fiesty one, aren't you?" Draco sneered.
"What … was that-that thing!" Hermione choked out angrily. "A warning … would have been … nice!"
"It's a portal – the only way you can reach this room," Draco informed her.
"Well why aren't you all wet?" Hermione exclaimed, appearing to have forgotten that she was breathless. "And why haven't you got a huge gaping cut on your palm?" She aggressively thrust her bandaged hand as close to him as she could get without standing.
Draco extended his left hand, revealing a faint white line across his palm.
"It only happens the first time. Once, then that's it. It's a security device. My ancestors figured that if anyone was going to steal anything from here, they'd get to this stage and it'd scare them off. They wouldn't try it a second time."
"Well if you expected this to happen every time, why would you break in again, it'd be madness!" Hermione agreed. "But why would they want to steal anything from this room?"
They both looked around the empty room until their eyes fell on the multi-coloured door on the other side.
"This is only the first room. We're not on the third-storey yet."
"Geez, what's so secret that you have to go to this much trouble to find it?" Hermione wondered aloud.
"It's a secret," Draco smirked and pulled his wand out of his pocket, pointing it at Hermione. She cringed immediately, instinctively covering her face with her hands. Draco just shook his head and muttered an incantation. Seconds later Hermione was bone dry and warm, not a drop of blood in sight – except of course the bloodied bandage over her wounded hand.
Draco walked over to her and helped her up, knowing she'd still feel quite weak. He inspected her left hand, pulling the material back to see the cut.
"I think I got a little carried away," Draco noted but without any trace of guilt. "I'd heal it for you, but there really is no point yet."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, leaning against him as she could not hold herself up.
"You'll see," Draco said, helping her walk towards the next door. "Just stay awake."
"I'll try," Hermione murmured, her eyes fluttering closed.
"Awake!"
Hermione's eyes snapped open instantly.
"You can't fall asleep, Hermione, do you understand?"
Hermione nodded groggily. They'd reached the next door, but now up close Hermione realised there were actually four narrow doors crammed right next to each other. Each door was painted a different colour; red, green, blue and yellow.
"House colours?" Hermione asked.
"Cleveer, but no," Draco answered. "They're elements. Fire, earth, water and air."
Hermione now noticed the tiny gold engravings on each door; a flame, a flower, a droplet of water and a cloud.
"But what do they mean?" Hermione asked. "How do we get through to the next room?"
In answer, something fell from the roof, hitting the floor with a dull thud. It was an envelope. Hermione stared at it in surprise before slowly turning her head to face Draco who was looking back at her, amused.
"W-What do we do?" Hermione asked, a little freaked.
"Open it and find out," Draco told her, not finding this at all as disconcerting as Hermione. She hesitantly stepped towards the envelope, almost scared it was going to jump up at her.
"It wont bite," Draco commented, the corner of his mouth twitching, trying not to smile. Her glared at him.
"I know that!" She snapped and snatched the envelope from the ground. It was yellowed, obviously from age and had odd markings on the front. She brought it closer to her face, squinting, trying to decipher the code.
"Don't bother trying to read that. It'd be impossible for you, no matter how smart you are."
Hermione ignored him and carefully opened it. She was surprised to see that it was wax-sealed, but she gently prised it open. Pulling out an equally yellowed piece of parchment, Hermione began to feel a strange sensation from it. She looked back up at Draco.
"Will this one bite me?" Hermione asked, half-joking but serious at the same time.
Draco laughed, "It's not dangerous! … Well, nothing life-threatening anyway."
"Oh, that makes me want to open it!" Hermione said sarcastically, but reluctantly opened the folded parchment up, holding her breath. Hermione stared at the paper, as she had with the envelope.
"What is this gibberish?" Hermione exclaimed. "It makes absolutely no sense."
"It's called code and it's not gibberish – I can read it perfectly," Draco informed her.
"You can read this?" Hermione waved the paper in front of his face. "This actually makes sense to you!" Draco grabbed her arm and gently moved it back to Hermione's side, out of his face, almost looking down on her.
"Yes I can," Draco said, looking almost offended that she didn't believe him.
"Well then what are we waiting for! Read it to me."
"No."
Hermione's face fell.
"What, why?"
"You're brainy enough. I know you're not stupid."
"Yes, but you said no matter how smart I-"
"Maybe not to read it … but to make some sense of it, to understand it …" Draco trailed off. Hermione's eyes narrowed, squinting hard in thought.
"Think about it, what's something that could allow me to read it but not you?" Draco hinted.
"Oh, it must be written in some kind of Prat Code, right?" Hermione retorted sarcastically, becoming impatient.
"I'm being serious," Draco insisted. "What are some factors that make us different?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, exasperated.
"Merlin, where do I start?"
Draco gave her a stern look.
"Okay, alright, fine … you're a Malfoy, a blonde git, you didn't believe that you had Muggle parents your whole life, I don't live in a house where I need a map and compass just to find my way around, I'm not a spoilt brat, you're in Slytherin, you-"
Hermione broke off mid-sentence, her eyes flickering from the parchment to the green door in front of her. She had just laid her eyes on something she had missed before. In the top corner of the parchment was a symbol of a flower inside a circular gold ring.
"The doors do correspond to House colours, don't they?" Hermione asked.
"Well most of my ancestors did attend the school … so they confined this area to only allow past, present and future Hogwarts students to enter … of course, most of the people who come through here are Malfoy's. You are one of the very few to come this far who isn't related to me."
Draco said this as though Hermione should feel proud of this fact – she wasn't.
"So only Slytherins can read this?" Hermione asked.
"Looks like it, doesn't it?" Draco said rhetorically.
"Well why did it give me something I can't read?"
"This isn't supposed to be easy you know?" Draco said. "If it were easy to break in, we wouldn't store some of our most valuable and precious possessions up here."
"Like what, a blood basin and four brightly coloured doors?" Hermione spat.
Draco ignored her comment and simply looked at her, waiting for her to discover what it was she had to do.
Hermione sighed, frustrated, squinting at the parchment one more time before thrusting it into Draco's face.
"Can't you just give me one clue? An idea as to what it's telling me to do?" Hermione asked. " … please?"
Draco's eyes lingered on the emerald door, just long enough for Hermione to catch it.
"I have to go through the door?" Hermione asked.
"Bravo …" Draco applauded. "Better late than never, I suppose."
"But what's on the other side?"
"Guess there's only one way to find out."
Both their eyes trailed to the green door, Hermione apprehensive. She made a few steps towards the door before quickly stopping, turning back around to Draco.
"Are you coming with me?" Hermione asked.
"Oh but I'd much prefer to sit back and watch."
On cue, a comfy black sofa materialised out of thin air, as did a small crystal bowl. Draco took his spot on the couch and placed the bowl on his lap. Hermione now realised that it was filled with water.
"Come here for a second," Draco ordered and Hermione did, just to get away from that door. "Sit down."
She sat down on the edge of the couch, but Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her closer.
"How's your hand?" Draco asked. Hermione glared at him, not bothering to answer. But Draco did not take this to offence. He gently held her hand open and began to unravel the bloodied material.
"That's there for a reason, you realise?" Hermione stated.
"So's this," Draco replied, revealing the cut across her palm. He held it over the bowl.
"Hey!" Hermione frantically jerked her hand away. "I am not travelling through a bloody whirlpool again today!"
"I know what I'm doing."
"That's what I'm afraid of."
Draco grabbed her by the wrist and forced her to keep her hand over the bowl. Three droplets of blood sent ripples across the surface and immediately produced an image in it. Hermione's face floated in there, sitting next to Draco who was holding a glass bowl.
"It shows me where you are and what you're doing. Old magic," Draco told her. "Now go."
"Am I going to come back alive?" Hermione asked tentatively.
"If you're lucky."
A/N – Well this chapter was kind of … weird. Meh, I'll make it up to you! BEWARE! The next chapter is going to be PACKED full of a completely different twist on Corruptive. It's all about what's behind the four doors, and it will probably be a really long chapter! I don't know whether or not I'm going to make it one big chapter or a couple of smaller ones, but it will probably take longer than usual to write and post. Hopefully it will be worth it!
ALSO! Thank you to all of you who read and reviewed A Cheater's Game! I'm actually really into writing it at the moment, and I will be continuing with it. But Corruptive is of course my main story, so don't worry!
I REALLY, REALLY LOVE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM! Please keep it coming, I plan on re-writing parts of the story because I've made a couple of plot-errors here and there, and of course there's lots of spelling and grammar mistakes! So if you see ANY thing please point it out …. CONSTRUCTIVELY. No one likes a flamer.
Marauders Gal