Sirius vs. Venus: Round 2

Chapter 13 - Giants, Demons, and Death Eaters

January, 2009

They reached the cave early the next morning. It was still bitterly cold, but the sunlight was bright. Muriel kept them invisible as they climbed silently, dropping the spell only when they were within the darkness of the cave. No one wanted to provide target practice for the giants again. Draco cast a worried glance in her direction. The spell seemed to take a lot out of her, but Sirius had already taken her elbow and was leading her forward. Draco almost laughed at the furious look on her face. Apparently they had NOT worked anything out the night before.

"Lumos," Draco muttered, leading the way. Sirius had already cast a charm to detect magical traps. Unfortunately, the charm didn't detect magical creatures.

"Draco! Stop!" Sirius said suddenly, grabbing the young man by the back of his robes and hauling him backward. They'd been walking for several minutes.

"Pentagons on the floor," Sirius said, pointing. Muriel muttered something the other two didn't hear, which was probably for the best. She quickly cast a spell, making each pentagon glow brightly.

Professor Binns hadn't been able to tell them what sorts of traps might wait inside the cave. Draco knelt to look at the glowing lines on the floor. As Muriel's spell strengthened, beams of light began to emanate toward the ceiling from each pentagon, and a pattern started to emerge. Not all the forms on the floor were true pentagons, these areas weren't glowing.

"If we can walk through without touching the light, we should be safe. If any part of you passes over one of the real pentagons, you'll be pulled into it." Muriel was whispering. She'd seen something similar to this once in Asia, when she was trying to get back to Europe. "And you won't be stuck alone. As soon as someone is pulled inside a pentagon, an Earth Demon will be conjured to crush him. We'd better leave our cloaks here."

Sirius nodded and shrugged his cloak off, careful not to wince with the pain that movement caused. Muriel folded her cloak and laid it aside along with her bag, carefully avoiding Sirius' eye as he followed suit.

Draco threw his things down next to theirs and turned to look again at the cavern ahead. The pathway was narrow indeed. With a last glance at the two behind him, he started forward.

They were silent as they walked, carefully choosing their footing, and trying to be aware of the placement of their arms at all times. Muriel was thinking hard about any spell she knew that would work against Earth Demons in case she managed to get pulled into one of the pentagons. Ahead of her, Draco caught his foot on a stone, and fell forward. She reached out to steady him, thankful he hadn't fallen another inch. He turned and grinned, and then he was on the other side. She followed carefully. "Thanks," he whispered.

As she emerged from the five-sided beams of light, she heard a thud behind her, followed by a low, inhuman grumble. She turned to see Sirius, who'd stumbled on the same block, fall headlong into the pentagon that Draco had so narrowly missed. He groaned as he hit, sure that he'd broken one of his recently healed ribs. Above him, clouds of brown vapor began to form, and Muriel knew it would only be a moment before he was alone in that Pentagon with a very angry Earth Demon.

"Sirius, get up!" she screamed, running back through the pillars of light. Draco watched, wide eyed, as she dashed between them and threw herself into the already crowded pentagon.

"What can I do?" He hollered.

"Stay back!" She reached Sirius and pulled him roughly to his feet. He was holding his ribcage and grimacing, but he'd already drawn his wand. She swore loudly.

The vapor was so dense above them that they couldn't see through it. A huge, rough-hewn face, pulled back in an ugly sneer, looked down on them, as though the monster was hanging upside down.

Sirius tried to hex it, but Muriel didn't waste her time. "You can't hurt it with a wand. Brute force is the only thing that's going to work, it's too magical."

"Brute force isn't my speciality today. Ask me tomorrow," he shot back, wincing. She spared him a withering glance.

"You'll have to transfigure ME! Turn me into a troll."

Sirius stood, indecisive, for a moment too long. Out of the vapor, a huge, rocky hand appeared and back-handed him across the face, splitting his chin and blackening his eye with the same blow. The fist was almost as large as his head. He flew backwards into the wall of light at the edge of the pentagon. Thankfully, he was still awake. He pointed his wavering wand at Muriel, who was already dodging the Earth Demon desperately.

"SIRIUS!" Muriel felt the demon's monstrous hand grasp her around the waist and squirmed to see where he'd gone. She saw him aim his wand. An instant later, the demon's grip was broken as she began to change into a troll.

It wasn't easy to concentrate once the transformation took hold, but after the demon's next punch landed, the troll instincts took over anyway. It wasn't a long fight. Muriel had no weapon, and needed none. In only a few moments, one of the demon's arms lay shattered into stone fragments on the ground. Sirius scooted to the other side of the pentagon, out of the way, as the rocks fell heavily to the ground. In spite of the blow he'd received, he struggled to remain conscious. He had no idea if Draco would be able to transform Muriel back.

Sirius winced as another of the demon's blows landed on the troll's face, knocking it backward several steps. The troll howled in rage and took the demon's head in its hands, squeezing until the rock crumbled and a huge cloud of dust erupted from between its fingers.

Sirius waited to see what would happen. The rocks around him had become vapor again. A moment later, he was alone in the pentagon chamber with the troll. A shout rang out across the room, but he concentrated, performing the spell to change Mur back just before he slumped backwards. The light around the pentagon disappeared, and he fell, unconscious, onto the path outside.

Muriel found herself shrinking, and her head clearing. She hated trolls. She reached for her wand to levitate Sirius to safety, but was interrupted as Draco called her name again. She looked around frantically. Where had the boy gone? It didn't matter. She couldn't just leave Sirius here. She levitated him carefully and guided them both between the few remaining pentagons. The glow was beginning to dissipate now. She set him down gently on the other side, well away from the floor they had just crossed.

"Ennervate," she whispered. When his eyes opened, she gave him back his wand and told him harshly to stay put, before racing up an uneven staircase to find Draco.

"Mur!" Draco called again from up ahead. She reached his side and blinked into the darkness, unable to believe her eyes. What in Merlin's beard was a SPHINX doing this far north?

Before them paced a beautiful creature with the face of a woman and the body of a lion. It wore an Egyptian headdress that appeared to be ancient. 'The jewels on that alone are worth a fortune,' Draco thought.

"It wants to give us a riddle," he said, "but I told it to wait for you. Where's Sirius?"

"I had to leave him there, but he's awake." Muriel didn't take her eyes of the Sphinx. She remembered from Auror training that the beasts were not to be trusted until they'd given you their riddle. She stepped forward.

"Ah, you are now ready for your riddle. Good of you not to keep me waiting." As the beast spoke, Muriel noticed a soft light behind it, falling on a beautiful marble sculpture. It was a strangely proportioned Egyptian piece, probably as old as the Sphinx's headdress. Around the sculpture's neck was a large amulet with a huge ruby in the center.

"Another moment!" Draco said, pulling Muriel back. "That's not the amulet! It's too large to fit into the engraving on Father's amulet." He threw a glance over his shoulder to make sure the Sphinx wasn't poised to attack. "It should be -" He stopped and turned to face the Sphinx, who had heard every word.

"Who are you?" The creature hissed, stepping forward, but it was too late, Draco had figured it out.

He spoke with confidence. "An excellent riddle, to which I know the answer," he replied haughtily. The creature sputtered. She hadn't intended to ask a question, and knew that she was bound now by the laws of her kind not to harm him if he answered correctly.

"I am Draco Malfoy, the man who will take that amulet from the center of your headdress." The Sphinx hissed, but lowered her head in defeat. He carefully pried a silver-ringed jewel from her headdress, fastening it to a plain chain he'd worn under his robes.

"Thank you," he said simply to the Sphinx, who was eyeing him menacingly. They hurried back down the steps to Sirius, who had managed to knit his ribs again crudely, and was standing. Draco looked away from his face quickly. Half of it was entirely purple, and blood was still pouring from his split chin.

They made it back through the Earth Demon pentagons without mishap. On the other side, however, they found their cloaks and bags gone. Mur thought furiously of the healing herbs she'd brought with her that would have taken away some of Sirius' pain.

Sirius, however, pulled out his wand. "Someone's been here," he hissed. They continued more cautiously, Sirius in the lead, until they reached the mouth of the cave. Here they paused to allow their eyes to adjust. It was midday, and the sun was bright.

Lucius Malfoy, Wilkes and Crabbe had followed them out of the cave, waiting for just this moment to attack. After they'd heard the Sphinx's riddle, they'd backed away, unable to answer. But when they'd seen Sirius, Muriel and Draco, a better plan had occurred to Lucius.

Lucius grabbed Draco from behind, pulling him back toward the Earth Demon chamber. "How embarrassing that the girl had to fight the demon while you stood by," he taunted. Draco and his father were of a height, and the younger man twisted angrily out of his grip as Muriel blocked Crabbe's first spell. Crabbe was slow, and she soon had him stunned and tied up.

Wilkes had tried to take advantage of Sirius' injuries, aiming a violent kick at his ribs, but all that landed on Sirius was the peacock feather into which he had transfigured the death eater. He cast it aside, and turned with Muriel and Draco to face Lucius.

"Hullo Lucius! Imagine finding you in a place like this. And I thought you spent all your time in broom closets." Muriel was grinning, and Draco, having heard that story so recently, couldn't help but smirk as well. He was afraid of his father, as were most wizards and witches, but with Sirius and Muriel along, it didn't look like things were going to get out of hand.

He spared a glance over his shoulder at Crabbe, who was straining against the devil's snare Muriel had conjured to hold him. Beside him, his wand lay in three pieces.

When Draco looked away, Lucius took his chance. "Slicilious Hantremous!" he shouted, pointing his wand at Draco. Not ready for the attack, Draco cried out as several huge gashes appeared in his robes, and on his face. The blood soaked him almost immediately and he stumbled backwards.

"Lucius, you bastard!" Muriel hissed. She watched his eyes widen briefly, then narrow. He knew, now, that she remembered.

Muriel quickly cast a shield spell around herself and Sirius. But they stumbled out of the way anyway as a bolt of green light shattered her shield, blowing a huge crater in the floor at their feet. Lucius wasn't messing around.

"Draco, get out of here!" Sirius bellowed.

Lucius thought fast. " Fighting for the wrong side again Deesia? We thought since you were nice enough to send Severus back to us that you'd finally come to your senses. I always knew you wouldn't really marry this filthy blood traitor." He was stalling, and they knew it, but Muriel answered anyway, talking quickly as she felt Sirius' anger rising.

"I sent you back a spy as you well know, Lucius." Her wand was raised and her eyes narrowed. She quietly cast an anti-apparation spell on the cave. A moment later she heard Lucius swear softly.

"Not this time, Malfoy. Accio amulet!" Sirius said suddenly. But Lucius was too fast. As the amulet broke its chain to obey Sirius, Lucius cast a shield spell between them. The amulet hit it and fell to the floor, and he had snatched it up before Muriel could summon it herself.

"Incendio!" he shrieked, pointing his wand at it triumphantly. His entire hand burst into flames. A moment later the amulet was gone, his gloved hand unharmed. With a smirk he dusted the ashes off his gloves.

Muriel took a deep breath and removed the anti-apparation charm, covering Lucius with her wand as she did so. She stepped carefully over to where Sirius was lifting Draco from the ground. She gave Lucius one last glance, shaking her head, "Come with us, Lucius," she whispered. But he kept his haughty expression firmly in place.

"Until next time, Deesia," Lucius sneered, taking note of Black's scowl as they disapparated. As soon as they were gone, he swore loudly. Now not only did they not have both amulets, they didn't even have one. His master was not going to be pleased. It would certainly not be pleasant to deliver the news that Muriel Deesia had joined the Order of the Phoenix.

He released Crabbe and woke him up, then looked around for Wilkes. He was gone. Crabbe gathered up the pieces of his wand, then bent down again to pick up the peacock feather that lay not far away. Maybe it would make a nice quill. The oaf spared only a moment's thought as to where it might have come from before he followed Malfoy back to explain the fiasco to Lord Voldemort.

AN: Here ends Sirius' second round. How did he do this time, do you think? And as for the voting, the scores stand thus:

Draco in dead last at only 2 votes.

Remus not doing much better with 5 votes.

Sirius holding out the longest at 7 votes.

And VENUS whipping them all nicely with 15 votes as of 9-28-04.