This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter universe, which are trademarked by J.K. Rowling. I do not claim ownership of these characters nor the locations such as Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, etc. that are Rowling's creations. This work also includes Pokemon, which belong to the Pokemon Company, and I again claim no ownership of these characters.
I thank both Rowling and the Pokemon Company for the universes they have created that allows me to do something like this for my own entertainment and, hopefully, the entertainment of the readers.
As they walked Harry thought about what Hagrid had told them about the defences protecting the Sacred Ash. There was Hagrid's, that being Fluffy, and others made by Sprout, Flitwick, Quirrel, Snape and McGonagall. Assuming that each of them had made exactly one obstacle then that would seem to suggest that there were four more still to be passed.
"I see something," Ron said suddenly, his voice low, drawing the others' attention.
Indeed, it appeared that the passageway they'd been following was opening up into a room, shrouded completely in darkness, giving Harry a very ominous feeling.
"Everyone be ready," he whispered to the others, certain that this was their next task to face, as they stepped towards the room.
The first thing Harry noticed, as Charmander's tail brought a soft glow to the room beyond, was that there was in fact very little in this room at all. In fact the only thing in there appeared to be a small, silver object sitting right in the middle of the floor. Other than that all that there was was a simple wooden door right across from them.
"This is it?" Ron asked, unimpressed.
"Maybe You-know-who already beat this obstacle," Harry guessed. It did appear as though there was nothing left in the room to fight them. "That key must be for the door," he said, walking out to the middle of the room, bending down to pick up the key. As he did so the key moved.
"What was that?" Ron asked, suddenly on full alert. Harry remained frozen, crouched down with his hand outstretched towards the key, which was sitting innocently just out of his reach. He moved to pick it up again. Again it scuttled away.
"Is it a Pokémon?" Ron asked, coming up beside Harry for a closer look.
"Not one that I've seen before," Hermione told them as she too reached out for the key. All of a sudden, surprising the three of them so much they fell backwards onto their rear ends, the key rocketed straight up in the air. It hovered just a few feet above their heads.
"This is weird," Ron said, looking around the room suspiciously. "What do you reckon this is? Ghost Pokémon?"
"Maybe," Hermione answered, watching as the key flitted backwards and forwards as HootHoot chased after it, never even getting close to catching it. "Maybe if Fletchinder were here we would have a chance of catching it but without him…" she tailed off.
"We have to figure out what's happening," Harry told them. "That's the only way we're going to get that key."
"Well, we can check if it is ghosts," Hermione pondered. "HootHoot, use Foresight." An unusual wave of energy emitted from HootHoot's eyes and focused in on the key, but nothing happened.
"So not a ghost," Harry surmised.
"Then what the hell is it?" Ron demanded, getting frustrated.
Hermione had a thoughtful look on her faced.
"Harry," she said after a while. "Could you go get Charmander to stand by the wall?" Harry wasn't sure what Hermione was asking him to do that for but did so nevertheless, sending Charmander to stand by the grey stone. As Charmander's tail flickered and lit up his immediate surroundings Harry, Ron and Hermione gasped.
What they had thought to be the walls of this seemingly empty circular room turned out not to be walls at all, and as Charmander's tail revealed their true identity it all suddenly snapped into focus.
They were surrounded by Magnemite.
Over a hundred of them, Harry's best estimate would be, were set around the room, remaining completely silent and unmoving, held together by the electrical currents coming out of their magnets.
"Of course," Hermione breathed, as Charmander quickly hurried away from the surprise Pokémon whose face he'd been shining his tail in. "It was the Magnemite."
"Come again?" Ron asked, backing up into the centre of the room, looking around at the wall of Pokémon around them.
"The Magnemite," Hermione repeated. "They're the obstacle."
"But how?" Ron asked.
Hermione sighed. "Magnemite's ability is Magnet Pull," she explained. "In battle this prevents Steel type Pokémon from switching out against them."
"So?" Ron asked, not sure what this had to do with anything.
"The key," Hermione told him. "That key isn't made of silver, it's made of steel. The Magnemite have been controlling it all along, which is why we haven't been able to lay a hand on it."
"Okay," Harry said slowly. That made sense. "So, how do we get the key?"
Hermione faltered. "I don't know," she admitted.
Ron snarled. "I'll show you how," he said angrily. "Growlithe, use Flamethrower!" Growlithe jumped forward on command, belching out a plume of flame at part of the Magnemite wall. As the fire neared the Magnemite all of a sudden became surrounded by small green bubbles, overlapping with one another and, to Ron's annoyance, Growlithe's attack was blocked.
"They're using Protect," Hermione told him. "They can block any attack you throw at them."
"That's what they think," Ron growled but Harry was no longer paying attention. Instead he was looking up at the key.
"Ron," he said, surprising the boy as he prepared to order another attack. "Have Growlithe attack the Magnemite again." Ron was confused, Harry hadn't even glanced down from the key as he spoke, but he did so anyway.
"I've got it," Harry said triumphantly as Growlithe ended his attack.
"Did I see what I thought I saw," Hermione gasped, for she too had watched the key when Growlithe had attacked. Harry nodded.
"What are you two on about?" Ron asked, starting to feel frustrated with being so out of the loop. Harry grinned.
"Do you want to tell him, Hermione?" he asked. Hermione gave a small smile.
"When Growlithe attacked the key moved," Hermione told Ron. "In fact, it moved away from the Magnemite that were being attacked. That must mean that Magnemite can't control their Magnet Pull ability and protect themselves at the same time."
"So if we can attack all of them at once…" Ron said, catching on.
"Exactly," Hermione grinned. "You leave this one to me," she told them. "Call back Charmander and Growlithe and cover your ears. This is going to get loud."
Hermione strode out to the middle of the floor, HootHoot fluttering down to land on top of her head as Harry and Ron hurried to obey Hermione's commands.
"HootHoot," Hermione said. "Use Uproar."
A tremendous sound burst from the tiny Pokémon, reverberating around the room and surprising Harry and Ron who immediately brought their hands to their ears. The Magnemite, all of them, threw up their shields to protect themselves from the terrible noise, and as they did so the key fell from the sky.
"I've got it!" Harry shouted over the din, running forward to pluck the key out of the air. He charge over to the door, put the key in the lock, and turned it.
"That's enough HootHoot!" Hermione yelled, but HootHoot didn't seem to hear her, continuing with the deafening racket which seemed to be hurting everyone despite the precautionary measures they had taken.
"Knock it off!" Ron shouted and he pushed HootHoot cleanly off Hermione's head. Suddenly the noise stopped and HootHoot looked around in surprise, fluttering to the ground, completely oblivious to what had just happened.
"What, was that!?" Ron shouted, their ears all still ringing from the noise.
"HootHoot's Uproar attack," Hermione explained, wincing at the sound of her own voice. "It lasts for an undetermined length of time so it only works in certain situations." Hermione glanced down at her little HootHoot. "They say Pokémon can't fall asleep in an Uproar. Now I see why."
"Guys," Harry called, standing at the door. The two of them had been so busy talking that they hadn't even noticed that the path onwards was now free.
"Right, sorry Harry," Hermione said, walking towards him. Ron followed behind her.
Harry stepped aside to allow the two of them to walk in first before he held up the key, and let go. At once the key zoomed back to the centre of the room where it rested, lying innocently for the next person to wander through. Harry closed the door behind him with a snap.
"What's next?" Ron asked. They'd been walking down another passageway and had been for awhile now, with so far only darkness ahead of them.
"There should only be three challenges remaining," Harry said, keeping his eyes peeled. "I imagine we'll be getting to the next one soon."
Just as Harry said this fire bloomed around them and as one the trio took a step back. But there was no danger, none that they could see at any rate. What they could see made them gasp.
Standing before them, illuminated by the pillars of fire that surrounded the large chamber, was the largest chess set Harry had ever seen. The game board was set down a small flight of stairs but even from here Harry could tell that the bigger pieces would dwarf the three of them.
"A chess set," Hermione breathed in surprise.
"I suppose it's one of the tests," Ron said. "I see a door over at the other end. I suppose if we win then we get to go on to the next test."
"But who are we playing?" Hermione asked. Ron merely pointed.
Standing across the room, so still that they hadn't noticed it until now, was an Alakazam. It was watching them silently, displaying no emotion on its face as it waited for them to approach.
"Is he right?" Harry asked, addressing the Pokémon. Alakazam nodded. "We have to beat you to go on?" Again Alakazam nodded. There was a moments pause before Alakazam's eyes glowed eerily. For a second Harry was worried but then three of the black pieces standing before them, a Knight, a Bishop, and a Rook, floated up into the air and moved off to the side of the board.
"I get it," Ron said. "We don't just play Alakazam at chess, we have to be the pieces too."
"But why?" Hermione asked, startled.
"To stop people getting through, duh," Ron told her, smiling at the fact that he had figured out something Hermione hadn't. "The last obstacles could be done by having lots of people, but in this the more people you have the more are going to get taken. Brilliant."
Harry had to admit that it was quite an ingenious design but something else was worrying Harry more than that.
"How are we supposed to win?" he asked quietly. "I don't know how to play chess, do you? And we're up against an Alakazam, they have ridiculously high IQ's." Hermione looked nervous too but Ron cleared his throat, looking a bit awkward.
"I haven't told either of you guys this before," he began, his cheeks going red. "But, I, eh, I'm quite good at chess. Really good actually."
"Really?" Harry asked, surprised. Ron shrugged, though it seemed to be more one of embarrassment than uncertainty.
"Dad taught me years ago," he admitted. "I really got into it. I can beat anyone in the family, even dad. So… yeah." There was a moment of stunned silence.
"Why didn't you mention this before?" Hermione burst out, unable to believe he'd been keeping this a secret all year. Ron rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly.
"I didn't want people to think I was a nerd or something," he muttered, to Harry and Hermione's astonishment. "I didn't want to be like Percy." He made a face.
"Well," Harry said, having to fight down a laugh at the strange turn of events. "What do you say? Can you beat Alakazam?"
"I think so," Ron said pensively, hardly the most convincing declaration he could have made. Then he suddenly snapped to attention. "Alright, here's what we do," he said, his tone business like. "Alakazam has already chosen which pieces we'll be, which is a pity cause I'd have liked Harry to be the King, they don't ever get taken," he muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like 'cheat'.
"So, Harry, you take the spot the Bishop just left," Ron told him. "No not that spot, the one next to it," Ron put a hand to his face in exasperation as Harry went to the wrong spot. "Hermione, you take the Rook spot," Hermione thankfully knew which spot this was, "And I'll be the Knight."
They took their places, lining up against the faceless white pieces on the other side of the board.
"Right, you know how your piece can move?" Ron asked them. Hermione nodded assertively. Harry shook his head. "Any number of squares diagonally," Ron told him, rolling his eyes. "In any direction, but you can't jump over pieces." Harry just continued to look bewildered. "I'll guide you through it," Ron promised before turning back to the opposition.
"White always plays the first move," Ron announced, something Harry filed away for future knowledge. "Ah, there he goes. Blimey, it's weird playing from this position."
On the other side of the board one of white's pawns moved two spaces forward.
"Okay," Ron said, taking a steadying breath. "Eh," he hesitated, looking at the pawns in front of them. "Pawn to E5?" he said, looking over at Alakazam hopefully. Thankfully Alakazam did not expect them to move the human sized pieces themselves and at Ron's instruction Alakazam's eyes glowed and one of the black pawns moved forward two spaces, coming to a stop right in front of the white pawn.
Harry knew nothing about chess, he was quite willing to admit to that. He'd never had the opportunity to play before and Uncle Vernon was hardly a man to find such things interesting. Nevertheless as the game went on Harry started to get an idea of how the pieces moved, though he still left everything strategy wise to Ron.
Ron hadn't been lying when he said he was good. Harry didn't know how scores were kept in this game but from what he could see they were taking just as many pieces as they were losing themselves. But as the pieces started to clear the board Harry wondered how they would win.
"We're nearly there," Ron said quietly. He was standing in the space immediately to Harry's left, with Hermione all the way behind them, having hardly moved throughout the entire game. "I've got an idea but…" he tailed off, his eyes flitting across the board taking in all the black pieces, the white pieces, Alakazam, and finally Harry and Hermione.
"Ok," he said more confidently. "I've got it." And then he moved. Harry frowned.
"Ron?" he asked worriedly. He was still new to this game but from what he knew of how the pieces moved, and he had pretty much got that down by now, Ron was standing directly in the path of Alakazam's Queen.
"It's fine Harry," Ron assured him, even as the white Queen lifted a few inches off the ground and started the slow walk forward to where Ron was standing. "This has to happen." He backed away as the Queen approached, allowing it room to land on his square. He poked his head around the mighty statue and looked at Alakazam. "Eh, what do I do?"
His question was answered as Alakazam's eyes flashed and Ron was sent flying, crashing hard into the wall with a large thud. Hermione screamed.
"Stay still!" Ron shouted, spluttering as his lungs tried to draw in air after having the wind knocked out of him. "The game's still going."
Harry heeded his advice and was glad to see that Hermione too had remained still, though her knees were shaking slightly.
"We can win this," Ron said, coughing loudly. "Harry, see that white Bishop. You need to go diagonally to the spot on it's left." Harry nodded, understanding where Ron was talking about. He took the steps needed, finishing up, as he had all game, on a white square.
"That's check," Ron said and Harry looked over to see that he was bent double, resting against one of the taken black pieces for support. "He'll have to move his King or use a piece to block you." A white Pawn moved one step forward.
"Now Hermione," Ron raised his voice to be heard by the girl standing at the opposite end of the board. "I want you to walk all the way down to the end of the board."
"That'll be check, won't it," Hermione said. Ron nodded and so Hermione stepped forward, walking all the way from her place of safety on the black pieces' back line to stop mere feet away from Alakazam. A moment passed before the white King moved out of check.
"Now Harry, take the Pawn." Harry stepped forward and the Pawn occupying the space floated away and off the board. "That's checkmate." Alakazam nodded and, without so much as a murmur, vanished from view.
Harry stood still for a second, hardly believing that the game was over, before the sound of running got his attention.
"Ron, are you alright?" Hermione had, the moment Alakazam had disappeared, run across the board, straight past Harry, and was now kneeling down next to Ron.
"I'm fine," Ron muttered though he didn't seem to be in Harry's eyes. He was still leaning against the chess piece from before but now his body was slumped so that he was almost lying down on the floor and Harry could tell he was having trouble focusing on them.
"Maybe you should stay behind," Harry suggested to Hermione, looking down on Ron worriedly.
"No," Ron gasped, his eyes opening wide as he heard what Harry had said, pulling himself up into what approximated to a sitting position as he turned to face him. "No, you'll need Hermione," Ron insisted, and it was hard to argue with the vehemence in his voice.
"But you're hurt," Hermione said, sounding almost on the verge of tears.
"I'm fine," Ron argued. "But we won't be if You-know-who gets the Sacred Ash." He looked determined as he turned to Harry. "There are two more obstacles between here and the Ash, we may not have much time. You'll need Hermione to get through them."
"But Ron," Hermione moaned.
"I'll be fine," Ron told her, giving her a weak grin. "I have Growlithe to look after me."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other. It was clear Ron was not going to be convinced otherwise.
"Alright," Harry said, and though it pained him to leave Ron like this he stood up. "Lets go." Harry and Hermione walked over to the white side of the board and up the stone steps, only stopping when they reached the door. Looking back they saw Ron gave them a grin and a thumbs up, before they stepped through the door.
Immediately their senses were assaulted as they stepped into the new room and Harry and Hermione quickly pulled their shirts up to cover their mouth and nose. Throughout the room lay a thick haze, darkening the little light there was in the room and causing the air to constrict Harry's lungs. Lying across the floor were three Ursaring, each moaning in pain. The scene was very familiar.
"He's been here," Harry said, his voice muffled by his shirt. "It's just like in the forest." Hermione coughed.
"Isn't there anything we can do for them?" she asked as the two picked their way through the prone Ursaring. Harry shook her head.
"We don't have any supplies," he said. "And you saw Fluffy, who's to say they won't attack us as soon as they feel better." Though not a comforting argument to make it was something Hermione agreed with and so they continued on their way until they reached the door at the opposite end of the room. Not knowing what was on the other side, but knowing they had to get away from this awful smog, Harry opened the door.
Fire.
That was the first thing that caught Harry's attention but he quickly found that, like in the chess chamber, his first impression was misleading. This room was not intimidating or foreboding. In fact, it was almost comfortable. There was only one item in the whole room, and that was a well polished wooden table. The fire that Harry had seen on arrival was actually restricted to two areas, one directly across the room from him, and the other coming from where the door had been just a moment ago.
But the thing that caught Harry's attention the most wasn't the fire or the table, but what was sitting on the table. Seven Pokéballs, all featuring different designs, lay equally spaced in a row along the table and, sitting at the end of this row, was a single sheet of paper.
"Oh," Hermione said as she picked up the paper and read. "Clever."
"What is it?" Harry asked, approaching the table.
"A riddle," Hermione told him. "Only one of these Pokéballs contains the Pokémon we need to get to the last chamber, which I assume is through that fire." She pointed towards the fire they had not yet walked through.
"And the others?" Harry asked.
"One will take us back the way we came," Hermione pointed. "Two more will do… nothing, I think."
"And the last three?"
"Will attack us," Hermione answered. Harry gaped. "That's what it says here anyway."
"But then," Harry stammered. "How are we supposed to know which one to pick? Do we have to guess or…?"
"All the clues we need are on here," Hermione assured him. "All we need is some cool logic. Listen to this." And she recited from the sheet.
"Before you sit seven Pokémon, four friends, three foes, Choose carefully or face danger, that's how this test goes," Hermione began.
"Fear not, guesswork is not due, Just listen to my words and follow my clue. First, no matter how cunning your adversary may be, look right and a friend you shall see. Second, at the end are friend and foe, but if you would move onwards to neither you should go. Third, as you see clearly all balls share different design, Both Level and Lure will remain completely benign. Forth, the second from the left and second from the right, share conviction once their opened, though are different at first sight."
Harry gaped. "We're supposed to work that out?" he asked, bewildered. He couldn't make head nor tail of that riddle, let alone try to work out to which Pokéball it referred to at any given time.
"Relax, Harry, it's not that difficult," Hermione told him, reading the riddle again. "Just give me a minute, I know I can get it."
So Harry did. He said nothing as Hermione strode up and down the length of the table, muttering under her breath as she read and re-read the riddle again and again. He said nothing as five minutes passes, then ten. He said nothing until Hermione suddenly stopped walking and smiled triumphantly.
"Got it," she said, reaching out and picking out the one Great Ball on the table. "This Pokémon will be able to take us to the Sacred Ash."
Harry moved forward. "Are you sure?" he asked hesitantly. They had to be completely certain or they could be in big trouble.
"Certain," Hermione said, showing absolutely no doubt.
Harry nodded. "Okay," he said. "Open it." Hermione did. Harry tensed as the white light of a Pokémon appearing lit the room and remained poised to spring into action as the light reformed itself into a small, floating Pokémon.
"Chime," the Pokémon said happily, floating cheerfully around the room. Harry pulled out his Pokédex.
"Chimecho," the Pokédex told him. "The Wind Chime Pokémon. Chimecho makes its cries echo inside its hollow body. When this Pokémon becomes enraged, its cries result in ultrasonic waves that have the power to knock foes flying."
"Seems friendly enough," Harry said, examining the Pokémon himself. It didn't seem to be attacking him and honestly he found it hard to imagine such a Pokémon ever hurting anyone. "Chimecho, can you take us to the next room?"
Chimecho nodded before floating down and wrapping its tail, for want of a better word, around Harry's wrist, before turning and shaking its head at Hermione.
"I think Chimecho is saying that it can only take you, Harry," Hermione said, a worried expression on her face.
"Is that true?" Harry asked. Chimecho nodded, looking genuinely disappointed. "I guess this was another trick of Dumbledore's to stop too many people getting through," he theorised before turning to Hermione.
"Hermione, do you know which Pokémon will get us back the way we came?" he asked. Hermione nodded, reaching out to grab a Safari Ball which opened up to reveal a purple and black Pokémon Harry recognised as a Grumpig.
"Okay, here's what we'll do," Harry said quickly. "Hermione, you take Grumpig and go back to Ron. Get out of here and go to McGonagall. I don't know if Dumbledore has got our message yet but if he hasn't then McGonagall is next in charge."
"And what about you?" Hermione asked, though Harry could tell she already knew.
"I'm going to stop him," Harry said simply. "I know I can't beat him but if I can only slow him down for long enough for Dumbledore to get back," Harry took a breath. "I have to go on."
Hermione looked at him, her eyes watering, before, to Harry's shock, she through herself at him.
"It's alright," Harry said awkwardly, patting the crying girl on the back. Then she hit him. "Ow, what was that for?"
"For being so bloody noble," Hermione sniffed, backing off so Harry could see her face. "I knew from the moment we decided to go after You-know-who that it was going to end up like this. You just couldn't let anybody else take the risk instead."
"Hey, you make me sound a lot more heroic than I actually am," Harry told her, rolling his eyes. She hit him on the arm. "Sorry," he muttered, though not entirely sure why he was apologising.
"Be careful, Harry," Hermione told him, wiping away the tears. "Don't die in there, I need my friend." Harry swallowed, a lump had formed in his throat.
"Go," he said, pointing Hermione back the way they'd came. "Go check on Ron."
Hermione nodded. With one last goodbye she walked towards the flames and Grumpig, using its psychic powers, split the flames in half, leaving the pathway clear, before following after Hermione.
"Now it's our turn," Harry said, his voice shaking slightly as he addressed the Chimecho still attached to his arm. In response Chimecho let out a soothing cry before a small bubble formed around the pair.
"This is Safeguard, isn't it?" Harry muttered, looking at the shield in wonder. "I suppose I can just walk through the flames now, can't I?" Chimecho nodded. "Okay," he took a breath. "Here goes." And he stepped into the flames.
For what seemed like an eternity all Harry saw was fire, it pressed against the shield Chimecho had created, licking around the edges, looking for any way in to devour what was hidden behind it. But the shield held as Harry stepped through the flames and arrived in the last chamber. And, as he had expected, he was not alone. But the identity of his companion couldn't have surprised him more.
"You!"