This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
CHAPTER 20
The Temple of Telahmet
Just as Josef had promised, Harry and the others arrived in Giza within the hour. Harry wanted to start looking immediately, but Josef convinced him to be patient. He led them to the abandoned pub where Grigore had first openly talked about the Brotherhood with Ginny. Harry remembered the place just as well as Josef and Ginny, and it hadn't changed at all since that day, save for a few repairs. Josef said the Brotherhood had bought it some time ago and no one told the city they didn't exist anymore. Everyone in the area had simply grown accustomed to the empty pub and stopped asking questions about it. With any luck they would be left alone.
Ron volunteered to venture out and find some food while the others quickly explored the old building. Upstairs, they found a number of rooms with beds in them. Despite being dusty, they were ready for use and stocked with everything from extra robes and boots to fresh parchment and common potion ingredients. It appeared as if Grigore had expected to return there soon. Harry wished he knew what Grigore had found that brought him here. Perhaps there was something that might not have made sense at the time. After all they had seen and done, quite a few things in the past had become much clearer.
As they sat around the table eating a bizarrely enjoyable stew Ron had found, they decided they would have a better chance of finding the Temple if they split up. Though Josef had been the first to propose the idea, Harry could tell that he was uncomfortable with it. After a brief discussion they agreed that they would meet back at the pub three times each day. This would give them plenty of time to search, but if any of them found anything —or anything found them— the others would know about it quickly.
They tried to be hopeful, but after the difficulty they had finding Antonin, it was hard to be confident that they'd find the Temple in just six days. As if by some silent agreement, none of them mentioned this. When they left the pub an hour later to start searching, they tried to hide from each other the growing discouragement they were feeling.
Four days passed, but they still hadn't found anything helpful. The most they managed was a few mentions of missing bands of treasure hunters, but there was no note of where they had been looking or even what had brought them to Giza. It was just as likely that they had come to raid one of the many well known tomb areas and simply been killed by other thieves. Even if they had found the Temple, it was clear they never told anyone else about it. Still, with just two days left, Ginny was still searching for the lost raiders or anyone else who might have tried something similar.
In order to do this, she had to spend twenty minutes or more in the morning talking to Egyptian officials and guards just to walk to the archives where such reports were kept. She then repeated this again after returning to the pub every noon and evening. The guards were beginning to recognize her and the Egyptian officials who managed the archives were getting annoyed at her constant intrusion and refusal to explain just what she was looking for.
Ginny was getting fairly annoyed as well. After spending a day searching for information, she had told Harry and Josef that it was a waste of time, but they insisted that it was worthwhile. Had Harry been the only one to disagree, she might have resisted more. Instead, Hermione was the only one who had not begged her to continue looking. Ginny reluctantly agreed.
The scene repeated itself the next night, and the following noon. In the lengthening hours she spent in the archives, Ginny began to understand what they were doing. She tried confronting Harry about it, but he walked away before she could even start, saying that he was too busy.
Now they had reached the end of the fourth day. Realistically, they were nearly out of time. They still hadn't found anything and Ginny was having trouble convincing herself that there was anything she could do to change that. After an hour of staring at a dozen maps of the area, she realized that two of them were actually the same map. A third was upside-down. She tried being angry at herself, but she just didn't care enough anymore. Collapsing in a nearby corner, she buried her face in her hands. She didn't know if she wanted to scream or cry. It all seemed so pointless. Not only was it impossible to find the Temple, but they weren't even letting her try.
The sound of muffled footsteps woke her from her wallowing. Suddenly alert, she stood up and reached for her wand. It was late at night. All of the officials had gone home, and the guards had never actually come into the archives to check on her. As the footsteps became more clear, she searched the area around her for someplace a little less exposed. Finding nothing, she slipped off her shoes and waited behind a nearby bookshelf as the footsteps approached.
She caught a brief glimpse of a shadow nearing the far side of the bookshelf. Just as it rounded the corner, she ducked around the other side and ran down the aisle. Coming to the end, she found herself behind a tall man wearing a sandy-colored cloak. Raising her wand, she aimed it at the man's back.
"Stup—"
The man twisted about faster than Ginny thought possible. In a second, his hands were wrapped around hers and twisting her wand from her grasp as she let out a faint shriek of pain. The man stopped immediately upon hearing the sound, relaxed his grip and began laughing. Ginny looked up and found a pair of light blue eyes staring down at her.
"That was clever," Josef said, pointing down at her feet. "I didn't hear you coming at all. I would have tried to be a little more gentle if I had. I'm not used to being surprised." He slowly released Ginny's hands and smiled at her as he pulled back the hood of his cloak.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"It seems I'm done for the night," he answered. "The inspectors here aren't friendly to foreigners sneaking about their city late at night."
"What are you doing lurking about the city?" she asked as she retrieved her shoes. "Did you find something?"
"No," he replied quickly. "Well, I did find information, but that's not really good news. I've been looking for any witches or wizards I can remember who had been helping the Brotherhood. It's been surprisingly easy to find them, so far."
"That's a bit odd, isn't it?" Ginny replied, ignoring her frustrations at the moment.
"Oh, not at all," Josef said flatly. "The Egyptians keep meticulous records of their tombs. They carve the names right into them. I guess I never realized how much easier it would be to find a dead person. Of course, they don't talk much, so they aren't terribly useful."
This was hardly encouraging news, but it allowed her to ask the other question which had been lurking in the back of her mind. "Why were you looking for them? I thought you were supposed to be looking for images and carvings of snakes."
"I let Harry do that," Josef said as he sat down in front of the maps. "He's more likely to find something than I am. You know, being a Parselmouth and all. He was wasting his time looking for Antonin and the others. If he couldn't find anything by now, then there's nothing to find."
Ginny's teeth clenched tightly and she gripped her wand again. "And yet, here I am," she said, "spending another night looking for nothing at all in mountains of records which weren't even worth looking at when they were put here."
Josef stared up at her and spoke in a soft voice. "Ginny, it's very important that you're here. Harry agrees with me."
"It's important that I'm here?" she replied sharply. "Well, there's nothing important here for me to find. I've been reading pointless, dull reports and staring at sloppy maps scrawled on parchment by some drunk at a pub for so many hours that I they're all starting to blur together." She leaned close to Josef and spoke forcefully: "There's nothing here."
Josef listened passively and replied: "Trust me, Ginny. You are helping us."
Ginny grabbed a particularly useless map and brandished it at Josef. "No, I'm not helping anyone. This map can't help us. It couldn't even help the poor bastard who made it. None of this can. I've wasted four days. I might as well have been helping Hermione mix up potions. It's bloody pointless, but at least she knows she's not helping."
Josef's eyes looked down at the floor and Ginny realized what she'd said. "It's the same for me, isn't it?" she asked quietly. "Is that what this is? You're keeping me busy? After all the help Hermione has given us, you still can't trust her, so you gave her the one job that wouldn't require you to trust her at all. You probably don't even plan on using the potions, do you?" She didn't wait for him to answer. "So, Hermione is making potions, and I'm down here, browsing through worthless records. Brilliant."
"It's not that I don't trust you Ginny, I do, but— We're very close. This is a very dangerous time and you—"
"—can't handle it?" Ginny growled. "Is that why you sent me down here? You think that I haven't been in danger before? Have you completely forgotten everything that happened in the past year? Did you forget that I nearly died trying to save you?"
"No!" Josef snapped. "No, Ginny, I haven't. Sometimes I wish I could. I wish I didn't know how important you are. I wish I didn't know that you might be our only chance to stop him. I wish I hadn't felt the hatred he feels for you. Ginny, I won't lie to you. Not anymore. I know you risked your life to save me, and I'm afraid that you're going to have to do it again before the end. There's nothing I can do to stop that, but I can do everything I can to keep you safe until then." He relaxed a little, letting his eyes drop to the floor again. "Harry feels the same way and Ron agreed with us."
"Why are you here?" she asked, her anger cooling a little. "Did you feel sorry for me? Did you feel guilty for shoving me into this cage?"
"No, it's just that—" he began, hesitantly. "We've got two days left and there's something I need to talk to you about. I'm afraid, Ginny. It's... not easy to admit that. After all I've done in my life, it almost seems silly that this would bother me so much, but I guess— I guess I've never really faced something like this."
"No one has," Ginny said, trying to sound comforting. The change in Josef's mood was abrupt and surprising. She'd never seen him actually frightened before. "We're all scared, but we'll fight it together. That's how we've always done it."
Josef shook his head. "I'm not talking about the cloaked wizard. I know how to deal with that. I've spent most of my life training for it. That's a problem with an easy solution. We know how to fix it. There's something else worrying me, and I don't know what to do about it." He looked into her eyes and said, "I'm worried about you and Harry."
It took Ginny a moment to compose herself. He had made it sound as if there was some dire problem she hadn't known about. "Honestly, Josef, it's not even worth—" she began, but Josef's expression remained serious. "Don't worry about Harry and me," she told him. "I know we've had a rough time, but that's all it is. In two days, this will all be over. If we fail, then none of it will really matter. If we succeed, then Harry and I will have all the time we need to work things out."
"I'm afraid it's a little more complicated than that," he said. "This isn't just about being happy. It's Harry, Ginny. We need to talk about Harry."
"About Harry? I don't understand. What do we need to talk about? He's fine. He still has nightmares, but we all do. None of us have been getting much sleep, either. Whatever you're worried about, this hardly seems like the best time to address it."
"It may be the last chance we get," Josef replied. "I've put this off long enough. I should have done this earlier, but I kept telling myself that maybe it would get better. I thought he could control it, and for a while, he was, but lately... it's getting worse."
"What are you talking about? What was he controlling?" she asked. "What's getting worse?"
Josef let out a deep breath. "I know you've noticed," he said in a low voice. "Harry's been getting... stronger."
"Harry's always been talented," she said. "Everyone knows that. He was fighting Voldemort when he was eleven. He taught the rest of us how to cast a Patronus. I mean... you'd have to expect that he'd get better the older he got. Look at all the challenges he's faced. That's got to make a wizard stronger, right?"
"Too fast, Ginny," Josef said. "It's too fast. I've trained with dozens of wizards. In three months, Harry managed to accomplish more than any of the others did in a year. In another month, he would have been teaching me. It's not natural. Do you remember the guard from the Ministry? His mind never really recovered from his attempt to stop Harry. You were there when Dobby died and Harry nearly cracked the ground with his anger. He saved your life in the Chamber of Secrets twice, and he didn't use a wand either time. Did you ever try to understand why you survived the fall, while Evelyn, who fell with you, received horrible injuries which never fully healed?"
"That was different!" Ginny snapped. "It wasn't— He never wanted—"
"That is my point precisely," Josef said steadily. "He never wanted to hurt that guard. I don't believe he wanted to hurt Evelyn, either. These aren't the sort of things that Harry would ever do, yet we can't deny that he has done them."
"Those all happened months ago," Ginny said, trying to remain calm. "There's no reason to think—"
"Isn't there?" asked Josef. "I want to believe that, Ginny, I honestly do. Perhaps I'm wrong. No one has spent more time around him than you have. Tell me that you haven't seen anything strange. Tell me that he hasn't done anything to suggest that he's not in full control of his power. If you say there's nothing, I'll believe you."
Ginny opened her mouth to assure him, but before she could speak, painful images drifted through her mind. She could see Hermione, dressed in nothing but a nightgown of thin red satin with Harry's lips pressed against hers and malevolent darkness spreading across her skin from the place where he was touching her.
Josef frowned at her reaction. "I was afraid of that."
"It's not his fault," Ginny said. "It's the cloaked wizard. He's the one doing this. He's making Harry do these things. Harry's not evil. He'll fight it. I know he will."
"He's already fighting it, Ginny. I've been watching him. He's strong, but not strong enough. It's been a part of him since he was a year old. I don't think it's possible for him to ever fully control it. I think it's part of him now, and soon, it may be the more powerful part."
"That's why we're looking for the Temple," she said in a trembling voice. "We're going to put an end to this once and for all. Then Harry can finally live a normal life."
"Ginny," Josef said softly. "I wish there was an easier way to say this. We aren't the first people to fight against the cloaked wizard. The Veils were created because the most powerful wizards of the age couldn't destroy him. Realistically, the best we can hope to do is to find a way to imprison him again."
"What are you saying?"
Josef gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm saying that we might not be able to cure Hermione... or Harry. We can't know what will happen if we manage to stop the cloaked wizard. Maybe it will get better. I think it's much more likely, that the moment the cloaked wizard feels threatened, he'll try to turn Harry against us."
"Harry won't let that happen. He's stronger than that. He fought Voldemort. He'll fight this," she said confidently, though she couldn't completely bury her growing doubt. "It won't matter at all if we don't find the Temple. And if we do, then we have to find the Jewel and do a dozen other things, or it's all for nothing." She looked at Josef and felt the true weight of the hopelessness in her words. "In the end, I guess it all comes out the same. No matter what happens to Harry, I never want to lose him again. I'll follow him, wherever he goes."
"Ginny, I—" he said, faltering slightly. "If Harry ever loses control again, I'm afraid he might never come back. If that happens, you're the only one who will be able to stop him. It's going to be up to you to— to see that he doesn't suffer like Mira and the others."
"No," Ginny said defiantly, not wanting to believe it was even possible. "That won't happen. Harry would never— If he did, then I would rather—"
"I don't know what's going to happen. Perhaps I'm completely wrong. I want to think that I am. If I'm not, then it's going to be up to you, Ginny," Josef repeated firmly, "but you don't have to be alone. I promised to protect you and stand by you to the end. Just remember that, will you?"
Another day passed and Harry and the others still hadn't found anything remotely helpful. Feeling the sixth day looming over them, they gave up all notions of sleep and food in a desperate attempt to find the elusive Temple. Instead of splitting up, they all banded together —even Hermione— to scour the city, searching every library, every cellar, every old building they could enter or sneak their way into.
They returned to the abandoned pub early in the morning of their final day, feeling more defeated than they had since the arrived at Giza. Just like every other day, they'd found nothing at all, but this time they had spent all night not finding it. There was simply nothing to find. After thousands of years of being hidden, all traces of the Temple had been removed or forgotten. They were all too exhausted and depressed by their failure to notice their visitor before he addressed them from the table in the center of the room.
"Good morning, Harry," he said in a firm tone, sounding neither friendly nor hostile.
Harry wasted no time in drawing his wand and pointing it directly at Antonin's chest. "Stay right where you are," he commanded. "If you move, I'll stun you faster than you can even remember where you put your wand." On either side of him, Josef and Ginny had drawn and aimed their wands as well.
"Relax, Harry," Antonin said gently. He slowly placed his hands on the table, splaying his fingers in an exaggerated show of obedience. He didn't look the way Harry remembered him. He wore no hat and had his hair tied back neatly. His customarily loud attire was replaced with simple robes of shadowy grey. His demeanor had changed, too. He seemed passive and detached. It didn't feel accurate to say that he wasn't concerned by the three wands pointed at him. He didn't even seem to notice them. With an empty, apathetic expression, he looked up at Harry and said in an even tone: "I am not your enemy."
"You're not much of a friend, either," Harry shot back, put off by his detached behavior.
"Perhaps not," he replied. "In the end, it will be up to you to make that judgment. I'll be honest with you. Obtaining your friendship was not one of my goals."
"And what exactly were your goals?" Harry asked, still keeping his wand on the older wizard. "If you were trying to destroy the cloaked wizard, you've done a pretty poor job of it, so far."
"I don't care much about him," Antonin said, looking down at his hands. "Of course, neither do you. It's not his existence that drives you to fight this hard. There are other dark wizards, Harry. You know that. Why aren't you fighting them? Why aren't you hunting them?"
"They didn't try to kill my friends!"
"Precisely," Antonin replied, raising a single finger to mark his point. "You aren't trying to rid the world of evil. You are just trying to preserve the world around you and protect the ones you love. You fought to keep things as you wanted them —as they were meant to be."
"I fought because he came after me," Harry replied angrily. "He was the one who tried to change things. I didn't choose to be part of this."
"Neither did I," Antonin replied with unsettling serenity. "You and I are simply playing the parts given to us. We didn't choose them, and they did not choose us. They are simply our parts. This is how it was meant to be. We are not enemies. The world is rarely that clear. You are doing your job and I am doing mine. It is as simple as that. Understand that there is nothing personal about this. I have a job and it's nearly over. There is no room for friendships or emotion."
"You're lying," Ginny interrupted. "You could have done your job just as well without ever showing yourself to us. You didn't have to help me. You chose to approach me, and once you did, it became more than just a job. You sit here, trying to act emotionless and cold, but it's just an act. It's just another mask," she said. "I know you. You do care. You do want to help us because as friends go, we're the closest thing you've got."
Antonin returned a stony gaze. "Don't fool yourself," he said coldly. "Just because you can see the mask now, doesn't mean that you understand what is behind it. Perhaps it's best that you don't. Though, I suppose you are not completely wrong. I would have liked to be your friend."
"Well, you could give it a try," Ginny replied. "You know where the Temple of Telahmet is, don't you?"
"Yes, I do," he replied with a nod.
"Then help us," Ginny demanded. "Tell us where it is. Tell us how to find it."
"Oh?" said Antonin, pretending to be surprised. "So you still haven't found it, yet?"
"We haven't found anything," Harry said, "because there's nothing to find. It's not mentioned in any books. It's not shown on any maps. It isn't mentioned in any poems or songs. We even checked entire cellars of clay tablets. No one has even heard about it. The local historians look at us like we've gone mental and everyone who helped the Brotherhood is missing."
"Everyone who helped the Brotherhood?" Antonin replied. "Really?"
"Yes," Josef answered. "They've all been killed."
Antonin frowned and nodded. "Curious, don't you think?" he said. "Surely there has to be someone left. The Brotherhood worked with quite a few people."
"Well, if anyone is left, I don't know who they are or where to find them," Josef shot back. "Whatever Grigore found that brought him here, there's no chance that we're going to find it now. But you knew that already, didn't you?"
"Did I know that you wouldn't find the temple by following Grigore?" Antonin asked himself. "Yes, I already knew that. But I assure you that your collection of dead wizards has nothing to do with me. There would be no point, you see. None of them knew anything more than poor Grigore and we already knew that he would never find the Temple."
"Then how did he know it was here?" Harry replied. "He made it this far. So did you. You found the Temple, why couldn't he?"
Antonin sat back and smiled. "Ah, finally a good question," he said. "He couldn't find the Temple because at his very heart, Grigore Tarus believed dark magic to be the stronger form. Oh, he professed that neither good nor evil was stronger. He felt the allure of the darkness and fought it quite well, but he was only human. That is how he was trapped. The Gate had been whispering to him for some time. It blinded him and that's why he would never find what he sought."
"But he knew the Temple was here," Harry continued pressing.
Antonin nodded. "Yes, he did. The snakes brought him here, just like they brought young Justinian. Oh, Grigore was obsessed with snakes. He thought they held the key. Once he heard about the Chamber of Secrets, it wasn't hard to make the connection to Giza. He already knew the very first sightings of Basilisks were here. It was a clever deduction, but Grigore could not let go of it.
"He traveled to all the Gates he could find and found snakes at every one of them. For five years he searched, returning here whenever he could, searching for the one clue he was missing, the last snake which would lead him to the Temple. He could not see the answer in front of him all that time." He cast a quick glance at Josef. "That is why you have failed, isn't it? You are continuing Grigore's mistake. You are looking for snakes, for evil, for darkness. You have focused on the negative half, believing it to be the key to understanding this thing you fight. You have missed the other half."
"Lions," Harry said, remembering the carvings he'd seen around the Veil chambers. "It was always snakes and lions, just like... Slytherin and Gryffindor. Is that it? We're supposed to be looking for lions, or... something about Godric Gryffindor?"
"Ah, yes, I suppose that might would be a good idea," Antonin replied. "Or, it would have been a month ago. Godric Gryffindor knew what Slytherin was doing, of course. You might've found some notes about it if you looked. I don't know if anyone ever has, though. It doesn't matter anymore. There's no time for that particular branch of research. The lions, though, that was what the others were missing."
"Yes, that's wonderful," Ginny said in an acidic tone. "If only you could have told us that last week. That is the sort of favor we could have expected from someone who was supposed to be helping us."
"I came here to help you," Antonin said.
"It's a bit late, isn't it?" Harry fired back. "The old man in the library said it took Justinian a month to find it. We've got until the end of the day. It's too late. Either you help us, or it's all over. There's simply no time for any more of your games."
Antonin stared up at him and smiled. "There's still time, Harry. Don't give up just yet. I know how hard it is."
"Do you?"
"Yes, I do," Antonin replied. "I was beginning to lose hope myself. It seemed impossible when I first thought of it. I knew you couldn't find the Temple in just six days. In all of history, Justinian took the least time, and it wasn't possible for you to duplicate that feat."
"Why not?" asked Harry, sensing there was something more.
"Because he never really managed to do it, himself," Antonin answered. Harry stared at him in shock. Had the old man lied to them? Seeing their reaction, Antonin smiled to himself. "I told you before that I have been trying to help you, and I will prove it to you now. You will find the Temple of Telahmet and you will find it the same way Justinian did."
"But how—"
Harry was interrupted by heavy knocking at the door behind him. Taking his wand off Antonin for the moment, he cautiously approached the door. Signaling for the others to stand clear of the entrance, he took shelter behind the wall next to the door and slowly opened it just a crack. It took a second for his eyes to adjust to the blinding noontime sun, and when they did, he found Justinian Lynch watching him calmly.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked as he threw open the door and pulled Justinian into the room.
"You're looking for the Temple of Telahmet, aren't you?" he said, glancing down at the spot where Harry was clutching his robes as if the action offended him.
Harry ignored him. "Are you going to tell us where it is?" he asked forcefully.
"No," answered Justinian. "I'm going to take you there."
Harry stared at him in shock. Being given exactly what he had been asking for for the past week was so surprising that he didn't realize that Antonin stood up until he heard the chair sliding across the floor. Harry spun around quickly to find the older wizard standing near a shelf and reaching for a small golden figurine in the shape of a lion which hadn't been there the day before.
"Stop!" Harry shouted, raising his wand again. "Don't touch that lion!"
Antonin stopped, surprising Harry yet again, but the look in his eyes was far from obedient. "What will you do if I disobey? Will you kill me? Is that all? Considering the other possible fates before me, it's hardly a punishment." He stared into Harry's eyes and for the first time, Harry perceived a deep sense of remorse within him. "I have done so much to deserve death," Antonin continued, "and I've given everything to make up for that. Not until this moment have I felt that I finally achieved balance."
He smiled and let out a long sigh. "Perhaps, if the sun rises tomorrow, I may finally find peace. Until then, there is nothing more that I can do for you, Harry. I have done my part. It is up to others to see it to the end." His eyes drifted over Harry's shoulder. "Goodbye, Ginny," he said softly. "You are a good person. Please remember that. No matter what happens, never forget that you are a good person." He turned away and reached for the figurine.
"No, don't—" Harry shouted, but it was too late. Antonin and the figurine were both gone. Anger mixed with confusion in Harry's mind and he quickly turned on Justinian again, raising his wand threateningly.
"Is this another trick?" growled Harry. "Is this another game? You said you know where the Temple is. You said you were going to take us there and you'll do it or I'll—"
"We leave in three hours," Justinian interrupted calmly.
Justinian's relaxed response did nothing to ease Harry's temper. "We'll leave now," he demanded.
Justinian was unaffected. "If I'm right, you didn't get any sleep at all last night, and very little the night before. You are going to face the most ancient magical power in the world. We have three hours to spare. I suggest you get as much rest as you can."
Just as Justinian promised, he led them out of Giza late that afternoon. Harry only managed to get two hours of sleep. He refused to leave Justinian alone. He insisted that one of them remained awake with him and offered to take the first shift. Ron took the second and Josef took the last hour. Ginny protested against Harry's insistence that she sleep through all three shifts, but accepted before both of them were forced to admit that he had done it because of the very real danger she was walking into. Despite not being asked to watch over Justinian, Hermione slept only briefly, and spent the rest of her time looking out the window at the dropping sun.
Just before they left, Justinian told them to pack a small bag. "Bring extra clothes, a small amount of food, and whatever else you might want to use when we reach the camp tonight."
"The camp?" Ron asked in confusion. "What camp? I thought we were going to the Temple?"
"We are," insisted Justinian, "but these places are heavily guarded with charms. Walking is the only safe way to travel and we'll stop for a spell at a camp on the way. It will be your last chance to have a meal and get some sleep before we reach the Temple. There are tents there already, but they're not terribly comfortable."
With bags slung over their shoulders, they left the pub and began walking toward the edge of the city. Harry hadn't considered just how big Giza was, and it took hours before they managed to see the desert stretching out toward the horizon. It didn't take much thought to figure out where they were headed.
"The pyramids?" Harry asked, raising an arm toward the enormous shapes rising into the sky ahead of them. "The temple is near the pyramids? How could everyone have such trouble finding it?"
"It's not that simple, Harry," Justinian said, "and we're not going to the pyramids."
Instead of arguing, Harry simply followed quietly, one hand always lingering close to the pocket where he'd put his wand. They walked on, steadily closing the distance between themselves and the three mountains of stone. They reached the edge of the city to find the pyramids looming over them and blocking most of the rays of the setting sun.
"And we're not here for the pyramids," Harry said questioningly. It was hard to believe they would choose that route without a good reason.
"No, Harry," Justinian said. "We're not here for the pyramids." With that, he turned south and began walking toward a much smaller, much more weather-beaten monument.
"This is what we have been looking for?" Ginny said, staring at the lumpy sculpture ahead of them as they approached. "The Great Sphinx?"
"It didn't always look like that," Justinian replied. "The Muggles changed it. Long ago, it was a great lion, proud and alert, standing watch over the greatest secret the world has known. The Muggles forgot about it, of course. They changed the sculpture to fit their desires and in doing so, helped the truth fade even more. Yet still, its spirit has not totally fled this place. It refused to give in to the relentless sand. It has remained, as much a monument to immortality than anything else. It still inspires awe. The Arabs call it the Father of Fear, thought they may not fully know why."
"So... the Temple is... under the Sphinx?" Ron asked. "Or is it... inside?"
"Neither," Justinian answered. "This is merely the entrance."
"Yeah alright, but where?" replied Ron, looking about at the collection of Muggle tourists who were scattered about.
Justinian came to a sudden stop. "It is hidden," he said, looking up at the face of the Sphinx. "Wait and see."
Harry glared at him, feeling his impatience growing. Then he realized that Justinian wasn't looking at the Sphinx, but the setting sun. The last sliver of brilliant light was just about to sink beneath the horizon.
"That's why we were waiting," Hermione said, finally speaking up after hours of complete silence. "It's more than just finding the right place. We had to find the right time... a time when darkness and light came together."
"It's not hard to figure out, once you think about it," Justinian said. "You simply have to look for what you want to find."
"We want to find lions," Ginny said. "We found one. So now what are we looking for?"
Justinian turned around and smiled. Raising his arm slowly, he pointed over their shoulders to horizon opposite the sun. Harry and the others turned around and blinked their eyes, trying to figure out just what they were seeing. The air seemed to shimmer a little bit, revealing faint wisps of dark fog caught in the heat coming off the sand.
"What is that?" Ginny said.
"The other lion," Justinian told them. "One light, one dark. One visible, one hidden. Balance and duality in all things, you see? Of course, there is more, but we don't have time to discuss symbology. Come on."
As Justinian led them toward the hazy shape, it began to solidify while the rest of the world dissolved behind them. In a minute, the Sphinx was little more than a sandy blur and the foggy shape they had been walking toward had become an enormous black stone sculpture every bit as big as the Sphinx and just as weathered.
As the details became clearer, Harry was able to see that the lion had something in his mouth. Or, at the very least, what was left of it. Its lower jaw had cracked and fallen off some time ago, but you could still make out the shape of its teeth biting into a long twisting shape. It twisted down the lion's mane and coiled around its paw, ending in the surprisingly distinct shape of a snake's head burying its fangs in the lion's left paw.
Harry found himself so distracted by the imagery that he didn't even see the deep opening in the ground that opened up under the lion's face. Ron reached out to tap him on the shoulder just seconds before he would have stumbled down the very first step.
Justinian pulled a torch from the wall and lit it as they continued down the long stairs. After a while, the steps became less steep and they detected a gradual but persistent left hand spiral. The walls were never farther apart than Harry's arm span, but he could not see the ceiling. While it wasn't totally unlike the paths to the other chambers, Harry began to wonder just what sort of place they were headed to.
"How much farther is it? he asked.
"We should reach the camp in an hour, I think," Justinian replied.
"The camp?" Ginny replied. "We're camping down here?"
"No," Justinian replied flatly.
"Hold on, then," said Harry. "Where are we going then?"
"The Temple of Telahmet," answered Justinian. "That, however, was not what you really wanted to know was it? You're not so curious where we're going as where we are right now." Everyone continued on in silence for a moment.
"Alright, then," chimed Ron. "Since no one else is willing to do it. Just where are we right now? I'd have put some strong money on us being somewhere under that huge lion, but I guess that's too obvious to be true."
"We're nowhere, Ron," Justinian announced. "This tunnel is unplottable. It doesn't exist on any maps and neither does our destination. The wizards who put the cloaked wizard behind the Gates worked hard to see that no one would ever find the Temple by accident."
"Yeah, that makes sense," he replied under his breath. "If the bloody idiots wouldn't have hid it so well, this would've been over months ago."
Before long, the stairs came to an abrupt end and at the end of one last long corridor, they found a cavernous room. At the far end of the chamber was a large circular door made of metal. Sculpted in intricate detail around the perimeter was the shape of an enormous snake devouring its own tail. Beyond that, there was no other carvings and nothing suggesting a method of opening it.
"I don't suppose you're going to tell us what that means?" Harry asked as he approached the door.
"It is an ancient symbol," Justinian replied distractedly as he pulled out his wand and walked toward the wall near the door. "We could discuss it for hours, but for now I will say that it means many things to many people. It has been used to portray perfection, unity, eternity, and immortality. At the same time, it evokes the notion of futility and self-destruction. It is a reminder that our greatest ally against evil, may be evil itself. That is all you need to know."
"Right," Harry said sourly. "I'm just supposed to do what I'm told. I should blindly follow what others tell me. I don't need to understand the door to open it, right?"
"No," Justinian replied with a confused look. "You need to understand the door, but you don't need to open it." With a wave of his wand, part of the stone wall in front of him disappeared, revealing a roughly hewn hole. "And there should be no need to blindly follow. I've brought light and you've got a wand if you need more." He ducked into the hole and called for everyone else to follow.
Harry passed through seconds later and felt a distinct change in the air. It was warmer and dry. A pair of rough rock faces stood on either side of him and the last crimson rays of sunlight could be seen in the gap above them. They seemed to be in a deep ravine, but there was no sign of any stream that could have created it.
"Where are we now?" Ginny asked as she stepped through the hole with Josef right behind her.
"It's hard to say for sure," Justinian replied. "If you climb out of the canyon, you'll find yourself two or three days from Giza, but you'll never find the canyon again. There is strong magic protecting it. This place was meant to be forgotten."
"Someone should have told the blokes who put that door there," Ron mumbled. "What exactly was the point of it? Just to frustrate people?"
"Oh no. I'm sure it's a working door and I suspect Harry would have been capable of opening it. There simply wasn't any point in doing it. Parselmouths are rare, and greed is all too common. Thousands of people have found that door. Some of them were desperate enough to spend decades cutting their own way through. Perhaps the ancients expected their warnings to be enough to turn away thieves. Perhaps their charms have simply faded. It doesn't matter."
"I guess not," Ron replied. "So that's all it takes, then? You just have to find the other lion and sneak through the little hole and you've found the world's biggest secret?"
Justinian let out a short laugh. "I'm afraid not. There were... other tests. Many wizards have walked this path. No more than twenty have seen the Temple. Those of us who have, have sworn to defend it."
"You mean, you kill anyone else who manages to make it this far?" Harry asked. Justinian nodded quickly. "But you saw it," Harry continued. "You found the Temple. Why didn't Antonin kill you?"
"Oh, he tried," Justinian said with a short laugh. "He didn't know that I was following him. I had been tracking magical creatures for the past year. Tracking wizards was simple. I followed him into the temple. I could barely believe what I was seeing and I knew no one else would believe me either. So, I hid and waited. When Antonin returned, he was carrying a small box under one arm and used a small object in the other to close the door to the largest chamber. While his back was turned, I hit him with a hex and grabbed them both. He followed me after recovering and when he came out of the stairway under the lion, I told a few Egyptian inspectors that I'd seen him robbing a tomb. He was very upset when they arrested him."
"So, they kill you if you find the Temple, but if you manage to rob them and falsely accuse them of a crime, they let you join them?" Ron asked. "You're all nutters, you know?"
"That's exactly what I said when Zahi told me what I'd stolen," Justinian replied. "He said that I had an important role to play and that I could avenge the murder of my parents. When Antonin was finally released by the Egyptian inspectors, he found me and took back the small box."
"What was it?" Ginny asked slowly. It sounded as if she had already come to the same conclusion Harry had.
"You'll see it soon," Justinian replied. "Zahi will be bringing it with him tonight."
"And the other thing?" Ron asked. "The key, you haven't forgotten that, have you?"
"No, I haven't," he answered. "It wasn't mine to forget. If our luck is holding, it is hanging around Ginny's neck right now."
Harry saw Ginny's hand jerk up to her chest, but she said nothing. This revelation had caught everyone off guard and for the moment, they were happy to simply walk along in the growing darkness while trying to figure out just why something so important had been entrusted to Ginny so long ago.
"Watch your footing," Justinian called back to them. "Stay to the middle of the canyon. The path is straight here and the torch should be enough light to walk by."
The walls on either side of them seemed to rise up higher, making the path even darker than it had been. The walls began to blend into the sandy floor and Harry had trouble making out just where the path was. His only clue was the dim flames from Justinian's torch as he walked ahead of them. Gradually, the way became easier as pale stones on either side of the path caught the light from the torch.
A loud crack echoed through the ravine. Ron swore as he lost his footing and fell to the floor. Harry immediately turned to see if he was hurt.
"I'm fine," Ron said angrily. "Just a bit annoyed. We're walking through a canyon in a lifeless desert and I manage to trip on a tree branch of all things."
"That's not possible," Hermione said softly. As she looked into the darkness, Harry thought he could see a faint green glow in her left eye. "There are no trees here, Ron."
"Well, what else could it have been?" Ron replied as he stood up and dusted the sand off his robes. Lighting his wand he walked back a few feet and bent over to pick something up out of the sand. After a long pause, Harry heard Ron swear loudly, then drop the object back to the ground.
"It's a bone —a human bone," he shouted. "What the bloody hell is it doing here?"
In seconds Harry and everyone else had lit their wands and were aiming them at the sides of the path. The pale rocks he had seen were not rocks at all, but hundreds of skeletons, their bones broken and scattered. There were a few animals, but it didn't take him long to see a dozen human skulls.
"Is this what happens to anyone who sneaks down here?" Ron called out to Justinian. "You kill them and just leave them here as some sort of— warning? You're all bloody monsters! What the—"
"Ron," Josef interrupted. "I don't think Lynch or his friends are responsible for these."
"Then who is?"
"One of those," Josef replied, directing Ron's attention to a much larger skull, half buried in sand. A jumbled trail of crescent-shaped bones extended along the wall of the canyon. Harry walked over to the skull and inspected the few fangs which still remained in its jaw.
"Be careful, Harry," Justinian warned. "They might still have some venom left in them and I've forgotten to bring a phoenix."
"That was the other test?" Ginny shouted. "A Basilisk?"
"There's another there," Hermione announced, pointing her wand farther down the path.
Ginny was irate. "You brought us down here and you knew there were Basilisks? When were you going to tell us? Did you think that Harry would protect us all?"
Justinian rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm confident that Harry will be able to handle any Basilisks we encounter. However, I'm just as confident that Ron will be able to protect us from any we find here, since they've all been dead for four centuries. This is where most of those fools unfortunate enough to find their way here ended their journey. However, our journey tonight is taking us just a little further. Now, if you would follow me for just a few more minutes, we will reach our camp."
They all continued following him, Ron and Ginny grumbling a little more than the others, and in less than five minutes, they felt the walls of the ravine widen until it felt more like they were in an enormous hall. The gap between the walls was much wider at the floor than it was above them, but it was enough to give them a decent glimpse of the sky as it darkened. Two large tents and two small tents were set up nearby, with a small bundle of wood piled in the center for a fire.
"Did you... create this?" Ron asked as he looked around in awe.
"No, the Basilisks did," Justinian replied. "If you're lucky, this is the only Basilisk nest you will ever see in your lifetime."
"And you want us to just sit back and relax here?" Ron asked incredulously. "In a Basilisk nest? While we're trying to stop a dark wizard from destroying the world?"
"No," Justinian replied calmly. "I'm asking you to sleep here. None of you have gotten much rest lately. I know, because I've been tracking you. I need sleep as much as you do." He began walking toward one of the smaller tents and flicked his wand toward the wood, starting a small fire immediately.
"Listen," Harry began, "I'll sleep much better once this is all over. Can't we just get it over with?"
"Not without Zahi," Justinian said. He stepped into his tent and poked his head back out to give Harry a stern look. "I'm sure you've already figured out why. If he was here, then we'd go. He's not, so we have to wait. Eat if you're hungry, but promise me you'll try to get some sleep. We already have a difficult task ahead of us. Don't go trying to make it even harder. I have potions if you need them."
"I'll be alright," Harry replied heavily. Shaking his head in frustration, he walked to one of the larger tents with Ginny following close behind him. They found a pitcher of water on a nearby table and filled a couple small cups. They said very little to each other. There simply wasn't much to say. After replacing their dusty robes with pajamas, they slipped into bed. Harry found the bed to be overly warm, slightly lumpy and generally uncomfortable.
Within minutes, he was asleep.
Ginny awoke in the darkness to the sounds of boots approaching her tent. It took only a second for her thoughts to jump to Harry. Twisting in bed, she reached out toward the opposite side and found Harry lying just where he'd fallen asleep. With her immediate fears dispelled, new fears began to fill her mind, mixed with growing curiosity. Ginny stood up slowly, listening for the sound of the footsteps. They seemed to pause as they passed by and Ginny froze in fear.
What was she supposed to do? Should she wake Harry? Images of the cloaked wizard flashed through her mind, but something in her heart told her they were nothing but hollow fears. She felt no danger, no dread. She reached for her wand and began slowly walking toward the doorway.
"Ginny," a voice called. "I know you're awake."
It was Justinian. Ginny turned around again to look at Harry. He shifted a little in his sleep, but his breathing quickly settled back into a steady, if somewhat troubled rhythm.
"Ginny," Justinian whispered. "Please come out. There is something I need to show you."
Despite her apprehension, Ginny continued forward, pushing the flap of the tent aside. Standing on the other side was Justinian, his face an emotionless mask. He said nothing more to her, but motioned for her to follow him. A soft breeze blew cool air across her skin, reminding her that she was only wearing her nightgown.
"If you'll give me a minute, I'll put on some—"
"You won't need them," Justinian interrupted softly. "The stone walls keep the canyon warm well into the morning." The temperature was only one of the reasons why she wanted a cloak or a set of robes, but Justinian didn't seem to be understanding that. Ginny tried to explain that it would only take a moment, but he just shook his head. "There's no need, I assure you. Please, follow me, before the others wake up." There was something odd about his behavior. His expression was dull and all his motions were a little sluggish, as if he were weary from a long day of exertion.
Though Ginny knew this hadn't been the case and that he'd been much more energetic only a few hours earlier, she did as he asked and hoped that he might explain whatever had caused the change in his demeanor. Instead of answers, Ginny only got more questions as Justinian calmly led her away from the camp and further along the narrow canyon. As the path began to turn, Ginny came to an abrupt stop.
"This doesn't feel right," she said as fear began to creep into her mind again. "Where are we going? Why aren't we taking the others with us?"
"Because you are the one who must understand, not them," he replied in a somber voice.
"What do I need to understand?"
Justinian looked up at her, but there was no life behind his eyes. "You need to understand the consequences of your actions." Ginny recoiled immediately, reaching for her wand. Justinian remained completely still, making no move toward her. "I am not him," he reassured her. "I am not the cloaked wizard, and he doesn't control me. If I sound like him, it's only because I think I finally understand him."
Ginny kept her wand raised, slowly backing away. "You understand him?" she asked. "He's completely mad. He's insane. He's not even human."
"He was, once," Justinian replied. "I used to wonder if there was a time when he was not so different from us. I'm fairly certain of it now."
"I loved Valencia, you know," he said as he turned and continued down the path slowly. "He knew that. That was why he did it. That was why he didn't just consume her like everyone else. He left her with only a shred of her soul to torture me with her suffering. She and I made the footsteps we have been following. I brought her here to give her the closest thing to death she would ever know."
"Is that what—" Ginny began.
"No, please listen," he said, stopping for a moment to look into Ginny's eyes. "That was mercy —a drop of honey in a cup of poison. He took her from me. He used Voldemort to take my family, too. I understand that now. He's taken everything that ever brought me joy. That is the price I've paid. I don't blame you for your fears. They serve you well. I simply ask you: What do you think he could offer me that would be worth what he has already taken?"
Suddenly Ginny understood the reason behind his behavior. He was broken and filled with despair.
"He has taken everything I love, and in doing that, he had made a grave mistake," Justinian said as he continued walking with Ginny at his side. "I now understand what it is to live with only one purpose. My only desire is to stop him. There is nothing I value above that single goal."
"What does this have to do with me?" Ginny asked. The path was now sloping downward quite a bit and she was forced to slow down in order to keep from slipping.
"I know I cannot stop him," Justinian replied, offering his hand to her as she climbed over a pile of tumbled rocks. "All of my hopes have been destroyed, all of them except one. You are that last hope, Ginny. In the end, you are the one who must see that my sacrifices —all of our sacrifices— have not been in vain."
The path leveled out and the sky disappeared above her as they entered a wide cave. "What do I have to do?" she asked.
Justinian lit his wand and aimed the beam of light toward the far end of the cavern. A large pair of heavy iron doors filled a tall archway. "I don't know, Ginny," said Justinian as he approached the doors. "No one does. That's something you're going to have to figure out for yourself."
He pushed against the doors and the swung open easily. Ginny followed close behind him as he stepped through the arch. The darkness was so profound that it took some time before her eyes began to make out rows of dim shapes on either side of her which rose toward a ceiling beyond her vision. Some distance away, she could see a soft, white light gleaming off the stone floor, but it faded quickly and only made it more difficult to peer through the shadows.
"Lumos," she whispered, and soft light burst from the tip of her wand. The first thing she noticed was the floor. It was made of dark stone, polished and damp. Echoing from somewhere above, she heard the sound of trickling water. Seeking the source, she raised her wand and froze. The rows of tall shapes on either side of them were pillars of black stone, carved in the shape of a pair of coiled snakes with their jaws opened and baring a pair of sharp fangs.
"It can't— This is—" she stammered. "It's the Chamber of Secrets," she said, gasping for air as horrible memories flooded back to her. She broke out into a cold sweat. "This isn't real," she whispered. "It's a dream. It can't be real."
"It is very real," Justinian assured her, "but it is not the Chamber of Secrets. This is the Temple of Telahmet. I suppose you could think of it as the original Chamber of Secrets, though its secrets are much more sinister than a Basilisk and hatred for Muggle-borns."
Ginny continued forward, passing rows of serpentine pillars. The light she had seen from the entrance was coming from a circular opening in the ceiling which permitted the moonlight to shine into the chamber. As she stepped into the moonlight, she noticed the tall statue looming over her. This statue, however, was not of Salazar Slytherin, but of a tall wizard wearing a hooded cloak. Light reflecting off the floor shone up toward the figure's face, dimly illuminating a pair of enormous green crystals set into its eyes.
"What is this?" Ginny asked, unable to take her eyes off the statue staring down at her. "How is it possible? It can't be a coincidence. It's almost identical to the Chamber of Secrets, but it has to be much older. Did Slytherin... remember this?"
"Perhaps, but there is a simpler answer," Justinian said as he walked past Ginny to stand near the statue's feet. "For thousands of years the entrance to the Temple was sealed by magic and guarded by snakes transformed by the dark power trapped here. Even before they were broken, dozens of wizards had managed to unlock the doors, but we think Salazar Slytherin was the first Parseltongue. He alone managed to control the Basilisks. He spoke to them, and they told him of this chamber."
"He was here?" Ginny asked. "What was he looking for?"
"Power? Immortality? Explanations for the dreams which haunted him? I don't think we'll ever know," Justinian replied flatly. "It's possible that Slytherin didn't really know just what he was looking for. Whatever it was, he found many things here. The Basilisk Harry fought under Hogwarts was born here and brought back to Scotland by Slytherin. This is also where he found his hatred for Muggle-born wizards. He realized they were diluting the dark power which whispered secrets to him. However, there was one thing he could not find. He became obsessive about this place and constructed the Chamber of Secrets in the hopes of quieting the demon within him. He built it as an almost perfect copy, changing only the giant statue, recognizing the link between the cloaked wizard here and himself. Yet, it was not perfect. It was missing that one thing which he could not find, the one feature which continued to drive him mad."
"And what was that?" Ginny asked.
Justinian smiled for the first time that night. "A single doorway," he said clearly. "A doorway which had been hidden after the cloaked wizard was imprisoned. He had not expected that and his influence over Slytherin was far too weak to communicate such information. Slytherin died without even knowing what it was he was supposed to be looking for."
"But the wizard... does he know where it is, then?" she asked. "If he finds this place, will he—"
"He doesn't know," Justinian replied with confidence.
"How can you—"
"Five hundred years after Slytherin's death," continued Justinian, "another wizard came here. He had struck a bargain with the cloaked wizard and came here searching for the doorway. He was the one who killed the Basilisks."
"He... killed all of them? There were four of them. How could he—"
"The gaze of a Basilisk cannot kill a vampire," explained Justinian, "and certainly not one created by the same power which created the Basilisk."
"Wait," Ginny said, "he was a vampire? And he was here almost five hundred years ago? You mean it was—"
"Armaros Desmoda," Justinian said with a nod. "Valencia's father. He came here searching for the door and the chambers behind it."
"Did he find them?"
Justinian's smile returned. "Yes. Yes he did," he said, "but he never told the cloaked wizard what he found and he killed all of the Basilisks so no other Parseltongue could learn its location from them. We believe he kept it a secret, hoping to trade it in exchange for curing his wife of the curse he had given her. It was his last hope for saving her, but he was too clever to think that he would never be allowed to renegotiate his deal. So, he told one other person, hoping that someday they might be able to do what he could not."
"Valencia," Ginny said. "He told her. She said he told her everything."
"Yes, he told Valencia," he said, "but she was young and did not fully understand what he had told her. When she saw the Chamber of Secrets, she remembered what her father told her, but found nothing in the place he had told her about. She did not know about this Temple until I brought her here. She already knew what was here and she knew it was for the best. She sacrificed herself to keep him from finding what he'd been looking for over the last thousand years."
"Luckily, she is not the only one who knows its location," a new voice called out from behind Ginny. As she turned toward the sound, she felt a hand reach out to touch her shoulder. Intense heat radiated from the spot where it pressed against her skin, bringing a mixture of both pain and pleasure. Her eyes fluttered with the sensation, but she still managed to see a tall figure in a battered cloak step around her.
"The location of the doorway is not as much of a secret as you have portrayed it," the cloaked wizard said. "Show it to me and I will let you walk away."
"I have no intention of walking away," Justinian replied stonily.
"Ah, the nobility of sacrifice," the cloaked wizard sneered. "It is easy to sacrifice yourself when you have nothing else to live for, but are you so willing to sacrifice others who have not been emptied of hope? What about her?" he asked as his hold on Ginny's shoulder tightened. The sensations intensified suddenly and she struggled to stay on her feet as her stomach tightened and her knees buckled.
"You know where it is, Lynch," he continued. "Show it to me or I will force you to watch as she suffers."
"You won't do it," Justinian replied. "You can't. Even with all your hatred, some things are still beyond even you."
The hand on her shoulder clamped down suddenly, filling Ginny's body with excruciating pain. She dropped to her knees, gasping for air as agony crackled through her nerves. "I think you would be surprised at what I am capable of," the wizard growled. He left Ginny on the floor as he walked closer to Justinian.
"There is so much you cannot understand," he said. "What do you know of loss? What do you know of betrayal? You think I took Valencia from you, but you fail to see that she was never yours. She has always been mine, from the very moment of her birth. It is you who has taken something of mine. Without me, she would have been a corpse long ago. I gave her life. I gave her power. Everything she was, everything she had, everything she knew was mine and that is what you have taken from me."
"And you have taken everything from me," Justinian replied. "This is my vengeance."
"Vengeance?" the cloaked wizard roared. "You think you are worthy of seeking revenge against me? You arrogant child! You are barely worth my notice. How dare you suggest such that your suffering can even be placed next to mine? You have taken what was rightfully mine. Now I will take it back. Tell me where the door is and I may let you follow Valencia." Ginny watched as he advanced on Justinian, quickly closing the distance until they were only a few feet apart.
As the cloaked wizard lunged for him, Justinian reached into his robes and pulled a long glittering object from one of his pockets. He swung it toward his attacker with surprising speed, The cloaked wizard let out a furious hiss and stumbled backward. His hand was pressed tightly against his neck, but it wasn't enough. Ginny could already see tiny streams of blood forming at the end of his fingers and trailing down his neck and shoulders.
"You should not have done that," the cloaked wizard snarled. "You know you cannot kill me. You cannot fight me. Now I will teach you what pain is. I will rip your soul to shreds."
Justinian simply stared back at the cloaked wizard as he methodically wiped the blood from his dagger on his robes. "My soul is my own," he said calmly. "I will not let you have it, and I will not let you have this body, either."
With a single, quick motion, Justinian spun the knife around in his hand and drove it into his own body, right under his ribs. The cloaked wizard let out a sharp roar and charged forward, immediately ripping the dagger from Justinian's chest and releasing a stream of blood onto the floor.
"You think you have won?" he hissed into Justinian's ear. "Nothing can save you from death, but I can see that your death comes more slowly and painfully than you ever imagined. The longer you keep me from my goal, the more you will suffer. It is pointless to fight any longer. You cannot stop me. Now, tell me where the door is or I will show you a glimpse of the torture I have endured."
Ginny pushed herself to her feet and stumbled forward. "No, I won't let you," she shouted. She raised her wand, pointing it not at the cloaked wizard, but at Justinian, who returned a gentle smile. She knew a dozen curses that could do the job, but she couldn't gather the courage to use them. She hesitated, the incantation caught in her throat, unable to speak it and kill another wizard even when she knew he was already dying.
A second later, a scalding hand was clutching at her wrist, filling her arm with pain. Her wand was suddenly blazing hot and before she could release it, she felt it shatter in her hand. A single shocked gasp escaped from her mouth as she stumbled backward. Her wand was destroyed. She was defenseless.
"A small price to pay," the cloaked wizard hissed. "You should have stayed where you were. This does not concern you, Ginny. Understand, however, that I am not beyond mercy. Lynch has chosen agony over obedience," he said, brandishing the dagger very close to her face. "You will not want to see what I must do now. We will meet again soon, Ginny, but for now: Sleep"
An overwhelming heaviness filled her limbs as the chamber swam around her and filled with a dark, swirling mist. She felt herself falling and the world drifted away quickly, dropping her into a deep oblivion.
Harry sat up in bed, searing pain throbbing in his head. Reaching up, he could feel the heat radiating off his skin. The moment he touched his scar, a new bolt of pain shot through him, making his muscles tense. He opened his eyes and blinked them uselessly. He knew it was dark, but all he could see were bright flashes of light which matched the throbbing agony inside him.
He tumbled from the bed and crawled along the floor toward the corner of the tent where he'd left his bag. There were potions inside to help with the pain. He'd expected something like this to happen, just not right then. He hadn't thought he'd need it until they found the cloaked wizard.
Fear burst through him, dulling the worst of the pain. He leaped to his feet, catching a small table and tossing it and everything on it across the small tent, creating a horrible clatter. Swearing to himself, he spun around quickly to grab his wand from the smaller table near the bed. He was pretty sure he'd just broken the only lamp, but his wand would work for the moment.
"Lumos," he whispered. Light blazed from the tip of his wand, bringing the interior of the tent into sharp detail.
Immediately, he realized that the situation was much worse than he'd realized. For a moment he simply stared in shock at the other half of the bed. It was totally empty with the covers thrown back and no sign at all of Ginny. Scrambling across the tent floor, he ran his hand across the bed where she'd fallen asleep earlier and found the sheets cold.
She was gone.
Harry burst out of the tent and began casting the light from his wand in all directions, desperately searching for any sign of Ginny. Within seconds, Josef had tumbled out of his tent and was running toward Harry, gripping his wand tightly in one hand while the other tugged at a Shield Cloak.
"What is it, Harry?" he called out, quickly closing the distance between them. "Did you hear something or— bloody hell, Harry. Your scar, it's—"
"Ginny's gone," Harry barked, still pointing his wand around the camp in vain.
"She's gone?" Ron shouted from somewhere behind Harry. "What do you mean, she's gone?"
"She's gone!" shouted Harry. "She's not here! What part of that is difficult to understand?" He looked around one last time, but he couldn't ignore the obvious answer. She was gone and the cloaked wizard was nearby. Harry swore at himself again. He should have expected something like this to happen. He'd seen all the signs. The cloaked wizard had invaded Ginny's dreams, just as he had invaded Harry's. If the old man in the library was right, then there was little difference between the cloaked wizard and the fragment of Tom Riddle who had seduced Ginny so long ago. If he'd done it before, there was no reason to think he couldn't do it again.
"I have to find her," Harry announced to himself more than any of the others. With his wand clenched tightly in his hand, he began running off into the darkness.
Something inside him changed. Anger began boiling up from his stomach. He had to find her. She was the only thing that mattered. He had done it all for her. Now she was gone. He had to bring her back. He had to go after her, but the harder he tried to move, the more difficult it became. He felt strong hands clutching at him, tugging at his clothes and pulling him away from Ginny. He spun quickly, and found a dark figure staring down at him with blazing green eyes and black fangs dripping with blood. Harry raised his wand and felt his arm throb with power. He stared into those eyes and felt an overwhelming rage. He reacted without thought.
"Avada Kedav—"
"Harry!"
Harry felt a cold wind blow across his skin and when he blinked his eyes, he found Josef standing before him, clutching at Harry's pajamas in one hand and struggling against Harry's wand arm with the other. There was a look of real terror on his face.
"Relax, Harry, please," begged Josef. Harry felt himself break into a cold sweat as he dropped his wand to his side and stared at Josef with fear at what he'd almost done. Behind Josef, Ron and Hermione were looking every bit as horrified as he felt. He wanted to run away, but he knew he couldn't.
"I'm s-sorry," he stammered. "I— I wasn't thinking. We—" he began, then swallowed and let the cool breeze wash over him again. "We need to find her."
"Yes, I know, Harry," Josef agreed. "We will find her, I promise you, but right now you need to relax. We'll go as soon as you get dressed."
"No," Harry said, shaking his head and trying to catch his breath. "There's no time. He's here. He's nearby. I can—"
"I know," Josef said firmly. "I understand, Harry, I do. We knew this was going to happen, remember? We came here to stop him. We knew he'd try to stop us. Don't let him control you, Harry. He knows you're impatient. You can't let him trick you into doing something foolish. Listen to me, Harry," he said, stepping closer. "We're going to find Ginny. We can put an end to all of this, but not if we're unprepared."
"I'm fine," Harry replied. "All I need is a wand."
Josef frowned at him. "You're not even wearing boots, Harry." Looking down, Harry saw his bare feet standing on the rocky ground, leaving little spots of blood from dozens of small cuts. More blood was soaking into his pajamas from a cut on his knee. He looked into Josef's eyes and saw the same urgency he felt.
Relenting, Harry walked back to his tent. Josef walked with him after telling Ron and Hermione to return to their tents and gather up whatever they needed. After Harry put on boots, fresh robes and a cloak, he began to rummage through the bag he brought. He drank most of a healing potion, leaving the rest of them. He couldn't have them making noise while he ran and if they failed, no potion would help them. Satisfied, he stood up and nodded to Josef.
"Bring Ginny's wand, too," Josef said. "She'll want it when we find her." His confidence encouraged Harry. He walked to the other side of the bed and looked down at the small table where he had seen Ginny place her wand earlier that night. There was nothing there. After taking a minute to search the floor, he looked up at Josef.
"It's gone," he said. "She must have taken it with her. Maybe she knew she was in danger."
Josef's eyes narrowed. He looked around the tent quickly and stopped abruptly on a pile of clothes nearby. Walking over to them, he snatched up the black cloak she'd been wearing. "She left this, though," he said. "And there are two sets of robes, here." He rolled up the cloak and tossed it to Harry. "If she knew she was putting herself in danger, why do it in a nightgown?"
"I— Well maybe—" Harry stammered, unable to see what Josef was thinking.
"Someone told her she didn't need them," he answered.
"But who?" asked Harry. "No one knows we're here. Ron and Hermione were asleep and—"
Harry and Josef burst out of the tent and strode toward Ron and Hermione who were standing near the center of the camp. "Where is Lynch?" Josef growled.
Ron shook his head. "His tent is empty," he replied. "It doesn't even look like he slept in his bed."
"What has that bloody idiot done?" Josef said. "I swear, I'll teach him a new definition of pain when I find him." He paused to look down either end of the canyon. "Which way do you think he took her?" he asked. "Is he an idiot who took her to the Temple alone, or a traitor who is going to lock us into this canyon while he runs off with her?"
Harry looked at both options, but the answer was already clear to him. "He's no traitor," he said. "Ginny's smarter than that. She followed him because she thought it was the best thing to do. He took her to the temple."
The four of them ran off down the path. There were no forks, no branches and no other caves opening into the canyon. After only a short while they managed to find footprints in a patch of sand. One set was made by a light boot and the other set had been made by a petite pair of bare feet.
Ron and Harry led the way, slowing only to examine the tracks where they crossed sand soft enough to leave evidence of their passing. They continued onward, moving as quickly as they could. Hermione kept up with them and Harry didn't allow himself to question where this new stamina came from. He only cared about finding Ginny.
They followed the path down a steep slope and into a dark cave. As the path bottomed out, they stepped through a pair of open doors into an enormous cavern. Far ahead of them was a soft white light, but Harry didn't let himself get distracted by it. They all slowed their pace to a slow creep as their eyes searched the shadows for signs of danger. Josef quickly stopped Ron from lighting his wand and instead instructed them to wait until they adjusted to the darkness.
Slowly, the shadows around them began to take form. Harry felt a slow dread building inside him. The place felt familiar and it had awoken horrible memories which churned just under the surface of his mind. Stepping closer to one of the large shapes nearby, he ignored Josef's warning and cast a beam of light at the very base of it.
"No... No, it can't be—" he murmured as the head of an enormous stone snake stared back at him, its fangs bared and ready to strike.
"Hold on," Ron said. "I've see that before. It's just like— Wait, are we—"
"It's the Chamber of Secrets," Harry whispered, "but it's not the one at Hogwarts. It's... something else." Memories which had been locked inside his head now bubbled to the surface. He ignored the rest of the shadows. His eyes locked on the faint white light at the end of the long chamber. Looking closely, he could see something in the light. His heart began to beat faster.
"No..." he whispered as he began to walk toward the light. "No, it was just a dream. It was just another lie. It wasn't real."
"What was a lie, Harry?" asked Josef.
Harry ignored him and began to walk faster. Rows of snakes twisted up to the ceiling on either side of him, while the darkness behind them whispered a thousand horrible nightmares. Ahead of him, he could now see an unwelcome color reflecting off the floor. "No," he called out again. "This isn't how it was. She got up. She was alright. In my dream, she wasn't dead!"
Harry ran past the last set of columns and skidded to a halt. Before him, his nightmares had manifested themselves into a macabre scene that paralyzed him with fear.
Within the wide circle of moonlight shining down onto the floor was a large pool of crimson blood, and lying in the very center of it was a young woman wearing a radiant white nightgown. She was curled with her face away from him and her long, fiery red hair draping down onto the bloodstained floor.
Author's Notes:
Well, after yet another request to post and update, here you are. I was going to post this tomorrow, but who am I to ignore loyal readers? I hope people enjoy the answers they are getting. With a little luck, everyone will start seeing all the connections. The linkage to the Chamber of Secrets is a particular favorite of mine. Bonus points to anyone who recognized the reenactment of Harry's dream before he actually mentioned it.
So, there are just two chapters left, and as a group, they are about 30 finished. When they are finished, I'll be posting them at the same time (or within a day or two). The reason for this is that they are closely tied together and I don't want people to have to stew on Chapter 21 while I write up 22. Now, the only bad news I have is that I don't expect them to be ready until Halloween. So, this will require some patience. Hopefully everyone (or at least many of you) will trust me that it's going to be worth while and that you wouldn't have fun waiting between Chapter 21 and 22. That said, I'm off to go work on Chapter 21.