So here it is. The maze solution. :D
Dedicated to njferrel, Le Ref of Journey North. I have no clue.
This is so... Angsty in a good/bad bittersweet way and I don't know why! But there's a lot of humour! :D I just don't know if it's considered to be humour by members of civilized society... -_-" Hopefully it doesn't post oddly like my last chapter of WDIR...
Diss the Claim: It's so ugly!
"Anyone know any colour-changing spells?"
Harry immediately denied any such knowledge and Pansy groaned, "If only I had brought Teen Witches Weekly down with me!"
Everyone turned to look at Draco and he scuffed his foot against the ground with a slight blush. Suspicious, Harry poked the blonde in the shoulder, "You wouldn't happen to have any knowledge of these, would you?" Draco scowled and muttered something as softly as he could. Hermione tried to make her way over to him, but collided into wall after wall until Pansy pulled her back so they didn't get separated.
"Draco Francine Malfoy!" ("Does everyone know my middle name?" Draco groaned quietly.) "If you know something speak up now or die here!"
Pansy blinked, "Dramatic much?"
"Well, we could!" The tension in the room seemed almost tangible as the severity of the situation sunk in and Draco sighed.
"I know some hair dying charms," he admitted, hastily adding, "but only because my mother needed me to help dye her hair when she was going through her 'Rapunzel' phase!" Harry couldn't help letting loose one bark like laugh and Draco glared at the severely humour-challenged little shortie. Harry shrugged unrepentantly.
"Well, try them!" Hermione urged, ever the voice of reason. Draco screwed up his face in conentration and with a flick, instead of the wall becoming visible, Hermione's hair turned platinum blonde. "Nothing happened..." She trailed off in disappointment.
No one dared contradict her and after an awkward pause, Harry suggested, "Maybe we should just try to find out where we're supposed to be going?"
Pansy's eyes glazed, "...Where we're going?"
Hermione gave her a disgruntled glance but otherwise ignored her, "What do you mean?"
Draco rolled his eyes at her lack of comprehension, "There's only one entrance to this room, and mazes generally lead to an exit."
Harry took up the train of thought, "And if the maze is invisible it stands to reason that the door or exit is invisible too, so half the trick is finding out where we need to get to."
"Point-me!" Pansy exclaimed, straightening and drawing incredulous looks.
"What?" Hermione turned to her confusedly.
Her eyes alight, Pansy continued, "My mum had me learn it because we were visiting my cousins in Italy and she didn't want me getting lost!"
"It's so weird to think of Pansy as a daughter and not a mom herself..." Harry mused with a twitch frozen on his face.
"I know... I mean I always knew she had to have come from somewhere, and I've even seen her mother once, but ir's still strange," Draco agreed offhandedly.
Bristling, Pansy continued loudly, "Anyway the point-me spell is so simple most six year olds could learn it, so don't feel ashamed if you have trouble, little boys." Hermione smirked smugly.
"But didn't you just say 'most six year olds can-'" Harry began to point out, fuming inwardly. Draco groaned quietly as Pansy interrupted.
"No I didn't. This is the wand movement." She flicked her wand upwards, then slashed it down diagonally to her right, "Then put it on the open palm of your hand and say 'Point me: Invisible maze exit.'"
Harry attempted to copy her exactly and got it on the second time. The first time, it just flopped out of his hands to the floor. When they were sure both parties had the point me spell up and working they began the frustrating work of groping along the walls blindly and trying to find where the different openings were. When Draco and Harry found their first opening, the wand pointed away from it and down the "corridor" they had been traveling.
Harry was impressed, "So it doesn't just point at the exit, it can actually guide us through the maze..."
Draco was distinctly unimpressed, "It'd be useless if it didn't, now wouldn't it?"
"I guess," Harry conceded grudgingly as the two of them continued down the "aisle."
Pansy kept falling through the openings and dropping her wand. So everytime she found a new branch off the path they were traveling, Hermione would need to help her off the ground so she could recast the Point-Me spell. After half an hour of this, they wound up together next to a patch of the visible wall. Harry and Pansy glanced at each others' hands, but both wands were still pointing steadfastly at the solid wall. Harry sighed and canceled the spell. With a conscious effort, he brought forth the image of a hissing snake, and began guessing passwords, "Open. Reveal. Part. Open sesame. Show yourself. Slytherin is awesome." Everyone held their breath at the Parseltongue, yet all that resulted was a heaping load of that wonderfully intriguing nothing. Hermione snorted and Harry scowled, "I love Salazar, Gryffindor sucks, Slytherin will surpass all, ambition, pure blood, snakes rule lions drool, cunning." Wait, Slytherin is known for cunning, he'd have to be stupid to choose one of those... "Gryffindor is the best, bravery, chivalry, nobility, muggleborn equality? Er, Gryffindor for the House Cup! Godric is so hot!" Harry was running out of ideas, but luckily something caught his darting eyes. "Why is this written here?" He pointed to teh faded and worn letters of the old inscription.
"It's just a bunch of squiggles, Harry," Draco informed him with furrowed brow.
Harry shook his head, "No, it's English, it's just worn away in bits. See, it starts off, 'To my precious son, if you've found this, I have either died or been driven away from you and Hogwarts...'"
"We can't read it, Harry, but do you think Slytherin developed a written form of Parseltongue?" Hermione clapped her hands together excitedly.
"Keep going," Pansy pled softly.
Draco eyed her oddly, but Harry had started reading aloud, "'...or been driven away from you and Hogwarts. I'm so proud you've found this place and hopefully befriended the basilisk, Quetza-'" Draco and Harry shared a guilty glance, "'-since she can get quite lonely and I'm sure will have many tales of my misguided youth to share with you. I know you may still hate me for not acknowledging you as my heir while I had the chance, but remember only my true heir will be able to even get this far-'" Harry let one eye brow rise above the other.
Draco waved him on, "Parseltongue is hereditary."
"Oh," Harry quickly found his place, "'Celio, inside this room is the true Chamber of Secrets, secrets I think you need to know. I feel you will know the password once you have read this, my last message to you: you wil always be more important than the lives of anyone on this planet, up to and including my own; I will always be there for you, even once I've died; and no matter what or who you become, I will always be proud of you.'" Surreptitiously Harry edged closer to Draco, slipping his hand into Draco's and sniffing under the claim of allergies. Hermione and Draco claimed the same as Draco succumbed to his own set of sniffles and Hermione wiped her eyes hastily. Pansy was not so restrained, and a thin stream of tears trickled from one eye.
"Looks like everyone here's allergic to parental love," she laughed weakly in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood, "At least now we know the general inclination of the password..."
They all nodded sadly in agreement. Real bittersweet, huh? Harry sent to Draco, swallowing to try and ease the tightness of his throat, "Celio. My precious son. Celio Slytherin. I-" Harry stumbled over the unfamiliar words, despite knowing speaking them to a stone wall in an tongue no one but he could understand shouldn't actually mean anything to him, but that note had been so... "I will always love you, Celio Slytherin." There was a grinding of stone and then the wall parted, not unlike the Leaky Cauldron passageway to Diagon Alley. After Harry told them the password in English, they stepped through and Harry fervently hoped Celio had made it far enough to read that inscription and guess the password.
I hope he made it this far, too. Draco gave him a half smile.
Harry looked at him in shock, Did I send that accidentally?
I can just tell, Draco squeezed his hand lightly and let go.
Pansy whapped them both on the back of the head, "Untwist those jewels and let us in on the conversation!"
So uh... I have this weird feeling that I had them all overreact but I've decided they all have daddy issues and mommy issues... Simply because Hermione's so smart that she'd feel constantly looked down upon when they assumed she was like other kids, Pansy's... "special" and Draco and Harry are explained... :) :(