Chapter 35
Landry, Miles, and Genevieve ran down the dark, slimy passageway, hoping with all their hearts that they would find their friends alive and well on the other end. Soon, the trio reached a fork in the pipe. "Which way should we go?" asked Genevieve.
Suddenly her question was answered when a voice called out from the passage to the right. "Genevieve? Is that you?" it asked in a trembling tone.
"It sounds like Scorpius!" Landry cried excitedly. "Let's go!"
The three teenagers ran down the pipe that skewed off to the right, and soon they found themselves in a large room. The sides were lined with huge snake statues, and at the front was an even larger snake skeleton. And there was something inside of it. "Scorpius!" Landry cried, running towards him.
A terrified looking Scorpius Malfoy had been trapped inside the ribcage of the basilisk skeleton that had been left behind after Harry Potter had defeated it during his second year at Hogwarts. "Are you okay?" Genevieve asked him.
"I'm fine. Where's Albus? I need to talk to him," Scorpius said.
"He's down here, too, along with both of your dads. They must've taken the other pipe. We've got to get you out of there so we can find them and get back to the battle," Landry said as she began to inspect the ribcage that Scorpius was trapped inside.
"A blasting charm should do the trick," Genevieve said, whipping out her wand. "Reducto!" she cried.
The bones shattered, leaving a hole plenty big enough for Scorpius to escape through. "Thanks," Scorpius said, jumping out of the skeleton and running to embrace Genevieve.
"Anytime. Now, let's go find the others and get the hell out of here," she said.
"Sounds good to me," replied Scorpius.
The four teenagers ran through the tunnels, searching for Albus, Draco, and Harry. They were having no luck, when suddenly Landry remembered something. "The stones! Let's call Albus!" she cried, pulling hers out of her pocket. She quickly tapped it four times with her wand and thought of Albus, hoping with all her might that he would pick up. To her relief, his face soon appeared in the stone.
"Landry! Where are you? Did you find Scorpius?" Albus asked worriedly.
"Yes! He's right here! Are you with your dad and Mr. Malfoy?" Landry questioned.
"Yes, I'm with both of them! Let's meet back at the entrance to the Chamber," said Albus excitedly, before hanging up the call.
"Come on!" Genevieve cried, starting off down the pipe, with Scorpius right behind her. Landry was about to follow when she noticed that her boyfriend had a very concerned look on his face.
"Miles? What's wrong?" Landry asked.
"I don't know…doesn't this all seem weirdly easy to you? We just walked right in and found Scorpius, freed him easily, and now we're about to escape with no difficulty? It just seems odd. If I were a powerful, dark wizard who wanted to keep someone trapped, I'd surely put up more defenses," Miles pointed out.
Landry's eyes grew wide. She and Miles both looked up at each other at the same time. "Unless Voldemort wanted us to find him. Come on, we have to warn the others!"
Miles and Landry dashed through the pipes as fast as they could, but it was too late. They came to a halt next to their friends, who were all frozen in fear, looking towards the pale figure with glowing, red eyes that stood before them. He was wearing the Resurrection Stone on a chain around his neck. "That was easier than I could've hoped," chuckled Voldemort wickedly. Then he turned to Harry. "Well, well, well, Harry Potter. You've gotten old."
"Man, how many times do I have to defeat you before you stay dead?" Harry said, with extreme irritation in his voice.
Voldemort sneered. "You're quite right, Harry. You are incompetent. I, however am not. I suppose this is goodbye, as you're all going to rot down here, and I am going to live forever."
With that, Voldemort stuck his wand straight up into the air and launched himself up into the pipe, exiting the Chamber. Before anyone could react, they heard the sink move back into place. "He trapped us. There's no way out," Draco said, throwing his arms up in anger.
"We'll find a way out, I know it!" said Landry, trying to comfort everyone, and herself. But all went quiet when they noticed Albus and Scorpius, staring at each other silently.
"Why don't we go look for another exit?" Harry said to Draco, jabbing his head towards the two boys.
"An excellent idea," Draco said, immediately understanding Harry's gesture.
The two adults left, leaving the teenagers alone. Landry, Miles, and Genevieve stepped away, trying very hard to pretend that they were not paying attention to Albus and Scorpius. They were.
"Hi," said Scorpius.
"Hey there," said Albus.
"I'm sorry," they said, at the same time.
"I should've been more patient and understanding. I know how hard it is to come out, especially to your parents. I shouldn't have gotten so mad. I'm so sorry," Albus said.
"I'm sorry, too," Scorpius said, smiling. "It was wrong of me to say all that stuff, even if it was out of fear to come out. I…I love you, Albus."
A shocked grin slowly spread across Albus's face. "Did you just say…"
"I love you, Albus. I'm completely in love with you," Scorpius said.
Albus ran up to him and engulfed him in some sort of mutant hug-kiss combo. "I love you too, you adorable idiot," he said.
A chorus of "Awwwww"s came from the opposite end of the room. Landry, Miles, and Genevieve had failed miserably in not paying attention to Scorpius and Albus, but neither boy minded in the slightest.
The happy moment was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Harry and Draco, walking towards the teenagers with grim expressions on their faces. "Voldemort's sealed off all the pipes. There's no way out," Draco said.
"Wait, why haven't we tried apparating?" Scorpius suggested hopefully.
"We tried that. He's put an anti-apparation spell on the whole chamber," said Harry sadly.
"So that's it, then? We're all going to die down here?" Albus asked.
There was silence. Nobody wanted to answer his question, even though everyone knew the answer. Just as Landry was about to try and raise everyone's spirits with a half-hearted inspirational speech, a strange sound echoed out from above them. "Someone's opening the Chamber!" Miles cried excitedly. "We're saved!"
But as the blonde figure dropped down from the entrance pipe, all hearts sank.
"Found you," Grindelwald said, with a smirk.
"You! How did you open the Chamber?" cried Landry.
"Bribed the ghost," Grindelwald chuckled. "It seems she picked up a little parseltongue from spending her entire death hearing other people use it. Now, it's time I get down to business."
"Expelliarmus!" yelled Harry and Grindelwald simultaneously. Their spells met in the center of the room, two red jets of magic fighting each other. Sweat ran down both wizards' foreheads, until, slowly but surely, Harry's spell started creeping towards Grindelwald. As Grindelwald fell backwards, his wand, the Elder wand, flew towards Harry, who grabbed it triumphantly.
"No!" shrieked Grindelwald.
"It's over, Grindelwald," Genevieve said.
"Stupefy!" cried Harry, pointing the Elder wand towards Grindelwald. Grindelwald closed his eyes and braced himself for the stunning spell. But it never came. The spell only made it halfway across the room before fizzling out. Before Grindelwald could react, Draco quickly took out his wand and performed the spell that the Elder wand had failed to complete. Grindelwald crumpled to the ground, stunned. Harry stared down at the Elder wand in shock.
"I don't understand," Draco said, his voice trembling. "That wand should answer to you. You disarmed me at Malfoy Manor when we were 17. It's been yours since then."
"Unless someone else disarmed you," Landry pointed out.
Albus and Scorpius looked at each other, their eyes wide in realization. "Delphini Riddle disarmed you in Godric's Hollow, back in fourth year," Albus said.
"Merlin's beard," Harry said.