Ch 18 Behind Closed Doors
No one knows what went on behind those closed doors.
The eight beings looked at each other, and slowly shut the doors.
Galadriel swore in Gobbledygook.
Albus swore, "Bloody hell. It looked like chaos in there, chaos and … death, except we saw dead beings but it didn't exactly smell like death. What was it like for you?"
"It felt like, not death exactly, but the absence of life," Cleo pondered, looking at the other seven beings. "What did you feel? What did you feel when we opened the chamber?"
Galadriel thought, "It felt like the chamber had been sealed for a very long time, longer than anything I have ever felt. I was in China when we went into areas sealed over two-thousand years ago. This felt older, much older."
"I cannot tell you why I know," Thorin added, "but I am sure that the chamber has been sealed for a very long time, and that it holds, or did hold, secrets. I wonder if we will ever find out if the chamber was sealed before, during, or after the battle that obviously took place there?"
"We need the bodies preserved, and autopsied," Albus suggested. "My father will know how to examine the bodies of the Magi. What do we do about the Elf bodies?"
"Over the last few years we have made a tremendous amount of progress in Elf healing. That includes healing Goblins, one of the things that is helping to get the Goblins on our side," Galadriel told the Magi. "The best Elf medicine, the most advanced, is that the Elves at Mayo Magical Medical practice. Their main branch is in North America, but they have a branch here in Switzerland.
"I know we have Elf, and Goblin, healers, that can do autopsies. We really did not know much about how Elfish bodies were made or worked until recently."
"The mobiles will not work deep in this tunnel," Albus noted. "Let us go to where we can call, and then I will get in touch with my father."
"I have several beings I need to get in touch with as well," Galadriel. "We need a team here to document everything when we open the chamber again. Elves and Magi. Having opened the chamber, we need to do it again as soon as possible!"
Albus contacted his father and asked to meet with him, Mr. Richter, and maybe someone from the Prophecy department, about the area that they were attempting to enter. He did stress that it was urgent. A short time later Albus, Cleo, Jesus and Ginny were led to a secure room in the castle. Harry and Gerhardt Richter were there, along with Nausicaa Scheria and Valerie Bushman.
"Mrs. Bushman has studied more of the history of the Magi than I have, Albus," Nausicaa told the young Magi, explain why both of them were there.
"Were you able to open the doors?" Harry wondered when everyone was there.
"Yes, but we closed them right away," Albus replied. "It was like a crime scene, or the end of a battle with everyone dead and no one doing anything but somehow freezing everything in place and closing the doors."
"I know that once you uncover something hidden and preserved it can begin to decay right away," Ginny volunteered. "Is that what you are worried about?"
Albus and Jesus nodded 'yes.'
Jesus added, "Thorin was sure the chamber had been totally sealed for a very long time, since, I guess, whatever happened in there happened. Like there was nothing living in there, not even the things that cause bodies to decay."
"It wasn't just the bodies," Albus explained. "There was some destruction. I think when we go back into the chamber, we need to be very careful, both for our safety, and to document where things were found. I thought I saw some parchments or parts of parchments and broken things. I didn't get a good look at everything, but it is a mess in there."
"How much magic is there in the chamber?" Harry wondered. "Would Muggle electronics work?"
"I would not count on No-Maj electronics," Gerhardt advised. "There are plenty of areas where magical items are stored, tunnels, where you do not want to try and use electronics or electricity."
"What did you feel, Cleo," Harry asked.
"Evil, and," Cleo shook her head, trying to figure out how to explain. "Everybody's magic is a little different. I can feel it when I examine people for scents, and I can really feel it when we go from England to Switzerland. I do not know what it is like when you go to different countries, but I guess it is a little different everywhere. I mean, it is different, the scents, the feeling, the subtle ways the colors and directions work, it is different at Malfoy Manor than at the New Burrow, and even more different, older, at Hogwarts. Some of Switzerland is older yet, and some is layered, new on top of old.
"When we opened the doors it felt, not just older, but older, like an older form of magic, not more primitive but different and older.
"It also felt like my wand, and Albus's, and Galadriel and Thorin's wands, belong to the old that was behind the doors, not like modern wands.
"I could sense wands in there. Powerful and different and, I don't know."
Harry looked at the two youngest Magi. "Ginny, Jesus, what did you sense?"
Jesus looked somewhat chagrined. "I felt that my ambition ran into an 'Oh crap, what have I gotten myself into,' moment."
"Welcome to my life," Albus responded.
Ginny took a deep breath. "Jesus and I have talked about it, what would happen if, no not if, when, we confronted something we were not prepared for. We have seen Albus and his friends confront dangers, and have to grow up too fast. You try to be ready for it, but, Mr. Potter, are you ever really ready for it?"
"You always want to try and be over prepared," Harry suggested, "and if you feel too confident it is dangerous. I think we are all rather ill prepared for what we are going to find, so we need to be cautious and not feel over confident."
"Prophecy does not tell the future," Nausicaa sighed, looking at Jesus and Ginny. "There are indications, however, that let us know if things are heading towards success or failure. I do think you are supposed to be here, and you two and not Rose and Scorpius. Your relationship is different, however. Harry, maybe you can explain. You see different forms of love, of friendship, when you look at the Crystal Ball and other things."
Harry suggested, "You two seem to be very important, and seem to be doing the right thing. You are not best friends like Rose and Scorpius are to Albus and Cleo, though. Maybe I can explain by talking about Mr. and Mrs. Ron and Hermione Granger-Weasley. My wife and I are best friends with them, and related by family and a world of shared experiences. We live next to each other, but more importantly our children are the same ages, and we dine together almost every week. We are friends.
"I have long standing relationships with other people that are more professional. That includes Mr. Richter, Minister Shacklebolt, and others who I have known for a very long time. I know everybody that I work with in the Auror department very well, but outside of work I seldom see them. I see Minister Shacklebolt almost every week, sometimes several times a week, but it is not quite the same type of friendship that I have with Mr. and Mrs. Granger-Weasley.
"The colors and lines of power and other prophetic or relationship things I see with you two are much more professional, not that you are not friends, but that your position, who you are and what you are going to need to do, is different than the relationship that Albus and Cleopatra have with Rose and Scorpius, more professional, less personal.
"That you two were key to opening the doors means that you should be here, even if you think you are not doing much. That you have been here may become important later.
"I would like to duplicate your memories of what you saw when you opened the door, please," Harry ended with. The four Magi agreed, and Harry withdrew and duplicated the memories opening the doors, looking in, and closing the doors again.
Albus wondered, "Can you duplicate the memories of the Elves?"
Harry admitted, "I do not know. I will ask."
The discussion changed over to who they needed to contact, and how they were going to proceed once the doors were opened again.
Harry contacted Galadriel about duplicating the memories of the two Elves and two Goblins. Galadriel's answer surprised Harry. She made sure they were alone, and then pled, "Please do not ask. Elves do not give their thoughts to Magi to be viewed in a Pensive. Even for the most abject house elf slaves there are some things that are private."
"Between yourselves?" Harry persisted. "Could you look at the memories of other Elves?"
"Do not ask!" Galadriel insisted.
Henry Hudson, the photographer husband of Cindy Hudson, was one of several professional photographers shadowing the group that was going to go into the chamber once the doors were opened again.
The same eight beings opened the door. Before anyone went into the chamber everyone stepped back so the scene could be photographed from every possible angle.
Almost all the bodies looked like Elves. There were four Elves close to the door, each with a large wand. Each body and wand was tagged and photographed, and then the bodies were removed, put in storage with spells on them so they would not decay.
Aragorn and Elanor Zauberstabhersteller examined the four wands. Elanor asked Galadriel, "May I examine your wand? It feels like these wands were made by your wand and, I think your wand and Thorin's but I am not sure."
Elanor examined Galadriel's wand, and then the four wands again. She then examined Thorin's wand, and again examined the four wands. She then suggested, "I think that three of these wands were made by Galadriel and Thorin's wand. The other wand was made by Galadriel's wand and, I don't know. It is like it is older than the other wands, and maybe the other wand or, I'm not even sure if Thorin's wand was made by two wands or some other way."
Oliver Oddpick, the specialist in examining wands to see what spells had been cast, then examined the four wands. He spent a fair amount of time on each wand, puzzled. "I have had a chance to examine many wands in my training, including wandmaker wands. The Zauberstabhersteller and Ollivander families have what I am told are first generation wands, made by the wands of Albus and the Pirate Witch Queen we think, and the magic in them is old. Three of these wands feel as old as the wandmaker wands, or older, but they are different, and the spells that were last used were …" Oliver shook his head, blinked his eyes, and sighed. "These wands are beyond my expertise. I have no idea what spells were last thrown."
Meanwhile other beings, mostly Elves, were slowly gathering more bodies and wands, carefully documenting where each was, as photographers carefully documented everything. About half of the photographers seemed to be Goblins, with somewhat different cameras.
There was a fair amount of debris, including parchments. Some of the parchments were torn or fragments, and a couple were partly burned. It was hard to figure out what some of the debris was.
One of the Elf coroners announced, "We do need to recover all the bodies and put coroner's charms on them so they do not start to deteriorate. We have a long day and night ahead of us."
Galadriel told Jesus and Ginny, and also Luthien and Gimli, to stay next to the doors, to hold them open. "I do not trust these doors," she told the four.
All the bodies were Elves until they were well into the chamber. Albus and Harry made a couple of maps of the chamber, mostly successfully, although it was obvious that some magic was interfering with the map making. Eventually they had Cleo add her magic to making a map. It helped, but left Cleo a little shaken.
To everyone's surprise, most of the doors in the complex could only be opened by Galadriel and Thorin. A very few could only be opened by Albus and Cleopatra.
No Magi were found until they were over half way into the chamber. Then they found four Magi hiding behind one door that Albus and Cleo opened, and then another two behind another door. Eventually, towards the rear of the chamber, they came upon a room behind two closed doors that Albus and Cleo opened. Inside were a naked witch and wizard in the most compromising position possible, coupled together.
Cleo and Al looked at the couple, at each other, back at the couple and back at each other again. They called in the Magi who were documenting the scene, and collecting the bodies of the Magi. It was a little difficult separating the couple. Cleo and Albus stayed in the room, no one wanting to be behind closed doors if Al and Cleo were not with them to open the doors and observe the scene.
"So that is how you do it," Cleo remarked.
"I do not think any of the photographs of this scene will make it into any sex education class," Albus commented, shaking his head. "The wedding vows are until death part us, but it took the coroners to part those two."
Cleo rolled her eyes at his bad joke, then quietly pled, "That is something that should be sacred, not something to joke about."
"I'm sorry," a chastised Albus apologized.
"I have no idea if they were married," Cleo pondered, shaking her head. "None of the spells that I use to see if a couple is a good couple, are or are going to be married, work once someone is dead.
"I wonder if as ghosts they would be coupled together like that? Myrtle Warren says you cannot change your clothes if you are a ghost, or take them off, but those two are naked. Does that mean that as ghosts they would have to stay naked?"
"I do not think a ghost can receive a pleasant touch," Albus suggested. "If they were coupled together as ghosts it would not be like it would be a pleasant sensation. I think it would be more annoying."
Cleo put her head in her hands, before looking back at Albus. "I like the idea of couples coupling, but that is just gross." She shuttered.
"Do you think Mr. Oddpick will be able to tell if they are married by examining the wands?" Albus wondered.
"I have no idea," Cleo answered. "I am not at all good with wand lore. I have no idea what Mr. Oddpick does when he reads what spells were last cast. I'm not even sure I could learn it. I perform magic too differently."
As Albus and Cleo were heading out of the chamber, Elanor Zauberstabhersteller showed Cleo a wand that looked very similar to her wand, a little shorter, bamboo with a sandalwood handle. The very tip of the wand was bone, not a dragon tooth. Elanor told Cleo, "This wand only wants to be handled by a female. The female Elves were a little wary of it as well. What do you make of it?"
Cleo took the wand and tried to feel the magic in it. She waved it over several Magi, and then over several Elves and a couple of Goblins, to the discomfort of everyone. Then she asked, "What is in the core?"
"I think Veela hair and something I cannot identify," a puzzled Elanor responded.
"Something from outside, from elsewhere?" Cleo asked.
"I have no idea," Elanor admitted. "The more I examine the oldest wands the more confused I am, and the less I know. I had hoped we would find answers in this cavern, and so far all I can see are more questions."
"If I had to guess," Cleo proposed, "I would guess that this wand is tied into Elf procreation like mine is tied into Magi procreation. That is just a guess, however."
They were at the doors, and Cleo showed the wand to Luthien, who held out her hands and insisted, "NO. NO! Do not wave that wand at me."
"Why?" Cleo wondered.
Luthien muttered a phrase in elfish that had to do with the Elves view of human procreation, and how often humans engage in the sex act. The most charitable translation of the phrase was that the Elves were making fun of humans, and how often they did it, but there were other very valid translations that indicated that humans were oversexed or worse, and that human's desire to engage in sex without wanting to procreate was not always a good thing.
Elanor gave Cleo one of the metal tubes that could confine and guard a wand, and Cleo put the strange wand into it. "I think you probably need to be with us when we examine that wand," she informed Cleo.
Everyone was beginning to clear the area. It was three in the morning, and the chamber was going to be closed for the next few days. The bodies had all been removed, many wands had been found and retrieved, and it did not seem that anything else was urgent.
Harry did say, "I want to carefully log where every parchment or thing with writing on it was found. If pieces are in multiple places the more information we have, the easier time we will have trying to piece writings back together.
Galadriel added, "There were things written on something that is not paper, parchment, or any other substance humans have written on. Also strange objects that I could not identify.
"We have a major meeting of all the High Elf descendants I could get to attend next week, and then there is the International Conference of Witches and Wizards. A more thorough examination of that area may have to wait a few weeks."
2021