Disclaimer: the characters belong to J.K.Rowling.
Chapter XIX - Two Hearts in Atlantis
It was a magic night on the Egyptian shore of the Mediterranean. Hermione and Oliver stood under the starry sky, getting ready to embark on another adventure.
~~~~~~~ Several hours earlier, in the Morgana Library ~~~~~~~~~~
"How are we going to do this? The map shows where the island should be now… but"
"I remember reading something in Herbology" Oliver interrupted her.
"Hey, that's my line!" Hermione pointed out, smiling.
"Do you want to hear my idea or not? Gillyweed. It's a plant that…" he pretended to be vexed.
Hermione stopped him with a kiss.
"I know" she whispered continuing to kiss him. "You're amazing"
"I don't know what this is for, but I'm not complaining" he played along. "I've always wanted to try something like this in a library. With you, my dear, of course" he added when she bit his lip, reproachfully. "You're a jealous little tigress, aren't you?"
Oliver stopped fighting the tenderness. He held her in his arms, falling deeper in love. Time seemed to have paused and he heard her whispering "You're worth fighting for".
~~~~~~~
They had chewed on the gillyweed and were waiting.
"Your gills are lovely" Oliver kissed her on the tip of her nose for luck.
"You're such a smooth operator" she tried to cover up the agitation.
They walked hand in hand into the deep blue sea.
"Lumos" Hermione bubbled and her wand emitted a ray of light piercing the darkness of the waters. "At least the wands work here" she told him.
"Fiat lux" was Oliver's response.
"Oh, I forgot that one"
They were swimming in a sphere of light. He was right to use a stronger spell. There was no danger to be discovered and they needed to see where they were going. The map, with all the calculations they made themselves showed only an approximate location of the Atlantis.
~~~~ About two hours later ~~~~~~
"I have a good feeling about this one"
"You said this before"
"Trust me!" she looked at him.
Oliver swam inside the rock. Hermione followed him closely. Unlike the previous three times, this was more than a dent in the underwater mountain. The tunnel ended abruptly and they were looking at the impressive panorama of a ghost city.
"Blimey, this is incredible!"
"Wicked! We're in Atlantis!"
"Hermione, the defence mechanisms. We're on the Hill of the Supreme Light, according to the map. Shouldn't a fire dragon appear right about now?"
"What?" Hermione was still under the influence of the magnificent outlook of the lost city. "Oh, yes. But I don't see how a fire dragon survive thousands of years. Remember, we're talking about magical creatures, not spells! If no humans survived, there was no one to take care of them. They're probably extinct"
"Probably" Oliver muttered, not completely satisfied. "Well, it's not like there's no other source of problems. Maybe next time we won't be so lucky"
"Love that unbridled optimism you've got going!" she scoffed.
"This optimism may be the one thing saving our necks in the end" Oliver was looking disapprovingly at Hermione and swam right in the arms of a statue.
"Are you all right?" she tried to hold back the laughter.
"Who is this guy?" he looked at the bearded figure in who's arms he landed.
"Pan, by the looks of it" she bit her lip, but still giggled when she saw the look of disgust when Oliver noticed the hoofs and the tail of his host. "We're in the smaller piazza. Nestor's place was on the other side of the city"
"This place is full of freaks" he mumbled when they passed a statue of woman with the head of cat.
"One day we'll think about this and laugh" Hermione consoled him.
"I can see you'll wait that long" he looked at her and smiled. "Let's do this!"
They were swimming mindfully along the avenues. The city was long dead, but the level of civilisation was impressive. They might have still worshiped pagan deities, but the people of Atlantis were way above the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. Hermione and Oliver were pointing each other all the discoveries they were making with every building they saw.
Past the largest square, the sphere of light cast by Oliver's spell began to shrink. When they tried to cast the spell again, they noticed the wands weren't working very well.
"I was beginning to miss that" Hermione snarled.
"That means we're getting close to something"
"There was no indication that Nestor was a wizard. I don't think she dared to entrust another wizard with the precious manuscript"
They dived in Nestor's house through the missing windows. The light was no just around their bodies, so they could see only few feet away.
"What does this say?" Oliver showed Hermione a marble column. "It looks like Greek. You have the necklace, right?"
"It says sanctuary. What kind of sanctuary, I wonder"
"Are you in trouble yet?" Hermione heard Madeleine's voice.
"Did you hear that?" she asked him.
"Hear what?"
"I'm inside your head, Sunshine! You didn't think I'd let you wonder through the mean streets of Atlantis without any help from me?"
*Well, what is it? Besides, I'm not in trouble, thanks very much for the vote of confidence! Now, what kind of sanctuary is this one? And remind me to tell you later what I think of your mind spells!*
"You're in Nestor's place already! I figured you'd be on the only Selenium hill. You passed the trick gates! Bravo!"
*Actually, we entered through the other entrance. Will you answer now?*
"It was a sanctuary for sorcerers who, for whatever reason, were persecuted by the Muggles or their own communities"
*I was wondering how you arrived in Atlantis in the first place!*
"Don't be so critical! I was completely innocent that time"
*I'm sure. Now, are you telling me where the manuscript is or you let us try to find it*
"I told you. It's not gonna be there. Be careful. Most of the wizards who were there when the island went down died there. So the environment must be satiated with energy. The wands…"
*We noticed. Anything else?*
"If you're in trouble just call my name and I'll come on line"
****
As smoothly as she appeared in her head, Madeleine switched off the communication. She had a debt of life to pay to Hermione, but the previous commitment to Sirius Black's cause stopped her from being physically by her friend's side.
From another corner of the world, Madeleine whispered, unheard by Hermione "Good luck"
****
"What happened to you? I've never seen you so quiet"
"I'll tell you when we get out. Let's look for the manuscript"
They stopped in front of a shrine. Between the statues of different gods, Hermione noticed a representation of Osiris. The first clue so far. Only minutes later, they found an Egyptian jewel box. They looked at each other, not daring to believe it could be as easy as that!
"You think we should open it here?" Hermione wondered.
"It's been here for so long. And we're not sure it's IT"
"What if it is IT?"
They stared at each other. It definitely felt that was IT. The very IT they had looked for all along.
"Wait, it's something written on the cover" Hermione's necklace translated the very warning she had seen in the last room "…he who reads this be ware…" the words sent a cold shiver down her spine. "I don't think we should be doing this, Oliver" she whispered.
It was a rare sight to see Hermione scared, but he couldn't back down. They had a job to do. And he didn't really believe in that old witchcraft, he encouraged himself.
"Common, Gryffindor. We've been through worse than this. Well, I've been when you made me stay in that valley" he was going for a smile, but all he got was a grin.
"Oh, the good old days" she accepted the challenge. "How do we get this thing opened?"
"Alohamura?" he suggested.
"With what wand?" she demonstrated a perfect, but useless swish and flick movement.
"We should do it the old-fashioned Muggle way. I'll hold and you'll pull!"
*It's not like I have a better idea. Must be all this time underwater!* thought Hermione.
All of a sudden, the cover gave in and Hermione flew several feet through the water and went through the altar. Oliver who had fallen on his back was now up and was looking at Hermione through the remains of rotten wood and broken idols.
"Are you all right?"
"Peachy!"
Oliver dug through the pieces of statues and offered her his hand, smiling. She looked so awful with the wall all over her!
"Do you think one day we'll look back and laugh about it?"
Hermione gave him a murderous look from the other side of the disaster. Then, for the first time, the humour of the situation hit her. Oliver had fallen in something rather disgusting and was covered in seaweed. He looked as pathetic as she was feeling. She started laughing wholeheartedly.
"I love you" she managed to say through the roars of laughter, feeling that as long as they were together, they could vanquish anything.
Oliver didn't have the chance to say anything because their attention was caught by the box they had just opened. The roll of papyrus inside, was disintegrating under their eyes.
"Madeleine" Hermione yelled.
"What happened?"
The voice sounded worried, but Hermione refused to believe it.
"Did you do this?"
"Who are you talking to?" Oliver asked her.
"Did what?"
"Are you destroying the papyrus?"
"Hermione" Oliver called her again, with no result.
"You have to trust me on this. I thought the manuscript was long destroyed. Atlantis is just my gift to you. I hated to see you disappointed. Tell the Institute whatever you want, but I have already leaked information to the Daily Prophet that you and Oliver Wood found Atlantis" before Hermione could say anything, she added. "Call it a wedding gift! Remember, I'm really good at drawing charts. All I want, is your first born!"
Hermione was surprised. She knew that was the truth. Madeleine had never lied to her.
"I was only joking about the first born" Hermione heard the amused voice again.
"Hermione!" Oliver was already pulling her towards the surface.
Her conversation with Madeline had looked like a trance to Oliver.
*Wedding* she was thinking, following him.
~~~~~~~~
They got out of the water almost out of breath. She was beautiful, wet and exhausted, in the cruel morning light. He collapsed on the beach, holding her in his arms. They were safe. With the last shreds of energy, Oliver disapparated with her in his apartment.
~~~~~~ 9 a.m., Oliver's flat ~~~~~~~
Oliver's owl dropped the mail on the table. He heard the fluttering of wings and woke up. He stumbled out of bed and browsed through the mail. The front page of the Daily Prophet shocked him awake.
Hermione Granger and Oliver Wood discovered Atlantis!
He was now worthy of her. Their names will be remembered together.
~~~ 9.30 a.m. ~~~
The smell of hot coffee was the one thing certain to wake up Hermione. She accepted the coffee, the kiss on the head and the surrounding love without questions. She could see Oliver was excited about something. As soon as she saw the Daily Prophet, she recalled her friend's words.
"Are you awake?" he asked, obviously anxious.
She nodded.
Oliver kneeled by the bed and asked her the very thing she wanted to hear.
"Hermione, would you marry me?"
Hermione jumped in his arms, kissing him.
"YES!!"
~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~ THE END ~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you so much for reading this. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it.
An epilogue is almost finished.
It's 4 in the morning. If this chapter is not as good as it seems to e now, I'll rewrite it.
Thank you, blackroseangel69, Juvenus, Hunny, Lauren, GiRlfRiEnD, Theed, Hannah, Cinder, Elle, LOTRHPLver, Holly, MissPerfectionist, Ryoko Blue, allee kat, Shellie, Heather, Josie, Kelly, kravenclaw, PsychoChick26, Ashlyn, Kanga and Alexandra Trent.