by Katie Davidson (Virtue)
"Okay now. This is how I see it; someone or SOMETHING is trying to get into Hogwarts from UNDER the castle." Cecil stated, "If he, she, or it created a big enough hole underneath Hogwarts, Hogwarts could collapse."
"And... that's not a good thing." Harry sighed, slumping into his chair. "So what IS this thing?"
"It could be anything." Tsutsami said, "A troll... a gnome... a... well, I'm outta ideas. Cecil, did you find anything?"
Cecil was flipping pages from a book in his library, "Nothing yet..." * slam * "There's nothing in here that says anything about sudden tremors... Shoot!"
"We can't give up now, Cecil. There has to be something." Tsutsami shouted, rising out of her chair and browsing through the books Cecil had chosen from his library. She pulled one out from the middle of the stack; the others fell with a THUMP on the ground.
"You ARE gonna pick those up after, aren't you?" Cecil sneered.
Tsutsami growled at him and opened the book she had taken. She stared at the page she had opened the book to, "Are you sure this is the right book for this situation?"
"Why? What's wrong?" Cecil snickered, "Did you come across something you don't understand?"
"Hum, sort of I mean - HEY!" Tsutsami growled.
"Let me see." Harry said, reaching for the book Tsutsami held. He turned it around and looked at the page. "Fairies?"
"Earth Fairies, Harry. They guide the plates that create earthquakes." Cecil said.
"Well, there we go!" Tsutsami exclaimed.
"That's impossible though! Earth Fairies are gentle creatures, they'd never do an act like this."
"How do you know, Cecil?" Harry said.
"I just know. The leader of the Earth Fairies, Gwen, signed a contract with my father that said that they'd stay in the right geographical regions that are scientifically correct for Earthquakes." Cecil stated, "She'd never break that contract!"
"Well, let's just go meet this Gwen. Shall we?" Tsutsami growled.
Velicity shouted with glee; "Yea! FIELDTRIP!"
Elora woke up on the bottom of the crater. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, she could see little stars flying around and when she reopened her eyes they disappeared. Shrugging her shoulders she looked around, Lizzie lay next to her a little dusty but unharmed, as far as she could see. She looked up to see a small light; it was the top of the crater.
She stood up wearily and dusted herself off, moaning and stretched as her back cracked in a few places. "How in the world did we survive that fall?" she said aloud to no one in particular.
Lizzie groaned as she woke up, "Where are we?"
Elora knelt down beside Lizzie and helped her to sit up, "We fell down the cavern. The rope broke. I think we're okay."
Lizzie looked up, "How we gonna get back up?"
Elora shook her head, "I don't know." Elora gazed around the dark cavern they were in, she couldn't see anything. Because she was unprepared for a fall into a dark cavern she didn't have her wand with her, so she held out her wand hand and muttered 'Luminous!' as a orb of light shot out from her guard and illuminated the area like moonlight.
With the cavern lit they could see everything. The walls were damp and rigged, the floor was a little mucky along the wall, and there was a cave just a few meters in front of them. "I guess all we can do is try to find a way out of here."
"Agreed," Lizzie said, trying to stand on her own two feet. She dusted herself off then looked to Elora who stood in front of her. "Elora? Is there something wrong?" Lizzie asked.
"I can feel another presence... watching us." Elora whispered, but shook her head afterwards. "It's silly. Come on, let's get going."
They headed off through the entrance, the tunnel varied in height ever few kilometers. Narrow, wide, short, tall... it seemed to go on forever but at least it climbed upwards, as far as Elora knew. An hour had past when Lizzie suddenly fell to the ground, she was exhausted. "Elora... can we... just stop... for a moment." Lizzie huffed. "All right Lizzie." Elora said, sitting carefully down on a boulder.
"How long have we been walking?" Lizzie asked.
"I'm estimating about an hour."
"An Hour!" Lizzie whined, "No food, no water, no books... NO FOOD!" She almost screamed.
"Hush Lizzie! You might cause a cave-in." Elora sneered, "It can't be THAT far to the top. I estimate maybe another half an hour and we should reach the surface."
"I'm thirsty!" Lizzie said.
"I don't know where we can find..." Elora said, but suddenly stopped when a silent rush of water echoed through the tunnel.
"Water!" Lizzie screamed and ran off towards the sound.
Elora tried to stop her, "Wait Lizzie! You don't know what's down there!"
"Elora!" Lizzie shouted, "Come see this!"
Elora rushed down the tunnel to find Lizzie astounded, gazing at a sparkling waterfall falling into a large pond of water. Lizzie knelt down by the pond, scooped up some water, and took a large gulp of water. "Mmm. Crystal clear... fresh from the source!" Lizzie giggled. Elora hummed to herself. "An underground pond... a waterfall. It makes no sense. What is this place?"
"This is the domain of the Earth Fairies," a voice like soft bells rang.
"Who said that?" Elora shouted, "Show your self!"
Suddenly, from out of the pond, a woman appeared. She wore a long silver dress and sparkling fairy wings extended from behind her. "My name is Quenelle. Who might you two be?"
"My name is Elora. This is my friend Lizzie." Elora replied.
Lizzie stood up and wiped her mouth with her sleeve, "Hi."
Quenelle smiled at the two. "I'm so glad to meet the both of you. We rarely get visitors. What brings you here?"
"Well... uhm, Quenelle. A giant crater appeared in our dormitory at Hogwarts and well, Lizzie here fell in and I tried to save her, but the rope broke and here we are!" Elora told her.
"Hogwarts you say? What created the crater?"
"A rough earthquake, ma'am," Lizzie replied.
"My stars!" Quenelle exclaimed, "Hogwarts isn't supposed to experience earthquakes. Gwen made a contract with the Forest Guardian that Hogwarts would stay unharmed."
Elora's curiosity raised; "You know Cecil? Who's Gwen?"
"Gwen is the Queen of the Earth Fairies. Long ago before Cecil was born, Gwen signed a contract saying that her fairies would lead the plates to create earthquakes in only the scientifically correct areas." Quenelle explained.
"Take me to Gwen!" Elora shouted, "I must speak with her!"
"No one may see Gwen, not even a being from the wizarding world."
Lizzie giggled, "Elora isn't any ordinary witch. She's the Moon Guardian."
Quenelle snickered, "That's wishful thinking. The Moon Guardian is just a story, and even so... she can't be him because he was a male."
Then, in a wink, Elora's appearance changed. Her hair went from brown to white, her cloak changed from black to white with silver trimmings, a long cape appeared behind her made of sparkling stars and her eyes turned blue. Quenelle gasped; "You are the Moon Guardian!"
"Yes, I'm Luno. Now please, let these girls see Gwen." Luno-Elora asked politely.
"At your command." Quenelle said while curtsying to Luno-Elora. "This way please." she said, waving her hand towards the waterfall as it opened like a curtain to reveal another cave.
Lizzie stood astounded staring at Luno-Elora. Luno-Elora smiled at her, "After you."
To be continued...