The Casting Stone 19
Well, here we go – it's a full moon tonight & time for this to get finished. The last two chapters are from Remus' POV…he started it, he better just finish it. And now that PG&E have declared bankruptcy, well, California may be plunged into darkness sooner than we think and so much for being an active member of the 21st century. 1800, here we come!
Summary: Almost finished – they make a few more discoveries, then reach the Chamber of Khepesh for the final confrontation with Peter and the others. The final chapter will be out in the next few days.
Disclaimer: All that is JK Rowling's is JK Rowling's – and not what's-her-name's, or mine.
***
As Remus and Katie led the others towards the far end of the room, Remus fought not to let his temper get the best of him, but he was so highly agitated by that point he was reasonably certain that the end of his rope wasn't too far away. He didn't realize he was gripping Katie's arm too tightly until he felt her reach up to touch his cheek, then pull her arm out of his hand quietly once he looked down at her.
"Sorry."
"It's alright. Ready for this?"
"No. But we've little choice do we?" he spat out in an angry whisper.
"I think we'll do fine."
Remus glanced sideways at her and tried to smile, but he was certain it only looked like a grimace, even when he saw her smile thinly back.
"I seem to remember taking a vow to cherish you and keep you safe from harm."
"I think you're doing a bang-up job of it, so no complaints here." Remus did laugh softly at that and put his arm over her shoulders.
"Well, I'm not one to question your judgement, love. Any good ideas on how to close the doors and break the spell?"
Katie shook her head. "We're not even sure that will do anything, are we? Seems we have no choice but to confront Peter and take him and the others on. How are you feeling?"
"Not my best and brightest, but I think I've enough adrenaline going at this point to see me through anything. That and a rather strong desire to put an end to this. Peter is not getting away this time, for anything. How are you?"
"Other than a burning urge to claw Narcissa Malfoy's eyes out, quite well considering what the past few days have been like. Poor Draco; you should see how she treats him, even now. She doesn't even look grateful he stopped us from…."
"Shush, Katie. That's not our concern at the moment." Remus glanced back at the others following them to have a look at Malcolm, held tightly in Sirius' arms. "Malcolm's exhausted, but my god has he got a core of steel. You should have heard him telling Sirius off back there."
"Malcolm really shouldn't be encouraged to tell off his elders, Remus, even Sirius and even under the circumstances. Now that that mandatory mother comment is out of the way, what exactly did the little marauder do?"
Remus smiled and, omitting the part about Peter threatening to kill Malcolm, or worse, as Katie really didn't need to hear it right now, explained what they had been doing before George had opened the door.
***
Remus told Malcolm to stand back a bit when he first went to look at Sirius. The bites and gashes on his chest weren't as bad as they first looked, but Remus didn't want Malcolm to see Sirius covered in so much blood if he could help it. As he bent down to wipe away some of the gore, Sirius grabbed his arm and sat straight up, then groaned and clutched his chest as he sank back down.
"Sit still, Sirius and let me have a look at you."
"Sodding wolf!" he groaned through clenched teeth
"Shush, Sirius, Malcolm's language is bad enough thanks to you."
Sirius opened his eyes again at that comment and looked over beyond Remus, and caught sight of Malcolm.
"Malcolm!" Sirius turned back to look at Remus, glancing around the room as he did this. "Where are we now? Where's Liz? The others?"
Remus didn't' say anything for a few moments, concentrating on cleaning up Sirius and focusing himself on the task to try and get his own emotions back in check. He felt ill and dizzy, just as he always did before the transformation started to truly take hold of him, and slowly progress through him, from the inside out. Just gashes, just grazes…just like what you used to do to him when we were boys. He risked a quick glance at Sirius' face at that thought. Neither of them were boys anymore. Sirius had his own dark circles around his eyes, and deep creases to his face that shouldn't be seen on anyone so young. While his eyes had regained much of the life they used to hold, Remus had sadly resolved himself years ago to the fact that he would never again see the Sirius he remembered. Surely all the time since then wouldn't have changed him this much had it not been for…Concentrate. Don't think…you can't change anything. Nobody can. There's no going back, there's only going forward. Oh, sod the 'soothing platitudes'. We've been screwed, but we're not done in yet. Even Harry's been screwed by all this, after everything we did; after James and Lily died for gods sake. And guess what Remus? They're still dead and always will be. That's what it all ended up with. We swore it wouldn't happen and it did. So deal with it and get the hell….
"Ouch, Moony! Little hard there!"
Remus finally looked back at Sirius, giving a grimace. "Sorry. Distracted. This is nothing bad, just some cuts but nothing major. You've even stopped bleeding." He continued to clean the wound as best he could and shook his head. "I have no idea where we are now. Peter brought us, the three of us, here. We had a bit of an argument."
Sirius didn't make a comment at this, but
his expression managed to go even darker for a moment, before he glanced at
Malcolm again and took a deep breath. Remus didn't follow his gaze, unwilling to look at Malcolm, knowing his
expression at that moment would probably upset him further. What if they give us the choice? Leave, take Malcolm home, but no Peter…why
is he here? Why this? Why this one thing…this one thing I can make
right, I can do right. The one thing I
swore I would never; Katie wasn't having it. She demanded…and how could I say no? Don't lie to yourself, Remus; you
wanted Malcolm more than all of them put together; you just can't handle the
fact that….
Malcolm now came over to stand next to Remus, putting a hand on his shoulder. Remus turned towards him and was about to tell him off for not staying where he was told until he saw Malcolm's face and just managed to stop himself from snapping. Malcolm was looking at him with a worried expression, the expression Malcolm had when he knew Remus wasn't feeling well. Too intuitive for a little boy. Remus looked down at Sirius.
"Don't look so good, do we?"
"We look like hell…. sorry Malcolm." Remus helped Sirius to stand up and they both looked around. Malcolm continued to watch them closely, but made no sound. After getting a good look around Remus saw Sirius turn back to Malcolm and lean down to smile at him.
"Malcolm? Wait right here. Daddy and I are going to get a look at those doors over there. You'll be able to see us the whole time. Alright?"
Malcolm nodded sadly but still said nothing and just crossed his arms and stayed where he was while Sirius led Remus towards the doors.
"Right," he said very quietly once they were a distance away, "I may not be as empathic as the boy but I know your expression. Stop brooding, about whatever the hell is bothering you now, because we don't have time for it."
Remus gave him a rather cold glance, but Sirius stood his ground.
"Little bit of everything is it? Didn't you once just tell me to get on with it and leave it alone?"
"And you took that so well as I recall," growled Remus.
"Actually I nearly flattened you, but I knew you meant well so you lived. Look, Moony…." Sirius trailed off and sighed, thinking about what he was going to say next. Gods, Sirius, must you discuss everything?
"Moony, obviously this place must be effecting, bothering, driving you mad more than the rest of us. Don't think it hasn't occurred to me that with all this that maybe somewhere in here that there's a cure. I'd rip the place apart with my bare hands if I knew where to look. What?"
Sirius stopped as Remus shook his head at him. "Sirius, I actually wasn't really thinking about that. I think…don't take this the wrong way," here Remus managed to smile slightly as Sirius rolled his eyes, " but the more time I spend here, the more we learn, the more firmly convinced I am that there just isn't."
"Just isn't what?"
"A cure. This is irreversible. This is forever. Yes, I was brooding, yes I was thinking about how nothing happened like we thought it would, and yes that's a really useless and tired thing to think about." Remus could feel himself start to shake a little now, and wiped sweat from his eyes, pushing his hair up off of his forehead. He finally looked up at Sirius, not surprised to see that he had a slight frown, but that his eyes had gone flat, which they tended to do during arguments, as if Sirius were retreating into himself. We can't do this right now! The damn wolf.
Remus felt a low growl in his chest but didn't realize he'd actually vocalized it until he saw Sirius' eyes widen slightly.
"Sirius, we'll argue about this if we really must once we're back home. We need to get out of this room, find the others, find Peter, stop Demoncles, and that should prove interesting, and get the hell out of this place."
"Oh is that all?" said Sirius rather coldly.
"Not now!" replied Remus, a little louder than he had intended. Remus watched Sirius' gaze flicker over his shoulder briefly to look back towards Malcolm, but Remus refused to turn, and instead stepped closer to Sirius, feeling his eyes start to burn as he looked closely at him and spoke to him again in hushed but urgent tones.
"Look at me, Sirius! The wolf is right here, right here, and waiting. I have no idea how Draco managed to stop Demoncles from forcing me to complete the transformation just back there, but I can tell you…it's still waiting, and now it's angry at being kept back. And more than that, it will be truly free this time, none of Katie's potions drugging it, and it's almost desperate for that chance. And if time really is moving forward, like Peter just told me it was, I have no idea if that means I'll be impacted by it, but it's a damn safe bet that's exactly what's going to happen. Promise me, please, Padfoot, that no matter what happens, you'll keep the wolf away from Malcolm. At any price."
Sirius watched him closely, his face pale and blank, then he quickly looked away and nodded, but not before Remus saw his eyes get misty and pained looking. "Of course, Moony," he said roughly and equally as quietly. "But you and I may have a very different interpretation of 'at any price'. We are all going home."
Remus couldn't spare the energy to argue, but it wasn't really necessary. He knew from Sirius' reaction that despite his words, he did understand what Remus was telling him. At that, Remus turned and walked back to Malcolm, Sirius following.
"Well, Padfoot," he said, trying to sound light, "any ideas on the doors?"
"I'm sure we'll come up with something. What do you think, Malcolm?"
"Daddy's sick," said Malcolm in a rather no-nonsense tone. Both Remus and Sirius rushed to contradict him.
"No, no, Malcolm, just a little…."
"Don't be silly, Malcolm, daddy's just…."
They stopped and looked at each other, then back at Malcolm. Malcolm gazed back at them both with a rather perturbed and utterly unconvinced look on his face. Remus had to smile, despite everything. Going to have my hands full here, I've no doubt.
"Malcolm," started Sirius again, but Malcolm actually held up a hand to stop Sirius. Remus now had to laugh at the look of astonishment on Sirius' face, quickly replaced with a frown.
"You said I wasn't a baby and you weren't going to treat me like one."
"And?"
"And you are."
Sirius gave Remus a helpless look. "Is this what three year olds are supposed to be like?"
"How on earth would I know? This is my first three year old."
"I'm almost four," offered Malcolm, helpfully.
"Well, I'll have to agree with that. Right, young Mr. Lupin, I'll just be more careful in the future."
Malcolm gave a small smile and reached up to take Remus' hand. "Maybe Draco will find us, like he found me before."
Remus nodded, and this time turned to look at the back of the room, letting Malcolm come with him. They searched for a while; even trying to see if there were any false doors or obvious spells, but found nothing.
"I don't see any other doors. Sirius? What's all this writing saying here? No, here, on the back wall above this relief that looks like a procession."
Sirius walked past him to get a good look at the wall.
"This is referring to a ritual; that's what the procession is. This place is a particular shrine that is part of a ritual that opens a chamber."
"Will it reveal the Stone?"
"Most likely. I'll give you even odds that this is what Wormtail has been doing. The place is called the Chamber of Khepesh."
"Khepesh? Another wizard?"
"No," said Sirius, frowning at the wall still, "a 'khepesh' is a sword with a curved blade. But it also means 'thigh bone'…oh, of course!" He turned now but did not stop next to Remus and Malcolm, but made his way to stand in the middle of the room, and looked up. Remus also leaned back to get a look at the ceiling, and saw that there was a stylised star map there, similar to the others they had seen before in Greece.
"Khepesh," continued Sirius, "was also one of the constellations for the ancient Egyptians. There, in the northern sky."
Remus looked at the curve of stars, then back at Sirius, who was standing there with his arms crossed, staring into space with an expression Remus did not like at all.
"Let me hazard a guess. That's the home of Set."
"Always the best and brightest, Moony," said Sirius, absently. "Yes, I think that's it exactly. And I am now having a very, very bad feeling about just what is going to be summoned."
"Set himself."
Sirius looked back at him and nodded once. "I would have screamed 'impossible' at the suggestion a few days ago, but this place; Remus, I've never seen or even heard of anything like this. If Demoncles back there has been puttering about for 2500 years or so, well…. No, I'm not going to think about it. This is all highly, highly ritualised; the chamber has that name only to give it power. Egyptians believed your name gave you power, so your name and the names of places were very important. So if you want to give a place all the power of a dark wizard, you name it for the place associated with him."
"Doesn't 'Sirius' mean 'scorcher'?" Remus asked innocently.
"Yes it does. And I can name a few people right now who could use a good flame spell right up the…."
"You finish that sentence and I swear I'll tell Katie."
"At this point Katie will help."
Remus did chuckle again softly and bent down to pick up Malcolm, wanting to comfort them both. He was about to say something when he heard a noise coming from the far side of the room, just at the doors. Sirius actually clenched his hands into fists and shook them slightly when he went for his wand, forgetting it wasn't there. But he quickly ran to stand behind the pillar just to the left of the doors and motioned for Remus to move. Going for the old fashioned approach, Sirius? But Remus didn't argue as he carried Malcolm behind another of the pillars.
"Daddy?" whispered Malcolm.
"Shush. Just wait with me."
It was silent for a few seconds, until Remus heard the doors open and footsteps walk forward. Only one…good…. There was a slight scuffle, then a shout.
"Sirius!"
Remus quickly ran round the pillar to find Sirius pining one of the twins to the ground with his knees, and his fists raised. He did manage to stop himself from hitting him, however, and quickly shifted to sit heavily on the floor next to him, shaking his head. The young man grinned up at Remus.
"Well, everyone seems to be fine. Excellent!"
"You okay, George?" asked Malcolm.
"Fine, thank you Malcolm." The twin grinned at Remus. "Some day we're going to have to ask him how he tells us apart so easily. I'm just dying to know."
***
How does he tell the twins apart? Remus mused to himself as he stopped talking and came to a halt in front of another pair of open silver doors. These were flanked this time by large statues of Anubis, who had their hands raised over their shoulders and resting on the ceiling. The corridor beyond the door seemed to drop off at another steep angle a few feet beyond the entrance, but it was impossible to really tell, as this corridor seemed not to be lit. The only light came from the cauldron torch that hung above them, burning a pure blue flame and casting a pale light over everything. Looks just like moonlight. Very entertaining.
Draco came up to stand next to Remus now, bringing Harry with him.
"Professor, these statues here? I've seen these before, down in the ossuary I originally came through when we arrived. I haven't seen this style anywhere else in this complex. This may possibly be an entrance to that place."
"In which case," Harry joined in, "we may have bigger issues, as we've just been discussing. We may be looking for a place that is in fact underwater. Sirius has been telling us about this Khepesh business. Back in Greece didn't you have to go underwater to access a star map?"
Remus looked back at the entrance and rubbed his eyes again, shaking his head. "Coincidence. I hope. You can store several things in water we aren't up to stopping. Not all of us. And I really don't want to split us up again, if I can help it. Has Jack anything to say?"
Harry shook his head. "This is new to him as well, it would seem. But I have another concern where he's involved. He's linked to this place as well, I would imagine. That must be how Demoncles is slowing his aging, and keeping him alive. Won't he be needed in this ritual Sirius is going on about? Won't someone come looking for him?"
"I doubt it, Harry. He's not a wizard; unless he's transformed, he offers little use to anyone, really. Peter needed him to translate, but obviously that's no longer an issue. And, based on Demoncles' comments about him earlier, the Servant regards him as an irritant, but can't touch him. I thought Peter would need him, but that was before we found out that Norris Cantersholes is here with Peter."
"A more participative werewolf?"
"No, a fifth person. Remember that numerology is very important in Egypt. Five, seven and nine are key numbers. Peter, Norris, those other two and Demoncles make five."
Draco frowned. "You're assuming Demoncles will continue to help him. I think that man allowed Peter to do what he's doing just to get you here."
"No, I think that Demoncles, as the Keeper, is required to help them. In dark magic, you need a bondsman, correct? To focus the spell?"
"Correct. Yes, I see. The Keeper is the permanent bondsman for anything that occurs in these walls."
Liz came over to them at that point. Remus had watched her inspecting the doorway out of the corner of his eye while he spoke with Harry and Draco, and now she seemed to have found something.
"Liz?"
"Draco, come over here with me. We need to break a gatespell." Draco paled slightly at that, but followed Liz without another word. Poor Draco; this is all quite a test for him, and I don't think I've ever seen him looking so strained or confused before. Part of me wants to believe he's finally beginning to see the difference between dark magic and dark purpose, but sometimes he still looks twelve and far too young to understand. Lucius and Narcissa never let him see a difference; taught him that there is no distinction, and that his raw dark powers were the core of who he was. That's why he cannot bear to loose control; he's terrified at what might just happen if he does. He's convinced that he will drown in the darkness….
Remus glanced at Narcissa now, as Liz and Draco stood shoulder to shoulder and faced the doorway, raising their wands. She looked, amazingly, rather shocked to see Draco working with Liz. I wonder if she, like Lucius, knew Liz too, before she went underground. She must have known Liz's grandfather during the first war with Voldemort. And wouldn't I just love to see the look on her face when she figures out that it has been Liz more than any of us over the years doggedly teaching Draco that he is not a dark person if he does not choose to be. Actually, maybe I am.
Remus moved back from the doors now as Draco and Liz started an incantation together. He came to stand between Sirius and Katie so he could look at Malcolm. His son was looking exhausted, his head lying on Sirius' shoulder now, but he did smile quietly for a second when Remus patted him on the back. Sirius raised an eyebrow at Remus over Malcolm's head and gave his own quick smile.
"Don't worry, Remus, I'm not letting go for anything", he whispered.
Remus nodded and looked back at Liz and Draco. She could just as easily have used Harry for this, as he's strong enough for it, but I'm glad to see she still won't let Draco give up. He is going to understand his powers can be beneficial even if they come to blows over it. Draco will get it, I know it, but he may develop a strong disliking for stubborn women when all this is over, he laughed to himself.
Liz and Draco had now conjured a small ball of energy, glowing a brilliant white, in front of them. Slowly, they pushed it forward towards the doorway. As it drew level with the front of the entrance, it started to expand, as if being flattened against a sheet of glass. After a few moments, tendrils of energy began to crawl away from it, expanding over the surface of the doorway, looking like a glowing cobweb. Once these wisps had reached the edges, Draco and Liz took a step forward and waved their wands at the doorway, both shouting out a breaking spell at the same moment. The web seemed to shudder for a moment, and then collapsed to the ground, where it lay in a heap.
"Everyone, go through quickly. That gate will come back up in a matter of seconds."
Jack however, refused to move.
"No, no; I'm not going down there."
"Jack," said Remus, trying to think of a way to reason with him. He simply didn't want to leave the young man behind, but Jack jumped back from him, shaking his head.
"No! Please, just go."
Remus resisted the urge to force Jack through with them. I can't leave him in this place; he has to come with us… But Jack looked at Remus calmly and shook his head once again. For the first time since he had met the young man, he seemed fully aware of both himself and his surroundings.
"Please, I'll be alright. You better go. Good luck." With that, he turned and walked back in the direction they had come without a sound. Remus gazed after him feeling helpless for a few moments, then quickly turned back and followed the others. He didn't look at Katie, as he assumed that she would be angry with him for letting Jack go, though she said nothing.
Once they all stood on the other side, Remus and Harry moved to the edge of the corridor and peered into the darkness.
It wasn't completely black as it had
appeared when they were standing away from it, only more dimly lit, again
looking like a room bathed in dim moonlight, although they could see no torches
of any kind. Remus was starting to get
more and more uneasy, feeling a dull ache start in his arms and legs. Gods, what if the Chamber itself causes a
transformation? Stop it; now you're
just not thinking clearly.
"Not as steep as some of the others, but still down. And look," he pointed at the walls. Where most of the other walls in the corridors had been plain masonry, these walls were plastered and covered with reliefs. Remus couldn't read the inscriptions, but he could make out the scenes. Not pretty.
"Harry and I will go first…what, Katie?"
"With no wand?"
"With no wand, yes. Liz, Katie, you next, and then Mrs. Malfoy. Sirius, then the Weasleys. Draco, I need you to keep a very careful eye on the back. Let me know if you feel anything, alright?"
"Yes."
The remnants of the breaking spell suddenly shimmered and faded. Draco looked back at Remus.
"That would be our cue to go forward, I should think."
They started to descend into the next part of the temple down the corridor.
"Harry, do keep me out of trouble, won't you," Remus whispered as they carefully led the others.
"No problem, Remus. But make it easier on me by keeping a step behind."
The corridor was shorter than most they had
come across, to Remus' relief, and they saw the doors at the end soon. The stylised scenes of mayhem and carnage on
the walls seemed even more sinister in the dim glow, and Remus had to worry why
this place had no torches of its own. Malcolm, much to Remus' satisfaction, had turned his head so that his
face was against Sirius' neck, and was in all likelihood not seeing any of the
walls clearly. Some sort of primer
on just how vicious Set can be?
After making sure there wasn't a gatespell at the exit similar to the one at the top, they moved forward. Again they found themselves in a huge space, only this time it wasn't a carved room, but a natural cavern. At first glance, it looked as if the only manmade structures were the doors they had passed through and a good sized stone bridge leading over a chasm to what seemed another doorway on the far side, again flanked by statues of Anubis with their arms raised. But when then moved to the edge of the bridge and looked over, Remus saw another corridor, flooded, and lined with what appeared to be catacombs. The other difference here was that it was not deathly silent like the rest of the complex. Here, winds blew that sounded for the entire world like faint cries and howls. Trick of the space?
Draco came up next to him again and pointed down. "Professor," he said, sounding somewhat excited, "I've seen this bridge, from down there. This is the ossuary I came through, and this place struck me as odd, because it was the only place not worked. I was coming from that direction," he pointed to his left, "and about 15 minutes later I found the entry to the temple we arrived near, where I met up with you."
"Good; at least then we have some idea of where we are. Did you, um, hear this before?"
"No. I suspect this is part of the fact that the souls of all those men buried in this place have been let loose from the opening of the doors. The jackals – they are spirits. Not sure you got that."
"I suspected as much. Come on."
Once on the other side they stopped in front of the next doorway and checked again for any restraining spells. Remus pondered the situation, and motioned for the others to come closer.
"I think I finally figured out why there were no lights in the corridor, but Sirius you have to back me up. All of this descending, we are actually re-enacting the descent into the underworld. One of the levels is through darkness, and then you cross a river. True?"
"Roughly, yes. But if that's it, then we are here; the river is the last step. Through those doors and we'll be in the Chamber, the heart of it, where the judging takes place."
Harry nodded. "Jack said something about being judged worthy, that Anubis judged your soul."
"In the muggle myth Anubis is responsible for weighing the heart of the deceased which they felt held the soul. If you were good, you got to continue. If not, your heart was fed to a monster and you were damned."
"So the Servant of the Lord of the Northern Sky is supposed to be Anubis then. That was Anubis' title, and most likely he is the one who, in this ceremony, will finally summon the Casting Stone for whoever asks for it. Provided they do it properly."
"Wormtail has done a pretty thorough job of this," said Liz rather acidly.
Katie gave a snort herself then looked back at Remus. "So, what now? Love, you're looking worse…we're running out of time. We've just got to go in there and stop them…."
Katie stopped when Narcissa gave a small, chilling laugh. Everyone turned to look at her where she stood, slightly behind them at the edge of the cliff, shaking her head.
"Well, I had hoped, I will admit, that perhaps this wouldn't end with our all getting killed, but that seems unlikely now. How exactly do you propose to stop them? To hold them back? Or haven't you figured out that you cannot cast spells in this place? I already told you that."
"Mother, in case you hadn't noticed, we've been casting any number of spells."
Narcissa smiled at Draco. "No, my son, you haven't cast spells, you've simply been breaking and repelling those spells which already exist. You cannot create a new spell here. So you will not be able to hold the others. This is what forced Pettigrew and the others to follow the rituals in the first place. Which, I gathered from their conversation, was a setback."
"You saw Black cast a spell not 15 minutes ago," Draco continued, now moving to stand in front of her. Remus decided not to interfere, but his mind was racing trying to think of something that would contradict Narcissa' statement.
"No, I saw Black repel a spell that was effecting him."
"Lighting wands?"
"Repelling darkness."
"Katie cast a spell when she restrained Demoncles."
"No, she repelled his own magic, and he is, as I said, a material part of this place."
"And the melting of the door, mother?"
"Emotion, not casting. Overwrought mothers tend to do … extraordinary things."
Remus saw Draco sneer at her at that statement, but before he could step in, Draco spoke again.
"I cast a spell! A locking spell, to keep that wretched Pettigrew from getting his hands on Malcolm again!"
There was a silence for a few moments, until Liz spoke up. "Draco? Didn't you have the griffins with you when that happened?"
"Yes," said Draco, giving her a suspicious look. "And so what?"
"Charles and Elvira would have done that; they kept the doors closed for you while you and Malcolm escaped. Their own magic, and not effected by this place. Griffins are very, very protective of their companions. And the griffins adored you. Adore you. I'm sure they'll be back soon."
Remus watched Draco struggle with everything Liz had just said, and noticed for the first time that Charles and Elvira were in fact missing. They can't be lost in here. Draco finally looked back at Narcissa, who was giving him a blank stare.
"The Weasleys bound Demoncles," he continued, but no longer sounded convinced. It was if he was reaching for anything he could, but had in fact resolved himself to the fact that Narcissa was right. He looked past Remus at Fred and George, who sadly shook their heads.
"Actually, we did that with cording we took from those hangings on the dais' pillars, after dipping them generously in the liquid silver lying about. We didn't have time to muck about with casting, we just went for what was right there in front of us."
Draco looked furiously at Remus now, his already sunburned face going a little redder, and Remus braced himself for Draco finally completely loosing his temper. Not the best moment for this, but it had to happen…what? Draco's scowl turned to a dark smile.
"Draco?"
"In the corridor, when I was opening the door to the room where I found Malcolm, someone attacked us. Someone managed to blast a hole in the ceiling. That was a cast spell!" He looked back at Narcissa triumphantly, and Remus was now surprised to see Narcissa looking rather taken aback by this.
"Well, mother?"
"I…I don't know what to say. I wasn't there at the time, I had left with…only Cantersholes was there still. He was the one who raised the alarm that you were all here."
"Why do I just find it harder and harder to believe anything you say?"
Katie came forward at this, putting a hand on Draco's arm and pulling him away from Narcissa. Remus saw true sadness in Narcissa's eyes as she watched her son turn his back on her to stand instead with Katie, who was murmuring in a low voice that Draco shouldn't talk to her like that, even if he felt it. Before he said anything to her, though, Harry stepped forward.
"So Cantersholes would seem to be the only one who's truly cast a spell? And didn't we just figure out that he's a werewolf? So perhaps…" here Harry handed his wand to Remus. "Go on, see what you can do."
Remus looked at the wand and thought for a few moments, then shook his head. "No, Demoncles never took our wands from us, now I know…."
"He didn't take them from you because he wasn't threatened by you, since he knew he was essentially 'untouchable'. Not that that turned out to be the case, but Peter took your wand, didn't he?"
"Habit. He took Sirius' as well," Remus was vaguely aware that he was just being argumentative for no good reason. Other than the wolf is starting to …gods. He grabbed Harry's wand and took a deep breath. Calm, you can hold on for a while yet. Just don't loose your own temper or it's probably all over.
Remus casually waved the wand and said a very simple spell, causing three small glowing orbs to pop up in front of him and start to drift in lazy little circles. It was a trick that had amused Malcolm for hours when he was a baby, and Remus now saw Malcolm's flat expression pick up a bit at the sight of them. He suddenly seemed to come back to life, and struggled a bit against Sirius, reaching over for Remus instead. Remus couldn't resist, and took Malcolm quietly.
"Just for a moment, my little marauder, then you must stay with Sirius," he whispered, turning away from the others.
Remus felt Malcolm nod, and a slight wetness on his neck, though Malcolm said nothing to him. Remus tried very hard not to consider the possibility that this may be the last time he ever held his son.
"We'll be home soon, I promise."
After a few moments he turned back and handed Malcolm over to Sirius again. "Okay," he continued, starting to hear the hoarseness coming into his voice that the change caused. The others heard it too and watched him carefully. "So really we're two to one now, assuming Demoncles will be here. But what I find most interesting is that it would appear that Peter isn't aware that Norris can cast. Is that a fair assumption, Mrs. Malfoy?"
"Yes. Until you said anything, I had no idea Cantersholes could cast, though it does seem in keeping with this place, that only the werewolves would be able to wield any real power within it."
"I find that…interesting."
"I find it disturbing," said Liz, then looked at Sirius. "What are you grinning at?"
"Sorry, I just can't help it. Wormtail has been double-crossed, don't you see? He's so sure that this time he's got it. Well, I think that Norris has other plans, if he kept something so fundamental to himself. I find this very satisfying, although we must be extra careful that Norris doesn't end up finishing him off. We need him alive," he emphasized, softly.
Remus nodded and continued. "So the question now is what to cast? At least you all should be able to defend yourselves against him if he attacks you, but be careful only to use repelling charms, please."
"Remus," said Katie, "you must stop the Stone from being revealed, whoever intends to use it. Or whatever it is in there; from everything that has occurred I believe we'd be lucky if all it was were a rock. And the only chance to break the spell is, as we already discussed, to break the sequence and disrupt the ritual. Granted that's still a big 'if', but unless anyone has any other ideas?"
Fred jumped in at that. "No, Katie, I think you've got it right on. And here are two things. First off, Malfoy told us that things being 'reflected' are key in this nuthouse. That's probably why we can repel, but not cast. So we need to 'reflect' something back. Secondly, why on earth are the doors in a werewolf's temple made of silver? Seems just a tad impractical. I feel that the closed doors most likely hold something 'inside' this place. Exactly what we can debate over a drink back at the Leaky Cauldron in about oh, ten years, when I'll be ready to talk about all this. But I think that they are themselves 'reflecting' something that now is no longer restrained since they're all open. All this really started when that nasty thing said 'the doors are opened', giving whatever the blazes is on its way free passage. As I've been blessed with a rather inventive imagination, you can just think of some of the possibilities I've come up with."
George interrupted him at this juncture. "The point is this, that closing the doors should break the spell by putting that reflective quality back in place. And we just happen to have a little trick that might do it."
Remus nodded at them to continue.
"Modification of a spell we perfected back at Hogwarts. While the beloved map was great at showing where people were, or namely, where Mr. Filch was, we still needed a means of getting him 'off the trail' as it were, because we could see that he would be between us and any escape route."
"Don't I know it," muttered Sirius.
"We created this spell which gave him some bait to chase; one where we could charm doors in the corridors opposite of us to open and close."
"Worked like a dream," smiled Fred. "Filch would run off at top speed to see what was up, and we'd have a free run to the open passage. And it's not a hard one to teach Remus; simple, short and sweet. This is a bigger place, true, and we've no idea where doors really are, but since this is highly ritualised, like Katie said, it is plausible that if we start closing any of the doors it will in fact cause a chain reaction and shut the others, stopping the spell."
"I really hate to say this," said Harry, soberly, "but that may not be a good thing at all. We may very well get sealed in here. We've been opening the doors, true, but we've no idea what the reaction will be if we disrupt this spell."
"But we can get out without the doors, Potter. We'll need to go through the ossuary, but the place where I came in was closed with wooden doors. I only found the silver doors once I was in the temple proper."
Harry nodded. "Okay, well, that's my only comment and Malfoy seems to have it covered. At the very least we can get above ground, and that's better than nothing." He looked at Remus, who smiled weakly, nodded and handed Harry's wand back to him.
"Uh, Remus?"
"I'll just borrow Katie's wand, if you don't mind, Harry. Bit easier for me to use. Besides, Katie's emotions would seem to be more than a match for any wand." He did smile at her and she managed to smile back as she handed him her wand, then kissed him.
"Here you are then."
"Thank you, love. George? What's the spell?"
" 'Adoperri confundium'. Concentrate on the doors closing when you say it; see them actually closing."
"Right. Let's…."
At that moment a blast of wind came out of the doorway across the hall, accompanied by shrieks and howls and a bitter coldness. Remus staggered a bit, then looked back up to see that the Servant had appeared, with Demoncles at his heels. As the howling of the wind increased, the Servant moved forward slowly across the bridge, but paid no attention to the people there on the other side. He simply continued to walk forwards, not seeming to look at anything. Demoncles was not so oblivious, but Remus realized that he was unable to do anything except move with the Servant. He was badly burned about his face and hands, but otherwise appeared unharmed. As he walked past Remus he gave him a bitter look, but still said nothing.
As he looked at Demoncles, Remus was suddenly overwhelmed with the memory of the night he had been bitten, over thirty years ago, when he snuck out of the house to take a walk in the woods, just because he thought it would be fun. It was the look in Demoncles' eyes; the raw, furious hunger. Remus remembered hearing something move near him, then feeling very cold, despite the warm summer air. He turned to run back to the house then, but he knew with every step that there was something after him, and that it…and then it had been there, in front of him on the path. A gigantic black wolf, with cold eyes; Remus had never seen anything so dark, or so merciless. He did not remember what had happened after that, only waking up screaming later, his father and mother holding him tightly. He was so amazed that he wasn't dead, at the time he did not even think about the tears in their eyes, or understand the look of anguish on their faces.
But that last thought only brought his focus back to the moment. His fury rose, his anger starting to hone his senses into one single train of thought, even as his body began to burn in earnest. He could just imagine what he looked like now, but no longer cared. This ends right here. As the Servant disappeared through the doorway, Demoncles on his heels, Remus stepped forward, and followed them without a sound into the cold, pale glow of the artificial moonlight streaming through the door.