A second surreal episode. Be warned – if I can't think of anything to do it will get weirder!
I need opinions. Since I am having trouble with thinking of what should happen next (though I have got an end to the year) I was thinking about doing a Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs fic. It would be rather unoriginal but I'd enjoy writing it! However I don't know what would happen in that either. So do you think I should write it now and give 'Fifth Year' a break while I think of stories, or should I continue with 'Fifth Year' nonetheless and write the MWPP fic after it finishes? REVIEW AND TELL ME!
All was dark. Harry tried to open his eyes, but no light rushed in as he had hoped – he couldn't breathe! He scrabbled for air, and found light cotton sheets covering his face. He pulled them off and found himself staring at Hermione.
'Hermione?' he gasped. 'Did you get me out?'
'Well, sort of,' she said shyly. 'I didn't pull you out on my own – I had do do a spell.'
'Hermione, you saved my life.' He looked at her as this sank in. They were silent for a moment. Hermione, blushing, didn't know quite what to say. 'Where's Ron?' Harry asked suddenly.
Hermione pointed to Harry's left. Harry turned his head to see Ron in the next bed of the hospital wing. He was out cold. 'What happened?' Harry demanded.
'Well, after you blacked out I had to get you out – I did the Mobilicorpus spell for that, did you know it works underwater? Anyway, I went back down because Ron hadn't surfaced yet. His gills had gone too and I had to bring him back up as well. He'd nearly reached the surface on his own.'
'Ron fainted?' Harry's heart was sinking as fast as he knew the rock must have. 'Is he all right? What happened to the rock?'
'He's fine,' said Hermione. 'Just asleep. It's eleven at night, you know. And the rock – well…'
She delved beneath the bed and pulled out a lump of stone, considerably smaller than it had been. She was beaming.
'I managed to chip away some of the rock on my own, but I'm going to need a spell to get the chain out. I haven't found the right one yet, but I'll keep looking.'
Harry was filled with panic. 'After all that – we have to get it out! I've still got to find the pendant!'
'I'm doing my best, you know,' said Hermione, looking a bit hurt.
'Yeah, I know. Sorry.' She nodded curtly and he felt awful. 'I really appreciate it. It's just that this is so important to me. The most important thing in the world.'
'What's going on?' asked a sleepy voice. 'Oh, Harry! How are you?' Ron had woken up.
'I'm fine,' replied Harry vaguely. Then, abruptly and comfortably, he went back to sleep.
A man, tall and slender, jet-haired and clad in animal furs, stood before Harry. He held something shiny in his broad hand. Harry leant forward to take in the incredible midnight blue thing that lay there. It was the Andromeda pendant.
'They call me a hero, you know,' said the man with a sigh. 'They might say that about you, too.'
'No one thinks I'm a hero,' said Harry, flinching as Snape's face flew into his head.
'Oh, but they do,' said the man. 'And they'd be right. What did I ever do?'
'Er – I don't know.'
'I'll give you a clue. My name's Perseus.'
'Oh.' Harry's eyes widened. 'But you – you've done loads of stuff! You rescued Andromeda, for a start. And you killed the Gorgon.'
'Exactly. I killed things. And I rescued a damsel in distress. You prevented an evil wizard from taking over the world.'
'But I couldn't have done that on my own.' Harry was annoyed. He knew this wasn't true. 'What do you want?'
'I want to give you this,' said Perseus, and extended his hand. Harry reached out to take the pendant. But his fingers passed straight through it.
'You're a ghost?'
'Not quite… a memory, like someone you've met before. But I won't try to kill you.' Perseus smiled and Harry grinned back. 'You won't be able to take the pendant until you release the chain. But you'll do it, and then I'll be waiting. Just remember to look after it better than I did.' Perseus gave a second self-conscious smile and disappeared.
When Harry woke he was alone. Ron had gone from the hospital bed and it had been made neatly, with sharp corners and straight folds. He was feeling quite comfortable now, and was rather glad that he couldn't leave just yet. There were important things to be done, but they could be done tomorrow. For now he could enjoy his rest.
Waking early the next morning, Harry realised with disappointment that he'd have to go to lessons. There was the time in between, the time before and after, and yet another gaping Potions slot, but otherwise he'd be stuck in classroom after classroom, feeling constantly as though he should be doing something more worthwhile. He decided to start straight away.
Getting up and dressing before Madam Pomfrey could stop him, Harry collected the small amount of belongings that were arranged around the bed and rushed to the common room. No one was around yet. He seemed to be getting up very early these days. He dumped his things in the boys' dormitory, then headed for the library. He had to find out how to break open the stone.
Almost an hour into his searching, Harry found something that looked relevant but it turned out to be for transporting heavy objects, not breaking them. He was just getting over his disappointment when the breakfast bell sounded, and he was forced to abandon the search.
'Where have you been?' Ron and Hermione hissed at him. He waved them away, racking his brains for anything that he might have once encountered that would be of any help now. And all of a sudden, dimly and vaguely, he recalled something they'd done in Defence Against the Dark Arts with Lockhart. He smirked darkly. He'd never have thought that Lockhart would be the one to help him out.
He struggled through morning lessons, hardly able to bear how irrelevant they seemed. Harry didn't know why this was so important to him, but he knew that he couldn't live now without releasing the chain and finding the pendant. And finally, at long, long last, the bell rang for lunchtime. He skipped the meal and went straight back to the library.
He found it with no trouble. Cornish pixies, the book read, prefer to dwell in dark, dank places such as caves, but have been known to cause trouble by settling beneath the foundations of houses or in the walls of castles. Able to survive for months without food, pixies go unnoticed for some time before they get bored of their homes and break out, creating much damage. A simple spell, if you suspect that pixies have landed in an inconvenient place, is Dispersus Maximus.
The passage continued to ramble on, but Harry had all he needed. Dispersus Maximus. It would break any heavy object. He could have leapt for joy, turned cartwheels, whooped and laughed. But he didn't. Instead, he copied down the incantation carefully, as though it was liable to jump at him, pocketed it and repeated it in his head as he went to eat lunch.
Ron and Hermione were already on their pudding and looked up with surprise when Harry arrived. 'What's going on?' asked Ron suspiciously. 'Have you found the pendant?'
'Not quite,' said Harry, still smiling. 'But I've found a spell to open up the rock.'
Hermione almost overturned her bowl of trifle in her haste to hug Harry. 'Well done!' she shrieked. 'You found it!'
'Dispersus Maximus,' he said, with more than a hint of pride.
'Oh, Harry, I knew you would.' Hermione beamed. Harry returned the smile.
'So where is it? The stone?'
'In my dormitory,' she replied. 'I'll get it as soon as I've finished eating.'
He took great pride in reciting the two words, so small yet so significant, and watching the heavy stone splinter away like old wood. In its midst the chain dropped to the table with a satisfyingly quiet clink. He stared at it for a moment before gingerly lifting it, afraid in case its unimaginable age would cause it to break. Harry gazed in awe at the ancient, remarkable thing in his hand. Ron and Hermione watched too. All were engulfed by a kind of wary awe. After all, they didn't know a lot about what powers this chain held.
Then he smiled widely, closed his fist around the chain and lifted it high in the air. None of them spoke. This was an achievement beyond all others; this was theirs alone.
Afternoon lessons passed much more pleasantly; he no longer worried. Perseus would bring him the pendant tonight, he knew it – and then, the next day, it would be Valentine's Day. Never before had this day been so important to him. He would give the necklace to Andromeda.
Harry couldn't sleep that night, he was too excited. It was like Christmas Eve had been for everyone else when they were younger; for Harry, of course, it had been like any other day. But eventually he saw the swarthy, angular face of Perseus and knew that he must have descended into dreams.
'So, you have released the chain,' said Perseus. He was smiling. 'I am glad. A more worthy candidate for this task I have never encountered.'
'So how do I get the pendant?' Harry asked eagerly.
'There is no more you can choose to do. From now you must follow your instincts and your love for Andromeda. If you can trust your love enough, when you present her with this chain tomorrow, the pendant will be attached to it. If not – if you do not love her enough – then the chain will remain alone, will be encased in rock for a further hundred years.'
'So I just give her the chain on its own?'
'That's right.' Perseus looked intently at Harry. 'I hope, young man, that you will both live up to my expectations.' And once more, the hero of another time and another world was gone.
Harry was worried sick when he awoke the next morning. No pendant had reappeared on the chain yet. What if he wasn't the right person to take this on? What if he gave the chain to Andromeda and the beautiful pendant didn't appear?
But then he remembered Andromeda's face, her infectious laugh, how much he loved to kiss her… of course they had enough love. He suddenly had no doubt. Pocketing the chain, he went to breakfast, feeling light-hearted and optimistic.
The school was decorated not in the tacky, gooey way that Lockhart had initiated a couple of years ago, but in warm reds and oranges. There wasn't a trace of lurid pink. A few gold hearts flew around the walls on little wings, much like funny-shaped Snitches, but other than that the castle looked normal.
Harry saw Andromeda at the Slytherin table, and for the first time felt a pang of regret that he had not been sorted into that house. But it passed as he saw Ron and Hermione beaming at him. He would miss them too much, if he was a Slytherin. To Andromeda, he gave the sign which meant they would meet after breakfast.
When they finally came face to face in the bustling corridor, both were in danger of being pulled away by the crowds. They caught hands and turned into an empty corridor. Harry noticed that Andromeda was lugging something long and thin in her other hand.
'Happy Valentine's Day,' she said quickly, handing it over. Harry grinned and unwrapped it. 'It's not the most romantic thing in the world, but I didn't know what else to get…'
But Harry was gazing, awestruck, at the broom case before him. 'An, I've wanted this for ages,' he exclaimed. 'Thanks!'
He hugged her, then felt a jolt in his stomach as he reached for the chain in the pocket of his robes. He lifted it – and felt an unfamilair weight on it. He pulled it from his pocket and handed it to Andromeda.
Her eyes widened and for a moment she didn't raise her hand to accept it. Then she seized it from Harry's hand, holding it up so that it sparkled. 'Harry, it's… it's… beautiful.' She shook her head. 'That sounds so worthless. It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I can't quite – Harry, where did you get this?'
'Perseus brought me it,' he said simply, suddenly not feeling the need to tell her exactly how much he had one.
'Oh, I love it.' Her eyes shone. 'Put it on!'
Harry fastened the chain around her neck as she lifted her hair out of the way. The brilliant blue-black jewel fell just below her collarbone, settling against her black robes, which turned the bright white flecks in the heart of the pendant silvery grey.
'I love you, Andromeda,' he said easily. How many times had he said it? He couldn't remember.
'I love you too,' she said, for at least the hundredth time.