Chapter 6: When the fire goes out
"We should split up," Harry suggested.
"Are you crazy? That's the last thing we should do!" Hermione declared.
"It's the fastest way to get out of here," Harry said.
"Oh OK!" Hermione crossed her arms.
"I'll search the Great Hall for an exit. It was the last place we were when the lights went out. Hermione, you look around the library, you know it best. And Ron, you can... Ron? Hermione, where's Ron?"
"I don't know... He was here a minute ago... Maybe he already left,"
"I sure hope so..."
Ron leaned against a gargoyle, clumsily.
"Password?" Ron jumped at the voice.
"Uh... excuse me?" he asked, looking around. No one replied. He looked at the gargoyle and remembered something.
"Um..." he tried to think of candy, "Chocolate Frogs, Sugar Quills, Every Flavor Beans, uh…" he remembered Harry telling him of Dumbledore's fondness for lemon drops. He tried that. The gargoyle didn't move. Of course, Ron didn't expect it to work. It had been the password a couple years ago. He sighed.
"I'm never going to get out of here! Stupid Hermione! She always does things like this! If it's not walking off into another world, it's making us actually do our homework! Really, I don't know why I believe any of this anyway. I mean, what is all this about Zaphire and Hades Realm and Seadene and- wait, hold on!" Ron cried. As he mentioned Seadene, the gargoyle hopped aside, allowing him to enter, "Right, then!" Ron grinned, "In we go!"
Hermione looked around at the books. She blew some dust off of a book and opened it. She saw words on the page, but they seemed to float up off the pages into the air and Hermione watched them flutter away out the window. She closed the book and placed it back on the shelf. She was so busy looking around at the dusty place she thought she knew, that she tripped and scraped her knee. Rubbing it, she looked behind her to see what she'd tripped on. It was an old leather book with gold lettering. Hermione let out a gasp.
"The Viking Religious Book!" she cried, "Yes!" she opened the book and was glad to see the words stayed on the page. She flipped to chapter four, about the Tri-Corner. After the passage she barely remembered reciting, there were detailed descriptions of the other worlds. Unfortunately, since little was known of Zaphire, it had the least information. She read it anyway, trying to find the exact location. She squinted hard at the book in the dimness and found it so difficult to read, she pulled out her wand.
"Lumos!" a tiny light lit. She was in the middle of rereading the information when she realized what had just happened.
"Wait a minute," she frowned and looked at her wand, "Did it just obey me?" She stared at it for a minute and then turned back to the book, reading on.
Harry walked aimlessly around the hall. He couldn't exactly decide what to do or what he was looking for. When they had entered Zaphire, it had looked like Hogwarts, except for some differences. He didn't really remember actually stepping in through a secret door or anything like that. And he didn't really know how he was going to find a way out. He hoped Hermione was having more luck in the library.
"This is useless!" he screamed to no one and sank to the floor, "Hermione was right! We'll never find a way out of here! I wouldn't be surprised if Malfoy's laughing right now!"
"OK, now I know I heard something!" Malfoy cried. He looked around. He remembered people telling him that Potter, Granger, and Weasley were dead. And idea occurred to him.
"If they're dead..." he thought, "There ought to be bodies," he grinned, "I won't believe it until I find they're bodies!" and with that, he slipped out of the Slytherin common room, unnoticed.
Dumbledore was pacing. He wasn't quite sure what he could do to help the three.
"You say she just entered the library of her own free will?"
"Yes, Headmaster." McGonagall nodded.
"Well!" Snape cried, jumping to his feet, "What right does she have to wander around when something like this has happened! She may read up on things, but she isn't too good with the common sense!"
"Severus," Dumbledore looked at him, "I don't think it was really of her own free will. It just appeared that way."
"You don't suppose she was put under a curse, do you?" McGonagall asked.
"Perhaps."
"And what of the boys? They will follow that girl to the ends of the earth! Surely they weren't cursed!"
"You are quite right, Severus, they would follow her. And I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. If I had to have students lost in that realm, I would rather it be those three than anyone else in this school," Dumbledore said.
Ron entered what should have been Dumbledore's office. It was lacking quite a few things, including furniture and Fawks, the Phoenix. He sighed.
"I won't find anything in here." Just as he was about to leave, he noticed something in the room. It was a wooden door. It had an arched frame instead of rectangular. It had intricate carvings on it and the wood seemed to shine. It was the only thing in the room that didn't look like it was just another object collecting dust. The way the door's wood was so delicately polished made it look as if it were brand new.
"Does Dumbledore have this in his office?" he asked himself while approaching the door. He took a deep breath.
"Right then," he sighed, working up his courage. He placed his hand on the brass handle, and turned.
Hermione walked briskly through the rows of books. She knew exactly where the opening was. And soon, she was standing right before it. The entrance to the library was never anything special in her opinion. But now, it held the key for them to be able to leave this place. She was so excited she could barely keep her wand steady.
Harry was tired. He decided he would find nothing in the Great Hall and so he was trying to find his way to the library to look for Hermione. He was still worried about Ron. Where had he gotten off to? He looked around and noticed a passageway leading towards the dungeons. He remembered it from when he and Ron had followed Malfoy when they had thought he was the Slytherin Heir. Looking around, he decided he would give the Slytherin common room a shot.
Ron stepped into a garden. Green trees were scattered across it and it had a brook running through it. The grass was greener than Ron had ever seen. In the middle of it all, there was a pavilion. He walked over to it and when he entered, there were at least a dozen beautiful women, all dressed in white.
"Welcome," they smiled sweetly. Ron giggled stupidly.
"I think I like this place," he sighed with dazed bliss and a large grin. Two gorgeous brown-haired women led him to a comfy chair in the center of the room.
"Please have a seat," one of them said, "I'm Miranda. This is Claudia," she gestured to the other brunette. Ron sat down and made himself comfortable.
"Could you tell me where-" but he stopped as he saw a lovely blond dangle grapes in front of him.
"I'm Lila," she grinned and fed him a grape. Ron just lay back in the chair, forgetting his worries and letting himself become bewitched by the femme fatales.
Hermione opened the book and read.
"No one in this time knows how to open either world..." she read. But Voldemort must have found some way...
"I have an idea!" she grinned. She held the book under her arm, closed her eyes, and sat on the floor. She didn't know what she was doing or what had given her the idea to do it. She relaxed her mind and pictured a doorway. She willed it to open. She opened her eyes again and looked straight through the library entrance. She took a deep breath, scribbled a note to Harry and Ron, placed the book down, and exited the library.
Harry made his way through the dungeons to Slytherin common room. It had been a while since Malfoy had led them their, and half of it was guesswork. As he walked down the hall, he noticed someone pass him. They both stopped, backs to each other, at different ends of the hall. They then spun around at the exact same time, pointed at each other and cried:
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
"I was looking for your dead body! You're supposed to be dead!" Malfoy snapped, "I demand to know why you aren't dead yet!"
"Gee, Malfoy, sorry to disappoint you. I didn't mean to be alive, it just happened!" Harry cried.
"Why are you here? Your supposed to be in your common room! Everyone's looking all over for you. I heard you were dead. It got me excited. Thanks for ruining my fun Potter!"
"As I said, Malfoy, I'm terribly sorry to ruin your fun, but I for one am happy to be alive!" Harry snapped. Malfoy shrugged.
"Whatever! I'm gonna go back and tell Slytherin the bad news." Malfoy started heading back towards his common room.
"What bad news?"
"That Potter's still alive."
Hermione walked down the halls. As she did so, candles began to light themselves. Hermione gasped. She heard similar gasps throughout the hall and she knew it was no echo.
"The lights are back!" someone called. Hermione's face lit up.
"Professor McGonagall!" Hermione cried. The woman at the other end of the hall looked up in surprise.
"Good gracious, child!" McGonagall shouted, running at the girl, "Where have you been?!"
"I must see Professor Dumbledore! It's a matter of life and death!"
"We should split up," Harry suggested.
"Are you crazy? That's the last thing we should do!" Hermione declared.
"It's the fastest way to get out of here," Harry said.
"Oh OK!" Hermione crossed her arms.
"I'll search the Great Hall for an exit. It was the last place we were when the lights went out. Hermione, you look around the library, you know it best. And Ron, you can... Ron? Hermione, where's Ron?"
"I don't know... He was here a minute ago... Maybe he already left,"
"I sure hope so..."
Ron leaned against a gargoyle, clumsily.
"Password?" Ron jumped at the voice.
"Uh... excuse me?" he asked, looking around. No one replied. He looked at the gargoyle and remembered something.
"Um..." he tried to think of candy, "Chocolate Frogs, Sugar Quills, Every Flavor Beans, uh…" he remembered Harry telling him of Dumbledore's fondness for lemon drops. He tried that. The gargoyle didn't move. Of course, Ron didn't expect it to work. It had been the password a couple years ago. He sighed.
"I'm never going to get out of here! Stupid Hermione! She always does things like this! If it's not walking off into another world, it's making us actually do our homework! Really, I don't know why I believe any of this anyway. I mean, what is all this about Zaphire and Hades Realm and Seadene and- wait, hold on!" Ron cried. As he mentioned Seadene, the gargoyle hopped aside, allowing him to enter, "Right, then!" Ron grinned, "In we go!"
Hermione looked around at the books. She blew some dust off of a book and opened it. She saw words on the page, but they seemed to float up off the pages into the air and Hermione watched them flutter away out the window. She closed the book and placed it back on the shelf. She was so busy looking around at the dusty place she thought she knew, that she tripped and scraped her knee. Rubbing it, she looked behind her to see what she'd tripped on. It was an old leather book with gold lettering. Hermione let out a gasp.
"The Viking Religious Book!" she cried, "Yes!" she opened the book and was glad to see the words stayed on the page. She flipped to chapter four, about the Tri-Corner. After the passage she barely remembered reciting, there were detailed descriptions of the other worlds. Unfortunately, since little was known of Zaphire, it had the least information. She read it anyway, trying to find the exact location. She squinted hard at the book in the dimness and found it so difficult to read, she pulled out her wand.
"Lumos!" a tiny light lit. She was in the middle of rereading the information when she realized what had just happened.
"Wait a minute," she frowned and looked at her wand, "Did it just obey me?" She stared at it for a minute and then turned back to the book, reading on.
Harry walked aimlessly around the hall. He couldn't exactly decide what to do or what he was looking for. When they had entered Zaphire, it had looked like Hogwarts, except for some differences. He didn't really remember actually stepping in through a secret door or anything like that. And he didn't really know how he was going to find a way out. He hoped Hermione was having more luck in the library.
"This is useless!" he screamed to no one and sank to the floor, "Hermione was right! We'll never find a way out of here! I wouldn't be surprised if Malfoy's laughing right now!"
"OK, now I know I heard something!" Malfoy cried. He looked around. He remembered people telling him that Potter, Granger, and Weasley were dead. And idea occurred to him.
"If they're dead..." he thought, "There ought to be bodies," he grinned, "I won't believe it until I find they're bodies!" and with that, he slipped out of the Slytherin common room, unnoticed.
Dumbledore was pacing. He wasn't quite sure what he could do to help the three.
"You say she just entered the library of her own free will?"
"Yes, Headmaster." McGonagall nodded.
"Well!" Snape cried, jumping to his feet, "What right does she have to wander around when something like this has happened! She may read up on things, but she isn't too good with the common sense!"
"Severus," Dumbledore looked at him, "I don't think it was really of her own free will. It just appeared that way."
"You don't suppose she was put under a curse, do you?" McGonagall asked.
"Perhaps."
"And what of the boys? They will follow that girl to the ends of the earth! Surely they weren't cursed!"
"You are quite right, Severus, they would follow her. And I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. If I had to have students lost in that realm, I would rather it be those three than anyone else in this school," Dumbledore said.
Ron entered what should have been Dumbledore's office. It was lacking quite a few things, including furniture and Fawks, the Phoenix. He sighed.
"I won't find anything in here." Just as he was about to leave, he noticed something in the room. It was a wooden door. It had an arched frame instead of rectangular. It had intricate carvings on it and the wood seemed to shine. It was the only thing in the room that didn't look like it was just another object collecting dust. The way the door's wood was so delicately polished made it look as if it were brand new.
"Does Dumbledore have this in his office?" he asked himself while approaching the door. He took a deep breath.
"Right then," he sighed, working up his courage. He placed his hand on the brass handle, and turned.
Hermione walked briskly through the rows of books. She knew exactly where the opening was. And soon, she was standing right before it. The entrance to the library was never anything special in her opinion. But now, it held the key for them to be able to leave this place. She was so excited she could barely keep her wand steady.
Harry was tired. He decided he would find nothing in the Great Hall and so he was trying to find his way to the library to look for Hermione. He was still worried about Ron. Where had he gotten off to? He looked around and noticed a passageway leading towards the dungeons. He remembered it from when he and Ron had followed Malfoy when they had thought he was the Slytherin Heir. Looking around, he decided he would give the Slytherin common room a shot.
Ron stepped into a garden. Green trees were scattered across it and it had a brook running through it. The grass was greener than Ron had ever seen. In the middle of it all, there was a pavilion. He walked over to it and when he entered, there were at least a dozen beautiful women, all dressed in white.
"Welcome," they smiled sweetly. Ron giggled stupidly.
"I think I like this place," he sighed with dazed bliss and a large grin. Two gorgeous brown-haired women led him to a comfy chair in the center of the room.
"Please have a seat," one of them said, "I'm Miranda. This is Claudia," she gestured to the other brunette. Ron sat down and made himself comfortable.
"Could you tell me where-" but he stopped as he saw a lovely blond dangle grapes in front of him.
"I'm Lila," she grinned and fed him a grape. Ron just lay back in the chair, forgetting his worries and letting himself become bewitched by the femme fatales.
Hermione opened the book and read.
"No one in this time knows how to open either world..." she read. But Voldemort must have found some way...
"I have an idea!" she grinned. She held the book under her arm, closed her eyes, and sat on the floor. She didn't know what she was doing or what had given her the idea to do it. She relaxed her mind and pictured a doorway. She willed it to open. She opened her eyes again and looked straight through the library entrance. She took a deep breath, scribbled a note to Harry and Ron, placed the book down, and exited the library.
Harry made his way through the dungeons to Slytherin common room. It had been a while since Malfoy had led them their, and half of it was guesswork. As he walked down the hall, he noticed someone pass him. They both stopped, backs to each other, at different ends of the hall. They then spun around at the exact same time, pointed at each other and cried:
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
"I was looking for your dead body! You're supposed to be dead!" Malfoy snapped, "I demand to know why you aren't dead yet!"
"Gee, Malfoy, sorry to disappoint you. I didn't mean to be alive, it just happened!" Harry cried.
"Why are you here? Your supposed to be in your common room! Everyone's looking all over for you. I heard you were dead. It got me excited. Thanks for ruining my fun Potter!"
"As I said, Malfoy, I'm terribly sorry to ruin your fun, but I for one am happy to be alive!" Harry snapped. Malfoy shrugged.
"Whatever! I'm gonna go back and tell Slytherin the bad news." Malfoy started heading back towards his common room.
"What bad news?"
"That Potter's still alive."
Hermione walked down the halls. As she did so, candles began to light themselves. Hermione gasped. She heard similar gasps throughout the hall and she knew it was no echo.
"The lights are back!" someone called. Hermione's face lit up.
"Professor McGonagall!" Hermione cried. The woman at the other end of the hall looked up in surprise.
"Good gracious, child!" McGonagall shouted, running at the girl, "Where have you been?!"
"I must see Professor Dumbledore! It's a matter of life and death!"
