Chapter 15
The Key
Harry was in this weird room again.the white room. Why was he here? Still, he could not find the answer. Even though he knew he been to this place before, he can't remember what it was called, and where it was. He remembered everything being white, but then, in the middle of the room stood a person. The person had his back to Harry. Harry cautiously walked up to him, too scared to do anything but give a weak tap on his shoulder. He quickly took a step back, before the person turned around. It was Lord Voldemort. Harry's scar burnt with pain all of a sudden. He was now on his knees clutching his scar. Voldemort was going to kill him, he's going to die, there's no one here to save him. But then, there was a voice. "I'm coming A'rry", the voice said. Harry turned around seeing a unicorn standing behind him. A beautiful unicorn, with sparkling blue eyes. As Harry looked into the unicorn's eyes, Harry felt stronger. Just like when Fawkes was around him. The unicorn jumped over Harry and charged at Voldemort. There was a blinding green flash, and 15-year-old Harry found himself back at Hogwarts.
Harry woke up, finding himself back in the Gryffindor's cabin. A pair of blue eyes was staring back down at him. "Ahh"! Harry screamed, as he sat up. "A'rry! What's wrong"? Harry nervously put on his glasses, and found Fleur Delacour sitting beside him, with Hermione and Ron on the other side. "You okay"? Ron looked at Harry. Harry nodded. Then, it hit him. The dream he just had, was the dream he had when he was at Private Drive. The white room.but, Voldemort and a unicorn was there. The unicorn looked awfully like Fleur though. "Are you sure"? Hermione added. "Yeah.it was just a nightmare", Harry explained. "Professor Delacour! What are you doing here"? "Hermione asked me to come over, she said she wanted to azk me something". Professor Delacour smiled at Hermione, while Hermione quickly dug through a bag she brought along. She pulled out a piece of parchment, and a quill. "I need to ask you some questions. First question, do you know anything about the Crystal Ball of Fire? Or do you even know what it is"? "Well of course I know about ze Cryztal Ball of Fire. Everybody knew about ze Cryztal back at Beauxbatons", Professor Delacour said quite surprised. "We a've studied about ze Cryztal ever since we've were fir't yearz. But I can't remember anything about ze Cryztal". Hermione said a plain "oh", and put away all her stuff, muttering a "thanks anyway" before leaving. "Well, I better get going, see you Ron, A'rry", Professor Delacour smiled. She left the boy's room, and no soon later, they could hear her leaving the cabin. Hermione came back in, plopping down on Harry's bed. "That was no use.she studied about the Crystal ever since she was a first year, so why couldn't she remember at least what the Crystal is? Bad memory I would say", Hermione muttered darkly. "Harry.the book", Ron whispered. Harry suddenly remembers! The book Ron and him took out of the library. It was left at the bottom of Ron's trunk, buried under Ron's very small pyjamas. Ron quickly went to his trunk and dug out the book, and put it on Harry's bed. Hermione's eyes went wide, and her mouth hanging down with shock. "Where'd you get that"? "Oh this old book? Well." "It belonged to Ron's great grandmother", Harry helped out, giving Ron a wink. "Well, good. Does it say anything about the Crystal"? Hermione said looking down at the old book. "We think it does", Harry said. "Well, let's start reading"! Hermione said excitedly. They turned to the front page; it says "Book of Legends and Myths". They kept on looking, until they stopped at page 637.
The Crystal Ball of Fire is a clear glass ball, with "sparks" flying around inside. Scientists believe that the "sparks" are spirits that are trapped inside. There is a legend that says, "Once evil touches it, he or she will turn to stone". And "When good touches it, the person will get his or her wish, and a beautiful unicorn will guard and protect that person forever.
"That's all"? Ron looked up from the reading. Hermione muttered something and turned the page. "Yeah.that's it. But now we know that the Crystal is actually a clear glass ball with spirits inside. We also know that a unicorn will guard and protect that person forever", Hermione pointed out. "We went through all of that to get this"? Ron whispered to Harry. Harry rolled his eyes and closed the book up. They heard a knock on the door, and Ron got up to get it. It was Cho, standing behind two of her friends. Harry recognized the first one, it was Christie, but he didn't know the other. The other girl had long dark brown curly hair; she had a sour expression on her face as she looked around the boy's room. Christie on the other hand, was looking very anxious. "Have any of you seen a locket"? Christie asked. Cho sniffed and blew her nose behind them. "Locket"? Ron asked. "No.but if we find it, we'll give it to you", Hermione said. "Oh no, it's not mine. It's Cho's. Oh well, thanks anyway, bye", Christie waved goodbye to them before leaving with Cho and the other girl. "What locket? Do you guys know"? Ron asked as soon as they left. Hermione shook her head and looked at Harry. Harry didn't know whether to tell the truth or not, he didn't want to return the locket to Cho just yet. He wanted to look at it more closely. Harry had a strange feeling about the locket, like it was hiding something.
A week have passed, and the air was getting chillier. Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat in the common room of the cabin, all shivering because of the coldness. "Oh god it's cold"! Hermione exclaimed. "Don't have to tell us twice, we're freezing. Don't you think they should at least put on the fire or something"? Ron asked getting mad. "Can't.no wood, and Hagrid doesn't want the trees to be cut down until Christmas", Harry shivered. "I'm going to bed, maybe that'll warm me up", Ron mumbled as he made his way back to the boy's room. "I'm going to take a hot shower, but there was a line ever since morning"! Hermione sighed. Hermione got up and walked towards the girl's washroom, leaving Harry still shivering in the common room. Harry put his hands in his pockets to keep his hands warm, just as he put it in; he felt something smooth in his pockets. He took it out and there in his palm was Cho's locket. He had forgotten where he put the locket for a while. He looked at the front cover of the locket, and saw a picture of two doves cuddling together. He turned it over and saw the back cover with the words Cedric and Cho Chang Forever. So what if Harry wasn't as sweet as Cedric, or as good looking at him? Harry would give anything to be with Cho, even if it was just for a day. Seeing the words carved onto the locket made Harry hate the fact that Cedric died and left Cho alone by herself. He started trying to see if he could scratch out the name, minutes went by and he did not succeed. He gave one last hard scratch and the back cover broke off, sending small pieces of metal everywhere. Harry jumped out of the seat he was sitting in and starred at the small pieces around him. He bent down and picked up all the pieces, and noticed there was an extra piece. It looked like.a key! What was this key? He noticed that there were strange carvings on the back of the key. (If you want to see the carvings, email me at jess_christina@hotmail.com). Hermione and Ron both stepped into the common room at the same time. "Harry, what are you doing? What's that in your hand"? Hermione asked curiously. "N-nothing"! But it was too late, Ron already grabbed it out of his hands from behind, and both him and Hermione are looking at it. "Isn't this.Cho's locket"? Ron asked. "Well.not really, it-fell, I err.", Harry managed to mumble out. "It is! I can't believe you were the one who took it! Why didn't you return it to her today when Cho and her friends came here, how can you do this? Cho looked pretty sad to me, I think she was even crying. Besides, why did you take it anyway? If it's that pretty, you should just go buy your own"! Hermione lectured looking very shocked. Ron on the other hand patted Harry and the back and whispered "Wicked", so that Hermione couldn't hear. But Hermione heard anyway. "Wicked? You think this is wicked? How would you feel if someone took something from you"? Hermione said shrilly. "Well first of all, I have nothing they can take", Ron said blushing a bit. "Well, honestly, that locket might have been a family air loom or something, or it might have costed a fortune", Hermione continued. "Well it doesn't matter now.it's broken", Harry sighed. "What did you do to it"? Ron said impressed. Harry explained to them on how he scratched their names out, but after awhile, it broke. He left out how he felt though; Hermione and Ron didn't need to know even though they are his best friends. "So this key fell out", Harry finally finished. "A key? What do you think it's for"? Hermione asked looking at the key. "It might be cursed.you never know"! "Do you think we should ask Cho, where Cedric got it"? Ron suggested. "Yeah, that's a good idea.", Harry muttered. The three left the Gryffindor cabin and saw Cho standing with Christie and the other girl by the lake whispering. Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked up to them, and they stopped whispering. Christie looking curiously at them, the other girl with the same sour expression looked at Harry, Hermione, and Ron, and Cho was quickly wiping away her tears. "Err.Cho, do you know where Cedric got the locket"? Harry asked nervously. "What? How do you know that Cedric gave it to me"? Cho asked curiously. "We don't, we just thought it might have been Cedric who gave it to you. Other wise, you wouldn't look so worried.and sad", Hermione lied. "Oh.well I don't know where Cedric got it, but I know for sure he got it at Knockturn Alley or something", Cho said sadly. "Okay, thanks", Hermione thanked her before rushing off with Harry and Ron. "We're not allowed to go to Knockturn Alley"! Ron exclaimed as the three walked back into the Gryffindor cabin. "We're not allowed to go.but we can without being seen", Hermione said. Ron and Harry stopped dead in their tracks. Did they hear what they just thought they heard? Hermione actually wanting to go to a place where no kids are allowed to be in? "Hermione, you've got to be kidding"! Ron said amazed. "No I'm not, as a matter of fact, I know a potion that can make us invisible for 24 hours. We can use it to go to Knockturn Alley without being seen", Hermione explained. "But.how are we suppose to stay together"? Harry asked. "We can, you see, once the person drinks the potion, they can see anything! Including other invisible people. They can also walk through people", Hermione explained. "So.you mean.we can actually walk through things? Wicked! I want to walk through Snape"! Ron said excitedly. "Not so fast.some people can sense that there is a invisible person present around them.so we better not risk it and go through anyone we see", Hermione warned them. "How are we going to get the ingredients? We can't go into the castle, and the teachers must have moved all their stuff", Harry pointed out. "We don't have to go inside the castle, Dumbledore told me last week that we're going to be going to Hogsmeade this week. I know for a fact that there is a brand new store opened there, especially for potion ingredients", Hermione said proudly. "How do you know"? Ron asked curiously. "I just know, well anyway, we can get stuff from there"! "Are we allowed to though"? Harry asked. "Of course"! Hermione said smiling. "So it's settled then! Next week, we're getting the potion ingredients"!
Harry was in this weird room again.the white room. Why was he here? Still, he could not find the answer. Even though he knew he been to this place before, he can't remember what it was called, and where it was. He remembered everything being white, but then, in the middle of the room stood a person. The person had his back to Harry. Harry cautiously walked up to him, too scared to do anything but give a weak tap on his shoulder. He quickly took a step back, before the person turned around. It was Lord Voldemort. Harry's scar burnt with pain all of a sudden. He was now on his knees clutching his scar. Voldemort was going to kill him, he's going to die, there's no one here to save him. But then, there was a voice. "I'm coming A'rry", the voice said. Harry turned around seeing a unicorn standing behind him. A beautiful unicorn, with sparkling blue eyes. As Harry looked into the unicorn's eyes, Harry felt stronger. Just like when Fawkes was around him. The unicorn jumped over Harry and charged at Voldemort. There was a blinding green flash, and 15-year-old Harry found himself back at Hogwarts.
Harry woke up, finding himself back in the Gryffindor's cabin. A pair of blue eyes was staring back down at him. "Ahh"! Harry screamed, as he sat up. "A'rry! What's wrong"? Harry nervously put on his glasses, and found Fleur Delacour sitting beside him, with Hermione and Ron on the other side. "You okay"? Ron looked at Harry. Harry nodded. Then, it hit him. The dream he just had, was the dream he had when he was at Private Drive. The white room.but, Voldemort and a unicorn was there. The unicorn looked awfully like Fleur though. "Are you sure"? Hermione added. "Yeah.it was just a nightmare", Harry explained. "Professor Delacour! What are you doing here"? "Hermione asked me to come over, she said she wanted to azk me something". Professor Delacour smiled at Hermione, while Hermione quickly dug through a bag she brought along. She pulled out a piece of parchment, and a quill. "I need to ask you some questions. First question, do you know anything about the Crystal Ball of Fire? Or do you even know what it is"? "Well of course I know about ze Cryztal Ball of Fire. Everybody knew about ze Cryztal back at Beauxbatons", Professor Delacour said quite surprised. "We a've studied about ze Cryztal ever since we've were fir't yearz. But I can't remember anything about ze Cryztal". Hermione said a plain "oh", and put away all her stuff, muttering a "thanks anyway" before leaving. "Well, I better get going, see you Ron, A'rry", Professor Delacour smiled. She left the boy's room, and no soon later, they could hear her leaving the cabin. Hermione came back in, plopping down on Harry's bed. "That was no use.she studied about the Crystal ever since she was a first year, so why couldn't she remember at least what the Crystal is? Bad memory I would say", Hermione muttered darkly. "Harry.the book", Ron whispered. Harry suddenly remembers! The book Ron and him took out of the library. It was left at the bottom of Ron's trunk, buried under Ron's very small pyjamas. Ron quickly went to his trunk and dug out the book, and put it on Harry's bed. Hermione's eyes went wide, and her mouth hanging down with shock. "Where'd you get that"? "Oh this old book? Well." "It belonged to Ron's great grandmother", Harry helped out, giving Ron a wink. "Well, good. Does it say anything about the Crystal"? Hermione said looking down at the old book. "We think it does", Harry said. "Well, let's start reading"! Hermione said excitedly. They turned to the front page; it says "Book of Legends and Myths". They kept on looking, until they stopped at page 637.
The Crystal Ball of Fire is a clear glass ball, with "sparks" flying around inside. Scientists believe that the "sparks" are spirits that are trapped inside. There is a legend that says, "Once evil touches it, he or she will turn to stone". And "When good touches it, the person will get his or her wish, and a beautiful unicorn will guard and protect that person forever.
"That's all"? Ron looked up from the reading. Hermione muttered something and turned the page. "Yeah.that's it. But now we know that the Crystal is actually a clear glass ball with spirits inside. We also know that a unicorn will guard and protect that person forever", Hermione pointed out. "We went through all of that to get this"? Ron whispered to Harry. Harry rolled his eyes and closed the book up. They heard a knock on the door, and Ron got up to get it. It was Cho, standing behind two of her friends. Harry recognized the first one, it was Christie, but he didn't know the other. The other girl had long dark brown curly hair; she had a sour expression on her face as she looked around the boy's room. Christie on the other hand, was looking very anxious. "Have any of you seen a locket"? Christie asked. Cho sniffed and blew her nose behind them. "Locket"? Ron asked. "No.but if we find it, we'll give it to you", Hermione said. "Oh no, it's not mine. It's Cho's. Oh well, thanks anyway, bye", Christie waved goodbye to them before leaving with Cho and the other girl. "What locket? Do you guys know"? Ron asked as soon as they left. Hermione shook her head and looked at Harry. Harry didn't know whether to tell the truth or not, he didn't want to return the locket to Cho just yet. He wanted to look at it more closely. Harry had a strange feeling about the locket, like it was hiding something.
A week have passed, and the air was getting chillier. Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat in the common room of the cabin, all shivering because of the coldness. "Oh god it's cold"! Hermione exclaimed. "Don't have to tell us twice, we're freezing. Don't you think they should at least put on the fire or something"? Ron asked getting mad. "Can't.no wood, and Hagrid doesn't want the trees to be cut down until Christmas", Harry shivered. "I'm going to bed, maybe that'll warm me up", Ron mumbled as he made his way back to the boy's room. "I'm going to take a hot shower, but there was a line ever since morning"! Hermione sighed. Hermione got up and walked towards the girl's washroom, leaving Harry still shivering in the common room. Harry put his hands in his pockets to keep his hands warm, just as he put it in; he felt something smooth in his pockets. He took it out and there in his palm was Cho's locket. He had forgotten where he put the locket for a while. He looked at the front cover of the locket, and saw a picture of two doves cuddling together. He turned it over and saw the back cover with the words Cedric and Cho Chang Forever. So what if Harry wasn't as sweet as Cedric, or as good looking at him? Harry would give anything to be with Cho, even if it was just for a day. Seeing the words carved onto the locket made Harry hate the fact that Cedric died and left Cho alone by herself. He started trying to see if he could scratch out the name, minutes went by and he did not succeed. He gave one last hard scratch and the back cover broke off, sending small pieces of metal everywhere. Harry jumped out of the seat he was sitting in and starred at the small pieces around him. He bent down and picked up all the pieces, and noticed there was an extra piece. It looked like.a key! What was this key? He noticed that there were strange carvings on the back of the key. (If you want to see the carvings, email me at jess_christina@hotmail.com). Hermione and Ron both stepped into the common room at the same time. "Harry, what are you doing? What's that in your hand"? Hermione asked curiously. "N-nothing"! But it was too late, Ron already grabbed it out of his hands from behind, and both him and Hermione are looking at it. "Isn't this.Cho's locket"? Ron asked. "Well.not really, it-fell, I err.", Harry managed to mumble out. "It is! I can't believe you were the one who took it! Why didn't you return it to her today when Cho and her friends came here, how can you do this? Cho looked pretty sad to me, I think she was even crying. Besides, why did you take it anyway? If it's that pretty, you should just go buy your own"! Hermione lectured looking very shocked. Ron on the other hand patted Harry and the back and whispered "Wicked", so that Hermione couldn't hear. But Hermione heard anyway. "Wicked? You think this is wicked? How would you feel if someone took something from you"? Hermione said shrilly. "Well first of all, I have nothing they can take", Ron said blushing a bit. "Well, honestly, that locket might have been a family air loom or something, or it might have costed a fortune", Hermione continued. "Well it doesn't matter now.it's broken", Harry sighed. "What did you do to it"? Ron said impressed. Harry explained to them on how he scratched their names out, but after awhile, it broke. He left out how he felt though; Hermione and Ron didn't need to know even though they are his best friends. "So this key fell out", Harry finally finished. "A key? What do you think it's for"? Hermione asked looking at the key. "It might be cursed.you never know"! "Do you think we should ask Cho, where Cedric got it"? Ron suggested. "Yeah, that's a good idea.", Harry muttered. The three left the Gryffindor cabin and saw Cho standing with Christie and the other girl by the lake whispering. Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked up to them, and they stopped whispering. Christie looking curiously at them, the other girl with the same sour expression looked at Harry, Hermione, and Ron, and Cho was quickly wiping away her tears. "Err.Cho, do you know where Cedric got the locket"? Harry asked nervously. "What? How do you know that Cedric gave it to me"? Cho asked curiously. "We don't, we just thought it might have been Cedric who gave it to you. Other wise, you wouldn't look so worried.and sad", Hermione lied. "Oh.well I don't know where Cedric got it, but I know for sure he got it at Knockturn Alley or something", Cho said sadly. "Okay, thanks", Hermione thanked her before rushing off with Harry and Ron. "We're not allowed to go to Knockturn Alley"! Ron exclaimed as the three walked back into the Gryffindor cabin. "We're not allowed to go.but we can without being seen", Hermione said. Ron and Harry stopped dead in their tracks. Did they hear what they just thought they heard? Hermione actually wanting to go to a place where no kids are allowed to be in? "Hermione, you've got to be kidding"! Ron said amazed. "No I'm not, as a matter of fact, I know a potion that can make us invisible for 24 hours. We can use it to go to Knockturn Alley without being seen", Hermione explained. "But.how are we suppose to stay together"? Harry asked. "We can, you see, once the person drinks the potion, they can see anything! Including other invisible people. They can also walk through people", Hermione explained. "So.you mean.we can actually walk through things? Wicked! I want to walk through Snape"! Ron said excitedly. "Not so fast.some people can sense that there is a invisible person present around them.so we better not risk it and go through anyone we see", Hermione warned them. "How are we going to get the ingredients? We can't go into the castle, and the teachers must have moved all their stuff", Harry pointed out. "We don't have to go inside the castle, Dumbledore told me last week that we're going to be going to Hogsmeade this week. I know for a fact that there is a brand new store opened there, especially for potion ingredients", Hermione said proudly. "How do you know"? Ron asked curiously. "I just know, well anyway, we can get stuff from there"! "Are we allowed to though"? Harry asked. "Of course"! Hermione said smiling. "So it's settled then! Next week, we're getting the potion ingredients"!