(A/N Allright, Harry Potter and Co., do not belong to me, they belong to J.K. Rowling. So there, can't touch me! ^-^ )

Harry Potter and the Staff of Time

chapter 23

Merlin's Grotto

Professor Severus Snape was in an extremely foul mood by the time he had reached Stonehenge.

He fumed, once again, as he thought about the problems he had experienced in attempting to notify Professor Dumbledore as to what was happening. Raven had been in the way at every turn. (Severus suspected the behavior was deliberate.) It had made leaving a message, without tipping-off Raven, almost impossible. He had finally managed to leave Professor Dumbledore a message and he was certain Albus would find it in due course.

Raven and Severus had arrived at Stonehenge just as the sun was setting. The majority of the Death Eaters were there, but Lord Voldemort was conspicously absent. Severus discovered the order of the day was 'Hurry up and wait'.

"Where is Lord Voldemort and why are we waiting here, twiddling our collective thumbs?" Severus discretely questioned Raven.

"The Dark Lord is waiting in a more comfortable environment and the delay is due to Potter and his 'little friends'. They went into the labyrinth to retrieve the Staff of Time for Lord Voldemort. He gave them until tomorrow night to complete their task, or they and their relatives, will cease to be a problem to us." Raven smiled unpleasantly.

"Why didn't Lord Voldemort get the staff himself?" Severus asked.

Raven gave him a sidelong glance of disapproval so he quickly added, "...I understood that to be the plan...those brats could sneak off with it..."

"They had the talismans needed to make it through the labyrinth alive. That could have easily been delt with, however, the rat..."

Severus interrupted Raven with the exclaimation, "The rat! What rat?"

"The Walker boy made a pet of the rat that opens the doorway to the labyrinth. It wouldn't co-operate with us. Lucious Malfoy tried to pick the thing up from the ground, but it bit him!" Raven smiled at the delicious memory of Lucious's encounter with Orion.

"Rumer has it that he turned into an ordinary white rat for several hours. Then he became himself again. Too bad, as a rat Malfoy might have been almost personable."

"Lord Voldemort decided to make the boy and his friends risk retreival of the Staff of Time." Raven smirked and shrugged his shoulders, then walked away.

Severus sighed and kicked at the dirt for a moment. Then he went off in search of a comfortable place to sit. For the present, all any of them could do was wait...and be bored out of their skulls.

...`~*~`...

Alex saw that the door in front of Ron hadn't completely closed. He focused all of his telekinetic energy on the slab and tried to raise it back up to the ceiling. Unfortunately, that feat proved to be too much for Alex's abilities.

"Savana, help me open that door!" Alex grunted from the exertion.

"...can't...got my own problems with...(pant)...walls!" Savana gasped in response.

Alex continued trying to keep the door open long enough for the others to make an exit, but he was quickly loosing the battle.

Ron saw an opportunity for escape and he took it. He dove headfirst through the closing gap between the bottom of the slab and the floor. He barely made it through before the door closed with a heavy, and final, 'thunk', behind him.

Hermione had attempted to follow Ron through the opening but had aborted the attempt when the slab had nearly landed on her outstretched arms. She quickly pulled her arms under her body, tucked into a ball and rolled to the side. Hermione came to rest against the wall. She shook with the knowlege of her close call and took a moment to calm herself before assessing her situation further.

Alex changed his focus to assisting his sister's efforts in keeping the walls apart. Harry, Fleur and Hermione tried to find some way out of their predicament in the meantime.

Ron found himself sprawled in the dirt on the other side of the rock-slab door. The area was poorly illuminated. The only source of light was that of the setting sun. Which filtered through an opening in the ceiling.

Ron sat up and noted, uneasily, that this motion caused a rustling sound. He sensed a multitude of tiny somethings skittering away into the darkness. He chose to ignore both the sound and the warning alarms blaring in his sub-conscious. He did try to quiet them, however, by quickly brushing himself off with both of his hands. Something clung to his left hand, as he completed this action, and he shook the hand to dislodge the piece of floatsome. The thing momentarily clung tighter, then began to scuttle up Ron's arm upon its multiple legs.

"GG-AAAA-GGHH!!!" Ron shrieked, as he lept to his feet and slapped at the offending creature until he had succeeded in knocking it to the stratosphere. "I HATE SPIDERS!!!"

Ron spun around, searching for a route of escape. The only thing he accomplished by doing this, however, was to discover that he was in a room full of spiders! The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered with arachnids of all shapes and sizes. (Actually, Ron's range of vision was limited by the failing sunlight, but his imagination happily cooked up the rest of the hellish vision for him.) Ron froze in place, afraid to move for fear of discovering even more of the little beasts.

The rest of the group heard Ron's muffled scream from beyond the door.

"Ron! What's happening over there!" Harry shouted toward the sound.

The only answer he recieved was silence. Harry tryed again. This time he was assisted by Hermione and Fleur. They got the same result as Harry had before...silence.

"Savana, could you project yourself to Ron's location and find out why he's screaming?" Hermione asked in a fear choked voice.

"I'm not sure...I don't have much control...it's pretty new to me...I can try, though...sorry, Alex...you'll have to do what you can..." Savana responded.

Savana sat on the floor and focused everything inside of her, as she mentally sought out Ron.

Savana found herself floating in a dimly lit cavern, filled with spiders, and facing Ron. He was frozen in place, like a well sculpted, granite statue. Spiders crawled on his shoes and lower pantlegs. He appeared to be terrified of something, however, Savana couldn't make out what had so frightened him.

"What is your problem!?!" Savana's essence shouted at the frozen teen-ager.

Ron didn't even flinch. He gave no indication that he had heard Savana. So, Savana stuck her face within mere centimeters of Ron's face and repeated the question in the loudest voice she could muster.

Ron's eyes shifted, as though searching for something. That, however, was his only response.

Savana slapped Ron upside the head in frusteration. Her hand passed through Ron's sweaty brow and he shivered. He made no other response to her efforts.

Savana sighed in defeat. She was about to withdraw back into her body when she saw a golden glimmer under the spiders on the floor. Savana leaned down to take a closer look. As she did so, the spiders scattered to reveal the talisman they had used on the other end of the corridor.

"At least there's something that senses my presence!" Savana thought dryly.

The arachnids remained at bay as Savana reached down and attempted to pick-up the talisman. She had forgotten that she had no physical form. Savana's hand passed through the talisman and the spiders skittered over each other in their rush to flee from her presence.

"AAHRGG! GET AWAY FROM ME!!" Ron shrieked.

He took a step backward to get away from the tide of spiders washing toward him.

"Ron's scared of spiders!" Savana thought with a laugh.

Then she smiled deviously as a wicked thought crossed her mind. "Maybe I should herd most of the little buggers toward Ron. Then, maybe he'll realise I'm here."

A moment later she decided that would be just plain mean, and counterproductive as well. They would need Ron's help to escape the corrider and scaring him half out of his mind wouldn't help matters any. They did need to find a way to communicate with Ron, however, since her present attempts clearly weren't meeting with any success.

Savana's extended out-of-body experience was tiring her. She decided to re-unite herself before she was too exhausted to lend any assistance to their survival effort.

Savana opened her eyes and found herself sitting on the floor in the puzzle corrider. She looked around her in an attempt to assess their situation. She noticed the walls had made some slow progress in toward each other. Alex was fighting a loosing battle, but his effort was still buying them time.

"What's happening over there? Is Ron O.K.?" Harry demanded.

"Oh, he's physically allright, for now." Savana responded with a chuckle.

"Why did 'ee scream?" Fleur asked with concern.

"The entire cavern is literally crawling with spiders...and Ron's terrified of them!" Savana burst into laughter as she explained this.

"It is not funny!" Hermione stormed. "Savana, you know how badly Pansy hurt you when she teased you about your eyes. How can you treat anyone in the same manner...especially a friend?!"

Savana felt her face burn brightly with shame. "You're right. I'm sorry I made fun of Ron, even though he wasn't present to hear that. I shouldn't have made fun of him. I'll try to behave more honorably in the future." She said contritely.

Harry murmured, "May honor be your brother,..."

The others nodded in agreement as the full meaning of the phrase dawned on them.

The moment of enlightenment passed and they re-focused on their current predicament, which was becoming more dire as each minute ticked by.

"Savana, did you see anything over there which could help us out of our situation?" Harry asked.

"Maybe...I saw the talisman we used to activate this puzzle...perhaps there is a switch, or something, over there that will open the doors and disarm the trap." Savana answered.

"Can you go back over, find the switch and tell Ron what to do?" Hermione thought outloud.

"I can't tell Ron anything while I'm there. He dosen't seem to hear me. However, I could go back and find the switch." Savana responded.

"What good will eet do for Savana to find zhe switch eef she can not tell Ron where eet ees?" Fleur reasoned.

"We'll deal with problem when we get to it." Harry told her. "Go Savana. Alex isn't going to hold out much longer."

Savana gave her brother, who was obviously in great distress, a sympathetic look. Then concentrated on returning to Ron and his chamber of horrors.

Savana blinked upon her return to Ron's side of the wall. The light was rapidly fading and seeing anything was becoming difficult. She searched the walls near the doorway, spiders scattering at her touch, and was quickly rewarded with the discovery of a switch.

"Yes!" Savana cried in victory.

Savana tried to communicate with Ron one more time. He remained rooted to the spot. It was obvious Ron was incapable of hearing her.

Savana shook her head and returned to her body.

"I've found the switch. Now we have to find a way to tell Ron what to do." Savana told the others. "He can't hear us over there and he couldn't hear me when I was over there."

"Maybe communicating with him telepathically was just more than you could do, given the fact that you were already projecting yourself." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"Perhaps you should try to send Ron a telepathic message now." Fleur suggested.

Savana shrugged. She would give it a try, after all, she had nothing to loose by trying.

A moment later, Savana gave up the effort.

"It's no use." She informed them. "I can't penetrate the door."

"Perhaps eef both you and 'arry were to try at the same time..." Fleur said thoughtfully.

Harry and Savana looked at each other. "We'll have to decide on the message, so we're projecting the same thought." Savana told Harry.

A moment later they had decided upon the message they would be projecting. They both concentrated on Ron and began to project their message.

"Ron! You've got to help us, NOW! Ignore the spiders! Pick-up the gold talisman by your right foor and place it in the slot on the door's left side. DO IT NOW!!"

A second later they herd another muffled scream from Ron.

"I think he got the message." Hermione said with a grin.

As soon as Ron placed the talisman into the switch the cavern was flooded with light. The spiders scurried from the light. They disappeared into a multitude of dark nooks and crannies until few remained.

"It would have been nice if they'd done that before I had to dig through hundreds of those disgusting creepy-crawlies to put the talisman where it belonged." Ron muttered.

He looked around him and saw that he was in a large, rock cavern which narrowed to a corridor at the far end.

Inside the puzzle room, the walls stopped their inward progression and the slabs began to rise back up into the ceiling.

Alex groaned and collapsed where he had been standing. He was soaked in sweat and trembled with the spent energy of his exertions.

Orion climbed out of Alex's pocket and waddled over in front of Alex's face. He nudged one of Alex's cheeks with his nose, but got no response from the prostrate wizard. Orion backed up a couple of steps. His face bore a confused expression. Then Orion's spots began to glow. Soon, both Alex and Orion were bathed in the blue light and a third figure appeared, hovering over them both. It was Merlin.

He told Savana and the others, "The boy shall come with me to rest and replenish himself."

The three abruptly vanished in a flash of blue light.

"...is everyone in there allright?" Ron's tremulous voice reached them.

"Let's get out of this place before something else happens!" Harry said.

He followed the other three as they rushed out the door.

"Where is Alex?" Ron asked.

Harry quickly described Alex's heroic feat and consequent exhaustion to Ron. He completed his narrative with an explaination of Merlin's rescue of Alex.

"...I assume we'll meet up with them later." Harry concluded.

"Ron, thankyou for overcoming your fear of spiders and releasing us from that trap." Hermione told him softly.

The others also stated their gratitude.

"Yeah. That was pretty gutsy of you." Savana added. "I'd like to hear your side of the story, once we're safely out of this fun house."

"I'll look forward to that." Ron responded. "Harry, how much time is left before we're supposed to get back to old snake head?"

"26 hours and change." Harry responded with a grin.

He had heard Alex use the expression once and had wanted to try it out for quite some time now.

"We'd better get moving then. There's no way of knowing how much further we need to travel." Harry said wearily.

Harry wondered how much longer he could function without sleep. He was so exhausted, he felt he could sleep for a week. The others looked like they felt the same as he did, sleep deprived and bone tired.

They began moving toward the far corridor. Ron lagged behind the others. He wanted a souvenir of his victory over the spiders. Then he spotted the gold talisman which was still in the switch and decided it would do nicely. He reached out, plucked the talisman from its nitch, and put it in his pocket.

The room began to shake. There was a loud rumbling sound and the lighting dimmed.

Ron looked toward the source of the sound and his eyes widend in horror. A huge, spherical rock, three meters in diameter, was rapidly bearing down on him.

"Ron, what did you do!?!" Savana screamed at him.

Ron responded, "RUN!! I'll explain later!"

They all ran toward the corrider as fast as they could move. The boulder was thundering along behind them, and it was gaining on them!

...`~*~`...

Alex groaned and struggled to open his eyes. His head felt like a rotten melon that was about to cave-in upon itself. He forced one eye open, then the other. Alex briefly thought about getting up. However, as soon as he moved his head, he realised what a bad idea that was. Alex struggled to take in as many of his surroundings as possible without moving his aching head. It was difficult because the only light came from a guttering candle near his cot, and a fire burning in a central firepit.

It appeared he was in a large, circular hut. The hut had low wooden walls and a domed, thatch roof. There was an opening in the roof's apex which allowed smoke from the fire to escape from the hut.

Alex could hear the low hum of voices engaged in conversation, just outside of the hut. One of the voices was distinctly feminine, the other was masculine and elderly. Alex felt he should know who the voices belonged to, but his brain stubbornly refused to release the information to him. Alex tried to force the knowlege to the surface, but he felt like his brain was wrapped in cotton batting.

The voices grew louder as their owners opened the door and ducked inside. The woman was bearing a cup which she set down on the table next to the cot Alex occupied.

"How lovely, you are awake! You must be feeling better." She said with a smile.

Alex looked confused and asked, "Who are you and where am I?"

"Oh, I have forgotten my manners, please excuse me! We have been trapped here alone for so many years. I am Nimue. You met Merlin earlier..." Merlin smiled and nodded to Alex. "...and you are in our home, in the Phantom Forest."

"Oh, ..." was all Alex managed to say, at first.

Alex wished the information made more sense to him than it actually did at the moment. However, his brain just didn't seem to be functioning at peak efficiency. He would have liked to shake his head, but it hurt too much.

"Why am I here and not in the labyrinth with the others?" He queried.

"You are suffering from exhaustion, due to your exertions in the puzzle trap. They have caused a temporary imbalance of your body and spirit. To have left you thus, would have caused your death." Merlin explained. "Nimue has prepared a potion to aid in your healing. Please, drink it."

Nimue held the cup to Alex's lips with one hand, while supporting his head with the other hand.

Alex drank hesitantly. He expected the potion to taste nasty, but it was suprisingly delicious. It was sweet and left the lingering flavor of meade on Alex's tongue.

The mere effort of drinking left Alex exhausted. He knew there was one more question he wanted to ask of Merlin, but the harder he tried to capture the thought, the further away it got from Alex's conscious mind. Despite his nagging feeling of uncertainty, Alex quickly fell asleep.

...`~*~`...

Harry, Savana, Hermione, Fleur, and Ron bolted into the corrider at warp speed, despite the lack of light, with the boulder bearing down upon them. They couldn't see the end of the tunnel and were watching the walls for any openings that would allow them shelter until the boulder passed by them.

Suddenly, Harry's foot landed on nothing but air! He yelpped as he fell into the mouth of a chute!

Harry was quickly followed by Savana and Hermione. The three of them began a rapid slide down the chute toward oblivion. They all tried to grab ahold of anything they could find, to stop their fall down the chute, but the walls were too smooth. So, they continued their downward tumble unimpeded.

Fleur and Ron saw the other three disappear, but with the boulder threatening to squash them at any minute, they couldn't take the time to worry about the fate of their friends. They stepped to the side of the tunnel and continued running for another two meters before they too, fell into a chute. They heard the boulder thunder past overhead as they slid helplessly toward the unknown.

Harry's bumpy ride down the chute ended abruptly, as he tumbled out of the mouth of the chute and landed on the ground a meter below. He rolled to one side just in time to avoid Savana and Hermione landing on top of him.

Just as Harry began to wonder what had happened to Fleur and Ron, they tumbled out of the same hole and landed on top of Savana and Hermione.

"Thanks for the landing pad!" Ron quipped as he untangled himself from the others.

"There's an idea for a real winner of a theme park ride!" Savana commented sarcastically as she dusted herself off, after disentangling herself from the others.

They looked around them in the pinkish-gray light of early dawn. Ground fog swirled around them and water droplettes glistened on the spider webs and surrounding vegetation.

They had been deposited into an area that was a combination of swamp and bog. Many of the trees were moss covered and something resembling Spanish Moss hung from their branches. Much of the spongy ground was covered with a thick carpet of sphagum (peat) moss. Hidden life forms filled the air with various sounds and songs as they ended, or greeted, their day.

"Where are we?" Hermione asked with a gulp.

"We're in the laby..." Ron began to quip, when Savana interrupted him.

"Don't even think of completing that comment!" She warned him. "We already know that much!"

Ron grinned. Then he said, "O.K., then how about this? We're in the Phantom Forest."

"What are you basing your brilliant conclusion on?" Savana questioned archly.

"Look, listen and smell..." Ron commanded with a superior tone. "I see tabby creepers and rustiflora up ahead of us. In the shadow of the forest. I hear drakes in the far distance, and I smell meekowart!"

Harry nodded in agreement. "This does look like the forest the Death Eaters took me to on Halloween."

"Eet smells like eet too!" Fleur added and plugged her nose.

"So, which way do we go, genius boy?" Savana said in disgust. "I mean it's obvious that we can't go behind us, because of the rock wall. We can't go to the left because of the lake. But, that still leaves alot of options and alot of ground to cover."

"I can 'elp with zhe choice." Fleur volunteered. "Zhe scrolls said zhe Staff of Time ees een zhe forest. Zhat..." Fleur pointed to their right. "...ees an open bog. We should go forward. We must be careful of where we walk." She warned them as she started forward toward the edge of the forest.

The others fell in behind her, carefully choosing where they stepped. There was a definate danger of stepping into a bog hole and falling through to the icy water below, or of encountering a hungry, carnivorous plant that would find a palatable meal in one of them. So, they exercised caution in their choice of route.

They noticed a stand of rustiflora to their right and tabby creepers purred from the many trees which they were wrapped around, or hung from. Savana approached a small rustiflora and scratched it on the chin.

"Aw-w-w, aren't you just the cutest little...whatever-you-are?!" Savana cooed.

The rustiflora wore a drunken grin and a bit of drool escaped the corner of its mouth.

"Savana! Stop chucking that thing's chin and back away from it! NOW!" Ron hissed urgently at her.

"Why?" Savana demanded in a poutey tone, but she did back away as Ron had demanded.

Ron explained the danger Savana had just placed herself in. Then he also explained the dangers posed by drakes, tabby creepers, etc. Just in case Savana hadn't already been warned about them.

The group walked around, and past, the carnivorous plants, giving them a wide berth. They entered the forest and continued walking down the pathway which led deeper into the woods. The sunlight had become dappled and their eyes were adjusting to the lack of light, when something swept past Harry's head.

"Something, about the size of Ginny's bat, just flew past my ear!" Harry announced uneasily. "I think it flew into the treetop over there."

The group looked up in the direction to which Harry was pointing, and saw a black mammal that was the size of a small house cat, fly up through the branches. A moment later they heard a 'whomp', which caused the tree's branches to shake and the animal flew back out over a nearby clearing. It flew in a series of drunken loops back into the trees. This manouever was followed by another crash.

"What is that thing?" Hermione asked in a tone of bewilderment.

"It's a feelobat." Responded a feminine voice.

"Who said that?" Savana demanded and craned her neck, so she could see into the clearing.

"I did. My name is Nimue." Replied a petite woman with long, brown hair, as she stepped into full view.

Nimue's hair was pulled into a ponytail on one side of her head. The fair, translucent skin of her face radiated joy from within, as did her large, deep brown eyes. She smiled at the weary group in welcome.

Nimue continued her welcome by saying, "Merlin and I have awaited your arrival. Alex awaits you as well."

Nimue beconned the group forward into the clearing. They moved forward with renewed energy, suspecting their quest was nearing an end.

As they approached Nimue, she turned and led them into the clearing while telling them, "We have prepared some refreshments for you...so as to fortify you for your forthcoming tribulations..."

Ron groaned and said, "You mean there's more...?"

Nimue smiled sadly and told him, "I do not wish to be the bearer of bad tidings, but the answer to your question is, yes. However, I can tell you no more than that."

Ron frowned. "I should have known she'd be as enigmatic as Merlin!" He thought with frusteration.

Nimue made a gesture toward a table, laden with food and beverages, which stood under a small grove of willow trees. They were delighted to see Alex and Merlin already seated at the table.

"Please, be seated and partake of..." Nimue was interrupted by a loud crash in one of the treetops.

"...not again..." Merlin sighed under his breath.

As the group looked on, they saw a black feelobat slide down a tree trunk from under the canope. The feelobat sat in a dazed slump against the tree trunk for a moment. Its large, gold eyes spun in confused circles, and one of its oversized, batwing like ears was bent at an odd angle. It shook itself off, stood up and staggered over toward Merlin. Then it made a clumsy leap into Merlin's lap, almost missing it's target. The feelobat looked at Merlin with its oversized eyes and made a 'duh-meow' sound.

Merlin stroked the feelobat's back as another, far more graceful, feelobat swooped down and came in for a landing near Nimue's feet. This feelobat also had oversized golden eyes, black batwing ears and a long, black, monkey-like tail. Its cat-like body, however, was covered with gray fur and wide, black tabby-like stripes.

"Is that another feelobat?" Savana asked.

"Yes." Merlin responded while he continued to stroke the black feelobat's fur. "They are our pets. That one is named Celine..." Merlin indicated the tabby feelobat. "...and this one is named Baghira."

"No offense, Merlin, but Baghira appears to be rather inbread." Alex chuckled.

"Ah-ha. No offense taken...and he is quite inbread...he does have one redeeming quality, however, he is very personable." Merlin responded with a smile.

"They're so cute! I want one for a pet!" Savana gushed.

"I don't think Mariah would appreciate that and I know Mom and Dad would put out a wanted poster on both of us, if either of us brought one more pet into the family." Alex commented.

Orion seemed to add his own two cents worth by bouncing nimbly down from his perch on Merlin's shoulder and taking up a position on Baghira's head, between the feelobat's ears. Orion began to groom Baghira's ear while the feelobat purred loudly.

"Forget it, Orion. You can't bring home a pet either." Alex informed the rat.

Orion glared at Alex in disgust, but continued with his grooming regimin.

The humans all centered their attention on the sumptuous meal which had been laid out before them. The young adults had brought some food along with them on their journey,

but they were famished and appreciated the opportunity to fill their near empty bellies.

Once they were sated, they felt the entire weight of their fatigue. So, they offered no argument to Merlin and Nimue when the couple suggested they lay down and rest for a time. Merlin promised he would wake the group after they had slept for a few hours so they could complete the task which they had been ordered into the labyrinth to accomplish. He also assured them that enough time would remain for them to retrieve the Staff of Time and return with it to Stonehenge.

They all laid down upon pallets inside of Merlin and Nimue's simple hut. All of the travelers, even Alex, quickly fell into a deep, restfull slumber, almost immediately. Harry's sleep, however, was disturbed by a troublesome, dark dream.

Harry dreamt he was following a raven through a strange and distant spiritual realm. He was aware of the fact that they were searching for something important, but the object of their search, as well as their location, eluded him.

In the manner of things which typify dreams, Harry still hadn't discovered the answer to either of those questions by the time he woke up. He was simply left feeling disquieted and that there was something important he needed to remember, but couldn't.

Harry looked around himself. Ron, Hermione, and Fleur were still asleep, but Alex and Savana were gone. Harry could hear people talking outside, so he suspected they could be found there.

Harry quietly slipped outside of the hut and wandered over to the table where Merlin, Nimue, Savana and Alex sat conversing and drinking tea.

"Hello, Harry. Did you sleep well and would you like a cup of tea?" Nimue greeted him.

"Tea would be wonderful." Harry responded.

Harry wasn't sure he wanted to say anything about his disturbing dream and he didn't want to tell a lie, so he chose not to respond to the first portion of Nimue's question. He hoped it was simply a ritual type of greeting.

Harry smiled at Orion who sat contentedly on the table between Alex and Merlin, eating a strawberry with great relish. The little fellow looke up happily with pink juice dribbling down his chin, before going back to the task at hand.

"I'm going to miss having Orion around. I've gotten rather attatched to him." Harry commented to no one in particular.

"Why did you say that? You sound as though Orion will be leaving us. Do you know something the rest of us don't know?" Alex asked as he scratched Orion behind the ears.

Orion was obviously enjoying Alex's attentions. The happy rat sat grinding his teeth with his eyes half closed and a contented look on his face.

Harry responded a little uncertainly, "Ah, no...I assumed Orion would stay here...he was Merlin's pet originally..."

Merlin smiled a little sadly as he said, "While I would enjoy Orion's company once again, his work is not yet finished and he has attached himself to this fine young man..."

Merlin was interrupted when Orion began tugging at a piece of cheese he held in his fingers.

"I will share my cheese with you, you greedy little fellow, but you may not have the entire piece." Merlin told Orion.

Merlin broke off a rat sized piece of the cheese and handed it to Orion. Orion happily gobbled up the piece of cheese, then burped and yawned. He waddled over to Alex and climbed down into Alex's pocket, where he yawned again, then rolled up into a ball and went to sleep.

"Merlin, has Orion been your pet since before Queen Mab trapped you in here?" Alex asked.

Alex had decided to give in to his desire to learn more about Orion's past and discover exactly what the little fellow was capable of doing. It seemed like Orion had a suprise for them every time they turned around. Alex had decided it would be a nice change of pace for them to actually know what Orion could do, before the rat suprised them again. They might even be able to use Orion's abilities to help them thawrt Lord Voldemort...Alex's rambling thoughts were interrupted as Merlin began to speak.

"Nimue and I found Orion a few months before Queen Mab banished us to this realm. We were out walking after a particularly viscious storm had struck our village. We found him alone in his nest, apparently abandoned. He was a very young pup, who had not yet been weaned. We knew if we did not take him in and care for him, he would not survive..."

Nimue smiled and picked up the thread of Merlin's narrative. "...I must profess to a great weakness where animals are concerned, especially those who are sick, or in need, and Orion was both. We wrapped him in a warm scrap of fleece and took him home. We needed to feed him warm goat's milk every two hours for a few weeks. It was quite difficult, but Orion did not only survive, he thrived! He became quite attatched to us and we to him..."

"It must have been hard to send him away to a place where he couldn't be with you anymore." Savana commented sympathetically.

"It was indeed difficult, but necessary." Merlin told them. "I discovered, a short time after our exile, Orion was able to leave the labyrinth. There is far more to this story than we have time for me to explain just now...suffice it to say, we discovered some extraordinary abilities in Orion which he possessed...apart from the enchantements I gave him...I realised Orion could serve as a protector for the Staff of Time, among other things. I asked Orion if he would find the arrangement agreeable and he did. Therefore, I bestowed several enchantments upon him and released him to live in the wizard world."

Nimue continued the tale as Merlin took a sip of tea to ease his thirst.

"We felt the easiest method of protecting the Staff of Time would be to have Orion become the pet of a family member in each generation of our descendants. Orion's mortality is tied to our own in a complicated manner. We did not foresee your generation moving away to the Americas. Consequently, it took him sometime to located you."

Alex chuckled and commented, "I always said it was Orion who found me, not the other way around. I never knew how close I was to the truth."

"I have been curious about something since just before we were transported to the labyrinth. Because the topics are loosely related, now appears to be as good a time as any other to bring the subject up." Harry commented pensively.

Harry proceeded to describe the scene between Lord Voldemort, the Death Eaters, and Orion, before Voldemort had ordered him, and the others, into the labyrinth to retrieve the Staff of Time. He concluded with the thought which had been weighing heavily on his mind for the past two and a half days.

"...I've confronted Lord Voldemort on a couple of previous occaisions and he has always appeared to be confident to the point of arrogance. When it came to dealing with Orion, however, Voldemort appeared to be afraid...almost...the Death Eaters were too...and I doubt any of them have a morbid fear of rats..."

Merlin let out a huge belly laugh. When he had finished, he said to Harry, "Your observation was quite perceptive, young man. Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters are afraid of my little pet, and for good reason...Orion's bite will turn any wizard into an ordinary rat for several hours. Of course, the only wizards Orion would bite are practitioners of the dark arts..."

Harry, Savana and Alex were laughing. Merlin's last bit of information had placed Voldemort's reaction to Orion in perspective for them. Few things would be less appealing to the pompus, power-hungry wizard than becoming a small, powerless animal, even if it was only temporary.

Merlin's expression changed from one of levity to one of a serious nature.

"Have you deciphered any of the spells with which I augmented the power of the Staff of Time?" He quietly asked them.

"Only the one for viewing past and future events." Harry told the aged wizard.

"Then I must explain the use of some other spells to you and it must be done quickly, for our time here is growing short." Merlin informed them.

He quickly told them how to use the staff in combination with three spells. Then Merlin quized them until he was satisfied they knew the spells, how to use them and the price of their use.

Nimue had gone to wake the others, so the group could resume their quest. As Nimue and the others approached them, Merlin sent a parting telepathic message to Harry, Savana and Alex.

"You will soon be face with a grave situation and you will be tempted to resolve it by using the Staff of Time. Do not succomb to that temptation. You must seek another, less obvious, path."