Of Wizards and Keyblades: chapter 16



pairings: Sora/Kairi, HP/GW, RW/HG



Author's note: thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and I hope, though I can make no guarantees, that the next chapter will be out before Monday. That's when school starts for me, and I'm hauling ass trying to get this finished before then.

"Harry!" Sora, Ron, and Hermione yelled as their friend was seized by spasms and convulsed violently on the floor. Dobby and the other House Elves rushed forward, and their combined magic kept him from harming himself. As suddenly as it had started, Harry collapsed bonelessly, screams scraping his throat erratically, his eyes wide, and his scar livid, almost glowing with an ethereal light.

"Harry Potter is okay now, Masters and Mistress! You is leaving him in our care for a few moments, please. The table is comfortable for waiting, Masters and Mistress. We is healing Harry Potter!" Dobby squeaked, pulling Harry's limp head into his lap, as dozens of other House Elves encircled the pair, chanting and interlocking their long fingers. Sora, Hermione, Donald, Goofy, and Ron backed up to one of the four long House tables, and watched in awe as the Elves worked pure, loyal magic into their young master's body. Dobby was chanting the loudest of all, and although his speech was gibberish to the humans, his fellow servants seemed to grow stronger with his words. They occasionally nodded their heads at something he said and repeated it in unity, and Harry was surrounded by their unique magical aura. His cries of anguish stopped, and his face lost the pained, agony-ridden expression, and was replaced with a peaceful shroud of sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"D-D-Dobby? Where a-am I?" Harry asked groggily, seeing the House Elf looking at him anxiously from above his face. It unnerved him.

"Harry Potter is in Hogwarts kitchens! Harry is feeling You-Know-Who's invasion of his mind! Us House Elves is fixing it!" Dobby said fast, hugging his master's head tightly.

"Umph! Dbmphy! Gmphoff!" The teen's muffled voice yelled into the Elf's vest-covered chest. Dobby straightened up, wiping large tears from his tennis ball eyes.

"Dobby is sorry for smothering Sir! He is just so relieved that Harry is okay! But Dobby remembers that Sirs and Ma'am is searching for a funny Door! Dobby is wanting to show it to Masters and Mistress before it is too late." Everyone's ears perked up and turned attentively. His five friends had stood a few feet away from his supine form. They all looked just as relieved as Dobby that he wasn't cackling insanely and channeling Voldemort's evil energy.

"Yes! Where is it, Dobby? We need to find it before-"

"All students are to report to their Heads of Houses in their Common Rooms immediately. There is an assault upon the school, and any students not under the protection of their dorms will be in serious danger. I repeat, return to your Common Rooms as quickly and safely as possible: the castle is under siege." McGonagall's voice echoed through every crevice of Hogwarts, and the four students, Donald, and Goofy in the kitchen felt their blood run cold. The forces of Darkness were upon them. The school was in serious danger....if only there was a place to hide all the students in one place....

Hermione gasped in sudden enlightenment. "Harry! We need to find Dumbledore and convince him to use the Chamber of Secrets as a haven for everyone!" Hermione cried, rushing over to her friend to help him up. Having the school divided into four different sections was good in the sense that not everyone could be captured at once, but it was harder to defend four places than just one. And who knew how many different ways the Darkness could get in? They broke the wards around Draco's bed, they could break the wards on the Houses.

Harry looked amazed at her brilliancy, and in a shocking moment of hilarity, both he AND Ron kissed her cheeks in gratitude. She blushed the deepest red Sora had ever seen, and after both boys had moved away from her, he, Donald, and Goofy gave her a traditional Group Bear Hug. "Brilliant thinking, Hermione!" he exclaimed, and looked down once more to the Elf. "Dobby, we'll still need to find that door, so I'm afraid you're going to have to go with us." Dobby squealed in surprise when Sora scooped him up in his arms, and ran out the kitchen portal, his five friends close behind him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

In the heart of the school, chaos was running amok. The six companions shot past panicked packs of students running to their dormitories. A few stray first years were having nervous breakdowns, and the group stopped momentarily to point them in the right direction, and cast a protective spell on them as they headed off, crying gratefully to the teens. Then the rounded the corridor to their right, and the Gargoyle was in sight.....

"Harry? Sora? What are you all doing out of your dormitory? This is not the time to be heroic! Voldemort is on the grounds!" Dumbledore exclaimed as several colorful blurs streaked past him en route to his office. They braked, and reversed, coming to a halt in front of the Headmaster.

"Sir! Hermione thought that maybe we could use the Chamber as a safe haven for the student body! It would mean only one place to defend, and our strength could be focused better, without being split up into a group of four to protect the Houses! And the students could arm themselves and hold off any attack pretty well were the enemy to get in." Harry said all in one breath, but Dumbledore understood every word. And he was very impressed with the girl's battle tactics. They were much like his own.

"That is exactly what I was aiming to do just now. We will move at once. Sonorus!" Dumbledore's voice magnified, and carried throughout the whole of the castle. "Students, staff, and ghosts! Please proceed with caution to the second floor girl's bathroom, where I will be awaiting your arrival. Be highly alert and move with sense of purpose, please! Do not stray behind or run ahead! Stay with your Head of House, Head Boy, Head Girl, and Prefects!"

Harry, Sora (with Dobby quietly cradled in his arms), Hermione, Ron, Goofy, and Donald moved with the powerful wizard to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, where she was braiding her luminescent hair into a plait while sitting on top of the sinks, looking bored. She squeaked when seeing the Headmaster, and dove into a toilet. Harry immediately found the small snake carving and hissed, "Open!" in Parseltongue. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were amazed when the sink slid back to reveal a huge copper pipe that led deep into the floor.

While he was doing this, Harry thought about their unique situation. The irony wasn't lost on him. The once headquarter's of Tom Riddle's memory's evil plotting, and eventual place of his destruction, was now to be their protection from his older, more powerful self. Maybe history would be repetitive, and Riddle would once more be defeated in the tomb of the Basilisk.

"Very good. Now, we must wait for the students. Ah, Severus!" Snape and his House strode into the bathroom, looking bewildered and frightened. Dumbledore addressed them with a calming voice. "Children, this is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, and the entire student body will be hidden in it....now don't fret," he admonished, because several of the Slytherin members paled and backed away from the open hole in the floor. "All danger has been slain, not to worry. Severus, would you please lead your pupils into the Chamber, hopefully it will be a more defendable position in this imminent battle." Snape said not a word, but jumped nimbly down into the pipes leading to a place Harry had once justifiably feared. His students hesitantly followed him, after he yelled, "All is well, just a bit of debris and animal bones."

After all the Slytherins were inside, the Hufflepuffs proceeded, led by Professor Sprout and Professor Vector. They were much more resistant to the idea of hiding in the Chamber than the Slytherins. Perhaps if Helga Hufflepuff had created it, they would have been more amiable towards the idea. But eventually Dumbledore convinced them all to follow their peers.

Flitwick led the Ravenclaws next, and their reactions were similar to the Hufflepuffs, but they too crawled inside to the safety of the Chamber. Professor Sinistra and Trelawney lowered themselves in slowly after the students....both had terrified looks plastered across their faces, though Sinistra looked at least more dignified and under control than her companion.

The Gryffindor party was horribly late. Everyone inside the bathroom was worried sick. Dumbledore had given them five minutes, but as they were still no-shows, he and the rest of the party decided to search for them. Just as they headed out the bathroom door, McGonagall's magnified voice screeched," Attack on the fifth floor! Any teachers who can assist, ow! please help!"

The seven of them rushed off at once to the staircase, and on the fifth landing, were met with a horrible sight.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Author's Note: yes, I know it is know a tradition for me to end my chapters on a cliffie^_^.....I'm sorry, but that is just the perfect place to leave it off. It keeps you on your toes, no? Please review!