Through the Tunnels
The expedition to the Caves of Sousoll took only six days but no one in the party knew how difficult the journey through the actual tunnels would be. Dr Crabbe had been a good leader so far and managed to keep everyone together although there were some that did not trust him for he was an old school friend of Draco Malfoy.
Nonetheless, the party came to the opening of the tunnels which resembled the mouth of a great dog.
Crabbe looked at it and sighed, "Well I'm glad we all made it this far, but I'm warning you now - the remainder of this journey is not to be taken lightly. There is the risk of certain death, and urge any one of us who feels that they cannot handle it to Disapparate now."
There was a long silence followed by two witches talking to each other in hushed voices and one rather fatigued looking wizard Disapparating with a final "Adieu".
"Anyone else?" Dr Crabbe asked, but everyone else remained silent and certain, "Well that's just grand! Now, to the rest of you - the tunnels of Sousoll are very dark and so a light charm will have to be used by every third person as I would like the others to be ready for any necessary combat...."
"C-c-combat?" a skinny blonde witch piped up, "Oh like, I don't want to ruin my nails! This journey was meant to be fun, not boring and bloody. I mean, Dr Cab, or whatever your name is - I could SWEAT..."
"Well then you wouldn't mind Disapparating now and leaving others of us who DO wish to quash Malfoy's plans and his new illness - or will that mess your hair up?" Dr Crabbe added, with approving looks from the other Aurors.
The blonde witch merely scoffed derisively, sticking her palm out at Dr Crabbe and Disapparating away muttering "Whatever!" as she left.
"Right," Dr Crabbe continued, more exasperated, "The opening is behind me, we should walk in single file because the path has a ninety feet drop on either side inside the tunnels, so we shall have to be careful. And I shall tell you now, so that you are not alarmed in the possible event of seeing a dragon."
A few people gasped and panicked as he said this.
"There is nothing to be worried about.."
"Except being burned to a crisp!" a tall muscular brown haired wizard interrupted.
"Now really!" Crabbe shouted, "You people are Aurors from the Ministry, this shouldn't be a big deal for you. And anyway, the dragons would be most likely to be a Welsh Green, so you are in NO immediate danger," he said giving the wizard who had interrupted him a dirty look.
Before long, the troupe of the remaining Ministry Aurors, Dr Crabbe, Hermione, Cho and Harry entered the tunnels, which turned out to be very dark even though it was the middle of the day outside.
The group walked silently for what seemed like hours, occasionally stepping on a rock or snail shell. As Harry looked to the sides he saw the promised deadly drop to the bottom and shuddered, holding Cho's hand from behind.
"You okay, Harry?" Cho asked.
"Yeah course, I'm just worried about your safety, Cho. I'm here to protect you after all."
Cho frowned, "Harry.." She scolded, "We can discuss sexism in the Wizarding world when we get home."
They walked further but stopped for a short rest; it was not possible to sit down for long, as the path got narrower.
The group eventually came to a wide opening, which forked, in two different directions. Dr Crabbe stopped and turned to face the group, slowly so as not to fall and said, "I have not been to this place in years and I cannot remember which way to go, thus myself, Mr and Mrs Potter, Hermione Weasley, Amy, Martine and Antoine shall take the left path and the rest of you take the right."
The path they took was dimmer and more perilous than the course they had previously taken. However, after only a few minutes of walking, there came a dead end which created a wave of exasperation within the group.
"Don't worry," Dr Crabbe said smiling at them, "this is just the portal wall which can be opened using a snake."
The group just looked at Crabbe quizzically.
He conjured a thick black mamba from thin air and held it in his arms.
"Draco, Gregory and I used to use snakes to open this place up - its tongue is made to lick the wall and then you tell a lie while you do it resulting in the opening of the vortex."
Everyone looked at him, both impressed and puzzled.
"Draco's father, Lucius, made this place for us. Kind of like a treehouse for wizards," he said, smiling looking towards Harry and Hermione who had grown up as Muggles.
Harry looked at Cho and managed a smile, which she did not return.
The group watched as Dr Crabbe held the snake's head in his hand and passed its tongue along the stone wall muttering something to the snake.
The spot where the snake had licked the wall lit up in a small circle which grew bigger and started spinning, sucking Crabbe into it. The black mamba was on the ground now, but the vortex had closed up.
The Italian born Auror, Antoine began to pick up the snake but it snapped furiously at him, making the others back away. It was now slithering towards the group, snapping violently, baring poisonous fangs.
"Did Dr Crabbe have to conjure SUCH a deadly snake?" Amy Wexlar, a tall black Auror of the highest degree asked, vexed.
The mamba was very fast, and was threatening the group.
Harry stepped forward and faced the snake, "Leave this to me," he said to the others.
He looked straight into the snake's large bright yellow eyes and began hissing and spitting at it in Parseltongue.
The snake bowed its head and Harry pointed his wand at it, making it disappear with a crack.
"What did you go and do THAT for?" Martine, a large beefy witch asked Harry, irked, " we won't be able to get in now!"
"Yes we will," Harry answered, calmly. He pointed his wand to his other hand, muttered 'Serpensortia!' and a bright green snake appeared in his arms. "But this time we're going to use a harmless grass snake."
The snake began talking to Harry with spitting and hissing, and Harry replied it, not realising that everyone was looking at him as if he was talking to a Death Eater.
He handed the snake to Antoine who, reluctantly at first, took the snake and went into the vortex. Soon it was just Harry and Cho left.
"You going to tell me what you were talking to the snake about?" Cho asked.
Harry beamed at her as she passed into the vortex as well.
And so it was just Harry left. He picked up the snake but didn't use it to get in - he instead made the grass snake disappear with another crack.
He didn't want to use a mere grass snake - he was a Parselmouth! He could use any snake he wanted. So he conjured up a King Cobra which was very feisty when he initially conjured it, but then as he spoke to it, the snake became quite docile.
And so he used the snake to get into the chamber that awaited him, not knowing what lay before him....
The expedition to the Caves of Sousoll took only six days but no one in the party knew how difficult the journey through the actual tunnels would be. Dr Crabbe had been a good leader so far and managed to keep everyone together although there were some that did not trust him for he was an old school friend of Draco Malfoy.
Nonetheless, the party came to the opening of the tunnels which resembled the mouth of a great dog.
Crabbe looked at it and sighed, "Well I'm glad we all made it this far, but I'm warning you now - the remainder of this journey is not to be taken lightly. There is the risk of certain death, and urge any one of us who feels that they cannot handle it to Disapparate now."
There was a long silence followed by two witches talking to each other in hushed voices and one rather fatigued looking wizard Disapparating with a final "Adieu".
"Anyone else?" Dr Crabbe asked, but everyone else remained silent and certain, "Well that's just grand! Now, to the rest of you - the tunnels of Sousoll are very dark and so a light charm will have to be used by every third person as I would like the others to be ready for any necessary combat...."
"C-c-combat?" a skinny blonde witch piped up, "Oh like, I don't want to ruin my nails! This journey was meant to be fun, not boring and bloody. I mean, Dr Cab, or whatever your name is - I could SWEAT..."
"Well then you wouldn't mind Disapparating now and leaving others of us who DO wish to quash Malfoy's plans and his new illness - or will that mess your hair up?" Dr Crabbe added, with approving looks from the other Aurors.
The blonde witch merely scoffed derisively, sticking her palm out at Dr Crabbe and Disapparating away muttering "Whatever!" as she left.
"Right," Dr Crabbe continued, more exasperated, "The opening is behind me, we should walk in single file because the path has a ninety feet drop on either side inside the tunnels, so we shall have to be careful. And I shall tell you now, so that you are not alarmed in the possible event of seeing a dragon."
A few people gasped and panicked as he said this.
"There is nothing to be worried about.."
"Except being burned to a crisp!" a tall muscular brown haired wizard interrupted.
"Now really!" Crabbe shouted, "You people are Aurors from the Ministry, this shouldn't be a big deal for you. And anyway, the dragons would be most likely to be a Welsh Green, so you are in NO immediate danger," he said giving the wizard who had interrupted him a dirty look.
Before long, the troupe of the remaining Ministry Aurors, Dr Crabbe, Hermione, Cho and Harry entered the tunnels, which turned out to be very dark even though it was the middle of the day outside.
The group walked silently for what seemed like hours, occasionally stepping on a rock or snail shell. As Harry looked to the sides he saw the promised deadly drop to the bottom and shuddered, holding Cho's hand from behind.
"You okay, Harry?" Cho asked.
"Yeah course, I'm just worried about your safety, Cho. I'm here to protect you after all."
Cho frowned, "Harry.." She scolded, "We can discuss sexism in the Wizarding world when we get home."
They walked further but stopped for a short rest; it was not possible to sit down for long, as the path got narrower.
The group eventually came to a wide opening, which forked, in two different directions. Dr Crabbe stopped and turned to face the group, slowly so as not to fall and said, "I have not been to this place in years and I cannot remember which way to go, thus myself, Mr and Mrs Potter, Hermione Weasley, Amy, Martine and Antoine shall take the left path and the rest of you take the right."
The path they took was dimmer and more perilous than the course they had previously taken. However, after only a few minutes of walking, there came a dead end which created a wave of exasperation within the group.
"Don't worry," Dr Crabbe said smiling at them, "this is just the portal wall which can be opened using a snake."
The group just looked at Crabbe quizzically.
He conjured a thick black mamba from thin air and held it in his arms.
"Draco, Gregory and I used to use snakes to open this place up - its tongue is made to lick the wall and then you tell a lie while you do it resulting in the opening of the vortex."
Everyone looked at him, both impressed and puzzled.
"Draco's father, Lucius, made this place for us. Kind of like a treehouse for wizards," he said, smiling looking towards Harry and Hermione who had grown up as Muggles.
Harry looked at Cho and managed a smile, which she did not return.
The group watched as Dr Crabbe held the snake's head in his hand and passed its tongue along the stone wall muttering something to the snake.
The spot where the snake had licked the wall lit up in a small circle which grew bigger and started spinning, sucking Crabbe into it. The black mamba was on the ground now, but the vortex had closed up.
The Italian born Auror, Antoine began to pick up the snake but it snapped furiously at him, making the others back away. It was now slithering towards the group, snapping violently, baring poisonous fangs.
"Did Dr Crabbe have to conjure SUCH a deadly snake?" Amy Wexlar, a tall black Auror of the highest degree asked, vexed.
The mamba was very fast, and was threatening the group.
Harry stepped forward and faced the snake, "Leave this to me," he said to the others.
He looked straight into the snake's large bright yellow eyes and began hissing and spitting at it in Parseltongue.
The snake bowed its head and Harry pointed his wand at it, making it disappear with a crack.
"What did you go and do THAT for?" Martine, a large beefy witch asked Harry, irked, " we won't be able to get in now!"
"Yes we will," Harry answered, calmly. He pointed his wand to his other hand, muttered 'Serpensortia!' and a bright green snake appeared in his arms. "But this time we're going to use a harmless grass snake."
The snake began talking to Harry with spitting and hissing, and Harry replied it, not realising that everyone was looking at him as if he was talking to a Death Eater.
He handed the snake to Antoine who, reluctantly at first, took the snake and went into the vortex. Soon it was just Harry and Cho left.
"You going to tell me what you were talking to the snake about?" Cho asked.
Harry beamed at her as she passed into the vortex as well.
And so it was just Harry left. He picked up the snake but didn't use it to get in - he instead made the grass snake disappear with another crack.
He didn't want to use a mere grass snake - he was a Parselmouth! He could use any snake he wanted. So he conjured up a King Cobra which was very feisty when he initially conjured it, but then as he spoke to it, the snake became quite docile.
And so he used the snake to get into the chamber that awaited him, not knowing what lay before him....