Chapter 10: Drakeweed

Harry followed them softly through the Hogwarts corridors, tiptoeing past Mr. Norris, the caretaker's cat. Amber and Devin met up with Draco outside the Slytherin dungeons and continued downwards. They walked down innumerable staircases, deeper and deeper into the earth. Harry noticed it growing progressively warmer. There were sounds coming from down here Harry had never heard before. Whispered conversations in thousands of languages came from the wall. As they continued down, the corridors became mazelike, but the Malfoys had a map. They went deeper and deeper, always down. Harry's legs were getting tired, but the Malfoys and Amber, though not talking, walked on.

At one point the stone of the tiles gave way to dirt and rock, a secret cave miles underground. The heat was nearly unbearable now. They passed over a bridge where the apparent source of the heat – molten lava – rushed by like water below, bubbling and spitting. A lava drake swam by, dipping under and rising above the waves. They went still deeper. Amber began to lag behind, but Draco seemed ready for such an incidence. He gave her a little invigoration potion, and both Malfoys had a gulp as well. Harry wished dearly that he could have some. They continued down. Soon, Harry began to notice things. Arcane, obviously magical symbols had been traced on the walls, and skulls hung eerily on the ceiling. Harry was nearly too tired to care. The sweat was making the invisibility cloak stick to him and he nearly tripped over it.

And then they came to a wood door.

"This is it, then?" asked Amber.

"Father reckons so," said Draco.

"Do we dare go in?"

"Yeah, there's nothing scarier in there than we've already seen," said Devin.

"Like you've been in here before."

"Shut up. Let's just go."

Devin pushed open the door. The room within was pitch-black, lit only by the flicker of torches in the hallway. Harry could see nothing within.

"LUMOS!" said Devin.

The room was obviously a crypt. Coffins stacked on shelves went out as far as the eye could see in all directions. Amber and the Malfoys walked in, brushing away an errant cobweb.

"This is really creeping me out," said Amber.

"Yeah, it'll only be a second. Just stick with us and you'll be fine"

They proceeded into the crypt, walking between rows and rows of unmarked coffins. Harry wondered who was buried here, and then wondered if he wanted to know.

"It's fourteen down, eighteen to the left?" asked Draco.

"I think that's what father said. Ah, here it is. Middle one."

Harry watched as the three of them brought down one of the blank coffins and drew back from it. None of them seemed to want to open it. Finally, Draco stepped up to it. Putting his hands firmly on the side of the coffin he lifted it up. Devin aimed the beam from his wand towards the coffin. There was a skeleton, long dead in there, with tatters of clothes hanging loosely off him. His hands were held in a position as if he had been holding something when he died.

"It's gone," said Amber flatly.

Devin threw the beam of his wand light all over the coffin, but there was nothing but the body.

"Are you sure we got the right one?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. Look, he's got his hands out, where he was holding it," snapped Draco.

"But, no one's been down here for years! No one could have taken it!"

"Centuries, more like. Millennia, maybe."

"They say it finds its way to whoever's destined for it…" said Amber weakly.

"Whatever," replied Devin.

Angrily, Draco snapped the coffin shut.

"Do you reckon we should put it back?" asked Amber. "You know, don't disturb the dead?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

They all grabbed it and put it back in its spot, dust stirring as they left. Harry followed them back out, wondering exactly what they had been trying to get. The hands certainly were carrying something, but, racking his brains, Harry could think of nothing that it could have been. Hmm… Lucius had told them of this place. Was it something Lucius wanted? He sure had been acting strangely lately, something was wrong.

Harry got back to his bed at nearly one in the morning and, throwing off the cloak, fell promptly to sleep.

Wednesday was dreary and cold and nobody wanted to be outside. Breakfast was subdued, as they ate in silence until the mail arrived. When it did, Harry eagerly ripped open a letter from the Forgotten.

Hey Harry, how are you?

I can't tell you where we are, in case this letter is intercepted, but I can tell you that the ministry is on a rampage. Annette gets really red in the face whenever she tries to write to you, I think she likes you or something. As I said before, she wants to meet you, and the rest of us have something we really need to talk to you about. We'll see you; don't worry about going anywhere special – we have ways of getting into Hogwarts. If you know a girl named Hermione say hi for us, will you, I think she said she goes there.

Take care and we're really missing you,

Amy and the Forgotten

There was still no mention of Kevin's death. Harry wondered why they were refusing to talk about it. Maybe they weren't as hardened to death as they had told Hermione, maybe they simply bottled up all their sadness and anger inside themselves until they blew, hating everything in the world. Harry thought of them and wondered what a hard life it might have been for them; they seemed only bitter and resentful, though.

Harry also thought about Annette. Harry had seen he dirty and disheveled. He remembered how, seeing her at the Burrow that day had made him feel – it was something different, something bigger than what he felt for Amber, yet Amber was right there, two tables away sitting with her friends from Slytherin, smiling away at her friends. Girls made life just too complicated, thought Harry.

Care of Magical Creatures that day was lots of fun, as they were studying zephyrs, creatures made of congealed air. Hagrid promised that if the weather cleared up, they would go for a ride on the giant squid. Harry wondered about what Luna had been saying the other day, though about an interesting class. Snape had assigned them a big chunk of homework, so, after classes Harry, Neville and Hermione sat around trying to puzzle out answers to increasingly difficult essay problems in the Gryffindor common room.

"What do you need to make the weight loss potion boil?" asked Neville. Harry wondered why Neville had chosen to continue potions at all.

"Just burn incense of mermaid's whisker in the air," said Hermione knowledgeably.

"Hey," said Seamus and Ron, walking over. "What's up with you guys?"

"Oh, just doing some Potions. I wish I had dropped Snape," said Harry, scribbling down an answer.

"Okay, cool," said Ron, walking away.

"Wait, I'm all done," Harry lied, throwing his paper in his bag and running to catch up with them.

"Oh, cool. Hey, Harry, can you play anything?" asked Seamus.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we thought since I can play guitar and Ron can play drums that we'd start a band, but we need someone to play base."

"Well, Dudley used to have a guitar which he never used. I tried to learn a couple of times, but my aunt and uncle kept getting mat at me."

"I can show you how to play," offered Ron.

"So, you're in?" asked Seamus.

"Yeah!"

"Cool."

"But we need a name for ourselves," said Ron.

They thought for a moment.

"How about Zephyr Blast?" asked Ron, thinking of Hagrid's lesson today.

"Man, you really need to get a life! That's the worst idea I've heard from you!"

"Avada Kedavra 99?" suggested Harry.

"That's kind of cool… I don't know… It's like Death…"

"How about Dragon Smokers?" Ron attempted again.

"I like that… except make it Drake Smokers."

"How about Drakeweed?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, that's cool. Then it's settled," said Seamus. "Drakeweed."

"We have to make up some songs, though!" Ron said.

"One step at a time. You have to give Harry a few guitar lessons and then we'll see…Let's set some concert dates."

"What about that one step at a time thing?" asked Harry, smiling.

For the next two days, Harry prepared for the Quidditch tryouts with Ron, tried his best to learn guitar and struggled with all his homework. He was taking less courses this year, and Hagrid and Artemis had yet to assign homework, but Professors Snape and McGonagall were more than happy to make up for that. They continued fighting the vampire on Friday, where they actually got the stake through the heart of the creature before it froze the last contender.

On Friday afternoon, Gryffindor hopefuls piled out onto the Quidditch pitch. Ginny, who had played seeker for a short time last year, was almost a shoe-in for the place of chaser, but there were numerous positions still up for grabs. Among those trying out were Devin, Amber and Seamus.

Ron and Harry defended the goal as the intended players threw in the quaffles. Devin was up first. He got onto his broomstick and launched off into the air, dodging past two bludgers sent by Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper, the beaters that had replaced the brilliant Fred and George Weasley on the team last year. He flew straight up, way beyond playing distance and up towards the clouds. When he was barely a speck in the sky, she shot straight downwards at the center goal and did a midair barrel-roll to avoid a spinning bludger, knocking it with the end of his broomstick. It spun for a second, hovering then flew towards the center goal. Mistaking it for the quaffle, Harry and Ron both went for it, and smashed into one another. Devin soared past over them, aimed and scored.

Amber was quite good at flying but, used to playing American Quidditch, she had horrible aim. She shot into the sky and flipped upside down on her broom, holding on tightly with her legs as her body hung down from it. Harry wondered how she was able to maneuver the broom from such a position, but somehow she was able to. Her movement was erratic and unpredictable as she swayed in all directions, gripping the broom. Harry and Ron went from left to right trying to stop her from throwing the quaffle, but to no avail. Just when both of them were on the far left, she flipped upright on her broom and tossed the quaffle underhanded to the right hoop… and missed. Cursing in her fury, she landed and angrily stormed away, tears running from her eyes. Harry watched her go and wished desperately that he could fallow her, comfort her…

Seamus had definite room for improvement in both areas, but he was a great well-rounded player, and showed potential. The second he touched off the ground, he threw the ball through the hoop Harry was defending. Ron said they didn't really see him play, so he tried again. He didn't feint, but tossed it at Ron. Ron reached out, grabbed it, blocking the throw and… it bounced off his hand. Seamus made a swooping dive and caught it inches from the ground, throwing it backwards from underneath the hoop. Once again, Harry and Ron said it didn't count, because it went through the wrong way. He tried again, and this time Ron successfully caught the quaffle, but only at the last second.

Harry and Ron touched the ground and went into conference. The four of them were certainly better than any of the others who tried out. Ginny, because she played on the team last year, became an almost automatic choice, leaving two spots open.

"Seamus looked promising," said Ron.

"Yeah, but he didn't do as good as either Malfoy or Amber. Most of his moves were just tricks."

"Amber sucked. She missed when she had a clean shot! At least Seamus showed some ingenuity."

"But she could have flown straight through the hoop she flew so well. And on a Comet Three Twenty-Five, no less."

"Harry, the newest Comet is better than a Firebolt in acceleration and grip, and it has only a slightly lower max speed. Plus, it has built-in heavy wind steering and all-bristle drive."

"Yeah, but it has terrible control and mediocre turning… and she used that to her advantage, to throw us off."

"She wouldn't be able to do that sort of stuff in a real match. She has no peripheral vision down there, and if a bludger hit her she'd be dead meat. Plus, the way she moves makes it harder for other players to cover her. Let's take Ginny, Malfoy and Seamus."

Harry sighed. They were the obvious choices, but seeing Amber cry like that had made him feel terrible.

"But Malfoy might work against us in the matches against Slytherin…"

"So might Amber," said Ron, grinning.

"Okay, fine you win. Those three it is."

The weather didn't clear up over the weekend, but it continued to rain. Harry and Ron spent every free moment practicing guitar. Harry had learned most of the chords by Sunday night, when they grudgingly began an essay on the principles of summoning a mothball covered in sand. After they finished, Harry began to tell them about the adventure he had had on Tuesday night as well as everything about the Drakhen and the summer.

"That was really dangerous," said Hermione before the last words escaped Harry's mouth. "Not only could you have been caught by a teacher, imagine if one of the Malfoys or Amber had heard you!"

"Listen," said Harry, "it was one of those gut instinct thingies. And I didn't even know that there was anything down there!"

"Who do you think was buried there?" asked Ron.

"See, that's what I don't know. One of the Malfoys said they were thousands of years old… they probably were there before Hogwarts was even built."

"I think they mentioned something about this in Hogwarts: A History. They said it was built on a large network of tunnels, but the tunnels must have been made by giant worms because they didn't lead anywhere."

"Hermione, have you memorized the whole book?"

"More or less."

"Well, I kind of felt that this crypt was one of those places that doesn't exist unless you're looking for it."

"Well, I certainly think you should put it out of your mind," advised Hermione, "if they didn't find anything down there, then there's probably no reason to go back."

"Yeah," sighed Harry. "But I have a feeling that whatever they were looking for was something important."

"If it's out then there's millions of places it could be. Don't let it worry you."

"I guess so. Well, I'm off to bed."

"Me too," said Ron, yawning. "We have Transfiguration first thing tomorrow."

Harry climbed up the stairs and into bed. What if whatever that skeleton had been holding was the Silver Drakhen? Professor McGonagall had said that it finds its way to whoever it's destined for… had it found its way to Harry? Had his mother used it? Had Aunt Petunia? And what building was inside it? Could it be that building in the desert? Could the tomb have been sucked into the Drakhen or would the building have to be made from scratch as a Drakhen? And, Hermione had said that the tunnels were there long before Hogwarts was built… Damascus Slytherin, being the son of Salazar Slytherin, would have made it after the school was built.

Harry rolled over under his blanket. Nothing seemed to be making sense in his life since his godfather had died. There was Annette, a beautiful, perfect ray of light, who was gone just hours after they had met, and Amber, who looked at him with nothing but contempt. There was also the prophecy concerning Voldemort that Dumbledore had told Harry at the end of the previous year. Harry still hadn't told Ron or Hermione about this. Harry felt as if every feeling in the world had been put in a blender, mixed up, and dumped into his brain as a breakfast shake. He almost wished life was simple again, when he was back at Privet Drive, living alone under the stairs, not knowing that the magical world existed at all.

I'm worthless, Harry thought. That's why Amber doesn't like me. I can't play guitar, Ron will never be able to teach me, who am I kidding? Everyone's counting on me to follow through on this stupid prophecy… but what if I can't? They don't understand how I feel, who I am! I'm not like them; they think I'm some kind of tool to fight Voldemort. I'm a person, a human being, and have feelings just like the rest of them. Yet, do I deserve for them to even care about me? I'm not cool, I can't do things other people can't; I'm just here in this world trying to get by…

Harry's thoughts drifted away as he fell asleep. Once again, he was under a dark, heavy robe. Above his head he carried the ornate, silver coffin above his head with the others, marching to the beat of drummers riding on elephants behind them. They once again reached the tomb, and Harry looked up. Two statues of chimeras had been cut out of the door, four terrible heads, those of a snake, a lion, an eagle and a badger emerged from a dragon's body. The statues were almost lifelike, and Harry knew, somehow, that a real chimera would be used to guard the tomb from thieves. Harry stepped inside, following the leader through a twisted maze of passageways, the light from the entrance slowly ebbing away replaced by torches that burned green fire… and then Harry awoke, sweating. Angrily, he rolled over and fell promptly back into a deep sleep. The next morning, he remembered nothing about the dream.

"Did you sleep alright?" asked Hermione as they went downstairs to breakfast.

"Yeah, you?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, no. Amber was really angry and started calling Umiko names. Umiko started crying. Lavender told them both to shut up. You know how it is."

"Did she say what she was angry about? Was she mad that she didn't make the Quidditch team?"

"I don't know. She was pretty mad, though."

"Yeah, it sounds like it."

They sat down and Harry took some pancakes covering them with a liberal amount of maple syrup.

"Did your parents write back?"

"Yeah, they sounded alright, but shocked. I guess Robbie was injured in the fire, and he's in the hospital right now, but they say it'll clear up in a few days. But, the Daily Prophet sure had a field day with the attack. They said Malfoy's status as head of the defense squad is pending."

"How'd he get out of going to Azkaban after the incident last year?"

"Claimed he was under the Imperius Curse. All of the ones who weren't in Azkaban before got off on that excuse."

"Is Azkaban still secure?"

"Well, some of the dementors are still loyal to the ministry, so they were all relocated there. Plus, they added in some additional security measures that no one really knows much about. When Dumbledore was still strong, he conjured up some stuff that they reckon even the Dark Lord couldn't have gotten past."

"So, it's even more difficult to break out of than before?"

"Definitely. If a Death Eater gets in, they won't be coming out."

Just then, the mail arrived and Harry and Hermione had to break off their conversation. Harry was surprised to see that he'd gotten yet another message so soon in the year. He gave Hedwig some of his bacon and opened the letter. It was from Lupin.

Harry,

Be careful this year. Don't try anything. With Dumbledore sick, even Hogwarts is now in danger. And the order is getting the feeling that You-Know-Who is up to something, and plotting with Lucius Malfoy. As a related note, be very careful about what you say around Lucius Malfoy's sons or their American friend.

I hope all is going good,

Lupin

Another warning. Hadn't Harry proved that he could take care of himself? It was exactly like last year, no one wanted to tell him anything. Was it because he was so unable to do anything? Was he that much of a loser?

Depressed and angry, Harry polished off the last of his breakfast, and stormed off to Transfiguration lesson. However, as he passed a nearby corridor, something struck him. There were people in that corridor. Harry had been down it once in his first year, it didn't lead anywhere. A bit unnerved, Harry doubled back. Sure enough, there was Amber, her shining hair soaring down her back like a dolphin. There was someone else, too, behind Amber. Who was it? She had her hands around whoever it was. And then Harry's eyes unfocused. Nothing seemed to matter anymore, he just wanted away from Amber, away from everyone, away from this world. Harry started running, but he didn't know where, nor did he care. Amber had been kissing Draco Malfoy.