Chapter 8 - Magical Creatures and Woollongong Shimmies
Ron and Harry pulled Woollongong Shimmies over the crowds of the Knossos central market, zigging and zagging at high speeds just above people's heads. Harry's Nimbus 2000 was the quicker and smoother of the two, but Ron kept up by sheer determination.
"Oh, look," a mystic-seeking Muggle commented. "Two boys on broomsticks."
"Looks like fun. Think we can rent some?"
Both boys zoomed upward over the rocky hills, the toes of their sneakers kicking rocks as they swept over to the other side, allowing the zero-G- force to make their stomachs float.
"WOO-HOOO!" called Ron. "High speeds!"
Harry leaned down on his broom to create less wind resistance and shot off over the grassy valleys between the hills. Ron followed not far behind, his red hair blowing straight back from the wind.
A horse neighed behind both, then a pair of roan-colored wings filled their vision.
The boys pulled back, slowing down slightly as a winged-horse of palomino coloring galloped through the air ahead of them. On the horse's back was a young woman with shimmering blue-black hair whipping around her face as she turned to look back at them and smile. She bucked the winged-horse which responded by circling back around and approaching the broomriders.
"You must be Aunt Martis' students from Hogwarts," the teenager said. "I'm her niece Ophelia."
"Hi," Harry replied. "I'm Harry Potter and he's Ron Weasley."
"Come on down. I was going to explore some temple ruins - Aunt Martis mentioned her students were doing research so I'll help you out."
"Thanks."
The three made their way across the landscape until they touched down in a hilly area where a large cave gaped open in the side of the landscape.
Ophelia slipped off the horse's back, flicking her blue-black hair away from her face and smiling sunnily, her dark olive skin perfectly flawless in the short purple tunic-dress and sandals laced all the way up her shapely calves. "How do you like Crete so far?"
"It's a lovely island," Harry answered as he patted the horse's shoulder. "What kind of winged-horse is this?"
"Oh, Gaea's an Abraxan - largest and most powerful of all the winged-horse breeds. This was the same breed that the wizard Perseus Evangelia flew when he killed the Chimaera - before he fainted from exhausted and fell to his death." She smiled grimly. "I understand a large amount of Ouzo was involved when he decided to slay the Chimaera." She grabbed their free hands and dragged them behind her into the cave. "Come on, in we go - we can't spend all day blabbering!"
"Perhaps you can tell us a little about the ruins?" Harry asked.
Ophelia released them. "Perhaps I should, shouldn't I? I'm sorry. I've spent so much time with the other Priestesses, I forget there are people who don't know about the old Minoans - in fact, I'd much rather hear about where you come from. Where should I begin?"
Ron kept silent, trying to concentrate on the dim dampness of the cave around them, the stalagtites and stalagmites dripping minerals quietly in the large space. However, he was bothered by the fact that a smell kept intruding in his nostrils, something that he knew he smelled before, but had no idea what it was or why he liked it, especially now.
Then it hit him - it was Girl. Specifically Older Teenage Girl who is almost a woman with long blue-black hair, ice blue eyes, and smelling really, really good.
He clamped his mouth shut, hearing the blood pound in his ears. Why not - he was a Weasley. His older brothers Charlie was quite popular with girls and the twins were asking out everything that wore a skirt - even Percy had a girlfriend and Bill was dating one of the witches at Gringott's. It was bound to be his turn.
Ophelia spun around, pulling him close. "Look, Ron, there's a bunch of offerings made to the Great Mother over a thousand years ago! The flowers can still be identified!"
Ron swallowed and cleared his throat. His chest puffed out and he stood two inches taller, willing his facial hair to grow out to prove his maleness. He felt the testosterone pour through his blood, lowering his voice and making him darker and more manly.
He desperately wanted to sound intelligent and knowledgable, and relied on chance to say the right thing.
Instead, he blurted out in a squeaky voice, "Wanna see my pet rat?"
Inside of himself, he yelled, 'Oh, bloody HELL!'
Harry did not noticed his best friend turning several shades of red, although Ophelia giggled and replied, "Maybe when we get back, kiddo."
Ron shrank, feeling his previously blown-up male ego deflate like a balloon letting out air in a rude manner. 'Kiddo', like he was some three-year-old still sucking on a pacifier.
Oh, well, he had stuff to research. Throwing himself under a train could wait.
* * *
Draco Malfoy knew Professor Vox was vulnerable. It was something predators could figure out when they knew prey animals were wounded. He liked to think of himself as a predator, anyway. It might be more accurate to say it was the sense of a scavenger detecting the weak and infirm.
The walkways of the Vox estate zig-zagged down the hills to the ocean, their waist-high white walls contrasting brilliantly against the blue water. Draco found walking the stone walks to be peaceful ...
And evidently so did Professor Vox, whom he found sitting on one of the walls and staring out at the ocean, the wind whipping her ash blonde bob from her face and the snake wrapped around her shoulders.
She had pretty olive skin, quite smooth and clear for her age, which was very much on display in the sundress.
"Professor Vox," he finally stated. "I see you are feeling well."
She did not turn to look at him. "Thank you for caring, Mr. Malfoy. Indeed, I am not well."
He leaned against the wall next to her, his back to the ocean view. "I'm really concerned about you, Professor."
"You should be concerned about your schoolwork."
"I am, of course. But you're my House Mother - you care about us, so we care about you. Now, has that Snape broken your heart?"
She finally turned to him, her sunglasses flashing in the sunlight. "It's none of your business. There are things going on that you have no business getting mixed up in."
"Then perhaps I can help?"
She leaned close to his face, her hand cupping his chin. In a painful whisper, she asked, "Can you resurrect the dead? Bring back toddlers and small children who died by the hands of evil?" Her voice never rose above a whisper, but the words became more intense with each syllable. "A loving husband who lay down his life for those same children, whose dying breath included forgiveness for accidentally bringing the evil down upon the family? An entire future wiped away in a single night??"
Draco jerked away, his eyes wide in panic. "Professor Vox!"
Her body limned in gold light, then settled back to normal. "Go away, child. Leave me."
Draco quickly left her, running back into the house.
* * *
Lunch time came.
Hermione returned from the library with several dictionaries and language books, locking herself in the room she shared with Ginny and began using speed spells to learn Minoan.
Elizabeth, Glynis, Ginny, and Oliver returned wearing swimsuits soaked with seawater, and all slightly sunburned. Elizabeth danced around and sang the praises of handsome Cretan men who swam with dolphins.
Glynis and Oliver were in fine form, though. "Next time, don't rescue me."
"I thought you were drowning."
"I was - a little."
"It was four feet deep!"
"Well, I have to learn to swim sometime."
"Not when you swim with dolphins - the poor thing was freaking out because you kept grabbing its fins."
"I couldn't hold on, is all."
"Oliver, you've been hit with a bludger too many times. I'm not surprised."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean??"
"You heard what I implied!"
Oliver sat next to his Potions Master and sighed, picking up a chunk of bread. "I swear - women were put here to drive us insane."
"I know students were put here to drive me insane," Severus replied. "Where are Misters Weasley?"
"Frick and Frack? I think they're still fighting over a girl that never looked at them."
At that moment George and Fred entered, covered with sand and looking quite roughed up.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I thought you two were too old to be playing in sandboxes."
"Baby sister," one of them said. "Please note that George is a git."
The other snorted. "And also note that Fred is a prat."
"You're both idiots," she stated to her older brothers as she picked at her fish. "You could stick to girls more your speed. You know - with shopping carts full of garbage bags and wispy little beards."
They both noogied her at once before they sat down and devoured everything within reach.
Draco Malfoy ran in, his tennis whites neatly pressed and starched. "Professor Vox has gone mad!" he announced.
"Has she skipped from calling you 'Little Nazi' to 'Less-Than-Chum'?" Elizabeth asked casually.
Glynis saw Draco fingering his wand and she jumped in with, "'Mad' as in 'angry' or 'mad' as in 'insane'?"
"A bit of both," Draco explained. "She kept ranting on about resurrecting dead children and husbands and some nameless evil and wiped futures - "
Three individuals jumped up - Britomartis' parents running out of the room and Severus pausing long enough to ask, "Where is she?"
"Last I saw she was on the walkway down to the ocean."
Severus dashed off.
George and Fred got up and picked Draco up by his armpits. "All right, you little creep, what did you do to her??"
* * *
"BRITOMARTIS!"
Saphira and Eugenius Vox were old, but they were still parents deep down in their bodies. They ran across the walkways in both panic and guilt, knowing it was still too late to fix the mistakes, but yet willing to prevent more from happening.
She was still sitting on the walkway wall, staring at the ocean.
"Martis - " Saphira choked. "Please, don't do this to yourself."
"Do what, Saphira?" she asked in a neutral tone, neither angry nor sad, allowing no conclusion to be drawn from her emotional state.
"Torment yourself for something that could not be prevented."
"It could have been prevented. I did not have to be a High Priestess. I did not have to be the one to protect the Labrys that night. I did not have to stop the Evil, sacrificing my own children and husband." The sunglasses glinted as she slowly turned her head to them. "So what do you care? Why should you care that the children of the child you never cared for were murdered in cold blood? That I became an embarrassment to the family because I could not prevent their deaths?" She stood up on the wall, the breezes forming her turquoise sundress to her body. "I loved my children - and their father - with my heart, mind, being, and soul. Despite you, I loved! " Her voice became more and more shrill. "And my suffering will never be known by the likes of you - cold-blooded reptiles who simply 'ran out' of affection for your last child! Why couldn't you have exposed me on the hillside at birth so you wouldn't have had to deal with me at all? Why couldn't you have tossed me to a manticore or a griffin so I would never marry or give birth, only to lose my family because of my own stupidity? WHY DID YOU ALLOW ME TO LIVE WHILE YOU DENIED MY VERY EXISTENCE??!"
The silence could be cut with a knife.
Severus' voice sliced through it: "Because you were needed."
Her face turned to him, her lower lip trembling.
"Every family member of yours I've spoken to adores you," he began. "Every student in your classes and in Slytherin idolizes you. When we were in school together, you were the darling of Slytherin House." He stepped forward, his hand reaching up and his face raised. "Back then, you cared for me, and I needed you. Today you still care for me, despite everything ... and I still need you, Martis." His fingertips touched hers. "You are needed, you will always be needed." The wind blew his hair across his face as he climbed up on the wall, carefully balancing next to her. "Martis, you desecrate the memories of your husband and children by clinging to their ghosts - it's not fair to you or to them. Let go."
She broke into sobs, clutching him tightly and biting his shoulder.
Nobody said anything, Saphira and Eugenius standing in shock at the complete baring of souls between their daughter and her friend.
Finally, Britomartis' sobbing quieted, and she wrapped her arms around Severus' neck. "Please," she whispered. "Take me inside."
"Of course," he replied softly, kissing her forehead.
* * *
The adults returned to the main dining hall to discover Draco Malfoy hanging upside down from the iron chandelier.
Britomartis (leaning against Severus) noted the sight of his classmates under him, holding large clubs and Ginny Weasley with a blindfold while she swung her club around wildly. "Why is Mr. Malfoy up there?"
Ginny paused in swinging and lifted her blindfold up. "He's a pinata."
"He volunteered to be one," George added helpfully.
"He insisted," Fred continued.
Draco's objections were muffled by the gag in his mouth.
Elizabeth sighed. "We just thought he hurt you is all."
"No, he just irritated me. Frick and Frack, take him down from there."
The Stormtroopers saluted. "Yes, ma'am!" Then twitched their wands toward the ropes around Draco's feet.
Britomartis looked around. "Where are Hermione, Harry, and Ron?"
Ginny took the blindfold off completely and folded it. "Hermione's studying in our room. Ron and Harry were out flying their brooms earlier."
"They're with Ophelia," Saphira answered. "The Priestesses said she went out to take them on a tour of some ruins."
"Hope they don't get into trouble," Britomartis murmured.
"They're good at that," Ginny commented.
Draco yelped as he landed on the table with a thud and upset several glasses of goat milk.
* * *
"I'm hungry," Ron stated, his voice echoing all over the cave.
"We probably should be getting back, then," Ophelia agreed. "I'm famished, myself."
The three explorers turned around in the cave and headed back to the entrance, the coolness from the rock around them sending shivers through their summer clothes.
"Hold on," Harry said. "I think I see something."
Harry stopped, then stepped back. A dull glint flared briefly from his lit wand, then disappeared. Curious, he now slowly walked toward a shadowed nook well away from the main tunnel.
Ron looked up, swallowing loudly. "Are there any bats in these caves, Ophelia?"
"Some, but if you leave them alone, they leave you alone. Since it's daylight, they'll be sleeping." She trotted after the other boy. "What'd you find, Harry?"
"Come here and look at this!" Harry called excitedly.
Ron and Ophelia carefully crossed the damp floor and looked into the nook illuminated by Ron and Harry's wands -
A large golden double-axe stood on the end of its handle against the nook wall, shining in the wand-light.
"Whoa," Ron breathed. "That's got to be solid gold!"
"But what's it doing in here, Ophelia?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," the teenager admitted. "I'm going to have to ask the Priestesses about it." She grabbed their arms and pulled them with her.
"Don't you want to take it back?" Ron asked.
"It's too heavy for me. Besides, it's obviously safe here, so we can leave it."
"If you say so."
"No problem. Come on, I'm starved now!"
None of them noticed the soft cat snarl behind them as they exited the cave.
Ron and Harry pulled Woollongong Shimmies over the crowds of the Knossos central market, zigging and zagging at high speeds just above people's heads. Harry's Nimbus 2000 was the quicker and smoother of the two, but Ron kept up by sheer determination.
"Oh, look," a mystic-seeking Muggle commented. "Two boys on broomsticks."
"Looks like fun. Think we can rent some?"
Both boys zoomed upward over the rocky hills, the toes of their sneakers kicking rocks as they swept over to the other side, allowing the zero-G- force to make their stomachs float.
"WOO-HOOO!" called Ron. "High speeds!"
Harry leaned down on his broom to create less wind resistance and shot off over the grassy valleys between the hills. Ron followed not far behind, his red hair blowing straight back from the wind.
A horse neighed behind both, then a pair of roan-colored wings filled their vision.
The boys pulled back, slowing down slightly as a winged-horse of palomino coloring galloped through the air ahead of them. On the horse's back was a young woman with shimmering blue-black hair whipping around her face as she turned to look back at them and smile. She bucked the winged-horse which responded by circling back around and approaching the broomriders.
"You must be Aunt Martis' students from Hogwarts," the teenager said. "I'm her niece Ophelia."
"Hi," Harry replied. "I'm Harry Potter and he's Ron Weasley."
"Come on down. I was going to explore some temple ruins - Aunt Martis mentioned her students were doing research so I'll help you out."
"Thanks."
The three made their way across the landscape until they touched down in a hilly area where a large cave gaped open in the side of the landscape.
Ophelia slipped off the horse's back, flicking her blue-black hair away from her face and smiling sunnily, her dark olive skin perfectly flawless in the short purple tunic-dress and sandals laced all the way up her shapely calves. "How do you like Crete so far?"
"It's a lovely island," Harry answered as he patted the horse's shoulder. "What kind of winged-horse is this?"
"Oh, Gaea's an Abraxan - largest and most powerful of all the winged-horse breeds. This was the same breed that the wizard Perseus Evangelia flew when he killed the Chimaera - before he fainted from exhausted and fell to his death." She smiled grimly. "I understand a large amount of Ouzo was involved when he decided to slay the Chimaera." She grabbed their free hands and dragged them behind her into the cave. "Come on, in we go - we can't spend all day blabbering!"
"Perhaps you can tell us a little about the ruins?" Harry asked.
Ophelia released them. "Perhaps I should, shouldn't I? I'm sorry. I've spent so much time with the other Priestesses, I forget there are people who don't know about the old Minoans - in fact, I'd much rather hear about where you come from. Where should I begin?"
Ron kept silent, trying to concentrate on the dim dampness of the cave around them, the stalagtites and stalagmites dripping minerals quietly in the large space. However, he was bothered by the fact that a smell kept intruding in his nostrils, something that he knew he smelled before, but had no idea what it was or why he liked it, especially now.
Then it hit him - it was Girl. Specifically Older Teenage Girl who is almost a woman with long blue-black hair, ice blue eyes, and smelling really, really good.
He clamped his mouth shut, hearing the blood pound in his ears. Why not - he was a Weasley. His older brothers Charlie was quite popular with girls and the twins were asking out everything that wore a skirt - even Percy had a girlfriend and Bill was dating one of the witches at Gringott's. It was bound to be his turn.
Ophelia spun around, pulling him close. "Look, Ron, there's a bunch of offerings made to the Great Mother over a thousand years ago! The flowers can still be identified!"
Ron swallowed and cleared his throat. His chest puffed out and he stood two inches taller, willing his facial hair to grow out to prove his maleness. He felt the testosterone pour through his blood, lowering his voice and making him darker and more manly.
He desperately wanted to sound intelligent and knowledgable, and relied on chance to say the right thing.
Instead, he blurted out in a squeaky voice, "Wanna see my pet rat?"
Inside of himself, he yelled, 'Oh, bloody HELL!'
Harry did not noticed his best friend turning several shades of red, although Ophelia giggled and replied, "Maybe when we get back, kiddo."
Ron shrank, feeling his previously blown-up male ego deflate like a balloon letting out air in a rude manner. 'Kiddo', like he was some three-year-old still sucking on a pacifier.
Oh, well, he had stuff to research. Throwing himself under a train could wait.
* * *
Draco Malfoy knew Professor Vox was vulnerable. It was something predators could figure out when they knew prey animals were wounded. He liked to think of himself as a predator, anyway. It might be more accurate to say it was the sense of a scavenger detecting the weak and infirm.
The walkways of the Vox estate zig-zagged down the hills to the ocean, their waist-high white walls contrasting brilliantly against the blue water. Draco found walking the stone walks to be peaceful ...
And evidently so did Professor Vox, whom he found sitting on one of the walls and staring out at the ocean, the wind whipping her ash blonde bob from her face and the snake wrapped around her shoulders.
She had pretty olive skin, quite smooth and clear for her age, which was very much on display in the sundress.
"Professor Vox," he finally stated. "I see you are feeling well."
She did not turn to look at him. "Thank you for caring, Mr. Malfoy. Indeed, I am not well."
He leaned against the wall next to her, his back to the ocean view. "I'm really concerned about you, Professor."
"You should be concerned about your schoolwork."
"I am, of course. But you're my House Mother - you care about us, so we care about you. Now, has that Snape broken your heart?"
She finally turned to him, her sunglasses flashing in the sunlight. "It's none of your business. There are things going on that you have no business getting mixed up in."
"Then perhaps I can help?"
She leaned close to his face, her hand cupping his chin. In a painful whisper, she asked, "Can you resurrect the dead? Bring back toddlers and small children who died by the hands of evil?" Her voice never rose above a whisper, but the words became more intense with each syllable. "A loving husband who lay down his life for those same children, whose dying breath included forgiveness for accidentally bringing the evil down upon the family? An entire future wiped away in a single night??"
Draco jerked away, his eyes wide in panic. "Professor Vox!"
Her body limned in gold light, then settled back to normal. "Go away, child. Leave me."
Draco quickly left her, running back into the house.
* * *
Lunch time came.
Hermione returned from the library with several dictionaries and language books, locking herself in the room she shared with Ginny and began using speed spells to learn Minoan.
Elizabeth, Glynis, Ginny, and Oliver returned wearing swimsuits soaked with seawater, and all slightly sunburned. Elizabeth danced around and sang the praises of handsome Cretan men who swam with dolphins.
Glynis and Oliver were in fine form, though. "Next time, don't rescue me."
"I thought you were drowning."
"I was - a little."
"It was four feet deep!"
"Well, I have to learn to swim sometime."
"Not when you swim with dolphins - the poor thing was freaking out because you kept grabbing its fins."
"I couldn't hold on, is all."
"Oliver, you've been hit with a bludger too many times. I'm not surprised."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean??"
"You heard what I implied!"
Oliver sat next to his Potions Master and sighed, picking up a chunk of bread. "I swear - women were put here to drive us insane."
"I know students were put here to drive me insane," Severus replied. "Where are Misters Weasley?"
"Frick and Frack? I think they're still fighting over a girl that never looked at them."
At that moment George and Fred entered, covered with sand and looking quite roughed up.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "I thought you two were too old to be playing in sandboxes."
"Baby sister," one of them said. "Please note that George is a git."
The other snorted. "And also note that Fred is a prat."
"You're both idiots," she stated to her older brothers as she picked at her fish. "You could stick to girls more your speed. You know - with shopping carts full of garbage bags and wispy little beards."
They both noogied her at once before they sat down and devoured everything within reach.
Draco Malfoy ran in, his tennis whites neatly pressed and starched. "Professor Vox has gone mad!" he announced.
"Has she skipped from calling you 'Little Nazi' to 'Less-Than-Chum'?" Elizabeth asked casually.
Glynis saw Draco fingering his wand and she jumped in with, "'Mad' as in 'angry' or 'mad' as in 'insane'?"
"A bit of both," Draco explained. "She kept ranting on about resurrecting dead children and husbands and some nameless evil and wiped futures - "
Three individuals jumped up - Britomartis' parents running out of the room and Severus pausing long enough to ask, "Where is she?"
"Last I saw she was on the walkway down to the ocean."
Severus dashed off.
George and Fred got up and picked Draco up by his armpits. "All right, you little creep, what did you do to her??"
* * *
"BRITOMARTIS!"
Saphira and Eugenius Vox were old, but they were still parents deep down in their bodies. They ran across the walkways in both panic and guilt, knowing it was still too late to fix the mistakes, but yet willing to prevent more from happening.
She was still sitting on the walkway wall, staring at the ocean.
"Martis - " Saphira choked. "Please, don't do this to yourself."
"Do what, Saphira?" she asked in a neutral tone, neither angry nor sad, allowing no conclusion to be drawn from her emotional state.
"Torment yourself for something that could not be prevented."
"It could have been prevented. I did not have to be a High Priestess. I did not have to be the one to protect the Labrys that night. I did not have to stop the Evil, sacrificing my own children and husband." The sunglasses glinted as she slowly turned her head to them. "So what do you care? Why should you care that the children of the child you never cared for were murdered in cold blood? That I became an embarrassment to the family because I could not prevent their deaths?" She stood up on the wall, the breezes forming her turquoise sundress to her body. "I loved my children - and their father - with my heart, mind, being, and soul. Despite you, I loved! " Her voice became more and more shrill. "And my suffering will never be known by the likes of you - cold-blooded reptiles who simply 'ran out' of affection for your last child! Why couldn't you have exposed me on the hillside at birth so you wouldn't have had to deal with me at all? Why couldn't you have tossed me to a manticore or a griffin so I would never marry or give birth, only to lose my family because of my own stupidity? WHY DID YOU ALLOW ME TO LIVE WHILE YOU DENIED MY VERY EXISTENCE??!"
The silence could be cut with a knife.
Severus' voice sliced through it: "Because you were needed."
Her face turned to him, her lower lip trembling.
"Every family member of yours I've spoken to adores you," he began. "Every student in your classes and in Slytherin idolizes you. When we were in school together, you were the darling of Slytherin House." He stepped forward, his hand reaching up and his face raised. "Back then, you cared for me, and I needed you. Today you still care for me, despite everything ... and I still need you, Martis." His fingertips touched hers. "You are needed, you will always be needed." The wind blew his hair across his face as he climbed up on the wall, carefully balancing next to her. "Martis, you desecrate the memories of your husband and children by clinging to their ghosts - it's not fair to you or to them. Let go."
She broke into sobs, clutching him tightly and biting his shoulder.
Nobody said anything, Saphira and Eugenius standing in shock at the complete baring of souls between their daughter and her friend.
Finally, Britomartis' sobbing quieted, and she wrapped her arms around Severus' neck. "Please," she whispered. "Take me inside."
"Of course," he replied softly, kissing her forehead.
* * *
The adults returned to the main dining hall to discover Draco Malfoy hanging upside down from the iron chandelier.
Britomartis (leaning against Severus) noted the sight of his classmates under him, holding large clubs and Ginny Weasley with a blindfold while she swung her club around wildly. "Why is Mr. Malfoy up there?"
Ginny paused in swinging and lifted her blindfold up. "He's a pinata."
"He volunteered to be one," George added helpfully.
"He insisted," Fred continued.
Draco's objections were muffled by the gag in his mouth.
Elizabeth sighed. "We just thought he hurt you is all."
"No, he just irritated me. Frick and Frack, take him down from there."
The Stormtroopers saluted. "Yes, ma'am!" Then twitched their wands toward the ropes around Draco's feet.
Britomartis looked around. "Where are Hermione, Harry, and Ron?"
Ginny took the blindfold off completely and folded it. "Hermione's studying in our room. Ron and Harry were out flying their brooms earlier."
"They're with Ophelia," Saphira answered. "The Priestesses said she went out to take them on a tour of some ruins."
"Hope they don't get into trouble," Britomartis murmured.
"They're good at that," Ginny commented.
Draco yelped as he landed on the table with a thud and upset several glasses of goat milk.
* * *
"I'm hungry," Ron stated, his voice echoing all over the cave.
"We probably should be getting back, then," Ophelia agreed. "I'm famished, myself."
The three explorers turned around in the cave and headed back to the entrance, the coolness from the rock around them sending shivers through their summer clothes.
"Hold on," Harry said. "I think I see something."
Harry stopped, then stepped back. A dull glint flared briefly from his lit wand, then disappeared. Curious, he now slowly walked toward a shadowed nook well away from the main tunnel.
Ron looked up, swallowing loudly. "Are there any bats in these caves, Ophelia?"
"Some, but if you leave them alone, they leave you alone. Since it's daylight, they'll be sleeping." She trotted after the other boy. "What'd you find, Harry?"
"Come here and look at this!" Harry called excitedly.
Ron and Ophelia carefully crossed the damp floor and looked into the nook illuminated by Ron and Harry's wands -
A large golden double-axe stood on the end of its handle against the nook wall, shining in the wand-light.
"Whoa," Ron breathed. "That's got to be solid gold!"
"But what's it doing in here, Ophelia?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," the teenager admitted. "I'm going to have to ask the Priestesses about it." She grabbed their arms and pulled them with her.
"Don't you want to take it back?" Ron asked.
"It's too heavy for me. Besides, it's obviously safe here, so we can leave it."
"If you say so."
"No problem. Come on, I'm starved now!"
None of them noticed the soft cat snarl behind them as they exited the cave.