A/N: I'd like to thank Skins Thunderbomb, because she gave me some
excellent ideas for this chapter, and I couldn't have written it without
her! Thanks!
Now remember, the five are pretending not to know anything, so don't get
off track by the things I write, all right?
Chapter 43: The Second War – Part I
"What are you doing here?" asked Harry, his voice expressing just how scared he really felt. Voldemort gave a high-pitched cackle.
"'What am I doing here?' he asks. Aw, has Dumbledore not informed any of you about 'events' that will be happening?" he asked, his red eyes glinting with glee. The five students looked uncertainly at each other before turning back to Voldemort again. What did Dumbledore not tell them now?
"What do you mean?" demanded Draco forcefully. Voldemort looked at him, an evil little smile playing on his lips.
"Dumbledore has really not told you? Tsk, tsk. How shameful," he said, a bit thoughtfully, this could after all be a trap. "Do you five, the five, mean to tell me that the old fool has told you nothing about the Second War, which has already begun?" Hermione gave a whimper and Nora nearly crushed Draco's hand, which she was holding with both of hers. Ron tripped over Harry's invisibility cloak again, but fortunately remained standing this time.
"What Second War," demanded Harry angrily. Why on earth had Dumbledore not told them this!?
"Patience now, Potter, unless you want one of your friends to leave so soon already," Voldemort said maliciously, pointing his wand at Ron. Harry glared at the man, but his mouth stayed closed. "Now," began Voldemort. "I assume by your stupidly confused looks that Dumbledore has not informed you that when I arrive on these grounds and am sighted, the Second War has immediately begun?" The five weakly shook their heads. Voldemort gave another cackle. "Has he told you foolish children that you are the five, then?" he asked, glee all over his snake-like face. There was a few seconds silence.
"The what?" asked Hermione unsurely.
"The five, mudblood. The five," Voldemort told her impatiently. "You five," he said, waving his arm, indicating them, "are the five."
"And what do they do?" asked Ron stupidly. Voldemort grinned nastily.
"You defeat me. . . or at least: you try to." Ron immediately turned pale and looked like he could vomit any second.
"I thought I was the one destined to kill you," said Harry, his look icy. Voldemort gave another cackle, fingering his wand.
"Not any more, Potter, your friends are now destined to die as well, though I expect you would rather have all the attention and glory for yourself?" he told him. Harry said nothing; instead he clenched his teeth and balled his fists, anger building up inside him. "Now, where is your beloved headmaster? I don't think it's like him to leave you unprotected for so long, when he knows of the dangers that await you."
"He's probably standing somewhere near, watching you," spat Ron. In a second Voldemort's wand was aimed at him.
"Watch your tongue," said Voldemort in a soft hiss, only to be heard by them, but Ron's words had obviously had an impact for he looked around suspiciously. "You know what. I have no doubt we are being closely watched by that fool." Ron smirked; he had managed to frighten the cruelest wizard. "Materialis!" shouted Voldemort and a small orb appeared in front of them. The five looked at in fear and wonder before they felt themselves being sucked into it, though they tried with all their might to keep their feet on solid ground. When the five were all trapped in that little sphere Voldemort gave a cackle of laughter and shouted another spell. The five students felt as if they were all being pulled apart, every single bit of them. Luckily it did not hurt, but instead a nauseous feeling grew in their stomach by the second.
The next thing they knew the five landed with their feet hard on solid ground in a cold and damp dungeon where Voldemort was already waiting for them, smiling evilly, as the five toppled over onto the floor. The first thing Hermione and Nora did was vomit, and unfortunately the retching and splattering sounds it made on the cold stone floor caused Ron to throw up as well.
"Rookwood!" called Voldemort, watching the three vomiting students with disgust. A Death Eater, who they assumed to be Rookwood, walked through the door and, not watching where he stepped, marched right into Ron's breakfast and slipped, his feet flying from underneath him, causing him to fall squarely with his back in the yellowish puddle with a squelching sound. Harry and Draco could not help snorting as Hermione, Nora and Ron smiled and wiped their mouths, wishing they had brought some breath mints along with them.
"Yes, very entertaining," said Voldemort in a bored voice as the Death Eater got up and cast a scourgifying charm, glaring angrily at the five students on the floor in front of him. "Rookwood, I need you to prepare a guard for these five that will watch over them." The Death Eater nodded and left the dungeon again, carefully avoiding Ron's special made puddle. Voldemort turned to look at the five, the same evil glint in his eyes.
"I think you will all like my plan. You see, at midnight you five shall all be murdered and the Amulet of Era's around the little mudbloods neck will be mine to seize. Oh, and this castle is unknown to any other man, so no one will be able to find you-" he told them.
"How can this castle be unknown to man?" asked Hermione rather skeptically. "Surely someone knows of its existence." Voldemort looked at her with wide eyes, as if not daring to believe he, the most evil and powerful wizard in the world, had just been interrupted by a sixteen-year- old girl, but he answered all the same, as he usually did.
"This castle once belonged to Merlin long ago and he put up many safety spells to ensure that it was never found by Muggles or Wizards."
"Then how did you find it?" demanded Harry, getting up from his seat on the ground, the others following his example, watching Voldemort intently.
"Let us just say, I had some help," he replied before turning around and stopping dead in his tracks. "I nearly forgot," he said, turning around. "Expelliarmus!" Five different wands flew from five different pockets and into Voldemort's outstretched hand. He smiled nastily and then spun around and marched out of the dungeon, locking the door behind him. The five slumped hopelessly onto the ground. Now that they did not have their wands, there was no way they could escape.
"Wish he'd cleaned up our digested food before he left, though," muttered Ron.
After that it remained silent for a full hour, all of them wondering how on earth they could've just been kidnapped by Voldemort and if Dumbledore had noticed they were missing yet and, most importantly, if he knew how to rescue them. But things were looking very hopeless, since they had no wands and had never been taught how to use the Amulet to get themselves out of situations like this. Could the Amulet rescue them out of situations like this at all?
"I was wondering," said Harry. "And this has been bothering me for a very long time," he added. "If. . . how come. . ." he trailed off and looked at his hands.
"What?" asked Ron. Harry looked up at the two girls, took a deep breath and began all over.
"I was wondering, how come you two never dated anyone the entire time we were at Hogwarts. I mean, many guys would have given anything to. . . was it really because of us?" he asked, pointing at himself and Ron. Hermione and Nora stared at him as he had sprouted another head and declared he was gay.
"Erm, this isn't exactly the perfect time to discuss this," said Hermione, waving her arm, indicating they were still being held hostage by Voldemort in an unknown castle.
"But I want to know," said Harry determinedly. "I want to know if we really were as overprotective as you said, if we ruined one of the things that is most fun when you're still young." Nora sighed.
"No, you two weren't as bad as we kept saying," she said, but Harry didn't believe her.
"Ok, Harry," Hermione told him. "Let's go back a bit. All right, first year. We're new to the castle and browsing a bit for guys, but they're all too immature." Nora nodded.
"Yes, and second year, well, the guys are grown up a bit, but we're all too frightened and suspicious to make any moves because of the heir of Slytherin and all of those people being petrified," she went on.
"Third year, well, we began to browse again, but with Sirius around, and us thinking he was trying to kill you, we weren't paying much attention to the guys either, and the Dementors weren't making things better," Hermione told him, smiling consolingly.
"Then fourth year, all right, here we were trying to get a guy, but again, we were worried about you and the Triwizard Tournament and Ron was being a snot-nosed little git, so that didn't work out," Nora said, glaring playfully at Ron, who shrugged.
"Mind you, I had Victor Krum, but Ron didn't take that too well," Hermione added. "Fifth year, hmmm, yes, here you two were a right pain in the ass. No guy even dared to come close to us."
"Yeah, and now sixth year, well, you two could've given us a bit more freedom as well," Nora said thoughtfully.
"Exactly, like when you found out about me and Terry," said Hermione. "You two nearly exploded, but if we sum it up, you two weren't that bad, it's just. . . you could've backed off just the tiniest bit." Harry smiled.
"Well, you could've kept your cool a lot more with Draco," Nora told him sternly, but when Harry opened his mouth to argue, she added smiling, "But I completely understand."
"Group hug!" said Draco, and he flung his arms open. The others looked at him, eyebrows raised, trying to contain their laughter. Nora was the only one who actually bothered to give him a hug, but Draco did not seem to mind at all.
"What time is it?" asked Hermione, smiling at Nora and Draco, who did not let his girlfriend go.
"Nearly two o'clock," replied Harry. "Still ten hours to go until we die and ruin everyone's future."
"I know!" exclaimed Ron excitedly. "Let's play a game!"
"Of what?" asked Harry. Ron shrugged. Hermione looked at them as if they were crazy.
"What?" asked Ron, when he noticed her staring.
"Don't you guys think it's a little bit. . . weird to be playing games when what we really should be doing is. . . I dunno, planning a way of escaping?" she asked. Ron shrugged for the third time in less than five minutes.
"Hermione, face it," said Harry. "We can't escape and we might as well spend the last bit of our lives doing something fun than thinking about what awaits us."
"Oh, I know!" exclaimed Draco. "We could ask each other questions. . . it'd be like truth or truth."
"Excellent!" boomed Ron and he seated himself more comfortably, looking at the others with an eager expression on his face, wanting to know who would begin. Hermione spluttered a protest but she was outnumbered by four to one so she heaved a sigh and seated herself in the circle the others had formed.
"Who begins?" asked Harry, his emerald green eyes gliding over his friends.
"I will," said Hermione promptly, already having a question in mind, something she'd been dying to ask for a while now. "All right, Harry, or Ron, why did you two have such a problem with Draco, when he and Nora began to date?" Nora frowned at Hermione but looked eagerly at Harry and Ron all the same.
"We have a problem with everyone you date," replied Ron simply.
"Not as much as with Draco," argued Nora.
"Well," said Harry, and by the look on his face, she knew he wasn't going to say something she'd like to hear. "You see, we," he indicated to Ron and himself, "never forgot about the time when we found out in the beginning of sixth year that he, erm. . . 'touched' you, er. . . in places." By the end of Harry's sentence, which had taken a rather long time, Nora was blushing a deep crimson and Draco looked as if he'd rather the earth opened up and swallowed him whole.
"That seems fair," said Hermione airily.
"Don't get me wrong, we like you know," Harry told Draco, who did not dare look anyone straight into the eyes and was instead studying his hands.
"Now one of you goes," said Hermione, pointing to Ron and Harry.
"I'll go," said Harry, now intently watching Nora, who was still blushing. "Do you regret Dean died?" Nora's eyes widened in surprise and it looked as if they could pop out any second. Hermione was watching her friend, head tilted to the side, Draco was watching Nora out of the corner of his eyes, not really wanting to know the answer, and Ron was frowning at Harry. What on earth was this going to accomplish? For all they knew she'd break down once more. It took quite some time, while Nora thought the question over, before she shook her head.
"Not anymore," she whispered. Draco heaved an audible sigh of relief and she stroked his head, smiling lovingly at him before kissing him gently. Harry gave a fake cough.
"Get a room," he said when they looked up. Draco raised an eyebrow and Harry seemed to know exactly what he was thinking because he added, "On second thought: don't." Nora rolled her eyes.
"Ron," she said. "With who in the whole world would you want to spend your final hours with?" Ron grinned.
"With you guys," he replied simply.
"Not even with Lavender?" asked Hermione. Ron thought this over before slowly shaking his head.
"No, it'd just cause me more grief, and besides, I've been best friends with you guys, except for Draco, for a lot longer than I've been dating her. . . who would you rather spend your last hours with?" he asked Hermione, who thought it over for a while.
"You guys and Terry. Harry?"
"You guys. Nora?"
"You four, of course. Draco?"
"Same. Now, who in here thinks Voldemort is really, really ugly?" he asked in a low voice, a look of disgust on his face. The others laughed before raising their hands in the air.
"Did you see those red eyes?" asked Ron.
"Or that nose," added Harry.
"His whole face is just completely hideous," said Hermione.
"I never knew someone could actually be so revolting," said Nora thoughtfully.
"Yes, yes," Ron said impatiently. "I've never done karaoke." The others looked at him in confusion until Hermione and Nora slowly raised their hands. "Right, now when was that?" asked Ron interestedly.
"I bet you're just dying for a chance to make fun of us about that since you found out about it, aren't you?" said Hermione. Ron nodded his head vigorously.
The five of them continued talking, sitting in a circle on the ground, and slowly time passed in the cold, damp and smelly, due to the puddles of vomit still lying on the ground, dungeon. It was almost impossible to think that these five. . . well, you could hardly call them children, were managing to still get in a few laughs as their final hours came ever closer.
It was just past six o'clock when the Dungeon door was slammed open and Harry and Ron, their backs facing the entrance, spun their heads around to see who had entered. Voldemort stood there, glowering down on them. Death Eaters could be seen standing in the hall outside, in case they ever tried to escape.
"I have come to bring you your final meal," Voldemort told them. "Now, sometimes hostages are allowed to choose what their final meal contains but since I am neither in the mood nor patient enough to list all of your wishes, you will have to do with what is served." Voldemort waved his wand lazily and a tray of food appeared on the floor, in the middle of the five's circle. Voldemort then turned around, his cloak fluttering behind him, and exited the dungeon again, locking the door. The five were silent for a while and looked at the food, which could be poisoned.
"I'll risk it," said Ron after a while. "We're going to die in six hours anyway." When he did not drop dead after swallowing the bite of chicken, the others took a few careful bites as well. Unlike what they had expected, the food wasn't half bad, but there was room for improvement.
"I can guess what Ron is going to miss when we're all dead," muttered Hermione darkly. Ron just shrugged.
"We can all guess what you're going to miss. I doubt they have libraries up there," he retorted.
"All right, let's not begin fighting again, ok? It'd be a shame spending our last hours filled with hate," said Harry. Hermione and Ron looked down in shame, before nodding their agreement not to bicker.
The food Voldemort had conjured was completely gone half an hour later and the five sat gloomily in a circle, the happy moods that had filled them earlier gone. They all seemed to be thinking of what they could do to pass time but nothing entered their heads except the horrible fate that awaited the world when the only ones who could save them were gone.
"I wonder if my mum's been informed yet," thought Ron out loud. "I bet you could hear her wailing all the way here."
"My parents would probably just mourn a bit and then move on, for Lily," said Nora gloomily.
"I have no parents, so no mourning for me," Harry told them.
"A-hem," said Ron, hands in his hips. "What about mine?" Harry slapped himself on the forehead.
"How could I forget? Well, lots of mourning for me, then."
"My mum would probably die," said Draco. He went on when the others frowned at him. "She's already lost my father and sister to Voldemort."
"I guess my father would lock himself up forever," Hermione said.
More time passed slowly as they spent it in silence. There were no windows in the dungeon, which was rather small, but because it was of a weak build, they could tell it was stormy weather for they heard the wind howling and the rain hitting the walls hardly. It turned colder as the sun slowly set and there was a small draft as well. It was nearing 8 o'clock when Hermione was struck by the brilliant ideas only she could have.
"We should use the Amulet to escape," she stated bluntly.
"Excuse me?" asked Ron sleepily, watching her with a puzzled expression on his face.
"The Amulet of Era's," Hermione said impatiently. "We should use it to escape. I mean, it's really powerful, which is why Voldemort wants it so badly, so it can probably help us escape, if we know how to."
"She's got a point," agreed Nora.
"But how do we know how to use it?" asked Harry. "I mean, if we try something, that thing could send us into the future, or the past."
"Good," said Ron. "Maybe that way we can stop the snaky git from becoming so evil and powerful."
"No, Ron," said Hermione seriously. "We can't go into the past and change it, because only the slightest alteration can amend the present as we know it now. I mean, we might not even be born if anything goes different."
"Oh," said Ron rather stupidly.
"But how do we try stuff without sending us into a different time?" asked Draco.
"I don't know," said Hermione, slightly exhausted.
"First you could try holding the Amulet and wishing us out of here," suggested Harry. Hermione shrugged, held the Amulet in her hand, immediately regaining strength in the process, and closed her eyes, desperately wishing them out of this morbid situation. But nothing happened and she looked around the small group for more suggestions.
"You could try wishing it out loud," implied Ron. Hermione did, but still nothing happened, and she felt rather ridiculous.
"How about demanding it to bring us somewhere safe?" recommended Nora, actually just wanting to see her friend making a fool out of herself. Demanding did not work, either, though.
"Maybe you should ask it nicely," said Draco and Hermione was about to when she glared at him.
"Be serious!" she exclaimed, wishing she had a pillow, or something a bit harder, like a brick, to chuck at him. Draco grinned. "Come on you guys, I really want to get out of here," Hermione begged.
"So do we, but if we don't know how to, there's not much we can do, can we?" said Harry. Hermione shook her head and sighed.
"You know," said Ron quietly. "I don't want to get out of here to survive, I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm terrified of dying so soon, but I'd rather save all of those innocent people and be murdered, than saving my own neck and watching Voldemort destroy them all." There was a strained silence for a moment until the cord around Hermione's neck broke and her Amulet fell in the middle of their circle. Before they had time to react, though, a bright, white light shot through the dungeon and an elderly wizard, no taller or skinnier than Dumbledore arose from the now swirling colors of black, blue, purple and green. The five scrambled backwards and Draco wrapped his arms protectively around Nora.
When the light faded away the man picked the Amulet up and inspected it, a slight smile on his aged and wrinkled face. He then inspected the students sitting on the floor, all gazing frightened up at him.
"Merlin," whispered Ron, gazing at the Amulet in the man's hands and then at the man, wondering how on earth he had gotten out of there.
"Quite right," the old man said.
"Excuse me?" said Harry, confused.
"I said: Quite right," repeated the wizened man, magically fixing the cord that had snapped.
"Why?" asked Nora. "Why is he quite right?" The man looked at her in disbelief, before speaking again.
"I am Merlin."
. . .
The silence that followed was as loud as silence could be. In the dungeon everyone was completely quiet, staring at the old man as if he was mad, which he probably was, but outside the Death Eaters could be heard holding noisy conversations and the rain pounded loudly on the walls as the wind howled eerily as if someone was constantly being tortured by the Cruciatus Curse.
"But you're dead," spluttered Hermione after a while. Merlin turned to her, smiling, something that did not suit him well, and walked over to her. She whimpered but stopped when he held out the hand that contained her Amulet. Hermione took it and tied it around her neck.
"I would say you are the brightest here. It radiates off of you, I can feel it," Merlin said before answering her question. "Yes, I passed away many centuries ago, but that does not mean my spirit does not wander around."
"But your solid," argued Hermione, clearly forgetting she was talking to someone both very respected and dead.
"Yes, I am. Upon passing through my very own Amulet of Eras, which I am glad has fallen into the right hands, I returned to my old body," replied Merlin, not at all bothered by Hermione's straightforwardness.
"And why or how did you pass through it?" she asked interestedly. Merlin gave her another smile at this.
"My dear Hermione, not all happens for a cause, something you still need to discover. . . but I believe I was called?" he asked, gazing at the five, all of whom shrugged. "And I believe it was Ron who nearly screamed for a little outside help with his brave words. Exactly why you were sorted into Gryffindor." Ron smiled proudly.
"How do you know our names?" asked Hermione.
"I know everything," came Merlin's simple reply. "I see some of you had a little nausea?" he added, looking at the, now dried up puddles of vomit still lying on the ground. Hermione, Nora and Ron blushed a little. "Now, you want to escape Voldemort, I presume?" The five nodded and Merlin smiled proudly upon them all before gazing rather hatefully at Draco. "A Malfoy. . . how did he get in between this?" Draco seemed at a loss for words and coward underneath Merlin's glare.
"He's with us," said Nora at once. "And he's not at all like his father. . . but I thought you knew everything?" she asked, one eyebrow raised. Merlin smiled at this.
"I admit, I know not all, but most of it, I do. Now, you five wish to escape from my castle and battle the Second War to save the innocent, do you not?" The five nodded eagerly. Maybe they weren't doomed at all. Maybe they had a chance of escaping at last!
"Yes, but there are Death Eaters guarding this dungeon and I'll bet anything there are more walking around the castle and Voldemort will know if we escape," said Harry uncertainly. Merlin raised a finger and waved it slightly.
"Ah, yes. But I will be here to guide you," he told them, grinning slyly. "I will take care of the Death Eaters and possibly Voldemort, but you have to find your way out of the castle yourself, for I cannot stay in my ancient body longer than a small couple of hours. When you are out of this castle, immediately Apparate to Hatsrowg, for Dumbledore will be concerned about your well-being, and give him my kind regards." The others wondered how he knew their headmaster, since there was a rather large time space between them, but they did not ask and instead nodded obediently, butterflies fluttering once again more than nervously in their stomach.
"Is this castle large and, perhaps, dangerous, Merlin?" asked Harry, feeling he'd rather know before hand if they were doomed to wander around for eternity or able meet a fatal death behind any door. Merlin turned to look at him.
"Alas, this castle is oversize and filled with dangers you know not of, but if luck, and my Amulet, are with you, the path will easy and you shall have little trouble finding your way out," he told them before wishing them immense luck and blowing the door in front of them away by magic. Instantly Death Eaters ran inside but they stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the ancient man in there with them. Merlin did not explain his presence but gave a small flick with both hands and the two Death Eaters flew into the air with such force that they crashed painfully into the not so sturdy walls, which shook threateningly. The five students looked in aw.
"I will hurry through my castle and rid it of the pests that have settled in. You five will have to find your way on your own, but if trouble is deep, call me with the Amulet and I shall help." Merlin strode away in quick strides, the five taking the same route, but slower and more careful. For the first few corridors they saw nothing else, but when they turned a right, two more Death Eaters lay unconscious on the blood red carpet. They carefully stepped over them and continued their slow escape, still dazzled on how sudden help had come.
The castle, clammy and cold as the dungeon, was completely dark since there were no candles, neither on the wall nor in midair, to light it and sight was only minimum because of the small rays of moonlight that were able to break through the with dust covered windows. Occasionally they would trip over something lying on the ground, but they did not look closer to see what it was, in case a dead rat, or even worse, lay there.
Whenever any suspicious sounds were heard, the five all raised their wand hands, only to realize seconds later that it contained no wand and they were forced to peer into the looming darkness for anything odd or dangerous. This was definitely not the way they liked to do things, but they were left no choice but to use the old Muggle ways of wandering around ghostly castles that would be their death.
"What now?" asked Harry when they reached a dead end, which Ron walked into first before confirming their suspicions that there was a wall blocking their path. "Should we risk opening any doors?"
"I think we should, maybe it contains a shortcut, and you heard what Merlin told us," said Draco while Ron carefully rubbed his now somewhat painful forehead. "If we're lucky and have the Amulet, we'll be protected from the dangers."
"I doubt luck has been with us so far," muttered Harry in reply, insinuating Voldemort's murders, as Hermione walked over to the nearest door on the right and opened it. She peered inside but, without any light, could not see anything.
"If only I had my wand!" she muttered furiously, slamming the door shut behind her. Immediately there was a loud grunt and a howl from behind it and they backed away from the room in shock.
"Great," said Ron. "Waking up whatever it is behind there so it can crash through the door and eat us all!" But there were no sounds telling them something was trying to break out and all they could hear when they walked back out of the corridor was the constant howling. It went well after that. They entered different corridors and none of them contained doors or dead ends, so they walked straight on before realizing they had already passed that round-shaped, grubby window with the cross drawn in the dust.
"God damn it!" cried Nora in frustration as they backtracked a couple of corridors and then chose the third, and last corridor, from the three available. The other two they had already tried. But the third corridor contained only one door at the end of it and they did not trust the scraping sounds coming from behind it, so the five retraced their steps even more until arriving at the statue of a mighty, but sleeping, dragon again.
"Secret passage way?" suggested Harry.
"Secret password," reminded Draco. Harry frowned.
"We could always guess," he then said.
"Dragon," said Ron promptly, but nothing happened. Hermione looked as if he had given her an idea.
"Draco," she said smiling.
"Yes?" Draco asked but Hermione shook her head, pointing at the statue. The dragon had gotten up. It shook his head sleepily and roared ferociously before lying down to sleep again. Somewhere around them a loud rumbling noise erupted and the five students looked around to see if a secret passageway had appeared, but none had.
"What about in the other corridors?" asked Nora. "Maybe the rumbling came from one of them." They walked away from the now soundlessly sleeping dragon and split up to walk into the other corridors.
"Over here!" shouted Harry relieved. The round, filthy window with the cross drawn in its dirt had opened up to reveal a large corridor, which did not seem as grubby as the others, but in the darkness, there were no windows at all, it was hard to tell. The other four hurried over to him and together they stepped into the other corridor, feeling they were nearing the exit. Strangely enough, they did not come across any other unconscious Death Eaters.
Again, for a while, they crossed nothing but vacant, drafty corridors and hope was beginning to grow faint once more. Minutes flew by as they wandered through the large castle, clinging closely together, not stumbling upon any other Death Eaters, which worried them somewhat. When Harry looked at his watch again, to see how long they'd been walking, it was almost 12 o'clock and a feeling of panic settled in his stomach. Voldemort would enter the dungeon any moment now to find they'd escape. . . and if he found them they'd surely be dead, since they were completely defenseless without their wands.
"We should hurry up," said Hermione, thinking along the same lines. The others nodded and they quickened their pace, reaching yet another dead end. Without even discussing it with the others they all walked up to a different door and opened it, peering carefully inside, ready to pull their heads back and slamming the door shut if something decided to have them for a midnight snack. All five sighed and closed the door of the room they'd been inspecting, looking hopelessly at each other. But there was one door they had not opened and so, hopes high, they walked over to it.
"Ouch!" muttered Harry and Draco together as one slapped a hand on his scar and the other on his Dark Mark.
"We really should hurry," said Harry, sounding more frightened that before. "Voldemort's furious, which means he's seen the empty dungeon by now." The others nodded and Ron pulled the door open before walking into the room, not even checking to see if it was dangerous or not. Luckily there was no murderous beast in there, but only another door, which they immediately walked through, finding themselves in another large corridor. They were definitely on the right track now and hurried through more corridors, and down the first staircase they could find. After all, when being chased, never go up, always down; there was no escaping if you end up on the roof of a 20-story building.
"In here," said Harry, making a sudden left. The more complicated the route they took was, the harder it'd be for Voldemort to find them. It seemed ages until they found another staircase and when they finally finished clambering down it, a couple of stories, thank Merlin, it was already one thirty a.m. and they were feeling quite frustrated.
"You may have delayed your deaths for an hour or so, but that is the longest," came a high-pitched voice from behind them when they ran into an enormous hall. The five of them spun around simultaneously and stared Voldemort in the eyes.
"Says who?" asked Harry stupidly, not being able to come up with a better retort.
"Me!" snapped Voldemort icily. "Avada Kedavra!" The five stood stupidly huddled together, arms limply by their sides, and if they still had had their wands, they would've been too slow to save themselves. But the Amulet was there and it cast a protective shield around them, the Unforgivable rebounding off of it, straight towards the ceiling, which, being very ancient, gave way and collapsed in between the two different sides.
"Let's go!" ordered Harry and he ran out of the hall, the others right at his heels. Voldemort's furious screeches could still be heard when they rounded the corner and entered what simply had to be the entrance to this horrible castle. They stormed through the double doors and, with a feeling of relief, found themselves in a beautiful garden with the largest fountain in the middle they had ever seen. The beauty of the outside was simply breathtaking after having been stuck in the olden castle for so long, but even though they had freedom again, they did not Disapparate, since their wands were still with Voldemort.
It was chilly outside and there was a strong breeze of cold wind along with threatening sounds of thunder overhead, coming from the cloudy, overcast sky. A few raindrops fell here and there, but the rainstorm would be held until later on that night, or very early morning.
"I am glad to see you have made it," said Merlin, appearing in front of them, but he seemed older, grayer and less powerful than before. His voice trembled with every word and his appearance was vaguer than they remembered it to be. He gave a wave with his hand, though not the same fluid motion like earlier, but five wands appeared floating in mid air none the less and their owners ran forward and grabbed them, thanking Merlin.
"We made it," said Hermione softly. Merlin nodded, fading away very slowly.
"I stayed many hours, longer than predicted, and my final minutes are drawing to a close. You will be able to call me when I have regained the greater part of my energy again, but it will take time," he told them, becoming more and more vague. "Apparate immediately to Hatsrowg and give Dumbledore my kind regards and, remember, when you five touch the Amulet simultaneously, you w. . ." but he faded away into nothingness and so did his voice and his last words could not be heard as they stared at the spot in front of the fountain where he had stood moments before.
"What happens when we touch it at the same time, do you think?" whispered Nora, holding on tightly to Draco's hand. The others shrugged.
"Let's go, I bet Dumbledore is dead worried about us," said Ron. The others nodded and together the five Disapparated without giving their surroundings a second glance, and if only they had looked back, they would have seen it.
A/N: All right, I was going to leave you guys here, but since most of you hate cliffhangers, I'm just pausing for the 'effect'. Besides, the continuance after this cliffhanger is really lousy and it'd be stupid to begin another chapter with it. . .
The five all appeared in the meadow in front of the castle of Hatsrowg, scattered over the large field; landing accurately was harder when traveling long distance. It was after they had all orientated to their surroundings again, that they saw a jet of green light streaking straight towards Ron, who looked at it in surprise and wonder; had it Apparated with them? Draco was the only one who was not rooted to the spot in shock and he quickly Disapparated and Apparated beside Ron, before Disapparating yet again, taking Ron with him, only a millisecond before the Avada Kedavra curse streaked through the spot where they had just been and, not being held up by anyone anymore, it shot towards the forest and hit a tree, which burst into flames, lighting the pitch-black and stormy night. Hermione quickly extinguished it with her wand while Ron would not stop stammering his thanks to Draco, whom he would be less hostile to in the future.
"Are you all right?" asked Nora when she and Harry had Apparated over to Ron and Draco.
"Yeah, fine," panted Ron, who was trying to stop his heart from beating so rapidly.
"Did anyone notice we took that killing curse with us when we Apparated here?" questioned Harry, looking around the group as Hermione Apparated over as well, having fully extinguished the tree, which was now partly scorched.
"Well, it must have been dead close if it Apparated with us, and it's really lucky we Disapparated when we did, or one of us would've been dead," said Hermione, before adding thoughtfully, "and we're all very lucky it's harder to Apparate accurately over a long distance, because otherwise we'd still have been huddled together with that curse and then it'd have been impossible to escape and one of us would've been dead as well." They stood in silence for a few moments as the thunderous sky continued to rumble noisily.
"So what happens now?" asked Draco loudly over a crash of thunder. He was still rather pale in the face out of shock and his heart wouldn't quit hammering inside his chest anytime soon.
"We all go inside and wait for Voldemort to return," said Dumbledore softly from behind them, smiling proudly. "I daresay you could all use a healthy bite to eat and a good night's sleep." He Disapparated and the five felt themselves pulled along with him, into the Dining Room, where they were all forced to eat before being pushed into bed by professor McGonagall who would not stop telling them how worried she had been and how they should quit breaking the rules for once, because it'll only get them into an even bigger mess.
The five were extremely relieved when she finally left and they bade each other goodnight, feeling completely exhausted, before entering their own rooms, except Draco, who slept in Nora's bed.
A/N: Yay, another chapter done! Now, this was almost completely done a lot earlier, but I had gotten so busy that I couldn't finish it up until now, I really hope you guys don't mind, but I did say I'd be taking longer to write, because there's only 1 ½ weeks left until my end-of-term exams are here again and if I don't get good grades, I'll fail, and I don't wanna.
I am proud to say that I am, slowly but surely, nearing my goal of an average of 2 reviews per chapter! =D Wonder if I make it by the end of this story, lol.
Dumbeldave – I updated, though I know it wasn't that soon, sorry. Hope you had enough patience to wait this long, but this way you had time to rid your nose of the all the Pepsi that went through it, right? =D Oh, right, thanks for reading and reviewing!
Athenakitty – In some cultures they do eat snake, but I don't think any of those live in England, or somewhere in that region. It was a good suggestion though, but Nagini may have a(n important) part later on, so I'll let her live for now. I guess this shows their plan failed miserably. Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Skins Thunderbomb – It's ok if you haven't had that much time, as you have noticed, by the lack of me updating, neither have I! So we're even. And I was wondering, perhaps you have heard of an eatable substance called fruit? Maybe you should try eating that instead of chocolate. =P Glad to hear my story keeps getting better; it did suck in the beginning, didn't it? That's probably what scared most readers away, anywho, you already gave me great advice, even though you were low on inspiration. . . maybe you have some idea's on the more active part of the Second War, where they all fight? I do have something, but help couldn't hurt, right? Thanks for reading and reviewing! And for giving me some great idea's.
Chapter 43: The Second War – Part I
"What are you doing here?" asked Harry, his voice expressing just how scared he really felt. Voldemort gave a high-pitched cackle.
"'What am I doing here?' he asks. Aw, has Dumbledore not informed any of you about 'events' that will be happening?" he asked, his red eyes glinting with glee. The five students looked uncertainly at each other before turning back to Voldemort again. What did Dumbledore not tell them now?
"What do you mean?" demanded Draco forcefully. Voldemort looked at him, an evil little smile playing on his lips.
"Dumbledore has really not told you? Tsk, tsk. How shameful," he said, a bit thoughtfully, this could after all be a trap. "Do you five, the five, mean to tell me that the old fool has told you nothing about the Second War, which has already begun?" Hermione gave a whimper and Nora nearly crushed Draco's hand, which she was holding with both of hers. Ron tripped over Harry's invisibility cloak again, but fortunately remained standing this time.
"What Second War," demanded Harry angrily. Why on earth had Dumbledore not told them this!?
"Patience now, Potter, unless you want one of your friends to leave so soon already," Voldemort said maliciously, pointing his wand at Ron. Harry glared at the man, but his mouth stayed closed. "Now," began Voldemort. "I assume by your stupidly confused looks that Dumbledore has not informed you that when I arrive on these grounds and am sighted, the Second War has immediately begun?" The five weakly shook their heads. Voldemort gave another cackle. "Has he told you foolish children that you are the five, then?" he asked, glee all over his snake-like face. There was a few seconds silence.
"The what?" asked Hermione unsurely.
"The five, mudblood. The five," Voldemort told her impatiently. "You five," he said, waving his arm, indicating them, "are the five."
"And what do they do?" asked Ron stupidly. Voldemort grinned nastily.
"You defeat me. . . or at least: you try to." Ron immediately turned pale and looked like he could vomit any second.
"I thought I was the one destined to kill you," said Harry, his look icy. Voldemort gave another cackle, fingering his wand.
"Not any more, Potter, your friends are now destined to die as well, though I expect you would rather have all the attention and glory for yourself?" he told him. Harry said nothing; instead he clenched his teeth and balled his fists, anger building up inside him. "Now, where is your beloved headmaster? I don't think it's like him to leave you unprotected for so long, when he knows of the dangers that await you."
"He's probably standing somewhere near, watching you," spat Ron. In a second Voldemort's wand was aimed at him.
"Watch your tongue," said Voldemort in a soft hiss, only to be heard by them, but Ron's words had obviously had an impact for he looked around suspiciously. "You know what. I have no doubt we are being closely watched by that fool." Ron smirked; he had managed to frighten the cruelest wizard. "Materialis!" shouted Voldemort and a small orb appeared in front of them. The five looked at in fear and wonder before they felt themselves being sucked into it, though they tried with all their might to keep their feet on solid ground. When the five were all trapped in that little sphere Voldemort gave a cackle of laughter and shouted another spell. The five students felt as if they were all being pulled apart, every single bit of them. Luckily it did not hurt, but instead a nauseous feeling grew in their stomach by the second.
The next thing they knew the five landed with their feet hard on solid ground in a cold and damp dungeon where Voldemort was already waiting for them, smiling evilly, as the five toppled over onto the floor. The first thing Hermione and Nora did was vomit, and unfortunately the retching and splattering sounds it made on the cold stone floor caused Ron to throw up as well.
"Rookwood!" called Voldemort, watching the three vomiting students with disgust. A Death Eater, who they assumed to be Rookwood, walked through the door and, not watching where he stepped, marched right into Ron's breakfast and slipped, his feet flying from underneath him, causing him to fall squarely with his back in the yellowish puddle with a squelching sound. Harry and Draco could not help snorting as Hermione, Nora and Ron smiled and wiped their mouths, wishing they had brought some breath mints along with them.
"Yes, very entertaining," said Voldemort in a bored voice as the Death Eater got up and cast a scourgifying charm, glaring angrily at the five students on the floor in front of him. "Rookwood, I need you to prepare a guard for these five that will watch over them." The Death Eater nodded and left the dungeon again, carefully avoiding Ron's special made puddle. Voldemort turned to look at the five, the same evil glint in his eyes.
"I think you will all like my plan. You see, at midnight you five shall all be murdered and the Amulet of Era's around the little mudbloods neck will be mine to seize. Oh, and this castle is unknown to any other man, so no one will be able to find you-" he told them.
"How can this castle be unknown to man?" asked Hermione rather skeptically. "Surely someone knows of its existence." Voldemort looked at her with wide eyes, as if not daring to believe he, the most evil and powerful wizard in the world, had just been interrupted by a sixteen-year- old girl, but he answered all the same, as he usually did.
"This castle once belonged to Merlin long ago and he put up many safety spells to ensure that it was never found by Muggles or Wizards."
"Then how did you find it?" demanded Harry, getting up from his seat on the ground, the others following his example, watching Voldemort intently.
"Let us just say, I had some help," he replied before turning around and stopping dead in his tracks. "I nearly forgot," he said, turning around. "Expelliarmus!" Five different wands flew from five different pockets and into Voldemort's outstretched hand. He smiled nastily and then spun around and marched out of the dungeon, locking the door behind him. The five slumped hopelessly onto the ground. Now that they did not have their wands, there was no way they could escape.
"Wish he'd cleaned up our digested food before he left, though," muttered Ron.
After that it remained silent for a full hour, all of them wondering how on earth they could've just been kidnapped by Voldemort and if Dumbledore had noticed they were missing yet and, most importantly, if he knew how to rescue them. But things were looking very hopeless, since they had no wands and had never been taught how to use the Amulet to get themselves out of situations like this. Could the Amulet rescue them out of situations like this at all?
"I was wondering," said Harry. "And this has been bothering me for a very long time," he added. "If. . . how come. . ." he trailed off and looked at his hands.
"What?" asked Ron. Harry looked up at the two girls, took a deep breath and began all over.
"I was wondering, how come you two never dated anyone the entire time we were at Hogwarts. I mean, many guys would have given anything to. . . was it really because of us?" he asked, pointing at himself and Ron. Hermione and Nora stared at him as he had sprouted another head and declared he was gay.
"Erm, this isn't exactly the perfect time to discuss this," said Hermione, waving her arm, indicating they were still being held hostage by Voldemort in an unknown castle.
"But I want to know," said Harry determinedly. "I want to know if we really were as overprotective as you said, if we ruined one of the things that is most fun when you're still young." Nora sighed.
"No, you two weren't as bad as we kept saying," she said, but Harry didn't believe her.
"Ok, Harry," Hermione told him. "Let's go back a bit. All right, first year. We're new to the castle and browsing a bit for guys, but they're all too immature." Nora nodded.
"Yes, and second year, well, the guys are grown up a bit, but we're all too frightened and suspicious to make any moves because of the heir of Slytherin and all of those people being petrified," she went on.
"Third year, well, we began to browse again, but with Sirius around, and us thinking he was trying to kill you, we weren't paying much attention to the guys either, and the Dementors weren't making things better," Hermione told him, smiling consolingly.
"Then fourth year, all right, here we were trying to get a guy, but again, we were worried about you and the Triwizard Tournament and Ron was being a snot-nosed little git, so that didn't work out," Nora said, glaring playfully at Ron, who shrugged.
"Mind you, I had Victor Krum, but Ron didn't take that too well," Hermione added. "Fifth year, hmmm, yes, here you two were a right pain in the ass. No guy even dared to come close to us."
"Yeah, and now sixth year, well, you two could've given us a bit more freedom as well," Nora said thoughtfully.
"Exactly, like when you found out about me and Terry," said Hermione. "You two nearly exploded, but if we sum it up, you two weren't that bad, it's just. . . you could've backed off just the tiniest bit." Harry smiled.
"Well, you could've kept your cool a lot more with Draco," Nora told him sternly, but when Harry opened his mouth to argue, she added smiling, "But I completely understand."
"Group hug!" said Draco, and he flung his arms open. The others looked at him, eyebrows raised, trying to contain their laughter. Nora was the only one who actually bothered to give him a hug, but Draco did not seem to mind at all.
"What time is it?" asked Hermione, smiling at Nora and Draco, who did not let his girlfriend go.
"Nearly two o'clock," replied Harry. "Still ten hours to go until we die and ruin everyone's future."
"I know!" exclaimed Ron excitedly. "Let's play a game!"
"Of what?" asked Harry. Ron shrugged. Hermione looked at them as if they were crazy.
"What?" asked Ron, when he noticed her staring.
"Don't you guys think it's a little bit. . . weird to be playing games when what we really should be doing is. . . I dunno, planning a way of escaping?" she asked. Ron shrugged for the third time in less than five minutes.
"Hermione, face it," said Harry. "We can't escape and we might as well spend the last bit of our lives doing something fun than thinking about what awaits us."
"Oh, I know!" exclaimed Draco. "We could ask each other questions. . . it'd be like truth or truth."
"Excellent!" boomed Ron and he seated himself more comfortably, looking at the others with an eager expression on his face, wanting to know who would begin. Hermione spluttered a protest but she was outnumbered by four to one so she heaved a sigh and seated herself in the circle the others had formed.
"Who begins?" asked Harry, his emerald green eyes gliding over his friends.
"I will," said Hermione promptly, already having a question in mind, something she'd been dying to ask for a while now. "All right, Harry, or Ron, why did you two have such a problem with Draco, when he and Nora began to date?" Nora frowned at Hermione but looked eagerly at Harry and Ron all the same.
"We have a problem with everyone you date," replied Ron simply.
"Not as much as with Draco," argued Nora.
"Well," said Harry, and by the look on his face, she knew he wasn't going to say something she'd like to hear. "You see, we," he indicated to Ron and himself, "never forgot about the time when we found out in the beginning of sixth year that he, erm. . . 'touched' you, er. . . in places." By the end of Harry's sentence, which had taken a rather long time, Nora was blushing a deep crimson and Draco looked as if he'd rather the earth opened up and swallowed him whole.
"That seems fair," said Hermione airily.
"Don't get me wrong, we like you know," Harry told Draco, who did not dare look anyone straight into the eyes and was instead studying his hands.
"Now one of you goes," said Hermione, pointing to Ron and Harry.
"I'll go," said Harry, now intently watching Nora, who was still blushing. "Do you regret Dean died?" Nora's eyes widened in surprise and it looked as if they could pop out any second. Hermione was watching her friend, head tilted to the side, Draco was watching Nora out of the corner of his eyes, not really wanting to know the answer, and Ron was frowning at Harry. What on earth was this going to accomplish? For all they knew she'd break down once more. It took quite some time, while Nora thought the question over, before she shook her head.
"Not anymore," she whispered. Draco heaved an audible sigh of relief and she stroked his head, smiling lovingly at him before kissing him gently. Harry gave a fake cough.
"Get a room," he said when they looked up. Draco raised an eyebrow and Harry seemed to know exactly what he was thinking because he added, "On second thought: don't." Nora rolled her eyes.
"Ron," she said. "With who in the whole world would you want to spend your final hours with?" Ron grinned.
"With you guys," he replied simply.
"Not even with Lavender?" asked Hermione. Ron thought this over before slowly shaking his head.
"No, it'd just cause me more grief, and besides, I've been best friends with you guys, except for Draco, for a lot longer than I've been dating her. . . who would you rather spend your last hours with?" he asked Hermione, who thought it over for a while.
"You guys and Terry. Harry?"
"You guys. Nora?"
"You four, of course. Draco?"
"Same. Now, who in here thinks Voldemort is really, really ugly?" he asked in a low voice, a look of disgust on his face. The others laughed before raising their hands in the air.
"Did you see those red eyes?" asked Ron.
"Or that nose," added Harry.
"His whole face is just completely hideous," said Hermione.
"I never knew someone could actually be so revolting," said Nora thoughtfully.
"Yes, yes," Ron said impatiently. "I've never done karaoke." The others looked at him in confusion until Hermione and Nora slowly raised their hands. "Right, now when was that?" asked Ron interestedly.
"I bet you're just dying for a chance to make fun of us about that since you found out about it, aren't you?" said Hermione. Ron nodded his head vigorously.
The five of them continued talking, sitting in a circle on the ground, and slowly time passed in the cold, damp and smelly, due to the puddles of vomit still lying on the ground, dungeon. It was almost impossible to think that these five. . . well, you could hardly call them children, were managing to still get in a few laughs as their final hours came ever closer.
It was just past six o'clock when the Dungeon door was slammed open and Harry and Ron, their backs facing the entrance, spun their heads around to see who had entered. Voldemort stood there, glowering down on them. Death Eaters could be seen standing in the hall outside, in case they ever tried to escape.
"I have come to bring you your final meal," Voldemort told them. "Now, sometimes hostages are allowed to choose what their final meal contains but since I am neither in the mood nor patient enough to list all of your wishes, you will have to do with what is served." Voldemort waved his wand lazily and a tray of food appeared on the floor, in the middle of the five's circle. Voldemort then turned around, his cloak fluttering behind him, and exited the dungeon again, locking the door. The five were silent for a while and looked at the food, which could be poisoned.
"I'll risk it," said Ron after a while. "We're going to die in six hours anyway." When he did not drop dead after swallowing the bite of chicken, the others took a few careful bites as well. Unlike what they had expected, the food wasn't half bad, but there was room for improvement.
"I can guess what Ron is going to miss when we're all dead," muttered Hermione darkly. Ron just shrugged.
"We can all guess what you're going to miss. I doubt they have libraries up there," he retorted.
"All right, let's not begin fighting again, ok? It'd be a shame spending our last hours filled with hate," said Harry. Hermione and Ron looked down in shame, before nodding their agreement not to bicker.
The food Voldemort had conjured was completely gone half an hour later and the five sat gloomily in a circle, the happy moods that had filled them earlier gone. They all seemed to be thinking of what they could do to pass time but nothing entered their heads except the horrible fate that awaited the world when the only ones who could save them were gone.
"I wonder if my mum's been informed yet," thought Ron out loud. "I bet you could hear her wailing all the way here."
"My parents would probably just mourn a bit and then move on, for Lily," said Nora gloomily.
"I have no parents, so no mourning for me," Harry told them.
"A-hem," said Ron, hands in his hips. "What about mine?" Harry slapped himself on the forehead.
"How could I forget? Well, lots of mourning for me, then."
"My mum would probably die," said Draco. He went on when the others frowned at him. "She's already lost my father and sister to Voldemort."
"I guess my father would lock himself up forever," Hermione said.
More time passed slowly as they spent it in silence. There were no windows in the dungeon, which was rather small, but because it was of a weak build, they could tell it was stormy weather for they heard the wind howling and the rain hitting the walls hardly. It turned colder as the sun slowly set and there was a small draft as well. It was nearing 8 o'clock when Hermione was struck by the brilliant ideas only she could have.
"We should use the Amulet to escape," she stated bluntly.
"Excuse me?" asked Ron sleepily, watching her with a puzzled expression on his face.
"The Amulet of Era's," Hermione said impatiently. "We should use it to escape. I mean, it's really powerful, which is why Voldemort wants it so badly, so it can probably help us escape, if we know how to."
"She's got a point," agreed Nora.
"But how do we know how to use it?" asked Harry. "I mean, if we try something, that thing could send us into the future, or the past."
"Good," said Ron. "Maybe that way we can stop the snaky git from becoming so evil and powerful."
"No, Ron," said Hermione seriously. "We can't go into the past and change it, because only the slightest alteration can amend the present as we know it now. I mean, we might not even be born if anything goes different."
"Oh," said Ron rather stupidly.
"But how do we try stuff without sending us into a different time?" asked Draco.
"I don't know," said Hermione, slightly exhausted.
"First you could try holding the Amulet and wishing us out of here," suggested Harry. Hermione shrugged, held the Amulet in her hand, immediately regaining strength in the process, and closed her eyes, desperately wishing them out of this morbid situation. But nothing happened and she looked around the small group for more suggestions.
"You could try wishing it out loud," implied Ron. Hermione did, but still nothing happened, and she felt rather ridiculous.
"How about demanding it to bring us somewhere safe?" recommended Nora, actually just wanting to see her friend making a fool out of herself. Demanding did not work, either, though.
"Maybe you should ask it nicely," said Draco and Hermione was about to when she glared at him.
"Be serious!" she exclaimed, wishing she had a pillow, or something a bit harder, like a brick, to chuck at him. Draco grinned. "Come on you guys, I really want to get out of here," Hermione begged.
"So do we, but if we don't know how to, there's not much we can do, can we?" said Harry. Hermione shook her head and sighed.
"You know," said Ron quietly. "I don't want to get out of here to survive, I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm terrified of dying so soon, but I'd rather save all of those innocent people and be murdered, than saving my own neck and watching Voldemort destroy them all." There was a strained silence for a moment until the cord around Hermione's neck broke and her Amulet fell in the middle of their circle. Before they had time to react, though, a bright, white light shot through the dungeon and an elderly wizard, no taller or skinnier than Dumbledore arose from the now swirling colors of black, blue, purple and green. The five scrambled backwards and Draco wrapped his arms protectively around Nora.
When the light faded away the man picked the Amulet up and inspected it, a slight smile on his aged and wrinkled face. He then inspected the students sitting on the floor, all gazing frightened up at him.
"Merlin," whispered Ron, gazing at the Amulet in the man's hands and then at the man, wondering how on earth he had gotten out of there.
"Quite right," the old man said.
"Excuse me?" said Harry, confused.
"I said: Quite right," repeated the wizened man, magically fixing the cord that had snapped.
"Why?" asked Nora. "Why is he quite right?" The man looked at her in disbelief, before speaking again.
"I am Merlin."
. . .
The silence that followed was as loud as silence could be. In the dungeon everyone was completely quiet, staring at the old man as if he was mad, which he probably was, but outside the Death Eaters could be heard holding noisy conversations and the rain pounded loudly on the walls as the wind howled eerily as if someone was constantly being tortured by the Cruciatus Curse.
"But you're dead," spluttered Hermione after a while. Merlin turned to her, smiling, something that did not suit him well, and walked over to her. She whimpered but stopped when he held out the hand that contained her Amulet. Hermione took it and tied it around her neck.
"I would say you are the brightest here. It radiates off of you, I can feel it," Merlin said before answering her question. "Yes, I passed away many centuries ago, but that does not mean my spirit does not wander around."
"But your solid," argued Hermione, clearly forgetting she was talking to someone both very respected and dead.
"Yes, I am. Upon passing through my very own Amulet of Eras, which I am glad has fallen into the right hands, I returned to my old body," replied Merlin, not at all bothered by Hermione's straightforwardness.
"And why or how did you pass through it?" she asked interestedly. Merlin gave her another smile at this.
"My dear Hermione, not all happens for a cause, something you still need to discover. . . but I believe I was called?" he asked, gazing at the five, all of whom shrugged. "And I believe it was Ron who nearly screamed for a little outside help with his brave words. Exactly why you were sorted into Gryffindor." Ron smiled proudly.
"How do you know our names?" asked Hermione.
"I know everything," came Merlin's simple reply. "I see some of you had a little nausea?" he added, looking at the, now dried up puddles of vomit still lying on the ground. Hermione, Nora and Ron blushed a little. "Now, you want to escape Voldemort, I presume?" The five nodded and Merlin smiled proudly upon them all before gazing rather hatefully at Draco. "A Malfoy. . . how did he get in between this?" Draco seemed at a loss for words and coward underneath Merlin's glare.
"He's with us," said Nora at once. "And he's not at all like his father. . . but I thought you knew everything?" she asked, one eyebrow raised. Merlin smiled at this.
"I admit, I know not all, but most of it, I do. Now, you five wish to escape from my castle and battle the Second War to save the innocent, do you not?" The five nodded eagerly. Maybe they weren't doomed at all. Maybe they had a chance of escaping at last!
"Yes, but there are Death Eaters guarding this dungeon and I'll bet anything there are more walking around the castle and Voldemort will know if we escape," said Harry uncertainly. Merlin raised a finger and waved it slightly.
"Ah, yes. But I will be here to guide you," he told them, grinning slyly. "I will take care of the Death Eaters and possibly Voldemort, but you have to find your way out of the castle yourself, for I cannot stay in my ancient body longer than a small couple of hours. When you are out of this castle, immediately Apparate to Hatsrowg, for Dumbledore will be concerned about your well-being, and give him my kind regards." The others wondered how he knew their headmaster, since there was a rather large time space between them, but they did not ask and instead nodded obediently, butterflies fluttering once again more than nervously in their stomach.
"Is this castle large and, perhaps, dangerous, Merlin?" asked Harry, feeling he'd rather know before hand if they were doomed to wander around for eternity or able meet a fatal death behind any door. Merlin turned to look at him.
"Alas, this castle is oversize and filled with dangers you know not of, but if luck, and my Amulet, are with you, the path will easy and you shall have little trouble finding your way out," he told them before wishing them immense luck and blowing the door in front of them away by magic. Instantly Death Eaters ran inside but they stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the ancient man in there with them. Merlin did not explain his presence but gave a small flick with both hands and the two Death Eaters flew into the air with such force that they crashed painfully into the not so sturdy walls, which shook threateningly. The five students looked in aw.
"I will hurry through my castle and rid it of the pests that have settled in. You five will have to find your way on your own, but if trouble is deep, call me with the Amulet and I shall help." Merlin strode away in quick strides, the five taking the same route, but slower and more careful. For the first few corridors they saw nothing else, but when they turned a right, two more Death Eaters lay unconscious on the blood red carpet. They carefully stepped over them and continued their slow escape, still dazzled on how sudden help had come.
The castle, clammy and cold as the dungeon, was completely dark since there were no candles, neither on the wall nor in midair, to light it and sight was only minimum because of the small rays of moonlight that were able to break through the with dust covered windows. Occasionally they would trip over something lying on the ground, but they did not look closer to see what it was, in case a dead rat, or even worse, lay there.
Whenever any suspicious sounds were heard, the five all raised their wand hands, only to realize seconds later that it contained no wand and they were forced to peer into the looming darkness for anything odd or dangerous. This was definitely not the way they liked to do things, but they were left no choice but to use the old Muggle ways of wandering around ghostly castles that would be their death.
"What now?" asked Harry when they reached a dead end, which Ron walked into first before confirming their suspicions that there was a wall blocking their path. "Should we risk opening any doors?"
"I think we should, maybe it contains a shortcut, and you heard what Merlin told us," said Draco while Ron carefully rubbed his now somewhat painful forehead. "If we're lucky and have the Amulet, we'll be protected from the dangers."
"I doubt luck has been with us so far," muttered Harry in reply, insinuating Voldemort's murders, as Hermione walked over to the nearest door on the right and opened it. She peered inside but, without any light, could not see anything.
"If only I had my wand!" she muttered furiously, slamming the door shut behind her. Immediately there was a loud grunt and a howl from behind it and they backed away from the room in shock.
"Great," said Ron. "Waking up whatever it is behind there so it can crash through the door and eat us all!" But there were no sounds telling them something was trying to break out and all they could hear when they walked back out of the corridor was the constant howling. It went well after that. They entered different corridors and none of them contained doors or dead ends, so they walked straight on before realizing they had already passed that round-shaped, grubby window with the cross drawn in the dust.
"God damn it!" cried Nora in frustration as they backtracked a couple of corridors and then chose the third, and last corridor, from the three available. The other two they had already tried. But the third corridor contained only one door at the end of it and they did not trust the scraping sounds coming from behind it, so the five retraced their steps even more until arriving at the statue of a mighty, but sleeping, dragon again.
"Secret passage way?" suggested Harry.
"Secret password," reminded Draco. Harry frowned.
"We could always guess," he then said.
"Dragon," said Ron promptly, but nothing happened. Hermione looked as if he had given her an idea.
"Draco," she said smiling.
"Yes?" Draco asked but Hermione shook her head, pointing at the statue. The dragon had gotten up. It shook his head sleepily and roared ferociously before lying down to sleep again. Somewhere around them a loud rumbling noise erupted and the five students looked around to see if a secret passageway had appeared, but none had.
"What about in the other corridors?" asked Nora. "Maybe the rumbling came from one of them." They walked away from the now soundlessly sleeping dragon and split up to walk into the other corridors.
"Over here!" shouted Harry relieved. The round, filthy window with the cross drawn in its dirt had opened up to reveal a large corridor, which did not seem as grubby as the others, but in the darkness, there were no windows at all, it was hard to tell. The other four hurried over to him and together they stepped into the other corridor, feeling they were nearing the exit. Strangely enough, they did not come across any other unconscious Death Eaters.
Again, for a while, they crossed nothing but vacant, drafty corridors and hope was beginning to grow faint once more. Minutes flew by as they wandered through the large castle, clinging closely together, not stumbling upon any other Death Eaters, which worried them somewhat. When Harry looked at his watch again, to see how long they'd been walking, it was almost 12 o'clock and a feeling of panic settled in his stomach. Voldemort would enter the dungeon any moment now to find they'd escape. . . and if he found them they'd surely be dead, since they were completely defenseless without their wands.
"We should hurry up," said Hermione, thinking along the same lines. The others nodded and they quickened their pace, reaching yet another dead end. Without even discussing it with the others they all walked up to a different door and opened it, peering carefully inside, ready to pull their heads back and slamming the door shut if something decided to have them for a midnight snack. All five sighed and closed the door of the room they'd been inspecting, looking hopelessly at each other. But there was one door they had not opened and so, hopes high, they walked over to it.
"Ouch!" muttered Harry and Draco together as one slapped a hand on his scar and the other on his Dark Mark.
"We really should hurry," said Harry, sounding more frightened that before. "Voldemort's furious, which means he's seen the empty dungeon by now." The others nodded and Ron pulled the door open before walking into the room, not even checking to see if it was dangerous or not. Luckily there was no murderous beast in there, but only another door, which they immediately walked through, finding themselves in another large corridor. They were definitely on the right track now and hurried through more corridors, and down the first staircase they could find. After all, when being chased, never go up, always down; there was no escaping if you end up on the roof of a 20-story building.
"In here," said Harry, making a sudden left. The more complicated the route they took was, the harder it'd be for Voldemort to find them. It seemed ages until they found another staircase and when they finally finished clambering down it, a couple of stories, thank Merlin, it was already one thirty a.m. and they were feeling quite frustrated.
"You may have delayed your deaths for an hour or so, but that is the longest," came a high-pitched voice from behind them when they ran into an enormous hall. The five of them spun around simultaneously and stared Voldemort in the eyes.
"Says who?" asked Harry stupidly, not being able to come up with a better retort.
"Me!" snapped Voldemort icily. "Avada Kedavra!" The five stood stupidly huddled together, arms limply by their sides, and if they still had had their wands, they would've been too slow to save themselves. But the Amulet was there and it cast a protective shield around them, the Unforgivable rebounding off of it, straight towards the ceiling, which, being very ancient, gave way and collapsed in between the two different sides.
"Let's go!" ordered Harry and he ran out of the hall, the others right at his heels. Voldemort's furious screeches could still be heard when they rounded the corner and entered what simply had to be the entrance to this horrible castle. They stormed through the double doors and, with a feeling of relief, found themselves in a beautiful garden with the largest fountain in the middle they had ever seen. The beauty of the outside was simply breathtaking after having been stuck in the olden castle for so long, but even though they had freedom again, they did not Disapparate, since their wands were still with Voldemort.
It was chilly outside and there was a strong breeze of cold wind along with threatening sounds of thunder overhead, coming from the cloudy, overcast sky. A few raindrops fell here and there, but the rainstorm would be held until later on that night, or very early morning.
"I am glad to see you have made it," said Merlin, appearing in front of them, but he seemed older, grayer and less powerful than before. His voice trembled with every word and his appearance was vaguer than they remembered it to be. He gave a wave with his hand, though not the same fluid motion like earlier, but five wands appeared floating in mid air none the less and their owners ran forward and grabbed them, thanking Merlin.
"We made it," said Hermione softly. Merlin nodded, fading away very slowly.
"I stayed many hours, longer than predicted, and my final minutes are drawing to a close. You will be able to call me when I have regained the greater part of my energy again, but it will take time," he told them, becoming more and more vague. "Apparate immediately to Hatsrowg and give Dumbledore my kind regards and, remember, when you five touch the Amulet simultaneously, you w. . ." but he faded away into nothingness and so did his voice and his last words could not be heard as they stared at the spot in front of the fountain where he had stood moments before.
"What happens when we touch it at the same time, do you think?" whispered Nora, holding on tightly to Draco's hand. The others shrugged.
"Let's go, I bet Dumbledore is dead worried about us," said Ron. The others nodded and together the five Disapparated without giving their surroundings a second glance, and if only they had looked back, they would have seen it.
A/N: All right, I was going to leave you guys here, but since most of you hate cliffhangers, I'm just pausing for the 'effect'. Besides, the continuance after this cliffhanger is really lousy and it'd be stupid to begin another chapter with it. . .
The five all appeared in the meadow in front of the castle of Hatsrowg, scattered over the large field; landing accurately was harder when traveling long distance. It was after they had all orientated to their surroundings again, that they saw a jet of green light streaking straight towards Ron, who looked at it in surprise and wonder; had it Apparated with them? Draco was the only one who was not rooted to the spot in shock and he quickly Disapparated and Apparated beside Ron, before Disapparating yet again, taking Ron with him, only a millisecond before the Avada Kedavra curse streaked through the spot where they had just been and, not being held up by anyone anymore, it shot towards the forest and hit a tree, which burst into flames, lighting the pitch-black and stormy night. Hermione quickly extinguished it with her wand while Ron would not stop stammering his thanks to Draco, whom he would be less hostile to in the future.
"Are you all right?" asked Nora when she and Harry had Apparated over to Ron and Draco.
"Yeah, fine," panted Ron, who was trying to stop his heart from beating so rapidly.
"Did anyone notice we took that killing curse with us when we Apparated here?" questioned Harry, looking around the group as Hermione Apparated over as well, having fully extinguished the tree, which was now partly scorched.
"Well, it must have been dead close if it Apparated with us, and it's really lucky we Disapparated when we did, or one of us would've been dead," said Hermione, before adding thoughtfully, "and we're all very lucky it's harder to Apparate accurately over a long distance, because otherwise we'd still have been huddled together with that curse and then it'd have been impossible to escape and one of us would've been dead as well." They stood in silence for a few moments as the thunderous sky continued to rumble noisily.
"So what happens now?" asked Draco loudly over a crash of thunder. He was still rather pale in the face out of shock and his heart wouldn't quit hammering inside his chest anytime soon.
"We all go inside and wait for Voldemort to return," said Dumbledore softly from behind them, smiling proudly. "I daresay you could all use a healthy bite to eat and a good night's sleep." He Disapparated and the five felt themselves pulled along with him, into the Dining Room, where they were all forced to eat before being pushed into bed by professor McGonagall who would not stop telling them how worried she had been and how they should quit breaking the rules for once, because it'll only get them into an even bigger mess.
The five were extremely relieved when she finally left and they bade each other goodnight, feeling completely exhausted, before entering their own rooms, except Draco, who slept in Nora's bed.
A/N: Yay, another chapter done! Now, this was almost completely done a lot earlier, but I had gotten so busy that I couldn't finish it up until now, I really hope you guys don't mind, but I did say I'd be taking longer to write, because there's only 1 ½ weeks left until my end-of-term exams are here again and if I don't get good grades, I'll fail, and I don't wanna.
I am proud to say that I am, slowly but surely, nearing my goal of an average of 2 reviews per chapter! =D Wonder if I make it by the end of this story, lol.
Dumbeldave – I updated, though I know it wasn't that soon, sorry. Hope you had enough patience to wait this long, but this way you had time to rid your nose of the all the Pepsi that went through it, right? =D Oh, right, thanks for reading and reviewing!
Athenakitty – In some cultures they do eat snake, but I don't think any of those live in England, or somewhere in that region. It was a good suggestion though, but Nagini may have a(n important) part later on, so I'll let her live for now. I guess this shows their plan failed miserably. Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Skins Thunderbomb – It's ok if you haven't had that much time, as you have noticed, by the lack of me updating, neither have I! So we're even. And I was wondering, perhaps you have heard of an eatable substance called fruit? Maybe you should try eating that instead of chocolate. =P Glad to hear my story keeps getting better; it did suck in the beginning, didn't it? That's probably what scared most readers away, anywho, you already gave me great advice, even though you were low on inspiration. . . maybe you have some idea's on the more active part of the Second War, where they all fight? I do have something, but help couldn't hurt, right? Thanks for reading and reviewing! And for giving me some great idea's.