DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Don't sue, I'm poor. EXCEPTION: I own the Witches of Trane and the Crystal Orb.
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CHAPTER 9: Care to go for a spin? (Chapter rated PG-13)
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Everyone was still for a moment. At that point, Fred, George and Ginny had come over to the group, and now they were all, except for the absent Mr. Weasley, standing in the middle of the room, cogitating together.
After a few useless ideas from Fred and George ("Slam the door open, and kill the things! Then we can all leave!"), Hermione sighed and looked around the room. Something in the corner attracted her attention. It was a small glowing blue object. Then she realized, it wasn't an object at all. It was… a spirit of some sort. Hermione recalled reading about these in a book, Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky. Apparently, they were supposed to lead you to something you desired the most. Hermione could only think of one thing: leaving this dungeon.
She grinned, and waved everyone else over, explaining to them what their purpose is and what they were.
She remembered that they were called Crystal Orbs, and can only be used with a certain spell. She couldn't remember it though, and after about 10 or 15 minutes of deep thought, it occurred to her! She took her wand, and looked at everyone.
"This is an old incantation that the Witches of Trane used to use." When no one responded or even looked enlightened, she explained.
"The Witches of Trane were a group of witches in the 1700's that studied divination." And with that, she recited the incantation, in hope that it would work.
"With this charm I untie you guide,
Perform the services you defied."
Sea green sparks flew out of the end of her wand, hitting the blue crystal orb, turning it a deep crimson color. Hermione smiled, satisfied.
The orb instantaneously started moving up and down, under the stone floor, only to come up again, and go back under. It did so for a couple seconds, until Fred piped up, "I think it wants us to follow it."
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By this time, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Fred had all gone to sit back down, waiting for death or something else to come and take them away.
Hermione, Ron, Draco and George were thinking of ways to get down into the ground like the Orb wanted.
Hermione didn't know why they couldn't just use a simple silencing charm on the door, and the 'Reducto' spell. Draco, though, insists that it will not work.
"These things would probably notice a huge hole in the corner of the room. They'll notice we're gone too! I don't know how to pull it off, but I think I have an idea."
Hermione told him to continue.
"Okay. I think we should each take turns digging little parts of the corner out, with our hands."
Ron sighed, obviously infuriated.
"That won't work, Malfoy. It would take too long. We'd all be dead by the time we even got 3 inches into the ground!"
"Then what should we do, Weasley, since you seem to be the expert on these things all of the sudden. Eh? Maybe we could all just barf up slugs and tell them to dig the dirt, so we won't get our fingernails dirty!" Draco smirked evilly.
Ron's entire face was red with anger and embarrassment, with the memory of his second year when he cast a slug spitting up spell on himself by accident.
"Well, if you weren't for you, Malfoy, we wouldn't have been here in the first place!"
"Bullshit! Don't you know what these creatures are after, Weasley? All of us! Everyone who was on that fucking train when Potter died. You parents are just being taken because they're part of the group. Don't you understand? They're hunting us down. They don't need to have your body to kill you. We're all going to die."
Ron instantly paled, and Hermione felt like throwing up, or crying, or both. George didn't say anything; he just leaned against the wall. Hermione heard a noise, and surprised, looked up at George who had a huge smile on his face.
"Care to go for a spin anyone?"
George had found a secret spinning door!
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So it began. Hermione, her wand, the Crystal Orb, Ron and Draco started their mission to escape and get help for the others, and notify someone about this place. They pushed the door all the way open, bade the others a silent goodbye, and left through the spinning door. It started with long, windy, steep steps, which led them into a long corridor. Hermione smiled.
"So this is where the Orb wanted us to go." she thought out loud. "But how could it not know about the door?" She pondered that for a while.
Hermione observed the hallway in front of her. Ron was behind her, then Draco.
It was dimly lit, and she could hear water dropping from the ceiling right above their heads, but couldn't see it or feel it.
They happened upon a fork in the hallway. The Crystal Orb hovered in the middle of the center of the hallway for a second, and then it went down the darkest hallway. Hermione took a deep breath and followed it, hoping for the best.
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Hope you like it! Happy first day of 2005!
kriCket x0 - You bet. Thanks!
stargazer - Thanks so much! Of course I'm going to keep writing, it's because of reviewers like you that I keep writing it! :D
Detective Faith Boscorelli - Thank yooooooou!! :D :D I love people like you.
Princess JB - Here ya go!
Roe Merrifield - Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it, even if you don't support Draco/Hermione.
HP fanatic - Don't die!
NOTE: I changed the genres and summary of the story. These new genres fit the story more. But don't worry, there will still be romance, hence the "Drama" genre selected. Keep reading! Thanks :) Also, if you want to get ahold of me to suggest something or whatever, my e-mail address is in my profile. :-)
