Before I begin with the chapter, I'm going to respond to a few of the reviews I got…thanks to all the rest of you, you know who you are!
Lilly- thanks for reviewing…yes, u definitely are a one-and-only…thought only ONE of my one-and-onlys… hehe….
Meheehee- Hm…how long has it been since they were married…let me see…. About 4 days, I guess…phew! Seems a lot longer, doesn't it? Oh, and btw, Amy is BACK…yes! Check out Rootbeerfloatresurrected…the only problem is she's rewriting all her stories starting from chap1…because she wants her reviews bak…sad, isn't it? I meant to tell you before, but I forgot…
Lynn Caraway- I suppose I might come under the plagiarist category for stealing that plot…except for one small detail…though I read and adored the first book of the Narnia series, I haven't ever read the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe…so I suppose you could say that the idea was original… tell me if you liked the book, then I'll get myself a copy and check it out.
Winterspirit- well, I suppose under certain circumstances that would rather uncharacteristic of Draco…but then isn't betraying Voldemort and falling in love with Hermione uncharacteristic too? My Draco isn't any Draco…he's a Draco gone soft who thinks dark corridors are creepy…
Thanks to all the rest of you!
On to the next chapter, now…
CHAPTER 33
Anyone who saw the scene would have thought it- well, weird… Draco, wearing a jeans and a t-shirt, Hermione in a formal satin gown, and Lisa in a thick Irish sweater all gazing skeptically down a gaping chasm in the middle of the Department of Mysteries, while the torches around them cast an eerie blue light on their faces.
'There's a stairway,' Hermione murmured, pointing. 'and it looks like it goes down a long, long way,'
'Well,' Draco said, determinedly, 'then we're going to have to go down a long, long way.'
'yay,' Lisa said, sarcastically, 'I've always wanted to be killed.'
'You should have told me earlier,' Draco muttered.
'Stop it, both of you!' Hermione snapped. 'Just- stop it. Come on, let's go down…Draco you can go first.'
'Thanks,' he muttered.
She winced. 'No, I meant because you know the most dark spells. Both of us will also have our wands at the ready… we're going down.'
Lisa and Hermione slipped out their wands, and followed Draco as he stepped onto the black staircase that descended into the darkness.
'We're going to need a little light,' he murmured. 'But not too much. We better play safe. I'll keep my wand illuminated. Lumos,' his wand immediately began to glow, shedding a little light on the staircase, enough to cast flickering shadows around the place. Hermione shivered.
'Come on,' she muttered, 'let's go.'
The began to walk carefully down the staircase. It descended a long, long way down. After about ten minutes of steadily climbing lower, Lisa spoke up.
'I hate the fact that there's no railing,' she said, 'I feel like I'm about to fall off,'
'Why are you such a baby?' Draco sneered.
'She's right, actually,' Hermione muttered. 'This staircase feels- somewhat unstable…like a plate floating on water…'
'Duh,' Draco said, 'For a very good reason. It is… it's floating.'
'What?' Hermione said. 'What did you just say?'
Draco looked up surprised.
'Oh, I should have warned you before. It's floating on air…there's nothing under it…my guess is we're going down some underground cavity, and someone's just stuck a floating staircase here. It's like a boat- make a wrong move, or go too close to the edge, and it tips over.'
'Tips- over?' Lisa said, faintly. 'Thanks for sharing that with us.'
'You're welcome,' Draco said, graciously. 'Be carefully, okay?'
'Okay,' Hermione breathed.
They climbed down a few more steps.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Upstairs, in the Department of Mysteries, a door opened. A cloaked figure slipped out. The torches threw a blue gleam onto the knife that he held at ready.
He slithered across the room, and stopped in shock when he saw it. He had been about to draw his wand and whisper the spell, but the chasm that faced him told him that was not needed.
The subtraction of work from his busy schedule did not gladden him. The implications of it were too great.
His mind slid over the possibilities. The weight of his loss was still heavy on his mind, and he knew that under the circumstances, the loss- the death repel- was crucial.
His mind fought what his heart knew.
Not possible! No one knew!
And yet, the stark truth was in the front of him.
Someone had accessed it.
A calloused hand slid over his smooth jaw. One thing was for certain. Whoever was in there was not coming out alive.
A smile slid onto his face. He began to plan his plot.
XXXXXXXXXXX
'We're coming to the end,' Draco said, softly.
Hermione twitched nervously, and then froze as the staircase wobbled. They had been descending for half an hour- pure torture, since every hiccup threatened to plummet them down into the darkness.
'Okay, be quiet now,' he whispered, as a solid podium, that also appeared to be floating came into view. It was filled with a flickering light, and was not very large- 30ft by 30ft, Hermione guessed. A sort of shack was built onto it, except that this shack was made out of polished chrome.
They stepped onto the podium. Draco paused for a moment.
'Okay,' he said, finally, 'this is also floating, but it's definitely more stable than the staircase. But still, be careful. Now listen…I'm going to keep my wand at ready and open the door of the shack. If there's any danger, I'll yell out, and you two run back up the staircase. Actually no- that's going to leave you exposed if any spell gets past. Go behind the shack, okay? To the other end of the podium…'
'Okay,' Hermione whispered. 'Just- be careful…come on, Lisa,'
She and Lisa crept past the metallic shack, and approached its back. Lisa gave a loud sigh, and peaked over the edge. Darkness.
'Great,' she whispered. 'One wrong move and I fall into nothingness.' She threw a glance at Hermione who was oddly silent.
'What's the matter, Mione?' she asked, softly.
A tear trickled down her cheek.
'Everything's going so wrong,' she whispered. 'what if we- we never get out of here alive? It's just so bad. All I want is a happily ever after?'
Another tear trickled down her cheek. Lisa wrapped her arms around her.
'Sh,' she whispered, 'it's okay…everything's gonna be fine…you'll have your happily ever after, okay?'
Hermione sniffled. She was about to answer, when they heard light footsteps approaching.
Immediately, both stiffened. They held their wands at ready, and pointed it in the direction of the footsteps. All of a sudden, a distorted shadow came into view.
Lisa and Hermione exchanged a look. The figure began to inch around the shack. They stiffened and held out their wands. The shadow became bigger, and they were about to fire away, when-
'Draco,'
Hermione heaved a sigh of relief. 'Thank god it's just you.'
Lisa lowered her wand.
'Hey genius,' she said, brightly, 'any reason you're here frightening the shit out of us instead of carrying on a little old-friends conversation with a mysterious wanker whose last name is Chadwick?'
Draco groaned.
'Oh great. I was hoping you're fallen off the edge or something. And I'm here because I couldn't open the door.'
'Ah, Lisa said, sagely, 'I thought we might come across a problem like that. The trick is to turn the handle.'
'Wow, thanks,' Draco said, sarcastically. 'and if there wasn't a handle?'
Lisa paused.
'Oh. Hm. I see.'
'Well done,' Draco mocked. 'There's something else in place of a handle. I think you should come and see this.'
Hermione and Lisa followed him around the shack, balancing carefully on the corners, where the podium was specially unstable. They came to the front, and Draco pointed at the smooth chrome door.
'See?'
Indeed, they saw.
The door did not have a handle or knob of any sort to open it. Instead, it had a small shining panel, with an inscription that was punched in. it was constructed ingeniously, and Hermione knew that to open the door, they would have to find part two of the contraption. A stamp of a sort, that perfectly fit into the inscription.
The inscription was a small, glinting skull, pressed into the metal.
She stiffened, and her hand flew to her mouth. Glinting innocently on one of her fingers was the Death repel.
Lisa smiled. 'Bingo.'
XXXXXXXXXX
He proceeded further. Rough estimation told him that he would reach the shack in about five minutes. He would take care of them then. He practiced the kill over in his mind. It was, he figured, simple enough. Their bodies would be thrown over the edge.
They would never be seen again….
XXXXXXXX
Hermione aligned the Death Repel on her finger with a panel on the door, and drove it in.
The next minute, a bright flash of light reverberated around the darkness. She gasped, as white hot electricity raced up her arms. The world began spinning. She was faintly aware of Draco crying in alarm, and Lisa shrieking, but then everything went black.
When she opened her eyes once more, the world seemed to swing back into focus, and she was aware of two blurry heads staring down at her- one with a crop of pale blonde, and the other with a shiny brown mane.
'Thank god!' Lisa said, fervently. 'God, I was so worried.'
'What happened?' Hermione asked, groggily.
Draco looked concerned.
'I'm not sure…the Death Repel seemed to lance some sort of shock up you.'
'You started glowing!' Lisa exclaimed. 'Hell, it was terrifying. But on a happier note-.'
She gestured towards the chrome door.
The inscription on the panel was glowing a contented blue. The door itself was slightly ajar.
