Author's Note:

Hello, my dear readers!

Another speedy update, just for you. I will not linger on my usual rant today—I'm down with cold and fever, and I hope you won't mind if I don't anwer you individually today.

This is almost funny but in this whole chapter, (while writing) I kept on imagining King Julien the VIIth to prance in and start singing, "We like to move it, move it. You like to move it, move it!" (So on and so forth). While Harry and Ginny to break into a caribean dance.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, go and see " Madagascar ". I mean, it's HILARIOUS! However I was tempted, I stuck to the serious path. No really! But I had to share it with you all because I was going to pieces after writing every three paragraph of this chapter, imagining the Lemur King along with his cute and cuddly kingdom to barge in and do the 'move it, move it' with Harry and Ginny. :D

One thing you migh notice in this fic is the use of a lot of Latin words. I'll be updating the list of words (hopfully), in the next chapter. For now, I'll leave you with "Umbra Fanum" the name of the next chapter, which means the " Shadow Temple ".

As usual BIG SHOUT OUT to the new readers: WELCOME to the story! :)

On to the dedication: This chapter is dedicated to green eyes and Mahjabeen—both of whom are new readers, have been very jubilant about the fic, reviwing regularly. Thank you, girls! Enjoy your own chapter.

The next update (hopefully), will be on 6th July. Keep your fingers crossed.

Also, Thanks to all the readers who reviewed. Thanks to: Elle's Bells, green eyes, Mahjabeen, thephantom114, MoA, Heather. -hugs-

Hey, where did the rest of readers gone to? Oh well, until I solve that mystery, read chapter 29.


Chapter 29 – Aqua Scroll


The lake was bubbling around them, as if boiling; still, Harry didn't feel any heat. He tried to swim towards Ginny, but the thrashing waves didn't let him forward however he tried. The blinding light wasn't helping matters; he couldn't make out what was causing the disturbance. Just as he was taking out his wand, he distinctly felt something pass beneath him.

He plunged into the lake to see what it was, only to find hollow darkness. As abruptly as it all had started, the bubbling ceased along the disappearance of bright light; it was as though someone had snuffed the only candle in a room. He was left, staring at the blue nothingness of the lake, and had to come back to the surface for air.

The water became somber again, as if nothing had happened. The darkness of the night ebbed away to the first crack of a violet ray, starting another day.

Harry blinked and cleared his vision to see Ginny's profile. She was having problems in keeping afloat, so he swam towards her to give her a hand. She looked pale, and was having difficulty breathing.

"Ginny, are you OK?" Harry asked, concerned.

She gasped some more. "I went blind for a second there… I dunno what happened…."

"Did you see something?"

"No…" She flapped her arms about to keep afloat. She was staring at something just beyond Harry.

Following her gaze, he turned around to see the outline of an island. With the sweeping daylight, Harry saw that they had reached the island that the Wood Nymphs had talked about.

The island was not only strange looking but strangely structured. It was hardly wider than Hagrid's Hut at Hogwarts. However, that was its only normal feature. The island was not floating on lake's surface but hovering a foot above it. There were no trees or shrubbery on the island, except for soft earth and a central basin, in which soft greenish flames were roaring. Four medium-sized, irregular shaped rocks were strategically floating at the corners of the island, as if supporting it on air with the help of invisible strings.

Harry exchanged quizzical looks with Ginny, and started for the island.

"I don't think we should go beneath it," Ginny said uncertainly, looking closely at the shadow of the island.

Harry concurred, and hoisted himself up at the island, expecting some darts to come slicing the air, but nothing such happened. Seeing the clear ground, he heaved Ginny up beside himself.

They lay there panting for some time, taking deep breathes, not saying anything. It seemed that more they explored this new world, the more they became baffled and exhausted with its unique elements.

"What was that?" Ginny said shrilly, finally regaining her voice.

"Er… dunno… Some lake being maybe? I hope it's harmless as the giant squid at Hogwarts."

Ginny looked at Harry, as if trying to fathom his naivety. However, looking at his smiling face, she couldn't help do the same.

"Smashing our boat in two? I don't think it was giving out candies." Ginny stood up and tried the drying spell on her clothes, only to shoot reddish sparks at it.

"Aagh!" she yelled in frustration, and peeled off the heavy school-robe that was hanging like a dead thing on her torso.

"Does anything work around here?" Harry said disgruntled, while peeling off his own robe. "How are we supposed to ward off the guardian, if we don't know which spells would work?" He squeezed the water from his sweatshirt, and flapped it a little to help it dry.

"This is ridiculous!" Ginny said, loosening her uniform tie, and then rolled her sleeves up to start fidgeting with her shoes.

"You can say that again!" Harry took off his shoes, and let the water run out of it. His socks were too soggy to wear again, so he threw them in the lake. "Might as well warm some fishies."

Ginny followed suit and threw her tie in as well. "We lost all our supplies," Ginny pattered on, angrily. The loss of water-skin and fruits reminded her of other important possessions. "D'you still have everything in your cloak, Harry?"

Harry snatched at his robe and checked his invisibility cloak, while Ginny tried her best to make her clothes dry. Harry sighed in relief to find everything where he had left them, including Dumbledore's given orb.

"'Use it when there's no other way out,' right?" Ginny said inquisitively, looking at the orb which was swirling some unknown orange-yellow matter.

"How did you…?" Harry realized his fault, and then added sheepishly, "Oh, you were there…." He shrank everything again—after giving Sirius's diary a last sidelong glance—and pocketed it.

"Right. And Dumbledore can be real cryptic sometimes."

"Tell me about it!" Harry raised his eyebrows, and shared a grin with Ginny.

Harry couldn't help thinking that how convenient all of this had turned out. He wanted to be with Ginny, to understand her more, and he was given just that. If he took out the whole dangerous bit—Scroll Guardian looming over their heads as a death omen; Voldemort being his greedy self, trying the best to get his hands on the Vita Scroll—everything else was going rather smoothly. Why, Ginny's freckles seemed as if they were shrinking back.

"Ginny…"

She was too engrossed with the stone basin to hear his voice.

"I think we just have to feel it…" And without a backward glance, Ginny went forward and touched the smoldering green flames.

"I don't think you ought to touch—" Harry blinked to see no Ginny standing beside the basin. There she was and then she wasn't. It was as though she had been sucked into the basin.

Panic-stricken, Harry bolted towards the sinister flames, and without even thinking through, he touched it. What the—

Harry felt a familiar tugging as he started spinning on an unknown axis, while his insides squirmed threateningly. And without even a warning, he was plunged into what seemed to be an endless bottom, which actually turned out to be the deep underside of the lake.

He swore expletives, only to issue numerous bubbles out of his mouth. He was flapping about indignantly, when a bubble covered his head. Ginny was swimming just beside him, and had an identical bubble on her head.

Bubbly-head Charm. I should've thought of that! Harry groaned internally, while said, "Thanks," externally—which came out a little muffled. The message got across though, as Ginny nodded at him.

Harry looked around to find a clear bottom, devoid of the usual plant-life that's found at such habitat—at least as he had noted beneath Hogwarts Lake , which was rife with exotic magical creatures including the Merpeople.

In this lake however, only few fishes moved about; nothing big enough to get them moving from their current spot.

Just like the suspended island, nothing of any importance was visible from where they were. Not even a basin or an arrow containing a sign: Aqua Scroll, Here. Only an irregular earth welcomed them sullenly.

"Any bright ideas?" he asked Ginny, taking out his wand.

"It is the water scroll… So, maybe it's somewhere deep in here?" Ginny mouthed.

"And you think the guardian's going to help us dig around?" Harry looked at her questioningly.

"No—"

Just then, the same strong light that had caused their boats' ruin—however old it was—blinded them, yet again. The small fishes scampered out of the light so fast that Harry thought they must have Apparated out. The lake surrounding them seemed to shudder with an unknown force; Harry could only stay at one point if he flailed his legs repeatedly.

"WHO DARES TO INTERRUPT MY SLUMBER?" A booming voice yelled.

"Harry, I can't see!" Ginny was clutching at his arm, sounding panicked.

"Can't you hear him speak?" Harry asked, bewildered.

"Hear what? I can't hear a thing!"

"What have we here? A sssaucy breakfassst!" An interested rumble followed.

"That voice." Harry gestured towards the light, while trying his best to make Ginny understand. Their head-bubbles were touching and still they could only hear each other, faintly.

"You have ssstolen a ssscroll, eh? You're not getting thisss one though. Oh NO!"

It suddenly dawned on Harry that the voice was not speaking in English, but in Parseltongue. He should have understood that, by the speaker's emphasis on hissing. He squinted his eyes beady, and discovered that the intense light was actually coming off from the profile of a giant snake.

"Are you the guardian of Aqua Scroll?" Harry asked in Parseltongue.

There was silence, as if the guardian was thinking through that particular information.

"You ssseem well-informed… How isss it that you understand me, human?"

"I'm a Parselmouth, I can talk to snakes; so what kind are you?" Harry asked, offhandedly, puzzling the guardian even more, as if he was asking for the direction to the nearest bistro—in their case, the location of Aqua Scroll.

"I'm a Sssea Ssserpent. And even if you can underssstand me, it doesssn't mean that I will give the ssscroll to you. Oh NO!"

"What's happening?" Ginny demanded to know.

"That's a Sea Serpent," Harry gestured towards the light, "the guardian of Aqua Scroll."

"So, that's why you were hissing? Why can't I see it?"

"How can we believe that you're 'the guardian'? For all we know, you could be a reckless spirit…" Harry ploughed on, bravely.

"Do I look like a ssspirit to you, human? Have you no eyesss?" His voice sounded angry, while the light coming off it pulsed more brightly.

"There's so much light? I really can't see you," Harry told the truth.

"This isss my halo, human. It worksss in the night."—The brightness seemed to diminish—"If you ssstill can't sssee me, you're blind asss a frog ssspawn!"

Harry noticed the decreasing brightness as well, just as the lake around them lightened with the daylight of Caeli, as the irregular waves stopped. Now, he could easily make out a snake head which was protruding from the lake floor, while half of its body looked buried under the earth. He also understood

Hearing Ginny's gasp, Harry was assured that she was able to see the guardian as well. Maybe the entire light bit was another quirk of Ursula's world.

The Sea Serpent was pearly white, even when the daylight started flitting in the lake; the serpent's skin seemed to glow with its own radiance. Two bulging eyes stared at them, dominated by white and such narrow slits that it was barely visible. A wide jaw bared a fanged mouth, with two prominent fangs sticking out in the middle; slithering out of which was a grotesque, red, forked tongue. A crown of silver hair decorated its head, which seemed to stretch to its entire body length, even if half of it looked buried in the soft earth of the lake.

"Who you got there?" The serpent looked closely at Ginny. "Another flessshy meal..." His forked tongue slithered in and out, while he hissed jubilantly. "Today'sss my lucky day!"

"Not so fast, my fanged friend." Harry swam a little away from the spot—pulling Ginny along—only to be alarmed by the gliding serpent that came whirling towards him like a shot arrow.

Now, its whole body was exposed and Harry could easily guess that it was around twenty-five to thirty feet. It loosely coiled around them, as if getting ready to pounce.

"You'd be sorry when I'm through." Harry glared at the serpent, while internally he was nearing the state of alarm. "I've got Ursula's heir with me: Ginny Weasley."

The serpent's body went rigid. "What did you sssay?"

"The heir to the Vita Scroll, right here with me."

Ginny could only smile meekly at it.

The guardian hissed angrily and for quite sometime, before uncoiling itself from around them, facing away. "Ursssula' ssshadow! Ssshe' sssuch a witch

"I don't blame you two, understand." The serpent glided around them as if trying to find words to explain himself.

"I've been guarding thisss ssscroll for hundred of yearsss, and when finally sssomeone encroachesss upon it, I can't eat them." Serpent's eyes looked forlorn.

Harry couldn't help but sympathize, remembering the basilisk of the Chamber of Secrets that had been cooped up there for centuries—not that he felt sorry for the basilisk—but the sea serpent sure deserved some reward for guarding the scroll for such a long time.

"I don't think Ursula was cruel. She must've done something for your… er… food?"

"Of courssse." The Serpent looked at him. "I wasss a free ssserpent once, mostly found in the Atlantic, when sssome evil wizardsss thought that I would make a great pet in destroying a city near the ocean. If it weren't for Ursssula, I would've been wheedled to do sssome terrible thingsss."—The serpent shuddered—"I pledged myssself to her from then on. Ssshe was the greatessst Sssorceressss I ever met."

"How did you live so long, though?" Harry asked.

"I'm not actually living." The serpent glided near them. "I knew I would' have to wait for centuriesss before anybody would come to claim the ssscroll. Just asss the rest of the three guardiansss, did...

"Would you care to translate to the heirssship what I am sssaying?"

"Of course." Harry repeated sea serpent's tale to Ginny, who nodded thoughtfully.

"Ssshe needsss to know. All the guardiansss are ssspiritsss of creaturesss that had great ssstrength and resssolve. Ursssula ssshared a deep bond with all of ussss, which wasss the reassson of trusssting usss with sssuch great resssponsssibilitiesss. The guardiansss are heirssship's attendantsss, and will alwaysss help her."

"What d'you mean?"

As if not hearing what he asked, the serpent continued, "I knew ssshe wasss the one when I looked at her; I sssensssed her blood. I wasss only ssstalling. You sssee, I haven't talked to another sssoul for centuriesss..." His red tongue came out once to show his sadness.

"Can you ask him, if he knows something about the other scrolls?" Ginny prodded Harry.

"D'you know where we can find the other two scrolls?"

"I do not know," the serpent replied, sadly. "I only guard the charge I have given. However, ssshe' the heir and ssshe'll know what to do. That'sss all I know."

The serpent burrowed into the soft earth of the lake, that only its pointed tail was visible. Harry felt a sudden wave of shifting earth beneath him. He grabbed Ginny's hand and swam away from there in time, just as the serpent's head jutted out from there. This time, it had a glimmering scroll between its jaws. Its forked tongue presented the scroll to Ginny, who humbly accepted it.

"Here'sss the ssscroll. And my duty isss complete..."

Harry wanted to ask so many questions, but the serpent didn't seem in the mood of answering. As it curled itself around them, he hissed reassuringly that it was only to transport them back to lake's surface.

Ginny gripped Harry's waist while he did the same. He could see that Ginny was clutching the scroll as if her life dependent upon it. They huddled together, against the current that the whirling body of the sea serpent was producing.

Just as the serpent coiled tighter around them, the whirling built to a pitch that everything around them hazed out. Harry felt a liftoff and weightlessness as if suspended in air.

As promised, in an instant they were floating on the lake surface. With a final hiss of, "I leave you now. But, I will sssee you sssoon…" the serpent's body transformed into a tiny light, lifted up, towards the violet sky, and vanished out of sight.

Harry looked around for the suspended island, but couldn't see it. Either it had sunk or the serpent had left them at some other lakeshore of Caeli, both sides of which were covered with thick, dense, but familiar trees of the forest that they had visited before. Harry craned his neck to find the central mountain; seeing it on his right, with a sigh of relief, he made for the nearest shore.

"So much for being dry!" Ginny groped her way out of the lake, while clutching the scroll in one hand, her wand in the other. She turned around and heaped into an odd angle of legs and arms on the grass, panting.

Harry followed suit, as he lay breathless and extremely hungry beside Ginny. "What's the deal? Why do I feel so hungry?" He massaged his growling stomach.

"Merlin's beard! I feel the same."

"You stay put, I'll bring some fruits," Harry said, just as he spied a welcoming bunch of red, plump fruits, on the nearest tree that he could see while lying on his back.

That particular tree had yellow, strangely patterned leaves. Harry shot few red sparks at the fruits and a bunch of them fell off. Harry collected them in a handkerchief—which was still soggy—and brought them back to where Ginny was still resting.

Darkness fell again and they had to light their wands to see what they were actually eating. As it turned out, the fruit had a conical seed in between, and tasted like a sweetened peach. They gorged on them silently—liking its sweet aroma and how it filled their ravenous stomachs—while enjoying a nice breeze and the continuously changing night-sky.

After eating her share of her fruits, Ginny stood up, stretched, and then crouched down beside the lake to drink some water by lapping at the lake's surface. It seemed a good idea to Harry, so he did the same, following suit.

Still, after he had done so, Harry felt an unease settle over his mind; he just knew that he shouldn't have done that. But, it doesn't seem wrong…

It does! the voice of reason in his head replied hotly.

"I feel so sleepy, Harry. D'you know what we should do?" Ginny plopped down beside him, her eyes drooping slightly. "D'you think this world is rubbing us the wrong way?"

She looked vulnerable in the wand-light. Even when she was shrunk like a cold cat, wet to her bones, her brilliant brown eyes seemed to light her whole aura—making her totally irresistible. The only thing that came in his mind that instance was to kiss her senseless then and there.

Have you lost your marbles?the same voice of reason chastised, just as he was moving close to her, while she stared above at the changing arches in the sky.

However, before he could do anything embarrassing—to his conscience's relief—he toppled to his side in a comatose sleep.

-x-

When Harry woke up, he distinctly felt that something was not right. The world around him was blaringly hazy.

Few moments passed.

He couldn't remember where he was, or even who he was. He shot to a sitting position in alarm, and felt for something, anything, at his sides for a clue, when his hands came in contact with something cold, yet familiar. It was his spectacles; he remembered with relief. Only touching them, made the recognition stronger. As he put them on, his memory, slowly but steadily, came back to him.

He closed his eyes, and whispered, "I'm Harry Potter, son of James and Lily Potter," making sure that he remembered everything clearly.

He shook his head in a dumbfounded way; he couldn't believe how he could have forgotten about himself.

He opened his eyes to check on Ginny, when he noticed another peculiar thing. A blue fire was roaring in a corner, just beneath the tree he had picked the fruits from, yesterday. He wouldn't have been alarmed at its sight, if only Ginny hadn't been so laden with sleep that she looked totally out cold, lying face down, while her shoulders rose and fell with rhythmic breathing.

"I've been waiting for you," A voice beckoned.

Harry spun so fast that his neck cricked.

-x-X-x-

In the Next Chapter: (Umbra Fanum): The plot thickens as you are taken to the climaxing last few chapters. Are there more mysteries waiting for the lost couple in a strange land?

Stay tuned, and of course review!