Chapter XII: Key to Atlantis
The black-feathered raven spread its humongous wings. Two-foot long feathers fell as the wings expanded more than the width of the room. A horrible shriek emerged from the raven's beak and forced both Ron and Harry to cover their ears.
"Make her stop," Ron squealed.
Harry fidgeted to find his hidden wand, still covered by Dudley's extra long, worn out sweater. Finally, he gripped it and swung it forward. How was he supposed to stop an animagus? Mrs. Diggory was obviously very powerful if she was able to transform so easily.
"Stupefy!" Harry yelled.
The raven was stunned briefly. Ron sighed and turned to Harry.
"We better make a run for it," he said.
"Right. I hope this works," Harry said and then pointed his wand at the doors.
Just as he was about to cast another spell, the raven awoke and fluttered her wings. A terrible wind blew against Harry and Ron's backs, forcing them to fall forward. However, Harry still focused his wand at the door and shouted,
"Alohomora!"
The two young wizards made a run for it. Soaring right behind them was the raven, her green eyes glowing in the dark. Harry was in the lead and ran the opposite direction which he came into the house from. Down the corridor was a kitchen and against a brick wall lining the side was a doorknob.
"Hurry up!" Ron yelled when he caught up.
Harry struggled to open the door, until he realized there was a key hole. "Alohomora," Harry enchanted but the door did not open this time.
"What's wrong?" Ron asked.
"I dunno. But I don't see any other doors in this room." Ron shook his head and then grabbed Harry's wand. "What in bloody hell do you think you're doing?"
"Don't worry, mate. I've been practicing this one, honestly." Ron cleared his throat and clearly said, "Evanesco!"
The door disappeared.
"A vanishing spell? Very nice," Harry said and grabbed his wand back.
The two ran through the doorway and tumble down a flight of stairs. First Harry fell and then Ron right behind him. A hard, cold floor broke Harry's fall. Immediately, Ron's body plopped right on top of Harry's.
"Get off," Harry mumbled as he tried to roll over.
"Sorry."
But before they could get up, a large bird flocked its wings from the top of the staircase. Luckily, she was too big to fit through the narrow staircase and was trapped in the kitchen. After a few seconds, she fluttered off somewhere else.
Harry got up to his feet, pulled Ron, and stared at the dimly light room. It was very damp, and very cold. Even through Harry's shoes, he could feel the floor was wet and sticky. Unable to find a lamp, Harry said, "Lumos."
The room became much more brighter and clearer. Off against the wall was a metal table with thin tubular legs and a smooth, flat surface. Sitting on it were bottles of unknown liquids, parchments full of herbs and a strange machine that Harry had never seen before.
"Harry, I think I found something."
Ron was standing next to a bookcase full of dusty, thick booklets with gold siding. In Ron's hands was a book with funny lettering all over it. Apparently, Ron had never seen such writing before, but Harry had.
"That's in ancient Atlantis."
"How do you know?" Ron asked.
"Because, Cho gave me a glass figurine of it. On the bottom, it had a symbol just like that one." Harry pointed to the top symbol that looked like a square with a smiley face inside of it.
"It's really heavy," Ron said.
He struggled to carry the book. Using his left hand and balancing the book in his right, Ron attempted to open it. First, he turned over the hard cover, which revealed a shiny object inside of it.
"What's this?" Ron asked himself.
Instead of pages of writing, there was one large cutout just big enough to fit the heavy, copper key. It had a round handle and a jagged end to it. Harry stared over Ron's shoulder to get a better look and gasped in amazement.
"I have that key."
"How could you? It's right here."
"No, when I went to the Owl Post. Hagrid had sent me a postcard for my birthday a few years back. When Eliza, a female goblin, got the present for me, I unwrapped it, and it was a key just like this one."
"This isn't just any key, Harry. It's very old. Just look at the inscription on the side."
Harry looked over some strange symbols down the page. He didn't understand anything, but he knew that the key Mrs. Diggory had was the same exact one he had gotten.
"The key to Atlantis," Harry said.
"That's just a legend. I even know that. One key that can open up Atlantis to any powerful wizard… I don't see the point of it. You can just Disapparate there or use the Floo Powder if you have to."
"This key must do something else then… What a minute, the legend says that anyone who uses this key can reveal Atlantis to them? Right? It doesn't say open up, it says reveal. What if Mrs. Diggory used it? She must have stolen this key from someone very powerful and when she tried to use it on Atlantis, it became visible."
"Great story, Harry, but that still doesn't prove that's why all the enchantments were broken."
"But what you're holding is proof that she's involved. Come on, Ron, we have to show this to…"
Usually, when they were running about in Hogwarts, they could turn to Dumbledore. But they weren't at Hogwarts anymore. Luckily, there was still one group Harry trusted. The Order of the Phoenix.
Cho Chang slept soundly in her soft, cotton bed. Sharing the loft with her was another apprentice studying the ancient wizards. Her name was Elise Wings. She had graduated from Hogwarts the same year as her and was from the Ravenclaw House. The prior year she had lost her good friend, the Fly, but that didn't stop her graduating.
Late that night, Elise got out of bed and headed out of the room. After tripping over piles of clothing, banging her toe on a desk, and kicking over a basket of garage, she escaped the pigsty of a room.
"Where are you going?" Cho asked.
"For a walk," Elise said.
"It's 2 AM," Cho mumbled as she stared at the red glowing numbers. "Go back to sleep."
"I can't. Don't worry about me. I'll be back before dawn," she said and left.
However, Cho knew better than to let Elise leave. Two nights before, she had disappeared during the night. Cho only knew this because when she woke up, Elise wasn't in her bed or in the building. An hour later, Elise returned with a panicked, flush look but denied anything was wrong.
This time, Cho wanted to see where she was going. She threw the covers off and threw on a fuzzy bathrobe. Then, she grabbed her broomstick and headed out of their room. The corridor of their stone apartment was quiet. The staircase to the bottom floor was just around the corner.
Cho mounted her broom, and lifted off. She zoomed down the hallway and out the balcony window, completing avoiding the staircase. Down below was Elise, hooded with her ivory robe, and running off toward the center of the city.
Following her from the sky, Cho quietly moved. Whenever Elise stopped or looked around, Cho would hide behind a rooftop or tree. Luckily, the city of Atlantis had tons of buildings, all stone and all closely together. A few trees remained and only lived thanks to the enchantments on them.
"Why is she going in there?" Cho asked herself.
Elise ran inside the Power Plant. This was no ordinary plant. It did not run on coal, or oil, or electricity. It ran on a magical source, some sort of stone that never could be destroyed or drained of its power. Other few wizards were assigned there, mainly as guards. But for some reason, they were not posted at the entrance. Elise was able to walk in unnoticeably.
Well, with the exception of Cho. Using her brilliant seeking skills, Cho raced downward and sped quickly to the Power Plant. She stopped short and hid behind a tree when a group of three strangers walked by.
"Is this the place?" a girl asked.
"Yes. Remember, what Sturgis said. No body is allowed to see. If they do, we'll mess up the whole time line."
"Isn't that what we're here for?" another young man's voice said.
"We're here to stop some people from making a very big mistake," said the girl again. "Are you sure this is the right time? We should have seen them by now."
"It was your time ball," the same boy said. "Sturgis was the one that set it, not me."
Cho leaned forward, trying to get a good look at the bunch, but it was very hard to see so late at night. Suddenly, her broomstick fell over.
"Did you hear that?"
"Someone's watching us."
"I knew this was a bad idea," the boy said.
The group haulted and stood quietly. Cho's hand reached down to get her broom, and spotting it, the girl whispered
"Over there…"
However, Cho fell over trying to get a good grip on her stick. Her face fell sideways, facing the direction of the group. She saw three sets of feet, two definitely male and other a girl, just like the voices.
"I don't think this is the right time anyway. We have to go back, Harry. Give me the Time Turner."
Suddenly the group disappeared from sight before Cho could see their faces but she swore she had heard those voices before. And what name did that girl call? Cho thought she heard a name, but she wasn't sure what it is. Whoever they were, they were waiting for someone or something to happen....