Disclaimer: This is based of the Harry Potter series, owned and written by JK Rowling.
A/N: Don't have time for the author's note! So it shall be short. Wheee! And the plot monkeys were evil at the end of the last chapter, I know. So get ready to rumbleee! But before I do, here is the thanks for the lovin':
RisuMusume: I AM SOOOOO SORRY! But I am also sooo happy to hear that you are so dedicated. (loves you to death) That was really nice, and I am sorry about "railing" on the reviewers. And I want to see your one-shot already! LOL. Thanks again.
yunchen: I have good news! I got the gun back. (gives you back the gun and watches you through the other gun on the floor) Glad you liked the chapter and I hope you think this one is great as well.
LuzEterna: I am glad to hear it. Having a beta helps me perfect my writing, making it a better experience for all . And maybe Ginny will meet an untimely demise BWAHAHAAHA!fifespice: I hope you didn't hold your breath for too long- I'd be with one less awesome reviewer. I am overjoyed to hear that you are living on pins and needles waiting though, hehehe!
Kimicocuteness: wow.
nameundecided: Let's send the bunnies and the monkeys to war! It will leave us free, right? LOL. And you finally get to hear what Hermione had to say.
gray angel: Yeah, I have heard that as well. It really is awful when they think it can be fixed. (sigh) Anyway, I am glad that you enjoyed the story so far!
malfoylover: Don't worry, Hermione is not bad news for Harry and Draco; it turns out that she just likes hugs. And I will continue.
MalfoyRocks: Glad you loved it; but don't die. PLEASE! I need the reviewers to stay around and review, because I LOVE reviews!
Chapter 18: The Cave Pt. 2Hermione took a deep breath, preparing herself for her coming speech.
"I think you need to know what lies within this cave," she said, beating around the bush.
"Hermione, get to the point," said Harry, eager to hear what she had to say.
"You remember when Draco saw the sign for the village?" asked Hermione.
"Ah yes," answered Draco. "It's called Lernea, I believe."
"And that's the name for a reason. Although the Muggles do not realize it, Lernea is the home of the Hydra," said Hermione informatively.
"What do you mean, Hydra?" asked Ron, his face full of fright.
"You know what the Hydra is, Ron," said Draco, rolling his eyes.
"But wait Hermione," said Harry thinking about this information. "I thought the Hydra lived in Greece and was killed by Hercules."
"That's mythology Harry! Written by Muggles; how could you expect them to get something like this correct?"
"True; they really aren't that smart," said Draco, nodding his head.
Hermione shot him a glare; he stepped way over the line with that. Hermione did not appreciate Muggles being called dumb. After all, her parents weren't magical at all, making these derisions hit home, literally.
"I mean magically," said Draco, correcting himself in the hope of calming Hermione. She gave him a questioning look before she began again.
"As I was saying, Lernea is the home of the Hydra. However, it doesn't exactly live in the village. It supposedly lives in a dark cave, which has a lake inside of it. And all signs point to this one," Hermione said forebodingly.
"Great," said Harry sarcastically. "Anything else we should know before we actually enter?"
"Well, I'm sure you've heard it before, but I might as well tell you. The Hydra cannot be killed by simply cutting the heads off because if you do, two heads will grow back in the place of the severed head. Unless someone has tried cutting the heads, there should be nine heads to contend with. Not to mention they all breathe poison."
"Poison?" asked Harry.
"Yes," answered Hermione. "The good news is that I know a spell that will allow us to breathe. The bad news is I don't know what to do with the Hydra."
"Couldn't we just sneak by?" suggested Ron. It was a common tactic for Harry, Hermione, and Ron, and it hadn't failed them yet.
"I doubt it," said Hermione, shaking her head. "From what I've read, the Hydra is about the size of three elephants and weighs upwards of ten tons, so good luck trying to get past that gigantic figure."
"So we have to fight it," stated Harry determinedly.
"Yes," replied Hermione, " And therein lies the problem. I think its skin is practically impregnable for magic."
"Practically," said Harry smiling. Hermione looked muddled for a moment, but soon her eyes lit up as she realized what Harry was thinking. It was simple, really. But how would they get it to work? They tried to plot how they would face the monstrosity.
They finished their discussion and made their way into the dense fog, moving towards the mouth of the cave. They walked for about a minute, with Harry in the lead of the single file, followed by Draco, Hermione, and Ron. Hermione let her mind wander, thinking about what else they might face in the cave. She knew that the Hydra might well be the least of their worries, and as grim as that sounded, she tried to predict what else there might be. She let her mind drift, forgetting about the Hydra. It wasn't until a putrid smell filled her nostrils that she came back to the situation at hand.
"I almost forgot!" she cried, looking behind her. Ron had looked up at her and had given her his undivided attention, as had Draco. Harry had not, however, so she asked Draco to get Harry to stop and listen. He did so.
"Now, inhale deeply, filling your lungs to the brim," she instructed. She watched as they all did and gave her wand a wave.
"Exhale," she commanded and waited until they complied. With one last wave of her wand, their chests felt lighter and breathing was much easier.
"How…?" asked Harry.
"Wordless magic. And you should know the spell—it's from Dumbledore's book. Which I must say, has been entirely too useful as it is," said Hermione in her matter-of-fact tone.
"True, but Dumbledore has always had a way with these things; I wouldn't be surprised if he predicted that we would face the Hydra," remarked Harry, reminiscing over Dumbledore. Quickly, his mind raced back to the current situation as he too began to smell something fetid.
"Ugh," said Draco in response to the smell. "It smells like death."
"I'm not surprised," said Hermione, her eyes wide. "Now keep a close look out, we are getting close."
After considering Hermione's direction, they quickly made their way inside the cave and were engulfed by the darkness.
To help see where they were going, Ron muttered, "Lumos," and watched his surroundings fill with the white light. Hermione turned around once she had caught a glimpse of the light.
"Ron! That wasn't part of the plan! Now the Hydra knows exactly where we are," scolded Hermione. "Next time, just follow the course of actions we wanted, okay?"
"But Hermione, I couldn't see. You can't expect me to walk blindly into this battle," answered Ron, trying to explain his course of action.
"I agree," said Harry. "Anyway, we are bound to meet the Hydra sooner or later, so why not sooner? The sooner the better, after all."
"Yes, I agree," said Hermione sarcastically. "Let me give you the Draught of Living Death now so we can get this over with. Sooner is better, after all."
"Hermione, don't get bitter with me. I was just making a comment. And besides, I want you to keep that rage inside until later," said Harry, smirking.
"Next time, keep your two pence to yourself. And what's that supposed to mean?" inquired Hermione.
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, if you ask me," murmured Ron to Draco. Draco gave him a nod but quickly looked away; Hermione heard the snide remark.
"I'm sorry, I'm really anxious! I've never actually seen a Hydra before," said Hermione, continuing to walk ahead into the pale green fog
"It's just you're usually the one that's together Hermione," said Ron, trying to comfort her. "And besides, we've gone up against worse without knowing as much as we do now."
"I know," said Hermione, "I know."
"Well, I hope you all had fun chatting. Because you've squandered all our time," said Draco, looking back over his shoulder. He had heard something that sounded distinctly like a snort.
"What's that supposed to—" said Harry, cut off in mid-sentence. He heard a similar sound, except it was closer to the sound of a grunt. "Run for cover," he commanded, afraid of what was in store. There was also the fact that he wanted to be able to get a good look at the monster before he actually began fighting with it, but that paled in comparison to his desire for safety.
They scurried towards the right-side wall of the cave, Ron leading the way with his brightly-lit wand. Ron guided them to a large rock that would be the perfect protection from and vantage point for the Hydra. They settled in behind the rock and Ron held out his wand over them, trying his best to light the room. What they all saw made them gasp in horror.
After a quick headcount, Harry had discovered that it only had nine vicious heads, as Hermione predicted. However, that was where the good news ended. First of all, Harry saw the sharp, grimy teeth of the right head glint in the wand-light as it quickly opened and snapped shut its mouth. And then there were the eyes, the red malignant eyes. When just one of the eighteen fell upon you, you could feel the evil within them; you could feel that the monster wanted to shred you apart, piece by piece. The noses did not help matters much either. They were large and round, constantly flaring as though the creature was perpetually angry. Finally, the green, grotesque, scaly skin lined the creature all over. It carpeted the twenty-foot necks, the head, the claws, everything, making it practically impenetrable to magic. It completed the mosaic that was akin to a painting of the devil.
"Oh, God," said Hermione. "Those pictures in the book did not do it justice."
"I believe it," remarked Harry, peering towards the Hydra. "You sort of need to see it alive and in color to comprehend the true scope of this monster."
"So are we going to do it, or what?" asked Draco, looking at one of the middle heads. "I think one of the heads is eyeing me for dinner. So please, before I'm eaten, can we do something?"
"You know what to do," answered Harry, nodding towards Ron to let his wand dim into the darkness.
"Nox," murmured Ron, causing the light to dissipate. They took one last breath within the protection of the boulder, and began to move their way across the room, fanning out.
As Harry's eyes adapted to the darkness, he started to see the silhouette of the Hydra. After a moment, he saw the red eyes gazing at him greedily. All too soon, he heard a chomping sound and a scream.
"It almost got me!" screamed Hermione. Before it got the chance to try to snack on them again, Harry took action.
"On the count of three," he yelled, so all of them could hear. "One, two, three!"
"Petrificus Totalus!" all four of them sang out, their wands pointed towards the Hydra. A red glow lit the room, illuminating the monster. A few more loud chomps sounded throughout the room, one of them close to Harry. He could feel a draft of air sweep by as they head snapped to his right.
"It didn't work!" screamed Draco, who had also had a close encounter with death.
"I'm not blind!" yelled Harry in response moving around to prevent himself from being an easy target. He heard footsteps around him; apparently Hermione and Ron had begun waltzing around as well. They paused for a moment, preparing to try again.
"Olblovarto!" they all rang out, with their wands pointing towards the center of the room. This time they heard one of the heads whimper, but it quickly transformed back into the traditional growl of the Hydra.
'Third time's a charm,' hoped Harry as he jumped to the right, to avoid snapping head. Soon he had to jump back when another head tried to eat him. On of the teeth caught on his pant leg. That was not good.
'So now it's anticipating my actions? Perfect,' thought Harry. ' I'm sure Hermione has noticed.'
She had, in fact. Although she too almost lost her life in the process. Luckily, only the hem of her dress had been destroyed and not her. But still, it was too close for comfort, much closer than the Hydra had come before. She hoped that the next spell would do the trick, or else their lives might be lost beyond any Finding Charm's reach.
She called out," Ready?" and took a deep breath.
"Proculabsenstis!" they all screamed, once more illuminating the room in a glow. This time, it was a comforting sky blue that flowed around the Hydra, engulfing it. It began floating a few inches off the ground; the heads looked confused as to what was happening. All of the eyes lost their malicious fiery red and transitioned to a scared rose. The blue light slammed the beast up against the wall of the room, causing the whole room to rumble. For a moment, there was a deadening silence as the blue light dispersed and the Hydra sunk to the floor.
"Is it dead?" asked Ron, eager to get past the monstrosity and onto the next part of the cave.
The heard a deafening roar as the earth began to tremble once more. They could feel the creature rising back onto its feet. They all gasped in disbelief at the perseverance of the creature.
"There's your answer," said Harry, thinking of what they would do next. They had done all that Hermione and he had planned earlier, and were left at the Quidditch Pitch without a broom, so to speak. He had to think of something, but what? He never was one to be ingenious; that was always Hermione's job. But she was busy right now, with her screams resounding throughout the room as one of the heads snapped at her, wanting the meal it had fought so eagerly for. Harry thought about the heads for a moment, thinking about what he could do with so many of them. What could he do to expose that weakness? He soon figured it out.
"Everyone, Capitipoena!" he bellowed, desperate to finish the monster off.
"But…"argued Ron, who didn't understand what Harry was doing.
"Just do it!" yelled back Harry. "NOW!"
"Capitipoena!" they all cried, putting all of the strength of their minds and souls into it. In concentration Harry had closed his eyes, trying to put forth his best effort. But when he opened them, the Hydra was still standing there in the darkness, its heads held high.
He watched the heads stop moving for a moment.
The one furthest to the left began to sway, hitting the other heads nearby. Soon the next one to the right began to sway, and so forth, just like Gertie's Magic Dominoes. Soon enough, the whole creature was swaying in pain. Then it stumbled and fell to the floor, groaning.
"Against the wall one more time!" commanded Harry. "NOW!"
"Proculabsenstis!" they yelled. Harry watched as the calm blue light engulfed the creature one final time and smashed the creature into the wall. Harry heard a few final wails of pain from the creature as it hit the floor. He heard a few breaths sounding throughout the room, as though it were gasping for air.
Then it stopped.
He went towards the creature to check if it was dead; all eighteen of the eyes were lifeless, they lacked the malignant shine that the monster had before. And the awful smell had stopped emanating from the creature. Harry was ecstatic.
Sadly, this joy was short-lived.
Right as Harry was about to jump up and down for joy, he thought about his friends.
"Everyone all right?" he asked, trying to clarify things. He felt something was very wrong.
"I'm fine," replied Draco, dusting off his robes. Harry waited for more answers, but was not given any.
"OH MY GOD!" he screamed.
He ran over to where Hermione should have been standing.
"Lumos," he said, holding his wand up to light his surrounding as much as possible. He stopped and peered down, to see Hermione collapsed on the floor and bleeding. Ron was already there, crying. Harry stooped next to him, despairing. Who knew how their journey could continue on without Hermione, their resident genius, their friend?
A/N: Why did Hermione have to go and get hurt! It is soooo sad! Well, maybe if you REVIEW, I will be able to reveal Hermione's fate earlier than the end of the week. I know it will be long, but I have a time limit AND I have summer reading to complete, which consists of three books and three journal entries per book. Don't worry, it should only take me a week. However, the fact remains that this will be the last chappie for a while. Hope you enjoyed it! You better have! And thank you for reading ALL eighteen of these chapters. Hopefully, there will be more to come as the journey continues on and Draco and Harry grow closer…