Harry Potter and the Infinite City
By Black Magic Fuckery
(A/N)
I haven't written anything in a long while, so bare with me.
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Hello,
My name is Hermione Granger and if you are reading this then the back up plan worked or someone is snooping where they don't belong, as I don't plan on sharing this with any other living soul save my boys if we get back. I would like to point out right away that… reading this might upset a great many people, not just because of what it means, but also what it implies.
If we have returned and you have somehow stumbled across this journal, then let this story also serve as a warning… Do not try and follow in our footsteps as you will more than likely never come back. If we have made it back, it was through 'sheer dumb luck'… and if this is all that returned… then that was also through pure luck and chance.
I won't cover how we got to where we were, I doubt the circumstance could ever be repeated, but I will start off from when we got there…
The first thing I remember was being told to 'wake up'.
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The first thing that returned to him was the sense of sound. There was this annoying dripping noise every few seconds and was almost right next to his ear. With a groan Harry rolled onto his side and opened his eyes. Where was he?
He pushed himself up to his knees and noticed that his glasses were nearly falling off his face. After rubbing his eyes and adjusting his glasses back into place he gazed around in confusion. It was dark, almost too dark to see. Taking his wand from his pocket, thank Merlin it was still there, he held his wand up and cast a quick Lumos. As the light illuminated the area, he found himself in a room with dilapidated and rotten furniture, the walls made out of smooth brown reddish stone blocks. The cause of the dripping being a crack in the ceiling dropping water onto the floor. What had happened?
Then it all came back. The Doorway. Being dragged through and having saved his friends at the last moment.
"At least they're safe..." He whispered as he rose to his feet and stumbled back. The back of his heel pushed into something soft and that something groaned in pain and protest. Spinning around Harry's eyes widen shock and dismay as he spotted one of his best friends at his feet.
"Damn it Ron," He cursed and he looked around quickly before settling on the crumpled for of his other friend. "Damn it all, not you too!" He muttered and crouched down.
"Ron, Ron wake up!" Harry said as he shook his friend's shoulder. "Get up you great lump!"
The red head made a noise off protest before grumbling out "Ok, ok, OK! I'm up!" He pushed himself off the floor and looked around sleepily. "What's the big ide...ahh?" His eyes widened, all traces of sleep leaving his face in a moment. "Oh."
Ron began to get to his feet as Harry made his way towards his other friend. As he crouched down his eyes settled on the broom tucked under her arm and smiled softly. He shook her, slightly gentler than he had Ron. "Hermione," He called softly and she groaned as she tried to bury her face into her bag. "Hermione, wake up."
She cracked an eye open and peered up at him in confusion. "Harry? What are you..." Her eyes widened as everything came back to her. She rose up quickly accidentally hitting Harry chin with her forehead.
"Ow, damn it!" He mumbled grabbing his chin. "Careful!"
"Sorry," she replied as she held her own stinging forehead. "Are you alright? Is Ron? How long have I been out?"
"I'm fine," Harry said as he turned to look at Ron. "And about as long as I have I think. I thought the both of you would be safe at Hogwarts!"
"Did you really think I'd let you pull your hero stunt and just stay behind?" Ron grunted in slight annoyance, before turning to look at Hermione. "But I thought I told you to stay and tell Dumbledore!"
Harry turned to look at Hermione as she crossed her arms. "If you thought for just one second that I'd leave the two of you in danger, Ronald Billius Weasely, then you have another thing coming!"
"But you were supposed to tell Dumbledore, or-or a Professor what happened!"
"Professor McGonagall and Flitwick saw me jump through, they know something happened and will probably tell him themselves!"
"That doesn't matter! You we're supposed to be safe back at Hogwarts, not where ever here is!"
"I'm not going to stay behind while you're rushing off into danger! And I would have run in first if you hadn't beat me to it!"
"That still doesn't mean that-"
"ENOUGH!" Harry shouted suddenly glaring back and forth between the two. "You were BOTH supposed to be safe at Hogwarts, why did you follow after me!?"
"Mate, if you really think that I'd leave you to Merlin knows what, you're mental." Ron grunted as he adjusted his robes.
"Same for me," Hermione said adjusting the strap of her bag before taking a step towards him and holding out his broom for him. "A little girl once made a promise to never leave the side of the two idiot boys that saved her from a troll and I don't plan on breaking it now."
Harry glanced between the two for a moment before sighing in defeat and taking his Firebolt from her hands. "Ok… Ok. If we're going to be stuck in this mess, I'm glad that you're both here with me."
Hermione smiled brightly and Ron nodded before looking around.
"Where exactly…" Ron started, frowning at the state of the room they were in. "Is this mess that were stuck in, though?"
Taking that as her queue Hermione started looking around quickly, inspecting what was left of the furniture and the condition of the room. "This place has seen better days…" She mumbled as she poked at a rotted chair. "Doesn't look like anything modern, definitely not non-magical, what's left of the carvings on this chair suggest that this thing is at least a thousand years old… Maybe around the time Hogwarts was foun..." She trailed off and looked up and into the surprised looks faces of her friends.
"I know I've made this joke before, but you really do know everything." Ron said with a chuckle.
She blushed slightly and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I like to read about more than just spell work and theory, you know, I actually find wizarding furniture and architecture to be quite fascinating."
Harry smiled and shook his head before moving his eyes around and spotting a door almost blending in with the wall. "Well, that seems like our way out..." Taking a step towards it he found his arm being grabbed and himself being pulled back.
"Hold up a second mate," Ron said as he pulled his own wand out. "The last door you saw literally pulled you into… where ever this place is. I don't really think we should just go running off all willy nilly."
"He's right Harry" Hermione said as she pulled out her wand and with a flick cast a hovering Lumos. "I think we all should be ready and wands free. This should stay with us until I cancel it out so you can have your wand ready to cast."
Harry nodded as he cut off his own spell. "Ok, together now." The three slowly made their way towards the door, taking in the room as they went.
"It looks like their were tapestries on the wall at some point." Hermione said pointing at the hooks on the wall. "They've all rotted away it seems…"
"Looks like there used to be a lot of chairs and maybe a table," Ron said gesturing at all the scattered bits on the floor. "You think this was a meeting room or something?"
"Probably, but why would that doorway lead us to here?" Harry asked, and realized something. "And where is the thing that pulled me in? Did it stuff us in here?"
Hermione frowned before shaking her head. "No, at least I don't think so, why would it leave us with our wands, my bag or your broom?"
"Maybe it wasn't smart..." Ron said as they neared the door. "Not like how we're smart, but maybe like a troll. It just didn't know what wands are or something."
"Intelligent is the word you're looking for Ron," Hermione said as they stopped at the exit of the room. "And you might be right, but it might not have been intelligent at all, the door might have just had arms to pull people in."
"We'll whatever it was..." Harry said, raising his wand and setting his right foot on the door. "Let's hope it's not on the other side." With a hard push the door swung open and revealed a long corridor with an arched stone ceiling with empty, wrought iron chandeliers hanging down every so often. The walls were made of the same brown-red stone and seemed to have that same ancient quality as the room.
"Well..." Harry said flatly, while shrugging his shoulders. "At least the decorator had consistency… Let's go."
The three slowly made their way into the corridor and froze when there was a bang behind them. Turning around their eyes widened to see that the door they had just went through was gone and replaced with a wall. They stayed staring at the wall for a moment before Ron hesitantly inched closer and put his hand on it. Giving it a rough shove that nearly sent himself stumbling back he turned to look at his friends.
"It's solid." He said before stepping back. "That's a bad sign, right?"
"Stopping us from going back?" Harry said with a frown. "Most of the time, yes, I think it's a bad sign."
With one last glance at the wall they started walking down the rest of the hall. The trio made their way, eyes scanning every nook and cranny, taking note of the sparse and scattered debris hoping to see anything distinctive. After a solid minute of walking they came to an intersecting corridor and found themselves frowning in unison.
"Well," Ron said looking from one empty hallway, barely illuminated by the floating ball of magic, to all the other ones. "where do we go from here?" Slowly spinning in place Hermione shifted her gaze around trying to see anything distinctive but couldn't see the slightest hint of a clue. She chewed on her lip a moment before sighing. Just as she was about to reply Harry raised a finger for quiet.
"Do you feel that?" Harry asked looking to the corridor to their left. "I think I feel a draft." Ron and Hermione turned to face towards the left and after a moment felt a slight caress of air on their cheeks.
"Yeah, I feel it too." Ron said as he turned to look back at is Harry, "You suppose there's a window that way?" With a nod Harry started making his way towards the left passage.
"Only one way to find out."He declared setting off. "Might be able to figure out where we are or even just a place to get out." He held up his Firebolt and gave it a wiggle. "I can fly us out one at a time easily enough."
"I wouldn't get our hopes up," Hermione said as she and Ron fell into step besides him. "I doubt whatever brought us here would let us leave that easily."
"True." Harry agreed with a nod and the trio continued on down the hall. After awhile Harry started to frown as his eyes shifted from the left wall to the right. "Haven't seen any other doors, you would think there would be at least one or two down a passageway this long."
Hermione hummed in agreement as her eyes flickered about. "You would think there would be something, then again they might be like the other one. Maybe they turn to stone when someone isn't in them."
"I don't think so," Ron muttered after moment, "There aren't any markers, at least not physical anyway." Harry and Hermione looked at him curiously before he continued. "Ya know, like tombs and stuff. There's usually some kind of marker, either physical or magical, to let ya know there's something there. Like the sink in Myrtle's bathroom. I mean sure there are hidden rooms without em, but not every room is hidden like that, how would you even find anything?"
Harry found himself nodding in agreement. "Huh, that makes a lot of sense Ron." Hermione smiled proudly at Ron and the red head blushed slightly from the positive attention. They continued on in the comfortable silence that followed for a few more minutes until noticing an end to the hall and into something else.
"There's the end," Hermione noted, "I can feel a much stronger breeze now."
"Good, thought we were going to be walking down this thing forever." Ron said as they came closer to the end, but as they got nearer it became apparent that something was odd. Much of the walls and the entire ceiling seemed to vanish into darkness. As they finally came within feet of the end of the hall Harry finally recognized what they were seeing.
"This is a bridge right?" And sure enough as the walked further onto it they found themselves on a wide stone bridge, empty braziers scattered about. Harry quickly set his wand ablaze with light and leaned over the railing. Holding his wand over the edge he saw the light shine down and into the darkness below, illuminating the base of the bridge and the rocky wall it was connected too. The light went down at least a few hundred feet and revealed no hint of a bottom at all.
Ron came up next to him looking down and shuddered ever so softly. "Proper scary, that is, don't even want to think how deep it goes." Harry nodded in agreement and pulled back. Turning around he noticed Hermione had spelled a Lumos of her own and was instead looking up above the exit of the corridor. Following her gaze he saw that just like below the light only illuminated straight up and into darkness. Not a single hint of the sky above could be seen.
"I wonder where the breeze is coming from…" He wondered coming up besides the brunette."You think we're underground?"
"Deep underground," Hermione muttered scanning the rock face. "Hang on." She gave her wand a twirl and muttered something causing the light to become even brighter. Then with a fast underhand swing, sent the light flying high into the air above them. Ron came to stand beside them looking up as the light whizzed up and further away. And it just kept going... and going…
"I-I stand corrected," She said as her face paled in response to the light beginning to shrink in the distance, to the point of not being able make it out. "We are obscenely deep underground…"
"Bugger me…" Ron whispered in shock. "Do… Do ya think if we did it downward it'd go just as far?"
"I thought you didn't want to think about it." Harry said besides the red head.
"I didn't but…" Ron shrugged his shoulders. "Now, I kinda have too." Hermione frowned, glancing at him before taking a step towards the ledge.
"Well, only one way to find out." Repeating what she had done, she sent a ball of light straight down and watched as it descended down into the dark below. The three watched as it went lower and lower until it too became to hard to see. Hermione's knees buckled ever so slightly as she took a stumbling step back away from the edge of the railing, her fear of heights kicking in.
"Merlin…" Harry mumbled before turning to look down the portion of the bridge that was lit up by the light hovering around them. "You don't think…" He started, gesturing down the way with the tip of his broom. "You don't think the way across is just as long do you?" Harry asked anxiously.
Pulling herself back together Hermione once more readied the spell. "If… If it just keeps going…" She trailed off looking into the possibly endless darkness.
"If it just keeps going, we'll turn back and pick a different corridor." Harry said firmly. "I rather not have to try and cross an endless chasm if we can." Hermione nodded her head and then sent the light flying slight up and over the bridge. They watched anxiously as the ball of light flew further and further away until they saw the light collide with a distant wall, illuminating the other side of the ravine a thousand feet or so away.
"Small mercies," Harry sighed in relief before slowly making his way down the bridge. "Well, I guess we're good to cross then." Ron and Hermione fell into step beside him, though Hermione was standing noticeably closer to his side trying to keep as much distance from the railing as possible.
They continued walking in silence for a few moments before something caught Harry's attention from the corner of his eye. Looking up and over Harry saw a very soft glow of light higher up to the right and in the distance. Squinting his eyes he could barely make out the shape of another bridge further away.
"Hey, do you see that?" He asked pointing over with his wand, keeping up his steady pace. "Up there?"
Ron looked up and over and after a moment nodded. "Good eye Harry!" Spotting it too after a moment of searching Hermione looked out into the black and began to think.
"I wonder if there are a many more bridges that we just can't see because of the dark." She glanced at a nearby empty brazier and frowned. "Considering the state of things on the way here, I'm not surprised that these haven't been maintained or refilled." After a moment her frown deepened. "On this bridge or any of the others that might be around us anyway, but then that means there must be someone up there."
"That or someone comes through that place frequently enough to maintain a fire, though I imagine that there are ways to keep a fire going for quite awhile with magic." Harry replied gazing up towards the bridge in the far away distance. He was about to continue with his thoughts before he was suddenly grabbed by the back of his robes and pulled back, same as Hermione who gave a slight shriek of surprise as Ron pulled them towards him.
"Bloody fucking hell…" They heard him mutter as he gazed beyond them and down. Hermione turned to look and nearly shrieked gain. They had been so distracted that they had almost continued on and over. Before them was a sudden break in the bridge and if they had taken a few steps further they might have fallen into the black below.
Slightly shaken Harry swallowed thickly before turning his eyes to the red head. "N-Nice catch Ron, that…" He trailed off turning his eyes back. "That would have been…" He trailed off.
"No problem mate," Ron replied before turning to Hermione. "Are you alright?"
She was trembling a bit but nodded her head. "I-I'm ok…" She took a shuddering breath in and then let it out slowly, relaxing just enough to stop shaking in place. "I should have thought of this," She said looking at the break. "Considering the rotting furniture, crumbling heraldry and the general lack of maintenance on the lighting fixtures, it should be obvious that this bridge and maybe even the rooms and halls might be collapsing in because of age."
"This place is definitely ancient," she continued as she regained her composure through the working of her mind. "It shouldn't be surprising at all that it might be falling apart and I'm so stupid for not considering that. We've been marching all roughshod through the halls when the floor could have very well opened up and swallowed us whole."
"You're not stupid," Harry said in instant disagreement. "We're so used to living in a ancient but well maintained castle that its just kind of easy to take our safety for granted." He paused for a moment. "Well, safety from the castle falling apart anyway."
"Not just that," Ron interjected suddenly looking pale. "Magical protections and traps too. Most spells would have faded away with enough time, but well crafted wards and enchantments could last for centuries even thousands of years, like the tombs in Egypt." Ron eyes glazed over for a moment as he stared into nothing, thinking about all the nasty kind of wards he had heard about from Bill.
"We need to be careful then," Harry said taking the words of his friends to heart. "We'll go slow, keep our eyes and ears open for anything." Looking forwards into the dark and then back at Hermione he gestured with his broom. "Can we see how far the break goes?"
Hermione blinked in confusion before her eyes widened in realization. "W-wait, you still want to cross this way!?" She asked, pitch rising in distress.
"I just want to look," Harry said softly. "If it's not too far I can ferry you both across with the broom." She gazed out into the black before back at him looking at him like he was crazy. "Hermione, I promise everything will be fine. I just want you to check for now."
After a moment her shoulders slumped in resignation. Once more she sent a light across into the darkness and they watched as after about two hundred feet the other side of the break came into view as it passed.
"Not too far at all." Harry commented turning to his friends. "Who wants to go first?" He asked looking between them.
Ron glanced at Hermione and then back at Harry. "I guess I'll go first," He declared with a shrug and stepped up. "carry me over and I'll keep my wand lit on the other end."
Harry nodded and mounted his broom. "Ok, you hop on back." The raven haired teen said scooting up on the broom a bit. Ron settled on behind him and after making sure his grip on Harry's waist was secure gave a nod that he was good. Just as he was about to kick off he was stopped by Hermione speaking out.
"Wait hold on," She said and with a quick wave of her wand sent the floating Lumos that had been following them to hover around Harry. "That way you can keep both hands on your broom!"
Harry nodded in thanks and kicked off, taking him and Ron into the air. The pair then quickly made their way across the abyss below and came to a hover over the edge on the other side. Coming close as he could he gently touched down and pressed down with his legs. "It feels solid, I think you can get off."
Ron slowly slid off the broom and after coming onto sold ground smiled and lit his wand up. "Ok, better go easy when you bring her over." Ron suggested. "Better she doesn't panic over a bottomless pit."
"You are a paragon of consideration." Harry deadpanned as he made his way back. His eyes found her easy enough as she had lit her own wand up when the took off. But as he neared his eyes settled behind her and his gazed sharpened on something. For a brief moment he could have sworn he saw something move, but as he stared he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Shaking his head he flew down and landed next to her.
"You ready?" He asked softly, searching her face with eyes. She looked pretty pale and more than a little distressed but she nodded and took a hesitant step closer. Thinking better off it he held out his hand to stop her and shifted back on the broom. "How about you come up front, you can grip the broom with me and I'll keep a hold on you too?"
She glanced between the broom and Harry for a moment before smiling softly. "Thanks, just… just go slowly, please." After an awkward bit of positioning he had her back pressed up against his chest and the broom beneath them.
"Ok, on three I'm going to lift us up alright? Make sure you have a firm grip and if it helps you can keep your eyes closed. Leave the rest to me." He said reassuringly as he wrapped his arm securely around her waist. She took a deep breath and nodded gripping the shaft of the broom tightly. "On three… One… Tw-"
Harry kicked off suddenly and swiveled around sharply causing her to shriek in distress. "HARRY!? You prat! How could you just-"
But his eyes and attention were focused on the place they had just left as he drifted backwards and away. He was sure of it this time, he had seen something move out of the corner of his eye. His grip tightened on her waist and she let out a noise of discomfort.
"H-Harry?" Hermione questioned realizing that something was up.
He was silent for a moment still trying to see something as they drifted further away. "There was something there..." He muttered seriously. "I couldn't make it out but there was definitely something there, Hermione."
Hermione hearing his tone shivered slightly and looked carefully where they had abruptly lifted off. "A-Are you sure?"
"Positive…" He said before slowly swiveling back around and towards the waiting redhead on the other side. Making his way over he noticed that Ron had a distressed look on his face. "Did you see?" Harry asked as the landed next to him.
"I could barely make them out from here," He said quickly and anxiously. "But I definitely saw them!"
"Them?" Harry asked looking pale. "I only saw the one."
Ron nodded grimly before turning his eyes towards the railings. "I saw one coming up the side and one from behind. I was just about to warn you but you kicked off. We definitely need to get off this bridge, I don't know if they're on this side too but I rather not find out, ya know?"
"So, ancient crumbling passage ways, possibly deadly traps and now mysterious monsters..." Harry said as he dismounted the broom and slid it out from between his and Hermione's legs. "All we need is a Voldemort-possessed professor and voices in the walls and It's first and second year all over again."
"Don't make light of things Harry." Hermione scolded. "The list of things we've got to watch out for just increased."
"Sorry." He muttered and turned to look around. "That aside I rather get off this thing now." Turning to Ron who was looking back and forth between the railings on either side of the bridge, Harry started forward. "I'll take the front, Ron you keep covering the sides and Hermione you take rear." The redhead grunted in affirmation and slid into step behind Harry with Hermione following closely.
The rest of the trip across the broken bridge was spent in silent focus and was thankfully uneventful. After awhile the light of their floating Lumos began to shine dimly on the opposite rock face and illuminated a doorway and an arch surrounding it.
"Thank Merlin," Ron said in relief before frowning just as fast. "I hope there isn't another endless corridor behind that."
"Don't jinx it Ron." Hermione muttered as they drew near. The slowly gathered around the doorway taking up positions silently and after glancing at each other nodded in readiness.
Pushing it open slowly they found themselves in a large, well lit domed room that had multiple doors all around the sides. They glanced at each other in surprise, all expecting more darkness ahead. They snuffed out their light as they walked in each carefully looking around. The door closed behind them as they made their way towards the center where a series of large wide pedestals in a half circle rested on a raised platform.
"What is this place?" Hermione wondered aloud as she gazed about, her eyes taking in everything. "Look, the tapestries here haven't rotted away, in fact they almost look new!" Large and beautiful tapestries depicting strange scenes and covered in unknown writing hung from the walls and the ceiling.
"I don't recognize the language at all," She mumbled to herself "I even read ahead in the books and didn't see anything like this. The structure is so disjointed, I can't tell where one character begins and another one ends."
"Look at the tables!" Ron said abruptly and turning her to look Hermione's eyes widened in surprise.
They were made out some kind of almost black wood with what looked like gold interweaving in throughout the structure, an entirely alien looking structure. "Look at the design," she said coming up close to one. "I've never seen anything look like this… at least, nothing with a magical origin. I've seen some non-magical paintings that looked like this, even a few weirdly designed buildings but this is entirely new…" She trailed off glancing around the room. "But considering where we are… this is probably very old, way older than anything I've read about."
Ron turned away to look around and saw Harry making his way towards the center area. "Anything on the pedestals?"
Harry seeing a step climbed up onto the raised platform and gazed at the pedestals from left to right. "They're covered in the same Runes as on the tapestries..." He said taking a quick look across them. "There's a few levers and dials… and a book chained to the this one."
"A book?" Hermione asked whirling around, a hungry look in her eyes.
"I think it's supposed to be a book," Harry admitted as he leaned closer. "Actually, it almost looks like it's made of thin metal sheets bound together."
Hermione's eyes widened slightly. "It's got to be very old then, not many cultures made books like that for any great length of time, too costly and time consuming to make." She quickly joined him up and the platform, Ron following close behind. "Let me take a look."
"Hermione wait," Ron said grabbing her wrist before she could touch it. "I know you want to see it, but we just talked about this less than ten minutes ago. We've got to be careful and If my dad and Bill have taught me anything, it's that you don't just grab random magical objects without looking them over."
He frowned in thought for a brief before carefully moving his wand in a wide gesture and adding a little flick at the end. Then he brought it back and raised it up and muttered something very slowly in a language that neither Harry or Hermione could recognized. Suddenly a silver screen appeared above the book much to their surprise.
"I did it!" Ron cheered excitedly.
"What did you do?" Hermione asked in curiously
"Something Bill taught us all after… after the diary in second year." He said looking dark for a moment, a look mirrored on Harry's face. "It's supposed to be a fairly advanced diagnostic charm, I couldn't do it before, but Bill made sure we all knew how to do it and how to read it even if we couldn't actually cast it." Ron then began going over the screen really quickly before smiling in relief. "We'll, it's not showing up anything for Dark Magic and I'm not seeing anything to suggest that it's enchanted with anything nasty, I think it's safe enough."
"Great job mate," Harry said clapping him on the back.
"That was very impressive Ron, I'm proud of you." Hermione said smiling up at him, grateful for his actions. Ron blushed, his ears turning read and he nodded before gesturing at the book.
Seeing the go ahead, Hermione pulled the book off the pedestal, being mindful of the chain and opened it. Looking at the first pages a moment she frowned before flipping the to another and then another. "I'm fairly certain that each page is a different language," She explained as she kept going through them. "I don't recognize anything so far… but I think this might be some kind of... instruction manual. Do you see how the pictures are mostly the same, but the symbols are different."
Harry nodded his head as his eyes glanced at each page, seeing what Hermione was pointing at. This went on for a few more moments but as Hermione reached the end of the book Harry's eyes widened.
"Stop!" He shouted, causing Hermione to nearly jump out of her socks. "Sorry, go back a page, please." He said quieter seeing her give him an annoyed glance. As she turned the page back Harry's eyes settled on the text and he smiled as he understood the letters. "Well there you go."
Hermione and Ron both flinched as he said that and Harry frowned. "What?"
"Don't do that Harry, you know it freaks me out." Ron said with a shuddered. Harry's eye brows raised in surprise and confusion. Turning to Hermione, she gave him a sheepish and apologetic smile.
"It is rather surprising, Harry." Hermione admitted. "You don't do it very often and we tend to forget."
"What do you mean? All I did was say 'there you go' and you two are looking at me like I-" Harry froze as a thought entered his head. There was only one thing he could think off that would provoke those words and their actions. "Did I just speak in Parseltongue?" He asked.
"Yes." Hermione said raising an eyebrow. "Didn't you know?"
Harry frowned before shaking his head. "I never know actually, it all just sounds like English to me… Then that means..." His eyes flickered to the page that she currently had opened, the one that looked like plain English and looked back up at her. "Why would snakes have a written language?" He asked in confusion.
Hermione looked at him like he was crazy for just a moment before she looked at the page and then back up at him in surprise. "Is this Parseltongue? You can read this? But it's all squiggles, curves, circles and dots and it all just blends together!"
"But," Harry said grinning. "It looks just like English to me."
"Well, what does it say?" Ron asked still looking a bit unsettled. "Is it a manual?"
Harry took another look and after a moment raised his head. "Yes, this thing is some kind of… lift? But it's got some weird controls. Like this pedestal here," He said gesturing at the one to their immediate right. "Is about changing the rotation of the room and the corridors connected to those doors. While this one here," he explained as he pointed at the next one over. "Does up and down, side to side and… and back and forth?"
"That's, insane, who would design a lift like that?" Hermione asked slightly boggled.
"Actually," Ron said turning to Hermione. "The lifts at the Ministry of Magic can do most of that. Not the room rotating thing but the side to side and back and forth. I've ridden on them the few times we've visiting dad at work."
Hermione just stared at him for a moment before turning to look at the pedestals in disbelief. "...Santways, longways, backways..." She trailed off recalling a certain glass elevator.
Harry having leaned in for a better look, stared in confusion at the bottom. "That's not all," He continued as he pointed at the last pedestal. "This last one is really confusing, it mentions something about frequencies and dim-"
He was cut off as a door on their left swung open with a bang. Harry reacting instantly, grabbed Hermione and Ron and pulled them down behind the pedestals just as whoever opened that door walked in to the room.
"Quickly!" A deep, rough man's voice commanded. "Into the Dais Room, now!"
Another voice, female and full of panic replied. "They're right behind us Gabe!"
Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione and raised his wand up ever so slightly. They nodded back and did the same ready to act if the need arose. The sound of numerous footsteps echoed as they entered the domed room, signifying a great many people had entered. Harry could hear heavy panting from nearly all of them as if they had sprinted here as fast as they could.
"Is that everyone? Charlotte!?" The rough sounding man, Gabe, called out. "Where's Charlotte?"
"We got separated at the fork," A young sounding male voice explained, "her, Colin and Dennis all had to make a break with the other group when those bastards showed up."
"Damn it all," Gabe's voice cursed. "She's the only one in our team that can cast the damn Patronus Charm!"
"The Patronus Charm?" Harry whispered in slight dread, mirrored on Hermione and Ron's faces. "Then that means-"
"They're coming!" Someone shouted and sure enough the room began to feel colder and colder. "We have to shut the door!"
"It won't hold for long," Gabe's voice said, "We've got to get ready to move!"
"But you can't," Someone else exclaimed in distress. " a lot of our men are still out there. If we leave them, they might never get back!"
"They knew the risk!" Gabe replied. "Close the door and ready the-" Whatever Gabe was about to say next was drowned out as Lily Potter's voice began to scream in Harry's head.
"TOO LATE, THEY'RE HERE!" Someone shouted in sheer panic.
"Shit! Fire spells and fire based weapons up front!" Gabe commanded "The rest cast cheering charms and get those shields up!"
Harry chanced a look and raised his eyes just above the edge of the pedistals. What he saw made his eyes widen. A large amount of people, everyone from full grown men and women to younger teens were facing one of the doors with their wands and what he was pretty certain were muggle flame throwers aimed at it.
And as frost began to crawl along the walls and floor he saw them through the open door. It was like that time at the lake, as a literal swarm of Dementors raced towards them.
"Fire," Gabe shouted out and Harry finally got a look at the man. He was tall, taller than everyone around him and looking like he had stepped right out of an American action movie. Dressed in a ragged leather coat and from the looks of it cargo pants and boots. His brown hair long and shaggy and looking like he was in desperate need of a shower with all the muck, grime and possibly blood in his hair. "Fire at will!"
The assembled group started casting in rapid succession throwing everything from incendio to the higher level flame spells he had only read about in passing. It was like a barrage of cannon fire with its level of intensity and for a brief moment Harry thought it would be enough to drive the Dementors back. But slowly but surely they inched closer and one by one the defenders began to lose their nerve and succumb to the Dementor's horrible presence.
"Fire!" Gabe shouted, even as his body began to shake from the chilling cold or his own inner demons "Don't let up or we're dead!"
Harry watched in horror as the Dementors came closer, foot by foot and then yard by yard, they were going to be overrun. "I have to do something" He said and as he was about to rise felt a hand on his sleeve. Looking down he saw Hermione's eyes looking up at him in concern.
"Harry, we don't know who these people are or what they'll do even if you help them!"
"If I don't do something, they're going to die and then they'll be coming after us!" He said glancing back up and seeing the soul sucking monsters only feet from the door. "You're just going to have to have faith that everything will be alright after this, ok?"
Hermione gazed into his eyes before nodding. "O-Ok, I trust you."
"I-If you're going to do it, you better do it now Harry!" Ron said peeking over the pedestals. "I don't think they're gonna last another second!"
Harry nodded and rose to his feet, sprinting around the pedestals and towards the door, even as Lily Potter's last moments blared in his head. Just as Gabe himself was beginning to began to collapse to his knees Harry stopped just behind the defenders and raised his wand. Focusing on the memory of Sirius and the promise of a new home and the newest one, of his friends choosing to come after him rather than leave him to his own fate alone. Power rushed from Harry's heart and through his arm and up into his wand as the words escaped his mouth in a shout of pure defiance.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
In a blinding flash of light, Prongs flew from the tip of his wand and over the collapsing defenders and towards the door just as the Dementors had reached it. Lowering it's antlers in a charge, Prongs pushed the Dementors back, pulses of light crashing and sending the Dementors scrambling and screeching away. The incarnation of his father's animagus form didn't let up as it raked it's antlers back and forth and bucked at any Dementor unlucky enough to be close to it.
With one long wail of defeat the Dementors retreated back, farther and farther until they were out of sight and Lily's voice was once again was allowed to rest in silence.
Gasping slightly from the effort of using the spell and at such an intensity Harry very nearly didn't notice the woman walking towards him, wand raised. Harry's eyes widened and quickly raised his own, only for it to be sent flying with a quick disarming spell from somewhere off to the side. Before Harry could even utter a word a flash of red hit him in the chest and all went dark even as he heard his friend's shout his name in panic.
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...And that's how we became acquainted with Gabriel and his crew of scavengers.
It was a bit of a wake up call for us, though none of us would realize it for months to come. That you have to be mistrustful, opportunistic and more often than not selfish, if you plan to survive and more importantly thrive in the place we would soon find ourselves in. To be honest, this was probably the least painful way to learn these lessons compared to the other stories we had heard later on. We got lucky and frankly I'm beginning to suspect that that's the only thing we have going for us at this point.
Luck and a fair bit of stubborn determination… That sounds about right.
