8Author's Note: Please don't kill me for this one….that is all.
"For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity."
William Penn
Chapter 53 ~ Blood in the Water ~ Part 2
ECOTS
Harry and Ron Weasley had made it back.
Tonks stopped splashing calf-deep in the water, staring at the two as they emerged from the water. Harry was looking backwards, towards the barrier, a grim expression aging his face. Ron just scowled grimly, looking like he was more irritated at their situation than anything else.
They'd grown the past year, both now fully grown men despite their young ages, and Tonks found herself unbelievably uncomfortable with the realization.
She wanted to protect them, but that wasn't her call to make anymore, now was it?
Fred Weasley was the first to reach them, his gaze oddly cold as it moved between Harry and the far out barrier. "What happened to Kally?" The jovial tone Fred usually had was gone, the wizard sounding serious.
Before Harry could even respond Ron had, tilting his head roughly towards the barrier. "She's sleeping it off. Left her in as safe a place as we could, Fred."
Fred's expression remained drawn, but he nodded, tension draining out of his shoulders. It looked like he wanted to ask something else, something weighing more heavily on him, but he didn't.
Dean Thomas was right behind him, the wizard's eyes darting past he and Ron towards the barrier, towards Kalliandra, a dark frown on his face.
"What about dad?"
Ron and Fred's father was out there, with her Remus. Tonks wet her lips, standing in the water, feeling helpless. Kingsley was also out there, Mad-Eye, Fleur….
Ron's face paled, the wizard not looking away from the questioning gaze of his brother.
But he didn't answer.
Tonks sucked in a breath, turning in the water to look at Harry. His green eyes looked older, far older than they had only weeks prior.
"Two are dead, two aren't," he responded flatly. His gaze shifted towards where Dumbledore crouched in the water, his good hand submerged as if working some strange magic, his gaze critically fixed outwards towards the horizon.
It was like he was waiting for something.
Harry frowned, but pressed on. "We don't know about the fifth, but we didn't see them."
Dumbledore remained silent for a long, long moment. "Given the information Angelina provided," he stated, Fred flinching at the name, "it would be reasonable to presume they took Fleur Delacour. It would explain why the arriving Death Eaters left as they did."
Tonks knew instantly what he referred to: Voldemort's experiments. He wanted magical species, unusual mutations, especially ones mixed with wizards. A quarter-veela would certainly qualify. Angelina had made it unbelievably clear that Voldemort would love to get his hands on Fleur, Kalliandra, herself.
Merlin, what would Remus had done if he realized what was happening to Fleur?
Tonks felt panicked. She couldn't show it though. Instead she flipped her eyes towards Harry. "How do you know that two are alive?"
Harry just looked back over his shoulder towards his abandoned girlfriend. "Kally…she can sense if people are alive or not and where they're at." His jaw set firmly, the wizard walking fully out of the water and onto the sand. "Two made it out of the storm. They're on the safe side of the barrier, but when the Death Eaters come back they'll be screwed. We have to hurry."
Remus….her eyes fell to the ring on her hand, the diamond something she knew Remus had barely been able to afford, and yet he'd stubbornly refused to allow her to help with the cost.
She loved it.
She loved him.
Remus Lupin you better be alive, she thought savagely, her fingers tightening into small fists.
Everyone was silent. The ten of them stood there, together, four more dead, the fates of three uncertain, Kalliandra on her own, an undead shark in the waters. Tonks had been fighting in this war for a long time, ever since she'd finished school five years prior, but this…the uncertainty…
Auror academy hadn't been able to train her for this.
"We found the horcrux."
Her neck snapped towards him. Harry stood there, dripping wet, looking number than she'd ever seen him. "It's about half-way out. He turned Blackbeard's entire ship into it, but unless we can find a way to breath underwater I don't know how we're supposed to get to its center without drowning."
Tonks lips parted, wanting to say something, wishing she had an idea – she was the only Auror here for Merlin's sake! Fighting dark wizards, dealing with dark magic - that was supposed to be her area of expertise!
She had absolutely nothing.
"Bubblehead charms do not hold," Dumbledore stated calmly, accepting Harry's assessment without question. "I did attempt while…recovering Diggles. Regrettably that did not work."
Her mouth felt dry. "Then we hold our breath. We try to-"
"That water is twelve meters deep in spots, Nymphadora. To swim even to the ship and then back up would require a level of precision with diving we presently lack," Regulus drawled.
Harry just grimaced. "Then how the hell do we kill it? We can't exactly pull an entire ship out of the water."
"Yeah, not that I'm not enjoying this tropical vacation," Ron cut in, "but I'm hella eager to get off this pile of dirt."
Albus' arm remained limply at his side, the tourniquet having staunched the blood flow from his wounds. His fingers had turned a sickly, ashen white, no longer moving. It was as if he had not heard Ron's complaints, or Harry's concern. "Harry, did you touch anything within the ship when you were inspecting?"
Harry's mouth opened, looking confused for a second. Then he frowned, obviously thinking. "No. No, I don't think so. Just the algae outside it, on my way in."
Dumbledore nodded contemplatively. "Did you see anything out of the ordinary? Any dead bodies, perhaps? Any animals?"
Tonks frowned worriedly; she wasn't sure she liked where this line of question was going. Harry had already grimaced. "Yeah, there are a lot of skeletons down there. Lots of random fish."
Regulus made a disturbed sound, abruptly turning to pace down the beach, swearing beneath his breath as sand was kicked up by his heels. Tonks glanced after him, already having a sneaking suspicion of what that meant.
Dumbledore's next words confirmed her fears: "Inferi." The wizard paused, drumming the fingers of his good hand along his thigh. "I do believe that it was rather fortunate that you did not touch anything, Harry. Had you done so…I fear Voldemort may have had a rather unpleasant surprise in store."
Tonks briefly considered slapping Dumbledore. "And why exactly were we letting them swim out there alone again?" she practically hissed.
All the boys ignored her – par usual. Tonks scowled, while Neville Longbottom gaped. "Inferi? As in the undead humans trained to mindlessly attack, inferi?"
"I do believe, Mr. Longbottom, that would be five points to Gryffindor," Professor Gai said, as if trying to inject levity into the situation. He swallowed. "Albus if that's true we can't attempt without wand-"
Dumbledore's hand was already extended, a flame bursting into life within his palm. "Fire, I believe, was the solution to an inferi problem, is it not Tres?"
The DADA Professor stared at the flame in slight shock.
Tonks, on-the-other-hand, had ceased to be surprised at the things Dumbledore could do long ago, even if she was irritated with him. "That's great, Albus," she dead panned, "but how is that supposed to do us any good underwater?"
Dumbledore merely afforded her a strange, almost frightening smile. "Perhaps, Nymphadora, you would humor an old man on this." A twinkle came back into his blue eyes. "I do intend to take care of that."
Tonks gulped, not sure she liked the sound of that, but nodded. Regulus had reached the far end of the beach, about-facing to begin stomping back, looking agitated. Fred Weasley had sat down in the water, as if they were at some sort of summer camp, while Luna stood off from the group, her pale eyes fixated down the beach, seeming almost serene as she followed Regulus' progress.
Dean Thomas just stood ankle deep in the water, fists clenched, his gaze fixed firmly outwards towards Kalliandra.
The tension was so thick it could practically be palpated.
"So if you're taking care of the inferi," Harry said, "what's the suggestion for once we actually find the heart of the horcrux? How do we actually kill it?"
"Ah, you see about that, Harry…" This time it wasn't her imagination: Dumbledore was actually smiling. He turned his attention towards Neville. "Mr. Longbottom, if you'd be so kind…"
Neville stared for a second, before nodding.
Then he reached into the pocket of his pants, unearthing a knife in a sheath. Tonks blinked at it, seeing the word Gringotts emblazoned upon it.
It caught Fred's attention, the wizard shifting in the water. "That's Bill's knife."
Dumbledore proffered a sad smile. "Indeed, forged of goblin metal. It absorbs the properties of anything it comes into contact with, and was one of your brother's many excellent ideas, Frederick."
Fred made a face at the name, but his eyes didn't leave the knife. "Again, why does Neville have it?" he repeated, glancing towards the Gryffindor. "No offense."
Neville exchanged a look with Dumbledore, receiving a subtle nod. "You know when Ginny was taken to the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry defeated that basilisk?" Tonks couldn't help but notice how Harry shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Well Snape went back down and collected the rest of the basilisk venom." Neville casually flipped the blade in hand. "Bill thought if we were going to kill a horcrux we ought to have an insurance policy, and figured a vial of basilisk venom would break so they soaked this in the venom instead."
Tonks blinked, her heart aching. Even in death Bill was still undeniably clever.
"I suggested Mr. Longbottom hang onto it, Fred, as the Death Eaters so do seem to overlook him."
"Yeah," Neville said with a slight grin, "we figured they'd never expect me to be holding onto something like this. Not with all their squib comments."
Harry's head jerked back and forth between the conversation and the barrier, his attention clearly torn. "Great, so we use that then. Any guarantee it will actually kill it?"
"Basilisk venom," Dumbledore assured, "was how I inevitably came at killing the last one. Though I do have a suspicion that other venoms could work."
Tonks suddenly had the urge to sit down alongside Fred. In fact, sitting seemed a very good idea. She plopped down into the water alongside him, grabbing onto his arm more for reassurance than actual support. "So we swim down and stab the ship with it," she stated dully. "Easy."
Harry shook his head. "We have to find the heart of it Tonks. I tore the last one apart and it didn't die until we got to its center." Harry looked back towards Dumbledore. "I didn't find that yet. I think its farther inside."
Tonks mouth dropped open. "You-you what?" Her head whipped around to stare at Dumbledore accusingly. "You let him what?"
Both Dumbledore and Harry steadfastly ignored her.
So did Ron."Which brings us back to drowning," the youngest Weasley male groused, flexing his fingers like he wanted to claw at something. "Great. Anyone recently take up deep sea free diving as a sport by chance?"
"What's the matter Ronnie-kins?" Fred quipped, sounding only slightly like something was strangling him. "Not enjoying your weekend getaway? Gonna leave this place a terrible review?"
Had Tonks not been so caught up in the visual of Harry tearing a horcrux apart with his bare hands she might have snorted at the look Ron shot his brother. Instead she made a dismayed, growling sound.
Harry just dragged both hands through his hair, looking frustrated.
They were on a dark island without magic. Merlin.
"We might as well be Muggles," she muttered morosely.
Suddenly she sat bolt upright like an intrigued prairie dog, her fingers still digging into Fred's arm and causing the wizard to let out a pained hey! "We need a Muggle!" Her father was a Muggle, and when her mother wasn't around he'd still managed to find practical ways – rather than magical ways - to solve seemingly insurmountable problems. "We need to think like a Muggle!"
Fred eyed her like she wasn't quite right, but Tonks slapped his arm repeatedly as if suddenly excited.
They had to simplify this. They had to. They could. She just needed to do the unthinkable: she had to become her dad.
Her nose crinkled, scrunching up, Tonks thinking hard. She felt her hair turning darker, shortening, her face changing into more masculine features-
Fred made an alarmed sound.
There – that ought to do it! She now looked like her father.
"Well, now isn't that…disturbing," Regulus drawled.
Abruptly Tonks scrambled to her feet, scanning the beach. Think, Tonks. Think! "If we can find a way to-to defend ourselves against the shark and the inferi long enough for the horcrux to be destroyed, we might have a shot," she said aloud.
As if on cue Luna Lovegood crawled back over a sand dune, several pieces of sharp looking driftwood in hand. The blonde witch slid down the sandy embankment, smiling dreamily. "Would spears work?"
Tonks let out a half-insane laugh. She hadn't even noticed that the girl had gone missing and wandered off at some point. "Yes! Oh you wonderfully delightful witch!"
Luna merely smiled pleasantly, tossing several pieces of wood onto the ground. "We can use Bill's knife to make them pointy." Looking around at all of those gathered, she pleasantly added, "There's more. I'll go get them."
To Tonks utmost surprise her cousin was staring at the young witch, a dreadfully annoyed expression on his face. "You wandered off alone," he drawled. "How unbelievably foolish when you are such a young, snappable thing."
Then, despite his chastising, he followed the Ravenclaw without complaining.
Tonks could only stare after the two as they disappeared over the dune, clearly intent on gathering more weaponry. They had a half-ass plan, but at least it was a plan. Even Harry had cracked a slight smile.
Tonks felt positively reckless.
"So," Dean Thomas interjected, sounding somewhat dour, "our plan is to swim out, hope the shark doesn't get us, defend ourselves with sticks, leave Dumbledore to deal with the inferi, while the rest of us try to get inside and find the heart of it to stab with Bill's old knife?" He glanced back at the group, water lapping around his legs. "Geeze, what could go wrong?"
"No."
Tonks' brow furrowed, frowning at Harry. A strange, determined look had crossed his face. "I have to be the one to do it. I'm not sure anyone else is going to recognize the heart when they see it." With that he held out a hand. "Knife, Neville."
Neville, along with everyone else but Dumbledore stared at him as if he'd grown a second head.
"Harry you can't seriously expect us to let you do that alone," his dorm mate said, attempting to be reasonable. Tonks nodded adamantly, her dark hair bouncing around her face.
Harry dismissed them both. "How about," he said, "you lot just concentrate on the monsters trying to get at us?" Pausing, shadow crossing his eyes, he dryly added, "And possibly get me out if I don't make it out myself."
The words hung ominously on the air, no one saying a word.
"Besides," Harry nervously tried, "I reckon I'm the only one it might not attack."
Tonks frowned, not getting his meaning, everyone else looking equally confused; everyone but Dumbledore.
The Order's leader fixed Harry with a long, knowing look, as if considering something.
Then he nodded.
Tonks shot the leader of the Order an aghast look. "You can't possibly be considering letting him do this?"
The glint in the Headmaster's eye had dulled. "Regrettably, Nymphadora, I do believe Harry is correct." Frowning, he affirmed, "There are…other magic at play here. Harry may be the only one that can enter the ship without consequence to find the horcrux's heart in time."
Tonks sputtered. "But he'll drown! No one can hold their breath that long. He-"
Harry looked rather ill, interrupting, "Ron thinks if we kill it, we'll be able to do magic again." His fists tensed at his sides. "If that's true, you lot can just summon me out, alright?"
Her mouth fell open like a fish. "Harry…." she whispered.
He shook his head, looking away determinedly. "Regulus is a healer," he grunted. "I'll be fine."
The implication hung heavily on the air. Several heads turned towards Dumbledore, the Headmaster looking as if he had suddenly aged. "It may perhaps, be the only way. If we do not try…none of us leave, and the horcrux does not die."
A meaningful look passed between Harry and Dumbledore, Tonks not understanding. Her heart was racing at a sickening pace. How could he be even entertaining this? There had to be another way…
Fred swallowed. "We'll get you out, Harry."
Harry stiffly nodded, looking tense.
Tonks tried to not scream.
Silence reigned until Tres kindly interjected with a repeat question, changing the subject.
"Not to point out the obvious, but where exactly is the shark?"
Tonks winced, Dumbledore frowning. "There is only one creature left. I have a suspicion it may have been ordered to keep its distance unless we approach the horcrux itself."
"But I was just swimming inside-" Harry started.
"Had you touched anything, Harry, I believe that may have been enough to trigger the shark and the inferi."
"Then why did they attack before?" Fred questioned.
"They were meant to dissuade us from staying in the water," Tonks blurted, suddenly understanding. "Not kill us. Now that we've killed all but one of them…now it's probably saving itself unless it is absolutely needed."
Dumbledore nodded agreement, Regulus rejoining them with an armful of wood. "Ah yes, as difficult as strategy is for your mind to understand Weasley, you do not pit all your soldiers against your opposition unless you can afford to lose them." The wizard scowled. "Right now the Dark Lord cannot afford to lose his final knight. Besides," he dryly added, "if it waits to attack until we are within the ship itself, it can surely hope to drown us by trapping us, if not tearing us limb from limb."
"So all my brilliant splashing work," Fred lamented weakly, "was for nothing."
Tonks patted him consolingly on the arm, her mind still spinning.
Harry blinked, as if still processing all of it. "This is bloody impossible." He drug his hands through his hair, rather looking like he wanted to tear it out.
"Not to be a buzz kill," Neville stated, "but how exactly are we going to kill the shark when it does come back if Kally is out? It's already dead so injuring it isn't exactly going to do any good."
Luna frowned artfully. "That's what the sticks are for."
Tonks suddenly repressed the urge to pull out her own hair. They were in one of those test situations they'd learned about at Auror academy: the unwinnable scenario. There was no way – absolutely no way – to accomplish the mission's objective without losing someone.
Someone was bound to drown or get eaten by a shark.
They'd already lost enough people.
Their plan was to attack an undead, enchanted-via-dark-magic shark with sharpened twigs while Harry swam around inside a ship with a one-way ticket to drowning.
"Bloody hell," Ron muttered, rubbing his ear as if that would somehow fix the situation.
Harry had begun speaking with Regulus in low tones, Tonks unable to hear and frowning. The way her cousin's forehead was creasing, his expression frowning had something twist in her. No…whatever those two were whispering about certainly did not look good. She took a step towards them-
"Nymphadora."
Her head jerked towards Dumbledore, finding that he'd rose from his spot in the water, where he'd been doing Merlin-knew-what. "Do you mind if I have a word?"
She eyed him skeptically, nodding. Her hair changed from short and brown and back to blue-green, her features becoming her own again as she tossed another suspicious glance at Regulus and Harry.
And that was when Luna Lovegood wandered off again, distracting everyone. She walked a good hundred paces off before she sat down amidst a pile of rocks, dragging out what looked like a small raft made of sticks, tired together with tall grass. "Do you think we could use this?" she called loudly.
Ron Weasley's jaw dropped. "When in the hell did you make that?"
The witch shrugged, calmly calling, "While everyone else was standing around staring at the sunrise, Ronald."
Harry made an impressed sound, a hint of a smile touching his face. Regulus just shook his head, while Dean Thomas snorted. Tonks just gaped. "Oh," she said conversationally, "I like her."
Dumbledore applied a gentle pressure to her arm, guiding her down the beach with him.
Then he told her what he had wanted to say.
Tonks felt sick.
ECOTS
They'd swam out without incident, a wandless incantation from Regulus sending the small raft Luna had created floating out with them, carrying all of the spears they'd made plus Professor Gai and his bum leg.
The group of wizards and witches now floated like dangling bait in the sound, water lapping at their shoulders, whilst Ron paddled around like a dog on a day out.
It almost looked like they were on some sick and twisted weekend spear-fishing trip.
They weren't.
Harry's heart was pounding. It was pounding harder than he remembered it ever beating. Hell, it was like it was throwing itself repeatedly against the inside of his chest in some misbegotten attempt at early suicide.
It must have realized that that would be a more merciful death than anything he'd find below the waters.
Tonks floated nearby, her blue-green hair hanging limply around her shoulders, it instantly shortening, drawing up into her skull as she prepared to submerge. She, like everyone but him, held onto one of the poorly shaped spears. Only Tonks looked a bit like some kind of avenging warrior-goddess out of a Muggle action film.
They were all talking in low, tense voices, but Harry was sick of waiting. There was no good plan here. His green gaze cut across the water's surface towards the barrier, heart thudding even harder if that were possible.
Kally's lithe form lay there, unmoving, the non-witch still sleeping. For now…she was safe.
Harry couldn't help but feel something akin to unadulterated relief within him. She wasn't doing this with them. She wouldn't die from this, even if they did. His eyes lingered on her for a moment – a long moment.
He'd promised her he'd try; he'd try to stay alive. He wouldn't do anything idiotically stupid.
He was breaking that promise not even thirty six hours later.
Despite himself, despite what they were about to do, what he was about to do, his lips twitched. If he survived this Kaylens would surely kill him.
That thought in mind, the memory of her fingers against his forearms as they'd slept against that sand dune popping unbidden into his mind, Harry took the deepest breath of his entire life, hyperventilating and hyper-oxygenating his lungs. Then he took another, followed by another, until he felt sick.
They had to find the center of the horcrux, and to do that….
That meant going deep within the ship.
Harry wasn't stupid. He knew what that meant for him. It was a shockingly suicidal one-way plan.
He'd told Regulus that, the Healer begrudgingly stating he'd try to not let him stay dead if he turned out to be right.
Harry was a horcrux. He was the only one who could get close enough to the horcrux's heart to kill it. They couldn't send anyone else, because in a ship that large no one else would be able to hear it, and time was of the essence with limited air.
The others didn't know Dumbledore's reasons for letting him go in alone, but he did.
Looking at Kally, Harry just hoped like hell that Black was as good as he claimed to be at that whole Muggle-doctoring thing, because if not…
If not he'd be breaking a promise, and he was fairly certain Kaylens would find a way to play at necromancer for the sole purpose of shouting at him.
A strained smirk tugged at his lips, then that traitorous muscle he called a heart threw itself against his ribcage.
Harry sucked in one final breath, damn scared he'd lose his nerve if he waited any longer.
He dove under the surface without waiting for the others, never hearing Regulus Black swearing after him about blatant suicidal impatience.
Harry quickly found the caved-in entrance to the ship's hull. Above him several others dove down after him, but it was Dumbledore that met him.
Somehow the old man had made it to the Adventurer at the same time – despite the wounded arm.
Harry didn't have time to be pissed at how a wizard a century older than him had managed to outswim him with one arm less. Instead they exchanged a meaningful glance, the Headmaster's blue eyes peering through his, giving him silent strength for the likely one-way trip.
They hadn't said a word about it.
They both knew.
Harry offered a rough grimace.
Dumbledore proffered a gentle smile back.
Then the Headmaster dove down with a determined look, Harry watching him for only a second.
The next found him shoving himself inside the ship, swimming past every crumbling, decrepit piece of history that he'd already explored. He spared not a thought to any of it, because there was no time. He had limited air, and he had to find the horcrux before he ran out of it.
He wasted no time in reaching the threshold of the narrow, darkened hall he'd stopped at before. It was the turning point. It was deep enough in that if he went farther down it, he knew there was no getting out. Thirty seconds had already passed, and while wizards could hold their breath longer than Muggles, Harry knew that it wasn't by much.
The corridor was narrow. There'd be no avoiding touching things now, and if Dumbledore was right…the slightest touch would awaken inferi.
Harry floated closer. The light had grown dim here, his night vision allowing him to still see in the oddly clear waters despite this.
After this there was no turning back.
Things flashed through his mind: Hermione and Ron at their first year celebration feast, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley welcoming them into the burrow, images of his parents in the Mirror of Erised, hands on his shoulders, Dumbledore, Kally…
Harry's throat clenched, the wizard glancing out a circular port hole, seeing none of them.
But they were there. They were out there. He knew they were. They'd all signed up for this, just like he had.
And if Harry wanted any of them to live he had to push forward, even if it sent his chest clenching.
Harry Potter felt sick.
Then he swam resolutely forward, grabbing onto the sides of the vacant corridor and shoving himself into the darkness. He kicked his feet, a hand brushing against a decaying frame with one of his strokes-
That was when all hell broke loose.
ECOTS
Tonks was floating outside the ship when it happened.
All of a sudden that unnatural crawling feeling, one that made her feel like bugs were on her skin, stopped.
A decaying pirate flag, one that had been swaying in the current, deflated. It was like the non-existent wind had been taken out of it.
The colorful fish stopped swimming, hovering like they'd been frozen in time.
All around her she could still feel that unnatural sensation, like she was being watched. The water throbbed with an unnatural heartbeat. It was alive, and terrible, and sickening all at once.
Then the derelict ship pulsed, a shock wave thrown out from its decaying hull in every direction.
She heard the rush of the water first. Then Tonks saw the ripples undulating with incredible speed towards her, bowling over everything in their path.
Fred was struck, it hurtling him backwards into Luna. The two disappeared in a swirl of bubbles and fish.
Tonks stared, knowing Harry had touched something inside that ship.
Then the wave hit her.
Damn't.
It was like being punched in the stomach. The air she'd had left was viciously knocked from her, Tonks nearly gasping and drowning as her entire world flipped end-over-end, throwing her backwards.
She had time to realize that the current had snared around her ankle, like a physical hand, tugging her down towards the bottom-
Then she saw the skeletons moving, rising, reaching for her with elongated fingers.
Tonks let out a bubbly scream.
ECOTS
The shark burst into the corridor like a battering ram, pieces of wood flying through the water like shrapnel.
The force of the displaced water alone bashed Harry backwards, his back slamming against the corridor wall, a faded picture in an already broken frame colliding with his head and sending his vision nearly black. Bubbles flew out of him, his breath knocked free.
Had the undead shark not turned towards him at that precise moment, it might have been his end.
There was something about seeing shockingly large teeth not a meter from his face that could shock a wizard back into alertness.
He only just avoided breathing in, the shark's teeth snapping dangerously near. He yanked his limbs back, away from its mouth, Harry bellowing bubbles beneath the water as he found himself pinned between the shark and the wall.
Harry was trapped.
He threw a hand out, a blasting charm bashing outwards, towards it-
The impact slammed into the Great White and sent it careening through the side of the ship, leaving a brand new gaping hole.
Harry needed air or he'd never make it.
He kicked instantly, throwing himself out the new entry, preparing to make a swim for the surface-
Beneath him, beneath the ship the entire sea floor was swarming with movement. It was like looking at an ant colony, only magnified.
Only it wasn't an ant colony.
The bones – all of them – had begun to move. Discarded femurs and skulls were moving on their own accord, seeking out their ribs and other limbs, the things piecing back together with speed.
Underwater sound moved differently.
Harry still somehow managed to hear the thunk thud thunking first.
A hand scuttled across the outer hull of the ship, its fingers acting like legs running across ground. Harry spun in the water right as it leapt for his throat, its elongated nails glinting like five sharpened spikes-
Harry didn't have time to defend himself.
The shark did it for him.
The tail lashed out, striking the skeletal fingers that had been centimeters away from clawing out his jugular, pulverizing the hand into its component parts.
A finger flew through the water like a missile, spearing the Adventurer's wood right alongside his head. The rest were lost to the thrashing shark and currents.
The shark spun past, moving in an unnatural manner as it barreled side-over-side, a large red blur attached to it.
Ron. Ron was in werewolf form, and had literally attached himself to it. His claws dug into the oversized fish, jaws tearing away at what was left of the thing's head piece-by-piece. A bloody mess of shark chum now filled the water, blurring it-
Harry barely had time to comprehend that his best mate was riding a freaking shark.
Harry kicked upwards, swimming hard until he broke the surface. The fresh air, the precious oxygen was like a drug. Everything in him wanted to stay, breathing it in-
There was no time.
He only had time to realize that Professor Gai had thrown a spear behind him, it slamming into something with a sickening thud. Harry didn't turn to look, so he never saw the mostly flesh inferi that had rose up behind him. What he did see was the movement behind Professor Gai's raft of spears, Kaylens moving on the barrier.
She was awake.
Harry's chest lurched, his gaze locking with hers for but a moment. His heart thudded once, twice, time freezing.
Harry tried to convey as much apology as he possibly could into that fleeting, final look.
Then he dove back down, passing Regulus, who was on his way up.
ECOTS
Bubbles rushed violently past her.
Dozens of hands clawed at her, tearing against her skin.
Tonks was sadistically pushed down, her body colliding against rough coral. The impact was hard. Her chest screamed as she forced herself not to breath, yet her lungs kept spasming, trying.
NO!
Bone white fingers lashed out, snaring around her throat, Tonks choking-
Tonks kicked out, fighting. A murky brown-red fringe bloomed up around her, the saltwater becoming thick with kicked up mud and blood. She was going to drown. She realized this with crystal clarity, even if she was unable to see her attackers.
In a last ditch effort she choked out three syllables: Protego.
A shielding charm burst forth, flaring out in a brilliant blue dome around her. Tonks screamed beneath the water, a torrent of bubbles flying forth from her lips. Her back indented the sea floor as the force of her spell shoved her down into the soft sand, the skeletons knocked backwards, scattering from the mere force of her defensive spell.
A single hand from a single inferi remained clamped around her throat.
Tonks was weak, laying there on the sea floor, unable to move. Her fingers tried to weakly claw at the sharp phalanges slowly crushing her trachea, but-
They couldn't find a grip.
Her shield charm abruptly flickered and died, Tonks eyes beginning to close…
A fist lashed out, the undead hand torn from her throat.
The water was disturbed, the fist lashing out again and again.
A dark hand suddenly seized her, a foot lashing out and slamming into a half-formed skeleton that had went for her head. The crack was somehow loud, the water churning around her-
It took all she had to avoid breathing in, exhaustion creeping through her…
Strong hands seized her, Tonks violently tugged up in a limp swirl of blue-green hair. What suspiciously looked like a cannon ball was launched down at where she'd lain moments before, the ball of iron pulverizing three dead bodies that had simply refused to stay dead.
Her fight was gone. Tonks couldn't breath, her body's natural instinct to try finally kicking in. She opened her lips to pull in non-existent air-
Lips slammed over hers, a hand clamping over her nose, smashing it violently shut. The sudden air that hissed into her lung passages sent her violently jerking, trying to cough.
The hand on the back of her head ferociously tightened, Tonks fighting-
The person didn't move. Their hands tightened harder on her, shoving more air into her to prevent her from sucking in that traitorous, deadly salt water.
The fog in her head began to clear, lifting like a veil-
Suddenly Tonks eagerly met the person's lips, gulping in the proffered air. It was like a drug.
It lasted for another moment, then the lips over hers jerked away.
Before she could so much as gape he had seized her wrist, pulling her towards the surface.
Tonks head broke above the water right alongside that of Dean Thomas'. The Auror coughed, choking as she desperately tried to reclaim actual air, her head spinning.
Dean didn't sound much better, the wizard hacking up a lung.
Then he grabbed her by the back of the shirt, all but tossing her at the raft. Her fingers clawed at the wood, snaring a splintery hold upon it, Tres gaping down at her as blood rolled freely down from her many scratches.
She just leaned heavily on the raft, nearly tipping it. She only avoided doing so because Tres threw his weight to the opposing side, juggling multiple spears.
Off to the side Dean groaned, the wizard leaning back in the water and floating, his mouth gulping in large lungfuls of air one at a time.
Tonks had just enough energy to choke on a laugh. Dean had literally snogged the breath back into her. "Wasn't besotted with Remus," she gasped, "might've explored that skill of yours."
The younger wizard waved a dismissive hand from where he floated on his back.
Tonks hacked something up onto Tres' leg, her cheek resting on the raft's rough driftwood.
Dragging in three breaths, she hoarsely jested, "Wotcher though, didn't they teach ya never to grab and snog a violent woman?"
Dean made a dying sound.
Tonks took that as a sign that her inferi-rescuer wanted her to continue, so she choked, "Remus might hex ya, kid. Sorry in advance."
Dean made another dying sound, before he shot a longing look back at the water, as if already regretting saving her.
"He snogged you?" Tres eyed them both with a wide-eyed, almost bemused expression as he put together what had happened. "I'd be more worried about Ginny hexing you, actually. The girl's proven quite adept in my classes."
Tonks snorted in an unladylike fashion. "Damn Dean, you bagged Ginny?" She looked up at Tres, as if they were having this conversation at headquarters, rather than in an inferi-shark infested sea that was doing its utmost to kill them. "Kids got range."
Tres snorted back, his brown gaze darting up behind her in sudden alarm.
Tonks jerked around right as something incredibly large breached the waters, flying two meters straight up.
It was a Great White.
A red-haired werewolf was attached to its back.
Tres bellowed something, launching a spear-
The Great White with Ron Weasley attached slammed back down against the ocean's surface, sending a tidal wave of water launching towards them-
Tonks clapped Dean on the arm, taking another deep breath before diving back down with speed. That'd seemed as good a queue as any.
They'd caught their breath long enough.
Now they had to buy Harry more time.
ECOTS
Harry was pretty damn certain that Ron had had way too much fun tearing the Great White apart.
Particles and bits of chewed up shark smacked against Harry's hands as he swam through what was left of it. He made it to the gaping hole in the ship's hull, trying to swim through-
An inferi grabbed him. Harry felt the fingernails scrape against his calf, the skin tearing-
Before he could even react a thrown spear slammed into it, tearing it away from him. It sent it flying through the tear in the ship's hull, pinning it to the inner-corridor wall where it undulated violently, trying to escape. The black hole that had once been its mouth screamed soundlessly, chunks of flesh from what remained of its upper lip flapped weightlessly in the water.
Harry caught a glimpse of Neville floating, holding two more spears and doing battle with another swimming inferi. His dorm mate was holding a spear between him and the thing attacking, his foot lashing out through the water and taking out its kneecap.
Another inferi caught Neville from behind, dragging him down and out of sight.
Fred was right behind him.
Harry's chest lurched, but he couldn't help them right now.
He had a job to do.
A singular job.
No one else could find it.
Kicking as hard as he could he swam past the impaled inferi and back into the ship, moving swiftly through the passage. It was like all the sounds outside the ship were suddenly muffled, the wooden walls rapidly surrounding him.
The Adventurer pulsated around him, a heavy pressure bearing down upon him as he descended deeper into its depths.
He found a stairwell, using the rail to pull himself downwards, even deeper.
The door at the base hung open, only attached by one hinge.
Harry let out several bubbles of air as his lungs strained, but he shoved his hand against the door all the same-
It was like being shocked with an electrical wire. Instantly his scar pounded violently. Something hissed within his mind.
He was getting closer.
He needed to breathe.
He couldn't. He was too close.
He swam on.
ECOTS
For a second Tonks thought she was hallucinating.
She thought she saw Dumbledore at the bottom of the sea floor, calmly sitting, cross-legged, as if he were meditating.
Doing a double take she realized she wasn't hallucinating – unless Dean had been wearing some type of psychedelic lip gloss from Weasley's Wizards Wheezes, but she was pretty certain Molly had forced the twins to pull those off the market – Dumbledore was actually sitting there.
The inferi were swarming around him, as if they eagerly wanted to drown the wizard, but couldn't quite reach him. Something glittered around the wizard, like a bubble….
Tonks stared in horror, her fingers clenched around a spear she'd yanked out of one of the undead's heads.
Dumbledore's eyes suddenly opened, looking towards the sunken ship, as if assessing Harry's progress.
Then the leader of the Order looked towards her with a benign smile.
What happened next happened in slow motion.
His good hand rose, the Headmaster holding her gaze as she floated there.
Then he snapped his fingers beneath those dark waters, a sudden blue glow emerging from his fingertips. It was like conjured fire, only beneath the water, and it pulsed outwards in a heavy ripple.
It brushed past her, tingling…
Each and every single one of the attacking inferi felt what she had.
Each and every single one stopped their attacks, slowly turning towards the Order's leader.
Tonks and Dean were too far away to reach him in time. Tonks screamed at him under the water, grabbing Dean's arm-
They were too late.
The inferi all descended upon Dumbledore like one giant, deadly school of fish.
Then that benign blue light caressing Dumbledore's fingertips changed, blazing a brilliant orange.
The light blasted out from where he sat, it like a nuclear detonation beneath the waters, it blinding her, Tonks screaming once more as her entire field of vision lit up like lightning had struck.
The blast seized the inferi in a fiery vice, hurtling them in every direction. The waters suddenly burned hot.
Tonks skin was screaming, the water around her bubbling, the inferi all opening their mouths in silent screams.
She caught sight of Dumbledore giving one last, careless flick of his hand-
That final flick sent her and Dean hurtling towards the surface, towards safety.
ECOTS
Harry knew the instant he found it. The water in front of his head started to bubble from his scar's burning, sizzling…
He spun in the water, spinning within the dark room near the ship's belly. The Captain's Quarters. He was as far inside the ship as he could possibly get now.
It seemed fitting that Voldemort would choose this place to be the heart of it all.
His lungs throbbed, reminding him of the brutal need for air.
He didn't have any. Outside his friends could be dying. He couldn't waste time backtracking to try to get it.
Harry fought down the primitive panic rising in him. He wasn't stupid. He knew what was coming.
With resolve not possessed by wizards five times his age, Harry Potter clenched his gaze shut, just trying to feel. He wanted air. He needed it. He couldn't have it.
He reached out, trying to find it, waiting to hear it.
He heard nothing.
That didn't mean he didn't feel something.
An impossibly green gaze jerked back open, deep beneath the waters. It darted towards a decayed rug still floating on the floor.
Harry was on it in an instant, tearing it away from the floor boards. Why anyone would put carpet down in a ship was beyond him, but he knew the reason – saw the reason – the instant it was fully torn away.
A trap door had been concealed beneath it.
A mental fog was beginning to creep at the edges of his mind…
Harry hurriedly grabbed a hold of the handle, the rusted metal slicing against his already callused hands, the abrasions oozing blood quickly into the already disgusting water. He tugged, but it did not budge.
He tugged again.
Damn if he couldn't use Ron's newfound wolf strength right now. Bracing his feet against the floor Harry tugged with all his strength, shouting into the waters as his brain and lungs screamed, yet it did not open.
Harry released a profanity laced stream of bubbles, stopping and shoving his hand furiously at it, recklessly shouting, a blasting hex barreling out of his palm and slamming into the access point-
The hinges broke off, the door denting down and in with a metallic clank.
Harry kicked it in with the heel of his foot, his flesh bleeding profusely. A small fish darted out and actually tried to nip at it, as if he were food. Swearing, he kicked at it, the blue and gray striped thing scattering to the sea.
He had to get in there.
A pressure was building inside Harry's chest, his lungs telling him it was time to go, but he couldn't. His heart thudded harder, like it was having a hard time pumping now that it was so oxygen deprived.
There was no way he could fix it.
Outside the ships walls he could hear the world going to hell.
He'd be damned if he didn't stop it.
Harry summoned everything he had and kicked once more-
The door broke free with a grating, metallic wrench.
Beneath it lay a compartment no bigger than his dresser drawer back at Hogwarts, a compass laying within it.
After everything he'd just seen – long dead skeletons coming to life, decaying sharks trying to tear people he cared about limb from limb – he thought it ought to look different, less benign, but horcruxes didn't come with warning labels.
Harry's lungs burned. They burned beyond anything he'd ever felt before. The pressure in his head had reached a crescendo, his heart pounding erratically, skipping. Blood pooled into the water around him, his scar scalding, sizzling against the cold water.
For a brief second Harry wanted to scream, every muscle in him starting to shake. He already knew he was too deep in the ship to get out – not after this exertion.
The knowledge he'd refused to focus on until that very second swarmed his mind…Kaylens.
Not thirty six hours ago he'd held her body tightly to his own; he'd taken her, become sodding one with her, been inside her, promised her he'd love her, always….
Their bond was permanent, on his end. There'd never been any question within his mind.
Now he was leaving her, fixating on this murderous task with single-minded, suicidal intent.
There had been no other way.
The heart of the horcrux was right in front of him.
A dim, dark part of his mind silently pled to Merlin that she'd forgive him for this. Ron and Hermione would, but Kally…
Harry plunged his hand down, fingers snaring around the compass and tearing it forcibly from its mount. Instantly his head screamed. His pulse reverberated within his ears, pounding hard, struggling like a speared fish, having a harder and harder time working.
Harry held the compass in front of him. The needle was spinning in wild, concentric circles. It no longer pointed North, but instead pointed in unnatural directions. It hurt to physically look at it.
For a brief, insane second Harry wanted to take the compass for himself. A voice in his head told him it could take him to uncharted locations, to unimagined delights. All he had to do was take it, use it, let it guide him.
He wanted to. He could take Kaylens. He and her could go, get away from the Ministry officials, from the war, from Voldemort, and just exist. The adventures they could have-
Kaylens.
A brief image, a recollection of the non-witch and her unnaturally golden hair swarmed in his mind. The way she sodding looked at him with those impossible eyes…
She was a magical variant; Voldemort wanted her. He'd use her up and kill her if given the chance.
Thoughts that may or may not have been his own screamed louder. They screamed that he didn't have to drown here, that he didn't have to waste time killing this thing. If he only just took it he could swim out of the ship and make it back to the surface in time.
Harry knew it was a lie.
He could hear sounds in the waters, terrifying and unnatural sounds. He reached into his pocket, snaring Bill's knife.
Bill had died to get this here.
It gave him strength.
Holding it aloft, his green gaze narrowed onto the compass, his heart going insane…
Harry plunged it through the compass' glass-
His scar screamed. The last reserves of Harry's lungs gave out, his heart thundering powerfully as a shockwave from the outside sent the ship rolling with him inside it, the water beginning to heat up unnaturally, a second shockwave bursting out from the compass-
A black shroud - like a dementor's shadow - expelled from it, the shroud screaming in the water, flying directly at him.
Everything spun. The room flipped around him.
A choking, bubbling sound rose up. It was coming from him.
Harry's lungs gave up. His body automatically forced him to draw in air, only there was none.
The second the water hit his lungs his body spasmed. Harry jerked in a spasmodic reflex, choking, gasping greedily for more air, air that wasn't there, only for more water to enter his throat.
Bubbles filled the hot water around him, the black shroud dissipating with an ear-splitting scream as Voldemort's soul died. The piece of soul within himself screamed in agony, lamenting its brother.
The cavernous sound was replaced by the crushing, cracking sounds of the hull breaking in around him. It was like it was being pummeled from the outside, things trying to break in.
Harry's hand grasped at something, anything to hold onto-
Harry was undulating, seizing-
Dimly, in his mind, Harry almost laughed as he realized something: the horcrux had been the embodiment of the young Riddle's reckless, adventurous side. No wonder they'd all taken such insane risks.
The fact that Voldemort had ever had such a thing was almost funny.
Another gasp. Another spasm. His body jerked.
Then Harry Potter went still.
