Tony had bellowed Aminah's name and it contained a desperate fear that made the hair on Harry's arms and neck stand on end.
The noise that Harry heard when he first entered the dormitory was louder now and clearly coming from Aminah's area. He still couldn't figure out what it was. It didn't sound like crying, which was, frankly, what he expected.
He knew that the last few days had to have been an emotional big dipper for her… but this noise wasn't sobbing. It was a strangled, far away noise… but like a wounded animal—both monstrous and whimpering. He could also hear someone scrambling frantically. Something was really wrong.
Harry imagined terrible things… they flew through his consciousness… each more horrible than the one before it in the space of time that it took him to cross the room. And still, he managed to clutch his staff as he swung it viciously across his path and shouted out, "Help! We need help!"
Harry struck something soft with his staff and Tony made a surprised gasp of pain. Harry was moving so fast that he barely had time to stop before he ran into Tony with his body, but he stopped in time.
"What is it? Tony, what's wrong?"
"She's stuck—I can't get her out. Help me, oh, Merlin! It's awful! I think she's going to suffocate!"
It did sound like Aminah was gasping for air—but it was muffled—as if she were behind a thick door. Harry reached out toward the scuffling noises he could hear. He found Tony's arm and followed it to Aminah's back. She was tense and pushing against the bed. He gasped when he realized that her arm was swallowed to nearly the shoulder by the mattress. Her hair was scattered everywhere and started to follow the curve of her head, but then it ended and there were pieces of paper, crumpled and torn.
"No, here—grab here!" Tony snatched Harry's hand and put it on Aminah's waist.
Harry tried pulling on her waist, but he had no leverage around Tony's large frame and his hands kept slipping off.
"I can't hold on! What is she stuck in? Is her head in the bed? How does that even happen?"
"Her head and arm are in a book—like she's viewing a memory—but stuck in between—not in or out—the way it is embedded in the bed—I've never seen that! Gah! I don't know how to get her out. Here, grab her shoulder here, I'll grab her other one." Tony pushed his hand back to her shoulder, and Harry put his other hand on the bit of shoulder that was nearly flush with the bed, and they tugged, the bed moved, but Aminah shrieked—her voice still far away, but clearly in pain—and they stopped; they were hurting her.
Harry stopped pulling and started rubbing circles on her back. She was heaving like she was struggling to get her breath or maybe sobbing.
"What about a spell?" Harry shouted. "What's a letting go spell?"
"Arrg! I know this. I know this. What is it?" Tony said with rising panic. "It starts with an "R!"
"Retract? Release?" Harry asked.
"Yes, something like that… but in Latin!"
"Relashio!" Healer Jordan commanded from the doorway and Aminah went flying back with such force that both Harry and Tony tumbled backward, sprawling on the floor, tangled up together in a heap. Aminah took in great heaving breaths of air as if she'd been underwater for a long time, her back arching against Harry's legs. He felt around for her hand and held it.
She started coughing and squeezed his hand so tightly that he was worried for his fingers. Healer Jordan was kneeling down next to them and she must have done something that made it easier for Aminah to breathe because she relaxed against his legs and her hand loosened its grip on his fingers.
"Gemma!" Aminah cried—her voice raw and raspy. "She's still in there!"
Harry flung himself forward, trying to get free of all the limbs and reached for the spot where Aminah had been stuck in the bed. Pages fluttered under his fingers, but he couldn't find the hole that Gemma had fallen into.
"Get back, Harry, I'll get her," Healer Jordan commanded.
Harry pulled back, kneeling beside the bed and waited while Healer Jordan tried a number of spells—many he had never heard before.
Aminah was crying softly behind him and he thought that Tony had gathered her up in his arms. She was muttering, "I had a hold of her hand. I was holding her, but I couldn't breathe. She was signing on my arm with her other hand while she hung in the air, but I don't know what she was saying. She was scared. She was just trying to help me. And then I let go! I let her go!"
Harry could tell that Healer Jordan was getting more and more frustrated as the spells she was trying were not releasing Gemma from the book.
"No, I can't try that. The book could disappear and then we have no way of finding Gemma," Healer Jordan said to herself in hushed tones as she knelt on the floor next to the bed moving the pages of the book around.
"Aminah, tell me what happened here," Healer Jordan demanded, her voice now directed toward them.
"I was showing Gemma a book that I brought from home—I don't know why I brought it. I guess I thought I'd read it here with my reader… It was my favorite book before… Gemma told me that she saw something on one of the pages—like a window, I think. My signing is not very good. She put it on the bed here, so that she could sign while she was talking to me about it. She was signing into my hands while she was leaning forward, looking at it closely, and then something happened and she was being pulled into the book. She grabbed onto my wrist, and I held onto her, too. I could tell she was scared—she was trembling. And she was pulled all the way in; I stayed here on the floor, but then I was stuck—halfway in and halfway out and it was hard to breathe."
"It should have sucked you in, too, if it is the kind of magic that I'm thinking of… but maybe… Hmmm. I need you to come immediately to the Montmorency room. It's an emergency."
"What? Who are you talking to?"
"Oh, I just sent a message to Godric," Healer Jordan said as her voice was directed back to the bed.
"Why do you need Godric?"
"I have a theory, but I need Godric to test it."
"But Gemma's still in there!" Harry shouted, standing up and reaching for the tattered pages on the bed. "She can't even shout—we could hear Aminah, but we can't hear Gemma! What if she can't breathe either?"
"Aminah, do you think that Gemma was also struggling to breathe? Or was it because you were stuck?" Healer Jordan asked with a calmness that made Harry want to scream and kick.
"I don't know. She was trembling and scared and trying to tell me something… but I'm sorry! I don't know what she was trying to say!"
"What was the space like?"
"What if she can't breathe!" Harry shouted again.
"I don't know—I couldn't see anything! It was all in shadow—no shapes." Aminah exclaimed at the same time.
"Harry, I need you to calm down. If Godric doesn't respond right away or show up, then I'm going to need your help. Aminah—what did it sound like? What did it feel like? Were you inside? Outside? In a small space? A big space?"
Harry took some deep breaths, trying to calm down.
"I don't know. It was small, inside—like a box—but deep—when Gemma was hanging from my hand she wasn't touching the floor, but I heard her drop to the ground when you pulled me out. It wasn't that far down and it sounded soft—like dirt. It was damp, musty, and cold—like a root cellar. But the smell was terrible—like a dead animal."
"Okay, that helps! Tony, I'm going to need your help, too. And Aminah, I need you to be able to tell anyone who comes what is going on if something happens to us."
"But I want to help get Gemma out!" Aminah wailed.
"I understand. But you need to rest. You're still recovering. And you're the only one who knows exactly what happened," Healer Jordan explained. "Oh! Where is Godric? Okay, we're just going to have to do it without him. Harry, I'm going in after Gemma and I need you to hold onto my hand. I'm going to bind our hands together, but first, can you do a bubblehead charm?"
Harry tried the charm that he'd just learned, but he was having trouble getting it to work. He was too worried about Gemma to focus. He shook his head and tried again. After a second he felt the suctioning feeling behind his eyeballs and the slight lightheadedness he noted earlier when he used the bubblehead charm outside of water. He tried to breathe normally. He hated how the bubble muted his hearing and completely cut off his sense of smell. He also realized that he couldn't feel air currents on his face.
"Professor, shouldn't you be doing this with me, instead of Harry?" Tony asked, his voice sounding very far away through the bubblehead charm. "I mean, no offense, Harry, but I'm a lot bigger and stronger. You're just going to pull Harry in after you."
"No, Tony, but thank you. I need you to hold onto Harry. I think… but yes, we've got to do this," Healer Jordan responded to Harry's strangled sound of exasperation.
"Okay, now I'm going to tie our hands together. Oops, the other hand. Not the one with your wand. Do you remember the spell I used to release Aminah?"
"Rela—"
"Don't say it! Just remember it in case you need to untie us. Okay, I'm going in. You're both going to pull us back out when I tug on your hand like this," she said as she pulled sharply against their tied hands in three fast tugs.
Harry grunted and nodded.
There was the sound of a whip lashing against the bedpost not far from Harry's head.
"I've just secured a rope ladder to the bed—I hope it'll help keep the weight off your arm, Harry."
"Should I do the bubblehead charm, too?" Tony asked.
"No, you stay up here—don't go near the book—it could suck you in, too. Hold onto Harry; his head might have to go under as Aminah's did for this to work."
Healer Jordan moved closer to the bed and Harry followed her (he couldn't help it as he was tied to her). Tony grasped Harry by his shoulders and then Healer Jordan's arm was pulling Harry down and he could feel a change in pressure and temperature as his arm slid through the book pages. And then all of a sudden he was jerked forward in a painful jolt that made his arm feel as though it was being torn off and his face was pulled through. He didn't feel the pages, though as the bubblehead charm meant that he couldn't feel much of anything. His head felt as though it was underwater. Protected by the bubble, he could still breathe.
He braced his wand arm on the bed, his knees against the mattress, and moved his feet so they were firmly planted. Tony's fingers dug into his shoulders and pulled back. Harry yelled at him to ease up. He could also hear Tony and Aminah talking to someone… Godric had arrived.
But his attention was pulled back to the space inside the book. Harry could hear Healer Jordan below him shouting Gemma's name as she dangled from his arm. Then she was flailing around for a second until her weight shifted off his arm. He guessed that she was on the rope ladder.
"She can't hear you!" Harry shouted, but he felt like it was a futile attempt. All his words were bouncing off the inside of the bubble.
Healer Jordan seemed far away though he could still feel her hand clutching his wrist. The rope that tied their arms together was cutting into his skin.
"Can you see her?" Harry shouted through the bubble to her.
"Yes, but she doesn't know I'm here. She's not looking up."
"Get her attention—cast a light!"
"There's a magic damper here. I can't cast any spells."
"Kick off your shoe."
"Oh, my laces! Wait, my hat. There—she saw it. Yes, up here. Yes, grab the ladder. That's it."
Harry felt as though his arm was being torn from his socket as the weight increased—Healer Jordan was leaning down the ladder, trying to reach Gemma, but he was trying not to fall into the hole and Tony's magical fingers felt like steel clamps on his shoulders.
"Is she okay?" he asked through clenched teeth.
"Yes, here she comes. Are you okay?"
"My arm…"
Harry's arm was twisted around as Healer Jordan moved on the ladder and relieved some of the pressure.
"Harry, I'm worried that Gemma's hand will be pulled from my grasp—I need to use the rope ladder to tie her to me. I'll try not to pull too much on your arm while I get her secured. Morgana, I wish I could use magic to make us lighter. Is Godric there yet? Can he help pull us out?"
"Yes, he's here. Godric! We need your help pulling the ladder!" The words bounced off the shield and hit him around the face like Hedwig's wings.
"Ask him to reach in to get Gemma."
"Godric, Healer Jordan wants you to reach in for Gemma," Harry relayed.
"I can do it," Tony said letting go of Harry's shoulder and then all of a sudden Tony had slid by him and his shoe was knocking Harry's cheekbone as he fell into the hole, bringing tears to his eyes.
There were shouts and Tony's terrible scream as he went crashing down into the depths of the hole. Harry braced for the sound of a thud as he landed, but it never came. Instead, the ladder swung convulsively and it was only Godric grabbing him around the waist and pulling back that prevented Harry from falling in. He did hear something clatter to the ground, but it couldn't have been Tony. It sounded like lighter and metallic. Godric heaved and Harry was trying to pull Healer Jordan out—but they were stuck just as Aminah had been stuck.
"Did Tony catch the ladder?" Harry yelled. He could hear Tony cursing like a sailor as the ladder swung wildly. Healer Jordan was also saying a few choice words.
"Yes, I don't know how he did it … with his feet. His arms fell off. It's like a magical void in here. Harry, can you perform magic? Can you summon his arms?"
"Why would I be able to do magic if you can't?"
"Just a theory. Your bubblehead charm is still in place. Try it! We got to get out of here!"
Harry snapped out his wand and stuck his wand arm through the book—it pressed against the bubblehead shield and must have poked Healer Jordan with it because she jerked away exclaiming, "ow."
"Sorry about that. Accio Tony's arms!" He flicked his wand back into the holder as he heard the arms clattering together as they rushed toward his open hand. He had to curl them against his shoulder to keep a hold of them.
"Okay, Gemma. Gemma!" Healer Jordan shouted, shaking her arm. "Hold Tony! HOLD TONY!"
"She can't hear you!"
"I know, she has to lip read. That's right. Good job."
The rope ladder swayed more as Gemma was trying to get ahold of Tony.
"Okay, Godric—you have to say the releasing spell at the same time that you all are pulling us all out—or we'll all fall in. Is there anyone else there who can help pull?" Healer Jordan was shouting so loud that he thought his ears would start bleeding soon and Harry could tell that Godric could barely hear her.
He could hear Godric asking Aminah to help and felt the ladder move as they braced themselves against it, preparing to heave everyone through the book once the spell was uttered.
"One, two, three! Relashio!" Godric shouted and Harry tugged with all his might on his arm as he was sent flying back against the bedpost and landed on Godric and Aminah. He was holding on to Healer Jordan's arm, though the rope tying them together had been released. He had dropped Tony's arms, but he was pretty sure that they were on the floor in the dormitory, not down in the dank hole.
"Did Gemma and Tony make it out!"
Godric and Aminah groaned from underneath him. Harry felt along the bed, trying to find Gemma and let out a deep sigh when her fingers fluttered under his hands, expressing thanks over and over again.
"Are you okay? Did Tony make it out?" Harry asked.
"Yes, I'm okay. Tony… yes, he's here. We're all out. Thank you!"
Healer Jordan was untangling herself from the pile of Montemorency residents piled at the foot of Aminah's bed and Harry could hear her smoothing out her robes. He reached up to touch his ears and found that he could. The releasing charm must have ended the Bubblehead shield around his head—he could hear clearly again and the room reeked of fear. Harry sniffed covertly at his own pits and discovered that he was one of the sources of the malodor.
"What was that?" Tony shouted.
"Merlin's pants—what a mess!" Healer Jordan exclaimed and Harry thought it was rather an understatement. He could hear her picking up Tony's arms from the floor.
"Here, I'll help you put them back on Tony."
"What happened to you lot?" Mei exclaimed from her tank.
Aminah burst into a fit of giggles that the others couldn't resist and pretty soon they were all laughing. Harry laughed so hard that tears were streaming down his face. He was so relieved that they'd all made it out. He wiped his eyes and rubbed the tears on the torn skin on his wrist. The pain evaporated with the tears.
Gemma was tapping his other arm immediately, "What did you just do?"
"Oh, yeah. That." Harry shrugged sheepishly and wiped more tears from his face and held out his hand to her. "Do you have any cuts?"
She guided him over to Tony and then turned his hand carefully and pushed it down on to what ended up being Tony's ankle—where he had rope burns as well.
"Wait—what are you doing?" Tony gasped as the tears made contact with his scrapes. "What was that? His tears? No way. How is that possible?"
"What's this?" Healer Jordan asked.
"Harry's tears just healed my cuts," Tony said, clearly awed.
"Harry? Did you know your tears had healing properties?" Healer Jordan asked.
"Uh, I just noticed this week—when I got cut in the Forbidden Forest and my tears healed it."
"Hmmm. Do you have any left? May I try on my wrist?"
"Oh, yes—here you go," Harry said as he wiped more tears from his eyelashes and extended his fingers in Healer Jordan's direction. She guided his hand toward the rope burns on her wrist.
"Oh, that's better than dittany. Remarkable. Healing properties in your own tears!"
"Sorry, about your hat, Healer Jordan," Harry said as his embarrassment was creeping up his neck.
"What? Oh, yes. Well, hmmm. Maybe we should try to retrieve it. We probably don't want to leave any evidence of our presence there."
"Really?"
"Yes—that was dark magic. We don't want to leave my hat or anything else there that could be used against us."
"Oh," Harry said moving toward the book on the bed.
"Not you, Harry. Godric will help me. You've done enough. You did well."
"Why could my magic work in there when yours didn't?" Harry blurted out.
"If I'm right it is because you're blind. It captures people through the visual pathway to the brain—like legilimency—but you, Aminah, and Godric are safe from that. You could be pulled physically into the space by someone who had been captured visually, but not affected by the magic, so you were able to stay in the in-between space where your magic still worked and pull us out. Thank Morgana for that! What a wicked trap. That's why Tony got pulled in. Of course, in that space, Aminah couldn't breathe, but luckily, the bubblehead charm stayed and you were able to breathe," Healer Jordan explained. "Godric, could you please summon my hat from the book?"
"Uh—book?" Godric asked.
"Aminah's book has a magical portal—it's stuck in the middle of her bed. You'll be able to stick your arm through it and summon my hat—then I'll release you from the portal. Hang on to it tight—or we'll have to try again."
"Okay?" Godric sounded skeptical.
"I can do it," Harry said and groped around on the bed for the pages of the book. He couldn't find the entrance, though.
He turned his head toward Healer Jordan and knitted his brows together.
"Why can't I find it?"
"Hmmm. Right. Because it uses visual connections—so those of us with sight who look at it closely get sucked in, while it has no effect on you, except when you got pulled in. I guess we'll have to do it like that again—with the rope ladder."
"Harry, I can do it. I just didn't understand," Godric said, gently pushing Harry's shoulder so that he sat back on the bed.
Harry and Gemma held the rope ladder while Godric and Healer Jordan retrieved the hat and Aminah and Tony told Mei what had happened. When Godric called, Harry performed the releasing spell. He was surprised when it actually worked and the two wixen came tumbling out of the hole in the bed.
"What's that ratty old book doing embedded in Aminah's bed?" Mei demanded, their levitating chair whirring at the foot of Aminah's bed. "How is she going to sleep there?"
"Hey! That's not a ratty old book! It is a family heirloom," Aminah protested as ran her hand along the side of the bed (and over Harry's knees) as she walked over to the book.
She let out a cry of despair when she discovered the tattered pages, "Oh! It's destroyed! Mum's going to be so upset."
"Right, we do need to get it out of there. I think I'm going to need Madame Flamel's help for that—and she can help us restore the book. Though it is a dark artifact and we need to make sure no one else gets sucked in there. First, we need to make sure no one sighted gets near the book. In fact, I'm going to put a shield charm around it."
Harry was thinking about heading into the toilet to get ready for bed as Godric had made his way from student to student checking that they were all okay.
"Harry, where were you injured?"
"Oh, here on my wrist," Harry guided Godric's hand to the spot.
"Wow—you can't tell at all. That's from your tears?" Godric asked as he ran his finger over and over the spot, worrying it.
"Yep, kinda nuts, huh."
"Indeed—and Harry, I'd be careful if I were you… if word were to get out about this… the Ministry of Magic… the Department of Mysteries… I understand that it is an ability that you want to share—especially when your friends are hurt, but this is one to keep close to your chest. You could save the tears—keep a jar handy, in your staff, for collecting them to save for later, but be careful."
Harry was reminded of what Professor Flitwick had said and nodded his head, then remembered who he was talking to.
"Right, thanks, Godric. I'll mention it to Tony and Gemma. Ask them not to talk about it. I don't think Aminah noticed."
"Noticed what?" Aminah asked.
"Oh, about my tears."
"You mean that your tears can heal?"
"Oh, I guess you did notice. Can you please not mention it to anyone? Godric thinks I might get hauled off as a science experiment."
"Science? Isn't that like muggle magic?"
"Kinda. But yeah, the magical version of that."
"Sure. I won't say anything."
The door had opened and another levitating chair entered the room. The clump of students greeted Besel and then started talking over each other to tell her what had happened. She told them that if they needed to talk to her about what happened, that she was available.
In the clamor, Harry didn't notice that Healer Jordan had returned until he heard the gentle tap of Madam Flamel's walking stick. She was speaking quietly to Aminah about her book and the origins of it. She had made quick work of unsticking the book from the bed earning a gasp of amazement from Healer Jordan. She had also been able to repair a lot of the damage to the book.
"This is a very special book, Aminah. The magic that nearly trapped you all is very dark—but it appears to have been added rather recently, compared to the age of the tome. Perhaps you'll let me study it and I'll be able to tell you more about it later?"
"Yes, thank you, Madam Flamel. I would greatly appreciate it if you would. Is there a way to remove it? I hate that it is in there."
"I'll see what I can do. At the very least, I should be able to assure that no one else is sucked into it. Healer Jordan told me that there was evidence of terrible things in the cave."
Harry reached for Gemma—she wasn't far from him. She had been down there all alone.
"What is it?"
"I heard there were bad things down there," Harry signed.
She nodded yes into his hands and he could feel the weight of it.
"Bones everywhere and it smelled like death."
"Harry, are you all right dear?" Madam Flamel was addressing him—her soft hand on his shoulder.
"Uh, yes. Ma'am. Just tired," he admitted—realizing as he said it that it was true. His eyelids felt gritty.
"I imagine. Now, I understand from Healer Jordan that your tears… well, that you've perhaps absorbed a rather unusual attribute from Fawkes?"
"I guess so," Harry said, shrugging.
"Perhaps tomorrow we could find some time after dinner to talk with my dear Nicolas. I'm sure he would be most interested."
"Yes, ma'am. Though I've been advised not to talk about it."
"Very good advice. Certainly. You've mentioned this to your friends here? Who witnessed it?"
"Well, not everyone, yet," Harry confessed.
Madam Flamel made quick work of getting everyone's attention and asking them not to tell anyone of what they had just learned about Harry's healing tears. She finished it off with a flourishing charm that would safeguard against accidentally sharing the information that even made Harry's tongue tingle. He wondered what the spell did to Gemma—did it make her hands tingle?
He turned to her to ask in sign language and felt the tingle in his fingers and realized that it was already working.
As he was snuggling down into his pillow and pulling the quilt over his shoulders a little later that night, he thought about the spell and wished that Madam Flamel could cast something similar over everyone who'd read the article in the Daily Prophet about him. He drifted to sleep imagining all the wixen tongues and fingers tingling throughout the British Isles and a little smile played on his lips.