Harry held his breath and listened as Septima gasped behind him. They seemed to be in a tunnel that opened up to a wider space. The cool air of the tunnel was penetrated by shutes of colder air coming from a larger space ahead of them. There was a light bright enough for him to see it, but he couldn't pinpoint the source.
At least it wasn't too bright.
He could hear water trickling and the echo reverberated throughout the space giving it dimension. After the hours they had spent in narrow tunnels, this wide space was cavernous. Harry shivered from more than the chill in the air; he felt exposed. Little Friend tightened his coils on Harry's arm.
He slid his foot forward on the dirt floor and noticed that the texture of the floor was changing, too. It felt smooth and polished underneath a covering of grit. He gently tapped his cane against it and even though it was a very soft tap, it reverberated through the space. It sounded more like a great hall than a cave.
"Shush!" Healer Jordan hissed at him and Harry bit back an apology. He was tempted to ask Nio what they were seeing as the little snake loosened his coils on Harry's wrist to move, his head swaying to peer around Healer Jordan.
"There is chaos magic here," Nio whispered.
Harry grabbed Healer Jordan's arm to get her attention, then used his rudimentary signing skills that Gemma and Peter had taught him to tell her, crudely, what Nio had said.
She responded "I understand" under his hand then pulled him behind her and took a step back. Septima pulled on his shoulder stepping back.
"Cloak," Healer Jordan hissed against his ear. He pulled it out of his pocket and held it out to her and she pulled it around the three of them. They huddled together while Harry wondered what they saw.
"Homenum revelio," Healer Jordan muttered as she poked her wand through the opening of the cloak. She then muttered some other spells. He recognized the privacy spell that they used often in the Center After a moment, she let out a sigh and Harry could feel Septima relaxing next to her.
"Harry, it's obvious that someone has been living down here… but they don't appear to be here at the moment. I've managed to conceal the three of us from their detection charms. They must not have expected anyone to be able to find this place. We're very lucky, but we need to be quiet and keep out of sight. Can you ask Nio what he knows about this area, please?"
Harry brought the snake close to his face and asked him quietly to tell him what he knew.
"This is the place where the Adelphi have encountered the malodorous legwalkers who have been placing the ancient bones that I found when we were in your den, in the tunnels underneath. But the legwalkers are not here now. They were here recently… their smell lingers."
"Adelphi?"
"It is a large group of serpents, all of the same lineage."
Harry passed Nio's information on as quietly and quickly as he could to Healer Jordan and Septima.
"Nio, can we get to the bones that you mention?" Harry asked. "And how can we stop their magic?"
"Yes, we can gather them. You and your chaos sticks will have to figure out how to stop their magic. But there are many placed in tiny crevices linked to your nest. Let me summon the Adelphi to help… it's the only way we can do this quickly, before the leg walkers return."
"Where do you think they are? Is there a place where we can hide?"
"Put me on the ground; I'll find a spot for you to shelter while I summon the Adelphi. I think they are close by."
Harry explained what Little Friend was doing as he knelt down and let the snake slip off his wrist. Septima's cringe was transmitted by her hand on Harry's shoulder as she tried to balance herself in the tiny space underneath the cloak.
Harry had a fleeting worry about how she'd handle the Adelphi being summoned to gather the oracle bones as he listened to Nio glide across the ground. His calves started to cramp as he waited for Nio to return, but finally, he could hear the little snake's whispering scales as he made his way back to Harry.
"Big Friend, I've summoned the Adelphi and they will start gathering the ancient bones. They are coming. There is a little cave where you can wait. The Adelphi report that the stinky legwalkers are traveling away from this den. We will be alerted if they start to come back. Have you figured out how to stop the Chaos?" Nio said while slipping onto Harry's wrist. Harry stood up again and told Healer Jordan and Septima what the snake had told him. Harry moved in front of Healer Jordan and with Nio's guidance, started leading the group under the cloak toward the cave, his cane tapping in front of him.
"Healer Jordan, Little friend wants to know if we know how to stop the null zone magic when the snakes gather up the bones?"
"I've been thinking about it and I have some ideas… but I won't be able to try them out until we get the oracle bones. I hope we can do that before the wixen return." Healer Jordan's voice echoed a bit in the cavernous space and she lowered it.
Harry turned at Nio's direction and the path became more narrow, his cane hitting the wall on either side.
"Harry, it looks like we're headed to a narrow opening. You're going to have to crouch so you don't hit your head," Healer Jordan advised in his ear as Little Friend hissed the same thing. "It slopes down, too."
Harry's cane hovered in the air for a moment and he crouched while pushing his foot forward along the path. He transferred Nio to his neck as they made their way into the cave. He had to shorten his cane and then collapse it completely as they found the back of the cave and settled down on the cold floor. The small space had a damp earth odor that made Harry feel safer than he felt out in the cavern. It seemed to just be big enough for the three of them. Healer Jordan adjusted the cloak around them so that they were still hidden.
"I'll go help the Adelphi gather the bones and bring them back here. You have your chaos sticks ready. The stones are cold and one snake can only carry one. They will need to warm up afterward. Will you three help us?"
"Um, Healer Jordan and Septima," Harry wasn't sure how to tell them this bit of news. "Nio says that after the snakes return with the bones, they will need to warm up. They need us to help warm them."
Harry held up Little Friend on his wrist as an example.
"Oh, no," shrieked Septima. "I can't do that."
Her body shook with tremors.
"Shush, Septima. We each need to put aside our fears and do what we can to save the Center."
"That's fine for you to say! You have magic. Why can't you warm them with a spell? Why do we have to use our bodies?"
"I'm going to be using my magic to contain the null. I need you to do this. The snakes are helping us overcome this danger. It is the least we can do for them."
"Ugh. I just don't know if I can!" Septima moaned. "They are such slimy creatures."
"They aren't slimy at all," Harry said and he held out Little Friend in Septima's direction. She shrank away from his arm.
"No, get it away from me!"
"Just put out your hand. Little friend is soft, not slimy."
"I really don't want to."
"You can do it," Healer Jordan encouraged.
Harry could feel Septima shift and reach out. Nio seemed to understand what was going on, even without Harry translating and reached out slowly.
"Oh, it's not slimy," Septima breathed.
"See. He's friendly. And his friends are, too. It'll be okay," Harry assured.
"I don't know. I don't think I can do it."
"Sthei, I need to go guide the Adelphi here," Nio said and Harry lowered him to the ground.
"Septima. We'll keep you safe. You can do this. We need your help," Healer Jordan urged.
"No one said anything about hordes of snakes. This is more than I signed up for," she shuddered and there was an edge to her voice… as if she were standing at the ledge of a precipice.
"Hush. We'll figure this out. Harry, can you cast your shield charm around Septima to keep the snakes off of her? Hurry, I think they are starting to come," Healer Jordan urged.
Harry flicked out his wand saying the protection charm while imagining it encasing Septima like an iridescent bubble.
"Thank you, Harry," Septima gasped from inside. "It is beautiful."
"Yes, well done. Here—let's put the cloak over all of us again. The cloak! If we bring the oracle stones under the cloak, then I think I can do the rune work to cancel the magic! Your cloak is Morgana-sent, that's for certain!"
"Leg-walkers!" A snake, though not Nio, hissed—the stone in its mouth clearly making it hard to form the words. "I can smell you. Where are you?"
Septima moaned from behind the shield. "You can keep the shield up?"
"Yes, I've got it," Harry assured, then switched to Parseltongue. "We're over here." Harry lifted an edge of the cloak to allow the snake passage.
Harry felt a rather large snake slip under the cloak and heard the dull sound of the bone dropping on the dirt floor of the cave. A whisper of smoke floated under the cloak.
"Lower the cloak, Harry."
The snake crawled up on Harry's lap and coiled into a tight ball, sighing with contentment.
"Thank you, Big Friend. The cold bites and you are like a sun-warmed stone, but softer."
Healer Jordan was using her wand to nudge the oracle bone on the ground.
"Hmmm, Elhaz… " she said.
"What is it?"
"It's not what I thought it would be."
"Oh?"
"It means divine protection or sanctuary. We'll see what the other runes are. Have you studied runes?"
"Er, no. Not yet."
"Right. You've just finished your second year. Soon."
Another snake entered the cave, slithering across the dirt toward them. Harry called it forward under the cloak and it dropped the bone next to the first one, then muttered thanks to Harry as it joined the large snake in his lap. Harry heard Septima shift under the shield and cocked his head toward her, trying to figure out what she was doing.
"It's okay, Harry. She's turning her back so she doesn't see the snakes. I think it'll help her get through the anxiety."
"She's still covered by the shield?"
"Yes. Oh, here comes another one."
The snakes kept arriving. Some settled on Healer Jordan, but most went to Harry. They coiled around him, vying for the warmest spots and arguing with each other until he threatened to dislodge them all if they didn't get along.
Healer Jordan continued to be surprised by the messages on the oracle bones.
"These bones were placed as protections. They are not the source of the null zone. Harry! We need to tell the snakes that the bones need to be replaced as they were. And we have to find the source of the nulling magic. Morgana's wand! It is something else! Removing them has put the Center at risk!"
Harry tensed and hurriedly translated Healer Jordan's message to the snakes draped on his body. They grumbled about the legwalkers making up their minds, but the large one who had arrived first slowly descended from Harry's lap and edged toward the pile of oracle bones in front of Healer Jordan. The bones rattled as he moved through them to pick up the one he'd brought in his mouth and slowly exited the cave to return the bone to the spot he'd removed it from. One by one the snakes returned the bones, muttering their discontent as they went. Healer Jordan cast a warming spell in the cave as they waited and the snakes returned after the bones had been replaced to coil around Harry again and get warm.
"Now what do we do?" Harry wondered, shifting because his foot had fallen asleep. "And why hasn't Nio come back yet?"
"Why don't you ask the snakes?"
"Do you know where the one I call Little Friend has gone? Or why he hasn't returned yet?" Harry asked the snakes around him.
Their hissing responses filled the small cave and Septima moaned in distress. Harry hushed them and asked one of them to answer for the group. After a little negotiating about who would be the spokesnake, a petite snake coiled on Harry's wrist was designated. She had a pleasant and yet direct way of speaking.
"Nio hus cherio kisa is trying to find the source of the chaos… he got your message about the bones protecting your den… and he and the leaders of our Adelphi are searching in all the crevices and tunnels. The ones who are following the legwalkers who have been causing this chaos in our tunnels report that they have stopped traveling away from the den, but that they haven't turned back yet. They are working on more chaos, but it is far from here."
Harry relayed this to Healer Jordan and Septima. Septima still had her back turned, but acknowledged that she understood. Harry's wand arm was getting tired. He had been sustaining the shield for a long time.
"Maybe we can all join Nio in the search?" Harry suggested.
"No! I can't wander around all these serpent-infested tunnels! I just can't do it!" Septima wailed.
"I can't keep this shield up much longer, Septima. We have to come up with something else."
"We've got to figure out the null zone before the wixen come back. I don't think we have much time," Healer Jordan said.
"Is there a way to track where the wixen have been?" Septima asked. "Maybe we can figure out by tracing their movement where the source of the null zone is?"
"Oh, good idea. Hmmm. I think there is a charm or a spell for that…" Healer Jordan went quiet as she tried to remember it.
"The snakes! They keep saying how stinky their magic is… I think because it is dark magic," Harry said.
"Oh, not the snakes again!" Septima moaned.
"They are our allies in this, Septima," Healer Jordan said. "Harry, can you ask them about it?"
"Yeah, but can you help Septima with the shield? I'm getting tired." Harry shifted and carefully started moving his wand arm, while still pointing the wand at the shield around Septima.
"Yes, I think I can sustain that spell for a while, Harry. I am still recovering, though, so I don't think I can do it for as long as you have," Healer Jordan said this quietly in Harry's ear. Harry nodded to let her know that he understood.
Harry ended the charm and Healer Jordan said, "Protego," while Septima yelped in surprise and the snakes recoiled at the burst of magic. Harry shook his wand back into the holster and stretched his hand. He started speaking to the snakes, explaining the idea of tracing the stinky magic back to the source of the null zone.
The petite snake and the large one were the most willing to help and they finally convinced others of the Adelphi to start searching the area. A contingent of snakes slid off Harry, under the cloak and out into the larger cavern.
"Can I go out with them? Try to find it?" Harry asked.
"No, it's better if we stay in here. If you go out there your magic aroma could cover up the smells of the wixen."
"Right. Good point."
"Can't you make a beautiful shield like Harry's?" Septima asked Healer Jordan.
"That's actually a rare skill that is unique to Harry," she replied with a chuckle.
"Yeah, I guess it has to do with all the magic I'm imbued with… phoenix tears, basilisk venom, my mother's blood protection, and…" Harry couldn't bring himself to add the bit about Voldemort, though, and stopped. "That's what Nicolas Flamel said, at any rate."
"I imagine all of that is protecting you to a certain degree from the nulling magic. What could it be though? That the pyro-osteomancy isn't fending it off completely?"
"The pyro-what?" Harry asked.
"Pyro-osteomancy—some runes are divined by burning the bone and then reading the fissures caused by the fire."
"Oh, is that why the oracle bones smelled burnt?"
"Yes."
A cascade of pebbles alerted Harry to the entrance of a snake to the little cave and he greeted the snake in Parseltongue.
"Big Friend, I think we've found the source!" Nio's familiar hisses greeted him and Harry moved to his hands and knees quickly to go under the cloak and reach Little Friend.
"Really? Where is it? Can we get to it?"
"Yes, you must go there. The Adelphi can't go any farther near it. It is hidden in a deep pool of frigid water."
Harry hurriedly translated for Healer Jordan and Septima while helping Nio onto his neck. The remaining snakes in the cave slithered away at Nio's instructions and Healer Jordan assured Septima that the snakes were leaving the area and that she'd be fine before she ended the shield charm. Septima's breath was ragged and she stumbled as she exited the cave.
"If it is the source of the null zone, then we'll need the protection of the cloak to get near it," Healer Jordan advised as she pulled it around them. Septima pulled as far away from Harry as she was able in the confined space.
"Does the snake have to be under it with us?"
Harry didn't answer, but hunched his shoulders as a way to provide some protection to Nio from Septima's enmity.
Harry shook out his cane and listening to Nio's directions, guided them toward the sound of water. While the cavern felt completely open to Harry, there were short walls and curving and rolling pathways that made walking through the space more challenging than he expected. It was a bit of a labyrinth. When he questioned it, Healer Jordan explained.
"This is an ancient temple for meditation and contemplation—it seems like it has been long forgotten; neglected until recently. The dust has been disturbed today by the snakes and the two wixen, but not much else has been here. It seems, though, that at one time it would have been used by many at once."
"It's really beautiful. It is like the Center above it in some ways… the tilework is intricate, geometric, and all shades of blue," Septima added.
Harry's cane echoed throughout the chamber giving him a sense of the space as they walked through the meandering path. Despite the warmth of the cloak around them, the cold that leaked through the openings wrapped around his limbs. Even Septima seemed to lose some of her fear of Nio and drew closer to Harry for warmth.
From what he could tell, they were now close to the wall on the other side of the cavern. The dripping water sounds were louder, funneled through a tight space ahead of him, the smell of rotten eggs surrounded them, and the cold was penetrating his trainers, making his feet sting.
"Through here. You'll need to lower your head, Big Friend," Nio advised.
Harry put his arm up to shield his head as he moved forward and Healer Jordan and Septima moved behind him in single file. His hand contacted a rough archway and he crouched lower to move through it.
"Careful, Harry! Don't take another step. The pool takes up most of the room. There is a narrow ledge for us to stand on," Healer Jordan said as she grabbed his arm.
Harry felt forward with his cane and found the edge. He followed it slowly into the room, pressed up against the curving wall. The water echoed upwards as if there was a well above them, and they were at the bottom of it. Close to the water the sulfury odor was so strong that he breathed through his mouth in an attempt to get away from it.
"It's down there," Nio said, stretching his neck toward the pool of water. Both Healer Jordan and Septima leaned forward to look when Harry indicated what the little snake was pointing to.
"Can you see it?" he asked.
"Yeah, there's something down there that is glowing," Septima said.
"How are we going to reach it? I don't think we'd be able to keep the cloak around us in the water," Healer Jordan asked.
"I'll get it," Septima volunteered. "I'm a squib. I can leave the cloak and be okay, right? You two can stay here on the side with the cloak protecting you from the nulling effects and then help me back out of the pool. If you put it under the cloak, maybe you can end the magic that is attacking the Center."
"What if there are other protections on whatever that is?"
"More than something that takes your magic away?"
"Right. Any magic protections would be nulled by it. Okay. I guess that makes the most sense. Are you sure?"
"Yes, I want to do it," she said as she lifted up the edge of the cloak, drawing in a quick breath.
"Wait, lower the cloak and I'll transfigure your clothes to a swim outfit."
"Won't it just turn back once I'm out from under the cloak?"
"Oh, right."
"I'll just strip down to my knickers. Don't look, Harry!" Septima said with a laugh.
She slipped off her clothes and draped them on a nearby rock, then slipped out from under the cloak. There was a small splash as she dove in that echoed eerily up the tunnel above them and then it became very quiet as they waited for Septima to re-emerge.
"What's she doing?"
"It is farther down than it appears, I think. She's really kicking to reach it. Oh, she's turning around and coming back up. Here she is."
Septima's gasp for air exploded from the water as she emerged, splashing the cloak with water. Harry could feel the cloak pulling around him as Healer Jordan reached a hand out to Septima.
"That's so weird…" Septima sputtered as she neared them. "Your hand just coming out of nowhere." She clambered on the ledge next to them. Healer Jordan had reached around him and he felt the fabric of Septima's clothes passing against him. She muttered a spell and Harry reached out to see what she'd changed it into and found a heated towel that Healer Jordan was draping around Septima. He quickly pulled his hand back.
"Oh, that's nice. Thank you, Medea," Septima sighed.
"I can't reach it. It is too far down. I wish Mei were here. They'd be able to get it," Septima sighed.
"How do you know Mei?" Harry asked.
"Oh, I've been helping them with our menu. They are pretty particular about what they will eat. They grated on me at first, but then kind of grew on me after a while," Septima said as she shivered and dripped on the stones.
Healer Jordan cast drying and warming charms on Septima. Some of the warmth flowed under the cloak and Nio sighed in relief.
"Oh, I wonder if I could open a small Egress. There's a tiny pool just to the side of this one. If we huddle over it with the cloak, I might be able to contact Mei. I wonder how their magic would react to the null, though?"
"It's worth trying, right?" Septima said. "I'll get dressed, though, if you don't mind."
Healer Jordan tapped Harry's hand for sighted guide and Harry trailed his cane along the lip of the pool as they edged carefully around the ledge. Nio described the smaller opening next to the larger pool that seemed to be a tunnel of water that went off in another direction.
"Your constant hissing is really unnerving, you know," Septima said as she joined them.
"Sorry," Harry muttered.
"Septima, please." Healer Jordan admonished. "Now help me cover the pool with the cloak. Hmmm, Harry, I think you'll need to step out from under the cloak for this to work. Here, hold this edge down. We'll need to get a good seal."
When Harry stepped out from under the cloak, his wand fell out of the holster and clattered to the floor. He cursed as he heard it rolling toward the ledge and stepped on it to stop its progress. He bent down and felt along its length to make sure it wasn't harmed and then tucked it into his pocket.
"Good catch!"
They stretched the cloak over the pool with Healer Jordan huddled under it and she performed the spells to turn the tunnel into an Egress and then sent her Patronus through the water tunnel to Mei. They waited, holding the cloak over the pool and Healer Jordan. The cold pouring off the pool next to them made Harry and Septima tremble and Nio slid inside of Harry's shirt to find warmth. Harry's hands were starting to go numb from the cold when a splash erupted under the cloak and, from the sound of it, doused Healer Jordan.
"Mei! You came!" she exclaimed.
"I thought that's what you wanted?" Mei grumped in reply. "I'm perfectly happy to go back! I was enjoying a bit of sunbathing. It's bloody frigid here!"
Both Harry and Septima laughed in relief.