"Harry and Septima, quit laughing!" Mei shouted as they punched at the cloak that Harry and Septima were pinning down over the pool. Harry's cane rolled toward his hands. He caught it and used it to help pin down the side of the cloak. "What's this bloody sheet doing?"

"Mei! Don't remove it. The invisibility cloak is preventing the nulling effects of the magic from reaching you. We don't know what they will do to you," Healer Jordan said.

"Nulling effects? Invisibility cloak? What's going on? Why are you in this underground chamber? Why did you summon me here if it is dangerous? I thought the Center was sealed off because of some crazed death eater? "

"Yes, and something or someone, rather, has attacked the Center. It has been compromised by a nulling field that saps magical cores."

"And you brought me back? Why?"

"We need your help."

"Oh, of course. My help. Why don't you call the sodding Ministry of Magic?"

"We can't get out of the Center… well, we couldn't until we tried with Harry's cloak shielding the Egress from the nulling magic. And we called you because the thing shutting down the Center is at the bottom of a pool of water. We need your help," Healer Jordan explained.

Harry expected to hear the splash of Mei's tail as they retreated back to the South Sea's sun and coral reefs.

"So you need me to retrieve something that is in a pool of water? Something that saps magical cores?"

"The source of the null zone is in the pool next to this one. Septima dove down to get it, but couldn't reach it. We're running out of time because the wixen who put it there could come back at any moment. We have Harry's invisibility cloak which protects whoever is under it from the null zone, but we won't all fit under it."

"So, Harry and Septima are being zapped right now as we speak?"

"Er. Yes, it is part of the urgency. Can you help us?"

"What'll happen to me once I'm out of the protection of the cloak?

"We're not exactly sure - but both Dobby and Figora fainted. Dobby succumbed more instantly than Figora. They are still recovering."

"And the Auror and you… Healer Jordan, you fainted, too," Septima added.

"That's right."

"Uh, if I faint underwater, I'll drown. I'm more mammal than fish."

"I know it is asking a lot. We're running out of options."

"Why is Harry okay?"

"We're not exactly sure. And he can't be in the null zone for too long, either, or Septima."

"Even Septima? Huh. How much time is too long?" Mei asked.

"We're not really sure. 30 minutes? An hour? Harry, how long were you in the corridor before you found Dobby?"

"Er, I dunno. It seemed like forever, but it couldn't have been much more than a half-hour? What if Mei were to wear the invisibility cloak to go get the thing down there?" Harry asked.

"It would just float off, though," Septima said.

"If they put on a shirt over it to keep it on, then it would stay, right?" Harry said, pinning the invisibility cloak under his knees and reaching inside his shirt to transfer Nio to his neck. He muttered an explanation to the snake as he pulled off his shirt. He shivered as the icy air washed over his torso and his skin puckered into goose flesh. Nio hissed in protest and Harry tried to soothe him.

"That could work," Healer Jordan said.

"All right. I'll try. Er, Harry? Why do you have a snake in your shirt?" Mei asked.

"Oh, this is Little Friend," Harry said.

"Ah, right. You're the Heir of Slytherin. I forgot. But that still doesn't explain why you're walking around with a snake in your shirt."

"He's cold. Nio came to help us. The Adelphi here learned of the threat to the Center."

"All of the tunnels down here are crawling with snakes," Septima interjected with a shiver.

"Wait. That gives me an idea. I'm going to get some back up because if something happens to me, you all can't use magic to save me. Am I right?"

"Yes, that's right," Healer Jordan confirmed.

Mei's tail splashed as they dove down through the tunnel. Something soft and heavy landed on Harry's back.

"Oh!" Both Nio and Harry hissed. Harry reached over his shoulder and found that Septima had thrown a cloth over his back.

"Er. Thanks?"

"You… and the snake… look cold."

"I thought you were disgusted by him."

"Well, yeah, but it doesn't mean I can't tell when you're suffering—even the snake. It was a towel, but it changed back to an apron when we stepped out from under the cloak."

"Thank you."

He found the edges of it and maneuvered it so that it covered him like a cloak and Nio sighed. It wasn't warm as it had been when they were under the cloak, but it was surprisingly dry and helped shield them from icy air that moved through the cavern tunnel above them. Harry imagined the tunnels that must snake up through the ground to infiltrate the Center with the nulling magic and then all the oracle bones that had been placed to block the magic.

Who could have put them there? And how? he wondered.

There was a splash that hit the underside of the cloak.

"Oh, well! I suppose you needed someone who'd fit through the narrow tunnel," Healer Jordan exclaimed.

"What is it?" Septima asked and Harry realized that she couldn't see Mei and the sea creature she'd brought through the Egress as her back up either. He tried to imagine what the cloak would make the area look like… not a void, but just the small opening to the pool tunnel, without Healer Jordan, Mei, and some sort of sea creature.

There was a piercing screech and Harry dropped the apron to hold his ears. Nio tightened around his neck as he rocked back and sat down on his haunches.

"What was that!?" Septima yelled.

"Don't worry. He's just happy to see you," Mei laughed. "Loves people for some odd reason!"

Harry got back on his hands and knees, asking, "What is it?"

"Septima, you may want to step back while Mei and the eel transfer to the other pool," Healer Jordan warned. Harry could feel her shifting underneath the cloak.

"What? No! Not another one! I've had enough of snakes!" Septima shrieked as she jumped up and scrabbled against the wall. "What is it with you people and your serpents?"

The cloak under Harry's hands slackened when she sprang away from the pool's edge. "Septima—the cloak!"

He felt her grab it again and stretch it back over the pool as she gulped air.

"It's not a serpent," Mei protested. "Eels are just long fish. Though this little guy is an electric eel, so don't touch him if you can help it. It's shocking!"

"Great!" Septima moaned.

"He said he'd help me if I faint trying to get that null thing. Okay. Let's do it," Mei said.

"Won't that hurt?"

"Yeah, most likely."

Healer Jordan started to stand up underneath the cloak and Septima let go of her side. Harry let go of his side as well and held out his shirt in Mei's direction.

"Hang on, Harry. I've got to get out of the pool first," Mei said.

"Hmmm. What an interesting creature that is… but it is not from the salty waters," Nio hissed under Harry's chin.

"What? Really? It's a freshwater eel?" Harry asked the snake.

"Why are you hissing, Harry?" Mei asked as they pulled themselves out of the water and sat on the ledge of the pool. Harry used the edge of the apron to dry his knees that were doused with water and then pulled it around his back. Little friend hissed gratefully when it covered him.

"He's talking to his snake," Septima said with a shudder from farther away in the cavern than Harry was expecting.

Mei took the shirt from Harry's hand.

"That's right. I think I heard that you were a Parselmouth," Mei said, their voice muffled as they pulled the shirt over their head.

Septima giggled.

"What are you laughing at?" Mei shot at her.

"Your top half disappeared and now you look like a fish in a hovering T-shirt," Septima laughed.

"Not helping, Septima!" Healer Jordan hissed.

A pebble bounced off a wall and rolled across the floor. "Hey! What was that for?"

"For calling me a fish!" Mei seethed, then took a deep breath. "So, Harry! What are you and your snake… Er, Little Friend? talking about?"

"Nio noticed that the eel is not from the ocean," Harry said.

"Observant little snake! Yeah, he's a freshwater eel from Fiji. Where's this thing I'm supposed to be fetching? Over there? Where the light is shining from the pool? Okay. Come on, Abaia! Let's go get it before we all freeze to death."

Harry gasped as the eel slid past him on the narrow ledge, an electric shock shooting through his arm where it brushed against his bare skin that made his arm twitch involuntarily. The pain was so sharp that it brought tears to his eyes. He brushed them away quickly. The floor vibrated as the creature's bulk hit the floor of the cavern and a shower of pebbles rained down on them from the tunnel above them.

"Harry, watch out! The eel!" Septima had lunged forward and pulled him back by his shoulders, and as he fell back his foot slipped off the ledge and his leg sank into the frigid pool where the eel and Mei had emerged. He pulled it out and tried to dry it off with the apron, but it wasn't very absorbent. The hairs on his arms were standing on end from the brief encounter with the electric eel.

"Don't touch it!" Mei called out as their tail slapped across the gravel-strewn ledge to the other pool. "Ah, this one is even colder! Merlin's pants. Why did you need me for this?"

"Thank you, Mei, you're a life-saver. Literally," Healer Jordan said. "Can you use your Jiāorén magic to warm yourself under the cloak?"

"Yeah. It's definitely warmer under the cloak. Come on, Abaia, let's get this over with."

"Scitalis' scales! That creature is at least four-snakes-long," Nio exclaimed, recoiling under Harry's chin as the eel followed Mei from the small pool to the larger pool. Harry pulled away, feeling the electricity alive in the air as the creature passed and listening as it plunked into the pool.

"It's not magical, right? The eel? Just a sea creature?" Harry asked.

"As far as I know," Healer Jordan said through chattering teeth.

"Medea. You're already feeling the effects of the null magic?" Septima came up beside them as they stood at the side of the pool.

"Ah, right. Thanks, Septima. I don't think I fully recovered from when we were caught in that trap."

"Mei will be quick."

"I hope so. It looks like it is heavy. Ah, yes. They are bringing it to the surface. Step back, Harry."

Harry cursed under his breath, realizing that he'd left his cane on the floor by the other pool. He felt behind himself with his foot before he stepped back. He didn't fancy falling in the little pool. His wet leg was freezing and his trainer was soaked.

Nio curled around the back of his neck and told him that he could take another two steps back.

"Nio, where'd I…" he started to say as he stepped back, but there was an explosion of water from the pool and the piercing shriek of the eel again. A light lit up the space that sliced through Harry's head. He clamped his eyes closed.

"Wow! It's bright. I can't look at it!" Septima shouted as she fell to the floor.

Harry found the wall of the cavern with his palm and flattened himself against it hoping that he was far enough out of the way. The apron across his back helped shield some of his torso from the biting cold rock. His teeth were chattering.

"Where are you all? Could someone grab it?" Mei shouted. "It's bloody heavy. Abaia's helping me, but keeps shocking me, too!"

There was a thud and then a splash.

"Medea! No!" Septima's scream reverberated off the walls of the cavern.

"What's going on?" Harry shouted.

"Take this! I'll get her," Mei's voice was strained. There was a splash that sent a spray of frigid water against Harry and the wall he was pressed against. He was already so cold.

"Harry, help me! I can't see it. Arggh!" Septima cried. "I'm going to drop it! It's hot! Hurry! Is that the eel? Gah!"

Harry jumped toward Septima's voice as a wave of icy air blasted over them from the pool.

"Nio, help me!" Harry hissed, running his hand over the snake on his neck, trying to find his head.

"The light—freezing. It hurts," the snake gasped as it burrowed under the apron slung over Harry's shoulders.

Harry's outstretched hand found Septima's back and he tried to stop, teetering on the edge of the pool. He could barely feel his toes in his wet trainer and the edge of the pool was slick with ice. He finally stopped sliding, leaning heavily on Septima's back.

"Watch it! You're pushing me in!"

"Sorry," Harry gasped as he steadied himself and knelt next to Septima, slipping on the ice that seemed to be forming around them. He found her arm and followed it to the thing that she was struggling to pull out of the water. Septima was trembling and Harry wasn't sure if it was from the effort of holding onto it or from the plunging temperatures.

When his hand came in contact with it, he finally registered what she meant about it being hot. It was like it was siphoning off all the heat from the air and their bodies. It radiated a burning cold that was so hot it burned. He recoiled and then lunged forward and tried to find the bottom. He felt electricity coursing through his body and the smooth, thick body of the eel. It was supporting the null thing from underneath. His fingers were stiff and slow to respond. It was a weighty vessel, solid and inexplicably both freezing cold and burning hot.

He laid down on his stomach on the frozen ground so that he could reach underneath it and help Septima pull it out of the pool. She was holding it on either side by ornate handles. His numb fingers found the fluted base as another electric shock telegraphed through his body.

A splash of water and a gasping breath surprised them both so much that they nearly lost their grip on the vessel.

"I've got her!" Mei called out, nearing them.

Harry and Septima heaved and lugged the vessel. It screeched against the gravely stone side of the pool and with a final grunt, they pulled it out of the pool. It skidded on the ice. Tears were streaming down Harry's face, burning against his numb skin.

An ominous sound of cracking ice echoed through the chamber and a strangled cry.

"Mei? Healer Jordan?" Harry cried out.

"I think the pool's icing over," Septima exclaimed.

"Where are they?"

"I can't see anything. This dreaded thing—it's blinding."

Harry reached forward into the pool and encountered a sheet of ice. He hammered it with his hand, hoping to break it, but wondered if he'd broken his hand instead. It was solid.

"Ov- ov- over here, Har- har- Harry!" Mei cried out, their words garbled by water. They sounded like they were at least a few snakes away from him.

He cursed again that he'd left his cane by the other pool. The ice cracked again. He didn't have time to search for it, but as he sat up to a kneeling position, he felt the apron beneath his feet that must have fallen off when he was helping Septima.

He pulled it out from under him and found the ties, and wound the cords around his wrist then flung the apron out over the ice-covered pool. It sounded like it had landed near where Mei had broken through the ice.

"Mei! Grab the apron," Harry shouted.

"Where is it? I can't see anything! Too bloody bright!"

"It landed right in front of you!" Harry said.

"How could you possibly know that?!"

"I heard it. Feel around," Harry suggested and listened to their hand patting the ice until there was a tug on the apron.

"Got it. I'm tying it around Healer Jordan," Mei said between grunts of effort.

He felt them pulling on the apron and hoped that it was strong enough. He tried to find something to brace himself against so that he wouldn't be pulled onto the ice. There was a little lip on the pool that gave him a bit of traction.

"Okay!" Mei shouted. "Start pulling her out." He started pulling. Septima stumbled over to where he was kneeling and whacked him on the side of his head.

"Wha—" Harry almost let go of the apron strings.

"Sorry, I've got my eyes closed. The light…"

"Oh, right. Here—help me pull Healer Jordan out of the ice. Here's the apron," Harry said as he guided her hand to the apron strings wound around his wrist.

Together they pulled. At first, there was resistance and he wasn't sure they could pull Healer Jordan out of the ice, but then she was launched up and toward them from underneath, landing on the ice with a crack and a thud and she slid easily across the surface. The ice was so thick that it didn't break under her weight. Finally, when Harry reached along the apron strings, his hands got tangled in her wet braids.

"I've got her!" He leaned down and found her armpits and pulled her onto the ledge with Septima's help. They laid her out on the floor. Harry ran his fingers over her neck trying to find a pulse. Her skin was so cold and wet.

"She's not breathing!" Harry shouted.

"Abaia! He can help her," Mei called and then the ice was groaning as the eel made his way across it toward them.

"How?" Septima asked, stepping back away from the approaching eel.

"Electric shocks… they can start hearts," Harry explained.

The eel slid up on the ledge and pressed its body against Healer Jordan sending a current through her body that made her convulse. Some of it transferred to Harry's body through his hand that he was slow to remove from her shoulder.

Harry was glad that both Septima and Mei had their eyes closed against the bright light because his eyes were still streaming tears. He wiped them off his face and tried to find Healer Jordan's pulse again. She gasped suddenly and retched water. Septima stepped forward when the eel moved away from them and turned Healer Jordan on her side.

"Medea, Medea! Are you okay?" Septima asked, shaking Healer Jordan's shoulder. Healer Jordan groaned, but didn't respond.

"Mei, do you still have the cloak?" Harry asked. It sounded like Mei was coming across the icy pool toward them.

"Of course. There's no way I would have survived down there if I had lost it. I wouldn't have been able to lift that thing an inch if I hadn't been able to use my magic."

"I think we need to wrap the vessel in the cloak," Harry said. "To protect everyone from the nulling effects."

"Do you think that will work?"

"I don't know. But we can't all fit under it and I think Healer Jordan is still in bad shape. She's freezing. We've got to get her warm and stop the nulling thing from hurting her."

"Okay, here you go," Mei said, as a bundle of wet cloth smacked against Harry's face and chest. He yelped in surprise, then got to work untangling the cloak from his T-shirt. It occurred to him that he didn't know if there was a right side or a wrong side to the cloak. He felt both sides of the cloth trying to discern a difference and even though his hands were so cold he could barely register that he was feeling the cloth, he realized that one side felt slightly warmer than the other. He decided that must be the inside. He was about to put the cloak over the vessel when he hesitated.

What if it burned up his cloak? Then they'd have no protection from the null at all and they'd probably all faint and maybe even die if they were left alone with nothing to shield them from the nulling effects.

"Are you doing it? Why did you stop?"

"What if it destroys the cloak?" Harry asked.

"Oh, Merlin's beard. I didn't think of that," Mei said.

"What if Septima and I cover the little pool again and you and the eel can escape that way… then if something goes wrong, we're not all trapped here?" Harry suggested.

"But I can't leave you here!" Mei protested.

"He's right, Mei. You need to go. You could find help once you're away from this thing," Septima agreed. "You're the only one who could get away from here quickly. Everyone else is trapped at the Center."

"I don't know."

"We don't have time to argue. Go through the tunnel, get help from outside the Center!" Harry insisted.

"Okay. But you four better make it out of here. If you don't, you'll have to answer to me! You hear?" Mei said gruffly.

"Absolutely."

"Wait! Do you know how to make the Egress? I bet the nulling thing made it close again… once we took the cloak off of it," Septima said.

"The cloak. We can use it to move Healer Jordan over to the pool, like we did the Auror," Harry said in a rush.

"Right, let's stretch it over her. Hand me one side of it," Septima said.

"What are you two going on about? What Auror?"

Harry snorted thinking about how Mei would have dealt with Auror Robards as he spread out the cloak and handed an edge to Septima.

"Here you go."

"Where is it?"

"Listen to the noise I'm making with it," Harry suggested and she finally found his outstretched hand and they pulled the cloak over Healer Jordan.

Harry pulled his wand out from his pocket and put it under the cloak and muttered the moving charm that Mei had taught him. Healer Jordan rose in the air.

"Where's the pool?" Septima said.

Harry stood up and hissed at Nio, but the snake was barely clinging to his neck. He slipped him off his neck and placed him carefully around his wrist under the cloak hoping that it would be warmer for the little snake. His wand hand was already starting to thaw. He slid his foot forward and edged in the direction of the smaller pool. Septima was holding on to Healer Jordan's other side and shuffling along. Mei's tail slapped against the ice and gravel-strewn floor and the eel slid behind her.

"Gah! How do you do this every day?" Mei groused from the floor.

"Just like you do, Mei. What other choice do we have?" Harry's heart was battering against the back of his throat. He hoped that Healer Jordan would come around soon and be able to perform the magic on the Egress.

"Oi!" His toe slipped over the edge of the pool before he expected it and he teetered on the edge for a second. He lowered Healer Jordan to the side of the pool, as close as he could get her without tipping her into it.

Mei and the eel were making slow progress across the floor and Harry wondered if they had been hurt while getting the vessel and Healer Jordan out of the pool.

"Are you two okay?" Harry asked.

"I don't know what's worse. The cold or having the magic sucked out of me," Mei said. They'd made it to the edge of the pool.

Harry knelt down and tentatively stuck his hand in the pool. Instead, he hit ice. "Trolls bullocks! Ice!"

"It's okay, Harry! If you put the cloak over it, I'll be able to use my magic, then I can heat it up and get through," Mei suggested. "Provided that Healer Jordan wakes up and can make the Egress."

Harry found the edge of the cloak while Mei and the eel slid onto the ice covering the pool. The eel shrieked and the piercing noise echoed off the cavern walls. Harry shuddered but didn't drop the cloak.

Septima held one side over Healer Jordan and the side of the pool, while Harry walked around to the other side. He stepped on something… my cane! And stooped to pick it up, then used it to make his way more quickly around the edge of the pool until the cloak was stretched tight.

"Is it working, Mei? Can you heat up the ice and get through?"

The ice made a sharp cracking noise and then there was a plunk as Mei dropped into the water.

"Ah, yes. That's better," Mei said. "Gah! I hate ice!"

Healer Jordan groaned.

"Medea!" Septima exclaimed.

"Ugh. What's going on?" Healer Jordan muttered. "Where am I? Arghh. What's that light? Can't someone Nox it?"