Chapter Nineteen
"Well...That was a touch melodramatic now, wasn't it?" Luna said, flipping on her headlamp.
"A bit," said Draco, fishing the lantern from his bag. He got it situated then asked, "You okay?"
"Fine. You?"
"I feel a little...off... to be honest," confessed Draco.
"So do I. I suppose it's the cave suppressing our magic," said Luna. She raised her hands and made the motions she would normally do to conjure blue bell flames but nothing happened. "Odd. It's not really a sensation at all...more of an 'unfeeling' I guess you'd call it."
Draco removed his new wand from his pocket and immediately noticed the absence of the comforting warmth and tingle that would normally accompany such an action. He tried to cast a simple levitation spell.
Nothing.
"Wow," said Draco in a halting voice. "I-I suppose I never really noticed the constant, intrinsic... vibration of my magic before. I guess I only ever paid attention when I was calling upon it to cast a spell. It's strange not to feel it at all."
"It reminds me of a time when Daddy and I were visiting the coast and a hurricane hit," said Luna. "We went outside during the eye of the storm and what struck me most was the silence. A few minutes before it had been all sound and fury and then - nothing. No wind, no rain, no birds just...stillness."
Draco nodded, remembering a time he had been at school between terms when no other students were present and how unsettling it had been to walk through corridors and the Great Hall without the familiar hum of voices and footsteps surrounding him.
"But it will be fine," assured Luna. "It will just makes us appreciate our magic all the more when we get it back, won't it?"
"Sure. Absolutely," said Draco, deciding to rely on Luna's optimism. "Let's see what we have to work with in here then."
They swept their lights around to take in their surroundings. The space was larger than Draco would have imagined from the outside. Directly in front of them was a good sized tunnel. The stones around it were smooth and dry and the path that was visible from where they stood looked clear and free of obstacles.
"Is it just me or does having only one way to go seem a touch too convenient?" asked Draco.
"I agree. Lucky for us there is a second choice," said Luna, pointing to a portion of wall off to her right.
Her light was illuminating a narrow crevice just under a meter wide. Its walls were coated with slime and wet moss and it looked significantly more ominous than the first option.
"Oh, yeah. Lucky for us." Draco glanced between the two then asked, "I don't suppose there's any chance that the nice, dry, friendly looking tunnel is the one we want?"
"Only one way to find out." Luna knelt down and selected a rock a little larger than a quidditch bludger. She handed it to Draco and tipped her head towards the larger of the entrances. "Go ahead. Give it your best shot."
Draco warmed up his arm, planted his feet firmly then threw the stone with all his might. It sailed past the lights of their headlamps and at first there was total silence. A moment later they heard a deep rumble growing in the distance. Suddenly the ground began to shake and an immense tremor caused them both to fall to the ground as the tunnel collapsed into a massive cloud of dust and falling debris.
They helped each other to their feet, squinting and coughing. "Are you hurt?" asked Draco.
"No, I'm good," said Luna, wiping some dust from her trousers. "Well - I think that answers that question, doesn't it?"
"It does indeed," Draco said, shouldering his gear. "Shall we?"
They entered the remaining tunnel and began their descent with Draco insisting upon taking the lead. The first hour was incredibly claustrophobic and more than once they were only barely able to squeeze through a tight spot but eventually the path widened and the trek became more manageable.
As they moved deeper into the cave the air got progressively colder. Draco noticed Luna starting to shiver and pulled a jumper out of his bag.
"Here. Put this on." Seeing the look on her face he said, "What? I packed a spare in case you got cold."
"Thank you, Draco," Luna said, pulling the jumper over her head. "I threw in an extra pair of socks for you if you need them."
Before Draco could express his appreciation, the sound of water hitting water caught their attention. They navigated a tight bend in the path in front of them and found themselves on the edge of an large, subterranean lake.
Through the darkness they could just make out the other shore roughly twenty meters away. Luna studied it carefully and said, "A body of water of this type would typically be much further underground, which leads me to believe this one has been placed here deliberately."
"So I'm guessing that popping in for a swim would be ill advised?" asked Draco.
As if in response there was a loud splash as a portion of a large, dark, serpentine creature briefly broke through the water before diving once again.
"Oh, sweet Circe. I really need to stop asking those questions..." Draco sighed. "Okay. Any thoughts what that might be?"
"I only caught a glimpse but if I were to guess, I'd say it was probably some sort of genetically engineered eel hybrid. If it were a naturally occurring cave dweller it wouldn't have any pigment." Luna swept the beam of her torch around the surface of the lake. "It doesn't seem to respond to the light so it is most likely either blind or extremely short sighted due to the constant darkness. That could work in our favor."
Draco knelt by water's edge and picked up a handful of small bones. "This, however, indicates to me that the creature is at least partially carnivorous...which certainly doesn't work in our favor."
"It is a disadvantage..." Luna said, staring at the walls around them. It was only then that Draco noted that the rocks circling the lake were covered with thousands of squirming glow worms.
"Hey, Luna? By any chance does this variety of glow worm have a similar physiology to flobber worms? I mean if you thought they'd sedate something as large as a Selma then perhaps we could use these..." Draco was cut short by Luna flinging herself at him and wrapping him in a tight embrace.
" You remembered!"
Draco tried not to smile as he worked to maintain both his balance and his dignity. "Yes. Well. It has been known to happen. You could do me the courtesy of sounding slightly less astonished by that fact."
He returned the hug and held on a bit longer than was strictly necessary before extracting himself. "So - if you think that would work then how many of these little buggers do you reckon we need to collect?"
Luna scrunched her nose and forehead as she worked out a calculation in her head. "That's a bit tricky. Since we don't know how often the creature eats the worms, we can't be certain what its natural tolerance for them is. I'd rather be safe than sorry so I'd go with...four or five hands full each to start? That ought to make something of this size sleepy without causing it irreparable harm."
They collected the requisite number of worms but before throwing them in the water Draco said, "I'm assuming that we only have a finite amount of time before these wear off so let's get our plan in order before we start the clock ticking. Which is the better choice - swimming or using the rocks?"
He pointed towards a series of large stones sticking up from the water's surface. While they stretched all the way across, their spacing was irregular. They were all close enough to each other to make the crossing possible but they were also just far enough apart to make the attempt risky. To further complicate matters, the tops appeared slippery, making falling in a real possibility.
Luna gave the matter a great deal of consideration then said, "While swimming appears to be the preferred option it actually comes with the greatest amount of risk. If we miscalculate the time the creature is dormant and it wakes up while we are in the water then it has the advantage. We'd have no chance of outswimming it or climbing on the rocks before it got us. Also, both ourselves and all our gear would be drenched by the time we'd reach the other side which, considering the temperature down here, brings a very real danger of hypothermia."
"That settles it. Rocks it is," said Draco, picking up a handful of the worms. "Ready?"
They quickly tossed in all the worms and just as the last batch hit the water the creature burst to the surface. It grabbed its prey in one fell swoop then dived again but it was visible long enough to give Draco and Luna a glimpse of a gaping mouth filled with razor sharp teeth.
"Right. As charming as that little guy looks, let's try and avoid him, shall we?" said Draco. "How long do you think we have?"
"It shouldn't take long for the worms to take effect but to be on the safe side I wouldn't bet on us having more than ten minutes to get across."
"Best get at it then," said Draco, stepping towards the edge of the water. "I'll go first."
Luna started to disagree but Draco was having none of it. "No, Luna. This makes the most sense. My arms and legs are longer. Better chance of me making each jump and better chance of grabbing hold of you if you fall short."
Before she could argue, Draco leapt to the first rock. He bobbled slightly then managed to steady himself. "See? Piece of cake."
Luna jumped and Draco easily caught her around the waist and made sure she was safe before he moved on to the next rock. Luna followed suit and Draco was about to praise her rock jumping abilities when they observed the first stone sinking into the water.
"Oh..." Luna said. "That's an interesting development. It seems the only way is forward then."
"It would seem so," said Draco.
They jumped to the next rock and the same thing occurred - the previous rock dipped silently below the surface, making backtracking impossible.
"You know what, Luna? I don't think I've mentioned this before but I'm seriously beginning to dislike this bloke Pertento and all of his bloody descendants."
"They obviously had some trust issues, I'll grant you that," agreed Luna.
They pressed on, making their way rock by rock across the lake. They experienced a few close calls and Draco just barely managed to keep Luna from falling in at the halfway point but soon they had almost completed the crossing, with only the gap from the final stone to the shore remaining.
They were debating who should jump first as the distance appeared too great for Luna to make in one go when their discussion was cut short by a splashing sound behind them. They turned and saw a large ripple making its way slowly across the water in their direction.
"Jump. Now," said Draco firmly.
"No. You go first. You've got the better..."
She didn't get to finish. Draco hoisted her off her feet and leapt, however their combined weight shortened his stride and he ended up knee deep in the water about a meter away from their destination. He managed to keep his hold on Luna and fought to get to dry land before the creature got to them.
They reached the shore and began backing away quickly but both lost their footing on the wet rocks and fell just as the beast lunged for them. They managed to scramble far enough from the water to avoid being bitten, leaving the creature shrieking angrily at them before slipping back into the murky depths.
As they lay on the ground trying desperately to catch their breath Draco panted, "Luna? If it's okay with you, I - I think I'll take those socks now."