deathbykitsune: At the rate this is going? No, no sequel.

Azrael: That's the problem with the Towers. Nobody knows who built them. They just sprang up overnight. Best guess anyone has is that its Gaian magic interacting oddly with the Earth magic within the Hogwarts wards.

Chapter 15
Towers of Black and White

The four Adventures did not know the exact locations for the other two towers, but it was not a hard leap of logic to assume that the other towers were roughly equidistant from the castle. They therefore circled around clockwise, aiming for the tower that would be behind the mountain in which Hogwarts was half-melded. With it being so early in the day, that would be the one that took the most time searching.

Sure enough, it took a couple of hours before they stumbled upon the next tower. Or, more accurately, towers.

Harry let his head tilt back as he tried to follow the twin towers all the way to their peaks. "How did we not see these things a while ago? They're way taller than the trees, but I know I sure couldn't see them until we reached this clearing."

"I don't really know," Draco admitted. "It could be something like a Notice-Me-Not charm or a repelling charm of some kind? Maybe?"

Dudley started walking forwards towards the shared base from which both towers grew. "We're here now, that's what matters. And we get to do two towers without having to walk any more. I'll count that as a win."

That enthusiasm waned when they approached a slab that looked nearly identical to the one they had seen in the Trial of Mind. Just like the other tower, this one had writing on the door, but it was longer and carried an unusual warning.

Trials of Body and Soul
The left path will test your martial prowess
The right path will test your magical skill
Both must be conquered together
Else naught but death awaits

"I don't know what that means, but I don't like it," Dudley said after a minute.

"Considering these towers are only accessible to Adventurers, I don't think it's talking about wizarding magic," Hermione muttered, almost as if she was talking to herself. "Particularly not with the mention of 'martial prowess'. I think if we go up the left tower, we'll probably be facing a lot of magic-resistant monsters while the right tower are stuff like jellies and bombs, enemies that it's pointless to use weapons against."

"And the 'else naught but death awaits' thing?" Harry asked.

"We need to split up. Half in each tower so we can conquer them together. Whatever they mean by conquer."

Harry reached out to touch the stone slab and watched it slide downwards out of sight. Behind the slab was a short set of steps that led up to a platform that in turn provided access to two more staircases. "Two of us are easy. Dudley only has physical attacks, and Draco's a Sorcerer. It's us that are the issue."

"Maybe not as much as you think. My abilities aren't strictly magical," Hermione reminded him. "They're enhancements to my arrows. I still have to hit something to get the ability to stick. You, on the other hand, can actually cast spells. Plus," she added with a grimace, "I don't know for sure if we're just dealing with monsters who are resistant to magic on the left or if it will somehow block magic. The latter possibility particularly concerns me because it would also prevent any healing. If it does, we'd have to split our health tonics if you came along on the left path and Draco would be on his own."

He could hardly argue against that precaution. He might not be as close to Hermione and Draco as he was to Dudley, but the last few days had done much to make him feel as though they were all part of one team. He would not want one of them to die, especially since it sounded like that could cause all of them to die.

Neither of them were the Cleric he and Dudley had been searching for, but together they made a darn good party nonetheless.

"I guess that splits us up pretty well, then." Shoving his hand into his bottomless pouch, he pulled out all the healing tonics within and handed them over to the Stellis. "I'm going to need any spirit herbs or mana tonics you have on you. I have a feeling we're about to burn through our mana in a hurry."

With restoratives rearranged, the two groups gave each other nods before the split up. Dudley and Hermione turned left to enter a door emblazoned with an upright lion, and Harry and Draco took the right-hand path towards a door with a coiled snake. "Of course the magic-only tower would belong to Slytherin," Draco said with a shake of his head.

"Hmm?"

"Slytherin, like Ravenclaw, was one of the Founders of Hogwarts. When I was a student, I was actually in Slytherin house. The lion," he added, pointing across the room to the door Dudley and Hermione had used, "is the emblem of Gryffindor house. Slytherins and Gryffindors are traditionally at each other's throats for just about everything. I have to admit, it's kind of funny that they're paired like this." The Sorcerer shook his head. "Gaia has a sense of humor, I suppose."

Harry was not sure whether that made him feel better or worse. If the planet itself had a sense of humor, what did it say that there were so many monsters around that liked to snack on people?

Draco shoved the door open and sighed at what was revealed. "More stairs," he muttered, pointing to the steps on the opposite side of the round room.

"Hold up," Harry said, actually grabbing the back of Draco's collar to keep him from taking the two steps down to the floor of the room. His eyes danced around the room, even up to the ceiling, but nothing was visible. No monsters, no traps, nothing. "This is going to be an ambush. I just know it."

"I know. We don't have much other option than to spring the trap though, do we?"

"We can take simple precautions, at least." Draco sighed and crossed his arms, but Harry was more focused on the shape his left hand was tracing. It was not a spell he used routinely, but right now it was better to be cautious. "Kind moon," he said, finishing up the half-circle with five lines coming downwards off of it, "cloak us in your embrace. Curtain."

Waves of light like the aurora wrapped around the Sorcerer from out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly. "What was that?" Draco asked, giving his sleeve an experimental tug.

"Curtain. It's a defensive spell, should work to keep any magic from hurting us as much. I don't have nearly as much mana as you do," he admitted, "and somehow I doubt enchanting my sword will count as 'magical skill'. The less healing I have to do to keep us alive, the more I can focus on attacking, which means fewer enemies and less healing. The worst thing that could happen is for us to get stuck in the cycle of trying to heal while all the monsters are still on the attack."

"So clear the room as fast as possible and worry about healing when we're in the clear," Draco summarized. "Got it."

Harry raised one finger. "Unless we're literally about to die. Otherwise, yeah."

Another casting of Curtain on himself, and they nodded to each other. It was time to do this. Draco lifted his leg dramatically and dropped it onto the floor.

Nothing happened.

"They'll come out when we're in the middle of the room?" suggested Draco.

"That sounds about right. Which means they'll surround us." Harry rolled his head and neck then muttered sarcastically, "This will be fun."

"The other option is we leave, grab Hermione and Dudley, and leave the Towers alone."

Harry scoffed at that. Like that was going to happen. Dudley would never let him hear the end of it, not to mention that if they backed down from every challenge in front of them, they were not worthy to call themselves Adventurers. It just meant they had to be smart about it. "Just keep your guard up. We don't know what magic will work best against whatever they throw at us, but fire is generally a good first choice."

There was an emblem of a coiled snake, the same one on the door, set into the floor, and the closer they walked to it the more tense Harry became. It was too perfect. That was when this ambush would inevitably come.

Their feet touched the stone block, and they immediately leapt away when the floor seemed to twist. Translucent hands reached out, followed by arms and heads. Those heads opened wide, fanged mouths and began to wail.

Ghosts. Harry shook his head. Why did it have to be ghosts?

"You're right," Draco said as he made the sign for fire spells with his left hand. "Fire is a good first choice. Flare!"

"Cure!" he called out, chasing Draco's magic with his own. The undead were uniquely vulnerable to healing magic, and it was lighter on his reserves than fire magic. A few more spells from each of them put down the two ghosts they had focused on. Just ten left.

One of them screamed louder than normal, the sound a warning that it was about to curse one of them. Sure enough, the air around Draco spat and sparked, but whatever terrible effects it was supposed to have slipped past him. The Sorcerer returned the favor with another Flare spell.

Harry, meanwhile, just blinked in surprise. He had no idea Curtain could prevent status effects from landing, mostly because he only rarely used it. If this was really true and not just luck on Draco's part, he might have to pull it out more often.

Now that he had a reason to believe that they might have a major advantage over the ghosts, he threw himself into the fight with abandon. Soon enough, a Flare and a Cure spell hit the last ghost at the same time from opposite directions, and it exploded into a cloud of light grey smoke. Draco waved the smoke away from his face. "That wasn't so bad."

"It's also the first floor," Harry reminded him. A finger rose to point at the stairs leading further up, and the blond's shoulders slumped. "Ten dimma says it's only going to get worse."

"Do I look like a fool to you? I'm not taking that bet."

Their steps fell slowly as they climbed yet another flight of stairs. As soon as they reached the landing, Harry slumped and landed on his rear. "No more. I'm done."

"Me too." Draco slid down the railing to sit next to him. "I sure hope the others are having an easier time than we are because this is ridiculous."

Harry nodded in response to that. They had to pass six floors to get here, and each one was harder than the last. The ghosts were more than easy compared to the jellies of every element on the next floor. Then the dusk crows that attacked with blinding dust and wind spells, the autonomous cannons, the armored volcano monster, the giant jellies that launched spells neither of them had ever seen before. If this tower was trying to kill them, it was doing a damn good job and had nearly succeeded. A twinge in his side reminded him of just how close it had come to finishing him off, and he pressed his hand against the still bleeding wound. "I'm tapped out, man. I can't even cast another Cure spell."

"Just drops left for me." Draco waved his hand at the closed door waiting for them. "Maybe the tower knows that, too. It doesn't look like it wants us to go any further. Or maybe it's the last floor." Harry shot him a look, and the wizard explained, "Seven's a powerful number when it comes to magic. This is the seventh floor. Might be we're close to done."

"Somehow, that just makes me think there's going to be something even nastier behind that door."

"Only one way to find out." Draco shoved his hand into his pouch and pulled out a vial of electric blue liquid, then rolled the spirit tonic to Harry. "Drink up, me hearties."

The Fencer rolled his eyes but uncorked the vial. "I'll yo ho to that."

The mana tonic immediately lifted his fatigue as new magic poured through his veins. Not enough to put him completely back to rights, but definitely enough so he could heal the tear in his side and the scratches that littered Draco. Once that was done, he pulled a bundle of leaves out of his own pouch and tossed half of them to the Sorcerer. "They won't do as much as the tonic, but they're better than nothing."

Draco sighed, swallowed his own tonic, and then started chewing on the leaves.

Between the restoratives and the opportunity to sit down and stop, the pair felt more like themselves a few minutes later. Harry climbed to his feet and approached the door. There was neither lock nor handle, but after entering two towers, he figured he knew the drill by now. Rather than search, he simply laid his hand on the smooth surface.

"Beyond this door lies the greatest of magical dangers," he read as words write themselves into the door. "Only those with cunning and cleverness can survive it. Any who doubt themselves should return from whence they came. What do you think, Draco? Are we cunning and clever enough?"

"That or we're blithering idiots." Draco pulled himself up with his cane and walked over to stand next to Harry. A second hand joined Harry's. "Only one way to find out."

Sensing their resolve, the door faded away into nothingness to reveal a room filled with nothing but black. That was inviting, Harry thought sarcastically. "Let me refresh our Curtain spells before we do something stupid."

"Else." Draco gave him a weak smile. "Before we do anything else stupid."

They stepped into the darkness, and five feet away from the doorway the stone reformed leaving them into total darkness. Harry's hand tightened around the handle of his rapier even though he knew it would do him no good.

Something slid harshly against stone, and a low, high-pitched voice almost literally hissed, "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four."

"Creepy voice in the dark. That's a great start," muttered Draco from beside him.

Light flared up all around them, and Harry blinked at the sudden glow of a hundred torches set into the walls next to yet more portals of pitch black. Between the torches were gigantic snake heads carved out of stone, all of them turned towards another statue at the end depicting a bearded man's head.

The same scraping sound came again, and Harry and Draco looked at each other before turning further to look behind them.

A gigantic snake, its head taller than either of them and with enormous yellow eyes, flicked its tongue at them.

Basilisk.

No words were exchanged when the planet gave its warning. They just ran, both away from the snake and away from each other. The snake slithered after Harry, and he would have rolled his eyes if he had the mental space to spare. The parts of his brain not occupied with running away or trying to come up with some plan were just gibbering in terror. "Got any ideas?!" he finally screamed.

"Run faster!"

The sound behind him changed, and he shoved himself sideways just in time for the snake to ram its head into one of the many statues. "Not helping!"

Draco had climbed on top of one of the many statues and pointed his cane at the snake. "Don't stop! Don't look behind you! Megafrost!"

Why he needed not to stop was obvious. Why he should not look backwards was less so, but he was willing to listen to that advice, especially when the snake let out a sound that sounded almost like a scream. Hopefully that would slow it down a little, and Harry sprinted across the room and dug his fingers in between the carved scales of one of the statues. It was only when he was near the top of the head that he looked backwards.

Great shards of ice littered the ground, and the Basilisk was whipping its head back and forth to dislodge the pieces that were still stuck on its snout. Draco, standing only a few statues away, kept adjusting his aim with a frown on his face. "Just stay… still… Megafrost!"

More ice exploded, growing out of the snake's head.

Harry sketched a lightning bolt with his left hand and pointed his right at the snake's body. "Megavolt!" Four tongues of lightning shot out of his palm and slammed into the Basilisk's scales, causing the monster to spasm and shake. "You look like you have a plan. Care to share?"

"I know what a basilisk is. They existed on Earth, though they were considered Dark creatures and were illegal to breed. If you looked into their eyes, you would instantly die."

"We saw its eyes. We aren't dead," Harry reminded him.

"I know that!" Draco snapped. "Maybe its magic doesn't work on Gaia any more than wizards' magic does. Maybe it's just a snake with the same name. I don't know, but it's beyond stupid not to assume it can do the same thing. So I'm trying to gouge its eyes out."

Even if Draco was wrong about its eyes letting it instantly kill someone, which Harry dearly hoped was the case, blinding a giant monster still was never a bad idea. "Okay. What do you want me to do?"

"Do you know any second tier offensive spells besides Megavolt?" Harry shook his head, and Draco pointed at the long body of the snake. "Then just keep shocking it. As long as we can keep it from killing us with its stare—"

The snake screamed again and breathed out an acid green fog that quickly covered half the floor.

"—and don't fall in that," the Sorcerer added, "we should be okay. Hopefully."

"What about that fire spell you used on the rats in the sewers? Do you think we could use that to keep it from coming over here?"

Draco shook his head. "I'd worry about cooking us alive as well."

A valid concern as far as Harry was concerned. He would rather not burn either. Instead he pointed his hand at the giant snake again. "Megavolt!"

"Megafrost!"

They alternated throwing lightning and ice at the snake, and the longer they went the more hope Harry had that they would actually make it through this. His lightning spells were doing well to keep the monster pinned in place in addition to dealing damage, and whenever it was recovering from the electric shocks Draco's ice would hit it again and make it lash out with more poison in its immediate vicinity. All that together meant it remained on the opposite side of the room from them, which in Harry's opinion was the best place for it to be.

Just as he knew they were both getting tired, Draco cast another ice spell, but this one did not erupt from the beast's nose. Instead it appeared in the Basilisk's mouth, and it gagged on the spiny block of ice for several moments before its head dropped onto the ground.

"It is dead?" Harry asked. The snake twitched a moment later, but it was just the body beginning to disintegrate. "Guess so."

The darkness between the candles began to fade, revealing daylight that had been masked by the presence of the Basilisk. Sparkles of that same sunlight streamed in and pooled together in a puddle on the floor from which rose a pedestal with a single switch. Harry pointed to it and asked, "Think that means we 'conquered the tower' or whatever?"

Draco just shrugged.

The pair climbed down from snake head statues and walked over to the opposite side of the room, from which they could see the other tower were Dudley and Hermione were fighting. The windows of that tower were darkened, much to Harry's concern. "Think they're okay?"

Part of the wall of that tower shattered, and a massive dog with not one but three heads fell out of the resultant hole. It hit the ground, and the windows turned clear just as theirs had.

"…Never mind."

A figure stepped out to the edge of the hole, and when Harry shielded his eyes he could make out the leather armor and massive bow. "You guys okay?!" Hermione shouted.

"We're good!" he yelled back. He glanced over at Draco. "Ready to flip that switch?"

The Sorcerer sighed and walked off.

"Get ready to flip the switch!" he called out to Hermione, who waved her hand above her head in response. He sure hoped that meant they were in place because he counted down, "Three! Two! One! Now!"

Something clicked behind him, followed shortly by a clang. Turning around, Harry saw the source of that noise was a metal chest that had appeared out of nowhere on the other side of the pedestal from the switch. "Anything interesting in there?"

"Let's find out." Draco flipped the lid and peered inside. "Another piece of parchment like the one we found in Ravenclaw's tower. And also this." He held up a glittering crystal the length of one of their fingers, dangling from a cord. Draco frowned and rubbed his chest. "It's making my magic feel weird. Not in a bad way," he added before Harry could ask that very thing, "just weird. Almost like it's moving faster through me."

That did not sound normal, but neither was the compass they had found. "Weird doesn't necessarily mean bad," he said, as much for his companion's peace of mind as his own. "The compass wasn't. If it's giving you some kind of benefit to your magic, you might want to keep it."

"You're sure?"

He nodded. "You use more magic and more expensive spells than I do. I don't know if that thing is supposed to make your magic more powerful or more efficient or what, but regardless you'll probably get more use out of it than I will."

Grey eyes flicked back and forth between Harry and the pendant before Draco slipped it over his head. "Okay, then. Looks like the door's open again," he said, pointing at the doorway where the stone had once more vanished. "Let's meet up with the others."

The rest of the tower was mercifully empty of monsters, though Harry had been half convinced that they all would have come back to life or something just to spite them. Instead their climb down to the ground floor was undisturbed, and they found the rest of their crew already waiting for them.

"You don't look too bad," Dudley said, looking them both up and down. "Had an easy time of it, did you?"

"That would have been nice," scoffed Draco.

That comment earned tired smiles from both the Knight and the Hunter. "Understand that feeling. Hey, Harry. Catch."

Dudley tossed a roll of cloth at Harry, and he caught it before looking down at it in curiosity. What in the world could this be? Unrolling it, he discovered it to be a headband with an eye made of beads sewn into the fabric. "Not sure it's my style," he said after a moment.

"Probably not, but if the note that came with it is to be believed, it will give whoever wears it a clear mind and keep them from becoming confused or disoriented during a fight." Dudley shrugged. "I figured since you're the only one of us who can do any healing, you needed it the most."

The Fencer's eyes moved over to Draco. "Are you sure our chest didn't come with a note as helpful as that?"

Draco shook his head with a sigh. "Slytherin would have expected us to figure it out on our own."

"I guess I wouldn't have made a very good Slytherin, then. I like having stuff spelled out for me from time to time." Shrugging, he tied the headband so it was tight against his forehead. "That's two, technically three, down and one to go. I don't know that going after the last one would be a good idea, though. Draco and I are both basically out of magic."

Hermione licked her lips and twitched her tail nervously. "I don't think this would be the best time to go hunting for the last tower, anyway."

What did she mean by that? Harry walked down the steps to the entrance of the tower and stared in shock at the dark night that awaited them. "We weren't in here this long," he said almost to himself.

"These places are Underhills," Hermione reminded him. "Time doesn't flow normally. Midnight makes as much sense as any other time."

He sighed, long and loud. Might as well focus on the bright side. "Well, I guess no one will wonder why we're headed for bed so early, then. Looks like we're tackling the last tower tomorrow."

I'm really starting to hate this story. :( The setting was fun to come up with, and the first half was easy writing, but the second half? Each chapter has been torture to pull out of my muse. I just don't want a second abandoned story on my profile.

Silently Watches out.