Chapter Fifteen: The Quest
Sunday, 10th October 1999.
Hermione looked at the incredible sight laid out before her in stunned silence, the others soon stepping up beside her in the dancing afternoon light filtering through the tree branches above.
"Well, will you look at that?" Her father whistled, impressed.
Before them stood over a hundred people, most arrayed in the direction they had been heading. Their clothing varied, some looking like members of the village they had left an hour before, others looking clearly not native to this world. There was even a single truly alien figure. And all of them appeared to be completely frozen in place, unmoving.
"Odd. The environment seems to be intact and moving. But the people and animals are all frozen." Hermione muttered to herself as she shifted to the left around the figures. "Something that only affects animals? But what?"
She lifted her left arm and began to take readings of the area on her remote. There were very odd results coming in from in front of her, while to the sides and behind, they were completely normal. Whatever was going on, it was contained to the area between them and where the cave lay beneath the now much larger lonely mountain towering over the horizon.
"Thoughts?" Neville asked as Hermione calculated the readings before her.
"Obviously part of the tests," Harry noted, stepping closer and pulling his wand, dragging it heavily through the air.
"Look at that one," Richard muttered stepping past Harry as he stared at the alien several metres ahead, transfixed by its shimmering purple flesh and the tentacles dangling from the backside of its head.
Hermione looked up suddenly, the readings now clear, just in time to see her father take a step too far. "Dad! No!"
Her shout came too late and her father was frozen still, another member of the collection in the trap.
Natalie moved to grab at Richard, but Padma and Luna grabbed hold of her and prevented her from approaching. "Get him out of there!" She yelled at the teens, looking frantic as she tried to get at her frozen husband.
Hermione paused as she felt the terror that her father was lost well up inside. She took several steadying breaths as she examined the readings on her remote, hoping to find a way to free him from its grip. "It's a field of some sort. Extends out on a curve. Could go on forever." Hermione explained, moving back over to stand just behind her father next to Harry. I don't think we can enter without ending up like them."
Harry glanced at her curiously, she could see in his eyes he knew exactly what she was feeling right now. "Morgan?"
"Definitely. The Alterans had time dilation technology before they left Pegasus. But I've no idea how to shut it off. And if there is a way, it's likely contained further within. This thing is huge, thick and circular. It likely goes around the entire mountain. Please, Harry. Help him." She pleaded, the knot in her stomach tightening at the sounds of her mother being held back behind her.
Harry's eyes flicked to Neville, who shrugged. He quickly glanced at the struggling Granger woman behind him before looking back at Hermione and nodding once. With a determined expression, he closed his eyes as he turned back to face the field and with a lightning-quick flick of his right hand, Harry shouted. "Accio Richard Granger."
With a disturbing electronic sucking sound, Richard came free of the field and stumbled backwards into his daughter's arms, Neville helping her to keep from falling over.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Richard roared as he regained his feet.
"Dad! Be more careful. There is supposedly a dragon here somewhere, remember?" Hermione scolded the elder man who looked thoroughly chastised.
"Sorry." He mumbled as Natalie slammed into them both, pulling them into a Granger huddle.
Harry gave Hermione a soft smile over her mother's shoulder and she gave him one in return.
"Summoning charm?" Padma asked. "That's not possible. You can't summon living creatures." She finished matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean? It's always worked for me. Hermione too." He glanced at Hermione who was now coming loose from the pile of Granger arms.
"The books do mention it shouldn't be possible. But you had no trouble summoning Trevor when we were practicing."
She gave Harry a piercing look and he smirked gently, clueing her into why he had chosen to attempt that spell here. "What can I say, it's been on my mind since we realized there might be a dragon about." Harry returned quietly.
"You practiced spells on Trevor?" Neville asked, a slight grin on his face.
Harry turned to the other boy, looking slightly worried. "He hopped into the middle of our practice area over and over. It's like he enjoyed it. Kept coming back for more."
"Honestly, he probably did. I think it's his favourite thing. Likely why he hides all the time." Neville noted.
"I'm sorry, but everything I know says you can't do that!" Padma demanded.
"I think it's a matter of will," Hermione added, guiding her parents back from the field. "If Neville is right, Trevor wanted to be summoned. And Dad was in no condition to resist the spell in that field. But if the creature you try to summon resists, the spell won't work. It doesn't even need to be a strong or conscious resistance."
"Do you lot break the laws of magic often, then?" Padma asked.
Neville and Harry glanced at one another and Hermione noted the smirk on their faces. "Every now and then. Ask Harry about the Dementors at the end of our third year."
She turned back to the field and rechecked her readings, blocking out the sound of the others as she carefully walked back and forth in front of the field. "The field isn't uniform. It fluctuates..." She mumbled to herself, coming to the centre of the area where the field was weakest. "Here. I think it's a maze."
"Great. All the TriWizard greatest hits." Harry mumbled from beside her. "Can you navigate it? I don't think 'point me' will do the trick here."
"Cover me?" She asked softly before she took a step forward into the area of the field. Several shouts sounded behind her and Hermione turned to smile at the others. "Looks good."
Harry's smile was splitting his face as he looked at her and Hermione found the butterflies stirring in her stomach again. They'd not done anything since airing their feelings to one another, but the knowledge that the feelings were present between them tinged all their interactions with a tangible sense of excitement that she quite enjoyed. But right now she needed to focus, so she pushed the feeling aside after a moment and turned back to the field.
"The weak spot continues on. I think we should be good if we all walk single file. I'd advise everyone to use their remote to be safe. You don't have to go far into this thing for it to take effect."
Harry laid a hand on her shoulder and she glanced at him again. He seemed perfectly content to follow her directly as the others assembled behind him, several checking their own wrist remotes. Hermione swallowed heavily, not used to having so many directly relying on her. Normally it was only Harry she had to keep safe. With a deep breath, she set them off into the maze.
It wound back and forth at random, taking the group in amidst the frozen figures. Getting closer looks at the people, she noted that none of them looked afraid, or upset. She figured that from their perspective, time was continuing normally, they had no idea that they'd been trapped for centuries.
Suddenly her remote flickered and Hermione brought them all to a halt. She checked its power source and noted it was fine, but the screen was flickering off and on. "Not good."
"What?" Harry whispered directly into her ear, momentarily distracting her once again.
She shook it off and replied. "The remote is playing up. And I'm pretty sure we're not even halfway through."
"That's not good."
Hermione nodded. A whine from her wrist indicated that the remote had lost its fight against whatever was interfering with the readings. "We can't even backtrack."
"What's the holdup?" Her father asked before a light slap sounded.
"Be patient, you!" Her mother scolded.
"Yes, dear."
Hermione took a moment to steady herself. Her mind analysing the problem. A sudden whooshing sound zipped past her left ear and Hermione turned to see a tiny stone hovering in the air beside her. She turned to look behind her and saw Neville standing up once more with a handful of sticks and stones in his hand.
"What?" He replied. "Morgan left clues guiding people here. And I doubt she expected them to be at this level of technology to get through."
"You are a genius, Neville," Hermione replied, as she watched the stone hover stuck in place in the time dilation field.
Everyone in the group carefully leant down and grabbed handfuls of dirt and debris and began to toss them into the edges of the field, soon creating a visible edge to the pathway they were walking through.
"That makes things a whole lot easier." Harry mused, replacing his hand on Hermione's shoulder.
She glanced back at him and gave his hand a squeeze before she turned back to the pathway. It was now very obvious which way to go, and as she headed forward she occasionally bent down and scattered a new handful of debris to highlight the way forward.
It took almost an hour before she reached a point where no matter how much debris she threw, it all fell immediately to the ground.
"We're through." She sighed, stepping past the inner edge of the field. "Or I should say, inside."
The others gave her a soft squeeze on the shoulder as they passed into the open air and her mother wrapped her in her arms. "My little girl has grown so much."
Hermione blushed at the praise but eagerly returned the hug. Maybe her parents coming with them wasn't all that bad.
ϟ
"That's odd," Luna noted from Richard's side, drawing his eye line. "It looks like the ones in the Tor cave."
"What does?" He asked, following as the tiny girl veered off from the others, who watched as she moved into the low underbrush.
After a moment, the two came across a small wooden chest, sitting alone in the middle of a small round clearing. It looked so enticing, a tiny treasure chest waiting to be found. He quickly knelt beside it but before he could touch the surface a flash came from all around him as a yellow wall of light moved up around the clearing and quickly formed a dome.
"Crap." He muttered, glancing at Luna who rolled her eyes lightly.
"Trap," Padma said, stepping over to the now barely visible field. She picked up a stick and tried to touch it, but the wood passed straight through. "But not a very good one by the look of it. Luna?"
The tiny girl walked over to the space in front of Padma and grasped the end of the stick. Padma pulled but while the stick came free, it shot out of Luna's hand as she met the inside edge of the field and was prevented from moving any further.
Richard ignored them as he leant down and opened the lid on the chest, revealing nothing contained within.
"Or not. Dad!" Hermione yelled, noticing his actions.
"Hermione!" He replied, turning to face his once more aggravated daughter. "It's empty."
"Empty?" Harry asked, moving closer to the field as well. "That's interesting."
"Why?" Luna asked, stepping over to look into the empty chest over Richard's shoulder.
"I don't know. It reminds me of something. What is it?" Harry muttered to himself, falling into his thoughts and wandering aimlessly about the exterior of the clearing as he did.
Richard allowed his body to settle, dropping from his squatting position onto his behind and giving a relieved groan. He was not an unfit man, but they had been walking for the entire morning. In the tiny clearing, there was no cover preventing the noonday sun from bearing down upon him, and his legs were tired from all the walking.
"Well, let me know when you figure it out. I'll just take a quick rest." Richard noted as he laid fully back on the warm ground and closed his eyes, ignoring the groan from his family members with a smirk.
The sun had drifted beyond the treeline by the time Harry jumped into the air and startled them all. Neville nearly upended the small pot of stew he had prepared and Richard was startled awake at the sound.
"That's it. The pots." Harry yelled rushing over to them and not noticing that he too passed right through the field, it flared once more as he became entrapped with them as well. "Oh."
"Welcome." Richard greeted before dropping his head back and closing his eyes once more, now only aware of the position of Harry and Luna by the sounds of their movement.
Harry approached the chest and he heard the lid close and then open again several times. "Only one of the pots had something in it. But that was a test of wisdom, enlightenment and righteousness. What is this a test of?"
"Patience?" Richard quipped as he cracked one eye to see Harry outlined by the afternoon sun.
"Patience wasn't on the parchment," Luna noted as she knelt beside Harry. "Prudence, wisdom, kindness, charity, and faith. Caution or circumspection as to danger or risk. Or the opposite of recklessness that would have seen us trapped in the time field. So prudence was the last test. Which leaves..."
"Charity," Harry said, cutting Luna off.
"What? How is it charitable to lock us in here?" Richard asked, sitting up.
"The traits are what we must possess to pass," Harry smirked at him as he drew his wand and conjured a small pale stone and placed it inside the chest, closing the lid once more.
The three looked about themselves unsure as nothing seemed to happen. "Any other ideas?" Richard quipped again.
Harry looked at him for a moment before turning his eyes to Luna. "Well, I'm not the only one stuck in here." He suggested.
"Hmmm," Luna mused for a moment before she too drew her wand and conjured a small handful of impossibly brightly coloured flowers and set them inside the chest. She and Harry both turned to face Richard.
"Don't look at me. I can't conjure anything, remember."
Luna smiled. "I doubt it needs to be conjured. Do you have anything in your bag you can spare? Unless you want to give up something truly important."
Richard considered for a moment before a question from outside the field distracted him. "Why don't you just apparate out?" Padma asked. "For that matter, why didn't we just apparate past the time field?"
Richard considered the idea and it sounded a lot easier to him.
"Because it wouldn't work," Hermione explained, stepping over to the edge of the clearing. "These are tests of worth, like the cave. Bypassing them would get us closer to our destination, but not closer to our goal."
Padma considered the argument for a moment before she nodded and Richard turned his attention back to his possessions. He didn't want to hand over something of personal significance. He really only had his wedding ring on him, and he was certain Natalie would not approve of leaving that as a tribute to the chest. He reached over his left shoulder, under the loose robe, and felt the edge of the bag his daughter had made for him.
His fingers drifted over the items inside, not entirely sure what most of them were. He grasped one of the small vials at random and pulled it free, the white liquid within glowed slightly as he placed it into the chest and closed the lid. Nothing happened for a long moment before the bright yellow edge of the field appeared above them, rushing down toward the ground and going silent once more.
"Nice." Luna smiled as she stood and cautiously approached where the field had been before passing right through. "So, lunch?"
Harry chuckled as he helped Richard back to his feet and the two men headed over to where Neville was still perched, preparing his stew. "Sounds good to me," Richard said as his stomach growled loudly.
ϟ
Natalie couldn't help but gawk in wonder at the environment as the group quietly passed. Tall slender trees stretched away in all directions, their thick branches heavy with foliage in every shade of green. They reminded her greatly of the forests of southern British Columbia. Even the snow-capped peak that now towered over them matched the massive ranges of that area, though it stood alone rather than as part of a large range.
The air was delightfully warm, so much so that most of them had removed their cloaks and tucked them into their bags. The suits they wore remained quite comfortable, no matter the weather and Natalie was impressed at the handiwork of the younger group.
And yet, despite the incredible beauty around her, something felt off about the sight. As though something important was missing. "Where are all the animals?" She wondered aloud.
"The temporal trap keeps them out," Neville replied simply, and Natalie turned to face him as they walked. "I'd wager it's pretty thick, and we didn't see anyone close to the inner edge when we passed through it. I'll bet that with its ratio of distortion, nothing has had sufficient time to pass all the way through the field."
"Animals are also sensitive to things humans cannot feel. If Lal created the field slowly enough, the animals that lived on the mountain likely felt its approach and moved away. Meaning none left inside the field either. A shame really. It would be a fascinating nature preserve if there were." Luna mused from nearby.
Neville smiled in the girl's direction and Natalie looked at him curiously. "Luna is very interested in magizoology. And I have a feeling, now there is an entire galaxy full of creatures to explore, exozoology as well. I am personally very keen to find out the properties of the flora of these worlds. Any one of these trees might contain the secret to freeing my parents from their suffering."
Natalie noticed how his shoulders fell when he mentioned his parents, and she recalled Hermione mentioning that they were in some form of vegetative state. She stepped closer to the young man and took his hand. "I'm sure you will find the answer. You seem as tenacious as my little girl. All of you are. I suppose that's why we're all here. A lesser man would stay home where it's comfortable. Not explore the stars for a chance to heal his family."
Neville gave her a firm smile in return and nodded. His posture improved once again.
"Now that is not a natural formation." Padma's voice sounded, drawing Neville and Natalie's attention forwards.
They were only just reaching the base of the mountain, Padma was standing over near a collection of stones that appeared to be the result of a landslide looking back at them all. However, as she approached, the stones revealed their secret and a wide opening appeared within the stones. Normally it would have been hidden by the thick foliage covering the area, but they had managed to slip between the plants and stonework.
"Impressive," Hermione noted.
Harry whispered something to her daughter as he passed and the girl smiled and blushed but nodded. Natalie smiled at the sight, happy to see the delight and warmth on her daughter's face. She had thought there may be something between her and the boy she wouldn't stop talking about for years. But ever since the mixup with the aliens, they had clearly been closer than ever.
As Harry stepped inside the cave, he called back up. "There are stairs here, leading down. Lumos."
A bright bluish light seemed to emanate from within and the others moved closer to the opening. Natalie could see Harry several metres down, the tip of his wand giving off the light and casting interesting reflections across the oddly smooth walls.
Neville turned to her and gestured within, pulling his own wand from his sleeve and lighting it. Natalie gave him a wry smirk and followed her daughter who was now close on Harry's heels. The group proceeded into the darkness in silence, the five wands casting more than enough light for them to easily see.
Natalie looked at the walls as they moved and noticed that they had become much rougher than in the entrance. It now truly felt like they were in a cave. The stairs were now long behind them, even the floor of the space was rougher, and she was very glad for the light lest she trip on the uneven surface.
The process was still made all the more difficult as Richard kept stumbling on the rough surface, knocking into her each time he did so. Natalie tried to guide him as they went, but it was as if he wasn't aware the bits of the floor that he was stumbling on were even there.
"Hermione. Something's wrong with your father."
Their daughter immediately stopped and spun to face them, rushing back over. "What is it?"
"He's having trouble walking. It's like he can't see the floor. Even with all of this light."
"Hold him still," Hermione instructed as she rounded the pair and opened his pouch, looking inside for something. "Oh for goodness sake."
"What?" Natalie asked, now feeling rather unnerved.
"It's nothing. We just need to improve the padding on these things. Dad managed to break the vial full of confusing concoction, it's slowly been evaporating and he's been breathing it in. No wonder he's been more reckless than usual. And he donated his vial of wit-sharpening potion in the previous test. Excellent."
Natalie felt Hermione shift her attention to the pouch on her back and looked at her rather bashful husband as he tried to avoid her eye line.
"Here, dad. Drink this." A hand appeared around her husband's other side and the man took the vial, wolfing its contents down. "Evanesco. That should deal with the concoction for now. Anyone else feeling a little off after being too close to dad?"
The others shook their heads and Natalie noticed the look in her husband's eyes was now more akin to its usual brightness. "Welcome back."
"Thanks," he replied, uncertainly. "I feel a lot better."
"Think you can manage to walk now?"
He nodded as Hermione walked back over to Harry and guided him onward down the passage, shaking her head as she moved. Natalie couldn't help but smile at her daughter. She had changed enormously from the bookish wee girl they had first sent off to some mysterious magical school so many years before. Hermione of that time would have panicked and headed to her books to find the answer. Now, she had become a strong woman in her own right.
Harry and Hermione came to a halt in front and the rest bunched up beside them. Before the group was an open chamber, perhaps a few metres across. On the far wall were a pair of passages that branched off in different directions. On the wall between them was an odd sight in the very natural-seeming cavern. A perfectly smooth tablet of reddish-brown stone carved with symbols with which Natalie was now quite familiar.
"Test number three," Hermione stated, glancing at Harry who nodded and moved forward. The group allowed him and Hermione to head for the tablet alone, lest there be another forcefield.
"What's it say?" Padma asked, her voice echoing slightly inside the larger space.
"Choose the way that is just and true." Hermione read aloud.
"This lot do love their riddles," Harry remarked before he suddenly fell silent, tilting his head to the left.
"What do we think it means? It can't just mean the 'right' path. Alteran doesn't have that homonym." Richard queried.
Natalie smiled. Her husband had always been somewhat interested in linguistics and had taken to learning the new language with a will.
"Shhh," Harry said and the group fell silent once more.
"What is it?" Hermione asked and Harry stepped over to look down the left passage.
"Can't you hear that?"
"Snake language?" Hermione joked lightly, drawing Harry's attention from the passage for a moment.
"It sounds like a child," Harry replied and he began to head down the passage.
Hermione gripped his arm and pulled him to a stop. "Tests and traps, Harry. We don't need your saving people thing messing that up."
Harry frowned at the inference. "The way that is just and true. Kindness."
It was Hermione's turn to frown now as she let Harry's arm go and the others watched in silence as the two considered the riddle. "Sorry. He's right. Come on."
Hermione headed off down the left passage and the others followed. Soon they could clearly hear the sniffling sound of a child crying that Harry had initially followed. As she turned a bend in the descending cave, Natalie saw a flash behind a distant pillar of dripping stone.
"There." She said, pointing the way for the others.
The flash returned, but this time she was able to discern form. It was the grubby face of a boy, no more than five or six, hiding behind the massive column of stone. When the boy caught sight of their group, he gasped in fright and fled, dashing further into the darkness.
"Wait!" Natalie called aloud, charging ahead of the others, the light built into the shoulder of her suit the only thing allowing her to see. "We're here to help you."
She dashed ahead, following the footsteps and the cries, heading deeper and deeper into the mountain. But she was determined to find the boy. An unknown force was driving her onwards, despite the knowledge that the area could be full of traps.
A sound of steel grinding on stone came from up ahead and the boy gave a sudden louder shout of surprise.
"Hang on!" Natalie yelled but she was suddenly brought to a halt as a pair of strong familiar arms wrapped around her waist.
"Calm down, Natalie. Be careful." Her husband whispered in her ear, holding her tightly from behind but allowing them both to continue walking forward. The others now bunched up around her as well.
Natalie nodded and the group slowly turned another bend in the cave and saw what had made the sound. A large metal portcullis. It filled the entire width of the tunnel and behind it was a small stone room with only a single crying occupant. Natalie approached slowly and knelt before the shuddering figure.
"It's alright. We'll get you out of there."
She glanced back at the magical members of their group who glanced between themselves. Together, Hermione, Harry and Neville waved their wands and incanted. "Alohomora."
Nothing happened.
"Not locked then. Just really heavy. Aberto." Hermione noted to the others who followed her lead and cast the second enchantment.
"We're doing it wrong," Padma said, stepping forwards and placing her hands firmly on the rusted metal surface. "We can't use shortcuts, remember. And I doubt Lal thought those taking the tests would have magic."
Natalie glanced at the young girl impressed before she shifted from her kneeling position into a squat and got a firm grip on the metal as well. It felt far heavier than it should and she knew it was going to take a lot more than just herself and Padma to move it.
"Everyone, grab hold. This thing is heavy."
Richard slipped between her and the wall and grabbed hold firmly, Hermione and Harry fitting between her and Padma with Neville and Luna taking up a place at the far side. The moment all fourteen hands took hold of the gate it gave way immediately, losing all weight and retreating quickly up into the roof of the tunnel. Natalie looked at it in shock.
"I guess that is why it's never good to go alone." Richard quipped as the metal disappeared into the roof and the slot from which it came shimmered before becoming stone once more.
Natalie refocused her gaze on the boy only for him to smile and shimmer away to nothing as well. "What?" She asked, confused.
"Arthur C Clarke." Hermione shrugged as she stepped into the now empty room. As the others followed her into the room, the rear wall shimmered and vanished, showing the way forwards.
"Stop," Padma stated aloud before anyone moved toward the opening.
"What's wrong?" Natalie asked.
"Two things. It's been hours since lunch. We should rest a moment. And everyone needs to take the wit sharpening potion before we move on."
"Why?" Hermione pondered aloud.
"Again, two reasons. First, the only two remaining tests are wisdom and faith. The potion's effects last a few hours, which given our progress so far should be plenty enough to guide us through the wisdom section. And two, I don't think Natalie is usually that reckless in charging off after strange children in mysterious trapped tunnels. Do you?"
Natalie noticed Hermione looking at her before the woman flushed slightly. "Well, I was standing beside your father when we entered. He was even leaning on me for a bit. It's likely I breathed in some of the potion as well."
"Alright then. Let's set up camp, I guess." Hermione groaned as she reached into her bag and began to pull out supplies.
ϟ
Neville stretched his back as he followed the others through the new opening and into the next system of tunnels. He should have known laying against that particular bit of stone during their meal was a bad idea, but he soon had the kink out of his muscles. He was content to provide backup through this portion, as he knew it would be wisest to have their Ravenclaws front and centre for the wisdom tests.
While his primary motivation for joining the group had been the near-infinite possibility the galaxy and Alteran technology offered for healing his parents, he was most definitely coming to enjoy their little adventures as well. He found himself wondering how things might have been different for him had he gone on more than two of Harry's adventures during their schooling.
His fifth year had wrought an incredible change in him, first by joining the DA and then having the spells explained in a way he could easily grasp, and finally the intense motivation of his parents' attackers being freed. While few would consider their experience at the Department of Mysteries a success, it had steeled Neville in a way he had lacked before that moment. Blooded the hidden warrior contained within and readied him for what was to come.
When push came to shove a little over a year later, he did not hesitate in leading those who remained at Hogwarts. Neville chuckled lightly to himself. That would have probably been the biggest change. Had he joined Harry for more of his adventures, he'd likely have joined them on whatever mission they were doing during that period. Which would have left countless innocents open to the abuses of Snape and the Carrows.
Neville growled under his breath at the memory of those times. Of the first time he felt the cruel fingers of the cruciatus curse on his senses in the Department of Mysteries. And how, compared to the insane touch of Bellatrix Lestrange, the Carrows had been feeble and far easier to endure. It always helped to know he was enduring it to spare another from its touch as well. Every twitch had renewed his resolve to rid his school of the monsters.
"Another dead end?" Harry asked, drawing Neville from his thoughts.
He wondered if the wit-sharpening potion they had all taken had resulted in the sudden fall down memory lane or if he was just feeling a bit nostalgic. "Can't be. Why would the last test lead us to a dead end."
The group glanced around the small space at the end of the tunnel, the walls bathed in the soft blue light from their wands. "There," Luna noted, pointing to the corner of the tunnel and stepping over to it. "Another tablet. Another riddle. I'm struck and cut, shaped and cooled, then bound by rings to release what's stored."
The moment Luna finished reading the riddle aloud, the entire tunnel began to shake around them. Neville nearly lost his footing, reaching out to the wall of the tunnel to steady himself before another figure knocked him bodily against it.
"Bloody hell." Richard groaned as he pulled himself up. "What is this?"
"Part of the test. The answer is Key!" Hermione shouted above the rumbling, but nothing happened in response.
"Nothing's happening!" Padma yelped, sounding rather less confident than she had looked a few moments before.
"Alteran!" Harry yelled.
Luna turned to the tablet and spoke clearly. "Clavia."
The tablet glowed for a moment before the entire wall in which it was embedded shimmered and disappeared. However, the shaking continued, if anything increasing in intensity.
"Great, go. There must be more." Harry grumbled, guiding Luna and Hermione through the new opening and off into its tunnel as fast as they could manage with the shaking.
Neville helped the others through and followed along behind, noticing small fragments of stone dislodging from the ceiling as they ran.
Luna's voice sounded from a few metres in front of them. "I shake the earth with booming thunder, fell forests whole and homes complete! I influence ships, topple kings, sweep down swift yet remain unseen."
"WIND!" Natalie shouted forward.
"Ventio." Luna translated and a slight glow came from behind the tiny girl before another passageway opened up and groaning aloud, Harry headed through into the next path, the shaking growing stronger once again.
Now some larger pieces of stone were coming free from the walls and roof as Neville helped Natalie along the passage, Richard helping to keep a now panicking Padma going as well. It thankfully didn't take them long to find the next tablet, embedded once more in the end of the tunnel.
"Battle-scarred and times of strife, resistant to the most brutal of strikes. I live among men and children alike. I bring them down, oft in the night." Luna readout.
"What?" Hermione asked, sounding slightly fearful herself in the now drastically shaking tunnel under who knew how much earth and mountain that could possibly come down on them at any moment.
Neville noticed Richard looked pensive for a moment before he turned to the tablet and shouted. "Contagia."
Once again the tablet glowed and vanished before them, but this time when the new passage opened, the shaking subsided, bringing an eerie silence in its wake. Natalie glanced at her husband questioningly as he stepped forward and gave the still shaking Padma a firm hug.
He shrugged. "I'm a medical professional. I know a virus when I hear of it."
"Ganos probably thought it amusing, given it was a plague that ran the Alterans out of Avalon the first time," Luna noted quietly.
Neville guided Natalie forwards to where Harry, Luna and Hermione were waiting inside the new passageway, giving Padma a moment alone to gather herself with Richard's help. This was the first he'd seen the Indian girl shaken like this, and he thought she might not want to have such a personal moment witnessed by all.
"I think we can soundly call that one the wisdom test. Unless you think the shaking was the faith part." Neville asked as he too passed into the new space.
"No, I agree. That had to be wisdom." Hermione agreed.
"Which only leaves faith," Harry noted, glancing over his shoulder. "Is it just me or is it…"
He drifted off and began to move further down the passage. Neville noted that beyond the reach of the light from their wands, he could see the next turn. It was lit from behind by something.
"Getting hot in here?" Neville finished as he stepped up alongside Harry and the two boys progressed onwards.
"And a lot brighter," Harry said, glancing at Neville for a moment before they turned the next corner.
The one ahead of them was lit far brighter again by a yellowish light that seemed to have a flicker to it. Neville was not looking forward to seeing what lay beyond the next bend. Keeping pace with Harry, they reached it together and Neville's heart skipped a beat as he saw what lay beyond.
The next space was another larger cave with curved walls that funnelled back inwards to the small tunnel that he assumed led forward. The tunnel was thin, there would not be space for more than one person to pass abreast. But the most striking feature was the wall of flames that filled the tunnel opening from floor to ceiling.
"Yep. That'll do it." Harry said sarcastically.
"Wow," Luna whispered as she joined them.
Neville noticed Harry gave Hermione an odd look, one of the ones where the pair of them were sharing some secret between themselves.
"What?" He asked the pair.
Harry flicked his eyes to Neville and smirked. "It's just, we've seen something like this once before. Well, twice technically."
Neville eyed them both questioningly and Hermione offered a reply. "In our first year, after I…" She flicked her eyes to Neville and blushed slightly. Neville also recalled the evening in question, frozen in place for he knew not how long, staring up at the ceiling of the Gryffindor common room, unable to move anything. "Anyway, the last trap before the final room was a logic puzzle with trapped doors. Both filled with fire and you had to pick the right potion to pass either way."
Neville looked back to the flames and nodded. There were no potions here, only bare rock and fire. The heat was tremendous, and he was very glad for the insulating nature of the suit he wore, though he doubted it would matter for long in this heat.
"Still, we should have a look around. There must be a way to get rid of the flames. And I doubt walking through it with the flame freezing charm will work after the portcullis." Hermione and Harry split and began to inspect the walls of the small chamber, but Neville and Luna remained in place, staring at the fire.
Neville considered the test. This was a test of faith, but faith in what. The fire certainly seemed real enough, the heat coming off it would cook them through in no time at all. What did he have faith in? His mind flipped from one thing to the next. He had faith in his friends, they had proven themselves time and time again. He had come to have faith in himself. His aborted first attempt at his seventh year had forged it within him. The lonely confused boy with his father's wand had turned into a man who stood before Voldemort himself and said NO. He had faith that he would find a cure for his parents. A way to release them from the prison of their minds and bodies.
But he doubted any of these were the sort of faith an ascended former Lantean looking to protect a secret that could destroy her entire kind would be looking for. As his eyes refocused on the room, Neville realized something had changed. Natalie had arrived beside him, but in a space that had been occupied before. Meaning Luna had moved.
His eyes flicked back to the fire and he saw the tiny figure standing before it. "Luna." He said softly, barely audible over the crackle of the flames.
Luna smiled over her shoulder at him before turning back to the fire and without a word, she danced forward. Neville never even had time to gasp as she vanished entirely into the conflagration, consumed by it. Shock was beginning to settle over him when without warning, the flames disappeared to reveal a smiling Luna standing in the tunnel beyond.
"Faith." She said simply as Natalie dashed forwards and grabbed the girl in a searing hug.
"Don't do that to me ever again. I walk around the corner to find a raging fire and one of you stepping into it. The shock of my life."
Neville was still frozen in place in the entrance when the other two came up behind him. "What's going on?" Richard asked, looking at his wife holding the waify Luna tightly.
"Luna just passed the final test." Harry offered, glancing at Padma who flushed slightly but nodded in return.
"So, what now?"
Hermione was the one who spoke, quoting the parchment once more. "Only those of virtue true may win the prize concealed beyond the reach of the flawed and tainted. The Sangreal shall instead belong to he who speaks the guardian's name. Or in other words, we battle a dragon."
She looked to Harry, whose face steeled as he looked to the tunnel where Luna and Natalie were standing. "Then we should get to it."
Neville sighed as Harry squeezed past the two women in the tunnel and headed deeper. He now understood the drive the other man felt. The desire to put one's self in the path of danger in order to protect others from it. A trait the both of them were going to need to work on if they wanted to keep on living into old age.
Natalie and Luna quickly followed Harry as he moved and the others soon bunched up behind, shuffling quietly down the thin tunnel. It was mostly straight, only veering twice as they passed. Before it opened out into a massive space. The roof was now so far above them that the light from their wands didn't come close to lighting it, and the abyss before them seemed to drop away into the depths of the planet.
A thin finger of stone jutted out from the landing where they stood out over the emptiness to a small circular platform with a pillar of stone standing in its middle and an even taller pillar behind with several coloured shapes on its upper reach. A tiny red glow could be seen coming from the top of the smaller pillar.
"There it is," Padma whispered, seemingly recovered from whatever had bothered her during the wisdom test.
"But where is the Guardian?" Harry mumbled. His eyes darted about the space, searching the shadows for movement. "Watch your eyes. Lumos Maxima."
Intense light burst to life at the tip of Harry's wand, showering the area in a dense glow. A moment after it lit, he flicked the wand upwards and the light followed the path, heading into the air above the pillar, filling the large cavern with light. They could now see the upper reaches of the cavern, far above their heads if they squinted past the powerful orb of light, but the abyss below remained dark and mysterious.
"I guess we don't want to fall down there." Luna offered simply, looking into the unknown depths.
"I can't see it anywhere," Harry noted.
"Maybe it won't come out unless someone goes out there." Natalie offered, pointing at the red glow on the platform.
"Any volunteers?" Richard joked, looking first at the thin finger of rock before his eyes fell into the abyss.
"I'll go," Neville replied, drawing every eye to himself.
Harry looked at him before his eyes flicked to the others, and for the first time, he had an inkling of how Hermione did it. He knew exactly what Harry was thinking. He was wondering how to protect both Neville and the group as a whole once they split up.
"I'm coming with you. Everyone else, back in the tunnel, Hermione at this end."
"What?" Padma asked, flabbergasted.
"Don't argue, please." Harry's voice went from sharp to soft as he spoke. "Hermione and I are the only ones with any experience handling dragons. Please."
Hermione stepped over to the tense man and squeezed his hand tightly. "Harry's right. Mum and dad go first. We'll kneel as close to the entrance as possible, so they can use their guns if needed. Depending on the type of dragon, this could be easy, or really bloody hard."
The others looked like they wanted to argue, but soon they nodded and the elder Grangers led the way back into the tunnel. Only once they were all safely inside, did Harry take his first step out onto the stone bridge, Neville close behind him, trying his hardest to focus on Harry's back and the platform ahead instead of the empty air below. Which was very difficult given the path was only about two feet wide meaning the empty abyss was all too visible around him.
Like most of the tunnel, the surface of the pathway was rough and uneven as well. Neville really hoped they didn't need to come back this way in a hurry. Harry arrived at the platform first and aided Neville as he stepped onto the wider space, relieved to be on a sturdier footing for a moment before his mind made sure to reiterate that there was a dragon nearby.
"You're as true a man as I've ever met." Harry offered, pulling his gun and holding it in his left hand while gripping his wand tightly in his right. "You take it, and I'll provide cover."
Neville nodded, glancing once at the five figures bunched up near the small opening across the cavern, watching them cautiously, all armed and tensed to spring. He turned his eyes back to the plinth. It shot up out of the platform like a jet of water that had been squirted vertically through the surface of the stone and then hardened into stone itself. Ridges circled the pillar as it rose and the top was like a bowl or flower swooping outward past the edges of the pillar, a small indentation in the centre.
And in the indentation, Neville saw the Sangreal for the first time. The Bloodstone was very well named. In the light from Harry's spell, it shimmered and the inside of the stone seemed to shift as though it were truly made from blood.
"It's incredible," Neville murmured softly.
"I don't disagree, Nev. But… dragon!"
Neville glanced at Harry and gave him a wry smile before he reached out, stretching for the stone. And his hand passed straight through it. He tried again, but once more the stone remained intangible to him.
"Bad news. It's a hologram."
Harry moved to speak, but was cut off by a thick growl that reached them from way down in the deep unknown below. The sound was distant, but chilling nonetheless. The dragon was awake.
"Harry?" Hermione yelled across the gap and the two spun to look at the others. They were waving them back over when the sound of wings filled the air.
Just as Neville went to move back for the stone bridge, a dark shape shattered through it, sending rocks in every direction, forcing he and Harry to take cover on the now standalone platform. Yelps from the other side indicated the others had been taken by surprise at the sudden appearance as well.
A now deafening roar filled the cavern and Neville looked up from where he had fallen on the stone to see a terrifying sight like no other. Above them, hovering in the air with thick swooping wing movements was a black dragon. Small by dragon standards, smooth scales covered its body from snout to claw, and unlike the British breeds Neville knew of, it had no front legs, only foreclaws at the mid-joint of its crimson wings, similar to the Horntail Harry had faced years before. Its snout was a thick black beak full of jagged yellow teeth, and beginning at the head, a line of spikes ran down its spine to a tail that looked perfect for clubbing stone.
"Great. Some kind of Vipertooth." Harry groaned, standing as the dragon swivelled in the air to face the platform. Harry drew his weapons but before he could fire, the dragon reared back. "Fuck, PROTEGO!"
A burst of yellow fire shot forth from the dragon's beak, the shape of the opening directing it mostly towards Neville, who had not yet drawn his wand in response. The man rolled closer to Harry and the pillar, feeling a sense of relief as the flames were forced around the platform by Harry's powerful shield.
"Bugger." Hermione's voice came from the far side of the gap again, and Neville looked up to see a large block of stone come down over the front of the tunnel, right where Hermione had been squatting. She had been unable to move backwards due to the others so had rolled forwards onto the landing and was now trapped alone on the landing.
"Harry!" Neville shouted, drawing the other man's attention to Hermione's predicament.
"Shit!" Harry replied, rolling towards Neville as he tucked his gun back into its holster. He stretched out with his now free hand and grasped Neville firmly before he felt a twisting, squeezing sensation. Now he was looking out on the dragon and platform from the landing once more.
Harry, however, continued moving the moment they landed, rolling left and stretching out his hand to the prone figure of Hermione sprawled out on the stone surface. She took the hand and Harry pulled her to her feet as Neville regained his own, the three backing towards the now blocked exit.
"Ok, any ideas?" Neville asked, pulling his own wand and gun.
"Shield!" Hermione yelled as the dragon swung to face them all and reared back again.
The three cast in unison and a large bubble of energy surrounded the landing as a whole, the fire spearing out in all directions once it struck the impenetrable field. The dragon roared in dissatisfaction and swooped down, scratching and clawing at the bubble, still having no effect on the powerful barrier.
"We need to get out of here," Hermione noted, trying to find some way to open the tunnel. They could just barely hear the others yelling and banging on the other side.
"I'd love to, but no. We need that stone." Harry groaned, looking at the platform on the far side of the now shattered former bridge.
"Parchment." Neville offered, lining up a shot at the dragon above and casting a spell that shot up through the shield and exploded against its armoured scales. The dragon roared in anger, but it had no effect beyond increasing the animal's rage. "This is the final test." He said before taking another shot, this time with his powerful gun, with the same non-result.
"The Sangreal shall instead belong to he who speaks the Guardian's name," Hermione noted from memory. "The Guardian obviously being the dragon. But the parchment didn't mention the name."
The pissed-off dragon had apparently seen the futility of trying to scratch its way through the shield that kept it at bay while allowing them to freely attack it in return and had pulled back, twisting in the air as it assessed its options. A calculating look in its eyes as it flew up and with a loop the loop came back down at speed, pulling up at the last moment and channelling all of its momentum into its thick tail as it came into contact with the protections keeping it from its prey.
All three of them shuddered at the intense feeling pushing back at them through their magic. The shield held, but it would not last against renewed attacks of that magnitude.
"The dragon isn't the Guardian." Luna's muffled voice came through the stone behind them.
"What? Oh. Of course." Hermione realized. "The Guardian is the one who set this whole thing up. The Guardian is MORGAN LE FAY!" She yelled the last at the dragon who was swooping down for a second tail attack.
The powerful creature struck the shield again and the three groaned at the pain of trying to maintain its integrity.
"No!" Padma and Luna's voices came from behind once again, but the rest of their words were drowned out by the dragon roaring in anger at being kept from its prey once more.
Neville realized what the girls were trying to say. Morgan Le Fay was not the name of the Guardian. "GANOS LAL!" He shouted as the dragon swooped down for a third attack and without warning, it shrunk suddenly in on itself disappearing with a blink of light.
Hermione looked at him and blushed. "Right. Alteran."
Harry chuckled beside the two and pulled Hermione into a firm hug. Behind them, the stone blocking the tunnel shimmered out of existence and the others rushed forwards, the two girls grabbing Neville and the Grangers rushing to their daughter.
"Well, that was interesting," Richard noted as the group panted from the intense adrenaline running through their systems. "Barely even got to see my first dragon."
The group laughed at the ridiculousness of the statement but it definitely helped to lessen the tension left over after that hopefully final test.