Chapter 10 – Mannequins Heads and Pictures

AN:

Oni: Okay so this is the last official story chapter Lindsey6500 has written. From here on the story will be written by yours truly, and I shall try to update regularly. I do not own Harry Potter or Ib or this story up to and including this chapter. I do however own little bits of info that I have scattered here and there. And now that this posting binge in over, until next time, my pretties!

Harry and Mary cheered, watching as the blinking painting fell from the wall and got itself wedged between the two sides of the crevice.

"Harry, look!" exclaimed Mary. She pointed at the painting. "Now we can cross!"

The painting wasn't blinking anymore. Its eyes were shut, as if it were sleeping. Although silly, Harry wanted to be courteous, so he walked over to the painting and asked it, "Is it okay to cross?" The painting opened its black eyes and looked over to Harry. The painting simply blinked once at him before closing its eyes once more. "Guess so!" Mary said happily.

They walked over the painting and there was a bouncing sound, like a trampoline. They walked over to the cardboard box. Something was moving around inside it.

"Harry... Let's not open that box..." Mary said worriedly.

On top of the strange pentagon thing they had seen earlier was a blue painted triangle. Bored, Mary kicked it and the thing slid across the floor.

"This is fun!" Mary exclaimed happily, kicking the box again. "Come on, Harry! Let's play!"

Harry chuckled before running up and kicking the box over to Mary. "Alright. Let's play football!"

"What's that?" Mary asked, confused.

"Well all you need to do is..." Harry started explaining.

After a few minutes of explaining the game, they both stood at their 'goals'. "Alright, try to kick it over

here!" Harry said, standing in front of the hole in the ground.

"Okay!" Mary exclaimed, kicking the strange pentagon shape over to Harry. Harry kicked it back.

The game went on for a few minutes before Mary was able to kick the shape into the 'goal', or more like hole. "I win!" Mary yelled out in victory. Harry panted. "... Yeah, you did! … Good job... Whew... I'm exhausted..." He gasped out. "You're really good. You should join a football-or soccer as you Americans put it- team."

"Really? Okay!" Mary responded. With nothing else to do in the room, they moved onward through the unlocked door before them.

The next area was winding like a snake. There was a skinny path and the walls had lots of light bulbs. As they continued down the path, Mary suddenly stopped. She looked at Harry and asked, "Hey, Harry... Can I ask you something?"

Harry turned to her and nodded. "Sure. Ask away."

She nodded slightly. "Okay... Is Garry... your dad?"

Harry was honestly shocked; he hadn't expected a question like this. Garry, his father? No, Garry wasn't.

Garry was only three years older than him and they looked nothing alike! "No... Garry isn't my dad..."

Harry said. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that his actual father was dead.

"Hmm... So your dad is somebody else... I see..." Harry swallowed, hard. He didn't want to think of his father. It always hurt him to remember that his parents had been murdered and that he would never have a father. "Is your mom nice, Harry?" Again with the parent questions! Harry almost wanted to hit the girl. He didn't want to think of his parents, it made him depressed. "... Yes... She's nice..." He told her, after all, his mother did sacrifice her own life for him and he was told that she was really nice by multiple people, so he assumed that she was a kind woman. "Ah... That's good..." Mary said quietly.

"You want to see your parents again soon, right?" Mary asked. 'Please, just be quiet! I don't want to be asked anymore questions about my parents!' Harry thought angrily. 'I do want to see my parents but in order to do that, I'll have to be dead. So, no. I do not want to see them soon!' "I want to get out soon, too..." Although angered, annoyed, and saddened, Harry couldn't agree more with that statement.

As Harry turned to continue walking, Mary stopped him again. 'I guess she has even more on her mind.' Harry thought, still annoyed by their last conversation. "Hey... Harry, uh..." she stuttered. "If only two of us could get out of here... then what?" Harry was once again shocked by the sudden question. 'What should I say?' Harry asked himself. "I..." In all honesty, although quite selfish, Harry kind of wanted to leave with Garry. The older teen was nice to him, had been with him from the start, and had helped him throughout the gallery. He liked the purple haired teen a lot, plus, he was annoyed with Mary at that moment... However, he really didn't want to be mean or rude to her... 'I want to leave with them both...'

"I'd... leave with... you, Mary." He told her. 'Garry's not here with me right now, so for the time being I'll go with Mary.'

Mary's eyes brightened, looking so full and alive. "Really? Oh, I'm so glad!" She exclaimed. "I want to leave with you too, Harry! … And once we get out... We'll play all sorts of stuff! And eat lots of candy, and go all these places..." She trailed off.

Suddenly, she leapt up and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck, pulling him into a tight hug. She rested her head onto Harry's shoulder. Harry awkwardly wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. "Teeheehee... I can't wait! … Let's make sure we leave together, okay? Promise!" She released him from the hug and held out her pinky finger. Harry, very confused, pulled up his pinky finger and wrapped it around Mary's. She eagerly responded by squeezing his finger. "I promise..." Harry murmured. After the promise was made, they pulled their fingers away.

"Yay!" She exclaimed, latching onto Harry's arm. "Let's keep going!" She proceeded to pull Harry down the winding room.

When they entered the next room, they smelt a funny smell lingering in the air. A strange red mist was floating around in a hall. They decided that it was within their best intentions to avoid it. Next to the mist was a door, which they entered. Inside the room were three mannequin heads and a painting titled "Lady Without Her Umbrella". The painting was just of a black silhouette looking out into the distance.

On one of the tables was a key that vaguely resembled a tree. They immediately picked it up. Right before they left, Harry stopped, stopping Mary as well.

"What is it?" Mary asked.

"Hold on, Mary... I feel like we need to do something..."

"W-What do you think we need to do?"

Harry walked around the small room and inspected everything. He felt as though there was something he needed to do with the mannequin heads before they left the room. He studied the second one.

Oddly enough, Harry could feel a strange vibe from the middle head.

"What's it looking at?" Mary wondered aloud.

"... I think we need to take it off the table..."

"Huh? Take it off? What if it breaks? And it's so heavy..." Mary complained.

"Come on, Mary. I think we should take it off." Harry insisted, confidence evident in his voice.

"O-Okay... If you're that sure, then I won't stop you..." replied Mary.

They both approached the mannequin head and began to push it off. The head fell to the ground and didn't break, surprisingly. However, the head cracked the ground and a strange red mist began to seep out from between those cracks. The head appeared to be crying tears of blood as well.

"Ahhh! Look, Harry! There're cracks in the floor! And there's some weird gas coming out..." Mary whined. Seeing that the room may now be dangerous, they decided to leave.

When they left the room, they saw that there was a painting titled "Fisherman". It appeared to be a cliff by an ocean. "...There's nobody there, though." Mary noted. There was a door next to the painting, but it was locked.

To the left of them was a drawing of a blue rose on the ground, a table with a vase, and a painting of lips titled "Tattletale". The duo walked by, scouting around the room.

There was a painting on the far left side of the room called "Heavenly Thread". The painting was just a string hanging in a black and white contrast. Gazing at the painting, Harry felt as though he had seen the painting before. 'Wasn't this in the actual museum?' Harry asked himself.

Next to the painting was a door. They went up to it and Harry turned the knob. It was unlocked. Happy to have finally found another unlocked room, the two of them went inside. "What's this place...? There's no color!" Mary's words were true. The entire room was a pale gray.

To the left of the room was an easel with a rainbow painted on it, but there was no color to it. A palette and brush were suspended in midair. "It's like there's someone there..." Mary commented. Preventing them from exploring the other side of the room was a large gap in the floor.

Harry couldn't see too clearly, but there appeared to be a key lying on a white table on the other side. Without anything else to do, they left the depressingly gray room.

They proceeded to head down from the room and spotted another familiar painting. It was, "Selfless Guard". The door next to it was locked, but Mary stopped Harry before they left. "What's this... Can we put it a name?" She pondered. Investigating the door, Harry noticed that there was a painting on the door. It looked like stars shinning in the night sky. The painting looked familiar to Harry. Harry thought deeply, trying to recall the painting's tittle.

"Hmmm... What about 'Marvelous Night'?" Harry suggested. Before Mary could reply, there was a sound and the lock on the door clicked.

"Huh? I guess I was somehow right..." Harry said. The duo entered the now unlocked room.

It was a small room with a few bookshelves. On the left side bookcase was a book titled "A Boy's Last Days". Intrigued, Harry pulled out the book and began to read. "Once upon a time, there was a young boy. The boy went with his relatives to an art gallery. But all of a sudden, the boy realized that he was lost... He searched through the dim gallery, but found neither his relatives nor the exit... Scared, helpless, lonely, hungry, and thirsty, he fell and hurt himself, putting his body far past its limit..." Harry was shocked at what he had read. This was far too similar to his own life for it to be just a coincidence...

Nervously, Harry reached out with his hand and hesitantly turned the page. On the next page was the illustration of a collapsed boy with black messy hair and a scrawny form. Behind a pair of round glasses were a pair of emerald-green eyes filled with pain and sadness. It was Harry.

Hurriedly, Harry slammed the book shut and shoved it back onto the bookshelf.

"Woah! Harry, are you okay?" Mary asked worriedly.

"... Yeah... I'm fine, just... Fine." Harry muttered.

Mary nodded, a smile now across her lips. "That's good to hear. I hope we can find something in here..."

Calmed down, Harry could only hope they could find a more useful book. They searched the bookcases and skimmed over the titles. On the other side of the room, Harry found a book titled "Collected Works of Guertena". The drawings were in alphabetical order. The letters "L," "G," and "J" were highlighted in yellow. "Should we take a look?" Mary inquired. Harry only nodded before opening up to "L".

"'The Lady in Red' (6210) It was said he based this on a lover he had at the time, but he has denied this claim. In truth, Guertena based it around the ? women who attempted to court him for his inheritance."

Harry frowned, annoyed that he didn't understand one of the words. 'I guess many women only wanted to court him for his inheritance...' Harry thought to himself. 'I hope no one in Hogwarts will try to court me just for my fame and money...' Harry felt himself sicken at the reminder at his fame. He didn't enjoy being famous. No, not at all. He loathed the admiring looks he was sent by so many people; admiring him for something he didn't even do or remember. It should be his parents that everyone admired, not him!

"'The Geometrical Fish' (6235) Despite being grayscale, this curious piece makes clever use of shading and angles to give the impression of color. The ? depiction of even the ? evokes a wide variety of emotions in people." Once again, Harry didn't understand some of the words, but he understood the majority of it. He turned to page "J".

"'Juggling' (6223) A work based on a juggler he saw at the circus with his grandchild. As it is extremely rare for Guertena to use real people as models, this piece is highly valuable." Finished reading, Harry slid the book back onto the shelf and Mary and him stood up, ready to search around the room some more.

Next to the bookcase was a little hole; too big for a finger, but small enough for a key. The two of them went up to it and Harry slid in the key he had picked up. He turned the key. Nothing happened. "..."

Mary seemed to be a little upset. With nothing left to do there, they left the room.

Since they had explored as much as they could, the duo walked over to the blue rose drawing and sat down to think...