A/N1: Here it is the continuation. I do not believe I'll be able to wrap the story before the Deathly Hallows.
A/N2: Our heroes learn more than they really wanted. They make an interesting discovery about Salazar Slytherin, and the possible whereabouts of Lord Voldemort, and something else unexpectedly.
All comments, suggestions and flames are welcomed.
Disclaimer – JK Rowling and various publishers own the world of Harry Potter.
Chapter Fifteen
The Swamp Lords – Part Two
Neville only nodded. He was not sure what this meant but he felt that he would when the time comes.
The queen then moved to Luna. "Look in the mirror," – She asked again. Luna looked at her with her usual moony look.
"Are there any…" – Luna trailed off. "…in there," – she asked.
"Yes, there are." – The queen replied, a smile growing on her face.
"Really, then I'll look." – Luna replied excited.
Luna bent over the mirror. She also saw her reflection but it quickly vanished. A ghostly town, mist was covering the ground and figures gathered around a body on the ground. Sinister laughter was coming from each of them, a laughter of diabolic satisfaction.
Flashes of red light were hitting the body from time to time increasing the sound of the sinister laughter. They were all near the gate of a cemetery. And there on the threshold stood Luna helpless. Then a dark shroud passed over her eyes – a sense of loss hit her, then replaced it was with growing anger, then the anger became wrath, ire, fury till it reached its peak – frenzy. Her eyes grew darker until they became grey, grey filled with no pity, no mercy, no feeling at all.
She raised her hand, her wand hand pointed at the ground. A shiver, a tremor crossed it. The ground cracked. The graves opened and an army of skeletons rose. The laughter of the group of figures around the body suddenly was stuck in their throats. Fear grew in their eyes. Nonetheless, they started firing curses in Luna's direction. But once unleashed the army of undead does not stop until their task is done. Luna then summoned the dreaded dragon – the Ghost dragon and commanded him to seek the death of each of those standing above the body of her friend.
Luna pulled her self away from the mirror. She looked terrified, stressed, her heart beating hard. She looked pleading at the queen hoping that what she saw was not true, that it was just an illusion but the queen only gently shook her head. "Destiny," she said.
"No!" – Luna whispered with difficulty, tears on her eyes.
The queen just patted her on the shoulder and moved to Ron. There she stood again in front of the mirror. Ron looked at her then without any word bent over. Flashes of images passed through. Ron concentrated, as the queen had told poor Neville to. He had not idea what Neville or Luna saw in their mirrors but he knew it was something terrifying, something awful.
The flashes slowed down and became clearer. Ron saw an oval office, "Dumbledore's office," Ron thought quickly. Someone was sitting behind the desk speaking with a portrait of a severe-looking witch with square glasses. The image faded. The grounds of Hogwarts appeared but they were no longer with the beautiful shade of green. There was fire everywhere, people running and screaming. The image changed. The dreaded death mark was hovering above a large stone pigpen (with extra rooms added probably with time) several stores high with four or five chimneys perched over the top of the roof. Every floor of the odd building was on fire with breaches so big as though someone had played giant bowling. The image shifted again. A golden griffin appeared, prepped for attack. Next to it, a red haired man dressed in red cotton battle robes with embroidered golden lions was raising his wand. Before him, an army of Death Eaters was advancing.
Ron realized that he was watching himself and pulled away from the mirror with difficulty. The queen looked at him with surprise in her eyes but then smiled and said: "Destiny!" Ron did not reply. He was still trying to assimilate what he saw. It was disturbing on many levels.
"No," – He finally said. "It can't be. Is this the future?"
"No. It is your destiny." – The queen replied.
"Bloody hell."
"It will be. But you will manage." – The queen said and moved to Hermione.
Hermione eyed the queen appraisingly. The queen withstood her gaze. "Look in the mirror." But it was sure that Hermione was not eager to peek into the mirror. She had some doubts.
"How do we know you're not manipulating the mirrors?" – Hermione asked suddenly.
The queen smiled at Hermione's question. She knew why the girl was asking it. The girl was afraid to face her gift and fears.
"No one but you can create your own destiny." – The queen said. "But if you believe that we are doing something then look into the mirrors of the others. If they show you anything else than your reflection then I swear on my magic I'll die instantly. If you see your reflection in the mirrors then you can choose whether to look in your mirror and face your fear or not to look." – As the queen said those words, a red ribbon of magic encompassed her. It looked like it worked in a way similar to the unbreakable vow.
Hermione looked incredulously at the queen. She did not expect such an answer. But the doubts of the intentions of the queen were still strong so she looked into the mirrors of her friends – one by one. There she saw only her reflection. The red ribbon around the queen's body vanished. Hermione went back to her chair and sat down. She then took a deep breath and bent over the mirror.
A swirl of images passed through Hermione's mirror till one came into view. Hermione was standing on a lonely rock wandless. A river was flowing below and the other side there was another rock. A Death Eater was standing there with his wand already waved and the deadly green beam flashing from the top. Diagonally of Hermione's rock, there was another rock. There was the shadow of a young wizard – Draco Malfoy.
Suddenly, Draco's shadow grew bigger and then a roar of unheard proportions struck, shaking the ground. Hermione glimpsed at the direction of Draco's rock and saw a young dragon. The deadly beam shot from the Death Eater's wand. The dragon spread his wings, a single stroke and it appeared front of the deadly beam. Hermione's hand reached out as though hoping to push away the creature but it was too late. The green light hit the dragon who died instantly even before hitting the ground. Tears appeared in her eyes, loss choked her. The Death Eater's wand turned for another round. Another beam was about to come out.
Pity and loss, the two feelings were shaking strongly Hermione's body. Tears were running down her face. A suddenly a window of light appeared showing an image – Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Harry, all standing together waving and smiling at her. Shortly after that the image changed and it showed a medallion. The medallion opened and runic message appeared. Hermione's reflection read it. A fire tongue appeared out of thin air and dropped a wand. She grabbed it and stroke the Death Eater with a spell that turned him into dust.
Hermione pulled herself briskly out of the mirror. The expression on her face was unreadable. The queen only said. "Draconigena." And shockingly for all, Hermione muttered a word in a language no one understood, "Eectally" (which means "strength" in the so little known language – dragontii or the dragon tongue). It was a low husky sound, which made the walls vibrate. The queen looked satisfied with the result and moved on leaving Hermione very confused.
It was Ginny's turn now. Ginny looked at the queen straight in the eyes. This was very bold. Then she lowered her gaze and peeked in her mirror. Her reflection got distorted. There was a dark forest. She was walking. She was alone. A growing sensation that she was watched made her look around each tree, each bush. Fear was beginning to consume her. Then all went dark but a nick before that she saw a pair of glimmering red eyes. There was agony, there was pain and she watched helpless like in trance. She was possessed again, again by the enemy. She wanted to die and be over with it. The pain suddenly faded away.
The image changed. It was night. She was standing near the barn. Her eyes were fixed on something above her. A green shaped skull with a snake coming out of its mouth, the mark was hovering above the Burrow. Right in front of her, near the barn, there were two graves. She leaned down to read the names but the image got distorted again.
Ginny was standing near a fountain, a beautiful one. It was a statue of a stag. Water was pouring down from its ears. She was alone but not for long. Out of thin air, a walking head appeared. The head stopped near her, a pair of hands appeared and pulled the rest of the cloak away. It was Harry. He took her in his arms. He kissed her cheeks, her temples, her cheeks before lowering down to her lips. The kiss lasted long, a kiss of pure love, untouched, untamed. Then he pulled away gently and looked into her eyes. Tears were running down her cheeks. He wiped them out and kissed her again. His hands left hers, finger by finger. Then he walked away without looking back.
The image shifted again. The sky was clear, the sun shining upon a neatly house on a hill. The flowers were blossoming, their aroma filling the air. Then a ring, a ring of voices crossed the air. They were playful, there was laughing. And there she stood in home robes, green as the grass and white as the snow. But around her…oh my…around her…four children and all with green eyes and red dark hairs, smiling at her.
Ginny pulled out of the mirror. She was crying with tears of sorrow and tears of joy. It was an odd sensation. She looked again at the queen, perhaps hoping for the word – destiny but the queen said nothing, she only moved on to Harry.
Harry did not need an invitation although he dreaded what he could possibly see – the death of more of his friends; strangely enough he did not fear for himself. He was almost certain he would not survive this war. He had no idea how he would defeat Voldemort even if he destroyed somehow the horcruxes. It was all blurry to him but he had to do it.
His reflection was watching him from the mirror before it got distorted. Harry was walking through a misty forest. Everything in it was misty even the ground as though he was walking in a dream. But in the midst of all this, he saw a twinkling light – a fire, the fire with the chair, the throne. A hooded man was sitting on it waiting for him.
The image blurred. The forest was gone. There was a fountain with a stag statue. A girl was sitting on one end. He could not see her face. She was sobbing softly. He approached. The girl turned around – it was Ginny. He took off his cloak and hugged her, kissing her cheeks, her temples, her neck and then the soft lips. It was a kiss of pure love, untouched, untamed. Then he pulled away, looked her in the eyes, kissed her again then left without looking back.
The image changed. He was standing before something that looked like it was put to stand out of the way. It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription on the top – Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. Then he remembered it was the mirror of Erised. He finally understood the inscription – I show not your face but your heart's desire. And his desire was now to see where the horcruxes were – his reflection on the mirror disappeared – he saw Gaunt's house with the ring, the cave with the locket, the diary at Hogwarts, Naigini at the ruins of a house, the cup within a forest, the tiara – here the image blurred.
The mirror of Erised was gone. Instead there was a fast glimpse. There was a hill with a neatly house on the top. A red haired woman was sitting outside near a fountain. Four children were running around her – their hairs were red, their eyes were green.
The image faded away with a pair of red glaring eyes. Harry was standing at a clearing. There were stones, high dark stones, arranged in a circle. In the middle, there was a hooded figure. It turned around – it had chalk white face with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake. It was Voldemort. He was laughing coldly. This cold laughter was sending waves of shivers down his spine. Voldemort raised his wand ready to strike. Suddenly the silhouettes of twelve figures appeared out of thin air and formed a circle around them.
Then the mirror in front of Harry went black. Harry couldn't even see his own reflection. He pulled back. His face was as unreadable as the one of Hermione after pulling out of her mirror. Harry was now certain about one thing – this mirror did not show him his destiny but rather his future, actually two possible futures or maybe it was metaphor but he got the message. He had to find the mirror of Erised. It was now their only chance to stop the upcoming darkness.
"The way of the mirrors is unknown. It shows things that are, things that have been and things to be. Some will find truth, others will find destiny, and some the future." – The queen said after a while. She fixed her gaze at each one of them then spoke again. "You will find courage to face your futures in the most precious of all gems."
Everyone was silent. The silence was now a gift of what they've all seen. They had to have a moment to assimilate all. The queen and her guards waited patiently. They could only imagine what was going on inside them. And it is true what they say silence is golden. But not for Harry and his friends. They had to share what they experienced so they can emerge stronger.
"Will the darkness ever end?" – Luna asked suddenly.
"I'm afraid never." – The queen replied. "It is part of life."
"This darkness, our darkness, will end with Voldemort. I promise you that." – Harry said with an adamant look in his eyes.
"Oh, Harry." – Ginny said hugging him.
"Cusp, it is time." – The queen said.
"Yes, my queen." – Cusp replied.
"Time for what?" – Neville asked.
"I have one more task – to escort you to Basilica Mansion – the home of Lord Salazar Slytherin." – Cusp answered.
"Bring the gifts." – The queen commanded.
Several of the queen's guards disappeared somewhere. They returned shortly after. Each of them was carrying cloaks. They were made of unknown but soft material. Also there were leather cuirasses incrusted with thin red golden tongues, like lianas.
"Accept these gifts, may they protect you as they protect us!" – The queen hissed and Harry translated for the others.
"Thank you!" – They thanked in one voice and put on the royal gifts. Harry refused politely only the cuirass. The queen looked incredulously at him.
"You do not trust us yet, do you?" – She asked.
"I do but this is not the reason." – Harry replied.
"He carries the chain-mail of Lords." – Sentinel inserted.
"What?" – The queen looked surprised.
"The chain-mail of what?" – Harry repeated like an echo.
"Show them." – Sentinel hissed.
Harry opened his shirt. Everyone gasped. Under it, there was a shining chain-mail made of glimmering silvery scales.
"Mithril!" – Cusp gasped with veneration.
"What's this?" – Ron asked.
"Oh, well, your brothers gave to me." – Harry replied.
"Oh, that's fine mate but I meant the other thing?" – Ron said.
"Mithril is light malleable metal although it is harder than any other. A chain mail made of mithril is light but incredibly resistant. It could stop most curses by absorbing their energy. And it is extremely valuable as it is rare to find this metal. This chain mail costs more than half Britain. But as a gift it is priceless." – The queen explained.
"Wow." – Ron exclaimed in awe. "Mate, if George and Fred knew its value they might have reconsidered."
"Possibly." – Ginny chuckled. "Poor Fred and George."
"Please, accept the gift." – Sentinel hissed quietly at Harry.
"Thank you, Matriarch. We are grateful for your gifts." – Harry said accepting the cuirass.
The queen nodded. She gestured at Cusp. "Protect them till they reach the mansion then return here."
"I will." – Cusp bowed. "Time to go! This way!"
The group followed Cusp out of the fortress of the Swamp Lords. Cusp then turned westwards. They walked for nearly an hour before exiting the forest.
"Where are we going to now?" – Neville asked Cusp.
"We are going to Basilica Mansion at East Marshlands – Shepway, Kent." – Cusp replied. "Ready?"
"Ready." – And they disappeared.
The group appeared at the marshlands. The humidity of the air was killing them. Harry looked around. It was worst than he anticipated. The entire place was foggy and dark. The mosquitoes were everywhere and they were hungry. Cusp led them northeast. He amazed the others with his ability of finding a way through this swampy land. This way they walked for hours.
Finally the fog dispersed. They saw a paved path that led to a rusty fence with an arched gate. On the top of the arch there was an inscription that read Pure Blood. They ventured the gate and continued. The path was zigzagging through a jungle of low trees, bushes and lichens. Then through the last turn, they saw an opened space.
There were the ruins of once great majestic looking mansion – Basilica. Surprisingly however the mansion itself was not giving anyone the chills. Probably it had looked peaceful, not giving the impression of anything dark related.
Cusp stopped where the entrance would have been and faced the youngsters.
"Our jointly journey ends here. I have to leave you now. But hear this – at the beginning, Salazar Slytherin was nothing like people now remembered him. He was devoted and caring. The queen feels that here you might find something useful." – Cusp said.
"Sorry to see you go." – Harry said.
"It is your adventure after all. Mine ends here. Good luck." – Cusp said, bowed and walked away.
"Alright, we are here. What are we looking for?" – Ron asked.
"I have no idea, Ron." – Harry replied honestly.
"What in here could possibly help us?" – Ginny also wondered.
"Alright, let's split and search the ruins." – Harry proposed.
"Good idea, mate." – Ron agreed.
They searched the ruins for near three hours but found nothing at all. Hermione, on the last crossing through what seemed to have been the living-room, noticed something glimmering faintly under the ashes. It looked, as she unraveled it, like a trap door made of rush stems.
"Hey, I found something." – She called.
Everyone came quickly to her. They helped her clean around the stems. Then Harry and Ron tried to crack it open but were pushed by some invisible force.
"Bloody hell." – Ron exclaimed. "The darn thing is protected."
"Do you think?" – Ginny looked at Harry.
"What?" – Harry shrugged confused.
"Do you think that it could be here where Voldemort has placed a horcrux?"
"It is possible." – Harry admitted.
"I don't think so." – Hermione objected.
"Why not?" – Ron looked at her unintelligibly.
"Did you not hear what Cusp said?" – Everyone looked questioningly at Hermione. "He said that Salazar was caring. It made me think. If he was indeed caring then this would be one feature Voldemort lacks. So it leads to conclude that this hideout was made by Salazar."
"So?" – Ron asked.
"So…finding the way in must be something related to such feelings. It does sound logical." – Hermione answered.
"To whom?" – Ron teased. "It seems it does only to you."
"Does anyone know any spells depicting feelings?' – Neville asked.
"No." – Hermione answered.
"Wow!"
"What?" – Hermione snapped.
"Well, it is just that I though there is not a spell you don't know." – Ron replied, which made Hermione blush.
"Maybe it doesn't have to." – Harry said more to himself than to the others.
He got an idea after hearing Hermione although it sounded almost impossible that Salazar was capable of loving. But maybe Cusp was right too. Harry grabbed Ginny's arm then stretched his for the handle filling his mind with happy thoughts. His fingers almost reached the handle but as Harry discovered there was a shield. Harry pondered for a nick of a second then tried again. This time when he reached the force field he whispered in parseltongue – Rowena Ravenclaw. Harry had no idea why he said it. It seemed like someone had instructed him to say it. But to his surprise it worked. The force field was there no more and he opened the trap door under the bewildered expressions of his friends.
"Blimey, Harry, how did you do that?" – Ron exclaimed surprised.
"You're not going to believe it even if I told you." – Harry replied with a smile.
"Try us." – Hermione challenged.
"I said in parseltongue the name of one of the founders." – Harry replied.
"Who?" – Luna asked with interest.
"Yours." – Luna fluttered. "I mean Rowena Ravenclaw." – Harry said.
"Why her?" – Ginny asked raising an eyebrow.
"I honestly do not know. I just did." – Harry replied shrugging.
"Ah, our helping hand again." – Hermione said touching her forehead.
"Who?" – Ron asked.
"Doesn't matter, shall we?" – Hermione gestured toward the dusty staircase leading down.
"After you." – Harry motioned.
"Yeah, girls first." – Ron added.
"Chickens." – Ginny teased.
The girls took lead. They descended, the boys followed. They were inside a comfy room. It was well preserved. Well, dusty but well preserved nonetheless. There were two chairs behind a big oak table. On the table, paper parchments, several quills, an ink-pot and an old newspaper were scattered. The walls were covered with shelves and on the shelves tons of books, some were dark magic related, some seemed to be novels, and some were hand written.
Harry took a closer look at the newspaper. The pictures in there were still moving. He read the headline – The Swamp Lord Slytherin to get married to the house of Ravenclaw. Harry's jaw fell. Was this possible? Slytherin, getting married to Rowena Ravenclaw, impossible but this was what the heading said.
On the front picture was the house of Slytherin – the mansion was indeed looking welcoming and beautiful – and there was Salazar. He was nothing like Voldemort. In this picture he was probably thirty years old. His features still held the prime youth. Salazar was good looking, majestic even, with dark raven hair carelessly falling down his shoulders, blue shiny eyes, dressed in dark green robes with a silver snake. Next to him was standing a young witch dressed in silk blue robes with a raven. Her eyes were bright and full of life. And her smile, oh my, her smile was enchanting.
"Harry, what's this?" – Ron asked gesturing the paper in Harry's hands.
Harry just hanged it over to him. Ron's jaw fell too. "Impossible," Harry heard him whisper in disbelief. This made him smile. But Harry continued to examine the room. There was a small table at the north corner. On the table there was drawing of Salazar. He was dressed the same as on the paper but this time he was wearing a heavy locket on his neck and a ring on his right hand, the ring of Slytherin.
On other side of the room, Hermione has found a very interesting hand written book. There Salazar has described his and his friends' precious possessions – the golden ring of the Slytherin House forged by gnomes in the year 800, the heavy golden locket with the exquisite S incrusted with emeralds also made by gnomes in the year 920 AD, the silver sword with the red rubies of Gryffindor forged by dwarfs in the year 400 AD, the golden cup incrusted with the badger of Hufflepuff dating from the year 110 AD but it was unknown who made it, and finally the silver tiara of Ravenclaw, also with unknown origin. There was also a mention of the sorting hat though Salazar did not consider it precious but rather necessary.
Hermione skipped some of the book till something caught her eye. It was a mention of a place Salazar used as a training ground. It was a house Slytherin had built few years after the completion of Basilica Mansion. It was situated near the village of Little Hangleton. According to the notes he had built two houses – one used for the public eye and the other one hidden in the nearby forest. The first and second were protected by all wizard standards, "even better", has Salazar written. Salazar had also written that the second had a place with protection similar to his favorite place. Hermione assumed that he was talking about his hideout so it was logical to assume that Voldemort couldn't possibly enter the second hideout but the house he could. This was an important clue because as Hermione reasoned one of these houses could be the headquarters of the dark lord.
Hermione quickly shared this finding with the others. Harry agreed that it was possible, which was good news for everybody; because after the end of the hunt for the horcruxes they had to find Voldemort and now they had a reasonable lead on his probable whereabouts.
"Well, now the question is where do you go from here?" – Ginny said looking at the others.
"Albania." – Hermione replied promptly.
"Yeah, Albania." – Harry agreed.
"Why?" – Ron asked.
"You remember that Dumbledore said that the last known location of Voldemort was in a forest in Albania. It must be the place where his last horcrux was made so he was drawn there first." – Harry explained.
"Right." – Ron said. "So let's go."
"First we have to leave the premises of this house. It is unlikely to have its defensive wards still operational but better not take any chances." – Hermione said.
"Sentinel." – Harry suddenly called seeing that she was not around. "We can't leave without her."
They all hurried up the stairs. Harry started looking and calling Sentinel. There was no response though.
"Let's split and look for her." – Hermione suggested.
"All right," – Harry said. "Ginny and I will go this way, Luna and Neville that way, Hermione and Ron this way." – Harry was pointing at each time. "If someone finds her send a patronus."
They split up. Harry and Ginny went northwards. They were walking for almost half an hour when Harry heard something nearby. The noise was faint but he heard it anyway. He gestured Ginny to be quiet. They continued slowly forward.
They saw a small opening in the woods. They looked carefully around and continued. As they reached the middle of the opening Harry heard a hissing, "I got it now, boy! I'll rip you apart." Harry turned around swiftly and saw a big black snake poised for attack.
"Run!" - Harry pushed Ginny away, as he remembered what this snake had done to her father.
"No, I'll stay." – Ginny objected.
"No, run. Trust me." – Harry pleaded. Ginny obeyed to him and run away. Harry got ready. But it did not come to this as Harry heard a friendly hiss.
"Hello Naigini, prepare to die."
A/N3: Well, I decided to introduce the Naigini horcrux before the hunt for the rest. I think it is an interesting idea but I'll appreciate your thoughts about it.
And don't forget to review. It only takes a couple of minutes. Thank you!
Lordheaven