Chapter 7: Anthony
My name is Anthony.
I had spent the whole day unsure whether I was shaking in fear or excitement. I was actually going on my first mission tonight. It wasn't a big one, just checking out a few weird creatures after hours, but it was still a mission of the DA. I was finally going to help with this mess You Know Who's driven us into.
And I was terrified because there was still quite a bit of potential danger. The very thing that I had spent my life trying to avoid.
Before the DA I never put a single toe out of line, never broke a single rule and was the most hesitant to so much as pick up a broom. Terry Boot, my best friend, used to tease me relentlessly about being a wimp as I buried my face behind a book. It took everything he had to convince me to go to the meeting at Hogshead when Granger asked us to join the group that would become Dumbledore's Army, just as much to get me to sign her parchment and a repeat performance for the first two meetings after. When Umbridge forced its disbandment, that was the end of my rebellious streak.
However, as this year went on, my urge to rebel has only continuously grown, as has my guilt at doing nothing. Every day I watched on as another study was 'punished' and did nothing but wince. I wanted nothing more than to make it stop, alleviate the kid's pain with the medical spells I had been so proud of myself for mastering, but the fear of that being me always had me backing down. However, I never looked away. I observed every blow the victims took, every cut, burn and scream, burned it all into my memory and buried myself in guilt for not stopping it. But now it had become too much. I couldn't stand it anymore, it had overridden my fear for myself and I was determined to help. I just hoped that my fear wouldn't make me choke.
"Anthony relax, you'll be fine." Terry said quietly beside me as we ate our dinner. Pulling myself out of my musing, I looked up at his concerned face to find that he was staring back and forth from my face to my shaking hand. "Those blood thirsty apes won't even know your gone and what your observing is locked in an unbreakable cage. There's nothing to worry about."
Nodding my head, I gave him a nervous smile as I forced my hand to stay still. I'd told Terry everything when I got back to our common room last night and, after ribbing into me about never doing anything more dangerous than picking up a chair, he'd spent the entire night and day since reassuring me. He'd even volunteered himself to patrolling the Entrance Hall to make sure that we were safe when we came back in. Truthfully, I think that he was just as worried as I was. After all, his best friend, who was basically considered a chicken by most people who got to know me, was risking very painful punishment and being eaten alive. Who wouldn't freak at that? He's just a lot better at hiding it than me and knew that I needed reassurance.
"And Seamus will be right there next to you. The guy's the master of stealth. You'll be perfectly safe." He added hastily, his own nervousness starting to get into his voice as the time of my departure came closer.
"Yeah, you're right. I'll be fine." I nodded as I shoved a piece of potato into my mouth before turning back to him as he started playing with his food. "You just make sure that you will be too when we go to bed tonight." I added as I swallowed, giving him a pointed look. "Logically speaking, you have a much higher possibility of being caught doing something consequential than I do."
"True, but I've been practicing my lies all day." Terry replied, trying to feign light heartedness. "If they catch me, I'll just tell them that I'm looking for Luna because she promised to explain a puzzle I found in the Quibbler."
"Since when do you read the Quibbler?" I asked amusedly, suddenly feeling a lot more relaxed. Terry could lie with the best of them when he wanted to. He found the Quibbler to be a complete waste of time, excluding the time Potter had a page in it in our fifth year, but he could easily convince anyone he wanted that he'd grown to love it more than life itself. Except me, I could always tell when he was lying. He'd be fine.
"Since the Prophet turned into a load of crap and the Quibbler started backing Potter." He answered sincerely before grabbing the ketchup bottle and making me chuckle as he drowned his food in it. Smiling, I turned my attention back to my own meal and ate it all instead of playing with it like I had before. I don't know how he does it, but Terry always manages to calm my nerves.
...
My nerves had returned by the time everyone started leaving the Great Hall. Fiddling with my fingers, I walked as casually as I could towards the Entrance Hall, thankful that my robe covered most of my shaking.
"Hey Goldstein." Seamus called happily, stopping me in my tracks as I reached the door. Taking a deep breath, I turned around and gave him the best curious look I could. This was part of the plan we'd discussed during the day, a way that we could meet up and disappear without causing much suspicion, but for it to be successful we both had to look as innocent as possible. The problem with that was that I had no experience as an actor. Terry and Padma always told me that I was an open book.
A slight frown crossed Seamus' face for a split second and I mentally sighed, knowing that meant that I hadn't quite succeeded at not looking guilty, but it was gone as quick as it came and was replaced by his old, cheerful smile.
"Hi Finnegan. Can I help you with something?" I asked, struggling to keep my voice from shaking.
"Yeah, I was hoping that you could help me out with my Transfiguration homework. I just can't get a couple of spells down without causing a small explosion." He replied, looking like the perfect definition of sheepish as the female Carrow passed by, following the whispering Weasley and Lovegood. I wasn't sure if he was that good of an actor or if he was using a real event and was actually sheepish. Probably both knowing his infamous tendency to pyrotechnics. Either way, I was jealous.
"Sure, I'm happy to help another student achieve their academic excellence." I said with a nod, wanting to kick myself the moment the words came out. I sounded like such a dork.
"Great, let's go then. No time like the present." Seamus grinned merrily, swinging an arm around my shoulders and directing me down the hall in the opposite direction to the courtyard. When we were halfway down the hall, Seamus stared around casually and, only finding Terry looking a little lost in sight, whipped open the first door we reach and pushed me in to what proved to be a broom cupboard, closing the door behind him.
"Remind me to get you a book to hide behind the next time we're putting on a show." He said lightly as he whipped out his wand and cast a few simple silencing charms as I created a light for us.
"I know, I'm a bad actor. Sorry." I muttered dejectedly, biting my lip. I knew the show that I put on was horrendous and that was bad. If I was going to be Seamus' partner like he wanted me to be I needed to be able to act innocent or I'd get us caught and my fears would become a reality.
"Hey, no worries. We'll just have to develop your poker face. You'll get better in no time." Seamus said kindly, giving me a friendly jab in the arm. "Not everyone's a natural actor, but that doesn't mean that you can't learn. And you learn things pretty quickly Goldstein, you'll be fine. We'll just keep your nose behind a book until you get it."
"Why not? Nothing unusual about that." I nodded with a small grin of my own, though I couldn't stop feeling a little down. I've spent basically my whole life hiding behind a book. Was I ever going to learn how to face the world without one? I should have asked Granger how to do it while I had the chance, she used to be always behind a book too.
Well, I don't have one right now. hopefully I'll learn quickly. I thought as we fell into silence and waited, removing anything that could be used to identify us from our robes.
We waited like that for nearly half an hour before the last scurrying feet met our ears. A couple of minutes later, Terry opened the door with a finger pressed to his lips and nodded his head towards the exit. Nodding back, Seamus walked swiftly and silently out and into the hallway. Moving after him, I tried to duplicate his movements, but flinched every time my feet hit the ground as the thump of the contact met my ears.
Blushing embarrassedly at my utter lack of stealth, I stared at the ground as we made our way down the hallway, just grateful that Seamus didn't comment on it.
I actually sighed in relief as Seamus and I opened the large doors and headed out. Not only was there far less chance of us being seen with no one coming this way and our robes blending into the night, but the soft earth and open space remained silent as I walked on it. It was only an illusion that I'd gained some talent in being stealthy, but I was happy to embrace it, if only for a little while.
"Come on, we'll head around the back of the greenhouses. Get something between us and the windows." Seamus said softly as he took off at a jog around the edge of the courtyard, waving for me to follow. Pressing my side against the wall, I followed him as quickly as I could, silently thankful that the school was so big for the first time ever. Running through that giant maze to get to all my classes on time had definitely made me pretty fit.
We pulled into a run as we made it to the greenhouses, determined to slip by unnoticed by Professor Sprout as she did some late night watering, and made it near Hagrid's hut in no time. Jumping the fence into one of the paddocks Hagrid used for his classes, we checked Hagrid's hut and let out relieved breaths at the sight of the closed curtains before slowly walking toward it and the cage of screeching creatures beside it.
"Wow, Hagrid wasn't kidding." Seamus muttered, gawking from his crouched position against the round hut wall as we stared around it at the giant centipedes. "They really do eat everything in sight."
I could only nod as I felt my eyes widen in astonishment at the sight. Hagrid must have found more, because now there was a good seven locked in the cage...that resided in a hole at least a foot deep. The only time the creatures stopped their incomprehensible shrieking was when they were biting at the metal bars of their prison or the dirt underneath it.
They actually made that hole. I realised as I watched one use its pincers to shovel dirt into a pile above the bars before eating it. Three others were doing the same thing before switching places with the rest to try and nibble through the bars.
"These ones look a lot more active than the one Hagrid brought in." Seamus commented as I nodded in agreement. These ones were definitely far more erratic and desperate. Their bodies were extremely tense too and as I looked one over more critically, I noticed that that every one of its pincers were frequently snapping, the faint sound resulting from it reaching my ears as I noticed the movement. Moving along its body, I sucked in a deep breath as I reached the head, making Seamus focus his worried eyes on me.
"What is it? Is another one of these things around?" Seamus asked, waving his wand around erratically. Seeing the wisps of flame already flickering at the end, I quickly shook my head.
"No, it's the centipede thing's eyes." I replied shakily, biting my lip nervously. "They're staring hungrily at each other every time they look away from the ground. Like they're barely able to resist..."
"Hagrid did say that they were cannibals." Seamus tried to say casually, though his voice betrayed his own shaken nerves as the fact hit home. "Hopefully they'll eat each other into extinction. It's amazing that they haven't already."
"They're tempted." I muttered, swallowing thickly as I watched two of them stare at their brethren's legs again. "They really want to eat each other, but they're holding themselves back. though with how long they're looking at each other and how sharply, I doubt that their wills will hold out much longer."
"Wow, you have a good eye for details." Seamus commented, turning to me with a weak, but impressed smile. "I didn't even notice their eyes moving to each other."
"I'm always told that I'm overly observant." I admitted, smiling bashfully at the praise. "I pick up a lot of little details that most people miss. Terry tends to get annoyed at me for being overly critical when I'm reading about or observing something because I spend so much time on one thing."
"Hermione tends to do the same thing, though it's annoying because she's always instantaneous." Seamus chuckled. "Makes me feel dumb when she's got ten subtle details in the time span it took me to get the basics down. But it's good that you can do it." Had added quickly as a frown started to form on my face. It wasn't exactly pleasant that yet another person I actually had developed the courage to...well, befriend I think, found my over critical eye annoying. "It's exactly what we need for this kind of work. You've already figured out more than I my dumb brain would have discovered watching these things all night on my own." He added with a bright grin. I decided right then that I really did like Seamus. He did have a tendency to say things before thinking them through, resulting in more than a few people being insulted by him, but he was always quick to fix the situation and make you feel welcome or appreciated, even if it meant belittling himself.
Smiling appreciatively, I turned back to the creatures to observe them some more only for a flicker of movement in the corner of my eye make me push Seamus back against the wall and out of sight.
"What's the matter?" Seamus whispered, all traces of his light heartedness gone as he tensed against my arm. Not answering him, I slowly crept past him and towards the side of the hut facing the castle. Peeking around the corner, I strained my eyes to focus on the small light coming toward us from the castle door and vaguely made out the form of a man, followed by ten students of varying heights. They were walking hastily and within a moment they were close enough for me to make out some distinctive features. An example was the pudginess of the leading man that could only be Professor Slughorn, the cowardly potions Professor.
"Hurry up, all of you!" Seamus and I jolted as his voice hit our ears. The jolly tone of last year and the constantly nervous one of this year were both completely missing. In their place was a harsh, demanding bark that could be heard from a good distance away. Moving further back so as not to be noticed as he and his group got very close, I focused my eyes on his face and felt my jaw completely drop.
Slughorn was always a kind, albeit pompous and self-centred, man with a constant air of jolliness or nervousness depending on the situation. However, the man before me was as far from that as you could get. His form was ramrod straight and his face was the perfect picture of fierceness and cruelty. It was such a different look that for a moment I wondered if some Death Eater was using Polyjuice potion before scrapping the idea. Slughorn was far too well known for being too cowardly to have even a single toe on either side of the war. he was absolutely useless to our side and the Death Eaters'.
"Come on, get those meat bags moving!" He snarled as he approached the hut, glaring as the students behind him started lagging. "That blundering giant told me he captured another group of those dumb, overgrown insects and we CANNOT afford to lose any more of them. We're running out of time, so unless you want to die a painful death, GET MOVING!"
I was stunned still as the students sped up and reached the hut, moving across the other side and out of my sight. Slughorn was beyond incapable of being even slightly imposing and yet here he was, looking almost as intimidating as Snape did in my first year. Ice cold shivers ran down my spine as Seamus and I slowly moved back around to the corner we were at before just in time to see Slughorn stop in front of the cage with the most disgusted look on his face that I'd ever seen.
"You incompetent fools! If we didn't need you so bad I'd leave you in that cage to rot." He spat before snapping the lock in two with a wave of his wand and levitating the cage out of the hole. Instantly the giant centipedes flooded out of it, screeching in what was clearly joy as they charged at the vegetable patch beside them only to shriek in pain a second later as Slughorn unleashed a viscous Cruciatus Curse on all of them at once. The act left me gaping in horror, not only that he would use such a torturous curse and the immeasurable pain that those creatures were going through, but also the fact that he was able to use it on all of them at once. Only a handful of wizards worldwide could use it on up to two people simultaneously and he was using it on SEVEN! The spell is powered by the enjoyment of causing pain, for him to cast it on so many living things at once would have to mean that this guy enjoyed it more than even You Know Who did.
"That is not Slughorn." Seamus muttered, sounding like he was going to be sick. Feeling my own stomach's contents trying to jump up my throat, I just nodded in agreement before turning away and covering my ears in a feeble attempt to block out the screaming as I bent over and took deep breaths. It wasn't until a minute later that the screaming stopped and by that point I had dropped to my knees simply from shaking too much to remain standing.
"Let that be a lesson to you. Don't get caught again." Slughorn said venomously as low screeches and the scuffling of uncountable limbs hit my ears. Not trusting my legs to support me, I dropped onto my hands and crawled around Seamus' leg to watch as the centipede creatures wobbly forms stumbled their way towards the vegetable garden again. "No, don't even think about it! We've lost enough time as it is and that blundering oaf could be back at any time. Back into the forest NOW!" Slughorn roared, eliciting scared screeches from the creatures as they scurried as fast as their pain ridden legs could. Muttering darkly under his breath, Slughorn stomped his way after them, the students, all of which looked either nervous or as cruel as Slughorn himself, following hastily behind him.
"GO ON, MOVE IT!" Slughorn's bellow made me jump and fall flat on my stomach as the last of the kids entered the tree, the malice and cruelty lacing his voice no less terrifying at a distance. "Production MUST be completed tonight, otherwise we'll die! Filch's snooping forced us to seal the old entrance, we have no other way down!"
"Down where?" Seamus asked, so clearly confused that he may as well of had a floating question mark above his head. "Those things are working with Slughorn? And what's up with him and those students?"
"Most of them were Slytherins." I commented, not really sure that it was helpful just yet, but putting it out there anyway. "One was a Hufflepuff and the two youngest ones were Ravenclaws, but the rest all wore the Slytherin crest."
"Oh, so for the majority of them this was perfectly in character." Seamus responded with a scowl, though his confusion was still his dominant emotion.
"They may be controlling Slughorn." I suggested, rubbing my chin as I thought over this new chain of events. "As their Head of House, he would be easy enough to get alone, not that Snape or his associates would care that they cursed him."
"Or Snape did it himself." Seamus nodded in agreement, staring sharply at the forest. "And he just released the oversized creepy crawlies back into the forest for some kind of job that lives rely on because Filch stuck his nose where it didn't belong. I think we just gained more info than we expected to tonight."
"And we're going for more?" I asked with mixed feelings. One part of me was dying to find out what was going on while the other didn't want to go anywhere near the Forbidden Forest.
"You bet we are." Seamus nodded determinedly, already moving toward the trees. "Whatever this is, it's really important to them and it relates to our job. we're supposed to be observing these creatures and that includes what they're being used for. Let's go."
Well, the terrified part of my mind couldn't argue with that logic so my knowledge seeking side cheered for joy as I followed the Irishman into the trees. It looked like we were going to discover the true purpose that these things were here for and that was valuable information.
...
I had to bite my lip to prevent myself from screaming in irritation as we moved through the forest. I'd long gotten over the fact that it was creepy and since we hadn't run into anything too unpleasant, my mind had completely ignored that problem in favour of the one that I was causing.
See, if they're not used very frequently, even the best designed paths become overgrown with bushes and tree branches. And of course, if you're not a stealth master like Seamus, bushes and branches make a lot of noise as you walk through them. So I might as well have been transfigured into an elephant and set free to demolish everything in my way with all the sound I was making.
As a result, Seamus and I had to keep a good distance from Slughorn and his little pack. In fact, we were so far behind that the only things we had to follow was the flickering lights of lit wands in the distance and Slughorn's constant bellows. It was amazing that he hadn't attracted every gruesome creature hidden in the forest.
I only felt worse whenever I managed to catch a glimpse of Seamus' face. We couldn't light up our wands for fear of being noticed and we were so far away that the little light gained from the other group and the pitiful amount of moonlight we got made it even harder for us to move and Seamus was constantly growing more annoyed. With the situation or me I don't know, but every time I saw it, his frown had grown deeper.
"At this rate we'll lose them and get lost in here." He muttered irritably under his breath as he slinked past another branch only to tense when I accidently made it rustle. "This is going to end up pointless."
"I'm sorry." I muttered for the umpteenth time that night. Maybe I should have stayed back and let him search the woods. He'd be alone, but a hell of a lot less noticeable and a lot closer to the light source. Not even looking back, Seamus just patted my shoulder in what I assumed was an attempt at reassurance as he continued on and climbed onto a reasonably thick branch, trying to get a better view.
That gave me an idea. Looking up, I looked over the trees above us and along our path and smiled as I found what I'd hoped for.
"Hey Seamus, why don't we go for the high ground?" I asked excitedly. As my turned to me with what looked like a raised eyebrow, I pointed above us at a thick branch overhead. "The tree branches are so long, thick and interwoven with each other that we can use them as pathways and with a simple spell, I can make balancing on them a breeze. That way our vision of our prey is improved dramatically while we have better camouflage to hide behind."
"Not a bad idea. Not bad at all." Seamus smiled brightly, filling me with pride. "Going for the better cover and bird's eye view at the same time. How very Ravenclaw of you."
"Why thank you." I beamed as I pulled out my wand and cast a levitating charm on myself, floating up until I was standing wobbly on a branch six meters high with Seamus floating up right beside me. With a few precise flicks of my wand and a silent chant, air started to ripple around and cushion our feet, stabilising us on the branches as perfectly as if we were on flat ground.
"Nice spell." Seamus commented, tilting his head as experimented with his feet, walking along the branch without any more difficulty than walking at the beach. "So this will stay effective even when we cross trees?"
"Yep. We have about half an hour before it fades away. But that should be plenty of time." I answered proudly as a smirk grew on Seamus' face. "Plus, the concentrated air will slow down our decent speed, meaning that we can jump longer distances and if we fall we have plenty of time to catch ourselves. It also has the bonus effect of taking most of our weight, so even weaker branches won't snap under us."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go hunting." With that, he took off at a run to the end of the branch and leapt to the next. Finally feeling useful again, as opposed to a hindrance, I let out a soft laugh as I followed him at a more careful pace, pleasantly surprising myself as I discovered that I was actually making much less noise up in the tree than I did on the ground.
Following the lights became relatively easy at that point, both due to the new angle and because my quieter, higher movements let us get in closer, at least geographically. More than once we actually had to stop and let them pull ahead again, my spell and branch path plan making our trek much easier than the random, rough terrain that Slughorn's team had to deal with, thought the centipedes had so little trouble that they'd gotten pretty far ahead.
It wasn't until the time span of my spell was almost up and I pulled my wand out in preparation of casting it again that Slughorn finally stopped his pack in a clearing. One that contained one centipede and a huge tunnel opening.
"What are you doing up here Taxxon?" Slughorn yelled, turning red in the face as his hand dug into his pocket for his wand. "You're supposed to be digger the tunnel to the chamber! We're almost out of TIME!" He screeched as his wand was pointed right for the creature's mouth. However, before could utter a single spell, the creature let out a series of strange, hasty squeaks and shrills that not only stopped Slughorn in his tracks and calmed him down, but also caused all the desperate looking students to sigh loudly in sheer, unadulterated relief.
"Um, I don't suppose speaking giant centipede is in your outstanding list of skills is it?" Seamus muttered lightly as we watched on, his eyes widening at the sight before them.
"Sorry, but no, I haven't picked up my freak of the week language guide lately." I muttered back as I watched Slughorn deflate and lower his wand.
"Good, it's about time." He grumbled, still trying to look intimidating, though it had much less success than before. Without another word, he waved his hand towards the tunnel marched hastily down into it with all of the students practically running down after him while the creature strode off into the woods, probably looking for anything tasty that would fit in its mouth.
"Well, I'd say we found the project Slughorn had these guys working on." I whispered nervously as I watched the centipede scurry away. Terrified shivers coursed through my entire body as a very real possibility crossed my mind. there could be hundreds of those things looking for a good meal around here and I doubt that they'd have any problem climbing trees. "Can we go now? You know, before we're surrounded and ripped apart?"
"Not just yet." Seamus shook his head, though even in the little light I could see that he'd gone pale. I have no doubt in my mind that he was thinking along the same lines as I was. "Now's the best chance we're gonna get at seeing where that tunnel goes. There are other humans inside, meaning that we won't look too suspicious down there if we're seen and less likely to get eaten by the centipedes if they're really working for Slughorn. We need to find out what they're up to."
"I was afraid that you'd say that." I groaned forlornly, but got up anyway and followed him down the tree trunk. If the project that they were working on, and from what I've observed of Slughorn's bellows and the centipedes eating habits is correct then it was making the tunnel itself, was completed and that one centipede had left the area, then it stood to reason that others probably did the same thing. So the tunnel was probably void of them at this precise moment. Meaning that it was the safest place to be.
Obviously, there were many factor that could disprove that theory, but at that point in time I ignored them completely in favour of foolish hope and optimism. It was the only way that I could follow Seamus to the tunnel entrance without screaming and running as fast as I could back towards the castle before even getting halfway to it.
"Blimey, that is deep!" Seamus gaped as we reached the hole in the ground. He wasn't kidding, the moonlight was shining right down into it and it still grew pitch black before you saw so much as turn. "Once we enter, I don't think we'll be coming out for a while."
"Then I suggest that we enter now!" I replied firmly, ignoring the tunnel completely in favour our forever watching our surroundings for any sign of danger. "Before the centipedes decide to return home or Slughorn decides his business here is done and catches us."
"Fair call." Seamus said with a not quite successful grin before taking a deep breath and marching on into the tunnel. Desperately trying to stop myself from shaking, I followed his lead once again, this time grabbing his shoulder and not letting go. If he asked, I'd tell him it was so we wouldn't be split up in the dark cavern, but really, I needed help to stop me falling to my knees in pure terror.
...
I have to admit it wasn't as difficult as I'd imagined. I'd expected the tunnel to be like a mine with numerous passages, an underground maze that was easy to get lost in, but it was very straight forward. A single passage that did twist and turn, rise and fall (mostly fall), but still lead you exactly where those using it intended to go. The only problem was that it seemed to be never ending.
"No wonder Slughorn or whoever's impersonating him got so mad at the creepy creatures being captured." Seamus muttered under his breath as he raised his lit wand, trying and failing to see the end of the tunnel. "Can you imagine the time it would have taken to make this?"
"While simultaneously making sure that it was structurally sound enough not to collapse, it would normally take many months without magic. Maybe even years." I answered immediately as we made our way past another left turn. Furrowing my brow, I pulled my wand out onto my flat palm. "Point me." I whispered, causing my wand to spin until it pointed dead north. "Just as I thought."
"You've been doing that quite a lot. Is something the matter?" Seamus asked curiously a she eyed my hand. "This path has no branches, so why do you feel the need to check our direction?"
"Because I had a theory about where whatever this tunnel leads to is and the general direction we've been travelling in confirms it." I replied as I wrapped my hand tightly around my wand. "In order for Filch to stumble onto their old tunnel that they sealed, it had to be in the castle. And this tunnel leads back towards the castle, although it twirls so much that whoever had it built intended to confuse anyone who wasn't supposed to find it or the creatures got distracted and carried away."
"They made an entrance to some secret place in Hogwarts that far away?" Seamus asked, absolutely bewildered. "And I thought the fact that it goes deep enough for the dirt wall to turn into pure stone was strange enough. Why would they do it so far away?"
"Probably so no one else who wasn't supposed to know about it would find it again." I suggested, it being the most obvious answer. "But it also might have been a geological thing. You know, like the upper levels of soil closer to the school being insufficient to sustain a safe opening. The dirt below however, might have the right structural density."
"So you know about building mines too?" Seamus asked, smiling lightly as his confusion disappeared. "Do you know how big of an explosion I can make in here too?"
"In theory, yes. But I don't recommend making one at all." I added hastily, growing worried as I watched his smile grow. "Muggle use them to help extend their mines, but even in the most controlled situations they can still turn around and cause a cave in."
"Don't worry, I wasn't plannin to kill us." Seamus chuckled softly. Realising that he was teasing me, I folded my arms and pouted, further annoying myself a moment later when I realised that I was acting like a little kid. But I couldn't help it. Sometimes I wondered if I had a note stuck to my back: super nerd, tease me!
I guess Seamus decided that he'd taken it a little too far as he turned a little sheepish and opened his mouth a for an obvious apology, however, it was cut short as we turned another corner to find, as cliché as it sounded, a light at the end of the tunnel. But what caught our attention even more was the noises that were coming from it. Though it was faint, I could distinctly make out a sloshing sound, similar to the small ripples of water crashing into the shore of the lake on the surface. Along with it was the sound of Slughorn barking orders, some deep, gravelly voices that responded in broken English and a faint humming sound that made me think of winged insects only MUCH louder.
"Looks like we found it." I muttered nervously, my voice barely above a squeak as Seamus whispered Nox and put out the light of his wand. "So are we going in or are we running back out?"
"We're going to those rocks piled by the entrance." Seamus whispered, crouching low as he slowly made his way to the outcropping of large boulders three feet past the doorway. "Keep your wand in hand and stay low. Be ready to run and fight."
Barely stopping myself from whimpering as a loud scream and what sounded like the thump of someone crashing to the ground, I dropped to all fours and crawled after Seamus, not trusting myself to move quietly enough any other way. slowly reaching the boulders, I spared a look at Seamus first as I sat up on my haunches and turned absolutely bewildered at the sight of him. His face was still as stone with his eyes as wide as they could get and his jaw dropped low enough for me to comfortably put my fist in his mouth. He was literally shocked still. Suddenly curious beyond belief at what could possibly render the stealthy, witty Gryffindor into a stone statue, I turned to what I thought would be a cavern and fell right into almost the exact same state, though mine probably held a little more curiosity and a lot more horror.
This was no crude, centipede made cavern. This wasn't even recent construction. This was ancient, legendary and infamous.
It had clearly been altered more recently, but even without ever being told the slightest detail about what this place looked like, I knew exactly where we were. From where this new tunnel connected to it was a long, shiny, stone walkway with pools of grey sludge filled water on either side of it. At the end of it, it connected to stone walls on the sides with another, deeper pool of the same liquid in front of it. On the other side of that pool was a stone wall with an absolutely HUGE carving of a man's head. And if that wasn't enough information to assume where we were, the two shallower pools had serpent statues all along the pathway. And near the deeper pool was all that remained of the deadly Basilisk that ran wild throughout the school in my second year.
We'd just followed the weird Slughorn's group right into the Chamber of Secrets! I didn't know anyone still at the school even knew where it was, let alone have the ability to enter it. The only people known to have the necessary talent to open the door were Potter and You Know Who themselves.
"This is simply unreal." Seamus seemed to have found his voice and when I finally stopped staring dumbstruck at the chamber, I found that his eyes were zipping around their sockets like lightning. "How is any of this stuff working?" He cried in pure disbelief as his eyes focused on the ceiling. "I've never seen anything like that before, but I know Muggle technology when I see it and Granger was forever beating into our heads the Muggle toys don't work at Hogwarts."
Following his line of sight, I focused my eyes on an odd, black device hanging above the very centre of the room. It reminded me of the multi-globe bathroom lights Muggles use, only it was more egg shaped and it was shining red rays into the grey, sludgy water, giving it a faint pink glow. A thick cord was connected to it and following it down, I found a strange, square device the size of a book cupboard with lots of buttons that kind of reminded me of something from that Star Trek show Terry became obsessed with when we decided to try out the Muggles' televisions before our sixth year.
"Hurry up and take the wands!" Shock ran through my system once again as Slughorn restarted his bellowing. However, this time it was by what he'd just said. Snapping our eyes back to the biggest dry area, we simultaneously dropped our jaws and gawked as not only Slughorn, but every one of the students with him handed their wands to what looked like humanoid lizards. Those things had deadly looking blades and horns all over their bodies and they were giving them their wands? A wizard never wants to be separated from their wand at the best of times. Not only are we defenceless without them, a very dangerous state to be in with those walking death traps walking out of what looked like tunnels in the stone walls, but we are very sentimental about them. I know from experience that being separated from your wand was like losing a limb. A wizard never gives it up willingly.
"It seems he's finally accepted that he can't escape, so don't grab so tightly this time! When I come back in here, I don't want to have to get any deep cuts healed again. That medic is a pain to listen to." Slughorn went on as he walked up to the very edge of the pool below Salazar's face and kneeled down. I watched, thoroughly confused yet again much to my irritation, as he waited for two of the bladed lizards to clasp firmly onto his arms before tilting his head to the side and leaning over the water. A few seconds later his tense body turned slack and something dark and small fell...right out of his ear? And into the pool.
"What was that?" Even as I asked, my attention was already turning back to Slughorn as he suddenly started shaking erratically. That hard arse attitude he'd had before was completely gone, replaced by the cowardly personality I was used to seeing from him.
Then there was the lizard creatures! In the time span of five seconds, they went from obedient minions to harsh masters. Snarling at Slughorn, they forced him onto his feet dragged him towards the tunnels...which on closer inspection I noticed had prison bars on small cells that looked like they used to be piped passages for water to flow in or out of the chamber.
"I...I can't get my head around this." Seamus gulped as he watched Slughorn twitch sporadically. "One second he's completely out of character, cruel and in charge, then a slug looking thing falls from his ear and his servants are his jailors. What is going on?"
I couldn't answer him. I had no idea. I just watched on as the process was repeated with each student, one after the other. However, their reactions after what Seamus assured me were slugs was different. Some screamed for help while others tried to break free only for a blade to be placed very closely under their throats, ending it instantly. It was a first year that scared me the most though. Even from so far away and behind everyone, I could see her crumble in the lizards' arms. And as they turned her towards the cells, her face was displayed with the saddest, most broken expression I'd ever seen. Like she'd given up all hope and was wishing for nothing more than her life to end.
"What have they done to these people?"
"I don't know. We can find out when we've got them out of here." Seamus replied aggressively, a look of intense rage blazing across his face as he moved to stand up, his wand arm tensed for action.
"NO!" I hissed fearfully as I whipped my arm out and yanked him back down, startling him so much that I had to cover his mouth with my free hand to prevent being heard. "We can't save them now! We're seriously outnumbered in here by bladed creatures we know nothing about with who knows how many more of them nearby, giant, carnivorous centipedes that could come up behind us at any time and the prisoners' wands have already disappeared." I said hastily, wildly waving my arms from one example of my speech to the next. "Those guys could be resistant to magic for all we know and the prisoners are defenceless."
"We can't just leave them like this!" Seamus hissed back fiercely, rage pouring from his eyes. In any normal situation that look coming my way would have scared me right into shutting up and backing down, but at that point I was far beyond fear. Self preservation had brought back my logical mindset and brought an overwhelming amount of stubbornness along with it.
"If we try to help them now we will fail." I whispered heatedly, looking right into his fiery eyes with my own icy cold ones. "And then at best, they suffer more than they are now and worst case scenario, we all die or we join them in their gloom. If we leave without them knowing we were here then we can get help from the DA and increase our chances. It's our best option."
Seamus glared at me as I talked and when I was done, I just glared right back. the simple fact was that I was right. I could tell that he knew it too, he just didn't want to believe it. I didn't like it either, but we had no choice if we actually wanted to succeed. After a few more moments, Seamus broke eye contact with me and sighed sadly, nodding his head.
"You're right. We'll wait here a few more minutes and see if we can gain any more information on this place and what's going on, then we'll leave." He conceded before biting his lip and staring back out at the chamber. Leaving him to gather details on the area, I focused more on my ears, listening intently to everything said.
"Don't worry young one, we still have a chance at freedom." I scrunched my eyes shut tight and tried to block everything else out as Slughorn's extremely faint voice carried over to me. it was only the miracle of a very strong echo residing in this place that I heard it at all and if anything was going to give me some answers, it would be the prisoners. "Remember, they won't infest too many of us while the war's still going on. Not unless they get You Know Who anyway and you know that won't happen. That leaves plenty of time and people to find out about us and save us. Either side of the war could stop them and neither will want them here. we'll be free one day, I promise."
"This is a new side!" I gasped quietly, instantly getting Seamus' attention. "These guys aren't working with the Death Eaters, they're their own side and they're just setting themselves up in preparation for when us and the Death Eaters cripple each other."
"How do you-"
"I listened in on Slughorn over there." I cut him off, straining my ears again to pick up the continuing conversation. My ears perked up as a particular piece of information reached them, albeit brokenly, but it was enough for me to understand.
"You have some REALLY impressive ears there." Seamus muttered, nibbling his lower lip as he tried and apparently failed to listen in. "I'm getting nothing but a garble. Maybe one clear word a sentence."
"Try listening to debating Ravenclaws." I respond with a small grin. "You have to have good ears to understand what even one person right next to you is saying when they start up. Now I think we better get out of here before we're caught."
"Yeah, I doubt we'll get any more information right now anyway." Seamus nodded. With that, we dropped down low and crept our way back up the tunnel, lighting our wands and breaking into a jog as soon as the chamber entrance disappeared from view.
...
My legs were killing me by the time we made it near the exit. The castle was a great source of exercise, but the night's activities still were far beyond what I was used to and it was only by supporting myself on the tunnel wall that I was able to continue stumbling along after Seamus. Thanks to everything he's been doing in the castle lately, his fitness had made definite improvements, though even he was beginning to tire out.
As the opening that marked the end of the tunnel came in sight, my body started shaking nervously again, only making it harder not to fall down. Plenty of time had passed for those centipedes to eat or whatever they were doing and any number of them could be coming back in. we'd been lucky that none had appeared so far, but the closer we got to the exit...
"Keep your wand at the ready." Seamus ordered, his own wand switching from the usual light spell to a fire spell. Bringing the water spell to the forefront of my mind in case his flames got out of hand, I pulled my wand arm back, ready to fire a spell at the first sign of danger.
However, as we took the first two steps out into the cool, fresh night air, neither of us managed to react in time as a giant centipede rushed from behind us. By the time we heard its excited screeching, it had already jumped over the hole and landed right on us as we turned, slamming us into the ground and pegging us down with its bulk and pincers while our wands flew from our hands to the far reaches of the clearing.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" I couldn't help the scream that left my mouth as I struggled in vain to get up, only screaming louder as the pincers ripped my skin open along my left arm and hip in my attempt. Beside me, Seamus wasn't much better, barely holding in his own screams as he punched the creature's long, circular body as best he could. However, the creature didn't seem to feel or care for any of it. It just started drooling as its long, sharp teeth descended towards my head.
"HHHHEEEEEELLLLLPPPPP!" I screamed, not caring who heard me. they could infest me straight after saving me for I cared at that point, anything sounded better than having my head bitten right off.
And as cliché as it seemed, just as the centipede's mouth consumed my vision, a howl pierced my ears and the centipede was abruptly ripped right off me, its razor sharp tooth only nicking the side of my chin. A small price to pay for being rescued from a beheading. Gasping loudly as my system was flooded with more relief than I'd ever felt in my life, I sat up and turned my head to find the centipede struggling with a large, grey beast as they rolled across the clearing before springing apart and staring each other down. Checking out my saviour, I felt my heart pump harder as recognised it as a wolf.
Ok, where do I start on how weird this is? I thought before I could stop myself as the two leaped at each other again. I'm sure my face glowed with amazement as I watched the wolf easily weave around the centipede's mouth before sinking its fangs effortlessly through one of its many legs, eliciting a shriek from the centipede as the leg came clean off.
Running a small distance behind the centipede, the wolf dropped the bleeding leg on the ground, and waited for its next move.
Seamus on the other hand, was much more focused than I was. Instead of watching the bloody battle of beasts, he'd jumped right onto his feet and ran from one side of the clearing to the other.
"Come on, we need some distance." He muttered firmly, thrusting my wand into my hand as he dragged me up to my feet by the other and ran back into the trees. Shaking my head clear, I pulled my hand free of his grasp and followed on my own, though never letting my eyes stray from the fight for long.
I watched from the behind a tree trunk as the wolf crouched back, eyeing the centipede as it approached, not moving an inch. Meanwhile, the centipede seemed to be struggling and I wasn't talking about an issue with walking, it was still moving perfectly fine. It seemed to be trying to focus on the dangerous predatory before it, but its head kept dropping towards its severed leg, staring at it hungrily. As it lowered its head towards it the third time, I finally noticed that the side bleeding out was pointed directly at the centipede, as if it was done on purpose and it reminded me of what Hagrid had said about them attacking each other once they'd started bleeding. It had to be like a shark, the scent of blood was impossible for it to ignore.
I was proven right and disgusted as it gave out another screech, dashed right to its leg and dropped its head right down to the ground to eat it, ignoring the wolf completely. That, as much as it surprised me, seemed to be exactly what the wolf was waiting for, for within an instant it pounced right at the centipede, dug its front claws into its back and sunk its teeth right between it two upper eyes. The creature didn't even have time to screech around its mouthful...of itself, before it dropped like a rock and didn't rise again.
"Come on!" Seamus hissed quietly, grabbing my arm again and trying to drag me away. "We have to go, before that wolf decides to attack us."
But I wouldn't budge. "That's not a normal wolf." I said as I narrowed my eyes, observing everything I could about the non-magical super predator before me. The wolf seemed to be observing the hole before it raised its head and turned our way, making Seamus tense and suck in a sharp breath beside me. "Normal wolves travel in packs and the only time they hunt bigger prey than themselves is when the prey is sick or old. They're well known for keeping herds strong and lowering their numbers enough to preserve the plant life. And to top it all off, wolves haven't existed anywhere near England or Scotland for hundreds of years! How did this one get here?"
"Who cares? Let's figure it out later, just as soon as we're sure that there is a later." Seamus replied insistently. At the back of my mind, I couldn't help but take a little amusement at our little roll change. Now he was the nervous one while I was calm and collected. Funny how things turn out.
"I think it's an Animagus." I said as if I didn't hear him, trying to follow it as it ran into the trees on the other side of the clearing. "It had human intelligence. And it had knowledge of the creature. It knew that it would go for the ripped off leg and pointed the bleeding side at it deliberately to tempt it further. And all that's ignoring the fact that it went after that vicious thing when we're here, hurt and defenceless. It intentionally joined in to save us."
"If that's the case, then let's think about it more when we are safe." Seamus demanded. I gasped as he got fed up and grabbed me by the shoulders, forcing me to look at him.
"But if I'm right, then whoever it is might be able to tell us what's going on." I said, staring at him perplexedly. Why wouldn't he want that kind of help?
"True, but even if you are right, staying here will probably only force it to protect us again." Seamus responded, waving an arm wildly around the area. "This is the Forbidden Forest, remember? There's plenty of dangerous creatures in here that we're still at risk of and who knows how many more of those centipedes are running around? We know there's plenty more of them nearby."
Ok, that sent the cold shivers down my spine again. Paling, shaking and feeling my throat dry and tighten, I just nodded in response. There was no way that I was getting a distinguishable word out with visions of those things swarming me running through my mind. Sighing as he realised that he got through to me, Seamus let go of one of my shoulders and loosened his grip on the other in a more comforting manner as he guided me back the way we came. He was right, there would be plenty of time for speculation later. And there sure was a lot to think about.
When I volunteered for my first mission, I thought it would be simple. How naive of me. Nothing around here is ever simple.