Chapter 22 - The Chimaera

The voice boomed at Harry. "If you leave, you will not be allowed back, Harry Potter!" Harry felt as though an ice cube had slipped into his stomach, but he had made up his mind. He wasn't quite sure how he did it, but he managed to throw himself out of the swirling vortex of time, and he landed, sprawled on the platform. Looking back, he saw the dark figures dissolve into the air, no trace of them being left inside the maelstrom that was time.

The Hurricane kept going, roaring at Harry, who came to his senses and turned around. He ran as fast as he could down the small path that was between the platform and the chamber, and as he came in, he was a breathtaking, horrifying sight.

Ginny was screaming, the monster had lifted her into the air above its head, and she was twisting and kicking at it. The monster hadn't seen Harry, and it pulled Ginny away from the torch on the wall that she had been clinging to, and she fell to the floor. This also had the effect of throwing the monster into sharp relief.

It was huge. Its lion head let out a savage roar, as its vicious dragon tail whipped through the air like a deadly sword. Its body was in the form of a goat, and the creature reared backwards, preparing to pounce at Ginny. It was a Chimaera.

Harry leapt forwards. "Impeditia!" he yelled. The Chimaera, who had been up on two legs, was knocked straight over onto its side. "Ginny, run!" Harry yelled at her, helping her up as he put himself between him and the monster.

The Chimaera staggered to its feet, the effect of the charm having worn off alarmingly quickly, and it looked around for who had attacked it. Upon seeing Harry, it let out a deafening roar that sent a shiver down Harry's spine, and it dived at Harry. Harry tried to move, but too late, the lion's head crashed into his shoulder, knocking him onto the floor. He whirled around and stood up, as the Chimaera charged again.

This time he was quick enough. He dived to one side and the Chimaera smashed into the wall behind him with terrifying force, enough indeed, to dislodge many rocks from the ceiling above. One of the larger ones came crashing down by the exit to the chamber, separating Harry from Ginny, who was screaming behind the rock.

Harry looked around as the Chimaera tried to extricate itself from the wall. He couldn't keep diving out the way all the time, and as he looked around his eyes fell upon the path leading up to the platform. Through the small gap he could still see the swirling hurricane whipping around in the chasm of life, although it had started to slow. He knew it was his only hope.

As finally the Chimaera managed to pull itself free, Harry hid behind the table, and aimed at a point in the wall by the path.

"Reducto!" he whispered. But it didn't work, and instead of the spell distracting the monster by making a small explosion, it bounced backwards, and hit the table that Harry was hiding behind.

The table exploded in a cloud of dust, and the Chimaera let out an enraged roar, and charged at Harry again.

"Impeditia!" Harry yelled, and once again the Chimaera was knocked backwards off its feet. "Ginny go! Get out!" Harry shouted at her, she had to run, didn't she get it? Harry circled around the monster, desperately trying to lure it away from Ginny and towards the platform. Harry knew he was using himself as bait, knew it would be almost impossible to lure the Chimaera into the vortex without throwing himself in too, but still he did it.

He edged his way towards the path that left the chamber, the Chimaera's bright red eyes tracking him every step.

"C'mon," Harry muttered, "C'mon..." Harry had done this once before, against a dragon in his fourth year, but without his Firebolt, he knew it would be much harder. He carefully walked backwards towards the path – and he knew he would have to make sure the Chimaera followed him around the corner. He aimed carefully at one of the torch brackets behind the monster.

"Engorgio!" He cried. The torch started to swell up, the Chimaera turned around and reared away from the ever-growing flame, it put out its hoof- like feet in a desperate, futile attempt at putting the fire out, but still it was backing away from the flame, towards Harry.

"Reducto!" Harry bellowed, and the torch exploded in a cloud of sparks. The Chimaera turned to face Harry, its eyes blazing with rage, and it took off after him. Harry turned and sprinted back up the path to the platform, and he turned around as the Chimaera rounded the corner and faced him. It ran its hoof along the floor much like an enraged bull. Its eyes were gleaming with a mad hatred that Harry had never seen before, such burning desire to kill, and Harry felt truly afraid. His shaking hand held his wand out in front of him, as the Chimaera bent its back legs, ready to spring.

And then it happened. The evil monster sprang towards Harry, who dived out of the way at the last second. Harry hit the wall, and his head exploded with pain, but he turned around, as he saw the Chimaera desperately trying to skid to a halt. It stopped, teetering on the edge of the platform, and Harry pulled out his wand again, and took careful aim at the back of the Chimaera.

"Fetworthia!" He bellowed. It was the advanced form of the banishing charm that Harry had learnt with Professor Diggory, and it charged with a howling of noise into the back of the Chimaera. The Chimaera let out a roar as its feet left the ground, and it flew into the hurricane.

For a few seconds Harry watched the Chimaera spinning, roaring in enraged confusion, and the howling hurricane intensified. Harry back away from the edge of the platform, which started to crumble and fell inwards, as from somewhere inside the maelstrom a piercing, blinding light erupted. Harry covered his eyes, trying to ignore the burning pain he felt inside his head, before slowly turning back. He held a hand above his head so he could see a bit better.

The Chimaera was still inside the vortex, though the light was coming from inside it. Like in the Ministry of Magic, Harry watched time flow, as the Chimaera shrank downwards, into a baby Chimaera, into an egg, then back out of the egg. All the while the roaring continued, although it ranged from a high pitched squeal of the baby to the deafening, full-blown roar of the adult.

Harry could only watch in horror, as the Chimaera's roar became one of pain, is body separated into its three sections. The tail was dragged around the hurricane like some lethal flail, and the roaring had abruptly ceased.

After a few seconds of foreboding silence, there was an ear-splitting explosion from inside the hurricane. The Chasm of Life was collapsing.