Marik
The second room was fairly identical to the room they had just previously been in. The size and shape of the room were exactly the same and similar grey bricks lined the walls on each side of them. Just as the room before, only one of the walls on the far side of this room had a door at its center. The only real difference between the two rooms was the lack of a large floating dice at this room's center.
Instead of a dice, this room had a large black stone monolith standing tall. The monolith had four large, rectangular sides from the looks of it and extended at its peak to reach the ceiling above them. Unlike the floating and moving dice in the previous room, the monolith in this room stood fixed and unmoving as the lone feature of the room.
"I don't think I had enough coffee for this today," he groaned as the three of them took in all of the sights of the room.
"Me either," Harry added.
"Okay, same as last room, let's all look around first and see what we can find," Hermione told them and at once they all split up to check around the room. Outside of the towering monolith there really was not much else to look at, unless you were in the mood for counting bricks. On the floor there were only a few scattered stones scattered across the ground here and there along with a few sticks but other than that pretty much all. After he felt like he had examined enough of the room Marik went over to help Hermione examine the monolith closer.
"See anything that stands out yet?" he asked her as he made his way next to where she was crouched over.
"Kind of. There are four, circular holes at the bottom of each side of the pillar, and each one of the holes has a series of carved lines that run out of it, look here," Hermione explained as she pointed at the bottom of the pillar. Sure enough at the very bottom of the center of the pillar on each of the four sides was a small circular hole about the width of a baseball. The circles each had two lines that were running out of the circle. One of the lines ran a few feet straight up the monolith before it ran into an X-shaped marking, and the other line ran out of the bottom of the circle until almost the floor, where it stopped only a few inches above the ground at the edge of the monolith.
"Hey guys I found something," Harry announced from the other side of the room. He and Hermione turned to see what it was Harry had found.
"What is it?" he asked, squinting his eyes in an attempt to see what Harry was holding up.
"These rocks over here. I thought hey were just rubble on the ground but each of them have another letter carved into them. I don't think that is another coincidence."
"How many rocks did you find that have letters on them Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Just four. I looked over all the others but can't find anymore than that," Harry answered.
"One for each hole?" Marik said, turning to meet Hermione's eyes.
"That's what I was thinking too," Hermione replied, the cogs in her head turning.
"Harry tell us the letters, Hermione write them down below the letters for the last room," Marik called out. Hermione took out the transfigured parchment and quill again.
"Okay, I'm ready," Hermione called out to Harry.
"Okay, they are p, w, m, e. Got em?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Yeah, p, w, m, e. That doesn't spell out anything either. Unless the clue is mewp," Hermione said as she looked over her parchment.
"Do any of the holes in the monolith look different than one another?" Harry asked the two of them.
"No they all look the exact same, and each side of the monolith has the same design with its lines too."
"We have to be missing something then. . . Does the door have any magic on it again?" he asked, peering his head around the monolith to look at the door.
"No, I already checked that. And nothing in here matches the clue Dumbledore gave us that I can think of," Harry replied.
"The only thing I could think of from the story would be maybe the even a wizard solving what looked like puzzles part," Hermione added.
"Hmm. . ." was all he said as he stood up to look around the room some more. They all seemed fairly stumped on this puzzle.
Four stones with letters, four holes. . . He thought to himself. He made his way over to door to check it again and make sure they had not overlooked anything.
Harry was right though, he couldn't sense any magic on the door. He tried to pull on the handle, hopeful that it would just open, but no such luck. His head was starting to hurt again from all of this thinking. He backed away from the door and started to turn back towards the monolith when his eye caught something near the ceiling above the door.
Just barely visible above the door was a small patch of carvings, that appeared to be carved in a slightly darker shade of grey than the wall, making it almost impossible to see unless you were looking at it directly. He squinted his eyes and tried to make out what the carvings on the wall were.
The marking's looked familiar, but it was hard to tell what they meant.
Where had he seen markings like this before. . .
"RUNES!" he shouted in excitement as it finally came to him.
Damn you coffee for not helping me out more. He thought to himself, disappointed that it had taken him that long of staring at the markings to recognize what they were.
"What?" Harry asked him, sounding confused from the other side of the dungeon. Marik was too caught up in his thoughts though to answer him. Instead he ran over to the dungeon wall to his left and started looking around on its surface trying to confirm his hypothesis before he explained.
"I'm a genius!" he shouted out as he found another set of markings at the center of the next wall as well, in the exact same spot as the first set of marking he had. It appeared each of the four walls surrounding the monolith had markings carved into them at the same spot at the rooms center near the ceiling.
"Debatable. What did you find?" Hermione asked as she and Harry made their way over to where he was looking.
"Okay, tell me if I am wrong on anything. We found four stones with letters on them right?"
"Right," they both replied in unison.
"And if I am correct there was also two sticks near the stones right?"
"Yeah?" Harry replied, looking confused still.
"I am a genius!" he shouted again with a grin.
"Oh just freaking tell us already!" Hermione screamed at him, annoyed.
"Oh, yeah, sorry. We have to carve runes! The four stones Harry found are rough-rune stones I bet, and the sticks we can transfigure into rune staves. One rune for each of the holes on the monolith. On the wall opposite of each side of the monolith there is already a rune carved into the wall. Look," he explained to them and pointed with his wand at the markings on the wall above them.
"Okay, it makes sense. But what do the letters on the stones mean, and what do the runes on the wall have to do with things?" Harry asked him.
"I haven't gotten that far yet. . ." he mumbled out.
"Genius my ass. . ." Hermione whispered. He glared at her as she did.
"Well what are the runes on the wall? Let's start with figuring out what those are and maybe that will clear things up," Harry said to them, trying to keep things positive.
"Yeah, sounds like a plan. Hermione give me the extra parchment you transfigured and the quill," he said, turning to Hermione.
"Here," Hermione replied as she handed him the materials he asked for. Marik levitated a piece of parchment up onto the spot of the wall where the first carving was and ordered the quill to began tracing it. He repeated this on the markings on the other three walls until they had all four carvings traced and could examine their markings more closely on the parchment.
"Hermione you take those two, I will take these," he told her as he handed Hermione two pieces of the parchment to look at as he began to look over the two pieces of parchment in his hands. Thankfully the carvings were simple enough, both were runes that you learned in your second year of runes class, and only took him a few minutes of examination to decipher.
"You able to tell what they are?" he asked Hermione as he finished reading his.
"Yeah, this one is a physical strength boosting one and this one is an energy draining rune. What were yours?" Hermione asked him as she laid the two pieces of parchment on the ground.
"This one was an magic boost rune and this one was a magic nullifying rune," he explained and set the two pieces of parchment down next to Hermione's.
"So what does that tell us?" Harry asked them. Harry had never taken runes before so this room was certainly not playing to his strengths.
"No clue," Hermione was the first to answer.
Strength boost, energy draining, magic boost, and magic nullifying. . . He thought to himself.
"They are anti-pairs!" He shouted out in excitement.
"Huh?" Harry replied, looking confused.
"Strength boosting runes are an anti-pair rune to energy draining runes, and magic boosting runes are an anti-pair rune to magic nullifying runes, meaning you can't use the runes together at the same time or combine them in a combination rune. They would just negate each other if you did. For example, if you use a physical strength boosting rune like this one first you would feel much stronger. If you then used an energy drain rune it would cancel out the the first rune and you would just feel normal," he explained, hoping it made sense to them.
"Yeah, you are right; but what do we do with that information?" Hermione asked him as she too thought over the possibility.
"The anti-pairs are opposite each other on the wall, so maybe that means something?" he answered, not sounding too sure himself.
"What about the letters on the stones?" Harry asked.
"And the lines on the monolith," Hermione added.
"Maybe the lines are a path. There are two lines coming out from each rune socket on the monolith, so maybe we have to somehow form a path with the runes on the wall to the runes on the monolith or something."
"Which path do the lines take?" Harry asked them.
"One goes straight up and meets and X, the other goes straight down," Hermione answered.
"What if it isn't up and down, but forwards and backwards?" he asked Hermione, hoping she followed his trail of thinking.
"So we have to connect the rune already carved into the wall, to a rune we place in the empty rune socket on the monolith facing it," Hermione thought out loud.
"And maybe the X that the line meets means stop, or no. So maybe then the line running into the X means that the rune we place needs to not connect with the rune on the opposite side of the monolith too, meaning the rune on the opposite side of the monolith needs to be an anti-pair to the one we place on the on the monolith. Make sense?".
"Not at all," Harry answered bluntly.
"Yeah, it does. But how do we path that out?" Hermione asked again. She seemed to be following his train of thought.
"Well the runes we place on the monolith are being placed into a single object," he started to explain, thinking it all over more in his head.
"So we have to carve four runes that can have their effects stacked then without any of them being an anti-pair to another one of the runes we place in the monolith," Hermione continued to think out loud.
"Maybe, yeah," he replied not sure how exactly that was possible.
"And we can assume the runes you both carve need to start with the letters on the stones," Harry added.
"Why do you figure that?" he asked.
"Well the letters obviously mean something. The spells we cast in the first room all started with letters on their appropriate sides of the dice. So I think it is safe to assume it will be the same here." Harry answered.
"I think Harry is right. We should try to solve it doing it that way first, if that doesn't work we will start over," Hermione replied.
"Okay, let's take it a rune at a time then. Harry since you don't know runes can you transfigure those sticks into rune staves while we get started?" he asked Harry as his mind immediately started to think.
"On it," Harry replied and headed to get the sticks.
"Okay, so let's start by doing a rune at a time, and let's begin with the physical strength boosting rune on this wall." She made his way over to the first wall. "What is a rune that can be a combination rune to a physical strength boost rune and and starts with p, w, m, or e?" Hermione asked him.
"Hmm. . . a power boosting rune would work, they are in the same rune family and it starts with p," He answered.
"Okay, so we have three letters and runes left now. Should we go the rune on the opposite side of the monolith or what next?" Hermione asked him as she crossed off the p on her parchment and wrote down power boost rune under it.
"Let's try opposite first," he answered, still not entirely sure what they were doing was right.
"Okay, well that means we need a combination rune to an energy rune that starts with w, m, or e, and is an anti-pair rune to a power boost rune," Hermione said, reading off from her list.
"Wait a second. What do we know about enchanting monoliths?" he asked, another possible idea coming to mind.
"Uhh I only remember reading a little bit about them under one of the enchanting sections in one my books but not much," Harry answered, bringing he and Hermione the newly transfigured rune staves.
"What is a monoliths magical purpose though? I know they have a specific purpose but I can't recall" he asked again.
"They just hold magical energy, They are used to store magic or as sources to draw magic from," Harry replied.
"So what if we need to fulfill its purpose too then."
"You mean fill it with magic using the runes we carve?" Hermione asked him curiously.
"Exactly yeah," He replied quickly.
"Is that possible to do with all of the variables we already have? I mean we already have to use runes that are combination runes to their partner rune on the wall, start with the right letter, are anti-pairs to the rune opposite them on the monolith, and now also power the monolith. How can you even power the monolith if the runes we place into it all have an anti-pair that will negate them?" Hermione asked him, looking annoyed and confused at the puzzle before them.
"It is possible. . . The order is important though," he answered, more solutions coming to mind the more he thought.
"How?" Hermione asked.
"Just follow me as I work through this, If I keep talking I am going to overthink this and lose my train of thought. Hermione start carving that power boosting rune for me," He said as he set out thinking of the second rune to carve.
For the second rune that they would place on the opposite side of the monolith from the power boosting rune, they would need a rune that was a combination rune to an energy draining rune, an anti-pair to a power boost rune, and started with w, m, or e. A weakening rune would fit the criteria. The rune acted the same as an energy draining rune, only weakening the person's magical energy. And a weaken magic rune was certainly an anti-pair with a power boosting rune.
"Okay, Harry, cross of the w and write weaken magic rune on it," he told Harry who quickly picked up the parchment and did as he was told. Marik continued to think over the puzzle in his head, trying desperately not to lose his train of thought. Next, he needed a rune that started with m or e, and could be a combination rune with a magic boosting rune. He tried to think of something for a few minutes as Hermione finished the first rune and began to carve the second rune but nothing came. Taking a break from that rune he tried to come up with the last rune first.
For the last rune it would need also need to start with either m or e and be a combination rune to a magic nullifying rune. That one was fairly simple, an erase magic rune would do the trick and fill the criteria. Now he just needed the last rune.
"Okay, Hermione I need your help. Harry before I forget cross out the e and write erase magic rune. Hermione we need a rune that starts with m and is a combination rune to a magic boost rune and an anti-pair to an erase magic rune. I can't think of anything."
"Are you sure that we used the right letters for the others?" Harry interrupted.
"Yeah, I am, well, kind of. Follow my train of thought here. If my theory is correct then we have to power the monolith too right? So with that in mind, I chose the weakening rune first to weaken the monolith and fit the needed rune combination with the energy drain rune.
"From there we will insert the erase magic rune, which is a combination rune to the magic nullifying rune. The erase magic rune will erase all of the weakening effects the first rune did to the monolith, basically putting it back to square one as an empty monolith.
"This is where I am stumped though. I need a rune that can get some magic into the rune, because I was planning on using the power boost rune last to power up the monolith. Only problem is we need there to be some magic already in the monolith in the first place before we can power it." He explained his train of thought. Harry looked at him lost, Hermione however was already looking deep in thought.
"How about a magic insertion rune?" Hermione asked him.
"I've never heard of that one, what does it do?" he asked, amazed that Hermione knew of a rune that he didn't.
"Yes you have. It's what healer's use at St. Mungos for patients that are suffering from magic deficiency. They used the runes on you when you were there back in second year. The carver places some magic energy into the rune and then places the rune onto something or someone. The magic is transferred into whatever it is placed onto and through the rune's magic begins creating more magic. Your rune-tattoo magic uses the same principal too. In a living being it helps to recreate and regenerate magic, however in an object it will transfer a little bit of magic. But if you boost it that should still work."
"Can it be a combination to a magic boosting rune?" he asked.
"Yeah, it can. Again, it's exactly what St. Mungos does. When a patient is suffering from magical deficiency they give them magic creation runes to transfer small amounts of magic into the patient then follow it up with magic boosting potions or runes to help regenerate the lost magic."
"Hermione you are a genius!" he proclaimed as he thought over what she had explained in his head. The rune would fit perfectly in his strategy.
"I know." Hermione replied with a confident smile. "Now you carve the third rune and I will carve the magic creation rune," Hermione said and tossed him the remaining rune stave and blank rune. Slowly they carved the runes, neither of them wanting to risk rushing things and messing up on a line. After an intense ten minutes of slow carving they at last finished the final touches on all of the runes.
"Okay, so give me all of the runes," he said, and took the runes from his two friends. "So first we will place the weakening rune to weaken the monolith," he announced as he placed the rune into the socket at the bottom of the monolith. A white line formed on the floor, starting from the rune and running all the way up to the rune across from it on the wall. Nothing else happened thankfully.
"Okay, next I will place the erase magic rune to erase any current magic inside the monolith," he announced again and placed the second rune into its socket. Another white light formed on the floor, sprouting between the newly placed rune on the monolith and the one on the wall just as the first rune had done.
"Next, I will place the magic creation rune that our all-mighty-minotaur-slayer thought of to add some magic into the monolith," he said again, and again placed the third rune into the monolith. Another white line formed on the ground as he did so.
"And lastly, I will place the power boost rune to boost the magic in the monolith and finish this damn puzzle!" he shouted as he placed the final rune into place. Another white light formed on the ground and the monolith began glowing a bright hue of white light that filled the dim dungeon room. With a powerful burst of bright magical energy all of the light inside the dungeon vanished and a loud screeching sound as the door to the next room opened.
"It worked!" he shouted, somewhat in disbelief that it actually had.
"I am impressed Marik," Hermione admitted, giving him a pat on the back.
"Why thank you Miss Granger," he replied, giving her a sarcastic bow.
"None of that made any sense to, but I am glad you guys understood it," Harry said as the three of them quickly bolted for the door and made their way into the next room.
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