They spent the next few hours testing Harry's magic in various locations throughout the cavern. Snape came up with the idea to infuse rocks and leave them placed within the different structures which seemed to be made to hold something, but which were empty. Snape said that he had questioned the queen during Harry's first attempt to project his magic.
"She kept calling it a heart and described how it amplified subtle vibration, sending it out again through these tubular chambers. I gathered that under optimum conditions, these structures create a kind of perpetual engine, yet now the queen is too weak to sustain it. A heart pumps and distributes. This thing is some kind of energetic factory, crippled by something. The queen's power is born here. Since it can no longer use its natural source of fuel, your magic appears to be a potential substitute. But how to keep it going, without your physical presence?"
Yeah, how? Harry didn't see himself part-timing it for these people. He wasn't meant to be underground and he wasn't going to forgive this anytime soon.
"It sounds like my magic isn't really compatible with all of this," he said.
"On the contrary, your magic is amplified by the Elder Wand. It's the only thing we have that is a stimulant to this material. I think the structures that we see form a device. A greater organ, if you will. This formation with the tubes, it reeks of specific purpose and calibration. Your daughter was pacified here and the queen's child rested here, when neither were at peace elsewhere, we're told. I want them brought back in here. We must see what your magic does when they occupy those empty spaces."
Harry asked, "Why would their presence make a difference?"
"Iece is your blood. The other child is, for all intents and purposes, the queen's unique brand of magic. We're calling it that because we don't know what it is and the two seem somewhat compatible. There is one major nodule hanging overhead and two secondary ones. Since you can't sustain the function of this place by yourself, we need those two to occupy the empty nodules. We're not going to see this place lit up and running until we find suitable conductivity through them."
Harry couldn't argue with it, but he kind of didn't want Iece to have anything more to do with this structure. Granted, not seeing her made him anxious, but to put her back in that growth, with it all lit up no less, gave him a sick feeling.
"Don't worry," Snape told him, "If I'm correct and she does help to create a stable circuit, that will prove that your genetics play a role. Once we know that, I can plan accordingly."
Harry held his tongue, trusting Snape. They made their request known to the guards and the children were brought back in. Harry nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a shrill two-year old's death scream that belonged to Iece. She entered in the arms of one of those carrying discs. She struggled miserably in his arms, tossing her head and kicking her feet. Her hair was unnaturally shock-white and plastered to her red face. Unintelligible wails ricocheted throughout the cavern, making it sound as though someone were killing her.
Harry leapt, ready to grab her without any plan. Snape caught his arm.
"Look at the ceiling," he said insistently.
Harry was unwilling to take his eyes off of his daughter's distress, but Snape shook him. "Look!"
He did. The stones were back in action. They were not all the way lit, but bright enough to see greenish liquid moving through those channels. The quartz tubes emitted low casts of light in sporadic bursts. It reminded Harry of the hospital, where Iece's magic had exploded bulbs. He couldn't help but call out,
"Iece, honey. It's Daddy! Daddy's here!"
She was too riled to get her attention. Behind her, another guard carried the older child, who appeared to be unconscious. Within seconds of placing them inside the growth, Iece's cries fell silent and the blue child, without opening her eyes, put her arms around Iece and nestled her closer. Behind the barrier of her forehead, a pinpoint of light became visible.
It occurred to Harry that Iece's reaction to the growth and the girl, was exactly like someone getting relief from pain killers. "She's in pain," he told Snape. "Because of her link with Lucius, she's in constant pain unless the medicine or this stops it. I have to kill Lucius."
"That won't help. Let's learn as much as we can from this then we can let her rest."
"Is she better off in there, with that child?"
"I think she just needs to be near the child, who is too weak to carry her. That's why the guards entered as they did. The two must've been parted for only a few moments. I don't think the queen herself, can withstand those tantrums, and so they keep the children together as much as possible."
"What were those lights then?"
"When that one isn't absorbing Iece's magic, then it is set loose, unbridled, wreaking havoc. When they are together, the magic has somewhere to go, to be of use. The queen's daughter benefits from it."
Once the children were settled, Snape positioned Harry in the secondary growth that they had discovered only when it was lit up.
"I'm going to take the third location. At my first signal, send your magic to the ceiling, as you did the very first time. At my second signal, send it towards the children. My third, send it only into the materials of the structure you're standing in. Each time, I will see if we can sustain a current of magic between all three, and I will remove myself to interrupt it, to see how long it holds."
Harry went along, keeping his eyes on Iece in the arms of that blue girl, when he wasn't doing everything Snape told him to do.
No matter what formation they tried, the results were that Harry's magic stimulated the cavern and lasted twice as long with Iece and the child there to anchor it. Snape also proved to be an anchor. As soon as Snape removed himself, the magic started to wane and died down within seconds. To be certain that it wasn't just that they needed a live body, guards were asked to stand in their places, which resulted in nothing at all.
Snape set about picking up samples of the loose rock that made up the walls of the cavern and tested the limitations of his magic upon it. When he was so immersed in studying the effects of his own magic on the stone, Harry crept up to the growth holding Iece and watched her sleep.
Now that he knew how, he behaved as if he were touching the Elder Wand to the inside of that lining. It automatically expanded to full clarity, allowing him to see Iece's whole body very clearly. The two children did indeed look as if they were sharing a womb. That disturbing idea made him think of Draco and the remote theory that they could have another child together if they wanted to, if they ever healed from all this damage.
Rumblings knocked the cavern, but there were no more incidents like before. At the first sign of shaking, Harry and Snape stopped their tests, looked at each other and steadied themselves for battle. When none came, they continued with caution.
Without a clock, it was hard to say how long they worked at uncovering the secrets of the structures. All Harry knew was that his neck and back hurt from constantly straining to look up, either to see the effects on the rocks or to keep an eye on Iece. He refused to admit to being tired, so he sat down on the pillar holding him and Snape, and said nothing. Behind him, Snape levitated the sample stones and had them rotating, with Harry's magic sustaining the movement for as long as it could until it faded. Since these were small and appeared to require little magic, they stayed active for a lot longer.
Beside him, his Quick Quill took notes, no longer being written on a tablet, but being transcribed into a vacuum of space where the letters appeared neon for an instant before disappearing into an unseen receptacle that acted like a recording device for content that took up too much physical space to keep by his side. Notes were written in Snape's devised code, unintelligible to anyone looking on, and silently slipped into his personal database.
Without prelude or warning, Snape suddenly announced, "We should retire. We can do no more today."
This didn't sound like him and Harry frowned at him. "What?"
Snape's face took on an exaggerated tension, eyes grimacing, and Harry understood. He wanted time alone with Harry, out of range from the queen and her guards.
"Uh, okay." He didn't like having to leave Iece again and Snape read his mind.
"She'll be fine. Or I wouldn't suggest it."
Minutes later, they were both inside the temple with the queen. Snape gave her a report of his findings, omitting some important details, Harry noticed. But he kept his mouth shut. Snape obviously had come up with something he wasn't ready to discuss in front of her.
"We can trigger a response from your system, but we cannot yet keep it going. And even now, I can't be certain of reaching the effects that will restore it completely. However, I have learned what these stones respond to and what they don't. My next step is to use Harry's magic in developing a connection with the materials of this environment, with the hope of creating a self-perpetual device to keep his magic generated of its own accord. This will leave you with your own source of his magic. I require more time for this and the space to work out my plans."
There was brightness in the queen's eyes as she listened. She looked bemused as she glanced from Snape to Harry, then back again. Something about her seemed livelier. Harry assumed it was hope.
She sat forward. "Do you know how I know you're not lying?"
This was not what either of them expected her to say.
"I would venture to say that it has to do with that extraordinary organ inside your head."
"Yes, my first language isn't words. It's vibration. And while I know that you are not lying, you are not telling me everything."
"That is because I have not concluded everything. Much is still unresolved and unknown. My mind is full of guesses."
"And secrets. Not to worry. While I know that you two want nothing more than to escape and abandon me to my fate, I also know that you are working on a solution. My pain has lessened and my child opened her eyes to me and smiled only a few hours ago. As long as I continue to see improvement, I will do my best to accommodate you both. You do need rest. Your biological tones say that you have worked over a day, when you have only taken up a fraction of that objective time."
Snape asked, his tone genuinely curious, "Can you see the plans in my mind so clearly? The questions, that I'm asking myself?"
"Fear not. I do not pry into matters that do not concern me. Your mind is like a bottomless sea, with under currents stronger and more purposeful than the surface. If I were not careful, I could be carried away by all that propels humans to their actions. I am only following the strongest trail of honesty that I can find within you, in terms of a smooth quality of emotions which you set forth. You and Harry broadcast your emotions, whether you know it or not, and that is what I trust. You intend to help me, and therefore you will."
Whether he was satisfied with this answer or not, Snape accepted it.
"Now, you will not be disturbed for five hours. Indulge me and wear the blindfolds. You may rest together."
It wasn't so much her words, as the way she said it, like she was doing them a favor. She seemed pleased. It was such an odd note that Harry and Snape both said, "Together?"
Her together and their together didn't seem to be the same thing.
She looked surprised. "Did I misunderstand? Your frequencies tell me that you are in empathy with one another. That you are closer than most humans. This is usually only found in mates. Shall I give you separate rooms instead?"
Before Harry could process that string of words, each one repelling the other, as they refused to make sense in his brain, Snape grabbed his hand.
"No. One room is fine. Please do be discreet and share nothing of the personal contents of our minds with anyone else. The human world would not tolerate it."
"Of course. Your kind takes issue with that which is different. I shall respect your privacy."
Snape all but bowed to her. Harry only remembered to pick up his jaw as his body was being turned and led out of the room.
Once they were left in the room where Harry first awakened, he could hardly contain himself. His questions threatened to explode out of his mouth, but Snape put a finger up and shushed him.
"Not yet," he whispered, then set about placing privacy charms all around the room.
Harry stared, dumbly, before Snape encouraged him. "You should help me. You have the most powerful wand."
This made sense, so it wasn't until minutes later, when they'd used every trick they knew between them to eradicate any spying devices or magic, that they dared to talk. And even then, they were cautious, suspecting that with the queen's connection, the walls were literally her ears.
"What the hell was that all about?" Harry asked, trying not to sound ungrateful, but feeling ungrateful.
"Practicality. She would have placed us in separate rooms, had she not felt sentiment towards the bond between us." He appeared reluctant to use that word, and Harry didn't miss it.
"We have a bond? That you acknowledge?"
"Don't sound so smug. You desperately wanted my help and I want to help. What more do we need to form a bond? Not to mention all the other issues you've projected upon me whilst stalking me to the ends of the Earth. Yes. We have a bond."
Harry grinned, "And not including your claim on Iece as her grandfather, right? Did I hear that right?"
"Let's focus on the task at hand. We're getting too comfortable among the non-humans. Just because no one's tried to kill us, doesn't mean they won't."
They were interrupted by a knock. Neither bothered to answer as they knew wizards would barge in under a pretense of politeness. When they waited and nothing happened, Harry started toward the door, but Snape got there before him, wand in hand.
A slightly muffled voice on the other side announced. "The queen sends your dinner. There will be no more disturbances. Apologies."
Snape opened the door to a small woman. A witch. He gently took the cart from her and thanked her, his expression betraying his surprise. He was gracious, none the less. That didn't stop him from checking the meal for drugs and listening devices after she had gone. He ran his wand over the contents like a scanner and showed Harry the precise techniques he was using.
"They can still reduce our magic if they suspect us," he said.
"But they know that won't get them anywhere. It won't allow us to help them."
"Still, they won't let us forget who's in charge. I wouldn't."
When they'd done all they could to protect their privacy and safety, they ate in silence, each taking just enough nourishment to stave off hunger. While eating, Snape spelled a message onto a napkin and passed it, concealed, to Harry.
"You should place that on your lap," he ordered. "The soup is particularly messy."
When Harry unfolded the napkin, words appeared one at a time before fading.
Say as little as possible. Talk aloud only of the task we've agreed to work on for the queen. We will discuss other matters while we're pretending to sleep. I will try to brief you on the CIUM and the Ministry without using words. Ask your questions then, using our occlumency deviation.
Harry stared at him, nodding okay. It sounded awkward, but they were desperate, right? But why couldn't Snape just put the information in his mind right now? Or pass them along the same way with the napkin?
Without saying a word, Snape's eyes shifted to the blank napkin in his lap. Letters spelled out, They can see us. There's too much to tell you and I don't want to risk inviting their suspicion even more. They'll separate us. Eat and feign sleepiness. Lay down. I will make a show of covering you and join you in exactly one hour. Those watching are to assume that I am concentrating on solving their problems.
Harry put his head in his hands, not liking the thought of laying down, lest he actually go to sleep. He was exhausted, but he insisted it was nothing compared to the urgency of getting the hell out of here. Resting was a betrayal to his baby and his sanity. To willingly let one more minute go by without fighting his way out of this place, poked at an already sensitive area of disappointment in himself. But Snape was the smart one, and honestly, he didn't feel he was thinking clearly anymore. Certainly not objectively. His sense of urgency had slipped through his hands and that disgusted him.
While Snape appeared to be pouring over notes that he was now spelling in midair, available for anyone to see, Harry paced the floor. He wandered around the room, first going to the window where he'd seen the bird. It was dark outside, he saw nothing. Next, he examined the video library, thinking maybe he could play something to drown out their conversation and he and Snape could risk talking like normal people. But how likely was it that the kidnappers would think he'd be in any mood to suddenly watch a good comedy-drama, and they'd know the trick for what it was. Besides, the queen didn't rely on spoken words, she could translate the data that people projected, like a living lie detector test.
There were ways to hack lie detector tests, his inner voice reminded him.
That's exactly what he and Snape were attempting to do. He shelved a VHS tape he was holding, not giving much faith to it actually working. He had to admit it, he was fighting sleep like a whinny child.
He couldn't anymore. Either he take that ominous looking bed, with it's tacky hotel décor, or he'd pass out on the floor. He gave Snape one more hopeful glance before falling onto the bed. His body relaxed as if he was no longer in control of it and he choked on his guilt. His baby needed him. He couldn't stop his tears but managed to keep quiet. This was pathetic.
"Go to sleep," Snape's voice was stern.
Then Harry knew that he'd been tricked. Snape had either hexed him or the food to make him rest. All he could do now was wait to catch up to everything.
