In this chapter, I attempt to render Hagrid's accent. The reason he hasn't appeared in this fic so far is because of said accent, so that bodes well.

Also, an Ao3 commenter let me know that I forgot to specify that Phantoms are distinctly non-lethal in this fic. They're like meaner Floormasters (those shadow-hand monsters, for any HP-only readers), teleporting people to the entrance of the Great Hall while also knocking them out for 10-15 minutes and leaving them with headaches. Much like their original game incarnations, they're big, scary, and a pain in the butt.

That isn't to say I won't be throwing some legitimately dangerous stuff the kids' way as the difficulty of the temples ramps up, though! They're only two dungeons in out of *checks notes*...twelve.

Blue hoisted his robes as a princess might her sweeping skirts and ran like mad across the sprawling lawn. He ignored the squat red quadrupeds scuttling around, didn't stop to flinch at any rocks that flew past him, and didn't once consider reaching for his sword. He had a class to get to that he liked, dammit, and on top of that, Yellow had had a vision about talking to Hagrid. As much as Blue doubted Trelawney's ability to divine the future, he didn't doubt that Yellow had seen something in that Moon Pearl. How often did one get to carry out a real-life prophecy? Blue wasn't going to let some stupid Octorok slow him down—

A strangled yelp ripped from Blue's throat as he was suddenly hit by the sense that someone had lit all his nerves on fire. The horrible feeling passed as soon as it came, but it left him panting on his knees.

Blue cast a scathing glare over his shoulder. "For the fourth time, Red, don't hit the Buzz Blobs!" he snarled. "Just because they don't look electrified, that doesn't mean they aren't!" His scarlet-eyed brother lay on the ground, dazed and smoking, while the gelatinous creature he'd just attacked wobbled away in a meandering fashion.

Something slammed into Blue's left shoulder, sending him into a painful sideways roll. The boy clutched his injury with a string of emphatic curses, then whipped his head in the direction whence the shot had come. His attacker, an Octorok that was now scurrying off along its patrol pattern, was fixed with a fiery blue glare.

"Oh, is that how it is?" Blue unsheathed his sword and clambered to his feet. Stomping over to the Octorok, he killed it with one swipe. "I was trying to be nice, letting you live," he told the resulting cloud of smoke. When another Octorok walked in front of him, he killed it, too. "But nooo, you just had to make me even later for class." He bounced back a rock spat by a third monster with his sword and laughed spitefully when it vanished. "Does anyone else want to hamper my academic success?"

Green took him by the shoulders and began steering him toward Hagrid's hut. "You've gotten enough bruises for today. Come on, Blue."

They joined their class with minimal fuss. Hagrid accepted their explanation of "a Phantom knocked us out" with an easy wave and a "glad yeh made it", and then led everyone toward the Forbidden Forest.

"I've got somethin' different fer yeh, since these li'l buggers scared off a few o' the other lessons I had lined up," Hagrid called back. "Yeh'll be learnin' by observation today." He thumped himself on the chest. "With an instructor ter watch, o' course!"

This incited a flutter of uneasy muttering. They wouldn't be getting a cautious lecture today? No Flobberworms this time? But what if these things were even more dangerous than Hippogriffs?

"That oblivious idiot is going to get us all killed, I swear," a voice drawled bitterly at Blue's side.

Blue looked up with the intent to say something appropriately dry and insulting, and was faced with a sullen and sickly-looking Malfoy. "You look like someone had to dredge you out of bed," he observed instead. The blond had deep shadows under his eyes and a greenish cast to his pallid skin. Every step was more of a shuffle. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Does it look like it?" Malfoy snapped. He yawned, turning his face to the side and covering his mouth. "Wait, I shouldn't be talking to you in front of people. Why am I talking to you?"

Now concerned, Blue caught Malfoy's arm before he could move back to the Slytherin side of the crowd. "You're talking to me because there's something wrong and it's important enough that you forgot to be a classist arse," he said. "Now, what's the problem?"

It spoke volumes for Malfoy's state of mind that he let the quip pass without comment. "Professor Snape. He knows," the boy pronounced. "He knows about the cave and the temple of death, and everyone who was involved."

Blue sucked in a tight breath. Snape had been gunning for him since first year, and he'd threatened last year that any more shenanigans were liable to get him expelled. Snape wouldn't care that he'd be dooming the world (or at least a good chunk of Great Britain) to Vaati's crazed ideas of perfection by banishing the only ones who could defeat him. The petty professor was consumed by a personal vendetta that went beyond common sense.

"How did he find out? Did someone tell him?" he asked.

Malfoy bit his lower lip. "I…I did," he said.

For a moment, Blue stood still, his face blank. Then hot anger swept through him, drawing his hands into straining fists and curling back his lips to show teeth. Years of self-control crashed down upon him, then, reducing all outward signs of anger to narrowed eyes and a Snape-like sneer. The process took but a second.

"God help me, Malfoy, if you don't have a bloody good explanation for why, I'm going to tell every snake I find at Hogwarts to hide in your bed and attack you on sight," he growled lowly. "Adders and asps and Runespoors, maybe even another basilisk. Talk."

"He threatened to tell my father everything," Malfoy whimpered. There was very real fear in the boy's pale eyes. "Father wanted me shipped off to Durmstrang, but Mother got him to send me here. I don't want to leave Hogwarts! All my friends are here, they speak English here, and I'm not at constant risk of freezing to death. If Professor Snape sent off a letter telling Father what happened in detail, I'd be out of Hogwarts the moment the barrier shattered. He said he'd tone it down if I told him everything, so I did."

'Snape blackmailed his own student,' Blue realized. He had blackmailed his favorite student, even. No matter his motivation (and Blue doubted he had any beyond simple spite), that was a messed-up thing for a teacher to do to a kid. Even Uncle Vernon had only done that to him a handful of times, using Hedwig as leverage.

After considering the nervously fidgeting Malfoy for an intentionally uncomfortable ten seconds, Blue clapped him on the shoulder. Malfoy jumped. "You're spineless, but I get it," Blue told him. "I think I might call the snakes on Snape, instead. He's a git."

"He's trying to protect me from 'Gryffindor foolishness'," Malfoy said. "He's convinced you lot are going to get me killed."

Blue nodded thoughtfully. He hadn't known that the Potions Master was capable of making decisions that went beyond making people miserable for the fun of it. Maybe he was a real human being, after a fashion. "To be fair, he isn't wrong," Blue conceded. "What's safer, the Snake den, or a temple built out of bodies?"

"What's more Slytherin, sticking close to the 'Boy-Who-Lived' and his enchanted sword whilst gathering treasures and spells, or sitting in the common room and playing chess with dullards?" Malfoy countered.

"Ooh, nice use of honesty. Are you taking a page out of my book now?"

"I think Father would approve of me learning how the 'other side' thinks, if only so I might better crush them later."

Upon seeing the line of Deku Scrub burrows Hagrid wanted them to investigate, Harry was bowled over by nostalgia. He remembered fighting Deku Scrubs, talking to them, buying from them, being one—

"Harry?"

"What's wrong?"

Harry forced his gaze away from the Deku Scrubs. "I'm just getting flashbacks," he told Hermione and Ron. "It's a sword thing that's been happening lately. My best guess is that it connects me to the other Heroes even though I'm not related to them. Probably to make up for the fact that I don't know anything about Hylian stuff." He resumed observing the odd flowers at the edge of the forest. The moment of intense familiarity had faded, and yet he could still see flashes of long-limbed wooden people offering him arrows and spitting Deku seeds at him. Such moments of borrowed nostalgia had gotten more common after solving the second temple. It was as though walking in the previous sword-bearers' footsteps brought him closer to them.

Around them, other students were scrutinizing the subjects of that day's lesson. Most appeared confused by the large flowers twitching some ten meters off. Had Harry not known what beings lay within each bloom's dark, hollow center, he would have assumed Hagrid had gotten his teaching subject confused with Professor Sprout's.

"We're supposed to be learning about magical creatures, not plants," Pansy Parkinson complained. "I didn't sign up for a Herbology supplemental!" Several of her fellow Slytherins nodded in agreement. Harry was surprised to see Malfoy wasn't among them; in fact, he didn't see the blond at all.

Hagrid smiled, though it wasn't as guileless and open as usual. Harry might have even called it sly. "Well, today's all abou' learnin' through observation, innit? If yeh think they're plants, why not go up an' see? Jus' make sure ter keep yer guard up when yeh go take a look."

Hermione clutched her textbook tightly enough to make it whine in protest. "Are Deku Scrubs dangerous?" she asked Harry. "Hagrid doesn't normally give out warnings."

"They're like Octoroks with more brains and better aim," Harry told her. "Sometimes they'll stick around after you bounce their seeds back and try to sell you stuff."

Ron was baffled. "Why?"

"To make a profit from their inflated prices and convenient locations, mostly. When you're up on Death Mountain and the nearest shop is two days away, paying twenty extra Rupees for arrows isn't that big a—" Harry stopped short, blinking in surprise. "Whoa, that was weird. What's a Rupee?"

"The official currency of India," Hermione answered reflexively. When Harry and Ron gave her looks, she defended, "I know he was talking about Hylian currency, but it's still true!"

Blue stepped out from the crowd of students, dusting off his robes. "You know, the Bestiary does have an article on Rupees through the ages. I'm pretty sure I had you translate it for me."

Harry made a face. "Must have been extra boring, then, because I don't remember that." Noticing Malfoy standing at Blue's side, his entourage conspicuously absent, he asked him, "Where'd Dog and your mates go?"

"Professor Snape had me leave Dog in my dorm and I told Crabbe and Goyle they had the day off. They're with the other Slytherins," the blond said. He rubbed at his tired eyes and yawned. "I'm too much of a mess to deal with them today. Gryffindors have such a lack of decorum that I hardly stand out on this side of the class."

Hagrid's voice boomed across the small clearing. "Looks like we 'ave our firs' volunteer!" he said happily. "Go on, Harry!"

"'Harry'?" Blue and Harry repeated. They rushed to the front of the class.

Predictably, Red was heading toward the cluster of Deku Scrubs at an impatient pace, his sword in one hand and his textbook in the other. Yellow wasn't far behind him. The latter stayed in Red's shadow, though, keeping the brash boy between him and the restless flowers.

Ron dodged around Neville and Lavender, coming to a stop at Harry's side. "Anything I should know about Deku Scrubs before going out there?" he asked. The shield he now habitually carried around was hooked onto his left arm.

"Those two are going to set the Scrubs off in just a moment, so that should tell you everything," Harry replied.

As he spoke, Red crossed the unseen line that denoted the flowers' range of awareness. Ten bulbous wooden heads popped out of the ground with the sound of rustling leaves. Yellow squeaked and ducked behind the nearest tree, but Red didn't falter. He charged onward with the Monster Book of Monsters held out as a pitiful, awkward defense.

The Deku Scrubs sent out a volley of hard-shelled nuts, some spitting them like bullets and others arcing them upward. Harry had a split-second to realize this was going to hurt before the projectiles converged on Red.

Two nuts bounced off the Monster Book of Monsters, which yelped in pain. Four voices then echoed the book's cry as the Harrys were collectively pummeled. Stars exploded in Harry's eyes as hard-shelled nuts the size of grapefruits slammed into Red's skull, and he then staggered backward when Red caught another Deku Nut in the solar plexus. Three more bounced off of his chest, one hit his shoulder, and a final nasty shot cracked him in the kneecap.

Harry must have blacked out at some point, because he was suddenly on the ground with Hermione and Hagrid's concerned faces hovering over him. "…didn't know their shots would hit quite tha' hard," Hagrid was saying confusedly. "Fang set 'em off earlier—he wasn't hurt near as bad as this. Can yeh hear me, Harry?"

"I don't think…Deku Scrubs like me," Harry wheezed. His lungs felt like they were still reflating. "Must've…recognized the sword." He dizzily tried to sit up. Hagrid used one giant hand to gently ease him upright. "Where's Red?" Harry asked. "Is he gonna get us hurt again?"

"Ron and I fetched him, while Hagrid kept us from getting hit," Hermione told him. With a puzzled look on her face, she added, "Malfoy got Crabbe and Goyle to grab Yellow. He seems awfully cross about it, too."

'He's probably annoyed everyone's going to think he's all chummy with the Potters,' Harry thought. 'Eh, he'll get over it.' Of Hermione, he inquired, "Did anyone notice? The shared-pain thing, I mean."

"Harry, all four of you jerked about like you were being punched and then collapsed at precisely the same time," she said flatly. "Everyone noticed."

Harry winced. Once again, the Hogwarts rumor mill would have its sights set on him. At least the Shadow/Yellow confusion would probably be forgotten soon. "Did someone tell them the sword did it?"

"That was the firs' thing Yellow said when he woke up," Hagrid replied. "Why didn't yeh tell me, Harry? I'd've held Red back if I thought all o' yeh would get hit like that."

"I forgot," Harry said sheepishly, "and I didn't think they'd shoot so hard, either." The beastie-book described them as being more annoying than dangerous. He'd figured their shots would have felt more like the dull pain of a few punches rather than fast-pitched cricket balls. "They probably recognized Red's sword and then decided to shoot the stuffing out of him."

"Do yeh need to go to the Hospital Wing?" Hagrid asked. "Kin yeh see straight?"

"I'm okay. Red was the one who actually got hurt, not me," Harry said. "Is the lesson still on?"

Hermione sighed. "We're back to Flobberworms," she said with frustration. "Everyone took a vote while you were still unconscious." Crossing her arms, she huffed, "We could have had the chance to observe creatures conjured by an ancient magic long lost to history, but Flobberworms were the 'saner' option. Hmph."

"The Deku Scrubs aren't going anywhere, Hermione. We can bother them again later," Harry assured her. He looked past her, toward the group of conspicuous flowers lined up in a neat row at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Even if it ended in him getting his arse kicked again, he wanted to investigate those Scrubs. The way they were organized seemed suspicious to him. Were they guarding something? If so, what and why? Something was afoot, like hissing voices coming from the walls and unicorns turning up dead, and he was going to find out what.

Draco curled up under his covers when he heard the hissing of Ropes. Someone—probably Blaise—had cast a globe of shadow over his night light, leaving his corner of the dormitory dark. With the rest of the dormitory lit by the other boys' little bedside lamps, the monstrous vermin that had taken up residence in the Slytherin dorm gathered around his bed. He'd tried using his magic lantern to replace the night light, but its swimming flames made him worry that it might burn the dorm down if left unattended.

Professor Snape had gathered up everyone who'd gone to the temple of corpses that evening. While Draco had been planning to tell his friends of his "deal" with their Head of House once the owls started flying in, Professor Snape had taken matters into his own hands. The man had informed all of them, in no uncertain terms, that Draco had confessed everything and that his "unseemly, foolhardy behavior" had made their assigned detentions worse than they would have already been. The Gryffindors wouldn't be expelled, only because Professor Snape hadn't been able to convince the Headmaster to allow it, but he'd be sure to demonstrate his displeasure toward them tenfold.

Draco's face, buried in his pillow, scrunched up with helpless fury. He'd been threatened! Blackmailed! He wouldn't have said anything, otherwise! It wasn't fair that Professor Snape had heaped everything on him. And now the man was doing his damndest to turn every ally Draco had against him!

Had Professor Snape been any other teacher, Draco would have had his father working to get the man fired. Malfoys weren't supposed to be treated like this! He was practically a prince, with two of the greatest and purest magical bloodlines in Britain running through his veins. Professor Snape was the last member of a family with no fortune or social standing to its name, however pure its blood. He had no right to punish Draco so harshly for the "crime" of seeking power.

A strange whooshing sound interrupted his thoughts. Draco sat up with his wand at the ready. "No shortcuts," he snarled at the unseen Floormaster. Whirling his wand over his head, he shot a jet of white fire into the dark room. It missed, but for a moment he saw the purplish outline of the giant hand creeping toward him. Another shot hit the hand dead on, causing it to jerk back with a sharp cry of pain.

Draco hit it again, a smile forming on his face at its second yelp. Perhaps, the next time he felt his temper bubbling over, he would go monster-slaying. Having an excuse to shoot something was certainly cathartic. Draco slew the Floormaster, then started on the Ropes slithering around the floor. Their vivid green scales were easier to see in the dim light than the inky silhouette of a Floormaster. Three shots was all it took to kill each snake. He slaughtered all six of them gleefully, his spirits lifting with each resulting puff of smoke.

When all the monsters had been dealt with, Draco lay back in bed. His overall situation hadn't really improved, but at least he'd gotten to work out some of his anger about it. He was sure he'd be tempted to shoot his friends tomorrow, though. 'Blaise, in particular,' he thought with a glance at his useless night-light.

Well, everyone thought he was throwing his lot in with the Golden Trio now, thanks to him dragging the yellow Potter out of trouble. While his fellow Slytherins were in a snit about what he'd done (while being extorted by his own godfather, mind you), he might as well work on building trust between him and the Muggle-loving idiots he called allies. If he gathered enough sensitive information about Potter before he returned home, he might just be able to convince Father to let him stay at Hogwarts! And Mother would be pleased to hear he'd made connections with some of the most stubborn opponents of the Dark Lord. Yes, the happier he made his parents, the more likely they were to let him have his way.

As you can see, Draco still has that pureblood pride and deep faith in his parents' doctrine. He's bending, but that pride of his is going to take a pretty heavy emotional mallet to break. An emotional mallet I happen to have waiting in the wings...

The way the sword-knowledge works is that the sword is like a much quieter Navi, whispering factoids into Harry's brain when they're relevant. It's a flickering connection to the Heroes of Hyrule, channeling their knowledge...sometimes. Why is that connection flickering? Hmmm~