Chapter 43 - In a Spin

"It looks like the place where we found that key," said Ron.

They had opened the wooden door with the golden key, been through several more corridors, and descended a long flight of stairs. As Ron had said, they were now looking into another broad chamber with a grid of stone pillars.

"There must be a way out," Lavender said. "It's just a complicated corridor. I mean, we keep moving. I'll leave a mark at the entrance so we don't take the wrong passage if we get lost "

Lavender knelt on the stone flags and carved an arrow in one with the tip of her dagger.

"Don't blunt your knife," said Ron. "We might need it sharp."

"You couldn't blunt this," she grinned. "Christmas present from Ambrose a few years back. Harder than glass, but not brittle. Good skinner, as well."

Ron flashed a glance at Harry, but said nothing. They walked into the chamber together.

"Can you see the far side yet, Lavender?" Harry asked after they had passed several ranks of the pillars.

Lavender peered into the darkness ahead, shielding her eyes from the direct light of their wands.

"I think I can just make it out," she said. "Keep going."

They carried on, stopping every few columns. Lavender still could not discern the far wall with any certainty.

"We're not getting any closer," Lavender said at last.

"What about the door behind us?" Ron asked, turning his wand light that way.

Lavender peered into the black distance again.

"Nothing," she said. "I think I can see a wall, right on the edge of my vision, just like in front."

"Try the sides," Harry said, suspicion in his tone.

Whichever way Lavender looked, the walls were barely visible in the distance.

"It's like the walls are moving with us," said Ron.

"You two stay here," Lavender told them. "I'm just going to test something."

With that, she ran off and the darkness swallowed her.

"Well, hello strangers," came a voice from behind them.

They turned to see Lavender grinning at them.

"How…?" Ron began.

"I walked in a straight line and ended up behind you," Lavender explained. "Something is making us turn corners without realising. And because every column looks the same we didn't notice."

"So, if we turn a corner every time," said Ron, "we can move in a straight line."

"We'd have to turn the right way," Harry corrected. "And it might not be at every corner. If only I could cast the pointing charm…"

"Or, if we had a compass," said Lavender, holding up a field compass.

"You're a bloody marvel, Lavender," said Ron, grinning.

"I know, right?" she said.

Using Lavender's compass, they moved consistently in one direction by making the appropriate turns at each junction between the columns. They reached a wall and followed it around the chamber. It led them back to the entrance.

"Now you see why it was a good idea to mark where we came in," said Lavender.

"We're wasting so much bloody time in this dump," Ron snarled. "Can we keep following the wall?"

"That should bring us round to the exit," Lavender agreed. "I'll carry on checking the compass, though. I don't trust this place as far as I could throw, well, something so big even I would have difficulty throwing."

"Let's go," Harry urged.

They set off again, but as soon as the entrance had vanished in the dark distance, Lavender held up a hand to call a halt.

"Did you hear that?" she said in a whisper.

Harry shook his head. Ron shrugged.

"Listen," she hissed.

It took a long moment, but they heard a scraping, slithering sound closer to hand than they would have liked.

"Skrewt!" Lavender whispered hoarsely.

"Those things that Hagrid bred?" Ron asked.

"Yeah," Lavender said. "Funny how they became popular after the Tri-Wizard Tournament — after Hagrid told everyone who'd listen what he'd done. Come on, this way."

They swept away from the sound of the skrewt, then hurried on as silently as possible. Reaching the corner of the chamber, they followed it round to their right. In the distance, they saw a skrewt squatting on the stone floor.

"It looks like it might charge," Lavender whispered.

"How can you tell?" Ron asked.

"Instinct and experience," she said. "I've faced these bastards before, though not as a human. They're quicker than you'd think."

"Is it the same one we heard before?" Harry asked her.

"How the hell do I know?"

"Instinct?" Ron suggested.

"What do we do?" Harry asked.

"If it moves, we scatter," Lavender said.

"We'll get lost with all those spinning corner things," Ron protested.

"We'll be alive," Harry said. "If we don't go too far from the wall, we should be able to see where we are."

"Run!" Lavender shouted.

The skrewt was coming, lumbering and scraping over the stone paving, but moving at speed.

The three friends ran into the maze of columns, then separated.

Harry kept his wand lit. He could follow the chamber wall, but at each junction, he had to reorient himself. The wall appeared to switch direction. He had to rediscover the wall and watch for skrewts. There were at least two of the beasts. At one point there was a skrewt behind him and another between him and the chamber wall. He hoped the others were doing better. There was no way of knowing how many more skrewts there might be in this hellish maze.

"Harry, look out!" came Ron's call.

Ron rushed past Harry, grabbing his arm and almost pulling him over. A skrewt was behind him, scrabbling and scratching over the stone, but making no other sound.

The two aurors ran with no pause, looking for the chamber wall. Their only thought was to avoid the stinging tail of the beast. Harry glimpsed the wall and dragged Ron around a corner towards it. They skidded to a halt a metre from another skrewt. Harry pushed Ron into the column opposite and the pursuing skrewt crashed into the other. The two beasts writhed and wrapped their tails around each other.

Ron grabbed Harry and bundled him back the way they had come. They made two more junctions and ran straight into the chamber wall.

"To the right!" Harry said.

They turned and ran, passing the thrashing skrewts. They sprinted on.

"Should we look for Lavender?" Ron gasped.

"She's more capable than us," Harry argued. "We should find the way out first."

"We can't leave her!"

"But, we can't bloody find her, Ron! We'll get lost looking for her and she'll have to rescue us. Keep going while we can."

The aurors ran on, the wall to their left. They could hear sounds of pursuit scraping along behind. Ron was panting and gasping. It was clear to Harry his friend had not kept up his auror fitness training.

The two friends reached the next corner of the chamber, pushing off to the right. A skrewt crashed into the wall in front of them.

"Bugger!" Harry exclaimed.

Ron said nothing, gasping and raking for breath. Harry heaved him bodily away from the wall and into the chamber. Two turns later, Harry looked for the wall. It was the opposite side from where he had expected. Cursing under his breath, Harry realised they had gone backwards towards the corner. A skrewt squatted in front of them, its tail arched and twitching. Harry dragged Ron with him again.

Several more corners and two more skrewts later, they rediscovered the wall. Harry hoped it was the wall closest to the exit. For now, he was glad it was a wall he could navigate by. Ron doubled over, gasping and retching. Harry gave him a few seconds, then dragged him away along the wall. He tried not to rush Ron more than his friend could manage. He kept guard, looking out for more skrewts as they searched for the exit.

"Look!" Ron wheezed.

Ahead was a dark patch against the wall: a way out. They ran.

A skrewt collided with the wall in front of them only metres from the exit. It turned on them, raising its tail. Looking around for an escape, they saw another rushing towards them. As Harry weighed their chances of dodging the one ahead of them, they heard a howl.

Lavender leapt in from the body of the chamber, slashing off the tip of the first skrewt's tail. The stinger clattered on the stone floor as Lavender landed on the skrewt's back, plunging her knife through its armoured thorax.

"Go!" she shouted.

The two men passed either side of the dying skrewt. Lavender somersaulted off its back, clearing its twitching tail as the charging skrewt crashed into it. She swept the two boys through the exit.

"Is this the way out?" Harry asked.

"No mark on the floor, so its one way out," the monster hunter said. "Go!"

She and Harry linked arms with Ron on either side and rushed him down the corridor.

"Doesn't look like they're following us," Lavender said later.

Harry glanced over his shoulder. He was not sure why. Lavender had better eyesight, and he trusted her judgement.

"Let's stop so Ron can catch his breath," Harry said.

"Yeah, OK. So I'm not as fit as I was," Ron admitted. "I can still walk while I get my wind, though."

They released his arms and slowed to a brisk march.

"That was fun," Lavender said. "Even with a good armour-piercing knife, those skrewts are a challenge."

"How many did you kill?" Harry asked.

"Seven. They're not bright, thankfully, but they're fast and, you know, sting-y."

She mimicked the striking action of a scorpion-like tail.

"They didn't do any blasting," Ron noted.

"Blasting?" Lavender asked.

"The skrewts Hagrid bred at school used to explode out of their rear ends." Harry told her. "You remember, that's why he called them blast-ended skrewts."

"Didn't know," she said. "Didn't take Care of Magical Creatures like you swots."

"Taken care of a few magical creatures since then, I bet," Ron said.

"Part of the job," she said. "And not the same sort of 'care', of course."

"What's that up ahead?" Harry interrupted.

The corridor was broader here, at least three metres. The walls were the same stone as the rest of the dungeon. Broad hexagonal slabs in red, green, and blue paved the floor.

"I don't have a great feeling about this," said Ron.

"Any ideas, Lavender?" Harry asked.

"Looks like a game of 'choose how you want to die' to me."

"There has to be a safe colour, surely?" Ron said.

"That would be nice," Harry replied. "But I'm not sure there are any guarantees."

"There has to be a way through," Ron insisted.

"What makes you think they want us to get through?" Lavender asked.

"Because they would have just collapsed the tunnel roof on us or thrown us straight into a pit of fire if they didn't," Ron reasoned. "This must be a way for them to get to where Hermione is. They have a map and we don't: easy for them, hard for us. Also hard for Hermione if she escaped."

"You know, that actually makes sense, Ron," Lavender conceded. "Whatever happened to my little Won Won?"

"So how would we work out the way across?" Harry asked.

"Red is for danger?" Ron suggested.

"So they'd make red the safe path," Lavender said. "Bluff."

"Or not," said Harry. "Double bluff."

"Only one way to find out," said Lavender, jumping onto the first red hexagon.

In a vision of horror, Harry and Ron watched the red slab shatter into a thousand pieces. Lavender glanced back at them as she dropped with the shards of broken paving into the blackness which lay beneath.

Ron fell on all fours and peered down over the edge of the pit. He held his wand out to illuminate the depths. Harry joined him.

Far below, perhaps thirty metres, they could see the form of Lavender crumpled on the floor, several long metal spikes piercing her.