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"You're perfectly fine, yeah?" Harry asked, looking Corene over a few dozen times. He hadn't thought she'd gotten hurt, but he had to make certain that fact. If her ankle had been rolled, she'd have been struck by debris from the creature swinging itself around — any such possibility was something he'd treat immediately.
Thankfully, everything seemed perfectly fine with her. There wasn't so much as a scratch or bit of ash on her person.
"Fine," Corene then did as he did, looking him up and down once, and once only. "Fine?"
He nodded. "Yeah, yeah I'm good. This is the way Elaine went," he gestured down the only path ahead. "... don't reckon you know what that creature was either?"
Corene shook her head. "It was abnormal."
That seemed to be all she had to offer, and so with a shrug, he gestured down the path Elaine had continued on. It was the only way to go, and with the pair perfectly fine, there wasn't a reason to waste any time.
Lumos.
Harry pictured the spell and muttered it in his mind. Immediately, a bright line shined forth, encompassing the entirety of the hallway until the bend that seemed to happen up ahead… It also had the side effect of blinding him. He lowered the power instinctually and without so much as a second's thought put to it, the bright light dimming down enough so that the terrain ahead wasn't a blinding light.
This time, what he and Corene saw ahead wasn't a jagged, rocky surface with bodies strewn about. It was a simple, sleek stone with little cracks spread all over the gaf, a lack of maintenance showing as time ticked by and the land down below lay forgotten. Well, mostly, he supposed. Grindelwald or the man's most loyal followers didn't seem to care much about tidying up the places they came and went from.
Harry supposed no person that seemed as busy and mad as he could be bothered to clean. Still, as he looked around, noticing the many cavernous spaces that grew larger the nearer he and Corene grew to them, he couldn't help but question how safe the place was. Maybe he'd keep his wand partially up, just to make sure he'd be ready to cast a spell should the stone prove too unstable to carry the weight of two people.
All of the roaring and steps the creature in the other room gave off had to cause some degree of structural damage, surely. He looked around again, this time taking in any doors or false holes in the walls — holes wherein a doorway or the like might be tucked away. So far as he could tell, there was nothing. Not so much as a bit of crack that might outline a door, no wooden ruins. There seemed to be nothing but a long, inclined hall that eventually had a bend at the end.
He cast a little glance Corene's way, and then the two continued on, quicker, but still maintaining their silence. Once they grew farther away from the creature, they'd talk again. As for the Muggle trap worry that seemed ever-present despite Grindelwald's hatred for the people, Harry kept an eye out, but didn't reckon they'd be this far down. No, he imagined the Muggles wouldn't have been given the 'privilege', and any magical traps that might once have been laid, would have been destroyed whensoever Elaine came across them.
He reckoned that was why they'd come across her before the final chamber.
As it turned out, Harry had reckoned right. Corene and Harry had gone around the bend, walked through the equally degraded but made-safe hall, and then passed through an illusion, finding Elaine in the midst of weaving her wand in an intricate pattern. It was abundantly clear she was dismantling a runic scheme of wards, the little wisps of magic interacting with vaguely glowing shapes that shined brighter the closer she drew to them.
Harry remembered his time with the pair of them, Daphne too, at Hogwarts when they'd gone over Ancient Runes. It was an interesting topic with wicked possibilities… but Merlin was it tedious and time-consuming to understand. Oh yes, he was more than content to watch her work in silence, taking the time to ensure the area below was filled with only the three of them, and that nothing they'd gone past had been false as the wall before.
That illusion had been incredibly realistic too, and from what Corene had pointed out, were it not for the runes being disabled, the only way to detect it would have been touch. Luckily for the pair, Elaine had nullified the anti-magic wards — Corene had said as they'd passed them they were based on some sort of creature too, but he couldn't remember the name.
He was far more focused on keeping himself and the two witches alongside him, alive.
Thankfully, such a thing was easy with Elaine managing the wards and Corene examining and cataloguing all they passed. He imagined a perfect gift for her would be a wizarding camera sometime in the future, if she proved so fond of noting everything down. Maybe she'd even go on to make a book of her adventures.
He snickered at the thought. Corene the adventurer would be an exceptionally interesting read. The world from her point of view was something he'd always been curious about, the same could be said of her humour too; Merlin, he really wanted to know how her mind worked. He could say the same about Elaine too… though he did somewhat understand her reasoning whensoever he was given the chance to peek into her mind.
Harry's next thoughts were rather abruptly cut off when a flash of light came from before him. It came from Elainewards, and a quick glimpse her way showed her storing her wand with a satisfied, smug smile on her face. The wards hadn't held up. They never did.
"Elaine," Harry whispered then, figuring the three were far enough away to speak.
She turned to look at him and cocked her head in a very Corene-like fashion. "Aren't you coming along?" there was an underlying eagerness in her tone, and then she reached out a hand, gesturing him closer. "Come on, lover. We're towards the end — I can feel it."
He wondered if she meant the it they were looking for, or the end of the tunnel system.
That answer was soon given to him as Elaine pushed forward with Harry by her side and Corene trailing after them, keeping watch over whence they came, for the two in the front reached the end after nary fifty steps. The great large wall before them signalling the 'end', but Harry didn't believe that to be.
Elaine certainly didn't either. She simply rolled her eyes and looked at him before summoning forth her wand. With a sigh, little wisps of magic began to extend from her wand, moving about as if they were tentacles made of silk. They were clearly searching for whatever was hidden away.
And they found it not long thereafter. As before, when he'd seen Elaine moving her wand about with little wisps connecting to runes, the silken strings sought out little spots on the wall, causing little shapes and runes to glow with a reddish light. Elaine made a noise of pleasure and jabbed her wand forth, the sudden, harsh movement sending the silken strings forth with a violent surge.
They struck into the glowing stones, penetrating the reddish glow and slowly neutralising them in what he imagined was a very specific order. It certainly wasn't all in a row, and a good number of them continued their reddish glow; only four seemed changed, but Elaine seemed fine with that — the wisps returned whence they'd came, and with a flourish of her wand, the 'stone surface' before them dropped away to reveal two passages.
Each had a ruinous stone wall that was crumbled with debris therein. Secondary defences, he reckoned upon seeing them, but they hadn't been restored or kept up with. No, they were just rubble, and each seemed to lead into a rather round-looking cavern. This time, however, the light wasn't eaten therein and no creature nor vast amounts of corpses seemed present. Instead, the two places just seemed filled with… well, whatever one could imagine.
There were jars, vases, statues, chests, all of it seemed made from stone or wood, and all clearly had much in the way of time put into it. Harry let loose a whistle, and upon doing so, Elaine looked over her shoulder at him.
"Thank you, lover," she patted her rear, much to his viewing pleasure. "We'll go left, unless you'd like the middle path."
Corene made a noise of confusion, putting forth a question a second later. "Middle path?"
Elaine shared a glance with Harry, and then she looked past him, at Corene, a smirk coming to her face. "I misspoke, sorry, cousin," she nodded to the left then. "That's the true path."
Harry blinked, looking between the two passages ahead. There didn't seem any difference to them, and as for the middle, well, he'd not be the one to explain Elaine's 'misspeaking'. "How can you tell?" he was genuinely curious since he hadn't seen her us—
"Look at the ground. One's onyx, one's not — the black stone, you see it?" Elaine pointed to the one on the right, showing what she meant as the dark stone glittered on the ground below. "It's not something you'd ever like to step on. Necromantic arts heavily rely on onyx for their casting, be it ritualistic magic, wards, or darker practices."
Harry looked at the ground on the right with a renewed interest. He thought he remembered hearing about onyx and Necromancy, and maybe diamonds with restorative works. The ground on the left, the 'good' ground, unfortunately, wasn't made of such a material. Had it been, he reckoned their trio would have collected the lot of it. Even to the Minister, Deputy Minister and a high staff member like Corene, such materials were expensive.
"What do you think it'd do?" He asked, nodding to the right chamber. "Inferi? Something else?"
Elaine twirled her wand, her dark hair sticking to her forehead thanks to the warmth of the tunnels. Her cheeks were coloured red too, he noticed upon closer inspection — it was rare for her to show such signs of warmth on account of how cold she always felt.
"Are you feeling well?" Harry took a few steps closer, enough so that he could put the back of his hand against her head. "You feel scalding." It was true. She was burning to the touch, and that alone was enough to make him extraordinarily nervous.
Corene had come over too, and Elaine, she was simply still staring at him. When he made to retract his hand from its spot flush against her forehead, only then did she react, grabbing hold of that aforementioned hand and keeping it pressed where it was.
"Just a touch hot," Elaine said, running her wand down her person. "You needn't worry. It's nothing from the magic here — I've told you before, every ritual has a cost. This is just one of the few I need to pay. It could've come at a better time—" she shuddered "—but what's done is done. We'll progress, and then I'll return home, you'll run me a bath, rub my feet and we'll sleep for a week."
"What ri—"
Elaine tutted and pressed a finger against his lips, one she quickly replaced with her own lips; the kiss felt just as hot as her forehead. It was feverish, salty, and yet, distinctly Elaine. It wasn't unpleasant.
Well, not until she withdrew and those sweaty strands of hair stuck to his forehead instead of hers. Then, maybe, it was a touch unpleasant.
"We'll discuss it later," Elaine promised, brushing aside her hair and cleaning her sweat off the pair of them with a simple, silently cast cleaning charm; in an instant, the pair — and Corene to boot — looked refreshed. That effect was diminished in seconds for Elaine on account of the sheen that quickly returned.
He blinked at her, finding the effect so curious, but he didn't perpetuate the conversation. Instead, Harry nodded. They'd handle the issue at home, all that mattered to him was her health, and if she assured him it'd be fine, at least for the moment, then he'd return his focus to the space before them on the left.
Elaine and Corene made short work of the 'horribly cast' wards, and then, they moved into the large cavernous space.
There was much to search therein.
Merlin, there had to be hundreds upon hundreds of varying pieces of furniture and the like. Harry could only imagine those who'd owned the place had used it for centuries upon centuries, or the thing was a vault, one that'd been long cleaned out with just little items nobody wished to take left behind.
He would have gone along with the latter option had Elaine not proved him wrong by opening up a dresser, one that was wooden and white, ornately carved and yet, dustless. Without rot. Without any sign of decay. Inside was no small amount of paperwork, a broken wand, parchments that were yellowed… but again, not a thing was rotted out.
It made him blink before he took a few steps further in, behind Corene as she worked to clear a lane.
Harry looked back at Elaine to see if she'd discovered anything, but she'd already moved on, turning into that smokish form of hers before taking to the ceiling. He watched, interested as he always was when it came to her, as she flew all about, sweeping the space for anything of interest; or so he reckoned.
When she disappeared behind a pile of stacked-up chairs and desks, he shook his head and returned his attention to the grandiose chamber the place had turned out to be. The walls were made of a darker, thicker stone with little specks of light shining as if it were the night sky — something told him those walls, beautiful as the magic was on them, weren't just for show.
There was a reason they appeared differently to all the others they'd seen thus far, after all.
"Hatch," Corene said quietly, her voice barely understandable over the noise of the table she slid along the ground with a flick of her wrist. With that done, she sought his eyes out with her own with a look sent over her shoulder. "Mark it and continue?"
Harry reckoned that was a good idea. "Yeah," he nodded. "I'll mark it."
Corene dipped her head once to signal she'd heard him, and then she continued, sliding betwixt two large cupboards with nary a sign of difficulty. Such was the gracefulness she'd always seemed to have. He hardly understood it.
He turned back to the little hatch and peered at it as his wand aimed therearound. For a few seconds' time, he took in the little hatch; it was a solid slab of stone, and very heavy he reckoned. The little cracks to signify that it was a hatch were only just visible, a layer of dust or some other debris making the crack faint, but still recognisable.
Enough so for Corene, at the very least. Then again, it was hard to sneak anything past her or Elaine. The two, alongside Daphne, had been considered masters at perceiving everything that happened around them. Elaine's case especially tended to show wherever she went, her eyes drank in every ounce of detail in such a way that he just knew she'd remember it all.
Corene wasn't far behind, though with what he was currently seeing, she tended to favour writing everything down… well, not her specifically. She'd recite something, and one of the quills — she had two, and two notebooks as well — would scribe it for her.
As he cast a spell to raise forth a little stand, upon which he'd transfigure a little bolt of cloth to remind them of the hatch they'd found, his eyes found Corene again. Sure enough, she was speaking too one of the quills, and this time, in French; the right seemed the one she'd use for that tongue, and the left was English.
It was predominantly the English-based notes which she was taking, and the mention was the general design of the area, what era various pieces of furniture seemed to come from. Everything had seemed to be spoken aloud for the sake of future notes on the place. That made him wonder what the French notes were for.
He shrugged and followed after her, marking down another seven hatches, all seemingly equidistant from one another, and in two columns parallel in the centre of the room. Had he not known any better, Harry would have assumed they'd found a bank or something along those lines.
Abruptly, he heard the whooshing of wind beside him, and then, Elaine manifested once more from the darkness that she'd been. It never grew boring, watching that, and Merlin, was the sweaty, overheated appearance she gave off concerning.
"Anything?"
Elaine shook her head, once again casting a cleaning charm over her person, a further few seconds later saw her clothing dried and refreshed as well, the sweat having formed spots before her doing so.
"Furniture," Elaine nodded at the markers he'd made. "And what I imagine to be stores of treasure — I don't sense anything else."
Harry sighed. He hadn't either, but he'd been hoping his senses were wrong.
"Take anything of note and leave, then, is it?" He did like one particular table in the back-right corner. The masonry was superb even compared to today's standards, and that wasn't to mention the quality of stone… Merlin, he was becoming right and proper old-sounding.
"Whatever you'd like, and whatever we can't trust others to have," Elaine's eyes sought out the markers, and then, lazily, she rolled her head so as to look back at him again. "You and Corene can take care of those, I'm certain. I think I'll take the rest of the time here to prepare our exit, that is, unless you'd like to go over to the other chamber. I saw how interested you seemed to be."
Harry shook his head. His meaning wasn't to convey a lack of interest, no, he was certainly interested in the onyx flooring and the magic that was likely connected to it by way of runes, but rather there wasn't a point in going over and wasting time. It wasn't something they had an infinite amount of regardless of Elaine's words. That wouldn't be the case until Grindelwald was gone once and for all, and evidently, he wasn't here.
In Harry's mind, cool as the place was, that meant they'd wasted no small amount of time and broken a few rules in doing so.
"I'll clear 'em with Elaine, and then we'll leave. No point in sticking around, is there?"
Elaine shrugged, her dark hair swinging with a shine that reflected his Lumos — she fit the kosmos above swimmingly. "I wouldn't believe so," she stretched then, arching her bat and twisting as a contortionist might. Her flexibility was cat-like, and the little shudder that ran through her upon completion of her impromptu stretching saw him take a few involuntary steps towards her. "Uh-uh, playtime's later, lover. Go help Corene, I'll ready the portkey and ensure we've not left behind anything of interest."
He continued forward after she'd finished speaking, nearly chuckling when he took in the quirked eyebrow when he stopped before her. Elaine's eyes were on his own, she looked just about ready to speak again, and then he acted. With a quickness that seemed to impress her, he swept her up and into his arms, ignoring the sweat and heat as he placed his lips against hers.
As before, their kiss was salty and hot, and Elaine's tongue when it made to battle his own felt almost as lava might, he reckoned. The domineering quality of Elaine in the midst of their few second long kiss was but another factor that conveyed just how fine she seemed to be.
He pulled back and took a step away from her. "We'll be finished in a few minutes."
Elaine's cheeks were even redder than when he'd initially closed the distance to snog her, and as he moved further, she let out an exaggerated-sounding sigh as her right arm raised to her head. "Oh, the wound my lover leaves me with after departing," she fell backwards, a couch forming from the wood below into a wonderfully ornate and comfortable-looking couch that caught her. "How might I go on?"
Harry rolled his eyes and suppressed a snicker as he sought out Corene again. In his absence, brief as it'd been, she'd taken the time to peek through no small amount of furniture. Those quills of hers had been busy beyond belief, and now, she was speaking so quickly that each was writing at the same time, the pages of the parchment flipping every so often for her.
It was rather impressive.
As he grew nearer, she turned and looked over at him, her eyes just as dark as Elaine's, but there was no blush on her cheeks or sheen on her skin. She was porcelain, pale and with only the slightest of upturned lips as she looked at him. "Is she well?"
Corene's eyes went past him, to Elaine. She was sitting on the couch where he'd left her with no small amount of little fans cooling her down, the things animated and flapping — there was a rather fanciful piece of art beside her as well. He reckoned that was the portkey they'd be using.
"She's just a bit hot," he said, not touching on the ritual detail; she might know, for all Harry knew of their closeness, but it wasn't something he'd bring up. "We'll clear these few little vaults and then head home, yeah?"
"What we're looking for isn't here." It was more of a statement than a question, Corene's words, and so he nodded at them.
"Yeah," he confirmed. "It wasn't here. But there could be something of note. Any information we find that might prove problematic, any items that're dangerous — we'll collect the lot of it and leave behind anything that'd not prove dangerous."
Corene cocked her head as Elaine packed away the table Harry had previously taken a liking too. "Dangerous?"
"... or that you like," Harry gestured around the place, filled as it was with hundreds of pieces of furniture with Merlin only knew what else under their feet at that very point in time. "It's not like anybody else is using this stuff, yeah? Seems like the previous owners aren't exactly around either. Just Muggle soldiers."
Her response was a shrug, her eyes falling back on the notebooks that trailed after her. Evidently, there was nothing here that seemed all that impressive to her, nor anything she seemed to want.
He nodded at the nearest of the eight markers. "Good?"
Corene took a step back and did a partial twirl, coming to a rest by his side in a second's time. "Prepared." she cocked her head at him when he failed to move after her affirmation was given.
Oh. Right. He had to open it.
With a sheepish grin shot her way, Harry levitated the slab of stone up and out from the space before him. He hadn't expected the thing to be nearly a metre thick, but he reckoned that was one way to keep Muggles out. At least back when the thing looked to have been created; now there were charms that couldn't be detected, much less destroyed.
Not unless the Muggles blew everything up.
Harry stepped forward once the stone was completely out of the way, Corene sticking by his side as he did so. Sure enough, below where the stone had been was a ladder. One that was carved into the very stone of the ground and one that looked to be sans all types of natural decay.
He whistled when he realised just how deep the thing went.
"One at a time, or do you fancy seeing if they're all equally as deep with one another?" Harry shifted, taking a glance at the other seven markers before his eyes returned to Corene. "They're all cleared too? Right?"
Corene cocked her head at him. "All were tested for wards or protective charms. Three didn't have any sign of magical protection, and the five that did were handled," she slid past him, squeezing between his body and a cupboard so as to get just as close a look; her face was impassive the whole while. "Deep."
"Very."
Upon hearing his answer, Corene nodded at him. "Light. Check the depth."
Harry extended his wand and focused, the Lumos that was shining forth from the tip grew in brightness, and at the same time, turned beamish. That beamish quality proved very useful when the light therefrom continued down, down, down, until the pair could make out the true depth of the hole they'd opened.
All in all, he reckoned it was fifty metres deep. Rather impressive given the age.
"That's a long way down." He remarked.
Corene blinked. "You and Elaine remain certain the item we seek isn't here? Curious. How?"
Harry shifted his weight from one foot to the other, the question hard to answer for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which was located in his head… or mind. "We can feel it," he settled on saying. "And we can feel when there's nothing nearby — I think you could do the same. It's hard to miss."
"Explain." Corene was adamant, and then she did something that surprised him; she put her hand on his back, and urged him, with gentle guidance, forwards. "Climb. I will follow you down."
With a huff, Harry allowed the smaller girl to push him forward, his limbs finding the ladder easily enough and words coming from him as he began to descend. He was careful too, maintaining a shield and partial physical barrier below himself, lest something be in the depths just beyond their vision, where the space opened up.
Merlin, he was almost tempted to just let himself fall so as to cast a charm to catch himself right before he hit the ground. It'd certainly be far faster than slowly descending some ancient, uncomfortable stone-made ladder. But he supposed it'd be a touch too reckless, just like looking up would be.
And so, slowly, he descended the ladder.
It took him longer than he'd have liked, but not too long thereafter, he reached the end. There weren't any horrors in the darkness, monsters, corpses… there was nothing but crates and chests in the dark depths. All of which weren't rotted, just like the pieces up above.
He heard the sound of Corene dropping down behind him and turned, giving her a nod as he gestured around the place. "More of the above, looks like."
"It would make one wonder why such objects aren't up above with the others, were it not for the other pieces," Corene gestured to a couch in the far corner, old and fabric-covered, with bits of wood sticking out at the top. "I will check for any signs of magic or illusions as we've seen above. I would recommend you not touch anything in the meantime."
Harry peered around the place. Nothing seemed incredibly interesting to him, but if she wanted to check and make sure, he'd not stop her.
Whilst she did that, he'd simply busy himself with taking little peeks around the gaf for anything interesting. Just because Grindelwald's final Horcruxe wasn't present didn't mean other sinister artefacts weren't — why else would there be these eight little holes that delved into the depths?
Harry reckoned such things weren't made if you had good intentions.
It was that line of thinking that led him to one of the cupboards nearest the ladder. The thing looked as innocent as any piece of regular old furniture might, only, the words written in Latin upon the thing spoke of death. He might not speak the language or understand a lot of it, but it was common enough in spells for him to recognise such an iconic word.
He took a step closer, peering at the heavy wooden panel that looked as if it were meant to be popped out of place. In an instant, he reached out, interested in seeing what the thing might hide… but he paused. It was better to be cautious, and so with a glance at Corene to make sure she didn't need him — she didn't — he set to work.
With one wave of his wand, he was able to determine that the trunk itself was magical, but there didn't seem to be anything inside of it that was. Not unless the magic was minor enough to be completely concealed by that of the cupboards. He didn't imagine that to be the case, but all the same, with a shrug, he cast another spell. One that took longer even for one as strong as he'd become, and sure enough, there seemed something else present.
The magic of the item was weak, likely a minor, forgotten little trinket that hadn't been all that important…but all the same, that piqued his interest. How couldn't it?
In that way, he reckoned he was right similar to Elaine and Corene.
Harry ascertained there was nothing else strange via the outward appearance. No sign of a trap, no runes that were hidden or the like, and when everything was seemingly safe, only then did he make to view the innards of the cupboard. There was an audible pop sort of noise, and then, the panel flew forward, where it descended carefully to the ground below, allowing Harry the first peek inside.
From out of the corner of his eyes, he could only just make out Corene peering his way too. She was likely interested in the noise he'd made, and more interested once she saw he'd popped one of the many cupboards open. Were there to be something of note in it, she'd possibly take place in searching the same as him.
He raised his wand, and as a result, the light thereof, and dimmed it so as to actually see what was inside. There were parchments aplenty, but beyond that, not much else save for a paperweight and a little miniature box. That one was made of stone rather than matching wood of the cupboard it'd been found inside of.
Harry furrowed his brow and cast the latter identification spell once more. It was the little miniature box that gave off the minor magic he'd previously spotted, and so he carefully levitated the thing out — with the magic of the cupboard itself unknown to him, he wanted to separate the pair before he worked further on the cupboard itself.
And so he did. The little box was laid on the ground some few metres away from the cupboard itself, leaving Harry free to check out the cupboard in its entirety. As Elaine oft did, he searched for any signs of runes or the like inscribed into the woodwork or hidden away in a clever space one wouldn't typically look.
So far as he could tell, there was nothing. Not one sign of magic inside the cupboard, which meant the source had to be elsewhere. Tucked under a layer of wood, hidden, perhaps, or on the top of the thing, where he'd not be able to see it unless he had a top-down view.
Harry couldn't be bothered to climb just to take a peek, and so he figured levitating himself up for a quick glance was easier. It was.
And there was nothing on the top to show that what he did had been worth doing. It was as blank as the interior. Harry huffed when he saw as much, and then he walked around the back of the thing; again, there was nothing. The sides showed much the same, and so, finally, he figured he'd check the bottom on the off chance it was there.
He wouldn't give up though. No, he was far too stubborn and he reckoned he'd already invested too much time into the little cupboard before him to give up on it now. With a flick of his wrist, the cupboard was raised into the hair and tilted, the parchments staying inside since he'd ensured to return the panel before his doing so.
Harry's eyes drank in the underside of the cupboard, seeking out any sign of runes or wards; and sure enough, he found what he was looking for. It was faint, not as faint as the box, but faint, and the runes were old and crudely carved. It was that latter quality that made him pause more than the word 'death' had.
Were runes done by an amateur or person that didn't know how to work them properly, even the most mundane, simple things could be deadly dangerous. It was like spell theory or the literal creation of new spells; one little aspect goes wrong, and perhaps that's the last mistake you'd ever make in your life.
Another glance Corene's way revealed she was doing as he was, only in a different fashion. Rather than focus on one piece, she sought out all that were magical and pushed them into a corner. Those that lacked magic, beautiful as they could be, were brushed aside and stacked atop one another with no real care. As for the items that had been revealed to possess some sort of magical property, of which there were less than a dozen thus far, they seemed to be treated with the utmost care.
Evidently, Corene's interest in anything unknown had been struck here in the depths… and as Harry looked over at the nearest wall, beyond the cupboard he was standing before, something struck his fancy too. After he finished his work with the cupboard, he did reckon he'd try and see if he could transfigure himself and Corene a path betwixt the rest — it'd certainly beat having to ascend and descend seven more ladders.
But the cupboard came first, and slowly, tentatively, Harry looked over the runes, using his wand to brush off what dust and natural wear was present. It was an understatement if he were to say the runes before were incomprehensible; they were ancient, yet still, they glowed. This was certainly something up Corene's alley… but how could he grow better if he didn't try himself?
It did mention death, he reminded himself, huffing and folding his arms. That'd be pretty annoying after everything we've accomplished. Dying in some basement on account of some primitive runes.
Harry started with a spell to identify each of the runes' degree of strength, and another immediately after to determine where the rune's power source was. Of the runic chain, the first, seventh and thirteenth were those that seemed strongest. As for where the power seemed to come from, it was the seventh in the chain, that rune being towards the middle seemingly spreading the power it received from the earth's ambience.
Surely that meant it couldn't be all that strong a chain, if it was maintained only by ambient magic. There was no loop, no draw from a true source, it was simply whatever magic seeped into the earth. Harry very carefully began to drain the energy from the centre rune, watching as a wisp-like bluish light seeped from the thing, into his wand. The seconds ticked by far too slowly for his liking, and not once did the rune seem to wane.
Not until the tenth second was reached and the tail end of the wisp left the rune, joining his wand as the aforementioned rune began to fade. Only then did the magic of the adjoining runes seem to gradually dissipate, until, finally, there was nothing left that was detectable. Finished, Harry shrunk the thing and stuffed it into his satchel for further examination elsewhere, likely back home. From there, he snatched up the box and shot one last glance at Corene as he moved towards the wall of the room with his wand aimed thereon.
Sure enough, she was still working quite meticulously on that set of 'magical' items she'd forced to one side. Her face as impassive as it was, likely meant she'd not found anything of note or interest. Certainly nothing she'd keep based on how she further pushed those she'd checked over away from the spot she currently stood upon.
Harry shook his head and began to mould the stone before him. He remembered the layout of the markers. From this little space, he'd form a tunnel that'd see them connect to the next, and the next after that, so on and so forth until everything was joined together.
It took him fifteen minutes, if that, and all the spaces were connected and cleared of any creatures or baseline traps they'd otherwise have activated. Corene, of course, went through each and every cubby that she could, examining every instance of text they came across, checking over the various cupboards, crates or other furniture that was enchanted in varying ways.
All together, the duo continued for nearly an hour as Elaine sat atop a couch with her dozen fans cooling her; when they returned to find her asleep and tucked quite comfortably in the corner of her transfigured, impromptu bed, it was unsurprising.
He woke her, they grabbed the portkey, and they left.
They'd not gotten what they had come for - but that hadn't meant the trip had been without its own fun.
"You're sure she's alright?" Corene questioned him as soon as he was back down the stairs, in the main parlour room. Her dark eyes bore into his with a degree of worry that was incredibly touching. Especially from her. "If you would like, I can stay the night to aid your care for her, should it be necessary. I am not unfamiliar when it comes to ritualistic magic."
"Really?" Harry looked her up and down. "Have you do—"
"No." Corene's answer came with finality. "But they are quite difficult to do all alone. Elaine always sought out assistance from myself or Daphne."
Harry blinked. "Did she ever have you with her during them?"
"Daphne," Corene answered. "I was theoretical assistance and provided notes when they might be hard to find without connections. There's those worth doing, perhaps, but most are not. The prices always take their toll."
He'd heard that more or less from everybody he'd spoken to. Even Elaine had recognised there were penalties for doing as she did, and yet, she'd not cared. "I'll have to speak with her again soon, one of these days… and you're more than welcome to stay the night if you'd like to."
Corene dipped her head, her lips forming into the smallest of smiles. "Thank you. I will be in the guest room should you be needing me, that is, assuming the one previously offered to me is maintained and ready for usage?"
"It is," Harry said, gesturing up the stairs in the general direction of his and Elaine's shared bedroom. "We figured we'd keep a room available for you, Aster, even Daphne — we had others too." Those final words were in reference to Reinhard, but Harry couldn't bring himself to say the other boy's name.
Maybe he'd go find Aster and have a few drinks with him, speak a few words over Reinhard's grave. It'd be as close as they'd ever get to the Hogwarts era of their lives again, especially with Ash and Joe not around all that often anymore either; last Harry had heard, the pair had left the Magical UK entirely. One for the New World, and one deeper into the old.
"That's very kind," Corene dipped her head again, and then folded her hands before herself, looking at him with that typical cocked head of hers. "I saw there was something you took that seemed to puzzle you as well. Would you mind if I were to take a look at it?"
He shrugged and reached for his satchel. "Sure," the cupboard was taken out, and enlarged back to its regular size.
Corene walked over to it with graceful steps as ever, her hands sliding up the sleek wooden panel before popping it off and setting it beside the cupboard itself. After doing so, her deft fingers found a secondary panel that, even as she worked it, hadn't been visible to his eyes. Not until she completely popped the false walling off to reveal a second cubby in the bottom. It wasn't very large, but sure enough, there was something present therein.
"How'd you know it was there?" The question was out of his mouth in an instant as he came to a stop beside her, peering into the tiny space. "Another little box. Huh."
It looked much like the first had, but more ornate, and definitely of a different material; this one was green and thicker. Maybe it was meant to resist attempts to be broken into, but that wouldn't matter with Corene working on it.
"I own one much like it," Corene summoned the second, smaller box after he procured it, setting the two beside one another on the nearest stand. "One would be a box meant for lesser items that needn't be stored all that securely. The secondary box, however, was meant for the eradication of small creatures. This one seems to be enchanted with a direct predecessor to the killing curse."
"Smaller creatures?"
Corene eyed it again. "Few models could be enlarged. Perhaps after a glance at the runes below, I'll be able to find out more," she cocked her head. "Would you like me to add that to my to-do list this evening? Elaine desired that I might investigate Grindelwald's followers once more."
"To-do list?"
Merlin, she was something.