Happy Holidays! We're starting off our first level, a cave dungeon. There aren't going to be any health pick-ups or tutorials in this "game", so expect to see some lasting injuries (only until the end of the dungeon, not for life) and a fair amount of puzzling out how dungeon gimmicks, new weapons, and new spells work. I've decided to throw Wizzrobes in early on and push the hordes of Bokoblins and Moblins further off because the protagonists of this fic are wizards and would have an easier time fighting wizards. Also, illustrations are up on the garden-eel-draws Tumblr! I've got a few of Hogwarts, and I'm going to upload a couple snapshots of this temple during the week between uploads.
By Saturday, the student body of Hogwarts had acclimated enough to the changes to step out of their dorms without teacher escorts. They were still going to be shuttled by chaperone for the next week of classes, but they hadn't been explicitly told to stay inside all weekend. McGonagall had grudgingly allowed her Gryffindors to leave the confines of Gryffindor Tower on the condition that they traveled in threes (or more) and had an upper-year student on hand. Being in the House of Lions had its perks, sometimes.
The monsters had proven to be surprisingly non-deadly, despite their fearsome weaponry. For instance, arrows shot by the pig-man archers would hit with the force of a rubber bullet and leave a wicked puncture wound, but wouldn't impale. The huge suits of armor that had been popping up all over the second floor would swipe at students with their gigantic broadswords and the students would later wake up in front of the Great Hall without a scratch. Smaller monsters weren't at all lenient, though. Harry still had nasty bruises on his shins from where he'd been shot by rock-spitters on the way to Herbology and Hermione was miffed about a stinging cut one of the bats had inflicted on her nose. She'd gone to Madam Pomfrey to have it healed, of course, but it was the principle of the matter.
Nearly as troublesome as the monsters were the puzzles. Whatever evil the sword had been holding back, it had a sense of humor that ranged from irritating to dangerous. The most harmless tricks were hidden buttons that one had to press to unlock a door or vanish the new wall that had taken up residence in a corridor. After those were the block-puzzles, which sometimes required students from different Houses to grudgingly cooperate to get through the blockade. Crueler traps included random pitfalls that would drop a student to the next floor down (which, with Hogwarts's occasionally high ceilings, could be a painful trip), rooms that would generate a gang of monsters and then lock themselves shut until one side lost the battle, and corridors full of giant metal marbles that could only be stopped by pressing a quartet of buttons simultaneously. Those were the kinds of tricks that sent students to the Hospital Wing with broken bones, concussions, and bleeding gashes. Still, no one had died or been grievously injured yet.
"Oh, and there are now robe-wearing toucan-men shooting fireballs and ice boomerangs at anyone who gets too close to the Charms classroom. Flitwick's been waging a war against them all morning," Malfoy said as he concluded his report. "Anything interesting on your end?"
"I found out that my sword likes to eat those triangle-gems some of the monsters drop when they disappear," Harry said. The Harrys had learned this when Red had attempted to test the hardness of the blue jewel he'd collected by whacking it with his sword's hilt. Rather than shatter and spray shards of crystal in the boy's eyes, the gem had absorbed into the sword. "We've also figured out that shadow-hands make great shortcuts."
Malfoy scowled. "I'll say. The bloody things keep sneaking into the Slytherin dorms and snatching us out of our beds. There is a time for shortcuts, and two o' clock in the morning isn't it."
Harry suppressed a grin, imagining a half-awake Malfoy being tossed onto the unforgiving stone floor of the castle's entryway at some ungodly hour. He didn't consider himself a vindictive person, but Malfoy had earned it. "The Weasley twins said the hands don't care for light, which is probably why they like the dungeons so much. They might leave you alone if you keep a nightlight nearby."
"I'll consider it," Malfoy said. Coming from him, that was glowing praise for Weasley ingenuity. "Any idea how to get past those suits of armor with the ridiculous swords? I've heard the Hufflepuffs have found a trick and I know you've a yellow duffer among your copies."
"Hufflepuffs are not duffers, and Yellow only talks to them in the halls or in class. He's still technically a Gryffindor." Harry shrugged. "We know how to get past the monsters, though. Keep to the weird purple patches scattered around the corridors, and they'll forget you exist. The patches switch around every day, though, so you can't memorize the placement."
"Aha! I knew it!" For a moment, Malfoy wore an actual smile. It quickly transformed into a smirk when he realized his humanity was showing. "Crabbe and Goyle thought the second floor was cursed and refused to step foot on it. That's how I managed to break away for this secret meeting, truth be told."
"Why do they follow you around, anyway?"
Malfoy gave him a funny look. "Their families have served my family for generations. Why wouldn't they follow me around?"
Harry gave him a slow nod, one eyebrow raised. "…Right. I see." It must have been a magical aristocracy thing. He feared to consider what the Dursleys would have done if that were legal in the Muggle world. They'd have had the Potter family chained the moment he had shown up on their doorstep.
"If that's all, I have two dimwits to retrieve and more reconnaissance to do," Malfoy declared. "Remember, don't tell anyone of our alliance yet. Ciao." He swept out of the trophy room.
Once the blond was well out of earshot, Red stepped into visibility. "Gotta love having four of these," he muttered as he stuffed the Invisibility Cloak into his bag. "So that's what he's like when he isn't putting on a show. Charming."
"With a shark like Lucius Malfoy for a father? We're lucky he's human at all," Harry replied. He paused. Had that been a defense of Malfoy? "Thanks for not cursing him, by the way."
"Blue told me to keep my head and observe," Red said through gritted teeth. "I'd be damned if I gave him a new thing to tease me about. Malfoy didn't seem half bad, anyway. For…you know, Malfoy."
"Bizarre, isn't it? We shook hands back on Tuesday, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it." Harry and Red left the trophy room. "How are Ron and Hermione doing? I imagine they both had a fit once they realized I'd left."
"Hermione thought you'd gone to get yourself killed and Ron was miffed 'cause you'd left him behind," Red reported. "Last I saw, Yellow and Blue were steering them back toward the dormitory."
Harry winced. He knew he hadn't been paying as much attention to his friends, lately. It was difficult, when he had three other selves distracting him. What made things particularly complicated was that being near the other Harrys gave him a sense of inner peace that he'd come to crave, to the point that he sometimes forgot about his original friends. It was a bit frightening, now that he thought about it. The sword was messing with his head. Nothing like what Tom Riddle's diary had done to Ginny, but still…
"You should tell them about this thing you've worked out with Malfoy," Red suggested. "I don't like lying, you don't like lying, Yellow absolutely hates lying, and even Blue can feel guilt. Harry Potter wasn't meant to lie, and his friends don't deserve to be lied to."
"Alright, first: I thought Blue or Yellow was the sensible one, not you. And second: are you mad? I can't tell them about Malfoy! Ron would go off on a rant, thinking I'd been cursed into lunacy, and Hermione would give me that horrible disappointed mum look she does whenever I've done something stupid. You know the one."
Red sighed. "Yeah, I do. It doesn't feel right, though, sneaking off without saying anything. I mean, if Ron suddenly vanished because…I dunno, his rat ran off to the Forbidden Forest and he decided to chase after it, we'd be pretty worried, wouldn't we?"
"I've only been gone maybe fifteen minutes, at most. I wouldn't have had time to get all the way to the Forbidden Forest."
"You're missing the point, Green." Red punched him in the shoulder. "Make up a decent excuse next time before you skip off. You don't have to tell them you're having an affair with Malfoy, but you've got to give them something."
"An affair?" Harry all but shrieked. "I don't know if you've noticed, but he's Malfoy and we're only thirteen—" A familiar grunt from up ahead made him snap his mouth shut and press flat against the side of the hall.
"Nice reflexes," Red commented as he joined Harry against the wall. "Been practicing today?"
"Today and yesterday, I got up early and started exploring before anyone else woke up," Harry said in a low voice. He watched the spear-wielding pig-man as it appeared from around the corner. "So yeah, a bit."
"You should have taken me along!" Red's hand went to the hilt of his sword and he slowly eased it out of its sheath.
"I was practicing stealth, not hacking at things with a sword," Harry said as he unsheathed his own weapon. "I figured you'd get bored."
"Aww, you're so sweet, Greenie."
With a huge grin on his face, Red ran at the oblivious pig-man. As this was his fourth time making such an approach, he'd learned not to announce his presence with a yell or hold his sword above his head. He dashed forward, keeping his profile low and his weapon at the ready. Harry followed him in a similar fashion, though he carefully stayed to one side of the monster instead of heading straight for it. The spear-wielders liked to run at you with their spear held out like a lance and dealt a nasty stab-wound before trampling you, if you couldn't dodge fast enough. Harry had learned that the painful way.
The pig-man noticed Red coming at it and readied its spear for a charge, as Harry had predicted. Red was forced to fling himself out of the way to avoid the surprisingly quick monster. Harry was ready for the beast's attack, though, and swung at its legs with his sword as the creature thundered by him. The pig-man stumbled and Harry took advantage of this to deliver several strikes to its broad, muscled back.
With a loud grunt, the pig-man whipped its spear around, catching Harry in the gut and slamming him into a wall. Sparks exploded in the boy's eyes when skull met stone and he fell to the ground in a moaning heap.
"You bastard!" Red leapt at the monster and drove his sword into its chest. "Die!"
The monster did die, thankfully. Though it had been created from magic, vital strikes were apparently still effective. A red jewel fell to the ground as the smoke cleared.
"Y'should get that," Harry slurred dizzily. His glasses had flown off his face when he'd been hit, and all he saw of the worried boy crouched beside him was a blur of black robes and vague facial features.
"It can wait. Are you alright? Do you have one of those brain-bruises? What are they called?"
"Kin…Concussions, and prob'ly," Harry said. Aunt Petunia had gotten him in the head with a frying pan once and he vaguely remembered it feeling like this. He didn't think his head had gotten hit as hard this time, though. "Mad'm Prom…Pomfrey can fix it." He stood up with Red's assistance. "Need my glasses. Where'd they go?"
"Let me see." Red propped him against the wall and then scanned the floor. "Aha!" The boy picked up an object too thin for Harry's unfocused eyes to make out. "Looks like they broke, though." He tapped the glasses with his wand. "Reparo! There you are." Red handed them to Harry, who slid them on. "To Madam Pomfrey we go!" After pausing to let his sword absorb the red jewel left behind by the monster, he dragged Harry in the direction of the Hospital wing.
At least, so they thought.
Hermione had been fretting for some minutes now, but when Blue and Yellow clutched their heads with identical yelps of surprise and pain, her stress levels shot through the roof.
"What happened? What's wrong?" she asked frantically. Oh, she knew Harry and Red had been getting up to something! This was the third time Harry had disappeared this week, and Red had shown himself to have little patience for the rules.
"It feels like Green or Red just took a bat to the noggin," Yellow moaned. "This shared-pain thing sucks."
Hermione and Ron shared a frown. 'Did he tell you? Because he didn't tell me,' said their silent looks.
"How long have you known about this connection?" Hermione questioned. "Why didn't you say anything?" As smart as she was, she could guess the answer: either Harry had gotten too caught up in his new friendships to remember, or he hadn't wanted Ron and Hermione to worry.
"You'd have never let any of us out of our sight if you knew, so we kept our mouths shut," Blue said.
"It's not like we're afraid of adventure. If you want to go out and play tag with the armor monsters, we're not going to stop you," Ron told him. "Well, Hermione might, but I wouldn't. Point is, we've done stuff together before, and we can do that now. I followed a trail of acromantulas with you, Harry. Pig-men and rock-spitters and halls full of death-marbles are a walk in the park, after that."
Blue bit his lower lip and hunched over his book. Yellow shifted from foot to foot, guilt written all over his honest face.
"Harry…" Hermione's face adopted the expression of disappointment she'd learned from her mother over the years. The Harrys squirmed uncomfortably under her look of gentle disapproval.
"We've made a new friend!" Yellow blurted. "You wouldn't like him, and he barely likes us, but we're friends and we've been having meetings, and—" His ramble cut off when Blue thumped him on the head with a fourth-year Defense textbook.
"Yellow and I are going to look for Green and Red," Blue announced, standing up. "One of them just suffered a blow to the head, and possibly a concussion as a result. They may have trouble reaching the Hospital Wing." He grabbed Yellow by the back of his robes and towed the boy behind him as he left the room.
"We're coming with you!" Ron proclaimed, running after them.
Hermione sighed and trailed behind the others. Professor McGonagall was going to be so unhappy if she found them wandering around without an upperclassman. She made sure to tell Percy they were going out, though, before she went through the portrait hole. It was best to do damage control before they got caught.
"Er, Draco, I don't think we're in Hogwarts anymore." Goyle fiddled with his tie. The habit irritated Draco to no end, but he'd long ago learned that snapping at the unkempt boy only made his fidgeting worse. "There aren't any caves in Hogwarts, are there?"
"It's too dark in here," Crabbe said anxiously. He tried casting Lumos for the seventh time. As it had during every other attempt, the spell flickered and died as the ambient magic snuffed it out. "There aren't enough torches. Hogwarts has lots of torches."
Draco ground his teeth. He'd already snarled at the nitwits to stop their whining three times, and they were still carrying on. Did they seriously think he couldn't tell the castle had spirited them away to some pitch-black hellhole? He had eyes!
Though he could clearly observe the result of their aimless wandering, he hadn't the foggiest how they'd gotten to this point. Last he remembered, they had been scouting out the fifth floor of the castle, and then they'd somehow wound up in a dark cave full of purple rats and big green snakes. The curse on the castle must have altered his memory, like a Muggle-repelling charm.
An echoing sound caught his attention. After hearing nothing but dripping water and the squeaks of rats, that was new. He listened for it again.
"Barking," he murmured upon recognizing the noise. There was a dog down here. How odd.
"Follow, but be ready to protect me should the need arise," he commanded his servants. "Let's go." He laid a hand against the wall to use as a reference point in the low visibility, and then walked toward the source of the barking.
His undignified stumbling through the sparsely-lit cave caused him to trip over and slay many a rat and snake. He'd even managed to slap a shadow-bat out of the air once, when he'd swung out his arm to stay upright. Wryly, Draco mused that he was probably a better fighter by accident than he was on purpose. He was an excellent duelist, but Malfoys were too gently bred for most athletic pursuits.
As the mysterious dog's booming barks lost some of their echo, Draco noticed a bright spot ahead. Whatever was giving off the glow shone brighter than any of the strange, rectangular fire-bins scattered around. He was only a few meters off when he heard an ominous whoosh and an inhuman laugh.
"Watch out!" Crabbe lifted Draco to safety just before a ball of flame struck where his feet had been.
"Bloody toucan!" Draco cursed. He'd heard about these monsters from one of his Ravenclaw contacts. According to her, the birds would appear with a chiming noise, shoot, laugh, and then disappear—always in that order. "Listen for the chime, and send every nasty spell you can at it!" he commanded. "And put me down, Vincent!"
It took five solid minutes of blindly fired Reductos and Incendios to kill the stupid bird. Every other spell had bounced off and hit the cave even if aimed correctly, drawing a frightened whine from the dog, and the ones that had hit hadn't done much more than inflict little rips or singe-marks on the bird's robes.
'Next time, I'm bringing a Potter with me. I don't care if they're all bloody Gryffindors,' Draco mentally growled. He cast enough neatening and cleaning spells to restore himself to an acceptable level of excellence, tried a Lumos that inevitably failed, and then snatched up the blue gem the monster had dropped. "Vincent! Gregory! Sound off!" he barked.
"It set my robes on fire," Crabbe complained from somewhere in the dark. "Had to take 'em off. I had clothes on underneath, though."
"I didn't get hit," Goyle said proudly.
Though Draco would never have admitted it, he breathed a small sigh of relief. He hadn't been able to worry about his servants during his duel with the beast. "Go to that bright spot over there and look for the dog. It sounds positively frantic now."
"What if the dog bites?" Goyle asked.
Draco paused. That thought hadn't occurred to him, as inexperienced as he was with such mundane pets. "We're wizards, aren't we? I'm sure a fire spell would scare it off, in that case."
He crept toward the most brightly lit area of the cave with his wand held at the ready. Now that he had time to study his surroundings, he saw that a red lamp on a pedestal appeared to be the source of light. Its insides shimmered with free-floating flames, not the usual lit wick, and it had an air of magic about it. Something about the way its inner fire danced with near-recognizable shapes didn't seem quite natural to Draco.
His musings were cut off by a whine to his left. The boy looked, and saw nothing. "An invisible dog?" he muttered in confusion. Squinting hard into the shadows, he could just barely make out the shaggy form of something approximately the size of a pony. "Merlin's beard, you're big," he gasped, taking a step backward. The black dog whined piteously at his small retreat.
"Wait a moment, will you?" he told it. The boy went to the pedestal holding the lantern and examined the magical artifact it held. So far, the cave had resisted every magical attempt to illuminate it, which meant this was likely a puzzle similar to the ones plaguing Hogwarts. The lantern was no doubt the puzzle's solution.
Draco picked up the lantern and was stunned when another immediately took its place. Definitely the right answer, then. "Crabbe, Goyle, get one lantern each and meet me over here," he called. "I've found the dog." His servants, who had been searching nearby, were quick to follow his orders.
The three boys made their way to where Draco had found the dog. When their lamps' yellow light illuminated the great beast, Draco sucked in a breath through his teeth.
The dog was eerily reminiscent of a Grim, but so starved and pitiful-looking that it couldn't have been mistaken for anything but an unfortunate mutt. He wore a gold collar studded with four large jewels in the House colors. The solid ring of metal fit his neck loosely, as though it had been affixed when he'd been less thin—which made sense, Draco supposed. A chain was hooked to a loop on the back of the collar and staked to the ground three meters away. The dog looked over his shoulder at the chain and then back at Draco with pleading in his soft grey eyes.
"If you bite me, I'll set you on fire," Draco warned as he edged around the creature. He would have let one of his servants do this, but he wanted the dog to be thankful to him, not them. A Malfoy was certainly more deserving of gratitude than a member of one of those lesser families.
Setting down his lantern, Draco took up the first link of the chain. The cruel leash unlatched easily from the collar. Draco dropped the chain, reclaimed his lamp, and stepped away from the dog warily. Crabbe and Goyle put themselves between him and the freed beast without needing to be ordered to. Protecting Draco was what they had been doing for most of their lives and this was familiar territory.
Luckily, the larger boys' assistance wasn't necessary. The dog only cocked his head to one side, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. Though he didn't know much about dogs, Draco understood the expression to be an inoffensive one.
"Stand down. I don't think he's a threat," Draco said, stepping forward.
Crabbe gave him a worried frown. "The hippogriff seemed alright too, though, and then it hurt you."
Draco blushed. Though he'd certainly milked it for all it was worth in hopes of getting that oafish half-breed fired (too bad that would probably never happen now), he couldn't deny he'd made a mistake. How was he supposed to have known the half-giant's advice had been sound? The great idiot could barely string a sentence together when he was sober, and he spent half the day drinking. Still, Draco could privately admit that insulting the hippogriff while standing right in front of it had been an unwise decision.
"This is a different animal and a different situation," he said tersely to Crabbe. "For all we know, the entire point of this puzzle was to find the lantern and get the dog to lead us out. Anything is possible, with Hogwarts having gone mad." Pushing past Crabbe and Goyle, he approached the dog. "You can help us, can't you?" Draco asked him. "We need a way out, and all we've found so far is a toucan, some magic fire-lamps, and you. I'm assuming you're a part of this awful puzzle, like everything else."
The dog nodded, looking thoughtful.
Goyle fingered his wand uneasily. "Er, Draco, dogs aren't supposed to understand—"
"Hush, Gregory. I'm trying to get us out of here," Draco snapped. "Now, Dog, will you use that nose of yours to find us a way out? Or at least lead us to a Potter? I'm sure one of those idiots is down here; Potter has a talent for poking sleeping dragons in the eye."
The dog perked up noticeably at the name "Potter" and gave a short bark.
"So you've heard of him? Your owners must be wizards, then," Draco remarked.
With his tail wagging, the dog turned in a circle and then pointed with his nose toward a stone door carved into the cave wall. It was only just visible, square basins of pale stone standing on either side of it like sentinels.
Draco looked from the fiery lamp he held to the stone containers. The ones he'd seen so far had been lit like torches, and this strange lantern was swimming with flames. "Aha, I see. You've been helpful, Dog. I think I might keep you." Draco strode over to the door with renewed confidence in his step.
I'm going to regret adding Dog once I start having to resolve all the plotlines I'm loading onto this fic, but is giving the boy a dog too much to ask? Draco needs someone to sit on him when he acts like a jerk.