Elementary Destruction

Chapter Four: Elementary, My Dear Watson

Three days later, Professor Dumbledore visited Draco with news of the activity of the Dark.

"You see, the six branches of the Willow trees correspond to the one sign of the Dark, hence, fire matches fire, and so on," the Professor explained.

"I assume that the first tree I will seek then, will be the Willow of Fire," Draco ventured.

"Yes, Draco, you are very right. The Willow of Fire will be on the hottest place on earth-" Dumbledore continued.

"The Blazing Hill!" Draco finished, his eyes wide with astonishment.

"You will hold a perilous quest in your search for the Blazing Hill. You will have to pass through the darkest depths of Hogwarts..."

"I have to go through the Chamber of Secrets?" Draco's eyes widened a fraction more.

"Yes, as I said, it will be perilous. You will meet resistance every step of the way. Even Voldemort himself will try to halt your progress, but if the light prevails, we will have won a part of the battle.

You will not, however, be alone. Miss Granger has agreed to join you on your quest-"

"Her?" Draco blurted stupidly.

"I had hoped that you two could set your differences aside on this one occasion. I stress that the fate of the Wizarding World as we know it rests on your shoulders."

"Alright, alright. I suppose I will agree," Draco finally gave in.

"Thank you for your time, Master Malfoy. That will be all," Professor Dumbledore bade him farewell, turned, and left the study.

***

Blaise Zabini had a long journey ahead of her. She was head to the North, the cruel land of ice, snow, and cold.

Blaise had been absolutely shocked when Dumbledore had insisted that she secure the Avre Borenna. The Avre Borenna was a thing of her dreams, the light the created the Aurora Borealis.

Blaise's mother, Andromeda, had been on the Avre Research team. Just months earlier, she had vanished in the arctic, to turn up dead in the Chamber of Secrets.

The Chamber of Secrets, shortly thereafter, was finally discovered as a magical portal to any place, any world, of magical persuasion. From there, you could reach the Blazing Hill, the Avre Borenna, nearly everything.

As for the Parseltongue problem, Blaise was a Parselmouth. Dumbledore and herself were the only ones who knew about it. Blaise had been a popular Slytherin girl, she hadn't wanted a secret like this to come out. Look what had happened to Potter in second year, with the Chamber of Secrets thing!

Blaise could scarcely believe she was up in Moaning Myrtle's loo again. It had been years, now. Blaise had never told anyone, for she could get expelled, but she came up here in her sixth year, unlocked the Chamber, and had long conversations with Moaning Myrtle, who happened to have been a Slytherin in her day.

Now Blaise came to the tap, disregarding Myrtle's gurgling greeting. For a moment, a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, then faded away silently. Blaise looked sombrely at the tap, and said, "Open up!", except the sound that escaped her was clearly different, sounding more like 'S-sah!' then anything else.

For a moment, nothing happened. When Blaise was starting to get worried, the pipe started to expand, until it was large enough to slide through. Blaise lowered herself in, and glided smoothly down to the bottom, landing onto the cold, hard ground with a 'thunk!'

"Blaise, Daughter!" whispered a mysterious, icy voice. The voice of her former master.

*~*~*

Fleur Delacour was clearly enjoying herself. She was finally back with her family, something she had wanted for years. Gabrielle was now nineteen, looking for all the world her sister's twin. As for her eldest sister, Brigitte, she was also back home, with her ten-year-old twins, Heather and Jacques, and her six year old, Christine.

Fleur was laying serenely in a hammock, sipping lemonade and smiling. Her fiancée, Oliver Wood, sat on the ground reading Quidditch Through the Ages (which he had already memorized, so there was really no point), and conversing with Gabrielle merrily.

Staring down at Oliver, Fleur thought of her happy existence on Llqd. Happy, yes, for the few years she had lived there. Then with the first Rising, and now the second, she felt like she never had any time to spend with her family.

Her home, Llqd, was unlike any other place on earth. Off the coast of France, it was a miraculous, wondrous place, full of vitality and goodness in general. The climate was generally hot and the sun shone brightly most days, but Fleur did not care. All the better for sun tanning, she surmised.

Grimacing slightly, she stood up and walked over to Oliver.

Fleur now spoke without any trace of an accent. This was mainly Oliver's doing, Fleur would have kept her accent; it showed her heritage. But that was a trivial matter now. Fleur's mission was to spread the word to the Veela of her island. For centuries now, the Veela had inhabited Llqd with no disturbance; it had been made Unplottable.

"Oliver, we must go," Fleur said quietly in his ear. Oliver also stood, though rather hesitantly.

"What, now?" Oliver asked rather glumly.

"You're leaving already, dear? You said it would be a couple of days, Fleur!" Brigitte argued.

"I must go, Brigitte. This matter concerns my fate as well as yours," Fleur returned rather evasively. She beckoned to Oliver and he followed her like some strange travesty of a pet dog.

*~.End Chapter.~*