Harry Potter and the Fantasy Quest

Chapter 6 - Elves and Other Magical Creatures

Harry awoke to Ron shaking his shoulder, letting him know it was his turn at watch. As Ron helped him with his armor, Harry again enjoyed the fact that he was not being awakened by nightmares for a change. It was still kind of a novelty to him, and knowing that it wouldn't last forever, he tried to revel in it.

Crossbow and shield held ready, Harry took up a position near the center of the dome. He watched as Ron went over to where Hermione lay sleeping. He sat down and just looked at her for a long moment. Then, he lay down beside her, not quite touching but probably taking comfort in her presence. Harry felt a mixture of things at this observation. Although he knew that none of them would remember what had taken place in this world, he nonetheless suspected that some understanding between Ron and Hermione would eventually come to pass in their own world. Harry thought he would be happy for them, but he couldn't help wondering where that would leave him. He knew they wouldn't desert him, but even so, the friendship between the three of them would never be quite the same after that bridge had been crossed.

Harry sighed and turned his attention to his guard duty, trying to keep his eyes on all sides at once. As his shift drew to a close, he could hear some of the others stirring. It was as though they were programmed to sleep only a certain amount. Suddenly, a section of the force field seemed to twist in on itself, and a tangle of brown hair and limbs tumbled through an opening that then sealed itself again.

"Darn universal rift," muttered the newcomer, whom Harry could now see was a short, skinny girl of about his own age. She stood up and began dusting herself off. Harry aimed his crossbow at her.

"Who are you?" he demanded, speaking loudly enough that he hoped it would alert his companions.

"What's going on here?" came another voice, before the girl could answer. It was the Dungeon Master, who was stepping out of thin air in the middle of the force field. Then she tilted her head, regarding the newcomer carefully. "Siofra? Is that you?"

The girl looked up in surprise.

"How did you - Liselle?" she said.

"No, not exactly. I'm the Dungeon Master."

By now, Harry was thoroughly confused.

"You two know each other?" he asked.

"In a manner of speaking," the DM replied. Then she turned back to the girl. "What are you doing here?"

The conversation was making enough noise that Harry's companions were now awake, alert, and watching the exchange with some interest.

"I don't know," Siofra answered with a shrug. "One minute I'm sitting at my computer, minding my own business, and the next I'm somersaulting into this...whatever this is. And what do you mean, you're not Liselle? You're pregnant, you're about the right age...."

"Liselle is the Author. She has complete control over everything that happens here, and she seems to be playing some sort of joke on me, or perhaps both of us. I am her Avatar, a projection of her to whom she has granted some of her authority. I control the settings and the monsters and so on, but she dictates everything else."

"So I'm in a fanfic," Siofra said, looking around curiously at Harry and his friends. "That means you must be Harry Potter, and Hermione, and a bunch of Weasleys, and...Draco? Funny, you're not attractive at all. You're skinny, pale, and your face is all pointy."

The DM rolled her eyes.

"Of course. This is the way Liselle envisions him from Rowling's descriptions, not a reflection of Tom Felton, and not some adolescent fantasy."

"You're no prize yourself," Draco sneered disdainfully to Siofra. "The opinion of a Muggle is worth less than nothing."

Harry felt as though his mind were being turned inside out trying to comprehend what he was hearing. Eventually, it gave up, and he decided to just move on ahead.

"So, what are we supposed to do now that she's here?" he asked, lowering his crossbow at last.

"Well, as long as you're here," shrugged the DM, turning to Siofra, "you might as well play a part. Let's see, you call yourself Siofra the Elf, so let's make you an elf. We've got too many humans here anyway."

With that, the girl's form began to shift and change. She grew no taller, but her form seemed to subtly mature, rounding in the right places and thinning in others. Her features became more pointed, especially the tops of her ears. Her eyes grew large, luminous, and nearly as green as Harry's own. Although her brown hair was still wavy and loose, it nevertheless now gave the impression that each strand was exactly where it was supposed to be. When the transformation was complete, Siofra's skin was also much paler than it had been, and her entire form conveyed an innate sense of grace. In addition, her casual clothing had been replaced by a loose, silky tunic and trousers in shades of blue and green. Siofra looked down at herself in excitement.

"Cool! Can I see what I look like?"

"Use Harry's shield," answered the DM. Though not perfectly polished, the steel of Harry's large shield was adequate to see a dim reflection. The girl-turned-elf looked at herself from different angles.

"This is really amazing. I'm so glad elves in this world are more like Lord of the Rings than, you know, house-elves. No offense to them, of course," Siofra added hastily, apparently afraid that Hermione would begin one of her tirades. "I only wish I could have been a little taller."

"Well, elves in this world only range from 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 feet tall, so you're still a little on the tall side. Now, you'll need a character. I'll make you a bard. Theoretically, you should probably be chaotic neutral, but I've already got two of those, and that's about all I can handle. I'll compromise and give you a neutral alignment. I'm giving you your spells right now. As for equipment, you'll have a +1 longsword, a light crossbow with a quiver of masterwork bolts, +2 bracers of armor, +2 ring of protection, a potion of Blur, a potion of Endurance, a Shield of Blinding but no other armor, and a Wand of Magic Missile, plus a few mundane trifles. And, of course, your musical instrument."

While the DM had been speaking, the various accoutrements had been appearing on Siofra's person. As she said this last, a stringed instrument appeared in Siofra's hands.

"How could you do this to me?" Siofra accused upon surveying it. "You know how I feel about the guitar!"

"Technically, it's a gittern," the DM responded mildly. "Besides, you'll be playing it, not some guy you find attractive, so what's the problem?"

Siofra merely continued to glare at the Dungeon Master while Harry and the others looked on in confusion. At last, the DM seemed to give in.

"Oh, fine. I guess it would be hard to defend yourself while playing a two-handed instrument anyway. You can just sing or recite poetry."

The gittern disappeared, and the DM looked around appraisingly.

"I think that's everything. Since you're all awake, you might as well get ready for the day. You can fill Siofra in on your mission in the meantime. Oh, and Siofra? No spoilers from OotP, please. This group hasn't lived through that year yet."

Siofra gave a mock salute, and the DM disappeared to her own universe or whatever.

As the group ate, prepared spells, and so on, Harry explained to Siofra about the evil wizard and the fortress, briefly outlining the battles they'd fought so far. Meanwhile, Siofra told a little about herself, including the fact that she came from a place in America called Texas. Hermione made sure everyone was fully healed, George banished his force field, and the newly expanded group headed, weapons at the ready, toward the double doors at the far end of the hall. The doors were not locked. A large staircase lay on the other side, climbing up to a landing and then turning to the right. It was laden with dust and cobwebs.

As they progressed up the staircase, the spider webs grew gradually larger, and spiders could be seen sitting in some of them. It was not clear what they ate, however, as Harry did not observe any insects.

"I don't like this," commented Ron, skirting the webs as well as he could.

At the top of the stairs was another door. This, too, was unlocked, and Fred found no traps, so they all filed into the small room. Extremely large spider webs filled two corners. Otherwise, the room appeared to be completely empty.

"I really don't like this," Ron asserted. His eyes darted around as he gripped his swords so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Suddenly, a large, gray spider appeared behind him and sank its mandibles into his neck. Ron's knees buckled a little, as though he'd taken a heavy blow. Before anyone could respond, the spider tried to bite Ron again. This time, however, he knew it was there and managed to evade it enough that the bite landed harmlessly on his leather-clad shoulder.

Meanwhile, another spider appeared beside Siofra and attempted to bite her, but she dodged it. Hermione rushed in to aid Ron, hitting the spider squarely with her mace. Draco utilized the Circlet of Blasting he had just obtained to attack the second spider, causing it to recoil away from Siofra. George used his Magic Missiles to help his brother, while Ron turned and hit his spider with both swords, knocking it down. Siofra struck the spider near her with her longsword. Ginny ignored the fighting and ran to Ron, casting a Neutralize Poison spell on him when she reached his side. Fred shot the remaining spider with his shocking shortbow, and Harry also ran over and sank his sword into it.

This second spider then disappeared as quickly as it had come. Hermione, in an uncharacteristic display, gave a killing blow to the first spider before kneeling to attend to Ron.

"You're not badly injured," she told him after checking him over, "but that poison was strong. You need to rest."

"I was only able to prevent it doing any further damage," Ginny fretted. "I couldn't stop what had already been done."

Hermione nodded in understanding. Ron took hold of her arm and spoke seriously.

"I can't stay here. What if that other one comes back?"

"It won't," Fred answered confidently. "It was pretty badly hurt."

Still, the fear in Ron's eyes was unmistakable as he silently pleaded with Hermione to let him move on. At last, she relented.

"All right. But we don't know what's in the next room, so I need to do something first." With that, she placed her hands on Ron's head and murmured, "Restoration."

The change was subtle, but Ron suddenly looked somehow more fit and energetic.

"Thank you," he said simply, holding her hand for a moment.

"Squee!" uttered Siofra, which was completely incomprehensible to Harry. Almost immediately, however, the room began to shake, and a voice reverberated around the room.

"You shall not say 'squee,'" said the voice. "In fact, you will find that you are no longer able to say it in this world. It is extremely annoying. Furthermore, Siofra, if you should chance to say a phrase containing the words 'fancy the pants off,' dire circumstances will result. You are warned."

"Okay, okay," said Siofra. "Sheesh. It's not enough that I get sucked into this imaginary world against my will, but I get censored, too."

"It's not censorship; it's editing," the voice responded defensively, and then it was gone. Siofra shrugged.

Harry thought that Siofra seemed very nonchalant about some all-powerful voice from above talking to her, but he decided to let it go.

Fred found no traps on the next door, but it did have a heavy padlock on it. After working at it for a while, he managed to spring it open. Harry and Ron moved in first, the others following. The room was quite long, probably sixty feet, but not terribly wide. Along one wall ran a high row of narrow windows, shedding a faint light but leaving some corners in shadow. Chains of various kinds were attached to the walls on either side of Harry, as well as some nasty-looking iron implements, leading Harry to believe that this had been used to house prisoners. A movement in the far corner caught his attention, and he saw what appeared to be a well-formed female figure sitting on the floor, though her face was in shadow.

"Who are you? Have you come to rescue me?" a feminine voice asked in a meek tone. Automatically, Harry moved toward her, but a chorus of "Stop!" from behind him halted his steps. He looked over and saw that Hermione was holding Ron's shoulder to keep him back as well.

"Something's not right," said Siofra distrustfully in a low tone.

"I don't know why, but she wants us to get closer," Hermione added. "I think we should stay back."

At their admonitions, Harry used one of his innate abilities and detected evil emanating from that corner.

"They're right," he said to Ron. "Whatever that is, it's evil."

Wasting no more time, Fred fired his shock shortbow, hitting the female creature with the arrow and its electricity. Draco took out his sling and sent off a bullet, but it went wide. Ron rapidly sheathed his two swords and drew his bow, readying an arrow on the string. Hermione drew out her Wand of Magic Missile and sent three missiles into the thing. The woman-like creature stood, revealing a hideous face wreathed by snakes instead of hair. Before Harry really had time to register this, it activated something it had around its neck, sending a Fireball into the midst of them. George and Siofra were too far in the rear for it to reach them, but Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Fred all got badly burned. Draco, as usual, dodged out of the way. It appeared that Ginny's Dire Weasel had avoided the worst of the fire, as well, though it still looked badly off when the flames subsided. Siofra quickly fired two crossbow bolts into the creature, and George shot off his own Fireball at the far end of the room. The thing jumped aside but was still burned enough to fall unconscious. Wanting to be certain it was dead, Harry sheathed his sword, drew his crossbow, and finished it off.

While Ginny rushed to heal her animal companion, Harry and Siofra moved forward to investigate what they had just killed. Some of the others followed cautiously behind.

"It's a Medusa," Siofra said. "Good thing we didn't get any closer. Their gaze can turn you to stone if you get within 30 feet."

"Like a basilisk?" Harry asked.

"Pretty much, yeah. They lose the ability when they're dead, though."

"In Greek mythology, they were called Gorgons," Hermione protested. "One of them just happened to be named Medusa."

"Well, in this world, they're called Medusas, and Gorgons are something else," Siofra answered firmly. "Don't ask me how I know; I just know certain things. I think it's called Bardic Knowledge."

It was a fairly simple matter to determine that the necklace the Medusa wore was a Necklace of Fireballs with 6 beads still unused. The other treasure she possessed was a sizeable amount of gold pieces and two gems that Fred declared weren't worth much.

Fred expressed an interest in the Necklace of Fireballs after George declared he didn't need it, being able to cast more powerful Fireballs on his own. Surprisingly, there was no argument on this, so Fred put it on. Hermione put her wand away and looked around to see if anyone wished healing. Although nearly everyone had been burned, they mutually agreed that they could get through one more battle first.

Taking a deep breath, Harry turned towards the door at this end of the chamber. Fred checked it, and found that it was unlocked and free of traps. He opened it to reveal another set of stairs. The group looked at each other and prepared to forge ahead into another level of the dark fortress.