Harry Potter and the Fantasy Quest

Chapter 9 - Assaults on Souls and Minds

All at once, Ron gave an exclamation, drawing Harry's attention toward him. Ron had been sitting near Hermione as she slept, and he was now springing to his feet with his sword ready. An ethereal figure hovered over Hermione and appeared to be trying to draw something out of her mouth. Although Harry couldn't see the thing clearly, he thought it sort of looked like Hermione, only colorless and transparent. Whatever it was trying to do, it reminded Harry sickeningly of the Dementor's Kiss. Harry quickly took in the room to assess the complete situation. Fred and George were asleep, and Draco seemed merely content to watch the action, but the others were preparing for battle.

Ron struck the creature with his longsword and Siofra drew and used her Wand of Magic Missile. The commotion woke Fred. Ginny drew her scimitar and moved in from the right side. Hermione appeared to wake up, but she looked at her attacker and froze in place. Harry approached to a point five feet away on the left, drawing his sword.

The thing turned away from Hermione to gaze at the members of the group, and Harry saw it had blazing red eyes. Ron and Ginny suddenly stood stock-still, but Harry felt nothing. The monster attacked Harry with a knifelike gust of wind, enough to cut him.

"George, wake up!" Siofra shouted before using her wand again. Fred was coming up on Harry's right with his rapier. Harry stepped forward and swung his sword twice. The first stroke found its mark, but on his second, it slipped out of his grasp, skittering onto the floor and nearly hitting Hermione. He swore aloud as he bent down to try and retrieve it.

Now the creature turned back to Hermione and sucked from her lungs once more. Siofra and George both used Magic Missile attacks, signifying that George had awakened. Fred gently shouldered the paralyzed Ginny aside and tried to strike with his rapier, but he failed to connect. Harry muttered under his breath as he picked up his sword. As he straightened, the floating thing seemed to have recovered from some of the damage he and the others had done. Harry suddenly realized that it was somehow drawing energy from Hermione. His heart jumped into his throat as he understood that she would die if they didn't destroy it soon.

Ignoring everyone else, the enemy simply continued to focus its attention on draining Hermione of her life. Siofra used her wand again. George sounded frustrated as he cast Magic Missile again as well, apparently not knowing what else to do. Fred tried his rapier again but did no apparent damage. Harry took a deep breath and gave two broad strokes with his large sword. Both swings struck true, and the creature's link with Hermione was broken. It simply floated there in midair.

At this point, Ron and Ginny regained their ability to move, and Ron immediately struck the airy thing, causing it to disappear completely. He dropped his sword and knelt down beside Hermione, who began stirring a few seconds later. At this sign of life, Ron hugged her close. Meanwhile, the others looked around, confused.

"Where did it go?" Ginny asked.

"Better yet, what was it?" Fred put in.

"How did it make some of you freeze up like that?" Harry added.

"In order: it vanished as soon as it was killed because it carried no treasure; it was a Breathdrinker; and its gaze paralyzes people with fear," came a voice Harry hadn't heard in a while. He turned to see the DM standing in their midst. Siofra did a double-take.

"Um, not to be rude, but you don't look pregnant anymore," she commented curiously.

"Very astute," responded the DM dryly. "I had the baby and got very busy, so it's been a while in my world."

"Ooh, can we see it? Please?"

The DM looked uncertain, then shrugged.

"I suppose you might as well see them both, while we're at it." She disappeared briefly and returned with a baby on her left hip and a small boy holding her other hand. The boy had dark blond hair and strikingly blue eyes, a contrast to the dark mother. Even Harry, who was not really comfortable with small children, had to admit that he was extremely cute.

"Aww," said Ginny and Siofra at the same time.

"I hope you understand I'm not going to give their names," the DM said. Then she leaned down to the boy and asked, "Can you tell these people how old you are?"

The boy retreated slightly behind her and replied, in a loud voice, "No. I'm shy!"

This elicited laughter from the group. The baby had wispy, light brown hair with dark brown eyes and looked pretty sturdy.

"This one's a boy, too. They're three years apart."

"Can I hold him?" asked Ginny, putting her scimitar away.

"Unfortunately, no. We're not really here." The DM demonstrated by pulling her hand away from the older boy and stretching it out to Ginny, showing that it passed right through her.

During this exchange, the older boy had said "Mama" several times. Finally, the DM gave him her attention.

"What, sweetie?" she said in the air of someone who heard this refrain far too often.

"Why are they dressed funny?" he asked, looking cautiously at Harry and his friends.

"Everyone in this world dresses like that, more or less."

Harry knelt down before the older boy, looking into his eyes. He'd never really thought about it before, but he now wondered if he would survive long enough to get married and start a family. Somehow, the idea of raising a son like one of these sounded appealing.

"Well, I think that's enough. Let's go back to your daddy." The DM escorted the children to a point where they disappeared, lowering herself down to the floor to let go of the baby.

Without warning, an elephant appeared at one end of the room and charged through the midst of the group, scattering everyone to either side as they reflexively dodged. It then disappeared after reaching the other end of the chamber.

"What was that about?" exclaimed George.

"That was supposed to be a random element," said the disembodied Voice they'd heard once before. "Unfortunately, my husband misspoke, so it became a random elephant. Just ignore it."

The DM appeared unaware or unconcerned that a charging pachyderm had just invaded her world.

"Ginny," she said, "I wanted to let you know that the dire weasel made it safely to the forest, where she will live out the rest of her life."

Ginny nodded acknowledgement of this.

"Draco, my congratulations on surviving this long," the DM continued. "Of course, I forgot that it takes a lot to hurt a monk. I'm still somewhat surprised that you haven't been throwing yourself wildly into battle in the hopes that something would kill you and send you home."

Draco took on a slightly thoughtful look at this, his eyes narrowing. Siofra jumped in, preventing any other response.

"Wait. You mean that death sends us back where we came from?"

"Theoretically, yes."

"Theoretically?" asked Harry, alarmed. He'd been taking it for granted that, if anything bad did happen to them here, they'd at least end up in their own world, unharmed. The DM gave him a placating gesture.

"Oh, for you and your group, definitely. For you, Siofra, I'm not so sure. After all, I brought all the others here, so I control the circumstances under which they remain or leave. I didn't create the rift that brought you here, however, so I can't be certain whether your death would be real or would send you back to Texas."

"Well, isn't that a pleasant thought," muttered Siofra. "I guess I'll just play it safe from now on, then."

"On the positive side, if you succeed in your mission and defeat the evil wizard, this world will essentially reset itself, automatically evicting all of you back to your home dimensions, including Siofra. I feel I should warn you that it will not be easy to do this. The wizard is far more powerful than anything else you will face." The DM paused, looking over to where Ron and Hermione sat alone. "Hermione will need rest. The Breathdrinker drained her severely."

With that, she was gone. Harry went over to evaluate Hermione's condition. As the DM had indicated, she was weakened. In addition, nobody in the group had the advantage of the full 24 hours of rest they had intended, so they needed another day to gain natural healing. George had also used several spells and needed the time to "recharge." Once Hermione had some rest, she was able to cast a spell to restore herself completely. While she was vulnerable, Ron insisted that at least two of the others guard her at all times. Finally, they were all rested enough to continue.

Ron and Fred took the lead through the doors at the room's far end. This led them to a staircase, so they continued their upward journey. At the top of the stairs was a set of double doors. They all prepared to enter in pairs. Once everyone seemed to be set, Fred checked the door and opened it.

Ron and Fred walked first into a dark room, Ginny and Harry right behind them. As Fred moved forward bearing the Continual Flame in one hand and his rapier in the other, Harry could see that it seemed to be some kind of large storeroom. Crates and boxes were piled around haphazardly, along with some old furniture. There was also a very fine mist in front of the doorway. Harry thought it suspicious but could see no other alternative than to move forward. As he did, he felt the mist penetrate his brain somehow, though he couldn't sense what it was doing. Meanwhile, Ron followed Fred's lead and moved up beside him.

"Resistance," Siofra murmured, moving up behind Ginny. Harry cast Bless and moved forward also, although he couldn't catch up with Fred. Hermione passed Harry to reach a point between him and Fred.

"I'm getting a really strong feeling we shouldn't go any further," Ron said, looking around nervously.

"I feel the same way," agreed Fred.

Hermione looked between the two of them, confused.

"Nonsense," she asserted. "It's some kind of trick. There's something in this room that's threatened by us. Let's go."

"I can't," said Siofra plaintively, and the two boys seemed to be in the same situation.

"Barkskin," said Ginny softly, ignoring the discussion and moving past Harry. Harry moved to a point beside Fred, wondering what to do next. Hermione passed him again and cast a Light spell on her raised mace.

"Mage Armor," George said from behind, followed by footsteps. Ginny moved cautiously up to the forward edge of Hermione's light source.

Harry felt an alien presence invade his mind and try to direct him to attack Fred. He fought it off but could take no further action.

"Get away from me," he managed to grit out between his teeth, giving Fred a significant look. Fred shot him a perplexed glance, but began to back away. Hermione stepped further toward the opposite end of the room and cast Searing Light, drawing Harry's attention that way. The circle of light she had created had reached an area behind some 3-foot square boxes. Behind them, Harry could make out a strange, wormlike creature. He couldn't tell whether the spell had any effect. Ginny reacted quickly, running up to one of the boxes, leaning over it, and striking with her scimitar.

Draco moved up near Harry while Fred was retreating from him. Ron sheathed his swords, drew his bow, and nocked an arrow. Siofra used her Wand of Magic Missile again. Harry, at the direction of the voice in his head, turned and attacked Draco twice, hitting him for one good blow. Facing this way, he could no longer see the battle engaged between Ginny, Hermione, and whatever it was at the other end of the room. George cast his Magic Missile, and Draco tried to hit Harry but only managed to strike his armor. Harry wondered distantly why it didn't hurt him to hit plate steel with his bare hands and feet like that.

Fred stayed back, watching the fight between Draco and Harry as though he weren't quite sure what to do. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Ron loose two arrows and Siofra use her Wand of Magic Missile. Ron lowered his bow after firing, however, leading Harry to believe his arrows had done no damage. Still under some kind of control, Harry struck Draco again.

"Poison," Hermione said from the other side of the room. George used his Magic Missile spell.

"Flame Blade," Ginny cast her own spell. Harry wished desperately that he could see what was happening over there or, better yet, that he could help the two girls in their fight. Draco landed a solid kick that went right through Harry's armor and nearly knocked the wind out of him. This caused Fred to decide to enter the fray, and he stuck Draco with his rapier.

Meanwhile, Ron turned around and fired an arrow at George, which was fortunately deflected by his magical protections. Siofra used her wand again, and Harry tried for Draco again but missed so badly that he accidentally slashed Fred.

"Ray of Frost," George called out, after giving his younger brother a questioning look. Harry suddenly felt that he was no longer under control and stood blinking for a moment. Draco took advantage of Harry's distraction to flail away at him harmlessly.

Fred dropped his rapier and pulled Draco away from Harry.

Ron quickly put his bow away and went over to George.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Something took me over; I couldn't help it."

"Yeah," added Harry. "The same thing happened to me."

"Well, no harm done," said George easily as he went to help his twin restrain Draco. "You did kind of scare me for a second, though. I've seen how effective you are with that bow."

"Right," said Draco, looking at Harry venomously. "You expect me to believe that you were completely unwilling to fight me?"

"Honestly, Draco, if he wanted to attack you, he could do it any time," Siofra pointed out, putting her wand away. "I doubt you'd find too many in this group who would try to prevent him." She headed over to where the other girls were.

Ignoring the struggling Draco, Harry calmly cleaned his sword and sheathed it. Draco gave up his fight. When they were sure he wasn't going to fly off again, the twins let him go, and Fred picked his rapier off the ground. Malfoy dusted himself off and resumed his usual arrogant attitude.

Harry turned around and saw Hermione apparently tending to Ginny. This got Harry's attention, and he went over to them as quickly as he could.

"I'll be fine, Hermione," Ginny insisted to the healer. "Don't waste any spells on me right now. If I need healing later, I can do it myself."

When he got closer, Harry saw that Ginny had some uneven wounds on her neck and shoulders. Hermione was hurt too, but not as badly. Hermione surveyed the redhead critically.

"Alright," the cleric said reluctantly. "But I want you to stay toward the back of the group, and heal yourself immediately if it looks like you're in danger."

"I will," Ginny promised. Then she turned toward the dead worm-thing in front of her. "Look at all this stuff it's got."

"Whoa! Jackpot!" Siofra agreed, helping the redhead sort out the treasure. Harry was still looking at Ginny doubtfully, wondering if she really would be all right. He decided he would only offend her by saying anything, though, so he let it go for now. He looked over their shoulders to see what they were looking at, sensing some of the others approaching behind him. The creature did, in fact, look like a large earthworm, with a round maw at the front of its head. It had arms and legs like smaller worms.

"Why don't you bring it out here, where we can see it better?" Ron asked the girls. Ginny shrugged and allowed Siofra to help her bring the items into a clearer part of the room for closer observation. There were two rings, a potion, a wand, and a money pouch. Those more familiar with magic items identified them as a Ring of Protection, a Ring of Mind Shielding, a Potion of Intelligence, and a Wand of Cure Light Wounds.

"I think George or Ginny should take the Ring of Protection, since they're the most vulnerable right now," Harry said.

"Ginny can have it," George shrugged. "I have defensive spells to help me out." Ginny took it without comment, but Harry suspected it was at least partly to placate Hermione and him.

"In that case, why don't you take the Ring of Mind Shielding?" Hermione suggested to George. "It might be a good idea for our primary spellcaster to be able to shield his thoughts."

George agreed. Fred took the Potion of Intelligence, since many of his skills relied on Intelligence. Ron ended up with the wand. Again, they left the money, and once everything else was divided up, the body disappeared.

Only a few members of the group were injured, and all followed Ginny's example in refusing healing for the time being. Therefore, after a cursory look into the crates and boxes, finding nothing of interest, they continued on their journey.