To Have and to Want

The next thing Harry felt was a painful bump, as if he hit a wall.

"OW!" Hermione yelled. "My arm!"

Hermione's arm was bent at an unnatural angle and hung loose. She looked like she was barely able to stand.

Harry supported her. "I'm no Madam Pomfrey," he said quietly, "but Lupin taught me to do this." And with a snap, he straightened Hermione's arm and mended the bones. "Narcosio," he said.

"Thanks, Harry." She closed her hand slowly, several times. "Why--"

"It's still sore and recovering. Hold your wand in the other hand and let this arm hang at your side. It'll be fine in a couple of hours."

Hermione nodded. Harry turned to Smith in anger. "That was some Apparition. If--"

"It's not my fault!" Smith said. Harry got even angrier, but Hermione restrained him. "He's right, Harry."

"What?"

"Smith did just fine. We've hit an anti-Apparition ward, like the ones around Hogwarts."

"So what now?"

"Well, we'll have to walk."

"Where?"

"Don't worry, Harry. I know this place. And if you told us where you intended to take us, I would have warned you about the wards," she told Smith.

"Oh really? Where are we, then?"
"Four miles north of Stonehenge," Hermione answered. "Let's go."

By the time they reached the enormous stone structure, dawn has begun. They walked around stone slabs, but saw nothing that could conceal an entrance. Harry finally shook his head.

"Hermione, you've taken ancient runes. Can--"

"I'm trying to, Harry," she said in frustration. "But it's somewhat different from what we've learned. The language is related, but not the same. Celtic, obviously, but--"

"Maybe I can help," Smith replied. "I know a few things about ancient Celtic wizards."

"How?" Hermione turned to him.

"I'm descended from them."

"Then you wouldn't mind telling me what this rune means?" Hermione asked.

Smith looked at her. "It means 'virgin'," he said.

"Oh, great. They sacrificed people--"

"I doubt that's what we need."

"Why?"

"Voldemort wouldn't put Dark magic on the outside of the place--it'd be obvious. He'd use existing features of Stonehenge--although I don't know why he'd use it. It must have been important for him, somehow."

They continued reading inscriptions on stones (almost every block had one) for the rest of the day. Most had to do with ancient rituals, and finding the precise times at which to perform them using the locations of the stars relative to the stones. Some neither Hermione nor Smith could read. After a few frustrating hours, Hermione sat down with a sigh.

"If anything here gives us a clue, we can't understand it."

"So what should we do? Give up?" Harry asked.

"You two dragged me here--"

"Your tracking charm--" Harry began and screamed something unintelligible.

"Harry?" Hermione asked with worry.

"The tracking charm! How could we forget! We should be able to get a read this close."

Smith looked skeptical, but took out the medallion. "This way," he said, heading east. About a quarter of a mile away from the main structure of Stonehenge, they came upon a stone pillar about ten feet high, covered in runes.

Hermione looked at it for a few seconds. Then she turned to Smith.

"Please don't tell me it means what I think it means."

"There is an entrance here. And yes, you've got to shine moonlight into the top symbol." He pointed at the large rune engraved at the very top of the pillar.

"But it will be months before the moon is even close to where we need it! That is, if this was set to open every year. Otherwise, it may be years. Decades. Centuries. Mi--"

"Hermione, we found what we were looking for. Now that we know this, and we know how far away we can Apparate, let's go to Diagon Alley. It's full moon tonight, so we can try our luck.

"Luck, Harry, I've told you, it won't--"

"Let's get here tonight. We all need food, rest, and sleep."

Hermione and Smith nodded and followed. As soon as Harry made sure he was out of the wards' reach, he Apparated to Diagon Alley.

Tom, the barkeeper at the Leaky Cauldron, recognized him and was about to announce it when Harry put his finger to his lips, ordered three rooms for the night, and that dinner be brought to them, and having paid, headed upstairs with his companions. He shook his head.

"Be careful," he said. "Tom will keep quiet, but someone else will probably recognize me. Fortunately, we won't stay long, so get as much rest as you can." Harry headed to his room, and, without undressing, lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

He woke up when Hermione shook his shoulder. Quickly reacting, he drew his wand and aimed it at her before realizing what was going on. "Sorry, Hermione."

"It's okay," she replied. "We have a visitor."

Harry turned. Smith sat in a chair in the far corner of the room, looking intently at the other person.

It was Theodore Nott.

"What're you doing here?"
"Well, you vanished last night, and--"

"I had important things to do. The castle could be attacked, you should--"

"Take a look at this." Hermione handed him the Daily Prophet.

POTTER: THE CHOSEN ONE OR THE NEXT DARK LORD? read the headline.

"They found out what you did to Nagini," Hermione explained.

"This quick--"

"Zabini," Nott said. "That's what he talked about yesterday. How the Ministry is really unhappy with you--"

"I'm unhappy with them," Harry interrupted.

"I know. Zabini told everyone that 'at least the Ministry is run by real wizards who know Potter is a bunch of hot air'. You should have seen the Slytherin common room last night. It would have made the previous argument look like harmony."

"Thanks," Harry said.

"No problem. I should get back. If Zabini or Parkinson find out where I've gone, there'll be even more hell to pay. And I haven't told Daphne I'd be going here, so she'll be worried too. Good luck in... whatever you're doing." Nott Disapparated.

"So what was that for?" Smith said. "Just--"

"So Zabini's informing the Ministry. Can't say I'm surprised," Harry said.

"What's with you and the Ministry?" Smith demanded. "I know they--"

"They'd rather look like they're fighting Voldemort than actually do so," Harry said. He opened the door and immediately jumped back into the room.

"What happened, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Wait here," he said, and wrapped himself up in his invisibility cloak. Smith gasped, but Harry quietly crawled outside and headed downstairs.

"Yes, Potter is still here," he heard a voice whispering below. It wasn't one that caused him to panic seconds before. Maybe he was hallucinating...

"Who's with him? Weasley?"

"No Weasley. Granger and someone else."

"Which room?"

"I don't know, the bartender--"

"We'll handle him," a very familiar voice said. Harry now knew he wasn't hallucinating, but he still rushed down for confirmation. He got it. Dolores Umbridge and Dawlish, the Auror, were sitting at a table with someone covered by a black veil. The veiled figure, he remembered, was there when they came in this morning.

Had Harry been alone,he would have waited and listened to the conversation. Now, he quickly got back upstairs, and told Hermione what happened. "We've got to go now," he said.

"Why would the Ministry--"

"I don't know," Harry said. "I didn't do anything illegal, so while the Prophet can write anything they want, they have no reason to go after me. But they followed--or tried to follow--Dumbledore last year. He evaded them, and he had good reasons to. We have the same reasons."

"Alright, Harry, but the moon--"

"Don't worry, Hermione. Got everything? Then let's go."

All three Disapparated and appeared at Hogsmeade.

"Let's go, quickly!" And they vanished before anyone could see them.

The last traces of the dusk were gone, and Stonehenge was covered in darkness. Only with another use of the tracking charm did they find the rock.

"I told you, Harry," Hermione said, pointing at the rising moon. "It won't--"

"She's right, Potter," Smith said. "There's no way that moon will light it up tonight."

Harry pulled out a hand mirror. "Maybe this'll help," he suggested. A few moments later, he caught the moonlight and aimed at the top rune.

A loud roar came form below, and the pillar began to rise out of the ground. It rose until it hovered three feet in the air, revealing an opening of a dark tunnel.

"Lumos," Harry said. "Let's go."

The three wizards entered, an the pillar lowered itself back, closing the tunnel behind them.

XXX

Harry, ignoring the gasps Smith and Hermione made when the way back shut, headed down a straight, narrow descending tunnel. The cave with the locket--with the copy of the locket--had been natural, but this place was clearly artificial.

"Who made this tunnel?" Hermione wondered. "There's no stone, but it must be very old... maybe as old as Stonehenge itself."

The tunnel ended, at Harry's wand light revealed a cavern whose top and far walls were lost in darkness. Something glittered at an indeterminable distance.

"Hold on," Harry told Smith, who was about to run towards the glitter. He lowered his wand and lit up the floor. "As I thought," he said, pointing at the deep chasm in front of them.

"As you thought?" Hermione asked him as she moved around the edge of the chasm, looking for a way to cross it.

"Voldemort likes this kind of setup. A circular obstacle, and something in the center. It's just a guess, but I think we're right under Stonehenge right now."

"Harry!" Hermione yelled out. "A bridge!"

Harry approached her, standing next to a wrought iron bridge. "Will it hold all of us?" Hermione asked.

"I think so, but let's try first." Harry conjured up a rope and tied it around Hermione's waist. He then handed the end to Smith. "Hold on."

Hermione walked across the bridge. Harry expected it to fall at any moment, but soon, they heard her voice. "I've made it!" she yelled.

Harry tied the rope around Smith, conjured up another, and did the same. "Hold the rope, Hermione," he shouted. "Go!"

Smith crossed and reported back. "All right. Now hold the rope I held on to!" He tied the rope about himself, but he didn't need it either. The bridge held.

Harry brought his wand up to the glitter and saw the golden cup with a figure of a badger.

"We have it!" he said.

Smith approached and took the cup. Or rather, he tried to take it, since over half the cup was struck in the rock.

"What the he--"

His voice was lost in the loud roar, a burst of hot air, and a flash of red light from below. The cave was coming alive.