Harry Potter and the Simulacrum Seal

Chapter Eighteen: Boneprice

'What next?' asked Hermione. They were outside of Will's house now, and they waited as Fleur said goodbye to her grandfather.

'Dumbledore had a Pensieve,' noted Ron. 'McGonagall might have it now.'

'We'll ask her when we get back,' Hermione agreed. 'Harry? Should we go now?'

Harry looked across the wide open greenery. He smiled as a thought occurred to him. 'No.'

Hermione was confused. 'No?'

'No.'

He turned to face his friends, and they relaxed when they saw his pleasant expression. 'As long as we're here and all, we should go visit Ginny at Beauxbatons. She'd kill me if she knew I was this close and didn't see her.'

Hermione frowned. 'I don't know. It's quite far away -'

But Harry was already calling, 'Fleur! Wait! Over here!'

Fleur called back, 'Yes?'

'Can you take us to Beauxbatons?' he asked. 'We'd go ourselves, but we don't know what it looks like. Well, maybe Hermione does -'

'Not well enough to Apparate there!' she protested. 'I'd probably Splinch us!'

Fleur seemed to have already forgiven them for bothering her grandfather, particularly since it had ended well and he'd enjoyed the company. 'I don't see why not. I am not needed back right away, and I can Apparate zere by 'eart.'

'Great!' Harry wanted to find the Horcrux very soon, but he also wanted to see Ginny again. He hated that they'd argued the last time they'd talked. They'd pretty well made up through letters, but it wasn't the same.

Fleur surprised Harry by grabbing his hand. ''Old on,' she instructed.

After another dizzying Apparition, Harry landed flat on his back with the wind knocked out of him. Fleur had delivered Ron and Hermione by the time Harry rolled onto his feet.

'Woah,' said Ron.

'It's beautiful!' Hermione said with a sigh.

Harry looked across the horizon and saw Beauxbatons. He couldn't take his eyes off it as they drank in every detail.

Beauxbatons was a palace of cloud-white stone. Person-sized windows lined up in rows stretched a kilometre wide across the chateau's exterior, and tall, rounded, azurite-domed towers on all corners glinted with a bluish light. A formal French garden of pink flowers in full bloom, dotted with precisely-trimmed bushes and marble statues, stretched from the tips of Harry's sneakers to the main entrance at least a mile away.

It was not quite as large as Hogwarts, he concluded after a minute, but it was fancier.

Fleur leaned against a nearby tree to stay standing, exhausted from all the Apparition she'd done that day. 'Wait a moment. I need to rest.'

'Sure,' Ron said, not even glancing back at her.

He sidled up to Harry. 'Not so homey as Hogwarts, is it?' he remarked quietly. 'Can you picture Hagrid prancing around trimming bushes and watering flowers?'

Harry snorted. As he imagined it, Hagrid ended up wearing a frilly pink dress and singing in a high voice as he daintily tipped a watering can over the begonias. 'I don't think we'll find a Forbidden Forest around here.'

'More like a Forbidden Flower Patch.'

Once Fleur was ready, they headed for the front door. 'I will get us in,' said Fleur. 'Ze gatekeeper knows me, of course.'

'You have a gatekeeper?' asked Hermione.

'Oh yes,' Fleur said enthusiastically, smiling as she looked around and ran her fingers over the flowers like they were her old friends. 'Ah, ze smell is so fresh and wonderful! 'Ow I 'ave missed zis place!'

They reached the gate. It was an imposing castle door, and Harry could feel a tingle of magic on his skin. He doubted that touching it would be safe.

'Stay 'ere while I speak wiz ze gatekeeper,' said Fleur. She entered a small wooden side door Harry hadn't noticed; he figured it was obscured purposefully, because he couldn't find it again after Fleur entered it.

She was gone for at least ten minutes, and then she returned with a heavy metal key ring. A small silver key was attached. They watched as Fleur slid it into a gilded silver lock. The door opened inward of its own accord into a sprawling, grassy courtyard with an enormous fountain in the centre.

The three went inside with Fleur. They stuck close together, all feeling a similar sense of being out of place as several upper-year students in the courtyard stared and whispered. A pair of girls who looked around their age waved to Fleur, and she waved back.

'I zink I will visit some people while I am 'ere. Especially my sister,' she said. 'Can you get back to Britain by yourselves when you are finished? Ozzerwise I could meet you at ze gate,' offered Fleur, walking backwards toward the girls.

'We'll be fine. Thanks for everything,' Hermione replied.

'Yeah, thanks,' added Harry. He caught Ron eyeing Hermione nervously and suspected that he was leery of trying long-distance Apparition on his own.

With Fleur gone, the attention from the Beauxbatons students grew even more blatant. One very pretty blonde-haired girl flounced up to them. 'What are you doing 'ere? I 'ope you are not more 'Ogwarts students.' She rolled her eyes.

Scowling, Hermione replied, 'We're not staying, if that's what you mean.'

But the girl didn't even acknowledge hearing her. Her eyes locked on Harry's scar, and her hand flew to cover her mouth. 'Mon Dieu!'

She ran back to her group of friends, who didn't even bother keeping their voices down. All Harry could pick out was his name, but he got the basic idea from their gasps and more concentrated staring.

'Merlin, we can't take you anywhere,' muttered Ron.

Hermione sighed. 'We should ask them where Ginny is.' She glanced at Harry. 'And by we, I mean you.'

'What?! Why me?'

'Because they're drooling over you,' said Hermione cynically. She rolled her eyes in the same disgusted way as the French girl. 'They'll trip over themselves to help you. Ron and I are only more unwanted Hogwarts refugees.'

'Er, okay.'

Not quite knowing what to do, Harry stuck his hands in his pockets and walked - casually, he hoped - over to the girls, who grinned to each other and patted their hair upon his approach.

'Uh, bonjour,' Harry greeted. The girls partially encircled him, and Harry's heart hammered nervously. 'Um, I'm looking for Ginny Weasley. She's a sixth-year from Hogwarts.'

'Oui, I know of her!' said the girl from before, who seemed to be the leader of the pack. 'But I do not know where she is. We could show you around ze school, and per'aps we will find 'er.'

'Um, okay -'

And before he knew it, Harry had been abducted by four attractive French girls. All but one could understand English passably well - the one who couldn't had the others translate what Harry said into French for her. Harry kept an eye out for Hogwarts students, but the hallways were largely empty.

'You battle ze Dark wizards, yes? Zat is why you are not in school wiz ze ozzers?' one asked as they shuttled him round a corridor.

'Um, yeah.'

'And you are 'ere to see Ginny?' She pronounced Ginny's name strangely, as if it were "Gee-Knee."

'Yeah.'

'Zat is so sweet of 'im!' said one of the other girls, clutching her hands to her chest. Harry caught sight of Hermione and Ron, who were following behind, and Ron made a gagging motion.

''Ow long will you be 'ere? I am sure Madame Maxime will be 'appy for you to stay.'

'Er, I'm just passing by -'

'You can spare ze time! Ze Dark wizards can wait for you to kill zem, I am sure!'

'Er -'

'What is your favourite colour?'

'Red.' A good thing, since it was the colour of his face.

'Red is a wonderful colour!'

'I love red also! It is ze colour of love, no?'

The chatter continued, and Harry felt a headache coming on, but there was still no sign of Ginny. 'Maybe she would be in the library?' he suggested meekly.

The girls collectively pouted and disagreed. 'Oh, ze library is no fun! You will want to see ze arboretum! Zere are such lovely flowers!' said their leader.

Anything but more flowers, Harry thought. 'Er, that would be great, but -'

He was too late - they were off again.

I'll get you for this, Hermione.

They reached the arboretum; Harry's nose was tickled by all the different flowery smells in the air. He looked around for Ginny - anyone that he knew - but there was no one but Beauxbatons students within his line of sight.

'Ron?!' cried a familiar voice.

Harry turned around. The person coming into the arboretum behind them was a welcome sight: Dean Thomas.

'Dean!' said Ron, as he was closer. As they clapped each other on the back, Dean took sight of Harry, and his jaw dropped.

'Harry? What are you doing here?' His voice reaching a panicked high, he asked, 'There's something wrong, isn't there?!'

'No,' Harry assured him firmly. The Beauxbatons girls scowled at Dean.

Dean looked relieved. 'Phew. Well, in that case...great to see you.' He wrinkled his nose. 'Say, mind if we talk somewhere else? I'm allergic to something in here.'

'Sure!' said Harry. 'But do you know where Ginny is?'

'Nope. I still can't find my way around this place - it makes me feel like a first-year again. I thought this was the library.'

Harry thanked the Beauxbatons girls, who were less than pleased to see him go, and then set off with Dean, Ron, and Hermione to who knew where. 'I think the library is this way,' Dean said. 'Or maybe it's that way? No, definitely this way.'

'How's everyone holding up?' Ron asked him as they travelled the halls.

Dean shrugged. 'Well enough. The Beauxbatons students are snobs, so we stick together. Most of Gryffindor is here, around half of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and even a few Slytherins - but most of them went to Durmstrang.'

Amazingly, Dean was right about the library this time. About two dozen Hogwarts students, identifiable by their black robes, were clustered around tables by the back windows.

'Oi!' Dean yelled to them. The Beauxbatons students in the library and the librarian shushed him; the Hogwarts students looked up from their books, and the Gryffindors in particular snapped their books shut immediately when they saw what the fuss was about.

Harry's eyes honed in on a pair of beautiful brown eyes.

***

After receiving hugs and well wishes - even a Slytherin shook his hand and wished him luck - Harry and Ginny left the library together. Ginny's sense of direction was better than Dean's; she easily led them back to the arboretum.

'There sure are a lot of flowers around here,' Harry said - at least the flowers were a safe topic.

'The trees are mostly flowering,' Ginny agreed. 'You'd think they'd have more variety. There's nothing ugly or even normal here. It's all a little too much.'

Harry bundled up his courage. 'How have you been?' he asked, sitting down beside her on a little white bench. He hoped that talking about her wouldn't lead to another argument.

Ginny sighed and looked away. 'Boring. It just seems silly to be studying while...I've been sending letters to Mum, you know.' She looked Harry in the eye. 'She says that she'll let me stay after Christmas if I haven't changed my mind about this place. And when I do, I'm going to help you. No more hiding behind closed doors with Ron and Hermione.'

Harry couldn't think of any objection Ginny would agree with. '...Yeah, okay.' Ginny grinned in satisfaction. 'There are some things I should tell you first, though.'

Harry cast a spell to prevent eavesdropping and then told her - briefly, because he hadn't come to talk shop - about the Horcruxes. Ginny listened intently and didn't interrupt with questions, which he appreciated.

When he was done, she stared at him with an intense expression he'd never seen before, as if she was looking at him in a different way. 'You're really going to do it, aren't you?'

'Do what?' he asked.

'Defeat him. You're really going to do it. And it's not going to be in years - it'll be soon, Harry, I know it. There's only two more Horcruxes to find, and then the locket, and then there's Nagini and Voldemort, and they come as a pair.'

Harry looked down at the ground in contemplation. 'This part isn't the hardest. In the end, I still have to beat him somehow.'

'You'll do it,' she replied simply. 'You always do. This time you'll just beat him more soundly than usual.'

Ginny was so sure of herself that Harry even believed it.

They sat for a while in companionable silence, holding hands. It was deeply peaceful, and Harry thought about how glad he was that he had come to see her. He wasn't sure how he felt about her coming back to Britain, but that was months off, and it was impossible to worry with the soft skin of her hand against his.

'I should go soon,' Harry said after a while.

'Yes, you ought to.' Harry was surprised, but Ginny, glaring at some Beauxbatons girls who had passed by several times, explained, 'They look about ready to rip your clothes off with their eyes. I know that look.'

'You would,' he said darkly. Then he remembered that they weren't exactly together anymore. Just sort of. 'So how are the Beauxbatons boys?'

Ginny stared at Harry with impatience. 'You're an idiot.' She pecked him on the lips. 'Go away.'

He did, while touching his lips with his fingers and grinning like a fool.

***

Wake up, Harry.

Harry stirred.

Harry, wake up!

The dim lighting in the room informed Harry that it was morning - along with Mrs Weasley's prodding. He blearily opened his eyes, feeling more exhausted than he had when he'd gone to bed.

'You've been asleep for over a day! Wake up!'

Harry bolted upright in shock. 'What?'

'We couldn't wake any of you all day yesterday! Ron just got up a couple of hours ago!'

The trio had been planning to see McGonagall after their trip to France, but that would have required yet more Apparating. Even Hermione had been completely burnt out, so they had collapsed into their beds before dinner, intending to wake up fresh the next morning.

It was morning all right, but they'd lost an entire day!

Harry threw off the sheets in panic. Mrs Weasley, her hands on her hips, told him crossly, 'You ought to have known that so much Apparating would be tiring! You were going here, there, and everywhere for two days! First to St Mungo's, then to Hogwarts, then to Fleur's, then the next day all the way to France and back! I hear you even went to Beauxbatons! What if someone had attacked you and you weren't at your best?'

'Sorry, Mrs Weasley.' If Harry was getting this much scolding, he could only imagine what Ron had been through with his mum since he'd woken up.

'You can at least tell me how Ginny was!'

'Fine,' Harry replied with a groan. He rubbed his eyes and felt around for wherever he'd thrown his robes.

Mrs Weasley huffed. 'That's exactly what Ron said! "Fine!" I'll expect more details than that at breakfast!'

The three set off right away after a very quick morning meal, all feeling foolish for sleeping so long, especially Hermione. 'I should have known!' she berated herself. 'There's a reason people use Portkeys for long distances!'

***

McGonagall, it turned out, did indeed have Dumbledore's old Pensieve, and their urgency convinced her that their purpose was important, whatever it was. Harry, Ron, and Hermione dove into the memory at once.

Inside the memory, daylight was disturbed by dreary, dark clouds hanging over a dirty street in London. They spotted Will - the Dark wizard Flame. His face was youthful and handsome; he could be no older than twenty-five. He received looks both curious and suspicious from Muggles as he caroused proudly down the street in his robes. What's more, he was singing Oh Sweet Morgana at the top of his lungs - he was trying to get as much attention as possible.

'OH SWEET MORGANA,

SHE'S THE BATWING OF MY EYE...'

Harry ignored him and looked around for Tom, but there were too many people moving about around them to pick him out.

It was Will's memory, so they had to follow him through the red telephone box into the Ministry building. They watched him hex the fireplaces surreptitiously so the witches and wizards inside would have to exit through the doors on the abandoned ground floor into the crowd of Muggles. Then Will started the fire on the third floor of the building, watched it grow until he was satisfied, and he left as the wizards in the building were slowly getting wind of what was going on.

Harry saw the very young Tom Riddle as soon as Will made his flamboyant exit. Tom squeezed his way into the front of the crowd of adults with determination and craned his neck to see the flames, eyes filled with wonder. He held a small candy treat he'd likely gotten for his birthday tightly against his chest with one hand.

Tom spoke with Will, just as Will had claimed, and then went back to watching the bright green fire.

The crowd gasped as the thickening fire boomed and roared - something was happening. The centre became a catlike face with gleaming red eyes. The tendrils of flame turned to claws that swiped at the building, and bricks tumbled to the ground by the dozen.

Harry heard screaming, and people were backing away, but Tom continued to stand there, oblivious to the danger. His hair was dirtied by particles of debris, but he shielded his eyes with his hand and continued to stare until a woman grabbed him by the waist and hauled him off.

After that, he disappeared.

'I still don't see where the Horcrux would be,' said Hermione. 'Maybe it's where the fire was started, above the Ministry?'

'No,' decided Harry. He thought frantically, wanting to figure out where it was before the memory ended. 'This isn't about the fire, it's about Tom. It's about Tom seeing the fire, seeing magic for the first time, and thinking it was all for him.'

Harry looked at the place where Tom had been standing, and he understood. 'It's where he was. That's what's important. Look, he was standing on a manhole cover!'

It was a perfectly ordinary manhole cover for a perfectly ordinary manhole. Ron and Hermione both wore satisfied looks until Ron's lips turned downward in disgust. 'We're going to have to go down there, aren't we?'

Harry remembered Dumbledore's shrivelled arm - and Ginny's brush with death.

'We'll be lucky if the smell is the worst of our problems.'

***

Their first task was to get to the manhole. Harry was technically wanted by the Ministry for questioning, and the manhole was right outside the building. They decided on a simple spell to obscure their faces - if a witch or wizard looked right at them, they would be in trouble, but at least it lessened the likelihood of being caught.

The second problem was going down the manhole; that was certain to get people's attention. So they waited until the dead of night when there were only a handful of Muggles about.

Then Harry, Ron, and Hermione all stared at the manhole cover.

'Should we levitate it?' wondered Harry. He certainly didn't want to touch the thing.

'There are still some Muggles who might see,' Ron said. 'We'll have to pick it up - and by we, I mean you.'

Harry stared crossly at Ron. 'Why me this time?'

'Because Hermione and I can stand in front of you and block you from the Muggles while you get it open,' he answered, sounding awfully pleased with himself. 'We could even snog - you know, just so we don't look suspicious standing around out here.'

'You're both babies.' Hermione got down on her knees, put her fingers around the manhole - cringing - and pulled.

'No good,' she said after pulling as hard as she could. She got to her feet. 'It's bolted down.'

As surreptitiously as possible, Hermione took out her wand and whispered a spell. 'There. Now let's go.'

They were on the receiving end of some odd looks from passing Muggles but got down the manhole nonetheless. Harry was the last one down, so he pulled the manhole cover back in place. As he did so, Hermione and Ron got out their wands and illuminated the sewers.

Harry wished it had stayed dark.

'This is disgusting,' Ron whined, his eyes tearing up. 'I can't believe Voldemort stuck a Horcrux down here. Doesn't he have a sense of smell?'

'Ugh,' Hermione agreed.

Harry went down the ladder, but he wasn't too keen on getting off it any time soon to stand in the muck. 'The Horcrux is probably hidden by magic.'

Hermione sent him a withering look. 'No, really?'

'Sarcasm isn't helpful.'

'Neither is standing around here waiting to catch the Black Plague,' she replied tartly.

Harry sighed and produced his wand. He cast a few spells meant to reveal hidden messages or passages, but nothing happened. 'I don't see anything.'

Hermione tried a few more, but with no success.

'Please, of all the Horcruxes, can we please, please not take long finding this one?' cried Ron desperately, holding his nose.

'Do you have any ideas to share?' snapped Hermione.

'I'll try anything to get out of here!' His jaw set in determination, Ron backed up as far as he could and ran a couple of steps toward the opposite wall. To Harry and Hermione's amazement, he disappeared through the wall.

'It's like platform nine and three quarters!' said Hermione, grinning as she too took the wall at a run.

Harry ran through next. A slimy sensation passed through his body as he made it to the other side, and he tried hard not to think about what he'd just touched. On the bright side, the hidden passage, lit by green flames floating near the walls, was much cleaner, though it was musty and a little too warm.

There was only one way to go, so they followed the curved passage. The sewer had been awful, but now Harry's every nerve was on edge as he waited for the inevitable life-threatening danger ahead. He'd never have escaped the cave without Dumbledore, and though he trusted Hermione and Ron with his life, Harry knew that the three of them combined weren't nearly as experienced or knowledgeable.

He had a deep feeling of foreboding. This was a magical, dark place. The passage was warm, but the walls were very cold - and the few times Harry had touched them, he felt as though his energy was being drawn away by something.

Something hungry.

The passage spiralled downward and inward until it reached its centre. He was surprised when the journey ended without incident, though he couldn't have said how long they'd been walking.

They faced a rough-hewn wall with two openings side by side at about the height of Harry's shoulder. Each was around half the diameter of a Bludger. Around the openings, the wall was covered with a circular inscription. Hermione moved immediately to try to read it.

'It's in runes, and it's complicated, so give me a minute.'

Ron fidgeted constantly. Harry kept his eyes on the holes in the wall, which he was sure were bound to start trouble.

But the openings sat still and silent, empty and waiting.

'Okay, I think I have something.' Hermione traced the runes with her fingers. 'It's about hands...two hands...inside two hands? No, put hands inside. We're supposed to put our hands in there.'

'Let's not.' Harry wasn't about to do what that wall wanted him to. There wasn't the slightest chance it would end well.

'I'll keep reading...hmm, yes, I think you're right, there's something about a sacrifice and blood - nothing pleasant.'

'So where's the Cup?' Ron asked.

'I think...oh.' Hermione paused; her hand fell away from the wall.

'What?' demanded Harry.

Hermione turned around. Harry saw that she looked a little ill. 'I'm pretty sure we've found the Hufflepuff's Cup. There's a symbol for cup on here, and for stone, so I think the Cup is buried in the wall - but cup has the double meaning of something needing to be filled, you see, and...and its symbol is joined with blood.'

'So we have to fill Hufflepuff's Cup with blood. Fine.' Except Harry wasn't buying it for a minute. 'Sounds tame compared to the cave. No Inferi, no insanity, no major pain.'

'I'm not finished yet. There's also the symbol for drink.'

Ron ran his hand over his face, wiping off sweat. 'This is sick.'

'Again with the drinking,' muttered Harry. 'Original, that.'

'I'm not done.'

'Of course you're not.'

'These are...really advanced runes. These two -' she indicated obscure symbols Harry had never seen before '- I can't make out at all.'

And those were obviously the ones that mentioned something trying to kill them all after the cup was filled. With deep concern, Harry said, 'Maybe we should go back and consult a rune textbook before we do anything.'

'Absolutely,' agreed Hermione, looking relieved that Harry wasn't acting rashly. 'I can look up the symbols, and -'

'We don't have time,' said Ron, grim and urgent. 'Look here.'

Harry and Hermione went over and looked back down the passage.

Slowly and silently the walls were merging together behind them. Already most of the passage had closed.

They were trapped. Hermione tried Apparating, but it was no good.

'Our only chance to get out of here is the Horcrux,' Harry realized. And even that might not help.

'Well then,' Hermione said quietly, all colour gone from her face. She turned to Harry, and he saw fear in her eyes alongside a steady determination. 'Now it comes down to whether Ron or I put our hands in there.'

'What about me?!' demanded Harry. 'I should be the -'

'You're too important!' Hermione interrupted. She was fierce when she said, 'Ron and I are expendable. You're not. That's what it comes down to.'

'You are not expendable!'

'Shut up, Harry!' Ron yelled. He pushed Harry against the wall. 'We don't have time. Hermione, get a coin out.'

As she did so, Ron stared Harry down. 'She's right and you know it. You need to get out of this alive. Even Dumbledore was less important than you, and he knew it, and who are we to him?'

Ron's unyielding words were backed up by his strength as he held Harry back.

'I've got a coin,' said Hermione. She was sombre as she clutched it in her hand.

Harry saw her draw her wand over it. Their eyes locked, and she looked away, and he understood. He was going to tell Ron she had rigged the coin flip, but he was cut off.

'Toss it,' said Ron.

Hermione flipped the coin into the air.

Before the coin fell, Ron pushed off the wall and knocked Hermione to the ground. Harry reached out his arm to grab him but missed by inches.

'Ron, no!' he shouted.

But it was too late to stop Ron. He placed his hands in the openings within the stone, and immediately the wall reacted. It was just what Harry had felt before: hunger. Ron's arms were drawn in up to the elbows, and the stone closed in around them.

'How could you?!' Hermione demanded as she got to her feet. 'Oh Ron!'

'Don't "oh Ron" me,' he told her. 'I'd bet every Galleon Harry's got that you fixed the coin anyway.'

Hermione didn't deny it. Facing the wall, Ron couldn't see tears coming to Hermione's eyes, but Harry could.

'I can touch the Cup's handles,' Ron announced, business-like. 'My arms feel like the blood's being pricked out from everywhere, but it just stings, that's all.'

Harry and Hermione waited in silence from a short distance behind and listened to Ron's commentary. 'The Cup's coming closer. I can almost get my hands around it now. I think it must be almost full.'

With satisfaction evident in his voice, Ron said, 'I've got it! Now I just have to drink the blood, and then we can go home - right, Hermione?'

'Y-yes,' she answered, her voice quivering.

'Right, well, I can't drink it yet, I'll need to pull my arm out first -'

The stone around Ron's left arm slowly expanded again, but Ron didn't pull out his arm until it was even wider than it had been to start - wide enough to pull out the Cup. He turned around to face them, grinning as he held it up.

'Guess it won't let my other arm out until I drink,' he said. 'Bottom's up.'

Ron took a small sip and recoiled in horror.

'Can we drink it instead?' asked Harry.

'I don't think we should risk it,' Hermione replied. She watched Ron sympathetically as he made another go at it. 'I think he's supposed to do it himself. Something about balance...'

'Just drink it all in one go, Ron!' Harry tried to encourage him. 'At least it'll be quick that way!'

Ron nodded, gave the Cup one last grossed look, then closed his eyes and swallowed and swallowed until it was gone.

'Done,' Ron croaked out. His own blood coated his lips and streaked down his chin.

'The walls are reopening!' Hermione declared, looking back down the passage. 'Let's go!'

Ron tugged on his right arm. He tugged again. 'It's no good. My arm's still stuck.'

'What?' Hermione blanched. 'That's impossible -'

As she spoke, there came a rumbling. It started below their feet and travelled into the walls, into the ceiling. Handfuls of rock were tumbling down around them.

The cavern was collapsing.

'We have to go!' yelled Harry. He grabbed onto Ron and yanked him back as hard as he could, but his arm didn't budge.

'There has to be a way!' Hermione shouted in panic over the loud noise of the rocks as they dislodged and fell around them. She cast several spells even as Harry continued to pull, but nothing worked.

They were running out of time.

Then Ron's sombre expression blocked the crumbling of the cavern out of Harry's mind. It blocked out all of Hermione's panicked attempts to get Ron out.

Harry couldn't say anything. There was nothing to say. He knew what Ron was going to ask him to do before the words had left his mouth.

He couldn't. It was too much.

'Harry, you need to cut off my arm.'