The Veil of Memories

Chapter 21

Into the Lair

Ron's arm felt heavier and heavier as he kept his wand pointed at Nott. His adversary looked over at him once or twice. Like a patient predator, Ron knew that Nott could sense he was tiring. He wondered if Nott had also noticed him wince at the sharp twisting pain that still struck his head from time to time, the continued after effects of Nott's abortive curse in the forest, from which he had not yet completely recovered.

The morning sun was stretching just above the trees as they walked. It had been nearly a full day since they had left the clearing where the Death Eater's fateful ambush had taken place. If the fact that Ron was not really at full health wasn't bad enough, they were now traveling in the daytime which upset his biological clock, as he and the original group had traveled by night. Gone now, however, were their magical tents. Dumbledore and Lupin had conjured some coverings to keep them dry in the rain the previous night, but that was about all they had, and their provisions were getting meager as well. They had slept fitfully, Ron and Lupin taking turns guarding Nott. Even when it wasn't his turn, Ron had found himself on edge. He knew that night was when the Death Eater was most likely to try something. As a result, fatigue was beginning to catch up with Ron. Though he wouldn't ever say so to Dumbledore and Lupin, he wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.

But Ron wasn't so tired that he didn't pay attention to the conversation going on ahead of him between Dumbledore and Lupin, nor had he failed to notice when they had broken into lower, more guarded tones. He motioned for Nott, who had been dawdling behind the two older wizards, to quicken his pace and Ron matched it in turn. Once close enough, he listened carefully.

" - can find a way to stop Voldemort, I fear it may not be enough," Dumbledore was saying.

"The old wizard, you mean?"

Dumbledore nodded. "The appearance of Mr. Wiggins has complicated matters a great deal. Even if we could stop Voldemort and return every bit of matter and magical energy that belonged beyond the gateway, I fear that the balance between the two worlds may have already been irrevocably altered. Far too many things that don't belong in this world have already passed into it, even if we do take into account Voldemort's bubble dimension on the other side."

"Is there no way to restore the balance?"

"We have to find a way to restore it, Remus; if the balance is too far stretched, the two worlds will implode on each other, more slowly than Voldemort would accomplish it, but the end result would be the same. However, if we could align ourselves with a new balance - "

Dumbledore then went into a lot of technical-sounding magical details, most of which Ron didn't understand and started to become monotonous. He caught Nott straining to listen and then cleared his throat, and indicated with his wand that he should back away from Dumbledore and Lupin.

"Big enough for a whole person to remain on this side?" said Lupin.

Ron pricked up his ears again.

"Something person-sized would probably have to remain on this side," said Dumbledore. "Larger the longer this goes on. And someone would have to regulate the balance very closely. But I'm afraid if you're thinking of Sirius, my friend, it wouldn't work. He's been on the other side too long and his existence in this world is only possible inside the protective bubble. From what he has told us, any being on the other side of the gateway quickly begins to bleed certain parts of themselves with others to the extent that they become inseparable. I'm sorry, my friend."

There was a long pause then and Lupin did not respond. Ron wondered how he was feeling, how he had felt all this time since his old friend had died and now returned, if only for the briefest of visits. He wondered what Harry felt, and whether he still remembered his godfather - wherever he was now.

Ron was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice Dumbledore put up a hand to stop them and nearly walked right into him.

"What is it?" he asked.

The headmaster pointed a finger ahead. Ron could now see that the trees ended less than a dozen yards ahead of them. Beyond that was a row of hedges and, on the other side, the Muggle lane.

"We must retrace our steps part of the way," said Dumbledore. "We're close enough that we could be seen here."

Lupin started to turn but Ron remained in place, his wand still trained on Nott.

"What's that noise?" he said.

"Unless I'm very much mistaken," said Dumbledore, "that is the sound of a Muggle vehicle approaching, all the more reason for us to withdraw."

But Ron did not move. The sound was getting louder and louder; he didn't recall his father's old enchanted car making this much noise. But whatever the case, transport was transport.

"Wait, we can get a lift!" said Ron.

"I've told you before, Ron," replied Dumbledore. "It's far too dangerous. Now we need to get back from the lane!"

But Ron still did not move. As far as he could see it, this was their chance. Whatever Lupin and Nevins had said, he knew from his father that Muggle cars could work - most of the time - and they were about to lose their chance to hail this one down.

"You guard him," he said decisively to Lupin. Before his old teacher knew what he was doing, Ron had placed his wand in his hand, and torn off toward the hedgerows.

"No, Ron!" cried Dumbledore. "Come back this instant!"

But Ron did not return. He leapt over two errant branches, ducked through the hedgerows and emerged onto the lane. There was a loud high pitched sound like a choir of out-of-tune doxies which Dumbledore recognized as the screeching of brakes. Following that was a very unpleasant-sounding thud.

***

"Hermione! Hermione, wake up!"

Hermione sat up and winced in pain. She put her hand to the back of her head and came away with a spot of dried blood.

"I put a healing charm on it," said Harry. "I think it will be all right. Anyway, it was the best I could manage."

Hermione sat up and looked around, taking care not to over-burden her woozy head. They were in some sort of a small chamber, about the size of a classroom. There were no corners in the room and apparently no doors or exits. She was sitting on a dusty, earthy floor with Harry crouching over her. The only thing about the room that wasn't exactly the same as everything else was a small patch of non-existent wall directly opposite the one in front of which she was sitting. The patch was a little larger than the size of a door. It was grey and sparkled with multi-colored dots. It was only after seeing it that everything came back to Hermione.

"Harry, I - oh, goddess, Harry, I thought we were - " Hermione remembered falling off the edge of the meadow, spinning in the air like a horrible top, feeling her insides seem to change places inside of her, and then -

Harry nodded. "For a few moments, I was certain Umbridge had been telling the truth."

"But Harry, what happened?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm not really sure," he said, "but I think we must have come out there." He pointed at the vortex. "And I think we came out rather fast, then slid along the floor, and banged our heads on this wall. All I remember was coming out very quickly and then feeling a horrible pain. After a while, I woke up and you were lying next to me unconscious."

Hermione felt another sharp pain in her head at Harry's words. She watched him point along the floor and noticed that a small layer of dust had been cleaned from the floor between the vortex opening and this far wall, exactly as if two people had slid across it and banged themselves up on the far side.

"But where are we n - " Hermione stopped suddenly and gasped. "Harry, I - I - I'm Hermione Granger."

If Harry thought this was a strange thing for Hermione to say, he did not show it. Instead, he looked at his best friend closely and nodded.

"I - I'm a witch," Hermione went on. "I'm a seventh-year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'm - I'm - Harry," her eyes began to wet with tears of disbelief. "I - I remember. I remember everything. That school. Those nuns. It was all - it was all lies - all of it. It all seemed so real but it - it wasn't. I never burned down anyone's house."

Harry nodded. "And I never killed my aunt, though I think I might have blown her up once."

"But Harry, what happened? The last thing I remember - it was the first night of school. We were sitting together - the three of us: you and I and - oh, Harry, Ron!"

"Ginny," said Harry blankly.

Hermione looked across at Harry, disbelief etched on her face. Tears ran down her cheeks and she could see that even Harry's eyes were watering. There were so many things she wanted to say, so many unanswered questions, but it was all so overwhelming that couldn't bring herself to say anything at all. Finally, she settled on the one thing that seemed to defy her understanding the most, no matter how much she thought around it.

"But Harry, Sirius - how could he - Harry, Sirius is - Sirius is dead!"

Harry lowered his head and Hermione instantly regretted having said anything at all. But the whole thing was all so impossible. How could he have come back? Where had they been all this time anyway? Goddess, she was in that school nearly a year, all the time believing she was -

"He is dead," said Harry finally, with the finality of a large stone dropping loudly into a shallow pond. "But he came back. Just before - just before they got rid of me - I suppose they must have known he'd told me everything. And so, they had to get rid of me. They must have expelled me to St. Brutus's that night."

"Harry, I don't understand!"

Harry looked at Hermione and sighed. He was silent for a moment, but when he opened his mouth again he told her everything as quickly but as completely as he could, from the day Hermione had first disappeared up until the fateful night when Professor Janus had revealed himself to be Sirius Black, returned from the dead, and he, Dumbledore, and Professor Lupin had explained to him and Ginny the horrible truth of Voldemort's return and his plans.

"All the while, it was Ginny who remembered," he finished. "We all thought she was mad. I mean - I - I tried to believe her, but it was all so fantastic. It wasn't until that night when Sirius came back that I really started to believe her. Of course, it was our memories that were altered, not hers."

"But why was she immune?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know. Goddess, what's happened to her? What's happened to all of them? It's been months! Sirius! Sirius must have followed me to the school - he's the only one who knew how to travel freely between the dimensions. And he tried to give us our memories back." Harry sighed. "But he couldn't bring himself to tell us - to tell us about him - that he was really dead - that he really wasn't coming back. I suppose it must have been too much for him a second time, and now he's gone for good."

Harry lowered his head again. Hermione reached over and took hold of his shoulders, then drew her friend into an embrace. This all seemed too much for Harry. She heard a sound catch in his throat, then a loud sob, and finally felt his tears running down her back. Hermione felt an immense feeling of relief when he did. It was as though a thundercloud had finally broken open on an oppressively humid day.

Harry drew back out of the embrace finally and instinctively hid his eyes away from Hermione but she touched her hand to the side of his face. With her other hand, she reached into her back pocket and was grateful to find that the wand Sirius had made for her was still there, even if it had seen better days. She conjured a handkerchief, feeling a momentarily thrill that she now remembered how to do such a simple bit of second year magic, and slowly dabbed the tears away from Harry's cheeks.

"Harry, listen to me," she said in a gentle but persistent voice. "What I said on that hill is still true: Sirius gave his life for us - or whatever it was he had that let him come back to this world. We believed in him even when we didn't know any better and we got out. It's what he would have wanted. And he wanted another thing, too: he wanted to train us so we could come back here, get our memories back, and stop whatever this thing is that Voldemort is doing. And whatever it is, he didn't think we had much time left to prevent it. We've got to go on, Harry. We've got to think about that."

Harry didn't show any signs of listening to Hermione for a moment. He continued to keep his head down. Then he took the handkerchief from her hand, dried his own eyes, and blew loudly on his nose. He then got to his feet.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

"I think so." Hermione tried to get to her feet, winced, stumbled for a bit, but remained upright.

"I think we better start by finding out where we are."

Hermione nodded. "Is there any way out of here?"

Harry looked around. "None that I can find. It all seems pretty solid, except for the vortex."

Hermione held out her wand again. "Aperio."

She flicked it around the room. A soft white light emitted and struck each of the walls in turn. For a moment, nothing happened, then a round door-like frame a few feet away from them glowed brightly. Hermione walked purposefully over to the illuminated section and touched her wand to the wall.

"Alohomora."

There was an almost imperceptible sound of moving rock. The opening moved slightly ajar, enough for Harry and Hermione to squeeze through. Harry peeked around the corner. A non-descript corridor stretched for a few dozen meters before turning around and moving further forward into darkness. It was round like the room they were in, with no windows and doors. The ceiling was just a little higher than Harry's head. With the exception of a small torch that stuck rather awkwardly out of the wall and lit the passageway very dimly, it seemed just like the home of an enormous burrowing earthworm.

"I suppose the only way is forward," said Harry.

Hermione nodded her agreement. The two friends held their wands out in front of them and cautiously moved out down the corridor. As they left the room behind them, the door closed. Hermione pointed her wand at the now invisible doorway behind them.

"Flagrate non Specto," she said.

A bright red X appeared for a moment on the outside of the door and then vanished.

"This will help us find our way back," said Hermione, "but it will only reveal itself to my wand." She turned to face Harry, a grim expression on her face. "Umbridge will know we escaped, Harry, and she probably knew what was on the other end of the vortex. We don't want to make it easier for them to find us than we have to."

Harry looked back at Hermione's handiwork.

"I'm certainly glad you have all your memories back now," he said.

The two friends turned and walked back up the open corridor, then disappeared into the darkness ahead.

***

Rosemary Pilkington was late. Very late. Her turnips were supposed to have been in Grizedale by quarter to eight to get ready for opening market. A flat tire and a warped fanbelt later, it was well gone nine. Market day in Grizedale was only once a week; if she didn't make it there soon, it would be lost money; this crop wouldn't stay fresh enough for another week for anyone to be willing to buy. Rosemary briefly considered scrapping the whole trip; she could still try to make for the Coniston market tomorrow, even though it was some distance from her farm. Still, she decided, if she just went a little bit faster, then maybe -

The boy came out of nowhere. One second Rosemary was steadying her protesting truck around a sharp curve, the next he was standing there, right bang in the middle of the lane with his hand stretched out in front of him. Rosemary hit the brakes hard; the truck skidded around the lane, its overworked brakes screeching in protest all the way. She slowed right down but not quite fast enough. The bumper struck the boy and he fell to the pavement.

There was an agonizing moment of indecision. Rosemary found her hands trembling as they continued to catch hold of the steering wheel. Suddenly turnips and markets were the furthest things from her mind.

It was his own fault, she tried to tell herself, staring down at her white knuckles. What had the boy been thinking of, standing in the middle of the lane like that raising his hand? Hadn't he heard her coming? Her old Austin Freelander wasn't exactly a quiet vehicle.

Still, Rosemary told herself, trying to calm down. She hadn't hit him all that hard. Maybe he -

Rosemary felt relief rush over her as the boy slowly appeared just above the bumper, clutching the side of his head and wincing. Rosemary noticed for the first time that he was dressed very strangely in what looked like a long black dress. She squinted at him again for a moment - perhaps he wasn't a boy at all? His hair was a bit long and very straggly looking. No, she decided, he was. Must be one of them - one of them - Rosemary felt a distasteful sensation in her stomach, then forced it back. To each his own, she tried to tell herself, just as her son would say. Takes all sorts to make a world. Still, if her dear mother were still alive....

The boy started to move toward the truck. He didn't look very happy. Perhaps he was still in pain. A sudden fear flashed through Rosemary's mind. Maybe he had set the whole thing up - he was going to sue her, go after her money, claim she had been reckless driving. Blimey, he looked just the type, too, down on his luck, driven to desperation....

Rosemary decided to make a pre-emptive strike and opened the door just as he was almost alongside it. She stepped out into the lane.

"Are yeh all right, lad?" she demanded. "What the devil were yeh playin' at, walkin' out into the road an' all, could've git yehself run over!"

"I - I'm sorry," said the boy. "I thought - I'm not used to Muggle carriages - I - I mean cars. I thought they worked like the Knight Bus - a - a sort of - well, bus - but bigger than a Muggle bus - I - I mean a double-decker bus that is. It's sort of purple and - "

Rosemary was still staring incredulously at the boy wondering how hard he had been hit in the head when three very strange-looking men emerged from behind the hedgerows. All of them were dressed in the same long dresses. Rosemary wondered for a moment whether they might be priests or something - or monks, yes that was it, monks. They had hoods and everything. But they all looked very scruffy, like a load of tramps. What in the righteous Lord's name were they -

Rosemary's thoughts stopped again as she looked properly at the tallest one and stifled a gasp. He had a ghastly, emaciated-looking face; he was obviously a horrible burn victim. Perhaps that's what they were trying to do, get him to a hospital. Maybe that was why the lad had been so anxious to stop her. The other two didn't look much the better either; the middle-aged chap who was standing just behind the taller one and holding onto his arm for support had some horrible scratches across his face. The oldest one didn't seem to show any outward signs of injury, but his long white hair and beard were unkempt and full of little twigs as though he'd been walking through the forest for days.

"Blimey!" she said. "I - I'm sorry. I - oh, gracious, I - "

The old man walked up to the side of her car. He looked down through his glasses at her with a friendly enough smile.

"I'm so sorry to disturb you, madam," he said in a kind but slightly aristocratic voice. "Young people do tend to get a little impatient, but all the same, we're on our way to save the world and I'm afraid we might not make it in time by walking. I've noticed your lane takes us very near where we were hoping to travel. I wonder if you would be so kind as to give us a short lift to the second lake on the left in the next but one valley?"

Rosemary stared at the old man a little blankly for a moment. The next but one valley? And what did he mean - her lane? Instinct told Rosemary she should stay as far away from this as possible, but then she started to worry. What if they were injured? Maybe this one had had a right knock about in the head - maybe they all had? If she just drove away and left them, she could be liable - for something, at any rate.

"I reckon you lot need to go to the hospital."

"I expect a good healer wouldn't go amiss, I agree," said the old man. "Perhaps after we're finished at the lake."

It wasn't exactly the sort of response Rosemary was hoping for, but she decided it would have to do. She couldn't just leave these four walking around and she was uncomfortably aware that her Freelander was now standing in the lane.

"Right. Get in. But we're going to the hospital first."

The old man frowned for a moment, but then smiled engagingly. The boy didn't seem to have to be told twice and let himself in through the back door. The man with the criss-crossing scars looked like he was poking something at the one with the burned off face. They got in the back alongside the boy. Rosemary had decided the whole thing was a mistake but then the old man got into the front beside her and smiled again. There was something almost hypnotic about the way he looked at her and Rosemary found herself starting the engine and driving forward.

"See - I told you," said the boy. "Much faster than walking."

"Provided one can keep one's head in one piece," chided the man with the scars, whose voice also sounded much more educated than Rosemary had expected. Perhaps they really were monks - some kind of order out here in the sticks - funny she'd never heard of them before, though. She found herself leaning on the accelerator again. The sooner this mad lot were out of her truck, the better.

"I wonder what this is for," said the boy. Rosemary watched through her rear view mirror as he inspected the power window button as though he'd never seen one before. "My Dad's car didn't have one of these. And what's covered over in the back, anyhow?"

"Turnips," said Rosemary. "I was on me way to market before I ran into you lot. Reckon I'll be too late now though."

"So that's how Muggles get all their vegetables around without floo!" said the boy.

"Primitive."

It was the first time the man with the emaciated face had spoken up.

"Yeah, well," said Rosemary, looking back at the gruesome horror sitting in her back seat and wondering whether she was supposed to take offense or not. "Me 'usband's been wantin' to get a lorry for some time now; what you want to do with a lorry on lanes like this, I asked him? Be like usin' a hippo to weed out yeh garden, wouldn't it?"

"Quite so," replied the old man, smiling.

Rosemary looked back in the mirror to find the burned headed man smiling rather gruesomely.

"Tell me, Muggle," he said. "How does it feel to be present with us at the new dawning? Do you cower in your carriage at the thought of the Dark Lord's awesome might?"

"Shut up!" said the boy, and poked some sort of wooden stick at his side.

"What do you - what does he mean 'Muggle?' Not all of us are Tories, you know!"

"Please take no notice of Mr. Nott," replied the old man silkily. "He is our prisoner."

"Blimey, you lot have escaped from somewhere, haven't you?"

"We seem to have made a habit of it lately."

"Right," said Rosemary nodding. "I thought that was about the size of it. We'll get yeh all right back where yeh belong and get all yeh cuts and various things taken care of. Don't know that there'll be much hope feh yeh unfortunate friend what was in the fire, mind, but they might have somethin' for yeh other chappie's face. Looks like some great cat attacked yeh."

"There's no need to worry," said the man with the scratched face calmly. "These marks were self-inflicted. I am a werewolf."

"Really, Rosemary," said the old man, after a moment's pause, "if I may call you Rosemary: we don't want to put you out. If you'll just let us off near the forest by the lake, then we'll be on our way and - "

"How the bloody dickens did you know my name?"

"I'm ever so sorry," said the old man, "but I couldn't help but noticing. It's inscribed on the inside of your wristwatch. A gift, perhaps."

Rosemary quickly checked to see that the clock side of her watch was still facing up.

"As I was saying," the old man went on, "I think we've inconvenienced you too much already. In fact, with your permission, perhaps I can make a few small modifications to your vehicle so you'll arrive at the market even faster than if you'd never stopped to collect us. It's the least we can do."

"What - what - what are yeh - if yeh start opening and fiddlin' around with me truck, I'm stoppin' right now and throwin' yeh all out - mad or not!"

"Oh, it won't be necessary to open anything," said the old man. "There's no need to worry."

Rosemary watched out of the corner of her eye as the man took a stick of his own out of his pocket and began tapping gently at various points along the dashboard. Well, let him get on with it, she thought. He seems harmless enough. But as soon as they got to that clinic, the better. They'd know what to do with them. Or the police station if they reached it first. She struggled to think if there was one on the way in Brookshire; maybe she could just leave them there. Then they would be out of her hair and this whole business would be -

"There!" said the old man. "That should do it. I do apologize for all this, Rosemary, and normally we wouldn't go sharing our secrets with Muggles, but this is a rather urgent situation. If you don't mind, I'll just press this button - "

"The cigarette lighter? After a fag, are yeh? I 'int brought any extra with me - mind yeh I could do with one about now - so as long as yeh don' leave any butts on me floor, go ahead then."

"Thank you, Rosemary. You've been most understanding."

The old man pressed the cigarette lighter. An ominous noise erupted from the engine. Rosemary was about to ask what was happening when the front two wheels suddenly lifted up off the lane and the Freelander took to the air.

"Wicked!" cried the boy.

Rosemary screamed.

***

Ginny ran her fingers around the dark, round cell for the umpteenth time, searching for some hint of a trick door, or the ghost of an opening. She'd discovered a bathroom some while ago, complete with a magically flushing loo and a shower, but there was no way out of there either. Ginny couldn't think what she could do to escape short of squirting her captors with the shower head. She settled for giving herself periodic showers to stay alert. She had to be ready anytime to -

Two popping noises signaled the arrival of visitors. Ginny quickly moved away from the wall. Two Death Eaters stood in front of her, one of them too tall and the other too short to be Malfoy. The shorter one took his mask off. He was pudgy and scruffy-looking and had an enormous head as though someone had taken a tall man and hammered him down. Ginny looked at him for a moment before she realized that she knew who he was.

"It's you," she said. "A pity I didn't step on you that day when I was nine and in a very bad mood."

Wormtail gave her a sickly smile and fluttered his fingers about nervously, revealing a faded piece of grey cloth.

"The Dark Lord wishes to see you again," he announced.

"Too busy for a house call, is he?"

"He wants you to behold our glorious destiny for yourself."

"I can hardly wait."

Ginny kept her voice carefully neutral but her heart quickened. They were going to Portkey her out of this cell. Malfoy couldn't resist showing her all of his plans, of course. This could be her only chance at escape.

The two Death Eaters took hold of Ginny's arm roughly and she felt them press the cloth to her shoulder. There was a very quick tug at her hip and then Ginny found herself in some sort of grey corridor, a bit like the room she'd just left - windowless and featureless - and looking like it had been crudely carved out of the earth. She quickly looked around and discovered there were four more Death Eaters here, flanking her on each side. Wormtail and the other Death Eater took a tight grip on her arms and walked her forward. So much for escape, she thought, but her eyes continued to move around.

There were occasional glimpses of light between cracks on the walls to her left as they walked. Ginny soon got the feeling that the corridor was carved alongside some sort of enormous lit room. On looking closer, she discovered that the passageway was not perfectly round as her cell had been: only the right side swooped up toward the ceiling. The left side was more polished and stood at a ninety-degree angle to the ground and the ceiling like a wall in a conventional room. Ginny had the feeling that while the labyrinthine passageway had been carved out by some sort of giant worm, the wall on the left side was more synthetic, as though it alone had required great planning and care. Ginny struggled to look through the openings to see what was behind the wall, but Wormtail pulled her roughly away.

"Let go of me!" she demanded.

The Death Eaters took no notice. They continued to urge her forward. They had walked about fifty yards when they came to a large knobless door. They passed that one but then came to another about ten yards to its right. Wormtail touched his wand to the door in two places and it opened outward in two halves. The Death Eater who had hold of her other arm shoved Ginny forward.

Ginny's first impression on entering the room was how light it was compared with the dark passageway outside and the darkness of her cell. She squinted for a moment, trying to adjust. Once she did, her mouth dropped at the sight before her.

"Oh, goddess," she said.

***

Harry and Hermione slowed down as they reached another turning point and flattened themselves carefully against the wall. They paused for a moment and, on hearing no sound, slowly walked around the corner. This turning was just as featureless as the one before it except that it ended in two choices: one turning led steeply upwards into darkness while the other sloped slightly downward and was bathed in low light. Both were about the same width across.

"Where to now?" whispered Hermione.

"This way," said Harry with certainty, pointing his wand toward the downward sloping passageway. "I think we should go deeper and there's more light here as well."

Without waiting for Hermione to agree, he walked on ahead. She watched him for a moment and then followed, drawing another invisible X on the wall as they passed.

They continued around several more corners. After each turn, the light grew stronger. It was obviously coming from somewhere ahead of them. Hermione didn't realize she'd been walking so slowly until she came to almost a complete standstill. She and Harry exchanged an apprehensive glance and looked at the wall straight ahead of them. There was clearly something very bright coming from just around the corner. They could see each other quite clearly now. Holding their wands out in front of them, they slowly rounded it.

The passageway continued to wind around toward another corner, this time into darkness, but the wall on the far right was different from the round, burrowing type of walls they had just walked through. It was flat from floor to ceiling and perfectly smooth, as though it was the only thing in these passageways that was artificial. Beyond it was a small alcove, an opening just large enough to accommodate the two of them, though Harry had to crouch down a little to fit through it.

They were standing just outside a cavern of unthinkable proportions. Its ceiling stretched out several stories above them and then disappeared to dizzying depths at least twenty stories below. It was as tall as one of the Muggle skyscrapers or towers in London. Hermione wagered it stretched almost twice the height as the distance from the earth to the top of the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts. Instinctively, she backed away a little from the edge. There wasn't any sort of railing and she didn't think she could survive that sort of fall. Harry remained uncomfortably close for her liking and peered around inside.

The room stretched several hundred meters wide and long. All four sides - no, five sides, she corrected herself: the room was in the shape of a pentagon - stretched smoothly from top to bottom. But they were the only things that seemed smooth about this vast monstrosity. All throughout its otherwise hollow interior was a haphazard labyrinth of curving girders. It wasn't like anything Hermione had ever seen before; it reminded her somehow of a child's creative but impractical design for a roller coaster or like the strange hollows that the sea sometimes made when the crashing waves carved out shapes in the rocks. It definitely didn't seem to be made from any design. It was almost impossible to tell what material made up the structure; it was sort of off-white in contrast to the grey of the walls. It had an odd sort of sheen to it, almost like ivory, but Hermione was certain it wasn't really ivory; it wasn't any sort of material she had ever seen before. It was obvious that this material was what was giving off the light; it must have been phosphorescent somehow.

Besides the smoothed out walls, there were two obvious things that weren't natural features of the cavern: one was a long metal-like mezzanine area that stretched out from the side of the pentagon just to their left and down about twenty meters. It seemed to hang out from the side of the wall, held in place by massive steel-looking ropes that connected it to a spot further up. Behind the mezzanine were two small openings in the wall, probably out into another series of passageways similar to the one they were standing in. At the center of the mezzanine was a long sort of ridge that looked to be made of the same ivory-like material that formed the sculpturesque center of the hallway. Strange multi-colored knobs and instruments looked like they had been blasted into the center of the material by some nasty slicing charms - or small Muggle explosives. They looked almost electronic, except that there were no wires and they didn't seem connected to anything.

There was another feature that obviously wasn't part of the natural cavern. It seemed to be hanging from a long, almost invisible cord from the ceiling and ended just across from the end of the strange organic roller-coaster, almost as if it had spun the material out from itself. Hermione knew right away exactly what it was and from the looks of things, Harry did, too. Seeing it in this enormous cathedral, it frightened and awed her far more than it had when she had first seen it in its original location two years before.

It was the archway from the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. Still attached to the archway was a tattered veil - the veil through which Sirius had once disappeared. It fluttered expectantly like a hungry mouth expecting more victims.

All of this would have rendered anyone speechless - certainly any wizard. But Harry and Hermione kept silent for quite a different reason: they were not the only people present in the cavern. Down on the mezzanine floor, behind the controls, was hunched a tall figure with a bright shock of blonde hair. Standing on the platform just in front of him were six Death Eaters - five were masked; the other had a straggly mess of grey hair and a long nose a bit like a rat's. One other figure stood among them, her arms held by the two Death Eaters on either side. She was a witch - a witch with long, red hair.

***

"What's the matter, Ginny?" cooed Malfoy. "Has the Animagus caught your tongue? Or have you finally started to believe? Release her. I do not believe she will harm anything. Nor is there anywhere for her to escape."

The Death Eaters let go of her arms, which Ginny shook to re-start her circulation.

"Only because I don't know how to," Ginny said, trying hard to replace her awe with defiance. "And if you mean I believe you capable of creating a horror of horrors, then I knew that already."

A slightly sardonic, almost blissfully Draco-like smile graced Malfoy's lips. It was soon replaced, however, by the feverish, angry intensity that Ginny forever associated with the face of Tom Riddle.

"Do you not see the beauty as well as the power, Ginny? This cavern was empty when it first came into my possession a year ago. Once the gateway took its rightful place, however, it began to conjure its own beautiful sculpture and gradually this cavern grew full of its own light; the material comes from beyond the gateway, you know, Ginny, a sign to remind us all of the wonders that lie beyond."

Ginny looked up to the veil and noticed that even now it seemed to be slowly oozing out the strange wax-like substance. It pooled and coalesced in a ridge just in front of the stone archway like a strange sort of white lava and then flowed down to add to the winding and twisting formations that filled the otherwise empty chasm.

"A warning sign against your own meddling, Tom," Ginny retorted.

There was an angry rumble among the Death Eaters as they heard her use the name but Malfoy silenced them with a shake of his head.

"Dumbledore's words, again," he said to Ginny. "But I can be patient. Soon, I will prove him forever wrong. I can wait just that little while longer for you to turn to my side. And I have excellent news for you, Ginny." The feverish look returned. "After a more precise check of my instruments, I can see we have only hours to wait now; the arc of becoming is returning much faster than expected. By the time the sun sets at the end of this day, a new dawn will have risen for all. Today will see the end of death for all true-blooded wizards and witches."

Ginny's heart began to beat faster again. Trapped inside this horrible place, she had no idea what time of day it was, but it seemed they had only hours left before Malfoy put his final horrible scheme into action. And as far as Ginny knew, she was the only left alive who could stop it: her own selfish attempts to contact Ron had ended the Order's expedition to seize Malfoy's hideout. Perhaps Dumbledore and Lupin were still planning something, but she couldn't be sure of that and she didn't think it was very likely. Despair threatened to cripple her but Ginny forced herself to focus on the daunting burden that she alone would shoulder. It was quite possible that after Malfoy's demonstration of his power, she would be led back to her door-less cell and forced to remain there until it was too late to stop him. She had to try and buy her time as long as she could and wait for her chances.

Ginny gestured at the elaborate set of multi-colored controls that stood out oddly in the raised rock face in front of Malfoy. In truth, the whole thing had a ghastly complexity and power that only terrified her more, but she was determined not to let Malfoy see her fear.

"You're going to punch a hole in the gateway with all this nonsense?" she asked, in what she hoped was a very derisive tone.

Malfoy looked at her slyly. "You want to know how it's done, do you, Ginny? The mad zealot reveals his plans to his enemy just when he thinks she has no chance to stop him?"

"A girl can only hope, you know, especially since you seem to have the 'mad zealot' part down so well. Besides, I think I can figure out part of it myself: this cavern has been perfectly carved out of the rock into a giant pentagon - the pentrax frame, am I right?"

There was another rumble of surprise from the assembled Death Eaters.

"Very good, Ginny," replied Malfoy. "I see Dumbledore managed to learn much more since I last checked in on him."

"And you'll need a nexus - a triangle to complete the magic."

Malfoy looked at Ginny a little strangely. For one fleeting moment, she was sure she had seen a frightened looking boy staring back at her, but then almost immediately that face was gone.

"This equipment represents the conjured fruits of hundreds of years of dark magic, Ginny, hidden by the Ministry, and then built upon in secret by generations of wizards until now I have discovered and perfected it. With it, I will be able to determine precisely when the arc will return. Once the point is reached, the energy from my wand, amplified by the pentrax frame in which we are standing, will be sufficient to conjure the nexus and strike a hole into the other world." Malfoy made a forward motion with his hand in the direction of the veil. "I regret you will not be here to see it, Ginny. Although I have full confidence that your feelings toward me will change when our project has completed, I cannot risk your interference before that time. If you are considering sabotage, I would warn you that I have trained all of my Death Eaters to conjure the triangle and complete the magic. There is no need to worry, Ginny. As soon as the magic has done its work, I will come immediately to release you. Then we will go to witness together the gifts the new dawning has given us. It's true I regret that you won't - "

Malfoy stopped talking suddenly. A deep frown passed over his features. The sound of running footsteps and raised voices were coming from the passageway outside.

"Who dares to interrupt - "

The door opened and Dolores Umbridge came running into the cavern, followed closely by two Death Eaters, who had evidently been trying to stop her. It had been months since Ginny had last seen her and she was struck immediately by the change: the would-be headmistress of Hogwarts had become very thin and pale; her glasses were broken and askew; and her hair was unkempt and tangled. She seemed to be desperately trying to suck in air, as though she had been running a great while and was not used to it. What surprised Ginny most of all, however, was her demeanor; gone completely was the wicked arrogance and sickly self-righteousness. This Umbridge looked humble and terrified and as soon as she saw Malfoy, she fell to her knees as though cowing before the wrath of a horrible demon.

Malfoy straightened himself up and peered down at Umbridge. His face flushed in anger but Ginny also saw consternation. Her heart leapt a little with hope; it was very obvious that something had not gone to plan.

"What is the meaning of this?" Malfoy demanded. "I gave strict orders I was not to be disturbed! Surely your report can wait, Dolores?"

"N - No, my - my - my Lord," Umbridge half-panted, half-whimpered. "I - I have some - some unfortunate news."

"The house-elf failed us? I told you you could torture it if necessary."

"N - no, my - my - Kreacher's plan succeeded. The hound was expelled. But not before - not before - " Umbridge stopped talking and lowered her head further.

"Speak!" demanded Malfoy. "Say what you have to tell me - and say it quickly!"

"Before he was expelled, the hound helped Potter and Granger escape. They reached the nexal interface themselves. I tried to talk them back but - but - "

Ginny did not understand what most of what Umbridge was talking about, but one thing rang clearly in her ears: Harry had escaped. Harry was still alive. She felt her cheeks flush with hope, but her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the horror of the unfolding scene in front of her.

Malfoy's own expression twisted in anger. "You - idiot - fool!" he seethed at Umbridge. "All those Muggles under the control of your Imperius - how could they possibly - that means they're here somewhere!" he bellowed. "Loose! In these passageways!" He took his wand out and pointed it at Umbridge. "CRUCIO!"

Ginny winced as the curse struck Umbridge. She screamed and began to writhe on the floor.

"CRUCIO!" Malfoy cried out again.

***

"Harry!" said Hermione urgently. "We've got to get out of here; they'll be looking for us any minute. Harry, get back! They'll see you! What - what are you - "

But on hearing Malfoy's booming voice and watching the drama below them, Harry had only walked closer to the edge of their hiding place.

"We've got to act now!" he shot back at Hermione. "While they're in confusion! We might not have another chance!"

Hermione looked back down into the cavern and saw Umbridge continuing to move back and forth on the floor in extreme pain like a snake that had just been be-headed. The other Death Eaters were backing instinctively away from Malfoy, perhaps fearing they would be the next to receive his wrath. Wormtail had put both his flesh and silver hands to his mouth and looked to be biting nervously away at his nails. Only Ginny had remained exactly where she stood. As Hermione watched more closely, she could even see that she had taken a small step nearer to Malfoy and Umbridge and away from the other Death Eaters.

"Don't just stand there!" Malfoy screamed at the remaining Death Eaters. "Spread out! Find them! Get her back to her cell!" he pointed at Ginny. "They'll be coming for her!"

Hermione watched as one of the Death Eaters took something out of its pocket and began walking toward Ginny.

"Now's our chance!" said Harry breathlessly. "Hermione, how are you doing with short-distance Apparation?"

"Considerably better than you if I remember. We'd only just - "

"Good."

"Harry!"

Before Hermione had realized what was happening, Harry had leapt dangerously into the air. He struggled to recall his newly refreshed memories from Nevins' tutoring the previous year as well as Sirius's flying lessons and tried to slow and direct his fall onto the mezzanine where Malfoy, Ginny, and the other Death Eaters were standing. He was certain he did not want to miss it and fall down deep into the chasm below. Swooping like a bird of prey and still unseen, Harry accelerated his fall at the last moment and dug his feet into the back of the Death Eater approaching Ginny. The Death Eater let out a loud groan and fell painfully to the ground. The grey cloth Portkey he was carrying in his hand fell out in front of him.

"POTTER!" shrieked Malfoy.

"Harry!" cried Ginny.

The other Death Eaters reached for their wands and fired at Harry but he rolled quickly to the ground and scooped up the Portkey into his hand, then got up and took hold of Ginny's arm.

"Stop them!" demanded Malfoy.

"HERMIONE!" Harry cried out.

There was a loud pop and Hermione was instantly at their side. Harry pressed the Portkey against the arms of the two girls just as a stunning hex had formed on Malfoy's lips. A flash of red light shot out toward them but it never reached its target. Harry felt a tugging sensation in his hip. The next thing he knew, all three of them were standing in a small, grey room.

Hermione quickly took her arm back and began looking around the room liked a trapped animal.

"Where are we?" she asked breathlessly.

But neither Harry nor Ginny seemed interested in answering her question. Ginny was looking into Harry's face. Her fingers moved upwards almost of their own accord and traced their way around his cheeks and across the scar on his forehead before finally settling into his never more unruly mop of hair.

"Oh, Harry," she said in a tiny voice, almost as though she had suddenly reverted to a little girl. "Is it really you?"

Harry nodded slowly, his green eyes staring deeply down at her face.

Ginny's eyes pooled with tears that rolled quickly down her cheeks. All of the horrors of an instant before seemed to melt away. She was suddenly completely convinced by the totally irrational feeling that everything was going to be completely all right now. Harry had come to rescue her - just as he always did, just as she'd told Malfoy he would. But then another horrible thought entered her mind.

"Harry? Do - do you - " Ginny stopped as a sob caught in her throat. "Do you remember me?"

Harry didn't answer. He continued to stare down at Ginny and ran his fingers gently through her hair, stopping only when he had let a single strand rest just behind her ear. His face lit up with the smile of the boy on Platform Nine and Three-quarters who had just learned he would going to Hogwarts for the very first time. Then he slowly moved his hands toward her back and moved Ginny's face toward his. Their lips touched and Ginny felt his kiss inside her. Blood rushed fast to her cheeks; her whole body and soul seemed to tingle just as it had that very first time they had kissed in the bathroom at Hogwarts one year before. Ginny felt parts of herself she hadn't even remembered return from where she had locked them away months ago, hidden by her own mental defenses the night that Harry had left. Harry slowly, reluctantly moved away, but let his hand continue to lovingly cusp the side of her face. There was no doubt in Ginny's mind he knew exactly who she was.

Hermione cleared her throat loudly.

"I - I don't want to interrupt anything important, but since they created the Portkey, it's a fair bet they know exactly where we are right now."

Ginny's head swung suddenly toward Hermione, as though noticing her there for the very first time. Before her friend could react, she had walked over and grabbed her into a vice-like hug.

"Goddess!" she said. "Do you know that no one believed you existed for months except me? I started to think I really had made you up."

The two friends pulled out of the hug and Hermione smiled a little weakly, obviously unsure what to say. So much had happened to them, and she couldn't begin to understand it, but she also knew that this wasn't the time to stop and catch up.

"Where are we, Ginny?" she asked.

Ginny looked quickly around.

"Blast, we're back in my cell again!"

"Is there any way out?" Hermione asked, slightly panicked.

Ginny shook her head. "Believe me, I spent the better part of the last day trying to find one. There aren't any doors. The only way in or out is by Portkey."

"We could reverse the polarity of the Portkey," suggested Harry.

"And wind up back in Malfoy's throne room?" said Hermione.

"Well, we can't just stay here!"

"Wait!" said Ginny. "I didn't have a wand. There might still be a way!"

Hermione quickly took her wand out and began to scan the wall for an opening, the same way she had searched the slightly larger room in which she and Harry had arrived. She stopped as she reached a point on the wall diagonally opposite Ginny's makeshift bed and frowned.

"Is it a door?" asked Harry.

"Not really. But it's a kind of opening. The wall is very hollow here. I think it might be a natural cave or something."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and without saying anything more, both nodded.

"I would step back, Ginny, if I were you," Harry said.

Harry and Hermione aimed their wands at the opening.

"Dissectum!" they cried out in unison.

The rock imploded to reveal a dark, narrow passageway that twisted back into darkness. As Hermione had said, it was different from the rounded passageways they had first walked through; it was even less like the smooth walls of Malfoy's enormous cavern. It looked like some sort of natural opening in the rock, which confirmed Harry's suspicions that they were somewhere deep underground.

"Lumos!" said Hermione, coughing as she inhaled the dust that had flown up into the air.

Her wand lit up the inside of the passageway; it was rough and full of rocks and pebbles; stalactites and stalagmites jutted up and down at various angles. It started as a crawlspace but then seemed to get a bit larger at the edge of Hermione's light.

"It's the best we can do, I think," she said. "We'd better get going."

Harry and Ginny nodded their agreement and followed her into the cave. Hermione was halfway in when she turned around and pointed her wand back at the floor of Ginny's cell.

"Accio Portkey," she said.

The grey cloth which Harry had let fall to the floor when he was kissing Ginny flew up into her hand. She took hold of it and placed it into the pocket of her sweatshirt.

"Just in case," she explained, then turned around to lead the way back into the cave. Once the three of them were inside, Hermione pointed her wand back at the opening into the cell.

"Reparo," she said.

Ginny and Harry winced and ducked as a shower of rubble flew back up from the floor of the cave and reassembled itself as a solid wall behind them.

"Well, that might stop them from finding us," Hermione offered. "Come on." She began crawling further into the cave.

"I've forgotten how frightening she is," whispered Ginny to Harry. "Harry!" she tugged on his arm. "Please - whatever happens, don't leave me again!"

Harry held onto her arm protectively. "I won't," he said fervently. "I swear!"

And as they followed Hermione further up into the dark cave, Harry hoped that his words would prove true.