The Veil of Memories

Chapter 22

The Sinking Ship

"I'm ever so sorry," said Dumbledore, smiling compassionately at Rosemary Pilkington as he, Lupin, Ron, and Nott stood just outside of her truck on the edge of the forest. "I imagine this must have been quite a shock for you, but it really was for the best."

Rosemary whimpered.

"I'm rather afraid that I'm going to have to use a Memory Charm on you. The secrets of wizards are really not for Muggles like yourself to know. But I've managed to repair the bad fanbelt and that awful-sounding motor in your truck - not that you'll remember it, of course - you'll just find them working again and no doubt decide it was one of those things."

Rosemary whimpered again.

"Oh, and I've pre-programmed your truck to fly you just to the edge of the market. The Memory Charm will take effect immediately after you land. You'll find yourself there faster than if you'd been driving down the lane. And I've freshened up your turnips a bit, too; I'm afraid they looked a little sorry for themselves. All arranged, then. Any questions?"

Rosemary opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out.

"Excellent," said Dumbledore. "And try not to worry too much about the missing time. It's a bit silly when Muggles spend their whole lives on television telling everyone they've been abducted by aliens just because of a Memory Charm. At any rate, I'm sure you're far too sensible for that." Dumbledore pointed his wand nonchalantly at Rosemary. "Suspendus Obliviate."

A white light briefly lit up Rosemary's face but otherwise she remained completely passive. Dumbledore bowed politely and touched his wand to the truck. Only when it surged across the grassy meadow like a racing car and then zoomed high into the air did Rosemary finally let out another long scream.

"Terribly sensitive creatures, Muggles," remarked Dumbledore. "I do hope she'll be all right."

"I would worry about yourselves if I were you," said Nott, with a sinister tone. "Weasel Face here will probably go unnoticed, but you're madder than that old Muggle if you think that Albus Dumbledore and Remus Lupin are simply going to walk up to the Dark Lord's palace undetected."

"How kind of you to remind us, Mr. Nott," Dumbledore remarked.

As if on cue, he and Lupin took two small flasks from their cloaks and drank the contents. Ron watched as their skin began to bubble very quickly; the effect was much faster than he, Harry, and Hermione's attempt at Polyjuice Potion their second year. Ron realized that he was seeing the effects of the advanced potion Dumbledore had used to trick Voldemort the previous year. Within seconds, Dumbledore and Lupin were replaced by two myocorps. The Dumbledore myocorp was a bit taller and sported long white hair but otherwise they were unrecognizable.

"You!" said Nott, pointing at Lupin.

"Very good, Mr. Nott," said a strangely well-educated voice from out of the myocorp's mouth. "Lord Voldemort should be careful who he asks to ferry his Death Eaters around the lake."

Ron felt pleased as Nott seethed at the deception.

"However, he was never kind enough to invite me into his little hideaway. With your assistance, Mr. Nott, I'm sure we can make an exception this time."

"Do you expect me to betray the Dark Lord now we are so close to his final triumph?"

In response, Nott found three wands pointing in his direction.

Nott let out something of an abbreviated snarl and turned to walk up the hill toward the forest behind them. Ron immediately moved forward to cover his back and Dumbledore and Lupin, in their myocorp disguises, brought up the rear.

***

Ginny, Hermione, and Harry half-walked, half-crawled through the cave. Sometimes it would open up into a wide space while at other times, the walls would narrow so close they could barely squeeze through. At every crevice, they feared they would reach a dead end but each time, to their immense relief, the opening would widen again. The passageways through the rock twisted back and forth. Occasionally, they would find themselves balancing their way down into a miniature chasm, but mostly the cave led them upwards.

There was much they hadn't told one another about their journeys, but the three Gryffindors were more intent on trying to find a way out of this labyrinth than catching up on what had happened already. Ginny, for her part, had remained silent about Ron and the others. She knew that sooner or later she was going to have to tell Hermione and Harry but she hoped to hold off on that moment for as long as possible. First, they needed to find a way to get out of here and then they needed to stop Malfoy. There were only hours left.

But there was one thing Harry had wanted to know.

"Malfoy," he said. "He's - "

Ginny nodded. "He's channeling Voldemort. He is Voldemort."

Hermione turned around and gasped.

"Remember what Sirius told us," said Harry.

Hermione nodded. "And Dumbledore just let him back into the school. Oh, gods."

"No wonder it was so easy for him," said Harry sighing. "And now he's going to blow up the world in a few hours?"

"That's basically what he said," Ginny confirmed. "Of course, it's not quite how he sees it."

"Look, don't think about it," said Hermione in a business-like voice. "We've got to get out of this cave thing first and then we can - "

Hermione stopped talking. They had just finished a particularly steep climb. She was in the lead and had just put her hand on the roof of the cave to steady herself.

"What is it?" asked Harry. "Does the passageway end?"

"No," said Hermione. "It goes on sort of level, but I think I just - "

She pushed up at the same spot on the stone just above her again. There was a shifting sound and a perfect slab pushed up away from her hand.

"A door!" said Ginny.

Hermione stuck her head slowly up through the opening. Harry and Ginny waited for a tense moment.

"It's some kind of passageway," she whispered back finally. "I think - I think it's not far from the opening to that great big cavern where Malfoy was. Everything's very well lit."

"Hermione, come back down!" cautioned Harry. "That area's bound to be swarming with Death Eaters."

"I can't see anyone, though," reported Hermione's voice. "Perhaps they're just - "

There was the sudden sound of someone shouting a hex. A popping noise whizzed through the air and a bright red light briefly lit up the cave through the opening. Hermione screamed and dropped quickly back down into the cave, the stone slab crashing back loudly behind her.

"Not good!" she declared. "Get back!"

Ginny, who had been the last of the three up the cave, tried to slide quickly back down the narrow crevice up which they had just been climbing but the path was too steep and she quickly lost her footing. Harry tried to grab her from behind to stop her fall but his own feet slid out from under him and both went sliding fast down the slippery rock. They continued to pick up speed until they reached the rocky opening about ten meters below. Ginny's knee collided painfully with a stalagmite and then her back was crushed into the floor as Harry landed on top of her.

Harry managed to roll himself away, clutching his ankle. Ginny winced as a sharp pain punctured its way through her back. She looked down to see that there was a deep jagged cut in her knee.

Above them, Ginny and Harry could hear the ominous sounds of hexes whizzing through the air. They tried to make it to their feet but their bodies did not cooperate. Suddenly, there was a popping noise, and to Ginny's relief, Hermione appeared just in front of them, her face cut and covered with dirt, but otherwise apparently unharmed. She immediately raised her wand and fired back up into the crevice then leapt to the opposite side of the small opening as a hex crashed down and exploded bits of rock into the air.

"I can't - " she started to say, panting. "We've got to get - they're coming - "

Three loud pops resounded through the small space. Masked Death Eaters appeared in between the three friends. Harry took aim at one and stunned him back to the wall but the others pointed their wands at Harry and Ginny. There was a chorus of disarming spells and both of them were flung back against the rock, their wands hurtling off into space and rebounding off the dark rocks around them.

"Harry! Ginny! Quickly!" cried Hermione. She took the Portkey out of her pocket and was held it in front of her.

But Harry knew they could never reach Hermione. They would never get past the Death Eaters that stood between them.

"Hermione, get yourself out!" he cried.

The Death Eaters swung around toward Hermione and fired, but before the shots could reach her, she had vanished.

The three Death Eaters looked around the opening.

"She had the Portkey," said one of them finally, in a horrible rasping voice. "She could only have gone back to the cell. Prepare another one and follow her."

One of the other Death Eaters bowed and then Disapparated.

"We'll take these two," said the raspy-voiced Death Eater to his remaining confederate. "The Dark Lord will be most pleased."

Harry tried again to stand up but the pain in his head was too great. He looked over and saw that Ginny was barely conscious. There was a large gash in her knee and a cut on her forehead from where she had been thrown back against the wall when the Death Eaters had disarmed her. All he could do was clutch her protectively toward him as they approached. And he was fairly certain that would not be enough to stop them.

***

Hermione felt a tug at her hip and found herself back in the cell.

"Oh, rabbits - I mean pixies!" she said, looking around. "They're sure to find me here."

Hermione looked at the grey cloth in her hand for a moment and then her eyes widened.

"Reverse the polarity," she muttered to herself. "Madness, really. Still, it's the only way. Professor Flitwick, don't fail me now!"

She placed the grey cloth on Ginny's prison bed, pointed her wand at it, closed her eyes, and began to mutter what she desperately hoped was the right charm.

***

The forest went on for longer than Ron had expected. Once or twice, he suspected that Nott was leading them astray, but then he remembered that Professor Lupin had been through these parts before. Hopefully, he would know if they were headed the wrong way.

Finally, after a great deal of climbing, they reached the top of the hill and began to work their way downward. Ron had expected to see the lake from the top but the forest was so densely foliated that it couldn't be seen until they were almost at its banks. It had been cloudy with a touch of fog on the other side of the forest. Ron was surprised to find, as they reached the other side and could see both lake and sky again, that the clouds had cleared up completely and the midday sun was shining brightly down on the bright blue, almost turquoise lake. It was about twice as large as the one at Hogwarts, and much wider across, though only a little bit longer. A forest surrounded the entire lake but for a small meadow about halfway down its length and at its narrowest point. There were no signs of Muggle houses or farms. Ron wondered if it was enchanted like Hogwarts so they couldn't find it.

Nott stopped walking just as they reached the water's edge.

"Keep moving!" Ron prodded his back with his wand.

Nott turned back to look at him contemptuously.

"I would dearly enjoy seeing you fall to the ground in much pain, Weasel Face, but I do not wish to provoke you and your wand any further. There is a magical shield surrounding the lake. We cannot advance unless I deactivate it."

"He's telling the truth," said Lupin before Ron could ask. "You will deactivate it for us, Mr. Nott; we will be watching."

Not wanting to take any chances, Ron followed Nott to the base of a knarled, twisting tree whose longer branches dipped into the lake. He placed his foot into the hollow of the tree and stepped on an innocent-looking stone that was wedged inside. He then walked past the tree and out toward the surface of the lake.

"You may pass now," he said, smiling thinly back at them, and leaning slightly against a long falling branch.

Ron cautiously stepped past the tree himself, his wand still closely trained on Nott.

"It seems Weasel Face has managed it," Nott remarked, still smiling.

Lupin and Dumbledore looked at him cautiously, as much as myocorps can appear cautious.

"Where are the other Death Eaters?" demanded Lupin. "This place is normally swarming with them."

"I imagine they're occupied," replied Nott. "You saw the signs."

Dumbledore sighed gravely. "If we are truly near the time, then Voldemort would require their full energies for his final plans."

"All the same," said Lupin.

"I quite agree, Remus," said Dumbledore. "It does seem a little too easy."

"What should we do?" asked Ron, turning back very quickly toward Lupin and Dumbledore.

"We'll need to make our way around the bank," explained Dumbledore. "So far as I can see, there are no longer any - "

"LOOK OUT!" cried Lupin suddenly.

Ron swung back around to cover Nott but it was too late. The Death Eater had reached his hand up toward an innocuous looking hollow in the branch he had been leaning against and pressed his scarred fingers into it tightly. Lupin leapt toward him but collided against an invisible barrier and fell hard to the ground.

"You will deactivate it again!" demanded Dumbledore.

Nott roared with sickening laughter. "Oh, but I'm afraid not. You can torture or kill me if you have the stomach for it, but the shield has a failsafe for precisely this purpose: it cannot be turned off again until the sun rises from the east and hits on precisely this spot." Nott gestured at the hollow. "But by all means stay if you like; you will still be far closer than most to the center of our new world as it begins."

Dumbledore looked down at Lupin who nodded wearily.

"I'm afraid it's true," he said, getting to his feet. "Apparating won't work either. And no spells of any sort can cut through it."

Ron stepped up toward Nott and shoved his wand hard into the Death Eater's back.

"You still haven't got rid of me, though."

Nott smiled wanly. "You seem to have dogged me too close. Except for turning your head away from me at the crucial moment, your old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher should be very proud of you."

Keeping his eyes and wand still carefully trained on Nott, Ron walked back slowly toward Dumbledore and Lupin and held out his hand. He was inches away from where they were standing when he felt it hit the invisible barrier. He tried it again in several places but it was no use: there was a shield dividing himself and Nott from Dumbledore and Lupin, a shield that presumably stretched all the way around the lake.

"Let me take him then," said Ron, after a moment's pause. "I still have the wand; he doesn't. You heard what he said; it's our only chance."

"No, Ron," said Dumbledore. "This barrier isn't above a good counter-charm. Given time and concentration, we will manage it, if we all put our heads together."

"But we don't have enough time!" Ron protested. "You heard him; there could be only hours left!"

"Ron, just be patient!" said Lupin. "If we don't succeed, then we'll think of something else."

"Oh, why not let Weasel Face enjoy his moment of glory," cooed Nott. "He's been so looking forward to it."

"We have to stay together," said Dumbledore, ignoring Nott. "It's our only chance."

Ron continued to train his wand at Nott, but his heart filled with what his two teachers were telling him. He wanted to trust them completely; he wanted to believe they could fix all this mess, a mess that was partly the creation of his own shortsightedness. Ron thought back to the beginning of his sixth year, how Harry had been crushed by the guilt of Sirius's death, how he'd insisted he was going to start trusting Dumbledore again, how he had left the headmaster to make the decisions for which he could no longer bear to take responsibility. But had that been the right thing? Dumbledore's plan had worked but it had very nearly come at the cost of all of their lives. Ron shuddered as he remembered the heavy stone slabs from the ceiling of the original room falling down on himself and Hermione. And what if he hadn't stopped that Muggle car? What if they'd just kept walking on? They wouldn't even have made it this far, or maybe not before it was already too late. Ron wasn't sure if it was his head or his heart that was telling him to go on, whether he was a grown-up wizard or an overgrown child about to make another stupid mistake. All he could do was act on what he believed was right; maybe that was all anyone could ever do.

He pointed his wand at Nott.

"Get away from that tree!" he commanded. "And move! Go on, around the outside of the lake and up to that meadow! We're off to find your boss!"

"Ron, no!" cried Dumbledore.

Ron found himself grateful that guarding Nott gave him an excuse not to look back at Dumbledore. Myocorp disguise or not, he was fairly certain he did not want to see the expression in the headmaster's eyes.

"Ron, think about what you're doing! What's at stake - not just for you, for all of us," Lupin implored him. "If you take Nott with you now, we have no chance of getting inside Voldemort's base."

"I have thought!" Ron retorted. "And this is what I've decided to do! We don't have time!" He pointed his wand at Nott again. "Let's go!" he said.

***

Hermione finished the charm and placed her wand to the Portkey. It glowed briefly. She looked at it for one moment more and drew in a deep breath. She knew that even if this did work, she would end up exactly where they had brought Ginny away from her cell the first time, probably very near Malfoy's control area. It was probably swimming with Death Eaters. If only -

Hermione's thoughts were cut short by the popping sound behind her. She didn't bother to turn around to see the Death Eater before catching hold of the Portkey again. She felt a sharp tug and found herself immediately back in one of the old passageways. She swung her wand back and forth, ready to hex any and all Death Eaters, but none faced her. Light streamed through two open doorways on the left wall, a wall that was sheer and clean. She gasped and quickly moved to the side of the wall as the shadow of a Death Eater walked slowly walked past the second doorway and then slowly back again. She briefly swung her head back and saw that the passageway finished in a dead end. It still stretched for some way ahead of her but she would have to walk past both of the doors without being noticed by the Death Eaters. She doubted it would be very easy.

Of course, she could - no, that would be suicidal - but, yes, perhaps it was the only way.

Not wanting to stop and second guess herself, Hermione ran quickly up to the first opening and ran right through. She found herself on the left side of Malfoy's mezzanine control area. Two Death Eaters guarded the right door; both had their backs turned toward her. She was about to follow through with her plan but then froze. She was standing only inches away from the equipment. If she could somehow damage it now, then perhaps -

"THERE SHE IS!" a voice cried out. "Expelliarmus!"

Hermione gasped but Disapparated before the hex could reach her. She re-Apparated in the alcove where she and Harry had originally watched Malfoy and Ginny talking and looked down to see the Death Eaters staring backwards and forwards in confusion. Another one rushed in.

"Where did she go?" he demanded.

"She Disapparated."

"She can't have gone far; she'd have to know where she was going. Search the perimeter corridors!"

Hermione moved away from the alcove and rested her back against the wall. They were bound to search for her here - and soon. She decided to retrace her steps down the passageway she'd originally entered with Harry. She remembered there had been another path - a path leading upward, maybe up to the ground level. She started to walk in that direction when she heard footsteps, still distant but definitely coming down the corridor in her direction. Frantically, she turned heel and began running back the other way, hopping on the toes of her trainers so as not to make any noise. She cast her Seeking Charm around the walls on the side away from the cavern and was finally rewarded when it revealed an opening. Hermione reached over and pushed against a rock then found a staircase. Her heart sank when she saw that it lead back downward.

I suppose I don't have much choice, she thought, and walked inside, taking care to close the opening back behind her.

***

"Don't slow down; keep moving! I'm right behind you!"

Nott urged his protesting body forward. The sun was getting stronger now. Even with his hood up, it felt it like it was burning away Nott's face. Anger mixed with the pain. There were so many ways he wanted to torture this Weasel Face now and though all involved inflicting unimaginable pain on the blood traitor, none completely satisfied Nott's thirst for vengeance. To think that he was prisoner to this fool while the Dark Lord ushered in their new destiny. He should be down there with him helping to prepare and sharing in the glory.

Still, Nott knew that he would have to be patient and bide his time. The goblins would take care of the old fool and the werewolf: the shield had set off an alarm that would summon them. That only left Nott to deal with Weasel Face; the Gryffindor slime was already getting tired and he had let himself get distracted several times already. Nott knew he had to save enough energy to seize the moment, then the last representative of this pathetic Order would finally come to an ignoble end.

Nott walked a few more steps forward, then fell down in a heap on the grass.

"Get up!" barked Weasel Face. "Get moving!"

Nott looked up at him for a moment. He wondered how bright red the blood traitor's head would become if he started to strangle him now. So entranced was Nott in his fantasy that he failed to notice Weasel Face barking like a horrible rodent again.

"I said 'Move!'"

"Move where, Weasel Face? There isn't anything else but forest after this."

"You - you mean - " Weasel Face looked stupidly around him. He seemed to notice he was standing in the middle of the meadow. Nott nonchalantly picked up a strand of gillyweed from the side of the lake beside him and began to munch on it.

"What are you doing? Put that down!"

Nott obliged and sighed wearily. "It's gillyweed, Weasel Face. It grows here in bunches."

"Y - you mean." Weasel Face's head began to glow with a faint spark of understanding. He looked out toward the lake.

"It's under water or didn't the old fool tell you? How else would you like to get there?"

By the passageway right under my foot, thought Nott. But then it wouldn't do to make things too easy for Weasel Face, would it?

Weasel Face looked quickly out to the lake and then back down at Nott. He pulled away a handful of his own gillyweed and started eating it. Nott continued to do the same but Weasel Face waved his wand at him.

"Put that down!"

"You won't find the entrance on your own."

"I didn't say I was going to," replied Weasel Face, his words even more indistinct than they usually were owing to the gillyweed he was chewing. "You're coming with me but you're not having any of this!" He held up the gillyweed that was still in his hand. "A little incentive for you to work a bit faster."

Nott frowned. He hadn't bargained on this. He considered telling Weasel Face about the passageway through the meadow after all, but that would make things too easy; the Dark Lord's plan was at a delicate stage. He doubted that Weasel Face could really do anything to stop it but, if nothing else, Nott knew the Dark Lord wouldn't take kindly to the interference and that he would be the one who was blamed. This way, he had a better chance of finding an opportunity to get rid of Weasley. By the time they reached the entrance on the floor of the lake, he would enter it alone, and take his rightful place in the Dark Lord's new world.

Nott smiled up at his captor, then got to his feet and began to walk toward the water.

***

The staircase seemed to go down forever. With every step, Hermione felt her spirit crushed even further. How was she ever going to get out of this? And she couldn't go back. The Death Eaters were up there in the corridor. She kept her wand trained on the wall all the way down but there didn't seem to be any opening. Finally, the staircase ended in what looked like another passageway.

Hermione looked forward cautiously and pricked her ears open. She couldn't hear anyone but it was very dark. She walked cautiously forward and felt a cobweb brush past her face. It felt as though neither the staircase nor the passageway had been recently used. She continued to walk forward cautiously and rounded another corner. There was a thin sliver of light coming through a small opening just where the ceiling and the top of the wall met. She repressed a gasp as she made out two pairs of feet on the other side of it. She was about to turn around and slowly walk back when she heard voices.

"Potter and Weasley await your interrogation, my Lord."

Wormtail.

"Do not think that I will overlook your failures, Wormtail," came Malfoy's reply. "The mudblood is still loose and you and your guards have failed to find her. It is unthinkable that a creature so foul is wandering about so near the time of our new becoming! And do not think she is above causing irreparable harm to our plans!"

Hermione aimed her wand at Malfoy's feet but then decided she would probably end up the worse for giving herself away.

Wormtail's feet twitched nervously.

"We're bound to find her soon, my Lord. She can't hide for much longer."

"For your sake, Wormtail, I hope you are right. The instrumentation, Montague?"

"Holding, my Lord," said another Death Eater out of Hermione's line of sight. "We haven't very long to go now. But the bubble world is creating a distortion in the arc."

"Very well, collapse it. It has served its purpose."

Oh, no, thought Hermione.

"What?"

Hermione frowned. There was another voice with them in the room. A frail, raspy, female voice. It took her a moment to realize that it belonged to Dolores Umbridge.

"Do you have something to say, Dolores?" asked Malfoy mockingly.

"You - you - you can't," said the raspy voice again. "All those children - my - my children. My project. You promised when - when this was over - it would become permanent. My school for half-bloods and Muggle-borns; they would be removed so they - they couldn't harm us but - but - "

A horrible chorus of laughter went up around the room; Hermione became aware that there were several Death Eaters present.

"Did you seriously believe I would sustain that bubble world when my arc returned?" said Malfoy derisively. "It served a purpose: it assured your loyalty when I needed you to take care of Hogwarts. I also hoped it would persuade Ginny to come to my side. But in either case, its usefulness is at an end. This day will see the final solution to the mudblood problem."

There was a heaving, staggering sound. Hermione sensed that Umbridge was trying to get to her feet and after receiving the brunt of two Cruciatus curses, she wasn't finding it very easy. More Death Eater laughter rang through the air as she stumbled.

"You - you beast!" she cried out hoarsely. "You lying brute!"

"You're far too attached to the truth, Dolores."

"You will - you - I will stop you! Whatever it takes, I will stop you!"

"I do believe you might try, Dolores, but I'm afraid your own usefulness has come to an end."

"You want to kill me! Go ahead! Strike me down now! I will ruin all of your horrid plans!"

"Yes," said Malfoy calmly. "I do believe the arc is close enough that were you to die right now in my chamber, your released life energy would cause irrevocable damage to the pentrax frame. Take her outside and feed her to the dementors."

There was a sound of moving pairs of feet. Umbridge began to cry out and shout curses back at Malfoy but her voice quickly grew distant and incoherent.

Her heart pounding, Hermione used the sound to mask her own quick footsteps back to the stairway. She didn't have the luxury of stopping to feel sorry for Umbridge. Malfoy was going to collapse the school - Colin, Dean, Lavender, Arabella, and all of the rest of them - gone forever. Never remembering who they really were. She didn't want to think about what was going to happen to Harry and Ginny but, right now, they seemed comparatively better off. She didn't how she was going to do it but somehow she had to get back to that school. She had to warn them; she had to save them. She had to do something. She didn't want to think that it might be already too late.

Hermione's legs felt like armor as she reached the top of the staircase. Quickly but cautiously, she poked her head out into the corridor to find a lone Death Eater standing right in front of the opening. Her sudden appearance momentarily surprised him.

"Stupefy!" Hermione cried out.

The Death Eater moved for his wand but the curse hit him and he fell to the floor.

"Bole!" cried another voice just around the corner. "Bole! What was that? What's going on?"

Adrenalin overcoming the fatigue in her ankles, Hermione tore off in a sprint back up the corridor that she and Harry had first walked down. She heard footsteps coming quickly behind her and ducked as a hex flew over her head and send rock dust flying through the air. She zigzagged around corners they had crept through before, hoping to keep enough distance between them. She held her wand out in front of her and found one of her X's on the wall. If she could just keep running, then she would reach the room with the vortex. To think -

Hermione grounded to a sudden halt. Another Death Eater was standing right in front of her. He raised his wand.

Without stopping to think, Hermione turned back on her heel and turned the corner again just as another hex hit the wall behind her. She found herself back at the fork in the path. Before she could reach it, the first Death Eater came running straight toward her.

"Impedimenta!" she cried out.

The hex missed but the Death Eater was forced to duck. Hermione quickly made her way onto the up-winding passageway, the one they hadn't taken before, and almost immediately regretted it. The path grew steep very quickly and fatigue threatened to cripple her body. She could hear the two Death Eaters both on her tail now; they slowed slightly but they were still running faster than she was. With a final pant, she felt the trail level out and widen into a small alcove.

And into a dead end.

Hermione looked around, searching desperately for something to hide behind, but the room was completely exposed. She finally clutched her wand out in front of her and hoped for the best. She would try to strike her pursuers as soon as they entered the room.

The Death Eaters came panting up. She watched as their masks were briefly framed in the doorway and prepared to strike.

But then the door slammed shut.

"She won't get through that," she heard one of them say. "The Dark Lord will be pleased. He wanted to give her a miserable death."

Hermione scarcely had time to take in the horrible implications of what she had just heard when another door opened, this one right above her, and a sharp sheet of water cascaded down into the sealed-off room. She screamed and ducked out of the way of the forceful spray just in time, but the water continued to fall.

"Alohomora!" she cried out, pointing at the other side.

But nothing moved.

***

They were nearly at the middle of the lake when Nott quickly dived down and Ron had to suddenly duck down himself to follow him. He felt a moment of panic that the gillyweed hadn't yet taken effect but then forced to himself to relax as he started to breathe normally.

The water was dark and murky and Ron was afraid it might be quite deep. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to let Nott go in without the gillyweed after all. What if he passed out before they made it to the entrance? Ron would never find the way in himself, he was sure of that.

Nott pushed ahead quickly and Ron had to struggle to keep pace behind him. He propelled himself forward to bump into the Death Eater just to remind him that he still held the wand. Nott continued to move forward, however, at an even faster pace.

The water only got darker. Soon there was no light at all. Ron conjured a beam from his wand but the light didn't stretch very far. He was relieved when a long, weed-like plant emerged. Perhaps they weren't far from the ground now. But the plant seemed impossibly long. Nott twisted away in another direction and Ron had to change pace to follow again. Ron realized that it would be the easiest thing for the Death Eater to lead him into a trap now. He started to feel very foolish indeed that he'd gone ahead without Dumbledore and Lupin, but now there could be no turning back.

Ron's attention was suddenly drawn by a sort of underwater eddy that seemed to be spiraling downward. Nott had noticed it, too, and was diving fast toward its source. A wave of relief rushed over Ron as the sandy, murky floor of the lake finally came into view, and there was some kind of opening, like a hole in the bottom, just big enough for a person to go through but not much larger. Nott continued to swim toward it.

***

The water was up to Hermione's neck now. She tried to move up to the surface and float but it wasn't very successful. She had never been any good at swimming. She looked up to see that the ceiling wasn't very far above her at all. She fired her wand up but succeeded only in sending a shower of rock down on her head.

"Think, Hermione. For Merlin's sake, think!"

Hermione heard a sudden thump and looked up. She gasped. There was something -

No, it couldn't be.

***

Nott peered down into the opening. He wasn't sure his lungs could stand much more. But now at least there was hope. His chance had finally come. He moved aside and gestured to Weasel Face.

The horrid little Gryffindor looked at him suspiciously and held out his wand again. He was reluctant to take his eyes off Nott but finally curiosity got the better of him. He glanced down into the opening and right into the disgusting face of his little mudblood wench.

It was all the distraction Nott needed. He had noticed the rock next to the opening when they had first swum down. His lungs at their breaking point, Nott reached down and picked it up. With every last ounce of energy, he slammed it hard into the side of the blood traitor's head. And then again.

***

Hermione watched in horror as blood flowed over Ron's head and into her alcove. A moment later, her head went under the water. She tried to hold her breath; she tried to move toward Ron, but the force from the water through the opening was still overwhelming. She'd never -

Hermione's thoughts came to an end. Blackness swirled around her. She felt as though two giant hands were closing in on her face to shut out the light. For a moment, it was all she knew.

And then there was nothing at all.