Harry Potter and the Gemini Connection

Chapter Four: Dragon Alley

All hell had broken loose by the time the ill-matched foursome made it into the bank's lobby. Ragnok's receptionist was nowhere to be seen. Goblins everywhere were running for the shelter of the underground labyrinth. Ragnok yelled at their retreating backs, trying to motivate them into fighting, but he couldn't be heard over the screams and the dragon's roars.

'Only to be expected I suppose,' he said dejectedly. 'Goblins are proud warriors, but... without wands, facing a dragon... it would be suicidal.'

A second later, the noise increased even more, as the dragon struck the marble roof with its tail. Dust rained down on the group as the building shook, although the structure remained solid.

Ragnok let out a gasp of breath that he had been holding and goaded the dragon.

'You'll have to try harder than that to bring down goblin stonework!'

Unfortunately the creature outside wasn't ready to give up so easily. It rained six more blows against the walls and ceiling, and as the last blow fell, a huge marble block fell, inches from Harry's feet. Ragnok's face hardened into a pained grimace.

'It's trying to seal the entrance to the vaults!' Hermione shouted. 'Those goblins, and the Weasleys, they'll be trapped underground.'

Ragnok seemed to consider the options for a while, before his expression softened slightly.

'Not necessarily. I know the catacombs better than anybody. We should follow the other goblins. There is one place where we might be able to tunnel out into Muggle London.'

Hermione and Lupin looked set to agree with Ragnok. Harry wasn't convinced.

'Look. Voldemort planned this attack, right?'

'Yes?' agreed Ragnok shortly, obviously not getting what Harry was driving at.

'And he didn't expect you to know about it in advance?'

'No, of course not. He might be powerful, but he isn't omniscient.'

'So... Voldemort must have expected me to be down in the vaults when this dragon showed up. He must have been trying to trap me underground, and you can call me paranoid, but your plan sounds a lot like his plan at the moment.'

Hermione and Lupin's faces paled as they realised that Harry was right.

'I think we should go the other way. Try to get past the dragon, to the Leaky Cauldron floo point. I know it sounds dangerous, but it makes more sense than doing what Voldemort wants.'

'But what about the Weasleys?' asked Hermione, concernedly.

'If we go underground, we're not going to be able to do anything to help. We'll just end up trapped along with them. This way, we might be able to distract the dragon, or at least get help.'

'Surely the Aurors will turn up at any second though?' Hermione asked Lupin, imploringly.

'I'm afraid it's unlikely,' he replied. 'They're completely over-stretched this summer. The department's usually empty. It'll take the Ministry some time to track down a team.'

Hermione's shoulders slumped as she resigned herself to Harry's plan.

'If we're going to do this, we need to hurry,' she said quickly. She needn't have bothered. The dragon had moved away from the bank slightly to give itself some room, but its feet were still clearly visible through the open doors. At any second the fierce creature could make its final attack.

'Ok,' announced Harry, feeling a strange thrill of adrenaline. 'Here's the plan. We split up...'

'No Harry!' exclaimed Lupin.

'Yes! That's the way it's going to work. If we separate, the dragon won't be able to see us as easily, and if we need to fight, it'll be easier to attack from two places at once.'

Lupin looked ready to argue again, but something stopped him.

'Ok,' he said instead. 'So who goes where?'

'You and Hermione take the right hand side. I'll take the left...'

'...what about me?' asked the goblin.

The humans looked at each other, surprised.

'You... actually want to be involved?' asked Hermione.

'If the choice is between that and hiding. Besides, a dragon can't report me to You-Know-Who.'

'No, but if there's a Death Eater out there controlling the dragon, he might,' Lupin pointed out.

'I'm prepared to take that risk, if it means protecting my bank.'

'Right. You can come with me,' Harry decided. 'Now let's move!'

- HPHPHP -

Harry's plan went disastrously wrong almost immediately. The giant bronze doors of the bank stood ajar, so Harry was able to lead the group into the deserted street without alerting the dragon, but the group had barely parted when it caught sight of Lupin and Hermione.

When the pair realised they had been spotted, they began to run as fast as their legs would carry them, towards the doorway of Ollivanders. The dragon's reaction seemed to Harry to play out in slow motion. First there was a grunt, expelling a wisp of smoke and a few blue sparks from the beast's nostrils. Then the eyes narrowed into thin slits, which locked onto their prey. Finally, the huge tail that had been raised to begin another assault on the bank, made a sharp course correction and swept across the alley.

Hermione never stood any chance of avoiding it, although Lupin nearly managed, moving with a canine grace borne from his curse. Both were thrown through the air and both collided with the apothecary window, which wobbled but didn't shatter. Only one of them stood up afterwards. Hermione was still. Her wand rolled from her hand and skipped across the cobbled street to Harry's feet.

The silver-blue dragon began to bear down on Lupin. Harry was sure that any second his old professor would cast a clever spell to ward it off, maybe the Conjunctivitis curse, but the man wasn't moving. He was shaking slightly, and breathing deeply. His eyes didn't look to be focusing properly.

'No surprise really,' thought Harry, panicking all the while. 'He was just thrown into a building'.

Harry was suddenly overtaken by the memory of the Triwizard Tournament. He had tackled a dragon before, and come out on top. An idea began to form - no doubt it was an idea that could get him expelled from Hogwarts, but given the circumstances, it was unavoidable. He picked up Hermione's wand and offered it to Ragnok.

Ragnok looked at him, the expression on the goblin's face one of sheer incredulity.

'What are you doing?' he hissed, trying not to draw the dragon's attention.

'Take it!' Harry hissed back. 'I need some backup.'

'I'll be arrested if I use a wand.'

'I'll take full responsibility - the Minister of Magic really owes me a favour.'

Ragnok still didn't move, and although the dragon was stalking its stunned prey slowly and deliberately, it was certain to pounce soon.

'Just take it quick, before Lupin gets eaten!' Harry yelled desperately.

Everything happened at once. The wand was snatched out of his hand, as the dragon turned to investigate the shouting. Lupin snapped out of his disorientation and dropped to the floor at Hermione's side.

The second the dragon caught sight of Harry, it threw its head forwards, jaws wide open. For a split second, Harry believed that this was the end, but the giant beast battered against an invisible wall, and staggered backwards. A glance at Ragnok confirmed where the barrier had come from.

Where there had once stood an aggressive bureaucrat there now stood a formidable warrior. The change was subtle, something in the posture and facial expression, but Harry immediately understood why the Ministry was so afraid of the goblin race, and at the same time he understood why the goblins felt so unsatisfied with their place in society.

The dragon didn't seem to have been deterred by its lack of success. In fact the sight of Harry was driving it into somewhat of a frenzy. It struck again, and this time as it bounced off the shield, Ragnok dropped to his knees under the magical strain.

Harry put his plan into action. He aimed his wand at the Quality Quidditch Supplies window, and cast his charm.

'Accio broomstick.'

He prayed that the broom from the window display was a good model, as it smashed through the glass to obey his command. He didn't have time to study the lettering on the shaft, he simply threw himself at the broom as it hurtled past him. With skills honed by hours of practising tricks on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, he managed to flip himself upright without slowing too much. The dragon was furious by now, and as Harry suddenly shot vertically upwards, the creature followed without persuasion.

The rush of clarity that flying always brought to Harry was unwelcome today. It made him think about Hermione lying unconscious, possibly dead, in the Alley below. It made him think about Ron, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley, facing a Death Eater trap in the Gringotts vaults. It made him, rather selfishly, think about his own problems, stuck in the air with a single-minded dragon, having seriously broken the law.

His problems were brought even further forwards in his mind when a jet of bright blue flame narrowly missed his right shoulder. His cheek felt the intensity of the heat, which almost made him lose control. Harry stashed his wand into a pocket, and grabbed onto the broomstick with both hands. He needed some kind of long term plan. He couldn't just try to outrace the dragon, because if it lost sight of him it would probably land in Muggle London and start eating people. He couldn't keep teasing it forever either, because it would eventually catch and eat him. What he really needed was a big group of wizards who could cast stunning charms. Maybe if he could just keep the dragon busy for a while, then enough people would gather in the middle of Diagon Alley.

If only he could send them a message...

A familiar voice screaming his name from the street below drew Harry's attention for a split second. Mrs. Weasley was down there, presumably with her family. They hadn't been caught underground after all. Unfortunately Harry's momentary distraction was costly. The dragon caught his right side with the wild slash of a talon.

He slipped from the broom, bleeding, and began to rip through the air, diving headfirst towards the ground. Mrs. Weasley's screaming got louder - or maybe he was just getting closer to it. Harry didn't know why, but he wasn't feeling worried, in fact he felt quite light-headed. He slipped his right hand into his pocket to get his wand. For some reason, his fingers didn't want to work properly. Odd. Quickly he switched arms. Ah, that was much better, he had a firm grip on the wand handle now.

'Accio!' Harry shouted, but it came out slurred, and the wand movement seemed to go a little wonky (he wasn't used to casting left-handed).

The spell seemed to work anyway. The broom, which had begun to fall after he'd left it, shot towards him. It collided with him rather painfully, but he managed to wrap his right arm around it, and as it bounced away his legs locked onto the tail. With his entire body flat to the broom, the descent got even faster. The speed seemed to clear his senses. Wrapping his undamaged left arm around the shaft and yanking his torso backwards had the desired effect - the broom flipped over instantly, although Harry was still heading at full speed towards the onrushing ground, just tail-first now. He pushed forwards. The response was amazing. Harry had merely been hoping to slow down a little to soften the impact, but instead he found himself racing skywards again, towards the infuriated reptile. This time however, he had company...

Somebody in long black robes was overtaking him, flying with ill-considered haste towards the dragon. Harry felt a wave of relief that he wasn't the only person trying to do something useful. Maybe Aurors had finally arrived to help, or the Department for the Regulation of Magical Creatures. The relief was short lived, as the figure turned to smile encouragement, and he saw her face. It was Cho Chang.

Not that Cho was a bad flier, far from it - and it definitely wasn't that Harry begrudged a little assistance, but he didn't think he was ready to see somebody else he knew getting hurt because of him. A team of dragon handlers or Aurors would be able to deal with the situation easily. Surely they had to be Apparating in soon?

Harry sped up, trying to come alongside his former girlfriend. He noticed agitatedly that he wasn't flying in a very straight line. The shooting pains in his side were seriously affecting his balance. Figuring that the 'Decree for the Restriction of Underage Magic' was well and truly broken, he cast a numbing hex at the cut. His right hand slipped off the broom handle as half of his torso went limp, but he managed to keep flying non-handed. Without the distraction of pain, Harry's flight path got a little straighter. He cast another quick spell, a Reparo charm, to fix the flapping T-shirt, and then stashed the wand into his jeans.

Harry managed to guide his broom neatly in besides Cho's left-handed. They were very close to the dragon now, and it was heading towards them. He made a feeble effort to send her back to the ground.

'Cho, I need you to get a message to Lupin...'

She cut him off with a glare worthy of Professor McGonagall, and then sped forwards, making a loop of the dragon's enormous neck. The dragon made a half-hearted swipe at her with a claw, but it never took its eyes from Harry. Clearly Voldemort (or a Death Eater) had some kind of mental control over the creature.

Cho was not disheartened by the animal's ignorance of her. She took off again, on another loop of the neck, this time flying faster and suicidally close. She was met by another blind claw swipe, which this time snipped a few twigs from the broom's tail. It shuddered slightly before she regained control. She shot a slightly worried look at Harry. He tried to smile back reassuringly, but he was quite convinced that he hadn't pulled it off. He was truly scared now. He was barely able to stay upright, but if he didn't help then Cho would keep flying more and more dangerous paths, until she was caught.

He chanced a look down at the street. All of the people there were crowded together in a circle where Hermione had fallen. Flashes of vibrantly coloured light kept bursting from the group, the tell-tale sign of charms being cast. Harry couldn't expect their help yet, they were clearly trying to heal, or possibly revive Hermione. His intervention might cause her to die...

...best not to think of that. It was more useful to think of ways to survive this himself. He flew forwards, and tried to make a tight loop of the dragon's body. The beast arched its vast back, and Harry's reactions weren't quite fast enough. He buffeted his numb arm against the scales, and the dead shoulder made a loud cracking noise. Supremely grateful that he hadn't felt the bone breaking, he clumsily pulled away. Cho was shouting at him, but he couldn't hear her over the blood pounding in his ears. Suddenly she gave a hand signal that Harry recognised. He had seen Angelina Johnson using it in Quidditch practises. It was the sign for the 'Porskoff Ploy', a tricky manoeuvre at the best of times. It was also a Chaser technique, so neither Harry nor Cho had ever used it. He shook his head, but Cho just stared at him determinedly until he relented. They sped up in their flying, gradually approaching one another, while avoiding claws and swishing tails. She explained the plan more thoroughly as soon as they were close enough to hear one another. He thought it sounded insane, but on the other hand, he didn't have any better ideas, so it was probably worth a try.

The pair flew in opposite directions around the dragon - not too close to it, but very fast. Although the dragon wanted to follow Harry, it seemed to be having problems working out who was who at this speed. It stopped trying to spin around, instead staying stock still and taking a swipe whenever one of them passed its head.

Cho gave the signal, and Harry held his breath. As he reached the tail end of the dragon, he sharply turned, and flew up the length of the dragons back, as close as he could, pulling to a stop directly above its head. The air swept aside in the brooms wake let the dragon know exactly what Harry had done, and it tried to twist its neck back, so that it could keep an eye on its prey. The distraction allowed Cho to drift into a perfect position. As she drew her wand, she gave a primal yell. Instantly the dragon's head snapped back into place, leaving Cho less than one metre from the elongated face.

'Conjunctiva,' she shouted confidently.

Unfortunately, her damaged broom chose that moment to buck. The spell, aimed for the bridge of the dragon's nose, instead whipped past its left cheek. With a mighty roar, the beast let out a stream of bright blue flame from its nostrils. Cho was flung from her broom by the explosive heat.

Harry reacted instantly, but the dragon was in the way, and by the time he had dodged his way past, Cho was halfway to the ground. He flattened his body to the broom and willed it forwards. There was no way he would be able to catch her one-handed, but maybe there was a chance if only...

Somehow he managed to pull his wand out. With Cho so far away, and with his left arm twisted around the broom, it was difficult to aim, but he began to cast spells anyway.

'Aguamenti,' he cried, again and again.

Jets of water sprayed towards the falling girl. As they missed, they blasted into the street below. One jet caught a steel coat of arms hanging from the book shop, which snapped off its supports and clattered onto the cobbles.

The fifth or sixth jet hit Cho, and put out the flames on her burning cloak. Harry was close enough now to see that her eyes, although open, were completely unfocused. Her face had a reddish glow, and there were worrying black marks on her neck where the cloak had burnt away. He changed the word he was shouting.

'Impedimenta. Impedimenta. Impedimenta,' he yelled, but his tired arm was sending each spell wide - she would be colliding with the ground any second now.

Suddenly a golden beam of light from the street enveloped Cho, who slowed, to touch down as lightly as a doxy. Harry pulled out of his dive, and lifted his head to track the path of the spell. He was relieved to see his group of friends standing over a conscious Hermione. Lupin was holding his wand aloft, now pointing it directly at Harry. Harry cast a smile at his former teacher, but it wasn't returned. The werewolf had a fierce glint in his eyes, and he wasn't lowering his wand. Harry was confused, and more than a little worried, until he looked over his shoulder. The dragon was still silently stalking Harry. It was now so close that Harry was flying in its shadow, he was surprised that he hadn't noticed.

Panicking, Harry lowered his altitude, until his feet were skidding across the cobbles, and tried to brake a little before throwing himself to the ground. As he had hoped, the dragon was going too fast to stop, and flew right over him. Harry just had time to lift his head, and watch the beast get hit by five simultaneous stunning charms. It fell to earth with a crash and rolled over three times. It then proceeded to skid for about fifty yards, destroying a stand of pewter cauldrons ('Only 3 galleons each!') and upending a barrel of newts eyes ('Perfect for love potions!'), before it finally came to rest. Its wings unfurled aimlessly across the street, taking out a stand of more expensive cauldrons that made a cacophony of sound as they bounced away, but then all was still.

The sound of feet drew Harry's attention from the scaly mound. Lupin, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley and a woman Harry didn't recognise were racing towards him with fear in their eyes. The unknown woman charged straight past, towards the place where Cho had fallen, but the other three slowed down as they approached.

'I'm fine!' Harry yelled, not wanting to delay them. 'You need to go and help Cho!'

To emphasise his point, he stood shakily. His knees felt very bruised where they had hit the ground, and he still had no control over his right arm, but he made it to his feet without falling. Lupin and Mrs. Weasley seemed slightly pacified, and they shot him apologetic looks as they hurried away. Harry didn't mind, Cho was in far more need of attention now.

Ginny stayed with him. She was looking at him curiously, as though waiting for something. He was about to ask her what was so interesting, when he felt his legs buckle beneath him. As his arms flailed, he closed his eyes and braced for an impact that never came.

'I thought so...' came Ginny's voice. 'Why do you always have to be such a martyr?'

She was standing against him, their chests together, her arms wrapped around his back. Harry felt as though his blood was suddenly boiling. Intense heat was welling up inside his head, and trying to break out through his cheeks. He tried to step back from the uncomfortable embrace, but Ginny grabbed him more tightly.

'Don't be an idiot - you'll fall.'

She didn't seem to be having any problems supporting his weight. Harry had always been rather tiny for his age - skinny as well as short. Even Ginny, who was easily the smallest of the Weasleys, was probably taller than he was.

'I'm going to lower you onto this bench,' she said.

Harry wasn't aware of a bench, he wasn't aware of anything outside the frightening hug he was locked into. He nodded dumbly, and relaxed his legs. Ginny seemed to be quite in control of the situation, and Harry couldn't see any hint of a blush on her pale face as she manoeuvred him downwards - just tired resignation, and maybe a little anger.

As she let go of him and stepped back, Harry realised that he was sitting at one of Florean Fortesque's picnic tables. He remembered far happier times sitting here, eating amazing ice creams of exotic flavours. Harry cleared his head of sentimental memories by looking around Diagon Alley. Life was different now, the past was in the past. The devastation was fairly sobering, but far more disturbing were the two groups of familiar people huddled together. Ron was crouching over Hermione, looking desperately lost. Fred and George had joined them at some point, although they weren't the boys that Harry remembered. One of the twins had an arm around Ron's shoulder, the other was talking slowly to Hermione, uncharacteristically grave. Further up the street, Lupin and Mrs. Weasley picked up Cho Chang and began to walk quickly towards them. The unfamiliar woman, who Harry supposed must be Mrs. Chang, held Cho's hand and sobbed hysterically.

When the group reached the place where Harry was sitting, they laid Cho on top of a wooden table, and drew their wands. Harry made an attempt to stand up, desperate to offer any assistance he could, but Lupin saw it and gave a 'stay there' gesture with his hand. He sat down again quickly, not wanting to get in the way, but feeling terribly useless. Mrs. Weasley cast a charm at Cho, who didn't react at all. She cast a different charm, which produced a thick beam of silver light. There was still no movement. Harry didn't want to watch, but he felt like it was his duty - after all, he was responsible for this. He felt Ginny's hand brush against his, and he took it, turning to face her. He had only meant to take his eyes off the action for a few seconds, but her face still held a lot of anger, and Harry was wrong-footed.

'You blame yourself for this, don't you?' she snapped, accusingly.

'I'm so sorry,' Harry broke down. 'I didn't mean to get her hurt. She wasn't supposed to follow me. I just... I just couldn't get her to leave me. She wasn't supposed to...'

'It isn't your fault!' Ginny interrupted, looking absolutely incredulous at Harry's guilt. 'The only life that you are responsible for is your own.'

'Then why do you look so angry?'

'Because...' Ginny looked infuriated now, '...you don't seem to think twice about doing really stupid things which could end up killing you!'

'But there was a dragon in Diagon Alley - it was attacking us anyway...'

'So you lured it away from everybody who could help you, and tried to fight it on your own?'

'It had taken out Lupin and Hermione already. There was nobody left.'

That wasn't true actually, Harry thought. Where had Ragnok gone? The goblin he had trusted was nowhere to be seen. Harry would be in serious trouble if the goblin had stolen Hermione's wand. Ginny seemed to miss this sudden panic attack, because she continued to berate him.

'And fighting an enraged dragon in mid-air was your best plan..?'

'Yes! Ok?! Maybe it was an awful plan, but that's what I do best, isn't it?' Harry's mind went to Sirius. 'Awful plans that get people killed...'

'Don't say that! The Department of Mysteries thing wasn't your fault, and neither is this!' Ginny interrupted loudly, correctly interpreting what Harry was thinking about.

Harry chanced a glimpse back at Cho's mother, who was still in hysterics. He doubted that she would agree with Ginny's assessment. She was very near to them, but wasn't listening - her attention was fixed on her daughter. At the moment, her emotions were focused, but no doubt the blame would come later. It was what Harry deserved - Cho still wasn't moving.

Ginny drew his gaze from the prone girl again, this time by placing a hand on his cheek and physically steering his face away.

'Don't torture yourself Harry,' she said softly. 'Cho would have fought the dragon anyway. Without you to help her she'd be in an even worse condition.'

Harry didn't want to disabuse Ginny of this notion, but he couldn't keep another secret, he already had far too many.

'The dragon wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me. It was sent by Voldemort, to trap me into Gringotts' vaults. It didn't care about hurting anybody else, it only wanted me.'

Ginny's fair skin went even paler.

'It... it was You-Know-Who's idea, trying to trap you under Gringotts?'

'Yes, why? What's wrong?'

Ginny looked as though she had seen a ghost, or rather, Ginny looked like a Muggle who had just seen a ghost for the first time.

'We were in the vaults. We'd just been to our family vault, when...' she paused as though gathering strength, '...the noises started. It was so loud down there, it sounded like giants were attacking. We didn't know what to do. That grumpy goblin we were with, Bidlok I think his name was, he said that there was a place where we might be able to dig our way out.'

'Ragnok mentioned that...'

'Yes, well Mum thought that it was a good idea. She told him to take us there, and send her in a cart back to Gringotts' lobby. She wanted to go back for you. Well, naturally, we argued with her. I even thought that Ron was going to hex her at one point - he'll be in so much trouble later.'

'Typical of Ron,' Harry thought, but he didn't interrupt Ginny's story.

'Anyway, the goblin wouldn't let anybody go off alone underground. He said it was a security risk. He made us all go with him.'

'So how come you ended up here then?'

'Well that's the thing. Just as we were getting close to the place, Cho and her mum come running towards us, screaming. We were going so fast we nearly ran straight into them. Then Cho's mum started yelling in Gobbledygook. I didn't pick up a single word, but she sounded dead scared. So they get into the cart, and Bidlok races back to the bank's lobby as fast as the cart can go, Ron was sick over the side. Obviously we tried to ask, but nobody would tell us what was going on. When we got here, we couldn't see you. It was just awful, Lupin and Hermione lying there, hardly moving. There was a goblin standing there, holding a wand, Hermione's wand. Mum recognised it, and disarmed him with a spell. The goblin just sort of looked at her and then Apparated away. Well, she thought that he'd killed you, until the dragon roared and we saw you up in the sky. She screamed, well, I guess you know about that, 'cos it made you fall. Next thing I know, Cho's rooting through the wrecked Quidditch store for a broom. I suppose you know the rest.'

Harry was even more panicked now. Not only had there been a plan to trap him underground, it seemed like there might have been something waiting down there for him. If it had hurt anybody else...

...well, he was used to guilt. He chanced another look at Cho, and was greeted with a welcome sight.

Her fingers were twitching, and her eyes were open, although one of them was very red. She seemed to be saying something, but it was too quiet for Harry to pick up. Her mothers tears were still flowing as thickly as ever, but silent now, as she crouched down over her daughter's head to hear the words.

Harry's relief was to be short lived. Cho's lips stopped moving. Lupin reached over with a hand, and closed her eyes with his fingertips. It took Harry a few seconds to realise that he had just watched somebody else die.

- HPHPHP -

For the rest of his life, Harry couldn't remember how he had made it from that table outside Florean Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlour, back to The Leaky Cauldron. His next memory after Lupin closing Cho's eyes was of watching a team of Auror's burst out of the pub fireplace, preparing for action that had already happened. Harry watched as Ron's mum directed them to the fallen dragon, where Lupin was still waiting. He watched as the twins carried Hermione into the flames, and shouted the words to take her to St. Mungo's. He watched as Ron followed her. He stepped forwards, ready to join them, but Mrs. Weasley held him back. She told him plainly that he was to go straight back to Grimmauld Place, that under no circumstances was he to go to the hospital.

Quietly seething inside, but with no energy to vent his frustration, he stepped forwards and meekly obeyed her orders.

Miles away, he fell into an empty dining room, and collapsed onto the cold stone.