Harry Potter and the Wyvern's Crown

Chapter 22: Journey to the Crown

'The heir of what?'

'Of Ravenclaw. You said it yourself, Malfoy. The sorting hat wanted to put you into Ravenclaw. Perhaps it had a reason.'

'And that would make you what? The Heir of Slytherin, because the hat wanted you to be one? Besides, you're a Lion Animagus, and wasn't the Heir of Slytherin...'

The name of Voldemort went unspoken. It didn't need to be.

Draco's jaw was open, and Harry knew the Slytherin boy understood. Malfoy's bright blue eyes met Harry's. 'I'll go. But how do I get into the tower? I don't know anyone, and I certainly don't know the password.'

Harry thought a moment, then pointed to the window. 'You fly.'

Draco looked at the window. 'But what about Raven?'

'What about her?' Harry's face darkened.

'Why wouldn't she be the heir?'

Harry pressed his lips together, it hadn't occurred to him, but if Draco was having the visions, it only made sense that he would be the Heir, rather than Raven. Then he looked up. Draco was already out of his bed, walking to the window. 'Where are you going?'

'To find out if you're right. And if you are, I think you know what we have to do.' Draco opened the window, then looked back. 'Go to Gryffindor Tower, and get your things. If you're right, we're going to have to leave tonight.'

'Why?'

Draco pointed outside, 'Because tonight's the full moon.'

* * *

Harry ran down the hallways at top speed. Time was of the essence, though he honestly wasn't sure what time it actually was. But if he didn't hurry, and the moon set before he could get to the Wyvern's Crown, he would be in trouble. And being lost in the middle of the Forbidden Forest in the dead of night was not something he was particularly looking forward to. He managed to get back to the tower, and panted before the Lady in the Pink Dress for some time. Leaning against the stone wall, he managed to gasp 'Pumpernickel Tickle' and she swung open.

He made a dash for the dorm door, but not without looking up at the golden lion on the mantle piece. The fire was low, but the red ruby it had for an eye sparkled invitingly. There was no need to try it, Harry thought. Even if it was a choosing stone, Harry already knew who he was. Adding the title of Heir of Gryffindor to the rest of the things he'd done so far at Hogwarts wouldn't make him any more special. Nodding to himself, he jogged up the stairs to his dorm-level. He found a pair of pants he hadn't worn in a while and a large black shirt with long sleeves. He threw on his Gryffindor overcloak, and picked up his wand, putting it through a loop on his belt. But his eyes were drawn back to the sword under his bed. Since he'd last used it, Harry had grown nearly a foot in height. Wielding it wouldn't be so much of a task this time. But what if Draco and he got to the Wyvern's Crown and found nothing but the ruin of an old building? But there was the chance that Voldemort was there, and being as Harry no longer had the protection of his mother's final charm, he needed something more. Had Dumbledore known this?

He drew out the weapon, noting that it no longer seemed so heavy, and used one of his own belts to attach it to his waist. And last, but not least, he picked up his invisibility cloak from the bottom of the chest at the foot of his bed. He tucked it into his belt. With a shaky sigh, he turned around, only to come face to face with Ron. He nearly shouted. The Weasley boy looked dejected. Over this past little while, Harry had been putting him off. Well, not putting him off as much as having a little less to do with him than a close friendship could permit without feelings being hurt. Ron looked down at the weapon on Harry's belt. He looked back up, his eyes still sad.

'You're going to save her, aren't you?'

Harry was taken aback. 'Save who?'

'Save Raven, right? When she didn't return today everyone assumed that she'd been taken. So I'm guessing you're going to find out what you-know-who has done with her and use that sword to chop his head off, right? And you weren't going to tell anyone, were you?'

Harry looked at his dearest friend, and felt absolutely awful. 'Ron...Raven's gone?'

Ron crossed his arms. 'I assumed you knew.'

Harry shook his head, and he realized then, precisely why he had shouted the name Raven instead of Bethany. Voldemort was going to kill her inside the Wyvern's Crown, just as Stephan killed the innocent Bethany all those centuries ago. 'Oh, no. No.'

'So, you're going to take me with you?'

Harry shook his head, 'I'm sorry about this, Ron. Dormines Infanz!'

Ron yawned, 'Tha...s a dirty--' He yawned again, 'a dirty trick...Potter.' He fell forwards and Harry rested him on his bed. He hated to do this, but the only people who were permitted inside the Wyvern's Crown were Heirs to the four founders of the school. Heir to their talents, and heirs to their weaknesses. Harry ran back down the stairs and he looked up at the lion. And he realized that Gregory had done the same, all those years ago.

'I'm leaving now, Godric. I hope you can forgive me, if I'm wrong.'

Harry whispered the words himself. And then he saw it. The ruby, once almost black, lit up with proud fire. It lit the whole room. And Harry understood. He nodded once in thanks, and ran back out of the tower, throwing the invisibility cloak over his head.

* * *

When he had returned to the Hospital Wing he had found that Draco had been there and left again. Sitting on Harry's bed, strangely enough, was a note tied to a Fireball Two. It read, 'take this and get down to the courtyard, we only have an hour until the moon sets'.

Harry shook his head, Draco had lent him his own Fireball Two? Well, it would be the fastest way out, after all. He hopped out the window, and tucked the broom underneath him marvelling at the smooth ride as he zoomed out over the moonlit castle. He circled downwards, and spotted Malfoy standing in the middle of the courtyard, also holding a broom, and decked out in blacks. Harry landed running and stopped before Malfoy. Draco raised his head, his eyes distant.

'Are you ready?' he asked quietly, putting his broom between his legs (Harry noted that it too, was a Fireball Two).

Harry nodded, doing likewise. 'Is something wrong?' he asked a moment before kicking off.

Draco's lips twitched, 'I suppose it doesn't matter...'

'No, tell me.' Harry looked at his rival with careful eyes. 'We have to be together on this. We don't exactly have the Heir of Hufflepuff with us.'

'So you're sure about who we are, then?'

Harry nodded, 'Why?'

'It just seems wrong, I guess. I mean, we're heading off to a place we aren't sure exists, to find a threat...that I'm not sure we can beat. And why should we go? It's not as if you-know-who has a reason for being there.' Draco sighed.

'Yes, he does,' Harry said, exasperated. 'He took Raven this afternoon.'

Draco's face fell. 'You're kidding me. Please say you are.'

Harry shook his head. 'I'm not, and that why we have to go now. If he's seen the same visions as us, he'll know that taking my girlfriend will start this mess all over again.'

Draco started, 'Did you actually figure out what Stephan was saying in that vision that had us both hospitalized?'

'No,' Harry said with regret in his voice. 'But I still have the feeling that whatever he did was the reason behind the Forest becoming so Forbidden.'

'And the Wyvern's Crown being put to an end.'

'Right,' Harry swallowed, then took a firmer grip on his broom. 'I'm assuming that this isn't yours, then.'

Draco smiled, 'It's Goyle's. The brute has such a time flying with it I figured he wouldn't miss it...much.' He kicked off from the ground, drifting sideways and looking at Harry. 'Are we going now?'

Harry nodded curtly, and hopped into the air. 'Let's.'

* * *

Once in the Forbidden Forest, it took some time to orient themselves so they would follow the moonpath. Harry had been in the forest many more times than Malfoy, in fact, almost every year so far Harry had made the dangerous journey for one reason or another. Even so, he allowed Malfoy to lead the way. In his readings about the Forbidden Forest, Harry had learned much about the amount of dangerous and deadly creatures that inhabited it. As they neared the thickest part of the wood, they would encounter even worse perils. But Draco, at least had enough sense to fly high enough that nothing from the ground could rise to take them. The Heirs from times past never had to worry, but then, the beasts in the forest may have been planted so to guard the Wyvern's Crown. As the moon was setting, the forest was getting so thick it was growing difficult to fly. Soon, Draco dropped altitude and landed.

He looked up at Harry who landed beside him.

'We've got to keep moving,' Harry said irritably.

Draco made a face, 'I know that.' He drew out his wand, 'Point me.' The wand alighted from his hand, spinning slowly. 'Along the moon's path.' The wand turned suddenly, and pointed towards the moon. He looked up at Harry, with an attitude-filled smile, and headed in the direction the wand was pointing. They traversed for a while, but all too soon it was too dark to see. Harry lit his wand and pushed his way through the brush. The boys were silent aside from the crunch of their shoes in the leaves. It wasn't bitterly cold, but they had been outside for nearly an hour, and Harry could feel the weight of his sword at his waist, and the chill of it's hilt as it pressed against his side. The broom was light, of course, after all, it flew, but his fingers were cold, and things were slowly becoming more and more hopeless. Draco coughed, and ripped at a sudden wall of creepers. With a gasp he came to a halt. Harry jogged the two paces to see what Draco was looking at.

At first he saw nothing, then realized, he was looking at an over grown walk, through an iron-barred gateway. He looked up and couldn't even see the sky. Holding up his wand, it was apparent that the branches of the trees over head were only a few feet above them, and grown together so thickly, there would be no way to get above them without backtracking for several thousand feet. Draco continued to tear away at the ivy that covered the gate. It had four holes in it, and four gold locks. The holes were of different sizes, a foot-high semicircle at the bottom, a four inch one above it, a humongous three foot hole above that, and a foot large one at the top. Draco looked at Harry before reaching out a hand towards the largest hole. He drew it back with a hiss, as though he'd been shocked.

'Charmed,' he said, then looked up, rubbing his hand.

Harry nodded. 'It makes sense. The Heirs were Animagi.'

'Right,' Draco eyed up the top hole, 'I think that one's raven-sized. What do you think?'

'Might as well try.'

Draco jumped, and as he did, his body collapsed. The large crow turned, and flapped once to get up enough height. Draco dove at the hole, but fell out of his Animagus form and landed on his rear. He groaned. 'I don't think that was the right one.'

Harry pointed his glowing wand upwards and smiled. 'You're wrong. Look!'

Draco looked up, cockeyed at the top hole. Now there was a brass raven medallion where he had attempted to fly through. Harry grinned, 'I suppose it's my turn now.'

'I suppose. Just don't eat me Potter. My father will hang you and use your hide as a throw rug,' the Slytherin muttered.

'I suspect you'd give me indigestion,' Harry told him, then with some struggle, managed to change himself into a lion. He looked at Malfoy for a moment, and the angry looking Slytherin pointed at the gate. The Harry-lion looked away, and at the gate. He reached up a paw, and a large gold medallion appeared. He dropped back down on all fours and bowed his head. Harry looked back up at Draco, who looked cross, 'You're rather stupid when you're a lion, you know that, Potter?'

'Was I the one who flew into a giant piece of bronze, Malfoy?'

'Shut up.' He rolled his head back on his neck, 'Well this is a pain, how do we get this open without a snake or a badger?'

Harry smiled, 'If we can find a pine cone...'

'We can make a badger. I did that in Transfiguration too.' Malfoy waved his wand, and shouted, 'Accio pinecone!'

Harry cringed as about five hundred pinecones showered down around Draco. Harry snorted, trying to hold back his laughter at the highly displeased look on Malfoy's prissy face. The Slytherin grimaced, but couldn't keep from laughing either. He found a few green ones out of the lot and both boys worked on tranfiguring them into badgers. After a few tries, Draco made a rather lively one and before it could escape, he grabbed it around it's neck and hauled it to the semicircle at the bottom of the gate. A black iron shield with a badger on it appeared and Malfoy released the squirming animal, though he was unable to avoid getting scratched up by it.

Harry looked at the last hole, then back at the panting visage of Draco, 'You know any serpent transfiguration spells?'

Draco shook his head, 'Unfortunately, no. Why don't you just call one?'

Harry considered, 'I kinda of have to see one to make it work.'

Draco rolled his eyes, 'I'm such an idiot.' He waved his wand again, Serpensortia!'

With a dull plop, a large black snake dropped from Malfoy's wand. It struck towards Harry, who shouted, 'Stay back!'

The snake reared, but fell still. Malfoy took an uneasy step backwards. Harry inclined his head at the door. 'If you please, would you care to put your nose up to that hole in the gate?'

The snake blinked, then slithered up to the gate. It poked its nose at the hole, making a silver plate appear. It then spoke to Harry, 'Would you like anything else?'

'That's wonderful, thank you.'

'You're very welcome,' the snake remarked, and with a hiss in Draco's direction, it swung off into the night.

Draco shook his head as he walked up to Harry. 'Personally, I'm rather glad I'm not the Parseltongue.'

Harry shrugged, 'It makes no difference to me.' He touched the gate, and it swung open. 'After you.'

Draco swung his robes as Snape often did and waltzed through the front door. As the boys stepped in, Harry noticed something.

'It's daylight in here,' Draco said, turning around. The air was strange, ethereal and majestic. 'What a fantastic place. Do you think Salazar and the others actually built all this?'

Harry nodded, 'I would assume.' He walked forwards into the blueish light, looking at the carvings on the walls. They were in some ancient tongue, undecipherable now. Harry wondered if Gregory had known what they meant. Through the misty courtyard they headed and up a flight of stairs. A great stone door stood before them, cold and imposing. Draco touched the surface of it, as did Harry, there was a great magic here, a terrible and powerful magic. There were four alcoves, each marked with the stone bust of an animal. A lion standing proudly, a raven with it's head bowed, A badger with one paw raised, and a snake with its jaws open wide.

'Another riddle,' Harry murmured. He touched the Lion's chest, and felt a deep connection. He drew his hand away. 'What do you propose?'

'Do you remember one of those old scrolls mentioning something about this?'

'Well, there was only one, but I didn't understand what it meant when I translated it. Something about...Slytherin being a mouth and Ravenclaw being a head.'

'What were the other two?' Draco took a step towards him.

'Umm, Gryffindor was Heart, and Hufflepuff was...paw, or hand.' He gestured at the badger. 'I suppose it was talking about these statues, but it didn't say much more than that.'

'The mantle pieces are like this as well. The Slytherin's mouth is open, and the Raven's head is looking down.'

'I hope we didn't have to bring the stones.'

'I don't think so. I mean, the piece of jade would fall right out of his mouth,' He pointed at the snake's silver head. 'I'm fairly sure that you couldn't pry that blue stone from the raven. What about gifts?'

'Gifts?'

'Well, yes. You're a Parseltongue.' So was Salazar, and so was Stephan.'

'And so is Voldemort.'

'Well, yes, but, try and speak to that snake head and see if it responds. If it doesn't I'm all out of ideas.'

'All right.' Harry walked over to the snake's head, as hideous as it was, and said, 'Can you hear me?'

'You're speaking English, Potter.'

Harry rolled his eyes, and stared until he felt his mouth change. 'Can you hear me?'

The snake moved, as though it were real. Its mouth closed, and it looked up at Harry. It nodded slowly. 'Open the door,' Harry told it. The snake tilted its head, then bowed. The alcove changed and became the crest of Slytherin.

'Damn,' Draco muttered, 'we're going to have to do them all.'

'Well, we couldn't get in without doing them all.'

'I know that, I was just hoping,' Draco sighed, looking at the stone crow. 'What would...head...magic be?'

'I don't know,' Harry said, 'but I think I know what heart magic is.'

'Heart magic,' Draco snorted. 'Alohomora!' He tapped his wand against the raven's head. As soon as he had done so, it melted away becoming the Ravenclaw's crest. Draco looked shocked for a moment, then smiled smugly.

'That makes sense. You knew the spell. It was magic in your head,' Harry grinned, then placed his hand against the lion's cool chest again. When the connection happened he pushed his wild magic into the stone figure, willing it to open. When he opened his eyes, his hand was against the Gryffindor crest.

Draco applauded him then walked over to the badger, 'Damn thing.' He took the badger's paw, and tried to pull it. He waved his hand at it, 'Open up,' He turned in a fluffy of material. 'And what would hand magic be, then?'

Harry laughed, 'Hand magic!'

Draco gave him a dull look, 'Yes, what would it be?'

'No, do you know Wade Jerkins?'

'No.'

'Never mind. She's a friend of Cho's in Ravenclaw. She knows this old form of spelling called Hand Spells. She was showing some of them to me a little while ago...gave me a list...' He bit his lips, then put his hands inside the pockets of his pants, then in the pocket of his over cloak, and breathed a sigh of relief. 'They're here.'

'Hand them over,' Draco snorted. 'They read like palmistry notes. Let's see...' he began to run his finger over his palm, back and forth, when a small rune appeared briefly on it. He reached up carefully, and pushed the badger's face. The black and yellow crest appeared and there was a horrible scraping sound. The boys stood back, looking into the maw as the huge stone slabs swung inwards and boomed into place. Harry felt his heart pounding and he could hear Draco trying to control his breath. A sudden push against Harry's leg made him cry out, unabashed, he flung himself away from the source, and half into Draco, who shouted and pushed Harry away, also trying to get away from whatever it was.

The smallish black cat looked up at Harry with wide yellow eyes and meowed.