Harry, Ron and Hermione stood on the threshold, staring down into the darkness that seemed never ending.
With one sideways look to both Ron and Hermione, Harry took the first step down the stone staircase.
He descended a few more steps, Ron and Hermione walking loyally at his side, when, without warning, the wardrobe doors slammed shut in one deafening BANG.
“You don’t suppose there’s a lamp around here, do you?” Ron asked sarcastically.
Harry’s only response to this was to mutter, “Lumos!” while Hermione scowled angrily at Ron.
Once Harry’s wand tip had ignited, he could see that they were standing at the top of a long, stone staircase that led down to a large wooden door. The room felt colder and damper, much more so than the orphanage had. Countless cobwebs hung loosely from the low ceiling, and Harry was quite sure that he had seen a few tiny spiders scurrying across the floor. He chose, however, not to share this with Ron.
Harry, Ron and Hermione each shared a nervous glance before Harry led them down the stairs.
They reached the bottom of the stairs where Harry noticed a large Roman numeral I on emblazoned on the front of the wooden door.
“Do you suppose it’s locked?” Hermione whispered. She reached out to pull the door handle, but Harry grasped her hand before she could touch it.
“Hang on, Hermione,” Harry whispered. “I think I’ve got a good idea of what this is. If anything happens, you… it’s… if something happens to me, it’s okay to turn back.”
Both Ron and Hermione looked squarely into Harry’s eyes with looks of complete faithfulness.
“We’re with you to the end, mate,” Ron said, straightening up and even letting the top of his head brush some of the cobwebs on the ceiling.
Harry could see a small tear running down Hermione’s cheek, but she brushed it away just as quickly as it had appeared.
“Go on, Harry,” she said, her voice steady and calm. “Open the door.”
Harry reached out to open the door, but just as he did so, he heard a loud groan and the shuffling of something enormous behind the door. He pressed his ear to the door, but heard nothing.
Harry looked back at Ron and Hermione, who took a step forward, aimed their wands at the door and nodded. He turned back to the door, took a steadying breath, reached out, grasped the door handle and retched it open. Almost immediately, a pair of enormous grey hands reached down into the open doorway and very nearly wrapped themselves around Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Harry, luckily, was able to knock Ron and Hermione back and slam the door shut before the grey hands could get a hold of them.
“What the bloody hell was that!” Ron exclaimed, standing up off of the cold floor.
“I – think,” Harry began, breathing heavily, “that – that – was – a – troll.”
“A mountain troll, by the smell of it,” Hermione said, standing up as well.
“A mountain troll… well… well we’ve gone against one of those before, haven’t we?” Ron said more to himself than to either Harry or Hermione, doing his best to sound confident.
“Did you see the door on the other side of the room?” Harry asked, looking between Ron and Hermione.
“Yes,” Hermione answered. “I expect we have to make it past the troll and through that door.”
“You don’t think the Horcrux is in the room with the troll?” Ron asked, sounding slightly horrorstruck.
“Well, no… did you, Harry?” Hermione answered, looking to Harry.
Harry shook his head.
“Well, how many rooms do you think there are?” Ron asked, now looking at Harry as well.
“Seven,” Harry answered almost immediately.
“Seven?” both Ron and Hermione repeated disbelievingly.
“It would be fitting, wouldn’t it?” Harry answered bitterly. “It would be something that Voldemort would find… I don’t know… poetic. Seven Horcruxes, seven rooms.”
Ron and Hermione did not answer. Perhaps they were thinking the same thing that Harry had been thinking ever since he saw the numeral I on the front of the door. Perhaps they were beginning to see that the chances of simply getting through all of the rooms, let alone with all three of them in one piece, were quite slim.
From the expressions of defiance and bravery on Ron and Hermione’s faces, however, it seemed that these thoughts were not running through their heads.
“Look, we don’t necessarily have to kill the troll,” Hermione said, drawing her wand and moving back towards the door.
“All we have to do is get to the door on the other side,” Ron added, drawing his wand as well.
Harry responded with a nod and placed his left hand on the door handle.
“On the count of three,” he said, gripping his wand tightly in his other hand. “One… two… three!”
Harry threw the door open. He could see the wooden door on the other side of the room, maybe fifty feet away; the troll was nowhere in sight.
Immediately, Harry set off at a run towards the door, Ron and Hermione at his heels.
They were halfway across the room when, out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw a flash of movement. Within a second, he heard a yelp of pain as the troll had reappeared and lifted Ron up by the ankle.
“Ron!” Harry yelled, stopping in his tracks.
“Go on, run!” Ron yelled, hanging upside-down in the troll’s clutches.
Harry didn’t have time to act. The troll lifted its club, preparing to strike Ron.
“Stupefy!” Hermione yelled.
A jet of red-light left Hermione’s wand and struck the troll squarely between the eyes. The troll fell backwards, dropping Ron harmlessly, before it came crashing down, causing the whole room to tremble.
Harry rushed over, past the fallen troll, to Ron, who, despite being slightly shaken, seemed completely fine.
“Ron! Ron, are you okay?” Hermione cried, rushing past Harry and helping Ron to his feet.
“I’m fine,” he answered, brushing him self off and picking up his fallen wand. “I’m just glad you didn’t miss.”
Both Harry and Hermione grinned, before turning their attention towards the task at hand.
* * *
“You don’t suppose there’s another troll behind this door, do you?” asked Ron, standing in front of the next door, a Roman numeral II emblazoned across its front.
“I don’t think so, mate,” Harry answered. “But whatever’s behind the door, I don’t think it’ll be too friendly.”
Ron and Hermione nodded in agreement.
“Ready?” Harry asked.
Ron and Hermione nodded again and Harry reached out and opened the door.
At first, Harry thought that it was perhaps one of the strangest rooms he had ever seen. It was square shaped, very small and, unlike the previous room, there was no door on the other side.
Harry, Ron and Hermione stepped into the room and, once all three of them were inside, the door behind them snapped shut and disappeared into the wall.
Almost immediately, the four walls began to spin rapidly and enclose around Harry, Ron and Hermione.
“Harry…” Hermione began, as she, Harry and Ron huddled close together.
Harry had to think quickly. There was no door, no window and no way out.
“Open!” Harry yelled, as the walls inched closer and closer towards them.
“Open!”
Nothing happened.
The walls were about fifteen feet away, closing rapidly.
Harry, thinking quickly, pulled out the knife and immediately cut a gash in his arm, thinking that the walls required blood in order for them to stop moving.
Harry ran forward and spread some of his blood from the knife on the wall.
Nothing happened.
“The walls are getting closer, mate!” Ron yelled, as both he and Hermione hurried over to where Harry stood.
They had thirty seconds, if they were lucky.
Think, Harry said to himself, think.
Twenty seconds.
Think.
Ten seconds.
I’ve tried blood… I’ve asked it to open, I…
It was as if a light came in inside of his head. Harry looked straight ahead, imagining a snake on the far wall and hissed, as the room closed in around him, in Parseltongue, “open.”
Immediately, the walls stopped moving, and a wooden door appeared directly in front of Harry, a Roman numeral III etched on its front.
Harry turned to look at Ron and Hermione, both of whom looked on the verge of laughter.
Harry smiled back at them and then turned back to the third door.
“What do you reckon is behind this one, mate?” Ron asked, tearing off a piece of his own shirt and handing it to Harry for his cut.
“I dunno… nothing friendly either, though, that’s for sure,” Harry answered, tying the strip of cloth around his bleeding arm.
Harry reached out to open the door, but Hermione let out a small noise, stopping him.
“I don’t like this, Harry,” she said, eyeing the door suspiciously. “We have no way of telling what’s behind that door. If this next one is anything like the first, we need to see what’s behind the door in order to be safe.”
“Yeah… but how, Hermione,” Ron said sounding slightly exasperated. “I say we just go through the door.”
“Look, that doesn’t make any sense. I say we just… Harry, what are you doing?”
While Ron and Hermione were arguing, Harry had Conjured a small piece of glass and then adhered it to the end of his knife with a sticking charm.
“I’m checking under the door,” Harry answered dryly, sliding the knife under the door.
From the corner of his eye, Harry noticed Ron and Hermione share an apologetic glance, but he disregarded it.
Harry looked under the door and into the piece of glass but immediately withdrew it.
“What is it, mate, what did you see?” Ron asked, taking aim at the door with his wand.
“Dementors,” Harry answered with a sigh.
“D-Dementors?” Ron asked again, evidently hoping that he had misheard Harry.
“Dementors,” Harry repeated with yet another sigh.
“Well, how many?” Hermione asked slowly, as if she didn’t want to know the answer.
“I dunno… more than I could count,” Harry answered again, ideas beginning to formulate in his mind. “I think if we all cast a Patronus we should be able to hold off the Dementors long enough for us to get to the other door.”
“But, Harry, the minute we open the door, the Dementors will attack us,” Hermione said, nervously rubbing her hands together. “We won’t have time to cast our Patronuses.”
“Well… er… well, we could…” but Harry could think of nothing – what could they do?
“Well… well,” Ron began, clearly thinking quickly, “well, why don’t Hermione and I slip our wands underneath the door and cast our Patronuses there so that when you open the door, you’ll have time to cast your Patronus?”
“Ron, that’s…” Hermione began, rolling her eyes at first before an odd look fell across her face – and a smile. “Ron, that’s brilliant.”
Well, you know… every now and then,” Ron said with a smile. “What do you think, Harry?”
“Yeah… yeah, that could work,” Harry agreed, nodding his head. “Okay, get ready.”
Ron and Hermione knelt down and slipped their wands through the small crack underneath the door.
“Ready, mate?” Ron asked from his knees.
“Ready,” Harry agreed.
Harry could see both Ron and Hermione hesitate for a second, both of them obviously thinking of their happiest memory.
“Expecto Patronum!” both Ron and Hermione cried, sending their Patronuses under the door and into the third room.
Harry hesitated for a moment as well, taking a second to imagine his happiest thought.
Voldemort’s dead. I’m with Ginny, and Voldemort’s dead.
Harry threw open the door, aimed his wand straight ahead and cried, “Expecto Patronum!”
A silver stag erupted from Harry’s wand and charged down the closest Dementor, knocking it aside.
“Come on! We have to move!” Harry yelled to Ron and Hermione.
Ron and Hermione stood up off the ground and followed Harry slowly across the room.
The hundreds of Dementors in the room, which oddly enough was shaped like the Ministry of Magic Atrium, were now circling around Harry, Ron and Hermione. When one of the Dementors tried to get close, however, either Harry, Ron or Hermione’s Patronus would charge it down.
As they made their way further and further across their room, however, Harry found it more and more difficult to continue fighting off the Dementors.
“Harry… I think… I think…” Hermione began, but her voice trailed off. Harry could tell that she was growing weak. They had to hurry.
“Hold on, Hermione!” Harry yelled. “Think of something happy!”
“Expect–”
Hermione gave it one last effort before her Patronus flickered and died. She fell over and Ron stooped low to catch her, causing his Patronus to die as well.
Now Harry was left protecting both Ron and Hermione as hundreds of Dementors converged on them. He could now feel his own Patronus fading. He had to keep his happy thought in the foreground of his mind.
Voldemort’s dead, and I’m with Ginny. Voldemort’s dead, and I’m with Ginny.
His stag flickered momentarily.
Voldemort’s dead, and I’m with Ginny.
His Patronus died.
“Voldemort’s dead and… Voldemort’s dead… Volde…” but there was nothing more Harry could do. Dementors were closing in all around him. He could hear his mother’s voice in his head. He could hear her pleading with Voldemort.
“VOLDEMORT’S DEAD, AND I’M WITH HERMIONE!”
Harry looked to his right and saw Ron kneeling on one leg, his wand aimed at the closest Dementor, a steely look in his eye.
“EXPECTO PATRONUM!”
Ron’s Patronus, a Jack Russell terrier, erupted from his wand and charged down a Dementor directly in front of Harry.
“Come on, Harry!” he yelled, grabbing Hermione by the wrist and dragging her towards the door.
Harry stood back up as well. His happy memory clearly etched in his mind.
“VOLDEMORT’S DEAD AND I’M WITH GINNY, RON AND HERMIONE! EXPECTO PATRONUM!”
Harry’s stag erupted from the end of his wand and, following the Jack Russell terrier, attacked a Dementor closing in on Ron.
Harry hurried after Ron and Hermione and wretched open the fourth door. Ron pulled Hermione inside and Harry followed, slamming the door shut before the Dementors could enter the fourth room.
Harry fell backwards, but soon scrambled back up and over to where Hermione lay motionless.
“Enervate!” Harry cried, his wand aimed at Hermione.
At first nothing happened, but then, Hermione let out an almighty cough and opened her eyes slowly.
Both Ron and Harry let out a sigh of relief as Hermione sat up straight.
“What happened?” she asked, looking between Harry and Ron. “The last thing I remembered is fighting the Dementors and then… then I saw flashes of… things. I heard…” but her voice trailed off.
“What did you hear?” Ron asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Nothing… nothing – everything went black,” Hermione answered, averting her eyes. “How did we get here?”
“Ron saved us,” Harry answered immediately. “Didn’t you hear what he –?”
Ron shot Harry a warning glance.
“Er… it was nothing really,” Ron answered, his ears reddening.
Harry chose to ignore the growing tension between Ron and Hermione, and instead decided to have a look around.
Harry stood up and, for the first time, took a good look around the room they were in. His first reaction was a sharp intake of breath.
There, standing ominously in front of him, was what had to be a maze. There were countless rows of thick hedges, much like in Harry’s fourth year.
“Blimey… a maze,” Ron whispered, standing next to Harry.
“What do you think, Harry?” Hermione asked, standing on Harry’s other side.
“Well, I think we’ll have to go through it, Hermione,” Harry answered sarcastically.
Ron smiled.
Harry moved forward and stood at the entrance to the maze, twenty-foot high hedges standing high above him.
“Ready?” Harry asked, for which seemed like the umpteenth time this evening.
Ron was staring determinedly forward, and Hermione was surveying the entire room. They both took looked back at Harry and nodded.
The moment Harry entered the maze, however, another hedge rose up through the floor, separating Harry from Ron and Hermione.
“Harry!” Ron yelled. “Harry!”
“Relax, I’m okay,” Harry answered from behind the hedge. “See if you can find another way through. I’m going to go forward.”
The moment that Harry tried to move forward, however, another hedge rose up blocking his way again and enclosing him in a very small square.
Well this complicates things, Harry thought to himself.
“Ron… Hermione, I’m stuck! You have to find a way through!” he yelled, trying to think quickly.
“Hold on, mate,” Ron answered. “We’re going to try to blast through.”
Harry crouched down low, holding his hands protectively over his head.
“Reducto!” cried Ron and Hermione in unison from the other side of the hedge.
Harry felt the spell make contact with the hedge, but it did not destroy it.
“What happened?”
“The spell backfired, Harry,” Hermione answered. “I don’t know why. What should we do?”
“I don’t know,” Harry replied irritably. “Try to burn it.”
“Okay… hang on,” Hermione answered. “Incendio!”
Harry, once again, sensed the effects of the spell. He felt the hedge getting warmer, he smelt the charring of grass, yet still, the hedge remained intact.
“Oh, that didn’t work either,” Hermione said worriedly.
Harry had to think. It seemed that the hedge could not be altered in any way, but perhaps it wouldn’t have to be.
“I’m going to try to Apparate – stand back,” Harry said, concentrating hard on his destination. He felt the familiar sensation that preceded Apparation, but then he felt a very peculiar feeling – it was almost as if his feet were stuck to the floor, preventing him from going anywhere.
“It didn’t work,” Harry called dejectedly to Ron and Hermione.
“There has to be another way, mate,” Ron called back.
There had better be, thought Harry. But what if there wasn’t. What if this is where it all ends.
Harry turned on the spot, staring at all four walls of hedges around him.
No, this isn’t the end. But, how to get out? How would Voldemort… then it came to him.
Voldemort would make it impossible for someone, working alone, to escape from where Harry now stood. Voldemort, however, would not consider others on the outside of the maze working with whoever was trapped inside.
“Ron… Hermione,” Harry called, “there’s got to be a way for you to get me out of here. Start looking around for a switch, or a keyhole or something like that.”
There was silence for only a second until…
“Here! Here I found it!” Ron cried excitedly.
“What is it?” Harry called back.
“Harry! Harry, we need the thimble,” Hermione answered happily. “Throw it over to us.”
Harry reached into his pocket, grabbed hold of the thimble, and tossed it high, up and over the hedge.
“Got it!” Ron yelled excitedly.
A moment later, both the hedge in front of Harry and the hedge behind Harry lowered. Then, all of the hedges lowered, leaving Harry, Ron and Hermione in the massive room with the fifth door in sight.
Ron and Hermione were standing next to the door that led back to the Dementor room with the thimble stuck in the wall.
“That hole wasn’t there before, was it?” Harry asked, hurrying over to where Ron and Hermione stood.
“Definitely not,” Hermione replied. “I looked around this whole room before you went in and this was not here.”
“It must be triggered to only appear once someone is inside the trap,” Harry said, a hint of bitterness in his voice. “Anyone working alone wouldn’t stand a chance – they’d be trapped forever.”
“That fits with the way You-Know-Who works too,” Ron added grimly.
Harry nodded in agreement.
“Come on, Harry,” Hermione said. “We have another door to go through.”
Harry nodded again and then led Ron and Hermione towards the door marked with a Roman numeral V.
Harry knelt down once more and pulled out the knife with the piece of glass stuck to the end of it. He slid the knife under the doorway once more and withdrew it in surprise.
“What is it, mate?” Ron asked.
“A giant,” Harry answered.
“Oh… fantastic,” Ron answered.
“Is it a – a big giant?” Hermione asked weakly.
“Most giants are, Hermione,” Ron answered sardonically and Harry could not think of any better explanation.
“I think it may be Golgomath… the giant the Hagrid met, remember?”
“What makes you think that?” Hermione asked nervously.
“He’s wearing a battle helmet.”
“That’ll be Golgomath then,” Ron responded. “He doesn’t, by any chance, look friendly, does he?”
“Not particularly, mate,” Harry answered wryly.
“Well, what are we going to do?” Hermione asked apprehensively. “I mean, if we try to attack, he would rip us apart with his bare hands without so much as a second thought.”
“Such a cheery little thing, aren’t you?” Ron said acerbically.
“Maybe so, Hermione,” Harry answered, choosing to ignore what Ron said. “But, we might not have to attack him.”
“How do you figure that?” Ron asked.
Harry’s answer was to reach inside of his pocket and pull out his Invisibility Cloak.
“Why didn’t we use that against the troll?” Ron asked, sounding slightly upset, probably due to the fact that he was lifted upside down by the troll.
“Well, to be honest, I only just thought of it,” Harry answered with a small smile.
“Hmm… fair enough.”
Harry threw the Cloak over himself, Ron and Hermione and then moved towards the fifth door. He reached out and pulled it open.
Hermione let out a sharp intake of breath and Harry quickly covered her mouth with his hand.
Golgomath was sitting cross-legged, his head resting on the wall next to the sixth door, his eyes shut tightly, snoring loudly.
Golgomath was easily twenty-five feet high, wearing the Goblin made battle helmet that Hagrid had given Gologmath’s predecessor, Karkus, during Harry’s fifth year, and carrying a very dangerous looking club.
“Quiet,” Harry whispered to Ron and Hermione as they slowly made their way across the room and towards the door in front of them.
Suddenly, Ron’s foot caught the hem of the cloak and the three of them came tumbling down to the ground rather loudly.
Golgomath, startled by the sound, woke up instantly and began looking around. Luckily enough, Harry was able to throw the Cloak back over himself, Ron and Hermione before Golgomath was able to notice them.
“Let’s go,” Harry whispered again. “And be careful.”
Harry, Ron and Hermione moved cautiously around Golgomath and finally reached the door, which was where Harry realized the problem.
“If we open the door,” Harry whispered, “Golgomath will hear it and grab us before we can get through.”
Ron and Hermione nodded, their brows furrowed.
Suddenly, Hermione’s eyes lit up and she reached down and pulled off one of Ron’s trainers.
“Hey, what’re –?”
“Shh!”
Hermione lifted the Cloak just a fraction, and threw the shoe across the room.
Golgomath, who was already alertly looking around, lunged forward towards the shoe while Harry simultaneously pulled the door open, dove inside, followed closely by Ron and Hermione and then shut the door tightly.
“Now, why the bloody hell didn’t you throw one of your own shoes?” Ron asked angrily, throwing off the Invisibility Cloak.
“Well, I didn’t really want to lose one of my shoes,” Hermione responded matter-of-factly.
“That’s not fair, you –”
“Shut up!” Harry yelled angrily.
Ron and Hermione turned to look at Harry, only to find that Harry was no looking at them. Harry was staring in the opposite direction… staring at a stone basin that sat in the center of the room, a green glow emanating from it.
This was exactly what Harry did not want to see. The basin was the only other thing in the room besides another door, facing them from the opposite side.
Harry hurried past the basin, purposefully averting his eyes, and towards the door with a Roman numeral VII emblazoned across its front. He tried to door… locked.
“Alohomora!” he cried, tapping the door handle with his wand. He tried the door again… still locked.
“Harry, is this –?” Hermione asked, but Harry cut her off.
“Yes.”
He remained standing at the door, examining it with his hand. Then he found it, a slot where an old, brass key should fit through.
“Is there a keyhole?” Hermione asked, moving towards the door as well.
“Yes.”
“Harry… what are we going to do?”
It seemed as if Hermione had come to the same conclusion as Harry had. The key they needed was at the bottom of the stone basin. At the bottom of the stone basin that was filled with the same liquid that nearly killed Dumbledore the previous summer.
“I’m going to drink the water… that’s what we’re going to do,” Harry answered, taking a step towards the basin.
“No, Harry, you can’t,” Hermione pleaded. “There has to be some other way.”
“There is,” Ron answered quietly. “I’ll drink it.”
Both Harry and Hermione turned to look at him.
“No, you –” they both began, but he cut them off.
“Look, there’s no other way. Harry, you have to go on. Not me, not Hermione… you. I’ll drink… I’ll drink this, you get the key and go on to the next room.”
“No,” Harry answered firmly. “No, absolutely not.”
“It’s the only way, mate,” Ron answered. “You know it is.”
“He… he’s right, Harry,” Hermione said, as an unmistakable tear rolled off her cheek. “I’ll do my best to help him once he’s… once he’s through drinking.”
Ron nodded.
“No… no, you can’t do –”
“Damnit, Harry,” Ron began angrily. “We both know it’s the only way!”
He smiled.
“Get the Horcrux, will you? You can tell me all about it when you… when you get back, all right, mate?”
“Okay,” Harry answered.
Hermione waved her wand, conjuring a crystal goblet out of this air. Ron reached out, grabbed the goblet and dipped it into the basin. Once the glass was full to the brim, Ron lifted his mouth to it.
“Checkmate,” he whispered.
Ron drained the goblet.
Harry and Hermione watched on, in horror, as Ron repeated this twice more. After the third mouthful, Ron’s eyes opened again and his breathing became ragged.
He dipped the goblet into the basin once more, but it seemed he could not bear to drink it.
“Ron, are you okay?” Harry asked helping the goblet back up to Ron’s mouth. “You have to… you have to keep drinking, mate.”
“No… please, no… please don’t make me…”
“Ron, you… you have to,” Harry pleaded, forcing the liquid down Ron’s throat and hating himself all the same.
“… I don’t like it… please don’t make me…” Ron moaned.
“Ron, you have to… you have to keep drinking.”
“… I don’t want… no… no… kill me… kill me…”
Hermione let out a small sob.
“No, Ron, you have to drink this.”
“… KILL ME!”
Harry, as much as he hating doing so, forced Ron to drink the remaining liquid in the basin.
Finally, the liquid in the basin had been drained and Harry was able to reach down and retrieve the key. Harry let Ron go and he fell backwards, landing on his back.
“No!” Hermione cried.
Harry bent down and pointed his wand at Ron.
“Enervate!” he cried desperately.
Nothing.
“Enervate! Enervate! ENERVATE!”
Ron’s eyelids flickered and Hermione let out a gasp.
“Water,” Ron croaked, his eyes opening slightly. “Thirsty… I need water.”
“Harry, hurry… go through the next door and get the Horcrux,” Hermione urged, tears streaming down her face. “I’ll try and tend to Ron, but, please hurry. I don’t think he has much time.”
Harry stood back up, his eyes watering as well, as he stared at Ron’s body.
“I will… here take this and contact the Order,” Harry said, handing Hermione the two-way mirror. “I’ll be right back.”
Harry hurried forward, towards the seventh door.
He shoved the key into the keyhole and retched open the door.
There standing menacingly in front of him was a giant Acromantula, but strangely enough, that did not faze Harry in the least.
The beast was at least twenty feet long, its mouth agape. Harry noticed a gleaming, golden piece of metal, shimmering from a top the spiders head – Hufflepuff’s Cup!
Harry ran to his left, avoiding the spiders pincers and then back to his right. The spider swung one of its legs around and knocked Harry onto the floor, causing his wand to fly out of his hand.
Harry rolled over only to see the spider advancing upon him.
There was nothing Harry could do. He was seconds away from death.
This was it, Harry thought. I’m sorry, Dumbledore….
Harry closed his eyes, preparing himself for death… a death which did not come.
Harry opened his eyes and, at that moment, heard the sweetest sound he had ever heard – the cry of a Phoenix.
Harry looked to the door. The door burst open and Fawkes the Phoenix flew in, his crimson feathers and golden tail billowing behind him.
Fawkes flew over Harry and dropped the Sorting Hat into Harry’s lap. Harry plunged his hand into the Hat and withdrew Godric Gryffindor’s sword.
Fawkes banked swiftly and flew straight for the Acromantula, attacking the spider’s eyes with its sharp talons.
“Fawkes, lift me up!” Harry cried.
Fawkes dove for Harry and lifted him up before the spider could clamp down on Harry with its pincers.
“Drop me on its back!” Harry yelled and Fawkes did as he was told.
Harry snatched the Cup from the spider’s back and, in one swift movement, stabbed the top of the spider’s head with Gryffindor’s sword.
With one almighty cry, the spider fell forward, dead.
Harry rolled off the Acromantula’s back and onto the floor where Fawkes landed loyally at his side.
“Thanks, Fawkes, come on… Ron’s hurt.”
Harry ran back through the door and into the basin room, Fawkes flying behind him.
Hermione was kneeling over Ron, tears flowing freely down her face.
“He’s stopped breathing, Harry,” she cried. “The mirror didn’t work and he’s stopped breathing.”
“Did you give him water?”
“No… no… no, I couldn’t. Every time I would fill the goblet with water, it would evaporate,” she answered hysterically.
Harry, thinking quickly, looked at the Cup in his hand, back at Ron and then at Fawkes. He remembered Hepzibah Smith saying that the Cup had special powers…
“Fawkes, I need you to drop some of your tears in this cup,” Harry said, holding out Hufflepuff’s Cup. “Can you do that?”
Fawkes nodded, dipped his head to one side and then allowed his tears to flow down into the Cup.
Harry allowed the Phoenix tears to fill the Cup before he lowered it down to Ron’s lifeless lips. He forced the tears down Ron’s throat, hoping that they would work.
Ron shuttered and his eyelids flickered again.
“Harry, we need to get Ron to St. Mungo’s… but we can’t go back out the way we came. We’d never make it,” Hermione said anxiously.
“I know… and we can’t Apparate either,” Harry answered.
He turned to Fawkes.
“Fawkes, can you get us out of here.”
The Phoenix nodded and allowed Hermione and Harry, holding on tightly to Ron, to grab the end of its tail.
In one brilliant flash of crimson, they were gone.
Harry Potter and the Serpent's Eye by Marauder9744
Chapter Notes: First off, I like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed so far – I’m glad you’re all enjoying. I would also like to thank my beta, Priya, who has helped enormously – thanks a bunch! As for this chapter, there are a few allusions to the other six books that you all should pick up on rather quickly. As you will see, this chapter kind of ties the first six books to my story which I thought kind of fitting. I hope you all enjoyed Deathly Hallows as much as I did and, as I said before, my story will NOT spoil Deathly Hallows. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and, if you can, please leave a review, I would really appreciate it. Thanks again!
Chapter 19 - Harry, Ron and Hermione descend the stone steps in an attempt to recover another of Voldemort’s Horcruxes.