"Slow and steady may not always win the race,
but at least it doesn't end up splattered on the walls."
Chapter 3: Sealed in Stone
Harry sat up abruptly. Blinking furiously, he tried to rub his eyes, but quickly discovered why he couldn't; his hands were tied behind his back.
He looked over to his right, and found Hermione next to him, slowly waking as well.
"Hermione, you alright?" He asked.
"Ya, as far as I can tell," she responded after a moment.
Nodding, Harry leaned over to look the other way. Sure enough, there was Ron, though he looked to still be out cold.
"Ron?" Harry asked loudly.
Ron let out a mutter, and rolled to the side, before going silent again.
Harry blinked, then turned back to Hermione.
"He's asleep," he said plainly.
Hermione sat up, looking past him to get a view of the slumbering Ron.
"Give him a kick then," she said.
Nodding, Harry leaned back, and rolled halfway to Ron, then gave him a solid kick in the leg.
"Wha-what's going on?" Ron exclaimed, waking up fully.
"You're a git," came Harry's answer.
"Huh?" Ron sat up, "where are we? What happened?"
Harry looked around for an answer. There was a very dim light suffusing the area, though the source of it could not be seen. They were in what appeared to be a cave, judging by the rough stone of the walls, floor, and ceiling.
Except unlike most caves, this one didn't have an exit. Or at least, not one he could see.
"Umm...does anyone else see an exit?" He asked nervously.
Hermione looked around for a moment, before shaking her head.
"Nothing," she said finally.
"Wait," Ron said suddenly. "So your saying we're trapped in an air bubble in the middle of a bunch of rock?"
Harry took a breath, before nodding.
"Yup," he responded.
"I think now would be a bad time to develop claustrophobia, wouldn't it?" Ron asked dryly.
"Probably," Hermione answered.
"Bugger," Ron said after a moment, "too late."
"Alright," Harry said, struggling to get to his feet. "Plan A, try and find a way out."
"What's plan B?" Hermione asked curiously.
Harry looked around for a moment, before shrugging.
"Erm...die of starvation?" He asked glibly.
"Harry," Ron began dryly, "I prefer Plan A."
"Ya," Harry responded, "so do I."
He walked over to the nearest wall and kicked it. It hurt. 'Right,' he thought to himself, 'that part's solid rock.'
Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance, sharing a look that obviously said 'Harry's lost it.'
"Check for a fake wall, or illusion, or hollow sound. Anything," He ordered, moving a few feet over and giving the wall another kick.
"Right," Ron said, suddenly understanding. He moved over to where Harry had began, and started kicking in the opposite direction.
"You two honestly think you're going to find anything by kicking the wall?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"Have you got a better idea?" Harry asked, giving a grumpy kick at a rock that seemed to look suspiciously like Snape's head. Oddly, there seemed to have been quite a few of those particular rocks. "Unless you want to try and apparate out?"
"Harry, you know perfectly well that we can't apparate from here since we don't know where here is." Hermione responded.
"Right," Harry replied, "So start kicking."
"I think I'll just watch, thanks." Hermione said snidely.
"Fine, when we find the way out, you can stay behind." Ron added.
"You're not going to kick your way to a way out!" Hermione yelled, hands fisted at her side as she glared at the two young men.
"What do you suggest then?" Harry asked, turning away from the wall. Ron paused in his kicking as well, turning to look at the witch. By that point, the boys had gone most of the way around the cave.
"I don't know," Hermione said glumly. "We need magic to get out, and we can't do magic without our wands."
"You wizard-kind are such fools," came a deep voice, which caused three of them to jump in surprise. Harry blinked as a familiar pair of figures shimmered into view between the three of them. He could only assume that they were the same ones that had abducted them.
"What? Who are you? Where are we? Why did you abduct us?" Ron asked in a rush.
"We abducted you because our Mistress asked it. You will understand in time. Know though, that we mean you no ill." the smaller of the two replied in a feminine voice.. "As for who we are, we are Her servants. Her children."
"Why do you call us fools?" Harry asked curiously.
"Because you are fools," came the deep voice again. "You think you are the masters, and magic the slave. You believe that magic is yours to command, and that you are something extraordinarily special to have the ability to control it ... how very wrong you are. You believe you need a wand to use magic? Wands are nothing more then a tool, a crutch for making the channelling of power easier for those who's connection are weaker."
"Who is she?" Hermione inquired. "Who is your Mistress?"
"No more questions," the large one stated. "You want answers, then come find us when you figure out how to get out of here."
"What?" Ron yelled angrily. "How are we supposed to get out of here?"
"We've already given you the key," the slim figure stated. "Now you must understand it."
With that, the two figures turned and walked casually through the stone of the cave; the stone of the small stretch of wall that had not yet gotten the Potter-Patented Kick Test. The wall shimmered briefly as they moved through it, before settling. Moments later, the ropes binding their hands unknotted themselves, and fell to the ground.
"Ha!" Ron exclaimed, looking triumphantly at Hermione. "And you said kicking at the walls wouldn't have found the way out!"
"Ron, wait!" Hermione started to reply, but was too late, as Ron leapt for the space of rock that had so recently permitted passage to their captors.
Ron's expression of victory was replaced by one of shock, then pain, as he slammed into the solid rock face. Moments later, he slumped against the rocks, blood flowing freely from his broken nose.
"Ow, dat 'urt," he muttered, wiping at the blood.
"So, it would seem Potter has it in him to kill after all," Voldemort hissed, grinning savagely. He waved a hand dismissively, and the Death Eater spy who had brought the report from the Ministry bowed and hurried away.
The Dark Lord drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair, pondering the new occurrence. The loss of his auror spy didn't really concern him, he had others. The fool had failed, and if he had returned, the Dark Lord would have made his death more painful by far then the fate he had suffered at Potter's hands.
What concerned him was Potter himself. He'd possessed the boy. He knew the way he thought, felt. The Potter boy would never have been able to bring himself to stab an enemy to death. Not in the painful, cruel way he had.
Something had changed within his young enemy, the Dark Lord knew. Something had taken him from a boy who was hardly worth considering as a threat, to a man who would have no qualms against killing his enemies. Something very abrupt, something unpredictable. Something unnatural.
This thought, combined with the fact that he was completely unable to sense the boy's mind, had the Dark Lord intrigued. Perhaps the boy would finally be someone worth killing, instead of all these pests that were hardly worth his time.
"Nagini," he hissed, and the snake emerged from the hollow beneath his throne, slithering out onto the floor before him, to await his command. "Find the Worm, and bring him to me. I have a task for him."
"Moody," Tonks said, drawing the tough ex-Auror's attention for a moment. She jerked her head towards the hallway, and Moody nodded, following her out. The Order of the Phoenix meeting was about to begin, but she wanted to talk to the former auror, who'd been chosen as new their new leader, before the meeting was started.
"What Tonks?" Moody rasped, as soon as the door to the meeting room was shut.
"We finally identified all the bodies just before I left," Tonks said, then yawned widely. "Sorry, been a long night."
"Well?" Moody asked urgently.
"Diggle wasn't one of them. Which mean's he's either captured, disposed of, or was a traitor."
Moody nodded, growling slightly in irritation.
"The fact that we got no warning from him at all makes me suspect the later," the older man grumbled. "Alright, good. Let's get this meeting started."
"Oh joy!" The metamorphmagus said sarcastically.
Moody smirked in appreciation at the comment, then led the way back into the meeting room.
Tonks hurried to her seat as Moody called the meeting of the Order to order. Tonks repressed a laugh. She knew it was silly, but that always made her laugh.
"Alright," Moody growled, "last night was rather eventful from what I've heard, so why don't we let Tonks report on it. Yes Molly, I know your son and Ms. Granger were missing this morning, but I'm fairly certain Tonks' report will have the reason why."
Molly Weasley, who'd started to speak halfway through, sat down, looking urgently at the young female auror.
Tonks stood, nodding to herself briefly as the new information from Ms. Weasley fit with what the reports from the scene had said.
"At just before midnight last night, Death Eater's attacked Privet Drive," she said bluntly. An explosion of questions and more questions drowned out any chance she would have had at continuing. She glanced at Moody, the request visible in her eyes.
"SILENCE!" The man's gruff voice yelled, and the Order did almost instantly, those who'd risen to their feet sitting back down quickly.
"Diggle was on guard-duty last night," Moody continued, at a quieter volume. "We received no warning from him, nor have we heard from him since, so until further notice, if you encounter him, you assume he's an enemy and bring him in for questioning. We can't take any chances."
Muttering broke out amongst the Order, and Tonks' rolled her eyes briefly. Honestly, they were like children sometimes.
"What happened to Harry?" Arthur Weasley asked.
"As I was saying," Tonks said after the mutterings settled, and their attention was back on her. "Last night, six Death Eater's attacked Privet Drive. Judging by the spell traces we found in the area, Harry was not alone in fighting them off. I think it's fairly safe to assume that the other two were Ron and Hermione."
"What happened to my baby?" Molly demanded. "Are they okay? Are they hurt? Where are they?"
"Unfortunately we don't know. They weren't there by the time I arrived, and I was first auror on the scene."
Molly wailed, leaning against her husband's arm. Arthur himself paled in dread.
"Then they were captured?" He asked in a hushed tone.
"We don't know. We don't think so, not by the Death Eater's anyway. None of them survived." Tonks reported. "All six of the death eater's were found dead at the scene."
"What?" Minerva McGonagall, who some had argued should have taken Dumbledore's place as leader, but declined, asked.
Tonks nodded, continuing. "All six were killed, and all by our three. They didn't show mercy either. They were taken down hard."
"But," Mrs. Weasley began, "how do you know they weren't captured? There may have been more Death Eaters there."
"Unlikely," Tonks said, and here she looked rather uncomfortable. "Harry received several owls from the Ministry, in regards to his underage magic. We got a reply back. One that makes it blatantly clear that they took the Death Eater's down, and were acting on their own afterwards."
"What was the reply?" George -or Fred? Tonks was never sure- asked, an eager look on his face.
"You don't want to know," Tonks said bluntly.
"Oh yes we do," the other twin said, practically bouncing in his seat.
"Well, too bad, I'm not going to tell you." Tonks replied. "Suffice to say, we're almost one hundred percent certain they weren't captured by Death Eaters."
"Then where are they?" McGonagall asked.
"That, we have no idea," Tonks said, shrugging her shoulders in defeat.
"Alright," Harry said, eying the wall, "so we've at least established that running into the wall isn't going to work. Thanks Ron, well done."
Ron's only response was a single finger.
"So, with that no longer an option, " Harry continued, "any other ideas?"
Hermione leaned her head back against the rock wall, eyes closed in thought. Harry paced around the room, tossing a small stone up and down in his hand.
Ron spent the time gingerly poking and prodding at his bloody and painful nose.
"She said they'd given us the key," Harry said after a long period of silence had passed. "What do you suppose she meant? A physical key? Some sort of clue they left about how to get out?"
"That's ridiculous," Hermione said, looking up at him. "They didn't leave anything behind. We'd have seen if they'd dropped something or given us a clue-"
"What if it wasn't a physical thing at all?" Ron asked, wiping away more blood from his face, and frowning at his hand. "What was it they said about magic? That a wand is only a means of making it easier to channel magic?"
"So, what? Wandless magic?" Hermione asked. "I thought that, but really, none of us can do it. Dumbledore himself could only handle the most simple of magic without his wand."
"No, I think he's right," Harry said. "Listen, what do you feel when you cast through your wand?"
"Magic flowing through the wand and out," Ron answered.
"Right," Harry replied, nodding, tossing the stone in his hands faster now. "So where does that magic come from though? Inside us. Around us. The wands don't make the magic, they don't control the magic. They just...filter it. Condense it down to what we want to use."
"Interesting theory," Hermione said, fingers drumming against the stone floor beside her. "But if it was that easy, surely someone else would have thought that up a long time ago? I highly doubt we'd be the only ones to even consider it."
"No," Ron said, "But think about it. Before we're of age, children do magic, right? They don't have a wand when they do it, but they still do it. What changes when we turn eleven? Other then the fact that we're given wands. We learn on an easier method, become used to it, so doing without our 'crutch' as they said...seems impossible."
"It's a proven fact that wizards and witches in dire situations have been known to be able to pull off feats of wandless magic. Some say its because of adrenalin amplifying their abilities, however temporarily," Harry said. "Most people would simply say that; "Oh, they only managed it because of the situation," but if they can do it then, why not again? Why not without the added stimulus?"
"Habit?" inserted Hermione, "years and years of society saying "It can't be done", and people believing it."
"Confidence," Harry said after a moment. "If you don't believe you can do it, you can't cast the spell right? So if you try hard enough, believe hard enough, you should be able to focus your magic without a wand right?"
"Theoretically, I suppose," Hermione replied.
"So what do we do?" Ron asked. "Believe we can wandlessly cast a Reducto into the wall to blast our way out?"
"No," Harry said, shaking his head. "I think that's the other problem. In those dire situations when people use wandless magic, most of the time they aren't thinking of a specific spell they want to cast, just a general result they want. So a spell is coming at them, they're not thinking 'Protego', all they think is how they need a shield. Wands focus the magic with the spells we know. What if that is the big thing? When people try wandless magic, they are trying to...force the magic into a form we know, with the words we know, but maybe that form just doesn't work without a wand."
"So how do we make it work?" Ron asked.
Harry was thoughtful for a few moments, tossing the stone in his hand up and down, before stopping. He stared at the stone for a time, then looked at the other two again.
"The magic is in and around us. We don't need a wand to use it, its already there, it wants to be used. When you use a wand, you feel the magic build in your hand briefly, then flow through the wand. So why would it be that it could only flow through a wand. If flows through our hands to the wand first doesn't it?"
"Ya," Ron answered. "It builds into the wand as you say the spell, then forms into the spell you want as it leaves the wand."
"Right," Harry said, nodding, rolling the stone in his hand a bit. "So if that is the case, I could, say, push the magic out through my hand with the idea of throwing this rock with enough power and force to blast through that wall, it could conceivably happen."
"Worth a shot mate," Ron said, nodding. Hermione watched with narrowed eyes, her lips moving silently as she considered what he'd said.
Harry nodded, and adjusted his grip on the rock, eyeing the wall through which their captors had walked. Taking a breath, he focussed all his thoughts on what he wanted to have happen, and then threw it as hard as he could.
The rock hit the far wall and the force of the impact broke a chip off the wall, but that's all that happened. The rock he had thrown clattered to the ground at the base of the wall, looking decidedly un-magical.
"Well, guess that didn't work," Harry said after a moment.
"Ya, though I think your rock had a better effect then my face," Ron said, smiling. "Guess wandless magic is out though."
"No," Hermione said suddenly, looking up at Harry. "No, I think you were onto something, you just made one mistake."
"Oh?" Harry asked.
"You were going into too much focus with the magic," She began, taking a deep breath. "You wanted it to fill the stone, then you wanted it to fly through the air with extra power, then you wanted it to destroy the wall. That just seems like...too much. You're using the rock as a vessel. As another tool, another crutch, to channel the magic. Why do you need the rock? Why not just throw the magic? Why even throw for that matter? Magic doesn't need to be thrown. Just focus the magic out of your hand and into that wall, and let it do the rest."
"Worth a shot," Harry said, shrugging, turning back towards the wall. He took a breath, then began trying to focus his magic, and make it work.
A few minutes later, Ron interrupted him.
"Uhh, mate? You're just standing there." He said pointedly.
Harry looked over at him and glared.
"Yes, I knew that, thank you. This is harder then it looks you know." He said sharply.
"Alright, alright," Ron said, holding up his hands in surrender. "Fair enough. I'm just saying, you were having more luck with your rock is all."
"I hate you," Harry said, then went back to focussing on the wall.
A few moments later, he stopped, and marched over and picked up the rock he'd thrown earlier.
"Dammit, Ron's right," Harry said angrily, "I was making more progress with this damn rock then I am right now."
"Harry, calm down," Hermione said gently, "You can't expect to get it right away."
"Screw that Hermione," Harry said back, walking angrily around the room. "I'm tired. I'm hungry, and I - do - not - want - to - be - here - anymore!"
As he said the last word, he spun, throwing the rock again as hard as he could at the wall. Or at least, he released the rock from his hand. He couldn't really tell for sure, but it looked to vanish before it had gone very far, lost in the mass of red light that flew from his hand and slammed into the wall opposite them, blasting the rock apart and showering them all in dust and pebbles.
A few moments passed as Harry blinked away the dust in his eyes.
"Or maybe you just have to really want it," Hermione said, blinking at the large hole in the stone of their prison.
"And be very pissed off," Ron added, pushing to his feet. He looked like a ghost, covered in grey dust from the wall.
Harry spat, and a cloud of dust flew from his mouth. He nodded.
"Oh yes, anger serves as a great method of channelling when you're still learning," came the recognizable female voice of one of their captors, as the familiar pair strode through the hole in the wall. "Don't worry though, you'll soon learn to manage it without needing to be 'very pissed off.'"
This time, both had their hoods down, and they got a good view of their faces. The female was pale, but with an elegance to her features that Harry couldn't deny was attractive. She smiled, and a pair of delicate looking fangs were visible. The way she moved, as she strode over to them, and raised a pale hand to Ron's broken nose, was smooth and lithesome. Her hand glowed with a pale light and Ron felt a brief numbness, then nothing, as his nose was healed.
"There," she said, and her voice seemed gentler, softer, "all better." She smiled again, then stepped back.
The taller figure stepped forward and Harry blinked nervously as golden eyes gazed down upon him. He resisted an urge to step back, away from this imposing figure, but it wasn't simply because the other man towered over him. It was because the other man had a sheer presence that was so strong, so powerful, that he felt small and insignificant. Although there was something...odd about the way he walked. As though it was unnatural for him. It reminded Harry about the way Tonks had once mentioned she felt when not in her natural form.
"Come," the man said, his bronze skinned face looking at each in turn. "You're hungry, and tired, and we can certainly tend to those before we deal with anything else."
The two turned and headed back for the exit.
"Wait," Harry said, finally finding his voice. "Who are you? What are you?"
They both paused, and the man turned back around.
"Who we are, is servants of our Mistress. What we are..is some of her eldest children." He told them.
"Who's your Mistress?" Harry asked.
This time the female turned and answered.
"Our Mistress is Magic herself."
Ya, I know. I suck at regular updating. I write when I want to, when its enjoyable for me. Sorry if it annoys people to not get regular updates at all, but oh well. If it really bugs ya, stop reading, its understandable.