Harry Potter and the Cracked Reservoir
Chapter 29: Cavorting Continues
By Musings of Apathy
Chapter 29: Cavorting Continues
Thank you to my Betas Donalddeutsch, Cateagle and Sparky40sw.
"You’d think that they’d need to breathe, at least."
"Ron," said Hermione, "They’re happy."
"Yeah," said Ron, "But that doesn’t mean they don’t have to take a breath every couple of minutes. That’s just unnatural," Ron said, gesturing to Harry and Ginny on the dance floor during a slow dance, only the slightest movement evident as they swayed slowly in a circle, their lips locked in an embrace of love.
"I’d think that you’d want to see her happy again," Hermione sighed.
"Oh, I’m happy," Ron assured his girlfriend. "All of us brothers’re happy to see her smile so brightly again. I’m just saying that if they don’t pause to take a breath soon, they’re going to pass out and then what are we going to do?"
Hermione giggled at the absurdity of their conversation. Harry and Ginny had been dancing, non-stop, for nearly an hour with the biggest of happy faces plastered on. Hermione could tell how genuine the emotions were as she saw their eyes nearly glowing. It was good to see her two friends so light-hearted, as they seem to have had the hardest lot in life.
"This song is almost over," Hermione said. Ron looked at her in surprise. "What?" she asked. "Am I not allowed to know modern wizarding music? I’m in a dorm with Lavender and Parvati. They’ve had the Wizarding Wireless blaring for five years now. It’s impossible not to listen."
Ron grinned at her, "Just admit it…there are things that entertain you other than books."
Her eyes twinkled back at his grin. "Well, of course there are, Ronald," she said, her hand lightly playing with his collar. Ron gulped at her actions. "And just for that comment, you will be escorting me to the dance floor for the next dance!" she stated with authority.
Ron gulped again and nodded. She easily had complete control of him whenever she wanted. He simply had no choice in the matter.
Just after he acknowledged his next assignment, the current song ended, allowing for a short pause as the live band gathered themselves for the next song.
Harry and Ginny embraced on the dance floor until the drums beat out the start of the next song. Ron and Hermione observed, with the start of the fast paced beat and deep bass guitar accompaniment, Harry and Ginny break from their embrace and look each other in the eye. With a nod from Ginny, Harry drew her hands into his, their fingers hooked together, him holding hers lightly with his thumbs at the back of her knuckles. Slowly at first, Harry and Ginny leaned back into their stretched arms before drawing them horizontally, pulling their bodies together as they stepped forward with their right foot, turning them around an imaginary center pole. They repeated this; more quickly each time as they approached the tempo of the fast paced song. Each time they’d go to the same starting point, each momentarily balancing the other as they threw their mass back, pulling on their connecting hands only to pull each other back together as they continued the pattern.
"Wow!" exclaimed Ron. "How ‘bout if we just wait for a slower song. I think that I can do slower."
Hermione nodded, "Yeah, slower…Wow, yeah. When she described that, I didn’t picture it being so…"
"Fast?" completed Ron as the dancing couple reached full speed, several repeats of the steps per second.
Hermione nodded again.
"Crazy?" he also offered. She nodded vigorously as Ginny was launched in a move that had her sliding between Harry’s legs, only to return the way she came and be launched into the air. The moves that started this dance seemed forgotten as Ginny spun and dipped, amongst other less than sane maneuvers.
"You know," said Ron, "Harry didn’t describe this to me at all."
They only realized that Harry and Ginny were being watched by half of the school when they heard a collective gasp during a move that had Ginny swing behind Harry’s back with her knees bent around Harry’s forearm before he caught her on the other side with his other arm.
"If he drops her," Ron stated clearly, "I’ll have to hurt him."
Following an intermission permitting the heads of houses to escort the younger students were escorted back to their common rooms, Professor Dumbledore announced the recommencement of the Ball. He waved at the band for a little patience as he made one more announcement.
"As some of you know," Dumbledore said, "during Balls at Hogwarts, it is customary to install a rose garden for students to spend some time walking through in order for them to catch their breath and relax between activities. Unfortunately that option is not available from this location beneath the school. As such, our hosts, Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley, have cleaned up and decorated the network of caves branching out from the traditional entrance to this chamber. You may, at you leisure, choose to explore these areas for your own enjoyment. There are benches along the sides if you get tired while walking," the headmaster said with a twinkle in his eyes revealing the smirk hidden beneath his beard. "A word of safety, if you please, the caves have been warded to ensure student’s safety but caution is always recommended."
Harry, standing at the ‘traditional entrance’, otherwise known as the great serpent door, quietly hissed to the snakes engraved in the great surface. Methodically, one by one, each lock bolt was disengaged before the great door swung into the Chamber; revealing a softly glowing cave to the Ooh’s and Aah’s of the gathered students. Harry smiled and took Ginny’s arm, leading her to the candy corn waterfall for a handful of the treat.
Later that evening, at Ginny’s suggestion, Harry was dancing with one of his best friends. Harry and Hermione enjoyed a slow waltz near the middle of the dance floor with friendly banter.
"Harry," Hermione said, "You and Ginny have really done a good job."
"Thank you," Harry replied with a smile.
"The caves were magnificent," she continued. "How did you come up with the idea?"
Harry blushed at the praise but produced an answer nonetheless. "Well, Ginny did the design work, the color and placement of the crystal, where to place the ones in the path," Harry said, lapsing into an artist’s enthusiastic babble, showing pride in his girlfriend and a bit in himself. "She had the idea to give everyone a place to walk around and have some privacy. She told me where to widen the tunnel and frame it with stalactites and stalagmites and she described the patterns that she wanted to see at each place. Have you looked at them?" Harry asked, forgetting that she had praised them in the first place.
"Well," she said, "Yes we have."
"Oh, really?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow. "And I assume that Ron was a perfect gentleman."
Hermione blushed, "Yes, well, of course."
"Yeah," said Harry, "I knew that he would have had to be."
Hermione thought about his statement as he spun her out and back. "You and Ginny really were serious about your dance lessons, weren’t you?" she asked with appreciation.
"Of course," Harry said simply, not giving any extra.
"When you said earlier that Ron would have to had been a perfect gentleman, did you place the wards in the caves or something?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, the wards are linked to me," said Harry, "But what I meant is that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley taught all of their sons to treat ladies properly."
"But, where did you learn the wards and what do they do?" Hermione asked with her normal studious curiosity. "And in case you haven’t noticed, I do know that you have been giving Ron hints about how to be romantic to me."
Harry smirked, "What I meant about treating a lady properly is to keep her safe and happy as a priority. I don’t think that he quite received any romantic lessons from Mrs. Weasley, but I think he would take any hints on the subject that you’re willing to offer," Harry said with expressive eyebrows causing Hermione to blush.
As the song ended, Harry felt a niggling at the back of his mind. It only took him a moment to realize what was up. He released his grip on his friend before turning to Ginny and seeing a look on her face proclaiming that she felt it as well.
Harry ran across the dance floor to her, turning so that their running paths were side by side.
"Harry," she said loud enough to reach his ears at a run, "Go get a professor and I’ll sort out what’s happening in the caves."
Harry gave a brief, "Okay," before pealing off just before the great door to the caves.
Turning back, it didn’t take him long to locate Professor McGonagall, freshly back from her sojourn returning the youngsters to the Gryffindor Tower.
"What is it, Mr. Potter?" she asked, concerned.
"The wards in the caves, Professor," Harry took one breath and ran up the short stairs to the door, confident that the Professor would follow.
After sending Harry for a professor, Ginny sprinted through the caves, past couples that were all startled to see a woman with her wand up running through the dim caves. There were many caves under Hogwarts Castle, many connected to the Chamber of Secrets in a network looking similar to cracked ice; branches and intersections to the left and right to navigate. Through the wards interaction, Ginny never faltered; center, center, right, left; the wards drew her to a person in great distress.
Her wand out, she rounded one last corner and skidded to a halt, wand forward. What greeted her was a blond male in silken robes all over a brunette girl, her hands balled up and beating helplessly on his back. Ginny slashed and flicked her wand like lightning.
"Petrificus Totalus, Accio Malfoy, Stupefy, Incarcerous, Cohesius!"
She stepped out of the way of the petrified body that flew toward her as it was stunned, bound in ropes and stuck to the wall opposite the bench. Perhaps she was a bit overenthusiastic, as the figure ended up bound from head to toe in rope; wrapped like a mummy.
Ginny turned to the distressed girl and found the sight of a frantic sobbing girl curled up on the bench. For a second, as she approached her cautiously, Ginny couldn’t understand why she couldn’t hear the crying, until she felt a membrane of magic that she passed through and suddenly she could hear the heart wrenching wails of the young woman. Ginny knelt on the ground before her and slowly brought her hand to the girl’s shaking shoulder.
Harry led his Professor at a slower pace than his girlfriend had traveled, taking into account Professor McGonagall’s age. Soon after they started through the caves, she’d had to remind him that she was no longer a teen. She was obviously distressed but couldn’t force her legs to work any faster than she was without falling injured herself before she reached the emergency.
They rounded the same corner that Ginny had, to meet the sight of what appeared to be a ribbed chrysalis on the wall opposite one of the benched nooks. On the bench sat Harry’s red haired girlfriend with a brunette curled in his lap. What they didn’t find is any sound coming from the pair. They approached slowly.
Ginny looked up to find that Harry had successfully retrieved a professor, McGonagall in this case. She beckoned them forward as she knew that, until the silencing charm was lifted, they would have to be much closer to speak.
She could tell that they had passed through the charm when they both looked around for the disturbance that they felt.
"Professor," Ginny greeted, knowing that Harry wouldn’t want a greeting at a time such as this.
"Miss Weasley, please explain," Professor McGonagall instructed.
"I came around the corner and saw Malfoy grappling at Mandy Brocklehurst here," Ginny replied. "She was trying to fight him off with all of her might, but he had the advantage. I disabled him," she gestured to the object on the wall, "and came over to Mandy. I noticed that he had placed a silencing charm, but I haven’t had the chance to disable it."
"I see," the professor said. She waved her wand at the silent wall, dispelling it.
"Murdy," Professor McGonagall said clearly.
A moment later there was a snap and a proud house elf stood facing the Professor.
"What can Murdy do for the Professor?" the House Elf asked.
"Please bring Professor Dumbledore here. Will you be able to navigate his way here?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"No need," Harry said. He waved his wand and jabbed the tip at the wall, incanting, "Lumonous Crystalous!"
Just then, a branch of glowing crystal flared to truly fluorescent brightness, spreading up the wall to the center of the arched cave and then down the way they had came, lighting the tunnel to normal indoor levels.
"Just tell him to follow the ceiling crystals to us," Harry told the elf. "He’ll find us in no time."
With another snap, the Chief House Elf was away.
Professor Dumbledore arrived in little time and assessed the situation with great efficiency.
"Miss Weasley," said Professor Dumbledore, "I am sorry to have to ask you to forgo the remainder of your evening, but would you please escort Miss Brocklehurst to the hospital wing?"
"Of course, Professor," Ginny said.
"Miss Brocklehurst, are you able to walk on your own, or would you prefer to be carried?" he asked in a soothing tone.
She lifted her tear-stained face to look at the Professor with blood shot eyes. She nodded before she uncoiled from Ginny’s lap; however, she didn’t release her hold on the redhead. Ginny rose to her feet with Mandy and transferred her arm to the girl’s shoulder so they were facing the same direction.
"Please, Professor," Mandy said through her tears, "I don’t want all of the other students to see me like this." She motioned to her dress robe’s missing buttons and disheveled looks. Dumbledore looked at her tear-stained face and messed up hair and took sympathy on her.
"I shall go ahead and get the students’ attention away from the arch," the Headmaster said, "and ask Mr. Potter to make sure that you get to the hospital wing with minimal fuss."
She nodded.
"Professor McGonagall, would you please unstick Mr. Malfoy and transport him to my office for disposition," the aged Headmaster requested with a steely voice. At times such as these, his age especially showed, particularly in his now dull eyes.
Harry led Ginny and Mandy to the crest in the Chamber as the students looked up to the Headmaster addressing them from the stage at the far end. The path back to the crest had been, thankfully, empty of students. He assumed that the traffic and bright lighting in those particular caves ruined the mood of the mutually amorous students.
Their arrival heralded by the tinkle of a small bell, they were suddenly in the Hogwarts hospital wing; gaining the attention of the matron. She came out of her office rapidly, hearing the old-fashioned bell over her office door ring, announcing the crest-born entrance. She came out to find three young adults standing on the crest depicting a mage’s staff with a snake obscuring the shaft as it was wound up it. The staff was supported by a lion’s shoulder, against the white background, its tip at the feet of a badger, with a raven perched on the staff’s ruby head, its wings outstretched.
One of the youngsters before her was in need of attention, as she seemed quite distressed, crying on Ginny Weasley’s shoulder. Mr. Potter, Harry as he had asked her to call him, stood with his hand lending emotional support.
"What happened here?" asked Madame Pomfrey.
"She was the victim of an attempted assault," Harry answered.
Madame Pomfrey gave him an assessing look before guiding the distraught girl to an empty bed near her office, far away from the doors.
"Mr. Potter," she asked with kindness in her voice, "Would you pull that screen into place and then excuse yourself as I examine Miss Brocklehurst."
Harry nodded, immediately moving to her command.
"Harry," came Ginny’s voice from behind the screen, "I’m going to stay here with Mandy."
"Sure, Ginny," Harry said, compassionately. "That would be best."
"Would you go back to the Chamber, just in case there are any more emergencies?" she pleaded with her voice.
"Of course," he agreed, "Don’t worry, if you feel the ward again, I’ll be taking care of it."
Harry stepped to the crest. "See you later, Gin. Rest well, Mandy."