Gardenia

“Casey can make portals?” Hermione asked in awe.

Draco smiled at her, nodding. “He’s really good at portals and defence.”

“Should we start climbing” Harry asked unsurely, the mountain seemed quite tall. “I can’t see any wisteria tree here.”

Draco grimaced. “Let’s not waste time then.”

They started climbing slowly, some places were quite easy, with big rocks that provided stability while others were very slippery.

The moonlight illuminated their way, the mountain was a shade of deep violet now. Despite its appearance, the Amethyst mountain wasn’t too high, making their climb easier.

“There!” Hermione gasped after two hours of climbing. The males looked at where she was pointing and saw a wisteria tree on a cliff like structure. They didn’t waste any time, quickly climbing to the desired place.

The cliff structure was strong and wide enough to hold all three of them, the cities were in a clear view from the height.

They spotted the rock that Lilian had described quickly. With a little hesitation, Draco placed his palm on the handprint that was engraved on the stone.

Nothing happened for a second, but then suddenly runes started to form on the rock. The place they were standing on started to shift, the three quickly stepped out of the way.

An endless pit in oval shape was formed, stairs could be seen, crystals that illuminated the moon rays lighted the way. They shot wary looks at each other before climbing down, startling when the pit closed behind them, leaving them in darkness.

“Seems like we can’t change our mind now.” Hermione said quietly. She quickly muttered a spell and light blue flames appeared in front of them.

The stairs continued on what seemed like forever, their shadows in the eerie blue light frightening. The only sounds were of their steps and the waterfall on the other side of the mountain.

Finally, in what seemed like hours but was just minutes, they reached the end of the steps. The sight that greeted them was breathtaking.

It was in a rough circle, water filled in every corner. The water seemed to disappear through an opening in the end, most likely to the waterfall, never ending.

There were lotus flowers everywhere, creating a pink floor around them. But between most of the waterbodies were patches of land, red poppies blooming wildly on them.

On the centre was a pillar, the moonlight shined on it from the small opening in the mountain’s peak. The pearl was in it’s middle.

There was a line of stone steps from the stairs to the pillar. It looked magical.

The water was, surprisingly, quite solid though it did seem to flow under their feet. They moved forward to the pearl, stopping when Draco stiffened.

“Draco?”

“In her vision, Lilian said that something stopped me from taking the pearl, right?”

Harry nodded, they had already filled the others on it.

“The pearl, it is giving out magic in waves, it’s too much.” He said quietly.

“We can’t pluck the pearl from the pillar, we have to absorb it.”

“Absorb it?” Hermione asked, confusion evident in her voice.

Draco nodded, biting his lip. “A person alone can’t possess the powers of the pearl. I think what the author meant when he asked us to destroy it, was to divide it. All three of us will absorb the magic, I think we can manage to avoid destroying our cores if we are careful.”

“There’s no other way?” Harry paled.

“No.” Draco shook his head. “The pearl is too powerful, if only one of us try to possess it, its magic will consume us. I don't know of any other ritual that can help us with the pearl.  We have not reached our magical maturity yet, so I think we can handle its power if all three of us absorb it together.”

“What do you want us to do?” Hermione asked, determination lacing her tone.

Draco smiled, instructing them to stand side by side. All three of them extended their hands to the pearl and Draco started chanting.

“Reach out to your core.” He instructed.

The pearl’s glow started to intensify.  Hermione’s eyes turned a bronze colour, Draco’s were silver while Harry’s was gold. Their hands started glowing along with the pearl and a bright light surrounded them.

In what seemed like hours, but only mere seconds, the ritual was over. The three panted, the pearl had disappeared from the pillar.

“What is this?” Harry asked, staring at the symbol on his wrist. It looked like an hourglass, but more rounded.

“An infinity symbol?” Hermione asked, looking at her own hand.

“I think so, yes. But it does resemble an hourglass too.” Draco said. The symbol’s left part was red while the right part was black. The colours blended together beautifully.

“Looks like we are a little late.” A voice was heard from behind. Four figures stood at the stairs.

The young woman paced the room, impatient and a little nervous.

The door opened suddenly, startling the already frightened younger inside the room.

“Finally! Where were you?” She exclaimed.

The older woman straightened, closing the door and warding it. “He is not here. I searched every corner of the castle.” She said furiously.

“Of course, he isn’t.” The younger hissed. “I told you, didn’t I? They obviously changed their plans because of the arrival.”

The older sighed. “You’re right.” She frowned when she noticed the younger fidgeting.

“What is it dear?”

“What if we- ….Never mind. Have you sent them after him then?”

“Yes. Though I think they will be too late for the pearl.” She growled lowly.

“We have enough magic, mother. The pearl doesn’t matter.”

The older sighed again. “I know. But I had hoped that getting the pearl would put us in further the higher ground. Now we are even.”

“But they don’t know about me, about us. It will all turn out in the end.” She smiled.

“I hope so.” The older murmured. “Gardenia will pay for what they did. Achlys will rise! ”

The older woman walked out. The younger stared at the closed door. Wishing for the elder to just look at her with proud eyes, eyes that shone with love. Like how they shined when her mother looked at him. That was all she wanted from this.

Tael sighed as he watched the preparations for the final ritual. The pure water was ready back in the castle, Oscar had gone to the dragons for the blue flame, he would only return before the ritual started. Getting the flame was not an easy task.

“You okay?” Jasper asked the redhead.

Tae turned to his boyfriend, “I’m worried.” He murmured. How could he not be? Draco and the others had left at night, it was afternoon now.

The redhead felt his lover’s hands massaging his shoulders and neck. “Relax, love. It’s Lunae we’re talking about. Harry and Hermione are there with him too.”

Tae gave him an amused smile. “Will you ever call him by his name?”

“Hey! Don’t blame me. I only got to know his name a while ago. I’ve been calling him Lunae since we met.”

The redhead snorted, giving the pouting brunette a small peck.

“Come on. Let’s check what the others are doing.

“Well… When you said let’s check what they are doing, this was the last thing I expected.” The brunette and redhead watched with an amused smile as the two boys in the library jumped apart at the words.

“I-”

“We-”

“Don’t worry, you weren’t making any noise while you were kissing. Julie might not spare you for what you did to her arrangement of books though.” Tae said with a laugh.

Both boys blushed red at being caught, paling afterwards at the thought of the palace librarian.

“Where’s Pansy?” Jasper asked.

“In Hermione’s bedroom.” Ron said.

“Wrapped in the sheets as a substitute for her lover’s embrace.” Blaise added.

They all snorted at that.

“May I know what’s so funny?” An amused voice sounded from behind them.

“Carina! Are you alright?” The redhead asked the centre’s representative, noting the frustrated frown on her face.

“Ask me that after spending two hours touring the gardens and other places in the castle with the two guests” She said drily.

Jasper smirked, “Does Medea and Keir like the roses?”

“Why don’t you ask them yourselves.” She scowled.

Tae laughed. “Only you have that much patience, Carina.”

Carina smiled at the redhead, “Where’s Lunae? Did he sustain any injuries during the second task?” She asked worriedly.

“He’s fine, just resting.” Blaise lied.

“Ah. The ritual is in two days, the boy needs rest.” She smiled sadly. “Tell him that I will handle the affairs for the ritual."

Tae gave her a small smile which soon turned sly as he noticed something. “So, who’s the lucky man?” He winked, pointing at the necklace on her neck.

Carina’s eyes widened before she placed her hand on the jewellery unconsciously, “ Um.. I just remembered that I had promised to meet someone in the dining room. I’ll see you later.” A slight blush on her cheeks. She said, already walking towards the doors.

The others chuckled at that. Carina had lost her husband years ago, it was time she found someone to love her.

The woman was startled when a hand fell on her shoulder suddenly. Quickly turning, she places her dagger at the others throat.

The man chuckled. “Calm down, love”

She sighed, looking into her lover’s eyes. “Why did you ask to meet me in the middle of the night?”

The man fidgets nervously, biting his lip. “We’ve been dating for three years now.” He murmurs, a hand on her cheek.

The woman smiled at him, love and affection shining in her eyes. “Why are you telling all this now, Cas?”

He got down on one knee, smiling nervously when the woman let out a gasp.

 “Aurora June, you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met in my life. Your midnight blue hair that fall down your back in luscious waves, the moles on your face forms a beautiful constellation, your brilliant blue eyes that hold many secrets, your skin as soft as silk but above all, your heart of gold. I could spend centuries just gazing at your beauty, inside and out. I will never love anyone as much as I love you. I promise to cherish you always. Will you marry me?”

Aurora’s heart broke at the words from the blonde kneeling in front of her, tears rushed down her cheeks. She didn’t deserve the love of this young man.

She was a traitor, someone who was going to fight against him due to her mother’s plans. But she couldn’t decline, she was selfish. Selfish to want love, adoration from someone. She had never wanted to trick the young man in front of her, she had just fallen in love the first time she saw those baby blue eyes gazing at her. Was that wrong? She didn’t know. She didn’t know if she still believed in everything her mother said, what her mother wanted her to do.

“Yes.” She whispered softly. The breathtaking smile she got only increasing her guilt, regret, remorse, sorrow and most importantly the love she held for him.

“I don’t think I’ll ever deserve you.” He whispered, pressing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Another tear slipped past her lashes. No, I’ll never deserve you, Casey. I just hope you can forgive me after all this ends.

I hope it all turns out for the better.

As the young woman watched the sleeping figure of her fiancée, they shone with determination.