Gardenia

Looks like we were a little late”

The three quickly turned around to see the four figures. All of them wore cloaks, masks hiding their faces.

Draco was the first to speak. “ Viorel. Long time no see. Where’s Keir?” He cocked his head to the side.

The figure in the front chuckled slightly. He removed the mask, unveiling a rather handsome face, lips forming mysterious smile. “Unfortunately, the prince had other matters to attend to.”

Draco raised an eyebrow at that. “Really? And what exactly would that be, sweetheart?”

The man's eyes flashed. “You’ll find out soon.”

“Why are you here?”

Viorel grinned slightly. “ Initially, we came for the pearl. But since we won’t be getting it now, there will be a slight change in the plan..” The man’s hands started producing a dark blue aura, the figures behind him also removed their masks. All four of them looked ready to fight.

“ Lady Medea will be happy to have you removed."

“Don’t hold back.” Draco whispered lowly so that only Harry and Hermione could hear him. That was the only warning they got before one of the men, a blonde, shot what looked like a fireball at them. It missed, hitting the pillar which crumbled down within minutes. Just like Lilian described in her vision.

The fight that followed was a blur. Viorel and another were battling with Draco while the other two faced Harry and Hermione.

Harry’s opponent was fast, giving blow after blow without wasting time. But Harry was faster as he avoided the hits. Perhaps it was because of the pearl, but Harry could feel that his magic was stronger. His eyes glowed golden as he fought back.

Hermione and Draco were feeling the same, their attacks were sharper, more powerful, graceful.

Harry’s opponent was down within minutes. He could tell that the other was quite powerful, but it was no match for the pearl along with his magical inheritance.

It seemed that their opponents realized that too.

Suddenly, Viorel shot a spell at the opening of the stairs, stones and rocks appearing to form a wall around it. He yelled at the others to retreat and they took out what looked like black opals and crushed it, quickly disappearing.

“Who were they?” Hermione asked as soon as they disappeared.

“Some of Keir’s minions. I wonder why he didn’t send Drew.”

“Drew?”

“Remember when I told you about four others who were capable of casting venenum?’’ They nodded. “Drew is the strongest of them.. So it is quite strange that he didn’t send them. Viorel wouldn’t hold a candle against him.”

“They didn’t seem surprised to see us here, neither were they focused on getting the pearl.”

“So Keir knew that he wouldn’t get the pearl?”

“I think so, yes.” Draco responded to Hermione’s question. “He probably send them to try and stop us from returning to the castle faster. They’ve already blocked our way out..” He gestured to the wall of rocks that blocked the way to the stairs. “The question is why.”

“Can’t we destroy the wall?” Harry asked, feeling the hard texture of the rocks on his fingers.

“No.” Hermione frowned, observing the wall. “Viorel wasn’t playing when he conjured it, if we destroy the wall, at least half of the mountain will crumble.”

Harry sighed deeply. “What about the prophecy? Lilian said something about bloodshed..?”

Draco shook his head, “Lilian is still a child, she hasn’t fully grasped her seeing abilities yet. The bloodshed she mentioned may take place weeks from now.. Sometimes it doesn’t even come true, if we are lucky.”

Harry nodded in relief.

“Well… What now?’’

“We should find a way to leave?” Harry responded to Hermione’s question.

“How? The path from the wisteria tree was clearly the only way out. And we don’t have any portkeys.”

“You mean we’re stuck?”

“Possibly.” Hermione paled.

“No, I don’t think that’s the only way out.” Draco said slowly, his eyes on the pillar’s remains.

“What?” Hermione frowned.

“Look.” Draco pointed to where the pillar once stood. There was a rune symbol in the middle of the rubble. They quickly walked up to it and saw that some sort of invisible barrier separated the circle shaped symbol from the water as the flowing liquid seemed to go around it.

Hermione suddenly gasped, squatting down she trailed her fingers through the lines. She muttered something under her breath, eyes darting around the designs. Slowly she placed her palm on a symbol that looked like a heptagram and pushed it slightly, quickly standing when the symbols faded along with the floor it was carved on. Now, there was a hole in the middle, leading to god-knows-where.

“How did you do that?” Harry asked curiously.

The bushy haired girl blushed slightly, “I remember seeing something like this in one of the books in the restricted section.. Though I don't remember what it was about. I think this is the only way out. Let’s jump?”

“How do we know if it’s safe?”

“We don’t.” Draco grimaced. “But we have no other way out. We should have thought of this before.”

“Do you have an idea where this hole ends?” Harry asked, trying to see the end.

“Most probably the lake.. I hope.”

“Well.. We don’t have a choice now, do we?” With that Hermione jumped in.

Draco stared at him wide eyed. “Wait, what?”

Harry paled when he heard a splash. “Yeah, it ends in the lake.” Before taking a breath and jumping.

He heard Draco shouting something before his feet touched the water. For climbing a mountain that was quite high, the depth of this hole was quite short.

Harry gasped, swinging his hands to clutch the grass. He heaved himself up to the green ground, breathing heavily. He saw Hermione a few meters away from him, panting. Within minutes a blonde head popped out of the water too.

“Where the hell are we?” He asked once he caught his breath.

“Honestly, I have no idea.” Draco murmured as he gazed around. “But something feels familiar.”

They were inside what looked like a tunnel, the water flowing behind them. The clearing was vast but what caught their eyes was the numerous shiny stones on the walls in colours of green and blue.

A sudden whoosh sound was heard and an arrow landed on Harry’s right, slightly grazing his skin, missing the target only because he had reacted quickly. He watched with wide eyes as more arrows came their way, quickly putting up a shield.

Just as he thought that the shield was going to collapse, the arrows suddenly stopped and a group of people jumped out from the various rocks above them. Their clothes looked to be made of silk, flowing down their bodies like water. Though they weren’t long enough to be a hindrance in a fight. The people looked impossibly beautiful, a glow surrounding their faces. There were bows, arrows, spears and other weaponry in their hands. 

A woman stood in the center, light blue hair flowed down her back in waves and her dark blue eyes were focused on Draco. Her hand was raised slightly, the reason for the arrows not being showered on them again.

“Who are you?” Her voice was melodic. The question was for Draco as her eyes never left his face. They darted to Harry and Hermione for only a second, lingering slightly on their arms.

“My name is Draco.” The blonde said softly, his hands raised slightly to show that he came in peace. “I apologize for intruding on your territory, we are only looking for a way out of this mountain.”

The woman cocked her head to the side, scanning the blonde from head to toe. They suddenly widened in realization, “You are Eleanor's heir, aren’t you?”

Draco frowned slightly, nodding. "I am, yes. Do I know you?”

The woman chuckled. “Do you really not recognize me, dragon?” They watched as her features started to change, light blue hair changing to a fiery red, dark blue eyes faded to a darker green. They reminded Harry of someone else he had met... 

The blonde’s eyes widened. “Feya?” He asked in a whisper.

“You said that the plan will work and I believed you.” The woman started calmly. “And now, I receive news that Viorel-” She spat with venom “- and his little minions have returned without the pearl, they couldn’t even do something about that brat.”

The shorter woman sighed. “You and I both knew that getting the pearl would be hard. We still have the upper hand here.”

“How can you be so calm, Cari?” The elder’s eyes flashed in anger.

The younger winced at the other's fury.

“We still have Eleanor’s energy. We will attack sooner, when they will least expect it.”

The elder raised her brow at that. “When?” She asked simply.

“The coronation day, at night.” Cari smiled maliciously.

The other returned the smile with a smirk of her own, “They’ll be too focused on the celebrations.”

“Hmm.” The younger hummed, her hands clutching the last piece gift her husband had given her before it happened. “They’ll pay for what they did.” She looked into the elder’s eyes, “We’ll finally get back what was ours.”

“We need more men though.” The other murmured.

Cari smirked again. “Not all of the Gardenians are happy to have a half blood on the throne. I have some traditionalists backing me..”

The elder grinned, “I never thought I’d be happy that Sofia fell in love with a wizard. Shame that she had to die, I was starting to become quite fond of her..”

“She wouldn’t have been happy to know who I really was.. You do know that right?” Cari asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I know.. But you have to admit that she was quite talented.”

The younger snorted. “Why do you think I befriended her in the first place? I’d hate to admit it but I can see quite clearly where young Draco got his powers from. Sofia had always been a formidable enemy, that’s why she’s dead after all.”

The elder woman chuckled. “We need something else though. The wizards that came with Lunae, they’re powerful. We need to play our cards right.”

“I think I know just the trick.” Nerine’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “Keir’s said that he found a loop hole on the wards near Achlys. Don’t you think it’s high time we went to visit the wizarding world?”

The elder laughed out loud. “Seems like your time in the castle has made you more smart.”

The other scoffed in mock offence. “Please. I’ve always been the smarter one between us.”

“So where do we go first?”

Cari smiled. “Islington for a start.”

The blue haired woman took a shaky breath. This was it. There’s no going back now. Come on Aurora, you have to do this.

She knocked on the door, opening it when she heard a ‘come in.’

“Aurora?” The person asked in confusion.

The floo flashed as a figure stepped out from it, hands clenched around a chest.

“Narcissa? Is something wrong?”

“Remember when you told me about Draco’s constant disappearances during the holidays?”

The man nodded.

“I think I know how to get to Draco and his friends.”

The man quickly stood up. “Should I alert the Aurors?

“No, just the parents. We are dealing with something much more complicated than we imagined.”

I promise to keep him safe cousin.. Even if it costs my life.

“Sirius?”

“What is it Moony?”

“Do you know them?” The werewolf gestured to the two woman standing in the street, looking a little out of place between the muggles due to their appearances.

“They do look like they are witches. But I’ve never met them in my life.”

“I don’t like the feeling I’m getting from them…Should we alert McGonagall? Aurors? They do seem suspicious.”

“Why don’t we try talking to them? Something tells me that they know where Harry is”