Guys, i'm gonna be honest. I'm running out of ideas for this story, and I never expected it to get so many views. This was supposed to be a small little project that I worked on in my free time but now, it's become so big and i'm getting a little overwhelmed. So, i'm gonna go back to updating anytime I feel like it. :) I'm not dropping it tho.
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Rain struck the dormitory window hard enough to interrupt Ron every time he spoke. Percy watched the lake change with each flash of lightning.
He could feel a movement beneath the weather. The waves did not settle when the wind paused.
Harry finished packing upstairs. They joined Hermione in the common room, where she had laid the copied coastal route beside the supplies. Ron put a Chocolate Frog into his pocket instead of continuing to toss it.
"We leave if the coastal route is still open," Percy said. "If the entry is already damaged, we do not turn checking it into permission to keep going."
"The Death Eaters are looking too," Harry said. "I know that does not make every hurried decision a good one. I still want to see what is there."
Hermione checked the potions, rope, and gillyweed. "We have the emergency supplies. They are not a substitute for knowing how to leave."
Ron made a face. "You actually packed gillyweed? We're not going swimming in the middle of a hurricane, Hermione."
Hermione gave him a withering glare. "And if we need to get into a submerged cave or escape underwater? Would you prefer to drown?"
Ron opened his mouth, closed it, and went back to his pacing.
Thunder cut off Ron's next answer. Percy felt the water below the castle answer the same movement, and told them that before it could become an excuse only he understood.
He took a moment with his eyes closed. He remembered Montauk, the ordinary sound of waves, and his mother's blue cookies. None of those memories asked him to open a door.
He opened his eyes again. "It's time."
They left the tower quietly. Percy knew the urgency they felt was not the same as the permission they had been told to wait for.
At the main doors, he looked back. He wanted a warm room and another argument about homework badly enough that going out no longer felt like proof of bravery.
With a quiet nod to each other, they stepped into the storm.
They reached the gates wet and short of breath. Hermione held the small travel stone taken from the coastal team's prepared supplies. It had a route to the lighthouse and should have stayed with the adults assigned to use it.
She cast a shelter against the rain. "This Portkey reaches the outer approach. We have the mirror to request a return. Using it now is still our decision, not an approved inspection."
Harry took Percy's sleeve. "Stay together when we land."
Hermione held the stone where all four could reach it. Ron caught her arm with his free hand.
"I object to the likely effect on my stomach," he said. "Apart from that, I am ready."
Percy checked their hands before touching the stone. Harry gave him a short nod.
The Portkey pulled. Percy lost the ground beneath his feet and kept hold of the stone until the cold air returned.
They landed on a coastal path. Wind struck them from the side, and Percy sat before it could push him toward the edge.
Harry helped him up. The lighthouse stood beyond a narrow path, with waves breaking well below it.
Ron checked the landing place for the return reference while Hermione put the stone away. They had all arrived together.
Hermione compared the ward marks with the copied route. "There are more layers than the plan showed. We should test only the outer one before entering."
Percy stepped forward, feeling the sea's presence surge up from the depths. His voice trembled but carried power. "Let me try. Maybe I can ask the ocean to help."
Hermione hesitated, but then she nodded. "Go on, Percy."
Percy knelt clear of the cliff edge. He could feel water passing around the foundations, but waited until Hermione had located the outer line before calling any of it.
"Please," he whispered. "I don't want to bring harm. Help me protect them."
The nearest flow settled. He held it there while Hermione checked whether the ward reacted by closing or opening.
She released the outer layer one section at a time. Percy kept the water steady rather than trying to push every barrier aside at once.
Ron exhaled shakily. "I can't believe that worked. Blimey, Percy."
"It recognized part of the connection," Percy said. He did not feel steady enough to celebrate the result.
A stairway opened beneath the lighthouse. Percy looked toward the route back before taking the first step.
Hermione swallowed hard. "That must be the entrance to the shrine."
Harry raised his wand. "We check the first room. If it changes, we tell each other before acting."
Percy hoped the copied route would finally lead to something they could understand. Hope was the least measurable part of their equipment.
A roar came from beneath the stairs. Cold air reached them before they could locate its source.
Ron looked at the narrow entrance. "That is an objection from the building."
They exchanged a last glance, wands gripped, breaths steadying.
Together, they stepped into the dark.
The stairs were slippery. Hermione kept her light low enough to show each step, while Percy held the wall only where no mark was cut into it.
Harry watched ahead. Ron stayed at the rear and called each turn so they could remember the route in either direction.
Ron trudged at the back, muttering under his breath. "Why is it always stairs? Why can't it ever be a slide? Or a lift?"
Hermione stopped beside a damaged line. "These are protections. The damage is recent. Someone has already crossed them."
Percy paused, a chill creeping up his spine. "Then we're not the first ones here."
Harry looked at the marks. "Possibly the people searching the coast. We should not assume we arrived first."
The lower floor was smoother. Light from small patches of algae showed their feet before the cavern opened ahead.
A pedestal stood on an island in a dark pool. Green light moved above it, turning the surrounding stones the wrong color whenever it strengthened.
The Eye.
Percy took a step before realizing the movement had not begun as his own decision. Hermione caught his sleeve.
Hermione grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "Percy! It's trying to lure you in!"
He stopped beside her. The offer of control remained, but now he could recognize it as something the light was doing.
Harry stepped forward, raising his wand. "We have to destroy it before they get here."
"The marks describe a containment," Hermione said. "Breaking the center may also break what is holding it. Let me compare the damaged sections first."
Ron clutched his wand with white knuckles. "Can we at least hurry? I don't want to be here when that Eye wakes up properly!"
Percy kept his palms against clear stone and slowed the current beside the island. He wanted to give Hermione time, not take charge of a mechanism he still could not read.
Water moved around the pedestal. The pull on Percy eased enough that he could describe the difference to her.
Hermione restored the nearest lines. They joined into a pale enclosure, and Percy kept his water from crossing its unfinished edge.
Harry watched the far approach. His scar hurt, but he did not follow the pain into a vision while the others needed him looking at the room.
A sudden echoing splash broke the tense quiet.
All of them froze.
From the darkness at the far side of the cavern, shapes began to emerge: Black-robed figures, wands raised, masks gleaming in the green glow.
Death Eaters.
He raised a shield before the first curse reached Hermione. "Percy, keep the water clear of her! Ron, with me!"
Ron drove a masked attacker away from the island. The man fell into the pool. Percy kept the nearest water moving toward the bank until he reached stone again, then returned to holding the enclosure clear.
A curse grazed Hermione's arm. She stopped that section rather than completing it with a shaking hand, and Percy steadied the water while she changed position.
Percy raised a wave from the open side of the pool and sent it over the pedestal. He kept it inside Hermione's restored boundary as the green light weakened beneath it.
The enclosure shook. Percy held the flow until the light stopped trying to climb through it.
Then, slowly, the green light began to fade, the pulses weakening. Hermione's silver rune-cage locked into place, sinking into the marble and sealing the Eye beneath.
A moment of shocked silence followed.
The attackers pulled back. Harry and Ron kept them away from the return stairs rather than pursuing them into another unknown passage.
Hermione dropped to her knees beside Percy, breath ragged. "We did it," she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "We sealed it again."
Percy could barely close his fingers. He let the water go only after Hermione confirmed that the enclosure remained in place without his holding it.
Harry staggered back to them, wand smoking, robes torn. "We need to get out now. They'll regroup."
Ron limped toward them. "I will continue doubting the transport plan. I am making an exception for that part."
The eye's pressure had eased. Percy could still feel something farther below, and told them so before they left.
Hermione grabbed Percy's hand, and Harry took the other. Together, they helped him stand.
At the stairs, he felt the pool move once more. He reported it without turning back to see whether he could make it stop.
He looked back one last time, and in the shimmering darkness, he thought he saw a single, massive eye watching from the depths.
They reached the outside path together. The shrine was contained, and the storm had not become less interested in making the return difficult.
Hermione led along the visible stones while Harry helped Percy. Ron watched behind them until they reached the shelter of the cove.
Hermione's wand tip glowed, illuminating the slippery stones underfoot. She kept glancing over her shoulder as if expecting Death Eaters to pour out of the darkness at any moment.
Ron clutched his side, grimacing. "Next time we go on a holiday, let's pick somewhere with sun and butterbeer, yeah? No underwater shrines, no cultists, no sea monsters."
Harry laughed at Ron's request for a sunny holiday, then stopped to cough. He could do both now, which Percy took as a welcome improvement.
Percy sat as soon as they reached shelter. He had used too much power, and did not need another metaphor to explain why his legs were shaking.
Ron sat beside Harry. They kept the approach in view while Hermione found the mirror.
"Tell me if the shaking gets worse," she told Percy. "I am calling for help now."
Percy gave a weak chuckle, though it quickly turned into a cough. "I'll live. Just… need a moment."
"Pomfrey can examine you," Hermione said. "We can describe what changed. That is better than me guessing at a magical core on a wet beach."
Harry watched her check the notes. The account used Ketalios for a form seen through the Eye, but they had no reason yet to treat that as the name of everything beneath the sea.
Percy watched the mouth of the cove. The water moved normally there, and he was grateful not to have to command it.
"We bought ourselves time," Percy said quietly. "But it isn't finished. That Eye… it was only part of what it wants. Part of what someone, Voldemort or whoever's pulling strings, wants to wake up fully."
Ron groaned. "Brilliant. So, what, we have to keep fighting bits of it until the whole thing crawls out of the ocean and says hello?"
Hermione kept the Department of Mysteries reference in her notes. "We can ask about that after the return. We have already tried enough without them."
Harry nodded. "Tell him the parts we got wrong too."
Percy closed his eyes only after Ron said he was watching the path. The picture of the Eye remained, but did not require him to go back and answer it.
Hermione took out the two-way mirror supplied with the emergency equipment. She used the agreed call rather than adding another incantation to reach someone faster.
"Dumbledore gave me this in case of emergencies," she explained, her voice shaking slightly. She whispered a quick incantation, and Dumbledore's lined face slowly formed in the glass. His expression was as serious as they had ever seen it.
"Professor," Hermione began breathlessly, "we sealed the Eye, but we were attacked. We believe the Death Eaters know about it now. Percy... Percy almost lost himself to the ocean magic."
Dumbledore looked at each of them through the mirror. "Remain on the dry side of the cove. I will send the return Portkey. We will discuss the unauthorized departure after everyone is checked."
"Thank you, Professor," Harry said, relief clear in his voice.
A prepared shell reached them by an ordinary courier charm. Hermione checked its response against Dumbledore's instructions before letting anyone touch it.
They gathered in a circle, each touching the shell.
"Ready?" Hermione asked, her eyes darting between them.
Harry gave a sharp nod. "Let's go home."
The return Portkey took them together. Percy kept his eyes open long enough to count the hands around the shell.
Then they landed heavily in Dumbledore's office, toppling over each other in a tangle of limbs. Fawkes squawked and flapped indignantly above them, and a stack of scrolls clattered to the floor.
Dumbledore helped Harry up while Ron pulled Percy clear of the fallen scrolls. McGonagall had already called Pomfrey.
"Rest now," he said firmly. "We will speak after you recover. There will be many questions, and many decisions ahead."
Hermione tried to give the whole account before sitting. Dumbledore asked her for the immediate injuries first and left the translation for the morning.
With that, he summoned Madam Pomfrey, who bustled in moments later, brandishing vials and muttering about "reckless Gryffindors" and "idiotic near-drownings."
Harry stayed beside Percy until Pomfrey moved between the beds. He did not promise another battle. He made sure Percy knew he had returned with him.
Percy fell asleep while the others were still arguing about wet clothes. He dreamed of the Eye again, but woke briefly to an ordinary curtain and Pomfrey telling Ron to stop leaning on a treated leg.
To Be Continued...
That's all for now! Buh Bye!!!!