Portals, Traps, and Golden Golems
Everyone crossed the invisible portals one after another, appearing in different directions and carefully jotting down each movement and result on a piece of paper. The air was filled with faint pops and brief flashes every time someone passed through one, as if the entire room were alive and watching.
Sirius, however, ignored any attempt to follow a pattern entirely. He stepped into the first portal he saw, never once glancing at his paper, as if his master plan were "absolute improvisation."
Red, for his part, had been gone for quite some time. Perhaps he was lost somewhere in the distance… or perhaps chasing something only he considered important. Knowing him, Harry wasn't too worried: if there was trouble, the dragon was probably the trouble.
Meanwhile, Harry kept his eyes fixed on his notes, comparing his scribbles with the paths the others were taking. Every time a teammate reappeared after going through a portal, he watched closely, as if piecing together an invisible puzzle.
For a moment, he stood still, watching the others as an idea began to take shape.
"That's it…" he murmured.
He immediately raised his voice.
"Everyone, stop!" he ordered. The group froze and looked at him expectantly.
"I think I've figured something out."
He turned to Hermione.
"Hermione, go through the portal on the left."
She didn't ask why. Trusting Harry completely, she stepped through the portal he had indicated. Harry tracked the exact spot where she reappeared.
"I've got it. It's not random. Each time you go in, you come out through a different wall, but it's always connected to the previous one. For example: if you enter through the south wall and come out through the east wall, you don't go back to the south—you keep going straight to the west wall. From there, you'll exit at the north wall, and the cycle repeats. If we follow the sequence without deviating, we'll find the exit."
"It's not that complicated… The trick is never turning. If you go through a portal and appear on another wall, just walk straight to the wall in front of you. No going back, no switching sides. That way, the portals will guide us out."
To test it, Harry stepped forward and appeared several meters ahead, exactly where he expected. However, on the next transition, he didn't reach the predicted corner; instead, he appeared further ahead in a different spot.
"And what about the empty spaces you skip?" Hermione asked, frowning. She was only one square away from him, but if she tried to reach the same tile, the portal diverted her.
"You and I are close, but on different routes. Each portal follows its own jump pattern depending on the starting point. I move two squares at a time from here, and so do you… but your sequence is offset. Even if you try to step into my square, your portal will throw you two ahead from your position, not mine. To meet up, you'd have to restart from the same portal I used first."
"So there are several paths, right?" Draco cut in.
"Could be… or maybe we just haven't found the real starting point yet," Harry replied.
"Then we'll have to keep moving separately until we see which one's correct," Hermione suggested.
"Alright. Keep taking notes, just in case," Harry instructed.
The group moved on, never turning, even when they appeared facing a corner.
Over time, Harry noticed they were drifting farther apart. Half an hour later, he reached the far edge of the room and finally saw a solid wall. Looking back, his friends had already been diverted elsewhere.
"Should I go back?" he wondered.
Before he could move, a sound came from behind him. He turned his head to see part of the wall slowly sliding open.
Approaching, he peered inside and found a wall-sized panel filled with glowing squares. Within them, colored dots moved from one spot to another: his companions, following neat paths. And in the middle of the display, one dot jumped around completely erratically… far too fast to track.
"Red…" he murmured in resignation.
Beside the panel, he noticed a button etched with faint runes. Through his enchanted lenses, a thin thread of energy linked it to the portals.
"Another trap, huh?" he said with a sigh.
"I'm about to walk right into it."
He stepped into the small chamber and inspected it. There was only that wall with the glowing veils representing the portals, along with the markers showing his companions' positions. The button seemed to be waiting for him.
"I'm smarter than this," he told himself, even as his hand reached for it.
"Maybe I'm spending too much time with my godfather."
When he pressed it, the veils vanished. Red's erratic point stopped jumping and began moving in a straight line toward the others.
Harry glanced around, puzzled.
"Well… I guess it wasn't—"
He didn't finish. The door he had entered slammed shut behind him. His expression shifted from surprise to sheer exhaustion.
The room began to expand as if hit by one enlargement charm after another. Harry sighed, reached into his bag, and started pulling out anything that might help him defend himself.
From the floor, two towering figures rose—statues over two meters tall, forged in gleaming gold. They were no simple ornaments; their hollow bodies leaked a reddish glow from narrow slits, and living fire burned within. Twisted horns crowned their heads, and they carried enormous swords, holding them vertically with the tips planted in the ground like ceremonial staves.
The surrounding walls rose to form a circle, transforming the space into an improvised coliseum.
Harry eyed the golden giants with a glint of interest.
"Oh… so there were golems after all," he remarked calmly, assessing the creatures.
As he spoke, the golems turned their heads in unison, their burning eyes locking onto him. A metallic screech filled the air as they raised their swords, tearing them from the ground with a crash that made the entire arena tremble.
The nearest one took a step toward him, but before it could raise its weapon into guard, a dozen crystal orbs rolled to its feet. The golem glanced down, confused, and in that instant the spheres exploded with a deafening crack. Fire and the shockwave hurled it against a wall, leaving its golden body dented and half-buried in the rubble.
Harry was no longer where he had been. Beneath the protection of his invisibility cloak, he had vanished before the blast.
The second golem reacted instantly. It lifted its sword and blocked the flare that brushed against it. When the flames died away, only a massive hole remained in the floor, and its silhouette still stood tall—though scorched and with molten gold dripping from its hands. Even so, it moved forward with steady steps, turning its head in search of its prey.
Suddenly, its eyes locked onto a precise point. With a metallic roar, it leapt toward it, sword raised high, coming down in a devastating slash.
Harry rolled across the floor at the last moment, his cloak slipping partially from his shoulders in his haste. As he got to his feet, he hurled a potion at the exact spot where the sword would strike.
Upon impact, the floor turned into a thick, sticky mire. The blade sank into the mud, slowing its force and preventing the blow from shattering the floor—or Harry. That opening gave him enough time to pull out another potion and drink it in one gulp.
A wave of intense heat surged through his muscles. It was a strengthening potion, and the power hit him all at once, almost like a whip crack. He leapt back in a single bound, pulling out two red vials that boiled inside as though lava were about to burst the glass.
He hurled them at the golem just as it wrenched its sword free from the muck. The vials exploded against its shoulder and chest in a violent burst of fire. The creature staggered back, black marks and glowing cracks spreading across its golden armor.
"Tsk… if it's not focused on the explosive spheres, erumpent potions lose a lot of power," Harry muttered, pulling out a bright blue vial. It was a mental sharpening potion. He drank it without a second thought, feeling a tingling in his head and the sudden clarity of thought that came with it. "This is going to hurt later."
His wand began to glow red. Compressed flames burst forth as a projectile, but the golem, surprisingly agile, stepped aside and the spell detonated against a distant wall.
A shadow passed above Harry. Instinctively, he ducked, feeling the slicing air of the sword as it swept past, and hurled another erumpent potion straight into the golem's face. The blast was brutal, engulfing its head in smoke and golden fragments.
Taking advantage of the screen, Harry moved quickly to the side and fired another red spell. The golem swung its sword, cleaving the projectile in two. The halves flew past and exploded behind it.
"Seriously…?" Harry murmured in surprise.
There was no time to analyze it. The golem jumped at him again, and the impact shattered the floor, sending chunks of stone flying in all directions.
"Great… stronger muscles also drain me faster," he said between breaths. He pulled out another potion, hesitated for a moment… and drank it.
Energy surged back into his body, his endurance spiking… but his skin turned a sickly green. The poison from mixing potions was already taking effect.
Gritting his teeth, he steadied himself and began firing a barrage of red spells. The golem advanced in a zigzag, dodging as it closed the distance. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry noticed the shattered body of the first golem and extended a hand.
Telekinesis yanked the fallen sword from the golden wreckage, hurling it like a spear into the enemy's back. Just as the golem's blade came down toward Harry, the other sword pierced straight through its chest.
The red glow in its eyes slowly faded. Harry let out a long sigh and dropped into a sitting position on the floor.
"Bloody hell… Hogwarts doesn't teach a single decent attack or defense spell," he said dryly. "The only one I used is the same one I cast on that rock near the Weasleys' house. And what Mum taught me was more about control, telekinesis, and mental magic."
He looked at his green hands. "Maybe I should ask Uncle Edward to teach me some offensive spells… I'd ask my godfather, but it would go straight to his head."
Scratching himself uncomfortably, he added, "Should be fine in a few hours." Though the itching and weakness were already setting in.
The room began to shrink. Harry reacted instantly, using telekinesis to pull both golems' bodies into his bag, leaving no trace. When the chamber returned to its original size, the door opened and the rest of the group came in with worried expressions.
"Harry, are you alright?" they asked, frowning at the color of his skin.
"Did you use multiple potions at once?" Draco asked incredulously.
"Only three," Harry replied with complete calm.
"What happened?" Sirius asked, showing a seriousness he rarely displayed.
"A trap. Golems… and an interesting fight," Harry said with a small smile, lying back on the floor for a moment.
"That doesn't say much," Hermione replied with a stern look.
"Hey, look," Daphne interrupted, pointing to a door that hadn't been there before.
"I'm worn out… carry me," Harry said tiredly, feeling the potions' effects fade.
The group settled him on Red's back, the dragon seeming delighted to serve as an impromptu mount. Laughter quickly followed at the sight of Harry draped limply over the small dragon, while Sirius watched him with a mix of concern and silent approval.
In the end, they headed toward the new door, ready to see what else awaited them.
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A/N: Hey, are you enjoying these chapters, or should I speed them up?