"Four Columns, One Mistake"
Crash. Spum!
The metallic echo rang through the stone walls as Harry advanced with steady steps, his cold gaze fixed ahead. Both hands moved with calculated precision, threads of crimson telekinesis sprouting from them to seize the golden golems that approached. Like mere chess pieces, he lifted them off the ground and slammed them into each other with brutal force. The screech of twisting golden metal reverberated through the hallway, followed by a rain of sparks and fragments scattering like glittering crumbs in his wake.
To him, they were nothing more than fragile toys—nothing compared to the two colossal foes he had faced earlier. With every step, the stone floor became littered with shattered arms, legs, and torsos, still crackling faintly with the broken energy of the runes that had kept them moving.
…
"Expelliarmus!" Draco exclaimed, flicking his wand with practiced elegance. An entire golem lifted into the air, its weapon clattering to the floor with a metallic crash.
"Flipendo!" he followed up, sending the airborne golem hurtling into an approaching group, knocking them down in a chaotic collision of gold and shattered runes.
With a frustrated scowl, he bent to pick up a fallen sword.
"I can't believe I'm using charms we learned from Professor Flitwick to fight… and our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is still useless."
Not breaking stride, he raised his wand again. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Another golden golem floated like an invisible puppet before crashing down on its companions, scattering pieces as if they were dominoes.
…
"Mucus ad Nauseam!" Daphne intoned, flicking her wand with precise control… only to pause, watching as absolutely nothing happened.
"Aha… I knew it. They don't even have noses," she muttered in visible irritation.
She frowned, mentally running through the spells Sirius had taught them in his rather unorthodox lessons.
"Wait… technically they're automatic golems. This might work…"
"Praeceptum Golem!"
A thin thread of light shot from her wand and connected to the first golem advancing toward her. It stopped instantly, turned on its heel, and with one clean strike decapitated the one behind it.
"Hehehe… the creator of these things is a rookie," she said with a wicked grin. She began moving her wand like a puppeteer, guiding the captured golem to attack its own kind. When one fell, she simply switched control to another, turning the fight into a dark little strategy game.
…
Hermione, for her part, used telekinesis just like Harry—though in her case, the glow was a bright blue. Sweat beaded on her forehead; unlike Harry's unyielding fluidity, she seemed to feel the weight of every piece she lifted, as if her own body bore the strain of the metal.
She wasn't focused on destroying, but rather on creating a defensive perimeter against the real chaos: Red.
The little dragon, his scales gleaming and eyes alight with excitement, tore through golems with a mix of playful mischief and raw ferocity. He knocked one down with a swipe of his claws, tore an arm from another with a bite, then shook it like an old toy before pouncing on the next.
"Red, be more careful!" Hermione shouted, stopping a flying golem head with her telekinesis just before it reached her.
But Red, true to his chaotic nature, ignored the warning and plowed ahead like a tiny, destructive comet.
…
Bomb!
Sirius rolled across the floor to dodge an axe swing that would have split a slower man in two. He rose in one fluid motion, snapping his whip so that it coiled around the attacking golem's head. With a sharp pull, he yanked it off as if uncorking a bottle.
"I don't think your golems are as good as my kids," he said with a mocking grin, holding the whip in one hand and an improvised golden sword in the other.
At the far end, the woman sat calmly, watching as though it were all just entertainment.
"They're just a hobby I picked up since being locked in here," she replied with serene composure.
Beside her, one of the columns began to glow, and at once the fallen golems started to rebuild themselves. Three more columns lit up, quickening the process. Sirius's eyes locked onto them: four pillars, all covered in runes that glowed like veins of light.
With a knowing smirk, he lashed out with the whip, striking several nearby golems in a near-choreographed rhythm.
"You know, I can't use whips or swords well… but the wrist movement is a bit like using a wand."
He hurled the sword like a spear, impaling the nearest golem, then sprinted toward the woman—though his real target wasn't her. Snatching up an axe from the ground, he swung with precision, smashing one of the central runes on the first column.
The glow vanished, and several golems froze in place.
"I'm pretty good at alchemy too. I just don't like bragging," he said smugly.
Still, his brow furrowed when he saw the woman completely unfazed, continuing to send wave after wave of golems as if the damage didn't matter.
At that moment, a thunderous noise echoed from one of the hallways. Red burst into the chamber like a living projectile, slamming into golems and sending them flying. Hermione stumbled in after him, out of breath.
"Red! I told you not to rush ahead!" she gasped, stopping short when she saw the sheer number of enemies.
"Hermione, don't come in. Magic's nullified in here… and probably your enchanted defenses too. Red, you shouldn't—"
But the dragon had already crossed the threshold, launching himself at the nearest enemies with renewed glee.
"…Or maybe it won't affect you," Sirius muttered, momentarily baffled to see the anti-magic barrier leave him untouched.
Hermione tried to help from outside, but the moment her blue magic crossed the doorway, it dissolved into nothing.
"Eh?" she said, staring at her hands in disbelief.
"Told you," Sirius replied, dodging another slash, rolling across the ground, and grabbing a fallen sword to slice through a golem.
"Red… how exactly are we supposed to control this troublemaker?" he added, watching the dragon dart around happily, reducing the golden army to glittering chaos without the slightest hint of order.
"Wooooo…"
The shout echoed from one of the entrances, and every head turned in that direction. Daphne burst into the scene astride the back of a golden golem, which was charging forward like a runaway horse. She wore a satisfied grin, holding on as if she were in the middle of a hippogriff race.
However, the moment she crossed the chamber's threshold, the magical connection controlling it snapped with an invisible crack. The golem stopped so abruptly that Daphne nearly went flying.
"Eh? What's going on, Soldier Number 57?" she asked in confusion, giving the metal a tap.
The answer came in the form of an axe swing aimed directly at her back. Daphne let go just in time, tumbling to the ground in an inelegant roll, while the golem… self-destructed in an implosion of golden sparks.
"One more for the collection…" Sirius muttered, never stopping his dodging.
"Get back into the hallway!" he ordered sharply.
Daphne didn't argue. Hermione shouted the explanation from the entrance, and the two of them stayed safely outside, watching.
Sirius took advantage of the distraction to slip toward the second column and smash the central rune. Its glow vanished, and the number of active golems dropped again.
That was when Draco appeared from another passage, frowning deeply and wand at the ready. The golems blocking his path were sent flying by his spells, but as soon as he crossed the threshold… all his magic dissipated like smoke. He noticed instantly, glancing down at the floor with disdain before taking in the scene: Sirius battling in the center, the woman sitting calmly, and Red tearing through golems like a child at a fireworks festival.
Hermione quickly explained the barrier. Draco simply crossed his arms and waited for Sirius to finish whatever he was doing.
When Sirius destroyed the third column, Harry strolled in casually, holding a golem's head in one hand and examining it as if it were a museum piece.
"Harry, finally! You were the slowest, so you lose," Daphne announced mockingly.
"Mm. I didn't know we were competing," he replied calmly. "I was examining these things… They're different from the golems I've faced before, though they seem to work on the same principle."
A golem emerged nearby, but without even glancing at it, Harry raised his hand and sent it flying into the wall. The crash left everyone frozen… even Sirius, who nearly got sliced for the distraction.
"You can use magic in here?" the woman asked for the first time, a trace of emotion in her voice, though she didn't rise from her throne.
Harry lifted his gaze to meet hers. Then his eyes swept across the chamber as if taking in everything at once: the broken golems on the floor, his godfather holding a sword and whip, the columns and their runes, the dividing line between the hallway and the chamber, and Red wreaking havoc like an enchanted pocket-sized beast.
"You're not the owner of this place, are you?" Harry said evenly as he stepped inside, moving both hands. All the gold on the floor shifted aside like a metallic tide, revealing a network of thousands of runes glowing in multiple colors.
"Godfather, if you destroy that last column… you'll release the woman from the seal."
"What?" Sirius stopped immediately, stepping back.
The woman smiled. "Well… we've got a rather clever boy for just a little witch's brat. You're right, this place isn't mine. I don't know who the original owner was, but this is where those fools locked me up."
"And the golems? The columns aren't connected?" Sirius asked, still confused.
"They captured me. Fought me for days, maybe weeks. These corridors were designed to send me endless waves of them. The ones you see here are the ones I managed to repair to try and destroy the columns… but their creators protected them against my magic. All I could do was turn the golems against intruders."
Her voice remained calm, almost indifferent.
"I was nearly free… only one left. It's sad that the seal is so easy to break, yet I can't even stand."
She lifted a hand, and a golden shackle materialized from nowhere, chaining her to the throne before vanishing again.
"Why don't you do me a favor and help me? I've learned my lesson. I just want to see my children… or my descendants. A poor woman, punished for a simple mistake. Well… a plague, but it wasn't my fault. I was betrayed."
Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"You do know we don't believe a word of that, right?" Daphne called from the entrance.
"Ah… well, I tried," the woman replied with dangerous calm.
Her hair began to writhe like living serpents and, in a sudden lash, destroyed the last rune of the fourth column.
"With three seals gone… I can use a little magic."
All the golems collapsed like puppets with their strings cut. The golden throne became covered in red runes that burned like embers, while hundreds of spectral chains tried to wrap around her. The metal melted in seconds, giving them no chance.
The woman stood, stretching with a crack of her bones.
"Now that I can use my magic… there's really not much that can stop me."
Her smile turned dark as the ground beneath her blackened. From the shadows came swarms—scorpions, worms, flies, locusts… a plague that crawled and buzzed, filling the air with a suffocating stench.
Everyone looked at Sirius, the man responsible for breaking three of the four seals.
"Ah… well. Guess this is my fault for trying to be the hero," he said, raising his wand.