Harry Potter: The Invincible Stag
Chapter 146: The Deadly Tomb

Disclaimer:

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

I own nothing but the original characters I make.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 146: The Deadly Tomb

"Still bored, Andromeda?" James asked.

"S-shut up…" The girl looked completely rattled. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were dirty and torn in several places where arrows and blades had damaged them.

They had been walking through the tomb for well over an hour now and encountered a myriad of traps.

Arrows coming from the walls, spears emerging from the floor, or trapdoors opening beneath their feet, leading to holes filled with blades.

Bella also had a few close encounters, but she seemed to be holding up much better than her sister. She actually found the experience quite refreshing compared to her usual life.

"James, does the book say how long this thing is?" she asked when she saw James pulling the old book again.

"Let me see…" He had already read all the relevant parts. Now he was being extra cautious and making sure he didn't miss anything important.

"Ouch!" Andromeda complained. Her foot had become stuck on something and she almost fell down.

"What's wrong with the floor in here?" She looked down. Most of the stone bricks that formed the floor were either broken or missing.

"Huh?... I think I heard a noise coming from behind." Bella glanced back but could only see darkness behind them.

The entire tomb was pitch black, so they had to rely completely on the small shiny orbs that James had conjured.

"Mmm… hold on, I think I remember seeing something about a narrow corridor with a broken floor." James began to flip through the pages.

"The floor is more than broken, it looks… warped." Andromeda noted that the bricks in the middle had sunk further than the rest, giving the floor a subtle 'U' shape.

"The sound is getting louder…" Bella insisted.

"Oh… I found it," James said with excitement. "There it is! As I thought, there is a trap here. Two of the expeditionaries died on this one, leaving only the author of the diary and one more person. Let's see…"

"There is something approaching," Bella said with more urgency.

"I can hear it too… it sounds like something is breaking," Andromeda added.

"Ah… so that's what it is." James stored the book in his robes.

"What is it?" Andromeda turned to him. "Do you know what kind of trap this is?"

James nodded. "It's a giant round boulder that gets released into the narrow passage to crush its victims. Did you notice that we have been going on a descent for a while now?"

"Why are you so calm?! We have to run!" Andromeda shouted.

James shook his head. "I can deal with something like this easily." He tapped his wand on the wall. "I just have to transfigure the walls to close up. That will stop the boulder."

As he said this, he was already sending his magic to the wall.

A few more seconds passed and they could now see the boulder approaching.

"Well?... Hurry up and close the passage," Andromeda told James.

"..." James separated the wand from the wall. "I have bad news. The walls are protected against transfiguration. It's going to take me a few minutes to break through the enchantment."

"We don't have minutes!" Andromeda shouted.

"Yes, I realized that," James rolled his eyes.

"Let's just destroy the boulder." Bella aimed her wand ahead.

"That was going to be my plan B," James said.

"Hurry!" Andromeda pointed her wand as well.

"Bombarda Maxima!"

"Bombarda Maxima!"

"Bombarda Maxima!"

The three of them said together.

Their spells hit the massive stone sphere, causing a few cracks on the surface, but they did nothing to stop its advance.

"I'll be damned. They also reinforced the boulder…" James said. "That was very clever."

"James!" Bella pulled on his robes.

"Run!" Andromeda shouted, although she was already ten feet ahead.

"That was going to be my plan C." He took off running after the two girls. "Don't stop running, no matter what you hear."

"That was my plan!" Andromeda responded.

"What are you going to d–" Bella could not finish her sentence.

James had used another demolition charm, but this one carried a lot more magic and was not aimed at the boulder, but at the ceiling of the tomb.

"Did the boulder stop? I can't hear it anymore." Andromeda said as she continued to run. She did not dare to stop now.

"We should move faster." James caught up to them. "The boulder is no longer a concern."

"What is that noise?" Bella asked.

"Then why are we still running?" Andromeda asked.

"Because I may have caused a bit of a… collapse," James said.

"Ahh!" Andromeda saw as the ceiling was breaking apart, allowing countless tons of dirt and sand to fill the corridor. "We are going to be buried alive!"

"How are we supposed to leave now?" Bella wanted to know. It was obvious that they could no longer return the same way, and it was not very clear if Apparition was possible from inside the tomb.

"We can worry about that later. If we are still alive, of course," James commented.

"How long is this corridor?!" Beads of sweat were falling across

Andromeda's face. She was becoming visibly exhausted.

James launched several orbs of light ahead of them. "I think I can see the end," he said. "Get ready."

"Ready for what?" Andromeda gave him a side glance.

"I see it too. The corridor ends there!" Bella said. "But I don't see anything else after that… what is t–" Her eyes opened wide when she realized.

The corridor led into a massive trench, over thirty feet wide, where one could not see the bottom.

On the other side of the trench was another platform, and it had a small door on it.

"There is no way we can jump all the way there!" Andromeda exclaimed.

"James?!" Bella looked at him, hoping that he had an idea of what to do now.

"The moment we reach the end of the road, hurry up and grab onto me. Make sure not to let go," James said.

"That's right! You know how to fly without a broom," Andromeda said.

"But can you carry two people while doing that?" Bella asked.

"Bella! Now is not the time for questions!" Andromeda scolded her.

"We are about to find out," James responded.

They reached the end of the hallway. Andromeda and Bella latched onto him for dear life before he jumped off.

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