Chapter 43: A Conclusion

Simon found himself lying in bed in the Hospital Wing, with many pairs of eyes staring at him.

"He is awake!" George exclaimed, giving Simon a fierce hug, which Cedric, Row and Sharon all joined in. He could feel Raze snuggling in the crook of his arm.

"Let the boy rest! You might hurt him!" Madam Pompfrey screeched, pulling the children off Simon, "Professor Flitwick and the Headmaster will come by shortly so behave yourselves."

"How long have I been here?" Simon asked, trying to get a bearing of his surroundings.

"Two days. Your family were on a brief trip to Europe so they can only floo in later today," Phoebe said coolly. It was only then Simon noticed she was sitting on a chair by his bedside.

"She sounds like she isn't excited you are awake but she has been sitting here all day the last two days-" Sharon enthusiastically informed Simon before meeting the sharp gaze of Phoebe, "Anyways the rest of us got here as soon as Madam Pompfrey said you would likely be up this afternoon!"

"How's Fred?"

Simon let out a sigh of relief when he saw the smile on George's face. "He is fine. Professor Dumbledore confirmed he is no longer cursed. But the effects to his eyes will last a few more weeks. For now, Fred is kind of enjoying having those creepy eyes and was purposely scaring people in the Gryffindor common room when he was allowed to leave the Hospital Wing last night. He would be here if he wasn't taking a nap."

"So what exactly happened?" Simon asked his friends.

"After you crashed into the door to protect Fred, you lost consciousness. Your wand started emitting a weird glow and not long later Merchieftainess Murcus and some merpeople arrived and got us out," Phoebe explained, "Professor Dumbledore and the Heads of House were at the edge of the lake when we got out. The Merchieftainess did all the explaining and we got rushed to the Hospital Wing."

Simon could not help but notice that Phoebe's ears grew somewhat pink.

---

"Simon! Simon!"

Phoebe released her shield charm and ran towards Simon as soon as she saw him tackle Fred while crashing into the explosion.

Simon looked at her groggily while Fred closed his eyes. "Stay with me, Simon! I will get you help," she looked around frantically, "…somehow." Unfortunately, Simon closed his eyes too.

All she could see was the darkness of the hall and the slightly ajar stone door. Whatever was stored in there must had been stolen by someone else earlier on or moved by the merpeople. There was nothing but an empty chest. This whole fiasco was for naught for all the parties involved.

She could hear the frantic hissing of Raze from below the stairs. While she could not understand the tongue of the occamy, she could sense its desperation. Simon was in trouble and she needed to find a solution. 𝘍𝘢𝘴𝘵.

When she said she was coming with Simon to stop him from getting himself killed she meant it. While she and Simon always had fierce competition in the maze thanks to her cool-headedness and observant nature and his magical talent and ingenuity, she always felt like Simon had an additional edge in that he would do the riskiest strategies that nobody would ever consider doing. Even though the maze was supervised by Simon's own mother, it still blew her mind why this boy would often act like he was not scared of dying. Honestly, she did not understand how this boy's mind worked at all. This was the same mind that was creating strange and bawdy games and roping his friends into money-making schemes. She was not going to let him die…certainly not before she worked out what is going on in his mind.

But she felt like her usual clear mind was failing her. She thought she would be able to carry the unconscious bodies of her dearest friends to safety if a maze-like situation ever happened in real life, but in reality she could not. She had pulled out her wand and tried to cast a levitation charm to move them down the stairs, where she can hopefully get Raze's help to bring them out. But with every swish of her wand, nothing came out. Not even a spark. That moment, Phoebe forgot she was only twelve. And she felt useless. She was enveloped by the same dark cloud she felt during the times she sat alone at home.

A faint, bright glow began to pierce through the suffocating darkness Phoebe felt. She looked at the source of this light and noticed Simon's wand rattling against the stone surface Simon was lying upon. The wand's tip was emitting bright lights emulating the patterns of the flow of water they saw after diving into the lake.

Not long after, Merchieftainess Murcus and a group of merpeople entered the hallway. Unlike the humans who entered earlier, the group were not pushed by some sort of gravitational force and continued to move like they were swimming. The Merchieftainess dived down towards Simon and touched his head.

"𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦."

Hearing these words, the other merpeople all moved forward and carried the bodies of Simon and Fred.

"What do you mean by 'right purpose'?" Phoebe asked weakly as she followed the merpeople out of the hallway.

"𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴. 𝘔𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦," the Merchieftainess spun around and touched Phoebe's head, "𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮."

What happened the past few hours flashed through Phoebe's mind but with some changes. Simon did not get the Giant Squid to attack the merpeople colony. They did not witness Fred casting the complex spells. The merpeople came to save the children and neither Phoebe nor Simon did much fighting. Most importantly, the door never opened and they never saw what was behind it.

"𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥," the Merchieftainess continued, "𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘦."

"Why are you guys hiding some of what happened from Professor Dumbledore?" Phoebe queried. While as a Slytherin she had the habit to be suspicious of others, she thought the merpeople and Dumbledore were close allies, especially given Dumbledore's fluency in the mermish tongue.

"𝘞𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴," the Merchieftainess replied, "𝘐𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘦?"

Phoebe followed the group down the stairs, deep in thought.