Looking for Answers

"He hid something here?" Ginny exclaimed, surprised. "Why?"

"Hiding something in a place where everyone hates you . . . is kind of stupid," Luna said calmly. 

"Yes, and Malgino is not stupid," Colin muttered.

"Exactly, then why?" Ginny repeated.

Chris looked over at Oziyat and he nodded. She knew they were thinking the same thing.

"Either it's something he couldn't take from here or it has something to do with the curse in the Royal Family monarchs," answered Chris.

"I hope it's something about breaking the curse in our family," Oziyat sighed. "Far too many lives have been taken because of him."

"I hope you find the cure for the curse, Prince Oziyat," Colin said. "You should not be punished for crimes done by Malgino."

"I hope so too, or you would be dead too if you become the king, no?" Ginny asked.

"Gin!" Chris chastised.

"You are not wrong," Oziyat replied with a smile. After a moment, he looked serious. "Anyway, back to the problem. These runes . . . It's not Malgino's magic and definitely not designed by my Vampire ancestors who created the temple, so whoever put these runes had something that Malgino wanted to hide, hence the beast outside the door. That's my guess."

"Yeah, mine too," said Chris looking at the runes which were still moving looking bright. 

"But in that case who would be the two chosen ones?" asked Colin and replied to his own question. "You and Harry? I mean, I only know two chosen ones."

"Harry Potter? What does he have to do with this?" Oziyat asked surprised.

"No, I don't think it's Harry," Chris muttered. "I think I know who designed these runes."

"Who?" Ginny and Colin asked together.

Chris didn't reply. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She guessed who could be the chosen ones and who designed that rune but it was just a feeling and she didn't know for sure. If she is wrong then her friends' lives could be in danger. But they were out of options.

Chris remembered Dumbledore's words. "Always believe in your intuition, Christina." 

Chris opened her eyes and saw everyone looking at her worriedly. She turned from them and faced the moving runes.

"Oziyat, it's you and me. Let's put our hands on the runes at the same time."

"Chris, are you sure?" Ginny asked but Oziyat didn't look hesitant even one bit. He nodded and extended his right hand. Chris followed. Everyone held their breath as Chris and Oziyat touched the pillar at the same time. Nothing happened. They stood side by side. Noticing the nervousness on Chris's face, Oziyat reached out his left hand towards Chris. Chris didn't notice, her eyes were trained at the runes, Oziyat's hand hovered over her shoulder before he thought otherwise and dropped it.

"Do you feel something?" Chris asked.

"Huh?" Oziyat looked startled before he realized what Chris was talking about. 

"Any burning sensation?" Chris asked worriedly looking at the runes.

"No," Oziyat calmly noted. "And you?"

"Nothing." Chris frowned.

"That's a good thing, right? You are not burning which means you are right," Colin said.

"Yeah but nothing is happening, why?" Ginny muttered looking frustrated.

"Maybe, we should use some of our magic, so it recognizes us?" Oziyat offered when Chris kept looking at the pillar, puzzled.

"Okay," Chris nodded at Oziyat and they both closed their eyes and let the power flow through them to the runes.

A moment of silence and —

"Wow!" Colin exclaimed and Chris opened her eyes. 

"I think it's working," Luna smiled.

The runes stopped moving but didn't stop glowing. They glowed with an eye-blinding bright golden glow and everyone had to shield their eyes. The next second a groaning sound came and the ground started to shake. Chris braced the pillar to prevent herself from falling over. 

"Wh-what the h-hell is h-happening?" Ginny shouted as the roar and the shaking increased. 

Chris tried to find the source of the commotion and soon found it. Just a little far from them a small platform with back-to-back four seats was rising from the ground. After the seats were completely out, the shaking stopped.

The dust settled and Chris let go of the pillar and started walking towards the seats. She knew seats from somewhere but where?

"Chris!" Colin called. "Be careful. It still could be a trap."

But Chris was confident. She stopped in front of the stone seats and walked a circle around it, watching. The whole thing was made out of pitch dark smooth stone and at the top of every chair was a different color stone prodding out.

"Ruby," Chris muttered as she walked and observed the stones. "Sapphire, Emerald, Yellow Diamond. Doesn't it remind you something?" She turned to her friends who were looking at her surprised.

"That they are very valuable stones?" Oziyat asked.

"They are the stones representing every house in Hogwarts," Luna replied. "Sapphire for Ravenclaw, Ruby is for Gryffindor, Yellow Diamond for Hufflepuff, and Emerald Slytherin."

"Right, our house point hourglasses have these stones," Colin mumbled.

"But what does it have to do here?" Ginny asked.

"It means I am guessing right, Gin," probably for the first time today Chris looked excited. 

"Which was?"

"Someone wanted Malgino's secret to be found but only by the founders and the Queen," Chris explained breathlessly. "See the runes, the two chosen ones were Queen Wilma and Godric Gryffindor and these seats are for the four founders. Whoever created this expected the founders and Wilma to come here."

"But our magic worked on the runes because. . . you are the protector like Gryffindor and I'm the blood of Wilma, our magic signature has to be similar to them," Oziyat said looking amazed.

"But now how do we fill the founders' seat?" Colin frowned.

"We are four," Chris said looking at Ginny, Luna, and Colin.

"But we are not powerful like the founders," Colin said surprised. "And what if it's a trap. I still think it's a trap."

"But is there another way of finding out what's going on?" Ginny turned to Colin. "I don't think there is anything here apart from this empty vacant room, a bunch of same glowy runes and an empty holder without the crystal."

"I kind of agree with Miss Weasley here," Oziyat said. "I thought this was a dead-end but the runes opened these thrones and I believe it can lead us to the secret Malgino hid here."

Colin looked at Chris, his face clearly stated he was still worried but didn't want to argue.

"Colin," Chris put her hand on Colin's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "You trust me, right?"

"You know, I do Chris," Colin said without hesitation.

"Then trust her," Luna smiled. "And even if anything goes wrong trust yourself to face it, and it will be fine."

Chris smiled at Luna and she gave her a quick hug.

"Okay," Colin nodded after a moment. "But I still have one question, Luna can fill the Ravenclaw seat, I get that but the three of us are Gryffindors. So who is going to fill the Slytherin and Hufflepuff seats?"

"It's not about which houses we are in, Colin," Chris looked at the seats and the stones glowing softly as if beckoning them. "It's about what do you represent the most."

"Alright, let's get this over with," Ginny said looking determined as she walked forward towards the seats.

"Ginny, sit on the Gryffindor seat," Chris instructed. "Luna, Ravenclaw seat."

Ginny and Luna obliged and sat back-to-back on the Ruby and Sapphire encrusted seats. Ginny looked alert, while Luna was relaxed.

"Colin, you sit on the Hufflepuff seat, and I will take the Slytherin one," Chris said and Colin nodded. He was a bit surprised but didn't wait much. He slowly lowered himself on the Yellow Diamond seat as Chris sat down on the Emerald seat. 

Chris rested both of her hands on the smooth stone armrests. Oziyat watched them as Ginny, Luna, and Colin followed Chris and rest their hands at the armrests as well.

"Now let the magic flow through you, together," Chris said closing her eyes.

This time it was quick. With an unimaginable speed, the platform plummeted down. Chris heard Oziyat shouting before the roaring of wind and the speed blurred her every sense. Chris had a vaguely similar feeling when she Apparated-Disapparated or traveled through portkeys. Her inside felt upside down and her head hurt.

As unexpectedly it started to go down, it stopped with a jerk and Chris stumbled out of the seat feeling dizzy. She looked over at her friends first. They all looked the same as her, surprised, disheveled, and almost sick from the sudden motion except for Luna who just adjusted her clothes looking perfectly fine otherwise. How she managed to do that every time was still beyond Chris.

Ginny, on the other hand, bent over her knees and took some big breathes while Colin held the seats to stay upright. They were shocked as well but when Ginny and Colin met Chris's eyes they gave firm nods.

Satisfied that her friends are okay, Chris finally looked around to examine the place. They had landed in a small round space which was lit by a couple of fire torches, up ahead was only one narrow lane but it was still dark. Chris looked up and saw the way they fell, she could only see the start of the tunnel after that pitch black. In the light of fire torches, Chris saw the walls were uneven and filled with runes. She was about to step towards the wall to examine the runes when a muffled panicked voice startled her.

Chris turned around to see Colin was trying to reach her but something was getting in his way. He tried to reach Luna and the same thing happened. Ginny also tried walking towards Chris or Colin but something was getting in her way as well. Surprised, Chris stepped towards her friends and collided with an invisible barrier.

"What the Hell?" Chris walked back trying to see where the end of the barrier was and she easily reached her side of the wall without any resistance. She walked back and felt the invisible barrier again and realized what was going on.

"This transparent barrier is separating us from each other," Ginny announced through her talisman.

⟦To be continued⟧