N/A: There was a small mistake in the previous chapter, and I uploaded it incorrectly, posting this one as if it were the earlier chapter.So, for those who read this thinking it was Part 3, it is actually Part 4.Part 3 has now been uploaded properly as it should be.
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Echoes of Stone and Gold… Pt 4
Harry made his way through almost the entire greenhouse. He could already see a door at the far end. He only needed to get past a couple more dangerous plants and that would be it. Behind him, Billy and Tommy followed carefully, obeying each of his instructions, especially after seeing how Harry seemed to remember with surprising precision the correct way to counter each plant.
All three of them were soaked in sweat, mixed with the thick, hot humidity of the greenhouse, which made every breath feel heavy and constant.
Well, Tommy was covered in more than just sweat.
For a moment, Tommy had strayed just a few steps off course and ended up being swallowed by a massive plant, with fleshy jaws that snapped shut around his torso. Harry reacted instantly, cutting it apart with a single precise spell, but the result was that Tommy was left completely drenched in a thick, nauseating green slime. It slowly dripped from his clothes and left a truly unpleasant stench hanging in the air.
"Why is it so easy to get through the traps? Weren't they supposed to be more dangerous?" Tommy said, even though he was clearly not the best one to complain at that moment. His clothes were still dripping with green slime, and his hair was now styled in a completely ridiculous way. The sticky substance had slicked it straight back, stiff and tight, as if he had used an absurd amount of gel. He looked like one of those old Halloween costumes he had worn years ago. At least now he stayed very close to Billy, who continued to follow every one of Harry's instructions properly, without getting distracted.
"It's just a guess, but maybe it's because, if safe mode fully activated, the family's descendants could also end up trapped inside," Harry explained as they moved forward. "So the traps end up being a sort of test, but at the same time they allow someone from the family, if they are inside, to still have a chance to get out."
As he said that, Harry suddenly seemed to realize something.
"That's why Grandpa was always bothering me about learning potions all the time," he added, with a faint expression of understanding. At last, he understood his grandfather's constant insistence and the real importance of that knowledge.
Then, with a small smile, he picked up a watering can that was resting to one side. Before using it, he studied the plant in front of them at least twice. Its leaves were a deep, intense red, and they moved as if they were living flames, swaying with an unsettling motion. When the water touched it, the plant immediately began to release steam, slowly shrinking until it became harmless. As they passed by it, the next door was already right in front of them.
The air near the door felt different. There was no smell of plants or humidity, only a faint metallic scent, cold and out of place inside a greenhouse.
Harry watched the door carefully for a few seconds and made a gesture for the twins to stop. He approached the handle with caution and opened it slowly.
"All right, maybe just a couple more of these traps and we'll reach…"
The words died in his throat.
Harry froze completely as he looked into the room he had just opened. Everything was covered in an absolute golden color. Hallways, paintings, walls, the floor, everything. In the middle of the chamber stood what appeared to be a skeleton made entirely of gold. It turned its head with a metallic grind, gold scraping against itself, while fine golden dust fell from its moving joints. Its gaze, despite having no eyes, felt unmistakably fixed on them; the empty sockets pointed directly at the three of them.
There were no visible runes, no recognizable defensive mechanisms. Nothing about it matched what his grandfather had taught him about the house's protections.
Harry's eyes widened when he saw the skeleton raise its right hand and point at them with a single finger.
That simple motion was enough to make the skin on all three of them prickle instantly. Their hands clenched by reflex, filled with nerves, as Harry instinctively stepped in front of the twins, shielding them.
Billy was completely frozen, eyes wide open. Tommy, for his part, seemed unable to say a single word. Both of them were truly afraid for the first time in a very long while.
Then the creature opened its mouth, as if trying to say something, but only sharp, unpleasant metallic screeches came out. The finger pointing at them began to crumble into golden dust, which flew straight toward them, moving in a way that felt genuinely dangerous.
Harry slammed the door shut.
He stepped back two paces and shoved Billy and Tommy away with both hands, shielding them protectively.
Then he saw it.
The door, along with the wall around it, began to turn into gold at a rapid pace, spreading like a bright, unstoppable disease.
The instant it happened, the mechanical noises of the mansion, or tower at that point, grew much louder. The floor in front of Harry split apart abruptly, opening a gap between them and the wall, before starting to descend rapidly. At the same time, another wall with a new door appeared in its place. Everything ended with a strong jolt, as if they had gone up or down in an invisible elevator.
The three of them remained frozen where they stood for several seconds.
Billy was the first to break the silence.
"Do you need to know potions to deal with that?" he asked, still tense.
"That isn't a trap," Harry replied, his expression seriously worried. The danger he had felt when he saw that thing made it clear it was not something simple.
Harry began to understand what was happening. The tower was moving the parts that had been turned into gold, either to keep them safe or to try to contain them. And that thing was responsible for turning everything into gold. The problem was that Harry did not believe there were enough rooms to keep shifting them indefinitely once one became contaminated by that creature.
"We have to find the others," Harry said urgently. Now he knew that it was not just the mansion's safe mode that had made their stay dangerous, but that there was something else with them. And he seriously doubted how many rooms were left before they ran into that thing again.
Harry opened the door in front of them, took a quick look inside, and confirmed there was nothing dangerous; just an empty corridor. He nodded to the twins, and the three of them went in without wasting any time.
…
Remus walked alongside Wendel through what appeared to be a room that was part of the dungeons. The cells were still there, although the place was clearly split in half, since the other side now seemed to be part of the kitchen.
"Ugh, I need a break," Wendel said, sitting down for a moment on one of the nearby seats.
Remus couldn't blame him. They had been walking nonstop through what felt like a labyrinth of boggarts, where every step could awaken a different one and force them to face, again and again, their worst fears. It was not a particularly large maze, but the boggarts caused a mental exhaustion far greater than any physical one, making it harder and harder to think clearly.
Fortunately for them, the kitchen section still had something to drink and a place to rest before moving on.
"So, still the moon, huh. I thought it wasn't anymore…" Wendel did not finish the sentence, hesitating before continuing.
"No, I'm no longer a werewolf. I'm cured… I think my fear isn't the moon itself, but what it represents. Being afraid of it again," Remus said, avoiding eye contact, his expression clearly self-critical. Then he looked up at Wendel and smiled softly. "And your fear is that your daughter will leave you. I have to say, that is very much a father thing."
Wendel forced a slight smile.
"Well… after all, I didn't have that fear before. But when we discovered the magical world and all its… well, magic… every time she goes back to school, I think about it. What if one day she doesn't want to come back? Her parents are normal, but she isn't. What if one day she faces something that we, as Muggles, cannot even imagine?" He paused briefly before continuing, his tone serious. "Because even though I understand a bit of magic after being in Diagon Alley and all that, it is still something I do not fully comprehend."
"Well, maybe that is the problem," Remus said. "That we worry too much about things that most likely will never happen," he added calmly.
"True," Wendel replied with a faint smile, raising his glass in a small toast, even though it only held water.
As they talked, new tremors shook the room for a moment. The water in their glasses vibrated violently, spilling a little. However, they were already used enough to those movements not to be overly alarmed.
"Oh… we are going up," Wendel commented as he noticed his section of the room beginning to rise and fit itself between new walls and doors.
Remus frowned as he observed one of the side walls. It was completely golden. The mechanical noise grew heavier, more strained, as if the structure were having trouble moving, even shaking more than before and slowing in an irregular way.
The moment the new wall finished locking into place, Remus's eyes widened.
The gold began to spread across the floor at an alarming speed.
"Run," Remus shouted instantly, jumping to his feet and pointing toward the door on the opposite side.
Wendel stood up, but the speed at which the gold advanced was insanely fast, far too fast.
Remus drew his wand and aimed at the door, which opened immediately. Then he looked at Wendel, who was running ahead of him toward the exit. Remus stopped abruptly, as if he had made a silent decision. For a fraction of a second, he pressed his lips together and lowered his wand slightly. Then he raised it again with resolve and pointed it at Wendel's back.
"Repulso," he shouted.
Wendel's body was launched straight through the open doorway.
He crashed down on the other side, aching, and immediately turned his head to look back. His eyes widened in horror.
The only thing he saw was a perfectly formed golden statue of what had once been Remus. The golden shine reflected his own distorted image back at him, and that was what made the air catch painfully in his chest.
The door slammed shut in front of him.
The mechanism activated again, moving the structure with great difficulty as the wall and the door also began to turn into gold. Wendel got up as best he could, limping, clutching one leg, and started to run. The gold followed closely behind him, almost catching up. It did not surge forward all at once. It slid, steady, as if it knew exactly where he was going.
Suddenly, a new wall dropped from the ceiling just behind him, as if blocking the gold's advance. For a moment, it seemed to work. As that new wall began to transform, the floor stopped advancing so quickly.
Wendel reached another nearby door, and the instant he passed through it, the floor split apart and began to descend.
Seeing this, Wendel collapsed onto the floor, aching, breathing with difficulty.
"Oh, no… Remus… no, no," he murmured, his voice breaking, as the structure lowered. His body trembled uncontrollably, and a new door took the place of the previous one. "No… no," he kept repeating, lamenting, fully aware that Remus had sacrificed his life to save him.
At that moment, the door burst open.
Draco and Sirius rushed out and slammed it shut behind them without losing a second.
"Ugh… we made it. Damn it… damn bastard animals," Sirius growled, turning toward the door angrily while breathing hard from the run. Draco was also panting, leaning against the wall for a moment. He adjusted the pocket where he had stored what they had recovered, and only then did he look up.
That was when both of them noticed Wendel.
He was in shock, repeating softly:
"Remus… no."
Sirius frowned, confused at first. Then his eyes widened suddenly as understanding hit him. He rushed toward Wendel, a horrible feeling growing in his chest.
Sirius grabbed him by the shoulder, not realizing how much force he was using.
"What happened to Remus? Where is he? What happened?" he asked, almost desperate, with a terrible premonition tightening around his heart.