Echoes of Stone and Gold… Pt Final
"I don't like this plan," the blonde girl said, her face visibly annoyed and her arms crossed stiffly.
"Yes, we already heard you the first time," Sirius replied before looking away, holding back his laughter.
That only made the girl's expression darken even more with anger.
"Don't worry. You really look a lot like your mother when she was young. I think that's better than looking like your father," Sirius added, biting his lip to avoid laughing, deliberately avoiding looking at her because he knew he would not be able to hold it in.
"You're being really rude," she replied in a cold, cutting tone.
Sirius realized that he might have gone too far by mentioning her dead father, so he raised both hands in surrender.
"My fault. We didn't really get along, and honestly, he was a bastard. But I shouldn't speak badly of him in front of his son… daughter," Sirius said, pausing briefly before holding back another laugh.
Draco, now transformed into a woman, turned her face away in annoyance. She watched the fast and precise work of Fleamont and Edward, with Tommy and Billy acting as assistants to both of them. Wendell was also doing what he could. Even though he was not a wizard and his help was limited, at least he kept moving the heavier objects from one place to another without stopping.
What they were preparing was a kind of magical circle, a base designed to trap the golden skeleton inside it. Once Harry brought the remaining materials, they would simply place them around the circle and everything would be ready. After that, all that remained was getting the skeleton to enter it.
And Draco, in her female version, was basically the bait.
Normally, that would have been extremely dangerous. But in this case, it was the safest position, since according to Fleamont, the skeleton did not attack women.
"Can someone remind me why none of you are also turning into women so it won't attack you, and I'm the only one who has to do this?" Draco asked with obvious irritation.
"According to the photos Daphne sent, it doesn't seem like you have any problem with it," Edward commented in his usual calm tone.
"Harry said that potions that change the body can work differently on him and on me because of our special magic," Billy explained.
"I like being a boy… I think," Tommy said with an amused smile, looking at Draco without any shame.
"Same. I like being a man," Sirius added with an equally teasing grin. Both of them had to restrain themselves not to laugh openly.
"What an idiot idea," Draco growled with very real anger, looking down at the ancient dress they had found somewhere. That only made her even more irritated.
At that moment, one of the walls began to slowly turn into gold, spreading an unnatural glow. That meant the skeleton was close.
"Where is Harry? He should have arrived by now," Fleamont said quickly, his voice serious and edged with concern.
He did not need an answer.
Suddenly, through the main door, a red mist burst violently into the room. Within seconds, it took shape, revealing Harry, who appeared panting heavily, breathing with difficulty, as if he had run an entire marathon without stopping.
"I've got it. It's right behind me," Harry said as he threw the black bars toward Fleamont, who immediately began arranging and locking them into place around the circle.
While Harry caught his breath, he lifted his gaze toward Draco and froze for a moment, overwhelmed by the urge to laugh. He covered his mouth with his hand, pretending to clear his throat.
"You look…"
"Say one word, Potter. Just one," Draco threatened, staring at him intently.
"Quickly, to your positions," Fleamont shouted as he locked the last bar into the ground, signaling the others to hide in their previously chosen spots.
The door, now turned to gold, began to open slowly, accompanied by an unpleasant metallic screech, as if the metal were being scraped from the inside.
Everyone hid around the room, watching as the hall began to turn into gold near them. The tension was obvious. No one wanted to touch the golden floor by mistake and end up turned into a statue.
The skeleton, completely golden, entered through the door. Its bones creaked as it moved. Being made of gold, they looked incredibly heavy, and each step echoed throughout the entire room. Around it, the gold advanced like a silent plague, transforming everything in its path.
The skeleton scanned the room with its empty sockets before stopping on Draco, who stood in the center, visibly nervous.
It tilted its head from side to side, observing her. Each movement produced another metallic creak, and fine particles of golden dust fell from its bones due to the friction.
Upon seeing Draco in her female form, the gold on the floor stopped advancing, halting just in front of her feet. Draco took a small step back with extreme care, holding her breath, and let out an internal sigh when she realized it had truly stopped.
From its position, the skeleton slowly raised one hand toward her. The gesture seemed almost human, as if it were trying to reach something. It began to walk toward Draco with slow steps.
Slowly.
Getting closer and closer to the magical circle.
Meanwhile, the others, hidden in different parts of the room, watched the scene with contained nerves. Everything seemed to be going too well. Too simple.
Or so it seemed.
Suddenly, perhaps betrayed by his nerves, Billy accidentally pushed what looked like a decorative set of dishes. The object fell to the floor, shattering and producing a sharp, jarring noise that echoed through the room.
The skeleton snapped out of its trance instantly.
Its gaze shifted sharply toward Billy.
"Yeah. It's never that easy," Harry muttered as he rose almost immediately from his hiding place, just as the skeleton was already turning toward Billy.
Harry moved his hand and tore the door behind the skeleton free, hurling it forward with force to slam into it and push it toward the magical circle.
But the skeleton stopped.
And turned around.
Extremely fast, completely different from the slowness it had shown before.
Then the door exploded into particles of gold.
Everyone was stunned, but there was no time to be distracted.
Sirius also stepped out of his hiding place and aimed toward the ground in front of the skeleton, trying to force it to move forward. However, the skeleton did not move at all, while the gold on the floor began to advance once more.
It seemed that as long as everything was gold, the skeleton held complete control. It raised its hand, and golden dust began to move through the air, floating as if it had a will of its own.
Edward reacted instantly. He moved his wand in a wide circle, forming what looked like a whirlwind of wind that absorbed all the golden particles. The golden vortex spun around his wand, which began to slowly turn into gold. Without hesitation, Edward threw it aside along with the golden dust. Both struck the wall, instantly turning it into gold. Edward's wand was completely golden as well.
"Resto momentum," Edward shouted, using an incantation for the first time. Without his wand, using magic would be far more difficult, so he could not afford to rely on silent casting.
The golden dust, which had bounced after hitting the wall, froze in the air. The particles shimmered faintly, barely moving, as if suspended in time.
Meanwhile, the gold on the floor began to advance again.
Harry focused completely, his wand in one hand and the other extended, as if he were forcing something apart through sheer strength. The floor split open, as did the walls.
"Aaah!" Harry shouted, pouring an enormous amount of force into tearing the tower nearly in half. The effort was worth it, because without contact between the sections, the gold stopped advancing. No contact, no conversion.
The skeleton raised its hand again, pointing its finger toward Harry to launch the golden particles.
"Draco, don't attack or it will target you too," Harry shouted immediately when he saw Draco preparing to strike. The moment she did, she would be marked as an enemy.
At that moment, Tommy began grabbing everything he could find along the way and throwing it at the skeleton, moving at high speed across the room.
That made the skeleton lower its arm for a brief moment.
"Billy!" Tommy shouted.
Billy raised both hands, and all the objects Tommy had thrown lifted from the ground. Then they slammed into the skeleton's back, trying to force it to take at least one step toward the magical circle.
As it felt the impact, the skeleton raised its hand again. The objects turned into golden particles before it moved its arm, as if guiding the dust and directing it straight toward Harry, who was still holding the tower apart. He could not allow the gold to advance, but he also could not separate the structure completely without destroying the magical circle.
Sirius appeared in front of Harry and raised his wand, causing the ground to rise and form a protective wall. It turned into gold instantly, but Sirius struck it with his wand without hesitation, launching it to the other side of the裂 so that his section would not turn to gold.
In addition to trying to push the skeleton into the circle, they had to be careful not to destroy the magical structure. That made everything much harder.
At that moment, Draco, who remained standing in front of the skeleton, noticed that it was not attacking her at all, as if completely ignoring her. She took several steps closer. The skeleton still did not react.
Then, without hesitation, Draco grabbed the skeleton's arm.
Her hand began turning into gold instantly.
Without stopping, she pulled with all her strength and dragged the skeleton into the magical circle.
Everyone was left in mild shock.
"Harry!" Fleamont shouted immediately.
Harry nodded and reconnected the tower, causing the magical circle to become whole again and activate. The circle lit up instantly, while the bars around it seemed to grow slightly before firing what looked like black chains that shot toward the skeleton and bound it in place.
Draco stepped out of the circle with her arm partially turned to gold. Her expression was serious as she watched the transformation advance until it stopped at her shoulder.
"Female power?" Harry said, looking at her.
"Shut up. It's better to finish this already," Draco replied with obvious irritation. "Now turn me back to normal," she ordered immediately.
It seemed that was the only reason she had risked her life like that.
Which made it slightly amusing.
…
A few hours later, at Wanda's house.
The girls arrived relaxed, wearing big smiles, and looked at the boys, who were sitting with rather serious expressions.
"Hello. Did you have fun today?" Selene asked immediately as she approached with a smile.
The boys looked at each other in silence for a moment.
"Yes," they all replied in unison, even though their faces did not really show it.
"And you too, my dears?" Wanda asked her sons.
"Yes. We learned some things about plants that eat people, and stuff like that," Tommy said.
That made Wanda raise an eyebrow and glance at Harry for a moment.
"And also that Red is really problematic," Billy added.
"Well, everyone knows that," Wanda replied with an amused smile.
Then she noticed the red dragon, completely chained in a corner of the room, struggling to break free, only for the chains to rebuild themselves again and again.
That caught the attention of all the women, but they chose not to ask.
…
N/A: This arc was going to be longer, with more extended lore about King Midas, but halfway through I thought, what a pain, hahaha. So yeah, if it felt too simple, remember it's just filler. Haha.