Chapter 13

..... Now very lost in the mist, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had stopped for a rest. They were all miserable from the cold. Their ears ached and their faces stung and their noses were running. It seemed to give Hermione an idea though. She asked for their handkercheifs and though mystified, the boys handed them over. Hermione found a clear spot to kneel and spread the hankies out in front of her. She made no mention of the cleanliness of either of them, but the Harry and Ron couldn’t help but notice that her own was spotless.

..... Her teeth chattering over the spell, Hermione conjured up a blue flame on her own hankie. She gave it a nudge with her wand and it leaped into a larger fire. Carefully, she transferred a few flames to both of their hankies and then tied all three into small glowing bundles. Non-burning flames were her specialty and she tried not to grin at their thanks.

..... “I wish you’d thought of this earlier,” sighed Ron. He tucked the bundle down the front of his robe and looked blissful as heat began to radiate through his clothing. Harry followed his example, but Hermione held hers in her hands and close to her chest.

..... “Thinking for the two of you keeps me occupied,” she replied, not as sharply as she might have. “Which way shall we go now?”

..... “It’s hard to tell in this mist,” Ron said, swiping a hand uselessly at the haze. “I’m starting to think you were right about sending Hedwig. She probably would have found him by now.”

..... Harry bit back a new protest. They were both looking at him, waiting for him to make some sort of decision. He hated to give up now and it worried him that Sirius was out there somewhere with the Morthahg and Professor Zephyr after him. He looked out into the mist again. It seemed to swirl in the breeze, for a moment taking the shape of a hooded figure then fading out. He remembered his first trip into the forest and felt the back of his neck tingle.

..... “All right,” he said finally. “We’ll go back. I just wish there was more we could do.”

..... “We can ask Hagrid if Buckbeak is well enough to fly,” Hermione said, slipping her hankie into an inner pocket. “He’d be sure to find Sirius too, and will be a help if he’s in trouble.”

..... That thought cheered Harry somewhat. As he followed Hermione back into the mist toward her last marker, he was already planning on maybe riding out with Buckbeak if the hippogriff could manage his weight. If Hagrid will let him go at all, he added to himself. And how are we going to explain to him why a cold windy night would be good exercise for Buckbeak in the first place?

..... “I saw something!” Ron said suddenly, his voice going a touch higher than normal. He stopped, pointing into the forest. Harry and Hermione peered in that direction but saw nothing in the shifting fogs.

..... “I did!” Ron insisted before they could even say so. “It was big, but it moved quickly...”

..... “How big?” Harry asked, thinking of Aragog or one of his monstrous children. Ron raised one arm over his head to illustrate, wide-eyed.

..... “Maybe a centaur?” Hermione suggested.

..... “Let’s hope,” Harry muttered. “We’d better keep moving.” But he kept a better eye on the mist on either side of them. Unconsciously, they all began to hurry. Hermione trotted ahead of them, scouting out the glowing violet markers she’d left along the way. Suddenly, she stopped, spreading her arms out for balance.

..... “What is it?” Harry asked quickly, stumbling to a stop. Ron nearly collided with him. Hermione gestured wildly at them to be quiet, tilting her head to listen. The boys fell silent to hear whatever she was listening for. There was a deep and distant rumble from under the ground, as if a huge, burning train was passing below their feet.

..... "That can't be good," muttered Ron. He backed away to lean against a tree, only to jump away from it with a yelp. Harry and Hermione both flinched at the sudden sound in the quiet.

..... "What?" snapped Harry, annoyed at being startled.

..... "It's hot," Ron said, looking from his hand to the tree in disbelief.

..... "How could it be?" asked Hermione coming over for a look. She tapped the tree with her fingers and pulled them back with a hiss of pain.

..... "See??" Ron demanded. Harry tapped the trunk with his wand. It made a hollow sound and he squinted up through the fog at the dead branches over him. The tree was very obviously dead. There probably hadn't been a leaf on it in years. Somewhere up in its dry branches there was a spark of red. He blinked and waited for it to happen again. A few moments passed and his companions fell to bickering again and then a new handful of tiny crimson sparkles appeared.

..... They were gone before he could draw attention to them, and not wanting to explain or argue, he stuck his wand in his back pocket and jumped for the lowest branch. Ron and Hermione both paused in their griping to stare at him. He set his feet against the trunk, feeling the heat through the soles, and pushed himself high enough to reach the second branch. After a moment, Ron started up after him.

..... "What are you after?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms.

..... "This thing is more of a chimney than a tree," Harry called back. "I'm going to see how far down it goes."

..... "Why not just levitate yourself up then?" she asked next. Ron made an irritated sound, but didn't answer. Harry didn't answer, because he could see a pale glow a little higher in the branches. He clambored over, slipping on some loose bark that went raining down on Ron, a few branches below.

..... "Sorry," he said. Ron just grunted, blinking at a piece that had gone in his eye. Harry pulled himself up to see a hole into the tree's hollow. Faint light came from it, barely lighting up the mist that had made it that high. He grabbed for the rim and had to let go it immediatly after when it burned his fingers.

..... "Smart," sighed Ron. "You know, at least when I got burned, it was BEFORE anyone knew that it was hot." Harry ignored that and scooted along his branch to peer down into the hollow He got a rush of hot air in his face, making his glasses fog over. He had to take them off to wipe them clean and in that time, Ron managed to climb up next to him. There was a wooshing sound as Hermione levitated up and stepped neatly onto a branch on the other side of the hole.

..... "It DOES look like a chimney," she admitted peering down into it. WIth his glasses back on, Harry shouldered Ron and they all tried to peek in at once. The tree WAS hollow and where it stopped at the ground, there was a shaft through the dirt, some fifteen feet lower. At the very bottom bubbled a cauldron full of some pale,churning liquid.

..... "Who would be working magic underground in the Forbidden Forest??" whispered Ron.

..... "Perhaps it's a hermit wizard," suggested Hermione, also whispering. "I read that Shelby the Shy lived in isolation on a mountaintop in Tibet for more than 60 years until some sort of llama infestation."

..... "Llamas," a new voice said from the bottom of the shaft. "Are not from Tibet."

..... All three of them stared down as a pot cover was plunked over the bubbling cauldron by a hand wearing a large blue oven mit. The top part of someone's body leaned, too silhoutted against the magical flames for them to make out and peered back up at them. "I can prove it," it went on. "Come down and see." They looked at each other and back down at the shadow.

..... "Who are you?" asked Harry.

..... "Weiss," it answered, seeming pleased at so simple a question. "Are you going to lurk up there like squid, or be on your way, or come down?"

..... "Squid?" repeated Ron.

..... "Yes," the voice answered just as firmly. "Squid LURK. You are lurking as a squid might. Lurking like a squid."

..... Harry was trying to place the voice. He felt certain he'd heard it before, but only in that odd 'should-have' way that he felt his scar should hurt when the Morthahg appeared. He didn't know anyone named Weiss, though, that he could remember.

..... "All right," he said, deciding. "I'll come down. Is there a door?"

..... "Several," said Weiss. But none lead to where you are. Best just come down the chimney."

..... "It's much too hot," protested Hermione.

..... "Haven't you any mits?" Weiss shook a protected hand at them.

..... "He's completely loony," Ron whispered, leaning away from the chimney. An indignant "I am NOT!" floated up. "We should go back."

..... "Haven't you noticed that nothing that happens to us is coincidental?" Hermione hissed back. "Perhaps he knows something about what's been going on."

..... "Listen," Harry said, before Ron could argue. "You two levitate me down and I'll see what he's like. That way, one of you can get me up and the other can go for help if something goes wrong."

..... "You're sure?" Hermione asked. He nodded and put his wand up in his sleeve just to be safe. ROn looked reluctant, but he stood by as Harry let himself be levitated down. The heat closed in on him and it should've been pleasant after the cold forest. He kept his arms close to his sides and his legs close together so they wouldn't touch the walls on either side of him. As he got closer to the bottom, he could smell something, almost sweet, but closer to the smell of decay. FInally, his feet touched the covered cauldron top and he ducked to hop onto the hearthstone. He found himself in a small and very crowded room, more like a den. The ceiling was all dirt and tree roots, as were the walls. The floor, however was stone. There was a battered chest of drawers and wardrobe taking up most of one half of the cave. The rest had a table and was lined with shelves. There were a few books and bottles piled on them, but mostly there was clutter. Harry had never seen such a mess.

..... There was a fishbowl so murky that you almost couldn't see the one, very fat fish inside. It had no room to do more than flick its fins, probably more out of habit than anything. There were various dried plants, a few clinging to life and some still in the clay pots they had died in. There was a small painting of a little girl that had moss growing on one corner of it, a collection of perfectly normal-looking rocks, some feathers tied into bundles like makeshift dusters, bits of rags, shed snakeskins, an empty hornet's nest, a few old bones that were too small to be worrisome, and someone's very old boot. Most horribly, there was a basket filled with dead birds and small rodents under the table. The smell was explained.

..... Odd as all that was, Weiss himself was even stranger. Harry turned from the cave to its occupant and then stood staring. Weiss was as transparent as a ghost inside of his clothes, which were solid enough. He also looked exactly like the Elmskill Headmaster Ficus must have 10 years earlier. That's why his voice was familiar, it was Ficus' as well, only without the smokey rasp to it.

..... "Well done," it said, patting him on the head with the mitted hand.

..... "Weiss?" Harry tried. "Weiss Ficus?"

..... "Indeed," the maybe-ghost said happily. "Though it makes my solid self angry to think I call myself that."

..... "Who are you then? You can't be a ghost. Ficus isn't dead....Is he?" Harry had taken a nervous backward step towards the fireplace again. The ghostly Ficus smiled sadly at him and went to rummage in the basket.

..... "I'm his reflection," it sighed. "He broke the mirror and I had to leave it. It's hard to keep moving from place to place." It plucked a large dead crow from the pile and dropped it down on the table. Around the room, there was rustling and stirring and to Harry's shock, several ugly little monsters stepped out of various hiding places. They were all badly assembled little creatures, and Harry didn't need Hermione there to tell him what they were: Ichlings. Magically created beasts outlawed because they never turned out right or for the best, not once in the whole history of magic. While Harry watched aghast, the reflection scooped up a tattered doll that looked like it had belonged to one of the merpeople in the lake and laid it beside the dead bird. Other things were added, but Harry couldn't tell what they were. All were dumped into the reopened cauldron. The reflection then grabbed the poor fish (it was a struggle, what with the size of the fish in the bowl and the fact that he was still wearing an oven mitt). Harry made a sound of protest as it too was tossed into the mix. Then, there was an eerie splashing and a new ichling crawled out of the pot. He heard a squeak from Hermione, up the chimney as it crawled out out into the floor and shook itself. It was horrible. It had a lumpy misshapen body like the rag doll, scales and cold, bulgy eyes like the fish, and the grasping feet and wings of the crow. It gave those wings an experimental flap, looked around with what might have been contempt, then flew clumsily to sit in its filthy bowl again. Harry had no idea what to say.

..... "It's not very good," the reflection admitted. "But I don't have much to work with...Just the things that the other little ones find and bring me." He gave the nearest ichling a fond pat on the head with the now-damp oven mitt.

..... "Bring-a-thing," it said in a froggy voice.

..... "And very well too," crooned the reflection. "All my little ones!"

..... "But why make them at all?" asked Harry, finding his voice at last. He inched back from one that had suddenly become interested in his shoelaces.

..... "Well...for company," the reflection seemed hurt. "And because they want to live. EVERYTHING wants to live, don't they?" A strange forlorn look came over his face, like a dog that realizes its owner had abandoned it a long time before. "Even if they aren't the original. So I put them together and bring them to life. But they need blood to live and I don't have any." He nodded at his transparent wrists sticking out of the mitts. "My real self has to give me some and he does...when he visits."

..... "How do you touch things if you're...not real?" Harry asked, hoping he wouldn't offend.

..... "The mitts are real," Weiss said happily. "If I wear them, they can touch things."

..... "But...how do you keep the mitts on? If your hands aren't solid?"

..... "It took a long time to learn," he said with some pride. "But I did."

..... "Where does your 'real self' GET the blood he brings you?" Hermione's voice came winging down the chimney. Harry straightened. He hadn't even thought of that, torn between pity and revulsion over the ichling story.

..... "I...don't know," confessed Weiss. This question seemed to give him a real pause. But then, ringing click chimed from one of the cave openings and Weiss jumped. A rumbling vibration shook the walls, sloshing smelly water out from under the youngest ichling.

..... "What is THAT?" Harry asked.

..... "The Morthahg," whispered Weiss, becoming more transparent in his fear. "It doesn't like being cooped up. It doesn't like 'no'. It knows I'm here, it knows the little ones are here. It killed one already, it wants to kill us all, to burn and burn until there's nothing left. It can only die happy when there's nothing left but its own ashes."

..... "What?" Harry felt a surge of panic and heard a gasp from up the chimney. Weiss panicked very quietly. He fluttered his mittened hands, taking a few steps in one direction than another while the ichlings cowered around his ankles.

..... "Why would it be HERE?" Harry asked, trying to get out of his way.

..... "Like draws to like and hate draws to hate," Weiss muttered, clutching a few ichlings in his sleeves. "It follows my real self, so he's here too." The reflection seemed to brighten. "Maybe he's brought more supplies."

..... "I'd better go then," said Harry, trying to keep an eye on all of the other doors at once. He picked up the cauldron cover and put it back on.

..... "That's probably for the best," Weiss agreed, a little disappointed to see him go.

..... "Tuck your elbows in, Harry," Hermione whispered and in a moment he was being levitated back up the steaming chimney to get the breath slapped out of him by a gust of frigid wind. Ron and Hermione's teeth were chattering from it already.

..... "THAT was weird," said Harry climbing down. They pressed him for information and he described it all as best he could as they hurried back along the trail of glowing markers. Finally, the castle was in view and they snuck inside to rub some feeling back into their ears. They had missed dinner so the stopped by the kitchen to fill their pockets with sandwiches and baked potatoes.

..... "We should tell Dumbledore about Ficus," Hermione said as they went down the hall. "In case he doesn't suspect." Unfortunately for that plan, Professor McGonagall found the first.

..... "What on earth are doing out here?" she asked them, and then narrowed her eyes and stepped closer. "Look at you three! You're as red as lobsters. You've been outside at THIS hour in THIS weather??"

..... "We were looking for Snuffles!" Harry blurted quickly. "I mean Fumbles!The,uh, delivery witch's dog?"

..... "You needn't worry over that creature," McGonagall sighed. "Familiars have a knack for locating their owners. Why she left him here with you so long is beyond me though...But enough, back to your house." She shooed them along and they went. Safely inside the common room, they sat and ate and tried to think of what to do next.

..... "Send Hedwig," Hermione said again. "We'll never get out to Hagrid's with Professor McGonagall on hall duty." She stood up and dusted off her robes, handing Harry the paper on ichlings that she'd been carrying for Sirius. "I'm going to go talk to Chloe and see what she knows about her Headmaster." She waved them both goodnight and went up to the girls' dorms. Ron borrowed some paper and a quill from Seamus, who was sitting by the fire, and brought them over to Harry.

..... "One for Dumbledore and one for,uh,Snumbles." he said. "It was bad enough when I just had to keep one nickname straight." Harry grinned at him and began to write out the notes. He wrote both letters all about the reflection of Weiss Ficus, and the Morthahg and the ichlings. In Sirius' he added Hermione's research. He and Ron walked up together to their dorm and gave the messages to Hedwig. She was glad to get out of her cage and blinked happily in the cold air as they opened the window.

..... "Sorry to send you out on a night like this," Harry told her. "But it's important." She fluffed her feathers at him and was gone in a woosh of displaced air. Harry closed the window and sat on his bed. Ron sat on his and they looked at each other.

..... "Hermione was right again." Ron sighed. "Everything that happens around us becomes a crisis. Have you noticed?" Harry snorted on a laugh. It was true, but there was nothing more to be done just then. Hopefully, morning would tell them something new.