Harry Potter: The Other Side of the Mirror

Disclaimer:

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.

I own nothing but the original characters I make.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 31: The Underwater Cave

The air was especially cold tonight, for some reason, but the half moon offered just enough light to move around the castle grounds without the need for further assistance.

Harry and Daphne stood at the edge of the Black Lake, their breath misting in the air.

The only sounds they could hear out there were the ice creaking and groaning as it shifted against the shore.

"Ready?. We only have an hour before curfew." Harry asked.

"The potion effect is only going to last ten minutes, so that won't be a problem," Daphne said.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Harry asked her. "You can wait for me here if you w-"

Before he could finish the sentence, she had already drunk the potion.

"Hurry," she urged him.

Harry hurried to drink his dose of the Deep-Water Draught.

The thick liquid was cold and tasted metallic. It felt like drinking liquid silver.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then...a wave of warmth flooded their chests, spreading through their limbs, wrapping around their skin like a second layer.

Next, the translucent barrier began to form around them.

They had to walk for a bit until they found a place where the ice was much thinner, and they could create a hole large enough for them to pass.

"Reducto." Dapnhe fired a spell at the ice, and it imploded.

"Whoa...you have to teach me that one," Harry said, looking very impressed with her skills.

"We will need to make another hole to get out." She pointed at the water. "Go on."

"Okay... let's do this." Harry stepped into the water first.

Harry stepped into the water first, looked down, and jumped into the icy lake.

The first thing he felt was the cold, but it quickly became muffled by the potion effect, and the warmth in his chest became more pronounced.

He sank beneath the surface, and the world turned dark and green.

Daphne followed a moment later. Her pale hair drifted around her face like seaweed, and her amber eyes were wide with wonder and fear. She raised her wand.

"Lumos."

The tip glowed, pushing back the shadows. Harry did the same, and together they swam into the depths.

The lake was alive with movement.

Schools of silver fish darted past, startled by the light. Weeds swayed in the current, their long tendrils reaching for them.

Harry kept his wand pointed forward, illuminating the murky water.

A Grindylow appeared from behind a rock...a small, horned creature with long, bony fingers and yellow teeth. It hissed and lunged.

Harry swung his wand. "Repello Minoris!"

The creature shrieked and fled, disappearing into the darkness.

"DADA?" Daphne asked, her voice muffled by the barrier.

"Yes, I thought it could come in handy," Harry said. "Let's keep moving."

They swam deeper. The water grew colder and darker. The ice above them was a distant grey ceiling, cracked in places where the moonlight filtered through.

Then something massive moved beneath them.

Harry froze. A dark shape rose from the depths. It was an enormous creature with countless tentacles and a single gleaming eye the size of a dinner plate.

The giant squid.

"Dont move," Daphne muttered. "And point your wand away. Dont make it angry."

Harry did as she told him.

The squid drifted past them, looking slow and indifferent to their presence, its tentacles trailing behind like great, grey snakes.

Harry held his breath while Daphne grabbed his arm. He could tell that despite the confidence in her voice, she was as scared as he was.

The squid disappeared into the darkness, and they were able to continue.

As they got closer to the shore, Harry spotted some of the dead tree roots that were visible even from underwater. He recognized the thick, gnarled fingers reaching into the water.

This was the spot where they had found a piece of Parkinson's tie, so it was the most likely place to locate some clues about the whereabouts of his body.

Harry pointed at the spot, and Daphne nodded.

They swam towards the lakebed, where the roots met the stone. And...found something peculiar.

There was a dark opening in the rock, barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through.

It looked like there was a cave right beneath where the dead tree stood.

Harry went first, pulling himself through the narrow gap. The stone scraped against his barrier, but the magic held.

Daphne followed, her robes snagging for a moment before she wriggled free.

Inside, the cave opened into a large pocket of air.

Harry and Daphne resurfaced, only to find themselves inside a large stone chamber.

"Potter, this is..." Daphne had not expected to find something like this inside the Black Lake. "This was not mentioned in any of the books I read."

"A secret cave then." Harry glanced around the dark chamber.

The walls were rough and damp, covered in patches of glowing green moss. Stalactites hung from the ceiling like stone teeth.

Harry raised his wand higher. The light spilled across the chamber.

And he saw it.

At the far end of the cave, chained to a large, flat rock, was a body.

The body of an older boy.

"Parkinson..." Harry muttered. It had to be him.

Despite being dead for almost a year, the body still looked fresh, as if it had been preserved by the cold.

His skin was pale and waxy, and his long black hair spread around him like a dark halo.

He wore the tattered remains of his Slytherin robes, and a silver prefect badge still gleamed on his chest.

But what made Harry's blood run cold was his face.

His mouth was sealed shut by a strip of parchment covered in tiny, intricate runes. They glowed faintly, pulsing with dark magic. More runes were carved into the stone around the chamber...on the walls, the ceiling, the rock where he was chained.

"What is that for?" Harry asked.

Daphne narrowed her eyes. "Potter...why do I feel like there was still something you didn't tell me?"

Harry made a troubled expression. He opened his mouth to talk, but before he could say a word, something emerged from his body.

A translucent figure rose in the air and hovered above them.

"There is a ghost too..." Harry said.

"I can see that," Daphne frowned.

"Sorry."

His features were sharper than in life, his eyes darker, but there was no mistaking him.

However, the moment the ghost tried to move towards them, the runes in the chamber flared up.

The expression on the ghost's face suddenly morphed into a silent scream, and his translucent body started to convulse.

"What is happening to him?"

Daphne looked at the symbols on the walls. "It's a rune cluster...I dont know much about the subject, but it seems to be restricting the ghost, preventing it from going too far away from the chains."

The runes on the walls pulsed, and the ghost was dragged back towards his corpse, forced to remain close.

Harry understood. "I see...the runes are what's keeping him trapped. They stop him from leaving, from speaking, and from getting help."

That would explain why the ghost had such a hard time communicating and would only appear for a short time before disappearing.

Those short appearances that Harry experienced must have required all of his energy.

Daphne's horror turned to fury. "Who would do something like this?"

"Someone who didn't want the truth to come out," Harry responded.

The ghost raised a trembling hand and pointed.

Harry followed his gesture to a cluster of chains near the rock. Tangled in the links was a torn piece of fabric. It was burgundy wool with a bright yellow stripe and a golden lion.

"That's from a Gryffindor jumper." Daphne pointed out. "Did a student do this?"

Harry took the fabric in his hands and noticed an embroidered letter "G" in it. "The name must start with G."

"Evidence," she said. "Keep it safe."

Harry tucked it into his robes before turning his eyes back to the ghost. "Alistair...can you tell us what happened? Who killed you?"

The ghost pointed to the rune-sealed parchment over his mouth.

"The seal," Harry said. "We need to remove it."

He reached for the parchment. The moment his fingers touched it, the runes flared brighter, burning his skin through the barrier. He hissed but did not let go and pulled harder. "Ahh!"

The runes flickered as the parchment was torn away.

Alistair's ghost gasped and brought his hands to his throat. When he spoke, his voice sounded faint but clear. "Thank you..."

"Potter, we don't have much time," Daphne warned. "The potion is running low. Four minutes, maybe less."

Harry nodded. "Alistair, I need to know what happened...who did this to you?"

The ghost's eyes darkened. "I was investigating the third-floor corridor. I knew Dumbledore was hiding something there; I heard rumors about that place. That led to some kind of dungeon. I managed to unlock the door and was about to go inside when…"

"When?" Harry pressed for an answer.

"It was the Weasley twins. They appeared out of nowhere. They were on patrol...Junior Inquisitors, they called themselves. They said I was breaking the rules and dragged me to the Chief Inquisitor."

Daphne's hands clenched. "McGonagall?"

"She didn't hurt me. She just… looked at me with disappointment in her eyes, she said I was a traitor like my father. Then she sent for Dumbledore." The ghost's voice trembled. "He came into the office. He looked at me with those cold blue eyes, and he said… he said, 'You should have known what happens to those who break the rules, Mister Parkinson.'"

"Then what?"

"Then...I don't remember. There was a green light. And then… I woke up here...looking like this." Parkinson looked down at his ghostly body. "I saw my corpse...chained to the walls of this cave. I couldn't speak or leave this chamber for more than a few minutes at the time, before I was dragged back. It took me months of practice before I could even enter the castle."

"Why did you come to me?. Why not try to speak with your sister?. Pansy had been looking for you. She had been trying to find out what happened to her older brother."

"I tried!. But...she couldn't hear me. No one could hear me..." The ghost glanced at Harry. "Only you..."

"Potter!" Daphne exclaimed. "The potion is wearing off. We must hurry."

He glanced down at himself. The translucent shield was starting to shrink and press against his body. Daphne was right, the time was almost up.

"Go, before it's too late," the ghost said. "You must not become trapped in here."

Harry nodded. He looked at Alistair one last time. "We'll come back with Pansy next time. She will want to see you."

The ghost's eyes glistened. "Thank you..." The ghost began to fade, and then he vanished.

Harry and Daphne jumped back into the water and swam as fast as they could.

The surface was nearby, but the layer of ice was very thick at the shore.

The barrier was weakening...Harry could feel it thinning, the cold beginning to seep through.

Daphne was ahead of him, her wand aimed upwards. "Reducto!" She poured as much magic as she could, forming a large hole in the ice.

She pulled herself out of the cold waters, and Harry arrived immediately after.

They reached the shore and crawled out of the ice, gasping.

The barriers dissolved, and the freezing air hit them like a wall.

Harry lay on his back, shivering, the torn jumper clutched in his hand.

"That was close..."

"Yes, too close." Daphne sighed.

"But we found him."

"We need to tell Pansy about this. She needs to see the cave...and say goodbye to her brother."

Harry lifted the torn piece of fabric. "We also have some evidence that Weasley Twins were involved in his disappearance."

Daphne narrowed her eyes. "Forget about that, Harry."

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