The boys apparated next to Daphne with a loud Crack.
Draco had gone through it before, so he was still alright.
However, Harry and Ron had never been through this feeling earlier.
The moment they landed on their feet, their knees buckled and they vomited. Their minds spun as if someone was spinning them round and round.
Their stomach was rising to their throats, the acids burning their insides.
"What the heck?!" Ron cursed, wiping his mouth. This was much worse than traveling through Floo Network.
Harry clenched his teeth, holding his glasses.
From the other side, Daphne eyed the boys who had come out of nowhere.
She was bleeding all over, the bites flashing on her flesh. Pikachu had stopped calling out to her a while ago, making her realize that the magical creature must have vanished.
Yet, this sight shocked the thoughts out of her.
"How…" Daphne wondered aloud.
Looking at her, Draco frowned.
The senses picking up on everything within his mind hadn't stopped. With every moment, he kept feeling them, experiencing them, and examining them.
A headache was boiling within his skull, Draco felt, squinting his eyes.
Acute Perception would soon run out!
The fact birthed a sense of urgency within the young Malfoy.
"Let's go…" Draco said, not answering Daphne's doubts.
From the floor, Harry and Ron looked at Draco with disbelief. "No. Wait…" they said together. Too late.
Draco grabbed the three of them and spun out of existence.
Crack!
…
Daphne didn't vomit.
Unlike Ron, she must have used Floo Network hundreds of times at least, traveling from her home to Darcie's.
It wasn't the same as Apparation, but enough quantity overwhelmed quality eventually.
She grabbed her head slightly and looked at the boys retching again. How was Draco doing this? It was impossible.
Hermione looked exhausted, dotted with bite marks. It seemed like there was a limit to her Werewolf transformation and for how long she could maintain it.
Seeing them apparating next to her, Hermione worded Daphne's thoughts. "You can't Apparate within Hogwarts!"
Draco's head was pounding. "Just… one… more…"
Harry and Ron gritted their teeth as Malfoy grabbed them all before the dozens of Gytrashes could pounce on them, their growling deafening their ears.
With another Crack, the impossible happened again.
…
Harry and Ron patted Hermione's after she was done with it.
Her ears were puffing as if she would become a werewolf in the very next moment. She looked up and threw a nasty stare toward Draco.
Draco, on the other hand, was grabbing his head with both hands.
It was like huge hammers were striking his skull from within.
"Are you OK?" Daphne asked.
"Shut up!" Draco spat.
They all frowned.
No. He wasn't OK, it seemed.
The mean, rich ass was back. Harry and Ron looked at each other and thought the same wordlessly.
After a moment, the children realized where they had arrived.
They were standing against a door with thick smoke boiling behind them.
Harry and others wanted to ask Draco how he brought them here, but, seeing the outburst, they knew better not to bring it up now.
So, giving it no other thought, Harry reached and opened the door.
And when they saw a large table laden with ingredients, cauldrons, and vials, the five let out a rare breath of relief.
Finally.
No more fighting their way out of this room at least.
As if the very thought was ill, purple flames shot up barring their way out. Simultaneously, black flames covered the entrance leading to the next chamber.
"We are trapped…" Ron mumbled.
"Great!" Draco scoffed, grabbing his head. "Feels like your home, isn't it?"
"Can you not say anything?" Harry asked, dumbfounded how mean the Malfoy had become after using the Spell. "What's gotten into you?!"
Draco didn't deign to answer. He frowned and walked up to the table. His frown deepened.
The two boys and two girls picked up on Draco's expression, their hearts thumping. What now?!
When they all neared the table, there was a paper on it.
No poem.
No warning.
The paper held two recipes, named Purple and Black.
The list of ingredients, with detailed measurements and instructions, was staring right back at them.
"So we just have to brew the potions?!" Harry asked, stunned.
Wasn't it simple?
Why was Draco frowning then?!
Ron thought so, too, for he nodded at Harry.
Hermione, Daphne, and Draco's lips twitched, though. Just?! Just?!!
"Harry…" Daphne said, taking it upon herself. "… how are we going to measure the right amount of ingredients…"
Silence.
Harry and Ron almost facepalmed.
"It's not the only issue," Draco said, feeling that the headache was easing out somehow.
He pointed at the ingredients and then matched the ingredients with the recipes given.
Since childhood, because of Darcie, he had been practicing Potioneering. It was less because of interest and more because of his father's insistence on his presence.
Regardless, among the children, Draco could be considered the best when it came to potions.
As he matched the ingredients, Hermione and Daphne's faces went blank.
Harry and Ron kept their mouths shut this time.
They knew something was wrong, but what?
Draco looked at them and the corner of his mouth twitched again. "So when you two said Hogwarts is like a home, you really wanted it to happen, didn't you?"
Harry and Ron looked at each other, still now knowing what was going on.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"The ingredients!" she pointed out to them. "Enough to brew Purple potion 10 times. But we can brew Black potion one time only. Which means… we can't afford any error."
Daphne caught something else then. "Look," she said, pointing at the burnt marks on the table. "Someone destroyed the ingredients."
Ron made an O with his mouth.
Draco nodded. "Must have left a batch in a hurry."
The children went silent, knowing not how to proceed.
Harry took a deep breath.
"I will go forward," he said and pressed on upon seeing the sneer dancing on Draco's mouth. "No. Listen. Go back. I am sure the Smokescreen must have gone otherwise why give potions to return."
That made sense.
Seeing them quiet, Harry continued, "Write to Dumbledore and ask him to come back. I can hold off whoever's behind that door, but not for too long. I was lucky once against Voldemort…"
Ron flinched.
Draco threw a stare at Ron. "Seriously?"
"Anyway…" Harry jumped in, "… I am sure I will get lucky again."
They all looked at Harry as if he had gone mad. But they didn't have any choice, either.
It didn't matter if Harry was just being brave or he was stepping up knowing there was only one potion leading forward.
For a moment, they all felt a sense of braveness when they looked at Harry.
All except Draco, of course. "Nice try, Potter," he spat. "I will let you go over my dead body…"
Whack!
Draco's eyes rolled back into his head.
Hermione grabbed him before he could fall and gently laid him down on the floor. Then she stood up and nodded to herself.
"…?"
"…?"
"…?"
Ron leaned into Harry's ear. "She's scary…"
Daphne was looking at Hermione in a new light, too.
"Well…" Daphne said, trying not to look at Draco, "… you are very brave, Harry. No, truly. But… it would only work if we could brew the potions in the first place."
"Oh, I didn't think that," Hermione admitted, shocking others. "Should I wake him up?"
"No!" Daphne and the boys replied together.
Hermione shrugged.
"Umm…" They looked at Ron, who was looking paler than before.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"I can help…" Ron told them. "… With measurements."
Harry's eyes lit up. He knew what Ron meant. "Don't be afraid," he said. "It will be over before you know it."
Ron felt the eyes on him. He didn't want to do it.
Still, if Harry was brave enough to go alone… he must do his part, too.
"Spell…" Ron mumbled, steeling his heart.
A yellow crystal danced in his left eye, controlling the nano-biobots within, and the ordinary world toppled in Ron's sight, becoming numbers and curves.
"… Mecha Eye!"
**************
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