As she started to stand, Lockhart suddenly rushed her. Neville yelled attempting to fire a stunner at him but the shot went wild. Harry and Daphne drew their wands towards the man but he twisted back away from Shiva with his broken wand in hand before they could do anything. "Such a shame that you all were killed by the basilisk. This will make a perfect end to my newest book," Lockhart said with a manic grin. He started to slash his wand down.
Shiva yelled out, "Protego!"
At the same time as a luminous shield sprang into existence in front of the group, Lockhart screamed out, "Obliviate!" His spell shot out from both ends of his wand. One beam struck Lockhart sending him into the wall of tunnel. The second beam hit Shiva's shield and rebounded into the ceiling. A spreading crack was all the warning the group had before a large section of ceiling shattered and gigantic pieces of rock crashed into the corridor. Harry dove, knocking Daphne out of the way of the debris, both students holding their hands over their heads as the dust settled and the rumbling stopped.
Picking himself up, Harry turned back to the newly formed blockage. Daphne was the only other one he could see. "Shiva! Neville!" Harry yelled frantically throwing some of the smaller rocks back. 'Please let them be okay. Please let them be okay. Please let them be okay.' He didn't know who he was praying to, but prayed anyway.
"Harry!" a muffled voice yelled back. "Harry! Are you okay? Is Daphne alright?" Harry breathed a sigh of relief at hearing Shiva's voice. He looked over at Daphne who coughed and gave him a thumbs up.
"Yeah, we're fine, Shiva! Are you okay? Is Neville alright?"
"I'm fine, Harry!" Neville's reply was just as muffled as Shiva's. "Looks like Lockhart brought down the ceiling. One rock hit him in the crotch as it fell. Serves the bugger right." Now that Neville mentioned it...Harry could dimly make out a sort of muffled groan.
"Harry, stay there, I'm going to try to shift some of these rocks," Shiva said. A few moments later there was a soft crash as some of the boulders moved and the ceiling groaned. Harry could hear soft cursing coming from the other side of the barrier. "Bloody freaking hell! Okay guys, I'm going to have to shore up the ceiling as I shift this stuff. I'll add some runes into the supports to make sure it holds but it's still going to take close to hour to get through this shite."
Daphne snarled and grabbed Harry's arm. "We can't wait that long! Tracey could be dying!"
Harry looked between his…friend…and the cave-in. Eventually he sighed and nodded at her. "Shiva, Daphne and I will keep going. You guys catch up when you can."
"What the bloody hell!? Don't you bloody dare you git! You two stay right – "
"Shiva!" Harry yelled back cutting her off. "We came down here without waiting for the others because Tracey's in danger! We'll be careful but we can't afford to just sit here and wait!"
"I don't give a rat's arse about that you little shite! I have not been looking out for you for the past two years or fighting to get custody for the last year just for you to run off and get yourself killed and eaten by a BLOODY BASILISK! YOU HEAR ME HARRY! YOU STAY RIGHT THERE UNTIL I GET THROUGH THIS!"
"But Tracey could be - " Harry tried.
"I don't know Tracey! I know you! I care about you! It's bad enough I let you convince me to bring you down here! You can't run off on me like this, Harry! Not now! Not ever!"
Having someone yell at Harry because they cared about him was an entirely new experience to the boy. Even Hermione hadn't ever really raised her voice to him quite like this. He cringed a huge feeling of guilt settling onto his shoulders.
"Listen to me, Harry. This isn't a cerberus lulled by music or a troll you can hit with a club or an exploding rune. This is a bloody basilisk. A creature a thousand years old with venom strong enough to kill you with a single drop and a stare that spells instant death. If you and Daphne go forward without us in all likelihood you will die!"
Daphne grabbed his hand and drew his gaze into her eyes. "Please, Potter. I can't leave her there...please..."
Harry took a shuddering breath, squared his shoulders and turned back to the cave-in. "Shiva...what if it was me in there? Would you want someone to wait while they could maybe save me by going ahead?"
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