Basilisk Eyes

Chapter 144: Oracle bones

"Little Friend! Wait, I want to go with you!" Harry shouted after the snake, his fingers scrambling at the hole, his body stretched out into the corridor. He couldn't even fit his hand in the hole, let alone his whole body. The air that was pouring through the hole was so cold that it nearly burned Harry's hands... he didn't know how Nio was able to move, let alone whip into the hole so effortlessly.

Perhaps because he wasn't magical?

"What's going on Harry?" Healer Jordan asked, her hand on his shoulder, while Auror Robards cursed as he tripped over Harry's legs and ran into Septima, who cried out in alarm.

"Little Friend has gone into the tunnel. There's a tiny hole here." Harry pulled Healer Jordan's hand from his shoulder and guided it to the hole where the wall met the floor at a corner, likely hidden from sight by the molding around a door frame.

"Oi. That's freezing. Ah! I wonder... Auror Robards... would an opening this small be all that's needed to create a null zone here?"

"What opening? It's too dark to see anything. Lumos! Bullocks!"

"Kneel down here and feel it," Healer Jordan said in her calm voice, though with less patience than she usually had for the residents.

Harry scooted out of the way so that the Auror could get a sense of the hole and thankful to get away from the blast of frigid air. He stood up near Septima and Figora who were both shuffling. Harry could hear Figora's distinctive wheezing breath closer to him.

"How are you feeling, Figora? Is the cloak still helping?" Harry asked.

"Yes, it is..."

"Cripes! I didn't know you were right there!" Septima squeaked.

"... brilliant. What a powerful magical object! Does anyone else need to duck under it with me?" Figora continued over Septima's outburst.

"I'm fine," Harry said, biting back his worry for Little Friend.

"Me, too. Though, I about had a heart attack. I had no idea you were right there," Septima breathed.

"Brr. That's cold. I suppose there is another similar breach on the other side of the corridor," Auror Robards said, shivering and brushing the sand off his hands as he sat back on his heels. "How are we supposed to find it now that the snake has disappeared, we have no magic, and it is pitch black down here?"

"I'll look for it!" Harry said, and started walking across the corridor to the other wall. He tried snapping his fingers to listen to the echo to determine how far away he was from the wall, but his hands were too cold and he couldn't get them to work properly. He rubbed them together and thought about traveling back to his pile of stuff and finding his jumper. As he thought, he stopped in the middle of the corridor and tapped his staff on the floor.

"Oi! The floor here... it is hollow underneath," Harry announced over his shoulder as he tapped the floor, listening to the difference between the hollow space and the solidness around it. Forgetting about how cold he was, he continued to tap the floor and advanced, figuring out that there was a pathway created by a tunnel under the corridor. Healer Jordan found him, her heeled boots made the sound difference more obvious, though her steps were more hesitant than usual. He tapped her hand and she took his elbow. The corners of his mouth turned up at the role reversal.

They followed the hollow sound to another spot down the corridor on the opposite wall. When they reached the wall, Harry got down on his hands and knees and started feeling around the crevices until he found a hole with an augury of cold air creating a halo of fine dust on the floor. He rubbed his hands on his trousers to rid them of the dust.