Chris landed softly on solid ground but her surroundings were still dark. After a mont, her dizziness went away and she felt better.
"Maybe you are The Chosen One by the Founders of Great Hogwarts but are you worthy or not is still up to ," The sa voice as before vibrated around Chris, making her jump in the dark.
She whipped around in the dark but her eyes just saw pitch-black darkness, nothing else.
"Who are you?" Chris yelled angrily.
"I am the one you were seeking so desperately. All your quests and trials had always ant to lead you here," the voice vibrated all around again as if the darkness itself was speaking back to Chris.
But Chris was not amused by this. The vision or illusion about Malgino winning was still fresh in her mind.
"You created the world where Malgino won and I joined him?" Chris asked looking mad. "What's the aning of this?"
"You saw a world I created from your fear or belief, whatever you like to call it. As you have already understood, it was a test," The voice replied.
"Why? What was the test for?"
"To know if the great four chose right. Anyway, we are here in the darkness for a long ti. Why don't you step forward and bring us light?"
"I can do that?" Chris asked surprised.
"You have a wand, don't you?" The voice mocked.
Chris was embarrassed. How could she forget? She quickly pulled out her wand from her pocket and turned on the wand light but the small light from her wand barely made any progress in the infinite abyss. Feeling confused she looked around and heard the voice chuckle lightly.
"Forgive , I was just trying to make a joke," the voice said and suddenly the place was lit by light orbs.
Chris looked around and realized where she was. She was standing in that lane leading out of the small round space where she and her friends landed. In a split second, everything ca back to her. Her friends were still there fighting who knows what. For a mont, Chris considered running back but then she looked forward. The lane was leading her sowhere. Probably to answers?
"Are you regretting choosing Malgino's defeat instead of your friends' lives, Christina?" The voice asked breaking the silence.
"What do an instead of my friends' lives?" Chris wildly looked everywhere to find the speaker but there was no one other than her.
"Oh, don't worry they are not dead. They are going through their own tests inspired by their own fears and beliefs. But their tests are not easy either. So do you want to go back and help your friends?"
Chris almost said yes but then she thought better.
"If I go back, I can't move forward, right?"
"You are smart. Yes, if you go back. I will send you back to the upper chamber where you ca from."
"And if I decide to go forward?" Chris asked tentatively.
"Then you will find all the answers you were looking for since the beginning of most of it."
"Like how to defeat Malgino?"
There was a pause before the voice answered, "Everything about how to defeat Malgino."
Chris sighed and stared in front of her, the lane leading to her destiny but then looked back again where she knew Ginny, Luna, and Colin were going through their tests.
"So what's it going to be your friends or the secret of killing your biggest enemy?" The voice asked.
"You never had friends, do you?" Chris retorted. "How could I step forward knowing they are in danger?"
To Chris's surprise, the voice broke into a laugh.
"I . . . had friends. Friends who would die for , kill for . Sounds familiar? I had friends like yours and I know your fear of losing them all too well. But have you considered that you can not save them?"
"What do an?"
"I an did you ever think that you can not save people who don't know how to save themselves?"
"Shouldn't the entire motto of saving people is saving people who can't save themselves?" Chris asked perplexed.
"No, Christina, you can not save people who don't know how to be saved. You can save people who want to be saved, who know how to save. Now tell , do your friends know how to save themselves?"
". . . . " Chris took a long minute to analyze what the voice said before answering, " . . . yes."
"Then let ask you again . . . do you choose your friends' safety or the secret to destroy your biggest enemy?"
Looking back for the last ti, Chris glared at the road ahead and stepped forward.
"The destruction of my biggest enemy."
"Then you know what to do."
This ti, Chris didn't hesitate. She marched forward and broke into a run. As she went farther into the lane the orbs started to light the path for her. Finally, it opened wide . . . in a translucent white swirling pool. Chris almost toppled over to the pool before skidding to a stop.
"You ant to say this was a test too?" Irritated Chris asked looking up, not knowing where the source of the voice was. The entire place was well lit now.
"A test of what?" The voice inquired.
"I don't know. . . my agility? To see if I can act quickly or not. Because you could have warned about the pool." Chris didn't know why she was arguing but she was feeling very frustrated by the fact that she still couldn't see the owner of the voice.
"I didn't ask you to run," the voice replied laughing.
"Okay, so now what? I am here. There is this foggy swirling pool and. . ." Chris looked around but there was nothing else. Just the vast pool ending at the far wall and there was nowhere else to go. "Nothing else. And I can't see you or the secret to destroy Malgino."
"Both are in front of you. You are just not looking," The voice answered calmly.
Chris looked around again. Now carefully. . . still, she didn't see anything apart from the white translucent pool. Chris was about to open her mouth to shout at the voice feeling furious when it hit her.
The pool.
It wasn't filled with water.
"They are mories. You have a pool of mories!"
Chris felt stupid for not noticing that the swirling shimring silvery substance in the pool was neither liquid nor gas. They were mories filled with the expansion of the pool.
"At last. You managed to co to the right conclusion," the voice remarked but Chris didn't feel offended by the comnt. In fact, she was thrilled because now she realized the voice ca from the pool.
Chris dropped her bag on the ground and unhooked her belt holding the sword and dagger. She placed the weapons above her bag and stared at the pool.
"So now what are you going to do?"
Chris heard the voice coming from the pool.
"Find you," she smiled and took a deep breath before diving headfirst into the pool.
Instantly, Chris's surroundings changed. She was falling, falling through whirling darkness, and then, quite suddenly, she was blinking in dazzling sunlight.
She was back at Hogwarts.
⟦To be continued⟧
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