Act I: I Can't Believe I'm Doing This

Part 23

"We have to tell the Aurors." I snap the journal closed and reach for Cissa's hand. "Side-along?" She nods, and I picture the Apparition lobby of the Ministry, flick my wand, and- nothing. Not even a hint of a pull. The icy numbness of the revelation flares into dull panic.

I turn back to the too-small tunnel in front of us and move faster than I should for the enclosed space. Squeezing back through, I feel my shoulders and arms scrape against the rough stone, but I can't stop - I need to get someone on this as soon as possible, to get every available Auror in on this investigation. There's no telling whether Bellatrix is stuck like Voldemort once was, or if she has already figured out a way to reclaim a body of her own.

Regardless, the faster we begin searching for her, the more likely we are to stop something terrible from happening. I enter the circular room once more, making a beeline for the stairwell, the sound of my blood rushing in my ears drowning out even my echoing footsteps. I'm just about to take the first step up when Cissa - it must be Cissa, there's nobody else down here - jerks me back away from the staircase. My instinct is to lose it, ask why she's stopping me, when the stairwell slams upwards with the deafening crack of stone-on-stone.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, but you weren't listening. Are you okay?" She quickly begins casting a barrage of diagnostic spells at me, but I wave her off.

"I'm fine, thanks to you. I didn't- I wasn't thinking." We'd made it down here without even a hint of a trap, so to see one now... It seems to have shaken me out of the shock, at the very least. I pull Cissa into a hug, finally taking a moment to forcibly slow my racing mind.

"I certainly understand the urgency, but this only proves that we're dealing with her. Not another Death Eater, not some accomplice of hers... just her." Cissa is right. This means every step forward will be more and more dangerous. Bellatrix - even in the depths of her insanity - was incredibly smart. Looking at the block of solid stone that blocks our way out, I have no doubts that we're at serious risk now. "We need to move slowly."

"That may be the understatement of the year," I say, trying to bring the near-panic in my gut under control. "I'm sorry, I just-"

"No need to explain yourself, darling." I lean down and kiss her, not quite ready to face the reality of our situation - possibly stuck underground, in some kind of complex that seems to have been designed by Bellatrix. Or at least modified by her.

Cissa turns her wand on the stairs, casting a series of spells in an attempt to bring them back down. I join her, after I slip the journal into my robes. Even with our combined efforts, though, the stairs remain unmoving. The stone even resists our attempts to remold it into a different shape. We're trapped down here.

There's no time to panic, so I look around the room, hoping to see some kind of clue or pattern - anything to make sense of this place. The exits are all nearly identical, placed only just far enough apart that they provide space to walk through separate tunnels. "There are... twenty-three different routes." Not counting the one we know leads to a dead end with Bellatrix's podium.

Cissa waits a moment for me to continue, but when it becomes clear that I don't have much of a plan at the moment, she gestures towards the nearest entrance - just to the right of the now-blocked stairs. "Then we start with the first."

It's as good of a start as any other. "Alright," I say, mostly to fill the silence. I take the lead, wand ahead of me. The light down here is constant - so constant that it's off putting. Even in these tight tunnels, I can see perfectly fine. The tunnel itself twists and turns - sometimes up, sometimes left, right, or down - which makes it painfully impossible to see whatever lies beyond it. Yet, the light feels welcoming, compared to the pitch-black darkness from the area above. I can't help but believe it's intentional.