The Hunt

Chapter 10 - The Unveiling

The Unveiling – At last!

The parchment had heated up giving her the location to the Unveiling. She had followed the directions, somewhat disbelievingly. The tree that sat near the Black Lake acted as a magical portal and Rose had to do a little convincing before she slipped through the roots. The tunnel wasn't long, rather well-lit with fairy lights leading all along the damp, earthy walls. She felt herself stumble on the mass of roots at her feet, but once she looked up she realised the path had ended and in its place, was something rather extraordinary.

Rose stood gaping at the scene before her. It was simply incredible! Taking a tentative foot forward, she noticed the awed expressions of the other students entering. They too seemed to be stumbling forth only to be floored by the scene before them.

"Rose!" Someone yelled from behind her before she was tackled by her cousins. Rose laughed as she felt Lily, Lucy and Dominque slide up next to her. Rose was unsurprised to see Lily was still wearing Demitri's claim.

"How freaking awesome is this?!" Lucy gushed.

"Where are we?" Dominque asked looking around.

"I have no idea," Lily answered. "Is that... merpeople?" Lily asked looking to her right.

Rose looked around, noticing the dark massive body of water that seemed to be repelled around by some sort of force. It created almost a dome-like structure that they were standing in. Rose looked to where Lily was staring out the dome, she could see what Lily saw... Merpeople and... Grindylows and they seemed to be staring back at them with equal fascination, and maybe a little irritation. She saw the dark water moving around them, beating ever so slightly on the walls of the dome. It seemed the illustrious Game-Makers had truly outdone themselves this time!

"No way," Rose muttered disbelievingly walking further into the dome.

"What?" Lucy asked.

"We're in the Black Lake!" Rose told them. There were several shocked gasps as her cousins finally recognised where they were.

The dome-like structure stretched almost the same length as the Great Hall. Much like the Great Hall, the skies above them held hundreds of floating candles. The candlelight illuminated the movement of the water and creatures of the Lake. It had a few benches spread out near the back and a stage had been set up near what they could only assume was the front. A large tree sat at the furthest end of the stage. There was only one other thing on the stage. A trophy. Gleaming in the night light, it seemed to grab everyone's attention as they gravitated to the front. Rose looked around and saw everyone coming together, with nothing but pure excitement on their faces. She smiled a little thinking of how far their house unity had come.

She noticed Hugo with Louis and a few other friends trying to get a merperson to kiss the dome. A few of her Weasley cousins were scattered about, chatting excitedly. Her eyes scanned the crowd for one person in particular and she was not at all surprised to see him lingering in the corner with Albus. She excused herself from the girls and made her way towards him, just as Albus was turning away.

Albus grinned at her, barely able to contain his excitement. "This is so awesome!" he cried with a look of pure ecstasy on his face. Rose laughed and that seemed to settle him a bit. "Scor says you won't take the chain back," he said suddenly looking very serious. "How do you plan on winning?"

"I have a plan." Rose told him with a little smirk of her own.

"In case you haven't realised, you're kind of out of time, dear cousin," Albus informed her.