Harry landed in shin deep water. He felt Ron land near him, pulling him down, and he could feel Draco land in front of him, splashing him with cold water. He stood up straight and held up his wand, vaguely wondering how he had kept his grip on it.
"Oy!" Ron said loudly. "Harry, I've lost my wand!"
"Mine as well," Draco said.
Harry whispered, "Lumos."
His wand lit up so that he could see Ron and Draco's disgruntled faces. They began looking in the murky water at their feet and soon both of them lifted their wands up.
Ron wiped his wand on his robes and Draco flicked the water off his, angrily. Harry's shoes were filled with water and were squelching, and uncomfortable. The water was black looking and freezing their ankles.
The room came into focus as Ron's and Draco's wands were lit. It was about as big as the Gryffindor common room with its high ceiling and wide space; however, the walls were like blackened stone and the water resembled polyjuice potion.
From the light cast across the room, they could see a stone door. Suddenly, Hermione's scream sounded from behind the door.
"Hermione?" Ron shouted.
"Reckon it's safe to cross?" Draco asked Harry urgently.
"I hope so!" Harry said as he lifted his legs and they all began tramping through the water, their wands sending light in all directions.
"Gah!" Ron yelped and he tripped. Harry could see as Ron tried to gain his balance that something had obviously grabbed onto his heel. "Harry! Help!"
Harry brought his wand towards Ron's heel and saw that a scabbed, dead looking hand was gripping Ron's ankle. Its grip was strong and Harry could only stare. Draco, however yelled, "Relashio!" The hand let go, looking as if it was torn.
"Thanks," Ron told Draco as he pulled his leg away from the now struggling hand. Harry heard the water bubble around him, and soon, hands began popping out from the surface. They grabbed around, snatching for flesh.
********************
"Aaaah!" Hermione had shouted again.
Three obviously dead creatures were making their way towards the far corner of the room where Hermione, Ginny and Luna were standing, all shaking with fear. The creatures grunted and screeched, their arms grabbing outwards.
"H-help!" Ginny screamed, clutching onto Luna and crying.
Hermione pointed her wand at one of the creatures that was ambling towards her and shouted, "Empous!"
The zombie-like being was pushed back several feet, hitting the floor. It was stuck, rocking on the floor and making choking sounds as it struggled to get up.
"Look out!" Luna shouted as a zombie approached Hermione. "Stupefy!"
The monster fell to Hermione's left as she squealed and moved away from the motionless being. He grunted horribly, but remained still.
The door in the wall burst open and Ron's, Harry's and Draco's faces appeared in the darkness. Ron noticed the last zombie in the corner and he stood in shock. The being noticed them with surprise and did not walk any further.
Harry too stood still, shaken. Fortunately, Draco shouted, "Stupefy!" so the creature fell over, motionless.
Hermione ran up to Ron, shaking and looking at the same zombie that he was looking at. Ginny and Luna ran over to Harry, looking at the struggling zombie creature on the floor. It appeared to have lost its leg and arms. Ginny was still crying as she latched onto Harry, who felt he was about to be sick. The zombies all looked horrid. Their flesh reminded Harry of a dementor's gray, dead, but still raw looking. Their clothes were torn and their faces looked morbid.
"Flesh cleavers." Draco said as he looked down at the fallen bodies that were tall, but thin. "They are dark creatures, but I don't undersatnd why they're here."
"Yes," Hermione said quietly, regaining her composure. "Aren't they found mostly in deep forests?"
"That's right." Draco said, "They can be deadly if they can get a hold of you."
Harry felt his heart beating more quickly and he whispered to Ron, "It's a good thing Malfoy's here." He gave a weak smile which Ron tried to return, but he was too shaken.
"Whoa!" Draco said as he looked through the door they had came through. Hermione ran to his side and gasped. The zombies from that room were rising out of the ground now. They were muddy and slow moving, making gargling noises as they pried themselves from the marshy ground. Hermione quickly grabbed the door and shut it.
"Colloportus!" She said, sealing the door tight. "We've got to find a way out of here!"
"It's alright, Ginny," Harry said, pulling her off of him and guiding her to Hermione.
Ron began pointing his lighted wand around the walls, looking for another door. "Mates, I don't see any way out of here."
"There," Luna said, pointing at the wall opposite them all. Everyone went towards it and looked. There was an opening that had been invisible at a glance, but they could now see it with everyone's wand light pointing in its direction.
A loud thud sounded on the sealed door and all of the girls shrieked. Hermione looked again at the hole and said, "Let's go."
"Harry! Ron!" Draco barked, "help me with this boulder!"
He pointed his wand at a boulder and Ron and Harry walked over to it. They lifted it up and brought it towards the opening. Another loud bang sounded at the door, and it appeared to have been shaken.
Hermione stood on the boulder, but she was still unable to get to the hole. "Here," she indicated Ginny and Luna to take out their wands. "Engorgio!"
The boulder started to grow, though very slowly. Ginny and Luna caught on and together said, "Engorgio!"
The boulder began to grow at a much more noticeable pace, so that soon it would be easy to reach the hole. One by one they climbed up and went through the opening in the wall.
Harry was the last to go through and he, Hermione and Ginny cast a shrinking charm on the boulder so that it was again too short to reach the opening.
Harry looked around, but he did not recognize where he was. Hermione, Ron and Luna, however looked as if they had returned to an unwelcoming site.
"The dungeons," Ron groaned as everyone looked at the shackles and cells of the prison. They had ended up in a cell, and Hermione noticed across the room was the cell that she had been kept in earlier that month.
"That means," she said, nervously, "We've got to get to the other side of the castle to get out."
There was a clatter from somewhere in the dungeon and everyone froze. Their wand lights were blaring, but they couldn't see what had made the sound owing to the cell's cement walls.
Draco managed to move a bit around the cell so that his light could make it around the corner a little and he said warningly, "It's another cleaver."
Ginny had muttered, "Oh my god." And Hermione lifted her wand, saying, "Nox."
She could not cast a spell with Lumos already in place, so she said, "Alright, Ginny, Ron and Luna, we're going to need to count on your wands for light so that we can use curses."
Ginny's wand hand was shaking so that the light was moving wildly, but Luna nodded, concentrating on keeping light. Ron nodded as well; Lumos had always been a particularly good charm of his, so that his wand tip was the brightest of all of them.
Draco and Harry had muttered, "Nox," as well and started keeping a spell in mind to cast on enemies.
Silently, everyone cast each other a glance and nodded.
Ron jumped out of the cell and his light fell upon a male flesh cleaver wandering around an adjacent cell. Another was standing in the middle of the cells, while yet one more was lurking at the exit way.
Luna and Ginny went to Ron's side while Harry and Hermione ran past them, trying not to block the light. Hermione ran to the cell block where a short, balding zombie was standing and she pointed her wand at the cell door, shouting, "Fermius!"
The cell door slid shut and she ran up and locked the flesh cleaver inside. Harry rushed up to a nearby zombie woman who was dragging along on a broken leg and shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!" The flesh cleaver jumped out of the way with speed that surprised Harry. The creature ran up to Harry and he yelled loudly. The zombie grabbed his arm and yanked him closer, but Hermione sent a stunning spell that knocked the creature back.
Draco had ran towards the exit way, with little light, and he sent a stunning spell at a zombie. Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and coughed hard. He might have been killed just then.
"Watch out Harry," Hermione explained, "These aren't like the dumb and slow zombies in movies."
"AAAAH!" Ginny screamed. She had been standing by the cell where Hermione had trapped a flesh cleaver and its arms were grabbing out to her.
Ron grabbed her and shouted, "Let's go! Draco's up there in the dark!"
When they reached the hallway outside the dungeons, Draco was standing over the body of a flesh cleaver. He was breathing heavily and they all stopped to catch their breath.
"It's not so easy to apprehend them, is it?" Hermione stated, "They are quick, but at least they don't know magic."
Ron wiped his forehead and said, "Thank goodness for that. I expect that as long as we're on guard, we can easily stun them. They'll just slow us down a bit."
"Yeah," Draco agreed, "The bloddy things are smart enough though."
They all went into the next hallway, which was filled with many paintings and murals. Two zombies were by a window, and they quickly ran towards the group, screaming loudly. Hermione stunned them both before anyone could say anything and the creatures fell over. Ginny pointed towards the only doorway leading out.
"Wait!" Harry shouted, "Let's escape through this window!"
Ron ran to the closest window with Hermione and she shouted, "Bombarda!" Her wand sent a flash of magenta at the window, but it merely bounced off and caused a nearby table to explode.
"What happened?" Ginny asked frantically. "Why didn't it work?"
"I... I don't understand." Hermione said. She again yelled the spell at the window, but it bounced off again, shattering a crystal vase on the wall opposite them all.
"An impenetrable charm," Draco muttered, tapping the glass with his wand. "We'd better keep moving..."
They ran out into a long, narrow hallway that seemed to go on for ages. They stood for a moment facing the hall, saying nothing. By the looks of it, the hall went on for miles, whether it was magic or not.
"Ahhh!" Ginny screamed as there was a zombie right behind them. It however was looking in the opposite direction and was stunned by Draco before it could figure out what was happening.
"What is going on?" Ginny asked, gasping for breath, her hand over her fast beating heart. "These flesh things weren't here when we got here!"
"That's right!" Hermione exclaimed. She looked at the floor, thinking hard and she said, "It must be a curse of this castle, which means that it probably isn't completely empty."
"Of course it isn't!" Ron said, pointing his wand's light at the frozen zombie on the floor.
"No, no," Hermione whispered, "I had my suspicions once Luna mentioned she saw an owl leave the owlery. It's highly likely that the owl was sent by someone in this castle."
Harry heard a snapping noise from somewhere and everyone gasped. He lifted his wand and said, "We've got to keep moving. If there is someone here, we'd best keep our wits about us."
They ran down the hallway, looking for a doorway and saw two, splitting the main corridor. They ran towards the one on their right, hoping it led to the back of the castle, but a zombie stepped out, grunting as it lifted its arms. They all skidded to a halt and Harry shouted, "Stupefy!" The flesh cleaver flew backwards and Harry shut the door. Immediately there was angry pounding on the door, which meant more of the zombies were inside.
"Not going that way," Draco assured them.
Ron led them towards the other door which opened into a more spacious hallway; however there were a few zombies here. Luna and Ron ran to either side of the hallway while Harry, Hermione and Draco sprung into action. Two were dangerously close to Harry and he stunned one with ease. Hermione had blasted a cleaver into the another and they both flew into a large cabinet, which fell over them, silencing their grunts.
Draco laughed and shouted, "Volemn sieth!" A flesh cleaver near him shot up to the cieling and floated there like a balloon. He sent the curse at two other zombies and they were out of the way.
Harry grabbed Ginny's hand and Draco went to his side as they all ran towards the end of the hall. Harry started to wonder how much longer they would have to go, as this castle was like a maze.
After they turned the corner, Harry recognized the room that Ginny and he had found Voldemort in the last time they were here. Everyone else except Draco seemed to notice this fact and they sighed with relief, knowing that the giant hole in the wall was nearby.
They ran around the corner, spotting two zombies along the path and seeing the moon through the opening in the wall across the giant hall. From a great distance, Draco and Harry stunned the flesh cleavers, who fell over, groaning.
"Let's get out of here!" Luna said, running towards the exit with everyone else.
Ron and Draco were running side by side when a door flew open nearby, and Draco felt himself being sucked inside the room. His feet were not touching the floor, and neither were Ron's as they were both heaved into the dark chamber.