Harry stepped through the door like he always did, without waiting for to see what was on the other side. With his wand out, Harry step forward determinedly without really watching where was going. He was ready to take on any thing that Bellatrix might throw at him. To his amazement he was surprised to find that he was not as prepared as he hoped. His first step through the door, though confident, shocked him as he realized that his foot found no ground. Harry plummeted into the wide inky black lake. As he fell into the exceptionally warm water, Harry had in his shock dropped his wand and it slowly drifted out his reach to the bottom of the lake. Harry tried to snatch it back but the thick water pushed him back to the surface. He graciously gulped in the air as he surfaced.
Once on the top of the lake’s surface, Harry had planned to dive back for his wand, but as he caught a glimpse of the world around him he stayed. Treading the water he took in the scenery around him. The sky above him was a deep purple hue speckled with sparkling gem colored stars and a large snow white moon that reflected in the water around him. As he breathed in, the air was thick and humid, smelling of sweet spices. A concentrated lush dark green jungle hugged the edge of the lake and its vines, roots and leaves dabbled in the water. Strange jungle noises of monkeys and other exotic animals filled his ears. Yet what made the scenery breath taking was the gem colored stars. Upon closer inspection Harry discovered that it was not the stars, but beautiful tiny people that glowed different colors. He noticed that there were pale stars that shined behind the Sprites. The creatures came zooming towards him, inspecting him.
There were many attractive female Sprites that giggled as they surrounded and flew around Harry. Their golden wings were illuminated in the moonlight and each Sprite gave off a different color as they flew around. A light green one flew right up to Harry’s face, her big green eyes watched him closely. She had on a strange airy green short dress that was sleeveless and looked as though it had been blown ragged in the wind. Harry suspected that the dress was probably white and took on the color the Sprite’s body radiated during flight. The green Sprite tossed its long green half braided hair from off her shoulders and then winked at Harry. Her tiny lips pouted slightly as she flew off and emitted a tiny giggle.
Harry was fascinated by the Sprites that surround him. He watched the tiny, flawlessly beautiful Sprites skate on top of the water around him as though it were solid. Others dived into the inky purple water and sprung out of the water at random around his waist then fly around him as though they were searching him. Harry had completely forgotten about his wand, Bellatrix, Ginny, or anything else. Instead all he could see was the exceptionally beautiful Water Nymphs that danced around him. In the back of his mind an alarm disturbed him, some thought of danger came to him, but he pushed it away as he absorbed himself once more as a beautiful purple Water Nymph flew up and kissed the tip of his nose. He heard a girl voice cry out and then a splash of water, but he didn’t turn. The purple Water Nymph urged Harry to follow her. It was as if she has something wonderful waiting for him. Without a thought more about the splash or the cry, he followed the enticing beckoning of the purple Sprite. His arms and legs were getting tired of swimming, but he urged them on as his desire grew strong and stronger to follow the Sprite toward the middle of the lake.
************************************
Ginny had not expected to plunge into the dark warm waters as she had stepped through the door. She gasped for air as she surfaced. she had swallowed a large amount of water into her lungs, she had only screamed from shock and didn’t hold her breath. Ginny coughed hard as she tried to eject the water she had gulped down into her lungs. Her arms and legs were not functioning right as she was trying to cough and swim at the same time. Ginny’s body sunk beneath the water as her swimming failed due to the heaving coughing and she gulped in more water. She coughed harder when she had pushed herself up with a good strong kick. “Help!” Ginny croaked in between her coughs. She could see Harry, but he didn’t turn. She tried to call out his name, but he didn’t move, he only watched something that Ginny couldn’t make out, but saw was flying around him.
At that moment, Ginny knew that she had to get to the shore or she would drown. She was frightened and angry at the same time as she swam awkwardly towards the shore. Her hope to make it to the shore alive, died with every stroke as she knew that Harry didn’t notice her. He never noticed her, she was always the last person he worried about. Her lungs burned and tears began to pour down her face from so much coughing. Her muscles cried out for air, but she couldn’t appease them. Her lungs strained and hurt as she breathlessly coughed harder. Ginny’s legs and arms didn’t seem to work like she wanted them too, yet she worked harder, determined not to give up. As she came closer to the shore, her hopes brightened with every stroke that brought her closer to keeping herself alive.
As her feet touched the muddy lake ground she rushed forward towards higher ground, still coughing hard. Ginny gasped for air in between fits and finally dropped herself on hands and knees coughing until her diaphragm hurt. When the coughing fit subsided she rolled over and lay on the dirty muddy waters edge breathing slowly. Her head ached from coughing so hard and her body felt so exhausted from lack of air. The water had tasted a little funny to her not the normal tasteless water that she had been use to, it had more of a foreign spice feel to it. Ginny’s mind didn’t linger on that though, as her emotions took control, she thought of Harry and was angered.
She used all her energy to sit up, her wounded arm seared with pain. Ginny glanced to her side noticing that her bandages were soaked with her blood and water and the mixture was streaming down her arm. Trying not to panic, she stood up and tittered a bit. She was infuriated that Harry would let her almost drown, he was an insensitive jerk and how dare he let her almost die. Yet it came to her that Harry wasn’t normally this way, something was wrong. Looking over the inky black water she saw Harry swimming slowly to the middle of the lake with a pack of Sprites surround him. Ginny’s eyes widened with fear. She knew the power that female Sprites had on human men. It all made sense to Ginny why Harry had failed to save her, the Sprites had bewitched him.
“HARRY!” Ginny screamed, her voice carrying far across the liquid surface. She waited for him to reply, watching his figure move closer to follow the Sprites. “Harry, come back! The Sprites they will kill you!” Ginny shouted as loudly as she could, trying to get Harry’s attention. She knew deep inside that it was too late, he was already entranced and would not be awakened by her mere screaming. The Sprites would eventually kill him, but she didn’t want to give up on him, even if she couldn’t do much.
Without a wand Ginny felt helpless. She didn’t know what to do as she watched Harry’s figure disappear closer to the middle of the lake. The Sprites would drown him and she didn’t know how much time she had before he would forget to swim. Ginny could almost see Harry floating down to his watery grave as the Sprites would accompany him with evil laughter. She didn’t want to think about that, but she didn’t know what to do. Determinedly, she decided that it was her turn to save him, and the only way to do that was to swim out to him and bring him back.
Ginny doubted her own plan, there were too many flaws. Harry was stronger and bigger than she was, if he resisted she could never bring him back. He had his wand too, hopefully he won’t be crazy enough to use it against her, but Ginny had no idea. Most of all she was afraid that there would be male Sprites that would possibly cause her to be bewitched. Harry’s head bobbed barely above water and it made her worry even more that he would drown any minute. Against her better judgment she ran forward towards the water.
“Petrificus Totalus!”
Ginny instantly felt her arms snap to her sides and her legs come together like two magnets. Her body was stiff and she couldn’t move. She wanted to scream out, but it was too late, she couldn’t make a noise. Standing stiffly she could hardly stay upright. Ginny knew she was going to fall and tried to put all her weight backwards, knowing that falling in the water face first would be death. Her heart beat loudly in her chest as she waited for her self to fall, wishing with all her might that she would fall backwards. Suddenly her balance was lost and to Ginny’s relief, her body fell backwards into the shore. She landed hard and her body cried out in pain, but no sound could escape her lips, and no hand could soothe the hurt parts of her body. Ginny lay there like a corpse.
Through the darkness and into the moonlight above Ginny, a gaunt face smugly looked down at her it confirmed what she already knew, that it was Bellatrix who had done this. It was all a show in the cave, Bellatrix had known where they were hiding, and was only waiting to trap them here and now. Yet, Harry and Ginny had been so careful, maybe Bella hadn’t know where they were, but knew that they would eventually find the next door and came to wait. For her own pride and for Harry’s she hoped the later, but Ginny knew that either way it didn’t matter, Bella had won again.
Her eyes were aflame with hate as she looked up at Bellatrix, who danced a small victory dance with an evil gleeful giggle of triumph. “You little Doxy! Did you really think that you could escape me? You’re silly little boyfriend will die at the hands of my Sprites, and if not, I have you for insurance,” Bellatrix trumpeted with a sneer.
If Ginny had been able to move, she would have done anything to hurt Bella. Her blood boiled with anger and hate as she watched the woman smirk at the figure in the middle of the lake. Ginny had never felt so much fury in her life, but she knew that Harry would die and it was Bellatrix’s fault. Suddenly Ginny could understand the hate that Harry had felt for Bellatrix after Sirius died. Quickly she promised herself that if Harry did die, that she would seek the most painful revenge on Bellatrix for both deaths.
Bellatrix looked down at Ginny again. The woman stared into her eyes and smiled vilely. As if she had read Ginny’s mind she quickly snapped, “There is nothing you can do brat! I’ll punish you later, you bloody slut!”
Ginny defiantly glared at Bella hoping that somehow her stare could hurt her in a way.
“Wingardium Leviosa!” Bellatrix’s voice rang out.
In an instant Ginny’s body was light as a feather. Her body floated upwards in the air, she could see across the lake. She strained to look past her feet for Harry’s head. Ginny couldn’t see anything, but a swarm of Sprites. Harry was nowhere to be seen. Her stomach lurched, she felt dark, cold and sick all at the same time. A wave of pain hit her as she feared the worst for Harry.
Ginny didn’t even have time to mourn as her body was floating beside Bellatrix, who walked into the dense jungle. She tried to examine the lake as best as she could but the darkness was thick and finally Bella had brought her through the next door and in a matter of seconds the door was shut.