The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Chapter Five // The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

You have a Witch and a Wardrobe, Miss Granger. Now I wonder, is there a Lion to go with it?

Hermione reached out a hand and touched the wardrobe in wonder, ignoring the soft swoosh that signaled someone arriving by Floo.

"That handwriting looks familiar, doesn't it?" asked Harry, walking up behind her. Indeed, the writing on the note matched the writing inside the book she'd gotten.

She wanted to tell Harry it wasn't true, that this coincidence meant nothing, but she found that she couldn't. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, but nothing would come out.

"You can't tell me you don't at least think it's a possibility now."

"I –" Again, the words seemed to stick in the back of her throat.

"Look who just came in," said Harry, grinning from ear to ear. "You do believe me! I know it!"

Miss Easley stood in front of the fireplace, an apprehensive look on her face. "Sorry, Minerva. I didn't know you had guests. I'll stop by later," she said, turning around and immediately going back through the Floo.

"What's her hurry?" asked Hermione, the wardrobe momentarily forgotten.

"Please, Miss Granger, use that remarkable brain of yours," said McGonagall rather testily. "While Miss Easley is very important to our cause, she is also very dangerous. None of us are able to lie in her presence, and in these times of war, much depends on our ability to do so. We are all keeping secrets, I'm afraid. It is also a matter of etiquette that she must know that everyone in the room is comfortable with her presence. However, I have some very important matters to discuss with her. I hate to rush you, but can you move this to another location?"

They all murmured their assent and began gathering their things. Hermione stared at the wardrobe, wondering how on earth she was going to get it back to The Burrow. To shrink something this large and complex would take a very powerful wizard indeed.

As if on cue, the wardrobe shrunk down to palm size and floated gently over to her. She stared at it for a moment, but then quickly plucked it out of the air when it started gently nudging – then insistently rapping – on the side of her head.

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Hermione took the wardrobe out of its scarf wrapping and set it on her desk.

"Harry, where on earth are we going to put this thing?"

She should have expected what happened next. The wardrobe floated up off the desk and started up the stairs. It stopped on the landing in front of the attic and grew to its orginal size, shaking itself rather like a dog.

"Well, I guess it takes care of itself. Just what I'd expect from something belonging to Dumbledore. I wonder if we should go in it, like the kids in the book did?"

"Harry! Didn't Ginny's time in the Chamber of Secrets teach you anything? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain! I'm willing to admit that it is a bit much to be a coincidence, but we still need to be careful! There's still the possibility of a trap!"

Harry placed his hand on the wardrobe. "It doesn't... feel evil. I'm going in. You can stay out here and cover me if you're scared."

Before she could protest, he opened the wardrobe door and went inside. She couldn't see anything but long fur coats. Suddenly, Harry burst out of the wardrobe as if he'd been shot out of a cannon.

"Hermione! I'm sorry I was gone so long, but there's something there! Woods, or something!"

"What do you mean, you were gone so long? You haven't even been in there a minute!"

"But... I was gone for ages! Maybe it's a time enchantment like in the book... No time to think about it, though, come on!" he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the wardrobe.

Despite herself, Hermione was excited at the prospect of seeing what lay inside the wardrobe. She pushed her way through the heavy coats...

... Only to encounter a solid wall.

"Umm, Harry... there's nothing here. Just the back of the wardrobe."

"You must not be doing it right, then. Let me see," said Harry, pushing his way in front of her.

In spite of all his poking and prodding and spell casting, the back wall of the wardrobe remained stubbornly solid.

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Once again, the pair found themselves back at the Hogwarts library. Hermione had gotten in a little research on lions as symbols, but Harry interrupted her, insisting that they look for spells that could be used to alter time and dimensions.

There was no other explanation for it. The stress of Dumbledore's death, Voldemort's return, and everything else had finally gotten to Harry. Worse, she was getting caught up in his delusional fantasies. She steadied her resolve. Harry was awfully convincing, not to mention as conniving as any Slytherin. For a minute there, he'd almost made her believe what he was saying was possible! Thankfully, when he'd said that he had found a magical land in the wardrobe she had come back to her senses.

She was sure that the late Headmaster's message had meant something different. She needed to be looking for the answer, not following Harry on his wild goose chase. Hadn't Dumbledore told Harry that no spell could reawaken the dead after he saw his parents come out of Voldemort's wand at the end of the Triwizard tournament? She slammed Back to the Future: A Magical Approach to Time by Dr. Emmett Brown closed on the table.

"Harry, there's nothing here! There is not a spell in existence that could create that kind of environment. There was a lot of excitement today, Harry. Maybe you just imagined those woods. Come on, let's go home and leave this till tomorrow. I bet Ron's home by now – they said they weren't going to keep him long."

"I know I'm not imagining things! And I'm not crazy, either, so you can stop thinking that! I know I'm not as smart as you, but my gut is telling me I'm right."

"Look, let's just leave it for now. It's been a long day, and we're both tired... Let's just go," she said, not wanting to deal with any more.

"Fine. Though you know, Hermione, I never would have expected you to be one to so readily abandon the library for sleep."

"It's important to get eight hours of sleep a night! A well-rested mind is sharper, Harry. That's why you have more trouble with your homework when you've had a long Quidditch practice."

"Trust you to keep track of when I have trouble with my homework in correlation with when I have practice. Sweet Jesus, 'Mione, is there anything you don't notice?"

"Don't call me 'Mione. Are you admitting I'm right about this whole wardrobe business, then?"

"I think you're just mad because the answers can't be found in a book. Something big is happening, I can feel it."

"This coming from the boy who got a P on his Divination OWL? I'm sorry, Harry, but you having a 'feeling' is not enough to convince me. I need to see evidence."

"What about the book? What about the wardrobe?"

"I don't deny that Dumbledore is trying to tell me something. Lions symbolize many things; that was the research you dragged me away from earlier. It could represent any number of places or things! Singa Pura, or Singapore, is the Lion City. Lviv County in the Ukraine has a lion on its flag. Native Americans use the lion on their totems; the constellation Leo, slayer of Taurus –"

"– And the bloody symbol of bloody Gryffindor house is a lion!"

"Goodness, Harry, no need for such language! All I'm trying to say is that maybe you should step back and look at other angles!"

"And all I'm saying is that you need to get that book out of your arse and look at it from my side, too! I don't feel like arguing this into the ground. I'm going to take your suggestion and go home, get some sleep, and maybe we'll all feel better in the morning," said Harry, Flooing out before she could even open her mouth.

Blast. Maybe that was her problem. Opening her mouth always seemed to get her in such trouble.

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Back at the Burrow, everyone was celebrating Ron's return. The twins were trying to improve their new Yeti Beans, which would turn the eater into a miniature Yeti. Mrs. Weasley was nowhere in sight – probably a good thing, as George was shedding white fur all over the rug.

"Where's your mum?" Hermione asked Ginny, who was silently sitting off to the side.

"I think she's upstairs messing with the potions St. Mungo's sent home with Ron. I don't know why she's started doing all the potions upstairs. She usually makes them in the shed out back, since she's normally as bad as Neville about blowing up cauldrons."

Remembering the faint smell of healing herbs on the landing the day before, Hermione gave a small smile. That must have been why she'd acted so strange earlier when Hermione asked about the noise in the attic and the smell.

She headed upstairs, stopping in briefly to visit Ron. He was sleeping, so she didn't stay long. She continued her journey upstairs, mind set on sleeping herself.

She was almost to her room when she heard soft voices coming from the attic. She strained her ears, listening, but could only make out Mrs. Weasley's voice and one other – a man's voice, deep and rich. Moving towards the landing, she cast a slight Amplification charm, hoping that she hadn't made it so loud the voices would carry downstairs.

"...not sure if he can handle the truth... I – wait, I think someone's outside. Did you remember to cast a Silencing Charm when I came up? You didn't? Well for the love of Merlin, cast it –"

The voices cut off abruptly. Sensing that someone was coming, she hid in the first place she came to – the wardrobe. Of course, she left the door partially open, for she knew it was a very silly thing to shut oneself into a wardrobe.

Quietly, carefully, hardly daring to breathe, she moved towards the back of the wardrobe. She reached out a hand, attempting to keep herself from running into the back wall.

What she encountered, though, was most definitely not the back of the wardrobe.

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'Never trust anything that thinks for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain' was shamelessly stolen from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Back to the Future: A Magical Approach to Time by Dr. Emmett Brown refers to the Back to the Future movies, which I was watching while I was writing this chapter.

The line about shutting yourself up in a wardrobe is paraphrased from (what else?) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

All my base are belong to WickedlyWanton and Sevariger, for they are the ultimate betas. If you're not a video game nerd like me, allow me to translate: I owe everything to the magnificent skills of those two. Well, everything except the mistakes. I make them all by myself. ^_^