Thirteen years after The Battle of Hogwarts, two wizarding children are about to embark on their own adventure. They both have been lied to their entire lives, one to protect her from the wrath of the wizarding world, and the other to protect him fr...
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Teddy, being the oldest, led the group as they plunged deeper into the hilly territory. Though he had never been this far and had only a very vague idea of where to go, he had an indescribable hunch that they were on the right path. The children delved deeper and deeper until the ground became steeper. Suddenly, the rolling hills of the valley turned into low mountain foothills. They had been trudging along for quite a while, and sweat was dripping from their bodies, which were adjusting to the thinning air. Teddy himself was already quite weary, but he saw that the youngest, Hugo and Lily, were just barely keeping up. He turned around, causing the whole troop to stop, hauled Lily over his left shoulder and took Hugo's hand, forcing the group to go at his pace. The two children were quite grateful for the short respite. However, the fact remained, they must arrive before the conjunction.
Victoire worried as they marched forward. She knew Teddy was strong, but she wasn't sure that he could bear the smallest children's weight—even one at a time—for long. She was also battling concerns about what lay ahead. Even if they did make it up the hill without a scratch—which was highly unlikely—what would they face inside the cave? How would they protect their younger family members? Even though she was usually optimistic, their odds seemed grim. However, she knew it wasn't helpful to dwell on these thoughts and pushed them from her mind. Victoire squeezed Teddy's other hand, sending him her support, and he grinned back at her. His warmth spread through her even in the most unfortunate of circumstances. He looked at her as if to say "I know, it's all going to be okay", but then he stopped in his tracks. His face hardened as he stared off into the vast horizon of green mountains. Victoire turned around to look in the same direction and she saw it, too. Up in the distance, perhaps two Quidditch fields away, stood the mouth of a cave. It was small--barely noticeable-but it was there. Teddy and Victoire both pointed to it, and setting Hugo down, the group took off at a run.
Bel felt like she might just puke up a lung. She was small and agile, but not used to prolonged periods of physical exertion. Cat and Scorpius weren't faring much more impressively; they both looked like they could faint at any moment. None of them dared to stop, and none of them were willing to give up before the Gryffindors did. Bel heaved as she scurried along, desperately running towards the far-off cave. Although she still couldn't quite wrap her head around everything that had already happened this year, she decided this took the cauldron cake--climbing up a mountain with the likes of James Potter and his friends in attempts to stop Slytherin Head Boy, Jacob Zagyva, from using the Book of Necromancy! It was absurd enough to be a dream, but she knew this had to be real. Even her imagination would have a hard time cooking this up.
It seemed to take ages for the children to make their way up to the cave, entering a much more densely forested part of the mountains. They had to watch out for the thick layer of roots that twisted and tangled above ground. They were constantly stabbed by thorns, branches and the occasional root. Eventually, the cave grew to be only a hundred meters away. The gang continued their journey up the hill until they heard a terrible rumbling. It grew louder and louder, until Scorpius and James were convinced that it must be a giant. It sounded about as terrifying. The two looked up fearfully, and saw something surprising.
