They had reached a place where the land ended and the mist divided, like curtains being held to either side. Directly in front of them was a frozen lake. A silvery frozen lake, almost perfectly round in shape.Lake Mirror formed a vast body of water in front of them, frozen right into the ice sheet below her feet, or so it seemed. It did look like a mirror—a purse mirror after you’d breathed softly on it.
Looking around, Harry realized that they were surrounded in mist. He couldn’t see past a few feet. Ron was staring at the frozen lake in wonder. “But how do we get across it?” he was asking. “We skate, of course” Evangeline answered this as if it was the most obvious answer, which Harry had to admit, was. But Ron and the Weasley, having been brought up in a magical family, probably didn’t know how to skate. In fact, Harry was willing to bet that they didn’t even know what skating was and he was right. “What’s skating?” they asked. The rest, who by now had been told what they were, were looking amused while Damon was smirking. He had, of course, to choose this time to make a snide comment, which was just so Damon.
“What’s wrong, little wizards?” he drawled, reminding, Harry, Evangeline and Ron of Malfoy. “Don’t know how to skate?” Ron and the Weasley twins were about to retort when Elena spoke in an authoritative voice. “Stop fighting, all of you” she said. “We have more serious matters at hand. Damon, carry Ron and Fred, Stefan, you carry George”
It was harder to see who was angrier about this, Ron, Fred or Damon but in the end, using his vampiric speed and strength, Damon easily lifted up Ron and Fred in a single scoop. Stefan did the same for George. Everyone then skated across the lake.
The path after the lake was narrow — and misty. Just as before, it started in filmy veils and ended up blinding them. Everyone agreed to let Stefan, with his catlike reflexes, go first, followed by Elena who held on to his pack. Behind her, Bonnie clung like a burr with George at the end. Just beside them were Damon, who was clung on to by Ron, followed by Fred with Evangeline and Harry at the end. Just when Harry thought he was going to scream if she had to keep traveling through the white blanket any farther, it cleared.
They were near the top of some mountain. There was a narrow bridge between the chasm. The chasm was frosty white on either side at the top, but when Elena gripped the bridge’s ice-cold metal poles and leaned a little forward she could see glacial blues and greens at the very bottom. A chill wind hit her face. The gap between this bit of the world and the next bit directly in front of them was about a hundred yards long.
Elena looked from the shadowy depths to the slender bridge, which was made of wooden slats and just wide enough for one person to walk on. It was supported here and there by ropes which ran to the sides of the chasm and were sunk with metal posts into barren, icy rock. It also swooped magnificently down and then back up again. Even looking at it gave the eye a sort of mini–thrill ride. The only problem was that it didn’t include a safety belt, a seat, two handrails, and a uniformed guide saying, “Hands and feet must be kept inside the attraction at all times!” It did have a single, thin, creeper-woven rope to hold on to on the left.
“No way!” Bonnie cried, setting up a clamoring echo from below. “There is no way I’m going across that!”
“Oh, for god’s sake” Evangeline rolled her eyes and effortlessly picked Bonnie up. “Let’s go”.
Harry felt frightened too, but he reminded himself fiercely that he belonged in Gryffindor - where dwell the brave at heart, their daring, nerve and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart. So he marched on bravely.
They came to a place where a slat had detached and the slats on either side looked as if they might go at any moment. Evangeline jumped over them, as did Stefan, Damon, Fred and George but Harry and Ron carefully made their way across, not trusting themselves not to fall if they jumped.
