[HP] Looking for you #20

Chapter #20: The fifth test, part.

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“I think I know what happened here,” Harry said after looking at the corpses. “I think these guys faced a very hot test before arriving at this level…Look at their clothes!” Harry told his group of friends and soon, he heard gasps.

“Some parts of their clothes are burned!” Charlie was surprised.

“Yes, I see why you’re surprised Charlie, their clothes are made with dragon skin, a material that’s known to have high resistance to fire, and in some cases it's immune, I don’t know if it’s immune to fyendfire though,” Harry said with a serious expression.

“So…Why did they die then?” Asked Victoire with an interested tone.

She always loved seeing Harry at work, he was so different and interesting, she could spend the whole day listening to or seeing him work, he looked so sexy like that.

“I have two hypotheses, as you know, everything without moderation can harm the human body, even the things that may look good for us like water…So, after our friends faced a very hot challenge they felt like they were in heaven when they found a river on the next level, it seems like they forgot about aguamenti…So, they saw a river and no matter how much wizards think they’re detached from their muggle cousins, human nature is human nature…Monkey sees a safe river, monkey wants to play in said river…” Harry said before chuckling.

Only Hermione could smirk at his words while the rest looked a bit confused, and it made sense as the theory of evolution that Harry and Hermione got to learn in primary school wasn’t taught in the magical world.

“So, either they drank too much water or it was contaminated, however, there’s another theory…” Harry suddenly took a pause before he walked towards the river but as soon as he took a close sniff he backed down immediately. “Yes, I think this is it…This is not water!” Harry told them with a serious expression.

“What is it then?” Lucero was a bit confused.

“This my friends…This is paint thinner…It’s a muggle substance that’s used to dilute oil-based paint or clean brushes or any other things you don’t want paint on like your hands as it’s typical for your hands to get dirty when you're painting, trust me I know this very well because I used to help my uncle to paint the house when I was young,” Harry confessed with a calm expression.

“Wait…If that’s the case then this is really dangerous, isn’t that thing highly flammable?” Asked Hermione with a serious expression and Harry just nodded.

“Yes, that's why I wanted us to get out of here as soon as possible but, I wanted to explore and see if our friends here have some clue that could lead us towards Bill, I don’t know why but I feel like these people have something to do with his disappearance but as you can see, he’s not here, Bill’s not a corpse as far as we know,” Harry told the group who gulped at his words.

“Let’s go then…Let’s find out if these people have something that could help us,” Victoire surprised everyone with her eagerness.

However, as a curse-breaker, entering into tombs, and seeing mummies, skeletons or any other related human remains was something common, so, if you’re a curse-breaker and you’re afraid of getting your hands dirty then this is not a job for you.

Hermione was disgusted, Lucero decided to stand aside because she had no idea what they were looking for but if she was as disgusted as Hermione, Harry was a bit indifferent, after all, he’s a magical cop, he’s used to situations like this, Charlie was weirded out and Victoire looked so lost in her world that Harry couldn’t help but send her smiles from time to time, she was so lost in her world to feel embarrassed, at least this experience is going to help her polish her curse-breaking abilities.

“Wait a minute…Guys, take a look at this!” Victoire said as she suddenly picked up a vial.

It didn’t look too relevant for the group and they were a bit worried about Victoire until she showed them that the vial had a small “V” letter engraved close to the bottom.

“Daddy has always marked his belongings with certain symbols…It’s the “V” from my name, he sometimes uses Dominique’s or Louise’s but in this case, he used the first letter of my name!” She was so happy.

To say that the group was astonished would be the understatement of the century, they couldn’t believe that something so small would give them so much hope, and soon, they were smiling, they were getting closer.

“Bill…We’re going to find you…” Harry said with a smirk.

“It’s a shame all these people are dead…We could have asked where they took Bill,” Hermione said before groaning.

“Well, it seems like it has been a very productive evening…Shall we get going?” Asked Lucero now that she saw her friends motivated, she also was eager to get away from the corpses.

“Yes, let’s go,” Charlie was barely able to hide his happiness, they found a clue, this was more than the Auror team managed to discover in almost a year.

“Yes…Let’s ignore this river and let’s get going,” Harry told his friends and soon, they followed his steps.

They managed to transfigure some gas masks and some boats and thanks to that, they were able to cross the river without touching or smelling the liquid, they were lucky Harry was able to detect that this wasn’t water, and for the very first time in decades, Harry thanked the fact that he helped his uncle when he was young.

Soon, they arrived on the other side of the river and the fog that was covering what was beyond disappeared, and now they were surprised to see a wasteland, it was a desert and they were in the middle of the day, so, they realized they needed to get into more comfortable clothes, also, it didn't take too long for them to cast cooling charms to protect themselves from the heat and charms to protect their skin from the strong sun that was over them.

“What’s that in the middle of the desert?” Hermione asked before all of them managed to see some kind of house in the middle of nowhere.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out…Shall we get going?” Asked Harry with a curious tone and soon, the rest of the group followed him. “We need to keep ourselves together, don’t let anything distract you because mirages are very realistic in magical desserts, be careful guys,” Harry told the group as they followed him.

Their destination was obvious, but the path wasn’t as easy as it looked to be, and just like Harry expected, they almost fell into quicksand, then they found themselves fighting against small and big cacti, there were also giant insects and the most dangerous one they faced was the giant scorpion.

Luckily, they managed to destroy it with not much trouble just like the rest of the insects they found in there, the problem was they were so common and annoying that it was taking them too long to keep going.

It was past the twilight hour already when they finally got close to the building, they were surprised to find out there were lots of bones close to the place, it seemed like Harry and his group weren’t the first ones to reach this part, he felt bad because probably many adventurers faced this challenge on the first level and died here.

Harry and his friends were tired and they decided to take a rest to charge their energies, they drank water and Lucero cooked some parts of the giant insects they destroyed, and with the exception of Harry as he had already eaten this when he learned about survival methods during his early stages in the Auror forces, the rest were a little weirded out for eating insects but then they realized that this was not a moment to be picky.

After they finished eating their improvised food, they were surprised to find themselves with more strength, also, they realized the insects didn't taste too bad, however, the moment they were about to get close something incredible happened, rising from the bones that were outside of the building, an army of skull velociraptors appeared in front of them.