Hermione could hear Ginny grumbling to herself as the two of them made their way towards the large stone walls. As the girls grew closer, the walls seem to only grow taller around them, and it soon became very clear that neither of them could see an obvious entrance.
"Uhhh..." Hermione took a few steps back to look across the sprawling wall. "Do you see an opening?"
"Nope," Ginny answered unhappily with a small pop on the 'p' for emphasis. "Why am I not surprised that they would do this to us, the bastards..."
Frowning in agreement, Hermione began to slowly walk to the left, looking at the walls for any sign of an entrance. There were vines with budding flowers covering many of the walls, but as she walked further along she only grew more frustrated with the lack of a door.
Ginny, on the other hand, was barely paying any attention to the wall as a nearby flash of color that caught her eye.
She blinked a few times before rubbing her eyes to make sure she had seen correctly; sure enough, what she originally thought was a bug with bright wings was actually a small fairy. And it was smiling at her.
"Hermione," She called out, staring at the fairy. "Are you seeing this?"
"Seeing what?" Came the frustrated answer. "Did you find a door?"
"No, but I found something else rather interesting," Ginny said, slowly reaching out an open palm. "Either there's something in the air, or there's a fairy right in front of me!"
"What?!"
Ginny continued to stare as the fairy as it glided through the air towards her open palm, gently stepping down and smiling up at the red head. She smiled back, letting out a small laugh before looking back towards Hermione.
"You should come see this!" She said excitedly.
A sudden harsh pinch made her gasp and her head whipped back around as she waved her hand, promptly tossing the fairy in the air.
"What the hell!" She exclaimed, grasping her hand and glaring at the fairy before inspecting her skin. Sure enough, there was a tiny set of teeth marks on the end of her finger and she glared again as she quickly turned away and made her way towards Hermione.
"What was that?" Hermione asked as she raised an eyebrow, looking over to see Ginny angrily stomping towards her.
"Bloody fairy bit me," Ginny grumbled.
Rolling her eyes slightly, Hermione turned back towards the wall and continued to look with an angry sigh before starting to walk the opposite length of the wall. "I don't know how they expect us to enter this labyrinth without a set of doors or an entrance."
Ginny didn't say anything as she began to inspect the wall as well. There was one section of wall that she was continuously drawn to, but she wasn't quite sure why. As she stepped closer to inspect it further, she realized that unlike the rest of the stone wall, this set of wall was made of metal and it conveniently had a subtle line through the center.
"Hermione..." She started with a grin as she stepped backwards. "I think this is the entrance."
"What?!" Hermione raced to her friend's side as she stared up at the metal wall, her brow furrowing. "How could I have missed that? I looked over this area a least a few times!"
"Well what matters is that we found it," Ginny said reassuringly, stepping forward again to push on the metal doors.
When they didn't immediately budge, she pushed again on them with more force, groaning to herself. Hermione frowned and chewed on the inside of her cheek as she tried to think.
"Maybe there's something we're missing?" She said finally as Ginny gave one last frustrated yell.
"I swear, I'm going to strangle the both of them," Ginny growled, glaring at the metal doors. "Please, just let us into the labyrinth!"
There was a loud click and the doors slowly began to open, making both of the girls jump. They both waited as the doors opened fully, and when nothing happened they slowly made their way forward into the labyrinth.
Hermione peered around the left door to see a long pathway with no end in sight, and when she looked to the right it was the same view. There were broken branches and tree roots blocking the way on both sides, but nothing else except the stone walls on either side.
The two girls looked back and forth silently, jumping when the doors began to shut behind them. When the metal doors clicked shut again, Hermione let out a breath she was holding and looked to Ginny. "So...which way?"
"I don't know," Ginny said with uncertainty as she continued to look back and forth. "They both look the same."
"Yeah." Hermione ran a hand through her hair and turned to the right, sighing heavily. "Well, why don't we try this way first?"
Ginny nodded in agreement and the two girls set off. They walked in silence, stepping over the roots and tree branches that seemed to be growing out of the stone walls themselves somehow. There would be a random cobweb here and there tangled in the branches and some spots of grass, but hardly anything else.
Draco and Blaise both watched amusedly through the large crystal ball that now stood center in the throne room as the two girls frustratedly walked down the pathway.
"They've managed to enter the labyrinth at least," Blaise said with a grin before biting into an apple.
"Yes, but can they get further than this?" Draco asked, rubbing his chin as he watched the brunette. "At least we know both of their names now."
They both grinned again as they watched Ginny kick a small branch in frustration and Draco glanced over at Blaise. "She's a fiery one, I must say."
"I know," Blaise chuckled. "She'll make things interesting at least."
"Though she did stupidly hold a fairy," Draco said, shaking his head as he lounged sideways in his throne again. "And then complained when it bit her. What did she expect fairies to do?"
"At least she found the doors," Blaise countered, looking back at the blond. "Yours skipped right over them."
Draco glared and raised a finger. "To be fair, those doors do like to come and go as they please."
Subtly rolling his eyes, Blaise turned back to the crystal orb, his eyes on Ginny as Draco quietly watched Hermione.
After what felt like hours of walking, Ginny let out a frustrated huff as she glared at the walls around her. "What did they mean, 'labyrinth'; there's no corners or turns or anything, it just goes on and on!"
Hermione leaned against the wall and rubbed her face angrily, breathing in deeply before looking up at the sky. After a few moments, she looked back down the pathway as her brow furrowed again.
"Maybe it doesn't," She said slowly, pushing herself off the wall and taking a few steps forward. She peered down the pathway suspiciously before looking back at Ginny. "Maybe we're just taking it for granted that it does."
Ginny gave her a confused look but followed as Hermione began to walk again at a faster pace with a determined look. Soon they both began to jog, which quickly turned into an all-out sprint. The two of them each watched the walls as they ran past, inspecting for more doors but finding none.
After another minute or so of full-on sprinting, the two girls slowed to a stop, angrily catching their breath; Ginny stayed on her feet as she leaned against a wall while Hermione slid down to sit on the floor, glaring up at the sky again.
"'Ello!"
The girls both jumped and Ginny let out a gasp, looking around for the sudden voice. It wasn't either of the goblin kings' voices, that much she knew.
She found herself staring at a small white worm with blue fur that was sitting on a ledge of the wall next to Hermione, who was also staring at the little worm. Hermione blinked at the worm, her eyes going wide when it tilted its head and blinked back with red eyes that were the same color as the tiny scarf it wore around its neck.
"Did..." She swallowed the lump in her throat and asked, "Did you just say 'hello'?"
"No, I said ''ello'! But that's close enough," The worm said lightly, tilting its head back and forth again.
Hermione looked up at Ginny in shock as Ginny continued to stare at it before she managed to ask, "You're a worm, aren't you?"
"Yeah's right!" The worm answered in a bright voice, looking up towards Ginny as it spoke.
Ginny stepped away, holding her head in her hands and muttering to herself. "First biting fairies, now a talking worm...what's next? Lichen with eyes?!"
Hermione ignored her friend's ramblings as she shifted on the ground, turning to face the worm. "You don't by any chance know the way through this labyrinth, do you?"
"Who, me?" It straightened up slightly before shaking its head. "Nah, I'm just a worm."
"Oh." Hermione let out a defeated sigh and looked away, seeing that Ginny was now pacing back and forth nervously.
"Come inside and meet the missus!" The worm offered, tilting its head towards a very small hole in the wall.
Hermione stared at it, opening and closing her mouth before managing to get out, "No, thank you."
The worm seemed unfazed by her answer, turning to look back at Ginny. She knelt down next to Hermione and said exasperatedly, "We have to solve this labyrinth, but there aren't any turns or any openings, it just goes on and on!"
It gave her a bemused look before saying, "Well you ain't lookin' right, it's full of openings! It's just you ain't seen 'em!"
Hermione's brow furrowed again. "Well, where are they?"
"There's one right across there, right in front of ya," The worm answered, gesturing towards the wall directly across from them.
Hermione and Ginny both looked towards the wall quickly, but found no opening. The wall looked just like the rest of the stone pathway they had already seen, with no difference whatsoever.
Ginny then looked back at the worm and said, "No there isn't."
"Come inside, and have a nice cup of tea!" The worm offered again.
"But there isn't an opening!" Hermione said, gesturing towards the wall.
"Of course there is!" The worm chuckled. "You try walkin' through it, you'll see what I mean!"
Ginny looked back at Hermione before slowly standing up, taking a step towards the wall. Hermione stood up as well, looking back and forth between the wall and the worm.
"But...there's...wall, there's no way through!" Ginny said in a frustrated voice.
"Things are not always what they seem in this place," The worm explained patiently. "You can't take anything for granted."
Hermione sucked in a deep breath and looked at Ginny one last time before walking forward slowly, putting both of her hands up in front of her. Much to her surprise, she walked past the wall on either side and smiled excitedly.
She looked back to see Ginny sigh happily and walk forward through the illusioned wall as well and the two quickly turned to the left.
"Hey, hang on!"
The two quickly went back to the opening and Hermione happily said, "Thank you, that was incredibly helpful!"
Ginny began to walk to the left again and the worm quickly said, "Don't go that way!"
The red head paused and peered around the wall. "What was that?"
"I said, don't go that way," The worm repeated, shaking its head fervently. "Never go that way!"
"Oh." Ginny looked up towards Hermione who shrugged and turned to the right instead. Ginny happily followed and waved back to the worm happily, "Thanks!"
As the girls disappeared behind the wall, the worm shook its head before saying, "If they'd've kept on going down that way, they'd've gone straight to that castle!"
A/N: me as I write yet another cliffhanger:
Oh, this story is going to be so much fun to write! I will be taking actual dialogue from the movie and mixing it in just because some of it is too good to leave out. Anywho, hope you all enjoy! <3