Lion,Tiger and... dragon - 5

"What did you do that for?" Ron asked, sounding irritated.

"Don't just go putting your hands on it, Ron," Harry said, firing up. "We have no idea what kinds of protective spells are here."

"We don't even know if it's there," Ron fired back. "Besides, nothing happened. It didn't even open." As if making his point, Ron tugged on the handle again. It still wouldn't open.

Hermione and Harry each tried to tug on it, but it didn't budge.

"Why would they keep an old wardrobe if they couldn't even use it?" Ron asked, looking around the room at all the family artifacts.

"It's really old and probably valuable, Ron. It has the Smith family crest engraved at the top. I assume it's a family heirloom," Hermione said, scowling. "They're obviously are very proud of their heritage, and Riddle would have known this. If he hid something here, they'd keep it here forever."

"How do you know that's the Smith crest?" Ron asked, staring at the top of the wardrobe.

"Look around. It's everywhere here," Hermione replied, exasperated.

Harry ignored them. He ran his hand along the front of the wardrobe, feeling the heat emanating from it.

"It's in here," he whispered. "I bet he used a spell similar to the one Dumbledore used on the Mirror of Erised in our first year. I think that if someone wanted to open this door simply to use the wardrobe, it would open, no problem. But it somehow knows we want what's hidden inside."

Hermione withdrew her wand. "Should we try an unlocking charm?" she asked.

Harry didn't think it could be that simple, but he remembered Dumbledore letting him try a Summoning charm before he tried anything trickier.

"Give it a try," he said shrugging.

"Alohomora," Hermione said firmly.

Something sparked, but the wardrobe remained firmly closed.

"Didn't you say the entrance to the cave demanded payment in blood?" Ron asked, swallowing hard.

"Yeah, but I don't think Voldemort would use the same protections twice. It's something different," Harry said, absently.

"The doorknob is off center, just like the fireplace," Hermione said, twisting her lips from side to side.

"I wonder…" Harry said.

"What…?" Ron asked.

Harry moved his wand to the center of the wardrobe, where he thought a knob should logically be.

"Aparecium," he said.

Slowly, the blurry outline of a doorknob became visible. It was distorted and it shimmered, almost as if they were looking at it through intense heat.

"Whoa," Ron said, breathing deeply. He put the Spell Detector back on his nose. "It's covered in red, Harry. Loads of Dark Magic all over it."

"We'd better not touch it directly then," Hermione said. "I'll use my wand to open it." She waved her wand without using an incantation.

"Hermione!" Ron shouted, grabbing her arm as a jet of white-hot flames shot out from the knob. The blast hit Hermione on the side of her head, knocking her backwards as her hair ignited in a ball of flame. Hermione screamed and moved away, batting at the flames with her hands.

"Hermione!" Ron shouted again, panicked. His shoulder and arm had also been hit with some of the blast, and the flames quickly destroyed the sleeve of his shirt and began to spread. He waved his wand helplessly, as if he couldn't remember the spell to douse the flames.

Harry's primary school lessons popped into his head as he thought to push them to the ground and roll them to smother the flames, but his wand would be faster.

"Aguamenti," he shouted. A spray of water issued from his wand, covering both Ron and Hermione.