Chapter 46.6- Doom Days

“You will continue to hold this up, please give me as much time as possible as I work to restore the enchantments” The old man said.

“Don’t be silly Dumbledore. The enchantments were cast by dozens of masters working in concert. They are not something that you can just restore on a whim. Instead, we must trigger the remote destruction of the platform. If it lands, it will cause tremendous loss of life. Far more will be lost than the three who are on the platform now” One of the ICW women spoke, the dark skinned one. Sirius turned his gaze to her. Only the fact that he had to hold the platform up was keeping him from cursing her tongue off. The glares Maxime, McGonagall, and Sprout sent her way made it clear that he was not the only one to be having similar thoughts.

“I will, of course, do my best. And I will trust the rest of you to do the same. The strain will be immense. It will feel like all the world lies on your shoulders, but I trust you all to hold this burden” he said, and Sirius had to swear the old man was taking the mickey, because holding this shit up wasn’t that hard.

“Now brace yourselves” Dumbledore said, before putting his wand down, and then Sirius understood. It was like a mountain on his shoulders. Like he was lifting all the world and then some. Was this what Atlas felt when Zeus placed the sky atop him. Just how much of the weight had Dumbledore been holding.

The man looked no different even as Sirius could see the others near buckle from the weight.

“As much time as you can spare me, if you would” Dumbledore said before he began to drag his wand through the air like he was conducting an orchestra. Charms had been one of Sirius’ favourite subjects back at Hogwarts but he hadn’t ever gotten advanced enough to delve into complex enchantments the way Lily had. And he knew that even Lily would be stumped by what the Headmaster was doing.

The man drew runes in the air from memory with no problem and then dispelled them before starting again. Every once in a while he would nod his head like something was working before shaking it and starting over.

“Dumbledore” Sirius heard McGonagall groan, and he felt it. Holding that island up was easily the hardest thing he ever had to do and he could feel his magic running out.

“Just a minute more” He said, having already used close to four minutes with his trial and error. This time, when he began he did not stop. He drew rune after rune, layering them on top of each other in some cases, and then side by side in others.

“We can’t hold this for much longer, Dumbledore” It was the dark skinned woman now. She had fallen her knees. The other woman with her had done the same, and so had both Sprout and McGonagall. Sirius could feel blood pouring from his nose but he remained on his feet. Years in Azkaban had taught him to ignore his body’s pain.

“One second” The old man said as he drew the last rune with a flourish and then began to whisper in a language Sirius could recognise as Greek. The runes flew from him, shooting in the air and attaching themselves to the platform. Sirius felt the weight he was holding stop as the platform stopped pushing down on them. Instead, it began to float upwards again. Dumbledore pointed his wand at the giant viewing board, and their views of the Champions returned. Cedric lay bound in chains, while Fleur sat against a hedge, looking at her wand. Harry was nowhere to be seen, his screen only showing the empty podium where the winner should have arrived.

“Where is Harry, Dumbledore?” He turned to the old man.

“Now, that is a good question.”