The Sleeping Princess

21- Dangerous Dream

Harry pushed himself up and onto his shaky feet as he stared around him, the sword held tightly in his hands. Ron and Hermione were a few feet in front of him, both of them staring around in a daze.

His eyes widened as he realized what had just happened and where he was. Like thick spider webs, everything was covered with the branch-thick vines and closed flowers buds… nothing moved… no sound, there wasn't even a whisper of wind. It was like everything had been turned to stone and the plants took over.

He shivered at that as he continued to walk down the cobblestone streets, trying to avoid all the deadly plantlife—while at the same time avoiding tripping over people. It looked like everyone fell asleep where they stood… dropping whatever it was that they were doing as soon as the spell had activated.

Ron kept his eyes up ahead of him, his back to them.

"Ron?" he called to him.

Raising a shaking hand, Ron pointed in front of them to where the palace was. "That's it!" he called. "We have to head there! Ginny's inside at the top of the tower!"

Harry looked up at once, and thought it was difficult to see at this distance, he could just make out the tallest tower and a black window.

Ron stepped forward and said, "Let's go!"

"Lead the way, Ron," Hermione agreed firmly.

He nodded and they ran through the kingdom of sleeping people. Harry hacked away at the countless vines, trying hard not to step on someone. But it was clear that none of them were the slightest bit aware of what was going on around them—they all continued to sleep, not budging an inch.

"Just when I think that we're getting close to it, I see that we still have a long way to go," Harry gasped about twenty minutes later, carefully stepping over a fat man, while trying to duck underneath a thick thorn that was as sharp as a knife at the same time.

"I know," Ron gasped, wiping his brow of sweat. "I used to say that when I snuck out when I was a kid. You get used to it though. We'll be there soon."

"Both of you keep your voices down," Hermione hissed, staring around her anxiously. "I doubt that the protections that Dumbledore put up were just that dog and these creepers. There must be something else here."

Harry nodded in agreement. He kept his hand on the sword tightly and made their way through the town. After a couple more minutes, Ron called back to her, for she was starting to lag behind, "Come on, Hermione!"

"Easy for you guys to say!" she yelled back, her dress had caught hold of the thorns and she was trying to tug it free. "You both have weapons and aren't wearing a dress!"

"Try the guards!" Harry called back, trying to pull his sleeve free after it was caught until it ripped. "There're guards everywhere! You can pick up a sword or something."

At Harry's suggestion, she looked around and soon had found a staff with a heavy metal tip at one end from one of the sleeping guards who had obviously been doing patrol through the city. As she tried to catch up, the boys found themselves on a road that were empty of sleepers, a road that would have led them straight up to the front doors. But as they waited for Hermione to catch up, the creepers had suddenly come to life.

They were completely surrounded and had no way of fighting them off. The foliage latched out and began wrapping themselves around them like snakes… Harry tried to cut them free, but the arm that held the sword was tied tightly and he ended up dropping it and it landed with another songlike clatter.

Ron wasn't any better and his mace fell away as they were both picked up off the ground and the vines started to wrap around them tightly; cutting off their air. Because Hermione had fallen behind, she didn't get near enough for the vegetation on the road to get her, but now she was forced to watch in horror as the two boys fought to pull the plant off them, but the more they strained against it, the tighter and faster the plant wound around them.