The Sorcerer's Stone | Hermione Granger x OC (Book 1)

Chapter 16: Into the Trapdoor

"What??" Ron questioned as he looked at Thomas with confusion and Harry moved closer to the hatch. 

"Come on." Harry said as he crouched to the end of the paw and the rest of the group bent over the rest of the paw to push it. "Okay. Push!" Harry told them and the group pushed the paw with all their might with much strain. When it was finally pushed far enough, one of the heads began breathing more heavily, which made they step far back. The 4 then crouched and opened the hatch before crouching again to look down the deep dark hole. Harry then looked at the group, " I'll go first. Don't follow until I give you a sign." They didn't notice that the harp had stopped playing, and Fluffy's eye opened wide, "If something bad happens, get yourselves out..." Harry realized how silent it was, "...Does it seem a bit quiet to you?"

Thomas turned around to look at the harp, seeing that it was no longer playing, "The harp." he pointed out.

Hermione and Ron also turned to look at the harp, "It stopped playing." she continued.

Drool suddenly began to drop on Ron's shoulder, grabbing all their attention and they slowly turned to face him, "Ew! Yuck!" Ron exclaimed with disgust as he threw the wet white drool off his shoulder.

All four kids realized where it dropped from and slowly looked up, seeing a fully awake and angry Fluffy standing there above them. Fluffy barked and growled, before pushing it's heads towards them, causing them to fall back. Fluffy got closer and closer, step by step as they crawled back, still facing the 3-headed dog. "I-I didn't think it'd end like this." Ron whimpered.

Thomas looked around for an opening, but quickly saw there was no escape. He looked back at the dog and noticed something. It's eyes.

He remembered a quote from his mother's journal... The thing with these fantastic beast, no matter how dangerous or frightening they are... You can always tell in the eyes...

He slowly stuck his hand up, making Hermione look at him like he was a crazy person, "Are you mental??" she questioned.

He slowly got off his butt as Fluffy's growling began to slow and calm down and step back. Thomas walked closer to the dog with his hand still up, "It's okay... I'm not going to hurt you..." he told the creature.

Fluffy slowly calmed down as it came to a stop. Thomas' hand was mere centimeters away from the head. Fluffy's middle head closed it's eyes as the other dogs calmed down and the middle head moved itself into his palm.

A smile of both relief and shock came out from Thomas as the rest got up, shocked as well by what was happening before them. Thomas pushed his hand over the head and began to rub it, making the dog him. Thomas turned to the rest, who's eyes were widened before he mouthed the words, "Go!"

The rest rushed past the dog and towards the hatch. Harry jumped down, then Ron. Hermione turned to Thomas and waved her hand towards herself, telling him to follow. Thomas pulled his hand back and followed her as the dog heads turned to him, not wanting him to leave. Hermione then jumped down along with Thomas.

They landed into a pit of some mushy black ropelike vines, "Lucky this plant-thing's here, really." Ron commented with a smile.

Harry quickly noticed the vines behind Thomas begin to move towards him, same for Ron, "Whoa!" he yelled out as he scooched back a bit. They all looked around, seeing the vines around them crawl their way towards the group. 

The group all struggled to get out of the vines' clutches, but the vines only grew stronger and tighter. All of this happened, except to Hermione, who was completely calm, "Stop moving, the 3 of you of you. This is Devil's Snare. You have to relax. If you don't, it will only kill you faster." she told them.

Bit by bit, they were being swallowed by the vines deeper in. Hermione's words only made Ron worry and freak out more, "Kill us faster?! Oh, now I can relax!" he replied.

Hermione sarcastically smiled at him as she was completely swallowed by the vines deeper in, "Hermione!" the trio of boys yelled.

"Now what are we gonna do?!" Ron questioned.

They suddenly heard Hermione's voice speak from under the vines, "Just relax!" they heard.

"Hermione, where are you?" Harry asked, the vines covering him more and more.

"Do what I say! Trust me." she said.

"Alright!" Thomas replied before both Harry and Thomas relaxed themselves and were swallowed by the vines.

"Ahh! Harry! Thomas!" Ron yelled. Harry and Thomas fell through and landed on a hard ground. Hermione walked over to him as they stood up, "Are you okay?" she asked them.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Harry said as he dusted himself off.

"Same here." Thomas added before the 3 stood together and looked up for Ron, who cried for help.

"He's not relaxing, is he?" Hermione asked.

"Not by the looks of it." Thomas said as Ron continued crying for help.

"We've gotta do something!" she said.

"What?" Harry asked impatiently as the 2 boys looked up worryingly.

Hermione tried to think as she moved her hands around, "Uh! I remember reading something in Herbology."

"Um... Devil's Snare, Devil's Scare..." The vines covered Ron's mouth, "It's deadly fun... but will sulk in the sun! That's it! Devil's Snare hates sunlight!" She took out her wand and pointed upwards at the snare, "Lumus Solem!" she chanted. A beam of light shot out, making The Snare shriek and recoil, leaving a hole open that Ron fell down through.

Ron screamed as he hit the ground before the other crouched on their knee to him, "Ron, are you okay?" Harry asked.

"Yeah." he replied and Thomas pulled him up. Ron looked up at the vines with relief, "Whew! Lucky we didn't panic."

Thomas rolled his eyes and Harry replied, "Lucky Hermione pays attention in Herbology."

They all heard a flying buzzing and whizzing noise coming from behind they, making them spin around towards the source, "What is that?" she asked.

"I don't know. Sounds like wings." Harry said as he glanced back at the group.