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.
"Stop moving!" Hermione ordered them. "Can't you see that it's making it worse?!"
"Yeah, we noticed that," snarled Ron, leaning back, trying to stop the plant from curling around his neck.
"Shut up, I'm trying to think of a way out of this!" Hermione screamed.
"Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!" Harry gasped, wrestling with it as it curled around his chest.
"Vines—plants… what stops a plant…?" Hermione was crying out to herself before she suddenly gasped and looked around desperately. She spotted a house nearby and had an idea! She went charging inside it, not caring as the thorns cut her and tore her clothes.
'Please let one be here, please let one be here,' she kept thinking over and over again as she went bursting through the door and looking around wildly for it.
The boys watched as she went running into the house, with Ron shouting after her, "HAVE YOU GONE MAD? What's that gonna do?!"
The thorns were cutting into Harry's skin and he was having a hard time breathing as he felt blood dripping down his arms. But then, Hermione came dashing out of the house, something small in her hands. She knelt down to the side of the road and stuck against the greenery, and Harry realized that it was a flint.
Almost at once, yellow flames began to burn and crept up the tendrils. And as they spred, the grip around them was lessening and the boys were able to pull themselves free. Harry then grabbed the sword and Ron his mace while Hermione jumped in and together, the three of them were able to take out enough that they drew away.
"I think I'm going to kill Dumbledore for this," Harry hissed to himself before he turned to hug Hermione. "Don't know what we would've done without you here," he gasped. "We owe you big time for that."
She smiled. "Anytime," she whispered, pulling back. "We'll kill Dumbledore later. The sooner we get this over, the happier I'll be."
Pulling themselves up, they ran forward, the pathway cleared. But when they reached the stone steps, they met another challenge.
As they ran up the stairs, they saw them—there were four statues there… a statue of a tall King, a cold-looking Queen, and two white knights on horses. "We're almost there," Ron gasped, in the lead. "I know a way inside…"
But as they ran past the statue of the king, Harry felt goosebumps going up his spine, and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Something was wrong. But before he could figure out what this bad feeling was, he heard Hermione screaming.
He looked up just in time for the arm of the king shot out, trying to hit him with his stone sword. He ducked in time, feeling the wind from his hand blow his hair. The statue king, queen, and knights came to life and headed towards them.
"Run around them!" Harry called, getting into a sword fight with the king.
"There's another way in!" Ron shouted, backing away from one of the knights. "There's a statue of an ugly witch with a hump! Around the castle's other side! It's right over a secret passage! All you have to do is…" but he never had the chance to finish for at that moment, the queen had charged up behind him and struck him so hard that he was out before his head hit the ground.
Hermione screamed and ran from the knight that she was fighting to him.
Harry had left behind his fight with the king as well and almost flew to their side. "Ron? RON?!"
Hermione was kneeling beside him, Ron was groaning slightly at her touch, a blood lump on his head. "He's out," Hermione cried out, starting to panic, staring around her, as if hoping for someone to help them. Harry bit his lip as the statues began to advance on them. He began weighing his options… this wasn't good. They couldn't fight them like this. Though the statues were big and strong, but he could also see that they were slow too; they could outrun them, but with Ron like this…?
"We have to drag him," Harry said at once. "We've got to get out of here."
"But how do we get in?" Hermione cried in terror as the four statues came closer.
"Find the statue he talked about," Harry said quickly, and together, they picked up Ron from the ground—wrapping his arms around their shoulders, and ran as hard as they could. Harry knew that they only had a few minutes before the statues were sure to catch up to them.
They ran around the side of the castle walls, down the stairs and to the side, ignoring the plant life as they ran. One good thing about it was that it also slowed down the statues, however, they were big enough that it didn't hold them back for long.
Breathing hard, Harry was staring around him for some kind of miracle.
"There!" Hermione called and he looked to see her pointing far to the left; there was an ugly statue of an old woman with a large hump.
"That has to be it," Harry gasped as they continued to drag Ron with them. It took a lot of effort, but they reached it in time. Together, the two of them began pulling on the trailing plants to get them off the statue, trying to find some kind of way inside.
"How do we open it?" Hermione demanded in a panicked voice.
"I—I don't know," Harry admitted, fear creeping up into his own heart. "Ron was knocked out before he could say how."
Hermione looked ready to cry as they felt around in desperation, looking back to see that the statues were getting closer. The queen lumbering over the pavement, scraping along with a horrible grinding sound as the two knights slashed their way through on their stone horses, who were neighing and snorted… as for the king, he just took large steps and cut his way a path easily. He was the one closest to them, and would be among them any second.
Desperate for some more time, Harry picked up his sword and ran forward to duel with the king, trying to give Hermione some way to think of a plan because he didn't have one. "Dumbledore… I am going to kill you for this," he hissed as he panted with the effort of keeping the king busy. But the king kept battling forward, making Harry step back just to stay alive. And then, with a great swing, the king tried to take off Harry's head with his stone sword in one mighty swing. He missed Harry, as he dodged it and rolled to the side, but rather he heard a horrible crashing, slicing sound.
Quickly looking up, he saw that the king had actually, taken off the top of the witch's hump. Hermione, who was cowering underneath the witch as the top had been taking off, was covering Ron's body with her own, to try and protect it.
"Hermione!" he called, hoping that she would snap out of it.
She looked up and he pointed wildly at the hole, and she looked up to see it. Understanding at once, she pulled herself up, and tried to get Ron through the narrow hole.
Harry looked past the king to see that the queen and two knights were also starting to get nearer with every second. They were almost out of time. Hermione had to get Ron and herself through before he could jump in. He was getting tired, but he was also sure that these guys couldn't follow them inside the tunnel…
At least he hoped not.
He did his best to hold him off while Hermione struggled to pull up Ron's body up and through the hole with her. Given Ron's dead weight, he knew that she wouldn't be able to do it on her own here.
With a wild slash, Harry caused the king to drop his sword before he jumped up onto the platform with them, and tried to help her by pushing Ron's body up as she pulled.
And with one great heave, they managed to pull him up and the two of them disappeared through the darkness.
"Now, Harry!" Hermione screamed from inside and Harry picked up his sword just as the king came at him again.
He didn't have time for this…
The other three were only feet away, the knights holding up swords of their own. He could barely hold off one of them, he knew that he didn't stand a chance against them. The statue towered over him and as Harry rolled away, he had another idea. Positioning himself, he knocked off the king's crown—the king—distracted, turned its empty face towards its crown.
Harry then used the king to give himself a boost, and diving through the narrow opening, just as the knights threw their swords at him. He could feel one of their sharp stone's graze his side. He cried out in pain as he slid down a dark slide and went sprawling at the foot of it.
"Harry!" gasped Hermione's voice and he looked up. It was so dark that he couldn't see anything, but he felt a smaller hand on his arm, and knew that it was Hermione.
"Are you alright?" she asked him.
Harry hissed in pain as he felt his bleeding wound. "I got cut…" he whispered, and heard her gasp. "I can't see anything so I can't tell how bad… it doesn't feel that deep though."
"Wait," Hermione cried out as she let go. Harry listened and heard her ripping cloth. A second later, there was light… Hermione had torn off parts of her dress and used the flint she still had to light it. She lit it and it cast them all in a feeble light. She was covered in dirt, and as pale as a ghost. But she leaned forward to look at him.
Harry finally looked around to see that they were in a very narrow, low, earthy passageway. He couldn't hear anything happening above them, but knew that they escaped the statues. He leaned back against the wall and looked down to see his shirt had blood on it.
"Let me see," Hermione commanded as she crawled forward, putting her hand into her pocket she pulled out some dittany.
"I saved some of it when we stopped by that river," she told him as she dabbed the plant on his side. Harry tried not to wince as the sharp leaves touched him. He stayed quiet as he let her work.
"I'll be ok," he told her, staring around and spotted Ron a few feet away. "How's he?"
"He got hit pretty hard," Hermione confessed to him grimly. She gave him the dittany leaves before she crawled over to Ron and put the last of it onto the bleeding wound in his head. As Harry worked on his side, Hermione had pulled Ron's head up onto her lap and started to try to wake him up. As they started to catch their breath, and the little light from their torch began to burn itself out, Ron finally started to move and opened his eyes a crack.
Harry, whose side was now stinging, but no longer bleeding, sighed in relief as he crawled forward to him to see him for himself. Ron looked up at them, not understanding what was happening.
"What's going on?" he asked them as he sat up, his hand to his head.
"We made it through the passageway," Harry told him.
"And it wasn't easy," Hermione agreed. "But we got away from them. But more importantly, are you alright?"
Ron stared around them, looking confused, but at least he was awake. They waited for about half an hour until they had rested enough for them to start moving again. Hermione helped to support him as the three of them trooped through the dark tunnel.
"Where does this lead out?" Harry panted next to him, supporting Ron's left side, Hermione—his right.
"The… the inner gardens," Ron croaked out, but sounding stronger than he had. "It was a secret passage that my brothers Fred and George found by accident one day. I saw them use it once, and I'd been using it to sneak out once in awhile. It's a shortcut…"
"Right into the castle?" Hermione gasped.
"Almost in the middle," Ron admitted. "When we get out, we'll be right off the Great Hall. It's a small garden that my mother made. From there, we should be able to get inside and head up to Ginny. She better appreciate all this you know? This is far from easy."
The passage twisted and turned, more like the burrow of a giant rabbit than anything else. Though they long since lost their light and were pretty much stumbling around in the dark. But after a short while, Harry's head collided with some wood. Feeling around in the dark, they appeared to be some very old, worn-out steps.
"Stairs?" Harry panted.
"Forgot about those," Ron muttered. "Sorry."
"Come on," Hermione whispered, and together the three of them climbed up the stairs, the darkness pressed in around them, almost suffocating as the continued to climb, feeling the stairs with their hands, the stairs creaking loudly with every step.
Just as they were beginning to wonder if they would ever see daylight again, their heads collided with something hard and made of stone.
"Where are we now?" Harry asked, wincing in pain from the impact. Feeling around his head, and his hand hit some kind of a latch.
"The exit," Ron said, swaying where he stood, "Forgot about that too…"
"You need to start remembering this," Hermione said with a 'tut' in her tone.
As Harry pulled the latch, he pushed the stone up a little to see a sliver of daylight creeping in.
"Ok," he said into the darkness to the other two. "I'm going to go up first. If it's safe, I'll call you. No sense in risking all of us."
"Ohhh, be careful Harry," Hermione whispered.
"I'll be fine," Harry promised her, gripping her hand tightly for a second. "Just take care of Ron ok? I'll signal you when it's safe."
Holding the sword tightly in his hands, he reached up again, and forced the door open. He then stuck his head out into the open air, his eyes blinking in the light. He seemed to have been coming up from under one of the tiles of the stone courtyard. As he thought, there were hundreds of vines and thorns covering the garden as well.
Slowly, he pushed the tile stone out of his way, and pulled himself up. Once he was on his knees he stuck his head back into the hole. He could just make out his friend's anxious faces.
"So far, so good," he said to them. "You stay here. I'm going to look around…"
He moved the tile back into place, but also leaving it open just a crack for them. He then stood up and glanced around him.
Harry blinked slowly, trying to determine whether or not what he was seeing was truly real. Huge slabs of stone lay on the grass-covered ground, accompanied by torn vines. It was a garden—and a wild one at that. In fact, it was not so much a 'garden', as it was an area of organic growth that exploded with colors.
Trees rose up in small groups, with the occasional huge one standing alone. Bushes with small glittering flowers grew around these trees, and grass sprung up on the ground. Among the grass, were wildflowers that were no less beautiful than ones that were cared for in modern gardens. Harry even thought that he could hear the trickling of a fountain, though it was hard to tell.
An almost unearthly wind blew around from seemingly nowhere, encircling Harry in a soft embrace before blowing off deeper into the garden. He closed his eyes to just enjoy the sensations of being in this place, for it seemed to be almost… magical.
Yes, that was it.
It was like a scene straight from a fairy tale.
He opened his eyes again and he could see it.
Across from him, mostly covered by the thick trees, was a wall of stone, as was partially anticipated. However, in the middle of this great barricade, there was embedded, a set of double entranceway doors. These were crafted from a deep red colored wood. They were perpendicular to the floor, but rounded in the top, and the entranceway was lined by a golden archway with intricate designs engraved on it.
In all appearance, it seemed as though no ruin had been brought to the structure itself, but as Harry lowered his gaze to the ground, he saw many chunks of stone lying among the quickly withering plants. In fact, there was enough of the rocky material to have easily covered the standing wall.
He was in half a mind to go to the others and to tell them that the coast was clear just when he heard a strange hissing sound.
Stopping dead in his tracks, he felt sweat pouring down his face as the familiar voice spoke, "Not bad…"
Staring around for the source, he felt as if chills were going up his spine.
"You almost made it through and are a step away from breaking my curse," said the voice again, and Harry spun around and there he was.
Lord Voldemort had appeared in front of the doorway, his red eyes were narrow slits, and his pale face was alive with malice.
"But do you have what it takes to go on even further?" he asked with a wicked smile. "Because I don't intend for you to leave this place… alive."
"Voldemort…" Harry whispered, fear sinking in as Voldemort laughed, a cold—terrifying laugh that seemed to echo around him so that there were ten Voldemorts laughing at him.
"Yes," he said with a sneer. "And this time… you don't stand… a ghost of a chance of living…"
A/N: Ok, this was almost a painful chapter to write. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter.
Thanks for reading and please vote and comment!