And Harry and I let go. Cold, damp air rushed past us as we fell down, down, down and --
FLUMP. With a funny, muffled sort of thump we landed on something soft. we sat up and felt around eyes not used to the gloom. It felt as though he was sitting on some sort of plant. I know it wasn't there for protection, I back away, groping for the wall
"It's okay!" harr called up to the light the size of a postage stamp, which was the open trapdoor, "it's a soft landing, you can jump!" Before I can yell no. . .
Ron followed right away. He landed, sprawled next to Harry.
"What's this stuff?" were his first words.
"Dunno, some sort of plant thing. I suppose it's here to break the fall. Come on, Hermione!"
The distant music stopped. There was a loud bark from the dog, but Hermione had already jumped. She landed on Harry's other side.
"We must be miles under the school," she said.
"Lucky this plant thing's here, really," said Ron.
"Lucky!" I shrieked . "Look at you both!"
Hermione leapt up and struggled toward a damp wall next to me. She had to struggle because the moment she had landed, the plant had started to twist snakelike tendrils around her ankles. As for Harry and Ron, their legs had already been bound tightly in long creepers without their noticing.
Hermione had managed to free herself before the plant got a firm grip on her. Now she and I watched 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. "I know what this is -- it's Devil's Snare!"
"Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help," snarled Ron, leaning back, trying to stop the plant from curling around his neck. "Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" I snarl
"Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!" Harry gasped, wrestling with it as it curled around his chest.
"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare... what did Professor Sprout say? -- it likes the dark and the damp." I mumble
"So light a fire!" Harry choked.
"Yes -- of course -- but there's no wood!" Hermione cried, wringing her hands.
"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowed. "ARE YOU BOTH A WITCHES OR NOT?"
"Hermione" I gasp "the fire.""Oh, right!" said Hermione, and she whipped out her wand, waved it, muttered something, and sent a jet of the same bluebell flames she had used on Snape at the plant. In a matter of seconds, the two boys felt it loosening its grip as it cringed away from the light and warmth. Wriggling and flailing, it unraveled itself from their bodies, and they were able to pull free.
"Lucky you pay attention in Herbology, Hermione," said Harry as he joined her by the wall, wiping sweat off his face.
"Yeah," said Ron, "and lucky Harry and Emma don't lose their heads in a crisis -- 'there's no wood,' honestly."
"This way," said Harry, pointing down a stone passageway, which was the only way forward.
All we could hear apart from our footsteps was the gentle drip of water trickling down the walls. The passageway sloped downward, and Harry and I were reminded of Gringotts. With an unpleasant jolt of the heart, I remembered the dragons said to be guarding vaults in the wizards' bank. If twe met a dragon, a fully-grown dragon -- Norbert had been bad enough...
"Can you hear something?" Ron whispered.
Harry listened. A soft rustling and clinking seemed to be coming from up ahead.
"Do you think it's a ghost?"
"I don't know... sounds like wings to me." I mumble
"There's light ahead -- I can see something moving."
Ww reached the end of the passageway and saw before us a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above us. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door.
"Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?" said Ron.
"Probably," said Harry. "They don't look very vicious, but I suppose if they all swooped down at once... well, there's no other choice... I'll run."
He took a deep breath, covered his face with his arms, and sprinted across the room. I expected to feel sharp beaks and claws tearing at him any second, but nothing happened. He reached the door untouched. He pulled the handle, but it was locked.
we followed him. we tugged and heaved at the door, but it wouldn't budge, not even when Hermione tried the Alohomora charm.
"Now what?" said Ron.
"These birds... they can't be here just for decoration," I whisper
They watched the birds soaring overhead, glittering -- glittering ?
"They're not birds!" I said suddenly. "They're keys! Winged keys -- look carefully. So that must mean... " I looked around the chamber while the other three squinted up at the flock of keys. "... yes -- look! Broomsticks! We've got to catch the key to the door!"
"But there are hundreds of them!"
Ron examined the lock on the door.
"We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one -- probably silver, like the handle."
"I can't fly" I sigh "I missed the lesson. You three go."
They each seized a broomstick and kicked off into the air, soaring into the midst of the cloud of keys. They grabbed and snatched, but the bewitched keys darted and dived so quickly it was almost impossible to catch one.
Not for nothing, though, was Harry the youngest Seeker in a century. He had a knack for spotting things other people didn't. After a minute's weaving about through the whirl of rainbow feathers, he noticed a large silver key that had a bent wing, as if it had already been caught and stuffed roughly into the keyhole.
"That one!" he called to the others. "That big one -- there -- no, there -- with bright blue wings -- the feathers are all crumpled on one side."
Ron went speeding in the direction that Harry was pointing, crashed into the ceiling, and nearly fell off his broom.
"We've got to close in on it!" Harry called, not taking his eyes off the key with the damaged wing. "Ron, you come at it from above -- Hermione, stay below and stop it from going down and I'll try and catch it. Right, NOW!"
Ron dived, Hermione rocketed upward, the key dodged them both, and Harry streaked after it; it sped toward the wall, Harry leaned forward and with a nasty, crunching noise, pinned it against the stone with one hand. Ron and Hermione's cheers echoed around the high chamber.
They landed quickly, and Harry ran to the door, the key struggling in his hand. He rammed it into the lock and turned - it worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice. "Oh my God" I whisper "as they landed
"Ready?" Harry asked us,my hand on the door handle. we nodded. He and I pulled the door open.
The next chamber was so dark we couldn't see anything at all. But as we stepped into it, light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight.
we were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing us, way across the chamber, were the white pieces.We shivered slightly - the towering white chessmen had no faces. "This is creepy" I whisper
"Now what do we do?" Harry whispered.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Ron. "We've got to play our way across the room."
Behind the white pieces they could see another door.
"How?" said Hermione nervously.
"I think," said Ron, "we're going to have to be chessmen."
He walked up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch the knight's horse. At once, the stone sprang to life. The horse pawed the ground and the knight turned his helmeted head to look down at Ron.
"Do we -- er -- have to join you to get across?" The black knight nodded. Ron turned to the other two.
"This needs thinking about... " he said. "I suppose we've got to take the place of four of the black pieces..."
Harry and Hermione and me stayed quiet, watching Ron think. He was the chess master Finally he said, "Now, don't be offended or anything, but neither of you are that good at chess--"
"We're not offended," said Harry quickly. "Just tell us what to do." I add
"Well, Harry, you take the place of that bishop, and Hermione, you next to him instead of that castle. and Emma you take the other bishop"
"What about you?" I ask
"I'm going to be a knight," said Ron.
The chessmen seemed to have been listening, because at these words a knight, two bishops, and a castle turned their backs on the white pieces and walked off the board, leaving four empty squares that Harry, Ron, Hermione and I took.
"White always plays first in chess," said Ron, peering across the board. "Yes... look..."
A white pawn had moved forward two squares.
Ron started to direct the black pieces. They moved silently wherever he sent them. my knees were trembling. What if they lost? What would happen?
"Harry -- move diagonally four squares to the right."
our first real shock came when our other knight was taken. The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he lay quite still, facedown.
"Had to let that happen," said Ron, looking shaken. "Leaves you free to take that bishop, Hermione, go on."
Every time one of our men was lost, the white pieces showed no mercy. Soon there was a huddle of limp black players slumped along the wall. Twice, Ron only just noticed in time that Harry and Hermione and me were in danger. He himself darted around the board, taking almost as many white pieces as we had lost black ones.
"We're nearly there," he muttered suddenly. "Let me think -- let me think..."
The white queen turned her blank face toward him.
"Yes... " said Ron softly, "It's the only way... I've got to be taken."
"NO!" Harry and Hermione and I shouted.
"That's chess!" snapped Ron. "You've got to make some sacrifices! I take one step forward and she'll take me -- that leaves you free to checkmate the king, Emma!"
"But--" I began
"Do you want to stop Snape or not?"
"Ron--"
"Look, if you don't hurry up, he'll already have the Stone!"
There was no alternative.
"Ready?" Ron called, his face pale but determined. "Here I go -- now, don't hang around once you've won."
He stepped forward, and the white queen pounced. She struck Ron hard across the head with her stone arm, and he crashed to the floor -- Hermione screamed but stayed on her square and I winced -- the white queen dragged Ron to one side. He looked as if he'd been knocked out.
Shaking, I moved three spaces to the left.
The white king took off his crown and threw it at my feet. We had won. The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear. With one last desperate look back at Ron, Harry and Hermione and Icharged through the door and up the next passageway.
"What if he's -- ?"
"He'll be all right," said Harry, trying to convince himself. "What do you reckon's next?" I ask
"We've had Sprout's, that was the Devil's Snare; Flitwick must've put charms on the keys; McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive; that leaves Quirrell's spell, and Snape's."I listed
We had reached another door.
"All right?" Harry whispered.
"Go on."
Harry pushed it open.
A disgusting smell filled their nostrils, making the three of us pull their robes up over our noses. Eyes watering, tqw saw, flat on the floor in front of them, a troll even larger than the one Harry and Ro had tackled, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.
"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one," Harry whispered as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs. "Come on, I can't breathe." I choke
Hermione pulled open the next door, three of us hardly daring to look at what came next -- but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.
"Snape's," said Harry. "What do we have to do?" I ask
We stepped over the threshold, and immediately a fire sprang up behind us in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward. We were trapped.
"Look!" Hermione seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. Harry and I looked over her shoulder to read it:
Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, which ever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
Hermione let out a great sigh and Harry and I, amazed, saw that she was smiling, the very last thing we felt like doing.
"Brilliant," said Hermione. "This isn't magic -- it's logic -- a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."
"But so will we, won't we?"
"Of course not," said Hermione. "Everything we need is here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will get us safely through the black fire, and one will get us back through the purple."
"But how do we know which to drink?" I ask
"Give me a minute."
Hermione read the paper several times. Then she walked up and down the line of bottles, muttering to herself and pointing at them. At last, she clapped her hands. I smiled I finally understood too
"Got it," she said. "The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire -- toward the Stone."
Harry looked at the tiny bottle.
"There's only enough there for one of us," he said. "That's hardly one swallow."
We looked at each other.
"Which one will get you back through the purple flames?"
I pointed at a rounded bottle at the right end of the line.
"You both drink that," said Harry. "No, listen, get back and get Ron. Grab brooms from the flying-key room, they'll get you out of the trapdoor and past Fluffy -- go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, we need him. I might be able to hold Snape off for a while, but I'm no match for him, really." "I'm not leaving you behind!" I yell "Your my twin!"
"But Harry -- what if You-Know-Who's with him?"
"Well -- I was lucky once, wasn't I?" said Harry, pointing at his scar. "I might get lucky again." "Might?" I snarl
Hermione's lip trembled, and she suddenly dashed at Harry and threw her arms around him. I join in
"Hermione!"
"Harry -- you're a great wizard, you know."
"I'm not as good as you, both" said Harry, very embarrassed, as we let go of him.
"Me!" said Hermione. "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things -- friendship and bravery and -- oh Harry -- be careful!"
"You drink first," said Harry. "You are sure which is which, aren't you?"
"Positive," said Hermione. She took a long drink from the round bottle at the end, and shuddered. Passing it to me
"It's not poison?" said Harry anxiously.
"No -- but it's like ice." I say shuddering
"Quick, go, before it wears off."
"Good luck -- take care."
"GO!"
Hermione and I turned and walked straight through the purple fire. As soon as we walked there was a glowing in my chest I reach down and withdraw my mother's necklace. "W-what's that?" asks hermione "my mother's necklace" I say. "it's supposed to tell me when someone's in danger-HARRY!" she looks at me, "of course he is!" no but like. . ." I can't explain it "he needs me.""NO!" Yells Hermione "What if something happens a-and y-you die? Y-you can't--I AM NOT LOOSING MY BEST FRIEND, EMMA." "You won't" I reassure "I promise. But--" I look her in the eye "--I can't lose my twin." Hermione flings her arms around me "thank you" she whispers "thank you?" I ask "I dragged you into this mess!" "You were my friend" she whispered "even in my old school, people hated me. you were the first person to be nice and kind and sweet towards me. . . and you better not die." "I won't" I say reluctantly pulling away from the hug. I clasp my hand on the locket, I think about all the times Harry's defended me, how we were there for eachother, how much we love eachother . I let that fill me up, as I open my eyes, I turn to see Harry staring open-mouthed at me. "I will ask how you did that later" he says
There was already someone there -- but it wasn't Snape. It wasn't even Voldemort.