Chapter 12
"Stop moving!" I shouted at the two boys who were thrashing against the vines.
"Listen to Maggy! This is Devil's Snare!" Hermione ordered in agreeance.
"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!" said Hermione.
"Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!" Harry gasped, wrestling with it as it curled around his chest.
I tried to think about what Professor Sprout said about Devil's Snare, and I could see that Hermione was also trying to think, while the two boys were busy grumbling. They would probably be in so much trouble without me and Hermione.
"Sprout said the plant likes the dark and damp, but how would we," I began.
"There's no wood to make a fire," Hermione pointed out.
"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowed. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"
Shocked that both Hermione and I forgot, I took my wand out and muttered, "incendio" and out of my wand fire was blasted. Soon enough, the vines shriveled away and unraveled, giving enough room for us to escape its grasp. I fell on the floor and Ron offered a hand, which I gladly took.
"Easy there Maggy" Ron said.
"Lucky you both actually pay attention in Herbology," Harry said as he wiped the sweat off his face, "this way guys,".
We moved down a stone passageway that was sloped downward, with water gently dripping down the walls. There was a soft sound in the distance that sounded almost like rustling.
"Can you hear something?" Ron whispered.
"Do you think it's a ghost?" Harry
"I don't know . . . sounds like wings to me." Maggy
"There's light ahead — I can see something moving."Hermione
We trudged down the murky, dark path until we came across a giant chamber with an enormously high ceiling. The room was lit so we could all finally see each other clearly, as well as some interesting looking birds. It looked as if we needed to get past the birds in order to move to the door on the other side of the chamber.
"The birds don't look vicious Harry, we could probably walk to the door," I said.
"There has to be a catch though," Hermione said, pushing a curl out of her face, the wheels in her head clearly turning.
"Who knows, I bet Binns enchanted them to attack if you don't know your Goblin Wars," Ron attempted to joke.
Hermione shot him a look.
Harry braced himself and carefully moved to the other side of the room. The birds kept to themselves and when he tried to open the door, it wouldn't budge. Hermione, Ron, and I quickly followed trying Alohomora and any other spells or tricks, but none worked. I turned away and sighed in frustration as one of the birds whizzed past my head. I could've sworn it looked shiny.
"Do birds normally shine and sparkle?" I sarcastically asked.
Harry went to take a deeper look.
"They're not birds!" Harry said suddenly. "They're keys! Winged keys — look carefully. So that must mean . . ." he looked around the chamber while the other two 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."
We all rushed forward and grabbed a broomstick, kicking off into the air into the swarm of keys. We all had our strong suits, Ron was great at chess, Hermione was studious and headstrong and I was studious and empathetic, Harry happened to be the youngest seeker in a century. That definitely counted for something. He spotted the right key straight away, a large silver key with bright blue, slightly crippled wings. Ron dove for it but immediately ran into the ceiling. I stifled a laugh and was met with exasperated glares. Now was not the time to laugh, no matter how funny it was.
"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 — Maggy come at it from the other side of me and swoop down at the last second, I'll try and catch it. Right, NOW!"
Ron dived, Hermione rocketed upward, I headed for Harry, the key dodged us, 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. We all flew down and landed, Harry taking the key and putting it into the locked door. We exited the chamber of keys and entered a new one that looked to be a giant, life-sized chess game. We stepped onto the board and light flooded into the room, we were on the side of the black players, and on the other, the white, just behind the white was a door.
"What are we gonna do?" Harry asked.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Ron. "We've got to play our way across the room, we have to be chessmen."
Ron Weasley, the boy shadowed by his older brothers, who weren't as good as Harry in flying or Hermione in studies, looked to have a sense of pride wash over him as he took over.
"Now, don't be offended or anything, but none of you are that good at chess —"
"We're not offended," said Harry quickly. "Just tell us what to do."
"Well, Harry, you take the place of that bishop, Maggy go in the place of the queen, and Hermione, you go there instead of that castle."
"What about you?" I asked.
"I'm going to be a knight," said Ron.
The chess pieces heard and the queen, castle, bishop, and knight walked off the board, leaving empty spaces for us to fill. White plays first in chess, and immediately, a white pawn moved forward two spaces. Ron quickly devised a plan and directed the black pieces about the board. I trusted Ron completely, even when the white pieces would brutally murder our players or when Ron would beat up a white player. I honestly don't get why wizard's chess is so violent so I guess that's why Ron made me the queen. Anyway. I zoned back into the game to hear Harry yelling.
"Wait a minute, Ron"
"You understand why, Harry? Once I make my move, the queen will take me. Then you're free to check the king,"
I may be bad at chess but I got the gist of what Ron was saying.
"No" I cried out.
"Ron, No," Harry protested.
"What is it?" Hermione asked.
"He's going to sacrifice himself," Harry replied.
"No, you can't! There must be another way!" Hermione cried.
"Do you want to stop Snape from getting the stone or not? Harry, it's you that has to go on. I know it. Not me. Not Maggy. Not Hermione. You. Knight to H3,"
And without a second thought, Ron moved forward to the white queen, who struck Ron across the head and dragged his passed-out form off of the board. Harry timidly moved three spaces to the left and took the white king's crown. We had won the game. But at what cost? I couldn't bear the thought of me or any of my friends giving our lives for this. Everything began to seem so real.
We stood by the door, silent for a moment.
"Harry, what if he's-" I asked.
"He'll be all right," said Harry, trying to convince himself. "What do you reckon's next?"
"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 . . ." Hermione thought aloud.
We walked through the tunnel in thought until we reached a door. Harry pushed the door open and we were instantly hit with a nasty smell. I looked past Harry and Hermione to try and find the source of the smell. In the middle of the floor of the room was a troll larger than the one we faced at Halloween, laying almost lifeless and slightly disfigured. It looked as if it had been knocked out, with a large lump on its head. What if Snape already got to it? He clearly knocked out the troll, we wouldn't be able to defeat him, we are just kids. It was becoming clear why I wasn't sorted into Gryffindor like the rest of my friends.
Harry distracted me from my thoughts by carefully stepping over one of the troll's limbs.
"I'm glad we didn't have to fight one of these again," He pinched his nose and whispered, "Come on, I can't breathe with this smell,".
And just like that, Hermione and I followed him, blindly into the next room. There was a table with seven differently shaped bottles filled with different colored liquids. Potions, I thought.
"This must be Snape's. What do we have to do?"
I shrugged and stepped into the room. The minute I stepped in, There were purple flames around the entrance and black flames by the exit to the room. We were trapped by this magical fire. Hermione spotted a roll of parchment by the potions and read it aloud to us.
"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind, Two of us will help you, whichever 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 hidden 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 a 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,"
"It's a riddle," I thought out loud.
"It's logic. Some of the greatest wizards get by with memorization but haven't an ounce of logic, they would be stuck in here forever," Hermione explained.
"But we won't be right?" Harry asked, "We have to get to the—"
"Of course not, three of these bottles are poison, two are wine, one will bring us past the purple and the other will bring us past the black flames," I said thoughtfully.
"But how do we know which is which," Harry asked.
I shrugged, trying hard to think. I may be a Slytherin but potions are definitely not my strong suit. Hermione however looked like she was already figuring it out, clapping her hands.
"I've got it," she exclaimed, "the smallest bottle will take you through the black towards the stone, the rounded bottle will take us back through the purple flames, the middle two are wine and the rest are the poisons,"
"We don't have enough to all go through, we don't even know if there are more trials, there are more teachers at Hogwarts, not just first-year teachers," I pointed out.
"Hermione, you drink this," Harry handed her the round bottle, "You can go back and get Ron and use the brooms to get past Fluffy. Send Hedwig to get Dumbledore, we are going to need him, and he'll listen to you, you're the smartest one and all the teachers love and trust you,"
"But what about you two?"
"Maggy was right, there are probably more trials, we will be able to work through it. Anyways, I was lucky once," he pointed to his scar, "Maybe I'll be lucky again,"
We all seemed like we were about to cry and shared a big group hug.
"Harry — you're a great wizard, you know,"
"I'm not as good as you," said Harry, very embarrassed, as she let go of him.
"Me!" said Hermione. "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things — friendship and bravery and — oh Harry — be careful! Maggy take care of him— you are the bravest Slytherin at Hogwarts,"
"Hermione, you are truly the brightest witch I know, now drink up so we can stop Snape," I said, giving her one last squeeze.
"You are sure which is which, aren't you?" Harry asked.
"Positive," said Hermione.
She drank the potion with a shiver. I suddenly got nervous, what if she was wrong, she may be smart but we are just eleven-year-olds. We shouldn't be doing this, a voice in my head said.
"It's not poison, but it's cold like ice," she said, which reassured me, "Good luck you guys take—"
"GO," Harry shouted, nudging her.
She looked back one last time before walking through the purple flames. Harry took a deep breath, clearly nervous. I grabbed his hand and squeezed.
"We got this Harry. I'll always protect you, you know that right? You're like my brother,"
He squeezed my hand back.
"We can do this, with your brains and my luck, we can defeat him. We got this,"
He took a sip of the potion then handed the bottle to me. I took a sip and let the potion wash over me, it felt like ice flooding through my veins. Like magic, but colder and darker—just like Hermione said. I put the potion back on the table, grabbed Harry's hand, and walked through the flames, unsure if we were about to face another trial, or if we would finally have to face Snape.
The flames engulfed us, but I didn't feel a thing. Sure enough, we entered the next room, which was more of a chamber. This is the end, we have to face Snape. I looked around the chamber and saw a figure, as the figure walked towards us I noticed that there was no greasy hair, big nose, or black cape, but the figure had something on his head.
A turban.
Oh no, it couldn't be.
"You," Harry gasped.
Quirrel smiled calmly, "Me!"