"Right," said Lee, firmly. "We stick to the plan."
"Exactly," agreed George. He fished his hand into the bag of potions before be pulled out the one he wanted. "Here, take a bit of this each."
"Which one?" said Fred. His brother tilted the bottle to one side. 'Speed' was written on the label. "Good idea."
George, then Fred, and finally Lee, each took a small sip of the liquid. It tasted a little bit spicy.
"Did it work?" said Lee, uncertainly.
"We don't really have time to wait," admitted George. "We have to get to Ron and make sure he's okay. Third floor corridor, right?"
"What about Valek?" asked Lee. "Should one of us keep an eye on him?"
"Good, idea. Stay here and keep an eye on him. When we find the others one of us will take them back to Gryffindor House while the other comes back for you," said George.
"Good luck," said Lee, nodding at his friends.
"Let's go," said Fred, taking off in a sprint.
At first they couldn't tell if the effects of the potion had kicked in but after a few moments of running each of the boys realised they had started to run much quicker than they usually could. They were soon speeding down the corridors and passages and it took them next to no time to reach the forbidden third floor corridor.
"That was pretty amazing," said George, puffing to catch his breath. "I think I might need to keep some of that for when I'm late to class."
"Should we try the door?" said Fred. His brother nodded in agreement. He grasped the handle and twisted. The door was already unlocked and opened with a scraping creak. Fred had barely looked inside before he slammed the door shut again. The was a loud thump on the other side that made the boys jump followed by a low growl. "The dog's awake."
"Any sign of them?" asked George.
"No, but I think I saw a trapdoor or something. They probably went down there."
"How can you be sure? That thing could have eaten them."
"No chance," said Fred, shaking his head. "There's no blood anywhere. If that dog had got them the place would be covered. Trust me, they are down there and with that dog above them I'd say not even Valek would risk trying to get to them."
"Well that's one less thing to worry about," said George. "Let's get back to Lee."
The boys headed back the way they came, but this time there was something wrong. Instead of speeding along in a blink of an eye they just ran on at their usual pace.
"It's worn off already," said Fred, slowing to a stop.
"Probably wears off fast because it's a Speed potion," said George. He pulled the bag off his shoulder and opened it. "No, problem we'll just have some more… oh."
"Oh?"
"Slight problem."
"Which is?"
"All that running at high speed made all the bottles smash together and well… smash."
"All of them?"
"Yeah," said George, looking into the bag to see if any of the vials had survived the trip. "All gone."
"Careful," advised Fred as his brother went to reach a hand into the bag. "Some of those were dangerous. Might not want to get them on your skin."
"Oh right," said George. He put the bag down.
"Just leave it here," said Fred, starting to move down the corridor. "We'll come back for them later."
The twins headed back the way they came. Although it was at night and with only the lights from their wands to guide them the boys had committed to memory the various routes through the castle to such an extent that they could probably have closed their eyes and still managed to find their way. At one point however, George, who had taken the lead, stopped in his tracks and switched off the light from his wand. His brother followed suit.
"Shh," said George, pressing his finger to his lips, whilst leaning back against the wall.
"Guys?" whispered Lee, as he came around the corner.
"For Godric's sake," said George, letting out his held breath. "You shouldn't sneak up on us like that."
"You're the ones hiding behind a corner," countered Lee.
"Aren't you supposed to be keeping an eye on Valek?" asked Fred.
"I was but he's in the school now. No point saying up there. So I decided to come and find you two," said Lee. He held up the Marauders' Map. "Where's your brother?"
"He's right…" began George pointing at Fred, "… oh you mean Ron. We think they are down a trapdoor in that room with the three headed dog. We thought it would be a pretty safe place to be considering who else is around."
"Yeah, well we should probably get back to Gryffindor Tower," said Lee, folding the map and handing it to George. "Do you have any more of that potion? Mine stopped working."
"We sort of broke the bottles," said George.
"Pfft, we?" snorted Fred.
"Let's get going then," said Lee, urgently. "We don't know where Valek is. We have to get back to Gryffindor Tower, then find a way to get a message out to the teachers. They'll be able to deal with him."
"Two Aurors and Enoch couldn't deal with him," George reminded him.
"Maybe once he realises he can't get passed the Fat Lady he'll just leave," said Lee.
"Or I could just kill you right in this very corridor," said Valek as he stepped into view.
"Merlin's Beard, you weren't kidding about his looks," muttered Lee.
"Where's our uncle?" demanded George. The three boys were aiming their wands at the new arrival.
"Where do you think he is? He's dead," scoffed Valek. "But don't worry about missing him, since you'll be joining him in a few moments."
"Over our dead bodies," stated Fred, trying to sound brave.
"Well… that's pretty much the point," said Valek, frowning.
"When we survive this, we're going to have to work a bit on your come-backs," advised Lee. The three boys had begun slowly moving backwards down the corridor.
"Don't worry, you won't survive," said Valek, his smile revealed a row of sharp and crooked teeth.
"More like, you won't survive," said George, dramatically. He pulled out the unicorn horn from his pocket and threw it with all his might. He gasped in triumph as it hit Valek squarely in the chest, but any joy was short-lived when he saw the horn drop to the ground while his target remained uninjured. "I don't understand. I thought that would kill you."
"Oh, unicorn horn is dangerous for me. If it touches my skin it burns, if I'm stabbed with one it would probably kill or at least seriously injure me," he said, looking down at the horn. He put one foot onto it and stepped down. There was a snap as the horn split into three pieces. "But I'm wearing clothes you imbecile, of course it's not going to hurt me if it touches my clothes."
"I could have told you that," whispered Lee. "Great, we're down to one horn now."
"Tell you what," said Valek, slowly walking towards the boys. "If you give up now, I'll offer you a quick and painless death. If you drag this out longer than it needs to be… well then you are going to suffer."
"You don't have your wand," said Fred, quickly.
"I lost it fighting your uncle but as I told you before, I don't need my wand," said Valek. He flexed his hands to emphasise the sharp pointed nails.
"Yeah but to use them you need to get close," advised Fred. He took his unicorn horn out of his pocket and held it in front of him. Valek stopped moving. "And if you do, I can get you with this."
"You might get me," said Valek, starting his advance again. "But then again, I'm willing to bet that I'm fast enough to kill you before you can kill me. I did want this to be a straight forward assassination, quick and easy with all loose ends tied up. But you and your uncle proved to be a lot more trouble than I expected, so instead I've decided to go with painful and unpleasant."
"Any ideas, guys?" said Fred, holding the unicorn horn in one hand while aiming his wand with the other.
"I'm working on something," said George, who had been muttering under his breath for the last few seconds while he carefully manoeuvred his wand. "Get ready to run."
"So… er… I heard that Dumbledore will be back any second," said Lee.
"Really? That's your best attempt to delay me?" snarled Valek. "This has gone on enough. Prepare to die."
"Accio horn," muttered George, using the same wand movement he had been trying surreptitiously. This time it work and the broken pieces of horn jumped up from the ground and flew towards him. Unfortunately for Valek, he was standing right in their path. He turned his head at the sound of movement behind him and the pieces slammed into the side of his face.
"Run," advised Fred. Valek let out a loud screech as he clasped his face with his hands. Wafts of smoke drifted up from between his fingers.
"This way," said George, pointing at a suit of armour. He pulled down on the armour's left shoulder and a doorway opened up behind.
The three boys piled inside and ran down a hidden corridor. George led the way with his wand pointed out in front of him. At the end of the corridor they stepped out from behind an ornate tapestry into one of the rarely used classrooms. George ran through the room to the door, he opened it and peered outside.
"Did he follow us?" asked Lee, aiming his wand towards where they had just exited.
"I don't think so," said Fred. "It closed before he could come through, and I don't think he saw how you opened it."
"Right, he doesn't know the castle like we do," said George, thinking quickly, as the three boys stepped out into the long corridor. "He's tracking us by smell, probably, so what route is he going to take to get to us."
"He'll come down that way," said Fred, pointing.
"So we go the other way," said George.
"Or not," said Lee. As the boys turned to head in their chosen direction Valek appeared at the end of the corridor in front of them.
"New plan. This way," said George, turning and running.
Lee and Fred didn't need telling twice since once Valek had spotted them he began racing towards them. George race to the end of the corridor and sped up a set of stairs to the next level with his brother and friend in close pursuit. Fred, at the rear of the trio, kept firing spells over his shoulder in an attempt to stop, or at least slow, Valek, but his attempts were having little to no effect.
"This way," barked George, diving into one of the class rooms. As Fred, sped inside. George slammed the door shut and the three of them threw their weight against the wood just as Valek barrelled into the other side. It pushed open a small amount before the boys could close it again.
"Find something to push against it," said George, pressing his back against the door and trying to wedge his feet into place.
"Here," said Fred. He rushed over to the teacher's desk and pulled it over. It took all of his strength to move it, even with Lee's help but they eventually managed to barricade the door.
"Now what?" said Lee, looking around the room. "There's no way out of here."
"There's one way," said Fred, pointing at the windows.
"We're a floor up," said Lee. "We'll break our legs."
"It's grass, we'll be fine. Just roll when you hit the ground. We do it all the time," advised George. There was a thump at the door again. "Unless you'd prefer to wait for him to get through."
"I think I'd take the window if we were on the seventh floor," said Lee.
They opened one of the windows and Fred climbed out. He lowered himself as much as he could before pushing himself away from the wall and dropping down onto the ground. He rolled on the floor as he landed and sprang up to show the others he was fine.
"See? Just like George said."
"Fine," said Lee, climbing out. He followed Fred's example except he didn't have as much of a successful landing.
"You okay?" asked Fred.
"Just banged my arm," said Lee, massaging his shoulder. "Come on George."
George jumped down and the three boys made their way around the side of the school until they found a door inside. The door led into a small room with a door on each wall. George opened the one that was on their left and it revealed a small staircase spiralling in both directions. The went upwards. The stairs went up at least two flights before it stopped at a small door about half their size. George opened it and peered out. It led into a large corridor. Crouching down on all fours each of the boys crawled through the doorway.
"I swear it started to shrink," complained Lee, who had to be pulled out the last little bit. Sure enough, when he turned around the door was now clearly too small for anyone to fit through. He shook his head. "This school."
"Right," said George, looking to see where they were, "we're on the third floor… and I think this is the Charms corridor. Which means the corridor with the three-headed dog is at that end."
"Okay, so we head the other way," said Fred pointing.
"The door's growing again," said Lee, shaking his head. The twins looked down and sure enough the door they had just come through was starting to stretch. "Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go to a muggle school."
"Far too boring," said George.
"But much safer I'll bet," said Lee. The door had now grown to the same size it was when the boys had crawled through.
"Yeah," nodded Fred, "but where's the fun in…"
Fred's sentence had been cut short by Lee's scream. The growing door had opened and a scaly hand had reached out and grabbed Lee's ankle.
"Got you!" snarled Valek, his sharp nails dug into the boy's skin and he began pulling Lee towards him.
"We've got you," said Fred, as he and George grabbed hold of Lee's arms and held onto him.
Valek continued to tug on Lee's leg, while the twins pulled back with all their might. Suddenly Valek let go which sent the three boys sprawling backwards as they lost their footing. By the time they had stood up their assailant had pulled himself through the door way and was now blocking their path.
"Well, I've got to say, you two are proving rather difficult to kill," said Valek, brushing dust off of his knees. "I am going to take great pleasure in this."
"Two? So… I can go?" ventured Lee.
"I haven't been paid to kill you, but I'll consider it an added bonus," said Valek.
"We're not dead yet," said Fred, taking the unicorn horn out of his pocket. George and Lee aimed their wands.
"Remember," said Lee, under his breath, "indirect spells only."
"I just beat two Aurors and your uncle, do you think you three will pose a problem?" laughed Valek.
"Any ideas?" said Fred, not taking his eyes off of his target.
"We could head into one of the classrooms," said Lee, looking behind them. "But I don't think any of them have secret passageways, we'd have to climb out a window again but now we're on the third floor."
"Okay we back up," said George. "I have an idea."
"Make all the plans you want," said Valek, sneering. "It won't make any difference."
The three boys continued moving all the way to the far end of the corridor until they only had about twenty or so feet behind them.
"You've run out of room," said Valek.
"Now what?" asked Lee.
"Remember at Halloween when the troll got into the dungeon? Do you remember the spell you used when Filch was chasing us?" said George, quickly.
"In the dungeons?" said Lee. He smiled when he recalled the spell. "Yeah I remember."
"Get ready to do that."
"What about us?" said Fred.
"We…"
Valek chose that moment to attack. He leapt forward towards Fred and grabbed the boy's wrist that held the unicorn horn. He raised his other hand ready to claw at Fred but George had already sprang into action. While continuing to try to hold onto his wand George used both his hands to seize the creature's arm. Valek, still struggling to grip Fred's wrist, used his superior strength to push George to one side. George slammed into the wall and slid down onto his knees. Valek went to aim a kick at the boy's head but at the last minute Fred pulled on his arm to make him lose his balance. As Valek tried to regain his composure Lee raced towards him. The boy slid on the floor at the last minute so that he barrelled into one of Valek's leg.
Valek stumbled to one side whilst still trying to maintain his grip on Fred's arm. George had already recovered and launched himself at the creature. He slammed into Valek's back causing him to stumble forward. Fred grimaced as the claws around his wrist dug into his skin. Valek tried desperately to reach over his shoulder and grab at George who had now leapt onto his back and began hitting him on the top of his head with the base of his wand. Valek managed to scratch George a few times before Lee latched onto his arm and held it with both his hands folded over his chest.
"I'm going to kill you all," snarled Valek, who now had Lee, Fred and George weighing him down.
"Quick," ordered George, dropping down onto the ground. "Push."
He barged his shoulder into Valek's back and propelled the creature forward with all his might. Fred and Lee likewise used their strength to push as hard as they could. Just as they reached the door at the end of the corridor, George kicked one of the feet out from under Valek. The surprise of falling caused him to release his grip on Fred's wrist before Valek fell into the door pushing it open and rolling inside. Lee grabbed hold of the handle and went to pull the door shut but before he could slam it completely Valek was able to lodge a forearm into the gap.
"He's pulling it open," warned Lee as he strained to hold the door.
"I've got this," said Fred, racing forward and jamming the unicorn horn hard into the exposed flesh. Valek let out a scream and quickly pulled his arm back inside allowing the boys to shut the door. George and Lee held onto the doorknob and braced themselves, while Fred readied the unicorn horn in case he needed to use it again.
"Hang on," said George, looking around. "Isn't this the third floor?"
"Yeah," said Fred, not taking his eyes off the door. "So?"
"That would make this the third floor corridor," explained George, as he and Lee held onto the door. It jerked open a fraction before they were able to close it once again.
"Is this really the time for this?" asked Lee between deep breaths.
"Remember what's on the other side of this?" said George, raising his voice over the shouts of planned violence from behind the door.
"A lizard nut job?" said Lee.
"Other than him."
"Oh," said Fred, once the Knut dropped. "You mean Fluffy."
"Yep," said George.
The boy's looked at each other, then at the door. Valek was no longer shouting. All they could hear was a low growl that reverberated around them. The doorknob twisted again and George and Lee held on as hard as they could. From the other side of the door Valek let out an ear-piercing scream which was quickly and suddenly silenced.
