Chapter Sixteen: Through The Trapdoor

The next morning Snape went to go see his son at the Gryffindor table and sat a crossed from him next to Ron and Hermione. "I heard what happened last night and I was just checking on you." He told him.

"I'm fine,.." Harry began. "considering the fact that Voldemort almost murdered me that is." He finished.

"You have to know that I wouldn't have let you or your friends go in the forest had I known." His father began. "I figured that you would have been safe with Hagrid. Just promise me one thing. Promise me that you won't go after him by yourself." He finished as Harry heaved a sigh and then looked up at him.

"Don't worry, I promise." He replied as his father silently nodded at him and then got up and turned around and started walking away from the table.

"Oh come on Harry you can't be serious!" Ron snapped inside a whisper. "You-Know-Who is after the stone are you really just going to let him steal it?" He asked him but Harry just simply shook his head as he turned back to face him.

"No. I promised my father that I wouldn't go after Voldemort alone, but I didn't say that I wouldn't let my two best friends help me." He explained with a rather sly grin which Ron and Hermione returned.

"So then what are we going to do?" Hermione asked him.

"We're going down the trapdoor,.. tonight." Harry replied.

"Right, any ideas of how we're going to get past that three-headed dog?" Ron wondered.

"No idea." Harry replied earnestly before he went back to eating his breakfast.

…..

"Dear God just don't let me get killed." Harry began later on after everyone else was asleep in the boy's dormitory except for him and Ron. This time even Patches was fast asleep at the foot of Harry's bed. Harry grabbed his wand off of the nightstand. "Lumos." He whispered with a wave of his wand and lighting the very tip of it.

Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak from out underneath his bed and then draped it around his and Ron's shoulders before they met Hermione down inside the Gryffindor common room accidentally startling her before Harry threw it overtop of her as well and they all headed towards the third floor corridor together. (That is after Neville attempted to stop them and Hermione had to freeze him in place using petrificus totalus.) Once they got there and Hermione unlocked the door with her wand they found to their surprise that Fluffy the three-headed dog was fast asleep.

That's when they removed the cloak off their shoulders and heard a harp playing inside the room. They looked up and realized that it was bewitched. "Hold on a second,.. he's snoring." Harry said.

"Well I guess that solves that problem but now we have another one." Hermione began.

"What's that?" Ron questioned her.

"He's sleeping on top of the trapdoor." She pointed out.

"Come on we have to move his paw." Harry began as all three of them walked over to the monstrous canine and then knelt down beside it. "Come on,.. push." He instructed as all three of them started pushing him off just silently hoping and praying that he wouldn't wake up. Just as soon as Harry opened up the trapdoor the harp stopped playing.

"Does it seem a bit quiet to you?" Harry wondered while Hermione turned her head to look over at the now silent harp.

"The harp, it stopped playing." She observed while Ron suddenly felt something wet and sticky upon his shoulder as he looked over it he let out a shriek as he realized that it was dog drool.

"Eww! Yuck! Dog drool!" He cried before Fluffy started snarling and barking at them.

"Jump!" Harry exclaimed before all three of them leaped through the trapdoor before Fluffy could attack them. They didn't know what other kinds of spells and enchantments they would find, but above all they had to save themselves and then rescue The Sorcerer's Stone. To Harry's complete and utter surprise they landed on something soft. However, he realized a few moments later that it was a magical plant and it was now wrapping its vines around his legs and attempting to cut off their circulation.

While Harry attempted to pull himself free vines were wrapping themselves around both Ron and Hermione. "Hermione, what's going on?" Hermione squeaked as vines started wrapping around Harry as well and he started wiggling around and moving his head as they attached themselves around Harry's neck.

"Wait a second I know what this is. This is Devil's Snare. You have to relax otherwise it'll kill you faster." She warned them.

"Kill us faster!? Oh great now I can really relax!" Ron exclaimed sarcastically as Hermione just simply made a face at him and relaxed her body and slowly sank beneath the brambles.

"Hermione!" Harry and Ron both shouted at the exact same time.

"Just relax and do what I say trust me." She told them before Harry took a deep breath and closed his eyes and relaxed his body. A few seconds later he was also sinking beneath the brambles.

"Harry!" Ron cried out in horror as Harry fell to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Hermione questioned him out of concern as he slowly got to his feet while Ron continued shrieking the background.

"Yeah." Harry replied in response while he looked up at the vines as he could hear Ron continuing to scream.

"He's not relaxing is he?" Hermione questioned as Harry shook his head.

"Apparently not." He replied while Ron continued screaming out for help.

"Hold on a second, I remember reading something in herbology." Hermione began. "Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare is deadly fun,.. but it'll soak in the sun that's it! Devil's Snare hates sunlight!" She exclaimed before withdrawing her wand and pointing it upwards at the vines. "Lumos Solem!" She cried and that's when a great beam of sunlight was cast out of the tip of her wand up at the plants and Ron fell through and Harry helped him up.

"Are you alright Ron?" He asked him as Ron suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, and it's lucky that we didn't panic." Ron said as Harry just simply looked at him and a few moments of silence passed.

"You're just lucky that Hermione pays attention in herbology or you would have just become plant food." Harry pointed out as Ron's cheeks turned pink. That's when they suddenly turned around and started walking to the next room.