Not Potter and the Stupid Stone

Chapter 23

Laura

Harry, Ron, Noel, Hermione, and I sat in the common room, waiting. Our hearts pounded in anticipation, as I tapped my finger against the seat I sat on.

Later in the night, when the last student had finally gone to bed, Harry slipped upstairs to grab the invisibility cloak, coming down moments later.

"Let's try it on here," Hermione suggested, "to make sure we're all covered."

"Yeah," I mentioned, "don't want Filch spotting a stray foot."

Then someone sprang up from the shadows in the corner of the room.

"Y-you can't do this." He stuttered.

"Are you kidding me?" Noel groaned. "How did no one see him?"

"Go back to bed, Neville." Ron insisted. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"You'll lose Gryffindor points again." He stammered.

"Come on, Neville." Noel groaned again.

"Just, please," Harry pleaded. "Step aside."

"Well then..." Neville held up his fists, weakly. "I'll...I'll fight you!"

"I'm really sorry to do this Neville." Hermione pointed her wand at him, decidedly. "Petrificus Totalus!"

I watched in abject horror and fascination as Neville's whole body stiffened and then tipped backward into the seat he had previously been occupying, stiff as a board.

"What did you do?" Harry asked. He peered at where Neville's motionless body had fallen.

"Full body bind," she sulked. "Sorry, Neville."

"You had to do it." I explained. "He'll understand later."

The door to Fluffy's room creaked as we opened it and, had you been on the inside, you would've seen our five heads, one on top of the other, peaking around the corner of it. We quickly drew back our heads as we came face to face with three very large noses, attempting to detect where we were.

"Did you see what was in that corner?" I questioned.

Noel looked at me, shocked, "No, I was a bit distracted by the tree large noses and six eyes, or have you forgotten." I decided to ignore her comment as Ron began speaking.

"Looks like a harp." Ron said, "maybe Snape left it there."

"Does anyone have an instrument on them? The moment the music stops playing, it seems Fluffy wakes up again, so we need to start playing music, and quick!" Noel insisted.

"I brought a flute Hagrid got me for Christmas." Harry said, pulling it out of his pocket. "After he mentioned music in the hut, I thought it might be useful."

"But does anyone know how to play it?" Ron questioned.

"I can try?" I asked, having no idea how to play it.

I took the flute, and blew three very flat, and pitchy, notes. Fluffy growled in response, from the other side of the door, and I agreed with him, disgusting. Who knows how to play the flute? Nerds, that's who, this whole thing is pointless.

"Ugh," I groaned, "why do we even need an instrument? Can I just sing?"

"Maybe?" Hermione said, questioning if it would work.

I began singing part of the song, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, as it was the first slow, lullaby-like, song I could think of.

"Every rose has its thorn. Just like every night has its dawn." I sang, looking over, to see everyone, surprising shocked, that my singing sounded decent. I sang a few more lines, as Fluffy slowly fell asleep. "Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song. Every rose has its thorn."

"I didn't know you could sing." Noel said, shocked.

"Yeah," Harry added, "you've never talked about that."

"I might be a pureblood," I laughed, "but my family has had me enrolled into voice lessons since before I can remember."

"Oh, wow." Ron said, confused. "That's more of a muggle thing, isn't it?"

"I've had all wizarding coaches," I explained. "But my vocals aren't done with enchantments or anything. Music in the muggle, and wizarding, world is quite similar, really. Anyway," I continued, "should we get going, or not? Fluffy is asleep."

"Come on," Hermione motioned. "Let's open the trapdoor."

We encroached upon the trapdoor, feeling the heavy breath of one of the heads above us. Ron, reaching out to the door ring, swung it up and opened it.

Suddenly, the breathing stopped, and I looked up to see three pairs of open eyes looming down.

"G-guys..." Noel stammered from next to me, looking up as well. "It's awake!"

"Quickly," Hermione whispered. "Just keep singing!"

"Umm," I said, quickly coming up with lines, "We both lie silent and still, in the dead of the night."

I kept singing, as the other four discussed our next move. Luckily, Fluffy seemed to stay asleep, as long as music was playing, that is.

"Who's gonna head down first?" Ron asked.

"I will." Harry replied.

"Harry," Noel said, sternly, "just be careful."

"What do you even see down there?" Hermione questioned, as Harry hovered over the entrance.

"It's just darkness." He responded. "There's no way to climb down, though. We're going to have to jump. If anything happens to me, don't go down. Go straight to the owlery and send Dumbledore a letter."

"Come on!" Noel said, impatiently pushing Harry down the opening.

"NOEL!" Hermione shouted, turning her attention to Harry. "Harry, are you okay?!"

"I'm okay!" It's a soft landing, so you can jump safely!"

"You heard him," Noel said, making a shoving motion with her arms. "Who's next?"

"I'm fine," Hermione shook her head. "No, thank you."

"I guess I'll go next." Ron shrugged. He leaned over the opening, and jumped in. I looked at Noel mischievously, while still singing, before pushing her in and jumping down myself. After landing, she stopped singing, and heard the barking of Fluffy from above, shortly followed by the sound of Hermione falling down next to me. It's really a mirical that we managed not to fall on top of each other.

"Why did you do that?!" Noel bellowed.

"Why did you shove Harry?" I smirked.

"He's was taking too long." She scoffed.

"Well there's your answer." I laughed.

"I'm just glad this plant was here, at least," Ron said, relieved. "So, we could land."

"And then get strangled by it!" Hermione shrieked.

"What?!"

"Just look at yourself!" I said, looking around. "It's surrounding all of us!"

"It's Devil's Snare" Noel explained, "just, stay still till we think of something."

"If you move, it will only kill you faster." Hermione, unnecessarily, commented.

"Kill us faster?!" Ron panicked, struggling even more.

"Shush." Hermione yelled, "I'm trying to think of what kills it."

"Didn't we learn about it in Herbology?" I added, remembering the name.

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare..." Harry mumbled.

"It likes the dark and damp." Hermione finished.

"Fire!" Noel realized, "that's it!"

"But there's no wood!" Hermione groaned.

"Are we witches," Noel asked, "or not?"

She said, casting a small spell that emitted blue sparks out of her wand. Seconds later, the grip of the plant let loose, and we were able to slip through its grasp. Then we were falling again, but this time the height we were falling from was only tall enough that we could escape the evil plant, and not so tall that the fall hurt us.

We landed in a dark, dank hallway that had a gentle slope to it. The only sounds to be herd was the dripping of leaky pipes beneath the school and what seemed to be a soft rustling and clicking sound.

"Do you think it's a ghost?" Harry asked, questioned the noise.

"No," I said, listening carefully. "Sounds more like wings to me."

"But what could the clicking be?" Noel interrogated, as we continued our long trek through the sewer-like tunnel.

"I think we'll find out soon." Hermione said, pointing to a dim light ahead. As we drew closer the light grew into a brilliantly lit arching room filled with hundreds of small jewel-bright birds.

"Do you think they'll swarm us?" Ron asked.

"I don't see what else they could do." Noel shrugged, yet unknowing as to what might happen.

"But how are we going to get to the other side?" Hermione questioned.

"I'll run." Harry said, explaining his plan. "If I sprint fast enough, they won't even be able to touch me."

"I'm not sure that's how that works." Noel added, doubtingly.

Harry ignored her and began sprinting across the room with his arms thrown over his head.

"He sure looks dumb." She laughed.

"He thinks he's about to be attacked." I said, laughing with her. As the birds continued to circle lazily above his head, completely ignoring him. "Still,"

"Let's go catch up with him" Hermione said, holding back subtle laughter.

"Yeah," Noel agreed, "alright."

We ran to catch up with Harry at the door.

"These challenges just get easier." He said, pulling at the door, confident of its opening, "it won't budge!"

"Not so easy now, is it?" I rolled my eyes, casting a spell, "Alohomora."

The door didn't budge.

Ron, in a high-pitched voice, mocked me, "not so easy now, is it?"

We all stood around, pondering, as Harry's gaze turned skyward.

"I got it!" Harry blurted, as everyone spun to look at him.

"What?"

"They're not birds!" He yelled. "They're keys... and look! Brooms!"

"Let's ride." Ron nodded, seemingly understanding Harry perfectly.

"We need a plan first, Ronald." Hermione scolded, turning around. "Harry?"

"Right," He started, "so what kind of key am I looking for?"

"The lock looks kind of rusty," Noel noticed. "So, probably a big old one."

"And it'll be silver like the handle." Hermione added.

"Okay, I think I can find that." Harry finished. "Now, on my signal I want you to each come from a corner of the room and surround the keys so I can swoop down and grab the right one."

We each picked up a broom and kicked off. I noticed Noel hesitate in doing so and thought back to our first flying lesson. Who actually summons one into their hands. Can you imagine what it would be like if every time you went on a broom you had to pick it up, lay it on the ground, and summon it to your hand? To say the least, it would be inconvenient.

After about a minute of circling the air, Harry called out.

"I see it, the one with the bent blue wings." He called out, "Ready? Now!"

With that the four of us moved in, so that the key had nowhere to go when Harry swooped down and pinned it to the floor. Everyone dismounted and Ron even clapped Harry on the back.

"Nice going mate!" Ron cheered, clapping Harry on the back.

"Let's finish this." Hermione smiled.