Chapter Thirteen

"Ready?" "Ready, sir!" "Shut up Hannah." "Sorry." Harry sat down nonchalantly and played a game of chess with Ron, watching everyone out of the corner of his eye. They were waiting for everyone to leave the common room, so to make their escape down the trapdoor. At around eleven thirty, people finally started to go to bed. At midnight, it looked as though they were the only ones there. "Ok, I think we can go now," Harry said, standing up after being beaten by Ron four times in a row. "Finally," Hannah groaned standing and stretching. Hermione got up from a book. "Hey, isn't that Neville's toad?" Hermione hissed. "Hey, Trevor, you shouldn't be here!" Ron whispered at the amphibian. "And neither should you!" a voice came from behind the armchair and Neville stepped out. "You're going out again, aren't you?" Neville asked, suspiciously. "No, of course not, Neville. Now go up to bed," Hannah soothed. "You've already lost Gryffindor any chance of winning the House Cup. You'll get expelled next. You can't go. I-I'll fight you!" Neville held up two shaking fists. "Neville, this is beyond your understanding. Please don't do this." Hannah pleaded. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this," Hermione moved to the front of the four. "Sintrificus Totalus!" she waved her wand, pointing it at Neville. Neville's body seized up and he fell backwards like a wooden board. "What was that?" Ron asked awed. "Full body bind," Hermione looked sorrowfully at Neville, "I'm really sorry." "It's for your own good, you know," Harry muttered as they walked out. Neville's eyes only moved, staring after them.

"This is going to be difficult," Ron gulped at the sleeping Fluffy. "No, it's not," Hannah said, "Harry said that Hagrid told him Fluffy goes to sleep easily with some soft music. It appears Snape has already been here and has magicked this harp to play by itself." Everyone looked to the corner where soft music was playing. "Come on, we have to hurry," Harry scrambled over to the dog. "Here it is!" Ron hissed, peering down a square hole in the floor. The top was open. "I'll go first. If you don't hear from me, send an owl to Dumbledore," Harry instructed. Hannah looked down the hole to see total darkness. "It looks awful dark down there, what if it's the bottomless pit?" "Then where would they hide the Stone?" Ron asked, annoyed. "In the side of it." Hannah protested. "Sshh, I'm going down." Harry lowered himself so he was hanging from his fingertips. "Bye." He let go and disappeared into the blackness. One by one they dropped down. Hannah was last and gave one last look at the sleeping form of Fluffy. Closing her eyes, she let go and fell into cold air, down, down, finally flumping softly onto some kind of smooth green plant. "Lucky this here to catch us," Hannah panted. "Lucky? Look at you!" Hermione's voice came from behind her. Hannah looked down at her feet and saw that tiny vines had stealthily sneaked up her ankles and around her wrists, chaining her to the plant. "Devil's Snare," Hermione whispered. "Aaahhh!" Harry's voice yelled, "It's got my throat!" "Stop moving and calm down! It'll only kill you faster if you move!" Hermione shouted at them. "Kill us faster? Oh, now I can relax!" Ron shouted. Hermione slowly disappeared under the leaves. "Hermione!" Hannah screamed, feeling the vines around her stomach. "I'm alright! Just relax!" Hermione shouted from below. Hannah started feeling panicky and started muttering frantically to herself. "Oh, jeez, this is just like in that muggle movie, The Great Mouse Detective, where Basil is trapped under every way to die possible and there's no escape. That's it. I'm just going to suffocate and then no more- Tomorrow Road and no more Melanie or the twins or- "Hannah! Please! Trust me! Relax!" Hermione's voice shouted from below. "Come on Hannah! Ron, shut up and relax!" Harry's voice came from near Hermione's. He must've gotten down already. Hannah took a few deep breaths. Ok, nice things, Tomorrow Road, peonies in the Today Road, the roses in the Yesterday Road, Mother's laugh crinkles, Melanie and the twins." "You're not relaxing, Hannah!" Harry yelled, "Hermione, do something!" "I'm trying to remember! Oh, of course! Devil's Snare hates sunlight!" "Then make a fire!" Ron choked out. "Well, yes but there's no wood!" she wrung her hands in panic. "HERMIONE! ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT!" Ron shouted. "Oh, yes sorry." She waved her wand and blue flames shot towards the plant and Hannah and Ron came falling down. They stood up, brushing themselves off, panting. "Well.lucky we didn't panic," Ron replied. Hermione rolled her eyes. "Let's go." "Do you hear something?" Harry suddenly froze. "It's sounds like wings," Ron listened. "I hope it's butterflies," Hannah swallowed. Ron turned on her, amused. "You're not afraid are you?" he asked. "No! I'm just nervous. One can feel nervous can't one? I'm not afraid of anything and especially you, Ronald Weasley." "All right, all right, let's go." They opened the door to the next chamber. There was a fluttering of wings and as they looked up, they saw a whole bunch of flying things. "They could be vicious." Harry murmured, "I'll go over first and see if it's safe." He ran across the room, hands over his head. Nothing happened. "The door's locked!" he shouted as he reached the opposite side. Hannah was examining the flying things. Suddenly, she burst out laughing. "These aren't birds!" she got out, "They're keys! One of them goes to that door!" she pointed. "Here, there's brooms. We'll all fly up and look for it. The key is probably silver and old-fashioned like the handle." Harry ran to a pile of broomsticks in the corner. "Oh, yes I get to fly again!" Hannah cried and ran over, and zooming into the air. They flew around for a few minutes, until Harry shouted out, "There it is!" A rather large key with a broken wing, like it had been caught before, hovered above Ron's head. Hannah flew underneath him, Hermione on the side and Harry drove right towards it, slamming it against the wall with his hand. Hannah whooped. "All right! Next chamber!" she yelled, making twirls as she spun to the ground. They opened the door to darkness. Hannah looked around expectedly. As they walked in, torches were lighted and a huge life-size chessboard appeared in front of them with the pieces higher than their heads. "Whoa," Hannah murmured, gazing up at the motionless stone men. "What do we have to do?" Hermione walked forward, timidly. "I think its obvious, we have to play our way across to the next door," Ron pointed out the door behind the white chessmen on the other side, "We'll each take a square." Hannah, Hermione and Harry listened carefully knowing that Ron was all better at this than they were. "Harry, you be a castle. Hermione, be a bishop and Hannah, be a pawn." Ron pointed out the pieces. The pieces must have listened because they moved off the board. "What are you going to be Ron?" Hannah asked, as she stepped on her square in the front. "I'm going to be a knight," he said importantly as he stepped up onto the stone horse, holding onto the reins. "How come you get to be the knight?" Hannah folded her arms, grinning. "Come on, Hannah, Snape is probably already in the last chamber, we have to hurry. Now, white goes first see," Ron nodded to the other side where a white pawn moved one space forwards. "Now you, Hannah," Ron instructed. "I know how to play," she protested and started walking forward. "ONE space forward, stop, STOP!" Hannah froze with her foot in the air, swallowing. "Hehe, just testing ya, Ron, I know it's only one space." "Hmm." The game went for a while. Hannah managed to get to the other side and stayed, sitting in the corner, watching while Ron ordered the pieces around. "Uh oh," Ron said, looking around. "What? What's happening?" Hannah stood up, ready for some excitement. The game was almost finished. "In order to win the game, Harry, I have to be sacrificed," Ron, said getting a little pale, his freckles standing out. "No, Ron!" Hannah cried out. "I have to! If we want to get to Snape, I have to be sacrificed!" Harry and Hermione tried to stop him, but he was adamant. Hannah watched fearfully as Ron made his move and the Queen made her way to smash him. She bit her lip as she came nearer and nearer. She wanted out of this adventure, it was no fun anymore, not when one of her friends was getting hurt. Squeezing her eyes shut, she heard the crash of rock on marble and opened her eyes to see Ron fall to the ground. She started to run to him. "STOP!" Harry cried, "Remember, we're still playing!" "Oh, sorry," Hannah muttered, halting in her tracks and backing up, tears falling down her face. Harry walked in front of the king and yelled, "Checkmate!" The king's sword fell at Harry's feet and they ran to Ron. Hermione knelt by him, looking him over. Ron was out cold and cuts were splattered all over his face and arms. Hannah covered her hands over her mouth, eyes watering. "Come on, we'll have to come back for him," Harry said, standing up, "Snape is too near to the Stone. We have to go." "I-I'll stay here," Hannah said suddenly. "What?" Harry asked surprised, "I thought you lived for adventure." "Oh, I do," Hannah exclaimed, "I love that train of adventure to no particular destination, but just now I want to get off." "Ok," Harry shrugged, "Suit yourself. Come on Hermione." "Bye, Hannah, take care of yourself and Ron. We'll be back soon." Hermione hugged her friend's trembling shoulders. Hannah watched as Harry and Hermione stepped through to the other chamber. Looking down at Ron, she sank to the ground, thinking. Was this cowardly? Was she afraid of something? And if she was, what was it? Hannah sat beside Ron quietly for a few minutes. "Tomorrow seems not too far away. I can almost see it," she murmured as she stared at the door Harry and Hermione had disappeared through. "It's there, I don't know when I'll ever get there, but I will someday. Someday. Isn't that a lovely word?" She hugged her knees, talking to break the silence. "I didn't know what I was getting into when I agreed to live with my mother. This was far more than I bargained for. I liked reading adventures stories and pretending them, but I didn't know real adventures were so intense. And now Ron." She looked down at her friend, lying in the rubble and the dust. "Ron!" she whispered, shaking him. "Ron!" she slapped his face a couple times. The boy groaned and his eyes slowly opened. "Where the heck am I? Oh yeah, chess. I'm sick of chess." "Sshh, just lie still, we're waiting for Hermione and Harry to come back," Hannah sat back, listening. "Where are they?" "They went to the next chamber to find Snape." "Oh, right." They waited for what seemed like hours until a creak of the door made Hannah jump. In reality, it had only been thirty minutes. Hermione ran towards them, not accompanied by Harry. "Where's Harry?" Hannah asked, immediately. "He's in the last chamber," Hermione panted, "Only one person could go, it's a long story." Hannah tried to heave Ron up. "No, I can stand up by myself," Ron snatched away his hand. He fell back, groaning, rubbing his head. "Ok, maybe not," he said. "Ok, come on," Hannah grabbed him and slung him over her shoulder, followed by a yelp from Ron, probably from surprise more than anything. Hermione watched amazed as Hannah walked carefully across to the door they had come in back to the flying key room. "God, you're heavy!" Hannah moaned as she hitched Ron farther up over her shoulder. "Well, what did you expect?" Ron yelled from behind. They managed somehow to get brooms and to fly Ron up through the trapdoor and into the hospital wing. All Hannah remembered after that was being shown to a comfortable- looking bed and flopping on it, falling into a deep sleep.