Do you think
many people carry Dragon eggs in their pockets […]?
Harry
Potter, Harry Potter à l'école
des sorciers, page 260
ANSWERS TO THE REVIEWERS' DOGS' CHEWTOYS:
Met19: Thanks!
Green-eyed knight: *decent* story? *blink* Well, I guess it's not a flame… ^_^
Jeffo: Thankies! (*Blinks and grumbles about having sugar-hyperness without having taken any sugar*)
Shireen Mclean: *grins* Yup, and thanks for reviewing last chapter… *sigh* At least I had you! *huggles*. Draco doesn't really strike me as the brave type. Definitely not. In fact, he strikes me as a bit of a bigmouthed coward. 'course, he's still lovable ^_-. Thanks for the praise! Not much I could change at that scene. She is a bit biased in my fic. Heck, as long as it doesn't go against the canon, I can do what I want ^_-. And he certainly is… wait 'till next chapter ^_- I will, thanks!
Corundum advance: Ah-HA! Another one! As I say below, I want EVERYONE'S reviews!! Ron *shrug*: "Oi, it worked once before…" Actually, I just wrote the first example that came to my mind… were 486 computers even out in 1991? I think they were still at 386s… But you said it yourself, who cares. Thanks! Keep reviewing!
King Jasbon: *blushes at the praise* Thank you! Harry/Blaise, eh? Perhaps, perhaps not ^_-. As for being too lazy, I don't care! I want everyone's opinion!! EVERYONE'S!! Even if it's flames! *shrug* Didn't get a single one in my whole writing career though. I guess I don't write stuff that shocks or disgust the readers into whacking my head with a two-by-four. ^_-
Kathleen: Sorry… *sweatdrop* Trick, create favorites for your favorite authors. *blink* 'course, you can read too much and have 4 folders full of authors. Me? Stop writing? Are you kidding?! Lol, I like it too much ^_-
Angelhitomi: I totally agree ^_-
Silvertenchi: Still, it's a bit depressing to see only one review in your chapter… my old fic used to get me at least 8 or 9 per chapter, I guess I got addicted ^_-
Andreas Steffen: *blush* thanks! He will, trust me… you'll love the chapter after this one ^_-
9, already much, much better ^-^
Chapter 11: Let sleep the dogs of war
He simply could not believe he had managed it. Through all the academic dangers that the summer exams had proven to be, he had managed to righteously keep his title of 'the boy-who-lived' without having to change it too much; it now became closer to 'one of the many boys-who-don't-want-to-live-to-see-another-exam'.
Yes, he had passed them. The quills preventing the students from cheating didn't include copying words on already-written notes sneaked into the great hall, where the terrible monsters had been faced and defeated, and only that fact allowed Crabbe and Goyle to pass. That, and the vigorous study schedule Hermione had forced upon them.
"We saw Ronan and Bane, too," Blaise had said during the next meeting they had after their exhausting adventures in the forbidden forest. "they seemed to know Hagrid pretty well."
"Well, d'uh, taking care of nasty critters is what this guys does for a living." Draco said.
"Centaurs are far from being 'nasty critters'." Hermione critiqued with a glare at the platinum-haired boy. "Apart from the fact that they barely see anything that goes on down here on earth, they're some of the smartest non-human creatures on earth, just behind merpeople and vampire, but only because both races can rely on knowledge of ancient magic and past powers due to the vampire's literal immortality and the merpeople's contact with the flooded Atlantis, which is the most ancient area where magic was found, along with--"
"Very interesting…" Ron interrupted the girl-who-ate-the-schoolbooks with a careless wave, "…but let's get back to what happened yesterday."
While Hermione was giving a sour look at her housemate, the dark-red haired girl continued her tale. "Ronan ran straight up to us first. HE and Hagrid talked a while, then Ronan said something about Mars."
"Mars is easy to see tonight." Hermione quoted.
"Exactly." Blaise acknowledged, not even pausing to wonder exactly how did Hermione remember everything so well. "And then he added something freaky… "Always the innocent are the first victims, so it has been for ages past, so it is now.""
"But what's the connection?" Harry asked.
"Easy." Hermione began in full dictation mode. "Unicorns are known to be one of the purest, most innocent creatures on earth and are unable to cause harm to anything. In fact, a group of them once stopped a goblin army from attacking an innocent village back in 1425 simply by being there. They say the goblins just lost their will to fight upon seeing them."
"Ok, that I can understand…" Harry said, thinking back on how beautiful, yet how sad the downed unicorn looked in the meadow, and how the mere thought of harming such a creature made his stomach protest against the tyranny that is the process of digesting. "…but what's up with mars? I mean… what's a planet got to do with a unicorn?"
"I don't think he was talking about the planet mars, at
least, not literally. In astrology, the planet mars is usually associated with
fire, the volatile element of destruction and cleansing, and war, mostly
because of the mythological Greek god called Ares, or Mars in ancient
"Very interesting," Ron interrupted loudly "but back to the point please?"
"Looks a bit obvious to me." Harry said flatly, ignoring the infuriated bushy-haired girl giving a sharp kick in the tall red-head's shin. "'Mars is bright tonight', 'Always the innocents are the first victims' The unicorn was the first victim of Voldemort. And I don't see much else than him who could be qualified as 'god of war'."
"Stop saying his name…" Blaise uselessly whined.
But those thoughts were almost gone from his head now, as he lay down near the lake, his back on a sturdy tree trunk. Curled up on his lap, Nemesis was whipping out his forked tongue frantically, smelling everything around them.
"Ssso good to be outssside again!" The snake said, then glared at Harry. "When I manipulated you into sssmuggling me out of that blasssted ssshop, I expected to go out a bit more!"
"Well, tough. I told you snakes weren't allowed in school, so I have to hide you." Harry replied. "We're lucky no one spotted you."
"Jussst those houssse-elves who were nissse enough to feed me while my 'oh-ssso-great' massster went and nearly got himssself killed half a dozen timesss."
"Look, I'm sorry about that, ok?" Harry said, feeling thoroughly embarrassed. Yes, he had quite neglected Nemesis. "To make up for it, how about I let you come to class with me next year?"
"Throw in sssome of thozzze sssuculent fried frogsss the houssse-elves manage ssso well and consssider it a deal."
With a chuckle, Harry nodded. "Just make sure you stay discreet in class, though."
"Count on it." The snake replied. "Oh, and your friend Blaizzze is coming."
"Quick, hide in my shirt!"
"Yesss, O, great massster of our livezzz, the one with the sssuperior power we all bow to…" Nemesis grumbled in unicorn-pure sarcasm as he hid under the wide shirt he had choose instead of the hot, heavy black robes that made the Hogwarts uniform. While very useful in the winter, they were more than too hot in the middle of the summer .
The dark-red haired girl ran up to him, looking quite out of breath as if she had ran a long distance. She, too, had dumped the Hogwarts robe in favor of a sleeveless sky blue shirt and a knee-length light grey skirt.
"What… you… doing… out here…?" She asked/panted.
"Just thinking about stuff." He half-lied quickly and fluidly.
"About what? The forest?"
"A bit." He admitted. "And Voldemort."
The girl shuddered, but had long since gave up on forcing him to stop saying his name. "Don't worry, Snape doesn't know how to get past Fluffy yet. There's no need to be afraid."
"I'm not afraid, I'm just… nervous. Imagine Hagrid told him accidentally, you know how easy it is to know something from him if you have something… he.. .wan…ts… uh ho…"
Harry quickly got up and, without waiting for Blaise, started jogging toward Hagrid's hut.
"Harry?! What's wrong?!"
"Don't you find it strange that Hagrid always wanted to raise a dragon and that someone who carries a dragon egg in his pocket just happens to walk up to him and give it to him? Do you think many people walk around carrying dragon eggs in their pockets while it's forbidden among the wizards? Strange that he just happens to find Hagrid, don't you think? I should have figured it out earlier…"
"You mean…" Blaise started, but they had already reached the wooden hut, where Hagrid was busy shelling green peas in a big bowl.
"Hey yeh two! Finished yer exams yet? Wanna drink teh it, dun' worry, I wun' tell yer mum, Blaise…"
"Generous, but no thanks." Harry said. "I got something to ask you."
"Awrite, what is it?"
"The day you won Norbert's egg playing cards, what did the wanderer who gave it to you look like?"
"I dunno, he kep' his hood on the 'hole time."
Harry and Blaise shared a worried look that did not go by the gigantic man.
"That ain't no reason teh be suspicious," Hagrid clarified. "There's lots of odd chaps in that pub. Maybe he was a Drag'n seller?"
Harry and Blaise shared a look that clearly meant they thought it was exactly a reason to be suspicious.
"What did you say to him? Anything about Hogwarts?"
"Hmm… maybe jus' a little…" the giant man replied, furrowing his eyebrows in effort, trying to remember. "Yea, that's righ', he asked what kind o' job I did and I replied I was gamekeeper here… and then he wondered 'bout the kind o' creatures I looked after."
"Did you talk to him about Fluffy?" Blaise asked.
"Maybe a little… How d'yeh know 'bout Fluffy?!" Hagrid asked in shock.
Harry shrugged nonchalantly. "I heard another Slytherin saw you feed it." It wasn't exactly a lie. Blaise and Draco were other Slytherins.
"D'yeh think anyone else than yeh two know?" He asked nervously, as if not willing to trust the entire population of the Slytherin house with the secret of a giant three-headed dog protecting a stone that can give eternal life and infinite riches. Go figure why.
"Naa," Blaise said. "We made sure that person kept quiet. No need for people to go around trying to visit it, you might get into trouble."
Hagrid let out a sigh of relief, while Harry decided to press on. "Hagrid, this is important. Did you tell him about Fluffy?"
"Yea, well, a little. Yeh don't see many three-headed dogs 'round here, y'know. So, yea, I talked teh 'im about Fluffy a bit, about what he likes to eat, and other stuff someone needs teh know teh take care 'o one."
"What exactly?" Blaise asked.
"Hmm… The best way teh pet 'im, how to make 'im exercise… Oh, and 'ow adorable he looks after yeh play a bit 'o music teh 'im and put 'im teh sleep...." Hagrid seemed to realize what he had just said and quickly panicked. "Forget I said that!"
…too late, the two Slytherins were already running away, both terrified at the ramifications of the information they had just received.
"Snape knows how to get past Fluffy!" Blaise resumed helpfully as soon as they entered the school again.
"We've got to find Dumbledore and warn him!" Harry said.
Both of them ran up to the closest teachers' office, which just happened to be McGonagall's. The woman was carrying a large load of books and parchment back inside her office, her eyes narrowing suspiciously at the two Slytherins.
"What are you two doing here?"
"We need to speak to Dumbledore quickly!" Harry said.
"Couldn't you go to your head of house instead of me?"
"No, he's the reason why we need to see Dumbledore!" Blaise snapped.
"And what might it be, pray tell?"
"Snape wants to get the philosopher's stone!" Both of them chorused.
The load of books and parchment dropped heavily as the woman's eyes opened in stunned surprise. Her next mumbling sounded like what one would get if one mixed the lines "How do you know about the stone", "Why would he want to steal it" and "You're being ridiculous" tightly together in one single line.
Finally, she regained her wits and glared angrily at the two. "What do you two think you're playing at?!" She snapped, much to their surprise. "Trying to get a member of the staff in trouble again, are you? Twenty points from Slytherin for each of you for wasting my time, and you'd better go away before I really get angry!"
"B…But…" Blaise stuttered, before Harry grabbed her arm.
"Come on, this is useless." He said, before guiding her out of McGonagall's earshot. Once arrived, he turned toward her, his green eyes very serious.
"This is very bad. Blaise, you go find Ron and Hermione. I'll get Draco. We'll meet up in the usual spot." He commanded, waiting for the acknowledging nod, before they split up.
Ten minutes later, in the empty classroom on the third floor that had become their rendezvous point, the two Gryffindors and three Slytherins were packed together, sitting on wooden chairs that had probably seen better days.
"Snape knows how to get past Fluffy." Harry announced with as much subtlety and tact as a falling anvil.
The reaction was almost funny. Eyes wide open, mouths agape, everyone were stunned in horror. Had the situation not been as bad, Harry might have laughed.
"Oh… my… god…" Hermione eloquently mumbled.
"Why didn't he act yet?" Draco asked.
"He's probably waiting for the closing feast," Blaise reasoned. "When everyone's going to be in the great hall and nobody will notice him sneaking out with the stone."
"Unless the stone isn't there for him to grab." Harry continued. "Then he'd be in a lot of trouble. I'm going down the trap door tonight."
Silence welcomed his announcement. For a good minute and a half, nobody made a single noise, almost as if someone had put stop on the VCR. Oh, wait… ok, never mind, my fault. There, play.
"How… Gryffindorish." Draco said.
Harry gave him a look. "Any better ideas? It's not like we can ask our head of house, he's the one we're trying to stop."
"I still don't think it's him."
"Shows how blind even Slytherins can be." Ron hissed. "How OBVIOUS can you get?! Snape tried to kill him!"
"He might have been trying to save him with a spell too, you know." Draco reminded. "And Quirrell was Jinxing Harry's broom too."
"He might have been the one trying to save Harry, he is the defense against the dark arts teacher. It's his job to know stuff like that." Blaise reasoned.
Draco shrugged. "Believe what you want, we'll see in the end who's right."
"Calm down, both of you!" Hermione snapped. "Acting like children like that, shame on you, Ron!"
"W…Why me!" The red-head protested.
"You started it." Hermione reminded, then turned to Harry. "Got a plan?"
"Sure I do!" Harry said, taking an important air. "What kind of Slytherin would I be if—"
"I think she means a plan outside of "Go in, get the stone, get out", Harry." Blaise quipped.
At Harry's silence, Hermione sighed. "Thought so. Might as well plan it, we don't want to get caught tonight."
"We?" Harry asked.
"What, you didn't think we'd let you go down there alone, did you?" Blaise asked, her arms going around his neck in a playful headlock. "Forget it, Harry Potter. If you're kicking ass, then I want in."
Harry chuckled a bit as he gave up, knowing he wouldn't be able to dissuade his friends from coming – and certainly not because of Blaise's hold over his neck.
After the plan was made by Hermione – good insurance that it's a good plan – the five students went to their respective common rooms. Harry, Draco and Blaise sprawled themselves down on the couches in front of the fire.
Soon enough, the curfew was about to fall. Harry and Draco made it look like they were going to sleep to everyone, climbing up the stairs of the boys dormitories. Blaise said she'd stay up a bit longer for some curse 'n hex checking up, a perfectly valuable Slytherin outer-school studying reason.
The two boys gathered Harry's cloak, which was neatly folded on Harry's bed and ready to use already, courtesy of Crabbe and Goyle, who were already snoring… nay, 'Hogwarts-express'ing away. The flute Hagrid had gave Harry for Christmas was on top of the cloak.
Harry took the cloak, pocketed the flute and nodded at Nemesis, who sneaked into his sleeve without Draco noticing.
"So far so good." Harry said, making sure the cloak was hiding his open sleeve in which the snake was still sliding.
"Yeah." Draco replied, oblivious. "We'd better hurry before Snape finds Blaise though."
After making sure Nemesis was well hidden, Harry threw the cloak over the other boy and himself. Together, they walked down the stairs, made their way through the last few Slytherins left toward the couch and, without removing the invisibility cloak, Harry gently touched Blaise's shoulder.
Blaise took that moment to look in her bag, theatrically gasp and quickly stride out as if she had forgotten a book somewhere, knowing she was being followed by Harry and Draco under the cloak since the black-haired boy had never let go of her shoulder. .
Once the door was closed and they had made sure nobody was looking, the two boys slipped the girl under the cloak as well.
"I still don't understand why we had to sneak out of our own common room."
"We did make Slytherin lose a lot of points, Blaise." Harry reminded. "They wouldn't have let us out if they had seen us."
"Maybe you two, but not me." Draco said smugly, as he was the only one who hadn't made them lose any points.
"Malfoy, shut up." Blaise snapped in anger. "I'm lucky mom didn't send me a howler for that."
"Shut up both of you…" Harry hissed as they rounded a corner. "…you'll get us caught."
The next stop was the fat lady's portrait, the entrance to the Gryffindor common room in which Ron and Hermione were waiting for them. Unfortunately, there, they encountered the first problem.
"What's the password?!" Draco hissed, hoping not to wake the fat lady up.
When she was still snoring, Harry turned to Draco, pointing at the side of the portrait.
"They made sure to keep it a bit open, but if we open it wider she'll notice and warn Filch or something." He said.
Sure enough, the hole was open, but only enough for a fist to barely make it through.
"That's bloody brilliant, how are we supposed to get through that?!" Blaise hissed angrily.
"Not us." Harry replied, lifting his arm. "He will."
"I sssinssserely hope you know what you're doing…" Nemesis hissed.
Ignoring him, Harry lifted his sleeve, revealing the snake tightly curled around it. Blaise had to put two hands in front of her mouth to stifle her shriek of surprise.
The fat lady mumbled something about long-haired red-head boys and their girlfriends sneaking out at night.
Harry guided Nemesis inside the opening, in which the snake barely got through. While he was in no way big, he still had a considerable size to himself.
"What do we do now?" Draco asked.
"Now, we wait. He'll be back soon enough." Harry replied.
"What was that thing anyway?" Blaise asked.
"That was Nemesis, my pet snake. I… erm… He found me at Diagon alley."
"Wait… that means you brought that thing in my house?! What if it had bit some--"
"We'll talk about this later." Draco interrupted, giving a worried look at the fat lady.
The two other Slytherins nodded, Blaise giving a look that clearly said 'Count on it' or something along the lines of that.
Harry pressed his ear to the opening as he began to hear voices.
"How in the world was I supposed to know he'd send a bloody Snake to find us?!" Ron's voice, unmistakable, said rather loudly. Harry groaned.
'Keep it up and we won't even GET to the bloody trap door!' Harry thought furiously.
"I'll let you know I am sssertainly not bloody. I'm quite clean, akshually." Nemesis' voice said.
"You could at least tried not to shriek that way. We're lucky we were alone in the lavatory, otherwise you'd have stilled the whole tower awake." Hermione scolded.
"Ickle Ronniekins had a scare?" Draco said in a bit of a sing-song whisper.
Suddenly, another, unexpected voice came form the other side.
"What are you two doing?"
…It was Longbottom.
Their whole plan, made and fool-proofed by miss Hermione 'The girl-who-read-in-her-sleep' Granger herself, was about to be thwarted by Neville 'He-who-must-not-be-kept-close-to-cauldrons' Longbottom.
"We're… um… just going to take a walk…" Weasley said lamely, his voice turning into a hiss of pain as Hermione probably stomped on his foot for his stupidity.
"If you go out, you'll get caught again, and Gryffindor's going to get in even more trouble."
"But it's very important, you don't understand…" Hermione began, but was stumped when Longbottom placed himself in front of the hole, preventing the Slytherins from seeing anything anymore.
"I.. I won't let you leave!" He said, growing a backbone in the space of a second. "I'll even fight!"
"My, Longbottom, you surprise us…" Draco mumbled with heavy sarcasm. "Look at this wimp's knees… Shaking like Puffskeins."
"Don't be stupid, Neville! Let us through!" Ron snapped.
"Don't call me stupid!" the plump boy snapped back.
"Yeah, it's an insult to all stupid people in the world." Draco whispered to Harry, who barely stifled a snort.
"You two have done enough forbidden things! And you said it yourself I should defend myself!" Longbottom said at Weasley, who looked like he wanted to slap his forehead in annoyance.
He let go of his toad and lifted his hands in a defensive position.
"Try to hit me!" He challenged.
"I told you to defend yourself, but not against us!"
"What are you, a chicken? Fight me!"
"Geez, he's really asking for it, isn't he." Blaise noted dryly.
"This will be the first and only time I say this in my entire life." Draco said solemnly, before launching a flat: "Go Weasley." That left the two other Slytherins totally stunned.
The two Gryffindors were just as stunned. Hermione looked like she was about to get her wand and curse the boy, but the last thing she wanted was to miss and hit the fat lady, which would probably wake her up.
"Hmm… looksss tasssty…" A voice came to Harry's ears.
Longbottom seemed to notice it. He looked down and saw the red-and-green-on-black scaled snake turning around his feet, whipping it with it's forked tongue. With a shriek of fear, Longbottom jumped away from the hole. Hermione was quick to lift her wand and cast "Petrificus Totalus!" on the boy, trapping him on the ground like he was bound by ropes.
"Sorry Neville," she said apologetically, looking down at him. "but it's for a good reason. You'll understand later."
"C'mon, Harry's probably waiting for us."
Longbottom's eyes widened in surprise and betrayal, as if teaming up with the Slytherins was a mortal offense.
After going through the portrait hole, managing not to wake the fat lady up, the five students, walking hunchbacked so the cloak would hide their feet as well, made their way to the third floor's forbidden corridor. There, they removed the cloak.
"Finally…" Blaise sighed. "Damn that Longbottom for almost screwing everything up!"
"By the way," Ron said, turning to Harry and looking at Nemesis, who was curled up around Harry's sleeve. "what in Merlin's beard is that thing?"
"A snake." Draco said helpfully, receiving a glare from the red-head.
"His name's Nemesis." Harry said. "Don't worry, he doesn't bite."
"Oi, ssstop that, you'll wreck my reputashhion."
Harry chuckled and flicked his finger at the snake's head, who barely dodged.
"Um, guys, we got a problem." Hermione said.
She pointed at the door, which was usually locked firmly, usually closed and needed a spell to open.
…and it wasn't locked.
It was even open a bit.
The five looked at each other fearfully.
"He… couldn't possibly have…" Blaise started, voicing everyone's fears.
The black-haired boy turned toward Draco.
"Go warn Dumbledore."
"Why me?" The platinum-haired boy asked.
"Well, you're the only one of us who hasn't got into trouble already, your dad's high-rank in the ministry so you're not likely to be expelled and, lastly, I know how much you hate heroics." Harry listed.
Draco shot him a sour look and took out his hand.
"The cloak."
"I knew you'd see it my way." Harry smiled, handing the boy his cloak.
When Draco was gone and his footsteps had vanished, Harry pulled out the flute and put it to his lips, getting ready to play it. Ron went to the door side and, swiftly, opened it.
Fluffy's six eyes
whipped open in surprise, locking into the
…that is, until the music started to play.
It wasn't really a melody, neither a music, nor was it beautiful to hear. But as soon as the first notes started playing, the gigantic, three-headed dog's eyes started to drop with an lamenting whine. It was almost comical, as if it was saying 'Aw, not again…'.
Wasting no time, Ron, Hermione and Blaise ran to the trap door and opened it while Harry struggled to keep making good notes. The dog seemed to growl a bit more with every squeak or screech the flute made. The hole beyond the trap door was pitch-black. It didn't seem to have a bottom. There wasn't any ropes or ladder either. It looked like they would have to jump.
"Who goes first?" Ron asked.
Harry tapped his shoulder, then pointed at himself.
"You want to go?" Hermione asked.
"Gimme the flute." Blaise said. "I'll keep playing while the rest of you jump in."
Harry made a countdown on one hand while the other pressed the holes in the flute. When it reached zero, he quickly gave the flute to Blaise and jumped down while the dog started to wake up.
"I should have known, I've never been able to
play a single note on anything."
"Bloody hell!" Harry thought, remembering their last Christmas.
Sure enough, an ear-shattering squeak came from above. However, instead of the furious growling and agonized screams he had expected, there was only a loud, triple, canine cry of pain. The fall seemed to last an eternity, but when it finally ended, it was on something soft and squishy that absorbed his fall. He felt rather relieved that no sound came from above anymore, except furious shouting that sounded a lot like Blaise and laughter that could only be Ron's.
"You allright, Harry?" Hermione's voice asked, yelling above the laughs.
"Yeah, there's something soft down here, it's safe to jump!" He yelled back up at the small spot of dim light in the ceiling.
Not a ten seconds later, three other shapes fell from the roof – Blaise not without a squeal that would have been more welcome in an amusement park – and landed in the… whatever it was.
"You should have seen it, it was hilarious!" Ron said with a grin, still laughing. "Fluffy just ran off to the other side of the room as soon as she started to play, like it had just been scolded or hit with the daily prophet!"
"Oh, shut up!" Blaise snapped in anger, her cheeks pink.
"What did we land on?" Hermione asked, looking down at the plant.
"Looks a bit like a plant…" the dark-red haired girl said, apparently glad someone changed the subject.
"Well, good thing it's here." Ron noted, patting it.
"Good thing?! Look at yourselves!!" Hermione screeched, getting up and jumping away, not without difficulty.
The plant's long tendrils were ensnaring them, Harry realized with a start as he tried to move his legs, but was unable to.
The bushy-haired girl stared in horror as the three other first years struggled against the tendrils. But the more they fought, the more it entangled them.
"Stop moving!" She snapped. "I know that plant, it's a devil's snare!"
"Oh thanks for the information, really helpful!" Ron said sarcastically, trying to stop the plan from strangling him.
"Yeah, at least now we know what's gonna kill us!" Blaise added in the same tone, her only free leg kicking unsuccessfully at the vines holding the other while her two arms were already stuck.
"Quiet, I'm trying to remember how to kill it." Hermione snapped, looking like she was deep in thoughts.
"Well hurry up, that thing's strangling me…" Harry wheezed as the monster squeezed his chest.
"The Devil's snare… what did Professor Sprout say about it already? It likes wet and dark places…"
"So light a fire!" Blaise said.
"Yeah, but we don't have wood…" Hermione said.
"WHAT ARE YOU, DENSE?!" Ron bellowed. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?!"
Hermione seemed to realize what she had learned during the last nine months and, after mumbling a quick "Oops", took out her magic wand a pointed it at the plant.
"Incendio!" She said.
The plant screeched in evident agony as an inferno burst over it. Quickly, it let go of the three first years, who quickly scampered away from the hole in which the vegetal monster was planted before they got burned by the flames, not too successfully.
"Hermione, there is such a thing called control." Harry noted dryly, patting the last few flames from his sleeves while Nemesis complained loudly about 'Anguicidal pyromaniac witches'.
The bushy-haired girl's face flushed in embarrassment as the final flames finished the plant off.
"Oops." She repeated.
There, ANOTHER part finished!! There's only two chapters left to
this, and then I'm going to do book 2, which I can't wait already. I got great
ideas for it!
Don't stop here!! Review again! And again! And again if you have to!
Well, not 3 times in the same chapter, you'll get into trouble with Fido ^_-
Review!!