My name is Jake.
Hermione ran to the door and tried to open it. It wouldn't budge. Angrily, she whipped out her wand and shouted, "Alohomara!" Green light zipped around the door.
Nothing happened.
She swore and felt the door, which was a mistake. She jumped back as if she'd been shocked. "Ow," she said, sucking on her fingers. She glared at it.
"Now what?" asked Marco, stripping down to his morphing outfit.
The others turned to me, waiting for me to come up with some brilliant plan. I chewed on my lower lip. My thoughts were reeling. "Is there a window?" I asked.
Hermione looked uneasily around. "I haven't been up here before." She wrinkled her nose and began a search. She came back looking disappointed. "There are some, but they're locked shut."
"I'm going to go mad if I don't do something," said a sudden, disembodied voice.
I jumped in surprise and looked up. One of the portraits was awake. I squinted at him. He looked familiar…
"Phineas!" hissed another portrait.
"Oh, be quiet," Phineas said testily, "One of those children helped my great-great-grandson escape the Dementor's Kiss, even though he is a fool. I have debt to repay."
"Phineas?" asked Hermione, eyes saucer-wide, "Phineas Niggle?"
The man in the portrait gave her a little, mocking bow. "In the canvas."
"Aren't you Sirius's great-great-grandfather?"
I exhaled in realization. So that's why he looked familiar.
"Yes. Well, that is, before my lovely granddaughter burned him from the family tree."
Marco tried and failed to suppress a snort. Phineas gave him a scalding look and wrinkled his nose. He muttered something that I think was translatable to "Muggles…"
"Do you know how to get out of here?" asked Hermione, looking around. I followed her gaze. I realized with a start that all the portraits were now wide-awake and staring down at us. I couldn't help but shudder a little. You know those old horror movies with the portraits with their eyes cut out for peepholes, and someone stands behind it and watches you as you walk down the corridor? It was just like that.
"As I matter of fact, I do," Phineas said. He turned, walked out of his frame… and right into another portrait. I gasped in surprise. I had known the portraits could talk and move, but I had never seen them walk into neighboring pictures before.
He brushed past the occupants of the other portraits, oblivious to their objections about his intrusion. He stopped in a life-size portrait of a wizard that looked a lot like Dumbledore without the half-moon glasses. He gave the man a fluttering bow and smiled. "Forgive me, Merlin," he said.
"Apology accepted, Phineas." Merlin said with a returning smile.
Phineas turned to us. "Merlin's portrait hides a secret passageway that leads down to the dungeons. The path is narrow, so you'll have to walk sideways. That's only the beginning, though. It widens out, but there are traps all over the place. Only a few great wizards have learned of them all. You'll have to defend yourself when you come to them."
Hermione squared her shoulders. "Right. So it's like going to the Sorcerer's Stone again?"
Phineas thought about this. "A little. There are many more obstacles."
"Phineas, could you do us another favor?"
"I'm listening."
"Could you tell Sirius about this… and the Order of the Phoenix?"
"Are you sure you want my idiot descendant dragged into this?"
She gave him a scathing look. He grinned. "All right, then, I'll tell him. The spell to get in is 'Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titilandus'."
"The school motto?"
"Why not?" Phineas asked. Receiving no reply, he said, "Right, then. I'm off." He turned from Merlin's portrait and disappeared.
"May luck's blessing be with you," Merlin said with a gracious nod of his head.
"Thanks," Hermione said, adding, "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titilandus."
Merlin's portrait swung open. Looking in, I saw Phineas was correct. The only way to go through was to walk in sideways.
"Lumos." Hermione said, whispering for some unknown reason. Without further ado, she sidled into the passageway. I followed her without hesitation. I heard the others shuffle in after me.
Within a few moments, the passage widened. Hermione stopped short there, poised. I didn't know what to expect; she, however, did.
She raised her wand high and squinted into the darkness. She cautiously stepped forward, eyes darting around to the walls. She took another prudent step. Her breath came out in wheezes.
I carefully tiptoed after her, stepping where she had been the moment before. I didn't want to trigger anything that would cost her life.
She studied the floor before taking a third step. The stone she stepped on sank a few inches into the ground. She quickly backed up a step, running into me. We toppled over backward.
There was a grinding sound, like stone against stone. I was instantly on my feet again, pulling her up roughly by the sleeve.
But then I realized it was too late.
Incredibly sharp, long metal nails were protruding from the wall. They seemed to be getting longer, very quickly.
"The walls are closing in!" shrieked Hermione.
I looked quickly at our options. The walls were shutting in too quickly for us to get back without becoming human pincushions. From the look on Hermione's face, she knew it too.
Before I could say anything, her wand was in the air. The light at the tip of her wand went out, throwing us all into darkness. Well, at least I wouldn't have to see the nails going through my body…
"IMPEDIMENTA!" she bellowed.
I heard the walls slow. The wand light came back, and I could see her shaking and sweating. "RUN!" she yelled hysterically, "IT WON'T LAST FOREVER!"
I needed no telling twice. I heard the Animorphs coming after us. I grabbed her sleeve and pulled her along. Her eyes were closed and she was murmuring… what? A spell? A prayer?
I could see a vein in her temple throbbing. I felt her shaking horribly under my grip. She was extremely pale, and flickering blue wand light didn't help. How she could keep two spells maintained at once was a mystery to me, but it seemed to be taking a lot of her strength. Well, the walls were stone and the spells were probably very old.
Once we were both beyond the spikes, I pressed myself against the wall and held her against me. When the other Animorphs were safely next to me, I shook her by the shoulders. "Let go!" I hissed.
She did with a gasp. She fell to her knees and choked on the air. The wand light went out, but I could hear the two walls collide with extreme force.
After a few minutes of violent coughing, her wand tip flared again. I saw tears flowing down her cheeks and that her nose was running.
Cassie ran to her. She pulled a Kleenex out of her pocket and gave one to the shaking girl. Hermione mopped her face and smiled weakly. "Sorry," she croaked, "It was a big strain."
"Don't apologize," Cassie said sternly, "You saved our lives."
Hermione blinked in surprise. "I did?" The realization of what had just happened started to dawn on her.
"Yeah." Cassie nodded.
Hermione stood and shook her head violently, as if she could shake the throbbing headache that was so visibly starting from her head. "C'mon," she sniffed, "The more time we spend waiting for me to get better the better chance Harry will be dead. V-V-Voldemort will kill him."
I studied her face. She had never spoken Lord Voldemort's name before.
Blinking her watering eyes, she took up her precise steps again. We walked in silence for a few minutes. She stopped short, so I did too. She pointed soundlessly to a thin thread of what looked like fishing wire. She stepped over it and waited for the rest of us to the same before continuing.
"Just how long is this tunnel?" asked Marco in normal tones, but it seemed as if he shouted. His voice echoed down the tunnel, shaking dust from the ceiling. We all waited in silence, as tight as strung bows.
When nothing happened, Hermione took another step. She was about to take another one when she gasped and froze on the spot. She swayed dangerously and turned green, as if suddenly and violently seasick. She fell to her knees, as, before our very eyes, spots that looked almost like the chickenpox rippled down her skin.
She shuddered and fell on her side. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she fainted.
"Oh my God," whispered Cassie.
There was a soft growl and from the shadows stepped a creature. It had the look of a jaguar, only ten times as big. As it breathed, green smoke puffed out of its nostrils. Its eyes were demonic red and glowed in the wand light from the wand Hermione still clutched in a death grip.
It stepped forward and I could have sworn it smiled at us. It opened its mouth and panted, its foul breath starting to fill the hall. As I breathed it in, I felt my stomach churn. My eyes watered and my nose began to run. I watched in disbelief as my skin turned a sick shade of green.
Ax, who had demorphed a while back, shook and fell to his knees. I stumbled into the wall, pulled my shirt up over my nose, and gasped, "BATTLE MORPHS!"
I had quickly started my own, holding my breath as long as I could. I felt the illness disappear with the morph. The jaguar watched with shock and narrowed its eyes, growling.
What the heck is that thing? demanded Rachel, starting her own growl.
I have no idea, I replied, tail switching, but it's going down.
Ready when you are, Marco said, giving me a gorilla grin.
GO! GO! GO! I yelled, leaping forward with a roar that could make even the bravest person's legs weak.
The jaguar jumped back and snarled, as lithe and strong as me. Although it was several sizes larger than me, I jumped and snapped at its neck.
It roared back at me, furious. It bit down hard on my flank, but I pulled away and it didn't even break my skin. I slashed at it with my claws and several bloody scratches appeared on its face.
It jumped on me, pinning to the ground. I saw Rachel barreling at it out of the corner of my eye, but in one quick moment it had bitten my ear clean off.
I screamed in pain. Usually I was used to this kind of thing, but this was horrible. Some of its saliva had mingled with the blood. I felt—felt—my organs weakening and deteriorating. My lungs collapsed upon themselves and my heartbeat was becoming irregular. My eyes were rotting. If I didn't demorph within seconds, I would be dead.
I pictured the human Jake. Even as I morphed, I could feet the beat of my heart dwindling. I feebly clutched at with melting finger-claws. I gasped for breath and got none.
Jake! Cassie screamed, running over to me and nuzzling me with her head.
Marco, grab Jake and Hermione and get them out of here! Rachel said, in a fierce battle with the jaguar. Tobias screamed his best red-tail scream and dived at its eyes. He scratched at it with his talons, but faltered halfway through and plummeted to the ground.
I felt a hand grab me and throw me over a shoulder. Soon I realized I was over Marco's shoulder and he was bounding down the hall. By the time he stopped, I was all the way demorphed.
He put me gently on the ground and lay Hermione next to me. I blinked and sat up. When Marco pushed me down with a finger, I said, "I'm fine now, Marco."
Grudgingly, he let me get to my feet. I crouched over Hermione and checked her pulse, finding it there but weak. If she didn't get medical attention soon, she'd probably die.
After a few moments that seemed like eons, the rest of the Animorphs were rushing down the hall. Rachel and Cassie were half demorphed. Ax and Tobias, I was glad to see, seemed fine.
"Is it dead?" I asked.
Rachel nodded grimly. Cassie quickly walked over to Hermione and knelt by her. She checked the fallen girl's pulse, opened her mouth, and counted how long she breathed in a minute.
"This is serious, Jake," she whispered. Her eyes were shining. "If she doesn't get an antibiotic in five minute tops, she's going to die."
I sat down. Hard.
"All… you… need…" gasped a voice that made me jump, "is… the… spell."
I looked down at Hermione. Her face was screwed up in a look of pain. She squinted up at me as if the dim light hurt her eyes. She struggled to breathe.
"What spell?" I asked quickly.
She mumbled something I didn't understand.
"What?"
With an effort, she gasped, "Nindulumite."
"Nindulumite?"
She nodded, baring her teeth in pain. "Only… one… cure… for… Nundu's… Breath."
"Nundu?"
"Big… jaguar… thing."
I turned to the others. "Who's our best wizard? Who thinks they can do this spell?"
Marco stepped grimly forward. He's usually a little pompous when it comes to things he can do well, but I knew he wasn't exaggerating. I was in all his classes. He could really do this magic-stuff.
He quickly morphed into his wizard form and knelt by Hermione, taking his wand from inside his morphing suit. She looked up at him and gagged on a breath. She was fading fast.
He waved his wand and concentrated. I could see him start to sweat. He said in a clear voice that rang throughout the passageway, "Nindulumite."
Silver light shot out the end of his wand. It snaked inside Hermione's mouth, nose, and ears. She screamed and convulsed violently. Her body became stiff as a board, limp, and stiff again in quick succession. I could tell by the look on her face that she was being wracked with pain. Tears flowed freely from her eyes. The light at the tip of her wand went out, so Marco quickly lit his own. Her screaming echoed down the passage, making it seem like there were a thousand screaming people instead of one.
As quickly as she had started screaming, she stopped. It was suddenly eerily quiet.
I stared at her. She was limp. Her head lolled unpleasantly to one side. Her eyes were wide open and glassy. Her mouth was partially open. Her skin was dead white.
I quickly bent down next to her. I grabbed her wrist and felt for a pulse. Even as I put my fingers on her vein, it died away. Frantic now, I touched a hand to her chest.
She wasn't breathing.
Everyone was looking at me with held breath. Slowly, I shook my head.
Cassie gasped and her eyes filled with tears. Rachel went pale with shock. Ax stood, as stoic as he ever was. Marco was staring at the ground, eyes round. Tobias quietly hid himself behind his hawk's instincts. I still squatted, feeling very numb indeed.
"Well," I said softly after a few minutes, "I guess we should bring her body back. For Harry."
Cassie nodded, tears streaming down her face. "I—I think… that's what they both want."
I slowly got to my feet. "Ax, do you mind if we put her over your back?"
No, Prince Jake, Ax said, voice devoid of emotion. I didn't even tell him not to call me Prince.
"Marco, could you lead the way?"
"Sure," Marco said, getting to his feet also. He whispered, "Lumos." The tip of his wand flared and shimmered brightly.
We continued on. I froze when Marco stopped suddenly. His eyes glinted in the wand light. Cautiously, he lifted it high above his head and sent light farther down the corridor. There was a circular crack that ran through the floor. Frowning, he took another step.
And the world began to spin.
"AAAAHHHH!"
I flew off
my feet and hit the wall. The pressure from the spin was so great that it felt
like my lungs were collapsing. My eyes watered. "MARCO!" I cried hoarsely, "DO
SOMETHING!"
"WHAT?" he hollered back.
"SOMETHING!"
I heard him mutter above the grinding stone about my orders not being specific enough. He slowly lifted his hand and inched it toward his wand. He touched it with two fingers. "WHAT WAS THAT SPELL HERMIONE USED?"
"WHAT SPELL?"
"THE ONE THAT MADE THE WALLS STOP!"
"I THINK IT WAS… IMPEDIMENT!"
"IMPEDIMENT!"
Nothing happened.
"THAT HELPED!" Marco yelled.
The room started to spin faster. Ax kicked his legs frantically. Tobias was beginning to be crushed by the pressure. "QUICK, MARCO!"
He muttered things under his breath. My mind was reeling. My organs were slowly being crushed. What was the spell? What was it?
"Impedimenta!" squeaked a voice to my right.
I looked over and saw Cassie. Louder, she cried, "IMPEDIMENTA!"
"RIGHT!" Marco bellowed, slowly squeezing his fingers under his wand, "IMPEDIMENTA!"
The walls slowed. It slowed so much that we fell off the wall. I hit the ground with a gasp and started to cough. Rachel was all ready staggering drunkenly out of the spinning room. I crawled out on my hands and knees. Only when Tobias had finally flapped weakly out of the room did Marco let the spell go.
The walls spun faster even than before. My feet were inches from the spinning stone. I watched, mystified, as the stone slowed and finally stopped.
Ax still had Hermione on his back. His front legs had collapsed. When my head stopped spinning, I helped him to his feet—or rather, hooves.
Marco leaned against the wall. He was the last of us to recover. I guess that holding the spell had really taken on toll on him. When he was ready, we continued.
I didn't know how much more I could take. I was tired. I hadn't had a full night's sleep since I had got to Hogwarts. I'd been morphing and fighting constantly. My body had been abused thousands of times, but, even though they'd healed, the memory of them still hurt.
Marco tripped after a while. I went to catch him and tripped too. I heard a light "twang!" and heard the corridor rumble. Walls shot up on both sides of us with impossible speed. I ran to the wall and felt it with my hands. There was no door or handhold, as I had expected.
There was a gurgling noise that sounded uncannily like running water. We all froze. Suddenly, I felt something touch my feet. I looked down and stared. I watched as water started to fill the room. "Everyone, trout morph!"
Uh, Jake? Tobias asked, fluttering up to Rachel's shoulder.
"Yeah?"
Not all of us have trout morphs.
I blinked, and then remembered. Tobias hadn't been able to morph when we had acquired trout. Ax hadn't even been there.
I thought, almost retorting to banging my head against the cold stone wall. The water was coming in fast. It was all ready up to my knees and still going.
"Uuuh… uuuh…" I spluttered.
"Cassie, dolphins can hold their breath for a long time, right?" I asked finally.
She nodded. "But we don't know how long it'll be until the water flushes out."
I ran a hand through my hair. The water was now up to my waist. "There's nothing else we can do!" I yelled finally, loosing my self-control.
Cassie sloshed over to my and put a hand on my arm. I relaxed slightly.
The water was up to my armpits.
I turned to Ax and Tobias. "Morph at the last possible moment and take a deep breath. I'm sorry, but it's the only thing we can do."
Tobias, whose talons were now underwater, bobbed his head. He flapped off Rachel's shoulder and hovered near the ceiling. I saw Ax rear up onto his hind legs and put his fore legs on the wall, making him so tall that his stalk eyes brushed the ceiling. Hermione slid off his back and floated lifelessly in the water.
The water was now up to my chin. I watched Marco demorph and become himself again. He dropped his wand as he floundered. In his morph he was as tall as me, but he was really very short.
I morphed trout. The first thing that happened to me was that I got gills, causing me to gasp through my mouth and draw air into lungs that needed water. Luckily for me, the water was now up to my nose so water flowed into my lungs.
By the time I finished morphing, Tobias and Ax had begun their own. I watched with a shudder that ran through my fish body as bird and Andalite became dolphins. It was a disgusting thing to see, really.
Minutes dragged by. Ax informed us every time a minute was up, which really didn't help. Whenever I glanced Tobias or Ax, I got this mental image of Jake soufflé.
After a while, we all stopped listening to Ax. It was only when Tobias cried out that we looked over at him. I need air! he gasped, thrashing.
STOP! Cassie said, You're only using your remaining air if you move around!
I don't have any remaining air!
I watched Hermione's lifeless body float by and saw a mental image of Tobias and Ax like that. If the water didn't drain soon, they'd die.
And it would be all my fault.
I watched on helplessly as Cassie tried her best to calm Tobias down. I need air! I need air! he shouted hysterically. He smacked me with his tail and sent me into the wall.
Dazed, I floated as if paralyzed. When I came too, Tobias had stopped moving. I looked over at Ax. He had too.
Tobias! screamed Cassie.
No answer.
I heard a loud rushing sound. I felt something pull me down. I looked. There was a hole in the floor that was sucking the water in… and it was big enough to swallow a trout!
Demorph! I cried.
We did. Cassie was the first to become human and run over to Tobias and Ax. She bent over their bodies. "Breathe!" she yelled, holding Tobias's fin, "BREATHE!"
She pounded on the place I guess his lungs were. Water sprayed out of his blowhole, catching me full in the face. I sputtered and coughed. Marco pointed and laughed.
I'm breathing, I'm breathing! Tobias yelled when Cassie pounded again.
She hurried over to Ax and did the same procedure to him. When he was found alive, we were all extremely relieved. They both demorphed. Ax looked thoroughly shaken, as did Tobias.
We slung Hermione over Ax's back and trudged on. We were all tired and worn through. Even Rachel was starting to lose that maniac glint in her eye, which was a bad sign.
A little way down the hall, Marco stopped again. "There're holes in the wall." He said, pointing. I saw them and nodded. I picked up a rock from the ground and threw it. As it soared by the holes, arrows shot out at it.
I rubbed my hands together. "This is going to be tough," I said.
Marco snorted. "No kidding, Big Jake."
"I guess the 'Impedimenta' spell would work again…" I said slowly.
He nodded. "I'll try it." He boldly stepped forward. As the arrows shot out at him, he yelled, "Impedimenta!"
They slowed. "Go! Go! Go!" I yelled, dashing by Marco. He followed me, brow furrowed with concentration. When we were halfway through (this was a long section of the corridor) his spell gave out.
"DOWN!" I yelled, doing a belly flop on the hard stone. My belly stung with pain, but it was better than being turned into Swiss cheese.
Rachel yelled when an arrow sank deep into her arm. She stumbled and fell, bleeding profusely. Nose wrinkled in pain, she dragged herself forward with her good arm.
By the time we had army-crawled to the end (Ax had to morph human to do this and we did manage to drag Hermione's body with us), she was going faint. She giggled deliriously when we propped her up against the wall.
Cassie took her friend's arm in her knees and grabbed the arrow's shaft. "Rachel?"
"Yeah, Jordan?"
"I'm going to pull on three."
"You have a crush on Marco, Jordan? He is so stupid!"
Marco looked pleased and disgruntled at the same time.
"One…"
"What're you doing, Mom?"
"Two…"
"I didn't do anything bad."
"THREE!"
Cassie pulled. Hard.
Rachel yelled as the arrow came clean out of her skin. "He-e-e-ey! What was that for, Doctor?"
"Rachel? Rachel, listen to me. You've got to morph, all right?"
"Morph? Okie-dokie…"
Slowly, but surely, Rachel morphed to grizzly. When she was totally bear, she became aware of where she was. Hey! Why did I morph grizzly? What happened? All I remember is getting an arrow in the arm…
Marco sniggered. "You were delirious."
I was?
"Big time."
Rachel demorphed. Marco was very pleased to see her blushing when she was human. He was so pleased, in fact, he danced around her singing, "Rachel is dee-leer-ee-us! Rachel is dee-leer-ee-us!"
"Shut up!" Rachel said, kicking him hard the shins.
He howled and jumped up and down, holding his leg. Pouting, he stopped singing and continued the way.
Marco stopped a few feet away. His eyes were suddenly huge. I stared at him, unsure of what was going on. I suddenly saw something that looked oddly like a black velvet blanket creeping up his legs. I stepped forward.
The thing covered his face, smothering his face. I jumped forward, but Ax had all ready abandoned Hermione's body and was lashing at it with his tail. This did nothing, and Marco continued to struggle. I heard him yelling.
I ran over and tried to pull it off, but it was amazingly strong. I couldn't even budge it.
Marco's struggles were beginning to get weaker. He was losing air and I was losing time.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
Silver light exploded from somewhere behind me. A silver shape that looked somewhat like an otter darted forward and leapt on the living black cape. It slashed at Marco's attacker and bit down hard. In seconds, the otter had torn the cape to shreds.
I turned around to see who had said the spell.
And nearly had a heart attack.
Hermione was standing there, looking very ill. Although her skin was no longer green or spotted, she was extremely pale. Her eyes held a deadened kind of look. She clutched her stomach in one hand and held her wand out with the other. She was breathing through her mouth and her nose was running.
"Hermione!" Cassie yelled, hugging the girl about the shoulders.
Hermione turned on heel and promptly vomited mostly water onto the ground behind her. Cassie jumped back.
"What'd you do? Try to drown me?" Hermione asked in an oddly high-pitched voice.
"You're alive!" I yelled in shock.
She nodded and put one hand on the wall, leaning against it. "Yeah, and feeling like crap. If I had anything left in my stomach, I would still be throwing up."
"But—but—but how? You were dead!"
"No, not dead. The spell stops the body from working. The way Nundu's Breath works is that if the person is dead or seemingly dead, it goes away. I only seemed dead. My Nundu's Breath is gone, but I'm still sick. Sorry I couldn't tell you about it, though. I didn't have time."
"Oh." I said, "And by the way, what was that cape thing?"
"A Lethifold."
Hermione led the way from there. Marco was inches away, holding his wand high. A little while later, she doubled up and barfed again. "Ooooh," she moaned, "This is nasty." She stumbled forward. "I don't think I'll ever be—AAAHHH!"
She screamed and dropped out of sight. "Hermione!" I yelled.
Marco fell back. "There's a big hole right there! She just fell in!"
I went down on my knees and crawled forward, making sure I wouldn't fall. I looked over the edge and saw Hermione clutching two outcrops on the side of the hole in trembling white fingers. She was all ready beginning to sweat.
"Bottomless Pit," she croaked.
"Hermione, take my hand," I said, stretching a hand down for her to take.
Shaking worse now, she shook her head. "I can't," she whispered.
"Yes, you can." I said firmly. I felt someone hold my legs. The person lowered me down. "One hand at a time. You can do this."
Hermione looked up into my eyes and squared her jaw. She reached up and grabbed my hand so quickly it startled me. Her hand was slick with sweat. I grabbed her sleeve so she wouldn't fall.
She grabbed my sleeve and I held her wrist. Blood rushed to my head. "Okay, guys," I choked out, "Bring us up."
Slowly, oh so slowly, we were dragged up. Just when I thought we were safe, the person holding my legs let go.
Hermione and I both yelled as we slid forward. I felt the person get my legs again right when it would have been too late. Now I, too, dangled perilously above the pit.
"Sorry," grunted Cassie.
"I'll forgive you as long as we get up safely," I replied weakly.
I had a fierce headache by the time we were pulled to safety. I rubbed my head with my hands and winced.
Breathing hard, Hermione said, "I'm going to levitate you across, okay?"
I nodded, barely registering the fact that we probably could have morphed birds. I watched Tobias fly over and heard him land not too far away on the other side.
"Can you jump that, Ax?" Hermione asked.
Yes. Ax said, backing up and taking a leap. I heard something hit the other side and rocks tumbling down into the Bottomless Pit. I am okay, he reassured us when I called over to him.
Hermione waved her wand and pointed it at me. "Mobilarbus!"
I gasped as I felt my feet rise from the ground. I floated across the pit and landed in the darkness on the other side. Luckily for me, I was quite far away from the edge.
Marco floated over next. Then came Rachel and finally Cassie. Marco managed to levitate Hermione over to safety.
We continued on.
Here the corridor took a turn. Hermione went around first and cried out. Thinking her injured or something, I ran over. Then I realized her shout had not been one of horror but of joy.
A few yards away was a door. Light poured in through the cracks in the wall. Hermione yelled and ran forward in pure joy, only then to scream in pain.
I ran forward and gasped. Things that looked like spiders that were red, furry, and had five legs were covering Hermione. I heard her shriek as they bit parts of her flesh away. I stood in shock.
A huge fist punched me out of the way. A gorilla bounded past me, picked up Hermione, tucked her like a football under his arm, and ran. He ran straight into the door with an extended arm. With a crunch, the door exploded into splinters.
We all ran after Marco. The five-legged spiders tried to come after us, but I stepped on all the ones I could. None escaped into the hall.
I burst out into bright torchlight. Marco and Hermione were beating away the five-legged spiders that had tried to eat her. Her arms, legs, and face were covered in scratches and bight marks. There were large chunks taken out of her clothes. When all of them were gone, she spat on them and said, "Quintapeds."
"Are you okay?" I asked.
She nodded grimly. "Now I am. C'mon, we shouldn't be standing around like this. The longer we stand here, the more of a chance Harry will be dead by the time we find him!" Without another word, she turned and sprinted down the hall.
I didn't question her. I dashed down the hall after her, to get the boy we had gone through so much for to save.
A/N: Muahahaha! I bet you all thought I killed Hermione off, didn't you! I am evil! Anywho, sorry it took so long. I went on a little weekend vacation. Besides, this is my longest chapter. It's eleven pages long! Well, I have summer reading to read, reports to do…
So stick around for my next chapter, "Chapter 27: Tortured Times (Harry)"! Love you all!
