Chapter twenty-six: Through the Trapdoor

Sprinting silently through the castle, Lemo, Andy, Barry, Andrew and Mione rushed to the third floor. Ducking into shadows and dodging between suits of armour, they were making great time.

"Alohomora!" Mione unlocked the door and everyone burst through the doors, and came face to face once again with Fluffy.

"Oh crap!" Andrew cursed, "How the hell are we supposed to get past her!"

Everyone gave a defeated sigh, all except Lemo,

"Of course!" she said, she then began singing, "When the moon hits your eye like you've had too much wine, that's a moray? When the bells ding a ling ling, that's a-"

"Lemo what the fuck are you doing?" Barry asked as Fluffy's growl began to cease.

Understanding Lemo's odd flapping as she sung, Andrew and Andy began singing too.

"What the hell? Guys...?" Mione asked looking unusually confused.

"Barry, my aunt, she had a cat like this and the only way of getting it to calm down was sing to it or play it music! Sometimes, if you've got good music, you can even send it to sleep!"

The others nodded understanding, they watched as Fluffy's heads banged to Andrew's and Andy's singing,

"What are Andy and Drew singing?" Mione asked curiously, as Lemo danced, in spite of the situation.

"It's a violent pornography! Choking chicks and sodemy! The kind of shit you get on the T.V!" they sang.

Lemo paused her dancing,

"It's by a muggle band called System of a Down," she said.

"Oh..." Mione said, slightly disturbed by the lyrics.

Barry laughed,

"Fluffly seems to like it! Now guys keep singing. Mione and I will try and find the trapdoor..."

"Well its right there Barry!" Mione said pointing at the hard to miss trapdoor.

"Oh...I knew that..."

"Well, who wants to go first?" Lemo asked, still dancing to Andrew's and Andy's not bad singing, (or more correctly, Andrew's not bad singing. Andy sounded like a cat in pain - maybe it was on purpose though...)

"I'll go," Barry offered, "Now, if it's dangerous, don't follow! Go help Don get Dumbledore, okay?"

They all nodded,

"Good."

Barry pulled the knob of the trapdoor, the smell of damp and dust flooded his nose.

"Well...that smells like crap..." He held his breath and jumped, cool air rushed past him as he fell, and fell, and fell, and fell...until he landed on a soft plant thing.

"Guys...! It's sweet to jump! A soft squishy thing breaks your fall!" he called up into the pin prick of light at the top from which he had jumped.

"Clear the way!" Andrew called as he jumped, he too took awhile to land, halfway down he said, "Well, this is a tad long winded..." Soon after he landed with a soft thump next to Barry. Next came Andy, screaming the whole way, " ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she took a deep breath, "ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Another breath, " ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-" her last scream broke off as she landed next to Andrew,

"You okay, babe?"

"Yea, I'm all good..."

Mione fell silently and calmly, and landed next to them. For a few seconds the group just sat there,

"Hey Mione, when's Lemo coming down?" Barry asked.

"Oh, she's not coming she decided to stay up top and keep Fluffy calm - you know in case Dumbledore needs to come through the trap door..."

"Oh, alright..." Barry said sounding slightly put out.

They sat silently for a few seconds, the only noise was Lemo's distant singing of System of a Down, her voice already becoming hoarse, Mione shook her head,
"I told her choose a singing style that didn't involve a lot of yelling, she going to lose her voice soon..."

"Well, I guess, we better get going again," Barry said finally, then went to move; only he couldn't. Neither could the others.

"Hey! I can't move!" Andrew complained.

"Oh shit! This is Devils Snare!" Mione cried.

"Oh great! That clears everything up! I'll be able to sleep at night knowing we are currently being held captive be Devil Snare!" Andrew said sarcastically.

"What are we going to do? What are we going to do!" Andy said, beginning to hyperventilate, absolutely terrified of plants, "Quick do something!"

"Well..." Mione said desperately opening every filing cabinet in her head, looking for the way of escaping Devil Snare..."Ummmm...Devil Snare, Devil Snare is deadly fun...but..."

Suddenly Lemo's voice came from above,
"You are my sunshine! My only sunshine! You make me happpppppppppppppy...When skies are grey!"

"Will malt in the sun! Of course! I need to light a fire! Fuck! Where's the wood!" Mione cried looking around.

"MIONE, YOU'RE FUCKING WITCH AREN'T YOU!" Barry yelled, Mione blushed,

"My bad..." she grabbed her wand and muttered the spell for the blue flame and aimed it at the plant, immediately the plant's grip on them loosened and the fell through it onto a hard stone floor.

"Ow..." Andrew muttered rubbing his bruised wrists; Andy was still taking raspy breaths,

"Almost...met...same...end...as...Aunt...Beth..." she wheezed.

"Another aunt killed by plants!" Barry said amazed.

"Yea...They...were...twin...herbiologists..."

"Oh. Moving on..." Barry said quickly walking over the door nearby, "I'm assuming this is where we go next..." he turned the knob to door, not knowing what lay ahead...