Never Say Never TBB: Chapter 10: The Grappling Hook, a Harry Potter + Series Of Unfortunate Events Crossover fanfic

Chapter 10: The Grappling Hook

"I need your help," Violet said to me privately as we completed the chores for the day and headed to our room. "We're going to have to bring Sunny down from the tower."

"How on earth are we going to do that?" I asked. "We can't enter the forbidden tower. We'll be caught."

"We could sneak in," Violet said, "Or you could."

"Olaf's associate is guarding it," I said. "If they hear about us they'll drop Sunny for sure."

"I have a plan to get up the tower," Violet said. "We just need a plan to get you up to the tower. I need to get up as well. The other way."

"You're going to climb up?" I asked. "But how?"

Violet pointed to the pile of curtains lying on the ground. "I can invent something. A grappling hook."

"Wow," I said. "Are you sure it will hold?"

"I'll make a hook at the end to fasten on to something."

"How can I help?" I asked.

"I need you to distract Count Olaf and his associates while I work on it," she said.

"I could sing," I said. "Why do you need me?"

Violet gestured down the hall and up the stairs where the Olaf's associate who looked like neither a man nor a woman sat on a chair along the hall at the top of the staircase to the forbidden tower.

"Okay," I said. "I'll do it."

"Just make noise so no one suspects what we are up to," she said. "And you could try to sneak in that way and I'll try to climb up. You could distract Olaf's associate and give me a chance to rescue Sunny without being detected."

"I want to save us," Violet said and glanced over where Klaus lay on the bed. "And I want you to be free to be with my brother. You make him really happy."

"Thanks," I said and helped Violet gather the curtains up.

"Let's take this up the stairs to see if we can give it to Sunny," I said.

Violet nodded and we left Klaus asleep on the bed as we ventured down the hall and up the stairs to the genderfluid associate.

"You aren't allowed inside," he said.

"We just want to bring Sunny these curtains to sleep on," Violet said and I noticed her trying to peek inside the room.

"Just a peek," I said. "We won't be long."

He eyed us both.

"I'd also like to sing to her," I added.

I noticed a ring attached to his or her belt with keys dangling from it, clinging against his or her side.

"Please," Violet pleaded.

"I can't let you through," he said. "If you want to sing it will have to be outside the door."

I nodded and after a wink Violet headed back down the stairs to complete her mission. I looked past the man who looked like neither a man nor a woman and into the room where Sunny was crying softly in her birdcage. When she noticed me, she stopped and shrieked in joy.

"I'll be back," I said. "Let me just get my guitar."

I followed Violet back down the stairs and into our room. She paused when she was inside.

"Jane," she said. "I have more than one invention to make for today. Have you ever heard of a lockpick?"

"No," I said.

"You need to get in there and set Sunny free," she said. "We both need to try. If you distract the associate, he won't notice me climbing up the side of the wall. You could get to Sunny first. All you need to do is sing. I'm afraid you'll be without a guitar."

"Let's do it," I said and sat down on the bed at Klaus' feet. His eyes were closed in rest but they fluttered open when I sat down while Violet made the hook of her grappling hook. I sang.

Sometimes I get so weird

I even freak myself out

I laugh myself to sleep

It's my lullaby

Sometimes I drive so fast

Just to feel the danger

I want to scream

It makes me feel alive

Is it enough to love?

Is it enough to breathe?

Somebody rip my heart out

And leave me here to bleed

Is it enough to die?

Somebody save my life

I'd rather be anything but ordinary please

To walk within the lines

Would make my life so boring

I want to know that I

Have been to the extreme

So knock me off my feet

Come on now give it to me

Anything to make me feel alive

Is it enough to love?

Is it enough to breath?

Somebody rip my heart out

And leave me here to bleed

Is it enough to die?

Somebody save my life

I'd rather be anything but ordinary please

Let down your defenses

Use no common sense

If you look you will see

That this world is a beautiful

Accident turbulent succulent

Opulent permanent, no way

I want to taste it

Don't want to waste it away

Sometimes I get so weird

I even freak myself out

I laugh my self to sleep

It's my lullaby

Is it enough?

Is it enough to breath?

Somebody rip my heart out

And leave me here to bleed

Is it enough to die?

Somebody save my life

I'd rather be anything but ordinary please

Is it enough?

Is it enough to die?

Somebody save my life

I'd rather be anything but ordinary please

(Anything But Ordinary, Avril Lavigne)

By the time I was finished Violet had her hook built out of a curtain rod broken into two pieces and bent into sharp angles and a small piece of wire with which to hang on the hook. Then she gathered the clothes Mr. Poe lent to us and tore them into strips. I continued to play another round of the song. She tied them together using a knot called the Devil's Tongue.

Violet frowned as she tied them together and I stopped playing to help her.

"Keep going," she said. "I don't want anyone to suspect I'm inventing anything."

Klaus was sitting up and watching us tie the clothes together and I sat back down beside him with my guitar and strummed:

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?

You've been out ridin' fences for so long now

Oh, you're a hard one

I know that you got your reasons

These things that are pleasin' you

Can hurt you somehow

Don't you draw the queen of diamonds, boy

She'll beat you if she's able

You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet

Now it seems to me, some fine things

Have been laid upon your table

But you only want the ones that you can't get

Desperado, oh, you ain't gettin' no younger

Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home

And freedom, oh freedom well, that's just some people talkin'

Your prison is walking through this world all alone

Don't your feet get cold in the winter time?

The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine

It's hard to tell the night time from the day

You're losin' all your highs and lows

Ain't it funny how the feeling goes away?

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?

Come down from your fences, open the gate

It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you

You better let somebody love you

(Let somebody love you)

You better let somebody love you before it's too late

(Desperado, The Eagles)

Violet paused in tying the clothes together and worked on making a lock pick out of the string of my guitar. She looked at me, full of sorrow as she did so.

"My parents made me promise to always be there to protect my siblings," she said, "I'm worried I'm going to fail them."

"It's not your fault," I said. "Count Olaf is clever as we've discovered. But as I've seen you're very resourceful and can survive any miserable situation. I don't have a talent like you. Singing can't save me from Count Olaf."

"It can save us," Klaus said. "I know you don't have a direct way to rescue us like Violet but music and art has saved many people from great periods of suffering. It can save us."

I nodded and exchanged a smile with Klaus.

"I'm sorry I can't save you," Klaus said. "But Violet can."

"Don't worry," I said. "I'm going to distract them and try to sneak inside."

"You can't," Klaus said. "You can't do that alone. Let me help."

"Okay," I said. "Are you ready, Violet?"

She nodded. "Go out now," she said. "It will give me a chance to sneak out of the room."

Klaus and I quickly left with the lock-pick in my pocket and climbed up the stairs to the forbidden tower.

"We'd like to play for Sunny," I said.

"You can't go in," he or she said.

I could hear a scratching noise from outside and could tell Violet was swinging her grappling hook, trying to attach it to something. The hook-handed man was inside the room with Sunny and he left his post to come sit outside the room and watch us sing.

Step out the door and it feels like rain

That's the sound, that's the sound on your window pain

Take to the streets but you can't ignore

That's the sound, that's the sound you're waiting for

If ever your world starts crashing down

Whenever your world starts crashing down

That's when you find me

Yeah, God love your soul and your aching bones

Take a breath, take a step, meet me down below

Everyone's the same, our fingers to our toes

We just can't get it right, but we're on the road

If ever your world starts crashing down

Whenever your world starts crashing down

That's where you'll find me

Yeah, lost till you're found

Swim till you drown

Know that we all fall down

Love till you hate

Strong till you break

Know that we all fall down

If ever your world starts crashing down

Whenever your world starts crashing down

If ever your world starts crashing down

That's where you'll find, find me

Lost till you're found

Swim till you drown

Know that we all fall down

Love till you hate

Strong till you break

Know that we all fall down

All fall down, we all fall down, all fall down

We all fall down, we all fall down, all fall down

Lost till you're found

Swim till you drown

Know that we all fall down

Love till you hate

Strong till you break

Know that we all fall down

(All Fall Down, One Republic)

Our plan was successful because by the end of the song, both associates were fast asleep on duty and we snuck past through the door, leaving it halfway open, and over to Sunny just as Violet hoisted herself to the top. I was about to put the lock pick in the lock when I heard the door fly open and hit the wall.

Count Olaf stood there, his eyes twitching in fury.