Chapter 22
Trap
"Why do you say that, Ron?" Ginny asked. "It just looks like an empty room to me."
"Look down," Ron whispered.
Hermione was already looking down in horror. The room appeared to be filling with blood and was already pooling over her sneakers.
"Well, this is pretty morbid," Ginny commented. "Think he made it when he was going through puberty?"
"I just realized Ginny's here!" Harry said in horror.
"You're getting slow in your old age, Harry…" Ron said, wrinkling his nose as the blood began to soak the bottom of his jeans.
"Would you three PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT STUPID THINGS so we can figure a way OUT of here?" Hermione cried.
"Something tells me blasting our way out isn't going to work," Ron said nervously.
"I'll try anyway," Harry grunted, brandishing his wand. "Reducto!" Nothing happened.
"Huh? My spell isn't even working!"
"Oh no…" Hermione took out her wand. "Incendio! Oppugno! Levitcus!" None of her spells produced any effect whatsoever.
"Okay, I don't think we're getting out of here with spells," Ginny said, attempting to scramble up the wall.
"Then how are we getting out?" Ron cried.
"We have to figure out a different way," Hermione said, trying to keep calm. "Think of something…"
"Hmmmm….hmmmm…hmmmm…"
"Who's humming?" Harry snapped.
"Not me," Ron said
"Me neither," Ginny commented.
"Whoever it is, stop it!" Hermione cried, sloshing through the blood, which was now up to her knees. "I'm trying to think!"
She ran her fingers against the wall, muttering to herself. "Has to be a way out…has to…aha!" She found a crack in the woodwork.
"Yay, a crack," Ginny muttered.
"Through which light is shining! Concentrated light!" Hermione exclaimed.
"And that means…?" Harry asked, standing on his tiptoes in a vain attempt to keep the blood from going over his waist.
"Harry, give me your glasses!"
"Wait…what?"
"Just give them to me!"
Harry shrugged, took off his glasses and handed them to Hermione. She reached into her bag, rummaged through it and pulled out several sheets of paper.
"Hermione, what are you-?"
"Shhh!" Hermione hissed, as she angled the glasses against the crack of light and held the paper against the edge of the lenses. "Come on…come on…YES!"
The light reflected off Harry's glasses flared into fire against the paper, which quickly began to burn. Hermione held the fire against the wall and gestured at her friends. "Get more pieces of paper from my bag! Hurry!" She hissed. Ron, Harry and Ginny quickly began yanking paper from her bag and contributed more pieces of paper to the flame.
"You're going to burn the wall open?" Harry said.
"Yes!" Hermione gasped. "Keep going!"
"Uhn…we don't have much time…" Ginny said, as the blood raised to her chest.
"Just don't drop any fire in the blood!" Hermione hissed. "I think it's working!"
The wall had indeed begun to crackle and cave under the fire, and as the blood started to coagulate near enough to wash out their fire. Harry slammed his shoulder against the wall, with a cry of pain as the fire burned his flesh. Hermione, Ron and Ginny quickly joined in, until finally, the wall burst open, dumping the three on the floor of the next room, a cascade of scarlet fluid rushing after them.
No sooner did they have time to take a breath, than Ginny looked up and gasped.
"In this book, there is no happy ending, no happy beginning, and very few happy things happen in the middle,"- The Bad Beginning, A Series of Unfourtunate Events, By Lemony Snicket.