Chapter 18 - Descending
Following Longbottom on his broom was a chore and a half. Holly had already been decently exhausted after testing her boots for an hour that now she could barely keep up with him. Not to mention that she had had to keep quiet to not be heard, which was hard to do after the "workout" she had earlier.
Holly was glad to realise quickly that Longbottom seemed to be searching for something. He was just flying circles above the forest, whipping his head around at every crack of a branch or hoot of an owl.
Staying below the branches, in between the trees, Holly kept following. It was easy enough to dodge the foliage and wildlife living in the crowns of the trees with her boots. Holly had feared not being able to keep an eye on Longbottom while taking this route. But since he was still wearing his bright red quidditch uniform, Holly could effortlessly spot him again up in the air.
At least until she almost missed him dipping down in between the trees, apparently having found what he was looking for. Holly wanted to curse, it'd be almost impossible to find him now. She hoped to maybe spot him or whatever he was looking for if she went in the direction he'd disappeared in.
Thankfully enough, Holly did find what Longbottom had been looking for as well. Or rather, who he had been looking for. The familiar voice of Professor Snape lured her towards a small clearing in the forest. He was arguing with someone about the Philosopher's stone.
Taking a quick look around herself to make sure she wouldn't fly into anything, Holly made her way around the clearing to see who Professor Snape was now threatening. It turned out that she didn't have to do that when the stuttering of Professor Quirrel reached her ears.
What did Quirrell have to do with the stone?
"You know perfectly well what I mean. I had my suspicions after Halloween. The troll that was placed in the corridor had no means of escaping by itself and you were the only one in the area."
Was Professor Snape implying what Holly thought he was?
"And then the attacks on Longbottom during quidditch. We both know it must have been you and your little bit of hocus pocus. Now, I'm waiting."
"I-I-I w-wou-would nev-". Snape cut Quirrel off mid sentence with a low growl and a whisper that Holly barely heard from her vantage point just above them. "Fine then, keep playing the dumb one."
Snape straightened out his robe and looked back to the castle. "Very well, we'll have another little chat soon. I hope you'll have decided where your loyalties lie when you've had some time to think things over!"
And with that he stormed off. Quirrel just kept standing there, as if rooted to the spot. Holly whirled around when the branches behind her rustled. Longbottom had taken off again, maybe after overhearing this he'd drop his suspicions about Snape.
Now that she knew who was trying to steal the stone, Holly was contemplating on what to do. Professor Quirrell didn't look like a terrible dark lord, though Mrs Flamel had called him an upstart, maybe the black robes, pale skin and greasy hair came later. Holly almost laughed out loud. She'd perfectly described Snape as a dark lord, purely on instinct. Well, appearances could be deceiving. Especially in the wizarding world. Maybe she had a wrong image of what dark lords looked like. Maybe they were all dressed in ugly purple robes and a turban.
Should she just write a letter to tell Mrs Flamel what she'd heard or would it be better to explore the forbidden corridor first?
As it turned out, she didn't have to think as hard about it. Just as she wanted to take off, the familiar burn of her scar flared up, along with a feeling of discomfort in the pit of her stomach. When Holly looked back at Quirrell, she started feeling sick.
Around the professor's feet the beautiful green grass slowly began withering away. It spread in a circle around him, creeping closer and closer to the trees. While the moss covering the bark easily withered as well, the trees themselves remained stubborn and just creaked in protest.
When the aura reached Holly, the air around her suddenly stunk of bile and decay. Overpowering even the strong smell of garlic that usually followed Professor Quirrell everywhere. It got even worse when Quirrell began mumbling gibberish to himself, spreading the foul stench even more. Holly gagged and started to use her cloak as a face mask.
"There is no way. Can't we just kill it? They'll notice. He's onto us already. I can't sustain this. Please , don't hurt me again. Make it stop. Make it STOP. MAKE IT STOP !"
Weird, where had his stutter gone? But Holly had heard enough, something was definitely wrong with Quirrell. Very very wrong.
"SILENCE MUTT!" The voice hit Holly like a brick. It had a dangerous hissing quality that shook her to the core. It sounded unnatural and simply wrong. She wanted to run so badly but it felt as if she was stuck in the oppressive atmosphere surrounding Quirrell.
"We're being watched. I can feel them. " Holly was unable to locate where the new voice was coming from. "Where? I will make them regret this!"
Quirrell started casting magic around himself, thankfully not thinking about the possibility of being watched from the air. As if on instinct, she switched her boots from standing in the air to gliding. Holding her breath, she slowly floated out of the clearing until she could move by herself again. Her boots had saved her arse.
Whatever was wrong with Quirrell didn't hold a candle to this other person. If this was the upstart dark lord, then she didn't want to see what an actual one was like. She still felt as if there were spiders crawling down her back, even after making quite a bit of distance.
Holly heard one last thing while fleeing as quickly as she could.
"They're gone… it seems like we'll have to move our schedule up.Yes, master!"
Then she definitely had to look into the corridor as soon as possible. If Fluffy was the only thing standing in this guy's way, he'd have no chance.
At least that had been the plan, but Fluffy didn't want to cooperate. She'd tried to go down the trapdoor the same night she had witnessed Professor Snape and Quirrell talk in the forest.
Fluffy had lain whining on the trapdoor, begging her not to go. He had looked like an actual kicked puppy. Not like she could ever hurt him with her measly human strength. But she couldn't bring herself to scold him when he had tears in his eyes already. Who knew that dogs could cry, or was that a magical thing?
Ever since then, Holly had visited Fluffy daily. Opening the door to the forbidden corridor had become so ingrained in her, that she barely noticed the door opening and closing again.
Once she was inside, Holly pulled out one of her light pebbles and let it jump into the air, over her head to light the way in the dark corridor. It was a little dimmer than usual, she must have forgotten to charge it, but Holly always had a backup ready.
The quiet growling of Fluffy was replaced with happy yapping the moment he could see who was disturbing his nap this late at night. She gave each head a little love, before taking the middle one between her hands and giving him a serious look.
"I really need to see what's down there today, Fluffy. Please let me pass!" Holly didn't know if it was the desperation in her voice or if he was just so smart to understand her outright. But Fluffy drooped his heads low, whined and then stepped off the trapdoor.
Holly gave every head a hug and a kiss and then turned to the trapdoor. It was surprisingly easy to lift. Far lighter than she would have thought with it being made of solid wood. The trapdoor revealed a black pit that she couldn't see the bottom of. Holly took out another light pebble and sent the already active one down into the abyss.
It was some kind of narrow chasm that was covered in vines and other plant life. Even the floor was covered in it she saw, at least once her light reached there. She activated her other light and made it hover over the trapdoor, so she could see where the exit was later.
Using her boots, it was like walking down a long set of stairs. Holly tried to keep in the middle between the two walls, as to not get too close to the vines that seemed to shift occasionally. The chasm was getting narrower the closer she got to the bottom, she could even see the other two walls now.
Once she reached the bottom where her light was gently hovering a few feet off the ground, Holly looked around, puzzled. There was no door or cave to continue on her way. So she did the only thing she could think of. Slowly approach the walls to inspect them.
They were solid rock from what she could tell, no obvious signs for a lever or something to open a secret passage. Unfortunately Holly didn't know any spell that could help her reveal such secrets. Though she did notice that the further she got from her light, the more the vines were moving and wriggling around. Creepy!
Her light began to dim even more and flicker after a while, so Holly decided to cut her losses for tonight and head back. Maybe this was just a trap after all and not where the stone was actually hidden.
She collected her dying light and looked up to see where the exit was again. Only to be greeted by more pitch blackness like when she'd looked down into the chasm. She was sure she had left another light at the trapdoor specifically for this situation.
Huffing, Holly slowly hovered back up top, but she stopped halfway up, realising what had happened. The vines had closed up the way, covering her retreat in dangerous looking plants. She was cornered.
She kept standing there in the air, contemplating what to do. She didn't realise the danger she was in until it was too late. The vines hadn't just grown over her retreat, but were slowly advancing on her from every direction.
Since the light of her pebble was the only thing keeping them somewhat at bay, Holly drew her wand and lit it with a quick "Lumos!". Only, that didn't seem to help at all. The vines just kept coming nearer and nearer.
Holly tried to wrack her brain for any spell she knew how to perform that could help her here. She startled, when a vine grabbed her by the wrist that held her wand.. With her other hand Holly managed to pry it off of her again, but it was futile. The moment she was freed from the one vine, two more snatched onto her around her stomach and leg. And then more kept following, adding more layers around her stomach, pulling her backwards.
Panicking when a vine wrapped around her throat and started choking her, Holly desperately tried to get it off again. It was no use though, the other vines abruptly pulled her arms away, making her drop her wand. Its light going out in the process. Bathed in total darkness, all she could do was gasp for air and fight for her life.
In the distance she could see a small light approach. Having watched enough movies with Dudley to understand what this meant, she began struggling even harder, trying not to go near the light. Her struggles were fruitless. By now, Holly was covered from head to toe in vines, squeezing the life out of her. The light kept coming closer and closer.
The vines around her shifted, squeezed harder and then everything went white.
When Holly came to again, she was confused. It was still relatively dark, but she could make out that she was in some kind of man made passage. The stone she was lying on was weathered and mossy. How had she gotten here? She took a deep breath, relishing the "fresh" air, only to end up coughing. She rolled onto her side, coughed and hacked until she could finally breathe somewhat properly again. Her throat felt like it was burning.
Sitting up and feeling around herself, Holly was relieved when she grasped the familiar handle of her wand. Just saying the words for the wand lighting charm out loud hurt a lot, but with a new light source she could at least take a better look around herself. Only to realise that there were several cracks in her glasses. Taking them off, the frame was all bent out of shape. It was a miracle that they weren't completely broken.
Berating herself for not having learned the repairing spell yet, she put them back on. They would have to do for now. Holly looked up when she heard a scraping sound from there. Just a few feet above her was a massive wall of vines, angrily wriggling and scratching at an invisible barrier between herself and the plant.
She swallowed thickly. So the vines had actually tried to kill her… what had saved her? Checking the floor Holly found not one of her light pebbles, but two. Just… one of them was completely burnt out and now unusable. Had she somehow summoned the other lit up one, that she had left behind by Fluffy, to herself? But why did her pebbles help against the vines and not her wand's light? Light was light… Maybe she'd find an answer once she figured out what kind of plant this was. Holly wished she knew a fire spell to burn it all down.
Groaning, Holly stood up and leaned against the wall. Her whole body hurt, she must have bruises all over from the vines. She hissed when she carefully touched her neck. This was definitely where she had been injured the worst.
After sending a last glare over her shoulder at the stupid plant, Holly started slowly hobbling along the path, still supporting herself on the wall. Thankfully there was only that one way, the other side being a dead end. Too stubborn to give up yet, she soldiered on. If she had gone back up now, then all her pain would have been for nothing.
Holly reached a door just a short while after setting off. It looked similar to the Hogwarts main gates, just a little smaller. She was surprised when they weren't locked, so she just pushed them open with her shoulder.
She'd stepped out onto a small balcony. After shuffling closer to the railing, the only thing Holly could do was gape. The balcony was overlooking a huge room, filled with winged keys, flying all over the place and disturbing, featureless statues. But that wasn't what had her gawking, no. The room itself was bizarre. There were stairs going down to her right and then another set going "up". At least if you could call it that. They were flipped by 90 degrees and going to the wall to her right.
There was no right up or down, stairs were going all over the place. One statue was walking towards a door on the wall, but at the same time, that wall was the floor for another statue. The weirdest looking phenomenon was two sculptures using the same stairway in the same direction and on the same side, but each using a different face of each step. Thus, one descending the stairway as the other climbing it, even while moving in the same direction nearly side by side.
While the room was peculiar, it felt familiar somehow, like Holly had seen it before. She couldn't place where exactly though. Taking another look around, she saw a broom hovering on a little pedestal all the way at the bottom of the room. The bottom from her perspective, that is. She guessed that you were supposed to catch a fitting key for one of the doors leading out of the room. Just… which key belonged to which door, and which door was the correct path.
Holly could always open the doors with her skeleton key, so she decided to take the stairs down and explore the room some more. She squeezed by one of the statues that was going down these stairs as well, scared that it might jump her if she got too close. The first landing she reached had a big, doorless gateway that led to a park-like area in a separate room, with grass and some trees, but nothing beyond that. Not even another statue.
Turning back around, Holly could either take a different set of stairs up, or go further down. She went down since there was a door that way. The only problem was that it was rotated 90 degrees to the side. She unlocked it regardless and pushed the door open. Behind it there was just a pitch black room, that Holly couldn't illuminate no matter how close she held her wand.
Activating her boots, Holly went to check all the other doors as well. She would have walked, if she had known how to reach the doors. Thankfully her boots made it possible to reach the ones higher up without a landing to stand on. Sadly, every door revealed nothing but a dark room.
She swallowed and tried entering the first door she had opened. The moment she crossed the threshold, the world around her blurred and Holly found herself back where she had started. On the little balcony overlooking the room. Everything was as it had been the last time.
Confused, Holly exited the room through the big door behind her, only to end up back at the bottom of the room, standing on the landing in front of the door. Her gravity had seemingly changed to fit the orientation of the door. Thankfully Holly could cheat with her boots, flew back to the starting balcony and tried to leave again.
Just to end up where she had started earlier, back on the little landing of the door.
"Well, bugger!"
Holly was trapped… again.
