A Young Wizard's Journey - The Chamber of Secrets

Down into the Depths

Pippa flew low, weaving in amongst brambles and roots whilst Y/N, Ron, and Harry trudged along in her wake. The spiders kept trying to speed up or scuttle under fallen brush to get away from the metallic phoenix, but she flew around them persistently, refusing to let them out of her sight.

'Useful, isn't it?' said Ron as they almost lost the spiders under a nearby log before Pip gave out a metallic cry to show them where the spiders had gone.

'She,' said Y/N sternly. 'Her names Pippa, Pip for short.'

'It's a ring-' began Ron, but Harry elbowed him.

They followed Pip for roughly half an hour before another joined their little patrol. A low, almost growling was resonating through the forest, and it seemed to be getting louder. Fang heard it first and began growling and barking back, causing Y/N to stop and listen.

'Hold it,' he whispered to the other two. 'You hear that?'

They all stopped and strained their ears, it was hard to differentiate what was Fang and what was the distant entity but one thing was for certain, the distant one was getting louder and it was heading straight towards them, they could hear twigs snapping.

'Oh no,' said Ron as Harry and Y/N raised their wands. 'Oh no, oh no, oh-'

'Shut up,' hissed Harry. 'It'll hear you.'

'Hear me?' said Ron in an unnaturally high voice. 'It's already heard Fang!'

'Stupefy!' called Y/N, and his jet of red light spiralled off into the forest. The rumbling came to a sudden halt.

'Did you get it?' asked Harry.

'No chance,' said Y/N. 'Me being able to cast that spell doesn't stop me from being a second year, doubt it could even take down Fang.'

They waited in silence, listening carefully. The forest was unnaturally quiet, as though it was holding its breath.

'Do you reckon it's gone?' asked Ron.

'Pip, go-' but Y/N was cut off as a bright flash of light spread across their clearing. He shielded his eyes and staggered from the sudden light, but it didn't help. Ron and Harry had done the same and apparently it had made Fang jump so badly, he'd attempted to run and had gotten trapped in a tangle of thorns.

'Harry, Y/N!' shouted Ron. 'It's our car!'

'The bloody hell is it doing in here?' asked Y/N as he squinted at the blue Ford Anglia that had swerved into their clearing.

'It drove in here after we crashed it into the Whomping Willow,' said Ron brightly as he wandered over to the car. 'Blimey, it looks like it's gone wild.'

The cars doors were smeared with mud and covered in scratches from where it had travelled through the brush. Pip fluttered back over to Y/N and wrapped herself around his finger with another metallic cry before falling still.

Ron was examining the car and Harry was freeing Fang before glancing around the clearing.

'We've lost the trail,' said Harry. 'C'mon let's go and find them.'

'D'you know where they've gone, Pip?' Y/N asked the small item on his hand, but it simply gave another low cry. 'Well that's not promising, they can't have gone far-' but Y/N was cut off as something large and hairy grabbed him and lifted him bodily off the forest floor. He rose high into the trees attempting to kick at whatever was holding him as he heard Harry's yells from the floor below him.

His eyes fell on Ron who was still illuminated by the car's headlights, and the look on his face told Y/N all he needed to know. With a clicking noise, the creature holding Y/N began scuttling along the trees, heading deep into the very heart of the forest. He heard noises behind him indicating that both Ron and Fang had been grabbed, he couldn't hear Harry but figured he was most likely suffering the same fate.