LUCKY FLOWER||FRED WEASLEY {REWRITING/MOVED}

YEAR TWO: CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

"Well, after you."

Lockhart whipped his head to look back at Rapunzel with wide eyes, not even noticing how her hair which has been restraining him slipped away and dropped to the floor.

"Why me?!"

"You're the hero who could defeat the monster, right?" George piped up, voice sharp as it was snide. He had very little patience for Lockhart's antics at the moment.

"How about," Lockhart tried to shuffle away from the long tunnel that plunged into darkness. "...You go first? And I'll follow right behind you."

Rapunzel shared a glance with Harry who rolled his eyes.

"Nope."

Lockhart shrieked as Rapunzel nudged him with her foot, not exactly a kick but not gentle either; enough to send him sliding down the tunnel as his screams faded out.

"After all this should we just leave him down there?" Fred asked, only half joking.

"I'm certainly considering it." Rapunzel sighed, sitting on the ledge. "Meet you on the other side."

Letting herself drop, she found she couldn't even scream, the air being forced out of her lungs as her stomach dropped. The stone ached against her skin as she slid down, and she was certain she'd have marks to show for it.

Rapunzel landed on her stomach once she reached the end of the tunnel, groaning in discomfort as she got to her feet and caught her breath; hand resting on her sore abdomen.

Several other groans could be heard, and the four boys quickly followed out of the tunnel, not enjoying the ride any more than Rapunzel did.

Once Harry got his bearings, he was quick to point his wand at Lockhart, holding him hostage once again.

Rapunzel never thought she'd see a grown man so scared of a twelve year old.

Harry gestured with his wand, and Lockhart reluctantly began to walk through the first tunnel.

"Now remember," Harry turned his attention to the others. "Any sign of the Basilisk, close your eyes straight away."

"The hell did we land on?" Fred groaned, rubbing his sore arm as he trailed behind Ron. "That was worse than the slide."

"Guys," George's voice was just above a whisper, a horrified whisper. If he spoke any louder he might've started panicking. "It's bones."

Rapunzel looked down, discovering to her horror that George was right. Hundreds, thousands of bones, many undeniably human; all of them littered the floor, they were the floor now.

"Oh man." Fred whimpered. "Oh, that's a lot of dead people." He reached out, gripping Rapunzel's hand like a vice, the slightest comfort provided as she gripped his hand back, seemingly just as frightened.

"We've got to keep moving," Rapunzel said shakily, now doing her best to avoid looking at the ground at all costs. Admittedly, the sound of the bones moving as they walked was not helping.

Rapunzel looked over to George who hadn't moved since his discovery, having gone completely white and his eyes glazed over.

"Hey," Rapunzel reached out and gently held his shoulder, bringing him back to reality. "I know. We've gotta keep moving."

George nodded, taking a deep breath before holding part of Rapunzel's robe for comfort as they continued walking through the dark passage.

They eventually came to another room, larger than the last but not much different. The biggest thing of note was a bizarre, translucent object that filled almost the whole room.

"What is this?" Harry murmured, approaching it and trailing his hand along the spines.

"Looks like...a snake."

"Snakeskin." Rapunzel stated, nodding towards the object. "The Basilisk is just another snake, and it sheds. Looks like it hasn't eaten this shed yet."

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed. "It must be sixty feet long!"

Lockhart made a strange noise, a choked groan before collapsing to the floor. Perhaps all of this was too much for him and his body decided it didn't want to be in this situation anymore.

"'Heart of a Lion' this one." Ron scoffed. "Right."

Before any of them could react, Lockhart was on his feet and he had snatched Ron's wand from his hands, exclaiming in triumph as he aimed it at the group, rapidly switching targets.

"Ah, hell." George muttered.

"The adventure ends here." Lockhart's eyes were wild now, his facade dropped completely. "But don't fret. The world will know our story."

"How I was too late to save the girl, how you five tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body."

"You—!" Fred lunged forward, only to be restrained by Rapunzel and George. Lockhart was armed and in control, one wrong move and they were dead.

A sadistic haze crossing his face, Lockhart turned his attention to Harry.

"You first, Mister Potter. Say goodbye...to your memories."

The wand is broken.

The realization struck Rapunzel like an oncoming train. It would backfire, but it could rebound hard enough to cause disastrous effects.

"Obliviate!"

"Move!"

Rapunzel lunged at Harry, pushing him a decent distance from Lockhart just as the spell emerged from the wand, only to spin back around and send him flying into the wall.

Fred and George had lunged with Rapunzel, noticing her change in body language and following her lead.

It was good timing too, the whole room began to shake as dust and debris rained from the ceiling before a loud crash! as giant rocks collapsed from above them, blocking the way back and leaving Ron with Lockhart.

"Smart thinking, blondie." Fred helped Rapunzel to her feet. "Where he was standing he would've been crushed. How's you figure it out?"

"He had Ron's wand," Rapunzel said through heavy breaths. "It's still broken."

"Ron, are you okay?" Harry peered through the gap in a rock to see a despairing Ron. Not just that he was trapped, but that he was trapped with Lockhart of all people.

"What do we do now?!"

"You said here, try and shift some of these rocks so we can get back through. We'll find Ginny."

Rapunzel peered through the gap to see Ron staring down at Lockhart, confused and definitely pissed off.

"Hey, Ron."

He glanced up at Rapunzel.

"If he wakes up, you have my full permission to smack him as hard as you can." Rapunzel smiled when Ron grinned at this.

"Oh, I will."