The Raven's Call

Into the Unknown

During dinner, we decided to meet in the third floor bathroom. 
Draco received the birthday present from me. A green apple. I grinned as I watched him try and find the person who had gifted him the fruit, though I never left him my name.

Once bedtime comes around, I sit on the windowsill of the dorm room, looking down at my journal, awaiting Alex's go ahead. I tap my wand against the journal nervously as I wait.. and wait.. and wait.. 
Buzzt... Buzzt..
"Finally.." I whisper, opening up the book. "Now, we need to go now."  Alex's message appears and then disappears. I close the book, Lumos my wand and exit the common room hastily.  I jog down the spiral staircase, careful as to not trip and fall. I exit the fifth floor corridor and make my way down towards the meeting spot. I walk past a multitude of sleeping portraits, trying to keep my wand light as dim as possible as not to wake them. 

I walk in the bathroom to see Alex waiting for me, in the dim Lumos light of his own wand. "Alex..?" I ask quietly, walking up to him. "Atti, nobody noticed you?"  Alex asks, just as quietly. I shake my head. "All the Ravenclaws were asleep, and I didn't see anyone on the staircase." I say with a shrug. It wasn't long before Asteria joined us, her wand lit dimly as well. "Are we ready?" Asteria asks, seeing the two of us. "Of course." Alex simply says, though he has a hint of excitement in his voice. "Alright, follow me." I tell them, leading them to the corridor to find Fluffy. 

As we walk down the corridor, we can hear the gentle melody of a harp coming from a room at the end of the hall. The closer we get, the softer the music gets, until it stops. There's a moment of silence, followed by barking and screaming. Then more barking and no screaming. Then no barking. I slowly open the door, the three-headed-dog preoccupied with the trap door beneath it. "Musica Automata" I whisper, waving my wand towards the harp in the corner of the room, allowing it to play another peaceful melody. Fluffy yawns with each of it's heads before promptly falling back asleep. 'Jeez. Hagrid wasn't kidding..' I think to myself. "We should hurry." Alex whispers as I open the door for the others to follow me inside. I kneel down next to the trap door, taking a look inside, though I couldn't see anything, the Lumos light not helping one bit. I take a breath before taking a leap of faith. Quite literally, for the second time this year. I land in a sort of vine substance. Devil's Snare. Great. 

Asteria lands after me, then is followed by Alex. The vines wrap around our bodies, around each limb, earning some panic from the other two, they both start to struggle. "Stop moving, both of you. This is Devil's Snare. You have to relax. If you don't, it will only kill you faster." I inform them, allowing myself to relax as I close my eyes. "Kill us faster?!" Asteria exclaims. "I can't die! It's my birthday!" the vines begin pulling me down further and further, until I reach the bottom with a small thud, though I can still hear the panicked screams of my friends above me. "You have to calm down!"  Alex shouts. "Easy for you to say!" Asteria shrieks. "I'm okay! Just relax!" I call out from down below. I watch as Alex slowly sinks down and lands with another thud. "Atticus!" He exclaims happily as I help him to his feet. "Asteria is panicking! What do we do?" Alex asks me, as I frantically search for my wand. I can hear Asteria screaming hysterically before Alex hands me his own wand. I nod in thanks before pointing the wand up towards the vines. "Lumos Solem!" I cast as a bright light shines itself from the wand, causing the Devil's Snare to let go of Asteria, and retreat. Both Asteria and my wand drop to the floor. I quickly pick up my wand before handing Alex back his, only now noticing that Asteria had landed right on top of Alex. "At least I cushioned your fall, eh?" Alex spoke with a pained chuckle. I can't help but let out a soft giggle as Alex takes his wand back. "Lucky we didn't panic." Asteria spoke, standing up with a groan, Alex groaning louder as he got back on his feet. "Lucky Atticus pays attention in Herbology class." Alex teases.

In the next room over, the sound of tiny wings fluttering can be heard. "What is that?" Alex asks, walking towards the room, Asteria and I are following behind. "They're.. keys?" He spoke, astonished as hundreds of little winged keys fly around the room. "Hundreds of them.."  I whisper before spotting an old tattered looking key, looking like it belonged in the old tattered looking door to the next room. I look around for any sign of a broom, but there were none. "Hm.." I mutter. "Asteria, are you able to grow wings with your Metamorphmagus, or haven't you reached that skill yet?" I ask, coming off as a little cruel, unintentionally. "Uh.. yes, I can." She spoke, sounding a little hurt. "Perfect. Accio Nimbus 2000." I say, summoning my broom. "You might want to do the same, Alex. I have a plan." I speak, now grinning. Alex nods before summoning his own broom. "Alright, now, that old looking one is the key we're after." I inform, getting on my broom. Alex gets on his broom as Asteria sprouts wings. "The three of us are going to go after it, and corner it. We're gonna catch this key." I say with determination as I push off of the ground. I fly around the room, with Asteria and Alex either side of me, as we lead the key towards a corner of the room, but it kept slipping out of reach. Just like that bloody snitch. "Alex, go to the door, Asteria.. get ready to catch me." I say, furrowing my brows as I speed up, chasing this key around the room. I slowly rise to my feet, leaping off of my broom. "Gotcha..!" I exclaim, holding the key by the handle as Asteria catches me, also exclaiming "Gotcha..!" She swoops down, the other keys following close behind us. Once in reach, I hand the key to Alex before signalling to Asteria to fly me back to my broom. Once back on the broom, Asteria and I fly through the now opened door, with Alex quickly shutting it behind us. 

The next room is.. A giant chess board, though, it looks like the game has just finished. There's debris and dust everywhere. Over in a pile of rubble was a familiar red head and frizzy haired brunette. Ron and Hermione. The three of us run over to them. "Where's Harry?" I ask, seemingly startling Hermione. "What are you three doing here?" She asks, shocked. "We could ask you the same thing." Asteria spoke, crossing her arms. Hermione sighs softly. "Harry's in the next room, hopefully he's found the stone." I nod, leaving the others behind to find Harry. It's a wonder I wasn't placed in Gryffindor.