𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓃𝑔. - golden trio era au

₁₅ ♙ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞

♙

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞

♙

Dawn landed with a soft thump next to Harry. The ground felt unnaturally soft and plant-like.

"Dawn, move!" Hermione shrieked at once. She was away from the plants on a small ledge near the wall. "It's Devil's Snare!" At once, Dawn scrambled to her feet and struggled towards Hermione. Harry and Ron were already covered in the stuff.

"I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help!" said Ron sarcastically. The plants were now rapidly reaching up to his neck.

"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" said Hermione.

"Light and warmth!" Dawn yelled, trying to wrestle her wand from a bit of Devil's Snare. It had tried to curl itself around her wrist and as she pulled her hand out, snatched her wand instead.

"So light a fire!" Harry choked - it was squeezing around his chest.

"Yes - of course - but there's no wood!"

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron shouted. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"

"Oh, right!" Hermione whipped out her wand and conjured a stream of bluebell flames. The Devil's Snare recoiled, loosening its grip on the boys and Dawn was finally able to retrieve her wand.

"Lucky Dawn pays attention in Herbology," said Harry, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Yeah," said Ron. "And lucky Harry doesn't loose his head in a crisis - 'there's no wood', honestly."

"This way." Harry pointed down a stone passageway sloping downwards that Dawn hadn't noticed in the panic. All they could hear as they walked was their own footsteps and the distant drip of water. Dawn curled in on herself. It was cold down here.

"Well, Dawn," said Ron. "You wanted action."

Dawn could only give a weak smile in response. 

"Do you hear something?" Ron whispered into the gloom after a while. Dawn strained to hear it. Distant, but there, was the faint sound of fluttering and clicking.

"Do you think it's a ghost?"

"I think the only ghost who would come down here would be Peeves," said Dawn. "And even then we told him not to stick around."

"It sounds like wings to me."

It was wings, it turned out. They reached the end of the passage way and it opened up into a large, brilliantly lit chamber. Thousands of birds were flapping about in there, too fast to see properly. Across from them was a huge, wooden door.

"Do you think they'll attack if we go in?" said Ron. They hadn't yet stepped over the threshold in fear of such a thing.

"Probably," said Harry. "They don't look very vicious but I suppose if they all came down at the same time . . . well, there's nothing for it. I'll run." Harry took a deep breath, covered his face and head with his arms and sprinted to the other side. The birds didn't swoop down, though, so he just looked like a bit of a prat. The rest walked over calmly.

The door was locked. It would not open no matter how hard they tugged and not even when Hermione tried the unlocking spell. If only they had did this on the door upstairs and then they wouldn't be in this mess.

"Now what?" said Ron.

Dawn looked up to the birds. They must be there for a reason. "Immobulus!" Nothing happened. "Oh, come on," she groaned. "I know it's a second-year spell but I'm sure I can do it. Immobulus!" This time, the spell worked, but only a handful of the birds froze. Only, they weren't birds at all, they were keys.