The Princess Witch - 1st book

Chapter IX: Behind the Door

Two months had passed since the quartet's little adventure in the Forbidden Forest. The mystery of the door still occupied all of Talia's thoughts. What was hidden behind this door? Bring a hydra to a school! You must have been crazy! Or maybe the treasure thus sheltered really had to be worth it. What could the Hogwarts professors want to hide so fiercely? If she didn't find out, Talia was going to go crazy.
One evening, she went to wake up Enola and Davina and told them of her curiosity.
-Don't you want to leave us alone? moaned Enola who only dreamed of going back to sleep.
-But you don't want to know what's hidden behind the door? There is a hydra in the school! Don't want to know why?
-Of course yes.
-Then stand up!
Reluctantly, the young girls extricated themselves from their soft blankets. They went to wake Harry. All four left the dormitories then wanted to leave Gryffindor Tower. It was then that a dark figure stood in front of them. Wild rose Grindelwald! This cheerful classmate seemed much less cheerful this evening.
-You shall not pass! she yelled, raising her wand with both fists.
-Get out, Gandalf," Talia said blasély.
-Petrificus Totalus, added Enola.
His fate affected Eglantine who fell backwards."I will return in the form of Eglantine the White," she thought furiously.
The quartet went to the 3rd floor corridor and entered the room where the terrifying hydra was guarding mysterious loot. Near her, a set of drums seemed to be waiting for a musician to come and take them.
Harry grabbed the drumsticks and launched into a big drum solo.
-Hakuna Matata! he sang. What a wonderful phrase! Hakuna Matata! A no passing phase
!-It means no worries, for the rest of your days! added Enola.
-Under the sea, began Davina who did not know the previous song.
-But fish in the bowl is lucky. They in for a worser fate. One day when the boss get hungry
Guess who's gon' be on the plate?, Talia continued.
-WE WALK, WE MAKE BUBBLES, UNDER THE SEA! they all sang together.
The hydra had fallen asleep. Harry placed the sticks back on the drums. The quartet walked around the hydra and slipped to the other side of the famous door.
They arrived in a room lined with plants of a very soft and bright green. These stunning plants were twined along the next door handle. To open it, you would obviously have to tear them off.
-Good luck gardening! Harry shouted.
-Stopped! cried Enola, horrified.-What? Are these plants? There is nothing terrifying about this.
-Simple plants right after a hydra? Are you stupid or what? And look around you? Do you never listen in Botany class?
-Yes, but I don't see what it is.
-I know. I snuck into the second year class to learn more because our class is boring. These plants are mandrakes! They are dangerous. If we pull them out, they start to scream and if we hear this cry, we will die!
-So what to do? We're going to have to pull out these plants! Talia pointed out.
-We must not hear the cry of the mandrakes. How can you not hear? Anyone have earmuffs?
-Yes, Davina replied ironically. In June, especially, we really need it all the time.
Enola gave him a mental middle finger.
-We can't cover our ears. We will need our hands to pull up the plants. I suggest we sing so loudly that we will hear nothing but our singing.
And that's what they did.
-LET IT GO, LET IT GO, CAN'T HOLD IT BACK ANYMORE, LET IT GO, LET IT GO, TURN AWAY AND SLAM THE DOOR!
They sang so much that they no longer heard the slightest sound. However, they were wise enough to only pull out one mandrake at a time, before killing it, in order to ensure that the mandrake's cry did not compete with their songs.
I AM ONE WITH THE WIND AND SKY!

When at last they had cleared the door, they opened it and rushed into the next room and closed the door behind them. Finally, they were free from these terrible crises.

They looked around at each other. They were in a dark room, filled with tables covered in potion vials. How many vials were there? Too many to count! And in the middle, a large page of parchment began to dance, singing:

He's got a dream! He's got a dream! It's moving on to the next room!My, my! How to get to the next room?Are you too ugly for that? There is a beauty potion!Are you too stupid for that? There is an intelligence potion!You're skinny as a nail! You can become obese!Your brain is in a mess! I'm going to give you your feet in compote!Don't you dare tell him what you think? You won't be able to stop!You're going to take a potion to make your dream come true and a jellyfish bag, you're going to get to the other side, but for that, be careful not to make a mistake!

It then seemed to burn up on the spot, leaving Talia and her friends alone facing this multitude of vials.
"We have to get to the other side," Harry muttered. To do this, we must make up for our shortcomings. I'm too small, I need a growing potion.
He grabbed a vial with a label on it that read: "drink me."
-Like in Alice in Wonderland! How did he
He drank and became so big that he overturned all the vials and almost crushed the young girls.
-So what! Is it nice up there? Talia asked.
Harry cried bitterly. Her immense tears soon filled the room and almost drowned the young girls. Fortunately, as Harry grew older, he became strong. With a flick of his index finger, he opened the next door and Talia, Enola and Davina passed through on the other side.
The next room was practically empty. In the heart of the room there was nothing but a large blackboard and white chalk. In a corner of the room stood - lo and behold! - Peeves!!!! He was busy sipping a small mojito while humming a tune (the heigh ho ho area) of his invention:

Dumby Dumbo, you're such a big alcoholic!
In my opinion, Hoggy would be betterIf I directed it!

« How dare you say that about the venerable Professor Dumbledore! »Davina exclaimed.
Talia said nothing, but thought nothing of it.
-What are you damsels doing in a corner like this in the middle of the night!" he exclaimed in his duck voice.
-And what are you up to? What are you doing here?" asked Enola.
-I'm on duty! Someone always has to look after this test. And as luck would have it, when Trelawney's not here, I'm the one who gets stuck with it. And Trelawney says that tonight you shouldn't be here because she's seen in her crystal ball that tonight there's danger in the air!
-So what's the test?" asked Talia.
-Oh, but little turkeys like you can't succeed.
-We've done pretty well so far," objected Davina.
-Only the giant squid knows how.
-What's the test! insisted Talia.
Peeves then got up from his seat, grabbed a microphone, pressed a large red button and the whole room lit up with a single glittery word:
-PICTIONNARY!!! he bellowed into a microphone.
Applause rang out around them.
-One of you three, ladies, he announced in a pompous tone, will have to draw what I would say to her!He turned a wheel on which the three names were written.
The cursor stopped on Davina.
-DAVINAAAAAAAA! Peeves yelled.
Once again, phantom applause shook the small, now illuminated room. Peeves seemed to have turned blue and he sported a particularly unusual hairstyle; it looked like he had a little blue puff on his blue head.He made a magical sound wall appear, separating Talia and Enola from Davina and uttered the secret word that was to change the course of this adventure.Davina emerged from her side of the wall, looking pale. She was worried about having to draw. She did not excel in this art.She took a white chalk and began to draw.
-A trapeze! cried Talia.
-a teepee! shouted Enola-a tree trunk!
-a dress!
-a ghost!
-a nuclear power plant chimney!
-a volcano!
-TIMES UP! shouted Peeves who was jubilant. Goodbye to you!
He knocked Davina out with a glitter hammer.
-Ladies! It's up to you to guess the word you had to find using the following riddle:
It envelops body and arms,it's a tobacco leaf.It looks like a sailboat,For a long time she was linked to the sword.Who is she ?
-The rapier!
-The scabbard!
-The mast!
-The glove!
-Cannabis!
-Let's see! cried Peeves, delighted and outraged to hear such a word. Only twenty seconds left!
-I know ! murmured Enola, turning pale. Talia, it's you who has to go, it's you who has to find it.
-8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! chanted the phantom crowd behind them.
Enola leaned towards Talia's ear and whispered a word there.
-THE CLOAK!!!!!! Talia yelled.
-YESIIIIIIIII! replied Peeves.
He knocked Enola out with his glitter hammer and opened the next door for Talia.