Dynamite Duo- Book one

Chapter 11 - The Tests

We had just been into our final exam, Charms. "I always heard Hogwarts's end of year exams are frightful, but I found that rather enjoyable," Hermione says. I laugh in disbelief. I never did particularly bad on exams but I wouldn't say I enjoyed them. "Speak for yourself," Ron says, slightly annoyed. "Harry are you alright?" I ask. Harry places a fist on his head, right over where his scar is. He'd been hissing for a couple minutes but I assumed it was just a regular headache you can get after being freed from the stress brought by exams. "My scar, it keeps burning," Harry says. I wrap my arm around his shoulder, trying to offer some comfort with what little I can do. "It's happened before," Hermione says, trying to reassure him. "Not like this by the looks of it Hermione," I reply. "Perhaps you should see the nurse," Ron suggests. We walk towards Hagrid's hut. We had agreed to have a cup of tea with him when exams were over. "I think it's a warning, it means danger's coming," Harry says. We hear a flue and look over to see Hagrid peacefully playing. "Of course," Harry says, speeding up. "What is it?" I ask, jogging a bit to keep up. "Don't you think it's a bit odd, that what Hagrid wants more than anything is a dragon and a stranger turns up and just happens to have one?" Harry says, connecting the dots. "I mean, how many people wander around with dragon eggs in their pocket," Harry points out. I hum in agreement, it was very suspicious. "Why didn't I see it before?" Harry asks himself, frustrated. "There was a dragon, you don't see that everyday," I say to him.

"Hagrid, who gave you the dragon egg? What did he look like?" Harry asks desperately. "I don't know, I never saw his face, he kept his hood up," Hagrid says, not sensing the seriousness of the situation. "This stranger though, you and him must have talked," I push. "Well he wanted to know what sort of creatures I looked after, I told him, after Fluffy a dragon's gonna be no problem," Hagrid laughs towards the end of his sentence. "Did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asks, worried. "Well of course he was interested in Fluffy, how often do you come across a three headed dog? Even if you're in the trade, but I told him I said, the trick with any beast is to know how to calm him. Take Fluffy for example, just play him a little music and he falls straight asleep," Hagrid says. He realises what he said and his face morphs into one of worry. "I shouldn't have told you that," Hagrid says. We run off before he can say anything else however. Running straight towards the dormitories. When we reach them we are met with an abandoned common room, most people are outside enjoying the sun. "We'll go down the trapdoor tonight, it gives us time to gather anything we need," I say to the others. We split up, Hermione running to her dorm and Harry, Ron and I running to ours.

After having a meal, we wait for everyone to go to bed, sneaking down at midnight. We see Trevor in the common room croaking. "Trevor, sh! Go, you shouldn't be here," Ron whispers loudly. "Neither should you," Neville says, revealing himself by standing up from behind the chair. "You're sneaking out again aren't you?" Neville asks accusingly. I look down guiltily, he must've been up multiple nights because of us. "No, Neville listen-" Harry tries to reason. Neville's not having it though. "No I won't let you, you'll get Gryffindor into trouble again," he says desperately. "We're not the only ones who have gotten our house into trouble Neville, and we won't be the last either," I say to him. "I'll fight you!" Neville says timidly, raising his hands in front of his face. I finally understand why the hat placed him in Gryffindor. Behind the scared boy is someone who is willing to fight, just needs help with his self-confidence. Hermione apologises quickly before casting a spell on Neville, who freezes up and falls to the floor. I place a nearby blanket on him so he doesn't get too cold before following the others out. "You're a little scary sometimes," Ron says to Hermione quietly as we exit.

We figured out earlier that all of us can't fit under the cloak, so we decided the others would hide under the cloak and go first, tapping their foot in a certain rhythm if the coast is clear. We do this the entire way to the 3rd floor, with surprisingly no problems along the way. Hermione unlocks the door and we step in, they take off the cloak as there's no reason to be under it anymore. We see a large three headed dog in front of us, asleep. We also see a harp playing itself, a sign that someone has been here. "He's asleep," I say quietly. I didn't meet the dog when they last came to the 3rd floor, Harry and Ron told me about it though. "Snape's already been here, he put a spell on the harp," Harry says, pointing towards the self-playing instrument. I look at Harry unamused, I still don't think it's Snape but the others are adamant it is. We walk towards the massive creature, Ron complaining about the breath. "We have to move its paw," Harry says quietly. We stand on one side of the massive paw and push. Thenails scratch along the surface of the wood as it moves. We move it off completely and Hermione lifts up the trap door. We look down into the darkness. "I'll go first and give you guys a sign, if something bad happens leave immediately," I say, jumping in just as the harp stops. I land on mass amounts of vines that instantly constrict around me. I panic briefly before noticing the type of plant it was. Devil's Snare.

Calming my heart rate, and stop moving. Hearing yells from above I see the other three drop down, and hear the barks that accompany them after. The plant instantly wraps around the others. Hermione and Ron get choked slightly and Harry's legs are wrapped. "Quit moving! It tightens when you move!" I yell at them urgently. Hermione takes my advice, falling through the plant. I fall through after her, hearing the other boys panic. "Just relax!" Hermione yells as I fall through. Harry comes down next, having relaxed like advised. Ron continues to yell and struggle however. I sigh before pulling out my wand,casting a spell that shines a bright light around Ron, The plant yells in agony before releasing Ron. "Lucky we didn't panic," I say sarcastically with a small smirk on my face. Ron huffs, seemingly unamused but the smile on his face says otherwise. "Lucky you two pay attention in Herbology," Harry corrects, going down the tunnel first. I follow after him, hearing the other two behind me doing the same.

We walk into a small room with a very tall ceiling. Seeing keys with wings flying around us. "I've never seen birds like these," Hermione says. "I don't think they're alive, just enchanted," I say, looking around for one that may be different somehow. "They're keys, one of them must open that door," Ron says, pointing to a closed door in front of us. We walk up to an old broom. "Harry, you should ride it. You're better than any of us," I say, picking up the broom and shoving it into his hands. "We haven't seen you properly fly yet but okay," Harry accepts. He mounts the broom and hovers in the air. "There, that key's wings are bent. I bet that's the one that opens the door," Hermione says, pointing at a key that does indeed have a bent wing. The keys start swarming Harry, attacking him. He moves his hand side to side, batting them away. He chases after the one with the broken wing, which is flying away from him desperately. Harry flies up to the top before coming back down, key in hand. "Catch the key," he yells, throwing it at us. I grab it and quickly go to the door as Harry distracts the flying keys. The door opens and we rush in, Harry shoots in after us and we shut the door quickly. Hearing the keys stab into the wood on the other side.

We enter a massive room, filled with chess pieces. Some are destroyed and lay on the side of the board, never to be used again. Ron walks into the centre of the board, which instantly lights up. "There's the door," Harry points to the otherside of the room. "It won't be that easy," I say just as our path is blocked by some pawns. We back off and their swords retract. "Now what do we do?" Hermione asks. "It's obvious isn't it, we play our way across the room," Ron says eagerly. I trust him to make the plan, being an expert in Wizards chess. "Alright, Harry you take the empty Bishop's square, Hermione you'll be the queen's side castle. (Y/N) and I will be knights," Ron says. We do as he says, I climb up onto a horse alongside Ron. "What happens now?" Hermione asks, worried and unsure. "Ron should call out what to do, he knows this game best and I haven't seen anyone beat him," I answer. Ron smiles at me gratefully, a white pawn moves forward two spaces. "Ron, you don't suppose this is going to be like real wizards chess do you?" Hermione asks nervously. Ron tests the idea, moving a pawn forward as a potential sacrifice. The white pawn destroys the black one, proving Hermione's theory right. The game continues, pieces on both sides being destroyed. Ron makes all the calls, playing expertly as to not kill any of us. The white queen destroys a castle before looking in Ron's direction. Ron looks scared and Harry realises what's going on. "Wait a minute," he says, realising Ron's next move. "You understand right Harry, once I make my move the queen will take me, and you're free to check the King," Ron says nervously. "No Ron, you can't!" Harry yells from her square. "He's going to sacrifice himself," I say looking at Hermione. He nods at me before looking at Hermione, saying, "do you want to stop Snape from getting that stone or what?" The question doesn't need to be answered, all of us already knowing the answer. "Harry, it's you and (Y/N) that has to go on I know it," Ron says, locking eyes with Harry. Harry nods in defeat and Ron moves his piece. The queen destroys the horse and sends Ron flying back. I move off my horse as Harry runs next to the white king. "Checkmate," Harry yells. The white king's sword drops, signalling its defeat. We run over to Ron seeing he's still breathing, I sigh in relief. "Take care of Ron then send a message to Dumbledore," Harry orders Hermione. She nods and I grab Harry's hand, pulling him towards the door.