Harry's Twin - Book One // Complete // Editing

Damp and the Dark

'Guys! It's alright!' Harry yells back up to the three of us. 'You'll have a soft landing, don't worry!'

I look between Hermione and Ron. 'I'm next.' Inhaling deeply, I lower myself down and drop, drop, drop until I fall beside Harry. I look up to the light above us to see Ron's freckly face, barely illuminated by the small square of light.

Ron tumbles down next, and, upon landing, promptly says, 'What's this stuff?'

He pats the stuff under us, looking curiously at it. 'Dunno,' I say, looking upwards instead. 'Some kind of plant. Hermione'll know- speaking of Hermione, she's dropping in a second . . . so you might want to move Ronny.' I shove him slightly, mentioning to Hermione to drop soon.

The distant music stops, and the dog above lets out a low growl. But Hermione has already landed next to me. 'We must be very far under the school!' she says, attempting to stand.

'Lucky this weird plant thing is here!' Ron says, getting our attention.

'L-lucky?!' Hermione shouts. 'Look at the three of you!'

I look down and gasp. The plant is . . . consuming me. It's wrapping around my legs, my arms, my body. I look at my friends. They're slowly retreating into it, too. Hermione struggles to leap up and clings to the dark wall. She manages to shake off the plant but she's scared. 'Hermione! Help!' I shout, fully trusting that she'll know what to do.

Harry and Ron shove against it, but it just wraps tighter. I begin to wiggle around, and attempt to get free, but then realise that if I do that it's going to get tighter on me, too.

'Stop moving!' Hermione orders. She's panicking. Crap. 'Stop struggling. I know what it is. It's Devil's Snare!'

I look around me. It is. Ron decides it's the perfect time to be sarcastic and so makes the comment, 'Wow. Wow, that helps so much. I'm so glad we found out the name of this stuff! Good job, Mione!' He coughs out the last sentence- the Devil's Snare is slowly looping around it's neck.

'Shut up!' Hermione yelps. 'I'm trying to remember how to kill it!'

She looks across at me. I shrug helplessly. Harry yells from somewhere behind me. 'Help! I can't breath! Hurry up!'

'Devil's Snare. Devil's Snare . . .' Hermione says, aloud. 'Professor Sprout said, um. She said . . .' she trails off looking at me. I try my best to gesture around me.

Hermione seems to understand and at the same time we proclaim, 'It likes the damp and the dark!'

'So light a fire!' Harry chokes.

'How?' Hermione asks. 'I have no wood.' She wrings her hand, eyes clouding with worry.

Ron yells out in disbelief. 'HAVE YOU GONE MAD? Are you a bloody witch or not?!'

Hermione whips out her wand and waves it, muttering something to herself. A blue jet of fire whips out of the tip and the plant retreats and cringes away. The two boys and I push the remaining bits off ourselves, which causes them to recoil, too.

'Lucky you two pay attention in Herbology,' Harry rubs his neck and arms.

'Yeah, and lucky Harry doesn't lose his head in a crisis,' Ron interjects. '"There's no wood"- honestly!'

I punch him on the arm, letting him know to shut up. Harry tells us to follow him down a passage way. We walk quickly, mostly sticking to the narrow walls. Other than our footsteps, the only sounds we come across are faint drops of water, falling musically around us.

'Can you hear something?' Ron whispers. Up ahead we seem to be able to hear a soft rustling and clicking. 'You think it's a ghost?'

'Sounds like wings to me,' I put in, Harry agreeing. Hermione points out a light in front of us. Something is weaving in and out of it, creating odd shadows.

We reached a brightly lit chamber and looked skywards, trying to see what the shadows were. They look like small, jewel bright birds. Ron asks if we think they'll attack us if we try to cross. 

'Probably. But there is no other way. We'll have to run. Me first,' Harry sighs, coving his face with his arms and running to the other side, stopping in front of an old door. Nothing happens- no beaks attacking him, no squawks as they swoop down. Nothing. Harry seems momentarily surprised before reaching out and trying the door. Locked.

Hermione and Ron cross the room to Harry. I linger back, walking slower, studying the unknown winged creatures. Hermione tries the Alohomora charm. No such luck.

'Guys!' I say excitedly, as I realise what the flying things are. 'Guys, you really think they'd put birds in here for decoration? No way - and they're not even birds!' I notice my friends confused looks. 'They're keys. We have to catch the right key to fit in this door,' I explain.

Harry looks around the chamber, spotting four broom sticks. Perfect. We all mount one and fly into the air. I start shakily, as does Hermione, but we get there. 'Now what?' moans Ron. 'There must be a hundred keys in here!'

Harry swoops and examines the lock. 'We're looking for a very old fashioned one. Quite big, and probably silver. Let's go!'

After minutes that felt like hours of looking, snatching at random keys (that always got away) and almost falling off the rickety brooms, Harry noticed a certain key. A large silver one with a bent wing. 'As if it's being caught and shoved roughly into the keyhole!'

'Well, you aren't seeker for nothing!' I shout. 'Catch it!'

And so he does. But with our help. 'Hermione, stay below and don't let it get away. Ron, come from the top, okay? Lydia, can you come from the opposite direction? But please don't crash into me.'

We do as Harry asks. Hermione shoots upwards, Ron down. I come the opposite way, pulling to the side when my brother comes. He streaks past attempting to catch it. And he does, of course. The key looks a lot worse for wear, from now being caught twice.

'Ready?' Harry asks us. We nod and he shoves the key in the door. He pushes it open and all we can see is darkness.

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Hey, I'm really sorry this is quite short, but I don't have much time!! I'll try and do another update later or maybe the Cal fic, but I'm really pressed for time today!! Thank you for reading! x