The Cunning and Ambitious

Chapter Seventeen

At 10 that night, I lean against the door to the Third-Corridor, keeping a cautious eye out for Filch, Mcgonagall, or Harry and the rest.

Then I hear Harry's voice. "If you want to go back, I won't blame you. You can take the cloak, I won't need it now."

"Don't be stupid." I hear Ron say.

"We're coming." Hermione states. I expect them to come around a corner or another spot I wouldn't be able to see them. But they appear quite suddenly in front of me, I realise the source of this. An invisibility cloak.

"That's just plain awesome." I tell them.

"Thanks." Harry says as he pulls out a wooden flute. He walks in the room, we all follow. Then he begins playing the instrument and Fluffy goes fast asleep. The four of them tread carefully towards the trap door, moving Fluffy's paw aside and looking down.

"There's no ladder." I observe. "We're gonna have to jump." I take a deep breath. I've never liked jumping, even just simple stepping off a high dive. I exhale, close my eyes shut and fall down the trapdoor, I land on my butt, on a soft surface, surprisingly. Ron and Hermione soon fall down and closely followed by Harry. Then I realise what we're sitting on as vines attempt to wrap my limbs down to the plant's soft exterior.

"What is this stuff?" Harry wonders out loud.

"We must be miles under the school." Hermione states.

"Lucky this planet thing's here, really." Ron says.

The entire time I had been racing to the end of the corridor as Hermione shrieks the name. Devil's Snare. I sink to the ground watching them all.

Hermione joins me at the wall and the boys begin freaking her out, yelling at her to save their lives.

"So light a fire!" Harry shouts

"Yes - of course - but there's no wood!" Hermione cries in response

This genuinely cracks me up

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron screams at her, "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?!"

"Oh right!

Hermione saves them all and I gain my feet

"I'm really disappointed, Hermione I thought you were the smartest witch at our school."

She has nothing to say, and keeps opening her mouth trying to come up with a comeback but fails.

"Come on." Harry says and walks down the hallway. We all hear it, a sold rustling and clinking coming from the next challenge. We reach the end of the passageway and spot what it is.

Beautiful birds, they seem to be, but when observing hard enough, they're keys. I solve the problem in my head. We have to use the broom up ahead to catch the key that'll open the door ahead. Simple. I look up and spot which one it is, a blue winged key with a broken wing. All too easy. I walk over and lean up against the door watching as the trio solve it all for themselves. They solve the catching of the key, then grab brooms and fly around looking for the correct key. Harry spots it first and they team up to catch it. When they do, I start applauding. They land on the ground with questioning looks.

"It's really amazing how long it took you guys to figure that out." I smile, "Ready to go?"

They open the door and we all walk through the next chamber. The lights come alive, revealing our surroundings. We were on the edge of a gigantic chessboard. This I can't just solve in my mind, unlike the last two.

"Now what do we do?" Harry asks,

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Ron replies, "We've got to play our way across the room."