The Riddle Twins

Through the Trapdoor, Part 2

Through the Trapdoor, Part 2

The door moved silently, which turned out to be creepier than a creak as the door's hinges were rusted with age. If Harry and I could move silently through this deadly maze, then there was a damn fair chance that Snape -and sadly my twin brother- could. That kept me wondering whether Marcal had been taken against his will, or had lured and tricked me all by himself.

The passage way we emerged into was steep and winding, dark stones lined the walls and the clogging smell of damp dust had me trying to pick up the wavy outline of Devil's Snare against the thick gloom.

I horrifically found that I was still gripping Harry's arm. Letting go, I strode a few feet ahead of him, hoping above all that he didn't start and awkward conversation. Now was definitely not the time for it. My prayer was answered; Harry stayed mercifully silent.

Instead of yelling at him for making me weak, I turned to my anger at being down here in the first place. After following my closest friend and sibling (at least, I hope he still remains friend). Harry's freakishly gigantic friend, Hagrid, had left the re-incarnation of Cerebus in a corridor, where it had proceeded to attack me as I went to save my twin. After creating an "I can read your every thought" bond (which I sincerely hope is one way), with Harry, I'd decided to make an even more suckish day worse, by venturing into the ultra booby trapped catacombs under the school. Where I was almost eaten by a plant. Fate was clearly not smiling on me today.

I was jerked out of my extremely self-centred thoughts by Harry grabbing me by the arms, right before I had walked into a door. Maybe I was wrong about him.

"Rhya! Can you hear that?" Harry asked, pressing his ear to the door.

Frankly, I thought he was off his rocker, until I too, heard the distant fluttering. "It sounds like... wings!"

Harry's face turned white, the sudden change was scary. "Rhy," he began slowly, and I could sense the fear that laced his voice, "They wouldn't have Dragons down here, would they?"

"How would they fit one?" I asked, looking back up the tiny passage. I wouldn't mind coming across a Dragon, actually it was the thought of what else could be lurking behind the door that scared me.

I stepped back as Harry reached for the door knob, and twisted.

"Bloody hell!" I shouted as light flooded the passage, temporarily blinding me. Blinking against the light, we peered into the chamber. It was filled with a glittering light and looking up, we saw hundreds of birds, flitting around the chamber's ceiling.

"D'you think they will swoop and attack us the moment we go for the door at the other end? I'm okay with one bird. But I reckon' hundreds at once would be a wee bit to much."

Harry didn't answer, he just gritted his teeth. I groaned inwardly, I didn't need his rush of feelings to know he was going to do something stupid, his typical guy-like behaviour screamed it at me. I unconsciously tensed my legs. Then we ran.

I had sprinted the whole way across the chamber, dreading that at any second, razor sharp bird beaks would be slicing at the nape of my neck.

It was a huge relief when I reached the door and discovered my spinal cord remaining intact. I tugged at the handle, and when it failed to open, Harry joined me, to no effect. "There must be a key somewhere!" He exclaimed.

I looked around wildly, searching every corner of the room. Then I gasped in realisation, "They aren't birds! They're winged keys!"

Harry stared around wildly, eyes wide. "That must mean... Brooms!" He finished, pointing.

Harry was up above me searching for a key to fit the lock, flying on a broom, where as I was floating in the air, pretending to look. Of course, Harry was the one to spot it, he wasn't the youngest Seeker in a century for nothing. "There! The one with the battered wings."

I left him to it, and glided towards the floor, trying desperately to ignore the feeling of guilt that kept nagging at the back of my mind. I mean, he had saved my life and all. I swung round and called, "Accio key!"

The key flew straight into my hand, and there was a crunch as the twigs on Harry's broom tail snapped against the wall. "You could have given me a bit of warning!" He exclaimed, knuckles white from gripping the handle.

"Sorry, I thought I might just speed things up."

"More like get me killed," I heard him mutter.

"Hey, I got the key! Stop complaining."

Even with my back turned, I could feel his eye roll. Ignoring him, I strode to the door and put the key in the lock. It twisted smoothly, and when I let go of the key, it fluttered in a daze, before zooming away in it's extremely battered wings.

An amazing sight met our eyes. Flames flared up along the stone walls of a room, a brilliant flickering blue. But it was the room itself that was amazing. The floor was comprised of massive black and white stone slates, formed together in a checkered pattern. Along these, at each end of the room, were black and white chess men.

"What now?" Harry asked.

"Isn't it obvious? We play our way across the room."

"Will they attack if we try and walk straight to the door?"

I didn't answer. Come to think of it, that sounded like a good idea -I'd always been terrible at chess anyway-. We walked forward nervously, eying the stone figures warily. The solid, black chess men seemed to follow us with their eyes, glaring scornfully, but the White Chessmen were worse still; they had no faces.

As Harry and I stepped into the last row of black and white slates, the chess men sprung, quick as a flash. But I was ready. "Bombarda Maxima!"

I grabbed Harry as a massive explosion rocked the foundations of the room, we were flung back and pieces of white stone rubble pelted us as we hit the opposite wall. Harry took most of the impact, but I was still left breathless and the stone shards were razor sharp, having left great gashes in my robes and skin.

Harry got stiffly to his feet, unmarked as I had sheilded him from the shrapnel. I was throuroghly grateful for his taking of the brunt of the collision, and I could only feel a slight numbing pain from my cuts. I took his hand as he helped me up and together we strode through the mess we had left behind, into the the next challenge of our thingy.

Crap with a capital B i know, but at least I uploaded! Look out for The Riddle Twins - Through the Trapdoor, Part 3.