Forgotten

Book 1 Ch 15

"He will be fine." I said, standing up from Neville's side.

He was rigid and couldn't move, but he would be fine come morning. Neville looked up at me, but he wasn't able to speak.

"What've you done to him?" Harry asked.

"It's the full Body-Bind," said Hermione. "Oh, Neville, I'm so sorry."

"We had to, Neville, no time to explain," said Harry.

"You'll understand later, Neville," said Ron.

He stepped over Neville and waited for the others to follow him. I hurried out of the tower and towards the third floor. Fred and George still hadn't discovered that I had taken their map, so it was easy to maneuver through the castle without being seen.

When I reached the door on the third floor, I found that it had been opened slightly. We were already too late. Whoever we were after had already snuck inside. I cursed under my breath and slipped into the room. Fluffy raised all three of his heads the moment I stepped into the room.

"Hey there, boy." I cooed, but the dog didn't care.

A harp sat at the dog's feet. I quickly whipped my wand out and jumped out of the way before the dog could bite down on where I had been standing. I flicked my wand so that the strings of the harp began to pluck themselves. The dog looked sleepily at me before curling back up to fall asleep.

I hurried to the trapdoor and jumped down into it before the song stopped. There was no ladder, so I just dropped down. I seemed to be falling for ages before I hit something soft. The tip of my wand lit up to reveal the room around me.

Tendrils wrapped around my body the moment that I touched the Devil's Snare. My body immediately stopped moving as soon I realized what I had landed on. With tiny movements, I made my way to the wall. I had spotted a passageway nearby as soon as my wand lit up.

I jumped onto the stone path and looked back at the Devil's Snare. Hermione would be smart enough to realize what the plant was. My hands ran along my arms as I remembered the trio. I couldn't help but worry about where they would be while I was done here.

The sound of water kept me walking down the pathway. There was a rustling sound that came from the end of the passageway. My wand let its light die out when I entered a lit chamber. The ceiling reached far above my head to make room for the hundreds of keys that flew around. I looked from the keys to the door opposite of me.

"You've got to be kidding me." I sighed.

I made my way to the door on the other side of the chamber. Frustration flicked through me when Alohomora didn't work on the lock. If I wanted to get in, I would have to find the key. My hair flicked over my shoulder as I turned to look over the keys overhead. They all looked the same the longer I looked around.

"Emily!" Harry said as the trio ran into the room.

"Look for a key that will fit in the door." I told them.

"Out of all of these?" Ron whined.

"It will be big, old-fashioned – maybe."

"Silver, like the handle." Ron said.

"Look, there are broomsticks." Harry said.

The three of them bolted towards the broomsticks. I was slower to get moving. My eyes moved to the ceiling. Goosebumps crawled up my arms as my hand wrapped around the stick.

"That one!" Harry called before I could get on the broom. "That big one -- there -- no, there -- with bright blue wings -- the feathers are all crumpled on one side. We've got to close in on it! Ron, you come at it from above -- Hermione, stay below and stop it from going down and I'll try and catch it. Emily, are you coming?"