Harry Potter and the Second Chance

Chapter Twelve - The Sorcerer's Stone

As we tiptoed toward to portrait hole, we heard a loud croaking noise.

"Trevor." Harry whispered.

"Trevor, sh, go! You shouldn't be here." Ron said, waving the toad away.

Suddenly, Neville stood up from a chair near the fire.

"Oh, Neville, we were just..." Harry started.

"No, I won't let you!" Neville sounded frightened. "You'll get Gryffindor into trouble again. I... I'll fight you!" The boy raised his wand pathetically.

"Neville, I'm really, really sorry about this." Hermione sighed. "Petrificus totalus!"

Neville fell to the ground like a board of wood.

"You're a little scary sometimes, you know. Brilliant, but scary." Ron said admirably. I laughed as we continued walking.

Before we went out the portrait hole, we covered ourselves in Harry's cloak and shuffled through the passageway.

---

"Ow!" Hermione whispered.

"Sorry." Ron apologized. It was hard fitting four people under the cloak and trying to move together.

Me got to the third floor corridor and I pulled out my wand.

"Alohomora!" I whispered, and the door's lock clicked. We all shuffled inside, closed the door behind us, then pulled the cloak off.

"Wait a minute. That harp's enchanted!" Harry exclaimed, pointing to a harp that was playing a soft tune.

"Snape's already been here." I concluded.

"Come on, let's go down before Fluffy wakes up." Ron said. We carefully shoved aside the sleeping dog's paw, then opened up the trap door.

"I'll go down first and yell when I know it's safe. If anything bad happens, get yourselves out!" Harry instructed.

"Does it seem quiet to you?" Ron asked.

"The harp stopped playing." Hermione squeaked.

Harry dropped down the hole as a giant drop of slobber landed on Ron. The dog was awake.

"Why's it always me?" Ron said, trying to wipe the drool off of his jumper.

"Hurry!" Harry shouted, and we each jumped through the trap door. I gave Ron a nervous look before jumped down after Hermione.

Just as Ron jumped through the hole, the beast let out a ferocious growl and stuck its head through the trap door. Ron let out a sigh of relief.

We landed on something surprisingly soft.

"I thought that landing would be a tad rougher." Ron said, going to stand up. At that moment, I realized that tendrils, vine like and rough, were wrapping around our bodies. Instinctively, we started wriggling, trying to escape.

"Wait, everyone stop moving!" Hermione exclaimed. "We have to relax, or it'll only kill you faster!"

"Devil's Snare." I added.

Hermione was the first to be taken down by the plant. Her voice sounded from underneath the floor.

"Ron, Harry, stop moving!" Hermione commanded as I dropped down into the room beneath. Harry followed soon after me, but Ron was still yelling, trying to struggle his way out of the devil's Snare.

"Are you alright?" I asked Harry as he stood up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He answered me.

"He's not relaxing, is he?" Hermione asked.