Sirius's son

Challenges of the trapdoor and victories

Rigel landed next to Hermione on some sort of plant. "Lucky this plant thing was here to break our fall," Ron was saying.

"Now, how do we get out of here?" Hermione was peering around the room, looking for an exit. 

Hermione had managed to free herself before the plant got a firm grip on her. Now she watchedin horror as the two boys fought to pull the plant off them, but the more they strained against it,the tighter and faster the plant wound around them. 

 "Stop moving!" Hermione ordered them. "I know what this is — it's Devil's Snare!" 

 "Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help," snarled Ron, leaning back, tryingto stop the plant from curling around his neck. 

"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!"said Hermione. 

"You better do it fast Hermione!" Eliza gasped turning slightly blue. 

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare... what did Professor Sprout say? — it likes the dark and thedamp." 

 "So light a fire!" Harry choked. 

 "Yes — of course — but there's no wood!" Hermione cried, wringing her hands. 

 "HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowed. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"

"Incendio tria!" Rigel yelled and blue flames shot out from his wand.

In a matter of seconds, Rigel felt it loosening its grip as it cringed away from the light and warmth. Wrigglingand flailing, it unraveled itself from their bodies, and they were able to pull free. 

"Lucky you pay attention in Herbology, Hermione," said Harry as he joined her by the wall,wiping sweat off his face. 

"Luckily we had Rigel." Eliza corrected. "Honestly Hermione 'there's no wood." 

"This way," said Harry, pointing down a stone passageway, which was the only way forward. 

"Does anyone else hear birds, or is that just me?" Hermione was right - the fluttering of birds' wings could be heard coming from the other side of the door.

"One way to find out, yeah?" Ron opened the door and held it open for the other three and closed it behind them after entering.

The next room didn't seem so interesting. There was a broomstick in the middle and about a hundred metallic birds fluttering slowly around the room. The room itself was massive, archways and buttresses holding up the walls and ceiling.

Ron drew his wand and walked across the room to another closed door, keeping an eye on the keys. He rattled the doorknob and found it locked, said, "Alohamora," and rattled the knob again. It wouldn't open. He turned back to the others with a sigh. "Well, it was worth a shot." Rigel and Eliza went over to Ron while Harry slowly walked to the center of the room, to the broomstick.

Rigel pointed up at one of the keys, one that was larger than the rest. "That big one with the broken wing. Someone's already used it."

They each seized a broomstick and kicked off into the air, soaring into the midst of the cloud of keys. They grabbed and snatched, but the bewitched keys darted and dived so quickly it wasalmost impossible to catch one. 

Finally, Harry caught the key and landed quickly running towards the door with the silver key struggling in his hand. He rammed it intothe lock and turned – it worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice

The five Gryffindors cautiously walked on, coming into a room with life-sized chess set in the middle. As soon as they were all in the room, torches all along the walls lit up dramatically. They walked onto the board, eyeing the pieces warily.