Reaper's Heir (Book 1)

Chapter 13

Ron screamed as we fell before something squishy broke our fall. "Whoa. Lucky this plant-thing is here, really."

Suddenly, vines shot out and encircled us. The boys struggled, but Hermione and I stayed still. "Stop moving, both of you. This is Devil's Snare." I said.

"You have to relax. If you don't, it will only kill you faster." Hermione finished.

Ron struggled even more. "Kill us faster?! Oh, now I can relax!" Hermione and I took deep breaths, relaxing and staying as still as possible, making the vines let us go. We fell through the plant and to the ground below, looking up to see the boys still struggling.

"Maeve! Hermione!!"

"Now what are we gonna do?!"

"Just relax!" Hermione yelled.

"Hermione! Where are you?!"

"Do what she says. Trust us!" I yelled. Harry was sucked through the vines moments later. I grabbed his arm and helped him up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He said, brushing his hands off his pants.

"Help!" Ron yelled.

Hermione looked at me. "He's not relaxing, is he?"

"Apparently not," I grumbled.

"We've got to do something!" Harry said. I looked down, trying to remember what we'd learned about devil's snare in herbology.

Hermione's eyes lit up. "Devil's Snare, Devil's Scare, it's deadly fun...but will sulk in the sun! That's it! Devil's Snare hates sunlight!"

I grabbed my wand and pointed it at the Devil's Snare. "Lumus Solem!" A large beam of light shot out. The snare shrieked and recoiled, allowing Ron to fall down to us.

"Ron, are you okay?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. Lucky we didn't panic!" I rolled my eyes at him and we started down the corridor, coming to a door muffling the sound of what sounded like flapping wings.

"What is that?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head. "I don't know. Sounds like wings."

"Curious. I've never seen birds like these."

"They're not birds, they're keys," I said, noticing a door on the other side of the room. "And I'll bet one of them fits that door." I stopped at a broom suspended in midair. "What's this all about?"

Harry eyed the broom warily. "I don't know. Strange."

Ron walked over to the door and took out his wand. "Alohomora!" He turned back to Hermione, shrugging. "Well, it was worth a try."

"Ugh! What're we going to do? There must be 1000 keys up there!"

I walked over to them and examined the lock. Like the rest of the castle, it looked old and rust worn. "We're looking for a big old-fashioned one. Probably rusty like the handle."

" There! I see it! The one with the broken wing!" We turned to see Harry pointing at a key. He looked back at the broom, doubt all over his face.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked.

Suddenly, it clicked in my head. "It's too simple." Harry nodded.

"Oh, go on, Harry! If Snape can catch it on that old broomstick, you can! You're the youngest seeker in a century!" Ron said encouragingly.

Harry nodded and grabbed the broom, but the keys began swarming him. He took off into the air and flew after the key. After a short chase around the room, Harry grabbed the key. "Catch the key!" He zoomed by and threw the key down. I jumped and caught it.