Mudblood

The House Cup

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When Harry, Hermione and Ron arrived outside the forbidden third-floor corridor that night they didn't even see Lyssa hiding in the shadows behind a suit of armour, waiting for them. They seemed surprised she had come this far.

"If you want to turn back now's your chance," Harry whispered.

"You heard him, Wiley," Ron looked at her, "Time to run home crying," he teased.

"I was talking to all of you," Harry clarified, "I have to do this, you guys don't." He was deadly serious.

"As if," Ron said, "You don't really think we're gonna let you do this alone do you?"

"Yeah, Harry," Hermione joined in, "We're with you all the way."

"I can't steal all the glory if I turn back, now can I?" Lyssa joked. She winked at Ron and with that, they opened the door and stepped into Fluffy's abode.

The dog was sleeping. A harp was floating off to the side playing a chilling melody. When confronted with the semi-truck-sized heads of the dog Lyssa began to wonder if they had given her an accurate assessment of the danger she would be in.

Silently the four of them worked to push one of the dog's paws off of the trapdoor. Once they had done that they opened it and looked down. It was pitch black and very clearly a sheer drop.

"So who wants to go first?" Hermione laughed breathlessly. Lyssa forced a small laugh but was certain that she would wait for someone else to test it. The four exchanged glances, nobody wanted to be first it seemed. They tried dropping a small rock from the corner of the room down the hole but they couldn't hear when it landed.

"It's either very far down or the landing is soft," Lyssa concluded. They were wasting time but still, the children were too afraid to take the first step.

"I have an idea," Ron said.

"Let's hear it," Lyssa urged.

"You don't want to hear it," Ron assured her.

"Why not, any idea is a -" Lyssa was cut off by Ron giving her a forceful nudge into the darkness beneath the trapdoor. She screamed. And she screamed some more. And when she thought the drop would never end she landed with a soft thud.

"Are you alive?" Ron shouted down to her. The trapdoor was no more than a small square of light high above Lyssa now.

"Yes!" She shouted back, "But you won't be if we make it out of this alive!" The Gryffindors were already falling as she yelled the second part. Before they landed however Lyssa took her first good look around her. To her horror, she felt long thick tendrils wrap themselves around her body. They were strong and in a matter of seconds, she couldn't move.

"Lucky it was a soft landing," Ron laughed after they had landed.

"What is this, some sort of plant?" Harry asked, looking around.

Hermione just screamed and dragged herself to the edge of the room where she was safe on a strip of stone.

"Hermione," Lyssa soothed, "I need you to be calm," Hermione nodded as she found Lyssa's eyes in the darkness. "I think this is devil's snare but I need you to light your wand so we can get a better look, okay?" Hermione did as instructed and everyone but Lyssa gasped when they saw the way the plant had wrapped itself around Harry, Ron and Lyssa.

"We need more light!" Hermione croaked in fear. Lyssa was glad she was at least able to think quickly while she was this scared. "I could build a fire," she pondered, "But there's no wood."