Echo | Harry Potter - George Weasley

Chapter 12: Trials and Tribulations

Shaye's screaming filled her own ears as she fell down into the darkness, unsure of where she was going to end up and what would be waiting for her there.

One second, Shaye was falling and the feeling of being weightless had caused her stomach to flip and the next second, she was landing on something hard and all the screaming had stopped, both from her and the other three. Looking down, Shaye noticed that all four of them had landed atop what looked like a mass of thick, black vines.

"Lucky this plant thing's here, really," Ron commented. 

Then, without warning, the vines sprung to life and began to wrap themselves around the limbs and bodies of the four students it had managed to entrap. Shaye felt the snake-like plant wrap itself around her body, squeezing tighter and tighter like a boa constrictor killing its prey.

"Stop moving," Hermione instructed calmly as if the possibility of being squeezed to death didn't bother her in the slightest. "This is Devil's Snare. You have to relax. If you don't, it will only kill you faster."

"Kill us faster?" Ron blurted out. "Oh, now I can relax!"

Hermione just glared at Ron. To prove her point, she relaxed her entire body and seconds later she was slipping down into the vines until she had disappeared completely. "Hermione!" Shaye, Harry, and Ron shouted at the same time.

"Just relax!" Hermione's voice echoed from below. 

"Hermione, where are you?" Harry called out.

"Do what I say! Trust me!"

Knowing that Hermione had never steered her wrong before, Shaye fought against all of her instincts and tried to relax her body the best she could. She thought about a warm, sunny day and reading by the fire and before she knew it, she was slipping down through the vines as well.

Then, all at once, the vines released Shaye and she dropped down below where Hermione was waiting for her in a dark, dingy, vine-infested hallway. Thrilled that she seemed to be fine, Shaye checked her body over for injuries quickly before peering up at the mass that Harry and Ron were still trapped in.

"Trust her!" Shaye encouraged the boys. "Just relax!"

The next to heed Hermione's advice and fall through the vines was Harry, which left a very panicky Ron all by himself. Ron was screaming for help and thrashing about, which only made the vines' grip on him stronger and tighter.

It quickly became apparent that there was no way Ron was going to be able to calm down, so the three who had escaped had to quickly come up with a solution. 

"I remember reading something in Herbology." Hermione wracked her brain for the answer. "Devil's Snare ... Devil's Snare ..."

Shaye's face lit up as the answer came to her. "Oh, I remember this! You kept quizzing me on it before exams," she told Hermione. "Devil's Snare is deadly fun but will sulk in the sun! Devil's Snare hates sunlight."

"Yes!" Hermione smiled and pulled out her wand. "Lumus Solem."

A bright burst of light erupted from Hermione's wand and the Devil's Snare immediately recoiled, releasing Ron in the process and dropping him like it had with the others. Ron hit the ground hard but just like everyone else, he was fine except for a few minor bumps and bruises.

A relived smiled spread across Ron's face as he stood up and dusted himself off. "Lucky we didn't panic." 

"Lucky Hermione and Shaye pay attention in Herbology," Harry corrected. 

It was then, when the four had escaped imminent danger, that they heard a noise in the distance that sounded vaguely like flapping bird wings. Following the noise, the group of four ventured down the hall until they came to a large, wooden door.