Together [HP]

"Or my mother's punishment!" Jacqueline wanted to throw the flute in her hand backward, but there seemed to be something wrapped around her arm in the darkness.

"We must be a long way from school," said Hermione, beside her.

"Honestly, it's good to have this bunch of plants here," said Ron.

"Fortunately?" Jacqueline asked back, looking at the vines wrapped around her ankles, "Look around you!"

Taking a quick look around, Hermione struggled.As for Harry and Ron, they had unknowingly been wrapped around their legs by long vines.

Hermione managed to break free before the vines could grab her firmly.Now she watched in horror as the two boys tried to tear the vines away, but the more they struggled, the faster and tighter the vines tangled.

"We probably have the first and second grades, you two can be arranged however you want. But, can you please think of a way." Ron shouted.

"If I were you!" Jacqueline shouted at them, "I wouldn't move. This is the devil's net."

"Oh, I'm so glad we finally know what it's called, it helps a lot," said Ron angrily, ducking back to keep the vines from wrapping around his neck.

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

"Please think quickly, I can't breathe!" Harry gasped, trying to grab the vine that was trying to wrap itself around his chest.

"He likes the dark and the damp," Jacqueline added as she choked on the pinch.

"Then set it on fire!" Harry nearly choked.

"Yes, of course, but there's no firewood here!" cried Hermione, wringing her hands anxiously.

"Firewood!" roared Jacqueline, "you're a wizard!"

"Oh, that's right!" Hermione said, pulling out her wand, waving it, muttering something, and a blue bellflower-like flame shot out from the tip of the wand.In just a few seconds, the three of them felt the vines receding from the light and warmth, loosening their hold on them.The plants twisted and twitched, unwinding the tendrils that wrapped around them, and Harry, Ron and Jacqueline were finally free.

"Fortunately, we have two good students here." They retreated to the wall, wiped the sweat from their faces, and said.

"Yeah," said Ron, "it's a good thing Jacqueline didn't panic like you at the critical moment, 'but there's no firewood here', look what you said!"

"You know," Jacqueline shrugged, "Muggle wizards and pure-blood wizards," Jacqueline said, looking at Hermione, "there's a difference."

"I'm sorry," Hermione said suddenly, "if I was looking for firewood like a stupid Muggle, instead of like you pure-blood wizards, the first thing that would come to mind would be magic! And, Jacqueline , if you're so smart, why didn't you use fluorescent flashes in the first place?"

"Because we at least know what we are facing now, but we don't know what we are going to face. So, I think we should make a plan or something."

"A plan?" Ron laughed. "Sorry, this isn't a final exam."

Jacqueline rolled her eyes at him. "Great," she shook her head. "Great, another reason why I shouldn't go to the little Gryffindor party."

"Let it be, let it be," said Ron.

"This way," Harry said, pointing to a stone corridor, the only way to go.

They heard, besides their own footsteps, the sound of water dripping slowly along the walls.

"Can you hear anything?" Ron asked quietly.

Harry listened carefully.There seemed to be a soft rustling and clanging sound coming from ahead.

"Could it be a ghost?" Hermione asked.

"Definitely not." Jacqueline shook her head, "It sounds like the sound of wings flapping."

"There's a light ahead," said Ron, "and I see something moving."

When they came to the end of the corridor, they found a brightly lit room with a high vaulted ceiling.Countless little birds, as dazzling as jewels, flapped their wings and flew around the room.There was a heavy wooden door on the opposite side of the room.

"You mean they'll attack us if we walk across the room?" Ron asked.

"You can try." Jacqueline said, taking a step back.

"It's possible," said Harry. "They don't look very vicious, but if they all rushed over at once, I'm afraid...whatever it is, there's nothing else to do. I ran over."

He took a deep breath, shielded his face with his arms, and dashed across the room.He thought there would be sharp mouths and claws tearing him apart at any moment, but nothing happened.He came to the door unscathed and pulled the handle, and it was locked.

Ron and Hermione followed.Together they pulled and pushed, but the wooden door wouldn't budge, and Hermione tried her Arahorhole opening spell again, to no avail.

"What?" Ron asked.

"If you'd like to look up at the birds," Jacqueline said from across the room. "Ron, you're right, this could be a more fun final exam."

"They're not birds at all!" said Harry suddenly. "They're keys! Keys with wings, look carefully. Obviously that means," Harry looked around the room, while Ron and Hermione Then he looked up at the large group of flying keys. "There you are!" Harry hurried to a corner. "Broomsticks! We must go up and grab the key to that door!"

"But there are hundreds of keys on it!" said Ron.

Jacqueline walked over to examine the lock of the door carefully.

"You're looking for a large antique key, probably silver, shaped like a doorknob."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione each grabbed a broom, kicked their feet up into the air, and rushed into the dense cluster of keys.They scratched and fished desperately, but the enchanted keys dodged so quickly that it was impossible to get hold of.

Harry's reputation as the youngest Quidditch Seeker in a century is not for nothing, though.He has great skill in finding flying objects.After a minute of navigating through the swirl of colorful little wings, he noticed a large silver key with its wings drooping, as if it had been grabbed and roughly shoved into the keyhole.

"That's it!" he called to Ron and Hermione. "That big key, over there, no, not here, there, the one with the sky-blue wings, all feathers on one side."

Ron sprinted so fast in the direction Harry was pointing that he hit his head on the ceiling and almost fell off his broomstick.

"We've got to wrap it up!" Harry yelled, keeping his eyes on the key with the broken wing. "Ron, you block it from above, Hermione, you stay below and don't let it go down." Come down, I'll grab it, Jacqueline, get ready to open the door.Alright, let's start now!"

Ron swooped down, Hermione leaped up, the key dodged to avoid them both up and down, and Harry followed closely behind.The key flew swiftly toward the wall, and Harry lunged forward, pressing the key against the stone wall with one hand with an unpleasant creaking sound, and then let go.Jacqueline caught it quickly and ran to the door, the key struggling in her hand.She pushed it into the keyhole, twisted it hard, and it clicked, and the key flew away as soon as the lock flicked open.It was caught twice in a row, looking haggard.

"Are you ready?" Jacqueline asked Harry, Ron and Hermione, holding the doorknob with her hand, "I know I'm not".The three of them nodded.So she pushed the door open.

The second room was pitch black and nothing could be seen.But as soon as they stepped in, the house was suddenly brightly lit, illuminating a shocking scene.

They stood on the edge of a huge chessboard, with black chess pieces in front of them, those chess pieces were taller than them, and seemed to be carved from black stones or something.At the other end of the room, facing them, were some white chess pieces.Harry, Ron, and Hermione were shaking with fright, and the faces of the towering white pawns had no features.

"Magic chessboard." Jacqueline frowned, "This must be Professor McGonagall's, and we already have herbal medicine class, transformation class, and charm class."

"What now?" Harry whispered.

"It's not obvious yet," said Ron, "we have to play chess to get across the room."

They saw a door behind the white pawn.

"How?" Hermione asked nervously.

"In my opinion," said Ron, "we have to act as pawns."

He walked up to a black knight and reached out to touch the knight's horse.Immediately, the stone came to life, the horse pawed the dirt, and the knight turned his helmeted head to look at Ron. "Do we have to go with you?" The black knight nodded.

Ron turned to Harry, Jacqueline and Hermione and said, "Need to think about it" He said, "I'm afraid we have to replace the three black pawns here" Harry, Jacqueline and Hermione didn't speak, watching Ron was thinking there.

Finally Ron said: "Well, don't be angry, blame me for being rude, but to be honest, neither of you is very good at chess, and as for Jacqueline, I don't know..."

"We're not mad," Harry said quickly, "tell us what to do."

"Well, Harry, you take the Bishop's place; Hermione, you stand next to him and take the Castle's place."

"What about you?" Hermione asked.

"I'll be a knight." Ron said, and then they looked at Jacqueline standing behind together, "Jacqueline, you..."

"If possible, I want to be the one who stands by and watches the chess game."