Chapter 17. Descent

June 8th.

— Well, how long do we have to wait for them? — Ron was loudly indignant, while the others were standing or sitting near the room with the Fluff, — agreed, after dinner to the living rooms and right here!

— They will come, be patient... I replied, although I was nervously tapping my shoe on the stone floor myself.

Gryffindor was the first to arrive at the meeting place. Soon the crows joined us, and a little later Draco came, the only Slytherin in the team. But there were still no Hufflepuffers.

— The badgers are coming up! Roger shouted to us, who was closest to the ladder platform and noticed the freshmen even before they appeared on the floor.

And indeed, just a minute later, our ranks were filled with students of the last faculty, who were clearly worried about something.

— Why are we late? I asked them frowningly, coming up close to the newcomers.

— We've been waiting for you, actually. We thought you were scared," a disgruntled Ron couldn't resist commenting, crossing his arms at my side.

"You're a coward yourself, Weasley,— snapped perky Jack, "and we were looking for Justin." We lost him after lunch, but he never showed up in the living room.

— We had to go around our part of the dungeons, as well as the basement and ground floors. He's nowhere to be found," Susan, upset, added to the words of her classmate, "maybe something happened to him...

— Exactly at the time when we planned our trip? I don't think he's in trouble. Rather, he decided to avoid it," I exhaled in frustration.

Nothing has started yet, and we have already lost one participant. You can't think of a worse sign, even though superstitions are not accepted here.

Yes, Finch-Fletchley may not have shone with his bravery, but I did not think that after all these months of preparation he would simply hide somewhere at the very last moment.

We should have all gone here together, right after lunch... My mistake. But in recent days, I have been seized with the most real jitters from the upcoming dangers. Even at night I had nightmares.: how the stalks of plants strangle me, how the chess pieces dissect my body, how the troll makes a cake out of me with his baton...

"Damn coward! But we helped him in everything! — Ron exclaimed, — well, I'll arrange it for him! He showed his fist to the others as a sign of his seriousness. It is good that the boy used his right hand for this and inappropriate analogies were avoided.

— If you do, then after we finish what we planned, — I cut off his indignation, — are all the others in place? Then let's not waste time and get started. Let's finally get this over with.

We stood in a large group at the door leading to the three-headed dog. I took the music ball I borrowed from Hagrid out of my robe pocket and shook it hard. A familiar melody began to play.

"The beast slept soundly last time, but there were a lot fewer of us then. No matter how scared you are, don't make loud noises inside if you don't want this dog to eat someone," I warned the other students one last time, although we discussed this at yesterday's after-school meeting. Reinsurance will never be superfluous.

The door opened with a slight creak, which seemed very loud to us because of the echo of the lock, even without using charms. In the middle of an empty stone box, a real monster was snuffling with three heads, which, even in a supine state, was taller than us students.

The boys were the first to enter, as agreed, so as not to crowd into a narrow room - there were too many of us for such a small space. We were unlucky - the Cannon's paw was directly on the hatch, so in this case it was necessary to carefully move it. It was not an easy task, since the beast could wake up at any moment, and we did not know how much music lulls this monster to sleep.

In the most careful way possible, the boys surrounded the paw on both sides, and carefully began to move it away from the hatch. Dean was the scariest of all - he was very close to one of the sleeping dog's heads and periodically looked back with fear when a wave of another fetid exhaled air ruffled his short hairstyle.

Thank the soundtrack, the dog's sleep remained undisturbed, and the paw was successfully moved, revealing to our eyes a square hatch in the floor, on the edge of which the phrase was written in blue shining color:

Help will come at the end.

A hunch immediately lit up in my head that this was a clue that the injured students would receive help only when all the tests were passed. Although, these words could mean something else... Who knows this Dumbledore, and what he had in mind. For example, I was still puzzling over what his postscript meant for Harry in the letter. The damn riddler.

A week ago, I went here with a couple of guys to investigate to see if the ball would affect the Cannon. At that time, the paw was on the hatch in the same way, so it didn't work out to see the inscription and find out what was next there - we decided not to risk it then, and the paw seemed too heavy.

So now we were entering the unknown.

I carefully opened the hatch, behind which the usual stone floor was visible deep below. And there were no diabolical snares visible.

Curved metal rods connected to the masonry of the square passage led down, and they ended after the ceiling of the new room began.

I nodded to Seamus to go first. The boy gathered himself and began to go downstairs. When the bars ran out, he had to hang on his hands to move even lower and inspect the room from above.

"The staircase continues along the ceiling," he whispered to us upstairs, "and then there are stone ledges. I climbed up," with these words, the boy disappeared from our field of vision.

So, in order to get into the initial test hall, it was necessary, like Indiana Jones, to make her way with only her hands up the stairs on the ceiling, thereby hanging at a considerable height from the floor. It's lovely.

Will freshmen be able to withstand such a load on their hands? Nevertheless, this year at the lessons of combat magic, we pumped up our pampered little bodies with civilian life... Seamus was probably doing well, since we still hadn't heard the sound of him landing on the stone floor.

I nodded to the others, and the boys started down the stairs one by one.

—Kyle,— Neville whispered to me, terrified, "I'm afraid I'm going to fall down." You know my hands are weak.

—Shhh," I put my finger to my lips, preventing the boy's incipient panic, "you'll do fine, Neville. Everyone else is counting on you. Don't let them down, and everything will go well.

I shook the balloon again so that the melody would not stop at the most unexpected moment, after which I signaled the girls who were still outside the room with the Fluff to come in.

"I'm going last," I whispered to the freshmen around me, pointing at the ball.

In fact, I was not going to repeat my mistakes and leave the frightened eleven-year-olds alone with a ladder into the unknown and a three-headed snuffling monstrous dog, so that they would not have seditious thoughts of repeating Justin's deed by simply running away. Enough. If they agreed, then let them go to the end with the rest.

By this time, all the boys except me had gone down the hatch, and it was the girls' turn. I still hadn't heard any sounds from downstairs, so I assumed that the guys were okay so far.

— Ah... — as soon as I thought about it, I heard a heart-rending scream from below, followed by a thud of a fall. TC, jinxed it.

We got worried and stood around the open hatch, trying to see at least something. The figure of our classmate was visible on the floor, and thanks to my good eyesight, I recognized it as Neville sprawled on the floor.

Yes, the boy decided to follow the others after my words, but he could not hold on to the bars with his hands. I hope he's alive there - the distance is not that great, you can only fall to your death if you land on your head, as happened in the case of Riona during Halloween.

— Kyle. Ka-a-isle," Lavender said in a frightened whisper, tugging at my sleeve and distracting me from worries about the fate of a classmate, —the dog is worried.

I looked back and saw the dog tossing from side to side, and the narrow walls of the room shackled these attempts by the huge body of the monster. Cannon's eyes were still closed, but that scream had clearly brought the dog out of a deep sleep.

— Hurry up, let's go down! Don't slow down! I shushed the girls. Following the latter didn't seem like such a good idea anymore, but I had nowhere else to go.

The seconds passed very slowly in anticipation. At any moment, the three-headed dog could open his eyes and see his prey, and then the remaining students would either have to jump down or run out of the office, leaving the upcoming tests to the rest of the guys.

When it was finally my turn to climb down, I exhaled, finding myself in the opening - out of reach of any of the big dog faces.

I went downstairs, and then hung like the rest of the students before me, holding only with my hands on the handrails in the walls of the opening, which turned into fasteners on the ceiling.

A full-fledged picture of this room opened up to my eyes. A ceiling staircase led directly to one of the walls, and a large stone slab protruded from it, on which most of the students were located. Further along the wall was another slab, slightly smaller and slightly lower than the previous one. Thus, the slabs formed a kind of descent around the room, descending lower and smaller with each slab.

There were significant gaps between the slabs that needed to be jumped over. There were five boys on the second plate, and Seamus was already on the third plate. Downstairs, the soft moans of the fallen Neville could be heard, who turned out to be alive, but apparently broke something or badly bruised himself.

Rocking my own body, I began to grab the next handrails, eager to join the company of freshmen on the stove. This had to be done as quickly as possible, as the arms were starting to get tired of the load, and you could fall down at any moment, like poor Neville. It would be a great shame to drop out of the test so early, so if I hadn't held on to the handrails, then all my accumulated leadership authority would have gone down with me.

Surprisingly, none of the freshmen fell anymore - apparently, constant exercises with a magic wand "pumped" the children's hands, and passing an obstacle course in combat magic lessons did not allow students to panic when faced with physical exertion of a similar kind.

— Come on, Kyle, there's not much left! — the guys on the slabs cheered me on. I was completely focused on the actions of my own hands - it was important to cling tightly to each new handrail, after which, without stopping, repeat these actions.

— Huh, — I jumped down on the first slab, and flexed my fingers, — is everything okay? Is everyone safe except Neville?

— Yes, everyone did it, — Harry answered me, — Faye also broke down at the very end, but we were able to catch her and drag her to the stove, imagine!

— That's great. Why are you standing here in such a crowd? Let's go down in jumps and one at a time. And don't stay too long on the stoves. Gather your strength - and jump on. On the next plates, we will crowd and interfere with each other in such a horde, so we need to distribute the number of students on one platform.

So, with my commands and advice, I set the others up in a working mood, and we began to alternately jump from stove to stove, going lower and lower. This time I went the very first, because I was not afraid of heights at all and wanted to hurry to get to Neville, feeling the echoes of guilt for his fall. Soon I caught up with the other boys, then caught up with Seamus, after which I began to jump on a new slab ahead of everyone else.

I was a little afraid that one of the platforms might contain a sneak, but half the way had already been covered, so if I fell from such a height, I certainly wouldn't kill myself.

— Neville, how are you? What hurts? — I ran up to the boy when I found myself on the floor of the room. Numerous jumps of the students could be heard from above, but it turned out to be not such a difficult task, so all the guys coped.

— The leg... — the tearful boy answered me, — pain-and-it...

He had no open fractures, which means he will live.

"I'm sorry, Neville, but you're going to have to endure this pain here. We will not drag you further, and based on the inscription on the hatch, they will help you get to the hospital wing only after all the tests are over," I made a disappointing conclusion.

There were no pain-relieving charms in our arsenal, and personally it was not possible for me to lift him back up.

— I... s-s-s... I'll manage," he replied, rolling on his back and holding his leg with his hands.

When all the students came downstairs, we arranged Neville against one of the walls, and we went to the only door here, which was ajar. On its casing, as well as on the hatch above, the words were written:

One is enough to saturate.

— And what does that mean? Seamus voiced the question floating in the air, "what kind of saturation?"

— That's what we're going to find out now. Go ahead," I replied, and then went into the new room, followed by the rest of the guys in the number of twenty-one freshmen.

Could the whole story of the Fluff and jumping on the tiles be considered as a completed test? Something told me that this was just the entrance, and the real difficulties still lie ahead.

***

We walked along the narrow, winding corridor of the school, but it was like that only at first glance. The windows, for example, let in sunlight, but there was no street visible behind them.

These turned out to be peculiar lamps in the form of windows, but why they were created was just another mystery for us.

As we made our way forward, vegetation was increasingly visible to us from under the floor, and because of this, I had suspicions that the first test had something to do with Madame Sprout and her herbology.

— Look! What are those bushes in the distance? Dean pointed with his hand towards the end of the visible corridor, which he then turned right.

— Let's go take a closer look. And be prepared for anything. Those who go last - periodically look back and shout if you find something dangerous or at least unusual.

We had our chopsticks ready. Even though we had no idea what we might encounter here, our six-month training bore fruit - now each of the freshmen present was able to use some attacking charms.

Mere crumbs, if you think about it. But in our reality, it was not possible to have time to learn or learn something more.

The closer we got to some kind of clump of vegetation, the more I didn't like it. At some point, when we were already close enough, eyes looked at us from the grass mixed with foliage - angry and hungry.

The clot began to move, and from its interior appeared the round ugly mouth of some kind of monster plant with numerous long fangs that looked in different directions.

— Ahhh! A monster! Hannah shouted and rushed back, infecting the rest of the students with her own panic.

I pointed my wand at the monster and began to slowly back away, ready to use some kind of spell at any moment, and almost all the boys and girls from Gryffindor followed my example, and, oddly enough, the trio of badger friends - Megan, Jack and Jerry.

A spherical, shriveled monster stretched out on its thick, spiked stem and growled threateningly in our direction with sounds that no animal I know can make.

However, the monster did not move further, remaining in the same place from where it appeared.

— Wait! I shouted after the fleeing students, "he can't move!" What the hell did you do!?

This behavior made me angry. They may have been youngsters, but by their actions, these students put the rest of the team in danger. What if we needed all the combined power of magic to stop this monster?

The students timidly returned to our ranks, which were a couple of dozen meters away from the monster and watched his actions. The monster writhed, bared its toothy mouth, but did not demonstrate that it could pose a threat to students who were at a sufficient distance from it.

— Bones, Abbott, Rivers! Longbottom is unavailable, so the test is in your line. What kind of animal is this? I said to the guys behind me, without taking my eyes off the vegetable monster.

— We haven't even seen any mention of such a thing... — said the frightened Susan, - the textbooks for the first and second courses did not say anything like that, really!

"It's too bad it wasn't said," I spat out of frustration.

"It's kind of like a big Venus flycatcher," Hermione said, —only rounder, bigger and scarier, of course.

"What are we going to do with her?" Harry asked, "win?"

— I don't think so. Whatever it is, it grows right in the passage, which means it needs to be overcome in order to go further," I replied thoughtfully.

— And how to do it? Lavender exclaimed worriedly, "it's huge!"

"One is enough to saturate.".. The monster's mouth was too small to devour us all. Most likely, if it absorbs one of the students, the rest will be able to pass while the classmate digests...

Sacrifice a student? By whom? Well, no, you need to at least try to overcome it in another way!

— How, how... Are we wizards, or who? I glared at the others, "line up so that most have space for witchcraft." Let's try to cast spells at the creature.

The children rearranged themselves and, as a result, the most capable students in terms of spells stood in a checkerboard pattern.

— Ready! Let's go! Depulso! Petrificus Totalus!

— Ventus!

— Depulso!

Dozens of spells flew at the monster from our side. We never learned anything more serious than paralyzing or repulsive spells, so even after such a dense bombardment, the monster was safe and sound, and its thick stem extinguished all our attempts to push it away enough to tear the plant from its place.

— Stop, stop, STOP! I shouted to the focused students, "the spell of paralysis is immediately lost by others, but it seems to work on him. Come on, all together, "Petrificus". One, two, three! Petrificus Totalus!

The monster froze after numerous applications of our charms.

— Did it work out?

— He doesn't seem to be moving.

— And now what? — there was a series of questions from all sides.

— Now... — I was thinking, — I need to check how long the spell of paralysis in such quantity works on him. And each of us will have to run next to the monster on the other side.

— R-r-near? With him? — asked the stuttering Padma, — or maybe, well, him?

— Pull yourself together, crow! Ron raised his voice at her, "we're not playing games here. It is necessary, then it is necessary.

"And don't yell at her," Roger Malone stood up for the ravenclaw, "you'll probably be afraid to run yourself."

— Me!? Will I get scared!? — Weasley was indignant at such slander, — yes, you'll be scared!

— Okay, that's enough. So you will prove that none of you are a coward," I summed up their argument, "Ron, Roger, you are the first. Make sure that you do not move away from him, if you manage to run away in case of danger, then do it. If you feel that you can skip, then try to run forward.

— And if they find themselves right next to the plant at the moment of danger? Harry asked.

— Then the safest thing is to grab onto the stem of the monster - there it should not reach you with its mouth. Yes, you will most likely be pricked by thorns, which may be poisonous, but at least he will not devour you this way, and in the meantime we will resume the paralyzing attack and save you. Is everything clear to everyone? Then get ready and go ahead, guys. Run as fast as you can.

Ron and Roger, looking at each other disapprovingly, rushed straight at the frozen monster. The Gryffindor was running on the left, and the Ravenclaw was running on the right.

— Come on, come on.. — I whispered impatiently, — And... yes!

The students successfully ran from both sides of the monster, ending up on the other side of the L-shaped corridor.

— What do you have there? I shouted, "is everything all right?"

—Yes, there's a new door here, apparently this is the end of the test," Ron answered from the other side in a delighted voice, "there's nothing else dangerous in sight. We'll be ready to throw stun guns from here if it wakes up!

— Then, just in case, we will repeat the paralysis before each race! I replied to the guys.

We threw paralyzing spells at the plant again, after which I said:

— We run in twos, along the same routes as the guys. Hannah, Susan. Forward.

The girls looked at each other, then timidly came forward, nodded to each other and ran as fast as they could.

This was how our first trial progressed. Two students ran by - paralyzing spells. And a new one. Time after time. No excesses. The mood of the guys was upbeat. Everyone was preparing for their turn, and at the other end of the corridor the children were already rejoicing in their successful passage.

— Seamus, it's your turn. I looked around at the other students, of whom there were already less than a dozen, "but let me go, it's time to monitor everything from the other side so that they don't relax ahead of time.

—No problem,— Seamus replied and shrugged, after which we stood in our original places.

There was something exciting about it-just running to a plant monster like that. We kept the same speed and when our two were already running next to the frozen stem, I noticed a movement. The paralyzing spell has fallen off!

I thought I could make it to the end, but the monster didn't turn in my direction at all... Out of the corner of my eye, through the green foliage, I saw Seamus Finnigan's surprised face disappearing into the monster's mouth.

The monster lifted my classmate into the air, stretched its mouth up and began to swallow Seamus whole, chewing him with pleasure. The boy's legs were sticking out between the monster's teeth, and this picture reminded me of Kevin's death on the lake...

— Nah! — I stopped right by the plant. My condition has completely deprived me of fear. All I wanted at the moment was to somehow help my friend avoid such a terrible death-Stop! Stop it! No need! I shouted in a broken voice, looking at what was happening very close with disbelief.

It seemed to me that the plant paid attention to my screams and even stopped the process of absorbing Seamus for a moment, but then paralyzing spells from other shocked students flew at the monster from two directions.

Either the monster was pretending all this time, or he managed to develop immunity to these charms, but now the spells did not cause him any visible inconvenience - he still moved his vegetable body, but at the same time glared at the attacking children.

It was pointless. We only made him angry with our charms.

— DON'T SHOOT! I shouted at the top of my voice. The flow of spells stopped.

If it didn't work, then you had to try something else. Think, think... That reaction of the plant... What if it understands me?

The intelligence of plants in the magical world was a common occurrence-look how many times Madame Sprout had talked about it. Maybe it was possible to negotiate with him?

—P-please," I walked a little closer to the monster and held out a trembling hand, "o—let go of my friend." We didn't want to offend you, but we had to go further, and you looked very calm," I began to speak, trying to control my jumping emotions and add an ostentatious friendliness to my voice.

The monster looked at me again, then shook his head resentfully. Like a child who didn't want to part with the yummy food he found. That's how I perceived the reaction of the vegetable monster.

— But this is my friend! Please let him go," I continued to bend my line, "can we exchange? Will you let him go, and we'll give you something else? What do you want?

The big mouth leaned closer to me and began to examine me with curious eyes. I stood there and was afraid to even move, but I didn't think about retreating.

Having made some conclusions, the monster rested his forehead on the floor with a guttural soft sound, after which he looked at me again.

I began to think - what does this plant want from me? I started to look at the place that the monster showed me, but there was nothing there except dry plants... Dry plants!

— Do you want to be watered? Do you need water? — I voiced my guess.

In response to this, the plant nodded its monstrous head, which still had my friend in it. At least it stopped chewing it.

I pulled out my wand and pointed it at the arid roots and stems:

— Aguamenti! — water poured out of the tip of my wand, — Everyone else! I shouted to the other students who were dumbfounded watching my actions from both sides, "conjure water for him!" And it will let Seamus go! — I prayed that it would be like that.

The floor began to be systematically flooded with water, and the monster was quite rumbling at this matter. I was soaked to the skin, and the water created was actively absorbed by the plant so that there were not even puddles left.

"You see," I said to the monster when it was completely saturated with moisture, "I did what you wanted me to do. Can you please let him go? If we find something for you to eat, we'll definitely bring it, okay? I looked at the plant hopefully, still doubting that it would fulfill its part of the bargain, which seemed to exist only in my head.

However, the monster leaned towards me, opened its mouth, and Seamus fell out of it - all wounded by cuts from teeth and burns from the gastric juice of the plant.

I felt his pulse. He's alive.

— Thank you, monster, — I bowed to the plant, just in case, and then carefully dragged the wounded friend to the others, to the end of the test.

The monster hid back in the foliage, and it seems to have fallen asleep to the sounds of drinking.

— Come on, he must not touch you, — I shouted to the others who had not yet passed through the plant, — just do not step on its parts, and do not provoke...

Other freshmen ran up to me and helped me carry Seamus to the end of the corridor.

— Savanoema. Savanoema, "I cast a spell to stop bleeding on tooth wounds, but they were the least of the problems. Seamus' entire face, as well as the neck and part of his torso, were hit by one large chemical burn. A few more minutes and the skin would have completely dissolved.

— How is he? Dean asked me glumly.

— He will live, but he needs medical help from a healer...

— Really, we are... Should we leave him here? In this hallway? Alone? Dean clenched his fists, "and if he dies!?

— What do you suggest, Dean!? — I snapped at the boy, — are you going to carry him? Or do you see a stretcher somewhere!? This was only the first test - and how many of them are waiting for us next!?

— That's it, Kyle, calm down, — Harry sat down next to me, — you saved him. And he will endure to the end of the test.

It's true. I was freaking out about this monster and everything that happened. I'm acting like a little boy, and it's all because of this responsibility, damn it. And Seamus, yes... During this academic year, I managed to get attached to a cheerful and sociable boy, to get attached... And watch him get devoured... It was difficult, in general. I didn't expect myself to be able to save him, but now I find myself caught in a breakaway.

— You're right. — I got up, and looked at the guys around me more calmly and confidently, — he should be safe here, and it makes no sense to leave someone with him. What will you do if he gets worse? Nothing. But we will lose not one student, but two. All we can do now is to complete the remaining tests as soon as possible, and then Seamus, like Neville, will be helped. Is everyone ready?

The answer was frowning nods from the freshmen.

— And so that I no longer see anyone who abandons his comrades and makes his feet out of danger. We either stick together or we die. Have you figured it out!?

- yes... Hannah squeaked tearfully, "forgive us, Kyle. It won't happen again.

— I hope so... Well, open the damn door already. By the way, what does it say on it? — I took a closer look and read the text from above:

Nightmares need a toy.