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Chapter 136: “Forest fire”
🕑 Added 2024-05-01 16:12:51 +0000 UTC"Don't tell me we have to go door to door facing different deadly challenges?" asked Sirius. He couldn't keep up.
"Maybe. Theoretically, there are four doors left. They might be more dangerous, but hopefully, they'll be easier," said Lupin, massaging his biceps.
Luckily, they had swords and quickly realized that they shouldn't use magic against the frail knights. Otherwise, they would have been more tired or worse injured.
James, seeing everyone's tired state decided to cast an endurance charm on each of them. Everyone including Snape happily accepted it.
"Do you know healing magic too?" asked Sirius, feeling refreshed.
"A little bit," replied James.
'A little bit...?' thought Regulus, who saw firsthand James' healing abilities.
'If we keep going at this rate, we'll need another potion,' commented Snape. Each potion protected you from the cursed ice for an hour and a half. If they took approximately twenty minutes per door they would be for an hour and forty minutes.
"We have two each. We'll be fine," Sirius said.
"That's not true. We made eleven potions. There are six of us here. There's one person who has only one potion," said Snape, looking at James.
"Did you give your potion to them?" asked Gwen with a frown, looking at James.
"Yes... I don't think the key is to go door to door. There must be a door that is the key, right Regulus?" said James, bringing attention to another subject.
"Yes. According to the scroll I read from Allan, there must be one that is the right one, but there's something I don't understand..." replied Regulus with a thoughtful look.
"What is it?" asked Snape.
"If I explain it, it will take too long. We don't have time. James give me the key," said Regulus, who knew James was the strongest of them all. They couldn't be without their best wizard.
James handed the key to Regulus. He had been able to take it back after they defeated the knights.
Regulus began to go to all sides of the hexagon and examine the symbols. After five minutes, he pointed to a symbol, "This must be it. I think," he said a little doubtfully.
They decided to follow Regulus' advice. He was the only one who understood the symbols as he had studied and solved the old scroll before. He pressed the button, and a lock appeared.
When the door opened, they all went inside being on guard with wands at the ready, though they weren't too sure about using them as before as they might make the situation worse.
"A jungle?" asked Sirius in surprise as he surveyed the landscape. The others also had surprised expressions. No one expected to end up in a jungle. A different habitat than the ice vault.
"Hogwarts amazes me more every day," Lupin commented.
"Is there the same object with the symbol to be found in this huge jungle?" asked Snape.
"I suppose. It's the only clue, let's go," replied James as the group started walking. They were all alert. Ready to defend against attack from whatever was in this jungle.
At one point as they walked Regulus stepped on something hard that because of the sprawling grass, he couldn't see what it was.
'What is this?' Regulus thought, stepping on it for the second time. It wasn't a good idea. A hidden root came out of the grass and wrapped around his ankle. Then it pulled him and started dragging him towards some trees.
"AHH!" shouted Regulus as he was dragged into unknown parts of the jungle.
"Regulus!" shouted Sirius as he ran towards his brother. The others followed him.
At the end of their run, they reached a clearer area without so many trees and vegetation obstructing their view. They could see the cause of the attack.
"A devil's snare..." said Snape.
The devil's snare was a magical plant that strangled you to death especially when you touched it. It was composed of a mass of soft, springy tendrils and vines that possessed some sense of touch.
Regulus was already bound by arms and legs. The more he struggled the harder and faster the plant held you down.
"Incend-
Before Sirius could fire an Incendio at the plant, Gwen threw an Expelliarmus at him and managed to pull his wand out at the last moment.
"What are you doing!" asked Sirius angrily, looking at Gwen. The only thing he could think of to save his brother was to use fire. In Herbology they had defeated many plants that way and it was very effective. He would obviously control the fire so as not to burn his brother.
"You idiot. You want to set the whole place on fire?" asked Gwen, and Sirius remembered that they were in a jungle. Their Incendio would have started a forest fire. If they couldn't get out they would die from suffocation or burned to death.
"Then what!" asked Sirius, anxiously.
"The Devil's Snare besides being weak to fire, can't stand light," commented Gwen.
"Leave it to me. Close your eyes," said James, stepping forward. He didn't know the weakness of this plant, so Gwen's information was very helpful.
"Lumos Solem!" exclaimed James.
A blinding flash of sunlight shot from his wand. James used a great deal of power. Effectively, the devil's snare began to pull back and started to move away from Regulus, releasing him and stopping him from choking.
Regulus quickly got up and walked back to the group. James did not close his eyes as his contact lenses had a charm that protected him from blinding flashes of light. He created this charm himself and was proud of it. It could blind you and render you unfit for combat. Very useful. The best part was that he didn't need to wear sunglasses.
"Are you okay?" asked Sirius, approaching his brother.
"Yeah... cof... I just need to catch my breath a bit," Regulus replied with difficulty.
After a few minutes, they began to explore the jungle again. This time with more caution than before. The walk through the jungle was an odyssey.
They encountered many aggressive magical plants and fungi. Two devil's snares grabbed Snape and Sirius. James saved Snape, and Gwen saved Sirius with a Lumos powerful enough to scare the plant away.
Lupin inadvertently bumped into a Mimbulus Mimbletonia. A very rare magical plant with a unique defense mechanism. When touched by Lupin the plant shot a green fluid at him that smelled like stale manure, luckily it had no poison, but he was bathed in a sticky, foul substance.
The group also came across a large patch of vampiric vegetation. This is a group of magical plants characterized by their vampire-like teeth. Their teeth are sharp and very dangerous. As they got rid of the vegetation their robes were left in very bad condition.
"This bloody jungle... How much further?" said Sirius wearily as he sat down on a log. His appearance was a mess. His tunic had a few cuts in it, his hair was in disarray, and he had a lot of dirt on his skin.
The others were in similar condition. The worst was Lupin, who still had a dung smell that James tried to wash away with a charm, but some of the smell lingered.
"How long has it been?" asked James, looking at Regulus.
"Fifteen minutes since we went in," replied Regulus.
"Only fifteen minutes?" muttered Snape as he sat down on the ground. Out of his exhaustion, he didn't notice that he sat on some sort of spiky bush.
"Ouch, bloody bush!" cursed Snape, jumping up. With his wand, he cast a Diffindo at it and sliced the bush into several pieces.
What he didn't expect was that the bush began to burn when it was attacked. The plants next to it began to catch fire at a rapid pace. Before long they were witnessing a fire that was spreading more and more.
The bush where Snape sat was a fire-seed bush. A magical plant that burns when it feels its life is at risk.
"Run!" shouted James. It was useless to try to put out the fire. The vegetation was catching fire at a rapid rate, even its speed was too much. It looked like the jungle was made to start a forest fire.
The group began to run. The fire seemed to be getting more and more powerful and was chasing them.
'Clearly, there is something wrong with this vegetation,' thought James as he ran. By normal means, a fire should not be spreading this fast.
As they ran some members of the group had to dodge hostile plants, so they ended up taking different paths.
"Take my hand!" said James to Gwen. They couldn't be separated.
Gwen quickly reached out her arm and took James' hand.
"How does this fire spread so fast!? Besides, it seems to be chasing us!" said Gwen in agitation as she ran to James' side.
"I don't know. It must have a curse on it or something," said James as he looked for the symbol somewhere.
For every second that passed, the fire was spreading more and more. A black cloud rose across the jungle.
"Look over there!" said Gwen, pointing with her free hand. James followed Gwen's finger and noticed in the distance a tall stone column surrounded by vegetation.
They approached the column which was surrounded by three devil's snares and who knows what other dangerous plants. At the top of the column was a stone symbol.
"That's the one! Let's destroy it with a Bombarda!" said James as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at the column. Gwen did the same.
"Bombarda!" they both shouted without letting go of each other's hands.
The combined blast was enough to destroy the column. The symbol began to fall towards the ground.
As the symbol fell, James threw a powerful Diffindo that hit the stone symbol in the air cutting it in half.
The fire that was about to cover them began to disappear. The air itself seemed to be sucking it up and taking it somewhere. The same was true for the whole jungle and all the plants and vegetation of the place.
Everything disappeared in a very strange phenomenon. They were left in a giant room with white walls and a floor.
In different places in the big white room, some dots were the other members of the group. James saw about 50 feet away from their spot Sirius and Regulus. Lupin was a little farther away, but he seemed to be okay inside all things.
'Is that Snape?' wondered James, looking down at a spot lying on the floor. It wasn't a good sign that he was lying motionless on the ground.
"Are you okay?" asked James to Gwen.
"Yes. Just let me catch my breath a little," replied Gwen, sitting down on the white floor. She had been running a lot while dodging plants and breathing in polluted air.
"Take a rest. I'll go see if Snape is alright," James said and started heading towards where the boy was lying.
