Chapter 82 Passive deviation from the original plan
"You don't need to tell me that, I can leave right now," Aaronsaid without hesitation, completely disregarding Harry's seemingly final instruction.
He hadn't intended to join the three Gryffindor's plan anyway; the harp had already proven that Lord Voldemortwas beneath the trapdoor, and going down now would be a foolish act of self-destruction.
Harry wanted to prevent Lord Voldemort's resurrection, and no matter the reason, it sounded quite noble.
But the key question was, how to stop him?
With a surge of passion? Or with sheer stubbornness?
Without enough strength, relying on just those two things was no different from offering himself up.
Waiting here for the two Professors to arrive, and then following them to pick up the pieces, was the most correct battle plan.
Hearing this, the three looked at each other, then all stared at Aaron with strange expressions.
"Don't look at me like that, my plan is completely different from yours, so…" Aaron sighed, "I don't advise you to go down, this is a warning.
Of course, if you insist on going down, I won't stop you.
Good luck, farewell."
Just as Aaron was about to leave the dangerous opening, he felt a foul stench assault him and instinctively looked up.
Cerberus Fluffy's eyes opened, staring hostilely at the four Wizards standing before the trapdoor.
A dog's mouth secreted extremely viscous saliva, which dripped onto Ron's shirt.
"Uh oh!"
Aaron swallowed, shrugged with a wry smile, and without another word, jumped into the trapdoor.
"Why did he suddenly go down?" Ron asked, somewhat confused.
"Wait." Harry suddenly felt a little uneasy, "Don't you think it's too quiet?"
"It's the harp." Hermione looked back, "It's not playing anymore."
"Yeah!" Ron noticed the disgusting saliva on his shoulder, looked up and saw six huge eyes staring at them, "The music stopped, which means Cerberus…"
"Roar!"
Fluffy roared, its three heads swaying from side to side, and amidst the splashing saliva, one of its paws lifted, about to strike down.
"Jump down quickly!"
Harry said in a hurry, flipping over and jumping into the trapdoor.
Hermione and Ron followed closely, not daring to delay for a moment.
The next second, a huge and chaotic roar erupted.
Two rows of sharp teeth blocked the trapdoor, and saliva constantly dripped from between the teeth amidst the barking.
"Luckily the trapdoor is relatively small, otherwise we would be in danger." Aaron's wand emitted a pale white light, illuminating the place where they landed.
"And luckily there are these soft plants here, otherwise we would have been smashed to death." Ron looked at the exit blocked by the dog's mouth; they had fallen at least ten meters.
Aaron looked at the irregular ground made of plants beneath his feet, vaguely seeing a few steps through the gaps, and couldn't help but sigh, "There's another level below, this should be Professor Sprout's designed challenge, Devil's Snare."
"What Devil's Snare?"
No sooner had Harry asked than thick black vines wrapped around his legs.
Before he could react, more vines wrapped around his limbs and neck, choking him.
Ron and Hermione were not much better off; although not completely cocooned, they were close.
"What do we do?" Ron cried out anxiously.
"Don't move, relax." Hermione loudly reminded him, "I read in a book that the more you struggle, the tighter these vines constrict."
"Who can relax at a time like this?" Ron said, on the verge of tears, "We're okay, but Harry is about to be choked to death."
"Trust me." Hermione, sensing her body sinking, showed a hint of confidence on her face, "As long as you don't move, you'll be fine."
Harry calmed down, and in a moment, he felt his neck loosen a bit, allowing him to breathe deeply.
His body also slowly sank as he relaxed, and it was only a matter of time before he reached the second level.
Ron, however, couldn't calm down at all; the more vines there were, the more nervous he became, and the more nervous he became, the more vines there were.
In his violent struggles, he fell into a vicious cycle, his mouth and nose sealed by the vines, with only his limbs twitching constantly.
"What a bother!" Aaron slapped his forehead, then waved his wand, "Incendio."
A ball of red flame appeared from the tip of his wand. The Devil's Snare, which preferred cold and damp environments, sensed the rising temperature, quickly released the group, and curled up into the dark corner of the wall.
Thud!
Several dull thuds sounded.
Aaron landed heroically, supporting himself with one hand on the ground.
Among the remaining three, only Hermione wasn't as disheveled; Harry and Ron landed on their bodies, aching all over.
It was only because this level was only two meters from the Devil's Snare above them, otherwise it wouldn't have been just pain.
"Actually, this plant is quite afraid of fire; setting it on fire is a bit more effective than relaxing."
"Why didn't you use that spell earlier?" Ron said with some resentment.
Only he knew how much he had suffered; difficulty breathing wasn't terrifying, but increasingly difficult breathing was.
Just now, he seemed to vaguely see his grandfather waving to him, and just thinking about that scene made cold sweat pour down.
"I didn't know you'd be so nervous!
We all went with the flow, slowly descending, only you were almost suffocated.
Besides, Devil's Snare is school property, and I don't want to inexplicably incur such a debt."
Ron's mouth twitched; he opened it, but didn't know what to say.
"Ahem!" Aaron walked to the staircase entrance, blocking the only passage, then looked at the three, "We are temporarily safe, I suggest you follow my plan and wait a little longer…"
"I must go." Harry knew what he was going to say and interrupted him without thinking.
"You idiot!
We're already a step behind, is it useful for you to chase after him now?"
"You-Know-Who hasn't succeeded yet." Harry brushed his hair aside, pointing to the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, "It hurts, but I'm very sure he hasn't succeeded.
But if we don't stop him, he will resurrect once he gets the Philosopher's Stone."
"I understand how you feel.
But even if he gets the Philosopher's Stone, he'll still need some time to convert it into life force."
"Then I can just wait for him to come and kill me." Harrysaid bitterly.
Aaron hesitated for a moment, then silently moved out of the way of the passage.
He wasn't Harry Potter, and he didn't have a major grudge with Lord Voldemort; he didn't know what it felt like to have a sword hanging over his head.
"Thank you!"
Harry quickly walked up the steps, with Ron following close behind.
"Don't worry about it." Hermione patiently explained, "It's a matter of life and death, so it's only natural for him to be anxious."
"Alas!
He's in a hurry, and my plan needs time.
I'm ninety-nine percent sure I can stop Lord Voldemort, but what he's afraid of is that one in a hundred chance."
"Then… do you want to come along?"
"What do you think?
I've already come down, I can't really stay here forever, can I?
If something happens to all of you, my conscience will inevitably bother me."
Hermione smiled happily, then stepped into the passage.
As the four continued forward, the sound of flapping wings became clearer and clearer.
They reached the end of the corridor and pushed open a door.
It was a very spacious room, with a dozen pillars supporting a ceiling dozens of meters high, and countless keys with transparent wings flying around the room.
"If I'm not mistaken, that door over there should be the exit." Ron said, pointing to the opposite door.
"Nonsense, anyone who isn't blind can see that." Aaron said disdainfully, "The problem is how do we get across? That door can't be opened with Alohomora, it needs a matching key.
But there must be at least a thousand keys here, we can't possibly try them one by one, can we?
Even if we could try them one by one, the process would probably be quite exciting."
"You mean these keys will attack us?" Hermione asked.
"Not sure, but I can't rule out the possibility.
If you get stabbed by hundreds of thousands of keys, even if you're healed, you'll probably be leaky." Aaron said, walking up to the door and examining it carefully for a while, "We need to find the oldest key among the thousands of keys, it should be easy to recognize, but not so easy to catch.
After all… none of us know flying spells."
Just then, Harry spotted a magic broom floating in mid-air, "I guess we'll have to use this."
"Hmm? Isn't this a bit too simple?
The Golden Snitch is much faster than these keys."
No sooner had Aaron finished speaking than Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked at him with eager eyes.
"Hey, hey, hey! You don't mean me, do you?"
"Of course it's you." Ron said, "You're Hogwarts' best Seeker, if you don't go, who will?"
"But I haven't touched a broomstick in a long time."
"No, Aaron, you can do it." Harry encouraged, "You're much better than me."
"This… Alright! Since you put it that way, I'll reluctantly help you this once.
But only this once, don't expect it again." Aaron said, a little smugly, "You go wait by that door, ready to open it at any time."
The three offered no objections and quickly walked to the door, leaving only a silver doorknob.
"Whew!"
Aaron took a deep breath, took out his wand, and pointed the tip at himself, "Protego!"
A pale white light flashed, covering his body with an invisible transparent barrier, and a sense of security instantly washed over him.