For the first time, Daphne began to waver as to whether it was necessary for her to learn such advanced magic.
Before jumping down, she was worried about Harry's safety, but upon seeing that he was unharmed and had accidentally avoided the traps under the trapdoor, Daphne's mindset subtly changed:
Who set up these traps?
Do they have any basic knowledge of setting up defensive mechanisms?
Is the cushioning on the ground to prevent thieves from getting hurt?
Harry didn't think that much. He shouted up to the hole, telling Ron to jump down as well.
With a thud, Ron landed flat on his back next to Harry.
"What is this stuff?" he asked.
"Not sure, seems like some kind of plant, feels like it's here to cushion falls."
Daphne was speechless when she heard Harry's words: Don't you think it's strange to have cushioning plants here?
Suddenly, she felt something grab her ankle and quickly crawl up her shoe, wrapping around her arch.
Daphne suddenly realized what it was. She struggled desperately, finally shaking off her shoe to escape.
Once she reached a safe clearing, Daphne took a moment to observe what had just attacked her, and then she recognized it—it was Devil's Snare covering the ground.
Daphne was quick to react, so she managed to escape. Harry and Ron were not so lucky.
One had fallen early, and the other was lying directly on the Devil's Snare. By the time Daphne noticed the anomaly, both of them were already entangled and unable to break free.
"Help! Help us!"
"What is this stuff—"
Harry and Ron struggled desperately, but the vines only tightened their grip. Despite their best efforts, they could only temporarily hold off the vines from wrapping around their necks.
Without outside help, as their strength gradually waned, the two young wizards would eventually be strangled to death.
"Hold on, Incendio!" Daphne drew her wand and chanted, a thick blue flame sprouting from its tip and sweeping towards the Devil's Snare. Within seconds, the vines retreated from Harry and Ron. They twisted and writhed, moving away from the fire, freeing the two unfortunate boys.
Daphne didn't extinguish the flame but turned it into a fireball that floated overhead, illuminating the area.
"Good thing you paid attention in Herbology class," Harry said, leaning against the wall and wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.
Ron, meanwhile, noticed that in the struggle, Daphne's shoe had been taken by the Devil's Snare, leaving her with only a pair of thin black socks.
"Why don't you wear mine for now?" he suggested after a moment's thought, taking off his shoes and offering them to her.
Daphne repeatedly told herself internally that "Ron meant well," but when she saw the worn and torn blackened shoes he offered, she felt her facial expression slip out of control.
Her face twitched a couple of times, and she levitated about an inch off the ground. After taking a couple of deep breaths, she put on a businesslike smile again.
"There's no need. It won't affect anything. Let's hurry and protect the Philosopher's Stone."
With Daphne's words, Harry and Ron didn't delay any further and proceeded down the only corridor deeper into the area.
At the end of the corridor was a brightly lit room with a high, arched ceiling. Countless small, jewel-like birds flapped their wings, flying all around the room.
At the opposite end of the room was a heavy wooden door.
"Will these birds attack us when we cross the room?" Ron asked, his expression serious.
"I think it's very likely, but we have no choice—" Harry nodded.
"Those aren't birds," Daphne interrupted their conversation. She pointed to the ceiling, making Harry and Ron see that the flying objects were not birds but keys with wings.
"I think you need to fly up and grab the key that can open that door," Daphne said.
"There must be hundreds of keys here!"
Harry looked at the dense swarm of keys and felt a headache coming on.
"Someone's already broken in here before us, so the correct key has probably been grabbed once already," Daphne analyzed the situation seriously.
"Look for any key that shows signs of being grabbed. I'll try another method."
The three split up. Harry and Ron grabbed broomsticks piled in the corner of the room and went to catch the keys, while Daphne approached the door to see if she could open it by other means.
First, she tried the simplest method: pushing it. Since someone had broken in before, perhaps the door was already open.
However, the door didn't budge.
She then tried the Unlocking Charm, but it had no effect.
Looking at the wooden door, Daphne had a bold idea.
She stepped back a few steps and then cast an attacking spell at the door.
The sturdy oak door was chipped a little with a small hole. Although the power didn't meet her expectations, it was still quite good.
Daphne began casting spells continuously: wind blades, ice arrows, fireballs... She used all forms of attack magic she had learned from Rhys on the door.
She thought that the spell stored in her necklace could probably blow the door open in one go, but that spell was her trump card and couldn't be used casually. She decided to blow the door to pieces bit by bit.
Harry and Ron, floating in mid-air, were dumbfounded and almost forgot their mission.
However, Daphne's efforts ultimately ended in failure. When she blew a large hole in the outer layer of the wooden door, she discovered a thick iron door underneath.
Blasting through the iron door would take an unknown amount of time, and more importantly, she couldn't guarantee that there wouldn't be another door behind it.
Fortunately, Harry and Ron brought good news—they had locked onto a key and were intercepting it.
Ron dived down while Harry closely followed the key. With the two closing in, the key swiftly flew towards the ground. Daphne raised her wand and swung it upward—
A small wind blade shot out from her wand tip, precisely hitting the escaping key and slicing off one of its wings.
With half a wing missing, the key plummeted to the ground, where Daphne swiftly grasped it.
She brought the key to the door, inserted it into the lock, and turned it. With a click, the door swung open on its own.
Looking at the one-foot-thick iron door, Daphne was relieved that her spell hadn't damaged the mechanism inside the door. Otherwise, the three of them might not have been able to push it open.
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12 Advance Chapters-Patreon.com/HornyFBI