Harry looked at his friends. He knew that you can't grow a towering tree inside a greenhouse.
The reason why Hogwarts students were so outstanding a hundred years ago was that the whole Magic World itself was full of dangers—just strolling outside you could bump into several poachers or Dark Wizards.
Seeing how eager they were to stop Quirrell, Harry knew that even if he tried to talk them out of it, it would be no use. Rather than letting them secretly follow, he might as well just agree and keep an eye on them.
On the other hand, Harry also wanted to toughen up his friends, just like Sebastian and the others had once toughened him up.
Only protecting them all the time would just turn them into greenhouse flowers, not mighty trees able to stand on their own.
"This is Blessing Potion." Harry held up the tiny bottle of Blessing Potion. "I don't need to explain what Potions do. At the very least, it can make sure you all stay safe... Come on, each of you take a little, split it up."
As he spoke, Harry used Transformation Spell to conjure four little cups, dividing the Blessing Potion evenly into each and handing them out to the four.
"What about you, Harry?" Ron asked.
"I don't need it." Harry winked at Ron.
When the four of them had downed their Blessing Potion, Harry said again, "This is a live exercise for our Dueling House. I hope everyone will follow orders—"
"Understood, Harry." The four said in unison.
Harry nodded and handed the Invisibility Cloak to the four of them.
"Come with me, put this on."
The Invisibility Cloak was big enough for the four of them to squeeze under as they moved forward.
"Neville! You're stepping on my foot!" Seamus whispered a complaint.
"Oh, sorry." Neville apologized quickly.
They followed the stairs all the way to the fourth floor. Hermione pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, walked to the door, and whispered, "Look, this door's been opened. It's obvious—Quirrell has already gone in!"
From inside came a deep growling. Hermione opened the door and had a soulful stare-off with three pairs of eyes.
"There's a harp over there," Hermione said over her shoulder. "Hagrid said that whenever Fluffy hears music, he'll—"
With that, she pulled out her Magic Wand, pointed it at the harp, and twirled it lightly in her hand.
The harp let out a lovely tune, and Fluffy's six eyes, which were still glaring outside and whimpering, started to droop. In almost a second, he was sound asleep.
"Hurry, get in," Hermione whispered, still keeping her Magic Wand directing the instrument's music.
"This thing... It's not gonna wake up, right?" Neville asked nervously, looking up at Fluffy.
"No."
After Harry said that, he was the first in through the door, with Ron right behind him. As soon as he entered, Ron started looking around the walls but just couldn't find any sign of an exit.
"Over here!" Seamus waved at them. Next to him was a trapdoor—like a cellar's hatch.
"Lumos." Harry pointed his Magic Wand down into the opening, but couldn't see the bottom.
"Revelio!" He waved his Magic Wand again, but still discovered nothing.
"I'll go down first and check it out," Harry told the four, "If it's safe, I'll call you down."
"And if it's not?" Ron asked.
"Then you go get Professor Sprout and the others, fast!" Harry rolled his eyes and leapt down.
As he jumped, he cast a cushioning spell on himself for good measure.
He felt himself floating gently and landed on something soft—his butt slid a bit, probably some kind of vine plant.
"You guys come down!" Harry shouted up through the hole, "It's all right!"
From his point of view, the hole was as tiny as a fingernail spot of light.
"Aaaah—!!"
With four shrieks, his four friends landed beside him.
"You know, while I was in the air, I had the urge to strangle you," Neville muttered in a low voice.
"Seriously, I'm just glad there was a pile of plants here," Ron said.
"Glad?!" Hermione cried, "Something's got hold of me! Oh my god—it's wrapping around my leg!"
With Hermione's reminder, everyone finally realized something was wrong.
Ron struggled hard, but the more he thrashed, the tighter the thing squeezed him.
"H-h-h..." Ron was being squeezed so hard he was almost out of breath.
Harry quietly cast a Magic Spell to help ease Ron's pain.
He knew what kind of plant this was, but wanted to use the chance to toughen his friends up.
"Don't struggle! Ron!" Neville suddenly shouted, "This is Devil's Snare! The more you struggle, the tighter it binds you!"
"Oh, brilliant!" Ron griped, "Now that we know what the bloody thing is—what do we do, Neville? Aren't you into Herbology?"
"Professor Sprout said..." Neville muttered a couple of lines, then suddenly yelled, "Seamus! Burn it! This thing's scared of fire—"
"No! Not Seamus!"
Ron barely had time to shout before a Thunder Explosion blasted beside him.
Devil's Snare quickly retreated, and the group fell onto the floor in turn.
"See, sometimes I think I'm not half bad," Seamus said with a big grin, "These Devil's Snare things really seem afraid of my Thunder Explosion..."
"If you'd used Flaming Bear instead of Thunder Explosion, I'd thank you," Neville said, his face covered in soot.
Just now Seamus had cast his spell in Neville's direction, making Neville the first victim of the blast.
"Good thing Neville's into Herbology," Ron said, half shell-shocked, "Otherwise we'd all be finished."
"All right, let's keep moving," Hermione said, wiping her mouth and fighting back a smile.
They walked down a stone corridor, descending step by step, with only the sound of their footsteps and water dripping echoing around.
"Do you guys hear something?" Neville whispered.
"Sounds like buzzing. Like flies," Hermione lifted her head to look ahead.
"Come on, let's check it out," Ron said, striding forward at the lead.
He was feeling super confident—maybe it was the Blessing Potion giving him courage.
They reached the end of the corridor, finding a brightly lit room with a high, arched ceiling.
Countless gem-like sparkling birds were flitting about everywhere in the room.
Across the room was a heavy wooden door blocking their way.
"Looks like...they're not birds," Seamus said, looking up. "They're keys...but which one's the right key?"
"The biggest one, look—its wing looks injured!" Neville shouted, pointing at a large key with sky-blue wings.
Ron and Hermione searched around the door and found a Flying Broom parked beside it.
"Harry!" Ron said excitedly, pointing at the broom, "You're the Seeker, time to show your stuff!"
Harry let out an "Oh," lifted his Magic Wand, and pointed at the big flapping key.
"Accio!"
The big key fluttered its wings feebly, but couldn't escape the pull of the Magic Spell.
Harry grabbed the key and gave Ron a wink.
"Sometimes... even a Seeker doesn't really need a Flying Broom."