Simple Mechanisms

Albert could feel himself falling, the cold, damp air whistling past his ears.

Above him came the screams of Fred, George, and Lee Jordan, the sounds falling through the tunnel making him feel a little amused.

Sure enough, I was still too young.

Although there would be Devil's Snare below as a cushion, Albert had no intention of plunging headfirst into Devil's Snare, so he cast a Shock Absorption Charm, which also caused the people jumping down from above to come to an abrupt stop in mid-air.

The Shock Absorption Charm felt strange; Albert felt as if he were a feather slowly drifting down from mid-air, only the speed of his descent was very slow.

"You scared me to death?" Fred patted his chest and said, "That must have been several stories high. If it weren't for the Shock Absorption Charm, I might have broken my neck if I had fallen."

"No, under normal circumstances, we would have landed on those things," Albert said with a smile, pointing to the vines overhead.

"What's with those vines?" Lee Jordan frowned slightly as he looked at the wriggling vines, a bad feeling creeping over him.

Because the orb of light that Albert created had completely disappeared, the vines had gathered together again.

"Guess?" Albert said casually.

Stop keeping me in suspense.

"This must be a trap. Which professor do you think set it up?"

"This thing can actually move?" George wanted to back away, preparing to get further away from these eerie vines.

However, George found that his legs were already entangled in vines. He stumbled and fell into the pile of vines, and the vines immediately stretched out snake-like tendrils to wrap around George's body.

"Isn't it amazing?" Albert winked at George, seemingly unconcerned that his legs were entangled in long vines.

"What the hell is this?" George tried desperately to tear off the vines, but the more he struggled, the faster and tighter the vines wrapped around him became.

"Stop moving! I remember what this is! It's the Devil's Snare!" Fred screamed.

Upon hearing this, Lee Jordan, who had been in a panic, dared not move again.

"Oh, dear Albert, we're breaking up with you, and you're just standing there watching us make a fool of ourselves," George complained angrily.

The vines were almost wrapped around his neck, making it hard for him to breathe.

"The more you struggle, the tighter the Devil's Snare will tighten," Albert kindly reminded him. "Actually, it's just a very simple mechanism, like it's greeting us and asking if we've studied Herbology class properly."

"Damn it, your joke isn't funny at all! Hurry up, I can't breathe!" George gasped for breath, desperately trying to tear off the vine wrapped around his neck.

"The Devil's Snare loves darkness and dampness, and it fears fire and light," Fred muttered, using his wand to conjure flames to drive away the Devil's Snare.

Within seconds, everyone could feel the vines wrapped around them retreating, trying to avoid the light and warmth.

Lee Jordan set the vines on fire in an attempt to rescue George. The Devil's Snare, encountering the flames, began to twist and twitch violently, automatically releasing the tendrils wrapped around George.

"Isn't it interesting?"

The disheveled George was finally lifted off the ground by Albert. He had originally intended to pull Albert down with him as well, but he failed.

"Thank you so much," George said irritably, but he also admired Albert's composure; Albert hadn't been nervous at all from the beginning.

If Fred and Lee Jordan hadn't been infected by his composure, they might have actually been trapped and killed by the Devil's Snare.

"When did you discover they were Devil's Snare?" Lee Jordan couldn't help but ask.

"From the beginning, I felt that telling you might spoil the fun of your adventure," Albert said, making people want to punch him. "Actually, this is a test of a person's knowledge and composure."

"It is perfectly normal for ordinary people to be nervous and struggle when they are caught in the Devil's Snare without their knowledge."

"Thanks to your explanation," George complained irritably.

"What good stuff do you think Dumbledore might have hidden here?" Fred asked Albert. "You can probably guess!"

"What do you think it will be? It's not a difficult mechanism, is it?" Albert said with a smile. "Let's go see what other interesting things are ahead."

"You definitely know."

"It's supposedly something that Gringotts almost stole," Albert asked with a smile. "You guys are also eyeing it?"

The three shook their heads in unison; they would not steal what the principal had hidden.

They walked forward, down the slope of the corridor, surrounded by the sound of their own footsteps and the slow dripping of water droplets down the walls.

"Did you hear anything?" Lee Jordan stopped and listened intently.

The others listened quietly to the sounds around them and could indeed faintly hear a soft rustling sound coming from ahead.

"Let's go, we'll find out what's going on once we get there."

Albert pointed ahead, where lights were on.

They discovered that at the end of the corridor was a brightly lit room, and the sound was coming from above them. Countless small birds fluttered their wings Accio around the room from the high, vaulted ceiling.

"This is... the second mechanism?"

"Do you think these birds will attack us if we go straight in?" George, having learned his lesson last time, became very cautious, afraid of falling into a trap again.

"There's a door across the way; we'll probably need to go through this room," Fred said, pointing to the heavy-looking wooden door across the way.

"Possibly," Lee Jordan suggested. "If they all rush at once, we'll all cast an Exploding Charm and blow them all away."

"That's a good idea, anyway, I don't want to just run over there." George also didn't want to face those birds with sharp beaks and claws that could tear him apart at any moment.

"Albert, what do you think?"

The three of them looked at Albert, waiting for his decision on whether to blow all the birds off the sky.

"This level might be more interesting than we think, and those things overhead aren't birds," Albert said, pointing to the Flying Broom in the room. "Let's go, we shouldn't be attacked, at least not for now."

"Are you sure?" Lee Jordan raised an eyebrow.

"Sure."

"Okay, I'll go first." Lee Jordan took a deep breath, covered his face with his arm, and rushed to the other end of the room.

As expected, everything was fine.

"These things all look like keys." George also discovered the secret of the birds; they were all flying keys.

"The door is locked."

Fred went over and pulled the handle with Lee Jordan, only to find that the wooden door remained unmoved.

"Use the Alohomora," George suggested, and he did so, but it was to no avail.

"Could there be Anti-Alohomora Charm on the door?"

All three looked at Albert, for he was the only one who knew how to break the Anti-Alohomora Charm.

As a result, of course, it had no effect.

"Or, we could use Open Sesame to tear this door down." Lee Jordan hadn't forgotten his great feat on his first day at Hogwarts.

"It's best not to. I don't want to get my head full of bumps from those flying keys up there," Albert stopped Lee Jordan's crazy idea.

"Don't tell me we need to find a key in this pile of keys." All four of them looked up at the keys Accio overhead.

"Congratulations, you're right. I guess we need to find the right key to open the door," Albert said calmly. "They obviously can't just be decorative items."

"But there are hundreds of keys on there!"

"You should be grateful that we have three excellent Quidditch players here," Fred couldn't help but remark.

George had already taken the broom and was preparing to distribute the Flying Broom to the three best flyers, since there were only three Flying Broom, and Lee Jordan, whose flying ability was relatively poor, wouldn't get one.

Albert didn't go to catch the Flying Broom; he was carefully examining the lock on the door.

In the novel, Harry finds the key, seemingly because Quirrell has already used it to open the door, causing some damage to the keybird. But how are they supposed to find the key? "We need to find a big key," Lee Jordan said, looking at the doorknob with feigned seriousness.

"It's covered in big keys," Fred couldn't help but complain.

"Does anyone know what shape the key to this lock is?" Albert suddenly asked.

"Maybe... it's shaped like a door." George raised his hand and sketched the approximate shape of a key in the air.

"That's not easy," Lee Jordan muttered. "There must be quite a few keys like this."

"Try to find a rusty Portkey," Albert said, pointing to the rusty lock. "I reckon the key is pretty old too."

"Aren't you coming with us? You're much better at this than we are." Each of them grabbed a broom, pushed off with their feet, and as they rose into the air, they looked back at Albert and asked, puzzled.

"No, I want to try another method." Albert shook his head and refused. He was already prepared to try using lock picking tools to see if he could pick the doorknob lock in Muggle way.

If all else fails, it's not too late to go up and grab the key.

The group rushed into the dense array of keys, searching everywhere for the key birds Albert had mentioned, and capturing them whenever they found a suitable key.

However, the enchanted keys were too fast to be caught.

"Think of something quick!" Fred shouted.

"We...we'll create a big net to trap all the keys!" George finally came up with a good idea.

The three landed on the ground and began using Transfiguration to create Triangular Net for capture. The thought of trapping the key inside soon put them in a good mood.

Before they could even put their plan into action, they heard a click, and the door lock was opened.

The three of them turned around stiffly and saw Albert holding the doorknob, smiling as he said to them, "The door seems to be open, let's go in."

As he spoke, he pushed the door open.

"How... how did you do that?" Lee Jordan stammered.

Why were the three of them racking their brains trying to grab the key? At this moment, even Fred and George were filled with self-doubt.

"I can't be sure if this method will work," Albert explained. "However, it seems that wizards don't take Muggle methods seriously, which is why they've left this loophole."