The Shadow of Devil's Snare and a Heartbeat Invitation (Part 2)

"Ah! It's got me!" Ron screamed in terror, already bound to his waist by the vines. They squeezed him painfully, making it hard to breathe.

"Don't struggle!" Hermione's mind flashed with inspiration. She suddenly remembered a line from a book: 'Its aversion to light can be reversed by high-intensity light-heat spells!' "The more you struggle, the tighter it grips! Relax! Harry! Ron! Relax your bodies! Try not to move!"

Hearing her, Harry and Ron forced themselves to suppress their fear and the feeling of suffocation, trying to relax their tense bodies and stop struggling. As expected, the constricting vines seemed to pause, and the tightening slowed.

"Light! Bright light!" Hermione immediately raised her wand, took a deep breath, and focused all her attention. "Lumos Maxima!"

Bzzzz--

An incredibly dazzling ball of white light, like a miniature sun, erupted from the tip of Hermione's wand! The bright light instantly filled the cramped space, illuminating every wriggling, dark green vine with perfect clarity!

"Hiss--!"

It was as if they could hear the vines' pained shrieks! The vines that had entangled Harry and Ron recoiled as if burned by a searing hot iron, contracting and spasming violently! They thrashed wildly, loosening their grip on their prey like a receding tide, desperately retreating towards the corners away from the light, towards deeper, darker shadows!

In just a few seconds, the Devil's Snare, which had almost swallowed them whole, had retreated to the corners under the intense light, trembling and forming a mass of dark green, continuously wriggling shadow, no longer daring to approach the area illuminated by the light orb.

Harry and Ron collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily, their faces a mixture of relief and lingering terror. Hermione also let out a sigh of relief, cold sweat covering her forehead, her arm aching slightly from maintaining the light spell.

Linley stood beside her. He hadn't been caught by the vines (perhaps due to where he landed). He looked at the "little sun" in Hermione's hand, which had dispelled the darkness and danger, a flicker of imperceptible admiration in his eyes.

The bright light not only drove back the Devil's Snare but also illuminated the entire space. It was a room built of stone. Apart from the wriggling mass of Devil's Snare in the corner, there was only a narrow passage ahead, leading to an unknown destination.

"Well done, Hermione!" Harry praised sincerely.

Ron, still catching his breath, nodded. "Th-thank you... you saved us!"

Hermione pursed her lips, a little embarrassed, and maintained the light orb. "Let's go, there's still a path ahead."

The passage wasn't long, leading to a brightly lit stone chamber at the end. The arched ceiling of the chamber was covered with twinkling star patterns, and bright torches lit the walls. However, the most striking sight was in the center of the chamber.

Thousands upon thousands of keys, shimmering with various colors! They buzzed like an disturbed swarm of bees above the vast chamber, flying wildly! Some were as large as brooms, others as small as beetles, in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some gleamed silver, others shone gold, and there were also bronze, iron-grey, and even rusty ones. They flapped wings made of feathers, metal flakes, or even magical light, forming a chaotic and dazzling storm of flowing light!

And at the far end of the room, a heavy oak door stood tightly shut, with a huge, ancient-looking brass padlock hanging from it. Clearly, the correct key had to be found among this multitude to open the door.

"This..." Ron stared dumbfounded at the sky full of "flying insects." "We have to find the key to that lock from this pile? How is that even possible?!"

Harry also frowned, his gaze darting back and forth between the flying keys and the enormous padlock. The keyhole of the padlock had a peculiar shape, seemingly requiring a key with a winged ornament on its handle.

"Find it," Linley said concisely, his eyes like the most precise probes, rapidly scanning the swarm of flying keys. His gaze finally settled on a corner near the ceiling.

There, an ancient-looking silver key was trying to hide behind several massive iron keys. Its handle was inlaid with a pair of small, sapphire-like magical wings! This was exactly the shape of the padlock's keyhole!

"Found it!" Harry also saw it and shouted excitedly, "The silver one with the sapphire wings!"

But the problem arose. The key was extremely cunning and flew the highest and fastest, like a nimble fish in the vast sea of keys. It seemed to sense it was being watched and immediately accelerated, weaving through the key storm, trying to shake off its pursuers.

"We need brooms!" Harry reacted instantly and rushed to the corner of the chamber. Several flying brooms were indeed stored there, old-fashioned, like the school's spare brooms. He grabbed a Nimbus 2000 (an older model than his own Nimbus 2000), straddled it, and said, "I'll go after it!"

"Wait, Harry!" Hermione called out quickly. "There are too many keys! It's too chaotic! It's hard for you alone..."

Harry had already pushed off with his feet, and the broom carried him charging into the key storm! He skillfully dodged the crashing keys, his eyes locked onto the silver stream of light as he pursued it. The key swarm was stirred into even greater chaos, like a disturbed beehive, with countless keys attempting to collide with Harry, emitting crisp ding-ding-dang sounds.

Ron also quickly grabbed a broom. "I'll help him!" He awkwardly took to the air, wobbling as he tried to intercept.

The keys were astonishingly fast and extremely cunning, using their companions as cover. Harry narrowly missed catching it several times, only for it to slip away. Ron's addition only made the situation more chaotic, and he nearly collided with Harry several times.

"This isn't working! We can't catch it like this!" Hermione watched anxiously from below.

Linley's gaze calmly followed the silver key's flight path, his mind calculating rapidly like a precise instrument. He noticed that every time the key was cornered, it would make an extremely brief feint upwards towards the star-patterned ceiling before rapidly descending and changing direction. It seemed to be deliberately guiding its pursuers towards the ceiling.

"Predicting the direction," Linley said softly to Hermione, then he too grabbed a broom, straddling it with fluid motion. "Cover me."

"Ah? Okay!" Although Hermione didn't understand his exact plan, she unhesitatingly raised her wand and aimed at the cunning silver target within the key swarm. "Impedimenta!"

An invisible impediment jinx shot accurately towards the silver key's flight path ahead! Caught off guard, the key slammed into the invisible barrier, its speed suddenly arrested, and its flight path disrupted!

At this very instant! Linley moved! He didn't steer his broom directly at the key, but charged upwards at an extremely tricky angle! His target wasn't the key's current position, but the direction it was most likely to escape after its trajectory was disrupted, based on its habitual movements—its usual upward feint path!

As expected! After escaping the impediment jinx, the silver key instinctively made that upward feint! And Linley, like a falcon waiting there, appeared precisely in front of it!

The timing was perfect! Linley didn't even reach out to grab it, merely hovering steadily. The panicked silver key, carrying its momentum, flew straight into Linley's outstretched palm!

"Got it!" Hermione shouted excitedly from below, her eyes filled with surprise and admiration.

Linley held the key steadily and landed his broom lightly. Harry and Ron also landed, panting, their faces filled with admiration.

"That was amazing, Linley!" Harry said sincerely.

Linley didn't speak. He walked to the heavy oak door and precisely inserted the silver key with the sapphire wings into the huge brass padlock.

Click.

The lock opened.

Behind the door lay the unknown next stage. But at this moment, all four were filled with the exhilaration of having passed two challenges. Linley pushed open the oak door, revealing a dim light from within, illuminating the new challenges ahead. Hermione looked at Linley's calm profile, her heart still beating a little fast, not just from the recent danger, but from the reassuring strength and unspoken understanding. The Moon White Stone in her chest pulsed with a warm, sweet throb.