"Left or right?"
Parvati Patil, the Indian-born young lioness, stood trembling at the fork in the path and asked.
Behind her were her dormmates Hermione Granger and Lavender Brown, along with a second-year witch who looked even more timid than they did.
"Let's listen to Hermione. She's the one with the best ideas," Lavender Brown said.
Hermione nervously swallowed and stared at the three paths ahead—left, middle, and right—torn with indecision.
She looked to the second-year girl for a hint, but the older student, who was hiding half her body behind Lavender, clearly wasn't going to give her a chance to ask.
"The middle," Hermione said decisively. "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. We need to get through quickly."
Whether she was right or not, the other three nodded vigorously, then followed Hermione as she drew her wand. It was hard to say what she thought the wand would do, considering she'd only been at school for five days.
"I heard the older students say that the first- and second-year training grounds aren't scary."
As she walked, Hermione spoke loudly. "The magical creatures here aren't aggressive. The danger comes from living plants..."
She was analyzing the situation when something suddenly darted past on the right, making the branches rustle.
"Ah!"
The girls jumped off the path in fright, but there was nothing dangerous in sight.
"Don't jump at every little thing," Hermione said disapprovingly. "We're Gryffindors."
Parvati and Lavender nodded vigorously, while the second-year girl stared in terror at Hermione's feet.
"Ah!!!"
Hermione looked down and screamed. Vines were crawling up her legs, quickly wrapping around her feet and stopping her from jumping free.
The others had their feet caught in vines too. They cried out in terror, then began calling for help as the vines