Block me out by Gracie Abrams

Cause when I open my mouth, I seem to be stuck in silence.

- - - - - - - -

After knowing I helped my team win two out of three of our gamed with flying points I can sleep happy. Thanks to my brilliant catch of the snitch a couple weeks back on that game against Ravenclaw and the even better win against Hufflepuff I know we've won the house cup. 

A night i'm nestled in my bed, hushed up tight in my blankets when i'm woken up abruptly by a pain in wrist yet again.

I push myself out of bed and get dressed. I don't exactly know why my body is taking these actions when they don't even register with my brain first. Before I know it i'm standing before a door in the cold corridors of Hogwarts. 

"Alohomora." I whisper to the wooden door. 

I step inside and close the door behind me. 

I physically flinch at the sight before me. Ron, Harry and Hermione all shoving the paw of a sleeping three headed dog whilst a harp serenades them.

"What the fu-" I immediately vocalise before they all turn around abruptly and give me a collective 'Shhhhh!'. 

I approach them with fear and confusion. "What are you doing here?" Harry asks me in a hiss. "I don't actually know.. but i could ask you the same question." I fire back.

They pull open a trapdoor and begin talking but all I can focus on is the sleeping dog with three heads.

"I'll go first. Don't follow until I give you a sign. If something bad happens, get yourselves out." Harry instructs his friends, i'm still in complete disbelief.

I notice one of the dog's eyes pries open and I immediately become alert.

"Shut up!" I exclaim, hitting his arm to stop him blabbering on. All heads turn to me, including the three of the dogs heads now hovering above us.

"The harp! Its stopped playing." Hermione notices. 

Ron lets out a loud yelp of disgust when a large blob of spin drips onto him courtesy of one the heads. At this, all of us look up and Harry screams out "Jump!".

He jumps in the trapdoor first followed by Hermione, Ron takes a moment to slide in but as he's about to jump in he notices me gobsmacked.

"Bloody hell, your instincts are awful." He remarks and grabs me by the ankle, pulling me in with him. My hair just misses the dog's mouth as we start falling. Ron's had to save me from my slow reaction time three times this year, first when we diced out the way of Neville on his broom, then when the troll tried to hit us with its bat, and finally now when a three headed dog tried to kill me.

We all land and black shiny vines that remind me of liquorice. "Woah. Lucky this plant thing's here, really." Ron comments.

The plants vines start wrapping around put arms and legs, tight on our bodies until we can barely breath. "I wouldn't be too sure about that." I tell Ron.

I look towards Hermione. "Devil's Snare." I tell her. Her eyes widen with realisation at my reminder.

"Stop moving. You have to relax. If you don't, it will only kill you faster." Hermione instructs.

"Kill us faster?! Oh, now I can relax!" Ron yells fearfully.

Hermione and I send him a glare before letting the vines absorb us and drop down to the ground below.

"Hermione!" Both the boys call out. "Woah, thanks boys." I fire up at them sarcastically.

"Now what are we gonna do?" Ron squirms. "Just relax!" I yell firmly.

"Hermione where are you?" Harry asks. "Do what we say! Trust me!" She replies.

Harry tries his best to relax and thankfully manages to slip through and join us below. "Harry! Harry!" Ron screams.

Hermione checks Harry is okay and the second he determines he is we start trying to get Ron to relax. "He's not relaxing, is he?" I sigh.

"Apparently not." Harry replies. "We gotta do something." Hermione says frantically. "What?" Harry replies.

"I remember reading something in herbology.. Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare. It's deadly fun.." she trails off forgetting the rest.

"But will sulk it the sun!" I finish. "Thats it! It hates sunlight!" She remembers.

Hermione immediately casts a light spell upwards and Ron drops through to our level.

"Lucky we didn't panic." He says proudly, pushing himself to his feet.

"Lucky Bronwyn pays attention in Herbology." Harry fires back.

At the exact same time we all hear the same fluttering noise and whip our heads towards it. "What is that?" Hermione asks. "I don't know. Sounds like wings." Harry comments. 

We open a door and head through. Around a million little keys fly around on wings serenely. "Curious. I've never seen birds like these before." Hermione wonders aloud.

"They're not birds. They're keys. And i'll bet one of them fits in that door." Harry vocalises my thoughts. 

We all approach a single floating broom and circle around it with confusion. "What's this all about?" Hermione queries. "I don't know." Harry replies.

His hand reaches out to caress the broom, "Strange." He whispers. Ron attempts to open the door but results in a groan from Hermione, "What are we going to do. There must be a thousand keys." She estimates.

"We're looking for a big old fashioned one. Probably rusty like the handle." Ron describes.

Immediately my eyes catch onto a rusty key with a snapped wing. "There! I see it! Its the one with the broken wing?" I share enthusiastically.

Harry and I both turn our gaze towards the broomstick before us.

"You take this one." He nods kindly to me. "I'm still not that good on a broom. You can go ahead." I reply dismissively.

"Come on Bronwyn we are the youngest quidditch players in centuries. Slytherin hasn't seen a seeker as good as you in years. If you can't do it we both know I can't." He encourages positively.

I nod for myself more than anyone else and take the broom.

The second my hand touches the stick, all the keys start attacking me, i try to swat them away but there are too many. 

"This complicates things a bit." Ron grimaces.

I start flying, one hand to steer and the other to swat off the keys. All I can focus on is the key as I zoom towards it at a top speed, every single key chasing after me.

"Catch the key!" I order the three people on the floor. Hermione jumps and catches it, using it to unlock the door as I keep stalling by flying around extremely fast.

The three finally open and scurry through, I fly through the door and we all slam it shut behind me.

We enter the next room, empty and full of echoes. Tall chess figures stare down at us menacingly.

"I don't like this. I don't like this at all." Hermione comments. "Where are we? A graveyard?" Harry suggests.

"This is no graveyard. It's a chessboard." Ron says as he steps forward to the middle of the board.

The fire blazes on and we can see the door. We head towards it before all the pawns in the first line whip out swords and come to life. 

"Now what?" I ask fearfully. "It's obvious, isn't it? We've got to play our way across the room. Harry, you take the empty bishop's square. Hermione, you'll be the queenside castle.." He glances to me sceptically as if trying to decide if he can trust me enough. "Bronwyn, you're the queen." He says eventually. 

"As for me? I'll be a knight." Ron decides heroically. "What happens now?" I question with confusion when we're by on our pieces. 

"Well, white moves first, and then...we play." He explains. A pawn from the opposite side moves forward and just like that the game has begun. "Ron, you don't suppose this is going to be like...real wizard's chess, do you?" Hermione panics.

"You there! D-5!" Ron instructs booming. A black pawn moves forward and very abruptly attacks the opponent until the pawn crumbles into a million pieces, making us all jump. "Yes, Hermione, I think this is going to be exactly like wizard's chess!" Ron says fearfully.

As the game proceeds, many more pieces are lost in the crossfire. I'm terrified. 

"Wait a minute.." Harry realises at some point. "You understand right, Harry. Once I make my move, the Queen will take me...then you'll be free to check the King." Ron confirms. 

"No, Ron! No!" Harry yells, "What is it?" Hermione asks with confusion.

"He's going to sacrifice himself!" I suddenly realise and elaborate. "No, Ron, you can't! There must be another way!" Hermione yelps. 

"Do you want to stop Snape or not? Harry, it's you that has to go on. I know it. Not me, not Hermione, maybe not even Bronwyn, you. Knight...to H-3." Ron finalises.

His horse slides forward and stops. "Check." Is the last word spoken by Ron before the Queen smashes his piece, he falls on his back and goes unconscious.

We all cry out when he hits the ground. Hermione starts trying to advance forward, "No! Don't move! Don't forget, we're still playing." I insist before she can ruin this. Hermione moves back when she remembers. 

Harry makes his final move. "Checkmate." He vocalises. 

The second the king is down we all race towards Ron lying on the floor.

"Take care of Ron. Then, go to the owlery. Send a message to Dumbledore. Ron's right...I have to go on." Harry encourages.

"You'll be okay, Harry. You're a great wizard, you really are." Hermione reminds him.

"Not as good as either of you." He dismisses.

"Books and cleverness? There are more important things. Friendship, and bravery. And Harry, just be careful." Hermione speaks with a fond smile.

"Good luck Harry." I give a polite and slightly awkward nod before he heads through to the next room. Hermione lifts Ron by one arm around her shoulder and I rush to take the other. 

We do our best to drag him out of here until we're successfully in the corridor.

We yell and call put loudly for help, i'm sure almost all of the Gryffindor dormitories are awake by now and that becomes clear when floods of pupils storm out to see whats the matter, along with some teachers.

I watch Fred and George Weasley's faces drop with horror upon seeing their brother as well as another red head prefect who I determine is another brother of his. Teachers take Ron from our arms and starts taking him to the hospital wing.

"What did you do?" The meaner of the two twins confronts me furiously. I stumble back a little at his harshness. 

"What?" I scoff a laugh at the ludicrous assumption.

"You did something didn't you. Don't try to act all Little Miss Innocent." He fires at me.

"If I did this then why would I have carried him halfway across the castle to get him help." I exasperate.

"Because that's what you snakes do. Play the victim for attention so people think you're this angel when really you're the source of every problem in this world." He insists.

"Oh bite me, Weasley." I scoff with an eye roll. "You would like that i'm sure." He snarks.

"Lay off Fred, I don't think she did this." The other twin interjects. Fred backs down but sends me glares whilst her walks down the corridor with his brothers towards the hospital wing with Hermione.

I stay pacing outside the hospital wing most of the night, waiting to hear from Harry. The scar on my wrist seems to burn more with every passing second.

I suddenly feel a tightness on my chest. A rapid fluttering sensation in my heart. A painful one. It aches. It weighs down my whole body until I physically have to sit down on the stone floor before it can make me collapse.

A pain covers most of my body until I can't take it any more and I pass out.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

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A/N:

Hey, guys. Only one left after this chapter before Act II but yet still no lovers in the whole enemies to lovers thing, sorry.