Jumping inside the sludge and sinking down felt like being submerged in a warm lake of honey. I closed my eyes and held my breath. A pressure clamped my lungs. I wanted to exhale and inhale, but I held off. My body kept sinking until I free-fell into a dimly lit, flagstone chamber. We all hit the ground and released our hands as we landed on our backs.

I scrambled up first and scanned around. "Where the hell are we? Does anyone know that happened to Jolly?"

"Rollie! Watch out!" Daphne cried.

A bellow came from behind, and something massive pelted my back. I toppled over.

Magdalene ran to my side. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, my back is throbbing. What happened?"

"I don't know, some purple spell struck your back."

Another bellow shook the floor.

"It's a cursed troll!" Leon shouted.

"What do we do?" Agatha yelled.

"Everyone get up against the wall! I think I can handle this!" Leon shouted.

We all ran to the back wall and spun around. A giant troll with a purple aura emanating from its body stepped forward. It was blocking a tall, narrow path. The troll held up its hand and charged a purple sphere of energy.

Leon held up his wand in front of the monster. "Praetervolo!" he shouted. A gleam of red light shot from his wand while the troll launched the purple beam. The two spells collided, but Leon roared as he channeled more energy through his wand. The ray from his wand pierced through, and it struck the troll's head. The monster groaned and dissolved into nothing.

Leon collapsed.

We ran over to him, but Daphne took the lead. She picked his head up. "Leon, are you okay?"

He took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. That took a lot of energy out of me."

"Let's get you back up," Daphne said as she helped Leon stand up again. "We should get moving. I've got a feeling we're not supposed to be down here."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Agatha rolled her eyes.

"Rollie, how did you stop that spell? I'm amazed you're even alive right now," Leon said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"That cursed troll nailed you with a deadly attack. Right? Didn't it strike you?" Leon looked at me incredulously.

"The jacket!" Daphne said. "That jacket is supposed to protect from evil magic. Or at least, that's what the witch said when I bought it from her."

"You should be very thankful, Rollie. If you hadn't been wearing that, who knows if you'd still be alive," Leon said.

I gulped. "Perhaps I should be the one to lead us since I have the jacket?"

"I wouldn't rely on it too much," Daphne said. "Who knows if it could even handle another attack. Magically imbued apparel wears off with use."

"Well, let's keep going deeper," I said, looking down the narrow hall, my voice echoed. "I have a feeling that Bran and Edna are down here. I'd like to think my grandpa is too."

"Nope. I really don't think that's a good idea. Can't we do some sort of reconnaissance instead of risking our lives again? What if another cursed troll is blocking our path? Is Leon going to be able to finish it off again? That last one really drained his juice," Agatha said.

"That's a good point, Agatha. I'm feeling rather weak at the moment, and also, please don't ever say ‘drained his juice,’ again." Leon laughed weakly.

"I know!" Daphne exclaimed. "It seems like this place might be a maze. Perhaps we can stay here and do the luximo prement spell. We can check to see if the path is clear. Just like that silly game, everyone was playing, Wizard's Labyrinth. Uh, was anyone very good at it?"

All of us shook our heads.

"I'll give it a whirl then," Daphne said. She pointed her wand at the narrow vaulted corridor. "Luximo prement!"

A sizzling ball of light shot out from her wand and crackled through the air. Daphne controlled it, moving it left as it reached an opening. We watched Daphne's face with bated breath.

"Well, anything?" Agatha said.

"Hush, I'm trying to concentrate! So far, so good!" Daphne said.

We stared a little longer until a force yanked Daphne off her feet. She fell face first.

"Are you okay?" Magdalene rushed to her side and picked her up.

"Yes, I'm all right. I don't know what happened there." Daphne fixed her attention to the corridor. "I think we should check it out. I remember the path and turns I took."

"You're the one who's feeling lucky," Agatha said.

I led through the path but followed Daphne's directions. Purple flamed candles lit our way. The walls had chipped flagstone with black trails of grime running down like veins. At the end of the hall, Daphne told me to take a left, a right, and then another left. The air grew cold, and I didn't notice at first, but a fog had accumulated at our feet.

Turning the corner, my heart plummeted.

An indistinguishable curdled whisper became prominent. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Time seemed to have stopped.

A cloaked figure hovered towards us, and the screams behind me sounded like they came underwater.

Rollie, snap out of it! You got to get yourself together, man! You've run into this situation before!

I reached for my wand and pointed it forward, but my hand trembled, and I couldn't even remember what the incantation was.

"Expecto patronum!" Leon's voice yelled behind me.

But nothing came out.

His wand fizzled and sparked out a white light, but no shape took form. Magdalene tried, Daphne tried, and Agatha tried.

None of them produced a Patronus.

"I'm sorry, Rollie!" Leon shouted.

The dementor's hood fell down, the scaly head of dead skin and sharp teeth came closer to me. Its mouth cracked open, and I felt nothing but despair and depression. It closed in on me.

I thought I was finished until a gleam of light shot from my hand. The dementor recoiled and scurried away as the light continued to stream. I didn't believe my eyes. I held my first forward; my grandpa's ring produced the beacon. The dementor screeched as the light continued to dissolve it into nothing.

"We did it," I uttered and swung around. All of my friends stared at me with their jaw ajar.

"What just happened? How did you stop the dementor?" Daphne asked.

"I didn't do anything! My grandpa gave me his championship Quidditch ring, and he told me that it was also imbued with some magic. Holy hell." I wiped my forehead and grinned. "We're not going down that easy!" I shouted victoriously. "Let's keep moving. We've got some momentum here!"

"Relax, Huffle-punk." Agatha pointed at me. "We should have Daphne use luximo prement again to see where we should go. Good grief, we almost got eaten alive just now. Can none of you really produce a Patronus?"

"You sound so judgemental for someone who can't produce a Patronus either," Magdalene scoffed.

Agatha shrugged. "I figured one of you overachievers would be able to make one. I know for a fact I can't, so none of you should rely on me. Anyways, I think we should really let Daphne do the luximo prement."

"I'll try it again, luximo prement!" Daphne shouted, and a sparkling ball of light shot through the hall.

We waited a few minutes as Daphne continued to focus, tilting her wrists ever so slightly to control the light.

"Daphne, it's been 5 minutes at least. Is it really still taking this long?" Agatha asked.

Daphne's wand was pulled forward by an invisible force. She tried dragging her heels on the ground to stop it, but she kept moving. "Someone! Please help me! I don't know what to do!"

"Let go of your wand!" Leon suggested.

"I can't. My hands are stuck!" Daphne shouted.

Leon ran up to Daphne and wrapped his arms around her. He tried to anchor her to the ground, but he kept getting pulled forward. Magdalene, Agatha, and I sprinted ahead and clutched each other to ground Daphne, but we kept moving.

The invisible force yanked us off the floor, and we flew through the entire maze at break neck speed. My body trembled as I held on for life. All of us screamed before coming to a halt. We floated in the air for a second and dropped to the ground. Nothing but darkness surrounded us. Before one of us could say lumos, candles flicked on around the circular flagstone chamber. We stood up with wobbly knees and looked around for a moment.

"Great, where are we now?" I kept turning around in a circle.

"Bravo, bravo, everyone, I would clap, but I'm afraid I'm down a hand," a familiar voice echoed off the walls.

Chills shot down my spine. It all made sense. It was no longer a mystery. I spun in the direction where I thought I heard the voice, and I saw Houston Smith approaching all of us with a devilish grin.

"Houston," I uttered.

"Rollie, it's good to see you again, old pal." Houston eyed all of my friends. "Glad you brought some company with you. It looks like you've made some friends here at Hogwarts. Did all of you know that Rollie used to be a bit of a loner back in the States? Didn't have many friends. In fact, he was a bully."

I clenched my fists.

"I'm sure he probably didn't tell you about the times he picked on other kids in the hallways, classrooms, and in the common room," Houston said.

"I've changed. At the end of year three, I cleaned up my act," I said.

"But it was too late. You already had your reputation. I only hope he's treated some of you a little better." Houston paced around in a large circle as he talked.

"You took my grandpa and my friends." I gritted through my teeth.

I kept my eye on his arm in case he reached for his wand, but he didn’t.

"Look, Houston, I really don't want trouble from you," I begged as my voice thickened. "If there's anything I can do to make up for wrongs I unintentionally did, I'll happily do them. Just let my grandpa and friends go.” The tough-guy act was over. My tears got the better of me as I sniffled and rubbed my eyes. "Please, Houston, look in your heart."

Houston stopped walking and stared directly in my eyes. He frowned, and it felt sincere. ”Unfortunately, it's not me you're dealing with."

From the other side of the chamber, Professor Hawthorne came strolling in. "Rollie! You made it. I was so worried you would never show. I labored tirelessly creating this land curse. Don't you find it impressive?"

I glared at Hawthorne, but I couldn't say anything. There was nothing I could do that would satisfy my anger aside from throttling Hawthorne’s smug face.

"Oh, come on, Rollie, you have to admit this is quite the work of art, right?" Hawthorne eyed Leon. "Ah, Leon, knowing your family, you appreciate my work, don't you? Especially after that troll stunt you pulled last year. Won't you give me some credit on what a good job I did?"

Leon tightened his lips.

"Hm. Not much for conversation, are we? Poor Magdalene, Daphne, Leon, and Agatha. You get dragged into Rollie's affairs, and it's going to cost you your life." Professor Hawthorne smirked.

"Damn, mate. You're a royal asshole," Agatha said.

"No! No! No!" Hawthorne shouted, his face turned red. "You don't understand! See? Rollie here ruined my life in America! I was never a good dark wizard across the pond. I never fit in back there, even though that's all I ever wanted to practice. So I left that scene with my tail between my legs and worked at Huntshrow. But then, Rollie comes along and ruins the one part of my life where I succeeded! I thought I could get him to leave by pulling a stunt where my colleague put me under the imperius curse but I was forced to resign! Tch! I never hated a student as much as Rollie! And to make matters worse, he was the best Quidditch player prospect in the U.S. My firing was a blessing. I was so happy to leave Huntshrow. I came here when I heard there was an opening. The neo-death eaters here are much more welcoming than I could have imagined too. They taught me so much, and I grew so much as a dark wizard. I began experimenting with this land curse here.”

Everyone backed away from him. Hawthorne approached me but still stood a few feet away. His fists were clenched, and no wand was in sight.

"And then I heard that you were coming to Hogwarts!" Hawthorne pointed at me. "And I knew I would never hear the end of it. Your name alone drives me to insanity. I can't handle a life where I will hear your name every single year because there's no doubt that you'll be a Quidditch legend... So I've taken matters into my own hands."

"Why did you have to get my grandpa and friends involved?" I said.

"Damn. You really are stupid, huh? I had to get you down here somehow, didn't I?"

"You planted the silver jackalope? Jolly has been a trap?" I said.

Hawthorne tilted his head. "I don't follow, but no. You're wrong, as per usual. I had to get you down here by taking your grandpa and friends. I knew it would piss you off enough to motivate you to come into the Forbidden Forest. From there, one of my cursed creatures was going to take you and drag you down here... Is that not what happened?"

I didn't say a word.

"Whatever. You're here now, and that's all that matters.” Hawthorne grinned. "Are you all ready to meet your demise?"

"Just take me! Let everyone else go!” I cried.

Hawthorne cackled. "You can't be serious. After everything all of you have witnessed? I can't let any of you live. Besides, it's simple to avoid blame for your deaths. Everyone will just attribute your disappearance to the land curse. And I don't even need a wand to finish the job, so really I don't have to feel guilty. It's not my fault all of you wandered in here and got eaten alive."

"Eaten alive?" I snapped.

"Mhm. I won't take up any more of your time. Whattya say, Houston? Shall we bring out the main event?"

Houston didn’t respond. He was in the middle of deep contemplation.

I charged after Hawthorne with my shoulder ready to knock him over, but a purple barrier appeared and knocked me down. Hawthorne’s cackle echoed off the chamber walls.