"Exactly! So now you have to go back and try it again, and then if you don't make it again, you'll have to come back here and do it AGAIN!" Cale was practically shouting at her right now. That was the problem with them--they were so darn stubborn.

"Oh, house unity, that will reallyyyy please the Slytherins. You know they all hope this treasure is a big pot of gold with a leprechaun dancing on top of it. They want to take it all for themselves and if you go on bragging about how wonderful house unity is they'll all get moody on us, as usual," he told her, wrinkling his eyebrows in annoyance.

"Fine then, come with me!" he said, pointing at the door as if that would get her to follow him. "We don't have to do this Anna. What if the Devils Snare hurts you--or worse? I don't want anything to happen to you and I don't think it's any benefit to you to be wasting your time in here," he grumbled, pouting from next to the door.

Jillian was walking down the hallway, well, skipping was more like it. She was in a happy mood that she even whistled a made up melody. It suited a very piratey theme. Too caught up in her whistling, she accidentally tripped on her own feet and bumped onto a wall.

"Good thing this wall was here or--" she didn't have the chance to finish her sentence though for the wall shifted and she plunged into some room. "WOAH!" she screamed as she toppled over. "Ugh." as she squinted, she saw a few figures just meters away from her. They looked extremely familiar.

"Okay, okay!" Anna exclaimed, flailing her arms above her head. "You how I feel about failing at something, though! I hate it! I absolutely hate not being able to do something, and this is killing me, Cale!" She took a deep breath, stared down at the crests, and then looked back up at Cale. "Just let me try it one more time! I can do this! I know I can! If I can't get it this last time, I'll leave, okay?"

"Yes, house unity!" Anna answered, yelling back at him now, as well. This whole room was doing nothing but putting them both in a bad mood. "All the signs have pointed to house unity---including those letters we read in the beginning of term. If I get to the end of this hunt and see a dancing leprechaun, I'll be MORE than just a little suprised!"

When Cale pointed in the direction of the door, Anna suddenly fell quiet. If he knew her as well as he said he did, he'd know that she was actually considering his offer now. She bit her bottom lip and looked down at the crest she was standing on. What to do? What to do? She better decide quickly, because these crests usually didn't last too long before a person got zapped right off them and into the next room. "I won't get hurt," she suddenly said, looking back up into his eyes. "But what if there is no way BACK out of this place? What if you get lost? I don't want you to leave without knowing where you are..."

"OhmiGOSH, you have GOT to learn how to let things go, woman!" Cale yelled, accidentally calling her a rather rude term for girls in the process. But he was too annoyed right now to care. All he cared about right now was showing Anna that he was right. Duh. "What if this time the Devils Snare strangles you, huh?" he asked, tapping his foot in aggrivation. "Then what are you going to do? What if you get stuck somewhere with no stairs or a way out?"

"I know it is, but all I'm saying is it isn't going to make a bit of difference. Nothing ever does! So why even bother when we know that house unity isn't going to change no matter what we find?" he questioned her. It was the truth--were the Slytherins ever satisfied? Pssh, no. Knowing Nico and Camira they'd turn around and try to somehow accuse Cale and Anna of cheating them out of the real treasure.

"What do you mean if I get lost? You think I'm stupid?" he asked. "Are you implying I can't get out of here by myself?" he asked. Yes, he was being a bit of a girl and looking into her comment way too much but that wasn't his main concern at the moment. "Besides, the Great Hall is right there! I could walk out there and be right back where we star--"

He stopped as suddenly, something fell on him and tackled him to the ground. He wasn't sure if the person knew they had just run into him or not, and as he got up, he saw that he had been flattened by tiny little Jillian, who looked completely confused as to where she was.

"Jillian! How did you...what are you doing here?" he asked her.

"Woman?!?! Woman, Cale?!?!? Woman. WOMAN!" Anna yelled out, stomping the crest she was standing on. It wasn't so much what he called her, as it was how he'd intended for it to be used. What a jerk! ...and she'd been nice to him, too! Anna was so frustrated that she allowed a few tears to escape her eyes. She didn't bother looking away from Cale. She wanted him to see how much he was hurting her. "This Devil's Snare is NOT going to strangle me to death, Cale! I just know it. It's part of the route to get to the treasure. All we have to do is hop on it, get on that platform, and we'll be away from here in no time."

"Do I think you're stupid, Cale?!?!" Anna questioned, flailing her arms about her head again. "What kind of a stupid question is that, Cale? In case you haven't noticed, I love you. I love you a lot. Excuse me if I worry about an overly clumsy person trying to find his own way out of an extremely charmed room!" Anna continued to stare at him, showing him the tears that kept dripping down her cheeks.

The only thing that stopped Anna from yelling and crying was the fact that suddenly, from out of nowhere, a figure came falling into the room, landing at her feet right near where she was standing on the crest. "Jillian!" she called out. "How did you...where did you...oh, nevermind! Get up and get on a crest! Come with me, since my own boyfriend WON'T!" She stared daggers at Cale as she yelled out that last word. Secretly, deep down inside, the thing hurting Anna the most was that she was hurting him. Would she ever tell him that? Erm, NO.

Astrid:

As she stops struggling and only holds on, the devil's snare seems to slow a bit. Is this expected?

Anna:

You find yourself in the room with the devil's snare once more.

Cale and anyone else in the crest room:

Anna disappears once more.

Cale rolled his eyes and finally walked over to her, unconsciously standing on the crest next to her and giving her a hug. "Come on, stop crying...I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! It just slipped out!" he said, frowning and trying to get her to stop. "I really didn't, I'm just...frustrated a guess. Really frustrated. With this whole situaton. I just want this treasure thing to be over with," he grumbled.

But just as he had told this to her, she disappeared. Gasping and nearly losing his balance, he found air where she had been a second before. He looked down and saw that he was on the crest as well, but probably hadn't been standing on it hard enough. He stomped on it, hoping to be transported to where she was--not cause he wanted to journey on past the Devils Snare, but if something happened to her and they were fighting--he would have never been able to forgive himself.

Anna softly laughed off their little fight as she noticed Cale walking over to her. She looked down as he stepped next to her, noticing that he'd stepped on a crest, as well. She didn't dare point it out to him either. He was going to come with her, whether he knew it or not!!! "I'm sorry, too, Cale," she said, wiping the tears away from her eyes. "I just got a little upset thinking you may get lost or hurt or...something," she said. I---.........

No one in the room with the crests got to hear her last sentence, though. Before Anna could really register what was going on, she was being zapped right back into that room with the Devil's Snare. "Well, well, well," she said, walking over to the plant with a smirk on her face. "We meet again---and again and again and again, so it seems. Here I am, though! You're little friend is back," she said, grabbing on to the plant the same way she'd done twice before. "Let's go!" As Anna held on to the plant, she began to get a silly again, and a catchy little song escaped her lips. "Devil's Snare, taaaaaaake me away!!!!!" Okay, she'd officially lost it...

Just as Torie had moved to follow Anna to the Snare room once more, she and Cale began a huge argument. "Geesh!" she whispered under her breath "These two are ridiculous! I can't believe how much they fight!" Torie was glad when the argument ended with Anna's disappearance. At least she wouldn't have to listen to them screeching and whining at each other any more. That was, until Cale decided to follow his girlfriend to the Snare room too. Looking around at the others in the room, Torie gave an exasperated sigh. "You guys coming along?" she asked, then stepped on the crest once more.

As Anna and Cale popped into view again, Torie was relieved to see that they had stopped fighting, at least for now. She walked over to the two of them, and noticed Anna had already grabbed the plant. She entwined herself in the Snare once more and waited for the squeezing feeling to begin. They just had to succeed this time. They had to.

As her ride upon the devil's snare began to slow to a more manageable speed, Astrid sits up a bit so that she could see better where she was going. She wasn't sure where this plant was trying to take her, but she wanted to be ready to leap off if the opportunity presented itself. Concerned that she still hadn't heard or seen Anna, she started to call for her again, louder this time. "ANNA!?! Can you hear me? ANNNNNNNNAAA!!!"

Jillian sat up and looked behind her. The figures were familiar for they were fellow Gryffindors. They looked a bit...confused and maybe even frightened. She opened her mouth, about to ask them what was wrong when suddenly, one of her friends, Anna, disappears.

Jillian froze. What was happening? She stood up and began walking towards Cale. "Cale, what's going on? Where'd Anna...?" she didn't finish the rest of her question for on the ground, she spotted five Gryffindor crests. What was this room?

"Okay, this is like way too wierd." Chalice said feeling kind of uncomfortable.

marfamarfa: Please let the narrator determine what happens.

Cale:

Look, it's the devil's snare! And Anna and Torie are...

Anna and Torie:

You are whisked away once more!

Astrid:

The devil's snare has begun to relax its grip. You drop slightly, and there is something solid there. You can just barely feel it.

Anna rolled her eyes as she felt herself suddenly being jerked away from her spot on the ground---for the third time. She was nearly a pro at cruising around via the vines of a Devil's Snare by now. As soon as she was fully off the ground and entrenched in the plant once more, she began to struggle---just as she'd figured out to do the last two times she'd taken this journey. Hopefully, though, this time she could land herself on that platform and not on the blasted cushioning charm again.

As she starts to slip, Astrid suddenly feels something with her now dangling foot. Only one thought crosses her mind in that instant and she knows what she's about to do. Her fear replaced with fierce determination. "Please don't let me fall." she whispers into the darkness. And then, throwing all caution to the wind, she leaps off the devil's snare and prays that she has made the right decision.

Anna:

The devil's snare pulls you around a bend. You can no longer see anyone or anything. What is out there?

Astrid:

The devil's snare was close to releasing you, though it's grip was still upon you. You manage to leave as it releases you and you find solid ground... With your face. One vine is still around your ankle and attempting to pull you back. Close by is some sort of pillar in the center of this strange platform.

Cale sighed in relief as the Devils Snare came into sight once again. He looked around--he seemed to be alone, which probably meant that Anna was already in the plant again. Or so he thought. It was so hard to figure out what was going on in this room. He sighed again and grabbed ahold of the Devils Snare like he had the first time they got down there. "Ok Plant, do your worst," he muttered as he held onto the nearest vine tight as he could.

As Anna cruised around the same bend, in the same plant, and in the same dark, lonely manner, she began to struggle with the plant just a bit. No way would she relax this time. Apparently, relaxing at all with this plant was definitely not the way to go. She'd thought that she could relax just over that platform and land directly on it, but apparently that was the incorrect thing to do, too. Determined that the third time would be a charm, Anna continued struggling with the plant, hoping it would lead her to that light she'd seen once before.

Cale:

You join the others in the devil's snare. Wait, is that Torie just up ahead?

Anna:

The devil's snare pulls you around another bend. Is that a light up ahead?

Cale felt the Devils Snare take a hold of him, as he expected, and then things got hectic. He could just see vines, and feel vines, and think about the vines and how they were going to try and strangle him at any moment. He knew that he should relax, but then he would just end up on that Cushioning Charm again. So, he struggled a bit, and that was when he noticed he wasn't alone.

"Torie?" he called. He was pretty sure he could make out her figure in the distance. He struggled a bit more, trying to get up to her, but he didn't seem to be making any progress. Meanwhile, he was still wondering where Anna and Astrid were.

Cale:

The devil's snare pulls you quickly past Torie and around a bend. You can no longer see anyone or anything. What is out there?

Anna perked up as she spotted a familiar sight up ahead---the light! The light was back, and Anna just knew that was where she needed to be. Delighted that she'd nearly reached the point where she'd been before, Anna continued to struggle, yet this time, she reached towards the light, hoping she could steer the plant in the direction she was meant to go in.

Anna:

The devil's snare hesitates momentarily, but continues to pull you along quickly towards the light.

Anna felt the Devil's Snare hesitate just a bit, but seeing that this was her third ride on the plant, she knew better than to be alarmed. As the light seemed to get closer and closer, Anna continued to struggle against the vines of the plant. She leaned towards the light, hoping with all her might that she could steer the plant in that direction. The third time just had to be a charm!

Anna:

The devil's snare seems to hesitate further, as though it feels something is wrong. You seem to have approached a platform. The light seems to be shining on something on it, but you can't tell what it is. At the rate you're going, you'll be past the platform rather quickly.