The vines were losing their momentum. In their bid to destroy and to snag the humans, they now had to deal with a barrage of spells. The most terrifying being the Fire Making Spell. Those from (Ariadne, Apollo and Xerxes) hit their marks to an extent. (Ariadne’s) first spell to the vines close to her feet caught a great portion. They burnt to black and shrivelled then sat there on the floor dead as ever. The vines around (Apollo’s) feet crumbled to ash, so strong was the spell.

While (Xerxes’s) Diffindo spell found its mark as well, the vine that was severed from the rest of the plant simply fell away and a new piece began regenerating. It seemed like cutting and severing was not the best choice. His next spell, unfortunately for him, was not strong enough. The vine was merely singed and smoked. In retaliation, both the regenerating and singed vine decided to target the first year. They both grabbed him around the middle to hoist him into the air as he tried to escape.

The sudden appearance of light shining on some of the vines, while distracting, did not physically harm them. That was because the vines did not linger long enough in the light’s path to erupt in flames. Instead those same vines shot in the light’s direction where it sensed the prism. The object was smacked out of the Hufflepuff’s hands. Only then did it lunge for the girl’s ankles and with a firm wrap around them, dangled her upside down.

It was crystal that their Head of House was no help. What a nuisance she was indeed. A vine swatted at her though that was quite useless as it went right through her. All it felt was a wave of coldness as it did so.

The House in general needed to rethink their strategy if they wanted to end this battle.