Snake & Spider - 1

He gasped, feeling his chest constrict as if he was being crushed. He had the unmistakable impression he was traveling, although it felt nothing like a Portkey or Apparation. He tried to hold out his arms for balance, but found he was completely immobilized.

The room shifted around them, and he felt as if he were spinning out of control. Just when he thought he couldn't take it anymore, it stopped. His head still spun, but his vision cleared, and a bone-chilling cold swept over him.

Harry blinked several times and noticed that they'd been transported to some kind of ice palace. The cathedral windows with the heavy draperies that had been in the Room of Requirement were still in place, but the walls and furnishings were completely made of ice. The thick shrubbery he could see outside the ice caused him to think they were somewhere in the Forbidden Forest, but he'd never seen anything like it.

Goose bumps arose on his flesh as his eyes frantically sought out Ginny and the others. Ron and Hermione each stood looking around with the same gobsmacked expression he was certain covered his own face, but Ginny remained perfectly still, her mouth frozen in a silent scream.

"Ginny," Harry said, his voice hoarse.

She didn't respond, but the tiara she still wore shimmered again before transforming into a hissing serpent, coiled around her head. It was black with an obscenely large head and deadened opaque eyes.

Harry froze, while Ron shouted and took a step toward her.

"Don't move," Hermione hissed, grabbing Ron by the arm.

The snake raised its head, swaying from side to side as if ready to strike.

Ginny's eyes rolled back, and she collapsed to the floor, her body stiff and shaking violently.

"She's seizing," Harry said, panic overwhelming him. Sprinting towards her, his Seeker-reflexes allowed him to dart his hand out and seize the snake around its neck before it could bite. Try as he might, however, he couldn't pry it from her head. He wrapped both hands around the smooth, soft skin, but the snake wouldn't budge, instead wrapping itself tighter around Ginny's head and causing her to groan Harry could see small trickles of blood leaking out from beneath the snake's body.

Ginny finally stopped seizing and her head lolled lifelessly to the side. Ron grabbed her hand and tried to wake her, but she remained unresponsive.

"Where the hell are we?" Ron asked, panic stricken. "We have to get her out of here."

"I know. I think we're in the Forbidden Forest, but I can't get this snake to let her go. I'm afraid to try Cursing it in case I hit her," Harry said, his teeth chattering from the cold.

"You can't cast any spell at it, anyway," Hermione said "That…snake is still the Horcrux, however it's enchanted There's no telling what you might do to Ginny if you try a Spell."

"So what do we do?" Harry asked, his eyes wild. He tugged again at the snake.

"Harry, you have to calm down. We won't do her any good if we panic," Hermione said, her own voice sounding rather hysterical.

Before Harry could even take a deep breath, Ron was tossed into the air and flung several meters across the room. He crashed onto the icy floor and slid into a table made of ice.

Hermione screeched, and Ron barely had time to rise to his hands and knees before the invisible attacker again hurled him into the air. He landed with a crash, shattering an ice pedestal that contained some kind of sculpture. His head began to bleed, and he blinked in confusion, obviously dazed.