Chapter 16: The Sticking Charm and the Library Ladder part-1
"I am fine," Hermione said, her voice tight. "I have taken precautions. I cast a Glutinous Adhaereo charm on my skirt. It is stuck to my legs. It will not fly up, it will not slide down and it will not fall off. I am practically fused to my clothing."
"That sounds... uncomfortable," Harry noted.
"Safety is more important than comfort," Hermione stated firmly. "Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to the library. I need to research counter-curses for localized probability distortion fields."
She stood up and marched out of the hall. Her walk was unnatural, as if her legs were fighting the fabric with every step.
"We should probably go with her," Harry sighed, pushing his plate away. "Just in case."
"Agreed," I said, wiping my mouth. "I want to see... I mean, I want to help her find that counter-curse."
We followed her to the library. The library was silent, smelling of old parchment and dust. Madam Pince, the vulture-like librarian, was patrolling the aisles with a feather duster that looked more like a weapon than a cleaning tool.
We found Hermione in the "Magical Maladies and Curses" section. She was standing at the bottom of a tall, rolling wooden ladder, looking up at a heavy tome on the very top shelf.
"It is up there," she whispered. "Curses of the Clumsy and Unfortunate."
"I will get it," Harry offered immediately.
"No," Hermione stopped him. "I need to check the index before I pull it down. It is a restricted book; I cannot take it off the shelf unless it is relevant."
She stepped onto the ladder. She climbed slowly, testing every rung. Because of the Sticking Charm, her skirt moved with her legs perfectly, like a second skin. It was effective, I had to admit.
(Challenge accepted,) I thought.
I leaned against a bookshelf about ten feet away, hidden from Madam Pince's view but with a clear line of sight to the ladder.
I checked my arsenal. Structure Analysis to find the weak points. Telekinesis to apply force. Sound Manipulation to create chaos.
(Let us test the Sound Manipulation first,) I decided.
I focused on the space directly behind Hermione's ear.
(Project sound: The distinct, loud ripping of fabric.)
RRRRRIIIIIIP.
The sound was hyper-realistic. It sounded like a pair of trousers being torn in half by a troll.
Hermione froze on the ladder, her hands gripping the wood white-knuckled.
"Did you hear that?" she hissed, looking down at Harry. "Did something tear?"
"I... I heard something," Harry said, looking around confused. "But you look fine."
"I heard a rip!" Hermione insisted. Panic began to set in. She twisted her body, trying to look at the back of her skirt. "Is it the back? Check the back!"
"I cannot see the back from here!" Harry whispered loudly.
While she was distracted, twisting and turning on the precarious ladder, I made my next move.
(Structure Analysis.)
I looked at the rolling mechanism of the ladder. The wheels ran on a brass track. There was a small locking pin that kept the ladder stationary when someone was climbing it.
(Telekinesis: Disengage the locking pin.)
Click.
The pin slid out.
Hermione shifted her weight again, trying to inspect her "torn" clothes. The movement transferred energy to the now-unlocked ladder.
The ladder shot to the left.
"Whoa!" Hermione screamed.
The ladder rolled rapidly along the track. Hermione held on for dear life. But the momentum was too much. The ladder hit the end of the track—the stopper—and came to a violent halt.
Inertia, as always, was the enemy. Hermione's body wanted to keep moving left. The ladder had stopped.
She was thrown off the ladder.
Now, here is where the Sticking Charm became her undoing.
She had stuck her skirt to her legs to prevent it from flying up. However, as she fell, her leg caught on the rung of the ladder.
Normally, a skirt would slide over the leg, or she would just fall out of it. But because the fabric was magically fused to her skin, when her leg got hooked on the ladder, the skirt held fast to her leg and the ladder.
But the waistband was not stuck to her waist. She had only stuck the hem to her thighs to prevent updrafts.
So, as she fell upside down, her legs remained hooked on the ladder, held in place by the stuck skirt. Gravity pulled the rest of her body down.
She slid right out of the skirt.
It was like peeling a banana. Her body fell toward the floor, while her skirt remained perfectly suspended on the ladder, sticking to the air where her legs used to be (or rather, stuck to the wood now due to the magical confusion of the impact).
"Harry!" she shrieked.
Harry, bless his hero complex, was already moving. He dove to catch her.
He caught her.
But the velocity was high. He didn't catch her in a standing position. He caught her as she plummeted head-first.
He caught her shoulders. Her momentum swung her legs down.
She landed on her feet, safe and sound.
Except she was standing in the middle of the library, facing Harry Potter, wearing a white button-down shirt, a Gryffindor tie, socks, shoes... and absolutely nothing in between.
Her skirt was still hanging on the ladder ten feet above them, looking like a flag of surrender.
(...cough...)
Harry was holding her by the shoulders. He looked down to ensure she was steady on her feet.
His eyes traveled down. He saw the socks. He saw the shoes. He saw the very sensible, white cotton panties that matched the set from the morning incident.
He froze. His brain simply stopped processing information. It was a blue screen of death in wizard form.
Hermione followed his gaze. She looked down at her own legs. She felt the cool draft of the library air conditioning.
She looked up at the ladder. She saw her skirt.
.....
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