Chapter 3
"And ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper in death." He glanced around the room before seeing that Harry was writing stuff down and not looking at him. "Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough to not pay attention!" I elbowed Harry in the stomach. Harry looked at me, looked at Professor Snape and put his quill back into his inkpot. "Mr Potter. Our new celebrity. Tell me, Mr Potter, what would I get if I added Powdered Root of Asphodel to an Infusion of Wormwood?" Hermione's hand shot up.
"Draught of the Living Death, Sir," he said. Professor Snape looked a little shocked but only in his eyes. Hermione put her hand down, clearly disappointed she couldn't be a teacher's pet. I'm so glad I made sure Harry read some of his books on the train.
"Let's try another. Where, Mr Potter, would you look if I asked you to find me a Beazoar?" Professor Snape asked Harry and Hermione's hand shot up in the air again. Show off.
"The stomach of a Goat, Sir," Harry answered. "But some people like to keep them on them as they're an antidote to most poisons so you could check to see if someone already has one first if it's that dire of a situation, Sir."
"And what is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?" He asked ignoring the noises Hermione was making and Hermione's hand that kept reaching higher and higher in the air.
"They are the same plant which also goes by the name of Aconite, Sir," he said.
"Put your hand down, you silly girl," Professor Snape said after Hermione almost fell out of her chair as she tried to reach her hand higher in the air. Hermione put her hand down and looked upset. Serves her right. She shouldn't be so much of a teacher's pet. "Five points from Gryffindor. Well, why aren't you all copying this down?" He walked over to the desk, sat behind it and went to start writing. "And, Slytherins, five points for each correctly answered question and an extra five points for knowing an alternative name for Wolfsbane." All the Slytherins in the class either smirked or grinned.
...
"Cassie, what's this?" Neville asked as he opened his parcel. He showed it to me.
"It's a Rememberall, Neville. When the smoke turns red, it means you've forgotten something," I told him.
"The only problem is," Neville said when the smoke turned red. "I can't remember what I've forgotten." My family's golden eagle flew over to me.
"Woah," Draco said.
"Cool," Blaise whispered.
"Hello, Arcadia," I said as I stroked her beak. I took the newspaper from her and she flew off.
"Cassie, can I borrow that?"
"Sure, Harry." Harry opened the newspaper and started reading it.
"Hey, Cassie, Neville, Draco. Somebody broke into Gringotts. Listen. 'Believed to be the work of Dark Wizards or Witches unknown... Gringotts Goblins, while acknowledging the breach, insist nothing was taken. The Vault in question, number 7-1-3, had in fact been emptied earlier that very same day.' That's odd. That's the Vault Hagrid and I went to."
...
"I can't believe you two made the team as first years because of Weasley," Draco said.
"I can't believe you both made the team but Weasley got detention," Blaise laughed.
"You're joking, right?" Theo said. "I can't believe it was Snape out of all of the teachers that could've shown up who saw you."
"Well, it's not like we could've let Weasley insult Neville like that," Harry said.
"Yeah, Harry will make a great Seeker," I said.
"And you'll make a great Chaser," Harry grinned.
"We should go check on Neville," I said. "He took a nasty fall."
...
"What's up with you two?" Blaise asked as Harry and I got back to the Common Room.
"We decided to check out the corridor on the third floor Dumbledore said was forbidden but we almost got eaten by a three-headed dog that was in the room at the end of the corridor," Harry said and the Slytherin first years let out gasps and noises of horror, shock and disgust.
"What is Dumbledore thinking? Keeping something like that locked up in a school?" Theo questioned.
"It was standing on a trapdoor. It's guarding something and I'm going to find out what," I said. "Whose up for an adventure that is possibly going to cause you to die?"
"I'm not a scared little coward," Draco said. "Count me in."
"Me too," Harry said.
"I'm up for it," Blaise said.
"You're all idiots," Daphne and Pansy said as they left the room with Millie.
"Well, I'm in," Tracey said.
"Crabbe, Goyle, you two can watch over the girls and Neville when he gets back," Draco said and Crabbe and Goyle nodded.
"We'll go tomorrow," I told them. "In the morning, gather up everything you think might be useful. We'll need things like rope, torches, tape, a shovel, scissors and a pocket knife. I already have all of that. We'll need food and drinks. We can get those from the kitchen. We'll need something we can drop down that trapdoor to see how deep it is. And we'll need a giant ball for the dog to play with so we can get past it."
"Three-headed dogs love music. Play them some music and they'll fall asleep," Blaise said. Everyone stared at him and he blushed. "What? My mother likes dangerous things." That makes sense with his mother's reputation.
"We'll meet up here tomorrow at midnight. Got it?" Everyone nodded.
...
We made it outside the room with the three-headed dog and quickly conjured a flute. Tracey started playing it and we opened the door. The dog immediately fell asleep. I opened the trapdoor and jumped in. Harry was the first to follow me with Draco and Blaise quickly behind. Theo jumped in and Tracey sat down on the floor with her feet inside the trapdoor. She stopped playing and jumped. I looked around and saw that vines had started grabbing everyone. "Relax. This is Devil's Snare. If you don't relax, it's only going to kill you faster," Tracey said. I relaxed into the Devil's Snare and I fell through it onto a hard floor.
"Cassie!" My friends all yelled.
"Relax."
"Cassie? Where are you?" Harry asked.
"Just trust me." Harry fell down and Theo, Blaise and Tracey soon followed but Draco was still panicking.
"I'm so telling everyone about this," Blaise said and we all snickered. Finally, Draco relaxed and joined us. We followed the hallway into another room. This room had flying keys and a Broom.
"I'll catch the key," Harry said and I walked over to the door at the other end of the room.
"No, I will," Draco argued. Harry and Draco started arguing about who should go after the key as I pulled out my lockpicking set from my backpack. I picked the lock and the door opened. I put the lockpicking set away and faced the two bickering boys and their amused audience. I pointedly cleared my throat and they turned to face me.
"Or I could just pick the lock with my Muggle tools." They all stared at the open door in shock. "Coming?" They all nodded and followed me. I think this is the most silent I've ever seen them. The next room was a Chess set.
"Great! Blaise is awesome at Chess," Draco said. I replaced the King, Harry and Draco were Knights, Tracey was the Queen, Blaise was a Bishop and Theo was a Rook. We played following Blaise's directions and won. It was really close though. The only pieces we had left were ourselves and one Pawn. Draco was really smug that he was the one who had gotten to Checkmate the King. The next room had a Potions riddle in it that Theo solved. We each had to swallow from the smallest vial on the table. I poured the contents into my mouth and kept it there for five minutes while the bottle refilled itself. Harry took the next swallow and we both kept it in our mouths for five minutes before Draco took the next swallow. The three of us swallowed the Potion.
"We'll go through now and when it refills, Theo will take the next swallow. Then, Blaise and then Tracey. We'll just be waiting for you before starting the next challenge." They nodded at us and Harry, Draco and I went through the flames. There was nothing in the next room other than a large Mirror.
"What's with the Mirror?" Draco asked.
"That can't be the end. It's got to be some sort of challenge," Harry said. The three of us walked over to the Mirror. Draco stood directly in front of it and his eyes went wide.
"Whoa."
"What?" I asked Draco.
"I... I'm Quidditch Captain, I've won the Quidditch Cup, Slytherin's won the House Cup and my dad is really proud of me." Draco moved out of the way and Harry took his place.
"What do you see, Harry?" I asked him.
"Dumbledore's dead. I killed him to bring my Mother back in what looks to be some sort of Dark Ritual, I'm surrounded by the Slytherins in our year and your Father's in charge of Wizarding Britain." Harry moved out of the way as Theo came into the room. I looked into the Mirror after taking Harry's place in front of it. I saw what Harry saw but my family were there too and we were all older and Narcissa is kissing me.
"What sort of challenge is this?" Theo asked and I remembered what we were here for. The image faded and now it just showed me. The image-version of me took a Red Rock out of her pocket, winked at me and then put the Red Rock back into her pocket. I felt something drop in my pocket. I took out the Red Rock. How did it get into my pocket? If I take it, they'll know someone stole it. I need to find some way to make them believe the Red Rock is still in the Mirror. The image-version of me winked at me and then smirked with a thumbs-up. Okay, I think she's got it covered.
"Let's go. We've got what we came for." I showed them the Red Rock.
"Are you sure? All of that for some rock?"
"It's a RED Rock, Draco. "It's RED! That's my favourite colour of rock!"
"You have different favourite colours for different objects?" Theo asked as we walked back through the flames.
"Yep."
...
"All of that for a rock?" Daphne and Pansy questioned.
"How many times? IT'S A RED ROCK! A RED ROCK!!!"
...
I threw another spell at a sink and it blew up. How dare that pathetic, ginger git insult me. I threw another spell at a toilet and it blew up. I turned around and came face to face with a Troll. I shot a spell at the Troll and it cut the Troll's head off. Harry, Neville and Draco ran in and stared at the dead Troll. A few seconds later, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell came in and Professor McGonagall demanded to know what was going on. Draco told her about what happened with Weasley. "And then, we couldn't find her anywhere," Harry said.
"I've been in here since then. He really upset me," I said. He made me so angry and I still want to kill him. "I didn't know about the Troll until it attacked me. Then, I killed it."
"Well... I just hope you realise how fortunate you are. Not many first-year students could take on a fully-grown Mountain Troll and live to tell the tale," Professor McGonagall said. "Ten Points will be awarded to each of you for sheer dumb luck and for helping out another student."
"And twenty Points will be taken from Gryffindor for Mr Weasley's actions," Professor Snape said.
...
"Take a bit of toast, mate. Go on," Draco said to Harry as he played with his food.
"Draco's right, Harry. You're going to need your strength today," Blaise said.
"I'm not hungry," Harry said, forcefully.
"Good luck today, Potter, Addams. Then again, now that you've proven yourselves against a Troll. A little game of Quidditch should be easy work," Professor Snape said. He stood there for a few more seconds before walking away with a slight limp.
"That explains the blood," Harry said.