Into the Bowels of Hogwarts
Harry couldn’t believe that he actually enjoyed taking his final exams. The comfortable validation of reading a question and immediately knowing the answer, of being able to do his best, was something he’d never thought he’d get to experience until he was out from the Dursleys’ power, in uni or just out of that house. He couldn’t believe he wasn’t even twelve and able to nearly claim he was one of the top-ranking students in his entire year.
He wasn’t the only one who couldn’t believe it.
Ron was horrified that both of his friends were so obsessed with exams. He’d study, sure. And he was pretty confident he’d pass with decent enough scores. But Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Theo seemed to be competing for the top score in each final, whether practical or written.
Ron started hiding behind the twins, who would never do something so terrible as asking if he wanted to cram for a test they had the next morning, even when he’d been studying since March.
He was, however, more than happy to see the end of the school year. Not even the threat of Voldemort hanging over their heads was enough to make any of the first years think twice about enjoying the warmth and the free time between exams.
By the time Professor Binns released them from their last exam, and all thoughts of goblin wars fled from most of their minds, the group of first years had found a courtyard tucked behind an area of the back garden of the castle, in view of the Herbology greenhouses and the top of the Forest, the lake reflecting the sunlight. It even had a small area underneath an upper balcony and a small door that seemed to have not been opened in years, but ended up spitting them out a floor above the Slytherin dorms, and at the staircase that led to Serpentine Hall, where the Nook was hidden.
Needless to say, they quickly claimed it as their own.
Their usual group spilled out of the castle. Anthony and Neville were nose deep in an Herbology textbook written in German. Pansy and Padma were chatting about a new fashion magazine from muggle London that Harry had gifted Pansy a subscription to for her birthday. Justin, Theo, and Hermione chatting about answers they think they missed on the History of Magic exam. Ron and Susan groaned as they heard, but Harry was keeping notes, grinning at Hannah’s raised eyebrow.
“Hermione’s done this with every exam we’ve taken, going through almost every single question. I have a feeling next year’s batch of first years might appreciate a bit of a heads up about what they may be able to expect.”
The blonde groaned. “And how much are you going to get out of that?”
He laughed as he knocked their shoulders together. “I think your uncle might appreciate me having a bit of spending money when I stay at the Leaky next summer.”
“I’m sure the other stores will, too…” She trailed off as something caught her eye in the distance. “Oh, look, the squid is out.”
He turned to peer down the hill towards the shore of the lake. “And of course, the twins just happen to want to go swimming.”
Her laughter pealed out.
Harry couldn’t help but smile at her, even as an idle hand raised to rub at his forehead.
He didn’t notice Draco, who had followed the group a few steps behind, step up. “Have you talked to Professor Snape yet, Hadrian? Your head has been bothering you for days, now.” His voice was pitched low, but Hannah still turned from watching the Twin Terrors poke fun at the squid’s tentacles.
“Or Madam Pomfrey?” Her brow furrowed.
Harry shook his head, clapping his free hand against his cousin’s shoulder. “I don’t think either of them could help. It doesn’t feel like a normal headache or anything. It feels more like it did in the Forest. Like… a warning. Like something’s about to happen.”
Hannah leaned against him. “And you’re… you’re sure it’s not stress?”
Even Draco shot her a disbelieving look.
“Sorry. I guess I was just holding out hope that this final week would be calm for us.” She turned to watch where the others had settled around the stone table, Ron pulling out his chess set.
Harry wrapped an arm around her waist. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t sound like us at all.”
Draco snickered as she shot Harry a tired glare.
“Oi, Malfoy, come give me a challenge!” Ron called over.
Harry couldn’t explain the feeling, a mix of pride and comfort, that came over him when Draco looked to him first, waiting for his nod before heading over to the group, lightly shoving Anthony out of his way to take a seat across from Ron.
Hannah turned to Harry. “It’s been an interesting year, at least. Nothing short of insane for the Boy-Who-Lived. A mystery that has part of the castle shut down, Gringotts getting almost robbed for the first time in decades, Hagrid getting a random baby dragon, not to mention Fluffy, searching for an injured unicorn in the forest…”
“Hm, yeah. And only our first year,” he agreed as he pulled her back towards their friends. He tried to get involved in the absurd suggestions everyone was throwing the two playing chess, but something Hannah said lingered in the back of his mind. His brow furrowed as he settled on a planter that made a natural wall between their area and the rest of the stone courtyard that took up most of this side of the castle until it butted up against the greenhouses.
A flicker of movement from the balcony above made him look up sharply. He could just see the blurred shape of an adult peering down through the windows when a shock of pain ran through his system again. He groaned as he spasmed, falling off of his seat and failing to catch himself on the ground, his vision going white as pain lanced through his head.
By the time he blinked away the last of the white in his eyes, he was surrounded by worried looks.
Ron and Neville got a shoulder under each of his arms, pulling him up slowly to get him into a proper seat. Susan immediately pulled out a jar of water that she kept on her, charmed to be unbreakable and always just on the right side of cold. She pressed it against his hands, and helped him move it towards his mouth.
“Slow sips, Harry,” Hermione cautioned from somewhere over his shoulder.
A few minutes later, Harry handed an empty jar and nodded. “I’m okay. Sorry.”
Everyone had backed up to give him space, but they all were shaking their heads.
Ron pressed against his side. “Don’t you dare apologize. Was it your scar again?”
“Yeah. I think I saw Quirrell upstairs, in the window. Must have set it off again.” Harry rubbed his head, relishing in the chill that still lingered from the water on his hand.
Susan stomped her foot. “I can’t believe Dumbledore just blew you off when you told him how that coward affected you. If I thought she could bypass him, I’d tell my aunt. Outrageous politics.”
“Not even the school board has the power to override his choices on this, apparently.” Draco glared up towards the windows. “My father has already fielded multiple complaints this school year about Quirrell’s teaching style, and it’s gotten the board nowhere.”
Pansy rolled her eyes. “And of course he’s told you all about it.”
Draco flushed. “My father trusts me implicitly.”
They all turned to stare at him as he fidgeted.
“Which is why it’s so easy to go through his mail.”
The laughter that echoed around the courtyard cut through any leftover pain Harry could feel. He took a deep breath as the others picked up a conversation. Ron, feeling him shift against his side, looked down with a frown.
“Everything alright, mate?”
“Just… everything seems to be leading up to something. And I guess I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“Whaddya mean?”
“Hannah was mentioning everything crazy that’s happened this year and it got me thinking. Gringotts, the corridor, Norbert, my scar, the craziness in the Forest, the conflict between Bane and Firenze…”
“And what, you think it’s all connected?”
Harry shrugged.
“How does Hagrid getting a dragon egg have anything to do with the centaurs thinking Mars is bright, or whatever it was they said?”
Harry chewed his lip, a habit he unconsciously picked up from Hermione. “I don’t know. Maybe you’re right. I mean, Hagrid won Norbert.”
“Exactly. Though, with how easy it is to get information out of Hagrid, I’m honestly surprised that there’s someone out there who can’t read his poker face.” Ron chuckled as he leaned against Harry.
For a second, Harry joined in his laughter. But then, logic caught up to him. “Oh, Merlin.”
Ron’s smile fell. “What?”
“Hey, I need a sounding board,” Harry called to the group.
Just like an evening in the Nook, everyone instantly quieted and turned.
“What’s wrong?” Hermione saw the sudden worry in both Ron and Harry’s expression, and sat on Harry’s other side to gently grip his arm.
“How likely do we really think it is that Hagrid, of all people, happened across someone just carrying around a dragon egg? So close to Hogwarts?” Harry stood, pulling away from the table so he could pace.
Hannah watched him. “My uncle says that the Hogs Head is known for being a place where Aurors don’t watch. It’s not that strange that someone carrying contraband would be there.”
“But one who’s willing to trade that egg over a round of cards?” Draco sneered. “And lost it to a Gryffindor that can’t hide a secret to save his life?”
“Be nice, Malfoy.” Susan rolled her eyes.
“No, he’s got a point. It took Hadrian all of two minutes to get Hagrid to tell him all about Fluffy, right? It wouldn’t be hard for a cunning adult to get information.” Anthony spoke up, quill tapping idly against his book.
“And what, you think Professor Quirrell is capable of that?” Padma asked, glancing up towards the window Harry had seen him in earlier.
Theo scratched his head from where he was sitting on the other table under the balcony. “My older cousin says he was always really quick before he went on his sabbatical, that even as a Muggle Studies professor he was wicked smart and a favorite. But that he came back different.”
Anthony watched Harry pace. “Hadrian. Obviously you think there is more to this. Lay out the facts for us. We can make a better decision if we know everything you know.”
Harry paused mid-step. “Right. From the beginning. Hagrid and I were in the Alley on the day the almost robbery. One of the first people we ran into was Quirrell.”
“Hadrian, there had to have been hundreds of people there that day.”
“Yes, but not all have had a suspicious change of behavior in the past year. And the vault that was almost broken into was the vault that Hagrid emptied while we were there on behalf of the headmaster. The package he grabbed, that’s what’s being guarded on the forbidden corridor. And between Hagrid and what we’ve overheard, Fluffy’s not the only thing guarding it. And Quirrell apparently has been trying to learn about what the other professors have created.”
“Okay, so what?” Pansy drawled from a seat beside Theo. “Maybe he’s just overly curious about a bunch of cool magic.”
“Sure. And that’s why Snape is so concerned about what he’s doing.” Ron raised an eyebrow at her, ignoring her shrug.
“Professor Snape even thought that Quirrell was behind the troll on Samhain.” Hermione was nodding along, connecting the dots as Harry laid them out.
“When I had my detention in the Forest,” Harry continued, ignoring Neville’s call of don’t you mean my detention, “whatever that thing was had to be someone who has access to the castle, otherwise how did they get on campus? And I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that my damned scar has only ever hurt me when I’ve been around Quirrell… and when I was almost attacked by that thing. The thing, which, for added fun, seems to have something to do with Voldemort, if the centaurs have anything to say about it.”
“So you think that Quirrell was drinking unicorn blood for whatever reason. Trying to sustain his life, You-Know-Who, that is.” Padma worried at her thumbnail.
“And we know that the thing beneath that dog-thing is a Philosopher’s Stone. Known for gifting immortality.” Theo sighed. “Okay. Sure. Let’s say this all makes sense, and that we all believe that Quirrell is going after the Philosopher’s Stone. What are we supposed to do about it?”
“This is a terrible idea,” Theo groaned from behind Neville.
“It was your idea!” Pansy hissed.
“I didn’t think anyone would actually agree to it!”
Neville shushed them. “Why isn’t Malfoy the one talking to McGonagall? He could at least use his father as an excuse to talk to the headmaster, something about the school board or something.”
“You’re one of her precious lions, Neville. She likes you more. Besides, I think in both her eyes and Dumbledore’s, your grandmother is a much better excuse than Lord Malfoy.”
“What am I supposed to even say?”
“Make something up, Longbottom, for Circe’s sake.” Pansy rolled her eyes. “And make it up fast, she’s coming this way.”
As Neville started to sputter, Pansy and Theo pushed him out into the corridor proper.
“Ah, Mr. Longbottom. What are you doing inside on such a beautiful day?” The older professor smiled down at the shaking Gryffindor.
“Professor! Good day. I had… I had a question. For you. Oh, and—and Professor Dumbledore.” Neville gulped.
McGonagall blinked behind her glasses. “Indeed? Well, I’m afraid that Professor Dumbledore is not on the grounds right now, he’s been called to London for urgent business by the Ministry. But why don’t we head to my office and have a chat and some biscuits? It’ll be a welcomed break from my grading.”
It took everything in Neville to not turn around and look at the two Slytherins who were watching with wide eyes.
“He’s not here.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. We’re too late.”
“Are you sure?”
“He’s not hiding behind his desk, Justin.”
“Well. Shit.”
Padma closed the door to the office of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Anthony sighed as the empty room faded from sight. “Okay, so he’s not here, and we don’t know where his private rooms are. What are we supposed to do now?”
Justin knocked his forehead against the stone wall. “Tell the others. Hope they didn’t luck out, too. Pray to magick that Hadrian’s not about to do something stupid tonight.”
“I’m going to start a counter of how many times someone has to say ‘Hadrian, no’ over these seven years,” Draco muttered.
“You’ll lose count by next Yule,” Ron replied.
“Remind me why the two of us are the ones under this damn thing? It’s unnatural to not be able to see myself when I look down.”
“If I had the reason for that, Malfoy, I would have come up with a reason not to do it, and I wouldn’t be here.”
“Then remind me what we’re supposed to do if the coward comes up here?”
“Something stupid, I’m sure. Now, can you shut up for more than three minutes so we can focus before Harry and Hermione get up here?”
“This is bad.”
“Harry, if you say that one more time tonight, I will push you off of the astronomy tower.”
“Look, Mione, we’re going to have to do this. Albus is on his way to London, Quirrell is missing. Neville is distracting Professor McGonagall, and once we start moving, we can send Draco down to Professor Snape to let him know what’s happening.”
“I don’t understand why we can’t let Professor Snape know before we do anything?”
“Because he can’t do anything,” Susan called from across the Nook. “Even if we’re right, if Snape were to act without approval of the headmaster at the very least, he can be put away himself. For some unknown reason, students have a lot more leeway when it comes to the law.”
Hannah scoffed. “Politics are ridiculous. Hadrian, what are you going to do?”
Harry and Hermione locked eyes. “I’m going down the trapdoor.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Are you kidding?”
“You freak out over dust on your robes and you’re going to willingly go into Merlin knows what is under that slobbery dog?”
“Your mother would murder me.”
“No, she wouldn’t, you’re heir to the house.”
“Fine, and as heir to our house, I’m ordering you to stay behind. We had a plan, Draco.”
“I don’t care, Hadrian. It’s my duty to see to your safety when you obviously won’t take care of yourself.” Draco’s jaw was set. “I’m coming.”
Harry watched him for a moment, and then nodded. “Fine. You can come. But you do what I say, when I say it. And I swear to Merlin, Draco, if you don’t, I will body-bind you and leave you where you stand.”
“Deal.”
Susan looked back from where she and Hannah were stationed, watching the entrance to the third floor corridor. “We can go tell Professor Snape after you four go down.”
They all looked towards the door where Fluffy was waiting.
“This is gonna suck.”
Getting past Fluffy was easy. Even if a harp wasn’t already playing in the corner, Harry was used to getting the dog to keep calm, and the dog was more than happy to listen.
Fluffy was snoring in the corner, Harry petting his chest absently, while the others wrenched open the trapdoor and stared down.
“Granger, have any of those jars of fire on you?”
“And what, levitate it down and hope for the best?”
“Would you rather just jump?”
“If you don’t stow the attitude, Malfoy, I’ll use your wand to cast lumos and just drop it down the hole, and good luck trying to find it after.”
“Maybe we should have brought Neville instead.” Ron kicked at a plant tendril that began wrapping around his leg, his arm already caught.
Hermione had pushed herself away and towards a wall, but Draco and Harry were struggling against more of the plant.
“Harry! Devil’s Snare!” she called.
“Cheers, Granger, the name of the plant will really help,” Draco drawled from where he was watching a tendril reach towards his neck.
“Fire, Mione! Light a fire,” Harry yelled from where he was pulling it away from his chest.
“Light it with what?” she cried, eyes scanning the room.
“YOUR WAND!” the boys yelled.
Harry caught Draco’s eye. “First to the key doesn’t have to explain to your mother what happened when we inevitably get caught.”
Draco grinned back. “Deal.”
Harry scanned the keys. “There! The one with the damaged wing. Ron, stay low. Draco and I will try to trap it. Hermione, spotter.”
Ron lingered towards the bottom of the room while Draco and Harry streaked forward, Harry with an echoing laugh. The room was large, but not so big that they didn’t have to dodge around each other while searching for the key.
Draco cursed while he watched Harry slam a hand against the stone wall with a crunching noise, a slowly fluttering key in his hand.
They landed, Hermione smirking at Draco’s pout. “Shut up, Granger, and unlock the door.”
Ron and Draco argued for three minutes before Hermione started whacking them. “Either shut up and figure it out together, or go back to sit with the Devil’s Snare.”
Ron and Draco quickly ducked back into the last room and snagged two of the brooms, flying above so they could see the board. Harry took the position of the king, and the game began.
Draco saved Ron from making a stupid move, and Harry threw him the crown of the defeated king. Ron snagged the one off of the king that was moved to the edge of the board when Harry took his place, and the two shook hands with a grin.
Hermione finally got her patch of troll skin. Harry almost threw up when she tucked it into his expanded bag.
“Mione, that’s going to make everything in there smell for months, between the smoke and the troll.”
“I’ll find a freshening charm, Hadrian James, let’s go.”
“It’s logic!” Hermione laughed as she read the clue.
Draco groaned. “This must be Uncle Severus’s. He always insists that some of the best wixen could be defeated by a simple logic puzzle. He always would give me a book of muggle puzzles when he was watching me and I was too young to brew with him.”
The two bent their heads together. They nodded and pointed out the two potions for going forward and back.
“It must be replenishing, they’re all full and Quirrell obviously went through already.”
“What’s the play, Harry?” Ron finally spoke up from where they were watching Hermione and Draco think.
Harry looked up at him. “You’re the strategist. You tell me.”
Ron gave a shocked smile. “Oh. Okay.” He furrowed his brow. “Two of us should move forward. One should stay in this room. One should head back to the top and make sure an adult is heading this way.”
Harry nodded. “Okay. Draco, you go first into the next room, under my cloak. Do not make a noise, no matter what you see. If Quirrell notices you somehow, that’s when you start yelling and try to get back in this room. I will go next, and we’ll deal with whatever happens next.”
He looked at his friends. “Hermione, you know more random magic, you never know what might help us if we come back somehow. Ron, take one of these brooms and head back to the top. Get Professor Snape, McGonagall, anyone you think we can trust with this.”
Ron and Hermione both hesitated, but nodded.
Draco’s eyes were wide as he was handed Harry’s cloak. He downed the potion, covered himself, and disappeared toward the wall of flame.
“Hadrian was right, Granger, this thing smells foul now.”
“Shh!”
Harry waited for the bottle to refill, hugged his friends, and ducked through the flame.