Chapter 14
Exams came and past. Harry had no idea how how he could even focused with the knowledge that Voldemort was so close to him. He had been told his whole life that he had been the one to kill, destory, the very man trying to get back at life.
What if he came to finish what he started 11 years ago?
Harry had certainly never felt such a greater need to talk to his family, even though he knew they would not be able to help.
Unless they took him out of school?
But Harry loved it here, his friends were amazing and the thought of leaving them in this place where He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was about to come back to full power made him visibly sick. Not that he could remember the Dark Lord, being an infant and all, he could hardly remember what he had for breakfast most days. All he knew was that this man forced terrible traumatic stress on everyone afterwards, his parents barely talked about what happened and sometimes Sirius and Remus leave the room.
Summer was starting and this year the heat was coming on early. It was boiling after their last exam, which was Transfiguration, and Harry had the urge to rip his shirt and pants off and walk around in his boxers. Everyone seemed to be feeling the same and the group decided to go outside and sit by the Black Lake, rolling their sleeves to their elbows and dipping their toes in the water
“We need to get the stone before Vold-“
“Don’t say his name.” Goyle hissed.
“Before You-Know-Who decides to do it himself and kills us all.”
“So… the Dark Lord is the Gringotts thief?” Draco asked.
“Well, if he’s resorted to drinking unicorn blood then I don’t think he would have had the power to sneak into Gringotts without someone recognising his face.”
“Without all this shit information, we could do with some happy thoughts, like the fact summer holidays are coming closer and Harry’s birthday is soon!” Goyle offered.
Harry rubbed his forehead again.
“This is so annoying, it’s hurt before but not as bad as this!”
“Go to Madam Pomfrey.” Draco suggested.
“Oh yeah, and watch as she snitches on us again.”
Draco, Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle all looked at him with too much pity.
“I’m not ill, I’m just frustrated and hot. It’s too hot!”
“Harry, relax, we all know nothing bad will happen as long as Dumbledore is here. He’s the most powerful wizard of the century for a reason.” Draco reassured, patting Harry’s shoulder.
Harry nodded but couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was watching him. Even in the Great Hall, which was the last place Voldemort would go to, he could feel those beady eyes staring into his soul and raising his wand to cast that green spell that made Harry famous in the first place.
Professor Snape was not so helpful either, he had been all paranoid and would flinch whenever someone mentioned Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. One time in potions, Hermione asked if a potion had something to do with something Professor Quirrell had said in class, and Snape knocked over a cauldron and screamed at everyone to leave so he could clean up.
It was unnerving to say the least.
Harry was telling Pansy and Draco all this as they walked together down the second floor corridor, a day after the stressful exam period. He looked up from the ground and saw Hagrid run around a corner.
Harry stopped on his tracks and grabbed Draco’s hand to see if he saw the same thing.
“Did you just see Hagrid run?” He whispered, not wanting Pansy to hear them. She fortunately didn’t even notice they stopped and obliviously turned into the Charms classroom.
“I did, yeah, what has that got to do with anything?”
“Ooo, what are you two gossiping about?” Blaise came up behind, sliding between the two of them and wrapping both arms around their necks.
“Hagrid ran around the corner that leads to the third floor. I think he’s going to see Fluffy.”
Blaise’s smile exited his face.
“Lets have a sneak peak.”
The trio sprinted up the stairs and immediately bumped into Hagrid who was going back down. His bearded face was pale and he looked as if he was about to cry.
“You okay, Hagrid?” Harry asked sincerely.
Hagrids bottom lip wobbled and he started heaving out sobs. “No.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Fluffy!” He wailed. “He’s sleepin’ an’ the trap door’s open an’ it’s all meh fault.”
Blaise patted his arm awkwardly. “I’m sure it’s not your fault.”
“Bu’ it is! I told him how to ge’ passed him, all ‘cause I was drunk!”
“He? Whose He?”
“You-Know-Who.” said Hagrid, sobbing even louder this time.
“Oh no.” Harry muttered, feeling cold all over.
“It’s concerning Harry knew this was going to happen.” Blaise whispered to Draco.
Harry ignored him.
The boys looked at each other and promised Hagrid that they’d talk to Dumbledore, he’d know what to do. They then took off down the hall before Hagrid could say anything and only stopped when they realised they had no idea where the Headmasters office was.
“We’ll have to-“
Then a familiar voice echoed down the hall. “What are you three doing? Classes are on.”
It was Professor McGonagall with seven stacked piles of exam papers floating behind her.
“We want to see Headmaster Dumbledore.” Draco said.
“See Headmaster Dumbledore?” She repeated, narrowing her eyes as if to see the real reason. “Why?”
“It- It’s private.” Harry muttered, blushing under her scrutinising eyes.
He immediately wished he had said something different because her nostrils flared. “Professor Dumbledore left 10 minutes ago.”
“Left?” Blaise gasped.
“He is needed in London to see the Minister of Magic, not that that involves you.”
“He’s gone?” Said Harry frantically. “He’s gone, now?”
“Professor Dumbledore is a very important and powerful wizard, Mr Potter, he has many demands-“
“But this is important!”
McGonagall lightly snorted. “Is it more important than the Minister of Magic?”
Harry pulled on his hair tightly and groaned in frustration. Everything was going wrong, so very wrong.
“Professor, this involves the Phi-“ Draco started when Harry grabbed his friends arms and pulled them away.
“Mr Potter! Detention for the three of you!” McGonagall shouted.
Harry only rolled his eyes. How did his family have such admiration for this women? But he didn’t stop pulling his friends until they were out the front of the chamber door that held Fluffy.
“Merlin, count me out. I’m not facing that beast again." Blaise sniffed.
“Fine. You two go back but I’m going in before Voldemort takes the stone.” Harry said seriously, his hand on the doorknob.
“Harry.” Draco hissed, retreating Harry’s hand. “Are you stupid? First, we’re on the third floor which is forbidden, secondly we already have detention and this will probably get us expelled!”
“So what?” Harry shouted. “If Voldemort gets ahold of that stone there won’t be a bloody school to expel us from. Haven’t you heard what he was capable of when he had power? I’d be dead, your parents will go back to being Death Eaters and we’d all be doomed.”
Blaise pulled a face. “How will we all sneak past Fluffy? It’s going to wake up if it senses we’re there.”
“What- What do you mean by ’we’?”
“Shove of it, Harry, you don’t seriously think we’re letting you go by yourself.” Draco said sternly.
“Exactly.” Blaise added. “You don’t think you could get the stone without us? You can barely make your bed without help.”
“It’s a big bed, okay.” Harry muttered.
“The point is, you need us. Blaise is top of the class in Charms and I know I know more about the Dark Lord than you do, if you go by yourself, you’re setting yourself up for a major defeat.”
“If we get caught, you two will be expelled as well.” Harry fought.
“You can’t expel three students for saving the world.” Blaise smirked.
Draco chuckled and patted Harry hard on the shoulder. “And someone has to keep the golden boy alive.”
“You did not just call me that,” Harry groaned, “I didn’t think any of you read the Daily Prophet.”
“Rita Skeeta writes thrilling articles about you. ‘The Golden Boy of the century’.”
“Fine, fine.” Harry growled. “We can at least use my cloak instead of going in the middle of the day. We’re less likely to get caught if it’s dark.”
“Ugh, McGonagall will make us go to detention. We have her third period.” Blaise groaned as they walked to Charms.
“If it’s tonight, we’ll just have to miss it.”
Draco wiggled his eyebrows. “I think Potter is going through his rebel stage.”
Harry kicked him so hard in the ankle, Draco almost tripped.
——
Dinner seemed to go for longer than ever. Dumbledore was not at the head of the staff table and there was a thick tension in the room, Harry had no idea where it was coming from. Professor Snape kept eyeing Quirrell’s empty seat nervously. Remus Lupin was hunched over his meal, his face contorted with pain that reminded Harry that the full moon was tonight. He felt guilty then for not talking to his godfather in so long, but he had other things to worry about and he knew Remus did not mind at all.
Blaise was right though, McGonagall had made the boys stay in after class and gave them all a nights detention for running in the halls, ignoring a teacher and wagging class.
“I had hoped you boys would have learned your lesson after your last detention.” She had told them, sounding very disappointed.
Harry still could not see what his family saw in her.
Luckily, Harry, Draco and Blaise were going to miss it because they were currently in their dorm, quietly tip-toeing out of the room so they didn’t wake Crabbe and Goyle. In the Common Room, there was only two seven years lip locked and moaning on the couch closest to the door. The room was low lit and the Black Lake created pretty ripples across the floor from the full moon shining brightly.
Harry blushed at the state of them, joined at the hip and eating the others face off. Blaise, on the other hand, was smirking and made a crude gesture of putting his finger in a hole he made out of his fist and making a show of pulling it in and out.
“Disgusting, Zabini.” Draco scolded quietly.
It was fortunate the couple was so caught up with each other because they didn’t even budge when the stone wall creaked open and then slammed shut behind them.
Harry let out a deep breath and wiped his eyes. “Lets get going then, if you don’t want to go then now is the time to back out.”
“Get moving, Potter.” Draco said gleefully.
Without bumping into Mrs Norris or Filch, they quickly made it to the chamber and dropped the cloak, no one was going to be here.
Draco lit his wand and they noticed the chamber door was already ajar.
“Voldemort’s already gotten passed Fluffy.” Harry mumbled.
“Don’t say his name.” Draco hissed.
Blaise swallowed loudly and pushed open the door.
Since Draco and Harry had never actually seen the dog, it was a terrifying sight. There were three large, scary but none of them were awake. That’s when Harry noticed a harp playing a pretty tune beside the dog. In front of the three-headed-dog, was the trapdoor.
“That must be what Hagrid was crying about, You-Know-Who knows got passed Fluffy with music.” Draco said.
Blaise shushed him and went to open the trapdoor. The three boys looked down only to not see anything but pitch black. The hot breathe of the dogs was blowing hard against the boys and Draco pulled his sweater up to cover his nose.
“Quick, before it wakes up.” Blaise hurried.
Harry sat on the edge of the trapdoor and slowly lowered himself until he was only hanging on by his fingertips. Then he looked seriously at his friends. “If I don’t give you a signal, don’t go after me, go to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore.”
“Of course.” Draco replied, his voice cracking. Blaise nodded.
Then he dropped. Harry felt the air get colder the longer he fell. He fell and fell until-
He landed on something cold and strange. When Harry regained his eyesight, he noticed it was a pile of plants.
“It’s okay!” He shouted, “it’s a soft landing, you can jump.”
Blaise landed next to Harry a moment later with a thump. He was sprawled on his back and looked around with a frown.
“Devil’s Snare? Oh Merlin, we have to get out of here.”
“What’s wrong?” Harry started when a thump behind him indicated that Draco had landed.
“Disgusting.” Draco whined, pulling a spiky stick out of his pants.
“Stop moving!” Blaise snapped. “We need to get off this thing before it kills us.”
“How in the eyes of Morgana do you suggest we get off this plant without moving?” Draco screamed.
“Devils Snare likes the damp and dark environment so we obviously light a fire.”
“Then light one!” Harry yelled, feeling the plant slowly wrap around his ankle.
“Shut up or I’ll light you on fire!”
Blaise got out his wand and muttered the spell, the Devils Snare froze for a moment before quickly unwinding around the boys. They managed to wiggle out in one piece.
“Good thing one of us payed attention in Herbology.” Harry teased.
“Shut up.” Blaise grinned.
There was only one passage way so they followed it. It was a sloping passageway that got thinner and thinner the longer they walked. Water dripped from broken pipes along the wall and made Draco screeched once or twice when they landed on his neck.
“Do you hear something?” Harry said.
“Sounds like… fluttering wings?” Draco frowned.
They ran towards the noise until they came to a brightly lit chamber, it had an arching roof like the Entrance Hall and was filled with key shaped creatures with wings that were fluttering around. On the opposite side, there was a large wooden door.
“Do we just run across then?” Harry suggested.
“These creatures are shaped like keys.” Blaise noted. “One of them unlocks the door on the other side, I expect.”
“You-Know-Who might have left it unlocked?” Draco said, sounding hopeful.
Blaise snorted. “They might start attacking you if you run across the room.”
“Look!” Harry pointed. “See that old looking key, its wings are broken.”
“How did you see that?” Draco asked narrowing his eyes to see it better.
“Glasses.”
“Well there are brooms over there so you’re probably right.” Blaise said, pointing to the far corner where a cart of broomsticks lay.
“It’s like the Professors want Voldemort to get the stone.” Harry muttered as they each grabbed a broomstick and pushed off the ground.
Harry, being the youngest Seeker of the century, always had a knack for spotting things. But the moment the boys got on the brooms, the key birds began flying quicker and in a whirlwind circle around them. Harry groaned and looked around for the limp key. His eyes zoomed in on the key at the bottom of the whirlwind and grinned, he lowered himself on his broom and dived for it, he reached out a hand and wrapped it around the key.
“I got it!” He shouted.
Draco and Blaise cheered and they got off their broomsticks and raced to the door to open it. The key was fighting to get free in Harry’s hand but he rammed it in the keyhole and it opened it immediately. They had been right.
The next chamber was so dark they couldn’t see anything at all. When they walked in, a light turned on to show a large, human sized chess board.
“Woah.” The three boys said at once.
“Am I dreaming?” Blaise sniffed dramatically.
“I hope not.” Draco sighed dreamily.
“What do we do now?” Harry asked. He was looking wishfully at the door on the other side of the board.
“We play our way across, obviously.” Draco snarked.
“Or we could blast them all?” Blaise offered. “None of us are really that good at chess.”
Draco looked properly offended. “Excuse me? I’ve beaten you more times than I’ve lost.”
“Yes, but you know what happens in chess. We could die.”
“We could use ‘Confringo’.” Draco suggested.
“We haven’t learned that yet.” said Harry.
"Father showed me how to do it over the holidays, we learn it in second year for duelling.”
“We aren’t allowed to use magic outside of school, though.” Harry said, but he was ignored.
Blaise looked pleased. “Give it a go, then.”
Draco took out his wand and shook his hands out. With a deep breath he shouted the spell. Nothing happened. Draco groaned and shook his hands again before closing his eyes and giving it another go, nothing happened.
Blaise sighed. “We can just play our way to the door.”
“No! We are not killing ourselves for a bloody stone.” Draco snapped.
He gave them a tight smile and raised his hand again. He shouted the spell so loudly it could have woken the whole castle. Harry had no idea what they expected to happen but all the pieces that were on the board exploded into millions of pieces. They flew off the board and joined the other destroyed chess pieces on the edge of the room.
Blaise and Harry looked at Draco in awe. “How did you do that?”
Draco shrugged, looking very pleased with himself.
“Let’s get out of here before we get stuck here.” Blaise muttered.
They reached the other door and Harry pushed it open.
A disgusting stench filled their noses, making them all pull their clothes to cover their noses. On the floor in front of them, was a troll larger than the one they fought in the girls bathroom. It was knocked out and breathing heavily, its large legs covering the floor to the other door.
“Thank Salazar we don’t have to fight this one.” Harry whispered.
With watery eyes, they stepped over the troll and ran to the other door and pushed it open. Harry almost flinched at what could be on the other side of the door but found there wasn’t much in there.
Only a table under a warm spotlight with seven differently shaped bottles all in a neat line.
“What do we have to do here?” Blaise asked.
They stepped onto the threshold and fire immediately sprang up around the edges of the room and in front of the door on the other side of the room. It wasn’t ordinary fire either, instead it was purple. They were trapped.
“Look here.” Harry said, seizing a rolled up scroll on the table with the bottles. Blaise and Draco looked over his shoulder and read along.
Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Three of us will help you, which ever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Two will transport the drinker back instead,
Another among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine’s left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
Draco chuckled and grabbed the paper out of Harry’s hands. He was grinning like a manic.
“Don’t look so worried, I can do this for us.” He said with such confidence Harry didn’t believe him.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. Everything we need to solve this is on paper.”
“If you muck this up, we could be stuck her forever, or dead.” Blaise snapped.
“Give me a moment or I’ll purposely give you the poison.”
Draco read the paper before looking at the potions and picking up the smallest one. He opened it and sniffed, with a satisfied quirk of his eyebrow, he gave it back to Harry.
“Here you go, this one will remove the fire.”
“Why are you so sure?” Harry questioned.
“Snape must have made this chamber, he’s made a few of these for father.”
“I don’t want to know what your father used these to get passed.” Blaise chaffed.
“I’ve helped with two of these challenges, all you did was figure out that Devils Snare doesn’t like fire.” Draco snapped.
Harry opened it and frowned. “There’s barely enough for one person. You two won’t be able to go with me.”
Blaise grabbed the bottle. “Why do you get to go ahead?”
“Because I’ve already defeated Voldemort before and if he’s after anyone in this school, it would be me!”
“You think you’re all that? You think you’re the most important boy in the world?” Blaise mocked.
“I think I want to stop Voldemort from overtaking the world like he did 11 years ago!”
Draco grabbed Blaise’s arm. “Harry is more powerful than all of us, remember at the Snake Conclave?”
“That doesn’t mean anything, what does being more powerful even mean?” Blaise hissed, ripping his arm out of Draco’s grip.
“I don’t know what it means,” said Harry sardonically, “I don’t even know why the stone is at Hogwarts, but I would rather I die than you. So give me the bottle or we will be here for a long, long time.”
Blaise, looking slightly impressed, gave Harry the bottle and before he could even think, Harry swallowed it all in one gulp and walked towards the purple fire. With one last salut to his friends, he stepped through and pushed the door into the next chamber.
It was a large chamber with a large burning fire on the other side. It was releasing waves of boiling heat that made Harry want to rip off his sweater, but when he touched the stone clad wall, it was freezing. On the side was a large rectangle object that was covered in a long cloth. In front of the fire was a hooded figure. His shadow was reflecting behind him that made him look much bigger.
Harry knew exactly who it was.
Before he could speak with a well rehearsed starting line he had been practicing all dinner, the hooded figure spoke.
“Harry Potter. I was expecting you.”
But instead of sounding like the Dark Lord he had been expecting, it sounded like someone he strangely recognised. And when the figure turned, he lowered the cloak and revealed a turban wearing, stuttering, usually pale man.
“Professor Quirrell?” Harry gasped.
Quirrell chuckled darkly. “Don’t sound so surprised. Who were you expecting?”
“Definitely not you.” He snorted.
“What, you weren’t expecting stu-stu-stuttering Professor Quirrell?” The professor mocked, he had the humanity to look offended when a raspy voice behind him said something. “Ask him the question, Quirinus.”
Quirrell gestured Harry to come forward and toward the covered object.
Harry didn’t move because he wasn’t that stupid.
The professor rolled his eyes and with a quick motion, he removed the cloth to reveal a large mirror. It had a gold border with fancy arches and gems encrusted into it. On top of it, was a sentence in a different language.
“Face the mirror, Harry Potter, it won’t hurt you.” Quirrell urged.
Harry raised his wand but did not move a muscle. Quirrell groaned with impatience and lifted his arm, with the flick of his finger Harry felt a strong force move him down the stairs and in front of the mirror. Harry tried to fight it but the magic was too strong.
“This mirror is the Mirror of Erised.” Quirrell said dreamily, stroking the side of it. “It is inscripted with the phrase ‘Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi’ which translates to ‘I show not your face but your hearts desire’. Isn’t that lovely, Harry Potter? This mirror is the key to finding the stone, I’m not exactly sure how to use it and after an hour of staring at myself, no matter that I’m gorgeous, something has yet to happen… trust Dumbledore to choose something like this… but when I find it, I’ll be far away from here when he returns from London. Isn’t it funny that Dumbledore chooses this exact time to leave Hogwarts, Harry Potter?”
“Stop calling me by my full name, it’s weird.” Harry snapped, shoving his wand to the mans chest.
Quirrell looked down on him and gestured for him to look into the mirrors reflection. “What do you see?”
Harry looked and saw only himself, his black hair was crazier than usual and his circular glasses where smudged with soot. It wasn’t any different from a usual mirror. Then his reflection smirked at him. Harry’s eyes widened as he saw his reflection tap its right pocket. With an uncertain hand, Harry felt his own right pocket and felt a lump that identified awfully like a stone.
How that got in there is beyond him.
“What do you see, Harry Potter?” Quirrell asked.
“I see,” Harry swallowed and watched his reflection raise a finger to its lips. “I see myself winning the House Cup, everyone’s cheering and my parents are there.”
“Is that all?”
“Er… the Slytherins are throwing a huge party for me and there’s lots of treacle tart.”
“He is lying.” The raspy voice shouted. Quirrell flinched and moved away from Harry.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Reveal me, my time is now.”
Quirrell shallowed thickly but put a confident smile on his face. He slowly walked towards Harry before turning his back to him. He reached behind his head and unraveled the purple turban. It fell to the ground to reveal another head.
Harry’s scar was scorching with pain and he fell to the ground with a horrifying scream. The face was grinning wickedly. It had bright red eyes, two slits where his nose should be and his face colour was an unnatural grey colour. Harry had never seen anything so terrifying in his life.
“The stone is in his pocket! Retrieve it for me!” Voldemort demanded.
Quirrell turned around and advanced on Harry. He gripped Harry’s arms and pulled him onto his feet. Harry was sobbing from the agony but still managed to pull the professor/Voldemort to the ground, they rolled around, trying to get on top but Quirrell won and started feeling Harry’s jean pockets.
“I’ve got it! My Dark Lord, I have it!” Quirrell celebrated, holding up the Philosophers Stone.
Harry did not hear what Voldemort had to say because with the last of his energy, he pressed his hand on Quirrells face. The smile on his face exited and distorted into torment. Blisters and burns formed on his face as he screamed, it was turning to a bright red and his skin started melting off.
“No!” Voldemort screamed.
Quirrell tried to get away but Harry covered his face with both hands and watched with some enjoyment as Quirrell dropped the stone, turned to dust and disintegrated at Harry’s feet.
His legs felt heavy and he went down, down, down till he couldn’t see anything at all.