Possibly the weakest fanfic I've ever written. Prompt fill: Alternate Ending. Written in two hours while watching Holes. Don't judge too harshly. x . x
Harry watched as Hermione went through the black flames, lifted the potion to his lips and took a drink. He took a step towards the wall of purple flames and immediately felt the heat bearing down upon him. Odd. Slowing, Harry walked closer to the flames and stopped, as if realizing that the heat was too much to bear and that he wouldn't be able to walk through, despite the potion.
Had Hermione accidentally given him the wrong drink? Had he drunk poison? Could it have been the wine?
Beginning to look panicked, Harry glanced back down at the logic puzzle and tried to figure out what he had drunk from the smallest jar. After five minutes of thought, the answer still hadn't come to him…but he hadn't died yet, so that had to be a good start.
That said, he was still stuck in an underground tunnel with the Sorcerer's Stone on one side and rooms filled with enchantments on the other. Neither option seemed smart so he sat down, leaning against a wall, to wait for Dumbledore.
He woke to someone softly calling his name. Blearily, he blinked up straight into the sky blue eyes of Professor Dumbledore.
"Professor Dumbledore…"
"Yes, Harry. You're fine m'boy. I'm aware of what's happening beyond this room. However, I need you to stay here and await Professor McGonagall's arrival. You will need to inform her of the events as they happened if I do not return from the next room by the time she arrives. Do you understand, Harry?"
Harry nodded.
"Excellent. In that case…" he trailed off as he walked to the potion bottles and grabbed the second bottle from the end. Lifting it in Harry's direction, he swallowed the bronze liquid and stepped through the wall of flames to the other side.
He had fought the good fight, but apparently he hadn't been strong enough.
He had heard the rumors. People believed all sorts of things that weren't true. Harry forced him down into the chamber. Harry went nuts and injured Ron when Ron beat him at chess. Professor McGonagall had actually caught Harry redhanded with the poison in his hand.
None of them were true, naturally. Actually, the only rumor that existed to Harry was that no one would ever know what happened beyond Professor Snape's logic puzzle.
All that mattered was that Professor Dumbledore didn't make it out of the basement…and Professor McGonagall was now in charge of the school.
"Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall's sharp voice captured his attention again, "what do you have to say for yourself?"
"I'm sorry ma'am. I was just trying to help. Professor Dumbledore went through all that trouble to hide the Sorcerer's Stone and I knew someone was going to steal it. And I was right! Clearly someone was already there or Professor Dumbledore would still…be…" Harry trailed off and averted his eyes to the floor.
"I'm sorry for your loss ma'am."
Her eyes pierced his from behind the Headmaster's desk, a large red bird standing behind her gawking at him as well.
"May I return to my dormitory now?"
"Yes, Mr. Potter, you may," she cleared her throat, "but please don't perpetuate any of the rumors on your way back to your room. There are enough lies being spread today, they don't need to be coming from you."
"No, Professor McGonagall." Harry trudged out of the office slowly and rode the spiral staircase down to the bottom.
Harry sighed. "Well now what am I going to do?"
The end of the school year arrived sooner than expected. Harry's trunk had been packed, Hedwig had been caged, and Harry was heading down to the closing feast.
As he took a seat next to Hermione and Ron (newly released from the hospital wing), Professor McGonagall stood at the staff table and waited for silence to fall.
"Professor Dumbledore was a brave and honorable man who gave his all to his school and his students. He will be greatly missed. Let us honor his memory by singing the Hogwarts song one last time before we board the train and depart for the summer holidays."
Picking an appropriate tune, the trio quietly sang along with the school.
"And now, let us tuck into our feasts so that we may go to bed early and wake up to make the train on time. Enjoy the meal."
As McGonagall returned to her seat, the subdued students ate their final meal of the school year.
The next morning, as the students hurried down the hill to catch the Hogwarts Express, there as a mournful wailing overhead. The trio looked up and spotted Fawkes circling the grounds before disappearing into a flash of flame.
"What an eventful year," Hermione exclaimed. "I don't know about you guys, but I can't imagine another year like this."
Ron and Harry looked at each other and grinned sadly. Each linking elbows together, they continued walking away from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.