Chapter 2: the forbidden corridor
After the meal the trio had followed the group of Hufflepuf first years out of the great hall and down the stairs to the dungeons. They had just passed a painting with a bowl of fruit when the group of students stopped in front of a small oak door which Harry was sure was too low for some of the upper years.
''Loyalty,'' The prefect that had lead them here said and the door sprung open. Everyone flowed into the room.
Upon entering the room Harry took a couple of moments to look around. If he had to describe the place with one word he would call it cosy. The room itself was very light and had warm feeling to it. It kind of reminded him of how he envisioned the Hobbits homes when he read Tolkien's books.
Once everyone was in the prefect started speaking again. ''Welcome to Hufflepuff, this is our common room, in here you will spend most of you time when you are not attending lessons. My name is Tonks and I am the fifth year female prefect if you have any question than you can ask me or any of the other prefect at any time. I will now give the word over to our head – professor Sprout.''
The first years all whirled around when the prefect had gestured to someone behind them.
The rather plump looking witch gave the room a bright smile, ''Thank you Miss Tonks, I will take it from here.'' She then walked to the middle of the room so that every could say her properly and faced the students. ''Firstly I am professor Sprout I teach Herbology and I am your head of house. To all the new students I say welcome to Hufflepuff! And to all those coming back, welcome back! I Now I am sure many are pretty tired, but before you go to sleep I have a couple of announcements to make for the first years, and of course our new fourth years.''
She paused a moment to give those who didn't needed to be here and didn't want to hear it to leave.
''Hufflepuff house values many things one of them is loyalty. While it pains me to say it, the rest of Hogwarts doesn't have a too high a opinion of our house, therefore we must ensure we always watch out for each other. Another thing we value is hard work, therefore we have a assignments of sorts for every student in Hufflepuff.''
Seeing the questioning looks on her students she elaborated. ''Each students will receive their own bedroom, but don't get too happy just yet. Your room will just be big enough for a single bed and your trunk to start with.''
''To start with, Professor?'' A redhead girl asked.
''Like is said we appreciate hard workers. So you do extraordinary well with school work? We add an expansion charm to your room. You take the time to tutor others? Your own desk in your room. You name it and we can add it as long as you truly deserve it. Of course you can always bunk down and study how to do those things yourself.''
A lot of the students looked exited and stated to discuss on what things they could do with their rooms.
''Now trough there are the bedrooms,'' She said while gesturing to one of the corridors leading out of the room. The grey coloured doors are the empty ones. To enter you need to put your open hand on it and the magic on the door will registrar you as the new inhabitant. The colour of the door will than change to either yellow or black depending on the gender; yellow for the girls and black for the boys. Your last name will also appear on the door, so don't worry that you can't find it back. Any questions so far?''
No one said anything so she continued. ''The doors won't have a doorknob on the outside and the only way to open it is to lay your hand on it again. The door will recognise your magic signature and will open. Trough I must warn you not to try to enter in other rooms consequences aren't pretty. Breakfast is at eight, where you will receive you timetable so make sure you are on time. Now off you go and remember my door is always open for you guys and girls.''
Everyone was about to move to the corridor when Sprout added as afterthought. ''Oh before I forgot there will be another 'door' in your room which will lead to the public bathroom. Well it's not a actual door, it's more like a portal. It's quite an ingenious piece of magic. It send you to the correct bathroom and back to your own room. Maybe an interesting idea for a research paper somewhere in the future is to find out how the portal in the bathroom can send you back to your own room even though there will only be one portal there.''
Having said the professor left the room and the first years and the trio moved into the corridor. They took three rooms next to each other. When Harry touched the door, it turned black and 'FLAMEl' was written with yellow letters on it.
The room itself was to put it mildly small. A single bed took up most of the space. To the side of the room there was another door which Harry assumed was the one the teacher had been talking about.
'Great,' Harry thought; space expansion charms weren't exactly his strong point and while he could easily conjure or transfigure a better bed, there was just not enough space for it.
He pulled his wand out of his holster and started scanning the room for anything interesting. There wasn't much the door back outside had two kinds of protections on it. A identification ward and some kind of gender repelling ward.
'Must be there so that boys and girls can't get in each other room,' Harry thought when he noticed that last thing, 'Not that it is very powerful.' Harry mussed. He had a pretty decent knowledge about wards and if necessary he could alter the ward is such a way that it would allow females in and didn't activate the alarm that was woven in the ward that would go off if someone messes with it.
Still all that was for later, now he had to go check if Dumbledore really was as idiotic as he thought.
Fifteen minutes later and the trio had slipped out of the common room. The use of notice-me-not and disillusionment charms greatly assisted in leaving the room undetected. Of course the room wasn't all that full to begin with so that helped to.
Once they were out of the room they made their way over to the third floor as quietly as possibly. The trip was relatively uneventful. There was a small moment of panic when some cat kept staring at them as if he could see through their charms, but he didn't do anything.
Finally they reached the third floor and they located the forbidden corridor.
''This must be it,'' Harry said after they located a locked door.
Pulling out his wand, he started it waving it and muttering spells under his breath. After several minutes of doing this he lowered his wand back down. ''There is only a basic locking charm on the door. I highly doubt that anyone past their first year here can't get past this door. Past the door is a bit more complicated; I can detect a being with a large magical core, most likely some kind of magical creature. There is also some kind of detection ward in there. It is not close to this door so maybe it is on another door I can't really tell from this distance.''
''So what are we going to do?'' Amy asked.
''Redo the disillusionment and silencing charms, also use a spell to mask you scent. We are going in to check what is behind the door.''
The girls nodded, they all applied the spells on themselves and after Amy and Bella put a hand on Harry's shoulder, so not to lose track of each other, they unlocked and entered the room.
Upon entering the room Harry felt his shoulders being squeezed rather painfully, but he paid it not mind because he was a bit too preoccupied staring at a large three headed dog.
'You have got to be kidding me,' Harry thought, 'This is behind such a poorly locked door?'
Looking around the room he noticed that there was a hatch on the floor. He assumed that there was the detection ward he had detected earlier.
Unfortunately the dog had one of its paw on it and regardless how brave he was. There is a real difference between being brave and willingly go near a dog who's head is larger than your own body. He also was quite aware of the opinion of his two companion going by the feeling he felt in his shoulder.
Pulling out his wand he slowly kept taking steps forward until he reached the point where he could scan the trapdoor and remain the furthest distance away as possible from the dog.
Reaching the point, still undetected Harry began scanning the trapdoor. When he was finished he started moving backward, keeping his eye on the dog.
When he was back out of the room he immediately closed the door and dropped the charms on himself, shortly followed by the two girls who Harry noticed looked rather pale.
''What the hell was that?'' Amy hissed.
'' A Cerberus, I believe.'' Bella supplied still looking quite shocked.
''At least it serves as a better obstacle then that that door.'' Harry said.
''Shouldn't we do something about that door anyway?'' Amy asked. ''Who knows who else would enter the room with that kind of locking charm on it?''
Harry shrugged, ''You're probably right, Bella can you put your best general locking charms on it?''
''Sure,'' She said before pulling her wand out of her holster and starting adding locking charms on the door.
While Bella was busy casting, Amy questioned. ''So, what are we going to do now?''
''Not sure,'' Harry admitted. ''I am pretty sure the stone is hidden beyond that trapdoor, but there is a ward around it, that from what I could see will notify the caster if anyone passes it.''
Gathering his thought for a moment, Harry said. ''I honestly have no idea how to bypass that ward and we are here to find out if anyone is after the stone, not to actually retrieve it. So for now we assume it is here and we will look out for any people attempting to get it. That is unless either of you have a better idea?''
Amy gave a negative reply and Bella just shook her head while she mumbled her last incantation before saying. '' It's done, whoever is skilled enough to get past this door now should be skilled enough to at the least distract the beast sufficiently to make it safely back out of the door.''
''Good job,'' Harry complimented, ''Now let's go back to our dormitories, we will have to get up way too early tomorrow morning.''
XXX
The next morning found two bleary eyed persons and one in their friends opinion way to cheery persons sitting at the Hufflepuff table.
Amy was excitedly talking about some of the opponents they will be facing this season while both Harry and Bella were merely occasionally nodding. You could say that neither was much of a morning person.
''So, I heard that the Bulgarian team recruited a new seeker our age who is supposedly very good.''
''Are you talking about Victor Krum by any chance?'' A boy sitting near the trio asked.
''Eh yes I believe his name was Krum,'' Amy said. ''And you are?''
The boy looked slightly embarrassed and said. ''Sorry to interrupt in your conversation like that, I am a seeker too and I tend to get a bit exited when I hear that someone mine age can play the position professionally. I am Cedric Diggory by the way.''
''Nice to meet you, I am Amelia Carpentier and the ones who look like they will fall asleep any moment over there are Harry Flamel and Belladonna Sangria.''
''I think most people here know who you three are.'' Cedric replied. ''Especially after your performance in the junior league.''
''Are you three planning on playing for the house team?'' He asked after they hadn't responded. ''I asked professor Sprout last night and she told me there are no rules that prohibit you from joining.''
''Indeed there aren't,'' A voice behind them said. Looking behind them, the trio saw the squat and rather short woman.
''Mr. Flamel, Miss Carpentier, Miss Sangria, here are your schedules, I receive word from professor McGonagall that the tree of you wanted to take the Ancient runes and Arithmancy electives, is that correct?''
The trio gave a positive reply and the professor handled them and several other nearby a piece of parchment. ''These are your schedules, I am sure Mr. Diggory is more than willing to show you around until you have found your way around.''
Just when she was about to walk away she said. ''Oh and the Quidditch trials will be held next week on Friday evening.''
Harry took a sip from his coffee and looked at the schedule he received. He began Monday morning with Herbology followed by Ancient Runes, after that it was time for lunch, directly after lunch he had a class Arithmancy, the last class of the day was astronomy at midnight. Harry groaned at reading that, he wasn't sure why the subject was mandatory in the first place, but to have it on the first day of the week, he could hardly call that a good begin of the week. Tuesday began with a double History of magic lesson. From what he heard through the grapevine he could use that lesson to recover some sleep. The only other lesson he had that day was Potions after lunch. On Wednesday he only had Charms in the morning, the rest of the day he was free. On Thursday he head two lessons; Transfiguration in the morning and Defense against the dark arts during noon. On the last day of the week he began again with History of magic followed by Charms and after lunch, Potions.
He looked up from his schedule when he heard a sudden noise and saw a large swarm of owls descend on the hall. 'Interesting,' he thought. 'There must be some kind of ward around the castle that only allows mail to be delivered at certain times otherwise all those owls wouldn't be arriving at the same time.'
His thoughts were interrupted by three owls who dropped letters in front of him and a single owl who dropped a newspaper in front of him. Putting the newspaper aside for now and started to read the three letters.
Dear Harry,
I hope your journey went well. I just received news that you might find interesting; there was a break-in into the Gringotts London branch. After a bit of 'talking' I managed to convince a Goblin to tell me more about it. It turns out that the vault that was broken into was one of their better quality ones. That specific vault was emptied that very same day by one Rubeus Hagrid (groundkeeper of Hogwarts)and he retrieved what the Goblin described as small and package wrapped in brown paper. If only going by the size than it is a good possibility that he took the stone. If so then I want you to be extra careful, if whoever is after the stone is capable of breaking into one of the more secure Gringotts vault then they are not to be underestimated.
Say hi to the girls for me.
With Love,
Mum
Harry frowned after reading the letter. He had to agree that the thief is a dangerous individual if he or she managed to break in a vault that is extra secured. It also means that his father was correct and someone was after the stone.
Putting the letter aside he picked up one of the other ones. This specific letter could hardly be described as one; it was just a piece of parchment with a couple of sentences on it.
YOU COWARD! HOW DARE YOU RUN OF TO SOME ISLAND? DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN AVOID HAVING OUR MATCHES BY DOING THIS?
Harry sighted, it wasn't really hard to know who wrote that one even if it wasn't signed. Dropping this letter too, he picked up the last one.
Dear Harry,
I received word from your father that he enrolled you in Hogwarts. I want you to use your free time to continue your exercises. I will be testing your progress when you return home for the holidays.
Good luck with you education,
Yours sincerely,
Fu Li
P.S. Boris and Lillian send their kind regards. Angana has some 'emotional problems' right now, but I am sure she too wishes you well.
P.P.S. My granddaughter has also started her first year at your school. I am sure you remember little Su. Can you watch out for her while you are there?
Dropping the letter he thought back to the sorting. He was pretty sure a Su Li was sorted in Ravenclaw, but honestly he wasn't paying all that much attention so he could be wrong. He would look into it later.
''Anything interesting?'' Amy queried after harry finished reading.
''One was from master Li and the other was from my mother. Apparently there was a break-in in a Gringotts vault that was just emptied by a Hogwarts employee. He saw no reason to mention the other 'letter'.
Amy seemed to understand the hidden message and gave an single nod in understanding. ''What did Mr. Li want?''
''He told me to continue my exercises while I was here and requested that I looked after his granddaughter. You remember I told you about her?''
Amy nodded, ''Su right? From what you told me she had inherited her grandfather powers, but she hasn't started real training yet.''
Harry nodded and drunk the last bit of coffee, he pocketed the letters and picked up the newspaper so that he at the very least had something to read if history was really so boring.
''Diggory, right?'' Harry said to the boy who had been talking to them earlier.
The boy looked startled for a moment being address like that. ''Yes, but you can call me Cedric.''
''Right, Diggory, do you know where the first class is?''
''It is in classroom 4F, that is on the first floor. There are small signs next to the doors with classroom numbers so you shouldn't miss it, but if you wait a moment then I can walk you to it myself.''
Harry waved him off. ''No that won't be necessary, but thank you anyway.''
A hour later found Harry sitting in the correct classroom attending his very first Hogwarts lesson and had to say he wasn't impressed. To be more accurate he wasn't impressed with the lesson, the teacher however was rather impressive in its own way; to manage to talk a large portion of fourteen years to sleep in less than ten minutes. He wondered how well the ghost would do with small children who don't want to go to sleep.
As for the lesson; he was pretty sure it had something to do with Goblins other than that he really had no idea. Several minutes into the lesson he realised that almost nothing he heard got trough so he decided to drop all pretences and just started to read his newspaper.
Unfortunately a hour into the lesson he had already read all the articles and even solved the crossword puzzle and now he had nothing to do. Looking around he noticed that most of his fellow students where just staring in front of them, some of them even had their head on their table and Harry heard something that sounded suspiciously like snoring. He spotted Amy who was doodling something on a spare piece of parchment. His gaze then moved to Bella, who was hunched over a large tome that was definitely not their history book. He had to admit she had a good idea, for the next lesson he should probably also bring another book with him. Unfortunately he only had the history book and potion book with him right now and neither was very appealing to read. So he decided to spend the rest of the lesson doing his Occlumency exercises.
Finally the lesson was over and after a lunch in the great hall, the Hufflepuff fourth years made their way to the dungeons for their potions lesson.
When everyone was seated in the classroom, the professor walked into the room, his cloak billowing behind him. ''Welcome to another year of potions.'' The man said somewhat mockingly. ''And for most of you dunderheads your second last year.'' He paused dramatically for a moment and then continued. ''And it seems we have three new students joining us this year. I hope you at least are less of a dunderhead then the average student I have the pleasure to teach.''
Harry stared incredulously at the man. First a ghost who put everyone to sleep with his lecture and then a man who insults all the students in the class not even a minute into the class? Is this the best Hogwarts has to offer? Harry's attention was diverted back to the man as he started talking again.
''You know what to do, the potion is on the board. You have one hour, begin.''
'That was it?' Harry thought. 'The potion is on the board and you have one hour? That was the extend of the instructions? Maybe they covered theory extensively during the earlier years so they don't need it now? Looking around he quickly concluded that that wasn't the case since they all looked rather amateurishly.
Deciding to ignore the others since it really wasn't any of his concerns how the others did and he knew the girls were on similar level as he when it came to potions. He looked at the board
Potion of rage
1) + 10gr of CCC, 5 min Y
2) 10x + 2x
3) +5U CnC
4) R.F.F.
5) 20 min =
6) +2U Dy
7) 5 min =
8) 2X
Harry shook his head. He had already been thought how to brew the potion of rage so he had a decent idea what those instruction were supposed to be, but how was anyone else supposed to read them. Grabbing the ingredients he needed, he spread them out so he had easy access during the brewing and he pulled out of his wand.
Immediately the professor stood before his station. ''And what did I say about silly wand waving Mr. Flamel?''
'He mentioned wands?' Harry thought before answering. ''Nothing that I can remember, Sir.''
''As expected of a dunderhead,'' Snape sneered. ''I told you not to use your wand while in this classroom.''
''And how exactly do you expect me to put up the basic security measures that you have to put up before brewing?''
''Basic security measures?'' Snape asked in a cold tone.
''Yes,'' Harry replied. ''A protection spell on the cauldron so that it will reject any foreign substances expect what the brewer puts into it and an inverted shield charm around the cauldron in case anything goes wrong. Aren't those required before beginning here?''
A brief look of intrigue past the potion masters face before the blank look of indifference returned. ''No those measures are not required in this class, however I will allow you to use you wand only for those two spells.''
Harry nodded his head in gratitude not noticing how shocked the rest of the class was as they had expected loss of points for their house because Harry had pulled out his wand.
Half an hour later, Harry dropped a perfect vial of potion of rage on Snape's desk who almost seemed to nod approvingly.
A/N: The Harry Potter wiki says this about the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room:
The entrance to the common room is located "in a nook on the right hand side of the kitchen corridor", concealed behind a stack of barrels. In order to reveal the entrance, no password is required. Instead, one must tap the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff', which will make the lid swing open, exposing a passageway that will lead to the basement when crawled through. However, if the wrong lid is tapped or the wrong rhythm is used, the intruder will be doused in vinegar and barred access.
Yeah I changed that, no self-respecting person would either crawl to get in a room or do that idiotic tapping thing. Sorry to all those who wanted that to remain. So I used a door that just needs a password.
A/N 2: I know Tonks should have already graduated by know, but I like her character so let's just say she is a bit younger than in canon ( And now I don't have to come up with yet another name for a OC who would be the prefect).