Chapter 7: Rock

"We have to get out of here now." Harry said turning back the way they came when Mrs. Norris, appeared in his path.

"Filch's cat!" Neville exclaimed spotting it.

"This way quick." Hermione said leading them down the corridor.

The boys caught up. They all reached the door at the end and went inside. Harry opened the door and then turned around closing it. "That was close," he said stepping away from the door. The others did not say anything. Harry turned around and found out why. A giant Three Headed Dog was asleep on the floor. A charmed instrument was keeping the creature from waking.

"Let's get out of here." Neville whispered. Harry went back to the door, but it was locked. "It won't open." Harry said keeping his voice low. "Let me try." Hermione said pointing her wand at the door. "Alohamora."

Nothing happened.

"My turn." Harry said pulling a knife from his robes. He ran it along the crack of the door frame. Again nothing. Frantically he looked around the room searching for an exit the music still playing. "Looks like there is only one way to go." Harry turned back to his friends pointing to the trapdoor at the monster's feet.

"I'll go first." Harry leaped into the hole in the floor.

He landed with a soft thump on something springy. Looking up at the hole he shouted "Quick!"

Seconds later with the sound of two thumps Neville and Hermione joined him.

"What is this?" Hermione asked out loud.

"Devil's Snare!" Neville shouted grabbing his wand. Right then Harry could feel the tendrils of the plant binding his legs and body.

Neville pointed his wand at Harry. "Hold still." Neville ordered then cast the spell. "Lumos Solem."

Bright sunlight hit the plant binding Harry and he felt it beginning to let go. Harry was able to reach his wand and cast the same spell at Hermione who then did the same for Neville.

The quickly found a door leading them from the deadly plant.

"Now what?" Hermione asked the room in general seeing something floating in the air.

In the center of the room were three brooms. "Those look like keys." Neville said looking up at the glittering winged objects floating in the air. At the door Neville examined the handle. "It looks like the door needs a big silver one to fit this lock."

"There." Harry found it pointing for the others. One of it's wings was damaged. "Oh this is bad." Hermione said when she spotted it. "What?" Harry asked. "Was it the three headed dog or the devil's snare that made you realize this is a bad place?" he joked lamely. "That is not what I mean. Someone else is here too." she said her eyes wide. The smirk Harry had vanished along with Neville's.

"You're right. That is bad." Harry agreed.

Holding his wand in the air he said, "Accio."

The silver key flew into his hand. Harry opened the door and stepped threw. Quickly they found they were not alone.

"You!" Harry shouted.

Professor Quirell was standing on a giant chessboard. A white knight had just dispatch a black pawn masking the sound of the door opening. Quirell whirled around his eyes landing on Harry. "Potter!" he shouted. Harry could feel a magical force slam into his Occulmency shields. His scar twinged with pain.

Neville fired off a spell shouting "Stupify!" Quickly following his lead Hermione shouted, "Impedimenta!" Quirell was able to make a shield deflecting the spells, but not Harry's. Harry did not aim at Quirell but at his feet trying to get under his guard. "Reducto." he said quieter so the Professor would not know his spell. Unable to block since the spell was short Quirell leapt back to avoid being hit. The board space he was on exploded hitting Quirell with debris. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was about to fire a spell at the students when movement caught his eye.

"NO!" The man shouted as all the black giant pieces began to move toward him. Harry, Neville and Hermione ran for cover. Safe behind some destroyed taken pieces they watched as the purple turbaned wizard fight for his life. The white chess pieces had turned against Quirell as well. Feeling the pieces needed some help Hermione fired off, "Petricius Totalus!" Neville sent another "Stupify!" his way and Harry added an "Expelliarmus."

Again Quirell deflected their spells, but the White Knight got under his guard impaling him through the chest with a javelin. "Master, help me!" he cried out in pain. It was too late. Another chess piece pierced his body.

All three students stood horrified at the sight of the once stuttering professor crying out as he fell among the remaining chest pieces. Then his cries were silenced. A black mist rose above the now still pieces with what looked like red eyes. It wailed and screamed, then vanished from sight through the locked door.

It was all too shocking that they could only stare at where the professor had once been. The way was open and as they came to themselves they quickly got out of the room. Hermione was shaking as she began to feel the impact of what she had seen. Harry and Neville were able to cope a little better, but it was the first person they saw die. However there was no time to dwell on the scene that laid behind them. Two trolls were approaching where they stood. Together they were able to overwhelm the Trolls and stupify them unconscious.

When they entered the next room completely two walls of fire, one blue behind them and another black in front of them sprang to life blocking their way. On a table was a table full of potions. Hermione quickly deciphered the clue left behind. There was just potion enough for all three of them to go on.

Once through the flame Neville was the first to ask, "Now what?" His wand out ready for anything.

In the middle of a large room what a mirror. On its frame above it were the words: eriseD fO rirroM.

They approached cautiously ready for a trap or creature to attack them. Nothing. All they saw in the mirror was each other. Hermione was the first to guess what the letter meant. "It says mirror of desire backwards." The boys agreed with her when just then behind them heard a noise. Turning they raised their wands ready to fire a spell when the Headmaster entered the room.

After everything they had been through they did not lower their wands. "Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione asked lowering her wand a little. "Yes Ms. Granger. It is good to see that you are alright." he said grandfatherly with a familiar twinkle in his eye.

Seeing the aged wizard making no offensive move the boys lowered their wands together with Hermione.

"We got trapped in the room with the three headed dog," Neville started to explain, but the headmaster interrupted him with a wave of his hand. "No need to explain Mr. Longbottom. Once inside you must get here to get out. Again I am pleased you are all well. If you could follow me."

He lead them out of the chamber through a magical barrier and were back in the third floor corridor. Dumbledore ushered them into his office.

While he sat at his desk he allowed the three students to take in the head office of Hogwarts. All the portraits appeared to be sleeping even though it was barely evening. There were all kinds of devices on the tables and in the cabinets on the walls were all manner of what looked like magical objects and books. As their eyes took in the circular room they were all drawn back to the headmaster.

"I assume that you are all well?" he asked looking them over. Each of them nodded. "Excellent. I wanted you to know that I will be contacting your respective families to assure them you are healthy and not injured." His demeanor changed from concern to one of deep insightfulness.

"Now do you know what is being kept in the school at this very moment?" Dumbledore asked.

"No sir." Harry said first before the others could. Neville and Hermione gave him a glance, then quickly nodded in agreement. The old man seemed to bore into them with his eyes. Harry did not feel any magic or an attempt to read his mind. The man just had that kind of air of authority that he has used for years on students in his office when he felt they were being less than truthful.

"Well, suffice it to say that it is a powerful magical object that it was enough of a temptation to draw the attention of Professor Quirell try and steal it. He failed so it is safe. I am sorry you were caught up in there." He said with a touch of concern again. While Harry could hear that he sounded sincere he could see the calculations being made by the headmaster of the students before them.

"Did you run into Professor Quirell?" he asked again with a slight bit of magic in the air that gave the professor an all knowing feeling. Yet he did not know since he was asking. Hermione was the one that answered. "Yes sir. He was dead. It looked like he could not get passed the chessboard." telling him what he already would have known.

"Did anything unusual happen?"

"No sir. Other than running into a three headed dog and finding a dead professor who could not get passed the barriers that was guarding something." Neville said with a shrug.

Dumbledore appeared to accept their explanation. Of course Harry was not sure. What he did know was that the whole incident seemed more than it appeared.

"One last question Harry. When you looked into the mirror what did you see?"

"Me and my friends, sir." Harry answered simply.

"Again I am glad you are all well. Professor McGonagall will escort you back to the Griffyndor Tower. I trust you will keep this to yourselves." They all nodded and proclaimed their agreement.

With that he dismissed them.

As they left and Harry was closing the door he thought he saw a shadow that looked like Professor Snape, but he did not linger to find out for sure.

Their head of house took them back to the tower and she said that dinner would be at the usual time.

Once alone they went off to a corner of the room to talk about what had happened.

"Do you think he knows we did not tell him the truth?" Hermione fretted. Harry was fine with that as long as she did it now instead of in front of the headmaster or a teacher.

"I think he does, but unless he used Legilimens, which I did not feel by the way, he won't know for sure." Neville told her. She nodded in agreement. It sounded right to her and it made her less nervous.

"We didn't do anything wrong, besides ending up out of bounds. So there is no reason to worry. I just don't think the headmaster needs to know everything that happened." Harry said.

While she was still nervous she no longer fretting or figgeting like she was before.

"You might be right. I don't think he was testing you again, but I am not sure." she wondered aloud.

Harry could see that her mind was working on the problem and no longer looked worried. Well just a different kind of worry.

"I'll let you know what my parents have to say about what happened." Harry assured his friends.

The door to the Griffyndor Common Room opened and the students were witness to a sight of something red moving really fast. A woman was suddenly hugging Harry. It took a moment for even him to realize it was his mother.

"Are you all right? All of you?" she asked taking Neville by the hand squeezing it. Not a moment later Mrs. Longbottom was there with her son. After they were able calm both women down, Lily explained that the Grangers would not be able to come to the school, though she assured Hermione that she would let them know her daughter was well.

With all the attention on them Harry could not properly explain what had happened. So everyone else would lose interest Harry just said that they ran into a three headed dog at the end of the third floor corridor because of Filch's cat and the staircase.

"I am just glad you are all ok." Alice said very relieved keeping an eye on the others listening in on their conversation. "Come on let's get out of here and take a walk." Lily said leading them out of the common room.

While in the castle Hermione talked to Lily and Alice about the exams. Neville and Harry were looking forward to the Quidditch Match. While on their way they ran into Frank and James who joined them. After assurances that they were ok they made it out on the grounds.

They walked off of the grounds to the wizard town of Hogsmead. James took them to a local tavern, the Three Broomsticks and ordered them all dinner. After their meal arrived James asked, "What really happened?"

There Harry, Hermione, and Neville related what happened to them after entering the third floor corridor. While upset that they had to go through it all, even that they saw Quirell die, they were very proud. "You all did very well. Lily and I will let your parents know as much as we can how brave you were Hermione." James assured her. "Thank you." she blushed a little in embarressment.

"So now what?" Neville asked looking at the adults.

"Well, it looks like he is gone for now. We were very lucky." Frank said quietly and relieved.

"Quirell, was researching Vampires, and was in Albania before coming to Hogwarts. He was quite young and ambitious to do something that dangerous. I remember the other Aurors talking about how they would be the one to collect his body. I'll put word out to keep an ear open for anything unusual. Quirell was hired for the Defense Against the Dark Arts since there was no one else who applied for the job. No one. Which was strange." James said informing them.

Hermione seemed to very pensive as the evening wore on and Lily and Alice exchanged a glance for a moment.

"We should get these three back up to the school. James, Frank, take Harry and Neville with you. Alice and I want to talk to Hermione for a bit." Harry's mother said.

"See you later." Neville said and Harry gave her a small smile.

The boys' fathers talked about professional quidditch when they got to the Hogwart's grounds while Harry and Neville added their own comments every now and then.

Frank went off to one side to say good bye to his son. James turned to Harry. "I am proud of you son. You kept your friends safe." He gave him a brief hug. "I want you to know that I love you."

"I know Dad." Harry said quietly. He just faced deadly spells and fought for his life. Yet here with his father he did not know what to say and while he was trained very well, he felt a swell of emotion rising in his throat. Harry gave his Dad a hug and saw Neville doing the same with his Dad.

"See you in a few days." James said joining up with Frank Longbottom.

Hermione had not returned and it was late. It was after midnight and Harry waited up for her. Finally the portrait hole opened and he saw Hermione come into the common room. "Oh Harry, you didn't have to wait up." she said sounding like her old self.

He shrugged. "I wanted to. Besides you were alone with my mother. I had to be something important."

"Um, well, yes. She wanted to make sure I was ok after, you know."

Harry nodded in understanding.

"Are you?" he asked as gently as he could.

"Yes. After I talked to your mom and Mrs. Longbottom I felt even better." she confirmed.

"You were great you know. My Dad has been teaching me magic since I was able to hold a wand. Neville too. You didn't panic or get too scared. I just wanted to say: Thank you." Harry complimented her.

"I should be the one thanking you. If it wasn't for you and Neville I might have died." she said with a far of look turning away.

"I don't think so." he said firmly enough she looked back at him. "You're really smart, especially with the potions' barrier."

"Books and cleverness." she said with a small smile. "There are more important things, like friendship and bravery and ... you taught me that Harry when you treated me like a friend when no one else would."

"Neville too." Harry added.

"Neville too." Hermione agreed.

Harry stifled a yawn and laughed a bit at how silly he looked putting a hand over his mouth.

"Its time for you to go to bed." she said voice bossy.

" Yes, mum." he teased her.

"I am most certainly am not your mother." she shot back, looking offended.

"Well you sounded like her just then." he pressed on, getting up anyway.

"Someone has to keep you out of trouble Harry, and your mother isn't here." she reasoned.

"You know, I am pretty sure you are the one that had us run from a mangy cat into a Three Headed Dog."

"What were we supposed to do? Get detention? How could I have known that there would be a creature like that in a school?" she said defensively getting up too.

"Well maybe if you said something I wouldn't have closed the door." he shot back.

"Maybe you need to look around every once in a while." she retorted.

"I ... " he started, then stopped. "Your right about that." he agreed.

"Of course I am. Time for bed Harry, seriously." she said with a slight grin at his admission.

"Good night, Hermione."

"Good night, Harry."

She waited until he was up the stairs, from what he could see glancing behind himself. Neville was already in bed and Harry did his Occulmency exercises then closed his eyes drifted off to sleep.