Harry Potter and a Better Future
Chapter 9: Saving the Philosopher's Stone: Part 1
Harry and his friends decided after Quirrel had been seen in the forbidden forest that they should remove the philosopher's stone from its hiding place and take it to Dumbledore to be destroyed.
"Is everybody ready" Harry asked.
"Yeah, how can you be so confident Harry" Ron asked.
"I've done this before remember" Harry pointed out.
"Oh yeah, what do we have to do exactly to get to the stone" Ron asked.
"We have to put Fluffy to sleep with the flute Hagrid gave me for Christmas, get through the devil's snare, catch the key to the door with a broomstick, play a game of human wizarding chess, get past a troll, luckily it was knocked out last time and I have to drink a potion to get into the final room" Harry explained.
"Blimey" Ron exclaimed.
"Lets go" Harry replied.
They applied Disillusionment charms and added silencing charms to their feet. Harry explained that this would prevent them from making noise while they walked through the castle. Harry returned to his trunk and picked up the flute. He locked the trunk and rejoined the others in the common room.
They left the common room and walked down the staircase. There were a few situations were they had to step aside to avoid a ghost flying straight through them. They arrived at the third floor and made their way to the room that contained Fluffy.
Harry unlocked the door and stepped inside. Once he was sure they were all inside he shut the door and removed the Disillusionment charms and silencing charms.
"When I start playing the flute I need someone to open the trapdoor and all of you drop into the hole below." Harry explained "Don't worry it's not deep, you have a soft landing" He added after seeing the panicked looks on their faces.
They all nodded and Harry took in a deep breath. He pulled the flute from his robes and started playing.
The dog eventually fell asleep and Hermione opened the trapdoor. Hermione, Ron and Neville dropped into the hole. Harry carried on playing as he crept towards the trapdoor. He only stopped playing once he dropped into the hole. He landed in the devils snare. Hermione, Neville and Ron started to panic when the plant started wrapping itself round their ankles.
"Don't panic, its devils snare" Harry explained.
"It's what" Ron asked.
"Devil's snare, professor sprout said it likes the dark and damp" Neville put in.
"Yeah, so someone should light a fire" Harry hinted.
Hermione pointed her wand at the plant and muttered a few words under her breath. Bright blue flames that Harry remembered from his other life shot out from her wand. The flames hit the plant which promptly loosened its grip on the four of them and enabled them to remove themselves from the plant.
"We need to go through the passage where we will come across a room with flying keys" Harry explained "The key is a very old key that matches the lock on the door. There is a broom in there that I will use to fly after it" He added as they walked through the passageway.
They reached the end of the passageway and walked into a room containing a door and a large number of tiny looking birds. Harry knew they were really keys as this room looked exactly the same as it did in his other life.
"Ok, I'll be looking for a key with a bent wing if I remember it correctly" Harry explained.
"Like that one there Harry" Ron asked pointing to a key that had a bent wing that had just flown overhead.
"Yeah that's the one, we will need to close in on it so when we fly after it Ron should fly above the key, Hermione and Neville should go underneath it to stop it flying away" Harry explained. Hermione, Ron and Neville nodded and followed Harry to the broomsticks.
They all climbed on a broomstick and kicked off into the air. Harry flew around in search of the key. When he saw it flying in front of him he flew after it and signaled for Ron, Hermione and Neville to close in on it. In his other life the key had dodged both Ron and Hermione but fortunately Neville was with them this time and directed the key directly towards Harry who promptly managed to grab the key.
Harry returned to the ground followed by the others and climbed off the broom. They put the brooms back where they found them and headed to the door. Harry stuffed the key into the lock and twisted the key. Once he heard the clock click open he pulled the door handle down and pushed the door open. The key flew back to the rest of the keys as soon as Harry had let go of the key. He held the door open and waited for the others to walk through the door before he closed it.
They stepped into the next chapter which was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. Light flooded into the chamber to reveal that they were standing on the chessboard Harry had previously mentioned. Harry tried the finite incantatum spell but nothing happened.
"I think we will have to play chess" Harry confirmed.
"What should we do" Hermione asked.
"Somebody should touch that black knight and Ron will explain what do to" Harry explained.
Ron walked over and put his hand out to touch the black knight's horse. The knight immediately sprang to life and looked down at Ron. Ron told Harry and Hermione where to stand and watched as the pieces that stood in the indicated spot turned their backs and walked off the board.
The game went exactly the same as last time except that there were four of them on the board instead of three. Unfortunately Ron still had to sacrifice himself as he had done the first time around. Hermione protested this but Harry assured her that Ron would be fine. Harry, Hermione and Neville managed to get to the other side and walk into the next chamber where they were greeted by an awful smell.
"Uh, not this again" Harry complained and covered his nose with his robes. Hermione and Neville did the same and passed the troll that was passed out on the floor with a huge lump on its head.
In the next room purple flames shot up blocking the door they had just entered while black flames blocked the next door. Harry, Hermione and Neville approached the table in the middle of the room. Hermione picked up the paper on the table but Harry stopped her.
"I've done this before remember, the smallest bottle will get me into the next room, but there's only enough for one person, and the rounded bottle will get you two back through the purple flames" Harry explained pointing out the bottles he had just mentioned.
"What, we can't leave you" Hermione insisted.
"Look, I'll be fine, if anyone is in there I can handle them, I need you to go back through that door, get Ron from the chess room, go into the room with the flying keys, grab a broom from there and fly out through the trapdoors and go straight to the owlery and use Hedwig to send a message to Dumbledore" Harry instructed. Hermione nodded and threw her arms around Harry and wished him good luck.
She and Neville drank the potion. They both shuddered and wished Harry good luck as they walked through the purple flames. Harry nodded and turned his head back to the potion. He took a breath and downed the contents of the bottle. He stepped walked through the black flames. In the next room Harry saw a familiar figure stood with his back to him.
